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AGRICULTURAL ZOOLOGY.
_ Zoology (Text Book of), a Complete
Introduction to the Science, by Dr. J. E. V.
Boas, Lecturer in Zoology in the Royal
College of Agriculture, &c., Copenhagen, an
English translation by J. W. Kirkaldy and
E.C. Pollard, B.Sc. Lond., with 427 idlustrations,
roy. 8vo volume, cloth, 6s (pub. 21s net) 1896
AGRICULTURAL ZOOLOGY
BY
DR. J. RITZEMA BOS,
LECTURER IN THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, WAGENINGEN, HOLLAND.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
ELEANOR A. ORMEROD, F.R.Mzt.8., F.R.MS., Ertc.,
FORMERLY HON. CONSULTING ENTOMOLOGIST TO THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL
SOCIETY OF ENGLAND.
TRANSLATED BY
J.R. AINSWORTH DAVIS, B.A. (Trin. Cot. Caus.), F.C.P.,
PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF WALES, AND
PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY AND GEOLOGY IN THE SOIENTIFIO AND AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENTS
OF THE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF WALES.
WITH 149 ILLUSTRATIONS.
LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL, up.
1894
%
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
THE present volume of the Thaer Library was under-
taken with the intention of providing agricultural
colleges with a condensed review of the entire
animal kingdom, but treating in greater detail the
animals harmful or helpful to agriculture. I have,
however, omitted all reference to the domesticated
farm animals, as in all such institutions these are
treated of, not by the zoologist, but by the lecturer on
stock-breeding. Although the book is not allowed to
exceed a certain size, I have taken great pains to
make it intelligible, and venture to hope that it may
be found suitable for the private use of the practical
farmer. To the farmer who wishes more exhaustive
information, and desires a reference-book on the animal
foes of agriculture, stock-breeding, horticulture, fruit-
tree culture, and forestry, I venture to point out my
b
Vi AUTHORS PREFACE.
larger work, Animal Foes and Friends,* brought out
last year by the publisher of this book.
It is hoped that the present volume may be found
serviceable, both in the teaching of agricultural insti-
tutions, and to the practical farmer.
DR. J. RITZEMA BOS.
WAGENINGEN,
February, 1892.
* Tierische Schadlinge und Niitzlinge fiir Ackerbau, Viehzucht,
Wald- und Gartenbau. Lebensformen, Vorkommen, Einfluss und die
Massregeln zu Vertilgung und Schutz. Praktisches Handbuch v. Dr.
J. Ritzema Bos, Docent an der landwirtschaftl: Lehranstalt in
Wageningen. Mit 477 eingedruckten Abbildungen. Preis 18 m.,
geb, 20 m. Verlag von Paul Parey, 10 Hedemannstrasse, Berlin, S.W.
TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE.
—_1oo——
AGRICULTURAL education is making such rapid strides
in this country, that no apology is needed for
translating a book which appears to fill a gap,
especially as it is written by a well-known authority.
Dr. Ritzema Bos has kindly allowed certain small
alterations to be made which adapt the work to the
requirements of British agriculture. Additions are
indicated by square brackets, and small print employed
in the case of some non-British animals. A few
forms have been omitted for similar reasons. Constant
reference has been made to the published works of
Miss E. A. Ormerod, who has added to my obligation
by writing an Introduction, and I also wish to acknow-
ledge my indebtedness to Mr. J. H. Salter, B.Sc., and
Mr. J. Dawson Roberts, M.R.C.V.S., for kind help
given by them.
J. R. AINSWORTH DAVIS.
ABERYSTWYTH,
May, 1894
INTRODUCTION.
By request of Professor Ainsworth Davis, the skilled
translator of this “handy-book” on “Agricultural
Zoology,” I add some words of introduction; and I
have especial pleasure in so doing: not that any
observations of mine can add value to the work of the
well-known author, but because, having myself had
the advantage for many years of colleagueship, and
important help in my own work from the assistance
of Dr. Ritzema Bos, I am well acquainted both with
his extensive knowledge and also his scrupulous care
in observation, and I believe that this abstract of his
larger work, now given in a form in which it is avail-
able for general use, will meet a great need.
We have long wanted a book, plain in wording, and
of moderate size, dealing with the wild animals or
animal infestations generally which occur in connection
with farm life—a manual, in fact, which, whilst suit-
able for the use of agricultural students and teachers,
should at the same time not be too technically
x INTRODUCTION.
scientific to be intelligible to practical farmers or to
general readers.
In the pages of the present volume a very service-
able amount of information will be found to be
embodied. So far as can be arranged in the limited
space the chief characteristics of the main divisions of
the animal kingdom are given, from the Vertebrata
—including descriptions of some of our most notable
forms of what may be popularly described as beasts,
birds, and reptiles,—to the Arthropoda, including in-
formation on a most serviceable amount of insect
infestation ; also regarding Mites, Ticks, etc. These
are followed by the Vermes, including, among other
families of the Nematoda, the eelworms which cause
go much injury to crop growth ; and these are followed
by the intestinal tape-worms and the fluke.
The fourth sub-kingdom, that of Mollusca, includes,
besides snails and slugs, various kinds of shell-fish; and
the lower sub-kingdoms—including Echinodermata,
which may be typified by star-fishes and sea urchins,
the Celenterata, or Zoophytes, and the Protozoa—will
be found to be just entered on sufficiently to show
their place in the scale.
The clear descriptions, made still more instructive by
the numerous and good figures, will speak for them-
selves to all readers; but I should like to add a few
lines to point out the serviceableness of a handbook in
which the reader may turn at pleasure to the history
of any common farm animal—as a weasel or a vole, a
INTRODUCTION. Xl
wood-pigeon or a pheasant, a blind-worm or a com-
mon frog. And, in regard to the insect infestations, to
which it will be seen more than a hundred pages of
the book are devoted, I can bear witness to the great
amount of valuable information which I constantly
derive myself from the study of the writings of Dr.
Ritzema Bos on this subject; and I trust this little
manual of “ Agricultural Zoology” may take the place
in our farm and school libraries which I believe it to
be excellently fitted to fill.
ELEANOR A. ORMEROD,
Late Consulting Entomologist of the Royal
Agricultural Society of England.
Torrineton Hovsz, St. ALBAN’s,
May 24, 1894.
CONTENTS.
_—.
PAGE
InTRODUCTION—
I. Subdivision of the Animal Kingdom see 1
Il. Review of the Structure and Vital Phenomena of
Animals... an eis ash va 3-16
First Sub-Kingdom: VERTEBRATA (Backboned Animals) 16-82
CLASS I: Mammauta (Sucklers) vee aes w. 21-48
OrpER: Carnivora (Beasts of Prey) ans sl 24-30
Family : Felide (Cat Family) ae ise we 24-25
Family : Canidz (hog Family) .. aig 25-26
(Wolf, p. 25; Fox, p. 26.)
Family: Mustelids (Weasel Family) sais «. 26-30
(Martens and Polecat, p. 26; Ferret, p. 27; Stoat and
Weasel, p. 28 ; Mink, Otter, and Badger, p. 29.)
ORDER: Insectivora (Insect-eating Mammals) 30-33
(Shrews, pp. 30,31; Mole, pp. 31-33 ; Hedgehog, p. oH)
ORDER: Cheiroptera (Bats) ss 33-35
Orper: Rodentia (Gnawing Mammals) we sv 35-43
Family: Leporide (Hares and Rabbits) ts ... 86-38
(Hare and Rabbit, p. le
Family: Muride (Mouse Family) 38-41
(Hamster, Black Rat, and Brown Rat, P- "39; Common
Mouse, Long-tailed Field Mouse, and Harvest
Mouse, p. 40; Corn Mouse, p. 41.)
Family : Arvicolidze (Vole Family) . 41-43
(Bank Vole and Water Vole, p. 42; Field Vole, pp.
42, 48; Southern Field Vole, p. 43. )
Oxprr: Ruminantia (Cud-chewing Mammals) as 44-47
Family: Cervide (Deer Family) at 45-47
(Red Deer, p. 46; Roebuck and Fallow Deer, p. 47.)
Orper: Multungula or + nety dental Ming ooled or
Thick-skinned Mammals) ats ss 48
(Wild Boar, p. 48.)
Orver: Solidungula (Single-hoofed sini oes 48
CLASS II: Aves (Birds) dws in we 49-74
Orver:; Raptores (Birds of Prey) .. ok as 53-55
Orper: Scansores (Climbing Birds) wee sie wv. =5§5-56
(Cuckoo, pp. 55, as
Orper: Passeres (Perching Birds) : sie 57-65
Xiv CONTENTS.
PAGE
Group: Hirundinide (Swallows) _ .. 57-58
(Swallows and Martins, p. 57; Swift and Goatsucker,
p. 58.)
Group: Magnirostres (Large-beaked Perchers) _ ... 58-61
(Jackdaw, Crows, Rook, and Raven, pp. 59-61 ; Mag-
pie and Jay, p. 61.) Pf
Group: Conirostres (Conical-beaked Perchers) 61-64
(Titmice, Larks, and Buntings, pp. 61, 62; Finches,
p.62; Sparrows, pp. 62, 63 ; Linnet, p. 63 ; ‘Chaffinch,
pp. 63, 64.)
Group : Subulirostres (Awl-beaked Perchers) ie 64-65
(Wagtails, Pipits, and Hedge “Sparrow,” p. 64; War-
blers, pp. 64,65; Thrush-like birds, p. ob
ORDER : Gyrantes (Doves) e 65-67
(Wood Pigeon, pp. 66, 67; Turtle Dove “and Rock
Pigeon, p. 67.)
ORDER: Rasores (Poultry) aoe 8 67-68
(Pheasant, p . 68. )
Orver: Grallatores (Wading Birds) pa oli ... 68-70
Orver: Natatores (Swimming Birds) ae def 70-74
Family: Lamellirostra (Ducks) ce eae .. G1-73
Family: Longipennes (Gulls) ... ae 20% 73-714
CLASS III. : Repriir1a (Reptiles) os ae ws 14-79
CLASS IV. : Ampuie1a (Amphibians) wn are 79-81
CLASS V.: Pisczs (Fishes) Ss as 28 ... 81-82
Second Sub-Kingdom: ARTHROPODA (Jointed-limbed Animals) 82-206
CLASS I.: Inszcra (Insects) eae aes “ts 85-194
OrveEr I.: Coleoptera (Beetles) os ... 94-118
Family : Carabide (Ground Beetles) ie 94-96
(Corn Ground Beetle, pp. 95, 96. )
Family : Staphylinide (Rove Beetles) - vee 96-97
Family : Silphide (Burying Beetles) ... 97
(Black Burying Beetle, and Beet Carrion Beetle, ?. ms
Family: Nitidulide (Shine Beetles) ... 97-98
(Turnip-flower Beetle, pp. 97, 98. y
Family: Cryptophagide (Secret-eating Beetles) pie 98-99
(Beet Beetle, pp. 98, 99.)
Family: Lamellicornia (Chafers) ... - 99-102
(Cockchafer, pp. 100, 101; Buckwheat Beetle, Dp: 101;
Rye and Garden Chafers, p. 102.)
Family: Elaterids (Click Beetles) eee 102-105
(“* Wireworms,” pp. 103-105.)
Family: Curculionids (Weevils) wee 105-110
(Seed Beetles, pp. 106, 107; Pea Weavil, pp. “107, 108 ;
Mouse-tooth Weevils, p. 108; Gall Weevils, pp.
108-110.)
Family: Chrysomelids: (Leaf Beetles) ... at 110-117
(Colorado Beetle, pp. 111-113; Tortoise Beetles, pp.
113, 114; Flea Beetles, 114-117.)
CONTENTS. xv
PAGE
Family: Coccinellidse (Lady Birds) «. 117-118
Orper IT.: Orthoptera (Straight-winged Insects) wae 118-121
(Migratory Grasshopper, pp. 119, 120; Mole Cricket,
pp. 120, 121.)
Orpzr IIT. : N europtera (Net-winged Insects) 121-123
(Dragon Flies, p. 122; Lace Flies, pp. 122, 128;
Scorpion Flies, p. 123. )
Orper IV.: Hymenoptera [Migmb enous: winged Insects) 123-136
Family: Apida (Bees) sis see ae 125-126
Family : Vespide (Wasps) on 126-128
Family: Fossores (Digging Wasps) ae ee 128-129
Family: Formicids (Ants), 3 .. 129-132
Family: Ichneumonids (Ichneumon, Flies) ae 132-134
Family : Tenthredinids (Saw-flies) .» 184-136
(Turnip Saw-fly, pp. 134-136.)
Orver V.: Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths) ... 136-159
Family: Diurna (Butterflies) aie «» 187-142
(Whites, pp. 138-142. )
Family : Noctuidee (Owlet Moths) .. 142-152
(Surface Caterpillars, p. 143 ; Dart or Turnip Moth,
pp. 143-145; Cabbage Moth » pp. 145-147; Lettuce
aud Pea Moths, Pp. 147; Grrass-root Moth, p. 148;
Couch-grass Moth, pp. 148, 149; Wheat-haulm
Moth, p. 149; Grass Moth, pp. 149, 150; Darnel
Moth, p. 150; Silver ¥ Moth, pp. 151, 152.)
Family : Pyralidee (Snout Moths) aoe pen 152-155
Family : Tortricidse (Leaf-rollers) ... 155-157
(Fawn-coloured Pea Moth, p. 156; Crescent Pea Moth,
pp. 156, 157.)
Family : Tineides (Leaf-miners) 157-159
(Carrot Moth, pp. 157, 158; Diamond-back Moth,
pp. 158, 159.)
Orver VI. : Hemiptera (Half-winged Insects) «. 159-163
Family: Aphids (Plant Lice) wa 159-163
Orper VII.: Physopoda (Bladder-footed Insects) ... 163-164
(Thrips, pp. 163, ss
Orper VIII.: Diptera (Flies) ... esi 164-193
Family: Culicine (Gnats) ea tie « 164-165
Family: Gallicole (Gall Gnats) 165-170
(Hessian Fly, pp. 166-168 ; Scarlet Wheat Midge,
p. 168, 169; Wheat Midge, 169, 170.)
Family : Rostratee (Crane Flies) ... ide see 170-172
Family : Musceformes (Gnat Flies)... ae 173-174
(Sand Flies, pp. 173, ca
Family: Tabanidw (Gad Flies)... 8 a8 174
Family: Muscide (‘True Flies) wae 175-184
(Caterpillar and Flesh Flies, p. 175; Common Flies,
p. 175; Flower Flies, pp. 176, 177; Cheese-fly,
p. 178; Ribbon-footed Corn Fly, pp. 178-182;
Frit Fly, pp. 182-184.)
Xvi
CONTENTS.
Family: Syrphide (Hover Flies) .
Family : Stomoxydz (Stable Flies)
Family : Gistride (Bot Flies)
(Ox Warble-fly, pp. 186-188; Sheep Bot Fly, pp.
188-190; Horse Bot, ete., pp. 190-192.)
Family : Pupipara (Louse Flies) Se
OrpeEr IX.: Aphaniptera (Fleas)
OrvEr X.: Parasita (Lice) =
CLASS II. : Myriopopa (Centipedes and Millipedes)
CLASS IIL: AracuNomwea ead al Siler ance)
OrveErR: Acaridea (Mites) “se
Family : Acaride (True Mites)
(Itch or Mange Mites, pp. 196-202. 4
Family: Ixodide (Ticks) _... aes
Family: Gamaside (Beetle Mites)
(Fowl Mite, p. 204.)
Family : Trombidiide
(Plant Mite or “ Red Spider,” p. 205)
CLASS IV.: Crustacea (Crustaceans)
Third Sub-Kingdom : VERMES (Worms)
CLASS: AnneLma (Segmented Worms) ... ob
(Earthworms, pp. 207-209.)
CLASS : NemaTeLminTHES (Round Worms)
OxpER: Nematoda (Thread Worms) oi
Family :
Family :
Family :
Family :
Family :
tem Eelworm, pp. 220-224; Wheat - Eelworm, pp.
224-227; Beet Eelworm, pp. 227-230; Root-
Strongylide (Palisade Worms)
Trichotrachelide (Whip Worms)
(Trichina, pp. 216-218.)
Filaride (Slender Thread a
Ascaride (Round Worms) .
Anguillulide (Eelworms)
knot Eelworm, p. 231.)
CLASS: PiaTyHELmt1a (Flat Worms) ...
Orver: Cestoda (Tapeworms)
Ogpeg.: Trematoda (Flukes)
Fourth Sub-Kingdom: MOLLUSCA (Mollusca)
CLASS: Cepsatoropa (Cuttle-fishes)
CLASS: Gastropopa (Snails and Slugs)
(Grey Field Slug, pp. 249- 251)
CLASS.: LaMELLIBRANCHIATA (Bivalve Molluscs)...
Sixth Sub-Kingdom : CELENTERATA (Zoophytes)
Fifth Sub-Kingdom : ECHINODERMATA
(Hedgehog-skinned Animals)
Seventh Sub-Kingdom: PROTOZOA
(One-celled Animals)
1AGB
185
185-186
186-192
192-193
193
193-194
195
195-205
196-202
196-202
202-204
204
205
206
206-245
207-209
209-231
210-231
212-215
215-218
218
218-219
219-231
231-245
231-240
240-245
245-251
247
247-251
251
252-253
253-255
255-256
ILLUSTRATIONS.
oO
fIG. PAGE
1. Schematic Longitudinal pais of the Human serie! we OE
2. Human Skeleton ... one aes 7
3. Skeleton of an Ox ag. 9
4. Bending of the Arm by “Contraction of the "Biceps Muscle 10
5. Diagram to explain the Action of the Motor and Sensory
Nerves ee oo a ate ves IL
6. Diagram of the Course ‘of the Circulation eS 13
7. Life History of the aap athie Gall- ray (Andricus ter-
minalis) ... 15
8. Diagram of a Fish’s Heart vag ae wae se 18
9. Diagram of a Mammal’s Heart ... sd oe wx 20
10. Diagram ofa Reptile’s Heart a3 siete te 20
11. Diagram of a Frog’s Heart wei se wee QI
12. Vertical Section of a Human Grinding Tovth 8 22
13, Crown of an Ox’s Grinder wie Bee — we 22
14, Skull of Domestic Cat oe aie is sae 25
15. Pine Marten (Mustela martes) ote ioe wie we 27
16. Skull of Mole eis ies sie ie 30
17. Common Shrew (Sorex mulgari) ae 68 ww. BL
18. Skeleton of Bat... ou gis = 34
19. Skull of Squirrel : ead ae 253 a. 85
20. Abnormal Tooth in Hare... as, a: in 37
21, Hamster (Cricetus frumentarius) en we 288
22, Long-tailed Field Mouse (Mus sylwaticus) sisi he 40
23. Upper Back Teeth of Brown Rat site ive AL
24, Upper Back Teeth of Water Vole... an oe 41
25. Southern Field Vole (Arvicola aemales) shes aa a 43
26. Skull of Sheep ‘ — ies 44
27. Development of Roebuck Antlers i ws we. 45
28. Wing of Buzzard . waa sine ote 50
29. Section through Bird’s Egg sus = wie wie OT
30. Eagle Owl (Otus maximus) . a ais wa 52
31. Head and Foot of Falcon : sits si . «53
32. Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaétus) = i sas 54
33, Barn Owl (Strix flammea) za sie se -. 55
34. Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) ... : aici ne 56
35. Goatsucker (Caprimulgus europaeus) aes sie a 58
36. Head of Rook (Corvus frugilegus) ... ad: wis 60
37. Head of Bullfinch (Pyrrhula vulgaris)... sist .. 62
XVili ILLUSTRATIONS.
. Nightingale (Daulias luscinia)
. Wood Pigeon (Columba palumbus)
. Capercailzie (Tetrao urogallus)
. Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) ..
. Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola)
. Crested and Little Grebes ( Fodiceps cristatus ‘and ménor) ave
. Grey Goose (Anser cinereus) sii
. Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)
. Common Lizard (Lacerta agilis)
. Adder (Pelias berus) ...
. Grass Snake (Tropidonotus natr ix) ..
. Blindworm (Anguis fragilis)...
. Great Crested Newt (Triton cristatus)
. Common Frog (Rana temporaria)
. Natterjack (Bufo calamita)
. The Perch (Perca fluviatilis)
. Wood-borer (Siren)
. Centipede (Scolopendra morsitans) z
. Ground Beetle, showing Nervous System
. Disarticulated Grasshopper
. Head and Mouth-parts ofa Ground Beetle
. Leg of Ground Beetle
. Stages of Silkworm Moth (Bombyx mori)
. Stages of Hornet (Vespa crabro)
. Migratory Grasshopper (Aery ens migratoriaum)
. Looper Caterpillar ... oe
. False Caterpillar...
. Stages of Cockchafer (Melolontha vulgaris)
. Larva of a Weevil
. Stages of Aphis-eating Fly (Syrphus } pyr asti)
. A Ground Beetle (Carabus auronitens)
. Corn Ground Beetle (Zabrus gibbus) and. larva.
. A Rove Beetle (Staphylinus erythropterus) ...
. Black Burying Beetle (Silpha atrata) and larva ...
. Antenne of Cockchafer ...
. Abdomens of Common and Horse-chestnut Cockchafers
. Skipjack (Agriotes lineatus) ae oe ee
. Skipjack about to spring
. Grain-plants sown deep and shallow, ‘to show. Wirew orm
attack
. Bean Beetle ( Bruchus rufimanus)
. Pea Weevil (Sitones lineatus) es
. Mouse-tooth Weevil (Baridius chloris) and lur va.
. Turnip Gall Weevil (Ceutorhynchus sulcicollis)
. Colorado Beetle (Chrysomela decemlineata) ‘
. Stages of Colorado Beetle . ves ves ar
. Cloudy Tortoise Beetle (Cassida nebulosa)
. Rape Flea Beetle (Psylliodes chrysocephalus)
. Stages of Seven- eee es iuecinelin eeptempune-
tata)
ILLUSTRATIONS.
. Stages of Common Lace Fly (Chrysopa baci a
. Head of Honey Bee (Apis mellifica) ...
. Common Wasp (Vespa vulgaris) and nest .
. Common Sand Wasp (Ammophila sabulosa) aa
. Stages of Yellow-legged Ichneumon Fly (Microgaster glome-
ratus)
. Turnip Saw-fiy (Athalia spinarum) ‘and caterpillars
. Head of Butterfly si ae
. Scales from Butterfly’s Wine wo
. Stages of Peacock Butterfly ‘(Vanessa io) :
. Stages of Cabbage White (Pieris brassicx)
. Garden White (Pieris rapx), male .. ia
. Garden White, female and caterpillar sa
. Green-veined White (Pieris napt)..
