Megabazus

“ Climate does not act upon these lower forms of animal life, with the modifying influences it exercises upon the mammalia and man. A Megachile is as essentially a Megachile in all its characteristics in Arctic America, the Brazils, tropical Africa, Northern China, and Van Diemen’s Land, as in these islands, and Apis is, wherever it occurs, as truly an Apis. Therefore 25the habits, in whatever country the genus may be found, can thus be as surely affirmed of all its species, from the knowledge we have of those at home, as if observation had industriously tracked them. ”

“ The magpie, who knows everything, had a plan; so he flew down and sat on the ear of a bison bull and there he rode and waited. It was a long race, for the hoop of the world is great. Sometimes a big wind came, so that the wings of the air could hardly fly, and the four-leggeds were far ahead. Sometimes there would be a very hot day, and the four-leggeds could hardly run, so that the wings would be winning. A great rainstorm came roaring and many wings of the air were killed. But still the race went on, and all the while the magpie sat on the running bison’s ear and waited for something. ”

“ The forest on shore came right down to the water; and once inside it, we found ourselves in very truth in the home of the megapode.
No sooner were we under the trees than we immediately saw the birds—for the jungle is very open—running about, singly or in parties of twos or threes. From all round came their cries, perhaps best described as loud, ringing calls ending in a rapid cackle, to the sound of which the following syllables bear some resemblance—"ūrr-rak, ūrr-rak, ur-r-rak, rak, rak, rak, rak!" The megapode hardly ever takes to flight when startled, but runs quickly away among the bushes ”

“ An analysis of this peculiarly compound and deficient fauna gives surprising results, namely, the almost total absence of affinity with the Indian region, close connexion with Africa by the possession of Gerrhosauridae, Zonuridae, Chameleons and Pelomedusidae; lastly, the presence of several tree boas, of Podocnemis and of Iguanidae, i.e. families and genera which we are accustomed to consider as typically neo-tropical. Peculiar to Madagascar, autochthonous and very ancient, is only Uroplates. Ancient are also the tortoises, chameleons, geckos, boas, typhlops, gerrhosaurids and zonurids. ”

“ It is now generally admitted, that, in Guinea, Java, and other countries, where there is at once great heat and a marshy soil, there exists a species of these animals, which have the power of moving in the air, or at least of passing from tree to tree. Niebuhr relates, that at Bazra, also, "there is a sort of serpents, called heie sursurie. They commonly live on dates; and as it would be troublesome to them to come down one high tree and creep up another, they hang by the tail to the branch of one, and, by swinging that about, take advantage of its motion to leap to that of a second. ”

“ I have never known a naked-eyed Medusa survive an exposure of fifteen minutes; but they may survive 250 an exposure of ten, and generally survive an exposure of five. But although they thus continue to live for an indefinite time, their vigour is conspicuously and permanently impaired; while in the fresh water irritability persists for a short time after spontaneity has ceased, and the tentacles and manubrium are strongly retracted. ”

“ By turns he would be very kind, or very cruel; an animal or a bird; a man or a spirit; and yet, in spite of all these gifts, Manabozho was always getting himself involved in all sorts of troubles; and more than once, in the course of his busy adventures, was this great maker of mischief driven to his wits' ends to come off with his life. [Pg 216]
To begin at the beginning, Manabozho, while yet a youngster, was living with his grandmother, near the edge of a wide prairie. It was on this prairie that he first saw animals and birds of every kind ”

“ Just as the Apteryx among birds, and the bison and the beaver among mammals, so the Dinornis and the Epiornis have been destroyed as man has extended his abode and his domination. When we regard the fauna of Madagascar and of New Zealand we are struck by the great resemblance between them, from the points of view of their recent and ancient vertebrate fauna. ”

“ The 'bot,' or maggot of Gastrophilus, comes to rest in the horse's stomach; often a whole family attach themselves by their mouth-hooks to a small patch of the mucous coat of that organ. The maggot is relatively short and stout, with rows of strong spicules surrounding the segments, and with spiracles capable of withdrawal through a cup-like inpushing of the tail-region of the body, so that the parasite is preserved from drowning when the host drinks water. ”

