salt water islands bear sea weeds; spawn; and not unfrequently bears, foxes, and ermine. In the north of Iceland1, the cold splits the calcined mountains, from which large masses fall in detached pieces, and roll precipitately into the sea, like waterfalls. The approach of ice islands is indicated by the bluish lustre, which appears in the horizon. They are often covered, too, with an immense number of seals and sea calves; which are seen rolling and sporting in the snow, and seem by no means terrified at the approach of either men or ships: reminding the voyager of those lines of Cowper, which he puts into the mouth of Alexander Selkirk, The beasts, that roam over the plain, My form with indifference see: Their tameness is shocking to me. IX. Professor Smith saw several islands, floating from the African rivers, which, upon inspection, he found to bear reeds, resembling the donax; a species of agrostis; and some branches of justicia, with the roots of mangrove and papyrus. There were, also, in the midst of them, several small animals; which are found, also, floating on the Grassy Sea3. Reptiles are probably propagated to distant regions by their eggs, or embryos, being casually dropt on the sea shore, at low ebb, and borne away by the returning tides. Some insects are transported on the backs, and in the intestines of animals: others in their skins. The hair-worm lives not only in the earth, on the leaves 1 Freminville, Voyage to the North Pole, p. 12. 2 Journal-Tuckey, p. 259. 3 Scyllæa Pelagica.-Cancer Minutus.-Lophius Histrio. &c. &c. of trees, and in the water, but in the bodies of beetles: while large flies enter the ears of elks, in the Lapland forests; and take up their winter quarters in their heads. Vipers are easy of transportation; since they possess such a faculty of abstinence, that some species will remain even six months without food. Canadian bears, also, frequently live without sustenance so long, that many persons believe, they can live by licking their own paws. It is exceedingly curious, that in Ireland there is neither a mole, a spider, nor any venomous reptile or insect. The weevil, in the same manner, will not live in Van Dieman's Land: in which island grows the cedar (huon pine), which has the property of repelling insects. The cochineal has been found extremely difficult to transplant. It is remarkable that though insects are the most liable to corruption of all animals, the cochineal never spoils. It has, therefore, been preserved for ages. X. The spawn of some fishes are propagated by aquatic birds: some of which even void the fishes, they have gorged, without any change in the fishes themselves. Eels are thus transported. Cranes swallow them alive; and void them alive'; and thus fish-ponds are frequently This is not more extraordinary, than that worms should be capable of living not only in the intestines of the human body, but in those of quadrupeds, birds, seals*, and other fishes. The teeth of Laplanders † are corroded by worms; and a woman of Sweden ‡ once bred a quantity of flies in her nose. * Genus Eschinorhyncs.-Freminville, p. 6. stocked in a manner very mysterious to their proprietors. The ostrich will eat wood, stones, glass, and pieces of iron; and void them whole. The polypus frequently swallows a polypus; which afterwards issues from its body, perfect and uninjured. The ocythoe polypus takes up its residence in the shell of a nautilus; and in this manner is conveyed from one coast to another. If some plants have riveted partialities to peculiar soils, some insects have equal partialities to particular plants. The cochineal is wedded, as it were, to the fig-tree; the aphis to beans, peas, and rose-trees; the musk-beetle to willows; the papilio machaon to fennel; the phalana grossulatriata to currant bushes; the phinx licustri to poplar, privet, and lilac leaves; and the sphinx atropos to jessamine and love apple. There is a small red insect, too, which seems to be almost entirely devoted to the violet. These insects emigrate with the plants, to which they are attached. The teuthredo insects proceed from the galls of willow, beech, holly, hairy hawkweed, and ground ivy: while the leptura insect of Finland lies concealed in the corolla of the globe-flower. The caterpillar, which changes to the phalana tortrix, and the hawkmoth, emigrate with the woodbine. The former curls itself up in its leaves; and the latter hovers over its blossoms of an evening, and extracts honey from the bottom of its nectarium. Most shrubs and trees have particular species of the aphis attached to them: all varying in size, structure, and manners; and were we to enumerate the whole, we should enumerate almost every species of tree and shrub, now in existence. Some insects are propagated by the atmosphere: for the atmosphere is a temporary receptacle for many small aquatic and terrestrial seeds; and for the eggs of insects, and imperceptible animalcules, which, having surfaces resembling feathers, are easily wafted. Saussure saw two butterflies on Mont Blanc; and a lady-bird once flew against my face on the circular balustrade of St. Paul's cathedral. Many insects, and even birds, are doubtless carried through the air by trade-winds. Others float upon the ocean; are picked up by marine birds; and afterwards discharged, entire, on the islands upon which they rest: as some birds do fish. It is curious here to remark, that the heat and strength of pepper are even qualified, and thought to be much better, from passing through the body of a toucan. XI. Bees were not originally natives of New England. The first planters never saw any: but the English having introduced them to Boston, in 1670, they have multiplied in the United States beyond all power of calculation. There is no data to prove, that bees are known in the South Sea islands; but in Hammock, one of the Philippines, the chief subject for barter is bees' wax. Bees were introduced to New South Wales in 1809. Two hives were taken from England; but the bees in one of them were suffocated by the melting of the wax, in crossing the Line. They were introduced into Cuba by some families, who, after the peace of Versailles, came from St. Augustine's, since 1784: and yet, in 1792, the settlers exported not less than 20,000 arrobs of wax. In 1796, there were 212 barrels of honey and 1854 arrobs of white wax exported from the Havannah' to Buenos Ayres. The yellow butterfly, and the little black and white butterfly, came from China: the black species from the West Indies. About thirty-five years since, too, a mealy insect was introduced from America, which proved, for a time, extremely destructive to apple-trees. It propagated with great rapidity. But by the skill and industry of our gardeners, it is now almost eradicated. In March, 1819, there appeared near Sydney, in New South Wales, a vast number of full grown caterpillars in one night, during the rains. Most of them, however, disappeared on the next day; though no one could form the least probable conjecture, whence they came, or whither they went2. * 1 Bees are domesticated in few parts of Asia. Those of the Indian Archipelago hoard but little honey: owing to the multitude of flowers at almost all seasons of the year. But they make a great deal of wax, which the merchants export to China and Bengal. The Morea exports 14,000 ocques every year. An ocque is three pounds two ounces French. 2 The manners, habits, instincts, and even numbers, of insects are but imperfectly known to the most practised of our naturalists. In M. Dufresne's collection of zoological specimens, recently purchased by the University of Edinburgh, there were 4,000 specimens of shells, and 13,500 specimens of insects. Of these 1,500 were from the Brazils. Prince Maximilian, trayersing that country, collected specimens of 76 species of quadrupeds, 400 species of birds, 79 species of amphibi, 5,000 insects, and a great collection of seeds; the chief proportion of which are new to European science. * Crawford's Hist. Ind. Archipel. iii. 438. |