THE JOHN - CRAIG LIBRARY COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE ‘ornell University Libra’ Intelligence in plants and animals:being “ONILHOIA SHTLYAL-ONIGd YNS ‘ayomond ‘wy Aq oo61 WY s1Adop INTELLIGENCE PLANTS AND ANIMALS BEING A NEW EDITION OF THE AUTHOR’S PRIVATELY ISSUED ‘*‘SOUL AND IMMORTALITY ” BY THOMAS G. GENTRY, Sc. D. AUTHOR OF ‘‘ LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA,’ > ‘© THE HOUSE SPARROW,” ‘‘ NESTS AND EGGS OF BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES,” ETC., ETC., ETC. NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO. 1900 Copyright Ig00, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO. TO ALL HUMAN BEINGS WHO ARE GOOD AND KIND TO THE HUMBLEST OF GOD’S CREATURES THIS VOLUME IS MOST AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. ‘Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. ‘‘T know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts cf the field are mine,’’—Psalm 1: Io, II. PREFACE. NOTHING is more charming to the mind of man than the study of Nature. Religion, moderation and magnanimity have been made a part of his inner being through her teachings, and the soul has been rescued by her influence from obscurity. No longer doth man grovel in the dust, seeking, animal-like, the gratification of low and base desires, as was his wont, but on the wings of thought is enabled to soar to the very gates of Heaven and hold communion with God. Though made ‘‘a little lower than the angels,’’ yet, through the mighty play of forces that have been at work in the world, which we, in the latter half of this enlightened century, are just beginning to recognize and comprehend, he has been lifted from the mire of degra- dation and placed upon a higher social, intellectual, moral and spiritual level. Out of the animal, in the scheme of Deity, the spiritual system of things is to be elaborated, and not the animal out of the spiritual. This natural world, so to speak, is the raw material of the spiritual. Therefore, ere man can understand the spiritual, he must understand the natural. Though his knowledge was at first about material things, or such as pertained to natural phenomena, yet from this through the ages has been builded, little by little, that mountain-height of knowl- edge, intellectual and moral, which, if rightly directed, is to bring him into fellowship with Deity. ‘‘As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly,” or, Lord from heaven. When is considered, therefore, the immense good which the study and investigation of nature have accomplished, it is not at all surprising that the literature on the subject should be markedly in the ascendant. Natural science bids fair to be in a preéminent degree the pursuit of the coming man. There is no end to the books that have been written upon the subject during the past few decades, if not by specialists, but 2 Preface, by men and women who have been well informed and who have made themselves fully capable of contemplating understandingly the world which lies about them. Our libraries are to-day quite affluent in books that are the handmaids of natural science. Michelet and Hugh Miller, in their day, opened glorious new worlds before a rising generation, and that generation is now doing excellent work under the inspiration of the impetus which it then received. Tait, Balfour Stewart, Dawson, Gray, McCook, Thompson, Scudder, Mrs. Treat, Olive Thorne Miller and others have done much to continue the interest, pleasure and enthusiasm awakened by those earlier writers, and even Darwin and Huxley themselves, in detailing their experiments, have not scorned to bring their thoughts within the range of narrower minds. But in the popularization of natural science no man has done more than Rev. J. G. Wood in his numerous works. Not only have his writings created in thousands a taste for nature-studies, but they have been no less the means of cultivating the observation, awakening enthusiasm and directing effort in the lines of original research and discovery. Certainly no one, as his many writings so abundantly attest, possessed a larger fund of knowledge concerning the powers and capabilities of the lower animals than this author. Few knew our domestic animals better than he, and none was more capable of judging of the mental and moral s¢a/us which they should occupy in the world of animals, It is true that men and women, eminent in theology, literature and science, had expressed a belief in the idea that the ‘latent , powers and capacities’’ of the lower animals might be developed in a future life, but no one had felt secure enough in this belief to warrant more than a passing thought or two upon the subject. Bishop Butler, in his “ Analogy of Religion,’’ undoubtedly believed the lower animals capable of a future life. In speaking of them in this connection in the opening of his work, he says: ‘‘It is said these observations are equally applicable to brutes; and it is thought an insuperable difficulty that they should be immortal, and by consequence capable of everlasting happiness. And this manner of expression is both invidious and weak; but the thing intended by it is really no diffi- culty a: all, either in the way of natural or moral consideration.” Preface. 3 Referring then to the undeveloped powers and capacities of the so- called brutes, the Bishop could perceive no reason why they should not attain their development in an existence beyond the earth-life. It was in pursuance of this same train of thought that Rev. J. G. Wood was led to show in a work, entitled ‘‘ Man and Beast Here and Hereafter,” that the lower animals do possess those mental and moral characteris- tics—the attributes of reason, language, memory, moral responsibility, unselfishness and love—which we admit in man as belonging to the immortal spirit, rather than to the perishable body. Having previously cleared away the difficulties which certain passages in the Old Testa- ment seemingly interposed, and proved that the Scriptures do not deny futurity of life to lower animals, he very naturally concluded that as man expects to retain these qualities in the future life there is every reason to suppose that they may share his immortality in the Hereafter as in the Now they are partakers of his mortal nature. Few minds, unswayed by thoughts materialistic, can study the living works of God, whether vegetal or animal, and fail to be con- vinced that they, as living exponents of Divine conceptions, are as needful in the world of spirit as in the world of matter. While many are disposed to believe that man will share the future life with beast, bird, insect and such like, yet but few, if any, can be found who believe that tree and shrub and flower will be there to continue the life begun on earth and reach out to higher and fuller development. In announc- ing this belief, the author but expresses a conviction as deep as any that could occupy a human mind. The possession of soul and spirit can be predicated no less of plants than of man and the lower animals. They have all one breath or life and one spirit, and as such are living souls, living, breathing frames or bodies of life. From being living, breathing frames, and endowed with the same life and spirit as man “ and the lower animals, they have all one destiny, for ‘‘ all go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again."” But of the new life which Christ came down to earth to proffer to man that he might inherit the kingdom of God. While to man it was only offered, and had for its purpose the uplifting and improvement of his earth-life by the promise of something higher and better to those who are accounted worthy, yet there can be no doubt that it was equally intended through 4 Preface. his uplifting to place all the creatures of the earth over which he was given dominion by God upon a more elevated and nobler plane, so that those which had been profited in the earth-life by his beneficent influence should become partakers with him in the new life, when Christ shall “‘transfigure the body of our humiliation, that it may become of like form with the body of His glory, by the power of that - which enables Him even to subdue all things to Himself.” As all existence is a unit, which the author has taken especial pains through the body of this book to impress upon the minds of his readers, it can hardly be conceived that an all-wise God, who is infinite in love, mercy and justice, would look to the preservation in a future state of but a very small part of the life which He has been instrumental in placing upon this earth. It would be more consistent with His attri- butes, and with the scheme of development of life upon our planet, whereby life has been progressive, the fittest only being allowed to survive, to have provided in the grand plan of redemption, not merely the salvation of the highest of earth-life, but of all life, the purest and the best, that would represent in the heaven-life, in spiritualized form, the highest living exponents of Divine ideas. No other belief accords so well with the teachings of science and philosophy. In its accept- ance, for it makes all life related to the Divine life, can there be any hope of escape from materialism, that curse of the age. Tuomas G. GENTRY, Sc. D. PHILADELPHIA, FEBRUARY 28, 1897. CON eS PAGE Prefacece wey eve ees aah ee Gs au ean Ma Cee Pa Men Sate Toh ee ee I Titers Tits) COnmGitianss.os aie sx el reve iad citvenive ea pack ememanares nee ase 9 Rlants that-Feéed:on ‘Insectsie. nase 05 deaveda sabe eueee eros 16 SIIMe-ANIMal Sas 2) aledese cota eae oo centes bac COMA Dotan be 32 Primitive Lasso-Throwersis ¢acuscees sedans bee yeusceeee ie . 36 Five-Fingered Jack on the Oyster.............0. eee cece eee 4l Earth-worms in! ‘Historyiers de vues oes taeee 346k ee Te esau see tene 48 Fiddler-aind’ Hermit-Grabs.s.05 sak ssasate oad eae babes eae mans 70 Funnels Web. Bull derzt iis voc Sorensen siren na eke «Pee ea eetan ame 77: BOO KeMOVENS 7a ieieetwterete tnalcud aie nayane Blane ennayate ts AAAS Sete haaeoes URS 86 You-ee-up......... Sia Salsa See PA WeAl oe gis sae eu en sme MS ode go Tower Building Cicadas: scicac anise eo oe Seeded pA es De Tea 95 TLONCY DEW), ois. pw deans ines hala wun an ba isis Gael mw tena a i vaed oy eaas 104 Milch-Cows Of the Ants sus cecuc ceils oc Meisner Scena Gan edaedrsins 108 Lavine Artillery: eine icsetycscea sO cette guiietiny eae ements Ill Brrehteand, Shining Onesie 2 qiscrcveseeticruin wins e aac eeu ha eens 115 Queen of American Silk-Spinners............. 00000 c cece eee 121 Baise t= Garrvers scat aie oo aa Gs cust cn crs see Saget Siero a ee ae aS 126 Honey-Producing Caterpillars... ..............0 00 0c eee eee 132 Hibernating Butterties: 20.4 sss Sede iene tiee Sage sae ee as oe Tat LeateGutter Be Gwe sion a teck emis oes Se Me A are es nee agers 149 Battle Between Ants.................. Dacwe Moen es see eee eS 153 Nest=Building Fishes. -cccccpauacesete tae dosed ee Hues wees 158 Slipperyoas an Beles :cisewisnon cde aie Baa eee eee 168 Rana-and Burton: wcc ties seters on Ciena eat Whee aoe age 174 Our Natural Enemies sc c2n2c0503ssa¥eey ove eds dees Meet cease 186 Housé=Béaring Reptiles... co.c.c dieu tancna mie andes ated tes eae 198 Summer Ducks: ciscavesisec inane dered taweles Gaee ek eae Rees 204 American Woodcock............020..0065 Filithisie wanna ees 210 Piping Ploversj..ccgasy day anieeey ta te oe See oe R eRe BAR Be Sele 218 Bob White sae cece ie da casa acne woae enras anaes ee ade oe see eee Ruffled Grouse: ..ic.¢sees tenes view was cee Se Weide od hia vs Senora bakin 230 An Old Acquaintan¢es sc, c4s cor onsets eek same een Seale edad 240 American Osprey..c. gee ses su ades tsa ee nae esau eye heen Se 245 6 Contents. PAGE Murkey Buzzes asus orden teenies Sorat haan cuban e adit Wax alors 252 Rarevand ‘Curious: Nests s...coece cadena See area@ubt a gecacn Saar 263 Stran Pe: Priendshipiaacs coshiears ease heuag seg Geet Bele See ARE 279 Nature's Little: Store-Keepér.. c4. cycaies sees aw niiaemiezaes ee 285 GaninesSapa cityaerrrun cas ea Aan nes ane ay ee Bye. 290 Peline Intelligences. 05%: crtse 2 owen edna inate as nae clean 295 Bright: Little: |Cebid exes ieee wii aed ue meena we aes ash 301 Wntutored Manicm snnshes O04 aca wAecn bao s eatery Sean ete 309 MIVANE SOUIS roma ek laa th ea Ae eee bos nailg aera cianileat 316 Consciousness:in Plants... 4 cx.sz aula jaw Saas Dew edadion eed Sear 323 Mitel strive Acid rival Sy9es sense son teaveantec cea UAE AeA hahha et cece iokee eka ecard 344 Tite NPLOSRESSIV Gs. 2 cre ccs lecture Aiea Gibin meine ans ks oth tet Daaen oe rte costes 404 Survivalsof the: Fittest a. 2c. aicegeaws hare hin Guedes eaan 426 Man's) Preéminenceés:5. J2 cg. si tater cies tuah te oa ee bane ees 469 Puture Liles .niei.wuea ics Ste pelea ahanny ae toke Mae oes eee 479 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, PAGE Portraitrot, Auth orion ios on wacinneaaon oak a baron ceeanhee axis Frontispiece Venus’s: Fly*tra pics. i sees tue sakes sede tone es uyrneoenans 20 Round-Leaved Sundew..........0..0cccceeuece eee uteesseneees 25 Protomyxa Feeding iwicz soe. eee caom saree cd caine vem omniee wees 34 Fresh= Water Hy didinscc.caGs stares aban Pei dala peice ears 37 Star-fish Opening an Oyster... 2.0.0... occ c cece cece eee teens 45 Common: Earth-wormsic4a's oven sedan coe uesw ese beh eaaeice oa 60 FiddlersCrabs ccc ose cio wcnahs ee meena awk coeunde Seopa ee tevecora ae eerste 72 Weart ys Phermit-Grabsi ces, VERY one knows that the long cord or thong, called the lasso, is the peculiar weapon of the South American hunter. Almost from his earliest childhood the young Gaucho learns to amuse himself with it, and as soon as he is able to walk takes great pleasure in catching young birds and other animals around his father’s hut, hurling the long lash with such dexterity that the noose drops over their bodies and brings them to his feet. Did we wish to select from among all the denizens of life the most brilliant, grace- ful, and sylph-like, whose very life-histories read more like the romance of poetry than sober reality, we would choose those which might be appropriately designated the lasso- throwers. Now among animals, as is only too well known, any weapons which they could be called upon to use must develop in their own bodies, and therefore it could hardly be suspected that a simple jelly-animal could be provided with a lasso ready grown in its own flesh. Yet it is so, for in that class of animals, which ranks just above the sponges, we discover a weapon of this kind as simple and as deadly, and far more wonderful in its action than any used by man. In fresh-water ponds, attached by its base to the under surfaces of aquatic plants, may be found a very small animal, just large enough to be seen without the aid of a lens, usu- ally pale green, but sometimes of a brown color. This is our common hydra, technically called Hydra fusca. It is nothing more than a tube or sac, with a sucker at one end to hold on with, and a mouth at the other, surrounded with Primitive Lasso-Throwers. 37 from five to eight hollow tentacles or feelers, which opens into a central cavity or stomach. Firm and muscular are the walls of the sac, so that the little creature, which is not fixed permanently to whatever it is found clinging to, may stretch itself out or draw back as its own volition dictates, or move slowly along by means of its sucker, or float easily or contentedly upon the water. But the most remark- able, as well as the most interesting thing about this odd creature is the power which it possesses of overcoming ani- mals more powerful and active than itself. FRESH-WATER HYDRA MOORED AND SEARCHING FOR PREY. Groping about with its flexible arms, which are closely invested with fine jelly-hairs, with which it seemingly feels, or attached to some leaf or bit of floating stick, its tentacles reaching out in all directions, the Hydra instantly paralyzes any minute insects, young snail or infusorian that touches its feelers, and complacently closing its arms over the helpless victim, carefully tucks it away, so to speak, into its stomach, where it is speedily digested. This power of paralyzing and thus readily capturing active living creatures is due to the 38 Life and Immortality. presence in the skin of the tentacles and body of what are called lasso-cells, or nettling-organs, which are minute, transparent cells, so small that two hundred of the largest would occupy but the distance of an inch, each’being armed with a long barbed thread coiled up within its walls. This delicate thread, which is often from twenty to forty times the length of the cell, lies bathed in a poisonous fluid, and only waits for the cell-walls to burst, which they do when the Hydra touches an animal swimming near it, when thousands of these little barbed cords dart into the victim, quickly paralyzing it and rendering it an easy prey to its captor. All Ccelenterates, such as jelly-fishes and coral polyps, pos- sess these nettling-organs. Thus we see where the Hydra’s strength lies. He has no necd to struggle, for his victim, penetrated by a multitude of darts, and made powerless by the poison instilled, becomes as manageable as an equal bulk of inert matter. It behooves the little creature to take things quietly, for a cell once burst cannot be used again, and he is therefore compelled to wait until a new one is grown to take the place of the one that has become exhausted. So he patiently bides his time till his victim is half-conquered, when he draws him gently into his body. He lives and catches his food, as must be appar- ent, without the necessity of moving very far from the place where he had his birth. All the summer through the Hydra puts out buds from its side, which, when their tentacles have grown, drop from the parent-body, and settle down in life for themselves. But when winter comes, and before all life has become extinct, an egg appears near the base of the tubes of those that are living, and these eggs lie dormant till the next spring, when they are hatched, and a new generation of Hydras is produced. Budding, which is but a process of natural self-division, is carried on to a large extent, more individuals being pro- duced in this way than from eggs. These buds are at first a simple bulging out of the body-walls, the bud enveloping Primitive Lasso-Throwers. 39 a portion of the stomach, until it becomes constricted and drops off, the tentacles meanwhile budding out from the distal end, and a mouth-opening arising between them. In the Hydra, the Actinia, and other polyps, and in truth in all the lower animals, budding is simply due to an increase in the growth and multiplication of cells at a special place on the outside of the body. As in the vertebrates, man included, the Hydra arises from an egg which, after fertilization, passes tnrough two stages, the germ consisting at first of two cell- layers, but the sexes are not separate as in the marine Hy- droids, which grow in colonies that may be either male or female. Like some other animals of simple structure, the Hydra is capable of reproducing to a most wonderful degree when cut into pieces. Divided in two, each becomes a perfect Hydra, and even when sliced into any number of thin rings each ring will grow out a crown of tentacles. You may split them into Jongitudinal strips and each strip will event- ually become a well-shaped Hydra. Two individuals may be fastened together by a horse-hair and in a short time they will have become like Siamese twins, but there will never arise the slightest disagreement between them. A Hydra turned inside out will readily adapt itself to the change, and in a few days will be able to swallow and digest bits of meat, its former stomach-lining having now taken upon itself the condition of skin. Hydra fusca is our simplest lasso-thrower, and the only one to be found in fresh waters in this country. Such a wonderful and deadly weapon is his, that it is easy to understand how his numerous relatives in the wide ocean have made good use of the weapon with which nature has provided them, and secured, under all kinds of shapes and forms, homes and resting-places throughout the vast waste of waters. From the Arctic to the Tropics, and from the shallow seaside pools at low tide to the fathomless abysses of the ocean, we meet the lasso-throwers. Now in the form 40 Life and Immortality. of huge jelly-fishes, covering the sca for miles and miles, transparent domes by day and phosphorescing lights by night, and now as tiny balls of jelly, glistening by millions in some quiet bay and splintering into light upon the beach; or in the form of living animal-trees waving their graceful arms over rocks in waters deep, or creeping like delicate threads over shells and stones and seaweed on the shore, where they often lose their identity and are mistaken for plants. There is scarcely a nook or cranny in the bed of ocean where these tree-like forms, associated with the beautiful sea-anemone, whose brilliant crimson, green and purple are unmatched in color by gem and flower, are not to be found. All these beautiful creatures, as well as the living coral that nestles in the bosom of the warm Mediterranean or the sea that lashes our Southern shores, or that struggles boldly against Pacific’s waves, are lasso-throwers. Calenterata, the “hollow-bodied animals,” because of the large cavity within their bodies, is the name by which they are known to science. They naturally fall into two families, the Hydrozoa, or Water Animals, and the Actinizoa, or Ray-like Animals, our little Hydra, about which so much has been written, being repre- sentative of the former and the Anemones of the latter division. FIVE-FINGERED JACK ON THE OYSTER. UITE as infinite in number, variety and form is the life \/ of the seaas that of the land. But of all marine ani- mals, however, there is none more curious than the echino- derm, a name derived by science from two Greek words, indicating an animal bristling with spines like the hedge- hog. These creatures are sometimes free, but quite as often attached by a stem, flexible or otherwise, and radiate after the fashion ofa circle or star, or are of the form of a star, with more or less elongated arms. They are covered with shell-like plates, which they secrete for themselves, and are still further protected by spines or scales. Perhaps the most common of the echinoderms is the Star- fish, or Five-fingered Jack, as it is called by sailors. Who- ever has spent any time on the seashore has doubtless made the acquaintance of this animal, for it is readily distinguish- able by its shape, its upper surface being rough and tuber- culous, and armed with spine-like projections, while the under portion is soft, containing the essential organs of life and locomotion. When first seen stranded on the shore the Star-fish, by the uninitiated, is thought to be a creature incapable of move- ment of any kind. But this is far from being the case, for in its native element it moves along the bottom of the sea with the greatest ease, being provided with an apparatus specially adapted for the purpose. Ordinarily its arms are kept upon the same level, but in passing over obstacles that lay in its path, the animal has the power of raising any one of its several arms. Elevations are ascended with the same 42 Life and Immortahty. ease and facility as progression on plane surfaces is effected. Perforating the arms, or rays, and issuing from apertures, will be found large numbers of membranous tubes, which prove to be the feet of the animal. Upon careful examination the latter will be found to consist of two parts, a bladder-like portion, resident within the body, and a tubular outlying pro- jection, ending in a disk-shaped sucker, thus showing the feet to be muscular cylinders, hollow in the centre, and very extensible. In progression the animal extends a few of its feet, attaches its suckers to the rocks or stones and then, by retracting its feet, draws the body forward. Like that of the tortoise, its pace is slow and sure. But the most singular thing about this singular animal is its manner of overcoming obstructions, which it must certainly perceive, judging from the preparations to surmount them which it makes at the opportune moment. In addition to organs of locomotion Star-fishes possess blood-vessels, digestive and respiratory apparatus, and a nervous system of a very low order, an inference to which its seeming capacity of enduring vivisection without pain unmistakably leads. Interesting as its manner of progression, even under the most trying circumstances, must be, yet there is nothing in the life of this lowly-organized animal that has half the charm to the true lover and student of nature than the mother Star’s devotion to her young. Her eggs she carries in little pouches placed at the base of the rays. When emitted through an opening, which occasionally and unintentionally occurs, the mother does not abandon them to the cruel charities of the ocean world, but gathers them together, forming a kind of protecting cover of them, very much like a hen brooding over her chickens. Her actions bespeak an anxiety which could only be born of an affection, as real and sympathetic as that which a human mother feels for the loss of any of her offspring. No matter how often the eggs become accident- ally scattered, the mother does not grow weary of her charges Five-Fingered Jack on the Oyster. 43 and leave them to themselves, but gathers them to the maternal fold with the same tender, patient solicitude as characterized her first efforts. Confined to a tank, when with ova, the mother Star has been known to traverse the entire length of the vessel until she has found and recovered her scattered treasures. Reproduction by eggs is not the only means of generation in vogue. In common with other sea animals the Star-fish has the strange capacity of detaching one or more of its arms, each of the cast-off members becoming in time a perfect creature of its own kind, while a new arm, fully equipped to perform all necessary functions, will grow out in place of the lost member. From twelve to fifteen weeks are required to reproduce a lost ray, the animal meanwhile seeming not the least discontented, but acting as utterly unconscious of any changes in its anatomy. As found upon the shore, Star-fishes appear dead when really they are alive. Put one of these perfectly still creat- ures into fresh sea-water, and in a short time it will probably be disporting itself as freely as ever it did. But as the dead and the living, when stranded by the tide, present nearly the same appearance, some certain test seems necessary to dis- tinguish them apart. If a Star-fish hangs loose and limp, it is dead; but, however dead it may look, if on touching it there are manifest a firmness and consistency in its substance, one may feel reasonably sure that it is playing the ‘possum and will revive when placed in the water. Quite as certain a mode of ascertaining whether your starry friend is living or dead, is to lay it upon its back, when, if alive, a number of semi-transparent globular objects will be seen to move, reaching this way and that, as though feeling for some- thing to lay hold of wherewith to restore it to its normal position. These globular appendages are the amdulacra, or locomotory organs, seeking to acquire this end. If, however, no movement is manifested, you can wisely conclude that your animal is dead. 44 Life and Immortality. The Star-fish, not unlike all other animals of the sea, has an appetite that is never satisfied. Dinner is always welcome. The procurement of food seems its chief concern in life. It is a scavenger of no mean importance, keeping up an inces- sant chase after all kinds of dead animal matter, and thus largely contributing, it is probable, towards the maintaining of the waters of the ocean in a state of purity. But its feeding is not exclusively restricted to decaying matters. Any species of mollusk, from the humble whelk, not more than five-eighths of an inch in length, to the lordly oyster, so esteemed by epicures, constitutes a dainty tidbit. No more inveterate ravager and brigand, not even excepting man himself, have the oyster-beds to disturb the equanimity and serenity of their existence than the audacious, insinuating Star-fish. With its five arms, and apparently without any other organ, this comparatively insignificant little being accom- plishes a work which man, without the aid of extraneous appliances, is quiet unable to execute. It opens an oyster as deftly and effectually as an expert oysterman would do, and that, too, without the habitual oyster-knife, and swallows the slimy bivalve in the same manner as the lords of creation do. Man, with all his genius and skill, were he deprived of all other means of subsistence than the oyster, and having no implement with which to open it, would be severely puzzled to get at the savory morsel shut up in its obstinate valves, yet the Star-fish performs the task seemingly without the least difficulty. How the Star-fish manages the problem was at first a mat- ter of guess-work. For a long time it was confidently believed that the animal waited for the moment when the oyster opened its shell to introduce one of its arms into the opening. This much gained, the other four arms were got in without much trouble, and the whole business ended — with the devouring of the inmate. This belief is no longer tenable. Careful observation has revealed to us the true Five-Fingered Jack on the Oyster. 