SEX FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK ■ BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO The Metropolitan Museum of Art THE STORM. By P. A. Cot, 1880 ' SEX FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS BY WILLIAM LELAND STOWELL, M.D. Fellow of the New York Academy of and of the American Medical Asso- ciation; Member of the New York State Medical Society; The New York County Medical Society; Society of Alumni of City Hospital; West End Medical Society; Formerly Instructor in Diseases of Children, New York Uni- versity Medical College; Attending Physician to New York Con- gregational Home for the Aged; Formerly Consulting Physician to the New York City Children’s Hospital and Schools; Author of articles on Children in The New Interna- tional Encyclopedia, second edition; many medical papers; and The Doctor Outside of Medicine. ILLUSTRATED $>m fork THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1921 All rights reserved Copyright, 1921 By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY * Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1921, This little volume is affectionately dedicated to MY MOTHER, who explained to me the wonders of birth and motherhood when I was yet a little lad. . . . . “lo, a life unrolled! In woven pictures all its changes told.” Holmes. FOREWORD The subject of sex is one of vital importance to every intelligent person. It is equally important to the ignorant individual although he may not be so well aware of the fact. Sex is intimately related to the best in painting and sculpture, is interwoven in the finest literature, if it is not its predominant feature, and is the motif in music whether it be the gallant’s serenade or the opera Carmen. It is the controlling impulse or cause of man’s best efforts in many departments of life, and also at the bottom of the basest and least desirable of human activities. Because of the seamy side of the subject, fastidious members of society have been inclined to maintain silence regarding sex matters, while persons of low tastes have flaunted their vicious knowledge, thus indicating that one’s views relative to sex depend largely upon previous education or lack of it. Accord- ing to Professor James, “Education is the organization of acquired habits of action and tendencies to behavior which shall fit him (the child) to his social and physical world; ” and further “it is the making over of experience and giving it a more sociological value through in- creased individual efficiency or better control over one’s powers” (John Dewey). The foregoing state- ments while general in character may be specifically applied to our present subject, sex. Parents hesitate to inform their children of their FOREWORD origin and of their developmental changes partly because of modesty, but in most instances on account of limited knowledge concerning anatomy and physi- ology and a consequently limited vocabulary. The teaching of the young child should be commenced as early as it asks for information on any subject, but this can not be properly done until the parent and teacher have been instructed. A visit to the library of the board of education of one of our largest cities disclosed the fact that it con- tained no books treating of sex physiology or sex hy- giene. A visit to the public library showed that the card index of books pertaining to sex were black from constant usage. Much of the use of such books is doubtless the result of morbid curiosity or state of mind; but had there been wiser teaching in the past, it would not be so urgent now. The youths of our homes and schools have been spending too much time in the study of dead languages and too little in honest endeavor to comprehend living impulses. Each department should receive its proper share of attention, but not to the exclusion of the other. A candid and open study of the wonders of life and its origin will go a long way toward overcoming morbid curiosity. We explain seeing and hearing, we show how the circulating blood is purified by our breathing, we give instruction in hygiene as regards exercise and rest, the food we should eat, the need of cleanliness to avoid infections, etc., why not discuss sex problems in the same spirit? Without sex functions there would be no others to discuss. A knowledge of the facts of physiology is essential X FOREWORD to the proper care of the body, and truth is essential to the training of the mind; ignorance or erroneous in- formation may lead to disease of one and to disorder of the other. A right-minded girl with a clear understanding of her organs and herself has a sense of her importance to the race; a right-minded boy equally informed has a sense of responsibility and respect for the opposite sex, and develops chivalry and courtesy in his treatment of his own or another’s sister. It is the general opinion of American educators that the biological approach is the method best suited to the successful teaching of sex subjects. Biology can be studied readily at home, in the park or museum if farm or forest are not near. The information to be gained depends upon the care with which observations are made and upon the good judgment used in interpreting the findings. The relations of men and women in matrimony or as celibates and their views regarding morals, personal liberty, etc., can no longer be regarded as private matters; the nation is alive to the fact that the subject of sex involves illegitimacy, heredity, efficiency in work and war, quality and quantity in race increase, length of life of children and adults, insanity, feeble-minded- ness and many sociological factors. The Government learned much from the world war concerning the health and habits of men. As a result, in 1918 Congress established the Interdepartmental Social Hygiene Board and appropriated $4,000,000 for a period of two years. They are now disbursing $300,000 a year to thirty colleges and schools in an FOREWORD attempt to develop Departments of Hygiene. These statements should make clear to the reader that our people are awake to their needs and opportunities, hence the social health propaganda. In order to make this subject clear and the task of teaching it a pleasant one, the author has written this book. We shall begin by noting the methods of repro- duction in flowers, then consider the more evident combination of sexes as seen in fishes and birds; and after some reference to a few of the higher animals we shall pass to the physical and mental differences to be observed in man and woman from puberty to maturity and beyond. This will include a study of the many glands influencing sex functions as well as the repro- ductive organs. Other topics treated will be, marriage, morality, diseases of the sex organs, heredity, eugenics and euthenics. The author aims to be scientifically accurate in statement without being unduly technical. While the biological method is pursued there is no reason why we should not call to our aid the artist and sculptor. Think of the majesty and dignity of the human form as presented to us with consummate power by Michael- angelo, and the simple naturalness and beauty of the figures of Rodin. The free use of illustrations will appeal to many persons who retain better the im- pressions received through the eye than those derived through reasoning. By careful reading of the book, one may become acquainted with assembled facts not readily obtainable elsewhere. It is hoped that the advice will prove helpful in developing strong bodies, the precepts aid in FOREWORD perfecting character and that the total effect will be to emphasize a system of morals that is the best for the individual and for society. I am glad to acknowledge valuable suggestions from many friends and many authors. I am indebted to my devoted wife and to our sons for much kindly criticism and encouragement throughout the preparation of this work, especially to Mr. Kenneth who made many of the drawings. My thanks are also due Ruth K. Stowell, Principal, and to my friend Mr. C. F. Goddard for editorial revision. Finally I am under deep obligations to the publishers for their courtesy and co-operation in producing the book. Wm. L. Stowell. TOPICS DISCUSSED PAGE Sex Education 1 Plant Reproduction 8 Development of Insects 14 Propagation of Fishes 26 Breeding of Birds 32 Animal Courtship 44 Multiplying of Mammals 48 Man 50 Male Anatomy and Physiology 56 Woman 63 Female Anatomy and Physiology 65 Ductless Glands and Hormones 71 Sex Differences 79 From the Egg to Birth 92 Embryology 100 Puberty Ill Terminology, Definitions 124 Habits 126 Marriage 129 Heredity 139 Mendel’s Law 144 Eugenics - 154 Purity 162 Diseases of the Sex Organs 167 Children’s Questions 173 Questions for Parents 177 Summary 179 Glossary 182 Bibliography 187 ILLUSTRATIONS Figures page 1. Section of flower pistil 10 2. Growing corn 13 3. Reproductive organs of birds 41 4. Spermatozoa 61 5. Amoeba 93 6. Cell division (karyokinesis) 95 7. Gastrulation of coral 98 8. Illustrating growth of the embryo 103 9. The Kallikak family (heredity) 147 Plates The Storm Frontispiece FACING PAGE I. Easter Lily 8 II. Microphotograph of pollen grains 10 III. Ears of Corn 12 IV. SilkWorms 16 V. The Honey Bee 20 VI. Paradise Fish 26 VII. Mexican Sword Minnow and Holbrooki 28 VIII. Courtship Demonstrations of Prairie Hens 34 IX. Indian Peacock and Hen 36 X. Red Deer Family 46 XI. Suckling Pigs 48 XII. David, by Michaelangelo 50 XIII. Section of Testicle 56 ILLUSTRATIONS XIV. Section of male pelvic organs XV. Section of female pelvic organs .. Between pp. 58 and 59 FACING PAGE XVI. Venus of Melos 64 XVII. Uterus, ovaries and tubes 66 XVIII. Breast, mammary gland 68 XIX. Cleavage in ovum of a rabbit 94 XX. Spermatozoa entering the ovum 96 XXI. Child in the uterus at six months 108 XXII. Section showing how the placenta conveys nourish- ment from mother to child 110 XXIII. The Family Circle 129 XXIV. Apples, illustrating selection and environment 142 XXV. Mendelism in rats 143 XXVI. Sex-linked inheritance 145 XVIII INTRODUCTORY NOTE The author has kindly allowed me to look over the page proof of this book, and I am glad to express my appreciation of the sane and sensible way in which he has treated a subject which in delicacy, difficulty and importance is surpassed by no other. The sense of its importance and the necessity of knowing and teaching it have been growing upon the public for a decade and a half, and the war served as an object lesson to bring its significance home to every community as no other event in history has