FACTS AIJOIT \Vi;i.l, KNitWN ANIMALS. 1<).") 



nearly ilit'd tVoni iii(>s(|uitt> hilcs. his (K'sh luino- so swollen 

 around the arms and l(\i>s that, it literally hurst. 



Mosquitoes have i-iuscmI the rout of armies and the de- 

 sertion of eities, and 1 would eounsel all wiio desire to learn 

 how tlu' hum of an iusignilicant ynat may insj>ir(> more 

 terror than the roar of the lion, to consult Kirhy and 

 Spenee's history of the former. 



There are many species of the mosquito, all ditieriiii; 

 somewhat in habit aud season of a[»i)earance, and doubtless 

 also in mode of development, which, in fact, has been studied 

 in but few. They oicur everywhere, whether in the torrid 

 or the arctic /one. and are nowhere more numerous or tor- 

 mentiuii; than in Lajiland. 



lioth the fly and the mosquito are great scavengers in 

 infancy, the one purifying the air we breathe, the other the 

 water we drink. They {)erform, in this wa}', an indirect 

 service to man which lew, perhaps, appreciate, and wliieh 

 somewhat at<^nes for their ba<l habits in maturity. 



II 11". i;.\Ki"iI-\V()RM. 



The next well-kn(jwn animal that 1 shall speak of is the 

 earth-worm. There are several species in dill'erent parts of 

 the world and I am not aware that any one has critically 

 determined our connnon North America species to be the 

 Lnnibricns tcrrc.<itris of Euroj)e, which, however, we will, as 

 others have done, assume it to be. It belongs to the great 

 branch ]Wriics, of which it is typical, and its general habits 

 are too well-known to need detailing. If you have ever had 

 occasion to catch worms for some pet bird or for baiting pur- 

 poses, you have learned that this creature is by no means .so 

 sluggish and weak as is conunonly supposed, for it can re- 

 treat within its burrow like a Hash and can .secure such a 

 tirm hold therein as to abnost defy extraction intact. Place 

 one u[)on your hand and its movements will cau.^e a slight 

 tingling roughness. Examine the l)ody with a lens and von 

 di.scover that each of the numerous rings or joints hito which 

 it is divi<led is furnisjied with four i)airs of minute tractile 

 hooks or points which take the place of legs and by means 

 of which its movements are aided, and it is enabled to hold 



