Eccentricities of the Animal Creation.

LEAVES ABOUT BOOKWORMS.

Many years ago an experienced keeper of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford collected these interesting details of Bookworms:—"The larvæ of Crambus pinguinalis will establish themselves upon the binding of a book, and spinning a robe will do it little injury. A mite, Acarus eruditus, eats the paste that fastens the paper over the edges of the binding and so loosens it. The caterpillar of another little moth takes its station in damp old books, between the leaves, and there commits great ravages. The little boring wood-beetle, who attacks books and will even bore through several volumes. An instance is mentioned of twenty-seven folio volumes being perforated in a straight line, by the same insect, in such a manner that by passing a cord through the perfect round hole made by it the twenty-seven volumes could be raised at once. The wood-beetle also destroys prints and drawings, whether framed or kept in a portfolio."

There is another "Bookworm," which is often confounded with the Death-watch of the vulgar; but is smaller, and instead of beating at intervals, as does the Death-watch, continues its noise for a considerable length of time without intermission. It is usually found in old wood, decayed furniture, museums, and neglected books. The female lays her eggs, which are exceedingly small, in dry, dusty places, where they are least likely to meet with disturbance. They are generally hatched about the beginning of March, a little sooner or later, according to the weather. After leaving the eggs, the insects are so small as to be scarcely discerned without the use of a glass. They remain in this state about two months, somewhat resembling in appearance the mites in cheese, after which they undergo their change into the perfect insect. They feed on dead flies and other insects; and often, from their numbers and voracity, very much deface cabinets of natural history. They subsist on various other substances, and may often be observed carefully hunting for nutritious particles amongst the dust in which they are found, turning it over with their heads, and searching about in the manner of swine. Many live through the winter buried deep in the dust to avoid the frost.

The best mode of destroying the insects which infest books and MSS. has often occupied the attention of the possessors of valuable libraries. Sir Thomas Phillips found the wood of his book-case attacked, particularly where beech had been introduced, and appeared to think that the insect was much attracted by the paste employed in binding. He recommended as preservatives against their attacks spirits of turpentine and a solution of corrosive sublimate, and also the latter substance mixed with paste. In some instances he found the produce of a single impregnated female sufficient to destroy a book. Turpentine and spirit of tar are also recommended for their destruction; but the method pursued in the collections of the British Museum is an abundant supply of camphor, with attention to keeping the rooms dry, warm, and ventilated. Mr. Macleay states it is the acari only which feed on the paste employed in binding books, and the larvæ of the Coleoptera only which pierce the boards and leaves.

The ravages of the Bookworm would be much more destructive had there not been a sort of guardian to the literary treasures in the shape of a spider, who, when examined through a microscope, resembles a knight in armour. This champion of the library follows the Worm into the book-case, discovers the pit he has digged, rushes on his victim, which is about his own size, and devours him. His repast finished, he rests for about a fortnight, and when his digestion is completed, he sets out to break another lance with the enemy.

The Death-watch, already referred to, and which must be acquitted of destroying books, is chiefly known by the noise which he makes behind the wainscoting, where he ticks like a clock or watch. How so loud a noise is produced by so small an insect has never been properly explained; and the ticking has led to many legends. The naturalist Degeer relates that one night, in the autumn of 1809, during an entomological excursion in Brittany, where travellers were scarce and accommodation bad, he sought hospitality at the house of a friend. He was from home, and Degeer found a great deal of trouble in gaining admittance; but at last the peasant who had charge of the house told Degeer that he would give him "the chamber of death," if he liked. As Degeer was much fatigued, he accepted the offer. "The bed is there," said the man, "but no one has slept in it for some time. Every night the spirit of the officer, who was surprised and killed in this room by some chouans, comes back. When the officer was dead, the peasants divided what he had about him, and the officer's watch fell to my uncle, who was delighted with the prize, and brought it home to examine it. However, he soon found out that the watch was broken, and would not go. He then placed it under his pillow, and went to sleep; he awoke in the night, and to his terror heard the ticking of a watch. In vain he sold the watch, and gave the money for masses to be said for the officer's soul, the ticking continued, and has never ceased." Degeer said that he would exorcise the chamber, and the peasant left him, after making the sign of the cross. The naturalist at once guessed the riddle, and, accustomed to the pursuit of insects, soon had a couple of Death-watches shut up in a tin case, and the ticking was reproduced.

