Chapter II: English and American Literature -- Outline Charts of English and (19)

=Ants= (_Formicidae_).--These familiar and intelligent diminutive
creatures are perhaps the most interesting of all insects, owing to
the extraordinary way in which they have become adapted to a great
variety of modes of life. All are social, and a community typically
consists of males, females, workers (of one or more kinds), and, it
may be, soldiers. The first two are generally provided with wings,
though those of the females are soon shed, but exceptions to this
occur, and some species may have both winged and wingless
individuals of one sex or the other. The first pair of jaws
(mandibles) are well or even excessively developed, and possess
unusually free powers of movement in accordance with the varied
functions they have to perform. In many cases the females (including
the workers) are provided with a sting.

Ants hatch out as helpless, limbless larvæ, which have to be fed and
carefully attended, either by the fertile females or the workers, as
the case may be. Feeding is rather a curious affair, for the nurse
possesses a sort of pouch (crop) connected with her gullet, and this
is used as a store from which nutriment can be squeezed up into the
mouth. Adults can feed one another in the same way, as also the
little beetles and other insects which are often found as guests in
their communities.

WANDERING ANTS OF THE TROPICS

These ants are of highly carnivorous habits, and move about in large armies, devouring everything of animal nature that comes in their way. The fact that they are blind, or practically so, does not seem to interfere with their devastations. Some of the forms are common in the hotter parts of South America, while others, the “driver” ants, are well known in Africa, where criminals, it is said, are sometimes tied up in their path, to perish miserably, if speedily.

SLAVE-HOLDING ANTS AND THEIR SLAVES

Some ants press weaker species of their kind into unmerited captivity. In one familiar instance the relatively large oppressor (_Polyergus rufescens_) is of reddish color and well endowed in the matter of jaws, while the enslaved species (_Formica fusca_) is small and dark. Regular slave raids are made from time to time, when, after stubborn resistance, the pupæ and older larvæ of the weaker form are carried away to lead a life of bondage, to which, indeed, they take very kindly. This kind of social economy has indeed become an absolute necessity to the slavers, which have quite lost the power of feeding their own young, while some such species cannot feed themselves.

A most extraordinary state of things occurs in the case of a small kind of ant (_Anergates_) which possesses no workers of its own, but lives within the communities of another species (_Tetramorium cæspitosum_) entirely made up of workers.

Some ants, such as the little black species (_lasius niger_) common in gardens, use as part of their food a sweet fluid that exudes from plant lice (_aphides_), and keep these insects as we keep kine. The captives are fed, sheltered, and jealously guarded. Fenced enclosures are constructed for them on plants in the vicinity of the nest, with which they are connected by covered roads. During winter the fragile eggs of the plant lice are taken underground and sedulously cared for.

THE HARVESTER ANTS OF EUROPE, NORTH AFRICA AND NORTH AMERICA

A number of ants are known that construct extensive underground dwellings, in which they store seeds of various kinds. Some of the American species (_Pogonomyrmex_) may be even said to winnow their grain, for they carefully strip off the husks and deposit these on rubbish-heaps outside the nest.

Some of the seed-storing ants almost deserve the name of maltsters on account of the way they deal with their harvest. The human method of making malt is to allow the barley grains to germinate to a certain extent until the contained starch is converted into malt-sugar, when the process is arrested by scalding. In similar fashion ants permit germination to go on to a certain point, and then kill the seedlings by biting away the little shoots and roots. In this way a supply of the sweet food they love is secured.

Among the most interesting of ants are leaf-cutting forms (_Atta_) native to tropical America. They are associated in huge communities occupying complex underground dwellings, the sides of which are marked by mounds that may measure as much as forty yards round. The chief food consists of a kind of fungus (_Rozites gongylophora_), cultivated on bits of leaf, and treated in such a way that little white elevations are produced. It is these that the ants desire.

The chief duty of one set of workers is to collect the pieces of leaf required. To facilitate their operations, roads, largely underground, are constructed, which lead to suitable trees, and may be as much as twenty yards long, or more. Curved pieces of leaf are bitten out and carried back to the nest, where they are handed over to another set of workers, by them to be reduced to smaller fragments and made into mushroom beds.

WHERE AND HOW THE HOMES OF ANTS ARE BUILT

Ants live in dwellings of the most varied kind, many being underground. In a large number of species ant-hills are constructed of various loose materials, our common native wood-ant (_Formica rufa_) being a good example of this. An Asiatic ant (_Oecophylla_) constructs a summer-house of leaves in a curious fashion. The larva possesses silk-glands from which a sticky fluid exudes, hardening quickly on exposure to the air. Advantage of this is taken by the workers, for they hold larvæ in their jaws, and employ them as living gum-bottles, while the leaf-edges to be cemented are held in position by other workers.

Some South American ants construct hanging nests in trees, by which protection against floods is secured. Other ants in the same part of the world make curious homes which well deserve the name of “hanging gardens,” for they are mainly constructed of living plants, some of which have never been found in any other situation. The plants are cultivated and tended by the ants with which they are associated. The soldiers of certain ants (_Colobopsis_), which tunnel out homes in the wood of trees, play the part of living front doors. Every entrance to the nest is guarded by one of these hall-porters, its huge head not only exactly filling the aperture, but closely resembling the adjacent bark in appearance. If this curious door be touched by a bit of stick or a feather, it remains shut, but is immediately opened when stroked by the antennæ of a worker.

CURIOUS ANT GUESTS AND ASSOCIATES

Not only may ants of two or more kinds be associated together in the same dwelling, but a nest may also be tenanted by peculiar species of beetles (and other insects), spiders, mites, or other creatures. Many of these, especially the beetles, are fed and cared for by the ants, some of them for the sake of a substance which exudes from their bodies; others, perhaps, to serve as pets. The beetle-grubs are looked after as well as the adults; at least in the case of certain blind species.

