NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13583, 12 September 1908, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

There are no wild camels. A lion, on an average, weighs 5001bl'". : No bird of prey has the gift of song. ' India has 15,000 species of native -plants. g. Yeast is really a form of vegetable fungus.

There are mountains on the moon 36,000ff high.

Spiders usually live for two or three years.

The doll is the oldest form of plaything known.

Only three species of reptiles exist in Ireland.

In Samoa the smart ladies wear tortoiseshell hats.

There are 44,000 total abstainers in the British army. The pinefinch is not known to have bred in Britain. A good locomotive diould, with ordinary care, last 12 years.

The life of a North Atlantic iceberg is sometimes 200 years.

A thunderstorm usually travels at a pace of 28 miles an hour.

_ At an altitude of 2000 ft, the Alpine air is free from microbes. A message crosses the Atlantic by cable m about three seconds.

The ostrich has been, known to travel as fast as a mile a minute. A John Dory is really the jaune dore, the "golden yellow" fish. # The oldest of Oxfords colleges, University, was founded in 1249. A grasshopper can spring more than 200 times its own length. , '~:.. Leather travelling-trunks were used in Rome in the time of Cesar. Nearly 44 per cent, of the doctors of Austria die of heart disease. ,

Some of the large crabs found in India measure two feet in length.

The banana and the potato are almost alike in chemical composition. i An insect's eve is really composed of from 50 to -20,000 email eyes. • '. , *■ There are more than 5000 motor-boats already on the canals of Holland. ■;

In proportion to their size, spiders ar« seven times stronger than lions. .. ,:

The growth of the beard is strongest in most men on tha right-hand side. Soap, in one form or another, has been known to the world for 3000 years. „.„ £

_ Wasps get intoxicated on the fermented juices of the fruit rotting on trees. '„ ,

One egg in the nest of a. sparrow if always much paler than the others^ '- A

The average size of a man's hand is from lin to l|in longer than that of a woman.

The most ferocious of all animals is, according to naturalists, the black panther. Humming-birds hatch out more quickly than any others; they require only 10 days, In a season a sunflower will produce 12,000 seeds, while a poppy bears; 32,000.

Yellowstone the famous American national park, is about 3300 square miles in area. ;: ■ / '•:, : v.-'- ..<<

Scientists have not yet been able to discover whether whales and dolphin* ever. .sleep.. . . ■ , A man's voice, through a speaking-trum-pet 20ft long, has been heard a distance of, > 20 miles; i , 'f One remarkable peculiarity about camels . is that they are the only animate that cannot swim. . , ■,'"""-».' "Mr. J. M. Barrie is not a prolific writerj" —' 600 words, a day being a good average output for him. . > •; As a -rule, lions and tigers' are too weak in lung power ( to run - more than half a mile. - : Plants grow faster between four a.m. > ■■'■■ and six a.m. than at any other time during the day. •" . In Japan the berries of a tree, commonly called the "soap tree," are used as a substi- r A tute for soap. . Paris has a shop 'devoted eolelv to 'th£ ■-- sale of the hair of celebrities, every locK being guaranteed. . * ' In confinement, serpents have been' known to refuse all food for a period ol ' > twenty-one months. Horses, giraffes, and ostriches have, in; proportion to their tsize, larger eyes thanf , any other creatures. . ' The English names for the 'days of tho week are derived from the Saxon, and th« French from the Latin.

* il 80 ' 1 1 \ 80 £ ood in Cuba that cabbages of 201b each are common, and corn produces three crops a year. ■''-..--•"; . Fish worth £57.000,000 is landed even' year in England and Wales, finding employment for 40,000 men and boys.

Owing to tie growing demand for pur* essence of roses, many French vineyards' are likely to be turned into rose gardens. Spring flowers are white, as a rule, and highly fragrant; those of autumn and wintor are darker, and possess less perfume.

Plants with white blossoms have a large*; proportion of fragrawt species than any other; next comes red, then yellow and blue. ■ ■'< ,

The blue fores of the Pribyloff, Islands dor not choose a fresh mate each season, but cling to the one mate until death (separates them. - ••» Such marvellous powers of flight has tire aibatross that some have been known to follow a ship for nine weeks without onoei alighting. Most of the ."tone marble n.ved by boys are made in Germany, where the refuse of the marble and agate quarries is utilised for t»»is purpose. • t ' •' Putting up telegraph-wires on poles cost* about £26 a mile, while to run them un- '-:'] derground wouid mean spending 10 time* / that amount.

The " witch tree" of , Nevada possessor luminous properties. It can be seen at a distance of a mile, and small print can bt read beneath it. ' : ' r^'

However hot and parched the vegetation: ■ i in Madagascar is, the " traveller's tree" always yields a supply of pure fresh water to * thirsty travellers. -i .. :

On the London streets there are 5329. hansoms, 3768 four-wheeled cabs, 2281: horsed omnibuses, 1508 motor-cabs, and x\j-*b motor-omnibuses. One of the largest gorillas of modem tunes was recently killed in Sumatra. vi It measured 7tt Bin in height, and weighed seveH hundred and forty-two pounds. ■ ■ >■

In Montclair, New Jersey, ; U.S.A., owners of dogs will in future be fined 4s for each bark uttered by their pete between the hours of nine p m. and six a.m.

Pure water will not rust iron. It is th« presence of carbonic acid and other imwhich cause the surface of the iroa ; to oxidise when exposed to moisture. Americana spend £5,000,000 a year on cut flowers. In England, £6,000,000 is spent \ on the same commodities, France alone sending flowers worth £1,000,000 to England. .■.-•■:'•■ ,• -..•; . :'".>o By breeding and feeding fowls in a special way a German chemist he*, so increased tho natural quantity of iron in egg* that they are medicinal and useful for the cure --Jof various diseases. In German towns, householders must .' se*vwate their house refuse into three lands —ashes and sweepings, cooking refuse, and rags and paper. This is because the town authorities use the various kind* of waste. > A Berlin landlord ' thus advertises a eligible flat: "Nine large rooms, bath, hot ar.i.cold water, gas' and electric light, electrie lifts, vacuum-cleaner, fur-coat dosposi. i]& tory, safe deposit vaults and in every flail - g&ai are installed a arpet-cleaning machine ■ *?* \m large clock regulated by electricity. from JM tk« M Berlin Observatory, and * chine." } ■•'.:.'•. ''.:'''■- ''/■:■>■■■;}'■< r;''-'v; f-X'i?k fllsjitifllp