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ZOOGRAPHY;

OR, THE

iseauttes of Mature Dtepiapeo

' N

r

ZOOGRAPHY;

OR, THE

Beauties of Mature Displaces*

IN

SELECT DESCRIPTIONS

PROM

THE ANIMAL, AND VEGETABLE,

WITH ADDITIONS FROM

THE MINERAL KINGDOM.

SYSTEMATICALLY ARRANGED.

BY W. WOOD, F.L.S.

ILLUSTRATED WITH PLATES, DESIGNED AND ENGRAVED
BY MR. WILLIAM DANIELL.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. II.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR CADELL AND DAVIES, IN THE STRAND.
Bi/ Richard Taylor and Co. Shoe Lane.

ISO/.

.

CONTENTS

OF THE

SECOND VOLUME.

REPTILES .

•

Page

1

Tortoise .....

4

Turtle .....

10

Frog .....

1 6

Toad .....

30

Flying Dragon ....

38

Crocodile . .

42

Guana .

51

Chameleon ....

56*

Salamander ....

63

Water-newt . . ’ .

67

Rattle-snake ....

7 2

Great Boa . . ...

81

Viper .....

8.9

Cerastes .....

9C

Cobra de Capello

103

Snake .....

108

FISHES

•

115

Whale

•

123

VOL. II.

a

VI

CONTENTS.

Eel

Page

133

Electrical Gymnote

138

Sword-fish ....

144

Cod ......

147

Sucking-fish ....

155

Turbot .....

. 159

Rostrated Chaetodon

164

Climbing Sparus

167

Mackrel .....

. 169

Salmon .

174

Pike .....

181

Flying-fish ....

186

Polyneme ....

. 189

Herring .....

. 193

Carp .....

200

Golden Carp ....

. 209

Torpedo .....

. 212

Shark .....

. 219

Sturgeon .....

. 229

INSECTS

235

Hercules Beetle

. 249

Cock- chafer ....

252

Pill-chafer ....

. 260

Stag Beetle ....

263

Death-watch ....

265

(dimmer-chafer

. 269

Grave-digging Beetle

272

Nut Weevil ....

. 278

Timber Beetle ....

282

CONTENTS.

Vll

Page

Glow-worm ....

286

Phosphoric Beetle

. 289

Exploding Beetle

. 291

Oil Beetle ....

- 293

Earwig .....

. 296

Great Cockroach

300

Camel Cricket . . . .

303

Locust .....

308

Mole Cricket ....

318

Lantern-fly ....

321

Cicada .....

. 324

Rose-louse ....

328

Cochineal . . ...

338

Butterfly .....

344

Moth .....

. 349

Sphinx

363

Dragon-fly ....

36;

Ephemera ....

372

Lion-ant .....

. 376

Gall Insect ....

385

Sand-wasp ....

. 389

Common Wasp

. 393

Bee

404

Ant

440

Gad-fly

452

F*y

465

Gnat

470

White Ants ....

476

Spider

513

Vlll

CONTENTS.

Scorpion . . . .

Centipede .

CRUSTACEOUS ANIMALS.

Crab ......

Lobster ......

TESTACEOUS ANIMALS.

Barnacle . . ...

Pholas .....
Solen .....

Muscle .....
Paper Nautilus ...

Cowry .....
Snail .... .

Ship-worm ....

ZOOPHYTES .

Corallines . ....

Fresh-water Polype

Page

529

532

534

542

548
551
555
558
563
578
581
58 6
598

602

6o6

6u

ZOOGRAPHY;

OR THE

Beauties of Mature tu'splapeti*

REPTILES.

In this class are combined animals of the most dis-
gusting appearance, and of the most venomous
properties. We have here the loathsome toad, and
the deadly rattle-snake ; the terrific crocodile, and
the smooth, cold lizard. To describe such an as-
semblage of beings appears incompatible with our
title; and yet it is not so, since every part of nature
has its beauties, and each, when properly consi-
dered, affords something worthy of observation.
The toad, whose general appearance is so disgusting,
can boast an eye of the most brilliant lustre ; and
we must acknowledge that many snakes, indepen-

VOL. II.

N

B

2

REPTILES.

dent of their graceful form, have skins that make
them eminently beautiful.

With this apology (if an apology can ever be
necessary for contemplating the works of an all-wise
Creator) we shall proceed to describe such of the
reptile tribe as contain any thing particularly in-
teresting in their natural history.

TORTOISE.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Body covered either with a horny or coriaceous integument.
Feet like fins.

Tail very short.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Testudo Gr/eca. T. pedibus subdigitatis, testa postice gibbaj

margine laterali obtusissimo, scutellis pla-
niusculis. Linn. Syst. Nat. Gruel. 1.
p. 1043.

The toes hardly to be seen ; shell very gibbous
behind, having a thick margin, with flat-
tish smooth plates.

Testudo Graxa. Testa hemispherica, seu-
tellis disci subconvexis, flavis, nigro cinctis,
margine laterali obtuso postice gibbo.
Schoepf. Hist. Test. p. 38. pi. 8. Q.

Testudo terrestris vulgaris. Raj. Quadr. 243.
Common Tortoise. Shaiv Gen. Zool. 3. p. 9. pi. 1.

This is the small species which we sometimes
meet with in a domesticated state. It arrives at a
great age, even beyond the period of a century.
One of them introduced into the archiepiscopal gar-

H 2

4

TORTOISE.

den at Lambeth about the year l6’33, continued
to live there till the year 1753, and then was sup-
posed to have died from neglect rather than old
age. Another was known to have lived 88 years
in the garden of Samuel Simmons, esq., at Sand-
wich, in Kent. Its real age could not be ascer-
tained, as it was upon the premises when Mr. Sim-
mons took them, and was supposed to have been
introduced there, from the West Indies, by Mr.
Boys, who was the former possessor. This creature
received a considerable injury, about thirty years
before it died, from the wheel of a loaded waggon,
which went over it and cracked its upper shell.

The common tortoise rarely exceeds eight inches
in length, and seldom weighs more than three
pounds. The shell of this little reptile is com-
posed of thirteen middle pieces, and about twenty-
five marginal ones ; its colour varies in different
individuals; and the plates, when the animal
is very old, run as it were together, so as almost
to lose the marks which separated them from
each other. The under part of the shell is a pale
yellow, with a broad dark line down each side,
leaving the middle part plain. The upper part of
the head is covered with tough scales, and the neck
with small granulations. The legs are short, and
the feet covered with strong scales, and generally
armed with four strong claws ; but this number is
subject to vary, as the animal is sometimes found
with five claws on the fore feet. The tail is rather

TORTOISE.

5

shorter than the legs, and covered with small scales
which terminate in a hard pointed tip.

The agreeable manner in which Mr. White, in
his History of Selborne, has detailed the manners of
this little animal in its domestic state, will he a suf-
ficient apology for inserting the account in his own
words. “A land tortoise,” says this gentleman,
“ which has been kept thirty years in a little walled
court, retires under ground about the middle of
November, and comes forth again about the middle
of April. When it first appears in the spring, it
discovers very little inclination for food ; but in the
height of summer grows voracious ; and then, as the
summer declines, its appetite declines ; so that for
the last weeks in autumn it hardly eats at all. Milky
plants, such as lettuces, dandelions, sow-thistles,
&c., are its principal food. On the first of Novem-
ber, 1771, I remarked that the tortoise began to
dig the ground in order to form its hybernaculum
which it had fixed on just beside a great tuft of
hepaticas. It scrapes out the ground with its fore
feet, and throws it up over its back with its hind ;
but the motion of its legs is ridiculously slow,
little exceeding the hour-hand of a clock. Nothing
can be more assiduous than this creature night and
day, in scooping the earth, and forcing its great
body into the cavity. But as the noons of thaUea-
son prove unusually warm and sunny, it was con-
stantly interrupted, and called forth by the heat in
the middle of the day; and though I continued
there till the thirteenth of November, yet the work

6

TORTOISE.

remained unfinished. Harsher weather, and frosty
mornings, would have quickened its operations.
No part of its behaviour ever struck me more than
the extreme timidity it always expresses with regard
to rain ; for though it has a shell that would secure
it against the w heel of a loaded cart, yet does it dis-
cover as much solicitude about rain as a lady dressed
in all her best attire, shuffling away on the first
sprinklings, and running its head up in a corner.
If attended to, it becomes an excellent weather-
glass ; for as sure as it walks elate, and as it were
on tiptoe, feeding with great earnestness in a morn-
ing, so sure will it rain before night. It is totally a
diurnal animal, and never pretends to stir after it
becomes dark.

“ The tortoise, like other reptiles, has an arbitrary
stomach, as well as lungs, and can refrain from
eating, as well as breathing, for a great part of the
year. I was much taken with its sagacity in
discerning those that do it kind offices ; for as soon
as the good old lady comes in sight who has waited
on it for more than thirty years, it hobbles towards
its benefactress with awkward alacrity ; but remains
inattentive to strangers. Thus, not only “ the ox
knoweth his owner , and the ass his master's crib ,” but
the most abject and torpid of beings distinguishes
the hand that feeds it, and is touched with the feel-
ings of gratitude. This creature not only goes under
the earth from the middle of November to the mid-
dle of April, but sleeps great part of the summer ;
for it goes to bed in the longest days at four in the

TORTOISE.

7

afternoon, and often does not stir in the morning
till late. Besides, it retires to rest for every shower,
and does not move at all in wet days. When one
reflects on the state of this strange being, it is a
matter of wonder that Providence should bestow
such a seeming waste of longevity on a reptile that
appears to relish it so little as to squander away
more than two thirds of its existence in a joyless
stupor, and be lost to all sensation for months to-
gether in the profoundest of all slumbers ! Though
he loves warm weather, he avoids the hot sun, be-
cause his thick shell, when once heated, would, as
the poets say of solid armour, cc scald with safety ”
He therefore spends the more sultry hours under
the umbrella of a large cabbage-leaf, or amidst the
waving forests of an asparagus bed. But as he avoids
heat in the summer, so in the decline of the year
he improves the faint autumnal beams by getting
within the reflection of a fruit-tree wall ; and though
he has never read that planes inclining to the hori-
zon receive a greater share of warmth, he inclines
his shell by tilting it against the wall, to collect and
admit every feeble ray.”

To these natural observations of Mr. White’s we
may add, that the tortoise not only feeds on various
herbs and fruits, but on worms, snails, and insects,
which it is supposed to devour in sufficient abun-
dance to make it a useful inmate in a garden. The
Greeks eat these reptiles, and are fond of the eggs,
which are about the size of a pigeon’s, and very
good when boiled : they are of a white colour, and

8

TORTOISE.

four or five is the number which the tortoise gene-
rally lays. For this purpose the female scratches a
hole in June, in a situation exposed to the sun,
"here, if the eggs are left undisturbed, they will
be hatched in September, and produce an equal
number of little creatures about the size of a
walnut.

It has been ascertained by some experiments
made abroad, that the tortoise loses very little
weight during the months it remains concealed un-
der ground. In all this time, which lasts from
October till March, the animal remains without
food ; but this abstinence can be carried to a much
greater length, according to Gerard Blasius, who
kept one by him for ten months, without nourish-
ment of any kind; and then tells us that, far from
being starved to death, it was only killed by the
cold. We have already expressed our abhorrence
of these experiments, where the life of the animal
is to be cruelly sacrificed to satisfy an idle curiosity.
The following result of a set of experiments made
by F. Redi, an Italian physician, will serve to prove
two things ; a great want of sensibility in the ani-
mal, and a total want of feeling in the doctor. “At
the beginning of the month of November,” as La
Cepede has related the fact, “ F. Redi made a large
opening in the skull of a land tortoise, and removed
the whole substance of the brain, cleaning out the
cavity with great care. The eyes of the tortoise
were instantly shut, and never afterwards opened ;
but being set at liberty, the animal continued to

TORTOISE.

9

walk about as well as before the brain was taken
away. It advanced indeed in a boggling manner,
as if groping its way, which it could now no longer
see. In three days the wound was covered with
new skin, and the tortoise lived, and continued
all its ordinary motions, till the middle of May,
nearly six months after it had been deprived
of its brain. After death, a small black clot of dry
blood was found in the cavity from which the brain
had been taken out. He repeated this experiment
on several tortoises, land, fresh-water, and even
sea species, and they all continued to live, for longer
or shorter times, after losing their brain.

TURTLE.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER .

Testudo Mydas. T. palmaram unguibus binis, plantarum soli-

tariis, testa ovata. Linn. Syst. Nat.
Gmel. 1. p. 1037.

Two claws on each foot before, and one be-
hind ; shell oval.

Testudo viridis. T. pedibus pinniformi-
bus, unguibus palmarum binis, plantarum
eolitariis, testa ovata. Sckneid. Test. p. 2 gg.
no. 1 . pi. 2.

Testudo atra. Mus. Ad. Frid. 1. p. 50.

Testudo marina Americana, Mydas dicta.
Sel. Mus. 1. pi. 80. fig. 9.

Green Turtle. Shaw Gen. Zool. 3* p. 80. pi. 22.

This creature, which has so long been esteemed an
article of the highest luxury, is a native of the
West Indian seas, and has acquired its name from
the green colour of its fat. They are so abundant
in the West Indies, that Catesby informs us, from
sir Hans Sloane, that forty sloops are employed by
the inhabitants of Port Royal, in Jamaica, for the
sole purpose of catching them ; and that the markets
are there supplied with turtles as ours are with
butcher’s meat. The account which Catesby has
given us respecting the manner in which the in-
habitants of the Bahama islands catch their turtles

J)cj't^7ir/J by J\ V^jDan/d

TURTLE.

11

is very satisfactory. These people are very expert
at the business; and go out in the month of April,
in little boats, to Cuba, and other neighbouring
islands, where, in the evening, especially in moon-
light nights, they watch the going and re-
turning of the turtle to and from their nests, at
which time they turn them on their backs, when
they leave them and pass on, turning all they find ;
for when once laid upon their backs they are quite
helpless, and can never more recover their feet.
Some are so large that it requires three men to turn-
one of them. But the method most commonly em-
ployed to take turtle in the Bahama islands, is by
striking them with a small iron peg about two
inches long, put in a socket at the end of a twelve-
foot staff'. Two men generally set out for this work
in a little light boat or canoe, one of whom is em-
ployed to row and gently steer the boat, while the
other stands at the head of it with his striker.
Sometimes the turtle are seen swimming with their
head and back out of the water, but they are more
frequently discovered lying at the bottom where it
is a fathom or more deep. When a turtle perceives
he is discovered, he immediately endeavours to
escape, and is pursued by the men in the boat,
who often lose sight of their prey, till the turtle
rises to the surface of the water to breathe, when
the chase is renewed, one paddling or rowing, while
the other stands ready with his striker. In about
half an hour, or perhaps sooner, the creature be-
comes exhausted, and sinks at once to the bottom :

12

TURTLE.

they take this opportunity to pierce him with the
iron peg, which slips out of the socket, but is fast-
ened with a string to the pole. If the turtle is com-
pletely spent by being long pursued, he tamely
submits, when struck, to be taken into the boat, or
hauled ashore. A good diver will sometimes go to
the bottom for one of these animals, and, getting
upon his back, raise the fore part of him, and in
this manner bring him to the surface, where a per-
son waits in readiness to slip a noose about his neck
and drag him on shore.

We are informed by La Cepede, that on the
coast of Guinea the natives take these animals in a
kind of net called a foie , which measures forty or
fifty feet in length, and is fifteen or twenty feet broad.
It is constructed of very strong line, and the meshes
are about a foot square. Two floats made of a light
prickly plant, called moucou moucou by the Indians,
are fixed to the edge of every second mesh. Four
or five stones, weighing about forty or fifty pounds
each, are hung to the lower border of the net, in
order to make it sink and keep it properly extended.
The apparatus is completed by two large pieces of
the moucou moucou fastened to the upper corners, to
serve as buoys, and mark the situation of the net.

They place these nets about the small islands to
which the turtle repair for the sake of the fuci3
or sea-weed that grows on the adjacent rocks. The
inhabitants carefully watch them ; and as soon as
the nets appear to sink in one place more than
another they are drawn, and the prize secured.

TURTLE.

13

Although a large turtle, in his native element, is
able to exert a considerable degree of strength,
yet he finds it extremely difficult to disentangle
himself from the net, on account of the beating of
the sea, which about those little islands is so much
agitated as to keep the nets in continual motion.
The turtles thus entangled are sometimes drowned,
in consequence of the nets being neglected ; or be-
come the prey of sharks or sword-fish, who not only
destroy the turtle but greatly damage the nets.

This species is not confined to the Indian seas
alone, but visits the coasts of all the islands and con-
tinents of the torrid zone. They live upon the
submarine plants that cover the bottom of the sea
to a certain distance from the shore ; there they
may be seen, in calm and fine weather, feeding in
numbers upon their marine pasture. In the inter-
mission of their feeding they often retire into the
outlets of the great rivers to indulge themselves with
fresh water, where they frequently remain till their
appetite recalls them to their former station. At
these times they generally float with their heads
above the surface of the water; but the instant they
are alarmed by any hunters, or birds of prey, or
even the shadow of any object, they suddenly
plunge to the bottom. They never leave the water
entirely unless it is to lay their eggs ; and their an-
nual visits for this purpose are thus described by
Catesby : In the month of April they crawl up

from the sea above the flowing of high water, and
dig a hole above two feet deep in the sand, into

14

TURTLE.

which they drop, in one night, above a hundred
eggs. At this season they are so completely intent
on performing this great command of nature, that
they are totally regardless of surrounding objects,
and would drop their eggs into a hat if held under
them. If, however, they are disturbed before they
begin to lay, they will forsake the place, and seek
another. They lay their eggs at three, and some-
times at four different times, there being fourteen
days between every time ; consequently the broods
are hatched at different times also. When they
have laid all their eggs, which are about the size of
tennis balls, and equally round, they cover them
lightly with sand, that the sun may communicate
to them a gentle warmth, and hatch their young.
In about twenty or twenty-five days the young tur-
tles are seen to rise out of the sand, and, guided by
that instinct which never fails to direct them, march
with a gentle pace to the water. But here they
have to contend with an unruly element, by far too
powerful for their little bodies ; and are for several
days beat back again by the waves and left on shore.
Thus exposed, they remain a prey to the birds that
hover about the coasts, and so many are carried off,
or destroyed by different means, before they have
sufficient strength to make proper efforts against the
surges and dive to the bottom, that out of two or
three hundred eggs it is but seldom that more than

a third escape.

The turtle has been for several years held in the
highest estimation in this country ; and such is the

TURTLE.

15

demand for the delicious food, that it is become an
article of commerce, and ships are provided with
conveniences for supplying them with water and
provisions to bring them over in health from Jamaica
and the other West India islands. They do not al-
ways succeed, however, in their attempts; for though
the turtle are very tenacious of life, and scarcely
require any provision during the voyage, yet they
frequently lose flesh, and are impaired in flavour ;
so that to eat this animal in the highest perfection,
we are told that instead of bringing the turtle to
the epicure, he ought to be transported to the
turtle.

The introduction of this article of luxury among
our countrymen, cannot be traced beyond a very
limited period. Dr. Shaw has collected two or
three notices from The Gentleman’s Magazine for
the years 1/53 and 1754, of large turtles dressed at
different taverns; by which it appears that the crea-
ture was, at that time, rather a novelty, or the
cooking of it would not have been honoured with a
place in a newspaper.

FROG.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Body naked.

Four legs; the feet divided into toes.
No tail.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

it ANA TEMPORARIA. R. dorso planiusculo subangulato. Linn.

Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 1053.

With a flattish subangulated back.

Rana palmis tetradactylis fissis, plantis pen-
tadactylis palmatis ; pollice longiore. Fn.
Suec. 1 . no. 250.

Rana fusca terrestris. Roesel. Hist.
Ran. p. 1. t. 1 — 3.

Rana ach/atica. Raj. Quadr. p. 241.
Common Frog. . Penn. Brit. Zool. 3. p. 9- Shaw Gen.

Zool. 3. p. 97- ph 29.

As it would be trifling with the reader to describe
the form of a reptile with which he is so well ac-
quainted, we shall at once proceed to relate the
manner in which its spawn, by a regular progres-
sion, passes from a small black globule to a perfect
frog. We shall here beg leave to quote the General

FROG.

17

Zoology, as Dr. Shaw has paid great attention to
this subject, and has detailed the particulars in his
usual clear and satisfactory manner.

“ It is generally in the month of March that the
frog deposits its ova, or spawn, consisting of a large
heap or clustered mass of gelatinous transparent eggs,
in each of which is imbedded the embryo, or tad-
pole, in form of a round black globule. The spawn
commonly lies more than a month*, or sometimes
five weeks, before the larvae or tadpoles are hatched
from it ; and during this period each egg gradually
enlarges in size, and a few days before the time of
exclusion, the young animals may be perceived to
move about in the surrounding gluten. When first
hatched they feed on the remains of the gluten in
which they were imbedded ; and in the space of a
few days, if narrowly examined, they will be found
to be furnished on each side the head with a pair
of ramified branchiae, or temporary organs, which
again disappear after a certain space. These tadpoles
are so perfectly unlike the animals in their complete
state, that a person inconversant in natural history
would hardly suppose them to bear any relationship
to the frog ; since, on a general view, they appear to
consist merely of head and tail ; the former large,
black, and roundish ; the latter slender, and bor-
dered with a very broad transparent finny margin.
Their motions are extremely lively, and they are
often seen in such vast numbers as to blacken the

* This time varies considerably, according to the heat of the
weather and other circumstances.

VOL. II.

C

18

FROG.

whole water with their legions. They live on the
leaves of cluck-weed and other small water-plants,
as well as on the various kinds of animalcules, &c. ;
and when arrived at a larger size, they may even
be heard to gnaw the edges of the leaves on which
they feed, their mouths being furnished with ex-
tremely minute teeth or denticulations. The tad-
pole is also furnished with a small kind of tubular
sphincter or sucker beneath the lower jaw, by the
help of which it hangs at pleasure to the under
surface of aquatic plants, &c. From this part it
also occasionally hangs, when very young, by a
thread of gluten, which it seems to manage in the
same manner as some of the smaller slugs have been
observed to practise. Its interior organs differ, if
closely inspected, from those of the future frog in
many respects ; the intestines in particular are al-
ways coiled into a flat spiral, in the manner of a
cable in miniature.

“ When the tadpoles have arrived at the age of
about five or six weeks the hind legs make their
appearance, gradually increasing in length and
size ; and in about a fortnight afterwards, or some-
times later, are succeeded by the fore legs, which
are indeed formed beneath the skin much sooner,
and are occasionally protruded and again retracted
by the animal through a small foramen on each side
of the breast, and are not completely stretched forth
till the time just mentioned. The animal now
bears a kind of ambiguous appearance, partaking
of the form of a frog and a lizard. The tail at

FROG.

1.9

this period begins to decrease ; at first very gra-
dually, and at length so rapidly as to become
quite obliterated in the space of* a day or two after-
wards.”

Thus we have traced them from their imperfect
state ; and the first use they make of their feet is to
leave the water, round the margin of which they
may be seen in myriads, and sometimes cover a
considerable space, filling every little puddle with
their numbers.

The appetite of the frog changes with its form,
since it is no longer content with the simple vege-
table food which sufficed for its existencg during its
tadpole state, but seeks for snails, worms, and in-
sects. To obtain these the creature quits its native
element and wanders in the meadows, where it at-
tentively watches the passing insects, till one comes
sufficiently near ; when the frog is seen to spring
forward with great agility, dart out its tongue, and
seize the prey with unerring certainty. This organ
is particularly formed by nature for the purpose,
being so placed that the root is attached to the fore
rather than the hind part of the mouth, and when
at rest lies with the tip towards the throat. This
contrivance enables the frog to dart the tongue to a
distance from the mouth, and the glutinous matter
with which the tip is covered greatly contributes
towards securing the prey.

These animals seem chiefly designed to live on
insects ; but they will not refuse to attack a lar^e
worm, though so badly calculated to secure the

20

FROG.

writhing prey. Dr. Townson mentions the cir-
cumstance of a frog, which in his presence swal-
lowed a blind worm near a span long. This proved
such a perplexing morsel that the frog was a while
before he could secure it, as in its struggles it fre-
quently got its body out again ; and when completely
swallowed it must have proved very troublesome,
as its contortions were plainly seen within the flac-
cid sides of the frog.

However singular it may appear, the fact is well
authenticated ; that frogs will sometimes adhere with
the utmost tenacity to the backs of fishes. Not to
mention the strange story told by Walton, of their
destroying pike, we shall rely on the veracity of
Mr. Pennant, who tells us that some years ago, on
fishing a pond belonging to Mr. Pit, of Encomb,
Dorsetshire, great numbers of the carp were found
each with a frog mounted on it, the hind legs cling-
ing to the back, the forelegs fixed in the corner of
each eye of the fish, which were thin and greatly
wasted, teased by carrying so disagreeable a load.
These frogs were supposed to have been males dis-
appointed of a mate.

Severe cold seems greatly to affect these ciea-
tures, and occasions them to become torpid. In the
higher latitudes of North America they become ab-
solutely frozen during the winter, and Mr. Hearne
says that he has frequently seen them dug up with
the moss in such a brittle state that their legs might
be as easily broken off as the stem of a tobacco pipe,
without giving them any pain. If they are warmly

FROG.

21

wrapped up and exposed to the fire, they will regain
their natural activity; but if suffered to freeze again,
they can never more be restored to life.

Frogs are so very tenacious of life, that they will
for a time survive the most cruel injuries, and have
even been known to move about as usual for some
time after the body has been laid open and the
bowels removed. The barbarous trick which school-
boys practise of skinning frogs, does not seem for
some hours to abate their activity ; and their life
and motion are said to continue even after they
have lost the whole of their circulating fluids.

We shall now proceed to notice what is deserving
of remark in the other species ; and the first that
occurs is the Rana esculenta , or edible frog, which
is nearly allied to the former, though it may be di-
stinguished by the high protuberance in the middle
of the back, as well as by the size, which is consi-
derably larger than the common sort. These loath-
some creatures are an article of traffic in other coun-
tries, though the stomach of an Englishman w ill
not endure the food. In the Paris markets Mr.
Pennant saw whole hampers full, which the venders
were preparing for the table, by skinning and cut-
ting off the fore parts, the loins and legs only being
kept. Dr. Townson also in his Travels assures us that
thirty or forty thousand at a time are brought from
the country to Vienna, and sold to the dealers,
who preserve them in large holes four or five feet
deep, dug in the ground, covering the mouth with
a board, or, when the weather is severe, with straw \

22

FROG.

In these conservatories they remain during the win-
ter, and never become quite torpid ; for even during
a frost, if taken out and placed on their backs, they
have animation enough to be sensible of the change,
and strength enough to turn themselves upon their
legs. In these holes they are never supplied with
water ; nor is it necessary, as they instinctively get
together in heaps, and thus prevent the evapora-
tion of their humidity. Dr. Townson observes, that
in Vienna, in 1793, there were only three great
dealers, by whom most of those persons were supplied
who brought them to the market ready for the cook.

The bull frog, Rana Caiesbeicina of Shaw, is cer-
tainly the largest of the whole tribe, if we except
the argus frog, which is allied to it both in size and
manners. These creatures derive their name from
their croaking, which is said to resemble the lowing
of a bull, and in a still night may be heard to the
distance of a mile and a half. Kalm tells us that
as he was one day riding out, the roaring of one of
these frogs really alarmed him, as he supposed it to
be a bull concealed in the bushes at a little distance;
and when he was afterwards undeceived by a party
of Swedes to w hom he communicated his fears, he
could hardly believe that so formidable a roar could
possibly proceed from so small an animal.

This species is common ill the interior parts of
America, where they sit in pairs by the side ol the
small rills. According to Catesby, there is scarcely
a spring without a pair of them close to the hole
from which the water runs. They choose this si-

FROG.

<y%

*1/

tuation, that, when disturbed, they may leap into the
mouth of the spring and hide themselves at the
bottom. The Virginians, who believe they purify
the water, respect them as the genii of the foun-
tains, and hold them in such superstitious venera-
tion, that they are afraid to kill one lest some dread-
ful misfortune should happen to their household.
However, the less scrupulous get the better of their
fears, especially where their interest is concerned ;
for such as breed geese and ducks are anxious to
destroy these frogs, as they are extremely voracious,
and very destructive to young water fowls.

We cannot give the reader a better idea of the
agility of these animals than by relating the follow-
ing story, which is well authenticated : — It is a
well known fact, that an American Indian is able to
run almost as fast as the best horse in his swiftest
course. In order, therefore, to try how well the
bull frogs could leap, some Swedes laid a wager
with a young Indian, that he could not overtake
one of them, provided he had two leaps before
hand. The wager being accepted, they carried a
hull frog, which they had caught in a pond, into
a field, and burnt his tail. This application stimu-
lated the creature to such a degree, that he made his
long leaps across the field with wonderful celerity.
The Indian pursued with all his might ; and the
noise he made in running, added to the fear the poor
frog was probably in of a second burning, made
him redouble his efforts, and reach the pond before
the Indian could overtake him.

FROG.

24

These reptiles grow to the size of eighteen inches
and upwards, measured from the nose to the hind
feet. Notwithstanding their hideous appearance
the natives eat them, and one frog is said frequently
to afford as much meat as a young fowl.

The tree frog, Rana arborea Linn., is a singular
animal, and very unlike the rest ; for, while they
content themselves with the plain ground, this crea-
ture climbs the trees and resides principally on the
upper branches, where it wanders about among the
leaves in search of insects. The dexterity with
which it catches its prey is remarkable : like a cat
watching a mouse, it remains immoveable till an
insect comes within a certain distance, when it
creeps softly forwards, then makes a sudden spring
of sometimes more than a foot in height, and in-
fallibly seizes the victim. In order to enable these
frogs to retain a situation which to a general observer
must seem so contrary to the nature of the animal,
they are provided with a concave fleshy pellet at
the end of each toe, which is not unlike the mouth
of a leech, and, being moreover soft and glutinous,
enables the frog to attach itself with the greatest
security to the leaves of trees, and even to the most
polished surfaces. By these pellets they can sus-
pend themselves at pleasure from the under surface
of a leaf or branch, and thus remain concealed

among the foliage.

About the end of autumn these frogs quit the
trees and return to their native element, where
they pass the dreary winter season in a torpid state,

JROG.

25

sunk in the mud, or hid beneatli a bank. In the
spring they begin to revive, and, like the rest of the
genus, deposit their spawn in the water. The ap-
pearance of the male at this period is completely
altered; his throat being dilated in a surprising man-
ner, and forming a large sphere beneath his head.
His croak at this season is also very loud ; and when-
ever one begins, all that are within hearing join the
harsh discordant chorus, so that the noise of the
whole is said to resemble a pack of hounds, and may
sometimes be heard, when the evenings are very
quiet, to the distance of near three miles. As soon
as the young frogs have emerged from the tadpole
state, they leave the water and ascend the trees.

The account which Dr. Townson has given us in
his Tracts relative to two of these animals, which
he kept by him for some time, is entertaining, and
serves in some measure to illustrate their natural
history. T. he doctor placed them among others in
his window, and provided for them a bowl of water
in which they lived. They soon grew tame; and
the two which are the subject of the following ac-
count shared his favours above the rest ; to these he
gave the names of Damon and Musidora. When-
ever they descended to the floor in hot weather
they soon became lank and emaciated; and if a few
drops of water were thrown upon the floor they
constantly applied their bodies to it as close as they
could, and from this absorption through the skin
they soon recovered their plumpness, though they
were very lank and flaccid before. In the evening they

26

FROG.

seldom failed to return to the water, unless the
weather was cold and damp ; when they would
sometimes remain out a couple of days. It is the
character of these reptiles frequently to leave their
natural food untouched while it remains in a quiet
state, and to seize it the moment it begins to move.
This Dr. Townson was aware of; and therefore, be-
fore the flies, which are their usual food, had disap-
peared in autumn, he collected, for his favourite
Musidora, a great quantity as winter provision.
When he laid any of them before her she took not
the least notice, but suffered them to remain till he
moved them with his breath, when she instantly
sprung upon and devoured them. At one time,
when flies were scarce, the doctor tried to cheat
her by cutting the flesh of a tortoise into small
pieces and moving them by the same means : but
Musidora was not to be trifled with ; she indeed
seized them, but immediately afterwards rejected
them from her tongue.

From some experiments on tree frogs which Dr.
Townson made, he found that they frequently ab-
sorbed nearly the whole of their weight of water ;
and what is very remarkable, the absorption takes
place by the under surface only of the body. Mois-
ture from a wetted blotting paper is readily absorbed
by them ; and they have the power, it seems, of
ejecting water with great force from their bodies,
even to the quantity of more than the fourth part
of their own w eight.

Among the other observations which this gentle-

FROG.

27

man made on the tree frogs, he noticed their cau-
tious manner of swallowing humble bees. They
do not seem much to enjoy the treat, as the enemy
are never conquered without some contest. They
are at first obliged to reject them on account of their
sharp stings and rough hair ; but they return again
to the attack, and each time cover the bees with a
viscid matter which proceeds from the frog’s tongue,
till they are at length sufficiently coated to be swal-
lowed without injury. Their alertness in catching
flies induced the doctor, while at Gottingen, to
make them his guards for keeping these trouble-
some insects from his dessert of fruit ; and he as-
sures us they acquitted themselves to his satisfac-
tion.

Captain Stedman has recorded a battle between
one of this species and a snake, to which he was
witness while paddling up a river of Surinam in a
canoe. One of the officers who was in the canoe
pointed out the objects in the top of a mangrove
tree ; and when they were first seen the head and
shoulders of the frog were in the jaws of the snake,
which, to use the captain’s expression, was about
the size of a large kitchen poker. This creature
had its tail twisted round the tough limb of the
mangrove, while the frog, which appeared about the
size of a man’s fist, had firmly grasped a twig with
his hind feet. In this position they were contend-
ing, the one for his life, the other for his dinner,
forming one straight line between the two branches;
and thus they continued to behold them for some

28

FROG.

time apparently stationary and without a struggle.
Still it was hoped that the poor frog might extricate
himself by his exertions ; but the reverse was the
case. The jaws of the snake gradually relaxing,
and by their elasticity forming an incredible orifice,
the body and fore legs of the frog by little and little
disappeared, till finally nothing more was seen than
the hinder feet and claws, which were at last disen-
gaged from the twig, and the poor creature was
swallowed whole, by suction, down the throat of
his formidable adversary. He passed some inches
further down the alimentary canal, and at last stuck,
forming a knob or knot at least six times as large as
the snake, whose jaws and throat immediately con-
tracted, and reassumed their former natural shape.
As the creature was beyond their reach, they could
not kill him as they wished to do for the purpose of
a closer examination, but left him in the same atti-
tude, motionless, and twisted round the branch.

The peculiar manner in which respiration is car-
ried on in frogs as well as other reptiles is worthy
of observation. The organs contrived for this pur-
pose are placed in the mouth, which is never opened
in order to breathe, as the air passes through two
small openings or nostrils at the front of the upper
part of the head. It is indeed necessary that the
jaws should continue closed while they respire, as
they cannot perform this necessary operation at all
if they remain open. When a frog is observed with
attention, a frequent dilatation and contraction in
the skinny and flaccid part of the mouth which

FROG. 2$

covers the lower jaw will be perceived, and every
time this part moves, a corresponding twirling mo-
tion may be observed in the nostrils. By this twirl
the air is let into the mouth, and the skin be-
comes dilated; whence it passes through a slit for
that purpose behind the tongue into the lungs,
from whence it is again expelled by the mus-
cles of the abdomen, and followed by the same
expansion of the cheeks and twirl of the nostrils.
Thus the lungs are filled by the action of the mus-
cles of the jaws, and frogs swallow air nearly in the
same manner as we swallow food.

TOAD.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Ran a Bufo. . R. eorpore lurido fiiscoque. Linn. Syst. Nat.

Gmel. 1 . p. 1047.

With a body of a lurid dusky colour.

Rana palmis pentadactylis fissis, plantis hexa-
dactylis palmatis pollice breviore. Fn. Suec. 1 .
no. 253.

Bufo terrestris, dorso tuberculis exasperato, oculis
rubris. Roesel. Hist. Ran. p. 85. pi. 20.
Common Toad. Penn. Brit. Zool. 3. p. 14. Shaw Gen. Zool. 3.

p. 138. pi. 40.

The toad, of all reptiles, is the most detested ; its
very name excites disgust, and the mere remem-
brance of its hideous deformity will produce, on
weak and delicate nerves, that coldness and shiver-
ing which almost infallibly accompanies its touch.
We are taught to consider it with sensations of
loathing, and to regard it with horror. Few of us
can so far conquer our prejudices as to contemplate
the only beauty in the animal, its brilliant eyes,
which are remarkably fine, and, if placed in a less
hideous situation, would be noticed by every body.
The toad has long been persecuted for possessing a

TOAD.

31

number of noxious qualities which only exist in
the imagination of its enemies, since the animal
is perfectly innocent, and quite incapable of doing
harm. Had it been its good fortune to have pos-
sessed a better shape, we should have had a better
opinion of its nature, and the many stories that have
been told of its venomous disposition would have
wanted a foundation.

The spawn of the toad, which is deposited in the
spring, may be easily known from that of the frog,
by the appearance of the mass, which consists of
two rows of black eggs, in the form of a double
necklace of beads, contained within a case of trans-
parent gluten. In this they remain about fifteen
days, and then pass through the tadpole state in the
same manner as has been already related respecting
the frog.

Where persons have so far overcome their natural
antipathy to this reptile as to give him encourage-
ment, they have not found it at all difficult to make
him very familiar: we know one or two families

who, notwithstanding the vulgar prejudices against
these creatures, have dared to keep a toad for some
years in their house ; and Mr. Pennant has re-
corded some curious particulars in his British
Zoology respecting one of these animals. The toad
in question was a great favourite in the family of
Mr. Arscott, where he had lived for more than
thirty-six years. His real age could not be ascer-
tained, as he had frequented some steps before the

32

TOAD.

hall door for some years before this gentleman be-
came acquainted with him ; but he remembers that
his father used to call him the old toad. By con-
stantly being fed, this creature was brought to be so
tame that he always came to the candle and looked
up as if expecting to be brought upon the table,
where he was usually treated with insects of all
sorts. Fresh maggots appeared to be his favourite
food : these he would follow, and, when at a proper
distance, fix his eye upon the object and remain
motionless for a few seconds ; after which he would
dart out his tongue upon the maggot, and secure it
with a motion too quick for the eye to follow. A
toad so much taken notice of and befriended ex-
cited the curiosity of all who came to the house, so
that even ladies so far conquered the horrors in-
stilled into them by nurses, as to desire to see it

fed.

In answer to some queries put to him by Mr.
Pennant respecting this animal Mr. Arscott says,
“No toads that I ever saw appeared in the winter
season. The old toad made its appearance as soon
as the warm weather came, and I always concluded
it retired to some dry bank to repose till the spring.
When we new-laid the steps I had two holes made
in the third step on each, with a hollow of more
than a yard long for it, in which I imagine it slept,
as it came from thence at its first appearance.

“ It was seldom provoked; neither that toad
(nor the multitudes I have seen tormented with

TOAD.

33

great cruelty) ever showed the least desire of re-
venge, by spitting or emitting any juice from their
pimples. Sometimes, upon taking it up, it would
let out a great quantity of clear water, which, as
I have often seen it do the same upon the steps
when quite quiet, was certainly its urine, and no
more than a natural evacuation.”

In all probability this poor fellow would have
lived much longer if he had not been brought to
an untimely end by a tame raven, who one day
seeing him at the mouth of his hole, pulled him
out, and, before he could be rescued, destroyed one
of his eyes, besides bruising him so much, that not-
withstanding he lived a twelvemonth, he is said
never to have enjoyed himself. After this accident
he had a difficulty in taking his food, as he fre-
quently missed the mark for want of his eye.

During the heat of the day toads will never ven-
ture from their hiding-places except upon extra-
ordinary occasions ; therefore Mr. Arscott was sur-
prised when he once from his parlour window ob-
served a large toad which he had in the bank of a
bowling-green, about twelve at noon, in very hot
weather, extremely busy and active upon the grass:
so uncommon an appearance made him go out to
see what it was ; when he found an innumerable
swarm of winged ants had dropped round his hole,
which, lie concludes, was a temptation as irre-
sistible as a turtle would be to a luxurious aider-
man.

Many an unhappy patient has depended upon
VOL. IT. n

34

TOAD.

these creatures for relief from one of the most
horrible of all diseases, and great numbers of toads
have been sacrificed at the cancered breast, with-
out producing any of those permanently good ef-
fects which were at first expected from them. The
reptiles were each tied up in a linen bag, all ex-
cept the head, which was applied to the breast,
where the animal immediately fastened and sucked
till he dropped off'. This operation constantly
proved fatal to the toads. They all swelled ex-
ceedingly, and some dropped dead from the wound,
while others lived for some time afterwards.

We learn from the Count de la Cepede, that at
Carthagena and Porto Bello in America, toads are
so extremely numerous, that in rainy weather not
only the marshy grounds, but the gardens, courts,
and streets, are almost entirely covered with them ;
insomuch that the inhabitants have conceived that
each drop of rain is changed into a toad. In these
countries this creature grows to a great size, the
least being six inches in length. If it happens to
rain during the night, they all quit their hiding-
places, and crawl about in such inconceivable num-
bers as almost literally to touch each other, and to
hide the surface of the earth, so that the people can
hardly stir out of doors without trampling them un-
der foot at every step.

Many stories have been told of toads found alive
in the middle of blocks of stone, where they have
been supposed to have lived for ages, and some of
these accounts are seemingly well attested ; yet we

TOAD.

35

cannot help denying our belief of what appears so
exceedingly unnatural. That an animal, however
tenacious of life, should exist for many years en-
closed within a solid body, and in a space no larger
than itself, deprived of air, food, and motion, ap-
pears too marvellous to be credited.

We cannot quit this genus without noticing the
most extraordinary of ail its species. The Surinam
toad, Rana Pipci Linn., exhibits a phenomenon
which is not to be equalled in the whole range
of animated nature. The young, instead of being
produced in the common manner, are hatched in
the back of the female, from whence they are ex-
cluded completely formed. For this purpose she
is provided by nature with a certain number of
cavities, or cells, which open outwards, and are
about half an inch deep. Dr. Shaw says it was a
long time supposed that the eggs in this extra-
ordinary animal were produced in the dorsal cells,
without having been first excluded in the form of
spawn. It seems however that this is not the case ;
for Dr. Fermin, to whom we are indebted for the
most accurate observations on this animal, has
proved that a still more wonderful process takes
place, and that the spawn after being excluded is
received into the open cells of the back, where it
remains till the little toads have arrived at ma-
turity. Dr. Fermin declares that at a certain pe-
riod of this process a little live toad is to be found
m each of the cells, which is an exact resemblance

36

TOAD.

of the parent in miniature ; that the creature does
not adhere to the back of the mother, but may
be easily taken out as from a case, and again re-
placed without injury. How they find subsistence
in that situation he does not pretend to determine.
The manner in which these very remarkable crea-
tures manage their spawn is thus related by the
doctor: the eggs are generated within the body
of the female, and at the proper period are de-
posited in the usual manner at the brink of some
stagnant water. The male amasses the heap of
eggs, and deposits them with great care on the
back of the female, where, after impregnation, they
are pressed into the cellules, which at that period
open for their reception, and afterwards close over
them. The eggs are thus retained till the period
of their second birth, which happens in somewhat
less than three months, when they emerge from
the back of the parent completely formed. During
the time of their concealment, however, they pass
through the usual stages, first becoming tadpoles and
then perfect toads.

It appears from the observation of Dr. Fermi n,
that the pipa is only calculated by nature to pro-
duce one brood, and that the number of young
produced by the female he examined amounted to
seventy-five ; so that this species is by no means so
prolific as the rest of the genus. He noticed that
the young were all excluded in five days after they
til's t appeared.

TOAD.

37

This hideous reptile was first described by
Ruysch, and afterwards by both Merian and the
editor of Seba’s Museum ; but the observations of
Dr. Fermin are the most valuable, as bis residence
in Surinam gave him every opportunity be could
desire to investigate the creature.

FLYING DRAGON.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Body naked ; furnished on each side with a wing-like skin.
Four legs ; each foot divided into live toes.

Tail very long.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Draco volans. D. brachiis ab ala distinctis. Linn. Syst. Nat.

Gmel. 1. p. 1056.

Dragon with wings not attached to the fore
legs.

Lacerta cauda tereti, pedibus pentadactylis,
alis femore connexis, crista gulae triplici.
Amcen. Acad. 1 . p. 540.

Lacerta africana volans, sive Draco volans.

Seb. Mus. 2. pi. 86. f. 3.

Lacerta volans indica. Raj. Quadr.ip.275.
Flying Dragon. Shaw Gen. Zool. 3. p. 117- ph 54- Nut.

Misc. 1. pi. 8.

The very name of this creature, w ill recall to the
imagination of our readers the terrific dragon that
filled the minds of poets, and was so much cele-
brated in the romances of the middle ages. The
idea of this airy monster probably originated from

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FLYING DRAGON.

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the small, weak, and perfectly innocent animal
which we shall presently describe. Poets and ro-
mancers could readily expand their ideas, and add
forty feet to the length of a lizard : they extended
his lateral membranes to mighty wings, and gave
him a head and tail of their own, fraught with
every thing that was terrible and malignant.

Dr. Shaw has given so good a description of the
form of this animal, that we shall beg leave to in-
troduce it in his own words : ic The total length
of this highly curious creature is commonly about
nine or ten inches, or at most a foot ; the tail being
extremely long in proportion to the body, which
does not measure more than about four inches in
length. The head is of a very singular form, being
furnished beneath with a very large triple pouch or
process, one part of which descends beneath the
throat, while the two remaining parts project on
each side ; all are sharp-pointed, and seem analo-
gous in some degree to the gular crests of the guana
and other lizards, but are still more conspicuous in
proportion to the size of the animal. The head is
of moderate size ; the mouth rather wide ; the
tongue large, and thick at the base ; the teeth small
and numerous ; the neck rather small ; the body
and limbs somewhat slender, and universally co-
vered with small acuminated and closely-set scales,
which incline more to a minutely aculeated ap-
pearance on the tail. The colour of the dragon on
the upper parts is an elegant pale blue, or blueish
gray, the back and tail being marked by several

40

FLYING DRAGON.

transverse dusky undulations or bars, while the
wings are very elegantly spotted, more especially
towards the broadest part, with differently shaped
patches of black, deep-brown, and white : the bor-
der of the wings is also white; and the whole under
surface of the animal is of a very pale or whitish
brown colour/’

These reptiles inhabit Asia, Africa, and America,
where they are seen flying from tree to tree, and
feeding on ants, flies, and other insects. They
are said to make a noise with their wings, which
may be readily heard as they fly from one tree to
another, and that they are able to support them-
selves in the air during a flight of thirty paces.
Le Barbinais, a French voyager, quoted by La Ce-
pede, has evidently described this species, which,
he says, is about a foot long, with four legs like those
of common lizards. He observes that the head is
flat, having an opening in the middle, through
which a needle might be passed ; that the wings
are very thin ; and that the neck is surrounded by
a sort of ruff, not unlike the wattles on the throat
of a cock. He met with them in abundance in a
small island near Java, where he tells us they flew
from tree to tree like locusts. He killed one of
them, and was anxious to preserve it for the sake1
of its beautiful colours, but the heat ol the climate
prevented him.

Several impositions have been passed upon the
public, of different animals stuffed in a peculiar
manner, so as to represent what those who have

FLYING DRAGON.

41

only heard of the animal, might suppose to be a
dragon. The most notable instance of this kind of
deception was practised in Holland some years ago,
when a Hamburgh merchant professed to have a
real dragon in his possession, which he valued at
10,000 florins. The deception, however, was found
out by Linnaeus, who declared it to be an ingenious
combination of the skins of snakes, teeth of weasels,
t’aws of birds, &cf It appears that the merchant
was so enraged at the discovery, that he threatened
to prosecute the naturalist for injuring his property,
who, to avoid his wrath, thought proper to leave
Hamburgh. Seba has given a figure of this cu-
riosity, which, however, he does not pretend to say
was ever in existence.

LIZARD.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Body either smooth, warty, or covered with scales.

Four legs ; the feet divided into toes.

Tail long.

CROCODILE.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Lacerta CiiocoDiLiis. L. capite cataphracto, nucha carinata,

cauda superne cristis binis lateralibus
horrida. Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1.
p. 1057.

With a mailed head 5 neck carinated ;
tail furnished on the upper part with

/

two lateral crested processes.

Lacerta cauda compressa serrata., pedibus
triunguiculatis, palmis pentadactylis,
plantis tetradactylis palmatis. Linn.
Syst. Nat. xii. 1. p. 359. no. 1.
Crocodilus. Seb. Mus. 1. t. 105.
f. 3, 4.

Crocodilus niloticus. Jacob. Mus. 1.
pi. 7. f. 55.

Crocodile. . . . Shaw Gen. Zool. 3. p. 184. pi. 55.

This very formidable creature is happily confined
to the immense rivers of the warmer regions, where
it grows to a large size, and becomes the terror of

CROCODILE.

43

the neighbouring inhabitants. It is usually found
from the length of fifteen to twenty feet, and some-
times longer, as is mentioned by Brue in his Voyage
to Senegal. This gentleman found them in great
abundance about Ghiam, where they are very dan-
gerous and of a large size, some ot his attendants
having killed one which measured twenty-five feet.

O

We must conclude, however, that this was of an
extraordinary magnitude, since the natives were
overjoyed at his death, supposing him to be the
father of all the rest, and that his defeat would
alarm the others and make them leave the place.
Although the crocodile in his general form resem-
bles other lizards, yet he has many characters which
sufficiently distinguish him. His long flattened
head, with his enormously large mouth set with
two rows of formidable teeth, would be enough to
separate him from the rest of the genus, inde-
pendent of any other peculiarity. It has been as-
serted, that the upper jaw in this animal is move-
able ; but a very little attention will convince us
of the contrary, and that in fact the crocodile has
precisely the same motion in the jaws as other
quadrupeds. It was likewise supposed that the
creature had no tongue ; this, however, is not the
case, though it is so firmly attached to the two
sides of the lower jaw by means of a membrane,
that it cannot be thrust out of the mouth. The
fiery appearance of his eyes, which are placed ob-
liquely, together with the wrinkled eyelids, increase
the natural malignity of his aspect, and seem to

44

CROCODILE.

animate the countenance with rage, even in the
animal’s most tranquil moments. The almost im-
penetrable armour which defends the body of the
crocodile is composed of hard scales, continued from
the head to the tail, which is very long ; and be-
sides the common covering has two rows of upright
processes which proceed from the lower part of the
back. The legs and feet are very strong, and the
latter are furnished with sharp curved claws. The
colour of the crocodile when arrived at his full
size is a dark brown above, approaching to black ;
the under side is yellowish white.

Crocodiles are seen in vast shoals in some of the
large rivers of Africa, where they float upon the
surface without any apparent motion, and have been
frequently mistaken, at a little distance, for the
trunks of trees covered with a rough bark. This
appearance of torpidity, however, is merely assumed
by the creature to deceive his prey ; for the mo-
ment an animal approaches within reach he darts
upon it, and sinks at once to the bottom. In this
manner of attack the crocodile is said by Dr. Shaw
to be exactly imitated by the lacerta palustris, or
water newt, which, though not more than four or
five inches long, will swallow an insect of more
than an inch in length with one single effort, and
that with a motion so quick that the eye can
scarcely follow it. To accomplish its purpose the
newt poises itself in the water, and having gained a
proper distance springs at once upon its prey. Dr.
Shaw justly observes, that if a small lizard of four or

CROCODILE.

4b

five inches only in length can thus instantaneously
swallow an insect which bears so large a proportion to
its whole body, we need not wonder that a ciocodile
of eighteen, twenty, or twenty-five feet long should
suddenly ingorge a dog or other quadruped. These
terrific animals are also frequently met with on the
banks of large rivers, where they wait concealed
among the sedges till some living creature is un-
fortunate enough to come within their reach, when
they instantly rush forward and secure the victim.
Catesby describes them as frequenting the great
American rivers, within reach of the tide, where
they remain concealed among the thick forests of
mangrove trees that line their slimy banks, and
greatly resemble the trunk of a fallen tree covered
with mud. This author likewise assures us that
they swallow stones and other substances ; and that
the stomachs of many which he opened contained
large clumps of wood and pieces of pine-tree coal,
some of which weighed seven or eight pounds, and
were worn so smooth that he supposes they must
have remained there for some months. It is well
ascertained that the crocodile will endure a long
fast, and it is when pressed by hunger that he is
supposed to swallow these substances, in order to
distend the stomach and abate the cravings of na-
ture. Their ability to remain a considerable time
without food was proved by Brown, who in his
History of Jamaica tells us that he has frequently
seen them put into ponds, where they have lived

46*

CROCODILE.

several months without any aliment, having had
their jaws previously tied together with wire.

We should naturally conclude, from the very
formidable appearance of this animal, that he would
be left unmolested by mankind, as an object too pow-
erful for them to contend with ; yet this is far from
being the case ; for the negroes in the neighbour-
hood of the river Senegal will boldly attack him,
and frequently prove victorious. Mr. Adanson
gives the following account of an engagement be-
tween a negro and a crocodile seven feet long, which
the negro discovered sleeping among some bushes
at the foot of a tree near the banks of a river.
When the man was convinced that the crocodile
was asleep he approached with great caution, and
gave him a deep wound with a knife on the side of
the neck: the animal, though mortally wounded,
struck the negro so violently on the legs with his
tail as to knock him down ; but without quitting
his hold, he rose instantly, and slipped a rope over
the muzzle of the crocodile, while one of his com-
panions secured his tail : Mr. Adanson then mount-
ed on his back to hold him down, while the negro
drew out the knife from the wound and cut off his
head. Notwithstanding their general ferocity there
are some negroes who will venture to attack them
in their own element, and merely armed with a
dagger. Mr. Brue mentions one of the garrison
of Fort St. Louis who used very frequently to do
this by way of amusement, and was long success-

CROCODILE.

*7

ful ; but at last he was so severely wounded in one
of these combats, that he must have perished if he
had not been assisted by some of his companions.

It is not usual for the crocodile to attack man-
kind unless when pressed by hunger ; when they
sometimes become furious, and will brave any dan-
ger to satisfy their appetite. Children on the banks
of the Nile have frequently been destroyed by these
terrible animals, and Hasselquist relates, that in
Upper Egypt they often devour the women who
come to the banks of the river for water. They
generally secure their prey by sweeping it off the
banks with their tail, and then dragging it to the
bottom. It sometimes happens that the wounded
creature the monster has thus surprised escapes
from his grasp, and endeavours to save itself by
flight, but the crocodile immediately pursues and
frequently overtakes his prey, which is then dragged
back to the river and inevitably destroyed. The
crocodile can run tolerably fast upon level ground
and in a straight direction ; but the time he takes
to turn himself round gives a person a fair chance
to escape : accordingly we are told of an English-
man who was pursued so quickly by a large croco-
dile, which came out of the lake Nicaragua, that
unless the Spaniards who were in his company had
cried out for him to quit the straight road, and run
in a circle, he must have been caught.

We learn from the information of M. de la
Borde, that in the spring the female crocodile of
South America prepares a small hillock of sand, by

48

CROCODILE.

the side of the river, with a hollow in the middle,
which she lines with leaves and other vegetable
matter. In this place she deposits her eggs, and
then covers them with leaves. She performs this
first command of nature with great caution : being
aware of the many enemies which attend to destroy
her progeny, she carefully looks around, and the
presence of a man, a beast, or even a bird, is suf-
ficient to deter her from her purpose, and cause her
to retire. If, however, all is quiet and no one in
sight, she slowly steals from the water and deposits
her burthen. The eggs are not all laid at one time,
but at intervals of a few days, and the number
from one female amounts to about a hundred in
a year. It is remarkable that the egg of such a
monstrous animal should scarcely be larger than
that of a goose, to which indeed it bears a great re-
semblance, being shaped like it, and covered with
a calcareous shell, having a membrane underneath.
In the British Museum there is one preserved in
spirits, together with the young crocodile about five
inches long.

The eggs are hatched solely by the heat of the
sun, and the young crocodiles escape from their
confinement at the appointed time, by breaking the
shell either with the head or with the serrated tu-
bercles on the back.

“ So from his shell, on Delta’s showerless isle.

Bursts into birth the monster of the Nile.”

The moment they are liberated they proceed to

CROCODILE.

*9

the water, where they are enabled to subsist horn
their birth without any assistance from others. But
few, however, in proportion to the number of eggs
which are laid by these creatures, ever come to ma-
turity. The natives are very fond of them, and are
constantly seeking their nests. The ichneumon is
always upon the watch, and destroys great num-
bers ; to which may be added the vultures mention-
ed by Ulloa. These birds seem appointed by Provi-
dence to abridge their fecundity ; they hide them-
selves among the branches of the trees near the
banks of the river, and in silence mark the spot
where the crocodile lays her eggs ; but the moment
she retires they call each other to the feast, and,
flocking all together upon the hidden treasure, tear
up the eggs, and devour them in a much quicker
time than they were deposited.

The crocodile was exhibited by the Romans
among the various animals which they occasionally
introduced in their public spectacles. During the
aedileship of Scaurus, five of these animals were pre-
sented to the people in the public shows ; and
Augustus provided one to grace his triumph over
Cleopatra, besides others, at different times, for the
entertainment of the people.

The trifling difference in form between the cro-
codiles of the Nile and those of America has in-
duced some naturalists to describe them as distinct
species. The difference however is so slight, that
others have considered them only as varieties which

VOL. II. E

.50

CROCODILE.

they supposed to be owing merely to the effect of
climate. The American crocodile is distinguished
by the name of alligator, which appears to have
originated in the Spanish sailors remarking their
great resemblance to a lizard, which they call
lagarto. Our countrymen, when they arrived and
heard the name, called the animal a lagato , whence
at length was derived the word alligato , or alligator.

GUANA.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Lacerta Iguana. L. cauda tereti longa, sutura dorsali dentata,

gula crista denticulata. Linn. Syst. Nat.
Gw el. 1. p. 1062.

Tail long and round ; back serrated ; throat
with a denticulated crest.

Lacerta cauda tereti, pedibus pentadactylis,
crista dorsi longitudinali, gulae pendula an-
tice dentata. Amaen. Ac. 1 . p. 123. 287*

Iguana delicatissima. Laur.Amph. p.48.
no. 71.

Lacertus Senembi et Iguana. Raj. Quadr.

2 65.

Common Guana. Catesl. Car. 2. p. 64. Shaw Gen. Zool. 3.

p. 199. pi. 6l.

This lizard is as eminent for the beauty of its co-
lours, as for its strange and peculiar form. The
large pouch beneath the throat, the row of serratures
along the back, and the strong claws which arm the
feet, give it a terrific and malignant appearance,
very contrary to its nature. The guana inhabits
America and the West India islands, where it is
said to have become scarce on account of the deli-
cacy of its flesh, which is highly prized. The

e 2

52

GUANA.

general length of this animal is from three to five
or six feet, and its skin is covered with small scales,
which are highly polished and of a green colour,
but subject to vary in different individuals. They
are found in woods, among the branches of the
trees, where they feed on insects, and sometimes
on vegetables. When either frightened or irritated
they appear very formidable, as they can inflate
their bodies to a large size, and erect the scales on
the back ; which, together with the hissing noise
they make at the time, and the fiery appearance of
their eyes, has occasioned great alarm to those tra-
vellers who have been unacquainted with their na-
turally gentle and harmless manners.

These animals are hunted in several parts of
America for the sake of their flesh, and dogs are
frequently trained up for the purpose. They are
said likewise to be caught in traps, and are some-
times taken alive by the Indians, who, according to
Labat, make use of the following artifice to effect
their purpose : The Indian who intends to catch

the guana provides himself with a long rod, to the
end of which he fastens a piece of whipcord formed
into a running noose. With this simple apparatus
lie repairs to the woods ; and having found the ob-
ject of his pursuit extended on the branch of a tree,
and in a quiet state, he advances slowly towards it,
whistling in a manner which attracts the attention of
the guana; who, pleased with the sound, turns towards
the place from whence it comes, and stretches out
its neck as if unwilling to lose a note. Thus

GUANA.

53

soothed and delighted, the animal suffers the per-
son to advance his rod gently, and rub it against its
sides and throat. This additional pleasure com-
pletes its ruin ; for the guana, beyond measure
gratified by this operation, turns on its back to en-
joy the tickling, while the treacherous negro slips
the noose over its neck, and drags it to the ground.

Catesby, during his residence in America, made
the following observations on these animals : “ Gu-
anas are of various sizes, from two to five feet in
length : their mouths are furnished with exceeding
small teeth, but their jaws armed with a long beak,
with which they bite with great strength. They
inhabit warm countries only, and are rarely to be
met with any where north or south of the tropics.
Many of the Bahama islands abound with them,
where they nestle in hollow rocks and trees ; their
eggs have not a hard shell, like those of alligators,
but a skin only, like those of a turtle, and are
esteemed a good food. They lay a great number
of eggs at a time in the earth, which are there
hatched by the sun’s heat. These guanas are a
great part of the subsistence of the inhabitants of
the Bahama islands ; for which purpose they visit
many parts of the remote hayes and islands in their
sloops to catch them, which they do by dogs trained
up for that purpose, which are so dexterous as not
often to kill them ; which if they do, they serve
only for present spending: if otherwise, they sew
up their mouths to prevent their biting, and put
them into the hold of their sloop till they have

54

G U AN A •

catched a sufficient number ; which they either carry
alive for sale to Carolina, or salt and barrel up for
the use of their families at home. These guanas
feed wholly on vegetables and fruit, particularly on
a kind of fungus growing at the roots of trees, and
on the fruits of the different kinds of cirmonas.
Their flesh is easy of digestion, delicate, and w'ell
tasted : they are sometimes roasted ; but the more
common way is to boil them, taking out the leaves of
fat, which are melted and clarified, and put into a
calabash or dish, into which they dip the flesh of
the guana as they eat it. It is remarkable that this
fat, which adheres to the inside of the abdomen,
imbibes the colour of the fruit the animal eats last,
which I have frequently seen tinged of a pale red,
yellow, or sometimes of a purple colour; which last
w'as from eating the Primus maritimci , which fruit,
at the same time, I took out of them. Though
they are not amphibious, they are said to keep un-
der water about an hour. When they swim they
use not their feet, but clap them close to their body,
and guide themselves with their tails ; they swallow
all they eat whole. They cannot run fast, their
holes being a greater security to them than their
heels. They are so impatient of cold, that they
rarely appear out of their holes but when the sun
shines.”

This species, like the rest of the tribe, will live
a considerable time without food. Mr. Browne do-
mesticated a guana in Jamaica, which was never ob-
served to eat any thing except a few' almost imper-

GUANA.

55

ceptible particles which were floating in the air.
When first he took this creature into the house, it
was very fierce and ill-natured ; but after some days
its temper improved, and at length it would pass
the greatest part of the day upon the bed or couch,
but went out regularly every night. Mr. Browne
adds, that the guana may be very easily tamed while
young, and is then both an innocent and beautiful

companion.

The female guana is described as smaller than
the male ; she is said to be more elegantly shaped,
and to have brighter scales. These beauties, it seems,
are not lost, since they are productive of the most
violent attachment in the male, who becomes furious
when she is in danger, and will defend her person
at the expense of his life.

In the spring the female retires from the woods
to the sea-shore, in order to deposit her eggs, which
are about the size of a pigeon’s, and generally from
fifteen to twenty in number. These eggs are reck-
oned a delicacy, and are said to give an exquisite
relish to sauces. The animal itself, according to
Mr. Browne’s account, is so excellent, that when
fricasseed, and served up at table, it is often preferred
to the best poultry.

CHAMELEON.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Lacerta Chameleon. L. cinerea, pileo piano. Linn. Syst.

Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 1069, cauda tereti
brevi incurva, digitis duobus tribusque
coadunatis. Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 264.
Colour gray •, crown of the head flat j
tail round, and incurvated ; five toes
on each foot joined two and three to-
gether.

Chameleon terrestris. Calceol.
Mus. 658. pi. 66l.

Chameleon. . . . Mus. Lever. 1. p. ig4. Miller dm.

Phys. p. 22. pi. 11. Shaw Gen.
Zool. 3. p. 253. pi. /6.

The long abstinence which the chameleon, in com-
mon with other lizards, is capable of supporting,
has given rise to the vulgar opinion that the animal
lives upon air : this is far from being the case ;
it feeds upon flies ; and their remains, together
with the parts of other insects, have been found
in its stomach. The other property possessed by
this creature, that of changing the colour of its
body, appears to be much better ascertained ; and,
far from resting on a single authority, is supported
by a learned body of French academicians. The

Tub l is bed by Mc/s rs CadeU & Davies, London March. 13.801

\

CHAMELEON.

57

curious and particular account they have given of
the fact, will be best detailed in the following trans-
lation of their own words :

« The colour of all the eminences of our chame-
leon when it was at rest, in the shade, and had con-
tinued a long time undisturbed, was a blueish gray,
except under the feet, where it was white inclining
to yellow ; and the intervals of the granules of the
skin were of a pale and yellowish red. This gray,
which coloured all the parts exposed to the light,
changed when in the sun ; and all the places of
its body which were illuminated, instead of their
blueish colour, became of a brownish gray, in-
clining to minime. The rest of the skin which was
not illuminated by the sun, changed its gray into
several brisk and shining colours, forming spots
about half a fingers breadth, reaching from the
crest of the spine to the middle of the back : others
appeared on the ribs, fore legs, and tail. All these
spots were of an Isabella colour, through the mix-
ture of a pale yellow with which the granules were
tinged, and of a bright red, which is the colour of
the bottom of the skin which is visible between the
granules: the rest of the skin not enlightened by
the sun, and which was of a paler gray than ordi-
nary, resembled a cloth made of mixed wool ; some
of the granules being greenish, others of a minime-
gray, and others of the usual blueish gray, the
ground remaining as before. When the sun did
not shine, the first gray appeared again by little
and little, and spread itself all over the body, ex-

58

CHAMELEON.

cept under the feet, which continued of the same
colour, but a little browner ; and when, being in
this state, some of the company handled it, there
immediately appeared on its shoulders and fore legs
several very blackish spots about the size of a finger
nail, and which did not take place when it was
handled by those who usually took care of it.
Sometimes it was marked with brown spots, which
inclined towards green. We afterwards wrapped it
up in a linen cloth; where having been two or three
minutes, we took it out whitish ; but not so white
as that of which Aldrovandus speaks, which was
not to be distinguished from the linen on which it
was laid. Ours, which had only changed its ordi-
nary" gray into a pale one, after having kept this
colour some time, lost it insensibly. This experi-
ment made us question the truth of the chameleon’s
taking all colours but white, as Theophrastus and
Plutarch report ; for ours seemed to have such a
disposition to retain this colour, that it grew pale
every night ; and when dead, it had more white
than any other colour : nor did we find that it
changed colour all over the body, as Aristotle re-
ports ; for when it takes other colours than gray,
and disguises itself, to appear in masquerade, as
iElian pleasantly says, it covers only certain parts
of the body with them. Lastly, to conclude the
experiments relative to the colours which the cha-
meleon can take, it was laid on substances of va-
rious colours, and wrapped up therein ; but it took
not them as it had done the white,, and it took

CHAMELEON.

$9

that only the first time the experiment was made,
though it was repeated several times on different
days.

« In making these experiments, we observed that
there were a great many places of its skin which
grew brown, but very little at a time : to be certain
of which, we marked with small specks of ink those
granules which to us appeared whitest in its pale
state ; and we always found that when it grew
brownest, and its skin spotted, those grains which
we had marked were always less brown than the
rest.”

M. d’Obsonville thinks it probable that the
change of colour in the chameleon depends upon
a mixture of blue and yellow, from which result
the different shades of green : this opinion ot his is
founded on the appearance of the blood, and of the
vessels which contain it. He tells us that the
former is of a violet blue, and will preserve its co-
lour for some minutes on linen or paper, if it has
been previously steeped in a solution of alum ; that
the coats of the latter are yellow, as well in their
trunks as their branches, and that consequently the
mixture of the two will produce a green. But he
proceeds further, and calls to his aid the passions
of the animal to account for the different shades of
this colour. Thus, when a healthy chameleon is
provoked, the circulation is increased, and, being
carried with violence from the heart to the extreme
parts of the body, distends the vessels that are
spread over the skin, and produces a superficial

6 o

CHAMELEON.

blue green colour. On the contrary, says M. d’Ob-
sonville, when this animal is a prisoner, impoverished,
and deprived of the free use of air, the circulation
being more languid, and the exterior vessels, of
course, more empty, their colour prevails, and the
chameleon changes to a yellow green, which lasts as
long as it is confined.

From what Mr. Barrow has said in his African
Travels, we conceive that the animal is principally
indebted for these varied tints to the influence of
oxygen. This gentleman observes, that “ pre-
viously to the chameleon’s assuming a change of
colour it makes a long inspiration, the body swelling
out to twice its usual size; and, as this inflation sub-
sides, the change of colour gradually takes place.
The only permanent marks are two small dark lines
passing along the sides.”

This power of inflating its body the chameleon is
said to possess in an eminent degree : according to
La Cepede, the inflation is produced by slow and
irregular efforts ; which, when long continued, ex-
tend the flaccid sides of the animal to double their
usual size, and even swell the feet and tail. These
efforts occasionally continue during two hours, in-
creasing and diminishing at intervals. When the
lungs are completely collapsed, and the air is eva-
cuated from the body of the chameleon, it appears
to consist of little more than skin and bone; and
such is its wretched leanness, that the ribs, the ver-
tebrae of the back, and all the tendons of its legs,
may be distinctly seen and counted : in this state it

CHAMELEON. b 1

is said to resemble a mere animated skeleton covered
with a skin.

In the conformation of this lizard a singularity
occurs that is highly worthy of remark : the eyes,
instead of having moveable eyelids, like other qua-
drupeds, are covered by a rough membrane, which
is pierced in the middle with a small hole, not
more than the tenth of an inch in diameter, through
which is seen the pupil surrounded by an iris of a
gold colour. This membrane is attached to the eye,
and follows all its motions. The chameleon seems
also to possess the power of moving one eye while
the other is at rest, and of turning one forwards or
upwards while the other is moved in a contrary
direction ; which must give it a decided advantage
over other animals, since it can thus see on all
sides at once. It is supposed that this wonderful
structure is given the chameleon to defend those
delicate organs from the intensity of the sun ; and
when we consider the artificial contrivance used by
the Laplanders, and other northern nations, to de-
fend their eyes from the excessive glare of the
snow, by covering them with a thin board, having
a narrow slit in the middle of it, we cannot deny
our assent to the supposition. The tongue is an-
other curiosity, somewhat resembling: a common
earth worm, and is from six to ten inches long.
It terminates in a thick hollow knob, which is
open, and resembles in some degree the end of an
elephant’s proboscis. The chameleon uses this un-
common apparatus with peculiar dexterity, darting
it out with amazing quickness whenever it feels in-

6*2

CHAMELEON.

dined to seize an insect, which never fails to ad-
here to the viscous humour that covers the tip of
the tongue. The feet of this lizard are exceed-
ingly curious, the toes being wrapped up in the
skin so as to form two distinct bundles in each
foot, something like the top of a crutch, one con-
taining; three toes and the other two : this con-
trivance is well adapted to the habits of the animal,
and enables him to grasp the branch of a tree with
great firmness. His tail likewise is well calculated
to assist him in passing from tree to tree ; since its
flexibility allows the chameleon to twist it round
the extremity of one branch, while he swings him-
self with safety to another.

Hasselquist describes a chameleon which he kept
for near a month, as climbing up and down the
sides of its cage in a very nimble and lively man-
ner: but others, on the contrary, assure us that
its motions are uniformly slow ; and that, when
climbing the large branches of trees, it is careful to
fix its claws firmly into the bark, and move with
the greatest caution. When walking on the ground
it is said to step forward in a most careful manner,
never lifting one foot till the others are properly
placed.

This reptiles indolent manner, together with its
very singular and extremely ugly appearance, seems
only calculated to excite disgust ; and nothing but
the varied tints which the surface of its body oc-
casionally presents to the eye of the spectator, could
ever have called it into general notice, oi have gained
it the favour of the poets.

SALAMANDER.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Lacerta Salamandra. L. cauda tereti brevi, corpore poroso,

flavo nigroque vario. Linn. Syst.
Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 1066.

Tail short and round ; body porous,
without scales, and variegated with
black and yellow.

Lacerta cauda tereti brevi, pedibus
inermibus, palmis tetradactylis, plan-
tis pentadactylis. Amoen. Acad. 1.
p. 131.

Salamandra terrestris. Raj. Quadr.
273.

Salamander. . . . Sela Mus. 2. pi. 15. f. 5. Shaw Gen.

Zool. 3. p. 291. pi. 82.

The many ridiculous stories which have originated
respecting this innocent lizard are totally void of
foundation, and scarcely deserve our notice. Far
from remaining uninjured by fire, the salamander,
when devoted to that element, w ill be as certainly
destroyed as any other animal ; but from its cold-
ness, and a sort of milky fluid, which, when touch-
ed, it always secretes over the surface of its body,
the activity of the fire is for a moment checked.

6*4

SALAMANDER.

and the sufferings of the salamander prolonged :
thus has a trifling circumstance in the natural his-
tory of this creature, been magnified into an ability
to live in the midst of fire, and a power to quench
it at pleasure.

The salamander is found in several parts of Eu-
rope, and generally inhabits moist and shady places:
the cold, damp parts of thick woods, on elevated
situations, or the sides of springs, seem particularly
congenial to its nature. When the winter ap-
proaches, and the cold begins to set in, they retire
in great numbers to their hiding-places, crowding
together into the hollows of old trees, under the
roots of hedges, or into subterranean retreats, where
they remain, rolled up, till the spring returns and
once more tempts them to come forth. The ground
colour of the salamander is a deep shining black,
variegated with large patches of bright orange co-
lour. Two large glands are situated on each side of
the head, towards the neck ; and there are several
open pores in different parts of the body, through
which the before-mentioned milky fluid is exuded.
The feet are entirely destitute of claws, and of
course the animal is not, like other lizards, formed
for climbing trees, but is doomed to crawl for ever
upon the ground, and that in such a slow and lan-
guid manner that it seldom ventures far from its re-
treat. When we meet with an animal, like the
salamander, the greater part of whose life is spent
in holes, or under damp stones, in the most gloomy
recesses it can meet with ; who shuns the sun, and

SALAMANDER.

65

seems to dread its heat ; and who is only invited
from its retreat by the appearance of rain ; we are
almost ready to suppose that it must drag on a
miserable existence, without the shadow of an en-
joyment. Its habits and its appetite are equally
congenial ; for the damp places to which it retires
supply it with its principal food; beetles, snails, and
earth-worms.

It is the opinion of M. La Cepede, among other
naturalists, that the salamander is entirely devoid of
hearing : this is founded on the want of openings
to the ears, and of ability in the animal to articulate
the slightest sound. Dumbness is generally con-
nected with deafness ; hence they suppose it in-
capable of communicating its sensations to other
animals of the same species, and thus they account
for its extreme stupidity. From being insensible
to danger, it has acquired a reputation for cou-
rage, and is said constantly to keep its way, not-
withstanding any attempts to terrify and turn it
back.

This poor creature has been much abused on
account of being malignant ; but the accusation is
without the slightest foundation, and probably ori-
ginated in its unpleasant appearance, which too
generally prepossesses us unjustly. On the con-
trary, it is with the utmost difficulty that the sala-
mander can be made to open its mouth; and M.
Maupertuis, in his experiments relative to its sup-
posed poisonous nature, assures us, he was always
obliged to open it by force. In this manner he

VOL. II. F

SALAMANDER.

66

obliged the animal to wound some fowls and a dog;
but the bite in no instance seemed to produce the
smallest inconvenience. There is something re-
markable, however, in the following fact. A dog
and a turkey-cock swallowed some salamanders
without the least injury; and yet when other lizards
were made to bite this species and swallow some of
the liquor which exudes from their pores, it con-
stantly proved fatal.

The salamander is viviparous, and produces from
fifteen to forty at a birth.

WATER-N EWT.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Lacerta aquatica. . L. cauda teretiuscula mediocri. Linn.

Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 1066.

Tail roundish and of a moderate length.
Salamandra alepidota, cauda teretiuscula.

Gronov. Mus. 2. p. /8. no. 52.
Triton cristatus. Laur. Amph.
p. 39. no. 44.

Common Water-newt. Shaw Gen. Zool. 3. p. 298. pi. 83.

This animal has been confounded with the great
water- newt by some naturalists, and both have been
described under one head ; they, however, appear to
be distinct species, although their habits are the
same. This little creature is well known to every
one who has looked attentively for a few minutes
on the surface of a pond, or hole filled with w ater,
during the warm weather. They are seldom found
in running streams, but may be seen in great num-
bers in stagnant water, frequently rising to the top
to imbibe fresh air. They swim with great readi-
ness, but are slow travellers upon land. In winter
they retire to the bottom of deep drains in marshy

r 2

6*8

WATER-NEWT.

situations, or seek an asylum in some hole under
ground, where they remain during the cold wea-
ther.

The common water-newts seldom exceed four
inches in length : the male is at once distinguished
from the female by an elevated membranous and
sinuated crest, which runs along the back, and is
continued to the very end of the tail. It is this
part through which the circulation of the blood is
so eminently conspicuous when viewred with a pro-
per magnifying power. The ground colour of the
male is olive brown, sprinkled with round black
spots. The female is paler, and less distinctly
spotted. Their food consists of worms and

aquatic insects, and the prey is often contended for
amongst them with great obstinancy. Dr.Townson
kept some of them in a jar, and fed them with
worms: the greatest possible stillness frequently
prevailed among these little creatures before the
food was given them ; but the moment the worm
was dropped into the water, all was bustle and con-
fusion, each attacking the other indiscriminately,
and seizing it by the head, foot, or tail. These
battles were the more singular, as the object of their
contention often lay for some time unnoticed at the
bottom of the jar.

Almost all the lizard tribe change their skins
once or twice a year ; but the water-newt repeats
this operation oftener, and the manner in which
this change is effected has been particularly re-
lated by Baker, in the Philosophical Transactions

WATER-NEWT.

69

for the year 1747. lie tells us, that a clay or two
before the change takes place the animal constantly
becomes more inactive than usual, neglecting the
worms which are given to it, though at other times
it devours them greedily. The skin at different
parts of the body appears loose, and of a less lively
colour than before. At the appointed time for the
performance of this great command of Nature, the
animal begins to loosen the skin about its jaws
with its fore feet, and continues to push it back-
ward in a very gradual manner till it is able to slip
out first one leg and then the other. When this is
done, it proceeds to thrust the skin backwards as far
as these legs can reach ; but is obliged to assist it-
self by rubbing against pebbles, gravel, or any
rough substance it can meet with, till it is more
than half freed from its skin, which it thus con-
trives to turn inside out over the hinder part of the
body and tail. When the business is so far com-
pleted, the water-newt turns its head round towards
the tail, and, taking the loose skin in its mouth, sets
its feet firmly upon it, and by degrees drags it com-
pletely off ; the hind legs being extricated by this
proceeding in the same manner as the fore legs were
before.

When the cast skin is examined, it will be found
completely inverted, but without the smallest hole
or rent. The part which covered the hind legs
resembles a glove that has been turned without
pulling out the tips of the fingers, while that which
covered the fore legs remains within the skin. In

70

WATER-NEWT.

this operation the water-newts differ from snakes,
in not putting off the skin of their eyes ; for we
may always observe two little holes in the skin
where the eyes have been. Mr. Baker says, it is
very entertaining to observe the animal while en-
gaged in this necessary work, which sometimes

/

takes near half an hour to complete, and leaves
the little creature full of life and vigour, as well as
very sleek and beautiful. The cast skins may be
frequently observed floating on the surface of stag-
nant water.

Mr. Baker, who made his observations on some of
these reptiles kept in a large jar, informs us that if
the cast skin is not soon removed it is very common
for the newt to swallow it whole ; and if it begins
with the head part, which is generally the case,
the tail, being filled with air and water, becomes
like a blown bladder, and proves so unmanage-
able that it is very diverting to see the pains it
costs the animal to reduce it to a condition fit to be
got dojvn its throat.

The eggs of this species are deposited in a viscid
substance which connects them all together ; and,
as they increase in size, the young newts may be
fairly seen inclosed in a fluid and coiled up within
a transparent membrane. When the young first
escape from their confinement, their shoulders are
furnished with fringed tufts, like feathers, which
serve the purpose of fins, and which are gradually
obliterated as the animal grows larger.

Water-newts are very tenacious of life, and have

WATER-NEWT.

7 i

been found imbedded in ice, where they bad pro-
bably remained in a torpid state for a considerable
time, and yet recovered when the ice dissolved.
They are likewise said to possess a reproductive
power, and to renew different parts ol their bodies
which have, by accident or design, been separated
from them.

RATTLE-SNAKE.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Body covered with scales, and terminated by a rattle.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Crotalus iiorridus. . C. fusco-flavescens, fasciis transversis

nigricantibus.

Yellowish brown rattle- snake, with
blackish transverse bands. Shaiv Gen.
Zool. 3. p. 317. pi. 88.

Crotalus horridus, Scutis 167 j scu-
tellis 23. Linn. Syst. Nat. Gviel. 1.

p. 1080.

Crotalus maculis trigonis fiiscis. Bodd.

Nov. Act. Ac. Cces. 7. p. Id. no. 1.
Caudisona terrifica. Lau.Amph. 1.
p. 93. no. 203.

Banded Rattle-Snake. Seb. Mus. 2. t. 95. f. 1. BoiauiRA.

Kerr's La Cepede 4. p. 245. pi. 9*
f. 1. Catesb. Car. 2. pi. 41.

Fortunately for mankind, these very dangerous
reptiles are by no means so active as the rest of
their tribe: they have not the power of springing
upon the assailant, and have besides a rattle in the

RATTLE-SNAKE.

73

tail which warns the incautious traveller of their
approach. We were unacquainted with this snake
till the discovery of America introduced it to our
notice, in whose extensive woods, and chalky un-
cultivated grounds, abundance of them are to be
met with. Their general length is from three to
five feet, though they sometimes exceed that mea-
sure, and Catesby mentions one which was eight
feet long, and weighed between eight and nine
pounds ; hut this was of an extraordinary size, and
confessedly the largest he ever saw. The effect of
their bite is almost instantaneous ; and the poison
runs so rapidly through the body, that a dog,
which was bitten by one of these serpents in full
vigour, immediately became convulsed, and died in
less than a quarter of a minute, with his lips drawn
up so as to leave his teeth and gums bare. The
effect of the poison, however, is not so instantaneous
when the bite is soon repeated ; as a second dog was
bitten by this snake half an hour after the first, and
although he was violently sick and was attacked
with convulsions, he was nearly two hours in dying.
Th is cruel experiment was repeated upon a third
dog, after an interval of an hour ; hut the venom
had lost so much of its activity, that the poor ani-
mal languished till the next day before he died.
All poisonous serpents are provided with similar wea-
pons, and inject their venom in the same manner :
therefore the description we have given of the fangs
of the viper, will apply to this and every other veno-
mous species.

7 4

RATTLE-SNAKE.

The animal is thus described in a general way by

Catesbv: “ The colour of the head of this rattle-

%/

snake is brown, the eye red, the upper part of the
body of a brownish yellow, transversely marked
with irregular broad black lists. The rattle is
usually of a brown colour, composed of several
horny membranous cells, of an undulated pyramidal
figure, which are articulated one within another,
so that the point of the first cell reaches as far as
the basis or protuberant ring of the third, and so on ;
which articulation being very loose, gives liberty to
the parts of the cells that are inclosed within the
outward rings to strike against the sides of them,
and so to cause the rattling noise which is heard
when the snake shakes its tail."

When they pass from one place to another they
glide slowly along with the head close to the
ground, and in this manner they sometimes enter
houses unperceived by the inhabitants ; a remark-
able instance of which is mentioned by Catesby,
who was residing in the house of Colonel Blake,
of Carolina, and had just left his bed-room, when
the maid, on turning down the sheets, discovered a
rattle-snake coiled up in the middle of the bed.
Some time before this happened, one of these
reptiles, about eight feet long, was sliding into the
same gentleman’s house; where he would probably
have concealed himself if the family had not been
alarmed by tbe repeated outcries of the hogs, dogs,
and poultry, who, says Catesby, seemed all united
in their hatred against him, showing the greatest

RATTLE-SNAKE.

7*

consternation by erecting their bristles and feathers;
they surrounded him, and expressed their wrath
and indignation, but carefully kept their distance,
while he, regardless of their threats, glided slowly

along.

Notwithstanding the venomous nature of these
snakes, and the abhorrence in which they are held
by other animals, it is said that the hogs in America
will feed greedily upon the dead ones, and even at-
tack the living, seizing them by the neck so as to
prevent their biting, and then devouring them.
When they are either irritated or alarmed, they coil
themselves into a circle with the head erect in the
centre, and their eyes flaming m a most temhc
manner: hut they are never the aggressors, says
Catesby, except in what they prey upon ; for they
have no inclination to bite unless they are disturbed,
and then the notice they give by shaking their rat-
tles, and their want of agility, make it easy for the
traveller to avoid them : however, in wet weather,
when their rattles give but little sound, they are
more to be feared; and on this account the Indians
decline travelling in the woods in the rainy season,
lest they should be bitten before they are aware of
their danger. The following instance will serve to
show that their poison, though very terrible in its
effects, is not always certain death. A gentleman
in Virginia accidentally trod upon a rattle-snake,
which so enraged the animal that it bit him in his
hand. The gentleman, though aware of his danger
and the necessity of immediate assistance, stopped

RATTLE-SNAKE.