. Dart or Turnip Moth (Agrotis segetum) and caterpillar
. Stages of Cabbage Moth (Mamestra brassicz)
. Grass Moth (Charwas Graminis) and caterpillar
. Stages of Silver Y Moth (Plusia gamma)
. Hop Snout Moth (Hypena rostralis) ...
. Mother-of-Pearl Moth (Botys margaritalis) and larva
. Fawn-coloured Pea Moth (Grapholitha nebritana)
. Larch Moth (Coleophora 5 - na
. Wings of a Bug ees
. Bean Aphis (Aphis papaveris)
. Corn Thrips (Thrips cerealium)
. Wheat Midge (Cecidomyia tritici) ..
. Barley attacked by Hessian Fly
. Larves of Wheat Midge (Cecidomyia tritici)
. Stages of Daddy Longlegs (Tipula oleracea)
Rain Breeze Fly (Hzmatopota pluvialis) ...
. Caterpillar Fly (Tachina fera)
. Turnip infested by Cabbage Fly (Anthomyia br assica)
. Ribbon-footed Corn Fly (Chlorops tzniopus)
. Stages of ditto oe
. Wheat Plant distorted by winter generation of ditto ..
. Stages, etc., of Frit Fly (Oscinis frit) .
. Stages of Horse Bot Fly (Gastrus equi)
. Horse Louse (Hematopinus ee
. Common Snake Millipede (Julus terrestris) ..
. A Spider (Salticus scenicus)
. Mange Mite of the Pig (Sarcopte seabici var. suis).
. Ditto tae
. The Dog Tick (Inodes ‘ricinus) | aa
. Diagrammatic transverse section through a “Thread Worm
. Tail of male Strongylus armatus, “... ast ave
. Encapsuled Muscle Trichinew in flesh .
. Male Intestinal Trichina..
. Rye Plant in the later stage of the Eelworm Disease
. Ear Cockles of Wheat .. es
. Stages of Beet Eelworm (Heterodera Schachtit) vei
XE
PAGE
122
124
127
129
133
135
136
136
138
139
141
141
142
143
146
150
151
153
155
156
157
159
160
163
165
167
169
171
174
175
177
179
181
181
183
190
194
195
196
197
198
203
210
213
217
217
222
225
226
xX
FIG.
135.
136.
137,
138.
139.
140.
141,
142.
143,
144.
145.
146.
147.
148.
149.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Tenia saginata ...
Common Tapeworm (Tenia oficinalis) es
Tapeworm Larva (Tzxnia solium) ..
Types of Bladder-worm ve
Measle of Tenia solium ...
Measles in Pork :
Liver Fluke (Distoma hepaticwm) ..
Life History of Liver Fluke ...
Diagrams of Molluscs
Grey Field Slug (Limaz agrestis)
Common Starfish (Asterias suena
Fresh-water Polype (Hydra) ..
A Jellyfish (Pelagia nodtiluea)
A Sea Anemone (Sagartia niveay
Proteus Animalcule (Ameba)
PAGE
232
ZOOLOGY.
INTRODUCTION.
I. Subdivision of the Animal Kingdom.
THERE are animals so like one another that they are
given the same name. Such animals are ranked in
the same species. Animals which differ so much that
they have to be referred to different species, but which
notwithstanding agree in the majority of their cha-
racters, especially the most important ones, are placed
in the same genus. Hare and rabbit, or horse and
donkey, are reckoned as different species of the same
genus. Genera resembling one another are united
into a family ; thus, the pine marten and the beech
or stone marten both belong to the Marten genus
(Martes), while the weasel and stoat are different
species of the Weasel genus (Mustela); but these two
genera are so similar that they are both placed in
the same family, i.e. the Weasel family (Mustelide).
Nearly related families together build up an order.
Thus, the Weasel family, Dog family, Cat family, ete.,
collectively constitute the order of Carnivora, cha-
racterized, speaking generally, by the same kind of
teeth, claws, habits, and food. Several related orders
are united intoaclass. Thus, for example, carnivorous
animals (Carnivora), ruminating animals (Ruminantia),
B
2 ZOOLOGY.
gnawing animals (Rodentia), ete., constitute different
orders of the class of Sucklers (Mammalia) ; while birds
of prey (Raptores), pigeons (Gyrantes), and poultry
(Rasores), are included in a second class, that of Birds
(Aves). But both Birds and Mammals have a skeleton,
of which the chief support is the backbone; on this
account they are placed in a larger subdivision, the
sub-kingdom of Backboned animals (Vertebrata) ;
while snails are grouped under the sub-kingdom of
Molluscs, millipedes and centipedes under that of
Jointed-limbed animals (Arthropods). >
In this way the animal kingdom is divided into
sub-kingdoms, the sub-kingdoms into classes, the
classes into orders, the orders into families, the families
into genera, and the genera into species, Animals of
the same species which differ from one another in
more or less constant characters, belong to different
races (domestic or geographical races).
There are many species of animals the external
features of which are well known to ordinary folk,
and which therefore possess a definite English name,
but a much larger number, of the smaller forms
especially, have no English name. It is, therefore,
necessary to devise new names for these species. The
English names, however, are liable to cause great
confusion, since in different districts the same name
is often applied to widely different animals. Besides
this, distinct names have usually been given to suc-
cessive stages in the life-history of the same form:
“ wireworms,” for example, are the young state of the
“ elick-beetle.”
By using the scientific method of naming invented
by Linnzus, confusion is made impossible. The Latin
names of this naturalist have the great advantage that
they not only give a perfectly distinct name to any
particular species, but also at the same time show the
genus to which it belongs. Each kind of animal
possesses, in fact, two names; just in the same way as
INTRODUCTION. 3
every person possesses at least two names, a Christian
name and a surname. ‘The generic name comes first,
and is, of course, common to all animals of the same
genus. The second name is the specific one, and
belongs exclusively to animals of the same species.
The hare and rabbit, for example, are both included in
the genus Lepus. The Latin name of the first is Lepus
tymidus ; that of the second, Lepus cuniculus. Horse
= Equus caballus ; ass = Equus asinus.
II. Review of the Structure and Vital Phenomena of
Animals.
I select as a point of departure the human body,
and the bodies of domestic animals, because my readers
are best acquainted with these.
’ The limbs consist, beginning on the outside, of skin,
flesh, and bone. The same parts can also be distin-
guished in the head, neck, and trunk; but in these
divisions of the body they enclose a cavity, the
body - cavity, which, again, contains various parts
(“organs”), which are not everywhere attached to the
body-wall. Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal section
through the body. The skin is represented by a line,
flesh and internal lining are shaded, while the bones
are black. These parts form together the body-wall.
In front the body-wall encloses a cavity, the body-
cavity (Kh.), which in Mammals is divided into two
sections (thoracic cavity, Bz.h, and abdominal cavity,
Bh) by the midriff (diaphragm). In the thoracic
cavity are found the lungs and heart (4), also most
of the gullet or upper part of the gut; the abdominal
cavity contains the remainder of the often much-coiled
gut, which in one place widens into the stomach (1),
also the kidneys, spleen, and parts connected with the
gut (eg. the liver). The cavities are bounded behind
by the backbone (vertebral column), which is made up
of many flattened vertebra. The uppermost vertebra
4
supports the skull, which encloses a cranial cavity
(Sch.h.) continuous with a vertebral canal bounded by
the vertebre. Cranial cavity and vertebral canal
form together a second body-space, in which are con-
tained the brain and spinal cord.
We will now consider the individual parts of the
body, beginning with the skeleton. The axis of the
Fic. 1.—Schematic Longitudinal Section of
the Human Body.
skeleton is formed by
the vertebral column
(spine), which is com-
posed of flat bones,
the vertebre.
and. skeletal muscles, attached respectively to the skin
10 - ZOOLOGY.
or by one end to an integumentary structure (hair,
feather, scale), and to parts of the skeleton. The
animals which are devoid of any internal skeleton,
the invertebrates (i.e. all animals except vertebrates),
naturally possess no skeletal muscles. Examples of
dermal muscles are those by means of which a bird
erects its feathers (tail-coverts of peacock !), and
those which enable a hedgehog to roll itself into a
ball and stick out its spines. Each end of a skeletal
muscle is connected with a bone. If such a muscle
contracts the more easily movable bone is drawn
towards the less easily movable one (Fig. 4). In
order that the bones may be movable upon one
another they are united together by joints.
According as muscular movements are, or are not,
under the influence of the will, they are distinguished
as voluntary and involuntary. To the latter kind
belong the movement of the heart, and the movements
of the muscles in the wall of the gut by which the
food is made to progress.
To destroy the contractile power of a muscle it is
re of not necessary to injure
Ww ul the muscle itself. Every
muscle is related to a
nerve, which sends its
fine branches to the
fibres making up the
muscle. If we cut the
nerve, the correspond-
ing muscle loses its
power of contraction.
But the nerve arises
from the central nervous
system, which in ver-
Fie, 4.—Bending of the Arm by Contraction
of the Biceps Muscle. a, humerus; b, ulna; tebrates principally con-
¢, elbow-joint ; d, biceps muscle ; ¢, origin; gists of the brain and
Ff. insertion of the same. In the right-hand :
naire at ca muscle d is contracted; in the spinal cord. The
te na ;
left-hand figure it is slackened. muscle will therefore
lose its contractile power if the connection with
INTRODUCTION. ll
these central parts is broken. The true cause of
movement resides in these parts. A sort of change,
the essential nature of which is unknown to us, takes
place in them, and is propagated along the nerve to
the muscle, causing it to contract. The central ner-
vous system is, therefore, the origin, the centre from
which the order to contract proceeds ; hence its name.
The nerves which run from these central parts to the
muscles are known as the nerves of movement (motor
nerves).
There is still, however, a second group of nerves,
the nerves of sensation (sensory nerves), which arise
in the sense-organs (skin, mucous membrane of tongue,
nose, ear, eye), and convey to the central nervous
system the impressions they receive from the outer
world by the aid of these sense-organs. In the ap-
pended diagram (Fig. 5), C represents the central
Fic, 5.—Diagram to explain the Action of the Motor and Sensory Nerves.
nervous system; B.N., a motor nerve, branching in the
muscle M; G.N.,asensory nerve, which runs from the
blood-bathed inner skin or dermis (L.h), underlying
the outer skin or epidermis (0.h), to the central
system. (The arrows indicate the direction in which
impulses are conveyed along the corresponding nerve.
12 ZOOLOGY.
Men or animals lose in weight if they take no food.
The reason for this is that certain substances leave
the body either as gases (through the lungs), or as
liquids (by the kidneys and sweat-glands), without
a corresponding compensation. An animal or human
being could not live without taking in fresh sub-
stances, which, according as they are solid or liquid,
are known as food or drink. The different kinds of
food and drink, which, with few exceptions (salts,
water), are taken from the animal and plant king-
doms, cannot, however, as such, replace the gradually
diminishing body-substance, for, to begin with, they
contain useless matters, which pass out of the body in
the feces (dung). And even the nutritious parts of
the animal and vegetable substances taken into the
stomach, are not always in a form in which they can
be used at once. Digestion, which in all the higher
animals takes place in a food-tube (gut), serves to
reduce them to a suitable condition, at the same time
separating the useless matters. The action of several
fluids (saliva, gastric juice, bile, etc.) secreted by
glands, extracts the useful (nutritious) substances from
the food and drink, converting them also into a
suitable form. The smaller the pieces into which the
food is separated, the better can this purpose be
effected. In mammals the teeth serve to break down
. the food; in birds and many Invertebrates the same
part is played by special secretions of the stomach or
intestine provided with hard ridges.
So long as the nutritious food-stuffs remain in the
food-canal, even though in a completely suitable form,
they cannot nourish the body. And since waste of
the substance of the body everywhere takes place, it
is absolutely necessary that the food-stuffs should
pass after digestion into a system of organs going to
all parts of the body. This system is the circulatory,
or vascular system. Food-stuffs enter it from the gut
directly or indirectly, reaching it in the latter case
through the lymphatic (lacteal) system.
INTRODUCTION. 13
The blood is the fluid into which the food-stuffs are
taken up. It consists of an almost colourless liquid,
together with an innumerable number of exceedingly
minute blood-corpuscles.
The blood flows through the body in a system of
tubes, or blood-vessels, which branch repeatedly, and
at last become merged in the microscopic capillary
blood-vessels. These capillaries are present in nearly
all parts of the body except the epidermis and epi-
dermal structures (hairs, feathers, scales, etc.). They
have exceedingly thin walls, which present no re-
sistance to the passage of the nutritious substances
contained in the blood, so that these can be absorbed
by those parts of the
body which lie between
the individual capillary
vessels. The central
organ of the circulation
is the heart, an enlarged
part of the vascular
system, possessing thick
muscular walls. By con-
traction of these, the
blood is driven out of
the heart (Fig. 6, H);
and its exit is possible
on one side only (a), as
at the other side (6)
there is a valve, which
closes when the heart
contracts. The vessel Fic. 6.—Diagram of the Course of
into which the blood daa iaiahanhisiad
leaving the heart enters is termed an artery (S.A.)
It divides into several branches, also known as
arteries, and the smallest arteries pass into capillaries,
which again are connected with veins, which join
larger and larger veins, until finally one or a few
open into the heart (A).
14 ZOOLOGY.
Since the blood in the course of its circulation gives
up some of its nutriment to the various parts of the
body, it would in the end become useless for the pur-
oses of nutrition if it did not receive a fresh supply
of food-stuffs from the gut, either directly or indirectly
(through the lacteal system). But apart from this,
the blood would ultimately become useless, and that
very quickly, if it did not traverse the lungs, kidneys,
and sweat-glands. It is well known to every one that
a man or animal cannot live without air, or at any
rate without a certain gas, ovygen, that is contained
in air. This oxygen must be able to penetrate into
the minutest particles of the body, and the blood, in
the corpuscles of which it is contained, carries it
everywhere. In the smallest particles (molecules) of
the body an oxidation (combustion) of body-substance
takes place, which not only causes an evolution of
heat, but also renders the body capable of doing work.
But if now the blood passes from the capillaries into
the veins, it contains too little oxygen. And besides,
it has taken up from the molecules of the body several
substances, developed in those molecules, which would
be fatal to the animal if they were not removed from
the body. Now, when the blood streams through the
lungs, it gets rid of the poisonous gaseous matter, and
when it traverses the kidneys and sweat-glands it
parts with the injurious liquid and solid substances.
But in the lungs the blood takes up at the same time
fresh oxygen; and since in this way the air in the
lungs becomes poor in oxygen, the movements of
breathing (respiration) provide for the passage of a
fresh supply of oxygen into the lungs. Only the
higher Vertebrates breathe by means of lungs ; fishes
and numerous aquatic Invertebrates breathe by gills,
and insects by air-tubes (tracheee).
While Nutrition is the life-process which shields
the individual from death, Reproduction serves to
maintain the species. It is familiarly known that
INTRODUCTION. 15
the offspring generally resemble their parents. But
it is also a fact recognized by the stock-breeder, that
a particular animal will not only transmit several of
its own characteristics to its offspring, but perhaps
also various characteristics of the grandparents or of
animals belonging to still more remote generations,
although these characteristics are not visible in the
Fig, 7.—The Small-winged Gall-fly, d (Andricus terminatis), lays its eggs separately
in the rootlets of oak. Root-galis (@) result trom this, and inside of each of them a
larva develops which, after a metamorphosis, becomes a relatively large, wingless
gall-fly (c) known as Biorhiza aptera, This pierces the oak-buds in early spring,
and lays a large number of eggs in them; from part of the bud is formed a large
juicy gall (b), containing several larve, from which the small-winged gall-flies (d)
develop. ‘The species here represented exist, therefore, in two forms, e and @
(Heterogeny).
animal which is actually breeding (Reversion,
Atavism). Among insects and the lower animals
there are species which, as adult animals, appear not
in one form, but two or several. In this case, as a
regular thing, the offspring does not resemble the
parents, but the grandparents, great-grandparents, or
16 ZOOLOGY.
a still earlier generation. The older observers have
placed the offspring and the parents, and sometimes
the grandparents too, of the same animal species in
different species, or even genera or families, until
newer researches on the reproduction and development
of these animals have proved them to belong to one
and the same species (see Fig. 7 and explanation).
The method of reproduction by which a species appears
in two or several forms is distinguished as heterogeny
and metagenesis, or alternation of generations. In
the first (Vig. 7) sexually reproducing animals alternate
with other sexual animals. It may be that these are
of separate sexes, or else they may possess both male
and female organs (hermaphrodite). In metagenesis
a sexual generation regularly alternates with one or
several generations reproducing asexually.
The animal kingdom falls (cf p. 2) into sub-
kingdoms or main divisions. Seven of these are
commonly distinguished: I. Backboned animals; II.
Jointed-limbed animals; ITI. Worms; IV. Molluses; V.
Echinoderms; VI. Ccelenterates; VII. Protozoa.
First Sub-Kingdom: VERTEBRATA (BACKBONED
ANIMALS).
The Vertebrate body possesses a bilateral or two-
sided symmetry; ae. it can be separated into two
exactly corresponding halves, by a plane of division.
The bilateral symmetry is strictly carried out as
regards the external parts of the body, a single
exception to this being flat-fish (plaice, flounder, etc.) ;
but, on the other hand, it is more or less obliterated
in the arrangement of the internal organs. In the
Vertebrate body we find, as an axis, a vertebral column
(backbone) made up of vertebrz, and traversed by
the vertebral canal. As soon as this canal widens out
VERTEBRATA. 17
in the skull to the cranial cavity, the spinal cord,
which it contains, merges into the brain. In addition
to the cavity containing the central nervous system,
and placed on the upper side (= dorsal side) of the
animal, a cavity, the body-cavity, is found in the
under side (= ventral side). It contains for the most
part the organs of respiration, circulation, digestion,
and excretion (Fig. 1), and in Mammals is divided by
the diaphragm into thoracic and abdominal cavities.
In all the other subdivisions of the animal kingdom
the central nervous system is situated in the same
cavity as the above-mentioned organs.
Various bones are connected with the vertebral
column, and they serve for the attachment of muscles.
The bones collectively constitute the skeleton, which
is one of the most distinctive features of a Vertebrate.
The animals of this sub-kingdom never have more
than four limbs, and their blood is red, while that of
most other animal groups is colourless.
The structure of the heart in the various Verte-
brates must also be noticed. In no Vertebrate is this
organ so simple in structure as in the scheme given
in Fig. 6; such an arrangement, moreover, would
involve great difficulties, One great difficulty would
be that while the blood was leaving the heart at a
(Fig. 6), no fresh blood could enter, so that the blood
in the veins would stand still. Even in the lowest
Vertebrates (the Fishes) this difficulty is obviated, for
where the main vein (or veins) opens into the heart
an enlargement of this vein is found, where the blood
can collect as long as the heart continues to contract.
This expansion is also reckoned as part of the heart,
and named the auricle (Fig. 8, V.K.), while the heart
proper is termed the ventricle (K.). It is also easy
to see that there must be a tolerably wide opening
between the two chambers, so that as soon as the
ventricle becomes flaccid the auricle can force blood
into it. But there being such a wide . aperture
Cc
18 ZOOLOGY.
between auricle and ventricle, one valve is not enough
to make it impossible for the blood to pass back into
the auricle during the contraction of the ventricular
walls. There are two or three
valves there (Fig. 8, K1.), fixed
by fibres to the wall of the
ventricle. In order that the
blood which is forced into the
artery (S.A.) may not pass into
the ventricle during its relaxa-
tion, there is another valve (not
indicated in Fig. 8), at the base
Be ase of the artery.
An arrangement like that so
ran far described is found in fishes.
the blood that has traversed the
body, and of a ventricle which
ieee moves it on again. But the
blood that has traversed the
body is on that account poor in
HG, S—-Diagrem of'the-Heart. returned to the heart. It ig
necessary for it to take up fresh
oxygen before being circulated again. In fishes this
difficulty is met by the blood, poor in oxygen, which
flows out of the ventricle, first going to the gills and
in regular rows on the firm gill-arches. The blood,
poor in oxygen, passing out of the ventricle’ and
through various arterial branches to the gill-filaments,
takes up fresh oxygen as it streams through these
from the oxygen dissolved in the water which con-
vei. The heart consists in them of
an auricle, into which is returned
Ne oxygen, and consequently unfit
> ~ to be circulated again when it is
streaming through them. The gills consist of a very
large number of small, thin-walled outgrowths arranged
stantly surrounds them. For this purpose a stream
of pure water is regularly taken in by the mouth and
VERTEBRATA. 19
expelled again, right and left, through the gill-slits.
The blood, “having become rich in oxygen in the gills,
is now once more fit for circulation through the body,
and therefore flows out of the gill-capillaries into
larger vessels, which finally unite into a single large
vessel that carries the purified blood to the various
parts of the body. In the arrangement of the heart
here described there is the disadvantageous condition
that the blood is obliged to traverse two sets of
capillaries (gill and body capillaries). This is not an
easy matter, for there is a great deal of friction
between the blood and the walls of the capillaries,
constituting a hindrance to its progress. The circula-
tion of the blood in fishes is consequently very slow,
and since the blood contains the oxygen which is
used by the various parts of the body, oxidation goes
on slowly in the body of a fish; hence the small
amount of heat developed there. Since fishes almost
immediately give off to their surroundings the small
amount of heat which they develop, they have no
constant body-temperature, varying in this respect
with the temperature of the surrounding water. Such
animals are termed cold-blooded.
In all other Vertebrates a more rapid movement of
~ the blood is rendered possible by the insertion of a
second heart, quite similar in every respect to the
other heart,in the course of the blood between the
respiratory organs and the body. The first heart
drives the blood through the lung capillaries, and
therefore corresponds to the fish-heart; from these
capillaries the blood returns to the auricle of the
second heart, and from the ventricle of that heart
travels to the various parts of the body. When it has
completed this course, it returns to the auricle of the
first heart. Although these two structures work in-
dependently, they lie close together and make up
a single organ. We do not therefore speak of two
individual hearts, but of one heart with two halves.
20
ZOOLOGY.
The first half, which receives the blood, poor in
oxygen, that is returned from the body, and sends it
on to the lungs, lies on t
Fic. 9.—Diagram of the Mammalian
Heart. 1, right, 2, left’ ventricle ;
3, right, 4, left auricle; 5, su-
perior, 6, inferior vena cava; 7,
pulmonary artery forking into
branches for right and left lungs;
8, the four pulmonary veins; 9,
the great body-artery (aorta); the
arrows indicate the direction of
the blood stream.
a short time.
and Mammals develop
he right, and is termed the
right half. The second half,
which receives the richly
oxygenated blood from the
lungs, and pumps it to the
various parts of the body, is
termed the left half (Fig. 9
and explanation). .
