Burt Green Wilder

“ But do we know, or can we easily infer, any differences in the necessities or the manner of life of the Lepidosteus at different ages, which may account for its having a tail first like a lamprey's, then like a sturgeon's, and, finally, like that of Amia?
It may be suggested that the rapid and, at most, invisible vibrations of the filament enable the young gar to glide stealthily upon its prey. ”

“ Around or over or through this marsh it was necessary to go, in order to reach Long Island, the home of the spiders.
I could easily occupy the rest of my allotted space in recounting my various attempts to reach this El Dorado, which my fancy, excited by every delay, stocked with innumerable cocoons of the kind already found so abundantly on James Island. These I expected would furnish thousands of spiders, the care of which, with the reeling of their silk, would give employment to all the freed people in South Carolina,—for even then the poor creatures were finding their way to the coast. ”

“ Here, then, is a life-size picture of our spider and of—I was about to say, his partner; but in truth it is she who is the spider, and he is only her partner. Such is the real physical, and, so to speak, mental superiority of the female, that, even if we insist upon the legal equality at least of the masculine element, we can do so only in name, and will find it hard to avoid speaking of him as the male of the Nephila plumipes, thus tacitly admitting her as the truer representative of the species. ”

“ WITHIN a year, science has lost two of her greatest leaders, Louis Agassiz and Jeffries Wyman. With the life, the works, and the appearance of the one, all are familiar. But the other was hardly known outside of strictly scientific circles. He rarely gave popular lectures, and never wrote any thing that attracted general attention. Yet his influence upon the progress of science in this country has been very great, and he had for years been regarded by all as the highest anatomical authority in America, and the compeer of Owen, Huxley, and Gegenbauer, in the Old World. ”

“ We must either assume, on the one hand, that living organisms commenced their existence fully formed, and by processes not in accordance with the usual order of Nature, as it is revealed to human minds, or, on the other hand, that each species became such by progressive development or transmutation; that, as in the individual, so in the aggregate of races, the simple forms were not only the precursors, but the progenitors of the complex ones, and that thus the order of Nature, as commonly manifest in her works, was maintained. ”

“ Occasionally one died from no apparent cause. The mortality increasing toward the end of the month, and all of them losing both flesh and vigor, I was persuaded to try them with water,—a thing I had thus far declined to do, never having heard of a spider's drinking water, and knowing that our common house species can hardly get it at all. The result was most gratifying: a drop of water upon the tip of a camel's-hair pencil, not only was not avoided, but greedily seized and slowly swallowed, being held between the jaws and the palpi. ”

“ As the years roll on, and as the final estimate is made of the value of what has been done in this century, we may be sure that the name of Jeffries Wyman will stand high among those who have joined rare ability and unwearied industry with a pure and noble life. ”

“ Even the Nephila plumipes, which, it has been intimated, is "Christian in its disposition, and well-behaved beyond most of its kind," will readily bite, if it is held in the fingers and anything is put to its jaws. But that is nothing. So would you, most gentle reader, if a great giant pinched you between his thumb and finger, and held your hands and feet and head; and if, too, like our spider, you could not see enough to distinguish friends from foes. Spiders, then, will bite. ”

“ We may as well state at once that a bat is really a mammal; that is, it agrees with moles, rats, sheep, horses, cats, monkeys, and men, in bringing forth its young alive, and nursing them by milk; in having red blood-corpuscles, which contain no nucleus; in being clothed with hair; and in possessing a corpus callosum, that is, a band of fibres connecting the two cerebral hemispheres.
There are other anatomical features which link the bats closely with the moles and shrews and hedge-hogs. Indeed, the bat might be described as a flying mole, or the mole as a burrowing bat. ”

“ Those who knew Wyman's nature may well imagine how he shrank from any thing like a discussion of two great questions upon which so much has been written during the past fifteen years, namely, the "Origin of Species" and "Spontaneous Generation." But, aside from his natural desire to know and teach the most correct doctrine upon these subjects, his prominent position made it imperative that he should consider them carefully. Respecting evolution, he evidently felt, with Prof. Gray, that, "upon very many questions, a truly wise man remains long in a state of neither belief nor unbelief ”

