Chapter II: English and American Literature -- Outline Charts of English and (18)

=Flying-fish.=--Various fishes which have the power of sustaining themselves for a time in the air by means of their large pectoral fins. Generally, however, the name is limited to the species of the genus _Exocoetus_, which belongs to the family of mackerel-pikes. These can pass through the air to a considerable distance, sometimes as much as two hundred yards, to escape from the attacks of other fishes, especially the dolphin. They are most common between the tropics.

=Goldfish.= See page 256.

=Haddock= (_Gadus æglefinus_) is a fish of the same genus as the cod, and much resembling it in general appearance; but distinguished by a notched tail and a white line along the side. In habits the two are much alike, being voracious, eating anything edible, but largely clams and the like.

=Halibut= (_Hippoglossus vulgaris_), the largest of all the flat-fish and in form more elongated than the flounder or the turbot. The halibut, though esteemed for the table, is not to be compared in quality with the turbot; its flesh is white and firm, dry and of little flavor. It attains a great size; specimens have been caught weighing at least five hundred pounds, and one caught in Iceland was little short of twenty feet long.

=Herring= (_Clupea harengus_) belongs to the order of bony fishes and is spread over the whole North Atlantic. It is of great economic importance, and occurs in large schools, swimming through the sea with open mouths, scooping up the minute life for food. Immense numbers are taken both here and abroad, the annual catch for Europe and America being estimated at a billion and a half pounds. The young are also taken in vast quantities and are preserved as American sardines. With us most of the adults are smoked and dried.

=Mackerel= (_Scomber_), a genus of fishes which also includes the tunny, bonito, and sucking fishes. It is an important food fish occurring in the North Atlantic and characterized by its slender shape, the series of little finlets on the tail and the deeply notched caudal or tail fin. It is taken both by hooks and by seines. Some are eaten in the fresh condition and some are salted. It goes in large schools. Allied is the Spanish mackerel of our southern waters and the large horse mackerel which is more common in the Mediterranean, where it is called the tunny.

=Perch= (_Perca_).--Spiny-finned fishes, well represented by the Fresh-water Perch (_P. fluviatilis_), which is widely distributed in lakes, ponds, and rivers in Europe, Northern Asia, North America and Britain. It is of a greenish-brown color above and golden yellow on the under parts, with six or seven indistinct dark bands on the back. In length it measures about eighteen inches, and its height is about a third of this. It sometimes weighs from three to five pounds, and a prize of nine pounds has been recorded.

=Porgy.=--A food fish on the eastern coast from Cape Cod south, known also as scup. It should not be confounded with the pogy or menhaden, one of the herrings, which is taken extensively for oil.

=Pollack= (_Gadus pollachius_), a fish, belonging to the cod genus. It is about the size of the coal-fish, is active in habit, and is frequently caught. The lower jaw projects beyond the upper, and there is no barbel. It has commercial value in the English Channel and off the coasts of Newfoundland. Allied species, which promise a valuable future, abound from Puget Sound to Alaska on the Pacific coast.

=Salmon= (_Salmo_), a genus of well-known fish which inhabits both salt and fresh waters, and ranks among the food-fishes. It generally attains a length of from three to four feet, and an average weight of from twelve to thirty pounds, but these limits are frequently exceeded. The adult fish is a steel-blue on the back and head, becoming lighter on the sides and belly.

It usually continues in the shallows of its native stream for two years after hatching, and during this period it attains a length of eight inches. When the season of its migration arrives, the fins have become darker and the fish has assumed a silvery hue. It is now known as a _smolt_ or _salmon fry_. The smolts now congregate into shoals and proceed seaward. On reaching the estuary they remain in its brakish water for a short time and then make for the open sea. Leaving its native river as a fish weighing, it may be, not more than two ounces, the smolt, after three months’ absence, may return to fresh water as a _grilse_, weighing four or five pounds. In the grilse stage, the fish is capable of depositing eggs. After spawning in the fresh water the grilse again seeks the sea in the autumn, and when its second stay in the ocean is over it returns after a few months’ absence as the adult salmon, weighing from eight to ten pounds. The salmon returns as a rule to the river in which it passed its earlier existence. The fertility of the fish is enormous.

Salmon are caught by the rod, and by means of nets, the fishings being regulated by law. There are important fisheries in some European and North American rivers. In Europe the fish is found between the latitudes of forty-five and seventy-five degrees, in North America in corresponding latitudes. The flesh when fresh is of a bright orange color, and is of highest flavor when taken from the sea-feeding fish. In the waters of northwestern America are several salmon belonging to a distinct genus, including the quinnat or king-salmon, blue-back salmon or redfish, silver salmon, dog salmon, and humpback salmon. The quinnat has an average weight of twenty-two pounds, but sometimes reaches one hundred pounds. Both it and the blue-back salmon are caught in immense numbers in the Columbia, Sacramento, and Frazer rivers (especially in spring), and are preserved by canning.

=Sardine, or Pilchard= (_Clupea pilchardus_) is an important fish closely related to the herring and sprat. In size it grows from ten to fourteen inches; in color it is bluish-green above, whitish underneath and on its sides. It is entirely marine in habit, and its eggs float on the surface of the sea, unlike those of the herring, which are attached to objects at the bottom. The young, before it has attained maturity, is known as the sardine, and as such forms a valuable fishery; the full-grown pilchard is used as an article of diet as well as for bait. The method of capture is usually by drift-net. It is most abundant off the coasts of Portugal, and in the English Channel and the Mediterranean.

=Shad= is a migratory fish of great food value. It ascends all of the rivers of the eastern coast of the United States every spring to lay its eggs. It is closely related to the herring, but is much larger, and were it not so full of bones it would stand very near the head of food fishes.

