Mrs. Loudon's Entertaining Naturalist Being popular descriptions, tales, and anecdotes of more than Five Hundred Animals.

I. RAPACIOUS BIRDS (Accipitres).--Having the upper mandible hooked, and an angular projection on each side near the point, as the eagles, hawks, and owls.

II. PIES (Picæ).--Having their bills sharp at the edge, somewhat compressed at the sides, and convex on the top, as the crow.

III. PASSERINE BIRDS (Passeres).--Having the bill conical and pointed, and the nostrils oval, open, and naked, as the sparrow and linnet.

IV. GALLINACEOUS BIRDS (Gallinæ).--Having the upper mandible arched, and covering the lower one at the edge, and the nostrils arched over with a cartilaginous membrane, as the common poultry.

2. Water Birds.

V. WADERS (Grallæ).--Having a roundish bill, a fleshy tongue, and the legs naked above the knees, as the herons, plovers, and snipes.

VI. SWIMMERS (Anseres).--Having their bills broad at the top, and covered with a soft skin, and the feet webbed, as ducks and geese.

ORDERS OF AMPHIBIA.

Under the third class, or Amphibia, Linnæus arranged such animals as have a cold, and, generally, naked body, a lurid colour, and nauseous smell. They respire chiefly by lungs, but they have the power of suspending respiration for a long time. They are extremely tenacious of life, and can repair certain parts of their bodies which have been lost. They are also able to endure hunger, sometimes even for months, without injury.

The bodies of some of them, as the turtles and tortoises, are protected by a hard and horny shield or covering; those of others are clad with scales, as the serpents, and some of the lizards; whilst others, as the frogs, toads, and most of the water-lizards, are entirely naked, or have their skin covered with warts. Many of the species shed their skins at certain times of the year. Several of them are furnished with a poison, which they eject into wounds that are made by their teeth. They chiefly live in retired, watery, and marshy places; and, for the most part, feed on other animals, though some of them eat water-plants, and many feed on garbage and filth. None of these species chew their food; they swallow it whole, and digest it very slowly.

The offspring of all these animals are produced from eggs, which, after they have been deposited by the parent animals in a proper place, are hatched by the heat of the sun. The eggs of some of the species are covered with a shell; those of others have a soft and tough skin or covering, not much unlike wet parchment; and the eggs of several are perfectly gelatinous. In those few that produce their offspring alive, as the vipers and some other serpents, the eggs are regularly formed, but are hatched within the bodies of the females.

This class Linnæus divided into three Orders:

I. REPTILES.--Having four legs, and walking with a crawling pace, as the tortoises, toads, and lizards.

II. SERPENTS.--Having no legs, but crawling on the body.

III. NANTES.--Living in the water, furnished with fins, and breathing by means of gills. These are true Fishes, principally of the group termed Chondropterygii, or Cartilaginous Fishes, by Cuvier.

ORDERS OF FISHES.

Fishes constituted Linnæus’s fourth class of animals. They are all inhabitants of the water, in which they move by certain organs called fins. Those situated on the back are called dorsal fins; those on the sides, behind the gills, pectoral fins; those below the body, near the head, are ventral; those behind the vent are anal; and that which forms the tail is called the caudal fin. Fishes breathe by gills, which, in most species, are situated at the sides of the head. Fishes rise and sink in the water, generally by a kind of bladder in the interior of the body, called an air-bladder. Some of them do not possess this organ, and consequently are seldom found but at the bottom of the sea, from which they can only rise by an effort. The bodies of these animals are usually covered with scales, which keep them from injury by the contact of the water.

The fishes were divided by Linnæus into four Orders:

I. APODAL.--Having no ventral fins, as the eel.

II. JUGULAR.--Having the ventral fins situated in front of the pectoral fins, as the cod, haddock, and whiting.

III. THORACIC.--Having the ventral fins situated directly under the pectoral fins, as the perch and mackerel.

IV. ABDOMINAL.--Having the ventral fins on the lower part of the body below the pectoral fins, as the salmon, herring, and carp.

ORDERS OF INSECTS.

The fifth class of Linnæus comprised the Insects; and the branch of Zoology which treats of them is called Entomology. Nearly all insects go through certain great changes at different periods of their existence. From the egg is hatched the larva, which is a grub or caterpillar, and destitute of wings; this afterwards changes to a pupa, or chrysalis, wholly covered with a hard shell, or strong skin, from which the perfect or winged insect bursts forth. Spiders and their allies, which were included by Linnæus in the insects, issue from the egg in nearly a perfect state.

Linnæus divided his class of insects into seven Orders:

I. COLEOPTEROUS.--Having elytra, or crustaceous cases covering the wings; and which, when closed, meet in a straight line along the middle of the back, as the cockchafer.

II. HEMIPTEROUS.--Having four wings, the upper ones partly crustaceous, and partly membranous; not divided straight down the middle of the back, but crossed, or incumbent on each other, as the cockroach.

III. LEPIDOPTEROUS.--Having four wings covered with fine scales almost like powder, as the butterflies and moths.

IV. NEUROPTEROUS.--Having four membranous and semi-transparent wings, veined like network; and the tail without a sting, as the dragon-fly and ephemera. V. HYMENOPTEROUS.--Having four membranous and semi-transparent wings, veined like network; and the tail armed with a sting, as the wasp and bee.

VI. DIPTEROUS.--Having only two wings, as the common house-flies.

VII. APTEROUS.--Having no wings, as the spiders.

ORDERS OF VERMES, OR WORMS.

The sixth and last Linnæan class consisted of Worms, or Vermes. These are slow of motion, and have soft and fleshy bodies. Some of them have hard internal parts, and others have crustaceous coverings. In some of the species, eyes and ears are very perceptible, whilst others appear to enjoy only the senses of taste and touch. Many have no distinct head, and most of them are destitute of feet. They are, in general, so tenacious of life, that parts which have been destroyed will be reproduced. These animals are principally distinguished from those of the other classes by having tentacula, or feelers, and are divided by Linnæus into five Orders:

I. INTESTINA.--Are simple and naked, without limbs; some of them live within other animals, as the ascarides and tape-worms; others in water, as the leeches; and a few in the earth, as the earth-worm.

II. MOLLUSCA.--Are simple animals, without shells, and furnished with limbs, as the cuttle-fish, medusa, star-fish, and sea-urchin.

III. TESTACEA.--Are animals similar to the last, but covered with shells, as oysters, cockles, snails, and limpets.

IV. LITHOPHYTA.--Are composite Polyps, dwelling in cells in a calcareous base which they produce, as corals and madrepores.

V. ZOOPHYTA.--Are usually composite animals, but do not reside in stony cells. The coral, sponge, and polyps are instances of this order, which also includes the Infusorial Animalcules.

MODERN SYSTEM.

It will be found by reading the following sketch of the Modern System that the greatest change has taken place in the latter two classes. The others remain nearly the same in effect, though their distinctions are different, and the classes are not arranged in the same order.