In the arrangement just
described, which is found in
Mammals and Birds, the
blood returning from ‘the
lungs is propelled with new
force through the body, and
therefore circulates very
quickly, so that the various
parts receive a relatively
large amount of oxygen in
It is therefore intelligible that Birds
more warmth than Fish.
They possess a special,
constant body tempera-
ture, somewhat different
in different species, but
usually lying between
98° and 104° Fhr., and
they are called warm-
blooded animals.
In Reptiles (snakes,
Fic. 10.—Diagram of the Heart of a Reptile.
Between the right (r.X.) and left (LE)
ventricles is a perforated partition. 7. V.K.,
right auricle; 1.V.K., left auricle; H.v.,
vena cava, carrying back the blood which
has traversed the body into the right
auricle; L.art., pulmonary artery; L.v.,
pulmonary vein; 4o., aorta.
lizards, etc.), the two
halves of the heart are
not entirely distinct,
since there is an opening
in the partition - wall
between the two ven-
tricles. As a consequence of this, the poorly oxygenated
MAMMALS. 21
blood of the right half of the heart mixes with the
richly oxygenated blood of the left half, the extent
to which this mixing takes place being proportional
to the size of the
aperture. In Reptiles,
therefore, the blood
supplied to the lungs -
is not so poor in
oxygen as it might be,
nor, on the other hand,
is the blood supplied
to the other parts of
the body completely Fic, 11.—Diagram of a Frog’s Heart. (The
oxygenated. As con- ventricle x. e ee a Sonia Figs.
sequences of this: (1) °™**? °* cat
respiration is feebler, and (2) the development of heat
less than in Mammals and Birds (i.e. reptiles are
cold-blooded), and (8) the chemical changes taking
place in the body (the metabolism) go on more
slowly than in warm-blooded animals, and we can
understand why reptiles execute fewer movements in
a given space of time.
In Amphibians (eg. frog) the two ventricles are
similarly connected, but the opening is still larger
than in Reptiles, and the partition-wall may even be
altogether absent. It follows, therefore, that the
mixing of the two kinds of blood is still more com-
plete, and that Amphibians, too, are cold-blooded.
The vertebrate sub-kingdom embraces the classes of
I. Mammals ; IT. Birds; III. Reptiles ; IV. Amphibians ;
V. Fishes.
CLASS L: MAMMALIA (SUCKLERS).
Warm-blooded Vertebrates (p. 16), usually covered
with hair, and bringing forth living young, that suck
for some time after birth. The female is provided
22 ZOOLOGY,
with milk-glands on the thorax or abdomen, or both
those regions.
Speaking quite broadly, the skeleton is like that of
man, described on pp. 4-8. There are, however, great
differences in detail. The cranium is relatively much
smaller, and the bones of the face (especially of the
jaws) are usually much larger than in the human skull.
The number of the cervical vertebrae is seven in all
Mammals, as in man; but the other kinds of vertebrae
vary in number in the different species. The number
of caudal vertebrae, for example, is very variable. As
most Mammals go on all fours, their fore and hind
limbs are much more similar than is the case in man.
In many the thigh and upper-arm bones are drawn
closely up to the body (horse, ox, pig). Mammals
never have more .than five fingers or toes, but may
have fewer. The thumb or great toe is the first to
disappear (hind foot of dog, fore and hind foot of
pig) There may be only three (rhinoceros), two (ox,
Fie. 12.—Vertical Section of Fic. 13.—Crown of a Grinder of the Ox. a,
a Human Grinding Tooth. cement; b,enamel; c, dentine; d,enamel;
e, cement,
sheep), or one (horse) digit developed. In addition to
fully developed digits, there are in many Mammals
very small stunted ones (“ dew-claws” of the stag).
There are also great differences in the way of
resting the feet on the ground. Man and bear tread
on the soles of the feet (plantigrade); dog and cat
walk on the under side of the toes (digitigrade), not
on the other parts of the feet. Ox, pig, horse, ete.,
MAMMALS, 23
rest while walking only on the tips of the toes, which
are sheathed in hoofs (unguligrade).
The teeth of mammals are wedged into special
sockets in the jaw-bones. The structure of a mam-
malian tooth is made clear by Fig. 12. We first
distinguish a pulp-cavity (p), which in the living
animal is filled with a substance supplied by a blood-
vessel and nerve. This cavity is surrounded by the
dentine (d), a hard substance which makes up the
greater part of the tooth. Hard enamel (s) covers
the whole of the crown in man and many animals,
while in certain other forms it is found only on part
of the crown. The root of the tooth is covered with
cement (z), a bone-like substance.
All teeth in which the entire surface of the crown is
covered by enamel only are known as simple teeth,
while those into which the enamel only penetrates in
more or less deep folds, leaving the rest of the crown
uncovered, are known as compound teeth (Fig. 18).
The structure of the teeth is related to the nature of
the food. We distinguish three kinds of teeth in the
same animal, which, however, are not all present in
every species; these are the incisors, canines, and
grinders. The first two kinds are changed ; but only
the anterior grinders, known as the premolars, are
changed, while the hinder ones, the true molars, do
not first appear as “milk” teeth, but rather later on
with the other “ permanent” teeth.
The following orders of Mammals are distinguished :
I, Bimana (Man), II. Quadrumana (Apes), TIT. Car-
nivora (Beasts of prey), IV. Insectivora (Insect-
eaters), V. Cheiroptera (Bats), VI. Rodentia (Gnawers),
VII. Ruminantia, VITI. Solidungula, IX. Pachyder-
mata, X. Cetacea, XI. Edentata, XII. Marsupialia
(Pouched animals), XIII. Monotremata.
I shall deal here only with those orders which are of
agricultural importance.
24 ZOOLOGY.
ORDER : Carnivora (BEASTS OF PREY).
In each jaw there are six relatively small incisor ~
teeth ; and, on each side of these, a large projecting
canine, by which the flesh is torn from the body of the
prey (Fig. 14). The premolars and the first of the
true molars (the carnassials1) are strongly compressed,
and have a cutting crown; their outer surface is
completely covered with hard enamel. As the lower
jaw is smaller than the upper jaw, and is only able to
move up and down, not from side to side, the sharp
crowns of the premolars, and especially those of the
large carnassials, cut along one another, and divide
anything coming between them as if with shears.
The small molars which are usually found behind the
carnassials have broad tuberculated crowns. The
temporal (i.e. chewing) muscles are strongly developed,
the general result of which is that the head is broad.
The claws are very sharp in some of the families.
The Carnivora are powerful animals, move very
quickly, and are endowed with keen smell and sight.
The wild Carnivora living in Britain belong to the
families of cats, dogs, and weasels.
Family: Felide (Cat Family).
Typical Carnivora with very large canines and
carnassials, two premolars in each half of each jaw,
one of the upper molars, but none of the lower ones,
small and tuberculated. Tongue rough. Fore and
hind feet five-toed. When not in use, the claws are
drawn back (retracted). The Felide are digitigrade.
Backbone very flexible, and with free power of move-
ment. The Felide are bloodthirsty, nocturnal animals,
many of which climb well, and spring upon their prey.
The group is specially exemplified by the Domestic
? The upper carnassials = last premolars.
The lower 35 = first molars.—Tr.
MAMMALS. 25
Cat, the parent stock of which is the Nubian cat
(Felis maniculata), a native of Nubia and the Soudan.
The Wild Cat (Felis catus) is larger than the common
Fic. 14.—Skull of Domestic Cat.
kind, and has a thicker tail. Formerly it was
tolerably common in Britain, but now only occurs in
a few thinly populated districts.
The Lynx (Felis Lynx), found at one time in Germany, still lives
in the Carpathians, and in Switzerland, but occurs more commonly in
Scandinavia, Denmark, and Russia.
Family ; Canidee (Dog Family).
Head longer than in cats; canines and carnassials
relatively less developed. Two tuberculated molars
on each side of each jaw. Claws not so sharp as
those of cats, and cannot be drawn back (2.¢. are non-
retractile). Fore-foot five, hind-foot four toes. Tongue
smooth.
The various races of the Domestic Dog belong here.
The wolf (Canis lupus) isno longer an inhabitant of Britain or
Germany, but sometimes crosses the German frontier from Russia.
Galicia, Hungary, the Alps, and the Ardennes, especially in winter,
and preys upon the larger domestic animals.
The remaining example is—
26 ZOOLOGY.
The Fox (Canis vulpes).
This animal lives in an underground dwelling,
which is either dug out by itself or else is a deserted
badger-burrow. It kills roes, fawns, hares, and
game-birds; in farms it preys on poultry and eggs.
It never commits depredations in the neighbourhood
of its burrow, for fear of betraying its hiding-place.
Valuable services, however, must be balanced against
the damage mentioned above, for it catches many
rabbits, and also an enormous number of field-
voles in the years when these become a pest. It
also often eats insects (¢.g. cockchafers), worms, and
snails. In fact, the fox is perhaps generally of more
use than otherwise to the farmer and. forester.
Family : Mustelide (Weasel Family).
Elongated, slender; legs short; head small and flat;
cranium elongated ; tongue smooth. Five toes on
each foot, with small, sharp claws. A. tuberculated
molar on each side in the upper and lower jaws. The
weasels give out an offensive odour from stink-glands
situated near the anus.
There belong to this family—
1, The Pine Marten (Mustela martes). Body up to
twenty inches, tail up to ten inches long; fur brown,
with yellowish wool-hairs; a yellow patch on the throat.
Is found in thick woods, where it destroys small birds
and squirrels; it also kills much poultry and game.
2. The Beech, or Stone Marten( Mustela foina). About
as large as the preceding species; greyish-brown fur,
with whitish wool-hairs; a white patch in the throat;
chiefly occurs in the immediate neighbourhood of
human dwellings, in barns, wood-stacks, ete.; kills a
great deal of poultry, sometimes also wild birds, mice,
and game.
3, The Polecat(Putomus fetidus). Shining brownish-
black, with yellow wool-hairs; somewhat smaller than
MAMMALS. 27
the stone marten; in particular, the tail is shorter
and its hair is not so. long as in the two preceding
species. In the summer it lives in the open country,
in hollow trees, or in the burrows of foxes and rabbits ;
in winter it settles down near human dwellings, where
it lives in wood and under heaps of brushwood, hay-
lofts, etc. In summer it may do more good by
destroying numerous field-voles, water-rats, etc., than
Fic. 15.—The Pine Marten (Mustela martes).
harm by devouring those singing birds which are
favourable to agriculture ; but in winter its undesir-
able visits to the fowl-house and dove-cot effect. much
injury. It kills the birds and devours the eggs, suck-
ing without smashing them. In winter, too, it is very
harmful to beehives, being fond of honey.
The Ferret (Putorius fwro) is undoubtedly a short-
legged variety of the common polecat, usually white
in colour, and, when that is the case, red-eyed.
28 ZOOLOGY.
4. The Stoat, or Ermine (Putorius erminea). Body
twelve inches, tail about three and a half inches long ;
slender ; the body is scarcely broader than the head ;
tail longer than in the next species; summer fur,
cinnamon brown above, white below; tail, cinnamon
brown with black tip; winter fur quite white, but
the end of the tail remains black. Mostly in fields,
in the neighbourhood of plantations or woods; always
abundant among sandhills,owing to the rabbits living
there, The stoat usually follows its prey at night,
stealing upon mice, rats, rabbits, hares, and song-birds ;
it is also sometimes very destructive in dove-cots
and hen-houses. It must, however, be stated that the
stoat is on the whole more useful than harmful.
5. The Weasel (Putorius vulgaris). Smaller than
the stoat; head larger and thicker than the extremely
slender, almost snake-like, trunk; legs short. The
weasel is a very sharp little animal, and can easily
pass along mouse-holes. Summer and winter coats
alike—back brown, belly white. Its food chiefly
consists of field-voles, also of rats and water-rats,
young hares and rabbits, birds building near the
ground, and also their eggs, which the weasel, by
holding under its chin, manages to carry to its home;
occasionally also lizards, blindworms, snakes, and
frogs. The weasel does some damage in fowl-houses
and dove-cots, and is also destructive to game.
This, however, does not outweigh its very great use,
since it is above all an untiring vole-catcher. When
in any region the field-voles have multiplied exces-
sively, an immigration of weasels takes place from
surrounding parts. In years when there is a plague
of voles the usual breeding time in spring is followed
by another later on, A very large number of weasels
may be found in a vole-infected district, and they
thin out the mischievous rodents in a surprising
manner. Nor are the weasels less useful in summer
than in winter. They even follow under the snow
MAMMALS, 29
the voles which winter in the country, and the
slaughter effected at this period must exert a great
influence on'the following season, when these animals
recommence their injurious work, and a pair of them
that have survived the winter may perhaps produce
two hundred others before the end of the summer.
6. The Mink (Putorius lutreola) is as large as a polecat, and may be
regarded as a sort of link between it and the others. Leg and ears
short; skin smooth-haired, brown both on the back and the belly; chin,
lips, and a small patch on the neck, white; tail about one-third the
length of the body. In well-watered regions on the banks of rivers, .
lakes, and ponds. Eats water-rats, water-birds, frogs, salamanders,
fish, crayfish, water-insects, water-snails, and aquatic bivalves.
Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, Brandenburg, Silesia.
7. The Otter (Lutra vulgaris). Body flattened ;
legs short, with webbed toes; snout rounded; ears
short, and can be closed by a fold of skin; tail flat,
and pointed at its tip. Length of the body, twenty-
eight to thirty-two inches; of the tail, fourteen to
sixteen inches. Skin smooth-haired, shining dark
brown above and below. Found on the banks of
lakes, pools, ponds, rivers, brooks, etc., where fish is
plentiful. It catches water-rats, ducks and geese, as
well as their young, wild water-birds, frogs, fish, cray-
fish, water-insects. Especially destructive to fish.
8. The Badger. (Meles taxus). Body heavy; legs
short, plantigrade; toes with strong digging claws;
snout pointed; canines not very large; both they and
the carnassials much worn in old animals. Tuber-
culated molars well developed. The dentition and
whole structure of the body show that the badger is
not exclusively a flesh-eater.. Length of body, three
feet; weight, 22 to 33 lbs. Fur tolerably long-haired,
yellowish whitey grey, mixed with black. Head
with longitudinal stripes of black and white; tail
short, yellowish grey.
The burrow is very large; several passages, the
openings of which may be ninety-seven feet apart, lead
30 ZOOLOGY.
to the exterior. The badger only leaves its dwelling
in the evening. It eats mice, birds which nest on
the ground, especially their eggs and young, snakes,
frogs, cockchafer grubs, earthworms, insects; also
turnips, carrots, acorns, and sweet fruits. Although
it is both harmful and useful, the latter is more
generally the case. Its digging habits, however, are
sometimes destructive, since it throws up young trees
and other plants by the roots. The badger often
sleeps several days in succession during the winter,
although it does not hibernate. Its fat is used up
during the winter.
ORDER: Insectivora (INSECT-EATING MAMMALS).
Since the Insectivora feed upon very small animals
(insects, worms, snails), they cannot themselves be
large. Only those species (hedgehog) which feed on
small mammals and birds or upon vegetable matter,
in addition to insects, are of medium size. The native
species all live on or in the ground. The snout is
extremely slender, and does duty as an organ of touch.
The eyes are usually very badly developed. Incisors
sharp ; and the back teeth, which are completely coated
with enamel, are remark-
able for their pointed
crowns. When the mouth
is closed the upper teeth fit
into the spaces between the
¥1@. 16.—Skull of the Mole. lower teeth, and vice versé.
Consequently the shutting
of the mouth forces the points of all the back teeth
into any insect which happens to be between the
jaws. ‘he Insectivora are plantigrade (p. 22). Here
belong the following forms: the Shrews (Sorex), the
Mole (Talpa ewropea) and the Hedgehog (Frinaceus
ewropeus).
The Shrews (Sorex) are small animals with a
MAMMALS. 31
superficial resemblance to mice, with slender soft-
haired bodies, small eyes, and tolerably long, thickly
haired tails. Shrews are extremely voracious, eating
daily more than their own weight of food, and
destroying an enormous quantity of subterranean
vermin. They live in underground passages, not
usually made by themselves, but dug out by field-
voles. They smell strongly of musk, secreted by two
glands in the hinder part of the body.
The blackish-brown Shrew-mouse, or Common Shrew
(Sorex vulgaris), and the Lesser Shrew (Sorex pyg-
mous), only about two inches long, kill, in the corn-
fields, gardens, or woodland, an enormous quantity of
noxious insects found in the earth, together with
Fig. 17.—The Common Shrew (Sorex vulgaris).
their larve; also snails and worms, and sometimes
field-voles, and are in the highest degree serviceable.
But the larger (up to 34 inches long), black Water
Shrew (Sorex fodiens), although serviceable on land
in the same way as the other kinds, is very injurious
to fishing and fish-breeding, since it devours the small
fish and kills the larger ones, eating out their eyes
and brains.
The Mole (Talpa europea). Body thick, cylindrical.
Legs short, fore legs broad and spade-like, with
broad digging claws. Eyes small, scarcely visible
among the fur. No external ears; the auditory
opening can be completely closed by a fold of skin.
Shining black fur. The mole is found in every soil
32 ZOOLOGY.
inhabited by insects and earthworms, provided it is
not too stiff, but yet sufficiently coherent to dig
passages in, which will not at once collapse. Its
presence is known by the heaps which it throws up.
The nest, however, is always found under a larger
heap, frequently hidden under tree roots, walls, etc.,
though sometimes in the open field. It consists in
the first place of a nearly round dwelling-chamber,
softly upholstered with vegetable substances; this is
surrounded by a labyrinth of passages. From the
nest a passage runs to the mole’s hunting-ground.
The walls of this passage of the labyrinth, and of the
nest, are hard. The wider and subterranean channels,
which the mole digs out when it is simply catching
insects in the soil, easily fall in again, and the animal
takes no pains to compact their walls. The highway
to the hunting-ground, in which the animal can
progress very rapidly, can be at once detected, not
like the ordinary passages by a small chain of mole-
hills composed of the thrown-up earth, but by a
depression, since in its preparation the earth is late-
rally compressed and not thrown out. This tube is
shorter or longer according as the hunting-ground
is in the immediate neighbourhood or further off;
it may be 100 or 160 feet long. The mole sleeps in
the nest during the time not employed in seeking
for food, and goes three times a day on the hunt for
insects (early morning, midday, and before sunset
in the evening). Having reached the subterranean
hunting-ground, it tracks to some distance the insect
larvee, and worms found in the soil, being aided in
this by its long snout. It daily devours more than
its own weight. During summer the mole digs its
passages near the surface, since larvae and worms are
then found in the uppermost layer of earth. In winter,
when these withdraw into the depths of the soil, it
digs much deeper channels. It does not fall into a
winter-sleep. The young (three to seven) are born in
MAMMALS. 33
May, June, or July. Tne mole never gnaws plants. It
does service, sometimes very great, by eating many
wireworms, grubs, snail embryos, earth caterpillars,
mole-crickets, and other earth-inhabiting insects, as
well as their larvae. It also willingly eats earthworms,
but whether this does good is not definitely known.
But under certain conditions it may also do harm,
rooting up plants as it makes its heaps. Grass and
grain suffer little, if at all, by this; other plants more ;
while young flax-plants perish if their roots are
loosened. Mole-hills in hayfields and cornfields are a
nuisance at harvest time. Moles are not to be endured
in the neighbourhood of dams, since their borings may
become the immediate cause of flooding. Trapping
may usefully be resorted to in cases where moles are
harmful.
The Hedgehog, or Hedgepig (Lrinaceus ewropeus).
When danger threatens it rolls itself into a ball
covered all over with prickles, and is in this way
secured from the attacks of most enemies. The hedge-
hog goes on the hunt in the evening; while during the
day it sleeps in its hiding-place, situated in such
places as the side of a ditch, hedges, or under heaps
of brushwood. It preys more particularly on field-
voles, sometimes also on eggs and small birds (chickens
occasionally), lizards, grass-snakes, adders (by the
bites of which it is unaffected), frogs, cockchafers and
their larve, field-snails, earthworms, and similar small
deer; now and then on fallen fruit and juicy plant-
roots.
ORDER: Cheiroptera (BATS).
' All Bats, except a few tropical genera, feed on
insects, and possess teeth like those of the preceding
order of Mammals (p. 30). The leading feature is the
characteristic modification of the fore limbs into a
flying apparatus. The bones of the forearm (Fig. 18,
D
34 ZOOLOGY.
u, 7), the metacarpels (me), and the phalanges (except
in the case of the thumb, which possesses a sharp claw
(p)) are of great length ; and between the long fingers,
between the fore and hind limbs, and, last of all,
Fiq. 18.— Skeleton of a Bat.
between the two hind limbs there is an elastic mem-
brane, serving both for flight and touch. Sight ill
developed, since the bat is a nocturnal animal; a
MAMMALS. 35
delicate sense of touch has its seat not only in the
flying-membrane, but also in the skin of the ears,
which are often very large, and in the membranous
flaps which, in a few genera (the “leaf-nosed” bats),
occur on the nose and lips. As is well known, bats
sleep in the day ; and they also hibernate in chimneys,
hollow trees, ruins, and other similar places of conceal-
ment.
They principally devour night-flying moths, and
spiders; and, since they use a great quantity of
nourishment, are of great service, since the cater-
pillars of many of the species they destroy are very
injurious to agriculture or forestry. About nine
species live in Britain, but there is no use in enume-
rating them here.
ORDER: Rodentia (GNAWING MAMMALS).
Two long incisors (Fig. 19), the crowns of which
are continually being worn down, while a correspond-
ing growth takes place at the root-end, These incisors
are used for gnawing, in which process the lower jaw
Fid. 19.—Skull of Squirrel.
is rapidly moved backwards and forwards. Gnawing
wears down these teeth less in front than behind,
owing to the presence of a thick layer of enamel in
the former position. Their crowns, therefore, maintain
a chisel-edge. That the incisors never stop growing
36 ZOOLOGY.
is clearly seen when the usual wearing down does
not take place, as, e.g., when the lower jaw is placed
obliquely under the upper jaw, or when a tooth is
absent in one jaw, under which circumstances the
corresponding incisor in the other jaw is not worn
down. In such a case the incisors continue to grow,
ultimately curving upwards or downwards, and be-
coming tusk-like structures (Fig. 20). The Rodents
have no canines. In those Rodents which feed both
on animal and vegetable food (the “Ommnivora,” eg.
squirrel, common mouse, brown rat, etc.), the crowns
of the back teeth are completely covered with enamel ;
in the purely vegetable feeders (“Herbivora,” eg.
hare, rabbit), they are compound teeth (p. 22). In
most Rodents the hind feet are longer than the fore,
giving a springing gait. Eyes large. Many forms
have “ cheek-pouches,” in which the food they obtain
can be stored up for some time. When the pouches
are full, a muscle contracts by which their ends are
drawn backwards; they are emptied by the animal
pressing them with its fore feet. The majority of
Rodents are small, they are at most of medium size
(hare). The majority of the species have great powers
of reproduction, by which the injurious kinds are
sometimes rendered a very great pest. The British
forms injurious to agriculture principally belong to
the families of hares, mice, and voles. The squirrel
(Sciurus vulgaris), and the dormice (especially
Myoxus avellanarius) are solely of importance in
forestry.
