CONTENTS. xm 



CHAPTER XIX. 



SUB-AQUATIC NESTS. VERTEBRATES. 

 Fishes as Architects. — The Sticklebacks and their general Habits. — The Feesh- 

 WATEE Sticklebacks. — A jealous Proprietor. — Punishment of Trespassers. — 

 Form and Materials of the Nest. — Use of the Nest. — Cannibalistic Propensities. 

 — The Fifteen-spined Stickleback and its Form. — Its curious Nest. — Mr. 

 Couch's description of a Nest in a Rope's End. — Fishes of Guiana. — The Habsae 

 or Hardback, and its place in Zoology. — Nest of the Hassar. — Parental Watch- 

 fulness. — Singular Position of the Nest. — Habits of the Hassar Page 392 



CHAPTER XX. 

 SUB-AQUATIC NESTS. INVERTEBRATES. 

 A Pool and its Wonders. — The Watee Spidee. — Its sub-aquatic Nest. — Convey- 

 ance of Air to the Nest. — The Diving-bell anticipated. — Character of the Air in 

 the Nest. — Mr. Bell's Experiments upon the Spider. — Life of the Water Spider. — 

 The Htdeachna. — The Caddis Flies and their Characteristics. — Sub-aquatic 

 Homes of the Larva. — Singular Varieties of Form and Material. — ^Life of a Cad- 

 dis. — ^Description of Nests in my own Collection. — Fixed Cases, and Modification 

 of Larva. — Singular Materials for Nest-building. — Coeals and their general His- 

 tory. — ^The Coral of Commerce. — Development and Extension of the Coral. — 

 How fresh Colonies are founded. — ^Various Corals and their Growth. — Submarine 

 Tube-makers. — The Sekphl^ and their general Habits. — The Operculum of the 

 Serpula. — The TEEEBBLLiE and their submarine Houses. — The Caddis Sheimp. 

 — Remarkable Analogy 397 



CHAPTER XXI. 



SOCIAL HABITATIONS. 



SOCIAI, MAMMALIA. 



The Beavee. — Its Form and aquatic Habits. — Need for Water, and Means used to 

 procure it. — Quadrupedal Engineering. — The Dam of the Beaver. — Erroneous 

 ideas of the Dam. — How the Beaver cuts Timber. — ^The Beaver in the Zoological 

 Gardens. — ^Theories respecting the Beaver's Dam. — How the Timber is fastened 

 together. — ^Form of the Dam, and mode of its Enlargement. — ^Beaver-dams and 

 Coral-reefs. — ^The House or Lodge of the Beaver. — Its Locality and Structure. — 

 Use of a subterranean Passage. — How Beavers are Hunted. — Curious Supersti- 

 tion. — "Les Paresseux" 43I 



CHAPTER XXn. 

 SOCIAL BIRDS. 

 The Sociable Weavee Bied and its Country. — Description of the Bird. — Nest of 

 the Sociable Weaver. — How begun and how carried on. — Materials of the Nest. 

 — The Tree on which the Nest is built, and its Uses. — Dimensions of the Nest and 

 disastrous Consequences. — A Hottentot and a Lion. — Supposed Object of the So- 

 cial Nest. — Average Number of Inhabitants. — Analdgy with Dyak Houses. — En- 

 emies of the Sociable Weaver, the Monkey, the Snake, and the Parrakeet 438 



CHAPTER XXHL 



, SOCIAL INSECTS. 



Arrangement of Groups. — Nests of Poltbia. — Curious Method of Enlargement. — 

 Structure of the Nests. — How concealed.-^ Various Modes of Attachment. — A cu- 

 rious Specimen. — The Hive-bee, and its claims to Notice. — General History of 