45 i STAR-FISH OPENING AN OYSTER. inwardness of the proceeding. The oyster is seized between the arms of the Star-fish and held under its mouth by the aid of its suckers. Thus secured, the Asterias, or Star-fish, everts its stomach, and envelops the whole oyster in its in- terior recesses, distilling a poisonous fluid, a secretion from its mouth, which causes the oyster to open its shell, when the robber, as it were, crawls in and takes its dessert. In- credible numbers of oysters are destroyed by Star-fishes, but the oystermen fail to see that their own barbaric ignor- ance is largely to blame. Star-fishes drawn up in nets, rakes and dredges in immense quantities are tied into bundles, but the cords are made so tight that the pile is cut in twain, the result being that all the pieces, when afterwards thrown over- board, become new and perfect Star-fishes. Not often has one the pleasure of meeting with these ani- mals on the New Jersey coast, but yet they are occasionally seen, more frequently, perhaps, in the North. Asverzas bery- linus, the commoner form, is a fairly large species, of a more or less greenish color, sometimes waning to brown, and roughly covered with tubercles. Its five arms, at the ex- tremity of each of which is situated a single red-eye speck, 46 Life and Timmortality. are somewhat irregularly arranged, and not rarcly one is stumpy through breakage or unequal development. When a Star-fish is alarmed, or finds itself in strange quar- ters, it will be seen to curl up the tips of its rays, and there under the point of each ray will be found a thick red spot seated on the extremity of a nerve, and having in it as many as from one hundred to two hundred crystal lenses sur- rounded by red cells. With such a highly-developed eye, which is far better than the jelly-fish enjoys, it is no wonder that the Star-fish is so quick in discerning food, or enrages the fisherman by the discovery of the bait which he had intended for other animals, for it turns out that this stupid- looking animal is more wide-awake than it is given credit for. Sometimes, as in the beautifully delicate Star-fish, called the “ Lingthorn,” a soft lid, or feeler, hangs over the eye-spot, which gives to the creature a curiously intelligent look, but in the case of our common form this lid is notably absent. From all that has been written it must be evident that our first walking animal is by no means a poor or feeble creature. He has a chain armor woven into his leathery skin, with sharp, pointed spines, and snapping, beak-like claws to pro- tect him; an excellent digestion and a capacious mouth to feed his greedy stomach, and a fine array of nerves, quick feeling and eyesight, and a wonderful apparatus for moving over the ground. When it is added to all these possessions the ability to close over the wound in the case of a lost ray and the growing of a new one, we see that his powers of living satisfactorily are by no means insignificant. But this curious walking apparatus of the Star-fish is far from being perfect in all his relations. They do not all walk by means of suckers any more than all sponge-animals build toilet sponge, or all slime-animals make chambered shells. Sure, the Rosy Feather-stars, for example, have no use for feet-tubes, as their lives are generally spent upon the rocks or nestled in bunches of sea-weed. Brittle-stars, as these are called, though closely related to the Star-fishes, are not easily Five-Fingered Jack on the Oyster. 47 confounded with them, for their arms are found to radiate from a clearly defined central disk, and there is no prolongation of their stomachs and ovaries into their interiors. The tube- feet pass out from the plates along the sides of the arms, instead of from the under surface as in the Star-fishes proper, and probably serve merely as a help for breathing, locomo- tion over the sands being effected by their long flexible arms. Their home is chiefly among the tangle and eel-grass, where their protecting covering affords them security from their many enemies. EARTH-WORMS IN HISTORY. ARTH-WORMS are found throughout the world. Though few in gencra, and not many in species, yet they make up in individual numbers, for it has been estt- mated that they average about one hundred thousand to the acre. Our American species have never been monographed, which renders it impossible to judge of their probable num- ber. Their castings may be seen on commons, so as to cover almost entirely their surface, where the soil is poor and the grass short and thin, and they are almost as numer- ous in some of our parks where the grass grows well and the soil appears rich. Even on the same piece of ground worms are much more frequent in some places than in others, although no visible difference in the nature of the soil is manifest. They abound in paved court-yards contiguous to houses, and on the sidewalks in country towns, and instances have been reported where they have burrowed through the floors of very damp cellars. Beneath large trees few castings can be found during cer- tain parts of the year, and this is apparently due to the moisture having been sucked out of the ground by the in- numerable roots of the trees, an explanation which seems to be confirmed by the fact that such places may be observed covered with castings after the heavy autumnal rains. Although most coppices and woods support large numbers of worms, yet in forests of certain kinds of tree-growths, where the ground beneath is destitute of vegetation, not a casting is seen over wide reaches of ground, even during the autumn. In mountainous districts worms are mostly rare, it Earth-Worms in History. 49 would seem, a circumstance which is perhaps owing to the close proximity of the subjacent rocks, into which it is impossible for them to burrow during the winter, so as to escape being frozen. But there are some exceptions to this rule, for they have been found at great altitudes in certain parts of the world, and especially is this so in India, where they have been observed to be quite numerous upon the mountains. Though in one sense semi-aquatic animals, like the other members of the great class of Annelids to which they belong, yet it cannot be denied that earth-worms are terrestrial creatures. Their exposure to the dry air of a room fora single night proves fatal to them, while on the other hand they have been kept alive for nearly four months completely submerged in water. During the summer, when the ground is dry, they penetrate to a great depth and cease to work, just as they do in winter when the ground is frozen. They are nocturnal in their habits, and may be seen crawling about in large numbers at night, but generally with their tails still inserted in their burrows. By the expansion of this part of the body, and with the aid of the short reflexed bristles with which they are armed inferiorly, they hold so securely that they can seldom be withdrawn from the ground without being torn in pieces. But during the day, except at the time of pairing, when those which inhabit adjoining burrows expose the greater part of their bodies for an hour or two in the early morning, they remain in their burrows. Sick individuals, whose illness is caused by the parasitic larve of a fly, must also be excepted, as they wander about during the day and die on the surface. Aston- ishing numbers of dead worms may sometimes be seen lying on the ground after a heavy rain succeeding dry weather, no less than a half-hundred in a space of a few square yards, but these are doubtless worms that were already sick, whose deaths were merely hastened by the ground being flooded, for if they had been drowned it is probable, from 50 Life and Immortality. the facts already given, that they would have perished in their burrows. After there has been a heavy rain the film of mud or of very fine sand to be seen over gravel-walks in the morning is often distinctly marked with the tracks of worms. From May to August, inclusive, this has been noticed when the months have been wet. Very few dead worms are anywhere to be seen on these occasions, although the walks are marked with innumerable tracks, five tracks often being counted crossing a space of only an inch square, which could be traced cither to or from the mouths of the burrows in the gravel-walks for distances varying from three to fifteen yards, but no two tracks being seen to lead to the same burrow. It is not likely, from what is known of the sense-organs of these animals, that a worm could find its way back to its burrow after having once left it. They leave their burrows, it would seem, on a voyage of discovery, and thus they find new sites for the exercise of their powers. For hours together they may often be seen lying almost motionless beneath the mouths of their burrows. But let the ejected earth or rubbish over their burrows be suddenly removed and the end of the worm’s body may be seen rapidly retreating. This habit of lying near the surface leads to their destruc- tion to an immense extent, for, at certain seasons of the year, the robins and blackbirds that visit our lawns in the country may be observed drawing out of their holes an astonishing number of worms, which could not be done unless they lay close to the surface. But what brings the worms to the sur- face? This is a question whose answer cannot be positively asserted. It is not probable that they behave in this manner for the purpose of breathing fresh air, for it has been seen that they can live a long time under water. That they are there for the sake of warmth, especially in the morning, is a more reasonable supposition, which seems to be confirmed by the fact that they often coat the mouths of their burrows Earth-Worms in History. 51 with leaves, apparently to prevent their bodies from coming into contact with the cold, damp earth, and by the still other fact that they completely close their burrows during the winter. Some remarks about the structure of the earth-worm now appear apropos. Its body consists of from one hundred to two hundred almost cylindrical rings, each provided with minute bristles. The muscular system is well developed, thus enabling these animals to crawl backwards as well as forwards, and to retreat by the help of their affixed tails into their burrows with extraordinary rapidity. Situated at the anterior end of the body is the mouth. It is furnished with a little projection, variously called the lobe or lip, which is used for prehension. Behind the mouth, internally located, is a strong pharynx, which is pushed forwards when the animal eats, corresponding, it is said, with the protrudable trunk of other Annelids. The pharynx conducts to the cesophagus, on each side of the lower part of which are placed three pairs of large glands, called calciferous glands, whose function is the secretion of carbonate of lime. These glands are very remarkable organs, and their like is not to be found in any other animal. Their use is connected in some way with the process of digestion. The cesophagus, in most of the species, is enlarged into a crop in front of the gizzard. This latter organ is lined with a smooth, thick chitinous membrane, and is surrounded by weak, longitudi- nal, but powerful transverse muscles, whose energetic action is most effectual in the trituration of the food, for these worms possess no jaws, or teeth of any kind. Grains of sand and small stones, from the one-twentieth to the one-tenth of an inch in size, are found in their gizzards and intestines, and these little stones, independently of those swallowed while excavating their burrows, most probably serve, like mill- stones, to triturate their food. The gizzard opens into the intestine—a most remarkable structure, an intestine within an intestine—which runs in a straight line to the vent at the 52 Life and TIimmortality. posterior end of the body. But this curious structure, as shown by Claparéde, merely consists of a deep longitudinal involution of the walls of the intestine, by which means an extensive absorbent surface is secured. Worms have a well-developed circulating system. Their breathing is effected by the skin, and so they do not possess any special respiratory apparatus. Each individual unites the two sexes in its own body, but two individuals pair together. The nervous system is fairly well developed, the two nearly confluent cerebral ganglia being situated very close to the anterior extremity of the body. Being destitute of eyes, we would naturally conclude that worms were quite insensible to hght; but from many experi- ments that have been made by Darwin, Hofmeister and others, it is evident that light affects them, but only by its intensity and duration. It is the anterior extremity of the body, where the cerebral ganglia lie, that is affected, for if this part is shaded and other parts of the body are illumi- nated no effect will be produced. As these animals have no eyes, it is probable that the light passes through their skins and excites in some manner their cerebral ganglia. When worms are employed in dragging leaves into their burrows or in eating them, and even during the brief intervals of rest from their labors, they either do not perceive the light or are regardless of it, and this is even the case when the light is concentrated upon them through a large lens. Paired indi- viduals will remain for an hour or two together out of their burrows, fully exposed to the morning light, but it appears, from what some writers have said, that a light will occasion- ally cause paired individuals to separate. When a worm is suddenly illuminated and dashes into its burrow, one is led to look at the action as a reflex one, the irritation of the cerebral ganglia apparently causing certain muscles to con- tract in an inevitable manner, without the exercise of the will or consciousness of the animal, as though it was an automaton. But the different effect which a light produces Earth-Worms in History. 53 on different occasions, and especially the fact that a worm when in any way occupied, no matter what set of muscles and ganglia may be brought into play, is often regardless of light, are antagonistic to the view of the sudden withdrawal being a simple reflex action. With the higher animals, when close attention to some object leads to the disregard of the impressions which other objects must be producing upon them, we ascribe this to their attention being then absorbed, and attention necessarily implies the presence of mind. Although worms cannot be said to possess the power of vision, yet their sensitiveness to light enables them to dis- criminate between day and night, and thus they escape the attacks of the many diurnal animals that would prey upon them. They are less sensitive to a moderate radiant heat than to a bright light, as repeated experiments have con- clusively shown; and their disinclination to leave their burrows during a frost proves that they are sensitive to a low temperature. Investigation fails to locate in worms any organ of hear- ing, from which must be concluded that they are insensible to sounds. The shrill notes of a metallic whistle sounded near them, and the deepest and loudest tones of a bassoon, failed to awaken the least notice. Although indifferent to modulations in the air, audible to human ears, yet they are extremely sensitive to vibrations in any solid object. Even the light and delicate tread of a robin affrights and sends them deep into their burrows. It has been said that if the ground is beaten, or otherwise made to tremble, that worms believe they are pursued by a mole and leave their burrows, but this does not stand the test of experiment, for the writer has frequently beaten the ground in many places where these creatures abounded, but not one emerged. A worm’s entire body is sensitive to contact, the slightest puff of air from the mouth causing an instant retreat. When a worm first comes out of its burrow it generally moves the much-extended anterior extremity of its body from side to side in all 54 Life and Tinmortality. directions, apparently as an object of touch, and there is good reason to believe that they are thus enabled to gain a general knowledge of the form of an object. Touch, including in this term the perception of a vibration, seems much the most highly developed of all their senses. The sense of smell is quite feeble, and is apparently confined to the perception of certain odors. They are quite indifferent to the human breath, even when tainted by tobacco, or to a pellet of cotton- wool with a few drops of Milleflcur’s perfume when held by pincers and moved about within a few inches of them. The perception of such an unnatural odor would be of no service to them. Now, as such timid creatures would almost cer- tainly exhibit some signs of any new impression, we may reasonably conclude that they did not perceive these odors. But when cabbage leaves and pieccs of onion were employed, both of which are devoured with much relish by worms, the result was different. These, with bits of fresh raw meat, have been buried in pots beneath one-fourth of an inch of common garden soil, or sometimes laid on pieces of tin foil in the earth, the ground being pressed down slightly, so as not to prevent the emission of any odor, and yet they were always discovered by the worms that were placed in the pots, and removed after varying periods of time. These facts indicate that worms possess some power of smell, and that they dis- cover by this means odoriferous and much-coveted kinds of food. That all animals which feed on various substances possess the sense of taste, is a wise presumption. This is certainly the case with worms. Cabbage leaves are much liked by worms, and it would seem that they are able to distinguish between the different varieties, but this may perhaps be owing to differences in their texture. When leaves of the cabbage, horse-radish and onion were given together, they manifestly preferred the last to the others. Celery is preferred to the leaves of the cabbage, lime-tree, ampelopsis and parsnip, and the leaves of the wild cherry and carrots, especially the latter, Farth-Worms in Ffrstory. 55 to all the others. That the worms have a preference for one taste over another, is still further shown from what follows. Pieces of the leaves of cabbage, turnip, horse-radish and onion have been fed to the worms, mingled with the leaves of an Artemisia and of the culinary sage, thyme and mint, differing in no material degree in texture from the foregoing four, yet quite as strong in taste, but the latter were quite neglected excepting those of the mint, which were slightly nibbled, but the others were all attacked and had to be renewed. There is little to be noted about the mental qualities of worms. They have been seen to be timid creatures. Their eagerness for certain kinds of food manifestly shows that they must enjoy the pleasure of eating. So strong is their sexual passion that they overcome for a time their dread of light. They seem to have a trace of social feeling, for they are not disturbed by crawling over each other's bodies, and they sometimes lie in contact. Although remarkably defi- cient in the several sense-organs, yet this does not necessarily preclude intelligence, for it has been shown that when their attention is engaged they neglect impressions to which they would otherwise have attended, and attention, as is well known, indicates the presence of a mind of some kind. A few actions are performed instinctively, that is, all the indi- viduals, including the young, perform each action in nearly the same manner. The various species of Pericheta eject their castings so as to construct towers, and the burrows of the Common Earth-worm —Lumobricus terrestris — are smoothly lined with fine earth and often with little stones, and the mouth with leaves. One of their strongest instincts is the plugging up of the mouths of their burrows with various objects, the very young worms acting in a similar manner. But some degree of intelligence is manifested, as will subse- quently appear. Almost everything is eaten by worms. They swallow enormous quantities of earth, from which they extract any 56 Life and Immortality. digestible matter it may contain. Large numbers of half decayed leaves of all kinds, excepting a few that are too tough and unpleasant to the taste, and likewise petioles, peduncles, and decayed flowers. Fresh leaves are consumed as well. Particles of sugar, licorice and starch, and bits of raw and roasted meat, and preferably raw fat, are eaten when they come into their possession, but the last article with a better relish than any other substance given to them. They are cannibals to a certain extent, and have been known to eat the dead bodies of their own companions. The digestive fluid of worms, according to Len Frédéricq, is analogous in nature to the pancreatic secretion of the higher animals, and this conclusion agrees perfectly with the kinds of food which they consume. Pancreatic juice emul- sifies fat, dissolves fibrin, and worms greedily devour fat and eat raw meat. It converts starch into grape-sugar with wonderful rapidity, and the digestive fluid of worms acts upon the starch of leaves. But worms live chiefly on half decayed leaves, and these would be useless to them unless they could digest the cellulose forming the cell-walls, for all other nutritious substances, as is well known, are almost completely withdrawn from leaves shortly before they fall off. It has been ascertained that cellulose, though very little or not at all attacked by the gastric juice of the higher animals, is acted on by that from the pancreas, and so worms eat the leaves as much for the cellulose as for the starch they contain. The half-decayed or fresh leaves which are intended for food are dragged into the mouths of their bur-_ rows to a depth of from one to three inches, and are then moistened with a secreted fluid, which has been assumed to hasten their decay, but which, from its alkaline nature, and from its acting both on the starch-granules and on the proto- plasmic contents of the cells, is not of the nature of saliva, but a pancreatic secretion, and of the same kind as is found in the intestines of worms. As the leaves which are dragged into the burrows are often dry and shrivelled, it is Earth-Worms tn History. 57 indispensable for the unarmed mouths of worms that they should first be moistened and softened, their disintegration being thereby the more readily effected. Fresh leaves, how- ever soft and tender they may be, are similarly treated, prob- ably from habit. Thus the leaves are partially digested before they are taken into the alimentary canal, an instance of extra-stomachal digestion, whose nearest analogy is to be found in such plants as Dionw#a and Drosera, for in them animal matter is digested and converted into peptone, not within a stomach, but on the surfaces of the leaves. But no portion of the economy of worms has been more the subject of speculation than the calciferous glands. About as many theories have been advanced on their utility as there have been observers. Judging from their size and from their rich supply of blood-vessels, they must be of vast importance to these animals. They consist of three pairs, which in the Common Earth-worm debouch into the ali- mentary canal in front of the gizzard, but posteriorly to it, in some genera. The two posterior pairs are formed by lamelle, diverticula from the cesophagus, which are coated with a pulpy cellular layer, with the outer cells lying free in infinite numbers. If one of these glands is punctured and squeezed, a quantity of white, pulpy matter exudes, consisting of these free cells, which are minute bodies, varying in diameter from two to six millimetres. They contain in their centres a small quantity of excessively fine granular matter, that looks so like oil globules that many scientists are deceived by its appearance. When treated with acetic acid they quickly dissolve with effervescence. An addition of oxalate of ammo- nia to the solution throws down a white precipitate, showing that the cells contain carbonate of lime. The two anterior glands differ a little in shape from the four posterior ones by being more oval, and also conspicuously in generally con- taining several small, or two or three larger, or a single very large concretion of carbonate of lime, as much as one and one-half millimetres in diameter. With respect to the function 58 Life and Immortalty. of the calciferous glands, it is likely that they primarily serve as organs of excretion, and secondarily as an aid to digestion. Worms consume many fallen leaves. It is known that lime goes on accumulating in leaves until they drop off the parent-plant, instead of being re-absorbed into the stem or roots, like various other organic and inorganic substances, and worms would therefore be liable to become charged with this earth, unless there was some special apparatus for its excretion, and for this purpose the calciferous glands are ably adapted. On the other hand, the carbonate of lime, which is excreted by the glands, aids the digestive process under ordinary circumstances. Leaves during their decay generate an abundance of various kinds of acids, which have been grouped together under the term of humus acids. These half-decayed leaves, which are swallowed by worms in large quantities, would, therefore, after having been moistened and triturated in the alimentary canal, be apt to produce such acids, and in the case of several worms, whose alimentary canals were examined, their contents were plainly shown by litmus paper to be decidedly acid. This acidity cannot be attributed to the nature of the digestive fluid, for pancreatic Juice is alkaline, and so also is the secretion which is poured out of the mouths of worms for the preparation of the leaves for consumption. With worms not only the contents of the intestines, but their ejected matter or the castings are gener- ally acid. The digestive fluid of worms resembles in its action, as already stated, the pancreatic secretion of the higher animals, and in these latter pancreatic digestion is necessarily alkaline, and the action will not take place unless some alkali be present; and the activity of an alkaline juice is arrested by acidification, and hindered by neutralization. Therefore is seems probable that innumerable calciferous cells, which are emptied from the four posterior glands in the alimentary canal, serve to neutralize more or less completely the acids generated there by the half-decayed leaves. These cells, as has been seen, are instantly dissolved by a small quantity of Earth-Worms in Eistory. 59 acetic acid, and as they do not always suffice to render of no effect the contents of the upper part of the alimentary canal, it is probable that the lime is aggregated into concretions, in the anterior pair of glands, in order that some may be con- veyed to the posterior parts of the intestine, where these concretions would be rolled about among the acid contents. The .oncretions found in the intestines and in the castings often present a worn appearance, bu: whether due to attrition or ch nical corrosion it is impossible to say. That they are formec ‘or the sake of acting as mill stones, as Claparéde believed, and of thus assisting in the trituration of food, is not at all likely, as this object is already attained by the stones that are present in the gizzards and intestines. In dragging leaves into their burrows worms generally seize the thin edge of a leaf with their mouths, between the projecting upper and lower lin, the thick and strong pharynx at the same time being pushed forwards within their bodies, so as to afford a point de resistance for the upper lip; but in the case of broad and flat objects the pointed anterior extremity of the body, after being brought into contact with an object of this kind, is drawn within the adjoining rings, so that it becomes truncated and as thick as the rest of the body. This part is then seen to swell a little, seemingly from the pharynx being pushed a little forwards. By a slight withdrawal of the pharynx, or by its expansion, a vacuum is produced beneath the truncated, slimy end of the body whilst in contact with the object, and by this means the two adhere firmly together. Worms can attach themselves to an object in the same manner under the water. As worms have no teeth, and their mouths consist of very soft tissue, it may be presumed that they consume by means of suction of the edges and parenchyma of fresh leaves after they have been softened by the digestive fluid. They cannot attack such strong leaves as those of sea-kale or large and thick leaves of ivy. They not only seize leaves and other objects for purposes of food, but for plugging up 60 Life and Immortality. COMMON EARTH-WORMS Out on a Foraging Excursion. the mouths of their burrows. Flower-peduncles, decayed twigs of trees, bits of paper, feathers, tufts of wool and horse-hair are some of the many things other than leaves that are dragged into their burrows for this purpose. Many hundred leaves of the pine-tree have been found drawn by their bases into burrows. Where fallen leaves are abundant, especially ordinary dicotyledonous leaves, many more than can be used are collected over the mouth of a burrow, so that a small pile of unused leaves is left like a roof over those which have been partly dragged in. A leaf in being dragged a little way into a cylindrical burrow necessarily becomes much folded or crumpled, and when another is drawn in, this is done exteriorly to the first, and so on with succeeding leaves, till finally they all become closely folded and pressed together. Sometimes the mouth of a burrow Earth-Worms in History. 