The Industries of Animals

Frédéric Houssay

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• Publié par: fawyong
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 47
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Industries of Animals, by Frédéric Houssay This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: The Industries of Animals Author: Frédéric Houssay Release Date: August 26, 2009 [EBook #29816] Language: English *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INDUSTRIES OF ANIMALS *** Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net THE CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE SERIES. EDITED BY HAVELOCK ELLIS. THE INDUSTRIES OF ANIMALS. BY FRÉDÉRIC HOUSSAY. WITH 44 ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON: WALTER SCOTT, Ltd., 24 WARWICK LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1893.NOTE. THE ENGLISH EDITION OF THIS BOOK HAS BEEN REVISED THROUGHOUT AND ENLARGED, WITH THE AUTHOR’S CO-OPERATION. NUMEROUS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES HAVE ALSO BEEN ADDED. THE illustrations, when not otherwise stated, are in most cases adapted from Brehm’s Thierleben.CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1 THE NATURALISTS OF YESTERDAY AND THE NATURALISTS OF TO-DAY  —  NATURAL HISTORY AND THE NATURAL SCIENCES — THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION — THE CHIEF INDUSTRIES OF MAN — THE CHIEF INDUSTRIES OF ANIMALS — INTELLIGENCE AND INSTINCT — INSTINCTIVE ACTIONS ORIGINATE IN REFLECTIVE ACTIONS — THE plan of study of the various industries. CHAPTER II. HUNTING — FISHING — WARS AND EXPEDITIONS 18 THE CARNIVORA MORE SKILFUL HUNTERS THAN THE HERBIVORA  —  DIFFERENT METHODS OF HUNTING  —  HUNTING IN AMBUSH  —  THE BAITED AMBUSH  —  HUNTING IN THE DWELLING OR IN THE BURROW  —  COURSING  —  STRUGGLES THAT TERMINATE THE HUNT  —  HUNTING WITH PROJECTILES  —  PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES PUT TO PROFIT — METHODS FOR UTILISING THE CAPTURED GAME — WAR AND BRIGANDAGE  — Expeditions to acquire slaves — Wars of the ants. CHAPTER III. METHODS OF DEFENCE 61 Flight — Feint — Resistance in common by social animals — Sentinels. CHAPTER IV. PROVISIONS AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS 80 PROVISIONS LAID UP FOR A SHORT PERIOD — PROVISIONS LAID UP FOR A LONG PERIOD — ANIMALS WHO CONSTRUCT BARNS  —  PHYSIOLOGICAL RESERVES  —  STAGES BETWEEN PHYSIOLOGICAL RESERVES AND PROVISIONS — ANIMALS WHO SUBMIT FOOD TO SPECIAL TREATMENT IN ORDER TO FACILITATE TRANSPORT —  CARE BESTOWED ON HARVESTED PROVISIONS — AGRICULTURAL ANTS — GARDENING ANTS — DOMESTIC ANIMALS OF ANTS  —  DEGREES OF CIVILISATION IN THE SAME SPECIES OF ANTS  —  APHIS-PENS AND paddocks — Slavery among ants. CHAPTER V. PROVISION FOR REARING THE YOUNG 114 THE PRESERVATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE PRESERVATION OF THE SPECIES — FOODS MANUFACTURED BY THE PARENTS FOR THEIR YOUNG — SPECIES WHICH OBTAIN FOR THEIR LARVÆ FOODS MANUFACTURED BY OTHERS  —  CARCASSES OF ANIMALS STORED UP  —  PROVISION OF PARALYSED LIVING ANIMALS  —  THE CAUSE OF THE PARALYSIS — THE SURENESS OF INSTINCT — SIMILAR CASES IN WHICH THE SPECIFIC INSTINCT IS LESS POWERFUL AND INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE GREATER — GENERA LESS SKILFUL IN THE ART OF PARALYSING victims. CHAPTER VI. DWELLINGS 138 ANIMALS NATURALLY PROVIDED WITH DWELLINGS — ANIMALS WHO INCREASE THEIR NATURAL PROTECTION BY THE ADDITION OF FOREIGN BODIES — ANIMALS WHO ESTABLISH THEIR HOME IN THE NATURAL OR ARTIFICIAL DWELLINGS OF OTHERS — CLASSIFICATION OF ARTIFICIAL SHELTERS — HOLLOWED DWELLINGS — RUDIMENTARY BURROWS — CAREFULLY-DISPOSED BURROWS — BURROWS WITH BARNS ADJOINED — DWELLINGS HOLLOWED OUT IN WOOD — WOVEN DWELLINGS — RUDIMENTS OF THIS INDUSTRY — DWELLINGS FORMED OF COARSELY- ENTANGLED MATERIALS — DWELLINGS WOVEN OF FLEXIBLE SUBSTANCES — DWELLINGS WOVEN WITH GREATER ART — THE ART OF SEWING AMONG BIRDS — MODIFICATIONS OF DWELLINGS ACCORDING TO SEASON AND CLIMATE — BUILT DWELLINGS — PAPER NESTS — GELATINE NESTS — CONSTRUCTIONS BUILT OF EARTH —  Solitary masons — Masons working in association — Individual skill and reflection — Dwellings built of hard materials united by mortar — The dams of beavers. CHAPTER VII.THE DEFENCE AND SANITATION OF DWELLINGS 233 GENERAL PRECAUTIONS AGAINST POSSIBLE DANGER  —  SEPARATION OF FEMALES WHILE BROODING  —  HYGIENIC MEASURES OF BEES  —  PRUDENCE OF BEES  —  FORTIFICATIONS OF BEES  —  PRECAUTIONS against inquisitiveness — Lighting up the nests. CHAPTER VIII. CONCLUSION 246 DEGREE OF PERFECTION IN INDUSTRY INDEPENDENT OF ZOOLOGICAL SUPERIORITY — MENTAL FACULTIES OF THE lower animals of like nature to Man’s. APPENDIX 249 INDEX 255 THE INDUSTRIES OF ANIMALS.CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. THE NATURALISTS OF YESTERDAY AND THE NATURALISTS OF TO-DAY — NATURAL HISTORY AND THE NATURAL SCIENCES —  THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION — THE CHIEF INDUSTRIES OF MAN — THE CHIEF INDUSTRIES OF ANIMALS — INTELLIGENCE AND INSTINCT  —  INSTINCTIVE ACTIONS ORIGINATE IN REFLECTIVE ACTIONS  —  THE PLAN OF STUDY OF THE VARIOUS INDUSTRIES. The naturalists of yesterday and the naturalists of to-day. — THE STUDY OF ANIMALS, PLANTS, ROCKS, AND OF NATURAL OBJECTS GENERALLY, WAS FORMERLY CALLED “NATURAL HISTORY”; BUT THIS TERM IS TENDING TO DISAPPEAR FROM OUR VOCABULARY AND TO GIVE PLACE TO THE TERM “NATURAL SCIENCES.” WHAT IS THE REASON OF THIS CHANGE, AND TO WHAT DOES IT CORRESPOND? FOR IT is rare for a word to be modified in so short a time if the thing designated has not itself varied. EXTERIOR FORMS HAVE CERTAINLY CHANGED, AND