A Guide
for the
Study of Animals
By a Committee from the
Biology Round Table of the Chicago
High Schools
- Worrallo Whitney, Chairman
Bowen High School
- Frederic C. Lucas
Englewood High School
- Harold B. Shinn
Schurz High School
- Mabel E. Smallwood
Lane Technical High School
D. C. Heath & Co., Publishers
Boston — New York — Chicago
Copyright, 1911,
By D. C. Heath & Co.
1 E 3
PREFACE
The following guide to the study of animals is intended
for pupils in secondary schools. It was prepared by the
authors at the request of the Biology Round Table, an
association composed of the teachers of Biology in the
Chicago High Schools, to whom the authors wish to take
this opportunity of expressing their appreciation of the
many helpful suggestions and criticisms of the manuscript.
The time has passed when a high school course in
zoölogy consists simply of a somewhat simplified edition
of a similar course in college. All teachers now recognize
that the motivization of any course should be its
adaptability to the needs of the student, and that zoölogy
must be taught from the standpoint of the student rather
than that of the subject. In preparing this guide, the
authors have tried to keep these points in mind.
The matter of presentation, the order of topics, and the
choice of material has been much discussed, but the trend
of opinion has finally set in toward an ecological rather
than a type study of animals; that there should be in the
case of young students a brief study of rather a large
number of animals to bring out some general biological
law, rather than an exhaustive study of a very few types.
It is further recognized that the use of a reference library
is absolutely essential in connection with and to supplement
the laboratory work, as there are some topics beyond
the ability of the young student for original investigation
as well as impossible in the amount of time usually allotted
to the subject in our crowded curricula. Of great importance
is the economic side of zoölogy, especially its bearing
upon the applied sciences of medicine, sanitation, household
science, and agriculture, and this phase has received
special attention in this guide.
The desirability of field work has always been recognized,
but the special conditions under which schools must
work are so variable as to make any set directions for
field work of little value, and so they have in most cases
been omitted in this work. Each teacher can easily give
such special direction for collecting material and study
in the field as the locality of the school and the time available
for it shall determine.
Since zoölogy will probably be the pupil's first laboratory
science, the authors have preceded the more formal portion
of the manual with a series of short exercises on
familiar and easily obtained animals in order to introduce
the pupil to the laboratory method and to stimulate his
interest, training him at the outset to be constantly on the
outlook for specimens and to show him how much may
be learned from common things right around him, if he
will only use his eyes. We have also begun the more
formal portion of the guide with insects, since in the fall
they are easily collected and may be studied alive. They
illustrate, moreover, the principles of classification and
method of using keys and other means of finding out the
names of animals. This would seem to be pedagogically
sound, for some recent experiments with pupils show that
the first question that comes into a child's mind upon
seeing a new or strange specimen is "What is it?"
A larger portion of the guide is given to the chordates
than is usually the case. The authors also believe that
this is correct and in accord with the natural interest of
the pupil. It will serve to connect his zoölogy more
closely with his daily experiences.
There is material enough provided to allow the teacher
a chance to select that best adapted to his purposes or
conditions as well as to provide for those schools that
give more than one year to zoölogy.
CONTENTS
Page
CHAPTER I
Introductory Studies of Living Animals 1
Fly, 1; Maggot, 3; Cockroach, 4; Spider, 5; Cricket, 6;
Grasshopper, 7; Butterfly or Moth, 9; Caterpillar, 10; Tussock
Moth, 11; Beetle, 13; Damsel Fly Larva, 14; Plant Lice
and Scale Bugs, 15; Water Bugs and Beetles, 17; Getting
Acquainted with the Library, 18.
CHAPTER II
Studies of Insects 20
Field Studies, 20; Grasshoppers or Locusts, 23; Comparative
Study of Orthoptera, 28; Key to Orthoptera, 29; Dragon
Fly, 30; Honeybee, 31; General Study of Insects, 33; Review
of Insects, 35; Key to Principal Orders, 36; Some Common
Butterflies, 38; Summary of Insects, 37; General Review
and Library Exercise, 40.
CHAPTER III
The Connection between Structure and Function 44
Protozoa: A Study of the Cell, 44; Comparative Study,
48; Review and Library Exercise, 49; Sponges, 51; Review
and Library Exercise, 53. Cœlenterates: Hydra, 54; Comparative
Study, 58; Review and Library Exercise, 59.
Worms: Living Earthworm, 61; External Morphology, 64;
Internal Morphology, 64; Microscopic Anatomy, 66; Summary,
68; Review and Library Exercise, 70; Connection
between Structure and Function, 72.
CHAPTER IV
Adaptation to Surroundings 73
Crayfishes: Living Crayfish, 73; Morphology, 75; Summary,
79; Review and Library Exercise, 81.
CHAPTER V
Adaptation for Protection from Enemies 83
Mollusca: Clam, 83; Snail, 87; Squid, 89; Comparative
Study, 91; Review and Library Exercise, 92. Comparative
Study of Exoskeletons, 93; Protective Coloration, 94; Animal
Associations, 96; Protective Habits and Powers, 98;
Defensive Structures, 99; Thesis: "Adaptation for Protection,"
99.
CHAPTER VI
Vertebrates 101
Fishes: Living Fish, 101; External Structure, 103; Mouth
and Gills, 105; Alimentary Canal and Circulatory System,
107; Review and Library Exercise, 110. Primitive Chordates,
112. Amphibia: Living Frog or Toad, 114; Mouth, 116;
Organs of Digestion, Absorption, and Excretion, 117; Organs
of Circulation and Respiration, 120; Nervous System, 123;
Endoskeleton, 125; Comparative Study, 129; General Review
and Library Exercise, 129. Reptiles: Living Snake,
Lizard, and Turtle, 130; Review and Library Exercise, 132.
Birds: Living Pigeon, 133; Plumage, 136; Birds and Migration,
139; Laboratory Exercise, 139; Field Work, 141;
Review and Library Exercise, 142; Migration in General,
145. Mammals: Rodents: Domestic Rabbit, 146; Wild
Rabbit, 148; Guinea Pig or White Rat, 149; Squirrel, 150;
Library Exercise, 152. Carnivora: Laboratory Exercise,
153; Library Exercise, 155. Ungulates: Laboratory Exercise,
157; Library Exercise, 160. The Horse, 162. Homology
of the Vertebrate Skeleton, 168.
CHAPTER VII
Adaptations for the Preservation of the Species 170
Methods of Reproduction: Simple or Asexual Method,
170; Complex or Sexual Method, 171. Development:
Structure of an Egg, 172; Development of an Egg, 173;
Metamorphosis of a Mosquito, 174; Metamorphosis of a
Butterfly, 176; Development of the Chick, 177. Protection
and Care of Young: Library Exercise, 179. Adaptation for
the Preservation of the Species: Review and Library Exercise,
180.
CHAPTER VIII
Poultry 182
Glossary 189
A Guide for the Study of Animals
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY STUDIES OF LIVING ANIMALS
In the following brief exercises the primary purpose is
to arouse an active, attentive interest on the part of the
pupil in various forms of animal life which may be at
hand, reminding him of what and how various creatures
eat, how they breathe, how they get ideas of the world,
how they get about, and perhaps how they succeed where
others fail. Of secondary importance is the introduction
of laboratory methods by easy stages. The pupil should
feel that his natural curiosity is only being directed to
definite ends and that he is free to investigate in his own
way.
The types here given are only a few of the many to be
found in the early fall, and these exercises in several cases
may be used for other forms than those definitely mentioned.
There should be a great deal of promiscuous collecting
by the class, and in the mass of material gathered
the following types will probably be fairly abundant.
THE LIVING FLY
Materials.
Living flies in cages and individual specimens in small
wide-mouth vials with cotton stoppers for the admission of
air. Sugar crystals may be used for feeding. Simple
lenses.
Observations.
Notice the division of the body into three regions:
head, thorax, and abdomen. The six legs, the large
wings, and the small feelers may be easily found, as are
the large eyes, the extensible mouth, and beneath the
larger wings the small undeveloped ones looking like
tiny knobs.
- State the general color of your specimen and give
any special markings on its body.
- Is the body smooth or has it a covering of any kind?
Do you regard the fly as a cleanly animal? Why?
- Under what conditions does the fly use its legs? its
wings? What enables it to walk upside down? What
use can you assign to the small wings?
- Judging by the relative size of the feelers and the
eyes, do you think the fly relies more upon its sight or its
feeling? Since the eyes can probably see you any place
where you see them, determine through how much of a
circle the fly can see.
- How does the fly eat? Does it eat solid or liquid
food?
- Where is the extensible mouth (proboscis) kept when
not in use? What is the fly doing when "washing its
face"?
- From your own observation in the barn and the alley what do
you know about the fly's cleanliness in choosing its food? How
would it affect articles in the pantry?
- From the foregoing statements show how flies may be a serious
factor in dealing with disease.
- What means may be employed as protection against adult flies?
against their breeding places and "maggots"?
Suggested drawing.
- The entire fly, seen from above, × 4.
THE LIVING MAGGOT
Materials.
Living specimens in pans or cotton-stoppered bottles,
with some food material and moist cloth or paper; lenses.
Observations.
Notice the general worm-like form of the maggot, or
grub, the plain and uniform color, and the absence of all
elaborate structures, as wings and feelers.
- Since this creature is destined to become a flying or
walking insect, what organs will have to appear? Is
there any indication of these structures at present?
- Give the color of the specimen, and explain how the
presence or absence of strong light seems to have affected
the color. Is this effect usual in animals or plants that
you know?
- Tell how the animal gets from place to place, describing
any special structures you find which aid in this work.
- How can you tell the head end? Tell how the
amount of work that the mouth and mouth parts do affects
their size and indirectly that of the region where they are.
- What senses and sense organs has the maggot?
Test any of these senses or organs gently, by any means
at your disposal, or recall any experience you have had
along this line. Which senses or organs seem to be best
developed?
- Explain briefly how the active or sluggish habits either determine
or are determined by the condition of the senses or sense organs.
- Since "Mother Nature" seems to want maggots to develop rapidly,
tell how she economizes in energy and material when forming
them.
- Show how the development of maggots in refuse matter is
actually beneficial.
- From the standpoint of flies and human welfare, show why maggots
should not be allowed to live,—stating how they may be prevented.
-
Look up the story of the pupa of the house fly; the development
and work of the botfly; of the ox-warble; of the tsetse fly.
Suggested drawing.
- The maggot or grub, side view, × 4.
THE LIVING COCKROACH
Materials.
Individual specimens in cages, jars, or wide-mouth vials
with cotton stoppers to admit air. Several roaches in large
cages with material for food and concealment.
Observations.
- What is the general color and the average size of
cockroaches?
- During what time of the day are roaches most active?
Where do they hide at other times? How do their shape
and color aid concealment? Note any odd or striking
colors or marks which might make them distinguishable to
their mates.
- Is the roach a quick or a slow moving animal? How
does it get about,—by running, jumping, walking, crawling,
swimming, or flying? Turn your specimen on its back
and see how it recovers its proper position. Notice the
relative size and development of the wings and their use in
flying.
- If uninjured, your specimen has six legs. Why don't
they step on each other? Notice the stiff hairs on the legs
and the white pads under the feet. How would these
structures be useful to the animal?
- The large, black, shiny eyes are on the front and
sides of the head; the long "horns," or feelers, are attached
just below the eyes. Upon which sense, sight or
feeling, do you think the roach depends more? Explain
your statement.
-
Beside the mouth are a long and a short pair of
"feelers"; perhaps these are for tasting or smelling.
What do roaches like to eat? Do they choose their food?
What damage do they do?
- How can a house be rid of cockroaches?
Suggested drawing.
- a. A cockroach, seen from above.
THE LIVING SPIDER
Materials.
Living spiders, preferably large ones, in cages; individual
specimens in battery jars or wide-mouth bottles.
Cocoons. Simple lenses.
Observations.
Each pupil may feel sure that if treated fairly any of the
common spiders may be handled without fear of bite or
injury.
- Note that the spider's body is of two regions, the
head-thorax and the abdomen, and that it is supported by
eight legs. To what part of the body are the legs attached?
- Find the feelers; if they are club-shaped, your specimen
is a male. State their number and tell where they
are attached. What is the sex of your spider?
- Usually there are eight tiny near-sighted eyes on the
front of the head. State the color of the eyes and by a
diagram indicate their arrangement.
- With what kind of material is the body covered (use
the lens)?
- What is the color of your specimen? What special
markings has it?
-
Holding the spider aloft in your fingers, allow it to
drop upon the thread it will spin, and watch it climb and
spin. Record the number of the spinners, their situation,
and how they act. Are the threads sticky? If so, why
doesn't the spider stick to its web? Is the web used for
a home or for a snare?
- Try to discover how the feet are enabled to cling to
the thread.
- Examine a cocoon, noting its outer form and structure,
and look for an opening at the top. If you can open
a cocoon carefully with scissors, look for its two coats and
inspect its contents.
- State three uses for the spider's silk.
- What is the work of spiders amongst the animal population of
the earth, or of what use are they?
- Out of doors find webs of various kinds: wheel web, tent web,
triangle web, etc.
- How do the jumping spiders differ from others in their spinning
and feeding habits?
- Look up what is meant by ballooning spiders. Find out when
ballooning occurs and what is accomplished by it.
Find out the name of your kind of spider.
Suggested drawings.
- The entire spider, seen from above.
- A cocoon.
THE LIVING CRICKET
Materials.
Living crickets in cages, with materials for food and concealment,
and individual specimens in wide-mouth bottles
or vials with cotton stoppers.
Observations.
- What is the average size and the general color of
crickets?
-
Just what do they do when you try to catch them?
What structures enable them to do these things?
- Of the three pairs of legs, which extend sidewise for
running or grasping, and which backward for jumping or
climbing? What structures have the legs to enable them
to do their work properly?
- Notice how well developed the cricket's wings are,
and state how much they are used or how they influence
the habits of the animal.
- How many projecting spines are there on the hinder
end of the body? Are they ornamental or useful? how?
The female crickets have a special spear-shaped spine for
depositing eggs.
- In a column make a list of the senses (sight, feeling,
etc.), and opposite each state what kind of an organ is used
and where it is located. The ears are oblong white spots
on the second long piece of the front legs.
- Find out whether the cricket chews solid food or
sucks liquid food, and whether it has biting jaws or protrusible
lips. See whether it will attack a toothpick or your
finger, and if the crickets have been confined long, whether
there has been any attempt at cannabalism. Is its natural
food animal or vegetable matter?
- How do crickets chirp?
- What work do they do in nature?
- How does a baby cricket develop?
THE LIVING GRASSHOPPER OR LOCUST
Materials.
Individual specimens in wide-mouth bottles or jars, and
other specimens in cages, with turf or foliage for food and
concealment. Simple lenses.
Observations.
Notice the form and size of your specimen, its color,
the number of its legs and of its feelers. Find the eyes;
the two large eyes, a tiny one between the two feelers,
and near the inner edge of each large eye, another tiny
one. With a lens notice the markings on the large eyes.
Find the mouth, and note its lips and finger-like feelers.
Draw out an outer wing, and then carefully draw out the
delicate under wing, allowing them both to fold into place
again. Under the wings find the circular or crescent-shaped
membranes, the eardrums. Watch the grasshopper's
body expand and contract in breathing, and find
the small breathing holes along each side the body. Compare
its rate of breathing with your own.
Questions.
- In what surroundings and how does the grasshopper's
color protect it? What color markings has it
which might serve for other grasshoppers to see as
signals? Explain how this signaling is done.
- Explain how the legs are placed so as to act as
springs in jumping and alighting.
- What advantages in having the wings attached on
the upper side and the legs on the under side of the body?
- Explain how the small wings are protective, and how
the large ones are protected.
- Why is it better for the grasshopper to have its
mouth on the under side of its head instead of in front?
- The large eyes are supposed to be far-sighted, the
small ones near-sighted. State how the large eyes have
the more advantageous position, and around how much of
a circle they can see.
- Describe how the grasshopper breathes.
THE LIVING BUTTERFLY OR MOTH
Materials.
Individual specimens in large jars or cages, and other
specimens in cages with foliage; simple lenses and a
needle or pin.
Observations.
Butterflies may generally be distinguished from moths
by their habit of holding their wings together above them
when at rest, by the feelers which are knobbed at the
end, and by the rather slender abdomen. Moths generally
either fold their wings or hold them outstretched, their
feelers are not knobbed, and their bodies are rather
bulky.
Observe these points in your specimen and the colors
of the upper and under sides of the wings. Find the
large eyes and examine them with a lens. With the needle
or pin carefully uncoil the sucking tube which you may
find under the head between two shields. Note the
fuzziness of the body and the "dust" which covers the
wings. Examine some of this dust under a lens.
Questions.
- Is your specimen a butterfly or a moth? Prove your
statement. If possible, give the name of your specimen.
- Write a description of your specimen—its size,
general color, and special color pattern.
- Describe the sucking tube, or "proboscis," and
name some flowers from which it might obtain nectar.
Try to find out how the tube is operated.
- Why is it that moths and butterflies never bite? Do
they sting? How do you think they protect themselves
from enemies?
-
State how the fuzz and dust on your specimen might
influence a bird's liking for it.
- Contrast the size and usefulness of the wings of the
butterfly with those of some other insect you know about;
contrast their legs; state how development of one set of
structures may cause another set to be simple or feeble.
- Most moths are active by night. What explanation
can you give for their large eyes and expanded feelers?
Feelers of insects may be for any or all of the following:
touch, taste, smell, and hearing.
Suggested drawings.
- The butterfly or moth.
- An antenna (feeler).
THE LIVING CATERPILLAR
Materials.
Living caterpillars in cages or covered jars for individual
study, and other specimens in cages with foliage for food
or concealment.
Observations.
The pupil should observe the general form and external
construction of the caterpillar, watching it feeding, in
action, and at rest.
Notice how the creature moves. Find its head, its
segments (similar divisions of the body), and its breathing
holes along the sides of the body. Try to find its eyes,
any feelers, wings or paddles. Try to loosen it from its
support; find the tiny hooks on the feet for clinging fast.
Questions.
- Give the general color of your specimen and explain
how this color may make it conspicuous or may aid its
concealment.
-
Describe the outer surface or covering of the caterpillar.
What structures, if any, are there, which might
make the animal distasteful or inedible?
- How many pairs of legs are there? How are they
distributed along the body? Counting the segments, state
which ones bear no legs.
- To what extent do the legs act in locomotion? Are
they mere organs for attachment while the body swings
forward and backward, or do the legs do this, as in a
horse? Make a complete statement.
- Notice the openings of the internal breathing tubes.
How are they protected against dust and other foreign
matter?
- Does the caterpillar seem to be a warm-blooded
animal? State how the free access of air along the body
would influence internal temperature.
- What do you know about a caterpillar's appetite?
How might caterpillars be beneficial or harmful? What
means has nature of holding their numbers in check?
- Recalling that caterpillars finally "sleep" for several
days or weeks and awaken as winged creatures, how can you
account for their appetites?
THE TUSSOCK MOTH
Materials.
Directions for the study of the caterpillar stage will be
found in the exercise "The Living Caterpillar," and
directions for the study of the adult male form will be
found in the exercise "The Living Butterfly or Moth."
The female tussock moth is a wingless, thick-bodied
creature, gray in color, very downy, and about three
fourths of an inch long. The following directions apply
more particularly to the study of the cocoons and the
general harmfulness of the tussock moth.
This exercise may be done best outside of the classroom,
the pupil answering the questions on scrap paper and
rewriting these notes in the laboratory. Living caterpillars,
cocoons, some of them bearing their frothy masses of
wax and eggs, pupæ, and adult moths of both sexes may be
used in the laboratory.
Observations and Questions.
- On what kinds of trees are the cocoons and the
caterpillars generally found? What effect have the caterpillars
on the trees, and what may possibly be the final
effect upon the trees of the locality or the entire district?
- Upon what part of the tree are the cocoons made,
and why? Where on the bark are they, and why?
- Is the opening of the cocoon at the upper or the
lower end? What reason can you assign for this?
- Count the number of cocoons upon the entire tree
or estimate it by counting those upon a part of the tree.
Now count the number of eggs on a cocoon. Assuming
that one half of the cocoons bear eggs, calculate the
number of caterpillars on a tree next year.
- How is the waxy covering of the eggs a particularly
good protection against winter weather?
- Investigate the interiors of several cocoons and state
what you find.
- On the pupa find the jointed and tapering hinder
end, abdomen, and at the head region and lying along the
under side, the marks of the legs and the feelers, and possibly
the wings, all pressed close against the body. Find
also the breathing pores along the sides of the abdomen.
- Unlikeness between male and female is called
"sexual dimorphism." Explain how the tussock moth
shows this. For what work does each form seem particularly
adapted?
- What methods would you use that the tussock moth
might be destroyed or kept out of a community?
The numerous small worm-like creatures often found are the caterpillar
stages of another insect, an ichneumon fly, which laid its eggs
under the skin of the tussock caterpillar. How has their development
affected that of the tussock moth? What great result does nature
accomplish by this arrangement?
Suggested drawings.
- A caterpillar, × 2.
- A cocoon with its egg mass.
- A pupa as seen from the under side.
- An adult moth, either male or female.
THE LIVING BEETLE
Materials.
Living beetles in cages, together with portions of the
plant upon which they are found; or if water beetles are
used, they should be kept in aquaria. Individual specimens
in battery jars or wide-mouth bottles, and preserved
beetles in pans or vials for reference.
Observations.
- Upon what plant or in what surroundings is your
kind of beetle generally found? If you can, give its common
name.
- What is the length, breadth, and thickness of your
beetle? Would you describe it as a "small" insect or a
"large" one?
- Of what general color is it? Describe any color
markings you see.
- If any of the legs differ from the others or are of
peculiar shape or length, describe them and tell what you
think they may be fitted to do.
- As a rule, beetles have harder "shells" than other
insects. Does this shell completely inclose the body, or
can you find any soft parts exposed? How are the head,
thorax, and abdomen joined so as to carry out the apparent
purpose of protection? What is the outline of the body—a
continuous line or one with many irregularities?
- If possible, try to lift up one side of the "shell" from
the hinder end of the body. You will discover that this
portion of the shell is a pair of hard sheath wings, and beneath
them is another pair. How are the under ones
unlike the upper in size and texture? in use? in arrangement
when not in use?
- Does a beetle spend most of its life on the wing, like
bees and flies? How might the body covering and the
structure of the outer wings affect or determine the beetle's
habits, even against its will?
- Are the feelers or are the eyes of your specimen
more easily distinguished? Upon which of the special
senses does it seem to place most dependence?
- Is your kind of beetle good for anything, either in nature or in
human affairs? Make a statement regarding what good or what harm
it may do.
THE DAMSEL FLY LARVA
Materials.
Living larvæ of the damsel fly in shallow watch glasses
of water for individual use, and others in large pans or
aquaria. Simple lenses or dissecting microscopes.
Observations.
- What is the color and the shape of the larva? how
long is it? Notice in what surroundings in the water the
larva lives, and answer to yourself how its form and color
would protect it in those surroundings.
- Since the larva is an insect, though immature, its
body is composed of three regions: head, thorax, and
abdomen. How do these regions differ from each other?
- What structures has your specimen to enable it to
move from place to place? If fully developed wings are
not present, what indication is there of their being
formed?
- What sense organs has the larva? Which ones
seem to be the largest and most useful?
- Although the aquatic larva is preparing for adult
life in the air, there should be some arrangement for
securing air in the water. Where do you find outgrowths
of the skin which might increase the air-absorbing surface?
How many of these structures are there? Look within
them for the air tubes,—fine branching black lines.
- If possible, without injury to the specimen, examine
the larva's mouth. Try to discover how it is used and
how it is protected when not in use.
Suggested drawings.
- The entire larva, × 4.
- A gill, as seen through the microscope.
- The feeding apparatus, × 10.
PLANT LICE AND SCALE BUGS
Plant Lice (Aphids)
Materials.
Plant lice on various kinds of plants, such as house
plants, golden glow, and other plants from the garden or
field. Garden asters with root lice (the asters should be
transplanted into pots).
Observations.
- Describe the size, appearance, and colors of the plant
lice in your collection and their relation to the host plant.
- Are the lice active or sluggish? (Compare with a
house fly, for instance.) What proportion of them have
wings? What is the usual method of locomotion?
- Examining a single winged specimen, how many
wings do you find? How do they fold? What is the
character of the wings?
- What is the food of the plant lice? How is the
food obtained? (With a hand lens identify the piercing
organ.) On what parts of the plants are they found?
Does the plant show any indication of being harmed by
the lice? If so, how?
- Make a count of the plant lice upon a portion of
a plant and estimate the whole number upon a plant.
Why are plant lice a very serious pest?
- If any plant lice have ants associated with them,
study the behavior of the ants in this curious relationship.
What advantages result from this relationship of ant
and aphis to either or both insects?
Scale Bugs
Materials.
Twigs of trees, leaves, fruit, ferns, etc., infested with
these bugs. If possible, have samples of San José scales,
maple scales, and oyster scales.
Observations.
- What is the general size and appearance of the
various scale bugs in your collection? How do they
differ in form and size and color?
- Remove a scale and study it carefully with a lens.
What is under the scale? Of what is the scale composed?
What do you discover about these bugs to indicate that
they are really insects?
- What can be said about the number of scale bugs?
Why are they difficult to exterminate? How can they
be distributed from one place to another, as from orchard
to orchard, since only the males have wings?
Drawings suggested.
- A single aphis as seen with hand lens.
- Various scale bugs as seen with a hand lens.
- Twigs showing the distribution and numbers of
scale bugs.
WATER BUGS AND BEETLES
Water Bugs
Materials.
Water bugs and beetles of several species in small
aquaria covered with a wire net.
Observations.
- With what legs does the bug swim? Describe their
appearance and tell how used and how fitted for this use.
Which legs are not used in swimming?
- Remove the bug from the water for a moment to test
other methods of locomotion, as jumping, crawling, flying.
What do you discover?
- Watch the bug as it gets a fresh supply of air, and
describe the process. Where is the air stored for use when
under water? Does the bug sink or rise when it stops
swimming? Why?
- Identify the bug's mouth parts. What is their appearance
and probable manner of use? How are the forelegs
fitted for grasping food?
- What is the shape of the body? What is the position
of the wings? Do the two cover (fore) wings meet in a
straight line or do they cross at their tips? Are they
smooth throughout and sheath-like, or are they thick at the
base and thin at the tips?
Summary.
Summarize your study of the bug by enumerating the
various ways the bug is adapted for life in the water.
Water Beetles
Use the same questions for the study of water beetles as
for water bugs. In addition answer the following:—
- Identify the eyes of the whirligig beetle and note their
peculiar construction. How can you explain this peculiar
form of the eyes on the basis of use? Why are the antennæ
of both water bugs and beetles so small?
Suggested drawings.
- The dorsal view of both bug and beetle.
- Ventral view of the bug's head to show the beak and
first pair of legs.
GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE LIBRARY
Directions.
The books in a zoölogical library may be roughly divided
into three groups:—
- Reference books.
- Advanced textbooks.
- Elementary textbooks.
- Natural histories.
- Books for classifying or naming animals.
- Descriptive books.
- Life histories and habits of animals.
-
Adventures with animals—popular accounts of animals seen on walks and travels.
- Economic zoölogy.
- Books on harmful animals and methods of destroying them.
- Books on useful nondomesticated animals and their products.
- Books on domestic animals.
- Books of a general nature not included in the above.
Examine as many of the books in your library as you
can and record for each one in your notebook:—
- Title of the book; author's name; publisher; date
of publication.
- The kind of book as classified above.
- What it includes or what animals or topics are covered
by the book.
- Whether the style is popular or technical, i.e. whether
it is easy for you to read.
- The general character of its illustrations and whether
they appear to be especially helpful.
- Comments on the value or interest of the book as it
appears to you.
- Select a book which interests you, for future reading.
CHAPTER II
STUDIES OF INSECTS
The effect of great numbers upon the structure and habits
of animals. The use of keys in finding the names of
animals.
1. FIELD STUDIES
Materials.
1. Boxes for carrying insects. 2. A net. This may be
homemade, using mosquito netting or fish net and a stout
wire. If it is to be used for a dragnet for water insects,
the wire must be stout and the netting strong. Make the
net twice as long as wide. 3. A cyanide jar for killing insects.
4. A few paper triangles for carrying butterflies.
5. A notebook.
Note.—Your instructor will give directions for obtaining the material
called for in 3, 4, and 5.
Directions.
Look carefully and quietly in the various situations noted
below. Do not be in a hurry. Weedy meadows or vacant
lots and neglected roadsides are good places for your first
trips. Note concerning each insect found: (a) its name or
something by which to identify it, (b) where you found it,
(c) what it was doing, (d) its probable food. Record these
observations in your notebook. Make a special study of
such insects as your instructor may designate.
Where to look for Various Insects
- Grasshoppers, locusts, katydids.
- Look along roadsides,
waste places, gardens, especially weedy ones, weedy lots,
and grassy meadows and pastures.
- Crickets.
- Under old boards, along the edges of board
or stone walks, along fences.
- Beetles.
- Same locations as for crickets, and also on
flowering plants, under loose bark of trees and stumps, in
rotten logs, etc. For water beetles drag edges of ponds
and streams.
- Dragon flies.
- Along water-courses, ponds, and swamps.
Drag ponds and ditches for larvæ.
- Bees.
- On flowering plants, especially on large patches
of wild asters, golden-rods, and thistles.
- Wasps.
- Sandy stretches,—especially along the water,—among
flowering plants, under the eaves and roofs of outbuildings.
Nests may be found in these latter places.
- Butterflies and moths.
- In fields where there are many
flowering plants; look carefully on the leaves of plants for
caterpillars, and for eggs. Also look very carefully on the
under side of leaves, on twigs, and on the bark of trees for
chrysalids of butterflies and cocoons of moths.
- Bugs.
- In same locations as for bees and grasshoppers
and water beetles. Also on fruit.
- Aphids.
- On the fresh growing tops of plants.
- Tree hoppers.
- On trees and shrubs. Hold your net on the
under side of branches and shake the branch vigorously.
- Flies.
- Around decaying substances, as garbage, fruit,
etc.; on flowering plants.
- Ants.
- Sandy waste places, decayed logs, along walks,
often in kitchens.
Note.—At night many kinds of insects fly around electric lights or
into open windows, attracted by the light and may easily be collected.