7 6

to kill the snake, which he carried home, and,
throwing it upon the ground, told them that he was
killed, and that the snake was his murderer. In
such an extremity no time was to be lost, and olive
oil, the remedy nearest at hand, was immediately
applied to. His arm, which was beginning to swell,
was tied up near the shoulder, and the wound well
rubbed with the oil. By the help of this applica-
tion, and every other that could be thought of, a
stop was put to the infection, and his constitution
so far got the better of the poison that he at length
recovered ; but not without feeling the most various
and dreadful symptoms for several weeks together.
The gentleman, who wrote this account himself to
Mr. Collinson, says, that his arm below the ligature
appeared of many colours, with a writhing among
the muscles, which to his terrified imagination ap-
peared like the motions of a snake under the skin.
After the swelling of his arm had considerably sub-
sided, he was attacked by a fever, attended with de-
lirium and great weakness ; from all which, how-
ever, he recovered, though he tells us that his hand
and arm were covered with spots, which continued
all the summer.

The Indians sometimes succeed, in slight cases,
by sucking the wound : they consider this method
as very successful, but at the same time tell you,
very gravely, that the person who is thus recovered
will annually feel the pains return at the time he
was bit. Among the remedies which they chiefly
rely on, according to Catesby, and which most of

RATTLE-SNAKE.

77

the Virginian and Carolina Indians carry dry in
their pockets, is a small tuberous root which they
procure from the distant parts of the country. They
chew a portion of this, and having swallowed some
of the juice apply the rest to the wound. “ Having
by travelling much with the Indians, continues
Catesby, “ had frequent opportunities of seeing the
direful effects of the bites of these snakes, it always
seemed, and was apparent to me, that the good
effect usually attributed to these their remedies, is
owing more to the force of nature, or the slight-
ness of the bite of a small snake in a musculai
part, &c. The person thus bitten I have known
to survive without any assistance for many hours ;
but where a rattle-snake with full force penetrates
with his deadly fangs, and pricks a vein or an ar-
tery, inevitable death ensues, and that, as I have
often seen, in less than two minutes. The Indians
know their destiny the moment they are bit ; and,
when they perceive it mortal, apply no remedy, con-
cluding all efforts in vain : if the bite happeneth in
a fleshy part they immediately cut it, to stop the
current of the poison.”

Rattle-snakes are viviparous, and bring forth
about twelve young. In the month of August they
are said to be most dangerous, but never attack
mankind unless they are provoked ; and this attack
is always preceded by the noise of their rattle,
which, when they are pleased, is far from being
distinct. They feed on squirrels, lizards, frogs,
and other small animals ; for which purpose they

78

RATTLE-SNAKE.

sometimes frequent the sides of rills, and sometimes
mount the trees. Multitudes of them collect to-
gether in the winter, and hide themselves beneath
the ground out of the reach of the frost. In the
spring, when they first appear, they are so weak and
languid that they may be easily killed.

Much has been said respecting the fascinating
powers of the rattle-snake, and authors of consider-
able credit have fully believed these animals capable
of so intimidating their prey as to force them to run
into their mouth. As we have had no opportunity
of ascertaining this point ourselves, we shall merely
relate what some others have said upon the subject,
and leave the reader to make his own comments
upon it.

“ The charming,” says Catesby, <c as it is com-
monly called, or attractive power this snake is said
to have, of drawing to it small animals, and devour-
ing them, is generally believed in America : as for
my own part, I never saw the action ; but a great
many from whom I had it related, all agree in the
manner of the process ; which is, that the animals,
particularly birds and squirrels, (which principally
are their prey,) no sooner spy the snake than they
skip from spray to spray, hovering and approaching
gradually nearer to the enemy, regardless of any
other danger ; but with distracted gestures and out-
cries descend, though from the top of the loftiest
trees, to the mouth of the snake, who openeth his
jaws, takes them in, and in a moment swallows
them.”

RATTLE-SNAKE.

79

Mr. Pennant cjuotes Kalin for a similar account,
and describes the snake as lying at the bottom of
a tree on which a squirrel is seated. Ilis fiery
eyes are stedfastly fixed upon the little animal, who
becomes greatly agitated, and immediately begins a
most piteous outcry. This cry, it seems, is so pecu-
liar, and so well known to the Indians, that when-
ever they hear it, they are certain a snake is pre-
sent. The unhappy squirrel runs repeatedly part
of the way up and down the tree, at each turn com-
ma- lower, till at last it leaps down to the snake,
and with the most lamentable cries runs into his
jaws, which are already wide open for its reception.
During the whole of the process the snake continues
at the bottom of the tree with his eyes fixed on the
squirrel : with which his attention is so engrossed,
that a considerable noise may be made by a person
accidentally passing, without at all diverting him
from his object.

The fascinating power does not seem to belong
exclusively to the rattle-snake, since Le Vaillant,
in his new Travels into the Interior of Africa,
assures us, that he saw a bird on the branch of
a tree, trembling as if in convulsions ; and a large
species of snake on another branch about four
feet distant, on which it was lying with out-
stretched neck and fiery eyes, gazing steadily at the
poor animal. The bird was apparently denied the
power to escape, and seemed in great agony. One
of the party killed the snake, and found that the
bird was also dead. They attributed its death en-

80

RATTLE-SNAKE.

tirely to fear, as they could not discover the slightest
wound. Some time after this, a mouse which was
alarmed by the same cause died in his hand after
the snake was frightened away.

Mr. Barton, professor of natural history in the
university of Pennsylvania, has written a memoir
upon this subject ; and after having examined the
question with some care, he is of opinion that snakes
have no particular fascinating property, and that the
idea has probably originated in the anxious care of
the old birds for the protection of their nests and
young, who are themselves occasionally caught by
the rattle-snake, while they are fluttering to divert
his attention from their brood.

GREAT GOA.

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js t- •.'till sciiii?. ; . •> , ix a- :. en :

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Boa inv.nu-'s i.irk-g .5 rhombeis. Mdtbit
Nov. Act. C 's. f. \y. j

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1

GREAT BOA.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Body covered with scales ; those under the abdomen and
beneath the tail undivided.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Boa Constrictor. B. griseo-flavescens, catena dorsali castanea,

maculis lateral ibus subtrigonis.

Yellowish gray, with a large chestnut-co-
loured chain-like pattern down the back,
and subtrigonal spots on the side. Shaw
Gen. Zool. 3. p. 337- ph 92.

Boa maculis variegatis rhombeis. Boddaert
Nov. Act. Ac. Cces. 7. p. 18. no. 5.

Serpens Americana arborea. Seh. 1. pi. 53.

Constrictor Boa. La Cepede Ovip.
Quadr. 4. p. 190. pi. 7. fig. 1.

Great Boa. . . Nat. Misc. 2. pi. 51.

This most formidable serpent frequently measures
from twenty to thirty, and even thirty-five feet in
length. It far exceeds every other species in size,
as well as in strength and beauty. The ground
colour of the animal, in the younger specimens, ac-
cording to Dr. Shaw, is a yellowish gray. A series
of large chain-like reddish brown variegations

VOL. II. G

arc

82

GREAT ROA.

continued along the back, and between them many
smaller ones of no particular form ; the ground co-
lour is likewise scattered over with reddish brown
specks. In the larger animals of this species the
colours are not so vivid, but mix with each other,
and assume a more uniform gray cast ; the reddish
brown variegations sink into a deep chestnut.

It was this enormous creature that so alarmed
the Roman army when led by Regulus into Africa.
It appears from Livy, that several soldiers had been
swallowed by it, and many pressed to death in the
spiral volumes of its tail ; that it had taken its
station on the banks of the Bagrada, and that it
kept the whole Roman army from coming to the
river. It was killed at last by large stones slung
from military engines, and then exhibited a sight
more terrible to the Roman cohorts and legions,
than even Carthage itself. Pliny says that the skin,
which was sent to Rome and deposited, together
with the jaw-bone, in one ol the temples, was to be
seen till the time of the Numantine war.

The boa is not confined to Africa, but is likewise
a native of India and South America, where its
amazing strength is acknowledged; and well at-
tested facts have proved it capable of engorging an
animal much larger than itself : thus, we are told
of goats, deer, and even cattle, which have been
swallowed by this creature, who previously crushes
their bones with its body. The accounts of tra-
vellers who have penetrated the torrid regions, where

GREAT HO A.

83

the boa attains its largest size, are really alarming.
They describe it as resembling the trunk of a large
tree moving swiftly along among the bushes and
high grass, and leaving a large furrow which fol-
lows all the undulations of its course. All the ani-
mals on which it preys fly before it ; and the only
means to avoid the pursuit is to set fire to the grass,
which immediately spreads, and checks the ardour
of the serpent. We should naturally conclude that
an animal of such amazing power, and of so ter-
rific an appearance, would carefully be avoided by
all mankind; yet the contrary appears to be the
case : for we are assured that the negroes, when
properly armed, will frequently attack and destroy
it. Captain Stedman, during his residence in Su-
rinam, assisted by his negro, was bold enough to
shoot one which measured twenty-two feet and
some inches, although the natives declared it to be
a young one. As the account the captain has given
of the transaction is interesting, we shall relate it
nearly in his own words.

As Captain Stedman was resting in his hammock,
while the vessel which he was in floated down the
river, the sentinel told him he had seen and chal-
lenged something black and moving in the brush-
wood on the beach which gave no answer ; but
which from its size he concluded must be a man.
The captain immediately manned the canoe which
accompanied his vessel, and rowed on shore to as-
certain what it was; when, to his great surprise,
one of his slaves declared it was no negro, but a

G 2

84

GREAT liOA.

large amphibious snake, and that he might shoot
it if he pleased. To this, however, it seems Sted-
man had not the least inclination, and therefore
ordered all of them to return on board. The negro
then begged leave to step forward and shoot it him-
self, as he was certain it could not be far oil', and
assured his master that there was no danger. “This
declaration,” says the captain, “ inspired me with
so much pride and emulation, that I determined to
take his first advice and kill it myself ; provided he
would point it out to me, and be responsible for
the hazard, by standing at my side ; from which I
swore that if he dared to move, I should level the
piece at himself, and blow out his own brains.

“ To this the negro cheerfully agreed, and hav-
ing loaded my gun with a ball cartridge, we pro-
ceeded ; David cutting a path with a bill hook, and
a marine following with three more loaded firelocks
to keep in readiness. We had not gone above
twenty yards through mud and water, the negro
looking every way with an uncommon degree of
vivacity and attention, when, starting behind me
he called out, ‘ Me see snakee !’ and in effect there
lay the animal, rolled up under the fallen leaves
and rubbish of the trees ; and so well covered, that
it was some time before I distinctly perceived the
head of this monster, distant from me not above
sixteen feet, moving its forked tongue, while its
eyes, from their uncommon brightness, appeared to
emit sparks of fire. I now rested my piece upon
a branch, for the purpose of taking a surer aim,

GREAT BOA.

85

fired ; but missing the head the ball went through
the body, when the animal struck round, and with
such astonishing force as to cut away all the under-
wood around him with the facility of a sythe mow-
ing grass, and, by flouncing his tail, caused the mud
and dirt to fly over our heads to a considerable
distance. Of this proceeding, however, we were not
torpid spectators, but took to our heels and crowded
into the canoe. The negro now entreated me to
renew the charge, assuring me the snake would be
quiet in a few minutes, and at any rate persisted in
the assertion that he was neither able nor inclined
to pursue us ; which opinion he supported by walk-
ing before me, till I should be ready to fire. And
thus I again undertook to make the trial, especially
as he said that his first starting backwards was only
to make room for me. I now found the snake a
little removed from his former station, but very
quiet, with his head, as before, lying out among the
fallen leaves, rotten bark and old moss. I fired at
it immediately, but with no better success than the
other time ; and now, being but slightly wounded,
he sent up such a cloud of dust and dirt as I never
saw but in a whirlwind, and made us once more
suddenly retreat to our canoe ; where now, being
heartily tired of the exploit, 1 gave orders to row
towards the barge : but David still entreating me to
permit him to kill the animal, I was, by his per-
suasions, induced to make a third and last attempt,
in company with him. Thus, having once more
discovered the snake, we discharged both our pieces

86

GREAT BOA.

at once, and with this good effect, that he was now
by one of us shot through the head.”

The captain with the help of his servants now
secured the snake, by passing a rope with a running
noose upon it over his head : this was effected with
some difficulty, as the animal, notwithstanding his
being mortally wounded, still continued to writhe
and twist about, in such a manner as to render it
dangerous for any person to approach him. In
this state he was dragged to the shore, and the
end of the rope made fast to the canoe, in order to
tow him to the vessel : according to Stedman’s ac-
count, he continued swimming like an eel till they
arrived on board ; where, upon due consideration, it
was agreed to convey tins immense snake once
more on shore, and have him skinned for the sake
of the oil. In order to effect this purpose, the
negro David, having climbed up a tree w ith the
end of the rope, let it down over a strong forked
bough, and the other negroes hoisted up the snake,
and suspended him from the tree. This done, Da-
vid, with a sharp knife between his teeth, now left
the tree, and clung fast upon the monster, which
was still twisting, and began his operations by rip-
ping it up, and stripping down the skin as he de-
scended. “Though I perceived,” continues Stedman,
“ that the animal was no longer able to do him any
injury, I confess I could not without emotion see a
man stark naked, black and bloody, clinging with
arms and legs round the slimy and yet living monster.
This labour, however, was not without its use, since

GREAT BOA.

87

he not only dexterously finished the operation, but
provided me, besides the skin, with above four gal-
lons of fine clarified fat, or rather oil, though there
was wasted perhaps as much more.”

The adventure was finally concluded by the ne-
groes, who cut the flesh of the snake into pieces on
purpose to dress it; from which they were detened
by the captain, who would not allow them to eat
such disgusting food, notwithstanding they declared
it was exceedingly good and wholesome.

This monstrous snake, when he has fasted for
any length of time, becomes most actively vo-
racious, and springs upon the unfortunate animal
who comes within his reach with inconceivable
rapidity. However large the creature may be, his
doom is fixed, and the power of flight denied him.
He is confined within the folds of the snake’s
enormous tail, who, contracting the muscles of his
body in proportion to the resistance to be overcome,
crushes the wretched victim in pieces, and then,
covering the carcase with saliva, sucks it by de-
grees into his stomach. In this manner one of the
largest of the species has been said to manage a
buffalo ; and we are shocked to add, that there is
an instance upon record of a human being who fell
a sacrifice to one of these monsters. A man be-
longing to a Malay prow, which anchored for the
nio’ht close to the island of Celebes, went on
shore to look for betel nut, and on his return is
supposed to have gone to sleep upon the beach. In
the middle of the night his screams were heard by

88

GREAT lJOA.

the people in the vessel, who immediately went on
shore: but alas! they came too late, their comrade was
crushed to death by a monstrous snake ; and all the
satisfaction they could derive, was to revenge his
death by killing his enemy, whose head they cut off,
and carried it, together with the body of the man,
on boaid their boat. JThe marks ot the fangs were
imprinted upon the man’s right wrist, and the
corpse, though disfigured, bore evident signs of
being crushed by the monster’s twisting himself
round the head, neck, breast, and thigh. The
snake measured about thirty feet ; and when the
jaws were extended they admitted a body the size
of a man’s head.

When these animals have swallowed their prey,
they may be approached without fear, as they for
some time afterwards lose all ability to move, and lie
as it were in a kind of torpor. They have been known
to remain in this state for five or six days, till the
food they have ingorged is digested, and they are
in a condition to seek for more.

The antient Mexicans are said to have held the
great boa in religious veneration. They distin-
guished it by a name signifying emperor, or power-
ful. All its motions were watched with great at-
tention, and its long and violent hissings were heard
with universal consternation : some public calamity
was expected to follow these warnings, which were
considered as immediately connected with their
destiny.

SNAKE.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Body covered with scales ; those under the tail alternate.

VIPER.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Coluber Berus. C. cinereus, macula capitis biloba, vitta dor-

sali atra dentato-repanda.

Cinereous Viper, with a bilobated spot on the
head, and a black flexuous or zigzag band
down the back. Shaw Gen. Zool. 3. p. 3 65.
pi. 101.

Coluber Berus, scutis abdom. 146, squamis
caudae 3Q. Faun. Suec. no. 286.

Common Viper. Penn. Brit. Zool. 3. p. 26. no. 12. pi. 4.

La Cepede Ovip. Quadr. &c. 3. p. 175.
pi. 1. fig. 1.

We ought to be very thankful that, while the tro-
pical countries abound with venomous serpents
whose bite is almost certain death, there is only
one animal in Great Britain from whose poison we
have any thing to fear. The viper is found in many
parts of this island, particularly in chalky countries,
where they are sometimes seen in considerable

90

VIPER.

numbers. The general length of the viper is about
eighteen inches or two feet, though they are occa-
sionally met with rather longer. We are taught to
distinguish it from the common snake by the head,
which is larger, and particularly by the tail, which
does not taper to so great a length. We must ac-
knowledge the kindness of Providence towards us,
in limiting the numbers of this noxious reptile.
They are far from being prolific, seldom above
eleven eggs being found in one viper, and those as
it were chained together, and each about the size
of a blackbird’s. The young are excluded alive
towards the end of the summer, and the female is
supposed to go about three months before she brings
forth. Each egg contains from one to four young
ones, which at the appointed time hurst the shell,
and when grown to a proper size creep from their

confinement into the open air. “ On the fourth of

*

August 1 /55," says Mr. White, “we surprised a
large female viper, which seemed very heavy and
bloated, as it lay on the grass, basking in the sun.
When we came to cut it up, we found that the ab-
domen was crowded with young, fifteen in number ;
the shortest of which measured full seven inches,
and were about the size of full-grown earth-worms.
This little fry issued into the world with the true
viper spirit about them, showing great alertness as
soon as disengaged from the body of the dam ; they
twisted and wriggled about, set themselves up,
and gaped very wide when touched with a stick,
showing manifest tokens of menace and defiance,

VIPER.

91

though as yet they had 110 manner of fangs that w e
could find, even with the help of our glasses.”

The apparatus with which the viper gives the
deadly wound, consists, as in other poisonous ser-
pents, of two teeth or fangs seated in the upper
jaw. These teeth are moveable, and are generally
laid flat along the jaw ; hut whenever the animal is
inclined to bite they are instantly erected, and ready
to inflict the mortal wound. Each fang is hollow
throughout its length, and the lower end of the
canal opens into a little bladder of venom, situated
under the muscle of the upper jaw : when this
muscle is put in action it compresses the bladder,
and forces the poison through the tooth into the
wound.

From the experiments of Francini, related in the
Philosophical Transactions, we learn that the venom
of the viper is quickly fatal to small animals. Two
pigeons were wounded by the fangs of a viper,
whose head had been previously cut off. The
wound was made by thrusting the fangs into the
fleshy part of the pigeon’s breast, and pressing the
poison through them from the bladders where it is
secreted. The pigeon thus bitten began to stagger
immediately, and died in a few minutes. The se-
cond was wounded in the same part and expired in
the same manner, but was rather longer in dying.
A viper was then irritated so as to bite a cock in
both his thighs ; inconsequence of which he died
in a quarter of an hour. These experiments were
repeated, and others tried with a similar result, so

92

VII'ER.

that the activity of the poison was sufficiently
proved. Nevertheless its fatal effects are not so
sudden upon the larger animals, and much seems
to depend upon the vigour of the creature, the sea-
son of the year, and the part bitten. When vipers
were commonly used by the faculty, it is a known
fact that the persons who were employed to catch
them were frequently wounded, and that the ap-
plication they always used was salad oil : with this
about them they felt secure, and would even suffer
themselves to be bitten on purpose to prove the
remedy. The case of William Oliver, related in
the Philosophical Transactions, is a singular in-
stance of the reliance which these people placed in
their oil. This man was a viper-catcher at Bath,
and is said to have been the first who discovered
this admirable remedy. On the first of June 1735,
in the presence of a great number of persons, he
suffered himself to be bitten by an old black viper,
upon the wrist and joint of the thumb of the right
hand ; he immediately felt a violent pain, which
extended from his thumb up his arm, even before
he could disengage the viper from his hand. In a
few minutes after he complained of a burning pain
which trickled up his arm : soon after this his eyes
watered excessively, and began to look red and
fiery, and in less than an hour he felt the venom
reach his heart, where it caused a pricking pain at-
tended with faintness, shortness of breath, and cold
sweats : these alarming symptoms were succeeded
by a swelling of the belly, with intense gripings

VIPER.

93

and pains in the back, attended with violent eva-
cuations ; during which his sight failed him for se-
veral minutes, but he never lost his hearing. He
said, that in his former experiments he had always
used the remedy when he found that the venom
was reaching his heart; but this time, being willing
completely to satisfy the company, and trusting en-
tirely to the beneficial quality of his olive oil, he
forbore to apply it till he found himself exceedingly
ill and quite giddy. About an hour and a quarter
after he had been bitten, a chafing-dish of glowing
charcoal was brought in, and his naked arm held
over it as near as he could bear, while Ins wife
rubbed in the oil with her hand, turning his arm
continually round, as if she would have roasted it
over the coals ; he said the poison abated, but the
swelling was not much diminished. Ibis operation
was succeeded by most violent purgings and vomit-
ings, and his pulse became so low and irregular,
that it was thought proper to administer some cor-
dial remedies : from these, however, he received
no benefit ; but a glass or twx> of olive oil, which he
took soon after, seemed to give him ease. He was
put to bed in this dangerous state ; where his arm
W'as again bathed over a pan of charcoal, with heated
salad oil, by the direction of Dr. Mortimer, who
was the attending physician. This last operation
acted like a charm, and he declared that he found
immediate relief ; soon after this he fell into a pro-
found sleep, in which he remained nine hours, and

94

VIPER.

awoke perfectly well; but in the afternoon, on drink-
ing too freely of rum and strong beer, the swelling
returned, with much pain and cold sweats : these
symptoms, however, were soon removed on repeat-
ing the remedy, and wrapping the limb up in brown
paper soaked in oil.

The same William Oliver presented the Royal
Society with a female viper big with young, which
was kept alive in common green moss, in a box
with a glass cover. She brought forth several young
ones, who slipped off their skins, and the outward
membrane of their eyes along with them, about six
weeks after their birth. They were observed, first
to loosen the skin about the mouth, and then slip
it off backwards by wriggling themselves through
the entanglement of the moss.

The motion of these reptiles is very slow when
compared with other snakes, nor can they twist
themselves about so readily, being only able to turn
the head with any agility. They never attack man-
kind, or any large animal, unless he first becomes
the aggressor, by trampling upon them ; then indeed
they are justly irritated, and frequently bite severely.
The viper-catchers are not at all afraid of them, as
they very well know how to seize the creatures so
as to prevent their biting. Some for this purpose
use a forked stick, by which they fix the viper by
the neck, and then throw it into a bag. Others,
holding down its head with the end of a stick, pinch
its neck with the left hand, and, while the animal

VIPER.

95

tries to defend itself, with its mouth wide open,
extract the poison fangs ; after which it may he

handled with perfect safety.

The viper-catchers no longer receive that en-
couragement from the faculty, which they did in
those days when the flesh of this reptile was consi-
dered as a restorative and strengthening diet, while
the fat was extolled for many virtues. The Greek
physicians prescribed the flesh for the cure of le-
prous disorders, and Galen recommended it to those
who were afflicted with elephantiasis. In modern
times it has received its share of praise ; and the
French, as well as ourselves, have placed great faith
in viper broth and viper wine.

CERASTES.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Coluber Cerastes. C. subferrugineus, maculis distantibus sub-

ovatis subtransversis fuscis, palpebris cor-
nutis.

Subferruginous snake, with distant subovate
subtransverse brown spots, and horned
eyelids. Shaw Gen. Zool. 3. p. 385.
pi. 103.

Coluber Cerastes. Scutis 1 50, scutellis 25 .
Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 1087.

Coluber cornutus. Hasselq. It. p. 315.
no. 6l.

Cerastes. . . . Bruces Travels , oct. ed. v. 7. p. 292.

This venomous serpent is a native of Egypt, as well
as of Syria and Arabia. It was respected by the an-
tient Egyptians, and placed among their sacred
symbols, where its figure may, to this day, be traced
on the columns of their temples, the walls of their
palaces, See. The cerastes is at once distinguished
from other snakes by two small, pointed, and curved
horns, situated over the eyes ; these little appen-
dages give the animal a very terrific appearance,
though they are not offensive weapons. Mr. Bruce,

CERASTES.

97

in his admirable figure of this creature, has drawn
the horns rather pointing forwards. The usual
length of the cerastes is said to be from twelve to
fifteen inches, though they occasionally extend to
two feet. The colour on the back is yellowish,
with a few irregular oblong spots of a deeper shade;
the under surface of the body is of a pale lead
colour.

If the account which Shaw has given of this
serpent, in the second volume of hisTravels, be cor-
rect, it is able to endure a much longer fast than
any of its fellow-creatures. He assures us, that one
Gabrieli, an apothecary at Venice, who had resided
for some years at Cairo, kept two cerastes in a well
closed bottle for five years without any food. A
little sand was put with them into the bottle, in
which they burrowed ; and at the time our author
saw them they were changing their skins, and,
according to his account, seemed as full of vigour as
if but lately taken.

An object so common in Egypt, and so well
known to its inhabitants, could not escape the no-
tice of Mr. Bruce; accordingly we find in his Tra-
vels a very full description of the animal and its
manners, illustrated by a well engraved plate, which
has been considered as perfectly correct by one of
the first naturalists in this country. Mr. Bruce in-
forms us, that the cerastes chiefly inhabit the desert
and sandy part of the eastern continent ; that they
abound in the three Arabias, and in Africa; and that

vbL. II.

H

CERASTES*

98

lie never saw so many of them as in the Cyrenai-
curn, where the jerboa is frequent in proportion.
1 hey are so fond of heat, that, when our travel-
ler and his companions made a fire at night in
order to dress their victuals, they were generally
visited by more than halt a dozen of these vipers,
who burnt themselves to death by approaching the
embers. To prove the venomous nature of the
cerastes, Mr. Bruce compelled one of them to
scratch eighteen pigeons upon the thigh, and they
all died nearly in the same interval of time. This
gentleman, likewise, in some measure corroborates
the account of Dr. Shaw respecting their absti-
nence. He tells us that he kept two snakes of this
species in a glass jar, such as is used for keeping
sweetmeats in, for two years, without any food;
they did not sleep, that he observed, in winter,
but cast their skins the last days of April.

The following singular account, by Mr. Bruce,
of the manners of the cerastes, and the different
effect of its venom, we shall beg leave to subjoin
in the words of the author. “ The cerastes moves
with great rapidity, and in all directions, forward,
backward, and sideways. When he is inclined to
surprise any one who is too far from him, he creeps
with his side towards the person, and his head
averted, till, judging his distance, he turns round,
springs upon him, and fastens upon the part next
to him ; for it is not true what is said, that the
cerastes does not leap or spring. I saw one of them

CERASTES.

99

at Cairo, in the house of Julian and Rosa, crawl up
the side of a box, in which there were many, and
there lie still as if hiding himself, till one of the
people who brought them to us came near him, and
though in a very disadvantageous posture, sticking,
as it were, perpendicular to the side of the box, he
leaped near the distance of three feet, and fastened
between the man’s fore finger and thumb, so as to
bring the blood. The fellow showed no sign of either
pain or fear, and we kept him with us full four
hours without his applying any sort of remedy, or
his seeming inclined so to do. To make myself
assured that the animal was in its perfect state, I
made the man hold him by the neck, so as to force
him to open his mouth, and lacerate the thigh of a
pelican, a bird I had tamed, as big as a swan. The
bird died in about thirteen minutes, though it was
apparently affected in fifty seconds ; and we cannot
think this was a fair trial, because, a few minutes
before, it had bitten the man, and so discharged
part of its virus; and it was made to scratch the
pelican by force, without any irritation or action
of its own.”

The inhabitants of the East will handle venom-
ous reptiles with a freedom which an European will
hardly credit upon mere report : yet we have been
assured, from the most respectable authority, that
for the sake of a sorry livelihood the Hindoos carry
them about in baskets to show the idle multitude,
and make them gradually uncoil themselves to the

100

CERASTES.

sound of their rough music. Not only the innox-
ious species are subjected to their will, but even the
deadly cobra de capello # is obliged to bend, and
show itself to please its master. It has been long-
supposed that these people have some physical
means of securing themselves against the bite of
venomous serpents ; and the following account, if
we may rely upon it, seems to confirm this opi-
nion.

“ I can myself avouch,” says Mr. Bruce, “ that
all the black people in the kingdom of Sennaar,
whether Funge or Nuba, are perfectly armed
against the bite of either scorpion or viper. They
take the cerastes in their hands at all times, put
them in their bosoms, and throw them at one
another as children do apples or balls, without
having irritated them by this usage so much as to
bite. The Arabs have not this secret naturally ;
but from their infancy they acquire an exemption
from the mortal consequences attending the bite of
these animals, by chewing a certain root, and wash-
ing themselves with an infusion of certain plants in
water. One day, while I w^as sitting with the
brother of Shekh Adelan, prime minister of Sen-
naar, a slave of his brought a cerastes, which he
had just taken out of a hole, and was using with
every sort of familiarity. I told him my suspicion
that the teeth had been drawn ; but he assured me
they were not, as did his master Kitton, who took

* See the account of that serpent.

CERASTES.

101

it from him, wound it round his arm, and at my
desire ordered the servant to carry it home with
me. I took a chicken by the neck, and made it
flutter before him ; his seeming indifference left
him, and he bit it with great signs of anger: the
chicken died almost immediately. I say his seem-
ing indifference, for I constantly observed that,
however lively the viper was before, yet, upon
being seized by any of these barbarians, he seemed
as if taken with sickness and feebleness, frequently
shut his eyes, and never turned his mouth towards
the arm of the person that held him. I asked Kitton
how they came to be exempted from this mischief.
He said they were born so ; and so said the grave
and respectable men among them. Many of the
lighter and lower sort talked of enchantments by
words and by writing ; but they all knew how to
prepare any person by medicines, which were de-
coctions of herbs and roots. I have seen many thus
armed for a season do pretty much the same feats
as those who possessed the exemption : the drugs
were given me, and I several times armed myself,
as I thought, resolved to try the experiment ; but
my heart always failed me when I came to the trial;
because among these wretched people it was a pre-
tence they might very probably have sheltered
themselves under, that I was a Christian, and that
therefore it had no effect upon me. I have still re-
maining by me a small quantity of this root, but
never had an opportunity of trying the experi-
ment.”

102

CERASTES.

Mr. Bruce has laboured to prove that the aspic
with which Cleopatra killed herself was no other
than the cerastes ; but as this point must for ever
remain a matter of conjecture, we shall leave the
subject to be discussed by those who have leisure
and inclination to pursue it.

COBRA DE CAPELLO.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Coluber Naja. . C. ferrugineo-flavescens, collo supra macula

magna conspicillata albo nigroque varia
notata.

Ferruginous-yellow Snake, with the neck
marked above by a large black and white
spectacle-shaped spot. Shaw Gen. Zool. 3.
p. 40Q. pi. 10/.

Coluber Naja. Scutis 193, scutellis 60.
Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 1105.

Naja lutescens. Laur. Amph. p. 9I.
no. 197.

Cobra de Capello. Russ. Serp. 1. pt. 1. p. 7. pi. 5 and 6.

This most poisonous of serpents derives its Portu-
guese name of cobra de capello, or hooded snake,
from a custom which it has, when irritated, of ex-
panding the skin of its neck, and bending down its
head so as somewhat to resemble a hood. The
effect of its poison has been well ascertained by
many experiments, and found to be certainly fatal ;
though, from the observations of Dr. Russel, it does
not seem so quick in its action as the venom of the
rattle-snake. He never knew it prove mortal to a

104

COBRA DE CAPELLO.

dog in less than twenty-seven minutes, whereas the
bite of the rattle-snake has been known to kill a dog
in the space of two minutes.

The cobra de capello is a native of India, where
it is much dreaded for the malignity of its poison.
It commonly grows to the length of three or four
feet; is of an uniform chestnut colour, and is re-
markable for a spot on the neck which resembles
a pair of spectacles. It seems that the female is
without this mark, and has in consequence been
mistaken for another species. The Indians who
travel in the woods with naked feet are justly
afraid of this snake, as it springs upon them with
great agility, and its bite produces certain death,
unless the proper remedies are instantly made use
of. Nevertheless the Indian jugglers contrive to
tame this among other serpents which they exhibit
to the people. “ On these occasions,” says La Ce-
pede, “ the juggler holds a particular root in his
hand, which he pretends has the power of insur-
ing him against the venomous bite of his serpent.
Taking the serpent from a close vessel, in which it
is ordinarily kept confined, he enrages it by threat-
ening it with a stick or his fist. The snake im-
mediately erects itself upon its tail in a posture of
defence, blows up its neck, opens its dreadful
mouth with a hissing noise, thrusting out its forked
tongue, and, agitating itself with great vivacity,
while its eyes gleam like fire, begins a kind of com-
bat with its master, who continues to threaten it
with his fist, which he moves continually and

COBRA DE CAPELLO.

105

briskly up and clown, and from side to side, singing
all the while. The terrified or enraged animal,
keeping its eyes constantly fixed on the hand which
threatens it, follows every motion, balancing its
body and head on its tail, which keeps always fixed
in the same spot ; and thus gives the appearance of
a kind of dance. The reptile can continue this kind
of exercise for about half a quarter of an hour ; but
whenever the juggler perceives that his serpent
grows wearied, and is about to fly from the combat,
he gives over his song and removes the threatening
hand. The snake now ceases its seeming dance,
and extends itself on the ground, when the master
seizes it by the neck, and replaces it in its box or
jar.

From the observations of Kaempfer, as related by
La Cepede, we are informed of the following me-
thod which these jugglers use to train up their pu-
pils to the dance. When an Indian has procured a
cobra de capello for this purpose, he turns it out of
the jar in which it is kept, and prevents its escape
with a stick which he uses to provoke it to fight
him, holding the stick in one hand and the empty
jar in the other. Whenever the snake attempts to
bite it is presented with the jar, against which it
hurts its nose, and is obliged to start back. This
exercise is continued till the animal, always foiled in
its attack, and hurt against the jar every time it at-
tempts to bite, is obliged to give up the unequal
combat, but constantly keeps its eyes fixed on the
hard substance which is presented towards it, and

106 COBRA DE CAPELLO.

follows every motion. Thus, by repeated lessons,
the serpent is at length trained to the task ; and as
it no longer attempts to bite, the juggler ventures
to threaten it with his hand, and always accom-
panies this exercise with a kind of music ; from
whence it has been very improperly named a dance.

We are assured from the most respectable autho-
rity, that not only these snakes are carried about in
the manner above mentioned, but also serpents of
large dimensions ; and the gentlemen to whom we
allude, and who resided some years in India, had
frequent opportunities of seeing these jugglers
carry a large snake in a basket, from which he
uncoiled himself at the command of his master,
and was conveyed round to the spectators upon the
shoulders of the men.

No kind of heathen worship has been more popu-
lar, or of higher antiquity, than that of the serpent ;
nor have any of the eastern nations more supersti-
tious notions respecting it than the Gentoo Indians,
who have taken this noxious reptile for the object
of their religious veneration. The temples or pago-
das of their gods are adorned with their images;
and if the animal should enter the house of one of
these people, the master first entreats it respectfully
to leave his dwelling, but finding it deaf to his en-
treaties he offers it milk and other food ; and if all
will not do, he repairs to the Brahmin, who repre-
sents to the serpent the motives which ought to
make him quit the house ; and, among other absur-
dities, dwells upon the great respect and adoration

COBRA DE CAPELLO. 107

9

which the gooiT man has ever shown the whole
race.

We shall conclude this account with an instance
of the superstitious veneration in which this crea-
ture is held on the coast of Malabar. While Del-
Ion resided at Cananore, one of the secretaries to
the reigning prince was bitten by the cobra de
capello. At first he neglected to apply the usual
remedies, and the people who accompanied him
brought him back to the city, and carried the ser-
pent with them in a well closed jar. The prince,
being informed of the accident, sent immediately
for the Brahmins, who very gravely told the serpent
that the life of so faithful an officer was of the ut-
most importance to the state ; and, being unwilling
to depend alone on their prayers, they gave the
snake to understand, that, if the secretary died, he
most assuredly should be burnt in the same funeral
pile with the body. Neither prayers, nor threaten-
ings, nor remonstrances, seemed to make any im-
pression on this obdurate reptile. The secretary
died ; but the prince, although extremely affected
by the loss, having reflected that his secretary might
have been guilty of some secret sins, which had
drawn down the anger of the gods, ordered the ser-
pent to be carried from the palace and restored to
liberty. This was not done, however, till after
abundance of apologies and reverences had been
made, on the side of the prince, to appease the
serpent’s anger.

SNAKE.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Coluber Natrix. C. olivaceo-fuscus (interdum caerulescens),

macula collari utrinque nigra, alteraque
flava, lateribus nigro-maculatis, abdo-
mine fusco.

Olive brown,, (or blueish) snake, with a black
patch, accompanied by a yellow one on
each side of the neck, a row of narrow
black spots down each side, and dusky
abdomen. Shaw Gen. Zool. 3. p. 446.

Coluber Natrix. Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel.l .

p. 1100.

Ringed Snake. . Penn. Brit. Zool. 3. p. 33. no. 13. pi. 4.

This species is perfectly harmless, being entirely
destitute of venom. It never commences an attack,
and seldom attempts even to defend itself, unless when
highly provoked; and then its feeble efforts are of
no avail, as the bite which it is capable of inflicting
can only make a trifling wound. These reptiles
are very common in woods and hedges, on the dry
and sunny banks of which they are frequently seen
during the summer. They are likewise found
among bushes in moist places, and are often seen

SNAKE.

109

to take the water, as they swim perfectly well. In
the viper we have noticed that the young are ex-
cluded alive : this is not the case with the common
snake, which, according to La Cepede, deposits her
eggs, from fourteen to twenty in number, either in
holes with a warm southern aspect, or in dunghills,
where they remain till the following spring before
they are hatched. The eggs are connected together
by a gluey matter so as to form a continued chain,
and the young are rolled up spirally, in the middle
of a fluid which resembles the white of a fowl’s

egg-

Those who have been able to conquer their pre-
judices against this tribe of animals have sometimes
domesticated them ; and we have known a gentleman
who kept a common snake in his house during a
winter, and constantly fed it with milk from his tea
table. Mr. White, in his Natural History of Sel-
borne, tells us of a gentleman who kept a tame
snake, which was perfectly sweet in its person un-
less a stranger, or a dog or cat came in, when it
immediately began to hiss, and filled the room with
a stench that was hardly supportable. In Sardinia
it appears that the country girls are very partial to
these snakes, frequently keep them with great care,
prepare their victuals for them, and even put it into
their mouths. They are considered by the common
people in that island as lucky, and therefore never
driven from their doors, lest their good fortune
should leave them at the same time.

no

SNAKE.

As the autumn approaches, the ringed snakes seek
a lodging in some hole where they can conceal them-
selves, at least fifteen inches below the surface of the
ground; here they pass the winter in a torpid state,
and become quite rigid in every part except the head
and the tip of the tail. In the month of March they
again revive, and from that period till towards the
end of May are to be met with in abundance on
warm banks and under hedges in the heat of the
day. This species casts its skin in the same manner
as the viper, which we have already described.

The Americans have a snake, the coluber con-
strictor Linn., which merits a share of our atten-
tion. This creature, which is black, and grows to
the length of six feet, is quite as inoffensive as our
own, though from its boldness and great agility it
often occasions an unnecessary alarm. As every
one in America is fearful of the rattle-snake, they
are apt to be alarmed at the appearance of any ser-
pent, and, without giving themselves time to con-
sider, immediately take to their heels. This animal
pursues with such swiftness as soon to overtake the
fugitive, who is generally brought to the ground by
the serpent coiling itself about his legs. A circum-
stance of this kind was mentioned to professor Kalm
during his residence at New York. Lhe gentleman
who related the fact had several workmen at his
country-seat, and among them one who had just
arrived from Europe, and who was consequently
unacquainted with the manners of the black snake.

SNAKE.

Ill

His fellow-workmen, who knew the temper of these
snakes, engaged him to kill one ot two which they ob-
served lying together, and which proved to be a male
and a female; but the moment he approached to ex-
ecute his purpose, the male sprung towards him. Lit-
tle expecting to meet with such courage in a snake,
the man flung away his stick and ran off’at full speed :
he was immediately pursued by his active enemy,
who overtook him, and, twining several times round
his legs, threw him to the ground. The man was
exceedingly terrified, and could only disengage
himself by cutting the snake through the body in
two or three places with a knife. The other work-
men, far from helping their companion, enjoyed the
adventure, and looked upon it as a very good joke.

The Americans are said to encourage these rep-
tiles on account of their great use in clearing the
houses of rats, which they will pursue with amazing
agility, and even chase them to the roofs of the
bams and outhouses. The farmers’ wives, however,
have no cause to rejoice in their inmates, who very
industriously skim the milk-pans of the cream,
and rob the hen-roosts of the eggs. Catesby tells
us they have been found coiled up in a nest under a
sitting hen. They are so very active, and pass along
the ground with such speed, that it is almost impos-
sible for the person to escape when they are de-
termined to overtake him. The only way to get
rid of the creature is to face it boldly and strike it
sharply with a stick.

112

SNAKE.

The following scene between two snakes is de-
scribed in the Letters of an American Farmer ; who
tells us that he was one day sitting alone in an ar-
bour which he had raised upon his farm, when his
attention was engaged by a strange sort of rustling
noise at some paces distance. He looked about
without being able to distinguish any thing, till he
ascended to a little height above the ground, when
he beheld two snakes of considerable length, the
one pursuing the other with great celerity through
a hemp stubble field. The aggressor was of the
black kind, six feet long ; the fugitive was a water
snake, nearly of equal dimensions. They soon met ;
and, in the fury of their first encounter, appeared
in an instant firmly twisted together, while they
mutually tried with open jaws to lacerate each
other. After this conflict had lasted about five
minutes, during which time their heads were com-
pressed to a very small size, and their eyes appeared
exceedingly fiery, the second found means to dis-
engage itself from the first, and hurried towards the
ditch. Its antagonist, however, overtook it again
before it reached the destined place of security, and
obliged it to renew the combat. The writer de-
scribed the scene which followed as uncommonly
beautiful; for, thus opposed, they fought with their
jaws, biting each other with the utmost rage : but,
notwithstanding this appearance of mutual courage
and fury, the water snake still seemed desirous of
retreating towards its natural element. In this at-

SNaIvE.

113

tempt, it seems, he was defeated by iiis keen-eyed
antagonist, who, twisting his tail twice round a
stalk of hemp, and seizing his adversary by twisting
his own neck twice round that of the water snake,
pulled it back from the ditch. To prevent a de-
feat, the latter took hold likewise of a stalk on the
bank, and, by the acquisition of that point of re-
sistance, became a match for his black enemy.
Thus mutually fastened together, and stretched at
their full length, they pulled, but pulled in vain;
and in the moments of greatest exertion, that part
of their bodies which was entwined appeared ex-
tremely small, while the rest seemed inflated, and
now and then convulsed with strong undulations
rapidly following each other. “ At one time,” says
our observer, “ the conflict seemed decided : the
water snake bent itself into great folds, and by that
operation rendered the other more than commonly
out-stretched; the next minute the new struggles of
the black one gained an unexpected superiority, it
acquired two great folds likewise, which necessarily
extended the body of its adversary in proportion as
it had contracted its own. These efforts were al-
ternate ; victory seemed doubtful, inclining some-
times to one side sometimes to the other, until at
last the stalk to which the black snake was fastened
suddenly gave way, and, in consequence of this ac-
cident, they both plunged into the ditch. The
water did not extinguish their vindictive ra^e • for
by their agitations I could still trace, though I could

VOL. II. i

114

SNAKE.

not distinguish, their attacks. They soon re-ap-
peared on the surface, twisted together as in their
first onset ; but the black snake seemed to retain its
wonted superiority ; for its head was exactly fixed
above that of the other, which it incessantly pressed
down under the water, until it was stifled, and
sunk. The victor no sooner perceived its enemy
incapable of further resistance, than, abandoning it
to the current, it returned to the shore and dis-
appeared.”

FISHES.

The inferior rank which these creatures hold in
the extensive field of Nature, makes their history
less interesting than that of the quadrupeds or
birds : among them we frequently meet with some-
thing like a reasoning faculty ; but in the inhabi-
tants of the waters we look in vain for any thing
beyond the mere gratification of a voracious ap-
petite. We would not, however, have it supposed
that the wisdom of the Creator is less manifest in
the formation of fishes than of other animals ; but,
on the contrary, most readily acknowledge, that
wherever we direct our view, we perceive the traces
of a Being perpetually fertile in new designs, per-
fectly acquainted with every circumstance of his
work, and never contradicted or embarrassed by the
disobedience of the materials he employs.

The first thing which occurs to our notice in
the description of a fish is its scales. These are
placed in an imbricated manner, and serve as a

116

FISHES.

covering to the body, and at the same time defend
it from the pressure of the water. They are really
curious, and afford sufficient cause for admiration
when examined by the microscope. The whole sur-
face of the animal is moistened by an oily substance,
which is probably intended to defend it from ex-
treme cold.

We should reasonably suppose, that, as the fins
are the instruments of motion in fishes, those
provided with the greatest number would be the
quickest swimmers ; but this is not always the case,
as the shark, who wants the ventral or belly fins,
swims with greater velocity than the haddock,
which is completely fitted for motion. Assisted by
these natural oars the fish cuts the water with
amazing velocity, and in a moment passes the
swiftest-sailing vessel. They also serve to keep the
body properly balanced, particularly the belly fins,
whose chief function is to regulate the motions of
the bodv by poising it in equilibrium ; so that, if
the fish only moves the fins on its right side, and
brings those on its left close to the body, all the
motion is immediately determined that way ; just
as a boat with two oars, when only one ol them is
employed, will always turn to the side to which it
is impelled by the other : deprive the fish ol these
fins, and the back, which is heavier than the behy,
being no longer kept in a due poise, will slant on
one side, or be quite inverted ; and this happens to
dead fish, who rise to the surface of the water with
their fins uppermost. It is not to the fins alone

FISHES. 117

that the fish is indebted for its motion : the tail
contributes greatly towards it ; and, by its alternate
impulse, advances the head and all the rest of the
body, in an infinitely better manner than that by
which a progressive motion is given to a boat by an
oar placed at the stern, and worked about alternately
to the right and left.

The uniform action of the lips and gills of a
fish is doubtless analogous to our breathing: it is
thus performed: — The fish first takes in a quantity
of water by the mouth, which it drives backwards
with a power sufficient to lift up the flap or gill
cover, and force it out behind. During its pas-
sage through the feather-like process of the gills,
the greater part of the air contained in the water
is left behind, to perform its part in the animal
ceconomy. That this air is essentially necessary to
support the life of the animal is sufficiently evi-
dent ; for if the fish be placed in distilled water, or
under the exhausted receiver of an air pump, it soon
dies: therefore when a pond is frozen over it is
necessary to break holes in the ice, that the fish
may come to the surface and breathe. To stop the
action of the gills is certain death to the animal,
who presently becomes convulsed, although in its
native element.

The generality of fishes are provided with a blad-
der or bag of air, which enables them to rise or sink
in proportion to its being dilated or contracted.
Tbe body of a fish, which is heavier than the
quantity of water whose place it fills, must always

118

FISHES.

descend to the bottom ; and this would be the un-
avoidable consequence, if the fish had not in his
entrails a vessel filled with air, which enables him
to suspend himself in what part of the water he
pleases. This vessel swells the fish a little, and
enlarges his natural dimensions, without making
any addition to his weight: this is a circumstance
that deserves a particular consideration; for by these
means he takes up more space than he could pos-
sibly fill without the vessel, and this brings him to
an equilibrium with the mass of water whose place
he occupies. We will suppose that the fish with-
out this vessel weighs sixteen ounces, and that the
water whose place he fills weighs no more than
fifteen : the fish must in this case infallibly sink.
But if we then place in the fish a little bag of air,
which makes no sensible addition to the animal’s
weight, but only enlarges its body, this will then
possess more space. If the water, then, whose place
he takes up should weigh sixteen ounces, the crea-
ture is in an equilibrium with this quantity of the
fluid, and will consequently be sustained in any
part of the river where he may chance to find him-
self. But it is not sufficient for the animal merely
to remain suspended; it is likewise necessary for
him to rise occasionally to the top of the water, and
sometimes to descend to the bottom : this he has
the power of effecting by means of his abdominal
muscles, with which he can compress the air-
bladder, and thus diminish the bulk of his body,
till his specific gravity becomes greater than that

FISHES.

119

of the water, and he consequently sinks. On the
contrary, when the action of the abdominal muscles
is removed, the air-bladder acquires its natural size,
the body is rendered more bulky, it begins to
ascend, and with the assistance of the fins is carried
to the surface of the water. If this bladder bursts
within the fish he can never rise again, but must
be content to spend the remainder of his life at the
bottom. The fishermen know this, and take ad-
vantage of the circumstance to preserve the cod
alive. When they take a number of those fish,
they run a needle into the sound, or air-bladder,
and thus disengage the air; after which the cod
lie very quietly at the bottom of their well-boats.
None of the tribe of flat-fish are provided with this
organ ; they are, therefore, obliged to remain con-
stantly at the bottom, unless they are provided
witli very large pectoral fins, which answer the
purpose of wings : thus the rays, by the motion of
these fins, elevate themselves in the water precisely
in the same manner that birds rise in the air.

There is no doubt but fishes possess the sense of
smelling, since the organ designed for that purpose
is large, and capable of being contracted or dilated
at pleasure. This sense is easily put to the proof;
for, if a fresh worm be thrown into the water, a fish
will immediately distinguish and pursue it ; but if
the same worm has remained there till it has lost
its smell, the fish will not come near it : they may,
however, be again attracted, if the worm be taken

120

FISHES.

out of the water, and an incision made on it so as
to expose a new surface to the smell of the fish .

Dr. Monro describes the organ of hearing in
these animals, and says it is placed on the sides of
the skull, at some distance behind the eves, and
consists of a fluid and soft cretaceous substance
contained in a bag : cod-fish and some others of
the same shape have a hard cretaceous stone con-
tained in each bag. Notwithstanding the Pro-
fessor’s description, it does not appear that they
possess the faculty of hearing, but are rather af-
fected by the vibration communicated to the water
in consequence of sound. Mr. Gouan, who kept
some gold and silver fishes in a vase, informs us
that, whatever noise, he made, he could neither
disturb nor terrify them : he hollaed as loud as he
could, putting a piece of paper between his mouth
and the water, to prevent the vibrations from af-
fecting the surface, and the fishes still seemed in-
sensible ; but when the paper was removed, and the
sound had its full play upon the water, the fishes
seemed instantly to feel the change, and shrunk to
the bottom.

The sense of seeing is possessed by fishes in
greater perfection than any other : we cannot have
a stronger instance of their accurate vision than in
the rostrated chaetodon. This little fish actually
shoots its prey. When it spies a fly sitting on the
plants that grow in shallow water, it swims to
within five or six feet of the place, and then with

FISHES.

121

surprising dexterity it darts from its tubular mouth
a single drop of water, which never fails striking
the Hy into the river, where it is immediately swal-
lowed by the fish. The crystalline lens in fishes is
a complete sphere, that the rays of light coming
through the medium of water may be sufficiently
refracted ; but as they have little if any motion
in the eyes, they can never bring them both to
one focus ; therefore Dr. Monro thinks it probable
that they may he endued with a double distinct
vision.

The whole race of fishes seem to be impelled by
a voracious appetite, which induces them even to
destroy each other ; they are constantly in action
and perpetually at war. They mutually plunder and
devour each other, without remorse or moderation.
Those with the most capacious mouths generally
commit the greatest depredations among the smaller
fish, and these in their turn fall a prey to a stronger
adversary. So great, indeed, is the mutual de-
struction of species among the inhabitants of the
water, that this element in time would cease to
be replenished, if Nature had not provided for the
preservation of fish, by multiplying them to such
an astonishing degree, that their fecundity exceeds
their natural impatience to devour one another. If
we only attentively consider the roe of a fish, we
shall no longer wonder at the vast numbers which
inhabit the water, notwithstanding all the casualties
to which they are exposed. Three persons under-
took to number the roe in a very fine cod : one of

122

FISHES.

them took as much of the roe as weighed a drachm,
and, after having counted the eggs contained in it,
passed it to the others, who did the same ; and as
their numbers all agreed, they wrote down the total
of the whole drachm ; after which, they weighed all
the mass of eggs, and repeated eight times the sum
of one drachm for every ounce. The addition of all
these sums produced a total of nine millions three
hundred and forty-four thousand eggs.

The lives of fishes are extended to a far greater
length than that of other animals, and it is sup-
posed that they are less subject to diseases. Lord
Bacon tells us that the alterations in the atmo-
sphere, which so evidently affect the constitutions of
mankind, make no impression on fishes, who reside
in an element little subject to change : theirs is an
uniform existence ; their movements are without
effort, and their life without labour. Their bones
also, which are united by cartilages, admit of in-
definite extension ; and the different sizes of animals
of the same kind among fishes are very various. They
still keep growing ; their bodies, instead of suffering
the rigidity of age, which is the cause of natural
decay in land animals, still continue increasing with
fresh supplies; and as the body grows, the conduits
of life furnish their stores in greater abundance.
How long a fish, that seems to have scarce any
bounds put to its growth continues to live, is not as-
certained ; perhaps the life of man would not be
Ion0, enough to measure that of the smallest.

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WHALE.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Horny laminae in the upper jaw, instead of teeth. Spires.
with a double external orifice on the top of the head.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Bal/ena Mysticetcs. B. naribus flexuosis in medio anteriore

capite, dorso impenni. Linn. Syst.
Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 223.

With flexuous spiracles on the middle of
the head, and finless back.

Bala:na grcenlandica. Fistula duplici
in fronte, maxilla inferiore multa la-
tiore. Linn. Mus. Ad. Frid. 1. p. 51.

Wall-fish. Mart. Spitzb. p. 98. pi. 9.
Common Whale. . Penn. Brit. Zool. 3. p. 50. no. 1(5. Shaw

Gen. Zool. 2. p. 478. pi. 226.

This species of whale, which is destitute of teeth,
is supposed to feed on the different kinds of marine
worms, and likewise on sea weeds. For the pur-
pose of collecting these different sorts of nourish-
ment, there is in the upper jaw a number of horny

1 24

WHALE.

laminae split into small divisions, which is that
strong and pliant substance commonly known by
the name of whalebone. There are about three
hundred and fifty of these laminae on each side
the jaw, five hundred of which are long enough for
use, the others are too short. This immense fish is
said sometimes to grow to the length of a hundred
feet, though it is commonly found from forty to
seventy. The eyes are remarkably small, but the
head is of a prodigious size, forming nearly one-
third of the animal ; and when the jaws are ex-
tended the creature exposes a most enormous and
terrific cavity, in which is placed a tongue eighteen
or twenty feet in length, and capable of yielding
five or six barrels of oil. A double pipe is situated
on the head, through which the whale spouts water
to a great height in the air.

These inoffensive animals are not without their
enemies ; for, independent of man, who, excited by
avarice, ventures his life in the pursuit, they have a
terrible foe to contend with in the sword-fish, which
torments them without mercy. Mr. Anderson as-
sures us, that at the sight of this little animal the
whale seems agitated in an extraordinary man-
ner, leaping from the water as if with affright ;
wherever it appears the whale perceives it at a
distance, and flies from it in the opposite direction.
“ I have been myself,” says Mr. Anderson, “ a
spectator of their terrible encounter. The whale
has no instrument of defence except the tail ; with
that it endeavours to strike the enemy; and a single

WHALE.

125

blow taking place would effectually destroy its ad-
versary i but the sword-fish is as active as the other
is strong, and easily avoids the stroke; then bounding
into the air, it falls upon its great subjacent enemy,
and endeavours not to pierce with its pointed beak,
but to cut with its toothed edges *. The sea all
about is seen dyed with blood, proceeding from the
wounds of the whale ; while the enormous animal
vainly endeavours to reach its invader, and strikes
with its tail against the surface of the water, making
a report at each blow louder than the noise of a
cannon.”

The tail is of an amazing size, and of a semilunar
shape ; the animal uses it with great effect in ac-
celerating the motion of its enormous body, which,
notwithstanding its bulk, passes through the water
with great rapidity, and leaves behind it a track like
that made by a large ship.

A strong instance of the affection of these crea-
tures for each other is related by Anderson. A
party of whale fishers having harpooned one of two
whales, (a male and female, that were in company
together,) the wounded fish made a long and terrible
resistance ; it struck down a boat with three men
in it with a single blow of the tail, by which all
went to the bottom. The other still attended its
companion and lent it every assistance, till, at last,
the fish that was struck sunk under the number of

* This must be a mistake, as the sword-fish always attacks its
enemy with the point of its sword-shaped snout, the edges of
which are not toothed.

126*

WHALE.

its wounds ; while its faithful associate, disdaining
to survive the loss, with great bellowing, stretched
itself upon the dead fish, and shared his fate.

After the female whale has gone with young nine
or ten months, she produces her cub, which is of a
black colour, and about ten feet long. She is said
to grow fat towards the end of her pregnancy, and
occasionally to bring forth two at a time, but never
more. She suckles her offspring at her breast, for
which purpose she inclines on one side while the
young one fastens to the teat. The breasts are
filled with a large quantity of milk, like those of
land animals. She shows the greatest tenderness
and affection for her young, and carries it with her
at all times ; supporting it between her fins when
closely pursued, and plunging with it to the bot-
tom in order to avoid the danger. Even when
wounded she continues her attachment, and clasps
her young one till she is no longer able to sup-
port it. During the time the young continue at
the breast, which is about a twelvemonth, the sail-
ors call them short-heads. When two years old
they are termed stunts ; and from that time forward
skull-Jish. The short-heads are extremely fat, and
will sometimes yield above fifty barrels of blubber;
but after they become stunts their fat diminishes,
and they scarcely yield twenty-four barrels.

When the Greenlanders proceed to catch a whale
they are careful to dress themselves in their best ap-
parel, from a ridiculous notion that the whale de-
tests a slovenly person, and would immediately

W1IALE.

127

avoid them if they were not neatly clad. In this
manner a number of men and women, sometimes
amounting to more than fifty, set out together in one
of their large boats. The women, upon these occa-
sions,carry along with them their sewingimplements,
which are equally employed to mend their hus-
bands’ clothes if they should be torn, or to repair
the boat if it should receive any damage in the
seams. When a whale makes its appearance on
the water, the most vigorous fisherman strikes into
it a harpoon, which is a sort of javelin well steeled
at one extremity, and five or six feet long: to this
are fastened lines or straps made of seal’s skin, two or
three fathoms in length, and having at the end a
bag of a whole seal’s skin blown up. This tends in
some measure to prevent the whale from sinking,
and almost compels it to keep near the surface of
the water, where it is constantly attacked by the
people in the boat till it is killed. As soon as the
animal is dead, they put on their spring jackets ,
made all in one piece of a dressed seal’s skin, with
their boots, gloves, and caps, which are laced so
tightly to each other that no water can penetrate
them. In this garb they plunge into the sea, and
begin to slice off* the fat all round the whale’s body,
even from those parts that are under water. This
they can do by the help of their spring jackets ,
which, being full of air, prevent their sinking un-
der water, and at the same time enable them to
keep themselves upright in the sea. These men

1 128

WHALE.

are sometimes daring enough to mount on the back
of a whale before he is quite dead, and begin to cut
him in pieces.

The manner in which the whale fishery is carried
on by the Europeans is thus described : When
the ships employed in this business are arrived at
the place where the whales are expected to pass,
they always keep their sails set, and a sailor is placed
at the mast head to give information when he sees
a whale. As soon as one is discovered, the whole
crew are instantly in employment ; they fit out
their boats, and row away to the spot where the
whale was seen. The harpooner, who is to strike
the fish, stands at the prow of the boat with one of
these instruments in his hand, which is about six feet
long, and pointed with steel like the barb of an arrow,
of a triangular shape. Besides the harpooner each
boat has one man at the rudder, another to manage
the line, and four seamen as rowers. They are
likewise provided with several lances, and six lines
each a hundred and twenty fathoms long, fastened
together. When the man at the prow strikes his
harpoon into the animal, it immediately darts to-
wards the bottom, and carries off the harpoon with
such rapidity, that, were the line to receive the least
check in its passage, the boat would infallibly be
overset. To prevent this it is coiled up with the
greatest care, and a man is stationed expressly to at-
tend to the line, that it may pass without inter-
ruption. Another precaution is likewise highly

WHALE.

12[)

necessary • the rope is made to run over a s\\ ivel
at the edge of the boat, and the friction occasioned
by its swift motion is so great, that the wood would
soon take fire if a person did not constantly keep
it wetted. When the whale returns to the surface
he is again attacked, and once more retreats in the
same manner : — tins is continued till he becomes
faint with the loss of blood ; when they venture to
row close along side, and plunge a lance into his
breast and through his intestines, which soon de-
cides his fate, and the enormous animal expires. As
soon as the carcase begins to float, it is towed to the
ship by ropes passed through holes cut for that pur-
pose in the fins and tail.

When the body has been properly secured to the
side of the ship, they proceed to take out the blub-
ber and whalebone, after cutting off the tail, which
is hoisted upon deck. It is proper to observe, that
the persons who are employed in this operation
are furnished with a sort of iron spurs to prevent
their slipping from off the animal. After the tail
is separated, they cut out square pieces of blubber
weighing two or three thousand pounds each, which
are likewise hoisted on board, where they are di-
vided into smaller pieces and thrown into the hold
to drain : in this manner they proceed till all the
blubber is secured, after which they suffer what re-
mains of the carcase to float away, having pre-
viously cut out the two upper jaw-bones, which
are considered as the captain’s perquisite; and ac-

VOL. II. K

130

WHALE.

cordingly are fastened to the shrouds, where they
discharge a considerable quantity of oil, which is
caught in tubs placed under them for that purpose.
When the blubber has been three or four days in
the hold, they chop it into small pieces, and put it
into the casks through the bung-holes.

A whale will yield from thirty to seventy butts of
blubber, and will be worth from four hundred to a
thousand pounds.

What induces the men to exert themselves in
the capture of these animals is the premiums which
their employers give, from the captain down to
the men who row the boats, on every whale that is
taken.

The fishery begins in May and ends in August,
when they must return at all events, on account of
the ice which would otherwise hem them in. When
they have made a prosperous voyage, they return
in June or July; and a ship of three hundred tons
burthen, when full of blubber, will produce more
than five thousand pounds.

It appears from Mr. Anderson’s account, that the
Dutch, during the space of forty-six years previous
to the year 1/21, had employed 588b‘ ships in this
fishery, and caught 32907 whales; which, valued on
an average at five hundred pounds each, will amount
to above 1 6,000,000/. sterling.

The flesh and fat of the whale are eaten by many
of the northern nations, and considered as a deli-
cacy. However, we are not much inclined to agree

WHALE.

131

with them, hut rather abide by the opinion of
Frederick Martens, who, in his Voyage to Spitz-
bergen, says that it is as coarse and hard as the
flesh of a bull. It is intermixed with many sinews,
and is very dry and lean when boiled, as the fat is
only to be found between the flesh and the skin.
The flesh about the tail is preferred for boiling,
not being quite so dry as the rest of the body.
“ When we have a mind to eat of a whale,” says
Martens, “ we cut great pieces off before the tail
where it is four square, and boil it like other
meat ; good beef I prefer far before it, yet rather
than be starved 1 advise to eat whale’s flesh ; for
none of our men died of it, and the Frenchmen
did eat it almost daily, flinging it on the tops of
their tubs, and letting it lie till it was black ; and
yet eating it in that condition.”

Among the Kamtschatkans the fat of the whale
was considered as a first-rate delicacy, and forced
down the throat of the visitor with a savage of-
ficiousness that would not admit of a refusal. This
beastly hospitality is now become obsolete. For-
merly, as a mark of respect to a guest, the host set
before him as much food as would serve ten peo-
ple. Both were stripped naked : — the host refused
politely to touch a bit, but compelled his friend to
devour what was set before him, till he was quite
gorged ; and at the same time heated the place, by
incessantly pouring water on hot stones, till it be-
came insupportable. When the guest was cram-

K 2

132

WHALE.

med up to the throaty the generous landlord, on
his knees, stuffed into his mouth a great slice of
whale’s fat, cut off what hung out, and cried, in a
surly tone, Tana , or, There ! by which he fully dis-
charged his duty; and, between heating and cram-
ming, obliged the poor guest to cry for mercy,
and a release from the danger of being choked by
the noble welcome.

EEL.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Body long and slippery.

Nostrils tubular.

Eyes covered by the common skin.

Aperture to the gills small, and placed behind the head or
pectoral fins.

Gill membrane ten-rayed.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Muracna Anguilla. M. maxilla inferiore longiore, corpora

unicolore. Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1.
p. 1133.

Lower jaw longer than the upper body
of one colour.

Muraena unicolor, maxilla inferiore lon-
giore; aperturis branchialibus, pinnis
pectoralibus utrinque. Gron. Zooph.
p. 40. no. 66.

Common Eel. . . Bloch , pi. 73. Penn. Brit. Zool. 3. p. 142.

no. 63. Shaw Gen. Zool. 4. p. 16. pi. 1.

This well-known fish inhabits both rivers and stag-
nant waters, and is sometimes found in lakes and
salt marshes. In the day-time it commonly re-

134

EEL.

mains concealed in its hole beneath the banks, or
buried in the mud at the bottom of the river, from
whence it wanders in the night in search of prey ;
and has been known to quit its native element and
creep along the meadows, feeding on the snails
which it finds in its passage. It is very voracious,
and destroys vast numbers of the fry of other fish.

Eels are viviparous, and produce their young
about the end of summer. They are said to de-
scend for this purpose into the sea ; and to take the
opportunity of the most obscure nights, and when
the rivers are flooded by accidental rains, to seek
the ocean. The young fry begin to return into the
fresh water about the end of January, and continue
their passage for the three following months, during
which time they are taken in the river Arno by
millions, but of so small a size that a vast number
of them goes to the pound. The circumstance of
their migration was observed by Dr. Anderson with-
out his being able to account for it. In his publica-
tion called The Bee, we find the following passage :

“ Having occasion to be once on a visit at a
friend’s house on Dee-side, in Aberdeenshire, I
often delighted to walk by the banks of the river :
I one day observed something like a black string
moving along the edge of the river in shoal water.
Upon closer inspection I discovered that this was
a shoal of young eels, so closely joined together as
to appear, on a superficial view, one continued body
moving briskly up against the stream. To avoid

i

EEL.

135

the retardment they experienced from the force of
the current, they kept close along the water’s edge
the whole of the way, following all the bendings
and sinuosities of the river. Where they were em-
bayed, and in still water, the shoal dilated in breadth,
so as to be sometimes near a foot broad; but when
they turned a cape where the current was strong,
they were forced to occupy less space, and press
close to the shore, struggling very hard till they
passed it.

“ This shoal continued to move on night and day
without interruption for several weeks. Their pro-
gress might be about a mile an hour. It was easy
to catch the animals, though they were very active
and nimble. They were eels perfectly formed in
every respect, but not exceeding two inches in
length. I conceive that the shoal did not contain
on an average less than from twelve to twenty in
breadth ; so that the number that passed on the
whole, during their progress, must have been very-
great. Whence they came, or whither they went, I
know not. The place I remarked them at was six
miles from the sea ; and I am told that the same
phenomenon takes place every year about the same
season.”

It appears that these animals are possessed of a
power of climbing over any obstacle, by apply-
ing their slimy and glutinous bodies to the surface
of the object they are inclined to surmount. Thus
they can creep up locks, weirs, and whatever op-

136

EEL.

poses their endeavours to pass up the stream. In
the forty-fourth volume of the Philosophical Trans-
actions Mr. Anderson informs us, that while he
was viewing the flood-gates belonging to the water-
works of Norwich, he observed a great number of
eels sliding up them, and up the adjacent posts, to
the height of five or six feet above the surface of the
water. They ascended with the greatest ease, not-
withstanding the posts were perfectly dry and quite
smooth. They continued with their heads and
about half their bodies out of the water, holding them
against the wood-work for some time before they
began to climb. When they found that the viscidity
of their bodies was become sufficiently thick, by
exposure to the air, to support their weight, they
began to ascend perpendicularly, and with as much
apparent ease as if they had been sliding on the
level ground : this they continued till they had
completed their task, and got into the dam above.

In very severe weather, the eels, who suffer from
the cold, will sometimes shelter themselves in a
whisp of straw throw n into a pond ; and it is said
that this method has been occasionally practised to
catch them.

A considerable traffic is carried on in the metro-
polis by the sale of a variety of this fish known by
the name of grigs : they are caught in the Thames,
and bite readily at the baited hooks, a great many
of which are generally lowered at a time, tied up
in a bunch. But the great eel fisheries are, accord-

EEL.

137

ing to Dr. Bloch, near the mouths of the Baltic,
where such prodigious numbers are taken, that
many waggon-loads are conveyed into Saxony, &c.,
after being smoked and salted lor sale. In the
Garonne sixty thousand are said to have been taken
in one day by a single net.

ELECTRICAL GYMNOTE.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Body compressed, with a keel-shaped fin beneath.
Gill membrane five-rayed.

Two tentacula on the upper lip.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Gymnotus electricus. G. anguilliformis fuscus, cauda obtusa.

Anguilliform brown gymnote, with
obtuse tail.

G. nudus dorso apterygio, pinna caudali
obtusissima anali annexa. Linn. Syst.
Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 1138.

Bloch Ichth. 5. p. 38. t. 156.

Electrical Gymnote. Shaw Gen. Zool. 4. p. 41. pi. 6.

The singular property which this animal possesses
in common with the torpedo, has given it a kind
of celebrity, to which it would not otherwise be en-
titled. The rivers of South America, and particu-
larly those of Surinam, harbour this extraordinary
fish, where it sometimes grows to the length of six
or eight feet. The disgusting appearance of this
creature is enough to deter any one from touching
it, independent of its electrical property, which im-

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ELECTRICAL GYMNOTE.

139

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mediately compels those who handle it to desist.
This fish resembles an eel in figure; but it is thicker
in proportion, and of a blackish brown colour. It
has a flat head, and a wide mouth without teeth.
A deep, soft, wavy fin rises about three or four
inches below the head, and runs to the extremity of
the tail. A number of bands, or rather rugae, of the
skin reach across the body, and give the fish some-
what the appearance of a worm.

The electric power of this animal is such, that
a person touching it receives a shock which passes
through his body in the same manner as if con-
veyed by a charged jar. We are told that Mr. Fir-
min, during; his residence in Surinam, demonstrated
by experiment, that fourteen slaves, holding each
other by the hands, received the shock at the same
instant; the first touching the fish with a stick,
and the last dipping his hand into the water in
which it was kept. In the second volume of the
American Philosophical Transactions, Mr. Bryant
observes that, one morning while he was standing
by, as a servant was emptying a tub which con-
tained one of these fish, he received a shock so
violent as occasioned him to let the tub fall. Mr. B.
then called another person to his assistance, and
made them together lift up the tub, each laying
hold only on the outside. When they were pouring
off the remainder of the water, they each received
a shock so smart that they were forced to desist.

A great number of experiments have been tried

140

ELECTRICAL GYMNOTE.

by different persons on the electric power of the
gymnote: as they all tend, however, to prove the
same thing, we shall not dwell upon their variety,
but merely give the best of them from a paper of
Dr. Garden’s, inserted in the Philosophical Trans-
actions. After giving a long and very particular
description of the external form of this creature, he
says, u The power it has of giving an electrical
shock to any person, or to any number of persons
who join hands together, the extreme person on
each side touching the fish, is its most singular
and astonishing property. The five we have here
(Charles-town, in South Carolina,) are possessed of
this power in a very great degree, and commu-
nicate the shock to one person, or to any number
of persons, either by the immediate touch of the
fish with the hand, or by the intervention of any
metalline rod. The keeper says, that when first
caught, they could give a much stronger shock by
a metalline conductor than they do at present.
The person who is to receive the shock must take
the fish with both hands, at some considerable
distance asunder, so as to form the communication ;
otherwise he will not receive it ; at least I never
saw any one shocked from taking hold of it with
one hand only ; though some have assured me that
they were shocked by laying one hand on him. I
myself have taken hold of the largest with one
hand often without ever receiving a shock ; but
1 never touched it with both hands, at a little

ELECTRICAL GYMNOTE.

141

distance asunder, without receiving a smart shock.

1 have often remarked, that when it is taken hold
of with one hand, and the other hand is put into
the water over its body, without touching it, the
person received a smart shock ; and I have ob-
served the same effect follow when a number
joined hands, and the person at one extremity of
the circle took hold of or touched the fish, and the
person at the other extremity put his hand into
the water over the body of the fish. I he shock
was communicated through the whole circle as
smartly as if both the extreme persons had touched
the fish. In this it seems to differ widely from the
torpedo, or else we are much misinformed of the
manner in which the benumbing effect of that fish
is communicated. The shock which our Surinam
fish gives, seems to be wholly electrical; and all the
phenomena, or properties of it, exactly resemble
those of the electricity of our atmosphere when col-
lected, as far as they are discoverable from the se-
veral trials made on this fish. The stroke is com-
municated by the same conductors, and intercepted
by the interposition of the same original electrics,
or electrics per se , as they are called. The keeper
of these fish informed me that he caught them in
Surinam river, a great way up, beyond where the
salt water reaches ; and that they are a fresh water
fish only. lie says that they are eaten, and by
some people esteemed a great delicacy. They live
on fish, worms, or any animal food, if it is cut

142

ELECTRICAL GYMNOTE.

small, so that they can swallow it. When small
live fishes are thrown into the water, they first give
them a shock, which kills, or so stupefies them
that they can swallow then easily and without any
trouble. If one of these small fishes, after it is
shocked, and to all appearance dead, be taken out
of the vessel where the electrical fish is, and put
into fresh water, it will soon revive again. If a
larger fish than they can swallow be thrown into
the water at a time that they are hungry, they
give him some smart shocks, till he is apparently
dead, and then endeavour to swallow, or suck him
in ; but after several attempts, finding he is too
large, they quit him. Upon the most careful in-
spection of such fish, I could never see any mark
of teeth, or the least wound or scratch upon them.
When the electrical fish are hungry, they are
pretty keen after their food ; but they are soon
satisfied, not being able to contain much at a time.
An electrical fish of three feet and upwards in
length cannot swallow a small fish above three or
at most three inches and a half long. I am told
that the electrical fish is sometimes found in the
river Surinam upwards of twenty feet in length,
and that the stroke or shock proves instant death to
the person who receives it.”

We are informed that these eels are occasionally
caught in Guinea, when very young, where they
preserve them for their amusement, and give them
earth-worms and cock-roaches for their food. It

ELECTRICAL GYMNOTE,

1 43

seems the latter are so agreeable to them, that
when one is thrown into the trough where they are
kept, the nearest gymnote opens his mouth, and
sucks it in with great apparent pleasure. They ex-
crete a slimv matter, which makes it necessary to
change the water very often. When the trough is
empty they lie motionless ; but never fail when
touched, even in this state, to give a violent shock.

SWORD-FISH.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Upper jaw sword-shaped, and extended to a considerable
length beyond the head.

No teeth.

Gill membrane eight-rayed.

Body smooth and slender.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

XiphiAs platyptekus. . X. pinna dorsali latissima, appen-

dicibus pectoralibus acuminatis
longissimis.

Sword-fish with extremely broad
back-fin, and very long sharp-
pointed throracic appendages.
Nat. Miscell. 3. pi. 88.

Scomber Gladius. S. rostro en-
siformi. Bloch 10. p. 69. t. 345.
Broad-finned Sword-fish. Shaw Gen. Zool. 4. p. 101. pi. 15.

The sword-fish is remarkable for the great length
of its upper jaw, which from its shape is commonly
called the sword; and indeed it bears a considerable
resemblance to that weapon, being fiattish above
and below, and sharp on the sides. The fish grows

SWORD-FISH.

145

to the length of twenty feet, and swims with such
swiftness that its beak has been known to penetrate
the stoutest plank. As a proof of this assertion we
shall quote two instances. In the first, which is to
be found in he forty-first volume of the Philoso-
phical Transactions, Mr. Mortimer tells us, that his
majesty’s ship Leopard, when she returned from the
West-Indies and the coast of Guinea, was ordered,
in 1725, to be cleaned and fitted for channel service.
Accordingly she was put into the great stone-dock
at Portsmouth, and in stripping off* her sheathing
the shipwrights found the beak of a sword-fish in
her bottom, which had passed through a three-inch
plank, together with its sheathing, and had pene-
trated four inches and a half further into the solid
timber. The outside of the beak is described as
rough, and not unlike seal-skin, and the end where
it was broken off had the appearance of ivory. The
fish is supposed to have followed the ship when
under sail, as the sharp end of the beak pointed to-
wards the bow. Some idea of the force requisite to
accomplish this purpose may be collected from the
opinion of the workmen engaged about the vessel,
who declared that it would be impossible with a
hammer of a quarter of a hundred weight, to drive
an iron pin of the same form and size, to the same
depth in the wood, in less than eight or nine strokes.

The other account was from the captain of an
East-Indiaman, who informed Sir Joseph Banks, in
a letter, that the bottom of his ship was pierced
through by a fish of this species, in such a manner

VOL. 11. j„

146*

SWORD-FISH.

tliat the snout was completely imbedded, or driven
through almost to its base, and the animal killed
by the violence of its effort. The wood, together
with the sword imbedded in it, is preserved in the
British Museum.

The striking particulars in which this species
differs from the common sword-fish, are the broad
back fin, and the thoracic appendages, which are
wanting in the animal that frequents our coasts.

We have already mentioned the manner in which
the sword-fish attacks the whale, in our description
of that creature.

COD.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Body oblong.

Gill membrane seven-rayed.

Ventral fins slender, and ending in a point.
Teeth in the palate as well as the jaws.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Gadus Morhua. G. cauda subaequali, radio primo anali spinoso.

Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. ]. p. 1162.

Tail almost even at the end ; first ray of the
vent fin spiny.

Gadus squamis majoribus. Bloch, 2. p. 145.

t. 64.

Common Cod. . Will. Ichth. p. 160. Penn. Brit. Zool. 3.

p. 172. no. 73. Shaw Gen. Zool. 4. p. 131.
pi. 22.

It appears, according to Mr. Pennant, that before
the discovery of Newfoundland the principal fish-
eries for cod were in the seas off Iceland, and off
the western coast of Scotland. To the former of
these the English resorted before the year 1415;
but were afterwards excluded from this fishery bv
treaty, and were not fairly re-established again till

L 2

148

COD.

the reign of James the First, when 150 vessels were
employed off the coast of Iceland in the cod fishery.
The famous banks of Newfoundland are now the
well-known resort of our fishermen, and the num-
ber of this useful fish which is caught there is al-
most beyond calculation. The great bank, which
lies on the southern and western side of Newfound-
land, stretches from north-east to south-west, about
two hundred leagues. The sea on the great bank
varies in depth from twenty-two to fifty fathoms,
and its situation is generally known by a thick fog
on that part of the water, and a great swell.

The cod fishery is of such importance to this
country, that whatever relates to it cannot fail to
be acceptable to the British reader: we shall there-
fore make no apology for introducing the following
account of the manner in which these fish are caught
and cured.

“ The boats or shallops (employed in this fishery)
are forty feet in the keel, rigged with a main-mast
and foremast, and lug sails; furnished with four
oars, three of which row on one side, and the other
(which is twice as large) belays the other three, by
being rowed sideways over the stern, by a man
who stands up for that purpose, with his face to-
wards the rowers, counteracting them, and steering
at the same time as he gives way to the boat.

“ Each of the men in this boat is furnished with
two lines, one at each side of the boat, each fur-
nished with two hooks ; so here are sixteen hooks

COD.

149

constantly employed ; which are thought to make
a tolerable good day’s work of it, if they bring in
from five to ten quintals of fish, though they have
stowage for, and sometimes bring in, thirty. Two
hundred quintals is called a saving voyage ; but not
under. The bait is small fish of all kinds; herring,
capelin, lance, tom cod, or young cod ; the first of
which they salt and keep for some time, in case
of scarcity of the rest ; hut these are not near so
eagerly taken by the fish when salted. In case
small fish cannot be got, they use sea fowl, which
are easily taken in vast numbers, by laying nets
over the holes in the rocks where they come to
roost in the night. If neither small fish nor birds
are to be got, they are forced to use the maws of
fish they catch, which is the worst bait of any.

“ When the fish are taken they are carried to
the stage, which is built with one end over the
water for the conveniency of throwing the offals
into the sea, and for their boats being able to come
close to discharge their fish. As soon as they come
on the stage, a boy hands them to the header, who
stands at the side of a table next the water end,
whose business is to gut the fish and cut off' the
head, which he does by pressing the back of the
head against the side of the table, which is made
sharp for that purpose ; when both head and guts
fall through a hole in the floor into the water. He
then shoves the fish to the splitter, who stands op-
posite to him ; his business is to split the fish, be-

150

COD.

ginning at the head, and opening it down to the
tail ; at the next cut he takes out the larger part of
the back bone, which falls through the floor into
the water. He then shoves the fish off' the table,
which drops into a kind of hand-barrow, which, as
soon as filled, is carried off to the salt-pile. The
header also flings the liver into a separate basket, for
the making of train oil, used by the curriers, which
bears a higher price than whale-oil.

u In the salt-pile, the fish are spread upon one
another, with a layer of salt between. Thus they
remain till they have taken salt ; and then are car-
ried and the salt is washed from them by throwing
them off from shore in a kind of float called a
pound. As soon as this is completed, they are
carried to the last operation, of drying them ; which
is done on standing flakes, made by a slight wattle,
just strong enough to support the men who lay on
the fish, supported by poles, in some places as high
as twenty feet from the ground : here they are ex-
posed with the open side to the sun ; and every
night, when it is bad weather, piled up five or six
on a heap, with a large one, his back or skinny
part uppermost, to be shelter to the rest from rain,
which hardly damages them through his skin, as
he rests slanting each way to shoot it off. When
they are tolerably dry, which in good weather is
in a week’s time, they are put in round piles, of
eight or ten quintals each, covering them on the
top w ith bark. In these piles they remain three or

COD.

151

four days to sweat; after which they are again spread,
and when dry put into larger heaps, covered with
canvass, and left till they are put on board.

“ Thus prepared they are sent to the Mediterra-
nean, where they fetch a good price ; but are not
esteemed in England; for which place another kind
of fish is prepared, called by them mud fish; which,
instead of being split quite open, like their dry
fish, are only opened down to the navel. I hey
are salted, and lie in salt, which is washed out of
them in the same manner with the others ; but, in-
stead of being laid out to dry, are barrelled up in a
pickle of salt boiled in water.

tf The train-oil is made from the livers. It is
called so to distinguish it from whale or seal-oil,
which they call fat oil, and is sold at a lower price,
being only used for lighting of lamps, than the
train-oil, which is used by the curriers : — they take
a half tub, and, boring a hole through the bottom,
press hard down into it a layer of spruce boughs,
upon which they place the livers ; and expose the
whole apparatus to as sunny a place as possible.
As the livers corrupt, the oil runs from them, and,
straining itself clear through the spruce boughs, is
caught in a vessel set under the hole in the tub’s
bottom.”

The air-bladder, or sound, of the cod is esteemed
a delicacy, and after being salted is packed in bar-
rels and sent to England. The fishermen, both
of Newfoundland and Iceland, have a method of

152

COD.

making isinglass from the sounds of these fish.
The process is thus described : — The sound re-
cently cut from the fish must be laid upon a block
of wood, whose surface is a little elliptical, at the
end of which a small hair brush is nailed, and
with a saw knife the membranes on each side of
the sound must be scraped off. The knife is rubbed
upon the brush occasionally, to clear its teeth :
after the sounds have been cut open and perfectly
cleansed of the mucous matter with a coarse cloth,
they are washed a few minutes in lime-water, in
order to absorb their oily principle ; and lastly, in
clear water. They are then laid upon nets to dry
in the air. The thicker the sounds are the better
the isinglass ; except in the colour.

February, March, and April, are considered as
the three best months for this fishery, and immense
numbers are taken during that time. The whole
of them are caught by the hook and line; and
though each fisherman takes no more than one fish
at a time, an expert hand will sometimes catch four
hundred in a day. In this manner is employment
found for near fifteen thousand British seamen, and
subsistence to a much more numerous people at
home, who are engaged in the various manufactories
which so vast a fishery demands.

The cod are so voracious that they will swallow
almost any thing ; and even stones and pebbles
have been found in their stomachs. They prin-
cipally feed on worms, or small fish; likewise on

COD.