On the other hand, certain ant-beetles not only steal food from the ants, but also devour their young. There can be no doubt that these curious associations are very ancient ones, for many species of beetles are found nowhere else. A kind of bristle-tail that lives in ants’ nests is a thief pure and simple. It has been seen to steal the drops of honey being passed from the mouth of one worker to another, afterwards retreating at full speed.

The common red ant (_Myrmica rubra_) shelters and feeds a curious kind of blind mite, which lives on the bodies of its hosts. By stroking its entertainers with its legs it makes known its need of nutriment, and such requests are never refused. Not impossibly some return may be made for these good offices.

One of the Indian ants (_Sima rufo-nigra_) lives on the bark of trees with a species of wasp (_Rhinopsis ruficornis_) and a kind of spider (_Salticus_), both of which closely resemble it in appearance. The three associates appear to be good friends, while wasp and ant sometimes engage in a friendly wrestle.

A remarkable observation made by a student of insect life while examining ants under the microscope.]

HOW ANTS COMMUNICATE WITH ONE ANOTHER

The complex life of an ants’ nest is a striking instance of order among apparent disorder. Each of the innumerable individuals discharges its special tasks without hesitation, unless unusual circumstances prove a hindrance. It would seem, therefore, that there must be some means by which any one can convey information to others. When two meet they frequently stroke one another with their feelers, and this perhaps serves the purpose of language.

THEIR REMARKABLE HABITS OF CLEANLINESS

Some wonderful facts are recorded concerning matters of personal cleanliness among ants, and has shown incidentally that these insects perform amazing feats of acrobatic skill without the least effort, and quite as matters of course. For example, an ant will often hang from a grass stem by the claws of one leg, while it combs its antennæ, cleanses its five remaining feet, or bends its head upwards to lick its abdomen and furbish the joints of its armor. Indeed, thanks partly to the wonderful flexibility of its “waist,” and still more to the tenacity of its muscles, an ant is able to assume and maintain almost any position that the need or fancy of the moment may prompt.

Many stingless ants, when fighting, first bite their adversary with their jaws, and then bringing the tip of the abdomen beneath the body, squirt formic acid into the wound.

=Bees.=--See Domesticated Animals.

=Bumble-bees.=--These common bees are large, somewhat clumsy-looking
insects which live in communities including workers or imperfect
females as well as ordinary members of the two sexes. The nests are
constructed in holes in the ground or other sheltered places, and
the establishment of a community is due in the first instance to the
labors of a queen in early summer. She makes a number of waxen
cells, stores them with honey and pollen, and afterwards feeds the
larvæ when they have devoured these provisions. From the first (and
several other), batches of larvæ workers are chiefly produced, which
undertake the constructive and nursing work, until at last the queen
has nothing to do but lay eggs. Males and other queens are reared
from some of the eggs laid in late summer and early autumn.

=Wasps=, like bees, are either solitary or social, and it is only in
the latter that workers exist. Solitary wasps construct small nests
of clay and little stones, or else make burrows. They possess the
curious habit of storing up immature--for example, caterpillars--or
mature insects, or even spiders, for the benefit of their larvæ when
these hatch out. The kind of victim depends upon the species of the
wasp concerned, but in any case it is killed or paralysed by
stinging.

Social wasps somewhat resemble social bees in their habits, but
their building material, instead of being wax, is a kind of paper
made of chewed wood mixed up with saliva. In some instances the nest
is suspended from a bush or tree, and is provided with a kind of
overhanging roof by which rain is drained off.

In our commonest species, an underground site is chosen, and a
series of combs constructed from above downward, the whole being
enclosed in several layers of wasp paper. Adjacent combs are held
together by little pillars. The young are at first fed upon
fruit-juice, nectar, and other vegetable matter, for which a more
stimulating diet of chewed insects is afterwards substituted.

The HORNET (_Vespa crabro_) is a social wasp which commonly nests in
hollow trees or constructs elaborate nests out of wood fibers,
suspended from boughs. The females have formidable retractile
stings. The hornet is represented in the United States by the
white-faced hornet (_V. maculata_), also a large species.

=FLIES= (_Diptera_)

There are some thirty or forty thousand species of flies known, while no other order has so many individuals as this. This enormous assemblage of insects, most of which are small or even minute, includes many species that have earned an undesirable reputation as bloodsuckers and pests. Except in fleas and a few others, such as sheep-ticks, there are two membraneous front wings, the hinder pair serving as sensory structures. The mouthparts of the female are very often piercing and sucking organs of great efficiency, the first and second jaws being in the form of slender lancets protected above and below by the upper and under lip respectively.

But in other types, such as the house-fly (_Musca domestica_), the jaws are modified into a proboscis used for sucking juices, and devoid of powers of perforation.

THEIR UNCLEANLY AND DEATH-CARRYING HABITS

This fly lays its eggs in manure or other refuse, these hatching out, passing through all their stages and emerging as perfect insects in a few days. Their uncleanly habits make the house flies most efficient agents in the carriage of different diseases, especially typhoid fever and others which attack the digestive tract. Flies are therefore not merely a nuisance to be deplored, but a positive danger to mankind. Among other flies are the carrion flies, black flies, the gnats and the mosquitoes, all troublesome to man, while others attack various plants.

THE LARGE VORACIOUS FLEAS

Of these the breeze-flies or gad-flies possess powerful piercing mouth-parts, with which they torment both stock and human beings. A well-known species is the long brown clegg (_Hæmatopota pluvialis_), often met with in woods. In some tropical kinds the jaws are of enormous length.

Robber-flies are voracious and insatiable forms which prey upon other insects, even wasps and tiger-beetles being among their victims.

