A NEWSPAPER HOAX.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 13048, 13 December 1905, Page 1 (Supplement)

A NEWSPAPER HOAX.

A tutor at a colonial university wrote to the leading newspaper of the city as follows it" —" Walking in the dusk through the grounds of the university the other evening, my attention was arrested by a low murmuring sound near me, which was neither a hiss nor a whistle. On looking I saw a creature lying on the ground, larger than a cricket. Two antennaa-like. protuberances projected above the eyes. It had no wings; and the covering of its body was variegated, though certainly not like down. Mindful of the> danger to myself, I did not venture to turn. it on its back so as to count the legs. Oil the ground lay a small quantity of snowwhite substance, which had evidently exuded from the body. Can any of your readers identify the creature from this imperfect' description'/" The Government naturalist fell into the trap—baited, probably, especially for him. He wrote learnedly about vari-. ous insects and concluded that the one observed must bo one of two whose long Latin names lie gave. " The antennae-like protuberances are used for burrowing in tha ground: and these insects secrete a fluid \ which they have the power of ejecting to protect themselves in case of attack." The tutor wrote again to thank the naturalist for j his information, and to say he need not trouble him further, as he had fortunately observed the creature again more closely uo-'. , der exactly similar circumstances, and was I able now to identify it himself as the Vacca vulgaris, or common cow.

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