153

crabs, whelks, &c.; and such is their power of di-
gestion, that the shells are said to be dissolved,
though so much harder than the sides of the sto-
mach which contains them. This amazing fa-
culty in the cold maw of fishes has justly excited
the curiosity of philosophers; and we agree with
Dr. Hunter, that there is a power of animal assimi-
lation lodged in the stomach of all creatures, which
we can neither describe nor define ; converting the
substances they swallow into a fluid fitted for their
own peculiar support.

These fish are so very prolific that there is no
fear of their numbers being exhausted. Leeuwen-
lioeck tells us that he counted nine millions three
hundred and eighty-four thousand eggs in a cod-
fish of a middling size ; but we conclude this to be
an exaggeration, since Mr. Harmer inserted in the
Philosophical Transactions for the year 1 767, a
minute calculation of the numbers each fish may
produce, and has assigned to the cod three millions
six hundred and eighty-six thousand seven hundred
and sixty.

We learn from Mr. Pennant, that in our seas
the cod begin to spawn in January, and deposit
their eggs on rough ground among rocks. Some
continue in roe till the beginning of April. When
they are out of season they are thin-tailed and
lousy : the lice chiefly fix themselves on the inside
of their mouths. In choosing cod for the table,
observe that they are plump and round, especially

154

COD.

near the tail, and that they have a regular un-
dulated appearance on the sides, as if they were
ribbed.

The largest Mr. Pennant ever heard of, was taken
on our coasts; it weighed seventy-eight pounds: the
length was five feet eight inches ; and the girth
round the shoulders five feet. It was caught at
Scarborough, in 1755, and was sold for one shil-
ling !

SUCKING-FISH.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

A flat oval shield transversely rayed on the top of the head.
Body without scales.

Gill membrane six-rayed.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Echeneis Remora. E. cauda bifurca striis capitis 18. Linn.

Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 1187-
Tail forked j about eighteen bars on the
head.

Echeneis pinna caudali semilunata. Bloch,
pi. 172.

Sclking-Fish. . Will. Ichth. p. 119. App. p. 5. t. g.

f. 2. Catesl. Carol. 2. pi. 2 6. Shaw
Gen. Zool. 4. p. 201. pi. 31.

These fish are enabled, by means of their singular
formation, to adhere with the utmost tenacity' to
other bodies. They are frequently found attached
to the side of sharks, insomuch that five of them
have been taken from the body of one of those ani-
mals. This extraordinary faculty did not pass un-

156’

SUCKING-FISH.

noticed by the antients ; and accordingly we find
them ascribing to the fish a power which equals en-
chantment. They supposed that if once the re-
mora adhered to the bottom of a vessel its progress
would be immediately stopped, notwithstanding it
might be sailing with the utmost velocity. Thus
Pliny was led away by this ridiculous notion, and
very gravely tells us, that the ship in which the
emperor Caius Caligula embarked was detained in
its passage from Astura to Antium by this little
fish; and, not content with giving it this extra-
ordinary power, he likewise enables it to presage
an unfortunate event, no less than the death of the
emperor, whose soldiers mutinied upon his return
to Rome, where he was murdered in his twenty-
ninth year.*

The true reason why this fish takes the advan-
tage of other bodies to assist its motion appears
evident, if we attend to the observation of Com-
merson, who says that the remora, from the weak-
ness of its fins, is very badly calculated for sup-
porting a long and laborious course in the water,
insomuch that when left to itself it generally swims
on its back, in a very feeble and unsteady man-
ner. Nature has, therefore, intended that it should
occasionally avail itself of the assistance of others;
and for this purpose has constructed the upper part
of the head in a wonderful manner. This con-
sists of an oval shield surrounded by a narrow
margin, and strengthened by a longitudinal division,
from whence branch numerous transverse partitions,

SUCKING-FISH.

157

each of which is fringed at the edge with perpen-
dicular filaments. Commerson enables us to judge
of its adhesive power, by what he suffered on ap-
plying his thumb to the head of a living remora;
which not only affected the part with a strong
stupor, but even produced a partial paralysis, that
continued for some time after he withdrew his
hand. We are told that this adhesive power in
the remora was formerly turned to some account
by the Indians of Jamaica and Cuba, who em-
ployed this animal to catch for them other fish.
The remora was taken to sea fastened to a canoe
by a small line many fathoms in length ; and as
soon as a fish came within reach, it adhered to it
with such inflexible tenacity that the Indian was
enabled to haul them both on shore together. In
this manner, according to Oviedo, a turtle of a
very large size has been taken.

The remora inhabits the Mediterranean and At-
lantic seas, and grows to the length of about eighteen
inches. It is of an uniform brown colour, subject to
some variation.

We have on our own coasts a fish of similar
adhesive powers, though of a different genus. The
lump-sucker, Cyclopterus Lumpus Linn., has an
oval aperture beneath, which is edged with small
filaments, by which it is enabled to adhere to the
rocks. We have a strong proof of its tenacity in
the British Zoology, where Mr. Pennant assures
us, that on flinging a fish of this species just

158

SUCKING-FISH.

caught into a pail of water, it fixed itself so firmly
to the bottom, that on taking the fish by the tail,
the whole pail by that means was lifted, though it
held some gallons, and that without removing the
fish from its hold.

TURBOT.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Body flat.

Eyes both on the same side of the head.
Cill rays from four to seven.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Pleuronectes maximus. P. corpore aspero. Linn. Syst. Nat.

Gmel. 1 . p. 1230.

Body rough.

Pleuronectes tuberculis osseis scaber.
Bloch, 2. p. 53. no. 8. pi. 4p.

Turbot Will. Ichth. p. g3 and 94. Brit.

Zool. 3. p. 233. no. 109. Shaiu
Gen. Zool. 4. p. 312. pi. 45.

This fish, which has so long been considered as
superior to every other in point of flavour, grows
to a large size in the Mediterranean and Northern
Seas ; where, like the rest of the genus, it lies in
deep water, and preys on the different marine in-
sects and shell-fish that fall in its way. The skin
of this species is of a wrinkled appearance, and co-
vered with numerous tubercles ; the largest are on
the upper side. The lateral line runs over the pec-

i6‘o

TURBOT.

toral fins in the form of an arch, and is continued
from thence in a straight line to the tail. The eyes
are on the left side.

Great quantities of these fish are taken on the
northern coasts of this kingdom, as well as on those
of Holland : such indeed is the extent of this fishery
on the continent, that the Dutch are said to pur-
chase annually, from the Thames fishermen, seven
hundred pounds worth of small lampreys for the
purpose of baiting their hooks. In England the
large turbots are generally taken by the hook and
line, as the method of taking them in wares, or
staked nets, is not to be depended on. Mr. Pen-
nant laments that the inhabitants of many parts of
our fishing coasts, and especially those of the north
parts of North Wales, should be unacquainted with
the most successful means of capture. That no
endeavours to inform them may be wanting on his
part, this gentleman has communicated the follow-
ing particulars of the method used by the fisher-
men at Scarborough, as they were related to him by
Mr. Travis.

When they go out to fish each person is provided
with three lines ; each man’s lines are fairly coiled
upon a flat oblong piece of wicker-work ; the hooks
being baited, and placed very regularly in the cen-
tre of the coil. Each line is furnished with four-
teen score of hooks, at the distance of six feet two
inches from each other. The hooks are fastened to
the lines upon sneads of twisted horse-hair, twenty-
seven inches in length.

TURBOT.

16*1

When fishing, there are always three men in each
coble, and consequently nine of these lines are
fastened together and used as one line, extending in
length nearly three miles, and furnished with 2520
hooks. An anchor and a buoy are fixed at the first
end of the line, and one more of each at the end of
each man’s lines ; in all four anchors, which are
commonly perforated stones, and four buoys made
of leather or cork. The line is always laid across
the current. The tides of flood and ebb continue
an equal time upon our coast, and, when undis-
turbed by winds, run each way about six hours.
They are so rapid that the fishermen can only
shoot and haul their lines at the turn of the tide ;
and therefore the lines always remain upon the
ground about six hours*. The same rapidity of
tide prevents their using hand-lines ; and there-
fore two of the people commonly wrap themselves
in the sail, and sleep while the other keeps a
strict look-out, for fear of being run down by ships,
and to observe the weather. For storms often rise
so suddenly, that it is with extreme difficulty they
can sometimes escape to the shore, leaving their
lines behind.

The coble is twenty feet six inches long, and five
feet extreme breadth. It is about one ton burthen,
rowed with three pair of oars, and admirably con-

In this space a species of worm, the Myxine glutinosa of
Linnaeus, will frequently penetrate the fish that are on the hooks,'
and entirely devour them, leaving only the skin aqd bones

VOL. JI.

M

162

TURBOT.

structed for the purpose of encountering a moun-
tainous sea ; they hoist sail when the wind suits.

The five-men boat is forty feet long, and fifteen
broad, and of twenty-five tons burthen ; it is so
called, though navigated by six men and a boy, be-
cause one of the men is commonly hired to cook,
&c., and does not share in the profits with the other
five. All our able fishermen go in these boats to
the herring fishery at Yarmouth the latter end of
September, and return about the middle of No-
vember. X he boats are then laid up until the be-
ginning of Lent, at which time they go off in them
to the edge of the Dogger and other places, to fish
for turbot, cod, ling, skates, &c. They always
take two cobles on board, and when they come
upon their ground anchor their boat, throw out the
cobles, and fish in the same manner as those do
who go from shore in a coble ; with this difference
only, that here each man is provided with double
the quantity of lines, and, instead of waiting the re-
turn of tide in the coble, they return to the boat and
bait their other lines: thus hauling one set and
shooting another every turn of the tide. They
commonly run into harbour twice a-week to deliver
their fish. The five-men boat is decked at each
end, but open in the middle, and has two large

lug sails.

The best bait for all kinds of fish is fiesh hening
cut in pieces of a proper size ; and notwithstanding
what has been said to the contrary, they are taken

TURBOT.

163

here at any time in the winter, and all the spring,
whenever the fishermen put down their nets for
that purpose: — the five-men boat always takes some
nets for that end. Next to herrings are the lesser lam-
preys, which come all winter by land carriage from
Tadcaster. The next baits in esteem are small had-
docks cut in pieces, sand worms, muscles, and
limpets ; and lastly, when none of these can be had,
they use bullock’s liver. The hooks used here are
much smaller than those employed at Iceland and
Newfoundland. Experience has shown that the
larger fish will take a living small one upon the
hook sooner than any bait that can be put on ;
therefore they use such as the small fish can swal-
low. The hooks are two inches and a half long in
the shank, near an inch wide between the shank
and point. The line is made of small cording, and
is always tanned before it is used.

Turbots and all the rays are extremely delicate in
their choice of baits. If a piece of herring or had-
dock has been twelve hours out of the sea, and then
used as bait, they will not touch it.

M 2

ROSTRATED CIIiETODON.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Body compressed, and in most species marked ’with bands.
Gill membrane divided into three, five, or six rays.

Mouth set with small teeth.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Ciet.todon rostratus. C. cauda Integra ; spinis pinnae dorsalis

9, maculaque ocellari j rostro cylin-
drico. Linn. Syst. Nut. Gviel. 1.
p. 1244.

Tail undivided ; a black spot bordered
with white on the dorsal fin, which is
armed with nine spines ; beak cylin-
drical.

Chaetodon rostro longissimo osseo, pinnis
dorsi, ani, et caudae, ad extrema ro-
tundis j macula nigra ad pinnam dor-
salem. Gron. Zooph. p. 69* no- 203.

Ch.ktodon enceladus. Nat. Misc. 2.

pi. 67.

Hostiatrd Ch^todon. Bloch, pi. 102. f. 1 . Shaw Gen Zool. 4.

p. 337. pi. 47.

This expert marksman was first intioduced to 0111
notice by Mr. Hommel, governor of the hospital at
Batavia,* who informs us that it frequents the sides

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ROSTRATED CH^TODON.

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of rivers in India in search of food, and the manner
in which it takes its prey is most singular. When
it sees a fly on the plants which border the stream,
it approaches in a very slow and cautious manner,
till it arrives within four, five, or six feet of the ob-
ject, and there rests for a moment, perfectly still,
with its eyes directed towards the fly. When the
fatal aim is taken, the fish shoots a single drop of
water from its mouth, with such dexterity that it
never fails to strike the fly into the water, where it
soon becomes its prey.

When Mr. Ilommel first heard of this singular fish,
it so raised his curiosity, that although the account
was well attested, he felt desirous to be convinced
of the truth of it by ocular demonstration : he there-
fore ordered a capacious tub to be filled with water,
and some of these fish put into it : When they had
been there a sufficient time to become reconciled to
their confinement, he determined to try the experi-
ment ; and accordingly pinned a fly to the end of a
slender stick, which was placed in such a direction
by the side of the vessel that the fish could easily
strike it. Every thing succeeded to his wish ; and
he assures us that he daily saw these fish exer-
cising their skill in shooting at the fly, and that
with a dexterity which never failed to hit the
mark.

The fish never exposes any part of its mouth out
of the water, though it frequently shoots a great
many drops one after another without leaving it*

rostrated chjetodon.

l6‘6

place. This species is called by Mr. Hommel, the
jaculator.

The length of the fish is about six or eight inches;
the body is marked with five transverse brown bands
with white edges ; the first band, which is not so
broad as the others, passes across the head and
through the eyes ; the last across the base of the

tail.

The remarkable faculty which the rostrated chce-
todon possesses is said to be found in some few
others of very different genera.

CLIMBING SPARUS.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Jaws bony, divided in the middle and indented on the edge.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Sparus scandens. S. olivaceus, subtus flavescens, oculis aureis.

Olive- green, with yellowish abdomen, and
gold-coloured eyes.

Perca scandens. Linn. Trans. 3. p. 62.
Climbing Sparus. Shaw Gen. Zool. 4. p. 475.

I he learned Dr. Shaw has given the following
translation of lieutenant Daldorff’s paper respecting
this singular fish, from the Linnean Transactions :

“ Length about a span ; skin covered with a
blackish mucus ; dorsal fin occasionally sunk in a
longitudinal fossule ; it has seventeen spiny and
eight soft rays ; the pectoral fins have twelve rays,
the ventral six, the tail eighteen, of which ten are
spiny, the rest soft.

“ This fish is remarkable for its power of climb-
ing, which it performs by the assistance of the
spines of its gill-covers, moving itself at pleasure up
the stems of trees growing near the waters it fre-

168

CLIMBING SPARUS.

quents. In this situation it was observed in the
month of November 1/91, at Tranquebar, by lieu-
tenant DaldorfF, who communicated its description
to sir Joseph Banks. It was seen ascending a fissure
in the stem of the palm called Borassus Jlabellifer ,
growing near a pool of water, and was observed to
move itself forwards by alternately applying the
spiny sides of the gill-covers to the sides of the
fissure, assisting itself at the same time by the
spines on each side the tail, and had already ascend-
ed to the height of more than five feet above the
water when it was first observed ; it was found to be
very tenacious of life, moving about on dry sand
many hours after it was taken. The spines of the
gill-covers are considered by the natives as of a
poisonous nature.”

MACKREL.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Body oblong and smooth.

Gill membrane seven-rayed.
Several small fins towards the tail.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Scomber Scomber. S. caeruleus, lineis numerosis transversis

nigris, abdomine argenteo, pinnulis supra
infraque quinque.

Blue mackrel, with numerous transverse
black lines, silvery abdomen, and five
finlets above and below. Shaw Gen.
Zool. 4. p. 577. pi. 84.

Scomber. Pinnulis quinque. Linn. Syst.
Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 1328. Bloch, 2. p.88.
no. 1. pi. 54.

Common Mackrel. Will. Ichth. p. 181. Penn. Brit. Zool. 3.

p. 264. no. 132. pi. 51.

Among the numerous inhabitants of the ocean,
there is not one that exceeds the mackrel in the
brilliancy of its colours, or the elegance of its shape.
The fine deep blue upon the back, crossed by
many black streaks, and accompanied by a tinge

MACKREL.

170

of green which varies as the fish changes its po-
sition : the bright silver colour of the abdomen,
and the varying tinge of gold green which runs
along the sides, are eminently beautiful in this spe-
cies ; but are only to be seen in perfection when
tfie fish is first taken from the water, as death con-
siderably impairs the colours, though they are then
far from being obliterated.

Immense swarms of mackrel visit our coasts at
particular seasons of the year ; and, after remaining
a few months, leave us, as we are informed, to win-
ter within the arctic circle ; where they lie, during
the severity of the weather, imbedded in the soft
mud, and are thus protected from the effects of
frost. They are sometimes even partly enclosed
by the ice, which has been seen entirely bristled
over by the tails of mackrel, imbedded in it nearly
three parts of their length. They were observed
in this situation by M. Pleville-le-Peley, about the
coasts of Hudson’s Bay, where they were found in
the mud at the bottom of the small hollows, com-
pletely incrusted with ice. In this torpid state
they are said to remain till they are enlivened by
the return of spring, and again induced to make
their annual visits. It has been observed that their
eyes are very dim when first they leave their re
treats, and appear to be covered with a white film,
which disappears about the beginning of summer,
and leaves the fish in full perfection.

The mackrel are supposed to pursue nearly the
same route as the herrings, in their annual mi-

MACKREL.

171

grations, passing between Iceland and Norway, and
then bending their course towards the northern
part of Great Britain, where they separate; one
shoal going towards the Baltic, while the other,
which is by far the largest, passes downwards, and
enters the Mediterranean through the straits of
Gibraltar. Dr. Shaw, however, seems to doubt
these periodical journeys, and says, that it is
thought more probable that the shoals which ap-
pear in such abundance round the more temperate
European coasts, in reality reside during the win-
ter at no very great distance; immersing themselves
in the soft bottom, and remaining in a state of tor-
pidity ; from which they are awakened by the
warmth of the returning spring, and gradually re-
cover their former activity.

The mackrel, of all other fish, was most pre-
ferred by the Romans in the preparation of a sauce
in much esteem amongst them. The garum gave
a high relish to their food, and vast quantities of it
were extracted from the mackrel taken near Car-
thagena, at which place it bore a high price, being
prepared by a certain company, and thence distin-
guished by the title of garum sociorum.

On the western coast of England a very exten-
sive fishery is carried on for mackrel. They are
caught in nets at a great distance from the shore,
and the cargo of a single boat is sometimes very
valuable, having been known to sell for upwards
of sixty pounds. The nets are lowered during the

172

MACKREL.

night, and stretch, across the tide, to the extent
of several miles; and the meshes are made just
large enough to admit the heads of the large-sized
fish, and catch them by the gills. Mr. Bingley
relates the following method of fishing for mackrel
with a ground seine, as it was communicated to
him by J. Stackhouse, esq.: — <c A roll of rope of
about two hundred fathoms in length, with the net
fastened to the end, is tied at the other to a post,
or rock, on the shore. The boat is then rowed to
the extremity of this coil, when a pole fixed there,
loaded heavily at the bottom, is thrown overboard.
Tbe rowers from hence make as nearly as possible
a semicircle, two men continually and regularly
putting the net into the water. When they come
to the other end of the net, where there is an-
other leaded pole, they throw that overboard. An-
other coil of rope, similar to the first, is by degrees
thrown into the w’ater, as the boatmen make for
the shore. The boat’s crew now land, and, with
the assistance of persons stationed there, haul in
each end of the net till they come to the two poles.
The boat is then again pushed off towards the
centre of the net, in order to prevent the more
vigorous fish from leaping over the corks. By these
means three or four hundred fish are often caught
at one haul.”

These fish are said to be exceedingly voracious ;
a circumstance not forgotten by Bishop Pontop-
pidan ; who, among other things equally extraor-

MACKREL.

173

dinary, tells us of a sailor who was attacked by
them, while bathing in one of the harbours on the
coast of Norway, and, notwithstanding a boat’s crew
went immediately to his assistance, was too fai
gone to be recovered. Mackrel will readily take a
bait, particularly when the wind blows fresh.

SALMON.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Body compressed, and furnished towards the tail with a fat
fin.

Tongue cartilaginous.

Teeth both in the jaws and on the tongue.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Salmo Salar. S. rostro ultra inferiorem maxillam prominente.

Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. 1364.

Beak projecting beyond the lower jaw.

S. griseo-argenteus, corpore maculato, maxillis
maris apice incurvatis. Shaw Gen. Zool. 5.

p. 39. pi. 102.

Salmon. . . Will. Ichth. p. 189- pi. 11. f. 2. Bloch, pi. 20.

and 98. Penn. Brit. Zool. 3. p. 284. no. 143.
pi. 58.

It would be needless to detail the form of so well
known a fish as the salmon ; we shall, therefore,
proceed to relate what is interesting in its natural
history, after having noticed that the male is prin-
cipally distinguished from the female by the curva-
ture of the jaws ; both the upper and lower man-

SALMON.

175

dibit bending; towards each other more or less in
different individuals, and at different seasons.

Salmon inhabit both the fresh and salt water ;
they are unknown in warm climates, never stretch-
ing even so far as the Mediterranean sea. The
most remarkable part of their history is the account
we have of their persevering industry in surmount-
ing every obstacle to reach the place where they de-
posit their spawn. We are assured that to accom-
plish this purpose they will ascend rivers for hun-
dreds of miles ; force themselves against the most
rapid streams, and spring with amazing agility over
cataracts of several feet in height. At Pont Aber-
glaslyn Mr. Pennant observed the efforts of scores
of these fish, who attempted to pass a perpendicular
fall in the river. This gave him an opportunity to
contradict the vulgar error of their taking their tail
in their mouth when they attempt to leap, as he
noticed that they all sprang up quite straight, and
with a strong tremulous motion. They often mis-
carry several times before they surmount the dif-
ficulty, and this occasions many of them to be cap-
tured ; for at the falls of Kilmorach in Scotland,
where the salmon are very numerous, the peasants
are in the habit of laying branches of trees on the
edges of the rocks, by which means they often take
such fish as miss their leap. At other places it is
a common practice to fix baskets made of twigs
near the edge of the stream to catch them in their
fall. The natives of Kamtschatka almost depend
for their subsistence on the salmon, which visit

SALMON.

176

their rivers in great abundance. All the different
kinds are said to be found there, and it has been
noticed that each shoal keeps apart from others of
different species, and frequently prefers a separate
river, notwithstanding the mouths may be almost
contiguous. They swim in such numbers as to force
the water before them, and even to dam up the
rivers, and make them overflow their banks ; inso-
much that on the fall of the water great multitudes
are left on the dry ground, and would probably
cause a pestilence by rotting there, if they were
not fortunately dispersed by the violence of the
winds, assisted by the bears and dogs who prey on
them, and thus lessen the ill effects. Salmon are
said to remember the spot where they have once
spawned, and to return to it again. M. de la Lande,
who fastened a small ring of copper to the tails of
some of them, and then set them at liberty, was as-
sured by the fishermen that they returned to the
same place for three succeeding seasons.

The best account we have of the salmon fishery
has been collected by Mr. Pennant, who received
some interesting communications from Mr. Potts of
Berwick. To these observations we chiefly stand
indebted for what follows.

At the latter end of the year, or in the month of
November, the salmon begin to press up the rivers
as far as they can reach in order to spawn ; when
that time approaches, they search for a place lit for
their purpose, where the male and female unite in
forming a proper receptacle for their ova in the

SALMON.

177

sand or gravel : the hole in which the spawn is de-
posited is about eighteen inches deep; this they
carefully cover, it is supposed, with their tails ; for
after spawning they are observed to have lost the
skin on that part. As soon as this operation is
completed, the parents hasten to the sea to recruit
their strength ; for after spawning they become
very poor and lean, and then are called kipper.
When the fish first enter the rivers they are ob-
served to be infested with the salmon-louse, lerncea
salmonea Linn.: these insects adhere in abundance
above the gills, and are signs that the fish are in
high season. Soon after the salmon have left the
sea, the insects die and drop off.

The spawn, which lies buried all the winter, be-
gins about the latter end of March to exclude the
young, which gradually increase in size to the
length of four or five inches, and are then called
salmon smelts : about the beginning of May the
river is full of them ; they swarm in such myriads
that the water seems all alive ; but the first flood
sweeps them all into the sea, scarcely leaving one
behind. About the middle of June the largest of
these return again into the river, and are at that
time between twelve and sixteen inches long ; after
this they increase in size and number till about
the end of July, which is at Berwick termed the
height of gilse time, a name given to the fish at that
age : the beginning of August they lessen in num-
ber, but increase very much in size, some of them

vol. 11. n

/

SALMON.

1?8

being nine pounds in weight. Their growth in-
deed is remarkably quick, as the following instance
will sufficiently prove. A gentleman at Warring-
ton took a kipper salmon weighing seven pounds
and three quarters on the seventh of February ;
after having marked the fish on the back, tin, and
tail, with scissars, he turned it into the river; on the
seventeenth of March following the same salmon
was again taken, and then weighed seventeen pounds
and a half.

All fishermen agree that they never find any food
in the stomach of these fish ; this is singular, as it
is evident that at times they feed both on fish and
worms ; for the angler uses both with good success,
as well as a large gaudy artificial fly.

About the month of July a prodigious number of
salmon are caught in the Fweed: — in a good fishery,
often a boat load, and sometimes near two, are
taken in a tide ; it is very common to take from
fifty to a hundred at a haul ; and it is even said that
some years ago above seven hundred were taken
at once in this manner. At this season many are
salted, and afterwards packed in barrels for ex-
portation, having then lar more than the London
markets can possibly take ofl their hands. Most
of the salmon taken in the spring is sent to Lon-
don in baskets, unless the vessel is prevented by
contrary winds from sailing immediately ; in that
case the fish is brought ashore again to the coopers
offices, and after being boiled, pickled, and kitted.

SALMON.

1 79

is sent to the London markets by the same ship,
and the baskets again filled with fresh salmon, in the
room of the stale ones.

The season for fishing in the Tweed begins about
the thirtieth of November, and ends on Michael-
mas-day. There are on the river above forty con-
siderable fisheries, extending upwards about four-
teen miles from the mouth. These were rented
several years ago at upwards of ten thousand
pounds ; consequently the annual produce to de-
fray the expenses could not have been less than
twenty times that sum of fish ; so that above two
hundred thousand salmon must have been caught
there one year with another.

Scotland is rich in fine fisheries, and several laws
were enacted in early times to preserve the fish ;
for in the reign of James the Fourth, the third of-
fence was made capital. Before that time the
offender had power to redeem his life. A consi-
derable fishery is likewise carried on at Cranna in
Ireland ; the place is situated on the river Ban,
about a mile and a half from Coleraine. In this
river they fish with nets eighteen score yards long,
and are continually drawing night and day the
whole season, which lasts about four months, two
sets, of sixteen men each, alternately relieving one
another. The best drawing is when the tide flows,
at which time it is said that eight hundred and
forty fish were once taken at a single draught.

In several countries salmon form a great article
of commerce, and are cured either by salting,

N 2

180

SALMON.

pickling, or drying. The Kamtschatkans keep
them for home consumption: they make a dish
called joukola of the salmon cut into six pieces, and
dried either in the open air, or smoked ; the roes
are likewise greatly esteemed by them, either dried
in the air or before the fire. They can live a long
time on a small quantity of this roe, and eat with
it the bark of birch or willow trees, to assist them
in swallowing a food so very viscid ; but their am-
brosial repast, says the author of the Arctic Zoology,
is the fish flung into a pit till it is quite rotten
when it is served up in the state of carrion, and with
a stench unsupportable to every nose but that of a
Kamtschatkan.

PIKE.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Upper jaw shorter than the lower.

Teeth in the jaws, the palate, and the tongue.

Body oblong, slender, and compressed.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Esox lucius. E. rostro depresso subaequali. Linn. Syst. Hat.
Gmel. 1. p. 1390.

Depressed subequal jaws.

Esox lucius. Capite compresso, rictu amplo.
Bloch, pi. 32.

Esox rostro plagioplateo. Art. Synon. 26.

Pike. . . Penn. Brit. Zool. 3. p. 320. no. 153. pi. 63.

Will. Ichth. p. 236. Shaw Gen. Zool. 5.
p. 100. pi. 108.

W hen first these fish were introduced into England
in the reign of Henry the Eighth, they were so rare
that a pike was sold for double the price of a house
lamb in February, and a pickerel for more than a
fat capon. How far this may be depended on Mr.
Pennant cannot say, for the fish is mentioned in
the Bohe of Si. Albons, printed in the year 1496,
and is not there spoken of as a scarce fish, as wJ

18*2

PIKE.

then the case with respect to the carp. As early as
the year 1466, great numbers of this fish were served
up at the splendid feast given by George Nevil,
archbishop ot \ ork.

Boulker mentions a pike that was an ell long and
weighed thirty-five pounds. He tells us that it was
caught by his father, and presented to Lord Cliol-
mondeley. This pike, it seems, devoured all the
fish in the canal where it was placed, so that, when
the water was suffered to run off, only one solitary
carp remained, and even that carried about with it
the marks of its ferocious enemy, having been bitten
in several places. The canal was again stocked with
fish, which in the course of a twelvemonth all met
with the same fate as their predecessors. His insa-
tiable voracity even induced him to pull the ducks
under water, and he was frequently seen at this
practice by the workmen who were engaged near
the canal. After this he was fed with the garbage
from a slaughter-house ; but at length his keepers
became careless, and lie died ; it is supposed in
consequence of their neglecting to supply him with

his proper food.

The intelligent Mr. Pennant has given the best
general history of this fish, and to him we princi

pally stand indebted for what follows.

The jaws of the pike are very loosely connected,
and have on each side an additional bone like the
jaw of a viper, which renders them capable of greater
distension when the fish swallows its prey. It does not

PIKE.

183

confine its appetite to frogs and fishes, but will de-
vour the water-rat, and sometimes most unnaturally
prey upon its own species ; Mr. Pennant having
seen one that was choked by attempting to swallow
another that proved too large a morsel. The fol-
lowing singular fact rests upon good authority. At
Lord Gowers canal at Trentham a pike seized the
head of a swan as she was feeding under water, and
gorged so much of it as killed them both. A similar
instance happened at the seat of Sir James Lowther
some years ago, where a swan was perceived in the
same situation, with her head under water, by
some men who passed the canal in the morning,
and returned by the same at night. The swan
was drawn out with a large pike attached to her
neck, great part of which it had contrived to swal-
low.

The great voracity of this fish has been ex-
agerated by Gesner, who tells us, that a famished
pike in the Rhone seized on the lips of a mule
that was brought to water, and that the beast drew
the fish out before it could disengage itself : that
people have been bitten by these voracious crea-
tures while they were washing their legs ; and that
they will even contend together for their prey, and
endeavour to force it out of each others mouth.

The smaller fish are very uneasy in the presence
of this tyrant, and are observed, when the pike lies
dormant near the surface, to swim round him in
vast numbers, and in great anxiety. They often

184

PIKE.

lie thus asleep iri the ditches near the Thames, in
the month of May, and are at that time frequently
b altered in a noose. In the shallow water of the
Lincolnshire fens, they have a manner of catching
them which we believe is peculiar to that county
and the isle of Ceylon. The fishermen make use
of what is called a crown net, which is no more
than a hemispherical basket, open at top and bottom.
The man stands at the end of one of the little fen-
boats, and frequently puts his basket down to the
bottom of the water, then poking a stick into it,
discovers whether he has any booty by the striking
of the fish : vast numbers of pike are taken in this

manner.

The longevity of this fish is very remarkable, if
we may credit the accounts given of it. Rzacz^ nski
tells us of one that was ninety years old : but Gesner
goes far beyond him, and relates, that in the year
1497 a pike was taken near Hailbrun, in Swabia,
with a brazen ring affixed to it, on which were these
words in Greek characters : “ I am the fish which
was first of all put into this lake by the governor of the
universe, Frederick the Second, the fifth of October
1230.” Mr. Pennant very properly observes, that
the former must have been an infant to this Methu-
salem of a fish.

Pikes spawn in March or April, according to the
coldness or warmth of the weather. They are com-
mon in most of the lakes of Europe ; but the hugest
are those taken in Lapland, which, if we may credit

PIKE.

185

Schaeffer, are sometimes eight feet long. When
they are in high season their colours are very fine,
being green spotted with bright yellow, and the
gills of a most vivid and full red. When out of
season the green changes to gray, and the yellow
spots turn pale.

FLYING -FISH.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Head covered with scales.
Gill membrane ten-rayed.
Pectoral tins very long.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Exoccetus volitans. E. abdomine utrinque carinato. Linn.

Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 1399-

The abdomen carinated on both sides.

Exoccetus evolans. E. argenteus,
dorso subfusco, pinnis ventralibus ante
medium abdominis. Shaw Gen. Zool.5.
p. 144. pi. 117-

Exocoetus pinnis ventralibus parvis prope
pectus. Bloch, pi. 398.

Flying Fish. . • . Penn. Brit. Zool. 3. p. 333. no. 159*

pi. 67. Will. Ichth. 233.

The remarkable singularity which distinguishes
these fish from all others, is their ability to sustain
themselves in the air during a temporary flight of a
few hundred feet. The idea of a fish having the
power to leave its own element and occasionally

FLYING FISH.

187

assume the property of a bird, appears very unnatu-
ral. But this seeming contradiction in the dispen-
sation of Providence will completely vanish, when
we consider that this extraordinary action is merely
an apology for flying, and can only be supported
while the pectoral fins are wet. These fins are ex-
tremely long, and capable of considerable motion
backwards and forward. They are composed of
ribs connected together by a transparent membrane,
and by the assistance of these they are enabled to
spring into the air ; but the moment the moisture
is evaporated from their surface, the fish are again
obliged to return to their own element. The large
air-bladder with which this fish is provided, greatly
contributes to diminish its specific gravity, and con-
sequently tends to support it in its aerial excursions.
From the observations of Captain Tobin, who care-
fully watched the motions of the flying-fish about
Otaheitee, it appears that the lower half of the tail,
which is by far the longest, is of great use to them
in their flight. This gentleman frequently saw the
dolphins and bonitos in pursuit of them, when
they had disposed the lower part of their tail in
such a manner as to supply their wings with mois-
ture, and thus support them above the surface. He
never saw one exceed the distance of a hundred
yards in its flight, without being obliged to dip for a
fresh supply. The persecution which this species
suffers from the fish of prey, induced Mr. Pennant
to suppose that they lead a most miserable life.

188

FLYING FISH.

We cannot, however, believe with him, that this is
strictly the case ; since the great Author of nature
has weighed the happiness of his creatures in a
balance so nicely regulated, that neither of the scales
appears to preponderate.

The shape, excepting the head, is not unlike
that of a herring : it has large and silvery scales, and
the length of the animal is from twelve to fifteen
inches. The pectoral fins, as we have already no-
ticed, are very long ; the tail is forked.

POLYNEME.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Head compressed, having- a very obtuse prominent snout,
and a number of slender filaments under the jaw.

Gill membrane with an unequal number of rays.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Polynemus NiEiOTicus. P. argenteus, digitis utrinque quinque

mediocribus, naso subrubente.

Silvery, with five moderately long
thoracic filaments on each side, and
reddish snout.

Silvery Polynemr. . Shaw Gen. Zool. 5. p. 151. Binny.

Bruces 1 ravels, 8vo ed. v. J. p. 305.

Mr. Bruce met with this fish at Achmim, the an-
tient Panopolis. He extols its flavour, and says
that it equals any of the fish inhabiting the rivers
running either into the Mediterranean or the ocean.
The specimen which Mr. Bruce has figured, he in-
forms us, weighed thirty-two pounds ; but he was
assured by the fishermen that they are often taken

POLYNEME.

190

of seventy pounds and upwards. The largest of this
kind are caught about Rosetta ; but they are found
in greater numbers higher up the Nile, and particu-
larly near the first cataract, and at Syene. The
inhabitants have a very singular way of catching
these fish, which it seems is attended with great
success. They prepare a quantity of oil, clay, Hour,
and honey, with straw, or any other material that
will bind the whole together, and tread it with their
feet till it be perfectly mixed. They then take two
handfuls of dates, and break them into small pieces
about the size of the point of the finger, and stick
them in different parts of this mixture, which now
adheres perfectly together, and in form is not un-
like a Cheshire cheese. I11 the heart of this cake
thy put seven or eight hooks, with dates upon them,
and a string of strong whipcord to each. Thus pre-
pared, the fisherman commits himself to the river
upon a blown goat’s skin, carrying the cake before
him, till he arrives at the middle of the stream;
there he drops the mass in the deepest part of the
water, and cautiously holding the ends of each of
the strings slack, so as not to pull the dates and the
hooks out of the heart of the composition, he makes
for the shore again a little below the place where he
had sunk the bait. He then carefully separates the
ends of the strings, ties each of them to a palm
branch, made fast on shore, and at the end of every
branch hangs a small hell. I he business being so far
settled, he either goes to feed his cattle, dig trenches,

POLYNEME.

m

or perhaps to sleep. Daring this time the cake be-
gins to dissolve, pieces fall oft) the broken dates
dipped in honey flow down the stream, and the
large fish below catch eagerly at them as they pass.
Thus tempted, they rush up the stream, collecting
the pieces as they go, till they arrive at the principal
mass; where they immediately seek the dates buried
in the composition, and, without suspecting the
snare, greedily swallow them together with the hooks.
As soon as a fish feels himself fast, he makes off as
speedily as possible, and in attempting to escape
from the line hy which he is fastened, pulls the
palm branch and consequently rings the bell. As
soon as the fisherman hears this welcome sound he
runs to the water, and, having drawn his prisoner
on shore, passes an iron ring through his jaw;
he then fastens a few yards of cord to it, which he
makes fast to the bank, and again commits the
fish to the water. This precaution is necessary, as
dead fish will not keep in Egypt. The inhabitants
of Girge, a large town opposite the place where they
are taken, come to the spot as to a fish market, and
every man takes the quantity he wants, buying
them alive. Mr. Bruce bought two, which, he in-
forms us, fully dined his whole boat’s crew. It is
rare to find even one hook empty ; the fisher-
man had then ten or twelve fastened to the shore,
w hich he took out of the water on purpose to show
them.

The fish is thus described by Dr. Shaw: The whole
body is covered with scales of a brilliant silver colour.

192

POLYNEME.

so as to resemble spangles lying close together ; and
there is no variety of tinge on the fish, except a
shade of red on the end of the nose, which is fat
and fleshy ; the eye is large and black, with a broad
yellowish-white iris ; the teeth are small, very sharp,
and close-set ; the first dorsal fin has eight spiny
rays, the first of which is very short ; the second
dorsal fin has eleven soft or branched rays ; the pec-
toral and ventral fins are also furnished with rays of
a similar kind ; the setaceous processes are five in
number on each side, gradually lengthening as they
recede from the mouth, the last appearing nearly
to equal half the length of the body ; the tail is
deeply and sharply forked, the upper lobe extend-
ing somewhat beyond the lower.

HERRING.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Eight gill rays.

Belly very sharp, and generally serrated.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Clupea Harengus. C. immaculata, maxilla inferiore longiore.

Linn. Syst. Nat . Gmel. 1. p. 1402.

Without spots; lower jaw longer than the
upper.

Clupea maxilla inferiore longiore, pinna
ani radiis septendecim. Bloch, pi. 29. f. I.
Herring. . . . IVill. Ichth. p. 219. Penn. Brit. Zool. 3.

p. 335. no. 100. pi. 68. Shaw Gen
Zool. 5. p. 158. pi. lig.

Herrings are fish of passage, and are found in the
greatest abundance in high northern latitudes. They
seem to have their capital between the points of
Scotland, Norway, and Denmark, from whence the
Danish colonies take their progress every year; and
after having traversed the channel, and passed by
Holland and Flanders, visit our coasts. Thev are

VOL. II. O

1

HERRING.

194

not a troop of stragglers who rove about at random,
but a regular army, whose tour is prescribed, and
whose march is yearly regulated with the utmost
exactness. The whole body begin their departure
at the same time ; none are permitted to straggle
out of their proper track ; none among them desert ;
but all continue their progress from coast to coast,
till the appointed period. They are exceedingly
numerous, and the voyage is long ; and when the
body of the army is passed, they are all gone, and
return no more till the next year. It is supposed
that the herrings make their annual migrations in
pursuit of food. Our fishermen, as well as those of
Holland, have observed, that the channel every
year teems with an innumerable multitude of worms
and little insects, on which the herrings feed. They
are a kind of manna, which these creatures come
punctually to gather up ; and when they have en-
tirely cleared the seas in the northern parts of Eu-
rope, during summer and autumn, they descend
towards the south, where they are invited by a new
stock of provisions.

Multitudes of these creatures take up their winter
quarters within the arctic circle. In those inacces-
sible seas, that are covered with ice for a great part
of the year, they find a quiet and sure retreat from
all their numerous enemies, and abundance of insect
food for their subsistence. Anderson even supposes
that they would never depart from hence if their
numbers did not make it necessary for them to mi-

HERRING.

1 95

grate, and, like bees from a hive, form other colo-
nies. They no sooner leave their retreats, but mil-
lions of enemies appear to thin their squadrons.
Whales swallow hundreds at a yawn ; the porpoise,
the grampus, and the different species of shark,
find them an easy prey, and spread extensive ruin
among them. They are likewise tormented by the
sea-fowl, who watch their motions and attend them
on their voyage. Thus assailed on every side,
they seek for safety by crowding closer together,
and leaving the outer ones to be first devoured. The
large body which moves to the west passes along
the coast of America as far south as Carolina, but
seldom much farther. They arrive at Georgia and
Carolina about the latter end of January, and in
Virginia in February ; from hence they coast east-
ward to New England. They then separate, and
run up every river and stream they can find, in order
to deposit their spawn, where they continue till the
latter end of April, when the old fish return to the
sea, and steer to the northward till they reach New-
foundland.

Mr. Pennant thus describes the visit which the
herrings annually pay our shores, after having in-
formed us that the word herring is derived from the
German heer, an army, to express their numbers :

“ They begin to appear off' the Shetland isles in
April and May : these are only forerunners of the
grand shoal, which comes in June, and their ap-
pearance is marked by' certain signs; by the num-
bers of birds, such as gannets and others, which

o 2

HERRING.

196

follow to prey on them ; but when the main body
approaches, its breadth and depth is such as to alter
the very appearance of the ocean. It is divided into
distinct columns of tive or six miles in length, and
three or four in breadth ; and they drive the water
before them with a kind of rippling ; sometimes they
sink for the space of ten or fifteen minutes, then rise
again to the surface; and in bright weather reflect a
variety of splendid colours, like a field of the most
precious gems, in which, or rather in a much more
valuable light, should this stupendous gift of Pro-
vidence be considered by the inhabitants of the
British isles.

“ The first check this army meets in its march
southward, is from the Shetland isles, which divide
it into two parts ; one wing takes to the east, the
other to the western shores of Great Britain, and
fill every bay and creek with their numbers; others
pass on towards Yarmouth, the great and antient
mart of herrings ; they then pass through the
British Channel, and after that, in a manner, disap-
pear : those which take to the west, after offering
themselves to the Hebrides, where the great sta-
tionary fishery is, proceed towards the north of Ire-
land, where they meet with a second intei 1 uption,
and are obliged to make a second division ; the
one takes to the western side, and is scarce per-
ceived, having been lost in the immensity of the
Atlantic; but the other, which passes into the Irish
sea, rejoices and feeds the inhabitants of the coasts
that border it.

HERRING.

197

“These brigades, as we may call them, which are
thus separated from the greater columns, are often
capricious in their movements, and do not show an
invariable attachment to their haunts.”

The herrings in our seas are said to feed on a
crustaceous insect, the oniscus mcirinus Linn., and
sometimes on their own fry. From the observation
of Mr. Low of Birsa, it is probable that they likewise
feed on Hies. rl his gentleman assured Mr. Pen-
nant that he had caught many thousands with a
common trout fly, in a deep hole in a rivulet,
into which the tide flows. He commonly went at
the tall of the tide. They were young fish from
six to eight inches in length.

Herrings continue in perfection from the end of
June to the beginning of winter, when they deposit
then spawn, and the number of eggs in each good
herring amounts, according to 1V1 r. Harmer, to
thirty-six thousand nine hundred and sixty. When
we consider this wonderful fecundity, we are no
longer surprised at the immense "shoals which
visited the Scotch coast in 1773. It appears like
romancing when we say that, from a tolerably accu-
rate calculation, not less than lb‘50 boat-loads were
taken in Loch Terridon every night.

This fish, whose importance in a commercial view
must be acknowledged by every one, and which

may justly be said to form one of the wonders of
the northern world, is principally caught by the
inhabitants of Great Britain oil' the Scotch and

HERRING.

198

Norfolk coasts ; and the fishing is carried on by nets
stretched in the water, one side of which is kept
from sinking by means of buoys fixed to them at
proper distances. The nets hang in a perpendicu-
lar position ; and the fish, when they endeavour to
pass through, are entangled in the meshes, where
they remain till the net is hauled in. The nets are
never stretched in the day-time, as they aie then
supposed to frighten the fish away ; but as soon as
the evening approaches, the fishermen again pi epaie
their snare ; and if the night proves daik, and the
surface of the water is considerably ruffled by the
wind, they are almost certain of great success. 1 he
nets are tanned, to strengthen them ; and this is
performed by putting them into a large vessel, and
pouring upon them a quantity of hot liquoi in which
oak bark has been boiled : this process is repeated
three times, and then the nets are supposed to last
thrice as long as if this operation had not been

performed.

The Dutch are said to have engaged in this fish-
ery so long ago as the year 11 6*4, and were in pos-
session of it for several centuries. They are ex-
travagantly fond of the fish, and observe its arrival
on their coasts with as much joy as the Egyptians
show on the first overflowing of the Nile. When
pickled, it becomes their most delicious food : such,
indeed, is the honour in which the memory of the
first herring-pickler is held in Handers, that the
emperor Charles the Fifth paid his tomb a visit.

HERRING.

199

It has been justly observed b.y Mr. Pennant, as
very singular, that most nations give the name of
their favourite dish to the facetious attendant on every
mountebank. Thus the Dutch call him Pickle
Herring; the Italians, Macaroni ; the French, Jean
Potage ; the Germans, HansWurst, (or Jack Sau-
sage) ; and we dignify him with the title of Jack
Pudding.

CARP.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Teeth in the throat, none in the mouth.
Three rays in the gill membrane.

One fin on the back.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Cyprinus Carpio. c. luteo-olivaceus, pinna dorsali lata, radio

tertio postice serrato.

Yellowish olive, with wide dorsal fin ; the
third ray serrated behind.

Common Carp. . Shaiv Gen. Zool. 5. p. l/p. pi. 121. Will.

lchth. 245. Penn. Brit. Zool. 3. no. lfi5.

pi. ;o.

Carp are so remarkably tenacious of life, that with
a little management they may be kept alive for
many days after they are taken out of the water.
Epicures sometimes feed them, during the colder
season, in a cellar ; and the following method, ac-
cording to Dr. Forster, is the best that can be de-
vised for that purpose. A car}) is laid on a great
quantity of fresh wet moss, spread on a piece of net,

CARP.

201

which is then gathered into a purse, and the rnoss
so contrived that the whole fish be entirely wrapped
up in it ; care, however, must be taken to give the
fish ease, and not to squeeze it, so that it may have
room to breathe in this confined attitude. The net,
with the fish and moss, is then plunged into water,
and hung up to the ceiling of the cellar. In the
beginning this operation must be very frequently
repeated, at least every three or four hours ; by
length of time the fish will be more used to the new
element, and will bear to be out of the water for
six or seven hours. Its food is bread soked in milk,
which in the beginning must be administered in
small quantities ; in a short time the fish will bear
more, and will grow fatter. Dr. Forster saw the
experiment tried in a nobleman’s house, in the
principality of Anhalt-Dessau, and visited the fish
daily, during the time it was kept in this manner.
At the expiration of a fortnight it was dressed and
served up at dinner, when every one present found
it excellent in its flavour.

I he carp is a thick fish, and usually grows in
this country to the length of fifteen or sixteen inches,
but in warmer climates it is said to attain a much
larger size, and to weigh from twenty to forty
pounds : the colours of the body are rich ; the up-
per part of the back being of a deep yellowish olive,
while the sides are tinged with gold, and the tail
with violet. I he scales are very large, and when in
best season of a fine gilded hue. A single beard is
seen on each side of the mouth, and above the

CARP.

202

nostrils another pair, but these are much smaller
and shorter. The lateral line is slightly curved, and
marked with a row of blackish specks. The dorsal
fin extends far towards the tail, which is slightly
forked.

The carp is said to have been brought into Eng-
land by Leonand Marschal about the year 1514,
since which time it has continued to increase, and is
now become a common fish. The haunts of these
fish in the winter months are the broadest and most
quiet parts of the river ; but in summer months
they lie in deep holes, under the roots of trees or
hollow banks ; they are extremely cunning, and
frequently exhaust the patience of the angler. They
are not only very shy of taking a bait, but will
sometimes escape from a net, either by leaping over
the sides, or by immersing themselves so deep in
mud that the net will pass over them. This degree
of cunning has gained them the name of the river
fox.

The longevity of carp is very great : instances are
upon record of their having lived to a hundred years;
and Dr. Smith, in his Sketch of a Tour to the Con-
tinent, mentions some of these fish, which he met
with at the prince of Conde’s seat at Chantilly, that
were silvered over with age, and so tame, that when
any passengers approached their watery habitation,
they used to come to the shore in such numbers as
to heave each other out of the water, begging for
bread, of which a quantity was always kept at hand
on purpose to feed them. The ponds at Versailles

CARP.

203

were stocked with the same in the reign of Louis
the Fourteenth, where they probably remain at this
time, unless, like the rest of the country, they have
undergone a revolution.

These fish abound in the rivers and lakes of Po-
land and Germany, where they are taken of a large
size. The traffic which is carried on in these coun-
tries has induced many of the nobility and others
to be particularly attentive to the breeding of carp ; —
the merchants or dealers purchase the fish of the
noblesse, who derive a considerable income from
the produce of their ponds. We are indebted to
Dr. Forster for a very full account of the method of
managing carp on this large scale, and shall take
the liberty of introducing as much of his paper from
the Philosophical Transactions as will be sufficient
for our purpose.

The doctor observes that the fish thrive best in
ponds that are situated in a well manured fertile
plain, surrounded by fine pastures and corn-fields
of a rich black mould, having either mild or soft
springs on the spot, or a rivulet that runs through
the plain. The water ought to be mild and soft ;
by no means too cold, or impregnated with mineral
particles ; the full influence of the sun is very neces-
sary to ensure success in breeding of the fish, and it
is likewise highly proper that the pond be sheltered
against the cold blasting easterly winds. The
ground towards the pond ought to have a gentle
slope ; for the deep valleys are subject to great floods,
and will then endanger the dikes in a wet rainy

204

CARP.

season ; and often the expectations of many years
are in a few hours swept away.

It is found by experience most convenient to have
three kinds of ponds for carp ; the first is called the
spawning-pond, the second the nursery, and the
third, or largest, the main- pond. There are two
methods of stocking the ponds with carp ; either to
buy a few old fish, and to put them into the spawn-
ing-pond, or to purchase a good quantity of one-
year old fry for the nursery. A pond intended for
spawning must be well cleared of all other kinds of
fish, especially such as are of a rapacious nature,
as well as of newts, or larvae of lizards and of w ater-
beetles, which frequently destroy quantities of the
fry to the great loss of the owner. A pond of the
size of about one acre requires three or four male
carp, and about six or eight females. The best
carp for breeders are five, six, or seven years old,
in good health, in full scale, and without any ble-
mish or wound ; such as are sickly and move slowly
in the water, have spots as if they had the small
pox, have either lost their scales, or have them
sticking but loosely to the body ; w hose eyes he
deep in their heads, are short, deep, and lean, will
never produce a good breed. Being provided with a
set of carp such as are here described, and sufficient
to stock a pond with ; it is best to put them on a
fine calm day, the latter end of March, or in April,
into the spawning- pond, where they w ill spawn in
May, June, or July, according as the warm season
sets in earlier or later. At this season they swim

CARP.

205

to shallow, warm, and sheltered places, where the
female deposits the spawn about the roots of grass,
osier-roots, hanging branches, &c. The milter, or
male fish, by a natural instinct follows the spawner,
and the milt or soft row is spread over the spawn,
which thus becomes impregnated. Carp at this
season are frequently seen swimming, as it were in a
circle, about the same spot. Providence has direct-
ed these fish to deposit their spawn on the finest
and calmest summer days, that the fry of so useful
a fish may be brought forth in security : if it had
been otherwise, a stormy day would have washed it
towards the banks, where it might have been eaten
up by birds, or trampled on by men and quadru-
peds, or dried up by the heat of the sun, and a
whole generation of carp entirely destroyed. During
the spawning season the carp may be approached,
so that they will pass and repass between a person's
hands held under the water, without being in the
least disturbed ; but if any noise or quick motion
be made, they dart away with surprising velocity.
(Treat care must be taken, during the spawning sea-
son, to prevent the approach of all aquatic fowl,
wild and tame, to the ponds ; for geese and ducks
not only swallow the spawn, but destroy still more
of it by searching among the weeds and aquatic
plants : it is therefore a general rule to send twice
a-day a man round the pond, to frighten away all
wild fowl, such as swans, geese, ducks, cranes, and
herons. A mixed breed is sometimes produced be-

2o6*

CARP.

tween crusians and carp, which are of a hardy na-
ture, but seldom reach the size of other carp. The
mules between carp and tench partake of the nature
of both fish, grow to a good size, and have some
parts of their bodies covered with the small slimy
scales of the tench, while other parts have the larger
scales of the carp. After the spawn are hatched,
they are suffered to remain in the pond till the next
spring, when they are removed to the nursery, or
second kind of pond, where the young fry are
brought up.

The best time to put them into the nursery is in
March or April, on a fine and calm day ; and it is
necessary to send people all the first day round the
pond, in order to drive the tender and weak fry
from the sides, because they are bewildered in a
strange place, and often become the prey of rapa-
cious birds. If every thing goes on well, the fry
will grow in two summers to the weight of four, five,
and sometimes six pounds, and to be fleshy and
well tasted. A great many Prussian gentlemen
make a good profit by selling their carp after two
years standing in the nursery, and export them

even to Finland and Russia.

The main-ponds are the last kind. In these
carp are put that measure a foot, head and tail in-
clusive. Every square of fifteen feet in the pond
is sufficient for one carp, and will afford food, and
room for the fish to play in. dhe more room caip
have, and consequently the more food the pond

CARP*

20/

affords, the quicker will be the growth of the fish.
Spring and autumn are the best seasons for stocking
the main-ponds. During the winter, when the
ponds are covered with ice, holes must be carefully
made every day for the admission of fresh air ; if
this caution is neglected, the carp will frequently
perish. In the summer season the ponds must be
kept clear of weeds; but they must never be dragged
in the spawning season, as that would be the de-
struction of thousands of fish. The best season for
catching such carp as are intended for market is
autumn. After the pond has been five or six years
in constant use, the water should be let entirely off*,
to clear it of mud, which often increases too much
and becomes a nuisance. When the pond is dry, it
should be ploughed up before the frost sets in : this
should be repeated in the spring, and oats or barley
sown in it, which will repay the owner with a rich
and plentiful crop. Some people sow a pond which
has been dry for some months with oats ; and when
they are growing, fill it up writh water, and intro-
duce carp for spawning. This practice seems, how-
ever, to be more noxious than beneficial ; for the
growing oats, instead of affording nourishment, will
decay, and communicate putridity to the water,
which can by no means be salutary to the fish.

In some of the ponds Dr. Forster recollects to
have seen carp above a yard long, and of twenty -five
pounds weight, but he had no opportunity of ascer-
taining their real age. In the pond at Charlotten-

208

CARP.

burg, a palace belonging to the king of Prussia,
he saw more than three hundred carp between
two and three feet long : he was told by the keeper
that they were of between fifty and sixty years
standing; they were tame, came to the shore in
order to be fed, and swallowed with ease a piece of
white bread of the size of half a halfpenny roll.

GOLDEN CARP.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Cyprinus auratus. C. aureus splendidissimus, pinnis rubris,

cauda saepius trifida, pinnaque ani duplici.
Brilliant golden carp, with red fins, tail
frequently trifid, and vent fin double.
Shaw Gen. Zool. 5. p. 209. pi. 126, 12/.
Cyprinus auratus. C. pinna ani ge-
mina, caudae transversa bifurca. Linn.
Fn. Suec. 2. p. 125. pi. 2. '

Cyprinus colore rabro. Bloch, pi. 93 and
94. f. 1,2.

Golden Carp. . Penn. Brit. Zool. 3. p. 374. no. 1/8.

Edw. An. t. 209. Gold Fish.

I his very beautiful species of carp was first intro-
duced into England about the year 1691 ; since
which tune it has continued to increase, and is now
become so completely naturalized, that it will breed
as freely in the open pond as the common carp.
We are indebted to the Chinese for this splendid
fish, who take the most beautiful kinds in a lake in
the province of Che-Ryang, situated near a moun-
tain at a small distance from the town of Tchanghou
The beauty of their colours, and their active lively
motions, make them the universal favourites of the
ladies, who keep them for their amusement, either

VOL. 11. ,>

2 10

GOLDEN CARP.

in porcelain vessels, or in the small basons that
decorate the courts of the Chinese houses. They
provide for them an earthen vessel with holes in the
sides, and turn it upside down in the basin where
they are kept, that at any time when the sun is too
powerful for them, they may have a place to which
they can retire to avoid its influence. A very little
food is requisite to support these fish, a few wafers
being sufficient to nourish them for some time:
they are occasionally fed with bread crumbs, small
worms, the yolk of eggs dried and powdered, and
other substances of the like nature, lheir water
should be changed three or four times a week, and
the fish taken out with a net, as they are too deli-
cate to hear handling.

We are told that in China, where the gold fish are
kept in ponds, they are regularly fed, and taught
to rise to the surface at the sound of a bell, in order
to receive their nourishment. It is singular that the
fry when first excluded should be quite black, after
which they turn white, and then of a gold colour.
The most brilliant colours are to be found on the
smallest fish, which exhibit a rich metallic golden
hue, with a cast of scarlet in the upper parts, and
of silver on the lower. Some are perfectly white
like silver, others have an irregular mixture of white
spotted with red. All are beautiful while living,
but lose their lustre when dead. The females are
distinguished from the other sex by several white
spots near the gills, and the pectoral fins.

Dr. Shaw remarks that no fish is subject to so

GOLDEN CARP.

211

many variations in its domestic or cultivated state
as the gold iish ; not only the colour of the body,
but even the form and number of the tins, differing
greatly in different individuals. The Doctor ob-
serves that the back fin is sometimes wanting alto-
gether, or consists only of a few rays united by their
connecting membrane; the vent fin is very frequently
double; and the tail, which even in its natural state
is said to be often trifid, becomes still more strik-
ingly so in the cultivated kind, and so formed as to
appear horizontal, the middle part or lobe rising up
between the side parts.

A whimsical way of exhibiting these fish is some-
times practised ; a glass bowl is blown with a hollow
space within, that does not communicate with it.
In this cavity a bird is occasionally placed ; so that
a goldfinch or a linnet may be seen hopping as it
were in the midst of the water, while the fishes are
swimming in a circle round it.

TORPEDO.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Body broad, flat, and thin.

Five apertures beneath on each side the neck.

Mouth beneath the head, transverse, and closely set with

teeth.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Raja Torpedo. R. tota laevis. Linn. Syst. Nat. Grnel. 1.

p. 1504.

Quite smooth.

Raja dorso monopterygio, cauda brevi apice
pinnato, laevis, inermis, rostro subobtuso.
Gronov. Zooph. no. 152.

To rpedo. . . will. Ichth. p. 8 1 . t. D. 4. Penn. Brit. Zool. 3.

p. 89. no. 36. pi. 10. Shaw Gen. Zool. 5.

p. 29 7. pi. 146.

The wonderful power in this fish, to benumb the
hand that touches it, has been known for many
a^es, and noticed by most writers. The antients
admired the effect without attempting to explain
the cause ; and that this singular faculty might be
rendered still more astonishing, they gave to it an
influence which it by no means possesses. Thus
Pliny assures us that the torpedo, even when touched

TORPEDO.

213

with a spear or stick, can benumb the strongest
arm, and stop the swiftest foot. Oppian goes still
further, and, with that license to which poets always
think themselves entitled, makes it strike the fish-
erman through the whole length of his line and rod.
Dr. Shaw has inserted the following elegant trans-
lation of the passage in his General Zoology :

The hook’d torpedo, with instinctive force.

Calls all his magic from its secret source :

Quick thro the slender line and polish’d wand
It darts ; and tingles in th’ offending hand.

The palsied fisherman, in dumb surprise.

Feels thro’ his frame the chilling vapours rise;

Drops the lost rod, and seems in stiff’ning pain.

Some frost-fix’d wanderer on the polar plain.

fhc torpedo is said to be found of a larger size in
the Mediterranean than elsewhere. It will live four-
and-twenty hours out of the sea, and exert its
power, though in a fainter degree, till the last. It
f i equently buiies itself in the sand, where it mves
a very foicible shock, and often throws down the
astonished passenger who inadvertently treads upon
it. 31 1 . 1 ennant describes a small one about eighteen
inches long, which was taken on our coast : the
head and body, which were indistinct, were nearly
round, about two inches thick in the middle, at-
tenuating to extreme thinness on the edges; the
ventral fins formed on each side a quarter of a circle;
the tail was six inches long, and the two dorsal fins
were placed near its origin ; its two small eyes were
placed near each other, and behind each of them w as

1214

TORPEDO.

around spiracle, with six small cutaneous rays on
the inner circumference; the mouth was small,
and set with minute spieular teeth ; the colour of
the body cinereous-brown above and white beneath.

This appears to be the common size of our tor-
pedo; but it occasionally grows much larger, speci-
mens having been taken of the weight of fifty, sixty,
and even eighty pounds.

Naturalists are much indebted to Mr. Walsh for
his ingenious experiments relative to the electrical
property of the torpedo: these experiments were
conducted at Rochelle in France, in the year 1/72,
and the effects produced were found to be absolutely
electrical, being subject to the same laws as electri-
city. The sensations likewise occasioned by the
one and the other are precisely similar. Not only
the shock, but the numbing sensation, which the
animal sometimes dispenses, may be exactly imi-
tated with the Leyden phial regulated by an elec-
trometer, whose rod, to produce the latter effect,
must be brought almost into contact with the prime
conductor which joins the phial. Each effort of
the animal to give the shock is accompanied by a
depression of his eyes, by which even his attempts
to give it to non-conductors can be observed ; the
rest of his body is almost motionless. Mr. Walsh
has taken no less than Hfty of the above-mentioned
shocks from an insulated torpedo in the space of
a minute and a half. All the experiments seem
to prove that the effect the animal produces
originates in a compressed elastic fluid, restoring

TORPEDO.

215

itself to its equilibrium in the same way, and by
the same medium, as the elastic fluid compressed in
a charged glass. Notwithstanding the weak spring
of this animal electricity, Mr. Walsh was able,
at the public exhibitions of his experiments at
Rochelle, to convey it through brass wires inter-
rupted by four persons, which number at times was
increased even to eight. M. Seignette, mayor of
Rochelle, and one of the secretaries of its aca-
demy, has thus related this curious experiment in
the French gazettes for the month of October in the
same year :

“ A live torpedo was placed on the table. Round
another table stood five persons insulated. Two
brass wires, each eighteen feet long, were suspended
from the ceiling by silken strings : one of these wires
rested on the wet napkin on which the fish lay ;
the other end was immersed in a basin full of water
placed on the second table, on which stood four
other basins likewise full of water. The first person
put a finger of one hand m the basin in which the
wire was immersed, and a finger of the other hand
in a second basin. The second person put a finger
of one hand in this last basin, and a finger of the
other hand in the third | and so on successively*,
till the five persons communicated with one another
by the water in the basins. In the last basin one
end of the second wire was immersed ; and with the
other end Mr. Walsh touched the back of the tor-
pedo, when the five persons felt a commotion which

21b*

TORPEDO.

differed in nothing from that of the Leyden experi-
ment, except in the degree of force. Mr. Walsh,
who was not in the circle of conduction, received
no shock. This experiment was repeated several
times, even with eight persons ; and always with
the same success. The action of the torpedo is
communicated by the same mediums as that of the
electric fluid. The bodies which intercept the ac-
tion of the one, intercept likewise the action of the
other. The effects produced by the torpedo re-
semble in every respect a weak electricity. This ex-
hibition of the electric powers of the torpedo, be-
fore the academy of Rochelle, was at a meeting
held for the purpose in my apartments on the
twenty-second of July 17/2, and stands registered
in the journals of the academy.”

Mr. Walsh, in his paper on the subject in the
Philosophical Transactions, has related some other
experiments, the most interesting of which are the
following : ‘c A large torpedo, very liberal of his

shocks, being held with both hands by his electric
organs above and below, was briskly plunged into
water to the depth of a foot, and instantly raised
an equal height in the air; and was thus continually
plunged and raised as quick as possible for the space
of a minute. In the instant Ins lower surface
touched the water in his descent, he always gave a
violent shock, and another still more violent in his
ascent; both which shocks, but particularly the
last, were accompanied with a writhing in his body,

TORPEDO.

217

as if meant to force an escape. Besides these two
shocks from the surface of the water, which may
yet be considered as delivered in the air, he con-
stantly gave at least two when wholly in the air,
and as constantly one, and sometimes two, when
wholly in the water. The shocks in water appeared,
as far as sensation could decide, not to have near a
fourth of the force of those which took place at the
surface of the water, nor much more than a fourth
of those entirely in the air.

tc The torpedo was then put into a flat basket
open at the top, but secured by a net with wide
meshes, and in this confinement was let down into
the water about a foot below the surface ; being
there touched through the meshes, with only a
single finger, on one of his electric organs, while
the other hand was held at a distance in the water,
he gave shocks that were distinctly felt in both
hands.”

A very singular fact respecting the electric power
of this fish is mentioned by Spallanzani. He as-
sures us that the young torpedo can not only exer-
cise its electric faculty as soon as born, but even
while it is yet in the body of the parent. The
Abbe dissected a torpedo in a pregnant state, which
contained several roundish eggs of different sizes
and also two perfectly formed young ones, which,
when tried in the usual manner, communicated a
very sensible shock, and which was still more per-
ceptible when the little animals were insulated by
being placed on a plate of glass.

218

TORPEDO.

The electric organs of this curious fish are placed
on each side of the head and gills, reaching from
hence to the semicircular cartilages of each great
fin. Each organ is about five inches in length, and
at the anterior end about three in breadth ; they are
covered above and below with the common skin of
the animal, under which are longitudinal fibres
spread entirely over them.

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SHARK.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Body oblong, growing less towards the tail.

Skin very rough.

Mouth placed beneath the head, and set with several rows
of sharp teeth.

Five apertures on each side the neck.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

SgualusCarcharias. Sq. dentibustriangularibusserratis. Linn.

Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p 1498.

With triangular serrated teeth.

Squalus capite subdepresso, rostro sub-
acuto, pinnis pectoralibus maximis.
Gron. Mus. 1. 138. Zooph. 143.
Squalus corpore cinereo, dorso lato.
Bloch, 1. p. 33. n. 1 19.

White Shark. . . Will. Ichth. p. 47. t. B. f. 7. Penn.

Brit. Zool. 3. p. 106. n. 42. Shaw
Gen. Zool. 5. p. 322. pi. 148.

The shark is by far the fiercest and most voracious of
the finny tribe; he is formed for destruction, and,
having a very strong appetite for mischief, is con-
stantly seeking to gratify it. Thus he prowls about
in the warmer parts of the ocean, to the great ter-

220

SHARK.

ror of the rest of its inhabitants, as well as to the
human race; whose bodies have been too fre-
quently buried in the stomach of this formidable
creature.

The mouth of this animal exposes to our view a
most terrific arrangement of teeth. They are of a
wedge-shaped figure, very sharp-pointed, and ser-
rated on the sides : from three to six rows of these
terrible instruments of destruction are planted in
each jaw, and the shark has the power of erecting or
depressing them at pleasure.

This species sometimes exceeds the length of
thirty feet. The head is large and of a depressed
shape ; the mouth and throat enormously wide,
and capable of swallowing a very large body ; but
as the mouth is placed far beneath, the shark is
obliged to incline very much on one side to seize
his prey : the eyes are large, and the back broad
and flat ; the tail, which is exceedingly strong and
active, is of a semilunar form, but the upper part is
longer than the lower. The creature is enabled to
swim with great swiftness on account of his large
pectoral fins. The whole body is of a light ash
colour.

This insatiable plunderer is extremely fond of hu-
man flesh, and will follow ships in warm climates
to catch whatever may chance to fall overboard : a
man who meets with this misfortune is said to
perish without redemption, and it is singular that
the same remark should have been made respecting
this creature as of beasts of prey ; namely, that he

SHARK.

221

constantly prefers the flesh of a negro to that of an
European. It is on this account that the shaiks
are so assiduous in following the slave-ships from
the coast of Africa to the West Indies, since the
mortality which generally prevails on board those
vessels gives them but too frequent opportunities of
gratifying their savage appetite. We shall lieie
relate two shocking instances of the constant at-
tendance and great rapacity of these monsters. The
master of a Guinea ship informed Mr. Pennant that
a rage of suicide prevailed among his new-bought
slaves, from a notion the unhappy creatures had,
that after death they should be restored again to
their families, friends, and country. To convince
them at least that they should not reanimate their
bodies, he ordered one of their corpses to be tied
by the heels to a rope, and lowered into the sea ;
and though it was drawn up again as fast as the
united force of the crew could be exerted, yet in
that short space the sharks had devoured every
part but the feet, which were secured at the end
of the cord. This appetite for human flesh will
occasion these animals to follow the slave-vessels
into our colder latitudes. Some years ago a Guinea
captain was, by stress of weather, driven into the
harbour of Belfast, in Ireland, with a lading of very
sickly slaves, who, in the manner above mentioned,
took every opportunity to throw themselves over-
board, when brought upon deck, as is usual, for
the benefit of the fresh air. The captain, among
others, perceiving a woman slave attempting to

222

SHARK.

drown herself, pitched upon her as a proper ex-
ample to the rest. As he supposed that they did
not know the terrors attending death, he ordered
the woman to be tied with a rope under the arm-
pits, and so let her down into the water. When
the poor creature was thus plunged in, and about
half way down, she was heard to give a terrible
shriek, which at first was ascribed to her fears of
drowning ; but soon after the water appeared red all
round her; she was drawn up, and it was found that
a shark, which had followed the ship, had bit her
off from the middle.

“ Lur’d by the scent

Of steaming crowds, of rank disease, and death.

Behold ! he rushing cuts the briny flood,

Swift as the gale can bear the ship along;

And, from the partners of that cruel trade
Which spoils unhappy Guinea of her sons.

Demands his share of prey, demands themselves.”

Swimmers frequently fall a prey to the voracious
shark : those are lucky, who, like a gentleman well
known in this city, escape with the loss of a leg or
an arm. Many perish entirely by them, and are
for ever swept away from their family and friends.
The melancholy instance which happened in the
island of St. Christopher’s, and which forms the
substance of a pathetic ballad by Grainger, should
prove a warning to others not to trust themselves
to the mercy of those seas. This ballad is so in-
teresting, that we shall beg leave to introduce the
latter part of it, where the person, of all others the

SHARK.

2123

most dear to the unfortunate young man, comes to
the shore to welcome his arrival.

Soon as the well known ship she spy’d
She cast her weeds away 5
And to the palmy shore she hied.

All in her best array.

In sea green silk so neatly clad.

She there impatient stood ;

The crew with wonder saw the lad
Repel the foaming flood.

Her hands a handkerchief display’d
Which he at parting gave 5
Well pleas’d the token he survey’d.

And manlier beat the wave.

Her fair companions one and all
Rejoicing crowd the strand j
For now her lover swam in call.

And almost touch’d the land.

Then through the white surf did she haste.

To clasp her lovely swain 3
When, ah ! a shark bit through his waist:

His heart’s blood dy’d the main !

He shriek’d ! his half sprang from the ware.

Streaming with purple gore 3
And soon it found a living grave.

And, ah ! was seen no more.

Now haste, now haste, ye maids, 1 pray.

Fetch water from the spring :

She falls, she swoons, she dies away.

And soon her knell they ring.

Now each May-morning round her tomb.

Ye fair, fresh flowrets strew}

So may your lovers scape his doom.

Her hapless fate scape you !

124

SHARK.

Hughes, in his Natural History of Barbadoes,
mentions an instance of personal courage which will
hardly be credited; yet as it rests on good authority
we conceive it our duty to relate the story. In the
reign of queen Anne a merchant-ship arrived at
Barbadoes from England. Some of the crew were
one day bathing in the sea, when a large shark ap-
peared, and swam directly towards them. They
were advertised of their danger from a person on
board the ship; and immediately hurried towards
the vessel, were they all arrived in perfect safety,
except one poor fellow who was cut in two by the
shark almost within reach of the oars. A comrade
and most intimate friend of the unfortunate victim,
when he observed the severed trunk of his com-
panion, was seized with a degree of horror that may
be more readily conceived than described. The
voracious monster was seen traversing the bloody
surface in search of the remainder of his prey,
when the brave, youtb plunged into the water, de-
termined either to make the shark disgorge, or to
be buried himself in the same grave. He held in
his hand a long and sharp-pointed knife, and the
rapacious animal pushed furiously towards him :
he had turned on his side, and opened his enor-
mous jaws, in order to seize him, when the youth,
diving dexterously under, seized the shark with his
left hand, somewhere below the upper fins, and stab-
bed him several times in the belly. The shark, en-
raged with pain, and streaming with blood, at-
tempted by every means in his power to disengage

SHARK.

225

himself from his enemy. The crews of the sur-
rounding vessels saw that the combat was decided ;
but they were ignorant which was slain, till the
shark, exhausted by loss of blood, reached the shore,
and along with him his conqueror; who, flushed
with victory, redoubled his efforts, and with the aid
of an ebbing tide dragged him on the beach. The
story concludes with saying that he ripped up the
bowels of the fish, obtained the severed remains of
his friend’s body, and buried it with the trunk in the
same grave.

A negro, armed with a sharp knife, will some-
times attack one of these dangerous animals, and
generally with success. The Black is well aware
of the shark’s inability to hurt him unless he first
turns upon his side ; he therefore boldly ventures
towards the creature; and while he is preparing to
give the fatal gripe, the negro dives beneath and
wounds him in the belly : these blows followed up
with dexterity, soon put an end to the combat, and
the victor returns to the shore in triumph. It is
probably owing to their address in avoiding the at-
tacks of so formidable an enemv, that the South
Sea islanders are not at all afraid of sharks. Cap-
tain Portlock asserts that he saw five or six large
sharks swimming about the ship at a time when
upwards of a hundred Indians, both men and
women, were in the water. It is singular that
these ravenous animals, though they greedily seized
the bait thrown to them by the sailors, never offered
to molest the Indians ; nor did they in their turn

Q

VOL. II.

226

SHARK.

manifest the least degree of fear at being in such
alarming company.

Notwithstanding the voracious appetite of this
fish, it sometimes requires a little address to catch
him. The bait used for this purpose by our sea-
men is a piece of beef, or pork, firmly fixed upon
a strong hook, attached to an iron chain ; this is
thrown into the sea, and the end made fast to the
stern of the ship. In this situation it seldom re-
mains long without a visitor, who examines the
beef, and after swimming round will sometimes
leave it untouched, as if apprehensive of the snare :
when he appears thus undetermined, the sailors will
draw the bait towards them, as if intending to take
it entirely away ; and this stratagem frequently suc-
ceeds : the hungry glutton, alarmed at the idea of
losing it for ever, rushes forward to his destruction,
and swallows the iron hook. When he finds this
fatal instrument lodged within his maw, he exerts
his utmost efforts to disengage himself; and finding
it impossible to disgorge the hook, he tries with all
his might to cut the chain ; thus he continues his
unavailing task, till, quite spent, he suffers himself
to be drawn on board the ship, and dispatched.
This enormous creature bears many hard blows be-
fore he is killed, and struggles terribly with his de-
stroyers ; who are careful to avoid being struck by
his tail, with which he sometimes gives very dan-
gerous blows.

M. Geoffroy has added something to the interest-
ing part of Natural History, in his account of the

SHARK.

227

shark’s supposed purveyor. This gentleman has in-
serted in the Bulletin des Sciences , ISo. 6*1, an ob-
servation he made during his voyage respecting the
pilot fish*, who accompanies the shark, and points
out to him those places where food is to be obtained
in the greatest abundance. In the month of May,
1798, while M. Geoffrey was lying becalmed be-
tween Cape Bon and the Island of Malta, the at-
tention of the passengers was excited by a shark
advancing towards the vessel. He was preceded by
two pilots, who were seen to direct their course to-
wards the poop of the ship, which they inspected
twice from one end to the other ; but, not finding
any thing there to satisfy the want of their master,
resumed their former route. It appears that the
shark never lost sight of the pilots, but regularly
followed their course, as if he had been dragged by
them. The minute the shark was seen, one of the
sailors threw a large hook into the sea, baited with
lard. The three travellers, though they had already
proceeded to some distance, stopped short, upon
hearing the noise which the bait made in falling
into the water, and the two pilots were dismissed to
examine the cause. While they were gone, the
shark played upon the surface of the w ater, and oc-
casionally dived, but always reappeared in the same
place. The pilots, after they had discovered the
lard, returned to their master with great velocity,
and made every effort to get before him ; which
they had no sooner done than the trio returned to-

# Gasterosteus ductor , Linn.

228

SHARK.

wards the vessel. The shark, however, did not dis-
cover the bait till it was pointed out to him by his
friends, when he rushed forward to seize it, and the
hook penetrating his lip, he was immediately hoisted
on board.

If we for a moment consider the fossil teeth of
this species, preserved in the British Museum,
which are at least four inches and a half from the
point to the base, and six inches from the point to
the corner ; we shall be satisfied, that the specimen
they belonged to must have been of a size far su-
perior to any that are to be met with at present.

During the breeding season the sharks are ob-
served to approach the shores, on purpose to choose
a favourable spot where they may deposit their
young. These are discharged two or three at a
time, enclosed alive, in a capsule, or square pel-
lucid horny case, terminated at the four corners by
very long and slender filaments : the young when
first excluded from these are not above a few inches

long.

STURGEON.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Acipenser Sturio. A. rostro obtuso ; oris diametro transverso

longitudini aequali, cirris rostri apici pro-
pioribus ; labiis bifidis. Linn. Syst. Nat.
Gmel. 1. p. 1483.

Beak obtuse, with long cirrhi situated to-
wards the end j mouth transverse j lips
bifid.

Acipenser cirris quatuor corpore tubercu-
lorum spinosorum seriebus quinquean-
gulo, rostro subacuto. Gron. Zoopk.
p. 39. no. 140.

Acipenser. Bloch, 3. p. 89. no. 1.
pi. 88.

Sturgeon. . . . Will. Ichth. 23Q. Penn. Brit. Zool. 3.

p. J24. no. 53. pi. 19. Shaw Gen.
Zool. 5. p. 3/0. pi. 159.

The sturgeon inhabits the northern European and
American seas, and annually ascends the largest
rivers in order to deposit its spawn. The in-
habitants along the banks of the Po, the Danube,
and the Wolga, profit exceedingly by their visits ;
they crowd up the latter river during the autumn
and winter, and are then taken in great numbers.

230

STURGEON.

The sturgeon grows to the length of eighteen
feet, and will sometimes weigh five hundred pounds,
but they are seldom met with of so large a size in
our rivers. Mr. Pennant mentions one that w eighed
four hundred and sixty pounds, which was taken a
few years ago in the river Esk, in Scotland ; where,
he tells us, they are more frequently found than in
our southern waters. They are represented as very
spiritless, suffering themselves to be taken without
the least resistance, and drawn out of the water
without a struggle. Their flesh is admired for its
firmness and delicacy, and w7hen roasted is said to
be extremely good. In the months of May, June,
and July, the American rivers are full of them, and
at that season they are seen sporting in the water,
and leaping from its surface to a considerable height
in the air. The noise made by their fall may be
heard on a still evening at a great distance. We
are assured that it is dangerous to pass the places
that are much frequented by them, as they some-
times fling themselves into the small boats used
upon the rivers, and sink them.

We receive most of our sturgeon either from the
Baltic rivers, or North America. A large fishery
has been long established at Pillau, in Prussia,
where the adjacent shores are formed into districts
and farmed out to different companies, some of
which, according to Mr. Pennant, are rented for
near three hundred pounds a year. They are
caught in large nets made of small cord, which are
stretched by the fishermen across the mouth of the

STURGEON.

231

river, in such a manner, that, whether the tide ebbs
or flows, the pouch of the net goes with the stream.
Some of the sturgeon thus caught are carried to
market and sold fresh, while others are pickled and
sent to different parts of Europe, where they are
much esteemed ; particularly in England. There
are two ways of preserving the fish. One is by cut-
ting it in pieces lengthwise, and hanging it up to
dry in the sun ; in this state it is sold in all the
countries of the Levant, and supplies the w ant of
better provision. The other method is practised
along the shores of the Baltic, and in Holland ;
where the fish is cut into short pieces, and packed in
small barrels containing a proper pickle to preserve
them in.

When the Indians fish for sturgeon, they gene-
rally use a pointed spear about fourteen feet long :
with this instrument they embark in their canoe
on one of the North American lakes ; and when a
fish passes, the man at the head darts the spear
into the most vulnerable part of the body, which is
carried away by the sturgeon with such velocity as
instantly to run out a long coil of rope to which the
end of the spear is fastened. If, however, the blow
proves effectual, the fish is generally killed in a short
time.

From the roe of this fish is prepared the caviar ,
so well known as a delicacy in some parts of Eu-
rope. In consistence it is said to resemble soft soap,
and it is eaten with bread as a relish. This prepa-
ration has long fallen into disuse in England, but

232 STURGEON.

is said to be still an article of merchandize among:
the Turks, Greeks, and Venetians. It is made, as
we have just observed, of the roe, which the per-
sons who are employed for the purpose separate
from the fish ; and having cleared it from the small
membranes that connect it together, they wash it
with vinegar, and afterwards spread it to dry upon
a table. The spawn is then put into a vessel with
salt, and broken into small pieces, after which it is
removed into a canvass bag to drain ; and lastly it is
taken to a tub with holes in the bottom, where if
there be any moisture still remaining it may run
out. In this tub it is firmly pressed down, and
covered up close for use.

The back and sides of the sturgeon are well
guarded from injury by five rows of large bony
tubercles, each of which is terminated by a sharp
curved point, in a reversed direction. The skin is
covered with very small tubercles of a similar form.
Th is fish has a very long and slender nose, which
ends in a point. The mouth is situated beneath,
and is destitute of teeth : four long tendrils, or
beards, are placed between this and the end of the
nose. The manners of the sturgeon seem perfectly
inoffensive ; and he is said to be content with the
marine insects which he finds at the bottom of the
sea, as these are chiefly found in the stomach when
the fish is opened.

It appears that the sturgeon was a celebrated fish
among the antients, and so highly relished by the
Greeks and Romans, that, according to Pliny, it

STURGEON.

233

was brought to table with great ceremony, and or-
namented with flowers ; the slaves who carried it
being also adorned with garlands, and preceded by
music. The learned Mr. Pennant, however, has
doubted whether the acipenser of the antients was
the same as our sturgeon. Had they been of one
species, it is hardly to be supposed that Ovid would
have spoken of it as a foreign fish :

Tuque peregrinis , acipenser, nobilis undis.

And, thou, a fish in foreign seas renown’d.

He likewise founds his objection on the descrip-
tion of Pliny ; for that philosopher relates, that its
scales are placed in a contrary direction to those
of other fish, being turned towards the mouth ;
which disagrees with the character of all that are
known at present.

INSECTS.

The excellent Stillingfleet says, “ We are too apt to
treat the Almighty worse than a rational man would
treat a good mechanic ; w hose works he would
either thoroughly examine, or be ashamed to find
any fault with them.” This observation is but too
true ; and we are confident that many are deterred
from contemplating the minuter parts of the crea-
tion, from the fear of being ridiculed as hunters of
butterflies, or collectors of cockles : but let it be
remembered, that those who direct their wit against
the naturalist, are far more to be pitied than he,
who has a rational and innocent amusement to fly
to, that will at once arrest his attention and improve
his mind. He may be assured, that the variety,
the dispositions, and the wonderful formation, of
the little creatures we are about to describe, will
afford him sufficient matter of astonishment ; and,
at the same time, compel him to allow, that what
the Deity in his infinite wisdom hath thought fit to
create, it can never degrade us to examine.

236

INSECTS.

We cannot sufficiently admire that art which has
associated so many vessels, and such activity of mo-
tion, in an insect which is frequently so small as
hardly to be perceived. These minute points are
considered by the vulgar as the mere effects of
chance ; while the naturalist looks up to the true
author of their being, and finds in them a fresh
proof of his omnipotence. Most of the tribe can
boast a brilliancy of colouring, and many have a
profusion of azure, green, and vermilion, gold, silver,
and diamonds, with fringe and plumage upon their
wings and the ornaments of their heads. We have
only to examine a dragon fly, a papilio, or even a
caterpillar, to convince us of this magnificence.

The Abbe La Pluche has given a very pleasing-
account of the different parts of insects. We are sur-
prised, says the Abbe, to see nature so careful in
the equipage and attire of these apparently insigni-
ficant little creatures ; but our wonder would be dif-
ferent, if we were to take a particular survey of the
organs she has given them for their support, and
the implements each of them works with, according
to their different professions — for every one has its
own. Some spin, and have a couple of distaffs, and
fingers to form their thread ; others make nets and
lawn, and for that purpose are provided with shut-
tles and clews of thread. There are some who
build in wood, and are therefore supplied with
two bills for cutting their timber; others make
wax, and have their shops furnished with rakers,
ladles, and trowels. Most of them have a trunk

INSECTS.