“ We are now therefore in a position to say that amebas are definitely and thoroughly organized; that they are not really “shapeless”; that they are not more subject to variation than a higher organism is; and that each species differs from all others in probably every visible detail. The large variety of pseudopods observed in different species are seen not to be the result of physical or extrinsic chemical forces acting upon ectoplasms differing in some mere physical character as viscosity. ”

“ Our food is of the Jungles, and how are we to know just what has been grown by the Men, and what has grown of itself? And in my land, which was Aracan in Burma, but for me and my people the Men could not live."
"In what manner, O Benefactor of the Oppressed?" asked Magh, mockingly.
"Because of Python, and Cobra, and Karait, and Deboia, and the other small Dealers of Death," answered Grey Boar, sturdily. "We roam the Jungles, and when these Snakes, that are surely evil, rise in our paths, we trample them, and tear them with our tusks——"
"And eat them, I know, cha-hau, cha-hau!" ”

“ For all the chief sub-divisions of the terrestrial Oligochaeta seem to possess it, though in unequal degrees. But the inequality may be more apparent than real. For if it be recollected that the species of the family Megascolecidae are very much more numerous than those of the Eudrilidae or even the 104 Geoscolecidae, the fact that there are more peregrine Megascolecidae will lose some of its importance. With the Lumbricidae the case seems to me to be different. Here the preponderance, not only in species (relatively speaking) but in individuals, is much above that of other families. ”

“ With a length of perhaps thirty feet, capable of free and rapid movement on land, with strong hind limbs, short head, with long pointed teeth, and formidable claws to its feet, the Megalosaur must have been without a rival among the carnivorous reptiles on this side of the world. It probably walked for the most part on its hind legs, as depicted in our illustration, and Professors Huxley and Owen, on examining the bones in the Oxford Museum, were much impressed with the bird-like character of some parts of the skeleton, showing an approach to the ostrich type. ”

“ The Dynastides are the smallest division in number of species, there being scarcely 1000 known; but amongst them we find in the genera Dynastes and Megasoma some of the largest of existing Insects. The horns and projections on the heads and prothoraces of some of the males of these Insects are truly extraordinary, and it does not appear possible to explain their existence by any use they are to their possessors. These structures are but little used for fighting. ”

“ These insects soon became very troublesome to us: in the night-time they burnt themselves at our lamps in such numbers, as very frequently to extinguish them. From the biscuits the maggots soon spread themselves throughout all the rest of our provisions, and it lasted a considerable time before we could conquer the disgust which it at first gave us, when we saw them swarming in all our food. ”

“ Astonishment is excited that there can by any possibility be any grubs or beetles, centipedes and worms, scorpions and spiders left to perpetuate their species, when the floor of the jungle is raked over with such assiduity by this powerful and active bird. During the day the megapode is sometimes silent, but ever and anon it gives way to what may in charity be presumed to be a crow—-an uncouth, discordant effort to imitate the boastful, tuneful challenge of the civilised rooster. ”

“ He performed this act with the power of a giant, bursting the old woman's skin, and at the same moment rushing through the door. The serpents followed him, hissing and crying out, "Perfidy! murder! vengeance! it is Manabozho." He immediately transformed himself into a wolf, and ran over the plain with all his speed, aided by his father the West wind. When he got to the mountains he saw a badger. "Brother," said he, "make a hole quick, for the serpents are after me." The badger obeyed. They both went in, and the badger threw all the earth backward, so that it filled up the way behind. ”

“ The tail of the male is spirally twisted, and furnished with lateral bands supported by three or four ribs. It carries two curved spicules of unequal size. There are five pairs of caudal papillæ, the tail being bluntly pointed in both sexes. The vulva of the female is placed about 1/7′′ below the head. The eggs are linear or very narrow, and furnished with thick shells. According to Sonsino, who found Sp. megastoma in five out of sixteen Egyptian horses, the verminiferous growths are usually seated near the pyloric end of the stomach, as many as four tumours occurring at one time. ”