Swift has prescribed this destructive remedy by way of ridicule:—

BORING MARINE ANIMALS, AND HUMAN ENGINEERS.

In the Eastern Zoological Gallery of the British Museum, cases 35 and 36, as well as in the Museum of Economic Geology in Piccadilly, may be seen specimens of the above very curious order of Conchifers, most of the members of which are distinguished by their habits of boring or digging, a process in which they are assisted by the peculiar formation of the foot, from which they derive their name. Of these ten families one of the most characteristic is that of the Razor-shells, which, when the valves are shut, are of a long, flattened, cylindrical shape, and open at both ends. Projecting its strong pointed foot at one of these ends, the solen can work itself down into the sand with great rapidity, while at the upper end its respiratory tubes are shot out to bring the water to its gills. Of the Pholadæ, the shells of which are sometimes called multivalve, because, in addition to the two chief portions, they have a number of smaller accessory pieces, some bore in hard mud, others in wood, and others in rocks. They fix themselves firmly by the powerful foot, and then make the shell revolve; the sharp edges of this commence the perforation, which is afterwards enlarged by the rasp-like action of the rough exterior; and though the shell must be constantly worn down, yet it is replaced by a new formation from the animal, so as never to be unfit for its purpose. The typical bivalve of this family is the Pholas, which bores into limestone-rock and other hard material, and commits ravages on the piers, breakwaters, &c., that it selects for a home.

In the same family as the above Dr. Gray ranks the Teredo, [27] or wood-boring mollusc, whose ravages on ships, piles, wooden piers, &c., at sea resemble those of the white ant on furniture, joints of houses, &c., on shore. Perforating the timber by exactly the same process as that by which the Pholas perforates the stones, the Teredo advances continually, eating out a contorted tube or gallery, which it lines behind it with calcareous matter, and through which it continues to breathe the water.

The priority of the demonstration of the Pholas and its "boring habits" has been much disputed. The evidence is full of curious details. It appears that Mr. Harper, of Edinburgh, author of "The Sea-side and Aquarium," having claimed the lead. Mr. Robertson, of Brighton, writes to dispute the originality; adding that he publicly exhibited Pholades in the Pavilion at Brighton in July, 1851, perforating chalk rocks by the raspings of their valves and squirtings of their syphons. Professor Flourens (says Mr. Robertson) taught my observations to his class in Paris in 1853; I published them in 1851, and again more fully in the "Journal de Conchyliologie," in 1853; and M. Emile Blanchard illustrated them in the same year in his "Organisation du Règne Animal." I published a popular account of the perforating processes in "Household Words" in 1856. After obtaining the suffrages of the French authorities, I have been recently honoured with those of the British naturalist. (See Woodward's "Recent and Fossil Shells," p. 327. Family, Pholadidæ.) On returning to England last autumn I exhibited perforating Pholades to all the naturalists who cared to watch them. An intelligent lady whom I supplied with Pholades has made a really new and original observation, which I may take this opportunity of communicating to the public. She observed two Pholades whose perforations were bringing them nearer and nearer to each other. Their mutual raspings were wearing away the thin partition which separated their crypts. She was curious to know what they would do when they met, and watched them closely. When the two perforating shell-fish met and found themselves in each other's way, the stronger just bored right through the weaker Pholas. [28]

Mr. Robertson has communicated to "Jameson's Journal," No. 101, the results of his opportunities of studying the Pholas, during six months, to discover how this mollusc makes its hole or crypt in the chalk: by a chemical solvent? by absorption? by ciliary currents? or by rotatory motions? Between twenty and thirty of these creatures were at work in lumps of chalk, in sea-water, in a finger-glass, and open for three months; and by watching their operations. Mr. Robertson became convinced that the Pholas makes its hole by grating the chalk with its rasp-like valves, licking it up when pulverized with its foot, forcing it up through its principal orbrambial syphon, and squirting it out in oblong nodules. The crypt protects the Pholas from confervæ, which, when they get at it, grow not merely outside, but even with the lips of the valves, preventing the action of the syphons. In the foot there is a gelatinous spring or style, which, even when taken out, has great elasticity, and which seems the mainspring of the motions of the Pholas.