done, so that we now have a new freedom in thinking and speaking of such subjects, even among the young; while the gradual breaking down of old taboos and pruderies that hedged it in, and the new light which science has shed upon it have incalculably increased the interest of the public in it and given us a new revelation of its bearings upon every aspect of life—individual, community, and the future. The author very wisely selects the biological approach and writes in terse language and with well chosen illustrations, many of them here published for the first time, showing the significance of sex in the world of plants, insects, fish, birds, and mammals, up to man. Without giving any offensive prominence to acts and organs, the essentials of what every parent and teacher should know concerning these are epitomized, together with elementary embryological data. The writer sifted from highly specialized fields the main features of Weismannism and the facts of heredity INTRODUCTORY NOTE along with the Mendelian laws so well illustrated in the production of degenerates; hormones and endocrine functions, while eugenics, which Galton called the re- ligion of the future, is set forth in a wholesome peda- gogic way, and throughout the ethical, aesthetic, moral and even religious importance of all these topics is well brought out. He has wisely, in my opinion, said little about Freud and his psychoanalysis, which, although it has a message of great scientific and therapeutic sig- nificance is for experts and not for those here addressed. I have followed this subject of Sex Education for many years and have a very extensive collection of its literature, very much of which seems to me positively misleading, often quite erroneous as to facts, which are often smothered in sentiment, far too diffuse, and sometimes omitting altogether some of the most essen- tial practical points—errors which the present writer seems to avoid. We must, no doubt, always rely, first of all, upon physical culture and bodily training, in which the draft statistics showed such amazing shortcomings among our young men. A close second of this must be in- terests, zests, enthusiasms, which set a backfire to lust. Young people must glow and tingle and have excite- ment, and if they can not obtain this normally in in- tellectual, aesthetic, and motor ways, they are prone to have their calentures in the sensuous field. This, too, the author recognizes. For these reasons I am glad of the opportunity of giving his book my heartiest Godspeed. G. Stanley Hall. Clark University, March, 1921. XX SEX FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS SEX FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS SEX EDUCATION The critic fears a discussion of sex lest undue sex- consciousness be awakened. That need not disturb us. The musician that studies harmony and rhythm must have a better appreciation of the opera and oratorio than has a person who plays only “rag time.” In like manner the individual that gives careful thought to sex must more thoroughly realize the wonders and beauties of nature in providing for continuance of the species than does the careless traveler that goes unheedingly through life. The understanding of physiology will not take the place of character; that must be cultivated to grow. A study of sex problems will help the reader in appreciation of life in proportion to his or her present knowledge and seriousness of purpose. If some readers are shocked, it cannot be helped. We, in large measure, get from books or scenes what we put into them. Chil- dren, for example, are unabashed at that which would discomfit adults who may have acquired a sense of guilt or shame. It may be true that “That would have made Quintillian stare and gasp”; it is also true that we should clear the mists so far as possible and substitute an intelligent respect for the marvellous processes by which we were created. 1 SEX Flaubert said “ There are no beautiful thoughts with- out beautiful forms, and conversely.” True enough, therefore let us train ourselves and our youths to asso- ciate beautiful thoughts and deeds with beauty of form. The object of education is to make for service to humanity and happiness for ourselves and our children, i. e., posterity. Words alone may give us sensible and correct images but there is no doubt that the illustra- tion can often help to fix a fact better in our mind. Very young children ask endless questions. That is the way they learn about this marvellous world. They soon ask whence they came if not where they will go. As they grow older it is instinctive to want to know something of the origin of life, and later on of sex prob- lems in various phases. They should be given honest answers, the complete- ness and detail of which will depend upon the age and understanding of the child. Evasive replies excite sus- picion and arouse the curiosity, leaving the questioner unsatisfied and the questioned person with an oppor- tunity for helpfulness, lost. Ignorance is excusable in the young person, but not in the mature man or woman. The spiritual beauty of sex ideals cannot be inculcated by merely handing to the youth mysterious pamphlets. The teacher, par- ent or physician should be able to answer questions and give advice, regarding sex matters with the same candor and directness used in discussing digestion or the circulation of the blood. It is true that many persons cannot do this, partly from their own lack of understanding, partly from an artificial modesty that they have allowed to develop. There is no blush in 2 SEX EDUCATION nature in regard to sex or its consequences. Imagine a rose embarrassed or butterflies blushing or any of our domestic pets and animals ashamed in perpetuating their kind. They all fulfill the requirements of their natures and in turn reproduce the species for our ad- miration and use. Sex has long remained mysterious and by many per- sons has been considered sacred, as marriage is one of the seven sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church. Teachers always praise honor, justice and charity, but hesitate to lay equal stress on chastity, one of the high- est social virtues. In the beginning of our study let us rid ourselves of the notion that “sex” is an undignified or vulgar word. It is as honorable as any word in our language. According to Webster, sex is from the Latin sexus and signifies “the sum of the peculiarities of structure and function that distinguish a male from a female organ- ism; the character of being male or female, or of per- taining to the distinctive function of the male or female in reproduction.” Sex is manifested in other than ana- tomical and physiological differences; in the higher animals in addition to the special reproductive organs there are mental and temperamental variations, psy- chological characteristics. The essential attribute of a male is the production of sperm cells, spermatozoa; the essential quality of a female is the generation of eggs or ova. A proper study of sex will cover many phases of a great subject, important to the individual, whether young or old, and of great moment to society and the race now present and to come. 3 SEX The youth of our land whether in field or in factory, in college or in home, need help to solve difficulties and perplexities concerning themselves primarily, and sec- ondarily their fellows, male or female. The science of preserving health is termed Hygiene. Sex hygiene, therefore implies a clean healthy individual; social hygiene implies a healthy community, many problems of which are not directly concerned with reproduction. To the right minded, a study of sex relationship and influences should be ennobling and a stimulus to higher aims and endeavors. An honorable young man will do or bear anything for a young woman of like type. The better the young men and women understand themselves and their functions, the better can they control desires and actions and so adjust themselves to social and economic relations. Sex instruction should be begun with very young children; when they are old enough to be interested in flowers or vegetables they can be taught and shown how plants come from seeds. Seeds like corn and beans may be sprouted in any home by keeping them in moist sand or cotton. The seeds in fruits may serve for talks to our little folks who will plant them and watch the unfolding with great interest. Household pets, birds, cats, rabbits, dogs, chickens, cows, etc., according to circumstances, give opportunity for observations on mating and parentage. A child who has been taught to observe and think comes imper- ceptibly into much sex knowledge without knowing when or where. Questionnaires show that children get their first def- inite sex information as early as six or seven years and 4 SEX EDUCATION nearly all before the changes incident to puberty. Many times the information is given by ignorant serv- ants, often by companions older but uninformed, and in cases not a few by persons directly vicious. Much depends upon the attitude of mind formed in young people concerning personal and public relations. Therefore a great responsibility rests upon the wise and mature, that they give to the young the benefit of their observation and experience. Experience is a great teacher, therefore the young should be informed of the experiences of the old. It is but human to make mistakes in life, so let the wise encourage the unwise in ways of living that will take them around moral morasses and away from quick- sands of iniquity. Self control should be cultivated in all character building, especially in the department of sex sense. Unbridled sex desires become lust, which according to the older theologians was one of the mortal or deadly sins. Farther on in this little book we shall endeavor to give a clear account of the biology of reproduction, but neither that nor laws will insure purity. To knowl- edge of life’s processes and the law’s provisions, must be added moral strength and courage. Pope tells us that “vice is a monster of so frightful mien, as to be hated needs but to be seen.” Quite true, but vicious tendencies may creep in unseen unless we are always definitely cultivating high standards. “We need con- trol of, not annihilation of instincts.” “Masculine virility needs to be raised to affection, and feminine affection to devotion, and both to greater spiritual heights.” 