Chapter XV: Part II: Animal Life (8)

Well is this fish named stickleback, for along the ridge of its back are sharp, strong spines--five of them in our tiny, brook species. These spines may be laid back flat or they may be erected stiffly, making an efficient saw which does great damage to fish many times larger than the stickleback. When we find the minnows in the aquarium losing their scales we may be sure they are being raked off by this saw-back; and if the shiner or sunfish undertakes to make a stickleback meal, there is only one way to do it, and that is to catch the quarry by the tail, since he is too alert to be caught in any other way. But swallowing a stickleback tail first is a dangerous performance, for the sharp spines rip open the throat or stomach of the captor. Dr. Jordan says that the sticklebacks of the Puget Sound region are called “salmon killers” and that they well earn the name; these fierce midgets unhesitatingly attack the salmon, biting off pieces of their fins and also destroying their spawn.

As seen from the side, the stickleback is slender and graceful, pointed like an arrow at the front end, and with the body behind the dorsal fin forming a long and slender pedicel to support the beautifully rounded tail fin. The dorsal fin is placed well back and is triangular in shape; the anal fin makes a similar triangle opposite it below and has a sharp spine at its front edge. The color of the body varies with the light; when floating among the water weed the back is greenish mottled with paler green, but when the fish is down on the gravel it is much darker. The lateral line is marked by a rather broad silver stripe.

If large eyes count for beauty, then the stickleback deserves “the apple,” for its eyes are not only large but gemlike, with a broad iris of golden brown around the black pupil. I am convinced that the stickleback has a keener vision than most fish; it can move its eyes backward and forward rapidly and alertly. The mouth opens almost upward and is a wicked little mouth, both in appearance and action.

When swimming, the stickleback darts about rapidly, its dorsal and anal fins extended, its spines all abristle, its tail lashing the water with strong strokes and the pectorals flying so fast that they make a blur; the ventral fins are rarely extended, in fact they are nothing but two little spines. When the fish wishes to lift itself through the water it seems to depend entirely upon its pectoral fins and these are also used for balancing. Its favorite position is hanging motionless among the pond weeds, with the tail, the dorsal and ventral fins partially closed; it usually rests upon the pectoral fins which are braced against some stem; in one case I saw the ventrals and pectorals used together to clasp a stem and hold the fish in place. In moving backward the pectorals do the work, with a little beckoning motion of the tail occasionally. When resting upon the bottom of the aquarium, it closes its fins and makes itself quite inconspicuous. It can dig with much power accomplishing this by a comical augerlike motion; it plunges head first into the gravel and then by twisting the body and tail around and around, it soon forms a hiding place.

But it is as a house builder and father and home protector that the stickleback shines. In the early spring he builds him a nest made from the fine green algæ called frog-spittle. This would seem a too delicate material for the house construction, but he is a clever builder. He fastens his filmy walls to some stems of reed or grass, using as a platform a supporting stem; the ones which I have especially studied were fastened to grass stems. The stickleback has a little cement plant of his own, supposed to be situated in the kidneys, which at this time of year secrete the glue for building purposes. The glue is waterproof. It is spun out in fine threads or in filmy masses through an opening near the anal fin. One species weights his platform with sand which he scoops up from the bottom, but I cannot detect that our brook stickleback does this. In his case, home is his sphere literally, for he builds a spherical house about the size of a glass marble, three-quarters of an inch in diameter; it is a hollow sphere and he cements the inside walls so as to hold them back and give room, and he finishes his pretty structure with a circular door at the side. When finished, the nest is like a bubble, made of threads of down and yet it holds together strongly.

In the case of the best known species, the male, as soon as he has finished his bower to his satisfaction, goes a-wooing; he selects some lady stickleback, and in his own way tells her of the beautiful nest he has made and convinces her of his ability to take care of a family. He certainly has fetching ways for he soon conducts her to his home. She enters the nest through the little circular door, lays her eggs within it, and then being a flighty creature, she sheds responsibilities and flits off care free. He follows her into the nest, scatters the fertilizing milt over the eggs and then starts off again and rolls his golden eyes on some other lady stickleback and invites her also to his home; she comes without any jealousy because she was not first choice, and she also enters the nest and lays her eggs and then swims off unconcernedly. Again he enters the nest and drops more milt upon the eggs and then fares forth again, a still energetic wooer. If there was ever a justified polygamist, he is one, since it is only the cares and responsibilities of the home that he desires. He only stops wooing when his nest holds as many eggs as he feels equal to caring for. He now stands on guard by the door, and with his winnowing pectoral fins, sets up a current of water over the eggs; he drives off all intruders with the most vicious attacks, and keeps off many an enemy simply by a display of reckless fury; thus he stands guard until the eggs hatch and the tiny little sticklebacks come out of the nest and float off, attaching themselves by their mouths to the pond weeds until they become strong enough to scurry around in the water.

Photo by Eugene Barker.]

