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 U Library i.'urviu Cat. No. 1152 
 
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THE MICROSCOPE: 
 
 BEING A 
 
 fjpfe §mxi$m 
 
 OF THE MOST 
 
 INSTRUCTIVE AND BEAUTIFUL OBJECTS 
 
 FOR EXHIBITION. 
 
 BY 
 
 L. LANE C L A R K E. 
 
 \ 
 
 " The eye sees no more than it brings with it t!ic power of seeing. ' 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 G. ROUTLEDGE & CO., FARRINGDON STREET] 
 AND 18, BEEKMAN STREET, NEW YORK 
 
 1858. 
 ( V/ie Author reserves the ri<jl<t of tra>)idatioi\) 
 
<£ntmh at stationers' |)all. 
 
 LONDON: EICHAED BAEEETT, PEINTEE, MARE LANE. 
 
P R E E A C E. 
 
 The first thought of this little book was suggested by 
 an Optician, who, having a large sale for Microscopic 
 Objects, and being often perplexed by the questions of his 
 customers, as to the nature of the objects before them, 
 requested me to write a Catalogue of the Slides in his 
 cabinet, to which he might refer the enquirer. 
 
 It was a pleasant occupation ; and, as drawer after drawer 
 was opened, and every slide examined, the description of 
 each swelled the small pamphlet into this little book, 
 whose object is solely to accompany the Object-box and 
 explain its contents. There are no engravings, because 
 the mounted objects are the truest and best illustrations, 
 infinitely more interesting than the highest delineations of 
 art. A little expense and a little trouble will procure 
 them all. 
 
 Microscope books there are many, and some of them 
 most excellent ; such as 
 
 " Quekett on the Microscope," 
 
 11 Carpenter on the Microscope," 
 
 " Hogg on the Microscope," 
 
 " How to Work with the Microscope," by Bcale ; 
 but although they abound in illustrations, and give all 
 necessary information for preparing objects, I have myself 
 experienced how much more is learnt by the careful study 
 of one slide, the dissection of one flower, than by many 
 hours of mere reading and looking at pictures. 
 
 *& 
 
 WW 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 That these works are not read attentively or well 
 understood by many young persons, who now purchase 
 Microscopes and collect objects, seems probable from the 
 remarks which are made and the questions that are asked 
 when looking at preparations from the Vegetable and 
 the Animal Kingdom. We not unfrequently hear the 
 section of an Echinus spine pronounced "very pretty, 
 exactly like a crochet pattern" — the Echinus itself being 
 an unknown thing. Spicules of Holothuria or Gorgonia 
 are brilliant little clubs and crosses ; but what a Holothuria 
 is they cannot imagine. The foot of a Dytiscus, with its 
 cluster of suckers, is like the eye of a peacock's feather; 
 cells of spiral fibre nothing more than coils of variegated 
 wire ; and the head of Rhingia, with its wonderful eyes, is 
 looked at as a beautiful piece of network. It is the design 
 of this Catalogue to give simply that elementary know- 
 ledge of vegetable and animal physiology, which will 
 enable the young student to understand the Slides in the 
 Object-box, and excite the desire to learn more from 
 1 letter books. 
 
 It is also hoped that many will be led to purchase the 
 preparations of Whole-mounted I?isects, and by the careful 
 study of them take the first steps into the wide and 
 pleasant field of Natural History. As the ear is educated 
 by the study of music, so the eye is educated by a habit of 
 observation. An artist's eye catches the faintest tint of 
 colour, observes the minutest curve in an outline ; a 
 physician's eye scans quickly, and reads deeply the 
 confused or obscure diagnosis of disease, unperceived by 
 others, and every line in the patient's face or movement of 
 the body is to him an index of the inner life ; the natu- 
 ralist's eye, quickened in all its powers by observation, 
 sees the folding of a leaf, the spot upon the wall, the 
 tract of an insect on his path, where the untrained eye sees 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 nothing. The Microscope gives this training, if it is 
 lightly used, that is, with intelligent enquiry, with careful 
 reading on the various subjects, as they are suggested by 
 mounted objects,* and observation of the living creatures 
 in this beautiful world around us. 
 
 None but those who have enjoyed it can tell how 
 refreshing and uplifting to the spirit is an hour at the 
 Microscope — an hour of thoughtful reverent study of the 
 wisdom, power and love of God in creation. Science, 
 when it is merely "la grande curiosite," or when 
 pursued for selfish pleasure and ambition, is not the end 
 for wlrich the Microscope was given to us. There must be 
 a link with the unseen and the eternal, a light from the 
 true wisdom, if our ways are to be ways of pleasantness, 
 and our paths to end in peace. 
 
 Woodeaton Rectory, 
 June lbth, 1858. 
 
 * ''• Kirby & Spenee's Entomology." 
 " Insccta Britannica." 
 
 " Westwood's Introduction to Entomology.' 
 
 " Balfour's Botany." 
 
 " Lindley's Vegetable Kingdom." 
 
 " Unger's Letters." 
 
 " Johnson on Zoophytes." 
 
 " Harvey on Seaweeds." 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 ON THE USE OP THE MICEOSCOPE. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Directions for Mounting Objects 4 
 
 „ ,, Mounting in Balsam 5 
 
 PAET I. 
 
 OBJECTS FROM THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Shapes of Cells — Cell contents — Oil Cells — Hairs of plants — Cuti- 
 cle and Stomata — Cuticle of Yucca, of Aloe, of Deutzia Scabra, 
 of Amaryllis — Indian Corn — Cuticle of Saccalobium, of 
 Elaeagnus, of Tillandsia, of Onosma, of Opuntia 7 
 
 Raphides. — Cuticle of Hyacinth — Raphides from Rhubarb — 
 Anagallis — Spiral fibre — Spiral Cells of Oncidium — Spiral 
 Vessels of Collomia — Spiral Cells of Balsam — Spiral Cells of 
 Sphagnum — Scalariform Vessels 1 G 
 
 Pollen. — Pollen of Mallow, of Hollyhock, of Passion-flower, of 
 OEnothera — A Few Words more on the Pollen— Pollen- tubes 
 — Stamens 20 
 
 Heeds. — Poppy — Sweet-William — Silene, or Stellaria — Orchis — 
 
 Eccremocarpus or Calampelis 24 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 SECTIONS OF WOOD. 
 
 Ruscus — Whanghae Cane — Asparagus — Section of Hazel, of Pine, 
 of Yew — Cedar of Lebanon — Vegetable Ivory — Fossil Coni- 
 ferous Wood — Pine Wood — Section of Cocoa-nut, of Cob-nut, 
 of Snake-wood 26 
 
 Moss. — Slides of Dicranum, Funaria, &c, &c. — Spore-cases of 
 Fern — Elaters of Equisetum — Elaters of Jungermannia — 
 Jungermannia Bidentata 29 
 
Viil CONTENTS. 
 
 t\ge 
 
 Fungi.— Slide of Puccinia, or Phragmidium— Blight of Wheat 
 
 (Smut)— Uredo Foetida, or Bunt— Uredo, or iEcidium S6 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 INFUSORIAL EARTHS. 
 
 Diatoms of Guano — Naviculse — Navicula Hippocampa — Pleurosig- 
 ma — Meloseira — Meloseira Borreri — Achnanthes Longipes— 
 Synedra Ulna — Bacillarise — Gomphonema — Licmophora — 
 Rhabdonema — Grammatophora Marina — Biddulphia — Am- 
 phitetras- — Isthmia Obliqua— Arachnoidiscus — Heliopelta — 
 Actinocyclus— Asteromphalus Asterolampra — Coscinodiscus c c J 
 
 Desmidiacece — Volvos Globator — Closterium — Conferva? — Zyg- 
 
 nema — Achy la Prolifera 4 6 
 
 PAET IT. 
 
 OBJECTS FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OBJECTS FROM THE ARACHNIDA. 
 
 Spider's Foot — Spider's Legs — Spider's Spinnarets — Spider's Eyes 
 
 Spider's Jaws — Spider's Palpi — Epidermis of Spider 53 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 INSECT PARTS. 
 
 Tongues of Insects. — Tongue or Proboscis of Hive Bee — Tongue of 
 Wasp — Butterfly's Tongue or Proboscis — Proboscis or Tongue 
 of Blow-fly — Proboscis of Tabanus, of Gnat, of Empis-fly, of 
 Dioctria — Head of Conops, of Rhingia, or Syrphus, of Drone- 
 fly, or Helophilus, of Eristalis, of Tipula, of Limnobia, of 
 Hemcrobius, of Panorpa — Tongue of Cricket— Gizzard of 
 Cricket — Mouth of Soldier Beetle. Calathus Castelloides, of 
 Brachinus, of Onthophagus, of Anchomenus, of Crioceris, of 
 Ladybird, of Stenopterus Rufus 60 
 
 Antenna;. — Antennre of Cockchafer, of Nitidularia, of Hydrophilus, 
 of Elater, of Syrphus or of Blow-fly,*of Bee, of Ichneumon, 
 of Argynnis — Palpi of Argynnis — Antennse of Dragon-fly, of 
 Silkworm-moth 75 
 
cont; ]X 
 
 Spiracles and Trachece. — Spiracles ofDytiscus — Tracheae of Dytis- 
 cus — Spiracles of Cockchafer, of Fly, of Tipula, of Water 
 Larva? — Aerating Leaflet of Libellula — Abdomen of Ephe- 
 mera, or Spiracles 79 
 
 Circulation of Blood 81 
 
 Spiracles of Larvae of Bat-fly 81 
 
 Wings of Insects. — Wing of Scatophaga, of House-fly, of Blue- 
 bottle-fly, of Syrphus, of Midge, of Gnat, of Coleoptera, of 
 Cricket 83 
 
 Scales of Insects. — Scales of Morpho Menelaus, of Polyommatus 
 Argus, of Hipparchia Janira, of Pontia Brassica, of Silkworm- 
 moth, of Clothes-moth, of Podura, ofLepisma Saccharina ... 88 
 
 Elytra of Diamond Beetle 91 
 
 Feet of Insects. — Foot of Syrphus — Leg ofDytiscus, or Dyticus — 
 Foot of Wasp, of Ophion — Leg of Bee, of Gyrinus, of Brachinus, 
 of Anchomenus, of Calathus Castelloides — Sting of Wasp and 
 Bee, of Gnat, of Tabanus 91 
 
 Egg of Bot-fly, or CEstrus 95 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 INSECTS MOUNTED WHOLE. 
 
 The Telephorus, or Soldier-beetle — Melophorus Granulans — 
 
 Catheretes Urticse — Coccinella, or Lady -bird 97 
 
 Hemiptera. — Velia Rivulorum — Notonecta, or the Water Boatman 
 — Reduvius or Bed-bug — Cimex, or Field-bug — Aphis — 
 Aphrophora, or Cuckoo-spit — Thrips 106 
 
 Hymenoptera. — Tenthredo, or Saw-fly — Cypheus Pygmams — Ich- 
 neumon-fly — Microgaster Glomeratus — Aphidius Avena? — 
 Ephedras Plagiator — Ceraphron Carpenterii — Chelymorpha 
 Phyllophora, or the Turtle-shaped Leaf-bearer Ill 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 DIPTERA. 
 
 Culex Pipiens 117 
 
 Ptychoptera 121 
 
 Scatophaga. — The Family of the Brachycera — The Scatophaga — 
 Lonchoptera — Bibeo — Dolichopus — The Opomyza — Chlorops 
 — Phora — Leptis — Asilus — Empis — Empis Stercorca — Hilara 
 — Syrphus Pyrastri— Borboras Equinus — Sepedon — Sepsis... 122 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Halteres, Poisers, of Liptera. — Halteres of Blow-fly— Halteres 
 
 of Tabanus 138 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PARASITES. 
 
 The Flea.— The Pygidium of a Flea 141 
 
 Pe'li-culus, or Louse 143 
 
 The Acari, or Ticks, Mites. — Acarus Domesticus, or Common 
 Chese-mites — Acarus Passularum — Acarus Passerinus — 
 Ixodes, or Dog-tick — Melophagus — Stenopteryx — Ornitho- 
 myia — Nycteribia — Cbebfer — Acarus Gamasus — Trombidium 
 Phalangii — Trombidium Autamnale — Water-mites— Entozoa 104 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PALATES. 
 
 Palate of Helix Pomatia — Helix Aspersa — Limax — Helix Hortensis 
 
 — Helix Nemoralis — Helix Rufescens — Helix Virgata — 
 — Zonites, or Helix Nitida — Palate of Whelk, of Purpurea, 
 of Nasa, of Trochus Ziziphinus, of Trochus Crassus, of 
 Trochus Umbilicatus, of Periwinkle, of Haliotes, or Aumer 
 of Pleurobrancb, of Aplysia, of Doris, of Limpet, of Chiton, 
 of Yellow Nerite, of Neritina Fluviatilis, of Lymneus Stag- 
 nalis, of Planorbis Cornea, of Paludina, of Cyclastoma 149 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SLIDES OF ZOOPHYTES. 
 
 Sertularia Pumila — Sertularia Polyzonias— Sertularia Operculata 
 
 — Sertularia Rosacea — Laomedea Geniculata — Laomedea 
 Dichotoma — Plumularia Cristata — Plumularia Falcata 158 
 
 Polyzoa. — Gemicellaria — Gemmellaria Loriculata — Gemecelaria, 
 or Notomia Bursaria — Cellularia Avicularia — Flustra Truncata 
 Pustulipora Fossil — Flustra Chartacese — Cellularia Reptans 
 — Cellularia Ciliata — Crisea Eburnea — Crisea Cornuta — Seria- 
 1 aria Tendigera 163 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SEA-WEEDS — MARINE ALG.E. 
 
 Marine Algae — Callithamnion — Ceramium — Ptilota Plumosa — 
 Plocamium Vulgare, or Coccineum— Polysiphonia — Sphero- 
 coccus — Griffithsia — Gracillaria — Laurentia — Odonthalia — 
 Bonnemaisonnia — Delesseria — Rhodomela — Spyridia Fila- 
 mentosa— Chaetospori Wiggii — Halymenia — Dasya — Dasya 
 Arbuscula — Dasya Occellata — Dasya Venusta - — Goadby's 
 Solution for Marine Algae 168 
 
CONTENTS. XL 
 
 TAOE 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FORAMTNATED SHELLS. 
 
 The Operculina — Fossil Foraminated Shells from Barbadoes — 
 Orbitolites — Nummulites 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SPICULES OF SPONGES. 
 
 Spicules of Sponge— Gemmules of Pachymatisma — Spicules of 
 
 Grantia Nivea 18G 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 SECTIONS OF BONE. 
 
 Man's Metacarpal — Fin-bone of Lepidosteos — Femur of Tetrao 
 
 Urogallus 189 
 
 Section. 1 ! of Teeth. — Sections of Human Tooth 192 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 HAIRS. 
 
 Human Hair — Hairs of Dormouse and Common Mouse, of Mole, 
 of Bats, of Elephant, of Camel, of Reindeer, of Ornithor- 
 hynchus, of Larvae, of Dermestes 1 94 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 SPICULES OF HELOTHURIyE. 
 
 Spicules of Synapta— Spicules of Chirodota — Calcareous Spicules 
 of Doris — Calcareous Skeleton of Doris — Spicules of Gorgonia 
 — Spicules of Alcyonium Digitatum — Section of Echinus 
 Spine 197 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SLIDES OF CRYSTALLIZATION. 
 
 Selenite — Acetate of Copper — Sulphate of Copper — Alum— Oxa- 
 lurate of Ammonia — Purpurate or Murexide of Ammonia — 
 Hydrochlorate or Muriate of Ammonia — Oxalate of Am- 
 monia — Salt of Brucia — Iododi-sulphate of Quinine — Borax, 
 or Borate of Soda — Boracic Acid — Sulphate of Magnesia— 
 Ammonio-Phosphato of Magnesia — Uric Acid, or Lithic 
 Acid— Nitrate of Potash, or Nitre, Saltpetre— Salicine — 
 Nitrate of Silver 202 
 
A DESCEIPTIVE CATALOGUE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MOST INSTRUCTIVE AND BEAUTIFUL OBJECTS 
 
 FOR 
 
 THE MICROSCOPE. 
 
 " The microscope is an optical instrument by means of which we are 
 enabled to see objects or parts of objects too minute to be seen with 
 the naked eye ; the name being taken from two Greek words, fxiKp6v 
 (mikron), a little thing, and cr/coWa) (skopeo), I look at." — Lardner. 
 
 ON THE USE OF THE MICEOSCOPE. 
 
 Although a minute description of the construction of 
 the microscope would be out of place in this small work, 
 and involve more of the science of optics than could be 
 understood without diagrams, and much knowledge of the 
 laws of light, jet it will be useful to give a few hints on 
 the practical management of a newly -purchased instru- 
 ment. 
 
 Assuming the student to be desirous of obtaining an 
 efficient instrument at a moderate cost, he cannot do 
 better than procure one of those called " The Society of 
 Arts Microscopes." They are made by Mr. Baker, 244, 
 High Holborn,* and only cost £3 3s., complete in a neat 
 mahogany cabinet. They are excellent working instru- 
 ments, and for their utility and 'cheapness combined were 
 
 * Mr. Baker, who has devoted a great deal of attention to the im- 
 provement of philosophical instruments for educational purposes, also 
 supplies a portable microscope for only 9s., which is very useful for 
 botanical investigations. He makes several other patterns, varying in 
 price up to £2 2s., which will exhibit Infusoria and other interesting 
 obj ects. 
 
 B 
 
 N. C. State CoUtQB 
 
ON THE USE OF 
 
 awarded a prize medal by the Society from which they 
 derive their name. 
 
 The microscope itself is illustrated in the accompanying 
 engraving : it moves on the joints at a, so that the observer 
 can incline it at any angle, to enable him to look through 
 it with convenience. In a small brass box will be found 
 the object glasses, attached to an adapter, which is to be 
 screwed into the lower part of the body of the instrument 
 at b. The object glasses are three in number, and when 
 
 altogether their focus will be about a quarter of an inch ; 
 that is to say, they will require to be about that distance 
 from the object on the stage f. When the instrument is 
 m use, by unscrewing the lower one e, the focus will be 
 about half an inch, and by removing the next one d, the 
 focus will be about one inch. The magnifying powers 
 will be as under : — 
 
 The one combination only, C, 1-in. focus, magnifies 6,400 times, 
 ihetwo ditto, C and D, i-in. ditto, ditto 16,900 „ 
 Ihe three ditto c,D, and E,|-in. ditto, ditto 122,500 „ 
 
THE MICROSCOPE. 3 
 
 Having inclined the microscope at such an angle that you 
 can look through it conveniently, screw on the adapter, 
 and remove the two object glasses d and e ; next turn the 
 mirror g about, so as to reflect the light up into the body 
 of the instrument, and illuminate the field of view equally ; 
 then place an object on the stage f, and by turning the 
 milled heads h raise or depress the microscope, until the 
 distance between the lower lens and the object on the stage 
 is about one inch. Now look through the instrument, 
 and turn the milled heads h backwards and forwards until 
 the most distinct view of the object is obtained : by adding 
 the other lenses d and e, the magnifying power is increased 
 and the focus shortened, as already explained. The slow 
 motion i is used for the accurate adjustment of the focus, 
 when the high powers are employed ; it offers the advantage 
 of much greater delicacy and exactness than is attainable 
 by the use of the milled heads h. 
 
 Mr. Baker also supplies with these instruments a pair 
 of forceps for dissecting, and another pair to attach to the 
 stage for holding any minute substance for examination, 
 the uses of which are too obvious to require any expla- 
 nation. 
 
 The cabinet also contains a capillary cage, or live-box; 
 a very useful piece of apparatus for examining aquatic 
 objects, such as Infusoria, &c. To use it, the cover being 
 removed, a drop of water containing the object is placed 
 on the glass plate ; the cover is then slid on and pressed 
 down until the fluid is spread out, between the two glasses, 
 conveniently for observation. 
 
 In order to properly observe opaque objects, it will also 
 be necessary to be furnished with a condenser, which is 
 either fitted to the stage or as a separate stand, with the 
 arm holding the lens adjustable to any position that is 
 required: but it can only be used by the direct rays of 
 the sun, lamp, or candle; the ordinary daylight being too 
 much diffused for that purpose. 
 
 I will but add a few practical hints on the management 
 of the microscope : — 
 
 Do not imagine that an expensive apparatus is neces- 
 sary. The greatest discoveries have been made with the 
 simplest instruments. 
 
 b 2 
 
4 ON THE USE OF 
 
 Have good object glasses, and do not waste money on 
 an elaborate stage. 
 
 Use low powers in preference to liigb ones, unless abso- 
 lutely necessary; and, remember, we do not want objects 
 magnified so much as we want them defined. A clearly- 
 defining low power is the best working glass. 
 
 A few simple tools will be sufficient for all purposes of 
 dissection and examination, viz. — 
 
 Slides of glass. 
 
 Circles and squares of thin glass. 
 
 A pair of forceps. 
 
 A lancet. 
 
 A few needles, fixed in handles. Split one end of a 
 match, and tie the needle in with some waxed silk. 
 
 Two or three camel-hair pencils. 
 
 Six watch glasses. 
 
 These are all that are absolutely necessary for daily 
 study. 
 
 FOR MOUNTING OBJECTS. 
 
 This need not be a difficult or expensive process ; but 
 to succeed with insect preparations time and experience 
 are essential. The easiest beginning is with vegetable 
 specimens — cuticles, pollen, &c, — and with palates which 
 are mounted in fluid. 
 
 You must have a turn-table, price 6s. to 85., and 
 make a cell on each glass slide you mean to use, with gold 
 size or Brunswick black. It is better to see this done 
 than to read the best description of "how to do it." A 
 small bottle of gold size or Brunswick black costs 9J. 
 
 Make a solution of salt and water — be careful that it is 
 very clean, and better use distilled or filtered water — five 
 grains of salt to one ounce of water. This is the best 
 preservative for palates. 
 
 Pure glycerine — a small bottle, Is. This is excellent 
 for leaves of moss and cuticles ; but they also mount 
 very well and more easily in Mr. Topping's liquid : one 
 part of acetate of alumina to four parts of distilled 
 water. 
 
 Let your cells be quite dry ; it is better to make a dozen 
 or more at once and keep them by you. When required, fix 
 
THE MICROSCOPE. 
 
 the slide upon the turn-table, put a drop of the liquid in 
 the cell with a camel-hair pencil, then lay the object in it. 
 Have a thin glass cover ready, and let it gently fall over 
 the cell. Remove the superfluous moisture with a little 
 sponge or blotting paper ; and then, with a steady hand, 
 take a brushful of Brunswick black, make the revolving 
 table run round quickly, and, touching the edge of the 
 cell, a circle of the varnish will safely fix it. Let the 
 varnish be thin, and the circle also ; for it dries better, 
 and there is less danger of its running into the cell- con- 
 tents. The next day go over it again, making the circle 
 thicker and wider. 
 
 FOR MOUNTING IN BALSAM. 
 
 Have a bottle of clear, pure Canada balsam — it costs Is. 
 
 A little spirit of turpentine, 3d. 
 
 Spirits of wine, one ounce, Is. 
 
 A brass table or tripod. 
 
 A spirit lamp. 
 
 Solution of caustic potash. 
 
 The use of balsam in preparing insect parts is not only 
 to preserve, but to show the structure of the object. When 
 properly applied, it enters into the minutest parts, dis- 
 placing the air, and rendering the external tegument — 
 hairs, spines, or suckers — perfectly transparent. 
 
 For instance, many young students, anxious to see the 
 leg of a fly, or of a beetle, clip it off, and put it under the 
 microscope. They are somewhat disappointed at seeing 
 indistinctly a row of black joints, and nothing more. 
 
 Let that leg be first soaked for a few days in a little 
 potash and water, to soften it and dissolve the internal 
 substance : then washed in clean water and dried : then 
 soaked for a few minutes in turpentine, and finally mounted 
 in balsam : every joint will be clear, every hair visible, the 
 pulvillus transparent, and the structure admirably displayed. 
 
 The same results are obtained with the eyes, tongues, 
 and wings of all insects. 
 
 The actual mounting is a matter of experience : to keep 
 out air bubbles is the great and only difficulty. 
 
 Place a slide on the brass table, over the spirit lamp, 
 and when heated moderately put a drop of balsam in the 
 
6 OX THE USE OF THE MICROSCOPE. 
 
 centre of it ; let this also become warm, but not very hot, 
 and then lay the prepared object in it. As bubbles arise, 
 skim them off with a needle, and take care that the balsam 
 does not boil, or your specimen is lost ; — it will be full of 
 obstinate air bubbles, irrevocably fixed in the tissue. When 
 it looks clear, examine under the microscope, and if all 
 right replace it on the table, and having previously warmed 
 a thin glass cover, let it drop gently over the object. 
 
 Dry it on the mantelpiece, or a stone slab, and then 
 clean the slide by scraping off the balsam and washing it 
 with a little turpentine ; or soda and water will clean it 
 nicely ; only if it is left in the solution, it will unsettle the 
 balsam. 
 
 Try experiments for yourself, and do not be discouraged 
 by a great many failures ; neither be satisfied with bad 
 mounting, half-prepared objects, and untidy slides. 
 
PART I. 
 
 OBJECTS FEOM THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 " Search out the wisdom of Nature, — there is depth in all her doings. 
 She hath on a mighty scale a general use for all things ; 
 Yet hath she specially for each its microscopic purpose. 
 There is use in the prisoned air that swelleth the pods of the laburnum, 
 Design in the venomed thorns that sentinel the leaves of a nettle, 
 A final cause for the aromatic gum that congealeth the moss around 
 
 a rose, 
 A reason for each blade of grass that raiseth its small spine." 
 
 Proverbial Philosophy. 
 
 " On every herb on which you tread 
 Are written words which, rightly 2'ead, 
 Will lead you from earth's fragrant sod 
 To hope and holiness and God." Anon. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 In every collection of objects for the microscope we find 
 many preparations from the vegetable world — slides of 
 cuticles, fibro-cells, pollen-grains, raphides, &c, &c. ; and 
 few lose more in being hastily looked at, as merely pretty- 
 objects, without that knowledge of flower-life which alone 
 can enable us rightly to appreciate them. 
 
 If we are wholly ignorant of the structure of plants, 
 their uses, their variety, and the secret mechanism by 
 which their life is renewed day by day, we are apt to look 
 at these slides for mere amusement, for the lust of the eye, 
 pleased as a child or as a savage with strange forms or 
 brilliant colours. Therefore, before we take them up, it 
 will not be unprofitable to learn if we do not know, and 
 refresh our memory if we have once known, something of 
 the mysteries of creation in vegetable life. 
 
 Thousands of years have passed away since angel voices 
 sang the praises of God when He had finished the fair work 
 of creation, and — looking upon the lowliest herb of the field 
 
8 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 as upon the birds of the air, the living creatures of the 
 deep wide sea, the beasts of the earth, and man, the lord 
 of all — " behold it was very good." Thousands of years 
 have passed away : man has changed, it may be that the 
 lower creatures have partaken of his fall ; but of the beau- 
 tiful flowers and the stately trees we have no reason to 
 believe that there is aught in them that offends their 
 Maker — we fearlessly search into the recesses of their 
 being, and behold they are wondrously beautiful and 
 still " very good." 
 
 A flower-plant has been likened by Unger,* a German 
 botanist, to " a most skilfully planned chemical laboratory, 
 a most ingenious mechanism for the display of physical 
 forces, and one of the simplest, and consequently one of 
 the most sublime, structures ever designed or executed." 
 
 He also likens the growth of a plant to the building 
 of a glorious edifice; he compares the cells of vegetable 
 life, in their varied forms and sizes, to the stones of a 
 building forming a kind of masonry. In some parts of 
 a plant the cells are long, and form pipes or cylinders, 
 or they are condensed and thickened into fibre. In the 
 cuticle of leaf and flower we have flattened, oblong, or 
 crenolated cells, which, as a tesselated pavement, protect 
 the more delicate machinery within. 
 
 We find, with the help of a microscope, not only this, 
 but also the store chambers of cell-contents where the 
 materials for the plant edifice are collected and preserved. 
 
 Again, in the building of a plant there are air-passages 
 resembling regularly-shaped rooms, or romantic caves, or 
 microscopic grottos, terminating in what are called stomata; 
 which stomata have folding doors or valves to open or 
 shut at pleasure, so that the air circulates freely through 
 the plant organism. These are mostly on the under side 
 of a leaf, so the under cuticle is the one we mount for 
 observation, and we shall notice these stomata more j>ar- 
 ticularly when the slides are described. 
 
 The origin of every plant is a single cell. The per- 
 fection of a plant, from the . tiniest moss to the loftiest 
 oak, is in a countless multitude of simple cells containing 
 
 * TJnger's Letters. 
 
SHArES OF CELLS. \) 
 
 various substances needful for its growth, and of an infinite 
 variety of shape and substance: for some cells are very- 
 thick ; some are dotted, to allow of the circulation of air in 
 the deep recesses of a stem ; some have variegated walls 
 produced by its secondary deposits, like fibre coiled around, 
 and these fibro-cells are abundant in some plants. We 
 have them from the Oncidium and Opuntia. Some cells 
 of spiral fibre act as trachea or breathing organs, or give 
 lightness and elasticity to a stem. They are abundant in 
 strawberry leaves, vine leaves, rhubarb stems, spinach, and 
 there are beautiful examples in the slide of spiral cells 
 from the balsam. Much more can be learnt from the 
 examination of the fresh plant, because of the difficulty 
 of preserving cells and their contents. Is it not wonderful 
 to think of a little plant having its store chambers secret- 
 ing starch, sugar, gum, oils, raphides, colouring matter — 
 aye, and beautiful crystals floating in the cell-fluid, or 
 suspended, as are the cystolithes, in the cell- chambers 
 of the nettle tribe ? 
 
 The very knowledge that such things are, and that they 
 may be seen in an infinite variety, will lead us first to look 
 at these slides understandingly, then to seek further, by 
 examination of living plants. This will induce us to study 
 such books as Quekett's " Histology," " Carpenter on the 
 Microscope," " Mohl on the Vegetable Cell," " Schlacht 
 on the Microscope," " Unger's Letters," &c, &c, &c. 
 Then shall we use our microscope worthily, and our cabinet 
 of objects will cease to be a mere toy. 
 
 SHAPES OF CELLS. 
 
 As the object of this little book is to excite and not to 
 satisfy the desire of an enquiring mind, let me here 
 suggest that it is well to prove all things ; and before you 
 quite believe that every flower and j^lant is made up of 
 single cells of varied form, examine for yourself thus : — 
 Take a flower, a few bits of stalk, a lily leaf, or small 
 piece of rhubarb stalk, another of cucumber, a thin slice 
 of raw potato, a wallflower or a primrose — any flower — 
 macerate it in water for a day or two, until it begins to 
 decompose, and the smallest portion placed under the 
 microscope with a drop of water will show you the now 
 separating cells of various shape : those in stalks oblong 
 
10 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 or cylindrical; those in the surface of petals and leaves 
 square, or round, or hexagonal, or irregular, with zigzag 
 boundaries, or papilliforni, as in the Geranium, Sweet- 
 william, &c, &c. ; those of the parenchyma or pulp of the 
 leaf generally oval. In looking at these, you will certainly 
 find a variety of contents which are seldom preserved for 
 any length of time, and which you must, therefore, observe 
 in the fresh and living plant. 
 
 CELL-CONTENTS. 
 
 In the slice of potato you will find every cell crowded 
 with starch -granules, that is if it is a good potato ; for 
 starch is to the potato what fat is to an animal, and if 
 it is in "good condition" the cells should be full of it. 
 The test of this is a drop of tincture of iodine, which turns 
 the starch granules to a beautiful blue or violet colour ; 
 and a diseased potato with empty cells will therefore be 
 detected by a drop of that same iodine. 
 
 In the stem of a lily you will find starch-grains, mixed 
 with green granules of chlorophylle, a kind of vegetable 
 wax, which gives the green colour to leaves. 
 
 All our farinaceous plants contain abundance of starch, 
 especially wheat, barley, oats, maize, rice, arrow-root; 
 and the granules differ from each other in size and form so 
 decidedly, that they cannot well be mistaken by a careful 
 observer. They . are prepared for the microscope, and 
 sold as polariscope objects, because the examination of a 
 starch granule with polarized light shews it with a beau- 
 tiful black cross, revolving with the polarizer; or, if over a 
 selenite stage, a brilliant play of colours is obtained. 
 
 Besides starch-grains and chlorophylle, you will find 
 something else in the cells of that lily stem, which I select 
 as an easy one to obtain in any garden. In some cells, not 
 in all, you will probably observe a larger granule, with a 
 lesser one within, or perhaps several lesser ones ; the large 
 granule is the nucleus, the minute inner ones the nucleoli ; 
 they are the supposed origin of new cells, and much that is 
 exceedingly interesting has been written in the works before 
 referred to: " Mohl on the Vegetable Cell ;" " Hafmeister's 
 Die Enstehung des Embryo." These nuclei are to be 
 observed in pollen-grains, in the hairs of Tradescantias, or 
 Spider wort, especially in the pollen of the fir-tree tribe. 
 
HAIRS OF PLANTS. 11 
 
 OIL CELLS. 
 
 Cells containing oil are beautiful objects when found 
 as on rose-trees, on the stem of Saxifrage, Geraniums, 
 Collomia, Drasena, raised upon delicate stalks, often 
 brightly coloured, or glittering diamond-like in the sun- 
 shine.* Sometimes the oil cells are sessile, in golden 
 spots upon the back of a black-currant leaf; or white and 
 silvery in the recesses of a Sage leaf, a leaf of Rue, or 
 Hop, or Mulberry. 
 
 Sometimes these oil cells are internal, as in the rind of 
 an orange, where they are very large and most easily 
 observed ; also, in the leaves of Myrtle and Magnolia, of 
 Hypericum, St. John's wort, so common in woods and 
 hedges, those little dark dots are the oil cells, and trans- 
 parent, if you hold the leaf up against the light, and 
 examine it with a pocket lens. 
 
 HAIRS OF PLANTS. 
 
 The hairs of plants will furnish you with abundant 
 material for study and delight throughout the summer long, 
 and the variety in their form will astonish you. Look, 
 also, at the beautiful bead-like hairs of the Spiderwort — 
 a rich purple chain of cells fringing each stamen. White, 
 transparent, glittering rows of cells from the nocculent 
 mass of hairs we see on the leaves and stem of the com- 
 mon Groundsel. The common garden Verbena has the 
 mouth of its corolla closed by a dense row of beaded hairs 
 protecting its pistil. I cannot describe more, but look at 
 these. Some are simple ; some are branched, or star-like, 
 or tufted, and contain simply water : — 
 
 Alyssum leaf. 
 Draba verna leaf. 
 Antirrhinum calyx. 
 Tradescantia stamen. 
 Verbena. 
 Campanula. 
 Nettle. 
 Borage. 
 
 Chrysophyllum. 
 
 Verbascum. 
 
 Ivy. 
 
 Hibiscus. 
 
 Deutzia scabra. 
 
 Elaeagnus. 
 
 Dolichos (cowage). 
 
 Groundsel. 
 
 These are called glandular hairs. 
 
12 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 Take the hair of a Borage stem or flower off at the base, 
 and lay it on a slide with a drop of water covered with a 
 bit of thin glass, and yon will be delighted. The hair of 
 the Nettle, with its poison gland at the base, must be 
 examined in the same way. The pain is caused by the 
 breaking off of its point, and the acrid irritating liquid 
 springing up into the wound. 
 
 The reason why these hairs are mentioned immediately 
 after the cells and cell-contents is, because they are only 
 prolonged and varied cells rising from the cuticle, and 
 when the cell- walls thicken into fibre these hairs become 
 thorns. Sometimes they expand and form scales, as we see 
 on the beautiful leaves of Hippophaa and Elaeagnus, which 
 are mounted as detached scales for the polariscope, or 
 in situ as opaque objects. 
 
 CUTICLE AND STOMATA. 
 
 The cuticle of plants is that transparent skin which we 
 can easily peel off from various leaves, but especially from 
 the Lily, the Candytuft, Iris, and the petals of flowers; and 
 prove by examination under a piece of thin glass and with 
 a drop of water that it is really composed of a single layer 
 of cells, having pores, called stomata, thickly scattered 
 over it. 
 
 These slides are very useful to those persons who live 
 in cities, or who have not yet studied plant-life for them- 
 selves ; and I doubt not that they will lead many a careless 
 eye to look for other examples, and to find an endless 
 variety in the garden and the field. 
 
 These pores, called stomata, are absolutely necessary to 
 vegetable life. Leaves are the organs of respiration — the 
 lungs of a tree, and the stomach also; for they send back 
 nutrition to the trunk and stem, take up the sap which 
 rises from the root, give it the needful quantity of carbon, 
 expose it to the action of the air, and cause the super- 
 abundant moisture to evaporate. All this is done by the 
 agency of the little dots we call stomata. And this 
 is the way in which they act : — We see that the cuticle is 
 formed of a single layer of cells ; these contain air and not 
 fluid, as do the cells of the pulp or parenchyma ; also they 
 
CUTICLE OF YUCCA. 13 
 
 are so closely fitted to each other as to confine that 
 moisture, which otherwise would be too quickly evaporated 
 by a hot sun, and the leaf soon dried up and withered; but 
 at the same time, as air is necessary to the inner cells of a 
 leaf or flower, these stomata, or openings, are placed in 
 great numbers in the cuticle, acting like valves, which 
 admit air freely, give out surplus fluid, and take in atmo- 
 spheric moisture when required. They are bordered by 
 cells of peculiar form, usually kidney-shaped, with an 
 oval aperture in the centre; and these "guard cells" 
 dilate and contract, closing or opening the passage accord- 
 ing to the necessities of the plant. On a hot day they will 
 close, to defend the inner cells from exhausting heat : in 
 dry weather, when the stem does not give enough fluid for 
 the nourishment of the leaves, then the stomata open 
 at night and drink in the night- dew, but close again as 
 soon as the cavities of the leaf are full. The number 
 of pores in a square inch of surface is. amazing; e.g. we 
 find that a square inch of the leaf of 
 
 Hydrangea contains 
 Iris ,, 
 
 Houseleek , , 
 Tradescantia , , 
 Lilac , , 
 
 Vine , , 
 
 160,000 under surface 
 
 12,000 both surfaces 
 
 10,710 upper surface 
 
 2,000 upper surface 
 
 160,000 under surface 
 13,000 under surface. 
 
 The stomata are generally largest upon succulent plants, 
 and abound on the under side of all leaves except grasses 
 and upright leaves, such as the Iris and Tradescantia, where 
 they are found equally on both sides. 
 
 CUTICLE OF YUCGkA. 
 
 In the cuticle of Yucca the stomata. are bounded by four 
 cells, and are themselves somewhat quadrangular: there are 
 about 40,000 of them in one square inch. The plant is a 
 native of Peru; called also common Adam's needle, bearing 
 a handsome flower in panicles on a stem eight or ten feet 
 high when in its native soil; but in British gardens it 
 scarcely reaches three feet high. 
 
14 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 CUTICLE OF ALOE. 
 
 The cells are somewhat different in shape, though the 
 stomata are also bordered by four cells: they are more 
 oblong, very prettily disposed, but require a power of 200 
 diameters to observe properly. First use the -J-inch, and 
 then the J-inch. 
 
 CUTICLE OF DEUTZIA SCABRA. 
 
 This is a polariscope object. 
 
 The cuticle is siliceous (see Indian Corn), and the wavy 
 outlines of the cells and the starry clusters of siliceous 
 hairs are very beautiful. When gathered from the tree, 
 these stars are white upon the green cuticle, and those of 
 the upper surface are many-rayed, whereas those of the 
 lower surface have usually but four or five rays. 
 
 This leads us to consider the use of those abundant hairs 
 which clothe the living plant. They serve two purposes — 
 for warmth to the tender bud, or for attracting: moisture. 
 On many plants they rise up towards evening and catch 
 the falling dew ; then bending downwards at noontide 
 they form a close layer over the cuticle, and give it a pro- 
 tecting shade, at the same time preventing a too rapid 
 evaporation of the moisture they had attracted. There are 
 many kinds of hairs on plants ; most beautiful are some of 
 them, especially those which secrete oils or saccharine matter. 
 These are called glandular hairs ; they rise up on a slender 
 stem, and expand into a globular head, filled with coloured 
 or white special secretions, such as we find on Sweet-briar 
 and Moss-rose buds, or on the leaves and flowers of 
 Collomia. 
 
 CUTICLE OF AMARYLLIS. 
 
 This example will show the two-\obed stomata, one 
 kidney- shaped cell on each side ; it is from any part of 
 leaf or stem of the common white Lily ; also compare the 
 cells with those of the 
 
 INDIAN CORN. 
 
 This is what is called a siliceous cuticle. All the grass 
 tribe and the plants called Equisetacea, or horse-tails, have, 
 the property of attracting silex or flint from the soil in 
 which they grow : the cell walls and stomata become so 
 
CUTICLE OF TILLANDSIA. 15 
 
 impregnated with it, that even soaking in nitric acid, 
 which destroys the vegetable part, leaves the skeleton, or 
 framework, perfect, as in this slide, which has been thus 
 prepared. Observe the finely-toothed edge of each cell, 
 as well as the peculiar shape of the four cells bordering 
 the pores. The stomata are very abundant in grasses ; 
 they cover every part of the stem, and both sides of the 
 leaves. 
 
 CUTICLE OF SACCALOBIUM. 
 
 The Saccalobium is one of the orchis tribe, a native of 
 Asia, found in the Indian Archipelago, and is cultivated 
 in hot-houses in England. The spiral fibre in some of its 
 cells forms a regular network on the inner surface. 
 
 CUTICLE OF EL^: AGNUS. 
 
 This is an opaque object ; the scales are very beautiful, 
 and when detached from the leaf and mounted in balsam 
 they polarize. 
 
 The Ela?agnus is a native of all parts of the world, from 
 the northern hemisphere down to the equator, which it 
 rarely passes. The flowers of this species are highly 
 fragrant, and abound in honey. 
 
 CUTICLE OF TILLANDSIA. 
 
 The under side of the leaves and the stem of this plant 
 are adorned with delicate scales, as of the finest network. 
 
 The plant itself is a native of South America and the 
 West Indies. The whole tribe dislike water ; and Lin- 
 naeus named the genus from a professor in Sweden, who, 
 having once experienced a very rough passage from 
 Stockholm to Abo, determined never again to cross the 
 water; he even changed his own name to that of " Til- 
 lands," which means on or by land; and actually, when 
 obliged to return to Stockholm, preferred travelling 200 
 miles round by Lapland to going a direct road of eight 
 miles by sea. 
 
 One species of Tillandsia (utriculata) which grows upon 
 old and decaying trees in the forests of Jamaica, has leaves 
 a yard long, inflated at the base, which form a reservoir for 
 water. Each leaf holds about a quart of fluid, and wild 
 
1G THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 cattle seek refreshment there. Travellers, also, under the 
 hottest sun, may turn aside and find a sweet pool of water 
 in dry seasons, when all other supplies have failed. 
 
 CUTICLE OF ONOSMA. 
 
 The Onosma is a native of Tauria, near the Bosphorus. 
 The plant is small, with handsome flowers, flourishing in 
 sandy soil ; and this cuticle is very beautiful under polar- 
 
 ized light. 
 
 CUTICLE OF OPUNTIA. 
 
 This beautiful cuticle is from the leaf of the Opuntia, a 
 kind of Cactus, or Indian Fig, and on one of them the 
 cochineal insect is found : this is from the Opuntia vulgaris, 
 which bears a large purple juicy fruit, and is a spiny 
 shrub, growing abundantly on Mount Etna amidst its 
 lava. It is, however, a native of South America, and the 
 way in which it has been naturalized and made most useful 
 in Sicily is remarkable. As soon as a little fissure is per- 
 ceived in the lava, a small branch or joint of Opuntia is 
 stuck in; the latter pushes out roots, which are nourished 
 by the rain which collects round them, or by whatever 
 dust or remains of organic matter may have made a little 
 soil. These roots spread out and ramify into the most 
 minute crevices, breaking up the lava into small fragments, 
 and finally rendering it fit for culture. 
 
 KAPHID e s. 
 
 These are crystals found in the cells of various plants. 
 No better example can we have than the 
 
 CUTICLE OF HYACINTH, 
 
 in every cell of which we see a cylindrical crystal. 
 Examined with polarized light they are most distinctly 
 seen, and enable us to understand the position of raphides 
 in other plants. The Cactus, the common Dock, and 
 various other vegetables, have bundles of needle-shaped 
 crystals in their cells. Turkey Rhubarb and the garden 
 
ANAGALLIS. 17 
 
 Rhubarb have rectangular prisms of carbonate of lime 
 grouped in a stellate form. See the slide of 
 
 RAPHIDES FROM RHUBARB. 
 
 What their use is we do not know. Another kind, 
 called cystolithes, are stalked and suspended in the cells 
 of the nettle tribe. Their formation has been watched : 
 first a little papillae or swelling is perceived at the upper 
 part of a cell, which increases at the end into a clubbed 
 form, from which crystals of oxalate of lime sprout forth. 
 
 This is one of the mysteries of creation, how the cells 
 of a plant so regularly secrete each its appointed store of 
 needful substance for the plant life — how from the earth 
 in which it grows, from the air in which it lives, from the 
 light which quickens it, each tiny chamber receives exactly 
 that portion of nourishment, and that kind of nourishment, 
 which enables it to produce either the green wax which 
 colours the leaf, or the white starch-grains, or the gum, 
 the sugar, the oil, or the shining crystals, or that nucleus 
 which is the reproductive cell — all this going on invisibly 
 around us in every living plant, and having been thus going 
 on for five thousand years at least, unseen, unknown by us, 
 until the revelations of the microscope. Is there no deep 
 thought stirred in our hearts by the manifest order and 
 minute* care of Him who built up this living temple for 
 His own pleasure and for ours ? Do we think of all that 
 is contained in the flower we gather by the way-side, in 
 the herb that bends beneath our feet ? Is no desire 
 kindled to see these things as they are, and pass on from 
 these slides to the examination of the plant itself? There 
 are a thousand things more beautiful than raphides that 
 cannot thus be mounted or preserved. Shall I give one 
 example only for a summer hour's delight? 
 
 ANAGALLIS. 
 
 In the garden or the corn-field gather a little scarlet 
 Pimpernel, the Anagallis, or the Poor Man's Weather- 
 glass, that lowly and bright little flower which opens every 
 morning at eight minutes past seven, and closes about 
 three minutes past two in the afternoon. Examine it 
 with a pocket-lens, and you will see that it belongs 
 to the Primrose tribe, with its single-leaved calyx and 
 
 c 
 
18 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 corolla, wheel-shaped, deeply cleft into fine segments, fine 
 slender filaments and heart-shaped anthers, one-thread- 
 shaped and clubbed stigma. With the same lens you 
 can examine the seed-vessel, a little globular capsule 
 opening all round, and, raising the lid, observe the most 
 beautiful dotted seeds lying closely pressed to the pitted 
 receptacle ; and this, if once seen, will not be forgotten. 
 Take it now to the microscope, and, with a low power, 
 first look at one of the coloured segments of the corolla. 
 Press it # lightly in a drop of water under a bit of glass, 
 and you will then see that the edge of the petal is 
 fringed with little bell-like glands, purple and white, and 
 that hues of deeper colour radiate from the base of the 
 petal. Put on a higher power, and you will find these are 
 exquisite spiral vessels; not one only, but many in each 
 line, short, and joined to each other by a delicate dove- 
 tailing process. Think of the mechanism in that one 
 small leaf, and those little oil cells fringing it so prettily, 
 doubtless for use as well as beauty. Then take off one 
 stamen and look at it in the same way. Half-way up the 
 slender white stem are purple hairs, each jointed and like 
 a row of tiny amethysts : above is the heart-shaped anther, 
 with its golden store of pollen-grains, out of each of which 
 will flow the life-giving germ to the future seed. Take 
 the style and stigma, and examine them next; you will 
 not soon be weary of the sight. Most likely you will find 
 some pollen-grains upon the stigma throwing down their 
 tubes invisibly ; for this is only seen with a high power, 
 and by making a very thin section of a short style, such as 
 that of a Cistus, or a Chickweed. 
 
 After such an examination, that little flower will never 
 be seen with the same careless eye which for years had 
 passed it by unheeded, because unconscious of its beauty. 
 
 SPIRAL FIBRE. 
 
 Many specimens of these are sold prepared for the 
 microscope, especially the following : — 
 
 Spiral cells of Oncidium, Spiral cells of Sphagnum, 
 
 Spiral vessels of Collomia, Scalariform vessels. 
 
 Spiral fibre from Balsam, 
 
 They require some little explanation. We have already 
 seen, in the examination of cuticles and flower-stems, that 
 
SPIRAL CELLS OF BALSAM. 19 
 
 plants are made up of cells containing various substances, 
 as starch, crystals, oil, or wax. These were for the 
 nourishment of the plant ; but here are cells which are 
 supposed to assist in the circulation of air and moisture 
 throughout the system. Some of them strikingly resemble 
 the trachea of insects, and seem to communicate with the 
 stomata as the trachea do with the spiracles. 
 
 SPIRAL CELLS OF ONCIDIUM. 
 
 These beautiful little cells are obtained by macerating 
 the pulp of those leaves which contain them, separating 
 them with a fine sable brush, or mounted needle. The 
 Oncidium is an orchis, a native of Peru, Mexico, and the 
 West Indian Islands ; cultivated in hot-houses in England. 
 They are curious and beautiful plants, with spotted yellow 
 or jmrple and white flowers, one species much resembling 
 a gorgeous butterfly. In all these plants the spiral cells 
 abound immediately under the cuticle, and, viewed with 
 polarized light, they resemble coils of coloured wire. 
 
 SPIRAL VESSELS OF COLLOMIA. 
 
 These fibre-cells are in the cuticle of the seed, and the 
 examination of them is so easily made, that it is well worth 
 doing. The cells which contain the fibre are in this 
 instance so delicate, that a drop of water causes them to 
 break, and the coil unrolls, shooting forth in long tubes, 
 with an appearance of life as they spring across the field of 
 sight. To see this, take a seed of Collomia, and cutting 
 off a very small piece of its skin, place it with a drop 
 of water on a slide under the thin glass, when you will 
 perceive the fibre uncoiling in all directions. The Collomia 
 is a native of America, but naturalised in our gardens, 
 where it grows like a weed, having pretty buff or pink- 
 coloured flowers, covered with glandular hairs. 
 
 SPIRAL CELLS OF BALSAM. 
 
 These are from the common Balsam of our garden, and 
 show the bundles of long cells made up of spiral fibre, 
 which often break and pass into annular fibre: you may 
 perceive some of these in detached rings. These cells 
 contain air, and are those which most resemble the trachea 
 of insects. Those of the Leek are also very remarkable, 
 
 c2 
 
20 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 and the common garden Khubarb will furnish, you with 
 abundant specimens. Take a little boiled Rhubarb, and 
 pick it to pieces with a mounted needle in a little water, 
 when bundles of spiral vessels will easily be found. 
 
 SPIRAL CELLS OP SPHAGNUM. 
 
 Sphagnum is a moss growing in marshy places, and its 
 leaf shows a beautiful arrangement of spiral fibre in its 
 large oval cells, whilst in the smaller ones you will see the 
 granules of chlorophylle which colour the leaf. 
 
 SCALARIFORM VESSELS, 
 
 so called because they resemble the steps of a ladder, 
 are peculiar to ferns and to asparagus. They are secondary 
 deposits on the cell wall, and somewhat of the nature 
 of spiral fibre. Under polarized light, they are very 
 beautiful. 
 
 When you pull up a common Bracken, or Fern, and cut 
 the root across, the brown figure you see, called King 
 Charles in the Oak, is made up of these scalariform 
 vessels. They are very troublesome to prepare, but this 
 is the easiest way that I know of: — Cut up the root and 
 boil it until tender enough to peel ; put the centre part 
 into a jam-pot with water and a little nitric acid; let it 
 stand in boiling water for some hours, then pick the long 
 white fibres carefully out, wash them in boiling water over 
 and over again until perfectly clean and clear, which is 
 only ascertained by examination under the microscope, 
 then mount them in fluid or in balsam. If in balsam, dry 
 them well first. 
 
 POLLEN. 
 POLLEN OF MALLOW. 
 
 A beautiful object viewed as an opaque — more lovely far 
 when taken fresh from the flower, and looked at upon one 
 of its own crimson leaves, or the petal of a Geranium. It 
 cannot be worthily described : rest not until you have seen 
 it ; and also the 
 
 POLLEN OF HOLLYHOCK, 
 
 which is like it, only the golden grains are larger, and 
 perhaps more easily preserved. I usually take a por- 
 
POLLEN OF OENOTHERA. 21 
 
 tion of the stamen, studded with the spiked globular 
 grains, and dry them on a scarlet petal of the flower ; but 
 they are well seen on a black ground, simply mounted, 
 when dry, between two pieces of glass. 
 
 POLLEN OF PASSION-FLOWER. 
 
 These are not spiked, but have three plain valves and a 
 reticulated cuticle. 
 
 POLLEN OF OENOTHERA, 
 
 curiously triangular, with pores at each corner. 
 
 Pollen is always better observed fresh from the plant. 
 The variety in shape and .structure is very great ; the 
 interest will be unfailing in the examination of it, the 
 deeper we go into the mysteries of plant-life. 
 
 This golden dust, which, to the unassisted eye, is all 
 alike in every flower, is fashioned with the most elaborate 
 care for its great purpose, and sculptured with that ex- 
 quisite finish which all creation bears as the signature of 
 the gracious God who made all things well. 
 
 This golden dust, contained by every flower in the few 
 or many stamens which are the caskets of its wealth, is 
 the fructifying principle which causes the seed to become 
 fruitful, and without which no reproduction of a plant' 
 could continue, as it does, from age to age. 
 
 The purpose of this book being chiefly to explain the 
 objects before us, I will not say more of the pollen-grain 
 than that it must be examined both as a transparent 
 object, with a drop of water or oil of lemon, and dry, as 
 an opaque. Particularly observe the blue pollen of Epilo- 
 bium ; the red pollen of Verbascum ; the black pollen of 
 the Tulip ; the varied forms in the following flowers : — 
 
 Cucumber 
 
 Crocus 
 
 Cactus 
 
 Cruciferae 
 
 Collomia 
 
 Campanula 
 
 Cobea Scandens 
 
 Composite 
 
 Geranium 
 
 Heath 
 
 Daisy 
 
 London Pride 
 
 Saxifrage 
 
 Violet 
 
 Oenothera 
 
 Passion flower 
 
 Lupin 
 
 Acacia 
 
22 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 A FEW WORDS MORE ON THE POLLEN. 
 
 As I lay aside these slides, and desire you to seek for 
 varieties of pollen in the fresh sweet flowers around, the 
 thought arises that some who read thus far may wish to 
 know a little more of the structure of the flower they 
 gather, and the pollen they examine ; else the microscope 
 lesson loses half its value, and the student more than half 
 his pleasure. If it is possible, read some better book — 
 Lindley's works, or Balfour's " Botany," where all is told, 
 and illustrated by plates ; but if you cannot do this, then 
 gather a flower and examine it thus : a Chickweed will be 
 easily obtained, and is the best for a microscope lesson. 
 
 The organs of generation in flowers are the stamens and 
 the instil : the stamens varying in number from two to 
 upwards of twenty ; and the pistil, which occupies the 
 centre of the flower, having from one to many styles, the 
 upper part of which is called the stigma. The base of the 
 pistil, which is swollen and round, is the ovary. Cut it open 
 with a penknife or lancet, and you will see tiny white cells 
 on either side, which are the rudiments or beginning of the 
 future seed. The pollen fructifies each seed whilst grow- 
 ing in the ovary, and the way in which it is accomplished 
 has only of late years been discovered. 
 
 The stamens are filaments bearing at the top single or 
 double caskets, called anthers, full of pollen-grains. When 
 a flower first opens the anthers are closed all round ; but as 
 soon as the air and the light have perfected the pistil and 
 caused it to secrete a kind of gum, or viscid liquid, on the 
 surface of its stigma, intended to hold fast the pollen-grain, 
 the anthers open and the golden dust appears, falling on 
 the ready channel which conveys it to the ovary beneath. 
 The pollen-grain itself is not a simple cell, as we might at 
 first suppose : minute as it is, there are many cells therein, 
 and a subtle fluid, called fovilla, which is in reality the life- 
 giving principle to the ovule. When a pollen-grain falls 
 upon the stigma it presently opens one of its pores, and 
 sends forth a tube more or less long, which descends 
 through the tissues of the style, enters the ovary, reaches 
 a tiny ovule, and pours into it the fovilla ; which fovilla 
 forms the embryo or future plant that is preserved and 
 nourished in the seed. 
 
POLLEN-TUBES. 23 
 
 Take a little pollen from a Cucumber plant or Passion- 
 flower, and when it is fairly under the microscope, covered 
 with thin glass, let a drop of water run in. The moisture 
 is absorbed by the pollen-grain, and it throws out a tube 
 and discharges the fovilla. It goes off like a little cannon, 
 a cloud of fovilla waving on the slide. 
 
 The quantity of pollen in a flower is astonishing. A 
 flower of the Peony, for instance, has about 174 stamina, each 
 containing 21,000 granules, — total 3, 654,000 pollen-grains. 
 A single Dandelion has 243,000 pollen-grains. The contents 
 of one anther are quite sufficient for the fructification of all 
 the ovules ; but the superabundance is not wasted, for 
 thousands of insects live on the golden store, and the busy 
 bee fills her baskets hourly with these pretty cakes for her 
 nurslings. 
 
