NOTE.
The English edition of this book has been revised throughout and enlarged, with the author’s co-operation. Numerous bibliographical references have also been added. The illustrations, when not otherwise stated, are in most cases adapted from Brehm’s Thierleben.
CONTENTS.
- CHAPTER I. [Introduction]
- The naturalists of yesterday and the naturalists of to-day — Natural history and the natural sciences — The theory of Evolution — The chief industries of Man — The chief industries of Animals — Intelligence and instinct — Instinctive actions originate in reflective actions — The plan of study of the various industries.
- CHAPTER II. [Hunting — Fishing — Wars and Expeditions]
- The Carnivora more skilful hunters than the Herbivora — Different methods of hunting — Hunting in ambush — The baited ambush — Hunting in the dwelling or in the burrow — Coursing — Struggles that terminate the hunt — Hunting with projectiles — Particular circumstances put to profit — Methods for utilising the captured game — War and brigandage — Expeditions to acquire slaves — Wars of the ants.
- CHAPTER III. [Methods of Defence]
- Flight — Feint — Resistance in common by social animals — Sentinels.
- CHAPTER IV. [Provisions and Domestic Animals]
- Provisions laid up for a short period — Provisions laid up for a long period — Animals who construct barns — Physiological reserves — Stages between physiological reserves and provisions — Animals who submit food to special treatment in order to facilitate transport — Care bestowed on harvested provisions — Agricultural ants — Gardening ants — Domestic animals of ants — Degrees of civilisation in the same species of ants — Aphis-pens and paddocks — Slavery among ants.
- CHAPTER V. [Provision for Rearing the Young]
- The preservation of the individual and the preservation of the species — Foods manufactured by the parents for their young — Species which obtain for their larvæ foods manufactured by others — Carcasses of animals stored up — Provision of paralysed living animals — The cause of the paralysis — The sureness of instinct — Similar cases in which the specific instinct is less powerful and individual initiative greater — Genera less skilful in the art of paralysing victims.
- CHAPTER VI. [Dwellings]
- Animals naturally provided with dwellings — Animals who increase their natural protection by the addition of foreign bodies — Animals who establish their home in the natural or artificial dwellings of others — Classification of artificial shelters — Hollowed dwellings — Rudimentary burrows — Carefully-disposed burrows — Burrows with barns adjoined — Dwellings hollowed out in wood — Woven dwellings — Rudiments of this industry — Dwellings formed of coarsely-entangled materials — Dwellings woven of flexible substances — Dwellings woven with greater art — The art of sewing among birds — Modifications of dwellings according to season and climate — Built dwellings — Paper nests — Gelatine nests — Constructions built of earth — Solitary masons — Masons working in association — Individual skill and reflection — Dwellings built of hard materials united by mortar — The dams of beavers.
- CHAPTER VII. [The Defence and Sanitation of Dwellings]
- General precautions against possible danger — Separation of females while brooding — Hygienic measures of Bees — Prudence of Bees — Fortifications of Bees — Precautions against inquisitiveness — Lighting up the nests.
- CHAPTER VIII. [Conclusion]
- Degree of perfection in industry independent of zoological superiority — Mental faculties of the lower animals of like nature to Man’s.
- [Appendix]
- [Index]
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
THE NATURALISTS OF YESTERDAY AND THE NATURALISTS OF TO-DAY — NATURAL HISTORY AND THE NATURAL SCIENCES — THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION — THE CHIEF INDUSTRIES OF MAN — THE CHIEF INDUSTRIES OF ANIMALS — INTELLIGENCE AND INSTINCT — INSTINCTIVE ACTIONS ORIGINATE IN REFLECTIVE ACTIONS — THE PLAN OF STUDY OF THE VARIOUS INDUSTRIES.
The naturalists of yesterday and the naturalists of to-day. — The study of animals, plants, rocks, and of natural objects generally, was formerly called “natural history”; but this term is tending to disappear from our vocabulary and to give place to the term “natural sciences.” What is the reason of this change, and to what does it correspond? for it is rare for a word to be modified in so short a time if the thing designated has not itself varied.
Exterior forms have certainly changed, and the naturalist of yesterday makes upon us the impression of a legendary being. I refer to the person described in George Sand’s romances, marching vigorously over hills and valleys in search of a rare insect, which he pricked with delight, or of a plant difficult to reach, which he triumphantly dried and fixed on a leaf of paper bearing the date of the discovery and the name of the locality. A herbarium became a sort of journal, recalling to its fortunate possessor all the wanderings of the happy chase, all the delightful sounds and sights of the country. Every naturalist concealed within him a lover of idylls or eclogues. Assuredly all the preliminary studies which resulted from these excursions were necessary; we owe gratitude to our predecessors, and we profit from their labours, sometimes regretting the loss of the picturesque fashion in which their researches were carried out.