Some species arrange two doors in this spherical nest so that a current of water can flow through and over the eggs. Mr. Eugene Barker, who has made a special study of the little five-spined sticklebacks of the Cayuga Basin, has failed to find more than one door to their nests. Mr. Barker made a most interesting observation on this stickleback’s obsession for fatherhood. He placed in the aquarium two nests, one of which was guarded by its loyal builder, which allowed himself to be caught rather than desert his post; the little guardian soon discovered the unprotected nest and began to move the eggs from it to his own, carrying them carefully in his mouth. This addition made his own nest so full that the eggs persistently crowded out of the door, and he spent much of his time nudging them back with his snout. We saw this stickleback fill his mouth with algæ from the bottom of the aquarium, and holding himself steady a short distance away, apparently blow the algæ at the nest from a distance of half an inch, and we wondered if this was his method of laying on his building materials before he cemented them.

The eggs of this species are white and shining like minute pearls, and seem to be fastened together in small packages with gelatinous matter. The mating habits of this species have not been thoroughly studied; therefore, here is an opportunity for investigation on the part of the boys and girls.

LESSON XLI

THE STICKLEBACK

_Leading thought_--The stickleback is the smallest of our common fish. It lives in stagnant water. The father stickleback builds his pretty nest of frog-spittle which he watches very carefully.

_Method_--To find sticklebacks go to a pond of stagnant water which does not dry up during the year. If it is partly shaded by bushes so much the better. Take a dip net and dip deeply; carefully examine all the little fish in the net by putting them in a Mason jar of water so that you can see what they are like. The stickleback is easily distinguished by the five spines along its back. If you collect these fish as early as the first of May and place several of them in the aquarium with plenty of the algæ known as frog-spittle and other water plants they may perhaps build a nest for you. They may be fed upon bits of meat or liver chopped very fine or upon earthworms cut into small sections.

_Observations_--1. How did the stickleback get its name? How many spines has it? Where are they situated? Are they always carried erect? How are these spines used as weapons? How do they act as a means of safety to the stickleback?

2. Describe or make a sketch showing the shape and position of the dorsal, the anal, the ventral and the pectoral fins. What is the shape of the tail? What is the general shape of the fish?

3. What is the color of the sticklebacks? Is the color always the same? What is the color and position of the lateral line?

4. Describe the eyes. Are they large or small? Can they be moved? Do you think they can see far?

5. Describe the mouth. Does it open upward, straight ahead or downward?

6. When the stickleback is swimming what are the positions and motions of the dorsal, anal, tail and pectoral fins? Can you see the ventral pair? Are they extended when the fish is swimming?

7. When resting among the pond weed of the aquarium what fins does the stickleback use for keeping afloat? How are the other fins held? What fins does it use to move backward? Which ones are used when it lifts itself from the bottom to the top of the aquarium? How are its fins placed when it is at rest on the bottom?

8. Drop a piece of earthworm or some liver or fresh meat cut finely into the aquarium and describe the action of the sticklebacks as they eat it. How large is a full-grown stickleback?

9. In what kind of ponds do we find sticklebacks? Do you know how the stickleback nest looks? Of what is it built? How is it supported? Is there one door or two? Does the father or mother stickleback build the nest? Are the young in the nest cared for? At what time is the nest built?

_Supplementary reading_--Fish-stories, Chap. XXXVI, Jordan and Holder.

THE SUNFISH

_Teacher’s Story_

This little disc of gay color has won many popular names. It is called pumpkin seed, tobacco box and sunfish because of its shape, and it is also called bream and pondfish. I have always wondered that it was not called chieftain also, for when it raises its dorsal fin with its saw crest of spines, it looks like the head-dress of an Indian chief; and surely no warrior ever had a greater enjoyment in a battle than does this indomitable little fish.

The sunfish lives in the eddies of our clear brooks and ponds. It is a near relative to the rock bass and also of the black bass and it has, according to its size, just as gamey qualities as the latter. I once had a sunfish on my line which made me think I had caught a bass and I do not know whether I or the mad little pumpkin seed was the most disgusted when I discovered the truth. I threw him back in the water but his fighting spirit was up, and he grabbed my hook again within five minutes, which showed that he had more courage than wisdom; it would have served him right if I had fried him in a pan, but I never could make up my mind to kill a fish for the sake of one mouthful of food.

Perhaps of all its names, “pumpkin seed” is the most graphic, for it resembles this seed in the outlines of its body when seen from the side. Looked at from above, it has the shape of a powerful craft with smooth, rounded nose and gently swelling and tapering sides; it is widest at the eyes and this is a canny arrangement, for these great eyes turn alertly in every direction; and thus placed they are able to discern the enemy or the dinner coming from any quarter.

