Part 2

Madame Merian -- Her Truth Impeached -- Her Story of the Lantern-fly -- Denials of its Luminosity by Entomologists -- Confirmation of it by Lacordaire -- By Spinola -- By Wesmael -- English Insects only Occasionally Luminous -- Mole-cricket -- The Cause of ignis fatuus -- Crane-fly -- Luminous Caterpillars -- Perhaps a Disease.

Madame Merian again Arraigned -- Her Account of Spiders Preying on Humming-birds -- Mr MacLeay's Denial and Proof of the Negative -- Comment on his Evidence -- Langsdorff's Evidence -- Ceylon Spiders -- Sir E. Tennent's Criticisms -- Collateral Evidence for the Affirmative -- Strong Webs of Nephila -- The Solfuga of India -- Account of its Habits -- Attacks and Overcomes Small Birds -- Captain Sherwill Saw a Spider Eating a Bird in India -- Moreau de Jonnès' Direct Confirmation of Merian -- Mr H. Bates's Conclusive Testimony, 220

VIII. FASCINATION.

Power Attributed to Serpents of Paralysing their Prey -- Dr Bird's Story of Black Snake -- Rattlesnake and Squirrel -- Cobra and Lizard -- African Snake and Mouse -- Snake and Frog -- Habits of the Boomslange -- Snake and Shrike -- Snake and Mouse -- Dr Evans's Observations on Serpents at the Zoological Gardens -- Ringed Snake and Hedge Sparrow -- Snake and Robin -- Indian Serpent and Eel -- Attempted Explanations -- Mr Martin's Observations -- Barton Attributes the Phenomena to Maternal Love -- Explanation Inadequate -- The Power Exercised by Other Animals -- Lizard and Butterfly -- Scorpion and Fly -- Stoats and Hares -- Foxes and Pullets -- Eagle and Rabbit -- Attractive Power of Fire -- Entomologist's Bull's-eye Lamp -- Yard-fire in Alabama -- Insects come to the Fire -- Titmouse around a Gas-lamp -- Bell Rock Lighthouse visited by Herring-gull -- Fire Fascinates Toads in Africa, 242

IX. SERPENT-CHARMING.

Revulsion Inspired by the Serpent -- Persons Professing Immunity against Venomous Serpents -- Scriptural Allusions -- The Ancient Psylli and Marsi -- Babylonian Magician -- Atyr -- Immunity Distinct from Serpent-charming -- Hexagon the Ambassador -- Posterity of Psylli in Sennaar -- Bruce's Curious Account -- Various Plants Antidotic to Serpent-venom -- Experiments on Simaba Cedron -- Peruvian Serpents and Remedies -- Various South American Antidotes -- Vejuco of Venezuela -- Grass of Dahomey -- Immunity of Mangouste -- Anecdotes -- Of Hedgehog -- Bruce's Account of the Cerastes -- Hasselquist's Observations -- Psyllic Woman -- Power of Spittle -- Influence of Music on Serpents -- Proceedings of Egyptian Charmers -- Rattlesnake Charmed by a Flute -- Cobra of India Attracted by Music -- Occasional Failures and Fatalities -- Anecdotes -- Comments -- Psylli in London -- Are the Poison-fangs Extracted? -- Power of Snake-stones -- Napier's and Tennent's Accounts -- Faraday's Analysis -- Plant-remedies, 263

X. BEAUTY.

Delight in Beauty -- Divine Appreciation of it -- Magnificent Flower in a Thicket -- Beauty of Deer -- Pet Fawn -- Eye of Gazelle -- Spotted Fur -- Zebra-stripes -- Birds -- Spoonbills on the Amazon -- Carolina Parakeet -- Cock of the Rock -- Soft blending in the Goatsuckers -- Resplendent Trogon -- Metallic Colours -- Rifle-bird -- Plume-birds -- Iridescent Hues -- Sun-birds -- Humming-birds -- Mexican Names -- Jamaican Humming-birds -- Mango -- Long-tail -- Cause of changeable Lustre -- Angle of Light -- Other Examples -- Region of the Amazon and Rio Negro -- Birds -- Fiery Topaz Humming-bird -- Cerro of Potosi -- Night-blowing Cactus -- Bar-tail Comet -- Pheasant tribe -- Chinese Pheasants -- Fire-back of Java -- Argus of Malacca -- Impeyan of India -- Polyprectons -- Peacock -- Wild Peacock-shooting -- Paradise-birds -- Emerald -- His Vanity in Dress -- Splendour of Insects -- Metallic Beetles -- Soft Refulgence -- Gem-scales -- Butterflies -- Changes of Hue -- Opalescence -- Ray on the "Cui bono?" -- Smith on South American Butterflies -- Splendour of Spiders -- in Jamaica -- in Borneo -- Tortoise-beetles -- Beauty of Plants -- Mosses -- Ferns -- Palms -- Grasses -- Bamboo -- in Jamaica -- in Madagascar -- Plantains -- Scene in Tahiti -- Beauty exceeds our Power of Imbibing it -- Flowers -- Orchideæ -- Sobralia -- Cypripedium -- Anæctochilus -- Dendrobium -- Huntleya -- Scene in Guiana -- Death of Reiss -- Rhododendrons of Himalayas -- of Borneo -- Lightning-tree of Madagascar -- Flamboyant -- Barbadoes Pride -- Burmese tree -- Le Bois Immortel -- Scene in Tartary -- Microscopic Beauties of London Pride, 302