Form for Field Trip Report
The notes taken on a field trip may be conveniently
tabulated for permanent record in the form indicated below:—
In case the name of the insect is not known to you, use a
number and some designation as to color or other mark by
which it may be known until you have leisure to look up
its name by means of keys or books on insects.
Special Field Studies
The questions below may be used for a more careful
field study of any insect.
- Just where was the insect found?
- Note carefully what the insects are doing before they
are disturbed by your presence. What did the insects do
when you disturbed them? If you think this related to
securing safety, explain what leads you to think so.
- What senses do you conclude are well developed?
Reason for your conclusion.
- Has the insect a home? If so, what is its character?
- What is the color? What is the relation between the
color of the insect and its surroundings?
- Is the insect solitary in its habits or associated with
others of the same species? If in association with others,
note the numbers, and what they are doing.
-
What modes of locomotion do you observe in this
insect? Which is the most common? If it flies or jumps,
note the distance.
- If you find the young, note whether they differ from
the adult in general appearance, and if so, in what ways
they differ. Do they differ in food?
- What other insects do you find in the same habitat?
2. A STUDY OF GRASSHOPPERS (LOCUSTS)
Insects adapted to Life in Grassy Meadows and Fields
Materials.
Both living and dead specimens of grasshoppers. Various
stages of young grasshoppers either dead or living.
Some mounted specimens with wings spread. The wings
of grasshoppers mounted in pairs between two glass slides
for use with microscope or hand lens. Mounted preparations
of mouth parts and tracheæ.
Definitions.
- Orthoptera,
- straight-winged insects, order to which belong
grasshoppers, locusts, katydids, crickets, cockroaches, etc.
- Vivarium,
- a cage in which living animals are kept.
- Anterior,
- toward the head of an animal.
- Posterior,
- opposite to anterior.
- Dorsal,
- the upper surface of an animal.
- Ventral,
- opposite to dorsal.
- Regions,
- principal divisions of the body of an animal.
- Head, thorax, and abdomen,
- the three distinct regions
into which the body of a grasshopper is divided.
- Somite,
- a ring-like division of the body of an animal.
- Prothorax, mesothorax, and metathorax,
- the three divisions
or somites into which the thorax of any insect is divided.
A pair of legs is borne on each division.
- Exoskeleton,
- an external skeleton.
- Femur, tibia, and tarsus,
- the three principal divisions of
the leg corresponding to thigh, shank, and foot.
- Veins,
- thread-like thickenings of the wings.
- Ocelli,
- the single or simple eyes of an insect, composed
of a single eye element.
- Compound eyes,
- made up of many eye elements.
- Auditory sacs,
- organs for hearing in many animals.
- Antennæ,
- the feelers borne on the head.
- Labrum,
- the upper lip.
- Labium,
- the lower lip, formed by the growing together
of the second maxillæ.
- Mandibles,
- primary jaws situated under the labrum.
- Maxillæ,
- secondary jaws just in front of the labium,
each composed of three parts, a palp, a spoon, and a
tooth.
- Palps,
- the jointed finger-like structures used to handle
food, one pair on the labium and one pair on the maxillæ.
- Spiracles,
- openings into the trachea found along the
sides of the abdomen and thorax.
- Tracheæ,
- slender tubes used for breathing organs among
insects. They carry the air direct to the tissues in all
parts of the body.
- Ovipositors,
- structures on the posterior end of the abdomen
of a female, used to deposit eggs.
- Metamorphosis,
- refers to the development of the young
of animals when striking changes in structure occur in the
course of their growth. Metamorphosis is called complete
when the young have no resemblance to the adults,
and incomplete when there is a resemblance to the adult.
In complete metamorphosis the stages are larva, pupa, and
adult. In incomplete metamorphosis the stages are
nymph and adult.
Observations.
- The Body.
- Show how the shape of the grasshopper's
body is well adapted to its needs.
- Which region of the body is the thickest? What
seems to be the reason for this? Which regions are
capable of movement?
- Locomotion.
- What are the various kinds of locomotion
a grasshopper can use? Which are used in the vivarium
and which when free in the laboratory?
- Which legs are used in jumping? How are these
legs especially adapted to this, in length, structure and
direction? Could a grasshopper jump if the third pair of
legs were arranged like the other two pairs? Why?
- How is the animal able to cling to grass stems and
not slip down? What is the direction of the body in
relation to the stem or grass blade?
- What is the position of the wings when at rest?
when in use? How do the hind wings fold? How are
the principal veins of the wings arranged to permit or
facilitate this folding?
- Contrast the fore and hind wings with respect to
thickness, size, and use.
- To which somites of the thorax are the wings attached?
Nearer which surface, the dorsal or ventral? Why?
- Sense Organs.
- Discover all you can about the uses
of the antennæ by carefully observing grasshoppers at
rest, feeding, jumping and crawling, approaching an object
or another grasshopper, etc.
- How many compound eyes has the grasshopper?
How many simple eyes? Where are they located?
Examine a preparation of the compound eye with the low power or
as demonstrated with the stereopticon. What is the shape of an eye
element of the compound eye? About how many eye elements are
there in a compound eye?
- Feeding.
- Do grasshoppers eat and drink while in
captivity? Put a fresh bunch of grass which has been
sprinkled with water in a vivarium with grasshoppers that
have had no food or drink for twenty-four hours and watch
results.
- What is the position of the grasshoppers in feeding?
In what direction do the jaws move in feeding? Compare
this with the direction of movement of your own
jaws. What is the use of the palps? What do you think
is the use of the "molasses" or saliva that flows from the
mouth?
- Respiration.
- Describe the breathing movements of
a grasshopper and explain the relation of the movements
to inhalation and exhalation of air.
- Find the exact location and number of spiracles on
the abdomen. There are two pairs of spiracles on the
thorax. Find them. How do the spiracles prevent the
entrance of dust?
Describe a trachea as seen in a mounted preparation with the aid of
a microscope or stereopticon.
- Protection.
- Explain how the colors of the grasshopper
may be protective or useful when at rest in its
natural habitat and when in flight.
- Does the shell cover the entire body? What are
the advantages of such a covering? A shell is likely to
hinder activity, sensitiveness, and growth. How are such
disadvantages overcome in this case?
- What senses are probably most relied upon to
detect approaching danger? Give evidence to support
your answer.
- What is the position of the hind legs when at rest?
What relation has this to safety?
- Reproduction and Development.
- Describe the ovipositors
and the probable method of their use. Describe
the egg packets of grasshoppers, if discovered. About
how many eggs in one? (They are sometimes seen
against the glass sides of the vivaria.)
- If you have young grasshoppers of various ages,
arrange a set of them in what seems to you to be the order
of their development. How do young grasshoppers differ
from adults? What changes take place as they develop?
What kind of metamorphosis is this?
Summary of Important Points in the Study of the Grasshopper
- How many and what distinct regions of the body
are there?
- How many antennæ? Compare their length with that
of the body. What other sense organs did you discover?
- How many legs? For what specially adapted? How?
- How many wings? What is their resting position?
How do the fore wings differ from the hind wings? How
do the hind wings fold?
- To what kind of feeding are they adapted, biting or
sucking the food? How many and what sets of mouth
parts are there?
- How is air necessary for respiration obtained?
- In what various ways are grasshoppers fitted for life
in meadows and weed plots?
- How do they meet winter conditions?
- What kind of metamorphosis has the grasshopper?
Drawings suggested.
- Side view with the legs and wings removed. Label
all parts shown in this drawing. (See Definitions on pages
23 and 24 for names of parts.)
- Face view of the head, showing the simple and compound
eyes, the antennæ, labrum, and palps.
- One of the third pair of legs. Label parts.
- A fore and a hind wing arranged in natural position.
- A young grasshopper.
3. COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ORTHOPTERA
Materials.
Mounted specimens of various common species of orthoptera.
Observations.
- Where does the insect live? What is its color?
- What is the size and shape as compared with the
grasshopper?
- What is the length of the antennæ as compared with
the length of the body?
- To what kind of locomotion are the legs adapted?
How? Are the forelegs specially adapted for grasping?
- What is the position of the wings when at rest?
Are they large or small as compared with the size of the
body?
- Are the ovipositors long or short? (Compare with
those of the grasshopper.)
- Find the group to which the insect belongs and its
name by the key in the following section.
4. KEY TO SOME COMMON ORTHOPTERA
A. Groups
Legs | Antennæ | Other Characters | Groups |
Similar, fitted for running |
Long |
Body flattened, wings folded on dorsal surface of the abdomen |
Cockroaches (Blattidæ) |
First pair of legs enlarged for grasping |
Rather long |
Prothorax long and slender, wings folded on dorsal surface of abdomen |
Mantis (Mantidæ) |
Similar, fitted for walking |
Long |
Body usually greatly elongated and stick-like, usually no wings |
Walking stick (Phasmidæ) |
Hind legs fitted for jumping |
Short |
Body somewhat compressed, wings folded on side of abdomen |
Short-horned grasshoppers (Acrididæ) |
Long |
Body compressed, wings folded on sides, tarsus four-jointed |
Long-horned grasshoppers (Locustidæ) |
Long |
Body somewhat flattened, wings folded on the back, tarsus three-jointed |
Crickets (Gryllidæ) |
B. Species or Genera
Characters of Species | Common Name | Groups |
Large size, brown color | American cockroach |
Cockroaches |
Small size, pale brown | "Croton bug" |
Dark color, often wingless | Oriental cockroach |
Body long, anterior portion slender | Mantis or rear horse | Mantis |
Long body, long legs, no wings | Walking stick | Walking sticks |
Very large size, wings very small | Lubber grasshopper |
Short-horned grasshoppers |
Small to medium size, legs marked with red | Red-legged grasshopper |
Large size, greenish brown color | Differential locust |
Medium to large size, sand color (gray) | Carolina locusts |
Rather large, green, wings large and angled | Angle-wing katydid |
Long-horned grasshoppers |
Small to rather large, usually green | Meadow grasshopper |
Wingless, brown color | Cricket grasshopper |
Usually rather large, black | Field cricket |
Crickets |
Wingless, front legs shovel-shaped | Mole cricket |
5. THE DRAGON FLY
An Insect adapted to Aerial Life
Materials.
Mounted specimens of dragon flies, some moist preserved
specimens, living specimens if practicable, simple lenses.
Observations.
- Identify the three regions of the body and note the
presence of a distinct neck. What is the length of the insect?
What is its general form? If you have living specimens,
discover what movements the head and abdomen
are capable of making.
- What is the position and general character of the
wings? Explain how these wings are made very efficient
for flying. Why should they not fold?
- For what do the legs seem best adapted? Why?
- Note the size of the eyes and of the antennæ?
How do you account for the great size of the eyes and
the relatively small antennæ?
- What is the type of mouth parts, biting or sucking?
If you have living dragon flies, try feeding them flies or
mosquitoes and note how they are seized.
- The food of dragon flies is mosquitoes and flies caught
while on the wing. In what various ways is the dragon fly
specialized for getting food in this manner?
Summary.
How is the dragon fly fitted for its aerial life
with respect to its body, means and method of locomotion,
sense organs, kind of food and manner of obtaining
it?
Suggested drawing.
- Dorsal view, showing veining of one wing.
6. THE HONEYBEE
A Study of Adaptations for Community Life
Materials.
Preserved specimens of workers in small vials and in
watch glasses, and some mounted specimens. A demonstration
case showing the three kinds of members of the
community, stages in the development of the workers and
queens and the cells in which they are reared, specimens
of the comb. Small pieces of beeswax, a box of honey,
and specimens of comb free for examination. Mounted
preparations of mouth parts and stings. Simple lenses and
compound microscopes.
Observations.
- The Worker Bee.
- Observe and describe the form, size,
regions, and covering of the bee. What are its colors?
- Observe and describe the texture, veining, relative
size, and position of the wings. Discover how the fore
and hind wings are hooked together. What advantage in
having them hooked together?
- For what kind of locomotion are the legs best
adapted?
- Find the pollen basket on the tarsus of a hind leg.
How is it fitted for carrying pollen? What are the wax
shears?
- Examine and describe the structure at the posterior end of the
body used for stinging. (Use a mounted preparation for this with
low-power of microscope.)
- The mouth parts are fitted for both biting and sucking. Find what
makes this possible. (Use mounted preparation.)
- Describe the antennæ and the number, position, and
shape of the eyes. Are the eyes fitted for keen sight?
Give reason for answer.
-
The worker bee gathers honey and pollen and defends
the entire community from enemies. What various adaptations
fit it for this work?
- The Community of Bees.
- How do the workers, drones,
and queen differ in general appearance?
- Describe the appearance of the comb and the arrangement
and shape of the cells. Why this shape? How are
the cells closed when full of honey?
- How do the cells used for rearing worker bees differ
from those used for rearing queens? What is the appearance
of the larvæ? Of the pupa?
- Examine and test in various ways a small piece of
beeswax. What are the qualities possessed by this wax
which make it suitable for making comb and protecting
the home from storms?
Supplementary Studies of Bees
Materials.
For this study an observation hive of bees or opportunity
to visit an apiary will be helpful. If neither are practicable,
then look up the answers in books. There are government
bulletins on bee-keeping and much helpful information can
be obtained from large dealers in bees and bee supplies.
Observations.
- How do bees protect their hives from rain and storm
and light?
- What are honey boxes? Where are they placed in
the hive? Can the honey be removed late in the fall?
- How is it safe to approach and handle bees in removing
honey and caring for them?
- What are their habits in entering and leaving the
hive? What is the appearance of a returning loaded
worker bee?
-
How do bees survive the winter? Why are the
drones driven away or killed?
- Watch bees gathering nectar and pollen from flowers
and describe the process. Try following a bee on its journeys.
- When the bees are in the hive, how may you know
the queen and drones from the workers?
- What is swarming? When does it take place? How
is the swarm hived?
- What is the home of wild honeybees? How found?
Summary of the Study of Honeybees
How is the work of the community of bees divided
among the bees? How is each fitted for the work? What
do you think of the success of this kind of life? Give reasons
for your answer.
7. GENERAL STUDY OF INSECTS[1]
Materials.
Both living and preserved specimens of the insects studied
should be at hand, if practicable. There also should be
specimens of the young.
Observations.
- The Body.
- What is the shape and size of the insect
and the number of regions in its body? Does the shape
seem to be in any way adapted to the mode of life of the
insect? If so, how?
- Locomotion.
- What methods of locomotion has the
insect? Which is the most used?
-
What is the position of the wings when at rest?
What is the texture (e.g. thick, smooth, leathery, shell-like,
membranous) of the fore and hind wings?
- For what kind of locomotion are the legs fitted?
How?
- Sense Organs.
- How many antennæ has the insect?
What is their character as to shape and length? How
many simple and compound eyes?
- Feeding.
- What is the food of the insect? How are
the mouth parts specially adapted to obtaining this food?
Note.—The mouth parts of insects may be jaws for biting, or may
form a tube for sucking, or a beak for piercing and sucking.
- Respiration.
- Look for movements of the body indicating
breathing, and describe what you find. Discover
the location of the spiracles.
- Protection.
- What are the enemies of this insect?
(Among the most important enemies of insects are birds,
certain other insects, and various small vertebrates such as
frogs, snakes, lizards, turtles, etc.) How does the insect
protect itself from these enemies?
- Describe the shell with respect to thickness and flexibility.
What is the character of the surface as to roughness
or smoothness or covering of hairs or scales?
- Reproduction and Development.
- Note.—It may be necessary to get
answers to these questions from books.
- Where are the eggs deposited? What is the number of the
eggs? How soon do they hatch?
- What is the food of the larva or nymph? Are the food habits
of the insects harmful to man? If so, how?
- Describe the larva as to form, color, and appendages. Is it capable
of locomotion?
- Is the metamorphosis complete or incomplete? If complete,
describe the pupa and tell where it may be found.
Drawings.
There should be one drawing of the insect to show its
general characteristics; usually a dorsal view is best. For
other drawings ask your instructor.
8. A REVIEW OF INSECTS
Directions.
The answers to questions in this study may be conveniently
written in the form of a table. Construct this table
by placing the topics at the left and the names of insects
at the top. Allow ample space, about one half inch for
the horizontal spaces and one and one half inches in width
for the vertical columns. Use one or two insects from
each of the principal orders, letting the table extend across
two opposite pages.
Topics.
- What is the habitat?
- What regions has the body?
- How many antennæ? What is their form?
- What kinds of eyes has the insect? How many of
each kind?
- How many legs?
- For what kind of locomotion are the legs adapted?
Which legs are thus used?
- How many wings? Membranous or thickened?
- What is the position of the wings when at rest?
- If the fore wings are thickened, what is their texture,—leathery,
smooth and sheath-like, partly membranous,
covered with scales?
- What kind of mouth parts,—jaws for biting, a beak
for piercing, a tube for sucking, adapted for both sucking
and biting?
- By what means is respiration accomplished?
Summary of Important Points from the Table
- What characters are common to all the insects described
in the table?
- What are the various types of wings? Why do they
vary?
- What are the various types of legs? How are they
characterized?
- What are the various types of mouth parts?
- Show how the variations in insects are related to the
habitat and mode of life of the insect.
9. KEY TO THE PRINCIPAL ORDERS OF INSECTS
A1 | Insects with no wings. (See list below.) | |
A2 | Insects with wings | B |
B1 | With two pairs of wings. (See Note 1 below.) | C |
B2 | With one pair of wings | | Diptera |
C1 | Both pairs of wings alike in structure, either membranous or scaly | D |
C2 | Fore and hind wings unlike in texture, fore wings
fold over hind wings | E |
D1 | Both pairs of wings membranous, not covered with
scales | F |
D2 | Both pairs of wings covered with scales; mouth
parts tubular for sucking | | Lepidoptera |
E1 | Fore wings very smooth, sheath or shell-like, meeting
in a straight line when folded; legs
adapted for walking, running, or swimming;
mouth parts for biting | | Coleoptera |
E2 | Wings not as in E1 | I |
F1 | Wings membranous, usually folded or partly
folded; few nerves | G |
F2 | Both pairs of membranous wings usually outspread,
many nerves; mouth parts for biting | H |
G1 | Wings membranous, hooked together and partly
folded, or outspread, few nerves in the wings;
mouth parts for both biting and sucking; regions
of the body usually very distinct | | Hymenoptera |
G2 | Wings membranous, usually folded, few nerves;
mouth parts, a beak for sucking and piercing | | Hemiptera |
H1 | Outspread membranous wings, nearly equal in
size; antennæ very short and inconspicuous | | Odonata |
H2 | As in F2, but antennæ not short; wings sometimes
folded | | Neuroptera |
H3 | Both pairs of wings membranous, folded above
the back; fore wings much larger than hind
wings; ovipositors long; mouth parts rudimentary | | Ephemerida |
I1 | Fore wings folded over hind wings, crossing at
their tips, which are membranous, base of
wings thickened, mouth parts a beak for
piercing | | Hemiptera |
I2 | Fore wings leathery, folding either at side of body
or on the back; mouth parts for biting, legs
often adapted for jumping | | Orthoptera |
Note 1.—When wings are folded, it will be helpful to remember that
thickened fore or cover wings always have membranous wings folded beneath
them.
| Insects with no wings | Order |
a. | Body long and slender, stick-like; legs for walking.
Walking stick | Orthoptera |
b. | Grasshopper-like. Cricket grasshopper | Orthoptera |
c. | Small size; regions very distinct; abdomen
spindle-shape. Ants | Hymenoptera |
d. | Small size; ant-like in appearance; pale white.
White ants | Isoptera |
e. | Flattened body, small size; no compound eyes.
Springtails and fish moths | Thysanura |
10. SUMMARY OF THE STUDIES OF INSECTS
The Effect of Great Numbers
- Take some insect for illustration, as the house fly,
mosquito, tussock moth, or aphis, and show how insects
increase in numbers with great rapidity.
-
What can be said about the number of species of
insects?
- There is said to be great competition among insects.
Why? For what?
- How is the great increase of insects held in check by
natural means?
- What are the various habitats of insects? Give as
many as you can with examples of insects that use the
habitat.
- Give examples to show how greatly the food of
insects and the method of obtaining it varies.
- Give some illustrations of the great muscular development
of insects. Why is this needed?
- In what various ways are insects protected against
their enemies? Give examples to illustrate your statement.
- Show how and why the great numbers of insects have
affected the structure and mode of life of the insects.
Classification
- By means of illustrations from your studies of
insects show how classification is based upon likeness of
structure.
- In the same manner show how differences in structure
affect classification.
- Show how variation in the wings and mouth parts is
used to separate insects into orders.
- What are the principles of classification?
11. REVIEW AND LIBRARY EXERCISE ON INSECTS
General Topics
- General characteristics of insects.
- Principal orders of insects with characteristics and
examples of each order.
-
Respiration and air sacs of insects. Use of air sacs
in flight.
- The heart and blood of insects. How the function
of the blood differs from that of other animals, as man.
- Special senses of insects: their character, location,
and efficiency.
- Sound-making organs of insects.
- Power of communication among insects, as among
ants, for example.
- Organs for depositing eggs, ovipositors. How they
vary.
- Homes of insects. Evidences of architecture in
some of the homes.
- How some plants make homes for insects. Galls
and gall insects.
- In what various ways do insects survive the winter?
Illustrate with examples.
- Community life among insects. Types of communities.
- Pollination of flowers by insects. Why insects do
this work and how the flowers compel them to do it in the
right manner. Value to the plants. Types of insects
useful for this purpose.
- Adaptations for protection against enemies. Classify
these adaptations and illustrate with examples.
- The principal insect pests of the orchard and their
work.
- The principal insect pests of the garden and the
work of each.
- The principal insect pests of shade trees and their
characteristics.
- The principal insect pests of the household and
methods of extermination.
-
The work of birds in helping to keep the number of
harmful insects down.
- A spraying table showing what poisons are used,
when and for what plants and insects.
- The principal beneficial insects and the ways in
which they are beneficial.
Special Topics
Much of the information called for by the topics below
may be obtained from United States and state government
bulletins. Most of these may be obtained free from the
Department of Agriculture and from various state agricultural
colleges, while others may be obtained by purchase
at a nominal price.
- Orthoptera.
- Locust migrations and their cause.
- The locust plagues of the "great plains."
- Crickets and their "songs."
- Hemiptera.
- The fight against the orange scale of
California.
- History of the introduction and spread of the San
José scale bug and the efforts to find a natural enemy.
How people fight the pest.
- Aphids.
- Relations of ants and aphids.
- Phylloxera and its work.
- The methods of fighting the chinch bug.
- Scale bugs.
- Cochineal bug and the lacs.
- Coleoptera.
- The carrion beetle and its peculiar
habits.
- Fireflies.
- Egyptian scarabs.
-
The curculio and methods of fighting it.
- The weevils and their work.
- History of the Colorado potato beetle.
- Lady-bird beetles, their habits and use in exterminating
harmful pests.
- Diptera.
- The investigations in Cuba of the cause
of yellow fever.
- The fight against yellow fever in New Orleans.
- Methods of preventing plagues of mosquitoes.
- How flies are carriers of disease. Methods of preventing
plagues of flies.
- The tsetse fly.
- Sleeping sickness.
- The house fly and typhoid.
- Parasitic larvæ of flies.
- Lepidoptera.
- The silkworm and the silk industry.
- Story of the gypsy moth.
- Life history of the clothes moth.
- Harmful butterflies.
- The tussock moth and its history.
- Blastophaga and fig culture.
- The codling moth and its work.
- Cutworms.
- The brown-tail moth.
- Hymenoptera.
- The honeybee and honey making.
- Gall and gall insects.
- The habits of the digger wasp.
- The homes of ants. Habits of ants.
- Slavery among ants.
- Agricultural ants.
- Homes of bees.
- Ichneumon flies and their beneficial habit.
- Evidences of intelligence among ants.
SOME COMMON BUTTERFLIES—A Reference Table and Key
Group |
Common Name |
Wing Expanse in Inches |
Broods |
Food Plants of Caterpillar |
Haunts of the Butterfly |
Characteristic Colors, Markings, Etc. |
Milkweed Butterflies |
Monarch |
4–4½ |
May and Oct. |
Milkweed and dogbane |
Open fields everywhere |
Brick-red color, veins black, borders of wings black |
Fritillaries or Silver Spots |
Variegated fritillary |
1¾–2½ |
August |
Passion flower |
Low fields |
Orange-brown color, checkered with black, no silver spots. A southern species |
Regal fritillary |
3–4 |
July, Aug. |
Violets, pansies |
Low fields |
Upper side of wings reddish with wavy black lines, hind wing dark |
Great spangled fritillary |
3–4 |
July, Aug. |
Violets, pansies |
Meadows |
Similar to idalia, but hind wings lighter. Silver spots on under surface of wings |
Silver-bordered fritillary |
1½ |
July, Aug., Sep. |
Violets, pansies |
Meadows, hillsides |
Edge of wings tipped with silver, silver spots below |
Meadow fritillary |
1¾ |
July, Aug., Sep. |
Violets, pansies |
Meadows |
No silver border, silver below |
Checker Spots |
Baltimore |
1¼–2¼ |
June, July |
Turtlehead and aster |
Swamps |
Groundwork of black with many red and white spots. Conspicuous border of red spots |
Harris checker spot |
1½ |
June |
Aster and daisy |
Clover meadows |
Wings dark bordered, lighter band across middle of wings |
Crescent Spots |
Silver crescent |
1¼–2 |
July |
Asters |
Roadsides |
Groundwork of orange-red mottled with black, silver crescents on under margin of hind wings |
Pearl crescent |
1¼–1⅝ |
July, Sep. |
Asters, daisy |
Roadsides |
Similar to silver crescent but colors are paler |
Angle wings |
Comma |
2 |
May, June, Aug. |
Elm, nettle, hop |
Along woods and waste places |
Pale red, angled wings, under surface light gray marked with silver commas |
Interrogation |
2½ |
May, July, Aug. |
Elm, nettle, hop |
Near trees |
Similar to comma, but marked with silver semi-colons |
Tortoise Shells |
Compton's tortoise |
2¾ |
Feb., Oct. |
Willow |
Near water |
Looks much like the angle wings, but has no silver spots |
Milberts's tortoise |
1¾ |
May, June, Aug., Sep. |
Nettle |
Roadsides |
Broad, reddish yellow band across both wings |
Mourning cloak |
3 |
Apr., July, Sep. |
Willow, poplar |
Everywhere |
Black with yellow or cream-bordered wings |
The Beauties |
Red admiral |
2 |
May, July, Sep. |
Nettle, elm |
Waste land |
Bright red band circling across both wings |
Painted beauty |
2 |
May, July, Sep. |
Everlasting, thistle, burdock |
Thistles |
Mottled with pink, black and white, under surface mottled, two large spots on under surface of hind wing |
Thistle butterfly |
2–2¼ |
May, July, Sep. |
Thistles |
Pastures |
Like the painted beauty, but has several small eye spots |
The White Admirals |
Red-spotted purple |
3 |
July |
Wild cherry, apple, etc. |
Near trees |
Purple and blue above, six red spots on under surface of wings |
Banded purple |
2½ |
July |
Hawthorn |
Open woods |
A broad white band across both wings |
Viceroy |
2½ |
June, Aug. |
Poplar, willow |
Roadsides |
Imitates the monarch, but is smaller and has a black line across the hind wings |
The Satyrs |
Grass nymph |
1¾ |
July |
Grass |
Meadows |
Dull brown, twenty spots in two rows across the wings |
Little wood satyr |
1¾ |
July |
Grass |
Hillsides |
Dull brown, six spots |
Wood nymph |
2 |
July |
Grass |
Hillsides |
Dull brown, two eye spots on each fore wing in a larger yellow spot |
Hairstreaks |
Hop hairstreak |
1⅛ |
May, July |
Hop |
About shrubbery |
Dark color, hind wings have slender tail-like projection and black spots crowned with crimson |
The Coppers |
American copper |
1 |
May, June, Sep. |
Sorrel |
Everywhere |
Orange-red fore wings spotted with black, hind wing with orange border |
The Blues |
Common blue |
1 |
May, July |
Pea |
Roadsides |
Male light violet, female lighter with reddish bordered wings |
Tailed blue |
1 |
May, Aug., Sep. |
Clover, etc. |
Roadsides, fields |
Purplish violet color, has small tail-like projection on hind wings |
The Whites |
Common white |
2 |
May, July, Sep. |
Mustard family |
Gardens |
White checkered with black on fore wings, female brownish |
Cabbage butterfly |
2 |
May, July, Sep. |
Cabbage, etc. |
Gardens |
White, black tip on fore wing, one or two spots on hind wing |
The Sulphurs |
Common sulphur |
m. 1¾, f. 2¼ |
May, June, Sep. |
Clover |
Meadows |
Yellow, bordered with black |
Cloudless sulphur |
2½ |
July |
Cassia and legumes |
Fields |
Canary-yellow color |
The Swallowtails |
Tiger swallowtail |
3–5 |
June, Aug. |
Cherry, tulip tree |
Open woods |
Yellow with black lines across wings |
Black swallowtail |
3–4 |
June, Aug. |
Parsley |
Gardens, roadsides |
Black with two bands of yellow spots and one band of blue spots |
Green-clouded swallowtail |
3¾–4¾ |
June, Sep. |
Spice bush, sassafras |
Open woods |
Black, one row yellow spots, hind wing clouded with green |
Blue swallowtail |
3¾–4¼ |
July, Sep. |
Dutchman's pipe vine |
Near houses |
Black shaded with blue green, one row whitish spots |
CHAPTER III
THE CONNECTION BETWEEN STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
1. A STUDY OF THE CELL AND OF PROTOZOA
To show what Single Cells can Do
Materials.
Some single cells of plant or animal tissue, stained to
show structure. Slides of a one-celled animal, stained.
Living one-celled animals.
Definitions.
- Cell,
- the smallest living unit.
- Protoplasm,
- the living material composing the cell.
- Nucleus,
- a dense bit of protoplasm, usually near the center
of the cell, often staining dark.
- Cytoplasm,
- the less dense protoplasm outside of the nucleus,
usually taking a lighter stain.
- Nucleolus, paranucleus or micronucleus,
- a very small,
dense, dark-staining body, either within the nucleus (nucleolus)
or near it (paranucleus or micronucleus)
- Cell wall,
- the lifeless membrane surrounding many cells,
secreted by the protoplasm.
- Food balls,
- bits of food inside the cells of many one-celled
animals, usually showing through the walls.
- Food vacuole,
- a small drop of water containing digestive
material and a food ball.
-
Contracting or pulsating vacuoles,
- small, clear spots in
the cell, filled with water. In the living cell these disappear
at intervals and then appear again.