The dorsal fin is a most militant looking organ. It consists of ten spines, the hind one closely joined to the hind dorsal fin, which is supported by the soft rays. The three front spines rise successively, one above another and all are united by the membrane, the upper edge of which is deeply toothed. The hind dorsal fin is gracefully rounded and the front and hind fin work independently of each other, the latter often winnowing the water when the former is laid flat. The tail is strong and has a notch in the end; the anal fin has three spines on its front edge and ten soft rays. Each ventral fin also has a spine at the front edge and is placed below and slightly behind the pectorals. The pectoral fins, I have often thought, were the most exquisite and gauzelike in texture of any fins I have ever seen; they are kept almost constantly in motion and move in such graceful flowing undulations that it is a joy to look at them.

The eye of the sunfish is very large and quite prominent; the large black pupil is surrounded by an iris that has shining lavender and bronze in it, but is more or less clouded above; the young ones have a pale silver iris. The eyes move in every direction and are eager and alert in their expression. The mouth is at the front of the body but it opens upward. The gill opening is prolonged backward at the upper corner, making an earlike flap; this, of course, has nothing to do with the fish’s ears, but it is highly ornamental as it is greenish-black in color, bordered by iridescent, pale green, with a brilliant orange spot on its hind edge. The colors of the sunfish are too varied for description and too beautiful to reduce to mere words. There are dark, dull, greenish or purplish cross-bands worked out in patterns of scale-mosaic, and between them are bands of pale iridescent-green, set with black-edged orange spots. But just as we have described his colors our sunfish darts off and all sorts of shimmering, shining blue, green and purple tints play over his body and he settles down into another corner of the aquarium and his colors seem much paler and we have to describe him over again. The body below is brassy-yellow.

After Gill]

The beautiful colors which the male sunfish dons in spring, he puts at once to practical use. Professor Reighard says that when courting and trying to persuade his chosen one to come to his nest and there deposit her eggs, he faces her, with his gill covers puffed out, the scarlet or orange spot on the ear-flap standing out bravely, and his black ventral fins spread wide to show off their patent-leather finish. Thus, does he display himself before her and persuade her; but he is rarely allowed to do this in peace. Other males as brilliant as he arrive on the scene and he must forsooth stop parading before his lady love in order to fight his rival, and he fights with as much display of color as he courts. But in the sunfish duel the participants do not seek to destroy each other but to mutilate spitefully each other’s fins. The vanquished one with his fins all torn retires from the field. Professor Gill says: “Meanwhile the male has selected a spot in very shallow water near the shore, and generally in a mass of aquatic vegetation, not too large or close together to entirely exclude the light and heat of the sun, and mostly under an over-hanging plant. The choice is apt to be in some general strip of shallow water close by the shore which is favored by many others so that a number of similar nests may be found close together, although never encroaching on each other. Each fish slightly excavates and makes a saucer-like basin in the chosen area which is carefully cleared of all pebbles. Such are removed by violent jerks of the caudal fin or are taken up by the mouth and carried to the circular boundary of the nest. An area of fine, clean sand or gravel is generally the result, but not infrequently, according to Dr. Reighard, the nest bottom is composed of the rootlets of water plants. The nest has a diameter of about twice the length of the fish.”

On the nest thus formed, the sunfish belle is invited to deposit her eggs, which as soon as laid fall to the bottom and become attached to the gravel at the bottom of the nest by the viscid substance which surrounds them. Her duty is then done and she departs, leaving the master in charge of his home and the eggs. If truth be told, he is not a strict monogamist. Professor Reighard noticed one of these males which reared in one nest two broods laid at quite different times by two females. For about a week, depending upon the temperature, the male is absorbed in his care of the eggs and defends his nest with much ferocity, but after the eggs have hatched he considers his duty done and lets his progeny take care of themselves as best they may.

Sunfish are easily taken care of in an aquarium, but each should be kept by himself as they are likely to attack any smaller fish and are most uncomfortable neighbors. I have kept one of these beautiful, shimmering pumpkin seeds for nearly a year, by feeding him every alternate day with an earthworm; these unfortunate creatures are kept stored in damp soil in an iron kettle during the winter. When I threw one of them into the aquarium he would seize it and shake it as a terrier shakes a rat; but this was perhaps to make sure of his hold. Once he attempted to take the second worm directly after the first; but it was a doubtful proceeding, and the worm reappeared as often as a prima donna, waving each time a frenzied farewell to the world.

LESSON XLII

THE SUNFISH

_Leading thought_--The pumpkin seeds are very gamey little fishes which seize the hook with much fierceness. They live in the still waters of our streams or in ponds and build nests in the spring, in which the eggs are laid and which they defend valiantly.

_Method_--The common pumpkin seed in the jar aquarium is all that is necessary for this lesson. However, it will add much to the interest of the lesson if the boys who have fished for pumpkin seeds will tell of their experiences. The children should be stimulated by this lesson to a keen interest in the nesting habits of the sunfishes.

_Observations_--1. Where are the sunfish found? How do they act when they take the hook?

2. What is the general shape of the sunfish’s body as seen from above? As seen from the side? Why is it called pumpkin seed?