237

more wonderful for its various uses than the ele-
phant’s, and which to some serves as an alembic for
the distillation of a syrup man could never imi-
tate. To others it performs the office of a tongue ;
many employ it as a drill for piercing; and the
generality use it as a reed for suction. Several
whose heads are fortified with a trunk, a saw, or
a pair of pincers, carry in the other extremity of
their bodies an auger, whicn they lengthen and
turn at discretion ; and by those means dig com-
modious habitations for their families in the heart
of fruits, under the bark of trees, in the substance
of leaves or buds, and frequently in the hardest
wood itself. Most of them have excellent eyes, and
have likew ise the additional benefit of a couple of
horns, or antenna , that defend them, and which
as the animal moves along, especially in the dark,
prove the way, and discover, by a quick and delicate
sensation, what would defile, drown, or endanger
them. If these horns are moistened by any inju-
rious liquor, or bend by the resistance of a solid
body, the animal is warned of the danger, and
turns another way. Some of these horns are com-
posed of small knots, like those on the head of
cray-fish ; others terminate in the form of a comb :
a third sort are covered with little plumes, or tufted
with velvet, in order to be preserved from humidity.
Besides these and many other benefits, which vary
according to the species, most insects have also the
gift of flying ; some, as the dragon-fly, have four
large wings, which correspond with the length of

238

INSECTS.

their bodies ; others, whose wings are of that exqui-
site fineness that the least friction would tear them,
have two strong scales which they raise and fall like
a pair of wings : but these are no more than a case
for the real ones. You will find beetles, may-chaf-
fers, and Spanish flies, furnished with these cases.
You may also observe numbers who have only two
wings, but under these you will perceive as many
bladders, or hollow vessels, which are thought by
some to be a couple of weights, or a kind of counter-
poise, by the assistance of which the insect supports
itself against the agitation of the air, and continues
in an equilibrium, like a rope-dancer who poises
himself with a pole that has a weight of lead at each
extremity ; though perhaps these hollow vessels
may answer the purpose of castanets, which the in-
sects strike against their wings either for their di-
version, or to make themselves known to each other
by the buzzing sound.

Every insect is generated, like other animals,
from a germ which contains the insect in miniature.

O

This germ is at first wrapped up in a single or
double covering, which opens when the animal has
acquired strength enough to break through it. If
the little creature escapes from its enclosure at the
birth, and comes into the world completely formed,
and like its dam, this latter is said to be viviparous.
Of this species are the palmer and the aphis , so
common upon rose trees, besides many others that
are to be found on different plants. But when the
female parent produces her young in a hard enclo-

INSECTS.

239

sure, which is called an egg, and in which they
continue for some time, she is said to be oviparous.

Among the viviparous species, the enclosure where
the germ is lodged is soft and delicate j because, as
the young is always invested with a cover while it
continues in the womb of its mother, it is not re-
quisite that the germ should have any stronger de-
fence. In the oviparous kind, the covering which
infolds the germ a little before the teeming of the
dam, becomes a solid incrustation, to protect the
young from the weight and injuries of the air, w hich
rolls over the egg, as upon the surface of a vault,
without occasioning the least prejudice to the tender
animal that is lodged within. Most insects are of
this last class, and are kept locked up in the egg
during the winter.

The various contrivances which the females em-
ploy to secure their eggs from injury, and the care
they take to deposit their little treasures in places
where the future progeny may find subsistence, can-
not be sufficiently admired. Many enclose their
eggs in a web of the finest silk ; others cover them
with hair, or glue them to the leaves upon which
they have been deposited, or make incisions into
the leaves themselves, and deposit an egg in every
slit. Some make a hole in the earth, where they
lay their eggs, and some envelop them in a soft
substance which forms the first nutriment of the
animal. If this attention to secure the egg from injury
is any evidence of an all-directing power, how much
more so is that instinct in the little animal, which

240

INSECTS.

causes it to place the egg in a situation, where the
young will find its proper sustenance after it bursts
from its confinement ! The motions of these dimi-
nutive creatures may appear to a casual observer to
be the effect of accident ; but an attention to the
following facts will convince him that they all tend
to a certain point. In China, where the silk-worm
feeds at large in the fields, her eggs are only to be
found on the mulberry-tree. We never find upon
the cabbage any eggs of that caterpillar who eats
the willow, nor see upon a willow the eggs of any
caterpillar who feeds upon cabbage. But, what is
still more wonderful, neither the mulberry -tree, the
willow, nor the cabbage, afford the parent moths
or butterflies the smallest sustenance : they cannot
taste their leaves, and yet they are directed by an
unerring instinct to deposit their eggs upon those
plants which are appointed for their food in the
caterpillar state. The little moth, which does so
much mischief to our curtains, woollen stuffs, and
paper, is never to be found in a plant. Nor are the
eggs of the flesh-fly to be found in any but animal
substances. Thus is an invariable rule established,
which is continued from one generation to another
without the slightest deviation.

We shall conclude the subject of nidification with
the following curious instance as related by an in-
genious naturalist to the late Mr. Adams : “ As I

was observing one day some caterpillars which were
feeding voluptuously on a cabbage leaf, my atten-
tion was attracted towards a part of the plant, about

INSECTS.

241

which a little tty was buzzing on its wing, as if de-
liberating where to settle ; I was surprised to see
the herd of caterpillars, creatures of twenty times
its size, endeavouring in an uncouth manner, by
various contortions of the body, to get out of its
way, and more so whenever the fly poised on its
wing as if going to drop : at length the creature
made its choice, and seated itself on the back ol one
of the largest and fairest of the cluster. It was in
vain the unhappy reptile endeavoured to dislodge
the enemy : its anguish now seemed intolerable,
and I soon found it was in consequence of the
wounds or strokes given by the tty : at every wound
the poor caterpillar writhed and twisted its w hole
frame, endeavouring to disengage itself by shaking
off the enemy, sometimes aiming its mouth towards
the place ; but it was all in vain, its little but cruel
tormentor kept its place. When it had inflicted
thirty or forty of these wounds it took its flight with
a visible triumph ; in each of these wounds the little
fly had deposited an egg. I took the caterpillar home
with me, to observe the progress of the eggs which
were thus placed in its body, taking care to give it a
fresh supply of leaves from time to time. It recovered
to all appearance from the wounds it had received ;
and from that time for the space of four or five days
seemed to live comfortably, feeding voraciously.
The eggs were all hatched into small, oblong, vora-
cious worms, which from the moment of their ap-
pearance fed on the flesh of the caterpillar, in w hose
body they were enclosed, and seemingly w ithout
VOL. II. R

242

INSECTS.

wounding the organs of respiration or digestion ; and
when they had arrived at their full growth, they
ate their way out of the sides of the animal, at the
same time destroying it. The caterpillar thus at-
tacked by the larva of the ichneumon never escapes;
its destruction is infallible : but then its life is not
taken away at once ; the larva, while it is feeding
thereon, knows how to spare the parts that are es-
sential to its life, because its own is at the same
time tied up in that of the caterpillar.

How surprising it must appear to a person totally
unacquainted with natural history, to be told, that
there are a multitude of animals in different loims
to be met with, some of whom live deep in the
earth itself, others in the water, and who afterwards
assume a new figure, live upon the surface of the
ground, and creep like serpents through woods and
fields ; who after a certain period cease to eat, and
build themselves habitations, or rather monuments
of death, where they continue buried several weeks,
and sometimes months and whole years, without
motion or action, and to all appearance without life
itself; and who, after all this, revive in the form of
birds, and break through the enclosure of their se-
pulchres, unfold a most beautiful plumage to the
sun-beams, and with expanded wings commence
inhabitants of the air ! Yet nothing is more certain,
as all this takes place in the transformation ot in-
sects from the egg to the butterfly.

From the time the caterpillar first emerges from
its shell, till it begins to spin its tomb, it is called

INSECTS.

243

a larva , and in that state feeds voraciously upon
the leaves of the plant where it is situated. Some
of these larvce are without, and others with feet;
some of their bodies are covered with hair, and
others with stiff bristles or hooks. Soon after they

leave the egg, they increase very sensibly in bulk ;

•

and having continued in the larva state a certain time,
they prepare themselves to appear under a new form.

Previous to their passing into the state of a chry-
salis*, the caterpillars cease to eat, and, after having
fixed upon some spot where they may be as little
exposed to danger as possible, begin to perform this
great undertaking, by alternately extending and
contracting their bodies to disengage themselves
from the caterpillar skin. During this time they
spin for themselves a little sepulchre, that varies ac-
cording to the nature of the animal, but is built by
each species in an uniform manner. In this enclo-
sure they remain for a time apparently inanimate,
and wrapped up in a case, through which, however,
may be traced the rudiments of the future butterfly.
Many of these little bodies are susceptible of
warmth, and will move the tail part when placed in
the hand.

The situations of these lodgments vary according
to the species : some caterpillars burv themselves in
the earth, and there remain till they are again called
into life ; others fix themselves in the cavities of

i

* Sometimes called a vymph, signifying a young bride, because the
insect in that period puts on its beautiful attire, and prepares to as-
sume the last form, in which it is appointed to multiply its species.

•24 4

INSECTS.

walls, or to the bark of trees ; and there are some
who enter even into the heart of the wood. We
frequently observe them suspended to the roots ot
houses, or to stakes in the hedges, where these cu-
rious little enclosures are formed by the caterpillar
in the following manner : lhe creature begins the

operation by extracting from her own substance a
glutinous fluid, which lengthens, and acquires a due
consistency in proportion as she advances her head
from one place to another : when she has glued
and interlaced several threads on some smooth place
to which she intends to fix herself, she insinuates
her hinder paws into a complication of the tissue,
by means of the minute claws in which they termi-
nate. In this manner she accomplishes her first
fastening ; after which she rears her head, and fixes
a new thread on the lateral wood that corresponds
with her fifth ring; then, with a gentle deflec-
tion of her head, she draws this thread in the form
of a bow around her back, and fastens it to the op-
posite side. She frequently repeats these motions,
in order to conduct the thread from the left to the
right, and from the right to the ieft. When this
second band, which sustains the animal above the
middle of the body, has been sufficiently doubled
and fortified, she rests upon it, and then agitates
her body till it is entirely covered with sweat;
after which her skin bursts and gradually shrinks
away, while from the head of the chrysalis a set of
little points are extended beyond the threads, that
are sufficient, with the assistance of the band that

INSECTS.

24 5

traverses the back, to connect the whole together
till the proper season when the papilio is to be dis-
charged from its confinement. If we open one of
these cases, it will seem to present us with nothing
but a kind of putrefaction, in which every thing is
confounded ; but then this mass contains the ele-
ments of a better state of existence, and composes
the nutri mental juices which contribute to the
growth of a more perfect animal. The time for its
enlargement at last arrives, and the creature then
forces its way through the prison that contained it.
The head first disengages itself through the aperture,
and the body follows : for a little while it continues
moist and weak ; but as the moisture evaporates
the horns gradually lengthen, the legs and wings are
extended, and at last the new animal, arrayed in all
its glory, and in the full enjoyment of liberty, takes
flight, and ranges through the air, without retaining
the slightest similitude of its former condition.

1 he Abbe La Pluche has given a pleasing account
of the industry of the young caterpillars which
swarm in apple-trees, bushes, &c. The papilio
which proceeds from these chooses some beautiful
leaf, on which she fixes her eggs in autumn, and
soon after dies, glued and extended upon her be-
loved family. The sun, whose rays have still some
power, warms her eggs, and brings to life a multi-
tude of little caterpillars, who without having ever
seen their mother, and without the slightest model
or instructions, immediately, with a kind of emula-
tion, betake themselves to spinning, and with their

246

INSECTS.

threads industriously weave themselves beds, and a
spacious habitation, where they shelter themselves
from the severity of the season, distributed into dif-
ferent apartments, without eating, and frequently
without stirring abroad. There is only one little
opening at the bottom of this mansion, through
which the family sometimes take the air towards
noon, in a fine sunshine, and sometimes in the
night when the weather is settled. It requires
some little strength to open their retreat and break
the tissue that forms it, which is generally as firm
as parchment, and not to be penetrated by rain,
wind, or cold. In this apartment the whole family
may be found reposing on a soft and thick down,
and surrounded with several folds of the web they
have spun, which at once supplies them with their
quilts, their curtains, and their tent.

We shall conclude this short introduction with
an explanation of the seven orders of Insects as they
are divided by Linnaeus. First, the order coleoptera ,
which consists of insects with crustaceous elytra or
shells ; these shells being strong and horny, and
serving as cases, under which the fine transparent
wings lie secure and completely concealed when the
insect is at rest. This forms a very extended order,
in which are included all the beetles.

The second order, liemiptera , are composed of in-
sects having four wings, but the outer pair are
partly crustaceous, and partly membranaceous ;
sometimes nearly the whole of the wing-cases are of
a leathery texture, and softer than those of the first

INSECTS.

247

order. The wing-covers likewise differ in another
particular from the coleopterous insects ; not meet-
ing as they do in a direct line, but crossing each
other when closed. Cock-roaches, locusts, grass-
hoppers, See., belong to this order.

The order lepidoptera forms the third, and is named
from the scaly winged insects which compose it.
It includes the butterflies and moths, whose wings
are covered with a powder which comes off upon
the fingers, and, when examined by the microscope,
affords a very pleasing and interesting spectacle, each
particle of powder being as it were transformed
into a regular fan-shaped scale terminated by four
or five minute points.

Neuroptera, or nerve-winged insects, compose the
fourth order, and are finely exemplified in the
dragon-fly, which is so common by the sides of our
rivers. The wings are four in number, and are
reticulated, or appear like net work : they are
beautifully transparent, and of the texture of fine
gauze.

The fifth order is called hymenoptera. , from the
wings being membranaceous. The bee and wasp
tribe, so well known for their stinging propen-
sities, are arranged in this order. The insects
we have hitherto mentioned are all provided with
four wings ; but we now proceed to the order of

Diptera, in which the insects have only two.
But in the place of a second pair, they are furnished
with poisers or balancers, which we have already

248

INSECTS.

described as a kind of counterpoise, by the assist-
ance of which the insect supports itself against
the agitation of the air, and continues in equili-
brium.

The seventh order, aptera, contains all those in-
sects which are totally destitute of wings ; such as
spiders, centipedes, See.

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COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS.

HERCULES BEETLE.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennae or horns terminated in a kind of club, divided
longitudinally into different plates.

Second joint of the fore-legs armed with spines or teeth.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

ScARABiEus Hercules. S. thoracis cornu incurvo maximo, subtus

barbato unidentato, capitis recurvato,
supra multidentato. Linn. Syst. Nat.
Gmel. 1. p. 152b.

Thorax armed with a large incurved horn
bearded beneath, and having a single
tooth head armed in the same manner,
but the horn is shorter, and has several
teeth.

Rhinoceros Americanus cinereus, rostro
nigro nitente. Petiv. Gazoph. t. yo. f. 1.

Scarabaeus scutellatus niger. See. Degeer.
bis. 4. p. 304. no. 2. pi. 18. f. p.

250

HERCULES BEETLE.

Heiicules Beetle. . Drury Ins. 1. pi. 30. f. 1,2. Edivards

Glean, pi. 334. Shaw Gen. Zool. 6.
p. ip. pi. 1.

This beetle is more remarkable for his size than for
any thing interesting in his history. He is a most
formidable-looking insect, and sometimes measures
five or six inches in length. When he flies, the
vibrations of his wings may be heard at a consi-
derable distance. The surface of the wing-covers
in this species is perfectly smooth, and their dark
ground-colour is generally studded with spots of a
still darker tint. Nothing can exceed the black-
ness of the head and limbs, except the colour of the
horns, which are merely horizontal continuations of
the thorax and the head. Our temperate climates
are not visited by this enormous species, but in
several parts of South America they are said to
abound ; and great numbers, we are informed, col-
lect together on the mammee tree, where they em-
ploy themselves in rasping off the rind from the
tender branches, in order to get the sap, of which
it seems they are so very fond, that they drink to
intoxication, and thus fall senseless to the ground.
This account, however, has been doubted by a
learned entomologist ; who very properly remarks,
that the beard in this case would be rubbed oft the
under surface of the large horn, in consequence of
the friction to which it must necessarily be exposed
by the insect removing the rind from the tree.
The two sexes resemble each other in every re-

HERCULES BEETLE.

251

spect, except in the most prominent features, the
horns, which nature has confined to the hrow of
the male.

This species yields to none in point of size, ex-
cept indeed its African brother, the Goliah beetle,
whose body is somewhat larger, and who likewise
boasts more brilliant colours ; having a rose-coloured
thorax, marked with black stripes, and wing-cases
of a fine purple-brown.

COCK-CIIAFER

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Scaraba:us Melolontha. S. scutellatus muticus testaceus, tho-

race villoso, cauda inflexa, inci-
suris abdominis albis. Linn. Syst.
Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 1562.

Testaceous escutcheon, the thorax
downy, tail inflected, white notches
on the abdomen.

Cock-chafer Allin. Ins. 60. Dcgeer. Ins. 4.

pi. 10. f. 14. Merian. Europ. 1.
p. 2. f. 4. Shaw Gen. Zool. 6.
p. 21. pi. 3.

This well known insect is by far the most nu-
merous of all the beetle tribe, and is highly de-
serving of attention on account of the ravages which
it sometimes commits : we shall therefore trace its
history from the egg, and conclude with some ac-
count of its calamitous visitations.

The female, at the appointed season, bores a hole
in the ground, in which she deposits her eggs, which
are of an oblong shape, and are generally placed
with great regularity by the side of each other.
After this very necessary operation is performed, she
concerns herself no further about the eggs, but

COCK-CHAFER.

253

again returns to her usual haunts among the leaves
of some neighbouring tree, where she lies con-
cealed and sheltered from the heat till the declining
sun invites her to come forth and buzz about the
branches.

When the eggs, which are thus deposited, have
lain their due time in the earth, the little grubs
break their shells, and soon begin to consume the
roots of every vegetable within their reach. Their
voracity increases with their size till they arrive at
their full growth, when they are about an inch
and a half long; the larva being a thick maggot
of a whitish yellow colour, with six legs, and a
large red head provided with a pincer, and a semi-
circular lip, with which it cuts the roots of plants
and extracts the moisture. These destructive in-
sects continue in this state between three and four
years, during which time they work their way un-
der ground with great facility, destroying the roots
of our nutritive vegetables in a most deplorable
manner. A whole field of fine flourishing grass,
according to Mr. Anderson, has in the course of
a few weeks become as brittle as hay, by these
voracious grubs devouring the roots, and gnawing
away the fibres. In these cases the turf becomes
rotten, and may be turned up with the greatest
ease ; when the grubs will be found an inch or two
under the surface, lying in a curved position upon
their backs, with only their heads and tails above
the surface of the mould. Instead of eyes, which
to an insect entirely confined to a subterraneous

254

COCK-CHAFER.

habitation must be useless, the grub is provided
with a pair of feelers, which serve it to trace its way,
and to discover any obstacle or danger which it
may be necessary to avoid.

After this insect has been an inhabitant of the
earth for more than three years (during which time
it has often shifted its skin), it prepares to emerge
from its dark abode, in a very different form. This,
however, is not effected in a hurry, but requires
months to accomplish. About the end of autumn,
when the grub feels the time approaching for its
transformation, it prepares for the change by dig-
ging deep into the earth, sometimes as far as six
feet below the surface, where it takes some pains to
form a smooth and capacious tomb, and soon after
changes into a chrysalis. In this state the insect
continues all the winter, and about the middle of
February it again rises into life, and leaves its
sheath completely winged ; but by no means in a
state to fly. All the operations of this creature
seem to be tedious. Other insects, when they
emerge from their temporary tombs, feel but little
inconvenience, and are presently enabled to join
their companions in the air : but this is for a long
time a helpless animal; and far from at once enjoy-
ing a state of full perfection, it continues for a time
feeble and sickly, with hardly power to move, and
no inclination to eat. All the parts ol its body
continue soft for about a month ; when they begin
gradually to harden, and in May the insect leaves
the ground, recovered from its state of imbecility.

COCK-CIIAFER.

255

At this season an interesting writer describes them
as rising from their long imprisonment, from living
only upon roots, and imbibing only the moisture
of the earth, to visit the mildness of the summer
air, to choose the sweetest vegetables for their ban-
quet, and to drink the dew of the evening. If an at-
tentive observer then walk abroad, he will see them
bursting up before him in his path-way, and every
part of the earth that had its surface beaten into
hardness, perforated by their egression. When the
season is favourable for them, they are seen in the
evening by myriads buzzing along, and, with a
sort of capricious blindness, hitting against every
object that intercepts their flight.

These insects are the amusement of children, but
the bane of husbandmen and gardeners ; for swarms
of them occasionally appear, to the destruction of
everv vegetable in their neighbourhood. WTien
they multiply in this manner they are as much to
be dreaded as a flight of locusts, and the mischief
they do is equally calamitous. An instance of their
destructive power, when collected in large numbers,
is recorded by Mr. Molineux, in the Philosophical
Transactions for the year 1697. From this gen-
tlemans information, we learn that several districts
in Ireland were overrun by these voracious insects,
and that they were first noticed in the year 1688.
The account is altogether so singular and curious,
that we shall beg leave to give it nearly in the
words of the author. The flight of cock-chafers
first appeared on the south-west coast of Galway,

256

COCK-CHAFER.

where they were brought by a south-west wind.
From hence they penetrated into the inland parts
towards Heddford, about twelve miles north of the
town of Galway ; multitudes of them appeared, in
the day time, among the trees and hedges in the
adjacent country, hanging by the boughs in clus-
ters, like bees when they swarm. In this posture
they continued, with little or no motion, during the
heat of the day ; but towards evening, or sunset,
they would all disperse and fly about with a strange
humming noise like the beating of distant drums,
and in such vast numbers that they darkened the
air for the space of two or three miles square. Per-
sons travelling on roads, or abroad in the fields,
found it very troublesome to pass through them, as
they continually flew against their faces with such
force, that they made the place smart, and left a
slight mark behind them. In a short time after
their arrival they had so entirely eaten up and de-
stroyed all the leaves of the trees for some miles
round, that the whole country was left as bare as in
the depth of winter; and we are assured by Mr.
Molineux, that the noise which this immense
swarm of cock-chafers made in gnawing the leaves
very much resembled the sawing of timber. They
also came into the gardens, and destroyed the buds,
blossoms, and leaves of all the fruit-trees, so that
they were left perfectly naked ; and many that
were more delicate than the rest, lost their sap as
well as their leaves, so that they gradually withered
away and died. The multitudes of these insects

COCK-CHAFER.

2b 7

spread to such a degree that they infested houses,
and became extremely offensive and troublesome.
Their numerous young, hatched from the eggs
which they had lodged under ground, near the sur-
face of the earth, did still more harm in that close
retirement than all the flying swarms ol their pa-
rents had done abroad ; for this destructive brood,
lying under ground, ate up the roots of corn and
grass, and thus consumed the support both of man
and beast. This plague was happily checked several
ways. High winds and wet mizzling weather de-
stroyed many millions of them in a day ; and
when this state of the air prevailed, they were so
weakened that their feet refused to support them,
and they dropped from the branches completely
disabled. During this unfavourable weather the
swine and poultry of the country would watch un-
der the trees for their falling, and feed and fatten
upon them ; and even the poorer sort of the country
people, who at that time suffered from a scarcity
of provision, had a way of dressing them, and lived
upon the food. In a little time it was found that
smoke was very offensive to them, and by burning
heath, fern, &c. the gardens were secured; or, if the
insects had already entered, they were thus driven
out again. Towards the latter end of summer they
returned of themselves, and so totally disappeared,
that in a few days you could not see one left.

A year or two ago, continues Mr. Molineux, all
along the south-west coast of Galway, such in-
linite numbers of these creatures were found dead

VOL. II.

s

258

COCK-CHAFER.

on the shore, and in such vast heaps, that upon a
moderate calculation there could not be less than
forty or fifty horse-loads. 1 his was a new colony,
or a supernumerary swarm, from the same place
whence the first stock came in lb‘88, driven by the
wind from their native land, which this gentleman
concludes to be Normandy, or Britany in France,
on account of the numbers with which that country
is infested. This swarm, he supposes, met with a
contrary wind, and, being tired with then voyage,
were all driven into the sea, which, by the motion
of its waves, cast their floating bodies in heaps on
the shore. It was observed that they seldom kept
above a year together in a place, and their usual
stages or marches were computed at about six miles
in twelve months.

In the month of February, in the year 15/4,
Mouflfet tells us, that such an amazing number of
these insects were driven into the river Severn, that
the mills were completely clogged up, and pre-
vented from working. The people were assisted in
their attempts to extirpate these creatures by the
birds, which hovered about in numbers, and feasted

sumptuously upon them.

The county of Norfolk seems to have suffeied
more from the ravages of these insects than any
other part of England. In the year 1/51, a farmei
was so injured by them, that he completely lost his
crop, and was induced to receive a sum of money
for the support of himself and family till the retui n-
imr season. This man affirmed, that with the as-

COCK-CHAFER. 259

sistance of Iris servant lie collected eighty bushels
of cock-chafers upon his own farm.

We are much indebted to our rookeries for pre-
venting the increase of these destructive insects.

O

While the land is ploughing the rooks may be ob-
served to follow at a little distance, and pick up the
grubs and other worms from the newly turned up
furrow. In this manner great numbers are destroyed
before they arrive at their winged state ; and when
that period takes place they may be easily reduced
by shaking the trees where they lodge, in the mid-
dle of the day ; for at that time they are quite stu-
pid, and will fall to the ground without attempting
to fly away. Those who employ themselves in this
manner perform a very acceptable service to the
husbandman, by crushing the future progeny in
the body of the parent insect.

PILL-CHAFER.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Scarabjeus piLULAitius. S. niger opacus laevis subtus aeneus,

thorace posterius rotundato. Linn.
Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 1555.

Smooth 3 of a dusky black above, and
brassy colour beneath j posterior part
of the thorax rounded.

Copris niger nitidus. See. Geoffr. Ins. 1.
p. 91. no. 7.

Pill-chafer Catesb. Carol. 3. pi. 11. left-hand

figure. Schceff. Ic. pi. 73. f. 6.
Voet. Coleopt. t. 28. f. 49.

This insect has obtained the name of tumble dung
beetle , from the dirty drudgery to which the great-
est part of its life is devoted. It is found both in
Europe and America, and particularly demands our
attention on account of its singular manners. The
name of pill-chafer is likewise justly given to these
creatures from their indefatigable perseverance in
rolling up pellets of dung, like pills, in the centre
of each of which they deposit an egg. It seems that
they are directed by an exquisite sense of smelling
to newly fallen dung, to which they resort in
swarms, and immediately begin to temper it with

PILL-CHAFER.

26l

a proper mixture of earth, till it is formed into the
pellets we have just mentioned, and each ball has
received its egg. Mr. Catesby assures us, this em-
ployment so completely occupies their attention,
that they may be handled, or otherwise interrupted,
without being deterred ; for the moment they are
disengaged they continue their work without any
apprehension of danger.

These insects are seen from April to Septem-
ber : after this period they disappear, and their
eggs, which are conveyed to the depth of two or
three feet beneath the surface of the earth, remain
there till the following spring, when they burst
their shells, and fill up their time in the same nasty
manner as their parents did before them.

The pains which these creatures take to bury their
pellets, and the w ay in w hich they proceed to effect
their purpose, is thus described by Mr. Catesby,
w ho observed the whole process :

“ I have attentively admired their industry, and
mutual assisting of each other in rolling these glo-
bular balls from the place where they made them
to that of their interment, which is usually the
distance of some yards, more or less. This they
perform breech foremost, by raising their hind
parts, and forcing along the ball with their hind
feet. Two or three of them are sometimes engaged
in trundling one ball, which, from meeting with
impediments, on account of the unevenness of the
ground, is sometimes deserted by them. It is,
however, attempted by others with success, unless

262

PILL-CHAFER.

it happen to roll into some deep hollow or chink,
where they are constrained to leave it ; but they
continue their work by rolling oft’ the next ball that
comes in their way. None of them seem to know
their own balls, but an equal care for the whole ap-
pears to affect all the community. They form these
pellets while the dung remains moist, and leave
them to harden in the sun before they attempt to
roll them. In their moving of them from place to
place, both they and the balls may frequently be
seen tumbling about over the little eminences that
are in their way. They are not however easily dis-
couraged, and, by repeating their attempts, usually
surmount the difficulties.

These insects are about an inch in length, and so
strong, that when one or two of them are put under
a candlestick they will cause it to move backwards
and forwards, to the great surprise of those that are
not aware of the trick.

STAG-BEETLE.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennae club-shaped, compressed on one side, and divided
into short plates or laminae resembling the teeth of a
comb.

Jaws strong, projecting from the head, and armed with
teeth.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Lucanus Cervus. L. scutellatus : maxillis exsertis apice bifur-

catis latere unidentatis. Linn. Syst. JSat.
Gmel. 1. p. 1588.

With an escutcheon : each horn has a bifur-
cated apex and a single tooth turning in-
wards.

Lucanus mandibulis exsertis unidentatis apice
bifurcatis, labio deflexo : ruga transversali
clavata. Fair. Ins. 1. p. 1. no. 2.

Platycerus fuscus, See. Geoff. Ins. 1. p. 6l.
no. 1. pi. 1. f. 1.

Cekvus volans. Mouff. Ins. 148.
Stag-beetle. . • Menan . Fur. pi. 168. Schceff. Icon. pi. 133.

f. 1.

Stag-chaffer. Shaw Gen. Zool. 6. p. 2J .
pi. 6.

This is the largest of our British insects, and is
found in the neighbourhood of oak-trees, feeding
upon the honey dew which so frequently moistens

264 STAG-BEETLE.

the leaves. This formidable-looking beetle some-
times measures more than two inches in length, in-
cluding the horns, which are a pair of very strong-
pincers, and of great use to the animal. The larva
is generally found in the hollows of decayed oak-
trees, where it lives among the rotten or decayed
vegetable mould with which those cavities usually
abound. The size of the insect in this state is
very considerable, sometimes measuring nearly four
inches. It is said to be five or six years in arriving
at its full dimensions ; after which it prepares for its
second state, by rolling itself round in the earth,
till, with the help of a glutinous fluid which exudes
from its body, it has formed a hollow, in which,
after a certain time has expired, it becomes a chry-
salis. The ball of earth which contains the future
beetle is said to be considerably larger than a hen’s
egg, and perfectly smooth within side. In the
months of July and August these insects burst from
their tombs completely formed, and of a deep chest-
nut colour.

DEATH-WATCH.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antenna; filiform ; with the three last articulations longer
than the others.

Thorax nearly round, with a distinct margin into which
the head is occasionally received.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Ptinus Pulsator. Pt. cylindricus opacus rugosus maculis griseis

adspersus. Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1.
p. 1605.

Of a cylindrical figure,, with a rough dark-
coloured body marked with grayish spots.
Death-watch. . Ptinus fatidicus. Shaw Gen. Zool. 6.

p. 33. pi. 8. Nat. Misc. 3. 804.

Superstition has for ages attached to this little
insect the power of foretelling the approaching
death of some friend or relative ; and so strongly is
the idea of its prophetic warning impressed upon
the minds of many, that even in these enlightened
days they still maintain their opinion, and refuse to
divest themselves of their prejudice. These dreadful
forebodings, conveyed perhaps from the head of the
bed, or from behind the paper of the room, are oc-

266

DEATH-WATCH.

casioned by the death-watch beating with firmness
against the place. How groundless are our fears,
and how opposite the intention of the innocent
cause of all our apprehensions ! His ticking noise,
far from being the harbinger of ill, is giving him by
nature as a signal to attract his wandering mate, and
lead her towards the place where he is stationed.

We learn from Dr. Shaw, that it is chiefly in the
advanced state of spring when this alarming little
animal commences its sound, and that the prevail-
ing number of distinct strokes which it beats is
from seven to nine, or eleven. These beats are
given in quick succession, and are repeated at un-
certain intervals. The sound may be exactly imi-
tated by striking the finger nail upon a table; and in
old houses, where these insects frequently abound,
their noise may be heard at almost every hour in the
day.

We have not hitherto been fortunate in our en-
deavours to find this little object ; we have fre-
quently heard it, and have often attempted to trace
it to its hiding-place ; but it has always eluded our
pursuit, and left us to regret our want of success.
Mr. Stackhouse, who, after a diligent search to dis-
cover one of these insects, at length found it on the
bottom of his chair, has thus described the manner
in which it proceeded to make the noise: The death-
watch raised itself upon its hind-legs, and, with its
body somewhat inclined, beat its head with great
force and agility against the place where it stood.
The chair bottom was of sedge, and this was strip-

DEATH-WATCH.

26*7

ped of its outward coat for the space of half an inch
by the insect, which stood upon the bulbous part,
and beat upon the outside with such force, that it
was visibly depressed where it had beaten, for a
space equal to the size of a silver penny. Mr.
Stackhouse put the insect into a box, which he
opened on the following day, and set in the sun.
The little animal seemed very brisk, and crept back-
wards and forwards along the pieces of sedge and
rotten wood that had been put into the box with it ;
till at length, getting to the end of one of the pieces,
it extended its wings, and was about to fly, when
Mr. Stackhouse shut down the lid and again secured
his prisoner, which soon afterwards became quiet.
“ I could not before perceive,” says this gentleman,
“ though 1 had the use of a tolerably good glass,
any the least sign of a fissure upon its back; and for
that reason did greatly question whether it had any
wings or not, till I set it in the sun. The head of
the insect appears to be of a very fine contexture,
as it is seen when it creeps about and stretches it
forward ; but when it is drawn up under its galea it
seems to be covered with a membrane thick set with
fine hairs. It lived with me about a fortnight, but
I could never perceive that it beat after it was con-
fined in the box.” The animal greatly resembles the
colour of decayed wood, being of a dull grayish
brown, and having several marks upon the wing-
cases of a lighter cast. The length of the insect is
about a quarter of an inch.

Dr. Shaw very properly observes, that we ought

268

DEATH-WATCH.

to be careful not to confound this animal, which is
the real death-watch of the vulgar, with a much
smaller insect of a very different genus, which makes
a sound like the ticking of a watch, that is generally
continued for a considerable time without intermis-
sion. This is the termes pulsatorium of Linnaeus.

If the finger nail or the head of a pin is struck
upon a table within the hearing of a death-watch, it
will frequently answer, and continue to do so at in-
tervals for a considerable time. Dr. Derham assures
us, that he frequently amused himself in this way
with a male and female which he kept together in a
box : by imitating their noise, he made them beat
whenever he pleased. These little things are not
without their mutual attachments. They continued
quietly in their prison for about three weeks, when
one of them died; and the other, unable to bear the
confinement without its companion, gnawed through
the box and escaped.

GLIMMER-CHAFER.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennae club-chaped, stiff, and shorter than the head.

Eyes four, two on the upper, and two on the under side
of the head.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Gyrinus Natator. G. substriatus. Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. I.

p. l6ll.

Substriated.

Dytiscus ovatus glaber, antennis capite bre-
vioribus obtusis. Scop. Ent. Cam. 2 99.
Scarabaeus aquae subrotundus e coeruleo vi-
ridi splendente undique tinctus. Raj.
Ins. p. 89. no. 9.

Glimmer-chafer. . Geoff. Ins. 1. pi. 3. f. 3. Roes. Ins. pi. 31.

Schceff. Elem. t. 67. Shaw Gen.
Zool. 6. p. 39. pi. 11.

This common inhabitant of our brooks and rivers
is seen sporting near the surface in the summer
season, and shining like a piece of looking-glass.
They are so quick in their motions, and dive with
such velocity that they are not easily caught, al-
though the water sometimes literally swarms with
them. The glimmer- chafer is a small insect, sel-

2/0

GLIMMER-CHAFER.

dom exceeding the third of an inch in length ; it
is of an oval figure, and has acquired its specific
name from the shining surface of its back, which
"listens in the sun. It has been observed, that
where these insects swarm, and the weather is
very hot, they exhale a strong and disagreeable
smell.

The eggs of these diminutive animals are de-
posited in the form of small white specks on the
stems of aquatic plants, and the larvae which are
produced from them are really curious. Dr. Shaw’s
description of their figure, &c. is as follows :

“ The larva is of a highly singular aspect, having
a very lengthened body, furnished, exclusive of six
legs on the fore parts, with a great many lateral
appendages, or processes down the body ; those to-
wards the extremity considerably exceeding the
rest. In its motions it is extremely agile, swim-
ming in a kind of serpentine manner, and preying
on the smaller and weaker water insects, minute
worms, &c. ; the head is armed with a pair of
forceps, pierced on each side the tip with a small
foramen, through which it sucks the juices of the
animals on which it preys : the colour of this larva
is a very pale or whitish brown, with a high degree
of transparency, which renders it a highly curious
object for the microscope: its length, when lull
grown, is about three quarters of an inch. W hen
the time of its change arrives, it forms for itself a
small oval cell, or case, on a leaf of sedge, or other

GLIMMER-CHAFER.

271

convenient water-plant,' and after casting its skin
becomes a chrysalis: this change usually takes place
in the month of August, and the complete insect
emerges in that of September.”

The glimmer-chafer effects its rapid gyrations in
the water with the hind legs, which are very broad,
and act like a pair of oars.

GRAVE-DIGGING BEETLE

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennae small at the base, but gradually thickening towards
the end.

The elytra or wing-cases have a margin, with which the
thorax is likewise provided.

The head is prominent.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Silpha Vespillo. . . S. oblonga atra, clypeo orbiculato ine-

quali elytris fascia duplici ferruginea.
Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 1 61(5.

Of an oblong shape and black colour $
shield circular and unequal ; wing-
cases marked with two ferruginous
bands.

Nicrophorus ater. Elytris fascia

duplici ferruginea. Fair. Ins. 1.

p. 84. no. 2.

Dermestes Vespillo. Scop. Ent.
Cam. 33.

Grave-digging Beetle. Geoff. Ins. 1. pi. 1. f. 5. Roes. Ins. 4.

pi. 1. f. 1, 2. Schaff. Icon. pi. g.
f. 4. Shaw Gen. Zool. 6. p. 50.
pi. 14.

The singular manners oft his insect, as recorded by
naturalists, are well worth our attention. Moles,
birds, &c. are presently buried in the earth by the

GRAVE-DIGGING BEETLE.

273

indefatigable exertions of this beetle. Three or four
of them, by their united efforts, will dig a hole in
the ground and bury a mole under the surface, so that
no traces of it shall be left ; and this we are assured
has been accomplished in the space of one hour.
Mr. Gleditsch was induced to watch the motions of
these industrious insects with more than common
attention, as he was unable for some time to account
for the disappearance of the dead moles which were
left upon the ground ; and his curiosity was so far
excited lo determine the cause of this singularity,
that he was resolved if possible to find it out. Ac-
cordingly he procured a dead mole, which he laid
upon some soft moist earth in his garden. This
was done on the twenty-fifth of May, and in two
days the mole was sunk four fingers’ breadth into
the earth. Mr. G. remarked that the position of
the animal was not in the least altered, and that the
dimensions of its grave corresponded exactly with
the size of its body. The next day the grave was
half filled up ; and our narrator, to satisfy his cu-
riosity, cautiously drew out the mole, which was in
a very offensive state, and found directly under its
body some little holes, in which were four of these
beetles. After having returned the little grave-
diggers into the hollow, where they presently con-
cealed themselves among the earth, he replaced the
mole precisely in its former situation, and, spread-
ing a little soft earth over the remains, left it to its
fate for the space of six days. Upon revisiting the
body he found it completely corrupted, and filled

VOL. 11.

T

GRAVE-DIGGING BEETLE.

2/4

with small thick whitish worms, which proved to
be the larvae of the beetles. Thus he was led to
believe that these insects had buried the mole on
purpose to lodge their future offspring in its body.

Mr. Gleditsch, feeling inclined to investigate this
curious business in a more particular manner, pro-
vided a sdass vessel half filled with moist earth, into

o

which he put the four beetles already mentioned
and their progeny. The vessel, covered with a
cloth, was placed on the ground, and in the space
of fifty days the four industrious grave-diggers in-
terred the bodies of four frogs, three small birds,
two grasshoppers, and one mole, including the en-
trails of a fish, and two small pieces of the lungs
of an ox. The method which these insects pursue
to accomplish their purposse may be sufficiently
exemplified in the body of a linnet, which, after
being dead six hours, was placed by Mr. G. in
the middle of the glass vessel, and in a very few
moments was visited and examined by the beetles.
In a few hours two of the beetles only remained
with the bird, and the largest of these was suspected
to be a female. After attentively surveying their
work, they began by hollowing out a cavity ol the
size of the bird, by working underneath it, and re-
moving the earth from the body as they proceeded.
This they accomplished by leaning themselves
strongly upon their collars, and bending down their
heads to assist their efforts; thus forming, as it were,
a rampart of mould round the linnet. I he bird ap-
peared to move alternately its head, its tail, its

GRAVE-DIGGING BEETLE. 2? 5

wings, or its feet ; and whenever these movements
occurred, the beetles might be seen attempting to
drag the body by its feathers into the grave, which
was now nearly completed. After they had been
full two hours at this work, the male beetle drove
his mate away, and would by no means suffer her
to return to her employment, though she frequently
attempted it ; for whenever she stirred from her hole
he directly sent her back again.

It appears that the male continued to work by
himself for at least five hours, in which time he re-
moved an astonishing quantity of earth: — but if our
observer was surprised at this instance of his
strength, he was more so when he saw this diminu-
tive creature stiffen his collar, and, by an extra-
ordinary exertion of his powers, lift up the bird,
make it change its place, and in some measure
arrange it in the spacious grave which he had pre-
pared for its reception. Every now and then the
beetle mounted upon the body and appeared to
tread it down, then again renewed his efforts, and
drew it a little further into the earth till it was sunk
to a considerable depth. All this could not be done
without fatigue; the insect was indefatigable; his la-
bour was immense ; he appeared completely spent ;
and after having rested his head upon the earth for
near an hour, he left the place, and retired under
ground.

The next morning, when Mr. Gleditsch visited the
body, he found it entirely buried to the depth of two

T 2

2/6 GRAVE-DIGGING BEETLE.

fingers’ breadth, without being in the least altered in
its position ; so that it resembled a little corpse laid
out upon a bier, with a small mount all round for
the purpose of covering it. The bird was sunk
about half a finger’s breadth deeper into the earth
before night, and the work continued for nearly
two days longer. When the grave was finally com-
pleted, the beetles finished the operation by covering
the bird with earth.

This gentleman gives another instance of the great
industry of this insect. A dead mole and a beetle
were enclosed together in the glass vessel, which
was covered as before with a fine linen cloth. By
seven o’clock in the morning the beetle had drawn
the head of the mole into the earth, and formed a
tolerably high rampart around it. By four o’clock
in the afternoon, the interment of the body was
completed. We have no reason to doubt the fact ;
yet it must appear an astonishing instance of bodily
strength and persevering exertion in the little ani-
mal, which in so short a time, without any assist-
ance, was able to dig a grave, and bury a body at
least thirty times its own size and weight.

Decayed animal substances will always attract
these insects, if they are within reach of the smell.
A toad, which a friend of Mr. Gleditsch’s had fixed
upon a stick in order to dry it in the air, allured
some of these beetles to the spot. As it was im-
possible to obtain the toad without bringing it to
the ground, they immediately went to work, and

GRAVE-DIGGING BEETLE. 277

loosened the end of the stick, which was fixed in
the earth, so that both fell together, and were then
buried by the insects.

This singular occupation, which lasts from the
middle of April to the end of October, is a task en-
joined these beetles by nature, and the bodies are
intended for the nourishment of the future progeny.
The eggs which the parent insect deposits in the
putrid substance are in process of time hatched into
larvae, which grow to more than an inch in length.
These in their turn change into yellowish chrysa-
lides, which after remaining about eighteen days in
their oval cells, under ground, become perfect bee-
tles, and begin to dig graves for the benefit of the
next generation.

This species is found in different parts of Europe,
and in North America ; it is likewise found in seve-
ral parts of our own country.

NUT WEEVIL.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

The snout in this genus is horny and prominent, with two
subclavated antennae growing from its sides.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Curculio Nucum. C. corpore griseo longitudine rostri. Linn.

Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 167b.

Of a gray colour with a beak as long as the
body.

Curculio ovatus griseus rostro filiformi longi-
tudine corporis. Uddm. Dis. 24.

Nut Weevil. . . Degeer Ins. 5. p. 205. no. 2. pi. 6. f. 14,15.

Schaff. Icon t. 50. f. 4. Shaw Gen.
Zool. 6. p. 63. pi. 21.

The white maggot which we so frequently find in
our hazel nuts and filberts is the larva of this in-
sect, and affords us a curious and familiar instance
of the care which Providence takes to conduct even
these diminutive creatures through the different
stages of their lives, and to provide for them a pro-
per means of subsistence, at a time when they
would be incapable of procuring food for them-
selves.

NUT WEEVIL.

2 79

Naturalists have accounted for the introduction
of the maggot into the nut in different ways.
Some suppose that the parent weevil deposits its
egg on the outside of the nut in its tender state,
and that the maggot produced from it eats its way
through the shell, without injuring the external
coat : others, on the contrary, inform us that the
female, when the time approaches to lay her eggs,
chooses a good nut, which she pierces with her
proboscis, and then deposits an egg in the cavity.
We are unable to decide which of these methods
is followed by the insect ; but the first appears the
most probable when we examine the hole, which
is larger than the weevil seems capable of making
with its beak. The perforation does not in the
smallest degree injure the nut, which continues to
grow while the little grub within is living on its sub-
stance. But the maggot, while he feasts upon the
kernel, is not unmindful of the hole through which
at a future time he must escape : accordingly he is
directed by an unerring instinct to gnaw away the
sides from time to time, so that at length they
become thin, and afford him a passage to creep
through. Before this happens, however, the nut
grows to its full size, and falls to the ground, with-
out hurting the little prisoner. About this time,
having nearly exhausted all his provision, he pre-
pares to leave his cell, and, after fairly gnawing
himself out, begins to burrow into the earth and
prepare a convenient retreat for the winter, during

280

NUT WEEVIL.

which season he lies dormant, and in the spring
casts his skin and becomes a chrysalis. In this
form he continues till the month of July, when he
emerges from the earth, to enjoy in a winged state
the short space of time which nature has allotted
for his existence.

There is another species of this genus which is
well known to the farmers for its destructive pro-
perty. The corn weevil ( Curculio granarius,
Linn.) is not more than the sixth of an inch in
length, and yet it does incredible mischief among
the grain. The damage is effected by the insect
in the following manner : — The female perforates
a grain of wheat, and deposits one or two eggs in
the middle of it ; then proceeds to another, where
she repeats the operation and passes to a third, and
so on, till she has laid all her eggs ; which occupies
her time for several days. After these eggs are
hatched, which are not larger than a grain of sand,
the larvae begin to feed upon the ear of corn, and,
securely lodged within the husk, destroy all the
farinaceous part before they are discovered : even
then they do not quit their lodging; but having de-
voured all its contents, and arrived at their full size,
they pass through the chrysalis state in the empty
husk, and then burst from their temporary tomb to
lay more eggs and multiply their mischief. These
destructive little inmates cannot be well detected,
as they by no means injure the external appearance
of the corn. The best test is to throw some of it

NUT WEEVIL. 281

into water, when the grain which has beeq partly
consumed will prove specifically lighter than the
rest.

We must not pass over in silence the most bril-
liant and beautiful species of this, or any other
genus of insects. The diamond beetle ( Curculio
imperialism Linn.) is not to be equalled in splendour
by any creature in the world : such indeed is the
dazzling brightness of these insects, that in the
Brazils, from whence they are brought to us, it is
said to be almost impossible to look at them when
the sun shines full upon a little swarm as they fly
from one place to another. The coal-black colour
of the wing-cases is well adapted to improve the
lustre of the spots which are placed in parallel
rows along the back, and which, when magnified,
equal in brilliancy the most precious of all gems.
The insect owes this glorious appearance to a num-
ber of minute scales, whose polished surfaces reflect
the prismatic colours which are so justly the objects
of our admiration.

Not ail the show and mockery of state.

The little, low, fine follies of the great

Not all the wealth which eastern pageants wore.

What still our idolizing worlds adore.

Can boast the least inimitable grace.

Which decks profusive this illustrious race.”

Dr. Shaw has given us a good idea of this ma^.
nificent beetle, in a magnified representation with
which he has enriched his General Zoology.

TIMBER BEETLE.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennae composed of articulations which gradually dimi-
nish in size towards the extremity.

Thorax either spiny or gibbous.

Body oblong.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Cekambyx violaceus. C. thorace subpubescente, corpore vio-

laceo, antennis brevibus. Linn. Syst.
Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 1848.

Thorax somewhat downy,, body of a vio-
let colour, antennae short.
Sternocorus violaceus. Scop. Ann.

Hist. Nat. 5. p. 97* no* 59*
Cantharis nigra. Thorace rotundato,
elytris caemlescentibus. Gadd. Diss.
28.

Timber Beetle. . . Donovan Brit. Ins. 2. p. 73. pi. 6l. f. 1.

Linn. Trans. 5. p. 252. pi. 12.

The Rev. Mr. Kirby has taken some pains to investi-
gate the history of this mischievous little insect; and
to his paper, inserted in the Linnaean Transactions,
we must acknowledge ourselves indebted for the fol-
lowing information.

TIMBER BEETLE.

283

It is only after timber has been felled some time
that it is liable to be attacked by this beetle; and it
seems that spruce fir, of all other kinds, is most to
its taste. The female of this species is furnished
with a flat retractile tube, which she inserts between
the bark and the wood, to the depth of about a
quarter of an inch, and there deposits an egg. It
appears that she never lays more than one in a
place. By stripping off’ the bark it is easy to trace
the whole progress of the larva, from the spot
where it was newly hatched, to that where it has
attained its full size. At first it proceeds onwards,
hut in a serpentine direction, filling the space which
it leaves behind it with its excrement, resembling
saw-dust, and thus stopping all ingress to enemies
from without. When it has arrived at its utmost
dimensions, it does not confine itself to one direc-
tion, but works in a kind of labyrinth, eating back-
wards and forwards ; which gives the wood under
the bark a very irregular surface, and considerably
increases the width of its path. Its attacks are
not confined to the solid timber, hut in its progress
it eats away an equal portion of the hark. The
bed of those paths where it has been at work, ex-
hibits, when closely examined, a curious appear-
ance, occasioned by the erosions of its jaws, which
excavate an infinity of little ramified channels.
When the larva prepares to assume the chrysalis
state, it bores down obliquely into the solid wood,
to the depth sometimes of three inches, seldom less

284

TIMBER BEETLE.

than two. These holes are nearly semicylindrical,
expressing exactly the form of the grub. One
would wonder, continues Mr. Kirby, how so small
and seemingly so weak an animal could have
strength to excavate so deep a mine ; but when we
see its jaws, our wonder ceases : these are large,
thick, and solid sections of a cone divided longi-
tudinally, which in the act of mastication apply to
each other the whole of their interior plane surface,
so that they grind the food of the insect like a
pair of millstones. Early in March all the larvae,
except some sickly ones, were observed to have en-
tered the wood in this manner. At the place in
the bark opposite to the hole, the perfect insect
gnaws its way out of its prison when it makes its
appearance, and the beetles continue to come forth
from the twentieth of May till about the twentieth
of June.

Mr. Kirby observes that this destructive little in-
sect attacks only such timber as has not been strip-
ped of its bark ; a circumstance which ought to
be known and attended to by all persons who have
any concern with this article ; for the bark is a
temptation not only to the insect in question, but
also to many others ; and a great deal of the injury
which is done to timber would be prevented, if
other trees besides the oak were barked as soon as
they are felled.

The larvae of a species of this genus (the Ceram -
byx damicornis , Linn.) are so much admired as a

TIMBER BEETLE.

285

delicacy in the West Indies, that we are assured
negroes are there kept by some persons merely for
the purpose of collecting this dainty, which they
find buried in particular trees, from whence they
scoop them out. However inviting they may be
to the taste, there is nothing prepossessing in their
appearance ; since their soft smooth bodies are
three inches and a half long, and as thick as the
little finger.

GLOW-WORM

GENERIC CHARACTER.

The antenna} are filiform.

The elytra, or wing-cases, are weak and flexible.

The thorax flat and semiorbicular ; surrounding and con-
cealing the head.

The segments of the abdomen terminate on each side in
papillae or little appendices, which are bent upwards to-
wards the elytra.

The females, in general, want wings.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Lampyris noctiluca. L. oblonga fusca, clypeo cinereo. Linn.

Syst.Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 1882.

Of an oblong shape and brown colour ;

the shield cinereous.

Lampyris noctiluca communis. Degeer
Ins. 4. p. 31. no. 1. t. 1. f. 19, 20.
Cantharis mas coleopterus. Leche. Nov.
Sp. 23. no. 47.

Glow-worm. . . . Geoff. Ins. 1. pi. 2. f. 7> Shaw Gen.

Zool. 6. p. 78. pi. 28.

The great difference in appearance between the
male and female glow-worm would induce many

GLOW-WORM.

28 7

to suppose them distinct species. No two in-
sects can be more opposite. The male, a small
cylindrical beetle, provided with wings and wing-
cases, can rise into the air at pleasure ; the fe-
male, a solitary creeping worm, denied the power
of flight, must for ever remain upon the earth. It
is she, however, to whom we are indebted for the
beautiful glowing spot of light which shines with
so much splendour in the calm evenings of our
summer months. When the weather is favour-
able many of these little lamps may be seen scat-
tered about our meadows, or arranged along the
bottoms of our hedges. The insect from whence
this light proceeds is about three quarters of an
inch in length, and has a body divided into ten
joints ; the three last of which are of a pale sul-
phur colour : a very small head projects from an
oval breast-plate, and three slender legs are placed
on each side the body. This general description
will enable us to distinguish the insect in the
day-time; by night the object can never be mis-
taken.

It is generally acknowledged that the light
emitted from the glow-worm’s tail is phosphoric,
and that it is placed there in order to attract the
attention of the male. Without some such com-
pensation, how hard would be her lot ! The dis-
similarity between the two sexes is very great ;
their manners, perhaps, totally different : the male,
a little, volatile, winged insect, might never be led

288

GLOW-WORM.

to his sedentary mate, if it were not for the
of her radiant torch.

“ The chilling night-dews fall 3 away, retire 3
For see, the glow-worm lights her am’rous fire !
Thus, ere night’s veil had half obscur’d the sky,
Th’ impatient damsel hung her lamp on high :
True to the signal, by love’s meteor led,

Leander hasten’d to his Hero’s bed.”

PHOSPHORIC BEETLE.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennae setaceous.

Body oblong, and provided with an elastic spine which
projects from the under side of the thorax.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Elater noctilucls. E. thoracis lateribus macula flava glabra.

Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. 1902.

Thorax marked on each side by a smooth
yellow spot.

Elater fuscus, thoracis lateribus macula
flava glabra convexa nitida. Degeer
Ins. 4. p. ldO. no. 2. pi. 18. f. 1.

Elater major fuscus phosphoricus. Brown
Jam. 432. t. 44. f. 10.

Phosphoric Beetle. Shaw Gen. Zool. 6. p. 84.

This luminous insect, which is about an inch and
a half in length, is an inhabitant of South America,
where it diffuses so strong a light, during the night,
that it is said a person may easily see to read by it,
if held between the fingers and moved along the
lines. Eight or ten of them inclosed in a clear
glass phial are supposed to give as much light as a

VOL. 11.

u

290

PHOSPHORIC BEETLE.

common candle. This brilliant phosphoric emana-
tion issues from the two smooth yellow spots no-
ticed in the specific character ; and we are told that
the inhabitants of Hispaniola, &c., before the arri-
val of the Spaniards, made use of no other light
than what was produced by these insects. It has
even been said, though with no great degree of pro-
bability, that when Sir Thomas Cavendish and Sir
Robert Dudley, son to the Earl of Leicester, first
landed in the West Indies, they were surprised by
the number of lights which, in the evening, they
saw moving about in the woods ; and, supposing
that the Spaniards were advancing towards them,
they became alarmed and immediately retreated to
their ships.

EXPLODING BEETLE.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennae setaceous.

Thorax margined, and shaped like a heart with the point
cut off.

Abdortien oval, covered by margined wing-cases.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Carabus crepitans. C. thorace capite pedibusque ferrugineis,

elytris nigris. Linn. Syst. Nat. Gniel. 1 .
p. 1971.

The head, thorax, and feet, of a rusty
brown colour j wing-cases black.

Carabus alatus ferrugineus, &c. Degeer
Ins. 4. p. 103. no. 22. pi. 3. f. 18.
Exploding Beetle. Schceff. Icon. pi. 11. f. 13. Voet. Coleopt.

pi. 36. f. 26.

This insect possesses the very singular faculty of
discharging a disagreeable vapour accompanied by a
smart explosion, whenever it is provoked. It is
enabled to repeat its noise several times in succes-
sion, and may at any time be made to do so by

V

scratching its back with a needle. It appears that
the blueish smoke which issues from behind the

u 2

292 EXPLODING BEETLE.

insect on these occasions, is contained in a bag placed
near its posterior extremity, and the vapour is said
to be of such a pungent nature, that, if it happen
to be discharged into the eyes, it causes as painful
a sensation as if brandy was thrown into them.
Rolander, who first made these observations, by
irritating one of the insects, caused it to give twenty
explosions successively.

It conceals itself among stones, and moves by a
sort of jump. The fetid discharge which it emits
is given it as a means of defence against its enemies,
for it has several, and among others, one of its own
tribe of a much larger size. When pursued by this
formidable adversary, who advances with open jaws
to seize him, the exploding beetle discharges his
artillery, and envelopes his enemy in the acrid va-
pour ; this for a moment puts a stop to the pursuit,
and our beetle attempts in the confusion to hide
himself in some hole or crevice ; but if he should
not succeed, his destruction is inevitable ; the ene-
my returns to the attack, and, seizing him by the
neck, tears off his head.

This insect is found in several parts of Europe,
and sometimes in England.

OIL BEETLE.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennae moniliform, or resembling a string of beads, with
the last articulation of an oblong oval form.

Thorax roundish.

Elytra soft and flexible.

Head inflected and gibbous.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Meloe proscaraba:ijs. M. corpore violaceo. Linn. Syst. Nat.

Gmel. 1. 2017.
body of a violet colour.

Cantharis proscarabaeus. Degeer
Lis. 5. p. 31. t. 1. f. 1.

Oil Beetle. . . . Schccff. Icon. pi. 3. f. 5. Shaw Gen.

Zool. 6. p. 104. pi. 37.

This beetle derives its name from a property which
it has of exuding several small drops of oil from the
joints of its legs, and from some other parts of the
body, on being handled. The account which Dr. Shaw
has given of this insect is nearly as follows : It is

frequently found near an inch and a half in length •
is of a violet-black colour, especially on the antennae
and limbs : in the female the wing-sheaths are re-

294

OIL BEETLE.

markably short, and cover but little more than a third
of the body. Oil beetles are common in the advanced
state of spring in fields and pastures, where they
may be seen creeping slowly along, and dragging
after them a body which appears to be so loaded
and distended with eggs as to cause the insects to
move with difficulty. The eggs, which are very
small, and of an orange colour, are deposited by
the female in a large heap or mass beneath the sur-
face of the ground : from these are hatched the
larvse, which at their first appearance scarcely mea-
sure a line in length, and are of an ochre yellow,
with black eyes : they are furnished with short an-
tennae, six legs of moderate length, and a long,
jointed, tapering body, terminated by two forked
filaments or processes. These larvae are found to
live by attaching themselves to other insects and
sucking their juices. They have been seen to
fasten themselves strongly to common fiies, &c., a
practice so extraordinary as to have caused consi-
derable doubt whether they could possibly have
been the real larvae of the meloe proscarabaeus. It
has been, however, completely proved by Degeer
that they immediately fasten themselves to any
insect, whether living or dead, that is placed near
them. The oil which is exuded from the body of
this beetle is of a deep yellow colour, and of a very
peculiar and penetrating smell. It has been highly
celebrated for its supposed efficacy in rheumatic
pains, &c., and was occasionally used as an embro-
cation on the parts affected.

OIL BEETLE.

295

Another species of this genus, (the Meloe vesica -
torius Linn.,) is well known for its activity in
raising a blister. This is the common Spanish
fly of the shops, and is a native of the warmer
parts of Europe, as the South of France, Italy,
Spain, and Portugal. This species is usually about
an inch long and of a most brilliant colour, being of a
rich gilded grass green mixed with azure. They are
found on different trees, especially the ash, which
they are said to be extremely fond of, insomuch
that they will sometimes destroy all the leaves. It
appears that they are frequently seen flying to-
gether like swarms of bees, and that they emit a
very disagreeable smell which taints the air to a
considerable distance around them. This offensive
smell is a guide for those who are employed to catch
them, for it serves to conduct the persons to the
desired spot where the insects are settled. When
caught, they are tied in a piece of soft linen cloth,
and killed with the vapours of hot vinegar; after
which they are dried in the sun and kept in boxes :
they are then so light that fifty of them will hardly
weigh a drachm.

EARWIG.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennae setaceous.

Elytra much shorter than the abdomen.

Extremity of the abdomen armed with a kind of forceps.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Fokficula auricularia. F. elytris apice albis, antennis qua-

tuordecim articulatis. Linn. Syst.
Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 2038.

Apex of the wing-cases white ; an-
tennae divided into fourteen arti-
culations.

Forficula major. Degeer Ins. 3.

p. 545. no. 1. pi. 25. f. 16.
Vermis auricularius. Frisch.
Ins. 8. p. 31. pi. 15. f. 1, 2.

Common Earwig. . . Schwff. Icon. pi. 144. f. 3, 4. Shaw

Gen. Zool. 6. p. 110. pi- 40.

This insect is very generally known, and too com-
monly dreaded, from a false notion that it will enter
the cavity of a person’s ear, and, by piercing the
drum, deprive him of hearing, and even cause his
death by the intolerable pain which it produces.
This idea might have originated in the great pro-

EARWIG.

297

• **

pensity which the earwig has to creep into holes

and cavities whenever it has an opportunity. But
it is accused unjustly of doing harm, since it has not
the power to do it, notwithstanding the formidable
appearance of its forked tail.

A remarkable part of the structure of this insect
is its elegant wings, which are so completely shut
up under the wing-cases and so rarely expanded in
the day-time, that the generality of observers, who
are not conversant in natural history, suppose them
to be entirely wanting. The wings are very large
in proportion to the animal, and it is wonderful to
observe the very small space they take up before
they are protruded. Great contrivance is manifested
in the folding of them : they are first closed length-
ways like a fan, and afterwards refolded across in
two different places, so as to lie in the least possible
compass, and in the best manner for immediate ex-
pansion.

The earwig, like most other insects, is hatched
from the egg, and the female when she deposits her
burthen generally chooses a moist and shaded situa-
tion for her purpose. This is frequently under a
stone, where the little white and oval eggs remain
till the young larvae burst from the shells, formed
in every respect like the parent, except that the for-
ceps at the tail are not at first turned inwards. It
seems that the parent insect is really attached to
her young ; and, singular as it may appear among
this tribe of animals, she fosters them with the
greatest care. The indefatigable M. Degeer, who

298

EARWIG,

remarked this peculiarity, informs us that at the
beginning of June, he found under a stone a female
earwig, attended by a little progeny which evidently
appeared to be her own. They continued near her,
and frequently ran under her belly, where she
brooded over them as a hen does over her chickens.
M. de Geer conveyed them all into a box of fresh
earth, and observes that they did not enter the
earth, but thrust themselves under the belly and
between the legs of the mother, who frequently
permitted them to remain there for an hour at a
time. Ripe apple seemed to be a favourite food
with this little family ; and a piece of it put into
the box was immediately attacked by all of them.
We have already observed, that when the earwigs
are first hatched they strongly resemble the parent;
nevertheless M. de Geer remarks, that when the
young earwigs changed their skins (which hap-
pened in the course of a week after he noticed them),
though the alteration in their figure was hardly
perceptible, yet it appeared to bring them nearer to
the perfect insect.

This gentleman has given us another instance of
the attachment of this insect to her brood, particu-
larly during incubation. About the beginning of
April he found a female under some stones sitting
over a heap of eggs with the greatest care. He took
the whole of them up together, and, having placed
them in a box partly filled with fresh earth, scat-
tered the eggs up and down in it. This put the
parent to confusion : however, she soon removed

EARWIG.

299

them one after the other, carrying them between
her jaws, and in a few days he observed that she
had brought them all to one spot upon the surface
of the earth, where she continued to sit, without
quitting the heap a moment, and seemed regardless
of every thing hut the important purpose of hatching
her eggs. The young were produced about the
fourteenth of May, and he kept them in the box
with their mother till they had changed their skins
more than once. He fed them with small bits of
apple, and saw them grow every day. The mother
died, and her progeny devoured nearly the whole
of her body. This unnatural propensity appeared
to prevail throughout the family ; for, if one of the
little ones died, it was immediately attacked by
the rest, and shared the same fate. M. de Geer,
however, thinks they were driven to this necessity
by his neglect, since he had not supplied them re-
gularly with food.

These insects are very destructive to our fruits
and vegetables, and numbers of them may be found
busily employed upon our esculent plants in the
night-time. The common practice of putting the
bowl of a tobacco-pipe, or the claws of a lobster,
upon the top of an upright stick, will always at-
tract them, as they constantly shun the light, and
are ready to seek any recess during the day where
they may be sheltered from its rays.

HEMIPTEROUS INSECTS.

GREAT COCKROACH.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennae setaceous.

Elytra and wings extended, smooth and semi-coriaceous, or
of a substance resembling vellum.

Thorax rather flat, of an orbicular shape, and margined.
Abdomen terminated by two little appendices like horns.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Blatta gigantea. B. livida, thoracis clypeo macula quadrata

fusca. Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1.
p. 2041.

Thorax and shield marked with a brown
square spot.

Great Cockroach. Sel. Mus. 3. pi. 77- f* h and P*- 85,

f. 17, 18. Drury Ins. 2. pi. 36. f. 2.
Shaw Gen. Zool. 6. p. 113. pi. 41.

This is the largest of all the cockroaches, and a
very noisome insect. They swarm in the West
Indies, where, according to the account we find of
them in Drury’s third volume of Exotic Insects,
they fly out in the evenings and commit monstrous

GREAT COCKROACH.

301

depredations : every thing that comes in their way
is damaged by them ; all sorts of clothing, and all
kinds of victuals, drest and undrest, are indiscrimi-
nately plundered or spoiled: every thing made
of leather; books, paper, and various other arti-
cles, are damaged by these insects, as they fre-
quently deposit a drop of their excrement where
they settle, and thus injure what they cannot de-
stroy. They often fly into persons’ faces or bosoms ;
and their legs being armed with sharp spines, the
pricking excites a sudden horror not easily de-
scribed. It appears that if one of them falls into
some ink, of which they are very fond, it soon turns
most offensively putrid, and the ink becomes unfit
for use on account of the abominable smell.

“ In old houses,” says the account we have already
noticed, “ they swarm by myriads, making every
part filthy beyond description wherever they har-
bour, which in the day-time is in dark corners, be-
hind all sorts of clothes, in trunks, boxes, and, in
short, every place where they can lie concealed. In
old timber and deal houses, when the family is re-
tired at night to sleep, this insect, among other dis-
agreeable properties, has the power of making a
noise which very much resembles a pretty smart
knocking with the knuckle upon the wainscoting.

, The Blcitta gigantea of Linnaeus, in the West Indies,
is therefore frequently known by the name of the
drummer. Three or four of these noisy creatures
will sometimes be impelled to answer one another,
and cause such a drumming noise that none but

302

GREAT COCKROACH.

those who are very good sleepers can rest for them.
What is most disagreeable, those who have not
gauze curtains are sometimes attacked by them in
their sleep ; the sick and dying have their extre-
mities attacked, and the ends of the toes and fingers
of the dead are frequently stripped both of the skin
and flesh.”

Our common black beetle is of this genus, and
was originally imported from the East. It is the
Blcitta orientalis of Linnaeus, and is well known in
this metropolis.

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CAMEL CRICKET.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Head unsteady, armed with jaws, and furnished with palpi
or feelers.

Antennae setaceous.

Wings membranaceous and wrapped round the body.

Two fore legs compressed ; armed on the under side with
teeth like a saw, and terminated by a single nail or
crotchet.

Thorax narrow, and extended to a considerable length.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Mantis oratoria. M. thoracelaevi, elytris viridibus immacula-

tis. Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 2050.
Thorax smooth j wing-cases green and
without spots.

Mantis. Geoff. Ins. 1. p. 399. no. 1.
pi. 8. f. 4.

Camel Cricket. . Sel. Mus. 4. pi. 67. f. 9, 10. Shaw Gen.

Zool.6. p.118. pi. 42.

These singular insects are known only in the
warmer parts of the world, where they have be-
come celebrated for their peculiar manners and
quarrelsome disposition. When at rest, they are

304

CAMEL CRICKET.

generally seen in a sitting posture with the two
fore legs close together, and thus appear as if they
were praying: this attitude, so well calculated to
impose upon the eastern devotees, has gained them
great credit, and they are therefore regarded as
sacred animals, that ought not to be injured. We
are gravely told, by the translator of Mouffet, that
even if a child has lost its way and inquires of the
mantis, the insect will point out the right path with
its paw. This intelligence, however, is of a piece
with his sanctity, and both are equally devoid of
foundation ; for this most devout of insects is very
apt to neglect his spiritual for his temporal con-
cerns, and does not scruple to prey upon any of his
fellow-creatures that he can manage. Dr. Smith
was informed of a gentleman who enclosed a male
and female together in a glass vessel, and found that
in a short time the female (which is the largest)
attacked her companion and devoured him entirely,
beginning at his head.

They are so far from being peaceably inclined,
that two of them cannot be brought together with-
out a battle being the consequence ; and in these
rencontres they pay no respect to age or sex.
Roesel, who kept some of these fighting creatures,
observed that the moment they were in sight of
each other they tossed up their heads, and bran-
dishing their fore legs seemed to bid defiance to
their adversaries. The battle was begun by the
boldest throwing open his wings, and rushing on
the other, which was sometimes immediately torn

CAMEL CRICKET.

305

in pieces. In these mutual conflicts their ma-
noeuvres, according to Roesel, very much resemble
a battle between two Hussars ; for they use their
long fore-legs like sabres, and sometimes one of
them will cleave the other through at a single
stroke, or strike off his head from his body. A
most revengeful spirit seems to actuate these little
creatures ; for the body of the vanquished is always
devoured by the conqueror.

This quarrelsome disposition in the mantis has
not escaped the Chinese, who are said to train
them up like game-cocks, and make them fight
for their amusement. Mr. Barrow has the follow-
ing passage in his account of China, which alludes
to this insect. “ They have even extended their
inquiries after fighting animals into the insect tribe,
and have discovered a species of gryllus, or locust,
that will attack each other with such ferocity as
seldom to quit their hold without bringing away
at the same time a limb of their antagonist. These
little creatures are fed and kept apart in bamboo-
cages ; and the custom of making them devour each
other is so common, that, during the summer
months, scarcely a boy is to be seen without his
cage of grasshoppers.”

It appears that these insects are barbarians from
their birth : they are no sooner hatched than their
disposition begins to show itself, and the little
savages will even neglect their food to prey upon
each other. Roesel, who tried to raise a number

VOL. II.

x

30 6

CAMEL CRICKET.

of them together from the egg state, found it im-
possible ; for they had hardly come to life before
they began to brandish their weapons and com-
mence an attack. Notwithstanding their natuial
ferocity, they became complete cowards when some
ants were put into the glass vessel in which they
were confined, and attempted to escape in every
direction. House-flies, however, they seized with
avidity, and tore them in pieces with their fore-
claws. But nothing could long diveit them from
their savage habits ; they soon neglected the flies,
and wantonly destroyed each other. As a last ic-
source he separated them into small parties, and
confined them in different glasses i but heie the
same thing occurred ; the combatants never rested
till the strongest in each community had killed all
his companions.

There is a species of this genus of the most sin-
gular appearance; The dry leaf mantis ( mantis
siccifolia , Linn. *) is a remarkable instance of the
provision of nature for the security of the insect
against the attacks of its enemies. This harmless
little creature is denied the offensive claws with the
edge of which the camel cricket so readily chops
off his adversary’s head ; but it can boast an ad-
vantage in its figure which more than compensates
for the want of weapons. Its form is an exact re-
presentation of a leaf that has fallen from the tree

* The phasma siccifolium of Shaw.

CAMEL CRICKET.

307

and become partly withered. This resemblance is
so strong that while the animal continues at rest, it
has nothing to fear from those common enemies
the birds, who, deceived by the appearance of its
withered foliage, will leave it unmolested. This
mantis is a native of India, from whence we re-
ceive our specimens, which are generally of a yel-
lowish brown colour.

LOCUST.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Head inflected, armed with jaws and furnished with palpi.
Antennae filiform.

Wings four; declined, and wrapped round the sides of the
body.

Two claws on each foot; hind-feet formed for leaping.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Gryllus migratorius. G. thorace subcarinato : segmento unic®

capite obtuso, maxillis atris. Linn.
Syst. Nat . Grnel. 1. p. 20^5.

Thorax subcarinated ; a single obtuse
segment on the head ; jaws black.
Giiyli.us migratorius. Frisch. Jns.Q.
pi. 1. f. 8.

Acrydium migratorium. Degeer
Ins. 3. p. 466. no. 1. pi. 23. f. 1.

Locust. ..... Sel. Mus. 4. p\. 65. f. 21. Shaw Gen.

Zool. 6. p. 128. pi. 48.

The very name of this insect conveys a sensation
of horror and disgust, which is naturally excited
in our minds hy the recollection of the dreadful
scourge which it has occasionally been to mankind.

LOCUST.

309

The locusts commit the most terrible ravages in the
warmer parts of the globe, where they descend in
legions and devour every blade of grass, and strip
every tree of its leaves ; so that a whole province,
which but a few days before boasted its fertility, is
presently reduced to a desert. The surface of the
earth appears entirely covered with them to a great
distance, and the noise they make while feeding
may be distinctly heard. Their incredible num-
bers are formidable even in death ; for an event
which on other accounts is so desirable, is in those
tropical countries to be dreaded ; since the putre-
faction arising from their bodies has been considered
as a cause of pestilence.

Flights of locusts have occasionally appeared in
different parts of Europe, and a few s warms in the
year 1693 visited some parts of Wales. Germany
in the year 1732 suffered considerably by their
ravages, and in the years 1747 and 1748, they paid
a most destructive visit to several parts of the Con-
tinent. Their proceedings in these two years are
regularly detailed in the forty-sixth volume of the
Philosophical Transactions, from whence we have
extracted the following account.

The first swarms appeared in Transylvania, in
August 1747 ; these were succeeded by others,
which were so surprisingly numerous, that they
were full four hours in passing over a place called
the Red Tower, and they flew so close that they
made a sort of noise in the air by the beating of
their wings against one another. The width of the

310

LOCUST.

swarm was several hundred fathoms, and its den-
sity so great that it hid the sun, and darkened the
sky to that degree that when it was but a little way
from the ground the people could hardly distin-
guish each other at the distance of twenty paces.
Being at length tired with their flight, one part of
them alighted on some unripe corn, while another
took possession of a wood, and having miserably
wasted the produce of the land, they continued
their journey as if a signal had actually been given
for a march. The guards stationed at the Red
Tower attempted to stop their flight into Transyl-
vania by firing at them : and where the balls and
shot swept through the swarm, they gave way ; but
having filled up their ranks in a moment, they pro-
ceeded on their journey. In the month of Sep-
tember some troops of them were thrown to the
ground by heavy rains and inclement weather.
These were miserably soaked, and were seen creep-
ing along in quest of holes in the earth, dung, and
straw ; where being sheltered from the wet they
laid a great number of eggs which stuck together,
and were longer and smaller than what is com-
monly called an ant’s egg : vast numbers of these
eggs were afterwards turned up and crushed by the
plough.

In the spring of 1748, little blackish worms were
seen lying in the fields and among the bushes,
sticking together and collected in clusters, not un-
like the hillocks of moles or ants. It appears that
the inhabitants, not knowing what they were, dis-

LOCUST.

311

regarded them, till in the month of May they were
covered by the shooting of the corn. These proved
to be the same pests under a different form ; for in
the month of June, when the spring corn had grown
to a tolerable height, they began to spread over the
fields and destroy the vegetation. It was now too
late to extirpate them ; they had dispersed them-
selves in every direction, and could by no means
be destroyed. At this time they resembled com-
mon grasshoppers, and were generally about a fin-
ger’s length ; but towards the end of June they
cast their skin and plainly discovered their wings,
which they gradually unfolded with their hind
feet ; and as soon as any of them found themselves
able to fly they left the ground, and soaring round
the others enticed them to follow. Thus their
numbers daily increasing, they took circular flights
of twenty or thirty yards, untd they were joined by
the rest ; when they miserably laid waste their na-
tive fields, and then proceeded elsewhere. Where-
ever these swarms happened to pitch, they spared
no sort of vegetable ; every green thing was totally
destroyed, and nothing could present a more dismal
sight than the lands which gave them birth : they
were literally stripped of every thing that bore the
least appearance of a vegetable, and the ground was
left perfectly bare.

Barbary was invaded by a host of these pesti-
ferous insects in the year 1724: at that time Dr.
Shaw was travelling in the country, and saw the
dreadful effects of their visitation. They made

312

LOCUST.

their appearance about the end of March* and came
in with a southerly wind. Early in April their
numbers increased prodigiously ; and in the heat of
the day large swarms appeared, which, according to
Shaw, were so dense as to darken the sun. In the
following month they retired to deposit their eggs,
and in J une the young brood was hatched, and was
seen advancing in bodies of some hundred yards
square. Large trenches were formed by the in-
habitants in different parts of the fields, and filled
with water, to stop their march, and large quan-
tities of combustible materials wrere collected and
set on fire for the same purpose ; but all was in
vain, their progress was not to be stopped ; they
advanced notwithstanding every obstacle, climbing
over every barrier, and devouring every vegetable
that came in their way. After having committed
the greatest devastations, and having passed through
the different states of their existence, this dreadful
scourge left the country, and probably perished in
the sea.

During Mr. Barrow’s travels into the interior of
Africa, he had more than one opportunity of ob-
serving these voracious animals ; and w hat he has
said respecting them is delivered in his usual clear
and satisfactory manner.

“ As we advanced to the northward,” says this
intelligent traveller, <c a curious but most deplorable
spectacle presented itself to our observation. It was
a troop of locusts resting upon the ground. The
space they covered was about one square mile in

LOCUST.

313

extent, and so completely that the surface appeared
to the eye, at a little distance, to have been burned
and strewed over with brown ashes. Not a shrub
nor blade of grass was visible. The waggons passed
directly through them, before which they rose up
in a cloud that darkened the air on each side. De-
sirous of seeing the whole troop on the wing, the
Hottentots ran amongst them, and the horses were
made to gallop through them, but without success ;
none but such as were immediately under the feet
of the men and horses rose up. In all other parts
they remained firm on the ground. The peasantry
pretend that they are not to be driven away unless
the signal for departure should be given from their
commander in chief, one of which is supposed to
accompany every troop.”

Wherever these noxious insects made their ap-
pearance the crops were destroyed, and not a single
field of corn remained unconsumed by them. Du-
ring the year Mr. Barrow was in Africa, a whole
district was so completely laid waste as not to pro-
duce a single bushel of grain. But the inhabitants,
accustomed to this calamity, bear the evil with great
patience, and console themselves for the loss of their
corn by killing a double quantity of mutton.

As Mr. Barrow continued his journey, he met
with innumerable multitudes of the incomplete in-
sect, or larva of the locusts. According to this
gentleman’s account, no adequate idea could pos-
sibly be conceived of their numbers without having

o

seen them. “ For the space of ten miles on each

314

LOCUST.

side of the Sea-cow river, and eighty or ninety
miles in length, an area of sixteen or eighteen
hundred square miles, the whole surface of the
ground might literally be said to be covered with
them. 1 he water of the river was scarcely visible
on account of the dead carcases that floated on the
surface, which had perished in the attempt to de-
vour the reeds that were growing in the water.
They had completely destroyed every herb and
every blade of grass ; and had it not been for the
insulated reeds, on which our cattle entirely sub-
sisted while we skirted the banks of the river, our
journey must have been discontinued, at least in
the line that had been proposed, for want of food
for our horses and cattle. The larvae, as generally
is the case in this class of insects, are much more
voracious than the perfect animal ; nothing is re-
jected by them that belongs to the vegetable part
of the creation. They swarmed in thousands into
our tent to devour the crumbs of bread that fell on
the ground, and seized with avidity on a mutton
bone. They are not, however, without a choice in
their food. When they attack a field of corn just
stricken into the ear, they first mount to the sum-
mit, and pick out every grain, before they touch
the leaves and stem. In such a state it is lamenta-
ble to see the ruins of a fine field of corn. The
insect seems constantly to be in motion, and to have
some object in view. When on a march, during
the day it is utterly impossible to turn the direction
of a troop, which is generally the same as that

LOCUST.

315

of the wind. The traces of their route over the
country remain for many weeks after they have
passed it, the surface appearing as if swept by a
broom, or as if a harrow had been drawn over it.
Towards the setting of the sun the march is dis-
continued, when the troop divides into separate
companies, which surround the small shrubs, or
tufts of grass, or ant-hills, and in such thick clus-
ters that they appear like so many swarms of bees ;
and in this manner they rest till day-light. It is
at such times only, when they are thus formed into
groups, that the farmers have any chance of de-
stroying them, which they sometimes effect by
driving among them a flock of two or three thou-
sand sheep, by whose restlessness they are trampled
to death.

“ Luckily the visits of this gregarious insect are
but periodical, otherwise the whole country must
inevitably be deserted, as wherever they appear
they rest, as the prophet in Holy Writ hath said,
c upon all thorns, and upon all bushes.’ Even at
this time the cattle in many parts of Sneuwberg
are starving for want of food. The present year * is
the third of their continuance, and their increase
has far exceeded that of a geometrical progression
whose ratio is a million. For ten years preceding
their present visit, the colony had been entirely
free from them. Their last departure was rather
singular. All the full-grown insects were driven

* 3/9/-

316*

LOCUST.

into the sea by a tempestuous north-west wind, and
were afterwards cast upon the beach, where, it is
said, they formed a bank of three or four feet high,
which extended from the mouth of the Bosjesmans
river, to that of the Beeka, a distance of near fifty
English miles ; and it is asserted, that when this
mass became putrid, and the wind was at south-
east, the stench was sensibly felt in several parts of
Sneuwberg. Fortunately they were driven thus to
sea before they had deposited their eggs in the
ground. The larvae, at the same time, were emi-
grating to the northward. The column of these im-
perfect insects passed the houses of two of our party,
who assured me that it continued moving forwards
without any interruption, except by night, for more
than a month. The gryllivori * in myriads were
close at their heels, and departed along with them,
devouring them as they proceeded; since which, till
the present year, not one of this species of bird was
to be found in the country.”

Swarms of locusts have ravaged the different parts
of the world from the earliest time to the present
day ; and the aeras in which they have appeared,
have been recorded by several authors ; particularly
by Aldrovandus, in whose works the times of their
appearance have been carefully noticed.

The larger species of locusts are used as food by
the inhabitants of the East, and are publicly sold in
the markets. Although the edible sort are six times

* Locust-eating thrush.

LOCUST.

317

the size of the common species, they afford but a
small share of nourishment, especially the males,
who want the magazine of eggs which contribute to
make the females more nutritious. This kind of
food has been eaten in those countries where the
insects are plentiful, from the earliest period to the
present day, and they either eat them fresh, broiled
on the coals, or pickle them for keeping, in which
last state they are generally brought to market. It
has been supposed by some commentators, that
the passage in the Holy Scriptures, in which St.
John the Baptist is said to have fed on locusts and
wild honey, is not properly translated, and that the
word which we understand to mean locusts should
be rendered the young shoots of vegetables. But
this interpretation is totally unnecessary, since we
have seen that these insects are really used as food
in the eastern parts of the world at the present
time. Hasselquist remarks, that they who deny
these insects to have been the food of this holy
man, would soon be convinced of the contrary if
they would travel through Egypt, Arabia, or Syria,
and take a meal with the Arabs. Roasted locusts
are eaten by these people, at the proper season,
whenever they can procure them.

MOLE CRICKET.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Gryllus Gryllotalpa. G. alis caudatis elytro longioribus,

pedibus anterioribus palmatis to-
mentosis. Linn. Syst. Nat. Qmel. 1 .
p. 2059.

Wings much longer than the wing-
cases, and reaching beyond the tail :
fore-feet palmated and downy.

Gryllus supra fuscus, subtus ferrugi-
neo-flavus. See. Degeer Ins. 3,
p. 517- no. 2.

Mole Cricket. . . . Catesb. Carol. 1. pi. 8. Roes. Ins. 2.

pi. 14, 15. Schceff. Icon. p. 37.
f. 1. Shaw Gen. Zool. 6. p. 140.
pi. 50.

