IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17250, 18 August 1916, Page 10

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY IN NEW ZEALAND. (By J. DRUMMOND, F.L.S., F.Z.S.) An Ohakuie resident who asked mo a few weeks ago to recommend a book on fleas has propounded another question. “Is it tho buzzing mosquito or tho silont one that bites?’ lie asks. It is the buzzing ono, the female. The male neither buzzes nor bites, that is, ho does not bit© human beings or other animals, because ho is not a bloodsucker, but a. vegetarian. As a matter of fact, ho is a harmless, inoffensive, gentlemanly kind of an insect, who wishes no nanr. to anybody, while his mate is a ghoul. She always is a source of annoyance to human beings, and sometimes, in tropical countries, she disseminates some of tho most virulent diseases that afflict suffering humanity. She is equipped with mandibles that the mcilo doe 3 not possess. She does not sting in the same way H 3 a bee or a wasp stings, as she has no weapon for this method of attack. She uses her mandibles merely for biting, and absorbs blood through a sucking organ, operating like a flea.

The male really is a honey-eater. An English writer on mosquitoes has described the habits of the sexes in poetical _ language. “The male,” he ?ays, “ sips nectar from the flowers, and passes his days in joyous dancing in the sunlight • the female spends not her days only, but her nights, in pursuit of men and cattle, into whom she may drive her sharp lancets and suck from their blood her more nutritious if less delicate diet.” Tho buzzing sound is made by the female in flying. The deper notes are produced by very-rapid vibrations of her wings. It is estimated that these vibrations, sometimes, are not fewer than 3000 a minute. The higher notes, it is stated, are mado by membranes at the openings of air-tubes.

Her eggs are deposited on the surface of fresh or salt water. The insect goes through the changes if life common to flies. There is first the grub, then tho pupa, and then the perfect insect. Mr G. V. Hudson, of Wellington, states that the grub of a native mosquito, Culex iracundus, feeds on the auimacuhs that swarm in all still water. These are captured by strange appendages, near tho mouth of each grab. ’The appendages are furnished with long hairs, and nre pulled through tho water like' fishermen’s nets, ana then are drawn into tho mouth, and the contents are devoured. Tho grubs often are seen suspended from the surface of the water by an air tube. The pupa has fins, and by using these, when pursued by enemies, it rushes through tho writer with great rapidity. At other times it remains absolutely motionless, suspended from the surface of the water. The pupa does not take nourishment, and it has no proper legs. Mr Hudson adds that the perfect insect emerges from a rent in the shield of the pupa, drawing each pair of legs separately and placing them infront of it on the water. Then the wipgs and the body are extracted, and in.a few minutes the insect flies away. There is one species of native mosquito that is alway found near the shore, and has become known as tho “coastal mosquito.”

It is the female sand-fly. also that bites so irritatingly. Through a lens, one of these insects may be seen distending herself with the blood she greedily sucks in, until her body, which, by the way, has beautiful rainbow hues bulges like a miniature balloon. When her skin seems to have reached bursting point she flies off. Professor P. Marshall, who some years

ago observed the grubs of sand-flies, states that each grub is equipped at both ends of its body with suckers. With the help of these it crawls about like a --leech on plants growing in the running streams it inhabits. It lives on tiny crustaceans and rotifers that abound in those streams. The common sand-fiy in New Zealand is Simulium australiense, but there is a larger one on the Auckland Islands, named Sinmlium vexans, whoso habits hare not been recorded

An unusual experience with a kiwi is reported by Hfr A. •A. Allom, of Mararaa Avenue, Epscm, Auckland. He writes on July 18, and says:—“For several days, I had noticed peculiar holes in the beds of my garden. They were like holes made by worms, M>ut I was not convinced that they were the work of worms. In order to discover the facts, I went into the garden one moonlight nisrht last week and was surprised to find a large brown kiwi probing amongst my lettuces. On seeing me, he scampered off to the shade of oo me shrubs near a wall, and there rov wife with the help of a candle, had no difficulty in catching him. When he was liberated, He did not seem to be in great haste to depart, but walked ipisurclv awav to the shade again, followed by three cats, who did not try to molest him, and seemed to he on friendly terms with him. Evidently during tho day he had found a secluded hiding place on my property. Ho has been at work in the garden every night since ho was first discovered. It would he interesting to know where he has come from and how he managed to teach my place without falling a prey to the numerous dogs of this neighbourhood, as tho sections in this street are fairly small and the houses aro close tigether. I can only suppose that the bird came from some of the bushy slopes on the eastern side of Mount Eden.”

Dr F. G. M. Brittin, of Papanui, roports that he heard the first English thrush this year on February 6. His first record in tho year, usually, is in the first week in May. He heard the first blackbird this year on Juno 21. Mr C. R. Tilly, of Hobson Bay, Remuera, states, as evidence of the mild season there, that on June 25 he found on 1 is property a thrush’s nest, with one bird recently hatched and three eggs. . The female thrush was very tame. When ho inspected 'the nest on tho following Sunday, July 2, it was a mass of feathers, and he thir.ks that a rat had discovered it.'