3. Describe the dorsal fin. How many spines has it? How many soft rays? What is the difference in appearance between the front and hind dorsal fin? Do the two act together or separately? Describe the tail fin. Describe the anal fin. Has it any spines? If so, where are they? Where are the ventral fins in relation to the pectorals? What is there peculiar about the appearance and movements of the pectoral fins?

4. Describe the eye of the sunfish. Is it large or small? Is it placed so that the fish can see on each side? Does the eye move in all directions?

5. Describe the position of the mouth. In which direction does it open?

6. What is the color of the upper portion of the gill opening or operculum? What is the general color of the sunfish? Above? Below? Along the sides? What markings do you see?

7. Where does the sunfish make its nest? Does the father or mother sunfish make the nest? Do one or both protect it? Describe the nest.

8. How many names do you know for the sunfish? Describe the actions of your sunfish in the aquarium. How does he act when eating an earthworm?

_Supplementary reading_--Chapters XXX, XXXVI, in Fish Stories, Jordan and Holder.

* * * * *

“_The lamprey is not a fish at all, only a wicked imitation
of one which can deceive nobody. But there are fishes which
are unquestionably fish--fish from gills to tail, from head
to fin, and of these the little sunfish may stand first. He
comes up the brook in the spring, fresh as “coin just from the
mint,” finny arms and legs wide spread, his gills moving, his
mouth opening and shutting rhythmically, his tail wide spread,
and ready for any sudden motion for which his erratic little
brain may give the order. The scales of the sunfish shine
with all sorts of scarlet, blue, green and purple and golden
colors. There is a black spot on his head which looks like
an ear, and sometimes grows out in a long black flap, which
makes the imitation still closer. There are many species of
the sunfish, and there may be half a dozen of them in the same
brook, but that makes no difference; for our purposes they are
all one._

_They lie poised in the water, with all fins spread, strutting
like turkey-cocks, snapping at worms and little crustaceans
and insects whose only business in the brook is that the
fishes may eat them. When the time comes, the sunfish makes
its nest in the fine gravel, building it with some care--for
a fish. When the female has laid her eggs the male stands
guard until the eggs are hatched. His sharp teeth and snappish
ways, and the bigness of his appearance when the fins are all
displayed, keep the little fishes away. Sometimes, in his
zeal, he snaps at a hook baited with a worm. He then makes a
fierce fight, and the boy who holds the rod is sure that he
has a real fish this time. But when the sunfish is out of the
water, strung on a willow rod, and dried in the sun, the boy
sees that a very little fish can make a good deal of a fuss._”
--DAVID STARR JORDAN.

THE JOHNNY DARTER

_Teacher’s Story_

“_We never tired of watching the little Johnny, or Tessellated
darter (Boleosoma nigrum), although our earliest aquarium
friend, (and the very first specimens showed us by a rapid
ascent of the river weed how ‘a Johnny could climb trees,’)
he has still many resources which we have never learned.
Whenever we try to catch him with the hand we begin with all
the uncertainty that characterized our first attempts, even
if we have him in a two-quart pail. We may know him by his
short fins, his first dorsal having but nine spines, and by
the absence of all color save a soft, yellowish brown, which
is freckled with darker markings. The dark brown on the sides
is arranged in seven or eight W-shaped marks, below which are
a few flecks of the same color. Covering the sides of the back
are the wavy markings and dark specks which have given the
name of the “Tessellated Darter;” but Boleosoma is a preferred
name, and we even prefer ‘boly’ for short. In the spring the
males have the head jet black; and this dark color often
extends on the back part of the body, so that the fish looks
as if he had been taken by the tail and dipped into a bottle
of ink. But with the end of the nuptial season this color
disappears and the fish regains his normal, strawy hue._

_His actions are rather bird-like; for he will strike
attitudes like a tufted titmouse and he flies rather than
swims through the water. He will, with much perseverance, push
his body between a plant and the sides of the aquarium and
balance himself on a slender stem. Crouching catlike before a
snail shell, he will snap off a horn which the unlucky owner
pushes timidly out. But he is also less dainty and seizing
the animal by the head, he dashes the shell against the
glass or stones until he pulls the body out and breaks the
shell._”--DAVID STARR JORDAN.

The johnny darters are, with the sticklebacks, the most amusing little fish in the aquarium. They are well called darters since their movements are so rapid when they are frightened that the eye can scarcely follow them; and there is something so irresistibly comical in their bright, saucy eyes, placed almost on top of the head, that no one could help calling one of them “Johnny.” A “johnny” will look at you from one side, and then as quick as a flash, will flounce around and study you with the other eye and then come toward you head-on so that he may take you in with both eyes; he seems just as interested in the Johnny out of the jar as is the latter, in the johnny within.

The johnny darter has a queer shaped body for a fish, for the head and shoulders are the larger part of him; not that he suddenly disappears into nothingness, by no means! His body is long and very slightly tapering to the tail; along his lateral line he has a row of olive-brown W’s worked out in scale-mosaics; and he has some other scale-mosaics also following a pattern of angular lines and making blotches along his back. The whole upper part of his body is pale olive, which is a good imitation of the color of the brook.

