Читать книгу Four-Footed Americans and Their Kin - Mabel Osgood Wright - Страница 9

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PLENDID!" cried Nat and Rap together, as soon as they realized what Dr. Roy said. "When shall we have the stories?"

"What is a campfire? Is it made of logs or coal?" asked Dodo.

"Where are you going to have the camp? Here in the wonder room?" asked Olive, who was as much surprised as her cousins.

"What are no-footed Americans, fishes?" persisted Dodo.

"Fishes have no feet, and yet these no-footed beasts are not fishes. The Americans you shall hear about will all be our blood brothers, the Mammals—the highest branch of the animal tree, the one that I said has so many smaller branches that it seems almost like a whole tree by itself."

"M—mammals; m—milk," said Dodo, proud at not having forgotten. "But, Uncle Roy, we can't see all these M—mammals outdoors, as we did the birds, and there aren't any here in your wonder room. How can we tell how they look?"

"You will probably see some of the smaller ones this winter, just as you saw the Fox to-night. I have the skins of others packed away in chests; and some you must learn to know by pictures, until you have a chance to see them in the Zoo or in a Museum.

"No more questions to-night. You will hear more about the surprise to-morrow. Now I must try to tell you how to climb the animal tree, so that you may step easily from branch to branch and have a general understanding of its groups and families."

"This will be harder than learning about bones and feathers that built the bird."

"Yes and no! When you began to learn the geography of our country, what was the first map you saw, Nat? A map of one state, with all the mountains, rivers, cities, and towns, large and small?"

"Ah, no, uncle; a plain, easy map of the whole of North America, with only the very big chief mountains, rivers, and land divisions put down. It took us a long time only to learn the names of the states and how they were bounded; then by and by we took them in groups, until at this school we are having each state by itself."

"Precisely. Now, in drawing this animal tree, I will not put down all small branches and twigs, but merely the chief branches, so that you may have what is called a 'general idea' of the whole. Then from time to time you can study by itself any branch that particularly interests you.

"Now watch," said the Doctor, drawing rapidly on a large sheet of cardboard. "Your old uncle is no draughtsman, but this will do for a beginning, and I will copy it neatly by and by, so that we can hang it on the wall of our camp. This animal tree has a straight trunk, and first come eight branches."

"Ah! Ah!" cried Dodo. "Mother! Daddy! Come and look! Uncle is making each branch end in an animal, so we can see with one peep where they belong, and the little first animal that belongs to the trunk hasn't any more shape than an ink blot!

"What is that queer little spot, uncle? Has it a name? Ah! now you are writing the name on each branch," chattered Dodo.

After everybody had looked at the sketch of the animal tree, the Doctor hung it up on the door, and said he would try to answer a few of their questions about it.

"These," said the Doctor, pointing to the lower branches of the tree that he had drawn, "are the animals which have no backbones,—Invertebrates, the Wise Men call them,—and though I do not want to trouble you with long names, you must try to remember this one, because it is important and you will meet it often in reading.

"With these branches begin the lowest forms of animal life. This little thing on the trunk that Dodo called an ink blot is the very first form of animal life, it is called a Protozoön, and it is really so small that you could not see it without a microscope."

"That is a pretty big name for next-to-nothing," said Rap.

"Yes; but the name, like many of those the Wise Men give, explains the meaning. It comes from the Greek words protos (first) and zoön (animal), so among ourselves we will call the trunk of the tree the first animal, as it is the first step from the vegetable to the animal kingdom."

"If it is so small and has so little body, how can you tell it isn't a vegetable?" asked Olive.

"It is very difficult indeed to distinguish between the lower forms of animal and vegetable life, and we must leave the reason why to the Wise Men; for it puzzles them very often, and I could not explain it without using long words."

"Why, Uncle Roy," said Dodo, "I know a real simple reason,—animals can move and plants can't!"

"Wrong, missy; many of the lower animals cannot move. The coral, for instance, and the oysters, are as much fixtures as the geraniums in their pots over by the window.

"But to return to our animal tree. Besides having no backbones, these lower animals have no hearts, lungs, or brains; they are not built around a bony skeleton, as birds are or we ourselves. Their vital parts are held in a single tube. These animals are of various shapes and live in many ways and places,—on the earth, in the water, and in mud. Among the lower branches of the animal tree, you will find things that are familiar to you, though you probably never have thought what they were, whether animals or vegetables.

"To repeat all the names, even of the animals that belong on each branch, would confuse and tire you sadly, so I will only tell you of some of the principal kinds that you are most likely to see, to act as steps, so to speak, by which you may climb to the branch where our four-footed Americans live.

"On the next branch to the trunk, or First Animal, belong the Sponges; they are plant-like water animals that cannot move. Then the Jelly Fishes and Sea Anemones, which are masses of clear, jelly-like stuff floating in the sea, and many of these are beautifully colored."

"I saw some Jelly Fish when we were at the shore this summer," said Dodo. "I walked on some, and though they felt so slimy they sort of made my feet tingle."

"Olive," said the Doctor, "suppose you take out the blackboard and write the names of these lower branches who have no backbones."