Upon this Dr. James Stark, of Edinburgh, writes:

—"Mr. Robertson, of Brighton, claims the merit of teaching that Pholades perforate rocks by 'the rasping of their valves and the squirting of their syphons.' His observations only appear to reach back to 1851. But the late Mr. John Stark, of Edinburgh, author of the 'Elements of Natural History,' read a paper before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, in 1826, which was printed in the Society's 'Transactions' of that year, in which he demonstrated that the Pholades perforate the shale rocks in which they occur on this coast, by means of the rasping of their valves, and not by acids or other secretions. From also finding that their shells scratched limestone without injury to the fine rasping rugosities, he inferred that it was by the same agency they perforated the hard limestone rocks."

To this Mr. Robertson replies, that Mr. Osler also, in 1826, demonstrated that the Pholades "perforate the shale rocks by means of the rasping of their valves; and more, for he actually witnessed a rotatory movement. But Réaumur and Poli had done as much as this in the eighteenth and Sibbald in the seventeenth century: and yet I found the solvent hypothesis in the ascendant among naturalists in 1835, when I first interested myself in the controversy. What I did in 1851 was, I exhibited Pholades at work perforating rocks, and explained how they did it. What I have done is, I have made future controversy impossible, by exhibiting the animals at work, and by discovering the anatomy and the physiology of the perforating instruments. In the words of M. Flourens, 'I made the animals work before my eyes,' and I 'made known their mechanism.' The discovery of the function of the hyaline stylet is not merely a new discovery, it is the discovery of a kind of instrument as yet unique in physiology."

Mr. Harper having termed the boring organ of the Pholas the "hyaline stylet," found it to have puzzled some of the disputants, whereupon Mr. Harper writes:—"Its use up to the present time has been a mystery, but the general opinion of authors seems to be, that it is the gizzard of the Pholas. This I very much doubt, for it is my belief that the presence of such an important muscle is solely for the purpose of aiding the animal's boring operations. Being situated in the centre of the foot, we can readily conceive the great increase of strength thus conveyed to the latter member, which is made to act as a powerful fulcrum, by the exercise of which the animal rotates—and at the same time presses its shell against and rasps the surface of the rock. The question being asked, 'How can the stylet be procured to satisfy curiosity?' I answer, by adopting the following extremely simple plan. Having disentombed a specimen, with the point of a sharp instrument cut a slit in the base of its foot, and the object of your search will be distinctly visible in the shape of, if I may so term it, an opal cylinder. Sometimes I have seen the point of this organ spring out beyond the incision, made as above described."

Lastly, Mr. Harper presented the Editor of the "Athenæum" with a piece of bored rock, of which he has several specimens. He adds, "On examination, you will perceive that the larger Pholas must have bored through its smaller and weaker neighbour (how suggestive!), the shell of the latter, most fortunately, remaining in its own cavity."

Now, Mr. Robertson claimed for his observation of this phenomenon novelty and originality; but Mr. Harper stoutly maintained it to be "as common to the eye of the practised geologist as rain or sunshine." The details are curious; though some impatient, and not very grateful reader, may imagine himself in the condition of the shell of the smaller Pholas, and will be, as he deserves to remain, in the minority. [29]

It may be interesting to sum up a few of the opinions of the mode by which these boring operations are performed. Professor Forbes states the mode by which Molluscs bore into wood and other materials is as follows:—"Some of the Gauterspods have tongues covered with silica to enable them to bore, and it was probably by some process of this kind that all the Molluscs bored."

Mr. Peach never observed the species of Pholas to turn round in their holes, as stated by some observers, although he had watched them with great attention. Mr. Charlesworth refers to the fact that, in one species of shell, not only does the hole in the rock which the animal occupies increase in size, but also the hole through which it projects its syphons.