The astonished and anxious look on the johnny darter’s face comes from the peculiar position of the eyes which are set in the top of his forehead; they are big, alert eyes, with large black pupils, surrounded by a shining, pale yellow line at the inner edge of the green iris; and as the pupil is not set in the center of the eye, the iris above being wider than below, the result is an astonished look, as from raised eyebrows. The eyes move, often so swiftly that it gives the impression of winking. The eyes, the short snout, and the wide mouth give johnny a decidedly froglike aspect.

Although he is no frog, yet johnny darter seems to be in a fair way to develop something to walk upon. His pectoral fins are large and strong and the ventral pair are situated very close to them; when he rests upon the gravel he supports himself upon one or both of these pairs of fins. He rests with the pectoral fins outspread, the sharp points of the rays taking hold of the gravel like toenails and thus give him the appearance of walking on his fins; if you poke him gently, you will find that he is very firmly planted on his fins so that you can turn him around as if he were on a pivot. He also uses the pectorals for swimming and jerks himself along with them in a way that makes one wonder if he could not swim well without any tail at all. The tail is large and almost straight across the end and is a most vigorous pusher. There are two dorsal fins; the front one has only nine rays; these are not branched and are therefore spines; when the fin is raised it appears almost semi-circular in shape. The hind dorsal fin is much longer and when lifted stands higher than the front one; its rays are all branched except the front one. As soon as the johnny stops swimming he shuts the front dorsal fin so that it can scarcely be detected; when frightened he shuts both the dorsal fins and closes the tail and the anal fin and spreads out his paired fins so that his body lies flat on the bottom; this act always reminds one of the “freezing” habit of the rabbit. But johnny does not stay scared very long; he lifts his head up inquisitively, stretching up as far as he is able on his front feet, that is, his pectorals, in such a comical way that one can hardly realize he is a fish.

The tail and the dorsal fin of the johnny darter are marked with silver dots which give them an exquisite spun-glass look; they are as transparent as gauze.

The johnny darters live in clear, swift streams where they rest on the bottom, with the head up stream. Dr. Jordan has said they can climb up water weed with their paired fins. I have never observed them doing this but I have often seen one walk around the aquarium on his fins as if they were little fan-shaped feet; and when swimming he uses his fins as a bird uses its wings. There are many species of darters, some of them the most brilliantly colored of any of our fresh-water fishes. The darters are perch-like in form.

Dr. Jordan says of the breeding habits of the darters: “On the bottom, among the stones, the female casts her spawn. Neither she nor the male pays any further attention to it, but in the breeding season the male is painted in colors as beautiful as those of the wood warblers. When you go to the brook in the spring you will find him there, and if you catch him and turn him over on his side you will see the colors that he shows to his mate, and which observation shows are most useful in frightening away his younger rivals. But do not hurt him. Put him back in the brook and let him paint its bottom with colors of a rainbow, a sunset or a garden of roses. All that can be done with blue, crimson and green pigments, in fish ornamentation, you will find in some brook in which the darters live.”

LESSON XLIII

JOHNNY DARTER

_Leading thought_--The johnny darter naturally rests upon the bottom of the stream where the current is swift. It uses its two pairs of paired fins somewhat as feet in a way interesting to observe.

_Method_--Johnny darters may be caught in nets with other small fry and placed in the aquarium. Place one or two of them in individual aquaria where the pupils may observe them at their leisure. They do best in running water.

_Observations_--1. Describe or sketch the johnny darter from above. From the side. Can you see the W-shaped marks along its side? How is it colored above?

2. How are the pectoral fins placed? Are they large or small? How are they used in swimming? Where are the ventral fins placed? How are the ventrals and dorsals used together? When resting on the bottom how are the pectoral fins used?

3. What is there peculiar about the dorsal fins of the johnny darter? When he is resting, what is the attitude of the dorsal fins? What is the difference in shape of the rays of the front and hind dorsal fins?

4. When resting on the bottom of the aquarium how is the body held? On what does it rest? In moving about the bottom slowly why does it seem to walk? How does it climb up water weed?

5. When frightened how does it act? Why is it called a darter? What is the attitude of all the fins when the fish is moving swiftly?

6. What is the shape of the tail?

7. What is there peculiar about the eyes of the johnny? Describe the eyes and their position. What reason is there in the life of the fish that makes this position of the eyes advantageous?

8. Where do we find the johnny darters? In what part of the stream do they live? Are they usually near the surface of the water or at the bottom?

