‘om Si einai! See fhe ewan? — = adie: teeta eve Be ete he — Net -_ a — oo a .VE : = 2 re % rs aw ra . a \S 4 5 n* m = w z w INSTITUTION NOILNLILSNI NVINOSHLINS S31L} ” oO ty fe D wn E 8 Of = 2 AY = oS > nS > Ww cp z ” = HLINS SAIYVYUYEIT LIBRARIES SM INST wo - wo = S Gi am! Rp i [aa _ 7) en as \E pa = sim RQ 4 sh = Ss = co 2 =] =a sal < ONIANE INSTITUTION NOILNLILSNI NVINOSHLINS S31 z z Hy: E é by 2 5 = ee) = = Up z Ww) = ae Z z HLINS SSIYVYUEIT LIBRARIES SMITHSONIAN INS] NVINOSHLINS S31IY¥Vudl) NVINOSHLIWS SMITHSONIAN SMITHSONIAN Jl, ONIAN_ INSTITUTION NOILNLILSNI NVINOSHLINS S3l 2 _ > ae on ipo oc = XY o Wp + -~— Kars RES Y ei < + ‘ Wa x % — = . 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THE ANIMAL CREATION. ls Te Ses a j ia te THE ANIMAL CREATION: A Popular aAntroduction to . Spined venus >. Lima . Great scallop . Animal of mussel . Pinna . Mussels LIST OF PLATES. . Clam shell F . Tellina F 3. The sandgaper . . Animal of Gar enell . Saxicava . = . Pholades . 7. Ship-worm and its shell . Figure of brachiopod . : 3 Shelly framework of brachiopod . . Volute craw ling : . Snails and slugs . Garden snail , . Limneus auricularis . . Planorbis corneus . The whelk, showing its operculum : 6, The wentle-trap : . Tiger cowry, harp, and cloth of oold cone 5 Young cowrie ‘ ; ; . Money cowrie, adult . . Cassis tuberosa . . Thorny woodecock 2. Granulated trochus . Pelican’s foot strombus . Vermetus . F . Fissurella reticulata . Sea-hare . . Phyllidia . . Limpet . Tufted triton . Crowned eolis . Horned doris 2. 'Tritonia hombergi . Young of eolis : Carinaria . Cymbulia and Clio . Glass shells . Cuttle ‘ . Structure of suckers of euttle- fish . Poulpe and squid . Cuttle-shell . Cuttle-fish and eggs . The paper nautilus . The pearly nautilus . Skeleton of haddock . . Scales of fishes . . The perch . The basse . Red mullet . . Oriental flying-gurnard . The shooting-fish . The mackerel 2. The tunny 3. Bonito . Sword-fish LIST OF : Pilot-fish .. . Corypheena . Seabbard-fish . Thick-lipped grey mullet ; The carp . . The barbel . Tench 2. The pike . . The gar-fish . The flying-fish . 5. The salmon . The common trout . The herring . Anchovy . ; . Marbled angler . . The angler “ithe cod ; 2. Upper side of the sole . Under side of the sole . Lump-sucker . The remora }. Sharp-nosed eel . . Conger eel 8S. Murzene . Sea-horse . . Globe-fish . Sun-fish 2. File-fish 3. The sturgeon : Northern chimera . . Hammer-shark and saw- fish . Shark’s egg : : . White shark . Greenland shark . Thornback . Torpedo . Lamprey . 2. River lamprey . Myxine . Mud-fish . : )». Two-lined cecilia . Two-toed amphiuma . 7. Gigantic salamander . Axolotle . Proteus . Skeleton of siren . Tadpoles . 5 2. Skeleton of salamander . Smooth newt . Metamorphoses of newt . Frog : 2 : Skeleton of frog . Tree-frog . . Toad PLATES. 367 368 369 370 373 O74 877 LIST OF PLATES. . Pipa : . Skeleton of serpent . Heads of poisonous snakes of different gener: a . Poison-fangs : Poison-gland . Rattlesnake . Cobra naja . Viper : nueri and hook of boa : . Boa-constrictor watching for Ep . Skull of python . Head of ringed snake . Belly and tail-shields . Common ringed-snake . Slowworm . Common lizard , . Draco volans . Gallywasp . Feet of geckos . . Chameleon . Tooth of crocodile . Crocodile . Skeleton of turtle . Hawksbill turtle . Leather-backed turtle . Soft-tortoise . European marsh-tortoise . Galapagos tortoise . Skeleton of vulture . Leg of a bird perching . Beak of falcon . . Foot of eagle . Golden eagle . Peregrine falcon . Griffon vulture . . Barn owl . : . Head of tyrannus | Grey shrike . . . Head of nyctibius . Swallow : . Swift . Night jar . ; Skylark : . Long-tailed tit and nest _ Carrion-crow . Birds of paradise . Head of sun-bird . Nuthatch . Tree-creeper . Humming-birds . Hoopoe . Bee-eater . . King-fisher . Foot of parrot and of woodpecker LIST OF PLATES. . Great black woodpecker . Wryneck . ; . Cuckoo ' . Keel-beaked toucan . . Head of mackaw . Peacock . Hastings’s trapogan, a argus pheasant, and erdwned pigeon : Crested curassow ‘ . Capercailzie . Wood-pigeon . African ostrich . . Great bustard >. Apteryx . Ringed plover . Nest of the dunlin 8. Crowned crane . . Heron . Claw of heron . Snipe 2: Ibis. . Common curlew. . Woodcock . Land-rail . . Common coot . . Foot of pelican . . Northern diver . . Puftin . Penguins. . Stormy petrel . Herring-guill . Common tern . Cormorant 5. The gannet . Beak of duck . . The wild duck . . The duck-bill ; . Burrow of ornithorynchus . . The porcupine ant-eater . Common kangaroo . Virginian opossum : . Mouse opossum and young . Dormouse phalanger . . Gunn’s bandicoot . Myrmecobius . Wombat . . Zebra-wolf . Troop of dolphins, m manatee in the distance . Bones of the fin of a ee ’ . Dolphin : . Spearing the narwhal . Sperm-whale . Whale fishery . Whalebone-whale . Manatee . 475 476 EA | eft 478 486 488 489 LIST OF PLATES. . Wart-hog, Indian rhinoceros, and river-horse . Head of Indian elephant : . African elephants . Wild-boar . Skull of rhinoceros . American tapir . Wild ass . Zebra . Quagga : : Arabian camel . . Water-cells of the ca mel . Liama : 5 . Kanehil . Stag’s horn in successive years : Giraffe ; r 2. Stag . Antelope . Goat . Head of argali or wild sheep . Sheep of Palestine . Indian ox. . American bison . Cape buffalo w Yai : . Musk ox . . Skull of porcupine . Beaver : . Water-rat . Dormice . Nest of haryeeer -mouse . Squirrel . Rocky mountain flying. squirrel . African poreupine é . Guinea-pigs . Agouti 2. Jerboa : . Three-toed sloth and eiant prmadille . Weasel-headed armadillo . Great ant-bear . . Manis ; . Skull of tiger . Bear . Polar bear . Badger . Weasel 2. Otter 3. Wolf > MOx. . Civet . Hyena . Toe of lion 2 Skeleton of lion . Lion ¢ Eiéer t Or oy Or Or [SNWwh bw “10> HH Xvi FIG, eyAle 472. 473. 474. 475. 476. att. 478. 479. 480. 481. 482. 483. 484. 485. 486. 487. 488. LIST OF PLATES. Jaguar Leopard : ; : : Foot of the seal. Skeleton of the same Harp-seal and walrus . Shrew. Hedgehog Mole Hand of mole ‘ Heads of rhinolophus ferrum equinum and megaderma frons . : : : : : : : Pipistrelle : Skeleton of man and orang White-fronted lemur . Howling monkey : Orang- outang, mandrill, and spider- monkey . Kahau ' : : é : Gorilla Bornean orang . Chimpanzee THE ANIMAL CREATION ; A POPULAR INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. CHAPTER I. THE science of Zoology teaches us the forms and habits of the countless animals with which we are everywhere surrounded, their mutual dependencies upon each other, and their relative importance in the economy of Nature. Among the innumerable beings which crowd this world not one is idle ; all are actively employed each in its separate sphere of usefulness, and though they blindly do the work imposed upon them by their Great Creator, ignorant of other’s ways, the grand result is perfect harmony. When we consider how innumerable are the species of animals distributed over the whole surface of the earth, and throughout the immeasurable realms of water, and are called upon to recognise them indi- vidually, and to identify all the members of such a multifarious host, the task might well be considered as hopeless as that of the unlettered savage who, unable to count beyond twenty, sets about the enu- meration of the stars, and tries to fix their places and assign their names. Yet even those stars have been reduced to order, the very skies have been mapped out, and the astronomer points with as much satis- faction to the buckle of Orion’s belt or the tip of the nose of Bootes, as if these respectable gentlemen were up on high sitting for their portraits. B 2 CLASSIFICATION. A disbanded army presents to the observer nothing but a wild scene of inextricable confusion ; but when at trumpet-call, the soldiers hasten to their ranks, and the appropriate banner waves above each com- pany, these companies fall into regiments, and the living mass, directed by one chief, moves on with the utmost order and regularity. Systematic arrangement is, therefore, the very foundation of the science of zoology: it is only by the establishment of classes, and orders, and genera, and species, which constitute, so to speak, the colours of the different regiments, that such arrangement is, at all, to be accomplished, and to define the limits and the characters of these genera and species, the efforts of the scientific zoologist are principally di- rected. It must, consequently, be our first endeavour to explain what these words, species and genera, mean. By Species is understood a number of animals so closely resembling each other, that they all might be supposed to be the offspring of the same parents, and in turn to give birth to progeny, exactly resem- bling themselves. The domestic mouse, for example, is a species, the exact fac-simile both of its ancestors and its offspring. Species, however, may be slightly modified by the continued operation of external cir- cumstances, such as climate, abundance or deficiency of food, or other similar accidents; there may, for example, be a white mouse, or a piebald mouse ; these are called Varieties of the species. A Genus is a group embracing a number of species which have a striking general resemblance to each other in certain important particulars, whereby they are distinguishable from all other animals. The domestic mouse (Mus musculus), for instance, is at once recognisable from the squirrel, the beaver, or the hare, from the circumstance that it has a long tail tapering to a point and denuded of hair; but there are many other animals which, though evidently not real mice, have this feature in common. There is the rat, Mus rattus ; the brown rat, Mus decumanus ; CLASSIFICATION. 3 the field mouse, Mus sylvaticus; and the harvest mouse, Mus messorius, all of which are species more or less resembling the Mouse, but all distinguishable from each other by minor characters; these, there- fore, constitute a genus. An Order is a far more extensive group, including several genera, allied to each other by some important feature in their economy. The rats and the mice, for example, are all remarkable for their chisel-like front teeth, but there are other animals that have their teeth of the same construction, although they have not the same long and tapering tail, e.g., the squirrel, the beaver, the hare, and the porcupine; these, therefore, form the order Rodentia, or animals distinguished by their chisel-hke teeth. A Class embraces all the Orders related to each other by some grand and general character possessed by them all in common. Thus, the Rodentia suckle their young, but so do dogs, so do monkeys, hedge- hogs, cats, whales, elephants, cows, ant-eaters, and kangaroos; a circumstance whereby they are dis- tinguished from birds, reptiles, or fishes. All animals that give suck are, tlierefore, associated to form one great class—the Mammalia. Or we may take the converse of all this. Thus, in the animal kingdom there is a Class of creatures recog- nisable by the circumstance that they suckle their young; among these is an Order, distinguished by having chisel-like teeth in the front of their mouths ; belonging to this Order is a Genus, remarkable for the possession of a long tapering tail, and the smallest Species belonging to this genus is the harvest mouse, Mus Messorius. An arrangement such as this en- ables us to find out the name of any animal, and is called a system, which, in fact is a dictronary with this difference, that here the properties enable us to find out the name, whereas in ordinary dictionaries, the known name serves to acquaint us with the properties. Thus, the study of Zoology is one eminently calculated to accustom the mind to habits B 2 4 CLASSIFICATION. of order and precision, to a close and accurate com- parison of objects presented to our notice, and to a clear and neat perception of their distinctive cha- racters; it gives a facility of expression to our de- scriptions, and in this way its importance, as a branch of education, can scarcely be exaggerated. Perhaps nothing has contributed so much to the advancement of the science of Natural History as the happy expedient first adopted by Linneus, of giving to every object m Nature a double name, whereby its identity is at once satisfactorily mdicated. ‘Thus, in the examples given above, we say Mus musculus, Mus rattus, Mus messorius. ‘he first of the two names is that of the genus, and, therefore, common to all the species of that genus; the second is the specific name —that is, points out the species to which we refer, just in the same manner as in the names of persons. The family name Milton or Shakspeare may belong to anybody, but John Milton and William Shakspeare are individuals at once recognisable. ‘The only dif- ference is that in this case the specific name is placed first, instead of after that of the genus. ‘To under- stand the importance of this great step in Zoological Science, it is only necessary to read the descriptions of old authors who, after devoting half a page to the identification of an animal, leave you in doubt whether they are speaking of a cat, a rat, or a hippo- potamus. With regard to the classification of the immense series of living beings composing the animal creation, various systems have been at different times sketched out by the master minds of science, all of which have more or less fallen short of their great object. Of these, the most useful and most generally adopted is that of Cuvier, and as this will be more or less our guide throughout the following pages, a knowledge of its leading features becomes indispensable. According to the system of Cuvier, all living animals are divided into— Ist. Those that have back-bones (vertebre) ; CLASSIFICATION. 5 2nd. Those that have not back-bones. Those animals that have back-bones are called— Vertebrate, Those that are without back-bones are called — Invertebrate. The Vertebrate division includes— Fishes, Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals. The Invertebrate division is much more numerous, and comprehends animals of very various construc- tion; these are—- Ist. Mollusks, or soft-bodied animals, such as euttle- jishes, snails, oysters, &c. ; 2nd. Articulated Animals, or animals enclosed in a jointed skin, such as znsects, spiders, and lobsters ; 3rd. Radiated Animals, under which head are in- cluded all the lowest, and least perfect members of the animal kingdom, many of them having few characteristics in common. The completeness of the above classification, so far as it relates to the more perfect animals, is generally admitted, and we shall, therefore, take it as our guide ; but among the lower tribes of creation such guidance fails us, and through this labyrinth we shall have to make our way by the aid of more recent in- vestigations. In the preceding paragraph, as the reader may have remarked, we have spoken of “the more perfect ani- mals” as contradistinguished from those of “the lower tribes,” and as we shall again and again be obliged to have recourse to similar expressions, the terms require some explanation. Every animal is perfect in its kind, and to add to, or to take from, its attributes would deteriorate its usefulness in creation. By the perfect or imperfect structure of an animal we simply mean the degree in which it approximates to Man, the type and pattern of zoological perfection, just as in estimating the value of money, we take the highest coin of the realm as a standard of com- parison. Man, the paragon of animals, is the union of what is most perfect and beautiful in them all. 6 CLASSIFICATION. Hence, animals which have a resemblance to Man, are not without reason styled perfect in a degree proportioned to that resemblance. With these preliminary observations, we enter on our pleasurable task, and proceed to trace the varied forms of animal existence from the first dawn of life to Man himself, who, standing supreme in his mental capacities, rises by his immortal destiny incomparably beyond them all. Turning our attention to the great scene before us, “ Beast, bird, fish, insect, which no eye can see, no glass can reach,” so strange and diversified are their shapes and attributes, that the student naturally inquires, What is an animal? a question which he will soon find to be much more easily propounded than satisfactorily solved. At the first glance of the superficial observer, the distinctions between the animal and vegetable king- doms seem plain and obvious. We all know a cow from a cabbage, a horse from the grass upon which it feeds; and yet, as we come more closely to scruti- nize forms of life less violently contrasted, doubts and hesitations soon begin to teach us that the dis- crimination is not always so easy, and that at length the differences between the animal and the vegetable creations become almost imperceptible. Light and darkness seem distinct enough, and no one possessed of eye-sight could be in danger of mistaking noon for night ; but he who gazes on the morning’s dawn, and tries to mark the line that separates the parting darkness from the coming day, will find the task by no means an easy one, so gently do the lights and shades tincture and mingle with each other. The axiom of Linnzeus is well-known. ‘“ Stones erow, vegetables grow and live, animals grow, live, and feel.” The capability of feeling, therefore, was regarded by the great Swedish naturalist as the distinctive character of an animal; but how can we define where feeling has been first bestowed. The sensitive plant which coyly shrinks upon the slightest CLASSIFICATION. . 7 touch, does it not feel? The flower that shuts its bells as evening comes, and seems to go to sleep, is it insensitive? We cannot tell. To move from place to place, to have the power of locomotion, has been said to be an attribute of animals, whereby they are distinguishable. Yet “ although we see the Volvox,* (Fig. 1), rolling through Fic. 1.—VOLVOX. the drop that forms its space with slow majestic movement, wielding upon its surface countless living filaments, we are forced to believe the chemist who informs us that it is a vegetable. If we take a drop of water from any stagnant pool and place it under a microscope, we shall soon per- -ceive that it contains a great variety of living organisms, very diverse in their shape, and all equally * Volvo, I roll. + The Volvox globator, of which a figure is given in the text, is acknowledged to be a vegetable production. In shape it seems a microscopic globe, rolling slowly on its axis. More accurately examined, we perceive the body to be formed of a transparent spherical membrane, studded with small green dots, and having all its surface covered over with vibrating filaments of infinite minute- ness, Which produce currents in the surrounding water, and thus cause the revolution of the little sphere, as well as its progression. 8 CLASSIFICATION. remote in their structure and appearance from any with which we are elsewhere familiar. Let the reader cast his eye for a moment upon the annexed engraving (Fig. 2), which represents a piece of duck- weed gathered from a neighbouring pond, surrounded FIG. 2.—MICROSCOPIC OCCUPANTS OF A LEAF OF DUCKWEED. Highly Magnified. 1. Vorticella convallaria. 9. Stentor polymorphus. 2. Volvox globator. 10. Bursaria truncatella. 3. Vaginicola crystallina. 11. Pandorina morum. 4. Amphileptus fasciola. 12. Stylonychia mytilus. 5. Navicula hippocampus. 13. Paramecium aurelia. 6. Ameba diffluens. 14, Euplotes truncatus. 7. Trachelocerca olor. 15, Euplotes striatus. 8. Polytoma uvella. by the microscopic creatures that live in its vicinity. Some fixed upon the stem (Fig. 2, 9) like trumpets in their shape, spread out their gaping mouths, around which whirl the swarming atoms that they swallow ; others, like wine-glasses in miniature, stretch out the little bells that constitute their bodies, to the length of their transparent stems in search of food, or if alarmed, folding their stalks in spiral revolutions, shrink timidly from danger (Fig. 2, 1). The Volvox (Fig. 2,2) silently revolves, a little world within itself. Others (Fig. 2,6) of different shape, resemble films of ever-changing cloud. Others, CLASSIFICATION. 9 again, transparent globes of jelly (Fig. 2, 1), shoot forth star-like rays in all directions. Some have the form of glass-like shuttles, coloured with bright green contents, creeping more slowly than the hour hand of a watch along the bottom. Some (lig. 2, s) have the shape of rolling mulberries, that gently make pon way through the surrounding water. Others (Fig. 2, 7), like swans in form, glide oe and down with graceful elegance. The vaginicola* (Fig. 2,3) lives in a crystal vase, from which it stretches itself forth in search of nourishment. The Parameciwm{ (Vig. 2, 13), like a meteor, shoots along, prowling in all directions ; some (Fig. 2, 4,15), clad in shells, and armed with les-like hooklets, creep much after the manner of insects: while others skip from point to point like living scin- tillations. Such are the creatures that we find in swarms in every stagnant ditch, as any one possessed of a very ordinary microscope may soon convince him- self. ‘These wonderful organisms have little resem- blance to each other. It is difficult, indeed, with the exception of their miraculous minuteness, to fix upon any character that they possess in common. We are not surprised, therefore, that by the earlier observers with the microscope, they were all grouped together under the very extensive designation of Animalcules, a term simply significative of their small size, or of Infusorial Animalcules, in allusion to the circumstance that they are generally met with in infusions of animal or of vegetable substances, and are easily attainable by exposing such infusions to the atmosphere. Modern improvements in the microscope, and a close attention to the habits and organization of the creatures under consideration, have, however, revealed to us the startling fact that in the drop of water under contemplation, we have examples of no fewer than three distinct classes of organisms: one belong- ing to the vegetable, and two to the animal series of creation. by using a very simple test, namely, the * Vagina, asheath, colo, I inhabit. + mapaayxns, paramekes, oblong. BO 10 CLASSIFICATION, addition of a little iodine to the drop in which they swim, it is found that four specimens in the little group before us, namely, the Volvor (Fig. 2,2), the Polytoma (Fig. 2, +), the Navicula (Fig. 2,5), and the Pandorina (Vig. 2,1), at once turn blue, indicative that they contain starch, a substance thought to be peculiar to the vegetable creation, and thus confess that they are vegetable productions. The slimy substance of the Amaba diffluens (Fig. 2,6), that we have stated to be continually changing ‘its shape, like the outline of a cloud, refuses to alter its colour under such a test; and, moreover, as it flows or glides from place to place, is seen to devour and to digest the materials with which it is surrounded, thus claiming admission into the animal series, and soon making good that claim by exhibiting attributes and capabilities decidedly of an animal character. The remaining forms (Fig. 2, 1,3, 4 7,9, 10, 12, 13, 4, and 15), more active and energetic in their movements, and evidently of higher capabilities, are all distinguished by having their bodies either partially or entirely covered with a wondrous machinery of vibrating hair-like appendages, which, from their resemblance to our eye-lashes, have been named cilia.* By the assistance of these admirable organs, the little crea- tures possessing them are rowed rapidly about from place to place, or causing whirlpools in the surround- ing water, drag towards their mouths the tiny victims upon which they feed. The vegetable forms above mentioned are known to botanists under the names of Diatoms,t Desmidice,t Conferve, &e. The slime- like animals are called by zoologists Rhizopods, while the ciliated forms are distinguished by the appella- tion of Infusoria, These, then, are the usual occupants of a drop of water, the contemplation of which cannot but excite the curiosity of the spectator, and call forth his warmest admiration. Curiosity will, however, per- * Cilium, an eye-lash. + Siarouwos, diatomos, divided. t decuds, desmos, a band. j CLASSIFICATION. 