William S. Furneaux

“ As you cast the rays of the lantern on the feasting moths some will prove themselves very wary, and dart away at your approach; but others will take but little notice of your advance, and will continue to suck the sweet nectar, their eyes glaring like living sparks.
As a rule the Noctuæ thus engaged are easily pill-boxed or caught direct in the cyanide bottle; but a few of the more restless species are to be made sure of only by a sweep of the net. Some will feign death as soon as disturbed, and allow themselves to drop among the foliage, where further search is generally fruitless. ”

“ Dotted here and there are the beautiful anemones—the variously-hued animal flowers of the sea, with expanded tentacles gently and gracefully swaying, ready to grasp and paralyse any small living being that may wander within their reach. Here, under a projecting ledge of the rock, partly hidden by pale green threads, are the glaring eyes of the voracious bullhead, eager to pounce on almost any moving object; while above it the five-fingered starfish slowly climbs among the dangling weeds by means of its innumerable suckers. ”

“ Occasionally we hear of the capture of single specimens quite outside these localities, sometimes even in most unlikely spots, where its food plant does not abound. But we know that Machaon is a general favourite with entomologists, and that it is sent in the pupal state, by post, to all parts of the kingdom; so that the occasional capture of the insect far beyond the borders of its haunts is probably the outcome of an escape from prison, or of the tender-heartedness of some lover of nature who could not bear to see such a beautiful creature deprived of its short but joyous, sunny flight. ”

“ Here it is that we find the most rugged and precipitous cliffs, bordering a more or less wild and desolate country, now broken by a deep and narrow chasm where the resonant roar of the sea ascends to the dizzy heights above, and anon stretching seaward into a rocky headland, whose former greatness is marked by a continuation of fantastic outliers and smaller wave-worn masses of the harder strata. ”

“ It is a well-known fact that the night-flying moths are attracted by lights, a characteristic of these insects that it is difficult to explain. Their love of darkness is in many instances so decided that they absolutely refuse to take flight while the fading light of day still lingers on the horizon, and even display a great aversion to the rays of the moon; and yet these very same species will often rush madly into the fierce glare of a naked artificial light, or fly with an energy almost amounting to fury against the glass of a street lamp or lighted window. ”

“ When seen for the first time in its natural haunt one naturally wonders what the moving mass may be. Crawling sluggishly over incrusted stones, or remaining perfectly still in a muddy puddle that has been exposed by overturning a stone, it looks like a little mound of mud itself, about four or five inches long, and its general colour and surface so closely resembles that of its surroundings that an inexperienced collector may never even suspect that the mass is a living animal form. ”

“ The charming vegetation of the tranquil rock-pool receives but a passing glance, and the little world of busy creatures that people it are scarcely observed; while the wonderful forms of life that inhabit the sheltered nooks of the rugged rocks between the tide-marks are almost entirely unknown except to the comparatively few students of Nature. ”

“ A botanist cannot give an accurate and concise description of a flower without the use of certain names and expressions which have gradually become an almost necessary part of his vocabulary; neither can an entomologist give a really useful, and, at the same time, a succinct description of an insect unless he is acquainted with the names of its parts. Therefore, seeing that we distinguish the various species of butterflies and moths mainly by the arrangement and colour of the markings of their wings, it is really necessary that we should know the names of the different parts of these organs. ”

“ Here we are exposed to the full force of the frontal attacks of the Atlantic, and it is here that the dashing breakers seek out the weaker portions of the upturned and contorted strata, eating out deep inlets, and often loosening enormous blocks of the hardest material, hurling them on the rugged beach, where they are eventually to be reduced to small fragments by the continual clashing and grinding action of the smaller masses as they are thrown up by the angry sea. ”

“ How strange must be the feelings of a winged insect during its first flight! After a long period during which it was a helpless, crawling grub, and this followed by a term of imprisonment during which it was almost or quite shut off from the world, it now suddenly acquires such great powers of locomotion that it is often a match for ourselves. ”

“ Then, when we approach the water’s edge, we find a delight in watching the approaching waves as they roll over the sandy or pebbly beach, or embrace an outlying rock, gently raising its olive covering of dangling weeds. ”

“ Neither can we easily impute to the insect an acquired knowledge of the nature and wants of her offspring, or an acquaintance with botany sufficient to enable her to distinguish plant forms. Our only solution of the problem (which is really no solution at all) is to attribute the whole thing to that inexplicable quality which we are pleased to term natural instinct. It is to be observed, however, that it is not all butterflies and moths that display this unerring power. Some few seem to deposit their eggs indiscriminately on all kinds of herbage. ”