* * * * *

“_To my mind, the best of all subjects for nature-study is
a brook. It affords studies of many kinds. It is near and
dear to every child. It is an epitome of the nature in which
we live. In miniature, it illustrates the forces which have
shaped much of the earth’s surface. It reflects the sky. It
is kissed by the sun. It is rippled by the wind. The minnows
play in the pools. The soft weeds grow in the shallows. The
grass and the dandelions lie on its sunny banks. The moss and
the fern are sheltered in the nooks. It comes from one knows
not whence; it flows to one knows not whither. It awakens the
desire to explore. It is fraught with mysteries. It typifies
the flood of life. It goes on forever._

_In other words, the reason why the brook is such a perfect
nature-study subject is the fact that it is the central theme
in a scene of life. Living things appeal to children._”

* * * * *

“_Nature-study not only educates, but it educates nature-ward;
and nature is ever our companion, whether we will or no. Even
though we are determined to shut ourselves in an office,
nature sends her messengers. The light, the dark, the moon,
the cloud, the rain, the wind, the falling leaf, the fly, the
bouquet, the bird, the cockroach--they are all ours._

_If one is to be happy, he must be in sympathy with common
things. He must live in harmony with his environment. One
cannot be happy yonder nor tomorrow: he is happy here and now,
or never. Our stock of knowledge of common things should be
great. Few of us can travel. We must know the things at home._

_Nature-love tends toward naturalness, and toward simplicity
of living. It tends country-ward. One word from the fields is
worth two from the city. “God made the country.”_

_I expect, therefore, that much good will come from
nature-study. It ought to revolutionize the school life, for
it is capable of putting new force and enthusiasm into the
school and the child. It is new, and therefore, is called a
fad. A movement is a fad until it succeeds. We shall learn
much, and shall outgrow some of our present notions, but
nature-study has come to stay. It is in much the same stage of
development that manual-training and kindergarten work were
twenty-five years ago. We must take care that it does not
crystallize into science-teaching on the one hand, nor fall
into mere sentimentalism on the other._

_I would again emphasize the importance of obtaining our fact
before we let loose the imagination, for on this point will
largely turn the results--the failure or the success of the
experiment. We must not allow our fancy to run away with us.
If we hitch our wagon to a star, we must ride with mind and
soul and body all alert. When we ride in such a wagon, we must
not forget to put in the tail-board._”
--L. H. BAILEY in THE NATURE-STUDY IDEA.

III. BATRACHIAN STUDY

THE COMMON TOAD

_Teacher’s Story_

“_The toad hopped by us with jolting springs._”--AKERS.

Whoever has not had a pet toad has missed a most entertaining experience. Toad actions are surprisingly interesting; one of my safeguards against the blues is the memory of the thoughtful way one of my pet toads rubbed and patted its stomach with its little hands after it had swallowed a June-bug. Toads do not make warts upon attacking hands, neither do they rain down nor are they found in the bed-rock of quarries; but they do have a most interesting history of their own, which is not at all legendary, and which is very like a life with two incarnations.

The mother toad lays her eggs in May and June in ponds, or in the still pools, along streams; the eggs are laid in long strings of jellylike substance, and are dropped upon the pond bottom or attached to water weeds; when first deposited, the jelly is transparent and the little black eggs can be plainly seen; but after a day or two, bits of dirt accumulate upon the jelly, obscuring the eggs. At first the eggs are spherical, like tiny black pills, but as they begin to develop, they elongate and finally the tadpoles may be seen wriggling in the jelly mass, which affords them efficient protection. After four or five days, the tadpoles usually work their way out and swim away; at this stage, the only way to detect the head, is by the direction of the tadpole’s progress, since it naturally goes head first. However, the head soon becomes decidedly larger, although at first it is not provided with a mouth; it has instead, a V-shaped elevation where the mouth should be, which forms a sucker secreting a sticky substance by means of which the tadpole attaches itself to water weeds, resting head up. When two or three days old, we can detect little tassels on either side of the throat, which are the gills by which the little creature breathes; the blood passes through these gills, and is purified by coming in contact with the air which is mixed in the water. About ten days later, these gills disappear beneath a membrane which grows down over them; but they are still used for breathing, simply having changed position from the outside to the inside of the throat. The water enters the nostrils to the mouth, passes through an opening in the throat and flows over the gills and out through a little opening at the left side of the body; this opening or breathing-pore, can be easily seen in the larger tadpoles; and when the left arm develops, it is pushed out through this convenient orifice.

When about ten days old, the tadpole has developed a small, round mouth which is constantly in search of something to eat, and at the same time constantly opening and shutting to take in air for the gills; the mouth is provided with horny jaws for biting off pieces of plants. As the tadpole develops, its mouth gets larger and wider and extends back beneath the eyes, with a truly toadlike expansiveness.

At first, the tadpole’s eyes are even with the surface of the head and can scarcely be seen, but later they become more prominent and bulge like the eyes of the adult toad.

Photo by Verne Morton.]

The tail of the tadpole is long and flat, surrounded by a fin, thus making an organ for swimming. It strikes the water, first this side and then that, making most graceful curves, which seem to originate near the body and multiply toward the tip of the tail. This movement propels the tadpole forward, or in any direction. The tail is very thin when seen from above; and it is amusing to look at a tadpole from above, and then at the side; it is like squaring a circle.