61 is enlarged, or a fresh one is made close by, so that a larger number of leaves may be drawn in. Generally the interstices between the drawn-in leaves are filled with moist, viscid earth ejected from their bodies, thus rendering them doubly secure. Hundreds of such plugged burrows may be seen during the autumnal and early winter months. When leaves, petioles, sticks, etc., cannot be obtained for the mouths of their burrows, heaps of stones, smooth, rounded pebbles, are utilized for protection. When the stones are removed and the surface of the ground is cleared for some inches round the burrow, the worms may be seen with their tails fixed in their burrows dragging the stones inward by the aid of their mouths, stones weighing as much as two ounces often being found in the little heaps, which goes to show how strong these apparently weak creatures are. Work of this kind is usually performed during the night, although objects have been occasionally known to be drawn into the burrows during the day. What advantage worms derive from plugging up the mouths of their burrows, or from piling stones over them, cannot be satisfactorily answered. They do not act in this manner when they eject much earth from their burrows, for then their castings serve to cover the mouth. Perhaps the plugs serve to protect them from the attacks of scolopenders, their most inveterate enemies, or to enable them to remain with safety with their heads close to the mouths of their burrows, which they like so well to do, but which, unless protected, costs many a fellow its life. Besides, may not the plugs check the free ingress of the lowest stratum of air, when chilled by radiation at night, from the surrounding ground and herbage? The last view of the matter seems especially well taken, because worms kept in pots where there is fire, having no cold air with which to contend, plug up their burrows in a slovenly man- ner, and because they often coat the upper part of their burrows with leaves, apparently to prevent their bodies from coming into contact with the cold, damp earth. But the 62 Life and Immortality. plugging-up process may undoubtedly serve for all these purposes. Whatever the motive may be, it seems that worms much dislike leaving the mouths of their burrows open, yet, nevertheless, they will reopen them at night, whether or not they are able afterwards to close them. Considerable intelligence is shown by worms in their man- ner of plugging up their burrows. If man had to plug up a cylindrical hole with such objects as leaves, petioles or twigs, he would push them in by their pointed ends, but if these were thin relatively to the size of the hole, he would probably insert some by their broader ends. Intelligence would certainly be his guide in such a case. But how worms would drag leaves into their burrows, whether by their tips, bases, or middle parts, has been a matter of interest to many. Darwin, who experimented upon the subject, found it especially desirable to experiment with plants not natives to his country, for he conceived that although the habit of dragging leaves into their burrows is undoubtedly instinctive with worms, yet instinct could not teach them how to act in the case of leaves about which their progeni- tors knew nothing. Did they act solely through instinct, or an unvarying inherited impulse, they would draw all kinds of leaves into their burrows in the same manner. Having no such definite instinct, chance might be expected to deter- mine whether the tip, base, or middle might be seized. If the worm in each case first tries many different methods, and follows that alone which proves possible or the most easy, then both instinct and chance are ruled out of the solution of the question. But to act in this manner, and to try different methods, makes what in man would be called intelligent action. Three species of pine-leaves are mentioned by Darwin as being regularly drawn into the mouths of worm-burrows on the gravel-walk in his garden. These leaves consist of two needles, which are united to a common base, and it is by this point that they are almost invariably drawn into the burrows. Larth-Worms in Fitstory. 63 As the sharply-pointed needles diverge somewhat, and as several are drawn into the same burrow, each tuft forms a perfect chevaux-de-frise. Many tufts were pulled up in the evening, but by the ensuing morning fresh leaves had taken their places, and the burrows again well protected. Impos- sible it would be to drag these leaves to any depth into the burrows, except by their bases, as a worm cannot seize hold of the two leaves at the same time, and if one alone were seized by the apex, the other would be pressed against the ground and resist the entry of the one that was seized. That the worms should do their work well, it was very essential that they drag the pine-leaves into their burrows by their bases, that is, where the two needles are conjoined. But how they are guided in this work was at first perplexing. The difficulty, however, was soon settled. With the assistance of his son Francis, the elder Darwin set to work to observe worms in confinement during several nights by the aid of a dim light, while they dragged the leaves of the afore- mentioned kinds into their burrows. They were seen to move the anterior extremities of their bodies about the leaves, and on several occasions when they touched the sharp end of the needle they suddenly withdrew as though they had been pricked, but it is doubtful that they were hurt, for they are indifferent to sharp objects, being known to swallow rose-thorns and small splinters of glass. It may be doubted whether the sharp end of the needle serves to tell them that is the wrong end to seize, for the points of many were cut off for the length of an inch, and these leaves were always drawn in by their bases and not by the cut-off ends. The worms, it seemed, almost instantly perceived as soon as they had seized a leaf in the proper manner. Many leaves were cemented together at the top, or tied together by fine thread, and these in the majority of instances were dragged in by their bases, which leads to the conclusion that there must be something attractive to worms in the base of pine-leaves, notwithstanding that few ordinary leaves are drawn in by 64 Life and Immortality. their base or footstalk. Leaves of other plants, and also the petioles of some compound plants, as well as triangular bits of paper, dry and damp, were experimented with, and the manner of seizing the objects and bearing them into their burrows were as amusing as they were novel and interesting. The leaves and stems used were such as the worms had not been accustomed to in their respective haunts. When the several cases experimented on are considered, one can hardly escape from the conclusion that some degree of intelligence is shown by worms in plugging up their bur- rows. Each particular object is seized in too uniform a manner, and from causes which we can generally under- stand, for the result to be attributed to mere chance. That every object has not been drawn in by its pointed end may be accounted for by labor having been saved by some being carried in by their broader ends. There is no doubt that worms are governed by instinct in plugging up their bur- rows, and it might be expected that they would have been taught in every particular instance how to act independently of intelligence. It is very difficult to judge when intelli- gence comes into play. The actions of animals, appearing due to intelligence, may be performed through inherited habit without any intelligence, although aboriginally acquired, or the habit may be acquired through the preservation and inheritance of some other action, and in the latter case the new habit will have been acquired independently of intelli- gence throughout the entire course of its development. There is no @ przort improbability in worms having acquired special instincts through either of these two latter means. Nevertheless it is incredible that instincts should have been developed in reference to objects, such as the leaves and petioles of foreign plants, wholly unknown to the progeni- tors of the worms which have acted in the manner just described. Nor are their actions so unvarying or inevitable as are most true instincts. Earth-Worms in History. 65 As worms are not controlled by special instincts in each particular case, though possessing a general instinct to plug up their burrows, and as chance is excluded, the next most probable conclusion is that they try in many ways to draw in objects and finally succeed in some one way. It is sur- prising, however, that an animal so low in the scale as a worm should have the capacity to act in this way, as many higher animals have no such capacity, the instincts of the latter often being followed in a senseless or purposeless manner. We can safely infer intelligence, as Mr. Romanes, who has specially studied animals, says, only when we see an individual profiting by his own experiences. That worms are able to judge either before or after having drawn an object close to the mouths of their burrows how best to drag it in, shows that they must have acquired some notion of its general shape. This they probably acquire by touching it in many places with the anterior extremity of their bodies, which serves them as a tactile organ. Man, even when born blind and deaf, shows how perfect the sense of touch may become, and if worms, which also come into being in the same condition, have the power of acquiring some notion, however rude, of the shape of an object and their burrows, they deserve, it must seem to every sensible mind, to be called intelligent creatures, for they act in such a case in nearly the same manner as a man would under similar circumstances. That worms, which stand so low in the scale of organization, should possess some degree of intelligence, will doubtless strike everyone as very improb- able. It may be doubted, however, whether we know enough about the nervous system of the lower animals to justify our natural distrust of such a conclusion. With re- gard to the small size of the cerebral ganglia, we would do well to remember what a mass of inherited knowledge, with some power of adapting means to an end, is crowded into the minute brain of a worker ant. 66 Life and Immortahty. Two ways are adopted by worms in excavating their bur- rows. Either the earth is pushed away on all sides or it is swallowed by the animal. In the former case the worm inserts the stretched-out and attenuated anterior extremity of its body into any little crevice or hole, and the pharynx is pushed forward into this part, which consequently swells and pushes away the earth on all sides, the anterior extremity thus actingasawedge. When placed in loose mould a worm will bury itself in between two and three minutes, but in earth that is moderately pressed down it often requires as many as fifteen minutes for its disappearance. But whenever a worm burrows toa depth of several feet in undisturbed compact ground, it must form its passage by swallowing the earth, for it is impossible that the ground could yield on all sides to the pressure of the pharynx when pushed forward within the worm’s body. Great depths are reached only during continued dry weather and severe cold, the burrows sometimes attaining to a depth of from seven to eight feet. The burrows run down perpendicularly, or, more commonly, © obliquely, and are sometimes said to branch. Generally, or invariably as I think, they are lined with fine, dark-colored earth voided by the worm, so that at first they must be made a little wider than their ultimate diameter. Little globular pellets of voided earth, still soft and viscid, often dot the walls of fresh burrows, and these are spread out on all sides by the worm as it travels up or down its burrow, the lining thus formed becoming very compact and smooth when nearly dry and closely fitting the worm’s body. Ex- cellent points of support are thus afforded for the minute reflexed bristles which project in rows on all sides from the body, thus rendering the burrow well adapted for the rapid movement of the animal. The lining appears also to strengthen the walls, and perhaps saves the worm’s body from being scratched, which would assuredly be the case when the burrows, as is occasionally observed, pass through a layer of sifted coal cinders. The burrows are thus seen to Earth-Worms tn History. 67 be not mere excavations, but may be compared with tunnels lined with cement. Those which run far down into the ground generally, or at least frequently, terminate in little chambers, where one or several worms pass the winter rolled up into a ball. Small pebbles and seeds as large as grains of mustard are carried down from the surface by being swal- lowed or within the mouths of worms, as well as bits of glass and tile, whose only use in their winter-quarters seems to be the prevention of their closely coiled-up bodies from coming into contiguity with the surrounding cold soil, for such con- tact would perhaps interfere with their respiration, which is effected by the skin alone. After swallowing earth, whether for making its burrow or for food, the earth-worm soon comes to the surface to empty its body. The rejected matter is thoroughly mixed with the intestinal secretions, and is thus rendered viscid. After be- coming dried, it sets hard. When in a very liquid state the earth is thrown out in little spurts, and when not so liquid by a slow peristaltic movement of the intestine. It is not cast indifferently on any side, but first on one and then on another, the tail being used almost like a trowel. The little heap being formed the worm seemingly avoids, for the sake of safety, the use of its tail, the earthy matter being forced up through the previously deposited soft mass. The mouth of the same burrow is used for this purpose for a considerable time. When a worm comes to the surface to eject earth, the tail protrudes, but when it collects leaves its head must protrude, and thus worms must have the power of performing the difficult feat, as it seems to us, of turning round in their closely-fitting burrows. Worms do not always eject their castings upon the surface of the ground, for when burrowing in newly turned-up earth, or between the stems of banked-up plants, they deposit their castings in such places, and even hollows beneath large stems lying on the surface of the ground are filled up with their ejections. Old burrows collapse in time. The fine earth voided by worms, 68 Life and Immortalty. if spread out uniformly, would form in many places a layer of one-fifth of an inch in thickness. But this large amount is not deposited within the old unused burrows. If the burrows did not collapse, the whole ground would be first thickly riddled with holes to the depth of ten inches or more, which in fifty years would grow into a hollow, unsup- ported place ten inches deep. Hardly any animal is more universally distributed than worms, The earth-worm is found in all parts of the world, and some of the genera have an enormous range. They inhabit the most isolated islands, abounding in Iceland, and also being known to exist in the West Indies, St. Helena, Madagascar, New Caledonia and Tahiti. Worms from Kergulen Land in the Antarctic regions have been described by Ray Lankester, and Darwin has reported them as being found in the Falkland Islands. How they reach such isolated islands is quite unknown. They are easily killed by salt water, and it does not seem likely that young worms or their egg-capsules could be carried in earth adhering to the feet or beaks of land-birds, especially to Kergulen Land, for it is not now inhabited by any terrestrial bird. We have seen that worms are found in nearly every part of the globe, that they are very numerous, as many as 348,480 having been found in an acre of rich ground in New Zealand, and that by the peculiar economy of their nature they are fitted to accomplish a great deal of good in the earth. They have played a more important part in the history of the world than most persons would at first sup- pose. In many parts of England, according to Darwin, a weight of more than ten tons of dry earth annually passes through their bodies and is brought to the surface in each acre of land, so that the entire superficial bed of vegetable mould passes through their bodies in the course of every few years; and in most parts of the forests and pasture-lands of Southern Brazil, where several species of earth-worms abound, the whole soil to a depth of a quarter of a metre Earth-Worms in Fitstory. 69 looks as though it had passed through the intestines of worms, even where scarcely any castings are to be observed upon the surface. The upper crust is continually being eaten and ejected by them, thus aiding the fertility of the soil, as well as conveying water and air to the interior by the myriads of burrows which they drill. The vast quan- tities of leaves that they drag into their holes tend also to enrich the ground. Nor does their good end here. They cover up seeds, undermine rocks, burying them up, and to their labors is due the preservation of many ruins and ancient works of art. Numerous old-time Roman villas have been discovered beneath the ground in England, whose entombments were undoubtedly caused by the worms that undermined them and deposited their castings upon the floors, till finally, aided by other causes, they disappeared from sight. When a wide, turf-covered expanse of earth is beheld, we would do well to remember that its smoothness, upon which so much of its beauty depends, is largely due to all the inequalities having been slowly levelled by worms. That all the surface-mould of any such expanse has passed, and will again pass, every few years through the bodies of worms is a marvellous reflection, and one which should not be lightly dismissed from the mind. The most ancient, as well as one of the most valuable of man’s inventions, is the plough. But long before man existed the land was in fact regularly ploughed, and still continues to be ploughed, by earth-worms. No other animal has played such a part in history as have these lowly-organized creatures. True it is that corals, which are still lower in the scale of animals, have performed more conspicuous work in the innumerable reefs and isiands they have built in the great oceans, but their work is con- fined to the tropical zones, while that of the earth-worm is well-nigh universal. Verily it is by the little things in life that the Creator has erected the most stupendous monu- ments to show forth His infinite power and wisdom. FIDDLER- AND HERMIT-CRABS. MONG our first acquaintances of the sea-shore are sure to be a number of merry little sprites which do not seem to have yet mastered the lesson of walking straight ahead. Their movements will be seen to be in a direction at right angles to that towards which the head points. It is a very interesting sight to watch these apparently one-sided creatures hurrying off in their lateral progression towards their burrows in the sand or mud, or in quest of food. Pass them, and you will be surprised to see how quickly some of them will reverse their motion, seemingly without so much as pausing to glance at their pursuer, their machinery appear- ing to have given out at one end, thus compelling them to reverse and travel back over their old courses. These little Fiddler- or Calling-crabs, as they are termed, are the most pronounced offenders against the commonly. accepted rule of proper walking. Scattered all over the salt marshes and mud-flats, at about high-water mark, may be noted their burrows, which are about as large asa thrust made by an umbrella point, and from which can be frequently seen the little animal peeping forth, preparatory to making a sally. At another part of the flat, where the noise of your footsteps has not given signals of danger, hundreds of crabblings are busy with their out-door occupa- tions. Draw near to them, and away they scamper to their dwellings, males and females intermingled promiscuously, the former recognizable by the undue development of one of the claws, which is carried transversely in front of the head. When the animal is provoked, this claw is brandished in a Fiddler- and Hermtt-Crabs. 71 somewhat menacing manner, which has been likened by some to the pulling of a violin bow, and by others to the action of beckoning or calling, and hence the names which have been applied to these eccentric creatures. Have you a desire for a more intimate knowledge of the animal, take him up by the big claw, and you can now examine him without the least fear of incurring the proofs of his displeasure. Two bead-like, compound eyes, sup- ported on long stalks, which can be readily withdrawn into the protecting shield of the carapace, will be observed. From the manner of this support, which allows of vision in almost every direction, the name of stalk-eyed crustaceans has been given to the group in which this structure is found. The two pairs of feelers, which you see in front of the eyes, are known as antenne and antennules. They are of peculiar interest, for, aside from acting as feelers, they subserve the functions of smelling and hearing, the auditory apparatus being lodged in the base of the smaller pair. There are ten feet, and this is a character of importance, as it is a feature distinctive of the ten-footed, or decapod, crustaceans. At first sight it appears that the animal is devoid of a tail, but if you turn him over upon his back you will find a very short one tucked safely under the body. A comparison of our study of this crab with that of the lobster or cray-fish will show that the tail, or, more properly, the abdomen, is stretched out beyond the body proper, and that the elonga- tion is in proportion to the length of the animal. Two dis- tinct groups of ten-legged, stalk-eyed crustaceans are thus recognized, namely: the short-tailed forms, or crabs, and the opposite, or long-tailed forms, to which the lobster and shrimp belong, the hermit-crabs constituting an intermediate type. Two species of the Fiddler, considcrably resembling each other in color and ornamentation, are to be found upon our Atlantic Coast. The more common form, Gelastmus vocator, has a smooth, shining carapace, while that of Gelasimus minacx is finely granulated and in part tuberculated, the back 72 Life and Immortality. of both appearing impressed with a figure very similar to the letter H. The latter, which appears to be a vegetable feeder, is the larger, its burrows not infrequently measuring one and a half inches in diameter. Estuarine regions, in close proximity to fresh water, rather than the tidal flats, are its habitat, and, in truth, it seems to be able to get along for weeks, and even months, without any absolute need of salt water. FIDDLER-CRABS. Two Males Fighting for a Female. In the excavation of their homes the Fiddlers throw up the pellets of moist earth by means of their anterior walking legs, depositing their burden usually at some little distance from the mouth of the burrow. As winter approaches, the domiciliary apertures are closed up, and the famine of win- ter is spent in a state of torpidity. With the advent of spring they come forth from their brumal retreats, and soon concern themselves with the duties incident to the propagation of their kind. Two males are Fiddler- and Hermit-Crabs. 73 often observed contending in the fiercest manner for the pos- session of a female. They strike with the formidable claw most powerful blows, and J have often seen an opponent so completely claw-locked as to be unutterly unable to make any determined resistance. These contests last a long while, and finally conclude with the complete vanquishment of one or the other of the fighting parties, one or both sustaining at times some severe injury as the loss of an eye-peduncle or the joint of a limb. All the while the battle is waging, the female is a silent, passive spectator, and generally allies herself with the successful competitor for her affections. Even during the summer season, when the cares of brood- raising no longer command and enslave the attention of the female, these combats are still indulged in by the males, growing out of, as it would seem, the lingering smarts of old animosities festering in the memory. While these car- cinological lords of the sea-side are eminently fitted for the sparring business, the whole physiognomy of their smaller, weaker partners bespeaks a life in which broils can have no part, a life devoted to peaceful and domestic pursuits. Differing widely in structure and habits from the Calling- crabs, and affecting watery situations near the shore, are to be found the Hermit-crabs. These sprightly little animals, which are usually of small size, and have truly habits of their own, that stamp them at once as being original and distinct- ive, are a source of never-failing delight to the student of nature. They derive their name, as is well known, from the seclusion into which they cast themselves as the inhabitants of the shells of other animals, but it is probably not gener- ally known, however, that the rights of tenantry are often- times exercised in the most arbitrary manner. Not always satisfied with a dead shell, the Hermit-crab has been seen to raid upon a living possessor and attempt to drag him from his home, in which operation the assailant is often assisted by a number of his fellows, each bearing with him his castle as defensive armor. True, the attack is probably made in 74 Life and Immortality. many instances for the purpose of getting possession of the enemy as well as his belongings, and, however this may be, forcible possession is by them considered no mis- demeanor. The body of the Hermit-crab, in the greater number of species, is unprovided with a carapace, and, being soft and liable to injury, the animal is compelled to seek shelter usually in a snail-shell, winding himself about the coils, to the inner extremity of which he attaches himself by his modified posterior feet. So securely is he now intrenched that it is only with difficulty he can be withdrawn, retracting himself as he does further and further within cover of the shell. A sudden fracture of the apex of the shell, under which appears to be the most delicate part of the animal’s body, will generally effect a speedy dislodgment, the fright- ened Crab dropping from the aperture. With his progressive development in size the Hermit requires frequent changes of abode. His methods in secur- ing a new habitation are among the most interesting of his life. He is very circumspect in his movements, and will make several reconnoissances before he is fully satisfied with the conditions of his prospective home, retiring after each visit to the old shell. Like many bipeds, he has his first of May, and so he goes house-hunting. He finds a shell. Will it do? He examines it within, feelingly if not courteously, to see whether it is to let. Satisfied on this point, he turns it over, then turns it round, to know if it will suit, the weight of the house being quite an item in the reckoning to one who is to carry it upon his back. All things being right, his mind is made up to move, and quickly, too, at that, lest he miss his chance through some more active fellow house-hunter who is on the alert. Out comes the body from the old house, and pop it goes into the new. The resolution to move, the surrender of the old house, and the occupancy of the new, were all effected within a fraction of a second of time. s1ayeM YSno1y4} uaye}) ydesZojoyd & wWoIg “MOOU ¥Y YHAONN GOO YOU ONILIVA, AVA ‘auowong ‘y ‘W Aq oo61 yYystIAdoD Fiddler- and Hermit- Crabs. 