5 SEX Bigelow says sex education “will bring to many a man and woman a deeper, nobler, and purer knowledge of what sex means for the coming race, and what it means now to each individual who realizes life’s fullest possibilities in conjugal affection, which culminates in new life and new motives for more affection. Such an understanding of sex relation to home life will help this old world more than anything else which sex education may accomplish.” From Sex Education, a most wholesome book for any reader. Most persons are looking for certain measures of health, wealth and happiness. Those who are moral will be most sure of sexual health; and health is equiv- alent to wealth; those having health and wealth will be happy personally and bequeath happiness to pos- terity. Silence regarding sex matters has proved a failure so far as helping individuals is concerned or lessening social evils. The silence in many quarters may have been due to ignorance, but at the present time must be ascribed usually to cowardice. Intelligent physicians and educators know that there are problems to be solved, but not all are ready to grapple with them. Certainly, knowledge of sex facts should be a help to right conduct. A youth who has been properly instructed from early childhood will have a general understanding of fertilization of plants and reproduction of animal life without giving special thought to sex knowledge. Under ideal conditions one should give no more concern to sex affairs than to breathing. It is only because this field is so often passed by on the other side, even by 6 SEX EDUCATION books on hygiene, that there is excuse and need for sex books. Nature study is much in vogue at present, and it is well that it is so; yet many teachers fail to give the needed attention to the study of the reproduction of the species. Here is an opportunity to make clear the wrongfulness of destroying birds during the nesting season, of hunting deer or rabbits that are bearing young or nursing them. A little judicious counsel as to pets and lower animals will develop a natural respect for motherhood and parentage that may save an awkward situation later on. Definition of Sex.—Sex is the distinction of the char- acters of male and female, primarily as to the repro- ductive organs, though in man there is psychology as well as physiology to be considered. 7 PLANT REPRODUCTION Reproduction of plants is brought about by outside agencies, while that of the lower animals is due to instinct. Human life depends for reproduction not upon instinct alone, but upon choice of a mate, implying higher qualities, as love and affection. One of the finest flowers to study is the Easter Lily as photographed on the opposite page, Plate I. The names at the side clearly indicate the various parts. The female portion, the pistil, stands erect in the middle of the flower starting from the ovary below, and ending above in the broadened top covered with honey to attract insects. The stamens, the male portion of the flow'er, are arranged around the pistil each bearing at its top the anther which is covered by pollen cells. Because the stamens are shorter than the pistil, the flower is not likely to be self-pollinated. The pollen cells are like minute corrugated wheat grains which under the microscope seem to be burnished gold. It is hard to imagine anything more beautiful. Plate II shows the pollen grains magnified two hundred fifty diameters and colored in tint near to nature. Not all homes contain a microscope, but most schools now do and physicians generally have them. Young people as well as old may get great pleasure and profit by observing more closely many objects which now are passed by with only a glance if not with disdain. All forms of life begin in germ cells. The tiny grass seed begins the life of a single spear; the acorn holds the 8 Plate I. Easter Lily showing the sex parts of a flower; the ovary and pistil, female; the stamens, anthers and pollen, male. PLANT REPRODUCTION germ cell from which grows the stately oak, an inspira- tion and shelter to mankind. One seed produces one offspring. The one seed is produced by the union of two sex cells, that is by fertilization. Pollination.—In plants pollination is accomplished at times by the wind, as in grasses; or by insects, as bees that fly on sunny days gathering honey and so carrying pollen on their legs from the stamens of one flower to the pistil of another. In the same manner moths fly at night, from bloom to bloom thrusting their long tongues deep down for nectar for themselves, and at the same time carrying off pollen dust that will adhere to the next sticky pistil they may come against. Flowers that are fertilized by night-flying insects are usually nearly white, whereas those pollinated by day-flying insects are of bright colors. Birds like the humming-bird flitting from blossom to blossom convey pollen on their long bills. Pollen is the male element. This must reach the pistil, and then start on its way down to the ovary, which is the female part. There it will unite with the ovule or egg making it fertile. This process is called fertilization. Figure 1 indicates how the pollen grain sends down a tube through which the male cell reaches the egg. The progress of the male cell through the pistil is not a matter of gravity, but of chemistry for there is a ferment, an enzyme, by means of which the tiny cell eats its way along until it reaches its destina- tion, the ovule, where the male and female cells unite to form a new seed. The subject of seeds may be made very interesting to children if they are told how the peapods are cradles 9 Figure 1. Section of a flower pis- til to illustrate fertilization. Note how the pollen passes from the top (stigma) down the middle of the style until it reaches the ovary below; there the pol- 1 e n (sperm) and egg unite to form a seed. By courtesy of E. H. Eddy. 10 Plate II. Pollen grains of an Easter Lily. Microphotograph magnified two hundred fifty diameters. PLANT REPRODUCTION for the peas; how the shells protect nuts, which are seeds; how chestnut burrs keep the nuts from injury until they are thoroughly ripened and opened by the frost, etc. A resourceful, thinking adult can set a child to observing many things. Explain how the apple seeds are protected in the middle of the apple, how the peach because it is so luscious is carried far, yet the seed is protected by a shell, etc. We chose the lily because of its beauty; now let us study corn, an American plant of some beauty and great value because it is so freely grown and forms so large a part of our diet as well as that of our domestic animals. A commodity of which we produced more than three billions of bushels in one year must be worthy of attention. The tassels at the top of growing corn are really flower clusters containing the stamens on which the pollen forms. It is estimated that there are 50,000,000 pollen grains on an ordinary plant of corn. Here is a botanical illustration of the liberality of nature. The cob forms at the side of the corn stalk about two feet from the ground. On the cob, there may be six hundred or eight hundred minute kernels (ovules) each with a “silk” thread which is the style and stigma ready to receive a particle of pollen dust from the tassel above or from a neighboring plant. Farmers find it better for the crop to have cross pollina- tion. That is pollen from one plant is deposited on the silk (styles and stigma) of another plant. Self pollina- tion is the union of pollen and silk growing upon the same stalk. A corn plant bears both male and female flowers; it is therefore monoecious, meaning of a single household. 11 SEX The com in the illustrations, Plate III and Figure 2, was taken from the author’s “war garden.” A small grass plot in a city back yard was put under cultivation, and produced food for thought as well as for the table. The small ear on the right (Plate III) shows conditions before fertilization, that is marked immaturity. The ear on the left is mature, and the silk having fulfilled its office is now to be seen drying up. Notice near the bot- tom of the full ear two kernels that are very thin and not worth while, because no pollen came down to their aid. They were not fertilized, therefore did not grow. Ovules alone are valueless, they must be fertilized to be fruitful. The two ears suggest Pharaoh’s dream of the seven rank and good ears contrasted with the seven lean ears blasted by the east wind. Just so the ova, eggs, of bird or beast do not develop unless fertilized. Plants require a great amount of moisture because it is the constant pressure of water in the cells that produces a fullness or turgor sufficient to keep the plant erect. Without water the plant wilts and may die. Plants build up and store nourishment for animals and man. Man is the consumer and destroyer. Having considered the lilies of the field, how they grow, though they neither toil nor spin, let us turn to the insects who do both. 12 Plate III. Corn before and after pollination. Figure 2. Growing com; the male flower “tas- sel” is at the top of the plant. It consists of stamens heavily laden with anthers bearing pollen. The female flower consists of a young ear with a mass of “silk.” Each silk thread is a stigma leading to the ovary which when fertilized will produce a kernel of corn. The spike or axis, with its many ovules becomes the cob or ear. DEVELOPMENT OF INSECTS We know that there are thousands of insects that are enemies to fruit and flower at some time in their lives. For example, there are two hundred and eighty that damage the apple crop; nevertheless, were all insects exterminated we should have many crops sadly lessened and many beautiful blossoms would disappear. Insects constitute the largest class in the animal kingdom, there being two hundred and fifty thousand known species, and perhaps 2,000,000 not described. Their development is accomplished in stages after the egg is hatched. True, there are a few insects that bring forth living young; they are called oviviparous, but the majority are egg-layers. The eggs hatch and go through many changes or transformations called, technically, metamorphoses. From the egg the insect passes to the larva form, known usually as grub, cater- pillar and worm. Bees, butterflies, beetles and common flies are well known in this form. The larva stage is one of great activity and is accompanied by an enor- mous appetite, with consequent growth, the worms devouring great quantities of fresh vegetation. The farmer well knows the ravages of the Colorado Potato Beetle in the larva state, and so does the tobacco raiser know too well the larva state of the Phlegethon- tius Carolina, a beautiful