Hover-flies are swift and elegant insects which have already been mentioned in connection with flowers. Some of them closely resemble bees in appearance.

The dreaded tsetse fly (_Glossina morsitans_), so fatal to horses in parts of South Africa, belongs here. Germs of the fly-sickness (_Nagana_) are introduced into the blood of the victims, Tsetse flies of other species are responsible for “sleeping sickness,” which makes parts of tropical Africa uninhabitable.

THE PESTIFEROUS MOSQUITOS AND GNATS

These are particularly notable for the blood-sucking propensities of the female. Some tropical mosquitoes disseminate the germs of such diseases as malarial fever. Wholesale destruction of the early stages, by pouring petroleum on the surface of the stagnant water in which they live, has been employed with conspicuous success at Havana and in the Panama Canal zone as a preventive measure against yellow fever and malaria.

Midges are very minute gnats, of which the aquatic larvæ are known as blood-worms.

THE WINGLESS FLEAS AND OTHER PESTS

Fleas are wingless members of the order, and their agility fully compensates for the loss of the power of flight. There are many species, infesting different mammals and birds. The females of the tiny sand-fleas, or chiggers (_Sarcopsylla penetrans_), of America deposit their eggs in the feet of human beings (or other animals), and unless the painful swellings thus brought about are carefully treated they are apt to fester dangerously.

=STRANGE ANIMAL FORMS FOUND IN THE SEA=

_STARFISHES AND SEA-URCHINS_ (_Echinoderms_)

=HEDGEHOG SKINNED ANIMALS OF THE SEA. SEA-LILIES, STAR FISHES, BRITTLE STARS, SEA URCHINS, AND SEA CUCUMBERS=

Echinoderms, or hedgehog-skinned animals differ from all the forms
so far considered in the nature of their symmetry. Instead of being
two-sided, with a well-marked distinction between right and left and
front and back (bilateral symmetry), they resemble a star or regular
flower in shape. The skin is hardened by the deposition of salts of
lime, and the body is often covered with spines, as more
particularly in sea urchins.

Five existing subdivisions are recognized: (1) Sea-lilies and
feather-stars (_Crinoidea_); (2) Starfishes (_Asteroidea_); (3)
Brittle Stars (_Ophiuroidea_); (4) Sea urchins (_Echinoidea_); and
(5) Sea-cucumbers (_Holothuroidea_). All are marine.

=Sea Cucumbers= are sort of second cousins to the sea urchins and rather more distantly related to the starfish. As the name indicates, they are shaped like a cucumber, and hundreds of little feet on the side heighten the resemblance, as they recall the spines on the vegetable. Inside they have a coiled intestine, usually filled with mud and the contained vegetable and other debris. With us no use is made of the animals, but they are taken in great numbers in the South Seas, and sent to China, where, as trepang, they form an ingredient in soups.

=Sea-lilies= are deep-sea animals, once numerous and flourishing, but now comparatively rare, and only to be obtained by dredging in the deeper parts of the ocean. They are fixed by a long, jointed stalk bearing circlets of sensitive threads and terminating in a cup, in the center of which the mouth is situated. Radiating from the edges of the cup are five branching, feather-like arms, all of which are grooved above, the grooves uniting, and finally converging to the mouth. They are beset with cilia, and minute organisms are conducted inward along them to serve as food.

=Sea Urchins= are radiated animals which are usually shaped like a flattened sphere. They have a mouth, surrounded by five chisel-shaped jaws at one pole, while the whole outer surface is covered with slender, movable spines. Between the spines are numbers of slender, flexible, tubular feet, which pull the body along, while the spines act more like true feet. The animals feed mostly on seaweeds. They have no economic value with us, but in Europe the eggs of some species are eaten, forming part of the _frutti di mare_ of every Italian seaport.

=Starfishes.=--Starfishes are among the most familiar objects of the seashore, and the commonest kinds, such as the five-finger (_Asterias rubens_) and the comb-star (_Astropecten aurantiacus_) possess five radiating arms. The mouth is in the center of the under side, and leads into a capacious stomach, of which the first part can be protruded from the body to surround such prey as mussels and oysters.

A starfish crawls slowly by means of numerous tube-feet, which are lodged in five grooves radiating from the mouth, and make up a part of the water-vascular system, so called because it is full of sea-water. At the end of each arm is an unpaired tube-foot acting as a feeler, while on its under side there is an orange-red eye-spot.

The water-vascular system assists in breathing. It was probably first evolved in the interests of respiration, and this is its chief use in the sea-lily. Some of the spines are formed of little, two-bladed pincers, which clean the surface of the body.

Starfishes are remarkable for their powers of restoring lost parts. A detached arm can grow a fresh disc and another four arms.

_ANIMALS THAT APPROACH THE SIMPLEST FORMS OF LIFE_

WORMS, LEECHES, SEA-ANEMONES, CORAL-POLYPS, JELLY-FISHES, SPONGES

Several groups of the lower animals are collectively known as Worms,
though most of these groups are but remotely related. Ringed worms
are elongated creatures in which the body is made up of a
considerable number of rings or segments, most of which are, on the
whole, much alike. There is often a well-marked head, but no
distinct thorax and abdomen, as in an insect or crayfish. Two
subdivisions are recognized: (a) Bristle-worms (_Chætopoda_) and (b)
Leeches (_Discophora_).

=Bristle-worms= include a host of marine worms, together with some that live in fresh water, and also the earthworms. Their average characters are best understood by examining one of the commonest shore-worms, known as the sea-centipede (_Nereis_). Here the segments are very clearly seen, and almost every one of them bears a pair of unjointed conical foot-stumps, used for crawling.

