Fidenae

“ In the perfect state, as well as in that of the larva and the pupa, the Libellulæ are carnivorous. Their rapid flight makes them expert hunters, and their enormous eyes embrace the whole horizon. They seize, while on the wing, flies and butterflies, and tear them to pieces immediately with their strong mandibles. Sometimes, the ardour of the chase leading them on far from the streams, they are met with in the fields. The female lays her eggs in the water, from which emerge larvæ which remind one somewhat of the form of the insect, only their body is more compact and their head flattened. ”

“ Dark brown or blackish specimens (ab. unicolorata, Staudinger) are captured now and then in the southern counties of England, but such uniform dark varieties are more frequent in the north (Staffordshire and Yorkshire) . The female is white in colour, and usually only lightly speckled with blackish; the cross lines are more conspicuous, as a rule, than in the male, but they are subject to pretty much the same kind of aberration. Sometimes examples of this sex greatly resemble Fidonia carbonaria, and have been confused with that species by Haworth and other entomologists in the past. ”

“ Fifine was Fifine to me, and that was all sufficient. If I thought lazily beyond that bare fact, tasting even a piquancy in speculation, it was to present myself with the portrait of a young lady of very feminine but independent views, having a knowledge, or at least a cognizance of the Bohemian side of Paris, entertaining seedy violoncellists, and capable of coming to definite conclusions with herself on a variety of subjects, from art and dress to conduct. Comely too, and yet unspoilt, be it said; and, if a worldling, one with the highest capacity for self-sacrifice to an ideal devotion. ”

“ On the left are seen the naked trunk of a Lepidodendron and a Sigillaria, an arborescent Fern rising between the two trunks. At the foot of these great trees an herbaceous Fern and a Stigmaria appear, whose long ramification of roots, provided with [158] reproductive spores, extend to the water. On the right is the naked trunk of another Sigillaria, a tree whose foliage is altogether unknown, a Sphenophyllum, and a Conifer. It is difficult to describe with precision the species of this last family, the impressions of which are, nevertheless, very abundant in the Coal-measures. ”

“ Although the members of the family Hymenophyllaceæ are largely tropical, we are fortunate in having three representatives in the United Kingdom. Two of these, both Filmy Ferns, are not so familiar to people as they might be, if folk were only a little more observant; whilst the Bristle Fern is only to be found in the South of Ireland. All the species require an abundance of moisture, and they attain their greatest perfection on rocks which are dripping with water. ”

“ Thus they constantly live on the earth, build their nests there, and only take refuge upon trees to pass the night or escape from danger. They run perfectly, but fly badly, and are sedentary; lastly, some species have cephalic nudities and fleshy appendages, or long, movable feathers round the neck like the male of the Domestic Fowl. Physically they are characterised by a slight and straight beak, 448 and by rather high tarsi. This family comprises a very large number of species spread throughout Central and South America, the isles of the Indian Ocean, and a great part of Africa. ”

“ The immature anterior and posterior wings have the 103 shape of a sheath, or case, enveloping the body when the insect is at rest; these are transparent and destitute of colour, or sometimes adorned with bright and varied hues. The legs are not in the least suited for jumping. The female is provided with an auger, with which she makes holes in the bark of trees in which to lay her eggs. The male (Fig. 78) is provided with an organ, not of song, but of stridulation or screeching, which is very rudimentary in the female. ”

“ This fly is grey, its legs are black, and its eyes red.
When one of them is taken and held between the fingers, there may often be seen a small, oblong, whitish, cylindrical worm come out of the posterior part of the body, and shake itself in order to disengage itself thoroughly. It has no sooner freed itself than the head of another begins to show. Thirty or forty sometimes come out in this manner, and, on pressing the abdomen of the fly slightly, more than eighty of these larvæ may sometimes be made to come out in a short space of time. ”

“ Let us, however, give a glance at their other organs, which have more or less affinity with those which exist in other classes of insects, preserving, nevertheless, their own especial characteristics.
The mouth, for instance—suited for suction only—is in the form of a trunk, and is composed of a sheath, a sucker, and two palpi. The antennæ are generally composed of only three joints. The eyes—usually two in number—are very large, and sometimes take up nearly the whole of the head. They are both simple and compound. The wings are membranous, delicate, and veined; the limbs long and slight. ”

“ Once in a little garden we saw a pomegranate tree in rosy fruit—a lovely touch of colour; and once a group of merry girls went by, bareheaded and unadorned, fruit almost as fair. Elsewise, it seemed, we had these deserted ramparts to ourselves, and the view therefrom.
“But grant me still a friend in my retreat,” quoth and quoted I, “whom I may whisper—Solitude is sweet.”
And at that instant, turning an angle, we saw the whole perspective of battlements ahead fringed with human forms.
Fifine laughed delightfully, hearing my gasp of dismay. ”

“ The rocks deposited during the Devonian period exhibit some species of animals and plants of a much more complex organisation than those which had previously made their appearance. We have seen, during the Silurian epoch, organisms appearing of very simple type; namely, zoophytes, articulated and molluscous animals, with algæ and lycopods, among plants. We shall see, as the globe grows older, that organisation becomes more complex. Vertebrated animals, represented by numerous Fishes, succeed Zoophytes, Trilobites, and Molluscs. Soon afterwards Reptiles appear, then Birds and Mammals ”

“ These cases protect the larvæ against the voracity of their enemies. The larvæ have a scaly head; and the three first rings of their body are harder than the rest. They live in water, and breathe by means of branchious sacs, arranged on the abdomen in soft and flexible tufts. They eat everything that is presented to them: leaves, and even insects and the larvæ of their own kind. The pupæ are motionless. They stay about a fortnight in their case, the orifice of which is closed by gratings of silk, then break through the gratings, and leave their prison. ”