THE NATURALIST OF YESTERDAY MAKES UPON US THE IMPRESSION OF A LEGENDARY BEING. I REFER TO THE PERSON DESCRIBED IN GEORGE SAND’S ROMANCES, MARCHING VIGOROUSLY OVER HILLS AND VALLEYS IN SEARCH OF A RARE INSECT, WHICH HE PRICKED WITH DELIGHT, OR OF A PLANT DIFFICULT TO REACH, WHICH HE TRIUMPHANTLY DRIED AND FIXED ON A LEAF OF PAPER BEARING THE DATE OF THE DISCOVERY AND THE NAME OF THE LOCALITY. A HERBARIUM BECAME A SORT OF JOURNAL, RECALLING TO ITS FORTUNATE POSSESSOR ALL THE WANDERINGS OF THE HAPPY CHASE, ALL THE DELIGHTFUL SOUNDS AND SIGHTS OF THE COUNTRY. EVERY NATURALIST CONCEALED WITHIN HIM A LOVER OF IDYLLS OR ECLOGUES. ASSUREDLY ALL THE PRELIMINARY STUDIES WHICH RESULTED FROM THESE EXCURSIONS WERE NECESSARY; WE OWE GRATITUDE TO OUR PREDECESSORS, AND WE PROFIT FROM THEIR LABOURS, SOMETIMES REGRETTING THE LOSS OF THE PICTURESQUE FASHION IN WHICH THEIR RESEARCHES were carried out. THE NATURALIST OF TO-DAY USUALLY LIVES MORE IN THE LABORATORY THAN IN THE COUNTRY. OCCASIONAL EXPEDITIONS TO THE COAST OR DREDGINGS ARE THE ONLY LINKS THAT ATTACH HIM TO NATURE; THE SCALPEL AND THE MICROTOME HAVE REPLACED THE COLLECTOR’S PINS, AND THE MAGNIFYING GLASS GIVES PLACE TO THE MICROSCOPE. WHEN THE OBSERVER BEGINS TO PURSUE HIS STUDIES IN THE LABORATORY HE NO LONGER CARES TO PASS THE THRESHOLD. HE HAS STILL SO MUCH TO LEARN CONCERNING THE MOST COMMON CREATURES THAT IT SEEMS USELESS TO HIM TO WASTE HIS TIME IN SEEKING THOSE THAT ARE RARER, UNLESS HE TAKES INTO ACCOUNT THE UNQUESTIONABLE PLEASURE OF RAMBLING THROUGH WOODS OR ALONG COASTS; — BUT SUCH A CONSIDERATION DOES NOT BELONG to the scientific domain. A CHANGE OF CONDITIONS OF THIS NATURE DOES NOT SUFFICE TO CREATE A SCIENCE. TO TAKE AWAY FROM A STUDY ALL THAT RENDERED IT PLEASANT AND EASY, AND TO MAKE IT THE PROPERTY OF A SMALL COTERIE, WHEN IT WAS FORMERLY ACCESSIBLE TO ALL, IS NOT SUFFICIENT TO RENDER IT SCIENTIFIC. IT IS A FATALITY RATHER THAN A TRIUMPH TO HAVE UNDERGONE SUCH A CHANGE. THE change is an effect rather than a cause. WHEN LITTLE OR NOTHING WAS KNOWN IT WAS NECESSARY TO BEGIN BY EXAMINING THE PHENOMENA WHICH FIRST MET THE EYES OF THE OBSERVER, SUCH AS THE CUSTOMS OF ANIMALS AND THE CHARACTERS WHICH DISTINGUISHED THEM FROM EACH OTHER. THEIR DIFFERENCES AND RESEMBLANCES WERE STUDIED; THEY WERE FORMED INTO GROUPS, CLASSED AND ARRANGED IN AN ORDER recalling as much as possible their natural relations. In classifying it is impossible to consider all the facts or the result WOULD BE CHAOS; IT IS NECESSARY TO CHOOSE THE CHARACTERS AND TO GIVE PREPONDERANCE TO CERTAIN OF THEM. THIS SORTING OF CHARACTERS HAS BEEN EXECUTED WITH THE SAGACITY OF GENIUS BY THE ILLUSTRIOUS NATURALISTS OF THE LAST CENTURY AND THE BEGINNING OF THE PRESENT. BUT THE FRAMES WHICH THEY HAVE TRACED ARE FIXED AND RIGID; NATURE WITH HER INFINITE PLASTICITY ESCAPES FROM THEM.