=Smelt= (_Osmerus_) is a genus of the Salmon family, characterized by strong fang-like teeth, and by rather large scales, which readily fall off. The form is very trout-like, but rather more slender; the tail is larger in proportion, and more forked. The back is whitish, tinged with green; the upper part of the sides shows bluish tints, the lower part of the sides and the belly are of a bright silvery color. The smelt has a peculiar, cucumber-like smell, and a delicious flavor, on account of which it is highly esteemed for the table.

=Sole= (_Solea_) is a fish oval in shape, the outline of the snout being semi-circular, and projecting somewhat beyond the mouth. The Common Sole (_S. vulgaris_) is a fish of high value in European markets. It lives in European seas from the Mediterranean to the north of Denmark, and is rarely caught on the American side of the Atlantic Ocean, although numerous closely allied kinds abound.

=Sword-fish= (_Xiphiidae_) are abundantly represented in tropical and subtropical seas. They are among the largest bony fishes, sometimes measuring twelve to fifteen feet in length. The sword, which may be over three feet long, is formed from a compressed prolongation of the upper jaw, and is often strong enough to stab whales fatally, or less advantageously to pierce the bottom of a ship or the planks of a boat. Sword-fish are said to attack whales and other cetacea, and also boats and canoes, and even large vessels.

=Trout=, a name applied to various members of the Salmon family. The Common or Brown Trout (_Salmo fario_) varies greatly in appearance, not only with individuals but at different seasons, and this variability has led some authorities to distinguish a number of subspecies.

At midsummer an adult trout is usually brownish or olive in color, with pure white on the belly and gold on the flanks, while the back varies from olive or pale brown to nearly black. The dorsal fin and sides are spotted with black and often also with scarlet. The scales are circular, thin and minute. When the spawning season begins in autumn all the color disappears and the body becomes slimy to the touch. The head of the male is larger than that of the female, and the lower jaw bears a cartilaginous knob. It feeds on a large variety of food, different kinds appealing in turn. It is by cunning imitations of some prevailing fly that the fisherman makes his most cherished captures.

The artificial hatching of trout is now carried on extensively, and lakes and streams can be stocked or replenished with fish if they are not too polluted.

The Bull Trout or Sea Trout (_S. eriox_) most resembles the salmon in appearance and habits, though thicker in proportion to its length, and with larger and more numerous dark spots on the gill-covers and scales.

The Salmon or White Trout (_S. trutta_) is a more elegant fish, and its flesh is much more delicate in flavor. The habits of both are similar.

The Rainbow Trout (_Salmo irideus_) of America has been introduced into many parts of the world; in New Zealand, especially in Lake Taupo, it attains the greatest size, many tons being caught yearly.

=Whitefish= (_Coregonus clupeiformis_), the common whitefish, is the largest of all the American lake whitefish. It is very highly esteemed for food, ranking, indeed, as one of the finest table fishes. Its range extends from Lake Champlain to the Arctic Circle.

=CARTILAGINOUS FISHES= (_Elasmobranchii_)

These fishes have a cartilaginous, pliant, undeveloped skeleton, and
are not covered with true scales. They include rays, sawfish,
sharks, skates and others.

=Ray,= a popular name applied to many of the flat cartilaginous fishes: Thornbacks, Electric Rays, Sting-rays, Eagle-rays are representative. They lead a somewhat sedentary life at the bottom of the sea, moving sluggishly by undulations of the pectoral fins which form a large part of the flat body. Many attain a large size, sometimes measuring six feet across.

=Sawfish= (_Pristis_) are distinguished by the prolongation of the snout into a formidable weapon bordered on each side by sharp teeth. Some species are found off the southern coasts of North America and in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Mediterranean and many other seas. With its saw, which is sometimes six feet in length, the sawfish slashes or rips up its prey, and its assault is often fatal to large whales.

=Sharks= are a group of very simple fishes, which have only a cartilage skeleton, no bone being developed anywhere in them. They have the gill openings on the side of the neck separate, and in all of the common species the mouth is on the lower side of the head instead of at the tip, as in ordinary fishes. The tail has unequal lobes, the upper lobe being much the larger. There are always four paired fins and one or more on the back. The size of the sharks varies from the smaller dogfish, about two feet long, to the great basking shark, some forty feet in length. Most of these species are very voracious, but the tales of man-eating are often exaggerated, although occasionally they may occur. Some of the largest species feed exclusively on shellfish. The flesh of several species is good to eat, but they are mostly neglected in America. The livers are very rich in oil, which commands a good price for use in dressing leather. In some species the skin has small spines and was formerly used (it was called shagreen) instead of sandpaper. Skin with larger plates is sometimes used in the manufacture of pocketbooks, etc.

=Skates= (_Raia batis_).--A group of fishes, closely related to the sharks, but having the body flattened from above downward, and with the anterior fins so united to the side of the head and the body that it has a rhomboid appearance and the tail seems like an inconsiderable appendage. The mouth and the gill openings are on the under surface. The animals are bottom feeders, living on clams and mussels, buried in the mud. In Europe some of the smaller species are used for food. Another has a large electric battery on either side of the head, capable of giving very strong shocks. This is called the torpedo.

=ARMORED FISH= (_Ganoidei_)

These include, among others, the Bony Pike and the Sturgeons.

=Bony Pike or Garfish.=--A remarkable genus of fishes inhabiting North American lakes and rivers, and one of the few living forms that now represent the order of ganoid fishes so largely developed in previous geological epochs. The body is covered with smooth, enameled scales, so hard that it is impossible to pierce them with a spear. The common garfish attains a length of five feet, and is easily distinguished by the great length of its jaws.