Imbedded in the foot-stumps of the sea-centipede are bundles of strong bristles, which give a hold on the underlying surface and prevent slipping. The head-region is fairly distinct, and bears a number of feelers of various kinds, as well as four simple eyes. Sea-centipedes and many of their allies are highly carnivorous, and seize their prey by means of a pair of horny jaws which can be protruded at will.

=Earthworms= are found in all parts of the world, though naturally they do not thrive in arid tracts; and their effect upon the fertility and drainage of the soil can hardly be calculated. Burrowing into the ground, they cast up the earth they have swallowed, and so pursue a constant and thorough system of ploughing. Though eyeless, they evade the light and only come out of their burrows at dusk, often remaining, even then, with their tails in the holes and their bodies working round and round.

Darwin long since demonstrated, the earthworm is one of the farmers’ best friends. Its burrows drain and aerate the soil, while the earth which has passed through its body is finely divided and constantly being brought to the surface from lower levels.

Not far from the front end of an earthworm a thickening will be seen, often erroneously supposed to be the result of injury. From it exudes a fluid which hardens into the egg-cases.

=Leeches= live in the sea, fresh water, or even in damp, tropical forests. The flattened body of the leech is divided by grooves into a number of narrow parts, several of which go to make up a segment. Foot-stumps and bristles are entirely absent, and progression is effected by means of suckers, one at each end. They effect a looping movement, but the animal can also swim by undulations of its body. The freshwater leech is a bloodsucking parasite. The mouth is situated in the middle of the front sucker, which serves to fix the animal to its victim. Three saw-edged jaws are then brought into play, a three-rayed cut being made, and a fluid poured out which prevents the blood from clotting. Digestion is slow, and the food is stored in a large crop, drawn out into numerous pairs of pouches. The head possesses eye-spots, but no feelers.

=ANIMALS LIKE PLANTS= (_Cœlenterata_)

of which sea-anemones, corals, and jelly-fishes are examples, are
distinguished by the ray-like symmetry of starfishes and their kind,
though here, as a rule, it is more perfect. In structure they are
much simpler, than any of the animals so far considered. For such a
creature is to all intents and purposes simply a stomach, the wall
of which is made up of two layers of cells, one (_ectoderm_)
external, and the other (_endoderm_) internal. In higher animals a
third layer (_mesoderm_) is interposed.

=Sea Anemones= are common between tides and lower on all coasts. They are cylindrical animals, with a mouth surrounded by tentacles at one end. Inside there is a single cavity which serves as a stomach and whose branches run to all parts of the body, thus distributing the food like a blood vessel. The colors, especially in the tropics, are variable, and often gorgeous.

=Coral-polyps= are closely related to sea-anemones, but differ from them by secreting a hard, limy skeleton in the base of the body. They are either simple or compound. The well-known mushroom coral may be taken as an example of the former. Its skeleton is a shallow cup, exhibiting numerous radiating plates. If we look at the upper surface of such a coral in the living state we shall see a mouth surrounded by circlets of tentacles, much as in a sea-anemone.

A compound coral consists of a number of individuals, relatively small in size, connected together by a common flesh, and formed by the budding or splitting of a single original polyp, the results of the process remaining united.

Many corals branch, while others form compact masses, as in the kind above described, and also in the brain coral, where the boundaries between the individuals are not clearly marked.

Corals are widely distributed, some living even in cold latitudes, and others on the floor of the deep sea. Coral reefs, however, made up of the skeletons of such animals, are only found in the warmer parts of the ocean, where the water is clear, particularly favorable conditions being afforded by the Pacific and Indian Oceans. (See also Coral Reefs and Islands).

=Jelly-fish= (_Medusæ_).--All agree in having a more or less bell or umbrella shaped body, with a proboscis hanging down in the place of the handle of the umbrella or the tongue of the bell. The mouth is at the end of the handle and leads into a stomach which divides and sends out branches, like the ribs of the umbrella, to the margin. The common name is due to its gelatinous consistency. Most of the species start in life as buds from attached animals, which later separate and henceforth lead a free existence, swimming by opening and closing the bell.

=SPONGES= (_Porifera_)

are animals of peculiar structure, which resemble zoophytes in many
respects, but possess neither tentacles not thread-cells. Some are
simple, but most of them are compound. A simple sponge may be
compared to a cup or vase with a wall perforated by numerous small
holes, through which currents of sea-water stream into the central
cavity, to make their exit by the main opening. They are set up by
ciliary action.

=Venus Flower-basket.=--In the majority of cases the skeleton of a sponge is mostly or entirely made up of sharp needles of lime or flint, which may be welded together, as in this form. Often the opening of the vase is provided with a convex perforated covering. Another elegant form is the Glassrope Sponge native to the Japanese seas. It is rooted in the mud by a bundle of long, glassy spicules, which are slightly twisted.

Most sponges are marine, and, despite their fixed habit and apparent helplessness, are pretty free from the attacks of most other creatures, partly because of the innumerable sharp spicules they contain, and partly because their taste and smell are unpleasant. These deterrent qualities are often associated with bright warning colors, generally red, yellow or orange.

Most of us little realize that the sponges we see or use daily are in reality dead animals.

=THE SPONGE IN ACTION=

The arrows show how the water enters by the small pores, to pass out by the large openings. Food is thus brought to the cells which line the channels. At the right the currents of water are seen passing from the outer openings, as seen under a powerful microscope.]

On the left are represented highly magnified animal skeletons of a class of Protozoa called Radiolarians. Most of them are under one-twenty-fifth of an inch in size. Millions upon millions of these little shells are found upon the floors of the ocean, and upon its shores. They are marvels of form and color--so wonderful, indeed, that man with all his skill cannot imitate them. When alive they consist of but a single cell, and live in colonies with the plant forms, called algæ, pictured on the right. The algæ are also single-celled, and of rare beauty of form, and the strange association of the simplest of animal forms with the simplest of _plant_ forms has up to the present time proved the supreme enigma of science.]

