770 



Till-: STANDARD DKTloNAIJV <>F FACTS 



illy distributed, but i- rare in the Aiistra- 

 liaii region, one species being found in Celebes 

 and one in Australia. Three species are Euro- 

 pean. The common American species is more 

 active than the European species, moving prin- 

 cipally by leaping. The body is .swollen and 

 heavy-looking, covered with a warty skin, head 

 large', flat, and toothless, with a rounded, blunt 

 miu/le. There is a swelling above the eyes 

 1 with pores, and the parotids are large. 

 thick, and prominent, and secrete an acrid 

 fluid; when handled or irritated, these animals 

 can eject a watery fluid from the vent. lint 

 neither the secretion from the parotids nor the 

 i fluid is harmful to man, and there is 

 little doubt but that its effects on the lower 

 animals have been much exaggerated. The 

 toad has four fingers and five partially webbed 

 Toads are terrestrial, hiding in damp, 

 dark places during the day. and crawling with 

 the head near the ground/ They are extremely 

 tenacious of life, and can exist a long time 

 without food. 



Turtle. The popular name for any species 

 of the Cheloniidsc. They may be distinguished 

 by their long, compressed, fin-shaped, non-re- ] 

 tractile feet, with the toes inclosed in a common 

 skin, from which only one or two claws project, i 

 The carapace is broad and much depressed, so 

 that when these animals are on shore, and are 

 turned over on their backs, they cannot regain 

 the natural position. Turtles are marine ani- ; 

 mals; their pinnate feet and light sheel renders 

 them excellent swimmers. They sometimes I 

 live at a great distance from land, to which they 

 periodically return to deposit their soft-shelled 

 e^s (from 100 to 250 in number) in the sand. : 

 They are found in all the inter-tropical seas, j 

 and sometimes travel into the temperate zones. 

 The flesh and eggs of all the species are edible, 

 though the Indian turtles are less valuable in 

 this respect than those of the Atlantic. The 

 most highly valued of the family is the green 

 turtle (Chelonia viridis), from which turtle soup 

 i- made. It attains a large size, sometimes 

 from six to seven feet long, with a weight of 

 from 700 to 800 pounds. The popular name 

 has no reference to the color of the carapace, 

 which is dark olive, passing into dingy white, 

 but the green fat so highly prized by epicures. 

 The edible turtle of the East Indies is also 

 highly prized. 



Walrus. A marine carnivorous mammal, 

 closely related to seals and sea lions. It is known 

 by its enormous down-turned tusks, or canine 

 teeth, projecting from the upper jaw. They 

 sometimes reach a length of sixteen inches be- 

 yond the sockets. Walruses have a thick clumsy 

 body, deepest at the shoulders, and their feet, 

 which are adapted for swimming, are also fur- 

 rowed so as to hold on to smooth surfaces. They 

 reach a length of twelve feet or more a nd a weight 

 of 2,200 pounds. There are two living species, 

 one found in the Atlantic and one in the Pacific. 

 The Atlantic form is still found on the coast of 

 . Labrador and Hudson Bay, but formerly ex- 

 tended further south. The Pacific form is more 

 northern, being rarely found on the mainland. 

 They feed largely on clams and other mollusks, 

 which they dig from the sea bottom with their 



tu-k-. They visit islands and ice floes, ;m il t >on- 

 gregale in considerable numbers during the 

 breeding period. They are hunted for their 

 hides and oil. 



Wasp. Any one of a considerable group of 

 insects, forming, with bees ami ant-, the highest 

 order of insect* > 1 1 ymenoptera i. These well- 

 known insects show some variation in form, 

 sometimes the thorax and abdomen are con- 

 nected by a slender thread: in other forms these 

 parts of the body merge into one another. The 

 social wasps, like the hornet, or yellow jacket. 

 are the he>t known. They build nests of paper 

 attached to bushes, trees, roofs, and eaves of 

 buildings. The paper is manufactured from 

 wood fiber obtained from posts and unpainted 

 boards. This is chewed in the jaws and united 

 into sheets, often of considerable extent. The 

 nests are often top-shaped or balloon-shaped, 

 with layers of cells inside resembling honey- 

 comb, all inclosed in a spherical paper envelop 

 with a hole at the bottom for entrance and exit. 

 These nests in tropical countries are sometimes 

 six feet long. Other species of social wasps 

 make nests in the ground, forming a more fragile 

 sort of paper from decayed wood. The colonies 

 include three forms, males, females, and workers. 

 The males and workers die on the arrival of cold 

 weather, but the females live over the winter in 

 sheltered places, and start a new colony in the 

 spring. The workers only have stings. The 

 solitary wasps form another division of these 

 insects which include miners, mud-daubers, and 

 carpenters. The mason wasps, or mud-daubers. 

 are the most familiar, as their mud nests are 

 commonly seen on beams and walls. The car- 

 penters cut tubular nests in wood and divide 

 them by mud partitions. The miners dig tun- 

 nels in the earth. Wasps are endowed with a 

 considerable degree of intelligence. 



Water Lily is found in all temperate 

 climates, and attains great size in the tropics. 

 The white water lily is the familiar flower of 

 ponds and placid streams throughout North 

 America, its large and chaste flowers claiming 

 precedence for beauty among the indigenous 

 flora. The lotus has similar flowers, but tinted 

 with pink, and has strongly toothed floating 

 leaves; it is the white lotus of the Nile. The 

 blue lotus has fragrant blue flowers. Several 

 species and numerous varieties are in cultiva- 

 tion as ornamental plants. The Victoria Regia 

 is the name given in honor of Queen Victoria to 

 the most magnificent genus of the order. There 

 is only one species recognized by botanists, a 

 native of the Amazonian region of South Amer- 

 ica, where it was first observed by the unfor- 

 tunate botanical traveler Hsenke, in 1801, and 

 said to have been met with by the French 

 naturalist D'Orbigny, in 1827, but not made 

 known to European horticulturists till after its 

 discovery in British (Juiana, ten years later. 

 This noble water lily has floating leaves of a 

 bright green above, and a deep purple or violet 

 on the lower surface, measuring as much as 

 seven and one-half feet in diameter, with a 

 uniformly turned-up margin of about three 

 inches, thus resembling huge shallow trays. 

 The flowers, which are proportionately as 

 large some measuring fourteen inches in 