 POLLEN-TUBES. 
 
 To see the actual pollen-tubes in their passage down the 
 style is a more difficult matter ; nevertheless, with care 
 and a good glass it may be managed. Put on the ^--inch 
 and choose a flower with a very stout style, — a Cistus or 
 this Chickweed ; the flower must have just faded, then you 
 may be sure the ovules are fructified. With a sharp razor 
 make a very thin section of the pistil, and lift it with a 
 fine sable brush on to a slide in a drop of water, and 
 cover as usual with thin glass ; focus carefully, have good 
 light, and you will see the pollen -tubes actually descend- 
 ing the tissue of the style. 
 
 Now we are considering a great mystery. We see how 
 varied are the lengths of styles and pistils, yet shorter or 
 longer the pollen-tube stops not until it reaches the ovary, 
 and when there, amidst the many rows of ovules, in many 
 positions, it has to seek the one spot in each ovule by 
 which alone it can enter, and there, and there only, it rests. 
 Perhaps all but one have been fertilized and are closed — it 
 seeks that one and perfects the work. Thus we see the 
 all-directing, all-sustaining, life-giving power of the 
 Omnipresent One ; we see His presence in the tiniest 
 flower. He alone knoweth how this may be, — we only see 
 that it is so ; and reverently let us ever search into the 
 mysteries of creation, and find new and deep delight in 
 
24 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 these revelations of His secret order, wisdom and care for 
 the preservation even of the flower of the field. 
 
 STAMENS. 
 
 The shapes of stamens are also to be noticed. Some 
 open lengthwise, some across; some have valves like 
 folding doors, flying upward, as in the laurel tribe. The 
 anthers of the barberry are on jointed filaments, which are 
 exceedingly irritable, and, if touched by the smallest insect, 
 spring up and scatter the pollen on the pistil. 
 
 Euphorbia, or spurge, — a common weed in every gar- 
 den, — has a pistil which hangs outward and downward, 
 apparently out of reach of the pollen. The anthers rise up 
 and shoot it out like little guns, one after the other, at 
 the stigma of the flower. 
 
 Nettles also have beautiful elastic filaments for scattering 
 the pollen on the pistil, which is in a separate flower. 
 Many plants have these organs thus separated, but pro- 
 vision is ever made for their union, as in the case of our 
 cucumbers, where bees and flies carry the pollen from one 
 flower to the other. 
 
 SEEDS. 
 
 Having said a little on the beginning of the seed in the 
 ovary, we shall be prepared to look at the seeds them- 
 selves with greater interest. Here also we have an end- 
 less variety of beautiful microscopic objects: — 
 
 POPPY SEEDS, 
 
 viewed as opaque objects, show a reticulated surface ; 
 
 SWEET-WILLIAM SEEDS, 
 
 oblong and dotted ; 
 
 SILENE, OR STELLARIA, 
 
 beautifully fretted and sculptured — 
 Foxglove 
 St. John's Wort 
 Saxifrage 
 Geranium 
 Anagallis 
 
 mm 
 
 Portulacca 
 Passion flower 
 Begonia 
 Scrophularia 
 Hyoscyamus. 
 
ECCREMOCARPUS OR CALAMPELIS SEED. 25 
 
 Look at all these ; and, above all, get a prepared slide 
 of the exquisite 
 
 ORCHIS SEEDS. 
 
 They are like little net-purses, with the seed in them : 
 the loose net is the skin or cuticle of the seed. 
 
 ECCREMOCARPUS OR CALAMPELIS SEED. 
 
 This winged seed is a splendid object for the polariscope. 
 The Eccremocarpus, a beautiful creeper, with large bright- 
 coloured, trumpet- shaped flowers, is a native of the tropics. 
 
26 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SECTIONS OF WOOD. 
 
 The use of these sections is to show the structure of the 
 stem of plants, and the difference between the two great 
 divisions of the vegetable world into endogens and exogens. 
 An endogen is a plant which has long straight-veined 
 leaves like a Palm, a Cane, a Lily, Iris, Daffodil, and all 
 the grasses. The flowers are usually divided into three, or 
 a multiple of three ; the embryo has only one seed-lobe, or 
 cotyledon, and the stem is like the section of 
 
 RUSCUS, 
 
 or Butcher's-broom, a common shrub in waste and watery 
 places, with very rigid dark-green leaves, tipped by a 
 sharp spine : it blossoms in April, but is chiefly admired 
 for its large scarlet autumn berries, one in the axil of 
 each leaf. This pretty section, — apparently a fine lace- 
 pattern, — shows the structure of an endogenous tree : it 
 grows from within, and is composed of a dense mass of 
 simple cells, in the midst of which, in varied patterns, run 
 upwards bundles of denser cells called " fibro- vascular ;" 
 and each bundle has one or more ducts, best seen per- 
 haps in a section of 
 
 whanghae cane. 
 
 Sometimes the centre cells disappear and leave the stem 
 hollow, as in the grasses and many of the water plants. 
 Compare now this slide, and also a section of 
 
 ASPARAGUS, 
 
 with that of the Hazel or Apple. 
 
 SECTION OF HAZEL. 
 
 Here we see very distinct organisation on quite a different 
 plan. The exogen has veined and reticulated leaves ; the 
 seeds have two lobes, or cotyledons ; the flowers are 
 arranged in four or five. The wood grows by the addition 
 
SECTION OF YEW. 27 
 
 of cells, in circles, to the exterior of that last formed, and 
 we see distinctly the open cells of the pith in the centre ; 
 the medullary rays running from the centre to the bark 
 at intervals, with sap-vessels and cellular tissue in circles, 
 as they were added on. 
 
 CEDAR OF LEBANON, 
 
 a firm, dense wood ; the cells are very minute, the 
 circles very distinct ; each circle is a year's growth, and 
 the medullary rays are very fine and numerous, radiating 
 from the centre. Those dark bands forming the circles are 
 made up of vascular tissue, or woody fibre, composed of 
 long pointed cells, which overlap one another, and deposit 
 internally a strengthening wall of a substance called 
 scleragen, which is most abundant where not only density 
 but great power of resistance is required. When young, 
 these woody fibres conduct the sap with facility through 
 both stem and branches, especially of the fir tribe ; but 
 after they are thickened they only afford support, and 
 become what carpenter's call "heart-wood." The sap- 
 vessels of trees are those nearest to th* bark, which makes 
 the barking of trees so dangerous to their life. 
 
 SECTION OF PINE. 
 
 Look next at this section, because it shows some pecu- 
 liar dots on that same woody fibre, called glandular dots, 
 and which are remarkable as belonging to that tribe, and 
 also at one of the yew tree (Taxus). 
 
 SECTION OF YEW. 
 
 In this section, if vertical, there is a beautiful com- 
 bination of spiral fibre with coniferous pits. 
 
 These pitted structures require explanation, especially 
 as those of the pine or common deal are used as tests 
 of the defining power of the object glass. The pits in 
 coniferous wood are surrounded by a broad rim. 
 
 The origin of the pitted cell is in the unequal deposit of 
 secondary matter inside the cell wall. Always remember- 
 ing that a young cell is a simple sac of a single membrane, 
 which, containing a certain fluid, is capable of secreting 
 various substances, curiously separated from, or combined 
 
28 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 with, the various gases and inorganic matter which form 
 the soil in which it grows. These secretions are nsed for 
 strengthening the cell walls as the young plant springs 
 upward ; therefore, if the deposit inside the cell is uneven, 
 it causes marks on the cell wall ; if the cell grows faster 
 than the supply of deposit, the markings are spiral or 
 arched, or waved, or dotted ; and these are best observed 
 by comparing different cells from fresh plants. The anther 
 of the vegetable marrow, if peeled and then examined with 
 a drop of water, will give beautiful cells of arched fibre. 
 But, to continue with this slide, — these pits are at first only 
 dots in the secondary deposit ; then as the cell thickens 
 these pits deepen, the primary membrane breaks, and they 
 become channels from cell to cell,- as you may see in a 
 section of vegetable ivory, where you perceive radiations 
 from each cell, which are, in fact, these deep pits, and in a 
 vertical section would look like the pitted cells of Fir, or 
 Clematis, or Lime- wood, or Lauras sassafras, and many 
 others. 
 
 VEGETABLE IVORY. 
 
 Vegetable ivory is the seed of a palm catted Phytelephas 
 macrocarpa, and is composed of a large round mass of 
 bony albumen, in which a small embryo is imbedded. 
 Slices of this ivory-like albumen, placed under the micro- 
 scope, affords very beautiful examples of these thickened cells. 
 
 FOSSIL CONIFEROUS WOOD. 
 
 Fossil coniferous wood, which is wood converted into 
 lignite, or a kind of coal, when the vegetable matter is 
 almost entirely removed and replaced by silex (flint), pre- 
 serving all the peculiarities of structure. This fossil wood, 
 from Tasmania, will show the pitted ducts, which prove it 
 to be one of the Conifers, or family of firs. 
 
 Always add to your collection sections of 
 
 PINE WOOD, 
 
 vertical, horizontal, and tangential. 
 
 SECTION OF COCOA NUT. 
 
 This is to give an example of thickened cells into very 
 consolidated woody tissue. 
 
DICRANUM, FUNARIA, ETC. 29 
 
 SECTION OF COB NUT. 
 
 The cob nut, or hog nut, is the seed of a plant (Omphalea,) 
 belonging to the natural order of Euphorbiacea, native of 
 Jamaica. 
 
 SECTION OF SNAKE-WOOD. 
 
 This is the wood of a plant called Ophioxylon,* from its 
 twiste*d root and stem, resembling a serpent. It is found 
 in the East Indies, sometimes as a climbing plant, bearing 
 bright red and white flowers ; sometimes as a small shrub, 
 the root of which is a famous nostrum with the native 
 physicians. 
 
 MOSS. 
 SLIDES OF DICRANUM, FUNARIA, ETC., ETC. 
 
 There is no season without its beautiful symbols of 
 God's power and love, His wisdom and forethought. Spring 
 flowers fade away ; the summer foliage withers and falls 
 from the trees ; the autumn soon loses its crown and the 
 last of its flowers : but hardly have the lingering Dandelion 
 and little Daisy left us than on every old wall and knotted 
 trunk we find, in rich profusion and variety, the capsules 
 or seed-vessels of the pretty moss. 
 
 They are our little way-side friends, — we often gather 
 their trailing stems and leafy sprigs ; but few persons, 
 comparatively speaking, pause to examine their exquisite 
 seed-vessels ; therefore a few mounted specimens will be of 
 great value in the collection for our microscope. 
 
 Before I describe the growth of a moss or the slides 
 before us, it is necessary to learn the several parts of its 
 fructification, and, if possible, to procure specimens of each 
 of them. 
 
 A moss is a flowerless plant ; the fruit or seed-vessel is 
 the only visible organ of reproduction, and consists of — 
 
 The capsule, or urn-like body, which contains the spores. 
 
 The operculum, or lid of the capsule, which shuts in the 
 spores until they require light and air. 
 
 The calyptra, or veil, which protects the young capsule. 
 
 * Ophiloxylon, from o^)is, a serpent, and £vXov, wood ; because it 
 has a twisted root and stem. 
 
30 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 The peristome, or mouth of the capsule, which in 
 most of the mosses is set round with a single or double 
 row of teeth, such as you see in Dicranum or Bryum, and 
 which are curiously regular in their number, varying from 
 four to sixty-four, but always a multiple of four. Remark 
 this in any you may examine ; there will be four or eight, 
 sixteen or thirty-two, and one variety (Polytrichum,) has 
 sixty-four ; but there will be no odd number. 
 
 The inner peristome, or cilia, a fringe of delicate 
 inner teeth, often rising like a cone in the centre of the 
 capsule, pale yellow, or pure white, whereas the outer row 
 is usually crimson or brown. 
 
 The columella is a column in the middle of the cap- 
 sule, round which the spores cluster, and which you will 
 only see by carefully dividing an unripe capsule length- 
 wise, making a thin section, and looking at it with a drop 
 of water under a low power, when it will delight you. 
 
 The growth of a little moss is so interesting that we 
 shall do well to watch it in our winter walks, from Novem- 
 ber to April. 
 
 Botanists are not yet quite agreed about the green 
 filaments, which are the first appearance of fructification, 
 and whose different cells contain the germs of the future 
 moss. They are called antheridia and pistillidia, analogous 
 to the stamens and pistils of a flower, but very different 
 in their structure and action. Read the chapter on the 
 structure and reproduction of moss in " Carpenter on the 
 Microscope ; " or, better still, read Hooker and Taylor's 
 11 Bryologia Britannica." 
 
 i The part that we can daily observe with a simple pocket 
 lens is this : The little capsule rises from its mossy stem 
 wrapped in a delicate leaf, which breaks from its stalk, 
 and is carried upwards in the growth of the tender bud it 
 is to protect from the winter cold. This leaf forms the 
 calyptra before described, and varies in colour, form, and 
 substance : on some species of moss it is quite transparent, 
 of bright green or pale yellow ; on some it is hairy and 
 thick. By-and-bye the calyptra falls off, — splits up the 
 side, or comes off whole, — and then the capsule is seen, 
 wholly formed, but closed by its lid or operculum. This 
 also varies much in form and colour ; sometimes, as in 
 
SLIDES OF DICRANUM, ETC. 31 
 
 the tiny Weissia on stone walls, it is bright apple-green, 
 tipped with scarlet or crimson, very beautiful to look upon 
 even thus ; but none could guess at the exceeding loveli- 
 ness concealed beneath this pretty lid, nor without a 
 microscope could we see further into its mysteries. 
 
 If we take an unripe moss and divide it, we perceive the 
 spores clustering round the columella, and growing in warmth 
 and security within the closed capsule. But an appointed 
 time comes, and then the operculum opens, falls back, 
 and we see the peristome surrounded with a double or 
 single row of teeth, — four, sixteen, thirty-two, or sixty- 
 four, always an even number and multiple of four, as I 
 have before observed, — the outer row rich crimson or brown, 
 and the inner cilia pure white or pale yellow, forming an 
 exquisite network as they bend protectingly over the 
 mouth of the capsule, allowing the imprisoned spores both 
 light and air, yet saving them from cold and wet, and 
 tiny insects, until they are perfected and ripe for dispersion. 
 When their work is accomplished the cilia opens, the little 
 teeth unclose, and the spores fall to the ground, or are 
 borne upon the winds hither and thither, to vegetate 
 wheresoever it pleaseth God that they shall grow. All 
 this care hath He taken of the spores of a tiny moss ! 
 Yes ; and these mosses occupy no unimportant position 
 in the economy of nature. They are, with lichens and fungi, 
 called servi, or servants, because they are the earliest 
 forms of vegetable life, and prepare the soil for higher 
 plants. In the most desolate regions, in the coldest climate, 
 the little moss is found. This very Dicranum, at least its 
 species Dicranum bryoides, was once the friend of the great 
 traveller, Mungo Park. He was bewildered in a desert, 
 and, over-weary even unto death, had laid himself down 
 despairingly to die. As he did so, a little Dicranum 
 caught his eye ; the sight of its beauty touched him, the 
 thought of God's care for it awakened the better thought 
 of — " If God so cares for the grass of the field, which to- 
 day is and to-morrow is not, does He not much more care 
 for me?" He rose up, tried once more to find his way, 
 and was saved. 
 
 Mosses abound everywhere ; they fill even the rank bogs, 
 and form rich mould for the aristocrats of creation ; they 
 
32 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 cluster round the wild flowers, and protect them in their 
 earliest state from cold and injury. Servants of creation, 
 servants of God, they fill their appointed place, and do 
 their Maker's will, beautiful in their lowliness as the state- 
 liest oak of the forest. 
 
 THE DICRANUM 
 
 is found from November to April, in hedges on clay banks. 
 
 FUNARIA HYGROMETRICA 
 
 is to be viewed as an opaque object. The crimson peristome 
 of twisted teeth and the white cilia gathered into a silvery 
 knob in the centre is one of the loveliest objects we can 
 look at. They are best gathered fresh, and all the winter 
 long we find them on walls and hi hedges, or waste 
 places, especially wherever wood has been burnt, or near 
 railway stations. 
 
 The leaves of mosses are made up of cellular tissue, and 
 in a young leaf of Funaria we see the chlorophylle grains 
 very distinctly. They want no preparation beyond placing 
 under thin glass with a drop of water. 
 
 The capsules of Dicranum and Weissia are better mounted 
 in balsam ; and Funaria is best seen when simply gummed 
 on a circle of black paper and protected by a cell of card- 
 board and thin glass. 
 
 There are upwards of forty genera and a thousand 
 species of moss, of which 39 genera and 300 species are 
 found in Great Britain. 
 
 SPORE-CASES OF FERN. 
 
 The fructification of ferns affords a great variety of micro- 
 scopic objects, though we rarely find any but the spore-cases 
 of the common Polypodium mounted in this way ; there- 
 fore, after looking at the slide, we should by all means 
 collect and examine as many varieties of fern as we can, 
 not only for the shape of the thecas, as these little cases 
 are called, but for their position on the frond. 
 
 This Polypodium is a most common fern, growing upon 
 old walls and hedgerows, and the round yellow spots on 
 the underside of the frond are masses of these spore-cases 
 called sori. 
 
SP0RE-CA6ES OF FERN. 33 
 
 Observe that each theca is clasped by an elastic ring or 
 band, called the annulus, and the spores are kept safely during 
 their growth, as in a golden casket ; but, as soon as they are 
 fit for dispersion, the membrane which encloses them breaks, 
 and the elastic band is seen with an empty little cup at 
 each end. The spores themselves resemble pollen-grains, 
 and are very prettily marked ; but will require a higher 
 power, and had better be examined from a fresh frond, 
 with a drop of water, or a drop of oil of lemon, which is 
 an excellent assistant in the observation of pollen and 
 spores of all kinds. 
 
 The great profusion of these organs of reproduction is 
 astonishing. If we take a leaf or frond of the common 
 Hart's -tongue ( ' Scolopendrium), and count those brown 
 lines on the under-side, which are the sori, we find at least 
 fifty in a good-sized frond ; in each sorus 4,000 of these 
 tiny thecal, sometimes 6,000 ; and the theca? themselves 
 enclose about fifty spores : thus we shall find that a single 
 leaf of the plant may give rise to no fewer than ten millions 
 of young ferns. 
 
 An interesting experiment may be made to learn the 
 growth of a fern, by simply shaking some ripe spores on 
 a saucerful of fine mould, covering it with a bell-glass or 
 tumbler, and keeping it moist, warm and shaded. In a 
 short time a thin green film will spread over the soil, 
 which take up carefully on the point of a lancet, and 
 examine under the microscope. The little spore first 
 becomes swollen, angular, and bursts, throwing out a fine 
 rootlet, which fixes in the soil and draws in nourishment. 
 Then a number of delicate transparent cells are formed 
 from the mother-cell in the spore, making a little green 
 scale, which as it expands throws out many fibres or root- 
 lets on the under side. The wonderful part is that this 
 tiny green scale produces two kinds of cells, which fructify 
 each other, as do the stamens and pistil of flowering 
 plants. 
 
 One set of cells, called antheridia, contain most curious 
 spiral filaments, which move spontaneously, and wheel 
 round and round until the cell breaks, and they escape 
 to enter into the other kind of cells, called archegonta, or 
 germ-cells, from which the real stem of the future fern 
 
 D 
 
34 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 is produced. This is difficult to watch, and it requires 
 a power of 300 diameters to see these moving filaments, 
 called antherozoides ; but the development of the little 
 fern is in itself worth seeing and mounting for the micro- 
 scope in its several stages. 
 
 Ferns are amongst the flowerless plants, — very numerous, 
 very useful ; not fewer than 2,000 species inhabit various 
 parts of the world, from the tall Tree-fern of the tropics, 
 more than fifty feet high, to the humble Spleenwort 
 (Asplenium ruta-mnraria) which haunts our ruined walls. 
 Their claim to usefulness rests on their medicinal pro- 
 perties ; the thick mucilage from Adiantum capillus 
 veneris being a famous cough nostrum ; a decoction of 
 Polypodium is taken as an anti-rheumatic and sudorific 
 beverage ; Osmunda regalis is given to ricketty children as 
 a tonic ; and others are used as styptics and purgatives. 
 The roots, when roasted and peeled, are eaten by the 
 natives of New Zealand as we eat bread. 
 
 Moore's "Handbook of British Ferns" is a most 
 useful companion in a country walk, to assist us in recog- 
 nising the different species. 
 
 ELATERS OP EQUISETUM. 
 
 This slide is useful chiefly in directing attention to the 
 plant from which the elaters are taken, and as leading the 
 student to an interesting experiment. 
 
 The Equisetacese, or Horsetails, are leafless plants found 
 on moist ground, in ditches and rivers, with whorls of long 
 slender branches, and a hollow stem which gives the micro- 
 scopist a very beautiful siliceous cuticle with stomata. The 
 fructification is found in the Spring : a fertile scaly head 
 rises from the earth, having circles round it of shield-like 
 discs, beneath which the spore-cases and these spores, which 
 then appear only as a fine green dust, lie concealed. 
 
 Shake a little of the dust on a slide of glass, and innu- 
 merable small bodies will be seen, each with four elastic 
 filaments clasping and unclasping them in quick motion 
 for several minutes. If dry and motionless, by lightly 
 breathing on them the action will be repeated. These are 
 the elaters of the Equisetum, and the mechanism by which 
 the spores are dispersed. 
 
JUNGERMANNIA BIDENTATA. 35 
 
 ELATERS OF JUNGERMANNIA. 
 
 Jtmgermannia, or Scale-moss, is a plant of lower rank 
 in the vegetable world than the true moss, such as Dicra- 
 num or Funaria. The elaters which are here mounted 
 belong to that species called Jungermannia dilatata, which 
 creeps over the bark of trees, and tints the trunk of an old 
 elm or oak with a rich brown or crimson ; here and there a 
 patch of this scaly plant encrusting the rugged surface, and 
 requiring the aid of a pocket lens to see its fructification. 
 
 Any time from November to March look closely at one 
 of these dark masses, and you will see dotted over it tiny 
 globes, white as of frosted silver, rising on a slender stem, 
 and perhaps great numbers of exceedingly minute fawn- 
 coloured flowers. If you gather one and examine it with 
 a good glass, small tufts of spiral fibre will be seen on each 
 segment of what seems to be a flower — these are the elaters. 
 Now this is not a flower, but a simple spore-case. The 
 little white globe before noticed splits into four valves, 
 and these elaters of spiral fibre uncoil with a spring and 
 scatter the ripe spores. There are seventy species of 
 British Jungermannia, which have been admirably described 
 and delineated by Sir William Hooker. We can find 
 several of them in our country walks anywhere, and the 
 leaves of cellular tissue are particularly worthy of observa- 
 tion under the microscope. 
 
 JUNGERMANNIA BIDENTATA. 
 
 This is an example of the delicate toothed leaves of one 
 species. We find another, Jungermannia furcata, very 
 commonly on the same tree as J. dilatata ; it. has a narrow 
 green frond forked at the extremity, and on the underside 
 we may see the anthers, or antheridia, the male organs 
 of the plant. They are small green globules, which cannot 
 be properly observed without a microscope. 
 
 The elaters are best seen when mounted in balsam ; 
 the leaves either dry or in glycerine. 
 
 d 2 
 
36 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 FUNGI. 
 SLIDE OF PUCCINIA, OR PHRAGMIDIUM. 
 
 Before we appreciate this apparently simple object, it is 
 needful to learn something of the vast extent and variety 
 of the family to which it belongs ; but the limits of this 
 catalogue will not allow of more than a very brief state- 
 ment of necessary information. 
 
 The Fungi are plants of low organization, of which the 
 highest in rank is the common Mushroom, the lowest that 
 fine mould or tiny spot which we find on dead leaves or 
 decaying wood, or as a film upon our preserves, or a 
 tiny forest on our stale paste. Everywhere, in short, we 
 may gather specimens of fungi, and find beautiful life in 
 death under the revealing power of our microscope. 
 
 Few of them are at present mounted for the student, 
 but this species may always be obtained ; it is a fungus 
 parasitic on the Rose-tree. 
 
 The Puccinia is a mildew which infests the straw of 
 Wheat, the leaves of Roses, Blackberry, Potentilla, Box 
 and Ground-ivy. We merely see small black spots, usually 
 surrounded by a circle of orange-coloured cells, which if we 
 scrape off and soak for a minute either in turpentine or 
 diluted nitric acid, each particle of black dust (for it appears 
 nothing more to the naked eye) is found to be a pear- 
 shaped seed-vessel, divided into compartments containing 
 spores. This Puccinia of the Rose or Blackberry has from 
 five to seven compartments, or spore-chambers, and is the 
 best specimen to collect for observation. Some botanists 
 call it Phragmidium. 
 
 If you wish to see the actual escape of the spore, scrape 
 the fungus from the leaf, and let it soak in a little alcohol 
 on the slide to disperse the air. Before the spirit has 
 quite evaporated, add a drop of nitric acid under the thin 
 glass cover, and warm it over a spirit-lamp, press the glass 
 gently, and in all probability the inner cell of the spore - 
 case will come out, enclosing the spore itself. 
 
 To see the germination of Puccinia, you have only to 
 scatter some of these spore-cases in the Spring on some 
 moist flannel, or on a floating piece of cork, when they will 
 
UREDO, OR .ECIDIUM. 37 
 
 presently throw out long colourless filaments, at the end 
 of which three or four septa will be seen filled with orange - 
 coloured endochrome or pulp of granular matter ; then a 
 spicule will rise on each septa, and expand into a globular 
 head, into which the orange-coloured matter will pass, and 
 these eventually fall off and begin to germinate on their 
 own account. 
 
 The spores of fungi, being light and excessively minute, 
 float in the air, enter plants through the stomata, and 
 germinate in the cell beneath. 
 
 BLIGHT OF WHEAT (SMUT). 
 
 This is a fungus of globular form, black and powdery, 
 covering the young ears of corn like a coating of soot. 
 It is called TJredo segetum. The spores are so exceed- 
 ingly minute, that upwards of seven millions eight hundred 
 and forty thousand of them would be required to cover 
 a square inch of surface. 
 
 UREDO FOETIDA, OR BUNT, 
 
 is another species, also blighting the wheat, but found in the 
 grain, which looks dark, though otherwise like the sound 
 wheat, until it is crushed, when a foetid black powder 
 is seen, the spores of which are larger than those of the 
 smut. Nevertheless, each grain contains four millions of 
 them. They are of an oily nature, so that they stick 
 to the healthy grains, and, if sown with them, infect the 
 next crop ; therefore farmers dress their wheat with 
 potash to destroy this fungus. 
 
 UREDO, OR ^CIDIUM. 
 
 I mention this, although few specimens are mounted, 
 because it is met with abundantly throughout the Autumn 
 and Winter on the underside of the Coltsfoot leaf, on 
 Spurge in our gardens, on the twigs of Fir-trees, and 
 on almost every garden vegetable. These yellow spots 
 on leaf or stem are beautiful microscopic objects. The 
 orange -coloured spores form under the cuticle, which 
 breaks sometimes like a cup, or coronet, full of golden 
 dust, that is most interesting to the observer. 
 
 I will only add that there are 4,000 species of fungi, 
 
38 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 most of which are parasitic on plants and animals. The 
 human body is also subject to their growth, — the internal 
 parts, as well as the bulb of the hair, the tongue and 
 palate. The tartar of our teeth is partly a fungus, and so 
 is the thrush in infants. 
 
 We can find a rich store of curious and beautiful forms 
 on every dying leaf or decaying stem. Examine the 
 mould on paste or jam ; the Puccinia on Rose-trees, Beans, 
 Blackberries ; the iEcidiuni, growing in bright red spots, 
 on Gooseberry and Barberry leaves in June and July ; also 
 on the white film on leaves of the garden pea. iEcidium 
 is called erysiphe, and has little spore-cases dotted 
 over it. So also on the leaves of the willow, a lovely 
 little erysiphe, each black dot fringed with hooked filaments. 
 These will give some idea of the variety of fungi, and 
 their invisible and unknown beauty. Look over Greville's 
 work on the Fungi, and Mrs. Hussey on the Fungi; 
 or get at Bulliard's fine old book on Microscopic Fungi, 
 when your winter walks will abound with hitherto un- 
 dreamt-of objects of delight. 
 
INFUSORIAL EARTHS. 39 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 INFUSORIAL EARTHS. 
 
 These slides, which require high power and a good micro- 
 scope to examine, consist of specimens of Diatomacese from 
 different parts of the world. Their value is in proportion 
 to the knowledge of their possessor concerning the Diato- 
 maceaB generally and particularly. The Diatomaceai are 
 minute vegetable forms, called also " brittleworts," from the 
 almost unavoidable separation of their cells or frustules in 
 handling them. Long have they caused disputes as to 
 their animal or vegetable nature. Very eminent natu- 
 ralists, such as Ehrenberg, seeing them gifted with spon- 
 taneous motion,- — the little golden Navicular sailing slowly 
 across the field of vision, apparently turning back when 
 meeting with an obstacle, or whirling gently round as if 
 by their own will, — decided that they were surely animal, 
 and classed them with the Infusoria, which are microscopic 
 animals, found in salt and fresh water. But later re- 
 searches and patient investigation have placed beyond 
 doubt the vegetable nature of these beautiful creations, to 
 whose variety there appears no limit. 
 
 As the wondering astronomer discovers the infinite 
 worlds revealed in unfathomed space, and sees star after 
 star arise in countless myriads within the dim and distant 
 nebulae, — as his mind bows down overwhelmed by the sense 
 of the omnipotent Creator's dominion and guidance of all 
 those glorious orbs, — even so the microscopist bends in 
 astonished awe before the infinitude of God's works in 
 the uncountable varieties and exquisite beauty of the 
 minute Diatoms. 
 
 Bilin Slate. — Wherefore are they thus highly wrought, 
 and why in such abundance ? Take up that slide of Bilin 
 slate and know that in one single cubic inch 40,000 millions 
 of these delicate forms are found ! 
 
 Richmond. — Look at the earth from Richmond — it is 
 a very small quantity of a marine deposit — eighteen feet 
 
40 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 deep, underlying the whole city of Richmond, U.S., and 
 extending over an area whose limits are not known. 
 
 Algiers, Oran. — Observe the beautiful discs in that 
 slide of earth from Algiers. Use the highest power that 
 the art of man has yet constructed, and hardly will you see 
 all the beauty which the finger of our God has traced on the 
 circular valves of these little Diatoms, called Coscinodiscus, 
 Actinocyclus, Arachnoidiscus, or Heliopelta. These names 
 sound hard and perplexing to beginners, but they are full 
 of meaning' to any one acquainted with Greek ; and there 
 is this great advantage in such nomenclature — that it is 
 understood alike by scholars of all nations. The difficulty of 
 scientific names lies not in the names themselves, so much 
 as in our deficient education, which wastes the time and the 
 intellect of young ladies in acquiring accomplishments and 
 modern languages without the solid foundation of Latin 
 and Greek, which is acknowledged to be essential for men. 
 These discs, and some others most commonly mounted 
 as objects for the microscope, will be explained presently ; 
 it is necessary previously to say somewhat more of the 
 Diatomaceas generally. 
 
 And, first : They are now decidedly placed in the vege- 
 table kingdom. They are found to consist of simple cells, 
 whose membrane is so thoroughly impregnated with silex 
 (flint) that it is indestructible by those powerful acids or 
 by such heat as would totally destroy a simple cell-mem- 
 brane. They consist always of two valves united at the 
 edges, like a bivalve shell, and containing endochrome, 
 like the plant cell ; sometimes oil globules, and a granular 
 substance which has been seen to circulate within. For 
 a proper understanding of this read " Carpenter on the 
 Microscope ;" " Smith on British Diatomacea;" " Prichard's 
 Infusoria ; " Annals of Natural History, 1843 and 1848 ;" 
 " Microscopic Journal, 1854." 
 
 The markings upon the valves, and their shape and 
 position, are the distinguishing characters which decide the 
 species. 
 
 They are found in the living state abundantly in every 
 pond and ditch, ocean and rock-pool. They are in immense 
 deposits in every part of the world. A mud-bank, 400 
 miles long and 120 broad, has been found on the flanks of 
 
NAVICULA HirPOCAMPA. 
 
 41 
 
 Victoria Land, wholly composed of these siliceous valves, or 
 loricae. In Sweden and Norway they are used under the 
 name of bergh-mehl, and mixed with the flour for bread. 
 In the masses of guano these imperishable Diatpms are 
 found in profusion, having been eaten by shell-fish, re- 
 swallowed by the sea-bird, and passed through its diges- 
 tive organs, to re-appear unharmed, in all their beauty, 
 as you may see them on the slides sold as " discs from 
 guano." 
 
 DIATOMS OF GUANO. 
 
 It is not possible to catalogue the contents of the slides sold 
 as infusorial earths from various parts, because every slide 
 has a different collection, and the student should carefully 
 study each slide, and learn its contents, with the help of 
 such a book as " Prichard's Infusoria." 
 
 The earths from the following places contain some of 
 the most beautiful forms :- 
 
 Algiers 
 
 Mull Lapland 
 
 Bilin Gossa 
 
 Italy 
 
 Barbadoes 
 
 Aiuergne 
 
 Richmond (discs) 
 
 Bangor 
 
 New Durham 
 
 Obero 
 
 Habichtswald 
 
 Tullamore 
 
 Lock Mourne 
 
 Premoray 
 
 Wreatham 
 
 NAVICUL^E. 
 
 Virginia (discs) 
 
 Piscataway 
 
 Manchester 
 
 Rappenhamia 
 
 Shoekhoe 
 
 Rugen 
 
 Slieve Mor Hills 
 Bermuda (discs) 
 
 Some Diatomacea?, however, are mounted separately, 
 either as test objects, from their delicate stria?, or for 
 their peculiar markings ; and none more frequently so than 
 the NariculaB, of which Navicula hippocampa, or Pleuro- 
 sigma aigulatum, are favourite examples. 
 
 NAVICULA HIPPOCAMPA. 
 
 The Kaviculse comprise the largest section of the whole 
 body of caatoms, and vary very much in form and markings, 
 but the genus Navicular itself is so called from its resem- 
 blance to a boat or little ship (Ncu'cr, a ship). They are 
 found, both in the living and fossil state, of a bright golden 
 colour, th& valves delicately striated, with or without a 
 
42 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 central aperture. Some are striped longitudinally ; some 
 transversely ; some waved or shaped like the letter S, as 
 
 PLEUROSIGMA, 
 
 in which the apparent striae are resolvable into hexagonal 
 dots under a high power. These Navicular all multiply by 
 division and conjugation, as do the diatoms generally, 
 which cannot be explained without plates, and the student 
 must refer to the works already mentioned. 
 
 MELOSEIRA, 
 
 From melos (a member), and seira (a chain), 
 
 is found on marine algae, a composite plant of many 
 frustules, joined together by siliceous hoops. 
 
 MELOSEIRA BORRERI. 
 
 No student should be without a slide of Meloseira, 
 because it is a diatom very likely to be mistaken under a 
 low power for a mass of confervas. In fact, it has been 
 misunderstood even by eminent naturalists. Agardh, the 
 Swedish botanist, found and classed it with the fresh-water 
 algae ; Ehrenberg examined and removed it into the 
 animal kingdom, under the name of Gallionella ; anc now 
 it is replaced in the vegetable world as a diatom, its 
 siliceous lorica being quite ascertained, and many beautiful 
 species found both in salt and fresh water. If possible, 
 obtain a specimen of Meloseira sub-Jlexilis, which is 
 found off Friburg ; or Meloseira nummulites, found in the 
 Baltic Sea ; but meanwhile observe this M. Borreri, which 
 is abundant on marine algae. You see a mass of bead-like 
 filaments, which towards the edge is better seen aid with 
 a high power. The frustules, or valves, are quite appa- 
 rent — cylindrical, round at the edges, and with a strongly - 
 marked central line. Some of the frustules are larger than 
 others ; in these most likely the process of self-eonjuga- 
 tion has begun. 
 
 ACHNANTHES LOXGIPES, 
 From achne (chaff or down), and anthos (a flowa-). 
 
 These now scattered frustules were connected in life by 
 a stem, and the upper and lower frustules hid different 
 
LICMOrilORA. 43 
 
 markings. You may observe that some have a transverse 
 line, forming a cross upon the valve ; this is one of the 
 lower frustules. Achnanthes are common in sea- water, 
 attached to alga?. There are several species, — some 
 fossil, others found in fresh-water ; but this is the most 
 beautiful. 
 
 SYNEDRA ULNA, 
 
 From sunedra (a sitting together), 
 
 are common in fresh-water, sitting together in groups 
 of golden wands, striated and open at the ends, which in 
 age dilate, and three obtuse teeth are visible, with openings 
 between them. These often occur in such numbers as 
 quite to encrust the conferva?, or the stones in ponds and 
 rivers. 
 
 We need but to take a very little of the brown-looking 
 vegetation which we find on the walls of wells or horse- 
 troughs, or quiet ponds, and, placing it on a slip of glass, 
 with a drop of water, cover with another piece of thin 
 glass, to see many of these living microscopic plants. 
 
 BACILLARLE. 
 
 From baculus (a staff). 
 
 These are much shorter than Synedra, and are found 
 adhering together by one corner, in a zigzag manner, or 
 free, like navicular, gliding about in a drop of water. They 
 are so abundant as to cover the conferva? like felt. 
 
 GOMPHONEMA, 
 
 From gompJius (a wooden peg), 
 
 is shaped like a wooden peg or wedge, and grows like a 
 tree, on long filaments, attached to conferva? or stones in 
 fresh-water, varying in shape, being sometimes round at 
 the tip, or notched, or with a plain edge. 
 
 LICMOPHORA, 
 From likmos (a fan), and phora (bearing), 
 grows likewise on a stalk, but in dense masses, and is 
 a marine diatom, parasitic on sea-weeds. Its growth is 
 different from that of the Gomphonema. The stalk widens 
 in the process of multiplication, and so spreads out the 
 frustules, like a fan. 
 
44 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 RHABDONEMA. 
 
 From rhabdos (a staff). 
 
 These are marine also, and used as test objects, because, 
 besides the striations, each frustule has two or four rows 
 of marks called vittse. They were joined together when 
 alive, forming a long tube ; but usually we only see the 
 separated frustules here. 
 
 GRAMMATOPHORA MARINA. 
 
 From gramma (a letter). 
 
 This is used as a test object to discover some very 
 delicate strife on the borders of each valve, and is also 
 remarkable for its vittae, which resemble letters ; especially 
 this G. marina, which has four Greek gammas (y) on each 
 frustule. The vittas are internal siliceous folds, and 
 distinguish a large section of the Diatomacea?. There are 
 fifteen species of Grammatophora. This one is found on 
 seaweed in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. 
 
 BIDDULPHIA. AMPHITETRAS. 
 
 Biddulphia is one of the chain-like diatoms which 
 adhere to one another by projecting angles, or horns. 
 A band of minute cells forms a hoop round the valves, 
 and when they multiply the young cells slip out from 
 between the valves, and the hoop often becomes detached. 
 
 Amphitetras is a square cellular diatom, which frequently 
 has its frustules piled up one over the other, with a large 
 cell in each corner of the frustules. They are found alive 
 in the sea off Cuba and the Canary Islands, fossil in 
 Bermuda earth and Barbadoes deposit. 
 
 ISTHMIA OBLIQUA. 
 
 A lovely diatom, found on seaweed on the English coast 
 and in the Channel Islands. Its exquisite areolated 
 structure is very remarkable, and will repay careful ex- 
 amination. Its mode of increase is unlike all others. 
 Two cells form within the valves, and as they enlarge 
 
ASTEROMPHALUS ASTEROLAMPRA. 45 
 
 break forth ; but still the siliceous hoop which once joined 
 the new frustules to the old one remains attached for a 
 time round one of them and alters its shape, causing some 
 to appear truncated instead of round. The areolae of 
 Isthmia are never well seen except with the parabolic 
 illuminator : it is a beautiful object then. 
 
 ARACHNOIDISCUS. 
 From arachne (a spicier), and discus. 
 
 This beautiful disc is one from the guano, and is also 
 found attached to seaweed ; especially one species, which 
 is much used by the Japanese in making soup. It does, 
 indeed, somewhat resemble a spider's web. But how can 
 we describe the wonderful delicacy of its tracery, or cease 
 to wonder at the perfection of its form, when we learn that 
 this double disc has two inner valves ; the outer one horny, 
 upon which are the web-like marks, is indestructible in 
 nitric acid : and the inner valve siliceous, supports the upper 
 one upon fretwork like a gothic window. This should 
 always be looked at with a Lieberkuhn, or a parabolic 
 illuminator. 
 
 HELIOPELTA. 
 
 From helios (the sun), and pelta (a shield). 
 
 This is found in the Bennuda infusorial earth. It has an 
 undulating surface, which is the reason why some of its 
 areola? seem larger than others in the radial divisions. 
 It is distinguished by its marginal spines. 
 
 ACTINOCYCLUS, 
 
 From actin (a ray of light), and cyclus (a circle), 
 
 has no marginal spines, and from eight to ten divisions. 
 Is found alive at Cuxhaven ; fossil in Virginian earth. 
 
 ASTEROMPHALUS ASTEROLAMPRA. 
 
 From aster (a star), omphalos (the navel), and lampra (shining). 
 
 Look for these in the slides of fossil guano, Bermuda 
 earth, Virginia deposit, and Piscataway earth. They 
 present beautiful umbilical rays, reaching only half-way 
 towards the margin, and alternate rays proceeding from the 
 margin, forming a bright star in the centre, having five 
 areolae in each marginal division. 
 
46 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 COSCINODISCUS, 
 From coscinon (a sieve), 
 lias no rajs or divisions, but resembles the Indian turn 
 of a fairy watch." The structure is wholly cellular, and the 
 species, of which there are forty, are known one from 
 another by minute yet regular markings, tubercles, and 
 variations in the size of the cells. They are found alive in 
 the sea off Cuxhaven ; fossil in the Richmond, Virginia, 
 and Bermuda earths, also in the chalk marl of Oram 
 
 These are the specimens most commonly sold by opti- 
 cians, and they show us what Diatomacea? are ; but to 
 pursue the study, and learn the myriads which a little 
 bog-water or a spray of seaweed would reveal, we must 
 read Prichard's work on Infusoria ; or, if further interested 
 in the manner of their propagation, — which is really won- 
 derful, — read the article " Diatomacea" in the works on 
 the Microscope by Carpenter or Hogg. 
 
 desmidiacej:. 
 
 These are minute plants, of green colour, found in fresh- 
 water, shallow pools, and ditches. 
 
 VOLVOX GLOBATOR. 
 
 This is one of them, which, from its animalcule-like 
 movement and extreme beauty, has long been considered 
 as one of the Infusoria. If mounted, it may be beautiful, 
 but is much more so in its living, moving state, in a drop of 
 water ; revolving round and round, sometimes griding 
 along, sometimes rolling through the water, a transparent 
 globe, enclosing from one to seven, or even twenty, lesser 
 and darker green globules, of various sizes. Each of these 
 globules in time breaks from its parent cell, and becomes 
 likewise a mother plant, producing young volvoces with 
 such rapidity that ponds are often thronged with them, 
 and the water is coloured to a deep green. There is a 
 pond at Blackheath which, in the months of July and 
 August, abounds with Volvox globator. 
 
 CLOSTERIUM 
 
 is a favourite specimen of Desmidiaceae. Its little half- 
 moons, or ovals, sometimes joined together, are frequently 
 found in all pools, especially on moors and in exposed places 
 
CLOSTERIUM. 47 
 
 Lately the Closterium has been closely examined with 
 high powers, and a circulation of fluid was seen throughout 
 the cell. This requires a power of 300 diameters and 
 careful management of light. Then a peculiar whirling 
 movement may be distinguished in the large round space 
 at the end of the cell, as well as along both the concave 
 and convex edges of the Closterium. It is like the cir- 
 culation in Vallisneria, Chara, and Anacharis, which I 
 do not describe, because I am only noticing those objects 
 which are mounted for students, in the hope of leading 
 them to examine the living plants for themselves, with other 
 books of a higher order. (Read " Carpenter's Microscope," 
 chap, vi, on the Desmidiaceas.) 
 
 To find the Desniidiaceas, try small shallow pools, and 
 not stagnant water. 
 
 The Closterium, Euastrum, Micrasterias, &c, will be 
 found as a gelatinous stratum at the bottom, on stones, 
 or stems of water-plants. The Staurastrum, Pediastrum, 
 and all the smaller species, float as a thin film on the water, 
 or form a dirty-looking cloud round the aquatic plants. 
 
 Raise the film with a small muslin net, or pour the 
 water through your handkerchief, scrape off the deposit, 
 and transfer it into bottles of fresh-water for examination 
 at home. If on plants, strip the stem with your fingers, 
 and in the same way drop the gelatinous mass in water. 
 Let it settle, and the little plants will flourish and remain 
 long enough for you to study, not only their lovely forms, 
 but also their manner of propagation, which is threefold. 
 They multiply by self-division, by conjugation, or by 
 zoospores. 
 
 The most common way is this : when a simple cell has 
 come to its full growth, a partition forms in the middle ; 
 the cell gradually separates into two halves, each of which 
 speedily becomes a perfect species of Desmidiacea. 
 
 The increase by conjugation, observed particularly in 
 Closterium and Cosmarium, takes place thus : two fronds 
 approach each other, and the outer cell-wall of each splits 
 and throws out a connecting-tube which joins them toge- 
 ther. Through this tube the contents of one cell is poured 
 into the other, and mixing with the endochrome of the 
 receiving-cell, forms a body called sporangium, which is 
 afterwards set free by the breaking up of the pareut cell. 
 
48 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 Multiplication by zoospores has been observed in Cos- 
 marium, Pediastrum, and many others. The endochrome 
 divides into a number of granular particles called gonidia, 
 which escape through the cell-wall, and develope into 
 perfect cells. 
 
 Or they are ciliated and have a spontaneous movement, 
 both in the parent-cell and out of it, when they are called 
 zoospores. 
 
 CONFERVA . ZYGNEMA. 
 
 This is mounted for the microscope, as an example of 
 conjugation amongst the Confervaceas. 
 
 Confervaceae are those plants which form the green or 
 brown scum on ponds and ditches, and the long green, 
 silky threads, that float in running water. Most beautiful 
 are their ribbon-like filaments of varied pattern, and most 
 useful their life on the stagnant water, which they purify 
 by absorbing the noxious gases, and giving out the life- 
 sustaining oxygen. 
 
 Looking at this scum for the first time will probably 
 surprise us as much as anything. It does seem so won- 
 derful that what we have passed by unheeded for so many 
 years, or even turned from in disgust, should be so very 
 beautiful. The filaments are worked by the hand of God 
 in such varied pattern, that every pool may furnish us 
 with a new specimen, and read us a lesson of the infinite 
 care that has been bestowed on the lowest orders of 
 creation. 
 
 The conjugation of Zygnema resembles that of Clos- 
 terium, only as the filament is long and divided into many 
 cells, every cell throws out a connecting tube, and one 
 filament completely empties itself into the other, remaining 
 colourless, whilst the recipient has a dark-green star of 
 condensed endochrome in every division. 
 
 ACHYLA PEOLIFERA. 
 
 I have come reluctantly to the end of the vegetable 
 slides, and upon each have said so little of all that there 
 was to say, that I can only hope my few words may 
 prove very unsatisfactory, and so send the reader to better 
 works and to the study of that open volume which lies 
 around us, the hieroglyphics of which our microscope 
 deciphers for us. Only one more little plant I will men- 
 
ACHYLA PROLIFERA. 49 
 
 tion : it cannot be mounted, but you may raise it for 
 yourself in a glass of water at any time. It is a parasitic 
 plant on dead animal substances in water, and produces 
 the zoospores of which we have been speaking. Throw 
 two or three dead flies in a glass of water, and in a 
 few days they will be covered with a cloudy film of minute 
 colourless filaments ; that is the plant Achyla prolifera. 
 
 I will describe what I saw the first time I examined it. 
 I found one day in a small glass tank a dead larva of some 
 aquatic insect, covered with a transparent mould, and on 
 examining it with a half-inch object-glass, saw a mass 
 of delicate white filaments. Some of these were filled 
 with green granules in constant motion, and as I watched 
 them the filament under observation began to expand into 
 a club-shaped head, and the granules to form into small 
 angular bodies, moving slowly round and round. The 
 progress seemed so rapid, that I took out my watch to 
 time the changes, which astonished me. It was a bright 
 July evening. 
 
 20 min. to 7. The angular bodies were forming. 
 
 15 min. past 7. The gonidia, or zoospores as I should 
 call them, were becoming oval. 
 
 20 min. past 7. The gonidia were in violent motion, re- 
 volving and bounding against the end of the cell. 
 
 25 min. past 7. The end of the cell contracted and elon- 
 gated, then suddenly opened like a beak, and out 
 rushed the whole multitude of little zoospores, merrily 
 swimming hither and thither, evidently ciliated, and 
 always moving the small end foremost. The empty 
 cell collapsed, and I forgot it in watching the other 
 filaments, all progressing in the same Avay. The 
 spores continued to move about rather more slowly 
 for nearly half an hour, when the quasi-animal life 
 seemed to cease, and they floated away to germinate 
 upon the nearest decaying substance. 
 
 I hope you will prove the truth of what I write ; it 
 will afford much pleasure and a most useful lesson. 
 
 E 
 
PART II. 
 
 OBJECTS FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 C| The desire which tends to know 
 The works of God, thereby to glorify 
 The great Work-master, leads to no excess 
 That reaches blame, but rather merits praise 
 The more it seems excess ; 
 For wonderful indeed are all His works, 
 Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all 
 Had in remembrance alway with delight." 
 
 Milton. 
 
 The slides usually prepared from the animal kingdom 
 consist of insect parts, palates of Molluscs, Zoophytes, and 
 miscellaneous objects, rather difficult to classify, since 
 they seem to be mounted chiefly to please the eye of the 
 purchaser. 
 
 The demand for " pretty objects" has been caused by 
 the absence of any plan for the proper use of the micro- 
 scope ; but now that we begin to find its real use, and 
 appreciate its value as an educational instrument, the 
 optician will have a better selection of slides on sale, 
 and each object chosen as much for its usefulness as for 
 its beauty. 
 
 There is a class of slides now sold by several opti- 
 cians,* which deserves especial recommendation. They 
 are insects mounted ivhole ; one single preparation affording 
 material for a day's study at least. Instead of isolated 
 parts belonging to unknown insects, we have the perfect 
 body of Fly or Beetle, displaying its external anatomy, 
 and giving us such an insight into its structure as we 
 should hardly acquire with much reading and the best- 
 drawn illustration. 
 
 Take, for instance, the slide of Scatophaga, or common 
 
 * Baker, Smith and Beck, B,oss, Ladd, and Griffin. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 
 
 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 Dung-fly, and read the description in this catalogue ; or 
 the Telephorus Beetle ; and compare the two carefully in all 
 their parts ; reading at the same time, from Cuvier, or 
 Westwood's " Introduction to Entomology," the generic 
 characters of the Coleoptera and Diptera, and the young 
 entomologist will have received a lesson never to be for- 
 gotten. 
 
 For those who have not begun the study of natural 
 history, a few words are added on the classification of 
 insects generally, without which some descriptions may be 
 unintelligible. 
 
 Insects are so called from the word in-secta, their bodies 
 being divided into many distinct segments. They are 
 a class of invertebrate articulated animals. The head is 
 always distinct and furnished with antennae ; the body 
 usually consists of thirteen segments ; they breathe by 
 means of tracheae ; possess a nervous system, a circulation 
 of blood, and a digestive apparatus varying with the 
 necessities and habits of the species. 
 
 According to Cuvier' s arrangement, insects are divided 
 into twelve orders. The four first orders have no wings. 
 
 j Julus or Centipides, and 
 
 1. Myriopoda, example 
 
 2. Thysanura 
 
 3. Parasita 
 
 4. Suctoria 
 
 5. Coleoptera 
 
 6. Orthoptera 
 
 7. Hemiptera 
 
 8. Neuroptera 
 
 9 . Hymenoptera 
 
 10. Lepidoptera 
 
 1 1 . Strepsiptera 
 
 12. Diptera 
 
 Woodlice 
 Lepisma, or Sugar-louse 
 Pediculus (Louse) 
 Pulex (Flea) 
 Beetles 
 
 Grasshoppers, Crickets 
 Bugs, Aphides 
 Dragon-flies 
 
 Bees, Wasps, Ichneumons 
 Butterflies, Moths 
 Stylops 
 Flies 
 
 The objects themselves will be the best illustrations 
 of these orders. 
 
 Preparations of animal tissues, blood, injected respira- 
 tory and digestive organs, and other objects relative to 
 the physiology of the human body, are reserved for a 
 separate pamphlet. 
 
ARACHNIDA. 53 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OBJECTS FROM THE ARACHNIDA. 
 spider's foot, jaws, spinnarets, eyes, epidermis. 
 
 spider's foot. 
 
 This favourite object should always have three com- 
 panions in its box — a preparation of Spider's eyes, Spider's 
 jaws, and Spider's spinnarets, — therefore I shall say some- 
 thing of each of these, and also a little of spiders them- 
 selves. We are so familiar with them, so apt to dislike 
 them in the house and overlook them in the garden, that 
 it will be well to learn somewhat of their history. 
 
 Few persons realize the dignified position they hold 
 in the order of creation. They are called insects ; and are 
 certainly not considered so aristocratic as Butterflies, or so 
 grand as the great Beetles ; perhaps a little higher than the 
 Fly they so cunningly ensnare. Therefore let us consider 
 the Spider as a whole before we examine his foot. 
 
 The Spider is not an insect. It ranks higher than any 
 insect, no matter how large or how beautiful ; and this on 
 good grounds. In all God's works a perfect plan and 
 regular order are established, and the organization of 
 living creatures is gradually perfected, from the lowest 
 form of animal life in the simple ciliated monad, up to 
 the elaborate anatomy of man. Now the Spider might 
 be an insect if we strictly adhered to the meaning of 
 the term in-secta, (divided into parts) ; but as internal 
 anatomy is more perfect, its respiratory apparatus, its 
 circulation, and mode of reproduction, superior to those in 
 any of the twelve orders of insects, the Spiders are called 
 
 ARACHNIDA, 
 
 and placed above them in natural order. 
 
 The Arachnida have oval or round bodies ; the head, 
 which is joined to the thorax, has simple eyes, which 
 in structure more nearly resemble the animal than the 
 
54 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 insect eye. Sometimes there are eight, sometimes six, 
 or only two. They have a mouth with jaws (maxillae), a 
 tongue (ligula), remarkable palpi, and frontal claws often 
 of great magnitude. But the nervous system is the great 
 distinction. The organ of sensation, which is the brain 
 in man and animals, is a series of knotted nerves called 
 ganglia in insects, from which proceed nerves to all 
 parts of the body. The imperfect insect, such as a Cater- 
 pillar, has more ganglia than the perfect butterfly. And 
 whereas the insect has generally from six to eight or ten 
 ganglia, or little brains, in different parts of its body, the 
 spider has but two, and they more brain-like, more con- 
 centrated, and consequently of a higher order. 
 
 Then again as to the circulation : we know that in all 
 creatures the blood is the life ; it is the fluid which nourishes 
 all parts of the body. Not always red ; it may be white, 
 or yellow, or green ; but it is blood, and constituted more 
 or less like our human blood, as the microscope reveals. 
 All insects have a heart or dorsal vessel which pumps 
 out the blood (as we shall see explained when examining 
 the larvae of ephemera) that circulates loosely in the body, 
 bathing the air vessels which supply it with oxygen ; but the 
 Arachnida have a true heart ; long, indeed, like the insect 
 heart, but furnished with arteries and veins which give it 
 perfect circulation. This raises it another step higher. 
 
 The respiratory system is different in various species; 
 but the Spider whose foot we are looking at had lungs or 
 pulmonary sacs, with two or four breathing orifices, situated 
 just near the base of the abdomen, and inside those sacs a 
 number of delicate white triangular plates which aerated 
 the blood. This is more like animal respiration than the 
 trachea of insects. {See Spiracles.) 
 
 The Arachnida do not undergo metamorphosis. The 
 female lays eggs, making very pretty cocoons or nests for 
 them, and the young Spiders come forth perfect from the 
 shell, with the exception of the two fore legs, which are 
 not always developed until a few days after their birth. 
 
 And if we read any good work on the Arachnida we 
 shall not fail to be struck with the intelligence of their 
 habits and the amount of their instinct. For instance, 
 in the structure of their habitations, one species (Clotho*) 
 
 * Uroctea. 
 
ARA<IINIDA. 55 
 
 found in the south of Europe makes a beautiful tent 
 in the shape of a cup, festooned at the edges, with the outer 
 covering of the finest texture, like taffeta, and weaves a 
 second apartment, of still softer material, for her young. 
 In this inner room, kept scrupulously clean, she hangs 
 five or six little bags, wherein her eggs are laid enveloped 
 in fine down. When she goes in and out of her tent she 
 lifts the edge of a festoon and drops it again. The My gale 
 Spider, whose nest you may see in the British Museum, 
 brought from Jamaica, is made of the hardest clay, having 
 a trap-door fitting most exactly, and hinged with stout 
 layers of silk ; the use of which she knows so well, that if 
 it is half- opened by an intruder, she will pull it strongly 
 inwards to defend herself. 
 
 The cunning and amusing way in which the Hunting 
 Spiders catch their prey — creeping under a twig or window- 
 ledge as gently as a deer-stalker, lying motionless for a 
 while, moving as the Fly moves, turning with incredible 
 swiftness round and round, ever keeping the prey in sight, 
 until, quite certain of its being withing reach, they spring 
 like a Tiger, as fierce and as unerring in their leap. 
 
