Elementary Zoology Part 27

Climate, as distinct from temperature, establishes limits of distribution. The animals of Eastern North America accustomed to a humid atmosphere cannot live in the dry plains and deserts of the West.

Closely a.s.sociated with climate is the nature of the plant-growth covering the land; here are forests and luxuriant meadows, there are spa.r.s.e tough gra.s.ses of the dry plateau. The limits of a special kind of plant-growth often are the limits of distribution of certain animals.

The third great barrier, the ocean, is perhaps the most obvious of all in its influence. It is only in rare cases that any land-animal can independently cross a great ocean. Thus the land-animals of Australia differ from those of all other countries, and those of Africa and South America have developed almost independently of one another. The ocean is, as already mentioned, also a barrier for fresh-water aquatic animals, and even marine fishes which live normally in shallow waters along the sh.o.r.e rarely venture across the great depths of mid-ocean.

The obstacles or barriers met with determine the limits of a species.

Each species broadens its range as far as it can. It attempts unwittingly, through natural processes of increase, to overcome the obstacles of ocean or river, of mountain or plain, of woodland or prairie or desert, of cold or heat, of lack of food or abundance of enemies--whatever the barriers may be. The degree of hindrance offered by any barrier differs with the nature of the animal trying to pa.s.s it. That which forms an impa.s.sable obstacle to one species may be a great aid to the spread of another. "The river which blocks the monkey or the cat is the highway of the fish and turtle. The waterfall which limits the ascent of the trout is the chosen home of the ouzel."

=Faunae and zoogeographic areas.=--The term _fauna_ is applied to the animals of any region considered collectively. Thus the fauna of Illinois includes the entire list of animals found naturally in that State. The fauna of a schoolyard comprises all the animals found living naturally in the yard. The fauna of a pond includes all the animal inhabitants of the pond. (_Flora_ is used similarly of all the plants in a given region.) The relation of one fauna to another depends on the character and effectiveness of the barriers between, and the physical character of the two regions. Thus the fauna of Illinois differs but little from that of Indiana or Iowa, because there are no barriers between the States, and they are alike physically. On the other hand the fauna of California differs much from that of the Eastern States because of the great barriers (the desert and the Sierra Nevada Mountains) which lie between it and these States, and because of the great differences in the physical and climatic conditions of the two regions.

The land-surface of the earth has been divided by zoogeographers into seven great realms of animal life, based on the distributional characters shown by these various regions. These realms are separated by barriers of which the chief are the presence of the sea and the occurrence of frost. These realms are named, from their geographical region, the Arctic, the North Temperate, the South American, the Indo-African, the Madagascar, the Patagonian, and the Australian. Of these the Australian alone is sharply defined. Most of the others are surrounded by a broad fringe of debatable ground that forms a transition to some other zone.

=Habitat and species.=--The habitat of a species of animal is the region in which it is found in a state of nature. It is currently believed that the habitat of any animal is the whole of that region for which it is best adapted. But this is not necessarily true. In fact in most cases it is not true. The trout naturally debarred from the rivers in Yellowstone Park by the waterfalls could live there well if the barrier could be pa.s.sed. In the case of one stream it has been pa.s.sed and the trout flourish above the fall. The success of the black and brown rats and the English sparrow in America, of the rabbit in Australia, of b.u.mblebees and house-flies in New Zealand, all of which animals had a natural habitat not including these regions, but by artificial means have been carried over the barriers and into the new territory, prove that "habitat" is not necessarily coincident with "only fit region." Shad, striped ba.s.s, and catfish from the Potomac River have been introduced into and now thrive in the Sacramento River in California. In fact the whole work of the introduction and diffusion of valuable food-animals in territory not naturally included in the habitat of the species is based on our knowledge that the habitat of a species is often determined by physical barriers rather than by exclusive fitness of environment. Within the natural habitat the environment _is_ fit for the species' existence, outside of it the environment _may_ be fit.