There is a superstition that tadpoles eat their tails; and in a sense this is true, because the material that is in the tail is absorbed into the growing body; but the last thing a right-minded tadpole would do, would be to bite off its own tail. However, if some other tadpole should bite off the tail or a growing leg, these organs conveniently grow anew.

When the tadpole is a month or two old, depending upon the species, its hind legs begin to show; they first appear as mere buds which finally push out completely. The feet are long and provided with five toes, of which the fourth is the longest; the toes are webbed so that they may be used to help in swimming. Two weeks later the arms begin to appear, the left one pushing out through the breathing-pore. The “hands” have four fingers and are not webbed; they are used in the water for balancing; while the hind legs are used for pushing, as the tail becomes smaller.

As the tadpole grows older, not only does its tail become shorter but its actions change. It now comes often to the surface of the water in order to get more air for its gills, although it lacks the frog tadpole’s nice adjustment of the growing lungs and the disappearing gills. At last some fine rainy day, the little creature feels that it is finally fitted to live the life of a land animal. It may not be a half inch in length, with big head, attenuated body and stumpy tail, but it swims to the shore, lifts itself on its front legs, which are scarcely larger than pins, and walks off, toeing in, with a very grown up air, and at this moment, the tadpole attains toadship. Numbers of them come out of the water together, hopping hither and thither with all of the eagerness and vim of untried youth. It is when issuing thus in hordes from the water and seen by the ignorant, that they gain the reputation of being rained down, when they really were rained up. It is quite impossible for a beginner to detect the difference between the toad and the frog tadpole; usually those of the toads are black, while those of the frogs are otherwise colored, though this is not an invariable distinction. The best way to distinguish the two is to get the eggs and develop the two families separately.

The general color of the common American toad is extremely variable. It may be yellowish-brown, with spots of lighter color, and with reddish or yellow warts. There are likely to be four irregular spots of dark color along each side of the middle of the back, and the under parts are light colored, often somewhat spotted. The throat of the male toad is black and he is not so bright in color as is the female. The warts upon the back are glands, which secrete a substance disagreeable for the animal seeking toad dinners. This is especially true of the glands in the elongated swelling or wart, above and just back of the ear, which is called the parotid gland; these give forth a milky, poisonous substance when the toad is seized by an enemy, although the snakes do not seem to mind it. Some people have an idea that the toad is slimy, but this is not true; the skin is perfectly dry. The toad feels cold to the hand because it is a cold-blooded animal, which means an animal with blood the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere; while the blood of the warm-blooded animal, has a temperature of its own, which it maintains whether the surrounding air is cold or hot.

Photo by Cyrus Crosby.]

The toad’s face is well worth study; its eyes are elevated and very pretty, the pupil being oval and the surrounding iris shining like gold. The toad winks in a wholesale fashion, the eyes being pulled down into the head; the eyes are provided with nictitating lids, which rise from below, and are similar to those found in birds. When a toad is sleeping, its eyes do not bulge but are drawn in, so as to lie even with the surface of the head. The two tiny nostrils are black and are easily seen; the ear is a flat, oval spot behind the eye and a little lower down; in the common species it is not quite so large as the eye; this is really the ear-drum, since there is no external ear like ours. The toad’s mouth is wide and its jaws are horny; it does not need teeth since it swallows its prey whole.

The toad is a jumper, as may be seen from its long, strong hind legs, the feet of which are also long and strong and armed with five toes that are somewhat webbed. The “arms” are shorter and there are four “fingers” to each “hand;” when the toad is resting, its front feet toe-in, in a comical fashion. If a toad is removed from an earth or moss garden, and put into a white wash-bowl, in a few hours it will change to a lighter hue, and vice versa. This is part of its protective color, making it inconspicuous to the eyes of its enemy. It prefers to live in cool, damp places, beneath sidewalks or piazzas, etc., and its warty upper surface resembles the surrounding earth. If it is disturbed, it will seek to escape by long leaps and acts frightened; but if very much frightened, it flattens out on the ground, and looks so nearly like a clod of earth that it may escape even the keen eyes of its pursuer. When seized by the enemy, it will sometimes “play possum,” acting as if it were dead; but when actually in the mouth of the foe, it emits terrified and heart-rending cries.

The toad’s tongue is attached to the lower jaw, at the front edge of the mouth; it can thus be thrust far out, and since it secretes a sticky substance over its surface, any insects which it touches adhere, and are drawn back into the mouth and swallowed. It takes a quick eye to see this tongue fly out and make its catch. The tadpole feeds mostly upon vegetable matter, but the toad lives entirely upon small animals, usually insects; it is not particular as to what kind of insects; but because of the situations which it haunts, it usually feeds upon those which are injurious to grass and plants. Indeed, the toad is really the friend of the gardener and farmer, and has been most ungratefully treated by those whom it has befriended. If you doubt that a toad is an animal of judgment, watch it when it finds an earthworm and set your doubts at rest! It will walk around the squirming worm, until it can seize it by the head, apparently knowing well that the horny hooks extending backward from the segments of the worm, are likely to rasp the throat if swallowed the wrong way. If the worm prove a too large mouthful, the toad promptly uses its hands in an amusing fashion to stuff the wriggling morsel down its throat. When swallowing a large mouthful, it closes its eyes; but whether this aids the process, or is merely an expression of bliss, we have not determined. The toad never drinks by taking in water through the mouth, but absorbs it through the skin; when it wishes to drink, it stretches itself out in shallow water and thus satisfies its thirst; it will waste away and die in a short time, if kept in a dry atmosphere.