_PROTOZOA OR SIMPLEST FORMS OF ANIMAL LIFE_

=ANIMALCULES, AMOEBA, RADIOLARIA, FLAGELLATES, CILIATES=

=ANIMALCULES= (_Protozoa_)

In botany we find that the lowest plants are mostly of a microscopic
size, and unicellular--that is, consisting of a single cell or
structural unit, essentially a fragment of living matter
(protoplasm), part of which is specialized into a nucleus. The
lowest animals are also unicellular, and the popular term
“animalcule”--a little animal--has reference to their diminutive
size. One of the simplest known cases is afforded by the

=Amœba= (_Gr._ “change”), a name given to a number of the simplest animals or protozoa. The simplest form which the observer will meet is a naked lump of jelly-like protoplasm constantly flowing into new shapes.

=Ray Animalcules= (_Radiolaria_) are forms which resemble the members of the last group in some respects, but are more complex in structure, with shells composed of a latticework of flinty matter. These shells cover large tracts of the floor of the deeper parts of the ocean (limy shells dissolve before getting so far), and make up “radiolarian oozes,” such as Barbadoes earth.

=Flagellates= are immensely numerous animalcules with a body of definite shape covered by a membrane. Swimming is effected by a slender thread of flagellum (Latin for whiplash) of living substance, which executes whip-like movements. They are common in ponds and ditches, where it often makes up a green scum. A mouth is situated at the base of the flagellum, and at this end there is also a red eye-spot. Some flagellates bear more than one flagellum, many are fixed, and the colonial condition is common. The exceedingly minute animalcules which swarm in putrid fluids and are vaguely known as “monads” belong to this group.

=Ciliates= like flagellates, are invested in a firm membrane, and therefore of definite form. Instead of flagella, they possess cilia, short threads of living substance which are associated in large numbers, and alternately bend and straighten in a rhythmic fashion, bringing about locomotion in free species, or setting up currents in the water in fixed ones.

Despite their apparent insignificance, certain animalcules, by virtue of their almost imperishable skeletons, are among the most important agencies which have built up the crust of the earth. The surface of the sea is largely inhabited by Radiolarians and Foraminifera, the former preponderating in cold, the latter in temperate and tropical waters. As they die, their skeletons sink to the bottom and form mud or ooze, which through time and pressure becomes consolidated into rock.

_DOMESTICATED ANIMALS_

=DOMESTICATED MAMMALS:= Alpaca, Ass, Camel, Cat, Cattle, Dog,
Elephant, Gayal, Goat, Guinea Pig, Horse, Llama, Rabbit, Reindeer,
Sheep, Swine, Yak, Zebu. =DOMESTICATED FISH:= Carp, Goldfish.
=DOMESTICATED BIRDS:= Canary, Chickens or Fowls, Duck, Guinea,
Goose, Ostrich, Parrot, Peacock, Pigeon, Swan, Turkey. =DOMESTICATED
INSECTS:= Bee, Cochineal, Silkworm Moth.

Domestic animals are those kept for the use or companionship of man. When studied in their relation to the animal kingdom as a whole it is readily seen that they belong to the highest groups of animals; but the actual process of original domestication is unknown to us. It is also very evident that the origin of some of the domesticated groups themselves is very obscure. In general it may be said that only when a distinct breed has been produced by human interference may we call the result domestication.

CLASSES TO WHICH THE DOMESTIC ANIMALS BELONG

Among the highest class of animals--the Mammals--familiar illustrations are dogs and cats, horses and asses, cattle, elephants, camels, and the like. Birds include the domesticated pigeons, fowls, ducks, ostrich, peacock, canary, and others. Among fishes, goldfish and carp belong to the domestic class; while the honey bee and the silkworm moth belong to the lowest domestic group--the insects.

WHERE ANIMALS WERE FIRST DOMESTICATED

The original home of fully three-fourths of our domestic animals was the continent of Asia, where, also, the first home of man himself is placed. It seems quite probable that nearly all of these animals were first held as captives by the early peoples for food supply, and that their other uses developed later. As the races spread to the continent of Europe and thence over the habitable world, their animal servants spread with them, and others were added, adapted to varying climatic and other conditions. Our own continent--North America--has added only the turkey and the cochineal insect, while South America has contributed the alpaca, llama, and guinea-pig. No new domestic animals have been developed during the last two thousand years; and the natural conclusion is that all must have come into use at various stages from the very earliest period of man down to the time of the Christian Era.

RESULTS OF DOMESTICATION ON ANIMALS

Many animals have been greatly changed in form, size and habits by domestication, especially the dog, sheep, pig, donkey, pigeon and chicken, so that a great variety of breeds and strains have been developed. Many kinds of dogs are incapable of existence apart from human care. The donkey does not run wild, and chickens are never found at a great distance from human habitations. Others, though much varied in form and size, are still capable of independent existence, such as the horse, goat, ox, cat, and goose, but a group like the cheetah, water buffalo, and swan are only partially domesticated, and little changed by association with man.

DOMESTICATED MAMMALS

=Alpaca= (_Auchenia Paco_), an animal of the same genus with the llama, belongs to the Camel family, is the half-domesticated form of the wild vicuna. It is remarkable for the length and fineness of the wool, which is of a silken texture, and of an uncommonly lustrous, almost metallic appearance. The alpaca is smaller than the llama, and, in form, somewhat resembles the sheep, but has a longer neck and more elegant head. It carries its long neck erect; its motions are free and active, its ordinary pace a rapid, bounding canter. The eyes are very large and beautiful. The wool, if regularly shorn, is supposed to grow about six or eight inches in a year; but if allowed to remain upon the animal for several years, attains a much greater length, sometimes even thirty inches, and not unfrequently twenty. Its color varies; it is often yellowish brown; sometimes gray, or approaching to white; sometimes almost black.