“ Web of Nephila plumipes.
Here she will remain quiet for hours as if asleep; but no sooner does a fly or other insect strike the web, than she darts in the direction whence the vibrations proceed, and usually seizes her prey; but, strangely enough, if the insect have ceased its struggles before she reaches it, she stops, and if she cannot renew them by shaking the web with her claws, will slowly and disconsolately return to the centre of the web, there to await fresh vibrations. ”

“ The most obvious difference is in color: the throat and chest of the old fox are whitish, also the tip of the tail; the back of the ears, the front and outer surface of the paws to near the elbows and knees, are black, and there are scattered black hairs on the tail; the rest of the body is reddish brown; and as a whole the animal would be called a "red fox," although a stripe across the shoulders of a darker red might entitle it to the name of "cross" fox. ”

“ That reminds me of another class which may possibly be represented among my readers, and whose members, in the contemplation of the domestic economy of these insects, will, I fear, discover many and weighty arguments in favor of the various opinions entertained by the advocates of Woman's Rights; for here is a community in which the females not only far exceed the males in number, but present so great a contrast to them in size and importance, that, but for absolute proof, they never would be regarded as belonging to the same species. ”

“ For, to the ignorant and superstitious the sudden apparition of a blazing comet has often been a portent of disaster, while even the intelligent shrink with aversion from the flitting bat, and make comparisons with evil spirits. ”

“ As this has always been the case, I have concluded that the evolution of the silk is almost entirely a mechanical process, which is but little controlled by the spinners themselves, and that the gum requires some degree of preparation after it is secreted before it is fit for use as silk; for it must be remembered that with the spider, as with the silk-worm, the silk is formed and contained in little bags or glands in the abdomen, not as threads, but as a very viscid gum. ”

“ But there is something more to be said of our little fox and its mother: a closer examination of the former shows that there are two kinds of hair corresponding to the two colors; the body and tail, and upper parts of the legs, are thickly covered with a kind of soft wool, of a smoke-color, but the head presents longer and reddish-colored hairs; and these same hairs are scattered over the body, more thickly in front than behind; the two kinds are as thick brush-wood and saplings; under the microscope they are even more unlike; for the "wool" is crinkled, and its texture very transparent ”

“ Its habits, too, are so interesting, and so different in many respects from those recorded of other species, that the observer of living creatures has here an abundant opportunity, not only for increasing his own knowledge, but for enlarging the domain of science. ”

“ In the first place, if allowed, we should have to admit that all the so-called air-breathing vertebrates have organs (the lungs) which have no representative in the fishes, and that most of the latter have an organ (the air-bladder) which has no representative in the former.
It is true that some fishes have no air-bladder; but with some, as Amphioxtis, the lamprey-eels, the sharks, [5] and the skates, we may infer that it has not yet become developed; while with others, as the flat fishes, the air-bladder may have been lost through what may be called a local retrograde metamorphosis. ”

“ They are quite economical, and every few days, when the web has become too dry and dusty for use, will gather it up in a mass, which they stuff into their jaws and masticate for hours, swallowing the gum, but throwing out the rest, with the little particles of dust, in the form of a hard black pellet,—an instance rare, if not indeed unique, of an animal eating a substance already excreted from its body. ”

“ Every person who shall perform, or cause to be performed, or assist in performing, in or upon any living animal, an act of vivisection, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
Sec 2. The term vivisection used in this act shall include every investigation, experiment, or demonstration, producing, or of a nature to produce, pain or disease in any living animal, including the cutting, wounding, or poisoning thereof; except when the same is for the purpose of curing or alleviating some physical suffering or disease in such living animal, or in order to deprive it of life when incurable. ”

“ The large median papilla, just behind the posterior pair, surrounds the termination of the intestines, and through it the excrement is voided, the insect for this purpose turning back the abdomen as she hangs head downward, so that neither the web nor the spinners shall be contaminated. Now it has recently been ascertained that the minute globules with which the circles are studded, and the number of which on a web of average size is estimated at one hundred thousand, do not exist in that form when the viscid lines are first spun by the spider, but as a uniform coating of gum upon a thread ”