“ This strange creature habitually rests on the bottom of the sea, disguised by its filamentous appendages and adaptive colouring, dangling the expanded extremity of its first dorsal filament just over its upturned cavernous mouth. It does not swim much, indeed it is at the best but a bad swimmer; and when it moves it simply shuffles its heavy body along the bottom, gliding between the stones and rocks, where it may remain unobserved, its movements being produced by the action of the tail, and of the paired fins, which are better adapted for walking than for swimming. ”

“ But males and females alike—bedecked with the most gorgeous colours and overflowing with sportive mirth when first they take to the wing—soon show the symptoms of a fast approaching end. Their colours begin to fade, and the beauty-making scales of the wings gradually disappear through friction against the petals of hundreds of flowers visited and the merry dances with scores and scores of playful companions. ”

“ Yet it must be observed that he whose sea-side occupation is merely that of a collector, and whose work at home is simply the mounting and arranging of the objects obtained, can hardly be considered a naturalist. Natural history is a living study, and its devotee is one who delights in observing the growth and development of living things, watching their habits, and noting their wonderful adaptation to their environments; and it is to encourage such observation that we so strongly recommend the young collector to keep his creatures alive as far as it is possible to do so. ”

“ Every rustling leaf gives such a one a start; all footsteps are those of approaching disturbers of the peace; and when at last the invisible landowner or his keeper, attracted by the mysterious movements of the lamp, greets him with his gruff 'What's your business here?' then for the moment he forgets his enchanting hobby and wishes he were safely at home. ”

“ It leads its follower into the bright sunshine and the flowery meadows; and with body and mind pleasantly occupied, the joy of living is deeply felt. The necessary apparatus can be made by anyone. No dangerous gun is required, and there are no precipitous rocks to scale. When the autumn flowers fade the year's work of the entomologist is not done, for the arranging [Pg 64] of his cabinet and the demands of his living specimens keep him more or less actively engaged until the flowers of the following spring call both him and the insects he loves once more into the field. ”

“ In some cases the contact of the pollen of a flower with its own stigma will even act as a poison, causing the whole to shrivel and die; and truly wonderful are the varied means by which flowers contrive to secure a cross-fertilisation. It is here that the work of the wind and insects proves so valuable to flowers; but, in addition to this, a very large number of flowers are absolutely incapable of self-fertilisation, for the anthers and the stigma are not mature at the same time, or they exist in separate flowers, either on the same plant or on distinct plants of the same species. ”

“ As we ramble along a beaten track at the edge of the cliff, new and varied features of the coast are constantly opening up before us. Each little headland passed reveals a sheltered picturesque cove or a gentle bay with its line of yellow sands backed by the cliffs and washed by the foaming waves ”

“ So, you see, the insect progresses by strides equal in length to about six segments of the body, and these the longest segments generally; and the rate at which the strides succeed each other, especially in some of the smaller species, is really astonishing.
We have seen the caterpillar in the act of taking its walk, and now we will give it a twig of its food plant so that we may see it feed. It walks up the twig without hesitation—for caterpillars (excepting those which feed on roots) always seem to move upward when in search of food—and soon finds itself on a leaf. ”

“ A few hours at this interesting employment pass away very rapidly, and when midnight arrives there is often no great desire to leave off, especially when it is known that some species of moths are not very busy till very late at night. Still it is not advisable to surfeit oneself with even the sweets of life. Perhaps it is better as a rule to work the early species only on one night, and reserve another for the later ones. The searchings are then always carried on with vigour throughout, and the labours that are thus never made laborious ever retain their attractiveness in the future. ”

“ We have occupied so much of our time and space in explanation of the movements of the tides not only because we think it desirable that all who delight in sea-side rambles should understand something of the varied motions which help to give such a charm to the sea, but also because, as we shall observe later, these motions are a matter of great importance to those who are interested in the observation and study of marine life. ”

“ A great deal of pleasure is to be derived from the construction of your own apparatus, especially when that apparatus is afterwards to be used in the pursuit of a delightful hobby. During the whole of the time thus engaged, you are looking forward with the most pleasurable feelings to the glorious treat before you, and every joint you make seems to bring you nearer to the realisation of your joys. During the bleak winter months there is no better employment for an entomologist who has a little spare time than the preparation for the next outing. ”

“ If we place a homeless hermit crab in a rock pool, the behaviour of the creature immediately suggests a feeling of uneasiness—a sense of danger—for it moves about in a very erratic fashion that is quite different from the straightforward and deliberate action of the same animal when properly protected; and very amusing results may be obtained by making it the subject of a few harmless experiments. For instance, drop down before it an empty whelk-shell that is much too large to properly accommodate its body. ”