Homes Without Hands: Being a Description of the Habitations of Animals, Classed According to Their Principle of Construction

We will now proceed to cut open one of these nests in order to view its structure.

The outer covering is remarkably close, stiff, and tough, although very thin, and crackles like parchment as the scissors pass through it. When cut, it is found to be almost distinct from the nest which it covers, being only attached to the projecting ends of the leaf-stems, and so slightly fastened to them that it can be lifted off without injury, only leaving a few threads adherent to the stem.

We now turn back the severed flap, and the body of the nest comes to view. In the dry state the leaf-stems are so hard that they require a strong and sharp pair of scissors to penetrate them. I nearly broke a moderately fine pair of scissors in a vain endeavor to open the nest. Even in their fresh state the stems must have been tolerably strong, and the architect must have possessed a powerful pair of jaws for their severance. The stems are crossed upon each other, much as confectioners cross sticks of chocolate, so that the ends slightly protrude, and a hollow space is left in the centre. Pressed tightly among the sticks are fragments of leaves, not torn from the small delicate portions, but cut completely through the largest nervures, and seeming, indeed, as if the strongest parts of the leaves were intentionally selected. In the specimens now before me the upper surface of the leaf is always toward the exterior of the nest.

We now take a very strong and sharp pair of scissors, push one point into the nest, and carefully cut a flap corresponding with the severed portion of the silken cover. The flap is easily turned back, and discloses a smooth and silken lining, much resembling that which forms the cover. The lining, however, is softer than the cover, and does not crackle when bent. Thus we see that the nest consists of four distinct layers: first, the soft silken lining, then a cover of leaf-fragments, then a protecting chevaux-de-frise of stems, and lastly a cover of silk, so that the inhabitant is as well protected from weather and foes as can be imagined.

The next proceeding is to discover the architects of the nests.

This is easily done, for some of the architects have assumed their perfect state during the voyage home, while others are preserved by spirits, in which their discoverer has thoughtfully placed some specimens.

Here I may be allowed to mention that the example set by Mr. W. J. Tomkinson, who sent over these interesting objects, is one which is well worthy of imitation. Residents in other countries are too apt to forget the interests of their own, and they soon become familiar with the objects which at first are new and strange to them, and at last become entirely indifferent. Even when they do take the trouble to collect and send home a few objects, they do so in such a manner that they are almost useless, no description being given of them, and no clew afforded which can help the home-staying student.

Here, however, proper pains have been taken, and the value of the objects is in consequence multiplied a hundred-fold. A number of nests were sent as they were collected from the branches, and, in order to show that the architect is not confined to one species of tree, they have been carefully selected from several trees, such as the oak, acacia, and alder. My specimens are taken from the last-mentioned tree. Knowing that the pupæ would become moths in the course of the voyage, Mr. Tomkinson placed a number of them in the box, so that a perfect series of the insect has been obtained, namely, the male and female, pupa and larva, some in the dried state and others in spirits, in order that the internal anatomy might be examined.

Before the male caterpillar changes into a chrysalis it reverses its position, so that the head is close to the orifice which was previously occupied by the tail. When it has completed its change, and is about to issue into the world, it forces itself out of the nest as far as the base of the abdomen. The female never leaves her home, and never changes her attitude, and scarcely changes her form. After she has emerged from the pupal state she seems to return to her former condition, and would be taken by any ordinary observer for a caterpillar of more than ordinary fatness. She has no wings, and no legs to speak of, these members being needless in a creature that never changes her position. It is rather curious that the males should ever be able to find their spouses, but they are probably led by an instinct which we can not comprehend, as is the case with several of the larger British moths.

The male is a rather small though stoutly-made insect, and is not at all attractive in color, being simple brown, with a few black markings on the wings. The antennæ, however, are very beautiful, being doubly feathered, like those of the House-builder Moth, the feathering being widest at the base, and narrowing gradually to the tip. The whole of the body is clothed with long, dense, and soft hair, of a pale brown, and having a silken lustre. These beautiful nests were brought to the Museum by E. H. Armitage, Esq., who kindly presented me with the specimens which have been described.

A SOMEWHAT similar nest, but of a much more formidable aspect, was discovered by W. B. Lord, Esq., R.A., and has been figured in the Boys' Own Magazine for August, 1864. The shape of the nest is very remarkable, and is exactly that of a soda-water bottle suspended by its neck. A very tolerable imitation of this curious nest could be made by coating a soda-water bottle with clay, and sticking it full of porcupine quills, with the points radiating on every side. The following is Mr. Lord's own description:

"On looking closely at the thorny, sinuous branches, we shall see a number of little pendent prickly things, each hanging to its own silken cord, like juvenile hedgehogs 'lynched' by the fairies of the spring.