75 WARTY HERMIT-CRABS. One at Home, the Other House-Hunting. But the matter does not always go on pleasantly. Two house-hunters may find the same tenement. Should they both desire it, then comes the tug of war. Dwell together they neither can nor will. Recourse is had to battle, in which the stronger proves his claim right by the rule of might. In these encounters terrible mutilations quite often occur. Asan offset to all this bad feeling and bloodshed, it is a sad sight to see the little Hermit when his time comes to die. However droll his career may have been, he is now very grave, for he knows he must part with life and all its joys and pleasures. Who can explain the strange fact? The poor little fellow comes out of his house to die. Yes, to die. To us humans home is the only fit place to die in, but to Eu- pagurus it has no attractions at this solemn time. Poor fellow! With asad look and a melancholy movement he quits of his own will the house for which he fought so well. Those feelers that often stood out so provokingly, and that were quite as often poked into everybody’s business, now lie prone and harmless; the eyes have lost their pertness, 76 Life and Immortality. and dead, stone dead, the houseless Hermit lies upon that moss-covered rock. There are two species of Hermit-crab occurring on our coast, which are readily distinguishable from each other by their size and the difference in the shape of the big claw. Eupagurus pollicaris, the Warty Hermit, is the larger species. He inhabits the shells of the big Naticas and the Fulgurs, and can be easily recognized by his coarse, broad claws, which close up in great part the aperture of the shell which he occupies. In the more common form, Eupagurus longicar- pus, which seldom attains a length exceeding an inch, the legs are all much elongated, giving the animal a very slender appearance. FUNNEL-WEB BUILDER. IMPLE nests and tubes are all the majority of spiders construct for their homes. The larger and better known webs for catching insects are made by comparatively few species. He who is astir in the grass-fields on damp sum- mer mornings, will everywhere see innumerous flat webs, from an inch or two to a foot in diameter, which weather- wise folks consider prognostic of a fair day. These webs may always be found upon the grass at the proper season, but only become visible from a distance when the dew is upon them, making the earth appear as covered by an almost continuous carpet of silk. By far the greater number of these nests is of the form which is termed funnel-webs, which consist of a concave sheet of silk, constituted of strong threads, crossed by finer ones, which the author spins with the long hind-spinnerets, swinging them from side to side, and laying down a band of threads at each stroke, the many hundred threads extending in all directions to the supporting spears of grass. The web is so close and tight that the footsteps of the spider can be distinctly heard by the attentive, listening ear as she runs hither and thither over its scarcely bending surface. At one side of the web is a tube, leading down among the grass- stems, which serves as a hiding-place for the owner of the web. Here, at the top, and just out of sight, the spider ordinarily stands, waiting for something to light upon the web, when she eagerly rushes out, seizing the prey unluckily caught and carrying it into her tube to eat. If too formida- ble an insect comes upon the web, she turns herself round, 78 Life and Inmortality. beating a precipitate retreat out of the lower end of her funnel and soon is lost beneath the mesh of enveloping and interlacing grasses. Where favorably located, these webs remain through the entire season, and are enlarged, as the spider grows, by addi- tions on the outer edges, and are supported by threads run- ning up into the neighboring plants. Sometimes the webs are built in close proximity to a stone partially imbedded in the earth, the bottom of the funnel opening slightly under- neath the stone, which secures to the spider a convenient harbor in case of threatening danger. Agalenidz, as our funnel-web weavers are called, are long-legged, brown spiders, in which the head part of the cephalo-thorax is higher than the thoracic part, and dis- tinctly separated from it by grooves or marks at the sides. The eyes are usually in two rows, but in Agalena the middle eyes of both rows are much higher than the others. The feet have three claws, and the posterior pairs of spinnerets are two-jointed and usually longer than the others. Agalena nevia, the technical name of our Common Grass Spider, abounds in all parts of the United States, but its very com- monness is the principal reason why it is so little known except by the trained naturalist, its very familiarity leading the average man and woman to look upon it with contempt. Persons unfamiliar with spiders find it difficult to dis- tinguish the young from the old, and male from female. This is caused, in part, by the great differences between different ages and sexes of the same spider, on account of which they are supposed to belong to distinct species. The adult males and females, however, are easily distinguished from each other, and from the young, by the complete development of organs peculiar to each sex, the palpal organs on the ends of the palpi in the males, and the epigynum, a hard swollen place just in front of the opening of the ovaries in the females. Usually the males are smaller than their partners, and have, in proportion to their size, smaller abdomens and longer legs. Funnel-Web Builder. 79 AGALENA AND HER FUNNEL-WEB. House-Fly, Caught in the Toils, Becomes a Victim. They are generally darker colored, especially on the head and front part of the body, and markings which are distinct in the female coalesce and become darker in the male. In most species these differences are not very great, but in some, Argiope and Nephila for examples, where the males are about one-tenth as large as the females, one would hardly suppose, without other evidence, that the males and females had any relationship to each other. The palpal organs and the epigynum are sexual characters which do not attain their functional value until after the last moult has been effected. 80 Life and Tmmortality. Spiders are naturally very selfish creatures. Their chief concern in life seems to be the gratification of their desires for food. They are eminently unsocial, the sexes preferring to live solitary lives. It is only when actuated by amatory influences that the females will tolerate their weaker lords, and in some instances it is only by stratagem and agility that the latter are able to accomplish the fulfilment of the law of their being, the females by their ugly, vicious tempers resist- ing to the utmost. In the case of Agalena the male is the stronger of the two. He, at the proper time, when the reproductive cells are matured, takes the female in his power- ful mandibles, lays her gently on one side, and inserts one of his palpi, whose little sacs had previously been filled with the fecundating discharge, into the epigynum underneath. After a time, necessarily brief, he rises on tiptoe, turns her around and over, so that she comfortably lies on the other side, her head being in the opposite direction, and inserts the other palpus. All through the operation the female lies as though she was dead. The ends of nature being served, the sexes separate, the male returning to the solitary life he previously led, while the female busies herself in providing for the duties of maternity. The eggs becoming mature, the latter proceeds to make a little web and lays them in it, practising the utmost care. She now covers them over with silk, which she weaves into a cocoon, where the young remain some time after they are hatched. Seldom is the laying seen, for it generally happens in the night-time, or in retired places. Often, in confinement, the spider refuses to lay at all. An egg of a spider, like that of any other animal, is a cell which separates from the body of the female, and subsequently unites with one or more cells that have separated from the body of the male. This process of union, termed fertilization, doubtless takes place when the eggs have attained their full size and are about to be laid. After being laid and hardened it is a very easy matter to watch their development. All that is necessary Funnel-Web Builder. 81 to be done is to cover the egg to be examined with oil, alcohol or any liquid that will wet it, for this tends to make the shell transparent. Eggs laid in summer are ready to hatch in a fortnight, while those laid in autumn develop slowly all through the winter. A day or two are occupied in hatching. When the time has arrived the shell, or more properly the skin, cracks along the lines between the legs, and comes off in rags, and the spider slowly stretches itself and creeps about. Pale and soft it appears, and devoid of hairs or spines, but its feet are armed with small claws. In two or three days it gets rid of another skin, and begins to assume a spider-like appearance, the eyes becoming dark- colored, the thoracic marks growing more distinct, and a dark stripe appearing across the edge of each segment of the abdomen. The hairs are now long, but few in number, and arranged in rows across the abdomen and along the middle of the thorax. Before the next moult they usually forsake ‘the cocoon, and live together for a short time in a web spun in common. Where larger broods of young spiders live together, they soon show cannibal-like qualities, and if kept in confinement one or two out of a cocoon-full may be raised without recourse to any other food. As spiders grow larger, they must moult from time to time. This is an interesting process. The spider hangs herself by a thread from the spinnerets to the centre of the web. In a short time the skin cracks around the thorax, just over the first joints of the legs, and the top part falls forward, being held only at the front edge. The skin of the abdomen now breaks irregularly along the sides and back, and shrinks together in a bunch, leaving the spider sus- pended only by a short thread from the spinnerets, her legs still being trammelled by the old skin. Fifteen minutes of vio- lent exertion releases her from the encumbrance, when she drops down, hanging by her spinnerets like a wet rag. She can do nothing in this condition, not even draw her legs away from an approaching hand. In ten or twelve minutes 82 Life and Tnimortality. the legs show signs of strengthening, and she is able to draw them gradually towards her. A few up-and-down movements, and she manages to get into the web again. That which, more than anything else, discriminates spiders from other animals is their habit of spinning webs. Some of the mites spin irregular threads upon plants, or cocoons for their eggs, and many insects cocoons in which to undergo their changes from larva to imago, but in the spiders the spinning-organs are much more complicated, and used for a greater variety of purposes, for making egg-cocoons, silk linings to their nests, and nets for catching insects. The spider’s thread differs from that of insects, in being constituted of a great number of finer threads laid together, while soft enough to coalesce into one. Each spinneret is provided with a number of little tubes, which convey the viscid liquid that forms the thread from glands in the spider’s body. In Agalena the two hinder spinnerets are long, and have spinning-tubes along the under side of the last joint. When about to produce a thread the spider presses the spinnerets against some object and forces out from each tube enough of the secretion to adhere to it, when the spin- nerets are moved away, drawing the viscid liquid out, which hardens at once into threads for each tube. A band of threads is formed when the spinnerets are kept apart, but when closed together the fine threads unite into one or more large ones. Commonly the spinning is aided by the hinder feet, which guide the thread, keeping it clear of surrounding objects, and even pulling it from the spin- nerets. Spiders are best known and hated as animals that bite. Their biting-apparatus, the mandibles, are located in front of the head. Partly in the basal joints of these organs and partly in the head, the poison-glands are seated, from which is discharged through a tube the venom, which makes spi- ders so much to be feared. This tube opens at the point of Funnel-Web Builder. $3 the claw of the mandible. When the apparatus is not in use the claws are closed up against the parts between the rows of teeth; but when the jaws are opened to bite the claws are turned outward, so that their points can be made to penetrate anything that comes between the jaws. The ordi- nary function of the mandibles is the killing and crushing of insects, so that the soft parts can be eaten by the spider, and in this preparation they are substantially aided by the max- illa. Spiders will sometimes chew an insect for hours, until it becomes a mere ball of skin, only swallowing such bits as may happen to be sucked in with the blood. Let alone and unmolested, they bite nothing except insects that are useful for food. But when attacked and cornered, all species open their jaws and bite if they can, their ability to do so depend- ing upon their size and the strength of their jaws. Notwith- standing the Iarge number of pimples and stings ascribed to spiders, undoubted cases of their biting the human skin are exceedingly rare, and the stories of death, insanity and lame- ness from spider-bites are probably all untrue. Many experi- ments have been made to test the effect of the bites of spi- ders on animals. Insects succumb most readily to their bites, some sooner than others, but birds, except when bitten by the larger Mygale, recover after the lapse of a few hours. The effect upon man, even when the bite is deep enough to draw blood, is like the pricks of a needle, attended by little or no inflammation or pain. Even in cases where death among insects and birds ensues it is claimed by the authori- ties, men as eminent as Blackwall, Mogegridge and Dufour, that the secretion from spiders’ jaws is not poisonous, but that the animals die, when bitten, from loss of blood and mechanical injury. Such is the prejudice against the spider, that its presence, no matter where found, whether in the open field or in a corner of the house, is an inducement for its inveterate enemy, man, to sweep it to the ground or floor and crush its frail life out with one blow of the foot. Few know, or $4 Life and Immortality. care to know, it would seem, the good it does for man. He owes to it, in a large measure, the protection of his crops, and no little of the comfort he enjoys in life. Spiders are carnivorous creatures, and destroy vast number of insects, many of which are man’s worst enemies. They merit, and deservingly, too, his kindness and protection for the benefits they confer. Tarantulas have been supposed to produce epilepsy by their bites, which could only be relieved by music of certain kinds. Such stories, and they have been widely circulated and believed, are the veriest nonsense, for tarantula-bites produce no such effects nowadays. These spiders, which live in holes in sand, out of which they reach after passing insects, are no more savage in their habits than other spiders, for Dufour, a celebrated French naturalist, once kept one that soon learned to take flies from his fingers without mani- festing the least disposition to bite. Different species quickly learn, when treated with kindness, to regard man as their friend. I have seen Agalena take food from the hand out of a pair of forceps, or water from a brush, and even to reach on tiptoe after it from the mouth of a bottle placed for her accommodation. Though naturally timid and shy, and prone to flee to her funnel on man’s approach, yet she has been known to permit the most unexpected familiarities without fear or resentment. Many a female has taken from my hand the proffered fly, and submitted to the gentle caresses of my finger down the back and abdomen with the most pleasurable satisfaction, They have come at the sound of my voice, dancing upon their sheeted web like one gone mad, so perfectly carried away with delight. An interesting experience of last summer during a brief stay in the country seems apropos at this time. While sauntering carelessly along a forest-road I came unexpectedly upon a rustic bridge, with a railing on one side, which overspanned a small water- course. Leaning for rest and support against the railing, soon my attention was arrested by a huge female spider, Funnel-Web Builder. 85 which I recognized as Epetra domiciliorum. She was evidently in quest of something, as I was led to suspect from her seemingly thoughtful and deliberate movements. I watched her closely and criticisingly for a long while, and in one of her contemplative moods, when she stood perfectly motion- less and fixed as it were to the railing, I reached out my finger rather impulsively and began stroking her along the abdomen, a familiarity which she did not resent, and which seemed to give her the most intense delight. When the caressing had ceased, she would turn round and confront her newly-made acquaintance, but the lifting of the finger was always the signal for her to assume an attitude of the most perfect quiescence. That she enjoyed these little attentions there cannot be a shadow of doubt, or actions are no use in the interpretation of feeling. Had they been painful, she would have sought relief in flight, or in the manifestation of an untoward disposition towards her unintentional persecutor. BOOK-LOVERS. IVING in chinks and crannies of ranges in our homes, and occasionally in bookcases and closets where glutinous and sugary matters abound, but which has prob- ably not been met with elsewhere, is a strange but beautiful little creature which, as far as can be determincd, goes through the brief round of its existence without a name to distinguish it from its fellows. Few entomologists have given any special attention to its family relationships. The possession of certain bristle-like appendages which terminate the abdomen, and which are no doubt comparable with the abdominal legs of the Myrio- pods, or Thousand Legs, classes it with the Bristle-tails, or Lepismas. In general form, a likeness to the larva of Perla, a net-veined neuropterous insect, is manifest, or to the narrow- bodied species of Blattariz, or Cockroaches, when divested of wings. Lepisma saccharina, of Europe, which is indistinguishable from our ordinary American form, is far from uncommon in old, damp houses. Its structure is less complicated than the heat-loving species to which I have alluded, and there are likewise differences of habits which show themselves to the close investigator of natural phenomena. Not unlike the cockroaches, which our little denizen of the hearth somewhat vaguely resembles in form, it affects hot, dry localities, and is always astir at nights in quest of its fare, for it disdains the light of the day and the conse- quent publicity of its deeds of shame and plunder. Many a housewife in the discharge of duty has unearthed, so to speak, the miscreant from its hidden retreat, and sought Book-Lovers. 87 by foot or hand to crush the life that dares obtrude its uncleanly presence in her larder, but the cunning, swift- footed Lepisma darts off, like a streak of light, to some near-by crack or breach, where it manages to hide from threatening danger. The bodies of these nimble, silent- moving creatures being coated in a suit of shining mail, which the arrangement of the scales so very much resembles, they have a weird and ghostly look. This appearance, and the swiftness of their movement, which the eye can hardly trace, have led the vivid mind of man, in country town and village, to dub them “silver witches.” So fleet of foot are they, and so like a wave of blurred light they cross the vision, that it is vain to try to figure what they are in shape and look. In death they yield their all of earth to prying science. Their body’s form is narrow, flattened; their legs in pairs of threes, each of six joints consisting, the basal joints broad, flat, triangular, the tarsal large, in number two, and armed at end with pair of claws incurved. The three thoracic segments are very like in size, and eight abdominals, of similar length and width. So weak it seems the rather long abdomen is, that two pairs or six of bristles, simple, unjointed, and freely movable, serve as support, and also, as in other groups of insects, as organs locomotive. The mode of antenna-insertion—and the same prevails in the entire family—is much like that of the Myriopods, the front of the head being flattened and concealing, as in the Centipedes, the base of the antenne. Indeed, the head of any of the Bristle-tails, as seen from above, bears a general resemblance in some of its features to that of the Centipede and its allies, and so, in a less degree, does the head of the larve of certain beetles and neuropters. The eyes are compound, the individual facets constituting a sort of heap. The mouth-parts are readily compared with those of the larva of Perla, the rather large, stout mandibles being hid at their tips by the upper lip, which moves freely up and down 88 Life and Immortality. when the creature opens its mouth. In length the mandible is three times its breadth, and furnished with three sharp teeth on the outer edge, and with a broad cutting margin within, and still further inwards with a number of straggling small spines. The lower lip is broad and stout, with a dis- tinct medium suture, which indicates a former separation in embryonic life into a pair of appendages. Its palpi are three- jointed, the joints being broad, and directed backwards in life, and not forwards, as in the higher insecta. LEPISMAS AT WORK. How Books are Destroyed. Perhaps not more than a half-dozen species of Lepisma are known to exist in this country. Our commonest form is very abundant in the Middle States under stones and leaves in forests, and northward in damp houses, where it has much of the habits of the cockroach, eating clothes, tapestry, silken trimmings of furniture, and doing great mischief to libraries by devouring the paste and mutilating the leaves and covers of books. Our heat-loving form, which is apparently allied to the Lepisina thermophila of Europe, and which may be an imported species, is quite as destructive as its nearest of kin Lepisma saccharina. It does not confine its ravages to Book-Lovers. 89 closets and pantries, and feed upon sugar and cake and pastry, but has latterly taken to bookcases, where it leads an easy, comfortable life, without fear of molestation. So delicately constructed are the Lepismas, and so seem- ingly feeble the breath of life which animates their frail houses of clay, that nature has endowed them with qualities of mind and body which eminently fit them for the part they have to play in the world. She has made them lovers of darkness rather than light, endowed them with keenness of vision and hearing truly wonderful, and given them a celerity of move- ment which enables them to outstrip in speed the fleetest of their insect-enemies, and even to baffle the well-directed efforts of man for their destruction. The silver-coated armor with which they are invested is so glossy and smooth that they can slip into a crevice in the wall or floor with the utmost ease and facility. From their actions it would seem that they were always on the alert, for when peril is imminent they do not run aimlessly about for a place of security, but know just where to find it with the least possible expenditure of time and physical strength. Every nook and cranny of their appropriated domain is as well known to these very humble of God’s creatures as some forest-tract of country to one skilled in wood-craft. Never have I studied the behavior of Lepisma that I have not been deeply impressed with the intelligence of its actions. There have always been displayed a purpose and an aim, which showed as plainly as could be that no blind instinct was the cause of a conduct so rational and human-like. YOU-EE-UP. ARDLY a person living in a sandy country district can be found who has not seen or heard of the queer little insect called You-ee-up, a name which the books do not give, and of which writers on entomological subjects seem to be ignorant. The learned call him Myrmeleon, or Ant- lion, and very appropriately too, because, like the great king of beasts, he never attacks his prey in the open field, but by stratagem while lying in wait in some hidden retreat or secret covert. Should you chance, on a warm summer day, where sunny slopes abound on the outskirts of a woods, or by the side of a frequented path or road, look carefully about and soon will you descry a small funnel-like opening, scarce two inches in depth and in width, upon a bare patch of sand in the midst of an ocean of verdure. This little cavity is the intentional work of the larva of the Ant-lion. A very close scrutiny will show, by the presence of a pair of fierce jaws, the Ant- lion at home. Would you know the ingenious builder? Lift him out tenderly from his burrow of sand, and when you have placed him upon the palm of your wide open hand, note with the most careful exactness the peculiar make-up of his structure, so that in the future you may have little difficulty in recog- nizing him should you again meet. His short, flat head, armed with powerful mandibles, heavy-set chest, and large, soft, fleshy abdomen, amply pro- tected on the sides with stiff, bristly hairs, added to his compact, robust form, the forward projection of his front You-ee-up. go! and middle legs, and the backward prolongation of the stronger and less movable hind ones, which eminently adapts them to a backward manner of walking, are characters which so deeply impress, that we cannot fail to call up, when occa- sion demands, the possessor of so wonderful a mechanism. Now that you have become familiar with the odd creature in form and in mien, set him once more upon his proud realm of sand, and seat yourself on the bank close by to watch and enjoy his curious behavior. In a minute or two his YOU-EE-UP IN HIS DEN. As He Appears in Youth and Old Age. fears will have subsided, and he in control again of his accus- tomed indifference. See, he moves. Round and round he turns in the loose grey sand, burying himself deeper and deeper, and throwing the grains out from the hole he has made by his twistings, using his short, flat head for a shovel. The sand, as it is thrown over the side of the burrow, forms quite a margin, and when all is completed the Ant-lion sinks himself deep into the bottom of the trap he has digged, leaving only the tips of his mandibles in sight, which are extended and ready to seize any insect that is so luckless as to fall into their reach. 