BY FRÉDÉRIC HOUSSAY. WITH 44 ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON: WALTER SCOTT, Ltd., 24 WARWICK LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1893. The English edition of this book has been revised throughout and enlarged, with the author’s co-operation. Numerous bibliographical references have also been added. The illustrations, when not otherwise stated, are in most cases adapted from Brehm’s Thierleben ....

The naturalists of yesterday and the naturalists of to-day — Natural history and the natural sciences — The theory of Evolution — The chief industries of Man — The chief industries of Animals — Intelligence and instinct — Instinctive actions originate in reflective actions — The plan of study of the various industries. The Carnivora more skilful hunters than the Herbivora — Different methods of hunting — Hunting in ambush — The baited ambush — Hunting in the dwelling or in the burrow — Coursing 

THE NATURALISTS OF YESTERDAY AND THE NATURALISTS OF TO-DAY — NATURAL HISTORY AND THE NATURAL SCIENCES — THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION — THE CHIEF INDUSTRIES OF MAN — THE CHIEF INDUSTRIES OF ANIMALS — INTELLIGENCE AND INSTINCT — INSTINCTIVE ACTIONS ORIGINATE IN REFLECTIVE ACTIONS — THE PLAN OF STUDY OF THE VARIOUS INDUSTRIES. The naturalists of yesterday and the naturalists of to-day.  — The study of animals, plants, rocks, and of natural objects generally, was formerly called “natural history”; but th

The Staphilinus Cæsareus acts with still greater shrewdness; not only is his pit more perfect, but he takes care to remove all traces of preceding repasts which might render the place obviously one of carnage. He chooses a stone, beneath which he hollows a cylindro-conical hole with extremely smooth walls. This hole is not to serve as a trap, that is to say that the proprietor has no intention of causing any pedestrian to roll to the bottom. It is simply a place of concealment in which he awaits

The Fox, who is so ingenious in hunting, is not less so when his own safety is concerned. He knows when it is best to flee or to remain; he is suspicious in a surprising degree, not only of man but also of the engines which man prepares against him. He recognises them or smells them. Certain facts almost lead us to suspect that he understands their mechanism. When one of them has been surprised in his hole, and the trap has been placed before every opening, he will not emerge from the burrow. If

Animals who construct barns.  — The Field Rat of Hungary and Asia ( Psammomys ) gathers wheat during the summer. He cuts the blades and transports them to his home, where he stores them up in very considerable quantities; and during rigorous winters when famine appears also among men, gleaners of another species appear on the scene and seek for corn under the earth in the nests of the Psammomys . A single rat can store up more than a bushel. Those who are skilful in finding their holes can thus

Fig. 15. Carcasses of animals stored up.  — These insects lay up for their offspring stores manufactured by themselves or by others. The class we are now about to consider makes provision of animals either dead or in a torpid condition, with more or less art and more or less sure instinct. Most people have seen the Necrophorus or Burying Beetle working in fields or gardens. These are large Coleoptera who feed on abandoned carrion; everything is good to them — bodies of small mammals, birds, or f

Fig. 18. Animals who increase their natural protection by the addition of foreign bodies.  — Certain tubicolar Annelids, whose skin furnishes abundant mucus which does not become sufficiently hard to form an efficacious protection, utilise it to weld together and unite around them neighbouring substances, grains of sand, fragments of shell, etc. They thus construct a case which both resembles formations by special organs and manufacture by the aid of foreign materials. The larvæ of Phryganea , w

Birds will sometimes take the trouble to remove the eggs or the nest altogether, when the latter has been discovered, in order to avoid further risks of danger. The American Sparrow Hawk has been observed to do this, and the following incident is quoted by Bendire, from MacFarlane’s Manuscript Notes on Birds Nesting in British America , concerning the Pigeon Hawk ( Falco columbarius ): — “On May 25, 1864, a trusty Indian in my employ found a nest placed in a thick branch of a pine tree at a heig

The nests are usually below the surface of the soil, but covered, wherever necessary, with a thick mass of withered pieces of leaves and twigs, etc. They may be as much as 1-1/2 metres in diameter. In the nests of all species examined there is found, filling up the interior, a curious grey spongy mass, full of chambers, like a coarse sponge, in which the ants may be seen running about, and in which, here and there, occur eggs, larvæ, and pupæ. This is the fungus garden. It is separated from the