=Sturgeon= (_Acipenser_).--These large, sluggish fishes, some reach a length of over ten feet, and live on worms, crustacea, and mollusks. The body is long and narrow with five rows of bony shields. There are many species of sturgeon, all confined to the northern hemisphere. They live in the sea and great lakes, and ascend the great rivers. All supply valuable commodities, for which they are regularly captured on a large scale. These commodities are their flesh, which is palatable and wholesome, their roe (caviare), and their air-bladders, from which isinglass is made.

The most important sturgeon-fishery in Europe is that of the Volga and the Caspian Sea. The flesh of the fish is salted, and caviare and isinglass made on a large scale from the roes and air-bladder.

THE STERLET (_A. ruthenus_) is a much smaller species, which is common in the Black and Caspian Seas, and ascends the Danube as far as Vienna. It is one of the principal objects of the sturgeon fishery on the Volga.

In America sturgeon flesh is eaten fresh, and caviare is made both in Georgia and in San Francisco; but there is no great fishery in any particular district, and the manufacture of isinglass does not receive much attention. The sturgeon of the great lakes (_A. rubicundus_) and the Shovel-nose of the Mississippi valley are the chief American species.

=LUNG-FISHES OR DOUBLE-BREATHERS=

(_Dipnoi_) are at present represented by three fresh-water types,
the insignificant remnant of a group that was once dominant in the
sea, and would have become entirely extinct if some of its members
had not taken to live in the waters of the land. These types are the
eel-shaped mud-fishes of West Africa (_Protopterus_) and South
America (_Lepidosiren_), and a Queensland form (_Ceratodus_). In all
these the swim-bladder has been converted into a regular lung, which
returns purified blood to the heart. The African form lives in
streams which are liable to dry up, and were it not for the
possession of a kind of lung capable of breathing air, it would
perish during the dry season, whereas it remains embedded in the mud
in a torpid state till the rains return.

The Queensland lung-fish lives under somewhat different conditions,
for its native rivers do not entirely dry up, but are reduced to a
series of deep holes connected by mere trickles of water. These
holes become so foul from decaying vegetation and dead fish that the
possession of a lung is a vital matter, and if the _ceratodus_ were
not able to come to the surface and breathe air it would probably
succumb.

_THE MOLLUSCS_ (_Molluska_)

=SNAILS, CUTTLEFISHES, SQUIDS, OCTOPUS, TUSK SHELLS, BIVALVE MOLLUSCS, OYSTERS=

THE MOLLUSCS have no limbs. The body is surrounded by a membraneous
sac, from the secretions of which in many species a chalky shell is
formed. The organs of circulation, digestion, and respiration are
well developed. The under side of the body is thickened into a
fleshy “foot,” by which locomotion is effected, and there is a
well-marked head.

The Molluscs are divided into five classes: (1) Snails and Slugs
(_Gastropoda_). (2) Cuttlefishes (_Cephalopoda_); (3) Tusk Shells
(_Scaphopoda_); (4) Bivalves (_Lamellibranchia_); (5) Mail Shells
(_Protomollusca_).

=Argonaut= (_Argonauta_) belongs to the two-gilled cuttle-fishes, and are distinguished by the females possessing a single-chambered external shell not organically connected with the body of the animal. The males have no shell and are of much smaller size than the females. The shell is fragile, translucent, and boat-like in shape; it serves as the receptacle of the eggs of the female, which sits in it with the respiratory tube or “funnel” turned toward the carina or “keel.” This famed mollusk swims only by ejecting water from its funnel, and it can crawl in a reversed position, carrying its shell over its back like a snail. The argonaut, or _paper-nautilus_, must be carefully distinguished from the _pearly-nautilus_ or nautilus proper.

=Cuttlefish.=--One of the mollusks in which there are ten arms around the mouth. The internal shell is calcified and is used as a supply of lime for cage birds. They have also an ink bag, the secretion of which furnishes the pigment sepia. Cuttle-fish are an important article of food in southern Europe.

=Octopus.=--A mollusk with a rounded body, and a small head bearing a pair of well-developed eyes, the mouth surrounded by eight long arms, each arm bearing numbers of suckers by which the animals hold their prey. Inside the mouth is a pair of jaws, shaped much like those of a parrot. Most of the species are small, possibly averaging a weight of five pounds, but some on the Pacific coast spread nearly twenty-eight feet. The octopus is eaten extensively in the Mediterranean countries.

=Oyster.=--Possibly the most valuable of all of the mollusks. There are various species in all parts of the world, but the best is the American species, which now occurs from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico. Formerly it extended to the coast of Maine, and even now there are scattered beds in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The oyster grows in shallow water, fastening its shell to some rock or shell, and in this way large beds are formed. They are also planted; that is, the young are taken and placed in favorable situations for rapid growth.

The oyster contains but comparatively little nourishment, though eaten extensively. The European oyster is smaller than ours and has a coppery taste.

Allied to the true oysters are the PEARL OYSTERS, especially abundant around Ceylon. These have the interior of the shell lined with mother-of-pearl, and when foreign particles get between body and shell they are covered with the same substance, thus forming the pearls used for adornment. These oysters are obtained by diving; the animal matter is allowed to rot, leaving the pearls behind. The shell is also of value, furnishing material for knife handles, buttons, etc., though most of our pearl buttons are now made from the shells of fresh-water mussels from the Mississippi valley.

=Scallop= (_Pecten_), a well-known bivalve, one of those with a single muscle closing the shell. The valves are fan-shaped, the left often more or less flat, the right more markedly arched; both are marked with sinuous radiating ridges, to which the name pecten (_Lat._ “a comb”) refers. The hinge-line is without teeth, and is extended laterally in two ears. The small finger-shaped foot is usually marked with bright orange or red color. The scallops are widely distributed in all seas, at depths of three to forty fathoms.