XI. PARASITES.

Fleas on fleas ad infinitum -- Intestinal Worms -- Economy of Creation -- Epiphyte Vegetation -- Life in a Sea-weed -- Orchids in the Tropics -- Parasitic Fig-trees -- Lianes -- in Ceylon -- Parasitism in Insects -- Ichneumons -- Kirby's Discovery of Stylops -- Economy -- Oil-beetle -- Medusa and Shrimp -- Medusa parasitic on Medusa -- Fish in Stomach of Star-fish -- Crab and Sponge -- Hermit Crab and Polype -- Parasites in Corals -- Ostrich parasitic on Ostrich -- Cuckoo and Cowpen birds -- Veneration of Small Birds for Cuckoo -- Slavery among Ants -- Nigger-hunting, 359

APPENDIX.

Sea-serpent -- Additional Testimonies to its Existence -- Statement of Consul Grattan -- Communication from Mr Stephen Cave, 387

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PLATE PAGE

I. FASCINATION (Frontispiece).

II. ENCOUNTER WITH A MOA, 36

III. SPEARING THE ANCIENT ELK, 56

IV. THE CLIMBING PERCH, 122

V. TOAD IN A HOLE, 158

VI. BIRD-EATING SPIDER, 240

VII. SNAKE-CHARMING, 278

VIII. ANTELOPES, 304

IX. PLUME-BIRD, 310

X. PEACOCK-SHOOTING, 326

THE ROMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY.

THE EXTINCT.

If it is a scene of painful interest, as surely it is to a well-constituted mind, to stand by and watch the death-struggles of one of the nobler brutes,--a dog or an elephant, for example,--to mark the failing strength, the convulsive throes, the appealing looks, the sobs and sighs, the rattling breath, the glazing eye, the stiffening limbs--how much more exciting is the interest with which we watch the passing away of a dying species. For species have their appointed periods as well as individuals: viewed in the infinite mind of GOD, the Creator, from the standpoint of eternity, each form, each race, had its proper duration assigned to it--a duration which, doubtless, varied in the different species as greatly as that assigned to the life of one individual animal differs from that assigned to the life of another. As the elephant or the eagle may survive for centuries, while the horse and the dog scarcely reach to twenty years, and multitudes of insects are born and die within a few weeks, so one species may have assigned to its life, for aught I know, a hundred thousand years as its normal period, and another not more than a thousand. If creation was, with respect to the species, what I have elsewhere proved it was with respect to the individual,--a violent irruption into the cycle of life--then we may well conceive this to have taken place at very varying relative periods in the life-history of the different species;--that is to say, that at a given date, (viz., that of creation) one species might be just completing, ideally, its allotted course, another just commencing, and a third attaining its meridian.

Certain it is, that not a few species of animals have died during the present constitution of things. Races, which we know on indubitable evidence to have existed during the dominion of man, have died out, have become extinct, so that not a single individual survives. The entire totality of individuals which constituted the species, have, in these cases, ceased to be. Some of these seem to have died at a very early era of human history; but others at a comparatively recent period, and some even within our own times. Even within the last twenty years several animals have been taken, of which it is highly probable that not a single representative remains on the earth; while there are others yet again, which we know to be reduced to a paucity so extreme, that their extinction can scarcely be delayed more than a few years at most. Thus we may consider ourselves as standing by the dying-beds of these creatures, with the consciousness that we shall soon see them no more; that the sentence is gone forth against them; that their sands are running to the last grains, and that no effort of ours can materially prolong their existence. The facts from which these conclusions are drawn are highly curious, and I shall endeavour to lay them, with as much brevity as they will allow, before my readers.