1] haps assume a deeper interest, when he still more closely examines their history. There are in Sweden certain extensive tracts of country entirely composed of an exceedingly fine earth, which, from its whiteness and from an idea extensively prevalent, that it possesses nutritious properties, has long been distinguished by the name of Bergmehl, or “ mountain meal.” A little of this earth, for long ages trodden under foot, submitted to the modern microscope, has revealed itself to be FIG, 3.—VEGETABLE FORMS OF MICROSCOPIC ORGANISMS. entirely resolvable into minute shells of exquisite beauty and delicacy of sculpture. These shells, being composed almost entirely of pure flint (szea), are almost indestructible, and to a practised eye are at once seen to have belonged to vegetable organisms 12 RHIZOPODA. resembling those represented in our engraving (Fig. 2,5), which must have lived for ages in some quiet lake, whose waters covered the vast area where they are found, and as they perished, sinking to the bottom, left their shells records of their history. CHAPTER IL. Ruizopopa* (Root-footed animalcules). To return to our magnified drop of water. We have already described the Ameba diffluenst (Fig. 2, 6), as resembling a film of ever-changing cloud, so soft in its consistence that it is but a little removed from fluidity. It is not firm enough even to be called jelly: it may almost be compared to a drop of gum-water or mucus, and yet it is endowed with very extraordinary capa- bilities. It evidently has a voluntary power of moving from place to place, and its mode of doing so is not inaptly expressed by the epithet “ diffluens,” flowing- away, by which it is distinguished. On first perceiving one of these creatures under the field of the micro- scope, it will be found perhaps contracted into a shapeless mass resembling a small patch of mucilage, and offering little to attract attention; while we watch it, however, it begins to move, spreads out into a shape something like that represented in our fizure, and we are almost tempted to make a drawing of so strange a creature. Meanwhile, it flows into another outline, spreading like water spilled upon a greasy board, and so it glides from place to place, and form to form. ‘This microscopic film is hungry too, and eats; but having neither mouth nor stomach, it is not at first easy to conjecture how such a feat can be accomplished. Its body is generally seen to con- tain the shells of Navicule (Fig 4), and other similar * 6.€a, rhiza, a rcot: mous, r0dds, pous, podos, a foot. &.0:87), umoibe, change. RHIZOPODA. 0 organisms; it does not seem to swallow them, but overwhelms them with its semifluid substance, and Fig. 4.—AMGBA. as it passes over them, dissolves whatever is digestible, and then casts forth their empty shells. The sea-side visitor, who will be at the trouble of placing a little sea-weed, fresh gathered from the rocks, in a glass vessel filled with its native element, and allowing it to remain for a few hours undisturbed, will occasionally find, clinging to the sides of the olass, filmy patches, so small as to be inconspicuous, except with the assistance of a lens, which change their form and glide alone with slow but equable movement. When magnified, their central body will be seen to throw out threads resembling filaments of melted glass, which spread like roots in all di- rections, and as these creatures seem to use their 14 RHIZOPODA. root-like filaments as feet, they are named Rhizopods —that is, root-footed animals. They are, in truth, marine forms of the Ameba we have just been de- scribing, from which, however, they differ in being Fig. 5.—RHIZOPODS. able to construct for themselves shelly coverings. perforated by innumerable little orifices or foramzna, through which their root-lke filaments (Pseudo- odia)* are protruded ; from this circumstance, the shells and the creatures inhabiting them have been named Foraminifera.t Minute as these shells are, invisible for the most part to ordinary vision, the microscope reveals many of them to be structures of exquisite beauty, emulating in their shape the * False feet. Wevdis, pseudes, false ; mous, pous, a foot. + Foramen, am orifice ; fero, I carry. RHIZOPODA. 15 model forms of ancient vases, and presenting an elaborate sculpture surpassing that of Chinese carvings in their decoration. It is not, however, from their beauty, but from the numbers in which they exist, that these and similar organisms derive their chief importance. Few visitors at the sea-side can have failed to observe that often in the summer-time the waves are lumin- ous, and shine with phosphorescent splendour. The ripples as they totter towards the beach sparkle with scintillations, and the crested waves blaze with a pale but brilliant light. The fisherman, who from his boat surveys the lambent flames that play around him, seems to float in fire. The mariner can trace his path by the long wake of light that streams behind like the tram of some vast sky-rocket, or looking from the prow, he sees his vessel as she breasts the waves, dash from her bows broad sheets of liquid splendour. As morning dawns the fairy vision vanishes, nor can the keenest eye perceive in the translucent element the tiny lamps that caused the grand illumination. Night comes again, again the sea, lit up, repeats the glorious lesson. Not a breeze sweeps over its tranquil surface but evokes a flash of splendour that extends for miles, and emulates the lightnings of the skies ; and so from day to day the gallant ship sails on, from week to week, from month to month, the mighty ocean, through its wide extent, renews each night the impressive spectacle. If we inquire into the cause of a phenomenon thus widely extended, it will be found in every part of the world to depend upon the presence of infinite myriads of living atoms resembling those we are discussing. On taking a glass of the sea-water thus made luminous, it will be found that every sparkle is a brilliant point of living substance such as forms the Rhizopods described above (Fig. 6). We have as yet spoken only of the simplest of these animals, but by far the greater portion of the 16 RHIZOPODA. Foraminifera are composite fabrics. The Rotalia * (Fig. 5), for example, might almost be taken for the Fic. 6.—FIGURE OF NOCTILUCA MILIARIS, shell of a microscopic nautilus, nay, has been so mis- taken even by the most eminent zoologists. These exquisite structures consist of a series of compart- ments, in the interior of which the semifluid sub- stance of the animal is lodged. The walls of each of these compartments are perforated with innumer- able holes, through which the slender glass-like fila- ments protrude in all directions to a considerable distance, so that the shell in which the main body of the creature is encased, has somewhat the appearance of a spider sitting in the centre of its web. These semifluid filaments (Pseudo-podia) also con- stitute the prehensile organs of these simple beings. Any small objects serviceable for nutriment with which they come in contact are laid hold of apparently by the viscidity of their surface, and except they are animaleules of considerable size and power, they are unable to escape. When a filament has so seized its * Rota, a wheel. RHIZOPODA, 7 prey, adjoining fibres aggregate about it and coalesce, a current of the viscous substance, so to speak, sets in towards the spot, and very soon envelopes the object in a thin film. ‘The prey being thus secured, .the glairy cords shorten themselves and draw it towards the chief mass or body of the animal, or else the object seized continues in the same place, and the whole organic substance moves towards it, — the result being in either case that it is engulphed and dissolved. The size of the Rhizopods is exceedingly minute. Ehrenberg describes Amcebee, the dimensions of which range from ggl5oth to 75th of an inch. The largest fresh water forms only attain a diameter of 5nd part of an inch, whilst the largest marine species, which are just visible to the naked eye, do not measure more than from 3th to 4th of an inch. Notwithstanding their minuteness, however, the reader will now begin to perceive that these humble creatures, diffused in countless multitudes through every sea, and cased in shells of such exquisite work- manship, are by no means unimportant agents in the economy of Nature. Their numbers make up for the minuteness of their dimensions, and assiduously employed as they have been from age to age, we are not surprised to find that they, like the vegetable forms described in the last chapter, have been important agents in the construction even of extensive geological strata. The extraordinary abundance of foraminiferous shells in the sand of some sea-shores has been long observed ; Plancus, in 1739, counted, with the aid of a low magnifying power, 6,000 individuals in an ounce of sand gathered at Rimini, upon the shores of the Adriatic sea. D’Orbigny states that 3,840,000 exist in an ounce of sand from the Antilles; and Schultze counted 500 shells in the }th of a grain of sand collected from the mole of Gaeta on the shores of the Mediterranean. Ehrenberg describes finding chambered shells such as we have delineated both on the surface of the sea, and 18 RHIZOPODA. also on the bottom, even at a depth of 12,000 feet. From these great depths they are procured by soundings ; the sounding-lead, after being coated with grease, brings up attached to it the small particles with which it comes in contact. Numerous such soundings were taken by Sir James Ross in his Antarctic expedition, and have been - practised by others in different regions. Dr. Barclay records the results of a series of deep sea-soundings made in the Atlantic, over a considerable geographical area, from latitude 42° 4’ to latitude 54° 17’ at depths varying from 1,080 to 2,000 fathoms. ‘None of the soundings contain a particle of gravel, sand, or other unorganized matter. They all agree in being made up entirely of the shells of Foraminifera.” There is, there- fore, little doubt that the bottom of the ocean is in many localities covered, perhaps to considerable depths, by a sedimentary deposit, consisting principally of shells of this description, and which, were they raised to the surface, would constitute thick beds of incalculable ex- tent. In a fossil condition, the shells of the Foraminifera enter largely into the composition of the crust of the earth in every part of the world. They form by far the most important constituent of chalk wherever that sub- stance is met with. Dr. Barclay speaks of them as im- portantly concerned in the formation of the tertiary rocks of South Carolina, and adds, “they are still at work in countless thousands on that coast, filling up harbours, forming shoals, and depositing their shells to record the present state of the sea-shore as their predecessors, now entombed beneath Charlestown, have done with regard to ancient oceans.” In many parts of the world the accumulation of these shells has given origin to widely-extended strata, many hundreds of feet in thickness. Mountains of Nummulitic limestone, entirely composed of them, extend through the Alps and Northern Italy, and are met with in Greece, Syria, and Northern India The Mokkadam range, from which the stone used in building the Pyramids was obtained, are simply masses of foraminiferous shells. According to M. Deshayes, there is found in most of the stone from which Paris is built, as large a proportion of the shells of Foraminifera as of particles of sand, so that it may be said, almost without exaggeration, that even Paris owes RHIZOPODA. 19 the materials of which it is constructed to the persistent agency of these microscopic organisms. Thus we perceive a film of living slime—for such essen- tially these creatures seem to be, moulded into a thousand beauteous forms, labouring incessantly—has silently pro- duced results on which we can but gaze with awe. CHAPTER ITI. SPONGES.* THERE seems to be little relationship between the Foraminifera we have just been speaking of and the race of sponges—in fact, few things could be pointed out more unlike each other. Infinitely =) = =-@ > =] ZI; b1G,. 7.—SrONGES. diversified in their shape, the sponges, as we all know, are distributed along the shores of every * Spongia, a sponge. 20 _ RHIZOPODA. climate ; some overspread the surface of the rocks like living carpets, others expand in fan-like growths of softest texture; some are cylindrical in shape, while others emulate the forms of branching shrubs; others, again, are moulded into cups and giant gob- lets, many festoon the walls of rocky caverns, or depend, like living stalactites, from wave-worn roofs. Examined with a microscope, however, a living sponge is found to differ but little from the organisms we have just been contemplating. No matter what its form, the living portion of a sponge consists of a soft slime that coats each fibre of its structure, and this soft slime, when highly magnified, resolves itself entirely into particles so like the Amceba in their characters and attributes, that they are evidently of the same nature, the main distinction being that, whereas in the case of the Foraminifera, they secrete a calcareous shell, the sponges construct a common framework, over which the liv- ing film is spread. This frame- work varies in its composition in different kinds of sponge. Sometimes it is made up of tubes of horn, forming a net- work interlaced in all direc- tions; such is the common sponge of commerce, which owes its resiliency and its eapability of absorbing and retaining fluids, qualities which render it so useful in domestic economy, to the construction of its horny skeleton. Instead of tubes of horn, the sponges usually found upon our coasts deposit in their substance crystals of pure flint, which vary much in form in different kinds, while a third group strengthen their framework with calea- reous spicula of variable shape. Three different kinds of sponge may, therefore, grow close to each other, bathed alike with the same sea-water, yet they elaborate therefrom products so different as horn, and flint, and lime, wherewith to build a fabric that supports the whole community. On viewing a living Fic. 8.— FRAMEWORK OF SPONGE, RHIZOPODA. yA sponge in sea-water with care and attention, it is found to exhibit a constant and energetic action, FIG. 9.—FLINT CRYSTALS OF SPONGE. which sufficiently shows its vitality. Dr. Grant's account of the discovery of this motion in a native species is very intcresting. “T put a small branch of a spongia coalita with some sea-water into a watch-glass, under the micro- scope, and on reflecting the light of a candle through the fluid, I soon perceived that there was some intestine motion in the opaque particles floating through the water. On moving the watch-glass, so as to bring one of the apertures on the side of the sponge fully into view, I beheld, for the first time, the splendid spectacle of the living fountain vomiting forth from a circular cavity an impetuous torrent of ink See h / x oh ts HH wc } "g ; ree Pa ees latin tent ott 14! My oe 4. Fic. 10.—SPONGE IN ACTION. liquid matter, and hurling along, in rapid succession, 22 RHIZOPODA. opaque masses, which it strewed everywhere around. The beauty and novelty of such a scene in the animal kingdom long arrested my attention; but after twenty-five minutes of constant observation, I was obliged to withdraw my eye from fatigue, without having seen the torrent for one instant change its direction, or diminish in the slightest degree the rapidity of its course. I continued to watch the same orifice at short intervals for five hours, some- times observing it for a quarter of an hour at a time; but still the stream rolled on with a constant and equal velocity.” The sponges perpetuate their race by a very curious mode of increase. At stated periods there — project from the interior of the larger canals, that traverse their substance in all directions, minute oval masses of jelly, which grow, till at length they are detached and driven out by the issuig currents into the surrounding water. One would naturally expect that such apparently helpless atoms would fall at once to the bottom; but in such a case how could the species be dispersed? Here we behold with wonder a beautiful Instance of providential care. A power of locomotion is conferred upon the offspring, which is not possessed by the parent sponge; for, whereas the latter is firmly rooted to the bottom, incapable of changing its place, the little germ is able to swim rapidly through the sea. This is effected by cilia, or minute hairs, with which one end of the pear-shaped gemmule is beset; these con- stantly keep up a rapid vibration, and thus row the embryo sponge from place to place, until it reaches a distant and suitable spot, where it quietly settles down, and soon takes the form peculiar to its species. Were we to inform our young readers that flints have been sponges, and that every flint wherewith, in many parts of the country, the roads are paved, and which, before the invention of lucifer matches, con- stituted almost the only means of obtaining fire, had grown at the bottom of the sea, rooted upon rocks, RHIZOPODA. a3 and sucking in the surrounding water through innu- merable pores upon their surface, which conveyed through every part of their soft texture materials for their subsistence, we could scarcely expect the asser- tion to be credited, at least, without considerable hesitation ; and yet no fact in natural history is more easily demonstrated. Not only do the fragments of flints examined under the microscope reveal the fossilized texture of the sponge, but not unfrequently the shells of the animalcules upon which they lived are found in their substance, and even portions of the sponge itself, as yet unpetrified, are often con- tained in their interior. Fig. 11.—HALICHONDRIA OCULATA.* * @As, hals, the sea ; xdvdpos, chondros, cartilage. 24 INFUSORIA. CHAPTER IV. Inrusoria* (Ciliated animalcules). RETURNING once more to our examination of the drop of water which has already furnished us with lessons of such interest, we find it still offering to our notice animalcules widely different in their COG.” ein o p\e \ pei bil (CP 3a js wsts4 Oy Fic, 12.—PARAMECIUM, &¢. structure from any that we have as yet encountered. They are all of them, however, distinguishable by one striking feature in their economy—namely, that * Met with in stagnant water. INFUSORIA. 25 they are propelled through the water by means of vibratile cilia, which are sometimes distributed over the entire surface of their bodies, while in others these wonderful organs are restricted to certain parts, more especially to the vicinity of the mouth. The possession of a mouth, as the reader will at once per- ceive, isin itself an important character, whereby they are broadly separated trom the mouthless Rhizopods. And when we add to this, that they are active in their movements and definite in their shape, we have said enough to insure their not bemg confounded with any of the creatures we have as yet examined. ‘The movements of the ciliated infusoria are exceedingly vivacious; they swim about with great activity, avoid- ing each other as they pass in their rapid dance, and evidently directing them motions with precision and accuracy. ‘Their instruments of locomotion are of various kinds: some are provided with stiff bristle- like appendages which are moveable, and perform in some measure the office of feet, and with little hooklets serving for attachment to foreign bodies. But the most important locomotive agents are, as has been already stated, the ea with which they are invariably furnished. Their movements never seem to tire. At whatever period of the night they may be examined, they are always found as actively at work as in the day-time ; they never sleep. The cilia are intrusted with another function equally important—viz., the procuration of food: for those situated in the vicinity of the mouth, in which position they are always most evident, produce by their vibration, currents in the surrounding water, which bring to the mouth smaller animalcules, or particles of vegetable matter that may be floating in the neighbourhood, thus msuring an abundant supply of nutriment which, without such assistance, it would be impossible for these living atoms to obtain. The food thus procured is at once swallowed, and accu- mulates in little pellets in the interior of the semifluid substance of their bodies, giving rise to an appearance C 26 INFUSORIA. which misled Ehrenberg to suppose that these tiny organisms were possessed of numerous stomachs— hence they were formerly named Polygastria,* or many-stomached animalcules. Fic. 13 —FIGURE OF SWAN-NECK AND ITS DIVISIONS. By no means the least remarkable part of the history of the Infusoria is their mode of propagation. This is usually accomplished by the spontaneous division of the adult animalcule into two or more portions, each of which in a short time becomes in every respect a complete individual. We remember in our boyish days hearing of some strange machine for grinding old people young again, and smiled at the idea, little thinking that the conversion of old animals into young ones was, in sober truth, one of the commonest operations of nature. The body of an animalcule about to propagate in this manner, becomes at first slightly elongated, and a lime, more transparent than the rest, is seen to cross its middle portion; a constriction next becomes apparent at each extremity of the line indicated, which, becoming more decided and growing gradually deeper, at length divides the animalcule into two halves, only connected with each other by a narrow isthmus, and as this grows thinner and thinner, a slight effort on the part of either of the now nearly distinct portions is sufficient to sever the frail bond of union and complete the separation. In some elongated species * rodvs, polus, many; yaoTtp, yaorpds, gaster, gastros, the sto- mach, INFUSORIA. page / this fissure is effected in a longitudinal direction, the separation gradually proceeding from the posterior to the anterior portion of the body. Examples of both these modes of increase are delineated in the appended engravings (Figs. 12 and 138). Fic. 14._FIGURE OF COLEPS AND CHILOMONAS. If the organization of these animalcules were as simple as it was supposed to be a few years ago, when they were thought to be mere specks of living jelly imbibing nourishment through all parts of the soft texture of their bodies, this kind of spontaneous division would be a very simple matter, and every step of the process easily understood : a little observa- tion, however, will show that there are circumstances attending this operation of a very inexplicable cha- racter. Some species, as for example, Prorodon teres,* represented in our engraving (lig. 12, 4), are furnished with a very curious mouth surrounded by a cylinder composed of horny teeth, through the agency of which their food is seized and swaliowed. Should a deed of separation, therefore, have to be drawn up preparatory to the act of division, it might be a puzzling question for the Infusorial lawyers to settle which half should have the mouth. Even this difficulty has, however, been provided for; and, ac- cordingly, a new mouth and a new dental cylinder is seen to sprout from the hinder half, before the * mpapa, prora, fore part; dddus, 6ddvros, odous, odontos, a tooth. GZ 28 INFUSORIA. animal, originally one flesh, proceeds to divorce itself into two. Fig. 15.