The singular structure of the fore-feet of this insect,
which are very broad, and divided into several sharp
segments like claws, have obtained it the name of
mole cricket : the fore-feet not only resemble those
of the mole, but are constructed for the same pur-
pose ; namely, to assist the insect in burrowing un-
der ground. The general form of this cricket is
unpleasant: its length exceeds two inches; its colour
is a dusky brown, and its body is terminated by two
long sharp-pointed processes.

MOLE CRICKET.

3 19

In the day-time the mole cricket buries itself
under the surface of the earth, and only ventures
from its retreat during the night, when it creeps
about and occasionally makes a chirping noise.
The nest which the female prepares for her eggs is
of an oval form, made of clammy earth, and large
enough to hold a full-sized walnut. This is gene-
rally situated about three inches under ground, and
is perfectly smooth within, where the eggs, to the
number of a hundred and fifty or two hundred, are
deposited. Mr. White, of Selborne, saw one of
these repositories laid open by a gardener, who,
mowing by the side of a canal, chanced to pare off a
large piece of turf and expose this curious instance
of domestic ceconomy. He observed several caverns
and winding passages leading to a kind of chamber,
neatly smoothed, and about the size of a moderate
snuff-box. Within this secret nursery were de-
posited near a hundred eggs, of a dirty yellow colour,
and enveloped in a tough skin full of a viscous sub-
stance. The eggs were but a little way under the
surface, within the influence of the sun, and just
under a little heap of fresh mould, like that which
is raised by ants. The eggs of the mole cricket are
nearly of a round shape, and about the size of seed
pearl. They are usually deposited in May, and
hatched in July or August.

The female insect is said to pay great attention
to her nursery, and to defend it from the weather
by sinking it deeper or raising it nearer the surface,
according as the ground is moist or dry. She is

320

MOLE CRICKET.

likewise careful to prevent her nest from being plun-
dered by the black ground beetles, who are supposed
to be fond of the eggs : to check the ardour of these
invaders, we are told the female is often posted as a
sentinel near the nest ; and when the black enemy
prepares to seize his prey, the watchful insect catches
him behind and instantly bites him in two.

The mole cricket feeds entirely on vegetables, and

is therefore a great enemy to gardeners: it not only

devours the roots of the common esculent plants,

but makes great havoc in hot-beds, where many

choice productions have been cut off bv this insect.

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LANTERN FLY.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Head extended on the fore part, where it forms an inflated
cavity.

Antenna? seated below the eyes, and having two articulations,
of which the exterior are globose.

Snout inflected.

Feet formed for walking.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Fulgora lanternaria. F. fronte rostrata recta, alis lividis:

posterioribus ocellatis. Linn. Syst.

Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 208 9.

A straight beak in front 5 wings livid ;
a large eye-shaped spot in each of
the lower wings.

Cucujus peruvianus. Grew Mils.

158. t. 13.

Lantern Fly. . . . Merian Surin. pi. 4Q. Reaumur

Ins. 5. pi. 20. f. 6, 7- Shaw Gen. S
Zool. 6. 144. pi. 52.

These flies greatly alarmed Madam Merian when
she first received a parcel of them from some
Indians who brought them to her before she was
aware of their phosphoric quality, and she gives

VOL. 11.

Y

322

LANTERN ELY.

the following account of her surprise when first she
saw their flashing light :

“ The Indians once brought me, before I knew
that they shone by night, a number of these lan-
tern flies, which I shut up iu a large wooden box.
In the night they made such a noise that I awoke
in a fright, and ordered a light to be brought ; not
knowing from whence the noise proceeded. As
soon as we found that it came from the box, we
opened it ; but were still much more alarmed, and
let it fall to the ground in a fright, at seeing a
flame of fire come out of it ; and as many animals
as came out, so many flames of fire appeared. When
we found this to be the case, we recovered from our
fright, and again collected the insects, highly ad-
miring their splendid appearance.”

This beautiful insect inhabits Surinam and many
other parts of South America, where its vivid light is
serviceable to travellers ; three or four of them, tied
to the end of a stick, being frequently used by
night instead of a torch. It is from the large hood
or lantern, which projects from the body of this
fly, that the radiant light is emitted, and we may
judge of its splendour when we are assured by Ma-
dam Merian that one of them is sufficient to read a
common newspaper by.

The lantern fly is of large size, sometimes mea-
suring nearly four inches in length and five inches
across the wings, when they are expanded. The
most remarkable part about it is the head, which

LANTERN FLY.

323

is, as it were, inflated to a large disproportioned
size, and appears more like an appendage, than a
natural portion of the animal’s body ; it is in this
part, as we have already observed, that the phos-
phorus is contained, and from hence those lumi-
nous flashes are emitted which have contributed to
make the insect so justly celebrated.

CICADA.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Rostrum, or snout, bent inwards under the breast.

Antennae setaceous.

Wings four, membranaceous, declining along the sides of
the body.

Feet in most species formed for leaping.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Cicada spumaria. C. fusca, elytris maculis binis albis late-

ralibus: fascia duplici interrupta albida.
Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 2102.

Of a brown colour, with two lateral white
spots, or rather two irregular whitish
bands on the upper wings.

Cicada fascia duplici albida interrupta trans-
versa. Geoff. Ins. 1. p. 415. no. 2.

Cicada spumaria graminis. Degeer Ins. 3.
p. 163. no. 1. pi. 11. f. 1.21.

Cuckoo Spit. . . Merian Ins. 77- pi* 51. Schceff. Elem.

pi. 42. Shaw Gen. Zool. 6. p. 153.

The little patches of foam which we so often ob-
serve upon rose-trees and on blades of grass, &.c. are
the production of this insect in the larva state.
This froth, which has obtained the name of cuckoo
spit, contains the little green cicada ; and it is said

CICADA.

325

the insect sucks the juices of the plant where it re-
sides, and afterwards ejects them from its vent in
the form of minute bubbles, till it has completely
covered itself, and has thus secured a cool summer
retreat. This operation may be readily observed
by removing the froth from the little animal, which
will soon emit fresh moisture and again cover it-
self from our sight. The small sucker with which
it extracts the moisture from the plant may be
observed if the insect is carefully examined, and
will generally be found lying close to the under part
of the thorax.

This delicate little creature remains enveloped in
foam till it has undergone its different transforma-
tions and become a perfect insect. After it has
grown to its lull size and passed the chrysalis state
(which so strongly resembles that of the larva as not
to be distinguished), the froth becomes viscid, and
no longer invests the insect as before, but fixes it
to the plant, where it remains till the final change
is effected, and the perfect cicada emerges from its
sheath. If the insect is watched during this trans-
formation, it will be observed first to put out its
head, and afterwards by dgrees its body : a small
protuberance will appear on each side, which, ra-
pidly increasing in size, will prove to be the un-
folding wings: about a quarter of an hour com-
pletes the operation, and the little animal pre-
pares for flight, leaving behind it the perfect silver-
like skin of its former body, which with all its legs
and other parts remains sticking to the plant.

32 6

CICADA.

The cuckoo spit is by some called the frog hopper,
from the nimbleness with which it springs to a con-
siderable distance when disturbed.

The most celebrated of all this genus of insects
is the Cicada plebeja of Linnaeus. This is a com-
mon species in the warmer parts of Europe, and
was once the favourite of the poets. It appears in
the middle of summer, and makes the air resound
with its shrill chirping noise while it conceals itself
among the branches of trees. Many romantic
stories have been told of the musical powers of this
little creature, and much has been said in favour
of its voice: but in reality the sound which it emits
is harsh and disagreeable ; far from being varied,
the same note is incessantly repeated, and that in
such a loud tone, that one of them confined in a
cage will almost drown the voice of a whole com-
pany. This astonishing faculty in so small an ob-
ject has engaged the attention of some of the most
celebrated entomologists, who have found that the
sound proceeds from a pair of concave membranes
placed on each side the first joint of the abdomen,
assisted by a strong muscular apparatus, which are
together exerted for the purpose of producing the
note.

That the cicada gained great credit for its har-
monious voice, may be collected from what antient
authors have related respecting two rival musi-
cians, who were playing for a prize, when one of
them unfortunately broke the string of his lyre,
and would certainly have lost the day, if a com-

CICADA.

32 7

passionate cicada had not flown to his aid, and, by
supplying the place of the broken string, en-
couraged him to proceed and gain the palm. This
event was commemorated by a statue, in which a
man is represented playing upon a lyre with a
cicada perched on it. There are likewise allusions
to this musical insect in two gems in the Florentine
Gallery ; one represents the cicada on a lyre, and
the other the same insect playing on a Pan’s pipe.
Anacreon too celebrates this little favourite, and
has bestowed upon him the pretty verses with
which we have concluded this account :

“ Happy insect ! blithe and gay.

Seated on the sunny spray.

And drunk with dew, the leaves among.

Singing sweet thy chirping song !

All the various seasons’ treasures.

All the products of the plains.

Thus lie open to thy pleasures,

Fav’rite of the rural swains.

On thee the muses fix their choice.

And Phoebus adds his own.

Who first inspir’d thy lively voice.

And tun’d the pleasing tone.

Thy cheerful note in wood and vale
Fills every heart with glee ;

And summer smiles in double charm*

While thus proclaim’d by thee.

Like gods canst thou the nectar sip,

A lively chirping elf ;

From labour free, and free from care,

A little god thyself.”

ROSE LOUSE.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Rostrum bent inwards.

Antenna) longer than the thorax.

Wings erect and either four or none.

Feet formed for walking.

Abdomen generally furnished with two little horns or pro-
cesses on the hinder part.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Aphis Rosje. A. rosae. Linn. Syst. Nat. Gtnel. l.p. 2204.

Aphis viridis, corniculis longissimis, rosae. Degeer
Ins. p. 65. no. 10. t. 3. f. 10.

Rose aphis, of a green colour, with very long an-
tennae.

Rose Louse. Reaum. Ins. 3. t. 21. f. I — 4. Shaw Gen. Zool.6.
pi. 58.

This is the insect which so frequently infests our
rose-trees, to the great annoyance of the gardener,
who finds it very difficult, if not impossible, to de-
stroy them entirely. They adhere in vast numbers
to the branches and under side of the leaves, where
they remain so closely wedged together as to give
a green appearance to the plant. About the be-

ROSE LOUSE.

329

ginning of February they are generally found in
abundance upon the tender buds of the rose, and if
the weather prove mild they continue to enjoy their
situation ; but if it should become very cold, most
of them will be destroyed, and the plants in a great
measure cleared of them.

Although we have selected this species as the one
most commonly known to the casual observer, yet
there are several others of the same genus ; but
their habits and manners are so nearly allied that
the same history will apply to them all. There
is something so curious in the occonomy of these
creatures, that entomologists have thought it worth
their while to pay particular attention to them,
and among the rest the late Mr. Curtis has not
been wanting in his endeavours to complete their
history. The result of his labours are published
in the sixth volume of the Transactions of the Lin-
nean Society ; and as he has given by far the best
account of these little insects, we shall avail ourselves
of his information, taking the liberty, at the same
time, to abridge what it would he superfluous for us
to introduce.

It appears from the observations of naturalists
that these little creatures possess a very wonderful
property, the females continuing to produce a great
number of generations after being once impreg-
nated. This is so singular a circumstance that
nothing but repeated observation could satisfy many
of the truth of it. However, the fact is now well
established, and Mr. Curtis quotes M. Bonnet in

330

ROSE LOUSE.

proof of it. This gentleman took the insects as
soon as they were brought forth, and kept each in-
dividual separate. The females of these brought
forth abundance of young, which he treated in the
same manner with precisely the same effect : thus
he proceeded to the ninth generation with the same
success ; and was so far from believing them ex-
hausted, that he thinks it might be carried on to
the thirtieth generation.

There is something very singular in the quality
of the glutinous liquor voided by these insects.
“ Were a person,” says Mr. Curtis, “ accidentally
to take up a book in which it was gravely asserted
that in some countries there were certain animals
which voided liquid sugar, he would soon lay it
down, regarding it as a fabulous tale, calculated to
impose on the credulity of the ignorant; and yet
such is literally the truth. The superior size of
the aphis salicis will enable the most common ob-
server to satisfy himself on this head. On looking
steadfastly on a group of these insects while feeding
on the bark of the willow, one perceives a few of
them elevate their bodies, and a transparent sub-
stance evidently drop from them, which is imme-
diately followed by a similar motion and discharge
like a small shower from a great number of others.
At first I was not aware that the substance thus
dropping from these animals at such stated intervals
was their excrement, but was convinced of its being
so afterwards ; for on a more accurate examination
I found it proceeded from the extremity of the ab-

ROSE LOUSE.

331

domen, as is usual in other insects. On placing a
piece of writing-paper under a mass of these in-
sects, it soon became thickly spotted : holding it a
longer time, the spots united from the addition of
others, and the whole surface assumed a glossy ap-
pearance. I tasted this substance, and found it as
sweet as sugar. I had the less hesitation in doing
this, having observed that wasps, ants, flies, and in-
sects without number, devoured it as quickly as it
was produced.

“ In the height of summer, when the weather is
hot and dry, and aphides are most abundant, the
foliage of trees and plants (more especially in some
years than others) is found covered with, and ren-
dered glossy by, a sweet clammy substance, known ,
to persons resident in the country by the name of
honey -dew : they regard it as a sweet substance fall-
ing from the atmosphere, as its name implies. The
sweetness of this excrementitious substance, the
glossy appearance it gave to the leaves it fell upon,
and the swarms of insects this matter attracted,
first led me to imagine that the honey-dew of plants
was no other than this secretion, which further ob-
servation has since fully confirmed. Others have
considered it as an exsudation from the plant it-
self. Of the former opinion we find the Rev.
Mr. White, one of the latest writers on natural
history that has noticed this subject. But that it
neither falls from the atmosphere, nor issues from
the plant itself is easily demonstrated. If it fell
from the atmosphere it would cover every thing in-

332

ROSE LOUSE.

discriminately ; whereas we never find it but on
certain living plants and trees. We find it also on
plants in stoves and green-houses covered with
glass. If it exsuded from the plant, it would ap-
pear on all the leaves generally and uniformly:
whereas its appearance is extremely irregular, not
alike on any two leaves of the same tree or plant,
some having none of it, and others being covered
with it but partially. But the phenomena of the
honey-dew, with all their variations, are easily ac-
counted for by considering the aphides as the au-
thors of it ; that they are capable of producing an
appearance extremely similar to that of honey-dew
lias already been shown. As far as my observation
has extended, there never exists any honey-dew
but where there are aphides ; such, however, often
pass unnoticed, being hid on the under side of the
leaf. Wherever honey-dew is observable about a
leaf, aphides will be found on the under side of the
leaf or leaves immediately above it, and under no
other circumstances whatever. If by accident any
thing should intervene between the aphides and
the leaf next between them, there will be no ho-
ney-dew on that leaf. Thus then we flatter our-
selves to have incontrovertibly proved that the
aphides are the true and only source of the honey-
dew.”

The sooty appearance which we occasionally find
on the surface of the bark and foliage of differ-
ent trees is o\Ving entirely to the saccharine sub-
stance which the aphides deposit, and which, after

ROSE LOUSE.

333

remaining a considerable time, greatly disfigures
the leaves, and is sometimes mistaken for a black
mildew.

In some seasons these insects multiply so ex-
ceedingly as to become very injurious to the hus-
bandman, who has no remedy against their baneful
effects. Hop gardens are sometimes covered with
them ; and the plants which before might be in
the most flourishing state, are presently so altered
in their appearance as to be no longer like the
same. Vain would be the attempt to rescue them ;
the mischief is too extensive : the timely fall of
violent rain attended with lightning is said to be
very serviceable in clearing the crop, but it may be
doubted if the wet has much to do with it, since
we find from some experiments made by Mr. Cur-
tis, that these insects can even exist for a considera-
ble time totally under water. On the twelfth of
May 1799? this gentleman immersed in a glass of
water the footstalk of a leaf of considerable length,
taken from a stove plant beset with aphides of a
dark lead colour, which were feeding on it in great
numbers. On immersion they did not quit the
stalk, but immediately their bodies assumed a kind
of luminous appearance from the minute bubbles
of air which issued from them. They were put
under water at a quarter past six in the evening,
and taken out at a quarter past ten the next morn-
ing, having continued immersed sixteen hours. On
placing them in the sunshine, some of them almost
immediately showed signs of life, and three out of

334

ROSE LOUSE.

four at least survived the immersion. “ Many
years before this experiment,” says Mr. Curtis,
“ with a view to destroy the aphides which in-
fested a plant in my green-house, I immersed, one
evening, the whole plant, together with the pot in
which it grew, in a tub of water. In the morning
I took out the plant, expecting with certainty to
find every aphis dead ; but to my great surprise
they soon appeared alive and well. When taken
from the plant on which they feed, and kept under
water, they do not survive so long ; their struggling
in that case perhaps exhausts them sooner. This
part of the subject might perhaps be pushed much
further : it is sufficient for our purpose to have
shown that wet is not so hurtful to them as is gene-
rally imagined.”

Mr. Curtis recommends the smoke of tobacco
beyond every thing else for the destruction of the
aphides. It is obvious that they can only be de-
stroyed on a small scale, viz. in a green- house where
a few plants only, if the gardener is careful, will be
covered with aphides, and it will be better to re-
move these into a place where they may be smoked
separately, than to be at the trouble and expense of
smoking the whole house. It appears that when
judiciously applied, the tobacco completely answers
the purpose without injuring the plant.

These despoilers of the vegetable kingdom are
themselves preyed upon by several insects. One
of their most formidable enemies is the coccinella,
or common lady-bird. During the severity of win-

ROSE LOUSE.

335

ter this insect secures itself under the bark of trees
or elsewhere. When the warmth of spring has
expanded the foliage of plants, the female deposits
its eggs on them in great numbers, from whence
in a short time proceeds the larva, a small grub
of a dark lead colour spotted with orange : these
may be observed in the summer season running
pretty briskly over all kinds of plants ; and if nar-
rowly watched they will be found to devour the
aphides wherever they find them. The same may
be observed of the lady-bird in its perfect state.
As these insects in both their states are very nu-
merous, they contribute powerfully to diminish the
number of aphides. Mr. Curtis mentions another
very formidable enemy : it is a very minute black
and slender ichneumon fly, which eats its way out
of the aphis, leaving the inflated skin of the insect
adhering to the leaf like a small pearl. In general
the torpid aphis submits quietly to this fatal opera-
tion ; but this is not the case with all of them, as
Mr. Curtis observed the kind which feeds on the
sycamore, which has more agility than many of the
other species, endeavouring to avoid the ichneumon
with great address.

Mr. Curtis is of opinion that these insects are one
of the principal causes of the blight of plants, and
supposes that they emigrate to different parts of the
country at certain periods. He informs us that the
common green aphis, which is so generally de-
structive, lives during the winter season on such
herbaceous plants as it remained on during the

336

HOSE LOUSE.

autumn, either in its egg or perfect state. As the
spring advances the males and females of these in-
sects acquire wings ; and thus the business of in-
crease is widely and rapidly extended, as the winged
aphides, by hop-planters called the fly, may be seen
at this period sitting on plants, and floating in the
air in all directions.

Mr. Curtis mentions the observation of Mr.
White of Selborne respecting a shower of aphides,
as tending to support his opinion of their dispo-
sition to emigrate. The account which Mr. White
has given of this curious circumstance is as follows :
“ As we have remarked above, that insects are
often conveyed from one country to another in a
very unaccountable manner, I shall here mention
an emigration of small aphides, which was observed
in the village of Selborne, no longer ago than
August the first, 1/85. At about three o’clock in
the afternoon of that day, which was very hot, the
people of this village were surprised by a shower of
aphides or smother-flies, which fell in these parts.
Those that were walking; in the streets at that
juncture found themselves covered with these in-
sects, which settled also on the hedges and gardens,
blackening all the vegetables where they alighted.
My annuals were discoloured with them, and the
stalks of a bed of onions were quite coated over for
six days after. These armies were then no doubt in
a state of emigration, and shifting their quarters;
and might have come, as far as we know, from the
hop-plantations of Kent or Sussex, the wind being

ROSE LOUSE.

337

all that day in the easterly quarter. They were
observed at the same time in great clouds about
Farnham, and all along the vale from Farnham to
Alton.”

The hop-grounds frequently suffer most severely
by these insects. In 1/93 they greatly damaged
the hops, and in 1798 caused the crop entirely to
fail. In the year 1/94, which was remarkable for
a dry summer, the aphides attacked the peas and
beans, while the hops completely escaped. Thus it
is uncertain upon what plants they will commit their
depredations, as potatoes and even corn have been
known to suffer from their visits.

VOL. 11

z

COCHINEAL.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Rostrum situated in the breast.

Hinder part of the abdomen bristly.

Two erect wings on the males ; none on the females.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Coccus Cacti. C. cacti coccinelliferi. Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1.

p. 2220.

Coccinella alis destituta, corpore rugoso. Brown
Jam. 435.

Cochineal. . Degeer Ins. 6. pi. 80. f. 12 — '14. Rcaum Ins. 4.

pi. 7. f. 11, 12. Shaw Gen. Zool. 6. p. lgi.
pi. hi .

Cochineal was known as a drug long before its
real nature was determined: some supposed it to
be a vegetable, while others thought it an insect.
This difference of opinion was owing to the dried
state in which it was imported ; and its appearance
in our shops is so ambiguous, that it would puzzle
any one unacquainted with the drug to say whether
the substance was of animal or vegetable origin.
The history, however, of this useful material is now

COCHINEAL.

339

fully known, and we find the male insect described
as a small fly about the size of a flea, with jointed
antennae and large wings in proportion to the body,
which is of a red colour, and terminated by two long
filaments : this is the appearance of the male : — the
female differs essentially, being destitute of wings,
and of an oval shape, with a body at least six times
the size of the male. The process which they un-
dergo before we receive them, so completely spoils
their shape, that we lose all traces of their legs and
antennae: they appear like irregular grains convex
on one side and concave on the other, both sides
bein^ marked with transverse streaks or wrinkles.
They are of a scarlet colour within, and of a blackish
red without ; sometimes of a white, reddish, or ash
colour.

The cochineal is a native of South America, and
the best is said to come from Mexico, where the
insects are chiefly cultivated, and are fed on two
plants of the same genus, viz. the cactus cochenil-
lifer , and cactus opuntia , or prickly pear. The
female is the officinal cochineal insect ; and as they
afford a considerable branch of traffic, great care is
taken to bring them to perfection. The Mexicans
carefully attend to the plants which afford them
nourishment, and at a proper season fix to the
prickles of the cactus small parcels of the finest
moss, each of which is sufficient to make a nest that
will contain ten or twelve full-grown female insects.
In a few days a numerous progeny is born, which
soon leave the moss, and spread themselves over

340

COCHINEAL.

the leaves of the plants, becoming attached to those
spots which they find best adapted to afford them
nourishment. Here they remain till they become of
a full size, and are then taken off for use. It must
be observed that they become torpid when full
grown, and it is in this state that they are gathered.
In some parts the slaves are not sufficiently caieful
in picking off the cochineal (which is done with a
bamboo twig in the shape of a pen) ; for instead
of confining themselves to the pei iect insect, they
pick off those which have not arrived at their full
size, and thus injure the crop by destroying many
females before they have deposited then young.

The insects are converted into a colouring drug
by a simple but cruel process. They are collected
into a wooden bowl and from thence transferred to a
fiat earthenware dish, which is placed over a char-
coal fire, and thus the insects are slowly roasted
alive till all their juices are evaporated. While
they are drving, a person continually stirs the mass
with a tin ladle, and sometimes sprinkles them
with water lest they should burn, which would
totally destroy the beauty of the colour. When
the operation is completed, they are removed from
the fire and assume the well-known appearance of
cochineal. Eight hundred and eighty thousand
pounds weight of this drug are said to be imported
annually into Europe !

There is another species of this genus, the Coccus
feus , Linn., or shell lac, which is of considerable
service to japanners, &c. These insects inhabit the

COCHINEAL.

341

trees which are found on the uncultivated moun-
tains on both sides of the Ganges, and are so abun-
dant, that even if the annual consumption greatly
exceeded what it does, there would be more than
enough to supply the markets. Mr. Kerr, who
has given a particular account of this species in the
seventy-first volume of the Philosophical Trans-
actions, says, that in the year 1/81 gum lac in
Dacca was sold for twelve shillings the hundred
weight, notwithstanding the greatest part of it is
collected in Assam, which is a part of Asia at a great
distance from Dacca.

The trees upon which these insects are chiefly
found are the Ficus religiosa and Ficus indica , Linn.
The young ones for some time after they are pro-
duced, which is in the months of November and
December, continue to wander about the branches
till they at length fix themselves on the succulent
parts of the young shoots. By the middle of
January they have all attached themselves to their
particular situations ; and although they now cease
to show any signs of life, yet they appear as plump
as before. Their legs, antennae, and the bristles of
the tail, however, are no longer to be seen, and their
bodies appear to be glued to the branch by a semi-
transparent gelatinous liquid, which completely^ sur-
rounds them. This liquid gradually accumulates
till about the middle of March, by which time it
has formed a perfect cell for the insect, which
now appears like a smooth red bag, of an oval
shape, without life, and full of a beautiful red liquid.

342

COCHINEAL.

If this red bag is opened in October or November,
a number ot small oval eggs, or rather young gt ubs,
amounting to twenty or thirty m numbei, will be
found within it. As long as any ot the led fluid
remains, the young progeny continue within the
bag; but as soon as the whole of it is consumed they
pierce a hole through the outer covering, and walk
out one by one, leaving the empty nest behind
them. They generally fix themselves so close to-
gether (on account of their immense numbers) that
scarcely more than one female in six has room to
finish her cell ; the others die, and become the food
of different insects. The branches of the trees to
which they attach themselves suffer so much from
the loss of sap, that they seem covered with a red
dust, and the adjoining parts wither aw^ay. I he
natives who collect the lac break down these

branches and carry them to market.

This production in its natural state is called stick
lac. After the cells are separated from the sticks
and granulated, they are called seed lac. 1 his melted
by fire and made into cakes becomes the lump lac :
and the term shell lac is given to this substance alter
it has been liquified, strained, and formed into thin
transparent plates.

Before the discovery of America introduced to
our notice the cochineal, we were indebted to an-
other species of this genus, the Coccus ilicis , or
kermes, for the most valuable scarlet dye then in
use. This insect adheres to the shoots of the Quercus
coccifera , or berry-bearing ilex, which is found very

COCHINEAL.

343

plentifully in many parts of Europe. They ap-
pear under the form of smooth shining grains of a
brownish red colour, about the size of peas, and
covered with a fine brown powder. These grains
contain the young kermes, which proceed much in
the same manner as the lac insects, till they attach
themselves to the young branches, and become the
receptacles of a future progeny. The harvest of the
kermes is more or less abundant, according to the
severity of the winter. They are gathered princi-
pally by women, and steeped in vinegar in order to
kill the parent, and thus prevent the exclusion of
the young animals, which contain the crimson
liquor. They are then spread on linen and exposed
to the sun, where they are turned two or three times
a-day till they become perfectly dry, and are then
packed for sale.

It is observed that the scarlet die from this insect
is much more durable, though less brilliant, than
that from cochineal. The term scarlet in grain,
which was given to woollen cloth dyed with kermes,
originated from the insect having been considered

as a grain.

LEPIDOPTEROUS INSECTS.

BUTTERFLY.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennae become thicker towards their extremity, and are
generally terminated by a knob.

Month furnished with a spiral tongue, which the insect can
extend and roll up again at pleasure.

Wings, when at rest, erect.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Papilig Priamus. P. alis denticulatis holosericeis, anterioribus

supra viridibus, macula atra, posteriori bus
maculis sex atris. Linn. Syst. Nat.
Gmel. 1. p. 2230.

Papilio with toothed velvet-like wings j up-
per wings green, with a large black spot 3
lower wings marked with six black spots.

Papilio amboynensis, viridi- et nigro-ho-
locericeus insignis. Vincent. Mus. JO.

Papilio sive Atlas Amboynensis, alls su-
perioribus holocericeo-nigris, institis viri-
dibus. Mus. Petrop. 664.

BUTTERFLY.

345

Priam Butterfly. Aulent. Misc. 1 . pi. 45, Jallonshy. Pap. 1.

pi. l . f. 1, 2. Shaw Gen. Zool. 6. p. 207.

pi. 65.

On this splendid and very extensive genus, Nature
seems to have lavished her most radiant treasures.
We here find a display of colour which nothing can
exceed, and frequently trace all the varied tints of
the rainbow upon the wings of a single butterfly.
As an example of this magnificent tribe of insects
we have selected the above species, which was con-
sidered by Linnaeus as the most beautiful of them
all.

When the wings of this butterfly are extended
they measure more than six inches from end to
end, and the beauty of their surfaces exceeds all de-
scription. The ground colour of the upper wings
is a deep velvet black edged with a broad irregular
border of the most beautiful grass green, which
has all the softness and lustre of satin. The same
bright green prevails in the lower wings, which are
marked with four oval spots of velvet black *, and
edo’ed with a border of the same colour ; besides
these they have an orange-coloured spot on the
upper part of each of the inferior wings. Black
and gold form the prevailing colours on the body
of this splendid insect, and that nothing might be
wanting to render it the most beautiful of its species.
Nature has decorated the black part with specks of
the brightest green.

* In the Linnaean specification six black spots are mentioned,
but we have not noticed more than four.

BUTTERFLY.

3lC)

These rare insects inhabit the island of Amboyna,
from whence they are brought to England and pre-
served in the cabinets of the curious.

As the history of any particular individual of
this numerous genus does not contain any thing
sufficiently interesting to make it of importance to
the general reader, we have thought it unnecessary
to give more than one example, and shall conclude
with a concise description of the different parts of
these insects.

The eyes of butterflies differ in size, and some-
what in formation. In one species they are large,
in another small ; in some they describe a larger
portion of a sphere than in others ; but in all the
outward coat has a lustre which reflects from its
surface the various prismatic colours. The cause of
these different tints is discovered when the eye is
examined under a proper magnifying glass ; for it
will then be found to consist of a great number of
sides, or small lenses, each of which reflects a
portion of light, and the whole may be compared
to a brilliant cut diamond. This disposition of the
parts of the eye enables the insect to see perfectly
well in every direction, though the whole together
is fixed immoveably in the head.

The trunk with which butterflies are furnished,
is the organ through which they conduct all their
nourishment to the mouth. It is a flexible tube
placed exactly between the eyes, and when the
animal is not in search of food is generally rolled
up. With this the butterfly explores the bottom

BUTTERFLY.

347

of a flower, and robs the nectary of its sweets;
seated on the edge of the corolla the little animal
uncurls its trunk, and directed by an unerring in-
stinct to the part where the honey lies, imme-
diately plunges in its proboscis, and extracts the

contents.

The wings of butterflies, which constitute the
beauty of these insects, owe their opacity to the
variegated dust with which they are covered. This
dust, which is rubbed ofli with the slightest touch
from the surface of the wing, and disregarded as
a mere powder, is nevertheless highly deserving of
our notice. Each particle bears some resemblance
to the feather of a bird, or rather to a fan, being a
flat substance which widens from the point, and is
terminated by four or five notches. These scales
are arranged in a very beautiful and regular man-
ner on the wings of the insect, one rank being
partly covered by the other above it, in the same
way as tiles are laid upon a house. By the help
of a compound microscope and a deep magnifier,
these apparent grains of powder are at once con-
verted into the little scales already mentioned. The
wing itself is composed of very thick nerves distri-
buted on a fine transparent film, in which may be
seen the sockets contrived to receive the taper end
of the scales.

The body, which may be divided into the corslet
and the abdomen, is frequently so covered with
liair that the rings on the latter part of it are not

348

BUTTERFLY.

visible. The corslet, which is more solid than the
abdomen, has both the wings and the legs attached
to it. The two fore-legs are often so much con-
cealed in the long hair of the body, that it is dif-
ficult to discover them, and the insects, from this
circumstance, may appear to have but four legs,
while they invariably have six.

MOTH.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennae cetaceous, decreasing in size from the base towards
the point.

Wings, when at rest, in general deflected.

Fly in the night.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Pha l/ena mori. P. alls pallidis; strigis tribus obsoletis fuscis

maculaque lunari. Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1.
p. 2413.

Wings pale ; marked with three obsolete brown
bands.

Silkworm. . Merian Ins. Eur. 1. pi. 1. Reaum. Ins. 2.

pi. 5. f. 2. Allin Ins. pi. 12. f. 1(5. Shaw
Gen. Zool. 6. p. 2«0. pi. 77-

The great service which these insects have been of
to mankind from a very early period, has given them
a degree of importance above the rest of their tribe;
and, as we are much indebted to them for their
labours, it will be but just to pay particular atten-
tion to their history.

Silkworms are reared in two ways : one is to let
them remain at full liberty upon their native trees ;
the other to keep them at home in a place particu-

350

MOTH.

larly set apart for the purpose, taking care to supply
them every day with fresh leaves. The first method
is used in China, Tonquin, and other hot countries,
where they are hatched and form their coccoons of
silk without requiring any attendance. In those
hot climates the butterflies who spring from the
worms, or rather caterpillars, choose a proper place in
the mulberry-tree to deposit their eggs upon, which
being found, they fasten them with a sort of glue
with which most insects are naturally supplied for
different purposes. These eggs remain there all the
autumn and winter without the least injury; and
the manner in which they are fixed secures them
from the influence of frosts. The insects never
leave their eggs till nature has provided for them a
sufficient supply of food in the young leaves, which
burst from their buds some time before the silk-
worms appear. Upon these leaves the little pro-
geny feed with great voracity, and soon increase in
size, so that at the end of a few months they distri-
bute upon different parts of the tree little cones of
silk, which resemble so many apples of gold amidst
the beautiful green that surrounds them. This
method of breeding; these very useful insects is un-

O %J

doubtedly the best, but it cannot be practised in
our cold European climates, where they would be
subject to inconveniencies which all our care could
not possibly prevent. By nets they might he de-
fended from the depredations of birds, but nothing
could secure them from the severity of the cold, or
from the violent winds and rain with which we are

MOTH.

351

so frequently visited, and which would at once
sweep away and destroy them all. It is necessary
therefore to bring them up in the house; and the
manner in which the persons who have the care of
silkworms proceed for this purpose is thus described.

A room is chosen in a good air, and where the
sun has free admission. This apartment must be
defended from the winds by windows well glazed,
or frames of strong cloth. In the middle of the
chamber several ranges of wicker shelves are
placed one above another about eighteen inches
apart, and under every range of shelves there is a
floor, bordered round with a ledge, which slides into
a groove, and may be fixed or displaced at pleasure.
The worms are hatched in boxes where the eggs
have been previously placed, which are of a straw
colour, and about the size of a pin’s head. When
the worms first leave their eggs, it is customary to
put some leaves of the mulberry-tree over the paper
of the box where they were hatched ; which is then
large enough to contain a great number of them, as
for the first few days they are little black insects
about the size of a small ant. When they have
gained a little strength they are distributed upon
beds of leaves on the wicker shelves in the middle
of the room, round which there is a free passage for
the person in attendance. Every morning a fresh
supply of leaves is lightly scattered over them in an
uniform manner, at the same time the stale ones
are removed, and care taken that the insects are not
carried away with them. Cleanliness is highly ne-
cessary in rearing these little animals, as nothing

3 52

MOTH.

injures them so much as moisture and impurity.
In order to preserve the silkworms from the distem-
pers to which they are liable, the persons who
have the care of them are attentive to gather their
leaves in a dry season, and preserve them in a place
where no moisture can come, as wet is exceedingly
prejudicial to the caterpillars, and drying the leaves
takes up more time than the young nursery can
well spare, as they come into the world with a de-
termination to make the best use of the short period
allowed them, and are therefore always feeding
most voraciously till they prepare to pass into the
chrysalis state. Leaves of lettuce or holly-oak are
occasionally given them when the mulberry leaves
happen to fail, but they have little relish for this
food ; they only submit to it from necessity, and the
sdk they then spin is of an inferior quality. Fresh
air must be admitted into the room from time to
time, as upon that and cleanliness the welfare of
the silkworms greatly depends.

Having thus described the manner in which
these useful insects are reared, we shall proceed
to trace them through the different stages of their
growth.

We have already noticed that when the silkworm
first leaves the egg it is extremely small, and perfectly
black. In a few days it begins to assume a whitish
hue, or rather an ash gray, and in about a week after
its birth it has grown to the length or a quarter of an
inch, soon after which it suffers a temporary lethar-
gy, and sleeps for two or three days: towards the
expiration of this time, the little animal becomes

MOTH.

353

violently agitated, and grows almost red with the
efforts it uses ; its skin wrinkles and shrinks into
folds, and the insect at length divests itself of it,
and throws it aside with its feet. It now appears
in a new habit, is very much increased in size, and
feeds voraciously for five days longer, when it again
becomes torpid, and once more quits its covering.
It experiences two more attacks before it has arrived
at its full growth, when it is rather more than an
inch long. After this period it only continues to
feed five or six days before it becomes transparent,
with a tinge of yellow, and leaves traces of its silk
wherever it passes. It now ceases to enjoy itself
any longer, loses all relish for its favourite food,
and prepares for its approaching change into a chry-
salis, by constructing a little cell of the most ex-
quisite beauty, where it remains enclosed a month
or five weeks, and sometimes longer. But before
we extricate our little prisoner from its temporary
tomb, it will be proper to describe the manner in
which it spins the cone or ball of silk in which the
chrysalis is so carefully wrapped.

In the body of the insect there are two long and
slender bags that lie above the intestines, and con-
tain a sort of gum, of the colour of a marigold, of
which the worm makes its silk. The apparatus de-
signed for the purpose of spinning the cone, has not
been unaptly compared to a wire-drawer’s machine.
This is a plate pierced with holes of unequal dimen-
sions, through which gold or silver threads may be
drawn to any degree of fineness. The silkworm has

VOL. II. 2 A

354

MOTH.

under her mouth sucli a kind of instrument perfo-
rated with a pair of holes, through which she draws
two drops of the gum that fills her bag; and as every
thread proceeds from two gum-bags, it is probable
that each supplies its own, which immediately after
leaving the animal loses its fluidity and acquires
the necessary consistence. The silkworm is never
deceived in adjusting the dimensions of the two
apertures, or calculating the due thickness of the
thread: she always makes it sufficiently strong to
support the weight of her body, and unites the
two threads together by glueing one over the other
with her fore paws.

When the creature has fixed upon a proper situ-
ation where it may construct its cell without in-
terruption, it begins to move its head in all di-
rections, in order to fasten its threads on every side.
This first work looks like confusion, but it is not
without design. The worm, in the beginning, neither
arranges its threads nor disposes one over another ;
but contents itself with distending a sort of cotton
or flue, to keep off the rain ; for they constantly
make use of the same means in the house which
nature has ordained them to use for their defence
in the open air.

“ When my curiosity,” says the Abbe La Pluche,
“ led me to know how they spun and placed their
beautiful silk, I took some of them and frequently
removed the flue with which they first attempted
to make themselves a covering; and as 1 weakened
them exceedingly, when they were at last tired of

MOTH.

355

beginning anew, they fastened their threads upon
what came in their way, and began to spin very
regularly in my presence, bending their heads up
and down, and then crossing on every side. The
worm at that time confined its motions to a very
contracted space, and by degrees had entirely sur-
rounded itself with silk. The remainder of the
operation is invisible, but one may guess how it
was accomplished. The animal, to finish its mantle,
drew out of its bag a gum, which it spun into a less
delicate silk, and then thickened it with a strong
glue, which served to hind all the last ranks of this
silk over one another.”

Thus we may plainly distinguish three coverings,
which are entirely different from each other. Ex-
ternally the cone is composed of the flue, or cottony
substance that keeps off the rain ; the fine silk within
this forms a tissue that prevents all access of air ;
and the glued silk next the body of the chrysalis
not only defends it from water and air, but also
renders the inside of this habitation inaccessible to
the cold. The cone is like a pigeon’s egg, and more
pointed at one end than the other. The worm
never fails to fix her head opposite the pointed ex-
tremity, as she is conscious that part is not so
strongly cemented nor so exactly closed as the rest,
and therefore better fitted for the passage of the fu-
ture moth, which will have to force its way out of
the cone.

After the worm has quite completed her cell she
resigns herself with patience to her fate, and re-

2 a 2

MOTH.

3 56

mains quiet during the appointed time, when the
chrysalis becomes converted to a perfect moth, and
the new animal, impatient of confinement, presses
with its head against the point ol the cone ; which,
being weak in that part, gradually yields to its
efforts ; the opening becomes sufficiently enlarged,
and at last the moth conies forth. At the bottom
of the cone may he found the ruins ol its former
state, consisting of the head and entire skin of the
worm. When first the moth leaves its cell it ap-
pears exhausted with fatigue, and merely recovers
its strength to propagate its species ; for the male
dies soon after his union with the female, who only
survives him till she has fulfilled the duty appointed
her by Providence, in laying the foundation of a

future progeny.

Before the moth leaves the cell it discharges a
liquor that greatly injures the silk; to prevent
which, the persons who have the care of silkworms
collect the cones before the chrysalis contained in
each is arrived at perfection, and, by exposing them
to a sufficient degree of heat, kill the animal, and
thus preserve the silk. It is necessary, however,
to save a few of them to recruit the stock for the
ensuing year; but a very small number will be
sufficient, as one female will sometimes lay above

five hundred eggs.

The best cones are strong, without any spots, an
of a clear colour ; those of a bright yellow yield more
silk than the others ; but the pale ones are more
esteemed, as they take particular colours better, and,

MOTH.

357

having less gum in their composition, do not lose
so much in boiling. Before the silk is separated
the cones are put into vessels of water, each of
which is placed over a small fire, and the ends of
the threads are found by stirring the cones gently
about with a whisk made for the purpose. These
ends are drawn through a hole in a piece of iron
placed at the edge of the vessel which contains the
cones. It is usual also to join together the silk of se-
veral cones, as the threads are too fine to be wound off
separately ; eight or ten threads are generally united,
sometimes more, according to the degree of strength
of which it is intended to make the silks. The cones
remain in the water till they cease to furnish any
more silk; but the last part of it is wound off by
itself, as it grows weaker towards the ends, and is
not of so beautiful a colour.

A single cone, when unravelled, will yield an
astonishing length of silk. The Abbe La Pluche
made the experiment upon two cones, from one of
which he wound off nine hundred and tw enty-four
feet, and from the other nine hundred and thirty :
we are to remember likewise that the thread is
double and glued one over the other through its
whole length, so that it may justly be said to mea-
sure nearly two thousand feet. It appears that
this length of silk weighed only two grains and a
half.

In many parts of Bengal and the adjoining pro-
vinces, the natives spin silk from a worm which
differs specifically from the European. The cater-
pillar grows to the length of four inches ; it is three

358

MOTH.

in circumference, and resembles in colour the
leaves of the plant it feeds upon. These insects are
so abundant that a large quantity ol silk is manu-
factured from them, which is said to be very dura-
ble, and is woven into a kind of cloth much worn
by the Bramins and other sects of the Hindoos.
The cocoons from whence the silk is obtained are
as large as a small hen’s egg; and we are informed
that when the caterpillars are about to pass into the
chrysalis state, each of them connects two or three
leaves into an exterior covering, by means of a gluti-
nous fluid with which the insect is provided ; these
leaves serve as a basis to spin the complete case or
cocoon in. This curious habitation is suspended
from a branch of the tree in a wonderful manner by
a thick, strong, consolidated cord, spun of the same
materials as the cocoon, from the bowels of the
animal. The case is of an exact oval shape and ex-
ceeding firm texture ; in it the animal remains dor-
mant, and perfectly protected from injury, during
nine months of the year. When the moth is ready
to come forth, which is in July, it discharges from
its mouth a large quantity of liquid, with which
the upper end of the case is so perfectly softened,
that the moth is enabled to escape from its prison
without much difficulty, and we are told that this
purpose is always effected in the night.

When the people go in search of these silkworms
they repair to the jungles, and undei the byei and
asseen trees they find the excrement of the insect,
on which they examine the tree ; and when they
discover the worms, they cut off a sufficient nuin-

MOTH.

359

ber of the brandies with the young brood upon
them ; these they convey to their homes, and distri-
bute the branches on the asseen tree, but put none
on the byer tree, as the insect is not so partial to
its leaf, and consequently does not produce so good
a cone when fed on it. The hill people guard the
insects constantly while in the worm state, to pre-
serve them from birds by day and from bats by
night.

Before the cocoons are wound off', the natives put
them into a ley made of plaintain ashes and water
for about two hours, after which they are taken out
and put in their wet state into an earthen pot ;
those which are properly softened are first applied
to the reel, and they are thus used in succession
for four or five days, till the whole are wound off'.
A small common reel of four bars is used for this
purpose, which is turned by the right hand, whilst
the thread of four or five cocoons passes over the
left thigh of the spinner, who at the same time
gives the thread a twist with his left hand upon his
thigh.

An interesting paper on the subject of these silk-
worms, by Dr. Roxburgh, is published in the
seventh volume of the Transactions of the Linnean
Society, from whence we have derived our infor-
mation, and where the reader will find a more par-
ticular account than the plan of this work will allow
us to give. We cannot dismiss these insects, how-
ever, without noticing the amazing distance which
they are sometimes known to fly when in the moth

MOTH.

360

state. In a letter which Dr. Roxburgh procured
from a friend relative to these silkworms, is the fol-
lowing passage : “ I have frequently endeavoured
to detain the males of the jarroo species, and have
kept them locked up in a box for that purpose ; but
whether they did not like to make free with their
female relations, or from what other cause I know
not, but I could never obtain a breed in the domes-
tic state, and the efforts of the male to escape were
wonderful, and always effectual. The accounts given
by the natives of the distance to which the male
insects fly are very astonishing. I have put at dif-
ferent times and occasions, innumerable questions
to them on this subject, and they assure me that it
is no uncommon practice amongst them to catch
some of the male moths, and put a mark on the
wings previous to letting them fly, the marks of
different districts being known. I have been told
that it has been thus ascertained that male moths
have come from a distance equal to a hundred miles
and upwards. I of course cannot vouch for the
truth of this, but have no hesitation in declaring
that I believe it.”

It appears that in antient times the culture of silk
was entirely confined to China, and that the Ro-
mans were supplied with it from that country,
through the hands of the Persians, for several cen-
turies. Robertson informs us that silk was first intro-
duced into Europe bv two Persian monks, who,
having been employed as missionaries in some of the
Christian churches which were established (according

MOTH.

361

to Cosmas) in different parts of India, had pene-
trated into the country of the Seres, or China.
There they observed the labours of the silkworm,
and became acquainted with all the arts of man in
working up its productions in such a variety of ele-
gant fabrics. The prospect of gain, or perhaps an
indignant zeal excited by seeing this lucrative branch
of commerce engrossed by unbelieving nations,
prompted them to repair to Constantinople. There
they explained to the emperor the origin of silk,
as well as the various modes of preparing and manu-
facturing it, mysteries hitherto unknown, or very
imperfectly understood in Europe ; and encouraged
by his liberal promises, they undertook to bring to
the capital a sufficient number of these wonderful
insects, to whose labours man is so much indebted.
This they accomplished by conveying the eggs of
the silkworm in a hollow cane. They were hatched
by the heat of a dunghill, fed with the leaves of a
wild mulberry-tree, and they multiplied and worked
in the same manner as in those climates where they
first became objects of human attention and care.
Vast numbers of these insects were soon reared in
different parts of Greece, particularly in the Pelo-
ponnesus. Sicily afterwards undertook to breed
silkworms with equal success, and was imitated
from time to time in several towns in Italy. In
all those places extensive manufactures were esta-
blished and carried on with silk of domestic produc-
tion. The demand for silk from the East diminish-
ed of course; the subjects of the Greek emperors

362

MOTH.

were no longer obliged to have recourse to the
Persians for a supply of it, and a considerable change
took place in the nature of the commercial inter-
course between Europe and India.

It was not till towards the end of James the First’s
reign that the broad silk manufacture was intro-
duced into England, notwithstanding the planting
of mulberry-trees for the nourishment of the insects
had been earnestly recommended from the throne
at an earlier period. About the year 1620, however,
the manufacture was prosecuted with great vigour
and advantage, so that the monarch was no longer
at a loss for a pair of silk stockings, as it is said
once happened to him while king of Scotland. Silk
at that time being very scarce in the country, the
king wrote to the earl of Mar, one of his friends,
to borrow a pair of silk stockings, in order to ap-
pear with becoming dignity before the English am-
bassador ; concluding his letter with these words ;
“ for ye would not, sure, that your king should
appear like a scrub before strangers.”

SPHINX.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennae thicker in the middle than at the extremities.
Wings deflected, the outer margins declining towards the
side.

Flight, slow and heavy.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Sphinx Atrofos. . . S. alis posterioribus luteis, fasciis fuscisj

abdomineluteo, cingulis nigris. Linn.
Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 23/8.

The lower wings yellow, marked with
brown bands j abdomen yellow, with
rings of black.

Death’s Head Sphinx. Reaum. Ins. 1. pi. 14. 2. pi. 24.

Schceff. Icon. pi. 99. f. 1,2. Cram.
Pap. 7. pi. /S. f. A. Shaw Gen.
Zool. 6. p. 217. ph 74.

The remarkable resemblance of a death’s head upon
the thorax of this insect, together with the sharp
sound, like the squeaking of a mouse, which it
emits when either disturbed or irritated, has been
the cause of much uneasiness to those who are in-
clined to he superstitious; and the poor animal from
these natural circumstances has been generally

364

SPHINX.

dreaded by the common people wherever it ap-
pears, being considered by them as the harbinger of
approaching death. We are informed by Reaumur,
that one of these insects happened to fly one even-
ing in at one of the windows of the dormitory of a
French female convent, which disastrous accident
threw all the members into the greatest conster-
nation.

The great beauty of the caterpillar from whence
this moth proceeds is particularly deserving of our
notice. It has seven bands of a mixed violet and
sky blue colour upon a ground of bright yellow :
these bands meet on the back, each pair forming an
angle by their union, and the effect of the whole is
increased by a number of jet black spots, which are
sprinkled along that part of the back. A singular
horn is situated on the last joint of the body; it is
of a yellow colour, hangs like a tail over the end of
the body, and has a rough surface. This caterpillar
is the largest of its kind in Europe : it measures
near five inches in length, and is thick in pro-
portion. The potatoe and the jessamine are said
to be its favourite food ; and as it conceals itself
during the day, and feeds only at night, it is not

easilv detected : in fact, these insects are very rare
•/

in this country, except in particular years, when we
are assured they become too common ; so much so,
that in 1804 they were very prejudicial to the
crops of potatoes in some parts of Cornwall, &c.
The caterpillar retires to a considerable depth un-
derground for the purpose of completing its trans-

SPHINX.

36*5

formation, where it changes its gaudy attire for a
plain coloured case, in which it remains from Sep-
tember till the following June or July.

This creature is quoted by Dr. Shaw as a fine
instance of the relation which the papilionaceous
tribe bear in passing through their different stages,
to the awful mystery revealed in the sacred writings,
and thinks it equal to any of the order as a type of
the resurrection. He very properly remarks that
the silk-worm is wrongly chosen for this purpose,
as it neither undergoes its change beneath the sur-
face of the earth, nor bursts from its tomb with
any beauty to recommend it beyond its fellows :
whereas, on the contrary, the Sphinx atropos is
buried deep within the ground for nine months of
the year, and then, leaving its sombre tomb, mounts
into the air arrayed in colours which cannot fail to
excite the admiration of all who behold them.

The different stages through which these insects
pass are indeed wonderful, and such as are calculated
to make a strong impression on contemplative minds.
Their progress has been marked by many, and we
must ever feel indebted to the subject, since it has
called forth the following beautiful lines from the
pen of Dr. Shaw :

The helpless crawling caterpillar trace.

From the first period of his reptile race.

Cloth’d in dishonour, on the leafy spray
Unseen he wears his silent hours away ;

Till satiate grown of all that life supplies.

Self-taught, the voluntary martyr dies.

Deep under earth his darkling course he bends.

And to the tomb, a willing guest, descends ;

366

SPHINX.

There, long secluded in his lonely cell.

Forgets the sun, and bids the world farewell.

O’er the wide waste the wintry tempests reign.

And driving snows usurp the frozen plain.

In vain the tempest beats, the whirlwind blows j
No storms can violate his grave’s repose.

But when revolving months have won their way,

When smile the woods, and when the zephyrs play,
When laugh the vivid world in summer’s bloom.

He bursts and flies triumphant from the tomb.

And while his new-born beauties he displays.

With conscious joy his altered form surveys.

Mark, while he moves amid the sunny beam.

O’er his soft wings the varying lustre gleam.

Launch’d into air, on purple plumes he soars.

Gay Nature’s face with wanton glance explores ;

Proud of his various beauties wings his way.

And spoils the fairest flowers, himself more fair than they
And deems weak man the future promise vain.

When worms can die, and glorious rise again ?

NEUROFfEROUS INSECTS.

DRAGON FLY.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennas shorter than the thorax,
Mouth armed with jaws.

Wings expanded ; without folds.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Lieellula grandis. L. thorace lineis quatuor flavis, corpore

variegato. Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1.
p. 2625.

Thorax marked with four yellow lines :
body variegated.

Libellula alis glaucescentibus, thoracis
lineis quatuor fiavis. Syst. Nat. xii. 2.
p. 903.

Great Dragon-fly. Reaum. Ins. 6. pi. 35. f. 3. Roes. Ins. 2.

pi. 4. f. 14. Sch<zjf. Icon. pi. 2. f. 4.

This beautiful insect, which measures near four
inches in length, is frequently seen in the summer,
flying with great rapidity along the sides of our
rivers and brooks, often settling on the leaves of

36*8 DltAGON-FLY.

aquatic and other plants, from whence it darts like
an arrow on being disturbed. The colours of this
insect are very splendid. Its large blue eyes, con-
trasted with its greenish yellow thorax and varie-
gated body, give it a very elegant appearance, which
is again assisted by its double pair of fine gauze-like
wings.

There is something very striking in the different
stages of this animal’s existence. Who would sup-
pose that so brilliant an insect as this is, with so
much strength and vivacity, had formerly resided
for nearly two years at the bottom of the very water
on whose surface he is now flying in search of prey ?
Would any one imagine that all these gaudy colours
were once hid under the appearance of a dirty
brown-coloured grub? Yet nothing is more true; and
the history of this wonderful transformation is nearly
as follows :

The eggs are deposited by the female in the
water, and immediately sink to the bottom, hang-
ing together in clusters like grapes. After a certain
time they are hatched into flattish larvae with six
legs. These larvae or caterpillars cast their skins
several times before they arrive at their full size,
when they are of a dirty brown colour, and of a
very disagreeable appearance. There is but little
difference between the larva and the chrysalis ;
perhaps it chiefly consists in the rudiments of the
future wings, which may be traced when the in-
sect is in this advanced state. I hey are exceed-
ingly voracious while they continue to inhabit the

DRAGON-FLY.

3^9

water, and prey upon whatever they can meet with
of a manageable size. For this purpose the head is
furnished with a flattened appendage, having a joint
in the middle, and two very strong claws at the
end. When the animal is not in action, this formi-
dable apparatus is folded up so as to cover the face ;
but when the creature intends to attack another in-
sect, this jointed instrument is stretched out, and
becomes of the greatest use in securing the prey.
After continuing in the water for two years, they
prepare for their last great change ; for a state so
different from the former in every respect, that they
rather appear new animals of another species, than
the same body differently attired. In order to ac-
complish this change they ascend the stem of some
water-plant, and, when arrived above the surface,
firmly grasp the plant, and for some time continue
immoveable, as if meditating on the approaching
change. What follows is singularly curious. The
skin of the head and back, after a slight effort,
bursts open, and exposes the real head and eyes of
the libellula in all their brilliancy of colouring.
From this opening proceeds the head, then the
body and legs of the animal ; the empty case being
left behind attached to the plant, where it exhibits
a very perfect model of its former state. At first
the new-born insect is but very weak, and sits
quietly upon the reeds or rushes to recover itself.
During this time the wings, which were before
folded up and compressed into the small space
they occupy under the skin of the chrysalis, begin
vol. 11. 2 B

DRAGON-FLY.

3 JO

by degrees to expand themselves, and in about half
an hour they have acquired a sufficient degree of
firmness, and are moreover completely smooth and
dry; so that the animal is shortly afterwards enabled
to try its strength in the air. This surprising
operation is generally accomplished in the fore part
of the day, and during a clear sunshine. The total
change effected in this animal’s habits and consti-

o

tution, in passing from one state to the other, is too
obvious to escape our notice ; and we cannot help
being greatly astonished when we consider that the
animal, which but an hour ago could not exist for
any length of time out of the water, would now
almost immediately be drowned if plunged into
that element. In disposition, however, the creature
remains the same, and, far from being idly or inno-
cently employed, is in fact the greatest tyrant of
the insect tribe, and, like the hawk among birds, is
constantly hovering about in search of prey. The
blue fly, the bee, the wasp, and the hornet, are alike
the objects of its choice : it will even attack a large
butterfly, and, tearing it wing from wing, devour the
whole body in less than a minute. These insects
seize their prey with their claws, and tear it in
pieces with their teeth.

As the wings of the libellula are long, and the
legs short, they seldom walk, but are ever seen
either resting or flying. For this reason, they always
choose dry branches of trees or shrubs to remain on ;
and when they have refreshed themselves a little,
they renew their flight. Thus they are seen adorn-

DRAGON-FLY.

3fl

ing the fields in summer with a profusion of beauty,
lightly traversing the air in a thousand directions,
and exposing the most brilliant colours to the sun.
The garden, the hedges, the meadows, and the rivu-
lets, are animated with their sports, and there are but
few persons brought up in the country who have
not employed a part of their childhood in the pur-
suit.

The other species of this genus are inferior in
size, but not in beauty, to the great dragon-fly.
They have one thing which is common to them all;
the wonderful conformation of the eye, which when
properly prepared forms one of the most curious
and pleasing objects for the microscope which can
possibly be employed. The cornea consists of an
amazing number of hexagonal lenses : if this part
be separated from the rest of the eye, placed be-
tween two pieces of talc, and exposed to a high
magnifying power, it will appear perfectly transpa-
rent, and exhibit the lenses of which it consists, in
a highly satisfactory manner.

O | '

^ J»

EPHEMERA.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Month without either teetli or palpi.

Wings erect ; hinder ones much shorter than the others.
Tail furnished with appendices resembling hairs, or bristles.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Ephemera vulgata. E. alis fusco-reticulatis maculatisque, cor-

pore fusco. Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1.

p. 2028.

Wings reticulated and mottled with
brown •, body brown.

Ephemera cauda triseta, alis nebuloso-
maculatis. Syst. Nat. xii. 2. p. 906-
no. 1.

Common Day-fly. . Degeer Ins. 2. p. 7- no* l. pi. 16. f. 1.

Sulx. Ins. pi. 17. f. 103. Shaw Gen.
Zool. 6. p. 249. pi. 81.

We are now about to describe a fly whose duration
in its perfect state extends so short a term, that
it is scarcely introduced to the world before it is
obliged to part with life. In its fly state the ephe-
mera is a very beautiful insect ; it is of a greenish
brown colour, with transparent wings, and three
very long black bristles at the end of the body.

EPHEMERA.

373

The larva, which is supposed to continue two years
at the bottom of the water, is about an inch long,
and is furnished with several lateral appendages
like fins ; it has likewise three bristles at the tail,
which are equal in length to the whole body. The
change from the larva to the perfect insect, which
in many of the tribe is both a painful and laborious
operation, is effected by this little animal with the
greatest ease. When the time approaches for the
change to take place, the inhabitant of the water
rises to the surface, its skin bursts, and from the
cavity thus formed issues the fly, whose wings are
immediately unfolded, and the new insect launches
into the air, quitting for ever an element which is
no longer congenial to its nature. After this it
quits a second skin, and becomes a perfect ephe-
mera. Myriads are thus produced, who sport about
the banks of the river for a short time, and then fall
to the ground. Their numbers are so incredible
that they form a thick crust upon the earth where
they fall, and we are told by Scopoli that the coun-
trymen in the duchy of Carniola carry them into
the fields for the purpose of manure.

The larvae of this, as well as of others of this
genus, form tubular hollows in the banks of rivers.
These are so numerous, that the banks of some
rivers are quite studded with them, and they are
made like syphons, with two holes, through which
the insect has free admission. A.s it is necessary
that these habitations should be always under the

3/4

EPHEMERA.

surface, the insect digs fresh holes, when from any
cause the waters are found to decrease.

Ephemerae always effect their transformation in
the evening, and the report of the multitudes which
covered the Seine every night, excited the curiosity
of that famous entomologist M. Reaumur, who in
August 1738 waited for some time after sun-set on
the banks of that river in order to observe the phe-
nomenon. Disappointed, however, of his purpose,
he returned home with a tub partly filled with
their holes and larvae ; but had scarcely set it down,
when every part of the earth that was above the
water in the tub, was covered with ephemerae, in
the act of emerging from their former skins. The
quantities which flew from the tub, whose number
seemed to increase every minute, induced this gen-
tleman to pay another visit to the river, where he
was greatly surprised at the quantity of ephemerae
which filled the air, and which, according to his
account, surrounded him like a thick fall of snow.
This amazing fall prevailed to such a degree, that
he had scarcely remained a few minutes in one place,
before the step where he stood was completely
covered with their bodies to the depth of two or
three inches. A thick coat of these insects covered
the water for at least six feet from the bank, and
those which the current carried down the river
were immediately replaced by others. M. Reaumur
was occasionally obliged to abandon bis station and
retreat to a higher place, in order to avoid the

EPHEMERA.

shower of ephemerae, which falling very thick, and
in an oblique direction, greatly annoyed him by
striking against his face and flying into his mouth
and ears. The effect of a candle held in the midst
of these insects is thus described by this intelli-
gent observer: “ The light of the candle occa-
sioned a spectacle altogether different from any
thing that can be observed in any kind of meteoro-
logical shower : it was enchanting when once ob-
served. The most unobserving of my domestics
could scarcely ever have been tired of admiring it.
No astronomic sphere was ever formed so compli-
cated as it was, nor furnished with so many circular
zones in every possible direction, having the flame
of the candle for their common centre. Their
number appeared to be infinite, having all possible
degrees of obliquity with respect to each other.
Each zone was formed by an uninterrupted string
of ephemerae, which, as if tied together, followed
each other close in the same line : they seemed to
form a circular ribbon of silver, deeply indented on
its edges ; a ribbon formed of equal triangles put
end to end, so that the angles of those that follow ed
were supported by the base of that which preceded,
the whole moving round with great quickness.
Ephemerae, whose wings only were then distin-
guishable, and which circulated around the light,
formed this appearance. Each of these flies, after
having described one or two orbits, fell to the earth,
or into the water, but without having been burned
by the candle.”

EPHEMERA.

376

It seems that the ephemerae only continue to rise
above the surface about an hour every evening, after
which time the shower formed by their bodies en-
tirely ceases, and no more of them are to be seen
above the river. Notwithstanding the perfect ephe-
merae are so easily killed that almost any object they
touch becomes fatal to them, yet the larvae are so
tenacious of life, that Swammerdam tells us he even
pierced one of them with a pin, which, although in
this manner fastened to a board, lived during the
whole of the next day.

The Ephemera vulgala is well known to our an-
glers by the name of May-fly, and it is frequently
used as a bait for trout, being a favourite food of
that fish during the season.

The little time allotted these insects in their last
state is employed, by the males, in merely flutter-
ing above the surface of the water till they drop ;
they have very little activity, and seem scarcely
born for any other purpose than to die. The fe-
males, on the contrary, have got a most important
duty to fulfil: they have to provide for a future
generation, and the short period of their existence
is taken up in depositing their eggs. Two large
packets of eggs, each containing from three to four
hundred, are enclosed within the body of every fe-
male ephemera, from whence they are excluded at
the same moment, and fall together in one mass
upon ,the water. Nature has provided for the sud-
den alteration, which the loss of so large a quantity
of eggs at one time might make in the constitution

EPHEMERA.

*77

of the animal, by a couple of small bladders, which
it has the power of filling with air immediately after
they are excluded, and thus restoring the equili-
brium.

There are several species of this genus, which are
not easily distinguished from each other, especially
the smaller kinds. Among them is one which
greatly resembles the Ephemera vuJgata , except in
the colour, which is white : this is described by
Swammerdam, and quoted as a remarkable instance
of the shortness of animal life ; the insect assuming
its winged state, fulfilling the purposes of its birth,
and perishing, in the course of the same evening.
The species mentioned by Ileaumur may possibly
be distinct from our English kind, as it appears at
a different season, and has not so long a term al-
lowed for its existence.

LION-ANT.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Mouth armed with jaws, furnished with two teeth and four
long palpi.

Antennag club-shaped : as long as the thorax.

Tail (in the male) provided with a kind of forceps.

Wings deflected.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Myrmeleon Formicarius. M. alls fusco-nebulosis : macula

alba marginali posteriore. Linn.
Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 2043.

Wings clouded with brown 5 a
white spot on each posterior mar-
gin.

IIemerobius Formicaleo. Syst.
Nat. x. p. 550. no. 4.

Formica Leo. Geoff. Ins. 2 p.258.
pi. 14. f. 1.

Lion-Ant Reaum. Ins. 4. pi. 1 1 . f. 6. 8. pi. 14.

f. 18, 19. et pi. 32, 33, 34.

Schaff. Icon. pi. 22. f. 1,2. Shaw
Gen. Zool. 6. p. 260. pi. 84.

This creature in his larva state lives by rapine,
and yet is denied the power of pursuit. He can-
not advance in search of his prey with the least

LION-ANT.

379

chance of success, being less calculated for mov-
ing forwards than in the contrary direction; there-
fore what he wants in agility he is obliged to
make up by stratagem : for this purpose he pre-
pares a trap, into which the unwary insects fall, and
become an easy prey to their formidable antagonist.
The body of the animal bears some resemblance to
a spider ; it is of a dirty brown colour, marked with
black spots, and composed of several jlat rings
which slide over each other : many small tufts of
dusky hair appear on each side of the abdomen.
The head of this singular insect is small, and the
jaws long, curved, about the sixth of an inch in
length, and provided with sharp-pointed teeth on
their internal surfaces. His sight is very quick ;
for he starts from the smallest object that he dis-
covers, if it is at all calculated to injure him.

When the lion-ant intends to prepare an ambus-
cade, he chooses a bed of dry sand at the foot of
a wall, or in some secure situation w here he can be
defended from wind and weather. He is obliged
to make use of the driest sand he can get, because a
solid soil, as well as a moist sand, would not prove
tractable under his operations. When he intends
to hollow the trench where he ensnares his game,
he bends the hinder part of his body, which tapers
into a point, and then plunges it into the sand,
which he throws up in his rear; and thus, by repeat-
ing his efforts and taking several rounds, he at last
traces out a circular furrow, whose diameter always
equals the depth to which he intends to sink it.

380

LION-ANT.

Near the edge of the first furrow he opens a second,
and then a third, and several others which are
smaller than the preceding, and sinks himself from
time to time deeper in the sand, which he throws
aside with his horns, on the edges of the furrows,
and to a much greater distance, always marching
backward in a spiral line. The repeated strokes ot
his head whirl the sand out of the circle, and gra-
dually scoop out a cavity; in which operation he ex-
ceeds the best engineers, and describes a perfect
circle without the assistance of compasses. He
likewise gives the slope of earth which he hollows
all possible solidity. In this dexterous manner
with great labour he completes his trench, which
resembles an inverted cone, or rather the inside of a
funnel.

When this creature is newly hatched he opens
a very small furrow, but as he increases in size he
digs one more spacious, the cavity of which is two
inches or more in diameter, and as much in depth.
When the work is completed, he forms his ambus-
cade, and conceals himself under the sand in such a
manner that his horns exactly wind round the
point in which the bottom of the funnel terminates.
In this situation he watches for his prey, hiding
himself in such a manner that his two horns only
are seen at the bottom of the pit. 1 he sides of his
pitfall are made of the most loose and crumbling
materials, so that, if an insect has the misfortune to
fall down the slope, it stands but little chance of re-
turning alive. When he is apprised by the fall

LION-ANT*

381

of a few grains of sand that something is in the pit,
he immediately rushes forth to seize the prey,
which meets with inevitable destruction, unless it
has agility enough to be capable of remounting in
an instant; and even then the lion-ant has a strata-
gem which frequently succeeds in bringing back
the unfortunate animal to the bottom of the pit.
This he effects by whirling a quantity of sand into
the air above the height of the flying animal, which
proves a dreadful shower to such a tender crea-
ture as a gnat or an ant. The unfortunate insect,
blinded and overwhelmed in this manner, by the
tempest that pours down from every quarter, and
hurried away by the instability of the sand that
rolls from under its feet, falls between the jaws of the
enemy, who plunges them into its body, drags it
under the sand, and then feasts upon the victim.
When nothing is left but the carcass drained of its
juices, he is particularly careful to remove it out of
sight. The appearance of a dead body would de-
prive him of future visits, and bring his place of
residence into disrepute : he therefore extends his
long jaws, and, with a sudden spring, tosses the slain
half a foot beyond the trench : and if this should
happen to be disconcerted, and filled up bv such a
proceeding; or if the aperture becomes too large
for the depth, and the declivity loses its proper
slant, he repairs the whole as soon as possible, that
it may be ready to receive a new victim. In this
manner the creature proceeds ; and such is his great
patience that he will sometimes pass whole weeks at

382

LION-ANT.

the bottom of the pit, watching for prey ; and, what
is very extraordinary, will fast during the time.
These insects are enabled to abstain from food
for a great length of time : one ol them has
been known to live above six months in a box ex-
actly closed up, where he had no other accommo-
dation than sand. We must conclude that this
temporary fasting is not exactly to the creature s
mind ; for, when plenty of game falls into the pit,
he attacks it most voraciously, and at the same time
shows a very malignant spirit, since he will leave
one insect half devoured to kill any other that may
be within his reach.

When this insect is about to pass into the state
of a chrysalis, previous to appearing in his last form,
he no longer troubles himself with his pit, but be-
gins to work in the sand, where he strikes a multi-
tude of irregular tracks, and becomes so agitated
that his body is covered with a viscous humour: after
these violent workings have continued some time,
he plunges into the sand, and unites all the grains
he touches by means of the glutinous fluid with
which he is covered.

With these sandy particles, and the dried glue
that consolidates them, he forms a crust which en-
compasses his whole body, like a little ball of about
half an inch in diameter, in which the animal re-
serves himself a competent space lor motion. He
is not satisfied with a bare wall, which would inevi-
tably chill him, but spins out ol his own bowels a
thread, which in fineness infinitely surpasses that

LION-ANT.

383

of the silkworm, which we have so much admired.
This thread he fastens, first to one place, and then
extends it to a second, still crossing and interlacing
it. By this means he hangs all his apartment with
a satin tinged with the colour of pearls, and perfectly
beautiful and delicate. In this work all the pro-
priety and convenience is confined to the inside ;
for nothing appears without but a little sand, which
confounds and incorporates the mansion with the
contiguous earth. And now he lies secreted from
the pursuit of ill-disposed birds ; he rests in oblivion,
and lives in perfect tranquillity ; whereas he would
infallibly be lost, were the outside of his habitation
ornamental enough to attract the view of any crea-
ture whose curiosity might prove injurious to him.

In this manner he lives secluded from the world
five or six weeks, and then divests himself of his eyes,
horns, paws, and skin. His spoils sink to the bot-
tom of the ball like a heap of rags ; all that now re-
mains is a chrysalis which has other eyes and paws,
other entrails and wings enfolded with a skin, and hid
in a nutrimental liquor that gradually dries around
it, in the same manner as is customary with butter-
flies when they divest themselves of their vermicular
spoils to assume the form of aurelias. When the
limbs of the new animal have acquired their neces-
sary tone and activity, he tears away the tapestry of
his apartment, and pierces through the walls ; for
which purpose he employs a couple of teeth, and by
repeated efforts enlarges the opening, thrusts out
half his body, and at last entirely quits his solitary

381

LION-ANT.

seat. H is long form, that winds like the volute of
an Ionic capital, and is included within the compass
of a quarter of an inch, begins to unfold and extend
itself, and in an instant stretches to the length of
an inch and a quarter. His four wings, which were
contracted in little folds, and whose dimensions did
not exceed the sixth of an inch, in the film that
sheathed them, begin to be expanded, and in the
space of two minutes shoot into a greater length
than the whole body. In short, the malignant lion-
ant assumes the appearance of a beautiful dragon-
fly, who, after he has for some time continued im-
moveable, and astonished as it were at the glorious
prospect of nature, flutters his wings, and enjoys a
liberty with which he was unacquainted in the ob-
scurity of his former state. His former barbarity
and pernicious inclinations are no longer known ; he
divested himself of these passions when he changed
his coat ; and now appears entirely a new creature,
as well calculated to range about in the air, as he
was before to burrow in the sand.

The female lays her eggs in the sand, from
whence proceed the little malignant creatures we
have just described : they are found in many parts
of the continent, but are strangers in this countiy.

HYMENOPTEROUS INSECTS.

GALL INSECT.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Mouth armed with jaws; no proboscis.

Sting spiral, and mostly concealed within the body.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Cvnips Quercus Folii. C. nigra, thorace lineato, pedibus griseis,

femoribus subtus nigris. Linn. Syst.
Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 2050.

Of a black colour j thorax marked with
lines 3 feet gray j thighs black be-
neath.

Gall Insect. . . . Reaum. Ins. 3. pi. 39. f. 14 — 17. Roes.

Ins. 3. App. pi. 52, 53. Shaw Gen.
Zool. 6. 2 67. pi. 88.

Those excrescences found upon the oak-leaf, and
which are commonly called gall-nuts, are the pro-
duce of this insect. The female cynips prefers the
oak before all other trees for the purpose, and in
the month of July pierces the leaves, depositing an
vol. 11. 2 c

386

GALL INSECT.

egg,' in each little hole, to the number of seven or
eight on the same leaf. At the same time she
injects into each cavity a peculiar and corroding
liquor, which so interrupts the circulation of the
sap, that the part near the wound is discoloured,
and a gradual enlargement takes place. This con-
tinues to increase, and towards the end of the
month the excrescence is as large as a marrowfat-
pea; after which it increases rapidly in size, and
by the beginning of October has attained its full
growth ; its surface at this time is dried by the ex-
ternal air, and it has assumed the roundness of a
kernel. This little ball gradually receives its nou-
rishment, and vegetates like the other parts of the
tree.

Under this strong roof, and within the substance
of the ball, is hatched the little worm ; which on
slitting open its apartment is found snugly em-
bedded in the centre, and somewhat resembling the
small maggot occasionally found in the hazel-nut.
The interior and pulpy part of the nut affords the
creature a sustenance accommodated to its nature.
It eats and digests it, till its transformation first
into a chrysalis, and then to a fly ; after which it
gnaws its way through the walls of its prison, and
immediately launches into the air.

Upon examining those gall-nuts that were pro-
duced in the beginning of summer, a small opening
will be immediately perceived through which the
fly escaped ; but it must be observed that when the
right owner quits the habitation it does not cease

GALL INSECT.

387

to be useful, as the cavity is frequently occupied by
a small spider, who watches her opportunity to
slide in and take possession of the habitation,
where she spins her web and ensnares the unwary
insects that venture into her cell. The case, how-
ever, is different with the gall-nut that grows in
the autumn. The cold weather frequently comes
on before the worm is changed into a fly, or can
disengage itself from its confinement. The nut
falls with the leaves without injuring the enclosed
insect, which passes the winter on the ground, se-
curely lodged in the body of the nut, and buried
under a heap of leaves that secure it from all in-
jury. But this warm and commodious apartment,
which proves so snug a habitation in the winter, be-
comes a prison in the spring, and the little animal,
excited to action by the first sensation of warmth,
is all impatience to be gone : it accordingly begins
its operations, and by degrees opens for itself a pas-
sage, through which it forces its way, and leaves its
former lodging never to return again.

The best galls are imported from the Turkish
dominions, and are known by the name of galls of
Aleppo : they are generally of a blueish colour, un-
equal and warty on the surface, and of a close com-
pact texture. Another sort is imported from some
of the southern parts of Europe, of a whitish colour,
smooth, round, and easily broken : they are of a
much larger size, but not by any means so useful as
the Aleppo galls, two parts of these being equivalent
at least to three of the others.

2 c 2

388

GALL INSECT.

There is hardly a plant but what is pierced by
some species of this genus, and which produces
some of these nuts, as they are termed, of all sizes
and colours. The rose, among other plants, has its
gall, which makes a very singular appearance, re-
sembling a quantity of branched moss, in the centre
of which is included the young maggot. Some
trees have their leaves entirely encrusted with these
excrescences ; particularly the willow, whose leaves
are sometimes completely covered with them, occa-
sioned by a small cynips ( C . viminalis Linn.) which
lies securely imbedded during the winter in one of
the tumours on the surface of a fallen leaf.

SAND-WASP.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Mouth armed with jaws : no tongue.

Antennae divided into ten articulations.

Wings extended, and laid horizontally upon the back.
Sting sharp, and concealed within the abdomen.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

SriiEX sabulosa. S. nigra hirta, abdominis petiolo biarticulato,

segmento secundo tertioque ferrugineis.
Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 2723.

Black and hairy : pedicle of the abdomen
biarticulate : the second and third segments
of a rusty brown colour.

Sand-Wasp. . . Degeer Ins. 2. p. 148. no. 4. pi. 28. f. 2 7.

Frisch. Ins. 2. pi. l. f. 6, 7. Schcef.
Icon. 83. f. 1.

The singular manners of many of the insect tribe
are as interesting and as worthy of observation as
those of a higher class. They are frequently dis-
regarded because of their diminutive size, while
the oeconomy of the larger animals is always con-
sidered of sufficient importance to fix our at-
tention.

SAND-WASP.

390

Amongst the many little creatures which we
have lately described, there is not, perhaps, one
whose manners are better deserving of our notice
than the sand-wasp. This insect was particularly
observed by Mr. Ray, who tells us that he saw one
of them dragging a green caterpillar thrice her own
size, which she laid down near the mouth of a hole
that she had made in the earth: having thus
far executed her purpose, she proceeded to remove
a little ball of earth with which she had covered
the mouth of the vault, and immediately descended
under ground ; here she staid a short time, and
then ascending to the surface, seized the caterpillar
and drew it down with her into the grave. After
this was accomplished she returned, and proceeded
to fill up the hole by taking some little globules of
earth and rolling them one by one into the vault,
occasionally scraping the dust in with her fore-feet
in the manner of a dog. Thus she continued al-
ternately rolling in pieces of earth, and scraping in
the dust, till the hole was full. She was observed
sometimes, during this operation, to go down into
the o-rave, and once or twice flew to a fir-tree in the
neighbourhood for some purpose or other, returning
again each time to her work. At length the hole
being filled and made level with the surface of the
earth, that its entrance might not be discovered,
this ingenious insect took two fir-leaves that were
near, and laid them close to the spot to mark the
place.

It should be noticed that the caterpillar is buried

SAND-WASP.

3<J\

by the wasp in order to secure a provision for her
future family, since she always lays her eggs in the
dead body before she closes the grave.

The common sand-wasp is found in Norfolk and
Suffolk in sandy situations, and may be easily di-
stinguished from the rest of the genus by the man-
ner in which it carries its abdomen. This, accord-
ing to Mr. Kirby, forms nearly a right angle with
the thorax while the insect is flying.

The different species of this genus are very savage
in their manners, and will attack insects of a size
much superior to themselves. In their combats
they have a double advantage, being not only very
strong, and armed with hard and sharp jaws, but
having likewise a sting in the tail, through which
they inject a poison that presently proves fatal to
their wounded antagonist. They proceed to the
attack with great ferocity, and, having inflicted a
wound, retire to a distance and observe the effect cf
the poison ; which has no sooner killed the creature
than they drag it to their nest for the use of the
young. Their voracity equals their courage, and
then daintiness, if we may believe others, exceeds
both; since they only eat the eyes, the small threads
that serve as a brain, and a very little of the body.
Thus fifty insects scarcely serve one of them for a
meal, and the mangled remains are constantly to be
seen about the mouth of their retreat.

Their cells are cylindrical and formed of clay, about
three inches long, and as thick as the little finger.
They generally place them in a sheltered situation.

392

SAND-WASP.

against the timbers under the roof of houses, or un-
der pales. Eight or ten of them are joined together
and divided into several apartments, in each of
which the species called the blue sand-ivasp deposits
an egg, and stuff's the apartment with several insects
to support the future offspring ; after which the ori-
fice is closed. While they are about this work they
constantly make a humming noise, though perfectly
silent at other times. Spiders seem the principal
victims of these little animals, which their situation
gives them frequent opportunities of obtaining. As
a proof of their great strength we shall quote Mr.
Catesby, who once saw one of these wasps drag an
exceeding large spider up a wall to its nest, which
being caught and weighed, was found to be eight
times as heavy as the fly.

The young sand-wasp remains in the clayey cell
during the winter, in which time it passes through
the state of a chrysalis, and in the spring gnaws its
way out, perfectly equipped, and ready to join its
companions in the air.

COMMON WASP.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Mouth armed with jaws ; no tongue.

Upper wings folded.

Sting sharp and pointed ; concealed within the abdomen.
Body smooth ; without hair.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Vespa vulgaris. V. thorace utrinque lineola interrupta, scu-

tello quadrimaculato, abdominis incisuris
punctis nigris distinctis. Linn. Syst. Nat.
Gmel. 1. p. 2750.

A broken line on each side the thorax ; scu-
tellum marked with four spots abdomen
marked with distinct black points.

Common Wasp. Degeer Ins. 2. p. 111. pi. 26. f. 7. Reaum.

Ins. 6. pi. 12. f. 7, 8. Schcef. Icon.
pi. 35. f. 4. Shaw Gen. Zool. 6. p. 285.
ph 95* Nest. pi. 96.

The Abbe La Pluche begins his account of these in-
sects in the following pleasing but allegorical manner:
“ While I was employed in digesting my remarks
on the changes that happen to flies of every species,
a person came to acquaint me, that some husband-
men who were at work in the neighbourhood had

394

COMMON WASP.

found a curiosity which had filled numbers who
came to see it with admiration. Upon this I im-
mediately went, like other people, to take a view
of it, and really the thing deserved it ; for they had
found an entire city buried in the earth, and such
a city as was capable of lodging between eleven and
twelve thousand inhabitants. The structure of this
city was perfectly ingenious, though very different
from ours ; the wall is not a simple enclosure sur-
rounding the place, but a great dome that entirely
covers and encompasses it on every part. After
they had carefully surveyed it, they could only dis-
cover two gates ; and as the darkness was very great
under the dome, they had demolished part of it to
have a clear prospect into the different quarters of
the city. But here another scene of astonishment
opened ; the streets are not ranged like ours, in
side lines, but piled over each other in different sto-
ries, which are separated by several ranks of columns;
so that they are rather porticos than streets ; the up-
permost of which rises on the second, the second on
the third, and so in succession, reckoning downwards.
The houses are of equal dimensions, and thick set
against one another in the substance of the vault.
All the buildings compose one and the same order,
and are likewise on a level on each story, and co-
vered with a flat terrace, or common roof, made
with a very binding gum, and as smooth as a mar-
ble pavement. Here the inhabitants walk between
the pillars that support another vault with its range
of houses. There are eleven of these porticos, or

COMMON WASP.

3^5

vaults, all of the same structure, and raised with the
nicest symmetry and correctness of design. It is the
obscurity alone that disfigures the work. I did not
so much as see the remains of any lanthern, or
other contrivance, to illuminate the city.”

It will he hardly necessary to observe, that under
the figure of a city, the Abbe has been giving the
general description of a wasp’s nest. This is indeed
a most ingenious structure, and highly deserving
the particular account which we shall now proceed
to give of its formation.

About midsummer these little architects seek
for a subterranean cavity that has been begun by
field-mice, moles, or rats ; or else they dig one for
themselves, generally on the side of a bank or any
rising ground, that the water may flow down below
their place of residence, which would otherwise
greatly annoy them. When they have chosen a
proper situation, they begin to work with amazing
industry, and their first care is to enlarge and widen
the cavity ; which they do by scooping out the earth
and carrying it away to a distance. This appears
an astonishing labour for insects to undertake, yet
they are perfectly formed for the purpose, being
provided with excellent tools ; viz. a trunk extend-
ing from their mouths, two saws on each side
which play to the right and left against each other'
and six strong muscular legs to support them. Their
activity must be very great, since in the space of a
few days they build under ground a habitation
above a foot high, and as much in breadth. Whilst

396

COMMON WASP.

some are digging, others are in the fields seeking
materials for the edifice. As they proceed, they
strengthen the roof of the cave and prevent its fall-
ing in by cementing it with glue ; they then affix
it to the foundation of their building, which they
continue to finish downwards, closing it at the
bottom.

The materials with which they build their nests
are bits of wood and glue : the male wasps are dis-
patched to cut the former out of the frames of win-
dows, or from old rails and posts, which they meet
with in the fields or elsewhere. In this employ
they are very active, and will saw and carry away a
vast quantity of minute shivers, which they take
up in bundles in their claws ; and, when arrived at
the nest, knead the whole together, by letting a
few drops of a glutinous liquor fall upon the mass.
The whole is then worked into a paste, and placed
on that part of the building where the walls and
partitions are intended to be made. I he paste is
then spread out by the workman with his trunk and
paws, who constantly moves backwards all the way.
When the composition is reduced to a level surface,
the wasp returns to the place where he began, and
repeats the same operation, in the same retrograde
manner, till the lump of wood and glue is beat out
so exceedingly thin, that the finest paper is hardly
to be compared with it. I he wasp, having com-
pleted his work on the first parcel of materials, le-
turns to the fields for more, which he kneads in the
same manner, placing layer upon layer; and thus

COMMON WASP.