Professor John Phillips, alluding to the theories which have been given of the mode in which Molluscs bore into the rocks in which they live, believes that an exclusively mechanical theory will not account for the phenomenon; and he is inclined to adopt the view of Dr. T. Williams—that the boring of the Pholades can only be explained on the principle which involves a chemical as well as a mechanical agency.

Mr. E. Ray Lankester notices that the boring of Annelids seems quite unknown; and he mentions two cases, one by a worm called Leucadore, the other by a Sabella. Leucadore is very abundant on some shores, where boulders and pebbles may be found worm-eaten and riddled by them. Only stones composed of carbonate of lime are bored by them. On coasts where such stones are rare, they are selected, and others are left. The worms are quite soft, and armed only with horny bristles. How, then, do they bore? Mr. Lankester maintains that it is by carbonic acid and other acid excretions of their bodies, aided by the mechanical action of their bristles. The selection of a material soluble in these acids is most noticeable, since the softest chalk and the hardest limestone are bored with the same facility. This can only be by chemical action. If, then, we have a case of chemical boring in these worms, is it not probable that many Molluscs are similarly assisted in their excavations?

FOOTNOTES:

INDEX.

• ANCIENT Zoological Gardens, 12
• Animals, Rare, of London Zoological Society, 16, 17, 18
• Annelids, boring, 348
• Annelids and Molluscs, Boring Habits of, 348
• Ant-Bear in captivity, 76
• Ant-Bear, the Great, 72
• Ant-Bear at Madrid, 72
• Ant-Bear described, 77
• Ant-Bear, Domestic, in Paraguay, 75
• Ant-Bear, Economy of, 76
• Ant-Bear and its Food, 74
• Ant-Bears, Fossil, 80, 81
• Ant-Bear, Muscular Force of, 79
• Ant-Bear, Wallace's Account of, 73
• Ant-Bear, Zoological Society's, 76, 82, 84
• Ant-Eater, Porcupine, 84
• Ant-Bear, Professor Owen on, 80
• Ant-Eaters, scarcity of, 80
• Ant-Eater, Tamandua, 82
• Ant-Eaters, Von Saek's Account of, 83
• Aristotle's History of Animals, 279, 280

• BARNACLE GEESE, finding of the, 334
• Barnacle Goose, Gerarde on, 332
• Barnacle Goose, Giraldus Cambrensis on, 332
• Barnacle Goose, Max Müller on, 331
• Barnacle Goose, name of, 332
• Barnacle Goose, Sir E. Tennent on, 334
• Barnacle Goose, Sir Kenelm Digby on, 334
• Barnacle Goose, Sir R. Moray on, 331
• Barnacle Goose, Stories of the, 331-335
• Barnacles breeding upon old ships, 333
• Barnacle Geese in the Thames, 331
• Bat, altivolans, by Gilbert White, 100
• Bat, American, by Lesson, 91
• Bat, Aristotle on, 85
• Bat, Mr. Bell on, 86
• Bats, Curiosities of, 85
• Bat, described by Calmet, 87
• Bat, Flight and Wing of, 96
• Bats, in England, 100
• Bat, Heber, Stedman, and Waterton on, 91
• Bats in Jamaica, 100
• Bat, Kalong, of Java, 98
• Bat, Long-Eared, by Sowerby, 92, 93-96
• Bat, Nycteris, 97
• Bat, Rere-mouse and Flitter-mouse, 86
• Bat Skeleton, Sir C. Bell on, 87
• Bat in Scripture, 85
• Bat, Vampire, from Sumatra, 88
• Bat, Vampire, Lines on, by Byron, 89
• Bat, vulgar errors respecting, 97
• Bat-Fowling or Bat-Folding, 92
• Berlin Zoological Gardens and Museum, 16
• Bible Natural History, 11
• Birds, Addison on their Nests and Music, 156, 157
• Bird, Australian Bower, Nest of, 167
• Bird, Baya, Indian, Nest of, 164
• Birds and Animals, Beauty in, 150
• Birds, Brain of, 154
• Birds, Characteristics of, 145
• Birds, Colour of, 148
• Bird Confinement, Dr. Livingstone on, 169
• Birds' Eggs, large, 162
• Birds' Eggs, Colours of, 158
• Birds' Eggs and Nests, 158
• Birds, European, list of, 161
• Birds, Flight of, 146, 147
• Birds, Insectivorous, 151
• Instinct, Intelligence, and Reason, 217
• Bird-Life, 145
• Bird-Murder, wanton, 152
• Birds' Nesting, 159
• Birds' Nests—Cape Swallows, 168
• Birds' Nests—Brush Turkey, 171
• Birds' Nests, large, 164
• Birds' Eggs—Ostrich and Epyornis, 162, 163
• Birds' Nests—Tailor Birds, 165-167
• Birds, Rapid Flight of, 147
• Birds, Signal of Danger among, 155
• Birds, Song of, 149
• Birds, Mr. Wolley's Collections, 159, 160
• Bookworms, Leaves about, 336
• Bookworms and Death-watch, 337
• Boring Marine Animals, and Human Engineers, 341