 We may watch these ourselves in our garden on a warm 
 Spring day, e. g. a little black and white striped Spider, 
 called Salticus, which, before it leaps, cautiously fixes a 
 good strong thread to the wall in case of a fall. 
 
 Again, we may see high instinct and deep affection in 
 those vagrant Spiders of the wood, Lycosas, which hunt 
 with their cocoon of eggs so firmly clasped to the body 
 that they will die rather than part with it. 
 
 A wise little Spider of our neighbourhood — its name I 
 do not know — lives on the ponds and ditches of Otmoor, 
 and spins a web round a kind of raft of Lemna, with a stem 
 of grass or a little twig — to make it stronger, I suppose — 
 and floats about on this, pouncing on any half-drowned 
 or newly-hatched Fly which may come within its reach. 
 
 Last of all that I shall mention, — as paper would fail me 
 if I noticed all our spider friends, — is the Diving Spider of 
 our aquariums (Argyroneta), common near London, rare in 
 many parts of England ; which has been taught to make a 
 diving-bell for the work which God has appointed her. The 
 
56 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 water-world requires its avengers to keep down the fast- 
 multiplying creatures therein, and the Argyroneta aquatica is 
 one of them. True her gill-like lungs enable her to breathe 
 under, water ; but still she requires more oxygen than it 
 affords, and comes up about four times an hour for a supply 
 of air. This she conveys to a silken house she has pre- 
 viously spun amidst. the weeds in still water, and which 
 we see shining like a little globe of silver ; the Spider half 
 inside, her breathing organs immersed in the air, and her 
 head outside, watching for a tiny Beetle or a little Cyclops. 
 For a more detailed account of the Water Spider, see 
 " Kirby and Spence's Entomology," or the abridgment called 
 "Insect Architecture." I only mention these facts to 
 prove the reasonableness of the high position the Arachnida 
 hold, and the unreasonableness of the neglect and dislike 
 they often meet with. I bring them forward because the 
 whole spider is to be purchased beautifully prepared, and 
 its external parts may thus be studied ; also because the 
 comb of the foot is in every collection, and it is more 
 interesting when we have some further knowledge of the 
 body to which it once belonged. 
 
 spider's foot. 
 
 The Spider's legs have a different formation from those 
 of insects. Each has seven joints ; the two upper ones 
 form a kind of haunch ; the next is the femur ; the fourth 
 and the fifth are tibise ; the first or second, according to 
 the species, much the longest ; the two last are the tarsi, 
 less distinct than those of insects, but remarkably furnished 
 with toothed claws called the combs. In our Garden 
 Spider, the Epeira, there are no less than five of these 
 combs, besides three upper and untoothed claws, to each 
 foot ; also a strong moveable spine or hook at the joint of 
 each tarsus. 
 
 The use of these combs is for cleaning itself and its web, 
 the Spider being a most tidy creature. It has been seen 
 to spend an hour or more in scraping the delicate threads 
 of its web, when dust or soot had collected on them ; and 
 if they were too thoroughly incrusted with dirt, these 
 little claws broke the thread, rolled it up, and threw it 
 away. 
 
spider's spinnarets. 57 
 
 The combs have from fifteen to seventeen teeth, neces- 
 sary for the swiftly running Spider when crossing the 
 fragile web or twisting the silken bands that form its 
 dwelling or its snare. 
 
 Whoever has patiently watched a Garden or a House 
 Spider spinning its web, will have noticed how with these 
 claws it shakes and tries the strength of- each supporting 
 line, and is able to cling to it or roll it up by means of 
 these handy little combs, as well as to regulate the issue of 
 the threads from the spinnarets, — as it were reeling it off. 
 
 spider's spinnarets. 
 
 These are not always well prepared. They are .difficult 
 to keep in position, but you could see them well by catch- 
 ing a good-sized Spider, and examining it as an opaque 
 object. At the end of the abdomen you will find four or 
 five teats or spinnarets, pierced with an immense number 
 of minute holes, from which a viscid fluid, a kind of glue, 
 exudes at the will of the animal, and is drawn out as a fine 
 thread. In reality, each of those fine lines which we can 
 scarcely see is composed of thousands of threadlets, for 
 there are often 1000 orifices in each teat. The fluid, first 
 uniting from all these in one twist, descends about the 
 tenth of an inch, and then twining with the three or four 
 others, it becomes a cable in structure and in strength. 
 
 The formation of the web would be too long a process to 
 describe here. One only fact I add ; which is, that the 
 Spicier makes two different kinds of thread, and every web 
 is fashioned of these different materials. 
 
 Take one of those common garden geometric webs, and 
 throw a little fine dust against it. Look closely ; you will 
 see that the dust adheres to the cross lines which form the 
 circles, but not to the radii or supporting lines. This is 
 because the Spider secretes a viscid matter, which she 
 deposits in little globules all along each circle, and which 
 acts as bird-lime in securing the prey. In one web of 
 moderate size not less than 87,360 of these globules have 
 been counted ; and yet the time occupied in its whole con- 
 struction was only about forty minutes. 
 
 I often think that invalids, or mechanics, or town-people, 
 
58 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 who cannot enjoy many of our country pleasures, or learn 
 God's wonderful ways in the instinct he has bestowed upon 
 our humble fellow-creatures, might find much profit, much 
 amusement, if they only knew a little more about the flies 
 on their window-pane, and the spiders on the wall. And 
 those careful housewives who so diligently sweep away 
 this beautiful work, might leave just one sometimes, as a 
 little page from God's Book of Creation, which, if rightly 
 studied, would lead to happier thoughts than come with the 
 over-carefulness about household matters. 
 
 spider's eyes. 
 
 I have said already that the eye of a Spider is of a 
 higher type than the compound eye of insects. It has a 
 single arched cornea, a spherical lens, and a concave vitre- 
 ous body, with a cup-shaped retina and a layer of pigment 
 corresponding to the choroid membrane of the animal eye. 
 It shines in the dark like a cat's eye, and evidently can 
 see in the night as in the day. This is very remarkable, 
 and denotes higher organization than we find even in the 
 aggregate lens of a Butterfly's eye. 
 
 The position of these eyes — for the Spider has six or 
 eight — is admirably varied for their different habits and 
 pursuits. 
 
 The Garden Spider, Epeira, has two very large red ones 
 in front and two behind, forming a square ; two on each 
 side almost confluent. 
 
 The House Spider has a double row of four each arching 
 the forehead. 
 
 The Hunters have two fierce large eyes in front, four little 
 ones just beneath, and two some distance behind, like watch- 
 men or an " arriere-garde." Whilst the common Pha- 
 langia, or Harvestmen, which run always on the ground 
 amongst moss and leaves, and are of the lowest rank in 
 the society of Spiders, have but two eyes, seated on a 
 tubercle or watch-tower on their back. 
 
 There are seventeen different positions at least in the 
 eyes of those Spiders most common to us. 
 
EPIDERMIS OF SPIDER. 59 
 
 8PIDER S JAWS. 
 
 The jaws or chelifers of the spider — properly speaking 
 the mandibles — are various in form, but always tremendous 
 weapons, not only from their size and sharpness and the 
 serrated edges and spines with which they are beset, but 
 also because the upper joint contains a little sac of intense 
 poison, which is emitted through a minute orifice in the 
 next joint, and effectually kills whatever insect is bitten. 
 
 spider's palpi. 
 
 The palpi, or feelers, serve as organs of taste and touch, 
 and also as distinguishing marks of the sex. The male 
 Spider has very large knobbed palpi, by which it is easily 
 recognized. 
 
 EPIDERMIS OF SPIDER. 
 
 The skin of the Garden Spider (Epeira) is frequently 
 mounted, and displays very beautiful undulating lines, sur- 
 rounding the roots of the hairs. These concentric mark- 
 ings arise from the existence of folds in the inner mem- 
 brane, beneath which lies a layer of pigment cells, to which 
 the variegated appearance and beautiful colours of the 
 Arachnida are owing. 
 
 The skin is merely washed, dried, and mounted in 
 Balsam. 
 
CO THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 INSECT PARTS. 
 
 TONGUES OF INSECTS. 
 TONGUE OR PROBOSCIS OP HIVE BEE. 
 
 This is a common and favourite object in all collections, 
 and very beautiful ; but it should always be one of at least 
 five others in the insect divison, in order rightly to appre- 
 ciate and enjoy the exhibition it affords of adaptation for a 
 particular purpose. 
 
 A moderate power gives a view of the whole tongue, so 
 called, which in truth consists of several parts. The 
 habits of the Hive Bee are well known, and need not here 
 be described ; but it is worth observing how beautifully this 
 organ is adapted for gathering the honey which lurks in 
 the deep nectaries of such flowers as the Columbine or 
 Honeysuckle. 
 
 Those strong-looking maxillae are chiefly used as pro- 
 tecting sheaths for the delicately fringed and jointed ligula 
 or tongue, which is stretched forth, having two feelers, 
 called labial palpi, one on each side. These palpi are jointed 
 at the tips, and used for steadying the proboscis in the 
 flower-cup as it laps up the sweetness there. The ligula 
 has forty joints, or more ; the number varies with the 
 species ; you will easily see them with an inch lens. They 
 render it perfectly flexible, as it sweeps round both concave 
 and convex surfaces ; and with a tremulous lapping motion 
 the fluid is drawn up along the hairy channel into the 
 opening valve which protects its throat. There is a knob 
 or kind of button at the tip, which has been falsely supposed 
 to be a perforated sucker. The tip of the tongue is simply 
 cartilaginous, but the base is hollow and capable of inflation 
 to a considerable size. In this hollow part the nectar 
 
TONGUE OF WASP. Gl 
 
 drawn from the flowers is collected previous to its passing 
 into the honey stomach. 
 
 If possible, the jaws or mandibles of the Bee should be 
 mounted with the tongue, to shew the instruments with 
 which they fashion their waxen cells, seize their enemies, 
 destroy the drones, &c. The mandibles vary in form and 
 power with the different necessities of the species. The 
 Hive Bee has simple spatulate jaws ; the wild Humble 
 Bee has toothed and stronger ones ; as also the Carder 
 Bee, Mason Bee, and Carpenter Bee. 
 
 A comparative view of the tongues of these Bees would 
 be most interesting, and for those who like to make a 
 collection I will give the easiest way of preparing them 
 for observation. 
 
 Soak the heads for about a fortnight in liq. potassa?, 
 to soften the skin and dissolve the fatty substance within, 
 which prevents the parts from being distinctly seen. Then 
 wash them in water, and press them flat between two pieces 
 of glass until quite dry ; drop a little turpentine upon them 
 and let them soak in it for a few days, when they will 
 mount beautifully in Canada balsam. If bubbles of air 
 remain in the tissue, lay the tongue on a glass side, and 
 cover it with a piece of thin glass ; take a camel-hair 
 pencil and drop turpentine between the glasses, which must 
 now be suffered to boil over the spirit lamp, and the air 
 will rush out in bubbles ; keep supplying turpentine until 
 the object is perfectly transparent, then quickly and gently 
 apply the balsam. 
 
 TONGUE OF WASP. 
 
 How very different this is from the tongue of the Bee. 
 Instead of the long and slender ligula here is a short 
 broad two-lobed membrane, far more useful to the Wasp, 
 who does not trouble himself to collect the honey he will 
 eat ready-made out of the comb, but who prefers rasping 
 rapidly away the soft ripeness of the Peach, the Apricot, or 
 the Plum ; or gnawing the juicy meat at the shambles, or 
 sucking out the life of a fat Fly. This broad flat membrane 
 — how handy it must be in making those curious paper nests 
 wherein they rear their young ; a trowel and a smoothing 
 
62 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 iron, a spoon and shovel, as may be required ; and with 
 those two brushes on either side ever keeping it clean and 
 unclogged for its work ; whilst those four feelers, the 
 labial palpi and maxillary palpi, ceaselessly vibrate over 
 all, to ascertain the fitness of food or material. 
 
 There are many species of Wasps ; and some of them, 
 especially foreign ones, feed more upon honey than do our 
 common Wasps, and their ligulae are therefore modified 
 for their wants, being longer and sometimes three-lobed, 
 with a variation also on the mandibles or outer jaws. 
 
 These would make a very interesting collection prepared 
 like the Bee's head. 
 
 butterfly's tongue or proboscis. 
 
 This is a beautiful piece of mechanism ; a long elastic 
 coil which the hovering Butterfly throws lightly into the 
 recesses of the deepest corolla. It cannot, like the Bee, 
 dive down into the Honeysuckle or Campanula, or passion- 
 ately tear open the nectary of a Foxglove. Its beautiful 
 wings cannot fold so closely -as to let it creep into the 
 Salvia-cup or Lily-bell. Therefore its Creator gave it this 
 excellent instrument adapted exactly to its wants. In the 
 living insect it is coiled closely to its head, so as to be 
 scarcely visible and not at all to impede its movements. 
 When unfolded, we perceive that it consists of two long 
 tubes hooked together most curiously by minute teeth, 
 which on either side are inserted into little pits between 
 each row of teeth. Moreover each of these tiny teeth has 
 a second tooth, which forms a deep notch and prevents the 
 accidental unhooking of this double tube. Then at the 
 edge of each tube there are seventy-four little barrel- 
 shaped bodies, or papillae, considered to be the organs of 
 taste, and inside each tube, which you may observe is 
 delicately striated, there are spiral vessels or trachea? con- 
 nected with the larger tracheae in the head. Now the 
 fluid does not pass up the interior of this antlia, which 
 is its proper name, but is drawn upwards along that 
 channel which is formed by the union of the two tubes. The 
 papillae are best observed near the tip, and with a high 
 power. 
 
PROBOSCIS OF TABANUS. 63 
 
 PROBOSCIS OR TONGUE OF BLOW-FLY. 
 
 This is a true proboscis, but not so "well seen alone if all 
 its parts and uses are to be considered ; you should have 
 the proboscis of a Gnat and of a Tabanus or House-fly 
 rightly to understand the whole. 
 
 We see the little House-fly busy in our sugar-basin, or 
 the Blow-fly unwelcome in our larder. We feel the tire- 
 some tickling in a hot summer's day when they gambol 
 over our hands and face ; but we know not how beautiful 
 is that little mischievous tongue. Here it is spread out, 
 the simplest form having a broad fleshy lobe which is 
 striated with spiral fibres, by which it obtains a sucking 
 movement and draws up the juices it feeds on. Little 
 short stiff hairs are set around it, and these are what do 
 us mischief in rasping off the polish of our book-covers and 
 causing the irritation to our skin. 
 
 PROBOSCIS OF TABANUS. 
 
 This is the more complicated proboscis of the Tabanus, 
 or Horse-fly. Who does not know how it torments our 
 cattle, and the carriage horse in particular, in a dusty 
 drive through the country ? A large brown Fly, with 
 variegated wings, and such magnificent eyes. She is 
 easily caught ; for when she fixes on the horse and tastes 
 the warm blood, her whole attention is given to the feast. 
 I say she, because the male Tabanus is found harmlessly 
 hovering over flowers, and loves the haunts of the Honey 
 Bee : his mouth has no lancets, whereas the female is 
 supplied with very powerful instruments of assault. 
 
 The head should always be mounted with the proboscis, 
 which greatly increases the interest of the slide ; because, 
 although the eyes lose in preparation their gorgeous 
 colouring of green, purple and gold, in zigzag bands across 
 the facets, yet the delicate network remains, and shows 
 the 4000 meshes, which in life each contained an eye. 
 As is the case with many of the Diptera, the eyes of the 
 female are parted by a narrow band. Beneath the eyes, 
 near the mouth, are the antenna?, which are supposed to be 
 
64 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 organs of hearing, as they certainly are of feeling. Six- 
 jointed these are ; the first and second bristly, the third is 
 very long, and the three last very short. It is important 
 to observe these things, as the shape of one joint in the 
 antennas will determine the species. In this very case, if 
 we were examining the large and true Tabanus bovinus, we 
 should see a very different third joint. 
 
 Next let us examine the mouth. 
 
 That long and broad membrane is called the labium. 
 Those lines at the inner edge of the two lobes are spiral 
 muscular fibre, which enable it to lap or draw up the fluid 
 it feeds on ; and those lancets are instead of jaws, or 
 rather are modifications of the mandibles and maxillse, which 
 are the inner and outer jaws of insects. These lancets 
 pierce the skin, and the labium sucks the blood of the 
 horse. If the slide has the head of Tabanus bovinus, and 
 not the common Tabanus pluviatilis, also called Hsemoto- 
 pata, or "blood-drinking," the head will be armed with a 
 strong pair of mandibles, besides the lancets. The larvse 
 of these flies live in the earth, — long grey footless grubs, 
 feeding on decayed vegetables. 
 
 PROBOSCIS OF GNAT. 
 
 Here is another of our little tormentors, and a female 
 Diptera also ; for the male Gnat dances gaily in the sun- 
 shine with his beautiful plumed head, and has not by any 
 means so well-developed a mouth. He does not suck 
 blood, and probably sips a little nectar from flowers or 
 the dew upon the leaves in the short time he has to live : 
 the business of his life is to choose a mate and die. The 
 female Gnat lives longer, and is very bloodthirsty. Here 
 observe a long fleshy lip, or labium, which is the sheath 
 containing two mandibles, two maxillas, one labium, one 
 ligula or tongue. They may not all be visible on the 
 slide, as some may remain inside the sheath, and some 
 may be broken off, they are so very delicate ; but if perfect 
 it should show all these. The mandibles are finely toothed 
 like a saw, but you require a quarter-inch glass to see this 
 well. The ligula is shaped like a spear-head. The stiff 
 horny labium is pointed like a needle. When the Gnat 
 
PROBOSCIS OF EMPI8-FLY. 05 
 
 pierces the skin, the two serrated mandibles work rapidly 
 up and down, the sheath folds backward, the pressure of 
 the lancets causes a little poison-bag, situated at the base 
 of the proboscis, to emit one drop of acrid matter, and 
 when the little creature has sucked our life-blood, and her 
 small body is distended and crimsoned with her draught, 
 she flies off like a winged ruby in the sunlight, that little 
 poison- drop rankling in the wound and causing our after 
 uneasiness and irritation. It is worth the slight annoy- 
 ance, however, to watch the process of her feast. With a 
 pocket lens we can see the working down of the lancets 
 and the up-flowing of the blood into her stomach. 
 
 The shrill buzz of the Gnat, like a fairy clarion, is 
 peculiar to the female, and only heard when she is blood- 
 thirsty. Her delicate wings then vibrate 3000 times in a 
 second, and are supposed to cause this sound by the 
 friction of their bases against her body. Her eyes, which 
 quite cover her head, and the long fourteen-jointed 
 antennas waving to and fro, make her a beautiful object, in 
 spite of her unpleasant propensities. 
 
 PROBOSCIS OF ASILUS. 
 
 The Asilus is one of the Diptera (Flies) — the largest and 
 fiercest of them — most frequent in sandy situations. They 
 flit about in the hot sunshine, pouncing upon all smaller 
 flies — Beetles and Hymenoptera, Ichneumon flies, &c. — 
 holding them between their fore legs, and plunging their 
 sharp lancets and fleshy tongue into the softest part of their 
 prey. The colour of these flies is mostly tawny, gold- 
 coloured, or reddish-yellow ; the wings finely-veined and 
 clouded at the edge ; the body long and narrow. The 
 larva lives in the earth : it has twelve segments, and 
 changes to a spiny pupa, from whence the Fly emerges in 
 June. 
 
 PROBOSCIS OF EMPIS-FLY. 
 
 The Empis is often called the Snipe-fly, from its remark- 
 able labrmn, which really resembles a Snipe's beak. WheD 
 at rest it is folded close to the breast, but very frequently 
 
 F 
 
66 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 is seen transfixing the body of some poor smaller Fly which 
 the Empis is greedily sucking. The Empidae are generally 
 small black flies, and there are many species of them. 
 They are more fully described with the slide of Empis 
 stercorea ; also the peculiar veining of their wings. 
 
 PROBOSCIS OF DIOCTRIA, 
 
 one of the Asilidae, flies which inhabit meadows, trees and 
 bushes, feeding on lesser flies, and more common than the 
 true Asilus. They are usually black and shining, and 
 carry their antennae very fiercely erect. The head should 
 be mounted in profile to show the tubercle upon which the 
 antennae are seated, five-jointed and porrect, close to 
 each other at the base and diverging outward. The pro- 
 boscis stands out almost horizontally. 
 
 HEAD OF CONOPS. 
 
 This is a pretty black and yellow Fly, frequenting flowers, 
 having a bright triangular spot on the top- of the head. 
 The thorax with two yellow scapula?, and the abdomen is 
 banded black and yellow. The remarkable part of the head 
 is a singular proboscis curved suddenly upwards ; a labrum 
 notched at the tip, arched above and hollow beneath ; 
 labium bilobed and slightly hairy, with three shallow 
 transverse furrows at the tip. The antennae should be well 
 displayed, for their structure alone would determine the 
 species, and therefore furnish a useful lesson on the ab- 
 solute necessity of minute observation, if we wish truly 
 to learn and enjoy the insect world. 
 
 The antennae of Conops are about as long as the head, 
 fiercely seated on a tubercle, and have seven joints ; the first, 
 short and slightly hairy, forming an angle with the second, 
 which is much longer and rather club-shaped ; the third 
 is seated on the second like a cone, and the fourth is very 
 small ; so is the fifth, and the others are like little spines ; 
 nevertheless they are seven in all. The eyes are promi- 
 nent and oblong ; but the eye of a Fly is particularly de- 
 scribed in the head of Rhingia. 
 
HEAD OF RHINGIA. 07 
 
 HEAD OF RHINGIA, OR SYRPHUS. 
 
 This beautiful preparation is the one I have chosen for 
 drawing particular attention to the eye of the Fly. That 
 fine delicate lace, now perfectly transparent, is the skeleton 
 or framework in which were set four thousand perfect organs 
 of sight, which we call the eye of a Fly. That outer mem- 
 brane, which is all that is now left, is the cornea ; it was 
 lined with an intense black pigment, excepting one tiny 
 spot in the centre of each facet, through which the light 
 was admitted. Behind the pigment was a broad zone, 
 orange coloured and black ; then a second zone, dee].) blue 
 or black ; then the optic ganglion, gathering all the fila- 
 ments of each eye into one knot — the brain. 
 
 The brain of insects is not a solid mass, or great ganglion, 
 like the brain of animals ; but the medium of communica- 
 tion between insects and the external world, is a nervous 
 system consisting of two medullary threads or cords, and 
 a series of knots or ganglia placed at intervals throughout 
 the body. 
 
 Larva? have usually two of these ganglia to each segment 
 of the body. The perfect insect has fewer ; but the first 
 ganglion, as in the Fly, always sends out the nerves of the 
 eyes, tongue, maxillae, mandibles, and antennae. There- 
 fore we understand how the organs of sight are united in 
 the head of a Fly upon the first ganglion or brain. And 
 whilst each eye receives a perfect image of the object before 
 it, one single impression may be conveyed to its possessor. 
 
 This head of Rhingia has also a very beautiful tongue, 
 long and slender, lobed and edged with spiral fibre, capable 
 of oreat extension to accommodate the habits of the Fly. 
 
 The Rhingia campestris, or Bostrata, is so called from 
 its projecting horny beak. It is a very pretty Fly com- 
 mon in woods and gardens during the Summer; remark- 
 able from its hovering like a Humming-bird over the 
 flowers, and darting suddenly into them, sucking the 
 honey-drop with this long and slender ligula, and then 
 out again with a swift jerking flight not wry easily fol- 
 lowed. Its body is a dull red ; the wings finely veined, 
 like all its family, the Syrphidse. 
 
 f 2 
 
G8 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 HEAD OF DRONE-FLY, OR HELOPHILUS. 
 
 This so nearly resembles the Khingia that little need 
 be added in explanation, except of the fly itself, which 
 is one of the Syrphidaa, nearly related to the Rhingia. 
 The Helophilus is that large black and yellow fly so com- 
 mon in the Autumn on Michaelmas Daisies, often mistaken 
 for a Wasp, as it makes a loud humming noise and is very 
 intent upon its feast. It passes through a greater change 
 than most of the fly tribe ; for it lived and fed in the 
 foulest sewer as a rat-tailed larva which is very curious in its 
 manner of breathing. This larva has a long retractile tail, 
 with the action of a telescope, capable of immense extension 
 to reach the surface of the water or mud for air. The 
 body being very transparent, the tracheal vessel is dis- 
 tinctly seen in a wavy line the whole length of the tail. 
 
 • 
 
 HEAD OF ERISTALIS, 
 
 differs only from Helophilus in having a black hairy 
 body, more like a Bee. The antennae are very beautiful. 
 
 HEAD OF TIPULA. 
 
 This favourite and beautiful preparation is the head of 
 our familiarly called Daddy-long-legs. The colour adds to 
 the beauty of thelaeework eye, and the fine antennas, simple 
 yet varied in the length of the joints, which are each 
 slightly hairy. The palpi have four joints, and bend over 
 the broad fleshy proboscis, in which large traphea are dis- 
 tinctly seen. These Tipulas are very destructive in the 
 grub state. The female deposits her eggs in deep burrows 
 by means of a long ovipositor, consisting of four pieces ; 
 two of them bore like an auger the required hole in the 
 earth, and the other two join and conduct the egg to its 
 appointed place. When the larva hatches it has two short 
 horns on its head, several fleshy conical appendages on the 
 abdomen, and two very strong mandibles working against 
 two horny convex dentated plates. Very destructive are 
 they to tiie farmer's grass land, often destroying hundreds 
 of acres in England and France. The more, therefore, of 
 these beautiful heads that are thus prej)ared the better. 
 
TONGUE OF CRICKET. C9 
 
 HEAD OF LIMNOBIA. 
 
 This is essentially like the head of Tipula. I need ouly 
 say that Limnobia is one of the same family, only of a 
 different genus, and the larvae are much less destructive, 
 living mostly in fungi. 
 
 HEAD OF HEMEROBIUS. 
 
 This is usually mounted as an opaque object, to show 
 the metallic lustre of the eyes. The Hemerobius be- 
 longs to the order Neuroptera. It has four exquisite 
 light green wings resembling delicate lace, and lays its 
 eggs on the twigs of lilac trees ; these eggs are stalked and 
 placed in rows along the twig from which a very useful 
 little larva emerges — a destroyer of the Aphides. 
 
 HEAD OF PANORPA. 
 
 The Panorpa is called the Scorpion-fly, and is very 
 common on nettles in the middle and end of Summer. 
 They are not difficult either to distinguish or to catch ; for 
 the male fly is very conspicuous with his long turned-up 
 tail, at the end of which he brandishes an unpleasant 
 looking pair of forceps. The wings, four of them, are 
 highly reticulated, which denote it to be of the order 
 Neuroptera, and first cousin to the beautiful Dragon-fly 
 and brilliant Hemerobius ; they are prettily spotted, and 
 of equal size. If we look at the head we shall see a 
 pair of long antennae inserted between the eyes, three 
 ocelli or little eyes on the crown of the head, and this 
 long snout-like proboscis, with mandibles, maxilla? and 
 lower lip nearly linear, and four or six short palpi. Upon 
 this beak we often see a little insect spitted, whilst the 
 tongue is rapidly sucking out its life's -blood. The 
 Panorpa is a carnivorous fly, and hunts in the hot sunshine, 
 not only on the wing, but running swiftly under and over 
 the nettle-leaves, intent on his pursuit, and easily cap- 
 tured himself whilst thus' engaged. 
 
 TONGUE OF CRICKET. 
 (A chetce.) 
 This is an example of a true insect tongue, and must 
 be examined with several powers if we wish to see all its 
 
70 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 beauty. For a general view use an inch lens, and observe 
 the two strong muscles which move it, from whence 
 numerous fine spiral fibres arch over the transparent mem- 
 brane. Afterwards use the half-inch and the quarter-inch, 
 when these fibres appear to be furrowed or fretted, like 
 little files, and must form a most useful tongue for the 
 voracious cricket. We all know how destructive it is in 
 the house ; gnawing linen or books, or feeding on flour, 
 meat, — in short, anything it can find. After this tongue 
 has performed its office, there is a complicated gizzard, 
 which will be explained in its proper place ; though it 
 ought to be looked at after the tongue, and with the wing- 
 case of the male Cricket, whose drum and file is a very 
 interesting microscopic object. 
 
 The House Cricket belongs to the order Orthoptera, or 
 straight- winged insects. The female does not chirp ; she 
 is known by a long pointed ovipositor, with which she 
 deposits about 300 eggs in a season. 
 
 GIZZARD OF CRICKET. 
 
 This is a most interesting object in connection with the 
 tongue of the Cricket, as illustrative of the digestive 
 organs of the Orthoptera. It is usually mounted in 
 Canada balsam and viewed with transmitted light ; but 
 the effect is more beautiful, and the structure better dis- 
 jDlayed, by examination with the parabolic reflector, or a 
 simple Lieberkuhn, when the scale-like plates are thrown 
 into relief, and the formidable apparatus for digestion is 
 manifest. 
 
 The Cricket has a long and dilatable oesophagus, which 
 .ends in a crop or sac for the reception of food in a rough 
 state, and this is followed by a gizzard, consisting of two 
 skins, the inner one plaited into six folds having longitu- 
 dinal rows of teeth resembling toothed scales, the outer 
 row much smaller than those in the centre, and each 
 capable of elevation and depression. The whole grinding 
 machine is moved by thousands of muscles, which enable it 
 to reduce the food to a pulp, and it is then passed on to the 
 intestinal canal or lower stomach, where biliary vessels, 
 
MOUTH OP BEETLE. 71 
 
 analogous to the liver in the higher animals, pour in the 
 bile, which finally prepares the food for the general nourish- 
 ment of the*body. 
 
 A most interesting collection of gizzards may easily be 
 made, and the variation and adaptation of structure ob- 
 served, by preparing the stomach of Dytiscus, of the 
 large Grasshopper or Locust, the Cockroach (Blaps) 
 Tenebrio (Beetle) and most of the predaceous Beetles. 
 One small Beetle, a wood-borer, Cryptorhynchus lapathi, 
 has a gizzard so minute as hardly to exceed a large pin's 
 head in size, and yet it is said to be armed with* no less 
 than 400 pairs of teeth, moved by a far greater number of 
 muscles. 
 
 MOUTH OF BEETLE. 
 
 ( Telephora, or Soldier-beetle.) 
 
 This is a common and favourite object, and should be 
 considered carefully, for it belongs to that large and useful 
 tribe of insects which we could no more spare from their 
 place in creation than we could the flowers of the field, or 
 the birds of the air. 
 
 A Beetle's mouth will be more interesting if we say a 
 few words about the Beetles themselves. 
 
 Coleoptera they are called, from two Greek words, sig- 
 nifying "wings in a sheath." No less than 30,000 
 species are known, of which 3,600 are found in Britain ; 
 exceeding the amount of our native animals, and form- 
 ing a third part of our insect population. They vary in 
 size from the great Prionus, which measures six inches 
 long, and has nine inches expanse of wing, to the minute 
 Trichopteryx and Atomaria, hardly one-eighth of a line — 
 quite microscopic; and yet every external joint, every 
 internal organ, is as perfect in the small as in the large. 
 
 The usefulness of the Beetle tribe is far greater than is 
 imagined. Not only in the perfect state do they remove 
 dead animal substances, excrements, &c, but in their 
 larval state feed on decayed vegetable matter, which else 
 would render the air unwholesome for our existence, and 
 more offensive to our senses than can well be imagined. 
 
72 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 Let us examine, therefore, the mouth of our little 
 scavenger. 
 
 It has six parts. An upper lip, called labrum, which 
 covers the mouth, and is horny or leathery, but simple in 
 form. 
 
 Two upper jaws, called mandibles, varying in shape, but 
 strong and toothed, or hooked, for seizing their prey and 
 tearing it to pieces before it is passed on to the more 
 delicate under jaws or 
 
 Maxillce, which are fringed with delicate hairs, and to 
 which are attached jointed palpi, or feelers. The tips of 
 these are often triangular, or hatchet-shaped, which will 
 distinguish them for your observation. These palpi move 
 very rapidly, apparently examining the food, and two 
 others are attached to the under lip or 
 
 Labium, for the same purpose. Part of the labium is 
 called the chin or mentum, usually having a notch in ^the 
 centre. Some of the Beetles have a distinct tongue inside 
 all this — the Dung-beetle for instance — lying between the 
 labium and labrum. It is a simple membrane, sometimes 
 fleshy, sometimes horny. 
 
 The mouth of a Beetle would be much better examined 
 by taking a large Beetle, and soaking the head for a few 
 days in liquor potassae ; then washing it in a watchglassful of 
 water, when the parts are easily separated and studied. Do 
 this, because from one mouth we cannot learn all that is 
 useful or interesting. For instance, in the mandibles are 
 found different kinds of teeth ; molar teeth for grinding 
 food, or incisive teeth for tearing it. The maxillae also 
 vary extremely in their form and appendages. The lobes 
 are often furnished with spines or teeth, and are single or 
 double, fringed or plain ; but the predaceous Beetles have 
 always fringed lobes like stiff brushes, as if for cleansing 
 the food or the other appendages of the mouth. Also, I 
 may mention that the palpi of those Beetles which feed 
 on the pollen of flowers, such as the tribe of the Nitidu- 
 sidce, are used by them to open the anthers in a very 
 curious way. 
 
 The antennas of the Beetle are not described here, but 
 in connection with those of the Blow-fly and Bee, con- 
 
MOUTH OF ONTHOPHAGUS. 73 
 
 cerning which some interesting discoveries have been lately 
 made. 
 
 MOUTH OF BEETLE. 
 
 (Bouche et palpes de Calatkus Castelloides.) ' 
 
 This is a black Beetle about half an inch long, very 
 common in the neighbourhood of London ; found under 
 stones. 
 
 The object is good as showing beautifully fringed 
 maxillas with two pair of labial palpi ; the outer pair have 
 four joints, the lower pair only three. Some species of 
 Coleoptera have one pair of labial palpi, and one pair of 
 maxiHary palpi. 
 
 Observe the little tonguelet in the centre has two ear- 
 like appendages, called paraglossse. That broad curved 
 plate above it is the mentum, with a notch in the centre, 
 which distinguishes the section of the Carabici to which it 
 belongs. 
 
 MOUTH OF BRACHINUS. 
 (Bouche et palpes de Brachinus.) 
 
 The mouth of the Bombadier Beetle (see leg of 
 Brachinus), one of the Carabici, which has the maxillse 
 terminated simply in a point ; the tonguelet exposed, and 
 labial palpi distinctly three-jointed ; the mentum not 
 toothed ; the last joint of both maxillary and labial palpi 
 evidently dilated. 
 
 MOUTH OF ONTHOPHAGUS. 
 
 (Bouche et palpes.) 
 
 One of the Dung-beetles or Scarabceides, the earliest 
 species of the Spring. It belongs to the large family of 
 the Lamellicornes, having the antennas clubbed and com- 
 posed of leaflets arranged like a fan, opening and shutting 
 in the same manner. The first pair of legs are remark- 
 ably strong, the tibiae toothed for burrowing in the earth 
 and manure upon which they feed. Many of the species 
 are very large and beautiful, with metallic bodies and 
 
74 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 sculptured Elytra. The Onthophagus is small, but of a 
 brassy black colour ; the elytra dull greyish-yellow thickly 
 clouded with black ; and it has a curious pair of horns on 
 its head. The mouth shows a pair of broad curbed and 
 delicately fringed maxillse, which deserve examination with 
 a high power. The last joint of the maxillary palpi is the 
 largest, and the labial palpi are very hairy. 
 
 MOUTH OF ANCHOMENUS, 
 
 a species nearly allied to Brachinus, a small green 
 Beetle found under stones. We observe the maxilla? 
 terminate in a single hook, with two pair of palpi, and the 
 tonguelet having the paraglossa? mentioned in the mouth 
 of Brachinus. 
 
 MOUTH OF CRIOCERIS. 
 
 (Asparagus Beetle.) 
 
 This abundant and pretty Beetle is found in the hot 
 sunny days of July laying eggs upon the asparagus plants. 
 It is blue and red, with the elytra marked in the form of a 
 double cross, yellow and blue. It belongs to the order 
 Tetramera, having four joints in the tarsi. 
 
 The mouth displays a membranous two-lobed tonguelet, 
 the maxilla? whitish and membranous, delicately fringed ; 
 the terminal lobe straight, the palpi filiform. 
 
 MOUTH OF LADYBIRD, 
 
 (Coccinella,) 
 
 too well known to need description ; but it may be 
 noticed that it belongs to the last order of Coleojitera, the 
 Trimera, having only three joints in the tarsi. 
 
 The mouth is very remarkable from the hatchet-shape of 
 the last joint of the maxillary palpi. The maxilla? are 
 armed on the inner edge with a horny tooth. 
 
 When the Coccinella is alive and in its vouth, the circu- 
 lation of blood may be seen in the veins of the wing. 
 
ANTENNiE. 75 
 
 MOUTH OF STENOPTERUS RUFUS. 
 
 A black beetle with red antenna?, not common in Eng- 
 land ; found in June near Darenth Wood and Coombe 
 Wood. Itis one of the Cerambycida?, a section of the Longi- 
 cornes. These have only four joints in the tarsi, the three 
 last furnished with short brushes, and the first and second 
 joints heart-shaped. The mouth is very differently con- 
 structed from those before described. The two maxillary 
 lobes are remarkably distinct and prolonged beyond the 
 palpi: the last joint of the palpi thick, conical, and dark- 
 coloured. I may mention here, as Stenopterus is rare in 
 England, that a very pretty species of the same family may 
 be readily found on willows, and the mouth will shew the 
 same kind of maxilla?, with this one difference in the palpi 
 — that the maxillary palpi are very much smaller than the 
 labial, or even than the maxillary lobes. 
 
 The beetle to which I refer is Cerambyx moschatus, 
 or Musk-beetle, about an inch long, green, shaded with 
 blue, or a more golden colour, emitting a scent of musk or 
 of otto of roses on being handled. It has long antenna?, 
 and kidney- shaped eyes surrounding the base of the 
 antenna?. The larva is a soft white maggot, burrowing 
 under the bark of trees. 
 
 ANTENNjE. 
 
 The antenna?, or feelers, are very important organs in 
 all insects ; but especially in the flies and beetles. In both 
 these orders the shape, position, and number of joints in 
 the antenna?, form distinguishing characters in the genera 
 and species of insects. 
 
 They are situated on the head, near the eyes. They 
 deserve particular attention and study ; for no organs are 
 more wonderful or more useful, and, until lately, none so 
 little understood. In the order Coleoptera they divide it into 
 the families, Lamellicornes, Clavicornes, Serricorncs, and 
 Palpicornes. For examples of these, which are very beau- 
 tiful, look at the head of the common Dung-beetle, which 
 has a clubbed antenna, formed of leaflets, capable of being 
 shut up. 
 
76 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 ANTENNLE OF COCKCHAFER 
 
 another Larnellicorne beetle, every leaflet of whose beau- 
 tiful antennae shows a cellular tissue of oval cells, with 
 nucleus and nucleolus, according to Quekett ; but with an 
 external cuticle of hexagonal cells, according to Carpenter. 
 The organs of sensation, sacs and sacculi, are found in 
 them, and occupy the place of the nucleoli of Quekett. 
 {See antennae of Syrphus). The leaflets of the male are 
 much longer than those of the female. 
 
 ANTENNAE OF NITIDULARIA. 
 
 An example of Clavicorne antennae. These Nitidularia 
 are small beetles which haunt our flowers and swarm upon 
 nettles all the Summer long, and may be recognized by 
 their antennae having eleven joints, the three last clubbed. 
 
 ANTENNAE OF HYDROPHILUS, 
 
 is an example of Palpicorne antennae ; clubbed also, but 
 differently shaped, and having only nine joints — never 
 more. 
 
 ANTENNLE OF ELATER. 
 
 Here is a common little beetle, often called Skip -jack, 
 from its springing up with a jerk when laid on its back ; 
 easily recognized upon plants by its depressed head, and 
 long dark body ; also by its habit of falling down as if 
 dead when alarmed. The antennae are an example of the 
 Serricornes, toothed or serrated, especially those of the 
 male insect. 
 
 For examples of variety of antennae in the Diptera, look 
 at the heads of Dolichopus, Empis, Sepedon and Syrphus, 
 Phora, Tabanus, &c. Compare these with the antennae of 
 Bee, Saw-fly, Ichneumon-fly and Dragon-fly. The antennae 
 not only vary in the species but in the sexes, and are 
 always most beautiful in the male ; as in the head of a 
 Gnat, which is plumed, whilst that of the female is quite 
 plain. 
 
ANTENNAE OF SYRPHUS, OR OF BLOW-FLY. 
 
 77 
 
 The wild Bees, Saw-flies, and Beetles, present many 
 examples where the different shape and length of the 
 antennae enable us at first sight to recognize the sex. 
 Therefore we should study them, especially in the following 
 insects : — 
 
 WILD BEES. 
 
 Chelostoma 
 
 Specodes 
 
 Halictus 
 
 Andrena 
 
 Eucera 
 
 BEETLES. 
 
 Cerambyx 
 
 Anthrenus 
 Colymbetes 
 Scolia 
 Anthrophila 
 
 Rhipicera 
 
 Chelonus 
 
 Elater 
 
 ICHNEUMONS. 
 
 Pteronus 
 
 MOTHS. 
 
 Bombyces 
 Saturnia 
 
 It has been supposed that they were chiefly the organs 
 of touch, probably of smell also, and of hearing. Certain 
 it is that they are most important to the insect, and that 
 special contrivances for their preservation and use may be 
 observed in many tribes. I will but mention a few exam- 
 ples. The common Water-scorpions, Nepa and Belastoma, 
 have very deep kidney -shaped boxes between the eye and 
 the throat to defend their singular antennas. Cryptocerus, 
 a remarkable ant, has a square plate, the sides of which 
 form a longitudinal cavity in which the antenna* he quite 
 concealed and safe. Many of the Diptera have furrows 
 in their foreheads, which receive and protect the antenna* in 
 repose. Many beetles, Anthrenus and Byrrhus, have cavities 
 under the prothorax or breast, where, when alarmed, their 
 antennae are secreted. 
 
 But in proof that they are certainly organs of sensation 
 in a high degree, it has lately been discovered that the 
 antennas of Bees, Wasps, Flies, Dragon-flies and Ichneu- 
 mons have peculiar structures which had never been 
 described before. Dr. Hicks published his papers on the 
 subject in the u Transactions of the Linnaean Society, 1857." 
 
 ANTENNAE OF SYRPHUS, OR OF BLOW-FLY. 
 
 CMusca Vomitoria. ) 
 
 Either of these may be taken to illustrate what is stated 
 by Dr. Hicks. If properly mounted they will be trans- 
 
78 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 parent ; and on the third joint of each example will be 
 seen a multitude of transparent dots. These dots are 
 perforations of the inner coat of the wall of the an- 
 tenna, closed externally by a very thin membrane. Be- 
 hind this perforation is a sac which, when the antenna 
 is crushed or broken up, may be found floating about in 
 the fluid. There are about 17,000 of these sacs in each 
 antenna. Besides these simple sacs there are large spores, 
 which lead into chambers from which numerous little sacs 
 or sacculi radiate. These apertures are fringed with very 
 minute hairs. There are about eighty of these cavities on 
 each side of the antenna. They are filled with fluid, closed 
 in from the outer air by a very thin membrane, and to each 
 little sac a nerve proceeds from the large antennal nerve. 
 This will be seen better in 
 
 ANTENNA OF BEE. 
 
 On the last three joints of this antenna, but only on one 
 side, we find these vesicles or sacs ; and if properly pre- 
 pared the great nerve may be distinctly seen, giving off 
 three bundles of finer nerves, each of these dots receiving 
 one. 
 
 ANTENNAE OF ICHNEUMON. 
 
 One species of Ichneumon will give singularly- shaped 
 perforations, in which the transparent membrane over- 
 arches and extends beyond the aperture, and gives it the 
 appearance of an inverted canoe. 
 
 ANTENNAE OF ARGYNNIS. 
 
 Argynnis, or Fritilary Butterfly, tawny coloured, with 
 black lines and spots on the upper wing, and silvery streaks 
 and spots on the under side of the hind wing. The antennas 
 also possess small transparent dots and chambered cavities. 
 
 PALPI OF ARGYNNIS, 
 
 a very pretty object, showing the scales or feathers of 
 the Butterfly in situ. 
 
SPIRACLES OF DYTISCU8. 79 
 
 ANTENNA OF DRAGON-FLY, 
 
 furnish the most beautiful example of these acoustic 
 chambers, and display the nerve well. 
 
 ANTENNA OF SILKWORM MOTH. 
 
 This will form an example of the variation of the An- 
 tenna? in the sexes ; those of the male Moth being pecti- 
 nated throughout equally, while those of the female have 
 shorter branches, and alternately one long and one short. 
 
 To prepare the antennae of Bees, Wasps, and Flies, for 
 these observations, it is necessary to soak them in chlorate 
 of potash, with a few drops of hydrochloric acid, until they 
 are colourless ; then dry them and mount in balsam. 
 
 SPIRACLES AND TRACHEA. 
 SPIRACLES OF DYTISCUS. 
 
 The Dytiscus is a large Water-beetle, very common in 
 ditches and ponds, belonging to the pentamerous Coleop- 
 tera. It passes its first stage of existence wholly in the 
 water as a most voracious larva, with long narrow body 
 and strong head, armed with mandibles, breathing by the 
 anus, and rising frequently to the surface, when it hangs 
 head downwards and the body curved like an S. When full- 
 grown as larva it buries itself in the earth, changes to a 
 pupa, and afterwards to the perfect insect. It is from 
 the Beetle that these spiracles or breathing organs are 
 taken. 
 
 Few objects are more beautiful than those prepared from 
 the respiratory apparatus of insects. The blood of insects 
 is aerated, not by its passing through particular organs, as 
 the lungs in animals, or the gills of fish ; but the air is 
 circulated in every part of their body by means of delicate 
 spiral vessels, called trachea;, or air-tubes, which ramify 
 into the minutest organs. As you observe these spiracles, 
 
80 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 look also at these slides, which are very commonly found 
 in all collections. 
 
 TRACHEAE OF DYTISCUS. 
 
 Yon see they greatly resemble the spiral vessels of 
 plants ; within the outer membrane an elastic fibre winds 
 round and round in close and regular coils, and then comes 
 another thin transparent membrane, closing it in and 
 securing it from disturbance. When these tubes are 
 pressed flat and are large, as the trachese of Dytiscus, then 
 the double wall of fibre crossing each other gives an 
 appearance of watered silk. Vessels such as these in the 
 tongues, wings, and throughout the body, are easily dis- 
 sected for examination, by opening the abdomen and floating 
 off the fine white threads which branch off on either side 
 from every spiracle. This brings us back to the spiracle 
 itself, which is on every segment of the abdomen, an oval 
 opening defended by those beautiful arborescent hairs, 
 preventing dust or particles of harmful substance from 
 entering in and lacerating the delicate tracheal vessels. 
 
 SPIRACLES OF COCKCHAFER. 
 (Melolontha.) 
 
 Here is a difference of structure in the spiracles of the 
 larva of Cockchafer, which burrows in the earth to a great 
 depth, and whose naked body has no defence for its 
 tracheal aperture ; therefore the spiracle, though very small, 
 is doubly protected by a framework of bars, stretched from 
 side to side of the thickened margin, and a membrane 
 dotted with minute holes covers these again, effectually 
 protecting the trachese, whilst it freely admits the air. 
 
 SPIRACLE OF FLY, 
 
 is a modification of the spiracle of Dytiscus. It is 
 interlaced with branching fibre. 
 
 SPIRACLE OF TIPULA. 
 
 This has a solid disc in the centre, and radii proceed 
 from thence to the margin. 
 
CIRCULATION OF BLOOD. 81 
 
 SPIRACLES OF WATER LARV.E. 
 
 These are best examined in the living larvae of the 
 Gnat, where the last segment of the abdomen is prolonged 
 into a tube, the mouth of which remains at the surface of 
 the water whilst the animal breathes. 
 
 There are, however, other and quite different modes of 
 respiration in aquatic larva?, which form beautiful micro- 
 scopic objects. 
 
 AERATING LEAFLET OF LIBELLULA, 
 
 the larva of one of the Dragon-flies, those slender, 
 beautiful blue and scarlet flies, which glance like living 
 sunbeams across our path on a Summer's day, and may be 
 found in thousands resting on the reeds and bushes at the 
 river's side. When these are in the larval state, they have 
 three leaf-like plates at the extremity of the abdomen, 
 over which innumerable trachea? ramify and draw from the 
 water that supply of air which is needful for their life. 
 
 ABDOMEN OF EPHEMERA, OR SPIRACLES. 
 
 The larva of the pretty May-fly, or Ephemera, has on 
 either side of its body a row of little leaflets, each of 
 which is an external spiracle, and when alive it is most 
 interesting to watch its palpitations, the play of those tiny 
 organs drawing oxygen from the water to aerate the blood. 
 It is best thus to see it, because we are able to observe the 
 circulation of the blood through the transparent skin. 
 
 CIRCULATION OF BLOOD. 
 
 All creatures that have life have blood : it is the nourish- 
 ing fluid which is needful for existence. In insects it is 
 colourless, but composed of minute corpuscles, which are 
 propelled through the body, not by arteries and veins, but 
 by one great dorsal vessel, constricted at intervals, and one 
 end of which is closed, the other open and acting as the 
 aorta of the heart. We see it here constricting and dilat- 
 
 o 
 
82 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 ing, pumping out the blood which bathes the whole 
 interior of the body, flowing into the antennae, the legs, 
 the wings — taking all directions. Here also we see a regular 
 current through each appendage of the tail, and backward 
 it is drawn into the long dorsal vessel through some 
 lateral fissures in it, which are closed by valves, prevent- 
 ing its return. Moreover, we can see in this larva the 
 constrictions of the heart, its division into parts or 
 chambers, called cardiac chambers, each of which is closed 
 by a little door or valve, only opening upwards, so that the 
 onward flow of the blood is secured, and out it is forced 
 from the aorta again to continue its circulation. We 
 understand better when we have watched this in the living 
 creature, how the delicate tracheal vessels receiving air 
 through the spiracles give it out to the blood in which 
 they are immersed. Although there are no distinct mem- 
 branous veins in insects, yet the blood flows in regular 
 channels formed by the interstices of the flakes of fat, air- 
 cells, muscles, &c. The pulsations vary in different insects. 
 Hunter counted thirty -four pulsations in a minute in the 
 heart of a silkworm ; which we can do, as the great dorsal 
 vessel is very distinctly seen constricting and dilating in 
 the full-grown larva. When excited by fear or muscular 
 exertion, the action of the heart is accelerated to as many 
 as 100 and 140 pulsations in a minute. 
 
 In examining the larva of Ephemeras, which are abundant 
 in most ponds, simply confine it in a live box with a drop 
 of water, and just press it sufficiently to keep it still, yet 
 unhurt. If you cannot easily find a larva of Ephemerae, 
 any water-butt in Summer will abound with larvae of Gnat, 
 and they will do nearly as well. So also will a newly- 
 hatched Fly, or a young Bee, just before it emerges from 
 the pupa case ; in these the circulation will be observed in 
 the wings. 
 
 SPIRACLES OF LARV.E OF BAT-FLY. 
 
 (CEstrus.) 
 See egg ©f CEstrus for an account of the Bot. 
 
WING OF SCATOPHAUA. 83 
 
 WINGS OF INSECTS. 
 
 There is much to learn in the wings of Coleoptera, 
 Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, and Diptera. The scales or 
 feathers which clothe the wings of LepidojDtera are noticed 
 under Scales of Moth. The Diptera are classed by the 
 veining of the wings, and therefore it is absolutely neces- 
 sary to have a few specimens mounted as lessons for the 
 names of the nerves or veins of the wing. 
 
 The wing itself may be described as a transparent mem- 
 branous organ, consisting of two lamina?, or plates, which 
 are united by canals called veins or nerves. These veins 
 are hollow channels through which the circulating fluid 
 flows, and a tracheal vessel runs in communication with 
 the trachea? in the thorax. 
 
 In the Ladybird's (Coccinellci) wing, the blood is not 
 confined to these canals or veins, but circulates freelv 
 through a large part of the wing. The circulation may be 
 seen in the wing of any newly-hatched fly, but especially 
 in that of the beautiful lace-winged fly, Hemerobius, where 
 it was first noticed by Mr. Bowerbank. 
 
 WING OF SCATOPHAGA. 
 
 Although this is fully described for the slide of Scato- 
 phaga, mounted whole, it is mentioned here as the best 
 lesson on the veins, and very easily put up separately. If 
 merely mounted dry, the veins are sufficiently seen, but 
 when soaked for a few days in turpentine and mounted in 
 balsam they become transparent from the expulsion of the 
 air ; and then not only the canals, but the trachea 1 , may 
 be visible, especially in the costal vein. 
 
 Observe that strong vein bordered with hairs on the 
 fore-margin of the wing — that is the Costal vein ; and in 
 the Coleoptera there is inside a little bag of fluid called the 
 Phialum, by which the fly can, at its pleasure, increase the 
 weight of its wing, and sink or fly slowly. 
 
 The short vein next to the Costal, ending at about one- 
 third of the length of the wing, is called the Sub- Costal. 
 
 The next to that is the Mediastinal. 
 
 g 2 
 
84 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 The next is the Radial, which forks off at its base ; and 
 the farthest branch is the Cubital, always an important 
 vein. 
 
 After the Cubital comes the Prcebrachial, joined to it by 
 a transverse yein, called the Discal transverse. 
 
 WING OF HOUSE-FLY. 
 (Musca.) 
 
 This is an example of the true fly's wing. The Mus- 
 cidse are very numerous, and divided into many groups and 
 families ; the third joint of the antennas, always the largest 
 in this family, enables us to recognise a true Musca at 
 once. After that we must look at the wing, which varies 
 very much in the number and position of its veins. 
 
 There are many house-flies. The Musca domestica 
 will show the prsebrachial vein, forming a rounded obtuse 
 angle at its flexure, nearly straight from thence to the tip ; 
 the discal transverse vein nearly straight, parted from the 
 border by more than half its length. 
 
 This little wing makes 600 strokes a second, carrying it 
 five yards ; if alarmed, can increase its velocity to thirty- 
 five feet in a second. 
 
 W T ING OF BLUE-BOTTLE FLY, 
 
 (Musca Vomitoria,) 
 
 will show the Discal transverse vein with two distinct 
 curves, parted from the border and from the flexure of the 
 prsebrachial by hardly one-third of its length. The 
 antennas of this fly have the third joint remarkably long, 
 and furnished with peculiar organs of smell. {See Antennae 
 of Blow-fly.) 
 
 WING OF SYBPHUS, 
 
 not one of the Muscidse, or true flies, and therefore a 
 good example of a beautiful variety. The Syrphidas are a 
 numerous family, comprising thirty- one genera ; they are 
 
WING OF MIDGE. 85 
 
 mostly seen hovering over flowers, vibrating their wings as 
 they pause awhile, then darting with rapid flight a short 
 distance only, and becoming stationary again. Many of 
 the species make a humming noise like a Bee, and are 
 mistaken for either Bees or Wasps. 
 
 The veining of this wing is an excellent lesson. The 
 Costal vein ends just before the tip of the wing, and receives 
 the Radial, or Cubital : for both these veins are not alwavs 
 present in the Syrphus wing. 
 
 The Mediastinal is very distinct ; a transverse vein 
 connects the Cubital with, the Pr&brachial near the margin. 
 But the chief distinction lies in one or two spurious veins, 
 one of which crosses a small transverse vein between the 
 Prcebrachial and Cubital, and the second, when present, 
 runs behind the Pobrachial vein. 
 
 These examples of wings are most useful in awakening 
 attention to the importance of minute observation, to the 
 perfect order of Creation in all its parts, to the distinct 
 individuality of each tiny fly in the presence of Him who 
 made it. How little we think of this ; how carelessly we 
 glance at the flies on our window-panes ; they are nearly 
 all alike to our unseeing eyes. We complain of them, lay 
 traps for them, kill them, but it seldom occurs to us that 
 we had better study them. 
 
 WING OF MIDGE. 
 (Psychoda.) 
 
 Only two examples more will I give — the wing of a 
 Midge and the wing of a Gnat. These both belong to the 
 first order of Diptera, the Tipulida?, which comprises all 
 the Gnats, Midges, and Daddy-long-legs, or Tipulae. 
 There are many more veins in this tiny wing than in any 
 yet noticed, and the number of areolets or enclosed spaces 
 in the wing is thirteen, every vein thickly covered with 
 fine hairs ; these are supposed to assist the insect in its 
 downward flight, by fixing the atmospheric fluid, which 
 glides over it as they rise. 
 
 The motion of a little Midge on the window-pane is 
 always zigzag, from right to left, and left to right. Some 
 
86 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 ■wings have six or seven spots upon them, and are called 
 Psychoda sexpunctata. 
 
 WING OF GNAT. 
 
 This wing differs in the various species of Gnats which 
 haunt our waterbutts and tanks, and stagnant ponds. 
 Some have more beautiful scales than others, but this wing 
 of the common Gnat {Culex pipiens) is a good study and 
 a most pleasing object. Look at it with the most lowest 
 power for the veining, and then with the highest for the 
 scales. 
 
 The Gnats belong to that division of Flies called Tipu- 
 lidae, and also Nemocera, which means having the head 
 branched. They all have long and beautiful antenna?, 
 which, in the males are plumed and whorled like the stems 
 of Equisetum. 
 