“ The general appearance of the gar-pike is sufficiently indicated by the figure. The body is an elongated cylinder covered with hard and shining scales closely joined, and leaving as vulnerable points only the throat and gills, the eyes, and the parts just under the pectoral fins. The tail is moderate in size and rounded, the longest rays a little above the middle, so that it is not quite symmetrical. Upon the hinder part of the back is the dorsal fin, and below the dorsal an anal fin, immediately in front of which is the vent or outlet of the alimentary canal. ”

“ The strictly professional man may have overcome his natural aversion to some of the most interesting objects of his study, such as snakes, and toads, and spiders, and vermin of all kinds; but people in general have always required that any attempt to force such abominations upon their notice should be preceded by a more or less elaborate and humble acknowledgment of their hideous aspect, their ferocious disposition, their dark and bloody deeds, and the utter impossibility of their conducing in any way to human comfort and convenience. ”

“ It is hardly to be expected that many physicians [14] or teachers will enroll themselves under the banner of humanity to animals so long as the same staff carries the black flag of anti-vivisection, which in their eyes is inhumanity to man. ”

“ When, where, and how was this spider discovered? and why is it that we have never heard of it before? To answer these questions, we must go back three years, to the 19th of August, 1863, and to the camp of the Fifty-fifth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, on a desolate island a little south from the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, and in sight of the fortress which Gillmore had just begun to strengthen by the addition of tons of Union shot and shell, till, from tolerably strong masonry, its walls became solid earthworks which nothing could pierce or greatly injure. ”

“ Perhaps one element of distrust of the bat family arises from their apparent non-conformity to either of the common animal types. The bat seems to be either a bird with hair and teeth, bringing forth its young alive, or a mammal with wings, and the general aspect and habit of a bird. ”

“ I admit that it could not have been pleasant for them to go so long without that which they crave every day, but I cannot believe that creatures whose legs drop off on very slight provocation, and which never show any sign whatever of real pain, suffered very acute pangs even when subjected to what occasions such distress to ourselves. ”

“ Some transformations certainly seem to relate very distinctly to the welfare of the individual, as when the caterpillar becomes a butterfly, and when the aquatic larvas of mosquito and dragon-fly change their forms with their habits and modes of life. ”

“ Pleasant, until their habits and mode of life are taken up in order, it should be understood that, during our short stay, my attention was chiefly directed to getting from the spiders as much silk as possible; for it was evident that practical men would not credit the usefulness of spiders' silk until an appreciable quantity could be shown to them. The first trial of the machine with a live spider proved it an utter failure ”

“ Now, the eggs of all mammals are small, usually microscopic. The human ovum is about 1⁄120 of an inch in diameter.
Therefore, although the yolk or essential part of the egg of a humming-bird may be pretty small, it is far larger than the largest mammalian ovum; while that of the ostrich or the Epyornis is simply gigantic in comparison.
Now, I am not aware that the ovum of a bat has ever been examined, but there can be doubt of its minuteness as compared with that of any known bird. Fig. 5 shows, of its natural size, the earliest embryo of a bat I have ever heard of. ”

“ Shall we, then, conclude that these changes in the appearance of a single individual are for the sake of variety—as some would explain the great diversity of specific form and coloration among animals and plants? ”

“ It is important not to confound the fundamental order of Nature, which is indeed immutable, with the ideas, more or less complete, which we entertain at a given time, respecting the manner in which that order is manifested. ”

“ It is important to note, also, that an air-bladder and lungs have never been found in one and the same animal; and since arms, front-legs, flippers, and wings, are all regarded as modifications of the same organs, anterior limbs; and since, in many other cases, organs of very different size, form, complexity, and function, are considered as homologous, we shall be following precedent in admitting a willingness to regard air-bladders and lungs as modifications of the same organ. ”

“ But now, when the idea of an actual evolution or derivation of widely different forms from me another, or from common stocks, is rapidly becoming the fundamental postulate of all biological research, we are bound to inquire whether one mode of expression is not much more likely to be true than the other. ”