- Oral groove,
- a funnel-shaped groove in one side of some
one-celled animals, conducting food to the mouth. In
paramecium it often shows as an oblique line when the
animal rolls.
- Gullet,
- the inner end of the oral groove.
- Cilia,
- numerous minute, vibrating, protoplasmic hairs on
the surface of many cells.
- Respiration,
- the passage of oxygen into the tissues of a
living organism and of carbon dioxide out of them. These
gases can pass through any thin, moist, organic membrane.
When such a membrane separates two fluids which differ
in the amount of oxygen they contain, oxygen passes to
the fluid containing the smaller amount.[2] The same is true
of carbon dioxide. Respiration is believed to occur in all
living organisms.
- Digestion,
- the process of making food materials soluble,
so that they can pass through membranes and be used to
build up protoplasm. A few forms of cells are able to
take in solid food and digest it in their protoplasm, but
most cells can admit only fluid food.
- Fission,
- a method of reproduction used in all cells, by
which a cell divides itself into two, usually through the center.
In some one-celled animals this may be preceded by
conjugation, when two animals unite temporarily and exchange
nuclear substance; or in some forms two cells may
fuse and the resulting cell may divide. Budding is a form
of fission in which a small projection is formed on the
parent cell and then cut off, making a new individual.
-
Protozoa (first animals),
- animals of one cell, existing alone
or in loose colonies.
Observations.
- Examine a single cell, stained to show structure.
Identify the nucleus, cytoplasm, and, if present, the
nucleolus or the micronucleus, and the cell wall. Draw to
show the form of the cell and the details of its structure.
Label all details.
- Examine some stained paramecia. Select a typical
one and identify in it nucleus, micronucleus, cytoplasm,
and cell wall or cell membrane. You may also be able to
see vacuoles, looking like holes in the stained protoplasm.
Give reasons for considering this animal to be a single cell.
Draw one, to show its cellular structure. Label all details.
- Clean a slide and cover glass, place a drop of water
containing living paramecia on the slide, cover it, and
examine. What structures do you see which you saw in
the stained paramecia? What structures do not show?
Identify any new structures you may observe. Identify also
the leading end and the side containing the oral groove.
- Describe the shape of the animal.
What is the actual length of the animal?
- After watching the animal for some time, describe
the path followed by a given specimen as it crosses the
field of the microscope. What reason can you see, if any,
why this paramecium is moving? What external factors,
if any, seem to determine the path it follows?
- How rapidly do paramecia really move? What
structures do they use in locomotion?
How do they manage to move in one direction, instead of alternately
backward and forward? How do they manage to move in a straight
line, though their bodies are not symmetrical?
-
What is the food of the paramecia? How do they
find it? Find a specimen at rest and watch the oral
groove. Suggest a method by which food may be collected
into it. If possible, note the process of swallowing,
and the resulting food ball.
Note.—If powdered carmine be placed in the water with some paramecia,
it can be seen in the food balls a half hour or so later.
- Where are the food balls located? Watch them
in an individual until you notice their motion. Where
are the larger food balls? the smaller ones? Assuming
them to have been of approximately equal sizes when
they were taken in, how can you account for differences
now?
- Where are the contracting vacuoles? How many
are there? How often does one contract?
What is their function?
- As you have been studying paramecia, to what
external influences (as contact, heat, light, etc.) have you
seen them respond? How do they show it when they do
respond? Is such a response an advantage to them or
not? What would be the result if they were not able to
detect changes in their surroundings?
- Where does respiration occur in paramecia?
Where do they obtain their supply of oxygen?
- Among the paramecia you are studying you
usually find at least one in the process of fission. Watch
it until the halves separate, if you can. Compare the
halves. Do they rank as parent and offspring? If so,
which is which? If not, which are they, parent or offspring?
- If you happen to find a pair conjugating, notice the
process, as far as you can, in the living animals.
Suggested drawings.
- A drawing to show all the details seen in the living
paramecium.
- A diagram to show the path followed by a paramecium
to get around some obstacle.
- Drawings to show that paramecia are constant in
shape and yet flexible.
- A drawing to show at least one stage in fission.
This may be from a permanent preparation.
- A drawing to show paramecia conjugating. This
also may be from a permanent preparation.
- Instead of all these separate drawings they may be
combined into one. Represent the field of the microscope,
and in it draw all necessary figures, to show the facts
called for in the first five drawings and any other facts you
have observed about living protozoa. Make the whole
drawing to scale.
Summary of Important Points in the Study of Paramecia
- Look back over your study of paramecia and list the
different kinds of work you saw paramecia doing; also the
kinds of work you infer they can do. What organs have
they to use? When there is no organ to do a given thing,
e.g. to digest food, how is the work done?
- What conditions are favorable to paramecia? Why
are they so numerous under favorable conditions?
- What would you call a successful animal? Are
paramecia successful? Give reasons why they are or are
not.
Comparative Study of Protozoa
To enlarge your idea of what a cell can do, spend as
much more time on the one-celled animals as your course
will permit. Any stagnant water may furnish several
kinds. By means of reference books, identify as many as
you can. In each case notice:—
- Its size, shape and general appearance, comparing
and contrasting it with paramecium.
- Its usual surroundings, i.e. the conditions it has to
meet.
- The means it has of finding out facts about its
surroundings.
- The means it has of adjusting itself to its surroundings.
For example, is it stationary? If so, what does it
do when conditions change? Is it locomotory? If so,
how effective is its locomotion?
- What is its food? How does it find food?
- Can it do as many kinds of work as paramecium
can? Can it do any that paramecium cannot do? If so,
what?
Review and Library Questions on Protozoa
- What are the characteristics which distinguish protozoa
from other animals?
- What are the classes of protozoa? Characteristics of
each class?
- What is digestion? Where does it take place in the
protozoa?
- What results from the fact that the amœba has no
cell wall? (Give at least two points.)
- In what ways are paramecia more specialized than
amœba are? How does their greater specialization show
in their work?
- What different methods of locomotion are shown
among protozoa? By what means is locomotion accomplished
in each case?
-
What is encysting? Name some protozoa which encyst.
How long may an encysted animal live? When do
they encyst? Why?
- Give methods of reproduction among protozoa. Which
method is fitted for rapid multiplication, for withstanding
drouth; for renewing vitality?
- Many scientists speak of protozoa as immortal. What
argument is there to support such a statement?
- Why are no protozoa large animals? Give at least
two reasons.
- Why are protozoa so numerous? Why more numerous
in stagnant water?
- Where are protozoa found?
- Why are protozoa so widely distributed?
- Write the probable history of a piece of chalk.
- What connection is there between protozoa and some
polishing powders?
- Where in the human body are malarial protozoa
found? How are they transferred from one human being
to another? Why is there likely to be more malaria in
newly settled regions than in older ones? If you were
obliged to spend some time in a region where malaria existed,
what precautions would you take?
- Name other diseases caused by protozoa. How are
they fought?
- What beneficial effect have some protozoa upon the
water of stagnant ponds and ditches? How may some
forms injure water for household purposes?
- Give at least three reasons for thinking that protozoa
are the most ancient animals.
- Why are protozoa of great importance to the
world?
2. A STUDY OF SPONGES
To show how cells loosely associated may work together.
Materials.
The simplest of the many-celled animals are the sponges,
which, with one exception, are salt-water forms. That
one, the spongilla, is not easily found and is very difficult
to maintain in the laboratory. For these reasons the material
for this study is very meager, except at the seashore,
and much of the work must be done from diagrams and
reference books. Small simple preserved sponges and
complex toilet sponge skeletons will also be used.
Definitions.
- Body wall,
- the outer wall in bodies of the many-celled
animals.
- Central cavity,
- the cavity surrounded by the body wall
in the simpler many-celled animals, as in the sponges.
- Canals,
- channels through the body walls of sponges.
- Inhalent pores,
- the outer ends of the canals.
- Ostia,
- the inner ends of the canals.
- Osculum,
- the large opening of the central cavity, at the
distal end of the sponge.
- Spicules,
- tiny needles of mineral substance found in the
walls of many sponges.
- Fibers,
- flexible threads of horny material found in the
walls of many sponges.
- Endoderm cells,
- cells lining the canals. They have cilia
or flagella (projections larger than cilia).
- Ectoderm cells,
- cells covering the outside of sponges and
some other animals. In sponges it is believed that endoderm
and ectoderm cells are able to exchange positions and
functions.
-
Mesoglea,
- a jelly-like layer between the endoderm and
ectoderm layers. In the sponges this contains many wandering
cells, probably from the other layers.
- Porifera (pore bearers),
- animals with many more or less
independent cells, supported by solid skeletal parts and
penetrated by a system of canals which open on the surface
as pores.
Directions.
Study a simple sponge to see the shape, size, and point
of attachment. Identify the osculum. In a diagram of a
long section of a simple sponge identify the central cavity,
body walls, canals, inhalent pores, ostia, and osculum. In
a simple sponge cut like the diagram identify the same
structures. Do the same for the toilet sponge.
Study a diagram of a portion of the body wall, considerably
enlarged. Identify the endoderm and ectoderm cells,
the spicules or fibers, and, among the spicules or fibers,
irregular amœboid cells, sometimes called mesoderm cells.
Examine a fragment or section of each kind of sponge
under the microscope. Notice the arrangement, shape,
and length of the spicules and of the fibers.
Test both kinds of sponges by dropping a bit of each
into weak acid, and noting the results. Also burn a bit of
each and notice the odor.
Questions.
- What is the shape of a simple sponge? What enables
a mass of cells to retain such a definite shape?
- What seems to be the composition of the skeletons?
Why is one type of skeleton rigid and the other elastic?
- Since sponges are attached for most of their lives to
stationary objects, suggest means for obtaining food and
oxygen, and for getting rid of waste matter.
-
Although individual cells are sensitive, a sponge as a
whole is not. What connection has this fact with the fact
that sponges are stationary?
- Compare simple and complex sponges.
Suggested drawings.
- A view of a simple sponge. Label everything shown.
- A diagram of a simple sponge split in halves. Show
by arrows the path followed by the water as it passes
through the sponge.
- A few spicules.
- A few fibers.
Summary of Important Points in the Study of Sponges
- What are two functions of the spicules or fibers?
- What are at least two of the functions of the endoderm
cells?
- What can you suggest as functions for the ectoderm
cells?
- In what cases do cells show "team work" in accomplishing
an object?
- What degree of specialization is indicated by the fact
that the cells may exchange positions and functions?
- What work can any single cell of a sponge do?
Compare the work done by such a cell with that done by a
paramecium.
- What work can a whole sponge do? Compare that
with the work done by a paramecium.
Review and Library Exercise on Sponges
- What are the distinguishing characteristics of Porifera?
- Sponges were once supposed to be plants. In what
respect are they plant-like? What made students finally
class them as animals?
- How do sponges reproduce? How are they distributed
to new locations?
- Where, as to depth of water, do most sponges grow?
Where, as to oceans? Where, as to latitude?
- What are some of the difficulties which confront a
stationary animal? How are they overcome?
- To what class of sponges do the "toilet" sponges
belong? Why?
- What conditions are necessary for toilet sponges to
thrive? Where are the best ones found? Where are they
most numerous? How are they collected? How are they
prepared for market?
- What is man able to do toward raising good sponges
for market?
- Using reference books and museum specimens, describe
some especially odd sponges.
3. A STUDY OF CŒLENTERATES
To show cells working together more definitely than in
Sponges
A Study of Hydra
Materials.
Living hydras in permanent aquaria, undisturbed. Living
hydras in small aquaria, i.e. tumblers, test tubes, watch
glasses, etc., with pieces of water weed and if possible some
of the microscopic animals found in water where hydras
are abundant. If kept cool, hydras may live several days
in such aquaria. Permanent slides of hydras; some whole,
some in sections, and some showing the organs of reproduction.
Definitions.
- Proximal end,
- the end by which an animal is attached to
an object.
- Distal end,
- the end opposite the proximal end.
- Tentacles,
- slender projections around the distal end.
- Mouth,
- the opening through the distal end, into the central
cavity.
- Bud,
- a small hydra or other cœlenterate growing out
from the wall of the parent.
- Mesoglea,
- a thin, gluey partition, without wandering cells,
between the ectoderm and the endoderm.
- Nettle cells,
- very small cells, chiefly in the tentacles,
easily identified in permanent preparations as clear cells
with small hairs projecting from them. See text-books
for details of their structure.
- Spermary,
- the region or organ where the sperm cells are
formed.
- Ovary,
- the region or organ where the egg cells are formed.
- Cœlenterates (hollow bowels),
- sac-shaped animals, the
digestive tract having only one opening; the body wall is
of two layers.
Directions.
Take a small aquarium to your table, set it down carefully
and leave it undisturbed. Identify a hydra and
watch it for some time.
Observations on the living animals.
- Describe the size and shape of a hydra when expanded.
Disturb it slightly by shaking the aquarium a little, and describe
its shape when contracted. Notice also the flexibility
of the body. What do you infer concerning the
hydra's possession of a skeleton? What advantage can it
be to have a body so flexible?
-
How many tentacles has the hydra that you are studying?
What does the hydra do with these tentacles when
it is expanded? What is the probable object of such
actions?
- How does a hydra respond to contact? What seems
to be the object of such a response?
- Notice the location of the hydras in the large, undisturbed
aquaria. Where are they placed as regards the
light side of the aquarium? Of what value is such a response
to light in their case?
- How can a hydra locate the small animals which are
its food?
How can it capture them?
- What motions may a hydra perform, while remaining
attached by its base? What are the results of these movements?
- If you have happened to see a hydra move from one
place to another, describe the process. If not, give the facts
which lead you to believe that it is able to do so. Suggest
all the methods you think it may be able to use. What is
your opinion of the hydra's power of locomotion? Of what
use is it in getting food; in escaping enemies; in following
the fluctuations of the water supply? If you had to class
the hydra as either one, would you call it a stationary or a
locomotory animal?
- Study budding hydras. Compare the bud with the
parent hydra as to size, form and number and size of tentacles.
Notice whether the bud moves independently or
only with the parent. When does it separate from the
parent?
- In hydras collected late in the fall you may see another method
of reproduction. If such material is at hand, notice small swellings
near the proximal end and others near the tentacles. Eggs are produced
in the lower one, the ovary, and sperm cells in the upper one,
the spermary. Refer to your text-book for further details.
Details of structure.
- Using an entire mounted specimen and a section of
hydra, identify the body wall and the central cavity. What
is the extent of the central cavity? (Examine both the
body and the tentacles.) Where does it open to the outside?
What do you think is its use?
- In the body wall, identify the endodermal and ectodermal
layers of cells, separated by the mesoglea, which is
usually stained more deeply. Study these cell layers carefully.
What work ought each to do? What can you discover
in its structure which would fit each layer to do its
work?
- In the tentacles, identify the nettle cells. Where are
they? How are they arranged? About how many of
them would be discharged if a small animal were to bump
into a tentacle?
Summary of Important Points in the Study of Hydra
- Name the different kinds of cells in a hydra. Which
kind differs most from such a cell as the starfish egg?
What work does this specialized cell do?
- How much of a hydra's body may be set in action by
touching a tentacle? Contrast this with the sponge.
What do you infer concerning the nervous power of these
two animals?
- Look back over your notes and list the different kinds
of work a hydra can do.
- Can it do any more kinds of work than a paramecium
or a sponge can? If so, give further details.
- Can it do any of its work in any better way? Would
you expect it to be able to? Why, or why not?
Suggested drawings.
- Hydra undisturbed, and hydra after being touched
or shaken.
- A hydra in successive poses to show its flexibility.
- A hydra taking food.
- Hydras to show reproduction in one or both ways.
- A section of hydra, showing details.
Comparative Study of Cœlenterates
Materials.
Various cœlenterates, such as hydroids, hydro-medusæ,
jellyfishes, sea anemones, corals, sea fans, etc. Since
nearly all the cœlenterates except hydras are marine forms,
these will usually have to be dead specimens, preserved in
formalin or alcohol, or put up as permanent preparations
for the microscope.
Definitions.
- Colony,
- as used in this group, a number of individuals
descended by budding from an original one, and remaining
connected.
- Polyp,
- an individual cœlenterate; one of the individuals
in a colony.
Observations.
- How large is an individual specimen in the form you
are studying? If the form is colonial, how large is the
colony or portion of a colony you are studying? Estimate
the number of individuals in it. Is the colony free-swimming
or attached? If attached, to what is it usually fastened?
- Compare the individual you are studying with a
hydra, as to size and shape of the body, the location of the
mouth, and the size, number, and arrangement of the tentacles.
-
Is there a skeleton? If so, describe it. What appears
to be its use? In corals, notice the radiating partitions.
- Has the specimen any nettle cells? If so, where are
they located?
- Are all the polyps of the colony alike? If not, how
many kinds are there? How do they differ?
What is each kind best fitted to do? What is the probable result of
this differentiation?
- What kinds of reproduction, if any, does the specimen
you are studying show?
Find out from books what other forms of reproduction are sometimes
used by this animal.
Suggested drawings.
- At least one drawing of each cœlenterate you study.
Summary of the Comparative Study of Cœlenterates
- How may polyps in colonial forms differ from polyps
which live singly?
- What variations in methods of reproduction are shown
in this group?
- Which of the polyps you have studied shows the
greatest differentiation? In what ways?
- What characteristic do you find common to all the
cœlenterates you have studied?
Review and Library Exercise on Cœlenterates
- What are the characteristics which distinguish
cœlenterates?
- Give the classes of cœlenterates, with the characteristics
and an example of each.
-
What enables a hydra to stick to a support by its
foot?
- What are the processes in a hydra by which food
is captured, swallowed, and digested?
- What is the chief fact of interest about Hydra
viridis?
- Why do hydras reproduce all summer by budding
and in the late fall by eggs?
- What change would have developed a hydra and its
offspring into a plant-like colony instead of into a group of
individuals?
- Why are ctenophores more easily seen in the night
than other cœlenterates are?
- What relations may exist between hydroids and
hydro-medusæ?
- What are the advantages of a sedentary life? Of
a locomotory one?
- What is meant by the expression "alternation of
generations"? Which animals are likely to develop alternation
of generations, sedentary ones or locomotory ones?
Why?
- Give at least two differences between hydro-medusæ
and true jellyfishes.
- In the association between a hydractinia colony and
a hermit crab, what advantages are derived by the hydractinia?
by the crab? Define symbiosis. Give another
illustration of it.
- How are new coral colonies started? How are
large colonies formed?
- What are the conditions of life under which corals
can grow vigorously?
- Where are corals most abundant?
Note.—Show by coloring the regions on a blank map of the world.
-
How may corals form a reef? Why do they, as a
rule, form a reef instead of adding directly to the mainland?
- Give Darwin's theory regarding the way a coral
atoll may have been formed.
- Where are fossil corals found in abundance? What
does their presence prove?
- What is polymorphism? Give an illustration. What
may be a disadvantage of polymorphism? What may be
an advantage?
- In what ways is this group of economic importance?
4. A STUDY OF WORMS
To show cells associated even more closely than in
cœlenterates, forming tissues and systems of organs.
A Study of Earthworms
The Living Earthworm
Materials.
Living earthworms, some of which are left undisturbed
from day to day, in damp earth with leaves of various
plants scattered upon it.
Definitions.
- Anterior end,
- the head end, usually the leading end.
- Posterior end,
- the end opposite the anterior end.
- Ventral surface,
- the lower surface, usually the one which
contains the mouth.
- Dorsal surface,
- the one opposite the ventral surface.
- Somites,
- the rings or segments of which some animal
bodies are composed.
- Bilateral symmetry,
- the symmetry usually shown by animals
which have differentiated dorsal and ventral surfaces,
and right and left sides. Animals which do not have such
differentiated surfaces are usually radially symmetrical,
but sometimes asymmetrical (without symmetry).
- Girdle,
- the somewhat transparent band frequently found
near the anterior end of an earthworm.
- Anal opening,
- the posterior opening of the food canal.
- Setæ (singular form, seta),
- small bristles or stiff hairs.
In the earthworm these are set in the body wall at definite
intervals, and aid in locomotion.
- Cuticle,
- in the earthworm a delicate, shining cover over
the body.
- Egg capsules,
- small, light-colored, spindle-shaped sacks,
about the size and somewhat the shape of a grain of wheat,
containing the eggs or young of earthworms.
Directions.
Take a living earthworm to your table and keep it damp
by placing it in a wet tray or upon moist paper. Identify
the anterior and posterior ends, the dorsal and ventral surfaces,
and the right and left sides. Identify also the somites
and the girdle, the mouth with its projecting lip, and the
anal opening.
Observations.
- Watch a living worm for some time. Does it seem to
have a definite object in its moving? If so, what is it?
Upon what sense or senses does it seem to depend for
guidance? Which end usually leads? Why?
- Over what sort of surface does it move most easily?
Why? Watch it closely for some time and discover how it
is able to move from place to place. (Suggestion. What
is the function of the setæ in this process? How can you
explain the alternate contraction and expansion of parts?)
- From time to time, for perhaps a week, examine the
leaves which were scattered where the worms could reach
them. Have the worms moved them about at all? If so,
where are the leaves left? Have any been eaten, in part
or entirely? If so, is there any evidence of selection, either
as to the kind of leaf or the portion of leaf eaten? If earthworms
select food, what senses would be useful for the purpose?
Have you any evidence that earthworms possess
such senses?
- Looking through the dorsal wall, notice the meandering
red line, seen more easily in some regions than in others.
This is the dorsal blood vessel. How long is it? Where
is it wider? Where narrower? Notice its pulsations.
How many times per minute does it pulsate? In which
direction is the blood forced? Is there a corresponding ventral
blood vessel? Place a small worm between two pieces
of glass, so that you may see through it more easily, and
identify the blood vessels encircling the digestive canal,
near the anterior end. These are the so-called "hearts"
of the earthworm. If possible, decide in which direction
the blood flows through them.
- The food canal, or alimentary canal, lies underneath
the dorsal blood vessel, and is usually easily seen, especially
if it is full of food. Notice it when the worm is fully
stretched and again when it is contracted. How long is
the canal? Why does it wrinkle when the worm contracts?
Where does it open to the outside? Why does it need to?
- Where do you infer respiration must take place in this
animal? Why do you think so? What fits this surface for
such a purpose? Why does an earthworm seem so uncomfortable
when it is too dry?
- Where do earthworms live? What conditions are necessary in
their habitat?
- When do earthworms usually leave their burrows? Why at that
particular time rather than at another? Why does "the early bird
catch the worm"?
- What enemies do earthworms have? How are they protected
against these enemies?
- If you have found egg capsules when collecting worms, describe
them.
External Morphology of Earthworms
Materials.
Preserved earthworms, the larger the better.
Observations.
- In what respects are the dorsal and ventral surfaces
alike? In what respects different? Why?
- Why are the right and left sides alike?
- In what respects are the two ends alike? In what
different? Why?
- How many somites are there from the anterior end to
the girdle? How many under the girdle? How many
from the girdle to the posterior end?
- Where are the setæ located in a somite? How are
they distributed over the body?
Suggested drawings.
- An earthworm, dorsal aspect.
- An earthworm, ventral aspect.
- An outline diagram of a cross section, to show the location
of the setæ, the blood vessels and the alimentary
canal.
Internal Morphology or Anatomy
Materials.
(1) Preserved earthworms, as large as you can obtain.
(2) Cross sections of earthworms. (3) Longitudinal sections
of earthworms.
Definitions.
- Body cavity,
- the space between the body wall and the
alimentary canal.
- Septa (singular, septum),
- the thin walls between somites,
seen when the worm is opened.
- Pharynx,
- the hard-walled, rather bulbous, anterior portion
of the alimentary canal.
- Esophagus,
- the portion of the alimentary canal extending
back from the pharynx with thinner walls and smaller
diameter.
- Crop,
- the short, wide portion of the canal back of the
esophagus.
- Gizzard,
- the hard-walled, short region, just back of the
crop.
- Stomach-intestine,
- the portion of the canal reaching from
the gizzard to the anus.
- Ventral nerve cord,
- a light-colored thread lying against
the inner surface of the ventral body wall.
- Nerve ganglia (singular, ganglion),
- slight swellings on
the ventral nerve cord.
- Nerve ring or collar,
- a pair of nerves extending from the
ventral nerve cord around the pharynx to a pair of ganglia
(often called the "brain") in the dorsal region of the
anterior end.
- Kidney tubes or nephridia,
- the excretory organs of the
earthworm, occurring as slender, paired tubes in nearly
every somite.
Directions.
Select a large worm and cut carefully through the body
wall along one side, midway between the dorsal and ventral
surfaces, from the anterior end to the posterior. Lay the
worm on any convenient fairly soft surface (a piece of
pine, cork, peat, paraffin), preferably under water, and pin
out the walls so that you can see into the interior.
Identify the structures defined above, as well as the
dorsal and ventral blood vessels and the "hearts."
The nephridia are not easily distinguished, though they
are very numerous. They are long, slender, coiled tubes,
two in each somite, lying in the body cavity, one on each
side of the alimentary canal. If possible, identify them.
Notice that most of the internal organs are free from
the body wall, lying free in the body cavity.
Questions.
- What is the extent of the body cavity, anteriorly and
posteriorly? What is its shape?
- What, in general, is the shape of the food canal?
How many external openings has it?
- Into what regions is the food canal differentiated?
Suggest one advantage of having these specialized regions.
- How is the alimentary canal of the worm kept away
from the body walls? Why have it thus supported?
- What is a septum? How many septa are there?
What vessels and tubes pass through a septum?
- Locate the nerve cord. How long is it? How frequently
do the ganglia occur on it? Which end of the
living worm is the more sensitive. Suggest the connection
between this fact and the location of ganglia.
Suggested drawings.
- Earthworm, showing structures mentioned in this
study.
Details of Structure—Microscopic Anatomy
Materials.
Sections of earthworms, preferably both cross sections
and dorso-ventral, longitudinal ones.
Directions.
In a section under a simple lens, identify the dorsal
and ventral surfaces, the body wall, the body cavity, the
alimentary canal, and, if possible, the dorsal and ventral
blood vessels and the ventral nerve cord.
Under a microscope identify the same structures.
Notice that the body wall consists of three layers of cells:
an outer single layer, the epidermis; a middle layer, the
circular muscles; and an inner one, the longitudinal
muscles.
The nephridia show as loosely scattered fragments in
the body cavity, at the right and left of the alimentary
canal.
If you happen to have a section which shows one or
more setæ, identify the muscles which operate it, and the
group of glandular cells at its inner end, which are known
as setigerous (from seta) cells.
Questions.
- Describe the epidermal cells. What is their probable
function? Among them notice larger cells, clear and
rounded. These are the mucous (slime) cells.
What is the use of mucus to the worm?
- Describe the muscle cells. In which direction do the
muscle fibers extend? What is their function? Which
layer of muscle cells is thicker, the circular or the longitudinal?
Why should it be?
- Notice the cells in the walls of the alimentary canal.
What layers do you find? How are they arranged?
- If the section you are studying is a cross section from
the region back of the gizzard, the alimentary canal will
look horseshoe shaped, indented from the dorsal surface.
What is the effect of this indentation upon the amount of
surface in the alimentary canal?
- Study the cells of the nerve cord. How do they
compare in size and shape with the muscle cells?
Suggested drawings.
- A diagram of a cross section, showing the relation of
the organs.
- A diagram of a longitudinal section, at least
through the body wall, to show the arrangement of muscle
fibers.
- A drawing of a portion of the body wall, to show
details.
Summary of Important Points in Study of the Earthworm
- Compared with a hydra, how many cells has an earthworm?
- Compared with a hydra, how much are the cells of an
earthworm differentiated?
- How are these differentiated cells usually arranged
with respect to one another? What advantage is there in
this arrangement?
- Recall the kinds of work done by paramecium,
sponge, hydra, and worm, and at the same time consider
also the efficiency of each. Can earthworms do any more
kinds of work than any of the others? Can they do any
more work? Can they do any of it better? Give the
probable reasons for this?
Comparative Study of Worms
Materials.
As many different kinds of worms as you can get, living
or dead.
Directions.
Identify your specimens. Then study as many as your
time will allow, using these general questions for each:—
Questions.
- How large is the specimen and what is its shape?
- Can you distinguish a head or a head end? If so,
by what peculiarities?
- State whether the body is segmented or not, and, if it
is, whether the segments are alike in form and appearance,
i.e. whether the segments are uniform.
- State whether the animal is bilaterally symmetrical,
radially symmetrical, or without symmetry.
- Compare this worm with the earthworm as to sense
organs.
- What organs for respiration has it?
- What special protective devices has it?
- If possible, find out and state where this worm lives.
What can you see in the structure of this worm which
enables it to live where it does?
Summary of the Comparative Study of Worms
- Name the different worms you have studied. What
characteristics have they in common?
- What different methods of obtaining food do they
show?
- What variations do they show in senses? in sense
organs?
- Which one seems to you best adapted to its habitat?
In what ways?
Suggested drawings.
- One drawing of each worm studied.
Review and Library Work on Worms
- What are the distinguishing characteristics of
worms?
- Give the classes of worms, and the authority for this
classification.
- What kind of soil do earthworms seem to prefer?
Why should they? How do they form their burrows?
What are the castings around the mouth of a burrow?
How are they placed there?
- In what ways do earthworms benefit the soil? How
great is their effect estimated to be?
- Give a brief sketch of the life of Charles Darwin,
noting especially the work he did with earthworms.
Why is Darwin's work on earthworms noteworthy: because it is
such a large proportion of the work he did, or because it is so much of
the work which has been done on earthworms?
- How are earthworms protected against the cold of
our winters? What limits the northern range of earthworms?
- Where are earthworms found geographically? Why
are they so widely distributed? By what means are they
extended from one locality to another?
- How do earthworms reproduce? What care do
they take of their young?
- What tissues or organs of earthworms correspond in
function with the ectoderm of hydra; with the endoderm?
Why does an earthworm need a system of blood
circulation more than a hydra does?
- Contrast the number of openings in an earthworm's
alimentary canal with the number in a hydra's digestive
cavity. Which plan seems a better one? In what
respects?
-
Contrast a cross section of hydra with one of earthworm
as to the number of cavities. Which seems to you
the better plan? Why?
- Why does a nereis need more respiratory surface
than an earthworm does?
- Comparing earthworm and nereis, in what respects
is the earthworm degenerate? How does it manage to
succeed so well with such a degenerate body?
- What is a parasite? How many hosts does a
typical parasite require for its development? Which
host is known as the intermediate one?