92 Life and Immortality. The unfortunate ant that ventures too close to the margin sets the sand off rolling, and it immediately begins to strug- gle against falling down, but the Ant-lion throws a few shovelfuls of sand against it, and it soon comes tumbling down to the bottom of the funnel, when it is instantly seized between the sharp mandibles in waiting, which, being per- forated by slender tubes, enable their blood-thirsty owner to suck out its juices. Country children, and adults as well, manifest a deep in- terest in these strange beings. They call them, as has been intimated before, You-ee-ups. How the name originated, and when, I do not pretend to know, nor have I been able upon inquiry to find out from the oldest inhabitants of the regions they affect. Old men and old women in the seventies and eighties knew these insects by this name when they were children, and I have been informed that they were always so spoken of by ¢hezr fathers and mothers. Even the insects themselves are believed to know the odd name by which they are designated. So fixed is the belief in the minds of the many that, to contradict it, is sure to subject the person so rash and presumptuous to the grossest abuse from the friends of the strange little creature. They have seen him in his sandy retreat, and have called him by name, and he has never been known to decline a response. “You-ee-up, you-ee-up,” cries one, with his mouth just over the opening, and up comes the strange “crittur” as obedient asa lackey. ‘“ You-ee-down, you-ee-down,” says the same childish voice, and down he goes to his den to await, as is thought, the giving of further orders. That the Ant-lion does seem to respond when called, cannot be denied, for I have tried the experiment myself, and others have tried it in my presence, and always with the same successful results. But people go through the world not only with their eyes closed and their ears sealed, but also with their minds forever locked against thinking, lest, by thinking, they might do themselves serious injury. Had but You-ec-up. 93 a little of thinking been done, or some common sense exer- cised, the solution of the insect’s strange actions could have been reached without any great difficulty. Let me briefly explain. One cannot talk, as is well known, without some motion being imparted to the outlying air. This moving air impinging upon the loosely arranged sand piled up around the margin of the tiny pitfall, dislodges some particles, and these, falling into the jaws of the hidden Ant-lion, bring him to the surface, for he ascribes the com- motion to some ill-fated ant, or other such insect, that has, in its anxious searching for food, tumbled unconsciously into his artfully-laid trap. In a moment the mistake is discovered, and, with all possible dispatch, he backs himself down into his den to await further developments. His appearance on the occasion is greeted by “‘ you-ee-down, you-ee-down,” and as he goes down apparently in obedience to the order, but really because it is a matter of business so to do, it is claimed by the unlearned and unwise that his movements are respon- sive to the command of the person by whom he is addressed. Two years of larval life, and the subject of our sketch is lost to the sight of the rural folks. A new life, where feed- ing is no longer necessary, awaits him, but one in which the most radical changes must occur if he is to fulfil the existence which nature designed in her grand scheme of creation. From a silk-gland, which, unlike those of the but- terflies and moths, is situated at the end of the body, he spins a cocoon, but there being so little of silk to spare, he needs must supply the deficiency by the utilization of a quantity of sand, which he glues into the walls of his house. Here he dwells a comparatively inactive pupa for three brief weeks, retaining his large, powerful mandibles to the last, which he uses in cutting his way out of the cocoon, when he is ready to emerge as a winged neuropter. In the adult form he resembles the dragon-flies in flight, flapping wildly and irreg- ularly about, as if his muscles were too weak to wield his great stretch of wings. But in repose his alar appendages 94 Life and Immortality. are folded above each other, forming an acute-angled roof above the long, slender abdomen. The antenne or feelers are short, stout and club-shaped, and the wings long, narrow and densely veined. Myrmelcon obsoletus,a name given to this insect by Thomas Say, a naturalist of repute, who lived in Philadelphia in the early half of the present century, is by no means a rare species, if search is made in the proper places. In the cut the larva is found to the right of the burrow, while deep in the bottom, with the jaws only in view, is another, prepared to receive the small ant just above should it lose its foothold and tumble into the trap. On the wing, a little in the back- ground of the picture, may be seen the adult insect, repre- sented in hawking for prey over a meadowy expanse of country. TOWER-BUILDING CICADA. LOSELY allied to the bugs is a group of remarkable insects to which naturalists now apply the name of Cicada, but which are generally, though improperly, designated Locust by the common people. They are readily distinguished by their broad heads, large prominent eyes, with three eyelets triangularly placed between them, and delicately transparent, veined wing-covers and wings. The abdomen is short and pointed, and the legs are short, the anterior femora being much thickened and toothed beneath. The hinder extremity of the body of the female is conical, and the under-side has a longitudinal channel for the recep- tion of the ovipositor, or piercer, which is furthermore pro- tected by four short-grooved pieces which are immovably fixed to the sides of the channel. The piercer itself consists of two outer parts grooved on the inside and slightly enlarged and angular at the tips, which are externally beset with small saw-like teeth, and a central spear-pointed borer which plays between the other two, thus combining the advantages of an awl and a double-edged saw, or rather of two key-hole saws cutting opposite to each other. A hard, horny substance, called chitine, the same as exists in the stings of bees and wasps, is the material of its composition. It would be impossible to conceive of anything more exactly fitted for its required uses than is this beautiful complicated instrument. But the most peculiar characteristic of this family, how- ever, consists in the structure of the mechanism by which the males make the trilling sound for which they have been 96 Life and Immortality. so long famous. In the male of the Seventeen-year Cicada the musical instrument consists of two stretched membranes, one on each side of the body, which are plainly to be seen immediately behind the wings. These membranes are gathered into numerous fine plaits, and are played upon by muscles or cords fastened to their under surfaces. When these muscles contract and relax, which they do with great rapidity, the drum-heads, which the membranes resemble, are alternately tightened and loosened, the effect of this alternate tension and relaxation being the production of a rattling sound very much like that caused by a succession of quick pressures upon a slightly complex and elastic piece of tin-plate. Certain cavities within the body of the insect, which may be seen on raising two large valves beneath the abdomen, and which are separated from each other by thin transparent partitions of the brilliancy of mica or highly polished glass, tend to increase the intensity of the sound. In the winged state Cicada septendecim, as the subject of our sketch was named by the immortal Linnzeus, is of a black color, with transparent wings and wing-covers, the thick anterior edge and veins of which being orange-red. Near the tips of the latter there is a dusky zig-zag line which resembles in shape the letter W. The eyes, when living, are also red, while the legs are a dull orange, which color is conspicuous along the edges of the rings of the body. The wings expand from two and a half to three and a quarter inches. About the middle of June the perfect insects make their appearance, and as they generally come in large numbers they do a great deal of damage. In some localities they congregate to such an extent upon the trees as to bend and even to break down the limbs by their weight. The din of their discordant drums resounds in the woods and orchards from morning to evening. As their life is of rather short duration, not lasting for a longer period than a month, they soon begin to pair, and it is not long afterwards that the Tower-Building Cicada. G7 i * if \\\ ae, f Nae \ ls if Wir eyed Y kK 3 ] i 4 i vihe SEVENTEEN-YEAR CICADA. Adult, Chrysalis-Case, Pupa, Entrances to Burrows and Egg-Nests. WAVY at females may be seen preparing nests for the reception of their eggs. Branches of moderate size are selected for this purpose. Their manner of perforation is curious and inter- esting. Clasping the branch on both sides with their legs, and bending the ovipositor at an angle of forty-five degrees, they repeatedly thrust it into the bark and wood in the direction of the fibres, at the same time setting the lateral saws at work, thereby detaching little splinters of wood at one end, which are intended to serve as a kind of fibrous cover for the nest. The hole is bored obliquely to the pith, and by a repetition of the same operation is gradually enlarged until is formed a longitudinal fissure of sufficient 98 Life and Immortality. extent to receive from ten to twenty eggs. The side-pieces of the piercer act as a groove to convey the eggs to the nest, where they are deposited in pairs, but separated from each other by a narrow strip of wood. When two eggs have been thus placed, the piercer is withdrawn for a moment, and then inserted till two more eggs are dropped in a line with the first, and thus the operation is repeated until the fissure has been filled, when the insect removes to a little distance and commences to make another nest to contain two more rows of eggs. It takes about fifteen minutes to prepare a groove and fill it with eggs. As many as twenty grooves are some- times made in a branch by a single insect, and when the limb has been sufficiently stocked she goes from it to another, or from tree to tree, until she has got rid of her complement of from five hundred to seven hundred eggs. So weak does she at length become, in her continued endeavor to provide for the succession of her race, as to fall, in an attempt to fly, an almost lifeless lump to the earth, where her spirit soon goes out never more to enliven its frail house of clay. Although Cicadas abound most upon the oaks, yet there seem to be no trees or shrubs that are exempt from their attacks, unless it be the various species of pines and firs. The punctured limbs languish and die soon after the eggs are laid, and as often happens are broken off by the winds ; but when this is the case the eggs never hatch, for the moisture of the living branch seems necessary for their proper development. The eggs are one-twelfth of an inch in length, and one- sixteenth of an inch through the middle, but taper to an obtuse point at each end. They are of a pearl-white color. The shell is so thin and delicate that the form of the inclosed insect can be seen before the egg is hatched. One writer claims that fifty-two days, and others that fourteen days, constitute the period required for the hatching of the egg. When it bursts the shell the young insect is one-sixteenth of an inch long, and is of a yellowish-white color, excepting Tower-Building Cicada. 99 the eyes and the claws of the fore-legs, which are reddish. It is clothed with small hairs. In form it is grub-like, larger proportionally than the parent, and provided with six legs, the first pair being very large, shaped like lobster-claws, and armed beneath with strong spines. Little prominences take the place of wings, and under the breast is a long beak for suction. Its movements, after leaving the egg, are very lively, and nearly as quick as some of the ants. But after a few moments their instincts prompt them to reach the ground. They do not attain this end by descending the body of the tree, nor by casting themselves off precipitately, but, running to the side of the limb, deliberately loosen their hold and drop to the ground, making the perilous descent with the utmost safety. This seems almost incredible, but it has been repeatedly observed by scores of honest witnesses. NEW-BORN CICADA. Line Below Shows Natural Size. On reaching the ground the young insects immediately burrow their way into the soil, using their broad and strong fore-feet pretty much after the fashion of the mole. They apparently follow, in their descent, the roots of plants, fasten- ing their beaks into the most tender and succulent, and thus imbibing their juices, which constitute their sole aliment. They do not descend very deeply into the ground, probably not more than ten or twelve inches, although accounts have been published of their discovery at a depth of ten or twelve feet, but their occurrence at such great distances from the top of the ground is doubtless the result of accident. The only alteration to which the insects are subject during the seventeen years of their subterranean confinement, is an 100 Life and Immortality. increase in size, and the more complete development of the four small scale-like prominences of the back, which contain their future wings. When the time of its transformation draws near, the larva, in which stage the insect passes the greater part of its exist- ence, works its way up towards the surface, oftentimes in a very circuitous manner, for local changes make it necessary for it to bore through hard woods and between stones well beaten down. The burrow which it thus produces is cylin- drical, about five-eighths of an inch in diameter, and firmly cemented and varnished so as to be water-proof. The upper portion, to the extent of five or six inches, is empty, and serves as a habitation till the period of its exit arrives, while the lower is filled with earthy matter removed by the insect in its progress. In this cell it remains during several days, ascending to the top for the benefit of the sunshine and air when the weather is auspicious, even venturing to peep forth occasionally, but descending on the occurrence of cold or wet weather. But when the favorable moment to leave their subterranean retreats arrives, the Cicada-grubs, or more properly pupz, for such they are now to be considered, although they still retain something of the grub-like form, issue from the ground in great numbers as evening draws on, crawl up the trunks of trees, the stems of herbaceous plants, or on to whatever is convenient, which they grasp securely with their claws. After resting awhile, their skins, which have become dry and of an amber color, are by repeated exer- tions rent along the back, and through the slit formed the included Cicada pushes its head and body, and withdraws its wings and legs from their separate cases, and, crawling to a short distance, leaves its empty pupa-case fastened to the tree. At first the wing-covers and wings are small and opaque, but in a few hours they acquire their natural size and shape. It is not, however, for three or four days that the muscles harden sufficiently for them to assume their characteristic flight. The males make their appearance LTower-Building Cicada. IOI DOME-LIKE HOUSE OF CICADA. Longitudinal Section Showing Pupa in Two Positions. some days in advance of the females, and also disappear sooner. During several successive nights the pupe con- tinue to issue from the ground, and in some places, as was the case in May of 1868, when these insects appeared in great numbers in the vicinity of Philadelphia, the whole sur- face of the soil was made by their operations to assume a honey-combed appearance. In localities where the soil is low and swampy, a remark- able chamber is built up by the larva, where the pupa may be found awaiting the time of its change to the winged state. These chambers were first noticed by S. S. Rathvon, at Lan- caster, Pa., and are from four to six inches above the ground, and have a diameter of one inch and a quarter. When ready to emerge the insect backs down to an opening which is left in the side of the structure on a level with the surface of the ground, issues forth and undergoes its transformation in the usual manner. This peculiar habit of nest-building, which is so unlike what is customary with the Cicadidz, or with Hemiptera in general, points to a high degree of intelli- gence among these insects, showing a remarkable ability to adapt themselves to environing circumstances. Undue moisture would be prejudicial to the pupa, as the larva 102 Life and Immortality. seemed to know, through the guidance of the same dumb and unerring instinct which teaches it to cement its under- ground dwelling, but would that same instinct teach it to construct so wonderful a dome-like house as the one described for the preservation of its after-life, and one so eminently fitted by its position, shape, size and entrance to secure the necessary shelter, warmth and air for its protection and development? I apprehend not. Nothing short of a reason, similar to that in man, but differing in degree, would enable it to grasp the situation in which it found itself to be placed when nearing its final change, and plan with the view of carrying out the ultimate aim of its existence. Fortunately, these insects are appointed to return at — periods so distant that vegetation has a chance to recover from the injuries which they inflict. Were they to appear at shorter intervals, our forest- and fruit-trees would be entirely destroyed by them. They are, moreover, subject to many accidents, and have many enemies, which contribute to diminish their numbers. Their eggs are eaten by birds, and the young, when they leave the egg, are preyed upon by ants, who mount the trees for that purpose, or take them upon the ground as they are about to enter upon their pro- tracted larval career. Blackbirds eat them in the spring when turned up by the plough, and hogs, when allowed to run at large in the woods, root them up and devour large numbers, especially just before the arrival of the period of their final transformation, when they are lodged only a few inches below the surface of the soil. Many perish in the egg by the closing up of the bark and wood that constitute the walls of the perforations, thus burying the eggs before they have hatched, and others, no doubt, are killed by their perilous descent from the trees. As its name implies, this insect generally requires seven- teen years to complete its transformations, a fact that was first pointed out many years ago by the botanist Kalm. The late Prof. Riley, who had given this species a great deal of Tower-Building Cicada, 103 study, was the first to work out the problem of its periodical returns. He found that there are also thirteen-year broods, and that both sometimes occur in the same locality, but that in general terms the thirteen-year brood might be called the southern form, and the seventeen-year the northern form. At the limits of their respective ranges these broods overlap each other. The shorter-lived form he named provisionally Cicada tredecim. It was the existence of this brood that led entomologists to doubt the propriety of Linné’s name, because, in calculating each appearance as occurring in any locality at the end of every seventeen years, they could not make the dates of its periodical returns correct. But it was Prof. Riley that cleared up the matter. It happened in the summer of 1868 that one of the largest seventeen-year broods occurred simultaneously with one of the largest thirteen-year broods. Such an event, so far as these two particular broods are concerned, has not taken place since 1647, nor will it take place again till the year 2089. There are absolutely no specific differences between the two broods other than in the time of maturing. There is, however, a dimorphous form that appears with both these broods. It is smaller, of a much darker color, has an entirely different voice, appears a fortnight sooner, and is never known to pair with the ordinary form. Dr. J. C. Fisher, in 1851, described it as Cicada cassinit, but the specific differences are not sufficiently well defined to entitle it to rank as a species. HONEY-DEW. ee aphides secrete, or rather excrete, a saccharine fluid, called honey-dew, which constitutes an import- ant part of the food of ants, is a fact well known to natural- ists. It must not be supposed, however, that this was its primitive use. But that it is in some way connected with the preservation of the tender creatures by which it is elabo- rated, there can exist not the slightest doubt. Concerning its origin and application, and the benefit which it secures to its authors, various opinions have been hazarded, but they have all been too unsatisfactory to merit more than a passing notice. That it was of some advantage to young aphides was surmised by many, but the proofs necessary to sustain such a surmise were unfortunately want- ing. It was left to the latter half of the nineteenth century to throw correct light upon the subject. Whilst engaged some few years ago in the study of the species that affects the blossoms of one of our gourds—the Cucurbita ovifera of botanists—certain phenomena were ob- served, which promised an easy and speedy solution of the problem. Gathered in compact masses, like companies of soldiery preparing for a foray, hundreds of aphides were seen, busily feeding, all over the flowers. There were old and young, not an indiscriminate mingling of ages and sizes, but an orderly arrangement of families, each family preceded by its own appropriate head. First came the very young of each family, only to be followed by those that were older, leaving the oldest of all to lead up the rear. fToney-Dew. 105 7g BLOSSOM OF CUCURBITA. Mother-Aphis and Her Army of Children on Tube. Here, it was apparent, was a most wonderful manifestation of intelligent design. The newly-born, needing the mother’s earliest attention, were in closest proximity, while the almost mature were the farthest removed from her essential presence. All this seemed to indicate the dearest relationship sub- sisting between mother and offspring, but judging from out- ward appearances, little, if any, love existed. It is true that maternal instinct, which is seldom so far gone as to shut its ears to the beseechings of suffering offspring for food, was far from being absent. Instances of its presence were momentarily noted. But a stimulus seemed, in some cases, quite necessary to its manifestation. There were times when the honey-glands acted without any provocation. It was only, however, when 106 Life and Immortahty. the very tender were a-hungry, that pressure was brought to bear upon the mothers. A few gentle reminders served to arouse them from the apathetic indifference which possessed them. The antennz of the young were the means employed for this purpose. Two or three caresses almost immediately brought a discharge of honey. Again and again was the process observed, and always with the same invariable result. Never for a longer period than two days were the very young dependent upon this manner of feeding, for their digestive organs were too weak and delicate to assimilate earlier, without injury, the powerful juices of the food-plant. But what of the older offspring? That they were far from being disregarded by parental provision, subsequent develop- ments only too plainly showed. The excretion, though less urgent in their case than in that of the very young, was quite as indispensable. Were it not so, what reason can be assigned for their very strict adherence to the course over which the maternal head had already passed in feeding? From what has been said, there can be no doubt that the newly-born aphis derives material advantage from the excre- tion. But as the supply is clearly above the requirements, why the excess? It is evident nature does not need it as a kind of compensation for losses sustained through aphides. Then what purpose does it serve? It becomes in part the pabulum of the stronger of the young, and this it accom- plishes by mixing with the natural juices of the plant, thereby rendering them fit for use. To serve as food for the young is then the primary object of aphis-excretion. That a secondary purpose, namely, the preservation of the species, is also subserved, there can be no question. How this is effected, it shall now be my endeavor to show. Ants, it is well known, are fond of sugar, gums and saccharine solutions, as well as the rich juices and tender tissues of animals. But their appetite for sweets is stronger than for all other diets. To them aphis would prove quite Floney-Dew. 107 as toothsome a morsel as it is to Coccinella, and would be as eagerly hunted for by them were it not for this matter of sweets. Way back in the history of time, things were perhaps differ- ent from what they are now. Aphis was then a racy tidbit, and shared, no doubt, the murderous assaults of Formica, as it did of other carnivores. For ages this may have been going on, but how long conjecture only can tell. But there came a time when affairs were changed. A new order of things was initiated. Earth was growing better and impressing new features upon its life. An Ant, more wise than any of its fellows, or any that had ever lived before, doubtless stepped upon the scene, anda new era for Aphis inaugurated. Finding by accident, or otherwise, the delightful qualities of aphis-excretion, it would not be slow to communicate the information to its companions. And as news travels rapidly, and ants are by no means reticent creatures, but a short time would be necessary to carry it everywhere, till all the families, near and remote, of the great world of the Formi- cidz would be made acquainted with the important discovery. Now, as ants are endowed with a high degree of intelli- gence, considering the position they occupy in the grand scale of created existences, they would soon perceive that their highest good would be attained by taking under their protection the little creatures which are the authors of this excretion. From this time the ants would begin to abandon their sanguinary propensities and manifest some regard for the aphides. The latter, in return, perceiving the former’s friendly disposition, would cease to fear them, and learn to cater to their wants. Thus would be developed, in time, those amicable relations which subsist between the two great, yet widely differentiated, families. MILCH-COWS OF THE ANTS. HILE much has been written upon the social rela- tions subsisting between ants and aphides, yet the subject never grows uninteresting or threadbare. New facts are brought to light as observations widen and extend, some tending to confirm, and others to subvert old notions. That aphides excrete a sweet, viscid, honey-like fluid, which affords food for many species of ants, has been long known to naturalists. Any one can convince himself of this truth if he will but put himself to the trouble of examining the leaves or branchlets of any plant at the proper season of the year. Scattered upon the foliage and tender twigs thereof will be found millions of aphides, and close beside them countless ants, that ever and anon will be seen to caress, by means of their antenne, the little creatures for the sweets within their bodies. It has even been asserted that some species of ants keep aphides as human beings do cows, but this by the many has been doubted, or deemed imaginary. When a young man the writer was disposed to drift with the popular opinion in this particular, but a few facts that fell under his notice whilst searching for carabi and other beetles that live under stones and decayed logs, changed the bias of his mind and established in him the idea that with one species of ant this was at least the case. It was on an occasion while exploring a neighboring thicket for the objects of his search, that he discovered, underneath a large flat stone which he had raised, a nest of a small red ant, which he took to be the Lasius flavus of the books. The ground was covered all over with pits, and Milch-Cows of the Ants. 109 / SUL AN KL LAN WRAL a fat (WNL An) Hs \y) aa A St i ve *\ mn a c NEST OF LASIUS. Neuters About Their Work. divers communicating roads, and round about were hundreds of ants, larve in various stages of development, pupe and eggs, and innumerous flocks of a white aphis, all of which were being tenderly cared for by a large army of thoughtful nurses, No sooner did the intrusion occur than the colony was a scene of busy activity. Interested in what was before him, the writer seated himself upon a small mound overlooking the nest, where could be clearly observed the minutest de- tails of ant-life. The neuters were everywhere to be noticed, but not a single male or female ant. All the work devolved upon the neuters. These were divided into three sets, each set having a definite part to perform in the unexpected drama before it. Some neuters had the exclusive charge of the mature larve, others of the pupe and very young grubs, and the rest of their aphidian herds. But it is to those that had the care of the aphides that we shall particularly invite attention. At the time of the disturb- ance, these specialized neuters were busy milking their cows, which they did by rubbing their long, pliant feelers against 110 Life and Inmortalty. the anal nipples of the latter, drawing therefrom, as it seemed, a drop of the coveted fluid with each antennal stroke. No aphis was known to be visited in this business twice in succession, but the ants would go from one to another, and only return to the first when sufficient time had elapsed for the replenishing of its store. So intent were they upon their task, that several minutes must have passed before they took in the danger to which they were exposed. You should then have seen their anxiety, and the presence of mind they exhibited. Conscious as of attack, and knowing the peril that beset them, they did not flee to their under- ground galleries, or to the adjoining grasses, for shelter, and thus leave their flocks to the mercy of the invader, but they manifested the deepest concern for the little creatures, so unable to defend themselves, that had so willingly catered to their temporal wants. Not an ant was seen to desert its post, but all remained on duty till the last of their protegés was carried to safe and comfortable apartments in the ground beneath. What clearer evidence is wanted to show the love these neuters bear the tender objects of their care? It must be plain that man bestows not half the attention upon his flocks than do these ants on theirs. It is true they do not bring them food, but that they build their homes where food, the roots of herbs and grasses, abound, there is no doubt. It may be, too, that they are carried to their pasture-grounds, when that necessity occurs, but this cannot with truth be said. When some would stray, they were returned within the fold, which shows the watch these ants do exercise. Concluding then, this much may be averred: food, whole- some, sweet, nutritious food, the aphides supply to ants, the neuters and the young, but specially the young. And that they lead most happy, prosperous lives, the ants their mas- ters, must surely be, or looks deceive. LIVING ARTILLERY. O more remarkable creature exists, perhaps, than the little Brachinus fumans, which is so very common in the early spring. Damp situations are affected by it, but it is seldom met with except by insect-hunters, for it conceals itself generally under stones, as many as a half-dozen indi- viduals often being found in company in a single locality. Banks of tidal rivers afford excellent hunting-grounds in England for Brachinus, but in America low, dank woods and borders of streams are the places where one must look to discover its presence. When once you have made the acquaintance of so remark- able a stranger you can never afterwards fail to recognize him in your travels. He is peculiar, but not at all distinguished in looks, as some of his brethren. Picture a yellowish-red beetle, with a bluish frock-coat, which his wing-covers resem- ble, and possessed of a short, narrow head, a heart-shaped prothorax, as the front of the chest-segments is called, anda long, broad abdomen, three times the size of the rest of his body, and you have a tolerably fair idea of Brachinus. But it is not so much his odd shape as a most extraordi- nary property he possesses, which is singularly unique in the animal kingdom, that makes him an object of interest and curiosity. Deep down in his most marvellous body a fluid, highly volatile in its nature, is elaborated, which the little creature can retain or expel at his pleasure. It is only, how- ever, when alarmed that he utilizes this fluid in small quan- tities in defense, but its effect is wonderful, for in coming into contact with the atmosphere it immediately volatilizes and 112 Life and Immortality. explodes, looking very much like a discharge of powder from aminiature artillery. In consequence of this phenomenon the insect which produces it is popularly called the Bombardier Beetle. So small a coleopter, being scarcely one-fourth of an inch in length, and so comparatively weak, is likely to be attacked by the larger Geodephaga, or Earth Devourers, and espe- cially by the Carabi, which inhabit similar retreats. But for this curious defence the smaller insect could have but the BRACHINUS PURSUED BY AN ENEMY. His Curious and Unique Method of Defence. barest chance of living in the struggle for existence. Often have I seen a Carabus in hot pursuit of Brachinus. The chase is always an interesting one, and never fails, however frequently it has been observed, of attracting attention and exciting admiration. But the wide-awake, ever watchful Brachinus never loses his head for a second when thus pur- sued, but like the clever artilleryman that he is, awaits the opportune moment, and then pours a heavy discharge of his fulminating fluid into the very face of the enemy. Baffled, Living Artillery. 