Family : Leporide (Hares and Rabbits).
Skull somewhat long. Two small incisors behind
the two large upper ones. Ears long and spoon-
shaped. Upper lip cleft. Back teeth with enamel
folds. Here belong the hare (Lepus timidus) and
rabbit (Lepus cuniculus).
MAMMALS. 37
Hare (Lepus timidus). Ears longer than the head.
Eyes yellowish brown. Fur rusty yellow to grey on
the upper side, white on the under side. The doe
litters in an open “form;” the young are born
Fic. 20.—Abnormal Tooth in Hare.
covered with hair and with open eyes. Mature
animals breed four or even five times a year, pro-
ducing two to four leverets each time. The hare is |
injurious to agriculture, eating cabbages, rape, turnips,
clover, vetches, young corn-plants, carrots, and grass.
It also eats many weeds. It is, however, less injurious
than the rabbit, for it does not burrow. The damage
done by the hare is also less evident, since this restless,
fastidious animal seldom feeds continuously in the
same spot.
Rabbit (Lepus cwniculus). Ears shorter than the
head. Eyes dark-brown. Fur yellowish brown to
greyish yellow on the upper side, redder in front.
Under fur bluish grey. Shape more compressed.
The rabbit breeds more rapidly than the hare. Five
to six times yearly the doe brings forth four to eight
young, which, after six months, can again reproduce.
Dwelling subterranean. Young, blind and hairless
at birth. As the rabbit burrows, it is limited to certain
districts, for the soil must not be too stiff and firm,
38 _ ZOOLOGY.
nor, on the other hand, too light and incoherent. The
rabbit is injurious in the same way as the hare, but
the damage is more obvious (see above); and as a
result of its burrowing habits it does infinitely more
damage. Both in sand-hills and in alluvial sandy
soil rabbit-burrows lead to the blowing away of
material only held together by sand-plants. Kept
down by shooting, netting, and ferreting (p. 27).
Family : Muride (Mouse Family).
The mouse-like animals (the larger species of the
family are called “rats”) closely resemble the repre-
sentatives of the following family, but are distin-
guished from these (the “voles”) by their slender
body, longer legs,a more pointed head with longer
Fic. 21.—The Hamster (Cricetus /rumentarius).
always clearly visible ears, and usually, with the
exception of the hamster, by a tail equal in length to
the body. The hind legs are longer than the fore
legs, hence the hopping mode of progression. Three
back teeth on each side of each jaw, possessing a
tuberculated crown completely covered with enamel.
MAMMALS, 39
The Hamster (Cricetus frumentarius)—The Hamster has cheek-
pouches, and a very short, thick, but short-haired tail. It attains the
size of the brown rat. Bright yellowish brown; belly and legs black.
The hamster is found almost exclusively on fertile soil devoted to
cultivation. It appears locally, and then for several years in great
abundance, so that it is often caught in tens or even hundreds of
thousands. Favourite food: wheat, field-beans, and peas, then rye
and similar grain ; and, last, roots, turnips, young corn-plants. Some-:
times, too, the hamster eats animal food— worms, insects, lizards, small
birds, eggs, and mice. As a winter store it usually only accumulates
grain, beans, and peas in its hiding-place, often to the amount of more
than five gallons. A little heap of thrown-out soil marks on the sur-
face the position of its nest. The entry to this runs vertically down
into the soil. Six to twelve young, twice ayear. The dwellings of the
hamster, which are situated in stubble-fields, can easily be found ; and
by digging them up, particularly in spring and late summer, when
there are young ones, the number of these destructive Rodents can be
greatly reduced. May be caught in traps.
Genus Mus (Mice and Rats) includes Rodents with-
out cheek-pouches, and with long, scaly, ringed tails.
Two large species (“rats”) belong here, namely—
The common Black Rat (M. ruttus), indigenous to
Europe since pre-historic times, and the stronger,
somewhat larger—
Brown Rat (M. decwmanus), with greyish white
belly (while the first-named species is black on the
upper and only slightly brighter on the under side).
The brown rat migrated during the first half of the
eighteenth century from Asia into Russia, and about —
the same time from Further India to England by
means of ships. Since then it has spread all over
Europe and other parts of the world, and in many
regions has quite driven out the black rat. Both
kinds of rat eat almost everything, and are a pest in
housekeeping, as well as in agriculture. They feed
on insects, mice, eggs, and chickens, will even bite
pieces from the living bodies of grown poultry and
tattening swine, and also devour young geese and
ducks. They eat grain, peas, beans, potatoes, carrots,
turnips; bread, cheese, and similar provisions. Multiply
very rapidly. Can be driven away by clacking-mills,
and to a great extent by noise. Caught in traps.
40 ZOOLOGY.
Besides these, four mice belong here :—
The Common Mouse (Mus musculus). Back yellowish
grey-black, gradually shading into a somewhat lighter
tint on the under side.
The Wood Mouse, or Long-tailed Field Mouse (1.
sylvaticus). Back a brown shade of yellowish grey ;
belly white, sharply marked off; relatively very long
hind legs, hence a hopping gait. The long-tailed
Fig. 22.—The Long-tailed Field Mouse (Afus sylvaticus).
field mouse penetrates tolerably far into woods, but is
also found in plantations and gardens, sometimes also
in quite treeless regions. On arable land it may
adopt the habits of the field vole (p. 42), but as it
does not multiply so rapidly is not nearly so injurious.
It may also live either for a short time or per-
manently in houses, adopting the same habits as the
common mouse.
The Harvest Mouse (M. minutus). Small, pretty;
back yellowish brown red, belly of a sharply marked-
off white. Lives in cornfields during the summer; in
harvest time by the field-paths; during winter in
barns and haystacks, but also in outdoor nests in the
fields, Climbs among the grass and corn-haulms, and
the small stems and branches of other plants, including
shrubs, holding fast, not only by the feet, but also by
the tail. Builds a beautiful spherical nest with a
MAMMALS. 41
side entrance out of the haulms and leaves of grass
and corn, or out of other leaves. Devours seeds, espe-
cially grain, oats being the favourite.
The Corn Mouse (IM. agrarius). Back brownish red
with longitudinal black stripes. In plains east of the
Rhine. Usually local, but then very abundant.
Fic. 23.—Upper Back Teeth of Brown Fic, 24.—Upper Back Teeth of Water
Rat, seen from grinding surface. Vole, seen from grinding surface.
Chiefly in cornfields and fruitfields; digs holes in the
soil. In autumn it often occurs in the field in large
colonies. Food: grain, beans, peas, potatoes, turnips,
carrots. In winter in the barns and dwelling-houses
of farmers.
Regarding the means of destroying those mice which
are sometimes damaging to agriculture (M. sylvaticus
and M. minutus), see methods mentioned under “Field-
vole” (p. 48).
Family: Arvicolide (Vole Family).
The large voles are also popularly called “rats,” the
smaller ones “mice.” They closely resemble the true
mice and rats (p. 38), but are distinguished from
them by their plumper, more compressed body; a
a thicker head with blunt snout, and ears quite hidden
in the fur; and a short, tolerably hairy tail, on which
no rings of scales can be distinguished. There are on
each side of each jaw three back teeth, of which each
appears to consist of two rows of three-sided prisms,
42 ZOOLOGY.
fused together along the middle ‘line (cp. Figs. 24
and 23). The native species all belong to the genus
Arvicola; the Bank Vole (Arvicola glareolus), the
Water Rat, or Water Vole (A. amphibius), and the
Short-tailed Field Mouse, or Field Vole (A. agrestis).
The brownish-red Bank Vole (A. glareolws) occurs
in forests. .
The Water Rat, or Water Vole (A. amphibius).
Body six inches long, tail half the length of the body.
Fur of one colour, brighter on the under side, varying
from brownish grey to brownish black on the back,
and from whitish to greyish black on the belly. On
the banks of rivers, brooks, ditches, canals, etc. ; also
on damp low-lying meadows and fields. Digs much-
branched passages in the soil; this often takes place
in embankments to such an extent that it finally leads
to their complete destruction. The vole also does
damage in grass-fields and cornfields in the same way
as the mole (p. 33). In its case, however, there is
no compensating service. It certainly eats insects and
worms, but its chief food is of vegetable nature; grain,
potatoes, turnips, and carrots are devoured by it in
large quantity, and in particular stored up in its
hiding-place. It also destroys the roots of grass and
corn, and eagerly devours chickens and the eggs of
ducks and geese. : LE
wing not of such a deep \ ,
black colour; the black
patch in the inner margin
of the fore wing is usually
Fie. 96.—The Garden White (Pieris Fig. 97, The Garden White (Pieris rape),
rape), male. female, caterpillar.
absent in the female. The male, however, very often
has a black patch in the upper side of the fore wing.
Caterpillar: Just over an:inch long. Dull green; fa
longitudinal yellow line on the back; also the black
stigmata are connected by a yellow line. Habits as
in the preceding species; the female, however, lays
her yellow eggs separately, and not in heaps, and the
second generation of caterpillars usually become
pups somewhat later in the year. Collecting is more
142 ZOOLOGY.
difficult than in the preceding species, since the young
caterpillars live independently, and their colour
makes it difficult to recognize them on the green
cabbage leaves.
The Green-veined White (Pieris napi).
Butterfly (Fig. 98): As large or somewhat smaller
than the preceding species. Wings milky white on
their upper side; fore wings dusted with black on
their front margin, tips, and ends of the ribs. Two
io spots on the middle of the fore
V,. jg: wing in the female, one or none
in the male. Under side of
the hind wings yellow; under
side of the veins dusted with
greenish-erey. Caterpillar: A
little over an inch. Dull
bluish - green, with minute
2 blackish tubereles above, and
Figs te—Tieewereawa whitish ones below. A yellow
White (Pieris napi). longitudinal line on each side
connecting the black spiracles, which are bordered
by reddish yellow. Very like the preceding species
in the larval condition. Habits as in the preceding
species, but this is less common.
Family : Noctuide (Owlet Moths).
Night-flying moths, of medium size and dull colour,
with smooth-haired bodies. Antenne long and thin,
thread like,—comb-shaped only in the males of a few
species; wings powerful, lie in a roof-like way when
at rest; almost always a wing-hooklet. Caterpillars
usually hairless ; mostly with five pairs of pro-legs, a
few with four or three pairs. The owlets pair at
night; they also fly about during the day, even in
bright sunshine. Flight strong and rapid, but always
in fits and starts. Almost all species lay their eggs
INSECTS. 143
separately, and on herbs, only a few species on trees.
The caterpillars are very much scattered, and the
damage caused by them is never great, except in spots
here and there,—on the contrary, when they increase
to a great extent they spread over a wider area.
Several species are harmful to agriculture.
The Surface Caterpillars (Species of Agvotis)
are stout caterpillars, 11 to 2 inches long, with five
pairs of pro-legs, and shining transparent external
skin. They remain in the ground during the day,
feeding above ground at night, and also in the day-
time when the sky is much overcast. When touched
they bend themselves into the form of a C. There are
in Britain several species of surface caterpillars which
have these habits, but I will only describe here, to
begin with, the commonest kind :— ;
The Common Dart or Turnip Moth (Agrotis segetwm
or A. clavis).—Moth (Fig. 99): Length almost # of an
Fic. 99,—The Common Dart or Turnip Moth (Agrotis segetwm) with Caterpillar.
inch. Span of wing about 14inch. Fore wings small,
ash-grey or brownish, with many dark patches and
144 ZOOLOGY.
similar markings. Hind wings in the male, bright
grey to snowy white; in the female, brownish grey.
Caterpillar (Fig. 99): ,Up to two inches, earthy grey,
occasionally somewhat greenish. Head and pro-
thorax darker. The time taken by the caterpillars to
complete their development differs according to the
plants attacked, and it is therefore easy to understand
why the moths should be seen flying about from the
first half of May right on into the autumn, without
having recourse to the improbable hypothesis of two
successive generations. The eggs are consequently
laid at very different times, and are always deposited
singly in the soil in the neighbourhood of plant roots,
or else in the low-lying leaves and stems of various
herbs. The caterpillars hatched from these are de-
structive earlier or later, according to the time of egg-
laying. Most specimens are half grown in winter;
these continue their destructive work the following
spring. In autumn they attack the roots of winter
grain (rye and wheat), rape, and species of cabbage ;
they also bore readily into turnips and potatoes. In
spring, after the winter rest, they continue to attack
the roots of winter grain, winter rape, etc., or fleshy
underground parts (turnips, potatoes) developed in the
interim, or the roots of summer plants (summer grain,
’ buckwheat, summer rape, vegetables, etc.). On clear
days the caterpillars always remain hidden in the
soil; and those which have bored into juicy under-
ground parts of plants (turnips, carrots), do not leave
their abode during the day, but the others, both during
the night and on cloudy days, come above ground to
attack the leaves and stems of young plants. In ex-
ceptional cases the caterpillar is mature by the begin-
ning of winter, in which case it hybernates in the
soil as a brown pupa. The moths escaping from such
pupz naturally appear earlier than others. As a rule,
the caterpillars do most damage to the winter crop in
autumn, wandering about a great deal ; in many cases
INSECTS. 145
they gnaw through the main root, thus quickly killing
the plant attacked, from which they proceed to
another. Remedies: When the caterpillars have done
much damage in late summer, it is recommended to
leave .the field alone till October, then to plough it
up and sow the winter grain. By putting off the
seed-time in this way, the caterpillars will have lost
their activity when the corn germinates, and the
winter crop will thus escape them. Besides this, the
preceding ploughing will bring many caterpillars to
the surface, where they will become the prey of birds,
or, if not, can be collected. Warm soils, especially
those manured with horse-dung, are most infested by
the caterpillars ; and the use of warm kinds of manure
should, therefore, be avoided in regions which have
much to fear from these insects. Where everything
has been destroyed, a thorough ploughing is desirable.
Swine may also be driven in during autumn, and will
grub up and devour the caterpillars. In this case,
sowing will take place the following spring.
Other Surface Caterpillars, which have pretty much
the same habits as the preceding, are those of the
Heart and Dart Moth (Agrotis exclamationis), the
Wheat Moth (A. tritici), and the Thick-bodied Surface
Caterpillar (A. ravida or A. crassa).
The Cabbage Moth (Mamestra brassice).
Moth (Fig. 100); about 44 of an inch long, span of
wing 12 inch. Fore wings shining brown, with
yellowish and black marbling; each patch having a
dark outline; a yellowish zigzag line on the outer
margin. Hind wings shining yellowish-grey brown.
A strongly developed crest in the middle line of the
thorax. Caterpillar (Fig. 100) : 12 inches, cylindrical.
Bright or dark green, brownish green, or greenish
brown. On the back a dark longitudinal stripe, divided
into two halves by a narrow white longitudinal line.
L
146 ZOOLOGY.
A whitish line running along each side; between this
and the dorsal line a dark transverse streak on each
segment. The brown pupa (Fig. 100) remains in the
soil during the winter, and is not invested in a cocoon.
The moth appears in May; during the day it rests on
windows, in barns, ete. The greenish yellow eggs
are laid separately on the leaves of cabbages (some-
times also on lettuces and turnips). The caterpillars,
which appear in fourteen days, creep about actively
between the leaves. Within a month they are full-
Fic. 100.—The Cabbage Moth (Mamestra brassice), with caterpillar and pupa.
grown, and become pupe in the soil. At the end of
July and in August the summer generation of moths
appears. From the eggs laid by these are hatched
a second generation of caterpillars, which are always
much more numerous than those of the first. From
August to October they are found in all kinds of
cabbage, especially compactly headed kinds and cauli-
flower. At first they eat holes in the leaves, leaving,
however, the chief veins and usually theedges. Later
on they eat right on into the heart of the cabbage.
They fill their burrows with excrement, and the
INSECTS. 147
attacked plants begin to rot internally. The full-
grown caterpillars creep out and become pupa in the
soil. Remedy: Collecting the caterpillars while they
are still on the outer leaves.
The Vegetable or Lettuce Moth (Mamestra oleracea).
Moth: 2 of an inch long; span of wings about
12 of aninch. Fore wings dark rusty brown, darker
on the nerves, dusted with white. Hind wings
reddish white. Head and thorax like the fore wings ;
abdomen like the hind wings. Caterpillar; Up to 1?
inch ; dirty greenish grey, or olive green, irregularly
bestrewn with dirty white dots. The caterpillars feed
on cabbages, lettuce, asparagus, and other vegetables.
Those of the first generation (June and July) hollow
out lettuce stalks before the head begins to be formed ;
those of the second generation (August and Sep-
tember) feed on cabbage or asparagus leaves. The
first generation of moths appear in May, the second
in the first half of August.
The Pea Moth (Mamestra isi).
Moth: About 2? of an inch long; span of wings
about 12 of an inch. Fore wings bright reddish brown
with bluish-grey markings, and a yellowish longi-
tudinal streak. Hind wings reddish grey. Cater-
pillar : 14 of ainch; cylindrical; slender. Back dark
greenish or brown red; closely and tolerably regularly
veined with dark lines, and with two sulphur yellow
longitudinal streaks on the back and one on each side.
Head, belly, and feet flesh red. If the caterpillar is
touched it moves the front part ofits body about here
and there, and then lets itself falldown. The moths
appear in May and June; the caterpillars are found
from July to September on peas, vetches, beans,
clover, lupins, sorrel, orach, heath, willow, birch, and
yet other plants. Seldom very destructive.
148 ZOOLOGY.
The Grass-root Moth (Hadena monoglypha, or
H, polyodon).
Moth: About % of an inch long; span of wing 14
inches. Fore wings longish; yellow brown blended
with dark brown and white; the tips are coloured
most brightly. Three black rays on the fore wing;
hind wings brown grey. Caterpillar: About 13 inches
long, 4 of an inch broad, with sixteen feet. Grey or
reddish white, more or less shining. Head, pro-
thorax, the last body-segment and warts black. At
the end of July and during August the female lays
her eggs separately on the bases of grass haulms and
leaves. The caterpillars creep out at the end of
August, and, especially after their hybernation (in
April and May), attack meadow grasses, biting through
the leaves and haulms at their bases, immediately .
above the surface of the ground, and devouring, as it
were, passages through the grass. The reddish-brown
pup rest in the soil.
The Couch-grass Moth (Hadena basilinea).
Moth: Nearly # of an inch long; span of wings 12
inches. Head and back rust-coloured or reddish grey,
in the male with a large tuft of hairs. Fore wings
coloured like the back, with two transverse lines in
the middle, and brighter and darker marks as well.
Hind wings bright brown, with a faint golden sheen,
and with a yellowish fringe. Caterpillar: 13 to 12
inches long, with sixteen feet, bluish grey, somewhat
brownish, with dirty white longitudinal lines; green-
ish belly, and large bright brown head. The moth
lays the eggs in little heaps on the stems and leaves
of grass plants. The damage which the caterpillars
effect among meadow grasses is inconsiderable; but
they sometimes appear in considerable numbers on
grain-plants, and are then very destructive. The
INSECTS. 149
insects are chiefly found on dry high-lying land, which
is consequently most liable to the attacks of their
larvee. After hybernation they feed on grass or the
leaves and stems of young grain-plants, and change in
the soil into stout, smooth, yellowish-brown pupe,
devoid of cocoon. Remedy: In case the caterpillars
have got into the crop, threshing should take place
as soon as possible, or, after hybernating, they will
continue to devour the grain in the barns.
The Wheat-haulm Moth (Luperina didyma).
Moth: Span of wing 1} inches. Individual specimens
differ very much from one another: brownish, greyish
yellow to ochre yellow, with various dark and light
markings. Caterpillar: With sixteen legs, and over
an inch long in full-grown specimens (May); thin,
spindle-shaped ; stiff; bright shining green, with two
broad dark red lines on the back. The caterpillars
live in the stalks of wheat-plants, and other gra-
mineous forms, hollowing them out; they hybernate
when tolerably young. In spring they continue to
hollow out the wheat plants, going from one stalk to
another. The plants attacked quickly have their
leaves turned to a rusty colour, and they sicken or
even die.
The Grass Moth (Charwas graminis).
Moth: Length 3 of an inch; span of wings about
1}inches. Antenne of the male comb-like. Fore wings
short, of a brownish-red, olive-brown, or dirty olive-
green ground colour, with three whitish patches, and
darker markings. Hind wings yellowish grey, brighter
at the roots. Caterpillar: With sixteen legs; 14
inches long ; bronze grey, back more of a bronze brown,
with three narrow bright longitudinal streaks. Head
ochre yellow. The moth lays her some two hundred
150 ZOOLOGY.
eggs during July, in little heaps at the bases of the
grass haulms and leaves. ‘The caterpillars hide
during the day, and feed at night. They are very
injurious even in the autumn, but become insatiable
the following spring, always devouring the lowest
parts of the haulms and leaves, so that the upper
Fig. 101.—The Grass Moth AU graminis) and its caterpillar.
parts die off. They wander in large companies from
one field to another. In June they become pupz of a
shining reddish-brown below the surface of the soil or
under sods, Enemies: swine, moles, shrews, rooks,
wagtails, ducks, fowls. Remedy: Driving in swine,
where this is practicable.
The Darnel Moth (Newronia popularis).
Moth: Length rather less than # of an inch; span
of wings nearly 13 inches. Much variegated, beauti-
ful. Fore legs reddish-brown, with peach-coloured
glow ; all the nerves and several markings yellowish
white, and dark markings as well. Hind wings
yellowish, and abdomen white. Head and thorax
brown, mixed with yellowish white. Caterpillar: Over
two inches long, and about one-third of an inch thick ;
16-legged ; tapers at both ends. Has an oily lustre.
Dorsal side of a bronze brown, sharply marked off
by a yellowish line from the bright brownish grey
ventral side, and traversed by three longitudinal
bright brown lines, which in young specimens are
almost white. Habits pretty much like those of the
preceding species.
INSECTS. 151
The Silver Y Moth (Plusia gamma).
Moth: About {$ of an inch long; span of wings
1? inches. Dark grey, mixed with a reddish tint, and
darkly marbled. About the middle of the fore wing
there is a very obvious gamma (y), or Y-shaped mark.
Hind wings bright brown at the root, darker at the
margins, with a whitish fringe. A crest of hairs on
the dorsal side of the thorax. Caterpillar: 12-legged.