The alpaca is a native of the Andes, from the equator to Tierra del Fuego, but is most frequent on the highest mountains of Peru and Chile, almost on the borders of perpetual snow, congregating in flocks of one or two hundred. The Peruvians keep vast flocks of them for the sake of the silky luster and fineness of their wool, which furnishes material for the best of fabrics.

The alpaca does not acclimatize in other regions of the world, and all attempts to introduce and establish it as a wool-bearing animal in Europe and the United States have failed.

=Ass= (_Equus asinus_), a species of the horse genus, supposed to have sprung from the wild variety (_Asinus tæniopus_) found in Abyssinia. It differs from the horse in having short hair at the root of the tail and a long tuft at the end, in the absence of warts on the hind-legs, and in the persistence of stripes, except in albinos. The upright mane, the long ears, the cross stripe on the shoulders, and the dark bands on the back are also characteristic. The domestication took place at an early date, probably before that of the horse. It was brought to Mexico and South America by the Spaniards.

In Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Spain, Kentucky, and elsewhere asses are well cared for, and the breed has been considerably varied and improved. The stupidity for which the animal has for long been proverbially reproached seems largely the result of human influence.

The MULE is a hybrid bred between mare and male ass; while the hinny is the rarer result of hybridism between horse and female ass. The mule is much nearer in temper and appearance to the ass than to the horse; the hinny in some points resembles the horse more, as it neighs, while the mule brays like the ass. The ass is admirably adapted for a beast of burden, being remarkable for endurance, hardiness, and docility under kind treatment. It varies greatly in size, from dwarf forms only twenty to thirty inches high in the West Indies to fine Spanish and American breeds sixteen hands high.

The BURRO, used almost exclusively as a pack animal by miners and prospectors in the mountain regions of the western states, is a small form.

=Banteng= (_Bos sondaicus_), a species of ox, a native of Java and Borneo, which, in color, shape, horns, and absence of dewlap, bears some resemblance in appearance and ferocity to the gaur (_Bos gaurus_) of India. It is black, with white legs; the hair is short and sleek; the limbs slender; the muzzle sharp; the back rises into a high arch immediately behind the neck.

=Camel= (_camelus_), called by the Arabs the “ship of the desert” is a misshapen animal of the even-toed group. In this family, the upper lip is hairy and deeply cleft; the neck is very long; the feet (with two toes) are not enhoofed, but provided with callous soles; and the stomach has three compartments. The family includes the camels proper and the various forms of alpaca.

The camels are well known for their large size, for their dorsal humps, for their callosities on knees, breast, etc., for the common sole uniting the two toes. The ears are small and rounded; the short tail bears a terminal switch; the hair is tangled and felted; a single young one is born; and the diet is wholly vegetarian.

One species is usually spoken of as the DROMEDARY. It has a single hump and a generally reddish-gray color. There are many breeds, and the dromedary is the most agile of these. Apart from its use in transit and transport, the flesh is eaten, the milk made into butter and cheese, the hair woven into fabrics of various degrees of fineness, and the skin tanned.

The other camel is known as the Bactrian, and is distinguished by its slightly larger size, two dorsal humps, and somewhat finer brown or reddish hair. This camel is bred in central Asia, and in its adaptability to domestication, as well as in its natural adaptation to desert life, is a most useful animal. Its frugal diet, its powers of storing water and of going long without a fresh supply, and its great strength are very familiar facts. A camel will eat almost any herbage or green thing it comes across, even dried, leafless twigs. The hair of the camel forms the woof and cotton the warp of the famous Persian camel’s-hair cloth. Coarser camel’s wool or hair is imported for various purposes.

The Bactrian camel can carry one thousand pounds weight or more, and the dromedary proper can cover one hundred miles in a day. The ordinary jog of a camel is about two and one-half miles an hour, but this can be kept up for many days with little food and less drink. A swift dromedary may go ten miles an hour. A thousand or more may journey in a caravan, and the amount of food carried is surprisingly small. The hump must be in good condition before starting. In the stomach-reservoirs a gallon and a half of water can be stowed away. Like some other frugal animals, the camel enjoys a long life of thirty or forty years.

In disposition the camel is peculiarly stolid, not to say stupid. Whether domestication has been too much for it, there can be no doubt that its “docility” is more the result of habitual nonchalance than any outcome of intelligent subservience. It is usually very submissive, except when habitually thwarted or ill-treated.

The camel is the most useful and important of all African domestic animals; without it commerce would be impossible across some districts which are nearly devoid of water and plants. In Australia, also, it has become valuable for interior expeditions, and camel corps have been formed by European troops in the Sudan, and are a permanent branch of the Egyptian army.

=Cat= (_Felis domestica_) is known to everybody. Its nearest relation is the WILD CAT (_Felis catus_), but it is not a tamed descendant of this wild cat but seems, like other domestic animals, to have come from the East. It is usually, though not with absolute certainty, regarded as the descendant of the Egyptian cat which was domesticated in Egypt thirteen centuries B. C. From Egypt the domestic cat spread through Europe, and was confined to those who could afford a high price for the pet.