— FIGURE OF VORTICELLA. This mode of propagation, in which multiplication and division go hand in hand, is amazingly pro- ductive: and, indeed, far surpasses in fertility any other with which we are acquainted. Every school- boy is familiar with the celebrated problem about the nails in a horse’s shoe, or the squares of a chess- board, where the results attaimable by duplicative multiplication soon pass ordinary numerical ex- pressions. Let any of our readers try the same problem with one of these animalcules. An in- dividual, if well supplied with food, has been observed to divide at least once in twenty-four hours. So that in a fortnight, allowing the product of each division to multiply at the same rate, sixteen thousand three hundred and eighty-four would be produced from the same stock, and in four weeks two hundred and sixty-eight millions, four hundred and_ thirty-five thousand four hundred and fifty-six, would be the astounding progeny derived from a single animalcule. INFUSORIA. 29 We feel, therefore, but little surprise that with such powers of propagation, these minute creatures soon become diffused in countless myriads through the waters adapted to their habits. Nor is this all: the reproduction of these prolific animals is sometimes effected in various ways, and not unfrequently the same individual is found to propagate by two or three different modes—thus, many species are multiplied by buds which sprout like those of plants from the surface of their bodies, and speedily attaining the shape of their parent, . . =) . ° > . . develop the cilia characteristic of their species. Fic, 16.—FIGURE OF VAGINICOLA, Neither is it difficult to understand the necessity for such amazing fecundity. These moving atoms are the source from which innumerable animals derive their sustenance, which, in their turn, become the prey of creatures higher in the scale of life; they, therefore, form the basis of that mighty pyramid which bears upon its apex Man himself. They are the boundaries between life and death, the steady barrier of the organic world, and although until a few years ago, man was ignorant of their very existence, they have not the less been actively employed since first creation dawned. As individuals, they are weak enough; but in their countless legions they become, perhaps, the most important agents in the grand economy of nature. A grain of sand is but a de- 30 HYDROZOA. spicable atom viewed alone, but when upon the beach these sands present themselves arrayed in their broad phalanx, where can we obtain a stronger bul- wark to oppose the raging storm ? CHAPTER V. Hyprozoa.* “Tn the army of Xerxes there was a certain race called Sagartians. The mode of fighting practised by these men was this:—When they engaged an enemy, they threw out a rope with a noose at the end ; whatever any one caught, either horse or man, he dragged towards himself, and those that were entangled in the coils he speedily put to death.”— HERODOTUS Vii. 89. Never was there more truth than in the old saying, “there is nothing new under the sun.” Who would have supposed, while reading of the strange feats performed by the Brazilian with his lasso, by the aid of which he literally takes the bull by the horns, or trips up the fleetest steed, that the same weapon was used ages ago to catch Greeks by the neck, instead of horses; much less could we have imagined that an onslaught apparently so uncouth and barbarous was the mode of warfare of a very considerable proportion of the animal creation ; and yet, seriously speaking, this is the case, the only difference being that the lassos employed by mankind are clumsily made of twisted leather, whereas their prototypes present a delicacy and refinement of structure, which it requires the utmost penetration of the microscope to reveal. There is an animal easily obtainable in summer-time by simply scraping off the slimy surface from the sticks or leaves that float on almost every pond, called * Hydra, the Hydra; (éov, zoon, an animal. HYDROZOA. 31 The Hydra,* the history of which is so curious and important, as to demand our special notice. This little creature resembles a small portion of green transparent thread, fastened by one end to the stems of water-plants, while the other is fur- nished with several ra- diating filaments of ex- treme tenuity, which float freely in all directions ; should one of the nume- rous water-fieas, or any other minute animal, come in contact with these floating filaments, though it touch but the tip of one of them, it is at once arrested in its : ee. ae course, and in spite of I \\ | . \ | Un all its strugeles dragged a aes oo cole ( \ oa c | to the central mouth, Pla Cy which opens to receive at \3 a the helpless prey. | le | { | | ! The body of the Hydra consists simply of alittle gelatinous bag, the mar- ¢ ae gins of which are fur- ¢ (gies is nished with filaments em- / oa ployed as tentacles, whilst \ at the opposite end there | is a little sucker where- \ Fe by it fixesitselftoforeign ~~--* cpit% objects. The microscope reveals the substance of Fig. 17.—LONG-ARMED HYDRA, these creatures to be composed entirely of a transpa- rent glairy matter, in which granules of slightly greater opacity may be observed to float. Not- withstanding this simplicity of structure, however, * Hydra, a fabled monster that reproduced its heads as fast as they were cut off. oo HYDROZOA. they are able to move from place to place by fixing alternately the extremities of their body after the manner of a leech, and they are sensible to the presence of light, which they always approach. But their most wonderful attribute is that of beng able indefinitely to reproduce any part of their body which may be cut off. If a Hydra be cut into pieces, each individual fragment, however small, will speedily become a perfect animal, in all respects like the original, the parts which were defective bemg pro- duced in their proper situation. If with fine scissors we slit one half-way down, the result will be a Hydra with two mouths, each surrounded by the usual number of tentacles; if these be again and again and again divided, each division will become a new head, thus forming a realization of the fable of the Lernean FIG. 18.—HYDRA VIVIDIS. Hydra. Every one of the tentacles of this newly- formed monster will capture food, and all the mouths will devour it. If two be cut across, and the fore- part of one be applied to the hind part of the other, HYDROZOA. oD the two parts will unite and form a perfect Polype without leaving a scar. They may even be turned inside out like a glove without injury, and in this state will remain, that which was the external surface now being the stomach. The ordinary mode of increase is by the young animals budding from the side of the adult, but previously to their separation, the offsets themselves often send out side-buds, so that several generations may sometimes be seen branching from one parent; nineteen young of various ages have been seen thus connected, their numerous long tentacles twining about in inextricable confusion. To the earlier observers of the habits of the Hydre, nothing could be more mysterious than their power of seizing and retaining active prey; but this is now readily explained. The whole surface of their ten- tacula is densely provided with a set of organs that appear, under high powers of the microscope, to be minute oval vesicles, something like little soda-water bottles, in each of which is coiled up a long and delicate filament, not unaptly compared to the lassc used by Brazilian horsemen. The neck of each vesicle is furnished with three sharp spines, which, when the arms are prepared to seize the prey, become erect and prominent. ‘The mode of action of these weapons is as simple as the result is efficacious. ‘The “lasso-threads,” with their viscid extremities, speedily involve the seized victim in their tenacious folds, and closely bind it against the spines with which the skin of the Hydra is studded; these, probably, in their turn, become prehensile in- struments; and, moreover, apparently form an appa- ratus of poison fangs of a very deadly character, tor it is observable that an animal once seized by the Hydra, even should it escape from its clutches, almost immediately perishes. We have dwelt at some length upon the history of the Hydra, partly on account of the interest which attaches to an animal so simple in its apparent C3 34 HYDROZOA. structure and yet so formidably armed, but more especially because it is the type of a large class of beautiful creatures, to which we must now beg the attention of the young naturalist. The Hydre, as we have seen, are capable of loco- motion, and wander about from place to place, but a vast majority of the animals most nearly allied to it in organization in their adult condition are fixed to some foreign object upon which they grow. The Club Hydre (Coryne)* for example (Fig. 19), are always found growing upon the surface of some shell or stone, to which they seem rooted by the extremity of a Fic. 19.—coRYNE: a b, magnified; ¢, natural size. horny tube in which they live. In these creatures the upper part of the body is dilated into a kind of club- shaped head, armed with tentacula, which, instead of being arranged in a single circle around the mouth, are distributed irregularly over the exterior in such a manner that, at first sight they seem as though they could be of * kopvyn, korune, a club. HYDROZOA. 35 little use in procuring food. On watching a living specimen, however, their efficiency is soon rendered manifest. No sooner does a passing animal impinge against one of these filaments than it is seized upon by the lasso-threads, with which they are armed, and held with mortal grasp. The mouth of the Coryne is not a simple orifice, but a protrusible and flexible proboscis, the extremity of which can be directed towards any tentacle whereunto the prey happens to be adherent, and thus the creature feeds itself exactly in the same manner as the hydra described above. The Tube Hydra (Tubularia),* constructed very much after the same plan as the preceding, resides in a slender horny tube re- wan sembling a straw full of mucilaginous pith, rooted on a solid substance be- low, and crowned by a living head, resembling a fine scarlet blossom with a double row of tentacula, and often with pendent clusters like grapes. Though perfect as a single stem, it is seldom found solitary, from ten to one hundred and fifty stalks are generally crowded together, and con- stitute a brilliant group, too gorgeously coloured to be effectively portrayed by art. The tallest specimens rise thirteen inches high, and are gene- rally found on dead shells. The heads, or Hydre, are not retractile into the tube; but, strange to say, are Fic. 20.—ricure or tTUbe- continually falling off, and are re- = “4™4 PN. placed. Six have been seen to be thus reproduced, one after the other, in six months, Dwelling among the ravenous inHabitants of the deep, the delicate organs of these defenceless beings are thus subject to continual de- struction ; but what if they are mutilated, torn asunder, or divided? They again rise unhurt. Wounds or lacera- tions do not impair the vital principle, and thus abundance is secured—the widow’s cruse is constantly replenished. The Sea-wreaths (Sertularice){ are known to every sea- side visitor. In these elegant productions the stem is * Tubulus, a little tube. + Sertula, a little wreath. 36 HYDROZOA. generally branched into innumerable arborescent forms, so plant-like in their aspect, that when gathered on the beach, they are not unfrequently confounded by our lady- friends, with sundry vegetable growths of kindred appear- ance, under the name of ‘“‘sea-weeds;”’ and sometimes spread by fairy fingers, and laid out in tasteful groups, they seem themselves pathetically to join in the petition so often appended to them by their fair collectors,— “@O call us not weeds, but flowers of the sea!” Beautiful, however, as these ‘‘sea-weeds” are when thus embalmed, we, for our part, prefer to see them living in their native element, where they present a spectacle of matchless interest, viewed even with an ordinary micro- scope. When thus examined, they are found to be made up of branching tubes, along the sides of which are ranged in close array little cells or cups sometimes many thousands in number. Each cell contains a hungry hydra, with its arms spread out in search of food, ready to seize and drag into its mouth whatever offers in the way of aliment. ‘These Polype-cells are variously disposed 6 rs HEE set WELLES S Vee S x RM Rhee. ALLE 4 73 V ab Dialer ne eee pheascgt EERE. ME Fig. 21.— FIGURE OF SERTULARIA OPERCULATA. in different species, but they all agree in being sessile, that is, closely sitting on the branchlet where they grow. Dispersed among these cells, at certain periods of the year, others are seen of different shape; these are the seed-cups, one of which is represented in our figure. In HYDROZOA. at these elegant vases are formed the germs of their in- numerable progeny, which, when mature, swim forth like little bands of jelly (planulew) covered externally with countless cilia, enabling them to roam at large in the sur- rounding water, till they meet with a fit resting-place whereon to settle down, and found another colony as wonderful as that from which they sprung. Closely resembling the sea-wreaths—so much so, indeed, that they might be easily be mistaken the one for the other—are The Bell Corallines (Campanularia),* a specimen of which is represented in the appended figure (Fig. 22). There are, however, important dif- ferences between the two fami- lies, which it will be necessary to explain. In the Sertularians, as we pointed out, the Polype- cells are sessile, closely sitting on the stem. In the Campa- nularians every Polype-cup is raised on a small stalk or pedicle, so as to resemble very closely a little wine-glass, the horny stem being ringed at in- tervals, thus giving a certain flexibility to all the branchlets. The little vases, where the young are formed, are always found to sprout just from the angle where the Polype-cells join to the central stem, and are much larger and of different shape. The most important difference, however, is, that in — this family the young, instead of being ciliated germs (pla- nule), are active organisms, so unlike their parents, as to be quite unrecognisable as belonging to the same stock ; insomuch, indeed, that before describing them, it will be necessary to make the student acquainted with another series of beautiful creatures that await our notice. oe NS ——t- ea a Mowat CMT OT INI TS : Fic. 22 —FIGURE OF LAOMEDEA. Acalephe.j—The ocean in every climate swarms * Campanula, a little bell. + axadhon, akalephe, a nettle. 38 HYDROZOA. with infinite multitudes of animals, which, from their minuteness and transparency, are almost as imper- ceptible as the infusoria themselves. All, however, are not equally minute, some grow to a large size, and various forms of these are familiar to the inhabit- ants of every beach, upon which, when cast up by the waves, they lie, like masses of jelly, melting, as it were, in the sun, exhibiting but few traces of that elaborate structure, which more careful examination discovers them to possess. Their uncouth appear- ance has gained for them various appellations by which they are generally known, as Sea-jelly, Sea- blubber, or Jelly-fishes; whilst, from disagreeable Fic, 23,—SEA-BLUBBER. sensations produced by handling most of them, they have been called Sea-nettles, Stingers, or Stangers. Their faculty of stinging is, indeed, the most promi- nent feature they exhibit, so that their names in almost all languages are derived from this cireum- stance. They were known to the older naturalists by the title of Urtice Marine, and the scientific appellation, whereby they are generally designated, is of similar import. The forms of these gelatinous creatures cannot well be distinguished when thus cast up by the waves; but if we look over the side of a ship at anchor, or take an excursion in a boat, we shall see many floating freely in their own ele- ment, and displaying all the elegance and beauty of HYDROZOA. 39 their structure. The species most commonly met with assume the form of a mushroom, or umbrella- shaped disk, composed of transparent jelly. They move by alternately expanding and contracting their bodies, and swim with their upper surface directed forwards, while their fringes and tentacles follow behind, “like streamers long and gay.” The Long-tailed Stinger (Cyanea* capillata) of our seas is a most formidable creature, and the terror of tender-skinned bathers. With its broad, tawny, festooned and scalloped disk, often a full foot or even more across, it flaps its way through the yielding waters, and drags after it a long train of riband-like arms, and seemingly inter- minable tails, marking its course, when the body is far away from us. Once tangled in its trailing “hair,’’ the unfortunate, who has reck- lessly ventured across the monster's path, soon writhes in prickly torture. Every struggle but binds the poisonous threads more firmly round his body, and then there is no escape, for when the winder of the fatal net finds his course impeded by the terrified human wrestling in his coils, seeking no combat with the mightier biped, he casts loose his envenomed arms, and swims away. The amputated weapons, severed from their parent body, vent vengeance on the cause of their destruction, and sting as fiercely as if their original proprietor gave the word of attack—Pror. ForBes, . The Tube-mouthed Sarsia (Sarsia + \ E tubulosa) (Fig. 24), is a species of \ “ie smaller dimensions, which, as it floats gracefully along, might be supposed, sylph-like, to live on light, and quaff the ether, but is in reality by no ; means addicted to such scanty diet. ¥ A few of them being kept by Professor = / Forbes in a jar of salt water, in / which were some small shrimps, de- / voured these animals, so much more highly organized than themselves, vora- ; ciously, apparently enjoying the de- struction of the upper classes with a i truly democratic relish. One of them even attacked, and commenced swal- / lowing, a medusa, quite as good ag iv itself. An animal that can pout out yr its mouth to twice the length of its body, and stretch its stomach to pro- portionate dimensions, must, indeed, be a triton among the minnows, * , Eee ahs kuaveos, kuaneos, dark, + Sars, a proper name. ‘= Fic. 24.—FIGURE OF SARSIA. AQ HYDROZOA. and avery terrific one too. Yet is this ferocious creature one of the most delicate inhabitants of the ocean, and a very model of ten- derness and elegance.—Pror. FORBEs. In many species, as in that represented in Fig. 25, the margin of the transparent disk is fringed with short and slender tentacles, each of which springs from a fleshy bulb, wherein is set a speck of deep purple colour, thought to be an eye, giving an ap- pearance as though the body was surrounded with a circlet of gems. On taking it into a dark room and striking the glass, every purple eye becomes lighted into a phosphoric flame, and again and again the crown of light may be made to flash forth, but less brilliantly than at first, until at length each tiny lamp, after sparkling for a moment, wanes, and all is dark again; and at last it refuses to shine any more. These bell-shaped Acalephs are ex- ceedingly prolific. Their usual mode of increase, as will be explained £ further on, is by means of eggs, or cili- £/} , ated gemmules; nevertheless, there \jé are some of them which, like the Hydra, are propagated by offshoots ine. 25.—r1uvee oF that spring as buds from various parts = *#4PMANTIAS. of the body, with which they remain connected like branches issuing from a plant. “ Fancy,” says Pro- fessor Forbes, ‘an elephant with a number of little elephants sprouting from his shoulders, bunches of tusked monsters hanging, epaulette-fashion, from his flanks, in every stage of advancement. On his right shoulder, a youthful chuny, with head, trunk, toes, no legs, and a shapeless body; on the left, an infant elephant, better grown, and struggling to get away, but as yet fast by the tail, and incapable of liberty and free action. ‘The comparison may seem grotesque and absurd, but it really expresses what continually occurs among these Meduse.* It is true that the * The Acalephs are frequently called “ Medusx,”’ their stinging appendages being compared to the snakes on Medusa’s head. HYDROZOA. 4] latter are minute; but wonders are not the less wonderful for being packed in a small compass, A whale is not above a minnow for his mere bigness.” It was, doubtless, a brave attempt of the adventurer who first dared to trust himself in a boat upon the sur- face of the ocean, neither is it difficult to imagine the trembling confidence with which he framed his rude bark, and hoisted the rough sail of mat or canvas to the favouring breeze, following the course of some ereat river, the Kuphrates or the Tigris, till he reached the sea, vaunting himself upon his ingenuity ; and yet, to his astonishment, he must have found, dancing before him on the sun-lit wave, a boat, far more beautiful than that he had contrived, with mast, and sail, and ballast, all complete. The Sallee-man (Velella* scaphoideas, as it is prettily named in Latin, consists of a transparent disk of purest jelly, supported by a delicate plate of firmer texture, lodged in its interior; upon its upper surface there is raised a mast, a thin, broad film of cartilage, on which is spread a sail, worthy to waft along a fairy queen; while Fic. 26 —VELELLA. from beneath hang polype-like appendages that fish for food. ‘To perfect so beautiful a contrivance, in Rataria, a kindred species, the crest, is found to contain fibrous threads, apparently of a muscular nature, by the contractions of which the sail can be lowered or elevated at the pleasure of the little mariner. Perhaps there are few animals more beautiful than The Globe Beroe (Cydippet Pileus) (Fig. 27); if placed in a glass of clear sea-water, it looks like a sphere of the purest ice, from which can be protruded two long tentacles, each of which is furnished along one side with a series of spirally-twisting filaments. Stretching from * Velella, a little sail; scaphoidea, like a boat. + Cydippe, the name of a goddess. 492 HYDROZOA. pole to pole of this translucent little orb, like lines of longitude upon a globe, and placed at equal distances, are eight broad bands of more consistence than the other portion of the body. On each of these Fic , 27.—CYDIPPE. bands are placed thirty or forty paddles, exactly comparable in their shape to the floats upon the paddle-wheels of a steamboat; and in like manner by means of these the little creature rows itself along. Man to move his wheels must have much cumbersome machinery— the furnace, and the boiler, and the herculean arm, that makes the enginery revolve. Nature wants none of these encumbrances; her paddles are themselves alive, and move at will with such degree of force as may be needed, either at once or singly, or in groups, work- ing with mutual consent in any way required. Thus do they all row equally; the little Beroe shoots meteor-like along, or if a few relax their energy, wheels round in broad gyrations, or revolves upon its axis with inimitable ease and grace. Neither are nature’s steamboats left without the means of anchoring. Whoever has been on board one of our sea-going leviathans must have been sur- prised to see the massive anchors and the tons of rope or iron cable coiled up in the hold, the labouring capstan and the mighty gear required to run them out or heave them up. With all this cumbrous load nature dispenses. The Beroe, when it chooses, can put forth from one end of its body what appear like filaments of molten glass, which, as we watch them, lengthen, as it were by magic, and from their sides unfold transparent tendrils, like the tendrils of a HHYDROZOA. 