“ Madagascar is consequently devoid of Agamidae, Varanidae, Lacertidae, Anguidae, and Amphisbaenidae, while it possesses, besides the cosmopolitan Scincidae and Geckones, only Chameleons, Gerrhosauridae, and Zonuridae,–all three essentially African families,–and a few Iguanidae. This means that the Autosaurian fauna of Madagascar is intimately related to that of Africa, and that it possesses only old families so far as Sauria are concerned. ”

“ He was what is known as a mamba, and is found in various parts of South Africa. The one I saw was a small one; we killed a snake of this kind one day under our wagon, and when he was stretched out on the grass he measured about eleven feet in length. Mambas of ten or twelve feet are by no means uncommon. Their bite is poisonous; dogs bitten by them die within an hour or two, and the same is the case with small animals. Human beings live longer, but the bite of one of these serpents is almost sure to be fatal. ”

“ How the woodpecker got the red mark on the back of its head, which is a characteristic of most species, is explained by the Algonkins thus, according to Schoolcraft: [102] Manabozho, the renowned culture-hero of the Ojibways and their relatives, made a campaign against the Shining Manito, and at last, finding him in his lair, a mortal combat began. At length Manabozho had left only three arrows, and the fight was going against him. Ma-ma, the woodpecker, cried out: “Shoot him at the base of the scalp-lock; it is his only vulnerable spot!” ”

“ An action going on, on every side of us, and yet barely appreciable, might surely be carried a little further, without exciting our observation. Who could feel any great surprise at hearing that the Megalonyx was formerly rare compared with the Megatherium, or that one of the fossil Monkeys was few in number compared with one of the now living Monkeys? and yet, in this comparative rarity, we should have the plainest evidence of less favourable conditions for their existence. ”

“ The Saprini, those lovers of fat sausages are entrusted with the task of thinning out the Grey Fly, of whose twenty thousand offspring only a few will survive, just enough to maintain the race within proper limits. They flock about the dead Mole or Adder; but, kept at a distance by the too liquid sanies and, for that matter, able to live on a few frugal mouthfuls, they wait until the maggots’ work is finished. Then, the liquefaction of the corpse completed, they slaughter [40] the liquidators. To purge the soil swiftly of life’s offal, the scavenging maggot multiplies its legions ”

“ In examples living further in the interior than the habitat of the type (Bay of Bembatoka) , the back is more rufous, the neck has a large grey or brown patch, and the chest is very dark brownish rust-colour. The abdomen and the inner sides of the limbs are bright red.
Distribution.—This species occurs on the north-west coast of Madagascar, between the Bay of Mozamba to the north and the River Manjaray on the south, ranging over the country to a considerable distance into the interior. ”

“ All the organs of the monster declare the Megalosaur to have been a land animal, of carnivorous propensities, and in all probability performed, as headsman the same office upon the smaller herd of reptiles, sometimes making a snatch at a Plesiosaur, as both in turn did upon fishes and crustaceans. The sport of an Indian jungle is child’s play compared to the onslaught of these grim kings amidst their ancient preserves. [195] The remains occur in the deposits at Malton in Yorkshire, Cuckfield in Sussex, Bath, the Purbeck limestone, Tilgate Forest, and the Wealden. ”

“ Megalosaurus, from the Trias to the Wealden in England and France, with other species in Colorado and India, reached a considerable size, larger than that of any other Theropoda, the scapula of M. bucklandi being nearly three feet long, and the femur still longer. The hind-limbs are twice as long as the fore-limbs. The cervical vertebrae are short, the neck being much shorter than the tail. Hands with five fingers, feet with four toes. Pubic bones long and slender, with a broad symphysis. With well-developed abdominal ribs, resembling those of crocodiles. ”