 The wings are narrow and lanceolate. 
 
 Sub-Costal vein ends a little before the tip of the wing. 
 
 Radial, branched from the Sub-costal, and is forked. 
 
 Cubital vein begins from the Pra?brachial small transverse. 
 
 Mediastinal is between the Radial and Costal. 
 
 Pfosbrachial is also forked. There are fourteen areolets. 
 
 The scales of a Gnat form test objects of the defining 
 power of an object glass. Scales are composed of two or 
 three layers of membrane, and probably the longitudinal 
 ridges in these scales may represent folds of the outer 
 membrane. We should not only see these stria?, but the 
 delicate transverse markings and projections of the lines 
 beyond the top of the scale. 
 
 Gnats fly silently in winter and early spring, before the 
 thirst for blood is awakened, and then the female only 
 sounds the shrill clarion of war in her eae:er flisrht to and 
 fro. See the Gnat {Culex), mounted whole, and for the 
 complete knowledge of Flies, consult " "Walker's British 
 Diptera," vol. iii. ; " The Insecta Britannica." 
 
 WING OF COLEOPTERA. 
 
 Beetles have four wings ; but the upper pair, being crusta- 
 ceous and used only as a protection for the under pair, are 
 
WTNG OF CRICKET. 87 
 
 called Elytra. Their use is obvious from the habits of the 
 Coleoptera ; they burrow in the ground and reside under 
 the bark of trees, or beneath stones, when the undefended 
 membranous wing would receive the greatest injury. The 
 under wing is particularly described when examining the 
 slide of Telephorus. 
 
 Both of these should be mounted and observed. The 
 upper pair, or Elytra, if properly prepared, are very 
 beautiful polariscope objects, especially those of Dytiscus 
 and Cockchafer (Melolontka) . 
 
 But there is a more important notice to be taken of the 
 internal structure of the Elytron. Dr. Hicks discovered 
 the same vesicles here as he did in the antennas of Flies 
 and Bees. (^See Antenna?). The wing-nerve branches 
 over the Elytron, and those dots which exhibit the black 
 cross with polarized light are vesicles or organs of sensa- 
 tion, to which a distinct branch of the nerve mav be 
 traced. 
 
 Soak the Elytron in potash for a week or more, and 
 when j)erfectly transparent mount in balsam. 
 
 The under wings exhibit groups of these vesicles on the 
 under side of the sub-costal nerve, as many as 200 and 
 300 in each wing. Observe the wing of Strangalia, a 
 Longicorne Beetle. (In the "Journal of Linna?an 
 Society," vol. i., p. 136, Nov. 1, 1856). See also Elytra 
 of Diamond Beetle. 
 
 WING OF CRICKET. 
 
 (Aclieta domestica.) 
 
 This is mounted to show the organ of sound, the drum and 
 file by which the male Cricket chirps. Each of the upper 
 wings, or Elytra, has a round transparent space called the 
 drum, or tympanum ; at the base of the Elytra is a trans- 
 verse horny ridge, furnished with numerous short trans- 
 verse ridges or teeth, and forming a kind of bow or file. 
 The insect rubs the Elytra across one another, and the 
 grating of the files, together with the action of the drum 
 as a sounding board, causes the loud chirp. Some 
 naturalists think that the legs work against this file and 
 
88 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 produce the sound, particularly in the Grasshopper, whose 
 thighs are armed with rough ridges and short spines, and 
 act as the bow against the files and drum of the Elytra. 
 
 The male Cricket only chirps. The female, silently at 
 home occupies herself in laying about 300 eggs and in 
 rearing her brood. The tongue of a Cricket is a beautiful 
 object. 
 
 SCALES OF INSECTS. 
 
 The feathers of a Moth, a Butterfly, a Gnat, the scales 
 of a Beetle, of a Weevil, of the Podura, are all both favourite 
 and useful objects for the microscope. It is well known to 
 every one that the dust which remains on our fingers after 
 touching a butterfly's wing, is a mass of beautiful feathers, 
 or scales, varying in shape and colour with the sj)ecies, and 
 that some are so delicately ornamented with a tracery that 
 no unassisted eye can see, that they form test objects for 
 the defining power of the microscope. 
 
 Besides that use, we learn much from viewing a part of 
 a butterfly's wing as an opaque, and observing how the 
 scales are arranged on the membrane of the wing exactly 
 like the tiles on the roof of a house ; — this is called being 
 11 imbricated ; " each scale furnished with a point at one 
 end which fits into a cup-like socket, attached to the skin 
 of the body or the membrane of the wing. When the 
 scales are rubbed off and transparent, we can better observe 
 their structure, and we have some excellent examples in 
 the slides numbered here. 
 
 SCALES OF MORPHO MENELAUS. 
 
 Each scale or feather consists of three distinct lamina?, 
 two external and coloured, the inner one a highly polished 
 colourless membrane, which reflects the light and increases 
 the brilliancy of the scale. The Morpho Menelaus, a large 
 foreign butterfly of gorgeous blue, has striated scales, and 
 
SCALES OF PONTIA BRASSICA. 89 
 
 with very high power, each line is slightly beaded, giving 
 the appearance of transverse scorise ; but to see this the 
 achromatic condenser must be used. 
 
 SCALES OF POLYOMMATUS ARGUS, 
 
 a British butterfly common as the pretty blue butterfly 
 of the cornfield, or the sea-side Downs ; has peculiar 
 scales shaped like a battledore with long handle, and the 
 longitudinal lines are swollen at intervals into rounded 
 elevations, which give it a dotted appearance, except 
 towards the base, where a crescent- shaped cloud of minute 
 pigment-cells crosses the scale, and forms a distinguishing- 
 mark of the species 
 
 SCALES OF HIPPARCHIA JANIRA, 
 
 our little meadow brown butterfly, which flits so merrily 
 about the long grass in June, laying its exquisite eggs 
 upon the stems, from which a green striped caterpillar 
 emerges in due time. These are the scales of its brown 
 wings, most excellent test objects, and giving different 
 markings. When dry, or in Balsam, or when viewed by 
 oblique or direct light, the rounded end is toothed, and 
 bears a brush-shaped appendage. 
 
 SCALES OF PONTIA BRASSICA. 
 
 The common Cabbage Butterfly, whose history is too 
 well known to need remark ; the earliest and latest of our 
 Summer friends and garden enemies. There are several 
 shapes in the scales of its wing, a very long and slender 
 one, and some more of the battledore shape, and heart- 
 shaped, with beautiful stria. 1 . Observe also a portion of the 
 membrane, where the scales or feathers are rubbed off. 
 The apertures into which they are fixed are little cups or 
 tubes, the orifices of which are set backward ; and around 
 each are radiating folds of the upper membrane, giving 
 them a star-like appearance. 
 
90 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 SCALES OF THE SILKWORM MOTH. 
 
 The Silkworth Moth {Bombyx mori), has a variety 
 of scales, toothed, and broad or narrow, and Leuwenhoeck 
 counted no less than 400,000 of these delicate scales on 
 the wings of one moth. 
 
 SCALES OF CLOTHES MOTH. 
 
 From the under side of that troublesome little Tinea we 
 obtain a beautiful test object of very fine stria?. Also 
 from the scales of Podura. 
 
 SCALE OF PODURA. 
 
 The Podura is a small grey wingless insect, with six 
 legs, and a long forked tail, bent inwards, and by means 
 of which it leaps and springs about in the sawdust of our 
 cellars, and under stones, and in moss in damp places. 
 
 SCALES OF LEPISMA SACCHARINA. 
 
 A first cousin of Podura, haunting our sugar stores, 
 and originally a native of America. It does not leap so 
 well as Podura, if at all ; for its body does not terminate 
 in a forked tail, but in several long thread-like styles, and 
 it runs swiftly along, the little silvery grey body closely 
 covered with these beautiful scales, which require high and 
 good powers to see distinctly. 
 
 A few words may be added on the appearance which 
 Podura scales should present as a test object. Under a 
 medium power they resemble watered silk ; light and dark 
 lines wave across the scale in irregular bands ; but with 
 better definition every dark band should be resolved into 
 rows of short lines, thick at one end, and very fine at the 
 other. Yet these ^apparent lines are not lines. We must 
 have a higher power, a good quarter-inch lens, and then 
 with careful management of light, — always a most impor- 
 tant thing, — we shall see that the apparent lines are really 
 spaces between the wedge-like particles which make up 
 
FOOT OF SYRPHUS. 01 
 
 the layer or upper surface of the scale. As a test object 
 it is out of fashion ; the dots of the Pleurosigma and the 
 stride of Grammatophora and Pygidium of a flea being pre- 
 ferred by many scientific observers. 
 
 ELYTRA OF DIAMOND BEETLE. 
 
 A most beautiful object, to be looked at with reflected 
 light — that is as an opaque. These brilliant spots are groups 
 of scales, fashioned precisely like those of a butterfly's 
 wing, but owing to their irridescence, to the peculiar thin- 
 ness of the upper layer and the reflecting power of the 
 secondary layer, the colour changes like that on a soap- 
 bubble by the varied position of the light, the dark cell 
 in which the scales are set adding to their brilliancy. The 
 Diamond Beetle is one of the weevil tribe, and a native of 
 South America ; but we have smaller Diamond Beetles in 
 our own country, and the Curculio of the oak and of the 
 beech, a little green and gold weevil, by no means rare on 
 nettle-plants, is quite as beautiful under the microscope, 
 having the same kind of scales, set in dark cup-like recesses 
 on its elytra. 
 
 FEET OF INSECTS. 
 FOOT OF SYRPHUS. 
 
 Although the feet are better studied with the leg and 
 upon the whole insect, yet, as those specimens are not so 
 easily obtained as the foot of Syrphus, it should by all 
 means form part of an educational box. 
 
 The Syrphus is one of those flies which vibrate over our 
 flowers in the Summer, and haunt the Michaelmas Daisy 
 in the Autumn. They are called Drone-flies and Wasp-flies, 
 and are mistaken sometimes for one of the Hymenoptera. 
 
 This foot displays that pair of membranous expansions 
 called pulvilli which enable the fly to walk np and down 
 smooth surfaces, on glass and on ceilings, in opposition to 
 the laws of gravity. They are fringed with minute hairs, 
 each of which is tubular, and secretes a viscid fluid which 
 
92 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 attaches the foot to the surface of the glass or wall, and 
 the hooks on either side act as fulcra or props, with which 
 the fly pushes against the substance when it desires to 
 detach itself. The joints above the pulvilli are called tarsi. 
 
 LEG OF DYTISCUS, OR DYTICUS. 
 
 A most splendid object for the polariscope. The 
 Dytiscus is a large water-beetle, common in ditches and 
 ponds, and this is the fore-leg of the male. That large 
 round disk is composed of three joints of the tarsi, which 
 are studded with suckers ; one is extremely large, fur- 
 nished with radiating fibres, and another is somewhat 
 smaller, with single cup-like suckers raised on stalks, 
 altogether giving it an immense power of adhesion. 
 
 FOOT OF WASP, 
 
 another favourite object for the polariscope : the tarsal 
 joints are well seen, as also the hooks on each side of the 
 pul villus. 
 
 FOOT OF OPHION. 
 
 These toothed claws belong to an Ichneumon-fly, 
 (Ophion), which deposits its eggs in the larva or caterpillar 
 of a moth, (Bombyx Vinula, Puss Moth). The fly is 
 yellow and has a sickle-shaped body, the ovipositor slightly 
 exerted. — {See Hyruenoptera Microgaster.) 
 
 LEG OF BEE. 
 
 This is to shew the peculiar structure of the hind leg of 
 the Hive-bee. The worker-bee — not the queen, nor yet 
 the drone — has this beautiful contrivance for gathering the 
 bee -bread and carrying it home to the hive. The Bee 
 collects the pollen of flowers, and rolls it into little pellets, 
 which she places in two hollows on the outside of her hind 
 legs, called the baskets. This is done by her mouth and 
 these hairy legs, which help to collect the pollen, and 
 work it into shape and consistence. 
 
LEO OF BRACHINU8. 93 
 
 Every leg has ten rows of these hairs, and sixteen hairs 
 in a row. Count them and observe hoAV short and stiff 
 they are, exactly what the Bee wants for her work. 
 
 LEG OF GYRINUS. 
 
 The Gyrinus is a small Water-beetle, that merry little 
 fellow who assembles with a host of comrades, whirls round 
 in ceaseless play on the surface of the quiet pond, or 
 sunny margin of the river. Boys call it the Whirligig 
 Beetle. These curious hind legs, of which he has four, 
 are the oars and helm by which he propels and steers his 
 little body with such velocity through the water. 
 
 The structure is remarkable, the femur and tibia are 
 somewhat triangular, the latter fringed with short spines, 
 and long flattened filaments ; in the middle pair of legs 
 these filaments are on both margins, on the hindmost only 
 on the outer margin. 
 
 The tarsi are five-jointed, but the three upper ones are 
 most curiously fashioned into long leaf-like lobes, fringed 
 with spines, the fourth joint is about the same size and 
 semi-circular, and the fifth very short-armed, with two 
 claws, as indeed is each tarsal joint. 
 
 Circulating currents may be seen in the hind legs. Also, 
 if you catch one, examine its very curious eyes divided 
 into two parts, the upper group for viewing objects in the 
 air, and the lower those in the water. The antennae are 
 remarkable, not only in shape, but in being retractile and 
 having each an ear-like joint fringed with colourless flat 
 hairs, which shuts it into the cavity in front of the eyes. 
 
 LEG OF BRACHINUS. 
 
 ( Bombadier Beetle.) 
 
 A small red and black beetle, common near London, 
 which has the power of defending itself by letting off 
 smoke with the noise of a pop-gun. It is furnished with 
 an internal bladder capable of filing off twenty shots in 
 succession. If this smoke gets into the eyes it makes 
 
94 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 them smart as if they had been bathed with brandy. This 
 little fellow has a bitter enemy in the Calamosa, a larger 
 beetle, which hunts it without mercy. As it finds it im- 
 possible to escape by speed of foot, it stops short and 
 awaits its pursuer ; but just as he is about to seize it, he is 
 saluted by a discharge, and while he is for a moment stu- 
 pified with surprise the bombadier endeavours to gain a 
 hiding-place. — (See "Insect Miscellanies ;" also Bouche 
 de Brachinus, in Baker's collection.) 
 
 LEG OF ANCHOMENUS, 
 
 a small green beetle, nearly allied to Brachinus, as the 
 leg will shew ; both of them have that very curious curve 
 in the tibia, which is peculiar to the Carabici. These are 
 swift-running beetles, and many of them have no wings 
 under their elytra : they belong to the Pentamera, having 
 five tarsi or ankle-joints. — (See also Bouche et Palpes in 
 Baker's collection.) 
 
 LEG OF CALATHUS CASTELOIDES. 
 
 A very abundant and pretty Beetle about half an inch 
 long, black or brown, with black or sometimes red legs. 
 Found under stones near London. Five joints in the 
 tarsi, therefore belongs to the first order of Coleoptera, the 
 Pentamera. The claws are toothed like a comb, and the 
 male has three joints of the anterior tarsi dilated. (See 
 also Bouche et Palpes de Calathus, in Baker's collection.) 
 
 STING OF WASP AND BEE. 
 
 The weapon of defence given to these insects consists of 
 a barbed dart and a bag of subtle poison. The dart itself 
 is composed of two blades, with serrated edges, enclosed in 
 a sheath, and attached by strong muscles to the side of the 
 abdomen ; near the slit by which it protrudes are two hairy 
 appendages, which act as brushes and keep it clean, and at 
 a short distance within a slender canal leads to the bag of 
 poison, which, pressed by the muscles in the act of stinging, 
 gives out the acrid drop, which irritates the wound to such 
 painful swelling. 
 
EGG OF BOT-FLY, OR CESTRUS. 95 
 
 STING OF GNAT. 
 
 See Head of Gnat. 
 
 STING OF TABANUS. 
 
 See Head of Tabanus. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 EGG OF BOT-FLY, OR CESTRUS. 
 
 There is not a more curious and interesting object than 
 this. Those little spots which cover the fore-legs of horses 
 from the latter end of July to the end of September, are 
 eggs like this, deposited by a fly called (Estrus, or Gad-fly. 
 The longest period of this fly's life is passed in the intes- 
 tines of the horse, and all the Winter, every horse exposed 
 by field work or pasture feeding to the attacks of the 
 (Estrus is full of the larvae which hatch from this egg. 
 
 The fly itself appears only in July, and is properly 
 called Gasterophilus, or Stomach-lover. A tawny body 
 very hairy, wings dingy white, and with a transverse grey 
 band ; without any proboscis, for it lives but a very short 
 time — only to lay its eggs and die. The abdomen is bent 
 inwards, the female having a retractile tube consisting of 
 four pieces, and terminating in five points, within which 
 she holds the egg, and hovers over the horse, lightly dart- 
 ing at him, and depositing each egg upon a hair. This 
 egg is firmly attached by some glutinous substance, and is, 
 as you may observe, finely striated and furnished with an 
 operculum or lid, hinged and fitted on that oblique top. 
 When the larva is fully formed, the egg, which is always 
 placed where the horse most frequently licks itself, opens 
 under the warm moisture of the tongue, and the larva, which 
 is provided with hooks for the purpose, clings to the 
 tongue, and is swallowed with the saliva or the food. By 
 two long sharp hooks you may see folded downwards on the 
 larva it attaches itself to the inner coat of the horse's 
 
96 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 stomach, nourished by the "warmth and the mucus until 
 the Spring, when it has grown nearly an inch long ; it 
 then unhooks itself, mingles with the food, and passes 
 out as what grooms call hots. The next change is that it 
 wriggles into the earth, and becomes a pupa, lies there a 
 few weeks, and comes forth as a perfect fly, to rise up and 
 seek its mate, who dies immediately after their union, and 
 the female lingers but a few days longer, to deposit a hun- 
 dred eggs, or more, as her appointed task on earth. 
 
TKLEPHORUS, OR SOLDIER-BEETLE. \)'i 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 INSECTS MOUNTED WHOLE. 
 
 Hitherto we have only examined parts of various in- 
 sects, and whilst they have surprised and delighted us by 
 their curious or beautiful forms, and shown us how per- 
 fectly they are adapted for the wants of each insect ; 
 yet we have but a very imperfect idea of the anatomy of 
 any single insect without one of these beautiful prepara- 
 tions. 
 
 They cost years of thought and experience to bring to 
 this perfection. To preserve the delicate body entire, yet 
 make it perfectly transparent, so as to display every joint, 
 and in many cases its internal muscular structure ; to 
 fix it in its natural position, and embalm it, as it were, in 
 the clear preservative medium, Canada balsam ; to draw 
 out the beautiful tongue, or the wonderful ovipositor, and 
 show the varied and fragile antenna?, or lay out the fine 
 tissue of the wings, was the work of many a day before this 
 art was attained. 
 
 And these slides are so valuable to the young student of 
 natural history that no microscope box should be without 
 one or two illustrations of each of these orders — Coleoptera, 
 Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, and Diptera. 
 
 No engraving can teach the lesson upon insect anatomy 
 so well as that which is learnt at the microscope Avith one 
 of these slides upon the stage. They are sold by Baker, 
 of High Holborn ; Ladd, Chancery Lane ; Smith and 
 Beck, Coleman Street. 
 
 Take, for instance, one of the Coleoptera — 
 
 the telephorus, or soldier- beetle. 
 
 We find this little creature abundantly in our gardens, on 
 hedges, and on the long grass of a -sunny June niornin. 
 
 u 
 
98 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 but especially on the flowers of all Unibelliferge, such as the 
 wild Parsnip, Carrot, and Parsley. They have orange - 
 coloured elytra, or green or buff, tipped with red. Chil- 
 dren call thern "soldiers" and "sailors." Carnivorous 
 in their tastes, they haunt flowers for the smaller insects 
 they feed upon, and seize them fiercely in their strong 
 pointed mandibles. When we touch them they depress 
 their heads, become motionless, and counterfeit death. 
 
 They lay their eggs in damp shady places in the earth, 
 where the larvee hatch and live. These are velvetty, black, 
 long, soft-bodied maggots, with strong mandibles on their 
 heads, and a curious fleshy tubercle beneath the last seg- 
 ment of the body, which they use in walking. 
 
 Use your lowest power in examining these preparations 
 for a general view of the insect, and then change the object- 
 glass progressively upward to the highest power for such 
 parts as require particular attention — the tongue, the 
 eye, &c. 
 
 The first part to look at in a slide of Coleoptera is 
 the foot, because the number of joints immediately above 
 the claw, which are called tarsi, determines its position in 
 the family group. All the Beetle tribe are divided into 
 families according to the number of joints of their tarsi. 
 There are four sections. 
 
 The Pentamera or five-jointed 
 
 The Heteromera or five jointed anterior, and four- 
 jointed posterior tarsi. 
 
 The Tetramera or four joints to all the tarsi. 
 
 The Trimera or three-jointed tarsi. 
 
 The foot of Telephorus, having five joints, belongs to 
 the first section. Observe how deeply the penultimate 
 joint is bilobed — that the tibia or joint above the tarsi has 
 two small spurs — that the femur or thigh is stout, and 
 attached to the thorax by two other joints, called the coxa 
 and the trochanter. 
 
 Next observe the antennae ; for after deciding this little 
 beetle to belong to the section of the Pentamera, you will 
 know that it also is one of the Serricornes, or third family 
 of the Pentamera, by its long slender eleven-jointed an- 
 tennae of the same thickness throughout. 
 
 Next examine the curious hatchet- shaped joint at the 
 
TELEPHORU8, OK BOLDIEB BEETLE. 09 
 
 end of the palpi — ■ small feelers attached to the jav 
 and which are very important points for observation, as 
 their number and shape determine the species of many 
 beetles. 
 
 We now see the various parts of the mouth — the labrum, 
 or lip, notched in front ; the two hairy maxilla?, formed of 
 five pieces delicately fringed, and used for cleansing the 
 food ; two strong mandibles or jaws for seizing their prey. 
 
 Two compound eyes which, in the male, occupy nearly 
 the whole of the head. 
 
 The thorax, or body, to which are attached the three 
 pairs of legs, and the wings and wing-cases. 
 
 This thorax is a wonderful piece of mechanism. It 
 cannot be so well seen in this slide, because the elytra or 
 wing-cases partly cover it; but it should be carefully studied 
 in various specimens. There are three chief parts — 
 
 The pro-thorax ; the segment nearest the heart, and 
 supporting the first pair of legs. 
 
 The meso-thorax ; bearing the elytra, or wing-oases, 
 and the middle pair of legs. 
 
 The meta-thorax ; bearing the wings and the last pair 
 of legs. 
 
 But these are again composed of no less than twenty - 
 two smaller pieces, equally distinct and present in the 
 thorax of the tiniest beetle ; and if we consider the com- 
 plicated machinery necessary for the direction and control 
 of all the muscles required for insect locomotion, the 
 care bestowed upon the formation of the thorax will be 
 at once accounted for. The movement of the legs in run- 
 ning, creeping, climbing, swimming, fighting, seizing their 
 prey, cleansing their bodies, and the varied motions of the 
 wings and wing-cases — these all demand distinct inuscli 8 
 and points of attachment. The whole cavity of the thorax 
 is occupied by the wing and leg muscles, and the great 
 ganglion of nerve which directs them as a viceregent from 
 the seat of sensation, the head. 
 
 And whilst looking at the thorax of this little Beetle, as 
 hereafter we may look at that of a Fly, it will not lessen 
 our pleasure to be reminded of the many kinds of muscl« - 
 that worked unerringly- the will of this small creature. 
 It had its levator- muscles for raising its limbs ; depres- 
 
 h 2 
 
100 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 sors, antagonistic to these, for depressing them ; flexors for 
 bending the joints ; extensors for unbending or extending 
 them ; abductors for drawing an organ backwards, and 
 abductors for drawing it forward ; constrictors that con- 
 tract a body or an opening as in breathing ; laxators that 
 relax it. All these are in quick action in the little insect 
 that runs over your hand or escapes from your eye ; all 
 these have been planned and attached, and the numbers so 
 accurately interwoven, that they work without hindrance 
 or confusion, by the creative word of the Most High. 
 
 As the head for sensation, with its ganglion and branch- 
 ing nerves, and the thorax for locomotion, so the abdomen, 
 usually in nine segments, is appointed as the digester of 
 food and the organ of generation. 
 
 The internal parts of an insect cannot be seen in these 
 preparations. We must, therefore, confine our attention 
 to the external anatomy, and, before this slide is put away, 
 examine the wing. 
 
 The wing of a Beetle should be compared with that of a 
 Fly, in order to appreciate its peculiar structure. The 
 substance is membranous, double, and joined together by 
 canals or nervures, through which the blood circulates — a 
 tracheal vessel runs, and a nerve, branching from the tho- 
 racic ganglion, and giving off innumerable fibres to groups 
 of vesicles situated immediately beneath the costal nerve. 
 This is only seen with very high powers and good glasses ; 
 also requiring a particular preparation of the wing. It 
 must simply be soaked in turpentine for a week or more, 
 and mounted in balsam warmed just enough to receive the 
 wing, when the tracheal vessel, the nerve, and the vesicles, 
 may be distinctly seen with a 'good j-in. or ^-in. object 
 glass. 
 
 That strong nerve on the forepart of the wing is the 
 costal nerve. As the Beetle's wing is folded under the 
 elytron when in repose, the costal nerve ends abruptly, as 
 we see, at about half the length of the wing, and turning 
 backward into the post-costal nervure, forms a kind of 
 hook, strengthens the base, and allows of the easy folding 
 up of the tip of the wing. 
 
 There is a particular provison made for the regulation of 
 the specific weight of the Beetle's wing by means of a long 
 
CATHERETES URTICJE. K>1 
 
 pocket just under the costal and mediastinal nervures, 
 called the Phialurn, into which a liquid is introduced at the 
 will of the insect, which augments its powers of resistance 
 in flight. 
 
 The veins, or nervures, are so placed throughout this wing 
 as to strengthen and stretch every part : at the same time 
 to admit of its being closely and easily folded under the 
 protecting elytron; a most necessary arrangement for crea- 
 tures who live in the earth or under stones, or in the water, 
 where the delicate texture of the wing would be in constant 
 danger of destruction. 
 
 Having thus examined one specimen of the Beetle tribe, 
 we shall be able with increased interest to look at another 
 one of the small Water-beetles — 
 
 HELOPHORUS GRANULARIS. 
 
 This is an abundant little creature in our ponds and 
 ditches, feeding on decayed or vegetable matter, and, being 
 easily procured, is selected as an example of a Pentamerous 
 Coleoptera, but of the family of the Palpicomes, the an- 
 tennas being very different from those of the Telephorus. 
 These are clubbed, composed of nine joints, and carried 
 backwards. 
 
 It is a bad swimmer, and the legs are scarcely, if at all, 
 feathered ; the striped pro-thorax and the beautifully dotted 
 elytra make it a favourite and valuable object. 
 
 The sculpture of the elytra of Beetles is most remark- 
 able ; the ridges strengthen, the furrows lighten, the dots 
 give air to the spiracles beneath. In the Helophorus alter- 
 nate rows of large and small dots answer both purposes 
 and usefulness as well as beauty write the wisdom of God 
 upon the wing-case of this little creature. 
 
 CATHERETES URTICE. 
 
 This is a lovely little Beetle; as we see by its tarsi, 
 it is one of the Pentamera, though at first sight easily 
 mistaken for one of the four-jointed Coleoptera, as the fifth 
 joint is very small, and only visible from beneath. The 
 
102 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 antennae show that it belongs to the Clavicorne family, for 
 they are clubbed. This particular little Beetle is one of a 
 flower-loving group called Nitidulidoe^ always easily recog- 
 nised by having eleven joints in the antennas, and the three 
 last in a club, or strung like beads, with an interval between 
 each. The spotted elytra are beautiful. The facetted eyes 
 and the delicate mouth will require a higher power rightly 
 to examine them. And this exquisite insect is one we may 
 see in swarms upon nettles revelling in the pendent blos- 
 soms any sunny Summer's day — very small black creeping 
 things we pass unheeded by. 
 
 COCCINELLA, OR LADY-BIRD. 
 
 This familiar little visitor is not only a beautiful ob- 
 ject for the microscope, but a real friend to the florist, 
 who is apt to be disappointed and angered by what is 
 called the " green blight" upon the roses, and is not 
 perhaps aware that two or three Lady-birds would clear 
 it all away much better than the usual means applied by 
 gardeners. 
 
 The Lady-bird is particularly fond of Aphides, and, in its 
 larva state, pupa state, and perfect form, will greedily de- 
 vour them, darting at an Aphis, and seizing it in those 
 strong little jaws, shaking it as a terrier does a rat, 
 and sucking its life away ; then dropping the empty body, 
 and springing upon another and another. The little Cocci - 
 nella has frequently saved our fir plantations from the host 
 of destroying Aphis in the Spring ; and our bean-fields, when 
 attacked by the black blight (Aphis faboa), are often cleared 
 again in an incredibly short time by the avenger God has 
 given us in this lovely little Beetle. 
 
 It is one of the Trimera, three joints only in the tarsi. 
 The antennae eleven-jointed, and terminated by a reversed 
 conical club. 
 
 I must not describe so fully any more of these beautiful 
 slides ; but recommend you, if possible, to obtain the fol- 
 lowing whole-mounted Coleoptera : — 
 
 Lcecophilus Minutas ...remarkable for its feathered legs. 
 Hattica, or Turnip-fly.. ,, ,, thick muscular 
 
 thighs for leaping. 
 
NOTONECTA, OR THE WATER -BOATMAN. 103 
 
 Thy amis, or Grass- flea, also with muscular thighs and 
 
 sculptured elytra. 
 
 Dimonia cynoglossi ..one of the Tetramera, with thickened 
 
 thighs and beautiful head. 
 
 Haliplus conjimis ...one of the Hydrocantheri, or Swim- 
 mers, with beautifully fringed i 
 for swimming. 
 
 Hyphidius ovatus one of the Water-beetles, with fringed 
 
 legs for swimming, and a curious 
 pine at the tip of each elytron. 
 
 Gyrinas natator a Water-beetle. (This is described 
 
 in leg of Gyrinus.) 
 
 HEMIPTERA. 
 
 These are sucking insects. Their mouth has a long 
 retractile tube, and several fine lancets, forming a long pro- 
 boscis, which is laid along the breast during repose, and 
 may be seen in all the Field-bugs (Cimex) and the Aphides, 
 which belong to this order. The wings are membranous, 
 and covered with semi-transparent cases analogous to the 
 elytra of Beetles. The tarsi are always three -jointed. A 
 few of them inhabit the water, and of these the Velia rivu- 
 lorum and Notonecta are mounted whole. 
 
 VELIA RIVULORUM. 
 
 Most people have observed groups of water insects sport- 
 ing on the surface of small ponds, or swimming against 
 small streams, walking lightly on the still water, and rest- 
 ing on the stems of grass or water-weeds around. One 
 species (Gerris) has a long thin black body and very long 
 legs ; but Velia may be known by its scarlet spots on each 
 side of its body. The two-jointed sucker and the wing- 
 cases should be carefullv examined. 
 
 NOTONECTA, OR THE WATER-BOATMAN, 
 
 one of the Hemiptera, and a beautiful preparation, 
 
104 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 exhibiting the retractile sucker, which is a formidable 
 weapon, and pricks sharply ; the eyes very large, the 
 hind legs fringed with long hairs and in the form of oars, 
 which it uses, with great rapidity, rowing or swimming 
 always on the back, and looking like a canoe propelled 
 by a clever boatman. The eggs of this insect are found 
 abundantly on the under side of Water-lily leaves, or of 
 Potamageton ; small flask-like eggs through which, in an 
 advanced state, the red eyes of the little Notonecta maybe 
 seen, and when it comes forth, it only resembles its parent 
 in its feathered legs and quick movements, having no wings 
 until it has moulted several times, and changed from the 
 larva to the pupa state, in which, however, it is by no 
 means inactive, for the pupa? of Hemiptera feed as heartily 
 as the perfect insect. This Notonecta is a fierce and power- 
 ful enemy to all smaller aquatic insects, transfixing them 
 with his sharp proboscis, and sucking their life away. 
 
 REDUVIUS, OR BED-BUG, 
 
 is one of this order, and the sucker, though short, is 
 very strong, and capable of producing much pain. 
 
 CIMEX, OR FIELD-BUG. 
 
 These are beautiful objects when mounted. The head is 
 prolonged like a snout, more or less triangular, and the 
 sheath of the sucker is composed of four distinct joints; 
 they prey upon other insects ; the body is often brightly 
 coloured and spotted. We find them abundantly on long 
 grass or field flowers in the hot days of Summer, and one 
 species, Pentatoma griseus, is interesting from the care which 
 the female takes of her young, not only in brooding over 
 her eggs, but in leading her little family about as a hen 
 does her chickens. 
 
 APHIS. 
 
 A specimen of the green or black blight will be very 
 interesting to the florist, although the Aphis of the elder 
 
APHIS. L05 
 
 or the box are prettier in having variegated bodies. Thi 
 are no less than 160 known species, and few insects have a 
 more curious and interesting biography. " Kirby and 
 Spence's Entomology," and " L'Histoire des Hemipter 
 de MM. Serville and Amyot," will give abundant infor- 
 mation to the student of natural history. 
 
 I can only draw attention to the external form, and point 
 out the remarkable long antennas thrown backwards ; the 
 proboscis, fine and sharp, with which it pierces the young 
 shoots of our rose-trees, or the fibres on the under side of 
 our currant-trees and vines, causing them to curl up and 
 turn red. Those two horns on the back are tubes from 
 which exude small drops of saccharine matter or honey - 
 dew, of which the ants are so fond, that, wherever tin 
 Aphis abound, there the Garden Ant will follow, and may 
 be seen sucking it from them. 
 
 These Ants take absolute possession of some species. 
 The Aphis radicum, which feed on the roots of plants, 
 are kept by the Yellow Ants in their formicaries under- 
 ground, and milked as we do cows. This may be watched 
 on rose-trees or oak-trees, the little Ants following an 
 Aphis, tapping them, and pressing their sides to make 
 them jerk out the sweet fluid. 
 
 The tarsi are only two-jointed, the eyes compound. 
 They are both winged and wingless, and the Aphis win 
 are always carried with the fan edges upward, and ha 
 either a row of hooklets or a tuft of seven or eight hooks, 
 which attach the wing-case and wing together, like t] 
 hamuli of the Hymenoptera. 
 
 The rapid increase of these insects is astonishing : a 
 single Aphis may in one season become the parent of as 
 many as 5,904,900,000 descendants. The fact that tin- 
 are produced by females without more than one impregn: 
 tion throughout nine generations long perplexed our natu- 
 ralists. Bonnet isolated females most carefully, and 
 obtained nine generations in three months. It is now 
 ascertained that certain females couple and lay eggs only 
 in the autumn, and that throughout Spring and Summer 
 the young ones are produced alive by a process of gemma- 
 tion from what are called Nurses. 
 
 All through the winter, one solitary female A pi 
 
106 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 whom I had placed in my bedroom window on the leaf of a 
 tulip, continued to present me with pretty little pink-eyed 
 staggering things, until the whole plant was covered with 
 them ; and very curious it was to see the small Aphis keep 
 close to its mother's side for some hours, whilst she seemed 
 tenderly to caress it with her long antennas, until another 
 required her care, and this one was able to join the group 
 of sisters at a little distance, whose tiny suckers were 
 plunged into the juices of my Van Tromp. 
 
 For an account of their enemies and our avengers, see 
 Hymenoptera, Aphidius avena. 
 
 APHROPHORA, OR CUCKOO- SPIT. 
 
 I suppose every florist will like to have this slide, 
 because they so well know a certain frothy substance which 
 abounds on their Carnation plants, Lychnis, Rose-trees and 
 Willows, in which sits a little green creature with red eyes ; 
 a soft, frightened, innocent looking little larva, which I 
 never could help covering again with the white froth if I had 
 blown it aside for a moment. And this was the defence of 
 the young Aphrophora we are now looking at ; it passed 
 from that larva into a pupa, and then into this perfect state 
 with .wings and wing-cases, with a long sucking tube, 
 which pierced the stems of our flowers and dried up the 
 plant by abstracting the sweet fluids needful to its growth. 
 Observe the mottled wing-case, all of uniform texture, 
 which shows it to belong to the second division of Hemip- 
 tera, called Homoptera ; the wing with longitudinal nerves 
 forked at the tip. The legs, which leap wonderfully high, 
 are remarkably circled at each tibia by a crown of spines. 
 The mouth is better displayed in a specimen of Cimex. 
 
 THRIPS. 
 
 This is not now one of the Hemiptera, but belongs to a 
 very small order called Thysanoptera. We find these very 
 minute insects swarming in our flowers, especially in the 
 Carnations and Lilies. They are long, black, active little 
 
TENTHREDO, OR SAW-FLY. [01 
 
 creatures, looking like small beetles, and turn up their tails 
 in a quick impatient way that reminds us of the Staphy- 
 linus, so fragile that we cannot handle them, except when 
 mounted thus. 
 
 The short antennae we see have eight joints, the terminal 
 joints armed with a seta ; four wings of equal size deeply 
 fringed with hairs on all sides, and usually unnoticed, 
 because they lie horizontally upon the back, and we seldom 
 see them in use. The tarsi are short, and terminated by a 
 vesicle instead of a claw. The mouth has mandibles and 
 palpi, as well as a rostrum, or beak, with which it pierces 
 the delicate young leaves of our Cucumbers, Melons, Vines 
 and fruit-trees, causing them to shrivel up. They also 
 feed upon the pollen and pistil of the blossom, and often 
 cause the failure of our fruit, and of the wheat crop, by 
 creeping in between the valves of the green ear. Earwigs 
 avenge us by preying upon them, which florists would do 
 well to remember when they accuse the earwig of the 
 destruction of their Carnations. 
 
 HYMENOPTERA. 
 TENTHREDO, OR SAW-FLY. 
 
 Sometimes we find "the saws' ' only of this curious fly, 
 mounted for the microscope ; but at Baker's, and Smith and 
 Beck's, you will doubtless obtain the whole insect beautifully 
 prepared, and it is worth any money in the naturalist's 
 collection, both as an example of the Hymenoptera wing 
 and head, and also for its complicated and wonderful 
 ovipositor. Few of the Hymenoptera can be mounted 
 whole, for the order comprises all our Bees, Wasps, Ants, 
 Saw-flies, Ichneumon-flies and Gall-flies. It is a mosl 
 interesting group in the insect world, extremely intelligent, 
 and commissioned by its Creator to minister to our comfort 
 and to defend us from injury in a way that is little known 
 beyond the labours of the Honey-bee. 
 
 The Hymenoptera are distinguished from all those which 
 
108 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 are called flies, by having four wings instead of two, 
 wholly membranous, veined, and divided into cells, but 
 not assuming the appearance of network, as do those of 
 the Dragon-fly, the Hemerobius, the Ephemera, or May- 
 fly ; neither are they veined at all like the wings of the real 
 fly (Diptera) — yet the plan is perfect, both to distinguish 
 the group, and in that group the species from each other, 
 as we shall presently prove. The eyes are large and 
 compound in all the Hymenoptera ; they have generally 
 three simple eyes, or ocelli, on the crown of the head ; the 
 j aws are strong ; the tongue of varied structure {see tongue 
 of Bee and Wasp), because the mouth organs are used not 
 only for food, but for labour in the structure of nests, and 
 in providing for their young. The feet are somewhat like 
 those of the Diptera, but are sometimes terminated by 
 toothed claws {see foot of Ophion) ; the tibia are often 
 armed with spines, or very curious spur-like appendages, 
 especially in these Saw-flies, and the tarsi are five-jointed. 
 As a rule they all feed upon flowers, but I have found 
 them very voraciously attacking insects in the hot sunshine 
 of a June morning. 
 
 Their metamorphosis is complete ; that is, they lay eggs, 
 become larva? with six-hooked feet, spin a cocoon, and 
 change to pupa - T then rise up and go forth winged and 
 perfect. 
 
 The wing of the Hymenoptera is the most important 
 part in ascertaining the genera, for all the antenna? are 
 long, varying from thirteen joints to as many as sixty or 
 seventy. They vibrate with singular sensitiveness, but are 
 not like those of the Diptera, where the antenna? alone will 
 often decide a fly, and the minute differences of their 
 structure is in itself a study. 
 
 Here the index to God's order is in the wing, and if the 
 wings of your specimen are crumpled, as often happens 
 when the chief anxiety is to show the saws of the female, 
 then you had better get a male Saw-fly, ( Cypheus pygmceus ) , 
 where I doubt not they will be expanded and perfect. 
 
 The first great rule is this : look at the costal nerve 
 which bounds the fore part of every wing, and is the main 
 support. Observe in all the Saw-flies and Ichneumons there 
 is a dark horny spot called the stigma •; from that a nerve 
 
TENTHREDS, OR SAW-FLY. 109 
 
 or vein runs to the front tip of the wing, dividing the en- 
 closure into one or two cells, called the marginal or radial 
 cells. There is but one in Cypheus — a large oblong one 
 Behind this cell, and running nearly parallel at a. little dis- 
 tance, is a nerve which ends at the tip of the wing, and the 
 intermediate space is divided into from one to four cells, called 
 the sub marginal or sub-cubital cells, others in the centre aiv 
 called discoidal cells, and others, long and narrow towards 
 the base, are basal cells ; but the two former are those upon 
 which the genera are founded. Is it not wonderful — this 
 invariable order exhibited by the presence or absence of 
 one tiny nerve ? — always present in every individual of a 
 given species throughout the world ; varied perhaps slightly, 
 yet unerringly in the adjacent species and the progress of 
 neuration, designating the rank of the species more easily 
 in this than in any other tribe of insects. The little 
 Platygaster, a very small Ichneumon-fly, which is notice* I 
 presently, has only the costal nerve and stigma — no cells at 
 all. The pretty Chrysides, those scarlet and green or 
 blue flies, which rush about restlessly on windows and walls 
 in the hot sun, and are called the Humming-birds of 
 insects, have only the front wings veined, and those with 
 but a single cubital cell, and that not closed, and very 
 imperfect sub-marginal ones. And then in other gener:i 
 they, go regularly increasing, until the wing is perfected in 
 the Saw-flies and Bees. It makes our microscope so much 
 more valuable when it helps us thus to a personal acquaint- 
 ance with the "winged things" around us — when the eve 
 becomes educated to discern the letters of creation's 
 alphabet ; for we are but children in the ' ' First Reading- 
 book," and I doubt not there are volumes, countless and 
 full of eternal wisdom, laid up in store for those who 
 delight in the study of God's works. 
 
 We can now return to the slide before us. The colour 
 of the Saw-fly is necessarily lost in preparing it transpa- 
 rently for our examination ; but it was a bright and beau- 
 tiful fly, yellow, or scarlet, or light green dotted with black. 
 They provide for their young thus. I had the pleasure of 
 watching the motherly care of the Saw-liy of the r« 
 (Tenthredo rosa?) last summer. 
 
 A busy little fly with black thorax and yellow abdonu c 
 
110 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 was at work upon a rose-tree so intently that she did not 
 stir when I drew near to see what she was about. She 
 bent her abdomen as you see here, and had protruded a pair 
 of cutters such as these. They are, in fact, finely toothed 
 saws with about eighteen teeth each, and run backwards 
 and forwards in a grooved back-piece, which fits on each 
 like a carpenter's tennon saw. They worked alternately, 
 and presently she changed her position : she had been cut- 
 ting down deep, now she wanted to make a long groove, 
 and straightened her body, sawing quite fast and steadily, 
 making a furrow about half-an-inch long. Then she paused, 
 and a little greenish egg was laid on one side, another on the 
 opposite side, all along until a double row had been depo- 
 sited of about twenty eggs ; she then gave out a frothy glue 
 which seemed to fix and protect them, drew in her ovipositor, 
 and flew off to a neighbouring tree, where I took her for exa- 
 mination of the saws. The little eggs I looked at with a 
 pocket-lens, and found they were separated up the middle of 
 the groove by a fibre left on purpose. From day to day I 
 watched them, and they increased in size, which is different 
 from all other eggs ; the edges of the furrow became black 
 and swollen, but did not close, and about ten days after I 
 found all the little eggs empty, and several tiny green and 
 black-dotted caterpillars wandering about, very like true 
 caterpillars, which they are not, and may always be known 
 by counting their feet eighteen or twenty, whereas the 
 larvae of butterflies and moths, which are real caterpillars, 
 have only from ten to sixteen, and never more. 
 
 Frequently our gooseberry trees are stripped bare by 
 hosts of these young Saw-flies in larvae ; they spin cocoons 
 and remain coiled up in them all through the winter, 
 remaining but a few days in the pupa state, and emerging 
 in May and June. 
 
 CYPHEUS PYGM.EUS, 
 
 another Saw-fly. It will be most interesting to the farmer, 
 because its larva is very troublesome in the wheat and rye- 
 fields, especially in France, where it often destroys a great 
 part of the crop. The fly itself is black and yellow ; the 
 
ICHNEUMON-FLY. 1 1 I 
 
 male, as usual, differs from the female in colour and size ; 
 that is, he is of a brighter yellow, and the wings clearer 
 and more irridescent ; hers are clouded, and the yellow of 
 her body and legs more ochreous. The larva is singular 
 in having no legs at all, but a kind of tube at the end of its 
 body with a telescope movement by which it progresses 
 along its tunnel, for it feeds in the stem of wheat or rye ; 
 and its history is interesting. The female Saw-fly may be 
 seen in a warm April day sawing a hole just beneath a 
 knot in the tender stem of the young wheat and depositing 
 one egg in each straw. This is soon hatched, and forthwith 
 the larva begins to gnaw, with some exceeding strong though 
 tiny mandibles, the juicy inside cells of the stem, which of 
 course disturbs the economy of the plant, and prevents the 
 upward flow of all the nourishment which is needful for the 
 growing ear. As soon as it can, it proceeds to grind away 
 the interior of the knot also, and ascend the stem. As it 
 grows and thrives, the plant withers ; but in the month of 
 July it begins to descend towards the earth, and a few 
 days before harvest-time it settles itself near the root of the 
 wheat, cuts the straw regularly round inside, so that it 
 breaks off under the first puff of wind, and the little crea- 
 ture spins a warm cocoon and lays itself up for the winter, 
 fat and happy, unless a certain little cousin, one of the 
 Ichneumon-flies, has found it out, when his life will not 
 have reached this period, or its mischief have been so fatal. 
 
 ICHNEUMON-FLY. 
 
 ( Pachymerus calcitrator.) 
 
 Always have several of these in your collection ; they ai i 
 beautiful and most interesting; they have been appointed 
 to do a certain work, they have been gifted with wonderful 
 instinct, and provided with fit instruments to perform it, 
 and they are one of our many examples of obedience to the 
 order of God, which we would do well to pause and con- 
 sider. This little unheeded fly, — watch for it and learn its 
 habits ; examine it here as it is prepared for you. 
 
 It was black and reddish, with brown edging, and whit, 
 lines across the segments of the abdomen. This we cannot 
 
112 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 see here ; but we can see the antenna?, its first needful 
 instrument for work, with twenty-two joints, each with a 
 bristle inside, the wings large, transparent and irridescent, 
 the stigma yellowish brown, the one marginal cell elongated. 
 (Compare it with the wing of Cypheus, which has two 
 marginal and four sub-marginal cells) and one sub-mar- 
 ginal large cell, with a little nerve running into it. The 
 thighs are thick, and the tibia? spurred. 
 
 They abound often on Umbellifera?. 
 
 And this is its use in the world ; to find out the larva? 
 of Cypheus pygmceus, wherever it may be, and destroy it by 
 laying one of its own eggs inside its body, which, when 
 hatched, will feed upon the fat of the destroying insect, 
 and finally kill it, by preventing its further development. 
 Now, considering that the Saw-fly maggot is carefully con- 
 cealed in the wheat- stalk, the work is not so easy ; for the 
 stem must be pierced at precisely the spot where it lies, and 
 the Ichneumon must ascertain that no other fly has preceded 
 her, or the fife of her own offspring will fail. 
 
 The antenna? ascertain this for her ; they vibrate inces- 
 santly as she runs rapidly up and down every stem, and 
 whether they hear the gnawing of the little maggot within, 
 or feel the consequent vibration, or smell the larva through 
 the pores of the stomata, I cannot tell ; but it may by all 
 these, find out the precise spot, and then with its long ovi- 
 positor, which is barbed and works like an auger, a hole 
 is pierced and the egg laid just where it ought to be. The 
 great and unaccountable marvel is, how it knows whether 
 the larva has been touched before or not. But so it is, 
 and thus it avenges us of our tiny enemy. 
 
 MICROGASTER GLOMERATUS. 
 
 These you will always find mounted at Baker's, Smith and 
 Beck's, and Ladd's. They are exquisite little creatures and 
 some of our best friends. Observe its large eyes, its beau- 
 tiful antenna?, the last joint sculptured so delicately that it 
 can only be well seen with a ^-inch lens. The ovipositor 
 is partly drawn out, and if the insect is well prepared, you 
 may see the mechanism by which it acts,: — two powerful 
 
APHIDUS AVEISME. H3 
 
 elastic springs, braced across by three loops or tendons on 
 each side, which keep the instrument in place during its 
 rapid action. This fly is metallic green and gold ; the 
 s wings have but two cubital cells, and, owing to their want 
 of nerves, can seldom be properly displayed. So they 
 should be examined on the unprepared insect, which is 
 abundant on our windows and in our gardens. 
 
 The first time I saw the transformation of this Ichneumon 
 was a great surprise, — a child's wonder never forgotten. 
 I had kept some Cabbage Caterpillars in a box, feeding 
 them duly, and expecting the white butterflies whose 
 pretty eggs I had read of and longed to see ; when, 
 one day as I was considering my largest caterpillar, now 
 full-grown and ceasing to eat ; instead of preparing as 
 usual to suspend itself for transformation, I saw in one 
 moment that it was dying, and a host of tiny worms sud- 
 denly pierced from its inside in all directions, wriggled out 
 and began to spin so fast that in about ten minutes nothing 
 could I see but a heap of small yellow silk cocoons, and 
 the skin only of my poor fat caterpillar. What it meant 
 I could not tell, nor had I then read the account of it in 
 Kirby and Spence ; but I took the cocoons, put them in 
 a glass, covered with muslin, and in about a -fortnight 
 from that time the cocoons were pierced and empty, and 
 twenty of these pretty green and gold flies were out. I 
 learnt their name afterwards, and that they are our ap- 
 pointed avengers to check the depredations of the Cabbage 
 Caterpillar — the Microgaster glomeratus. 
 
 APHIDIUS AVENJE, EPHEDRUS PLAGIATOR, CERAPHRON 
 
 CARPE&TERII. 
 
 These Ichneumon-flies defend us in the same way from 
 the Aphides which disfigure our rose-trees. The two first 
 lay an egg in the body of the Aphis, which is inwardly 
 devoured by the larva and dies ; we may see them turned 
 brown and still adhering to the leaves. If the fly has 
 escaped, there will be a small round hole in the side of the 
 Aphis, and a little circular door attached by an uncut por- 
 tion of the skin. The Ceraphron, a most lovely little fly, 
 destroys not the Aphis, but the larva of the Ephedras 
 
 i 
 
114 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 inside the Aphis. It is able to find out even in an appa- 
 rently healthy Aphis, that an egg has been deposited by its 
 sister Ichneumon, and that the larva is hatched, when it 
 immediately pierces the already smitten insect and provides 
 for its own offspring in laying its egg inside the internal 
 parasite. Thus, in preparing many of the brown and black 
 dead bodies of Aphides, we may obtain specimens of each 
 of these beautiful Ichneumons. 
 
 CHELYMORPHA PHYLLOPHORA, OR THE TURTLE-SHAPED LEAF- 
 BEARER. 
 
 This most curious insect is the pupa of Chelymorpha, an 
 insect discovered by the Eev. J. Thornton, on the leaves 
 of the Maple (Acer campestris) ; it is intermediate between 
 the Aphis and the Coccus. The singular leaf- like appen- 
 dages round the body and attached to the legs require a 
 half-inch object glass. 
 
DIPTERA. 115 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 DIPTERA. 
 
 happy living things ! no tongue 
 
 Your beauty may declare ; 
 A spring of love gushed from my heart, 
 
 And I blessed you unaware." 
 
 Ancient Mariner. 
 
 Of all the insect tribes in that world which lies about 
 us, and of which we know so little, with all our learning 
 and research, there is none which has been more neglected 
 than the numerous and interesting one of the Diptera, or 
 two- winged flies. Most strange that it should be so ; for 
 they are the least harmful and the most truly beneficial to 
 man of any small creatures ; few of them assault us, and 
 as a body they are so important that the world could as 
 easily do without flowers or sunlight as without Flies ! 
 
 They are beautiful. Who has not unconsciously paused 
 to admire the metallic lustre of an unknown Beris or Doli- 
 chopus, as it rested on the laurel-leaf beside us ; or the 
 golden Leptis sitting on the grey bark of some old tree ; 
 or the variegated Syrphus and the pretty Empis thronging 
 the umbelliferous plants by the wayside? Who lias not, 
 in the listless heat of a Summer's day, watched the merry 
 dance of the little House-fly, and wondered if there was 
 not more intelligence in that world of flies than we had 
 dreamed of ? They are useful ; for the Diptera in their 
 larval state feed upon the dung of animals and decaying 
 substances, and we should perish from the noxious vapours 
 or gases which arise from dead matter without these little- 
 scavengers. 
 
 We are indeed in a world visible yet unknown, the per- 
 fection and order of which no human eve had ever seen 
 without this help from God, whose directing providence 
 gave man the microscope. His world it is ; His creatures 
 these, and of all the countless host of " creeping things, 
 the Diptera seem to come most nearly and constantly 
 
 i 2 
 
116 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 within our reach. Other insects we must seek abroad in 
 woods and meadows and by the river-side, and only at 
 some seasons of the year do we meet with them ; but the 
 Diptera are ever within reach — our little home friends. The 
 invalid may sit all the year round within the shelter of his 
 room, yet seldom fail of finding a few of these to watch 
 and to admire. The little Phora lingers through the winter 
 on our window-panes, and the pretty Midge hops to and 
 fro in December days ; whilst with the earliest sun of 
 February the quiet heavy -looking Musoa rudis appears in 
 numbers long before the active merry little Musca domestica, 
 or House-fly, awakes from its long nap in some snug un- 
 suspected hiding-place. 
 
 Those who have not learnt to know and love the living- 
 things around us, walk to and fro amidst many untasted 
 pleasures. I often think the difference between such igno- 
 rance and the knowledge we might easily attain resembles 
 that which we feel when walking alone and friendless in the 
 crowded streets of London with' a stream of fellow-creatures 
 hurrying past, of whose life-history we know nothing, and for 
 whom we care nothing ; and the same walk taken in our 
 native village or island home, where every one we meet 
 is an acquaintance, relative, or friend, or friend's friend, 
 striking unconsciously the electric chain of sympathy. 
 Even if we know but a name, it is something that is akin to 
 brotherhood. Thus also before we know the structure, 
 habits, and names of insects, what are they to us ? Every 
 worm is a worm ; a beetle is a beetle ; every fly is a fly — 
 nothing more. 
 
 But take the trouble to examine one little insect — the 
 humblest, the commonest — learn how wonderfully it is 
 fashioned, how gifted with happy instincts, and how obe- 
 dient in its work — learn its name, and give it a kindly look 
 just once, and a little friend is gained for life ; you will 
 never again catch a sight of that small insect without a 
 feeling akin to brotherhood — you know it, and it may be 
 association of place and time will enhance the pleasure ten- 
 fold. 
 
 There is not any small work that I know of on the 
 classification of the Diptera : the best manual of British 
 Flies is that of the " Insecta Britannica," in three volumes — 
 
CULEX PIPIBNS. 117 
 
 too expensive and too scientific for popular use.* There- 
 fore these slides of whole -mounted Diptera, with the brief 
 descriptions of this catalogue, will be the more valuable, as 
 giving the young student his first introduction to a family 
 he will become better acquainted with hereafter. 
 
 Very briefly let me preface the examination of the first 
 slide with a list of the principal families into which 
 naturalists have divided the Diptera. As the Coleoptera 
 are known by the joints of their tarsi and structure of their 
 antennas, so the Diptera are classed according to the form 
 of the antennas and the veining of the wings. 
 
 There are two great groups, Nemocera and Brachyura. 
 The Nemocera comprises all the Tipulas, Gnats, Midges, 
 &c, which have long antennas, from six to ten -jointed, and 
 inserted in front of the head between two large compound 
 facetted eyes. The slides of head of Tipula and head of 
 Gnat will illustrate this better than any description, and 
 enable us at once to recognise one of the Nemocera. A 
 slide of a whole Gnat and of a Ptychoptera will give a 
 better lesson on their general structure, if carefully exa- 
 mined, than any book. 
 
 culex ririENS. 
 
 The common Gnat, both male and female, should be 
 mounted, as the former only has the beautiful plumed an- 
 tennas, and the latter only the apparatus called the sting of 
 the Gnat, and (iescribed under " Head of Gnat." Its 
 wing is often mounted as a separate object, to show the 
 scales, and has therefore been noticed Avith the wings of 
 other insects, (page 85). But as this little fly is one of our 
 most common acquaintance, though not a very pleasant 
 one, a slight sketch of its habits will be interesting. 
 
 The female Gnat is that blood-thirsty little creature 
 whose shrill clarion sounds an attack upon man and beast 
 throughout the warm Summer's day and night. She 
 flies silently in the Spring, and seldom thirsts for bl<>< •<! 
 until she begins laying eggs; of these she produces about 
 
 * Insecta Bri f annica : Diptera, by Walker. Histoire Naturelle des 
 Insectes : Diptdres, by Macquart. 
 