397

he continues, at the same time assisted by his fel-
low-labourers, till a sufficient quantity is collected
and cemented together with some of their natural
glue, so as to form the grand cupola which bends
over the whole habitation. The cells and columns
are composed of the same materials, and they some-
how contrive to make the cement which forms the
latter of a much firmer texture than the rest, as if
they were aware that the parts which sustain the
pile should have the most solidity. Two openings
are made in the walls of their habitation, one of
which serves as a passage of entrance into the edi-
fice ; the other leads out of it : through the first of
these the wasps enter with their burthens, while
those which are going to the fields pass out at the
other, so that by this contrivance they never inter-
fere with each other. The building is divided into
several stories, or horizontal floors of combs ; each
floor supported by its respective columns, composed
of a vast assemblage of hexagonal cells placed with
the utmost regularity by the side of each other, and
made of an ash-coloured substance resembling pa-
per. It is worthy of observation that these creatures
make their cells of the best possible figure for the
purpose that could be chosen. Were they round
they would only touch one another in a single point,
and the void interval would be quite lost; had
they been triangular or square, they might cer-
tainly have been very well connected together; but
then the angles within would have been lost, be-
cause the animal which is to inhabit them is round.

COMMON WASP.

398

Hexagons approach the nearest to a circular figure,
and have all their sides exactly adhering to each
other; so that there is no useless or unnecessary va-
cancy between them, and every lodge, weak as it
is, becomes firmly fixed by its coincidence with
others< — Sufficient room is left between the different
stories for the wasps to have a free passage from one
to the other.

The inhabitants of these curious mansions may
be divided into three kinds. First, the females, who
are large, and originally very inconsiderable in
number. Secondly, the males, who are more nu-
merous and nearly as large. Lastly, the mules,
that is to say, wasps that are consigned to the most
laborious employments, and are neither males nor
females ; these are much smaller than the others,
but so numerous that they form the commonalty of
the nation. There are also three kinds of labours
wherein the wasps are employed. First, the build-
ing of the nest ; secondly, the providing of food ;
and thirdly, the laying of eggs, and the care of
their young. The first of these labours we have
already considered, but it remains for us to give

some account of the other two.

Wasps are bold, rapacious, and troublesome in-
sects: they are very injurious to gardens, being
extremely fond of fruit, and therefore frequently
lodge themselves in the neighbourhood of grapes,
peaches, apricots, &c., upon which they commit
the most unmerciful depredations. All soits of
sweets, indeed, are so much to their taste that there

COMMON WASP.

399

is no danger they will not encounter to procure
them. The honey hoarded up by the industrious
bees is too great a temptation for them to withstand,
and the plunderers frequently suffer for their teme-
rity in attacking a hive. When these favourite
sweets are not to be procured, they range to a di-
stance in search of prey, visit the kitchen and the
larder, and sometimes carry off bits of flesh half as
large as themselves to their nest, where the provision
is equally distributed among the young ones. These
insects are to other flies, what the eagle and the
hawk are to the rest of the feathered tribe. When-
ever they fly the air is deserted around them, and
every little insect retires in a fright. The butchers
avail themselves of this general panic, and very
generously present the wasps with a bit of liver
when they visit the shambles: by this means
they prevent the filthy blow-fly from approaching
their shop ; for whilst these creatures are regaling
themselves with the liver, there is no reason to fear
that any fly or other insect will come near the
place. Part of this food is carried home and freely
distributed amongst the other wasps, and they are
even said to retain a portion of the juice of fruits
which after their arrival at the nest they will dis-
charge from their mouths for the benefit of their
companions.

At the bottom of each cell may be discovered a
little white transparent egg, which is fastened with
a viscous substance to preserve it from injury. Into
this cell the dam frequently enters, and apparently

400

COMMON WASP.

communicates a genial warmth to the egg in order
to facilitate the birth. In about eight days after
they are laid, the worms are hatched, and imme-
diately require the attention of the mothers, who
are very careful to nourish them, and proceed from
nest to nest, distributing the provisions with the
utmost equality, and feeding them as birds feed
their young, by giving each of them a portion from
her mouth. This business is conducted with great
celerity ; and it is really astonishing to see with what
quickness the female runs along the cells of the
combs, to give each worm its portion of nourish-
ment. The worm by degrees increases in bulk and
thrives very successfully, filling the whole apart-
ment with the roundness of its form. In process of
time the worm grows so large as to be incommoded
for want of room, and then it is ready to pass into
another state of existence, or rather of temporary
death. Previous to this change it ceases to eat, and
begins to spin a very fine silk, one end of which is
glued to the opening into the apartment ; and this
being repeatedly crossed, at length forms a kind of
light stuff, which perfectly closes the mouth of the
passage. In this retirement they continue for nine
or ten days, during which time they divest them-
selves of their skin, the spoil falls to the bottom ol
the cell, and nothing now remains but a white
nymph, which gradually disengages her feet and
wings, and acquires the form and appearance of a
perfect wasp. Impatient of restraint, the enclosed
animal with its teeth destroys the beautiful cover-

COMMON WASP.

401

ing which it before took so much pains to make,
and struggles to escape. First it extends one horn,
and then another ; to these a paw succeeds ; the
head grows visible next, and the aperture widens
with the efforts of the insect’s body, till at last it
comes out a perfect wasp. His first employment is
to wipe off the humidity from his little wings with
his hind feet, which brush them for some time ;
after which he springs into the air, and flies to the
fields to pillage with the rest of the species, whose
address and malignity he begins to imitate from that
day. Within twelve hours after the transformation,
astonishing as it may appear, the young wasps have
been seen foraging for provision, and feeding the
worms in the cells.

During the heat of summer this colony exists in
all its vigour, and every one of the inhabitants has
its respective share in the labour of the day allotted . >
it ; but as the season advances, their enterprising
spirit begins to abate, they plunder with less vora-
city, are not so bold in their attacks, and confine
themselves more to the nest, making but short ex-
cursions, and those near home, in the noon day
heats. This languor increases with the approaching
of winter ; and as they hoard up no store for
their future support, not even providing in one day
for the wants of the next, their situation begins to
be calamitous, and, in the end, drives them to the
cruel resolution of sacrificing their growing progeny
to the necessity of the times. This barbarity is

V

VOL. II. 2d

402

COMMON WASP.

generally put in force about the beginning of Octo-
ber, when the first sharp cold begins to be felt.
At this time every nest presents a scene of desola-
tion. The grubs are dragged from their cells, and
destroyed by the wasps before the door of the habi-
tation, where the ground appears covered with their
dead carcases ; and those combs which before were
filled with living animals, are now completely de-
serted. Many of those which remain to inhabit
the nest, find it insupportable during the seveie
weather, and fly in search of warmer situations ;
while the few who pass the winter within their
city, are either benumbed or killed by the frost ;
so that, out of perhaps eight or nine thousand wasps,
but ten or twelve are found alive in the spring.

From so small a remainder it seems scarcely pos-
sible that a new colony should be raised by the next
summer ; yet the difficulty vanishes when we con-
sider the great fecundity of the female wasps, one
of which is sufficient to raise a new swarm. The
female begins to accomplish this purpose, by build-
ing two or three cells that form a little clustei,
glued by the stalk to the top of a cavity of her own
contrivance. There she lays two eggs, which aie
soon hatched into worms ; and in a short time they
relieve the mother from the care of their main-
tenance, by shutting the entrance of their cell and
passing into their dormant state. WTile they aie
thus enclosed, the female has time to hatch more
eggs; and the other two, coming soon after to matu-

COMMON WASP.

403

rity, break oat of their confinement, and begin to
work with the mother insect. In about fifteen
days the last brood add to the number. Thus is the
community daily increasing, till the young ones be-
come breeders in their turn ; and in this manner is
a whole swarm raised before the month of July,
consisting of nine or ten thousand wasps.

2 l) 2

BEE.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

(I

Mouth armed with jaws, and furnished with a proboscis, en-
closed in a bivalve sheath.

Willis extended and without folds.

Females and neuters provided with a sting concealed in the
abdomen.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Apis mellifica. A. pubescens, thorace subgriseo, abdomine

fusco, tibiis posterioribus ciliatis ; intus
transverse striatis. Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1 .
p. 2774.

Body downy; thorax grayish; abdomen brown ;
legs hairy behind, and striated transversely
on the inside.

Apis domestica sive vulgaris, Raj. Ins.
p. 240.

Apis gregaria. Geoff. Ins. 2. p. 407- no. 1.
Fommon Bee. . Reaum. Ins. 5. p. 21. 23. Sulx. Ins. pi. Ip.

f. 123. Shaw Gen. Zool. 6. p. I89. pi. 98.

The history of this industrious insect affords one
of the most interesting subjects in the whole range
of animated nature ; therefore it is not surprising
that such ample details should have been written

BEE.

405

by different authors. Reaumur and Swammerdam
have both expatiated at large upon the nature of
the bee; but their accounts have been almost su-
perseded by the elaborate treatise of Mr. John
Hunter, published in the Philosophical Trans-
actions for the year 1792. To this treatise we
shall frequently have occasion to refer, as it is
founded on the actual observation of a man of
science.

These little animals form a lodgment either in
the hollow of a tree, the cavity of a rock, or in a
hive they have accidentally found. There they
bring up their young, and dwell very peaceably
together, as long as their habitation is sufficiently
spacious and convenient ; but when their numbers
multiply to such a degree as to straiten them for
room, the old bees, in whom a sort of sovereignty
seems to be vested, command all the younger mem-
bers to seek a new settlement; which command is
generally obeyed without attempting to resist, as a
refusal to retire is always productive of a battle.
On a certain day, commonly in the month of June,
the young bees, with the queen at their head, leave
the hive in quest of a new habitation. But it
should be observed, that, previous to their going off*,
they hang about the mouth of the hole, or door of
the hive, for some days; and if it should chance to
be cold or wet in any part of the time, the old
bees compassionate their case, and re-admit them
till the weather is more propitious. As a sufficient
proof that swarming is an act of necessity, the

406

BEE.

young brood will never leave the hive if it is suf-
ficiently enlarged in its dimensions to contain them.
For some evenings before they finally depart, a
strange noise is heard in the hive, resembling a kind
of ring, or the sound of a small trumpet.

When the young colony have taken flight, tl ley
wander with a buzzing noise through the air in
search of a commodious retreat ; and after flying
about, seemingly in great confusion, they fix them-
selves in a cluster upon the branch of a tree, or in
the hollow trunk, and sometimes in holes or clefts
leading to some hollow place. When the queen is
settled in the new situation, wherever it may be,
the rest of the swarm soon follow, and in about a
quarter of an hour the whole body seem to be at
ease. It sometimes happens that there are two
or three queens to a swarm, and the colony is
divided into parties ; but when this is the case the
matter is soon settled, as they generally differ in
strength, and the bees presently desert the weakest
to put themselves under the protection of the most
powerful sovereign. It is said that the deserted
queen does not long survive this defeat ; she takes
refuge under the new monarch, and is soon de-
stroyed by her jealous rival. "T ill this cruel execu-
tion is performed, the bees never go out to work ;
and if there should be a queen bee belonging to the
new colony left in the hive, she always undergoes
the fate of the former.

After the young bees have settled themselves to
their satisfaction, they begin their labours by build-

ing a commodious habitation for themselves and
their future family. To accomplish this necessary
operation they divide themselves into four bodies,
one of which is consigned to the fields to collect
materials for the structure ; the second temper what
the first bring home, form the outlines of the work,
and partition off the cells, which are polished
and completed by the third band ; who not only
adjust the angles, but remove the superfluous wax,
and give the work its necessary perfection. It be-
longs to the fourth band to bring provision to the
labourers, who are too much engaged to leave the
building and provide for themselves. Those who
have noticed the operations of these ingenious in-
sects through a glass hive, describe the manner in
which the labourers are fed by the attending bee.
When they are in want of provision, which often
happens, they express their meaning by signs. The
labourer who has an appetite, bends down his trunk
before the caterer, to let him know7 that he is in-
clined for food ; upon which the other opens his
bag of honey, and pours out a few drops, which
may be distinctly seen rolling through the w hole
length of his trunk, that sensibly swells in every
part through which the liquor flows. When this
little repast is over, the labourer again returns to his
task.

In describing the formation of the comb, we can-
not do better than follow the account of Mr. Hun-
ter, who tells us that “ the cells, or rather the con-
geries of cells, which compose the comb, may be

408

BEE.

said to form perpendicular plates or partitions,
which extend from top to bottom of the cavity in
which they build them, and from side to side.
They always begin at the top or roof of the vault,
in which they build, and work downwards ; but
if the upper part of the vault to which their combs
are fixed is removed, and a dome is put over, they
begin at the upper edge of the old comb, and work
up into the new cavity at the top. They generally
may be guided, as to the direction of their new
plates of comb, by forming ridges at top, to which
they begin to attach their comb. In a long hive,
if these ridges are longitudinal, their plates of comb
will be longitudinal ; if placed transverse, so will be
the plates ; and if oblique, the plates of comb will
be oblique. Each plate consists of a double set of
cells, whose bottoms form the partition between
each set. The plates themselves are not very regu-
larly arranged, not forming a regular plane where
they might have done so ; but are often adapted to
the situation or shape of the cavity in which they
are built. The hees do not endeavour to shape
their cavity to their work as the wasps do, nor are
the cells of equal depths, also fitting them to their
situation ; but as the breeding cells must all be of
a given depth, they reserve a sufficient number for
breeding in, and they put the honey into the others,
as also into the shallow ones.

“ The attachment of the comb round the cavity
is not continued, but interrupted, so as to form
passages ; there are also passages in the middle of

BEE.

409

the plates, especially if there be a cross stick to
support the comb ; these allow of bees to go across
from plate to plate. The substance they use for
attaching their combs to surrounding parts is not
the same as the common wax ; it is softer and
tougher, a good deal like the substance with which
they cover in their chrysalis, or the humble bee
surrounds her eggs. It is probably a mixture of
wax and farina. The cells are placed nearly hori-
zontally, but not exactly so ; the mouth raised a
little, which probably may be to retain the honey
the better: however, the rule is not strictly ob-
served ; for often they are horizontal, and towards
the lower edge of a plate of comb they are often
declining. The first combs that a hive forms are
the smallest, and much neater than the last, or
lowermost. Their sides, or partitions between cell
and cell, are much thinner, and the hexagon is
much more perfect ; the wax is purer, being pro-
bably little more but wax, and it is more brittle.
The lower combs are considerably larger, and con-
tain much more wax, or perhaps, more properly,
more materials ; and the cells are at such distances
as to allow them to be of a round figure ; the wax is
softer, and there is something mixed with it. I
have observed that the cells are not all of equal size,
some being a degree larger than the others ; and
that the small are the first formed, and of course at
the upper part where the bees begin, and the larger
are nearer the lower part of the comb, or last made:
however, in hives of particular construction, where

410

BEE.

the bees may begin to work at one end, and can
work both down and towards the other end, we
often find the larger cells both on the lower part of
the combs and also at the opposite end. These
are formed for the males to be bred in ; and in the
hornets’ and wasps’ combs, there are larger cells for
the queens to be bred in : these are also formed in
the lower tier, and the last formed.

<e The first comb made in a hive is all of one co-
lour, viz. almost white; but is not so white towards
the end of the season, having then more of a yellow
cast.”

There are some cells much larger, and having a
wider mouth than others ; these are the royal cells,
and Mr. Hunter has observed as many as eleven in
the same hive. They are mostly formed on the
edge of the comb, and are made of softer wax than
the others ; they are likewise of an inferior quality,
not above one-third of wax entering into their com-
position, the rest, according to the opinion of Mr.
Hunter, being farina.

As soon as a few combs are formed the female
bee begins to lay her eggs; and this duty it appears
is confined to the queen, notwithstanding the as-
sertion of Riem, that the labourers occasionally per-
form this office. The first eggs in the season are
those which produce labourers, the next males, and
afterwards probably the queen : this is the progress
in the nest of the wasp, hornet, humble bee, &c.
The eggs are laid by the queen at the bottom of
the cell, and she regularly proceeds from chamber

BEE.

411

to chamber, depositing one in each. She peoples
ten, twelve, and sometimes more cells at each fe-
cundation ; continuing to deposit her eggs as fast as
new cells are formed. Mr. Hunter observes, that
each egg is attached at one end to the bottom of
the cell, in either a perpendicular or oblique po-
sition, by means of a glutinous covering, and that
a limited time seems appointed for laying, since, in
a new swarm which he noticed, this necessary busi-
ness did not last above a fortnight.

When the eggs are hatched, which is in about
five days, the young maggot appears coiled up in
the bottom of the cell, in some degree surrounded
with a transparent fluid. The care of these mag-
gots falls to the share of the labourers, the queen
being exempt from this trouble; by which it appears
she is an hereditary sovereign : she never exerts her-
self, as the head of other tribes are obliged to do
at first, who seem rather to work themselves into
rovalty, than come naturally by their honours. It
is easy to detect the bees feeding the young mag-
got; and, indeed, these hardy creatures might easily
be brought up by any person who would be at-
tentive to feed them, as they readily open their two
lateral pincers to receive the food, which they swal-
low with voracity. The maggot proceeds through
the chrysalis state much in the same manner as
the wasp, spinning, like that insect, a silken cover-
ing for the mouth of its cell, and breaking through
its prison at the appointed time for its appearance in
the world.

■412

BEE.

There is a substance in all hives called bee-bread,
which is as common among these insects as any
thing belonging to their community : whenever a
hive is taken, a quantity of this substance is found
within it ; and it seems to be so essential, that a
certain portion is deposited in the first formed cells,
and great care taken to cover it with wax, in order
to preserve it till wanted. If a cell filled with this
substance be laid open, it will be found composed
of layers of different colours. This is particularly
visible in glass hives, where the cells are attached
to the sides, and frequently expose the different
strata above mentioned. It is this substance which
the bees bring on their legs, and which consists of
the farina of plants. For the purpose of convey-
ing this bee-bread to their hive, Nature has formed
two spoon-shaped cavities within their hinder legs,
and it is common in the summer season to see the
little industrious creatures loaded with this com-
modity to the very top of their thighs. They col-
lect their farina from different flowers, and deposit
it within their cells in a very curious manner.
“ On viewing the hives,” says Mr. Hunter, “ we
often see bees with this substance on their legs,
moving along on the combs, as if looking out for
the cell to deposit it in. They will often walk
over a cell that has some deposited in it, hut will
leave that and try another, and so on till they fix ;
which made me conceive that each bee had its own
cell. When they come to the intended cell, they
put their two hind-legs into it, with the two fore-

BEE.

413

legs and the trunk out on the mouth of the neigh-
bouring cell, and then the tail, or belly, is thrust
down into the intended cell ; they then bring the
leg under the belly, and turning the point of the
tail to the outside of the leg, where the farina is,
they shove it off with the point of the tail. When
it is thus shoved off both legs, the bee leaves it, and
the two pieces of farina may be seen lying at the
bottom of the cell ; another bee comes almost im-
mediately, and, creeping into the cell, continues
about five minutes, kneading and working it down
into the bottom, or spreads it over what was de-
posited there before, leaving it a smooth surface.”
The oeconomy of these ingenious insects is really
wonderful. They are possessed of a kind of fore-
sight which enables them to provide for futurity
with the utmost prudence. All their actions are
regulated with propriety, and nothing superfluous
is to be found in the hive, while every thing that is
necessary is provided. Not a grain of the bee-
bread is wasted, lest they should be obliged to seek
for more at a time when they are otherwise en-
gaged. Mr. Hunter conceives this substance to be
the food of the young maggots ; for, when he exa-
mined the stomach of one of these animals, he
found it full of a similar substance, only softer, as
if mixed with a fluid ; but he never opened any of
them which contained a particle of honey : there-
fore there can be little doubt but this matter is col-
lected for the young brood, as honey is for the sup-
port of the old bees. Among the many instances

414

BEE.

of a sagacious ceconomy which actuates this busy
community, may be noticed the following:

Whenever a cell of honey is opened for the sake
of its contents, the cover which enclosed the sweets
is carefully deposited in a magazine appropriated
for the purpose ; and when a young bee frees itself
from its prison, by breaking down the partition of
wax that shuts it up, two old bees immediately
present themselves, and carry away all the remains
of this waxen partition ; after which they imme-
diately repair the ledge of the cell, and bear all
the wax that is left to the same repository, where
it is laid up for future purposes.

The bees begin to collect their honey as soon as
the season for laying the eggs is over, and each cell
is filled with it immediately after the enclosed
chrysalis has arrived at maturity, and forced its w^ay
out. The honey is extracted by the bee from that
part of a flower called the nectarium, and it is then
conducted by the little animal into a receptacle
called the honey-bag, which appears like an ob-
long bladder ; and its situation within the body is
well known to children in the country, who de-
stroy many bees to come at its contents. When a
bee has collected enough to fill this bag, it flies to
the hive and returns the honey into a cell ; after
which it flies off' for a fresh supply, and thus con-
tinues going and coming till its task is completed.
As soon as a cell is full of this delicious fluid, it is
carefully covered with pure wax, and is to be con-
sidered as store for the winter.

BEE.

415

The honey which these insects collect will dif-
fer in flavour, according to the country where it is
produced: much seems to depend on soil and situa-
tion, and the honey from Narbonne is particularly
prized for its excellence. Bees frequently make
long excursions into the neighbouring countries in
search of those flowers which yield the most de-
licious sweets, and these are generally said to grow
in a dry and steril soil. The Abbe La Pluche
mentions this circumstance, and informs us that it
was confirmed to him by a gentleman with whom
he was travelling from Chalons upon the Marne to
Charleville. “ We were about a league and a half
from the estate of this gentleman,” says the Abbe,
“ which lies in the valley, on the edge of the lovely
meadows of Attigny : as yet we saw nothing but
heath, and could not discover any village for above
a league in circumference. c Do you take notice,’
said he, showing us a crop of buck-wheat, which
refreshed us with a very agreeable scent : c do you
take notice of my servants who are dispersed about
the country, and are all at work for me.’ But per-
ceiving that we did not understand his meaning ; —
‘ This is the whole mystery,’ continued he : ‘ those
bees, who are flying among the flowers, come hi-
ther from a distance of two or three leagues. We
daily see them forsake our gardens, and take their
flight over the meadows, despising the oil and fer-
tility of our valleys. In short, they continue their
progress to the mountains and plains of Cham-
paigne, where they find lavender, thyme, sweet

416'

BEE.

marjoram, buck-wheat, and several other plants,
very little cultivated, but of a most delicate sap.
You will find bees all the way from hence to my
estate ; and some curious observers are persuaded
they have seen them, thrice in one day, take a jour-
ney of a league and a half, or two leagues, to furnish
their table to their palate.’ ”

When the cold sets in, the bees become very
quiet, and continue in their hives, huddled toge-
ther, during the winter. They now reap the fruits
of their industry, and open those cells of honey
which they so carefully set apart in the summer,
for their sustenance in time of need. It appears
that their consumption of food is in proportion to
the coldness of the season, and that, consequently,
in a cold week they will eat more honey than when
the weather is moderate. . This was proved by Mr.
Hunter, wrho made several experiments to ascertain
the fact, and constantly found the result as stated
above.

In a fine open day, however, in the middle of
winter, they become very lively and active, leaving
the hive and flying about, as if they very much en-
joyed the opportunity.

The queen bee, either from her rarity, or from
her dignified situation in the hive, has attracted
general attention ; and every one wishes to see her,
though she is by no means readily distinguished
amongst the multitude. She confines herself very
much to tier cell, and seldom appears in public.
Whenever she does, a number of bees follow in

I5EE,

*i 7

her train, and the whole hive seems in commotion,
hanging together by their legs, so that in less than
a minute they form a large veil, behind which it is
impossible to discover any thing that passes. This
is a very odd ceremony ; but the fact seems well
established, though it will be difficult to assign any
good reason for its performance. It is in these
rounds that the queen lays her eggs, proceeding
from one chamber to the other, till her task is
finished.

As this is a bee of importance, it will be proper
to pay her all due respect : we shall therefore give
a particular description of her form, for which we
must stand indebted to Mr. Hunter, who has taken
much pains to observe every thing relating to these
wonderful insects. His account is as follows :

“ -The queen, the mother of all, in whatever way
produced, is a true female, and different from both
the labourers and the male. She is not so laro-e in
the trunk as the male, and appears to be much
larger in every part than the labourers. The scales
on the under surface of the belly of the labourers
are not uniformly of the same colour, over the whole
scale ; that part being lighter which is overlapped
by the terminating scale above, and the uncovered
part being darker ; this light part does not termi-
nate in a straight line, but in two curves, making a
peak ; all which gives the belly a lighter colour in
the labouring bees, more especially when it is pulled
out or elongated.

“ The tongue of the female is considerably shorter

w

VOL, II. 2E

418

BEE.

than that of the labouring bee, more like that of the
male; however, the tongues of the labourers are notall
of equal length, but none haveitso short as the queen.

ii The size of the belly ot the female of such ani-
mals varies a little, according to the condition they
are in : but the belly of the male and the labourer
has but little occasion to change its size, as they are
at all times nearly in the same condition with regard
to fat, having always plenty of provision : but the true
female varies very considerably ; she is of a different
size and shape in the summer to what she is in the
winter; and in the winter she has what may be
called her natural size and shape : she is, upon the
whole, rather thicker than the labourer ; and this
thickness is also in the belly, which probably arises
from the oviduct being in the winter pretty large.
The termination of the belly is rather more peaked
than in the labourers, the last scale being rather
narrower from side to side, and coming more to a
point at the end. The scales at this season are
more overlapped; which can only be known by
drawing them out. In the spring and summer she
is more easily distinguished : the belly is not only
thicker, but considerably longer than formerly;
which arises from the increase of the eggs. W e
distinguish a queen from a working bee, simply by
size, and in some degree by colour ; but this last
is not so easily ascertained, because the difference
in the colour is not so remarkable in the back, and
the only view we can commonly get of her is on
this part ; but when a hive is killed, the best way

BEE.

419

is to collect all the bees, and spread them on white
paper, or put them into water, in a broad, flat-
bottomed, shallow, white dish, in which they swim ;
and by looking at them singly she may be disco-
vered. As the queen breeds the first year she is
produced, and the oviducts never entirely subside,
an old queen is probably thicker than a new bred
one, unless indeed the oviducts and the eggs form
in the chrysalis state, as in the silkworm ; which I
should suppose they did. The queen is perhaps at
the smallest size just as she has done breeding; for,
as she is to lay eggs by the month of March, she
must begin early to fill again ; but I believe her
oviducts are never emptied, having at all times eggs
in them, although but small. She has fat in her
belly similar to other bees.”

Speaking of the number of queens in a hive,
Mr. Hunter says, tf I believe a hive, or swarm, has
but one queen, at least I have never found more
than one in a swarm, or in an old hive in the win-
ter ; for, when there are two queens, it is likely that
a division may begin to take place. Supernumerary
queens are mentioned by Riem, who asserts he has
seen them killed by the labourers, as well as the
males.

“ November 18th, 1/88, I killed a hive that had
not swarmed the summer before, and which was to
appearance ready to swarm every day : but when I
supposed the season for swarming was over, and it
had not swarmed, I began to suspect that the rea-
son why it did not was owing to there being no

2 E 2

420

BEE.

young queen or queens ; and I found only one.
This is a kind of presumptive proof that I was right
in my conjecture ; unless it be supposed that, when
they were determined not to swarm, they destroyed
every queen except one. In a hive that died, I found
no males, and only one queen. I his circumstance,
that so few queens are bred, must arise from the na-
tural security the queen is in from the mode of their
society ; for, although there is but one queen in a
wasp’s, horrnet’s, and humble bee’s nest or hive,
yet these breed a great number of queens ; the wasp
and hornet some hundreds : but not living in society
during the winter, they are subject to great destruc-
tion; so that probably not one in a hundred lives to
breed in the summer.”

The male bees , of which there are a certain num-
ber in every hive, are even larger than the queen,
and, of course, considerably superior in size to any
of the labourers. These seem to be an indolent set
of beings, kept at the expense of the rest of the
community, merely to answer the purpose of pro-
pagation ; for at the beginning of autumn, when
the other bees are satisfied there will be neither
time nor warmth sufficient to raise another biood,
they begin to persecute and expel the drones as
useless members of society. Ibis usage the males
are obliged tamely to suffer, as they want the sting
with which the rest can so ably defend themselves
when attacked. When the time is come tor this
class to turn out, which is generally about the latter
end of August or beginning of September, it is to

BEE.

421

no purpose for them to be desirous of staying, as
they are attacked on all sides, and pushed and
dragged about without remorse by their compa-
nions, who at length drive them out of the hive.
Their aversion even extends to the young drones,
who are forced from their cells and sacrificed for
the benefit of the commonwealth.

“ In 1791?” says Mr. Hunter, “ as early as the
nineteenth of June, I saw the labourers killing the
males of a hive, or rather of a swarm, that had not
yet swarmed, but was hanging out : this, however,
was out of the common course. They appear to be
sensible of their fate, for they hurry in and out of
the hive as quick as possible, seemingly with a view
to avoid the labourers ; and we find them attacked
by the labourers, who pinch them with their for-
ceps; and when they are so hurt, and fatigued with
attempts to make their escape, as not to be able to
fly, they are thrown over on the ground and left to
die. That this is the fate of every male bee, is
easily ascertained by examining every bee in the
hive when killed for the honey, which is after this
season ; no male being then found in it. Bonnet
supposes them starved to death, as he never found
wounds on them. In the course of a winter I have
killed several hives, some as late as April, and in
such a way as to preserve every bee ; and after ex-
amining every one entirely, I never perceived one
male of any kind, although it has been asserted
there are two sizes of males, and that the small are

422

BEE.

preserved through the winter to impregnate the
queen.”

Of the three sorts of bees which inhabit a hive,
it now only remains for us to notice the labourers ,
which are by far the most common, and cannot be
said to belong to either sex. These form the popu-
lace, and are charged with all the work. There
are many thousands of them to one queen, and
probably some hundreds to one male. They are
supposed to be the only bees that are concerned in
constructing the hive and providing the stores.
They are busy abroad, and industrious at home ; to
them, in short, is left the care and management of
the whole, while the queen’s only concern is to lay
her eggs, and the males to walk about and observe
the rest. They are smaller than the other bees,
and some amongst them are less than others. If
we compare them with the queen, a great resem-
blance will be found to exist ; so great indeed, that
Mr. Hunter says, “ one might suppose that they
were only young queens, and that they became
queens after a certain age ; but this is not the case.”
Being furnished with stings, and of a very irritable
disposition, it is hardly safe to approach too near
them, as they will sometimes fly to the attack at
once, and, where they are provoked, they always
sting. It is a circumstance no less singular than
true, that Nature should have provided them with an
active means of defence, and yet should have de-
nied them the use of it with impunity. Whenever

BEE.

423

one of these insects inserts its sting deeply into any
substance, and is in too much haste to withdraw it,
the instrument is almost certain to be left behind,
and part of the bowels of the bee drawn out with it.
Thus it frequently happens that the little animal
falls a sacrifice to its revenge.

The trunk of the labouring bee is considerably
longer than that of the queen, or the male, and is
therefore better adapted to the purpose for which it
is designed, viz. extracting the honey from the
hollow parts of flowers of considerable depth.

We shall now proceed to examine the body of a
bee, which may be divided into three portions; the
head, the breast, and the belly. We shall likewise
particularly notice the curious apparatus with which
it inflicts its wounds.

In the head we perceive two jaws and a trunk ;
the former of these play like two saws opening and
shutting to the right and left ; these saws serve them
instead of hands, to hold and knead the wax, and
to throw away whatever incommodes them. The
trunk is a highly curious organ, and is considered
as the largest of any animal we know, for its size.
It consists of three articulations. The first part is
chiefly composed of a horny substance, in which
there is a groove; on the end of this is fixed the true
trunk, composed of two parts, or articulations.
With this little instrument, which is pliant and
flexible in the greatest degree, will the bee collect
more honey in a day, than we could ever obtain
with all our boasted art. With this it probes the

424

BEE.

bottoms of the flowers, and robs them of their trea-
sured sweets. The joints in this trunk are admi-
rably adapted to prevent its being injured, by al-
lowing the insect to fold it up when it is not in use:
besides this, it is fortified against all accident by
four strong scales, two of which closely sheathe it ;
and the two others, whose cavities and dimensions
are larger, encompass the whole. This curious ap-
paratus evidently justifies an observation made by a
learned divine, that the minutest things in nature
were appointed to some peculiar end and purpose ;
and that the Deity is as conspicuous in the structure
of a fly, as he is in the bright globe of the sun
himself.

I he middle part or breast of a bee sustains the
legs, which are six in number, together with four
wings, which serve not only to transport the insect
where it pleases, but, by their quick vibrations in
the air, occasion the humming noise that informs
us of the bee’s approach. The hair, which entirely
covers the body, is serviceable in retaining the farina
which falls from the flowers when they collect the
bee bread. At the extremity of the paws two little
hooks shaped like sickles may be plainly seen with
a moderate magnifier. These hooks are of great use
to the bee in many instances ; they have two balls
of sponge lying immediately under them, by means
of which the insect is enabled to adhere to the
smoothest surfaces, and walk with ease up a per-
pendicular pane of glass, or along the ceiling of a

room.

BEE.

4 25

The belly of the bee is distinguished into six rings,
which the animal can lengthen or contract to a cer-
tain degree at pleasure. The inside of this region
of the body consists of four parts; the intestines, the
bag of honey, the bag of poison, and the sting.

The office of the intestines is to digest the food,
in the same manner as this function is performed in
all other animals. The bag of honey is as trans-
parent as crystal, and contains the fluid sweets
extracted from flowers by the bee; a small portion
of which must remain in the bag to nourish the
animal, but the largest quantity is discharged into
the cells of the magazine, to support the whole
community in winter. The bag of poison hangs
at the root of the sting, through the cavity of which,
as through a pipe, the bee injects this venomous
liquor into the wound.

The sting is composed of three parts ; the sheath
and two darts. The sheath tapers to a very fine
point, near which is an opening, calculated to give
a free passage to the venom. The two darts are
launched through another aperture, and are planted
writh small sharp points, like the beards of a hook,
wffiich rising a little obliquely render the incision
more painful, and at the same time prevent the bee
from disengaging her sting if she is at all hurried in
getting away. It is therefore advisable for the
wounded person to remain perfectly quiet, while
the bee brings down these lateral points, and closes
them round the shaft of the dart; by which means
she frequently recovers her weapon, and consi-

426*

BEE.

derably lessens the pain. The sheath is likewise
finely pointed, and makes the first wound, which is
succeeded by the injection of the darts and poison-
ous liquor. Some strong muscles are connected
with this sheath, which contribute to its disengage-
ment from the wound ; but when it has been
plunged too deep, these muscles are torn from the
body of the bee, and remain with the sting. The
liquor which she at the same time infuses into the
wound causes great pain attended with a swelling,
which continues several days ; but this may be pre-
vented if the sting be immediately drawn out, and
the puncture enlarged to give free vent to the ve-
nomous matter.

As this is a highly curious subject, we shall add
the celebrated Mr. John Hunter’s anatomical ob-
servations on the sting of the bee. “ I have ob-
served,” says this gentleman, “ that it is only the
queen and the labourers that have stings ; and this
provision of a sting is perhaps as curious a circum-
stance as any attending the bee, and probably is one
of the characters of the bee tribe.

“ The apparatus itself is of a very curious con-
struction, fitted for inflicting a wound, and at the
same time conveying a poison into that wound.
The apparatus consists of two piercers, conduct-
ed in a groove, or director, which appears to be
itself the sting. This groove is somewhat thick at
its base, but terminates in a point; it is articulated
to the last scale of the upper side of the abdomen,
by thirteen thin scales, six on each side, and one

BEE.

42/

behind the rectum. These scales enclose, as it
were, the rectum or anus all round: they can hardly
be said to he articulated to each other, only at-
tached by thin membranes, which allow of a variety
of motions : three of them, however, are attached
more closely to a round and curved process, which
comes from the basis of the groove in which the
sting lies, as also to the curved arms of the sting,
which spread out externally. The two stings may
he said to begin by those two curved processes at
their union with the scales, and converging towards
the groove at its base, which they enter, then pass
along it to its point. They are serrated on their
outward edges, near to the point. These two stings
can be thrust out beyond the groove, although not
far, and they can be drawn within it ; and, I be-
lieve, can he moved singly.

“ All these parts are moved by muscles, which
we may suppose are very strong in them, much
stronger than in other animals ; and these muscles
give motion in almost all directions, but more par-
ticularly outwards. It is wonderful how deep they
will pierce solid bodies with the sting. 1 have
examined the length they have pierced the palm of
the hand, which is covered with a thick cuticle: it
has often been about the twelfth of an inch. To
perform this by mere force, two things are neces-
sary, power of muscles, and strength of the sting;
neither of which they seem to possess in sufficient
degree. 1 own I do not understand this operation.
I am apt to conceive there is something in it distinct

428

BEE.

from simple force applied to one end of a body ; for,
if this was simply the case, the sting of the bee
could not be made to pierce by any power applied
to its base, as the least pressure bends it in any
direction : it is possible the serrated edges may as-
sist, by cutting their way in like a saw.

“ The apparatus for the poison consists of two
small ducts, which are the glands that secrete the
poison ; these two lie in the abdomen, among the
air-cells, &c. ; they both unite into one, which soon
enters into, or forms an oblong bag, like a bladder
of urine ; at the opposite end of which passes out a
duct, which runs towards the angle where the two
stings meet ; and, entering between the two stings,
is continued between them in a groove, which forms
a canal by the union of the two stings to this point.
There is another duct to the right of that described
above, which is not so circumscribed, and contains
a thicker matter, which, as far as I have been able
to judge, enters along with the other: but it is the
first that contains the poison, which is a thin clear
fluid. To ascertain which was the poison, I dipped
points of needles into both, and pricked the back
of the hand ; and those punctures that had the
fluid from the first described bags in them, grew
sore and inflamed, while the others did not. From
the stings having serrated edges, it is seldom the
bees can disengage them ; and they immediately
upon stinging endeavour to make their escape, but
are generally prevented, as it were caught in their
own trap ; and the force they use commonly drags

IiEE.

429

out the whole of their apparatus for stinging, and
also part of the bowels ; so that the bee most fre-
quently falls a sacrifice immediately upon having
effected its purpose.”

Removing bees from one place to another, in
search of better pasturage for them, has been the
custom in some countries for several ages. Pliny
alludes to the practice, and says, that when the
spring flood for bees has failed in the valleys, it is
customary to put the hives into boats and convey
them up the river in the night, in search of food.
This method , it seems, was practised with success in
his time, and is still continued by the Italians who
inhabit the banks of the Po. M. Maillet, in his
Description of Egypt, observes that the inhabitants
of that country send their bees annually to a con-
siderable distance, in order to procure them that
sustenance which they cannot obtain at home ; and
he further tells us that they afterwards bring them
back, like shepherds who travel with their flocks,
and feed them as they go. The antient inhabi-
tants of Lower Egypt observed that all plants blos-
somed, and the fruits of the earth ripened, above
six weeks earlier in LTpper Egypt than with them.
This remark was not lost upon them ; they applied
it to their bees; and the means then made use of,
to enable these industrious insects to take advan-
tage of the forward state of nature in those parts,
were exactly the same, according to M. Maillet, as
are now practised for the same purpose in that

430

BEE.

country. This gentleman informs us, that about
the end of October, all such inhabitants of the
Lower Egypt as have hives of bees embark them
on the Nile, and convey them up the river quite
into Upper Egypt; observing to time it so that
they arrive there just when the inundation is with-
drawn, the lands have been sown, and the flowers
begin to bud. The hives thus sent are marked
and numbered by their respective owners, and
placed pyramidically in boats prepared for the pur-
pose. After they have remained some days at their
furthest station, and are supposed to have gathered
all the wax and honey they could find in the fields
within two or three leagues around ; their con-
ductors convey them in the same boats two or three
%/

leagues lower down, and there leave the industri-
ous insects till they have collected all the riches of
this spot. Thus, the nearer they come to the place
of their more permanent abode, they find the pro-
ductions of the earth, and the plants which afford
them food, forward in proportion. In fine, about
the beginning of February, after having travelled
through the whole length of Egypt, gathering all
the rich produce of the delightful banks of the
Nile, they arrive at the mouth of that river, to-
wards the ocean, from whence they set out, and
from whence they are now returned to their several
homes ; for care is taken to keep an exact register
of every district from whence the hives were sent
in the beginning of the season, of their numbers.

BEE.

431

of the names of the persons who sent them, and
likewise of the mark or number of the boat in which
they were placed.

Hector St. John, in his Letters, gives a curious
account of the method by which he used to discover
his lost bees in the woods of America. It appears
from his observations, that it is easy to predict
the time of their swarming, but very difficult to
know, when on the wing, whether they intend to
fly to the woods or not. If they have previously
agreed to leave the place, and have found some hol-
low trees to their mind, no art or allurement will
induce them to stay. They will prefer the rude
habitations they have chosen, to the best polished
mahogany hive.

We are assured by this gentleman, that he is cer-
tain to retrace his bees, although they may wander
eighteen miles from his house, and are lodged in
the loftiest trees in the deepest recess of the forest.
The plan which he pursues to discover fresh nests
will apply equally well to the retracing ol his old
swarms, and is described by him as follows :

“ After I have done sowing, by way of recre-
ation I prepare for a week’s jaunt in the woods, not
to hunt either the deer or the bears, as my neigh-
bours do, hut to catch the more harmless bees. I
cannot boast that this chase is so noble or so famous
among men ; but I find it less fatiguing, and full as
profitable ; and the last consideration is the only
one that moves me. I take with me my dog as a
companion, for he is useless as to this game; my

432

BEE.

gun, for no man ought to enter the woods without
one ; my blanket, some provisions, some wax, ver-
milion, honey, and a small pocket compass. With
these implements I proceed to such woods as are at a
considerable distance from any settlements. I care-
fully examine whether they abound with large trees ;
if so, I make a small fire, on some flat stones, in a
convenient place. On the fire I put some wax :
close by this fire, on another stone, I drop honey in
distinct drops, which I surround with small quan-
tities of vermilion laid on the stone ; and then I
retire carefully to watch whether any bees appear.
If there are any in that neighbourhood, I rest as-
sured that the smell of the burnt wax will un-
avoidably attract them. They will soon find out
the honey ; for they are fond of preying on that
which is not their own ; and, in their approach,
they will necessarily tinge themselves with some
particles of vermilion, which will adhere long to
their bodies. I next fix my compass, to find out
their course, which they keep invariably straight,
when they are returning home loaded. By the
assistance of my watch, I observe how long those
are returning which are marked with vermilion.
Thus possessed of the course, and, in some measure,
of the distance, which I can easily guess at, I fol-
low the first, and seldom fail of coming to the tree
where those republics are lodged. I then mark it;
and thus, with patience, I have found out some-
times eleven swarms in a season ; and it is incon-
ceivable what a quantity of honey these trees will

BEE.

433

sometimes afford. It entirely depends on the size
of the hollow, as the bees never rest nor swarm till
it is replenished ; for it is only the want of room
that induces them to quit the maternal hive. Next
I proceed to some of the nearest settlements, where
I procure proper assistance to cut down the trees,
get all my prey secured, and then return home with
my prize. The first bees I ever procured were
thus found in the woods by mere accident ; for at
that time I had no kind of skill in this method of
tracing them. The body of the tree being perfectly
sound, they had lodged themselves in the hollow
of one of its principal limbs, which I carefully sawed
off, and, with a good deal of labour and industry,
brought it home, where I fixed it up in the same
position in which I found it growing. This was
in April. I had five swarms that year, and they
have been ever since very prosperous. This busi-
ness generally takes up a week of my time every
fall, and to me it is a week of solitary ease and re-
laxation.”

Besides the domestic bee, whose history we have
now concluded, there are several wild species,
though none of them are so industrious or frugal as
the common sort. Their work is in every particular
. inferior to these ; and although many of their nests
are ingenious enough, yet they cannot for a mo-
ment be compared with the bee-hive. Their habi-
tations are either composed of dried leaves mixed
with wax, or they are formed in the middle of a
plank, or other piece of wood, which they perforate

VOL. II. 2 F

434

BEE.

with great labour for the purpose. Among these
the carpenter bee, Apis centuncularis, merits our at-
tention for the perseverance with which it forms its
cell, sometimes in the middle of the most solid kind
of wood. These creatures having selected a piece
of wood to their mind, which is frequently an up-
right post, or espalier, begin their operations by
boring perpendicularly into it, thus forming a tu-
bular cavity of ten or twelve inches in length, and
about the third of an inch in diameter. Weeks are
often employed by the insect in completing this
business, as she frequently bores three or four of
these holes in one piece of wood, where the thick-
ness will admit of it. Tae dust made by these
workmen may be seen in little heaps near the place
where they are carrying on their operations. When
this tubular dwelling is properly finished, which is
not till after the holes are divided into several sepa-
rate apartments, the animal proceeds to line the
whole with rose leaves rolled over each other ; and
then deposits an egg in each division, carefully
closing the apartment, after having provided a suf-
ficient quantity of a paste, composed of the farina of
flowers mixed with honey, for the young larva to
feed on. This young maggot is so enclosed in the
above-mentioned paste when first hatched, that it
is obliged to eat itself a space to turn in, and scarce-
ly gets tolerable room in its apartment till most ot
the food is devoured, and the included animal ready
to pass into the chrysalis state. M. Reaumur ob-
tained a piece of wood containing one of the habi-

BEE.

43 5

tations of these insects, and having cut off as much
as was sufficient to expose two of the cells to view,
in each of which there was a young maggot sur-
rounded with paste, he closed the hole which he
had made with a piece of glass, that he might watch
their operations without interruption. He observed
the two little worms daily increase in size, and the
paste with which they were surrounded diminish
in the same proportion. In fifteen days they had
nearly consumed the whole of their provision, and
had grown so large as nearly to fill each cell. In a
few days after this, the food was entirely consumed;
and they then fasted nearly a week, becoming, du-
ring the time, exceedingly agitated, often bending
their bodies, and raising and depressing their heads.
This is common to many insects before they change
into another state, and was observed in this instance,
since each maggot shortly became a chrysalis, and
in about twenty days afterwards they both were
transformed into perfect bees.

It appears that in some seasons this insect is very
injurious to the timber, making a vast number
of habitations near together, in the substance of
healthy oaks, which have been greatly injured bv
their operations, fifty or sixty tubes lying within a
little distance of each other. The bee which forms
these curious cavities is of a dusky colour, and co-
vered underneath with a bright ferruginous down.
In size it nearly equals the honey bee.

The bee which forms its nest of leaves in the
shape of a thimble, is very nearly allied to the above,

2 f 2

43i;

BEE.

if not a variety of the same. There is a wide differ-
ence, however, in their manner of proceeding, as
this little animal avoids the labour which the other
undergoes, and merely makes its nest beneath the
surface of the ground. The leaves used by these
insects in forming their conical habitations, are gene-
rally selected from the rose bush, and they have a
way of cutting them which is very singular. Having
lixed upon the bush which seems best adapted to
their purpose, they begin near the footstalk of the
leaf, and cut away, by means of their strong jaws,
with great expedition. They always make the
incision in a curve line till the leaf is detached : im-
mediately before this happens they prepare them-
selves for flight, and each bee carries off its leaf in
triumph the moment it parts from the stalk.

The anecdote related by M. Reaumur, respecting
the nest of this insect, is a strong instance of that su-
perstition which has ever prevailed in the minds of
uneducated people, and which sometimes influences
those of better understandings. “ In the beginning
of July 1736, the learned Abbe Nollet, then at
Paris, was surprised by a visit from an auditor of
the chamber of accounts, whose estate lay at a di-
stant village on the borders of the Seine, a few
leagues from Rouen. This gentleman came ac-
companied, among other domestics, by a gardener,
whose face had an air of much concern. lie had
come to Paris in consequence of having found in his
master’s ground many rows of leaves, unaccountably
disposed in a mystical manner, and which he could

BEE.

43 7

not but believe were there placed by witchcraft, for
the secret destruction of his lord and family. He
had, after recovering from his first consternation,
shown them to the curate of the parish, who was in-
clined to be of a similar opinion, and advised him
without delay to take a journey to Paris, and make
his lord acquainted with the circumstance. This
gentleman, though not quite so much alarmed as
the honest gardener, could not feel himself at
perfect ease, and therefore thought it advisable to
consult his surgeon upon the business; who, though
a man of eminence in his profession, declared him-
self utterly unacquainted with the nature of what
was shown him, but took the liberty of advising that
the Abbe Nollet, as a philosopher, should be con-
sulted, whose well-known researches in natural
knowledge might perhaps enable him to elucidate
the matter, [t was in consequence of this advice
that the Abbe received the visit above mentioned,
and had the satisfaction of relieving all parties from
their embarrassment, by showing them several nests
formed on a similar plan by other insects, and assu-
ring them that those in their possession were the
work of insects also. He opened some of the rose-
leaf nests, showed them the inclosed larvge, and re-
quested permission to send the remainder to M.
Reaumur, who pursued their investigation with
much eagerness, and soon completed the natural
history of the animal.”

T here is a species ol wild bee whose manners
differ essentially from the rest, inasmuch as she

438

BEE.

builds her nest with a sort of mortar made of earth,
which she attaches to the side of a wall, and from
this peculiar mode of constructing her habitation
she is called the mason bee. The whole of the la-
bour and art required in constructing this nest, and
which is not a little, falls to the share of the fe-
male, who alone has the management of every
part of it ; and as this bee lives a solitary life,
she has no companions to assist her in the task.
The outside of this dwelling has a very rude ap-
pearance, much like a common lump of dirt ; but
within it assumes a more regular form, and is di-
vided into a number of cells, nearly of the same
size, though varying in number from three to fif-
teen. These cells, which are nearly an inch high
and half an inch in diameter, resemble a thimble
in shape, and serve, like those of the other species,
for apartments for their young, and storehouses for
their future subsistence. The cells, as well as the other
parts of the nest, are formed of grains of sand con-
nected together by a glutinous fluid with which the
animal is provided ; and the whole of the fabric is
completed, by the indefatigable exertions of the little
female, in the course of a week. These nests, which
are soft at first, become as hard as mortar, and, if
not molested, will last several years. Notwith-
standing the strength of their houses, these bees
are not secure from injury, being subject to the
visits of an ichneumon fly, which contrives to lay
its eggs in their cells ; and the consequence is al-
ways fatal, as the eggs, after being hatched into

BEE.

439

maggots, devour the lawful inhabitants. This is
not the only plague ; a still more destructive enemy
sometimes makes its appearance in the shape of a
large grub, that has been deposited in the egg state,
in one of the unfinished cells, by a species of beetle,
the Attelabm cipiarius. This creature has no sooner
gained a little strength, than with its strong fangs
it breaks down all the partitions, and devours every
thing it meets with.

There are several other species of wild bees, who
are remarkable for their different methods of con-
structing their nests ; but as we have described the
most prominent, and have already extended this
article to a considerable length, we must refer the
reader, who wishes for more information on the
subject, to the elaborate publication of Mr. Kirby,
entitled Monographici Apis Anglic v.

A N T.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennae filiform.

A little upright scale situated between the thorax and the
abdomen.

Sting concealed within the abdomen.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Formica rufa. F. nigra, thorace compresso pedibusque fer-

rugineis. Linn. Syst. Nut. Gmel. 1. p. 2798.

Black, with rusty-coloured feet, and com-
pressed thorax.

Formica thorace compresso toto ferrugineo,
capite abdomineque nigris. Syst. Nat.
Linn. 12. 2. p. 962. no. 3.

Formica rufa. Scop. Ent. Cam. 836.

Formica ferruginea. Degeer Ins. 2. p. 305.
no. 1. pi. 14. f. 1, 2.

Common Ant. Schceff. Elem. pi. 64. Icon. pi. 5. f. 3. Shaw

Gen. Zool. 6. p. 349. pi. 100.

In describing the manners of this little insect, we
only pass from one industrious creature to another.
We have left the bee, whose ingenuity is so con-
spicuous, to describe the ant, who does not bill
short in her domestic ceconomy, or show less ability

ANT.

441

to provide for her young. She is averse to solitude,
always living in society ; is remarkable for a most
industrious spirit; and is offered as a pattern of par-
simony to the profuse, and of unremitting diligence
to the sluggard.

The sight of ants, says the Abbe La Pluche, is
really very instructive. They are a little people,
united, like the bees, in a republic governed by its
own laws and politics. They have a kind of oblong
city, divided into various streets, that terminate at
different magazines. Some of the ants consolidate
the earth, and prevent its falling in, by a surface
of glue with which they incrust it. Those which
we commonly see, amass splinters of wood, which
they draw over the tops of their streets, and use
them as rafters to sustain the roof ; and across these
they lay another rank of splinters, and cover them
with a heap of dry rushes, grass, and straw, which
they raise with a double slope, to turn the current
of the water from their magazines ; some of which
are appropriated to receive their provisions, and in
the others they deposit their eggs.

It is astonishing to see the persevering industry
with which one of these little creatures will drag
towards the magazine a mass of provision much
larger than itself. It is not to be discouraged by
the weight ; for if, after having tried the utmost of
its powers to accomplish its purpose, it finds the
task too great, another will come to its assistance
and thus they will together move the load. A
member of the French Academy found a nest of

442

ANT.

ants in a box of earth standing out from a window
two stories high. From this place they made ex-
cursions to the top of the house, where some corn
lay in a garret, and into a garden which the window
overlooked. The situation of the nest obliged them
to go up or down a great way before they could
possibly meet with any thing; but he observed,
notwithstanding, that none of them returned empty,
every one bringing a grain of wheat, rye, or oats, a
small seed, or even a particle of dry earth, if nothing
else could be got. Some of them travelled to the
further end of the garden, from whence they
brought very heavy loads, and with great labour
succeeded in conveying them to their magazine. The
author of this account was amused with the pains
these ants took to carry grains of corn up a wall to
the second story, climbing all the way with their
heads downwards. This retrograde motion must
considerably increase the difficulty, and will readily
account for the weariness which they all manifested,
by stopping at the most convenient places ; indeed
some were so fatigued and spent that they could
not reach their journey's end. When this happened,
the strongest ants, which had carried home their
load, returned to help them. Sometimes they
would fall down with their burdens wffien just within
reach of the nest : but this in nowise discouraged
them ; they recovered their corn, renewed their
efforts, and at length succeeded. The steady per-
severance and unwearied patience ol one of these
ants was remarkable. She had carried a large grain

ANT.

443

of wheat with incredible labour up the wall of the
house to the box where the nest was, when she
and her load together tumbled back to the ground.
She was presently observed to recover the shock,
and begin to climb again : the second effort met
with no better success ; she fell as before. This
misfortune happened three times successively, with-
out once causing the little animal to quit her hold :
her efforts, however, became each time weaker, till
at length, being completely exhausted, she was
obliged to stop and allow a fellow-labourer to assist
her in carrying the precious grain to the public
stock.

These industrious insects are not particular in
their food, since they will not only eat grain of all
sorts, but likewise animal substances. Many of
them may frequently be seen at work on the carcase
of a large fly, which they will demolish with great
expedition. Anatomists sometimes take advantage
of this appetite in the ants for animal food, and ob-
tain very admirable skeletons by their assistance, at
the same time feasting the community in a sump-
tuous manner. When the skeleton of a small animal
is required, such as a frog, or any creature about
that size, the best way is to bury it in a large ant-
hill, where the bones are sure to be completely
picked, and the remains left in their proper position.
Sweets are likewise very acceptable to them ; and
when they discover a mine of sugar, or any thing
equally precious, the whole body proceed in a
string to regale upon its contents. Dr. Franklin,

444

ANT.

who was too wise a man to think any of the works
of the creation beneath his notice, was amused with
the ceconomy of these little creatures, and tried
several experiments to prove that they communi-
cated their thoughts to each other. Among other
things, he put a pot of treacle into a closet which
was frequented by ants, who collected in consider-
able numbers, and began to devour its contents :
observing this, the doctor shook them out, and sus-
pended the pot by a string which hung from the
ceiling: one ant, however, more intent perhaps in
feeding than the rest, was left in the pot, and after
having satisfied herself attempted to get away, hut
was unable to reach the ground, as the pot was sus-
pended : she ran round the sides and about the
bottom, making many trials, but all in vain : at
length she escaped by travelling up the string and
along the ceiling, till she reached the wall, and
from thence found her way to the ground. In
about half an hour after this a swarm of ants were
observed to come out, and pass along the ceiling till
they came to the string, which they descended re-
gularly, and continued so to do in two columns,
one passing down and the other returning, till the
whole of the treacle was consumed. This is a pretty
strong proof that some communication must pass
between them, and that, in this instance, the first
ant must have given the intelligence.

After the ants have passed the summer in a con-
stant round of laborious employment, they retire to
the inmost recesses of their hill, and there remain

ANT.

445

daring the cold season in a state of stupor ; not, as
has been supposed by many, enjoying the fruits of
their former industry, but cold and lethargic, wait-
ing the return of the vernal sun to unbend their
limbs and renew their activity. After a few days
of fine warm weather the whole body is again in
motion, and the females soon begin to lay their eggs,
which are carefully attended to and placed in the
most secure part of the hill. It has been errone-
ously supposed, that the small oval bodies which
the ants carry with so much care from place
to place, when they are disturbed, are the eggs.
On the contrary, the eggs themselves are so very
small as hardly to be visible ; even the maggot,
when first hatched, is not much larger than a com-
mon grain of sand. It increases, however, progres-
sively in size, till the time appointed for its passage
into the chrysalis state, when it spins itself a silken
web and becomes the little oval body already no-
ticed, and about which the parent shows so much
solicitude. To be convinced of the great attach-
ment of ants to their young, it is only necessary
to disturb one of their hills with a stick, and the
community will be immediately seen in the greatest
confusion ; every one is busy, but none forgets its
charge, and the first object of their care seems these
oval bodies, which they seize with one accord ; and
such is their assiduity, that although hundreds strew
the ground in every direction about the hill, they
will all be removed to a place of safety in a few
minutes. In proportion as the season is moist or

446

ANT.

dry, these aurelias are raised towards the surface of
the hill, or carried to a depth below : even at the
approach of night, or when there is an appearance
of showers, will these industrious insects convey
their charge to a place of safety, where neither cold
nor wet can molest them. Swammerdam kept se-
veral working ants, with their young, in a glass
filled with earth, and was pleased to observe, that,
as the earth dried on the surface, they dug deeper
and deeper to deposit their eggs. When he poured
water on them the parents laboured with unremit-
ting diligence to put the young brood in the driest
place, and did not cease to labour till they had
effected their purpose.

The males and females may be observed in the
nests about the end of July or beginning of August ;
they differ from the neuters in having wings, and
the female may be at once distinguished by her
size, which is much larger than the male. These
last, having no longer any occupation at home, fly
to a distance from the nest, and return no more ;
they are said to live but a short time after the breed-
ing season, many of them perishing by cold, and
more by the smaller kinds of birds which devour
great numbers of them. The females likewise emi-
grate with them; but then they return again to their
nests, and once more attend to their domestic (Eco-
nomy,

Our European ants, though sometimes sufficient-
ly troublesome, are not to be compared with the
species inhabiting the warmer parts of the world.

ANT.

44J

which frequently commit incredible ravages, and
sting with great severity. The damage done in the
West Indies about forty years ago by the sugar ant,
Formica saccharivorci Linn., almost exceeds belief.
From the account in the thirtieth volume of the
Philosophical Transactions, we learn that this pest
first made its appearance on a sugar plantation at
Petit Havre, in the Island of Grenada, and after-
wards extended to the distance of twelve miles from
this spot, destroying every sugar plantation in the
way. Every attempt that was made by the planters
to put a stop to these destructive insects proved in-
effectual : and such was the general consternation at
their ravages, that a reward of twenty thousand
pounds was offered to that person who should dis-
cover an effectual remedy for the evil. So large a
sum, secured to the successful candidate by an act
passed for the purpose, induced many to try their
utmost to destroy the ants ; and all succeeded par-
tially; but none gained the prize, since the destruc-
tion of one myriad availed nothing, their place
being immediately filled by another. Charcoal
taken from the fire, and laid in quantities in their
way, proved very destructive ; they crowded upon it
with the greatest eagerness, and thus were burnt to
death ; but their numbers were so excessive that
they soon extinguished it ; and although wherever
the charcoal was laid the dead ants formed from
their numbers a little hillock, yet their army did
not appear to be diminished. The roads were
literally covered with them for miles together; so

488

ANT.

that the print of a horse’s foot, in passing through
them, was covered in a moment by the surrounding
multitude.

The inhabitants of the island were at length re-
lieved from this calamity by another, which, al-
though very disastrous in its effects, they were more
used to, and therefore less disturbed about. This
was a hurricane, which came with its usual violence,
and not only tore trees and sugar-canes up by the
roots, but destroyed the nests of these insects; and
it is probable that the ants perished in the deluge of
rain which succeeded.

These ants make their nests at the roots of the
sugar-canes, which are so much injured by them
that the proper circulation of the sap is cut off ;
consequently the plants become sickly, and inca-
pable of yielding any tolerable quantity of sugar.

In Hawksworth’s account of Cook’s first voyage,
there is a description of three different species of
ants found in New South Wales. As these little
animals were noticed by an actual observer, and
afford some curious information, we shall subjoin
the account in his own words :

“ Some are as green as a leaf, and live upon trees,
where they build their nests of various sizes, be-
tween that of a man’s head and his fist. These
nests are of a very curious structure : they are
formed by bending down several of the leaves, each
of which is as broad as a man’s hand, and glueing
the points of them together, so as to form a purse.
The viscous matter used for this purpose is an ani-

ANT.

440

mal juice which Nature has enabled them to elabo-
rate. Their method of first bending down the
leaves we had no opportunity to observe ; but we
saw thousands uniting all their strength to hold
them in this position, while other busy multitudes
were employed within, in applying this gluten that
was to prevent their returning back. To satisfy
ourselves that the leaves were bent and held down
by the effort of these diminutive artificers, we dis-
turbed them in their work ; and as soon as they
were driven from their station, the leaves on which
they were employed sprang up with a force much
greater than we could have thought them able to
conquer by any combination of their strength. But
though we gratified our curiosity at their expense,
the injury did not go unrevenged ; for thousands
immediately threw themselves upon us, and gave
us intolerable pain with their stings, especially those
which took possession of our necks and hair, from
whence they were not easily driven. Their sting
was scarcely less painful than that of the bee ; but,
except it was repeated, the pain did not last more
than a minute.

“ Another sort are quite black, and their opera-
tions and manner of life are not less extraordinary.
Their habitations are the inside of the branches of a
tree, which they contrive to excavate by working out
the pith almost to the extremity of the slenderest
twig ; the tree at the same time flourishing as if it
had no such inmate. When we first found the tree,
we gathered some of the branches, and were scarcely

2 G

VOL. II.

-450

AMT.

less astonished than we should have been to find
that we had profaned a consecrated grove, where
every tree upon being wounded gave signs of life ;
for we were instantly covered with legions of these
animals, swarming from every bough, and indict-
ing their stings with incessant violence.

“ A third kind we found nested in the root of a
plant which grow s on the bark of trees in the manner
of mistletoe, and which they had perforated for that
use. The root is commonly as big as a large tur-
nip, and sometimes much bigger: when we cut it,
we found it intersected by innumerable winding

J O

passages, all filled with these animals, by which,
however, the vegetation of the plant did not appear
to have suffered any injury. We never cut one of
these roots that was not inhabited, though some
were not bigger than a hazle-nut. The animals
themselves are very small, not more than half as
big as the common red ant in England. They had
stings, but scarcely force enough to make them felt:
they had, however, a power of tormenting us in
an equal if not in a greater degree; for, the moment
we handled the root, they swarmed from innume-
rable holes, and, running about those parts of the
body that were uncovered, produced a titillation
more intolerable than pain, except it is increased
to great violence.”

In South America these insects are equally com-
mon, and some of them grow to a large size. Dam-
pier observed two or three sorts of black ants which
were very formidable ; he describes one of them.

ANT.

451

the great black ant, as exceedingly venomous, and
tells us that it stings or bites almost as bad as a
scorpion. Another kind, of ayellow colour, is scarcely
less to be dreaded ; since they cover the trees in
every direction, and fall from the boughs upon the
passing traveller before he is aware of the mischief.
The nests of this species are placed between the
limbs of great trees, and, if we may credit Dam-
pier, are, some of them, as large as a hogshead.
These are their winter habitations, to which they
retire as soon as the autumnal rains commence ; but
in the dry season they leave their nests, and swarm
all over the woodlands, where their method of
travelling in a line has worn extensive paths of
three or four inches broad. They bring home
heavy burthens on their backs, hut all their loads
seem to consist of the same substance, and of
equal size. Dampier assures us he never saw them
return with any thing but pieces of green leaves,
and these of such a size as to cover the body of the
labouring insect, who, nevertheless, pressed forward
with vigour, followed by a host of companions with
their leaves upon their shoulders, so that the path
looked perfectly green, and gave to the whole a very
pleasing effect.

12 G 2

DIPTEROUS INSECTS.

GAD-FLY.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennas short : setaceous.

Month none; but in its place three small impressed points
are found, without any visible proboscis or rostrum.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

a Istrus Bo vis. CE. alis immaculatis, abdomine nigro; basi

albo apiceque fulvo. Linn. Syst. Nat.
Gruel. 1. p. 28O9.

Wings without spots; a black band crosses
the abdomen, which is white at the base,
and tawny at the tip.

CEstrus alis immaculatis, thorace nigro ; scu-
tello pallido, abdomine nigro ; basi albo
apiceque fulvo. Syst. Nat. xii. 2. p. 970.
no. 4.

Ox Gad-fly. . Reaurn. Ins. 4. pi. 38. f. 7, 8. Degeer Ins. 6.

p. 297. no. 2. pi. 15. f. 22. Linn. Trans. 3.
p. 29I. pi. 23. f. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Shaw
Gen. Zool. O', p. 358. pi. 102.

These flies are so much dreaded by our cattle, that
the moment they see one of them in the air the

GAD-FLY.

453

whole herd will run away in the greatest conster-
nation, and escape, if possible, into some water,
where they are secure from its attacks. This pre-
caution seems implanted in them by Nature; as
young and old, those who have suffered from the
enemy and those who have not, fly equally to the
only place of refuge afforded them. Their fears are
not without foundation, since these flies are con-
stantly upon the watch to deposit their eggs in the
backs of the cattle ; and they are provided with a
very curious instrument for this purpose. It con-
sists of a cylindrical tube, composed of four pieces
which draw out from the posterior part of the ani-
mal like the same contrivance in a pocket telescope.
The last of these pieces is armed with three hooks,
and acts as a gimlet to bore through the tough
hide, in order to make a hole for the egg which is
to follow. This operation is performed by the fe-
male gad-fly in a few seconds, and is generally re-
peated on several parts of the animal’s back. Mr.
Bracy Clark, whose observations on this genus
of insects do him so much credit, says, that
this species in particular inflicts the most pain
while laying its eggs. The unfortunate beast who
is attacked by one of these plagues may be readily
distinguished by his agitation. He feels the wound,
is conscious of its consequences, and in extreme
terror runs bellowing from the rest of the herd to
a distant part of the heath, or the nearest water ;
while the tail, from the severity of the pain, is held
with a tremulous motion straight from the bodv in

454

GAD-FLY.

the direction of the spine, and the head and neck
are also stretched out to the utmost. The horror
excited by these insects in cattle is so great that
nothing will prevent their efforts to escape from
them. This is well known to those farmers who
employ oxen to plough their lands, many of them
having a contrivance to set the beasts at liberty the
moment they are bitten : where this precaution is
neglected, unpleasant consequences sometimes en-
sue ; as the oxen become quite furious upon these
occasions, and will frequently run with the plough
directly forwards, through hedges, or whatever ob-
structs their way.

We have already noticed that each puncture
made by the gad-fly is followed by an egg, which
after a time is hatched in the back of the animal,
and the larva, by the irritation it produces, causes a
swelling in the part, which terminates in a small
abscess open at the top. The young maggot is im-
bedded in the fluid of this abscess, where it con-
tinues all the winter, and in the following June
forces its way through the opening, and, falling from
the back of the animal to the ground, becomes a chry-
salis. At this time, we are told, the maggot is in great
danger of being destroyed ; for if it falls on land it is
frequently trodden upon, or picked up by birds ; if
it falls in the water, where the cattle stand during
most of the day in the summer season, its fate is
certainly decided, as it either perishes, or becomes
the food of fishes. After the larva is excluded, the
sore upon the back of the animal soon heals.

GAD-FLY.

455

From about the middle of June till the same
time in August the insect continues in the form of
a chrysalis, when the fly arrives at its last and per-
fect state, and escapes from its shell by opening a
very singular triangular lid, which, according to the
observation of Mr. Clark, may be traced in the skin
of the larva, and is situated on the side of the small
end. The ox gad-fly is the largest of the European
species, and is very beautiful.

Heifers, steers, and younger cattle are said to be
most frequently attacked by this gad-fly, and to
have in general a greater number of hots , as they
are called, than others : as the insects always select
the strongest and most healthy of the beasts to lay
their eggs in, the number of their marks in a hide
has become a criterion of goodness in much esteem
with the dealers in cattle. The tanners likewise are
aware of this fact, and observe that the best and
strongest hides have the greatest number of bot-
holes in them.

The care and attention which is paid to that
noble and valuable animal the horse, has caused,
perhaps, more inquiry to be made into the natural
history of the kind of bot that infests his intestines,
than if the same insect had inhabited the bowels of
any creature of inferior note. This troublesome
maggot derives its being from another species of
the same genus, the CEstrus equi , or horse gad-fly,
the history of whose introduction into, and passage
through, the alimentary canal of tiie horse, has

456

GAD-FLY.

been accurately related by the ingenious Mr. Bracy
Clark, from whose paper we have taken the liberty
to extract the following particulars :

When the female has been impregnated, and
the eggs are sufficiently mature, she seeks among
the horses a subject for her purpose; and approach-
ing it on the wing, she holds her body nearly up-
right in the air, and her tail, which is lengthened
for the purpose, curved inwards and upwards : in
this way she approaches the part where she designs
to deposit her egg ; and, suspending herself for a
few seconds before it, suddenly darts upon it, and
leaves her egg adhering to the hair : she hardly ap-
pears to settle, but merely touches the hair with
the egg held out on the projected point of the ab-
domen. The egg is made to adhere by means of a
glutinous liquor secreted with it. She then leaves
the horse at a small distance, and prepares a second
egg, and, poising herself before the part, deposits it
in the same way. The liquor dries, and the egg
becomes firmly glued to the hair: this is repeated
by various flies, till four or five hundred eggs are
sometimes placed on one horse. The horses, when
they become used to this fly, and find that it does
them no injury, as the Tahani and Conopes, by suck-
ing their blood, hardly regard it, and do not appear
at all aware of its insidious object. The skin of
the horse is always thrown into a tremulous motion
on the touch of this insect, which merely arises
from the very great irritability of the skin and cu-

GAD-FLY.

457

taneous muscles at this season of the year *, occa-
sioned by the continual teasing of the Hies, till at
length these muscles act involuntarily on the slight-
est touch of any body whatever.

“ The inside of the knee is the part on which
these flies are most fond of depositing their eggs,
and next to this on the side and back part of the
shoulder, and, less frequently, on the extreme ends
of the mane. But it is a fact worthy of attention,
that the fly does not place them promiscuously
about the body, but constantly on those parts which
are most liable to be licked with the tongue ; and
the ova, therefore, are always scrupulously placed
within its reach.

“ The eggs thus deposited I at first supposed
were loosened from the hairs by the moisture of the
tongue, aided by its roughness, and were conveyed
to the stomach, where they were hatched : but on
more minute search I do not find this to be the
case, or at least only by accident ; for, when they
have remained on the hairs four or five days, they
become ripe, after which time the slightest appli-
cation of warmth and moisture is sufficient to bring
forth in an instant the latent larva. At this time,
if the tongue of the horse touches the egg, its
operculum is thrown open, and a small active worm
is produced, which readily adheres to the moist sur-
face of the tongue, and is from thence conveyed
with the food to the stomach. If the egg itself be

* August and part of September.

458

GAD-FLY.

taken up by accident, it may pass on to the intesti-
nal canal before it hatches ; in which case its ex-
istence to the full growth is more precarious, and
certainly not so agreeable, as it is exposed to the
bitterness of the bile.

“ I have often with a pair of scissars clipped off'
some hairs with eggs on them from the horse, and
on placing them in the hand, moistened with saliva,
they have hatched in a few seconds. At other
times, when not perfectly ripe, the larva would not
appear, though held in the hand under the same
circumstances, for several hours ; a sufficient proof
that the eggs themselves are not conveyed to the
stomach. It is fortunate for the animal infested by
these insects that their numbers are limited by the
hazards they are exposed to. I should suspect near
a hundred are lost for one that arrives at the perfect
state of a fly. The eggs, in the first place, when
ripe, often hatch of themselves, and the larva, with-
out a nidus, crawls about till it dies ; others are
washed off' by the water, or are hatched by the sun
and moisture, thus supplied together. When in
the mouth of the animal, they have the dreadful
ordeal of the teeth and mastication to pass through.
On their arrival at the stomach, they may pass
mixed with the mass of food, into the intestines;
and when full grown, in dropping from the animal
to the ground, a dirty road or w^ater may receive
them. If on the commons, they are in danger of
being crushed to death, or of being picked up by
the birds who so constantly attend the foot-steps of

GAD-FLY.

45 9

the cattle for food. Such are the contingencies by
which Nature has wisely prevented the too great in-
crease of their numbers, and the total destruction of
the animals they feed on.

“ 1 have once seen the larva of this oestrus in
the stomach of an ass; indeed there is little reason
to doubt their existence in the stomachs of all this
tribe of animals. These larvae attach themselves
to every part of the stomach, hut are generally
most numerous about the pylorus, and are some-
times, though much less frequently, found in the
intestines. Their numbers in the stomach are very
various, often not more than half a dozen, at other
times more than a hundred, and, if some accounts
might be relied on, even a much greater number
than this. They hang most commonly in clusters,
being fixed by the small end to the inner mem-
brane of the stomach, which they adhere to by
means of two small hooks or tentacula. When
they are removed from the stomach they will at-
tach themselves to any loose membrane, and even
to the skin of the hand. The body of the larva is
composed of eleven segments, all of which, except
the two last, are surrounded with a double row of
horny bristles directed towards the truncated end,
and are of a reddish colour, except the points,
which are black. The larvae evidently receive their
food at the small end, by a longitudinal aperture,
which is situated between two hooks or tentacula.
Their food is probably the chyle, which, being
nearly pure aliment, may go wholly to the com-

460

GAD-FLY.

position of their bodies without any excrernentitious
residue, though on dissection the intestine is found
to contain a yellowr or greenish matter, which is
derived from the colour of the food, and shows that
the chyle, as they receive it, is not perfectly pure.
They attain their full growth about the latter end
of May, and are coming from the horse from this
time to the latter end of June, or sometimes later.
On dropping to the ground they find out some con-
venient retreat, and change to the chrysalis ; and in
about six or seven weeks the fly appears.

“ The perfect fly but ill sustains the changes of
weather ; and cold and moisture, in any considera-
ble degree, would probably be fatal to it. These
flies never pursue the horse into the water. This
aversion I imagine arises from the chillness of that
element, which is probably felt more exquisitely by
them, from the high temperature they had been
exposed to during their larva state. The heat of the
stomach of the horse is much greater than that of
the warmest climate, being about 102 degrees of
Fahrenheit, and in their fly state they are only ex-
posed to 60, and from that to about 80 degrees.
This change, if suddenly applied, would in all pro-
bability be fatal to them ; but they are prepared
for it, by suffering its first effects in the quiescent
and less sensible state of a chrysalis. I have often
seen this fly during the night-time, and in cold
weather, fold itself up with the head and tail nearly
in contact, and lying apparently in a torpid state,
through the middle of the summer.”

GAD-FLY.

46l

The different species of this genus make their
attack on different animals, and each proceeds to
deposit its ova in some particular part of the beast :
while one pierces the hide, another lays its egg in
the hair, and a third introduces them into the
nostrils of the terrified animal. This last, or CEstrus
ovis , is the torment of the sheep ; for, the moment
it approaches, the whole flock become extremely
agitated, shaking their heads, and striking their
fore-feet violently against the ground. Conscious
of the dreadful consequences of an attack, they en-
deavour to avoid their enemy by holding their
noses close to the earth, and running in every
direction about the common. As they go along,
they smell to the grass lest one of their tormentors
should be lying in wait for them, and as soon as
possible remove to the dusty road, or a neighbour-
ing gravel-pit, where they crowd together with
their noses so close to the ground that the fly is un-
able to get at them. If the sheep are driven from
this, they retreat to the grass: in the heat of the day
the fly will be frequently seen to attack them, and
the whole flock will be thrown into confusion.
These poor animals have sufficient reason for their
fears ; since the larvae hatched within their nostrils
produce a degree of inflammation, and consequently
pain, that only ceases when the bots fall to the
ground preparatory to their passage into the state of
a chrysalis.

The other species of this genus contain nothing
particularly deserving of notice, unless, according to

462

GAD-FLY.

the opinion of a learned naturalist, Dr. Shaw, we
may place the z imb of Mr. Bruce among the num-
ber. This gentleman, however, does not pretend
to determine whether it ought to be referred to this
genus or not ; he was only led to suppose so from
some particulars in its history which corresponded
with the other species. The insect has long been
a wanderer ; no one has decided its place in the
system, and the present attempt to fix its situation
may possibly be rejected by future entomologists.

Mr. Bruce, who had several opportunities of ob-
serving this fly during his residence in Abyssinia,
has described it in the following manner : “ It is in
size very little larger than a bee, and its wings,
which are broader than those of a bee, placed sepa-
rate, like those of a fly ; they are of pure gauze,
without colour or spot upon them ; the head is
large, the upper jaw or lip is sharp, and has at the
end of it a strong pointed hair of about a quarter of
an inch long : the lower jaw has two of these pointed
hairs; and this pencil of hairs, when joined together,
makes a resistance to the finger nearly equal to that
of a strong hogs bristle. Its legs are serrated in
the inside, and the whole covered with brown hair
or down. As soon as this plague appears, and their
buzzing is heard, all the cattle forsake their food,
and run wildly about the plain till they die, worn
out with fatigue, fright, and hunger. No remedy
remains for the residents on such spots, but to leave
the black earth and hasten down to the sands of
Atbara; and there they remain while the rains last.

GAD-FLY. 463

this cruel enemy never daring to pursue them
further.”

The zimh does not appear, like the ox gad-fly, to
confine its attacks to the cattle, but becomes a gene-
ral scourge, and inflicts its wounds on the camel,
the rhinoceros, and even the elephant, who suflfer in
proportion to the sensibility of their skins. J he
camel, when once attacked by this fly, must imme-
diately remove to the sands of Atbara ; for every
puncture which the zimb makes in his hide is fol-
lowed by swelling, inflammation, and abscess ; his
head, body, and legs, break out in large tumours,
which discharge, and sometimes mortify, to the cer-
tain destruction of the creature. The elephant and
rhinoceros are better enabled to withstand the at-
tacks of this formidable insect, on account of their
thick skins ; hut even these enormous creatures
think it expedient to roll themselves at times in the
mud, that they may thus form an artificial coat in
addition to their natural one.

“ All the inhabitants of the sea-coast of Melinda,”
says Mr. Bruce, “ down to Cape Gardefan, to Saba,
and the south of the Red Sea, are obliged to put
themselves in motion and remove to the next sand
in the beginning of the rainy season, to prevent all
their stock of cattle from being destroyed. This is
not a partial emigration ; the inhabitants of all the
countries from the mountains of Abyssinia north-
ward, to the confluence of the Nile and Astaboras,
are once a year obliged to change their abode, and
seek protection in the sands of Beja ; nor is there

464

GAD-FLY.

any alternative, or means of avoiding this, though a
hostile band was in their way, capable of spoiling
them of half their substance.”

These insects are said by Mr. Bruce to inhabit
only one species of soil, which is a black fat earth,
of extraordinary fertility, which seems from the
first to have given a law to the settlement of the
country, as it deprived those inhabitants of the
fat earth called mazaga, brought up in caves and
mountains, from enjoying the assistance of any
beasts of carriage. “ It deprived them of their flesh
and milk for food, and gave rise to another nation
whose manners were just the reverse of the first.
These were the shepherds, leading a wandering life,
and preserving these immense herds of cattle by
conducting them into the sands beyond the limits
of the black earth, and bringing them back again
when the danger from the insect was over.”

The jarring noise which the zimb makes in its
flight, is supposed by Mr. Bruce to proceed partly
from the vibration of the three hairs at the snout :
he observes that it flies with more rapidity than the
bee, and that its motion resembles that of the Eng-
lish gad-fly. In its manners it certainly bears a
strong resemblance to that insect, and appears to de-
serve a place in the same genus.

FLY.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennae short.

Mouth formed by a soft fleshy proboscis, with two lateral
lips.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Musca pendula. M. thorace lineis quatuor, abdomine fasciis

tribus interruptis flavis. Linn. Syst. Nat.
Gmel. 1. p. 2868.

Four lines on the thorax ; three irregular yel-
low bands across the abdomen.

Pendulous Fly. Reaum. Ins. 4. pi. 31. f. 9. 1.1. Frisch.

Ins. 4. pi. 13. Shaw Gen. Zool. 6. p. 382.
pi. 105.

The larva of this fly exhibits a striking example of
contrivance adapted to a visible end, and such an one,
indeed, as could alone ensure the life of an animal,
which is destined to seek its food at the bottom of
the water, and yet obliged to breathe from the sur-
face at the same time.

The celebrated French entomologist, M. Reau-
mur, very properly called this animal Queue de rat ,
fiom the length of its tail, which is of a singu-
vol. 11. 2 h

FLY.

466

lar conformation, and is in fact the instrument
through which the creature respires. The surface
of the water which these insects inhabit appears to
be in perpetual motion, where there are many of
them near together; and as they are generally found
in muddy places, it becomes necessary to remove
them from hence, in order to observe their movements
in a satisfactory manner. Their bodies are about half
an inch long, and their tails an inch. If some of
them are put into a glass vessel of clear water, filled in
proportion to their measure, they will soon become
settled with their heads at the bottom,, and the end
of their tails just above the surface. In this there
is nothing particular or extraordinary ; but upon
adding more water a wonderful contrivance is mani-
fested ; the tail is immediately lengthened in pro-
portion to the height of the water in the vessels,
and proves to be a mere tube, containing within it
another much smaller, which the animal is enabled
to shoot out whenever it has occasion to seek a
greater depth. In order to determine how far these
insects could extend their tails, Reaumur collected
a few of them, which he placed in a proper vessel,
and found that upon adding water gradually the
tails still kept above the surface, till the depth
amounted to between five and six inches. Here
their extensive power seemed to cease, and they
were obliged, upon more water being added, to leave
the bottom, and either keep higher in the water, or
attach themselves to the sides of the vessel, so that
the extremity of their tubular tails might still be

FLY.

467

in the air. Thus do these little creatures contrive
to make two elements contribute to their welfare at
the same moment.

These larvae after a certain time pass through a
second state, and become very beautiful flies, with
four longitudinal black lines upon a bright yellow
thorax. These flies lay their eggs close to the
water, and in a situation where they are constantly ,
supplied with a sufficient degree of moisture, with-
out being removed from the influence of the sun.
Here they are hatched; and the young, immediately
upon their exclusion, enter that element in which
they are destined to pass so great a share ot their
lives.

The Musca pendula is a curious example of a
very extensive genus, containing no less, according
to Gmelin, than three hundred and eighty-seven
species. This vast tribe ranks very low in the scale
of animated beings, and yet each individual con-
tains parts which are worthy of observation. The
common fly will serve as well as any, to prove that
Nature has not been deficient in providing these
apparently insignificant creatures with every requi-
site for their existence during the short time they
are allowed to live. Weak and contemptible as we
may think this insect, it is furnished with parts that
are highly curious, and only require the assistance
of a microscope to raise our admiration of what we
before looked upon with contempt. It has excel-
lent eyes ; it lias antennae or horns, wings, claws,
sponges, and a trunk.

2 h 2

468

FLY.

The eyes, like those of beetles and dragon-flies, are
constructed in a very peculiar manner. They are
two little hemispheres, perfectly immoveable, and
occupying a large portion of the insect’s head. Each
of these hemispheres contains a prodigious number
of minute eyes arranged in a regular order by the
side of each other, so that the whole assemblage ap-
pears like lattice-work. Each of these minute
specks is a perfect eye, and may be plainly seen
when properly magnified by a compound micro-
scope. By this contrivance the fly is enabled to see
on all sides. The eyes of other creatures (if we
may use the expression) are multiplied by motion ;
whereas those of a fly are fixed and immoveable,
consequently without this arrangement the animal
could only see in one direction ; as it is, she is en-
abled to see every thing in which she can be inter-
ested. She has a number of enemies, but she has
more than an eye for each, and can discover what-
ever danger threatens her from above, behind, or on
either side, even when she is in full pursuit of a prey
directly before her.