fellow if you are a scientist, but a frightful green monster and nuisance if you are trying to raise leaf tobacco for cigar wrappers. While in the larva state the growth of most of the worms or 14 DEVELOPMENT OF INSECTS caterpillars is so rapid that their skins become too tight and they then moult or cast the skin, as the snake and newt do. The moulting process is repeated from two to a dozen times according to the various sorts of insect. When growth is attained the worm ceases to eat and enters the pupa state. Some form a chrysalis, with a hard protective surface, and hide in the earth, while other varieties surround themselves with silken nests, as the cocoons that we see on the trees and fences. The insects that made cocoons usually with the warm days of the next spring come forth as winged creatures. The larva state is generally the longest period, even lasting for years in some instances; as for example, the Harvest Flies or Cicadas, which live in the adult, imago, state only five weeks. “Four years (seventeen) hard labor under ground, and a month of feasting in the sun; such is the life of the Cigale.” Fabre, the author just quoted, had wonderful powers of observation and as great facility in describing what he learned, a writer for all intelligent persons to enjoy. From the pupa state the insect at the proper time emerges an adult, scientifically termed imago, usually with wings, the perfect insect. The writer once had the privilege of observing the eruption of a cicada from its neat brown prison; the cicada nymph had come up from the ground after sixteen years of sucking sap from roots, and was clinging to a large tree trunk. It caught the eye of the writer just as the skin began to split at the top and back. When the rent had extended half way down the back the broad head and shining eyes of the locust protruded. As the opening enlarged the 15 SEX locust slowly emerged with his moist gossamer wings shining in the sunlight; these by degrees were unfolded and expanded until all wrinkles were obliterated and the marvellously delicate and iridescent aeroplanes were ready for flight. As this seance occurred on a Sunday afternoon it naturally suggested a resurrection and a beautiful one indeed. A detailed account of one or two of our insect bene- factors will illustrate some wonders in development. It will tend to make us forget the ravages of the gypsy moth and weevil. Although insects in the adult or larva state destroy 20 per cent of the fruit crop, we should remember that fruit trees depend largely upon insects for pollination. As the silk worm has a complete metamorphosis and an interesting history we have chosen it for detailed description. Silk history runs back to the Empress Si-ling in China, who in 2640 b. c. was encouraging the silk industry in her country, which seems to have been the original home of the silk moth and the mul- berry tree. Aristotle wrote about silk before Alexander the Great imported it from Persia. It “was imported at Cos where it was woven into a gauzy tissue, the famous Coa vestis, which revealed rather than clothed the form.” In those days silk was worth more than its weight in gold. No wonder that Aurelian in an economical mood declined to buy silk for his empress. The silk worm is the larva of Bombjrx mori, a moth whose home was originally in China but which has been introduced with varying success into many parts of the world. The attempts at profitable cultivation in the United States have been unsatisfactory thus far. 16 Plate IV. Silk worms in various stages; eggs, larva, young and full grown; cocoon with chrysalis, mature moths male and female; bunch of silk in lower right corner. DEVELOPMENT OF INSECTS The expert entomologist will class the silk moths under Lepidoptera, meaning “scaly-winged.” If you look at the dusty surface of a wing under the microscope, you will find the hairs flattened like scales. They are beautiful, as are the hairs and scales of all butterflies and moths. The moths are about an inch long, the male the smaller of the two and with an abdomen terminating in a blunt point. The female, his spouse, is larger and has an abdomen large and rounded, apparently too heavy for her. Each has a dingy white color both of body and wings; the latter are in two pairs lying out flat as is the fashion of moths; not standing up, like the wings of butterflies. Across the wings are pale brown bars, brighter and more distinct in the male than in the female and serving therefore to distinguish the sexes. The eyes are very small, not the large orbs of so many of the day-flying creatures. The antennae, “feelers,” are very large, of the feathery variety, and contain thousands of smelling openings or organs, in addition to being very sensitive to touch. The female has very large scent glands that seem to add to her attractions, so that the male with his ex- traordinary olfactory development has no difficulty in finding his mate even though his vision is limited. If he suffers loss of the antennae he cannot find her. The moths mate almost as soon as they are hatched; if in captivity, the coupling is under the observation of an attendant who promptly throws away the male. The female is placed in a darkened room until she lays her eggs, which number from five hundred to two thousand. These are little bluish spheres about the size of the head of a very small pin, and in nature are deposited 17 SEX on leaves; they are set singly and stick, but not to each other as they are not massed like the eggs of the gypsy moth. The number of eggs is fairly large, but does not put this moth in the class with the white ant, the great- est egg producer among insects, which lays sixty eggs per minute. The moth eggs weigh one grain to the hundred. The eggs are usually laid in June, but do not hatch until the following spring, for example in April, when there is an abundance of fresh vegeta- tion. The little worm (larva) is a great feeder and sets to eating as soon as it gets its greyish green body out of the shell; its favorite diet is white mulberry leaves, though it will eat black mulberry, Osage orange leaves or lettuce. When six days old it will have grown so that it must molt, i. e., change its skin; this is done by the cracking at the front and back and allowing the occu- pant to wriggle out, forcing the discarded skin back- wards. The molting process is repeated on the 10th, 15th, and 23d days after hatching. This is a rapid change of coat, more so than in other branches of the animal kingdom. Birds molt usually once a year, toads cast their skins once, fur bearing animals shed their hair once, in the spring, etc. When the larva has grown to three inches in length it stops eating and prepares to construct a cocoon in which it passes into the chrysalis state. Instead of a greenish worm it has become yellowish white. The cocoon is an inch and an eighth long with rounded ends, and if it contain a male there will be a slight depression at the middle belt line. Three instead of seven is the cardinal number for the moth, for the larva is three inches long, it spends three days 18 DEVELOPMENT OF INSECTS in spinning the cocoon and remains in it three weeks be- fore emerging a perfect adult, imago. The caterpillar is provided with glands to secrete the silk forming substance. These glands extend al- most the entire length of the body and develop rapidly as the time approaches for spinning. The viscid sub- stance to form silk passes through two spinnerets in the upper part of the mouth; it will therefore be seen that each thread consists of two filaments. After building the golden shell-like cocoon which is of coarse material, the worm surrounds himself within by the fine silk which is desired by man (or woman). This thread is found to range from three hundred to nine hundred yards in length when reeled for manufacture. After three or four weeks in the chrysalis, the feet, legs and wings form so that the new mature insect is ready for coming forth; however, the silk grower will attend to that and unless he wants to raise the worm for breeding he will give it a hot bath which causes its death. The heat also renders the silk soft, ready for reeling and for manufacture. The accompanying illustration, Plate IV, shows the stages of silkworm life and at the same time the manner of development of the lepidoptera family. The eggs are shown on the under side of the leaf, a worm three weeks old is in the bottle of formalin, and a fullgrown worm is on the mulberry leaf at the right. On the branch across the middle of the picture may be seen the male moth at the left, and the female moth, the larger one, at the right. Below is the cocoon, cut across to show the interior with the chrysalis three quarters of an inch in length, which a short time before had been 19 BEX a three inch worm. Nature is an economist at packing. The silk has been removed and is shown in a hank or skein at the lower right corner of the cut. When the moths are allowed to hatch naturally they very soon unite and the female having been impregnated the male presently dies. Not long after laying her eggs the female will also perish, probably like the male without having eaten at all during adult life. The perpetuation of the race having been accomplished they have no further mission. Therefore, to nature’s greatest spinner—finis. Insects are very prolific, but very few exhibit any family life or care of the young. Death after fulfilling the reproductive demands is very com- mon. Courting is an interesting performance with many of the insect world, but ends in tragedy, many females even devouring their recent lovers. Fabre, in Social Life in the Insect Wodd, describes the assassina- tion of the Golden Scarabaeus as an end to his nuptials, and the brutality of the Praying(?) Mantis who begins to eat her mate ere he has left her embrace. As that author says “insects can hardly be accused of sentimen- tality.” Their code of ethics must differ from that of man, for we would count such acts as examples of total depravity. The honey bee, Apis mellifera, is another useful insect with a reproductive history of interest to man. See Plate V. Probably no other insect has inspired such an amount of good literature and scientific study. Most people with a taste for good reading are familiar with Maeterlinck’s Life of the Bee. A few persons will have read Huber’s New Observations on Bees, new in 1789, and even at this time new to many persons. The 20 After Leuckert Comstock Plate V. The Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera). Fig. 1, The Queen; Fig. 