- Trace the history of a tapeworm from the egg to
the adult. At what stage are they most likely to be
destroyed? What provision is there for this? What
advantages are there to the host in the fact that a tapeworm's
egg cannot develop in the original host? What
advantages to the parasite?
- What organs has a parasite lost, if it ever had
them? How does it succeed without them? What connection
is there between parasitism and degeneration?
Can you decide which is cause and which is effect? If so,
which is?
- Why do worms so easily become parasitic? What
advantages are there in becoming a parasite? What
disadvantages?
- What is radial symmetry? Name two animals
which show it. What is bilateral symmetry? Name two
animals which show it. What is the relation between
locomotion and symmetry?
- What is meant in biology by the term "regeneration?"
To what extent have we this power? To what
extent have hydra and earthworm? What are the results
of this power?
-
Name various methods of locomotion among worms.
Give examples. Name a fixed or sedentary worm.
- What is the economic importance of worms? Consider
here not only earthworms and tapeworms, but also
the stomach worms of sheep, liver flukes, trichinæ, hookworms,
vinegar eels, and as many others as you have
time and books to look up.
5. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
A Review of the Work done on the First Four Groups of
Animals
Review all your studies on the protozoa, sponges,
cœlenterates, and worms. Write the results in the following
summary:—
- What work, i.e. labor, must an animal do to live?
- How many cells are necessary to do this work?
- When this work is divided among a number of cells,
what is the effect upon the quantity and quality of work
accomplished?
- When this work is divided among a number of cells,
how does the structure of the cells show it? How does
the arrangement of the cells also show it? Give examples.
- The technical expression for this specialization of
cells, giving them different functions, is "division of
labor." Formulate a clear definition for this expression,
giving an example to illustrate it.
- Is division of labor a good thing for an animal body,
or is it not? Give reasons for your opinion, with examples
for illustration.
CHAPTER IV
ADAPTATION TO SURROUNDINGS
A Study of Crustacea
To Show the General Adaptation of an Invertebrate to its
Surroundings
1. A STUDY OF CRAYFISHES
Materials.
Crayfishes, living and preserved. Some of the living
crayfishes should be established in conditions as natural
as possible i.e. in an inch or so of fresh water, with rocks,
weeds, etc., and left undisturbed. Small crayfishes are
desirable to show locomotion in water.
Living Crayfishes
Directions and observations.
- Observe living crayfishes in their usual habitat or
in a large aquarium, without disturbing them, and see
where they stay when they are free to choose. Notice
their position. What senses are on guard? What is
the color of the head and claws? How may this color
aid the animal in getting food or in escaping enemies?
Why is the color of the posterior region less important
than the color of the anterior?
- Offer them bits of meat. If one takes food, notice
the appendages it uses. How does it discover the food?
With what appendages does it grasp the food? How is
the food conveyed to the mouth? With what senses, if
any, does the animal test the food as it eats it?
- If the crayfishes are in plenty of water and you
startle them in any way, some of them may swim. Watch
for such an occurrence and notice it carefully. How is
swimming accomplished? Which end leads in swimming?
How far does the animal swim at a stroke? How long
does it continue to swim? Where does it go? Does it
see where it is going? For what purpose would this
method of locomotion be useful?
- Place a living crayfish in a tray with water to cover
it, and take it to your table. Watch the crayfish as it
walks about in the water, then take it out and let it walk
out of water. Compare the two processes. What causes
the differences?
- How many appendages are used in walking? What
order, if any, is there in moving the legs? Which method,
walking or swimming, does it use in going to some particular
spot, e.g. in going to find food or cover? Why?
- Gently turn the animal on its back and watch the
movements of its appendages as it rights itself. Which
appendages does it use and how does it use them? How
can it manage to use so many appendages in harmony,
for one result?
- For what different purposes have you seen the crayfishes
use their large claws? For which does the claw
seem best fitted? Can you think of any change which
would make it more efficient for its main purpose? If
so, describe the change and tell how it would work.
- Test the distribution of the sense of feeling. Is it
anywhere especially acute? If so, where? Why have
two pairs of feelers? Where is each pair carried when
the animal is at rest; when it is in motion? How much
territory can the two pairs guard?
- Touch the eyes. Compare their sensitiveness with
that of your own eyes. What movements can the eyes
perform? How are they protected? What range of territory
can they guard?
- What other senses, if any, do you think a crayfish
has? Why do you think so?
- Early in the spring crayfishes may be found carrying
eggs or young. If such a specimen is at hand, notice
where and how the eggs or young are attached. How
many are there? How are they cared for? Can the
young crayfish let go? If removed, can they attach themselves
again? How much care does the mother give
them when they are removed?
Morphology of a Crayfish
Definitions.
- Cephalo-thorax,
- the anterior half of the body, divided into
the head and the thorax.
- Cervical groove,
- the groove dividing the head from the
thorax.
- Abdomen,
- the posterior half of the body, consisting of a
number of somites.
Note.—The central part of the tail fin is usually included as a
somite.
- Carapace,
- the continuous shell-like portion of the exoskeleton
covering the cephalo-thorax.
- Rostrum,
- the sharp projection of the carapace at the
anterior end.
- Gill chamber,
- a pocket on each side of the thorax, covered
by a flap of the carapace.
-
Appendages,
- paired structures attached to the body.
They are named as follows:—
- Eyestalks.
- (These are not classed as appendages
by all students.)
- Antennules,
- the small feelers.
- Antennæ,
- the large feelers.
- Mandibles,
- the jaws, one on each side of the mouth.
- Maxillæ,
- the two pairs of small mouth parts just
back of the mandibles.
- Maxillipeds,
- the three pairs of appendages between
the maxillæ and the large claws.
- Chelipeds,
- the large claws or pinchers.
- Walking legs,
- the four pairs of appendages back of
the chelipeds.
- Swimmerets,
- the appendages on the abdomen.
- Openings,
- five on the ventral surface, as follows:—
- The openings from the excretory organs, through
small white cones on the bases of the antennæ.
- The mouth, farther back, between the maxillipeds.
- The anal opening, in the last segment of the abdomen.
- The opening from the reproductive gland, toward
the posterior part of the thorax.
Observations.
- How large is your specimen? How does it compare
in size with other crayfishes in the laboratory?
- Describe the shape of the body, contrasting the anterior
end with the posterior, and the dorsal surface with the
ventral.
- Study the amount of motion permitted in different
parts of the body. What prevents motion? What permits
it? Where is the body most flexible? Why?
Where is it most rigid? Why?
- How much of the surface is covered with exoskeleton?
What arrangement is there to permit the animal to
feel contact?
How can the animal grow with such an exoskeleton?
- Place a dead crayfish in dilute acid for a few hours.
What is the result? What has the acid done? Explain
the fact that crayfishes are often found alive and well with
a soft shell?
- Compare the cephalo-thorax with the abdomen as to
size, shape, and flexibility.
- How many somites are there in the abdomen?
Which way does it bend? Study the somite shells on
every side and then state what there is in their construction
which determines the direction and amount of their
motion. How are the somite shells arranged to protect
the body during bending? How is the ventral surface of
the abdomen protected?
- Where are the appendages attached? Study a walking
leg and describe its general construction, the number
and kind of joints, the direction of motion in each joint,
and the range of motion for the whole leg. Study an
antenna in the same way. What methods are used in the
crayfish to secure a wide range of motion? To secure
flexibility?
- Carefully split a crayfish into right and left halves.
To do this, first cut through the ventral exoskeleton from
end to end with scissors, then with a sharp knife or razor
cut through to the dorsal exoskeleton and cut that with the
scissors. Study one half, to get a better idea of the
attachment of the appendages. These may then be removed
and placed in order on a piece of paper upon which
a list of the appendages has been written.
- How many pairs of appendages are there? How
may they be grouped according to location; how grouped
according to function? How many pairs are there in each
group?
- What similarities of structure do you find in nearly
all of the appendages? Assuming a swimmeret of the
third, fourth, or fifth somite to be the least changed from
the primitive type, what changes were necessary to make
the sixth swimmeret; the third maxilliped; the walking
legs; the antennæ; the antennules?
- Remove the part of the carapace which covers a
gill chamber. What are the boundaries of the chamber?
Where does it open to the water?
- Describe the appearance and the texture of a gill.
How are the gills kept moist when the crayfish is in
water; when it is on land? Why should they be kept
moist?
- Would you class the gills as external structures or
as internal? Why do you think so? To what are they
attached? How are the gills affected by the motion of
the legs?
- What work goes on in the gills? How is the supply of oxygen
renewed? In this connection, try a live crayfish, kept quiet in water
just about deep enough to cover it. Float bits of paper near it or
carefully place a drop of ink in the water near it. By some such method
currents of water may usually be shown, and their direction determined.
Consider also the habitual motions of mouth parts and swimmerets, the
bubbles sometimes seen when a crayfish is dropped into water and the
habit crayfishes have of lying on one side, close to the surface of the
water.
Summary of the Study of Crayfishes
To summarize your study, write a connected account of
the relations of crayfishes to their environments, under
the following topics:—
- What are the varying conditions in their surroundings
which crayfishes must meet? Which are most important?
- What conditions must be maintained in order that
crayfishes may succeed, i.e. may live and reproduce?
- How does a crayfish know what are the conditions
around it?
- How is it fitted to meet these conditions? (Answer
in the following details):—
- How wide a food range has it, i.e. how many kinds
of food does it eat? How does it find its food? How
does it reach it? How does it take its food? How does
it make food small enough to be eaten?
- What are the organs for taking in oxygen? Where
are they? How are they attached? How is the supply
of oxygen kept up? How are the organs kept from drying,
from clogging, and from mechanical injury?
- What ranges of temperature can crayfishes endure?
What temperature is best? How do they avoid fatal extremes?
- What are the enemies of crayfishes? What protection
against these have they?
- How often do crayfishes reproduce? About how
many times during a normal lifetime? About how many
eggs are there and how many of them hatch? What care
is given to the eggs and to the young? About how many
of the young reach maturity? (Suggestion. Do the crayfishes
of a region vary noticeably in numbers from year to
year?)
-
What limits the range of crayfishes, north and south?
What limits it on land? What in water?
- When the crayfishes of a given locality are not well
adapted to it, what can they do?
Suggested drawings.
- The whole animal, dorsal surface, preferably without
appendages.
- One of each pair of appendages, except where they
duplicate.
- The tail-fin. Label the sixth swimmerets, the sixth
and seventh somites.
- The gill chamber, with gills in position. Show circulation
of water by arrows.
- A gill, to show construction.
2. COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CRUSTACEA
Materials.
Get together all the different specimens of crustacea you
can collect, and identify the material. Then study each
specimen as follows:—
Questions.
- Briefly describe the exoskeleton, if there is one.
- What region or regions are clearly segmented?
- How much of the body is covered by a carapace?
- Has it segmented appendages? Classify the appendages
as to their use.
- Are the cephalo-thorax and abdomen equally developed?
If not, which is more developed?
- How many antennæ has it? Are the eyes stalked,
or are they sessile?
- What organs of respiration has it? Where are they
attached?
-
How many thoracic appendages has it, if any?
- What methods of locomotion does it use?
Summary.
- Does this animal seem to be adapted to life on land
or in water, or both? Give your reasons for your opinion.
- What characteristics are common to all the crustacea
you have studied?
3. REVIEW AND LIBRARY WORK ON CRUSTACEA
- What are arthropods?
- Give the classes of arthropods with an example of
each.
- What are the distinguishing characteristics of the
class crustacea?
- In what respects are most of the appendages of the
crayfish homologous, i.e. alike in the plan of structure?
Which do you consider the simplest, and why do you?
Which do you consider the most specialized, and why?
- Which somite of the crayfish is without appendages?
How many somites are there in a crayfish's body, if each
somite bears only one pair of appendages, as many scientists
believe? How many of these are in the head; thorax;
abdomen?
- Compare the nervous system of the crayfish with that
of the earthworm as regards efficiency. Upon what do you
base your answer?
- Name two points in which earthworms and crayfishes
are alike. Name three in which they differ.
- How are crayfishes caught for market? Where do
those sold in Chicago usually come from? How are they
shipped?
- Compare the young forms of a crayfish and a crab.
-
Describe any five different crustacea.
- Describe the work done by the United States government
and by the state governments to protect and to
perpetuate the lobster. Why is it thought necessary to
do this?
- Discuss the process and the advantages and disadvantages
of molting, as seen in the crustacea.
- Name two advantages in having such a shell as
crustacea have. Name two disadvantages. On the whole,
is such a shell favorable to an animal's chances of success
or is it not?
- Give the curious myth about goose barnacles.
- What crustacea are parasitic? Give an account of
one.
- Why are barnacles classed among crustacea? Where
were they once classed? Why may they be considered degenerate,
even though not parasitic? How do they manage
to succeed? What is their economic importance? How
are their effects checked or prevented?
- Describe some of the odd means of self-protection
shown among crustacea.
- Describe a compound eye. Give two theories as to
what can be seen with a compound eye. Why do we not
know, instead of theorizing?
- What is the economic value of the very small crustacea?
- Discuss the value to man of the various forms of
crustacea.
CHAPTER V
ADAPTATIONS FOR PROTECTION FROM ENEMIES
A. The Exoskeleton
1. THE CLAM—A TYPE OF MOLLUSCA
To Show the Effect of a Heavy Exoskeleton
Materials.
Living clams in aquaria, with enough moist sand to
cover the clams, preserved clams, sets of matched clamshells,
a few shells with the hinge unbroken, evaporating
dishes, hydrochloric acid.
Definitions.
- Mollusca,
- a branch of the animal kingdom including
those animals with soft, unsegmented bodies, inclosed in
two folds of skin known as the mantle. They are often
called shellfish as most of the forms have a shell.
- Lamellibranchiata or Pelecypoda,
- names given to the class
of Mollusca to which the clam belongs. The former term
refers to the broad, flap-like gills and the latter to the
hatchet-like foot.
- Valve,
- one of two parts of the clamshell.
- Hinge ligament,
- the elastic structure which fastens the
valves together at the dorsal margin.
- Umbones,
- a pair of elevations near the anterior end of
the shell.
-
Lines of growth,
- concentric lines around the umbones.
- Siphons,
- two openings at the posterior end of the clam,
the upper opening is the excurrent opening and the lower
the incurrent. In the salt water clam the siphons form a
long tube, usually called the "neck."
- Hinge teeth,
- projections near the dorsal margin on the
inner surface of the shell. The anterior irregular structure
is the cardinal and the more posterior blade-like structure
is the lateral tooth.
- Muscle scars,
- scar-like markings on the inner surface of
the shell indicating the point where muscles were attached.
The large scar just in front of the cardinal tooth is the
anterior adductor muscle scar, and the one just back of the
lateral tooth is the posterior adductor muscle scar.
- Pallial line,
- a line connecting the two muscle scars.
- Mantle,
- folds of skin covering the body of the clam and
lying close to the inner surface of the valves.
- Foot,
- a hatchet-shaped structure extending from the ventral
edge of the body.
- Gills,
- broad flap-like structures for respiration, situated
each side of the body in the mantle cavity. They consist
of a double fold of membrane through which run many
perforations lined with cilia. The waving of these cilia
cause the current of water needed for respiration.
- Palps,
- small flap-like structures near the anterior end of
the clam. They surround the mouth. On their surface
are cilia which cause currents of water toward the mouth.
- Adductor muscles,
- large muscles extending from valve to
valve.
Observations.
Identify anterior and posterior ends, dorsal and ventral
surfaces, right and left sides.
-
Why may a clam be called a bivalve?
- What is the position of the clam in the mud? What
is the position of the foot if the clam is undisturbed?
Are the two valves tightly closed or slightly open at this
time?
- What changes take place in the shell as the clam
grows? What markings on the surface of the shell indicate
this?
- Where is the clam sensitive to touch or tactile stimulus?
Why has the clam no eyes? Zoölogists have found
a structure in clams which they have supposed to be an
ear. Where do you think the structure is located? Why
is the clam successful without eyes? (There are many
bivalves which have them.)
- Examine several clams until you find some with enlargements
in the gills. Break off a small part of an
enlargement with your forceps and examine under the compound
microscope. Describe what you see.
- Drop some powdered chalk or carmine in the water
just above the siphon, watch the siphons for several minutes,
and note what happens. What do you conclude to be
the use of the siphons? Recalling what took place in
sponges, what would you suggest as the probable cause of
these currents? What does the clam thus probably obtain?
How do the two siphons differ? Why?
- Place a clam in water sufficient to cover it and heat
slowly to about 40 degrees Centigrade, until the valves
open slightly. Remove and proceed as follows: Raise one
valve, separate the mantle from it, and then cut through the
two large firm structures (adductor muscles) found at each
end. What does the valve do when the muscles are cut?
What is the cause of this? State your theory as to how a
clam opens and closes its shell.
-
Note the texture of the mantle. How many lobes
has it? What is their extent? How are the lobes related
to the valves?
- Remove or lift up one mantle lobe. Identify the soft
body, the foot, the gills, the palps, and the mouth. Which
of these structures are arranged in pairs?
- Determine the structure and composition of the shell
as follows:—
- Break a thick clamshell and examine the broken
edge. Identify the inner or pearly layer and the outer or
chalky layers. What gives color to the shell in the living
clam?
- Burn a small piece of shell in an evaporating dish
over a bunsen burner. What is the appearance of the
shell after burning? What has been burned, animal or
mineral matter? What then is the residue?
- Place a small piece of shell in acid. What results?
Is there a large amount of residue? What constitutes the
greater part of the shell, animal or mineral matter?
- (Optional) Devise some method and determine the
approximate per cent of mineral and of animal matter in
the clamshell.
Summary.
- Why did we study the clam? (See title of exercise.)
- How has the heavy shell of the clam affected:—
- The character of the clam's body,
- the locomotion,
- the development of sense organs.
- What special problems has the clam as regards getting
food and oxygen? How are these problems solved?
- How does the clam protect the young clam during
development?
Suggested drawings.
- Dorsal margin of the clam.
- Side view of the clam.
- The clam with one valve removed or lifted back.
- The clam with one valve and one mantle lobe removed.
- The edge of a broken shell.
- Diagram of cross sections.
2. THE SNAIL—A TYPE OF MOLLUSCA
To show Another Type of Exoskeleton
Materials.
Specimens of pond snails, edible snails, and "slugs," and
other land snails, and a collection of shells of various
types.
Definitions.
- Gasteropoda,
- the name of the class to which the snail
belongs.
- Spire,
- the coiled portion of the snail shell.
- Aperture,
- the opening of the shell.
- Lip,
- the edge of the shell forming the margin of the
aperture.
- Whorl,
- a single coil of the spire.
- Suture,
- the depression between the whorls.
- Foot,
- the flat disk-like structure on which a snail creeps.
- Breathing pore,
- an opening in the mantle used in respiration.
- Lingual ribbon,
- the rasp or file like tongue of the snail.
Observations.
- Why is a snail called a univalve?
- Identify the head and mouth of the snail. Watch
the snail feeding and examine the mouth of the snail with
a lens. What do you notice? If your aquarium in which
the pond snail is living has a green coating (algæ) on the
side, describe its appearance after the snail has been crawling
up and down over it. Explain.
- How many tentacles has a pond snail? a land
snail? Where are the eyes located in each case? What
movements of the tentacles do you notice? What is their
purpose?
- How does the rate of locomotion of the snail compare
with that of the clam? Find out if the snail can creep
backwards or on the surface of the water. Does there
seem to be any tendency for the snail to go up and down
the sides of the aquaria vertically rather than to the right
or left?
- What does a snail do when disturbed? What is
gained by this action?
- Search for pond snail's eggs on the side of the aquaria.
Lift up the bits of cabbage on which the slugs are feeding
and search for eggs. Describe what you find in each case,
noting the size, appearance, and whether the eggs are laid
singly or in masses.
- Find the breathing pore. Describe its position and
appearance.
- Contrast the various types of shells, and note with
care in what respects they differ. Holding the shell with
the aperture toward you and the spire pointing up, determine
whether each shell has the aperture on the right
(right-handed shell) or on the left (left-handed shell).
Is the right-handed or the left-handed shell more common?
- (Optional) By means of some book in the laboratory,
determine the scientific name of each of the snails found
in the various aquaria in the laboratory.
Suggested drawings.
- Drawings to show the pond snail in various positions
in the aquarium.
- A drawing of the slug.
- At least three different types of snail shell.
Summary.
- In what respects does a snail show resemblance to a
clam?
- What are the chief points of difference?
- What reasons can you suggest for the better development
of the sense organs?
- What advantage has a snail over a clam in the matter
of getting food?
- How does the shell of the snail compare with that of
the clam as an organ for protection?
3. THE SQUID—A TYPE OF MOLLUSCA
To show the Effect of a Much Reduced or Rudimentary
Skeleton
Materials.
Small squids, and a few large specimens for comparison
and dissection.
Definitions.
- Cephalopoda,
- the name of the class to which the squid
belongs.
- Caudal fin,
- a horizontal structure at the posterior end of
the squid.
- Chromatophores,
- irregular cells in the mantle which give
color to the squid.
- Exhalent siphon,
- a funnel or tube opening on the ventral
side just below the base of the arms or tentacles.
-
Pen,
- a remnant of an exoskeleton imbedded in the mantle
along the dorsal side.
- Ink sac,
- a sac containing a dark, sticky liquid which may
be thrown out through the funnel into the water. The
opening is near the inner opening of the funnel.
Observations.
- What is the shape of the squid? To what is this
shape adapted?
- Identify the head and the well-developed eyes.
- How many arms or tentacles are there? How are
they arranged with reference to the mouth? What do you
find on the distal ends of the arms? How do the arms
vary as to size? What does the position and arrangement
of the arms suggest as to their function?
- Identify the exhalent siphon. Where may water
enter the mantle cavity? Recalling the action of the
siphons in the clam, suggest a method by which a squid
is propelled through the water. In what direction must it
swim?
- Split the mantle along the ventral surface and spread
apart. Identify the long plume-like gills, the ink sac, and
the inner opening of the exhalent siphon. How many gills
do you find?
Suggested drawings.
- The squid side view.
- The squid from the ventral side with the mantle split
open, arrows to show direction of water.
Summary.
- In what ways does a squid show relationship to the
clam and the snail?
- What has a squid gained through the reduction of its
exoskeleton? What has it lost? What changes were
necessary in its structure to offset the loss of an exoskeleton?
4. A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF MOLLUSCA
Materials.
Specimens of as many different kinds of mollusks as
possible, charts, books.
Observations.
- What is the symmetry?[3]
- Is the body segmented or unsegmented?
- Are lateral appendages present or wanting?
- Is an exoskeleton present or wanting? If present,
is it univalve or bivalve; if absent, what other means of
protection has been developed to take its place?
- Is the animal fixed, or is it free to move? If fixed,
in what way? If it moves, what is the method and organ
of locomotion?
- What are the organs of respiration? What is their
character?
- How is food obtained?
- What senses are probably present? What sense
organs are present?
- What is the habitat?
- In what ways if any does the animal show degeneration?
Summary.
- What characters are common to all mollusks?
- What is the principal means of protection among
mollusks?
- Name three causes of degeneration among mollusks.
5. MOLLUSCA: REVIEW AND LIBRARY EXERCISE
Characteristics.
- What are the general characteristics of mollusks?
- Name the principal classes and give the characteristics
of each.
Morphology.
- What is peculiar about the structure of a clam's
heart? What is its position? Contrast with the heart of
a crayfish.
- Make cross-sectional diagrams to show the arrangement
of parts in a clam: (a) in the region of the umbone;
(b) in the region just in front of the posterior muscle;
(c) in the region of the anterior muscle.
- Describe the various types of eyes found in mollusks,
and their location.
- Describe the tongue or lingual ribbon of the snail,
and its use.
- What is the operculum of snails? its use?
Physiology.
- Describe the circulation of water through the siphons
and mantle cavity of a clam. How is it caused? What
three uses has it?
- What are the principal facts about the development
of fresh-water clams?
- Describe the circulation of blood in a clam.
- What various methods of locomotion are found
among mollusca?
Economics.
Write a short account of the following:—
- Oyster culture.
- Typhoid-fever and oysters.
-
Clams, scallops, and other edible shellfish.
- Pearls and pearl fisheries.
- Fresh-water clams and the button industry.
- Sepia, Tyrian dye, etc.
- Harmful and useful mollusks.
- The work of U. S. Fish Commission in propagating
clams.
Natural history.
- Give the class, habitat, and some important fact
about each of the following: Pectens; wing shells; Tridacna
gigas; abalones; limpets; oyster drill; periwinkle;
mussel; cuttle fish; octopus; nautilus; argonaut.
6. A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF EXOSKELETONS
Materials.
Charts, specimens, etc. Since this is partly a review exercise,
your notes and drawings of invertebrates should be
at hand.
Definitions.
- Exoskeleton,
- a protective covering developed on the outside
of an animal.
Questions.
- What are foraminifera; radiolaria? How do they
differ from other protozoans? Of what two substances
are the shells of protozoans composed?
- How are the spicules formed in a simple sponge?
What are glass sponges? Give reasons why the skeletons
of sponges may or may not be considered exoskeletons?
- What are stone corals? What is the relation of the
coral polyp to the skeleton? What is the appearance of
the coral when expanded as compared with its appearance
when contracted? Of what substance is the coral composed?
- Describe the exoskeleton of a starfish. Contrast the
exoskeleton of the sea urchin and the starfish. Why does
a sea cucumber need no well-developed exoskeleton?
- What structure in an earthworm may be considered
an exoskeleton? What other types of exoskeletons are
found in segmented worms?
- Of what substance is the exoskeleton of arthropods
composed? What additional substance is found deposited
in the shell in the case of crustaceans? What advantage
in the arthropod type of exoskeleton?
- Why are mollusks so commonly called "shellfish"?
What advantage in the mollusk type of skeleton? What
disadvantages?
Summary.
- What type of exoskeleton is common among invertebrates?
- What are the general purposes of exoskeletons?
- What is the explanation of the various forms of exoskeletons
found?
- Of what substances are exoskeletons composed?
B. Protective Coloration
To show how Color may be Protective
Materials.
Specimens such as the Kny-Scheerer mimicry collections,
diagrams, etc.
Definitions.
- General protective resemblance,
- the general resemblance
between the color of an animal and its surroundings.
-
Variable protective resemblance,
- the changing of the color
of an animal to correspond to the change in its background.
- Special protective resemblance,
- the resemblance of an
animal to some object found in its background in color
and form.
- Mimicry,
- the resemblance of an unprotected animal to
a well-protected one.
- Warning colors,
- bright colors which protect animals by
causing other animals to avoid it.
Questions.
- Show how the transparent color of a paramecium,
the green color of a cabbage worm, or the green color of a
certain species of hydra may result in protecting an animal
from its enemies. Mention as many other examples as
you can.
- What is gained by the ability of a squid to change
its color? How is this change brought about?
- Explain the protective coloration of the following:
Dead-leaf butterfly, walking stick, geometrid larva. Hunt
up other examples.
- Explain the protective coloration in the following:
Hover flies, clear-winged moths, viceroy butterflies.
- Make a list of several invertebrates that are protected
by their bright color. Explain the reason for the bright
color.
- How may the difference between the color of the
upper and lower surfaces of animals be explained on the
basis of use to the animal?
- (Optional) Find out some other uses of color to an
animal aside from protection.
Summary.
- Name four uses of color.
- Name four ways an animal is protected by being like
its background.
- Name one way it is protected by being unlike its
background.
- What disadvantages in this method of protection?
C. Animal Associations
To show Another Method of Protection from Enemies
Materials.
Specimens, charts, etc., illustrating animal associations.
Definitions.
- Animal communities,
- associations of many animals of
the same species in communities in which there is a greater
or less division of labor.
- Gregarious,
- associations where there is but little division
of labor.
- Parasitism,
- an association where one animal lives at the
expense of the other. The animal on which the parasite
lives is called the host. If there are two hosts during the
life cycle of the parasite, the second host is called an intermediate
host.
- Symbiosis,
- an association where two animals live together
in mutually helpful relations.
- Commensalism,
- an association where two animals live
together in relations not mutually helpful but without injury
to either.
Observations and questions.
Note.—To find answers to many of these questions it will be necessary
to refer to the reference books in the laboratory.
-
Examine a specimen of Volvox. Why may this be
considered a colonial protozoan and not a many-celled animal?
What is gained by the colonial habit?
- Is the colonial habit common or rare in sponges and
cœlenterates? What is chiefly gained?
- Describe the community life in one of the insects in
each of the following groups:—
- ant, honeybee, termite.
- bumblebee, paper wasp, hornet.
- mining bee.
- carpenter bee, mud wasp, digger wasp.
- Name the host or hosts in the following cases:
trichina, liver fluke, malarial parasite, tapeworm, hook
worm. Give the life history of one or more of the parasites
just enumerated. What is the effect of parasitism
on the structure of the parasite?
- What is the relation between ants and plant lice?
Show how this relation is mutually helpful. Mention other
cases of symbiosis that you have come across.
- With what animal are barnacles often associated?
What is the habit of the pea or oyster crab? What are
"guest bees"? What structure is lacking that is found in
other bees? What are often found in the cavities of
sponges? Why are these associations called commensalism
rather than symbiosis?
Summary.
- Into what groups can animal associations be divided
based upon the number of species concerned?
- From the standpoint of protection, is this a good or a
bad method of protection?
- What disadvantages can you see in this method of
protection.
D. Protective Habits and Powers
Materials.
Specimens, charts, and books, showing habits of
invertebrates.
Definitions.
- Regeneration,
- the power to grow new parts of the body
when parts have been lost or injured.
- Masking,
- the covering of an animal by some object or
organism so as to hide its identity.
- Nocturnal habits,
- the habit of hiding in the daytime and
coming out at night to feed.
- Terrifying attitudes,
- the protective attitudes assumed at
times by animals in order to ward off attack.
Observations and questions.
- How are Sabella and Serpula protected? What advantages
and disadvantages in this habit? What changes
in structure are associated with this tube-dwelling habit?
- What two protective habits has the earthworm?
Name some other animals that have similar habits.
- Describe the protective habits of the caddis-fly larva;
of the leaf-roller moth. What benefit to the hermit crab is
the colony of hydractinia growing on the snail shell which
it inhabits? Give other similar cases.
- Name as many cases of regeneration as you can.
- What peculiar habits has a puss-moth larva? a
dragon fly? Give other examples.
Summary.
- Name the various protective habits.
- State any advantages or disadvantages you can with
reference to these protective habits.
E. Defensive Structures
Another Method of Protection from Enemies
Materials.