118 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 300 in one season in stagnant water, and their transforma- 
 tions occupy about a month ; so there are several genera- 
 tions in one year, which accounts for the swarms which 
 occasionally trouble us. 
 
 A few of the larvae of the Gnat are amusing in the 
 aquarium, and being, when young, very transparent, give 
 excellent observation of the circulation of blood and of the 
 tracheal organs. 
 
 The little Gnat lays her eggs in the form of a boat which 
 floats upon our water-butts or ponds for about a week, when 
 it sinks down to the bottom, and a young larva escapes 
 from each egg. It then rises to the surface for air, which 
 it breathes through a most curious organ placed at the 
 extremity of its body, and hangs, therefore, head down- 
 wards whilst breathing. This organ is a tube which 
 springs from the last. segment but one of its abdomen, and 
 terminates in five points like a star. In the interior of 
 this tube a tracheal vessel runs which supplies the body 
 with air, and carries down a little bright globule when the 
 larva descends to the bottom of the water ; this renders it 
 so buoyant that its greatest effort is required to descend, 
 and when the insect wishes to rise again, it has only to 
 unclose its tube, and it ascends without any exertion to 
 the surface, remains suspended there, drinking in the sur- 
 rounding element, and swallowing shoals of little " living 
 things," invisible except under the microscope. A tum- 
 bler of stagnant water will not only show the merry evolu- 
 tions of these larvae, but an abundant variety of the Infusoria 
 upon which they feed, Monads, Paramecium, Eotifers, 
 together with the Desmicliaceae, which abound in such 
 water. 
 
 In the next change the gnat larva becomes a pupa, with 
 quite a different appearance and respiratory organ ; for 
 now it has two horn-like appendages on the upper side of 
 the thorax, and it rises with its head upwards to breathe 
 through them. As soon as the last change is at hand, 
 the pupa raises its thorax out of the water entirely, and 
 slightly turns up its tail, floating like a boat ; presently the 
 skin bursts, and the head of the enclosed perfect insect 
 emerges, the long antennae wave to and fro, and the frail 
 bark rocks from side to side in some peril, for the lightest 
 
CULEX PIP I ENS. 119 
 
 breath of air oversets it. Then one by one the legs are 
 drawn forth and stretched forward to some floating leaf or 
 stick whereby to steady itself ; slowly the rest of the body 
 follows; the wings, hitherto pressed to its side,, crumpled 
 and damp, are dried by the warm atmosphere, and the quick 
 breathing of the little Gnat sends a rush of air through the 
 delicate veins ; they are gently waved for a few seconds, then 
 up and away flies the rejoicing creature into its new and 
 happy life. 
 
 >Such is the history of the pretty microscopic object on 
 the slide before us. 
 
 Of its structure it is necessary to know that all the 
 Diptera are distinguished from other orders of insects by 
 their having only two wings, and a pair of stout organs, 
 called halteres, which are supposed to represent the posterior 
 wings of the four-winged tribes, and respecting which ento- 
 mologists are much divided. They have been specially 
 noticed at page 138. The Diptera have mouths variously 
 constructed for their necessities. Their food is essentially 
 fluid ; the juices of plants or of insect bodies, and of decom- 
 posing matter, forming their nourishment : and therefore, 
 instead of the strong horny mandibles of a Beetle, we find 
 in such flies as Tabanus a pair of lancet-like organs for 
 plunging into the skin of the aniinal whose blood it delights 
 in, and beneath these another pair to which are attached 
 large palpi, exactly corresponding to the maxilla? and max- 
 illary palpi of the Coleoptera ; a labium or lower lip, which 
 in all flower-haunting and honey-loving flies is very long 
 and beautiful, as in Ehingia, Syrphus, ConOps, and many of 
 the Muscida? ; a labium or horny borer prolonged in the 
 predacious flies and very remarkable, in the Empida? and 
 Asilida?, which have also a beautiful lower lip or labrum, 
 used first for steadying the lancets in their descent through 
 the skin, and then for sucking up the fluid. This may be 
 watched by any one who will permit this little Gnat quietly 
 to take a meal on the hand ; and once fixed it is not easily 
 alarmed, but will allow the approach of a pocket lens, and 
 observation of her proceedings. 
 
 The Diptera have also a tongue (lingua) ; it is not the 
 organ usually so-called, but a lancet, which with four others 
 He concealed within the horny lip or labrum of Tabanus. 
 
120 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 The part we so much admire in the proboscis of the Blow- 
 fly, Tipulse, and others, is the lower Up or labium, with its 
 lobes striated by radiating trachese. 
 
 The head of a fly is attached to the thorax by a very 
 slender neck, and appears to move upon a pivot, having 
 the power of turning quite round. 
 
 The thorax is compact, and gives support to the wings, 
 halteres, and three pairs of legs. 
 
 The abdomen is composed of from five to nine segments, 
 and females are provided with ovipositors, sometimes of 
 great length, and consisting of a series of little tubes sliding 
 one into another, like a telescope. 
 
 The legs have always five tarsi, two claws, and two or 
 three membranous lobes, or pulvilli. Of the internal ana- 
 tomy of flies, I must not allow myself to say much ; but it 
 may interest many to know that they possess the dorsal 
 vessel or heart which insures the circulation of blood, an 
 alimentary canal for the digestion of food, provided with 
 salivary vessels, biliary tubes, and a chylific stomach which 
 seems to supply the whole intestinal canal with a power of 
 digesting food when necessary. Flies have a crop or 
 gizzard, situated just above the stomach, and appended by 
 a long narrow neck to the throat or oesophagus ; but it is 
 used chiefly as a reservoir for food, when the insect takes 
 more than is needful for its immediate wants. This was 
 proved by that great anatomist Hunter, who kept a fly 
 twelve hours without food, and then gave it milk and killed 
 it ; he found no milk in the crop, but it had got through 
 almost the whole tract of intestines ; the animal had imme- 
 diate occasion for food, and therefore the milk was not de- 
 tained in the crop, the intestines having the power of digesting 
 it. Another time, Hunter allowed some flies to feed plen- 
 tifully, and then found the crop quite full, as well as the 
 intestines. Insects have no absorbents ; the chyle, which is 
 a clear greenish fluid with round oval corpuscles, is supposed 
 to transude through the coats of the intestine into the 
 abdomen, where it meets with the blood in the ill-defined 
 veins that permeate the body. {See " Owen's Lectures on 
 Comp. Anat.")* 
 
 * The stomach of the Fly, mounted in balsam, is an interesting 
 object, and kept in most collections for sale. 
 
PTYCHOPTERA. 121 
 
 The tracheal vessels or breathing organs have been noticed 
 in the chapter on spiracles and tracheae. 
 
 The nervous system is similar to that of other insects, 
 consisting of two spinal cords or threads, exhibiting a series 
 of knots or ganglions. The Fly has one in the head, a 
 very large one in the thorax, and one, or sometimes two, in 
 the abdomen ; these give out nerve-branches to the wings, 
 halteres and legs. 
 
 In looking at a slide of Culex observe the length of the 
 coxa, and the small joint called trochanter, between the coxa 
 and femur. 
 
 If possible, obtain the male of Culex annulata with its 
 magnificent antennae and feathered palpi, and the female of 
 Culex pijnens for the display of the suctorial mouth. 
 
 PTYCHOPTERA. 
 
 This is one of the family o£ Tipula?, Crane-flies, or 
 Daddy-long-legs, which abound in the neighbourhood of 
 water, and' are recognised by their black and yellow bodies 
 and spotted wings. The larva is an aquatic worm, and 
 the pupa has a curious long thread-like appendage through 
 which it breathes. We find it in shallow water at the 
 brink of muddy ponds. 
 
 The wing is a good study after that of the Gnat, as 
 an example of wings without scales, and of the peculiar 
 veining of the Nemocera. The costal vein is the one which 
 borders the forepart of the wing, ending at the tip. The 
 next to that is the sub-costal, which here is prolonged to 
 five- sixths of the length of the wing, and connected with 
 the radial by a very short veinlet close to the tip ; the 
 radial and cubital spring from a common petiole, which 
 is about one -sixth of their length, and proceeds from the 
 sub-costal at half the length of the wing ; it is connected 
 with the externo -medial by a transverse veinlet at a little 
 before its fork ; the cubital is forked at half its length ; 
 the externo -medial also forked. These two veins being 
 distinguished thus, help the eye in determining the others. 
 Observe also that faint streak or spurious vein between the 
 forked veins. This wing has no discal areolets, such as 
 are always found in the true Tipulse, or Daddy-long-h i L r s. 
 
122 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 These numerous parallel veins in a solitary wing would 
 enable us to ascertain the division to which the fly belonged, 
 even if the long antennas and peculiar palpi were unseen. 
 A collection of wings alone from this group would be 
 highly interesting for comparison, and for their beautiful 
 delicate forms. 
 
 The halteres also should be carefully mounted and the 
 clusters of nerve-vesicles observed, especially those of 
 Tipula gigantea, T. Oleracea, Limhobia and Bibio. 
 
 SCATOPHAGA. 
 
 This brings us to the second great group of the Diptera, 
 in which the common House-fly, the Blow-fly, the Horse- 
 fly, and others well-known, are found. 
 
 THE FAMILY OF THE BRACHYCERA. 
 
 in which the antennas are short, never exceeding ten joints, 
 more frequently having only from three to six. • The wings 
 also have branched veins, and are fewer in number than 
 those of the Nemocera. Their bodies are stouter, and the 
 palpi short, projecting above the proboscis, or lying on it. 
 
 These are the flies which throng our flowers, haunt the 
 woods, fhe meadows, the leaves of trees, or act as scaven- 
 gers to remove the noxious substances in the field, or by 
 the way -side. 
 
 There are twenty-eight families, each containing many 
 genera and species, which can only be learnt by long and 
 careful study, with the help of such works as " Walker's 
 British Diptera;" but we can very easily become familiar 
 with those which are thus mounted, and, through them, 
 with others which flit as yet unheeded around us. Nor 
 will it be long, I hope, before some small manual of the 
 Diptera is published, more attainable to the young student 
 than the one already mentioned. 
 
 THE SCATOPHAGA, 
 
 (Stercoraria,) 
 
 is the common Dung-fly, seen all the year round, but 
 especially in Summer, resting upon cow-dung and deposit- 
 
SCATOPHAGA. 123 
 
 ing its eggs therein. It is also often on the window - 
 panes. The male has a round hairy abdomen, the female 
 a naked pointed one. They are yellowish or olive -green 
 flies, the head yellow between the eyes, and with black 
 drooping antenna? ; thorax brownish above with four 
 darker stripes ; the wings are greyish, with a tawny tinge 
 along the veins. 
 
 This preparation is very valuable, as showing the 
 antenna? well. We perceive the very different structure 
 f|om those of the Ghat or Tipula. There are only five 
 joints visible, although six are reckoned by naturalists. 
 The third joint (reckoning from the base) is twice as long 
 as the second, the fourth obsolete, fifth and sixth seated 
 upon the third like a bristle, and called the arista. The 
 head of Scatophagy is very bristly, as you see ; and so also 
 are the legs, which we may next observe. The eye and 
 tongue of a fly are fully described under the slide of Head of 
 Ehingia, or Syrphus. The joint of the leg nearest to the 
 body is the coxa, the next to that the femur, or thigh, then 
 the tibia, or shank, and then the tarsi, or small joints 
 immediately above the foot. To see the foot well requires 
 a higher power, that the delicately fringed pulvillus may be 
 seen edged with glandular hairs, open at the point, and 
 secreting a glutinous substance, which enables the fly to 
 attach itself firmly to glass or ceiling, whilst those two 
 strong hooks are used to detach it from the surface to 
 which it clings. 
 
 The wing is next to be observed. It is the most 
 important to the naturalist. Those small winglets at the 
 base are called the alula?; they distinguish some families, 
 and generally cover or protect two small organs, the 
 halteres, supposed to be the seat of smell, described at page 
 138. The wing itself consists of a double membrane, more 
 or less transparent, attached to nervures or veins, which 
 are hollow tubes containing spiral air-vessels, communi- 
 cating with the spiracles or lungs in the trunk. This 
 construction is wonderful for lightness and for strength; 
 the larger and heavier the body is, the more of tin 
 strengthening veins the wing has. And as by breathing 
 only these vessels are filled with air, or some subtle fluid, 
 the very act of flying may be but the palpitating of a 
 
124 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 joyous little heart. We know that the tracheal are filled 
 with air, and that the dorsal vessel is in truth the heart, 
 sending forth streams of the life-blood throughout the 
 body and into the wings, as may be distinctly seen in the 
 transparent veins of a newly-hatched fly. 
 
 But to learn the names of the nervures or veins of a fly, — 
 a most useful lesson, — no wing is better than this simple 
 one of the Dung-fly. That strong vein bordered with hairs 
 on the foreside is the costal vein, it runs round the tip of 
 the wing, and ends where it meets the cubital vein. T^e 
 sub-costal is a pale short vein nearest to the fore-border, 
 and ending at one -third of its length. 
 
 The mediastinal is the next and a stouter vein, ending at 
 beyond half the length of the wing. 
 
 The radial forks at its base, and the farthest branch is 
 the cubital vein, joined to the praibracliial vein by a clouded 
 transverse vein. 
 
 The upper transverse vein, which unites the pr&brachial 
 to the pobrachial, is called the discal transverse. 
 
 The membrane itself is exquisitely 'dotted with fine hairs 
 and fringed all round with longer ones. 
 
 The Scatophagy feed on smaller Diptera and deposit 
 their eggs in dung, and these eggs are so shaped that 
 whilst they are warmed and nourished in the soft excre- 
 ment they cannot sink, two little horns on either side sup- 
 porting them in it, which enable the young larva safely 
 to escape. 
 
 LONCHOPTERA. 
 
 Small flies, very active and abundant in marshy woods 
 and grassy spots. 
 
 You can observe a difference here in the antennae ; the 
 roundness of the fifth joint and long arista ; the first three 
 joints are scarcely seen in this specimen. The wings will 
 give a good example of a simple veining, no transverse 
 vein at all, and the praabrachial forked ; each vein is fringed 
 with delicate hairs. This is a male fly, and has two hairy 
 lamellae at the base of the abdomen. 
 
D0LICH0PU8. 12.") 
 
 BIBEO. 
 
 (One of the Gnat tribe.) 
 
 Look at the very different antennae projecting fiercely 
 forward, with nine joints ; the palpi on each side of the 
 tongue with five joints. The wings, how different from the 
 true Fly or Musca ! It has many veins, and thirteen areolets, 
 but so faint, that we cannot see them all in this preparation ; 
 only the costal, sub-costal, and mediastinal being distinctly 
 marked. The legs are worthy of observation. 
 
 The, fore-tibia, with a circle of spines at the joint ; the 
 fore-femur, very stout, and the coxa and trochanter are dis- 
 tinctly seen in this specimen. The larva of Bibeo lives in the 
 earth, feeding on decayed vegetable matter; it has rows of 
 short hairs which it uses for locomotion, and twenty spiracles 
 for breathing. The pupa is found naked in an oval cell with 
 a very gibbous or horny thorax. There are twelve species 
 of Bibeo. 
 
 DOLICHOPUS. 
 
 A very curious fly, and one of our common garden 
 friends, in the neighbourhood of Oxford or anywhere near 
 ponds and rivers ; for it is a water-loving insect, though we 
 find it on our window-panes, and basking in the hot sun 
 at noonday, on rose-trees and other shrubs. It is quickly 
 noticed from its long legs and metallic round-backed body, 
 carrying its head low, and sometimes found with another 
 fly in its mouth, being very predacious. 
 
 There are fourteen genera of the Doliehopidaj, each con- 
 taining many species ; and some parts of their internal 
 anatomy present peculiarities so great that much has been 
 written about them by Latreille, Harris, Dufour and others. 
 Their habit is to run along the surface of still water like 
 the Velia rivulorum (see Velia), and they catch smaller flies, 
 aquatic worms, and even small gasteropods, the little Physa, 
 and smaller Planorbis ; there is a gaping orifice at the end 
 of the proboscis, which admits and holds the prey until the 
 juices are sucked out. 
 
 We know not where they lay their egg*, but the larva- 
 
126 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 are found as white slender worms of twelve segments in 
 May, underground in damp earth, and in June they change 
 to pupse, casting their skin. The head of the pupa is armed 
 with several points, the ends of the legs in their sheaths, 
 somewhat detached from the body, and a process resem- 
 bling an S is on each side of the thorax probably for 
 respiration. The Dolichopus emerges from the pupa in 
 about three weeks' time. Now let us examine the slide. 
 
 The head is broad ; the eyes large, and in life were very 
 brilliant. The antennae stand fiercely out and require 
 examination with the ^-inch ; they are quite unlike any we 
 have yet seen. Observe three distinct joints besides the 
 arista or spine, which points forward ; the second joint, 
 the shortest, fringed with spines and intromiting a slender 
 tube obliquely into the base of the third ; you can see a kind 
 of loop or dark spot where it is inserted ; the third is so 
 Temarkable that whenever you see this compressed and 
 peculiar shape you need not doubt that you have a Doli- 
 chopus. The arista is two-jointed, and in some species it 
 is ciliated. 
 
 The proboscis is short, directed downwards ; the head 
 itself is armed with long bristles. The abdomen has. five 
 segments, and on each of them you see a double row of 
 white spots, which are the spiracles ; the end of the 
 abdomen, bends suddenly inwards, and these two last 
 segments are called the hypopygium which has an outer 
 pair of appendages like fringed plates : they seem to 
 be concave and join together to protect a number of 
 internal organs of varied shape which we see projecting 
 beneath, and the use of which has been largely considered 
 by Dufour. (" Annales des Sciences Naturelles, 3 me serie, 
 tome i.") 
 
 The wings furnish us with a good lesson, and an easy 
 one, for becoming familiar with the nerves or veins. 
 
 The costal vein is fringed and strong, ending where the 
 prasbrachial meets it. 
 
 The sub- costal is very short and stout. 
 
 The radial and cubital spring together from a dot at the 
 base of the wing, and the prcebrachial, after passing the 
 transverse vein, makes a slight curve towards the cubital. 
 Now, that very slight curve is of the utmost importance. 
 
THE OPOMYZA. 127 
 
 both as to position and shape ; it serves to assure you of 
 this being a true Dolichopus ; it is never wanting in the 
 species — never altered — no not even by a microscopic line. 
 But in one of the same family, a cousin, called Psilopus, 
 there will be a little branch at the angle of the curve, and in 
 another relation, Dolichopus diadema, the curve is rectan- 
 gular, with a little branch. This Fly is common on pools 
 overgrown with plants. 
 
 So is Dolichopus nobilitatus, which is a gilded green fly 
 easily known by its white tipped wings, and when examined 
 with a lens you will observe that the arista is long and very 
 hairy ; the wing very narrow, and sloping away without any 
 lobe, or even angle, the anterior lines being waved within 
 the dark patch. 
 
 No Dolichopus ever has an axillary lobe to the wing. 
 
 That vein beyond the probrachihl is the pobrachial ; but 
 the base of the wing offers the particular marks of the 
 group, and ought to be examined in a separated wing. I 
 dwell upon this, because the careful study of one wing is a 
 most valuable lesson : the eye learns what to look for ; it 
 learns accuracy of observation ; it learns what it never for- 
 gets; — the vast importance of little things, and what the 
 eye sees often the heart feels. Find out, therefore, a very 
 short and oblique vein, between the cubital and the pro3- 
 brachial, down close to the dot of the radial, and the space 
 thus bounded at the base is called the praibrachial areolet, 
 ' and its minute size and position in every one of the genera 
 is decisive of the family. 
 
 Pass on now to the legs, and remark the spines on the 
 femora and metatarsus ; they will also serve to show the 
 species, for in some Dolichopus there is invariably but one 
 spine, in others four or two, and in some there are a double 
 row. 
 
 THE OPOMYZA 
 
 is one of a family group called Geomizides ; they frequent 
 recent or decaying vegetable substances, also our windows. 
 and are very present little unknown friends. We may 
 know these by their spotted wings, by the tawny body, 
 yellow head, thorax striped with three pale lines ; the al>- 
 
128 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 domen has a dark dorsal stripe or dark bands ; they abound 
 in herbage. Now examine its head and wings. 
 
 Its head is broad and eyes large ; the antennas, like 
 those of a true Musca, three joints drooping, the third 
 round and large ; the arista long, slender, hairy, and with 
 a small joint you will hardly see unless the head is in 
 profile. 
 
 The thorax is bristly ; the abdomen has seven segments 
 — a little hairy ; and then pause to look at the wings, and 
 compare them with those of Dolichopus. 
 
 You will first observe two transverse veins slightly 
 clouded ; the proEbracliial straight ; the discal transverse 
 hindermost, and joining the pobrachial vein to the prce- 
 brachial ; the cubital and radial veins are quite straight. 
 
 CHLOROPS. 
 
 A mischievous little Fly ; and the farmer will be inte- 
 rested in seeing the parent of that larvae which sometimes 
 commits such havoc in his wheat-field. In England there 
 is a disease known as the gout, from the swelling it occasions 
 in the stems of wheat and barley, but which is called the 
 frit in Sweden, where it occasions enormous loss — as 
 much as one hundred thousand pounds sterling annually. 
 This is caused by the little innocent-looking Chlorops on 
 the slide. It effects this by simply depositing its eggs 
 early in June on the stem of the young wheat, which 
 being as yet low in the sheath, the little maggot hatches 
 and feeds in the shelter of a leaf, mines into the stem, but 
 does not enter the hollow part. It is well that it does not do 
 so ; for we know that if the cells of a j)lant are destroyed 
 in the channel of its life, which is the stem, of course it 
 presently withers, or brings forth but imperfect fruit. 
 
 More harm would this insect do if its propagation was 
 not checked by a good little Ichneumon-fly (CosliniusJ, 
 which is commissioned to destroy its larva? by laying its own 
 egg inside the maggot of Chlorops, just as the Microgaster 
 does in the caterpillar of the Cabbage Butterfly, and thus 
 defends us from our tiny foe. 
 
 These Chlorops frequent our windows, often in swarms — 
 known by their large green eyes ; their yellow and black 
 
PHORA. 129 
 
 bodies, and beautiful wings lying along the body and ex- 
 tending beyond it. You can rarely mistake it ; and then if 
 you have this mounted specimen you will observe its pecu- 
 liar antennas, the third joint knobbed, the arista seated 
 sideways upon it, and like a fine long bristle. The thorax 
 striped ; three broad stripes and one slender line on each : 
 outside of these a black dot on the side of the breast. The 
 scutellumwas yellow; the abdomen short, broad, with dark 
 bands, and itself pale greenish-black. 
 
 Observe, in the wings, how the sub-costal and medias- 
 tinal are joined in one strong vein, which meets the costal 
 at nearly half its length ; the cubital ending at the tip of 
 the costal; the radial ending at three-fourths of its length; 
 the prmbrachial ending on the hind border, near the tip ; 
 the pobrachial ending at beyond half the length. There 
 are two transverse veins. 
 
 This slide will help us to recognise both our enemy, 
 Chlorops teniopo3, and our little window -friend, Chlorops 
 lineata. The abdomen of the latter has a yellow tip and 
 base, also three black spots on the pectus, or fore part of 
 the thorax. 
 
 PHORA. 
 
 All the year round the little Phora is upon our windows and 
 in our stables, when no other flies are to be seen, but perhaps 
 some eccentric little Midges, hopping diagonally here and 
 there — scarcely a living thing to study ; yet we shall always 
 find a Phora running restlessly but happily to and fro, with 
 a bent body and depressed head ; the antenna? very short, 
 but with a long slender arista carried backwards, the third 
 joint quite round, the first and second very small. 
 
 The wing has no transverse veins at all ; it is of the 
 simplest form, strengthened at the base by the stout costal 
 vein, which ends however before half the length of the 
 wing, and is ciliated; the mediastinal vein, also stout, 
 ends at two-thirds the length of the costal ; the cubital vein 
 and radial vein in one, and forked at the end of -the costal, 
 all the other veins represented by four veinlets, often 
 indistinct. Now compare this with the Leptis wing. 
 
 K 
 
130 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 LEPTI8. 
 (Tringaria.) 
 
 A splendid preparation of a fly that is easily found 
 and captured by any rambler in woods, because it has a 
 quiet habit of sitting upon trunks of trees with its head 
 downwards, and will allow a wine-glass to be capped over 
 it without any alarm. It may be useful to mention here 
 that most flies may be caught by a small tumbler, or 
 stemless wine-glass, and a handkerchief, or piece of card- 
 board. I prefer the handkerchief. The Leptis may thus 
 be recognised : it is a large fly with long pointed abdomen, 
 tawny coloured, and having three rows of black spots. The 
 wings are spotted. The thorax is that part which supports 
 the wings and legs, and in the Leptis it has three fawn- 
 coloured stripes. The legs are tawny and clothed with 
 short black hairs. 
 
 This fly appears in the early part of the Summer, and 
 haunts meadows and hedges as well as woods. It feeds 
 on smaller insects, having a stout short labrum and slender 
 sharp maxilla?, with which to kill, as well as a thick broad 
 labium (called the tongue), to suck the food. The larva 
 lives in the earth, in sand or manure, or decayed wood. 
 The pupa is brown, bare, with eleven segments, of which 
 the five posterior are furnished with a series of little teeth. 
 
 As it is quite impossible to prepare insects so as equally 
 to display all parts, we may find some difference in the 
 slides, even of the same insect. The Leptis I am now 
 looking at shows the beautiful eye and tongue, but not the 
 antenna?, and yet they are to be observed as indicative 
 of its individuality, for the veining of the wing is, 
 at first sight, so like that of another family (the Stratio- 
 mida?) that we might mistake it if we did not read its 
 name in the antenna?. They are small and seated side 
 by side in the middle of the face, four -jointed, the first 
 short and cylindrical, second transverse, third cyathiform, or 
 cup-shaped, and a long fine bristle makes the fourth joint. 
 
 Here we cannot but admire the delicate network of 
 its compound eye ; in life it was of a bright green, and the 
 facets numerous and small. The labium, or under- lip, 
 furrowed in the centre, and beautifully marked with tracheal 
 
ASILUS. 131 
 
 vessels, acts also in contracting and dilating the tongue in 
 the act of drinking.. The palpi, or feelers and tasters, are 
 remarkably large and hairy, projecting on each side of the 
 tongue. 
 
 The wings are .to be the chief lesson ; comparing 
 them with the simply veined wings of the Phora, as an 
 indication of farthest remove in relationship, whilst they 
 also show us that the Leptis is a near cousin to the 
 Tabanus, or Horse-fly, and to all flies whose wing-veins are 
 crowded together near the fore-border ; the costal vein ending 
 at the tip of the wing, the cubital vein deeply forked, and 
 the fore-branch having a small areolet. There is a discal 
 areolet, large, and emitting three veins to the border, and 
 the anal areolet is open. Eight families, comprising many 
 genera and numerous species, have wings upon this plan, 
 and are known by the variation in the joints of their 
 antennae. {See head of Tabanus and slide of Pachygaster 
 and of Beris). 
 
 No better example can we have of the leg and foot of 
 the fly than this slide presents ; for we see very distinctly 
 the coxa, or hip-joint ; the trochanter, a small joint by 
 which the thigh or femur fits into the coxa ; the tibia, 
 or shank -joint, which here is armed with two spines, and 
 the tarsi, or ankle-bones, as some think analogous to our 
 instep-bones, having two claws and pulvilli, or cushions, 
 set with glandular hairs. (See foot of fly in Scatophaga.) 
 Here observe the Leptis has three instead of two lobes. 
 
 ASILUS. 
 
 These are the most powerful and ferocious of the 
 Diptera, destroying Beetles and Ichneumon-flies, and may 
 be seen on the sunny side of woods, silently darting about, 
 or resting with a huge meal in their mouth, and then they 
 are pretty easily caught. They- are bright tawny -col on red 
 flies, very hairy ; the antennas erect and long, curved 
 upwards, and the proboscis standing forward. 
 
 This is an example of relationship with Leptis as to the 
 wing- veins, and yet with a difference. You see the cubital 
 vein is forked, but simply so ; the discal areolet gives out 
 
 k 2 
 
132 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 but two veinlets, and is joined to the cubital by a short- 
 transverse vein. The foot also observe — two deep lobes 
 with a spine between them. Then look carefully at the 
 antennas, and compare them with those of Leptis ; you see 
 they are slender and styliform, and indicate an approach to 
 the tribe of Empis-flies, which, as they abound in our 
 gardens and may easily be procured, should have a place 
 in our object box. 
 
 i 
 
 EMPIS. 
 
 (Snipe-fly.) 
 
 Either the black Empis livida we see so often on our 
 laurels or flowers in the months of May or June ; or the 
 Empis stercorea, which swarms on the umbelliferous plants 
 by the wayside ; or the pretty little Hilara that plays over 
 the water-meadows or great ponds : — any of these will give 
 a remarkable proboscis and a very pretty wing. 
 
 EMPIS STERCOREA. 
 
 A small shining yellowish fly, clothed with a few black 
 hairs or bristles ; the thorax with a black linear stripe ; 
 abdomen with three black stripes ; legs long, slender and 
 yellow ; tarsi of a darker hue. The Empidas are a large 
 and very distinct family, containing twenty -three genera, 
 and are inhabitants of woods, hedges, fields and gardens, 
 where they find their prey — smaller Diptera, and all kinds 
 of lesser insects. They are fierce and voracious, trans- 
 fixing their prey with their long proboscis, and sucking out 
 the juices with their beautiful up-curved tongue. The eyes 
 of a male Empis touch one another ; those of the female 
 are parted by a narrow front, a distinguishing mark of the 
 sexes in most flies. The antennas of the Empis always 
 stand forward, and observe how different they are from 
 those of either Dolichopus or Scatophaga. It is only by 
 thus comparing one slide with another that we learn our 
 lesson well. 
 
 The antennas are five-jointed, close to each other at the 
 base, porrect, that is standing out ; the first and second 
 
EMPIS STERCOREA. 133 
 
 joints bristly : first cylindrical; second cyathiform ; or cup- 
 shaped ; about half the length of the first ; third, subulate, 
 compressed ; the fourth very minute ; the fifth like a style, 
 pointed sharply. The thorax has a broad black stripe ; 
 abdomen three black stripes, and every segment is punc- 
 tured with a double row of light dots. The legs are long ; 
 the coxa shorter than the femur, the trochanter very 
 distinct ; the third joint of the leg, femur, or humerus, is 
 usually the largest and most conspicuous ; generally 
 speaking, the anterior pair are shorter and smaller than 
 the posterior pair. If the insect leajts, the thighs of the 
 hind legs are very much thickened for the development and 
 action of its muscles. This is particularly seen in the legs 
 of the small beetle called Turnip-flea (Haltica), in the 
 flies Ascia podagrica, one of the Syrphida?, and also in 
 Syritta pipiens, which should be mounted as examples of 
 the thickened and toothed femur, and of a curved tibia 
 joint. The Ascia is very common in the month of June, 
 hovering over the long grass, and may be recognised by 
 its black and yellow body, and peculiar darting to and fro 
 from flower to flower. The fore-tarsi are often dilated 
 in the male Empida?, but those of E. stercorea are not so. 
 
 The Wing. — The wing of Empis stercorea will give an 
 excellent example of the veining peculiar to the family. 
 They are distinguished by these three variations : — 
 
 1. — The costal vein vanishes suddenly at the tip of the 
 wing, just where it meets the cubital vein. 
 
 2. — The cubital vein is forked. 
 
 3. — The discoidal areolet emits three veins to the interior 
 border. 
 
 The wings of Leptis and of Asilus have also a forked 
 cubital vein, and three branches from the discal areolet ; 
 but they have other veins crowded together, which are 
 wanting in the Empis wing, and as the antennae are quite 
 as important to the entomologist in determining a genus 
 as the veining of the wing, by comparing those of a 
 Leptis with those of the Empis a striking illustration will 
 be given of the progressive order and variety of likeness, 
 and yet of distinct difference, between the families. 
 
134 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 HILARA. 
 
 By the wing and the antennae we recognize one of the 
 Empis-flies, but a variation in the form of the third joint 
 and the shortness of the two first joints is the first remove 
 from the true Empis. Observe also the stout short pro- 
 boscis, and if it is a male Hilara the fore meta- tarsi are 
 much dilated, forming quite a disk on that part of the leg. 
 
 How beautifully the wing is ciliated, the cubital vein 
 forked, the discoidal areolet emitting three veins, and a 
 spot upon the costal vein called the stigma, which in this 
 wing is marked by a broad brown shade. 
 
 These Hilarse feed upon smaller insects, and also on the 
 nectar of flowers. They assemble in swarms and dance 
 together over a rivulet or river on fine warm Summer 
 evenings. We have often seen them rejoicing in merry 
 play, rising and falling in graceful evolutions, sometimes 
 by one common impulse sweeping off down the stream, as 
 if a breeze had suddenly wafted them away, or invisible 
 beings had chased them ; then slowly and prettily they 
 re-flitted back again to commence their gambols. 
 
 SYRPHUS PYRASTRI. 
 
 Many of the Syrphidse are mounted whole, they offer a 
 great variety in the structure of the antennae, the mouth 
 and the legs. Some are so large that the head only is 
 mounted, to shew the beautiful eyes and labium, as Rhingia, 
 Helophilus, Eristalis, &c. 
 
 They are our prettiest and commonest flies ; honey-loving, 
 flower-haunting, harmless little creatures. Most of them 
 are striped or banded black and yellow, and love to hover 
 in the air, over one spot, their wings almost invisible with 
 rapid vibration, accompanied by a shrill hum ; if alarmed, 
 they dart away with astonishing velocity, and are somewhat 
 difficult to catch. The family contains thirty -one genera ; 
 some of them so unlike the others as to require microscopic 
 observation and comparison. The Eristalis, for instance, 
 is often mistaken for a Bee. The Helophilus also, and 
 Rhingia, — the two former abound in the Autumn on the 
 
8YRPHUS PYBA8TRI. 135 
 
 Michaelmas Daisy, and the latter frequents the woods and 
 hedges, darting like a Wild Bee into the flower-bells, with 
 a long proboscis, looking to the unassisted eye like a Be< 'e 
 tongue. 
 
 The two distinguishing characters of this large family 
 are these : — the coalescence of the palpi with the maxillae, 
 and the spurious veins of the wing, one before the prcebrachial 
 the other behind the pobrachial. The wing alone will 
 decide a Syrphus for a young entomologist ; therefore, in 
 examining this slide let the chief attention be given to its 
 veining, also collect a few varieties, comparing the wing of 
 the common Helophilus with this one of Syrphus pyrastri, 
 the type of the family. 
 
 The costal vein ends at the tip of the wing, where it 
 receives the cubital. 
 
 Mediastinal vein distinct, ending about the middle of the 
 cos ta. 
 
 Sub- costal, continued nearer to the tip, and ending 
 separately in the margin. 
 
 Prazbrachial vein connected with the cubital by a trans- 
 verse vein near the margin, and between the two is a faint 
 streak or spurious vein crossing a second transverse vein 
 nearer the base. 
 
 The mediastinal areolet is coloured in this wing, and 
 appears like a narrow stigma between the sub- costal and 
 mediastinal veins. 
 
 Areolets are enclosures formed by the branching and 
 crossing veins ; they are important in the wings of the 
 Syrphidse, and must be observed. 
 
 All the Syrphidse have alulae, which are membranous 
 scales at the base of the wings, protecting and sometimes 
 quite covering the halteres. They are particularly beau- 
 tiful in Rhingia and Eristalis, and deserve to be mounted 
 separately. 
 
 In the wing of Helophilus the cubital vein curves sud- 
 denly inwards, forming a loop in the centre of the areolet. 
 
 The feet of Syrphus are beautiful, and from the trans- 
 parency of the preparation we see the articulation of the 
 tarsal joints distinctly, the spine at each tarsus, and the 
 strong hooks and delicate pulvillus of the foot. 
 
 Some of the Syrphidse have their abdomen nearly filled 
 
136 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 with air, and partly diaphanous or transparent, when by 
 careful management the circulation of their blood may be 
 seen, and the pulsations of the dorsal vessel or heart may 
 be counted. Place the fly in a live box with just sufficient 
 pressure to keef) it still, and between the segments the 
 fluid may be seen. The following extract from " Walker's 
 British Diptera," (vol. i., page 285), will be interesting to 
 the student : — 
 
 " The dorsal vessel of this fly (S. pi/rastri) instead of 
 the usual form which it had in the larvae, assumes the 
 shape of a flask, having its long end directed towards the 
 thorax ; the pulsation and transmission of the fluid in it 
 is manifest. This vessel extends in length from the junc- 
 tion of the trunk with the abdomen to about the termina- 
 tion of the second segment. The included fluid is propelled 
 at intervals by drops, first from the wide end towards the 
 trunk, and then in the contrary direction. It is conjectured 
 that the neck of this vessel is composed of two or more 
 approximated tubes, and that the blood is conveyed forward 
 by the outward ones, and backward by the intermediate 
 one ; also that there is a secondary heart, at the extremity 
 next the thorax, for the purpose of causing the reflux." 
 
 BORBORUS EQUIXUS. 
 
 These are v'cry abundant everywhere in rank grass, and 
 near decaying vegetable matter, upon which the larva? feed. 
 They are small black flies, remarkable for their thick fleshy 
 labium, and a broad bellying sheath below, which should be 
 seen in profile. Antennae rather distant, short, and turn 
 outwards with a long slender arista ; the first joint so 
 small as to be scarcely perceptible, the second nearly as 
 large as the third, which is obliquely compressed and 
 ciliated. The legs are long, and fore-femora thickened ; 
 there is a curious spine at the end of the hind tibia and the 
 tarsi are short and broad. The wing, being very simply 
 veined, is an easy study ; the chief mark of this family being 
 in two small areolets near the base of the wing, close to the 
 hind border, which are called anal areolets, and in this 
 wing they are complete. The discal transverse vein is 
 also near the border ; it joins the pr wbrachial an&pobrachial 
 
SEPSIS. 1 
 
 
 together, the latter does not continue beyond it. The 
 radial and cubital are branches from one common vein at 
 the base. 
 
 There is a full account of this species and its larvae in the 
 "Entomological Magazine," (vol. iii., p. 32o.) 
 
 SEPEDON. 
 
 A most beautiful specimen for the shape of the antennae 
 and the structure of the tongue. The wing closely resem- 
 bles that of Borborus, — the same transverse veins and anal 
 areolets ; but the antennas separate the genera entirely. 
 Instead of the short second joint in Borborus, that of Sepe- 
 don is very long and spiny, with a conical and convex third 
 joint, from which springs the three -jointed arista. 
 
 The labium is set round with double hooks and curiously 
 dotted, — a most interesting variety in the proboscis of flies. 
 
 The legs are rather long, hind femora thickened, and 
 armed with a double row of spines. 
 
 These flies are found amongst water-plants ; they are 
 black, shining, slightly metallic, with bright red legs ; the 
 halteres, also red, with a whitish band. Thorax with four 
 black stripes ; wings grey, with a lurid tinge in front. 
 
 SEPSIS. 
 
 The pretty little fly which we find upon our laurels, 
 walking about with raised and quivering wings. The larvae 
 feed on decaying matter. 
 
 The antennae are drooping and short, with the third joint 
 oval and larger than the first or second ; the arista bare. 
 
 Proboscis broad and large ; the wings simply veined, 
 but very delicate and beautiful, and with a black spot at 
 the tip, without alulae. The legs are remarkable for the 
 large spines in the fore-femora of the male, and for the 
 spiny meta-tarsi. 
 
 In all flies, as a rule, the fewer the veins the smaller the 
 body, and the more sluggish the flight ; the comparison 
 between the veins of Leptis, Tabanus, and Phora, or Sepsis, 
 will prove this. 
 
 The Sepsis wing has a costal vein running quite round 
 
138 THR ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 the tip of the wing, and ending on the hind border ; sub- 
 costal ending before one-third of the length ; mediastinal 
 ending before half the length ; radial ending near the tip 
 of the wing ; cubital ending quite at the tip. There are 
 two transverse veins. 
 
 This list of the Diptera, though by no means complete, 
 is sufficient to shew how very instructive and interesting 
 these preparations are, and to encourage the young ento- 
 mologist to mount insects in this way for himself. The 
 method is easy, but requires patience and experience. 
 
 Soak the insects in liquor potassi for a longer or shorter 
 period, impossible to fix, because it varies necessarily with 
 the size and texture of the insect. A beetle may require 
 months, a fly but a few weeks or days, to render it trans- 
 parent, by dissolving its inward parts, and giving flexibility 
 to its integument. It is then washed in cold water, and 
 laid out upon a glass slide in the desired position. When 
 perfectly dry it should be soaked in oil of turpentine, which 
 may be applied with a camel-hair pencil, and afterwards 
 mounted in balsam. In this last and most difficult part 
 let the balsam be very fluid, and the warmth gentle, that 
 the air may be quietly dispersed, and the bubbles removed 
 before the final covering with thin glass. 
 
 I recommend the Borborus and Empis stercorea as the 
 easiest specimens to begin with. When caught, if immersed 
 in hollands or spirits of wine, they will keep any length of 
 time until wanted for mounting. 
 
 THE HALTERES OR POISERS, OF DIPTERA. 
 
 These small organs, which are very apparent as little 
 knobs on a stalk, like drumsticks, just behind the wings of 
 Blow-flies and the Tipulae (especially the Tipula olacea, 
 which flutter against our window-panes) are rudimen- 
 tary wings. We only find them in the Diptera, which all 
 possess these much disputed organs. 
 
 They are called poisers, or balances, because it was 
 formerly supposed that the insect used them as the rope- 
 dancer does his pole, to steady itself in the air. Some 
 
HALTERES OF BLOW- FLY. 139 
 
 naturalists fancied that they produced the humming noise 
 in flight by beating against two little scales at the base of 
 the wing, called alulae ; but that can hardly be the case, 
 seeing how many insects buzz who have no halteres, such 
 as Bees, Cockchafers, Dung-beetles, &c, and that so 
 many flies who do possess them fly silently. They certainly 
 do move very rapidly, quivering as the insect flies, and 
 even when at rest I have seen the vibration. They are placed 
 immediately on the margin of the great thoracic spiracle, 
 and the late discoveries of certain organs inside these hal- 
 teres lead us to suppose they are organs of smell, as the 
 antennas may be of hearing. 
 
 HALTERES OF BLOW-FLY. 
 
 These, if mounted carefully in balsam, have become 
 transparent ; we see that they consist of three parts, the 
 base, shaft, and head. The organs in question are at the 
 base, two distinct groups of vesicles which look like dots 
 arranged in rows. The upper group is in spiral lines, the 
 lower is on a broad flat surface, and onlv on one side. Each 
 vesicle is a small sac, filled with fluid, and over-arched by 
 a protecting hair, and when a good side view is obtained 
 they are seen to be quite spherical. 
 
 The two naturalists, Dr. Hicks and Mr. Purkiss, who 
 have noticed these organs suppose them to be olfactory 
 vesicles. There is a very large nerve given off from the 
 great thoracic ganglion into the halteres, larger even than 
 those branches which pass into the wings and legs of flies, 
 which makes it very likely that in these very small 
 appendages lie a great sensitiveness of some kind. No 
 less than 360 of these vesicles are found in the halteres of 
 Rhingia ; and for what purpose ? 
 
 Dr. Hicks justly remarks, that it is scarcely for hearing, 
 as they are so near the buzz of the wings, and themselves 
 in constant motion, so that other sounds would be drowned ; 
 but that the current of air produced by this very fluttering, 
 and also the position of the halteres near the largest thoracic 
 spiracle, make it extremely probable that they receive the 
 floating odours in the air, and communicate them to the 
 brain, or cephalic ganglion, directing thus the Blow-fly to 
 the carrion, the Rhingia to the flowers. 
 
140 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 HALTERES OF TABANUS. 
 
 " These are very similar to those of the Rhingia, with 
 the addition of seven vesicles on the shaft of the halteres 
 to the upper part of the facet of the ridge, and another 
 group of eight or nine beneath the ridge opposite the 
 broader facet."* 
 
 The shaft of the halteres is tubular, and is the channel 
 for the branch of the nerve which passes up and expands in 
 the head. 
 
 The head of the halteres contains cellular substance ; there 
 is also a groove on one side lined with a very delicate 
 membrane, and beneath which there is a group of hairs. 
 
 * See Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, 
 November, 1856. 
 
THE FLEA. 141 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PARASITES. 
 
 A great many objects are sold for those who are curious 
 in learning the forms of those " living creatures ' which 
 are nourished on the bodies of higher animals. 
 
 Every animal, from man downwards, is a pasture land 
 for many fellow-creatures. So surely we may call them, 
 formed as they are by the Almighty hand which fashioned 
 our own wonderful body. 
 
 However repugnant it may be to our refined tastes to 
 examine a flea or a louse, this arises from no inherent 
 ugliness in these creatures, but rather from our association 
 with them of scenes of dirt and misery, of personal discom- 
 fort also. Very probably they are the avengers of our evil 
 habits, the consequences of our fallen state, and yet merci- 
 fully ordered to do us good, rather than harm, by compelling 
 the careless and the poor to that watchfulness and cleanli- 
 ness which might otherwise be neglected. 
 
 THE FLEA, 
 
 man's great annoyance, is nevertheless a beautifully formed 
 creature. 
 
 It has to be prepared by long soaking in turpentine, 
 and mounted in balsam, before we can see its various parts. 
 
 The flea belongs to the order of the Suctoridae. The head 
 bears antennse four -jointed, eyes small, round and simple. 
 The proboscis is composed of two long mandibles, with 
 serrated edges. Two long narrow plates with fine teeth 
 and longitudinal ribs, these are the lancets ; two leal-like 
 plates nearly triangular, which arc the maxillae ; two labial 
 palpi, two maxillary palpi, one slender suctorial organ 
 
142 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 called labrum. The thorax is composed of three segments, 
 and the abdomen of seven segments ; the female has nine, 
 and both sexes on the last segment have that beautiful 
 breathing apparatus called 
 
 THE PYGIDIUM OF A FLEA. 
 
 This must be mounted separately to be seen well, and 
 it forms an excellent test object. Topping mounts it beau- 
 tifully. 
 
 There are twenty-five disk-like areolae, in the centre of 
 each of these a long hair, and round them a ring of rect- 
 angular rays. It must be seen rather than described. 
 
 The legs of the Flea, are long and many -jointed, the 
 hind pair having thick muscular thighs, formed for extra- 
 ordinary leaps, and terminated by five tarsi, and two curved 
 and toothed claws. Every part is worthy of observation. 
 
 The coxa, or first joint, is very thick ; the trochanter is 
 very small, the femur long and thick, the tibia hairy. 
 
 There are many species of fleas, each of them parasitic 
 on various animals, with some difference in structure. The 
 most curious are the 
 
 Pulex talpcej or Mole-flea, with its rows of spines on the 
 neck. 
 
 Pulex GullincB, or Fowl's-flea, which does not leap, but 
 runs swiftly, and has a most tormenting bite, driving hens 
 from their nests, and compelling their masters to keep the 
 hen-house clean. 
 
 Pulex Columba?, or Pigeon' s-flea, very curious. The 
 antennae should be particularly noticed, the male carries his 
 erect, and the female has hers partly concealed in a furrow 
 near her eyes. The form is beautiful, — eight cup-like joints 
 set one within another, and surrounded by a circle of stout 
 bristles. 
 
 Pulex vespertilionis, or Bat' s-flea, has a row of dark 
 spines just over its proboscis, called its cephalic setae, and 
 a collar of spines, called its proto-thoracic setae. 
 
 Pulex felis, the Cat' s-flea, which has a prettily spotted 
 head, and in which we can see the spiracles on every seg- 
 ment of the abdomen, and also the pygidium, is one of the 
 best to mount for observation. The dots on the head, and 
 
PEDICULUS, OR LOUSE. 1 [3 
 
 the femora being without hairs, distinguish it from the 
 human Flea. 
 
 The eggs of fleas are white, long, and viscid or stick}' ; 
 the larvae vermiform, with thirteen segments ; the pupa is 
 enclosed in a silken cocoon. 
 
 PEDICULUS, OR LOUSE, 
 
 a genus of anoplurous insects. 
 
 Man is infested by three kinds of Louse ; but the common 
 head-louse is the one usually mounted for observation. 
 It has a flat and nearly transparent body, three pairs of 
 legs, terminated by a claw or hook, and a head which has 
 two simple eyes, and a long sucker concealed in a little 
 fleshy tubercle or snout. They multiply prodigiously, two 
 females producing no less than 10,000 eggs in eight weeks. 
 Leuwenhoek described them minutely, and seems to have 
 watched their manner of feeding and propagating with 
 great interest. Certainly their eggs are curiously formed, 
 with a little moveable lid on a hinge, which opens for the 
 escape of the young larvae, and the egg of the Pheasant- 
 louse is beautifully striated and dotted, giving it the appear- 
 ance of worked net. Some parts of the internal organisation 
 of a Louse are well worthy of attention and dissection ; being 
 naturally transparent, a little soaking in oil of turpentine 
 will dissolve the fat and render many of the organs apparent. 
 
 The nerves of a Louse are remarkable, as forming a 
 thick spinal cord without breaks or intervals, after the 
 ganglia of the head, and from the end of which several 
 rays or nerves are given out to lower parts of the body, a 
 slight constriction only marking the united ganglia. These 
 are visible when the insect is properly prepared. The 
 ovaries also are in ten branches of bead-like threads. 
 All the internal apparatus is as perfect as in more beautiful 
 insects, so little reason is there for shrinking from or 
 thinking meanly of even a loathsome louse. 
 
 Birds have many varieties. 
 
 The Pheasant-louse ; 
 
 The Parasite of the Rook and Chaffinch, called Bicinus 
 pavoniSj are interesting objects. 
 
144 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 THE ACARI, OR TICKS, MITES. 
 
 These parasites are found on animals, birds and insects. 
 They belong to the lowest order of Arachnida, the Spider 
 tribe, and many of them are beautiful microscopic objects. 
 
 The Acarus scabici, or itch insect, is a very valuable pre- 
 paration. It is the occasion of that disgusting disease the 
 Itch, and is exceedingly difficult to obtain. It lodges in a 
 burrow near the pustule ; but, being scarcely visible to the 
 naked eye, is rarely extracted in a perfect state. When 
 examined under the microscope it is found to have an oval 
 body, a mouth of conical form, and eight feet terminated by 
 bristles. The head has five strong mandibles, with which it 
 cuts out a little nest under the skin, lays many eggs, and is 
 most difficult to eradicate. 
 
 ACARUS DOMESTICUS, OR COMMON CHEESE-MITES. 
 
 The dust of decayed cheese is composed entirely of these 
 mites, — their eggs and their excrement. Mounted properly, 
 we should see their oval body with a head from which 
 extends two large mandibles, somewhat resembling the 
 claws of a lobster. When the insect is in repose it crosses 
 these mandibles over its head, forming a kind of roof over 
 the mouth. The legs are reddish, and inserted in two 
 different groups, the anterior pair considerably larger in 
 the male. 
 
 These Acari are both viviparous and oviparous. 
 
 ACARUS PASSULARUM, 
 
 found abundantly in dried figs, is like the cheese-mite, 
 but has very long bristles at the sides of the mouth. 
 
 ACARUS PASSERINUS. 
 
 Found on all young birds. 
 
 IXODES, OR DOG-TICK, 
 
 a curious parasite, it has no perceptible eyes, but a 
 toothed beak which it fixes in the skin of the dog and of 
 
STENOPTEHYX. 14") 
 
 the hedgehog and holds so tightly, that it can scarcely be de- 
 tached alive. They deposit a prodigious number of eggs, 
 and are so voracious as to cause the death of some animals 
 from exhaustion. 
 
 MELOPHAGUS. 
 (Sheep-tick. J 
 
 This parasite belongs to the Diptera, though it is wing- 
 less. They abound on sheep, are easily taken and prepared. 
 Let them soak in potash for at least a month, then press 
 them, and wash them well ; when dry, soak in turpentine 
 before mounting in balsam, and their structure will be 
 well seen. They are very brilliant objects when viewed 
 with polarized light. 
 
 The Melophagus is one of the family Hippoboscidce, of 
 which there are six genera, and all of them parasites of 
 mammalia and birds, feeding on the substance at the roots 
 of the hairs and feathers. The species pass their egg 
 and larva state in the body of the mother, who produces 
 only a single egg at a time, which is in reality a jmpa. 
 This pupa- egg is nearly as large as its parent, and has a 
 slight motion, with spiracles, or rather spiraculiform points, 
 down each side, and in a short time they change to perfect 
 Flies. 
 
 This Melophagus has no wings, but six stout bristly legs 
 with very long curved and toothed claws, which they fix in 
 the wool of the sheep. The head is very large, broader 
 than the thorax ; the antennae are mere tubercles ; the eyes 
 small, oblong, and bare. The mouth consists of a pair of 
 short hairy valves, in which a long sucking-tube is con- 
 cealed ; it usually uncoils in mounting, and is well seen as 
 a very fine hair, protruding from between the valves. 
 
 STENOPTERYX. 
 
 This should be looked for on swallows : you may find 
 them abundantly in nests of the young birds. They run 
 very quickly, but do not attempt to fly, although they have 
 wings, and are good examples of another genus of the 
 Hippoboscidse. 
 
 Here we find a difference in the male and female ; the 
 
 L 
 
146 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 former having long narrow wings, ciliated in front, the 
 costal vein more than two thirds the length of the wing, 
 and longitudinal veins crowded close to the costal. The 
 female has short triangular wings ; the rest of the body 
 very like that of Melophagus. 
 
 ORNITHOMYIA. 
 
 {Parasite on Birds). 
 
 A green and tawny fly, more perfectly winged than the 
 preceding genera, but seldom, if ever, using the wings, and 
 running with great swiftness amongst the feathers of all 
 birds. 
 
 NYCTERIBIA. 
 
 This is a rare parasite, but quite worth seeking, upon 
 bats. The head is thrown back in an extraordinary manner ; 
 the mouth has a large bulb-like organ, from which proceeds 
 a horny style ; it has no wings ; the claws are strong, 
 dilated beneath ; and the abdomen terminated by two styles. 
 There are specimens of these in the British Museum. 
 
 CHELIFER. 
 
 This parasite attacks flies. I have seen a common fly run 
 wildly about upon the window-pane, shaking itself violently, 
 and apparently in great distress. Upon catching it, I 
 found a small scorpion -like creature fixed upon one of its 
 thighs, by a pair of tremendous claws, — hardly could it be 
 detached for examination, and then it ran quickly, like a 
 crab, sideways. The Chelifer belongs to the Trachean 
 Arachnida, that is, they breathe by means of trachea and 
 spiracles, and not, as the higher order of spiders, by lungs, 
 or internal gills. They have eight legs, two long palpi 
 armed with claws ; the eyes are at the side of the thorax, 
 and the flat abdomen is jointed. 
 
 ACARUS GAMASUS, 
 
 found abundantly on the Dung-beetle, which it infests. 
 This has a trifid labium, mandibles cheliform, denticulate, 
 
WATER-MITES. 147 
 
 the tarsi terminated by two claws, and an elegant pul- 
 villus, which make it worth mounting. 
 
 Scottish peasants have a habit of examining the Dung- 
 beetles in the Spring, and observing the position of the 
 acari on their bodies : if the parasites are clustered near the 
 head, there will be a fine harvest, if towards the end of 
 the abdomen, a late one. 
 
 TROMBIDIUM PHALANGII. 
 
 A pretty little parasite, winch attaches itself to the 
 Phalangium, or Harvest-spider. These Spiders have small 
 oval bodies and very long legs, with two eyes on their backs, 
 and always run upon the ground ; we find these little scarlet 
 mites attached to their legs and bodies. 
 
 TROMBIDIUM AUTUMNALE. 
 (Harvest-bug.) 
 
 This troublesome little parasite is found in corn-fields 
 in August, and burrows in the skin, causing much painful 
 irritation. The best way of catching it is to tie pocket- 
 handkerchiefs round the legs, and walk through a stubble- 
 field, when we are nearly certain of finding specimens 
 enough in the folds of the handkerchief. They are 
 mounted in balsam. 
 
 In all the Trombidium, observe the form of the cheliceras, 
 with their moveable claw, and the palpi, which have a 
 singular appendage or finger beneath each extremity, 
 winch distinguishes them from the common Acari, and shew 
 their relationship to the pretty scarlet Water-mites, the 
 Hydrachna. 
 
 WATER-MITES. 
 ( ' Hydrachnidas.) 
 
 The beautiful Hydrachna and Limnochares are parasites 
 upon the Water-beetle (Dytiscus), and Water- scorpion 
 (Nepa), and worthy of attention in their metamorphosis, 
 also when mounted thus as objects for the microscope. 
 
 There are several species ; some bright scarlet (Hy- 
 drachna), others dotted with black, haying blue legs (Atax), 
 
 l 2 
 
148 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 some parti-coloured black and scarlet (Diplodontus), one, 
 bright green (Arrenus) ; but all of them to be found in 
 livers and ponds merrily swimming about, and laying 
 millions of small red eggs on leaf and stem of water 
 plants. They seize on small crustaceans, such as the 
 Cyclops and Daphnia, and suck them. 
 
 The metamorphosis is as follows : — The eggs are laid in 
 great abundance throughout May and June, six weeks 
 after a curious larva comes out, having a long blunt snout 
 and two large round eyes. We do not know how long it 
 remains free in the water, but towards the end of the 
 Summer we find it changed into a scarlet oblong pupa, 
 fixed by a strong hook to the tail of the Water- scorpion, 
 or under the elytra of Dytiscus. These- pupa were once 
 mistaken for eggs ; but the French naturalist Duges 
 watched them well, and saw every stage of the metamor- 
 phosis. From the pupa emerges a six-legged mite, which 
 moults and becomes perfect with eight ciliated legs for 
 swimming. 
 