2, Drone, male; Fig. 3, worker; Fig. 4, Honey comb with queen cells; Fig. 5, Reproductive organs of queen; o, o, ovaries; od, oviducts; s, spermatheca, reservoir for sperms when received; p, poison sac and sting. Fig. 6, Reproductive organs of the drone: t, t, testes; v, v, vas deferens leading to the seminal sacs; m, m, mucous glands; ed, ejaculatory duct; b, bulb or pouch. The bulb and the following parts are everted at the time of pairing. (Courtesy of Doubleday, Page & Co.) Fig l F ig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 fie- 5 fie- 6 DEVELOPMENT OF INSECTS astonishing thing about this book is that it is the work of a man blind from boyhood, who was obliged to use the eyes of another but whose mind made up for the handicap. What an inspiration such a life work should be to us who can see and who ought to think. Bees are the ideal socialists of animal life. Everything is for the good of the community, not the individual. A bee colony consists of three kinds of inhabitants: a queen, the mother of the new swarm; drones, large clumsy fellows who prospectively are to be fathers to the new swarm, and a multitude of workers who are non-reproductive females that perform all the labor of the hive. The queen is usually alone in her glory, though occasionally more than one will be found in a hive; the drones number three or four hundred until after the massacre to be mentioned later. The workers prepare the comb and bring in the pollen and honey; they feed the young bees and seal them up when the time comes for them to complete the pupa state; they attend the queens, feeding them on royal jelly; they kill the useless drones and drag them forth with other rubbish, because the hive must always be very clean. They make a terrible slaughter of the males by cutting off their wings and often legs also before stinging them to death. The worker bees may number fifty thousand. If we begin the study of the bee at the egg we find it as a wee speck in the bottom of a cell, but it remains in the egg only three days, then is six days as larva with the cell open so that it may be fed; the workers then seal the cell and confine the worm twelve days longer while the feet and wings develop; after the twenty- four days, the bee cuts his way out with his strong man- 21 SEX dibles. If the bee is a drone he will spend two or three weeks in roaming about the hive eating his fill of honey that he did not gather, and will then be ready to go forth and meet the queen. The first queen to hatch is by priority the sovereign, and her first object is to hunt up a cell of honey. When satisfied with that meal, she seeks out other queen cells which she breaks into, tearing the cells and biting or stinging her develop- ing rivals. The worker bees complete the work of demolition and promptly clean house again. Boys are in a measure like queen bees. We remember our first summer in the apiary and being told to eat “all the honey we wanted.” A surfeit of honey cures one of the desire for that sweet for many months. Bees are often fighters for self-preservation, but are not at all inter- ested in helping injured comrades, they are not awake to the conservation of cripples. A. J. Root says that “they have just the same feeling for their fellows that a locomotive might be expected to have for a man that it had run over.” When the queen is five or six days old she looks out from the hive, and on a warm afternoon will fly a little to try her wings. “Finally she tremblingly spreads those long silky wings, and with a graceful movement that I cannot remember to have seen equalled anywhere in the whole scope of animated nature, she swings from her feet, while her long body sways pendulously as she hovers about the entrance to the hive.” (Root). In- sects have a highly developed sense of smell, the ol- factory organs being in the antennae as mentioned when describing the silk moth. It is estimated that the drones have thirty-seven thousand eight hundred 22 DEVELOPMENT OF INSECTS olfactory (smelling) cavities in each antenna. It must be that this is an aid to the male bee in becoming aware of the presence of the queen. There is also the unusual sound of the queen’s wings as she flies. Be that as it may, the fact is that the beautiful virgin is not long out before she is surrounded by the 300 or 400 drones from her own hive, and if there are other hives in the neighborhood she may have several thousand suitors on this her wedding trip. She is sometimes seized by her mate near the ground, though more often there is a wild chase high in the air until a strong and persistent lover clasps the prize with his feet. They holding each other as if in arms are thus free to keep the wings whirling them higher and higher in the sky. While at these dizzy heights the queen is impregnated and the nuptial flight that began auspiciously ends tragically for the male. As he breaks away from her embrace it is with the loss of his special organs, for they break from him as does the sting of a worker bee in your hand. To quote from Maeterlinck: ‘‘When the breathless queen has reached the alighting- board, some groups will form and accompany her into the hive; where the sun, hero of every festivity in which the bees take part, is entering with little timid steps, and bathing in azure and shadow the waxen walls and curtains of honey. Nor does the new bride, indeed, show more concern than her people, there being not room for many emotions in her narrow, barbarous, practical brain. She has but one thought, which is to rid herself as quickly as possible of the embarrassing souvenirs her consort has left her, whereby her move- ments are hampered. She seats herself on the threshold, 23 SEX and carefully strips off the useless organs, that are borne far away by the workers; for the male has given her all he possessed, and much more than she requires. She retains only in her spermatheca the seminal liquid where millions of germs are floating, which, until her last day, will issue one by one, as the eggs pass by, and in the obscurity of her body accomplish the mysterious union of the male and female element, whence the worker-bees are born. Through a curious inversion, it is she who furnishes the male principle, and the drone who provides the female. Two days after the union she lays her first eggs, and her people immediately surround her with the most particular care. From that moment, possessed of a dual sex, having within her an inexhaustible male, she begins her veritable life; she will never again leave the hive, unless to accompany a swarm; and her fecundity will cease only at the approach of death.” A good queen lays two thousand or three thousand eggs in a day when honey is abundant; if not she knows and lays fewer eggs, for why produce young when there is little fare. Did she ever read Malthus? Moreover she lays drone eggs or worker eggs at will. The presence of a male is not essential to the laying of eggs in the queen bee any more than in the hen; how- ever as with birds, the fertility and value for another generation depend upon the male and female meeting. One union is enough to insure fertile eggs for many days, possibly for the entire one hundred and twenty that an industrious White Leghorn is expected to lay. The queen bee during her nuptial flight receives possibly twenty-five million sperms, more than enough for her needs although she may live to be four or five years of age. Impregnated eggs are necessary for the develop- 24 DEVELOPMENT OF INSECTS ment of worker bees and queens, but a virgin queen may lay eggs that will grow to be drones only. This brings us to the subject of parthenogenesis, a term longer than the queen bee herself. Par-then-o-gen'-e- sis is Greek for virgin reproduction, that is reproduction without sexual union, much like the budding of the lower forms of life. The little green fly (Aphis) that infests our house plants is produced in that way all summer, though males appear to fertilize the eggs in the latter part of the season. These are the insects called “ants’ cows” because they provide a sweet exudate much sought after by the ants. Plate V shows very clearly the three classes of bees in a hive; the queen of majestic mien; the drone useless, but for one purpose; and the worker, “the busy bee,” of common speech. The honeycomb figure shows cells nearly filled with honey, also rounded top cells, occupied by growing drones, and two large queen cells appearing like peanuts, at an angle to the other cells. The figures of the generative organs at first surprise us with the relatively enormous ovaries, having the gross ap- pearance of two strawberries. When we reflect that from those glands may come hundreds of thousands of new beings, we pass from surprise to wonder and admiration. “.... So work the honey-bees, Creatures*that by a rule in nature teach The act of order to a peopled kingdom.” Henry the Fifth, Act I, Scene 2. 25 PROPAGATION OF FISHES Moving upward in the evolution of our subject we come to fishes. Boys and men are fond of catching fish, and we suppose they always have been. A few persons add to their sportsmanship a study of the habits of the finny tribe. Anyone who will, may do so if not in the open at least in home or school aquariums. Nearly all fish construct nests more or less crude as a rule, but in some instances very complicated, in which the female deposits her eggs, the male afterward emitting the sperm cells over the eggs and so fertilizing them. If you have patience you may watch the sun- fish scoop a shallow depression in the sand and keep guard over it against all comers while the eggs incubate. The male is the sentinel, and a pugnacious one, darting at any careless fellow who attempts to swim too near the precious nest. Many boys catch sticklebacks in the spring time to keep in aquariums in order to observe their nest build- ing. The male constructs a long round nest, not unlike a barrel, made of little twigs and grasses glued together. Into this one room apartment he coaxes his mate and they rear a family or at least deposit the eggs. One of the prettiest of nest builders is the Paradise Fish (Marcopodus viridi-auratus), Plate VI. Although it is a native of China, it may be had of any aquarium dealer. In June the male takes on very gorgeous colors, purple, blue, golden, bronze, and in some varieties 26 Plate VI. Paradise Fish. Note the floating nest on the surface of the water. PROPAGATION OF FISHES bright red bands. The rainbow seems to have been robbed to provide the wedding garments, as is common to many fish at the