113 alarmed, Carabus desists from the attack, and backs slowly away from the tiny blue smoke, while Brachinus, in the con- fusion that ensues, escapes to some place of security for rest and protection. Most skilfully has the artist delineated the scene. Cara- bus serratus, the pursuing beetle, is chasing the Bombardier, and has nearly effected his capture, when, all of a sudden, a discharge of artillery has stopped the pursuit, under cover of which the Bombardier will make off. Meanwhile the Carabus, exchanging his rapid advance for a retreat quite as rapid, throws back his antenne, a sign of his defeat, and skulks away to recover his wonted self-possession. The volatile fluid, which produces such curious effects, is secreted in a small sac just within the end of the abdomen. Not only is it capable of repelling the larger beetles by its explosion and cloud of blue vapor, but it is also powerful enough to discolor the human skin, as many who have cap- tured Bombardier Beetles by the hand know only too well. Should the fluid get within the eyelids, the pain and irritation produced are very distressing. Some years ago the writer, while searching for carabi underneath stones and in creviced rocks, met for the first time with Brachinus, but was ignorant as a child of his obnoxious property. Placing a little fellow upon his hand for close examination, he soon experienced a burning and painful sensation of the ball of the eye, but did not for a long while attribute the cause to a discharge from the Beetle. Repeated investigations at very short ranges by means of a microscope were attended with similar results, till eventually an inflammation of the visual organs set in, accompanied by a blurring of the sight, which debarred him from reading and study for nearly a fortnight. One learns wisdom by experience, and the wisdom thus acquired serves for a lifetime. Even Brachinus has learned by experience, doubtless, to be economical in the use of his resources. The whole of the contents of his tiny magazine are not ejected at one 114 Life and Immortality. discharge, but there is sufficient to produce a series of explosions, each explosion being perceptibly fainter than its predecessor. By pressing the abdomen of the dead Beetle between finger and thumb these explosions may even be produced. In hot countries, where exceedingly large species abound, the explosions are said to be very loud, and accom- panied with quite a cloud of blue vapor. BRIGHT AND SHINING ONES. ROBABLY more than ninety thousand different species of beetles exist in the world, first and foremost among them standing the Cicindelide, or Tiger Beetles. From their high position in the coleopterous world they may well demand our attention, but they have other claims upon our consideration. They are beautiful, courageous little creat- ures, and accomplish a vast amount of good to man. The name Cicindela, by which they are known to scientific people, tells us that they are the “bright and shining ones;” while the cognomen of Tiger Beetle reveals to all English-speak- ing nations the story of the incessant warfare which they wage upon their fellows. The Cicindele love the merry sunshine. On any bright summer day they may be found running and flying about sunny banks, or revelling in sandy places where the day-god smilingly rejoices. They mostly avoid vegetation, as it checks their easy rapid movements, although some kinds affect grassy spots among the trees. They are the most predaceous of the coleoptera, and behave like the tigers among mammals, the hawks among birds, the crocodiles among reptiles and the sharks among fishes. In the tropics some few genera seek their food on the leaves of trees, but in temperate and sub-tropical regions, where the species are more abundant, they are terrestrial in habits. Let us now take our instruments of capture and go in quest of some of the dozen or more species that have their home with us. The day is auspicious. Here is a likely spot. See there upon the ground are some specimens of our 116 Life and Immortality. commonest species—the Cicindcla vulgaris of naturalists. Go for that one. He sees you as quickly as you see him, and is off for a few yards, but suddenly drops to the grass from his flight, but always with his head towards the enemy. Again and again you start him, but at last, tiring of the chase, he takes a longer flight that usual. This is a ruse of his, and knowing what it means, you hurry back to where you first saw him in time to see him all unsuspectingly alight, and you easily take him captive in your toils. Now that you have him secure, examine him closely. Watch how savagely he moves his mandibles and tries to pinch. You need not be afraid, for his bite is inoffensive and not very painful. You measure with the eye his size, and you rightly decide that he is not much over an inch in length, and scarcely one-fourth in breadth. His head you will find very large and brainy, his Jaws powerful and long and curved, two scimitar-like weapons, which are admirably fitted for cutting and carving the quivering bodies of his prey. His eleven-jointed antenne are long, slender and graceful. In color his back is dull purple, but beneath he is resplendent in a bright brassy green. Three whitish, irregular bands adorn his wing-covers. His legs, long and slender, are just the things on which to hunt the active insects upon which he feeds. His next of kin, the Purple Tiger Beetle, is nearly as large as he, and often joins him in company. Beautifully robed in purple he usually is, but sometimes in a greenish garb arrayed. From the outer almost to the inner margin of each wing meanders a reddish line, while lower down a dot, and still another at the farthest tip of the inner border, enhance his beauty. Cold spring days delight him best, and he is often seen when snow is yet upon the ground. More beautiful by far than either, and no less active, is Cicindela sex guttata, or the Six-spotted Tiger Beetle, whose dress, a brilliant metallic green, flecked with six small silver spots, renders him a pretty sight when you flash the rays of light athwart his burnished armor. Hot, June-like days and Bright and Shining Ones. 117 SS COMMON TIGER BEETLE. Larve in Burrows. Two Other Species in Background. dusty road-sides suit him best, and there, what time the sun looks down in all his burning ardor, our little friend is met, his purpose bent on slaughter. Other species might be instanced, for North America contains at least a hundred, but enough have been given for our present object. Tiger Beetles may well be called beneficial insects. Although they do not, like that brilliant murderess, the dragon-fly, clear the atmosphere of the gnats and flies that torment mankind, but still, with their powerful curved dag- gers, which serve them for jaws, they accomplish a swift and almost incredible havoc among the smallerinsects. We should take care of them, and respect them, for they are an invalu- able auxiliary to the farmer. The ferocity of these insects is remarkable. No sooner have they taken their prey, than they quickly strip it of wings and legs, and proceed at once to suck out the con- tents of its abdomen. Often when they are disturbed in 118 Life and Immortality. this agreeable occupation, not wishing to leave their victim, they fly away with it to a place of uninterrupted security, but they are unable to carry a heavy burden to any great distance. They are true children of the earth. The eggs are laid in the earth, and in the earth the grubs are hatched, and in the earth they spend their days, and in the earth they prepare their shrouds, and, wrapped therein, sleep their pupa-sleep through the long, dreary winter, and with the returning warmth of spring crawl out of their earthy chambers to run and sport on earth, seldom using their new-formed wings to fly away from their beloved mother. The grubs are hideous hunchbacks, but possessed of brains and stomach. They live in the same localities as their parents, the anxious mother, with wise precision, having carefully deposited her eggs where food would be readily attainable by her children. Have you a desire to examine a larva? There is a hole that has been made by one of these creatures. Place down into it a small straw or a bit of fine twig. The cranky little hermit, who is always wide-awake, resists most fiercely such unprovoked insolence, and instantly seeks, by the aid of his broad, expansive head, to eject the intruding object. Now is your time. When he shows himself, quickly seize him with your fingers. You will find him a perfect Daniel Quilp, with head enormous, flat, metallic in color and armed with long, curved jaws. His legs are six in number, and on the back, half-way between the legs and tail, are two curious, odd-looking tubercles, each terminating in a pair of recurved hooks. The head and first body-division are horny, the rest of the creature being soft and very sensitive. While the larval Cicindela has all the desire for slaughter which his parents manifest, yet his delicate skin, long body and stubby legs not only prevent him from chasing prey, but also from attempting a struggle with an insect of any size; nevertheless this imperfectly armed creature manages Bright and Shining Ones. 119 to secure his food without exposing himself to any serious risk. With his short, thick spiny legs he loosens the earth, and with his flat head, which he uses as a shovel, and turning himself into a z-shaped figure, hoists up the clay and upsets it around the mouth of his intended dwelling. With head and legs, and with a perseverance that is truly surprising, he sinks in a very short time a shaft a foot in length and as large in diameter as an ordinary lead-pencil. Especial pains are taken to see that the tunnel is suffi- ciently wide, so that the little creature can crawl in with ease. If he wishes to remain set fast, he sticks the back of his body against the sides and rests safely with the aid of his hooks. In this position he can poke his head out of the ground, thus closing the entrance of his burrow, while in patient waiting for some unsuspicious wayfarer to pass over. As soon, however, as the luckless insect touches the top of his head, he relinquishes his hold within the tunnel and descends with great precipitation to the bottom, and thus his victim falls into the hole, where it is seized by the powerful jaws and its juices absorbed in a quiet, leisurely manner. The loose earth around the opening of the tunnel gives way on the approach of an insect, and thus the success of the cunning Cicindela is doubly insured. Sometimes in the construction of a burrow, after a certain depth has been reached, the young Cicindela meets with a difficulty which he had not expected. A flat stone is encoun- tered, and thus further progress in a vertical direction is prevented. If the obstacle, on account of its size, cannot be gone round, and the shaft is not deep enough for his purpose, it is not unusual for him to desert it and attempt the tunnel- ling of a home in some more desirable spot. He does not undertake a very long journey, for he knows too well the risk which he runs by so doing, as he is in danger of being assaulted by secret foes in the rear, an attack which the peculiar conformation of his hinder body ill fits him to resist. On land he is timid and cowardly, and well might he be, but 120 Life and Immortality. within the protecting walls of his underground castle, with a pair of powerful swords with which to defend himself, he is the impersonation of fearlessness and courage. When fully grown the larva closes up the mouth of its abode, and in quiet and solitude undergoes its metamorphosis, lying dormant during the winter months. But when the breath of warm spring days has melted the icy coldness of the earth, and filled the air with vivifying influences, then comes it forth in all the pomp and splendor of its nature— a winged existence. It has been seen what a beautiful adaptation of means to an end is shown by the young Cicindela. Even the adult, or mature form, with its long, slender legs, so admirably formed for silence and fleetness of movement, which are alike neces- sary to pursuit of prey and escape from enemies, displays the wisdom of Him who breathed into all animated nature, no matter how small or how humble. the essence of His being, and endowed one and all with qualities of mind and body which should respond to environing conditions and thus pre- pare them to survive in the struggle fer existence. QUEEN OF AMERICAN SILK-SPINWERS. O insect affords a better proof of high art in nature, and of the transcendent beauty of the Creator’s thoughts, than the Luna moth, which is as preéminent above her fellows as her namesake, the fair empress of the sky, above the lesser lights that dominate the night. Her elegant robes of green, set off with trimmings of purple, and jewelled with diamonds, added to her queenly grace and personal charms, will always distinguish her from the profanum vulgus of the articulata. And now for a short biographical sketch of this remarka- ble beauty from the cradle to the grave, and beyond, after she has assumed her resurrection-attire, to the day when, her appointed work on earth being ended, she quietly lays her body down to mingle with its native clay. In her childhood, or caterpillar state, her head is elliptical in shape, of a light pearly color, the rest of the body being a clear bluish-green. A faint yellow band stretches along each side, just below the line of her breathing-organs, from the first to the tenth segment, while the back, between the several body-rings, is crossed by narrow transverse bars, similar in coloration. Each segment, after the fashion of her kith and kin, is adorned with small pearly warts, tinged with purple, some five or six in number, each tipped with a few simple hairs. Three brown spots, bordered above with yellow, ornament the end of the tail. An interesting variety, whose general color is a dull reddish-brown, is sometimes met with, but the lateral and transverse stripes of yellow have disappeared, and the pearl-colored warts with edges of 122 Life and Immortality. purple have assumed a richer hue and blaze like a coronet of rubies. When at rest, with the rings all bunched and body shortened, the infantile Luna is as thick as a man’s thumb, measuring but two inches in linear direction; but when she sets out upon her travels, feeling the dignity of her station in life, she stretches to her full length of three inches. When have been completed her allotted days of feeding upon the leaves of the hickory, oak, walnut or sweet gum, and she is seriously contemplating the preparing of a shroud and casket in which to await her resurrection-morn, she casts about for leaves, which, when they are found, she securely draws together, and within the hollow space there is soon spun avery close and strong oval cocoon of silk, one and three-fourths inches in length, of chestnut-brown color, thin, and covered with warts and excrescences, but seldom showing the imprints of leaves. Cocoons of Luna so nearly resemble those of polyphemus, that many an experienced collector is greatly chagrined, after getting together a large supply of what he deems Luna cocoons, to find dusky, one-eyed polyphemi to issue from the silken tombs rather than a goodly throng, in delicate bridal attire, of proud empresses of the night. Polyphemus cocoons are, however, somewhat smaller than Lunas, white or dirty-white in color, rounded at each end, and sometimes angular, because of the leaves being unevenly moulded into their surfaces, and generally covered with a whitish meal-like powder. In June the Lunas awake from their death-like slumber, burst asunder their silken cerements, having at first made loose the compact threads by a fluid-ejection, and come out into the world in all the freshness and glory of a new and untried existence. Their wings, which expand from four and three-fourths to five and one-half inches, are of a delicate light-green color, the hinder ones being prolonged into a tail of an inch and a half or more in length. Along the anterior margin of the fore-wings is a broad purple-brown stripe, Queen of American Suk-Spinners. 123 extending also across the back, and sending downwards a little branch to a glittering eye-like spot near the middle of the wing. These eyes, of which there is one on each wing, are transparent in the centre, and encircled by white, yellow, blue and black rings. The hinder borders are more or less ITs cu it iyi SF \ | | ey AMERICAN LUNA MOTH. ce Larva on Branch Below, and Cocoon on Twig Just Above. edged with purple-brown. All the nervures are very distinct, and pale-brown in color. Near the body the wings are thickly invested with long white hairs. The under sides, excepting that an indistinct line runs along the margin of both wings, are like to the upper. As for the body, the 124 Life and Immortahty. thorax is white, occasionally yellowish or greenish, and coursed by the purple-brown stripe that traverses the entire length of the upper edge of the wings; and the abdomen, similarly colored, and clothed with white, wool-like hairs. The head is small and white, and furnished with broad, flat and strongly pectinated antennz, which are very much wider in the male. The legs are purple-brown, and poorly adapted for walking, but this defect is largely compensated for in the wide stretch of wings, that fit their possessor for powerful and long-sustained flight. Such is Luna in her various transformations. Notwith- standing her great size and almost matchless loveliness, her habits are not proportionally noteworthy. The gift of superior beauty, in the insect as in the mammalian world, does not often carry with ita high order of intelligence. It is true the young Luna knows pretty well the secret of dis- sembling. How quickly she perceives the approach of an enemy! And she knows how to deal with him, but her little trick of simulating death, or an immobile twig, does not always succeed with the wily spider, or artful ichneumon. That she is a tolerably good connoisseur of the character of foods, there can be no question. You cannot deceive her. Take from her the foods her ancestors have used for cen- turies untold, and substitute others she knows nothing about, and she is at once cognizant of the change. However hungry she may be, and in her early growing years she is ever a voracious feeder, she will starve rather than eat what the unwritten law of her race has strictly interdicted. I have known cases where death has ensued, or the caterpillar has pupated earlier than usual, when alien food has been given it to eat. But in the beginning of life, just after the first skin-moulting has been effected, ere the little creature has attained its seventh day of age, no trouble is experienced in changing the food, almost anything edible in the plant-line being eaten, though some things with a more decided relish than others. In the matter of cocoon-weaving, where the Queen of American Silk-Spinners. 125 necessary leaves for a basis cannot be obtained, as occurs in captivity, the inconvenience is overcome, but not without difficulty. Leaves, you must know, are in Luna’s way of thinking, as essential to cocoon-building as wooden or iron beams and girders to man’s own constructing. Without a framework of some sort, what a sorry attempt would we make at home-building, but Luna does succeed, after a good deal of wise planning and no little worry, in producing a house which is well worthy her effort. While the gaudy moth or butterfly, when contrasted in wisdom and sense with the dingy-colored bee, may suffer in comparison, yet she is by no means the dull, stupid creature she is pictured to be. She lives, it is a fact, as has often been said, for the increase of her race, but the interest she shows for the young she may never see, in laying her eggs upon the plant that is to serve them as food and home, puts her upon a rather high plane of intelligent existence. Luna’s life, in the perfect state, is usually quite brief. It is one of the happiest of honeymoons. Love conquers and destroys all other passions of her being, while her gormandizing off- spring are never troubled by the ardent flame which consumes even the thought of sipping the nectar of the flowers that rival in beauty the wings of the mother, who is the per- fect representation and embodiment of elegance and grace. While the early insect lives and eats, the adult form, upon whom Dame Nature has expended so much wealth of color and such symmetry of shape, which make her a “thing of beauty and a joy forever,” lives and dies, for in her seeming haste and forgetfulness the great mother of us all has made her without the essential means of tasting food, a delight and an enjoyment which the lords of creation are so wont to esteem the purpose and aim of all human existence. BASKET-CARRIERS. OU who have been to the country, in the summer, and who have kept your eyes alive to the surroundings, have doubtless seen the Basket-worm feeding upon the leaves of the quince, apple, peach, linden, and other decidu- ous trees, as well as upon such evergreen as the arbor-vite, Norway spruce, and red cedar. In Germany these worms are popularly designated Sack-trager, or Sack-bearer, while the mature insect is spoken of as the House-builder Moth. Scientifically speaking, the latter is called Thyridopteryx ephemereformis, a name which is nearly twice the length of the caterpillar it represents. During the winter the curious weather-beaten bags of these worms may be observed hanging from the tree- branches, apparently without a trace of the odd-looking creat- ures that hung them there the autumn before. If a number of these bags are gathered and cut open at this time, many of them will be discovered to be empty, but the greater por- tion will be found partly full of yellow eggs. Those which do not contain eggs are male bags, and the empty chrysalis of the male will be found protruding from the lower ex- tremity. Upon close examination these eggs will be ob- served to be obovate in form, soft and opaque, about one- twentieth of an inch in length, and surrounded by more or less fawn-colored silky down. If left to themselves, they hatch sometime in May, or early in June. The young which come from these eggs are of a brown color, very active in their movements, and begin at once to make for themselves coverings of silk, to which they fasten Basket-Carriers. 127 bits of the leaves of the tree on which they are feeding, forming small cones that are closely adherent to the leaf- surfaces. As the larve grow, they augment the size of their enclosures or bags from the bottom, until they become so large and heavy that they hang instead of remaining upright, as they did at first. By the end of July the caterpillars become fully grown, They are now exceedingly restless, and may be seen wander- ing from branch to branch by means of their true legs which are projected from the mouths of their baskets, to which they keep firm hold, or suspended from a branch ofa tree by along silken thread of their own manufacture. When very abundant, as they were in certain localities during the season just ended, they become a great nuisance, as one can hardly walk beneath the trees without being inconvenienced by a dozen or more dangling into his face. Removed from the case at this stage of existence and closely examined, that portion of the body which has been covered by the bag will be seen to be soft, and of a dull brownish color, inclining to red at the sides, while the three anterior segments, which are exposed when the insect is feeding or travelling, will be found to be horny and mottled with black and white. The pro-legs on the middle and hinder segments, which are soft and fleshy, will show themselves fringed with numerous hooks, by which the larva is enabled to cling to the silken lining of its bag and drag it along wherever it goes. The external surface of the bag is rough and irregular, often presenting a beautiful ruffle-like appear- ance, which is due to the projecting portions of the stems and leaves which are woven into it. During their growing- period these caterpillars are slow travellers, seldom leaving the tree on which they were hatched. When about to change into chrysalids, they fasten their bags securely to the twigs on which they happen to be, and then undergo their change, the male chrysalis being very much smaller than the female, hardly one-third its size. 128 Life and Immortality. When we examine the cases of the Basket-worm, hardly any two will be seen to be alike in their ornamentation. So completely is the outside covered, when made upon the arbor-vitze, which seems to be a favorite food-plant of the species, that the silken envelope is concealed from view. The bits of twigs and leaves are probably protective, and yet one would think that the extremely tough case which covers the caterpillar would be quite sufficient to protect it against all assaults of foes and stress of weather. Nevertheless, this leafy coat of mail, which sometimes wholly covers the sac, must certainly add very much to the protective value of the covering. The caterpillar has a soft, hairless body, and is thus more exposed than many of its neighbors, and nature, it would seem, has favored it far above all of its fellows. How the worm manages to trim its coat in this manner must seem, to the uninitiated in such matters, wholly inex- plicable. To enable the reader to understand the manner of operation, it will be necessary first to explain its mode of feeding. The larva has perfect control of its own move- ments, notwithstanding the fact that it carries its house upon its back. It can thus thrust its body out of the sac-mouth until nearly the whole of it is exposed, and twist and bend itself in every direction. Specimens have been met with that had dropped from the trees hanging by a thread and squirming, bending and snapping their bodies in the most grotesque ways, while the case spun around like an old- fashioned distaff. Now, when the caterpillar wants to feed it stretches its head and neck out of the case and moves them about until a satisfactory place has been secured, which it clasps with its true legs, three pairs of hard, conical organs armed with sharp claws, and pulls up its body and com- mences to spin. The spinning-organs are near the mouth, and after several movements of the head, as though smearing the liquid viscid silk upon the leaf, the head is drawn back, drawing out with it a short thread. A similar movement is then made against one side of the mouth of the sac, the Basket-Carriers. 