No. 8. Conestoga Council, Lancaster. "60. Adamstown Council, Adamstown. 66 64. Millersville Council, Millersville. "192. Octoraro Council, Little Britain-twp. INDEPENDENT ORDER OF GOOD TEMPLARS. No. 6. Susquehanna Lodge, Marietta. 66 8. Hope Lodge, Columbia. 66 9. Lancaster Lodge, Lancaster. "12. Keystone Lodge, Mount Joy. 13. Spring Valley Lodge, Drumore-twp. "14. Samaritan Lodge, Millersville. "18. Strasburg Lodge, Strasburg. 20. Chestnut Level Lodge, Chestnut Level. INDEPENDENT ORDER OF SEVEN WISE MEN. No. 9. Washington Conclave, Lancaster. KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS. No. 68. Lancaster Lodge, Lancaster. No. INDEPENDENT ORDER OF SONS OF MALTA. Besides the Lodge at Columbia, other Lodges may be in the county, although statistics failed to come to hand. FEMALE SOCIETIES. There are three female Beneficiary Societies at Lancaster, viz: "The Daughters of Temperance," "The Daughters of America," and "The Philozotheans." DIVISION IX. PHYSICAL. INTRODUCTORY.1 It was at first thought to give a short descriptive history of the natural objects found within the limits of Lancaster County, but this was soon found to be impracticable. The species and varieties are too numerous to be described in detail, except in a work specially devoted to that purpose. Moreover, comparatively few of them have received common names, except the quadrupeds, birds, reptiles and a few of the fishes. Therefore, the work has been chiefly confined to giving lists of the names of species, their classes, orders and families, with the leading characteristics of their main divisions, and occasionally of some of their sub-divisions. Objections may be made to a long array of Latin names, as of little or no use to the general reader, but if those who are at all interested in these matters, have a desire to form any acquaintance with the subject, they will ultimately have to learn the import of these names, in order that they may be enabled to take an intelligent view of the objects they comprehend. It is true, that the value of common names, among the common people, ought, perhaps, not be entirely ignored; but these, in the greater number of instances, are so confused, and so local in their significance, that they cannot be depended upon in their general application; moreover, the time will eventually come in the history of our scientific literature and educational systems, when this apparently objectionable feature of Natural history, will no longer be regarded as a stumbling block, but as an efficient means to facilitate its progress. These catalogues, therefore, published as part of the History of Lancaster County, may come before a greater number of people, and in a cheaper form than is usual through the publications of Scientific associations. They may contain many errors and omissions, and may also include some species that have not been fully identified with their assumed locality; but these may be corrected, supplied, or eliminated by the student of our local history, as he acquires the necessary proficiency to do so, without effecting any special scientific demoralization. CLASS MAMMALIA.1 This class includes the four-footed animals or quadrupeds. The females bring forth their young alive, and suckle them until they are old enough to provide for themselves. The very name implies that the females have teats and secrete milk, and the term "mamma," for mother, among human beings, is derived from the name of this class. If an aboriginal naturalist had been called upon to make out a catalogue of the animals of this class, when he roamed in undisturbed possession of the domain of our county, and had transmitted it to successive generations, it no doubt would have contained many species that are now extinct in the county. Although the deer, the bear, the wolf, and perhaps also the panther and the beaver, were found in this county within my lifetime-a period of some fifty years-yet at the present time these animals are unknown to our territory. Others, in the following list, are also becoming rare, perhaps 1 Contributed by Mr. S. S. Rathvon. before another fifty years many of these will have passed beyond our borders, never to return. Of the smaller species of animals, belonging to other classes, and especially of the Insecta, there is a redundancy, and civilization and cultivation seem rather to increase their numbers than to diminish them. But whether this state of things existed when the dense primitive forests of Lancaster county were inhabited by the Redman and his animal contemporaries—the quadrupeds and birds-is a matter gravely to be doubted. The "Canada Lynx" or wild cat, has been shot in this county within the last ten years, and it is barely possible that a very few individuals may still be found in the woody regions. Thirty years ago a stray panther was seen, or supposed to have been seen, within the county; but it needed a further corroboration to redeem the assumption from passing into a mere myth, and that corroboration was never secured. Civilization has, however, vastly increased the numbers of a few mammals, especially of those called rats and mice. Domestic mammals, such for instance as the horse, the ox kind, the sheep and the pig, are of course not included