But there occur numerous instances where a species successful in leaving its original habitat is unsuccessful in attempting to maintain itself on new ground. Man has introduced various animals from one country to another. The English sparrow (naturally debarred from this country by the ocean barrier), brought to America from Europe, has covered its new territory rapidly and maintains itself with brilliant success. But the nightingale, the starling and skylark which have been repeatedly introduced and set free are unable to maintain themselves here.

=Species-extinguis.h.i.+ng and species-forming.=--Accompanying the constant slow migrating of species into new habitats and the constant slow changing of environment and conditions everywhere is to be seen a constant modification of the fauna of any region due to the inability of some species to maintain their ground, the predominating increase of others, and the modifying or adaptive changing of others into new forms. In 1544 the black rat of Europe was introduced into America and it soon crowded out the native rats, being in its turn crowded out by the European brown rat (the present common rat in buildings), introduced about 1775. Here we have the original native species unable to maintain itself in compet.i.tion with introduced forms.

With a change of environing conditions, certain species are unable to maintain themselves. With the destruction of the forests going on in parts of our country the great host of wood-creatures, the bears, squirrels, the wood-birds and insects, can no longer maintain themselves, and grow rare and disappear. Man often also influences the status of a species by checking its increase either by actual slaughter, as with the bison and pa.s.senger-pigeon, or by making adverse changes in its environment, as by destroying forests, or putting the plains under cultivation.

In the discussion of "species-forming" (see p. 408) it was shown that adaptation may lead to the altering of species, and to the formation of new ones (under the influence of natural selection). With the gradual change of conditions, or with the facing of new conditions because of an unusual migration to or invasion of new territory, those individuals of the species exposed to the new conditions must adapt themselves in structure and habit in order to meet successfully the new demands. By the c.u.mulative action of natural selection these adaptive changes are emphasized; and this emphasis may come to be so p.r.o.nounced that the part of the species represented in this newly acquired territory, if isolated from the original stock, is so altered as to be quite distinct in appearance from the old. If these changed individuals are also physiologically distinct from the old stock, i.e.

are unable to mate with them, a new species is established. As already mentioned, the peopling of islands from mainlands is an excellent and readily observable example of the phenomena referred to in the third law of distribution.

FOOTNOTE:

[20] Jordan and Kellogg's "Animal Life," 1900, p. 274.

APPENDICES

EQUIPMENT AND METHODS

APPENDIX I

EQUIPMENT AND NOTES OF PUPILS

=Equipment of pupils.=--Each pupil should have a laboratory note-book of about 8 10 inches, opening at the end, in which both drawings and notes can be made. The paper should be unruled and of good quality (not too soft). Each pupil should have also instruments of his own as follows: scalpel, pair of small scissors, spring forceps, pair of dissecting-needles, small gla.s.s pipette, and paper of ribbon-pins for pinning out specimens. The cost of this outfit need not exceed $1.00.

The laboratory should furnish him with a dissecting-dish and a dissecting-microscope, or at least a lens.

=Laboratory drawings and notes.=--Each pupil should make the drawings called for in the directions for the laboratory exercises. These drawings should be in outline, and put in by pencil; the lines may be inked over if preferred. Shading should be used sparingly, if at all.

Each drawing and all the organs and animal parts represented in it should be fully named. See the anatomical plates in this book for example. With such complete "labelling," little note-taking need be done in connection with the dissections.

Notes should be made of any observations which cannot be represented in the drawings; for example, on the behavior of the living animals.

All notes referring to matters of life-history should be dated.

=Field-observations and notes.=--Scattered through this book will be found numerous suggestions for student field-work, for the observation of the life-history and habits and conditions of animals in nature. As explained in the Preface, the initiation and direction of such work must be left to the teacher. But its importance both because of its instructiveness and its interest is great. Pupils should not only be incited to make individual observations whenever and wherever they can, but the teacher should make little field-excursions with the cla.s.s or with parts of it at various times, to ponds or streams or woods, and "show things" to all. The life-history and feeding-habits of insects, the web-making of spiders, the flight, songs, nesting, and care of young of birds, the haunts of fishes, the development of frogs, toads, and salamanders, the home-building and feeding-habits of squirrels, mice, and other familiar mammals are all (as has been called attention to at proper places in the book) specially fit subjects for field-observation.