43 vine, which twining round some foreign object, hold the little bark secure. When no longer wanted, shrinking back into itself, this apparatus vanishes from view, leaving no trace of its existence. Minuter forms of these Beroes throng the icy seas in countless myriads, and their abundance and ex- ceeding beauty have attracted the attention of all northern voyagers. Great shoals of them are there met with, discolourmg the water for a vast extent. Scoresby observed, that the colour of the Green- land sea varies from ultramarine blue to olive green, and from the purest transparency to striking opacity, appearances which are not transitory but permanent. The green semi-opaque water mainly owes its singu- lar aspect to minute Beroes and Infusorial animal- cules. It is calculated to form one-fourth part of the Greenland seas, between the parallels 74° and 80°. It is liable to alterations in its position, from the action of currents, but it is always renewed near certain situations from year to year. The whales Fic. 28.— FOOD OF THE WHALE: , Limacina helicina ; 2, 3, 4, Meduse; 5, Clio borealis. throng in this opaque water, for to them it is a good wholesome , soup, nourishing enough, as may be judged from the following curious calculation :— “The number of Meduse,” writes Mr. Scoresby, ‘“ in the olive green water was found to be immense. They were about one-fourth of an inch asunder. In this proportion a cubic inch of water must contain 64; 44 HYDROZOA. a cubic foot, 110,592; a cubic fathom, 23,887,872, and a cubical mile about 23,888,000,000,000,000! From soundings made in the situation where these animals were found, it is probable that the sea is upwards of a mile in depth; but whether these substances occupy the whole depth is uncertain. Provided, however, the depth to which they extend be but two hundred and fifty fathoms, the above immense number of one species may occur in a space two miles square. It may give a better conception of the amount of Medusz in this extent, if we caleu- late the length of time that would be requisite with a certain number of persons for counting this num- ber. Allowing that one person could count a million in seven days, which is barely possible, it would have required that eighty thousand persons should have started at the creation of the world to complete the enumeration at the present time.” The Medusze mn question were Beroes, called “ Fountain-fishes” by the earlier voyagers to Spitz- bergen, who, mistaking the cause of the eight bands of iridescence gleaming along the sides of their bodies, fancied they were so many rivulets of lustrous water. In a third form of these beautiful creatures, hence denominated Hydrostatic Acalephe, the animal is supported in the water by a very peculiar organ, or set of organs, consist- ing of one or more bladders filled with air, which are appended to the body in various positions, so as to act as floats of sufficient buoyancy to sustain the creature upon the surface of the sea. The Physalia* (Fig. 29), known to sailors by the name of the Portuguese man-of-war, has this swimming apparatus single and of great proportionate size, so that when full of air it is exceedingly buoyant, and floats conspicuously upon the waves. It closely re- sembles, when seen from the deck of a vessel, a child’s mimic ship with its sails set; and excites the wonder of those who behold it, to see so delicate and frail a bark breasting the billows, as it seems that the first breaking sea must inevitably overwhelm and dash it to pieces. Yet there it floats, and dances now on tle curling * guoadis, phusalis, a bladder. HYDROZOA. 45 crest, now in the deep hollow, in spite of wind and wave. Often while passing just under the lee of the vessel, the sudden lull made by the interposition of so great a body between it and the wind, will cause it for a moment to lie flat on the water; but it instantly resumes its upright position. When examined closely, the animal is seen to con- sist ofan oblong transparent bladder, surmounted by a kind of crumpled crest of a delicate pink colour. From one end of the bottom of this bladder proceeds a large bunch of appendages of various shapes, which trail in the surrounding water. These hanging tentacles are of a very beautiful colour, and possess the power of stinging in a formidable degree.—Mr. Gossr. The long cables, or tentacula, can be thrown out to a great dis- tance, to twelve or even eighteen feet, and by the aid of these the Physaliz are able to capture any small fishes that may come in their reach ; and which, by the wonder- ful retractile power of these appen- dages, are speedily conveyed to the short suckers or mouths, whereby the prey is devoured. On placing the Physalia in a tub of water with some little fishes, they were immediately entangled in its grasp, and the tubes were soon seen to be filled with portions of the fish sucked into their interior. It is a very interesting sight to watch one of these animals thus placed in a large tub of water, sometimes coiling up its tentacles to within half an inch of their bladder-like support, and then darting them out with surprising velocity to the distance of several feet, entwining and benumbing their prey, and then dragging it towards their polype-like mouths.—Dr. Bennerr. And now, reverting to the animals described in the few last pages, so diverse in their forms, and in their attributes, the reader perhaps begins to wonder what relationship exists among them that they should thus be classified as members of the same ereat family; and this we must next proceed to explain. Any one who will examine, with a little industry, the surface of the stones, or shells, or rocks, upon the shore, just at the lowest point of the ebb-tide, will probably observe, clinging to their surface, numerous Fic. 29,—-PHYSALIS, 46 HYDROZOA—MEDUSIPAROUS REPRODUCTION. delicate white tufts or tassels, every one of which, examined closely, is found to be a hydra, scarcely different in its form or habits from that we have de- scribed in a preceding page. This marine hydra has received the name of Hydra tuba: it quite equals in voracity its fresh- water namesake, 1s equally formidable in its arma- ture of lJasso-threads, and is ordinarily multiplied in the same manner by buds or gemme that sprout from its surface: at certain seasons, however, the body of the Hydra tuba becomes considerably elongated, and divided by constrictions into numerous seg- ments, resembling a pile of saucers placed one within the other. Shortly, from the margin of each saucer, tentacles are seen to sprout, not resembling those of the hydra, but those of the meduse, and Fic. 30,—FIGURE OF TURRIS AND ITS YOUNG. after a little while these saucers, detaching them- selves successively from the top of the pile, swim away completely formed and active SR a Sv A 3 [ee NEN NER Nl eS NY : ue ot Fic. 32.—ALCYON. such it seems, which gradually expanding till it has at- tained its full development, begins to fish for prey in the surrounding water by means of the petal-like tentacles placed around its mouth. The food thus obtained, having been conveyed into the stomach of the Polype that caught it, and digested there, is absorbed into the D 5O ANTHOZOA. general mass of the Alcyon, which in this way derives its nourishment from the numerous sources of supply dis- tributed over its surface. Fic. 33.—FIGURE OF POLYPES OF ALCYON. The Polypes that are thus protruded will be found, on examination, to differ very materially in their structure from the Hydrz described in the preceding chapter. In the Anthozoa the Polypes, when expanded, are found to have eight hollow tentacles, the margins of which are fringed by a triple row of minute fleshy papille. These tentacles surround a central orifice, which is the mouth. Internally, we may perceive that each Polype is furnished with a distinct stomach, suspended in the centre of its body, not simply excavated in the gelatinous substance. The space between this stomach and the walls of the Polype is divided into compartments by membranous partitions, whereby the stomach is sus- pended and retained in its position. These differences of structure, which are sufficiently evident, at once enable us to distinguish the Hydrozoa from the Anthozoic Zoophytes. Madrepores,—It is evident that the Alcyons de- scribed above must necessarily be of very limited dimensions, else from the general softness of their bodies, they would be overwhelmed by their own weight. If, therefore, animals of similar organization ANTHOZOA. 51 are required constructed upon a larger scale, it be- comes needful that the whole fabric should be sup- ported upon some internal framework or scaffolding, of a nature sufficiently firm and unyielding to sus- tain the general body, and thus allow full room for the expansion of the flower-like Polypes. In a vast majority of instances, therefore, the common sub- stance of these creatures has the power of depositing earthy particles derived from the surrounding water, wherewith it builds a massive skeleton, presenting upon its surface innumerable little pits or cells wherein the Polypes lodge. Such are The Madrepores, whose skeletons form the ornaments of our cabinets, and of which a small fragment is deline- ated in the accompanying engraving (Fig. 34). Fic, 34.—MADREPORE, Many of these stony masses form branching clusters of exceeding elegance, nor is our admiration at all abated when we institute a closer examination of their structure. Take any one of all the million cells which crowd its surface, each tiny orifice in which each individual Polype of the countless host resides is in itself a microscopic gem, matchless for the regularity and beauty of its ar- rangement, and the mathematical precision with which it D2 5? ANTHOZOA. is built (Fig. 35). During the life of the Madrepore, every one of these minute cells gave issue or concealment Fic. 35.— ORIFICE OF MADREPORE, to a radiant Polype, which, like a living flower, protruded its eight arms in search of food. In the hot climates where these stone-making corals abound, they frequent shallow bays and sheltered spots, where they can enjoy the full influences of light and are unexposed to the agitation of the ocean: in such situa- tions the submarine rocks become gradually incrusted with their calcareous skeletons, and if left undisturbed, in the lapse of years successive generations deposit such large quantities of calcareous matter as to form beds of considerable thickness. In the formation of their massive skeletons, 1t must be remembered that life and death constantly keep pace with each other. The living mass, whilst growing at the top, is with concurrent progress perishing beneath, leaving the imperishable stone a still accumulating mound. With such a mode of increase, there is no necessary limit to the growth of these zoophytes. The rising mass may expand upwards, until it nears the surface of the sea, when death ensues simply from exposure, and not from any failure in its powers of life; still growing round the margin of the rock itself has formed, it spreads on every side. Old ocean raves to see a whole domain thus res- cued from his grasp, and piles upon the nascent island mud and weeds, which soon produce a vegetable soil; seeds brought by birds, and cocoa-palms take root upon the new-born surface, soon thick groves appear, inviting human occupation, and man comes at last to take posses- sion of a territory reared by the unaided efforts of these humble creatures. ANTHOZOA. 53 Could we raise one of these islands from the sea, we should find the coral reefs surrounding it like magnificent piles of artificial masonry resembling ramparts, perhaps, a hundred miles or more in circuit. Mr. Darwin has estimated the reefs of the Gambier eroup at their outer limits to be two thousand feet in thickness. Some of the coral beds in the Pacific Ocean have a length of twelve hundred and a breadth of three hundred and fifty or four hundred miles, while another on the Australian coast is at least twelve hundred miles long. ‘Thus, therefore, at the bottom of the sea we find materials plentiful enough wherewith to build, not islands only, but whole continents, which only want upheaving to the sur- face to become the abode of Man; and there is an agency at hand whereby they can be raised. He who has climbed Vesuvius, or scaled the lofty sides of thundering Etna, has had proof enough that there is fire beneath the ground he treads upon; and that this fire is widely spread, a single glance at any map will testify. Through Europe, Asia, and the mighty chain, * Where Andes, giant of the western star, With meteor standard to the winds unfurl’d, Looks from his throne of clouds o’er half the world,” each mountain tells us of volcanic power imprisoned deep beneath its basis. Suppose, for a moment, that through some wide rent the ocean found its way into this fiery gulph, and the imprisoned steam, pro- duced by such a dread catastrophe, putting its Titan shoulders to the roof, heaved up the bottom of the sea, with all its coral load; mountains huge would raise “ Their broad, bare backs into the sky,” from which new rivers would descend to fertilize another regicn of the globe. The Corals (Corailliwm)* properly so-called (Fig. 36), have their central axis, which supports the external living flesh, solid, without cells for the lodgment of the Polypes, * Corallum, coral. 54 ANTHOZOA. and variously branched. As a well-known example of this tribe of zoophytes, we may select for description the common red coral (Corallium rubrum), a branch of which is represented in our figure. The red coral is principally Fic. 36.—RED CORAL. obtained from the Mediterranean: when growing at the bottom of the sea, it consists of short branched stems in- crusted with the living flesh, whereby the central axis is produced, and which at intervals is studded with the flower-like mouths that give it nourishment. The central stemi or ‘‘ polypary,” as the stony axis is called, is of extreme hardness, and susceptible of a high polish, to which circumstance, together with its brilliant crimson hue, the estimation in which it is held is principally owing. The fishery for coral is carried on in boats. Each boat contains at least three men, who are provided with a massive wooden cross, to whose equal arms are attached strong hempen nets. A large stone placed upon the centre of the apparatus sinks it to the bottom, fre- quently to the depth of two hundred or three hundred feet. While one of the fishermen is employed in alter- nately raising and letting fall the machine, bumping the ground to break the coral stems, the others row the boat, so as to sweep over a certain space. After a time the ANTHOZOA. 55 whole is drawn up, and the fragments of coral which have been retained by the meshes of the net, are carefully removed. The Mare’s-tail Coral (Isis* Hippuris). The short and stunted trunks of the red coral, which in their shape resemble little oaks, although composed of brittle substances, are strong enough to resist the violence of the tempest; but in the taller and more slender forms, such brittleness would render them quite unfit to occupy the situations in which they grow, and they would be continually liable to be broken by the agitation of the sea, if, by a beautiful modifica- tion in the construction of their central stem, they had not. been adapted to the circumstances of their position. In the Isis Hippuris, therefore (Fig. 37), the central axis is constructed with alternate y igs 37.—Isis: joints of stony and of ..orny substance; so that, being thus made flexible, they bend before the passing waves, and thus remain secure from otherwise inevitable destruction. The Bark-bearing Corals (Gorgoniae)} in their length and slender form resemble osiers, or, as in the case of the Gorgonia flabellum (Fig. 38, 1), are spread out into large flat expansions that are’ called sea-fans. These zoophytes * Isis, a goddess ; tos, hippos, a horse ; dupa, oura, a tail (Mare’s- tail, a plant). + Gorgon, a mythological name. 56 ANTHOZOA. have their framework entirely composed of horny sub- stance, which is black, and coated with flesh of a bright yellow colour, or sometimes purple. From the ramifi- cations being very numerous and uniting with each other at short intervals, this species is a very beautiful one ; and when bespangled with its living flowers, presents a charming spectacle. The Sea-pens (Pennatule)* (Fig. 38, 2) constitute a very remarkable family, specimens of which are frequently brought up in the nets of fishermen upon our own coasts. The species represented in our engraving (Pennatula phosphorea) very closely resembles a broad feather from two to four inches in length, and of a purplish colour, the lower part, which represents the barrel of the quill, is tipped with orange. Above this the stem is fringed on each side with flat appendages that represent the plume, along the upper edge of which are placed the cells wherein the Polypes lodge. Some authors have affirmed that the Sea-pen swims freely in the sea; but modern observation tends to throw discredit on this statement. Fig. 38.—1l. SEA-FAN. 2. SEA-PEN. Tt is usually found with its stem inserted into the mud at the bottom, and those that have been kept for observation * Pennatula, a little feather. ANTHOZOA. HT have never exhibited any capability of locomotion. Some species, when disturbed, become highly luminous, inso- much, that the statement of Linnezus, that the “phos- phorescent Sea-pens cover the bottom of the sea, and there cast so strong a light that it is easy to count the fishes and worms sporting among them,” is by no means devoid of foundation. Hitherto we have seen the solid part either stony or horny, called the skeleton or polypidom, deposited within the living flesh, but there are some species of Anthozoa in which it forms a protecting sheath to the bodies of the Polypes which are lodged in its interior. The elegant ageregation of tubes called The Organ-pipe Coral (Tubipora* Musica) is an example of such’ a structure (Fig. 39). It consists of small cylindrical tubes of a rich crimson hue, placed nearly parallel, but at a short distance apart, and united at regular distances by successive stages of hori- zontal plates, that divide the series into ranges, or stories, like the p-82s it a J Hef 7s Fic. 39.—OkKGAN-PIPE CORAL, different floors of a house supported by many pillars. From the mouth of each tube, in the living state, protrude the eight tentacles of a starry Polype of a brilliant green colour, forming a striking contrast with the crimson polypidom, Actinize.t—In the succeeding group of Polypes, while the general form and structure of the Anthozoa are pre- served, we’find an organization much more complex than * Tubus, a tube; porus, a pore. Tt d«rly, aktin, a ray. Dao 58 ANTHOZOA. we have yet encountered. In the Actinie the tentacles are very numerous, and ranged in several circles round the mouth. When expanded, being often of gay colours, they so much resemble composite flowers, such as the daisy, the marigold, and others, as to have obtained their names for different species, and the term “animal flowers” for the entire group. When expanded and viewed in profile, the form of an Actinia is that of a short, broad, cylinder, with the tentacles radiating from the upper margin (Fig. 40), the base being somewhat dilated. But when the absence of light or water, or any other cause, induces them to repose, the tentacles contract, and the upper part of the body, by a partial inversion, closes over them, leaving no trace of the place where they disappeared except a wrinkled depression in the centre. In this con- dition their shape is, more or less, that of a bell, as may be seen in the next figure (Fig. 40). When still more firmly closed, the creature looks like nothing but a rounded lump of fleshy substance, plastered on the rock (Fig. 41, 2); but as the animal again expands, the central opening at the top gradually widens, the margin slowly rolls back, and the tentacles it concealed begin to show their tips. As the expansion goes on, the Fic, 40.— FIGURE OF ACTINIA. tentacles continue to enlarge, and the margin to spread outwards, until, finally, the disk with the mouth in the centre is fully displayed, and the tentacles, like petals, fringe it round. ; In the species delineated in the next figure, Actinia gemmacea, there is an instinct displayed of a very admirable character. Such ANTHOZOA. 59 individuals as have taken up their residence on the half-submerged rocks, where the daily recess of the tide exposes them to observa- tion, are covered with rough warts, and blotched with dusky brown, and dull orange; and still further to insure their concealment, cover themselves with fragments of shells, seaweed, and gravel, which adhere to their skin so strongly as not to be washed off; and being thus veiled, the animals are quite concealed from observation. On the other hand, those species which inhabit deep water, as if aware that the necessity for concealment no longer existed, use no such precaution: their skins are smooth and naked, and adorned with the vivid tints which make the species so beautiful, These Actinic are easily procured, and may be kept alive in sea water for a long time without difficulty : in a glass vessel their beauty is displayed to advantage. They are capable of very long fasts, although suffi- ciently voracious when food is to be obtained. Although the Actiniz are usually fixed to the bottom by their broadly-expanded bases, many of them can detach themselves, and float through the water to a new resting-place ; or they will slide along slowly over the rocks, by the action of their base or foot, and some are said to turn themselves over and walk upon the extremities of their tentacles. There is, indeed, a small group of Actinize (Actineta) fitted expressly for an ocean life, by means of an air-cavity in the base containing a vesicular or spongy disk made up of air-cells, which serves as a float. Thus provided, the animal lies on the water with its base uppermost and its mouth and tentacles below the surface, and in this position it is carried about by winds and currents. The tentacles of the Actinie are not always simple tubes: in the A. aleyonoides, represented on the left hand of our engraving (Fig. 41, 1), they are of a very complex character, and are provided near their tips and at their sides with minute suckers, with which they are enabled to grasp their prey. In common with the Hydrozoa the Actiniz are furnished with an armature of oblong, transparent vesicles, which have the power of shooting out a long thread-like lasso of excessive tenuity. These abound on the tentacles; but there are also certain special organs upon which they are crowded to an extra- ordinary degree, and which seem to be simply 60 ANTHOZOA. magazines of these weapons. Certain species of Actinie have the faculty of shooting forth from orifices scattered over the surface of the body, slender white filaments in great profusion, coiled up so as to resemble tangles of sewing cotton. The slightest touch is sometimes sufficient to make these filaments shoot forth from various points with great force and rapidity. They have a strongly-adhesive power, which is dependent upon a very wonderful me- chanism. On being examined with a microscope, the entire surface of the tentacula and the cotton- like threads are seen to be densely crowded with transparent oval vesicles, in each of which is coiled up a delicate filament, often thirty or forty times longer than the capsule which contains it, and more- over this lasso-thread is variously armed with sharp barbed spines of inconceivable minuteness, but formid- ably effective for their purpose. On the slightest irri- tation, the spiral-thread bursts forth and entwines the victim in its spiny folds, which seem to be armed ANTHOZOA. 