We observe seven or eight articulations in the
leg of a fly, besides two bending claws, and several
minute points on each of its paws : above all, we
ought to notice the singular little sponges at the
bottom of the feet placed at the juncture of its
claws. Naturalists have supposed that, when this
animal marches over any polished body on which
neither her claws nor points can fasten, she some-
times compresses her sponge, and causes it to eva-

FLY.

46*9

cuate a fluids which fixes her in such a manner as
prevents her falling, without diminishing the facility
of her progress. By some these sponges have been
thought to correspond with the fleshy balls which
accompany the claws ol dogs and cats , and that
they enable the fly to proceed with a softer pace,
and contribute to the preservation of its claws, whose
pointed extremities would be soon impaired with-
out this prevention. Besides these sponges her
paws are shaded with a growth of hair, which she
employs instead of a brush to clean her wings and
eyes. If she is noticed at this employment, she will
be seen first to clean her brushes, by rubbing one
paw against the other, after which she diaws them
first over her wings and then under, concluding the
whole with brushing her head; and this operation
she is obliged frequently to repeat in order to clear
herself of dust, which if neglected would accumu-
late, and injure her delicate frame.

The trunk is composed of two parts, one of which
folds over the other, and both of them aie sheathed
in the mouth. T.he extremity of this trunk is shaip
like a knife, to enable the fly to cut what she eats.
She likewise forms it into tw'o lips, that she may the
better take up proper quantities of food ; and when
she has occasion, she employs it as a pump for
drawing up liquors.

GNAT.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennae filiform.

Mouth formed by a flexible sheath, enclosing setae, or
bristles, pointed like stings.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Culex pipiens. C. ciuereus, abdomine annulis fuscis octo.

Linn. Syst . Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 2886.
Ash-coloured, with eight brown rings on the ab-
domen.

/3. Mosquitoes. Kalm. It. 2. p. 208.

Common Gnat. Reaum. Ins. 4. pi. 43, 44. Geoff. Ins. 2. p. 5yg.

pi. Ip. f. 4. Roes. Ins. 3. pi. 15. Shaw Gen.
Zool. 6. p. 388. pi. 109.

The gnat, like most other insects, passes through
three different states, two of which are spent in the
water, the other in the air. The larvae are those
little insects which are so common in the month
of May, in almost every stagnant water, and which
may be frequently seen in our water-butts with
their heads downwards and their tails just above
the surface: in this situation they continue quiet
till any thing alarms them ; when they immediately

GNAT.

4/1

descend to the bottom, but are quickly obliged to
return again to the surface m order to breathe,
which they effect through a tubular orifice in the
tail. The eggs from whence these insects proceed,
are deposited by the parent animal in groups of
several hundreds, enclosed in an unctuous matter,
and placed on the surface of the water, and almost
constantly in the vicinity of some aquatic plant.
When the larvae have been nearly a month ex-
cluded from the egg, during which time they feed
on the minute animal and vegetable substances which
abound in stagnant waters, they begin to change
their form and turn into chrysalids. In this state
they appear rolled up, except a portion of the tail
which hangs down ; the upper part lias a very un-
couth appearance, and the rudiments of the future
insect may be traced through the thin covering.
The situation of the respiratory organs is com-
pletely changed ; for, whereas in the larva the
tail was the medium through which the animal
breathed, in the chrysalis the same function is per-
formed near the head ; a difference is likewise per-
ceptible in the means, the larva breathing through
one tube, while the chrysalis respires through two.

From this state the gnat is transferred to another
element, and becomes an inhabitant of a new world.
In order to effect this change she struggles to break
through her prison, bursts the chrysalis, and, re-
signing the empty shell of the amphibious animal,
springs into the air with a body actuated by a sur-
prising agility, and with limbs of the finest texture.

472

GNAT.

The head is decorated with a beautiful plumage, and
the body covered with scales and hair, which at once
defend her from humidity and cold.

But the most curious part about this little crea-
ture, and that which constitutes the only inconve-
nience we receive from it, is the trunk, which is
well calculated to excite our admiration. It is won-
derfully formed, and at the same time so minute
that it requires an excellent microscope to give us a
just view of its extremity. JThe trunk consists of
a case composed of long scales, which the gnat car-
ries under hei tin oat ; from an opening m which,
at about the distance of two-thirds of its extent, she
lanches four darts, and then returns them into her
quiver; one of these darts, pointed and active as
it is, performs the office of a new case to the other
three, which have their sides sharpened in the most
exquisite manner, and barbed towards the point,
which is a little hooked and of inexpressible fine-
ness. These spicula?, or stings, are darted at once
into the flesh of the animal whose blood they mean
to regale on; and the wounds which they make,
together with a small quantity of liquor which they
are said to inject in the place at the same time,
cause the inflammation and itching which are so
generally complained of by those who are gnat-
bitten. When the insect has made her orifice, she
sucks the blood through her trunk, and, if undis-
turbed, will continue her sanguinary employment
till she swells from repletion, and has completely
gorged herself.

GNAT. 473

It is only when she meets with flesh which re-
sists her efforts, that she employs her pointed wea-
pons ; at other times, when she has only soft fruits *
or juices for a repast, she merely inserts the ex-
tremity of her trunk, and sucks the liquor through
the tube. The observation of Reaumur, that of
the many millions of these insects which swarm in
the marshy places where they are bred, perhaps
not one in a thousand can taste of blood in its life,
is very just; and therefore we must conclude that
they were designed to live more on vegetable than
animal juices.

With such an instrument to extract the nutri-
ment from every substance which may be the ob-
ject of her choice, the gnat passes the summer in
the greatest gaiety; but as soon as winter ap-
proaches she loses her activity, the little sting is
less and less employed, till at length she is released
from the care of obtaining provisions, entirely
ceases to eat, and passes the cold days and drearv
nights of that melancholy season in caves and holes,
where she can be sheltered till the spring calls her
forth to accomplish the most important duty of her
life, the perpetuating of her family. For this pur-
pose she flies in quest of the first standing water,
on which she deposits her eggs in the manner al-
ready explained, and the little progeny arising from
these are sometimes so numerous that the water
which contains them seems completely animated.

In the warmth of summer, when, for the sake of
the little air which is to be obtained, we are in-

47 4

GNAT.

duced to sleep with our windows open, these insects
prove troublesome by humming about our beds and
raising our fears lest we should be bitten in the night;
but how trifling, how insignificant, is the cause of
this fear when compared with the variety which in-
fests other climates, and is known by the name of
the musqueto! This indeed is justly dreaded hy the
inhabitants, as hardly any precaution seems suf-
ficient to defend them from its attacks, or any
means effectual to exclude it from their dwellings.
Smoke has been found the best material to drive
them to a distance ; but then the remedy is nearly
as bad as the disease, since it is almost necessary to
choke yourself in order to succeed by this method.
The poor Laplander, whose summer is of so short
a duration, is tormented beyond measure by this
plague. Swarms innumerable are brought to life
by the sun’s influence on the marshy tracts of that
dreary country ; and these, insinuating themselves
into every hut, deprive the inhabitants of the little
comfort their wretched dwellings afford. The cat-
tle are far from escaping their share of the tor-
ment; and the rein-deer are rendered so uneasy by
these flies, that, while one person is employed in
milking them, another is obliged to hold a firebrand
close to the animal, that the musquetoes may be
kept at a distance. This ability to do mischief
seems confined to the female, who alone is capable
of making a wound and sucking the blood from it.
The puncture is succeeded by violent itching, the
part swells, and the skin sometimes blisters and

GNAT. 475

forms a sore. Those who enter the woods without
defending their face and hands from their attacks,
are immediately covered and tormented by them
beyond description ; they crowd on every part, and
inflict their stings without mercy, so that the faces
of the persons on their return are so disfigured as
hardly to be known. This description, to those
unacquainted with the effects of these insects, may
appear like romancing ; but the traveller who has
visited the West Indies, or any of those climates in-
fested with this plague, will testify as much, and
readily acknowledge that he has been more afraid
of a few of these little creatures than of a host of
larger animals. Musqueto curtains of a fine texture
are used to defend the sleeper in the more civilized
parts of the world, while the simple Laplander is
obliged to be content with a less costly contrivance:
he fixes a leather thong to the poles which support
his tent, and with this he raises his canvass quilt to
a proper height, so that its sides touch the ground ;
then creeping under the shelter which it affords
him, he contrives to pass the night in tolerable se-
curity.

This variety is rather larger than the common
gnat, and is the pest of all hot climates, as well as
of those near the poles, where the summer is but of
short duration, but where the sun for a season never
sets.

APTEROUS INSECTS.

WHITE ANTS.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennae moniliform.

Mouth armed with two strong jaws.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Termes fatale. T. supra fuscum, thorace segmentis tribus, alis

pallidis : costa testacea. Linn. Syst. Nat.
Gmet. 1. p. 29H.

Colour brown, thorax divided into three seg-
ments, wings pale; side testaceous.

Termes luteum, alterius maxillis longitudine
antennarum (larva et pupa). Syst. Nat. xii.2.
p. 1015. no. 1.

Termes Arda. Forsk. Fn. Aral. p. 96. no.dl.
pi. 25. f. A.

Termes Destructor. Degeer Ins. 7. p. 50.
no. 3. pi. 37* f. 2.

Termf.s Bellicosus. Smeath. Act. Angl.
r. 71. part l. p. 141.

WHITE ANTS. 477

White Ant. . Phil. Trans, vol. 7]. parti, p. 141. Shaw

Gen. Zool. 6. 414. pi. 118.

The wonderful oeconomy of the little white ant is
so truly deserving of notice, that we cannot be too
particular in the description of its manners. The
very interesting paper by Mr. Smeathman, inserted
in the seventy-first volume of the Philosophical
Transactions, contains a full account of the pro-
ceedings of this little creature, which, uniting with
others of the same species, forms a republic regu-
lated by its own laws : but as the mere reference to
this extensive work, which is too costly to become
general, will be of little use, we shall avail our-
selves of Mr. Srneathman’s information, and deliver
part of his ample and well drawn up account, in
his own words :

“ Of a great many curious parts of the creation
I met with on my travels in that almost unknown
district of Africa, called Guinea, the termites, which
by most travellers have been called white ants,
seemed to me on many accounts most worthy of that
exact and minute attention which I have bestowed
upon them.

“ The amazing great and sudden mischief they
frequently do to the property of people in tropical cli-
mates, makes them well known and greatly feared by
the inhabitants. The size and figure of their buildings
have attracted the notice of many travellers ; and
yet the world has not hitherto been furnished with
a tolerable description of them, though their con-
trivance and execution scarce fall short of human

4/8

WHITE ANTS.

ingenuity and prudence : but when we come to
consider the wonderful ceconomy of these insects,
with the good order of their subterraneous cities,
they will appear foremost on the list of the won-
ders of the creation, as most closely imitating man-
kind in provident industry and regular govern-
ment.

“ The termites are represented by Linnaeus as
the greatest plagues of both Indies, and are indeed
every way between the tropics so deemed, from the
vast damages they cause, and the losses which are
experienced in consequence of their eating and per-
forating wooden buildings, utensils, and furniture,
with all kinds of household -stuff and merchandise,
which are totally destroyed by them, if not timely
prevented; for nothing less hard than metal or stone
can escape their most destructive jaws.

“ These insects have generally obtained the name
of ants, it may be presumed, from the similarity in
their manner of living, which is, in large commu-
nities that erect very extraordinary nests, for the
most part on the surface of the ground, from w hence
their excursions are made through subterraneous pas-
sages or covered galleries, w hich they build when-
ever necessity obliges, or plunder induces them to
march above ground ; and at a great distance from
their habitations carry on a business of depredation
and destruction, scarcely credible but to those who
have seen it. But notwithstanding they live in
communities, and are like the ants omnivorous ;
though like them at a certain period they are fur-

WHITE ANTS.

m

nished with four wings, and emigrate or colonize at
the same season; they are by no means the same
kind of insects, nor does their form correspond with
that of ants in any one state of their existence,
which, like most other insects, is changed several
times. The termites resemble the ants also in their
provident and diligent labour, but surpass them, as
well as bees, wasps, beavers, and all other animals
which I have ever heard of, in the arts of building,
as much as the Europeans excel the least cultivated
Savages. It is more than probable they excel them
as much in sagacity and the arts of government: it
is certain they show more substantial instances of
their ingenuity and industry than any other ani-
mals ; and do in fact lay up vast magazines of pro-
visions and other stores; a degree of prudence which
of late years has been denied, perhaps without rea-
son, to the ants.

“ Their communities consist of one male and one
female, (who are generally the common parents of
the whole, or greater part of the rest,) and of three
orders of insects, apparently of very different spe-
cies, but really the same, which together compose
great commonwealths, or rather monarchies, if I
may be allowed the term. The great Linnaeus,
bavins: seen or heard of but two of these orders, has
classed the genus erroneously; for he has placed it
among the optera , or insects without wings: w hereas
the chief order, that is to say, the insect in its per-
fect state, having four wings without any sting, it

480

WHITE ANTS.

belongs to the neuroptera ; in which class it will
constitute a new genus of many species.

1 he different species of this genus resemble
each other in form, in their manner of living, and
in their good and bad qualities, but differ as much
as birds in the method of building their habitations
or nests, and in the choice of the materials of which
they compose them. There are some species which
build upon the surface of the ground, or part above
and part beneath, and one or two species, perhaps
more, that build on the stems or branches of trees,
sometimes aloft at a vast height. Of every species
there are three orders; first the working insects,
which, for brevity, I shall generally call labourers ;
next the fighting ones, or soldiers , which do no kind
of labour ; and last of all the winged ones, or per-
fect insects , which are male and female, and capable
of propagation. These might, very appositely, be
called the nobility or gentry ; for they neither labour,
or toil, or fight, being quite incapable of either, and
almost of self-defence. These only are capable of
being elected kings or queens ; and Nature has so
ordered it, that they emigrate within a few weeks
after they are elevated to this state, and either
establish new kingdoms, or perish within a day or
two.

“ The termes bellicosus, being the largest species,
is most remarkable and best known on the coast of
Africa. It erects immense buildings of well tem-
pered clay or earth, which are contrived and finished

WHITE ANTS.

481

with such art and ingenuity, that we are at a
loss to say, whether they are most to be admired
on that account, or for their enormous magnitude
and solidity. It is from the two lower orders of
this, or a similar species, that Linnaeus seems to
have taken his description of the Term.es fatalis ; and
most of the accounts brought home from Africa or
Asia, of the white ants, are also taken from a species
that are so much alike in external habit and size,
and build so much in their manner, that one may
almost venture to pronounce them mere variations
of the same species.

“ My general account of the termites is taken
from observations made on the Termes bellicosus , to
which I was induced by the greater facility and
certainty with which they could be made. The
nests of this species are so numerous all over the
island of Bananas, and the adjacent continent of
Africa, that it is scarce possible to stand upon any
open place, such as a rice plantation, or other clear
spot, where one of these buildings is not to be seen
within fifty paces, and frequently two or three are
to be seen almost close to each other. In some
parts near Senegal, as mentioned by Mons. Adan-
son, their number, magnitude, and closeness of
situation, make them appear like the villages of the
natives. These buildings are usually termed hills,
by natives as well as strangers, from their outward
appearance, which is that of little hills more or less
conical, generally pretty much in the form of sugar-
loaves, and about ten or twelve feet in perpendicular

VOL. II. 2 i

4S2

WHITE ANTS.

height above the common surface of the ground.
These hills continue quite bare until they are six
or eight feet high ; but in time the dead barren
clay of which they are composed becomes fertilized
by the genial power of the elements in these prolific
climates, and the addition of vegetable salts and
other matters brought by the wind ; and in the se-
cond or third year, the hillock, if not overshaded
by trees, becomes, like the rest of the earth, almost
covered with grass and other plants ; and in the dry
season, when the herbage is burnt up by the rays
of the sun, it is not much unlike a very large hay-
cock.

“ Every one of these buildings consists of two
distinct parts, the exterior and the interior.

“ The exterior is one large shell in the manner
of a dome, large and strong enough to enclose and
shelter the interior from the vicissitudes of the
weather, and the inhabitants from the attacks of
' natural or accidental enemies. It is always, there-
fore, much stronger than the interior building,
which is the habitable part, divided with a won-
derful kind of regularity and contrivance into an
amazing number of apartments for the residence of
the king and queen, and the nursing of their nu-
merous progeny; or for magazines, which are al-
ways found well filled with stores and provisions.
These hills make their first appearance above-ground
by a little turret or two in the shape of sugar-loaves,
which are seen a foot high or more. Soon after,
at some little distance, while the former are in-

WHITE ANTS.

483

creasing in height and size, they raise others, and
so go on increasing the number and widening them
at the base, till their works below are covered with
these turrets, which they always raise the highest
and largest in the middle, and, by filling up the in-
tervals between each turret, collect them as it were
into one dome. They are not very curious or ex-
act about these turrets, except in making them very
solid and strong ; and when by the junction of them
the dome is completed, for which purpose the tur-
rets answer as scaffolds, they take away the middle
ones entirely, except the tops, (which joined to-
gether make the crown of the cupola,) and apply
the clay to the building of the works within, or to
erecting fresh turrets for the purpose of raising the
hillock still higher; so that no doubt some part of the
clay is used several times, like the boards and posts
of a mason’s scaffold. The outward shell, or dome,
is not only of use to protect and support the inte-
rior buildings from external violence and the heavy
rains, but to collect and preserve a regular degree of
genial warmth and moisture, which seems very ne-
cessary for hatching the eggs and cherishing the
young ones.

“ The royal chamber , which I call so on account
of its being adapted for, and occupied by, the king
and queen, appears to be, in the opinion of this
little people, of the most consequence, being always
situated as near the centre of the interior building-

o

as possible, and generally about the height of the
common surface of the ground, at a pace or two

2 i 2

484 WHITE ANTS.

from the hillock. It is always nearly in the shape
of half an egg, or an obtuse oval within, and may
be supposed to represent a large oven. In the in-
fant state of the colony it is not above an inch or
thereabout in length, but in time will be increased
to six or eight inches or more in the clear, being
always in proportion to the size of the queen, who,
increasing in bulk as in age, at length requires a
chamber of such dimensions. Its floor is perfectly
horizontal ; and in large hillocks, sometimes an
inch thick and upwards, of solid clay. The roof
also, which is one solid and well turned oval arch,
is generally of the same solidity, but in some places
it is not a quarter of an inch thick ; this is on the
sides where it joins the floor, and where the doors,
or entrances, are made level therewith at pretty
equal distances from each other. These entrances
will not admit any animal larger than the soldiers or
labourers, so that the king, and the queen (who is,
at full size, a thousand times the weight of the king)

can never possibly go out.

« The royal chamber, if in a large hillock, is sur-
rounded by an innumerable quantity of others of
different sizes, shapes, and dimensions ; but all of
them arched in one way or another, sometimes cir-
cular, and sometimes elliptical or oval. These either
open into each other, or communicate b) passages
as wide, and, being always empty, are evidently made
for the soldiers and attendants, ol whom it vv ill soon
appear great numbers are necessary, and ol course
always in waiting.

WHITE ANTS.

485

“ These apartments are joined by the magazines
and nurseries . The former are chambers of clay,
and are always well filled with provisions, which to
the naked eye seem to consist of the raspings of
wood and plants which the termites destroy, hut
are found in the microscope to be principally gums,
or the inspissated juices of plants. These are
thrown together in little masses, some of which are
finer than others, and resemble the sugar about pre-
served fruits ; others are like tears of gum, one quite
transparent, another like amber, a third brown, and
a fourth quite opaque, as we often see in parcels of
ordinary gums. These magazines are intermixed
with the nurseries, which are buildings totally dif-
ferent from the rest of the apartments ; for these
are composed entirely of wooden materials, seem-
ingly joined together with gums. I call them the
nurseries, because they are invariably occupied by
the eggs and young ones, which appear at first in
the shape of labourers, but w'hite as snow. These
buildings are exceedingly compact, and divided into
many very small irregular-shaped chambers, not
one of which is to be found of half an inch in
width. They are placed all round the royal apart-
ments, and as near as possible to them. When the
nest is in the infant state, the nurseries are close to
the royal chamber ; but as in process of time the
queen enlarges, it is necessary to enlarge the cham-
ber for her accommodation ; and as she then lays a
greater number of eggs, and requires a greater num-
ber of attendants, so it is necessary to enlarge and

486

WHITE ANTS.

increase the number of the adjacent apartments ;
for which purpose the small nurseries which are
first built are taken to pieces, rebuilt a little further
off a size bigger, and the number of them increased
at the same time. Thus they continually enlarge
their apartments, pull down, repair, or rebuild, ac-
cording to their wants, with a degree of sagacity,
regularity, and foresight, not even imitated by any
other kind of animals that I have yet heard of.
There is one remarkable circumstance attending the
nurseries, which I must not at this time omit. They
are always found slightly overgrown with mould, and
plentifully sprinkled with white globules about the
size of a small pin’s head. These at first I took to
be the eggs ; but, on bringing them to the micro-
scope, they evidently appeared to be a species of
mushroom, in shape like our eatable mushroom in
the young state in which it is pickled. They ap-
pear, when whole, white like snow a little thawed
and then frozen again, and, when bruised, seem
composed of an infinite number of pellucid parti-
cles, approaching to oval forms and difficult to sepa-
rate ; the mouldiness seems likewise to be the same
kind of substance. The nurseries are enclosed in
chambers of clay, like those which contain the pro-
visions, but much larger. In the early state of the
nest they are not bigger than a hazel-nut, but in
great hills are often as large as a child s head of a
year old.

(( The disposition of the interior parts of these
hills is pretty much alike, except when some in-

WHITE ANTS.

487

surmountable obstacle prevents ; for instance, when
the king and queen have been first lodged near the
foot of a rock or of a tree, they are certainly built
out of the usual form, otherwise pretty nearly ac-
cording to the following plan. The royal chamber
is situated at about a level with the surface of the
ground, at an equal distance from all the sides of
the building, and directly under the apex of the
hill. It is on all sides, both above and below, sur-
rounded by what I should call the royal apartments,
which have only labourers and soldiers in them,
and can be intended for no other purpose than for
these to wait in, either to guard or serve their com-
mon father and mother, on whose safety depends
the happiness, and, according to the negroes, even
the existence, of the whole community. These
ap rtments compose an intricate labyrinth, which
extends a foot or more in diameter from the royal
chamber on every side. Here the nurseries and
magazines of provisions begin, and, being separated
by small empty chambers and galleries, which go
round them, or communicate from one to the other,
are continued on all sides to the outward shell, and
reach up within it two-thirds or three-fourths of its
height, leaving an open area in the middle under
the dome, which very much resembles the nave of
an old cathedral : this is surrounded by three or
four very large Gothic-shaped arches, which are
sometimes two or three feet high next the front of
the area, but diminish very rapidly as they recede
from thence like the arches of aisles in perspectives,

488

WHITE ANTS.

and are soon lost among the innumerable chambers
and nurseries behind them. All these chambers,
and the passages leading to and from them, being
arched, they help to support one another ; and
while the interior large arches prevent them falling
into the centre, and keep the area open, the ex-
terior building supports them on the outside. There
are, comparatively speaking, few openings into the
great area, and they, for the most part, seem in-
tended only to admit that genial warmth into the
nurseries which the dome collects.

“ The interior building; or assemblage of nurse-
ries, chambers, &c., has a flattish top or roof with-
out any perforation, which would keep the apart-
ments below dry, in case through accident the dome
should receive any injury and let in water; and it
is never exactly fiat and uniform, because they are
always adding to it by building more chambers and
nurseries : so that the divisions or columns between
the future arched apartments resemble the pinnacles
upon the fronts of some old buildings, and demand
particular notice, as affording one proof that for the
most part the insects project their arches, and do
not make them, as I imagined for a long time, by
excavation.

“ The area has also a flattish door, which lies
over the royal chamber, but sometimes a good height
above it, having nurseries and magazines between.
It is likewise water proof, and contrived, as far as I
could guess, to let the wrater off, if it should get in,
and run over by some short way into the subter-

WHITE ANTS.

489

raneous passages which run under the lowest apart-
ments in the hill in various directions, and are of an
astonishing size, being wider than the bore of a
great cannon. I have a memorandum of one I mea-
sured, perfectly cylindrical, and thirteen inches in
diameter.

“ These subterraneous passages, or galleries, are
lined very thick with the same kind of clay of which
the hill is composed, and ascend the inside of the
outward shell in a spiral manner, and, winding
round the whole building up to the top, intersect
each other at different heights, opening either im-
mediately into the dome in various places, and into
the interior building, the new turrets, &c., or com-
municating thereto by other galleries of different
bores or diameters, either circular or oval. From
every part of these large galleries are various small
pipes or galleries leading to different parts of the
building. Under-ground there are a great many
which lead downward by sloping descents three and
four feet perpendicular among the gravel, from
whence the labouring termites cull the finer parts,
which, being worked up in their mouths to the
consistence of mortar, become that solid clay or
stone of which their hills and all their buildings,
except their nurseries, are composed. Other gal-
leries again ascend and lead out horizontally on
every side, and are carried under-ground near to the
surface a vast distance : for, if you destroy all the
nests within one hundred yards of your house, the
inhabitants of those which are left unmolested

490

WHITE ANTS.

further off, will nevertheless carry on their subter-
raneous galleries, and invade the goods and mer-
chandise contained in it by sap and mine, and do
great mischief it you are not very circumspect.

u But to return to the cities, from whence these
extraordinary expeditions and operations originate:
It seems there is a degree of necessity for the gal-
leries under the hills being thus large, being the
great thoroughfare for all the labourers and soldiers
going forth or returning upon any business what-
ever, whether fetching clay, wood, water, or pro-
visions ; and they are certainly well calculated for
the purposes to which they are applied, by the
spiral slope which is given them ; for, if they were
perpendicular, the labourers would not be able to
carry on their building with so much facility, as they
ascend a perpendicular with great difficulty, and
the soldiers can scarce do it at all. It is on this
account, that sometimes a road like a ledge is made
on the perpendicular side of any part of the build-
ing within their hill, which is flat on the upper
surface and half an inch wide, and ascends gradually
like a stair-case, or like those roads which are cut
on the sides of hills and mountains, that would
otherwise be inaccessible : by which, and similar
contrivances, they travel with great facility to every
interior part.

“ This too is probably the cause of their building
a kind of bridge of one vast arch, which answers
the purpose of a flight of stairs from the floor of the
area to some opening on the side of one of the

WHITE ANTS.

*91

columns which support the great arches, which
must shorten the distance exceedingly to those la-
bourers who have the eggs to carry from the royal
chamber to some of the upper nurseries, which in
some hills would be four or five feet in the straight-
est line, and much more if carried through all the
winding passages which lead through the inner
chambers and apartments. I have a memorandum
of one of these bridges, half an inch broad, a quar-
ter of an inch thick, and ten inches long; making
the side of an elliptic arch of proportionable size ;
so that it is wonderful it did not fall over or break
by its own weight before they got it joined to
the side of the column above. It is strengthened
by a small arch at the bottom, and had a hollow
or groove all the length of the upper surface, either
made purposely for the inhabitants to travel over
with more safety, or else, which is more probable,
worn so by frequent treading.

“ I have observed before that there are of every
species of termites three orders ; of these orders the
working insects, or labourers , are always the most
numerous ; in the Termes bellicosus there seem to
be at the least one hundred labourers to one of the
fighting insects or soldiers. They are in this state
about one fourth of an inch long, and twenty-five
of them weigh about a grain ; so that they are not
so large as some of our ants. From their external
habit and fondness for wood, they have been very ex-
pressively called wood-lice by some people, and the
whole genus has been known by that name, parti-

492

WHITE ANTS.

cularly among the French. They resemble them,
it is true, very much at a distance, but they run as
fast or faster than any other insects of their size,
and are incessantly bustling about their affairs.

u The second order, or soldiers , have a very diffe-
rent form from the labourers, and have been by
some authors supposed to be the males, and the
former neuters ; but they are, in fact, the same in-
sects as the foregoing, only they have undergone a
change of form, and approached one degree nearer
to the perfect state. They are now much larger,
being half an inch long, and equal in bulk to fifteen
of the labourers. There is now likewise a most re-
markable circumstance in the form of the head and
mouth ; for in the former state the mouth is evi-
dently calculated for gnawing and holding bodies;
but in this state, the jaws being shaped just like
two very sharp awls a little jagged, they are inca-
pable of any thing but piercing or wounding, for
which purposes they are very effectual, being as
hard as a crab’s claw, and placed in a strong horny
head, which is of a nut brown colour, and larger
than all the rest of the body together, which seems
to labour under great difficulty in carrying it ; on
which account, perhaps, the animal is incapable of
climbing up perpendicular surfaces.

“ The third order, or the insect in its perfect
state, varies its form still more than ever. The
head, thorax, and abdomen, differ almost entirely
from the same parts in the labourers and soldiers ;
and, besides this, the animal is now furnished with

WHITE ANTS.

493

four fine, large, brownish, transparent wings, with
which it is at the time of emigration to wing its
way in search of a new settlement. In short, it
differs so much from its form and appearance in
the other two states, that it has never been sup-
posed to be the same animal, but by those who
have seen it in the same nest ; and some of these
have disturbed the evidence of their senses. It was
so long before I met with them in the nests myself,
that I doubted the information which was given me
by the natives, that they belonged to the same fa-
mily. Indeed we may open twenty nests without
finding one winged one ; for those are to be found
only just before the commencement of the rainy
season, when they undergo the last change, which
is preparatory to their colonization. Add to this,
they sometimes abandon an outward part of their
building, the community being diminished by some
accident to me unknown. Sometimes, too, different
species of the real ant ( formica ) possess themselves
by force of a lodgment, and so are frequently dis-
lodged from the same nest, and taken for the same
kind of insects. This I know is often the case
with the nests of the smaller species, which are fre-
quently totally abandoned by the termites, and
completely inhabited by different species of ants,
cockroaches, scolopendrae, scorpions, and other ver-
min, fond of obscure retreats, that occupy different
parts of their roomy buildings.

“ In their winged state they have also much al-
tered their size as well as form. Their bodies now

494

WHITE ANTS.

measure between six and seven tenths of an inch
in length, and their wings above two inches and a
half from tip to tip, and they are equal in bulk
to about thirty labourers, or two soldiers. They
are now also furnished with two large eyes placed
on each side of the head, and very conspicuous ; if
they have any before, they are not easily to be
distinguished. Probably in the two first states,
their eyes, if they have any, may be small like
those of moles ; for, as they live like these animals
always under-ground, they have as little occasion for
these organs, and it is not to be wondered at that
we do not discover them ; but the case is much
altered when they arrive at the winged state, in
which they are to roam, though but a few' hours,
through the wide air, and explore new and distant
regions. In this form the animal comes abroad
during or soon after the first tornado, which at the
latter end of the dry season proclaims the approach
of the ensuing rains, and seldom waits for a second
or third shower, if the first, as is generally the case,
happens in the night, and brings much wet after it.

“ The quantities that are to be found the next
morning all over the surface of the earth, but par-
ticularly on the waters, is astonishing; for their
wings are only calculated to carry them a few
hours, and after the rising of the sun not one in a
thousand is to be found with four wings, unless the
morning continues rainy, when here and there a
solitary being is seen winging its way from one
place to another, as if solicitous only to avoid its

WHITE A NTS.

495

numerous enemies, particularly various species of
ants, which are hunting on every spray, on every
leaf, and in every possible place, for this unhappy
race ; of which probably not a pair in many mil-
lions get into a place of safety, fulfil the first law of
nature, and lay the foundation of a new commu-
nity. Not only all kinds of ants, birds, and car-
nivorous reptiles, as well as insects, are upon the
hunt for them ; but the inhabitants of many coun-
tries, and particularly of that part of Africa where
I was, eat them. On the following morning, how-
ever, as 1 have observed, they are to be seen run-
ning upon the ground in chase of each other; some-
times with one or two wings still hanging to their
bodies, which are not only useless, but seem rather
cumbersome. The greater part have no wings, but
they run exceeding fast, the males after the females;
I have sometimes remarked two males after one fe-
male, contending with great eagerness who should
win the prize, regardless of the innumerable dangers
that surrounded them.

“ They are now become from one of the most
active, industrious, and rapacious, one of the most
fierce and implacable little animals in the world,
the most innocent, helpless, and cowardly ; never
making the least resistance to the smallest ant.
The ants are to be seen on every side in infinite
numbers, of various species and sizes, dragging
these annual victims of the laws of nature to their
different nests. It is wonderful that a pair should
ever escape so many dangers, and get into a place

WHITE ANTS.

496

of security. Some, however, are so fortunate ; and
being found by some of the labouring insects that
are continually running about the surface of the
ground under their covered galleries, which I shall
shortly describe, are elected kings and queens of
new states ; all those who are not so elected and
preserved certainly perish, and most probably in
the course of the following day. The manner in
which these labourers protect the happy pair from
their innumerable enemies, not only on the day of
the massacre of almost all their race, but for a long
time after, will I hope justify me in the use of th^
term election. The little industrious creatures im-
mediately enclose them in a small chamber of clay
suitable to their size, into which at first they leave
but one small entrance, large enough for themselves
and the soldiers to go in and out, but much too
little for either of the royal pair to make use of ;
and when necessity obliges them to make more en-
trances, they are never larger, so that, of course, the
voluntary subjects charge themselves with the task
of providing for the offspring of their sovereigns, as
well as to work, and to fight for them, until they
shall have raised a progeny capable at least of divid-
ing the task with them.

“ About this time a most extraordinary change
begins to take place in the queen, to which I know
nothing similar, except in the Pulex penetrans of
Linnaeus, the Jigger of the West Indies, and in the
different species of Coccus , cochineal. I he abdo-
men of this female begins gradually to extend and

WHITE ANTS.

497

enlarge to such an enormous size, that an old queen
will have it increased so as to be fifteen hundred or
two thousand times the bulk of the rest of her body,
and twenty or thirty thousand times the bulk of
a labourer, as I have found by carefully weighing
and computing the different states. The skin be-
tween the segments of the abdomen extends in
every direction ; and at last the segments are re-
moved to half an inch distance from each other,
though at first the length of the whole abdomen is
not half an inch. They preserve their dark brown
colour, and the upper part of the abdomen is
marked with a regular series of brown bars, from
the thorax to the posterior part of the abdomen ;
while the intervals between them are covered writh
a thin, delicate, transparent skin, and appear of a
fine cream colour, a little shaded by the dark colour
of the intestines, and watery fluid, seen here and
there beneath. I conjecture the animal is upwards
of two years old when the abdomen is increased to
three inches in length : I have sometimes found
them of near twice that size. The abdomen is now
of an irregular oblong shape, being contracted by
the muscles of every segment, and is become one
vast matrix full of eggs, which make long circum-
volutions through an innumerable quantity of very
minute vessels that circulate round the inside in a
serpentine manner, which would exercise the in-
genuity of a skilful anatomist to dissect and de-
velop. This singular matrix is not more remark-
able for its amazing extension and size, than for its
VOL. II. 2 K

WHITE ANTS.

40 8

peristaltic motion, which resembles the undulating
of waves, and continues incessantly, without any
apparent effort of the animal ; so that one part or
other is alternately rising and sinking in perpetual
succession, and the matrix seems never at rest, but
is always protruding eggs, to the amount (as I
have frequently counted in old queens) of sixty in
a minute, or eighty thousand and upwards in one
day of twenty-four hours. These eggs are instantly
taken from her body by her attendants (of whom
there always are, in the royal chambers and gal-
leries adjacent, a sufficient number in waiting) and
carried to the nurseries, which in a great nest may
some of them be four or five feet distant in a
straight line, and consequently much further by
their winding galleries. Here, after they are hatch-
ed, the young are attended, and provided with every
thing necessary until they are able to shift for them-
selves, and take their share of the labours of the
community. The foregoing, 1 flatter myself, is an
accurate description and account of the Termes belli -
cosus , or species that builds the large nests in its dif-
ferent states.

“ The termites, except their heads, are exceeding
soft, and covered with a thin and delicate skin ;
being blind, they are no match on open ground
for the ants, who can see, and are all of them co-
vered with a strong horny shell not easily pierced,
and are of dispositions bold, active, and rapacious.
Whenever the termites are dislodged from their
covered ways, the various species of the former, who

WHITE ANTS.

499

probably are as numerous above ground as the latter
are in their subterraneous passages, instantly seize
and drag them away to their nests, to feed the young
brood.

a The termites are, therefore, exceeding solicitous
about the preserving their covered ways in good re-
pair ; and if you demolish one of them for a few
inches in length, it is wonderful how soon they re-
build it. At first, in their hurry, they get into the
open part an inch or two, but stop so suddenly that
it is very apparent they are surprised ; for though
some run straight on, and get under the arch as
speedily as possible in the former part, most of
them run as fast back, and very few will venture
through that part of the track which is left un-
covered. In a few minutes you will perceive them
rebuilding the arch, and by the next morning they
will have restored their gallery for three or four
yards in length, if so much has been ruined ; and
upon opening it again will be found as numerous as
ever under it, passing both ways. If you continue
to destroy it several times, they will at length seem
to give up the point, and build another in a differ-
ent direction ; but, if the old one lead to some fa-
vourite plunder, in a few days will rebuild it again ;
and, unless you destroy their nest, never totally
abandon their gallery.”

After having described the Ter me s belli cosus in the
foregoing accurate manner, Mr. Smeathman pro-
ceeds to notice another species equally ingenious,
but inhabiting; different situations.

O

2 K 2

500 WHITE ANTS.

“ The Termites cirborum , those which build in
trees, frequently establish their nests within the
roofs and other parts of houses, to which they do
considerable damage, if not timely extirpated. The
large species are, however, not only much more de-
structive, but more di dicult to be guarded against,
since they make their approaches chiefly under
ground, descending below the foundations of houses
and stores of several feet from the surface, and
rising again either in the floors ; or, entering at the
bottoms of the posts, of which the sides of the
buildings are composed, bore quite through them,
following the course of the fibres to the top, or
making lateral perforations and cavities here and
there as they proceed.

“ While some are employed in gutting the posts,
others ascend from them, entering a rafter or some
other part of the roof. If they once find the
thatch, which seems to be a favourite food, they
soon bring up wet clay, or build their pipes or gal-
leries through the roof in various directions, as long
as it will support them ; sometimes eating the palm-
tree leaves and branches of which it is composed,
and perhaps (for variety seems very pleasing to
them) the rattan or other running plant, which is
used as a cord to tie the various parts of the roof
together, and that to the posts which support it :
thus, with the assistance of the rats, who during the
rainy season are apt to shelter themselves there,
and to burrow through it, they very soon ruin the
house by weakening the fastenings and exposing

WHITE ANTS.

501

it to the wet. In the mean time the posts will
be perforated in every direction as full of holes as
that timber in the bottom of ships which has been
bored by the worms ; the fibres and knotty parts,
which are the hardest, being left to the last.

“ They sometimes, in carrying on this business,
find, I will not pretend to say how, that the post
has some weight to support ; and then, if it is a con-
venient track to the roof, or is itself a kind of wood
agreeable to them, they bring their mortar, and fill
all or most of the cavities, leaving the necessary
roads through it, and as fast as they take away the
wood replace the vacancy with that material ; which
being worked together by them closer and more
compactly than human strength or art could ram
it, when the house is pulled to pieces, in order to
examine if any of the posts are fit to be used again,
those of the softer kinds are often found reduced
almost to a shell, and all or a greater part trans-
formed from wood to clay as solid and as hard as
many kinds of free stone used for building in
England. It is much the same when the Termites
bellicosi get into a chest or trunk containing clothes
and other things : if the weight above is great, or
they are afraid of ants or other enemies, and have
time, they carry their pipes through, and replace a
great part with clay, running their galleries in va-
rious directions. The tree termites, indeed, when
they get within a box, often make a nest there, and
being once in possession destroy it at their leisure.
They did so in a pyramidical box which contained

502

WHITE ANTS.

my compound microscope. It was of mahogany,
and I had left it in the store of Colonel Campbell
of Tobago, for a few months, while I made the tour
of the Leeward Islands. On my return I found
these insects had done much mischief in the store,
and, among other things, had taken possession of
the microscope, and eaten every thing about it ex-
cept the glass or metal, and the board on which the
pedestal is fixed, with the drawers under it, and the
things enclosed. JThe cells were built all round
the pedestal and the tube, and attached to it on
every side. All the glasses which were covered
with the wooden substance of their nests, retained
a cloud of a gummy nature upon them that was
not easily got off, and the lacker or burnish with
which the brass work was covered was totally
spoiled. Another party had taken a liking to a
Madeira cask, and had let out almost a pipe of fine
old wine. If the large species of Africa (the Ter-
mites bellicosi) had been so long in the uninter-
rupted possession of such a store, they would not
have left twenty pounds weight of wood remaining
of the whole building, and all that it contained.

“ These insects are not less expeditious in de-
stroying the shelves, wainscoting, and other fix-
tures of a house, than the house itself. Lbey are
for ever piercing and boring in all directions, and
sometimes go out of the broadside of one post into
that of another joining to it ; but they prefer and
always destroy the softer substances the first, and
are particularly fond of pine and fir boards, which

WHITE ANTS.

503

they excavate and carry away with wonderful dis-
patch and astonishment; for, except a shelf has
something standing upon it, as a hook, or any thing
else that may tempt them, they will not perforate
the surface, but artfully preserve it quite whole,
and eat away all the inside, except a few fibres
which barely keep the two sides connected together;
so that a piece of an inch-board which appears solid
to the eye, will not weigh much more than two
sheets of paste-board of equal dimensions, after
these animals have been a little while in possession
of it. In short, the termites are so insidious in
their attacks, that we cannot be too much on our
guard against them : they will sometimes begin and
raise their works, especially in new houses, through
the floor. If you destroy the work so begun, and
make a fire upon the spot, the next night they will
attempt to rise through another part; and, if they
happen to emerge under a chest or trunk early in
the night, will pierce the bottom, and destroy or
spoil every thing in it before the morning. On
these accounts we are careful to set all our chests
and boxes upon stones or bricks, so as to leave the
bottoms of such furniture some inches above the
ground ; w hich not only prevents these insects find-
ing them out so readily, but preserves the bottoms
from a corrosive which would strike from the earth
through, and rot every thing therein : a vast deal of
vermin also would harbour under, such as cock-
roaches, centipedes, millepedes, scorpions, ants, and
various other noisome insects.

504

WHITE ANTS.

<f When the termites attack trees and branches
in the open air, they sometimes vary their manner
of doing it. If a stake in a hedge has not taken
root and vegetated, it becomes their business to de-
stroy it. If it has a good sound bark round it, they
will enter at the bottom, and eat all but the bark,
which will remain, and exhibit the appearance of a
solid stick (which some vagrant colony of ants or
other insects often shelter in till the winds disperse
it) ; but if they cannot trust the bark, they cover
the whole stick with their mortar, and it then looks
as if it had been dipped into thick mud that had
been dried on. Under this covering they work,
leaving no more of the stick and bark than is barely
sufficient to support it, and frequently not the
smallest particle; so that, upon a very small tap with
your walking-stick, the whole stake, though appa-
rently as thick as your arm, and five or six feet
long, loses its form, and, disappearing like a shadow,
falls in small fragments at your feet. They gene-
rally enter the body of a large tree, which has fallen
through age or been thrown down by violence, on
the side next the ground, and eat away at their
leisure within the bark, without giving themselves
the trouble either to cover it on the outside, or to
replace the wood which they have removed from
within, being somehow sensible that there is no
necessity for it. These excavated trees have de-
ceived me two or three times in running; for, at-
tempting to step two or three feet high, I might as
well have attempted to step upon a cloud, and have

WHITE ANTS.

505

come down with such unexpected violence, that,
besides shaking my teeth and bones almost to dis-
location, I have been precipitated, head foremost,
among the neighbouring trees and bushes. Some-
times, though seldom, the animals are known to at-
tack living trees ; but not, I apprehend, before
symptoms of mortification have appeared at the
roots ; since it is evident, as is before observed, that
these insects are intended in the order of nature to
hasten the dissolution of such trees and vegetables
as have arrived at the greatest maturity and per-
fection, and which would, by a tedious decay, serve
only to encumber the face of the earth. This
purpose they answer so effectually, that nothing
perishable escapes them, and it is almost impossible
to leave any thing penetrable upon the ground a
long time in safety ; for the odds are, that, put it
where you will abroad, they will find it out before
the following morning, and its destruction follows
very soon of course. In consequence of this dis-
position, the woods never remain long encumbered
with the fallen trunks of trees or their branches ;
and thus it is, as I have before observed, the total
destruction of deserted towns is so effectually com-
pleted, that in two or three years a thick wood fills
the space ; and, unless iron-wood posts have been
made use of, not the least vestige of a house is to be
discovered.

“ The first object of admiration which strikes
one upon opening their hills is the behaviour of
the soldiers. If you make a breach in a slight part

50 6

WHITE ANTS.

of the building, and do it quickly with a strong
hoe or pick-axe, in the space of a few seconds a
soldier will run out and walk about the breach,
as if to see whether the enemy is gone, or to exa-
mine what is the cause of the attack. He will
sometimes go again, as if to give the alarm ; but
most frequently, in a short time, is followed by
two or three others, who run as fast as they can,
straggling after one another, and are soon followed
by a large body who rush out as fast as the breach
will permit them; and so they proceed, the number
increasing as long as any one continues battering
their building. It is not easy to describe the rage
and fury they show. In this hurry they frequently
miss their hold and tumble down the sides of the
hill, but recover themselves as quickly as possible ;
and, being blind, bite every thing they run against,
and thus make a crackling noise ; while some of
them beat repeatedly with their forceps upon the
building, and make a small vibrating noise, some-
thing shriller and quicker than the ticking of a
watch : I could distinguish this noise at three or
four feet distance, and it continued for a minute at
a time, at short intervals. While the attack pro-
ceeds they are in the most violent bustle and agi-
tation. If they get hold of any one, they will in
an instant let out blood enough to weigh against
their whole body ; and if it is the leg they wound,
you will see the stain upon the stocking extend an
inch in width. They make their hooked jaws meet
at the first stroke, and never quit their hold, but

WHITE ANTS.

507

suffer themselves to be pulled away leg by leg,
and piece after piece, without the least attempt to
escape. On the other hand, keep out of their way,
and give them no interruption, and they w ill in less
than half an hour retire into the nest, as if they
supposed the wonderful monster that damaged their
castle to be gone beyond their reach. Before they
are all got in, you will see the labourers in motion,
and hastening in various directions towards the
breach ; every one with a burthen of mortar in his
mouth ready tempered. This they stick upon the
breach as fast as they come up, and do it with so
much dispatch and facility, that although there are
thousands, and I may say millions of them, they
never stop or embarrass one another ; and you are
most agreeably deceived when, after an apparent
scene of hurry and confusion, a regular wall arises,
gradually filling up the chasm. While they are
thus employed, almost all the soldiers are retired
cpiite out of sight, except here and there one, who
saunters about among six hundred or a thousand of
the labourers, but never touches the mortar either
to lift or carry it ; one in particular places himself
close to the wall they are building. This soldier
will turn himself leisurely on all sides, and every
now and then, at intervals of a minute or two, lift
up his head, and with his forceps beat upon the
building, and make the vibrating noise before men-
tioned ; on which immediately a loud hiss, which
appears to come from all the labourers, issues from
within side the dome, and all the subterraneous ca-

508

WHITE ANTS.

verns and passages : that it does come from the la-
bourers is very evident, for you will see them all
hasten at every such signal, redouble their pace, and
work as fast again.

“ As the most interesting experiments become
dull by repetition or continuance, so the uniformity
with which this business is carried on, though so
very wonderful, at last satiates the mind. A re-
newal of the attack, however, instantly changes the
scene, and gratifies our curiosity still more. At
every stroke we hear a loud hiss ; and on the first
the labourers run into the many pipes and galleries
with which the building is perforated, which they
do so quickly that they seem to vanish ; for in a
few seconds all are gone, and the soldiers rush out
as numerous and as vindictive as before. On find-
ing no enemy they return again leisurely into the
hill, and very soon after the labourers appear loaded
as at first, as active and as sedulous, with soldiers
here and there among them, who act just in the
same manner, one or other of them giving the signal
to hasten the business. Thus the pleasure of seeing
them come out to fight or work alternately, may be
obtained as often as curiosity excites, or time per-
mits ; and it will certainly be found, that the one
order never attempts to fight, or the other to work,
let the emergency be ever so great.

“ We meet vast obstacles in examining the in-
terior parts of these tumuli. In the first place the
works, for instance the apartments which surround
the royal chamber and the nurseries, and indeed

WHITE ANTS.

509

the whole fabric, are moist, and consequently the
clay is very brittle ; they have also so close a con-
nexion, that they can only be seen as it were by
piece-meal ; for, having a kind of geometrical de-
pendence or abutment against each other, the
breaking of one arch pulls down two or three. To
these obstacles must be added the obstinacy of the
soldiers, who fight to the very last, disputing every
inch of ground so well, as often to drive away the
negroes who are without shoes, and make white
people bleed plentifully through their stockings.
Neither can we let a building stand so as to get a
view of the interior parts without interruption ; for,
while the soldiers are defending the out-works, the
labourers keep barricading all the way against us,
stopping up the different galleries and passages
which lead to the various apartments ; particularly
the royal chamber, all the entrances to which they
fill up so artfully as not to let it be distinguishable
while it remains moist ; and externally it has no
other appearance than that of a shapeless lump of
clay. It is however easily found, from its situation
with respect to the other parts of the building, and
by the crowds of labourers and soldiers which sur-
round it, who show their loyalty and fidelity by
dying under its walls. The royal chamber, in a
large nest, is capacious enough to hold many hun-
dreds of the attendants, besides the royal pair, and
you always find it as full of them as it can hold.
These faithful subjects never abandon their charge
even in the last distress ; for, whenever I took out

510

WHIT£ ants.

the royal chamber, and, as I often did, preserved it
for some time in a large glass bowl, all the attendants
continued running in one direction round the king
and queen with the utmost solicitude, some of them
stopping on every circuit at the head of the latter,
as if to give her something. When they came to
the extremity of the abdomen, they took the eggs
from her, and carried them away, and piled them
carefully together in some part of the chamber, or
in the bowl under, or behind any pieces of broken
clay which lay most convenient for the purpose.

<c Some of these little unhappy creatures would
ramble from the chamber, as if to explore the cause
of such horrid ruin and catastrophe to their immense
building, as it must appear to them; and, after fruit-
less endeavours to get over the side of the bowl, re-
turn and mix with the crowd that continue running
round their common parents to the last. Others,
placing themselves along her side, get hold of the
queen’s vast matrix with their jaws, and pull with
all their strength so as visibly to lift up the part
which they fix at ; but, as I never saw any effects
from these attempts, I never could determine whe-
ther this pulling was with an intention to remove
her body, or to stimulate her to move herself, or for
any other purpose; but, after many ineffectual tugs,
they would desist, and join in the crowd running
round, or assist some of those who are cutting off
clay from the external parts of the chamber, or some
of the fragments, and moistening it with the juices
of their bodies, to begin to work a thin arched shell

WHITE ANTS.

511

over the body of the queen, as if to exclude the air,
or to hide her from the observation of some enemy.
These, if not interrupted, before the next morning
completely cover her, leaving room enough within
for great numbers to run about her.

“ I do not mention the king in this case, because
he is very small in proportion to the queen, not
being bigger than thirty of the labourers, so that he
generally conceals himself under one side of the ab-
domen, except when he goes up to the queen’s head,
which he does now and then, but not so frequently
as the rest.

u If in your attack on the hill you stop short of
the royal chamber, and cut down about half of the
building, and leave open some thousands of galleries
and chambers, they will all be shut up with thin
sheets of clay before the next morning. If even the
whole is pulled down, and the different buildings are
thrown in a confused heap of ruins, provided the
king and queen are not destroyed or taken away,
every interstice between the ruins, at which either
cold or wet can possibly enter, will be so covered as
to exclude both ; and, if the animals are left undis-
turbed, in about a year they will raise the building
to near its pristine size and grandeur.”

Having thus concluded the history of these most
ingenious creatures, we ought perhaps to apologize
for having inserted the account in so full a man-
ner: but, when we consider the almost incredible
operations of these animals, their order and regu-
larity at home, and their astonishing industry in the

512

WHITE ANTS.

field, the colony becomes an object of too much
importance to be passed over without due examina-
tion ; and, being apprehensive that a degree of
doubt might probably be raised in the minds of
some of our readers at the recital of their extraordi-
nary abilities, we thought it most proper to relate
the facts as they are stated by the intelligent ob-
server.

Among the different species of this genus is the
Termes pulsatorius, well known in most houses for its
particular beat, which resembles the ticking of a
watch, and has given rise to many fears among those
who are either weak enough to believe in omens, or
willing to alarm themselves whenever they have an
opportunity.

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

Pl. 13. Jig. 1. — The king.

2. — A male.

3. — The pregnant queen.

4. — A labourer.

5. — A soldier.

Pl. 14. represents the white ants’ nests as they appear after they
have been built some time and washed into furrows by the rains.

!3

Designed, by W. Jiazned, .

Published. by Mcj'sr'r Coded, & 7)a*ics London. March i i8or] .

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SPIDER.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennas none.

Eyes eight.

Mouth armed with two crotchets.

End of the abdomen provided with instruments for spin-
ning, shaped like nipples.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Aranea domestjca. A. abdomine ovato fusco : maculis nigris

quinque subcontiguis j anterioribus ma-
joribus. Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. \.
p. 2952.

Body brown, and of an oval shape, with
five black spots near together, of which
the two anterior are the largest.

Aranea Derhamii. Scop. Ent. Cam.
1104.

House Spider. . . Degeer Ins. 7. p. 204. no. 19. pi. 15. f. 11.

Clerck. Aran. 76. pi. 2. f. 9. List.
Aran. 59. f. 17.

There is something so disgusting in spiders to
persons in general, that many who would otherwise
be well inclined to observe their curious operations,
cannot find resolution enough to overcome their
VOL. 11. 2 L

514

SPIDER.

prejudices, and therefore neglect what would am-
ply repay them for their trouble. This antipathy,
which we believe to be as often natural as acquired,
is so strongly implanted in the minds of some per-
sons, that they shudder whenever the animal ap-
pears ; and we know one instance, where a person
of strong mental powers, and, in other respects, of
great personal courage, will at any time leave the
room rather than encounter a spider. Naturalists
themselves have been impressed with the same feel-
ings, and not even the ardour of the pursuit could
induce either Roesel or Gbze to examine these in-
sects minutely, till they were accustomed to observe
them at a distance.

Before we attend particularly to the manners of
the house spider, we shall describe those parts
which are common to the species in general, some
of the most curious of which we shall notice here-
after.

Every spider has two parts, of which the fore
one that contains the head and breast, is separated
from the hinder part, or belly, by a very slender
thread. The fore part is covered with strong scales,
and so are the feet, which are inserted in the breast.
The hinder part is clothed with a very fine and
supple skin, and the whole invested with hair.
They have several eyes ; but they differ in number,
some species having eight, others six, and some no
more than four. In all they are immoveable, and
, covered with a hard polished crust. The whole
tribe have two stings, or rather branches, pro-

SPIDER.

515

ceeding from the fore part of the head, which are
indented with strong points, like a couple of saws,
and ending1 in a nail made like the claw of a cat.
Near the point of the nail is a small aperture,
through which it is evident, they eject a very viru-
lent poison. They have no arms so formidable to
their enemies as these. They occasionally open
and extend their two branches, and when they no
longer make use of their nails they bend and bring
each of them down upon its branch, like a pruning-
knife clasped upon its handle.

They all likewise have eight legs, jointed like
those of crabs ; and at the extremity of these legs,
three crooked and moveable claws, that is to say, a
small one placed on one side, like a spur, by the as-
sistance of which they fasten themselves to their
thread ; and two others of a larger size, the internal
part of whose curve is indented, and which serve
them to fix themselves where they please, and en-
able them to slide either obliquely, or with their
back downwards, by grasping whatever comes in
their way. They have likewise two little round
balls or sponges at the bottom of their feet, on
which they advance with a softer pace, and draw in
their bending claws in order to preserve them on
those occasions where they can dispense with their
agency. Besides these eight legs, spiders have two
others, inserted into the fore part of their body, and
which we may call their arms, since they do not
use them for transferring themselves from one place
to another, but only for holding, and turning their

*2 Jj 2

P

516

SPIDER.

prey. But with all this formidable equipage, the
spider would be unsuccessful in her wars, were she
not as well accommodated with instruments to
form an ambush, as with weapons for an attack.
She has no wings to assist her in the pursuit of her
prey, which could never be obtained by her if she
was not endowed with a good stock of thread, and
sufficient industry to spin it into a web, or snare.
This she spreads in the open air, and when her task
is completed she retires into a chamber in the back
part of the net, where, quite invisible, she patiently
awaits the enemy.

All spiders at the extremity of their belly, have
live teats or papillae, covered with others of lesser
dimensions, the orifices of which they open and
shut, as well as contract and dilate, at pleasure.
Through these orifices they distil that clammy gum
with which their belly is replenished; and whilst
the spider discharges it through one or more
apertures, the thread lengthens in proportion to her
distance from the place she first fastened it. When
she closes the openings of her dugs, the threads no
longer lengthen, and she remains suspended in the
air. She afterwards makes use of this thread for
her ascent, by grasping it in her paws, as some
people climb up a rope with their hands and
knees. With this thread she spins a web, that fur-
nishes her with advantages of a very different na-
ture.

Having thus noticed the parts which are common
to the species in general, we shall now proceed to de-

SPIDER.

517

scribe the manner in which the house spider constructs
its snare. When this creature intends to begin a web,
she first chooses a place that has some recess, as the
corner of a chamber, or a piece of furniture, into
which she may retreat under her web, and secure
herself a passage either upwards or downwards, and
by these means accomplish her escape from any
danger that may occur ; she sheds upon the wall a
little drop of her gum, which immediately sticks to
it. The spider then lets the liquor distil through a
smaller orifice. Her thread lengthens in her rear,
while she proceeds from one side as far as the place
to which she designs to extend her web. The
thread is fastened to one of her spurs, lest it should
fix along the wall, whilst her intention is that it
should only traverse the air. When she is arrived
at the point to which she purposes to continue her
web from the opposite side, she there fastens this
first thread by the help of the glue ; and afterwards
draws it to her, first bending and then stretching
it tight. Close by this thread she fixes another,
which she carries forward by running along the
first, and proceeds to glue the second thread on one
side of the point where she began her work. The
two first threads serve as a base to which she con-
nects all the rest. In this manner she passes and
repasses several times, connecting or separating her
threads as she judges convenient. It is said that
she forms several threads at once, and in order to
keep them separated at an equal distance, without
intermingling with each other, she distributes them

518

SPIDER.

into the teeth of the comb, which may be distinctly
seen under each of the large nails on her paws.
These threads are stretched and bound one after an-
other with the same industry as the first. In this
manner she finishes the horizontal range of threads,
after which she begins to work transversely. In
this proceeding the web of a spider differs from our
weavers work, inasmuch as in our weaving the
threads extended in length are interlaced with
those that are carried on transversely ; whereas, the
threads of a spider’s woof only cross the threads of
the warp, and are glued to them in the points
where they mutually touch, and are not inserted or
interwoven. After this the spider doubles and
trebles the threads that bordered her work, by open-
ing all her dugs at once, and glueing several threads
one over another. She is sensible that the extre-
mity of the thread ought to be well secured to pre-
serve it from being torn ; and in order to make the
whole as steady as possible, and to prevent its being
torn by the wind, she fixes all around it a number
of strong loops, or double threads.

The web, thus constructed, is a piece of mecha-
nism which does great credit to the little artist, and
cannot fail to raise our admiration of that Being
who has enabled so insignificant an insect to per-
form so exquisite a work. This however is not all ;
conscious that an animal that lives by rapine, and
spreads snares for its prey, would never succeed
while she remained exposed on the edge of her own
net, the same instinct which guided her before, now

SPIDER.

519

directs tier to form a lodge where she may lie con-
cealed ; and this is contrived at the bottom of her
web, where she continues a close prisoner, and keeps
a constant watch for the unwary prey. There are
two outlets to the lodge, one above and the other
below, which give her an opportunity of being
every where when necessary, and of visiting and
cleaning all the parts. From all parts of the web
are drawn several threads, that terminate like rays
in the centre, and it is in this centre that the lodge
is wisely formed ; for the sound made by the vibra-
tion of one of these threads, is immediately com-
municated to the spider within, and gives her no-
tice of game in her nets. This retreat likewise af-
fords her another advantage of some consequence,
as she can there not only feed in full security, but
conceal the carcases of the dead from the observation
of other insects, who might probably be intimidated
from approaching a place where any traces of her
barbarity were to be seen.

While the spider continues vigorous and in health
the glands which secrete the gum are sufficient for
her purpose, and the web which is destroyed to-day
will be completed again by to-morrow. Enemies
are continually injuring her work, without abating
her industry, which seems to rise superior to these
difficulties ; and while her magazine of gum con-
tinues to be replenished, she soon repairs her web.
This however does not always last, the reservoir is
at length drained of its supplies ; for when the spi-
der grows old, both the gum and the sponges on her

520

SPIDER.

feet are dried up ; and then, being unable to con-
struct a web for herself, she either forces a young
spider to give up her net, or perishes for want of
subsistence.

The faculty which many animals possess of coun-
terfeiting death in order to disarm, and thus escape
from their enemies, is extended to the spider ;
which, if much alarmed, will contract all its limbs
and become perfectly motionless. In this state the
insect will remain, while under the influence of fear,
notwithstanding the severest treatment we can in-
flict upon it, and will even suffer itself to be torn
into pieces without exhibiting the smallest sign ol
life. This obstinate perseverance is the more re-
markable, as it is not owing, as some have supposed,
to a state of insensibility; since if the cause of ter-
ror be removed, the spider will soon stretch forth its
legs and run away.

We must in the next place proceed to notice the
operations of the garden spider, Aranea horticula,
Linn., which differs from the domestic kind in seve-
ral particulars. The labours of this species appear
to be very peculiar, and the manner of constructing
the web very different from the rest. Many sup-
pose this insect flies when they see her pass from
branch to branch without any apparent support, but
this is not the case : she places herself upon the end
of a branch, or some other projecting body, and
there fastens her thread ; after which with her two
hind feet she squeezes her dugs, and presses out
one or more threads of two or three yards in length,

SPIDER.

521

which she leaves floating in the air. These threads
are wafted by the wind from one side to another,
and lodged on a tree, a stake, or any thing that
may happen to be in the way, to which they are
fastened by their natural glue. She afterwards draws
them towards her, to try if they are well fixed or
not, and then they become a bridge, over which
the spider passes and repasses in full liberty. She
doubles and extends the thread as much as she
thinks fit, by joining the shortest slips together,
and then marches over a third part, or to the mid-
dle of the same thread, and adds another to it, by
the aid of which she descends till she meets with a
stone, a plant, or some solid body to rest on, or else
she leaves it to fluctuate in the air, till it he fixed
to some particular place. By this second thread
she ascends to the first, and at some distance begins
a third, which she fastens by the same management.
When she has fixed three threads, she makes them
stronger by doubling them, and then by passing in
a different direction forms a square, in which she
makes a cross with the same industry, whose middle
point becomes a centre. To this centre she draws
threads from every side, like the spokes of a wheel,
which all terminate in the nave. Round this centre
she projects a small circle, after which she begins
another a little more distant, and always continues
to draw this circular thread from one spoke to an-
other, till she comes to the large threads which sus-
tain the whole work.

When the net is thus spread, her next care is to

523

SPIDER.

entrap the game ; for which purpose she places her-
self in the centre of all these circles, with her head
downwards. She chooses this posture as the best
means of supporting her large belly, which in any
other position would soon fatigue her by its weight.
Thus she waits for her prey with which the air is
generally so replenished that a sufficient quantity
soon falls into her net. When a small fly becomes
her captive, she dispatches it upon the spot, because
it is a repast which does not require much prepara-
tion ; but when her provision is larger, and happens
to be a strong fly who makes a vigorous resistance,
the spider, wheeling about, involves him in a num-
ber of threads, with which she entangles, fetters,
and then keeps him suspended in the air; after
which she bears him away to the nest below her
web, which is generally made in some sheltered
situation, where she may securely pass the night
and be at the same time shelered from the rain.

This insect can exist for a great length of time
without food. It has been enclosed under a bell
glass and left for ten months without the smallest
quantity of nourishment, and during that time the
spider appeared vigorous, though its body was ex-
ceedingly diminished in consequence of its confine-
ment. When another in full health was introduced
as a companion, the meagre one soon commenced an
attack, and after repeated attempts at length killed
the stranger, which it immediately devoured, and in
less than twenty-four hours recovered its former

size.

SPIDER.

523

Among the different species of this genus is a
little spider which tills our fields in the autumn
with its delicate web: this may be seen floating
on the surface of the grass, or attached to the stalks
of the corn, in great abundance ; and the diminu-
tive creature that spins this tender thread is called
the gossamer spider. These cobwebs must have
occurred to every one who is accustomed to the
country, as they frequently float in the air and
come across the face of the traveller as he passes
through the corn-fields. These little spiders, though
destitute of wings, seem to be possessed of the power
of flight ; for they have been seen shooting into the
air to a very considerable height, and have been
traced as far as the eye could follow them. The
learned Dr. Lister made several observations on this
curious property, and attempted to ascertain the
height to which they soared ; but this he was un-
able to do ; for after having ascended some of the
highest edifices, he still saw the little travellers sail-
ing above him as far as the eye could reach.

Mr. White of Selborne has given us the follow-
ing account of the gossamer, which being drawn up
from actual observation will be best delivered in his
own words. “ On September 21, 1/41, being then
on a visit and intent on field diversions, I rose be-
fore day-break. When I came into the inclosures,
I found the stubbles and clover grounds matted all
over with a thick coat of cobwebs, in the meshes of
which a copious and heavy dew hung so plentifully
that the whole face of the country seemed, as it

524

SPIDER.

were, covered with two or three setting-nets drawn
over one another. When the dogs attempted to
hunt, their eyes were so blinded and hood-winked
that they could not proceed, but were compelled
to lie down and scrape the incumbrances from their
faces with their fore feet ; so that, finding my sport
interrupted, I returned home, musing in my mind
on the oddness of the occurrence.

u As the morning advanced, the sun became
bright and warm, and the day turned out one of
those most lovely ones which no season but the
autumn produces ; cloudless, calm, serene, and wor-
thy of the South of France itself. About nine an
appearance very unusual began to demand our at-
tention : a shower of cobwebs falling from very ele-
vated regions, and continuing without any inter-
ruption till the close of day. These webs were not
single filmy threads, floating in the air in all direc-
tions, but perfect flakes or rags, some nearly an
inch broad and five or six long, which fell with
a degree of velocity that showed they were con-
siderably heavier than the atmosphere. On every
side, as the observer turned his eyes, he might be-
hold a continual succession of fresh flakes falling
into his sight, and twinkling like stars, as they
turned their sides toward the sun. How far this
wonderful shower extended would be difficult to
say; but we know that it reached Bradley, Selborne,
and Alresford, three places which lie in a sort of
triangle ; the shortest of whose sides is about eight
miles in extent.

SPIDER.

525

" At the second of those places there was a gen-
tleman (for whose veracity and intelligent turn of
mind I have the greatest veneration) who observed
it the moment he got abroad ; hut concluded that
as soon as he came upon the hill above his house,
where he took his morning rides, he should be
higher than the meteor ; which he imagined might
have been blown like thistle-down from the com-
mon above. But, to his great astonishment, when
he rode to the most elevated part of the down, three
hundred feet above the level of his fields, he found
the webs in appearance as much above him as be-
fore, still ascending in a constant succession, and
twinkling in the sun, so as to draw the attention of
the most incurious. Neither before nor after this
was any such fall observed ; but on this day the
flakes hung in the trees and hedges so thick that a
diligent person sent out might have gathered baskets
full.

“ The remark that I shall make on these cobweb-
like appearances, called gossamer, is, that strange
and superstitious as the notions about them were
formerly, no body in these days doubts but they
are the real productions of small spiders, which
swarm in the fields in fine weather in autumn, and
have a power of shooting out webs from their tails
so as to render themselves buoyant, and lighter
than air. But why these apterous insects should
that day take such a wonderful aerial excursion,
and why their webs should at once become so gross

526

SPIDER.

and material as to be considerably more weighty than
air, and to descend with precipitation, is a matter be-
yond my skill. Jf I may be allowed to hazard a sup-
position, I should imagine that those filmy threads,
when first shot, might be entangled in the rising
dew, and so drawn up, spiders and all, by a brisk
evaporation into the regions where clouds are form-
ed ; and if the spiders have a power of coiling and
thickening their webs in the air, as Dr. Lister says
they have, then, when they become heavier than
the air, they must fall.

“ Every day in fine weather, in autumn chiefly,
do I see these spiders shooting out their webs and
mounting aloft ; they will go off from your finger,
if you take them into your hand. Last summer
one alighted on my book as I was reading in the
parlour ; and, running to the top of a page, and
shooting out a web, took its departure from thence.
But what I most wondered at was, that it went off*
with considerable velocity in a place where no air
was stirring ; and I am sure I did not assist it with
my breath. So that these little crawlers seem to
have, while mounting, some locomotive power with-
out the use of wings, and to move in the air faster
than the air itself.”

As a contrast to this aerial species we may be al-
lowed to mention the water spider, Aranea aquatica ,
Linn., which is generally found in very clear ponds,
where it spins itself a web and passes its time with
as much freedom as the rest. The body of this

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SPIDER.

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little aquatic insect is not exposed to the imme-
diate action of the water, but is surrounded by a
bubble of air, which forms, as it were, a kind of

dwelling' for the inclosed animal, and gives it a

*

very bright appearance when seen from the surface.
It fixes its slender thread to the stalks of the water-
plants, and lodges during the winter in a vacant
shell, carefully closing the mouth with a slight
web.

In many parts of the East Indies and in South
America, there is a spider of an enormous size, and
of a most hideous appearance. This creature is
called the bird-catching spider, Aranea avicularia ,
Linn., from its actually being strong enough to
destroy small birds, by first wounding them with
its poisoned fangs and then sucking their blood.
The whole of this animal’s body is covered with
brown hair, and the fangs are so large that the slit
near the end through which the venom is ejected
may be seen without the assistance of a glass. The
legs of this spider are as thick as a moderate goose
quill, and are terminated by two sharp claws. We
may judge how formidable such an insect must be,
when we consider that the body including the head
is nearly three inches long, and that, when the legs
are stretched out, the whole will measure between
eight and ten inches. Eight eyes are placed in the
front of this creature's thorax, two of which are
much larger than the rest. Thus formed for a life
of rapacity, the bird-catching spider watches for its

528

SPIDER.

prey among the branches of the trees, and certain
destruction awaits the little animal which is un-
fortunate enough to be entangled in its snare.

We shall here conclude our account of this genus
without taking any particular notice of the taran-
tula, as the stories which have been told respecting
the extraordinary symptoms attending its bite, and
the wonderful manner in which the patient is cured,
are equally without foundation.

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SCORPION.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennae none.

Eyes eight.

Two fore feet like the claws of a crab.

Tail long, and terminated by a sharp crooked sting.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Scorpio Afer. . S. pectinibus tredecim dentatis, manibus

subcordatis pilosis. Linn. Syst. Nat.
Gmel. 1 . p. 2961.

Comb with thirteen teeth, hands slightly
heart-shaped and hairy.

Scorpio Indus. Degeer Ins. 7* p. 341.
no. 3.

African Scorpion. Seb. Mus. 1. pi. 70. f. 4. Roes. Ins. 3.

pi. 65. Shaw Gen. Zool. 6. p. 486,
pi. 130.

There are several species belonging to this genus,
but none of them are so remarkable for their size,
or the malignity of their poison, as the African
kind. This scorpion sometimes grows to the length
of ten inches when measured from the end of the
claw to the extremity of the tail. The general co-

2 M

VOL. 11.

530

SCORPION.

lour of the body is a dark brown, and therefore not
easily distinguished from the rotten wood and fur-
niture under which it lurks. The tail is the instru-
ment which renders this animal so formidable, and
the reservoir which contains the poison is situated
near its extremity, from whence it is ejected
through two very small holes, one on each side the
tip of the sting. These holes are so small as to
elude the sight of any but an accurate observer.
Some have denied their existence, but others, with
the assistance of very high magnifying powers, have
clearly discovered them. This species is justly
dreaded in Africa, where the activity of its venom
is frequently productive of troublesome consequences,
the symptoms becoming severe, and sometimes end-
ing fatally.

None of the other species are equally venemous,
but all are capable of stinging severely, and seem
actuated by the same malignant spirit ; for they
will attack each other with fury if confined in
the same glass, and the survivors will devour the
conquered. They carry their unnatural temper
to a still greater length, and even devour their
young if confined during the time of bringing forth.
This unnatural propensity was observed by a cele-
brated French philosopher, who kept one of these
animals enclosed in a glass, and saw the young ones
devoted to destruction, one after another, till they
were all reduced to a single scorpion, which would
certainly have shared the same fate, if it had not
fortunately taken refuge on the back of the mother,

SCORPION.

531

where it increased in size till it was strong enough
to become the aggressor in its turn, and kill the old
one.

These animals are viviparous, and bring forth a
great number at a time, which at first are white,
but soon become of a dusky colour. They are said
to cast their skins from time to time, and to live
chiefly on worms and insects, with which, if they
are well provided, they will live in a state of con-
finement for a considerable time.

Many idle stories have been told about the
scorpion, and some ridiculous remedies proposed to
cure the effects of the sting. The most popular of
the former is, that when driven to extremity he
will destroy himself ; and we are very gravely told
by those who ought to be superior to such cre-
dulity, that a scorpion, surrounded by burning
coals, will become so exasperated upon finding it
impossible to escape, that he will sting himself on
the back of the head and instantly expire.

Scorpions not only frequent the most neglected
places, and lurk under rotten wood and stones, but
also enter inhabited houses, and sometimes hide
themselves about the furniture ; it therefore behoves
a person, in those climates where they are common,
to look carefully about the place where he intends
to seat himself, as accidents have frequently hap-
pened from carelessness in this respect. The animal
is so bold and irascible that he hardly waits to be
provoked, and often inflicts his sting before the per-
son is aware of his danger.

2 m 2

CENTIPEDE

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Antennae setaceous. '

Palpi two, jointed, or formed of many articulations.

Feet numerous ; placed on each side of the body, two to
every segment.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Scolopendra morsitans. S. pedibus utrinque viginti, oculis

octo. Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1.
p. 3016.

Legs twenty on each side 3 eyes eight
in number.

Japuruca. Marcgr. Bras. p. 253.

Centipede Degeer Ins. 7. p. 563. pi. 43. f. 1.

Catesh. Carol. 3. p. 2. pi. 3. Seh.
Mus. 1. pi. 81. %. 3, 4. Shaw
Gen. Zool. 6. p. 503. pi. 136.

This is one among the many venemous creatures
which infest the warmer parts of the globe, and,
except the scorpion, is more to be dreaded than
any of the insect tribe. The size of this species of
centipede, independent of its sting, would render it
an object of terror, since its long body measures
nearly ten inches ; which, together with its many

-Published, by McfsrJ C/idrll k DoncsJ.and4m2SarchL3.8oi.

CENTIPEDE.

533

legs and serrated forceps, give it a very formidable
appearance. It is of a yellowish brown colour, and
divided into twenty joints, from each of which pro-
ceed two legs. A strong curved fang is seen on
each side the head, and at the base of each fang
is a quantity of poisonous fluid, which the animal
ejects through an oblong slit near the apex.

These formidable insects are found in many
parts of the East and West Indies ; they are like-
wise frequent in Africa, where they chiefly inhabit
the woods. The centipedes would not be dreaded
if they confined themselves to their native forests,
where the traveller would be prepared to meet
them ; but this is so far from being the case, that
they frequently enter the houses of the inhabitants,
and sting them while they sleep. Such indeed is
the fear of the people in those particular districts
where the centipedes are common, that they place
the feet of their beds in vessels of water, to prevent
their being attacked by these venemous insects du-
ring the night.

The sting of the centipede is excessively painful,
and attended with a considerable degree of inflam-
mation ; the timely application of sweet oil seems
to be as good a remedy as any which has hitherto
been made use of to abate the symptoms and relieve
the patient. The bite of this creature is instant
death to smaller insects, but does not prove fatal to
large animals.

CRUSTACEOUS ANIMALS.

CRAB.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

With eight feet, sometimes ten ; rarely six.

Fore feet terminated by claws.

Two moveable eyes, generally projecting from the head and
placed upon a kind of stalk.

Tail articulated.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Cancer ruricola. C. pedum articulo primo spinoso, secundo

tertioque fasciculato-pilosis. Linn , Syst.
Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 29 66.

First joints of the legs spinous, second and
third with tufts of hair.

Cancer brachyurus, thorace laevi integerrimo:
antice retuso pedum articulis ultimis pe-
nultimisque undique spinosis. Syst. Nat.
xii. 2. p. 1040. no. 11.

Land Crab. . . Sloan. Jam. 1. pi. 2. Seb. Mus.3. pi. 20.

f. 5. Catesb. Carol. 2. p. 32. pi. 32.
Degeer Ins. J . p. 417* no* 1* pb 25. f. 1.

The annual migration of these crabs from the

mountains to the sea-shore, in order to deposit their

CRAB.

535

eggs, is one of the most curious facts in natural
history ; and if the circumstance was not well at*
tested, we might reasonably deny our assent to the
truth of it. Land crabs inhabit the tropical cli-
mates in amazing numbers, where their singular
manners have been observed by several travellers
on whose veracity we may depend. From their
observations, collected by an interesting writer, we
learn that these animals not only live in a kind of
orderly society in their retreats in the mountains,
but regularly once a year march down to the sea-
side in a body of some millions at a time. They
choose the months of April and May to begin their
expedition, and then sally forth by thousands from
the stumps of hollow trees, from the clefts of rocks,
and from the hollows which they dig for themselves
under the surface of the earth. All the ground at
this season seems alive with them, and according to
Lebat they are so numerous that it is almost im-
possible to prevent treading upon them. They
pursue their course to the sea in a right line, from
which they never deviate either to the right or left,
but pass over any obstacle that it is possible for
them to surmount without breaking their line. It
is not always, however, that they can preserve their
route without interruption ; they are sometimes
compelled to conform to the face of the country,
and to follow the winding of the rivers by which it
is intersected. When the procession sets out from
the mountains it commonly forms three divisions,
of which the first consists of the strongest males,

536

CRAB.

which march forward to clear the route, and face
the greatest dangers. These are often obliged to
halt for want of rain, and go into the most conve-
nient encampment till the weather changes. The
main body of the army is composed of females,
which never leave the mountains till the rains have
set in for some time, when they descend in regular
order, being formed into columns of fifty paces
broad, and three miles deep. Three or four days
after this the rear-guard follows, a straggling un-
disciplined tribe, consisting of males and females,
but neither so robust nor so numerous as the for-
mer. They chiefly proceed in the night, and halt
during the heat of the day; however, if the weather
proves wet they take advantage of it, and continue
their route without interruption. When any thing
alarms them, they march back in a confused dis-
orderly manner, holding up their nippers, which
they often clatter together in order to intimidate
their enemies. They are disposed to be quarrel-
some, and possess the cruel disposition which is
common to some of the larger animals ; for if any
one of the body is maimed in such a manner as to
be incapable of proceeding, the rest immediately fall
upon and devour it, after which they quietly pursue
their march, till thev reach the sea-side.

After they have accomplished this fatiguing
journey, which it sometimes costs them three
months to do, and have arrived at their distant
port, they prepare to cast their spawn ; and for tins
purpose go to the edge of the water, and suffer the

CRAB.

537

waves to pass two or three times over their bodies.
Immediately after this necessary ablution is per-
formed, they retire to seek a lodging upon land, and
the spawn rapidly increases in size till it is ex-
cluded from within the body, and may be seen
sticking under the tail, where it is collected into a
bunch as big as a hen’s egg. In this state of preg-
nancy they again seek the shore, and shaking off
the spawn into the water, leave it to be hatched by
the heat of the sun. The fish take advantage of
this annual supply, and devour vast quantities of the
eggs ; but millions still remain to be brought to
maturity in the sand, and in due time the shore is
covered with little crabs, which soon quit the place
of their nativity, and slowly move towards the
mountains.

The long march, and the difficulties they have
had to overcome, together with the fatigue of
spawning, reduce the old crabs so much that they
can hardly creep along, and most of them are
obliged to remain in the flat parts of the country
till they recover. To accomplish this desirable end
they dig for themselves holes in the earth, where
they live concealed, having carefully stopped the
mouth of their caves with leaves and dirt to prevent
the access of the air. In these retreats they cast
their shells, and continue quite naked and in an ap-
parently torpid state during about six days, when
they are said to become so fat as to be delicious food.
Soon after this they are seen slowly travelling up to
the mountains.

538

CRAB.

They subsist on vegetables, and seldom venture
from their retreats : their habitations may therefore
be considered as almost impregnable, as they live
in the most inaccessible parts of the mountains, and
never go far from home, except when they are im-
pelled by the desire of bringing forth their young
to descend towards the sea. At that time the na-
tives wait for them and destroy thousands, but dis-
regard their bodies, and only seek for the spawn
which lies on each side the stomach within the shell.
They are much more valuable upon their return,
when the skin being soft, almost every part of them
may be eaten.

They are either taken in their holes by feeling
for them with an instrument, or caught by torch-
light, in the night, while on their journey. When-
ever they are attacked they throw themselves upon
their backs, and pinch very severely with their
claws whatever they happen to fasten on. But
the dextrous crab-catcher, aware of their inten-
tion, secures them by the hind legs in such a man-
ner that their nippers cannot touch him, and then
throws them into his bag. Sometimes, also, they
are caught when they take refuge at the bottom of
holes in rocks by the sea-side, by preventing their
return till the tide flows and drowns them in their
holes. In Jamaica these crabs are found in great
plenty, and wherever they appear are of considera-
ble advantage to the poor inhabitants, who almost
live upon them during the time they stay upon the
coast. They sometimes, however, prove dangerous

CRAB.

539

food, and are said to poison the persons who eat
them : when this happens, it is supposed the animals
have been feeding on the manchineel apple; for
whenever they are found upon that noxious plant,
they are always rejected with caution.

We have a species of crab on our shores whose
singular manners have obtained it the name of her-
mit. This is the Cancer Bernhardus of Linnaeus,
and is found from half an inch, to four inches long.
Nature seems to have sported with this creature,
and has condemned it to seek that covering which
other crabs are provided with from their birth.
Being entirely destitute of shell, except upon its
nippers, the hermit crab is obliged to seek the
empty habitation of a periwinkle, a trochus, or a
whelk, which it immediately occupies and continues
to reside in, till, by becoming too large for its house,
it is under the necessity of changing it. When this
is the case, the hermit is seen busily parading the
shore along that line of pebbles and shells that is
formed by the extremest wave, still, however, drag-
ging its old incommodious habitation at its tail, un-
willing to part with one shell, even though a trou-
blesome appendage, till it can find another more
convenient. In this search the crab is described as
stopping at one shell, turning it and passing it by,
going on to another, contemplating that for a while,
and slipping its tail from its old habitation to try

540

CRAB.

on the new. This also is found to be inconvenient,
and it quickly returns to its old shell again. In
this manner it frequently changes, till at last it finds
one, light, roomy, and commodious ; to this it ad-
heres, though the shell be sometimes so large as to
hide the body of the animal, claws and all. It must
be remembered, however, that the crab never occu-
pies an habitation which it cannot readily move
from place to place without inconvenience to itself.

This species is armed with strong rough claws, of
which the right is the longest ; the legs are taper,
and the naked tail is furnished at the end with a
hook by which it secures itself in its lodging. This
animal, in common with other crabs, is very tena-
cious of its hold, which it will seldom quit till the
claw is torn from its body. It is diverting to see
these little creatures in search of marine insects,
moving their shells about among the rocks which
have just been left by the tide.

All the animals of this genus cast their shells at
certain seasons, and likewise possess the power of
reproduction. The loss of a limb, which frequently
happens to these quarrelsome creatures, is of little
consequence, as the defect is supplied by the growth
of a new member in the course of a few weeks. So
conscious are they of this powerful effort of Nature
in their favour, that when bruised or maimed in
any particular limb, they often cast it off, and retire
to a place of safety till the injury is repaired.

Of all the different species of crab, the Cancer
Pisum is the least. This little creature (as its name

CRAB.

541

imports) is not larger than a pea ; but what renders
it of importance, notwithstanding its diminutive
size, is the service which it is supposed to render
certain shell-fish, by warning them when their prey
is at hand. However idle this supposition may be,
we can readily excuse it, since it has drawn from
the pen of Oppian some very pretty lines, of which
the following is a translation.

“ In clouded deeps below the pinna* hides.

And through the silent paths obscurely glides ;

A stupid wretch, and void of thoughtful care.

He forms no bait, nor lays the tempting snare :

But the dull sluggard boasts a crab his friend.

Whose busy eyes the coming prey attend.

One room contains them, and the partners dwell
Beneath the convex of one sloping shell ;

Deep in the wat’ry vast the comrades rove.

And mutual interest binds their constant love $

That wiser friend the lucky juncture tells.