129 i HOUSE-BUILDER MOTH. Young in House, Winged Male, Young Suspended and Bag-like Female in Longitudinally- Split Cocoon. process being repeated several times until a stout stay-line is spun by which the larva hangs securely. Now the creature is ready to feed. The behavior, however, varies a great deal. In feeding upon the white pine it secures itself to one leaf by its stay-line, while it reaches to an adjoining leaf which it bites off, and sitting erect, as it were, in its house, comfortably chews off the end which is continually shored upward by the first and second pairs of true legs that stand out free and untrammelled above the sac. But more frequently the worm feeds without separating the leaf from the point of suspension. By making itself fast to the under part of the leaf it is thus enabled to reach the edge, which it gnaws round and round until it has com- pleted its destruction. 130 Life and Immortality. So securely does the caterpillar hold on to its house, that one would suppose that its body was lashed to the inside. But no, its body is unhampered, for it can turn itself easily around in its case, and go out at either end, although the head is generally directed upward. It clings to the inside with the hooks upon its hinder feet, and so tenaciously, too, that the writer has never been able to pull one out, being checked by the fear of tearing the creature in two. And now to the mode of attaching the leaf-cuttings to the case. This is always done at or near the mouth of the sac. The Ephemera- form larva is a growing creature, unlike the moth itself, which emerges a perfect insect of full growth. It commences life as a small worm, eats small quantities, and, as may be observed, down towards the foot of the case sews on very small tags. But after it has fastened on these pieces to the mouth, it grows itself, and so also does the case, which it continually stretches and enlarges. Hence the mouth of the case is continually changing, moving upward as the worm feeds, so that the pieces sewed upon the cap of the case thus appear, in an adult caterpillar, precisely as they are seen scattered along the outside from top to bottom. And now, as to how the pieces are put into the case, I shall endeavor to explain. That the worm cuts purposely through the twig which it needs for the case, I feel certain. Of course the outer or detached part drops down. But, while eating, the worm frequently, quite constantly, indeed, spreads its viscid silk along the leaf and so keeps it attached on both sides to the upper rim of the sac, or to its own mouth-parts, and thus the tip of the twig or leaf, instead of falling to the ground when it is severed from the stem, simply drops alongside of the case, to which it is held by the slight filament that attaches it to the sac, or, as happens in many instances, remains attached to the caterpillar’s spinneret. In either case the leaf, twig or stem remains, and, after being drawn up, adjusted and tightened by the worm, adheres tightly. As the creat- ure is forever moving its spinning-tubes around the top of Basket-Carriers. 131 the sac, these fastenings are being continually strengthened, and thus one piece after another is added, and so the basket grows. While the case of the Basket-worm, and even that part of its body which it chooses to expose to view, are known to the casual observer, yet but few persons have ever seen the mature insect. The female moth is wingless, and never leaves the bag, but makes her way to its lower orifice, and there awaits the attendance of the male. She is not only without wings, but is devoid of legs also, being, in short, nothing more than a yellowish bag of eggs with a ring of soft, pale-brown, silky hair near the tail. The male, on the other hand, has transparent wings and a black body, and is very active on the wing during the warmer portions of the day. After pairing the female deposits her eggs, inter- mingled with fawn-colored down, within the empty pupa- case, and when this task is completed works her way out of the case, drops exhausted to the ground and dies. Though a Southern rather than a Northern insect, yet it is found as far north as New Jersey and New York, and occasionally in Massachusetts. It is extremely local in character, abounding in one particular neighborhood and totally unknown a few miles away. Where they occur in abundance they often almost entirely defoliate the trees they attack, but this can be easily prevented by gathering the cases containing the eggs for the next brood during the winter and destroying them. Hand-picking the cases with the worms in them, where their ravages are confined to small trees and shrubbery, will also help to hold them in check. Nature has provided two species of ichneumon for their destruction. One of them, Crypius inguzsitor, is about two-fifths of an inch in length, and the other, Hemzteles thyridopteryx, is nearly one-third of an inch. Five or six of this latter species will sometimes occupy the body of a single caterpillar, and after destroying their victim spin for themselves tough, white, silken cocoons within the bag. HONEY-PRODUCING CATERPILLARS. ATE in June, growing abundantly in the edges of woods throughout this region, may be seen the Cimicifuga racemosa of botanists, popularly called Rattle- weed, or Black Snakeroot. It sends up a stalk, sometimes branching, four or five feet, terminating in a spike or spikes, six to ten inches long, of round, greenish-white buds, which stand upon short stems, and are arranged in rows about the stalk, diminishing in size till they reach the pointed top. The lower buds, when they are about the size of an ordinary pea, open first, and the flowering proceeds by degrees up the spike, so that buds are to be met with throughout a period of from four to six weeks. The flowers emit an intensely sweet odor, which renders them attractive to butterflies and bees. But should you examine these buds with care, you will find a number of small caterpillars, the larva of the beautiful Azure Butterfly, called Lycena pseudargiolus, feeding thereon. During its younger stages it is white, and so near the color of these buds that it is well protected, and very difficult to find. Later on, it may be white or greenish, and often diversified with a few black or brown patches, irregularly diffused over the surface. When mature the larva is one-half of an inch in length, and, like all Lycanid larve, is onisciform, or shaped like the little pill-bug, so common under stones and logs. The head is very small, and is placed on the end of a long, green neck, which at the junction is of the thickness of the head, but gradually enlarges, and seems to be fixed at the hinder part Floney-Producing Cater pillars. 133 of the second segment, the latter being hollowed out so as to form for it a sheath. In the final larval stages this segment is elevated, transversely compressed, and inclines forward, thereby shielding the head as the larva moves about. When quiescent the neck and head are wholly retracted, and as the former, when fully extended, is very much longer than the depth of the second segment, it must possess considerable elasticity. The larva feeds on the heart of the bud, and to reach this cuts away the surface on one side till an opening is made sufficiently large to admit its head; and as it feeds the second segment is firmly pressed against the bud so as to permit the utmost elongation of the neck. Thus it is enabled to eat out the contents of the bud, and only desists when there remains but the empty shell. When so engaged the anterior segments are curved up and the others rest upon the stalk of the plant, but very small larve repose wholly in the bud. Not a single instance has been observed where an open flower has been attacked, but the destruction of buds is very extensive. But now comes the most remarkable part of the larval his- ory of Pseudargiolus. The whole upper part of the larva is covered with small, glassy, star-shaped processes, scarcely raised above the surrounding surface, from the centre of which spring short, filamentous bodies, bristling with feathery- looking tentacles, which the caterpillar has the power of pro- truding at will. It throws them out like the tentacles of Papilio or the horns of snails. More singular still is an opening upon the eleventh segment, placed transversely and surrounded by a raised cushion, about which the granula- tions that cover the body of the caterpillar are particularly dense. From the middle of this opening, which is shaped like a button-hole, issues, at the caterpillar’s will, a sort of transparent, hemispherical vesicle, from which is emitted a good-sized drop of fluid, which the animal is capable of reproducing when absorbed. 134 Life and [mimortahty. PSEUDARGIOLUS BUTTERFLY. Larva Feeding on Bud os Black Snakeroot, and Guarded by Ants. Four species of ants may be seen attending, not the small larve, but those that have attained the nearly mature condi- tion. They are invariably found on or near the larva. Their actions, as they run over the body, caressing with antenna, evidently persuading the larva to emit a drop of the fluid, are alike curious and interesting. Most of this caressing is done about the anterior segments, and while the ants are thus occupied, or rather, while they are absent from the last segments, the tubes of the twelfth seem expanded to their full extent, and so remain, without retracting or throbbing, until the ants come hurrying along with great excitement and set foot or antenna directly on or close by the tubes, Floney-Producing Caterpillars. 135 when they are instantly withdrawn. The ants pay no heed to the tubes. They seek for nothing from them, and expect nothing. But they turn at once to the eleventh, caress the back of that segment, and, putting their mouths to its open- ing, exhibit an eager desire and expectancy. Suddenly a dull green, fleshy, mammilloid organ protrudes, and from the summit of which comes a tiny drop of clear green fluid, which the ants, some two or three perhaps standing about it, lap greedily up. As the drop disappears, this organ sinks in at the apex, and is so withdrawn. The ants then run about, some in quest of other larve upon the same stem, some with no definite object, but presently return and pursue the caressings as before. The intervals between the appear- ance of the globule vary with the condition of the larva. Where exhaustion by long-continued solicitings occurs, some minutes elapse before renewal is effected, the tubes in the meantime remaining concealed. Fresh larve, however, require little or no urging, and globule follows globule, as many as six emissions in seventy-five seconds, without even a retract- ing of the organ. Often the presence of the ant, when the larva is aware of it, evokes, all unsought, the sugary fluid. Ordinarily the tubes expand when the ants are absent from the last segments, and are certainly withdrawn when they come near. These tubes, from all appearances, serve as signals to the ants. When the latter discover them expanded, they know that a refection is ready, and rush to the opening in the eleventh segment where it is to be found. The tubes certainly serve no other purpose. No visible duct appears in the dome of the tube when largely magnified, and the ants seek nothing from it or the twelfth segment. They cannot be used to intimidate, or to frighten away enemies, for in the younger stages, when the larve have the most to dread, neither the tube nor the organ in the eleventh segment is available. The outward openings, and the orifice in the eleventh segment, exist in the youngest larval stages, but are functionless until the larva has nearly attained maturity. 136 Life and Immortality. Ants seldom attempt to caress or solicit young larva, but pass them by with indifference, seemingly knowing that they cannot emit the secretion. When an ant approaches one of these immature larve, the larva manifests considerable annoyance, throwing up the hinder segments, as though the ant was an enemy which it was desirous to get rid of. Ifthe tubes could now be thrust out, the ant would be attracted, rather than repelled. But when the period arrives that the tubes are free, and the secretion is ready to be ejected, which is perhaps just after the third skin-moulting, and it cannot be earlier, the larva grows now quiet and submissive, inviting the atten- tions of the ants, and rewarding their antennal caresses. Four species of parasites affect these larve. Twoare dip- terous. These, which are of the size of the common house- fly, deposit their eggs, during the second larval stage, on the back, and near the junction of the second and third segments. In process of time the grubs hatch and eat their way into the larva, to emerge when the latter has become fully grown, thus destroying its life. Another of these enemies is a minute hymenopterous insect, whose egg is placed in the very young larva, probably in the first stage of its life. The grub, in this case, eats its way out of the half-grown larva, spins a silken cocoon, from which in a few days issues the newly-matured parasite. The destruction of larvze by these, and very likely by other similar parasites, is doubtless im- mense. But no parasite attacks, it does seem, the mature larva, for, if it did, the grub of the former would live within and destroy the chrysalis, and instead of a butterfly emerging therefrom would come forth the parasite. Multitudes of chrysalids of other species of butterflies are thus destroyed, but Pseudargiolus, at this stage, appears to enjoy a singular immunity from enemies. Why this species, and doubtless many others of its family, are thus favored, will soon be apparent. Ants may be seen wherever these larvae may be found, ever ready to receive ffoney-Producing Caterpillars. 137 the honeyed secretion when it pleases the little creatures to eject it, but all the while exercising the closest vigilance lest some wary ichneumon may come along and deal a thrust of its ovipositor, which means misery and ultimate death to their helpless friends. So intent is the larva, with its head buried in the flower, upon its feeding, and so quietly and stealthily does the ichneumon approach its, intended victim, that hardly a single individual would be left to tell the story of its existence were it not for the ants. The larve know their protectors, it would seem from their actions, and are able and willing to reward their services. The advantage is mutual, and the association friendly. No com- pelling by rough means on the one part is noticeable, and no reluctant yielding on the other. All demonstrations made by the ants are of the most gentle character. They caress, entreat, and as they drink in the sweet fluid, lifting their heads to prolong the swallowing, they manifest to the utmost their satisfaction and delight. It is amusing to see them lick away the last trace, caressing the back of the segment with their antennz as they do so, as though they were coaxing for a little more. In Pseudargiolus the tubes are white, cylindrical, nearly equal in size, rounded at summit, and studded with little tuberculations from which arise the tentacles. These last are tapering, armed with small spurs set in whorls, and stand out straight, making a white hemispherical dome over the cylinder, but none of them fall below the plane of the base of the dome, nor do they ever hang limp or lie across the dome, as is the case in a European species. When the tube comes up the rays rise in a close pencil, and take position as - the dome expands ; but, on the contrary, when the tube is withdrawn, the top of the dome sinks first, the rays coming together in pencil again. Lycena pseudargiolus is subject to great variation, and occurs under many forms, most of which having been regarded as distinct species. In the early spring Violacea 138 Life and Immortality. appears, and is characterized by dimorphism in the female, some of that sex being blue, others black. This form, which may be called the winter form, deposits its eggs in the clus- ters of flower-buds of the Dogwood, the young larve obtain- ing their first food by boring into the buds, but later on eating their way into the ovaries. The flies that come from these larvze late in May are Pseudargiolus, which, as stated before, lays its eggs on Cimuicifuga racemosa, most of the i VIOLACEA BUTTERFLY. Larva, Protected by Ants, Feeding on Flower-buds of Dogwood. resulting butterflies over-wintering to produce Violacea. A small percentage of the May chrysalids give butterflies as late as September, which are smaller than the parent-form, and also differ therefrom in the more decided character of the marginal crescent discal spots on the under side of the wings. There does not seem to be any regular second sum- mer brood, that is, there are but two regular annual broods, the Violacea of March and the Pseudargiolus of May, the Honey-Producing Caterpillars. 139 individuals happening to emerge in July, August and Sep- tember being irregular visitants, for which the name of Neglecta has been given. The females of the last form lay their eggs upon Actinomeris squarrosa, and the chrysalids, thence resulting, give Violacea the next spring. Larve feeding on Dogwood vary much in color from those that feed on the Black Snakeroot, few being white in the last stages, but nearly all dull-crimson or green, or a mingling of the two. Nevertheless, a small percentage of the larve on Cimicifuga racemosa are also green or crimson, though the most of them white. Ants do not seem to visit the larve on the Dogwood, and on being introduced to them in confine- ment treat them with indifference. On rare occasions tubes have been discovered in the eleventh segment, fully expanded, and accompanied by a pulsating movement, but no teasing or irritating availed to make them appear. Even severe pressure applied to the sides of the segment failed to force out any fluid. As with the fall food-plant, Actinomeris sguarrosa, the Dogwood is neither sweet nor juicy, and it is possible that the larve feeding on these plants do not secrete the fluid. Eggs of this polymorphic species are round, flat at base, the top flattened and depressed, and have a diameter of one- fiftieth of an inch. Their ground-color is a delicate green, the entire surface being covered with a white lace-work, the meshes of which being mostly lozenge-shaped, with a short rounded process at each angle. In from four to eight days the egg hatches into a larva, which is scarcely one-twenty-fifth of an inch long, and whose upper side is rounded, the under being flat. On each side of the dorsal line is a row of white clubbed hairs, with similar ones at the base and in front of the second joint, making a fringe around the body. The head is very small, obovoid, retractile and black; the legs retractile, and the color a greenish-white or brownish-yellow. The first moult occurs in from three to five days, the larva having increased to twice its former length, while very little 140 Life and Immortality. difference is manifest in the coloration. In from three to five days the caterpillar has again changed its skin, doubled its length, assumed more pronounced colors, which are diversified in some with mottlings upon back and sides, and developed along the back, from the third to the tenth joint, a low, broad, continuous, tuberculous ridge, cleft to the body at the junction of the segments, the anterior edge of each joint being depressed, the sides incurved. The third moult takes place in three or four days more, but there is very little change from the former period. Three or four days subsequent to this change occurs the fourth or final moult, and in five or six days from this the larva is ready to pass into the chrysalis state. In its mature form the larva is about one-half of an inch in length. The body is onisciform, flattened at base, fur- nished with retractile legs, and has the back elevated into a rounded ridge, which slopes backwards from the sixth seg- ment. The sides are rather deeply hollowed, and in the middle of each segment, from the third to the eleventh, is a vertical, narrow depression. The last segments are flattened, the last of all terminating roundly, its sides being narrowed and slightly incurved, while the second segment is flattened, arched and bent nearly flat over the head. Standing on the body is a ridge, tubercular in nature, which in each segment from the third to the eleventh is distinct and cleft to the body. In color, specimens vary. Some examples are white, others decidedly greenish, but many have the posterior slope of the second segment black or dark brown, while a few have most of the back a dark brown, irregularly mottling a light ground, or with small brown patches diffused over the back, but mostly on the anterior segments. The entire surface is velvety. This appearance is caused by minute stellate glossy processes, scarcely raised above the surface, mostly six-rayed, and sending from the centre a concolored filamentous spine a little longer than the rays. These stars are arranged in nearly regular rows, and are light, except in the brown Floney-Producing Caterpillars. 14! patches, where both star and spine are brown. This velvet- like condition of the skin only reveals its true composition under a magnifying glass. On the eleventh segment, near the posterior edge of the back, is a transverse slit, in a sub-oval spot, from which pro- ceeds a membranous process; and on the twelfth, on each side, is a mark like a stigma, but a little larger, from which proceeds a membranous tube, ending in a crown of feathery tentacles, these three special organs being exposed or con- cealed at the will of the larva. The head is small, obovoid, dark brown, and is placed at the end of a long, pale green, conical neck, which is rectractile, both neck and head being covered by the second segment. Before changing to a chrysalis, the summer larve some- times turn pink, and from pink to brown, or become brown without the pink stage, although others remain white or change to rusty brown. The body contracts to about three- tenths of an inch and takes on a rounded form. The chrysalis is dark-brown or yellow-brown, but varying in color, the wing-cases being dark or green-tinted. Two sub-dorsal rows of blackish dots are found on the abdomen, and sometimes a dark dorsal line. In the few instances in which the butterfly emerges the same season the duration of this stage is from thirty to sixty days, but most chrys- alids pass the winter and mature in the spring. Now for a description of the butterfly. In general terms, the upper side of the wings of the male is a deep azure-blue, with a delicate terminal black border. On the apical part of the fore-wings the fringes are black, but white and barred with black on the rest of these wings and on the hind-wings. In the female the fore-wings have a broad, blackish outer border, in some examples extending along the costa, while the hind-wings have a blackish costa anda row of dark spots along the outer margin. Usually the ground- color is a lighter blue in the females than in the males. A pale silvery gray, with a silky lustre, is the color of the 142 Life and Immortality. Se NEGLECTA BUTTERFLY. Larva Feeding on Central Florets of Actinomeris, and Guarded by Ants. under side of the wings, which is relieved by a row of spots along the outer margin, each preceded by a crescent, a curved row of elongate spots across the disk of the fore- wings, and several spots on the basal part of the hind-wings, all the markings being of a pale brown color. Violacea, the so-called winter form, has the dark parts and crescents on the under side of the wings quite prominent, but they do not, either in the outer border or in the basal portion, coalesce. Pseudargiolus, the largest of the series, there being but three forms in Pennsylvania, expands one and four-tenths inches. The upper surface of the male usually has a terminal border to the hind-wings of the same shade of blue as is visible on the fore-wings, the middle area of the hind-wings being a little paler than this border on the fore-wings. On the under side of the wings the spots are much smaller than on the preceding form. Neglecta, which Floney-Producing Caterpillars. 143 resembles Pseudargiolus, and has the spots on the under surface small, is a smaller form, never expanding more than one and one-tenth inches. It is a summer form when there is more than one generation in a season, ranging from Canada, through New England to West Virginia and Georgia, and occurring also in Montana and Nevada. Violacea has a more extended limit, being found in Alaska, British America, Ontario, Quebec, New England to West Virginia, and Colorado, while Pseudargiolus ranges from Wisconsin south to Tennessee, and on the east from Penn- sylvania to Georgia. HIBERNATING BUTTERFLIES. ARLY in March, and often while the snow yet lingers upon the landscape, may be seen flying in and out among the forest-trees, or lazily meandering along some deserted road through a thicket, the beautiful Antiopa. Her rich crimson dress, so dark that it almost seems black, with its buff-colored, sky-dotted border, serves to distinguish her from her no less interesting, but smaller, sisters of the Vanessa family of butterflies. But the Antiopas you then see are generally ragged and shabby, which is not to be wondered at, when it is considered that it is their last year’s dresses they wear, for late in the preceding August they had their being, and all through the autumn had been exposed to a hundred misfortunes or more while seeking their living. But with the coming of frost and of cold comes the blight- ing of flowers. A feeling of torpor in consequence steals over their once bouyant spirits, and into some crevice in a barn or a wood-pile or stone-heap they creep, and there sleep the winter away, till the warmth of the sun from his southward- bound journey returning sets the brown buds a-swelling, when out of their hibernating retreats they leisurely crawl for a flying stroll through the awakening trees. Slow and deliberate their movements are, as though some grave and momentous event were dependent thereon. Never have I watched such actions, so human-like have they seemed, than the conviction has gone home to my mind that they plainly evinced a thought and a purpose, which had their origin, if not in a brain, at least in one of the sev- eral ganglions which largely make up their wonderful and somewhat complicated nervous machinery. Lfiibernating Butterflies. 145 No matter how low in intelligence she may rank, Antiopa has nevertheless, or all experience is at fault, some general ideas of the time and fitness of things. From her gloomy abode in the wood-pile she has emerged, while all the gay butterfly world, barring a few familiar exceptions, is asleep, for a tour of investigation. Her venture is seldom ill-timed, for the violets have preceded her, and from their delicately curved flagons proffer her food and refreshment. Cool and unhealthful as the mornings are at first, it is not till the sun is nearly overhead that she leaves her retreat, for what of plant-life exists is then, under the full force of his beams, at its very best. Three or four hours a day, with few intervals of rest, she is actively on wing, regaling herself with exercise and food, thus storing little by little her body with some of the strength and vivacity which were hers when the famine of winter overtook her and forced her to retirement, so as the better to prepare for that work, the propagation of her kind, which is the principal, but not the only, aim of her existence. After four in the afternoon her presence is scarce, as she has sought her old, or some other, place of shelter and security, But when the days have grown longer and warmer, and the trees are arrayed in their livery of green, she is in the fields bright and early, and often ere the dew has disap- peared from the grass and the flowers. The most restless of beings she now is. Anon alighting upon a bush for a momentary rest, then off for a dozen or more rods, when the presence of some favorite blossom meets her quick sight and invites her to pause, which she does, but only for a second to quench her thirst. Where willows, or elms, or poplars abound, she is more frequently seen later on in May, but flying more slowly and sedately than ever before. The flowers pass unheeded. She seems in a dream, in a reverie. But all of a sudden she quickens her speed. You look for the cause. There, in the distance, another is seen, just like her in mien, some would-be suitor for her hand and 146 Life and Immortality. affections. He enters his suit, he pleads his great love, and awaits her sweet pleasure. The answer is brief, and soon by their actions, as high up in the air they circle and circle, caressing each other with strokes of the antenne, the story is told that his love has been requited. A brief honey-moon of two or three days and the love-scene is over, and the two settle down to the prosy realities of everyday life. The male goes back to his old-time pursuit of rifling the flowers of their MOURNING-CLOAK BUTTERFLY. Larva Feeding on Willow Leaf, and Chrysalis Suspended from Twig. honeyed treasures, whilst the female, upon whom devolves the duty of providing for the offspring whom she is never likely to see, looks scrutinizingly about for her favorite trees, the poplar, the elm, or the willow. In her selection of a tree a wonderfully keen discernment is shown, for she seldom, if ever, mistakes her plant-species. When a choice has been made, no time is expended in fruitless endeavor. She proceeds at once to deposit her eggs. Fiibernating Butterfiics. 