61 with some potent venom, as a small animal once seized by them dies, even should it escape from their tenacious grasp. The Actiniz, like the Hydra, seem to defy the effects of mutilation ; they may be cut in two perpen- dicularly or across, andl each cutting will soon fur- nish forth the w anting parts, and present itself in all respects well and hearty —Mr. Gosse. In some species, when a large individual has been a good while adherent to one spot, and at length chooses to change its quarters, it does so by causing its base to move slowly along the surface on which it rests. But it frequently happens that small irregular fragments of the edge of the base are left behind, as if their adhesion had been so strong that the animal found it easier to tear its own tissues apart than to overcome it. The fragments so left soon contract, become smooth and spherical, or oval in outline ; and in the course of a week or a fortnight, may be seen each furnished with a margin of ten- tacles, and a disk, transformed in fact into perfect though small Actiniz. Occasionally a separated piece, more irregularly jagged than usual, will, in contracting, form two smaller fragments, each of which becomes a separate animal. Dr. T. Strethill Wright cut off a minute piece of the base of a Sea Anemone; the part immediately receded from the parent, and in three weeks became a perfect Actinia; he then cut pieces from these with the same result, and ultimately got fourteen from the orginal one. The ordinary mode of reproduction in these zoophytes is by minute germs or ova, whichare to be found suspended in dense clusters in the interior of the animal; these escape into the creature’s stomach, and are discharged into the sea through the mouth. Some of the Actiniw are exceedingly prolific, pro- ducing from 150 to 800 young ina single day. The characteristic form and markings of the parent are distinctly recognisable in the newly-born progeny, the principal distinction, besides the difference of 62 ANTHOZOA. size, being the fewness of the tentacles, which at first are only about twelve in number. The Mushroom Corals (Fungice)* are so called on ac- count of a striking resemblance between the arrangement of the stony laminz upon the upper surface of their frame- work and the gills of a mushroom (Fig. 42). This, however, is but the skeleton, and though it is a very pretty object, those who are acquainted with it alone can form from it but a very poor idea of the living animal. When removed from its native element, the violence at first causes the soft living flesh to contract so forcibly that scarcely any difference is perceptible between it and the dry skeleton, nor is any alteration at once manifest on putting it into salt water. But let it recover its confidence, its equanimity, then a pellucid gelatinous flesh will be seen emerging from between the plates, from which arise exquisitely formed and coloured tentacles fringing the surface, across which stretches the mouth, resembling a slit with white plaited lips, like the orifice of a cowrie shell. Fic. 42.—FUNGIA, * Fungus, a mushroom. 63 CHAPTER VIL. ECHINODERMATA.* It is beautiful to observe by what gentle steps the student of Nature is able to ascend, from the con- templation of one form of animal life to another more elevated in the scale of creation. We have learned, in the preceding chapter, that many tribes of the Polypes secrete calcareous matter in large quan-— tities, and thus construct for themselves a solid framework, which sustains the living mass. Let us, for a moment, suppose a Polype supported upon a long stem, capable of strengthenmg its pedicle, its body, the tentacula around its mouth, and all the appendages belonging to the animal, with solid pieces of definite form, such pieces being connected together by the soft parts and surrounded on all sides with living flesh, would thus form an internal skeleton, giving strength and support to the entire fabric, and at the same time allowing it to bend im every direc- tion. A Polype so constituted would, when dried, present an appearance resembling that depicted in the annexed figure (Fig. 44, 7). The creature repre- sented, however, is not a Polype, but an Encrinite,j one of the lowest of the class of Star- fishes. In its habits of life an Encrinite, thus con- structed, closely resembles the more highly-organized Anthozoa. Fixed by its jointed stem upon the sur- face of the rock, it curves its pedicle from side to side in search of food, which with its flower-like arms, it seizes and conveys into its mouth. These Enerinites are, in modern times, the scarcest pro- ductions of the ocean. A species similar to that in our engraving exists in the West Indian seas; and * exivos, echinos, a hedgehog ; S€pua, derma, skin. + ev, en, in; xpivoy, krinon, a lily. 64 ECHINODERMATA. not many years ago, the interesting discovery was made of another species upon our own coasts; this, however, is of very small size, not exceeding three- quarters of an inch in length—with these rare ex- ETS Dr carn ueNus eam ( ae he RTE Fig. 43.—FOSSIL. LILY STONES. ceptions, the race of Encrinites appears to be ex- tinct. Yet the time has been when the bottom of the sea must have been as thickly covered with ECHINODERMATA., 65 creatures of this description as a corn-field is with corn. Many large kinds are found in a fossil state in our chalk and limestone rocks, and vast strata of marble, extending over large tracts of country in Northern Europe and in North America, are entirely made up of their petrified skeletons. “ Man applies it to construct his palace and adorn his sepulchre; but there are few who know, and fewer still who appreciate, the surprising fact that much of this marble is composed of millions of the skeletons of organized beings, once endowed with life, and susceptible of enjoyment, which after performing the part that was for a while assigned to them in living Nature, have contributed their remains towards the composition of the mountain masses of the earth.’”— Dr. BuckLanD. The numerous pieces of which their stems were formed are met with in abundance in the north of England, where they are popularly known as St. Cuthbert’s beads, while their polype-like heads have been regarded as petrified flowers, and designated “Lily stones ” (Fig. 483). The origin of these beau- tiful fossils, formerly so mysterious, is thus easily explained. The Feather-star (Comatula)* (Fig. 44, 6), common upon our coast, is but an Encrinite without a stem, and thus enabled to move freely at the bottom of the sea. The central box which contains the stomach is furnished with a mouth, around which radiate the arms, fringed with a double row of jointed filaments; by means of these the Feather-star can creep upon the sand, or twining them around the stems of sea-weeds or corals, it can climb in search of food, or | by the undulations of its feathery filaments,.row itself from place to place through the water, with a graceful gliding motion. The Sea-baskets (Gorgonocephalus) ¢ (Fig. 44,5). In these elaborately-constructed creatures, the shell of the living animal is entirely covered with a thick fleshy crust. From the circumference of the disk proceed five strong rays, * Comatus, having hair. + Topy#v, Gorgon, Medusa ; kedadh, kephale, the head. 66 ECHINODERMATA. which subdividing again and again, always by binary divi- sion, soon become multiplied into living ropes, spread out all around the body; and being made up of an immense number of jointed pieces, they are as flexible as whip-cord, and as manageable as the legs of a spider. Each of these innumerable cords is, in the living animal, terminated by a Fic. 44.—ECHINODERMATA, minute yellowish fleshy bail, something resembling a little foot, so that the whole creature, as it walks along, appears like a conglomeration of serpents, strangely linked together, whence it has, not inappropriately received its mytholo- gical name of Gorgonocephalus, or Medusa’s Head. These Star-fishes inhabit the deep parts of the sea, and seem principally to frequent coral-beds and localities where marine plants are abundant, around which they wind their arms, and thus crawl about in search of sustenance. The intertwined assemblage of their living tendrils forms a sort of net, in which small animals are entangled and dragged towards the mouth. “This elaborate piece of Nature,” says its first describer, “has its body resembling an Echinus, or Egg-fish, the main branches a star, and the dividing of the branches, the plant misseltoe. It spreads itself from a pentagonal root into five main limbs or ECHINODERMATA. 67 branches, each of which, just at the issuing out from the body, divides itself into two, and each of the ten branches thus formed, does again divide into two parts, making twenty lesser branches, and each of these doth again divide, making in all forty. These again divide into eighty, and these into 160, and they again into 820. The division is again repeated, making 640, afterwards 1,280, 5,120, 10,240, 20,480, 40,960, and at the fourteenth division, beyond which the farther expansion could not be distinctly traced, there were 81,920 small tendrils or threads in which the branches of this Star-fish terminate.” We next arrive at a group called Snake-tailed Star-fishes (Ophiuide),* one of which is represented at Fig. 44, 4. The rays are no longer divided into branches, but are, nevertheless, curiously constructed, and being twisted about with great activity when the creature is disturbed, look not a little like the tails of serpents—whence the name given to this family. A very interesting circumstance in the economy of these animals is their extreme brittleness, whence they have merited the name of “ Brittle-Stars.’ On the least VLLEE oak < OPI ‘poor 24} YIM pazeprpostoo proxy ; Boypouly JO suo Aq ot1dsoi—sSuim YyIA papta “VLOASNI (-o1d A[jetouss—sSoy_ jo sued e014 A[UO oABY—uUoLOpge pus *xv104} ‘pBoy OJUL poprarp Apog * are oyjeoig J i) ca ‘STVAINY C&LVTOOILYY (pe ee SOUL ou oAvY—ewoyor.y Aq ay}Vo.1q— , q[npe oy} UL 910UL 10 saved Moz VaodvIdan -AJU9MY SsoT—uUdTIOpqe pue *XBLOU] ‘pvat{ OPUL UOTOUTSTp ou —1vyluis Apoq ey} Jo syuoursag J ‘VQITENNV * * + squtly] poyemnorjawoN * * * * paamojoo Ao pat ‘poorg J 84 ANNELIDA. First CuAss OF ARTICULATED ANIMALS. ANNELIDA— WORMS. {ue body of the Annelidans is composed of a succes- sion of numerous rings, all of which are merely repetitions of each other. The first segment, although it differs but little from the rest, is called the head. The skin is generally soft, and the rings never horny or stony. Many Annelidans are entirely destitute of legs, as, for example, the leech (Fig. 53); and when these organs exist they are never formed of pieces jointed together end to end, as they are in insects, lob- sters, or spiders; they are merely fleshy protuberances that support bunches of stiff seta, or bristles, and are used as oars to row the animal through the water. (Hig. 58.) Most Annelidans at the anterior extremity of their body are furnished with black spots, which appear to be eyes of very simple structure: they often have on the head, or on the sides of the neck, fleshy filaments called tentacles, which are not only delicate instruments of touch, but sometimes perform other important functions, as we shall see hereafter. In general these animals can crawl upon the ground by means of their setae; many live buried in the earth, or are enclosed in tubes which they never leave ; they mostly inhabit the sea, and are, with one or two exceptions, carnivorous. The Annelidans are divided by zoologists into three orders, according to the nature and disposition of their respiratory apparatus. Some appear to Fig. 58.—FOOT OF NAIS, ANNELIDA. 85 breathe by the general surface of their bodies, and have no special respiratory organs visible externally ; these, therefore, have been called Abranchia,* with- out gills. In a second division, the breathing apparatus con- sists of a series of tufts (Fig. 63) or fringes arranged along the middle or on each side of the back: these are the Dorsibranchiata.t In the third order, Tubicola,t the Annelids inhabit a tube either composed of shell or manufactured by the agglutination of various materials. ‘These have their branchizw in the form of plumes or branching filaments attached to the head or neck (Fig. 65). First ORDER—ABRANCHIATE ANNELIDANS. This order comprehends two families, which differ widely from each other. The Setigera,$ which have loco- motive appendages in the shape of delicate spines or bristles (Harthworm, Nais); and the Suctoria,||which are destitute of such appendages, but are furnished instead with a prehensile sucker, attached to each extremity of the body (Leeches). The Earth-worms (Lumbricus). The common well-known species (Lumbricus terrestris) attains nearly a foot in length, its body is composed of 120 rings or more, and is completely destitute of eyes or tentacles. Though a humble and despised creature, the earth- worm is a most important item in the economy of nature. Piercing the ground in every direction, the earth is lightened by the united labours of their countless legions, and thus they materially conduce to its fertility. It consumes upon the surface of the ground, where they soon become injurious, the softer parts of decaying vegetable matter, and conveys beneath the soil the more woody fibres, where they moulder and form the nutriment of living vegetation. Thus eminently serviceable to the agriculturist, it likewise constitutes an indispensable article of food for innumerable creatures belonging to every order of creation; and perhaps is a solitary instance of an individual race subjected to universal destruction. ‘The very-emmets seize it when disabled, and bear it away as a prize: it constitutes * A “not,” and branchia, a gill. f Dorsum, the back ; branchia, a gill. t Tubus, a tube ; colo, I inhabit. § Seta, a bristle ; gero, I carry. || Suctorius, sucking. SO ANNELIDA. throughout the year the food of many birds ; fishes devour it greedily; the hedgehog eats it; the mole pursues it unceasingly ; and secured, as it appears to be by its residence in the earth from creatures inha- biting a different element, many aquatic animals secm well ac- quainted with it, and prey on it as a natural food. Frogs eat it, and it is even seized occasionally by the great water-beetle ‘Dyticus marginalis), when used as a bait by the angler. Yet notwith- standing this prodigious destruction, its increase is fully commen- surate with the consumption, as if it was ordained to be the appointed food of all. The Naides (Nais*). The mud ‘at the bottom of ponds and streams is frequently perforated by annelidans closely allied to the earth-worms. Their body is slender, and the rings into which it is divided are few, and but slightly marked. They commonly live in their burrows, merely protruding their head, which is furnished with a long proboscis, whereby they take their food, and for this purpose it is kept in constant motion. These water worms have a power of multiplication which is of a very surprising character. One of the most common species in our brooks (Nais proboscidea) consists, when full grown, of about fourteen segments. After a time, however, new segments begin to be formed a little in front of the tail ; these lengthen, and soon begin to separate from the parent animal under the form of a new Nais provided with proboscis, eye-specks, and everything complete. Sometimes even before the newly-formed young has quite broken off its connection with its parent, another generation is in course of production near its own tail, and sometimes even this has begun to form a fourth before the separation of the first is complete. The Leeches (Hirudo) are common in our ponds. The Medicinal Leech (Hirudo medicinalis), however, is not indigenous in this country, but being easily obtainable we shall select it as an example of the group (Fig. 53). At each extremity of its body is a fleshy dise, which in progression acts as a sucker : it can, moreover, swim with much elegance but not with rapidity. Its mouth, situ- ated in the middle of the front sucker, is furnished with three small semicircular teeth, each provided with a saw-like edge. These teeth are placed in a tri- radiate manner, so that when the action of the sucker has made the skin of its victim FG, 59.—THROAT OF LEECH Lalp opey, tense, their edges are pressed against it with a saw-like move- ment, until three cuts are made extending to some depth, and the blood thus liberated is largely sucked into the capacious stomach. * Nais, a water-nymph. ANNELIDA. S87 The iribe of leeches is very numerous; they all feed at the expense of other animals; they attach themselves to fishes and frogs; some- times they devour molluscs, worms, or the larve of insects. Few animal substances are rejected; all kinds of fish, dead or alive, seem acceptable. Entering the larger fresh-water shells, the leech takes up its abode, an uninvited visitor, and remains until it has emptied them of their contents. They even devour other leeches. Sir J. Dalyell saw one half swallowed by a horse-leech scarcely double its size, and still struggling for liberty; but its ferocious enemy, adhering firmly by its sucker, and undulating its body in the water as if to aid deglutition, occupied three hours in finishing its meal. The use of the medicinal leeches is so general that they have become an important article of commerce, and are procured in great quan- tities from Spain and Russia. They may be preserved for a long time by placing them in moist earth or mud. On the approach of cold weather they bury themselves at the bottom of ponds, and pass the winter in lethargy, but they regain their activity in spring. When kept in large reservoirs with clay-banks fringed with rushes and aquatic plants, the leech will propagate its kind. It lays about a dozen eggs, enclosed in a mucous cocoon of an oval form, about a quarter of an inch long. In the month of August holes may be observed in the mud or clay of the banks, each of Fic. 60.—TOOTH OF LEECH MAGNIFIED, Fic. 61.—COCOONS OF LEECH. which contains a cocoon. The eggs are hatched in about a week, but it is three weeks before the young leave their slimy cradle; during the interval the cocoon has become considerably distended, and the little animals are continually pushing its walls with their heads as if trying to find a weak point and escape. When at last their increasing strength enables them to burst forth, they are about a quarter of an inch long, and no thicker than a thread. 88 ANNELIDA, SECOND ORDER—DORSIBRANCHIATE ANNELIDANS. In the Dorsibranchiate Annelidans the respiratory organs consist of fringes or arborescent tufts, dis- tributed in pairs along the sides of the back. In some cases, every ring is thus furnished, but in others, only those rings which are near the middle. These worms are all free: they burrow in the mud or sand, or swim in the open sea; they are therefore supplied with organs of locomotion, which, for the most part, assume the form of moveable spines or packets of retractile bristles attached to each seg- ment of the body. It is not, however, by mere prosy description that we can convey to our readers any adequate idea of the beauty of these splendid worms; here we must let their great historian, M. de Quatrefages, speak for himself: his pen can best portray what his patient industry has so admirably displayed. “Upon the Isle de Chaussy,” says that distin- ouished anatomist, “the wandering Annelids occu- pied my special attention. Hitherto, I had only known this numerous family of sea-worms through engravings; and although I had formed a tolerably exact notion of their structure, I had not the slightest idea how many points of interest attached to them. When I had once surprised within their secure retreats the Polynoe with its lucid scales, the Phyl- lodoce with its hundred bright-green rings, the Eunice with its purple crest, the Terebella surrounded by a cloud of innumerable living cables which serve it in the place of arms,—when [ had seen displayed before my eyes the rich fan of the Sabella, and the enamelled collar of the Serpula, I no longer smiled, as I had done before, at the thought of the naturalist having conferred upon them the most charming names he could think of. These despised creatures seemed to me no less worthy of a naturalist’s ho- mage than the most brilliant insect or the fairest ANNELIDA. 89 flower. Let no one prate to me any more about the violet as a pattern of modesty! The coquette! See how she shows from far her fresh tuft of green leaves, and scatters abroad the perfume that invites you to approach. More skilful than her rivals, she knows that mystery is the greatest of all attractions, and that the rose herself loses by displaying her charms in broad daylight; therefore it is that she seeky the obscurity of the woods and the shelter of the hedge- side. But look at the Annelids! what do they lack when compared with the most splendid inhabitants of earth or air? Yet they shun the light, they with- draw themselves from our view, but with no design to attract; and the naturalist alone knows where to seek the strange wonders which are hidden within the recesses of the rock, and beneath the sandy beds of the ocean. You may smile at my enthusiasm, but come and judge for yourself. All is prepared! Our lamp gives a light almost equal to a jet of gas, while a large lens, mounted upon a moveable foot, receives the rays of light, and concentrates them upon our field of view. We have just placed upon the stage a little trough filled with sea-water, in which an Huwnice is disporting itself. See how in- dignant it is at its captivity; how its numerous rings contract, elongate, twist imto a spiral coil, and at every movement emit flashes of splendour in which all the tints of the prism are blended in the brightest metallic reflections. It is impossible, in the midst of this tumultuous agitation, to distinguish anything definitely. But it is more quiet now; lose no time in examining it. See how it crawls along the bottom of the vessel, with its thousand feet moving rapidly forwards. See what beautiful plumes adorn the sides of the body; these are the branchia, or orgaus of respiration, which become vermilion as they are swelled by the blood, the course of which you may trace all along the back. Look at that head ena- melled with the brightest colours; here are the few tentacles, delicate organs of touch, and here, in the 90 ANNELIDA. midst of them, is the mouth, which, at first sight, seems merely like an irregularly puckered slit. But watch it for a few moments; see how it opens and protrudes a large proboscis, furnished with three pairs of jaws, and possessing a diameter which equals that of the body within which it is enclosed, as in a living sheath. Well! is it not wonderful? Is there any animal that can surpass it in decoration? The corslet of the brightest beetle, the sparkling throat of the humming-bird, would all look pale when com- pared with the play of light over the rings of its body, glowing in its golden threads, and sparkling over its amber and coral fringes. Now, let us take a lens of higher power, and move the lamp in such a manner as to let its rays fall on the reflector of our microscope, and examine a few of the hairs taken from the sides of the Annelid we have been describing. ‘To the outer edge of every foot are ap- pended two bundles of hairs (seta) ; these are far stiffer than ordinary hairs, and appear to be placed on either side of the animal to defend it from its enemies. A moment’s consideration will suffice to confirm this view, for there is perhaps scarcely a weapon invented by the murderous genius of man whose counterpart could not be found amongst this class of animals. Here are curved blades, whose edges present a prolonged cutting surface, sometimes on the concave edge, as in the yatagan of the Arab, sometimes on the convex border, as in the oriental scimitar. Next we meet with weapons Fic. 62.