When in the circuit of the gaping shells
Fish, wand’ring, enter ; then the bearded guide
Warns the dull mate, and pricks his tender side ;

He knows the hint, nor at the treatment grieves.

But hugs th’ advantage, and the pain forgives :

His closing shells the Pinna sudden joins.

And ’twixt the pressing sides his prey confines j —

Tlius fed by mutual aid, the friendly pair
Divide their gains, and all the plunder share.”

* A bivalve shell somewhat resembling a muscle, but considera-
bly larger.

LOBSTER.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Cancer gammarus. C. thorace laevi j rostro lateribus dentatoj

basi supra dente duplici. Linn. Syst.
Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 2985.

A smooth thorax 5 a single tooth on the
side of the snout, and a double one above
the base.

Astacus marinus. Fair. Sp. Ins. 1.
p. 509. no. 1.

Lobster Bast. Op. Subs. 2. p. 6. pi. 1 . Penn. Brit.

Zool. 4. p. 9. no. 21 . pi. 10. (

Lobsters are found in great abundance on the
rocky coasts of this kingdom, and generally inhabit
the clearest water. They are caught in traps made
of twigs and baited with garbage : these traps are
fastened to a cord, and lowered into the sea, the
place where they lie being marked by a buoy.
They are so extremely prolific, that 12,444 eggs
have been counted under the tail of a single female,
besides those that remained in the body unpro-
truded ; these are deposited in the sand, where they
are soon hatched. While lobsters continue to be
so prolific there can be no fear of exhausting the
species, though the consumption of them were still

LOBSTER.

543

greater than it is. Mr. Pennant received an ac-
curate account of' the natural history of this animal
from Mr. Travis of Scarborough ; and as it contains
all the information that can be desired upon the
subject, we shall take the liberty to insert it in the
words of the author.

“We have vast numbers of fine lobsters on the
rocks near our coast. The large ones are in
general in their best season from the middle of Oc-
tober till the beginning of May. Many of the
small ones, and some few of the larger sort, are
good all the summer. If they be four inches and
a half long, or upwards, from the tip of the head
to the end of the back shell, thev are called sizeable
lobsters. If only four inches, they are esteemed
half size ; and when sold, two of them are reckoned
for one of size ; if they be under four inches, they
are called pawks, and are not saleable to the carriers,
though, in reality, they are in the summer months
superior to the large ones in goodness. The pin-
cers of one of the lobster’s large clawrs are furnished

with knobs, and those of the other claws are always

*/

serrated. With the former it keeps firm hold of
the stalks of submarine plants, and with the latter
it cuts and minces its food very dextrously. The
knobbed or numb claw, as the fishermen call it, is
sometimes on the right and sometimes on the left,
indifferently. It is more dangerous to be seized by
them with the cutting claw than the other ; but in
either case, the quickest way to get disengaged
from the creature is to pluck oflf its claw. It seems

544

LOBSTER.

peculiar to the lobster and crab, when their claws
are pulled off, that they will grow again, but never
so large as at first.

“ The female or hen lobster does not cast her
shell the same year that she deposits her ova, or,
in the common phrase, is in berry. When the ova
first appear under the tail, they are very small and
extremely black ; but they become in succession
almost as large as ripe elder-berries before they be
deposited, and turn of a black brown colour, espe-
cially towards the end of the time of her depositing
them. They continue full, and depositing the ova
in constant succession, as long as any of that black
substance can be found in their body, which, when
boiled, turns of a beautiful red colour, and is called
their coral. Hen lobsters are found in their berry
at all times of the year, but chiefly in winter. It
is a common mistake that a berried hen is always
in perfection for the table. When her berries ap-
pear large and brownish, she will always be found
exhausted, watery, and poor. Though the ova be
cast at all times of the year, they seem only to
come to life during the warm summer months of
July and August. Great numbers of them may
then be found, under the appearance of tad-poles,
swimming about the little pools left by the tides
among the rocks, and many also undei then pioper
form, from half an inch to four inches in length.

“ In casting their shells it is hard to conceive
how the lobster is able to draw the fish of their
claws out, leaving the shells entire and attached to

LOBSTER.

545

the shell of their body ; in which state they are
constantly found. The fishermen say the lobster
pines before casting, till the fish in its large claw
is no thicker than the quill of a goose, which en-
ables it to draw its parts through the joints and nar-
row passage near the trunk. The new shell is
quite membranous at first, but hardens by degrees.
Lobsters only grow in size while their shells are in
their soft state. They are chosen for the table by
their being heavy in proportion to their size, and
by the hardness of their shells on their sides,
which, in perfection, will not yield to moderate pres-
sure. Barnacles and other small shell-fish adher-
ing to them are esteemed certain marks of superior
goodness. Cock lobsters are in general better than
the hens in winter ; they are distinguished by the
narrowness of their tails, and by their having a
strong spine upon the centre of each of the trans-
verse processes beneath the tail, which support the
four middle plates of their tails. The fish of a lob-
ster’s claw is more tender, delicate, and easy of
digestion than that of the tail. Lobsters are not
taken here in pots, as is usual where the water is
deeper and more still than it is upon our coast.
Our fishermen use a bag-net fixed to an iron hoop,
about two feet in diameter, and suspended by three
lines like a scale. The bait is commonly fish-guts
tied to the bottom and middle of the net. They
can take none in the day-time, when the water is
thick and opake ; they are commonly caught in the
night, but even then it is not possible to take any
VOL. II. 2 N

546*

LOBSTER.

when the sea has that luminous appearance which
is supposed to proceed from the Nereis noctiluca.
In summer the lobsters are found near the shore,
and thence to about six fathoms depth of water ; in
winter they are seldom taken in less than twelve
or fifteen fathoms. Like other insects, they are
much more active and alert in warm weather than
in cold. In the water they can run nimbly upon
their legs or small claws, and, if alarmed, can
spring tail foremost to a surprising distance, as
swift as a bird can fly. The fishermen can see
them pass about thirty feet, and, by the swiftness
of their motion, suppose that they may go much
further. Athenaeus remarks this circumstance, and
says, that the incurvated lobsters will spring with
the activity of dolphins. Their eyes are raised
upon moveable bases; which enables them to see
readily every way. When frightened they will
spring from a considerable distance to their hold in
the rock ; and, what is not less surprising than true,
will throw themselves into their hold in that man-
ner, through an entrance barely sufficient for their
bodies to pass ; as is frequently seen by the people
who endeavour to take them at Filey-bridge. In
frosty weather, if any happen to be found near the
shore, they are quite torpid and benumbed. A
sizeable lobster is commonly from one pound to two
in weight. There was one taken here this sum-
mer* which weighed above four, and the fishermen

* 1768.

LOBSTER.

547

say they have seen some which were of six pounds ;
but these are very rare.”

Lobsters are apt to cast their claws on a great
clap of thunder, and Mr. Pennant was informed
that they will do the same on firing of a great gun.
The sailors, it seems, are aware of this circumstance,
and, when they meet a lobster-boat at sea, threaten
to salute the master unless he sells them good
lobsters.

2 N 2

TESTACEOUS ANIMALS.

MULTIVALVE SHELLS.

BARNACLE.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Shell fixed by its base, and furnished with several unequal
erect valves.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Lepas Balanus. . L. testa conica sulcata, operculis acuminatis.

Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 3207.

A conical furrowed shell, with a sharp
pointed operculum, or lid.

Petits glands de Mer. Argenv. Conch.
p. 322. pi. 26. f. D. 2. p. 364. pi. 30.
f.D.

Acorn Fish. Dale Harwich, p. 39O.
Common Barnacle. Penn. Brit.Zool. 4. p. 72 ph 37* f- Da

Cost. Brit. Conch, p. 248. pi. J7- f 7*

A shell so common as the barnacle can hardly
have escaped the observation of any one, as it is
frequently seen adhering to the shells of our oysters,

BARNACLE.

549

muscles, and lobsters; and absolutely encrusts many
of the small rocks with which our coasts abound.
The shell is of a conical shape, and when perfect is
covered by a little lid, which the animal within oc-
casionally raises up in order to admit the sea-water,
and collect such food as is congenial to its nature.
The shell, like the limpet, is open at bottom, by
which part it adheres to the rock, and that with such
firmness, that we have frequently found it difficult
to separate it even with a knife.

The animals inhabiting these shells are of very sin-
gular formation, having twenty-four small tentacula
or feelers, which are like so many feathers, and with
which they secure the smaller marine insects that
serve them for food. Whenever the little animals
feel inclined to search for prey, they lift the oper-
culum which covers the shell, and stretch forth
their tentacula, which remain fully extended till
something of sufficient importance comes in their
way; when the barnacle immediately secures the
prize, and, sinking into its shell, devours the
booty at leisure. Mr. Ellis, who has given a par-
ticular account of these creatures in the Philoso-
phical Transactions, has described the tentacula as
differing in size, the twelve smallest being placed
six on each side of the others; he thinks they per-
form the office of hands, being more pliable and
hairy than the larger ones. They have a trunk or
proboscis rising from the middle of the base of the
larger claws, and longer than any of them. The
animal is able to move this trunk in any direction :

550

BARNACLE.

it is tubular, transparent, and composed of rings
lessening gradually to the extremity, where it is sur-
rounded with a circle of small moveable bristles.
In the inside of this trunk appears the tongue,
which is a dark-coloured, spiral substance, that the
animal can extend or contract at pleasure. The
mouth is placed between the smaller claws, and is
not unlike a contracted purse ; within the folds are
six or eight horny laminae or teeth. Beneath this
lie the stomach and intestines, together with the
tendons by which the animal adheres to the shell.

There are several species of this genus, but only
one amongst them was ever celebrated for any pe-
culiarity : this was the goose barnacle, Lepas ana-
tifera Linn., whose history we have already given
in the first volume. This species is frequently
found adhering in clusters to the bottom of ships, and
to pieces of timber : in this state they are met with
in abundance, generally attached to the wood by a
short neck ; and when in search of food they stretch
forth a number of tentacula, which the credulous
formerly supposed to be the legs of a bird.

Published by Mc/srs CadeU 8c Davies London. March 1 i So'j

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PIIOLAS.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

A bivalve shell open at both ends, with several lesser shells
at the hinge.

A large incurvated tooth in the inside of the shell beneath
the hinge.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Pholas dactylus. P. testa oblonga hinc reticulato-striata.

Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 3214.

An oblong reticulated shell.

Pholas muricatus. Da Cost. Brit. Conch.

p. 244. pi. id. f. 2, 2.

Pholas hians. Puli. Cat. Dors. p. 2 d.
Pholas major striis cancellatis exasperata,
subalbida. Gault. 1. Conch, pi. 105.
fig. A. B. C. D.

Common Pholas. . Penn. Brit. Zool. 4. p .J6. no. 10. pi. 39.

f. 10. Argenv. Conch, pi. 2d. f. H. I.
Borlase Corn. pi. 28. f. 31.

The animal inhabiting this shell has the faculty, in
common with the rest of the genus, of boring a
hole in hard clay, or penetrating the firmest wood,
where it spends its life in security, and bids de-
fiance to the winds and waves. It is difficult to
say how the pholas effects its purpose, since the

552

PHOLAS.

body is a soft mass, terminating in a neck which
can be exerted at the pleasure of the animal, but
not furnished with any visible apparatus for boring
of holes. The fact, however, is clear, as they are
found in sufficient abundance on the different coasts
of this kingdom, and particularly at Salcomb in
South Devon, where Mr. Montague found great
numbers of them, together with two other species
of the same genus, burrowed in the stumps of old
trees, which formerly grew there, but are now
covered with the tide except at low water. It seems
they are taken from their hiding-places by the
fishermen, and used with success for baiting their
hooks.

The opinion which some persons have advanced
respecting the want of power in these animals to
perforate hard substances, is thus completely set
aside ; and yet, when we consider the texture of
their bodies, the idea that the pholades entered the
stony substance in which they are frequently im-
bedded, while it was in a soft state, and remained
there till it petrified around them, may be ex-
cused. It has been remarked that many of the
pillars of the temple of Serapis at Puteoli were
perforated by these animals. From thence the
learned Dr. Bohadsch concludes, that the pholades
must have imbedded themselves within them since
they were erected ; for he very justly observes that
the workmen would certainly have rejected any
stones for their building, that had been perforated
in so many places by these creatures. The pho-

PHOLAS.

553

lades must therefore have worked their way into
them while thev were buried by the influx of the
sea, which immediately succeeded the destruction
of the city by an earthquake.

There must be something singularly curious in
the manner which these creatures pursue to effect
such mighty purposes ; and we have to regret that
while so much attention is paid to shells, so little
notice is taken of their inhabitants. Those who
Jive at a distance from the sea may not possess the
means of keeping them alive; but the naturalist
residing on the coast has it in his power, with
ordinary attention, to watch their motions and ob-
serve all their curious operations. The subject of
our present investigation is highly deserving of no-
tice, as it appears a paradox, that an animal so soft
as the pholas should dig itself a dwelling in a stone.
If a number of these were kept in a vessel of salt
water, and supplied with proper substances to work
upon, their operations might be observed, and that
which has hitherto justly excited the astonishment
of philosophers, would in all probability be ex-
plained to their satisfaction.

It has been said that the pholas bores himself a
dwelling in the rock while very young, and en-
larges it as he increases in size ; continually work-
ing his way, though by very slow degrees, till his
apartment is capacious enough to contain his full-
grown body. In this dark chamber he spends his
days, perfectly contented with the nourishment

554

PHOLAS.

which the sea washes into his dwelling, till he is
either dragged from his hole, to be used as a bait
for other fish, or dies a natural death in a sepulchre
of his own digging. Dr. Maton thinks this must
be the case, because the cavity is always smaller at
its entrance than the pholas itself.

The shell of the pholas is of an elegant oblong-
shape, striated transversely, and extending at one
end into a beak : a large incurvated tooth appears
in each valve ; and the length of the shell from one
end to the other is from two to four inches.

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BIVALVE SHELLS.

S O L E N.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Shell bivalve ; oblong ; open at both ends.

An awl-shaped tooth turned back in each valve; often
double on one side.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Solen siliqua. S. testa lineari recta, cardine altero bidentato.

Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 3223.

A long, straight shell, having two teeth in one
valve, and one tooth in the other.

Solen laevis, albidus, candidus, ex fusco et sub-
roseo colore variegatus et fasciatus. Gault.
Conch, pi. 95. f. C.

Spout Fish. Martin W. Isles, p. 6.

Razor Fish. Rutty Bui. p. 383.

Pod Solen. . Penn. Brit. Zool. 4. p. 83. pi. 45. f. 20. Da

Cost. Brit. Conch, p. 235. pi. 1 7. f. 5.

This shell-fish is provided with a habitation shaped
like the handle of a razor, and therefore admirably
calculated to assist the animal in penetrating the
sand in which it resides. All the motions of these

556

SOLEN.

little animals are confined to sinking or rising a cer-
tain depth in the sand, and many of them may be
observed near low water mark with their bodies pro-
truded out of the shell in search of food. When
any thing approaches to disturb them, they imme-
diately shrink back, and sink sometimes two feet
beneath the surface. A small dimple on the top of
the sand marks the place where they are to be found,
and betrays them to the fishermen, who either dig
them out of the sand with a shovel, or suddenly
strike a bearded dart into them. These people
chiefly use them for baits, but in Ireland they are
said to be eaten, particularly in Lent and Dr. Lister
affirms that they are nearly as rich and palatable
as the lobster.

None of the species of this genus are capable of
moving in any but a perpendicular direction ; they
are not provided with the means of leaving the spot
where they are placed, though they are furnished
with a kind of tongue which is greatly assistant to
them in their ordinary motions. This useful in-
strument is fleshy, cylindrical, and moderately
long ; it is protruded through the end of the shell
whenever the animal has occasion to use it, and the
extremity is capable of being formed into different
shapes: sometimes it assumes the figure of a

knob, and at others is moulded into the form of
a shovel, terminating in a point. These different
appearances in the tongue occur at the pleasure of
the animal, and both contribute to assist its mo-
tions. With the tongue extended from the inferior

SOLEN.

557

end of the shell, and its extremity terminating in a
point, the animal is said to cut a hole in the sand,
and afterwards to make it assume the form of a hook,
so that it takes a firmer hold, and obliges the shell
to descend. In this manner the little workman
operates, till by repeated efforts the shell totally dis-
appears. When the animal has occasion to return
to the surface in search of food, the other shape be-
comes of use, and the end of the instrument now
assumes the form of a knob instead ot a point.
With this it presses firmly against the bottom of
the hole; and the effect of this muscular effort is to
push the shell in a contrary direction, so that by
repeating the same the animal at length arrives
at the top. Awkward as these shell-fish seem, they
contrive to move in this manner with great dex-
terity.

OYSTER.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

A bivalve shell with a rough scaly coat and cartilaginous
hinge.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Ostrea edulis. . O. testa semiorbiculata, membranis imbri-

catis undulatis j valva altera plana integer-
rima. Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 3334.

A semiorbicular shell, with the outer coat
waved and imbricated; the other valve
quite flat.

Ostreum vulgare maximum. List. Anim.
Angl. p. 176. pi. 4. f. 2 6, TJ.

Common Oyster. Penn. Brit. Zool. 4. p. 102. no. 6g. Da

Cost. Brit. Conch, p. 154. pi. 11. f. 6.

This well-known shell-fish is dredged up in vast
abundance on the different coasts of this kingdom,
and has long been celebrated as a delicious and nu-
tritive food. The oysters of our shores were even
in request among the Romans; and Juvenal, in
satyrizing an epicure, describes his taste as suf-
ficiently acute to discover those from Richborough
by their flavour.

In Bishop Sprat’s History of the Royal Society,
we find the following account of the treatment of

OYSTER. 559

oysters, and of the regulations enforced by the ad-
miralty court respecting the fishery, viz.

“ In the month of May the oysters cast their
spawn, (which the dredgers call their spats,) it is
like to a drop of a candle, and about the bigness of
a halfpenny. The spat cleaves to stones, old oyster-
shells, pieces of wood, and such like things, at the
bottom of the sea, which they call cultch. It is pro-
bably conjectured, that the spat in twenty-four
hours begins to have a shell.

“ In the month of May, the dredgers (by the law
of the admiralty court) have liberty to catch all
manner of oysters of what size soever. When they
have taken them, with a knife they gently raise the
small brood from the cultch, and then they throw
the cultch in again, to preserve the ground for the
future, unless they be so newly spat that they can-
not be safely severed from the cultch ; in that case
they are permitted to take the stone, or shell, &c.,
that the spat is upon, one shell having many times
twenty spats.

“ After the month of May, it is a felony to carry
away the cultch, and punishable to take any other
oysters, unless it be those of size, (that is to say)
about the bigness of a half-crown piece, or when,
the two shells being shut, a fair shilling will rattle
between them.

“ The places where the oysters are chiefly catched,
are called the Pont-Burnham, Malden, and Colne
waters : the latter taking its name from the river of

56 0

OYSTER.

Colne, which passeth by Colne-Chester, gives the
name to that town, and runs into a creek of the sea
at a place called the Hythe, being the suburbs of
the town. This brood and other oysters they carry
to creeks of the sea, at Brickel-sea, Mersey, Langno,
Fingrego, Wivenho, Tolesbury and Saltcoase, and
there throw them into the channel, which they call
their beds or layers, where they grow and fatten,
and in two or three years the smallest brood will be
oysters of the size aforesaid.

“ Those oysters which they would have green
they put into pits about three feet deep in the salt
marshes, which are overflowed only at spring tides,
to which they have sluices, and let in the salt-water
until it is about a foot and a half deep. These pits,
from some quality in the soil co-operating with the
heat of the sun, will become green, and communi-
cate their colour to the oysters that are put into
them, in four or five days ; though they commonly
let them continue there six weeks or two months,
in which time they will be of a dark green. To
prove that the sun operates in the greening, Toles-
bury pits will green only in summer ; but that the
earth hath the greater power, Brickel-sea pits green
both winter and summer; and for a further proof,
a pit within a foot of a greening pit will not green ;
and those that did green very well, will in time lose
their quality.

“ The oysters, when the tide comes in, lie with
their hollow shell downwards, and when it goes

OYSTER.

56‘l

out they turn on the other side ; they remove not
from their place, unless in cold weather, to cover
themselves in the ouse.

“ The reason of the scarcity of oysters, and con-
sequently of their dearness, is, because they are of
late years bought up by the Dutch.

“ There are great penalties, by the admiralty
court, laid upon those that fish out of those grounds
which the court appoints, or that destroy the cultch,
or that take any oysters that are not of size ; or that
do not tread under their feet, or throw upon the
shore, a fish which they call a five-finger , resem-
bling a spur-rowel ; because that fish gets into the
oysters when they gape, and sucks them out. The
reason why such a penalty is set upon any that shall
destroy the cultch is, because they find that if that
be taken away, the ouse will increase, and the
muscles and cockles will breed there, and destroy
the oysters, they having not whereon to stick their
spat.

“ The oysters are sick after they have spat ; but
in June and July they begin to mend, and in Au-
gust they are perfectly well : the male oyster is
black-sick , having a black substance in the fin ; the
female white-sick (as they term it), having a milky
substance in the fin. They are salt in the pits,
salter in the layers, but salter at sea.”

Oysters are said to attach their shells to different
substances, so as to secure themselves in the situa-
tion where they choose to remain, notwithstanding
the agitation of the sea. Rocks, stones, pieces of

2 o

vor,. 11.

562

OYSTER.

timber, or sea- weeds, afford them this security; and
it has been asserted that, in the tropical climates,
when the trees which grow near the mouths of
rivers chance to bend their branches into the water,
the oysters frequently hang to them in clusters.

It has been long supposed that oysters have no
ability to change then situations, but are obliged
for ever to remain in one place. This, however, is
not strictly the case, as it has been ascertained that
they possess a degree of locomotive power, and oc-
casionally move themselves by ejecting water with
considerable force from their shells. This peculiarity
in oysters may be observed, says the Abbe Dic-
quemare, by putting some of them in a plate placed
in a horizontal position, which contains as much
sea- water as is sufficient to cover them.

MUSCLE.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Shell bivalve ; frequently adhering to some substance by
a beard.

Hinge without teeth, the valves being merely united by
cartilage.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Mytilus margaritiferus. M. testa compresso-plana subor-

biculata, basi transversa imbri-
cata, tunicis dentatis. Linn. Syst.
Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 3351.

A compressed suborbicular shell,
r transversely imbricated at the

base, and toothed on the outside.
Matrix Perlarum. Rumph. Mus.
pi. 47. f. F.

Gallina guttata. Argenv. Conch.
pi. 20. f. A.

Pearl Muscle List. Conch, pi. 221. f* 56. Gualt.

Test. pi. 84. f. E. F. G. Chemn.
Conch. 8. pi. 8. fig 717 — 721. a. b.

This muscle has become of consequence on ac-
count of the valuable concretion which is occasion-
ally found adhering to the inner coat of its shell:

2 0 2

56 4

MUSCLE.

to procure this precious commodity is the business
of a certain class of people, whose wretchedness
drives them to risk their lives, in order to support
themselves by adding to the magnificence of their
superiors.

Pearls are fished for at different places in the
eastern parts of the world ; one of the principal of
which is on the coast of Tinevelly, where a consi-
derable trade is carried on, and several hundreds of
vessels employed. The poor wretches who are de-
stined to dive for these jewels, are carried in the
muscle boats to the proper station, where a cord is
fastened under the arms of each diver, and the end
held by the persons in the boat. Every man is
furnished with a net or sack, that has the mouth
distended by a hoop, and previous to his descent a
large stone of considerable weight is loosely fastened
to his great toe. Thus provided, he plunges to the
bottom, and immediately slips off the stone, which is
drawn up by his comrades, while the diver proceeds
to fill his sack ; and when this task is completed he
pulls the rope by which he is secured, as a signal
for those in the boat to draw him up.

This is a very dangerous employment, and seve-
ral lives have been sacrificed in the pursuit of it;
not so much from the time they remain under wa-
ter, as the chance of being either devoured by
sharks, or covered by a large flat fish which fre-
quents those seas, and sometimes drowns the adven-
turer by keeping him under with its immense fins.
To guard against these dangers, it is common for the

MUSCLE.

56j

divers to carry to the bottom with them a sharp
knife, with which they defend themselves against
the attacks of their enemies.

The boats go four or five leagues from the shore,
and fish in twenty or thirty yards depth of water.
The divers go down repeatedly in search of muscles,
only resting about ten minutes between each time to
recover their breath ; and in this laborious and painful
employment they will continuefor twelve hours every
day. The shells are laid in heaps till the season is
over, and the pearls are sorted according to the size,
the very small or seed pearls being sold by the
ounce, and those unfit for ornament ground into

The pearls are fished for in the spring of the year
in March and April, and in the autumn in August
and September. But it is sometimes necessary to
allow the muscles to remain for a year untouched.

%j *

as they will not always produce pearls of sufficient
size to make it worth the dealer’s while to employ
his men. At best it seems but a precarious sort
of traffic, as a vast many muscles are often brought
to shore before a pearl of any consequence is found.

The Persian Gulf has long been famous for its
pearls ; and Tavernier mentions the fishery as being
very extensive. Many very fine specimens have
been brought from thence, whose value increases in
proportion to their size and the beauty of their
colour. All pearls are subject to become yellow
after being exposed to the air for any length of time,
and they will likewise decay if kept in a damp

566

MUSCLE.

place; probably on account of the saline efflores-
cence which all marine substances seem liable to in

a greater or less degree.

The pearl fishery in the island of Ceylon is par-
ticularly noticed by Mr. Percival, who has lately
given so good an account of the manner in which
the natives obtain the pearls, that we shall beg
leave to avail ourselves of his information.

The bay of Condatchy is the spot occupied by the
fishers during the pearl season ; and this place,
which at other times of the year presents nothing
but a scene of barren wretchedness, becomes at once
all life and bustle : vast numbers of small tents are
erected, and people are seen in every direction bu-
sily employed about their several occupations. The
banks where the fishery is carried on extend seve-
ral miles along the coast, but the principal bank is
opposite to Condatchy, and lies about twenty miles
from the shore. Before the people proceed to bu-
siness, the different oyster banks are surveyed, and
a report made on the subject to government. If the
oysters are found in sufficient abundance, and have
arrived at a proper degree of maturity, the particular
banks to be fished that year are put up to the high-
est bidder, and are usually purchased by a black
merchant. The fishing season commences in Fe-
bruary, and ends about the beginning of April. The
merchant is restricted to a certain term, of which
two months is the outside: however, he is some-

times allowed a few days over on account of un-
avoidable interruptions. The season may be bad ;

MUSCLE.

5 67

stormy days may intervene ; Hindoo and Ma-
hometan festivals (which are never neglected on
any account by the natives) may engage the divers;
and many of the people, being Roman Catholics,
leave off work on Sundays to attend to their religious
duties.

The boats employed in the fishery come from
different parts of the Continent, from whence they
all repair to Condatchy, where they are numbered
and contracted for. During the season all the
boats regularly sail and return together. A signal-
gun is fired about ten at night, when the whole
fleet sets sail with a land breeze. They reach the
bank before day-break, and at sun-rise begin fish-
ing. Thus they continue employed till about
noon, when the sea-breeze arises and warns them
to return home. The owners are informed that the
boats are within sight of land by the firing of a
second gun. Colours are likewise hoisted, and the
anxious merchants repair to the shore to welcome
their arrival and take out the cargoes, as it is ne-
cessary to have the boats completely unloaded be-
fore ni°dit. Mr. Percival assures us, that however
the day’s adventure may turn out, the owners sel-
dom appear to be disappointed ; for although they
may have been unsuccessful one day, they trust
with the greatest confidence to the next, as the
Bramins and conjurors, whom they implicitly trust
in defiance of all experience, understand too well
the liberality of men in hopes of a good fortune,
not to promise them all they can desire.

5 6S

MUSCLE.

Each boat carries twenty men, ten of whom are
employed as rowers and to assist the others who
are engaged to dive. They go down into the sea
by five at a time, and each set relieves the other
alternately, so that by this method the party just
come up is allowed time to breathe and prepare for
a fresh plunge. Five stones are brought in each
boat for the purpose of accelerating the descent of
the divers. These stones are of a pyramidal shape,
and have a hole through the smaller end, of a
sufficient size to admit a rope. The divers, who
are accustomed to this employment from their in-
fancy, descend to the depth of from four to ten
fathom water, in search of oysters, without the least
fear of being drowned. When one of these fellows
is about to plunge, he seizes the rope, loaded with
a stone, with his right foot, wdiile he takes hold
of a bag of net-work with his left #. The diver,
thus prepared, takes another rope in his right hand,
and holding his nostrils with his left, plunges into
the water, and immediately sinks to the bottom.
He then hangs the net round bis neck, and collects
as many oysters as he can while he remains under
water, which is usually about two minutes. He
then makes a signal to those above, who draw him
up, wdiile the stone is left at the bottom to be pulled
up afterwards by the rope attached to it.

* It appears from Mr. Percival’s account, that all the Indians
use their toes in working or holding as well as their fingers, and
that from habit they can pick up even the smallest thing from the
ground, with their toes, as nimbly as an European could with his
fingers.

MUSCLE.

569

It seems the exertion which these poor wretches
undergo, during this process, is so violent, that
upon being brought into the boat, they discharge
water from their mouth, ears, and nostrils, and fre-
quently even blood. We must suppose this often
to be the consequence of their labour, since we are
told they will make from forty to fifty plunges
a day, and at each plunge bring up about a hundred
oysters. The usual time of remaining under water
does not exceed two minutes ; but instances are
known of divers who could continue four or five
minutes ; and Mr. Percival mentions an instance of
a diver from Anjango, who, in the year 1 797> abso-
lutely remained at the bottom full six minutes.

Here, as well as in other fisheries, the ground-
shark is the chief object of terror to the divers.
The element into which they daily plunge is na-
tural to them ; they may be considered as almost
amphibious, and go from the surface of the water
to the bottom, with as much unconcern as an Eu-
ropean would walk in his garden ; but they are far
from being insensible of danger from this inhabi-
tant of the deep, and the fear lest they should meet
with their terrible enemy, so continually occupies
their minds, that these simple people seek for safety
in supernatural means. “ Before they begin div-
ing,” says Mr. Percival, “ the priest or conjuror is
always consulted ; and whatever he says to them is
always received with the most implicit confidence.
The preparation which he enjoins them consists of

570

MUSCLE.

certain ceremonies, according to the cast and sect to
which they belong, and on the exact performance
of these they lay the greatest stress. Their belief
in the efficacy of these superstitious rites can never
be removed, however different the event may be
from the predictions of their deluders. Govern-
ment therefore wisely gives way to their prejudices,
and always keeps in pay some conjurors, to attend
the divers and remove their fears. For though these
people are so skilful and so much masters of their
art, yet they will not on any account descend till
the conjuror has performed his ceremonies. His
advices are religiously observed, and generally have
a tendency to preserve the health of the devotee.
The diver is usually enjoined to abstain from eating
before he goes to plunge, and to bathe himself in
fresh water immediately after his return from the
labours of the day.

“ The conjurors are known in the Malabar lan-
guage by the name of Pillal Karras , or binders of
sharks. During the time of the fishing, they stand
on the shore from the morning till the boats return
in the afternoon, all the while muttering and mum-
bling prayers, distorting their bodies into various
strange attitudes, and performing ceremonies to
which no one, not even themselves I believe, can
attach any meaning. All this while it is necessary
for them to abstain from food or drink, otherwise
their prayers would be ol no avad. These acts of
abstinence, however, they sometimes dispense with,

MUSCLE.

57 1

and regale themselves with toddy, a species of liquor
distilled from the palm-tree, till they are no longer
able to stand at their devotions.”

It appears that these conjurors are an artful set of
people, and that while they are deluding the poor
divers, they are not unmindful of their own inter-
ests, but endeavour, by every means in their
power, to steal the pearls. Of course the superin-
tendant of the fishery, who is well aware of their
intentions, looks upon them with a jealous eye; but
from the great attachment of the people towards
these men, he is obliged to conceal his suspicions,
and acknowledge their power over the sharks. The
artful manner in which these fellows recover their
credit with their superstitious votaries, when by any
chance they have failed in their predictions, is thus
related by Mr. Percival :

“ Since the island came into our possession, a
diver at the fishery one year lost his leg, upon
which the head conjuror was called to an account
for the disaster. His answer gives the most striking
picture of the knowledge and capacity of the people
he had to deal with. He gravely told them, c that
an old witch, who owed him a grudge, had just
come from Colatig on the Malabar coast, and effect-
ed a counter-conjuration, which for a time rendered
his spells fruitless : that this had come to his know-
ledge too late to prevent the accident which had
happened, but that he would now show his own
superiority over his antagonist by enchanting the
sharks and binding up their mouths, so that no more

572

MUSCLE.

accidents should happen during the season.’ For-
tunately for the conjuror the event answered his
prediction, and no further damage was sustained
from the sharks during the fishery of that year.”

The divers are paid either in money, or with a
portion of pearl oysters, which they take the chance
of opening on their own account. The boats are
hired in the same manner ; and the spirit of specu-
lation, which has charms in all countries, makes
them prefer the most uncertain method of the two.
Many pearls are stolen by the persons employed to
search the fish, who are sometimes suspected of
swallowing them : when this is supposed to be the
case, the merchants confine the men and give them
strong emetics and purgatives, by which the stolen
goods are said to be frequently discovered.

When the oysters are removed from the boats, they
are placed in pits about two feet deep, or in small
square places fenced round for the purpose, and
there suffered to die and rot. The stench occasion-
ed by them, while passing through a state of putre-
faction, is so great as to infect the air for a consider-
able distance round the place where they lie : but
this must be endured for the sake of the pearls,
which might be greatly injured if the oysters were
opened by force while they were alive.

The black people are very expert in drilling and
stringing the pearls which have been found during
the season. Mr. Percival, who was much pleased
with their dexterity, tells us that they use a ma-
chine made of wood, resembling an obtuse inverted

MUSCLE.

573

cone, and supported upon three feet. In the upper
Hat surface of this small machine, holes are formed
to receive the larger pearls ; those of a small size
are beat in with a little wooden hammer. The
drilling instruments are spindles turned round in a
wooden head by means of a bow handle to which
they are attached. The pearls being placed in
the holes already mentioned, and the point of the
spindle adjusted to them, the workman presses on
the wooden head of the machine with his left hand,
while his right is employed in turning the bow
handle. He occasionally moistens the pearl, to ac-
celerate the process, by dipping the little finger of
his right hand in a cocoa-nut-shell filled with water,
which is placed by him for that purpose. This is
done with a dexterity and quickness which can only
be acquired by long practice*.

It is supposed that the pearl is a morbid concre-
tion, formed in the shell by the animal while in an
unhealthy state ; and that the jewels will be larger
or smaller in proportion to the strength of the dis-
ease. The calcareous matter of which it consists is
deposited in the same manner as the internal sur-
face of the shell ; that is, one layer upon another ;
so that, when cut through the middle, the different
coats may be traced from the centre of the pearl to
its circumference.

Linnaeus made a remarkable discovery relating to

* Mr. Percival has related several other interesting circum-
stances respecting the pearl fishery, for which we must refer our
readers to his Account of the Island of Ceylon.

5/4

MUSCLE.

the formation of pearls in the river pearl muscle
[Mjja margaritifera) which, though a different shell,
and belonging to another genus, may be mentioned
in this place on account of this singular circum-
stance. It appears that Linnaeus (by some means, of
which we are totally unacquainted,) contrived to
put these muscles into a state of producing pearls at
his pleasure, though the final effect did not take
place for several years. It was supposed, from a
paper which was published many years after the
discovery by Chemnitz, that the method consisted
in injuring the shell externally, perhaps by a perfo-
ration ; for it has been observed that these concre-
tions, in the fresh water muscle, are found in the
inside exactly opposite to the perforations and in-
juries made by serpulce and other animals. How-
ever this may be, the states of Sweden thought the
subject of sufficient importance to reward Linnaeus
with a premium of 1 800 dollars, which is equal to
about 450 pounds sterling. This curious discovery
is more particularly noticed in the General View of
the Writings of Linnaeus, edited by the learned
Hr. Maton : where the reader will find the transla-
tion of a very interesting memorial, which was laid
before the states for the purpose of enforcing Lin-
naeus’s claims on this occasion.

It has been long known that this species of fresh
water muscle occasionally produces pearls, and
mention is made in Lowthorp’s Abridgement of the
Philosophical Transactions, of several of large size
found in the rivers of the county of Tyrone and

MUSCLE.

r>7 5

Donegal in Ireland. Single pearls were sold from
four pounds ten shillings to ten pounds, and one,
considered however as an extraordinary instance,
weighed thirty-six carats, and was valued at forty
pounds, but being foul lost much of its worth.

But it is not the muscle alone which produces
this beautiful ornament ; other shell-fish will some-
times deposit the same substance; and we lately saw
a pink pearl which was taken from the body of a
very large kind of whelk*, which is fished up by
the Negroes off’ the island of Barbadoes, and sold in
the markets as a delicacy. This beautiful prize was
discovered by chance, while the men were employ-
ed in cleaning the fish. It weighs twenty-four
grains, and would have been more valuable if it had
been of a round shape. Only four of these pearls
have been discovered in the vast numbers of shell-
fish that are annually brought to market in that part
of the world, though we have reason to believe that
this is in some measure owing to carelessness in the
Negroes, who clean their fish without consideration,
and have probably in their hurry returned many a
pearl to its native element along with the refuse of
the animal. It should be remarked that the pearl
is exactly of the same colour as the interior coat of
the shell, and is like it in every respect except in
figure.

We must now leave these precious shells to de-
scend to the common muscle, which, notwithstand-

* Strombus Gigas Linn.

MUSCLE.

5 76

ing its humble situation, and inability to pro-
duce any thing worth the notice of the jeweller,
affords something in its history worthy the obser-
vation of the naturalist. Nature is not inattentive
to the wants even of the most insignificant of her
productions ; and therefore the muscle, which ranks
so low amongst the inhabitants of the deep, has not
been forgotten. This helpless animal would be sub-
ject to be dashed against every rock, and broken
into fragments by the rude motion of the waves, if
it were not for an anchor with which she is naturally
provided, and which, when once thrown out, en-
ables her to ride out the greatest storms in safety.
The instrument of motion by which the muscle
contrives to reach the object it wants to bind itself
to, is a muscular substance resembling a tongue,
which is found long in proportion to the size of the
animal. In some it is two inches long, in others
not a third part of these dimensions. This the
creature has the power of thrusting out of its shell ;
and with this it is capable of making a slight furrow
in the sand at the bottom. By means of this fur-
row it can erect itself upon the edge of its shell,
and thus continues to make the furrow in proportion
as it goes forward. The progressive motion of the
shell is effected by the tongue, which is stretched
forward and drawn in alternately, and being of a
glutinous nature, attaches itself to the sand, so as
to move the shell by slow degrees, till it reaches the
destined point. Having determined upon its place
of residence, the muscle detaches a number of

MUSCLE.

577

threads from its body, with which, as with a cable,
it fixes itself to the stone or rock, and thus resists
all the agitations of the water. These threads are
called the beard of the muscle, and are a very cu-
rious appendage to the animal, which, secured in
this manner, finds a ready subsistence in the little
particles of animal matter, and the small marine
insects which the sea washes into its shell.

Muscles are considered as delicate food, and are
very commonly eaten, but not always with impu-
nity. Some constitutions seem to be much affected
by these shell-fish, and many people are said to be
poisoned by them. It is difficult to account for this,
as some persons will be seized with very unpleasant
symptoms, such as swellings, shortness of breath,
and even convulsions ; while others, who have been
eating from the same dish, will escape unhurt. As
the mind, upon these occasions, is always active to
discover a cause, and will rather put up with a
doubtful one than have none at all, the poor little
pea-crab has been fixed upon as the author of the
mischief, though he is perfectly harmless, and only
now and then craves an asylum within the gaping
shells of the muscle. The best remedy to remove
the bad effects arising from these fish, is an emetic
taken immediately, and, after its operation, a dose
of castor oil.

2 p

VOL. II.

UNIVALVE SHELLS.

PAPER NAUTILUS.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

A thin ribbed shell with a large single cavity.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Argonauta Argo. A. carina utrinque subdentata. Linn. Syst.

Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 38 67.

Keel a little toothed on both sides.
Nautilus tenuis. Rumph. Mus. pi. 18.
f. 1, 4. A. B.

Nautilus papyraceus. Argenv. Conch.
pi. 5. f. A. B. C.

Paper Nautilus. List. Conch, pi. 554, 555. Sel. Mus.3..

pi. 84. f. 4 — 12.

This shell is one of the most elegant of the whole
tribe, and is remarkable for the thinness of its sub-
stance ; it is of a pure white, except a slight tinge
of yellow within the shell, and the sides are marked
with elegant ribs that run towards the keel. This
little vessel has a sailor within who has been much

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PAPER NAUTILUS.

579

celebrated for his skill in navigation, and is even
supposed to have suggested the first idea of that art
amongst the ancients.

In the Mediterranean Sea, and in the Indian
Ocean, these shell-fish are not uncommon. In calm
weather they may be observed floating on the sur-
face in a very beautiful manner, some spreading their
little sails, while others are rowing with their feet.
To accomplish this singular purpose the nautilus is
supplied with eight arms, two of which are furnished
at their extremity with an oval membrane that
serves for a sail, while the other six, hanging over
the sides of the boat, are employed as oars, and oc-
casionally serve to steer by. In order to rise from
the bottom of the ocean for the purpose of sailing
on the surface, the nautilus discharges a quantity of
water from its shell, by which it becomes lighter
than the surrounding medium, and of course rises to
the top. Numbers of these curious animals may be
seen sailing about and diverting themselves on the
smooth surface of the sea ; but if any danger ap-
proaches, or the winds begin to rise, they imme-
diately lower their sails, and, shrinking into the body
of the shell, sink at once to the bottom. Their ex-
treme timidity makes it very difficult to take them
alive; for, whenever any person approaches, they
immediately leave the surface of the water; and al-
though seamen have often got very near them, yet
when they arrived within a certain distance and
stretched out their hands to secure the fish, they

2 p 2

580

PAPER NAUTILUS.

constantly disappointed the person by sinking to
the bottom.

The argonaut or paper nautilus is of a distinct
genus from the common or chamber nautilus. This
is a much thicker shell, and contains an animal of
very different habits. Unlike the paper nautilus, it
is divided into a number of chambers, each sepa-
rated from the other by a beautiful mother of pearl
partition, having a small hole about the size of a
crow-quill in the upper part. Each chamber is
filled by the body of the animal, and a communi-
cation kept up between the head and the tail by a
vessel which runs through the small opening in each
partition. Thus, when the fish is removed from its
shell, it appears like a number of small bits of flesh
threaded together by a common membrane.

COWRY.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Shell univalve; of an oval shape, and blunt at each end.
Aperture the length of the shell, and toothed on each side.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

CyprjEA Tigris. C. testa ovata, posterius obtusaa, nterius rotun-

data: linea longitudinali testacea. Linn.

Syst.Nat. Gmel. l.p. 3408.

Of an oval shape, obtuse on the posterior part
and rounded before. A longitudinal line
along the top of the shell.

PORCELLANA GUTTATA. Rumph. MUS. pi. 38.

f. A.

Tiger Cowry. List. Conch, pi. 681, 682. f. 28, 2 Q. Gualt.

Test. pi. 14. f. G. H. I. L. Argenv. Conch.
pi. 18. f. F. Mart. Conch. 1. pi. 24. f. 232
—236.

The species belonging to this genus are, for the
most part, remarkable for their beauty, and the
particular one which we have selected may trulv be
said to rank amongst the first in point of elegance.
Notwithstanding the richness of its colouring1 and
the softness of its tints, this beautiful shell has shared
the fate of many a common object: it is com-

582

COWRY.

paratively disregarded ; and whilst others of very
inferior beauty are carefully treasured in cabinets,
this species is only thought worthy to grace a man-
tle-piece. The Tiger Cowry is too well known to
require a particular description of its form or colour;
it will suffice to say that its rich enamelled back is
covered with black spots, which often run together
and form small patches; that the sides near the mouth
are white, and sometimes prettily pencilled with
gray lines, and that a line runs obliquely along the
back.

What makes the subject of our present attention
particularly interesting, is the history of the man-
ner in which it is formed by its tender inhabitant,
and the peculiar power which the animal has of
quitting its shell whenever it becomes inconvenient,
in order to construct a new dwelling of more capa-
cious dimensions.

We learn from M. Bruguiere, who has published
his observations ( Sur la Formation de la Coquille des
Porcellaines, et sur la Faculte qu’ont leurs Animaux
de s’en detacher, et de les quitter a des differentes
Epoques) in the first volume of the Journal d’Histoire
Naturelle, that the inhabitant of the cowry, inde-
pendent of the organs which are common to animals
of other univalve shells, has two ample membrana-
ceous appendages, "or wings, placed on the sides of
the body, with which the creature can completely
cover itself. These two wings contribute greatly,
together with the edge of the neck or collar of the
animal, towards the formation of the shell ; since

COWRY.

583

they furnish the ordinary exterior layers of enamel,
upon which we may perceive the marks of the la-
minae or successive coats of which all shells are com-
posed. The shape of the exterior layers is different
from those situated beneath, which may be consi-
dered as a smooth shining substance that the animal
goes over once while it is forming its shell in order
to give it the necessary solidity. It is from the
body of the animal, or from the edge of its collar,
that the inferior part of the shell is formed, or rather
the testaceous mould. This mould is generally thin
and very brittle : it is striated longitudinally; and as
its origin is not different from that of other shells, it
is not surprising that we find proofs of the formation
in the regular projections which the extremities of
the layers leave by the side of each other. The co-
lours of the mould are different from those of the
exterior layers, and it frequently shows the trans-
versal bands with which it is marked, whilst the
enamel is adorned with spots or stains, because some
parts of the body of the animal are disposed to fur-
nish this composition, which is secreted from certain
moist glands of a different kind from those of the
wings.

Thus we remark two distinct operations in
the formation of a cowry : the first is that which
produces the part of the shell which we have called
the mould, and is the result of a secretion from the
body of the animal; the second, the formation of the
shining enamel. The cowries are thin and transpa-
rent in the first stages of their growth, but at length

584

COWRY.

acquire solidity by means of the external layers, which
the animal applies after the mouth is not only formed,
but considerably contracted, and furnished with the
rudiments of teeth. The last coats proceed, as we
have already said, from a transudation from the wings
of the animal, and leave upon the convex surface of
the shell the marks of the manner in which they
are formed. This is by a longitudinal line, which
may be plainly seen, and which divides them into
two unequal parts. This line (made by the junction
of the wings of the animal) plainly indicates, by the
faintness of the tint, that the colouring juice was
wanting in this part. It is a simple straight line,
when the edges of the wings are of the same confi-
guration, but passes in a sinuous or waving direction,
as in the Cyprcea viappa , when the same edges are
fringed or irregularly cut in their contours.

The most interesting part of the history of these
animals, and what may be considered as a very sin-
gular phenomenon, is their ability to quit their shells
when they are no longer capacious enough to con^-
tain them, and to construct others better suited to
their purpose. The animal increases in size while
it is completing its shell, till at length it grows too
large for its habitation, which, when finished, no
longer admits of enlargement. Thus straitened for
room, it is obliged to quit its old dwelling and build
a new one of larger dimensions, and better propor-
tioned to the increased size of its body. We are

J

at a loss to say bow this operation is performed; but
we may suppose it is not a very laborious one, since

COWRY.

585

the body of the animal is of a consistence between
the tendinous and the mucilaginous; of course not
making any great resistance to its passage through
the mouth of the shell ; for the foot and the two
wings, which compose by far the largest part of the
body, slip out in a moment with the greatest ease.
This separation of the animal from its shell is not dif-
ficult to conceive, when we consider how readily the
lobster quits its crustaceous covering, and the crab
gets rid of its claw.

When the cowry has completely abandoned its
shell, it is quite naked, and exposed to the imme-
diate influence of the saline element by which it is
surrounded. From the irritation occasioned by the
action of the sea, or from some other cause of which
we are ignorant, the hinder parts of the body again
begin to furnish the testaceous matter, which is af-
terwards condensed upon the surface. This secre-
tion is continued till at length the shell appears of
the consistence of paper, and the mouth, which at
this period is very wide, soon afterwards contracts
to its proper shape. The wings of the animal, folded
upon its convex surface, thicken and form the teeth,
which are seen on the edge of the mouth, and
which are deposited with the enamel that adorns
the external part of the shell. In this manner is
produced the opaque and highly polished surface
which is so eminently beautiful in the full-grown
cowry, and which, by the colour of its spots or
stains, contributes greatly towards distinguishing
the different species of the genus.

TESTACEOUS ANIMALS.

SNAIL.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

A spiral shell, sub-pellucid and brittle.
Mouth of a semilunar shape.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Helix iiortensis. H. testa imperforata globosa ; labro albo.

Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 364 9.

A globose imperforated shell, with a white lip.
Cochlea vulgaris major pulla maculata et fas-
ciata hortensis. List. An. Ang. pi. 2. f. 2.
Cochlea vulgaris. Da Cost. Br. Conch.
p. 71. pi. 4. f. 1.

Garden Snail. . Penn. Br. Zool. 4. p. 136. no. 129. pi. 84.

fig. 129. Montague Test. Brit. p. 408.

The shell of the snail possesses two advantages of
essential service to its weak inhabitant ; for it is at
once extremely solid and uncommonly light : thus
is the animal protected from injury, and at the same
time enabled to remove with its house wherever it

SNAIL.

587

pleases. The young snail, when first excluded from
the egg, is completely formed, with a shell upon
its back of a minuteness proportionable to that of
the body, and of the dimensions of the egg which
enclosed it. The first shell is extremely thin, and
proves the basis of a second, which is perpetually
increasing ; and the little shell, such as it is at its
eruption from the egg, will always be the centre of
the other, which the animal, advanced inhergrowth,
forms and completes by adding new circles to the
first shell : and as her body can only be extended
towards the aperture, this must consequently be the
part that receives the fresh accessions, the materials
of which are lodged in the body of the animal, and
formed by a liquor or viscous fluid of considerable
tenacity. This glutinous secretion is transmitted
through a great number of little channels, to the
pores with which the whole surface of the body is
perforated, and thickens into a consistence round
the mouth of the shell. It is here drawn out into a
thin film, under which a second is soon after extend-
ed, and this proves a covering to a third. From the
union of these three films results an incrustation of
the same quality with the rest of the shell. When
the animal increases in bulk, and the extremity of
its body is not sufficiently covered, it continues
to secrete the materials, and build in the same
manner. By these means it erects and repairs its
habitation.

To prove that this secretion is constantly used for
the purpose above mentioned, several snails were

588

SNAIL.

procured, and part of their shells broken off without
bruising the animals. In this state they were en-
closed under glasses, and accommodated with a pro-
per quantity of earth and green leaves. That part
of the body which became visible by the fracture
of the shell, was immediately covered with a kind
of froth that flowed through all the pores, and was
soon succeeded by a second evacuation, which gra-
dually raised the first to a level with the old shell.
That this juice flows from the body of the animal,
and not from the extremities of the adjoining shell,
is rendered sufficiently clear by the following ex-
periment. The little skin which grows under the
shell of a hen’s egg, was carefully inserted between
the body of the snail and the extremity of the frac-
ture. If the shell had then contributed to its own
reparation, the juice that would have flowed from it
must certainly have been shed over the little skin,
and had covered it in proportion as the cavity closed.
On the contrary, if the fluid proceeded from the
body of the snail, this skin would have prevented
its effusion to the shell, and in this case, the juice
would settle between the cuticle and the body of the
animal; which, in reality, happened to be the fact.

Although this experiment accounts for the for-
mation of the shell in a satisfactory manner, yet
another difficulty remains to be cleared up. If the
shells are formed in the manner we have described,
and the fractures they receive are repaired by a mat-
ter that passes through the very same perforations
that originally ejected the substance of the shattered

SNAIL.

589

covering, the new piece tiiat fills the vacancy should
exactly tally in colour with the old fragment, as well
as with all the rest of the shell; and yet several snails
repair their shell in such a manner that the addi-
tional piece will be of a different colour from the
rest. This circumstance, as well as the streaks and
clouds which we admire on the shells of these ani-
mals, is supposed to proceed from the different dis-
position of the extreme parts of the creature’s body,
that are visible at the aperture of the shell, where
we may frequently discover some minute lobes or
lines of flesh, that differ from the rest in colour.
This variety leads us to believe that they have a
different texture from those that are contiguous, and
consequently the juices that flow into them, passing
through strainers, whose perforations vary from those
of the adjoining parts, acquire a particular com-
plexion in that place ; and as these lobes perform
their functions and evacuations as well as the others,
and, in the successive formation and enlargement of
the shell, contribute their proportion with the rest of
the shelly substance that is from time to time thrust
out, all the points of the old shell that correspond with
them must inevitably assume the same colour, and
which differs from that of the surrounding parts :
consequently these colours must be drawn out, and
distributed into lines and rays, and continued in the
same manner as long as the animal persists in her
gentle motions, and makes new additions to her
shell, by the repeated protrusions of her body.

This process may perhaps be rendered clearer by

590

SNAIL.

observing, that as the animal increases in growth,
it draws its tail from the bottom of the shell ; that,
having become too little for its reception, it then
ascends higher, and fixes its tail near the second
or third contortion of the shell, and enlarges its
apartment at the opening. As it makes these ad-
vances by little and little, and ascends from point
to point, as they lie contiguous to each other; those
parts of its body in the aperture of the shell, that
by the diversity of their pores cause this variation
of colour, form one continued and regular streak :
but when the animal, in changing its situation,
leaves an interval between the point from whence
the tail is removed, and the new one to which it is
fastened, all the other parts of the body move in
the same proportion; and those in the orifice of the
shell, that impress the stains, being transferred to
some distance from the preceding speck, tinge the
shell so, as to leave a space of more or less extent
between each spot. A thousand accidents may
likewise intervene to heighten or diminish certain
tints, and diversify the whole to infinity.

Snails have four horns, which are distinctly visible
while the animal is in motion. The eyes appear at
the extreme ends of the two uppermost horns like
blackish points, and their situation is admirably
calculated to assist the animal in discovering sur-
rounding objects, as they resemble two lenses placed
at the end of flexible tubes, which are capable of be-
ing moved in any direction. The mouth is seen
beneath the lower pair of horns, and is provided

SNAIL.

591

above with a palate and a callous jaw, to which is
firmly fixed a tooth shaped like a crescent, and ter-
minated by a number of sharp points like so many
minute teeth : with these the animal chews its food,
and makes great havoc among the leaves of our gar-
den plants. A little tongue is seen in the lower
part of the mouth provided with a hard substance
at the extremity.

Nature has supplied the want of feet in the snail
by providing the animal with two large muscular
skins on each side of the body, which can be con-
tracted or extended at pleasure. The snail is
likewise prevented from falling by a viscous humour
with which the lower part of its body is covered,
and which enables it to adhere very tenaciously in
any situation.

But the most singular circumstance in the natural
history of these animals, and that which requires all
our faith to believe, is the peculiar manner in which
they carry on their courtship ; for, while the poets
are content to wound their heroines with imaginary
darts, the snails are said to use the real ones, and
we are gravely told that when they are disposed to
approach each other, they signify their mutual in-
clination in a manner peculiar to themselves ; one
lanches against the other a kind of little dart, which
has four wings, or minute edges. This weapon
flies from the animal who shot it, and either lodges
in the other, or falls down by her after making a
slight wound, upon which this creature in her turn
dispatches another dart at the aggressor ; and thus

092

SNAIL

the combat continues for a short time, when a re-
conciliation ensues, and the lovers come together.
It appears that the animals are stocked with these
darts at the seasons when they feel inclined to ap-
proach each other, and that after these combats
they lay a certain number of semitransparent eggs
about the size of small peas, in some moist situa-
tion, generally under the earth, where they lie con-
cealed till the young snails are brought forth.

Mr. Montague, in his Testacea Britannica , has
glanced at this peculiarity in the snail without giving
much credit to the accounts of other authors respect-
ing the circumstance. He admits that snails pos-
sess small testaceous spiculae at certain seasons, but
seems to doubt their being missile darts, though it
is natural to suppose the animals are furnished with
them for the purpose of stimulating each other to
love, because it is only at that season they are found
to possess them. u If such are ever discharged at
each other,” says this gentleman, “ we have been
extremely unfortunate in our observations, for in no
one instance could we ever find the dart pene-
trated ; though at the time the animals are close
the point may irritate : but it is neither sufficiently
strong nor sharp-pointed to penetrate the tough
skin with which these animals are furnished ; and,
indeed, the extremely viscid secretion with which
they are so copiously provided, adheres so strongly
to these spiculae, when wholly projected from the
body, that they are for a time held by it. Ihese
celebrated love-darts are sub-pellucid, white, and

SNAIL.

5<D

very brittle; about a quarter of an inch, or three
eighths in length, and somewhat triangular, like the
blade of a sword.”

Dr. Maton has often observed these spiculae, but
never saw them actually projected from one to the
other.

Snails retire into holes or other sheltered places
at the approach of winter, where they cover the
mouths of their shells with a glutinous operculum,
or lid, and remain in a torpid state till the genial
warmth of the following spring tempts them abroad
again. The long fast which they sustain during the
winter season, reduces their size, and renders them
so voracious on their first coming forth, that almost
any green vegetable is relished by them, and con-
sumed with the greatest avidity. When moist food
is not to be obtained, they will even eat dry sub-
stances, and have been known, when confined for
a single night under a glass of more than four inches
diameter, placed on a sheet of common blue paper,
entirely to devour the whole of the paper contained
in the included space, to the very edge of the glass.

Snails are said to be exceedingly tenacious of life,
and some wonderful accounts have been published
to prove this quality. Among them, we find the
history of some, which, after having been known to
remain about fifteen years shut up in a cabinet,
came to life again upon being immersed in water!
and of others which stood a boiling twice repeated,
and yet were none the worse for it the next morn-
ing. That we may not, however, make the thing

vol. 11. 2 a

SNAIL.

5()4

appear still more extraordinary than it is, it will be
necessary to state exactly how this was done. The
person who relates the circumstance in the Annual
Register, collected the snails in order to decorate a
grotto; and, being of a merciful disposition, was
resolved to put them to death at once, instead of
sticking them up alive against the wall. To accom-
plish her purpose (for the author of this account was
a lady), she procured a large china bason, and put-
ting a handful or two of snails into it, filled the vessel
with water from a boiling tea-kettle. After a short
time this water was poured off ; and to prevent the
possibility of returning animation, the bason was
again filled in the same manner, and left to stand
till the morning ; when, to the very great astonish-
ment of the lady, she found her snails crawling
about, some on the edge of the bason, some tum-
bling over, some on the table, and one or two ac-
tuallv eating the paste that was to stick them on!
It appears that the lady was perfectly shocked ; she
cried, picked up every snail carefully, carried them
into a field beyond the garden, and gave them all
their liberty.

Among the Abbe Spallanzani’s Tracts on animal
reproduction, we find some curious though cruel
experiments relative to the common snail, which
possesses the power ol renewing certain parts ol its
body, that may have been separated either by acci-
dent or design. The Abbe first began by cutting
off one of the animal’s horns, which was seen to bud
acrain in about twenty-five days, and continued to

>*5 *

SNAIL.

595

grow till it was equal in length to the other. He
next proceeded to take off part of the head, which
was attended with the same success; for in course of
time the parts were reproduced, and the animal be-
came as perfect as ever. This was not always the
case when the whole head was removed ; but even
under this unfavourable circumstance the animal
often recovered, and appeared at the end of a few
months with a new head in every respect equal to
the old one. The Professor tells us that he tried
this experiment on a great many snails, and that
they retreated into their shells the moment after
the operation, where they concealed themselves,
and remained for many weeks, and even months,
covering the mouth of their habitation with a whit-
ish operculum, produced by the tenacious matter
which exudes from the body. When forced to
come out in thirty or forty days, for the purpose of
examining their wounds, the naked trunks of some
appeared without any marks of reproduction ; but
others, if the weather had been warm, exhibited a
fleshy globule towards the middle of the trunk, very
soft, and of a whitish ash colour, in which there
was no organization either within or without. How-
ever, in eight or ten days more, a sensible change
took place ; the globule became much larger, the
rudiments of the lips were evident, as also those of
the small horns, the mouth, the tongue, and a
membranaceous substance fixed in the upper jaw,
which proved to be the new tooth of the snail.
These parts develop further, and grow more con-

SNAIL.

!>!)<>

spicuous ; they successively occupy greater space in
the trunk ; and, in two or three months at most,
the injury is repaired in such a manner, that, un-
less from the lighter colour, the new head is not to
be distinguished from the old one.

This remarkable property in the snail has since
been confirmed by other persons, who have repeated
the Professor’s experiments. Among the number
that communicated their success to Spallanzani, was
Sig. Gerardi, an Italian anatomist, in whose letter
we find the following passage :

“ Whenever the head is finished, the snail uses
the renovated parts to repair the long abstinence
it has been forced to undergo. During the be-
ginning of October last year, I profited by a gentle
shower to examine all the animals that issued from
the shell. One of those people was with me who
are naturally incredulous, and never less disposed
to believe any thing than what borders on the
marvellous. Not only was he obliged to acknow-
ledge that the head was really reproduced, but he
observed one endeavouring, with its prominent
teeth, to gnaw a particle of bran, partly adhering
to the shell, and in an inconvenient place. It was
entertaining to see, in the snail’s exertions, the re-
peated action and re-action of the open mouth, the
soft lips, tongue, and teeth, turning the particle a
thousand ways, until it effected separation, and
made itself a savoury mouthful.”

Several years ago an attempt was made in this
country to introduce the Helix pomcitia , a species of

SNAIL.

597

snail well known, and much esteemed among the
Romans, who kept them in cochlearia , or places
appropriated to the purpose, where they were fat-
tened with bran and wine lees. Mr. Pennant says,
Sir Kenelm Digby first imported them from Italy,
but whether for medical purposes, or as an article
of food, is uncertain. However this may be, the
species is still confined to certain counties, and,
though common enough in Surry, is by no means
plentiful elsewhere.

On some parts of the Continent these slimy ani-
mals are still admired, and Dr. Townson was shown
at Erlaw a complete snailery, constructed, as the
proprietor informed him, on an improved plan.
This was merely a hole dug in the ground to the
depth of two or three feet, and covered with a sort
of wooden house.

This species is much larger than the garden snail,
and is of a brownish yellow colour, marked with
three faint bands. It provides against the incle-
mency of winter, by retiring to a warm hole, and
closing the mouth of the shell with a thick cover or
operculum. In this state it remains till the spring
be sufficiently advanced to entice it from its hiding-
place, when it creeps forth, and presently recruits
the loss of flesh which it sustained during its re-
tirement.

SHIP-WORM.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Shell a small taper tube, open at each end.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Teredo navalis. T. testa tenuissima cylindrica lsvi. Linn.

Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 3747.

Shell very thin, smooth and cylindrical.

Serpula testa cylindracea flexuosa, lignum
perforans. Anon. Conch, pi. 10. f. 1 and 4.
Ship-worm. . Phil. Trans. 1741. no. 455. pi. 2. Baster.

Penn. Brit. Zool. 4. no. 1(50. Da Cost.
Brit. Conch, p. 21. Montague Test. Brit.
p. 527.

The animal which inhabits this tubular shell
has been long known, and always dreaded, on ac-
count of the mischief it does to our timber, and
particularly to the bottoms of our vessels. The
hardest oak is no defence against its persevering in-
dustry, but in time becomes perforated in every
part, and doomed to decay. As the teredo, though
very insignificant in itself, has become of conse-
quence on account of its destructive power, we shall

SHIP-WORM.

599

be rather more particular in our description of the
shell, and its inhabitant, than we have hitherto been

with the testaceous animals.

Mr. Montague, to whose account we are chiefly
indebted for what follows, describes the shell as
thin, brittle, and flexuous. It is of a whitish
colour, and becomes thick and strong towards the
smaller end. The aperture is round, and the head
of the animal is covered by two testaceous hemi-
spherical valves, partly projecting in a sharp angle,
and striated in a longitudinal direction with great
regularity. The inside of each valve is furnished
with a long, flat, and curved tooth. Near the ex-
tremity of the tail of the animal are fixed two lan-
ceolate plates, or valves, one on each side; the
office of which is to close the extremity of the tube
at the thickened part. “ These,” says Mr. Montague,
u Seem to be properly the shells of the animal,
being attached to it. The tubular testaceous case,
or sheath, which lines the hole made by this animal
in wood, though necessary to its existence, appears
only to be formed as an apartment in which it may
move with ease and security ; for it is observable
that no two tubes ever touch each other, although
the lamina of wood between them is frequently not
thicker than paper. The tube is seldom so long as
the animal, as the anterior part of the perforation
is usually not lined with it for two inches or more ;
the smaller end is always even with the surface of
the timber perforated, but so small as not easily to

SIIIP-WORM.

600

be discovered ; but sufficient to admit the surround-
ing element, and which the animal can regulate by
the posterior valves.”

I he animal, in its operations, instinctively fol-
lows the grain of the wood, and never bores across
it it the difficulty can possibly be avoided ; for, after
having penetrated a little way, it turns and con-
tinues nearly in a parallel direction till it is ob-
structed either by a knot in the wood or another
workman of its own species : its course then de-
pends entirely on the nature of the obstacle; and, if
the resistance is not to be overcome, it will make
a short turn in the form of a syphon, rather than
bore any distance across the grain.

Mr. Montague examined a great number of these
shells in the dock-yard of Plymouth, where every
means have been tried to prevent their destructive
operations. The piles, he examined, had been re-
cently taken up to be replaced with new ; these, he
was informed, had not been under water above four
or five years, and were in that time greatly perfo-
rated, though made of sound and solid oak. This
rapid destruction in the timbers has suggested the
propriety of the method now adopted in the dock-
yards to secure them. All that part which is con-
tinually under water, is covered with short broad-
headed nails, which the sea salt soon converts into
a strong coating of rust, impenetrable to these ani-
mals, and even said to be superior to a sheathing
of copper.

SHIP-WORM.

601

The shell is rarely above three quarters of an inch
in diameter at the larger end, and a foot in length,
in our seas ; but exceeds these dimensions in the
warmer climates; from whence it was originally
brought into our harbours, and is now unfortunate-
ly become too common.

ZOOPHYTES.

Under the title of the Zoophytes, Li nnaeus has ar-
ranged all the Corallines, to which he has added the
genus Hydra, consisting of animals deservedly ad-
mired for their wonderful reproductive power. The
various productions which come under the denomi-
nation of corallines, were formerly supposed to be of
vegetable origin, and, like other plants, to be pro-
duced from their own proper seed. The little crea-
tures issuing from the cells in their sides, and ex-
panding their tender transparent arms in search of
food, were supposed to be flowers in the act of blow-
ing, and from their receding, when disturbed, they
might be said to partake of the nature of sensitive
plants, which contract their leaves whenever they
are touched. The idea of their vegetable nature,
however, though once strongly supported, and by
most persons firmly believed, was at length shaken
by some enlightened naturalists, and finally refuted
by the ingenious Mr. Ellis. This gentleman, with
a strong inclination for the study of natural history,
and a persevering industry in the pursuit of knowr-
ledge, proved beyond a doubt that the different spe-
cies of corallines are the work of an infinite number

ZOOPHYTES.

603

of minute polypes, which form their habitations as
bees do their honey-comb ; with this difference,
that the honey-comb always assumes one shape,
w hereas corallines are of various figures.

As it is always pleasing to observe the progress of
knowledge, and to trace the origin of any discovery
that may tend to rectify our errors, we shall here
notice the circumstances that induced Mr. Ellis to
pay particular attention to these marine productions.
In the autumn of the year 1751, he received a cu-
rious collection of sea plants and corallines from the
island of Anglesea in North Wales ; and, in order to
preserve some of the most beautiful kinds, he ex-
panded them on paper in fresh water, and took some
pains to lay them out with exactness. After they
were completely dried, he disposed them so as to
form a kind of landscape of different colours, and
contrived to represent a variety of hills, dales, and
rocks, that added greatly to the beauty of his design.
While he was thus amusing himself, the celebrated
Dr. Hales paid him a visit, and was so much
pleased with these natural landscapes, that he desired
Mr. Ellis to make some of the same kind for her
Royal Highness the Princess Dowager of Wales,
that the young princesses might learn to dispose the
plants in the same picturesque manner. For this
purpose he was further requested to collect all the
varieties of our coasts, in which employ he was much
assisted by his friend Mr. George Shelvocke. It is
necessary to mention these particulars, as they led
immediately to his future discoveries; for it is more

604

ZOOPHYTES.

than probable, that unless he had been stimulated
by the consideration of the high personage to
whom all his labours were directed, he would never
have made this part of natural history his particular
study. From the observations which Mr. Ellis
made while constructing his marine pictures, he was
convinced that several of the subjects, which had
hitherto been considered by naturalists as vege-
tables, were in reality of animal production. This
opinion was so strongly seconded by many of his
friends, that he resolved to determine how far his
suspicions were just, by examining the substances
in their recent state. For this purpose, in August
1752, he went to the Island of Sheppey, and took
with him a celebrated artist, that the subjects
which he thought worthy of preservation might be
faithfully represented. There he had an opportunity
of seeing those disputed beings, called branched
corallines, alive in sea-water ; and, by the help of a
microscope, was fully convinced that these apparent
plants were ramified animals in their proper skins;
not locomotive, but fixed to the shells of oysters,
muscles, &c. While residing in this place, he had
an opportunity of observing the animal inhabitant
of the Great Tooth Coralline ; and his success in
this first essay induced him to pursue the inquiry
with attention.

During his stay at Brighthelrnstone, in the sum-
mer of 1754, in company with that excellent artist
Mr. Ehret, he observed a great variety of corallines,
which were faithfully committed to paper by his

ZOOPHYTES.

6*05

friend ; and the drawings, together with an account of
this excursion, were presented to the Royal Society.
On several parts of the corallines he noticed little
bodies, which, through the microscope, appeared
to be so many vesicles or bladders. “ To the use
of these,” says Mr. Ellis, “ I was altogether a
stranger till this journey : but now I discovered
that they were matrices , or habitations of young
polypes, which are produced here and there on the
sides of the parent, as in the fresh-water polype ;
only in the marine ones they are protected with
this vesicular covering. These vesicles appearing at
a certain season of the year, according to the differ-
ent species of corallines, and then falling off, like
the blossoms or seeds of plants, have made some
curious persons, who have not had an opportunity of
seeing the animals alive in the vesicles, conclude
them to be the seed-vessels of plants ; and into this
mistake I was led myself, in the account laid be-
fore the Royal Society in If 52. In which account
I had taken some pains to point out the great
similitude between the vesicles, and denticulated
appearance of some of these corallines; and the
tooth-shaped leaves and seed-vessels of some species
of land-mosses, particularly of the hypnum and
bryum.”

In this manner did the indefatigable Mr. Ellis
clearly prove the nature of these marine substances,
and open the way for those who were vet doubtful
to satisfy themselves of the truth of what he ad-
vanced.

ZOOPHYTES.

bob’

CORALLINES.

I he corallines of our coasts are chiefly ol‘a horny
consistence, and in their appearance very much re-
semble plants. They grow, as we have already re-
marked, in different forms, and from thence have
been distinguished by different specific names. The
Serlularia abielina , or sea-fir coralline, is one of
the most common, and will serve to illustrate what
has been advanced respecting their animal nature
in a very satisfactory manner. It is found attached
to various shells, and grows to the height of three
or four inches. It may be readily distinguished by
its fir-like appearance and alternate branches, which
are set with little denticles, somewhat of a conical
shape. If a small portion of this coralline, soon
after it has been dredged from the sea, be put on
the stage of a single microscope (in a drop of sea-
water), the polypes will presently be seen stretching
out their arms in search of food. This is a very
pleasing object, and highly calculated to excite the
astonishment of those who are unaccustomed to exa-
mine Nature on so small a scale. Many who spend
a certain portion of every year on the different
coasts of this kingdom, will find themselves amply
repaid for the trouble of searching out these things,
by the amusement they will afford them : for their
information we shall subjoin the methods which
Mr. Ellis recommends, for preserving the polypes
in an expanded state, so that they may be sent to

ZOOPHYTES. 6*07

any distance, and exhibited to those who have no
opportunity to examine them alive.

“ The greatest variety of corallines,” says this
gentleman, “ are to be found on what are generally
called rock oysters, or upon those beds of oysters
that have been for some time disused or neglected.
Upon such I have seen them grow as it were in
little groves. As soon as the fishermen take these
oysters out of the sea, let them immediately put
them into buckets of sea-water ; for the animals are
of so tender a nature that the air soon shrivels
them up. As soon as they can conveniently, let
them be brought on shore, and stripped of the
shells with a pair of pincers, taking hold of them
near where they adhere to the shells ; then put
them gently into white earthen plates full of clear
sea-water; and in about an hour, or perhaps less,
they will begin to recover from this rough treat-
ment ; and many of the animals will begin to ex-
tend themselves ; this you may observe by a mag-
nifying glass of about two inches’ focus. Those
that you perceive extended and alive, may be sud-
denly taken out with the pincers, and instantly im-
mersed in any kind of spirits, which you may have
by you in an open vessel for that purpose. This
will fix the animals in such a manner, that when
they are put into wide-mouthed, strong glass bot-
tles full of the same spirits, and well corked, many
varieties may be sent together to a great distance,
without prejudice to the figure of the animals, as I
have experienced.

6*08

ZOOPHYTES.

“ Or this method may be tried: — that is, to place
the oysters with the corallines on them in broad
earthen or wooden vessels, with as much sea- water
over them as will barely cover them ; let them rest
an hour, and then pour boiling water gently by the
side of the vessel, to about the same quantity that
there was of cold water in the vessels. Immediately
afterwards pluck the corallines off the shells, and
put them in bottles of spirits as before. When they
are received, in order to be examined, you must
provide long narrow bottles of crystal glass to put
the different sorts in; these must have wide mouths,
and be filled with the clearest spirits, but not
stronger than proof brandy ; and of such a diameter
as shall be agreeable to the focus of the glass you
propose to examine them by. If these bottles are
properly stopped to prevent the spirits evaporating,
it will be the best method I know of keeping these
extraordinary plant-like animals in a condition ca-
pable of convincing the most incredulous of their
nature and origin.”

But few of the corallines which are found in the
warmer parts of the world, bear any resemblance,
either in form or texture, to those which grow in
our sea. They are for the most part of a testace-
ous nature, and effervesce strongly in acids. Large
forests of these submarine productions are to be
met with on the southern coasts of America, as
well as in other parts of the world ; and the differ-
ent forms they assume, are seen to advantage in
those seas, where the water is frequently clear

ZOOPHYTES.

609

enough for a person to distinguish any substance at
a considerable depth. These aquatic groves are
composed of a great variety of species, which, asto-
nishing as it may appear, are all constructed by the
tender little creatures that inhabit them. If we
give ourselves time to consider the many wonder-
ful processes in nature which are daily performed
before our eyes, but which, from their frequency,
are wholly disregarded, we shall be the less sur-
prised to find these minute and glutinous animals
constructing their habitations of materials almost
as hard as marble. It is not merely the immense
labour of these little polypes that we have to ad-
mire ; for they possess the art of giving a very
beautiful finish to their calcareous structures, and
proceed with a regularity in their operations that
it will be difficult for us to conceive. Some ex-
actly resemble large mushrooms with -their gills up-
wards ; others take the form of different trees, and
some again have a surface like the finest lace. Among
them the Tubipora musica , or red pipe coralline, is
one of the most common, and is found in great
abundance in several parts of the world. We sus-
pect this to be the principal species which forms
the group of the thousand islands in the Strait
of Sunda, which are mentioned by Mr. Barrow
as being wholly formed of coralline. This gentle-
man observes, that from the soft and leather-like
consistence of the tubulated surfaces of the coral
fabrics, it would appear that as the old animals die,
and their calcareous cells become rigid, succeeding
VOL. 11. 2 R

6 io

ZOOPHYTES.

generations continue their operations on the upper
and lateral surfaces, each according to the particular
form which Nature has prescribed. The great
masses of coral rock, according to Mr. Barrow, ap-
pear to be composed chiefly of madrepores , cellipo-
res , and tubipores . In order to determine whether
the central parts of a coral island were composed of
the same materials as the shore, he removed the
soil to the depth of about three feet, and found
large blocks of madrepores, with various cellular
masses of calcareous formation.

Thus by imperceptible gradations, and in an al-
most inconceivable manner, do these apparently in-
significant beings raise huge masses of durable rock,
which at length appear above the surface of the
sea, and soon become covered with vegetables.

The stony habitations of these little creatures, in
which they can conceal themselves at pleasure, are
highly necessary for their preservation, and defend
them from the rude attacks of a boisterous element,
as well as from the many enemies which constantly
surround them. The fresh-water polype, on the
contrary, which we are now about to describe, being
confined to the calm and sheltered situation of ponds
and ditches, does not stand in need of so necessary a
provision for its defence, and is therefore denied
the power of forming any covering.

FRESH-WATER POLYPE.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

A contractile animal affixed to some substance by ils base,
and provided with a number of tcntacula surrounding its
mouth.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Hydra fusca. . . . H. tentaculis suboctonis longissimis.

Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p. 38/0.
Polype with eight long arms.

Hydra corpore cordato griseo, cirrhis
multoties longioribus. Pallas El.
Zooph. p. 29. no. ] .

Fresh-water Polype. Ellis Corail. pi. 28. f. C. Trernb.

Polyp. 1. p. 22. pi. 1. f. 3,4. Schcej}'.
Polyp. 1/54. pi. 3. f. 1.

We are indebted to the indefatigable researches of
M. Trembley for the natural history of this little
animal, which makes so insignificant a figure in the
wide field of nature, that till his time we had no
regular account of its wonderful properties. It was
a doubt, when first discovered, whether the polype
was a vegetable or an animal substance ; and so
nearly is it allied in appearance to a plant, that it

2 R 2

0*12

FRESH-WATER POLYPE.

was some time before M. Trembley could satisfy
himself of its real nature.

In the description of this species may be included
two others, the green and the gray polype ; both
of which, like the brown, are common either in
ditches, ponds, or slow-running streams. These
diminutive objects may be found, in the spring, ad-
hering to all sorts of aquatic plants, and to any loose
substance that may be lying in the water. When
first taken up they appear like a small dot of trans-
parent jelly, and would be rejected, by those not
aware of their curious conformation, as the exuvise
of some fresh-water insect. One of their most
common haunts is under the leaves of duck- weed,
which can hardly be taken up in any quantity, in
the spring of the year, without some of these ani-
mals adhering to it. After the water which con-
tains them has been at rest for a short time, these
little lumps of jelly will be seen gradually to ex-
pand, and take the form of a stalk, from the top
of which eight slender filaments (if this species is
examined) will make their appearance and arrange
themselves round the centre, where the mouth is
situated. In this form it looks so like a vegetable,
that Trembley, in a letter written to M. Bonnet in
January 1/41, says, “ I have studied it ever since
June last, and have found in it striking character-
istics of both plant and animal. It is a little aquatic
being. At first sight every one imagines it to be a
plant ; but if it be a plant, it is sensitive and am-

FRESH-WATER POLYPE. b*l3

bulant ; if it be an animal, it may be propagated by
slips and cuttings, like many plants.”

Some of these animals are capable of extending
their tentacula, or arms, to a considerable length ;
we have seen them full six inches long, and so
slender that their extremities could hardly be ob-
served. With these arms they secure their prey,
and no insect less than themselves can escape
them. If a small worm happens to come in con-
tact with one of the arms, it is immediately seized
without a possibility of retreating. The little crea-
ture endeavours in vain to disengage itself, often
swimming and dragging the arm from one side of
the glass to the other. The polype, in order to
counteract, these exertions, contracts itself as much
as possible, and thus brings the worm within the
reach of its other arms ; when it is presently con-
veyed to the mouth, and gradually swallowed.
After the worm is completely ingorged, it may be
distinctly seen through the transparent sides of the
polype ; and if the animal be conveyed under a
microscope, the process of digestion will become
visible. This is effected by the motion of the
stomach, which continually pushes the aliment
backwards and forwards till it is sufficiently softened
and has lost all traces of its original form.

Sometimes several polypes will seize on a small
worm, and each dispute the prize. When two of
them happen to contend for the same object, they
drag it with great force in opposite directions. It
often happens that while one is swallowing its

t>14 FRESH-WATER POLYPE.

respective end, the other is employed in the same
manner, and thus they continue to swallow, each
his part, till their two mouths meet together. They
then rest for some time in this situation, till the
worm breaks between them, and each goes off
with his share. It is not worms alone which afford
nourishment to these aquatic curiosities, but all the
animalculae that are manageable are devoured when
they come within their grasp.

These animals are propagated in a very singular
manner. If one of them be carefully examined in
the summer, when in full vigour, a number of small
tubercles will, after some time, be perceived on the
sides, which become larger and larger every day,
till at length what appeared to be at first a small
excrescence becomes a complete animal, resembling
in every respect the parent, from whose sides it was
produced. Thus the original polype, from a simple
stalk, is changed into a many- headed hydra, re-
sembling a tree in miniature with all its flourishing
branches. But this singular property does not
cease here ; for the young themselves, after a while,
produce a new' series from their sides; bud like
the parent, and little ones proceed from them in
the same manner as they formerly were brought
forth. Several generations are often thus attached
to one another, and form a kind of animal society,
in which all participate in the same life and the
same wants. In this manner is a surprising chain
of existence continued, and numbers of animals na-
turally produced, till this hydra is decomposed, to

FRESH-WATER POLYPE. 6* la

give birth to new generations, or fresh genealogical
trees.

The polype possesses a most remarkable repro-
ductive power, and seems to bid defiance to the
knife ; which only separates its limbs to make them
rise again with redoubled vigour. Other animals are
capable of renewing certain parts, and snails will even
reproduce a head ; but these phenomena are not
to be compared with what the polype can execute.
This animal exceeds the fabulous relation of the
Lernean hydra; for, when divided in every direction,
it will not only exist, but produce a perfect animal
from every mutilated part. This species of fecun-
dity is so great in these animals, that even a small
piece of their skin will become a little polype, a
new animal rising as it were from the reins of the
old. If the young ones which grow from the sides
of the parent are deprived of any part of their
bodies, the injury will be soon repaired, and the
creatures become as perfect as ever. The same
thing takes place with the parent, which will even
put forth young before its mutilated parts are re-
produced.

Astonishing as this may appear, to those persons
who have been unaccustomed to consider the sub-
ject, it is strictly true : the facts do not rest merely
on the authority of Tretnbley; they have been
proved by others, who have repeated his experi-
ments; we shall therefore proceed without hesita-
tion to relate some of the most striking instances
of the reproductive power of this little animal.

6l6

FRESH-WATER POLYPE.

When a polype is slit down to the middle of its
body, two heads will be formed, and the animal
will feed at the same time with both. If it is slit
into six or seven parts, each part produces a new
head, and the animal becomes a hydra. To what-
ever lengths this division is carried, it signifies no-
thing ; the creature is not by this means to be de-
stroyed ; but, on the contrary, produces a perfect
being from every fragment. This is not all ; for
they may be as it were grafted together. If the
truncated pieces of a polype be placed end to end,
and then pushed together with a gentle force, they
will unite and form a single one. In the same
manner pieces of different polypes may be united ;
the head of one may be fixed on the trunk of an-
other, and the consequence will be a perfect animal,
which will grow, eat, and perform all the functions
of its humble station, as well as any of the rest.

Another mode of uniting these creatures has been
effected, and is still more extraordinary. One
polype has been introduced into the body of an-
other, by pushing it through the mouth, till the
two heads are brought together. If confined in
this manner for some time, the two animals will be
as it were formed into one, having double the num-
ber of arms, but not differing in any other respect
from the single polype.

It must be confessed that what we have already
related respecting these animals is very extraordi-
nary ; and yet what we are now going to say is
still more so, since there is nothing at all analogous

FRESH-WATER POLYPE. 6lJ

to it in the whole range of animated nature. If a
polype be turned inside out like a glove, it will
live and act as before. The lining or coating of
the stomach now forms the skin, and the former
skin now constitutes the coating of the stomach.
A polype thus turned may often have young ones
attached to its side. When this happens they must
of course be inclosed in the stomach, and as they
increase in size, they stretch towards the mouth of
the parent, that they may escape when separated
from the body. Sometimes, while very small, they
turn themselves inside out, and thus avoid the ne-
cessity of creeping through the mouth.

Thus we have noticed the most striking particu-
lars in the natural history of this singular creature ;
and when we consider the various properties this
little animated lump of jelly is capable of exerting,
we are lost in astonishment. In this particular in-
stance, man may be said to exercise at pleasure a
kind of creative power. He can out of one life make
two, each completely formed with all its apparatus
and functions, each with its perceptions and powers
of motion and self-preservation, each as complete in
all respects as that from which it derived its exist-
ence, and equally enjoying the humble gratifica-
tions of its nature. We are aware that many who
read the account of these very singular animals,
without having had an opportunity of ascertaining
the truth of our relation, will be inclined to doubt
the whole : but let it be remembered, that the most

6 18

FRESH-WATER POLYPE.

common operations, both of the animal and vegeta-
ble world, are all in themselves astonishing ; and
nothing but daily experience, and constant ob-
servation, can make us see, without amazement, an
animal bring forth another of the same kind, or a
tree blossom and bear leaves and fruit.

END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.

Richard Taylor and Co. Printers,
Shoe-Lane.

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