 The claws and palpi should be particularly noticed, and 
 the epidermis of the green mite Arrenus, mounted for its 
 dotted appearance. 
 
 ENTOZOA. 
 
 These are parasites attached to the internal parts of the 
 animal body, and consist of intestinal worms, some 
 extremely minute, burrowing in the skin, others of larger 
 size infesting the viscera. No part of the human body is 
 free from their attacks, the liver, the kidneys, the intes- 
 tines and the brain, are their food and abiding place. There 
 is scarcely one animal, especially of the vertebrate classes, 
 which is not infested by several species. The human body 
 has eighteen internal parasites, and those which inhabit 
 one animal are rarely found in one of another genus. 
 Those who desire further knowledge of these parasites, had 
 better read " Owen's Hunterian Lectures," vols, iv., v., vi. 
 
PALATE OF HELIX POMATIA. 149 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PALATES. 
 
 PALATE OF HELIX POMATIA. 
 
 Helix pomatia? is that very large snail found in -woods 
 and hedges on chalky soil and oolite formations in the 
 Southern and Midland Counties of England. The shell 
 is often two inches high, of pale tawny colour. They 
 were highly esteemed in the olden time by the imperial 
 gourmands of Rome, who preferred them fried in oil of 
 almonds, and then delicately grilled on a silver gridiron. 
 When previously fattened upon bran and wine, they grew to 
 an enormous size ; three snails, two eggs and a lettuce, being 
 a favourite supper of Pliny the younger. At one period in 
 England, we feasted upon them ourselves, boiled in spring- 
 water and seasoned with oil, salt and pepper, and highly 
 relished them as a foreign luxury, introduced for that 
 purpose about the middle of the sixteenth century, and 
 first cultivated in Surrey, afterwards in Buckinghamshire 
 and Northamptonshire. Of later years they have been 
 used medicinally in cases of consumption, as also the 
 common garden snail, Helix aspersa, which is exported 
 from England yearly for this very purpose, sent to 
 America packed in old casks. The glassmen at New- 
 castle have still a snail-feast yearly, and generally collect 
 the snails themselves on the Sunday previous to the feast. 
 
 We may also care to know that this edible snail, which 
 abounds in the neighbourhood of Mount Sinai, has been 
 thought to have supplied the Israelites with food in that 
 part of their journey towards the land of Canaan ; for the 
 whole sides of that valley between Mount Deouchi and 
 
150 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 Mount Torah is covered with shrubs of tamarisk, broom, 
 and with clover and saintfoin ; and the herbage beneath is 
 so thronged with these snails that travellers say it is diffi- 
 cult to walk without crushing them. 
 
 So much for the general interest of the snail ; but the 
 palate chiefly relates to its depredations, and shows us the 
 cause of its mischief-making in our gardens. 
 
 HELIX ASPERSA. 
 
 The mouth of the snail is armed with two horny lips, 
 sufficiently powerful to bite the tender stalks of lettuce and 
 other young vegetables ; and is further provided with this 
 palate, which is not in the mouth, but lying far back in a 
 kind of pouch which opens in front, and is capable of pro- 
 jection forward and backward, as may be well observed in 
 the Water- snails kept in aquariums. We can there see the 
 opening lips and the palate thrown forward, rasping away 
 the conferva spores on the surface of the glass. The 
 palate of Helix aspersa is broad and short, set with about 
 150 rows of stout serrated teeth — altogether no less than 
 21,000 in this single palate. 
 
 LIMAX, 
 
 (Black-slug,) 
 
 is nearly the same, but contains yet more teeth. A full- 
 sized and aged slug has 26,000 teeth, which accounts 
 for its power of destruction in our gardens. 
 
 HELIX HORTENSIS. 
 
 Helix Hortensis is a variety of the common garden 
 snail, reddish, yellowish, or pale grey. 
 
 HELIX NEMORALIS. 
 
 Helix nemoralis is the pretty banded black and yellow 
 snail, which, if long lying in the warm sun, often turns 
 rose-coloured or fine pink, to the great admiration of little 
 shell collectors. 
 
PALATE OF WHELK. 151 
 
 HELIX RUFESCENS. 
 
 Helix rufescens, a reddish brown snail, flattish, and in 
 the middle of the largest whorl it has a narrow white line 
 or band, which distinguishes it. 
 
 HELIX VIRGATA. 
 
 These pretty small brown and white banded snails are 
 most abundant on our sandy sea-coasts, quite covering the 
 marine plants there ; also they are often in great numbers 
 on sandy commons or the wayside turf. 
 
 The palates of all these terrestrial gasteropods are upon 
 the same plan — broad, short, and with long rows of teeth ; 
 the prettiest variety is found in the palate of 
 
 ZONITES, OR HELIX NITIDA. 
 
 This small snail is a species passing out of the genus 
 Helicidas ; it is small, transparent, pale-yellow or light- 
 brown, with five whorls, and the under side clouded with 
 white ; found under stones, and in violet beds at the roots 
 of the plants, also in cellars and yards in cities. The side 
 teeth slope towards the centre, which is occupied by what 
 may be called double teeth, or teeth with several projec- 
 tions. There are few prettier palates than this of the 
 common little Zonites, or Cellar-snail. 
 
 PALATE OF WHELK. 
 
 (Buccinurn undatum.) 
 
 Compare this with the palate of any of the terrestrial 
 gasteropods — snails or slugs — and the difference of struc- 
 ture will be apparent : instead of that broad short mem- 
 brane thickly set with rows of nearly uniform teeth, we 
 have here a ribbon-like tongue, having strong serrated 
 teeth at the edges, and rows of small finer ones between 
 them, better observed by polarized light, which makes it a 
 
152 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 splendid object. This tongue is contained in a long fleshy 
 proboscis with which the Whelk bores through the shell of 
 those molluscs which serve it for food, and the muscles 
 by which it moves this tongue are immensely strong, not 
 only drawing it backwards and forwards, but raising or 
 depressing the teeth. 
 
 The Whelk is largely consumed in London ; it is dredged 
 off every part of the British coast. Dr. Johnston tells 
 us that at the enthronisation feast of William Warham, 
 archbishop of Canterbury, in 1504, 8,000 Whelks were 
 dressed as side-dishes for the lordly epicures of those 
 days. 
 
 PALATE OF PURPUREA. 
 
 The Purpurea, or Dog-whelk, is a small species of Buc- 
 cinum very abundant on our rocks : it has a white shell, 
 and is often found with a little semi-transparent flask beside 
 it, or a cluster of them filled with eggs, which are most 
 interesting microscopic objects, as the development of the 
 little mollusc is easily watched. The palate is pretty, and 
 resembles that of the larger Buccinum. It was from this 
 shell-fish that the Tyrians procured their famous purple 
 dye, making a bath of the liquid in the proportion of 
 two pounds of Buccinum liquor to one pound of the pur- 
 purea. The process being tedious, and the needful quantity 
 of these little creatures very great, the price of the wool 
 so dyed was enormously high, no less than 1000 Roman 
 denarii, or thirty -six pounds sterling, per pound. 
 
 NASSA. 
 
 . A smaller species of Buccinum. 
 
 PALATE OF TROCHUS ZIZIPHINUS. 
 
 This is the palate of that very pretty variegated spiral 
 shell called u Tops," which we delight to find on the rocks 
 at low water under the thick hanging masses of sea- weed. 
 
PALATE OF HALIOTES. 153 
 
 No palate is so beautiful, or requiring such careful exami- 
 nation ; for when we have had a general view, we should 
 always use a higher power, and explore further the won- 
 derful workmanship displayed in this tiny tongue. Not 
 only triple rows of finely notched teeth arching over towards 
 the centre, but the intermediate space is thronged with 
 delicate leaf-like teeth, curved downwards, with minutely 
 serrated edges — a powerful instrument for rasping the sur- 
 face of the sea-weed upon which it feeds. 
 
 The mouth of the Trochus has no upper horny plate, and 
 therefore probably needed this elaborately toothed tongue. 
 
 PALATE OP TROCHUS CRASSUS. 
 
 Trochus Crassus is a variety of the same family, having 
 a large grey shell, and the tongue less beautiful. 
 
 PALATE OF TROCHUS UMBILICATUS. 
 
 Trochus umbilicatus, a smaller and more abundant shell, 
 also of grey colour. 
 
 PALATE OF PERIWINKLE. 
 
 (Littorina.) 
 
 The periwinkle is too well known to need description, 
 and the palate is very like that of the Trochus Crassus. 
 
 PALATE OF HALIOTES, OR AUMER. 
 
 The Haliotes is that beautiful univalve mollusc found in 
 the Channel Islands under stones at low tide — the fleshy 
 foot is sold in the market there, and highly esteemed as an 
 article of food, either stewed or fried in batter. The shell 
 is brought to England, and sold to manufacturers of 
 works inlaid with so-called mother-of-pearl, which is really 
 the beautiful interior of this shell. The palate is one of 
 the finest prepared for the microscope, and yet more com- 
 
154 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 plicated than that of Trochus ziziphtnus, which it resembles. 
 The central band here has rows of teeth, having nearly 
 straight edges instead of points ; there is on each side a 
 lateral band consisting of large teeth, shaped like those of 
 a shark ; and beyond this, again, another lateral band on 
 either side, composed of several rows of smaller teeth. {See 
 " Carpenter on the Microscope," p. 605.) 
 
 The Haliotes are carnivorous as well as vegetarian, often 
 found feeding on dead bodies. 
 
 PALATE OF PLEUROBEANCH. 
 
 The Pleurobranch is a lemon-coloured oval- shaped mol- 
 lusc, found under stones in tide-pools, and breathing by a 
 beautiful branchial plume, which is thrown out on the right 
 side, as it glides along, and protected, when at rest, by a 
 thin shell inside the mantle. This palate is quite unlike 
 any of the others, more resembling a tesselated pavement, 
 with a single tooth in each lozenge -shaped division. 
 
 PALATE OF APLYSIA. 
 
 Aplysia is a sea-slug, found in deep rock-pools gliding 
 about with a thick humpbacked body, olive brown, and 
 tentacles like ears, causing it to resemble a hare. If 
 handled or frightened it jerks forth a deep purple liquid, 
 which stains the hand or discolours the water : this is evi- 
 dently its defence, and conceals it from the pursuit of 
 ravenous crustaceans. It belongs to the family of the 
 Pleurobranchs, which have their breathing organs con- 
 cealed within the mantle, but always on the right side, and 
 the palate is broad and short, resembling that of the 
 garden snail, only very much larger. 
 
 PALATE OF DORIS. 
 
 (Tuberculata.) 
 
 Another variety of sea-slug, much more beautiful, and 
 the palate curiously set with strong hooked teeth like a 
 
PALATE OF CHITON. 155 
 
 harrow ; it has forty-four rows, each with 140 of these 
 curved teeth, used for rasping sea-weed. There are many 
 species of Doris usually found under stones at low tide, or 
 beneath tufts of sea-weed ; they are orange-coloured, or 
 pale yellow, and vary in size from our largest garden slug 
 to a very small one ; on their backs they carry a plume of 
 branchial organs, and are therefore called Nudibranchs, or 
 naked-gilled animals. 
 
 PALATE OF LIMPET. 
 
 Who does not know the limpet, clinging to the wave- 
 beaten rock, and seemingly as motionless as its native cliff? 
 — who has not jerked it off for bait or for the variety of 
 colour in its pretty shell, and in so doing may have noticed 
 a long slender thread attached to its head, and many times 
 longer than its body ? That was the tongue we are looking 
 at. It has, we see, alternate rows of four hooked teeth, and 
 two notched large teeth all the whole length of that thread- 
 like palate, which lies coiled up loosely inside its body, and 
 is thrown forward like a scythe to mow down the lichen 
 upon which it feeds. When the front row of teeth wears 
 away, a second is brought forward, and so the length of 
 the tongue only provides for the little creature's necessities 
 and duration of life. 
 
 PALATE OF CHITON. 
 
 Not so abundant, and very different in formation, is the 
 Chiton, which we find hidden in crevices of the same rock 
 to which the Limpet clings. The Chiton is the only mol- 
 lusc which has many shells in one : this little creature has 
 eight plates or shells overlapping each other, round the 
 external edges of which the breathing organs lie, — a row of 
 triangular leaflets vibrating in the water, and resembling 
 gills in structure. The palate we see is long and ribbon- 
 like, with dark brown teeth on either side, and smaller in 
 the centre ; they are set in a kind of double arch, jointed, 
 and capable of elevation or depression, and used, like that 
 of the Limpet, for vegetable food. 
 
156 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 PALATE OF YELLOW NERITE 
 
 is very pretty, and somewhat like the Periwinkle. The 
 Nerite is that bright yellow shell so common on our sandy 
 coasts. Children call them " yellow tops." 
 
 PALATE OF NERITINA FLUVIATILIS 
 
 is a fresh-water mollusc, found in slow rivers adhering 
 to stones, the shell very prettily chequered with spots or 
 bands of white, brown, purple or pink. 
 
 PALATE OF LYMNEUS STAGNALIS. 
 
 The three following palates belong to fresh- water molluscs. 
 
 Lymneus is a large snail, whose shell, making six or 
 seven whorls, terminating in a fine point, is found in all 
 ponds and stagnant water, floating or gliding foot upwards, 
 and feeding voraciously on all kinds of vegetable matter. 
 The palate resembles that of the garden snail. 
 
 PALATE OF PLANORBIS CORNEA. 
 
 Planorbis is a flat snail with a shell in horizontal coils, 
 the size of a shilling ; other species being smaller, the 
 tongue is oblong, and set with many rows of fine teeth. 
 
 PALATE OF PALUDINA. 
 
 Paludina is a remarkable fresh-water shell, more resem- 
 bling a large Periwinkle, but banded black and yellow, 
 with a strong operculum. It brings forth its young alive, 
 and they may be found in all stages of life in the space be- 
 tween the mantle and the shell. The tongue of the Palu- 
 dina differs much from those of Lymneus and Planorbis, 
 being long and slender, and the teeth like horny plates 
 laid over one another — more like those of the land- snail, 
 Cyclastoma, and showing that it is in truth, as La Mark 
 conjectured, the family which links the two great divisions 
 of land and water molluscs. Here then we have a very 
 interesting palate, and proof of the usefulness of microscopic 
 
PALATE OF CYCLASTOMA. 157 
 
 observation ; for nowhere but in the palate do we find the very 
 marked distinction between the Paludina and Lymneus, 
 both inhabitants of the same stream, and at the same time 
 the close relationship to the little Cyclastoma, which lives 
 high and dry upon the chalky hills, and under the hedge- 
 rows of a limestone district. 
 
 PALATE OF CYCLASTOMA. 
 
 The Cyclastoma elegans has a white and finely striated 
 shell ; its palate should be mounted in fluid, as indeed all 
 these are. Simple salt and water well preserves them. 
 
15S THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SLIDES OF ZOOPHYTES. 
 
 " Lord, how manifold are thy works ! in wisdom hast thou 
 made them all : the earth is full of thy .riches. So is this great and 
 wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable." 
 
 Psalm civ. 24, 25. 
 
 " Look who list thy gazeful eyes to feed 
 With sight of that is fair : look on the frame 
 Of this wide universe, and therein read 
 The endless kinds of creatures which by name 
 Thou canst not count, much less their natures aim, 
 All which are made with wondrous wise respect, 
 And all with admirable beauty deckt." 
 
 Spenser. 
 
 An explanation of these useful slides to every sea- side 
 student seems necessary, from the fact that many persons 
 enquire, "What is a Zoophyte?" and if shown one of 
 these under the microscope, will presently declare that it 
 certainly may be an animal, for it moves. This has 
 happened to myself more than once, and an explanation 
 required to prove that this is a post-mortem examination, 
 and that we only see the body, or rather the framework, 
 which supported the once living polype. 
 
 These are the skeletons of Zoophytes mounted to show 
 the beauty of their structure, and the variations of form 
 which determine the species. 
 
 If we would see them alive, we must gather them at the 
 sea- side fresh from their native element, on the sea-weed 
 or the rock, and by placing them in a watchglassful of water 
 under the microscope, the question "What is a Zoophyte" 
 
zoorHYTKs. 159 
 
 will be answered far better than any tongue can tell or 
 pen describe. Nevertheless, to appreciate these slides we 
 must explain that Zoophytes are, with one exception, 
 marine animals, varying in size from the little microscopic 
 creatures mounted here, to the large tree-like Gorgonias, 
 and the huge Madrepores and Corals of the tropical seas. 
 They are plant-like animals, often mistaken for sea-weeds, 
 requiring minute attention and microscopic study to un- 
 derstand; but even the careful observation of those speci- 
 mens on our list will open a wide field of interest, and help 
 the young student considerably in his first researches. 
 
 The number of British Zoophytes amounts to about 
 35 genera, and 240 species. These are divided into two 
 great divisions, and hold very different ranks in the scale 
 of creation ; for the Zoophytes called Polyzoa, being much 
 more highly organized than those called Anthozoa, they 
 are placed with the Tunicate Molluscs (Ascidians, &c, &c), 
 and above the Radiata (Starfish and Echini); whereas, the 
 Anthozoa are only just above the Infusoria, or lowest form 
 of animal life. 
 
 These slides contain specimens of both these orders, 
 which will be further explained when under the microscope. 
 
 Those of the Anthozoa are : — 
 
 Sertularia. 
 
 Plumularia. 
 
 Laomedea Campanularia 
 
 Tubularia. 
 
 Coryne. 
 Halecium. 
 Thuiaria. 
 Antennularia. 
 
 Their bodies are globular, contractile in every part, 
 symmetrical, mouth and vent one, gemmiparous and 
 oviparous. 
 
 The Polvzoa are : — 
 
 Gemellaria. 
 
 Cellularia. 
 
 Crisea. 
 
 Flustra. 
 
 Pustulipora. 
 
 Lepralia. 
 
 If we describe the Sertularia as an example of Anthozoa, 
 and Gemellaria as one of the Polyzoa, the student will 
 understand each of the others, and when at the sea-side 
 will have "Harvey's Sea-side Companion," or " Landes- 
 borough on Zoophytes," to teach the variety of the specieE 
 and direct to their particular habitat. 
 
160 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 SERTULARIA PUMILA. 
 
 This little branch of zigzag cells was once creeping 
 along the Fucns, or common sea-weed, on rocks at low- 
 water mark, often so thickly crowded together as to cover 
 the alga. The cells are opposite each other, and at inter- 
 vals large capsules or ovarian vesicles rise from the base of 
 a smaller cell. In life this horny skeleton was filled with 
 a living pulp, and each tiny tube right and left was the 
 abode of a beautiful white creature called a Polype, which 
 rose up and threw out eight or ten fine tentacula, or 
 feelers, drawing food into a mouth placed in the centre of 
 these tentacles. From the mouth there was a digestive 
 sac, or stomach, communicating with the stem, and a cir- 
 culation of fluid went on throughout the polypidom, that is 
 to say, the branch of cells we have described, though each 
 Polype had an independent life. 
 
 It has been observed, that at the base of the Zoophyte 
 stomach there is an orifice closed by a contracting and 
 dilating sphincter muscle, and through this the digestive 
 food is propelled to the stem, after enough has been appro- 
 priated by that Polype, besides which a spiral movement 
 of particles is seen in the stem, somewhat resembling the 
 rotation in Chara v 
 
 The manner of propagation and of growth is very 
 remarkable. Those ovarian pear- shaped vesicles you may 
 see here and there on the branches contain buds, or 
 gemma?, which when mature escape and swim freely in the 
 great ocean. Their form is most unlike that of their 
 parent ; they are called Medusoides, and in turn produce 
 fertilized ova ; these being edged with cilia? move for 
 several hours in the water, and then fixing on sea-weed, 
 rock, or stone, develope into a polypidom like this spray 
 of Sertularia. When the ovule fixes, minute fibres are 
 observed to proceed from the under side, and the pulp 
 dilates, ascends, covered by the horny substance, inside 
 which the dark pulp runs like a thread. At a certain fore- 
 ordained point it stops, becomes bulbous, a tube or cup 
 (according to the species) forms gradually, whilst the pulp 
 is fashioned into the Polype with little knobs length- 
 ening into tentacula?, which no sooner are complete than 
 
SERTULARIA ROSACEA. 1(51 
 
 they are thrown forth for food ; and the nourishment, instead 
 of increasing its own size, is passed to the stem, and a 
 second cell buds forth on the opposite side, or the stem is 
 prolonged a little, according to the plan of the specie^. 
 Look at the next slide — 
 
 SERTULARIA POLYZ02JIA8. 
 
 You see here that the Polype cells are not opposite each 
 other, but alternate and far apart. There are two varieties 
 of this Zoophyte, the one upright, the other spreading 
 and branching ; it is found on shells and sea-weed, espe- 
 cially on branches of Halidrys. 
 
 These little creatures are very phosphorescent in the 
 dark ; if we shake or strike the sea-weed upon which it 
 rests, a shower of diamond sparks seem to be scat- 
 tered over the frond ; each cell on the delicate spray 
 is a fairy lamp, a moment seen and gone, or sometimes 
 shining on with a faint gentle light, showing where the 
 little zoophyte is dwelling. Often when, having gathered 
 a quantity of Sertularia pumila during the day, I have 
 handled it at night, the flashing out of a thousand tiny 
 stars has astonished me. What must it be if the tossing 
 wave shakes glory thus from the dark weed in the stormy 
 night, and the ocean depths are illuminated by their living- 
 lamps ? 
 
 SERTULARIA OPERCULATA, 
 
 or Sea-hair Coralline, shows the sharp tooth-like cells 
 peculiar to this species, and the vesicles with a rounded 
 operculum on the top. This zoophyte is abundant on the 
 coast, often thrown up on the beach in tufts as much as 
 six or eight inches long, especially after a storm. 
 
 SERTULARIA ROSACEA, 
 
 Called the Lily or Pomegranate Coralline, will give 
 you a good specimen of varieties in species, and show you 
 what to observe ; for the cells are not so unlike those of the 
 common Sertularia pumila (the upper part of the cells 
 
 M 
 
162 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 bend outwards and downwards slightly), but the vesicles 
 are most unlike. You see they are pear-shaped, wrinkled, 
 cleft at the top, and more silvery in hue. This coralline 
 grows on shells in deep water, and is parasitic on other 
 zoophytes, small white clusters being often found on 
 Plumularia falcata and Sertularia argentea. 
 
 LAOMEDEA GENICULATA, 
 
 the Knotted-thread Coralline — a very common and beau- 
 tiful zoophyte, one of the family of Campanularidas, and 
 worthy of minute examination. In this species we are 
 successful in preserving the polypes themselves inside 
 those tiny cups. The fibres are twisted in a network 
 on the sea-weed — usually a frond of Laminaria or Fucus, 
 and slender threads bristle thickly from the stem — a zigzag 
 hue, on each side of which rise winged stalks bearing the 
 polype cell ; here and there are large vesicles containing 
 Medusoides. The peculiar interest of these Laomedea 
 is the wonderful adaptation of their structure to the 
 element in which they live. — How would this fragile cup 
 and slender stem resist the wild storms of the ocean if it 
 had not been provided with that jointed pedicle, which bends 
 to and fro on every side in ease and safety, whilst the little 
 inhabitant stretches forth its single row of tentacles, and 
 draws food into its probosciform mouth ? The vesicles also, 
 though apparently sessile, are fixed upon a footstalk like a 
 screw, which enables them to resist the shocks of a stormy 
 sea. 
 
 LAOMEDEA DICHOTOMA. 
 
 Laomedea dichotoma, or Sea-thread Coralline, is found in 
 long, filiform, zigzag branches, on old shells or stones, or 
 sea-weed, within tide-mark. 
 
 PLUMULARIA CRISTATA. 
 
 Observe this both with reflected and transmitted light. 
 It is the Feather Coralline picked up as sea-weed by chil- 
 dren on the sea-coast, after a gale of wind has cast up trea- 
 
GEMICELLARIA. 1 63 
 
 sures of the deep within our reach. It belongs to a family 
 (Plumularia) which has several species, but none so beautiful 
 as this. We find it twined round the stems and pods of 
 Halidrys siliqiiosa ; sometimes a mussel- shell will have a 
 feathery plume upon its rich blue surface, and tens of thou- 
 sands of tiny creatures spring forth from those sessile cups, 
 ranged all along the pinna? ; they are shaped somewhat like 
 lilies of the valley, with a projecting spine beneath each, and 
 the vesicles are oblong, pod-like, and banded with cristated 
 ribs — the more of these, the better the specimen ; but it 
 should be examined when fresh, and is more easily found, 
 perhaps, than any other zoophyte. 
 
 PLUMULARIA FALCATA, 
 
 is another species, in which you may observe the polype 
 cells seated in close array along the pinnae oT the branches ; 
 these when, dry bend inwards like a sickle, and give the 
 name of Sickle Coralline to this zoophyte. It is dredged 
 in deep water and common on oyster beds. A wavy branch 
 of it will not unfrequently be found on the back of some old 
 crab, which has served as its perambulator, and carried it 
 into rich stores of Diatoms and Infusoria, such as it 
 delights in. 
 
 POLYZOA. 
 GEMICELLARIA. 
 
 This is one of the Polyzoa, moro highly organised than 
 Sertularia, &c, and therefore ranking considerably higher 
 in the scale of creation. The difference in the skeleton 
 here prepared is, that we have a calcareous cell instead of a 
 horny one. Almost all the Polyzoa have calcareous sheaths, 
 or polyzoaries as this skeleton is called — instead of polypi - 
 dom, which belongs to the lower class of zoophytes. The 
 difference between the two is this : a polypidom is ;i sepa- 
 rate horny case, which is formed before the indwelling and 
 connected polype, and the polype itself is part of a common 
 central mass, having a simple stomach, thread-like tenta- 
 
 m 2 
 
164 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 culas which seize food and draw it to the mouth, and 
 which multiply by ovarian vesicles containing medusoides. 
 The polyzoary is a case or tunic investing the body of a 
 distinct and separate polype, which is either horny or cal- 
 careous, sometimes forming a dense hard crust on stones 
 and shells. 
 
 The polype within is quite different from those of the 
 Anthozoa. It has ciliated tentacles. The Polyzoa is a 
 part of the polype itself, investing it as a tunic or case, 
 which is sometimes horny, but most frequently calcareous, 
 even forming dense crusts upon shells, stones, or sea- weeds. 
 Though always found in a mass, the Polyzoa are strictly 
 solitary individuals without inward connection ; each polype, 
 perfect in itself, distinguished from the Anthozoa by their 
 ciliated tentacles, which do not seize the prey, but create 
 currents in the water whereby food is carried into the 
 mouth. 
 
 This is a great distinction, and must be observed, of 
 course, in the living animal ; a very curious sight it is to 
 watch the shoals of little golden fish-like naviculas whirled 
 into the vortex of a hungry polype, the currents running 
 along the cilia or delicate fringe winch edges each tentacle. 
 Some of them have two stomachs, one a kind of gizzard, 
 triturating the food, and the other digesting and discharg- 
 ing the refuse. There is even a rudimentary liver — a valve 
 at the pyloric opening ; the stomach itself is lined with 
 cilia ; in short, the living polype you are now looking at 
 in its dead state was a wonderfully organized little creature, 
 though scarcely visible to the naked eye. Instead of 
 ovarian vesicles of the Anthozoa we find, especially on 
 Flustra and Lepralia, little pearly cells, which are gemmae, 
 or buds, thrown forth from the body of the polype. They 
 have two methods of propagation, one by gemmation, the 
 other by a true sexual generation. {See " Carpenter on the 
 Microscope," p. 575.) 
 
 GEMMELLARIA LORICULATA. 
 
 This Gemmellaria loriculata is an example of the branched, 
 half-horny, half-calcareous polyzoary ; it is a splendid 
 object with polarized light if mounted in balsam, the cells 
 
FLUSTRA TRUNCATA. 165 
 
 ])ale pink, with a framework of carbonate of lime, giving a 
 fine orange tint. 
 
 We find Gemmcllaria abundantly on the south-western 
 coast, or thrown up on the beach after a gale in bunches, 
 easily distinguished by the position of the cells back to 
 back in pairs. 
 
 GEMECELARIA, OR NOTOMIA BURSARIA, 
 
 a rare but lovely zoophyte, always to be looked at as 
 opaque, and the singular appendages to its lid observed. 
 The triangular cells are in pairs, each capped by 
 an organ resembling a tobacco-pipe, or, some say, a 
 bird's head. It is also called the Shepherd's Purse 
 Coralline, from its resemblance to the seed-capsules of 
 that plant. We only find it in very small tufts, para- 
 sitic on other zoophytes ; but, minute as it is, the tiny 
 creature has the same highly organized body as the rest of 
 the Polyzoa. 
 
 CELLULARIA AVICULARIA, 
 
 is the true Bird's -head Coralline found on stones in deep 
 water or at very low tides, growing in spiral fan-like tufts 
 about an inch high. This is a calcareous polyzoary : the 
 cells have a spine at each upper angle, and an appendage 
 called the bird's head. With a little management of light 
 you will see the muscular lines by which the neck opens 
 and shuts ; when alive it snaps in all directions, seizes any 
 passing animal, and holds it fast until death. Now, as 
 they have no inward connection with the stomach of the 
 polype, neither give the food to the tentacles, it is doubtless 
 for protection that they are placed over the otherwise de- 
 fenceless zoophyte — a sensitive and ever-ready police to 
 keep the cities of the great deep. Cities they are indeed ; 
 for examine a piece of Flustra — 
 
 FLUSTRA TRUNCATA. 
 
 On one specimen you may count 18,000 inhabitants, 
 each rejoicing in the life bestowed upon them, and all in 
 
166 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 obedience and harmony performing their task in the ocean 
 world. Yes, they all have an appointed work — they had 
 it long ago in the ages beyond out own existence — before 
 the green earth had arisen from the chaos of waters, or 
 even before the Saurian age of reptiles in the calm clear 
 ocean of the earliest formations the little polyzoaries of 
 these zoophytes existed, and their fossil forms are found 
 with those of the lonely Trilobite. 
 
 PUSTULIPORA FOSSIL, 
 
 of which the present species are Pustulipora, Deflexa and 
 Proboscidia ; calcareous, erect Polyzoas, with tubes half 
 immersed ; found on shells in deep water off Plymouth and 
 Zetland ; whilst the fossil slides sold by Tennant are from 
 the chalk of Kent and Wilts. 
 
 FLUSTRA CHARTACE.E, 
 
 abounds at Hastings ; thin, glistening, and scarcely two 
 inches high, of a light straw colour ; the cells are an oblong 
 figure, protected by a helmet-like operculum. Called also 
 the Paper Sea mat. 
 
 The name Flustra is from a Saxon word jlustrian, to 
 weave ; and wonderful, truly, is the living web which the 
 Almighty hand has woven in the deep sea ! 
 
 CELLULARIA REPTANS. 
 
 (Creeping Cellulavia.) 
 
 The Cellularia polyzoa has a mixture of horny and cal- 
 careous matter ; the cells have an oblique opening each 
 with four or five short spines : it is a very common species 
 on fucus, in circular branched tufts. 
 
 CELLULARIA CILIATA. 
 
 A delicate little pearly -white coralline, often found amidst 
 the bunches of red sea-weed — the Ptilota sericea espe- 
 cially. The cells are at the tips of the branches, and armed 
 with five very long calcareous spines, which are so brittle 
 
SERIALARIA LENDIGERA. 1G7 
 
 that you seldom get them mounted perfectly ; and over 
 the mouth a most exquisite little operculum, transparent 
 yet firm, closes the door against intrusion, and falls back 
 when the twelve or sixteen ciliated .tentacles come forth for 
 food. 
 
 CRISEA EBURNEA. 
 
 The Ivory-tufted Coralline common on such sea-weeds 
 as Delesseria and Dasya, also on the roots of the 
 Laminaria which has been thrown by a rough sea upon the 
 beach : finely granulated pear-shaped vesicles are often 
 scattered over its branches ; it is strongly calcareous ; the 
 cells tubular, with circular apertures looking towards oppo- 
 site sides. 
 
 CRISIA CORNUTA. 
 
 The Goat's-horn Coralline, more rare, and parasitical on 
 other zoophytes. This is a very minute species, with long 
 tubular cells, shaped like goat's horns, and placed one over 
 the other. A fine hair-like bristle projects from the side 
 of each cell, and specked oval- shaped gemmae are often 
 found on the branches. 
 
 SERIALARIA LENDIGERA. 
 
 The Nit coralline. Large tangled masses of Serialaria 
 often lie upon the sea-sand after a storm, or come ashore 
 clinging to the up-torn branches of Halidrys. It looks to 
 the naked eye but as some knotted thread ; yet even with 
 a pocket lens we find each knot to be a little pan pipe, with 
 from eight to twelve polype cells seated side by side on the 
 fine silken thread which runs on a little space, and again a 
 small pan pipe or family group makes what is called the Nit 
 on the coralline. 
 
168 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SEA-WEEDS,— MARINE ALG.E. 
 
 " The gentleness of Heaven is on the sea. 
 Listen ! the mighty Being is awake, 
 And doth with his eternal motion make 
 A sound like thunder — everlastingly. 
 
 Wordsworth. 
 
 " The water is calm and still below, 
 
 For the winds and waves are absent there, 
 And the sands are bright as the stars that glow 
 
 In the motionless fields of upper air ; 
 There, with its waving blade of green, 
 
 The Sea-weed streams through the silent water, 
 And the crimson leaf of the Dulse is seen 
 
 To blush like a banner bathed in slaughter." 
 
 Percival. 
 
 These slides of Sea-weeds will surely be very popular 
 objects ; the student at the sea- side will refer to them 
 again and again for the verification of his own specimens, 
 and for instruction in the varied tissues and parts of 
 fructification. The student at home and far inland will 
 bend over them in delight until he hears the booming wave, 
 and feels the spray of an up-rushing tide — until, on the 
 wide, wild coast, after a storm, he seems to see the tangled 
 treasures of these beautiful plants cast up to perish. Or, as 
 slide after slide is examined and learned, the strong 
 yearning will come for a wandering by the sea- side — a rest 
 beside a rock-pool. If the sea-side has ever been a Home 
 — if our childhood's joy has been to patter on the sands 
 with naked feet, and chase the scrambling crab into its 
 cranny — or, later, with eager hand to gather Zoophyte and 
 Weed, with an understanding heart and loving eye for the 
 great works of the Almighty, then these beautiful specimens 
 
SEA- WEEDS. 169 
 
 will come with the power of association and memory, as well 
 as with their scientific value. 
 
 A slide of that exquisite Ptilota plumosa sent my 
 spirit far away from the quiet country home. A sound of 
 a gushing tide was in mine ears, the vast expanse of a 
 sunlit sea before mine eyes — my feet were slipping and 
 bounding from rock to rock, down to the edge of a retreat- 
 ing wave, a long way from the shadow of the Serk cliffs. 
 Suddenly, as in a dream, a deep rock-pool lay before me, 
 on the outer side of which a forest of Laminaria and 
 Chorda-filum was streaming out into the sea ; all round 
 the interior margin were thick clusters of olive sea- weeds 
 and the dense foliage of Lichina, Cystoseira, and Furcel- 
 laria. Here and there beautiful tufts of the jointed 
 Catanella, the delicate Ceramium, Laurentia, Plocamhim , 
 and in one dark corner some fronds of the crimson Rho- 
 dt/menia, whilst in the deepest shadow grew the purple 
 Chondms crispus turning green and olive in the sunny side 
 of the pool. The water was clear and untroubled, when 
 with little splash a Cabot* darted across from crevice to 
 cranny beneath a boulder in the pool ; a Prawn, gracefully 
 poised, and waving its long feelers, was lurking under the 
 weeds, and a green, greedy Crab, was watching a purple, 
 passive Mussel gaping in the warmth and quietude : 
 myriads of living creatures, tiny Molluscs and Cytherida?, 
 were rejoicing in that little world — one single tide-pool. 
 
 Not to dream on, but to explore deeper still into the 
 mysteries and beauties of the sea-flowers — as they should 
 be called — not weeds. 
 
 " Call us not weeds — we are flowers of the sea : 
 For lovely, and bright, and gay-tinted are we, 
 And quite independent of culture or showers ; 
 Then call us not weeds — we are ocean's fair flowers." 
 
 Landesborough. 
 
 We must consider steadily their microscopic parts, and 
 learn their place in creation. 
 
 * The Guernsey name for the Bleimius, or Blenny 
 
170 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 MARINE AhGM, 
 
 or Sea-weeds, are in the ranks of the lower Cryptogamia ; 
 yet the range is very wide, from the fructification of the 
 simple Ulva to the highly organized antheridia and 
 antherozoides of the Fucus platycarpus. 
 
 The greatest interest of the Sea-weed slides will be lost 
 unless we are acquainted with their fructification ; for no 
 slide is of much value unless it displays either the Tetra- 
 spores, or Favellce, or Ceramidium, or Sori, or Nemathecia, 
 or Antheridia of the various plants. 
 
 It is best to look at these preparations first with the 
 lowest power, a two-inch object glass, which gives a large 
 clear field, and displays the general form to the greatest 
 advantage. Then raise the power successively to examine 
 the fructification, in doing which we may find some beautiful 
 specimens of Diatomaceas attached to the Algaa. In looking 
 over a slide of Ptilota I observed a chain of the frustules of 
 Grammatophora depending from one of the pinna?, and two 
 or three beautiful Isthmia obliqua entangled in another 
 part of the frond ; some Licmophora were attached to the 
 stem, and this single slide gave long and delightful study, 
 with the use of all the powers of the microscoj)e. 
 
 The fructification of Sea-weed, which is the most im- 
 portant part, can only be understood by having a collection 
 of about twelve slides, of the following varieties : — 
 
 Two slides of Ptilota, which will shew either an involucre, 
 containing three spores, or a lacinia, or little leaf, bearing 
 numerous tetraspores, that is, cases containing four 
 spores or seeds. 
 
 Two of Plocamium, which give branches bearing 
 tubercles containing tetraspores, or stichidia containing 
 spores. 
 
 One of Polysiphonia gives an example of a Ceramidium, 
 an elegant urn-shaped capsule, open at the top, and contain- 
 ing a group of crimson pear-shaped spores. 
 
 Two of Odonthalia, which has two kinds of fructification ; 
 and on the slide should be either capsular fruit, somewhat 
 like that of Polysiphonia ; or stichidia, long, delicate pod- 
 like receptacles, enclosing crimson spores in separate 
 chambers or cells. 
 
MARINE ALG.E. 171 
 
 Two of Callithammion, -which has capsules seated along 
 its pinnae, or branchlets with bi-lobed Favellce. 
 
 Phyllophora shews quite a different kind of fructification, 
 called nemathecia, or warts, concealed under leafy processes 
 composed of delicate moniliform or bead-like filaments. 
 
 Rhodyrnenia gives an example of embedded tubercles 
 containing spores called coccidia. 
 
 Nitophyllum is spotted with sort, each of which con- 
 tain a number of tetraspores. 
 
 Polsiphonia fastigiata abounds with antheridia at the 
 tips of its filaments amongst spiral fibres. 
 
 The fructification of the highest order is that of Fucus 
 serratus and platycarpuB^ which should be examined fresh 
 from the plant, and is seen in perfection between the months 
 of December and April. It has a truly sexual character, 
 and as the receptacles of this Fucus contain both the 
 " sperm-cells" and the " germ-cells," it is considered an 
 hermaphrodite plant. 
 
 In the common Fucus vesiculosus (Bladder-wrack) the 
 receptacles containing antheridia are found on one plant, 
 and those containing sporangia on a separate individual ; 
 it is best, therefore, to obtain the F. platycarpus or 
 serratus, which latter is found abundantly at half-tide, 
 and easily recognized by the toothed edges of its frond, 
 when both organs are observable in the same plant. 
 
 Choose a mature receptacle, which may be known by its 
 discharging little gelatinous masses adhering round its 
 orifice. Make a section through it, and yau will see a 
 globular cavity lined •with filaments, some of which project 
 through the pore. These filaments are jointed, or rather 
 are composed of cells containing what are called anthero- 
 zoides ; these are yellow dots with two long thread-like 
 appendages, which, when liberated by the breaking of the 
 cell, have a spontaneous and rapid motion, and they imme- 
 diately swarm around the sporangia, and fecundate them. 
 The sporangia are pear-shaped bodies lying amongst these 
 filaments near the walls of the cavity, and they are the 
 parent cells of the germ cells, which produce the spores or 
 seeds. Each of these sporangia gives forth a cluster of 
 eight cells, and are therefore also called octospores. 
 
 In the hermaphrodite fuci the spores do not leave the 
 
172 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 receptacle until after their fecundation ; but in Fucus vesi- 
 culosa, which is a diaecious plant, the antherozoides meet 
 the spores in the water directly after they issue from the 
 receptacle. 
 
 To observe this, take an olive-green receptacle, which is 
 the female, and set free a few spores in a drop of sea-water 
 in a shallow cell ; then liberate a few ripe filaments from 
 an orange-yellow receptacle, which will contain the anther- 
 ozoides, and the whole process of fertilization may be 
 watched with a power of 250 diameters. 
 
 Then, if you further wish to prove the subsequent pro- 
 cess of germination, a little care and patience will enable 
 these very spores to grow from the cell of what is called a 
 " growing slide," or even in a tumbler of water, taking 
 precautions to keep the water fresh and still, by drawing it 
 off with a sijDhon, and renewing it daily in the same gentle 
 way. 
 
 The fructification of the RhodosjDermeaj, or red Sea- 
 weeds, has not yet been so thoroughly investigated, and 
 the varied forms of the spore-cases will be the chief beauty 
 as well as value of the following preparations. 
 
 CALLITHAMNION. 
 
 There are twenty-five species of this plant, and most of 
 them are common on the shores of Great Britain ; its 
 name is derived from two Greek words, signifying " beautiful 
 little shrub," and it is very beautiful, with a rosy or brown- 
 ish-red frond, or rather filament, jointed and branching, 
 bearing two kinds of fructification : — 
 
 1, External tetraspores seated upon the branches. 
 
 2, Roundish or lobed berry-like receptacles, called 
 favelke, seated on the main branches, and containing many 
 spores. 
 
 Callithamnion delights in mud- covered rocks. C. ro- 
 seum is found at Torquay ; also G. gracillimum growing 
 along the mud-covered base of the harbour. In fact the 
 collector must often content himself with a handful of mud, 
 showing merely a few red filaments, and then on washing 
 these carefully he will find not only one, but perhaps many, 
 species of this lovely Sea- weed. 
 
PT1L0TA PLUMOSA. 17 
 
 CERAMIUM. 
 
 •> 
 
 Fourteen species are on the list of British Algae. 
 
 The filaments are of varied colour, from red and purple 
 to white, jointed and dichotomous, which means regularly 
 and repeatedly cleft ; it has two kinds of fructification — 
 
 1, Capsules, with a membranous pericarp or outer skin, 
 containing numerous angular seeds. 
 
 2, Oblong granules partly imbedded in the joints of the 
 filaments called favellce. 
 
 The name is from a Greek word signifying " little 
 pitcher,' 1 '' which the capsules nevertheless do not resemble. 
 
 Ceramium botrycarpum is found in fruit from August to 
 November, with clusters of favellae on all the branches — 
 most beautiful. Its chief habitat is Torquay and Bristol. 
 
 Ceramium rubrum is common everywhere in tide-pools 
 between water-mark. 
 
 PTILOTA PLUMOSA. 
 
 This lovely little plant, rightly named Ptilota, from a 
 Greek word signifying "pinnated," from its innumerable 
 small branches or pinnce, is one of our best preparations ; 
 for, even without the fruit, its cellular tissue being very 
 transparent, the cells containing the crimson endochrome 
 are distinctly seen, and render it a favourite object. The 
 stem is closelv branched right and left with branchlets called 
 pinnm* and these again cut into exceedingly fine divisions 
 called pinnulo? ; at the tip of the latter we find the fructi- 
 fication. This consists of two or three minute capsules 
 called favello?, each of which contains three or four oval 
 seeds, and they are themselves surrounded and apparently 
 protected by several linear segments bending over them. 
 
 When fresh-gathered for observation, these favellce are 
 of a rich crimson with a pellucid border, and, seated in their 
 little cage of crimson pinnulse, are really beautiful. 
 
 Another kind of fructification is found on Ptilota*, but on 
 distinct individuals; the pinnule are broader at the tips, 
 and covered with oval bodies called tetraspores, from their 
 containing four seeds. 
 
174 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 Ptilota is a perennial plant found in Summer and Autumn 
 frequently growing on the stems of Laminaria digitata, and 
 therefore our best specimens may be gathered on the beach 
 after the autumnal equinoctial gales. At Torquay it is 
 found on rocks, but Ptilota sericea is often mistaken for it ; 
 this is very abundant on the rocks at Moulin Huet in 
 Guernsey, hanging in rich silky masses on the sheltered 
 side of the rocks, and thronged with that minute but lovely 
 zoophyte Eucratia chelata. 
 
 PLOCAMIUM VULGARE, OR COCCINEUM. 
 
 Plocamium, coccineum it is called from its fine crim- 
 son colour, and the word Plocamium means, in Greek, 
 " braided hair," which the fine divisions of the frond 
 resemble. 
 
 A small branch of this lovely weed has been thus hap- 
 pily described in a French botanical work, and will direct 
 the eye in examining this slide. I shall therefore tran- 
 scribe it : — 
 
 " Sa tige est tres-rameuse, et toujours dans le menie 
 plan ; l'ordre des ramifications est tres-remarkable ; chaque 
 rameau est legerement flexueux, et n'emet de ramifications 
 que du cote convexe : la premiere est un filet simple et 
 pointu ; la deuxieme est un filet qui a trois dents du cote 
 anterieur ; la troisieme est un filet qui a deux dents, et qui 
 au lieu de la troisieme dent pousse un filet muni d'une dent 
 en dehors ; la quatrieme est un filet qui n'a qu'une dent, la 
 deuxieme dent est devenue une filet a une dent, et la 
 troisieme un filet rameux. 
 
 " Apres ces quatre ramifications il y a une espace vide, 
 et la tige emet des rameux semblables du cote oppose." 
 
 The fructification is of two kinds : — 
 
 1 , The stichidia, or oblong vesicles containing spores in 
 separate divisions or cells — very beautiful. 
 
 2, Spherical capsules, seated upon the branches, contain- 
 ing a cluster of spores. 
 
 This is a common Sea-weed everywhere in Summer and 
 Autumn. 
 
SPHEROCOCCUS. 1 ? ."> 
 
 POLYSIPHONIA. 
 
 There are twenty-four species of this Sea-weed, some of 
 them inhabitants of the rock-pool, some of the wide wild 
 ocean, on the stems of Laminaria, and therefore often found 
 upon the beach after a storm, or obtained by dredging on 
 all the British coasts. It also loves to grow upon Melo- 
 besia on the steep sides of rock-pools. 
 
 Of all these the P. urceolata and P. elongella are the 
 best for microscopic observation. The former has a beau- 
 tiful fructification ; an urn-shajDed capsule called a cera- 
 midium, furnished with a pore or opening like the mouth of 
 a vase, and containing a tuft of pear-shaped spores. 
 
 A second form of fruit is met with on the same plant — 
 the tip of a branch expands, and a row of tetraspores is 
 embedded in it ; also on Polysiphonia fastigiata such an 
 abundance of antheridia is found as to give a yellow 
 colour to the plant, quite visible to the naked eye, and de- 
 serving particular microscopic observation. 
 
 SPHEROCOCCUS. 
 
 A common plant, often cast ashore after a gale, and 
 found all along the coast of Cornwall and Devonshire, Isle 
 of Wight, and the Channel Islands. 
 
 It is difficult to obtain perfect specimens of the beautiful 
 fructification, they are so often destroyed by the violence of 
 the waves ; but a careful dissection of it freshly gathered 
 would be both delightful and instructive. 
 
 We find minute spherical capsules supported on slender 
 stalks and mucronate, that is, having a little spine ob- 
 liquely projecting from their apex ; upon opening this, bj 
 making a section through it, we see a cluster of crimson 
 seeds, also stalked. The structure of the branches should 
 be noticed ; they are obscurely but perfectly veined, a faint 
 narrow midrib and lateral parallel veins may be distinctly 
 seen. 
 
176 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 GRIFFITHSIA, 
 
 so named in honour of Mrs. Griffiths of Torquay, found on 
 the coast of Devonshire, and other parts of the southern 
 coasts of England. The frond is rose-red, filamentous, and 
 jointed. The fructification of two kinds : — 
 
 1, Tetraspores affixed to whorled involucral ramuli or 
 small branches. 
 
 2, Favellee, or gelatinous receptacles, surrounded by an 
 involucre, and containing a mass of minute angular spores. 
 
 There is a beautiful species, called Griffithsia coralinw, 
 the filaments of which resemble a string of fine glossy 
 crimson beads, found on rocks at low-water-mark, or in 
 deep pools during Summer. This should be mounted, if 
 possible, with its tetraspores. 
 
 GRACILLARIA, 
 
 one of the Sphserococcoidre, named from a Latin word 
 signifying " slender." 
 
 Gracillaria erecta is found on sand-covered rocks at 
 Sidmouth and Torquay ; it fruits in Winter,* when it should 
 be gathered and mounted ; for both kinds of fructification 
 are beautiful, especially the coccidia, of which sections 
 should be made to show the spores imbedded in the outer 
 skin, and the delicate hexagonal cells of the interior. 
 
 The coccidia are pod-like receptacles at the tips of the 
 filaments, and, when magnified, appear to be dotted with 
 crimson spots. Make a transverse section to observe the 
 position of the spores. The other kind of fructification is 
 a frond covered with sessile capsules, about the size of a 
 poppy- seed, containing a cluster of oblong red seeds. 
 
 Gracillaria compressa is sometimes cast ashore attached 
 to coral and algee at Sidmouth, where it was found by 
 Mrs. Griffiths, and also in the Channel Islands by other 
 collectors. It is not generally known that the Island of 
 Alderney is famous for its rare and beautiful Sea- weeds, 
 many of them made known by Mrs. Gaudion, wife of the 
 late judge of Alderney, an indefatigable collector and 
 
 * February and March. 
 
odontSalia. 17? 
 
 admirable preserver of Sea-weeds, to whom I am greatly 
 obliged for some excellent specimens. 
 
 LAURENTIA. 
 
 There are several species of this abundant and pretty 
 Sea-weed. It varies much in colour and size; some species, 
 L. pinnatiftda, being of a dark purple and even olive colour, 
 whilst the Laurentia obtusa has a fine pink colour, though 
 in rock-pools much exposed to the sun it hangs in dirty 
 yellow bunches, and for that reason is often unrecognized. 
 The rare Laurentia tenuissima is found plentifully in the 
 Channel Islands. 
 
 The fructification of Laurentia is both various and 
 remarkable, requiring microscopic investigation. 
 
 1. They have broadly ovate capsules, about the size of a 
 poppy-seed, containing red pear-shaped seeds, supported 
 upon narrow stalks. A section must be made through the 
 capsule to show them well. 
 
 2. Ternate granules imbedded in the ramuli, or tips of 
 the short branches. Simply magnified they appear to be 
 dotted. A transverse section should be made. 
 
 Then, again, on some specimens of the same plant may 
 frequently be found swollen tips, forming large spurious 
 capsules, and these are very curious. Some of them have 
 only a minute pore ; others are spread out more like the 
 shield of a Lichen, and edged with pink. On making a 
 section through these, numerous transparent linear bodies 
 are seen pressed closely together ; they are composed of 
 minute filaments surrounding a slight column, and termi- 
 nate in several round pellucid lobes. In the round capsules 
 they are also present, and by a gentle pressure under the 
 microscope are seen to issue in numbers from the pore. 
 
 Laurentia is found in perfection from June to Septemb< r 
 
 ODONTHALIA. 
 
 This is only found on the Northern coasts of England, 
 Yorkshire, and Scotland. It comes on shore from the 
 deep sea finely dotted with fruit in the month ofNovemlx 
 The beautiful stichidia, reddish purple, and the ceramidium 
 
 — both kinds are on this plant. 
 
178 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 BONNEMAISONNIA, 
 
 named after Bonnemaison, a celebrated French Algologist. 
 Nothing can be more graceful and beautiful than this ex- 
 quisite little plant ; the fronds so delicately ciliated, of a 
 bright rose colour, and dotted all along with tiny capsules — 
 the true ceramidium ; each urn-like vase containing a group 
 of stalked spore-cases, in which are numerous seeds. The 
 texture of the plant also is a beautiful microscopic object. 
 It is found from June to September all round the English 
 and Scottish coast. 
 
 DELESSERIA 
 
 is only microscopic in its fructification, and as an example 
 of Sori. It has two kinds of fructification : — 
 
 1. Capsules, containing spores, and these are always 
 found upon the midrib and stem of the plant. 
 
 2. Sori, or masses of granules collected into little spots 
 or lines in the substance of the frond, or in little leaflets 
 or distinct pod-like leafy processes, which form a sort of 
 fringe on the midrib and margin of the plant. We never 
 find more than one kind of fruit on any individual. 
 
 Delesseria is a well-known and abundant Sea-weed, a 
 favourite in all collections, from its beautiful colour and 
 broad fronds. 
 
 Delesseria limosa is found after storms attached to the 
 stems of Laminaria digitala. Specimens have been 
 gathered in which the frond measured four inches across. 
 
 There is one species, Delesseria tmscifolia, which de- 
 serves microscopic attention from its substance between 
 the midrib and margin being transversed by white pellucid 
 branched veins composed of a single row of elongated 
 cellules. The colour is a fine rose pink ; it is foimd from 
 May to September, at Yarmouth, Torquay, Bognor, 
 Ilfracombe, &c. 
 
 RHODOMELA. 
 
 This is a large, bushy plant, beautifully tufted in the 
 Spring, and bearing feathery tufts of Hamuli of fight 
 
HALYMENIA. 179 
 
 brown purplish colour. In early summer, about June, the 
 fruit is found, and is of two kinds : — 
 
 1. Nearly globular capsules, full of free, pear-shaped 
 seeds. 
 
 2. Stichidia, pod-like receptacles, with ternate granules 
 imbedded in the substance. 
 
 Sections of a ripe pod and of the stem are beautiful 
 under the microscope. The external appearance is as if it 
 was ribbed, or jointed ; but upon examination we find a 
 tissue of hexagonal cells, each with a red dot in the centre, 
 and if we make a longitudinal section we find oblong cells, 
 through which runs a red filament. It is found upon 
 the drifted stems of Laminaria, and upon rocks in the sea. 
 There are several species, of which Rhodomela ivjnastroides 
 is the most common. 
 
 SPYRIDIA FILAMENTOSA. 
 
 This is rare in England, but found on the coast of Devon- 
 shire, the Isle of Wight, and the Channel Islands. The 
 name is derived from a Greek word signifying u basket," 
 which the receptacles resemble ; for the stalked gelatinous 
 receptacles have a membraneous pericarp often surrounded 
 by an involucre of short ramuli, containing two or three 
 masses of roundish granules ; it is these which look like 
 baskets. 
 
 CHAETOSPORA WIGGII 
 
 is very beautiful, but rarely obtained in fruit, and has 
 not yet been thoroughly investigated ; therefore it is men- 
 tioned rather to induce observation when the plant is' found 
 in perfection. It is gathered on the coast of Normandy, and 
 in the Channel Islands ; Sidmouth, Brighton, and Yarmouth 
 also yield it occasionally, of a fine rose colour, and Avith 
 very delicate filiform fronds. 
 
 HALYMENIA. 
 
 A compressed frond, pinky red, consisting of a very 
 delicate membrane, which when in fruit is dotted with Sori, 
 and a transverse section should be made, which will shew 
 
 N 2 
 
180 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 the spores, called in this plant " favellidia" attached to 
 the inner surface of the membrane. It is found abundantly 
 on the coast on rocks and stones in the sea during Summer. 
 
 DASYA. 
 
 There are four species of this lovely Sea-weed. The 
 name is taken from a Greek word signifying hairy. The 
 commonest of them, Dasya coccinea, is often mistaken for 
 Ptilota plumosa, being found in long crimson feathery 
 sprays on the coast after storms, or dredged in deep water. 
 It is a great favourite with collectors of sea-weed for orna- 
 mental purposes, and is equally valuable for the microscope, 
 yielding two kinds of fructification ; the Ceramidium, con- 
 taining pear-shaped spores, and the Stichidia, containing 
 tetraspores ranged in transverse bands. 
 
 A delicate section of the lower part of the stem will 
 shew the internal structure, which is of numerous parallel 
 tubes surrounding a central cavity, and edged with a circle 
 of the short stout hairs which clothe the stem. 
 
 Sections of the fruit and of the stem are often indispen- 
 sable for determining the species, and give innumerable 
 varieties of beautiful objects. 
 
 DASYA ARBUSCULA. 
 
 A delicate and not uncommon plant at the verge of low- 
 water mark in many parts of Scotland and in the Channel 
 Islands ; remarkable for its beautiful and abundant stichidia, 
 clustered amidst the fine ramuli, which cover the frond 
 densely, and are forked at the tip, jointed, and of a clear 
 crimson-lake colour, sometimes more or less brown, and 
 always discharging its fine colour if left in fresh-water. 
 
 DASYA OCCELLAT.E, 
 
 is of a purple colour, and the dense tufts of ramuli at the 
 tips of the branches give it a dotted appearance, like an 
 eyelet on each delicate feathery stem. The stichidia are 
 very long slender pods, full of tetraspores. 
 
goadby's solution. 181 
 
 DASYA VENUSTA. 
 