—pusmye Which remind us of the broad-sword zon OF seueue of the cuirassier, the sabre, and “the bayonet; here are harpoons, fish-hooks, and cutting blades of every form, loosely attached to a sharp ANNELIDA, 9] handle: these moveable pieces are intended to remain in the body of the enemy, while the handle which supported them becomes a long spike, as sharp as it was before. Here we have straight or curved poniards, cutting-bills, arrows with the barbs turned backwards, but carefully provided with a sheath to protect the fine indentations from being blunted by friction, or broken by any unforeseen accident. Finally, if the enemy should disregard his first wounds, there darts from every foot a shorter but stronger spear, which is brought into play by a special set of muscles, so soon as the combatants are sufficiently near to erapple in close fight.” It is not without reason that nature has endowed these amazons with more finely-polished and sharper- pointed weapons than any wielded by the paladins of old: destined to live by rapine, AI exposed to the attacks of a thousand enemies, they need them both as means of attack and defence. Almost all feed upon living prey. Some wait in ambush for the passing by of small Crustaceans, Planariz, or other minute animals, and seize their victims with their proboscis, or entwine them in the folds of their numerous arms. Others, again, more active than the rest, pursue their game over the sand or through thick tufts of corallines and other marine plants. Some attach themselves to shells, and having per- forated them, devour their inhabitants. The Her- mella thus commits great havoc among the oyster- beds, destroying numerous colonies of this much- cherished molluse. These Annelids are, in their turn, pursued by a multitude of carnivorous animals. Fishes wage a rude war against them, and if one, more imprudent than the rest, should abandon its retreat, or be exposed to view by the waves, it rarely escapes the murderous jaws of some whiting, sole, plaice, or eel. It is asserted that the latter kind of fish are well acquainted with the mode of drawing them out of the sand, as do the whelks. But crabs, lobsters, and a host of other crustaceans, constitute their most G2, ANNELIDA. formidable enemies, and are protected by their armour from the formidable weapons of the An- nelida. The Sand-worm (Arenicola*) is exceedingly abundant on sandy shores, and is much sought for and used by : fishermen as a bait. Its usual name on the coast is the “ Lug,” or “ Lug-worm.” It is of a greenish-red colour, and the gill-tufts, which form two rows upon the middle portion of its body (Fig. 63), are of a beautiful crimson, from the blood which circulates in them abun- dantly. This worm bores rapidly in the sand by means of its conical head; and as it moves on, the sides of the treacherous passage are prevented from closing up by a secretion from the body of the animal, which cements the particles together into a kind of wall. This, as the creature advances, is left behind, imitating, in miniature, the brickwork of a tunnel. The Nereids (Nereist) have branchial tufts and locomotive oars appended to every seg- ment; they are carnivorous, and their mouth exhibits a very singular structure. The com- mencement of the alimentary canal is capable of being turned inside out, like the finger of a glove. When thus everted, it appears like a thick proboscis, armed with a formidable array cf sharp teeth, curved fangs, keen knives, and horny plates resembling rasps or files, the shape of which varies in different species, but always calculated to seize and retain pass- ing prey. No sooner is some small animal seized by this wonderful apparatus, than the whole protruded proboscis is quickly inverted, carrying the hapless victim into the living cavern, from which there is no escape. Among the Nereids may be noted The Eunice { Gigantea, the largest Annelidan known: we have at this moment a specimen before us, which measures upwards _of four feet in length, and consists of 448 segments, all provided — SAND-WORM, * Arena, the sand; colo, I Pas + A nymph. ¢t A nymph. ANNELIDA. 93 with their complement of oars. It is a beautiful sight to see a man- of-war’s barge full manned with sturdy rowers, gliding along over the level surface of the sea, the oars all keeping time with such precision that they seem to move as by one impulse. It is a grand spectacle to behold the meteor-like progress of a steam-ship as it cleaves its onward path ; but far more beautiful, far more magnificent to the admirer of the works of Nature, to observe the movements of these splendid worms. Let any one imagine this gorgeous animal free in its native seas, blazing as it does with iridescent tints, that answer back again the glowing brilliancy of a tropical sun—while it rows along its “ oary state’? by means of upwards of 1700 distinct lamine, all wielded with such energy, that the eye can scarcely follow their movements—and he will perhaps form some faint idea of the efficiency of a locomotive apparatus, such as is provided for the Dorsibranchiate Annelidans. ‘With our notions of a worm,” says Dr. Hart- wich, “‘ we generally connect the idea of incomplete- ness; we are apt to consider them as beings equally uninteresting and ugly, and disdain to inquire into the wonders of their organization; but a cursory examination of the Eunice would alone suffice to give usa very different opinion of these despised but far from despicable animals. ‘Three hundred brains, from which about three thousand nerves proceed, regulate its movements. ‘T'wo hundred and fifty stomachs digest its food; five hundred and fifty branchiz refresh its blood; six hundred hearts dis- tribute this vital fluid through its body; and thirty thousand muscles obey the will of the worm, and execute its snake-like movements. Surely there is here but little occasion to commiserate want, or 1? scoff at poverty ! The Sea-mouse (Halithea* aculeata) (Fig. 64) is com- mon on our coasts, and is frequently dredged up from muddy ground. This Annelid is four or five inches in length, of a greyish hue, and clothed on the back with a fine silky down, under which are concealed fifteen pairs of scaly plates, one pair on each ring. The under surface is smooth, but marked by transverse divisions, indicating that it is formed of about forty rings or segments. On the sides project bunches of hairs resembling the finest silk, and bedizened with iridescent colours; they yield, indeed, in no respect to the most gorgeous tints of tropical * As, als, the sea ; @éa, thea, a goddess. 94 ANNELIDA. birds, or the brillant decorations of insects: green, yellow and orange, blue, purple and scarlet,—all the hues of the rainbow play upon them with the changing light, and shine with a metallic effulgence only com- parable to that which adorns the breast of the humming- bird. But it is not only for their dazzling beauty that these worms are remarkable; many of them are armed with spines, that constitute important weapons of defence ; each of these spines is seen, under the miscroscope, to be a perfect harpoon, its point being provided with a double series of strong barbs, so that when the creature erects its bristles, much more formidable than the spines of a hedgehog, the most determined enemy would scarcely venture to attack it. These spines are all retractile, and can be drawn into the body by the muscular tube from Fic. 64. —SE A-MOUSE, which they spring. It would be superfluous to point out the danger that would accrue to the animal itself by the presence of such instruments embedded in its body, as by every movement they would be forced into its own flesh. The contrivance to obviate such an accident is as beauti- ful as it is simple: every barbed spine is furnished with a smooth, horny sheath, composed of two blades, between which it is lodged (Fig. 64), and these, closing upon the barbs, when they are drawn inwards, effectually protect the neighbouring soft parts from laceration. ANNELIDA, 95 THIRD ORDER—TUBICOLOUS ANNELIDANS. The Tubicolous Annelidans, as their name imports, reside in tubes, which are either composed of a dense shelly substance, or constructed by gluing together fragments of sand, small stones, and other similar materials. ‘lo the former section belong The Serpule* (Serpule) (Fig. 65), found on every coast, encrusting stones or shells, or any substance that has lain for any length of time at the bottom of the sea, The animal inhabiting these shells is a worm entirely destitute of limbs, but its front part, or head, during life presents a very beautiful spectacle, for from each side Fic, 65.—SERPULA, there spreads an elegant plume, composed of branched filaments of a rich scarlet or crimson hue, which float loosely in the water, and constitute the gills, or branchie. Besides these splendid branchial fringes, the head has one of its tentacles expanded into a broad, trumpet-shaped extremity, which accurately fits the mouth of the tube, so that when the creature is alarmed, it quietly draws in this singular trap-door, and remains securely shut up within its shelly abode. The Terebellet inhabit factitious shells, composed * Serpo, to twist about like a serpent. t Terebellum, a Vittle auger or piercer. 96 MYRIAPODA. of grains of sand, fragments of shell, or even whole shells, small stones, and similar sub- stances, which they glue to- gether, and thus construct a beautiful tube, represented in the engraving (Fig. 66). This is effected by means of the ten- tacula that surround its head, which are extended in every di- rection in search of appropriate materials for the construction of their residence. The Sabella* Alveolaris often covers wide surfaces of rock near low water-mark, with its aggregated tubes. When the flood recedes, nothing is seen but the closed orifices, but when covered with the rising waters the sandy surface transforms itself into a beauti- ful picture. From each aper- ture stretches forth a neck ornamented with concentric rings of golden hair, terminating in a head embellished with a tiara of delicately-tinted tentacula, so that the whole looks like a garden-bed, enamelled with gay flowers of elegant forms and variegated colours. Fic. 66.—TEREBELLA MEDUSA, CHAPTER X. MYRIAPODA.} Tue Annelidans examined in the last chapter, with the singular exception of the earth-worm, are only adapted to an aquatic life. The soft integument which forms their outer framework, and the feeble organs appended to the numerous segments of their lenethy bodies, are far too weak to support their * A proper name. + mupids, Murias, innumerable ; dvs, pous, a foot. MYRIAPODA. 97 weight in a less dense and buoyant element, so that, when removed from their native waters, they are utterly helpless and impotent. Supposing, as a matter of mere speculation, it was inquired, by what means animals so constructed could be rendered capable of assuming a terrestrial existence, so as to seek and obtain their food upon the surface of the earth, and thus represent upon land the Annelidans vf the ocean; a little reflection would at once indi- cate the grosser changes required for the attainment of such an object. To convert the water-breathing organs of the aquatic worms into an apparatus adapted to breathe the air would be the first requi- site. ‘The second would be to give greater firmness to the tegumentary skeleton, to allow of more powerful and accurately applied muscular force, by diminishing the number of the segments, and by converting the lateral oars into jomted limbs, suffi- ciently strong to sustain the whole weight of the body, to provide instruments of locomotion fitted for progression upon the ground. Yet all these changes would be inefficient without corresponding modifica- tious in the nervous system. ‘The lengthened chain of minute ganglia, met with in the leech (Fig. 57), would be quite inadequate to wield muscles of strength adapted to such altered circumstances; the small brain would be Incompetent to correspond with more exalted senses; so that, as a necessary consequence of superior organization, the nervous ceutres must all be increased in their proportionate development, to adapt them to higher functions. The changes which our supposition infers would be requisite for the con- version of an aquatic Annelid into a Myriapod, are precisely those which we encounter. The air- breathing animals which we have now to describe form the transition from the red-blooded worms to the class of insects, and are intermediate between these two great classes in every part of their struc- ture. ‘The body of a myriapod consists of a consecu- tive series of segments of equal dimensions, but un- F 9S MYRIAPODA. like those of the Annelidans, composed of a dense, seml-calcareous, or else of a firm, horny substance, and to every segment is appended one or two pairs of articulated legs. generally terminated by simple points. The anterior segment, or head, besides the organs belonging to the mouth, contains the instruments of sense, consisting of simple or compound eyes. and of two long and jointed organs, called antennx, gene- rally regarded as ministering to the sense of touch, but which are probably connected with other per- ceptions unintelligible to us. The air required for respiration is taken into the body through a series of minute pores, or spiracles, placed on each side along the entire length of the animal, and is distributed by innumerable ramifying tubes or trachew, to all parts of the system. The number of segments, and consequently of feet, in- creases progressively with age; a circumstance which remarkably distinguishes the myriapoda from insects properly so called. There are two families belone- ing to this class—the millepedes or Julide, which feed on vegetable substances, and the Scolopendride, or centipedes, which are carnivorous and rapacious. The Millepedes* (Julus), are distinguished by their nearly cylindrical form (Fig. 67), their slow gliding pe Ries motion produced by welCgGG Tee the alternate action of their very numerous little feet, sometimes more than a hundred in number, and their habit of rolling themselves into a close spiral, when touched. They resort to damp and dark places, lurk under stones and moss, and are still more commonly found beneath the bark and in the wood of decaying trees. They are perfectly harmless, and feed entirely on decomposing vegetable materials. For this purpose their mouth is furnished with a pair of stout horny jaws, which move horizontally, and are provided at their cutting edges with sharp denticulations, so as to Fic. 67.—JULUS. * Mille, a thousand ; pes, a foot, MYRIAPODA. 99 render them effective instruments in dividing the fibres of rotting wood, or the roots and leaves of decaying plants. Most of them emit a very rank disagreeable odour. The female Millepede deposits her eggs, which are very minute, in the earth, or in the earthy powder of decayed wood. The young, when first hatched, are quite destitute of limbs, and have much the appearance of mthicroseopic kidney beans. In the course of a few days, however, they throw off their first skin, and make their appear- ance, divided into about eight segments, of which the three that immediately follow the head, have each a pair of legs. Ina few days more, a second moult takes place ; the body is enlarged, the number of segments in- creased, and the number of lmbs augmented to seven pairs on the segments succeeding the head. At the end of a month, or thereabouts, after another change of clothes, the young millepede appears with twenty-six pais of feet, and so the process of exuviation is again and again repeated, until the creature arrives at its mature con- dition. The Centipedes* (Scolopendra) (Fig. 55) are much more formidable creatures than the millepedes ; they have a broad flattened body, composed of about four-and-twenty seg- ments, to each of which is appended a pair of stout jointed limbs, well adapted, by the energy and activity of their movements, to the pursuit of active prey. The mouth of the Scolopendra is a terrible instrument of de- struction, being not only provided with horny jaws, re- sembling those of Julus, but armed with a tremendous pair of massive and curved fangs, ending in sharp points, and perforated near their terminations by a minute orifice, through which a poisonous fluid is instilled into the wounds they inflict. Several small species are common in our gardens: but in hot climates they grow to a great size, and their bite, though rarely fatal, is more dangerous than the sting of the scorpion. The Giant Scolopendra (Scolopendra gigas), common in South America, measures upwards of a foot in length, and an inch and a quarter across its body, Other species, scarcely less formidable, in- habit India and the adjacent islands, and abound in the hottest parts of Africa, They creep into houses, lurk under articles of fur- niture and behind wainscots, hide themselves in drawers and cup- boards, and sometimes are found even in beds, much to the disgust * Centum, a hundred ; pes, a foot. F 2 160 INSECTS. and apprehension of all who are not familiarised with their presence. The largest species met with in this country is— The Forked Centipede (Lithobius forficatus);* it is found in the earth and under stones in our gardens, and is quick and active in its movements. It does not measure more than an inch and a quar- ter in length, and is of a tawny red colour, with fifteen feet on each side. The Electric Scolopendra (Scolopendra electrica), likewise a British species, is occasionally luminous in the dark. CHAPTER XI. INSECTS (Insecta +). HAVE patience with us, gentle reader—our task is no light one. ‘To mete out the sands upon the sea- shore with a quart pot, to drain the ocean with a thimble, to count the stars, are ordinary expressions for impossibilities; but to condense the history of the Insect world into a few short pages, would be a miracle beyond them all. The number of species of insects, as we are told by entomologists, amounts to upwards of a hundred thousand; so various in their habits and their manners, their instincts and their appetites, that every species would itself furnish a large volume of interesting information, could we only penetrate the mysteries of their lives; and yet how little has been done in gaining anything like an intimate acquaintance with their daily duties, by a careful and watchful perusal of their economy. The secrecy of creation, however, is not to be rudely broken. Nature is a very coy mistress; watchful nights, anxious days, slender meals, and endless labours must be the lot of all those who pursue her through her labyrinths and meanders; nor will she ever confess to violence, what she is ready freely to disclose to patient and attentive solicitation. See the amateur entomologist, furnished with his nets and boxes, and all the adjuncts invented by art for * Al0os, lithos, a stone; Bidw, bioo, I live—because it lives under stones. + Insectum, divided into segments. INSECTS. 101 the purpose of waging war against the insect race, beating up the whole country, toiling over hill and dale with indefatigable perseverance, and so eager in his pursuit that “he hardly allows himself time to stick his murderous pins through the unfortunate victims caught in his nets—and never wearying of his sport until his collecting box is converted into a great charnel-house, filled with their closely-packed and writhing bodies. He returns home, delighted with his success; but in spite of all his labour, he has not added a single item to our knowledge, or a single fact to the unknown histor y of any one species of his numerous specimens. ‘This was not the way in which Reaumur or De Geer devoted themselves to the interrogation of nature; their efforts were directed not to the destruction, but to the preservation of the objects of their study. They wielded not the scissors of the Fates, wherewith to cut the frail thread of insect life; their method was to use it as a clue to guide them through the hidden labyrinths of the domestic history and habits of their favourites; they chose some fitting spot in the vicinity of the abodes of their proteges, “and watched and chronicled their every action, until, by patient wooing, they at length succeeded in persuading them to confess the hidden mysteries of their avocations. They dealt with living nature, not with corpses, and their rich pages testify to the interesting result of their researches. It is certainly instructive on a winter evening to examine with the microscope the various parts of a butterfly, and investigate their curious structure, but it is in the early morning, when the sun shines on the laughing earth, the flowers have opened, and all nature smiles, that the butter fly is to be seen in per- fection, fanning the perfumed air with wings as white and pure as are the blossoms of the lily over which he plays, coquetting, as it were, to wake the jealousy of neighbouring roses. Is it coquetry, or is it that he knows not where to choose the sweetest nectar or the prettiest flower? See! how he now 102 INSECTS. advances, now retreats; returns and flutters off again, and then pounces down on a fresh violet, coyly peeping from beneath its leaves. And now the little rover takes his station, with a touch so light as not to discompose the perfumed velvet upon which he treads—his wings are motionless, and raised against each other. Now he uncurls his wonderful proboscis, and begins to sip the nectar offered so complacently, till satisfied away he flies, and Zephyr’s self returning, finds no fold, or crease, or damage done to indicate the robbery committed. Such casual glimpses of Creation’s charms are worth whole cabinets of cork and pins. But to our subject. Let us first imquire,—W hat is an insect? In a German vocabulary, that hap- pens by accident to be open before us, under the general name of “ Insects,” we find grouped together the following ill-assorted selection,—“ Flies, Spiders, Ants, Scorpions, Frogs, Toads, and Lizards.” It is, therefore, evident that the word “insect” is made use of in ordinary language, in a very vague and indeterminate manner, and applied indiscriminately to very various animals. Linneus, it is true, em- ployed it to designate all animals provided with an external skeleton, divided into segments (¢nsecta), mn which sense it nearly corresponded to the Cuvierian expression articulata, jointed, and thus included lobsters and crabs, spiders and scorpions, under the same designation. In the restricted sense in which it is now employed, however, it includes only such articulated animals, as in their perfect or mature state are recognizable by the following characters, whereby they are distinguished from all other crea- tures. The body of an insect is divided into three prin- cipal portions, called respectively, the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. The head contains the apparatus of the mouth, and instruments of the senses, including the antennx or feelers, which are invariably two in number. INSECTS, 103 The thorax, formed by the union of three segments of the skeleton, supports six jointed legs, and gene- rally four, sometimes two wings. ‘These last, how- eyer, are frequently wanting. The abdomen is destitute of legs, and -contains the viscera, connected with nutrition “and reproduction. The lees of insects, as above stated, are invariably six in number, one pair being attached to each of the segments of the thorax. Considered separately, Fic, 68.