“ After the eggs are hatched, the male assists in the nourishment of the young family. Frequently he disgorges into the bills of his young ones the frogs and small fry he has just swallowed; sometimes he divides among them a large fish which he brings from the adjacent lake or the more distant sea-shore. Occasionally they undertake journeys in order to insure abundance for their progeny, and their excursions often extend over a very considerable tract of country.
When the young Herons are able to fly, they leave the nest and provide for their own wants. ”

“ But Fiddle was not sailing celluloid fish. Columbus-like she had decided that there were wider seas than the water pan. Once upon a time [Pg 187] her grandmother had taken her to the bottom of the hill, and at the bottom of the hill there had been a lot of water, and Fiddle had walked in it with her bare feet, and had splashed. She had liked it much better than the chickens' pan.
So she had picked up her three celluloid fish and had trotted down the path. She wore her pink rompers, and as she bobbed along she was like a mammoth rose-petal blown by the wind. ”

“ In giving the history of the principal types of Diptera, we shall explain more fully the formation of these organs.
The Diptera, by their rapid flight, enliven both the earth and the air. The different species abound in every climate, and in every situation, some inhabiting woods, plains, fields, or banks of rivers; others preferring our houses. They like the neighbourhood of vegetation, choosing either the flowers, the leaves, or the stems of the trees of our woods, our gardens, or our plantations. Their food varies 34 very much; and the formation of the sucker is regulated by it. ”

“ The female respires by peculiarly arranged tracheæ, and absorbs nourishment through her skin as well as by means of an alimentary canal, which ends in a blind sac. All the beauties of the female, so far as they are visible to the male, consist in the tiny patch which appears just without the body of the unfortunate bee, and the ova collect in a space which opens between the united head and body and the abdomen. ”

“ To excavate its cell at the bottom of one of these gloomy retreats seems to be all that the animal lives for. To ascend to the summit or sink to the bottom of their narrow house makes up all the accidents of existence to these strange creatures: the hole they dig is at once their dwelling and their grave; which is attested both by the rocks of the past and the present.
In its structure the shell differs notably from other Acephalous Molluscs, which led Linnæus to place it with the multivalve shells. ”

“ The black spot is the head of the worm, which closely touches the shell; the crescent is the body, which is already covered with little hairs. When it leaves the egg, the silkworm gnaws through the shell on its side, never on its flat surface. When the opening is large enough, it breaks out through it, head foremost, and immediately fixes a thread of silk to any object it can reach, no doubt in order to prevent itself from falling. Sometimes the opening is too small to allow of the head passing out, and the larva 228 is forced to come out backwards, that is to say, tail foremost. ”

“ They were not for our eyes again; but in their place, and in place of the luxuriant hills, peaceful pastures, and endless plains, and the interminable poplars of northern France stretching everywhere. The phantom roar of Paris already echoed in our hearts; and presently, impatient over its insistence, uneasy but allured, we came to a decision, and entered upon the final stage of our journey.
Fifine was very quiet during that stage. She sat most of the time in her corner by the window, looking out on the flowing landscape ”

“ The highly compound tri- or quadripinnate leaves of such species as Pteris aquilina, Davallia and other genera stand for the central type of fern frond; others exhibit a well-marked dichotomy, e.g. Lygodium, Gleichenia, Matonia, etc., a habit in all probability associated with the older rather than with the more modern products of fern evolution. Before attempting to determine specifically fossil fern fronds, it is important to familiarise ourselves with the range of variability among existing species and more especially in leaves of the same plant. ”

“ Do you see that great dim cliff of a hill over there?” (we were then nearing Vauvert) . “That is in the Cevennes, Fifine, and its name is Le Loup.”
“It shall stand for the symbol of all the wolves that ever were,” said Fifine; “stricken into stone for their cruelties. I say this is Arcady; and it shall be.”
“Very well,” I answered. “I am agreeable. Arcady it shall be—the land of lovingkindness, where to be fond is not to be suspected. We can be better friends than ever in Arcady, Fifine.” ”

“ The larvæ change their skin six times before reaching the perfect state. When they come out of their skin they are colourless, but the colour comes in a few minutes. At the fifth moult, which takes place three months after birth, they become pupæ, with rudimentary wings, the whole shape of the insect being well marked. The sixth, or last moult, takes place at the end of six weeks. The pupa is now changed into a perfect insect. The female is distinguished from the male by the greater size of her abdomen. ”

“ In the foreground, on the right, rise groups of Tree-ferns, Lepidodendra, and Walchias, of the preceding period. On the sea-shore, and left exposed by the retiring tide, are Molluscs and Zoophytes peculiar to the period, such as Producta, Spirifera, and Encrinites; pretty plants—the Asterophyllites—which we have noticed in our description of the Carboniferous age, are growing at the water’s edge, not far from the shore.
During the Permian period the species of plants and animals were nearly the same as those already described as belonging to the Carboniferous period. ”

“ A dorsal region, raised like a donkey's back, or like the rounded keel of a boat, and covered with a velvety substance, which renders it impermeable, numerous fine fringes which garnish either the hind legs, or the borders of the abdomen and thorax, or lastly in a double row form a crest or comb running down the surface of the belly, and which spread themselves out or fold themselves in at the will of the insect, just like fins, favour both this supine attitude and the accuracy of the swimming movements of the Notonectæ. ”

“ To some species it is such an imperative necessity to be near each other and live in common, that they have received from naturalists the name of Inseparables. At breeding-time each couple isolate themselves for the purpose of reproduction. The male and female evince the greatest attachment to each other. The females deposit their eggs in the hollows of trees and in the crevices of rocks. The young birds are quite naked when hatched; it is not till the end of three months that they are completely covered with feathers. ”