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_THE CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE SERIES._

EDITED BY HAVELOCK ELLIS.

THE INDUSTRIES OF ANIMALS.




THE INDUSTRIES OF ANIMALS.

BY

FREDERIC HOUSSAY.


WITH 44 ILLUSTRATIONS.


LONDON:
WALTER SCOTT, LTD.,
24 WARWICK LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW.


1893.




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 larvae 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




THE INDUSTRIES OF ANIMALS.




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.

The naturalist of to-day usually lives more in the laboratory than in
the country. Occasional expeditions to the coast or dredgings are the
only links that attach him to nature; the scalpel and the microtome
have replaced the collector's pins, and the magnifying glass gives
place to the microscope. When the observer begins to pursue his
studies in the laboratory he no longer cares to pass the threshold. He
has still so much to learn concerning the most common creatures that
it seems useless to him to waste his time in seeking those that are
rarer, unless he takes into account the unquestionable pleasure of
rambling through woods or along coasts;--but such a consideration does
not belong to the scientific domain.

A change of conditions of this nature does not suffice to create a
science. To take away from a study all that rendered it pleasant and
easy, and to make it the property of a small coterie, when it was
formerly accessible to all, is not sufficient to render it scientific.
It is a fatality rather than a triumph to have undergone such a
change. The change is an effect rather than a cause.

When little or nothing was known it was necessary to begin by
examining the phenomena which first met the eyes of the observer, such
as the customs of animals and the characters which distinguished them
from each other. Their differences and resemblances were studied; they
were formed into groups, classed and arranged in an order recalling as
much as possible their natural relations. In classifying it is
impossible to consider all the facts or the result would be chaos; it
is necessary to choose the characters and to give preponderance to
certain of them. This sorting of characters has been executed with the
sagacity of genius by the illustrious naturalists of the last century
and the beginning of the present. But the frames which they have
traced are fixed and rigid; nature with her infinite plasticity
escapes from them. We render a great homage to the classifiers when we
say that they have confined the facts as closely as it is possible to