—HIND LEG OF BER. each of these legs is made up of several pieces, which well deserve our notice. The first division of the leg, or that in immediate connection with the thorax, 1s Besiled the hip (cowa), and upon this, as upon a centre, the movements of the limbs are performed. To the extremity of the cova, a small moveable piece is attached, called the ¢r ochanter, to which succeeds the thigh (femur), which is the thickest and most robust of all the divisions of the limb. The next piece, called the shank (¢2b7a), is occasionally of considerable leneth, and is connected with the last by a hinge. To its extremity is appended the foot (tarsus), com- posed of a consecutive series of small segments, varying in number from five to one, the last of which is armed with claws, or other appendages, adapted to different kinds of progr ession. With these divisions of the leg, it is necessary that the student should be 104 INSECTS. thoroughly acquainted, as we shall again and again have to refer to them hereafter. The wings of insects, when present, are invariably attached to the two posterior segments of the thorax, which are strengthened in every possible manner, so as to afford a support of sufficient density and firm- ness to sustain the violent exertions of the muscles employed in flight. Few things are met with in Nature more admirable than these structures. They present, indeed, a combination of strength and light- ness absolutely beyond anything of human invention, and as instruments of flight they much surpass the wings of birds, both in the power and precision of their movements. In the dragon-flies, by far the most powerful fliers in the insect world, all four wings are of equal size, and consist of a thin membranous expansion of great delicacy and of glassy appearance, supported at all points by a horny net-work (Hig. 69); these insects Fic. 69.— WING OF DRAGON-FLY. can fly in all directions, backwards, and to the right or left, as well as forwards, with equal facility. The substances employed as food by insects are various in proportion to the extensive distribution of the class. Some devour the leaves of vegetables, or feed upon grasses or succulent plants; others destroy timber, and the bark or roots of trees; while some, more delicately organized, are content to extract the juices of the expanding buds, or sip up the honied fluids from the flowers. Many tribes are carnivorous in their habits, armed with various weapons of de- struction, and carry on a perpetual warfare with their own or other species; and, again, there are countless swarms appointed in their various spheres INSECTS. 105 to attack all dead or putrefying materials, and thus aid in the removal of substances, which by their accumulation might prove a constant source of annoy ance and mischief, Such differences in their nature demand, of course, corresponding diversity in the construction of the instruments employed for ee curing nourishment; and, accordingly, we find i the structure of the mouths of these little eine innumerable modifications, adapting them to different offices—jaws armed with strong and penetrating hooks for seizing and securing strugeling prey —sharp and powerful shears for clipping “and “dividing the softer parts of vegetables; saws, files, and augers, for excavating and boring the harder parts of plants, lancets for piercing the skin of living animals, siphons and sucking-tubes for imbibing fluid nutriment—all these, in a thousand for ms, are met with in the insect world, and thus provide them with the means of obtaining food adapted to their habits, and even of constructing for themselves edifices of inimitable workmanship. The mouths of insects may be divided into two Fig. 70.—PARTS OF THE MOUTH OF AN INSECT, great classes, those which are adapted for biting, forming what is called a perfect or mandibulate mouth, and those which are so constructed as only to be employed i in sucking, constituting the suctforial or haustellaie mouth. It is in the former of these that all the parts are most completely developed. The perfect mouth of an insect consists of an upper and an under lip, and four horny jaws. The upper lip (Zabrum) (Figs. 70,71, a) is a convex horny plate, placed transversely across the upper margin of the cavity in which the jaws are lodged, so that when the mouth . F3 106 INSECTS, is shut, it folds down to meet the under lip (labiwm) g ; and these two pieces more or less conceal the proper jaws which are lodged between them. The upper pair of jaws (mandibule), b, are hard and powerful shears, placed immediately beneath the upper lip, and so jointed to the cheeks that they move horizontally, opening and shutting like a pair ot scissors. ‘Their concave edge is armed with strong denticulations of various kinds, sometimes furnished with cutting edges, that, like sharp shears, will clip and divide the hardest animal and vegetable sub- stances; sometimes they form sharp and pointed fangs, adapted to seize and pierce their victims; and not unfrequently they constitute a series of grinding surfaces, disposed like the molar teeth of quadrupeds, to triturate and bruise the materials used as food. The variety of uses to which these mandibles can be turned is indeed amazing. In the Fic. 71.—MOUTH OF A BEETLE. carnivorous beetles their hooked points, more formi- dable than the teeth of the tiger, penetrate with ease the mailed covering of their stoutest congeners, and in the dragon-fly they are scarcely less formidable INSECTS. 107 weapons of destriuction. In the locust tribes these organs are equally efficient agents in cutting and masticating leaves and vegetable matters adapted to their appetites, while in the w asps and bees they form the instruments with which these insects build their admirable edifices, and, to use the words of a popular author, supply the place of trowels, spades, pickaxes, saws, scissors, and knives, as the necessity of the case may require. Beneath the mandibles is situated another pair of jaws, c, of similar construction, but generally smaller, and less powerful ; these are called the mazille. The lower lip, or labium, which closes the mouth inferiorly, consists of two distinct portions, t usually described as separate organs; the chin, mentwin, that really forms the inferior border of the mouth, and a membranaceous or somewhat fleshy organ, reposing upon the chin internally, and called the tongue (lingua). All these parts enter into’ the composition of the perfect mouth of an insect, and from the numerous varieties that occur 1m their shape and proportions, they become important guides to the entomologist in the determination and distribution of species. The organs of sense in insects are distinct and well lie. 72.— VARIOUS ANTENNZ:, developed, though we cannot, in all cases, precisely determine the sensations of which they are the 108 INSECTS. channels. Thus, the two jointed members called antenne, that project from the head, are believed by some to be organs of touch; by others, to convey delicate perceptions unknown to us; and by the generality of entomologists are considered to be in ‘some way sensible to sound. They are composed of a varying number of rings, sometimes as many as thirty, set in succession; the whole constituting a tube, and enclosing nerves, muscles, and air-pipes. Their form is exceedingly varied; and in many in- stances they are ornamented with feather-like beards, or curiously sculptured, so that they afford useful characters for the identification of the multitudinous genera comprised in this Class. The eyes of insects present some interesting pecu- liarities of structure, indicative, no doubt, of corre- sponding diversities in the sense of vision, of which we must ever remain ignorant. ‘Two distinct kinds of eyes are possessed by these animals, both kinds being present in the majority of species. If we é examine the head of a bee, for example, we find a large con- vexity on each side, which a mag- nifying glass discovers to be com- posed of an immense number of facets, and on the summit of the head, between these, we see three shining points, resembling minute gems, set in a triangular form. Fic. 73.—exrs or zee. ‘he former are termed compound, the latter simple eyes. ‘The simple eyes consist of a glassy lens, behind which a nervous thread is spread out, forming a retina, or net-work, as in the higher animals, to receive impressions of sight. The struc- ture of these eyes is sufficiently intelligible, but our admiration is greatly excited when we come to con- sider the large convex organs of compound visicn, and find that each of these contains many thousands of eyes, all capable of distinct perception. The microscope reyeals to us that the compound eye of INSECTS. 109 an ant contains fifty lenses, that of a fly four thou- sand, that of a dragon-fly twelve thousand, that of a butterfly seventeen oad and that of a species of mordella (a kind of beetle), the amazing number of twenty-five thousand. Every one of these regular, polished, and many- sided lenses, is the external surface of a distinct eye, furnished with Fre. 74.—comrousp rye or a its own iris and pupil and a aye gs Age perfect nervous apparatus, as may be seen in the appended figure, representing the eye of a dragon-fly cut perpendicularly through the middle. As the eyes of insects are Immov eably fixed in the head, it is probable that this great number of lenses and ‘visual tubes is needful to see dilterent objects, some or other of the component eyes being fae towards every point. The respiratory system of insects appears to be constructed with a view to insure a perpetual renewal of the vitality of the blood, combined with the utmost hiehtness, so needful for animals of which the great majority are denizens of the air. Hence we find neither lungs nor gills, but a series of tubes pervading every part of the body, by which the vital oxygen is carried to the blood. If we examine a beetle, a grasshopper, or a caterpillar, we shall observe a row of oval openings on each side, capable of being closed by thickened lips (Fig. 75). These are the spiracles or breathing apertures, for no insect breathes through the mouth ; “they admit the air into a main pipe w hich runs along each side of the body; these are connected by smaller branch pipes, which run across the rings of the abdomen, and distribute an infinite number of smaller tubes to every part of the interior. In insects of great powers of flight, there are likewise reservoirs of air; these are particularly large in the 110 INSECTS. bee. One circumstance connected with the arrange- ment of these air-tubes specially deseryes our admi- ration. It is evident that the sides of canals so Fic. 75.—SPIRACLES OF INSECTS. slender and delicate would inevitably collapse and fall together, so as to obstruct the passage of the air they are destined to convey, were not some plan adopted to obviate such an occurrence; and the only mode of providing against this would appear to be to make their walls stiff and inflexible. Inflexibility and stiffness would, however, never do in this case, where the tubes in question have to be distributed in countless ramifications through so many soft and distensible organs, and the problem, therefore, is how to maintam them permanently open in spite of external pressure, and still preserve the perfect phancy Sy corsa \ Fic. 76.—AIR-PIPE OF FLY. and softness of their walls. The mode in which this is effected is as follows:—Between the two thin INSECTS. hl Wi layers of which each air-tube consists, an elastic thread is interposed, coiled in close spirals, of sufficient strength and firmness to maintain the channel always pervious, but not at all interfering with its flexibility; and this fibre, delicate as it is, may be traced with the microscope even through the utmost ramifications of the air-tubes. Wonderful are the results obtained by the adoption of this new arrangement. Not only is the body of the insect lightened to the uttermost, but the little creature, thus breathing in every part, has its vitality so intensified that it is, in proportion to its bulk, the strongest of created things—a living railway engine, or compared with which a railway engine is a baby’s toy. Insects are proverbially of small dimensions. _ Their presence around us is only remarked as con- ferring additional life and gaiety on the landscape, and except when by some inordinate increase in their numbers, they make up by their multitude for their diminutive size, the ravages committed by them are trifling and insignificant. Far otherwise would it be if they attained to larger growth, and still possessed the extraordinary strength with which they are now so conspicuously gifted; they would then indeed become truly the tyrants of Creation—monsters such “as fables never feigned nor fear conceived,” fully adequate to exterminate from the surface of the earth all that it contains of vegetable or of animal existence. A common flea or grasshopper will spring two hundred times the length of its own body, which is as though a man should at a single bound leap over the ball and cross of St. Paul’s Cathedral. The dragon-fly possesses such indomitable strength of wing that, for a day together, it will sustain itself in the air and fly with equal facility and swiftness backwards or forwards, to the right or to the left, without turning. The beetles are encased in a dense and hard integument impervious to ordinary violence ; and we may add that the wasp and the termite ant will penetrate, with their jaws, the hardest wood. i ly INSECTS. Neither is the velocity of the movements of insects inferior to their prodigious muscular power. It has been calculated that in its ordinary flight the common house-fly makes with its wings about six hundred strokes in a second of time, which will carry it a distance of five feet, but if alarmed its velocity can be increased six or seven times, or to thirty or thirty- five feet in a second. In this space of time the swiftest racehorse that ever trod the turf could clear only ninety feet, which is at the rate of more than a mile in a minute. Compare the infinite difference in the size of the two animals (ten millions of the fly would hardly counterpoise one racer), and how wonderful will the velocity of the little insect appear. Did the fly equal the racehorse in size, and retain its present powers in the ratio of its magnitude, it would traverse the globe with the rapidity of hghtning. Let the reader, therefore, imagine that great law of Nature which restricts the dimensions of an insect within certain bounds, dispensed with even in a single species. Suppose the wasp or the stag-beetle dilated to the bulk of a tiger or of an elephant, cased in impenetrable armour—furnished with jaws that would crush the solid trunk of an oak—winged and capable of flight so rapid as to render escape hopeless, what could resist such destroyers, or how could the world support their ravages ? Insects may, therefore, be regarded in the light of engines, so perfectly adapted to the work intrusted to them, that to increase or diminish their size would be to unfit them for the duties for which they are specially constructed, and as a necessary consequence, no insect in its winged condition can be permitted to grow; its growth must be effected under other cir- cumstances, and generally under a form quite dif- ferent from that which it presents in its perfect state —hence arises the necessity for The Metamorphosis of Insects. Most insects in the course of their lives are sub- INSECTS. Tks ject to very great changes of form, attended by equally remarkably alterations in their habits and propensities. ‘These transformations or metamor- phoses, as they are called, quite as strange as any we read of in Ovid, might cause the same insect, at different ages, to be mistaken for three different animals. tor example, a caterpillar, after feeding upon leaves till it is fully grown, retires into some place of concealment, throws off its caterpillar skin, and presents itself in an entirely different shape, wherein it has no power of moving about nor of taking food. In this, its second or chrysalis state, it seems to be lifeless, having neither a distinct head nor moveable limbs-—after a lapse of time the chry- salis skin bursts open, and from the rent issues a butterfly, whose wings, soft and crumpled at first, soon extend and harden, and become fitted to bear away the insect in search of the honied juices of flowers. Hence there are three distinct periods in the Fic. 77.—METAMORPHOSES OF BUTTERFLY. life of an insect, more or less distinctly marked. In the first, or period of infancy, an insect is technically 114 INSECTS. ealled a larva, a word signifying a mask, because therein its future form is more or less masked or concealed. This name is equally applied to grubs, caterpillars, and maggots, and to all young insects before their wings begin to appear. Consequently, in this first period, which is much the longest portion of their lives, insects are always wingless, pass most of their time in eating, grow rapidly, and to allow of their growth, repeatedly cast oft their skins. During the second period, some insects retain their activity and their appetite for food, continue to grow and acquire the rudiments of wings; while others, at this age, entirely lose their larva form, take no food, and remain at rest in a death-like sleep. This is called the pupa * state of the imsect, because in this condition they resemble an infant wrapped in swaddling bands. The pupe from caterpillars are more commonly called chrysalids, because some of them, as the name implies, are gilt or adorned with golden spots, whereas pup, that retain their legs and capability of locomotion, are often named nymphs, the reason for which is not very obvious. At the end of the second period insects again shed their skin, and come forth fully grown, and (with few exceptions) provided with wings. They thus enter upon their last or adult state, wherein they no longer increase in size, and during which they provide for their progeny. This period only lasts a short time, for most insects die immediately after they have laid their eggs. Bees, wasps, and ants, however, which live in society, and labour together for the common good, continue much longer in the adult state. The innumerable races of insects may be classified in accordance with the following table :— * Pupa, a baby. Those who have seen infants in many parts of the continent tied tight to a board, will appreciate the appropriate- ness of the expression. INSECTS. ‘VEQONVSAHL| | Suidvoy toy sosep -uodde 10 sSoy ospey YL poplAotg ‘VLISVUVd sosvepuodde Suidvoy yy papraoidug, ‘VUALdINVHAV ‘VUaLdIa ‘VUALdISdauLs E ‘VaTLdOWOH ‘VuaLdoaraa| | ‘VUALAONAWAH ‘VUELAOUNAN ‘VUTLAOHLYO ‘VETLAOTTO9 | HON SuyUBa ATAU ‘+ poplgy JON | ung B OMIT PPO <2 * “erie ‘PpaAIND LO FYLSIVYS LoqyL9 ‘VUALIINAH § ‘yeod Peormos vw YoY, “vayATo-Tuep jo twiof of} UL ATLIVUTpLO TOL1oyUe el srosoqord [vuds v yynoy, = ysnp SOTQIPULUT JYOUTYSTP YBIA ‘s]]00 ADAIR] pus ‘yuoredsurty ‘SHOuUBiquIoUL [LV * rzottysod oY} OFT] “pe OPELLOTJAL puwv SNLOU. Tq U9 TAL A[WO OSTAYYSUOT 10 SUG oat BN -Ip OA} UL pepo A[osaoa -suviy ATUO poppy a oa jo purty v Aq paitaa0o Ty | oJUL papLaIp — ed poses ay} Jo asouy ‘wap ATo JO UIOF UT | r —uUsUlopqgy ‘SSUIM OU OAR} —sisoydaourvyour 07 yoolqns you ary ] "OM, SL —pue ee \ ‘ssoy Jo said (ee daIY] OAV FT uotpong nov J —10J poulloj S$ WoW ‘sisoyd -1OTUB OUI os10puy) | —I0IL “07UB OMY ayy £ anoy SHULM ‘roroysey J SLOASNI 116 COLEOPTERA. ORDER COLEOPTERA. The Coleopterous insects are characterized by having four wines, of which the anterior pair, always hard or leathery in their texture, form two strong shields, beneath which the hinder pair are lodged and pro- tected. The front wings, or elytra,* when in repose are always united bya straight edge, extending along their whole length. The hinder wings, which alone are adapted for flight, are much larger than the elytra, and when not in use, are folded transversely ; in a few species they are wanting, and then the elytra are, as it were, soldered together. ‘The tegu- mentary envelope of these insects is always remark- ably hard, and forms a very substantial suit of armour; their mouth is constructed for the mastica- tion of food, and is provided with a pair of strong mandibles, a pair of maxille bearing palpi, and a labium or lower lip, also bearing palpi. The abdomen is sessile, that is, is broadest at the place where it joins the thorax. The metamorphosis which the Coleoptera undergo is complete. The larva resembles a worm; its body is soft, with the exception of the head, and the first seements of the body, which are of a horny consist- ence. They are generally furnished with three pairs of horny legs, attached to the three first rings, but sometimes these are replaced by fleshy tubercles. There is, however, never a greater number than six of these appendages. The pupa is motionless and takes no food, its limbs being swathed together by the external integument. It is generally enclosed in a shell or cocoon, camposed of different substances, joined together by a viscid silky material ; sometimes it is naked. This is by far the most numerous of all the insect orders; the number of species already known is probably not much less than fifty thousand. In order, therefore, more readily to arrange such a * €rutpoyr, elytron, @ case. COLEOPTERA. LP? multitude, they are divided into four sections, accord- ing to the number of joimts or articulations entering into the composition of their feet (tars). The sections so formed are as follows :— 1. The Pentamerans,* in which the tarsi of all the legs are composed of jive joints. 2. The Heteromerans,} in which the tarsi have four joints on the two front pairs of legs, and five on the others. 3. The Tetramerans,{ in which the tarsi of all the legs have four articulations. 4. The Trimerans,! in which all the tarsi have only three joints. SECTION OF PENTAMERANS. The first division of Coleoptera, having five joints in all their tarsi, are the most active.and highly gifted of the race, and may be considered as the lions and tigers of the insect world; they constitute the family of Carnivora, || and are distinguished by having two palpi on each maxilla. These beetles in their perfect state pursue and devour other insects; their larve also have similar habits. Among them we find The Tiger Beetles (Cicindela 4), which are excellent re- presentatives of the quadruped whose name they bear ; conspicuously the most rapacious and bloodthirsty of the race ; equally remarkable for the beauty of their colours, their extreme activity, and savage propensities. They run with considerable swiftness, ‘and take wing the mo- ment they are approached; but they alight again at a short distance. They are commonly met with in the heat of summer upon heaths, and in other dry sunny situations. Their larve excavate eylindrical burrows in zs meVTE, pente, five ; Epos, meros, a joint. + repos, eteros, various ; HEpos, meros, a@ joint. t TETpas, tetras, four ; and HEpos, meros, @ joint. § rpéus, treis, three ; and €pos, meros, a joint. || Caro, carnis, flesh ; voro, I eat. { Cicindela, a shining insect. ier 118 COLEOPTERA. the ground, which are, many of them, upwards of a foot in depth: in the construction of these dens they exhibit extraordinary ingenuity, loosening the earth by means of their powerful jaws, and carrying it to the surface upon their broad heads. They have hooks upon their backs, which assist them Fic. 78.