mating season and by no means confined to the paradise fish. The male builds a nest on the surface of the water by blowing up bubbles of air confined by a glutinous substance that he forms in the mouth. When he has a mass of foam about three inches in diameter he seeks the female and they swin beneath the nest with tail and fins distended to the utmost and there embrace like two crescents. As the fish press against each other the eggs are exuded from the female and the sperm cells from the male, so that a dozen or more eggs are fertilized at each embrace, after which these float up and adhere to the nest. Should they not rise fast enough the father seizes them in his mouth and puffs them up to the surface. When eighty to a hundred eggs have been fertilized the process is stopped. The female then retires, pale in color and plainly wearied by her labor. The male gives his entire attention to the nest, watching it anxiously and catching in his mouth any eggs that drop out and are in danger of falling in deep water. In thirty-six to forty-eight hours all of the eggs will be hatched and appear as wiggling specks with tails barely perceptible. We have had them born in twenty-four hours when in a tank placed out of doors in midsummer. The father is so faithful to his little offspring that he does not stop for four or five days, even to eat, but watches constantly to catch up any falling child and prevent it from getting where the water pressure would be too great. Although some males allow the female to pick up a few falling 27 SEX fry and return them to the nest, as a rule the male is ugly to his mate and drives her fiercely into a corner from which she keeps an eye on him. After a few days the fry (young fish) are left to shift for themselves, and are no more regarded by the parents, unless the latter are hungry when they will eat them without hesitation. By far the greater number of fish deposit eggs, yet there are a few that give birth to living young, that are viviparous. Among large fish thus born are members of the shark family. Other sharks deposit eggs that are in strong fibrous cases often found on the sea shore, looking like cheap purses with threads attached. The illustration, Plate VII, on the opposite page shows two varieties of small fish that are often bred in home aquariums. The light colored pair upon the left are Xiphophorus Helleri, commonly termed Helleri or sword-tailed minnows. The male is very brilliant with a broad band of red, blue and orange extending from his nose to and upon his long sword-like tail. They have several broods of a dozen or more each during the warm summer months. The pair shown upon the right of the picture are Gambusia Holbrooki, easily kept al- though not easily bred. The Holbrooki show clearly sex differences in color and in shape to such a degree that the uninitiated would not recognize the male and female as of the same species. The female has marked curves of the back and belly with a large black spot on the side of the abdomen giving the appearance of a tear in her waist band. The male lacks the curved and globular form, is long and straight like a little pickerel. In color the black blotches are so abundant as almost to obscure the faintly yellowish skin otherwise showing. 28 Plate VII. This picture illustrates the difference in form and color between male c? and female $ of the same species. The fish at the left are Mexi- can sword minnows commonly called Xiphophorus helleri; the fish at the right are Gambusia holbrooki or Top Minnows. PROPAGATION OF FISHES The fins and tail are so delicate in hue and structure that it requires close observation to make sure that the irregular margins of black color are not ragged edges of the fins. When he is at rest and the observer’s vision is keen the true outline may be seen. What appears below like a center-board to a boat is a fin and the intromittent organ. At the breeding time this black beauty sails up to his mate and waves the organ at her from the side or even forward just beneath his chin and for an instant is in contact with her so that fertilization is effected. The gambusia has young once in four weeks in summer time, the number varying from one dozen to four dozen. The reason so few come to maturity in captivity is that the parents are little cannibals and devour the young almost as soon as they are born. They must be born amidst abundant fine plants to afford hiding places from their parents. Other aquarium pets having curious habits of repro- duction are the sea horse, the male of which carries the young in a pouch similar to that of a kangaroo; also the mouth-breeders of Egypt (Haplochromis strigigena) and of South Africa (Tilapia nataleusis). The latter make a simple nest in the sand, but do not allow the eggs to remain long after being fertilized, as the mother fish gathers them into the brood pouch in her mouth, where she will keep them about fifteen days until they hatch. During this period of incubation the fish does not eat and she therefore looks dilapidated when the process is finished. The blind cave fish (Amblyopsis) also has gill brood pouches. Possibly some of our readers wish we might use food 29 SEX fishes rather than pets to illustrate our subject. When you have shad roe for a spring luncheon, consider therefore that it consists of hundreds of thousands of eggs; for you know the fish are in season and caught while on their way up the rivers for purposes of spawn- ing. Another fish egg delicacy is caviar, prepared from the eggs of the sturgeon, now nearly extinct. Shake- speare recognized its rarity in the allusion in Hamlet “twas caviar to the General.” One of the most notable fish of our day is the salmon; though at home in the deep sea these know instinct- ively that they should spawn in shallow running water. To effect this they start in the spring to make their way up rivers until the depth and temperature suit them, the latter 54°. They swim up the Columbia river for a thousand miles, and have been found up the Yukon more than two thousand miles from the sea. The trip has required four months’ time, the over- coming of rapids and the jumping of falls as high as eight feet. Although the history of Yukon salmon is of com- paratively recent date, the salmon is on record and its habits known in history. Our old friend Izaak Walton, in his account of the salmon in Wales, quotes Michael Drayton the poet-laureate of his time (1626) and whom he calls an honest man as well: “And when the salmon seeks a fresher stream to find; (Which from the sea comes, yearly, by his kind) As he towards season grows: and stems the watry tract Where Tivy, falling down, makes a high cataract, Forc’d by the rising rocks that there her course oppose, As tho’ within her bounds they meant her to enclose; 30 PROPAGATION OF FISHES Here when the laboring fish does at the foot arrive And finds that by his strength he does but vainly strive; His tail takes in his mouth, and, bending like a bow That’s to full compass drawn, aloft himself doth throw, Then springing at his height, as doth a little wand That bended end to end, and started from man’s hand, Far off itself doth cast; so does the salmon vault: And if, at first, he fail, his second somersault He instantly essays, and, from his nimble ring Still yerking, never leaves until himself he fling Above the opposing stream.” Here again we encounter one of nature’s tragedies; after spawning, either because their mission is ended or because they are so beaten and wounded in the exertions of overcoming gravity, falls, and rapids, the salmon, both male and female, float down stream tail first with the current, and within a few days many die. Salmon have been marked and found to ascend the same river on succeeding years so that it is claimed that some of them live ten years or more. As an egg-layer probably the blue ribbon of supe- riority belongs to the cod fish, for she deposits nine millions to fifteen millions of eggs in a season, the greatest fertility known to the writer. 31 BREEDING OF BIRDS Having considered sex characteristics in the realm of entomology and of piscatology we now rise to the field of ornithology. Here we shall be sure of attention as every one, old or young, is fond of birds, whose plumage attracts the eye and whose song delights the ear. Birds are vertebrates that always are distinctly male or female and that lay eggs that are incubated outside of the body. The feathered folks perform many attractive manoeuvres in courtship, Plate VIII and show remarkable and curious designs in nest building. If we note the habits of the birds in our parks and along the countryside, we find that most of them pair only after considerable ceremony, and that the two then set about selecting a proper place for the nest which they together construct. We then observe that the nest is not a permanent domicile for the family, but rather a place in which merely to incubate the eggs and then to rear the birdlings. It is not for personal comfort, but for the protection of the off- spring. The choice of a location free from danger will depend largely upon the character of the birds. For example, the humming bird will make a firm little nest, just large enough to hold a silver half dollar, saddled on a tree limb, and cover it so nicely with lichens that it seems to be only a knot of the tree. The eagle, on the other hand, has no need to try to 32 BREEDING OF BIRDS mislead the eye, to camouflage; she gathers a few sticks and places her eyry with its two or four eggs on a high cliff or in the top of a tall forest tree, and trusts to the strength of herself and her mate to keep off all intruders. Many birds build among the grasses and tussocks close to the ground, where the nest is hard to find be- cause of color; others build in full sight, but quite out of reach, as the Baltimore oriole, who suspends her nest from the end of a limb of an elm tree. The oriole is entirely outdone by her cousin the Crested Cassique or Yellow tail of South America, for this bird weaves a baglike nest that hangs from three to five feet below the supporting limb. These large birds also illustrate the community feeling that some birds have. It is not uncommon to see a hundred of their nests hanging from the same tree, all safe from intruders because of the noisy crowd. There are many birds that enjoy community living; swallows and doves come readily to mind as of this class, then there are the Republican Grosbeaks of Africa which construct their nests close together under a great thatch like a vast umbrella or mushroom. In this instance “republican” surely does not refer to politics. Our barn and bank swallows dwell in communities without any evidence of families getting mixed. Many water fowls breed in large communities, and not infrequently several species occupy the same incubating grounds. Mating of Birds.