Specimens, charts, books, etc., to illustrate the various
defensive organs found among invertebrates.
Observations and questions.
- Describe the stinging hairs of the paramecium.
- Describe the action and structure of nettle cells.
Where are they located in the case of hydra; of jellyfish?
- What defensive organs are found among the
arthropods?
- What are stinkbugs? What peculiar organs of defense
have the caterpillars of the swallowtail butterflies?
- Where is the sting of a hornet located? To what in
a grasshopper does it correspond? Why does a hornet or
bee inflict so painful a wound?
- What peculiar organ of defense has a squid?
- Find other examples of defensive structures.
Summary.
- What advantages have organs of defense as a method
of protection?
- What disadvantages?
F. Thesis
To sum up the Important Points in the Study of Adaptations
for Protection
Directions.
Write a connected account of what you have found out
about protection of animals from their enemies, using the
following outline:—
-
The struggle for existence—
- its cause,
- its threefold nature,
- the various kinds of adaptations.
- The various methods of protection from enemies.
- The exoskeleton.
- Protective coloration.
- Animal associations.
- Protective habits.
- Defensive structures.
CHAPTER VI
VERTEBRATES
A. Studies of Fishes
THE LIVING FISH
Vertebrates adapted to Water Life
Materials.
Living goldfishes or other fishes in small aquaria for individual
study and a few fishes in a large aquarium where
they have considerable freedom of motion.
Definitions.
- Trunk,
- the portion of the body between the head and
the tail.
- Compressed,
- a term used to describe the shape of the
body when it is narrower from side to side than from dorsal
to ventral surface. When the opposite is true, the body is
said to be flattened.
- Median fins,
- the unpaired fins situated on the median
line, dorsal and ventral, including the tail or caudal fin, the
dorsal fin, and the anal fin.
- Paired fins,
- fins occurring in pairs of which the more anterior
are the pectoral fins and the posterior are the pelvic
fins.
- Fin rays,
- the framework or skeleton of the fins over
which membrane is stretched to form the fins. Fin rays
are of two kinds: those composed of bone and those composed
of cartilage.
- Lateral line,
- a sense organ extending along each side of
the fish in a line indicated by tubes or perforations in the
scales.
- Gills,
- respiratory organs adapted for taking oxygen from
the water.
- Operculum,
- the flaps covering the gills on each side of
the head.
- Pigment,
- a substance which gives color to an object.
Observations.
- Locomotion.
- Watch the fishes in the large aquarium
and determine which fins are most used and how they are
used (a) in swimming forward, (b) in swimming upward
and downward, (c) in maintaining balance, (d) in remaining
at rest, and (e) in guiding the movements of the fish.
- What advantages are there to the fish (a) in the power
to open and close the dorsal and anal fins, (b) in having no
neck, and (c) in having a compressed form?
- Enumerate the various ways by which the body of
the fish is adapted to rapid movement through the water.
- Feeding.
- What is the food of the fishes you are
studying? Feed them and watch them eat. Why is the
upper jaw often called a "lip"? What is the shape and
size of the mouth when opened in feeding? Does the fish
chew its food? Describe in detail the fishes' method of
feeding.
- Respiration.
- Identify the opercula and the gill openings.
Watch the movements of the opercula and mouth,
and determine what movements are concerned in breathing
and their order. Describe in detail the circulation of water
used in breathing and how it is caused.
-
Sense Organs.
- Identify the eyes, nostrils, and lateral
line. How many nostrils are there and where located?
What is the position and extent of the lateral line?
- Describe the location of the eyes. What is the shape
of the outer surface of the eyes? Why this shape? Can
the eyes be moved, i.e. can they be rotated, rolled, or retracted?
From what direction might an enemy approach
without being seen? How would such an enemy be detected?
- Protection.
- With what protective structures is the
body covered? Do they hinder the movements of the fish?
What are the advantages of the scale covering of fishes
over the shell covering of grasshoppers or crayfishes?
- In what other ways are the fishes you are studying
protected against enemies? Since you cannot account
for the red color of goldfishes on the basis of use to the
fish, then how do you account for this bright color?
- The Body.
- What is the symmetry of the fish? Into
what regions is the body divided?
Summary of the study of the living fish.
Enumerate in one column the different adaptations
which fit the fish for life in water and in a second column
state the special purpose of each adaption.
The External Structure of the Fish
Materials.
Freshly killed or preserved fish in dishes or shallow
pans with enough water to prevent drying. Simple or
compound microscopes, forceps, and a bristle.
Directions.
Examine the fins and identify the membrane and the
supporting rods, or rays, of bone or cartilage. Notice
how the ends of the cartilaginous rays keep the membrane
from tearing.
Investigate the scales as to their arrangement, number,
and size. Remove a small patch of scales along the
lateral line to find how they are attached, where the fish's
color is situated, and how access to the sensory organs of
the line is permitted. Examine a scale under the microscope.
Observe the eyes and identify the parts similar to those
of the human eye: lid, lash, tear-duct, cornea, iris, and
pupil.
In front of and between the eyes, find the nostrils. By
means of a bristle determine whether these are connected
and whether they do or do not open into the mouth or
the throat.
Questions.
- Make a list of the fins, classifying them according to
their structure.
- Bearing in mind the differences in structure and
consequent action,—what can you say regarding the
adaptation of the several fins for protection? for rigidity
or flexibility in locomotion?
- State how much of the body is covered with scales,
and where the largest and the smallest ones are found.
- How are the scales arranged with reference to each
other? What benefit is derived from this in protection?
in locomotion? If you have noticed any mucus or slime
upon the body, state its use.
- Do the scales or the skin bear the pigment? Give
the color pattern of the kind of fish used in class. How
would this be useful to the fish in its natural home?
- Describe the structure of a scale and state how it is
attached to the skin. In what way is the lateral-line scale
specialized?
- State how, when the fish is swimming, the nostrils
catch odors. By means of a diagram, with arrows show
the probable direction of the water current through the
nose.
- State which of the structures of your eye are present
in the fish's eye, and which are missing. Could a fish
weep? wink? How would a fish sleep?
- Inasmuch as light penetrates water but a little way, so that
objects can be distinguished only within about thirty feet, would the
fish be nearsighted or farsighted?
Suggested drawings.
- A side view of the entire fish, fully labeled.
- A bony rayed and a cartilaginous rayed fin.
- A scale, showing its minute structure.
- A dorsal or a lateral view of the head, showing the
sense organs.
The Mouth and the Gills of the Fish
Materials.
The same materials as those used in the preceding
exercise may be used here.
Directions.
The mouth, its structure and its action, can be seen by
pulling the upper jaw upward and forward until the mouth
and the gill chambers open fully. Examine the structure
and action of the jaws, the tongue, the throat, and the
teeth on each jaw and on the roof of the mouth.
Investigate the breathing apparatus from the throat side
and from the exterior, noting the number, form, and structure
of the gills, their attachment and their protection.
The mouth may be kept open by a short splinter or a
ball of paper.
The pupil should identify the following structures:—
- 1. Gill,
- an organ for breathing the air dissolved in
water.
- 2. Gill arch,
- an arch of bone or cartilage supporting the
gills.
- 3. Gill filaments,
- fringe-like structures attached to the
gill arches, forming the gills.
- 4. Gill raker,
- lateral projections from the gill arches.
- 5. Gill-slits,
- openings between the gill arches for the
passage of water.
- 6. Operculum,
- the flap-like covering of the gills on
each side of the head.
Questions.
- Compared with the size of its body, how wide can
the fish open its mouth? What do you infer as to the
size of its "bite"?
- Are the jaws rigidly affixed to the skull? Why
should they be so attached, or why not?
- Of how many pieces is the upper jaw composed? the
under jaw?
- Where are the teeth? Judging from their form,
size, and situation, what do you think must be their use?
- Do you think the tongue is used to assist in mastication?
in tasting? in speech? in swallowing?
- How many gills are there, and where are they
situated? How are they attached? Which one is not free
from the body throughout its length?
- What probably causes the color of the gill filaments?
What is there in their number and texture which fits them
for their function?
-
What is the direction of the water current through
the gill chamber? Of what use are the gill rakers?
- How are the gills protected?
Summary.
Write a complete account of how the fish eats and how
it breathes.
Suggested drawings.
- A front view of the fish's face, with the mouth fully
open.
- A side view, as above.
- A ventral view of the head, with both gill-chambers
wide open and the gills separated from each other. Indicate
currents by arrows.
- A single gill.
The Alimentary Canal and the Circulatory System of the Fish
Materials.
Small fresh fish, shallow pans or dishes of water, forceps,
and scissors.
Directions.
If the instructor has not opened the fish previously, this
is to be done by the student as follows: On the ventral
side, insert the scissors in the vent (in front of the anal fin)
and cut straight forward to a point between the opercula.
Care must be exercised in opening the chamber about the
heart; this lies between the gill chambers.
The various organs, so far as possible, should be carefully
drawn out and separated, in order that their structure may
be distinguished.
The pupil should identify the following parts:—
- Body cavity, the entire internal space, divided by a
membrane, false diaphragm, into a large abdominal cavity
and a small chamber, pericardial chamber, between the
gill chambers.
- Liver, a large red or pink mass lying at the front
end of the abdominal cavity, and divided into two unequal
lobes. The gall-bladder, thin-walled and green, may be
seen between these lobes.
- Alimentary canal.
- Mouth.
- Esophagus, in the fish a very short tube.
- Stomach, white and muscular, beginning with
a very short esophagus and ending as a blind sac.
If it is much distended, open it to see what the fish
may have eaten.
- Small intestine, thin-walled, tubular, and somewhat
coiled.
- Large intestine, a short, thin-walled expansion
at the posterior end of the small intestine; usually
less than half an inch long.
- Cœca, from two to several small pouches
attached where the small intestine leaves the
stomach.
- Spleen, a reddish brown globule between the folds of
the intestine.
- Swim bladder, an elongated chamber lying against
the backbone, partitioned off from the cavity below by a
delicate membrane.
- Peritoneum, the delicate, silvery membrane which
lines the abdominal cavity and enfolds the viscera. Note
its spots of pigment.
- Pericardial chamber, the chamber around the heart;
see § 1 above.
- Heart. As the fish is placed belly upward in the pan
the ventricle faces you, pink, conical, and muscular.
Posterior to it, on the dorsal side, is the auricle, a membranous
sac.
- Ventral aorta, arising on the anterior surface of the
ventricle as a white muscular "cord" (really a tube) which
is enlarged close to the heart into a bulb, the arterial bulb.
You should follow up this aorta until you see it divide
right and left to send its branches outward into the gills,
the branches being called gill arteries.
Questions.
- The fish frequently swallows its food alive. Why
should the stomach be muscular? Why is it better that
the intestine does not leave the stomach at the end opposite
the esophagus?
- Of what use can the cœca be? What structure of
the human intestine do you recall that is at all like them
in form or use?
- How many times the length of the body is the length
of the alimentary canal? Does this indicate that the fish
is compelled to eat a great deal of poor food or that its
food is highly nutritious, so that little need be taken?
- Near which end of the fish's body is the heart? Is
this the usual or the unusual condition among animals you
know about? What advantages can you think of in this
arrangement?
- What advantages are there in having the heart in a
chamber separated from the other vital organs?
- Of how many chambers does the heart consist? Why
should at least one of them be muscular?
- How many times does the blood pass through the
heart in making a complete circuit of the body? Would
you call this a single or a double circulation?
- Does the heart force the blood onward or does it
draw blood into itself, i.e. is the heart a force pump or is
it a suction pump?
- How is circulation made complete? If the heart is a
force pump, is its power sufficient to drive blood through
artery, capillary, vein, and into auricle, if the capillaries
can stand the pressure, or is another action concerned? If
it is a suction pump, why does the blood leave the heart?
Suggested drawings.
- The body cavity, with viscera undisturbed.
- The alimentary canal extended.
- The anterior end of the fish with the sinus held open,
to show the general situation of the parts.
- The heart in its chamber, with the outgoing vessels
as far as dissected. Use arrows to show direction of
circulation.
- A copy of some good diagram or chart which illustrates
the heart of the fish with the connecting veins and
arteries.
Fishes: A General Review and Library Exercise
- Food and the feeding habits of young and of adult
fishes.
- The diet and habits of cod; lantern-fish; swordfish;
ramora; hagfish; angler; gar-pike; sturgeon; shark;
sawfish; paddle-fish.
- The variations, real or apparent, in the breathing
habits of the porcupine-fish; the climbing-fish; the lung-fish.
- Peculiarities in swimming as seen in the flying-fish;
the flounder; the sea-horse.
- Intensity of sound under water, and the corresponding
structure of the fish's ear.
-
Light and sight under water (as in 5).
- Protection of fishes: sting-ray; torpedo; coral-fish;
sturgeon; lava-fish; swordfish; sawfish; pipefish.
- The social instinct of fishes, and "schools."
- The breeding habits of salmon; eel; stickle-back;
sturgeon; whitefish; shark; sea-horse; sunfish.
- The fishing industries of the Great Lakes or of the
cold oceans, with a list of the fishes caught and their
values.
- Fish nets and traps: seine; gill-net; pound-net;
trawl, French or English; fish-wheel; fish-weir; spear;
dip-net; set-line; spoon; fly.
- The U.S. Bureau of Fisheries: its locations, its
problems, and its methods.
- The State Fish Commission, as above.
- Game and fish laws; their purpose and their enforcement.
- Game fish of the fresh waters; trout, bass, pickerel,
and muskellunge.
- Game fish of the ocean: tarpon, tuna, sea-bass,
swordfish, and bluefish.
- Fish as food.
- Fish diet and leprosy.
- Fish diet and parasitic worms.
- Fish nuisances: carp, catfish, and dogfish.
- Commercial products of fishes, their preparation
and their uses: caviar, shagreen, cod liver oil, isinglass, and
glue.
- The geographic distribution of fishes, with means of
dispersal and restriction.
- The faunal regions of the lake (or ocean), with
characteristic forms.
- Fishes of ancient times; of the Devonian period.
-
The story of the early life of Louis Agassiz; of
D. S. Jordan; of C. H. Eigenmann; of Bashford Dean.
- Goldfish: their origin; how to care for them.
- Fashions in fish tails, old and new.
- Development and variation in scales; fashions in
scales.
- The common orders of fishes, with examples.
Primitive Chordates
Materials.
An acorn-tongued worm, a lancelet, a lamprey, a shark,
and a perch. If individual specimens are not available,
the pupil's text-book and charts are to be used.
Observations.
- Acorn-tongued worm:
- Notice the very simple form and
structure of the symmetrical body, the "proboscis," the
collar surrounding the neck with its simple rod of cartilage,
the marks of internal gills and gill slits extending some
distance along the body, and the presence or absence of
sense organs. The acorn-tongued worm (Balanoglossus)
lives in the sand of the seashore and in shallow water in
temperate and tropical regions.
- Lancelet:
- Observe the form of the body, of the fin, and
of the mouth; note the presence or absence of sense
organs, and find out the number of gills or gill slits. The
lancelet (Amphioxus) is similar in habit to the acorn-tongued
worm. By day it lies buried with only the
mouth exposed, but at night it swims actively about. It
is somewhat more confined to the tropics.
- Lamprey:
- Observe here also the primitive or unspecialized
form of the body, of the fin, of the jawless mouth,
the number of gill slits, and the sense organs.
- Shark:
- Examine the body, noting its form and differentiation
into regions, its covering, its fins, mouth, gill
slits, and sense organs.
- Perch:
- If you have not already studied the bony fish,
the points suggested for the shark will be sufficient for
this exercise.
In each case, find out the condition of the skeleton.
Questions.
- Which of these animals seem most simple in form,
and which most complex? Give a reason for your answer.
- Give the stages which show how the fold of skin
develops into separate fins.
- How does the number of gills and gill slits change
in the series? (Give definite numbers.) How may the
reduction in the number of gills be compensated for in the
amount of surface exposed for the exchange of gases in
breathing?
- How is protection afforded the delicate structure of
the gills in the final form?
- Give the stages in the formation of a definite, symmetrical
mouth with jaws of equal size.
- The presence of sense organs may be taken to indicate
that there is an organ of control, or brain. How is
the development of this organ like or unlike that of the
other structures in the series?
- For the developing brain and nervous system what
protection and support is afforded in each case?
The foregoing questions may be answered in tabular
form by arranging the names of the animals in a line and
the questions in a column.
Suggested drawings.
- Acorn-tongued worm, × 1.
- Lancelet, × 1.
-
Lamprey, × ½.
- Shark: 1, head as far as the pectoral fins; 2, the tail.
- Perch, as directed for shark.
B. Studies of Amphibia
Progress from Water-living Animals to Land-living
Animals
The Living Frog or Toad
To show how an Animal may be adapted to both Land and
Water Life
Materials.
Living frogs in small cages or aquaria; living toads;
some pungent liquid, as ammonia.
Observations.
- The Body.
- Contrast the body of the frog with that
of the fish as to regions, shape, and compactness. How
do you account for the differences?
- Locomotion.
- What kinds of locomotion can a frog
use? Why is it difficult for a frog to crawl or walk?
How far can a frog jump? How are swimming and
jumping accomplished? What do you think is the use
of the "hump" on the back?
- Identify in the legs the thigh, shank, ankle, foot,
toes, and web, and in the arm, the upper arm, forearm,
wrist, hand, and fingers. State in detail the differences in
structure and in position between the fore and hind limbs.
How do you account for these differences?
- Feeding.
- Induce a frog or toad to eat by dangling
food, such as a piece of raw meat or meal worms, small
earthworms, etc., before it. How does it seize the food?
What will it eat? How is the mouth adapted to this
manner of feeding?
- Respiration.
- The frog has no diaphragm, and therefore
no chest cavity; watch very carefully the movements
of the mouth, the nostrils, the throat, and the sides of the
body to determine how the problem of breathing (how
the air is gotten into and out of the lungs) without a
diaphragm is solved. Write a detailed account of the
frog's method of breathing which shall explain just how
the air is forced into the lungs.
- What would be the effect of propping open the
mouth of the frog? Why? Does the frog breathe in
the usual manner while under the water? If not, how
do you explain its ability to remain under water for a
long period of time?
- Sense Organs.
- Investigate the efficiency of the five
special senses in the frog by devising experiments to test
each sense; as, for example, giving a frog its liberty on
the floor and trying to catch it again, to test the sense
of sight. Write an account of your experiments and their
results. Which of the senses is best developed? Give
reasons for your answer.
- Compare the eye of the frog with respect to its
shape, movements, parts, and protective structures with
that of the fish. In what respects are they similar? in
what respects different? Why should they differ?
- Where are the frogs' ears located? What do you
think of the efficiency of an eardrum situated on the
surface of the body? Why?
- The frog has certain other responses. Try turning
the jar or cage containing a frog around to face the
frog in another direction. What happens? How do you
explain this response on the basis of use? What other
responses have you noticed?
-
Protection.
- Has the frog an exoskeleton? Describe
the color scheme of the frog and explain how it may be
protective. Why are frogs brighter in spring than in fall?
- Why do frogs usually live near water? Do they
ever leave the vicinity of streams? If so, when?
Summary.
In what ways is the frog adapted to water life? In
what ways to life on land? In what respects do toads
differ from frogs?
The Frog's Mouth
Materials.
Preserved or freshly killed frogs in dishes or shallow
pans of water; forceps and a bristle.
Observations.
Open the frog's mouth as widely as possible and, if
necessary, insert a splinter to hold the jaws apart.
Identify the following structures:—
- Tongue.
- Draw it forward until the free end extends
from the mouth and is outspread; observe its form, extent,
and attachment.
- Teeth.
- Find those on the jaws and on the roof of the
mouth.
- Nostrils.
- Push the bristle inward through a nostril to
determine its direction and extent.
- Vocal cords.
- These form a hard white mass in the
floor of the mouth, well back behind the tongue.
- Glottis,
- the slit inclosed between the vocal cords, opening
into the trachea.
- Esophagus,
- the passage to the stomach, at the posterior
end of the mouth.
- Eustachian tubes,
- small passages outward to the ears at
the junction of the upper and lower jaws.
Questions.
- Describe the probable action of the frog's tongue in
catching a bug.
- What advantage can you ascribe to the peculiar
mode of attachment of the tongue?
- Of what use is the notch in the inner end of the
tongue? (Note its position when the tongue lies at rest
in the mouth.)
- If the frog chewed its food, how would the existing
structure of the nostrils be very inconvenient?
- Recall either the frog's habit of feeding or the
structure of the nostrils. Do you think the nostrils are of
much service in smelling? State the reason for your answer.
- Of what use are the vocal cords and why are they so
muscular? Consider their use in sound making and also
their condition during swallowing.
- Of what use are the teeth? Recall the form and use
of the fish's teeth.
Suggested drawings.
- The mouth, wide open and with tongue extended.
- A diagram showing the path of air and of food
through the frog's mouth.
The Organs of Digestion, Absorption, and Excretion
Materials.
Freshly killed or preserved frogs in dishes or shallow
pans of water, forceps, and, if the pupil is to do any dissecting,
scissors.
Directions and Observations.
The specimens may have been opened by the teacher, or
may be dissected by the pupil as follows:—
Placing the frog on its back, with forceps firmly grasp
the skin of the abdomen and the muscles beneath, just in
front of the hind legs, and with the scissors cut straight
forward in the middle line until the floor of the mouth is
reached; this will separate the arms. Care must be taken
not to cut too deeply, but this may be avoided by keeping
the skin uplifted. Now cut sidewise in front of each hind
leg in order that the body wall may be laid aside. Under
the arms the heart will be seen; it will be studied as a part
of the circulatory system.
Identify the following organs:—
- Liver,
- the large red or brown mass, consisting of several
divisions and lying close up under the arms.
- Bile sac,
- small, green, and between the liver lobes.
- Alimentary canal.
-
- Mouth.
- Esophagus.
- Stomach, the elongated, light-colored, firm,
and muscular portion.
- Small intestine, a slender, more or less closely
coiled, tubular portion.
- Large intestine, a thin-walled enlargement at
the posterior end of the canal.
- Duodenum. This is a muscular portion of the
small intestine immediately following the stomach,
against which it is folded.
- Pancreas,
- a yellowish, pulpy mass lying in the fold
between the stomach and the duodenum.
- Spleen,
- a dark red globule, usually smaller than a pea,
lying nearly free among the folds of the small intestine.
- Fat bodies,
- yellow fringe-like structures, sometimes found
near the stomach.
-
Kidneys,
- a pair of elongated dark red organs, behind the
spleen and against the back. Note their numerous blood
vessels. Possibly the ureters, or urinal ducts, can be discovered
and traced to their junction with the bladder, a
clear membranous sac in the posterior extremity of the
body cavity.
- Peritoneum,
- a thin membrane lining the body cavity and
attaching the vital organs to the backbone.
Note.—Specimens secured in late fall, winter, or early spring may
contain, if female, a large number of dark-colored eggs; or if male, two
white testes, located near the kidneys and similar to them in form,
though smaller.
Questions.
- Name the parts of the frog's alimentary canal.
- Name the glands or organs which are accessory
to the canal.
- How long is the esophagus? How does the presence
or absence of a neck affect the esophagus?
- How does the thickness of the stomach wall compare
with that of the intestine, and how do you account for the
difference?
- Measure the length of the trunk of the frog's body
and that of the outstretched alimentary canal. How many
times the length of the one is that of the other? How
does this ratio compare with that of an herbivorous
animal? (The sheep's food canal is about thirty-two
times the length of its body.)
- What is the color of the bile, as seen through the
walls of the bile sac? This color is characteristic of carnivorous
animals; in herbivorous forms it is yellow. Find its
color in some omnivorous form, as man.
- Name the organs concerned in excretion.
-
What holds the internal organs in place, and from
what are they suspended?
- The spleen is called a "ductless gland." Give its
function, and explain why a duct is not necessary to it.
- Since the frog swallows its food alive and entire,
what work must the stomach do? What digestive organs
would be absent from the mouth, or else poorly developed?
- Since the frog is carnivorous, what digestive ferments
are probably present, and what ones absent from the alimentary
canal?
- Fat bodies are largest in the fall, and are rarely
found in the spring. How can you account for this?
- When through with the general study of the alimentary canal,
you may open the stomach by cutting it lengthwise. Describe the
character of the stomach lining as to folds and villi, stating the advantage
of each being present and the reason for the direction of the folds. Tell
how the food is propelled onward through the alimentary canal. Give
the scientific name for this action.
Suggested drawings.
- The viscera (internal organs) undisturbed.
- The alimentary canal extended.
- The excretory system.
The Organs of Circulation and Respiration of the Frog
Materials.
The materials used in this exercise are the same as those
used in the preceding exercise.
Observations.
The pupil should identify the following structures:—
- Pericardium,
- a membrane that surrounds the heart and,
in the case of the frog, separates the body cavity into two
portions, the abdomen and the pericardial chamber.
-
Heart,
- lying between the shoulders and in front of the
false diaphragm. It is conical in form and composed of
three chambers.
- Ventricle,
- the pink, conical, and muscular portion of the
heart, pointing backward and outward.
- Auricles,
- right and left. These are anterior and dorsal
to the ventricle, thin, membranous, and dark-colored.
- Arterial trunk,
- the single large blood vessel, usually
empty of blood, and white. Note its origin and trace it as
far as possible, at least until you see it divide to encircle
the throat.
- Sinus venosus,
- a large membranous sac dorsal to the
heart and connected with the right auricle.
- Lungs,
- two small oblong, pink, spongy sacs, lying between
and behind the shoulders.
The pupil may also identify the following structures if a specimen is
available which has the blood vessels injected.
- Conus arteriosus,
- or "arterial trunk," a large artery passing obliquely
forward from the ventricle, and dividing into three branches on each side.
- Carotid arteries,
- the first branches of the conus, to the head and
neck.
- Aortas,
- the second branches of the conus, to the dorsal region.
- Pulmocutaneous arteries,
- the third branches of the conus, to the lungs
and skin.
- Dorsal aorta,
- the large artery along the back, formed by the union
of the two aortas.
- Iliac, or femoral arteries,
- the two posterior divisions of the dorsal
aorta, supplying the legs.
- Posterior (ascending) vena cava,
- a large vein close to the dorsal
aorta, passing forward from the kidneys.
- Hepatic veins,
- large veins connecting the liver with the posterior
vena cava.
- Anterior (descending) venæ cavæ,
- large veins formed by the junction
of the veins from the arm, neck, and head on the right and left sides.
- Subclavian veins,
- from the arms.
- Jugular veins,
- from the neck.
Questions.
- Of how many chambers does the frog's heart consist?
Name them, and describe them as to size, color, and structure.
- Which chamber receives blood from the body, and
which receives blood from the lungs?
- Name the large arteries and give the regions which
they supply. Name the large veins and give the regions
from which they come.
- Describe the lungs as to size, both when inflated and
when uninflated. Describe their color; entirety or subdivision;
texture.
- In the inflated lung, notice the interior partitions or
chambers, which are called vesicles. How do they affect
the amount of surface exposed for gas exchange in breathing?
- Measuring the lung collapsed and again when inflated,
calculate its approximate volume in each case and state
how much air it may take in during an inspiration.
- Describe the diaphragm and state its probable use as
a factor in respiration or as a partition.
Advanced questions.
- Apparently the pure and the impure blood must commingle upon
entering the single ventricle, but by a simple device this scarcely occurs.
How would such commingling affect the purity of the blood as
it reached the tissues, and hence affect waste removal, oxidation, body
temperature, activity, and intelligence?
- What are the chambers of the fish's heart? of the mammalian (human)
heart? How may the heart of the frog be regarded as intermediate
between these others? How and where might the growth of a
partition within it bring about the higher structure? (This actually occurs
in certain reptiles.)
- The lungs are said to be outgrowths of the alimentary canal.
Explain how their connection would tend to show this.
Suggested drawings.
- The heart and lungs in their normal position.
- The circulatory system, as seen in the injected specimen.
- A copy of the diagram or model of the circulatory
system.
- A diagram of the respiratory tract from the nostrils
to the lungs, by arrows showing the course of the air.
The Nervous System of the Frog
Materials.
Specimens which have the brain exposed and other
specimens whose viscera have been removed so that the
spinal nerves can be seen; pans or shallow dishes of water
and forceps.
Observations.
The nerve tissues are generally white in color unless
they have been specially treated and stained. The pupil
should identify the following structures:—
A. Brain, those enlargements of nerve tissue situated
in the head and composed of four principal parts, as follows:—
- Cerebral hemispheres, a pair of elongated lobes, the
anterior enlargements.
- Mid brain, or optic lobes, a pair of large ovoid structures,
projecting diagonally forward and sidewise.
- Cerebellum, a slender, transverse ridge, close behind
the midbrain.
- Medulla, the anterior end of the spinal cord, widest
in front and containing a triangular depression.
(Frequently a pair of smaller enlargements is to be seen in front of
the cerebral hemispheres; they are the olfactory lobes, and from them
nerves pass forward to the nasal chamber.)
B. Spinal cord, extending along the spine, giving rise
to nerves.
C. Spinal nerves, ten pairs of nerves which are connected
with the cord through dorsal (sensory) and ventral (motor)
roots, and which penetrate the body and its appendages.
The first enters the neck; the second and third join and
enter the arm; the fourth to sixth penetrate the skin and
muscles of the trunk; the seventh to ninth join by a plexus
to form the sciatic nerve which supplies the leg, and the
tenth enters the posterior portion of the body.
Questions.
- Which lobes of the brain are paired? Give at least
two possible causes or reasons for their double structure.
- The optic lobes are connected with the eyes. Compare
their size with that of the other parts. Of how much
use do you think they are to the frog?
- If folds or convolutions in the surface of the cerebrum
indicate intelligence, thoughtfulness, or mind, what do you
infer as to the frog's mental condition and power to think?
- Has the frog brain or "brains"? Explain.
- Name several things done by an animal's brain.
- Which of the spinal nerves are specially large? Why
should they be large?
- What advantages are there in the frog's having a dorsal
nerve cord instead of a ventral one, as the earthworm has?
What would be the effect of cutting or breaking the dorsal root of a
spinal nerve? the ventral root? the entire spinal cord? How do you
explain the convulsions of the brainless (beheaded) chicken or frog?
- What kinds of impulses originate outside of the nerve center, and
what kinds in the center?
- Sensations reach the cord and brain through the dorsal root of the
spinal nerve. What kinds of messages travel through the ventral root,
and in what direction do they go?
Suggested drawings.
- The brain.
- The spinal cord and its nerves.
- The nervous system.
- A diagram of the cord and its nerves, showing the
kinds and the directions of the nerve impulses.