• CHAMELEON of the Ancients, 306
• Chameleon's antipathy to black, 322
• Chameleons, Mrs. Belzoni's, 316-320
• Chameleons, Birth of, in England, 321
• Chameleon changing Colour, 311, 316
• Chameleon, Cuvier on, 309
• Chameleon, described by Calmet, 307
• Chameleon Family, 307
• Chameleon, Air-food of, 309
• Chameleon, Milne Edwards on its Change of Colour, 314-316
• Chameleons, Native Countries of, 316
• Chameleon of the Poets, 308
• Chameleons, Reproduction of, 309
• Chameleon, Tongue and Eyes of, 310, 311
• Chinese Zoological Gardens, 12
• Cicada, Song of the, 329
• Cormorant's Bone, curious, 204
• Cormorants, Chase of, 203
• Cormorant Fishery in China, 202
• Cormorant, Habits of the, 201
• Cormorant trained for Fishing, 201
• Curiosities of Zoology, 11

• ECCENTRICITIES of Penguins, 188
  • Darwin, Mr., his account of Falkland Islands Penguin, 192
  • Dassent Island Penguins, 188
  • Death-watch and Bookworm, 337, 338
  • Falkland Islands Penguins, 189
  • King Penguins, 191
  • Patagonian Penguins, 189
  • Penguin, the name, 194
  • Webster, Mr., his Account of Penguins, 193
• Epicure's Ortolan, the, 172
• Epicurism Extravagant, 177
• Evelyn and St. James's Physique Garden, 15

• FISH in British Colombia, 280
  • Candle-fish, 282
  • Octopus, 283
  • Salmon Army, 281
  • Spoonbill Sturgeon, 285
  • Sturgeons, and Sturgeon Fishing, 284-287
• Fish-Talk, 250
  • Affection of Fishes, 256
  • Bohemian Wels Fish, 270
  • Bonita and Flying Fish, 263
  • Californian Fish, 268
  • Carp at Fontainebleau, 254
  • Cat-fish, curious Account of, 257
  • Double Fish, 272
  • Fish changing Colour, 251
  • Fish Noise, 252
  • Gold Fish, 274
  • Grampus, gambols of, 262
  • Great General of the South Sea, 272
  • Grouper, the, 272
  • Hassar, the, 256
  • Hearing of Fishes, 253
  • Herring Puzzle, 278
  • Jaculator Fish of Java, 264
  • Jamaica, Curious Fish at, 266
  • Little Fishes the Food of Larger, 259
  • Marine Observatory, 276
  • Mecho of the Danube, 270
  • Migration of Fishes, 260
  • Miller's Thumb, 276
  • Numbers, vast, of Fishes, 258
  • Pike, Wonderful, 269
  • Pilot Fish, 267
  • Sharks, 267
  • Singing Fish, 252
  • Square-browed Malthe, 274
  • Strange Fishes, 251
  • Sun-fish, 271
  • Swimming of Fishes, 250
  • Sword-fish, 266
  • Warrior Fish, 266
• Frog and Toad Concerts, 327