THE VARIETIES OF CATS ARE DUE TO COLOR AND FUR

The varieties of domestic cat concern color and quality of fur, not differences of form, as in the case of dogs. Thus we have (1) black cats with clear yellow eyes, usually with a few white hairs, and with hints of markings in the kittens; (2) white cats, sometimes with blue eyes, and then generally deaf; (3) tabby cats, like the wild species, and perhaps the result of crossing with the same; (4) gray cats, which are rare, and differ from the tabby forms in having no black stripes, except the common ones over the forelegs; (5) tortoise-shell, fawn-colored, and mottled with black, usually females; and (6) sandy-colored, usually males. The royal Siamese cat is fawn-colored, with blue eyes and small head; the Carthusian or blue cat has long, dark, grayish-blue fur, with black lips and soles; the Angora, or Persian cat is large, fine furred, generally white, tending to yellow or gray, and possibly derived from an Asiatic species. The Malay cat, in Pegu, Siam, and Burma, has a tail only half the normal length; the Manx cat of the Isle of Man is tailless and has longer hind-legs. A fine all-blue cat comes from Russia and Iceland, and there are characteristic breeds from India, Abyssinia, and other parts of the world.

CHARACTERISTICS AND HABITS OF CATS

The domestic cat is too well known to require description. It has been known to attain a weight of twenty-three pounds and an age of eighteen years. Though thoroughly domesticated, it retains many characteristics of wildness, especially in its private hunting expeditions, nocturnal wanderings, unsocial habits, and generally self-centered, not entirely confident disposition. When turned out in the woods it usually adapts itself readily. Domestication has had a different influence on cat and on dog, and the former may be fairly said to have surrendered itself less. Its sense of smell has probably degenerated, but is still very sensitive to certain favorite odors. The great dilatability of the pupil enables it to make the most of feeble light. The dry fur, freed from any oily matter and readily injured by water, becomes highly electric by friction, especially in dry or frosty weather.

CATS POSSESS UNUSUAL INTELLIGENCE

In cats the senses of sight, hearing, and touch are very highly developed, and the intelligence is proportionately great. That they exhibit great adroitness in catching their prey is well known, but the climax is reached in certain recorded cases where a young bird was used as a decoy for its parents, and where crumbs were scattered or scraped from beneath the snow to attract sparrows. A remarkable case is recorded of a cat which, being accidentally ignited by paraffin, ran one hundred yards and plunged into a trough of water.

SUPERSTITIONS REGARDING CATS

Cats have been objects of superstition from the earliest ages. In Egypt they were held in the highest reverence; temples were erected in their honor; sacrifices and devotions were offered to them; and it was customary for the family in whose house a cat died to shave their eyebrows. The favorite shape of Satan was said to be that of a black cat, and the animal was an object of dread instead of veneration. Many people still prophesy rainy weather from a cat washing over its ears or simply its face; and a cat-call on the housetop was formerly held to signify death.

=Cattle, or Ox.=--All farm animals were once called cattle, belonging to the bovine genus; nowadays this term applies only to beef and dairy animals--meat cattle. Our improved breeds are descended from the wild ox (_bos_) of Europe and Asia, and have attained their size and usefulness by care, food, and selection. The uses of cattle are familiar. Their flesh is part of the daily food of man--butter, cheese, and milk are on every table; their hides go to make leather; their hair forms part of plaster; their hoofs are used for glue; their bones for fertilizer, ornaments and buttons, and many other purposes. Cattle are primarily used, however, for meat and milk. This being the case, breeders have quite naturally chosen their animals with one or another of these purposes in mind. There have been developed consequently two classes of breeders, those that excel as milk producers or butter cows, and those that on being slaughtered dress out large quantities of the most marketable meat.

TWO GENERAL TYPES OF CATTLE

The differences between these two leading classes is one of form, type and quality, as the breeders say. A good dairy cow has a very soft, mellow skin, and fine, silky hair. Her head is narrow and long, and the distance between the eyes is noticed to be great. This indicates much nerve force, an important quality of the heavy milkers. The neck of a good dairy cow is long and thin. The shoulders are thin and lithe, and narrow at the top. The back is open, angular, and tapering toward the tail. The hips are wide apart and covered with little meat. The good cow is also thin in the region of the thigh and flank, but very deep through the stomach girth, as a result of the long, open ribs. The udder is large, attached well forward on the abdomen, and high up behind. It should be full but not fleshy. The lacteal or milk veins ought also to be large, and extend considerably toward the front legs.

REPRESENTATIVE BREEDS OF MILK PRODUCERS

The Holstein-Friesians from Holland, Jerseys, Guernseys and Alderneys from the English Channel islands, the Ayrshires from Scotland, Dutch Belted, French Canadians, and Kerry cattle, the latter from Ireland, and Brown Swiss from Switzerland, are all especially dairy cattle. The Holstein-Friesians are large and noted for their heavy production of milk and at the same time large carcasses, while, on the other hand, the Jerseys, Guernseys and Alderneys are less in size and noted for the richness of their milk rather than its great quantity. The Jersey shares popular honors in the dairy world with the Holstein-Friesian.

AYRSHIRE.--Medium size, standard weight for cows 1000 pounds, bulls 1500 pounds or more. A little smoother than Jersey or Holstein but from behind wedge shape is evident. Tips of ears notched, horns white with black tips and curve outward and upward. Body large and deep, ribs well sprung, hindquarters often heavy. Udder shows high development of form and setting. Color variable though red, white and brown in patches. Mild but active disposition. Dairy breed.

BROWN-SWISS.--Weight for cows 1200 pounds and bulls 1800 pounds. Colors shade from light to dark chestnut brown. Light tuft of hair between horns, on inside of ears, and a narrow line along back. Nose black, mouth surrounded with meal-colored band. Horns with black tips, medium size. Face dishing, large, full eye; ribs well sprung. Hoofs and tongue black, udder large, extending well up in front and rear. Teats large, well placed. Short legs. Dairy breed.

GUERNSEY.--Clean-cut, lean face, long, thin neck, backbone rising well between shoulder blades, pelvis arching and wide, rump long, abdomen large and deep, udder full in front, of large size and capacity. Teats well apart, and of good even size. Hair a shade of fawn with white markings, cream colored nose, horns amber, small, curved and not coarse. Mature cows about 1050 pounds. Bulls 1200 to 1500 pounds. Dairy breed.