The Endoskeleton of the Frog
Materials.
Prepared frog skeletons mounted in glass-covered boxes
or in other cases suitable for individual study; other vertebrate
skeletons for reference.
Observations.
The pupil should examine his specimen and identify the
following structures:—
A. Skull:—
- Cranium, or brain case, the central and hinder portion.
- Nasal bone, a triangular bone lying in front of each
large opening, or eye orbit, and attached to the anterior
end of the cranium.
- Premaxillaries, a pair of small bones which form the
tip of the nose.
- Maxillary, a slender bone forming the side of the
upper jaw.
- Dentary, the bone of the lower jaw, corresponding to
the maxillary.
- Occipital foramen, the posterior opening or entrance
into the cranium, normally covered dorsally by cartilage
and most easily seen in a separate skull.
B. Vertebral Column:—
- Cervical vertebra, the first vertebra, supporting the
skull.
-
Dorso-lumbar vertebræ, vertebræ with small lateral
processes.
- Sacrum, the ninth vertebra, bearing extra long lateral
processes or "arms."
- Urostyle, the last vertebra, lying in the median line,
a long, slender, blade-like bone, really formed by the fusion
of several vertebræ.
C. Vertebra:—
- Centrum, the solid, nearly circular portion.
- Lateral process, one of the paired projections, extending
outward on either side.
- Neural spine, the single projection, extending toward
the dorsal side.
- Neural arch, formed largely by a connection between
the lateral process and the neural spine. The arch above
and the centrum below inclose the neural canal.
D. Pectoral, or Shoulder, Girdle:—
- Sternum, the "breastbone," extending along the
median ventral line.
- Coracoid, a heavy bone extending from the sternum
sidewise to support the arm.
- Clavicle, the "collar bone," a light bone in front of
the coracoid.
- Scapula, the "shoulder blade," a broad, thin bone
which arches around to the dorsal side.
E. Pelvic, or Hip, Girdle:—
- Ilium, a long, slender, curved bone, with its mate uniting
to form an inverted "wishbone"; it is joined to the
sacrum.
- Pelvis, the region of the socket at the junction of
the ilia.
F. Fore Leg, or Arm:—
- Humerus, the single bone of the upper arm.
- Radius, the bone of the lower arm on the thumb
side; in the frog united to the ulna.
- Ulna, the bone of the forearm opposite the radius.
- Carpals, small bones of the wrist.
- Metacarpals, a single series of long bones forming
the palm of the hand.
- Phalanges, the bones of the fingers and thumb (singular
phalanx).
G. Hind Leg:—
- Femur, the thigh bone, next to the body.
- Tibia, the larger bone of the lower leg on the inner
side; in the frog united to the fibula.
- Fibula, the smaller bone of the lower leg.
- Tarsals, the small bones of the instep.
- Metatarsals, the long bones of the instep.
- Phalanges, the bones of the toes.
Questions.
- Whereabouts in the frog has nature made an attempt
to inclose delicate or vital structures in bony cases?
- Examining the inside of the mouth, find the teeth.
Judging from their size and structure, of what use are
these teeth?
- What advantages can you see in having the arms and
legs attached to girdles instead of having them fastened
directly to the vertebral column? How has their development
affected the shape of the trunk, as opposed to that
of the fish?
- Make a comparison of the two girdles as to their attachment
to the spine and their consequent rigidity or freedom
of movement.
-
How many vertebræ are there in the spinal column?
What advantage can you see in having the column composed
of many small vertebræ instead of a few large ones?
Enumerate those having a special form or structure, and
state the use of each.
- On the vertebræ notice any irregularities, prominences,
or roughenings. For what are such bones better
adapted than smooth bones would be?
- How is the frog's humping permitted? How are
the urostyle and the pelvis connected, if at all? Has this
any effect on motion? (See living frog.)
- In parallel columns, keeping corresponding parts in
a line, tabulate the bones of the fore and hind limbs.
- State how extra length has been attained in the hind
leg, and give the purpose or the result of this lengthening.
- In the forearm notice the fusing of the radius and
ulna. How would these parts act in rotating the hand, as
compared with your own, where they are free? Compare
also the tibia and fibula. Where in the frog's leg is turning
made possible by the use of parallel bones?
- Compare the frog's hand and foot as to number of
fingers and toes; as to length and spread. Have any fingers
or toes only two phalanges?
- How would an inner skeleton affect the growth and
the size of an animal, as compared with an outer skeleton,
like the clam's?
- How would the lack of an outer skeleton influence
sensitiveness, activity, and intelligence?
Suggested drawings.
- The skull and trunk, with appendages of one side.
- Each set of bones separately, as the skull, the column,
etc.
Comparative Study of Amphibia
Materials.
Various amphibia, either dead or alive, such as newts,
mud puppies (necturus), salamanders, and several species
of frogs and toads, especially tree toads.
Observations.
Answer the following questions with respect to each
animal:—
- What regions of the body are present? What is the
general shape and size of the body?
- For what kind of locomotion are the limbs fitted?
How?
- Have the hands and feet any special adaptations?
If so, what are they and for what purpose?
- With what organs does the animal breathe? If with
gills, are they external or internal?
- Judging from the specimen, what do you think is the
habitat? Give reason for your answer.
Summary from the Comparative Study of Amphibia
- Which of the amphibia in this study are fish-like in
character? What are the fish-like characters? Do you
think these fish-like amphibia are of a lower or higher type
than the others? Give reasons for your answer.
- Show how the variation in (a) the form of the body, (b)
color patterns, and (c) the structure of the legs and arms
of the amphibia are related to habitat and mode of life.
Amphibia: A General Review and Library Exercise
- The usefulness of the American toad.
- The breeding habits of the common frog; of the Surinam
toad; of the obstetrical toad; of the "smith."
- The development of the axolotl.
-
The habits of the tree frogs and their variable coloration.
- The croaking of frogs and of toads.
- The flying frog of Ceylon.
- The distribution and habits of the hellbender; of the
mud puppy; of the Congo "snake."
- The general absence of the amphibia from arid
regions.
- Frog farming for city markets.
- Protective devices of various amphibia.
- Toads and warts.
- The homing and water instincts of toads.
- Hibernation, seasonal or prolonged, of toads and
frogs.
- The changes in the respiratory and circulatory system
during metamorphosis.
- Ontogeny and phylogeny, as illustrated by amphibia.
- The structural defects which would prevent an ambitious
frog from becoming a highly trained and skillful
animal.
- The classification of amphibia, with examples.
- The kinds of frogs and toads found in the region
where you live.
C. Studies of Living Reptiles
Showing Diversity of Adaptation among closely related
Animals
The Snake
- What is the shape? What regions are present? How
do you distinguish between the trunk and the tail? Has
the tail any use? What are the advantages of a body
without limbs?
-
Describe the snake's path in locomotion. How is
locomotion accomplished? Is the absence of limbs a hindrance
to the animal in its locomotory activity?
- Describe the appearance and movements of the
tongue. Of what use are these movements of the tongue?
- What evidence is there that the snake breathes with
lungs?
- What sense organs do you find? Compare the ears
and eyes with those of the frog. What explains the peculiar
staring appearance of the eyes?
- What is the color scheme? Does it appear to be protective?
If so, how?
- Of what does the exoskeleton consist? How are the
scales arranged? What variations in the size of the scales
do you find? What special use have some of the scales?
How fitted for this? How does a snake moult? Appearance
before and after moulting.
The Florida Lizard
- Describe the body as to regions and shape. Is the
tail of use?
- What are the lizard's locomotory abilities? How is
it fitted for living in trees?
- Feed the lizard flies or meal worms and describe its
method of capturing them.
- Compare the lizard's respiration and sense organs
with those of the snake and frog.
- What is the usual color of the lizard? What have you
discovered about its power to change colors? How may
this be of use to it?
- Of what does the exoskeleton consist? Is the entire
body covered? How are the scales arranged? How does
the lizard moult?
The Turtle
- In what important ways does the body of the turtle
differ from those of the snake and lizard?
- What methods of locomotion has the turtle? For
which method is it best fitted? How? Why are its movements
in water so much less clumsy than on land? (Compare
weight on land with weight in water.) Compare the
efficiency of the locomotion of a turtle with that of a lizard
and suggest a reason for the difference.
- What do turtles eat while in the laboratory? Since
turtles have no teeth, how can they bite off their food?
- What can you discover with respect to the respiration
of the turtle? Does it breathe when under water?
- What sense organs has a turtle? Which appears to
be most highly developed? How do you know?
- In what various ways is the turtle protected against
enemies? (You should state several.) Are you afraid of
a turtle? If so, why? Why does the turtle need more
protection than the snake or lizard?
- Describe the color pattern of the turtle you are studying.
Is this arrangement of colors the same for others of
the same species?
- Describe the arrangement of the epidermal plates of
the turtle's shell. Are the arrangement, number, and form
of plates the same for all turtles of this species? Compare
with the plates of other species. What variations do you
find?
Reptiles: A General Review and Library Exercise
- Characteristics of reptiles.
- Orders of reptiles. Characteristics and examples of
each order.
-
Poisonous snakes found in the United States. The
poison fangs of a rattlesnake. Habits of the rattlesnake.
- Cures for snake bites, fabled and real.
- Snake charming.
- Famous poisonous snakes and their habits.
- The characteristics and habits of alligators.
- The characteristics and habits of marine turtles.
How they differ from pond turtles.
- For what is each of the following noted? Where
does it live? The terrapins? the horned toad? the Gila
monster? the chameleon? the glass snake?
- Reptiles of former (geological) times compared with
those of the present.
- Care of eggs and young. Swallowing of young by
snakes.
- Food of snakes. Defend the proposition that non-poisonous
snakes are beneficial and should not be killed
wantonly.
- Investigate and write an account of the economic
value of reptiles.
D. Studies of Birds
Vertebrates specialized for Flight
The Living Pigeon
Materials.
Living pigeons in cages, and, if practicable, other birds
such as chickens, canaries, and sparrows.
- The Body.
- What divisions of the body are present?
Compare the relative size of these divisions with that of
other vertebrates studied. Can you account for the great
increase in bulk of the trunk over the other divisions?
How do you account for the longer neck?
-
Flight.
- What is the shape of the body? How is
the body made smooth? To what is the shape and smoothness
adapted? (Recall the appearance of a plucked pigeon
or chicken.)
- Observe the size of the wings by measuring their
width and spread (measured from tip to tip when outspread).
Where on the body are they attached? How is
this point of attachment advantageous? What is the shape
of the upper surface of a wing when spread? of the lower
surface? How is this shape advantageous in flight?
- Where are the largest and strongest feathers? How
are they arranged with respect to each other: (a) to prevent
air passing through on the down stroke of the wing?
(b) to permit folding?
- What is the shape and width of the tail when outspread?
when folded? In what way does the tail assist
in flight?
- Walking and Perching.
- Identify the parts of the leg
as in the frog. (See study of frog.) With what exoskeletal
structures is each part covered? How many toes are
there? Does the pigeon walk on its foot or on its toes?
Where is the ankle joint?
- The bird's legs are arranged to support the body.
How is this brought about? Compare with the lizard and
frog in this respect.
- Explain how the legs are adapted (a) to preserve the
balance of the body, and (b) for perching. Are they well
or poorly adapted for locomotion? Explain. For what
other purposes are the legs sometimes used?
- Feeding and Drinking.
- What is the form and character
of the jaws of the pigeon (called the beak)? Offer
food, and watch the pigeons eat. How does a pigeon seize
and swallow food? Does it chew the food? Locate the
crop. If the pigeon chewed its food, would it have a crop?
Why? How does a pigeon drink? How does the chicken
drink?
- Respiration.
- What parts move in breathing?
- Compare roughly the body temperature (by touch)
of man, the pigeon, and the frog. Which has the highest
temperature? which the lowest? How can you account
for the higher temperature of the bird? (Which of
the three must be able to endure long-sustained effort?
What is the effect on your own body of long-continued
effort?)
- Sense Organs.
- Identify the eyes, ears, and nostrils,
and describe their location. What are the advantages in
having the eardrum at the bottom of a canal? Is there
any disadvantage? What is the probable function of the
inner thin eyelid? How does it work?
- Investigate the power of response of the special
senses. Which seems to be the most alert? State the
experiments which you used and your reasons for your
answers to this question. Which senses are most serviceable
in finding food? in protecting against enemies?
- Protection.
- In what different ways are feathers
protective to the bird? Study the arrangement of the
feathers to find how protection is increased in this way.
How do the feathers and parts of feathers which lie next
the body differ from those which are on the outer surface?
What parts of the body are unprotected by feathers? How
are these protected, if at all?
- Note the flexibility of the neck. Through what
part of the arc of a circle can the pigeon turn its head?
How is this especially important to birds?
- What means of defense has the pigeon when
attacked?
Summary.
- Make a list of the important adaptations of the
pigeon, (a) to flight, (b) to feeding, (c) to perching, and
(d) to protection.
- Which is the most highly specialized, the fish, frog,
snake, or bird? Give reasons for your answers.
- In what various ways are feathers of use to the bird?
Suggested drawings.
- Side view of the head.
- A foot.
- A wing.
- Side view of the pigeon.
Supplementary Studies of the Pigeon
These topics and questions should be answered from
experience with pigeons and observations of their habits
and behavior, and from books to be obtained from the
school and public libraries.
- The homing instinct of the common blue pigeon and
of carrier pigeons.
- Nesting habits, number of broods and number of
young in each brood, feeding the young. Why is this
method of feeding the young necessary?
- Varieties or breeds of pigeons. How the various
varieties were produced; how they are kept true; reversions
of type.
- Darwin's experiments with the pigeons; object of
the experiment. Whitman's experiments.
The Exoskeleton of the Bird: Plumage
Materials.
Living birds, as perhaps pigeons, or mounted or stuffed
skins, separate feathers, portions of feathers, microscopes.
Observations.
The pupils should study the arrangement of the feathers
and their variations in form and size, and should identify
the following principal kinds:—
- Contour feathers,
- those feathers, generally broad, which
cover the body, giving to it its outline and color.
- Coverts,
- those feathers which cover joints, such as the
joints of the wing and tail.
- Primaries or pinions,
- the long stiff feathers of the outside
of the wing, used in sustaining the bird in flight.
- Secondaries,
- the shorter, more symmetrical feathers lying
next and over the primaries.
- Down,
- soft feathers found on young birds and next to
the skin on some adults.
- Thread feathers,
- best seen about the eyes, ears, and
beak.
- Quill,
- the bare stiff portion, one end of which is inserted
in the skin. Examine its internal structure.
- Vane,
- the broad expanded portion, the part ordinarily
seen on the bird.
- Shaft,
- the mid-rib of the vane.
- Barbs,
- the delicate outgrowths of the shaft making up
the vane.
- Barbules,
- the subdivisions of the barbs, some of which
are provided with hooklets. These may well be studied
microscopically.
Questions.
- How is the plumage arranged to offer least resistance
to the air in flight? How does a bird sit when
exposed to the wind?
- In a column write the names of the parts of a
feather, and opposite each part state its particular use.
-
Of what use are the hooklets on the barbules?
- State and explain the peculiar position of the shaft
of the primary feather; of that of a contour feather.
The plumage of many birds contains all stages of feather specialization,
from down to pinion. Find as many of them as you can on your
specimen.
- What reason can you assign for the fluffy base and
the compact end of the contour feather?
- How much of the feather of a full-grown bird seems
to be supplied with blood vessels? How does this bloodless
or full-blooded condition affect the weight of the
feather; of the plumage; of the bird?
- How would the above condition affect the temperature
of the blood and of the body? Would it tend to
cool the animal or to conserve its heat?
- Show how the air lying motionless amongst the
plumage may serve the same purpose as that in the packing
of a fireless cooker or a "thermos bottle."
- How would the above condition affect the growth
and repair of the feather? What connection has it with
moulting?
- What kind of feathers forms most birds' "baby
clothes"? What kind forms the adults' "underclothes"?
Suggested drawings.
- A typical feather.
- A feather of each kind.
- A bird with wings outspread, showing positions of
feathers.
- The minute structure of a feather.
Birds and Migration
To illustrate Distribution
Work in the Laboratory
Materials.
Bird skins or mounted birds, at least one representative of
each order and, better still, of each family of the birds
which pass through or remain in your neighborhood; specimens
in a museum may also be used. Some guide to the
identification of birds, as Walter's "Wild Birds in City
Parks" or Reed's "Bird Guide." A good diagram of a
bird.
Directions.
Your object here is to familiarize yourself with the appearance
of birds of different types, and with the terms
used in describing them. Study first a diagram of a bird
and learn the terms and their applications.
An important item in the description of a bird is its
length. This is obtained by measuring from the tip of
the beak, over the curve of the head, to the end of the tail.
This measures a curved line and gives a greater length for
a bird than the straight line you would naturally estimate.
Train your eye by watching house sparrows (so-called
English sparrows) and fixing their length as a unit. They
are called six inches long, and in the field other birds may
be measured by them. The robin is ten inches long, and
may be used to measure the larger birds.
In describing the colors of birds, great discussions often
arise because pupils do not use terms correctly. Consult
Chapman's "Birds of Eastern North America" for a color
key or chart, and train yourself to observe colors carefully
and name them correctly. You will find more colors among
birds than are given there, but the chart will help you a
great deal.
Study in the laboratory as many birds as you can. Try
to get one of each order at least and, among the perching
birds, one of each family. The answers to the following
questions should be recorded upon the blank outlines of
birds, or else in the form of a table.
Questions.
- How long is the bird?
- What is the general color of the upper surface; of
the lower?
- What are the markings or peculiarities of the head, if
there are any?
- Note any peculiarities of the tail, as to shape, length,
or color, if there are any.
- If the wings are not like the back, note their color, and,
if there are wing bars, note their number and color.
- What are the markings on the breast, if there are any?
- Note any other markings, as rump spot, etc.
- What sort of beak has the bird?
- What sort of feet has it?
- Identify the bird, using any key or guide you have.
Do not ask any one to help you until you have exhausted
your own resources.
Comparative Study of Birds
- In what ways do the feet of birds vary? Give examples
to illustrate your answer. What are the principal
results of these variations?
- In what ways do the beaks of birds vary? Give examples
of the variations and of the special uses of the
beaks.
-
How do water birds differ from land birds; flesh-eating
birds from seed eaters; insect-eating birds from
seed eaters; shore and swamp birds from land birds?
Work in the Field
Materials.
(1) Birds in the field, field or opera glasses, and bird
guides. (2) Some extra time, as field work is rather slow.
(3) Considerable energy, as birds rise early and may be
up and away before the usual hour for your appearance.
Directions.
The object of this work is to become acquainted with the
living bird, to learn not only its name, but also some of its
ways. You will need to spend time to do this, and as a
rule the more time you spend the more you will see.
Every time you go out after birds, record at the time every
kind of bird you see, so that at the end of the season you will
know not only when each kind of bird came, but also how
long it staid. When you see a new bird, record immediately
its colors, markings, actions, notes, and anything else
which may help you later to identify it. Do not trust to
memory nor to the inspiration of the classroom. After
weeks of observation, write the following summary.
Summary of the Results of Field Study of Birds
- Over what length of time have your observations extended?
Where have you studied? What have you found
to be the best conditions for studying birds? How many
birds have you identified?
- When in the year do birds migrate; when in the
twenty-four hours?
- In spring migration which birds come first; which
come last? What reason is there for this order?
-
What may retard migration? What may hasten it?
- What could prevent certain birds from ever coming
here, or, if they did come, from staying?
- Name some birds which stay here permanently;
some which come only for the winter; some which come
for the summers; some which merely pass through, going
and coming.
- Can you see anything which may determine whether
a bird will nest here or farther north? If so, what is it?
- Why is the house sparrow so successful?
- Why are blue jays so nomadic in winter?
- What months do the herring gulls stay here? When
do they leave? Where do they go when they leave?
What do they do while they are gone? When do they
return? What is their economic value?
- How many birds' nests have you seen this spring?
To what kinds of birds did they belong? If you have been
able to study one in particular, give its history as far as you
know it.
- Tell what you have learned by your own observation
this spring concerning the kinds of food birds eat, and
their methods of obtaining food.
- What bird songs have you learned to know? When
do these birds sing most? Does a bird have more than
one song?
- What birds have you seen near your home? What
attached them to the vicinity? How might you attract
more birds?
Birds; Review and Library Exercise
- What are the distinguishing characteristics of birds?
- Give the orders of birds, with the characteristics of
each order and an example of each.
-
Define and give illustrations of the meaning of the
expressions: "land birds;" "water birds;" "shore birds;"
"swamp birds;" "scavengers;" "policemen of the air."
- Discuss the temperature of birds, the amount of energy
they show, and the oxygen they use.
- Beaks of birds.
- Feet of birds.
- The crop and gizzard. Why absent in many birds?
- What is there in a bird's construction which enables
it to twist its head so far around? What are the advantages
in being able to do so?
- Account for the oiliness of plumage of water birds;
for the complete feathering of legs and feet in some forms.
- Define moulting and discuss its advantages and disadvantages.
- Give reasons why you would not expect a bird to
hibernate.
- Name two or more kinds of birds which show
"recognition marks." What sort of birds would you expect
to find with such marks? Why?
- Is a bird's egg alive when it is laid? Why does it
have so much food stored in it? What direct interest have
we in this fact?
- How are the eggs of various birds protected while
they are developing?
Note.—Do not be satisfied with only one way. A bird seldom is.
- Compare præcocial and altricial birds as to their
stage of development when hatched; the location and
character of the nest; the care given by the parents; the
singing habit of the parents; the success of the type.
- Name at least three insect-eating birds and tell how
many insects it is estimated each will destroy in a day.
Effect in a garden?
-
[**check nested paras]If you had an orchard to protect from insects
would you spray it with poison, or would you police it
with birds?
Note.—Consider both sides. There is much to be said on each.
If you decided that you needed more birds, how would you
get them?
- Suppose you had a city lot in the suburbs, 50 feet
wide by 200 feet deep, with a house covering the first 50
feet. Make a plan of the back yard to show what you
could do to attract the birds to it in the summer; in the
winter. Remember that birds must have protection against
enemies as well as against changes in weather, etc.
- For what purposes are birds killed by man? Which
of these do you consider legitimate? Which birds may not
legally be killed at any time of the year in this state?
Which may at certain seasons? Which may at any time?
When should an "open season" be permitted? How long
should it last?
- Give a short biography of Audubon. Describe the
purpose of the Audubon Society and some of the work
accomplished by it.
- When were the house sparrows, or, as we call
them, the English sparrows, introduced into this country?
Where? Why? Have they proved a success from our
standpoint? From their own? Why have they increased
so enormously? What part of the country is still free
from them? Why? Give the reasons for and the methods
of fighting English sparrows.
- The history of the passenger pigeon.
- What has the quail or bobwhite to do with our food
supply?
- Poultry keeping.
-
Name three bird magazines and give a characteristic
of each one.
- Fossil birds and the light they shed on the probable
ancestry of birds.
Study of the Migration of Animals in General
The migration of birds is only one case of a phenomenon
which is comparatively common. From your text and
reference books find other examples of migration. What
are the causes which make animals migrate? What
methods do various animals use? What are some results
of these migrations? Summarize your study in the following
thesis:—
The distribution of animals.
- The necessity for this distribution.
- Methods of distribution—voluntary—involuntary.
Note.—See in review the methods used to spread corals, hydroids,
and other sedentary forms, starfish, clams, etc., as well as those used by
the various vertebrates.
- Time when migration occurs. Consider here the young
of most animals, and the movements of many birds, as well
as movements caused by some accidental occurrence.
- Distance that animals move from the place of their
birth.
- Factors which determine the routes of distribution.
- Factors which limit distribution.
Migration maps.
- A map to show the migration route of the birds of
your region.
- A map to show the migration of the potato beetle (or
English sparrow or any other animal the extension of
whose range has been studied).
-
A map of the world, showing the zonal areas.
- A map of North America, showing the distribution
of the ungulates, with the boundaries and barriers marked.
- A map of North America, showing the distribution of
the fur-bearing animals.
- A map of the world, showing the distribution of the
human races.
E. Studies of Mammals
To illustrate Man's Relation to Other Animals; the Connection
between Mode of Life and Structure
The Rabbit
The effects of domestication upon an animal. A burrowing
type of rodent.
Materials.
Living rabbits—young rabbits are more desirable for
laboratory study.
Observations.
- The Body.
- What divisions of the body are there?
Compare the length and use of the neck with that of the
pigeon. Describe the character and length of the tail.
What use has it, if any?
- Locomotion.
- What methods of locomotion has the
rabbit? Which is most commonly used?
- Study the limbs, and find the ankle and wrist. Does
the rabbit walk on its foot or its toes? Note the number
and character of the toes and fingers and their claws.
What is the effect of the nonretractile power of the claws
upon the uses to which claws can be put?
-
What uses have the fore or the hind limbs other than
locomotion? Explain how the usual sitting or resting
posture is advantageous for quick locomotion.
- By means of printer's or writing ink smeared over
the soles of the feet, and a long piece of clean white paper
get prints of a rabbit's tracks as it hops over the paper.
Explain how the peculiar formation of the tracks occurs.
- Feeding.
- Offer a rabbit various kinds of food. How
does it test the food before eating? Does the rabbit ever
use its forelimbs to assist in feeding? If so, when and
how? How is the food eaten? How are the teeth fitted
for the rabbit's method of feeding? Does your rabbit
drink? If so, how?
- Respiration.
- What movements of the body are concerned in breathing?
- Compare the frequency of
the breathing movements with your own. Can you distinguish
the heart beats? If so, how and where? Count
them.
- Sense Organs.
- Note the position of the eyes, shape
of their surface, shape and size of the pupil. What external
protecting structures are present,—such as eyelids,
eyelashes, eyebrows? Study the movements of the eyelids.
Is there a third eyelid as in the bird? Compare the
use of the neck in enlarging the range of vision with that
of the bird. Is the rabbit's range of vision greater or less
than your own?
- What is the location of the nostrils? What advantages
are gained by the prolongation of the face forward?
Note any peculiarity in the form or movement of the nostrils.
How do you explain these movements? Are the
nostrils more or less useful than those of other vertebrates
you have studied? How?
- Note the shape, size, and position of the external
ears and explain what relation, if any, these characters of
the ears have to hearing. Note the various movements of
the ears and the reasons for these movements.
- What special organs for touch has the rabbit?
Under what circumstances are these of use? What parts
of the body are most sensitive to touch?
- Protection.
- What home-making habits do you observe
in the rabbit? What habits relating to secrecy,
comfort, and safety, do you observe?
- Study the fur and hair of the rabbit. How do you
distinguish between fur and hair? What variations do
you find in the fur and hair? What parts of the body are
uncovered? Why? What are the various functions of
the fur and hair covering of rabbit?
- Have rabbits any means of defense or offense?
Explain.
- Social Habits.
- Notice and describe anything in
the behavior of the rabbits which may be classed as social,—such
as play, fondness for company, display of affection,
homing instincts, care of young, etc.
Supplementary Study of Wild Rabbits
If you cannot answer these questions from observations
of wild rabbits, the answers may be obtained by reading
some good natural history. Ernest Thompson Seton's
story of a rabbit's life is good for the purpose.
- What method of locomotion is more highly developed
in wild rabbits than in domestic rabbits? Why?
- When do wild rabbits do their feeding? Why? In
what ways do they sometimes do damage in feeding?
- What senses will probably be more alert than those
of the domestic rabbit? Why?
- Where do wild rabbits usually make their homes?
Why? How do they guard against being cornered in
their homes?
- In what ways do they guard against surprise when
feeding? What are the principal enemies of rabbits?
What devices do they employ to escape enemies when
pursued by them? What is thumping? When used?
- How many young rabbits are usually produced at
one time? How many litters in a season? How long
does it take a young rabbit to mature?
- How are the young of rabbits guarded against danger
from enemies and weather? What are the various causes
that tend to keep down the numbers of rabbits?
- Give an account of the plagues of rabbits in Colorado
and Australia, including the reasons for the great increase
in numbers and the methods used to destroy the rabbits.
Summary of the Study of Rabbits
- What has been the general effect of domestication
upon rabbits?
- What are the most important characters and habits
that fit the wild rabbit for its life?
The Guinea Pig or White Rat
Materials.
Living animals.
Observations.
- What regions of the body can you identify? What
is the relative length of the neck, ears, legs? What about
the tail?
- Describe the color scheme of the animal. Is it protective
or the result of breeding? What is the character
of the covering?
-
Describe the method and rate of locomotion. Would
this method of locomotion enable the animal to escape from
enemies (e.g. dogs)?
- What is the shape of the foot? What is the shape
and length of the claws? For what are they adapted?
- What sounds do the animals make?
- What is the appearance and shape of the eye? What
is the color of the eye?
- State the size and shape of the external ear. What
movements are characteristic?
- What motions of the nostrils do you see?
- Feed the animal various kinds of food. How does
it eat? State any facts you observed, to show that it has
or has not a choice as to food.
- Watch the animal for some time to determine its
mental characteristics. Is it alert? curious? timid? Does
it show much intelligence? affection?
What is the relation between mental development and success in the
struggle for existence?
Summary.
- What are the general characteristics of the animal?
- To what kind of life is it adapted?
- What are some of the characteristics that make the
animal a good pet?
The Squirrel
Materials.
Living specimens in cages, mounted specimens, pictures,
charts, lantern slides, etc.
Directions.
Before taking up the study of the squirrel in the laboratory
a trip should be made to some park or wooded region
and the habits of squirrels noted. Take your camera and
try to take some snapshots. After the laboratory exercise
visit some museum or zoölogical garden and study the relatives
of the squirrel.
Observations based upon field work.
- What different postures does the squirrel assume?
- What does it do when frightened?
- What use have the forelegs other than locomotion?
- How does a squirrel go up a tree? down? from
branch to branch? State all the forms of locomotion you
have noticed.
- What is the appearance of the tail? What is the
position of the tail when the squirrel is sitting? running?
on a branch? Describe any motions of the tail you noticed.
Is there anything expressed by these motions or
are they without meaning?
- Tempt the squirrel with some nuts. State the evidence
that leads you to think that the squirrel is alert,
timid, curious. Do you think the squirrel acts most from
instinct or as the result of intelligence?
- In what various ways does a squirrel attempt to escape
notice? What does it do when you chase it?
Observations in the laboratory.
- What divisions are there to the body? What is the
length of the neck? the length and appearance of the
tail?
- What is the relative length of the legs as compared
with the body? How does the length of the front and
hind legs compare?
