Naturalist

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 374, 9 July 1903, Page 7

Naturalist

- !-* «- -SILKWORMS.' I~\ fT are,onite easy to rear. Th«jjy need only freßh, mulberry 2SaH> leaves, and tUey should be shifted • 'every morning "while their tray is cleaned out. They must never be touched with the hand. Small! bunches of. twigs should be put into the trays when the worms, show signs of being ready to; spin.; Some people put 'them -info a receptacle made of writing-paper, and hang them -against*the iwali) }Wihen the'cocoon is finished—and there is special knowledge required to ascertain-othe. correct fame—it should be thrown into hot water, or putjinto an even to and prevebt it Bilk?by .forcing'its way?bute machine iB needed for winding. Such is silkworm rearing in brief. Amateurly raised silkworms produce no silk of any marketable value. About fourteen pounds' weight of cocoons are needed before one pound's weight of silk is produced, so you see what enormous numbers of * silkworms would haye to"be kept before the slightest advantage could be gained from them. - THE HARMLESS BLOODHOUND. 'The idea that the English bloodhound is a savage' and particularly ferocious, an'mal is a very common error, in no small part due., perhaps, to "the blocd thirsty Eitories most of us have read in ' Uncle Tom's Cabin.' The hounds mentioned by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, however, ae used in the Southern. States, were cross-bred animals nd related to the Cuban hound, with a blending of mastiff bulldog i and- hound blood, and were quite savage, and have little, if any, resemblance to the English, specimen, says a "writer .'■ in 'Outing.'" Tbese dogs were_,f|rst,knosair4n-..tAe--W«et Indios-'in the latter part of the eighteenth century, when a,number were janpprted, probably ;from Spain| for the purpose of suppressing the Maroon insurrection, but the natives were so inspired with terror at first sight ef /the ithat* it 1 waß found un- : necessary to make use pf them, ~_., . ' Until some fifty -years;, agd; .bipodhounds were often used in England for tracking sheep, etaalere, ■ and also by keepers arid jberdets in "air the large forests where poachers' gave trouble.

"*" ! -SOME LIVE lAMPB. In India there is a bird called the bottle bird, because it builds a nest which looks just like a bottle. But it is not derful nest I wish, to tell you abbut,rbut something much more wohderfulV I think, You know, in India have" **& n y; enemies, and these enemiesT are afraid o£ light. r ; * M'tZ So, when Mr? \ajasf Mtßr-Bdtwe imakertheir they balls of clay aU?:ar£und : These are really believe you can guesa. themselves are.. &*£££ts beetles.. Fire beetles flies, only much) Bottle Bird catch. stick them in they stay, maklu^s^^a^||B^f- ; 4uSe : bright with lighfe" * So.you see, Mr. and -Mrs. Bottle Bird and" aU the .little bottle birds can-sleep quite peacefully all night, because they 'know threy arejsafe from all enemies §fgWJl&')is> tidied to be the largest shark in 'the world was racently|washMiaahore on the beach, at <iel^BliO>r^i?)j|9.^ , lorida. This great water creature' measured eighteen feet in length and weighed oyer. 2,000 pounds, 'and was five feet wide across tb&uack, on which thr<te men could lay in an outstretched line, while his tremendous mouth could take in th 9 body of an.,aj;ern»|s|e| pelvis . t|la%|B a layebiry.'atSie to be fierce, and few have been known to have been captured alive. i - pf-aueh gigantic size; 'Messrs. Anderson and Price, the hotel proprietors, telegraphed the presence of the shark to the Smithsonian Institution, which, recognising the value of the rare I specimen,- at *jggßU>gd v jt f o% tife" s National' Museum, 'where the skin and skull are being' prepared for exhibition It is considered by scientists to p9 one of the most striking objects there. While it "was lying on the beach hundreds of tourists from Ormond and the _ vicinity viewed the-giant form. " The Bbark is a species of the IndoPacific basking shaik, inhabiting the tropics, and has never before teen seen in -those waters. In its varied colorations it differ! markedly froin.the majority ; o£ sharks, being ornamented with buff spots ■ and stripes on a dark ground. The mouth i forms nearly an oblong aperture, and is armed with binds of numerous sharp i teeth. There are only two of these . sharks on exhibition—one in Paris, the other at the British Museum, the latter being seventeen feet long.