Each pupil should keep a field note-book, recording from day to day, under exact date, any observations he may make. Let the most trivial things be noted; when referred to later in connection with other notes they may not seem so trivial. The field note-book should be smaller than the laboratory note- and drawing-book, small enough to be carried in the pocket. Notes should be made on the spot of observation; do not wait to get home. Sketches, even rough ones, may be advantageously put into the book. Students with photographic cameras can do some very interesting and valuable field-work in making photographs of animals, their nests and favorite haunts. Such photographic work is very effectively used now in the ill.u.s.tration of books about animals and plants (see the reproductions of photographs in this book). If the cla.s.s is making a collection the collecting notes or data made in the field-books of the different pupil collectors should all be transferred to a common "Notes on Collections" book kept by the whole cla.s.s.

APPENDIX II

LABORATORY EQUIPMENT AND METHODS

=Equipment of laboratory.=--The equipment of the laboratory or cla.s.sroom will, of necessity, depend upon the opportunities afforded the teacher by the school officers to provide such facilities as instruments, books, and charts. If dissections are to be seriously and properly made, however, some equipment is indispensable. Flat-topped tables, not over 30 inches high, a few compound microscopes (one is much better than none), as many simple lenses, or, far better, simple dissecting-microscopes, as there are students, dissecting-dishes, a pair of bone-clippers, one injecting-syringe, a bunch of bristles, water, a few simple reagents and some inexpensive gla.s.sware, as slides, cover-gla.s.ses, watch-crystals, and fruit- or battery-jars for live cages and aquaria, make up a sufficient equipment for good work.

Much can be done with less, and perhaps a little more with some additional facilities.

The dissecting-pans should be of galvanized iron or tin, oblong, about 6 8 inches by 2 inches deep, with slightly flaring sides. If an iron wire be run around the margin, and the margin bent back over it, it will strengthen the dish, and make a broader and smoother edge for the hands to rest on. Diagonally across the dish, about one-fourth inch from the bottom, should run a thick wire. A layer of paraffin one-half inch thick should cover the bottom. It should be poured in melted, when the diagonal wire will be imbedded in it and will hold it in place. Acids must not be put into the pan.

The reagents necessary are alcohol of 95 per cent and 85 per cent, and formalin of 4 per cent (the formaldehyde sold by druggists is 40 per cent and should be diluted ten times with water), these for preserving material for dissection; chloroform for killing specimens; glycerin for making temporary microscopic mounts, and 20 per cent nitric acid for preparing specimens for study of the nervous system. In addition there will be needed the few other materials mentioned in the following paragraphs as necessary in the preparation of injecting-fluids, the staining of fresh tissue and preserving by special methods.

A list of reference books desirable in the laboratory is appended as a separate paragraph (see p. 454).

=Collecting and preparing material for use in the laboratory.=--As directions have been given in the "technical notes" scattered through the book for the collecting and preparing of all the various kinds of animals chosen as subjects of the laboratory exercises, it will only be necessary to give here directions for making certain special mixtures and for the special preparation of specimens by injection, etc.

Specimens to be used for dissection should be kept in alcohol of 85 per cent or in formalin of 4 per cent. Alcohol is better for the earthworm, but for the other examples formalin is either better or as good, and as it is much cheaper it may well be chosen for the general preservative.

_Methyl green_, a stain used for coloring fresh tissues. Dissolve the methyl green powder in water, using about as much powder as the water will take up. Add a few drops of acetic acid.