It bends its body like a looper (Fig. 102). Length
1 to 1 inches. Ground colour green; but there may
be variations in this from a dirty green to a brownish
Fig. 102,—The Silver Y Moth (Plusia gamma), with caterpillar and pupa.
colour. Six fine longitudinal lines on the back, and
a yellowish line above the legs, The caterpillar is
almost naked, only possessing a few small, isolated
bristle-like hairs. Habits: At least two generations,
and sometimes as many as five in two years. The
Silver Y Moth generally hybernates as a half-grown
caterpillar, but sometimes also in the pupa, or moth
state. The caterpillars may therefore be met with
the whole year; but they are usually most abundant
from the end of June to the middle of August, and,
under favourable conditions, may become an agricul-
tural pest. They devour the leaves of almost all wild
and cultivated plants (except grasses, corn, and trees),
and are especially fond of leguminous plants (peas,
vetches, clover), flax, beet, rape, cabbage, and buck-
wheat. The moths mostly appear in May, but also
in July, and later on in the summer, especially on
152 ZOOLOGY.
clear days. The female lays her numerous bright
green eggs, some four hundred in number, separately,
on the leaves of the above-named plants. The cater-
pillars are not always easy to see, owing to their
greenish colour; under favourable conditions they
may pass through the whole of their development up
to the moth stage in from six to seven weeks. In
some years they appear in such large numbers, that
almost all the cultivated plants found in the fields
of an infested region are utterly spoilt by them,
excepting the corn. Natural enemies: Starlings, all
sharp-beaked singing birds haunting fields ; sparrows;
ground beetles, rove beetles, and the larvee of these
families; several ichneumon flies, parasitic fungi.
Remedies: Driving in poultry, where practicable.
Collecting, eg. by means of a machine invented by
L. Dehoff, of Gutenberg, near Halle. “Several troughs
with steep inner walls are fastened together by laths,
at distances equal to those between adjacent furrows,
and besoms are fixed to the laths. These troughs are
drawn along like sledges by a horse walking in the
furrows, and the caterpillars are swept by the besoms
into the troughs, from which they are collected in
sacks at the ends of the furrows. With this cheap
machine about twelve acres per day can be cleared”
(Taschenberg).
Family : Pyralide (Snout Moths).
Small moths with thread-like antennz, comb-like
in the males of a few species, with tolerably large
eyes, and very large labial palps often stretched out
in front like a beak (Fig. 103). Fore wings of an
elongated triangular shape. Wing hooklets. Legs
tolerably long. Caterpillars slightly hairy, with four
or five pairs of pro-legs.
The Rye Snout Moth (Pyralis secalis),
Moth: 3 of an inch long, span of wings 11 inches.
INSECTS. 153
Wings elongated, whitish grey, with an A-shaped
patch on the fore wings. Caterpillar: Rather more
than 2 of an inch long; green, streaked with brown,
16-legged, with a brown head, and tapering at both
ends. Habits: The caterpillar lives during June in
the rye haulms, hollowing them out. As a result of
this, the ears remain hidden between thé leaves and
leaf-sheaths, and it often happens that only the tips
of the awns appear externally. No grain is formed ;
the ears first become white and dry, and then fall off.
The Hop Snout Moth (Hypena rostralis).
Moth (Fig. 103): Length rather less than 2 of an
inch ; span of wings 1} inches, or more. Fore wings
usually brownish, somewhat scalloped on the fringed
outer margins; a zigzag black line near the base; in
the middle, near the front edge, a 4
patch bordered with white, and
behind this a dark longitudinal
streak. Hind wings dull grey,
with a silky sheen. Caterpillar:
At most one inch long, 14-legged, |
very slender, green, with a dark me. 103.—The Hop Snout
middle line and two white side Moth @ypena rostratis).
lines. Very active; wriggles about on the ground
like an eel. Habits: The moth is on the wing at the
beginning of August, the second generation in August ;
the latter hybernates in outhouses, barns, summer-
houses, ete. The eggs are laid on wild and cultivated
hops, also on stinging nettles. The caterpillars are
found on the hop plants, especially in June; they
sometimes entirely devour the leaves, with the excep-
tion of the nerves. In July they become pups, either
between the leaves or on the soil, and are invested
in a grey cocoon. The moths appear at the beginning
of August, and give rise to a second generation of
caterpillars, from which, after the pupa stage, the
moths which live through the winter are developed.
154 ZOOLOGY.
The Cabbage Snout Moth (Botys forficalis).
Moth: Length about half an inch. Span of wings
rather over one inch. Fore wings sharply bent in
front before their sharp tips; rusty yellow, somewhat
darker on the nerves, with rusty brown transverse
streaks from the outermost corners to the middle of
the hinder margin, and with other reddish-brown
markings. Hind wings and body shining straw
yellow. Caterpillar: $ inch long, 16-legged, tapering
in front and behind. Yellowish green, with indistinct
longitudinal lines and bright brown head. A few
small yellowish-green hairs. Habits: The first gene-
ration appear in small numbers in May. The cater-
pillars hatched out from the eggs of these live (May
and June) on the leaves of cabbages and wild cruci-
ferous plants. They always shelter themselves
between the leaves, and spin a few thin threads across
the entrances to their abodes. The caterpillars burrow
horizontally in the earth, and there become pupe
invested in cocoons. The moths of the second gene-
ration appear in August; in autumn the caterpillars
hatched from their eggs damage cabbages, sometimes
to a large extent. In October they burrow into the
soil, where they hybernate. Remedy: Deep digging
or ploughing after the crop, by which the larve
invested in webs are buried deeply, and consequently
for the most part killed.
The Mother-of-pearl Moth (Botys margaritalis = B.
extumalis).
Moth (Fig. 104): Length nearly 2 inch; span of
wing over 1} inches. Fore wings bright sulphur
yellow, with large rust-coloured patches, and two rusty
yellow transverse lines. Hind wings shining straw
yellow ; all four wings with a mother-of-pearl sheen.
Caterpillar (Fig. 104): # inch, 16-legged, yellowish,
INSECTS. 155
head and neck-shield black. Body with a broad,
grey, longitudinal streak on each side. Four longi-
tudinal rows of dark brown warts. Habits: The
moth is on the wing in June and July, and lays the
longish ovoid eggs on cruciferous plants (rape, radish,
several wild forms). The caterpillar lives concealed
in a white web, and gnaws holes in the pods, into
Fie. 104,—The Mother-of-pearl Moth (Botys margaritalis),
with larva (1) and injured pods.
which it inserts the forepart of its body for the
purpose of devouring the still green seeds. The
attacked pods, owing to the presence of round holes
in them, look something like flutes or fifes.
The full-grown caterpillars burrow into the soil,
where they hybernate in a delicate web. Remedy:
Compare the preceding species.
Family: Tortricide (Leaf-rollers).
Small, thickset moths (Fig. 105), with smaller
palps than the snout moths. Fore wings broad at
the root, with straight or somewhat curved outer
margins. Hind wings as broad, or even broader,
than the fore wings. When at rest the fore wings
lie in a roof-like way. They usually possess many
characteristic markings. Hind wings greyish, with-
out markings. Antenne thread-like. Caterpillars
156 ZOOLOGY.
hairless, or only slightly hairy; 16-legged: many
kinds live in leaves, which they roll up; others in
twigs, buds, and fruits, which they hollow out.
The Fawn-coloured Pea Moth (Grapholitha nebritana
= G. pisana).
Moth (Fig. 105): Length 3 inch; span of wings
about 2 inch, Fore wings fawn-
coloured, with metallic sheen ;
alternating short, white, and
dark lines on the front margin.
Hind wings black, with bronze
sae aaa sheen and white fringe. Cater-
Fic. 105.—The Fawn-coloured pillar: $ inch long > 16-legged ;
Pes Moth (Grapholitha nebri- pale green, with brown or black
head, neck-shield, and last body
segment. The thoracic legs are black. Dark warts
on each segment. Habits: Compare the succeeding
species.
The Crescent Pea Moth (Grapholitha dorsana).
Moth: Somewhat larger than the preceding species.
Fore wings olive brown, with many small short white
lines on the front margin. A yellowish-white crescent
on the middle of the hinder margin. Hind wings
brownish. Caterpillar: Nearly 2 inch. long, 16-
legged, orange yellow, with brown or black head,
neck-shield, last body segment, and thoracic feet.
Covered with brownish-yellow warts. Habits: The
moths fly about in large numbers round the pea
blossoms, always a short time after sunset. The
female lays one, two, or at most three eggs, on a very
young pod, or on an ovary. In fourteen days the
caterpillar is hatched, bores into the pod, and attacks
the peas. The opening made in the margin of the
pod closes up again. The pod generally ripens early.
When it opens, the full-grown caterpillars creep out,
INSECTS. 157
and become pupz in the soil, within a web, where
the pupa lives through the winter. The peas attacked
are always covered, while in the pod, with the coarse-
grained excrement of the caterpillars, and are often
united two or three together by web fibres. Remedy:
Deep digging of the soil before the winter, or, still
better, deep hoeing as soon as the pea crop is gathered
in. In this way many of the caterpillars or pupe
hidden in the soil will be destroyed.
Family : Tineide (Leaf-miners).
These moths are the smallest of the Lepidoptera.
Like the snout moths, they have strongly developed
labial palps, but are distinguished from them by their .
small wings; the hind wings are especially small,
and have sharp tips. The
extent of the wings is in-
creased by a broad marginal
fringe. When at rest, the
wings slope like a roof, and
the fringe near their tips
is often turned upwards.
Antenne thread-like, toler-
ably long—in the males of = Fis, J06 he Larch Mom
a few species may even be
very long. Caterpillars slightly hairy, with five, or,
rarely, four pairs of pro-legs. To this family belong
the well-known Clothes Moth; the Corn Moth, living
in stored-up grain; and also—
The Carrot Moth (Depressaria nervosa = Haemylis
daucella).
Moth: Length 2 inch. Span of wings rather over
4inch. Fore wings reddish-grey brown, blackish on
the nerves, and with scattered whitish markings.
Hind wings more of a grey brown. Thorax and
abdomen very shiny, and somewhat brighter than the
158 ZOOLOGY.
wings. Caterpillar: Nearly 2 inch long, tolerably
thick, especially in the middle, and variegated. Head,
thorax, and last body segment shining black, the last
two regions with reddish-yellow margin, and the
thorax, in addition to this, divided into right and
left halves by a longitudinal yellow line. The rest
of the body is olive green; a broad orange-coloured
line divides it into a darker dorsal and a lighter
ventral side. On the back many ill-defined warts of
a shining black colour. Habits: In March and April
many of the carrot moths which have survived the
winter come out of their hiding-places; they only fly
at night. The eggs are laid separately on umbelli-
ferous weeds, carraway, or carrot plants. ‘The cater-
pillars are first seen when the plants flower; they
live on the flower-stalks, which they bind together
by a few threads, and devour the flowers and young
fruits, sometimes even the flower-stalks. The cater-
pillars are very active, and let themselves down by
a thread when disturbed. Usually they are fully
grown in five weeks, and then bore into the stalks
of the plant, where they become pupz. It is not
known whether there are one or two generations.
The caterpillars are found at very various times, from
May to August.
The Diamond-back Moth (Plutella cruciferarum
= Tinea wylostella).
Moth: About } inch long; span of wings 2 inch.
Fore wings small, lancet-shaped, with long fringes.
Ground colour yellowish brown, darkly speckled.
Hind wings brownish grey, small, strongly fringed.
When at rest the long fringes form a sharp backward
and upwardly directed comb, while the antennz are
applied together and stretched straight forwards.
Caterpillar: About 4 inch long, tapering in front and
behind. A beautiful green, with a black head. Lives
hidden under a very thin web or under a few fibres,
INSECTS. 159
on the lower side of the leaves of cabbage, rape, and
other crucifers. Habits: The pupa lives through the
winter ; the moths emerge in May, and fly about in
the evening. Two generations; the first generation
of caterpillars in the first half of July, the second in
late summer. The second generation is particularly
apt to be destructive to cabbage. Pupz found on
the leaves of the plants attacked, and surrounded by
a thick web.
SIxTH ORDER: Hemiptera (HALF-WINGED INSECTS).
The mouth parts are modified into a sucking and
piercing beak. Head small. Legs usually slender,
with two- or three-jointed feet. Wings are absent in
several species (eg. bed bugs); in one section (eg.
fruit bugs) the fore wings are half of
leathery, half of membranous texture =
(Fig. 107) ; in others, all four wings Q
are membranous (winged plant lice), ye, 1971eft pairof
or the fore wings are somewhat harder _ wings of a Bug.
than the hind wings (frog-hoppers). Incomplete meta-
morphosis (p. 89). None of agricultural importance
except— :
Family: Aphide (Plant Lice).
Long, five- to seven-jointed antennz. Long thin legs,
no power of springing. Sucking beak long and thin.
In the same species there are both winged and wing-
less aphides, mostly the latter. In autumn, male and
female specimens are found. After pairing, the latter
lay their eggs, which are destined to live through the
winter. The aphides hatched from these the follow-
ing spring are all females, but are distinguished from
those of the previous autumn by producing livin
young, which contain at the time of their birth the
germs of a new generation. The number of young
produced by a single female, and the number of
160 ZOOLOGY.
generations appearing within the year, vary accord-
ing to the species, There are species in which
each female bears from eighty to one hundred young,
and nine to sixteen generations succeed one another
in the year. In autumn males and egg-laying
females once more appear. As a rule the eggs live
through the winter, but the insects themselves may
also do this. I must add that there are constant
differences within the boundaries of the same species
according to the habitat, and especially in the species
which regularly wander, either from one plant to
another, or from the leaves to the roots. But since
the species injurious to agri-
culture do not migrate in this
way, nothing further need be
said on the point. As aphides
suck plant juices during the
whole of their lives, and have
enormous reproductive powers,
theyare very destructive. They
suck from stems and leaves the
juices which would otherwise
be used by the plants them-
selves for growth or for the
production of flowers and fruit,
and bear young, which bore
their beaks into the same part
in the immediate neighbour-
hood of their mother, and
- quickly begin to multiply in
"pupae tara reoaine the turn. ih this a. as
ae nies consisting of a hundred
or more individuals are regularly formed (eg. on
peas, beans, roses). A plant part attacked in this
way shrivels for want of nourishment, and the
aphides upon it would die if they did not wander
elsewhere. The third generation usually contains,
not only wingless individuals, but also others
INSECTS. 161
which, after repeated moults, fly away and start a
new colony in another plant. Since aphides have
many enemies (starlings, sparrows, grasshopper
warblers, etc., lady-birds and their larve, drone fly
larvee, lace fly larvee), and are often killed in large
numbers by wind and rain, it only occasionally
happens, particularly in dry summers, that they
entirely or largely destroy the plants they infest.
They injure plants, not only by drawing away their
nourishment, but also by the separation of a sugary
sticky fluid from the anus. If the minute drops of
this fluid fall from the upper parts of an infested
plant to the lower (garden and field beans), or from the
leaves of an infested tree to the plants growing at its
foot, or, as sometimes happens, are carried by the
wind to more distant plants, great damage may be
caused. The fluid evaporates and leaves behind a
shining sticky substance, which closes up the stomata
of the leaves, and partially checks exchange of gases
(assimilation and respiration). Particles of dust, sand,
and smoke carried by the wind, and also the cast
skins of the aphides, stick to the surface of the leaves
and render exchange of gases still more difficult. The
leaves develop brown dirty patches, and die off.
Besides this, the spores of disease-producing fungi,
carried by the wind, stick very easily to the places
covered by the sweet fluid, and readily germinate in
it. Aphides may thus be the indirect cause of
several diseases (eg. smut). These insects are de-
structive, therefore, to other plants than those in- ©
fested by them. Remedies: Spraying with any one
of the fluids destructive to them—soapy water; a
decoction of quassia chips; tobacco water, not too con-
centrated ; Nessler’s fluid (14 ozs. soft soap, 24 ozs.
tobacco mixture, 2 ozs. fusel alcohol, half a pint
ordinary alcohol, diluted with rain water up to a
quart: when used, mix with one-fifth the quantity
of rain water); Koch's fluid (2 lbs. soft soap dissolved
M
162 ZOOLOGY.
in half a gallon of hot water; 3 Ib. of quassia chips
extracted for twelve hours in 5 quarts of rain water,
and the fluid thus obtained boiled and filtered. It is
then added to the soap water, and the whole brought up
to 10 gallons by addition of rain water). Spraying
with one of the above-named fluids must be renewed
in a short time, so as to reach all the aphides wher-
ever possible ; if even a few remain untouched, there
will soon be a large number again. A warm evening
is best for the spraying. Infested plants can also be
strewn with finely powdered substances, or these may
be scattered over them by means of a small bellows.
Since such substances should remain on as long as
possible, they should be used after rain or early in the
morning, when the dew is still on the leaves. Among
powdered matters suitable for the purpose, the follow-
ing may be named: gypsum, lime, tobacco, wood-ash,
insect powder (prepared from the flower-heads of
Persian species of chrysanthemum and from tansy
heads). It must also be pointed out, that these
remedies must be employed as soon as the insects
begin to show themselves in considerable numbers ;
it is not desirable to delay till the infestation has
made considerable headway, as it is then much more
difficult to get a satisfactory result. In some cases,
it is desirable to cut off and burn or otherwise destroy
much infested parts, or those parts on which the in-
sects first begin to multiply (eg. early cutting off of
the tips of the stems in field and garden beans).
The species of aphis which most commonly occur
upon cultivated plants are :—The Bean Aphis (Aphis
papaveris), >; inch, black; on the tips of the stems
of field and marsh beans, also on poppy, turnips,
lettuce, and on several wild composites and umbelli-
fers, The Pea Aphis (Aphis ulmaric), 4 to 4 of an
inch long; green; July to September on peas, chickling
peas, and several wild leguminous plants; very de-
structive. The Corn Aphis (Aphis cerealis), jj, inch,
INSECTS. 163
green or reddish brown, also reddish brown with green
abdomen; June to August on rye, barley, oats and
several grasses; sucks the axis of the ears, and the
flower-stalks; as the (black) eggs remain on the
stubble during the winter, it is advisable to plough
this deeply in immediately after harvest. The Oat
Aphis (Aphis avene), 75 inch, dark green, speckled
with white; on oats and barley, scarcely ever on the
ears, but on the leaf-sheaths and the upper sides of the
rolled-up leaves. The Hop Aphis (Aphis humult), ~5
inch, green; on the under side of the hop leaves, and,
when very abundant, on the scales of the fruit. The
Cabbage Aphis (Aphis brassicc), 75 inch, dark green,
speckled with grey; from May to September on all
kinds of cabbage, and also on other crucifers.
SEVENTH ORDER: Physopoda (BLADDER-FOOTED
INSECTS).
Very minute insects, possessing a characteristic jaw
apparatus, with which they pierce the outer skin of
leaves or the parts of flowers, and
suck their juices. The four small
wings have long fringes at their
edges; the fore wings are tolerably
hard. The ends of the feet do not
possess claws, but small bladders or
suckers. The metamorphosis is in-
complete. In some years, one or
other of the species may increase to
a very large extent, and these minute
insects then fly about in swarms,
especially on very hot days; and
they also wander about in large
flocks. If they settle on the face or Gye enti
hands of human beings, they cause a
disagreeable and persistent itching, as they continu-
ally walk about.
The Corn Thrips (Thrips cerealiwm), js inch. Dark
164 ZOOLOGY.
brown to black. Male wingless. Female with small
wings bending outwards at their tips (Fig. 109) ; fore
wings horny, hind wings membranous. Larva orange
yellow; head, prothorax, and tip of the abdomen,
black. After the last moult it becomes yellowish
white, and acquires scale-like wings. Hybernates in
the adult condition; lays its eggs on various grasses,
also on different grain plants. The larve, and, later
on, the perfect insects are found in large numbers
sucking the ovaries of flowering corn (wheat, rye,
barley); as a result of which the ears do not fully
develop, but wither away. Remedy: Deep ploughing
of the stubble, by which the hybernating individuals
are destroyed.
The Elder Thrips (Thrips sambuct) lives in elder,
and sometimes also multiplies in very young field
- beans, the leaves of which blacken and shrivel up in
consequence.
The Flax Thrips (Thrips lint) often injures flax.
EieutH Orper: Diptera (FLIES).
Mouth parts elongated, adapted for sucking or
piercing. Fore wings developed, rarely absent. Hind
wings absent, as such,—altered into club-like bodies
(balancers or halteres) often covered with scales.
Metamorphosis complete. Larvee always legless ; most
have biting mouth parts and no distinct head (maggots) ;
the head-bearing dipterous larve possess similar mouth
parts. The last become obtectate pupe (p. 93), while
the headless larves become pupee within the larval skin.
Family: Culicine (Gnats).
Slenderly built, with long, thin legs. An elongated
piercing proboscis in the female. The male with
feebly developed mouth parts, and feather-likeantenne.
Both sexes suck up water and plant juices, and the
female blood as well; hence only the latter bites,
especially at night. They hybernate in the adult
INSECTS. 165
condition in cellars, barns, etc. The female lays 250
to 300 eggs on any floating object in stagnant water
(pools, ditches, water-vessels). The larvae (with large
head, well-developed prothorax, and a breathing-tube
on the abdomen) live in water, as do the pups.
Several generations annually; especially in damp
summers and districts where the draining of the soil
leaves much to be desired. Although sand-flies
torment our domestic animals more than gnats, yet
these also may be very troublesome to them. They
principally attack the less hairy parts of the body
(inner side of the ears, nose, mouth, corners of the
eye, arms, sexual parts). Remedies: Thorough drain-
ing of the soil. Washing the domestic animals to be
protected with a vinegar extract of walnut leaves ;
rubbing with walnut-leaves. Wherever possible, any
sores should be covered up, as they attract gnats,
sand-flies, and flies ; or the skin near them may be
painted with turpentine or very dilute carbolic acid.
. This is the less to be neglected, as several kinds of flies
eagerly lay their eggs in the sores of domestic animals.
Family : Gallicole (Gall Gnats).
Small gnats with large broad wings, much narrowed
at the root, rounded
at the tip, and gene-
rally rough with hairs.
Feelers made up of
a large number of
spherical or cylindri-
cal joints, covered
with spreading hairs.
Proboscis short, legs
long. The female has
an ovipositor, with
which she inserts eggs
in any part of a plant.
* : Fic. 110.—The Wheat Midge (Cecidomyia.,
At this particular spot tritiet) female, .
166 ZOOLOGY.
a luxuriant growth of vegetable tissue takes place
later on, of varying extent, and even forming a
regular gall. The species of gall gnat are usually
brightly coloured, often red or yellow; these colours
are lost, however, in dried specimens. The larvze
are spindle-shaped, yellowish white, yellow, or red;
they become pupe either in the soil or within the
part of the plant which they inhabit. Several species
are destructive to fruit-tree culture or forestry; I
mention here only the most destructive kinds which
attack cultivated plants.