 A most beautiful and rare little plant, found in the Channel 
 Islands in Summer and Autumn. The shape of the stichidia, 
 which have long acute points, and the repeatedly forked 
 rarnuli, distinguish it from Dasyaarbuscula, which it other- 
 wise much resembles. 
 
 These marine Algae are prepared in Paris, by Bourgogne, 
 and sold by Baker, of High Holborn. A collection of even 
 a few would be most useful to a young student, who thus 
 learns what to mount for himself at the sea- side. 
 
 As to the method ; when the form only of the plant is 
 desired I find Canada balsam a good medium. The Sea- 
 weed being perfectly dry, it only requires placing in warm, 
 not hot, Balsam, and covering with a previously warmed 
 thin glass cover. But for the display and preservation of 
 the fructification the following liquid is preferable : — 
 
 GOADBY'S SOLUTION FOR MARINE ALG.E. 
 
 Four oz. bay-salt, two oz. alum, four grains corrosive 
 sublimate, two quarts of boiling water. 
 
 The cells to be made on the revolving table with Bruns- 
 wick black, and thoroughly dried. The specimen then laid 
 in the cell with enough of the solution to fill the cell, and 
 the glass cover carefully laid on. Let it stand for a few 
 minutes, and dry the surrounding glass with blotting paper 
 before the varnish is applied, which hermetically seals it. 
 The Sea- weed must be mounted fresh from the sea. 
 
182 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FOKAMLNATED SHELLS. 
 
 I believe that every one is surprised and delighted with 
 these lovely little shells ; so minute that they resemble 
 grains of the finest sand ; and so perfect in structure that 
 they seem to be the habitation of a more highly organized 
 animal than they really are. 
 
 There are two kinds of foraminated shells, calcareous 
 and siliceous. The calcareous shells are found alive in 
 marine deposit, and on sea-weed ; the siliceous are also 
 dredged up from the depths of the sea, and found in stalata 
 formed of fossil deposits. 
 
 The animals which dwell in these beautiful little shells 
 are of the lowest order in the scale of animal creation, 
 not yet perfectly understood, and are variously placed by 
 scientific men. Formerly they were considered as belong- 
 ing to the family of Cephalopods, or Cuttle-fish. Ehrenberg, 
 a great naturalist, regarded them as polypes, and placed 
 them amongst the Bryozoa, or Zoophytes. Du Jardin, a 
 French naturalist, and most modern authors, agree in the 
 relationship of foraminifera to those very curious animals, 
 Amceba and ' Actinophrys sol, which are found in fresh- 
 water, and may be studied from our aquariums. 
 
 Their internal organization is a simple body of what is 
 called sarcode, a kind of pulp which has the power of 
 assimilating and digesting food in all its parts. The body 
 has no particular mouth, stomach, or intestine, neither has 
 it eyes or other senses, except feeling ; but it can put 
 forth long feelers through the perforations in the shell, 
 and can entangle and draw in its appointed food, which, 
 whenever it enters, is presently digested, and the residue 
 ejected, not always out of the shell, for the cavities are 
 sometimes choked up by these undigested atoms. 
 
 Now in some of the Foraminifera the body is single and 
 jointed, in others the chambers of the cells are so distinct 
 that the sarcode body may be considered as compound, 
 
THE OPERCULINA. 183 
 
 and one tiny shell to contain a family, the members of which 
 have been produced as gemmse or buds, one from the other. 
 
 The subject is still under investigation by scientific men, 
 therefore I shall not enter further into it, but recommend 
 the student, if desirous of further information, to read 
 " Weaver's Abstract of Foraminif era " in " Annals of Nat. 
 Hist., 1841;" "Williamson Trans. Micros. Soc, vol.ii.," 
 and " Micr. Journal, vol. i.;" also " Carpenter on the Micro- 
 scope, chap, x." 
 
 The structure of the shell itself is various, some being 
 single-chambered (Lagena, Miliolina, and Gromia) ; the 
 greater number are compound shells, with cells arranged 
 lengthwise or circular, or spiral, all of them dotted with 
 numerous foramina, or holes, from whence they are named 
 foraminated shells. 
 
 We should have at least three slides of these in our 
 collection : one of the mixed specimens, one of the beau- 
 tiful Cristellaria, or Operculina, and one of the siliceous 
 Foraminifera from the Barbadoes deposit. 
 
 THE OPERCULINA, 
 
 is the best example of a compound shell, to shew the divi- 
 sion into chambers ; it is like a tiny nautilus, and if we 
 saw the interior, would find each chamber separated from 
 the other by double walls, or septa, containing tubes, and 
 which give off lateral branches, and a network of minute 
 veins for circulation of fluid. A large syphon or tube 
 forms the margin of the shell, and is the medium of com- 
 munication between the cells. 
 
 The shells of this Foraminifera being calcareous, are 
 easily dissolved by muriatic acid ; and a recent specimen 
 may be examined by placing it in a watchglassful of water 
 with one drop of strong acid, when, in a very short time. 
 the shell will dissolve, leaving the animal naked and perfect 
 with every mark of its habitation left upon its plastic body. 
 
 On examining a mixed slide you will find that Borne are 
 starlike (Astoma), some in complex whorls (Cassidulina), 
 some straight and yet chambered (Verneucilina) — the 
 variety is immense. They are dredged from the depths of 
 the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, and iEgean Seas, and on 
 our own coast they are found also plentifully in the white 
 
184 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 drifted sand, or amongst the corallines in rock-pools. The 
 Cassidulina and Eosalina are the most common in the 
 Channel Islands. The ouze of oyster beds also abound 
 with some species. 
 
 FOSSIL FORAMINATED SHELLS FROM BARBADOES. 
 
 These are of a different kind ; the shells are siliceous ; 
 the variety even on this one slide is probably amazing, and 
 the delicacy of form and workmanship truly worth a long 
 and careful examination. They were first discovered by 
 Professor Ehrenberg at Cuxhaven on the Xorth Sea, after- 
 wards found by him in collections made in the Antarctic 
 Seas. Fancy these fragile and lovely little creatures have 
 been brought up by the sounding lead at the depth of 2000 
 fathoms ! Such are the beautiful forms which the hand 
 of God has fashioned in His wisdom, where human eye 
 never sees and foot of man never treads, and which, but 
 for our microscope, had remained unknown to us as they 
 have been for the ages past. 
 
 Nothing do we examine thus, but it reveals such perfect 
 finish, such loving design of adaptation to the creature's 
 necessities, that we have deeper thoughts than our tongue 
 can utter, and learn lessons that philosophy has never 
 taught. Xothing is done carelessly ; nothing is isolated or 
 loose in the scale of creation ; the plan is seen ever wider, 
 deeper, higher, but complete and in perfect order, whatever 
 part is presented to our finite mind. We see very little, 
 we know very little ; but we gaze on, and our hearts are 
 directed upward even by a slide of microscopic shells sculp- 
 tured with hieroglyphics of the Creator. 
 
 The Barbadoes deposit alone furnishes 282 varieties ; and 
 when we consider that in a single ounce of sand 6000 of 
 these shells were picked out, and in another ounce from 
 the shores of the Antilles no less than 3,840,000 were dis- 
 covered ; when we learn that these little shells are increas- 
 ing so fast as to block up navigable channels, obstruct 
 gulfs, and fill up harbours, we feel how little we can know 
 of that Infinite Mind who has so ordered the multiplicity, 
 and so elaborately worked these foraminated shells. 
 
NUMMULITES. 185 
 
 ORBITOLITES 
 
 are circular fossil shells, varying in size from a sixpence to 
 very minute species, found in all foraminiferous sand. It 
 is the habitation of a composite animal, often found alive 
 on sea- weed, but more abundant in the fossil state. The 
 chambers or cells are arranged in circles — the shell not 
 sculptured. The animal is of a less high order than the 
 true Foraminifera. Perforations in the shell are doubtless 
 for the Pseudopodia ; their habits and mode of propaga- 
 tion are not known. 
 
 NUMMULITES. 
 
 These are a species of Foraminifera, but only in the fossil 
 state ; they are much larger, too, varying in size from a four- 
 penny piece to half-a-crown ; they are the habitations of a 
 composite animal, and the structure of the shell very com- 
 j)licate ; the chambers arranged in spirals round the centre 
 in great numbers. They abound in the United States, where 
 a mountain 300 feet high seems to be entirely formed of 
 these shells. The crystalline marble of the Pyrenees and 
 the limestone ranges of the Adriatic Sea are wholly com- 
 posed of small Xummulites. The Great Pyramid of Egypt 
 is built upon blocks of limestone consisting of these fora- 
 minated shells — habitations of beings who lived long before 
 the age of man, and were, amongst others, God's instru- 
 ments for preparing the earth for the perfection of his 
 creation. 
 
186 THE AN DIAL KINGDOM. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SPICULES OF SPONGES. 
 
 SPICULES OF SPONGE. 
 
 These slides, although useful, and to a certain extent 
 interesting, are very far from what is wanted to illustrate 
 the nature of a sponge. They are isolated siliceous 
 spicula of the horny skeleton of the sponge ; very various 
 in form, but all for the same purpose of strengthening the 
 framework of the animal. 
 
 Sponges in their living state are by no means like the 
 dried specimens sold for domestic purposes ; these are but 
 the dead form, the mere skeleton of what was once a living 
 creature. When alive it possesses a firm, fleshy substance, 
 composed of cells about the T ^ ^ of an inch in diameter ; 
 the horny skeleton is developed in the inter-cellular sub- 
 stance, and within cells of horny matter these spicula are 
 secreted. 
 
 Sponges present a great variety in their external ap- 
 pearance ; some being soft as jelly, whilst others are as 
 hard as flint ; some very large, and others exceedingly 
 minute. The nature of the body closely resembles that of 
 the Foraminifera and Amoeba?, having no distinct organs, 
 and capable of assimilating food in all its parts. There is 
 a current flowing in and out through the whole sponge, 
 entering the small apertures or oscula, and being expelled 
 by the animal through the large apertures or oscula. The 
 channels through which the currents are drawn and ex- 
 pelled are furnished with ciliated cells, which promote the 
 circulation of the water from whence the sponge derives 
 its needful supply of oxygen and food for the maintenance 
 of its life. 
 
 This action may be observed by the sea- side student on 
 carefully removing Grantia ' ciliata, or Halichondria 
 
SPICULES OF GRANTIA NIVEA. 187 
 
 panicece from its native rock, and placing it in a basin of 
 fresh sea-water, when they will presently ponr forth streams 
 of the fluid from their oscula, and give full evidence of 
 life. 
 
 Their propagation is by gemmation, or by winter-ova, 
 for a full description of which we must refer to Mr. 
 Bowcrbank's papers in " Trans. Micro. Soc, 1840," and 
 " Johnson on British Sponges." 
 
 What we particularly want for an educational box is a 
 good section of sponge, shewing the spicula in situ. The 
 following slides are, however, very useful, because after 
 examining the tri-radiate spicula of Grant ia, the stellate 
 pin-shaped spicula of Tethea, the anchor-headed spicula of 
 Pachymatisma, and the peculiar bi-rotulate spicula of the 
 fresh-water sponge, Sjiongilla fluviatilis, we are able to 
 understand many of the miscellaneous contents of fossil 
 earth or recent sand, and discern not only the remains of a 
 sponge, but to what particular family an isolated spiculum 
 belongs. 
 
 GEMMULES OF PACHYMATISMA. 
 
 These are young sponges or gemmules ; they grow from 
 the sarcode body, and occur in great numbers towards the 
 base or root of the sponge ; at first they appear as little 
 knobs, arising from the cellular tissue, their stem lengthens, 
 they become detached, ciliated, and soon escape from the 
 parent sponge to whirl for some time in the water, and 
 finally fix upon their appointed habitat and grow into a 
 sponge. 
 
 SPICULES OF GRANTIA NIVEA. 
 
 These are tri-radiate spicula of carbonate of lime. 
 Without sections of the sponge itself, or engravings, it is 
 not possible to explain or understand the beautiful arrange- 
 ment of these spicula for support and fur defence, many of 
 them project into the cavities of the sponge to prevent the 
 entrance of foreign bodies, which would assuredly injure 
 the delicate fibres of its frame. 
 
 Grantia compressa is an abundant animal in the caves 
 
, 
 
 188 
 
 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 at Tenby, and the Gouliot Caves in Serk. Grantia 
 ciliata is found in rocky pools hanging like a little bottle 
 with a circle of silvery spicule round its mouth. 
 Spicules of Pachyniatisma (crutches). 
 Halichondria incrustans. 
 , , Griffithsia. 
 
 Dysidea fragilis. 
 Tether. 
 
 Spongillae fluviatilis. 
 Geodia. 
 
 Sponge Spicules, Thames. 
 
 Serk. 
 
 Pin- shaped. 
 Parallel-spined. 
 Anchor- shaped. 
 Truncated. 
 Clubs. 
 Stars. 
 Sponges from the Phillipine Islands. 
 
 ■ 
 
man's metacarpal. 189 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 SECTIONS OF BONE. 
 
 These are favourite objects for the polariscope, and are 
 usually selected from their brilliancy under polarized light ; 
 but the structure of bone is a most interesting study as 
 connected with comparative anatomy and geological re- 
 searches, opening a wide field of observation. 
 
 Bone is formed, like all other parts of the body, by the 
 development of cells, in which secondary deposits of earthy 
 or inorganic matter consolidate the tissue and form the 
 substance. Chemically, bone consists of gelatine, with 
 phosphate of lime, carbonate of magnesia, fluoride of cal- 
 cium, small quantities of carbonate of lime, and a little 
 oxide of iron. 
 
 The marrow or medullary tissue of bones consists of 
 ordinary fatty tissue, a particular liquid, and cells, with 
 vessels and nerves. 
 
 The structure will only be understood by the examina- 
 tion of a few of these slides. Take, for example, a section 
 of human bone, 
 
 man's metacarpal. 
 
 The first thing we notice is the number of apertures sur- 
 rounded by laminae or layers of substance in circles. 
 These are the Haversian canals which serve for the trans- 
 mission of blood-vessels to the interior of the bone. The 
 numerous black spots with radiating fibres are (.'ailed lacuna, 
 or bone cells, and the fine lines are little tubes called 
 canaliculi, or calcigerous canals. They are dark, because 
 filled with air, and their shape and size are most important 
 matters to the naturalist, who thereby can determine u> 
 what class of Bird, Beast, Reptile, or fish, any given bone 
 belongs. 
 
 Not only so, but by the arrangement of the Haversian 
 canals and bone-cells, differing in every bone <>t' the body, 
 from the bones of man to those of the smallest creature, 
 
190 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 there is an infinite variety of structure adapted to the 
 necessities of the animal, more or less of strength, or of 
 lightness, or of flexibility. 
 
 A knowledge of this has enabled Owen, the great osteo- 
 logist, to ascertain the order and exact position of an ante- 
 diluvian reptile from a mere fragment of fossil bone. 
 
 By microscopic examination of bone the existence of 
 Reaper reptiles in old red sandstone has been determined, 
 and the supposed reptile Saurocephalus been removed into 
 the class of fishes. It is marvellous to observe in the 
 section of a fossil bone which belonged to an animal of ex- 
 tinct race, such as the huge Mastodon and Megatherium, 
 the very same structure and proportionate size of bone-cells 
 that we find in our domestic animals and in man himself; 
 to compare a section of bone from the colossal Iguanodon 
 with one from the timid Lizard, and find them modelled after 
 the same type, and by the peculiar form and large size of 
 the lacunae and canaliculi to recognize the reptile ; or a 
 section from the fossil bones of the gigantic Dinornis, 
 whose species has been extinct for ages, and yet find in the 
 still existing Apteryx a continuance of the race, and the 
 unmistakeable small lacunae of Birds. 
 
 It was from a fossil bone of the Dinornis and micro- 
 scopical examination that Professor Owen ascertained 
 that it was the femur or thigh-bone of a Bird — that the 
 bird was large, heavy, sluggish — of the ostrich tribe, and 
 therefore probably with the habits of that bird. After- 
 wards, when a few more bones were sent to the naturalist, 
 he not only discovered that they belonged to nine different 
 species, but was able to determine that one Dinornis was a 
 bird ten feet six inches high, another nine feet, another 
 five feet, and so on. 
 
 With a very moderate knowledge of the structure of 
 bone, and a habit of observation and comparison, the stu- 
 dent of geology or of natural history may be able to ascer- 
 tain to which class of vertebrate animals any bone, fossil or 
 recent, belongs. A collection of the jaws and small bones 
 of Moles, Rabbits, Weasels, and Rats, will give beautiful 
 preparations. Nor are they difficult to mount ; all we require 
 is a small web saw, a good hone, and patience. Slice a 
 thin bit of bone with the saw, and rub it on the hone with 
 
BONE-CELLS. 
 
 191 
 
 water until transparent ; towards the end of the operation, 
 fasten the section with balsam to a glass slide, and finish 
 the grinding carefully, when it may be dried and mounted 
 like any other object. 
 
 The whole jaw of a Mole well ground down is very beau- 
 tiful, showing the Haversian tubes like a tree branching 
 out between the fangs of the molar teeth. 
 
 Longitudinal sections generally show the structure best. 
 
 In the position and use of a bone, the size and number 
 of the lacunas and Haversian canals are modified to give 
 the required strength or lightness. The wing-bones of 
 a Birds abound in Haversian canals and lacuna?, which give 
 both elasticity and strength, and there is an interesting 
 paper on this subject by the Rev. J. B. Dennis, in the 
 " Microscopical Journal" for 1843. For the guidance of 
 the student who may wish to collect specimens and prepare 
 sections of bone, the following table of the relative size of 
 bone cells in Fishes, Reptiles, Birds, and Man, will be 
 useful : — 
 
 Measurement of bone- cells in 'parts of an English inch. 
 (transverse sections.) 
 
 f Long diameter { onc °™ ie ,ar ^ st 4 *** 
 Human bone ] one of he smallest „W 
 
 ( Short diameter one °™ le lar ^ st ">» 
 v ( one ol the smallest -% q *§■§ 
 
 ( Long diameter { one of *j ie ""^J* "***■ 
 Ostrich \ I one of the smaliest T5T <j 
 
 I Short diameter J one <*%* l * T %f> 4 *** 
 
 v ( one ol the smallest -g^y 
 
 Turtle ( Long diameter { one °£ *[ ie lar § 1 e 1 st 4 rfy 
 
 \ ° { one ol tne smallest -^^ 
 
 Reptile 1 Short diameter j one of &e largest ^ 
 
 v one oi the smallest Wnp 
 
 } Pj1 , 5841) 
 
 ! T -,. , one oi the larn-i's: . 1 .. 
 
 Long diameter < „., ■ ,, ^o 
 
 I one of the smallest^ 
 c-i . r a. one oi the largest — ', 
 ohort diameter < ,,, ,, ±Tov 
 
 [ one ol tin' smallesl . i ._ 
 
 See " Transactions of the Microscopical Society," v«.l. ii. 
 part ii., p. 4G. 
 
192 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 The following preparations of bone may be obtained at 
 Baker's and most other opticians :- 
 Femur of Poliocephalus 
 
 Edwardsi. 
 Femur of Monkey. 
 Femur of Eagle. 
 Bone of Alligator. 
 Bone of Turtle. 
 
 Rib of Python. 
 Rib of Tortoise. 
 Horn of Rhinoceros. 
 Seal bone. 
 Bone of Antelope. 
 
 FIN-BONE OF LEPIDOSTEOS. 
 
 A genus of fishes belonging to the family of Clupeidae, 
 natives of tropical America. They are remarkable for their 
 long rasp -like teeth and the hard scales like stone. They 
 are, with the genus Polypterus, the only living representa- 
 tions of the vast numbers of extinct voracious fishes whose 
 remains are found in various secondary formations. 
 
 FEMUR OF TETRAO UROGALLUS. 
 
 Tetrao urogallus, one of the Grouse tribe, an English 
 species of bird called Cock of the Wood. 
 
 SECTIONS OF TEETH. 
 
 These are brilliant polariscope objects, and offer the 
 same interesting subjects for observation and comparison 
 in various animals, fish, reptiles, and mammalia. 
 
 The teeth of Mammalia consist of a crown, or that por- 
 tion above the jaw-bone and gum; and a neck, or narrower 
 intermediate portion. 
 
 The substance of human teeth consists of three parts ; 
 the ivory or dentine, which is white, and of a silky appear- 
 ance, composed of numerous tubes or canaliculi, called 
 ivory tubes ; the cement, or bony portion, which forms the 
 outer coating of the fangs, and is like other bone with 
 lacunae, but rarely with any Haversian canals ; the enamel, 
 which covers the ivory, and is extremely hard, brittle, and 
 fibrous. The fibres of enamel, separated by muriatic acid, 
 are found to be six-sided prisms, about l-6000th in breadth. 
 
HUMAN TEETH. 10.°) 
 
 and transversely striped, which are well seen under the 
 polariscope. • 
 
 SECTION OF HUMAN TOOTH, 
 (Perpen dicular, ) 
 
 will show the enamel on the crown, like a narrow border 
 running round ; the ivory in a broad band round the pulp- 
 cavity ; and the cement round the fang, dotted with lacuna?. 
 
 SECTION OF HUMAN TOOTH,. 
 (Transverse,) 
 will only show the enamel and the ivory. 
 
 Tooth of Saw-fish. 
 Sperm Whale. 
 Jaw of Myliobates, or Eagle 
 Ray-fish. 
 
 Wolf-fish. • 
 Elephant's tooth. 
 Tusk of Sus Indicus. 
 
194 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 HAIRS. 
 
 HUMAN HAIR. 
 
 The interest of these slides is greatly increased by view- 
 ing them with polarized light, as they give beautiful colours 
 over the selenite stage. But, besides the mere play of 
 colour, it is worthy of observation that the hairs of animals 
 and insects are" so variously fashioned and so delicately 
 finished, that each species have in some cases a distinct form, 
 though to unassisted eyes they are perfectly alike. The 
 structure of hair is cellular, like every other part of the 
 body, and if it is soaked in acetic acid, or soda, that ap- 
 parent tube is found to be made up of scales outwardly, 
 pigment cells, linear cells, and nucleated cells within ; 
 growing from the skin in which it is planted, having a 
 bulb-like root, nourished by ducts and follicles, or small 
 pouches on either sides of the hair-bulb. 
 
 When a human hair is young and healthy, it has abun- 
 dant pigment cells, and therefore is coloured ; but, when old 
 or diseased, either the pigment cells become empty, or only 
 filled with air, or it is preyed upon by fungi, several 
 species of which infect the human hair. 
 
 HAIRS OF DORMOUSE AND COMMON MOUSE 
 
 shew a beautiful arrangement of air-cells, and if soaked 
 in potash these become more visible, with the medullary 
 cells in two rows. 
 
 HAIR OF MOLE 
 
 The cells in the medulla very distinct. 
 
HAIR OF LARV.E OF DERME8TES. 1 !>.") 
 
 HAIRS OF BATS. 
 
 These are very remarkable, that of the Indian Bat pre- 
 senting whorls of scales at regular intervals along the shaft ; 
 others give variety in the medullary structure. 
 
 HAIR OF ELEPHANT. 
 
 This is a transverse section, shewing groups of empty 
 cells here and there, and other's in dense clusters contain- 
 ing pigment. Examine with polarized light. 
 
 HAIR OF CAMEL. 
 
 More nearly resembling wool, soft and flexible, with 
 distinct cortical cells, giving it the appearance of being 
 jointed. 
 
 HAIR OF REINDEER. 
 
 In the Deer there are few cortical cells, but the medul- 
 lary cells are so developed, that they resemble the cellular 
 tissue of vegetables. 
 
 HAIR OF ORNITHORHYNCHUS. 
 
 A whole hair of this curious little animal presents a com- 
 bination of wool and of hair. The base, which is long and 
 slender, being quite woolly, and the upper part enlarged 
 considerably, and shewing imbricated scales on the surface. 
 The Ornithorhynchus is a most singular little animal, 
 about one foot and a half long, with a head somewhat like 
 a duck ; a body like a mole, and yet so unlike any other 
 animal that it was at first disbelief <1 such a genus existed. 
 It is a native of New South Wales, and called by the 
 colonists the Water-mole. 
 
 HAIR OF LARV.E OF DERMESTI>. 
 
 This is used as a test object, and, when viewed with a 
 good clear J-inch object glass, should shew the si ia ft thickly 
 
 o 2 
 
* 196 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 covered with minute spines or scales, placed on whorls up to 
 the tip, where the last whorl is composed of broader hairs 
 or scales, somewhat resembling the petals of a flower, and 
 each scale terminated by a little knob. 
 
 The Dermestes lardarius is a small black beetle, very 
 destructive to bacon ; it has a broad grey band, spotted 
 black at the base of the elytra. It belongs to the Pentamera, 
 having five joints in the tarsi, and to the Clavicornes, having 
 clubbed antennas. The larva? are most mischievous in 
 insect collections. So, also, another of the family Anthremis, 
 whose hairs are mounted as test objects. 
 
 We find the larva? of Anthremis under the bark of old elm- 
 trees in February ; of light brown colour, with tufts of 
 long hairs on the three lower joints of the abdomen. These 
 hairs are wonderfully beautiful. Soak them a few minutes in 
 turpentine, and mount in balsam. 
 
SPICULES OF OHIRODOTA. 197 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 SPICULES OF HOLOTHURLE. 
 
 . Holothuri.e are marine animals nearly related to the 
 Star-fish and Echini, being one of the Radiata, but very 
 unlike them in appearance ; they are outwardly like a simple 
 tough sac, with a plume of delicate feelers or tentacula at 
 its head. It is divided, like the Sea-urchin, into five 
 parts, having five avenues of suckers, and the plume, 
 though more or less plumose, is always a multiple of Jive. 
 
 They glide about in sunny rock-pools, or lie under stones, 
 and have a curious habit of ejecting all their intestines if 
 irritated or alarmed, yet live a long time perfectly empty, 
 and have the power of reproducing their very complicated 
 internal parts. They possess, though outwardly of such a 
 simple form, heart, liver, intestines, a wondrous system of 
 circulation, and are so prolific that an individual has been 
 known to lay 5000 eggs in one night. 
 
 The spicules we mount for the microscope form a kind of 
 skeleton, being deeply imbedded in the skin, and their form 
 varies with the species. 
 
 SPICULES OF SYNAPTA. 
 
 A species of Holothuria found in the Adriatic Sea : 
 these calcareous plates are embedded in the skin and per- 
 forated each with ten or fifteen holes, in one of which an 
 anchor-like spine is fitted with a hinge, by which it is 
 erected or depressed at the will of the animal. 
 
 These are best observed with the blackground illumi- 
 nation. 
 
 SPICULES OF CHIRODOTA. 
 
 Another species inhabiting the Mediterranean, and the 
 plates remarkable for their delicate wheel-like markings. 
 
198 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 CALCAREOUS SPICULES OF DORIS. 
 
 The Doris is a soft-bodied animal, often called a sea- 
 slug : it is one of the Nudibranch mollusca, having its 
 breathing organs outside its body, and like a starry plume 
 on its back. It is often seen gliding about in sunny rock- 
 pools, or sheltered under loose stones — feeding on sponges 
 and also on dead fish. The tongue is very beautiful, and 
 has been noticed amongst the palates. 
 
 CALCAREOUS SKELETON OF DORIS. 
 
 The skin appears to be strengthened by these calcareous 
 spicules as a kind of skeleton, and their position is better 
 viewed when thus mounted. 
 
 The shape of the sjricules varies a little with the species. 
 
 SPICULES OF GORGONIA. 
 
 These slides present a variety of calcareous spicules, 
 which, when examined with the -|~inch power and dark- 
 ground illumination, or simply with polarized light, show 
 curious shapes and beautiful colours. They are found in the 
 skin of the Gorgonia, and each species has its peculiar 
 shape and colour. 
 
 Gorgonias are zoophytes ; when drawn up from the 
 ocean, as they live at a great depth, they look like a shrub 
 or small tree of bright salmon colour ; the branches are 
 spotted with little depressions, but have no appearance of 
 life. If, however, it is quickly replaced in sea- water, a lovely 
 sight is seen — from every dot, on every branch, comes forth 
 a living creature, flower-like, pearly white, and spreading 
 forth a circle of delicate pinna 3 , or filaments, edging eight 
 petal-like tentacula. They are feeling for their prey, and 
 drawing in shoals of marine infusoria, like other zoophytes. 
 When the animals die, the petals shrink in and the skin 
 hardens, and these spicules are found in masses through- 
 out. Some — the Gorgonia cristata — have spicules shaped 
 like double crosses ; some are of a rich purple ; others 
 crimson ; others again of golden hue even by natural trans- 
 mitted light and with moderate power. 
 
BECTION OF ECHINUS SPINE. L99 
 
 SPICULES OF ALCYONIUM DIGITATTM. 
 
 These are likewise abundant in that polype so common 
 in some parts of our coast, the caves at Tenby, and the 
 Gouliot caves in Serk, or are often washed up on the 
 sea-shore after a storm. Fishermen call them dead me 
 fingers, and they do look like a large yellow ringer or 
 thumb, tough and ugly, until, as with the Gorgonia, we 
 replace it in sea-water, when the same kind of beautiful 
 zoophytes appear from the multitude of little spots which 
 stud the surface. These spicules give firmness to the skin, 
 and form a sort of skeleton. 
 
 SECTION OF ECHINUS SPINE. 
 
 This beautiful purple or golden star, with fretwork and 
 circles in many varieties, is a section or very thin slice of 
 one of the spines of the Echinus, Sea-urchin, or Sea-hedge- 
 hog, as it is sometimes called at the sea-side by fishermen 
 and boys, who either dredge them up from the depths of 
 the ocean, on oyster-beds, or find them at low tide in the 
 crannies of rocks. There are many species ; some very 
 large and bristled over with small spines; some exceeding 
 small, scarcely larger than a marrowfat pea ; othei 
 again, about the size of a hen's egg, with fewer but much 
 longer spines, the Cidaris. The common Echinus has no 
 less than four thousand spines for its defence, the 
 structure of each spine presenting these beautiful varia- 
 tions. The centre is usually occupied by a net-work, 
 bounded by a row of what appear to be transparent spaces, 
 but are really sections of those strengthening pillars 
 which run up the spine and form the exterior of every 
 layer. Sometimes these sections of Echinus have annular 
 bands, dividing a finely reticulated space, and some have 
 hollow spaces. They should be seen on the dark illumi- 
 nated ground with the dotted lens, or the parabolic 
 illuminator, when the effect is quite magical. Also using 
 the blue selenite the structure is better seen by polarized 
 light. 
 
 A 6hort account of the animal to which tlii- spine 
 belongs may be interesting to those who cannot read it - 
 
200 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 perfect history in the work of Forbes on the Radiata. 
 It belongs to the same division as the Star-fish, the 
 Holothurias, the Medusae, or Jelly-fish, the Intozoa, 
 Polypes, and Infusoria, in all of which the external or 
 internal parts radiate like a star, and are therefore called 
 the Radiate. In all these, but especially in the Star-fish 
 an'd Sea-urchin, the parts are divided and formed by the 
 number five in a most remarkable manner, and few things 
 would afford a pleasanter study than one of these Sea- 
 urchins, easily procured in every fish-market in London, 
 or at the sea- side. The animal is easily killed in cold 
 fresh-water, and then the spines may be examined, with 
 their curious ball and socket joint, so firmly fixed, yet so 
 easily bending on every side at the will of the Echinus, 
 who uses them not only for defence, but for burrowing in 
 the sand. Between the spines are multitudes of minute 
 organs, the uses of which are as yet unknown, called 
 pedecilariae ; they are of three kinds, pearly white with 
 dotted and toothed beaks, and move about when the 
 Echinus is alive, opening and shutting their trifid beaks 
 as if each had an independent life. 
 
 They are beautiful objects mounted in balsam, and 
 viewed with a low power. When the spines have been 
 examined they are easily removed by dipping the shell into 
 boiling water and brushing them off ; then fresh beauty 
 appears in the tesselated wall of that wonderful house, 
 built up by the Almighty for this Sea-urchin according to 
 a certain plan, and with such contrivance for its comfort as 
 it is worth while to examine quietly. First we notice 
 double rows of very minute holes, dividing the shell into 
 five divisions ; through each hole a small sucker protruded 
 by which it walked, or attached itself to rocks or stones ; 
 1860 of these suckers occupying each two of these pores. 
 The plates between each double row of pores are studded 
 with the balls which fitted into the socket of each spine ; 
 these fine plates are called ambulacral plates, and are not 
 in one piece ; closely examined each plate consists of many 
 smaller ones, no less than 300 of them in those five 
 divisions, and again in the avenues between the pores 
 there are 300 more. 600 plates, besides the 4000 spines 
 and countless pedecilarise in the outward form of the 
 common Sea-urchin ! 
 
ECHINUS. 201 
 
 The structure of the mouth is one which has long been 
 the wonder and admiration of naturalists, and was com- 
 pared by Aristotle to a lantern without a skin, from whence 
 it has derived the name of Aristotle's Lantern. Again we 
 see the number Jive, in five jaws, each with a long sharp 
 tooth converging in the centre, close to the mouth, and the 
 framework of these jaws consists of Jive times Jive pieces, 
 moved by six times Jive muscles, working with great power 
 the jaws of this little animal, who feeds on any dead, fish 
 or flesh it can attain, eating also young crabs with great 
 greediness, and catching them with the suckers which 
 surround the mouth The opposite end of the shell is 
 occupied hj Jive ovarian plates, in each of which there is 
 an aperture by which the ^ggs are excluded ; they are 
 strengthened by transverse bands inside, and again sepa- 
 rated hj Jive smaller plates which bear each a little red eye. 
 The internal anatomy I shall not enter upon ; enough is 
 written here to give much interest to the various sections 
 of Echinus spines which we purchase as microscopic objects, 
 and which are sometimes glanced at as very pretty crochet 
 patterns. 
 
202 CRYSTALLIZATION. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SLIDES OF CRYSTALLIZATION. 
 
 These are beautiful polariscope objects, and extremely 
 useful to the young student as first lessons in crystallo- 
 graphy and incentives to experimental knowledge of the 
 various forms of mineral substances. Crystals are con- 
 stantly met with in the examination of both animal and 
 vegetable tissues ; it is therefore necessary to become ac- 
 quainted with the most common forms, if we use our 
 microscoj^e under standingly. 
 
 In the cuticle of onion we find crystallized oxalate of 
 lime ; in rhubarb also, but varied in form, as it is combined 
 with tartaric, citric, or malic acid. Every crystallizable 
 mineral substance has a definite form of crystallization, and 
 often many accidental or secondary forms. Carbonate of lime 
 — a substance well known as forming chalk, marble, &c, 
 and abundant in animal structures — is found in hundreds of 
 secondary forms ; in groups of radiating needles, in hexa- 
 gons, in rhombohcdral forms, as in the shell of the oyster ; 
 thus the perfect knowledge of the laws and accidents 
 of crystallization is a deep study ; in fact, it is to mine- 
 ralogy what mathematics is to common arithmetic, and 
 cannot be entered upon in a mere catalogue of slides. 
 
 The following preparations are recommended for beauty 
 and utility, when examined with polarized light ; a plate 
 of selenite is frequently indispensible for the display of 
 colour and accurate observation of outline. 
 
 SELENITE 
 
 is itself a form of crystallization ; native crystallized hy- 
 drated sulphate of lime, called also satin gypsum or quarry- 
 glass. It is found in the quarries on Shotover-hill, Oxford ; 
 but the finest crystals are met with at Montmartre, near 
 Paris. 
 
 The primary form is that of an oblique rectangular prism, 
 
SELENITE. 
 
 203 
 
 with ten rhomboidal faces, two of which are larger than 
 the rest. 
 
 It is split into thin lamina?, and mounted on glass slides 
 for the polariscope, and upon the thickness of the film de- 
 pends the colour. 
 
 The following list of crystals may direct the student to 
 many interesting specimens* — 
 
 (Blue 
 
 Acetate of Copper. 
 
 Acetate of Manganese. 
 
 Acetate of Soda. 
 
 Acetate of Zinc. 
 
 Acetate of Lead. 
 
 Agate, transparent sections. 
 
 Alum. 
 
 Arseniate of Potass. 
 
 Bicarbonate of Potass. 
 
 Bichromate of Potass. 
 
 Borax, or birate of Soda. 
 
 Boracic Acid. 
 
 Bismuth. 
 
 Carbonate of Potass. 
 
 Carbonate of Lime. 
 
 Carbonate of Soda. 
 
 Chlorate of Potass. 
 
 Chloride of Barium. 
 
 Chloride of Cobalt. 
 
 Chloride of Sodium. 
 
 Deut-iodide of Mercury. 
 
 Citric Acid. 
 
 Granite, transparent sec- 
 tions. 
 
 Hydrochlorate or Muriate 
 of Ammonia. 
 
 Iodide of Potassium. 
 
 Iodide of Quinine. 
 
 The formation of crystals under the microscope may be 
 
 watched with the greatesl facility. A little common Bait 
 
 (chloride of sodium dissolved in water, and a drop of tin' 
 
 solution placed on a glass slide gently heated over a spirit 
 
 lamp, or by applying the corner of the slide to the candle, 
 
 Nitrate of Ammonia. 
 Nitrate of Baryta. 
 Nitrate of Bismuth. 
 Nitrate of Copper. 
 Nitrate of Soda. 
 Nitrate of Uranium. 
 Oxalic Acid. 
 Oxalate of Lime. 
 Oxalate of Ammonia. 
 ( Oxalate of Potass. 
 Oxalate of Soda. 
 Phosphate of Ammonia 
 Phosphate of Soda. 
 S ali cine. 
 
 Sulphate of Ammonia. 
 Sulphate of Copper 
 
 Vitriol). 
 Sulphate of Iron. 
 Sulphate of Magnesia 
 
 (Epsom Salts). 
 Sulphate of Soda. 
 Sulphate of Zinc. 
 Sulphate of Nickel. 
 Sulphate of Cadmium. 
 Tartaric Acid. 
 Uric Acid. 
 
 These are mounted for the Polariscope by Mr. Topping. 
 
/ 
 
 204 CRYSTALLIZATION. 
 
 will show the formation of crystals in primitive cubes, ter- 
 minated by quadrangular pyramids. The water slowly 
 evaporates, and the atoms held in solution return to their 
 natural form. 
 
 ACETATE OF COPPEB, 
 
 is made by dissolving common verdigris in excess of diluted 
 acetic acid, and when crystallized on the slide will exhibit 
 the phenomena of dichromism or double colour, deep blue 
 and yellowish-green. 
 
 SULPHATE OF COPPER. 
 
 Blue vitriol dissolved in water, and likewise treated with 
 a gentle heat, will show the formation of beautiful blue 
 crystals in oblique rhomboidal prisms. 
 
 ALUM 
 
 does not polarize, but gives crystals of the octohedral form. 
 
 OXALURATE OF AMMONIA. 
 
 This is most beautiful in the formation of its crystals ; 
 they appear on the slide as circular discs or very flat 
 spheres, consisting of minute needles radiating from the 
 centre, and sometimes projecting beyond the circumference 
 of the disc. Without the selenite stage these discs are 
 like brilliant little white stars, traversed by a black cross ; 
 with the selenite they are splendid objects, the colours 
 often disposed in concentric rings. 
 
 MUREXIDE OR PURPURATE OF AMMONIA. 
 
 is an artificial product of the decomposition of uric acid. 
 The crystals are flattened, short, four-sided prisms of bright 
 ruby red by transmitted common light, and the two broad 
 surfaces are emerald green by reflected light. 
 
 HYDROCHLORATE OR MURIATE OF AMMONIA. 
 
 This salt crystalizes in cubes, octohedra, and trapezo- 
 hedra. A very little of the powdered salt dissolved upon a 
 slide and heated gives a beautiful exhibition of feathery 
 crystals darting across the field of sight, and breaking into 
 stars and crosses. They do not polarize. 
 
IODO-DTSULT'HATE OF QUININE. 205 
 
 OXALATE OF AMMONIA. 
 
 This is obtained by neutralizing a solution of oxalic acid 
 with ammonia or its carbonate, and evaporating, which 
 gives long slender needles belonging to the right rhombic 
 prismatic system, and very brilliant crystals under polar- 
 
 ized light. 
 
 SALT OF BRUCIA. 
 
 Using a solution of ammonia with certain salts will give 
 an infinite variety of beautiful crystals; for instance, a 
 little salt of brucia, diluted and mixed with ammonia, will 
 produce delicate star-like groups of crystals ; and if a 
 solution of sulphocyanide of potassium is used instead of 
 ammonia, the crystals are more feathery, and resemble 
 sheaves of brilliant little lances. 
 
 Solution of hydrochlorate of strychnine with ammonia 
 gives an immediate precipitate of minute prismatic crystals 
 well defined. 
 
 A solution of quinine with ammonia gives a perfectly 
 amorphous precipitate : with sulphocyanide of potassium it 
 gives very pretty irregular groups of circular crystals ; but 
 it is well to allow twenty-four hours for the formation of 
 these, as if hurried they are extremely minute, and not so 
 perfect. 
 
 IODO-DISULPHATE OF QUININE. 
 
 This is sold prepared for examination : the crystals 
 possess a more intense polarizing power than any other 
 known substance. They are difficult to mount, though the 
 formation is an interesting process, and may be attempted. 
 The salt is prepared by dissolving disulphate of quinine in 
 strong acetic acid, warming the solution and dropping into 
 it an alcoholic solution of iodine in small quantities at a 
 time, and placing the mixture aside for crystallization. 
 They dissolve in hot alcohol, but are not soluble in cold 
 alcohol or ether. 
 
 To prepare for mounting, a little of the liquid containing 
 the crystals should be placed on the slide, and the liquid 
 removed with blotting paper. When the crystals are dry 
 the Canada balsam, previously made thin srith ether, may 
 be applied without heat. 
 
206 CRYSTALLIZATION. 
 
 BORAX, OR BI-BORATE OF SODA 
 
 is soluble in twelve times its weight of cold, and twice its 
 weight of boiling water, and crystallizes in very perfect 
 forms of oblique octohedral prisms. Dissolved in alcohol, 
 and dropped on a slide, it crystallizes immediately. 
 
 BORACIC ACID 
 
 is the acid of the salt borax, and is prepared by mixing 
 three parts of borax dissolved in twelve parts of boiling- 
 water with one part of sulphuric acid. 
 
 When a little phosphoric acid is added to the boracic 
 acid, and the solution dropped upon a slide, then laid upon 
 a warm iron plate, most beautiful discs are obtained, which 
 exhibit the cross and coloured rings under polarized light. 
 
 From the simple solution of boracic acid we obtain 
 crystals belonging to the doubly oblique prismatic system, 
 having two optic axes. Sometimes, when rapidly crystal- 
 lized, the boracic acid forms arborescent crystals on the 
 slide. 
 
 SULPHATE OF MAGNESIA. 
 
 (Epsom Salts.) 
 
 The solution will deposit crystals belonging to the 
 rhombic system, and varying in form according to the 
 treatment in crystallizing. They polarize brilliantly with 
 the selenite stage. 
 
 AMMONIA-PHOSPHATE OF MAGNESIA 
 
 is a salt frequently met with in animal secretions which 
 have undergone decomposition ; they belong to the rhombic 
 system, but their varieties 'are endless. Stellate and 
 penniform crystals are frequently found in urine. 
 
 URIC ACID, OR LITHIC ACID. 
 
 This acid abounds in animal secretions, in the excrement 
 of birds, serpents, &c, and the urine of mollusca and 
 
NITRATE OF SILVER. 207 
 
 carnivorous mammalia. The crystals belong to the right 
 rhombic prismatic system, but are various in form and 
 size. They polarize light splendidly. 
 
 NITRATE OF POTASH, NITRE, OR SALTPETRE. 
 
 This salt is dimorphous ; it crystallizes in various forms, 
 but they all belong to the right rhombic prismatic system ; 
 sometimes six-sided prisms with dihedral summits are on 
 the slide, and sometimes obtuse rhombohedral crystals 
 resembling those of nitrate of soda ; but they all polarize, 
 and exhibit the phenomena of analytic crystals. 
 
 Analytic crystals are those -which possess the power of 
 analyzing light, like the tourmaline used in the ordinary 
 polariscope. 
 
 SALICINE, 
 
 an alkaloid extracted from the bark of the willow tree, and 
 crystallizing in beautiful forms, either in discs exhibiting 
 the cross and concentric circles of colour, or in prismatic 
 crystals in stellate and irregular groups, polarizing ad- 
 mirably. 
 
 NITRATE OF SILVER, 
 
 crystallized on a slide, shoots over the glass in most bril- 
 liant feathery crystals, and is also a splendid .object viewed 
 with a spotted lens or parabolic reflector. 
 
 t recommend the following objects as the conti 
 of a qood Educational Box: — 
 
 Cuticles of Lily, Candytuft, and one or two others, 
 show cells and stomata. 
 
 Cuticle of Indian Corn, or Equisetum, to show siliceous 
 cuticle. 
 
 Cuticle of Hyacinth, to show raphides. „ 
 
 Cells of spiral fibre. 
 
 Scalariform vessels. 
 
208 
 
 Starch, grains. 
 
 Hairs of Deutzia leaf. 
 
 Scales on leaf of Ela?agnus or Tillandsia. 
 
 Pollen of Hollyhock or Mallow. 
 
 Stamens. 
 
 Sections of wood, Endogens and Exogens. 
 
 A capsule of Moss. 
 
 Spore-cases of Fern. 
 
 Elaters of Equisetum. 
 
 Elaters of Jimgerrnannia. 
 
 Leaf of Moss or Jimgerrnannia. 
 
 Specimens of Fungi. 
 
 Mould, Arsyria, Phragmidium, or Puccinea, blight of 
 Wheat. 
 
 Heads of Insects. — Bee, Wasp, Beetle, Butterfly, 
 Hymenoptera, Blow-fly, Panorpa, Tipula, to show the 
 tongues and eyes, and study them comparatively. 
 
 Antenna? of Syrphus, of Cockchafer. 
 
 Leg of Dytiscus, Gyrinus, a Fly, . a Beetle, a 
 Saw-fly. 
 
 Wing of Wasp, for hamuli ; wing of Syrphus, of Hemip- 
 tera, of Moth, to show scales. 
 
 Spiracles of Dytiscus ; Trachea of ditto, or Silkworm ; 
 Aerating leaflets of Libellulte, or Ephemera. 
 
 Sting of Wasp or Bee, of Gnat, of Horse-fly. 
 
 Elytra of Diamond-beetle, of Hemiptera. 
 
 Saws of Saw-fly. 
 
 Egg of Breeze-fly. 
 
 Acarus of Sugar. 
 
 Palate of Whelk and Helix, Limpet, Doris. 
 
 Zoophytes. — Sertularia, Laomeda, Notamia, Gemellaria, 
 Cellularia, Flustera, Plumularia. 
 
 Sections of Bone and Teeth. — Human bone, reptile bone ; 
 one of fish, of bird, of quadruped. 
 
 Hairs of Animals — Elephant, Mouse, Bat. 
 
 Spicules of a Sponge. 
 
 Spicules of Gorgonia and Holothuria. 
 
 Section of Echinus spine. 
 
 Infusorial Earths, three or four specimens, especially 
 Discs from Guano and Navicular 
 
 Sea-weeds, Callithamum. 
 
 Ptilota Polysiphonia. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 ACARI, or Ticks, 144. 
 Achyla prolifera, 48. 
 Achnanthes, 42. 
 Actinocyclus, 4 5. 
 Alcyonium spicules, 199. 
 Amphitctras, 44. 
 Anagallis, 17. 
 Aphis, 104. 
 Aphidius avense, 113. 
 Arachnida, 53. 
 Arachnoidiscus, 45. 
 Asteromphalus, 45. 
 Asilus, 131. 
 Antennae, 75. 
 
 of Cockchafer, 76. 
 
 of Nitldularia, 76. 
 
 of Iivdrophilus, 76. 
 
 ofElater, 76. 
 
 of Wild Bees, 77. 
 
 of Saw-flies, 77. 
 
 ' of Blow-fly, 77. 
 
 of Bee, 78. 
 
 of Ichneumon, 78. 
 
 of Argynnis, 78. 
 
 of Dragon-fly, 79. 
 
 of Silkworm moth, 79. 
 
 Bacillaria, 43. 
 Balsam, Canada, 43. 
 
 spinal fibre, 19. 
 
 Bee, head of, 60. 
 
 sting of, 94. 
 
 antenna;, 77. 
 
 leg, 92. 
 
 Beetles, anatomy, 99. 
 
 classification, 98. 
 
 wings, 100. 
 
 mouth, 71. 
 
 elytra, 91. 
 
 Bibco, 125. 
 
 Brain of insects, 67. 
 Brachinus, leg, 93. 
 
 mouth, 73. 
 
 Blow-fly, tongue, 63. 
 
 Blow-fly, antennae, 77. 
 wing, 84. 
 
 Bone sections, 189. 
 
 Bone cells, measurement of, 191. 
 
 Borborus, 136. 
 
 Bug, 104. 
 
 field, 104. 
 
 Butterfly, tongue of, 62. 
 
 Catheretes, 101. 
 Cells, shapes of, 9. 
 
 contents, 10. 
 
 oil, 11. 
 
 spiral, 19. 
 
 Ceraphron, 113. 
 Circulation of blood, 80. 
 Cimcx, 104. 
 Ch enter, 146. 
 Chelyinorpha, 114. 
 Coccinella, 102. 
 Coniferous wood, 28. 
 Conferva, 48. 
 Chlorops, 128. 
 orium, 46. 
 Coscinodiscus, 46, 
 Cricket's tongue, 69. 
 
 gizzard, 70. 
 
 wing, 87. 
 
 Crystallization, 202. 
 Crystals of selenite, 202. 
 
 Acetate of copper, 204. 
 
 Sulphate of copper, 203. 
 
 Alum, 203. 
 
 Oxaluratc of ammonia, 203. 
 
 Murexide or purpurate of 
 
 ammonia, 2o3. 
 Ilydrochl orate of ammonia. 
 
 203 ' 
 
 Oxalate of ammonia, 205. 
 
 Salt of brucia, 205. 
 
 Iododi-sulpliate of quinine, 
 
 205. 
 
 Borax or bi-borabe of soda, 206 
 
 Boracic acid, 206. 
 
210 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Crystals, Sulphate of magnesia, 20 6 
 Ammonia-phosphate of mag- 
 nesia, 206. 
 
 Uric acid, 207. 
 
 Nitrate of potash, 207. 
 
 Salicine, 207. 
 
 Nitrate of silver, 207. 
 
 Cuckoo-spit, 106. 
 
 Culex pipiens, 117. 
 Cuticle and stomata, 12. 
 Cuticle of Yucca, 13. 
 of Aloe, 14. 
 
 of Deutzia scabra, 14. 
 
 • of Amaryllis, 14. 
 
 — «- of Indian corn, 14. 
 
 of Saccalobium, 1 5. 
 
 of Elaeagnus, 15. 
 
 of Tillandsia, 1 5. 
 
 of Onosma, 16. 
 
 of Opuntia, 16. 
 
 of Hyacinth, 16. 
 
 Desmibiace-e, 47. 
 
 Vol vox globata, 47. 
 
 Closterium, 47. 
 
 Diatomacese, 89. 
 
 fossil, 40. 
 
 recent, 41. 
 
 Naviculse, 41. 
 
 Pleurosigma, 42. 
 
 Meloseira, 42. 
 
 ■ Achnanthes, 42. 
 
 Synedra, 43. 
 
 Bacillaria, 43, 
 
 Gomphonema, 43. 
 
 Licmophora, 43. 
 
 Rhabdonema, 44. 
 
 Grammatophora, 44. 
 
 Biddulphia, 44. 
 
 Isthmia obliqua, 44. 
 
 Arachnoidiscus, 45. 
 
 Heliopelta, 45. 
 
 Actinocyclus, 45. 
 
 Asterompha 1 us, 45. 
 
 Asterolampra, 45. 
 
 Coscinodiscus, 46. 
 
 Dolichopus, 125. 
 
 Echinus spine, section of, 199. 
 Egg of (Estrus, or Bot-fly, 95. 
 Elaters of Jungermannia, 35. 
 
 I Elaters of Equisetum, 34. 
 ; Elytra of Diamond-beetle, 91. 
 
 Empis-fly, 132. 
 
 Entozoa, 148. 
 
 Fern (spore cases), 32. 
 Flea, human, 141. 
 
 Pygidium, 142. 
 
 Mole, 142. 
 
 — — Fowl, 142. 
 
 Pigeon, 142. 
 
 Bat, 142. 
 
 Cat, 142. 
 
 Foot of Syrphus, 91. 
 
 Dytiscus, 92. 
 
 Wasp, 91. 
 
 Ophion, 92. 
 
 Bee, 92. 
 
 Foraminated Shells, 182. 
 Fossil Coniferous Wood, 28. 
 Funaria, 32. 
 
 Fungi, 36. 
 
 Puccinea, 36. 
 
 Blight of wheat, 37. 
 
 Uredo foetida, 37. 
 
 G^cidium, 37. 
 
 Gemmules of Sponge, 187. 
 Grammatophora, 
 Grantia, 187. 
 Gyrinus, 93. 
 
 Hairs of plants, 11. 
 
 animals, 194. 
 
 Hair, human, 194, 
 
 Dormouse, 1 94. 
 
 Mouse, 194. 
 
 Mole, 194. 
 
 Bat, 195. 
 
 Elephant, 195. 
 
 Camel, 195. 
 
 Reindeer, 195. 
 
 Orrjithorlrvnchus, 195. 
 
 Devmestes, 195, 
 
 Halferes of Diptera, 148. 
 
 Blowfly, 139. 
 
 ■ Tab anus, 140. 
 
 Haliplus, 103. 
 Head of Conops, 66. 
 of Rhingia, 67. 
 
 of Drone-fly, 68. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 21 1 
 
 Head of Eristalis, 68. 
 
 of Tipula, 68. 
 
 of Limnobia, 69. 
 
 of Hemerobius, 69. 
 
 of Panorpa, 69. 
 
 Helophorus, 108. 
 Hemiptera, 103. 
 Hilara, 134. 
 Hyphidius, 103. 
 Hymenoptera, 107. 
 Hydrachnida, 147. 
 Holothuria spicules, 197. 
 
 Ichneumon Fly, 111. 
 
 Microgaster, 112. 
 
 Ephedras, 113. 
 
 Infusorial earths, 39. 
 Insects, classification of, 52. 
 Isthmia obliqua, 44. 
 
 Leg of Gyrinus, 93. 
 
 Brachinus, 93. 
 
 Anchomenus, 94. 
 
 Calathus, 94. 
 
 Leptis, 130. 
 Licmophorse, 43. 
 Limnobia, 69. 
 Limpet tongue, 155. 
 Lonchoptera, 124. 
 Louse, human, 143. 
 
 bird, 143. 
 
 rook, 143. 
 
 Meloseira, 42. 
 
 Melophagus (sheep tick), 145. 
 
 Microgaster, 112. 
 
 Moss, 29. 
 
 Mouth of Beetle, 71. 
 
 Calathus, 73. 
 
 Brachinus, 73. 
 
 Onthophagus, 73. 
 
 Anchomenus, 74. 
 
 Crioceris, 74. 
 
 Lady-bird, 74. 
 
 Stenopterus, 75. 
 
 Naviculse, 41. 
 Notonecta, 103. 
 Nummulites, 185. 
 
 Opomyza, 127. 
 
 Operculina, 183. 
 Orbitolites, 185. 
 
 Palates of Molluscs, 149. 
 
 Helix pomatia, 149. 
 
 Aspersa, 150. 
 
 Hortensis, 150. 
 
 Nemoralis, 150. 
 
 Rufescens, 151. 
 
 Virgata, 151. 
 
 Nitida, 151. 
 
 Limax (slug), 150. 
 
 Whelk, 151. 
 
 Purpurea, 152. 
 
 Nassa, 152. 
 
 Trochus, 152. 
 
 Trochus crassus, 153. 
 
 Periwinkle, 153. 
 
 Haliotes, or aumer, 153. 
 
 Plourobranch, 1 54. 
 
 Aplysia, 154. 
 
 Doris, 154. 
 
 Limpet, 155. 
 
 Chiton, 155. ' 
 
 Nevite, 156. 
 
 Lymneus, 156. 
 
 Planorbis, 156. 
 
 Paludina, 156. 
 
 Cyclastoma, 157. 
 
 Phora, 1 29. 
 Phragmidium, 36. 
 Pleurosigma, 42. 
 Pollen, 20. 
 
 Mallow, 2. 
 
 Hollyhock, 20. 
 
 Passion-flower, 21. 
 
 (Enothera, 21 . 
 
 Epilobium, 21. 
 
 Tulip, 21. 
 
 Pollen tubes, 23. 
 Proboscis of Bee, 60. 
 of Wasp, 61. 
 
 of Butterfly, 62. 
 
 of Blow-fly, 63. 
 
 of'T:ibanus, 63. 
 
 of Gnat, 64. 
 
 of Asilus, 65. 
 
 of Enipis, 65. 
 
 of Dioctria, 66. 
 
 of Conops, 66. 
 
 of Rhingia, 67. 
 
212 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ptychoptera, 121. 
 
 Puccinia, 36. 
 
 Pus tulip ora (fossil), 166. 
 
 Raphides, 17. 
 
 Reduvius, or bed bug, 104. 
 
 Salt of brucia, 205. 
 Saw-fly, 107. 
 Scatophaga, 122. 
 Scalariform vessels, 20. 
 Seeds, Poppy, 24. 
 