=Snails.=--A common name used for any mollusk with a coiled shell. In the narrower meaning it includes only those forms which occur on land. These land-dwelling forms have a slight shell, into which the whole body can be retracted. They feed exclusively on vegetation, which they rasp by means of a long ribbon, just inside the mouth, the surface of which is covered with thousands of minute teeth, so that the whole is a flexible file. The animal creeps about on a broad sole, and has four tentacles on the head, one pair of them bearing the simple eyes at the tip. Snails do considerable damage where they are numerous. One species is eaten by many in Europe, especially in France and Italy. Over ten thousand species are known.

The shells of sea snails are often of great beauty, and large sums have been given by collectors for specimens of unusual elegance or rarity, fifty pounds having been paid for a single example of a species of cone shell (_Conus_). The helmet shells (_Cassis_) are made up of differently colored layers, and on account of their beauty have been largely employed for the carving of cameos.

=Squid.=--A mollusk nearly related to the cuttlefish. It has a barrel-shaped body, with a head in front bearing ten pairs of tapering tentacles, each with numerous suckers. On the side of the head is a well-developed eye. Squid live largely on small fishes which they catch with the tentacles, biting them with a pair of parrot-like jaws. They are largely used as bait in fishing, and to a limited extent as food. The average length is a foot or two, but in the seas around Newfoundland and Japan giants are occasionally found with bodies a dozen feet in length and tentacles adding thirty feet to this.

=Tusk Shells= are a small group of burrowing marine forms, in which the body is covered by a long, curved shell resembling a tusk in shape. There is a small hole at its tip, through which the water which has been used in breathing makes its exit. An imperfectly developed head and a rasping organ are present, and burrowing is effected by a long foot with a three-lobed end. The food consists of small organisms, which are apparently secured by the agency of a bunch of filaments with thickened sticky tips that can be protruded from the mouth of the shell. In some respects these animals are intermediate in structure between typical sea snails and bivalve molluscs.

_JOINTED-LIMBED ANIMALS_ (_Arthropoda_)

=CRABS AND LOBSTERS, SCORPIONS AND SPIDERS, INSECTS AND GRASSHOPPERS=

This great division of the animal kingdom includes far more numerous
species than any other, and is abundantly represented in both salt
and fresh water, on the land and in the air. It consequently
includes both _air-breathers_ and _gill-breathers_: the former,
typical land insects; and the latter, chiefly crustaceous.

=CRABS AND THEIR ALLIES= (_Crustacea_)

The Crustaceans breathe by means of gills, and their bodies consist
of rings. They have two pairs of feelers and two pairs of jaws, to
which are mostly joined one or more pairs of jaw feet. All the
remaining rings of the body may have a pair of limbs each. The head
bears two pairs of feelers. Crustaceans commonly hatch out as
free-swimming larvæ, like the adult in form.

This large class of jointed-limbed animals includes lobsters,
prawns, shrimps, crabs, and other familiar forms, the great bulk of
which are aquatic, though the wood-lice have become adapted to a
life on land.

=1. Common Lobster. 2. Thornback Crab. 3. Land Crab. 4. Hermit Crab. 5. Barnacle. 6. Scorpion. 7. Antarctic Trilobite.=]

=Crab.=--In this class of Crustaceans the abdomen is small and folded under the anterior part of the body. Over two thousand species are known, differing greatly in size, shape, and in other respects. The great majority are marine, but there are a few which spend their entire life on land, only going to the water once a year to lay their eggs. The largest is the great spider crab of Japan, whose legs may stretch out a dozen feet. One species on the Atlantic coast is taken at molting time in great numbers and forms the favorite soft-shell crab of the table. The hermit crabs have the abdomen soft, and to protect this vulnerable part, they insert it in the shell of some dead snail, and carry this about with them wherever they go.

=Barnacle.=--A family of marine crustaceous animals enveloped by a mantle and shell, composed of five principal valves and several smaller pieces, joined together by a membrane attached to their circumference. They are furnished with a long, flexible, fleshy stalk, provided with muscles, by which they attach themselves to ships’ bottoms, submerged timber, etc. They feed on small marine animals, brought within their reach by the water and secured by their tentacula. Some of the larger species are edible.

=Crayfish.=--Small, fresh-water crustaceans, which resemble the lobsters in appearance. They usually live in burrows in the banks or bottoms of streams and feed on decaying animal matter. In Europe they form a considerable element in the food supply and are bred in ponds. A large number of species occur in the United States, and are always to be found in the larger markets.

=Lobster.=--The most important of the crustaceans. One species occurs on our east coast, another on the coast of northern Europe. The body is divided into two regions, the anterior bearing, besides the parts used in taking food, a pair of large pincers and four pairs of walking feet. At the front of the head are two pairs of feelers, which are sensory, and a pair of eyes on the ends of short stalks. The lobsters are fond of decaying fish and are among the scavengers of the sea. They are caught in large traps, called lobster pots, made out of lath and baited with decaying fish. The annual catch on the New England coast is estimated at about thirty million pounds, the average weight of a lobster being between two and three pounds. Farther south on our east coast, in California and the Mediterranean a different animal is called lobster.

=Prawn.=--Crustaceans nearly allied to shrimps and lobsters, but not exclusively marine. They vary in size from a couple of inches to over a foot in some tropical forms. Many of them are semi-transparent, and exhibit very fine colors. On the approach of night they change to a beautiful blue, but the meaning of this “sunset” coloration is not fully understood. Some of the deep-sea prawns are blind; others possess enormous eyes, and many emit a phosphorescent light. They may be caught in putting nets or in osier baskets, like those used for trapping lobsters. They are esteemed for eating even more highly than the shrimp.