The Hessian Fly (Cecidomyia destructor).
Female about one-eighth of an inch long, male some-
what smaller. The former velvety black, with black
hairs, red belly, and red markings; wings greyish;
antennz one-third the length of the body. Male
black, with reddish-yellow hairs, dirty red belly, and
red markings. The name “ Hessian flies” was given
in North America, during last century, because it was
believed they were introduced from Germany, in 1778,
by Hessian soldiers, in their straw. It is still very
destructive in North America, also in Germany,
Russia, England, and Scotland. Habits: During
April or May, on warm still evenings, the female lays
her eighty or ninety eggs, singly or in pairs, on the
lowest leaves of the still very short haulms of rye,
wheat, and barley. Eight days, on an average, after
this the maggots, which are at first oblong and
spotted with reddish yellow, are hatched, and glide
down into the leaf-sheath, where they begin to suck
the haulm. They gradually alter their shape, be-
coming ovoid, and transparent with the exception
of the large yellowish-white, quite opaque fat body.
They soon become pupe (Fig. 111), which look like
grains of linseed, and are found in summer on the
haulms of the ripe grain. The presence of the
constantly sucking larvee causes great and injurious
INSECTS. 167
distortions of the plant, especially obvious during the
flowering time, and for a short time afterwards.
The haulm withers, and shrivels at the point where
the larvze are present, i.e. above the lowest node, or
the lowest but one.
At the time when the
haulm begins to turn
yellow—that is, when
the grain begins to
ripen,—the larvz be-
come pupze; the haulm
now easily breaks off
at the infected spot;
a strong windorheavy
rain throws it to the
ground. A badly in-
fested field looks, on
this account, as if a
herd of cattle had got
loose and trodden it
all down, or as if
the grain bad been
devastated by hail.
Only a few haulms
bear ears containing
normally developed et eee i: ae
.. s Fic. 111.—Plant of Barley, attacked by Hessian
grains, The flies Fly. The see at a.
- emerge from thepupee ;
in August and September, after which the females
quickly seek the winter corn, and lay their eggs
singly or in pairs on the leaves of the yet young
plants. The larvee creep between the leaf-sheath and
the still quite undeveloped haulm, and, in the case
of small haulms, a number of larve may collect
together in the immediate neighbourhood of the
root, causing a spherical swelling. In many cases
the plant dies if its lower parts are inhabited by
many larve. Before winter, the larve attain their
168 ZOOLOGY.
full size, leave the plants, and creep into the soil,
where, in the following spring, they become pupa, from
which flies emerge fourteen days later. There are,
therefore, two generations annually. The spreading
of Hessian flies into regions where they were formerly
unknown may be caused by (a) straw containing the
linseed-like pupe (straw for paper manufacture,
packing, etc.); (b) grain, among which are often
found pupe that have fallen out of the haulms among
the separated grain. Remedies: 1. Sowing the
winter grain as late as possible, so that the females
of the summer generation when they come out of the
pupze will find no winter-grain plants in which to
lay their eggs. 2. Ploughing up the stubble immedi-
ately after harvest, or else burning it, so that the
pupee found above the lower nodes are either deeply
buried or else burnt.
The Scarlet Wheat Midge (Cecidomyia equestris).
Female about 4 inch, male 31, inch; cherry red,
with yellow hairs; back of the thorax dark brown.
Antenne as long as the body in the male, half as long
in the female. On the wing from May till June;
lays its eggs on the leaves of grain plants, at the
base of the uppermost leaf by preference. The
blood-red maggots, when they are hatched, let them-
selves slide down, and get between the leaf-sheath
and haulm. Here they work themselves into the
haulm, making a longitudinal groove, the walls of
which swell more or less, and the end of which is indi-
cated by an obvious transverse thickening. The leaf-
sheath hiding the attacked part of the stem is usually
more or less swollen. These gall-like outgrowths
take up a great deal of nutritious matter, not only
from the affected haulm but also from the plant at
large, so that the regions not directly attacked are
retarded in their growth. The larve are full grown
INSECTS. 169
at harvest time, leave their hiding-places, and let
themselves fall to the ground, where the following
spring they become pupz, from which midges quickly
emerge. Remedy: After a year in which the insect
has caused great damage, the fields must be deeply
ploughed in order to kill the larve, which would
otherwise live through the winter.
The Wheat Midge (Cecidomyia tritici).
Male 3, inch, female (Fig. 110) 71, inch, and possess-
ing an ovipositor which, when extended, is twice that
Fic. 112.—The Wheat Midge (Cecidomyia tritici): Li larva in the contracted,
Lu, the same in the extended condition. B, a wheat flower: a, outer, aginner glume ;
db, stamens; c, brush-like stigmas ; d, ovary ; 1, larve of the wheat midge. Liand
Li highly, B less highly, magnified.
length. Citron yellow, slightly hairy; antennz
blackish, eyes black, legs dirty yellow. In spring
or early summer, the midges creep out of the soil in
fields where wheat has been planted the previous
year. After pairing, the females wander to fields
where wheat or, more rarely, rye is growing. The
170 ZOOLOGY.
attacks of the midges commence when the ears begin
to emerge from the leaf-sheaths, and are continued
throughout the flowering time of the wheat. At
night the female pierces the glumes with her ovi-
positor, and lays three to ten perfectly transparent
eggs in each flower. Each midge lays eggs in several
flowers, but two or more midges may use the same
flower for this purpose, so that as many as thirty
maggots may be found in one bloom (Fig. 112).
The maggots, which are hatched out in a week, creep
down to the ovary and suck its juices. If many
maggots live in one flower it is sure to die, but if
there are only a few it may produce a grain, though
this may be small. Ears infested by the maggots
develop yellow spots later on; many ears remain
quite empty, and consequently thin and upright.
Full-grown maggot: 4 inch; straw yellow to chrome
yellow; quite transparent when very young. Is
fully developed in three weeks, and then lets itself
fall to the ground (July or August). Becomes a
pupa the following spring; fourteen days later the
midge escapes.
Family : Rostrate (Crane Flies, Daddy Longlegs).
These very long-legged gnats live on the juices of
plants, and do not sting. The larve are legless, with-
out a hard well-marked head ; those of most species
live in mouldering plant parts (eg. rotten wood),
or the decaying manures of our fields and meadows.
A few species, however, are very destructive, since
they injure roots and other parts of cultivated plants.
The adult and larval stages of all the injurious kinds
are not yet distinguished. We know that the larve
of the yellow and spotted Tipula maculosa are chiefly
destructive in sandy soil; while more binding clay
soil and rich garden earth are infested by the larvee
of Tipula oleracea (Fig. 113), and damp meadows by
INSECTS. 171
those of Tipula paludosa. The two last-named
species are very much like one another; grey or
greyish brown with bright brown wings, having dark
front margin. Much is still unknown about the
habits of “crane flies”; my researches relate to the
Yellow-spotted Crane Fly (Tipula maculosa). The
adults fly about in swarms during summer, usually
from the beginning of June, in the fields where the
larvee lived in spring. They lay their eggs either in
the same fields or (usually) in others, and are blown
Fic. 113,—The Daddy Longlegs, or Common Crane Fly (Tipula oleracea). Left, the
"male and the maggot; right, the female and the pupa.
about for long distances by the wind. Where the
flies settle they lay each time two or three black
ovoid eggs, bent like a sickle, and repeat this till all
the eggs (200 to 250) are laid. Those fields which
have previously been grass land are the most infested
by the crane flics. The larve are headless, grey to
lead coloured, with small prickles at the hinder end
of the body, and they first appear, in large numbers,
under the pieces of turf which are left behind in such
fields, and which appear to be the centres from which
172 ZOOLOGY.
the destruction of the standing corn begins. The
larvee are hatched out in summer, during the later
part of which, and during autumn, they devour plant
roots ; after hybernating, they again attack the under-
ground parts of plants the following spring. They
devour most readily the roots of grass and corn, but
also those of clover, rape, and several other plants,
including some found in flower and kitchen gardens.
They are mainly injurious either in autumn or spring,
according to the nature of the plants attacked.
Young grain plants are killed by them, older ones
usually not. On fields where winter corn grows
they therefore do most damage in autumn, while this
is the case in spring on land where summer corn is
cultivated. They are sometimes harmless, since they
can also feed on roots left behind in the ground. The
larva do not limit their ravages to underground
parts; in the evening, and also in the daytime during
dark damp weather, they devour parts of the first
leaves of very young corn plants, though the damage
thus effected is often inconsiderable. In May the
larva is ready to pass into the pupa stage; it comes
near the surface and becomes a brown pupa, bearing
small spines on the abdominal rings. After a rest
of fourteen to seventeen days, the pupa works its
way upward till the front part of its body sticks out
of the soil. The fly then escapes. Enemies: Mole,
shrews, wagtails, grasshopper warbler, rook, gulls.
Remedies: When the maggots are very destructive
in gardens they may be collected, preferably in wet
weather, since they then leave the soil during the
day. If they appear to an injurious extent on
summer corn, the fields should be rolled in April
(either with the ordinary or the spiked roller), At
the time (June) when the crane tlies swarm about
the fields and meadows in flocks, thousands of
individuals can easily be caught with a net.
INSECTS. 173
Family : Musceformes (Gnat Flies).
Gnats with relatively short legs, and antenne
which are in any case shorter than the body, and
are usually quite short and cylindrical, possessing,
however, six or more joints, while the antennz of
true flies usually have only three joints. The gnat
flies form, as it were, the transition between the
slender gnats with their long legs and antennz, and
the more thickset flies, the legs and antenne of
which are short. Here belong the genera of Shade
Gnats (Sciara, e.g. Sciara Thome, the larvee of which
often wander about in companies, as the so-called
Army Worm), the Sand Flies (Simulia), and the Hair
Gnats (Bibio, eg. the Garden Hair Gnat, Bibio hortu-
lanus, the larva of which gnaws the roots of plants,
especially in humous garden soil).
The Sand Flies, or Mosquitoes (Simulia),
have thick-set bodies, short legs, and short nine or ten-
jointed antenne ; they are from 3z'5 to 4 of an inch
long, and have a short but sharp proboscis, with which
they suck up the flower juices which constitute their
chief food. But the female also sucks the blood of
human beings and animals, making herself exceed-
ingly annoying in this way. Its larval state is passed
through in stagnant water; its appearance is there-
fore local, and is especially favoured by damp
summers. The mature sand flies are found from
early spring or through the whole summer; several
generations succeed one another in the same year.
Sand flies often appear in swarms, containing thousands
of individuals. Since the female eagerly creeps into
the ears, noses, and corners of the eyes in horses and
oxen, she is extremely annoying and even dangerous.
Her bite produces a smarting sensation, and may
cause actual boils to form in the skin. When a large
174 ZOOLOGY.
swarm of sand flies settles on a herd of cattle or on
some horses, these animals become maddened and
furious; they often rush wildly round for so long
that they fall down dead. Simulia reptans is a
common British form. Remedies: Compare what is
said on p.165, about gnats. Sand flies can usually be
kept from horses’ ears by means of ear-caps.
Family : Tabanide (Gad Flies).
Large or medium-sized flies with thickset body,
large broad head, flat abdomen, and strong legs. The
proboscis is less developed in the male, which lives
merely on plant juices, than in the blood-sucking
female. The cylindrical whitish larve live in earth,
and are harmless. But the female insects bite human
beings, and the larger kind attack horses and cattle
in such a manner that blood-drops may be seen on
the ground under the animals
attacked, if these remain for
a time in the same spot.
There belong to this family :
1. The Breeze Flies (Tiabanus),
large insects up to # inch
long, which are seen flying
about with a buzzing sound
over meadows and fields in
Fie. Hamatepotagiviais, = the_-sunshine (Ox Fly = T.
bovinus; Horse Fly = 7.
autumnalis). 2. The Lesser Breeze Flies (Hwmatopota),
smaller and more slender, with grey wings, bite
most before a storm and in hot sultry days. 3. The
Blinding Breeze Flies (Chrysops), as large as the Lesser
Breeze Flies, but broader, with shining golden-green
eyes and wings marked with black. Remedies:
Compare p. 165, and above; draining the soil, how-
ever, is no good here.
INSECTS. 175
Family: Muscide (True Flies).
These are flies with three-jointed antennz, con-
structed on the type seen in the common house fly.
Here are included the Caterpillar Flies (Tachina),
the Flesh Flies (Sarcophaga), Common Flies (Musca),
Flower Flies (Anthomyia), Green-eyed Flies (Chlorops),
ete.
The Caterpillar Flies (Tachina)
are black, grey, or reddish yellow flies, reminding one
by their appearance of the common
house fly or the blue-bottle. They
play the same part in the economy
of nature as the sand wasps (p. 129),
but always lay their eggs externally
on the skin of the host; the mag-
ots consequently never prey on '@- 115.— Caterpillar
tes ee iets which wie in Bo meee
the tissues of plants or in the soil.
The Flesh Flies (Sarcophaga)
have a longish abdomen, with large bristles on the
hinder margins of the segments. Thorax with three
longitudinal streaks. The flies suck up sweat, but do
not bite. The eggs develop within the abdomen of
the mother ; the flies lay the young larvee in dead flesh ;
also, if not kept clean, in wounds of human beings
and animals—sometimes, too, in the genital opening of
horses, cattle, and swine, in which case the maggots
live as true parasites in the vagina and uterus,
causing a secretion of mucus, upon which they live.
Two to three generations yearly; fifty to eighty
maggots each time. Remedies: On keeping the flies
from cattle, cf. p. 165; to keep them from meat, fly-
nets, a gauze cover. Blow Fly (S. curnaria), with
black speckled abdomen.
176 ZOOLOGY.
The Common Flies (Musca)
are coloured dark or shining green. The headless
white maggots live in dung (House Fly = Musca
domestica), in fresh or decaying meat (Blue-bottle =
M. vomitoria), exceptionally (M. vomitoria) in wounds
that are not kept clean, or in the vagina of several
domestic animals. Remedy: Compare above (“ Flesh
Fly *y)
The Flower Flies (Anthomyia).
These are found on flowers, and resemble many
common flies in appearance and colour. The headless
white maggots live in dung, also in decaying or sound
parts of plants; a few species may sometimes develop
in the one kind of material, sometimes in the other.
Anthomyia meteorica swarms round the heads of
domestic animals, and may even cause inflammation
of the eyes and ears. The Wheat Bulb Fly (Anthomyia
coarctata, about a quarter of an inch long, yellowish
grey, with black hairs) lives as a larva during winter
and spring in the hearts of rye and wheat plants,
the leaves of which become yellow in consequence.
During April and the beginning of May the larve
quit these plants and become pupz in the ground.
The second generation can, in like manner, live in
various kinds of summer grain. The Lupine Fly (4.
funesta)—nearly one-fifth of an inch long, brownish
grey (male) or whitish grey (female), with black legs
—digs, when a larva, tunnels in the roots, stems, and
seed-leaves of young lupine plants, causing the root
and stem to turn black, and the seed-leaves to
wither. Preventive Measure: Early sowing of the
lupines. The Mangold and Beet Fly (A. beta), a quarter
of an inch long, yellowish grey, lays its eggs, five to
eight in number, in the young leaves of mangold and
beet. The maggots devour the green substance of
the leaf between the two layers of epidermis, so that
INSECTS. 177
the leaves die. In June the maggots creep out of the
leaves, and become pupe in the soil, The flies quickly
escape, and two or three generations follow one
another in the year. As, however, the leaves are
now larger, the later generations only effect a small
amount of damage. Preventive Measure: Close sow-
ing of the turnips, so that even if many are killed
there will still be enough young plants. The Cabbage
Root-eating Fly (A. radicwm) and the Radish Fly
(A. floralis) live as fleshy, wrinkled, dirty white
maggots with black dots, in the underground parts
of turnip, cabbage, horseradish, radishes, etc. They
lead a similar life to the
Cabbage Fly (A. brassicc),
the cylindrical, smooth,
yellowish-white maggot of
which lives in the under-
ground parts of cabbage,
turnip, and rape. The roots
attacked swell here and
there (Fig. 116), and later
on decay; the leaves of
the infested plants first
become of a dull leaden
colour and then wither.
Entire fields of cabbage,
rape, or turnips, are often
destroyed by cabbage fly
maggots. The insect passes
the winter in the pupa aT ey
state ; the flies appear early cabiuge Fly: A,ewellings; G, tunnels,
in the spring, and usually ;
twice more later on. It is therefore most desirable
to pull up and burn the infested plants as soon as
possible. A proper rotation of crops should also be
practised. [The Onion Fly (A. ceparwm) maggot feeds
within the bulbs of stored onions. The male fly is
grey, the female yellow. ]
N
178 ZOOLOGY.
The Cheese Fly (Piophila casei),
one-fifth of an inch long, slender, with a metallic
sheen, almost hairless, black, with dirty yellow legs.
and wings of glassy clearness. These small flies
abound in front of the windows of places where
cheese is stored; in summer and autumn the shining
white maggots, which are cylindrical in form with
tapering ends, and one-third of an inch long, live
in large numbers in old cheese, gnawing it through
and through, and making it dirty. Now and then
they spring forwards by bending their bodies into
a circle and suddenly straightening them again.
They become pup on the walls or in straw, near
the cheeses from which they have crept out.
Remedies: Keeping the cheeses clean; mechanical
exclusion (gauze screens outside the windows, en-
closure in chests).
The Green-eyed Flies (Chlorops)
include a number of small flies, under one-sixth of an
inch long, with spherical head, rounded greenish eyes,
strongly arched thorax, and short egg-shaped abdomen,
pointed in the male and blunt in the female. The
headless larvee live in the haulms of grasses and species
of grain; the life-history of a few forms only is
adequately known. A few are harmful, especially
as there are two or three generations annually.
The late summer generation often appears in large
numbers, indeed in actual swarms. Since no species
lives exclusively on corn, it is impossible to keep
them down for a long period of time. I describe
only two species :-—
The Ribbon-footed Corn Fly or Yellow Haulm Fly
(Chlorops teeniopus),
nearly one-sixth of an inch long, shining yellow ; the
antennz are black, and there are three longitudinal
INSECTS. 179
stripes on the dorsal side of the thorax and four trans-
verse bands on the abdomen of the same colour; the
latter region is scarcely longer than the thorax. The
insect (Fig. 117) is on the wing in corn-fields about
the middle of May. It lays its egos separately on the
upper leaves of various species of wheat, rye, and
barley, choosing the upper side of the blade, not far
from the sheath. Only those plants are selected for
the purpose in which the ears are still hidden deep
down between the leaf-
sheaths. Wheat plants are ‘\
Cy
picked out whenever pos-
sible. The maggot when
hatched works its way
between leaf-sheath and
haulm, digging into the }
latter. It is yellowish fe. 117—The Ribbon-footed Corn
white, clear and trans- BRE ERE DE:
lucent, and about a quarter of an inch long. While
still young it penetrates the haulm, and then attacks
the developing ear or the upper part of the haulm
which immediately adjoins this, and travels gradu-
ally up to the first node of the haulm or nearly
so, always continuing to slowly suck. Thus a
furrow, from 2} to 34 inches long (Fig. 118, C and
D), is formed along the surface of the upper part
of the haulm, and often also along the lower part of
the ear. The part of the haulm attacked swells
transversely, and the part below often remains short,
so that the ear cannot emerge from the leaf-sheath ;
but, in any case, only small worthless grains are
developed. The furrow is always much deeper below
than above, and its margins thicken in consequence
of the swelling of the tissues of the haulm. At the
end of June or in July, the larva becomes a pupa
at the lower end of the furrow. The yellowish-brown
pupa (Fig. 118, B), one-fifth of an inch long, remains
as such in the furrow for three weeks; the fly
180 ZOOLOGY.
emerges in August. Very considerable damage may
be done by the first generation, of which the habits
have just been described. During 1869 in Silesia,
from two-thirds to five-sixths of the ears in many
fields remained hidden in the leaf-sheaths, and conse-
quently gave no increase. The first generation of the
ribbon-footed corn fly can also develop in the way
described in the haulms of several grasses, ¢g. in
species of Poa and Holcus.
The flies, emerging in late summer, lay their eggs,
here, too, separately, on the leaves of grass or corn.
Wherever possible, they seek out for the purpose the
winter wheat plants then present in the fields, but
also content themselves with rye, or even with wild
or meadow grasses; they have to be satisfied with
grasses if, at the time of egg-laying, the winter corn
is not yet up. The maggot, when hatched, works its
way to the inner side of the leaf-sheath, and thence
to the apex of the still very small haulm; there it
remains during the winter. The damage becomes
apparent the following spring. The growth in length
of the haulm in question is extremely small, while
growth in thickness increases to an abnormal ex-
tent. Almost all the leaves completely surround
the haulm, which swells to an enormous extent (Fig.
119), together with the enclosing leaf-sheaths, which
are much broader than usual. The unattacked plants
are naturally much larger than the sickly ones, and
deprive these of air and light, so that they die down,
being overshadowed, not only by the sound haulms,
but also by their own secondary shoots. The result-
ing damage may be tolerably great, especially at the
edges of the field. It may happen that both summer
and winter generations of the ribbon-footed corn fly
are harmful in the same district; but it frequently
happens that only one or the other is complained of
in a particular spot. It is only natural that the flies
which swarm around in May, and again in August,
Fie. 118,
Fig. 118.—The Ribbon-footed Corn
Fly (Chlorops teniopus); larva (A
and pupa (B) magnified. To the leit
a wheat haulm and ear (C) with the
furrow (q) dug out by thelarva; the
pupa (p) is seen at the bottom of
the furrow. To the right a wheat
haulm with furrow (D) and the larva
(r) lying in it.
Fig. 119.—A wheat plant distorted by
the winter generation of the Ribbon-
footed Corn Fly. Fic. 119.
182 ZOOLOGY.
September, or October, should not always find suitable
corn plants upon which to deposit their eggs. In such
cases grasses are used. Remedies: Sowing the summer
corn as early as possible, that it may be developed to
a stage which is unsuitable for the purpose of egg-
laying, before the flies appear. The winter seed,
however, must be sown as late as possible, so that the
second generation of flies may find no corn plants fit
to lay their eggs upon. Bearded wheat, especially the
strongest varieties, should be sown in preference to
awnless wheat. Careful tillage and suitable manuring,
so that strong plants of rapid growth may be pro-
duced.
The Frit Fly (Chlorops, or Oscinis frit)
(Fig. 120, C) is about one-tenth of an inch long, shining
black, with a metallic sheen. Legs short, feet yellow.