- Does the animal walk on its toes or on the sole of
its foot? How many toes on each foot? What is the
length of the claws? For what could they be used?
-
Offer the squirrel various kinds of food and see if it
has a choice. Describe its methods of eating.
- Note the position of the eyes, the shape of their surface,
and the shape and size of the pupil. How many
eyelids do you notice? Why do the squirrel's eyes appear
so "bright"? Are eyebrows, eyelashes, or tear
glands present?
- Note the size, shape, and appearance of the squirrel's
external ears.
- What movements of the nostrils do you notice? For
what does a squirrel chiefly use his nostrils? What explanation
can you suggest for the nostrils, eyes, and ears
having the same relative position in all vertebrates?
- How does a squirrel protect itself?
- Smear the feet of a squirrel with ink and allow it to run over a
roll of clean paper as in the case of the rabbit. How do its tracks differ
from those of the rabbit?
Summary.
- What are the general characteristics of the squirrel?
- To what kind of life is it adapted?
- What adaptations has the squirrel to protect it from
its enemies?
- What characteristics make the squirrel a good pet?
What objections to it?
Library Exercise on Rodents
- General characteristics and examples of rodents.
The teeth of rodents.
- Show how variation in habitat depends upon structure
among rodents by comparing, for example, squirrels,
beavers, and woodchucks.
- Variations in the tails of rodents. What are the
causes of this variation?
-
Pocket gophers and their economic relations.
- Species of mice. Their habits.
- The dancing mouse.
- Damage by mice. Plagues of field mice in Nevada.
Method of extermination.
- Habits and kinds of rats.
- Economic importance of rats. Methods of extermination.
- Rats and the bubonic plague.
- Squirrels, kinds and habits.
- The economic value of rabbits.
- The groundhog myth. Habits of woodchucks.
- The beaver—their habits and sagacity. Methods
of trapping them.
- Prairie dogs—their habits and economic importance.
How exterminated?
- What are porcupines?
- Variation in the homes among rodents. Usual
means of defense.
- Make a list of rodents in a column, and in another
column opposite each name write the various ways the
animal is of economic importance. Sum up with a statement
showing the most important ways rodents are of
value to man and harmful to man.
- Defend the proposition that rodents are on the
whole harmful animals and should be exterminated.
- How some rodents contribute to the science of
medicine, more especially to bacteriology.
The Cat or Dog—Carnivora
Materials.
Living specimens of cats or dogs. Pictures, books,
lantern slides, etc. Supplement the laboratory study with
trips to museums and zoölogical gardens to observe the
relatives of the cat.
Definitions.
- Carnivora.
- An order of mammals, chiefly flesh-eating,
with claws and well-developed canine teeth.
- Carnivorous,
- flesh-eating.
- Herbivorous,
- plant-eating.
- Omnivorous,
- eating both plants and animal food.
- Digitigrade,
- walking on the toes.
- Plantigrade,
- walking on the soles of the feet.
- Vibrissæ,
- long hairs on the face—"whiskers."
Observations.
- Into what regions is the body divided?
- What is the shape of the head and the length of the
neck?
- Are the legs relatively long or short? How do the
front and hind legs compare in length? How many toes
on each foot? Is the cat digitigrade or plantigrade?
- How many pads on the sole of the foot? What
use can you suggest for these structures? What is the
size and shape of the claws? Are they retractile or nonretractile?
For what purposes may the claws be used?
- Describe the tail as to length and appearance.
Movements.
- What is the size and appearance of the external
ears? What movement do you notice?
- Are the eyes large or small? What eyelids can you
find? What other accessory structures? What is the
shape and direction of the pupil?
- What other sensory structures do you find? What
is their function?
- Watch the animal eat. Does it chew or "fletcherize"
its food? What teeth seem well developed? Is the movement
of the jaws simply up and down, or is there a lateral
movement as well?
- Try to find out some of the mental characteristics
of the animal, i.e. is it sluggish or active? Is it alert? Does
it show curiosity? fear? What evidence of intelligence?
Supplementary studies.
- Smear the feet of a cat with ink and allow it to run on
a sheet of clean paper. Make a diagram to show tracks.
Do the same in case of a dog. How do these tracks
differ? Why?
- What is the difference between a cat and a dog as to
the manner of eating a bone?
- As you see dogs and cats outside do you see any
evidence in either case of a tendency to gather in packs
(gregariousness)?
- What different emotions are expressed by a dog's
tail? a cat's tail?
- What sounds do cats and dogs make? Significance?
- Contrast the sleeping habits of cats and dogs.
- How large is the litter in case of dogs and cats?
Condition of young at birth? How long before the eyes
of the young are open? Care of young.
Summary.
To what kind of life does a cat or dog seem best adapted:
(a) as to food? (b) protection from enemies?
Carnivora; Review and Library Exercise
Characteristics.
- The general characters of carnivora.
- Five important families. The characteristics and examples
of each family.
Morphology and physiology.
- The dentition of the cat, the dog, and the bear. Variation
in the "chewing teeth."
- Three types of paired appendages among carnivora.
Relation to habitat.
- The difference in structure and use of the posterior
legs of the seal and walrus.
- The alimentary canal of a cat and rabbit compared.
- The tongue of cats and dogs contrasted as to structure
and use.
Economics.
- The difference between hair and fur.
- The fur-bearing carnivora. Families, and habitat.
- Trapping.
- Game laws and game wardens. Hunters' licenses.
- Hunting big game.
- Carnivora harmful to man.
- Carnivora useful to man.
- Carnivora as pets.
- Chief types or breeds of domesticated dogs. Characteristics.
Special value of each.
- Chief types or breeds of domesticated cats.
- Dogs as burden bearers.
Natural History.
- Distribution and range of carnivora. Carnivora of
the United States.
- Winter habits among carnivora.
- Food of carnivora. Various methods of obtaining it.
- The hunting habits of the dog and cat family.
- The habits and distribution of the raccoons.
- The color schemes of the more important families
of the carnivora.
-
Seasonal variation in color.
- Distribution and habits of the ferrets and weasels.
- How carnivora protect themselves from enemies.
Which carnivora have been most successful in resisting
man's advance?
- Peculiar and interesting carnivora to be seen in
museums and zoölogical gardens.
- Origin of the domestic dog.
- Intelligence of dogs.
- Fox-hunting.
- Coyotes and their relation to stock raising, etc.
The Ungulates
Materials.
Pictures, charts, lantern slides, and books showing cow,
sheep, hog, goat, horse, etc. Diagram of skeleton.
Directions.
Since it is impossible to have living ungulates in the
laboratory, this study should be supplemented by trips to a
museum and to a zoölogical garden. Observe also such
hoofed animals as may be common in your neighborhood.
Use your camera and make "snapshots," showing characteristic
attitudes of these animals.
Definitions.
- Ungulates,
- an order of mammals characterized by the
possession of hoofs.
- Ruminant,
- a division of ungulates, which "chew the
cud."
- Perissodactyl,
- a division of ungulates with an odd number
of toes.
- Artiodactyl,
- a division of ungulates with an even number
of toes.
-
Carnivorous,
- flesh-eating.
- Herbivorous,
- plant-eating.
- Omnivorous,
- eating both plant and animal food.
Observations in the laboratory.
Note.—Answer the following questions for one or more of the following:
The cow, sheep, goat, hog, and horse. If desired, the questions
may be answered in the form of a table.
- What is the relative length of the neck? What is
its direction with reference to the body? Of what importance
is this length and direction?
- What is the length and appearance of the tail?
What is its use?
- What is the relative length of the legs? Locate the
heel, knee, and elbow. (Reference should be made to a
diagram of a skeleton.) When the leg is long, in which
bone is this lengthening accomplished (compared with
human skeleton)?
- How many toes on each foot? Is the animal an artiodactyl
or a perissodactyl? Is it plantigrade or digitigrade?
- What is the relative size and position of the ears
(external ear)?
- What is the relative size and position of the eyes?
nostrils?
- Are horns of any kind present? If so, note the size,
shape, and direction. Are they present in both sexes? If
not, in which one? If in both, note any differences distinguishing
the sexes.
Suggested drawings.
- Head, side view.
- Entire animal, side view.
Observations in the field or at home.
- Note how the animal uses its lips, tongue, and teeth in
feeding. Is it a ruminant?
- In what order does the animal use its feet? Look
up the definition of walk, run, gallop, canter, trot, lope,
single foot, pace. Which of these forms of locomotion
are optional with the animal?
- Describe the process when the animal lies down
and gets up.
- Describe the covering of the animal, noting its
length, fineness, etc. What variations in different regions
of the body?
- Is the animal alert or sluggish? Upon what senses
does it most depend? What mental characteristics are
most marked, e.g. curiosity, fear, suspicion.
- Note any movements of the ear. What is gained by
these movements?
- What is the position of the eye? What is the shape
and direction of the pupil? Reason?
- What means has the animal for getting away from
its enemies.
Observations based upon museum trip or natural history.
- Identify as many ungulates as you can; for example,
buffalo, musk ox, big-horn sheep, Rocky Mountain goat,
chamois, antelope, giraffe, red deer, elk, moose, reindeer,
wild boar, peccary, rhinoceros, zebra, hippopotamus.
- Answer the following questions about each:—
- What is the family, scientific name?
- What is the size of the animal? the relative length
of the hind and fore legs? the relative length of the
neck?
- What is the nature of the covering of the animal?
-
[**corrected: d was a]Are any horns developed? If present, what is their
size, shape, direction, and appearance?
- What is the habitat of the animal? its distribution
and social life?
Summary.
In a short thesis summarize the facts you have found
out about ungulates, using the following outline:—
- Why called ungulates? Variation in number of toes.
- General fact about the food of ungulates. The two
divisions.
- The general adaptations for protection.
- The social life of the ungulates.
- The native ungulates of the United States.
- Commercial uses and value.
Ungulates: Review and Library Exercise
Characteristics.
- Classification of ungulates based upon number of
toes, kind of horns, "chewing the cud," etc. Some of
the more important families with examples.
Morphology and physiology.
- The variation in the number and kinds of teeth.
The dentition (or dental formula) of horse and cow.
- The various types of horns. Shedding of horns and
sexual variation.
- The structure and function of the stomach of a
ruminant. Meaning of the cud-chewing habit.
- The structure of the stomach of a camel.
Economics.
- Ungulates which have been domesticated.
- Breeds of cattle—their distinguishing marks and
valuable points.
-
Breeds of horses—their distinguishing marks and
valuable points.
- Breeds of sheep—their distinguishing marks and
valuable points.
- Breeds of hogs—their distinguishing marks and
valuable points.
- Angora goats.
- The making of butter and cheese. Kinds of cheese.
Substitutes for butter.
- The packing industry. Ungulates useful as food.
- The various methods of preserving meat.
- Cattle ranches and "round-ups." Free cattle in
winter.
- Cattle raising in your state; in other countries.
- Transportation of cattle. Stock cars, care and
feeding.
- Useful products derived from ungulates.
- Tanning. Varieties and use of leather.
- Diagrams showing chief cuts of meats.
- Sheep husbandry. Shearing.
- Ungulates as beasts of burden. Advantages and
disadvantages.
- Government inspection—quarantine.
Natural History.
- Geographical distribution of ungulates. Habitat and
range.
- Native ungulates of North America.
- How, when, and by whom cattle and horses were
introduced into America.
- The geological history of the horse.
- The story of the buffalo.
- Deer hunting.
-
Methods of protection from enemies among ungulates.
- Breeding habits and care of young in case of
ungulates.
- Intelligence in the case of horses.
- Strange and peculiar ungulates to be seen in museums
and zoölogical gardens.
The Horse
The pupil is expected to study carefully the account of
Eohippus or Hyracotherium in his text or any other available
reference book, and to supplement that work and this
brief sketch with original observations upon horses on the
street, at a local store, or wherever possible or convenient.
From the early horses which migrated from North
America there arose in Asia and Africa the ass, famous in
the history of early civilization and still used in some
localities as beasts of burden or for the breeding of mules,
which are the crosses between ass and horse. There also
arose the zebra and the most primitive of modern horses,
Przewalskii's horse, a wild pony of western China, about
forty inches high and almost identical with the drawings of
the horse made by early man, 30,000 years ago. Doubtless
the modern ponies of Ireland, Iceland, and Shetland are descendants
of the original Przewalskii type and not, as is
often claimed, true horses stunted by rigors of climate and
scant fare.
The horse is characterized largely by the presence of a
lock of hair between the ears, a full mane and tail, small
ears, large hoofs, and peculiar neigh. The ass has no forelock,
a scanty mane and tail, long ears, small hoofs, and a
distinct bray.
By means of various crusades and raids, the modern
horse was introduced into Europe from Asia, where it is
clearly traced in history to the reign of King Solomon.
Here, in Europe, because of local conditions and demands,
it assumed differing type forms. The roadster type is
closest to the Arabian in character. The draft or heavy
type was bred in western Europe when heavy armor came
into use for rider and horse, and the coach or carriage type
was developed when armor was abandoned for gunpowder.
Finally explorers and colonists brought the horse back to
America, its original home.
The various types and varieties may be briefly described.
A. The draft type has short legs, short neck, large round
body, and ranges in weight from 1400 pounds to 2000
pounds.
Varieties:—
- Percheron: generally about 1700 pounds in weight,
16 hands (64 inches) high, gray or black, blocky body, steep
rump, clean legs, and quick action.
- Shire: generally about 1800 pounds in weight, 17 hands
high, bay or brown, white marked feet and face, hairy
legs and feet, and slow action.
- Belgian: generally about 1800 pounds in weight,
16 hands high, chestnut or roan in color, compact body,
short, steep rump, and small feet.
B. The coach or carriage type has legs and neck of
medium length, a body full-chested but not blocky, and a
weight varying from 1150 pounds to 1400 pounds.
Varieties:—
- Hackney: generally of full, broad, powerful body,
short legs and back, high action and high carriage of neck
and head, bay or chestnut in color, 15 hands high, and
1400 pounds in weight.
-
Coach: generally lighter than the Hackney, with
longer legs and long stride; height, 16 hands; weight,
1300 pounds.
- Cleveland bay: averaging 16½ hands in height,
1350 pounds in weight, high, broad hips, strong action, and
bay color.
C. The roadster type is long and lean of limb and
body, and averages about 1100 pounds in weight.
Varieties:—
- Thoroughbred: of small head, long neck, level back,
of variable color, 14½–16½ hands high, about 1000 pounds
in weight.
- American saddle: an American production; not a
distinct breed, but a roadster of high quality.
- American trotter: a superior type of good speed.
The off forefoot and the nigh hind foot act together, the
nigh fore and the off hind feet together, giving a two-beat
gait.
- Pacer: similar to the trotter, but using both off feet
and both nigh feet together, giving a swinging gait.
The horse is very similar to man in its physical and
mental character, being subject to the same ailments and
treatment and having the same impulses of affection,
hatred, fear, jealousy, obedience, willfulness, memory,
and perhaps reason. It is of all animals most careful in
its eating and drinking; because its stomach is small,
the food should not be bulky but concentrated, grain
forming a goodly portion of the ration.
Perhaps the most important point in the structure of
the horse is the form of the leg and foot. The shoulder
should slope slightly backward and the pastern joint, immediately
above the hoof, slightly backward. The hips, or
"quarters," should slope downward somewhat, and the hock
should be comparatively wide to afford ample leverage
for the pulling muscles. The legs should be straight
as pillars when seen from front or rear. The outer walls
of the hoof support most of the weight though the frog
should normally touch the ground. In nature the hoof
wears away properly of itself, but the shod hoof needs
regular trimming attention, while the frog must not be
trimmed, for it is the soft growing part that nourishes
the hoof. In this treatment the foot is comparable with
the human finger and finger nail.
Observations.
If access to a living animal is impossible or inconvenient,
the pupil may use reference book or pictures
for most of these points. A measuring tape or ruler
should be at hand, and the assistance of an experienced
person is a valuable aid. If several horses are studied,
they should be distinguished by name or number.
Record the color, condition, weight, and height of the
horse at the shoulder. (Height is given in "hands," a
hand being the breadth of the palm, or 4 inches.) Note
the slope of the shoulder, of the back and the hips,
the general form of the head and neck, and the facial
expression. Find the chestnuts, warty growths on the
inside of each leg. Examine the foot, finding the V-shaped
frog in the center, surrounded by the horny hoof.
Find the pulse by passing the fingers downward from
the upper curve of the neck, along the inside of the jaw;
count the pulse. Notice the position and motion of the
ears with their lining of hair, and the position of the
eyes, the form of the pupil, and the probable range of
vision. Watch the horse use its lips, and examine the
mouth and teeth, finding the grinding teeth far back in
the mouth, the incisors in front, and the space where
the canines are missing.
The male may have canines in the upper jaw.
On the surfaces of the incisors are the depressions,
or "cups," by means of which age is determined.
At six years the cups leave the lower center teeth; at seven the
adjoining teeth; and at eight, the outer lower teeth. At nine years
they leave the upper center incisors; at ten, the adjoining teeth; and
at eleven, the outer teeth above. At the age of ten years a spot appears
in the outer upper incisors, at fifteen years the groove has worn to the
center of the tooth, and at twenty-one years the groove is worn to the
bottom of the tooth.
Questions.
- Describe the horse you studied as to its name or
number, its color, markings, weight, and size. Of what
type and breed is it a specimen?
- Upon how much of the foot does the horse walk?
How does this affect ease or speed of action? How does
an athlete imitate this in sprinting?
- How many toes has each foot? What advantage
or disadvantage can you see in this unusual structure?
- How is the hoof constructed to distribute the weight
over a surface broader than the leg? How general is this
among terrestrial animals?
- What is the difference in the position of the chestnuts
of the fore and hind legs?
- Where in the foreleg is a springiness permitted by
curvature? Where does the back leg accomplish the same
thing?
- How do you account for the elongating of the
face?
-
Explain the uses of the lips, telling how they are
fitted for their work.
- Tell where the bit lies in the horse's mouth, and how
the structure permits this.
- Where are the ears situated? How does this
peculiar position affect the range of hearing and general
alertness? Of how much movement are they capable?
Describe the lining of the ear, and state its use.
- What is the rate of the pulse?
- Measure the height at shoulder and at croup,
length of body from withers to rump, of head, of neck;
thickness of body from the shoulder to the chest and of
distance of chest from ground. Point out any equalities
or ratios you find.
Topics for investigation.
- The meaning of the terms gee, haw, nigh, off, run,
gallop, trot, pace, single foot, rack.
- The location, cause, and effect of these troubles:
heaves, blind staggers, knee sprung, shoe boil, quitter,
ring bone, spavin, capped hock, flat foot, hoof bound,
glanders, mange, sweeny, hide bound, and thrush.
- The record time for a trotted and a paced mile.
- The meaning of "one horse power." How much a
horse can pull on good roads.
- Record prices for valuable horses.
- Current prices for horses; for ponies; for mules.
- The origin and the use of the mule.
- Balanced rations.
- The number and care of the young, and their relative
development at birth.
- Other animals used as beasts of burden in peculiar
conditions or localities.
Homology of the Vertebrate Skeleton
Materials.
Prepared skeletons of an amphibian, a reptile, a bird,
another mammal, and man. If any of these be lacking,
lantern-slide illustrations may be used in a partially darkened
room.
Observations.
Having studied the frog's skeleton in detail, the student
can readily compare each of these types with it. Compare
in a very general way the skulls, the girdles, and the limbs;
their form and use. Note variations in the form and number
of the vertebræ and the number of the ribs.
Questions.
- In which types of vertebrates are the joints between
the skull bones bound with cartilage? How does the
joining change in later types?
- What dissimilarities occur in the series as regards
closure or boxing in of the eye orbits, nostrils, and skull
bones? How would these changes in joining and closure
affect strength, rigidity, and protection?
- What evidence is there that such improvement has
affected brain capacity and intelligence?
- State how the attachment of the skull to the vertebral
column changes as the animal man assumes an erect
position.
- Are the vertebræ of these types alike in structure?
What is the general form of an horizontally placed vertebra,
as in the horse or a reptile, and of a vertically placed
one, as in man? If you see any differences, account for
them.
- Wherever possible, find the vertebræ of the neck
(cervical), and note the number of them in each case.
-
How is flexibility of the column accomplished in
certain types or in certain places of one type? How is
rigidity gained? State instances in each answer.
- Examining the interior of the turtle's "shell," find
out and explain how the vertebræ have been modified to
form the upper "shell." How has the under portion
(plastron) been formed?
- In round numbers, which skeleton has the greatest
number of vertebræ and which the least?
- Which skeleton has the greatest number of ribs,
and which has the least?
- In a summarizing statement explain any variations
you find in the pectoral and pelvic girdle for strength
(rigidity); flexibility. This answer may be written as a
table, naming the bones, opposite each stating its condition,
and then what it affords or is adapted to.
- What is accomplished by having two bones in the
shank of the leg? In what types or forms is there but
one, and which one is it?
- Can you assign any advantages in power, agility,
length of leg, or position of leg and foot accruing from a
long ankle? (See horse, frog, et al.)
- Enumerate the types or forms, and opposite each
state the number of fingers and toes.
- Make a table, heading one column "Form or type";
another, "Habitat"; and a third, "Habit." Judging from
the structure which you see or from your previous knowledge
or experience, fill in the table, stating whether the
type is aquatic, terrestrial, or aërial; whether it burrows,
walks, runs, or climbs, etc.
- From your statements in 15, explain how the
peculiar mode of life affects the structure of these types.
CHAPTER VII
ADAPTATIONS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE SPECIES
A. Methods of Reproduction
1. The Simple or Asexual Method of Reproduction
Materials.
Slides or diagrams, showing a dividing amœba, a dividing
paramecium, a dividing vorticella, reproduction in
some form of sporozoa, budding hydra, gemmules of
spongilla, and some species of worm as Dero or Nereis in
the process of dividing.
Definitions.
- Spore,
- a cell capable of developing into a new organism.
- Asexual reproduction,
- reproduction by division of the cell
or body.
- Sexual reproduction,
- reproduction by means of the conjugation
of two reproductive cells known as the egg and
sperm cells.
- Fertilization,
- the fusion of the male or sperm cell with
the egg or female cell.
- Ovary,
- an organ producing eggs.
- Spermary,
- an organ producing sperm cells.
- Cross fertilization,
- fertilization in which the sperm and
egg cells are produced by different individuals.
- Diœcious,
- the different kinds of reproductive organs
found in different individuals.
-
Monœcious,
- the different kinds of reproductive organs
found in the same individual.
Directions.
Note.—Refer to your notes, if the animals mentioned in these exercises
have been already studied. This exercise may be largely review.
Study the methods of reproduction in the specimens or
diagrams before you. Determine first, in what respects
the methods of reproduction are similar in all; second, in
what respects there is a variation.
Questions.
- What has an amœba gained by dividing? What
powers has each new cell that the original amœba had
lost? What would have been the fate of the amœba if it
had not divided into new cells?
- What various forms of cell division did you find?
- What is the simplest method of reproduction?
2. The Complex or Sexual Method of Reproduction
Materials.
Slides or diagrams showing hydra and sponge reproducing
sexually. Conjugating paramecia, fertilized and unfertilized
starfish eggs.
Directions.
Identify the reproductive organs or gonads of the hydra.
These are slight swellings on the surface. The one
nearer to the mouth end is the spermary and that near the
attached end is the ovary.
Questions.
- How is an egg cell produced in hydra? In general
how do the reproductive cells of sponges and hydra
originate?
-
What is gained by limiting the process of reproduction
to special cells?
- What is the difference between the appearance of
the nucleus of the fertilized and the unfertilized egg?
- What is the advantage of cross fertilization? How accomplished
in Hydra? What reason can you suggest for the spermary's position?
- Describe the conjugation of a paramecium.
- Describe the process of maturation and fertilization in a starfish
egg.
Suggested drawings.
- Diving Amœba or Paramecium.
- Budding Hydra.
- Hydra showing gonads.
- Starfish egg—fertilized and unfertilized.
Summary of important points in the study of methods of
reproduction:—
- What are the two principal methods of reproduction?
How do they differ?
- Why is reproduction necessary?
B. Development
1. The Hen's Egg
Materials.
Hen's eggs, hydrochloric acid.
Definitions.
- Germ spot,
- a white spot, imbedded in the "yolk." This
is the point at which development begins.
- Yolk,
- the yellow portion of a bird's egg. This is a food
material, rich in fat.
- Albumen,
- the white, viscous portion of a bird's egg.
- Chalaza,
- the spiral portion of albumen always seen in
the bird's egg.
Directions.
Boil an egg at least ten minutes in water deep enough
to cover it. Note which side is uppermost and mark this
part of the shell for reference. Remove the egg and pick
away the shell from about half the egg, leaving the shell
on that portion which was underneath when placed in
water. With a sharp knife remove this half of the egg.
Note the thickness of the shell. Test its composition (use
hydrochloric acid). Find the membrane lining the shell
and note that at one end it separates into two parts to inclose
an air space.
- What is this for? How does it change after an egg
has been incubated for a week or more?
Break an uncooked egg in a saucer. Note the germ spot. Note
also the difference in the consistency of the "white" (albumen) and
yellow portion ("yolk").
- Why does the latter retain its shape?
- Why do the white and yolk not mix unless shaken or
beaten together?
- Look for the chalaza.
- What do you think is the use of this structure?
Weigh a fresh egg, place it in a dry atmosphere for a week, and weigh
it again. Record result. Why may eggs be kept a long time perfectly
fresh if coated with paraffin or if put in "water glass"?
Suggested drawings.
- The egg as it appears in the saucer.
- The egg after part of the shell has been removed.
2. Early Embryonic Development of an Egg
Materials.
Slides or diagrams, showing various stages in the development
of some animal through the gastrula stage.
Definitions.
- Cleavage stages,
- two, four, eight, sixteen cells, etc., arising
by repeated division, starting with the egg.
- Blastula,
- a hollow sphere, the wall of which is composed
of a single layer of cells.
- Gastrula,
- a stage formed from the blastula by pushing
in one side of the latter, so as to form a more or less cup-shape
structure.
Observations.
- Is there any considerable difference between the size
of the egg and the size of the blastula and gastrula? Has
development taken place by an increase of size or by an
increase of complexity?
- Contrast the blastula and gastrula as to number of
cavities, number of cell layers, number of external
openings.
- Suggest protozoans that resemble the egg and blastula
respectively. What invertebrates resemble the gastrula
in body plan?
Suggested drawings.
- Some of the cleavage stages.
- A blastula.
- A gastrula.
3. Postembryonic Development or Metamorphosis of a Mosquito
Materials.
Some specimens of the larvæ and pupæ of the mosquito,
ordinarily known as wrigglers. Either specimens
or diagrams of egg packets should also be provided.
Mounted specimens of adult of both sexes.
Definitions.
- Postembryonic development,
- the changes taking place in
the development of an animal after birth or hatching.
- Larva,
- the active feeding stage. It is the first stage in
postembryonic development, and follows the gastrula stage.
- Pupa,
- usually a resting or quiescent stage. It is the
stage following the larva stage.
Observations.
- Describe the appearance of the egg packet both as
seen with the unaided eye and with a hand lens. Find
the trapdoor.
- What is the difference between the appearance of the
larva and the pupa? How do their resting positions differ?
- What does the larva do when disturbed? Describe
any characteristic motions that you notice.
- Contrast the pupa with the larva under the same conditions
and note any differences.
- Where do you think the external openings of the
respiratory organs of the larva and those of the pupa are
located? Give reasons for your answer.
- Into what does the pupa change? Where must the
pupa be at this time? Is it easier for the pupa to stay at
the surface or at the bottom?
- Examine an adult mosquito. State the kind of mouth
parts, the number and appearance of the wings, the appearance
of the antennæ. How does the male and female
differ in this respect?
Suggested drawings.
- A diagrammatic drawing representing the jar of
water and showing the various positions assumed by the
wrigglers.
- Careful drawings of each stage.
4. Postembryonic Development or Metamorphosis of a Butterfly
or Moth
Materials.
The eggs, caterpillars, pupæ, cocoons, and adult of some
moth or similar stages of a butterfly.
Definitions.
- Prolegs,
- short, unsegmented appendages found in the
larva.
- Caterpillar,
- the larva of a moth or butterfly.
- Spiracles,
- openings into the trachæ or breathing tubes.
- Tubercles,
- knob-like projections.
- Chrysalis,
- the pupa stage of a butterfly.
- Cocoons,
- the covering spun by the larva before changing
to the pupa.
Observations.
- State the color and appearance of the larva. If tubercles
or spines are present, state where. Where are the
spiracles? How do you distinguish the head, thorax, and
abdomen in the case of the caterpillar?
- What kind of mouth parts has the caterpillar?
- How many prolegs has the caterpillar? Of what
use are they?
How does the number of prolegs differ from that of the caterpillar in
the case of the grub? maggot? currant worm?
- What is the advantage of the cocoon? What is its
color, appearance, and material? Is it composed of a
tough substance, or is it easily torn? Where are cocoons
found out of doors? Where would you look for chrysalids?
(Explain differences in locations.)
Describe the cocoons of tussock moth, clothes moth, leaf roller.
- What is the difference between a Cecropia cocoon
which contains a living pupa and one that has been parasitized?
What is the appearance of a parasitized caterpillar?
- What rudimentary structures can you identify in the
pupa? What kind of mouth parts has this stage?
- Which of these stages is the active stage? Which
stage is quiescent? What is really going on in the quiescent
stage? In which stage does the insect grow? feed?
If the insect were harmful, in which stage would it do the
damage? How?
- Describe what occurs when the pupa changes into
the adult. What is the appearance of the wings in the beginning?
What changes take place?
- What kind of mouth parts has the adult? Describe.
- Describe the antennæ.
How do the antennæ of moths and butterflies vary?
- What is the size and appearance of the eggs? Are
they laid singly or in groups?
Suggested drawings.
- A caterpillar, side view.
- A pupa, ventral view.
- An adult, dorsal view.
- A few eggs.
5. Development of the Chick
Materials.
An incubator, a brooder, a setting of eggs.
Directions.
Read carefully the directions for setting up and regulating
the incubator. Remember that the temperature should
average 103 degrees and should not vary more than two
or three degrees above or below this. Candle the eggs
from time to time and note difference in appearance, as
development proceeds, especially as to transparency and
size of the air space. An egg that is transparent after ten
days is probably infertile and should be removed. Eggs
which are developing properly will show from this time on
a well developed air space, and will be quite opaque. The
veins often give a spider-web appearance.