=Shrimps.=--Small crustaceans allied to the lobster, most of them inhabitants of the sea. In many countries they form an important part of the diet, but with us they are little used with the exception of one or two southern species which are used as a basis for shrimp salad. Shrimps are very abundant off our coast and could be made an important fishery.

=SCORPIONS AND SPIDERS=

In this class of insects the head and thorax are joined together in
one mass, on which they have two pairs of jaws, and four pairs of
legs.

=Scorpions.=--These spider-like animals have four pairs of legs and a pair of large pincers, as well as a small pair on the anterior half of the body; while the hinder portion consists of at first a broad region, followed by a narrower one, the whole terminated with a sting, with which a poison gland is connected. The animal strikes by bending the end of this tail over the back. Its sting is very painful, but rarely if ever is it fatal. Scorpions occur as far north as Nebraska, but are more common in the tropics. They bring forth living young and care for their brood for a while.

=Spiders= have jointed bodies and legs. The bodies are divided into two regions, the anterior of these bearing four pairs of legs and two smaller pairs of appendages. The most anterior of these are the poison claws. They have a poison gland in the base, while the end of the claw tapers to a point. The front of the head has from six to eight simple eyes. The hinder half of the body, the abdomen, is without appendages, save for two or three pairs of very small projections, the spinnerets. Each of these has numbers of openings at the tip, through which a fluid is forced at will. This hardens immediately it comes in contact with the air and furnishes the silk of which the spider’s web is woven. Fine as it is, this silk is really a cable, being made of numbers of finer threads, one for each opening in the spinnerets. They use the silk for making webs, for cocoons for the eggs, nests, and in some cases for parachutes for flying. Each species makes its own type of web.

Spiders breathe by means of sacks--so-called lungs--on the lower side of the abdomen.

Our common house spider is the same as that of Europe; the largest species we see is the one found occasionally in banana bunches.

The TARANTULA has the greatest reputation from the unfounded belief that its bite causes madness which can be cured only by music. So far as is known there is only one species which can cause serious effects by biting man, and even these cases are not sufficiently authenticated.

The BIRD CATCHING SPIDER is a gigantic spider native to Surinam and elsewhere. It preys upon insects and small birds, which it hunts for and pounces upon. It is about two inches long, very hairy, and almost black; its feet when spread out occupy a surface of nearly a foot in diameter.

HUNTER-SPIDERS. A great many of this species construct no webs, but use their silk merely for lining their dwellings--which are commonly underground--or the construction of protective investments for the eggs. Such forms simply stalk their prey, seizing the victims, when near enough, by a sudden spring. One such type is the tarantula spider described above.

WATER SPIDERS are found in ponds and ditches in this country. They hunt down small crustaceans but do not construct a web. For the protection of the eggs a thimble-shaped nest is woven, moored by threads to stems or leaves, and smeared externally with liquid silk to make it watertight. The nest is filled with air brought down from the surface of the pond in successive bubbles adhering to the hairy body of the spider.

=THE INSECTS= (_Insecta_)

This ubiquitous class includes more species than all the other
groups of land animals put together. The bodies consist of a series
of rings, divided into three sections: the head, the thorax, and the
abdomen. There is an external covering that serves as a protection.
The head possesses a pair of antennæ, two large compound eyes (and
sometimes several simple eyes as well), and three pairs of jaws,
differing greatly in character according to the habits. The thorax
bears three pairs of legs, and in most cases two pairs of wings,
while the abdomen is entirely or practically limbless. The air-tubes
make up an exceedingly complex system, and open to the exterior by a
limited number of air-holes.

All insects undergo a series of changes (metamorphoses). From the
egg first comes the larva (caterpillar, maggot); from the larva
after several changes of the outer skin, the pupa is developed; from
which, after a longer or shorter period of repose, the perfect
insect emerges. In some, such as the dragon flies, the whole course
of metamorphosis, or change, is not gone through; for in the dragon
flies the larva which comes from the egg resembles the full-grown
insect, only it is without wings; but later, without entering the
pupa stage, it develops into the perfect insect. There are
altogether about two hundred thousand various kinds of insects.

The simplest way of classification is into the following nine
orders, though specialists recognize a much larger number: (1)
Wingless insects (_Aptera_); (2) Straight-winged Insects
(_Orthoptera_); (3) Bugs (_Hemiptera_); (4) Fringe-winged Insects
(_Thysanoptera_); (5) Net-winged Insects (_Neuroptera_); (6) Beetles
(_Coleoptera_); (7) Moths and Butterflies (_Lepidoptera_); (8) Flies
(_Diptera_); (9) Membrane-winged Insects (_Hymenoptera_).

=Beetles= (_Coleoptera_).--These include an enormous host of insects. Their horny investment is particularly thick, and they possess strong biting jaws, though these differ in some respects from those described for the cockroach and its allies. The third pair, for instance are much more intimately fused together into a lower lip. The fore wings are modified into hard wing-covers, while the hind wings are membraneous, as in straight-winged insects (cockroaches, grasshoppers, and the like). But there is one marked difference between the two orders in regard to these organs. The hind wings of the latter fold up along a set of longitudinal pleats when they are tucked away under their covers, but in a beetle they are relatively long, and require a transverse fold as well.

The life history of beetles exhibits a well-marked metamorphosis. From the egg a grub hatches out, which, after a time, passes into a motionless pupa stage, and ultimately the investment of this splits open so that the perfect insect may emerge.

Beetles vary in size from a mere point to the bulk of a man’s fist, the largest, the elephant beetle of South America, being four inches long. The so-called “black beetles” of kitchens and cellars are not properly beetles at all, but cockroaches.