Maggot (Fig. 120, A) yellowish white, about one-eighth
of an inch long, cylindrical, and tapering in front.
Usually three generations. 1. The maggots of the first
generation are found during May, in the lower part of
the haulm of summer corn (especially oats and barley) ;
the plants attacked either die off entirely, or some
haulms develop further, remaining small, however,
and yielding only a few light grains. The base of
the haulm thickens abnormally, but the growth in
length is always small; the leaves, too, grow badly,
first becoming yellowish at the tip, and then entirely
yellow or reddish. The symptoms of disease are
exhibited to a less or greater extent, according as
few or many (even up to ten) maggots inhabit the
base of a plant. The shining brown pupe (Fig. 120,
B) are found in the lower part of the haulm, or
between the leaf-sheath and the haulm (Fig. 120, D).
The adult insect is on the wing at the end of May and
in June. The first generation often appear on wild
or meadow grasses, and are chiefly seen on summer
corn when this is sown late or develops slowly.
Fie. 120,—The Frit Fly (Oscinis frit, L.): A, larva; B, pupa; C, fly; D, a diseased
corn plant, as appearing in spring,—the larve and pupe are seen of the natural size
in the lower part of the plant.
184 ZOOLOGY.
2, The maggots of the second generation are found
in average cases during July, on the as yet scarcely
ripe grains of late summer corn, principally those of
oats and barley, often occurring also in the haulms
of grasses. They keep between the awns, and suck
the juices of the soft developing grains, which are
rendered incapable of growth, and in any case remain
light. The maggots of the second generation develop
more quickly than those of the first or third ; they are
mature in three weeks. The pupa rest is very short,
and the flies appear in August, September, or October.
They lay their eggs on the leaves of winter corn or
winter grasses, and from these eggs are developed
(3) the maggots of the third generation, which are to
be found, during September and October, in the heart
of winter corn and grasses, injuring these plants in
exactly the same way that the maggots of the first
generation injure the summer corn. The insect passes
the winter as a pupa in winter corn plants or grasses.
It is but very rarely that all three generations infest
the corn of any particular region; as a rule, only the
first, second, or third generations do this, or the first
and third ; in such cases the other generations live on
grasses. Remedies: Extermination of the insect is
impossible, since it can always go from corn to grass
plants. Oats and barley are almost always attacked
in spring, if in the immediate neighbourhood there is
winter rye inhabited by the maggots, for the flies,
when they emerge the next spring, seek out the
summer corn. This may, however, be made im-
possible, or at least difficult, if a field of peas, clover,
lupines, rape, or some other crop not of gramineous
nature, is interposed between.fields of winter corn
and those of oats, barley, or similar late sown crops
of summer corn. Sowing the summer corn (especially .
oats and barley) as early as possible.
INSECTS. 185
Family: Syrphide (Hover or Hawk Flies).
Chiefly includes brightly coloured flies, marked
with yellow or red and black bands or patches (Fig.
67), and flying rapidly with a buzzing noise. They
can remain suspended at the same point in the air by
moving their wings up and down with great rapidity.
A few of them resemble the humblebee in their thick
covering of hair ; others, with yellow and black abdo-
men, look like wasps (Syrphus). The proboscis is
adapted for sucking, but not for piercing; these flies
suck their food from flowers. They are fond of hover-
ing in the air in sunny places. The legless larve vary,
according to species, in their habits, and consequently
in their structure. Some (those of the Drone Flies,
Eristalis) live in stagnant water; others (eg. those
of Humerus lunulatus) live in onions, which they
hollow out; while some, again, develop in rotten
wood, etc. The maggots of the Aphis-eating Flies
(Syrphus), however, teed on insects, chiefly aphides,
which they suck out completely. They are elongated,
tapering in front, thickened behind, move like leeches,
and vary much in colour (green, yellow, brown,
chequered), according to the species. As they grow
quickly, and consequently more than one generation
is found each year, and as they are very voracious,
we must look upon them as powerful allies for the
extermination of aphides.
Family: Stomoxyde (Stable Flies).
In many points the stable flies resemble ordinary
flies, but their mouths are adapted for piercing. Their
painful bites make them known to every one as
pests to human beings and cattle. Here belongs the
common Stable Fly (Stomoxys calcitrans), a form often
confounded with the house tly, but distinguished from
it by a sharp proboscis projecting at right angles,
besides which the abdomen is more of a yellowish
186 ZOOLOGY.
grey. The maggots usually live in dung. Two
generations yearly : the first flies about in March ; the
second, and much more numerous one, in August and
September. Remedies: Cp. p. 165.
Family: stride (Bot Flies).
Medium-sized or large flies (Fig. 121), with thick
hemispherical heads, and mouth-parts not strongly
developed. The antenne can be drawn back into
deep pits. The bot flies make a buzzing sound during
flight. The headless, twelve-ringed maggots live in
the bodies of various mammals. Their skin is provided
with numerous wart-like projections, or circlets of
spines. When very young the maggots are elongated
and cylindrical, and then possess a mouth-hook, which
disappears during the later moults. As soon as the
maggots are fully developed they leave the body of
the animal they inhabit, and let themselves fall to the
ground, where they become pup within the shrivelled
larval skin.
The following genera are distinguished: Warble
Flies (Hypoderma), and Bot Flies (Zstrus and Gastrus,
or Gastrophilus). To the first-named genus belongs
the
Ox Warble-fly, or Ox Bot Fly (Hypoderma bovis),
two-fifths of an inch long, black. Hair: whitish
yellow on the head; reddish yellow on the fore part
of the thorax, black on the hinder part; grey on the
fore part of the abdomen, black in the middle, and
reddish yellow behind. Legs black. Wings brownish,
not quite transparent.
On the wing during summer (June to September).
As soon as the cattle hear the flies buzzing around
(especially on hot days) they become very restless,
run about as if mad, and even plunge down steep
-places. Young cattle are selected for egg-laying ;
INSECTS. 187
the elongated white eggs are fixed separately to hairs.
The maggot, elongated when first hatched, perforates
the skin, and gets into the subcutaneous connective
tissue, where it does not, as a rule, keep to any one
place, but wanders here and there, sometimes pene-
trating the flesh, or even entering the spinal canal. It.
always, however, wanders back again later on into
the subcutaneous connective tissue, where it gives rise,
during the winter or the following spring, to one of
the well-known tumours, or “warbles.” After fixing
on a definite spot, it moults, becoming broader, and of
a yellowish-white colour. The maggot first causes
an increased flow of blood to the part, and then
inflammation. An excavation filled with matter is
thus developed, and there is gradually formed a con-
nective tissue sac communicating with the exterior
by a minute tube. In spring, or early summer, the
warble, which is visible externally, has reached the
size of a pigeon’s egg; the maggot meanwhile becomes.
first greyish yellow, then brown patches appear, and
lastly it assumes a dark brown colour, is an inch long
or rather more, and somewhat swollen. It is now
ready to pass into the resting stage, crawls out, and
lets itself fall to the ground, where, within the
larval skin, it becomes a black pupa four-fifths of an
inch long, from which, about four weeks later, the fly
creeps out. Damage done: If the warbles occur only
in small numbers on an animal, its health is not much
affected, though this must undoubtedly be the case if
there are many, say fifty, or even up to a hundred, in
the same animal. In such cases the yield of milk will
be considerably diminished. Holes, too, are present.
in the skin, which, though they may close again, if the
animal remains alive, always leave a thin place. The
outer surface of meat from animals infested with
warbles is dirty yellow, flaccid, or even soft and jelly-
like (“licked beef”) ; it must be scraped off. Enemies :
Starlings settle, in spring, on the backs of infested
188 ZOOLOGY.
cattle, and seize the parasites with their beaks. Star-
lings, rooks, and wagtails destroy the maggots ready to
become pups, as they lie on the ground. Remedies:
Washing the back, shoulders, and loins with vinegar
extract of walnut leaves during the summer, to keep
away the bot flies. In spring: squeezing out the
maggots from the warbles, having previously opened
them, when necessary, with a penknife. If the warble
is “ripe,” ie. if it has opened so far that the black
hinder end of the maggot can be seen, the opening
may be stopped with fat or cart-grease, by which the
larva will be killed where it lies.
The Sheep Bot Fly (Gstrus ovis),
two-fifths to three-quarters of an inch long, yellowish
grey, almost hairless; head large, round, reddish ;
thorax grey, with small black warts; abdomen
yellowish white; legs short, bright; wings of a
glassy clearness. The flies are found (in September)
on the walls of sheep-folds, and in woods near
which sheep graze. On sunny days the female flies
round the sheep, in order to deposit her brood upon
them. The sheep threatened press their nostrils
to the ground, though this is not of much use.
The maggots are hatched while still in the body
of their mother, and are deposited by her on the
margins of the nostrils. These little maggots creep
about on the mucous membrane lining the internal
cavities of the nose, causing intolerable itching. The
sheep try to get rid of the intruders by shaking their
heads and rubbing their noses on the ground. The
maggots, however, creep further into the nasal cavities,
and get into the hollows of the frontal bone and upper
jaw, perhaps even into the horns. In these places
they feed on the fluid which their presence causes
the mucous membrane to give out in large quantities.
The maggots remain as such for nine months, during
INSECTS, 189
which time they alter their shape in various ways.
Those just born are white, one-twenty-fifth of an inch
long, while those which have reached the length of two-
fifths of an inch are yellowish white. Individuals
ready to become pup are about an inch long, yellowish
brown, with dark transverse lines ; they wander back
to the nasal cavities and thence to the exterior, often
being expelled by sneezing. In the soil they become
pup, first of a brown, then of a black colour, within
the larval skin; the flies emerge in six or seven weeks.
Different maggots develop at different rates, accord-
ing to the nature of the cavities into which they
penetrate.
The maggots cause the disease known as “ false
gid,” which appears most obviously from March to
May; at this time the parasites are tolerably well
developed. They irritate the mucous membrane of
the cavities of the head in which they live, causing an
unusually large flow of blood to these parts, as a result
of which the mucus secreted in the nose increases
largely in quantity (sneezing, snuffling), and the brain
begins to work abnormally (uneasy movements of the
head, high lifting of the feet; in worse cases, rolling
of the eyes, gnashing of the teeth, and foaming at the
mouth). The sheep have also an intolerable itching of
the nose, which they rub in consequence on the ground,
against posts, or their own legs; besides this, there
may be inflammation of the eyelids and increased
secretion of tears. They are also apt to grow very
thin. The disease is more frequent, and the symptoms
severer, in young than in old sheep. False gid may
cause death; the animal is cured, however, after the
maggots have crept out. Preventive Measures: Keep-
ing the sheep away from the edges of woods, avenues,
etc., where the flies live by preference. When shee
are killed, the maggots coming from the head should
be collected and destroyed. Smearing the margins of
the nostrils with tar, or rubbing them with walnut
190 ZOOLOGY.
leaves, before the sheep go to pasture in the morning.
For sheep, which in late summer rub their noses up
and down tree-stems, walls, hedges, or their own legs,
substances that cause sneezing may be employed,
ég. cheap snuff, which is best introduced into the
nose by means of a quill-feather. Later on, when
the maggots have passed from the nasal cavities into
the frontal sinuses, etc., sneezing does no good. Opera-
tions seldom succeed in removing all the maggots.
The Bot Flies (Gastrus, or Gastrophilus) live in
various parts of the stomach (in left side of horse’s
a € b
Fic. 121.—Horse Bot Fly (Gastrus equi): a, egg on a hair, strongly magnified; c,
younger (magnified), and b, older larva; d, opened pupa-case; ¢, fly.
stomach) and intestine. I give, first of all, a compressed
tabular view of the external characters and mode of
life of the four British species. (See next page.)
Diseases caused by Bot Flies.—The maggots bore
into the walls of the stomach and intestines until they
reach the layer in which the blood-vessels, lacteals,
and lymphatics ramify; they then suck the juices
found in these vessels, and also serous fluids. In
small numbers they are often almost harmless, but
when a great many are present they hinder the secre-
tion of the digestive juices. They may also set up
inflammation of the intestinal coats, or may cause
death by internal bleeding if they perforate the wall
of an artery. In foals they often bore right through
the wall of the intestine, and enter the abdominal
cavity, where they may set up inflammation of the
peritoneum or of the mesentery. There may be as
191
INSECTS.
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192 ZOOLOGY.
many as a hundred or two hundred maggots in the
stomach or intestine, and they then cause, at the very
least, digestive disturbances and colic. If the maggots
(G. nasalis) get into the windpipe (or larynx) they
interfere with the breathing; if into the gullet, with
swallowing. In either case death may ensue (winter,
early spring). Remedies: Killing the flies as they
lay their eggs. Removing the eggs by brushing,
combing, and washing; the last is best done with
warm water, to which some caustic potash is added.
Rubbing the lips and nostrils, neck, chest, and fore
legs with walnut leaves, or a decoction of the same.
Family: Pupipara (Louse Flies).
Body flat and broad; skin leathery and tough.
Fore legs curved, adapted for climbing among the
hairs. Some (¢g. the Forest Fly) have a pair of
wings, others (the Sheep Louse Fly) are wingless.
They bring forth living maggots, each time one only,
which is ready to become a pupa immediately. They
reproduce several times. Here belong: 1. The Forest
Fly, Spider Fly, or Flat Fly (Hippobosca equina), about
one-third of an inch long, brown, with broad abdomen,
and two broad stumpy wings. Occurs in summer and
early autumn, chiefly on horses, especially near the
anus, on the belly, and on the flanks. It sucks blood,
and irritates by running about on the body. Seldom
flies, 2. The Sheep Louse Fly, wrongly called “sheep
louse” and “sheep tick” (Melophagus ovinus); about
one-fifth of an inch long, wingless, rusty yellow, with
brown abdomen, very hairy. Climb slowly about
among the wool of the sheep, and suck blood. Their
excrement may colour the wool green. Lambs espe-
cially are much hindered in their growth by this fly.
The fleece is also damaged, for the itching set up by
the insect forces the animal to rub itself against
things so that the wool gets pulled out. The flies are
INSECTS. 193
chiefly found on meadow sheep; but relatively few in
winter. The parasites leave the body of their host for
the purpose of reproduction, and lay their maggots,
which at the time of birth are nearly one-sixth of an
inch long, under little bits of earth or heaps of dung.
When sheep are kept in folds no permanent result
can consequently be expected from the use of any
remedy if, at the same time, the fold and all its con-
tents are not kept clean. The walls must be cleansed,
and washed with caustic potash, to which carbolic
acid has been added. Cwrative Washes: A decoction
of walnut leaves and vinegar. Turpentine, soapsuds,
decoction of tobacco. Washes containing arsenious acid
(e.g. Bigg’s Improved Sheep and Lamb Dipping Com-
position) must be used with caution; unpalatable sub-
stances may be added, so that the sheep will not lick
them, or else a muzzle may be employed.
NINTH ORDER: Aphaniptera (FLEAS).
Body strongly compressed laterally. Head small.
Mouth-parts adapted for sucking and biting. Legs
long, especially the last pair. They possess the power
of springing. Wingless. Complete metamorphosis.
Larva worm-like, legless, hard-headed. The Dog Flea
(Pulex serraticeps), which only occasionally passes
on to human beings, lives on dogs and cats. Remedy:
Sprinkling the moistened hair with Persian insect
powder or powdered parsley seed.
TENTH ORDER: Parasita (LICE).
Body flattened. Legs adapted for climbing among
hairs and feathers, as the last joint of the foot is hook-
shaped, and can be bent back against the preceding
joint ; a hair can thus be held fast between the two
joints. Eyes absent or ill-developed (simple), Wing-
less. The eggs (“nits”) are fastened by the mother
louse to the hairs of the host; the young lice resemble
oO
194 ZOOLOGY.
the old ones in almost all particulars ; there is no true
metamorphosis. All lice have a kind of proboscis,
which can be protruded and retracted, and upon which
are placed the mouth-parts, which enable it to be used
for sucking or biting. According to the last feature
a distinction can be drawn be-
tween true or blood-sucking lice
and biting lice or fur-eaters, which
devour small scales derived from
the skin or else bits of hair and
feathers. Lice multiply very
rapidly on the bodies of human
beings and animals when insufli-
ciently cleansed, and under these
circumstances more on sick and
ill-nourished individuals than on
those which are healthy and well
Tae Canen ee nourished. It is obvious that the
cephalus), magnified ten true, blood-sucking lice usually
aii injure their host more than the
biting lice, which, however, especially when present
in large numbers, may cause an intolerable and in-
jurious itching by their movements here and there.
Preventive Measures: Suitable feeding and treat-
ment. Proper care of the skin. Remedies: Repeated
combing with a comb which has been dipped into
a solution of soda. Rubbing the badly infested
spots with soft soap and soda, washing them out after
twenty-four hours. _Among other washes are—6 parts
soft soap, 1 part benzine, 10 to 15 parts water; or
tobacco water, 1 part of common tobacco in 20 to 25
parts water; arsenious acid, in various mixtures, e.g. in
Bigg’s Composition (p. 193). Employ the muzzle.
SCORPIONS, SPIDERS, MITES. 195
CLASS IL: MYRIOPODA (CENTIPEDES AND
MILLIPEDES).
Respiration by trachez, as in insects. The body
consists of a head and a large number of very similar
segments, each of which possesses limbs. One pair of
antenne.
This class is divided into two orders: (1) that of
Centipedes (Chilopoda), with mouth-parts adapted for
seizing prey, and one -
pair of legs to each
segment; (2) that of
Millipedes (Chilog-
natha), adapted for de-
vouring substances re-
sembling humus, also =
the parts of plants; meen
and two pairs of legs Oe :
to each segment. Here Fic. 123,—Common Snake Millipede
belon g, above all, the (Jubus terrestris), somewhat magnified.
Snake Millipedes (Julus) or “False Wireworms”
(Fig. 123), of which several species eat out germi-
nating seeds (peas, beans, mangolds, and beet), and
also attack juicy plant parts (potatoes, turnips,
carrots). Seedlings may be protected by using
potatoes to draw away the millipedes.
we
CLASS III.: ARACHNOIDEA (SCORPIONS,
SPIDERS, MITES).
Air-breathing (by ordinary or modified trachez) ;
the lower forms breathe with the skin. Body at most
consists of two chief regions, since head and thorax
are always fused together, making up a cephalothorax
(Fig. 124); but this may again be united with the
always unsegmented abdomen into a single piece
196 ZOOLOGY.
(Fig. 127). The last is the case with the mites, in
which, therefore, the characters of segmented animals
4 can only be recognized in the
limbs. In the true spiders (Fig.
124) the body consists of cepha-
lothorax and abdomen. Arachnids
have always four pairs of legs,
which, in the true spiders, are
attached to the cephalothorax, in
the mites to the front part of
the unsegmented body.
The chief Orders belonging
here are: (1) true Spiders (Ara-
Fi. 124,—A Spider neida); (2) Scorpions (Scorpio-
(Salticus scenicus). ni da) ; (3) Harvestmen ( Opilio-
nida); (4) Mites (Acaridea). Only the last contains
species of importance agriculturally.
OrvDER: Acaridea (MITEs).
Small arachnids, in which the cephalothorax and
abdomen are fused together into one piece (Fig. 127).
The just-hatched young have three pairs of legs, the
adults, of course, four.
Family: Acaride (True Mites).
Soft skin. No trachez, no eyes. Legs short, often
with a sucker at the end. Here belong the Cheese
Mite (Acarus stro), the Meal Mite (Tyroglyphus farine),
and several other species living in dead organic sub-
stances ; also—
The Itch, or Mange Mites.
These live as parasites on or in the epidermis, and
cause the dich or mange (scabies) in man, as well as in
several domestic animals. By means of the structure
and habits three genera are distinguished :—
1. Digging, blood-sucking mange-mites living in
‘the skin (Sarcoptes) ;
MITES, 197
2. Blood-sucking mange-mites living on the outer
surface (Dermatocoptes) ;
3. Mange-mites which merely devour scales of the
epidermis (Dermatophagus). F
It is obvious that sarcoptic scabies is not so easily
cured in the same host as the dermatocoptic scabies,
since the mites causing the former dig their passages
Fig. 125.—Mange Mite of the Pig (Sarcoptes scabiei, var. suis),
seen from the ventral side,
into the epidermis, while those causing the latter at
least remain on the surface. Dermatophagic scabies
is most easily got rid of, since the mites which
cause it not only remain on the outer surface of the
skin, but also, instead of holding fast, run about here
and there; it is easily understood that this kind of ©
mange can often be removed by simple brushing.
198 ZOOLOGY.
The itch, or mange (scabies), is caused by the irrita-
tion which the mites continually exert on the skin.
The warmer the surroundings of the host, the more
active the mites, and the more painful the skin
» oe
\
Fic. 126.—Mange Mite of the Pig (Sarcoptes scabiei, var. suts),
seen from the dorsal surface. x 200.
disease. (The scarcoptes mites, eg. are most un-
endurable in man when in bed, and scabby sheep are
most tormented when in a warm fold.) The mites
MITES. 199
multiply with such enormous rapidity that it is easy
to understand how a single fertilized female, trans-
ferred to a new host by contact with an affected
animal, is able, in a short time, to make large patches
of the skin mangy. The course of the disease is
generally as follows:—Soon after infection small
swellings appear, which become little bladders of the
size of a pin’s head. These burst, and the affected
parts of the skin are quickly covered with a crust
formed from shrivelled bits of skin and dried-up fluid.
In many places the attacked parts of the skin are
moist, for the host, in consequence of the severe
itching, rubs or knocks itself. In consequence of the
shedding of fluid the hairs stick together, and later on
fall out. The skin thickens, becomes encrusted, and
is thrown into folds, between which there are deep
cracks, Among domesticated animals the sheep is
certainly the one which suffers most from scabies
(Dermatocoptes), especially as the disease spreads
rapidly in the warm sheltering fleece, which also
makes the removal of the parasites a matter of the
greatest difficulty. The wool gets dry and brittle in
the diseased parts, and its fibres become loose, though
they remain attached for a short time, since their tips
are glued together by the sticky substance which
exudes from the little thickenings in the skin. They
gradually fall out, however, leaving the skin covered
with a thick brownish crust, looking as if it were
soaked with oil. Badly infested sheep get thin and
even die. This, however, is not usually the case, and
the injury consists in the great deterioration of the
wool, both as regards quantity and quality.
The following summarizes the kinds of scabies
affecting man and domestic animals, and indicates
how far one kind of host can atfect another :—
Itch of Man (Sarcoptes) can be caught by the dog,
but by no other domestic animal.
Scabies of the Horse—The sarcoptes mange of this
200 ZOOLOGY.
animal is contagious for man, and for the ox, but no
other domestic animal. The dermatocoptes mange
(found more particularly on the inner sides of the
legs, and on the genital organs, tail, and mane) does
not spread to man or to other domestic animals. Nor
is this the case with the dermatophagus mange of the
horse (on the fetlocks and adjacent parts of the legs).