=SPLENDID HERDS AND FLOCKS ON AMERICAN FARMS=

This fine breed of dairy cattle probably excels all others for the general purposes of the dairy-farm. As milk producers they outrank all other breeds as they do also in size.]

HOLSTEIN-FRIESIAN.--Color black and white piebald. Head broad between eyes, eyes large and bright, horns small, tapering toward tips, neck long, chest moderately deep and low, barrel long and wedge shaped, large abdomen, legs rather short and nearly straight and wide apart. Hair fine, soft and furry. Udder very capacious, extending well forward in front; teats well formed and wide apart. Dairy breed.

JERSEY.--Small head, muzzle black or dark in color surrounded by light or mealy strip of light skin and hair. Eyes prominent, bright and wide apart. Horns crumpled, small, often black tipped. Neck fine, clean and small. Legs short, fine boned and small. Body well rounded, large and deep. Skin mellow, loose, yellow, with short fine silky hair. Udder large, not pendulous. Teats medium size, placed far apart. Back straight from shoulder to tail. Movement light and graceful. Cows 800 to 1000 pounds, bulls 1200 to 1500 pounds. Dairy breeds.

REPRESENTATIVE BREEDS OF MEAT CATTLE

The beef cow presents a totally different appearance. She is square in shape, full and broad over the back and loins, possessing depth and quality particularly in these regions. The hips are evenly fleshed, the legs full and thick, the under line parallel with the straight back. The neck is full and short. The eye should be bright, the face short, the bones of fine texture the skin soft and pliable, and the flesh mellow, elastic to the touch, and rich in quality.

For meat the Short-horns (formerly called Durhams) and Herefords and their grades predominate. They are both English breeds with horns. In color the Short-horns are red and white or a mixture of these, while the Herefords are red with white faces, briskets, bellies and feet. The Aberdeen-Angus and Galloways are famous for their high qualities as beef makers, and are both of Scotch origin, black and hornless.

ABERDEEN-ANGUS.--Black color, polled heads, rotund compact type, smoothness of conformation, short legs, evenness of flesh when fat, deep, full hindquarters. Beef breed.

GALLOWAY.--Low, blocky animal, with long, soft, shaggy coat of black hair, hornless, well sprung in the ribs, resembling barrel in shape, which is evenly covered with juicy, lean flesh. Head short and wide, forehead broad, face clean, nostrils large. Eye large and prominent. Neck short, clean. Shoulders broad, joining body smoothly. Hindquarters long, wide, well filled. Rump straight, wide, carrying width of body out uniformly, well filled with flesh. Thighs broad and thick. Legs short and clean. Beef breed.

HEREFORD.--Color red and white. Head, including jaws and throat, white, white under neck, down the breast, under belly, and on legs. Bush of tail white, white strip on top of neck to top of shoulders, remainder of body red. Head short, forehead broad, eyes full, horns rather strong and of whitish yellow color, free from black tips, more or less drooping, neck short and thick. Hide heavy and loose and covered with dense soft coat of hair. Breast broad and full, free from loose dewlap. Shoulders broad on top. Ribs well sprung and extending well backward. Rump bones wide apart. Legs short, straight and set well apart. Line of back straight and level. Quarters full and well rounded. Beef breed.

SHORTHORN.--Head wide between eyes, short from eyes to nostril. Horns short, curved forward waxy white with dark tips. Neck short and fine. Back straight, level and broad and deeply covered with flesh. Thighs wide, deep and long, well filled down in the twist. Body deep, squarely built. Flanks well let down, underline nearly straight. Legs medium length. Colors pure red, pure white, a mixture of these colors, or roan. Beef breed.

The breeds considered as chiefly serving the dual-purposes of milk and beef-making are Red Polls and Devons, both English breeds, and some of the Short-horn families having the milking characteristic best developed.

RED POLLED.--Weight for bulls 1800 to 2000 pounds, cows 1300 to 1500 pounds. Color red. Nose flesh color. Switch of tail and udder white. Head medium length, wide between eyes. Poll well defined and prominent, neck of medium length, clean cut, straight from head to top of shoulder. Chest broad and deep, back long, straight and level, hips wide and well covered, legs short and straight. Udder full and flexible. Teats well placed and wide apart. Hide loose, mellow, with full coat of soft hair. Dual purpose breed.

CATTLE AS A FORM OF INDUSTRY

Cattle are the chief source of wealth in many regions. Just as the horse is pre-eminent as a labor animal, the ox stands first as the food producing animal in modern civilization. The aggregate value of cattle products,--beef, milk, butter, cheese, hides, etc., far exceeds that of any other animal.

The relative economy of milk and beef production is now more and more commanding attention. The experiment stations have demonstrated that good dairy cows produce human food in the form of milk much more economically than food products can be obtained in the form of beef, pork or mutton.

A REMARKABLE EXPERIMENT IN CATTLE VALUES

At one of the Stations, for example, the entire carcass of a steer and the milk of an Holstein cow were analyzed.

The steer when killed weighed twelve hundred and fifty pounds. The cow during the year gave eighteen thousand four hundred and five pounds of milk. From the milk of the cow, and from the carcass of the steer, the following number of pounds of human food substances were obtained. Of protein five hundred and fifty-two pounds from the milk, and one hundred and seventy-two pounds from the steer; of fat six hundred and eighteen pounds from the milk and three hundred and thirty-three pounds from the steer; of sugar nine hundred and twenty pounds from the milk and none from the steer; of mineral matter one hundred and twenty-eight pounds from the milk and forty-three pounds from the steer.