The toad burrows in the earth by a method of its own, hard to describe. It kicks backward with its strong hind legs, and in some mysterious way, the earth soon covers all excepting its head; then, if an enemy comes along, back goes the head, the earth caves in around it, and where is your toad! It remains in its burrow or hiding place usually during the day, and comes out at night to feed. This habit is an advantage, because snakes are then safely at home and, too, there are many more insects to be found at night. The sagacious toads have discovered that the vicinity of street lights is swarming with insects, and there they gather in numbers. In winter they burrow deeply in the ground and go to sleep, remaining dormant until the warmth of spring awakens them; then, they come out, and the mother toads seek their native ponds there to lay eggs for the coming generation. They are excellent swimmers; when swimming rapidly, the front legs are laid backward along the sides of the body, so as to offer no resistance to the water; but when moving slowly, the front legs are used for balancing and for keeping afloat.

The song of the toad is a pleasant, crooning sound, a sort of gutteral trill; it is made when the throat is puffed out almost globular, thus forming a vocal sac; the sound is made by the air drawn in at the nostrils and passed back and forth from the lungs to the mouth over the vocal chords, the puffed-out throat acting as a resonator.

The toad has no ribs by which to inflate the chest, and thus draw air into the lungs, as we do when we breathe; it is obliged to swallow the air instead and thus force it into the lungs. This movement is shown in the constant pulsation, in and out, of the membrane of the throat.

As the toad grows, it sheds its horny skin, which it swallows; as this process is usually done strictly in private, the ordinary observer sees it but seldom. One of the toad’s nice common qualities is its enjoyment in having its back scratched gently.

The toad has many enemies; chief among these is the snake and in only a lesser degree, crows and also birds of prey.

_Reference_--The Frog Book, Dickerson; Familiar Life in Field and Forest, Mathews; The Usefulness of the American Toad, U. S. Dept. Agr., Farmers Bulletin, No. 196.

LESSON XLIV

THE TADPOLE AQUARIUM

_Leading thought_--The children should understand how to make the tadpoles comfortable and thus be able to rear them.

_Materials_--A tin or agate pan or a deep earthenware wash-bowl.

_Things to be done_--1. Go to some pond where tadpoles live.

2. Take some of the small stones on the bottom and at the sides of the pond lifting them very gently so as not to disturb what is growing on their surface. Place these stones on the bottom of the pan, building up one side higher than the other, so that the water will be more shallow on one side than on the other; a stone or two should project above the water.

3. Take some of the mud and leaves from the bottom of the pond, being careful not to disturb them and place upon the stones.

4. Take some of the plants found growing under water in the pond and plant them among the stones.

5. Carry the pan thus prepared back to the schoolhouse and place it where the sun will not shine directly upon it.

6. Bring a pail of water from the pond and pour it very gently in at one side of the pan, so as not to disarrange the plants; fill the pan nearly to the brim.

7. After the mud has settled and the water is perfectly clear, remove some of the tadpoles, which have hatched in the glass aquarium, and place in the “pond.” Not more than a dozen should be put in a pan of this size, since the amount of food and microscopic plants which are on the stones in the mud, will afford food for only a few tadpoles.

8. Every week add a little more mud from the bottom of the pond or another stone covered with slime, which is probably some plant growth. More water from the pond should be added to replace that evaporated.

9. Care should be taken that the tadpole aquarium be kept where the sun will not shine directly upon it for any length of time, because if the water gets too warm the tadpoles will die.

10. Remove the “skin” from one side of a tulip leaf, so as to expose the pulp of the leaf, and give to the tadpoles every day or two. Bits of hard-boiled egg should be given now and then.

TOADS’ EGGS AND TADPOLES

_Leading thought_--The toad’s eggs are laid in strings of jelly in ponds. The eggs hatch into tadpoles which are creatures of the water, breathing by gills, and swimming with a long fin. The tadpoles gradually change to toads, which are air-breathing creatures, fitted for life on dry land.

_Method_--The eggs of toads may be found in almost any pond about the first of May and may be scraped up from the bottom in a scoop-net. They should be placed in the aquarium where the children can watch the stages of development. Soon after they are hatched, a dozen or so should be selected and placed in the tadpole aquarium and the others put back into the stream. The children should observe the tadpoles every day, watching carefully all the changes of structure and habit which take place. If properly fed, the tadpoles will be ready to leave the water in July, as tiny toads.