Scabies of the 0x.—The dermatocoptes mange of
the ox (chiefly affecting the sides of the neck and
root of the tail) spreads to men and horses, but not to
sheep. The dermatophagus mange (principally on the
root of the tail and near the anus) does not seem to
be transmitted to man, horse, pig, or dog.
Scabies of the Sheep.—The dermatocoptes mange of
sheep is not transmitted as a permanent disease to
man, nor to other domestic animals (with the exception
of the goat). The sarcoptes mange of the sheep
(chiefly on the head) causes the itch in man.
Scabies of the Pig (Sarcoptes) is contagious for the
dog, and causes an eruption in man.
Scabies of the Dog (Sarcoptes) can be caught by
man, pig, and horse.
Scabies of the Cat (Sarcoptes) is contagious for man,
horse, ox, dog, and rabbit.
Scabies of the Rabbit (Sarcoptes) is contagious for
man, but this is not so with the dermatocoptes mange,
which flourishes in the external passage of the ear in
the rabbit.
Scabies of the Fowl (Sarcoptes), which affects the
legs of hens, causing thickening of the skin and
formation of large spongy crusts, may infect horses.
Hen-houses should not be built in stables.
Remedies—From the foregoing facts relating to
the transmission of scabies from one host to another,
the preventive measures at once follow: A mangy
animal must not be allowed to come into contact
either with another animal of the same kind or with
an animal of any other kind for which the disease in
MITES. 201
question is contagious. If scabies appears in a few
members of a flock or herd, it is absolutely necessary
to separate the healthy animals from the sick ones,—
and it is further necessary to cleanse and disinfect
places where mangy animals have been kept, as well
as implements or machines which they have touched,
before sound animals are brought near such things.
Cleansing of folds, etc., with hot water, followed by
six weeks’ disuse. Cleansing of infected implements
with hot soda and water. The first important thing
to ascertain is whether a sick animal, which has the
external symptoms of scabies, is really affected; in
order to determine this the mange-mites must be
found. If the mites cannot be found on the suspected
animal, it must be brought into a warm stall and
covered over; especial care must be taken to warm
the places where the skin seems worst attacked ;
warmth makes the mites more active, and induces
them to come to the surface. Sarcoptic mites are
the worst. I will deal but briefly with the treatment
of mangy animals, as it is usually best to obtain the
advice of a veterinary surgeon. Haternal applications
must naturally be employed. It appears from the
investigations of Vogel that corrosive sublimate and
arsenic kill the mange-mites less rapidly and there-
fore less surely than creosote, carbolic acid, benzine,
tar, caustic potash, and tobacco, or even soft soap.
Zirn recommends a thorough smearing of soft soap
on the parts affected. The soap is allowed to remain
for some time, even for a whole day, the infested
spots are then rubbed with hot water, and brushed,
it possible, until the crust on the skin disappears.
Other remedies may now be employed. As such,
Ziirn mentions creosote, diluted with spirit or oil
(1:25). Also, among other things, the following
are recommended—benzine shaken up with water
(1 : 5-10), or a solution of 1 part caustic potash in
30 to 40 parts of water. The above and several
202 ZOOLOGY.
other remedies can be used with good results in
combating scabies in most of our domestic animals.
But there is more difficulty with sheep than with
other animals, for the fleece is a hindrance to the
beneficial action of the wash employed. It is not
possible to make the sheep quite healthy so long as
they remain unshorn. Till then, the efforts made
must be directed to preventing the spread of the
mange. This is managed in the following way. The
crust is scraped from the parts attacked, after the
loose wool which covers them has been removed.
The mangy places are then rubbed with a decoction
of tobacco leaves with carbolie acid (1 part carbolic
acid to 15 parts spirit and 60 parts water), or
with some other of the remedies named above. When
the sheep are shorn, first dip them in a solution
(2 parts soda, 1 part lime, and 50 parts water) by
which the crust on the affected places is softened ;
twenty-four hours later dip in a solution which will
kill the mites. A decoction of tobacco (1 part tobacco
to 12 parts water) may be used for this purpose, using
for each sheep about 13 pints of the fluid, to which
has been added 64 drams carbolic acid and 64 drams
alcohol. The first washing must be followed by a
second, for the fluid destroys only the mites and not
their eggs, As the young mites are hatched out in
three to seven days, the dipping must be repeated
seven days afterwards.
Family : Ixodide (Z'icks).
Ticks are generally rather larger than the mites of
the preceding family. The skin is tough as leather.
The front part of the body is covered by a hard shield
above; the skin of the hinder part, though tough,
is very extensible. The front end bears a sucking
apparatus formed by the pointed jaws, and by its
means the tick pierces the skin of man or animals
MITES. 203
and holds on fast. Ticks are chiefly found in sandy
soil, among bushes and shrubs, or among herbs. As
long as they remain on the ground they are tolerably
small (7; inch) and very active. They creep up
haulms and branches, and rest in a suitable spot till a
mammal or bird passes, when they attach themselves
to its hair or feathers by their legs, and bore into its
skin with their sharp mouth parts. Having thus
fixed themselves, they suck the blood
of their temporary host. The walls of
their stomach and intestine are ex-
tremely elastic, so that the tick, which
at first is only about one-tenth of an
inch long and one-sixteenth of an inch Fre, 127,The Dog Tick
broad, becomes as big asa pea, oreven “7 "im.
a garden bean. When the tick has sucked itself as full
as possible, it withdraws its mouth parts from the skin
of its host for the time being, and lets itself fall to the
ground, where it lies for many weeks without feeding.
The small and feeble legs of the tick are not able
to move the heavy, blood-filled body, and movements
do not take place for some time, till the greater part
of the imbibed blood has been digested and the tick
has shrunk once more to its normal size. What has
been said about the habits refers only to the female;
the much smaller male never seems to pierce mammals,
and its food is not known. In pairing, it is found
attached to the under side of the female, remaining
there several days, even when the female is fixed to
the host. Egg-laying does not take place till the
host is quitted. As ticks draw blood from their host
their presence, in spite of the fact that they remain
but a short time, is not a matter of indifference,
especially if large numbers affix themselves to one
animal, Sheep and cattle become thin if daily
attacked in the meadows by many ticks. The
piercing of the skin causes a stinging sensation,
followed later on by itching of the parts to which the
204 ZOOLOGY.
ticks are attached. The ticks which are fixed must
never be seized and pulled out, for the mouth parts
are so deeply imbedded in the skin that it is impos-
sible to remove them by force, and the attempt would
only result in tearing the body from the mouth parts.
A better plan is to put a drop of oil or tobacco-water,
or, still better, benzine, on the tick, when it will
loosen itself. We distinguish between the Dog Tick
(Ixodes ricinus), the Sheep Tick (J. redwvius), and the
Ox Tick (J. reticulatus), which, however, are not
found exclusively on the animals after which they
are named, The first, although found most commonly
on the dog, attacks men who force their way through
underwood (hunters), and in the same way fixes on
sheep and oxen. ‘The last two species are chiefly, but
not exclusively, found on sheep and goats.
Family : Gamaside (Beetle Mites).
Beetle mites are temporary parasites on insects,
reptiles, and birds. They have no eyes, but possess
shear-like jaws, and tolerably long hairy legs. The
Beetle Louse (Gamasus coleoptratorum) lives on dung
beetles, sexton beetles, ete.
The Fowl Mite (Dermanyssus gallinc) is the size of
a sand grain, and blood-red or red-brown in colour.
During the night it is found in large numbers on the
fowls, but during the day hides on the perches, in the
nests, and particularly in the chinks and crannies in
the walls of the poultry-house, also in dung. It draws
much blood from the fowls, and disturbs their sleep
by producing a constant itching, the result being
that they get very thin. Remedy: Whitewash the
fowl-houses twice a year (autumn and spring) with
hot lime to which 5 per cent. of carbolic acid has been
added. The wooden parts should be scalded with
boiling water before whitewashing.
MITES. 205
Famil:;: Trombidiide (Running Mites).
Body four-cornered or longish oval; legs toler-
ably long, hairy; jaws claw or needle-shaped ; surface
of the skin velvety; colour reddish or yellowish.
They run about with great rapidity on the ground,
tree trunks, leaves, ete. Most species feed on the
Juices which they suck from insects, or from other
arachnids.
The Plant Mite, or Red “ Spider "’
(Tetranychus telarius),
is ovoid, at most one-fiftieth of an inch long; reddish
(also yellowish or brownish), with a dark spot on
each shoulder. Plant mites are often found in con-
siderable numbers during the summer, especially on
the under sides of the leaves of low-growing plants ;
on garden beans, turnips, and hops; on several
ornamental plants, grasses, and various weeds; on
roses, limes, horse-chestnut trees, elms, willows, and
fruit trees. In some exceptionally dry summers the
mite increases to such an extent as to become a great
pest. On the upper sides of the infested leaves
there is to be seen, besides the adult and immature
mites, a whitish, mealy substance, consisting of the
cast skins and whitish eggs. Many of the mites run
about here and there, but most of them remain fixed,
and suck the sap. All are covered by a delicate web,
which is formed by the animal. The attacked leaves
become limp, shrivel up, die, and fall off. In dicoty-
ledonous plants the withering generally commences
in the axils of the veins. The infested plants often
die off gradually, but death may also take place with
great rapidity. Annuals are often killed by the
attacks of the mite. The mites pass the winter in
the ground, under fallen leaves, under the bark of
trees, ete.
206 ZOOLOGY.
CLASS IV.: CRUSTACEA (CRUSTACEANS).
The Crustacea breathe by gills, and are therefore
suited to an aquatic life. A few species, however,
live in damp earth, or in places where the air is
damp (wood lice). Crustacea have two pairs of
antennz, and a large number of appendages arranged
in a characteristic way, but differing very much in
shape in the different groups; skin usually hard and
thick. Lobsters, crayfish, crabs, wood-lice, and the
small sand-hoppers, water-fleas, etc., belong to the
Crustacea. No Crustacean is harmful agriculturally.
Third Sub-Kingdom : VERMES (Worms).
Worms? are bilaterally symmetrical animals, in
which the body is enclosed in a “ dermo-muscular
tube.” Under the delicate epidermis there is found
a layer, which does not, as in the higher animals,
consist exclusively of dermis, but is partly composed
of muscle-fibres, which form a distinct coat internally.
Worms are able to move by contracting the various
components of the dermo-muscular tube thus formed.
In some worms limbs assist in the movements, but in
others this is not so; in any case, however, the limbs
play a relatively subordinate part. These limbs,
which are only present in the bristle-worms, are small,
always unjointed, foot-stumps, which bear bristles.
Leeches and some other worms possess suckers by
which they can attach themselves, and move by
alternately contracting and extending their bodies.
There are segmented and unsegmented worms
(thread-worms, liver-flukes); the degree of segmenta-
tion is also very various. In many tapeworms each
1 In ordinary language one understands by “ worms” elongated,
cylindrical animals; and several insect-larve: (e.g. “ wireworms,”
p. 103) have the name applied to them. But to zoologists all “ worm-
shaped animals are not worms, nor have all worms an elongated
cylindrical shape (liver-fluke). , ee
WORMS. 207
joint may be regarded as an individual animal. The
joints of other segmented worms (earthworms) do
not become detached, like those of tapeworms, for
the purpose of reproduction. The nervous system is
absent in the lowest worms; in the higher worms
ganglia always constitute its central parts, and in
annelids these are arranged in pairs on the ventral
side of the body, and united by nerve fibres into a
ventral cord, which is connected in front with a
nerve-ring surrounding the gut and thickened above
into cerebral ganglia. In many worms (e.g. tape-
worms and flukes) the nervous system is of much
simpler structure. The sub-kingdom of worms con-
tains a very large number of forms. It is only
necessary to mention here representatives of three
classes: Segmented worms (Annelida), round worms
(Nematelminthes), and flat worms (Platyelminthes).
CLASS: ANNELIDA (SEGMENTED WORMS).
Segmented worms with rounded (earthworm) or
flattened (leech) bodies, and possessing both mouth
and anus. They fall into two sub-classes: I. Leeches
(Discophora), II. Bristle-worms (Chetopoda). The
first possess suckers as organs assisting locomotion,
the latter foot-stumps, which bear longer or shorter
bristles; but these foot-stumps may be absent, and
the bundles of bristles are then simply imbedded in
pits. The latter is the case in the only members of
the class which interest us here, i.e. the earthworms.
The Earthworms (Lumbricus).
There are several species in the genus, but all agree
in their habits. The body of the earthworm is slender
and cylindrical, tapering in front and somewhat
flattened behind. On the ventral side of the second
segment is found the opening of the mouth. There
205 ZOOLOGY.
are no eyes, though these animals are sensitive to
the action of light. The earthworm is herma-
phrodite (p. 16); when two individuals pair they
mutually fertilize each other. On a warm summer
evening two adjacent worms creep half out or nearly
out of their burrows, and apply the front parts of
their bodies together, especially a reddish, swollen
part found at about the middle of the anterior half of
the body. In this region the glands in the skin are
very strongly developed, and secrete a substance
which surrounds the eggs as a capsule as they are
being laid. Earthworms are chiefly found in damp
humus, or, at any rate, not in very poor sandy soil
or clay. From time to time they carry their burrows
up to the surface in order to get rid of the undigested
remains (“worm castings”) of the humus and vege-
table matters which have been taken into the body.
The burrows run down obliquely into the soil, or more
rarely vertically, to the depth of eight feet or more ;
they end in an enlargement, where the worm remains
coiled up during the winter, after having closed the
mouth of the burrow with a plug of leaves, twigs,
paper, straw, etc. Although the earthworm chiefly
subsists on the organic matters found in earth rich in
humus, it also devours the leaves of cabbage, onion,
and other plants, and especially seedlings (particularly
those of beet). It draws these parts of plants about
four-fifths of an inch into its burrow, and moistens
them there with an acid fluid it secretes, and which
acts upon them before they are taken into the body.
Harthworms may effect considerable damage by de-
stroying seedlings, particularly in damp fields, though
this damage is always local. A not inconsiderable
amount of benefit is to be set against this. By means
of the burrows which they dig earthworms cause air
to penetrate into the soil much better than it could
otherwise do, which is known to be of the greatest
importance for plant life. Harthworms are extremely
WORMS. 209
important owing to the large numbers in which they
are present in the soil, and for another reason besides
the one just given. Darwin shows that in many parts
of England a weight of ten tons of earth per acre
passes through the bodies of earthworms, and is
brought to the surface by them, so that in a few
years the entire humus-containing surface layer of
earth has passed through their bodies. They there-
fore prepare the soil in an excellent manner for the
growth of plants, by continually exposing it to the
air. They cause stones to sink in the soil by throwing
out at the top earth which naturally consists only of
particles small enough to pass through their intestines.
They play the part of gardeners by thoroughly
mixing together the particles of soil, and bury under
their castings, in a shorter time than one would
imagine, objects found on the surface of the soil
(bones, oyster-shells, dead animals, leaves). Plant-
food is quickly formed again from these buried
matters, Earthworms, therefore, play a very im-
portant part in the economy of nature; indeed, many
regions, now occupied by luxuriant pastures or fertile
cornfields, would be a waste, had it not been for
them. Where, however, in damp spots they injure
seedlings, they may be collected, either during the day
after a warm rain, or in the evening, at which times
they lie half out of their burrows. If a decoction of
walnut leaves is poured into these, they will crawl
out. Hnemies: Mole, shrews, hedgehog, toads and
frogs, ground beetles, rove beetles, mole crickets, centi-
pedes, ete.
CLASS: NEMATELMINTHES (ROUND WORMS).
Body cylindrical, unsegmented; body wall tough,
hooklets or spines may be present on it, but deeply
imbedded bristles are always absent. The gut may
P
210 ZOOLOGY.
be absent (some parasites), but this is exceptional.
There are no special organs for circulation and respira-
tion. Sexes distinct in the large majority. I will
deal with only one of the orders belonging here.
ORDER : Nematoda (THREAD WORMS),
Elongated, thread-shaped or spindle-shaped, un-
segmented. A gut, terminating in a ventral anus, is
present. Outer investment of the skin smooth, often
weakly ringed or striated. The muscle layer under-
lying the true skin is interrupted here and there,
where the skin itself stretches further inwards. In
this way are distinguished the lateral lines or fields
(Fig. 128, a), which run right along the sides of the
body, dividing it into a dorsal and a ventral region.
There are often present as well two smaller but similar
Fig, 128.—Diagrammatic transverse section through the body of a Thread Worm,
internal organs being omitted: p, cuticle and skin; g, muscle layer; a, lateral
lines ; b, dorsal and ventral lines,
dorsal and ventral lines, respectively situated above
and below (Fig. 128, b). Mouth usually surrounded
by lip-like folds, but more or less distinct jaws may
also be present. The anus either lies at the apex of
the tapering posterior end of the body (trichina), or
WORMS, 211
further forward, on the ventral surface. Among the
Nematodes are included a number of relatively small
species, living free in the earth, and sucking plant-
parts, while other forms fairly closely related live
parasitically in plants, and often cause very serious
plant diseases (e.g. Beet Helworm) ; a larger number of
species are parasitic in animals. The free forms and
those parasitic in plants lay relatively few, but very
large, eggs, although, in several species, increase is
furthered by a succession of many generations in the
year. The Nematodes parasitic in animals lay very
numerous eggs, even several millions. Harmful
species are known from the following families:
1. Palisade Worms (Strongylide), 2. Whip Worms
(Trichotrachelide), 3. Slender Thread Worms (Fi-
laride), 4. the Round Worms (Ascaride), 5, Eelworms
(Anguillulide).
I will successively treat of the harmful forms, but
since many species belonging to different families
infest the digestive organs of the different domesticated
animals, causing similar symptoms of disease which
may be dealt with in much the same way, the
following general sketch is first given :—
Nematodes in the Gut (more in young animals than
old) cause the following symptoms: (1) Appetite
variable. (2) Nutrition in general affected, even if
sufficient food is taken; constipation or diarrhea;
belly much drawn in or else, and usually, swollen
out. The animal itself is thin, and has (except horse)
a tendency to vomit. (8) An itching all over the
body, especially at the nostrils and anus. The
animal rubs and bites the sides of its body. (4)
Tongue covered with a thick, soft, yellowish coating.
A sweet smell from the mouth. (5) The skin is
tense, lacking its usual elasticity. (6) The animal
suffers from spasmodic colic, and (7) disturbances of
the nervous system (whining or crying; unrestrained
or suppressed fits). Remedies: Horses and cows
212 ZOOLOGY.
infested with thread worms may be given chopped
carrots, beets, and turnips, previously mixed with
sugar or crushed sugarcandy. Roasted oats are also
good. For sheep finely crushed glass, kneaded into
pills with bread, will always suffice. Gritty sand in
the food may also be of use. Pigs should be given
sour milk, acorns, unripe cheese, horseradish. For
dogs, sausages containing garlic, as much flesh food as
possible, strongly salted food, milk boiled with garlic.
In all cases iron may be given. The advice of a
veterinary surgeon should be sought in the matter
of medicines (tansy, male fern root, tartar emetic,
arsenious acid, etc.).
Family : Strongylide (Palisade Worms).
Spindle-shaped; anus on the tip of the hind end of
the body; in all thread worms the rectum and male
sexual organs open by a common cloacal opening,
which, in the palisade worms, is surrounded by an
umbrella, or cup-shaped apparatus (bursa), kept
expanded by means of muscular ribs (Fig. 129).
Here belong—
The Giant Palisade Worm, or Strongyle, (Hustron-
gylus gigas). Female from a foot to thirty-nine
inches long, and as much as two-fifths of an inch
thick. Male six to sixteen inches long; reddish.
Lives in the cavity (pelvis) of the kidneys in horses,
oxen, dogs, and man; causes degeneration of the
kidneys, with blood in the urine, nervous diseases,
and disturbance of the feelings and intelligence.
The Armed Palisade Worm, or Strongyle (Strongylus
armatus), four-fifths of an inch to two inches long,
one twenty-fifth to one-twelfth of an inch thick;
reddish brown. Taken into the gut of the horse with
the drinking water as a young, minute worm, it
bores through the walls of this organ into the blood-
vessels branching there. Later on it bores into the
walls of the larger arteries of the hinder part of the
WORMS. 213
body, especially into those which carry blood to
the wall of the gut (particularly anterior mesenteric
artery). At those parts of the arterial walls where it
collects in large numbers, swellings (aneurisms) are
produced, varying from the size of a pea to that of a
hen’s egg. A constriction is often developed quite
close to this swelling, and a plug of fibrin may also
Fie. 129.—Tail of male Strongylus armatus, strongly magnified.
be formed within the artery, so that the circulation
in the wall of the gut is greatly hindered. As a
result of this the glands and muscles in the wall of
the digestive tube refuse their office, so that regular
digestion and onward movement of the food do not
take place. This leads to colic. As soon ag the
strongyloid larvee have become adult, they pass from
214 ZOOLOGY.
the walls of the arteries into their cavities, and are
carried by the blood-stream to the walls of the gut,
which they penetrate in order to reach its cavity,
where (cecum and large intestine) they pair, after
which the female lays eggs, which are carried to the
exterior in the dung. The quickly hatched young
seek water, mud, or damp earth, where they live
until, by some means (e.g. with the drinking water)
they manage to enter the gut of a horse or (more
often) ass. Preventive Measure: Horses and asses
must not be allowed to drink stagnant water.
The Stomach Palisade Worm, or Strongyle of the Sheep
(Strongylus contortus). Male one-half to two-thirds
of an inch, female three-quarters to four-fifths of an
inch long; whitish or reddish, somewhat coiled at
both ends. The disease of the stomach, and diarrhcea,
which affect lambs, usually in spring, and result from
the presence of these worms in large numbers in the
true or fourth stomach, lead to emaciation, weakness,
and poverty of blood. Development unknown. Nutri-
tious food will cure lambs which are not very badly
infested, but hastens the death of those which are.
The Lung Worm of Lambs (Strongylus filaria).
Male an inch, female as much as three and a half
inches long, thread-shaped, white or yellowish. It
appears that the young worms are taken into the
stomach of a lamb (or sheep) with the drinking water ;
they are found there in May, June, and July. They
quickly climb back into the throat, from which they
get into the windpipe and its branches. There they
penetrate the mucous membrane, where, until they have
reached the sexual stage, they are found imbedded in
small swellings, which they quit at the end of winter
or the beginning of the next spring, if their host lives
so long. The female bears living young, which as
very minute worms may be met with by the hundred
in the mucous lining the windpipe and its branches,
A direct transference of the parasite from one sheep
WORMS, 215
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