“ But, with many sharks, the common sturgeons, and the spoonbill (Polyodon) , the size of the infra-caudal lobe is so nearly that of the filament as to give the whole tail a nearly symmetrical outline, and lead zoologists to speak of the "upper lobe," whereas it is really the bent-up end of the body. This kind of tail is called heterocercal.
The gars above mentioned are supposed to be the young of the Lepidosteus osseus. Just at what size the filament wholly disappears in that species is not known. ”

“ It appears, then, that the hinder end of the body undergoes considerable change before reaching the adult condition. Aside from the partial disappearance of the primordial median fin and the gradual development of the ventrals, the dorsals, and the anal, the caudal fin assumes at least three distinct forms. The first is lance-shaped and simple, like that of Amphioxus, the eel, the lamprey, salamanders, and tadpoles. The second is compound, with a slender filament above and a broader fin below, as with some sturgeons and sharks. ”

“ Those who denounce all vivisection as "barbarous" are asked to note that the performance of the ten experiments above described involves only the pain of a hypodermic injection or of pithing, since, whenever the animal is alive during the operation, complete insensibility is produced by anæsthetics. Most of the experiments, however, are done upon dead animals—that is, a man treated in like manner would be legally defunct. ”

“ Bergh's affirmations and accusations suggest that his hatred of vivisection is stronger than his love for courtesy and truth, and if the argument sævus in Europa, scevus in America, which is really all he has to offer against New York physiologists, were turned against him in the original form of falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus, the advocates of unlimited dog-fights and cocking-mains might well object to the recognition of such a witness against their favorite sports. But, when all else is considered, the evidence proves too much. The man of pure and upright life ”

“ But it is only fair to them (the bat family) to admit that the number of species which thus injure men and the larger animals is very small; and that, while all of our own bats, and most of those of other lands, are fierce devourers of insects, and use their sharp teeth for defense against their captors, there are many kinds, especially the larger (Roussettes, etc.) , which live almost wholly upon fruits, and are, moreover, quite good eating themselves. ”

“ The adjective unoffending is objectionable merely because, like so many other words used by the same writer, it tends to throw a sentimental film over the eyes of logic and severe justice through which the whole matter should be viewed, and it is altogether probable that the dog thus utilized for the exemplification of several important physiological truths was, like most vivisection "subjects," a worthless street cur whose death, in the manner described, was a relief to the community, and a positive deliverance from a worse fate through hunger or cold, or at the hands of ill-regulated boys. ”

“ But the air-bladder of Amia and Lepidosteus is divided into many cells, so as to resemble a frog's lungs; and the walls and partitions of these cells have many blood-vessels. These air-bladders are, in fact, more cellular and more vascular than the lungs of Menobranchus, or the hinder and larger portion of the lungs of serpents. And, in the light of the observations already recorded, there seems good reason for believing that pure air is inhaled and vitiated air exhaled whenever the fish rises to the surface. ”

“ Having in this way reduced the prey to a rounded ball, in which its limbs are hardly distinguishable, the spider takes it in her jaws and mounts to her place.
A single fly of ordinary size seems to occupy a whole day in the eating. When finished, the remains are cast down as a pellet, so perfectly deprived of moisture, that it is probable that this species, like the Nephila, and perhaps all Epeiridæ, sucks out the gum of its old net and reëlaborates it in her organs for use in making a new one. ”

“ The bat form is peculiar among mammals, and does not, like the Ornithorhynchus and Echidna, manifest any internal structural affinity with birds. There is a much more marked resemblance to the extinct flying reptiles (Pterodactyli) , but this is probably one of analogy.
2. The embryo bat resembles the ordinary small mammal; the long fingers, the persistence of the web between them, and its continuation from the border of the body and tail, are features of later appearance. ”

“ We may, then, dismiss from our minds any anxiety as to whether bats are partly birds and partly mammals, and conclude merely that, upon the essential mammalian structure, there have been superinduced features which enable the bat to fly in the air ”

“ Our first object is to confirm the conclusion that bats are mammals rather than birds. And here, strangely enough, we find that the matter of size, usually regarded as of little moment in zoological discrimination, becomes of primary importance. All animals, mammals as well as birds, are formed from eggs. An egg, or ovum, is a cell with special endowments, and capable of availing itself of the peculiar conditions under which it is placed, the first of these conditions being the access of the zoösperms of the male. ”