The most interesting are the following:

BOMBARDIER BEETLE (_Brachinus crepitans_). This insect is preyed upon by larger beetles of its own family; but when chased, the bombardier ejects an acid fluid from glands situated at the tip of its tail. This acid immediately vaporizes on contact with the atmosphere, and looks like a tiny puff of smoke, while at the same time a distinct report is heard, reminding one of a miniature cannon. The discharge can be repeated several times in rapid succession, and prove very serviceable in keeping the enemy at bay until the little artilleryman is able to find shelter beneath a stone, or in a crevice of the soil.

=Cantharis=, a genus of blister-beetles, represented by the Spanish fly of Southern Europe. The insects are shaken with gloved hands from the branches of trees (ash, privet, lilac, elder, etc.), the gathering in the south of France taking place in May; they are usually killed in a hot vinegar solution and carefully dried. To retain their medicinal properties they must be kept in stoppered bottles. The blistering principle, or cantharidine, is so powerful that those who gather the insects are apt to suffer, and one-hundredth of a grain, placed on the lip, will raise blisters.

=Firefly= (_Elater_).--Some fireflies give forth a steady light, and these may be distinguished as fireflies proper from the glow-worms and “lightning-bugs,” which flash light intermittently.

The most brilliant fireflies are a species most at home in tropical America. One form--_Pyrophorus noctilucus_--common in the West Indies and Brazil, attains a length of about one and one-half inches, and has a dark, rusty-brown color. On the upper surface of the first rings of the thorax are two yellowish oval spots, which are brilliantly luminous during the nocturnal activity of the beetle, while on the first ring of the abdomen a still brighter organ is situated. Even the eggs are luminous, and excised portions placed in a damp chamber remain functional for two or three days. The pounded debris of the insect is also luminous. The luminous organs are special modifications of the epidermic cells, which are disposed in two layers, of which the outer alone is luminous, while the inner contains masses of waste products, and is riddled by air tubes. The luminosity depends on a process of oxidation; the oxygen is supplied by the tracheæ, and the brilliancy varies with the breathing process of the insect. On the sleeping or entirely passive insect a soft light may be observed; the real light is only exhibited during active respiration, and may be exaggerated experimentally by blowing in an extra supply of oxygen. Experiments seem to show that the fireflies utilize their phosphorescence to guide their steps.

=SOME PICTURED MARVELS OF INSECT LIFE=

=Glow-worms= (_Lampyrides_) are to be distinguished from the fireflies. They are nocturnal in habit, and represented by about five hundred species, widely distributed, especially in warm countries. America is very rich in “lightning-bugs,” such as _Photuris pennsylvanicus_, and other species.

The luminous organs consist, like those of the fireflies, of fatty-looking cells round which there is a plentiful supply of tracheæ, affording the necessary oxygen for the rapid production of phosphorescence.

Professor Emery gives a most entertaining account of his observations on the love-lights of _Luciola italica_, which he studied in the meadows around Bologna, Italy. By catching females and imprisoning them in glass tubes in the meadows he satisfied himself that sight, not smell, was all important. When the females caught sight of the flashes of an approaching male, in spite of their tantalizing situation, they allowed their splendor to shine forth. The most noteworthy difference is that the luminous rhythm of the male is more rapid and the flashes briefer, while that of the female is more prolonged, at longer intervals, and more tremulous. The attracted males dance round about the female, who, after having captivated one suitor, proceeds to signal other rivals, till she is finally surrounded by a circle of devotees.

=Ladybird or Ladybug= (_Coccinella_) is a pretty little beetle, generally of a brilliant red or yellow color, with black, red, white or yellow spots. The form is nearly hemispherical, the under-surface flat, the thorax and head small, the antennæ and legs short. When handled they emit a yellowish fluid, with a disagreeable smell. Adults and larvæ feed chiefly on plant lice, and are thus most useful to hop-growers and other agriculturists. Ladybirds occasionally occur in immense numbers, and from ignorance of their usefulness have sometimes been regarded with superstitious dread.

=Colorado Beetle= (_Chrysomela_) is a North American beetle which commits fearful ravages among potatoes. It is an oval insect, of an orange color, with black spots and lines. The antennæ are club-shaped. The larvæ and adults live on the potato-plant, and have sometimes quite destroyed the crop in certain parts of the United States. They pass the winter underground, and emerge from their hiding-places in the beginning of May. The female lays many hundreds of eggs in groups of twelve to twenty on the under side of potato leaves. The larvæ, which emerge in about a week, are reddish and afterwards orange. They grow up quickly and produce a second generation, which may again produce a third in the same summer. Their rate of multiplication is therefore very rapid. The surest remedy in case of attack is said to be a preparation of arsenic known as “Paris Green.”

=Scarabæus= (_Ateuchus sacer_), one of the dung-beetles well known for the zeal with which they unite in rolling balls of dung to their holes. The dung serves as food, and a beetle having secured a ball seems to gnaw at it continuously--sometimes for a fortnight--until the supply is exhausted. Sometimes an egg is laid in the ball, and the parents unite in rolling this to a place of safety. There are numerous American species.

By the Egyptians the scarabæus was venerated during its life, and often embalmed after death. Entomologists have recognized four distinct species sculptured on the Egyptian monuments, and gems of various kinds of stones were often fashioned in their image.

=Stag-beetles= (_Lucanus_) are nearly allied to the scarabees. The males are remarkable for the large size of their mandibles, the branching of which has suggested stags’ antlers. The common stag-beetle is a large formidable-looking insect, the males being fully two inches long, and able to give a sharp bite with their strong mandibles. It flies about in the evening in the middle of summer, chiefly frequenting oak-woods.