• HEDGEHOG, the, 102
• Hedgehog devouring Snakes, 104
• Hedgehog, Food of, 103
• Hedgehogs, Gilbert White on, 107
• Hedgehog and Poisons, 105
• Hedgehogs, Sir T. Browne on, 102
• Hedgehog Sucking Cows, 104
• Hedgehog and Viper, Fight between, 106, 107
• Hedgehog, Voracity of, 103
• Hippopotamus, Ancient History of, 119
• Hippopotamus, described by Aristotle and Herodotus, 121
• Hippopotamus, Economy of the, 115
• Hippopotamus, the, in England, 108
• Hippopotami, Fossil, 122
• Hippopotami on the Niger, 117
• Hippopotamus, Professor Owen's Description of, 111-115
• Hippopotamus and River Horse, 116
• Hippopotamus in Scripture, 120
• Hippopotamus, Utility of, 118
• Hippopotamus from the White Nile, 109
• Hippopotamus, Zoological Society's, in 1850, 108-111

• LEAVES about Bookworms, 336
• Lions in Algeria, and Jules Gerard, 143
• Lion, African, 131
• Lion, Bengal, 133
• Lion described by Bennett, 123
• Lion described by Buffon, 123-125
• Lion described by Burchell, 125
• Lion, disappearance of, 130
• Lion and Hottentots, 132, 133-136
• Lion-hunting Feats, 128
• Lion, "King of the Forest," 126
• Lion, Longevity of, 137
• Lion, Maneless, 133-135
• Lion, Niebuhr on, 131
• Lion in the Nineveh Sculptures, 139, 140
• Lions, the Drudhoe, 144
• Lions, Popular Errors respecting, 123
• Lion, Prickle or Claw in the Tail, 137-139
• Lion, Roar of, 136
• Lions in the Tower of London, 140
• "Lion Tree" in the Mantatee Country, 127
• Lion Stories of the Shows, 142
• Lion-Talk, 123
• Lioness and her Young, 135

• MERMAID of 1822, 43-47
• Mermaid in Berbice, 39
• Mermaid in the Bosphorus, 47
• Mermaid and Dugong, 41
• Mermaids, Evidences of, 36
• Mermaid at Exmouth, 40
• Mermaid, Leyden's Ballad, 35
• Mermaid and Manatee, 42
• Mermaid at Milford Haven, 37
• Mermaid, Japanese, 44
• Mermaid, Scottish, 36, 38
• Mermaids and Sirens, 33
• Mermaid's Song, Haydn's, 34
• Mermaids, Stories of, 33
• Mermaid, Structure of, 43
• Mermaids in Suffolk, 48
• Mole, its Economy controverted, 62
• Mole, the Ettrick Shepherd on, 71
• Mole, Le Court on, 62, 65
• Mole and Fairy Rings, 64
• Mole and Farming, 70
• Mole, Feeling of, 64
• Mole at Home, 62
• Mole, its Hunting-ground, 67
• Moles, Loves of the, 68
• Mole, structure of the, 63
• Mole, St. Hilaire on, 69
• Mole, Shrew, of North America, 70
• Mole, Voracity of, 68
• Montezuma's Zoological Gardens, 13
• Musical Lizard, 303
  • Climbing Walls, 303, 304
  • Formosa Isle, 303
  • Gecko ennobled, 306

• ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 15
• Ortolan described, 172, 173
• Ortolans, how fattened, 174
• Ortolan, Mr. Gould on, 174, 175
• Owls, 221
  • Abyssinian Owl, 230
  • Barn Owl, 226
  • Bischaco, or Coquimbo, 224
  • Boobook Owl, 228
  • Cats and Owls, 230
  • Fraser's Eagle Owl, from Fernando Po, 229
  • Food of Owls, 226
  • Javanese Owl, 228
  • Snowy Owl, 227
  • Tricks by Night, 224
  • Utility of, 225
  • Waterton on the Owl, 225

• PELICANS and Cormorants, 195
• Pelicans described by Gould, 195
• Pelican in Japan, 197
• Pelican Popular Error, 198, 199
• Pelican Pouches, 198
• Pelican Symbol, 200
• "Pelican of the wilderness," 197
• Pholas, Life and Labours of, 341
• Pholades, Charlesworth and Peach on, 347
• Pholades, Harper on, 346
• Pholades, Robertson on, 343