Twice each day remove the tray of eggs and allow to
cool slightly. Once a day the eggs should be turned before
the tray is returned to the incubator.
Questions.
- Describe the appearance of the shell when the chick
is about to come out. In about how many days after you
put the eggs in the incubator did you first note this change?
You should watch the incubator carefully from the eighteenth
day on.
- What proportion of the eggs hatched? What reasons
can you suggest for the failure of some to hatch? Did any
which were pipped fail to hatch? If so, break them open
and see if you can discover the trouble.
- How does the chick get out of the shell? How long
does it take for it to get out after the shell is chipped?
How does a chick look as soon as it has come out of the
shell?
- With what is a chick covered when it is first hatched?
How long before feathers begin to develop?
- How long before a chick needs food? How does it
recognize it?
Summary.
- What are the two kinds of development?
- What are the stages in embryonic development?
-
What two general types of postembryonic development
as determined by the amount of the food supplied in
the egg?
C. Protection and Care of Young
Library Exercise
Materials.
Books and diagrams showing as many methods for the
care of young as possible.
Observations.
- To what extent is care given to the eggs and young
in the case of fish? Is the number of eggs large or small?
Contrast this condition with that of the robin. What general
conclusion is suggested?
- Describe the egg-laying habits of five or more of
the following: grasshopper, cecropia moth, tussock moth,
leaf miner, case bearer, leaf roller, sphinx moth, gall insects,
ichneumon flies, spiders, earthworm. How is the developing
animal protected in each case? How is food assured?
- Contrast the method of the honeybee and the solitary
wasp as to the method of caring for and feeding the young.
- Describe the nests of five or more of the following:
spider, honeybee, bumblebee, paper wasp, mud dauber,
digger wasp.
- Describe the nests of the following: stickleback fish,
sunfish.
- Describe the nests of ten birds common to your
neighborhood.
- Describe the homes of the following: woodchuck,
mole, squirrel, rabbit, muskrat, prairie dog, beaver, bear.
- In case of birds which of the parent birds builds the
nest and cares for the little birds?
-
How are the young cared for in the following cases:
crayfish, cyclops, pipefish, Surinam toad?
Summary.
- What general methods are there for protecting the
young?
- What various devices for assuring plenty of food for
the developing animal?
- What is the relation between the care given the young
and the number of eggs produced?
D. Adaptations for the Preservation of the Species
Review Questions and Library Exercise
- Show how the sexual method of reproduction tends
to produce variations.
- What is meant by the term heredity?
- What are chromosomes? What do some zoölogists
believe to be the relation between these chromosomes and
heredity?
- What are dominant and recessive characters? What
is meant by "Mendel law of heredity"?
- What is meant by the term parthenogenesis? What
are some of its advantages and under what conditions does
it take place? Name some animal in which parthenogenesis
commonly takes place.
- What is sex dimorphism? Give some examples.
- What were the experiments of Professor Loeb and
others in connection with artificially fertilized eggs?
- How do eggs vary as to the kind of shell, amount of
food, size, etc.? What is the effect of the amount of food
upon the rate of development? On the stage of development
at which the egg is hatched?
-
Contrast præcocial and altricial birds.
- What is the effect of ground nesting and tree nesting
upon the number of eggs and the care of the young?
- Describe the metamorphosis of grasshopper, June
beetle, honeybee, dragon-fly, cicada, may-fly, ant-lion,
caddis fly.
- Compare the development of the crayfish, crab, and
lobster. What names are given to the larvæ? What is
the significance in the fact that the lobster hatches in the
"mysis stage"?
- What are some of the peculiar names given to the
larvæ in the case of echinoderms, worms, and mollusks?
Why should these have received special names?
- Name the three primitive germ layers. State the
principal organs derived from each in the higher animals.
- What is ontogeny? phylogeny? What is the meaning
of the law "The ontogeny is an epitome of the phylogeny"?
- Who was Weissman? What important contribution
did he make to zoölogy?
- With what phase of zoölogy is the name of T. H.
Morgan associated?
CHAPTER VIII
POULTRY
Materials.
Either pictures or specimens of the different breeds of
fowl.
General Information.
Under the term poultry are included chickens as well as
turkeys, pigeons, ducks, geese, etc. Chickens are most
generally raised, since they do not require such special conditions
as the others. In this exercise only this form of
poultry is considered.
The hen has been domesticated from prehistoric times,
being probably derived from the so-called jungle fowl of
India (Gallus bankiva), which is still to be found in its
native habitat. Through constant attempts to improve the
domestic fowl along the lines of greater egg-production,
size, etc., there have been developed a great many different
breeds of fowl. These may be divided into seven
groups, as follows:
- The American Class.
- The Asiatic Class.
- The Mediterranean Class.
- The English Class.
- The Dutch Class.
- The French Class.
- The Ornamental and Exhibition Classes.
The American Class includes fowls raised both for egg-production
and for eating. It includes the following well-known
breeds: the Plymouth Rocks, the Wyandottes, the
Rhode Island Reds, and the less-known breeds of Javas,
Dominiques, and Jersey Blues. These all lay good-sized
brown eggs, are good winter layers, and stand confinement
well. The standard weight varies from six and one half
pounds to seven and one half pounds for the hen, and from
eight and one half pounds to nine and one half pounds for
the cock, the Plymouth Rocks being the heaviest of the
breeds.
There are three principal varieties of Plymouth Rocks—the
Barred Rocks, with grayish-white plumage regularly
crossed with bars of blue-black, the White Rocks, and
the Buff Rocks. All have single upright combs, which,
with the wattles and the ear lobes, are bright red, a large
bright eye, and yellow legs.
There are also three principal varieties of Wyandottes.
The Silver-laced Wyandotte has a silvery-white plumage,
with black markings in various parts of the body. The
Golden Wyandotte is similar in its markings, but has yellow
where the Silver-laced has white. The White Wyandotte
is pure white. All have rose combs, red ear lobes,
and yellow legs. They are on the average about a pound
lighter than the Plymouth Rocks.
The Rhode Island Reds are a much more recent breed
that has of late become very popular. They are of a
reddish-brown color, about the weight of the Wyandotte,
with yellow legs. There are both single combed and rose
combed varieties.
The Asiatic Class includes those breeds raised chiefly
for the table. The Brahmas, Cochins, and Langshans are
the chief breeds. They are considerably heavier than other
breeds, and are specially characterized by the feathers on
the legs and feet. They all lay brown eggs, and are in
many cases good layers.
The Brahmas include two principal varieties, the light
and the dark. The general color is black and white, and
they have yellow legs, red wattles, ear lobes, and comb,
the latter being of the kind called a pea-comb, which is of
small size in the cock.
There are four varieties of Cochins, the Buff being
much more raised than the Partridge, the White, or
the Black. The Partridge somewhat resembles a dark
Brahma, but has red and brown plumage. Cochins have
single combs, yellow legs, and a general fluffy character
to the plumage, that of saddle and hackle meeting, thus
giving a characteristic appearance to these fowls. The
eggs are not quite so large as the other two breeds of
this class.
The Langshans are smaller and more active than the
two breeds just described. They have black legs, the feet
are not so heavily feathered, and in general these fowls
are much less awkward in appearance. There are two
varieties, the White and the Black.
The Mediterranean Class includes those breeds raised
chiefly because of their great egg-production. They are
active birds, often troublesome because of their ability to
fly over high enclosures, so that when kept in the city it is
usually necessary to clip one wing. They are not so good
winter layers as a rule, but are non-setters. They all lay
white eggs. The chief breeds included are the Leghorns,
the Minorcas, and the Black Spanish.
The Leghorns—the most popular of these breeds—include
two chief varieties, the Brown and the White.
The comb is most commonly single, falling to one side
in the hen, the wattles long and pendulous, the ear lobes
white, and the legs yellow.
The Minorcas are glossy black in color, with a large
drooping comb in the hen, and long, thin, pendulous
wattle. They lay a very large egg.
The Black Spanish resemble the Minorcas, but are distinguished
by the white face and cheeks and the white on
the inner edge of the wattles.
The English Class includes the Orpingtons and the
Dorkings. The Dorkings are one of the oldest breeds of
fowl, and sufficiently identified by the presence of a fifth
toe. There are three varieties—the White, the Silver-gray,
and the Colored. The White Dorking has a rose
comb; the Silver-gray has a single comb and silvery-gray
plumage with black markings, the hen having a salmon-colored
breast; the Colored Dorkings have sometimes
single and sometimes rose combs, the plumage of the cock
being black and straw-colored and that of the hen being
black and gray with the breast salmon marked with black.
The Orpingtons are short legged, with close plumage.
They are of large size, the hens being from seven to eight
pounds and the cocks from nine to ten pounds. There
are three varieties—the black, the buff, and the white.
The black, except for shape, might be mistaken for a
Minorca, but has red ear lobes and black shanks. The
Orpingtons have the reputation of maturing early, some
strains being known to lay when four months old.
The Dutch Class includes the Red-caps, the Campines,
and the various varieties of the Hamburgs—of which
there are six: the Golden Spangled, the Silver Spangled,
the Golden Penciled, the Silver Penciled, the Black and
the White. They are all good layers and non-setters, "but
lay a small egg, white in color. They are readily recognized
by their peculiar rose comb with its long, spikelike
projection in the back, their red face, white ear lobes, and
bluish legs. The prevailing color of the golden varieties
is a reddish bay marked with black and of the silver varieties
white marked with black. The cock usually has
more dark markings than the hen.
The Red-caps are large fowl with a red and black
plumage. The comb is similar to the Hamburg's but
larger, and the ear lobes are red.
The Campines resemble the Hamburgs, but have a
single comb.
The French Class includes the Houdans, the Crevecœurs,
and the La Fleche. The Houdans are mottled
black and white with pinkish white legs, with a fifth toe
like the Dorkings, and are easily recognized by their
peculiar crest.
The other breeds of fowl, like the crested Polish, Bantams,
and game fowl, have less interest for the poultry
raiser, though often seen in exhibitions and poultry shows.
To sum up, we may group all these breeds according to
their value into (1) the egg breeds, including the Leghorn,
Minorca, Spanish, and Red-cap; (2) the meat breeds, including
the Brahmas, Cochins, and Langshans; (3) the
general purpose breeds, including the Plymouth Rocks,
Wyandottes, Rhode Island Reds, Dorkings, and Orpingtons;
and (4) the fancy breeds, including the Polish,
Bantams, Games, etc.
Definitions.
American Standard of Perfection, an illustrated volume
published by the American Poultry Association, indicating
the desirable points of each recognized breed of fowl.
- Comb,
- the fleshy outgrowth on the head.
-
Single comb,
- a thin, upright comb.
- Rose comb,
- a flat comb with a rough or corrugated surface.
- Pea comb,
- resembling three single combs, united at the
back.
- Wattles,
- the fleshy outgrowths from the underside of
the throat.
- Ear lobes,
- the fleshy structure in the region of the ear.
- Under-color,
- the color noted when the coverts are raised.
- Hackle,
- the feathers on the neck.
- Cape,
- the feathers back of the hackle.
- Saddle,
- the feathers in the posterior region of the back.
- Sickle,
- the curved feathers of the tail in the cock.
- Penciling,
- small stripes or color markings on the feather.
- Spangling,
- large spots or splotches of color on the
feather.
- Shanks,
- the exposed scaly portions of the legs, usually
spoken of as the "legs."
Questions and observations.
- Make a diagrammatic sketch of a fowl and locate the
principal regions used in the description of the various
breeds.
- Observing the specimens or the pictures of the fowls
at hand, note the size and kind of comb, the appearance
of the wattles, the color of the eyes and ear lobes, the color
in the various regions of the body, the color and any
peculiarity of the legs and feet. If you wish, you may
record your answers in tabular form.
Topics for investigation.
- Look up and report upon the average number of
eggs laid annually, and the number of eggs to the pound,
in the case of the Plymouth Rock, Wyandotte, Rhode
Island Red, Dorking, Brahma, Leghorn, and Minorca.
- Explain the terms "non-setter" and "winter layer."
- When do hens moult? How does this affect the
laying? What schemes have poultry men to bring this
moulting at the most favorable season?
- What is a "balanced ration" as applied to fowls?
What are some methods of feeding which tend to secure
greater egg-production?
- Explain some of the special features of such methods
of housing and keeping chickens as the Philo System,
Corning System, etc.
- What precautions must be taken in raising chickens
so as to prevent disease and attacks of enemies?
- What does it cost per year to keep a dozen hens?
How many can a person keep profitably on a city lot, if
he is not to make a special business of chicken raising?
- How do chickens solve the problem of the garbage
can?
- What are some of the objections made to keeping
chickens in the city? Are these objections well founded,
and if so how may they be met?
- Find out what breeds of chickens are kept in your
neighborhood, and note some of the reasons that are given
for keeping these particular breeds.
GLOSSARY
Ab do' men, (1) the hinder portion of the body of an invertebrate; (2) of
higher animals, the region or cavity containing the stomach, intestine,
etc.
Al bu' men, (1) a proteid substance; (2) "white of egg."
A' nal, pertaining to the anus, or hinder opening of the intestine.
Anal fin, a ventral median fin of fishes, just back of the anus.
Animal Communities, associations of many animals of the same species.
An ten' na, a segmented sensory appendage on the head of an arthropod.
An ten' nule, a small antenna.
An te' ri or, farther forward, in front of; at the head or forward end.
A or' ta, a large artery arising at the heart and forming the trunk of the
arterial system.
Ap' er ture, an opening.
Ap pend' age, a projection from the body, usually one of a pair.
Ar throp' o da, a group of animals with a segmented trunk and paired, segmented
appendages.
Ar ti o dac' tyl, an ungulate with an even number of toes.
A sex' u al, without sex.
Au' di to ry, pertaining to hearing.
Barb, one of the lateral outgrowths of the shaft of a feather, forming the
vane.
Barb ule, a small outgrowth of the barb of a feather.
Bi lat' er al sym' me try, having the right and left sides mirror images one of
the other.
Body cavity, the space between the body wall and the alimentary canal.
Body-wall, the outer wall in bodies of the many-celled animals.
Budding, a form of fission in which a cell or portion of the body forms a
small protuberance or bud, which is then cut off from the parent and
forms a new individual.
Canals, channels through the body-walls of sponges.
Car' a pace, the shell which covers a portion or all of the cephalo-thorax in
crustaceans.
Car' di nal, pertaining to a cardo or hinge.
Car niv' or ous, flesh-eating.
Car ot' id, a large artery which supplies the brain and head with blood.
Car' pal, a bone of the wrist.
Cat' er pil lar, the larva of a butterfly or moth.
Caud al, pertaining to the tail.
Cell, the smallest living unit.
Cell-wall, the lifeless membrane surrounding many cells, secreted by the protoplasm.
Central cavity, the cavity surrounded by the body-wall in the simpler many-celled
animals, as in the sponges.
Ceph a lop' o da, the class to which the squid, octopus, nautilus, etc., belong.
Ceph' al o-tho' rax, the division of the body formed by the fused head and
thorax in many arthropoda.
Cer' vi cal groove, the groove marking the place of union when head and
thorax are merged into a cephalo-thorax.
Cha la' za, one of the spiral masses of albumen found at the two ends of a
bird's egg.
Che' li peds, the large claws in many crustaceans.
Chor-date, animals with a notochord, present throughout life or disappearing.
Chro mat' o phore, color body.
Chrys' a lis, the pupa stage of a butterfly.
Cil' i um (pl. cilia), a minute vibrating hair on the surface of many cells.
Co coon', the envelope spun by certain larval insects in which they are inclosed
during the pupa stage. A similar structure, as the egg-case of spiders,
earthworms, etc.
Cœ' cum (se' kum), a blind pouch or bag; a sac open at one end.
Cœ len te ra' ta, rather simple, sac-like animals with nettle cells in the body
walls.
Co le op' te ra, beetles.
Col' o ny, a group of animals of the same kind found in one locality, usually
related to each other and often actually connected.
Com men' sal ism, an association of two animals, not mutually helpful, but
without injury to either.
Com pound eye, an eye made up of many simple eyes or eye elements.
Com pressed', narrower from side to side than from dorsal to ventral surface.
Con ju ga' tion, a process occurring in some one-celled animals, preceding
reproduction. In this process two animals unite temporarily and exchange
nuclear substance, or in some forms the two cells fuse into one. After
this exchange or fusion fission occurs, usually more rapidly than before.
Contracting or pulsating vacuoles, small, clear spots in a cell, filled with
a watery fluid. In the living animal these alternately disappear and then
reappear.
Co' nus ar te ri o' sus, a cone-shaped artery connected with the ventricle of the
heart.
Cov' ert, a feather overlying the base of the large feathers of the wing or tail.
Cra' ni um, the skull, particularly that part of it inclosing the brain.
Crop, an enlarged portion of the esophagus.
Cross fertilization, a form of fertilization in which the male and female
elements are produced by different individuals.
Crus ta' ce a, aquatic, gill-bearing arthropods, with two pairs of antennæ.
Cu' ti cle, the thin outer skin.
Cy' to plasm, the portion of the protoplasm of a cell which is outside of the
nucleus, less dense than the nucleus and usually taking a lighter stain.
Den' ta ry, the terminal portion or bone of the lower jaw of vertebrates lower
than mammals, containing all or most of the teeth.
Di a phragm, a muscular partition separating the abdomen and thorax, in
mammals.
Dig' i ti grade, walking on the toes.
Di œ' cious, reproductive organs in different individuals.
Dip' te ra, insects with two wings, including flies, mosquitoes, etc.
Dis' tal end, the free end of any object which is attached by one end.
Dor' sal surface, the upper surface; the back.
Du' o de' num, the first portion of the small intestine.
Ec' to derm cells, cells covering the outside of sponges and some other simple
animals.
Egg cell, the large, non-motile reproductive cell, with which a sperm cell
fuses.
Em bry on' ic, development within the egg or in the body of the mother.
En' do derm cells, cells lining inner cavities in the many-celled animals. As
a rule they have cilia or flagella.
E soph' a gus, the portion of the alimentary canal connecting the mouth (or
the pharynx) with the stomach.
Eu sta' chi an (eu sta' kian) tube, a passage between the pharynx and the
middle ear.
Ex ha' lent, flowing or moving away from the body.
Ex' o skel' e ton, an external skeleton.
Eye stalk, an appendage which bears an eye on its free end.
Fe' mur, (1) the thigh bone; (2) the third joint of an insect's leg.
Fer ti li za' tion, the fusion of male and female elements in reproduction.
Fi' bers, flexible threads; fibers of a horny material are found in the walls of
many of the sponges.
Fib' u la, the outer of the two long bones of the lower leg.
Fin, a paddle-like structure for swimming.
Fin-rays, the framework of the fins of fishes.
Fis' sion, a method of reproduction used in all cells, by which a cell divides
itself into two, usually through the center. See also Conjugation and
Budding.
Fla gel' lum (pl. flagella), vibrating hairs larger than cilia and less numerous.
Food-balls, bits of food inside the cells of many one-celled animals, usually
showing through the walls.
Food-vacuole, a small drop of water containing digestive material and a food-ball.
Fo ra' men, an opening or short passage.
Gall-bladder, a membranous sac for the storage of gall, or bile, at the lower
edge of the liver (syn. "bile sac").
Gas ter op' o da, the class to which the snail belongs.
Ge' nus (pl. genera), a group of closely related species.
Germ-spot, the region in the bird's egg in which development first takes
place.
Gill, an apparatus for breathing the air dissolved in water.
Gill-cham' ber, a pocket or cavity covered by a flap, in which the gills lie.
Gir' dle, the name applied to the smooth band often occurring near the anterior
end of an earthworm.
Giz' zard, a portion of the alimentary canal with especially thickened muscular
walls.
Glot' tis, the opening between the vocal cords, or the mouth of the windpipe.
Gre ga' ri ous, associations of animals with little division of labor; gathering
in flocks, herds, etc.
Gullet, the inner end of the oral groove.
He mip' te ra, insects with a piercing organ for sucking their food, Bugs.
He pat' ic, pertaining to the liver.
Her biv' o rous, plant-eating.
Hock, the joint of the hind leg situated between the tibia and tarsus, corresponding
to the ankle in man.
Hu' me rus, the long bone of the upper part of the arm or fore limb.
Hy men op' te ra, order of insects to which belong bees, ants, and wasps.
Ich neu' mon (ic nu' mon), an insect that deposits its eggs upon or in other
insects, upon which its larvæ will feed.
In ha' lent, flowing or moving toward the body.
In ha' lent pores, the outer ends of the canals in the body-walls of sponges.
Ink-sac, a defensive structure found in the squid.
Ju' gu lar, pertaining to the throat.
La' bi um, lower lip.
La' brum, upper lip.
La mell' i branch i a' ta, the class to which the clam, oyster, etc., belong;
bivalves, sometimes called pelecypoda.
Lar' va, (1) the early form of an animal when it is unlike the parent, or
undergoes a metamorphosis; (2) the first stage of postembryonic development.
Lat' er al, (1) situated to one side of the median plane; (2) situated in the
region of the hinge in a bivalve shell.
Lep i dop' te ra, butterflies and moths.
Lig' a ment, a strong band or cord binding two structures together.
Lin' gual, pertaining to the tongue.
Lip, any structure that bounds an orifice.
Mam' mal, vertebrates with a covering of hair or fur.
Man' di ble, a jaw or a jaw-like mouth-part.
Man' tle, folds of skin covering the body of a bivalve.
Masking, the covering of an animal by some object so as to hide its identity.
Max il' læ, the appendages just back of the mandibles in arthropods.
Max' il la ry, pertaining to or situated near the jaw.
Max il' li peds, the appendages back of the maxillæ in crustaceans.
Me' di an, pertaining to the middle.
Mes o gle' a, a non-cellular layer between ectoderm and endoderm cells.
Mes o tho' rax, the middle division of the thorax.
Met a car' pal, one of the bones between the wrist (carpus) and the fingers
(phalanges).
Met a mor' pho sis, the series of changes which take place in the development
of some animals after they are hatched.
Met a tar' sal, one of the bones of the metatarsus, between the ankle and
the toes.
Met a tho' rax, the most posterior region of the thorax.
Mi cro nu' cle us, see Nucleolus.
Mimicry, a method of protection due to the resemblance of an unprotected to
a well-protected animal.
Mol lus' ca, the branch of animals to which clams, snails, etc., belong.
Mo nœ' cious, reproductive organs in different regions of the same individual.
Mouth, the anterior opening into the digestive cavity.
Neph rid' i um (pl. neph rid' i a), a tubule functioning as a kidney in some
of the worms.
Net' tle cells, the stinging cells found in the cœlenterates.
Noc tur' nal, pertaining to night.
Nu cle' o lus (pl. nucleoli), a very small, dense, dark-staining body, either
within the nucleus or near it. In the latter case it is often called the
paranucleus or micronucleus.
Nu' cle us (pl. nuclei), a dense bit of protoplasm usually near the center of a
cell, often staining dark.
O cel' lus, a simple eye.
Om niv' o rous, eating or living upon food of all kinds.
O per' cu lum, a lid or cover.
O' ral, pertaining to the mouth.
Oral groove, a funnel-shaped groove in one side of some one-celled animals
conducting food to the mouth.
Or' der, a term in classification used to designate a group of genera.
Or thop' ter a, the order to which locusts, grasshoppers, etc., belong.
Os' cu lum (pl. oscula), the large opening from the central cavity in sponges.
Os mo' sis, the process by which fluids of different densities become equally
diffused when separated by an organic membrane or by a porous
structure.
Os' ti a (sing. ostium), the inner ends of the canals in the body-walls of
sponges.
O' va ry, the organ in which the egg cells are developed.
O vi pos' i tors, organs used to deposit eggs.
Pal' li al, a line connecting the two muscle scars in a bivalve shell.
Palp, (1) a jointed finger-like structure on the oral appendages of arthropods;
(2) oral appendages found in mollusca.
Pan' cre as, one of the glands of the digestive system.
Par a nu' cle us, see Nucleolus.
Par' a si tism, an association of two animals, one living at the expense of the
other.
Pec' to ral, (1) pertaining to the thorax or breast; (2) the anterior of the
paired fins of fishes.
Pelvic, (1) pertaining to the pelvis; (2) the posterior paired fins of fishes.
Pen, a remnant of exoskeleton found in the squid.
Per i car' di um, a membranous bag surrounding the heart.
Per is so dac' tyl, ungulates with an odd number of toes.
Per' i to ne' um, a membrane that lines the body cavity.
Pha' lanx (pl. phalanges), one of the bones of the fingers or toes.
Phar' ynx, the region of the alimentary canal just back of the mouth cavity.
Pigment, a substance which gives color to an object.
Plan' ti grade, walking on the soles of the feet; flat-footed.
Pol' len bas ket, the flattened hairy tibia of the hind legs of honey bees, used
for carrying pollen.
Pol' lin na tion, the transfer of pollen from the anther of a flower to the stigma.
Polyp, any radially symmetrical animal, but usually an individual in a connected
colony.
Po rif' e ra, the sponges, distinguished by the canals which perforate the body
wall.
Post em bry on' ic, development after birth or hatching.
Pos te' ri or, situated behind or toward the hinder part.
Pro bos' cis, a prolonged, flexible snout or a tubular structure, protruding
from the head.
Pro' leg, an unsegmented appendage found in the larvæ of some insects.
Protective resemblance, a method of protection due to the resemblance of
an animal to its background.
Pro tho' rax, the most anterior division of the thorax.
Pro' to plasm, the living material composing the cell; the physical basis of
life.
Pro to zo' a (sing. protozoön), animals of one cell, existing alone or in loose
colonies.
Prox' i mal end, the attached end of anything which has also a free end.
Pulsating vacuoles, see Contracting vacuoles.
Pu' pa, the stage in the development of an insect immediately preceding the
adult.
Quill, one of the large, stiff, strong flight feathers or tail feathers of a bird;
the hollow, basal part of a feather; a large, hollow, sharp spine.
Ra' di al sym' me try, having the organs or parts arranged symmetrically
around a center.
Re gen er a' tion, the power to grow new parts or organs.
Re' gions, the principal divisions of the body, head, thorax, and abdomen.
Res pi ra' tion, the passage of oxygen into the tissues of a living organism and
of carbon dioxide out of them. These gases can pass through any thin,
moist, organic membrane. When such a membrane separates two fluids
which differ in the amount of oxygen they contain, oxygen passes to the
fluid containing the smaller amount. The same is true of carbon dioxide.
Respiration is believed to occur in all living organisms.
Ro' dent, mammals with curved self-sharpening incisor teeth, order including
mice, rats, squirrels, rabbits, etc.
Ros' trum, a beak-like projection or snout.
Ru' mi nant, chewing the cud.
Sac, a cavity or pouch.
Sa' crum, a composite bone formed by the union of vertebræ in the region of
hips.
Scap' u la, the shoulder-blade.
Sep' tum (pl. sep' ta), a wall or partition between two cavities.
Se' ta (pl. se' tae), small bristles or stiff hairs.
Sex' u al, pertaining to sex.
Si' nus ve no' sus, an enlargement of the termination of the large veins.
Si' phon, a tube-like organ.
So' mites, the serial segments or rings composing the bodies of many animals.
Spe' ci es, a word used in classification to designate a group of animals differing
only in minor details.
Sper' ma ry, the organ in which sperm cells are developed.
Sperm cells, the small, often motile, reproductive cell, which fuses with the
egg cell.
Spic' ules, tiny needles of mineral substance found in the walls of many animals,
notably sponges.
Spi' ra cle, an opening into the tracheal breathing organs of insects.
Spire, the coiled portion of a gasteropod shell.
Spore, a cell capable of developing into a new organism.
Sternum, a bone extending along the lower middle line of the chest region.
Stom' ach, the region of the alimentary canal especially adapted to digest
food.
Stom' ach-in tes' tine, a region of the alimentary canal adapted to both digest
and absorb food.
Sub cla' vi an, situated beneath the clavicle.
Su' ture, the junction of two contiguous structures.
Swim' mer ets, the abdominal appendages in crustaceans.
Sym bi o' sis, an association of two animals which is mutually helpful.
Tar' sal, one of the bones of the tarsus or ankle.
Tar' sus, (1) the ankle; (2) the fifth or terminal joint in an insect's leg.
Ten' ta cles, special organs for touch; also used sometimes for other purposes.
Terrifying attitudes, protective attitudes assumed by some animals.
Tho' rax, the region of the body between the head and abdomen.
Tib' i a, (1) the shin-bone; (2) the fourth joint of an insect's leg.
Tooth, (1) an organ used in mastication; (2) a tooth-like projection.
Tra' che a, a tube which carries air either to the respiratory organ or to the
tissues.
Trunk, the portion of the body between head and tail.
Tu' ber cle, a knob-like projection.
Ul' na, that bone of the forearm which is on the same side as the little finger.
Um' bo (pl. umbones), an elevation near the anterior end of a bivalve shell.
Un' gu lates, hoofed mammals.
U re' ter, a duct connecting the kidney with the urinary bladder.
U' ro style, a long bone forming the hinder extremity of the vertebral column
of tailless amphibia.
Vac' u oles, small, clear spots in cells, filled with a watery fluid. See Food-vacuoles
and Contracting vacuoles.
Valve, (1) a membranous fold which allows the blood, or other fluids, to flow
in only one direction; (2) one of the two parts of the shell of a bivalve.
Vein, (1) a blood-vessel carrying blood toward the heart; (2) one of the
tubular thickenings of an insect's wing.
Ve' na ca' va, a large vein emptying into the right auricle of the heart.
Ven' tral, situated on the under surface.
Ven' tri cle, any cavity of a hollow organ, as of the brain or heart.
Ver' mes, the worms, a poorly defined group of animals, showing bilateral
symmetry but without segmented appendages.
Ver' te bra, one of the bones of the spinal column.
Ver' te brates, animals having a backbone.
Vi bris' sæ, long hairs on the face.
Vis' ce ra (pl. of viscus), the organs of one of the great cavities of the body
(the abdomen, the thorax, or the cranium), usually meaning those of the
abdomen.
Vi va' ri um, a cage in which living animals are kept.
Warning colors, bright colors which render an animal free from attack.
Whorl, a single coil in the spire of a gasteropod shell.
Yolk, food material of an egg.
FOOTNOTES
Transcriber's corrections
- p. 5: [a.] A cockroach, seen from above.
- p. 116: the slit inclosed between[beween] the vocal cords, opening
- p. 140: or color, if there are any.[?]
- p. 146: [E.] Studies of Mammals
- p. 162: and zoölogical[zoological] gardens.
- p. 165: wears away properly of itself, but the shod[shed] hoof needs