_Injecting-ma.s.ses._--Injections are best made with preparations of French gelatine, but white glue will answer most purposes. For fine injection use a combination of the following: 1 part of a solution of gelatine, 1 part to 4 parts of water; 1 part of a saturated solution of lead acetate in water, and 1 part of a saturated solution of pota.s.sium b.i.+.c.hromate in water. A mixture of these when hot gives a beautiful yellow injection-ma.s.s which, filtered, will pa.s.s through the finest capillaries. For different colorings use dry paints, which come in ultramarine blue, vermilion, and green. The gelatine should be thoroughly soaked before the coloring-matter is added. A mistake is generally made in using the injection-ma.s.s too thick. One part by weight of gelatine to six or even more parts of water is a good proportion. The gelatine as well as glue-ma.s.ses should be made in a water-bath, which consists of one dish placed within another outer one containing warm water. The ma.s.s should be injected warm, _not hot_, after which the injected specimen is to be placed in cold water until the injecting-ma.s.s has set. Glue (the ordinary white kind) can be used for most injections just as the gelatine was used, but should not be so much diluted. All injection-ma.s.ses should be filtered through a cloth before using.

_Preparing skeletons._--In general, skeletons are best cleaned by boiling. After most of the flesh has been cut away the skeleton should be boiled in a soap solution until the remaining parts of the muscles are thoroughly softened. The soap solution is made of 2,000 c.c. of water, preferably distilled, 12 grams of saltpetre, and 75 grams of hard soap (white). Heat these until dissolved, then add 150 c.c. of strong ammonia. This stock solution is mixed with four or five parts of water, when the mixture is ready for use. The bones after boiling are rinsed in cold water, brushed and picked clean, then left to dry on a clean surface.

_Preserving anatomical preparations._--Many specimens worth keeping will be found, and for them a solution known as Fischer's formula is suggested as good, especially for brains. Fischer's formula is made up as follows: 2,000 c.c. of water, 50 c.c. of formalin, 100 grams of sodium chloride, and 15 grams of zinc chloride. These are mixed together until thoroughly dissolved. Open preparations well before placing them in the liquid and use about twenty times the volume of the object to be preserved.

_To keep fresh dissections._--For materials which are dissected fresh and must be kept over for several days in a fresh condition add a few drops of carbolic acid to the water which covers them. Carbolized water (2 per cent in water) will preserve a great many tissues for a long time. Hearts will remain for years in a supple condition in this solution.

_Obtaining marine animals, microscopic preparations, etc._--For schools not on the seash.o.r.e the marine animals such as starfishes, etc., which are to be dissected or examined as examples of the branches to which they belong must be obtained as preserved specimens from dealers in such supplies. Among such dealers on the Atlantic coast are the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Holl, Ma.s.s.; F. W.

Walmsley, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, Pa.; and H. H.

and C. S. Brimley, Raleigh, N. C.; on the Pacific coast the Supply Department, Hopkins Seaside Laboratory, Stanford University, California. Ward's Natural Science Establishment, Rochester, N. Y., supplies almost any biological specimens asked for. This establishment furnishes already made dissections and sets ill.u.s.trating life-history and metamorphosis. The few permanent microscopic preparations which are mentioned in the book as desirable to have can be made by the teacher if he has had any training in microscopical technic. If not, they may be bought cheaply of such dealers in natural history supplies as the Bausch & Lomb Optical Co., Rochester, N. Y.; the Kny-Scheerer Co., 17 Park Place, New York City; Queen & Co., 1010 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa., and numerous others. From these dealers also can be bought all of the laboratory supplies, such as lenses, slides, cover-gla.s.ses, dissecting-scalpels, scissors and needles, etc., mentioned in this book.

_Reference books._--Throughout the preceding chapters exact references have been made to various books, as many of which as possible should be in the school-library. Some of these references have been made with special regard to the teacher, but most with special regard to the pupil. All of the books referred to are included in the following list. For the convenience of the prospective buyer, the names of the publishers and prices of the books are appended. In buying books, it is of course not necessary to order from the various publishers. A list of the books desired may be handed to any book-dealer, who will order them and who should in most cases be able to get them for a little less than publisher's list prices.

=Baskett, J. N.= The Story of the Birds. 1899, D. Appleton & Co.

$0.65.

=Beddard, Frank.= Animal Coloration. 1892, Macmillan Co. $3.50.

---- Zoogeography. 1895, Macmillan Co. $1.60.

=Bendire, Chas.= Directions for Collecting, Preparing, and Preserving Birds' Eggs and Nests. Distributed by U. S. National Museum.