• RHINOCEROS in England, 22
  • African Rhinoceros in 1858, 27
  • Ancient History, 23
  • Bruce and Sparmann, 27
  • Burchell's shooting, 30
  • Horn of the Rhinoceros, 31, 32
  • Indian Wild Ass, 24
  • One-horned and Two-horned, 23-26
  • Scripture, Rhinoceros of, 23
  • Speehnan's Rhinoceros Shooting, 30
  • Tegetmeir describes the African Rhinoceros, 27
  • Tractability, 25
  • Varieties of Rhinoceros, 22
  • Zoological Society's Rhinoceros, 23, 29

• SALE of Wild Animals, 20
• Sentinel Birds, 183
• Song of the Cicada, 329
• Songs of Birds and Seasons of the Day, 219
• St. James's Park Menagerie, 14
• Stories of the Barnacle Goose, 331-335
• Stories of Mermaids, 33
• Surrey Zoological Gardens, 20

• TALKING birds, 205
  • Bittern and Night Raven, 207
  • Blue Jay, 206
  • Canaries, Talking, 210-212
  • Chinese Starling, 205
  • Crowned Crane, 206
  • Cuckoo, 209
  • Laughing Goose, 209
  • Nightingale, 209
  • Piping Crow, 205
  • Snipe, Neighing, 213
  • Trochilos and Crocodile, 216
  • Umbrella Bird, 206
  • Whidaw Bird, 205
  • Wild Swan, 209
  • Woodpecker at Constantinople, 215
• Talk about Toucans, 179
  • Bills of Toucans, 180
  • Carnivorous propensity, 184
  • Economy of, 182
  • Food of, 183
  • Gould, Mr., his Grand Monograph, 180, 186
  • Owen, Professor, on the Mandibles, 185
  • Swainson, Mr., on Toucans, 185
  • Toucan Family, 179, 180
  • White Ants' Nests, 183
  • Toucanet, Gould's, 184
• Toad and Frog Concerts, 327-328
• Toads, Running, Dr. Husenbeth's, 323-327
• Tower of London Menagerie, 14
• Tree-climbing Crab, the, 288
  • Bernhard, Hermit, and Soldier Crab, 291
  • Climbing Perch, 288
  • Crab, Burrowing, 290
  • Crab Migration in Jamaica, 292
  • Fishing-frogs, 288
  • Glass Crabs, 301
  • Pill-making Crabs, 301
  • Purse Crab feeding on Cocoa-nuts, 296
  • Robber Crab, 292
  • Screw-pines, Crab climbing, 298
  • Vaulted Crab of the Moluccas, 291

• UNICORNS, ancient, 51
• Unicorn and Antelope, 53
• Unicorn in Central Africa, 58
• Unicorn described by Ctesias, 49, 50
• Unicorn, Cuvier on, 54
• Unicorn, Is it Fabulous? 49
• Unicorn, Klaproth on, 55
• Unicorn in Kordofan, 53
• Unicorn and its Horn, 53, 59
• Unicorn, modern, 50
• Unicorn, Ogilby on, 51
• Unicorn, Rev. J. Campbell on, 57
• Unicorn in the Royal Arms, 60

• WEATHER-WISE ANIMALS, 231
  • Ants, Asses, 241
  • Darwin's Signs of Rain, 248
  • Frogs and Snails, 237-240
  • List of Animals, 241-247
  • Mole, 240
  • Mother Carey's Chickens and Goose, 234
  • Redbreast, 236
  • Seagulls, 232
  • Signs of Rain, 232
  • Stormy Petrels, 233
  • Shepherd of Banbury, 249
  • Toucans, 237
  • Weatherproof Birds' Nests, 247
  • Wild Geese and Ducks, 235
• Wild Animals, Cost of, 19
• Wild Beast Shows, 21

• ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS, Origin of, 12
• Zoological Society of London, 16
• Zoology, Curiosities of, 11