NATURE NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17662, 24 December 1920, Page 1 (Supplement)

NATURE NOTES.

by j. DEuimoxß, r.L.s., r.z.s. " One morning in April, as I stood at my door,' 1 Miss A. Atkinson wrote from Great South Road, Otahuhu, on December 14. '"a small butterfly alighted on my hand. It was nearly two inches across the wings, and in colour was reddish and bronze and green, with a large gold spot on each wing, and three small white spots near each wing-tip. hen I moved aws-v it flew down to the step. I saw it there asleep an hour afterwards. It often alighted on me in the garden, and one day I placed my hand in front, of it. As it clung to n.y finger, I took it inside. It spread itself out on a white rug on a couch in the sunshine. After a long sleep, it flew about like a fantail. It took possession of my room, and found all the cosiest corners for itself. As the nights were cold, I lined a basket with cottonwool. It looked wonderingly into the basket, but stepped confidently in. I opened the basket in tho morning, and saw it hanging in the lid, folded'up so flat that it looked like a small leaf. About one o clock it came out of its own accord, but if there was not much sun even on the window curtain, it flew back into the basket. \\ hen I had been absent from the room for some time, and entered again, it flew to meet me, and alighted on me with evident pleasure, It followed me. and seemed to be interested in my doings, both inside and out in the garden. I took it on my hand and gave it a tiny drop of svrup everv day, as it would not take any if* left to itself. It had a keen sense of hearing, sight, and smell, but did not make a sound. It expressed itself very well by actions. For every attention I "gave it, it dipped its feelers and raised them again.

I often placed it in the garden asleep in the open basket-, when the weather seemed to be warmer outside. When it awoke I saw it fly over the housetop, but it within half an hour, except when a shower came on. On one occasion, when the weather became showery, it stayed away, and did not return for a fortnight. It did not eat on sunless days. When we had several wet days consecutively in June, it became weaker. I b.iw it on a Friday trying to make complete circles or the curtain. It almost fell off. and then tried each of its favourite places in turn, and finally flew into its basket and stayed on the basket floor. On the following Saturday when I looked at it, it tried to get on my hand. It then made a great effort to stand, opened out its beautiful wings and very slowly dipped its tiny feelers but never raised them again."

Two correspondents have written, supporting statements by Mrs. Paul, that eels may be tamed. Mr. T. E. Montgomery, writing from Devonport-, states that some years ago, some friends and he often went hapuka fishing at the Watchman, a small island at the extreme end of Cape Colville. The launch sometimes sheltered for the night in a bay opposite, known as Bronland's. In that Isolated place, some distance from the beach, there is a settler's house. In one of the pools of a creek that runs past the house there lived a large eel, named Kruger. When it vras whistled for and its name was called, it thrust its head on to the bank and allowed a lady to stroke it. After she had cracked the shell of a turkey's egg, it sucked the contents out of her hand. She, told the visitors. that when she was alone ii came completely out of the water to her. " Several years aeo, when returning from a picnic "at Hunua Falls," Mr. T. W. Somerfield writes from Auckland City, "we were invited to Miss Swears' farm at Manurewa, mentioned by your previous correspondent. A young lady obtained scraps of food, and, "walking to the pool in which the eels lived, rattled a, plate, The water immediately became alive with dozens of eels of all sizes. Walking out on a plank, she stirred the water with a bone, and eels, in their effort to takei the food, reared themselves out of the water. She then went several yards from the pool. To our surprise, quite a dozen large eels came out of the water and went up to her and allowed themselves to be handled while they fed off the plate. They then slipped back into the water." ■

A spray of mingi-mingi has been sent I by Mr. E. Boyd, Waiterimu, Waikato, who reports that he found a single plant on the hills near his place, and that it is the only one he has seen in the district. This closely-branched herb or shrub, a New Zealand member of the family of the heaths, seems to be a consistent spring bloomer, and its small pale yellowish green flowers, perhaps not more than onetenlh of an inch long, have disappeared, to give place to pretty round berries, about the size of a pea, which sprinkle the prickly foliage with globules of "white, pink, or rose. Several white berries nestle amongst sharp-pointed leaves In the spray Mr. Boyd has sent. The berries persist for a long time, and as the mingimingi is plentiful from North Cape to Stewart Island, from coastal cliffs to inland plains and to mountains 3000 ft. high, they should be a fairly common sight .in country districts at present. They might also embellish many fine gardens, as the mingi-mingi is easily cultivated, and succeeds in any ordinary garden soil.

It was originally discovered by Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander, naturalists oil Captain Cook's first voyage, when they roamed the shores of Mercury Bay in summer days 151 years ago. It is variable in habit, sometimes reaching a height of fifteen or sixteen feet-, but sometimes keeping fairly close to the ground. Its berries are eaten by ivckas, and, no doubt, by -wood pigeons and other native birds. When I •walked, through Leslie "valley, near Mount Arthur, Nelson, with Mr. H. F. Chaffey, about three years ago, I -watched severs] v.ekas stretching their -necks and picking the succulent berries from the lower branches. In botany, the mingi-mingi is Cyathodes acerosa. The first- -word means cup-like, and refers to the shape of the tiny flowers and the second means needle-shaped, and refers to the leaves.

An interesting historical publication, dealing -with the only species of frog found on the mainland of New Zealand, has been brought to light by Dr. J. A. Thomson, director of the Dominion Museum, Wellington. It is an article by Dr. A. S. Thomson, surgeon to the 58th Regiment, who was in Auckland in 1852, and it was published in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal. In that year the gold rush to Coromandel had begun. Several miners, who were washing the soil of a mountain stream, displaced large boulders of quartz rock, beneath which they found a lire frog. "The gold-dig-gers, who voluntarily submit to the evils and miseries of such a gambling trade, and can 1 arely be excited by anything unless a great nugget," the army surgeon wrote, "were so astonished at the sight of a frog that one of them desisted from the seductive occupation he was at, and took the frog and put it into a bottle of water. As the bottle was tightly corked, the animal soon died; but so anxious were the diggers to preserve it that they stuck the dead frog on the trunk of a kauri pine to drv, and when they saw me they gave me the animal." Three other frogs were caught in another stream. The site of the discovery is described as "a peninsula from Cape the mouth of the Thames," and Dr. Thomson states that " the rivulets in which the frogs were found run down the western side of the range into the harbour of Coromandel; the hills are thickly covered with tine timber, and the streams axe beautifully shaded from the heat of the sun." The frog was named Liopelma HochsteiterL The only other frog, native to New Zeai ia.nd._ as far as is known, is Liopelma I Bamiltoni, found on Stephen Island, in [ Cook Strait.