Part 1

AGRICULTURAL ZOOLOGY

DR. J. RITZEMA BOS,

LECTURER IN THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, WAGENINGEN, HOLLAND.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

ELEANOR A. ORMEROD, F.R.MET.S., F.R.M.S., ETC.,

FORMERLY HON. CONSULTING ENTOMOLOGIST TO THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND.

TRANSLATED BY

J. R. AINSWORTH DAVIS, B.A. (TRIN. COLL. CAMB.), F.C.P.,

PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF WALES, AND PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY AND GEOLOGY IN THE SCIENTIFIC AND AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF WALES.

WITH 149 ILLUSTRATIONS.

LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL, LD. 1894

AUTHOR’S PREFACE.

The present volume of the Thaer Library was undertaken with the intention of providing agricultural colleges with a condensed review of the entire animal kingdom, but treating in greater detail the animals harmful or helpful to agriculture. I have, however, omitted all reference to the domesticated farm animals, as in all such institutions these are treated of, not by the zoologist, but by the lecturer on stock-breeding. Although the book is not allowed to exceed a certain size, I have taken great pains to make it intelligible, and venture to hope that it may be found suitable for the private use of the practical farmer. To the farmer who wishes more exhaustive information, and desires a reference book on the animal foes of agriculture, stock-breeding, horticulture, fruit-tree culture, and forestry, I venture to point out my larger work, Animal Foes and Friends, brought out last year by the publisher of this book.

Footnote 1:

Tierische Schädlinge und Nützlinge für Ackerbau, Viehzucht, Wald- und Gartenbau. Lebensformen, Vorkommen, Einfluss und die Massregeln zu Vertilgung und Schutz. Praktisches Handbuch v. Dr. J. Ritzema Bos, Docent an der landwirtschaftl. Lehranstalt in Wageningen. Mit 477 eingedruckten Abbildungen. Preis 18 m., geb. 20 m. Verlag von Paul Parey, 10 Hedemannstrasse, Berlin, S.W.

It is hoped that the present volume may be found serviceable, both in the teaching of agricultural institutions, and to the practical farmer.

DR. J. RITZEMA BOS.

WAGENINGEN, February, 1892.

TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE.

Agricultural education is making such rapid strides in this country, that no apology is needed for translating a book which appears to fill a gap, especially as it is written by a well-known authority. Dr. Ritzema Bos has kindly allowed certain small alterations to be made which adapt the work to the requirements of British agriculture. Additions are indicated by square brackets, and small print employed in the case of some non-British animals. A few forms have been omitted for similar reasons. Constant reference has been made to the published works of Miss E. A. Ormerod, who has added to my obligation by writing an Introduction, and I also wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. J. H. Salter, B.Sc., and Mr. J. Dawson Roberts, M.R.C.V.S., for kind help given by them.

J. R. AINSWORTH DAVIS.

ABERYSTWYTH, May, 1894

INTRODUCTION.

By request of Professor Ainsworth Davis, the skilled translator of this “handy-book” on “Agricultural Zoology,” I add some words of introduction; and I have especial pleasure in so doing: not that any observations of mine can add value to the work of the well-known author, but because, having myself had the advantage for many years of colleagueship, and important help in my own work from the assistance of Dr. Ritzema Bos, I am well acquainted both with his extensive knowledge and also his scrupulous care in observation, and I believe that this abstract of his larger work, now given in a form in which it is available for general use, will meet a great need.

We have long wanted a book, plain in wording, and of moderate size, dealing with the wild animals or animal infestations generally which occur in connection with farm life—a manual, in fact, which, whilst suitable for the use of agricultural students and teachers, should at the same time not be too technically scientific to be intelligible to practical farmers or to general readers.

In the pages of the present volume a very serviceable amount of information will be found to be embodied. So far as can be arranged in the limited space the chief characteristics of the main divisions of the animal kingdom are given, from the Vertebrata—including descriptions of some of our most notable forms of what may be popularly described as beasts, birds, and reptiles,—to the Arthropoda, including information on a most serviceable amount of insect infestation; also regarding Mites, Ticks, etc. These are followed by the Vermes, including, among other families of the Nematoda, the eelworms which cause so much injury to crop growth; and these are followed by the intestinal tapeworms and the fluke.

The fourth sub-kingdom, that of Mollusca, includes, besides snails and slugs, various kinds of shell-fish; and the lower sub-kingdoms—including Echinodermata, which may be typified by starfishes and sea urchins, the Cœlenterata, or Zoophytes, and the Protozoa—will be found to be just entered on sufficiently to show their place in the scale.

The clear descriptions, made still more instructive by the numerous and good figures, will speak for themselves to all readers; but I should like to add a few lines to point out the serviceableness of a handbook in which the reader may turn at pleasure to the history of any common farm animal—as a weasel or a vole, a wood-pigeon or a pheasant, a blindworm or a common frog. And, in regard to the insect infestations, to which it will be seen more than a hundred pages of the book are devoted, I can bear witness to the great amount of valuable information which I constantly derive myself from the study of the writings of Dr. Ritzema Bos on this subject; and I trust this little manual of “Agricultural Zoology” may take the place in our farm and school libraries which I believe it to be excellently fitted to fill.