 Sweet-william, 24. 
 
 Silene, 24. 
 
 Seaweeds, 168. 
 
 ■ fructification of, 170. 
 
 Fucus, 171. 
 
 .Callitliamnion, 172. 
 
 Ceramium, 173. 
 
 Ptilota plumosa, 173. 
 
 Plocamium, 174. 
 
 Polysiphonia, 175. 
 
 Sphaerococcus, 175. 
 
 Griffithsia, 176. 
 
 Gracillaria, 166. 
 
 Lauren tia, 177. 
 
 Odonthalia, 177. 
 
 Bonneraaisonnia, 178. 
 
 Delesseria, 178. 
 
 Rodomela, 178. 
 
 Spyridia, 179. 
 
 Chsetospora, 179. 
 
 Halcymenia, 179. 
 
 Dasya, 110. 
 
 „ arbuscula, 180. 
 
 — — „ occellata, 180. 
 
 „ venusta, 181. 
 
 Scales of butterflies, 88. 
 
 Morpho menelaus, 81. 
 
 Polyammatus, 81. 
 
 Hipparchia, 89. 
 
 Pontia brassica, 88. 
 
 Silkworm moth, 90. 
 
 >'Lepisma, 90. 
 
 Diamond beetle, 91. 
 
 Selenite, 202. 
 Sepedon, 137. 
 
 Sepsis, 137. 
 Spider's foot, 56. 
 
 spinnarets, 57. 
 
 eyes, 58. 
 
 Spiders jaws, 59. 
 
 palpi, 59. 
 
 epidermis, 59. 
 
 Spicules, Synapta, 197. 
 
 Chirodota, 197. 
 
 Holothuria, 197. 
 
 Doris, 198. 
 
 Gorgonia, 198. 
 
 Alcyonium, 199. 
 
 Spiracles of insects, 79. 
 
 D3 r tiscus, 80. 
 
 Cockchafer, 80. 
 
 Fly, 80. 
 
 Tipula, 80. 
 
 ■ Water larvae, 81. 
 
 Ephemera, 86. 
 
 Sponges, 186. 
 
 spicules of, 186. 
 
 gemmules of, 187. 
 
 Stenopteryx, 145. 
 Stamens, 24. 
 Spiral fibre, 18. 
 Spiral cells, 19. 
 
 of Oncidium, 19. 
 
 of Collomia, 19. 
 
 of Balsam, 19. 
 
 of Sphagnum, 20. 
 
 Stings of Wasp or Bee, 94 
 
 of Gnat, 95. 
 
 ■ of Tabanus, 95. 
 
 Syrphus (fly), 134. 
 (foot), 91. 
 
 Tabanus, head of, 63. 
 Teeth, sections of, 192. 
 Tenthredo, 107. 
 Telephorus, 97. 
 Ticks, or mites, 144. 
 Tick, sheep, 145. 
 Thrips, 106. 
 Tipula (head), 68. 
 Trachea?, 79. 
 
 of Dytiscus, 79. 
 
 Tongue of insects — See Proboscis 
 and head, 60. 
 
 Uredo foetida, 37. 
 Uric acid, 207. 
 
 Velia rivuloruni, 103. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 213 
 
 Water-mites, 147. 
 Wings of insects, 83. 
 — — of Scatophaga, 83. 
 
 of House-fly, 84. 
 
 of Blue-bottlesfly, 84. 
 
 of Svrphus, 14. 
 
 of Midge, 85. 
 
 of Gnat, 86 . 
 
 of Coleoptera, 86. 
 
 of Cricket, 87. 
 
 Wood, section of, 26. 
 Kuscus, 26. 
 
 WhanghsB cane, 26, 
 
 Asparagus, 26. 
 
 Hazel, 26. 
 
 Cedar, 27. 
 
 Pine, 27. 
 
 Yew, 27. 
 
 > " Vegetable ivory, 28. 
 
 Cocoa nut, 28. 
 
 — — Snake wood, 28. 
 
 Zoophytes, 158. 
 
 Sertularia pumila, 160. 
 
 Sertularia polyzonias, 161. 
 
 Sertularia operculata, 161. 
 
 Sertularia rosacea, 161. 
 
 Laomedea geniculata, 162. 
 
 Laomedea dichotoma, 161. 
 
 ■ Plumularia cristata, 162. 
 
 plumularia falcata, 163. 
 
 Gemicellaria, 163. 
 
 Gemicellaria loriculata, 164. 
 
 Notamia bursaria, 165. 
 
 Cellularia avicularia, 165. 
 
 Flustra truncata, 165. 
 
 Flustra chartacca, 166. 
 
 Cellularia reptans, 166. 
 
 - Cellularia, ciliata, 166. 
 Serialaria tendigeria, 167. 
 
 Crisia eburnea, 167. 
 
 Crisia cornuta, 167. 
 
 Zygnema, 48. 
 
A LIST 
 
 OF 
 
 MICROSCOPIC PREPARATIONS, 
 
 AS PREPARED BY THE MOST ESTEEMED MAKERS, 
 
 SOLD BY 
 
 CHARLES BAKER, 
 
 OPTICIAN, &c, 
 No. 244 & 245, HIGH HOLBOKN, LONDON. 
 
 s^@^m-^ 
 
 TEST OBJECTS. 
 
 Hyalodiscus subtilis 
 
 Crrammatophorasubtillissima 
 » marina 
 
 » serpentina 
 
 Campylostilus striatus 
 
 Amician 
 
 Tripoli 
 
 Oeretoneis faschiola 
 Navicula cuspidata 
 
 gracilis 
 
 Spencerii 
 
 sygmoidea 
 
 angulata 
 
 quadratum 
 
 lineata 
 
 elongata 
 
 strigosa 
 
 anceps 
 
 Waltonii 
 
 Balticuin 
 
 J5 
 }) 
 
 Navicula hippocampus 
 „ form os u oi 
 „ strigilate 
 Scales of Meadow-brown 
 Pontia brassica 
 
 ?, raphse 
 Menelaus 
 Azure-blue 
 Clot lies Moth 
 Papilio Paris 
 
 „ Io 
 Amathusia 
 Podura 
 Lepisma 
 Sair of Indian Bat 
 Mouse 
 Mole 
 Babbit 
 Seal 
 
 Larvae of Dermestes 
 Pygidiuni of a Flea 
 
 >> 
 
 ?> 
 
 » 
 
 j> 
 
 j) 
 
 jj 
 
 » 
 
 5? 
 
216 
 
 MICROSCOPIC PREPARATIONS. 
 
 jj 
 
 ?> 
 
 5J 
 
 V 
 
 FOSSIL DIATOMACE.E, from 
 
 Aberdeenshire 
 
 Albany 
 
 Africa 
 
 Australia 
 
 Anvergne 
 
 Baden 
 
 Bangor 
 
 Banks of the Spey 
 
 Barbadoes, Chalky Mount 
 
 Mount Hillough- 
 
 by 
 
 Scotland District 
 Springfield 
 
 Bermuda 
 
 Bilin 
 
 Blue-hill Pond, Maine 
 
 Cartel de Piano, Italy 
 
 Chalk, Gravesend 
 Moudon 
 Palermo 
 
 Dolgelly, North Wales 
 
 Egar, Bohemia 
 
 Fraunzebad, Bohemia 
 
 Georgia, South Carolina 
 
 Gossa, Bohemia 
 
 Hartford, Connecticut 
 
 Island of Mull 
 
 Kritchelberg, Bohemia 
 
 Laplan d 
 
 Leicestershire 
 
 Lunenberg 
 
 Lough Mourne 
 
 Magdeberg 
 
 Manchester, U. S. A. 
 
 Mourne Mountain, Ireland 
 
 New Zealand 
 
 Obero, Germany 
 
 Oran 
 
 Oregon 
 
 Peat 
 
 Petersberg, Virginia 
 
 Peterhead 
 
 Piseataway, Maryland 
 
 Premnay, Aberdeenshire 
 
 RappanhannahCliff, Virginia 
 
 Jiassay 
 
 Richmond, North America 
 
 Shockhoe-hill, U. S. A. 
 
 Tarrytown, New York 
 
 Tripoli, Italy 
 
 Tuscany 
 
 Wreath am, Massachusetts 
 
 Yorkshire 
 
 Zante 
 
 DIATOMACEiE, from 
 
 Atlantic, various depths 
 
 Australia 
 
 Blaekheath 
 
 Elchies 
 
 Gomera 
 
 G uano (varieties) 
 
 Hull — Sping Dyke 
 
 Jamaica 
 
 Kew Gardens 
 
 Norwich 
 
 Southampton 
 
 The Humber 
 
 Med way 
 
 Naze 
 
 Orwell 
 
 Seine 
 
 Thames 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS 
 DIATOMACE.E. 
 
 Actinocyclus undulatus 
 Surirella constricta 
 Gomphouema geminatum 
 Meridion circulare 
 Aclinanthes longipes 
 Cocconeis Grevillii 
 Meloseira 
 Orthoseira Dickeii 
 Poilocrytis Schomburkii 
 Rhopalocanium ornatum 
 Haliomma Hnmboldtii 
 Ainphitetras 
 
MICROSCOPIC PRK1'ARATI< 
 
 217 
 
 Biddulphia 
 
 Trieeratium (various) 
 
 Arachnoidiscus Ehrenbergii 
 „ Japonicus 
 
 Heliopelta 
 
 Cocconema 
 
 Coscinodiscus, fossil 
 
 „ centralis 
 
 „ concavus 
 
 ,, concinnus 
 
 Navicula Bombus 
 Pandura 
 Grandis 
 
 5; 
 
 jj 
 
 Starch from Alstromelialictu 
 Bitter Cassava 
 Sweet Cassava 
 Buck Yam 
 Canna (Tous les 
 
 mois) 
 Colcliicum 
 Cycas revoluta 
 Ginger 
 Indian Corn 
 Maple 
 Plantain 
 Potato 
 Bice 
 Wheat 
 Arrow Root. African 
 „ Bermuda 
 
 „ East Indian 
 
 „ Portland 
 
 Tahiti 
 
 J) 
 J> 
 JJ 
 55 
 55 
 55 
 55 
 55 
 
 SECTIONS OF FLINTS, containing 
 
 Ammonites, &c. 
 
 Sponge 
 
 Xanthidia 
 
 SECTIONS OF LIME STONE, 
 
 from 
 
 Bath 
 
 Bristol 
 
 East Indies 
 Honduras 
 Gal way 
 Germany 
 Lyme Regis 
 Warwickshire 
 
 Oolite — Clifton, Bristol 
 
 SECTIONS OF COAL, from 
 America 
 Armiston 
 Darlaston 
 Derbyshire 
 Durham 
 Heraclea 
 Lesmahagow 
 Monkland 
 Newbattle 
 Newcastle 
 Oldbury 
 Torebane Hill 
 Jet 
 Fossil Fern-seeds from Coal 
 
 SECTIONS OF FOSSIL WOODS, 
 from 
 
 Allen Bank 
 
 Antigua 
 
 Australia 
 
 Bilston 
 
 Bristol 
 
 CI ay cross, Derbyshire 
 
 Clay don 
 
 Craigleith 
 
 Cromer 
 
 Darlaston 
 
 Dudley 
 
 East Indies 
 
 Egypt 
 
 Folkestone 
 
 Harwich 
 
 Honduras 
 
218 
 
 MICROSCOPIC PREPARATIONS. 
 
 Isle of Portland 
 
 „ Sheppy 
 
 „ Thanet 
 
 „ Wight 
 Leniiel Braes 
 Loudon Clay 
 Lough Neagh 
 Newcastle 
 New Holland 
 Norway 
 Oldburgh 
 Rotherham 
 Scarborough 
 Tweed Mill 
 Van Diemen's Land 
 Warwick 
 Whitby 
 
 Petals of Geranium 
 
 Heart's Ease 
 Pelargonium 
 
 » 
 
 « 
 
 
 
 Pollen of Acacia 
 
 Cobse scandens 
 
 Cineraria 
 
 Cycas 
 
 Fuchsia 
 
 Geranium 
 „ Hollyhock 
 „ Jasmine 
 
 Lily 
 
 Mallow 
 
 Passion Flower 
 
 Sunflower 
 
 Pine 
 
 
 
 SILICEOUS CUTICLES of 
 
 Aloe 
 
 Auricaria excelsa 
 
 „ imbricata 
 Bamboo 
 Box 
 Cactus 
 
 Deutzia scabra 
 Equisetum 
 Indian Grass 
 
 „ Grass Seed 
 „ Corn 
 Ivy 
 
 Oleander 
 Kice 
 
 „ Straw 
 Rochea falcata 
 Straw — Barley 
 Canary 
 Oat 
 Wheat 
 Yucca 
 
 j) 
 
 
 Petals of Balsam 
 
 Deutzia gracilis 
 scabra 
 
 » 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 Eaphides from Aloe 
 Cactus 
 Garlic 
 Hyacinth 
 Lime Bark 
 Onion 
 Pear 
 Rhubarb 
 Squill 
 
 5' 
 55 
 55 
 55 
 55 
 55 
 55 
 55 
 
 Section of Leaf of India Rub- 
 ber Tree 
 Oleander 
 Orchis 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 Spiral vessels from Asparagus 
 Balsam 
 Banana 
 Buck Yam 
 Cactus 
 
 Canna-bicolor 
 Collomia 
 Hyacinth 
 Li'ly 
 Palm 
 Rhubarb 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 55 
 
 55 
 
MICROSCOPIC PREPARATIONS . 
 
 219 
 
 Stomatas from Auricaria ex- 
 
 celsa 
 „ imbricata 
 Box 
 
 Equisetum 
 Hyacinth 
 Ivy 
 
 Oleander 
 Palm 
 
 Straw, Barley 
 Oat 
 Eice 
 Wheat 
 Yucca 
 
 7} 
 V 
 
 J' 
 )> 
 
 
 5' 
 
 )1 
 
 Hard Tissues — Cone of Cedar 
 
 Larch 
 Pine 
 Pear 
 Seeds of Croton Tiglium 
 
 „ Star-anise 
 Shells of Brazil-nut 
 Cocoa-nut 
 Hazel-nut 
 Ivory-nut 
 „ Sago Palm 
 „ Walnut 
 Stone of Apricot 
 Cherry 
 Damson 
 Date 
 Grape 
 Peach 
 Plum 
 Tamarind 
 Smut of Barley 
 Oat 
 Bye 
 
 5) 
 }■> 
 
 5' 
 
 
 Wheat 
 
 Fibro-cellular Tissue 
 Simple Cellular Tissue 
 Stellate Tissue 
 Scalariform Tissue 
 
 SECTIONS OF WOODS, &c. 
 
 Alder 
 
 Aloe, flower-stalk 
 Balsam Poplar 
 Banksia grandis 
 „ speciosa 
 Beech 
 Birch 
 Buckthorn 
 Camphor Tree 
 Cane — Bamboo 
 
 „ Dragon 
 
 „ Waoghie 
 Cedar 
 Chestnut 
 Cobse Scandens 
 Clematis 
 Cork-wood 
 Cycas 
 Elder 
 Elm 
 
 Fern-root 
 Fir 
 Lurch 
 Lime 
 
 Mahogany 
 Maple 
 Mazerion 
 Oak 
 Palm, Date 
 
 „ Dragon 
 
 „ Fan 
 Pepper 
 Poplar 
 Savin 
 Stone Pine 
 Sugar-cane 
 Sycamore 
 Upas 
 Willow 
 Yew 
 
 &c, &c, &c. 
 
220 
 
 MICROSCOPIC PREPARATIONS. 
 
 HAIRS OF ANIMALS. 
 
 Ant-eater, transverse section 
 Bat, Indian 
 „ various 
 Beaver 
 Dormouse 
 Elk 
 Hare 
 Human 
 
 American Indian 
 
 Negro 
 
 Foetal 
 
 Transverse sections 
 
 >? 
 
 V 
 
 » 
 
 Mole 
 
 5) 
 
 Mouse, Indian 
 
 Shrew 
 
 Sea 
 
 White 
 Musk Deer 
 „ Eat 
 Musquash 
 Nutria 
 Opossum 
 Ornithorhyncus 
 Otter 
 Eabbit 
 Seal 
 
 Squirrel 
 Tiger, whisker 
 Walrus „ 
 Water-rat 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 WHALEBONE SECTIONS. 
 
 Finland 
 Greenland 
 South Sea 
 
 Horn of Antelope 
 „ Goat 
 Ibex 
 
 Horn of Ox 
 
 Ehinoceros 
 
 Sheep 
 
 Stag 
 
 » 
 
 ?> 
 
 Hoof of Ass 
 „ Camel 
 
 
 Deer 
 
 Elephant 
 
 Horse 
 
 Ox 
 
 Pig 
 
 Ehinoceros 
 
 Sheep 
 
 Quill of Cassowary 
 Duck 
 Eagle 
 Goose 
 Ostrich 
 Swan 
 Turkey 
 
 
 
 >3 
 
 }) 
 
 SECTIONS OF SHELLS. 
 
 Anomia ephippium 
 Avicula Margaritacse 
 Belemnite 
 Cidaris 
 
 „ sj)ines 
 Cowrie 
 Crab 
 
 „ claw 
 Cuttle-bone 
 Echinus 
 
 „ spines 
 Haliotis splendens 
 Lima scabra 
 Lingula anatina 
 Lobster 
 Malleus albus 
 Mya arenaria 
 
MICROSCOPIC PREPARATIONS. 
 
 221 
 
 Onio occidens 
 Ostrich 
 Ostrea edulis 
 
 „ malleus 
 Pentacrinite 
 Pinna marina 
 
 
 nigrina 
 
 squamosa 
 „ fibres of 
 Prawn 
 
 Shrimp 
 Spatangus 
 
 JJ 
 
 Star-fish 
 
 spines 
 
 SPICULES OF GORGONIA. 
 
 Anceps 
 
 Ampla 
 
 Crista Galli 
 
 Decussata 
 
 Fileata 
 
 Gelata 
 
 Miniata 
 
 Muricata 
 
 Rugosa 
 
 Pinnata 
 
 Placonius 
 
 Purpurea 
 
 Tricolor 
 
 Verrucosa 
 
 Zingiber 
 
 &c, &c, &c. 
 
 spicule: and gemmttles of 
 
 SPONGE. 
 
 Dysidea 
 
 Geodia 
 
 Grantia compressa 
 
 Halichoudrea panicea 
 
 Pachymatisnia Johnstonia 
 
 Tethea cranium 
 
 „ lyncurium 
 Spongilla fluviatilis ) 
 
 fragilis > British 
 
 lacustris ) 
 
 alba 
 
 Meyneii Bombay 
 
 plumosa 
 
 JJ 
 JJ 
 JJ 
 JJ 
 JJ 
 
 Spiculae of Alcyonium 
 „ Synapta 
 
 DISSECTIONS OF INSECTS. 
 
 A Set of Slides (12), to illus- 
 trate the anatomy of the 
 Blow Ply 
 
 JAWS AND PKOBOSCES of 
 
 Ant 
 
 Asilus 
 
 Bee 
 
 Bee Fly 
 
 Beetles 
 
 Blow Fly 
 
 Boat Fly 
 
 Breeze Fly (larvee) 
 
 Bug 
 
 Butterfly 
 
 Chameleon Fly 
 
 Cicada 
 
 Crane Fly 
 
 Cricket 
 
 Drone Fly 
 
 Empis Fly 
 
 Field Bug 
 
 Flea 
 
 Gnat 
 
 Hornet 
 
 House Fly 
 
 Ichneumon Fly 
 
222 
 
 MICROSCOPIC PREPARATIONS. 
 
 » 
 
 >» 
 
 Mason Wasp 
 
 Moth 
 
 Mosquito, African 
 
 American 
 East Indian 
 West Indian 
 
 Ophion 
 
 Ryngia 
 
 Sand Bee 
 
 Saw Fly 
 
 Scorpion Fly 
 
 Spider 
 
 „ Water 
 
 Tabanus (?) 
 
 Tick 
 
 Wasp 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 PARASITES. 
 
 Acarus folliculorum 
 Albatross 
 Ass 
 Bat 
 Bug 
 „ exuvia of 
 Cat 
 Dog 
 Eagle 
 Fish 
 Flea, Bat 
 
 Bed 
 
 Cat 
 
 Dog 
 
 Fowl 
 
 Hedgehog 
 
 Squirrel 
 Fowl 
 Guinea Fowl 
 
 Horse 
 Partridge 
 Peacock 
 
 Pediculi, Human 
 Pig 
 
 
 » 
 
 if 
 
 Pigeon 
 
 Pheasant * 
 
 Rabbit 
 
 Rat 
 
 Raven 
 
 Rook . 
 
 Sandpiper 
 
 Snipe 
 
 Sparrow 
 
 Swallow 
 
 Tick of Dog 
 Ox 
 
 Polecat 
 Sheep 
 
 Water Rat 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 
 Spiracles of Bee 
 
 Blow Fly 
 
 „ Larva 
 Breeze Fly 
 Caterpillars 
 Cockchafer 
 
 „ Larva 
 
 Dog Tick 
 Drone Fly 
 „ Dytiscus 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 j> 
 
 ?? 
 
 
 
 Trachese of Bees 
 
 Blow Fly 
 
 „ Larva 
 Caterpillars 
 Cockchafer 
 
 ,, Larvse 
 
 Dytiscus 
 
 ,, Larvse 
 Hydrophilus 
 
 „ Larvse 
 Silkworm 
 
 » 
 
 35 
 
MICROSCOPIC PREPARATIONS. 
 
 Stings of Ant 
 Bee 
 
 Hornet 
 
 Ichneumon Fly 
 Ophion 
 Wasp 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 « 
 
 5> 
 
 Stomachs of Bee 
 
 Beetles 
 Blow Fly 
 Cricket 
 Wasp 
 &c. &c. 
 
 
 &c. 
 
 )> 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 5> 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 Ovipositors of Crane Fly 
 
 Cricket 
 
 » Field 
 Drone Fly 
 
 Grasshopper 
 House Fly 
 
 Ichneumon 
 FJies 
 » Saw Flies 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 Feet of Asilus 
 Bee 
 
 » 
 
 35 
 33 
 33 
 33 
 
 Blow Fly 
 
 Caterpillars 
 Crane Fly 
 Cricket, House 
 
 Field 
 Curculio 
 
 Diamond Beetles 
 Drone Fly 
 Dytiscus 
 Hornet 
 House Fly 
 Ophion 
 
 Feet of Saw Fly 
 
 » Scorpion Fly 
 Spiders 
 Tabanus 
 Wasp 
 & c &c. &c. 
 
 33 
 
 33 
 
 Antennae of Ant 
 
 Bee Fly 
 
 33 
 
 33 
 33 
 
 35 
 
 35 
 
 33 
 
 33 
 33 
 
 &C &c. 
 
 Beetles* 
 Blow Fly 
 
 Cockchafer 
 Drone Fly- 
 Moths 
 Gnat 
 Mide 
 &c. 
 
 s e Fly 
 
 Eyes of Bees 
 » Butterfly 
 » Cockchafer 
 Crane Fly 
 Dragon Fly 
 Drone Fly 
 Dytiscus 
 House Fly 
 Moth 
 » Spider 
 n Wasp 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 33 
 
 33 
 
 35 
 
 33 
 
 Gastric Teeth of Beetles 
 Bee 
 
 Cricket 
 Fly 
 
 H ornet 
 » Spider 
 
 » Wasp 
 
 33 
 
 223 
 
224 
 
 MICROSCOPIC PREPARATIONS. 
 
 POLARISCOPE. 
 
 Selenite, Red and Green 
 Blue and Yellow 
 various 
 Starch, Tous les mois 
 Buck Yam 
 Cycas 
 Potato 
 Arrow-root 
 
 » 
 
 11 
 
 11 
 
 11 
 
 11 
 
 11 
 
 Hairs from Cactus 
 
 Deutzia gracilis 
 „ scabia 
 
 Dolichos 
 Durio zebethinus 
 Elseagnus 
 Fern (various) 
 Bhanmus 
 Eose 
 Tabaiba 
 
 » 
 
 n 
 
 ii 
 
 ii 
 
 it 
 
 ii 
 
 »> 
 
 ii 
 Cotton 
 
 Gun-cotton 
 
 Flax 
 
 Fibres of Palm 
 
 Silk 
 
 Vegetable Ivory 
 
 Cuticle of Aloe 
 
 „ Equisetum 
 
 ii 
 ii 
 
 TRANSVERSE & VERTICAL 
 SECTIONS of 
 
 Horn of Antelope 
 
 Ox 
 
 Earn 
 
 Ehinoceros 
 Hoof of Antelope 
 „ Camel 
 
 Deer 
 
 Elephant 
 
 Horse 
 
 Pig 
 
 Ehinoceros 
 
 Sheep 
 
 ii 
 
 ii 
 
 ii 
 
 ii 
 
 SECTIONS OF SKIN t 
 Alligator 
 Boa Constrictor 
 Elephant 
 Man 
 Ox 
 Ehinoceros 
 
 Human Corn 
 Nail 
 Tooth 
 
 ii 
 
 ii 
 
 ii 
 
 Hair of Brahmin Bull 
 
 Horse 
 
 Pig 
 Grey Human Hair 
 Eaphides of Cactus 
 Wing-case of Beetle 
 Fibres of Pinna 
 Whalebone 
 Whisker of Walrus 
 Spicules of Gorgonia 
 Palate of Whelk 
 Quill 
 
 Feather of Bird 
 Bissus of Pinna 
 Egg-shell of Ostrich 
 Fish-bones 
 Papyrus 
 
 Bladder of Sturgeon 
 Scale of Eel 
 
 Perch 
 Sole 
 Oyster-shell 
 Young Oysters 
 Skin of Prawn 
 „ Shrimp 
 Tendon of Ox 
 
 „ Sheep 
 Sections of Agate 
 
 Black Marble 
 White 
 
 ii 
 ii 
 
 ii 
 
 ii 
 
 V 
 
 Brighton Pebble 
 Granite (various) 
 Labrador Spa 
 
MICROSCOPIC PREPARATIONS. 
 
 
 Sections of Lime-stone 
 Sand -stone 
 Quartz 
 
 » 
 
 » 
 
 Tremolite 
 
 Satin Spa 
 
 Zeolite 
 
 Sulphate of Lime 
 
 -Asparagine 
 
 Boracic Acid 
 
 Borate of Ammonia 
 
 Borax 
 
 Bi-chromate of Potash 
 
 Bi-tartrate of Potash 
 
 „ Ammonia 
 
 „ Lime 
 
 Carbonate of Lime 
 Chlorate of Potash 
 Cholesterine 
 Citric Acid 
 Epsom Salt 
 Gallic Acid 
 Hippuric Acid 
 Iodide of Quinine 
 Lithic Acid 
 Murexide 
 Oxalate of Ammonia 
 
 „ Lime 
 
 Oxalurate of Ammonia 
 Plates from Star-fish 
 Quinine 
 Salicine 
 
 Sulphate of Cadmium 
 „ Lime 
 
 „ Nickel 
 
 Tartrate of Ammonia 
 Lime 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 » 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 A Set of Slides (12), to illus- 
 trate the Process of Felting 
 Fibres of Sponge 
 Flax 
 
 Fibres of Cotton 
 
 „ Silk 
 Feather of Ibis 
 
 Humming Bird 
 Love Bird 
 Parrot 
 Penguin 
 
 n 
 
 » 
 
 
 Pigeon 
 
 J) 
 J) 
 
 JJ 
 
 TRANSVERSE SECTIONS of 
 Hairs of Ant-eater 
 Elephant 
 Eyelash of Whale 
 Hedgehog 
 Human 
 Rhinoceros 
 Pecan 
 Porcupine 
 Walrus 
 Marine Algos, various 
 Palate of Whelk 
 
 n Periwinkle 
 » Slug 
 » Snail 
 » Limpet 
 Lancets of Flea 
 Pygidium of Flea 
 Hairs of Leaf of Buckthorn 
 Deutzia 
 Elreagnus 
 Ferns 
 Teeth and Claws of Star-fish 
 Spines of Star-fish 
 Scales of Butterflies, various 
 
 » Moths 
 Coccoon of Moth 
 Scale of Eel 
 „ Sole 
 n Perch 
 Hair of Lame of Dermestes 
 Myriapod 
 Bee 
 
 Caterpillars 
 „ Spiders 
 Foetal, Human 
 
 Q 
 
 
 >> 
 
99fi 
 
 MICROSCOPIC PREPARATIONS. 
 
 Siliceous Sponge 
 Sporules of Equisetum 
 „ Fern 
 
 „ „ Australian 
 
 Tanned Human Skin 
 „ Skin of Alligator 
 „ Boa Constrictor 
 „ Elephant 
 „ Ox 
 Cystic Oxide 
 Carbonate of Lime 
 Murexide 
 
 Exuvia of Larvae of Beetle 
 Petal of Pelargonium 
 Negro Skin* 
 Moss Agate 
 Spine of Silurus 
 Section of Organ Coral 
 Red Coral 
 White Coral 
 Pearls 
 Madrepores 
 Wing of Butterfly 
 
 „ Moth 
 Skins of Caterpillars 
 Fibres of Pinna Shell 
 Fibrous Fossil Wood 
 Fibres of Cotton Grass 
 Bone of Egyptian Mummy 
 Sections of Chinese Rice Paper 
 
 „ Indian do. 
 Suckers from Foot of Beetle 
 Poisers of Crane Fly 
 Spine of Pay Fish 
 
 „ Turbot 
 Skin of Spider 
 Spinneret of Spider 
 Ovipositor of Spider 
 Wings of Bee, with Hooklets 
 Saw Fly, with do. 
 Wasp, with do. 
 Wing of Blow Fly 
 „ Gnat 
 „ Midge Fly 
 Tendon of Ostrich 
 Section of Human Lung 
 
 5J 
 
 )} 
 
 5» 
 
 J) 
 JJ 
 
 Section of Human Skin 
 „ Lung of Whale 
 
 Pigment-cells of eye of Sheep 
 
 Crystalline-lens of eye of Fish 
 
 Larvae of Bot-fly in the egg 
 
 Larvae of Flea 
 
 Spicules of Alcyonium 
 „ Gorgonia 
 
 Sphagnum 
 
 Capsules of Moss 
 
 Papyrus 
 
 Talc, with Crystals of Carbo- 
 nate of Iron 
 
 Head of Caterpillar 
 
 Spinnerets of Silkworm 
 
 Scale of Silkworm Moth 
 
 Woody Fibre of Rice 
 
 Mouth of Tadpole, Frog 
 „ „ Toad 
 
 Skin of Frog 
 „ Toad 
 „ Eel, with Scales 
 
 Scale of Pangolin 
 „ Turtle 
 
 Yeast Plant 
 
 Section of Truffle 
 
 Sporules of Truffle 
 
 Cheese Mite 
 
 Sugar Mite 
 
 Meal Mite 
 
 Bark of Lace Tree 
 
 Glands of Sweet Briar 
 
 Calcined Bone 
 
 Carbonate of Magnesia 
 
 Bone of Cuttle-fish 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 OPAQUE. 
 
 Antimony 
 
 Red 
 
 Sulphuret 
 Needle 
 Australian Gold-dust 
 Sand from Gold-diggings- 
 Crystals from Indigo 
 Ruby Copper Ore 
 
 » 
 
 » 
 
MICROSCOPIC PREPARATIONS. 
 
 227 
 
 » 
 
 ?j 
 
 Peacock Copper Ore 
 Copper Dross 
 „ Moss 
 Native Copper 
 Pollen of Hollyhock 
 » Lily 
 Mallow- 
 Pass ion-flower 
 Sunflower 
 Leaf of Deutzia 
 „ Elagagnus 
 „ Fern 
 Seeds of Orchis 
 Skin of Dog-fish 
 „ Shark 
 „ Sole 
 Wing of Menelaus 
 „ Papilio Paris 
 
 n » Io 
 
 Skin of Diamond Beetle 
 Wing-case of Diamond Beetle 
 
 „ Curculio 
 
 Feet of Beetles 
 Spicules of Gorgonia 
 Spines of Star-fish 
 Fossil Shells, Barbadoes 
 
 „ Bohemia 
 
 Crystallized Silver 
 Electrotyped Silver 
 
 ANATOMICAL 
 PREPARATIONS. 
 
 A set of Urinary Deposits (1 2) 
 
 A set of Slides (12) to illus- 
 trate the growth and struc- 
 ture of Human Bone. 
 
 TRANSVERSE & VERTICAL 
 SECTIONS OF BONES. 
 
 Albatross 
 Alligator 
 Ass 
 Bear 
 
 Beaver 
 
 Boa Constrictor 
 
 Boar 
 
 Cat 
 
 Cat-Fish 
 
 Chimpanzee 
 
 Crocodile 
 
 Deer 
 
 Dog 
 
 Dugong 
 
 Eel 
 
 Elephant 
 
 Elk 
 
 Flying Fish 
 
 Fox 
 
 Fowl 
 
 Frog 
 
 Horse 
 
 Hippopotamus 
 
 Human 
 
 „ from a Bog 
 Lepidosteus 
 Lion 
 Monkey 
 Mouse 
 Miliobates 
 Newt 
 Ostrich 
 
 Opossum , 
 
 Ox 
 Rat 
 
 Ray-fish 
 Rhinoceros 
 Saw-fish 
 Sheep 
 Shark 
 Silurus 
 Snake 
 Sword-fish 
 Tiger 
 Toad 
 Tortoise 
 Tnrbot 
 Turtle 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 
 
 MICROSCOPIC PREPARATIONS. 
 
 TRANSVERSE AND VERTICAL 
 SECTIONS OF FOSSIL BONE. 
 
 Bear 
 
 Dinornis 
 
 Dugong 
 
 Elk 
 
 Hippopotamus 
 
 Hyena 
 
 Ichthyosaurus 
 
 Iguanodon 
 
 Mammoth 
 
 Man 
 
 Mastodon 
 
 Plesiosaurus 
 
 Pterodactyle 
 
 Bhinoceros 
 
 Seal 
 
 Tortoise 
 
 Whale 
 
 &c., &c., &c. 
 
 TRANSVERSE SECTIONS OF 
 FOSSIL TEETH. 
 
 Myliobates 
 Shark 
 
 TRANSVERSE AND VERTICAL 
 SECTIONS OF TEETH. 
 
 Alligator 
 
 Bear 
 
 Beaver 
 
 Boar 
 
 Cat 
 
 Chimpanzee 
 
 Cod-fish 
 
 Crocodile 
 
 Deer 
 
 Dog 
 
 Dolphin 
 
 Dugong 
 
 Elephant 
 
 Fox 
 
 Hippopotamus 
 
 Horse 
 
 Human 
 
 Monkey 
 
 Mouse 
 
 Miliobates 
 
 Ox 
 
 Pike 
 
 Porpoise 
 
 Eat 
 
 Saw-fish 
 
 Seal 
 
 Sheep 
 
 Shark 
 
 Sword-fish 
 
 Whale 
 
 &c, &c, &c. 
 
 RETE-MTJCOSTJM IN SKIN. 
 
 Eel 
 
 Negro 
 
 Frog 
 
 Toad 
 
 Larvae of Beetle 
 
 SCALES OF FISHES. 
 Cetenoid scale of Perch 
 
 Cycloid scale of Carp 
 
 Eel 
 Ganoid scale of Lepidosteus 
 
 „ „ Sturgeon 
 
 Placoid scale of Dog-fish 
 
 BLOOD DISCS. 
 
 Human 
 
 Eeptile 
 
 Bird 
 
 Fish 
 
 Lepidosyren 
 
 Syren 
 
 &C, &C, &C. 
 
MICROSCOPIC PREPARATIONS. 
 
 r» /» *J 
 
 SPERMATOZOA. 
 
 Elephant 
 
 Bull 
 
 Horse 
 
 Human 
 
 Rhinoceros 
 
 VOLUNTARY MUSCULAR 
 FIBRE. 
 Blow Fly 
 Cod-fish 
 Cricket 
 
 „ Mole 
 Deer 
 Dytiscus 
 Eel 
 
 Elephant 
 Fowl 
 Frog 
 Horse 
 Lobster 
 Man 
 Newt 
 Ostrich 
 Oyster 
 Pig 
 
 Salmon 
 Scorpion 
 Shrimp 
 Siren 
 Skate 
 Snail 
 Snake 
 Spider 
 Swallow 
 Whale 
 
 INVOLUNTARY MUSCULAR 
 ' FIBRE. 
 ^Esophagus, upper part 
 „ middle 
 
 „ cardiac end 
 
 Stomach, great end 
 
 „ pylorus 
 Duodenum 
 
 Ccecum 
 
 Rectum 
 
 Heart, 
 
 Human 
 
 •— 3J 
 
 Ox 
 
 5) 
 
 Turtle 
 
 >> 
 
 Bird 
 
 )) 
 
 Fish 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 Sarciua ventriculi 
 Pigment-cells of Human Eye 
 » Eye of Sheep 
 
 „ Eye of Ox 
 
 Transverse section of Human 
 
 Muscle 
 Transverse and vertical sec- 
 tions of adult Human Car- 
 tilage 
 Transverse and vertical sec- 
 tions of Foetal Human Car- 
 tilage 
 Transverse and vertical sec- 
 tions of Cartilage of Reptile 
 „ „ Fish 
 
 v „ Bird 
 
 Transverse section of Human 
 
 Tendon 
 Fibro-cartilage, Human 
 Sections of Human Skin 
 
 Scalp of Negro 
 Human Tongue 
 Human Lip, hair- 
 follicles 
 Hydatids from Human Liver 
 Artificial Calculi 
 Yellow Elastic Tissue 
 White Fibrous Tissue 
 Nerve 
 
 Epithelium, various 
 Fibrous Membrane of E 
 
 DO 
 
 shell 
 Section of Human Lung 
 Adipose Tissue 
 Crystalline Lens of Human 
 
 Eye 
 
 
230 
 
 MICROSCOPIC PREPARATIONS. 
 
 }) 
 73 
 37 
 
 [ INJECTED PREPARATIONS. 
 
 Human — Lung, Adult 
 „ Foetal 
 „ Tubercle 
 Stomach 
 
 „ Sections 
 Small Intestine 
 Large ditto 
 Peyer's Gland 
 Solitary 
 Placenta 
 
 Muscle, voluntary 
 „ involuntary 
 „ sections 
 Kidney, Adult 
 Foetal 
 Tubuli 
 Bright's 
 Mesentery 
 Synovial Membrane 
 Trachea 
 Tongue 
 
 „ Sections 
 Liver 
 Bladder 
 Glands, Penis 
 Adipose Tissue 
 Skin, Surface 
 Finger 
 
 „ Sections 
 Sole of Foot 
 
 „ Sections 
 Heel 
 „ ■ Sections 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 Monkey — Lung 
 
 „ Tubercle 
 Stomach 
 Intestine, small 
 „ large 
 
 Muscle 
 Kidney 
 
 Tubuli 
 
 ji 
 
 77 
 » 
 
 35 
 77 
 33 
 33 
 77 
 
 33 
 33 
 37 
 77 
 
 37 
 33 
 33 
 77 
 73 
 33 
 >3 
 J) 
 33 
 33 
 57 
 37 
 33 
 J? 
 • 33 
 3) 
 33 
 
 33 
 33 
 53 
 33 
 33 
 
 75 
 33 
 33 
 33 
 3? 
 33 
 33 
 33 
 
 77 
 
 33 
 
 57 
 
 3) 
 77 
 
 Tongue 
 
 33 
 
 Sections 
 
 Monkey — Adipose Tissue" 
 Skin 
 „ Sections . 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 Lung of Foetal Puppy 
 Gill of Eel 
 
 Intestine of Rhinoceros 
 Turtle — Lung . 
 
 „ Intestine 
 Porpoise — Lung 
 
 Kidney 
 Intestine 
 Skin 
 Bear — Lung 
 „ Kidney 
 „ Intestine 
 Giraffe — Kidney 
 Boa Constrictor — Lung 
 
 „ Sections 
 Kidney 
 Intestine 
 Rattlesnake — Lung 
 
 „ Sections 
 Kidney 
 Intestine 
 Oviduct 
 Skin 
 Alligator — Lung- 
 Crocodile — Lung 
 Turtle — Lung 
 
 „ Intestine 
 
 Frog — Lung, inner surfac * 
 „ outer surface 
 Tongue 
 Palate 
 Stomach 
 Intestine, small 
 
 73 
 
 31 
 
 n 
 
 77 
 33 
 37 
 
 33 
 
 73 
 
 73 
 
 33 
 
 33 
 
 large 
 
 Toad- 
 
 33 
 33 
 
 Skin 
 Kidney 
 
 -Luno-, inner surface 
 „ outer surface 
 
 Palate 
 Tongue 
 Stomach 
 Intestine. 
 
 small 
 
MICROSCOPIC PREPARATIONS. 
 
 231 
 
 Toad — Intestine, large 
 „ Skin 
 
 „ Poison Glands 
 Tortoise — Lung 
 „ Stomach 
 
 Intestine 
 Lung 
 
 Intestine, small 
 „ large 
 
 Kidney 
 Uterus 
 Muscle 
 Stomach 
 Eabbit — Lung 
 Liver 
 
 Intestine, small 
 » large 
 
 Rectum 
 Section of Lip 
 Muscle 
 Uterus 
 Lion — Lung 
 „ Kidney 
 
 Intestine, small 
 Pad of Foot 
 
 „ Sections 
 
 Cheta — Lung 
 „ Kidney 
 „ Intestine 
 Pig- — Lung 
 
 Intestine, small 
 
 „ large 
 
 Kidney 
 „ „ Tubuli 
 
 „ Stomach 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 Sheep — Lung 
 
 Intestine, small 
 large 
 
 Guinea-Pig 
 »> 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 55 
 
 55 
 55 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 Sheep — Stomachs (3) 
 Kidney 
 
 Tubuli 
 
 55 
 
 55 55 
 
 Goose — Lung 
 
 
 j> 
 
 Sections 
 
 Intestine 
 Skin 
 Fowl — Lung 
 
 „ Sections 
 Intestine 
 Pectum 
 Skin 
 
 Foot 
 „ Sections 
 Craw 
 Oviduct 
 Ox — Lung 
 
 Intestine, small 
 
 » 
 »> 
 
 jj 
 
 55 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 5) 
 
 „ „ large 
 
 „ Ciliary processes 
 
 Choroid 
 „ Kidney 
 Dog — Lung 
 „ Intestine, small 
 „ „ Sections 
 
 „ Stomach 
 „ „ Sections 
 
 „ Kidney 
 „ Skin of Foot 
 „ „ Sections 
 
 Cat — Lung 
 
 „ outer surface 
 Intestine, small 
 
 „ Sections 
 
 Kidney 
 
 „ outer surface 
 Tubuli 
 Skin 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 55 
 55 
 55 
 55 
 55 
 55 
 55 
 
 MICRO-PHOTOG-RAPHS 
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 but having all the other motions complete, 
 with one huyghenian eye piece 7 15 
 
 Solid Spanish Mahogany Portable Case for 
 ditto, with drawer beneath, packed com- 
 plete 2 2 
 
 No. 2. — Ditto ditto, one size smaller, without 
 mechanical stage, having slow motion, 
 sliding object holder, double mirror and 
 
 one huyghenian eye piece 6 15 
 
 Solid Spanish Mahogany Case for ditto, with 
 drawer beneath, and packed complete for 
 apparatus 1 10 
 
 No. 3. — A beautifully finished Student's 
 Microscope, with sliding stage, quick and 
 slow motion, one-inch, half-inch, and 
 quarter-inch achromatic object glass, live 
 box, with stage and dissecting forceps, all 
 
 packed in a neat mahogany case 6 10 
 
 Ditto ditto, without slow motion 5 15 
 
 N.B. — This instrument is strongly recommended to Surgeons and 
 others for its completeness, as it answers the purpose of a more 
 expensive instrument for physiological and general purposes. 
 
 No. 4. — A Portable Microscope, with lever or 
 rack motion to the stage, and fitted com- 
 plete as No. 3 4 15 
 
 No. 5. — The Society oe Arts Microscope. 
 This exceedingly cheap Achromatic Micro- 
 scope, which is so strongly recommended 
 by the Society of Arts, has quick and slow 
 motion, sliding stage, live box, stage 
 forceps, dissecting ditto, with quarter, half, 
 and one-inch achromatic lenses, all packed 
 in a neat mahogany case, price 3 3 
 
Sold by C. Baker, 243 & 2-14, llion Holbobb 5 
 
 No. 6. — A superior finished Microscope, -with- 
 out joints to the stand, but having a 
 delicate optical adjustment, with one-and- 
 a-half-inch, one- inch, and half-inch achro- 
 matic object glasses, in mahogany case ... 2 2 
 
 No. 7. — A Compound Microscope, (not achro- 
 matic) with six various powers, live box, 
 condenser, forceps, stage forceps, and 
 other apparatus, packed complete in a 
 mahogany case 2 10 
 
 Also a large assortment of Botanical and Dissecti.^i 
 Microscopes, from Is. 6d. each. 
 
 ACHROMATIC OBJECT GLASSES. 
 
 Angular Aperture. 
 
 Two-inch 12 degrees 1 10 
 
 One-and-a-half-inch 20 „ 1 17 6 
 
 One-inch 13 „ 1 10 
 
 Ditto 23 „ 1 17 6 
 
 Half-inch, with adjustment Go „ 3 5 
 
 Quarter-inch, with adjustment 75 „ 3 5 
 
 Ditto . ditto 95 „ 3 15 
 
 One-eighth ditto, with adjustment 115 „ 5 5 
 
 Ditto ditto 125 „ 6 6 
 A beautifully-defining combination of German 
 Powers, half-inch, dividing so as to form 
 one-inch and one-and-a-half-inch, mounted 
 
 in a superior form 1 2 6 
 
 Ditto ditto, of quarter-inch power, and 
 
 forming if divided one-third-inch 1 5 
 
 X.B. — These Object Glasses are the finest that can be made, and for 
 defining and penetrating power cannot be surpassed. 
 
 APPARATUS FOR ACHROMATIC MICROSCOPES . 
 
 Polariscope, with extra large pair of prisms, 
 
 fitted and attached complete 1 12 G 
 
 Ditto ditto, for Student's Microscope... 15 
 
 Extra Eye pieces from Gs. to 12 6 
 
6 Catalogue of Achromatic Microscopes, 
 
 £ 
 Achromatic Condenser (mechanical part) for 
 the better definition of delicate structures, 
 
 fitted complete 1 
 
 Ditto ditto, for Students 
 
 Large Condenser for illuminating opaque 
 objects, with universal motion and divid- 
 ing stand 
 
 Ditto ditto, for Students 
 
 Ditto ditto, for adapting to stage 
 
 Camera Lucida, for drawing the magnified 
 
 image 15s. to 1 
 
 Stage Forceps from 3s. 6d. to 
 
 Dissecting Forceps „ Is. to 
 
 Micrometer, for stage 
 
 Ditto, for eye-piece, mounted in brass 
 
 Ditto Ditto, unmounted 
 
 Dark-ground Illuminator from 
 
 Parabolic Condensers from 1 
 
 Silver Eeflector from 6s. to 
 
 Animalcula? Cages „ 4s. to 
 
 Frog Plate 
 
 Glass Troughs for viewing circulation of 
 
 plants yfrom 
 
 Hollow Glass Slides 
 
 Compressoriums 
 
 Glass Stage Plates from 
 
 a. 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 15 
 
 6 
 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 / 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 lo 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 HAND MAGNIFIERS FOR DISSECTING, &c. 
 
 Pocket Magnifier, with one lens, horn mounting, 
 
 front Is. to 
 
 Ditto ditto, two lenses 
 
 Ditto ditto, three lenses 
 
 Ditto ditto, one lens,tortoiseshell mounting 
 
 Ditto ditto, two lenses 
 
 Ditto ditto, three lenses 
 
 Double and Treble ditto, in tortoiseshell, with 
 
 diaphragm from 6s. to 
 
 Stanhope Lenses, in ivory mounting 
 
 Coddington ditto ditto 
 
 Ditto ditto, in silver box case, from 6s. to 
 
 Ditto ditto, in German silver 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
Sold by C. Baker, 243 & 244, High IIolborn. 7 
 
 CABINETS FOR MICROSCOPIC OBJECTS. 
 
 Plat French polished mahogany Case, to hold 
 
 three dozen objects 3 G 
 
 Ditto ditto, with lock and key, to hold six 
 
 dozen objects 7 6 
 
 Ditto ditto, twelve dozen 12 6 
 
 Superior French polished mahogany Cabinet, 
 with drawer to hold 480 objects, in a 
 vertical position, and flat drawer for in- 
 jections 2 
 
 Ditto ditto, with twenty-two drawers, to 
 hold 276 objects, in a horizontal position 
 
 from £2 10s. Od. to 4 
 
 LARGER CABINETS MADE TO ORDER AND KEPT IN STOCK. 
 
 PREPARED MOUNTED OBJECTS. 
 
 Every variety of Physiological, Entymological, 
 Vegetable, Becent and Fossil Infusoria, 
 Wood, and other Sections, and Polariscope 
 Objects, by Topping, and the most es- 
 teemed Continental preparers, from 9d. to 1 6 
 
 Anatomical Injected Preparations, fvmls.Sd .to 2 3 
 
 MATERIALS AND INSTRUMENTS. 
 
 Air Pumps, with receiver, complete 18 6 
 
 Injecting Syringe, with stop cocks 8 6 
 
 Writing Diamond 5 6 
 
 Diamond for cutting slips of plate glass from 8 
 
 Instrument for cutting circles of thin glass to any size 10 
 
 Valentine's Knife, for cutting thin sections of soft animal 
 
 and vegetable substances 10 
 
 Machines for cutting sections of wood from 10 
 
 Revolving Tables for cementing cells with gold size, kc.,from 5 
 
 Needle Holders, with ivory handles 2 6 
 
 Dissecting Knives, with ditto 1 9 
 
 Fine Scissors from 2 
 
 Thin Glass in squares per ounce 3 6 
 
 Ditto in circles 5 9 
 
 Plate Glass Slides for mounting per dozen 3 
 
 Ditto ditto, ground edges 8 
 
 Canada Balsam per bottle 6d. and 1 o 
 
 GoldSize ,, ] 
 
 Asphalte 10 
 
 Cells of all kinds for injections per d "0m 1 •". 
 
 SUPERIOR MICROSCOPE LAMPS, from 16*. 
 
8 Catalogue of Achromatic Microscopes, 
 
 TELESCOPES. 
 
 A portable six-draw Telescope, four inches long 
 when closed and sixteen inches when drawn 
 out ; of great magnifying power, sufficient 
 to show the satellites of Jupiter 1 5 
 
 Ditto ditto, with German silver mounting 1 15 
 
 The above in brass mounting, fitted with a 
 portable stand and extra eye-piece, for 
 astronomical purposes, all packed in a 
 neat morocco case, 4 \ by 3 \ .... 2 5 
 
 Ditto ditto, in German silver 3 10 
 
 A portable E-econnoitering powerful Military 
 or Tourist's Telescope, fitted with leather 
 caps, and sling ; when drawn out sixteen 
 inches, and closed eight inches, the object 
 glass one-and-a-half inches clear aperture 1 13 6 
 
 Ditto ditto, of less power, for general pur- 
 poses 17 6 
 
 A very superior three-draw Military or Recon- 
 noitering Telescope, thirty inches when 
 drawn out, and nine inches when closed, 
 the object glass of two inches clear aper- 
 ture, giving an amount of power and 
 brilliancy of definition not to be sur- 
 passed ; leather covered and leather caps, 
 and sling 3 3 
 
 Ditto ditto, with 2 draws 2 15 
 
 A beautifully finished portable four-draw 
 German silver Telescope, with sliding sun 
 shade and whalebone body, when drawn 
 out twenty-eight inches, and closed eight 
 inches, object glass one-and-five-eighth 
 inch diameter ; the most powerful of its 
 size that can be manufactured 3 
 
 Ditto ditto, fitted with an Astronomical 
 eye-piece, and portable stand for the 
 observation of celestial objects, in ma- 
 hogany case 5 5 
 
 Ditto ditto, with 3 draws 2 15 
 
 Leather Case, with sling, for ditto 8 6 
 
Sold by C. Baker, 243 & 244, High Hoi/born 9 
 
 £ 3. d. 
 
 Midshipman's Naval Telescopes, with Flag 
 
 Signals, leather covered, with sling, from 1 15 
 
 A well finished three-draw brass mounted 
 Telescope, covered with leather, sliding 
 sun shade, and pancratic eye piece for 
 any increase of power ; 30 inches when 
 drawn out, and 10 inches when closed, 
 object glass one-and-five-eighth diameter 2 2 
 
 Ditto ditto, without pancratic eye piece or 
 
 sun shade 1 15 
 
 Ditto ditto, with mahogany or rosewood 
 
 body 1 12 6 
 
 A great variety of second-hand Astronomical and Day 
 Telescopes at every variety of price and size always 
 
 in stock. 
 
 BAROMETERS AND THERMOMETERS. . 
 
 Beautifully finished exposed tube rosewood 
 pediment Barometer, ivory scale, with 
 sliding vernier 1 7 6 
 
 Ditto ditto, with large column of mercury, 
 and adjusting rack vernier, massively 
 mounted in oak frame 2 
 
 Ditto ditto, in mahogany or rosewood 
 
 frame 2 2 
 
 Massively mounted oak Barometer, with extra 
 large column of mercury, having a double 
 scale, with double rack verniers 2 7 ( i 
 
 Ditto ditto, in rosewood or mahogany 2 10 
 
 Ditto ditto, in carved mahogany or rose- 
 wood frames, beautifully executed, with 
 very large columns of mercury 4 4 
 
 The improved aneroid and metallique Barom- 
 eter, with case and stand complete, from 2 5 
 
 Ditto ditto, with Thermometer attached, from 2 10 
 
 Ditto ditto, and silver dial from 2 15 
 
 Registering Thermometer, mounted in Ivory, 
 
 with japan or zinc case 1 (J 6 
 
 Ditto ditto, in box, with similar cases 
 
 from lis. to 13 6 
 
 Bath Thermometers from 2 < i 
 
 Box ditto from 1 
 
10 Catalogue of Achromatic Microscopes, 
 
 SPECTACLES, EYE GLASSES, &c. 
 
 Plain steel Spectacles, strongly made 2 6 
 
 Ditto ditto, with double temples 3 
 
 Superior ditto, extra quality glasses 3 9 
 
 Very superior ditto, the best made 5 6 
 
 Ditto ditto, with pebbles 8 6 
 
 Tortoiseshell Eye Glasses, all kinds 1 9 
 
 Beautifully finished tortoiseshell Hand Spec- 
 tacles, with double and counter springs... 10 6 
 Ditto ditto, with plain spring 7 6 
 
 Every variety of Gold and Silver Spectacles at equally low prices. 
 
 OPERA OR RACE GLASSES. 
 
 Tourist's exceedingly portable double achro- 
 matic Opera, having additional Lens for 
 increase of power, beautifully finished, 
 with morocco case complete 1 7 6 
 
 Ditto ditto, covered with morocco leather, 
 
 and bronzed '. . 1 10 
 
 The best ivory mounted and gilt double achro- 
 matic Operas, by the finest makers of 
 Vienna and Munich from 110 
 
 Ditto ditto, in buffalo, tortoiseshell, or 
 
 japan mountings from 15 
 
 Extra powerful double achromatic Tourist's 
 Eace or Eeconnoitring Operas, covered 
 with morocco leather, and having sliding 
 sun shade and portable morocco case ; the 
 most powerful made 2 15 
 
 Ditto ditto, having achromatic eye piece, 
 whereby great portability is obtained with 
 the same degree of power from 2 
 
 Ditto ditto, with a jointed frame, to lessen 
 
 the distance between the axis of vision ... 3 12 6 
 
 Japanned leather Cases to ditto, with a sling 
 
 10s. and 12 
 
 Elegant Duchesse 12-glass Operas of every 
 
 variety from 1 15 
 
Sold by C. Baker, 243 & 21 i, IIioli Holbo^t. 1 1 
 
 MAGIC LANTERNS AND DISSOLVING VIEWS. 
 
 £ ... d. 
 
 No. 1. — Best improved Phantasmagoria Lan- 
 tern, with two-and-a-half-inch Lenses, 
 lamp, reflector, &c, complete 1 5 
 
 No. 2. — Ditto ditto, with three-inch 
 
 Lenses 1 15 
 
 No. 3. — Ditto ditto, with three-and-a- 
 half-inch ditto 2 5 
 
 No. 4. — Ditto ditto, with four-and-a- 
 half-inch ditto 3 3 
 
 No. 2. — In pairs, for Dissolving Views, with 
 
 the dissolving apparatus and case, complete 4 17 6 
 
 No. 3.— Ditto ditto ditto 6 
 
 No. 4.— Ditto ditto ditto 9 
 
 A Microscope attached to either of the above 
 
 from £1 Is. to 1 10 
 
 A LARGE ASSORTMENT OF SLIDERS OF EVERY VARIETY OF SUBJECT, 
 
 BOTH NEW AND SECOND-HAND, CAN BE SELECTED FROM, 
 
 AT THE LOWBST PRICES. 
 
 Every Article manufactured on the Premises by Superior Workmen, 
 and Repairs and Alterations will receive immediate attention at the 
 Lowest Price. 
 
 An extensive assortment of every description of Optical, Mathe- 
 matical, Astronomical, Surveying, and other Scientific Instruments, 
 both new and second-hand, at very low prices. 
 
 N. B. — Second-hand Instruments of all kinds. 
 Purchased or taken in Exchange. 
 
 Illustrations f ot Not. Zand 5 Microscope* tee over. 
 
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