—The courtship and manners of birds in the mating season may be observed in town or country. For instance, the house sparrow is always in town and in spring time makes a noisy ado about his domestic plans. Four or five cocks will address one 33 SEX little hen and, with wings outspread, in strident voices will declare their readiness to wed. The little hen makes her selection by exclusion based on considera- tions that we do not understand. On two occasions we have seen a hen take a male by the nape of the neck and shake him off from a limb; in one case, the offender was in suspension for a considerable time before being dropped out from the competition. A selection is finally made, and then the rejected suitors leave the pair to start their new home, perhaps in the vine at the back of the house. Sparrows form a boisterous com- munity. Doves dwell in social groups, but they have more pleasing ways than have the “pests,” the “street Arabs,” just described. Doves are more loving and dignified, the male ruffing up his neck feathers and cooing softly his desires while bowing before his would- be mate. All is peace and harmony in the dove cote. Two white eggs are laid in a very simple nest made of twigs, grass, etc., on a beam in the barn, or upon the floor of a box. Both birds take part in incubating, and according to John Burroughs the male goes on duty regularly at noon. In sixteen days there will be two young birds, usually called squabs, though the word squab applies to any young bird. The ways of the fowls in the poultry yard are well known. They do not pair as do most of the feathered folks, but are polygamous, have more than one mate. The rooster is ready to serve, “treading, ” any hen that needs him, and having given her his share of the egg, the germ cell, he will depart, proud but unconcerned, alert to run with other hens or fight any cock of the 34 Courtesy of American Museum of Natural History Plate VIII. Courtship demonstrations of Prairie Hens. BREEDING OF BIRDS walk that he may chance to meet. The hen lays an egg each day or second day, and when she has twelve to twenty she will begin incubation, will “set” on the eggs. The temperature of birds is higher than ours, that of the hen being 104°. A temperature of at least 102° must be maintained to insure hatching of the eggs. Three weeks of this constant warmth changes the egg into a chick that picks its way out of the shell but is very willing to be under the mother’s wing for some weeks afterward. Some of my readers have doubtless visited an ostrich farm and been told of the marital habits of these great birds. They mate for life instead of for a season, and the male bird assists with the incubation if he does not take entire charge, especially at night when the hot sun has disappeared. Incubation requires six or seven weeks of patient waiting and watching of the dozen eggs, though now-a-days many are incubated artifi- cially. On some farms one male bird is confined with several females in which case he is not expected to assist in the incubation. The sex characters of male and female birds are usually plainly seen; for example, the male is usually arrayed in most brilliant colors, often having feathers in form and hue entirely different from those of his mate. Beginning in the poultry yard we see the cocks with long and resplendent tails, with spurs for combat, with conspicuous comb and wattles and a general bearing of “cock of the walk.” The tail development is conspicuously beautiful in the peacock (Plate IX who spreads his gorgeous plumes for the admiration of the hen and possibly with a consciousness that men 35 SEX admire him also. His bearing is at all times proud and lordly. The egrets, so prized by the ladies, are sex adornments of the male white heron, and are found in perfection only at the breeding season. (Killing these beautiful birds should be regarded as a crime.) Among our common birds there are many examples of distinc- tion in the color of male and female. The blue grosbeak is a case in point, the male being entirely blue except brown tips to the wing feathers, while the female is entirely brown except where there are blue bands on the wings. The scarlet tanager is a common summer resident with jet-black wings and tail, while his mate is not scarlet at all, but of a greenish yellow color. Of game birds, pheasants and wild turkeys illustrate well the differences of both form and color of plumage in the sexes. The extra crest on the head of the pheas- ant marks the male only. His reds, blues and purples are all absent from the hen. The female is very plainly attired. Among the Gallinaceae (domestic fowls) the male is always larger than the female, while among the Rap- tores (birds of prey) the female is the larger. Perhaps this fact explains the expression, “she rules the roast.” A few birds are provided with most unusual append- ages; for example, the frigate bird or man-of-war, which has a large purple pouch like a child’s balloon under his bill, or the Prairie Hen of our western plains. The male of the latter has two air sacs at either side of the neck, which he can inflate with air until they resemble two large lemons. In the breeding season he is fond of displaying these adornments and also his ability as a fighter. See Plate VIII. 36 Courtesy Zoological Society Photograph Elwin B. Sanborn Plate IX. Indian Peacock and Hen. The peacock on dress parade with tail sptead four feet high, is a most magnificent bird. BREEDING OF BIRDS The accompanying illustration of the courting of the prairie hen was courteously supplied by the American Museum of Natural History, and below we present a description of them as given by permission of Mr. Frank M. Chapman, the bird expert: “On frosty spring mornings, as the sun rises over the prairies, one may at times hear a singular, resonant, booming note, boom-ah-b-o-o-m, boom-ah-b-o-o-m. It is the love song of the Prairie Hen. He may be near at hand or possibly two miles away, so far does this sound, unobstructed by tree or hill, carry in the clear air. It is well worth following, however, for we may find the maker of it, with perhaps ten to fifty of his kind, en- gaged in a most remarkable performance. During the mating season, from March until early in May, the Prairie Hens of a certain district or area gather before day-break to take part in these courtship demon- strations. The feather-tufts on either side of the neck are erected like horns, the tail raised and spread, the wings drooped, when the bird first rushes forward a few steps, pauses, inflates its orange-like air sacks, and, with a violent, jerking, muscular effort, produces the startling boom, which we may have heard when two miles distant. At other times, with a low cackle, he springs suddenly into the air, as though quite unable to control himself, and finally he comes within striking distance of a rival who has been giving a similar exhibition. Then, with much clashing of wings, a fight ensues which often strews the nearby grass with feathers. These tournaments of display and combat are doubt- less designed to arouse the attention of the females, but they also occur when only males are present. Within an 37 SEX hour or two after sunrise, the time varying with the ardor of the birds, the competition is over for the day and the rivals feed peacefully together, until they enter the lists the following morning.” (From Guide Leaflet No. 28, American Museum of Natural History.) Elsewhere the author tells us that should a hawk fly over, these grotesque cavaliers instantly cease fighting and shrink into little brown masses to escape being seen. The courting performances of the Secretary Bird are really dances, a mixture of stately moves and foolish hops quite as grotesque as, and more interesting than, many of the modern society dances. The secretary bird is an interesting fellow to watch whether he is killing a snake for his luncheon or exercising his drama- tic skill in a hornpipe. The females look on with evident interest if not emotion. It is worthy of note that birds win the females chiefly by display, while among mammals the males battle for supremacy and leadership of a herd or single female. When we come to man it would seem that the woman wins, often by her display of charms of form, manner or of mind. We would like to believe that the choice is always made more upon character study than physical attributes. Sexual selection among the birds is very little de- pendent upon plumage, because the sexes are more apt to be plainly dressed and very much alike. Their “songs were framed fit to allure” not alone their mates, but man likewise. A great amount of the music of nature has sex as an underlying cause, for in- stance: 38 BREEDING OF BIRDS “The feathered songster, chanticleer, Hath wound his bugle-horn; And tells the early villager The coming of the morn.” Chatterton, Bristowe Tragedie. Among the water birds there is none more dignified and majestic than the swan. As the time for repro- duction approaches this bird flies to the Arctic regions or to Hudson’s Bay and there builds a mound eighteen inches high of coarse vegetation covered in the top with softer moss. Upon this the female lays her half dozen eggs and while she calmly views the prospect across boundless acres of marsh and sea patiently waits for the cygnets to come forth. The male stands by, adding pomp to the beauty and grace of his consort. The tame swan is the personification of aquatic ease and luxury, but, as this bird rarely breeds in captivity, we are fortunate if we see her with her little ones. Perhaps the most curious bird home is that of the African Horn-bill. Owing to the fondness of snakes for young birds, squabs, this homely bird selects a hollow tree for a nest; and when the female has ensconced herself within, the male plasters up the opening with mud, thereby imprisoning his mate for the period of incubation. As the young are without feathers when born they for a long time, need protection. The male constantly brings food to his family, and the mother bird takes it in through the window left for the purpose. After two months of confinement she comes forth fat and hearty while her spouse retires thin from over work. The hanging nests of the weaver birds (Ploceus) are not unlike those of our oriole, but the remarkable 39 SEX feature is a second domicile built by the male for him- self. This is very like an old-fashioned bee-hive open at the bottom and is usually not far from the nest of the female. Here the weaver bird sits on his woven perch and sings to his mate, protected meanwhile from the hot sun or possible storm by the roof over his head. (Richard Owen.) Letting these examples suffice as illustrative of the subject of nidification (nest-making) we will pass to the organs that produce the eggs. Reproductive Organs of the Fowl.