NATURE.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 3976, 23 March 1900, Page 3 (Supplement)

NATURE.

A Liriug PißhingLine.— Down amongst the seaweed stem 9 and pointed rocks you ! may find a long, black, tangled string, like a j giant leather boot-lace act to soak. Let 113 j trace it in its various folds and twists, ami ! disentangle some of it. We shall the a have in hand a tough, slippery, India-rubber liko substance, wbieli might well be pronounced a sea stimsr. and classed with tbe long, trailing weeds amongst which we have found it. A sea string it is, but not a weed ; in fact, a livirijg,las3O, capable of consuming the prey it encircles within its treacherous folds. From twenty to thirty feet is no uncommon length for this artfuJ, animated fishing line to reach, but its diameter rarely exceeds an eighth of an inch. It has a month, however, capable of considerable distension and holding power. What can appear more innocent than this delicate-lookiug creeper, trailing here and there as the heaving water swells and flows as the tide comes in I Let an un» wary tube-dweller, lulled intoafalsesecurity, stretch forth its tentacles to meet the welcow. wnvo, and a pointed bead is adroitly insinuated. Tbe m»uth effects its tenacious grasp onj&£. yielding tissues, and tbe tenant of the tube becomes food for the Nermete* liorlatur, for such is the name of this cord* like free-booter. Pick up this strange creature, and it hangs helpless and motionless, a mere velvet string, across the hand. Then put it before the fry of the rock-fishes, or into a vase at home, and we will sec that ie lies motionless, trailing itself among' the grave], You cannot tell where it begins or ends. It may seem like a strip of dead sea- weed, or even appear like • tarred string. So thinks the little fish that plays oter and over it, till he touches at last what is surely a bead. In an instant a bell-shaped sucker* mouth has fastened to its side ; in another instant, from one lip, a concave, docile proboscis, just like a taper's (another instance of tbs repetition pf forms), has clasped him like a finger. And now he begins tbe straggle, sut'jn vain. He is being " played "with such a fishing-rod as the skill of a Wilson or a Stoddart never could invent ; a living line, with elasticity beyond that of the most delU cate fly-rod,' which fo"ows every lunge, shortening and lengthening, slipping and twisting round every piece of gravel ami stem of seaweed with a tiring drag, such as no Highland wrisfcor step could ever bring to bear on salmon or trout. The victim is tired now, and slowly, yet dexterously, hifl blind assailant is feeling, and shifting along his side till he ranches one end of Mm, and then theb'ack lips expand, nnd slowly and surely the curved finger begins packing him end foremost down into tbe gullet, where be sink* inch by inch, till tbe swelling which mark? his place is lost among the coils, and he i» probably macerated into a pulp long before he has reached the opposite extremity. Once safely down, the black murderer contracts again into a knotted heap, and lie* like a boa with a stag inside him, motionless and blest', ■ , The Language of Monkeys.— ln the way of language, monkeys manifest, their passions, emotion?, desires nnd tears by cries and gestures, emphasized by significant accents, which vary with the species. Monkeys and children, together with savages and uneducated people of civilized nations, manifest an inclination to mimic the gestures and motions of all persons whom they sec. We think that this trait is especially prominent in monkeys, but thousands of instances might be cited to show that mankind, old and young, share it with them. The attitude and the sagacity of monkeys are so human that some savages believe it is ont of maliciousness that they do not talk. In fact, a mon%iy might pass for a dumb man, because he does not articulate the consonants clearly, as we do ; but not all men have this power of articulation in an equal degree. We have stammerers by birth and by habit, Some savage tribes have a scanty alphabet, complicated by clicks and nasal and guttural sounds that ennnot be imagined till they are h,eaTd. All monkeys have voices, and many of them have very strong ones. Except the solitary and taciturn ourang-outang, the species which live in troops are chatterers, and keep up a great hubbub. The principal tones of their noisy and rapid language, with the frequent repetition of the same soaiuds, may also be found in the languages of tbe most savage peoples. They are, for the most part, complex, guttural and banh vticulations, with fewvaria* tions. Bat the alphabets of some of the AfrU can and Melanaiian nations are not much richer. In both it i* generally tbe labials which are wanting, laughter fa not wholly peculiar to men, lor some monkeys bare a noisy and explosive laugh analogous to our** Cook has stated that natives of the NewHeb* rides express their joy by a kind of guttural whistle, analogous to the jerky, rattling laugh of some monkeys. Monkeys are also capable of showing sorrow and weeping ; and it is possible to follow on their faced the equivalents of tbe physiognomies, "banges which in man answer to tbe expression of hi* various emotions. Among these are the drawing back of tbe corners of the month and the contraction of the lower eyelid, wbioh constitute tbe monkey's smile, and the depression of tbe eyebrow and forehead in anrer. ' .. .

Miss Haeetoyeg, to abeent*niinded buteto amored Mr. Mallow— I*Come.1 * Come. Mr. Mallow won't you Join u» and take a hand 7 " Mr. Mallow— "Au-w-taanki awfully/ I will except fours." On the opening day last season an aain« burgh artist and one of bk friends were among the risitors at the Royal Scottish Academy Exhibition in that city, The former had been fortunate in securing a pltog on the wails for a picture ha bad sent in, and which represented a piece of ground with a lark soariog overhead. He was naturally On the look-ont for his " bit of work," and was soon farored with the desired sjjrbt, for hi* eye feii upon the qbject of hit labor hang upon one of the topmost lines. The exclamation he uttered at that moment wal not what is known as Parliamentary,and it caused his friend to express his sjmpatby la tb« following consolatory term*— ♦• Why, ol<l toan^ don't yon see, they tbooght the lark would