—rarva or viceER in Climbing to the top of their exca- a vation, much in the same way as a chimney-sweep climbs a chimney. Their hole being completed, they station themselves just within its entrance, where they lie in wait for any poor passing insect tra- veller, which is instantly seized and dragged to the bottom of the cave, there to be devoured. The Ground Beetles (Carabus)* are scarcely less active than the foregoing, or less carnivorous in their habits; many of them are constantly employed in prowling about upon the surface of the ground in search of insect prey, lurking in the day time under stones and other similar places of concealment, and carrying on an unrelenting warfare against innumerable noxious insects, the de- structiveness of which they materially assist in diminish- ing. Among these marauding beetles the most remark- able are The Bombardiers ( Brachinus), as they are not inappositely named, several species being provided with a means of defence unparalleled among the lower animals. Of all the inventions which mankind seems fairly entitled to claim as being exclusively of human con- trivance, perhaps, that of guns and gunpowder might be deemed the most original, yet even in this, strange to say, he has been fore- stalled. The little bombardier beetles possessed an artillery of their own long before the fields of Crecy first trembled at the unaccus- tomed roar of human cannon, as any one will confess who may inadvertently lay hold of one of these living batteries. It is quite true that neither powder nor ball is needed by the insect cannonier ; but there is the flash, the smoke, and the report, and although “ The far-hissing globe of death ” be wanting, its place is most efficiently supplied by a burning drop, so caustic in its nature as to be only comparable to nitric acid in its corrosive effects. Sternly and unremittingly is the work of de- struction, intrusted to these carnivorous _ beetles, carried on by night and by day without remorse or * kapaBos, cdrabos, a beetle. COLEOPTERA. 119 respite, and were we to reflect for a moment, we should soon perceive how indispensable is their mur- derous zeal to the order and well-being of surround- ing nature. "The active operations of these destroyers are not, however, restricted to the land. Many species are inhabitants of the water, and in that element have their assigned tasks to perform. Neither are their blood-thirsty propensities only manifested during their mature or winged state; from their earliest birth they are tutored to the work of destruction, and their very infancy is devoted to carnage and slaughter. The Water Beetles (Dyticus)* exhibit, in a very striking manner, the facility with which, by a slight modi- fication in their form and arrangements, the limbs of an insect become convertible to the most opposite uses. The body of the Dyticus, oval in its peti and ete flat- tened above and below, is con- verted into a boat so smooth and polished in every part, that it glides through the water with scarcely the slightest re- sistance, while the two hinder pairs of legs are changed into oars of a most effective and elegant construction. Thus limbed, the Dyticus is fully equipped for its piratical mode of life, and becomes an object of no little interest in the water over which it tyrannizes. Sometimes lurking _ beneath the weeds, it may be seen creeping stealthily about in search of some victim to seize by surprise; sometimes launching its skiff upon predatory excursions, the little corsair sweeps along by means of its oars with wonderful rapidity, coming every now and then to the surface of the water to breathe, and diving again into the depths below, carrying with it a supply of air beneath its wing covers to serve for respiration during its immersion. Fic, 79.—WATER-BEETLE. * Suricds, dyticos, diving. 120 COLEOPTERA. The young of these water beetles are as active and fero- cious as the adult insects, although widely dittering in point of form. These larva, not imappropriately distin- guished by the name of “ water tigers,’ have some resem- Fic. 80.—LARVA OF DYTICUS. blance to a scolopendra, being composed of a succession of scaly rings, and they are, moreover, furnished with six strong and well-jointed legs, by means of which they run about with considerable rapidity. The head, which is attached to the body by a flexible neck, is broad, and composed of strong horny plates, adapted to support the formidable jaws, which are powerful hooked fangs, moving laterally, and so sharp that woe-betide the unfortunate creature upon which they lay hold. Thus armed, these butchers live upon other aquatic animals, upon which they rush with all the vivacity of a shark or pike, not sparing even individuals of their own species. After having several times cast their skin, these larve prepare to assume their pupa state; for that purpose, they creep out of the water, and bury themselves in the moist earth, in the vicinity of their native pond, each scooping out for itself an oval cavity wherein to pass the assigned time of helplessness and inactivity. (Fig. 80, b.) COLEOPTERA. Ta Some naturalists are pleased to find in the rapa- cious race of beetles, the representatives of the eagles and the falcons among the feathered tribes—both are equally organized to combat and to kill—both strike at living game, and consequently must stand pre- eminent in strength and courage. But, as amongst the flesh-devouring birds, species exist possessing more ignoble attributes not formed for open battle, but content to appease their ravenous appetites with earrion and such offal; so among the insects nume- rous tribes exist, whose prey is garbage, and whose whole employment seems to be to search for and remove the dead remains of other animals. Every- where these scavengers are busy ; some frequent the muddy margins of our pools and ditches, eagerly in quest of rotten prey, others prefer the land, where they seek out with unremitting diligence whatever from decay begins to taint the air, while some, the very sextons of creation, bury whole the carcases they meet with, and thus vigorously assist in carrying out the sanitary laws of nature. To these scavengers belong The Brachelytrous* Pentamerans. These have only one palpus on each maxilla; their wing-cases are much shorter than their bodies, which are generally narrow and elongated. They include The Rove Beetles (Staphilinus), well known to every schoolboy by their turned-up tails and threatening jaws with which they menace their assailants. They generally take up their abode in the earth, in the vicinity of dung- hills, or of rotten trees, or anywhere in the neighbour- hood of rottenness and decay; they are all exceedingly voracious, run very quickly, and take flight upon the least alarm. Their bodies are generally jet black, and they diffuse an intolerable odour. The larvae have the same habits as the perfect insects, from which, except from the circumstance that they have no wings, they are scarcely distinguishable. The third section of Coleopterous Pentamerans * Bpaxds, brachus, short ; Zavtpoy, elutron, wing-cover. G 122 COLEOPTERA. are named Serricornes.* They are distinguished by the shape of their antenne, which are very long and generally toothed like a saw. Among these are The Gold Beaters (Buprestis) *, conspicuous from their size and the magnificence of their colours, which some- times resemble polished gold, upon a field of emerald, or blaze with every tint of blue and green, purple and scarlet, mixed with metallic gleams of gorgeous brilliance. These beetles are all vegetable feeders ; they walk slowly, but their flight is rapid, especially in hot and dry weather. When any one attempts to seize them they fall to the earth. A few small species may be met with on flowers, but they generally frequent forests and the vicinity of trees. The females lay their eggs in dead dry wood, in which the larve excavate long winding passages, wherein they undergo their metamorphoses. The Spring Beetles (Hlater)t are remarkable from their faculty of springing into the air when laid upon their backs, in which position, owing to the shortness of their legs, they would otherwise be completely unable to rise. The most celebrated among them is The Cucujo (Elater noctilucus), which has upon each side of the back of its thorax a smooth convex round spot, from which at night there issues a light so brilliant that by its assistance it is easy to read the smallest print, more especially if several of these insects are put together in a glass vessel. By the light thus afforded, the Brazilian ladies are able to embroider ; and not unfrequently they twine these living lamps among their hair to light them in their evening prome- nade. The Indians fasten them to their mocassins, and thus illu- minate their path. An individual once accidentally brought one to Paris in some wood, wherein it had passed its larva state, and asto- nished the inhabitants of the Faubourg St. Antoine by a display of its brilliant light, an exhibition for which they were but little pre- pared. Nearly allied to these are The Glow-worms (Lampyris),§ likewise distinguished by their capability of emitting phosphorescent light. The males of our common species are not particularly re- markable, but the females, which are without wings, are highly luminous. The light which they emit issues from the hinder part of their abdomen, and the insect can * Serra, a saw ; cornu, a horn; i.e. antenna. + Bovmpnotis, bouprestis, an insect said to poison cattle. { éAarnp, elater, a leaper. § Aaurupis, lampuris, a glow-worm. COLEOPTERA. 128 vary its intensity at pleasure. This faculty of emitting light is one of the most puzzling circumstances in their history, nor is it easy to conjecture what end it serves. The suggestion frequently advanced, that its purpose is to guide, the winged male to the apterous female in the darkness of the night, is by no means a satisfactory ex- planation : for, besides the fact that other nocturmal insects need no such aid, in many species of the genus both sexes are luminous, and both furnished with wings. The light of these foreign species (as for example, the lucciole of Italy and the fire-flies of North America) far surpasses the feeble glimmer of our own, and when the aur is filled with myriads of them intersecting each other’s path in every direction, the scene is one of indescribable beauty The Death Watches (Ptinus)* are a race of small in- sects, often formidable on account of the ravages they commit upon our property. Many species of this genus inhabit the interior of our houses, where, in their larva condition, they cause much damage by boring into wood. Nothing of a vegetable nature comes amiss to them—planks, rafters, beams, chairs, and tables, and even books, all fall a prey to their hungry industry ; they bore them through and through with holes as sharply cut as if they had been drilled with the finest Beg ae ey instruments. Some devote their special Wise energies to farinaceous substances, and devour the very wafers in our desks: others, more formidable stil] to the naturalist, attack our collections of birds and insects, and commit sad havoc in our museums. In some species both sexes, by way of calling their mates, are in the habit of rapping sharply and quickly with their mandibles upon the wood that they frequent, and replying to each other in the same manner. The noise thus produced, which somewhat resembles the tick- ing of a watch, has gained for them, from the ignorant and superstitious, the name of the “ Death-watch,” by which they are fam@liarly known. The fourth section of Coleopterous Pentamerans * mrnvds, ptenos, winged. G 2 124 COLEOPTERA. is distinguished by having the antennz dilated to- wards their extremity or club-shaped, hence they have received the name of Clavicornes.* They all, in their larva condition, deyour animal substances, but the perfect insects seem to indulge in‘a more general diet. They are the living dust-carts of crea- tion, and nothing is too despicable or too offensive for their appetite. Among them we need only men- tion The Carrion Beetles (Silpha),f which live exclusively on putrefying carrion, and The Sexton Beetles (Necrophorus),t whose duty is to bury and get rid of anything that might pollute the air. Urged by a remarkable instinct, no sooner do they find the carcase of a bird, a mouse, a frog, a mole, or any other small animal, than they glide beneath it, and pro- ceed to dig away the earth until they make a grave for its reception ; having accomplished this, they lay their eggs upon the buried body, and covering up the little scpulchre Higa When the eggs are hatched, the larvee, furnished with strong jaws, devour the carcase which supplies their food. When about to assume the nymph condition, they bury themselves still more deeply in the earth, and ‘there construct a chamber lined with a tenacious slime, in which they undergo their final change. Other tribes, still faithful to their duty, eagerly attack whatever they can find that is bereft of lite. The Bacon Beetles (Dermestes lordarius) even invade our larders to regale on rancid hams or bacon; furs, woollen stuffs, the skins of birds, the treasured specimens in our museums, all become their prey; they make no nice distinctions. What is dead they claim, and do not wait for man’s permission. The fifth section of Coleopterous Pentamerans in- cludes the Palpicornes, which although nearly re- lated to the preceding are principally aquatic in their habits. * Clava, a elub; cornu, a horn; i.e. antenna. + ciagn, silphe, a black beetle. ~ vexpds, necros, dead body; pédpos, phoros, carrying. COLEOPTERA. 125 The Large Water Beetles (Hydrophilus)* belong to this group. They swim and fly equally well, but walk upon the ground with difficulty; their breast is armed with a sharp spine, a weapon that occasionally lacerates the hand of those that handle them incautiously. The females are provided with two spinnarets with which they form an oval cocoon, wherein their eggs are arranged with much regu- larity, packed up in a kind of white down. These cocoons may sometimes be observed floating upon ponds. Their larva differs widely in its structure from that of - the Dyticus, with which these insects were long con- founded ; it is provided with a horny head, which it is able to turn back over its body, a faculty that permits it to use its back as a kind of table upon which it cracks the shells of little water-snails that constitute its usual food. In some species the females carry their eggs in a silken bag attached to their abdomen. The sixth and last section of the Coleopterous Pen- tamerans is that of the Lamellicornes,{ distinguished by having their antenne terminated by a_ packet of narrow flat plates or lamellae, arranged like the rays of a fan or the leaves of a book. They all live upon vegetable substances, and some are of large size—their bodies are massive, their flight slow, and their gait heavy and tortoise-like. Their larve are so fat and clumsy that they are Fig. 82.—COCKCHAFER AND LARVA, unable to walk, or do so with difficulty. They lie upon their sides and devour the vegetation that im- mediately surrounds them, and some of them live in this condition for three or four years. They pass their nymph condition buried in the earth, from which they slowly crawl when their metamorphosis * $8wp, udor, water ; pidos, philos, loving. + Lamella, a leaf; cornu, a horn ; or antenna, 126 COLEOPTERA. is completed. We select one or two familiar ex- amples as illustrative of the habits of this immense group. The Scavenger Beetles (Geotrupes) are among the most useful insects met with in tropical climates: no sooner is the presence of filth announced by its scent, than the scavengers are heard coming booming up the wind, and roll it away at once in large pieces as big as billiard balls, and when they reach a place proper by its softness for the deposit of their eggs, and the safety of their young, they dig the soil out from beneath the ball, till they have quite let it down and covered it. They then lay their eggs within the mass. While the larve are growing, they devour the inside of the ball before coming above ground. These beetles, with their gigantic balls, look like Atlas with the world on his back, only they go backwards and with their heads down, push with their hind legs, as if a boy should roll a snow-ball with his legs while standing on his head.—Dr. Liviyestonz. * weibiPRA. FIG. 83.—THE GOLIATH BEEILE, AND HERCULES BEETLE. The Lamellicorn beetles embrace some of the largest of the insect race, equally remarkable for COLEOPTERA. 127 their size and prodigious strength,—hence such names as Goliath, Hercules, Sampson, &c., are pretty freely conferred upon them. We now arrive at the second great section of the Coleoptera—namely, the Heteromerans—distinguished by having five joints on the tarsi of each of the two front pairs of legs, but only four on the two hind ones. They are all, without exception, vegetable feeders; and it may be said that every plant has appropriate inhabitants selected from their numerous hosts. First of this extensive series we must notice the Melasomes,* remarkable as a group from the cir- cumstance of their bodies being almost invariably black, and thus adapted to the nocturnal habits of the generality of the species. Many of them are wingless. Others, provided with wings, are fre- quently met with, especially towards night, in un- frequented parts of our houses; they abound in bakers’ shops, corn-mills, and wherever farinaceous food is obtainable ; they are likewise frequently to be met with in old walls, and in other out of the way situations. As a sample of the group we may men- tion The Meal Grinders (Tenebrio molitor), whose larvae, under the name of meal-worms, are found abundantly in bran and flour, which they devour in great quantities, and wherein they undergo their metamorphosis. These grubs being easily obtainable, are given as food to nightingales and other small birds. A second numerous family is that of the Taxi- cornes,{ so called from the regularly beaded struc- ture of their antenne. These are generally found upon decaying fungi, such as grow upon old trees, or else they lurk beneath the bark, while others live upon the ground or under stones. The Stenelytrat form the next division. Many uédas, melas, black ; c@ua, soma, body. Taéis, taxis, regularity ; cornu, a horn, or antennz. oTevos, Stenos, nurrow > €AuTooy, elutron, wiig-cover. rie 128 COLEOPTERA. of these inhabit trees, creeping beneath the bark, where, too, their progeny is reared, while some are only found on flowers, or are appropriate to different kinds of fungi or of mushrooms. The Trachelides,* distinguished by the leneth and — size of their necks, are likewise found on plants, of which they eat the leaves or suck the nectar from their flower-bells; many of them are remarkable for shamming death as soon as they are seized or feel themselves to be subjects of observation. Hun- dreds of these are seen in summer time in every garden, known by their thin elytra, slender limbs, and pretty tints, to be the fit concomitants of flowers. Among the most remarkable examples of the group are The Blister Beetles (Cantharis), valuable from their great utility in medicine. These little insects, as is well” known, contain a pecuhar irritating matter, which when applied to the human skin has the property of producing a blister. They are of a golden green colour, and are very common in France, Italy, Spain, and Russia, where they feed upon the leaves of the ash, the lily, and the privet. The “Potato Fly” (Cantharis vittata) is an American species, which possesses qualities Fic. 84.—BLISTER BEETLE. similar to the European, for which it forms an efficient substitute. COLEOPTEROUS TETRAMERANS. The third great section of the Coleoptera includes all those beetles that have only four joints in the tarsi of all their legs. It embraces an immense host, which, however, have the following characters in common. They all live upon vegetable substances. Their larvae have very short legs, or in some in- stances lees are entirely wanting, their place being © * rpaxnaos, trachelos, the neck. COLEOPTERA. 129 supplied by little fleshy tubercles. The perfect insect frequents the flowers or leaves of plants. First and most conspicuous among this extensive group are _ The Snout Beetles (Rhyncophora),* at once recog- nisable by the shape of their head, which is prolonged into a sort of snout or proboscis, upon which are placed the antenne. Their larve resemble soft little white worms, furnished with a scaly head, but quite destitute of legs. They all devour the dif- ferent parts of vegetables, and some are found only in the in- terior of fruits or seeds, by de- Fie. 85.-- COPPFR-COLOURED WEEVIL. stroying which they do immense damage. Their nymphs are enclosed in a cocoon. But even in their perfect state some of these beetles are very destructive when they are at all numerous. Fic, 86.—NUT-WEEVIL. The Weevils (Bruchus),+ are tiny authors of in- * buyxos, rhynchos, a snout ; dpos, phoros, carrying. + Having crooked snouts. G3 130 COLEOPTERA. calculable damage. The females deposit their eggs in the buds, yet young and tender, of our most useful vege- tables, in nascent grains of corn, in the flowers of the palm-tree and the cotfee-plant. In such situations the larva are hatched, and find abundant food stored up around them. Having completed their metamorphoses, the per- fect insects eat their way out of their vegetable prison, leaving behind them those round holes so often seen in peas or grains of wheat. One well-known species only lives in nuts, where it devours the kernel, converting the interior into amass of bitterness. Another lives in cork, filling the galleries which it excavates with an equally bitter sub- stance, and this it is which gives the bitter disagreeable flavour to ‘‘ corked ” wine. Many species, such as The Diamond Beetles (Curculio), are gorgeously appa- relled, as is abundantly indicated by the names by which they aredesignated. ‘ Imperial,’ “ royal,’ “sumptuous” Fic. 87.—THE STAG-HURNED PRIONUS, AND DIAMOND BEETLE, are the humblest epithets appropriate to their magni- ficence. Diamonds and pearls, emeralds and rubies, gold — and sparkling gems, look paltry when compared with their elaborate bedizenment. In the Brazils, the mimosa COLEOPTERA. rot trees are sometimes so crowded with these splendid insects that the branches bend beneath their glittering burden. Even some of our native species, such as the Rose curculio when seen under a microscope, are found to be most bril- liantly decorated. A second section of Coleopterous Trimerans com- prehends The Wood Eaters or Xylophagi,* a race of insects specially appointed to devour timber. They mostly live upon wood, in which their larvee excavate gal- leries in all directions, so that when they become numerous, whole forests of pine and fir are destroyed by their ravages; some cause immense damage amongst olive-trees, whilst others, the feeblest of the race, content themselves with devouring various kinds of fungi. As an example of these timber borers, we give a figure of The Long-horned Beetle (Prionus), one of the largest of the tribe, conspicuous alike from the beauty of its colours and the strength of its jaws. (Fig. 87.) In the last section of the Coleoptera, the Trimerans, the number of tarsal joints in all the six legs is reduced to three ; of these the best known examples are The Lady-birds (Coccinella), universal favourites, and as useful as they are pretty. These insects are readily recognised by their semi-globular shape, and by the pecu- liar pattern of their colouring, generally black spots upon a red or yellow ground, or red and yellow spots upon a black ground. They feed exclusively upon the plant-lice or Aphides that infest the choicest flowers of our green- houses, and are still more hurtful in the hop-plantation and the garden. To the destruction of these insect pests the whole energies of the Lady-bird are devoted. Its eggs are laid in little patches on the leaves of plants, resembling groups of nine-pins set upright; when these are hatched they give birth to a larva furnished with a small head and a thick but tapering body, which creeps actively about the * fvAov, Xylon, wood; gayéw, phagein, to eut. 132 COLEOPTERA. leaf by means of six short legs attached to its anterior segments. (Fig. 88.) Its colour is usually a dark bluish- gray, having black spots interspersed with a few orange spots of larger size. It ricts among the Aphides hke a lion among a flock of sheep, devouring them