These insects habitually are well known to fight for possession of a coveted mate. For this purpose the mandibles of the male are enormously developed, and frequently there occurs a most amusing tussle, one beetle striving to gain the side of his lady-love, the other balking him. Eventually one suitor admits defeat by turning tail and making off, while the victor marches in triumph to the fair cause of all the trouble, and begins to court her.

The huge Hercules Beetle of South America has been seen to carry off his mate bodily in this way. Other tropical beetles have specially developed forelegs for grasping their spouse, should she prove coy and attempt playfully to run away.

=Water-beetles= (_Ditiscus marginalis_) are carnivorous types which have become adapted to life in freshwater, although the adults have not lost the power of flight. In our native great water-beetle the large hind legs are fringed with bristles, and serve as oars, while air can be stored under the wing-covers. There is only a partial metamorphosis.

=Weevil= is a popular name for a large number of beetles, marked by a beak or proboscis, generally used by both sexes as a boring organ. Among ten thousand described species are the American species _Trichobaris trinotata_, a small black weevil which destroys potatoes, and _Conotrachelus nenuphar_, which lays its eggs in various fruits and is a great pest, and the _Entimus imperialis_, the diamond-beetle with very brilliant scales.

=Wire-worms= are the grubs of skip-jack or click beetles, perhaps the most injurious of farm pests. They are called wire-worms “from their likeness in toughness and shape to a piece of wire;” they are yellowish in color, from one-quarter to one-half an inch in length, with three pairs of legs, and a suctorial appendage below the tail. The eggs are laid near the roots of plants, in the ground or in the axils of leaves; the grub remains for several years (three to five) as such, burrowing in the ground during the frost of winter, but at other times hardly ceasing from voracious attacks on the roots and underground stems of all sorts of crops. Dressing of lime, salt, nitrate of soda, etc., have been recommended as remedies.

=ITS STORY IS VERY SIMILAR TO THAT OF THE SILKWORM=

In these photographs the transformations of a butterfly are shown: the butterfly’s eggs (highly magnified) laid upon a leaf; the newly hatched caterpillar; and a caterpillar which has finished its growth and has spun a silken pad, to which as a chrysalis it may cling. The chrysalis is also shown, and the newly emerged butterfly waiting for its wings to expand fully and harden. All the figures are enlarged.]

=BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS= (_Lepidoptera_)

These are among the highest orders of insects. For beauty and variety of coloration they are quite unrivaled, and their attractive appearance is primarily due to the fact that the four wings are covered with overlapping scales of different kinds. The mouth parts are specialized to constitute a suctorial organ, which is made up of the second jaws, while the first and third jaws are greatly reduced. Each second jaw has become a half-tube, and the two are hooked together to make up a proboscis, sometimes of great length, which can be separated into its halves.

HOW BUTTERFLIES DEVELOP

The life-history exhibits a very typical and familiar metamorphosis. From the egg, which is often very beautifully sculptured, a larva known as a caterpillar hatches out, possessing not only the three pairs of jointed legs characteristic of the class, but also a varying number of unjointed pro-legs terminating in suckers. After feeding voraciously for some time by means of its powerful biting first jaws, and undergoing a number of moults, the caterpillar passes into the motionless pupa stage, here called a chrysalis, which may or may not be invested in a protective cocoon. The skin of the chrysalis ultimately splits, and the perfect insect makes it way out.

HOW TO DISTINGUISH BUTTERFLIES FROM MOTHS

Butterflies are typically distinguished from moths by the club-shaped thickenings at the ends of their antennæ, and by the fact that when settling, the wings are folded together over the back. In moths the antennæ may be of various form, but very rarely club-shaped, and the rest-position of the wings is horizontal or sloping downward, while in some instances they may be more or less wrapped round the body.

WHY BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS HAVE BEAUTIFUL COLORS

Some butterflies are dingy, others uniform, but in contrast to moths the majority are beautifully colored. This is especially the case with tropical forms. How the colors are variegated and contrasted in spots and bands, how the hues are embellished by metallic shimmer, every one knows; what exactly the color means is, however, still obscure. A few general facts may be first noticed: (1) The color is in many cases subject to variation--it cannot be said to be absolutely constant for a species; (2) in some instances, at any rate, it is influenced by external conditions, for different forms at different periods of the year, is known in many kinds; (3) sometimes the color and markings, especially of the under surface of the wings, are obviously of use for the protection of the resting butterfly; (4) in some cases this protective adaptation is so pronounced as to deserve to be called mimicry; (5) in many cases the coloring is in direct connection with the physical constitution of the species, and is usually most marked in the males.

CHIEF CLASSES OF BUTTERFLIES

Of the families representing more than five thousand species, the chief are the following:

(1) _Nymphalidæ_, the largest, containing between four and five thousand species. They have a relatively simple type of coloration, and are interesting because of their disposition to mimic other species. They are distasteful to birds. They include the red admiral, the tortoise-shells, the peacock, and so on, as well as the fritillaries and the purple emperor. In it are also included the remarkable leaf butterflies in which the under surface, in shape, color and markings, closely resemble a dead leaf, while the upper surface is brightly colored. On alighting only the under surface is visible.

(2) The _Erycinidæ_ is represented by the Duke of Burgundy fritillary.

(3) The _Lycænidæ_ include the “blues,” so commonly seen flitting near the ground along muddy roads, so called from the color of the upper surface, but many are also copper, white and yellow.

(4) The _Pieridæ_ include the white cabbage butterflies. They are remarkable for the prevalence of white, yellow, and orange colors, and for the fact that these tints are due to uric acid, or derivatives of this substance, stored in the wings as a pigment.

(5) The _Papilionidæ_, or swallow-tails, contain perhaps the most beautiful forms. The females are strikingly different from the males, and though larger, do not display the same beauty of coloration. The members of the family are widely distributed.