"These are a peculiar species of 'tree-caddis,' which, as far as I know, are as yet undescribed by any one. Their cases are curiously armed with thorns, nipped from the tree on which they hang. The thorns are all disposed with their points outward, and are stuck into a strong, glutinous material of which the body of the case is composed, and they look for all the world like the spikes of chevaux-de-frise. A web-like skein of singularly strong material serves as a rope whereby to swing the caddis-case from the branch to which it is attached. And a nest more difficult to swallow, and hard to digest, its enemies would be rather puzzled to find."

As is frequently the case with such nests, the peculiar form serves a double purpose, namely, protection and concealment, the sharp points of the thorns performing the former duty, and their similarity to surrounding objects the latter. Acacias are conspicuous for the thorns with which their branches and sometimes their trunks are studded, and in several species the wooden bayonets are several inches in length, and as large and sharp as porcupine quills. These thorns are crowded thickly on the branches, and always diverge from each other, so that the hand can scarcely be insinuated among the boughs without suffering several wounds. The nest being surrounded with these thorns, it is evident that all ordinary foes would be baffled by such an array of points, no matter how anxious they might be to get at the creature within.

The thorns are equally efficient as a means of concealment, for, as they are taken from the tree itself, they cause the nest to harmonize so perfectly with surrounding objects that it is not very easily perceived.

As long as the caterpillar remains in its larval state, and is obliged to feed, it traverses the branches freely, carrying with it the prickly home, and bearing the whole of its weight as it moves. But when the pupal stage has nearly arrived, the nest is suspended to the branch by strong silken threads, and thenceforth remains immovable.

CHAPTER XXXII, MISCELLANEA.

The POLYZOA and their varied and beautiful Forms.—The RAFT SPIDER.—Why so called.—Mode of obtaining Prey.—Mice and their Homes.—The CAMPAGNOL or Harvest-mouse.—Its general Habits.—Its winter and summer Nest.—Its Storehouse and Provisions.—Entrance to the Nest.—The WOOD MOUSE and its Nest.—Uses of the Field-mice.—The Domestic MOUSE.—Various Nests.—Rapidity of Nest-building.—A Nest in a Bottle.—The Cell of the Queen Termite.—Its Entrances and Exits.—Size of the Inmates.—The FUNGUS ANT and its singular Home.—Material, Structure, and Size of the Nest.—The CLOTHES MOTHS and their various Species.—Habitations of the Clothes Moth, and the Method of Formation and Enlargement.—The ELK and its winter Home.—The Snow Fortress and its Leaguers.—Its Use, Advantages, and Dangers.—The ALBATROSS and its Mode of Nesting.—Strange Scenes.—The EDIBLE SWALLOW.—Its Mode of Nesting.—Origin of its Name.—Description of the Nest.—Curious Legend respecting the Bird.—The EAGLE and its Mode of Nesting.—Difficulty of reaching the Eyrie.—The NIGHTJAR and its Nest.—Other ground-building Birds and their temporary Homes.—The NODDY.—Perilous Position of the Eggs and Young.—The COOT, and its semi-aquatic Nest.

In this, the concluding chapter, are described sundry habitations which can not well be classed in any of the previously mentioned groups, and which present some peculiarities which render them worthy of a separate notice.

We will begin with two aquatic habitations, one fixed, and set below the surface of the water, and the other movable and floating upon it.

ANY one who is in the habit of frequenting the sea-shore must have observed certain rough, leaf-like objects, which are popularly called Sea Mats, one of which is shown, of its natural size, at Fig. 13. These objects are popularly supposed to be sea-weeds, and are therefore called Lemon-weeds, because they give forth an odor which somewhat resembles the fragrant oil of the Lemon-peel. Their origin, however, is of an animal and not a vegetable nature, for they are the submarine houses of a vast class of animals technically called POLYZOA, because many distinct animals are associated together in one community.

POLYZOA.

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For many years their place in the scale of creation was extremely dubious, but they are now acknowledged to be allied to the molluscs, and to be really of a higher nature than the bright and active insects. In general form they so resemble the zoophytes that the two great groups have been confused together, although they are in reality farther apart than the monkey and the snail. They assume various forms, which may be reduced to three, namely, a flat, leaf-like shape, a form as of delicate branching twigs, and a flat series of cells spreading over other substances, such as the stem or frond of a sea-weed, an empty shell, or submerged plant, and similar objects.

The most familiar of these Polyzoa is the common Sea Mat, which has already been mentioned, and which is called by the scientific name of Flustra foliacea. If the finger be passed over one of these leaf-like objects, a decided roughness is felt, like the surface of a file, and if it be drawn through the hand from base to tip, the roughness becomes so marked that the leaf can hardly pass. The reason for this roughness may be seen by reference to Fig. 12, which is a magnified representation of a part of the same object. It will be seen that the Flustra is composed of a vast number of cells, each cell being furnished with little tooth-like projections, which produce the roughness already mentioned.