318 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
asserts, is thrown out, as if by magic, in fine thread-like jets, and 
by this viscous web insects are caught and afterwards devoured. 
Mr. Moseley believes this creature is of great antiquity, and the 
ancestor of spiders, Myriapods, and insects. If so, then nocturnal 
habits are not of recentintroduction. The variety and modifications 
of apparatus manifest among nocturnal insects, and as adaptive 
to that habit, almost forbid attempt at selection of instances. 
The Vertebrata have their full share of night-hunters, and 
equally can Fish, Amphibia, and Reptiles be cited. 
When we come to Birds (Aves), we find that although the 
majority are diurnal, yet many are habitually crepuscular— either 
found on the wing as the sun goes down, or abroad for their 
living early in the grey dawn. These very often pass the day- 
time tranquilly or dozing under shade, and stir about between 
lights, though roosting at night. Birds with young are urged by 
the maternal instinct, and will then keep late and early hours, 
quite out of their usual way. 
But in generalizing on nocturnal habit, it should not be for- 
gotten that what applies to the northern regions does not always 
hold good of the tropics. As we near the equator, sundown all 
the year round means quick and often intense darkness, to be 
continued till sunrise, and consequently there is a certain seasonal 
uniformity in animal habit. In higher latitudes summer twilight 
stretches further on, and the first blush of the morning quickly 
succeeds. It follows that diurnal groups of birds and mammals 
of the tropics acquire more crepuscular habits the further north 
they go, particularly in the summer season; and winter weather 
correspondingly brings change of hours. 
The Struthionidee (Ostrich group) attract attention in having 
one New Zealand genus, the diminutive Apteryx, which is a night- 
hunter. It might be interesting to know if its island congeners, 
the great extinct species of Dinornis, were also nocturnal—a 
question easier asked than likely to be satisfactorily answered, 
though I should say they probably were. The night habits of 
the Apteryx are well attested, those confined in this country — 
being as shy of daylight as their wild brethren in New Zealand. 
Selecting a dry hole in sand, tree, or log as their usual abode, or 
artfully concealing themselves among the dense beds of fern, 
the Kiwis lie, generally in pairs, torpid and drowsy while day 
lasts. The approach of night sees them awake and hunting 
a 