(6) The family _Hesperidæ_, or skippers, includes insects very different from other butterflies, both in structure and habits. The adults have in many cases a very rapid but jerky method of flight, and the larvæ in their habits resemble moths rather than butterflies.

=Moths= (_Heterocera_).--The antennæ of moths are bristly, gradually
lessening from base to tip; when sitting the wings are turned down;
and its flight is nocturnal. What the owl is among birds, the moth
is among insects: it is a night-insect, carrying on its pursuits,
and exercising all its activity amid the gloom of darkness. So
numerous is the variety of moths, that there are upward of five
hundred species.

The giant OWL-MOTH of Brazil (_Thysania agrippina_) measures nearly
a foot across from tip to tip of expanded wings, while the smallest
are hardly visible to unaided eyes. The larvæ or caterpillars feed
mostly on living plants, and in this connection are very familiar;
others of these ravaging forms ruin clothes, furs, and the like.
Almost the only directly useful form is the silk-moth.

=Silkworm Moth.= See under Domesticated Animals.

=STRAIGHT-WINGED INSECTS= (_Orthoptera_)

The fore wings are either parchment-like or membraneous; the hind
wings always membraneous. The wings cover the body horizontally, and
do not meet in a straight line or ridge, as they do in the beetles.
This order of insects undergoes only a partial metamorphosis, being
produced from eggs in a wingless condition. The Cicadas, however,
are an exception, as they live in the ground frequently for years
in the larva state. In this order are included the locust, cricket,
grasshopper, cockroach, scale insect, plant-lice, and many kinds of
bugs.

=Crickets= (_Gryllus_) are akin to grasshoppers. They have long feelers, a rasping organ on the wing-covers of the males, wings closely folded lengthwise, but often along with the wing-covers degenerate, great powers of leaping, and a retiring, more or less subterranean habit of life. Many of the species are wingless, and it is the males only which make a chirping sound. They are widely distributed, and all are herbivorous. The field cricket, house cricket and the common mole-cricket, are well-known representatives of the family.

=Earwigs= (_Forficula_) have two pairs of wings, very dissimilar, the anterior pair being short and horny, the posterior pair folded longitudinally and transversely; the mouth parts are well developed and suited for biting; the antennae are thread-like; there is no true metamorphosis in the life-history. The common earwig is best known for the pincer-like organ at the end of the abdomen.

Earwigs avoid the light, and do most of their work in the dark. They feed, as gardeners well know, on petals and other parts of flowers, on fruit, seeds and leaves, nor is animal debris refused. They are usually and readily caught in artificial shelters provided for their destruction.

The eggs of the common species are laid in spring, fifteen to twenty, in some convenient cavity. These are carefully watched, and even after the birth of the young earwigs, the mother still tends them as a hen does her chicks.

=Grasshopper=, a name given to numerous insects forming the locust family. They usually live among vegetation, in woods and thickets or in the open field. Most of them feed on flies and caterpillars, in catching which they use their powerful fore-legs, but many affect plants, and some combine both diets.

In the grasshopper the head is placed vertically; the slender antennae are longer than the body; there are hemispherical eyes, but rarely eye-spots; wings and wing-covers are generally present. The right (and occasionally also the left) wing-cover of the male bears a clear, round membrane stretched on a ring, which produces the well-known “chirp” when set in vibration.

The females have a long egg-positor. The eggs are laid by means of it either in the earth or in some dry stem. From these, in spring, larvæ are developed, which are virtually like the adults, but molt at least six times before they become full-grown.

=Katydid=, a name applied to numerous American insects, nearly related to grasshoppers. They frequent trees, shrubbery, and grass, and are well concealed in the foliage by their green color. In their general habit, _e. g._ in the song to which the syllables “kat-y-did” refer, and in the egg-laying accomplished by the long egg-positors of the female, these lively insects resemble grasshoppers.

=Locusts= (_Acrididae_) are large, ground-loving insects, of world-wide distribution, famous for their voracious vegetarian appetite. In size they vary from one-quarter inch to five inches in length. They have strong hind-legs with great leaping powers, large heads with formidable mouth-organs, shorter antennæ and robuster bodies than grasshoppers. Both winged and wingless forms occur, the former with strong powers of flight. The females have strong egg-positors by which they bore holes for their eggs. The numerous eggs are laid in holes drilled in the ground; the young when hatched generally resemble the parents except in the absence of wings. From the first they are gregarious, and excessively voracious except during their repeated molts; they devour all green things, and even one another, and are often forced by stress of hunger and excessive multiplication to migrate in great swarms.

Their ravages sometimes cause widespread famine and ruin. One of the most famous and destructive forms is the Rocky Mountain Locust (_Caloptenus spretus_); the most abundant migratory species of the East, so often mentioned in the Scriptures, is _Pachytylus migratorius_.

=ANTS, BEES AND WASPS= (_Hymenoptera_)

These membrane-winged insects are the most intelligent of their kind. They are readily recognized by the presence of four transparent wings traversed by a comparatively small number of veins, the hinder ones being much smaller than the others, to which they are in many instances attached during flight by means of a row of minute hooks. The posterior end of the body in the female is commonly provided with a piercing apparatus, which may either serve for boring holes, in which eggs are laid, in which case it is called an “ovipositor,” or may have been modified into a poisoned sting, useful for offense and defense. The black and yellow or black and red bands of wasps and bees are “warning colors,” indicating their stinging powers.

The larvæ either resemble caterpillars or are pale, helpless maggots, devoid of limbs, for the welfare of which more or less elaborate provisions are made by the mother insect. Later on a pupa stage is reached, from which the winged adult ultimately emerges. The highest members of the order live in communities comprising several casts.