147 They are laid in a cluster round the twig, and near the petiole of a young leaf, upon which the newly-hatched larvee are to feed. The eggs hatch inside of a week into small black spiny caterpillars which, in their early stages, are very social in their habits. Just before the final skin-moulting they separate, each caterpillar living alone, the necessity for food, which their very vigorous appetites now demand, being the impelling motive. In a state of maturity the larve are two inches in length. They are black, and minutely dotted with white, which gives them a greyish look. A row of brick-red spots are found down the back, and their body is armed with many black, rather long and slightly branching spines. The head is black, and roughened with small black tubercles. Having completed their period of feeding, which they do in about four weeks, the caterpillars attach themselves by means of their tails to a fence-rail, a window-ledge, or some such place, and pass into the chrysalis state, which is accom- plished in about four days. In this condition they present an odd-looking appearance. The head will be found to be deeply notched, or furnished with two ear-like prominences. The sides are very angular. In the middle of the thorax there is a thin projection, somewhat like a Roman nose in profile, while on the back are two rows of very sharp tuber- cles of a tawny color, which contrast very markedly in coloration with the dark-brown of the rest of the chrysalis. Fifteen days, when the weather is favorable, are sufficient for the development of the imago, or butterfly. As maturity approaches, the chrysalis-shell becomes quite soft, and the efforts of the imago to free itself from this covering are facili- tated by the ejection of a blood-red fluid, which rots the case, while it acts, at the same time, as a lubricant to the emerging butterfly. When these caterpillars are very abundant, as was the case in the vicinity of Germantown some twenty-five years ago, every fence-rail was hung with chrysalids, as many as 148 Life and Immortality. a dozen being found upon a single rail. The caterpillars even climbed up the sides of the houses and suspended them- selves from the window-ledges and the edges of the over- hanging shingles. When the butterflies emerged, great blotches of the fluid bespattered the fences and houses as though the clouds had rained great drops of blood. The willows and poplars were alive with the caterpillars, and even the maples were overrun when there came a scarcity of the leaves of the natural food-plants. Green caterpillar-hunters were everywhere plentiful, and the writer could have taken hundreds of specimens, but these highly-useful beetles made a very sorry attempt in holding the enemy in check. Two broods of the caterpillars are raised, one in June and the other in August, but the agencies by nature employed for their destruction so effectually accomplish their mission that hardly a season brings to my notice a dozen full-grown larve. Vanessa antiopa, as this species is called by the scientific student, or Mourning-Cloak by people and ama- teurs, is generally found through the whole of North Amer- ica. In England, where it is popularly called the Camber- well Beauty, because specimens were first taken near Cam- berwell, it is the rarest of butterflies; while on the Continent, as in this country, it is a very plentiful insect. IEAF-CUTTER BEE. EW hymenoptera of the family of bees are so little known as the Megachilide, or Leaf-cutters. They are stout, thick-bodied insects, with large, square heads, and armed with sharp, scissors-like jaws, which admirably fit them for the work they have to do in preparing materials for the building of their homes. Our commonest species, Megachile centuncularis, is about the size of the hive-bee. In gardens and nurseries where shrubbery abounds, it is very prevalent, especially the female, which is readily distinguished by a thick mass of stout, dense hair on the under side of the tail, which serves as a carrier of pollen. The honey- and bumble-bees differ mate- rially from them, for they have the hind tibiz and basal joints of the tarsi very much broadened for that purpose. Megachile is by no means a remarkable-looking insect. Judging from its very humble exterior, one can hardly believe it possessed of the wonderful intelligence, as shown in its wise provisions for its young, which it is found to display. Ordinarily the female, who is entrusted with the discharge of this very essential business, places her nest in the solid earth underneath some species of shrub. A vertical hole, three inches in depth, is dug, and this is enlarged into a horizontal gallery, some five or six inches in length. You should see the little creature in her never-tiring work of preparing material for her nest. In and out among the roses she goes, examining each leaf with the most critical care, and only desisting from her labor when a suitable one 150 Life and Immortality. I) J wy au a LEAF-CUTTER BEE AT WORK. Two Tunnels Being Filled With Leaf-Cells. has been chosen. She scans it over and over, and at last from a position on its upper or nether surface proceeds to cut a piece just fitted for her work, which, heavy as it seems, is seized between the legs and jaws and carried on swiftly- agitated wings to her burrow. Ten pieces or more, each differing in shape, are cut and borne away, which the ingenious insect tailor twists and folds, the one within the other, until is formed a funnel-like cone, whose end is narrower than its mouth. So perfectly joined are the parts, that even when dry they have been found to retain their form and integrity. A cake of honey and pollen, for the use of some yet unborn Leaf-cutter, is Leaf-Cutter Bee. 151 deposited within, and on this, in due time, is laid a single small egg. Nought now remains but to wall up the cell. A circle of leaf, of the size of the opening, is cut, and this is closely adjusted within the wall of rolled-up leaves. Some- times as many as four pieces are thus utilized. A second cell, similarly built, is fitted to the first, and this is succeeded by eight or ten others. When all is completed, the eggs being laid and the cells all victualled, the hole of the shaft is closed with the earth that was thrown out, and so carefully, too, that not a trace of her doings remains to tell us the story. Like other insects, Megachile is occasionally prone to change. Some laborers while digging, one early spring-day, some thirteen years ago, about a cluster of plants of Spir@a corymbosa, a species allied to the roses and cinquefoils, came unexpectedly upon a dozen or more cells of this insect, arranged horizontally in layers, some three or four inches below the ground’s surface. These cells were three-fourths of an inch in length, one-fourth in width, and formed of the leaves of Spirza. Six circles, of three pieces each, consti- tuted the cell, and these were so arranged that each succeed- ing circle was made to project but slightly beyond its pre- decessor. Six circular pieces, larger than seemed needful, closed up the opening of each cell. That there was a pur- pose here manifested was very apparent. This purpose, as it appeared to the writer, was the better accommodation by the hollow surface of the cell that was to follow, and the giv- ing of greater firmness and security to the entire structure. More curious, however, were some cells that were found the ensuing year, which, in looks, resembled very closely those of Pelopzus, a species of wasp, familiarly designated the Mud-dauber. These cells, in numbers of three, were adherent to the rafters of a hardly-used garret. In form, and in the peculiar combination of their pellets of clay, they were the exact counterpart of the Mud-dauber’s. But the curious funnel-like arrangement of leaves on the inside, so 152 Life and Immortality. strikingly characteristic of the Megachilide, was evidence of the most positive kind that Pelopezus had nothing whatever to do with their putting together. It bespoke a piece of work that was entirely beyond the highest capability of her being to execute. Each of the included leafy cells was one and one-eighth inches in length, and just barely exceeding one-fourth in width. Elliptical pieces of Spirzea, less in size than those previously described, but arranged in a similar manner, com- posed the several structures. Within each, a dead but per- fectly-formed Megachile, encased in a cylindrical bag of silk, was found, so that there could be no possible doubt of the builder. That this inner fabric was the labor of some mother Megachile admits not of a scruple, for no other bee is known to construct a nest of like character. But what of the outer enveloping fabric of mud? It was clearly impos- sible for the skill of a Megachile, who, while certainly fitted for tunnelling the ground and for snipping circular and elliptical pieces of suited dimensions from leaves with all a tailor’s precision, would find herself wofully unadapted for the making of mortar and the building of nests, in imitations of tunnels, out of pellets of mud that had to be moulded into consistency and shape by the jaws of the builder. Pelo- peus alone, of all hymenopters, possesses the ability and means of making such structures. Megachile, who is known to occasionally build under the boards of the roof of a piazza, might sometimes in her quest of a place appropriate the dis- carded cells of some pre-existent Pelopzus for nesting pur- poses, but she runs a very great risk in so doing, for the Mud-dauber does not always build a fresh home for her treasures, save when there is a lack of the last year’s struct- ures. Old nests, when found, are put in speedy repair and made to do as invaluable a service. BATTLE BETWEEN AXTS. HILST reclining one beautiful May afternoon in the shade of an oak that stood on the outskirts of a thicket, my attention was arrested by the activity and bustle presented by a colony of yellow ants, which proved to be the Formica flava, so common everywhere. Scattered indiscriminately about were numberless larve in various stages of growth, and not a few immobile pupe, that had been brought up from subterranean domiciles by thoughtful nurses, while here and there were a dozen or more ants, but recently escaped from their mummy-cases, basking in the sun’s warmth, preparatory to entering upon the duties of the formicarium. The very picture of restlessness and anxiety were these full-grown neuters. That something was transpiring, or was about to transpire, seemed not unlikely, for ova, larve and pupz were being quickly carried to places of concealment in the earth, or hustled away among the entangling and inter- lacing grasses. Looking about for the cause of all this excitement, the truth at once became painfully apparent. Three large, burly ants, representatives of Formuca subterranea, a black species that is everywhere abundant in wooded regions, had intruded their obnoxious presence into the happy colony, bent, as it was evident, on pillage or slaughter. Were plunder the inspiring motive, these giant invaders were not slow to learn that their weaker kin, though lacking their strength, could more than match them in cunning and stratagem. 154 Life and Immortality. Not daring to attack the foe, and being unwilling that any of their number should be led into slavery, or suffer aught at the hands of others, they immediately set to work to destroy all whom it was impossible to protect. Detailed as most of the neuters seemed to be in looking after the wants of the immature, there were a few observed | running hither and thither and seizing in their jaws the newly- developed, not to bear them out of the reach of danger, ule UN ISIN iii: HOLA Ra, BOM RATS Ul = iy 0 BATTLE BETWEEN ANTS. Young Destroyed by Nurses. as was at first supposed, but to kill them so as to prevent them from falling a living prey into the hands of the enemy. Knowing the sympathy and affection which the nurses are ever wont to cherish towards the objects of their care, this act of cruelty struck me as something very astonishing and peculiar. Prompted by curicsity to know the nature of the wounds thus inflicted, I placed upon the palm of my hand one of the wounded ants, and made, by means of a microscope, a Battle Between Ants. 155 careful examination of its injuries. Above and below the abdomen, between the second and third segments, two deep wounds, which met each other in the interior, were plainly to be seen. Several cases of the kind were afterwards noticed. These were not accidental occurrences, made through efforts to carry the young to places of shelter. Possibly, through inexperience, accidents might happen once in a long time, but to suppose that insects, accustomed to handling their young as the neuters assuredly are, would be likely to make such blunders, is too unreasonable to be entertained. Ad- mitting for argument’s sake that such things might occa- sionally occur, would successive repetitions be expected? I apprehend not. But on the supposition that a purpose was thereby subserved, the object had in view warrants, it would seem, the means employed for its accomplishment. What the purpose was it will now be my aim to show. That many animals, tame as well as wild, are wont to destroy disabled and wounded companions, is well established by history. In many instances the destruction is justified to preserve the herd or pack from the close pursuit of enemies. “Tnstinct or reason,’ as Darwin says, “may suggest the expelling an injured companion, lest beasts of prey, includ- ing man, should be tempted to follow the troop.” Audubon, in writing of the wild turkey, so abundant in his day, observes substantially that the old males in their marches often destroy the young by picking the head, but do not venture to disturb the full-grown and vigorous. The feeble and immature being an encumbrance, it is obvious that the watchfulness and attention which they would require, were sympathy and affection the emotions by which the males are actuated, would necessarily retard progress, and lead to the destruction of the entire flock. Instinct or reason here operates for individual and family good. Granting that instinct or reason does sometimes act for individual and family preservation in the manner described, 156 Life and Tmmortahty. I am not willing to admit that in every case that may arise in which the weak and disabled are sacrificed, that it is done for the material benefit of the physically able and robust. How the destruction of the weak and nearly-developed ant can result in good to the colony, in view of the fact that not the slightest effort to escape the danger by flight is under- taken, the sole object being the hiding of the young, it is most difficult to conceive. There seems to be one of two theories, in the writer’s judgment, that will, in anything like a satisfactory manner, account for this strange, abnormal habit upon the part of an insect that has been proverbially distinguished for its kind and affectionate disposition towards the tender beings com- mitted to its trust; either to attribute it to an unwillingness and dislike to see its offspring made the servants of a hostile race or the subjects of ill-treatment and abuse, or to the survival of a habit of the past when its ancestors were a migratory, or nomadic, species. That a feeling of repugnance does sometimes take posses- sion of animal nature when the objects of parental care and solicitude are, or are about to be, reduced to slavery or con- finement, and impels to actions of cruelty, will be patent from what follows :— A friend, several summers ago, having procured a pair of young robins, placed them in a cage, which he hung from a tree-branch close to his dwelling, where the parent-birds could have an opportunity to feed them. All went well for a few days, when the parents, who had busied themselves in the intervals of feeding in attempts to secure their release, finding their efforts unavailing, flew away, but only to return with something green in their bills, most probably poisonous caterpillars, which they fed to their offspring. A few min- utes later and they lay in the bottom of the cage dead, but the parents, as if conscious of what would result, flew away, and never came back. Battle Between Ants. 157 May it not be that the parents, finding all efforts to restore their young to freedom ineffectual, sought this method of saving them from a life to which death must assuredly be preferable? Instances of like character might be adduced by the hundred, but enough has been written to show that, in the case of Formica flava, an unwillingness to allow the humblest of the colony to be taken into bondage was the motive which prompted the sacrifice. NEST-BUILDING FISHES. OT alone in color do fishes resemble birds. In the home-life and love of offspring a close resemblance obtains. Many are nest-builders, erecting structures quite as complicated as those of some birds, and hardly less elab- orate in design and finish. Floating along some woodland stream, or strolling along its grass-fringed margin, we have watched the domestic life of the Sun-fish, the Eupomotis vulgaris of writers, that mot- tled, bespangled beauty that seems always on hand to be caught by the angler in default of more noble game. Where delicate grasses grow, and floating lily-pads cast their shadows, there among the winding stems the Sun-fish builds its home. Moving in pairs in and out among the lilies near the shore, as if jointly selecting a site for a nursery, they may be seen. The spot is generally a gravelly one, and, once determined upon, no time is lost in pushing the work to a speedy conclusion. For several inches around the space is cleared of stems or roots, and these are carefully carried away. The smaller roots are swept aside by well- directed blows of their tails, or by mimic whirlpools which the fishes, standing over the nest, create by their fins. The stones are next taken up, the smaller ones in their mouths, the larger being pushed out bodily, or fanned away by the sweeping process, until an oval depression, with a sandy bottom, finally appears. About the sides the stems of aquatic verdure, which seem to have been purposely left, may be seen standing, and these now naturally fall over, oftentimes constituting the nest a perfect bower, with walls Nest-Building Fishes. 159 bedecked with buds, while the roof is a mat of white lilies floating upon the surface. Here the eggs are deposited, the male and female alternately watching them. While the Sun-fish is always recognized as the most peace- ful of the finny tribe, and only chasing in wanton playfulness its neighbors, it is otherwise when the passions are wrought to a high pitch of excitement through the play of amatory influences in the spring-time. Let a stranger, a bewhiskered Aue NEST OF COMMON SUN-FISH. Male and Female Defending It from Attack of Cat-fish. cat-fish, approach the bower, and war is at once declared. The little creatures snap at the intruder with anger and defi- ance. Their sharp dorsal fins stand erect, the pectorals vibrate with repressed emotion, while the violent movements of their powerful tails evince a readiness and determination to stand by their home at all hazards. Indeed, so vigorous is their charge, that even large fishes are forced to retreat, and, 160 Life and [mmortality. as the Sun-fishes build in companies, the intruder often finds himself attacked by a whole colony of them. Nearly all the Sun-fishes are nest-builders, some forming arbors, as we have seen, others scooping out nests on sandy shoals, while one, the Spotted Sun-fish, is more democratic, affecting muddy streams, where, on the approach of cold weather, it makes a nest in the muddy bottom, and there it lies dormant till the coming spring. Who has not made friends with the Dace—A/zuichthys atronasus? He is a veritable finny jester. We have - watched him in his watery retreat, and, perhaps unseen, have played the spy upon his domestic proceedings. Life is a gala time to these little fishes. They have seem- ingly never a care or a bother. In jest they join in the chase of some curious minnow that intrudes upon their presence, suddenly changing their course to dash at some resplendent dragon-fly that hovers over the leafy canopy of their home, and as quickly darting off again to attack some bit of floating leaf or imaginary insect. All is not play, however, even among the Dace. The warm days of June usher in the sterner duties, the nesting- time. Male and female join in the preparation, and a locality, perhaps in shallow water in some running brook, is selected. Roots, snags and leaves are carried away, both fishes sometimes found tugging away at a single piece, taking it down-stream, and working faithfully and vigor- ously until, in a few hours, a clearing over two feet in diameter is the result. There the first eggs are laid. The male, who has retired, soon appears from up-stream, bearing in his mouth a pebble, which is placed in the centre of the clearing. Now they both swim away, but soon returning, each bearing a pebble, that is also dropped upon the eggs. Slowly the work pro- ceeds, until a layer of clean pebbles apparently covers the eggs. A second layer of eggs is now deposited by the female, and these are covered by pebbles as the others had Nest-Building Fishes. 161 been, the industrious little workers scouring the neighbor- bood for them, seemingly piling up eggs and stones alter- nately until the heap attains a height of eight inches or more. These heaps vary in shape, some being pyramidal, and others dome-shaped. Such patience as these finny housekeepers manifest is not appreciated by man. The gleaners of the golden fields, in whose waters our little friends are found, have not discovered their secret, and think the curious piles the washes of the brook itself. But their purpose is the protection of their eggs. In swift-running streams, which these fish are so wont to affect, the eggs would be washed away, and, driven against rocks and snags, would be destroyed, or, even escaping destruction, would, by the undulating movement to which they would become subjected, be rendered impossible of incubation. Besides, were they not thus protected, even though there was no danger of being washed away, they would become easy prey to the attacks of carnivorous fishes. Unlike as the Lamprey-eels are in structure to the Dace, yet in their habits of erecting a nest they are very similar. Upon our Eastern sea-board they are a common species, inhabiting both salt and fresh water. In the early spring they follow the shad up the rivers, occasionally preceding them, and search about for suitable localities in which to deposit their spawn. They clean away the stones as the Dace were seen to do, bending their long bodies in coils, which they use in pushing aside the accumulation on the bottom. To the unlearned the appearance of two Eels, each three feet in length, twisting and seemingly coiling about each other, would be indicative of war. But having cleaned for themselves a smooth spot, the Lampreys proceed to place stones. Irregularly-shaped stones of small size are easily and quickly transported in their mouths, but when stones that weigh several pounds are to be brought, the tactics they adopt are worthy of an engineer. As the spots chosen for 162 Life and Immortality. the rearing of their submarine castles are ordinarily sub- jected to a swift current, the largest stones, which it would be thought impossible for them to move, are looked for up stream. A suitable one found, and a favorable position pre- sented, the sucking mouth is fastened to it, and by a con- vulsive effort, the tail of the fish being raised aloft, the heavy stone is lifted from its place, the current pushing against the fish and stone, bearing them along several feet before they sink. Another effort of the fish, and the rock is again raised and carried down stream, until finally, by repeated liftings and struggles, the ingenious, persevering nest-builder is swept down to the nest, where the load is deposited. This labo- rious work is carried on until the pile has attained a height of two or three feet, and a diameter of four. No special form seems to be necessary. The nest is generally oval, compact and well devised to contain the eggs, which are carefully deposited within, thus affording protection in its numerous interstices for the young when they hatch. When about six inches long, the young Petromyzon marinus, which is a strange little fellow, is devoid of teeth, and blind, and possesses so many characteristics distinct from the parent, that for a long time he was considered a separate species, and even assigned a place in a different genus. Enormous nests are sometimes built. “John M. Batchelder, Esq., describes one, which he saw in the Saco River, Maine, that was about fifteen feet long, and from one to three feet in height, its position and triangular shape in vertical section being well adapted for securing a change of water, and a hiding-place for the young. The operation of building was very methodical, a hundred and more Eels being at work upon the structure. Water- worn stones, chips of granites and fragments of bricks, some- times weighing as much as two pounds and transported bya single individual, were utilized in the building. More remarkable, however, than any previously described, are the nests of the Fresh-water Chub, Sesoti#lus bullaris, which is known in some localities as the Stone Toter. Nest-Building Fishes. 163 BLACK-NOSED DACE. Constructing Their Nest of Pebbles. This fish attains a length of about fifteen inches. The finest nests are on the shores of Westminster Island, but they are common on nearly every island that has a sandy, gravelly shore among the many that make up the Thousand Islands. The nest is a pile of stones, sometimes measuring ten feet across at the base, four feet in height, and containing a good- sized cart-load of stones, weighing in all perhaps a ton. Stones from small pebbles to some four inches in length were used, and as some of the nests are placed at consider- able distances from the gravel-beds, and each stone repre- sented a journey, the amount of labor performed, when it is considered that tens of thousands of stones must have been used in the building, certainly was incredible. Each stone is brought in the mouth of the Chub and dropped over the piles, one or more fishes working at the same heap. Some plan is evidently followed in the work, the first deposit of stones being small, and dropped so as to 1604 Life and Imimortahty. form a circle or semi-circle. The largest heaps are undoubt- edly the work of successive years, the nests being annually added to during the last of May or June, when the Chubs are seen lying in the heaps, at which time the eggs are prob- ably deposited, All the labor of piling up is to protect them from predatory fishes, a necessary and wise provision, as cat-fish, rock-bass, perch and others prey upon the eggs. In gravelly beds the Trout excavates a simple nest, a mere depression in the sand, that is not at all incomparable to the nest of some species of gulls. A furrow in the gravelly bottom of a river, often ten feet in length, the depression being made as fast as it is required, is the nest of the Salmon. In Canadian rivers these nests can be easily distinguished by the lighter marking in the bottom. Few persons of the many who delight to drift along our sea-shores are unfamiliar with the Toad-fish. So closely does he in shape and color resemble a moss-covered stone that his enemies are deceived. Intrenched among the weeds and gravel, which the mother-fish carelessly throws aside, after the fashion of some of the gulls, the young are reared, their yolk-sacs enabling them to cling to the rocks of the nest soon after birth. There, under the watchful eye of the parent, they remain until old enough to swim away. But the most vigilant of all nest-builders is the Four- spined Stickleback—