in this list, because it is too manifest that they have been introduced and moreover are only found in a domestic state. FAMILY IV-MARSUPIALIA. ORDER CARNARIA. FAMILY I-CHEIROPTERA. VESPERTILIO. Lin. noveboracensis. Lin. Red-Bat. pruinosa. Say. Hoary-Bat. carolinensis. Geof. Brown-Bat. subulatus(?) Say. Subulate-Bat. FAMILY II-INSECTIVORA. SOREX. Lin. brevicaudus. Say. Shrew. SCALOPS. Cuv. DIDELPHIS. Lin. virginiana. Pen. Opossum. ORDER RODENTIA. FIBER. Il. zibethicus. Lin. Musk-Rat. xanthognatus. Leh. Meadow Mouse. decumanus. Pal. Common Rat. rattus.2 Lin. Black Rat. agrarius. Gml. Field Mouse. GERBILLUS. Des. canadensis. Des. Jumping Mouse. monax. Gml. Ground Hog. SCIURUS. Gml. cinereus. Lin. Cat Squirrel. TAMIAS. striatus. Kln. Ground Squirrel. volucella. Lin. Flying Squirrel. FAMILY II-INCLAVICULATA americanus.3 1 Very rare, if at all in existence in this county at the present time. Lin. Common Hare. 2 This animal is also becoming rare in this county, and a very few years may chronicle its total extinction. 3 This animal, according to authors, is very improperly called the Rabbit. It appears, however, that excepting the "English Rabbit," which has been introduced and domesticated here, we have not a true rabbit in this county, or even in North America. ORNITHOLOGY.1 It will be seen that the synopsis comprises both the scientific and common names. The scientific name is followed by the name (in brackets) of the author who first described and named the species, properly, and then by the name of the author, who referred them to the genus, under which they are found, and then by the vulgar or common name. It will also be seen that the more important species, either in an economical point of view or as of value in determining their habits and migratory limits, have been noticed by remarks warranted by my own observations and those of others on whose judgment I could rely. In regard to those species that are noticed as breeding in the County, it is to be understood that only those are thus designated which are known positively to do so, by their nests and eggs having been found; and it must not be inferred that others, not thus indicated, do not, for it is reasonable to suppose that those species which remain with us during the spring and summer months, do so for the purpose of incubation. The Ornithology of this great County, a commonwealth in itself, may be regarded as very extensive, possessing nearly half the entire ornithology of Eastern North America. Those speecies that are wanting, being natives either of the extreme north or south; many of the species, it is true, are only migratory, and a few accidental, a consequence always attending limited districts of country; but the proportion is, perhaps, less than would be found in almost any other territory of the same size, lying farther north or south, where the species crowd annually to rear their young or spend the winter, whose severity is too great even for the most hardy to endure, or pick up a scanty subsistence. It is owing to the circumstance that our county occupies a middle position, that those species peculiarly southern or arctic, are met with only as stragglers or occasional visitants. The instinctive wants of birds seem to be met when they reach a climate which has a middle temperature, subject neither to arctic cold nor tropical heat. Another reason for the large number of species found in our fauna, is the great variety of country within our limits. The noble Susquehanna, bordering our territory for nearly sixty miles on our southwestern line, reaching down to near tidewater; the Conestoga and Octoraro coming down from the north; their reedy and marshy shores and islands affording suitable food and breeding places for the Anatidæ and the Grallatores; the towering rocky cliffs which bound the river in a portion of its course through the county, afford the Raptores a safe and favorite retreat. The Furnace Hills on our northwestern confines, still clothed with extensive forest and inpenetrable thickets, broken by deeply-shaded glens and rocky ravines of the wildest and most sequestered character, are solitary and secure retreats for secluded and retiring species, and the natural resorts of our only remaining species of Grouse, and where still an occasional specimen of the wild turkey may be met with. Our broad and far-stretching cultivated and grazing fields, interspersed groves and wood abound with the Insessores and summer visiting Grallatores, and with the exception of the streams and their shores, are the chosen resorts of most of our summer and winter visitants. In an insular district of country of limited extent, where the population has become comparatively dense and the cultivation of the soil rapidly extended by the introduction of agricultural implements, it may be expected that many species, in numbers, have decreased and several have become nearly if not totally extinct. This decline is to be greatly regretted, especially in regard to those species which, by habit, live almost entirely upon insect food, and are therefore to be considered of the utmost importance to the horticultural and agricultural interests of the county. This march of civiliza 1 Contributed by Hon. J. J. Libhart. |