—The ovaries of the hen are small granular bodies lying close to the back bone. They are alike at the beginning of life, but the left soon takes on active growth while the right remains stationary or actually disappears. Figure 3, B, shows the ova (eggs), in various stages of en- largement due to accumulation of yolk, a. b., which are each held from escape in a capsule called the calyx from its likeness to the calyx of a flower. This capsule is known as vitelline membrane, i. e., yolk membrane, which soon bursts under the pressure of the growing egg, when the latter falls into the funnel (infundi- bulum) c. when the egg has escaped, the calyx collapses, d. The infundibulum is the part of the oviduct that corresponds to the fallopian tube in woman. The ovum makes its way along two or three turns of the duct until it reaches the part called the uterus, i, where the shell is formed. The next portion of duct is called the vagina, l, from which the ovum or egg passes directly into the cloaca, in birds the common outlet of bladder and bowels. The male organs of the cock are shown in Fig. 3, A. 40 1. January. 4. Latter end of March. 2. Middle of February. 5. Middle of April. 3. Beginning of March. Figure 3. Reproductive organs of birds. SEX In the case of birds the testes remain within the body, never being outside in any sort of sac as in mammals. The testes of the cock are two ovoid glands, a.a., found above the kidneys, and the left is usually the larger of the two. Extending down from them are the long narrow tubes known as the vasa deferentia, i. e., carry- away-vessels, which are seen to be wavy or slightly convoluted, c. c. These tubes end in a small elevation in the cloaca mentioned above. When the two birds are in contact the spermatazoa are suddenly ejected from the papillae (small elevations) into the oviduct of the hen. As the testes (spermaries) of birds are needed only at mating, at other times they become very small, atro- phied as it were. Fig. 3, C, shows the relative increase in size of the testes of the house-sparrow from January to April, the nesting time. It is self-explaining and requires no further comment. The glands grow in four months from the size of a pin head to the size of a small cherry. These illustrations are from Anatomy of Vertebrates, by Richard Owen, 1866. “The good grey poet,” Walt Whitman, on one of his outings observed the mating of the king of birds and recorded the incident in THE DALLIANCE OF THE EAGLES. “Skirting the river road, (my forenoon walk, my rest,) Skyward in air a sudden muffled sound, the dalliance of the eagles. The rushing amorous contact high in space together, The clinching interlocking claws, a living, fierce, gyrating wheel, 42 BREEDING OF BIRDS Four beating wings, two beaks, a swirling mass tight grap- pling, In tumbling turning clustering loops, straight downward falling, - Till o’er the river pois’d, the twain yet one, a moment’s lull, A motionless still balance in the air, then parting, talons loosing, Upward again on slow-firm pinions slanting, their separate diverse flight, She hers, he his, pursuing.” ANIMAL COURTSHIP The poet says that all the world loves a lover. The lover of nature cannot but be interested in the love play or demonstrations of those in feathers and furs and the finny folks. While a few of us can watch the wild animals in their native haunts, others can observe them in the zoological parks of our cities. The peacock and pheasant make a great display of tail feathers, to attract the hens, the peacock with great dignity and decorum, the pheasant dashing before the hens with ardor and speed and showing resplendent tail feathers spread as if on edge. They make a finer show indeed than the ladies who later parade in the same plumes. Fighting is not confined to bulls with or without registered pedigree, but is characteristic of wild life in general. The stag and buffalo are ever ready to lock horns with an adversary. The deep voice of the moose in wild country sends echoes for miles around. The victor in these battles becomes the leader of the herd of females and the father of their young. The bellowing of the bull at the farmyard and the neighing of the stallion in his stall are announcements that they are here for a purpose. Returning again to indoor study we find that the aquarium affords an opportunity to watch the love making of fishes, newts, etc. The male newt or water lizard (Diemictylus viridescens), fanning the female with his broad tail before they proceed to spawn, 44 ANIMAL COURTSHIP engages our attention. He is the monkey of the home tank. Most of the music of the fields is produced by male animals, birds or insects, the female answering but a little. The earliest sex calls that we hear in the spring are those of the frogs and peepers. In midsummer we have the sharp ceaseless song of the Cicada, the seven- teen-year locust, “that obstinate melomaniac” as Fabre calls him. (Read Social Life in the Insect World, by Fabre.) The Katydid (Platphyllum concavum) continues his loud and shrill music until late in the autumn. We should not leave the insect world without mentioning the fire-flies, whose love signals instead of cries, are flashlights, said to be one hundred per cent efficient. The electric arc light is only ten per cent efficient. The dominating instinct of the lower forms of life is that for continuing the race, and the provision for safety of eggs and of young is in many cases unique and marvelous. Parental care does not seem to exist with all animals, although there are many that, even of low intelligence, show solicitude for their young equal to that of the human mother. Crabs, which the boys love to catch, may be found with their young attached to them. Some spiders and frogs also carry their little ones “bare back.” Seafaring folk often meet with the violet snail of the tropical seas (Ianthina). This little sailor is steadied by a raft-like appendage on the under- side of which she fastens her eggs; although she moves about freely the family is always at home and together. The Argonaut, the paper nautilus, is another beauti- ful creature with interesting structure and habits of 45 SEX breeding. One of the long tentacles is the sex organ, the heclocotylus arm, that bears the sperm cells. In at least three of the varieties of nautilus the sperm bearing arm, when attached to the mantle of the female, remains there. The other feature to note is the ingenious little shell boat in which the mother sustains her eggs and young. “They are blent with all the glory of all the sea; One with the golden West.” Alfred Noyes. Nature study, by the way, is not so new as some persons are inclined to think, for Aristotle knew about the nautilus twenty-two hundred years ago. Had he not been an observer he could not have written his ten books on Natural History, as well as those on philos- ophy. We can imagine him instructing young Alexan- der as they walked in the gardens. That is the proper way to learn to this day, the parent or teacher stimulat- ing the youth to observation and to reasoning. Sex behavior is worthy of notice in many wild animals as well as those domesticated. Deer always command attention and are deserving of it. The male, the stag, is a noble creature with a clear beautiful eye, into the very depths of which you can look. He keeps ever on the alert to apprise the herd of danger. Al- though a peace loving animal by nature, he will lunge savagely with his antlers, lock them with another stag and fight to the death. The female, the doe, is not provided with horns nor is the fawn, the young of the deer. 46 Courtesy Zoological Society. Photograph Elwin R. Sanborn Plate X. Red Deer family: The stage (male); doe (female); fawn (young). ANIMAL COURTSHIP Plate No. X is a pleasing picture of a deer family, father, mother and baby. In the wild state the stag or buck shows a sense of responsibility and chivalry for he generally keeps awake while the does take their rest in midday, and as they drink at the lakeside he watches until they have had their fill. Grace and nobility are outstanding traits of the deer. Our school children and youth would do well to observe them whenever possible. Some of our older readers may recall the painting of “Deer Drinking” by Rosa Bon- heur. It represents a spring morning about sunrise. The group of deer are just stepping into a pool to drink. The male is on guard. He looks us in the eye with a questioning expression and although his horns are merely in the velvet, not mature nor hard, he seems ready to attack on slight provocation. 47 MULTIPLYING OF MAMMALS We rise now to the highest class of animals, the division of vertebrates called mammalia. Mammalis signifies of the breast, and the term designates that all the animals belonging to this class nourish their young on milk furnished by the mother. Moreover the young are developed within the body of the mother instead of being incubated as are the eggs of birds. Mammals nurse their young at the breast from a nipple or teat, the milk gland being known as udder in the cow, dug in the deer and as breast or bosom in the human family. The mammary glands number from two to a dozen according to the number of young that may need to be suckled at once, one or twins in man, but perhaps eight or ten little pigs. See Plate XI. While within the mother, the embryo or young are nourished by blood circulating through an organ called the placenta that is attached to the inside of the uterus and connecting the latter to the embryo by the um- bilical cord. In this way nourishment is freely carried from the mother to the developing young. Mammals are usually provided with four limbs but these are frequently modified in various ways. For example, bats have practical wings, and whales have their hind legs so undeveloped as to be scarcely per- ceptible; yet these are members of the same great family with man and most of the domestic animals. Other characteristics that mark the class are the chain 48 Copyright Underwood