OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS COLUMN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16127, 16 July 1914, Page 2

OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS COLUMN

FOR SENIORS AND JUNIORS. (Conducted by Maqi3TKß, to whom all communications must be addressed.) [Mugister will be glad to rcoelvo Nature Notts, murktru pupt:ra couiiiiuing tauoalioutil article**, diugrama, (leUxils ol txpGniuoiiU, etc., ol sdiolaHtic liiltrest to teachers uud pupils. Conespondeats must use omlk u.vji snuis ol tho paper, aud whether lining a pen naititi or nut, must eciiu both NAMJS and ADJJHKbS.] RATS I MAORI, PAKEHA, AND NORWEGIAN. " Driver" (Hastings, Jtiawko'd Bay) lust week sond nio t'tie following letter and the Mpeounen reforred to: — " Dear Sir, —Under separate cover I urn forwandmg a variety of rat that I have never seen bolore, and would be glad if you couui identity eaiiie. Tho animal wau seen ill company with another in an Alrican boxttiorn about 611 from the ground, whoro it iiad a nest made out of coarso grass and twiga of tree luoorne. The.re was also a rat holo in the ground' at the foot of tho hedge, with a nest of the same materials in it, into which the second rat ran when disturbed. Please reply through your column in the Witness. Thanking you in anticipation."

I sent the rat, with an advance note, to Dr Benlxam to give him an opportunity to open tho package in the open, for, ugh! Phow! If only correspondents could be present sometimes when packets are oponed 1 Tho caption was not necessary in this case, for tho parcel was not delayed in transit, and Dr Bcnham has tho rat now in spirit. It is tho black one probably introduced into Now Zealand by Caiptain Cook, and known to be arboreal in its habits, for it oame originally from India, where it is often, found in trees living on fruits and other vegetable articles.

Briefly, there are three rafe to be noticed in connection with the zoology of New Zealand —the Mas xnaoriitm, or Kiore, the rat which tradition says tho Maoris brought in a box in one of their canoes to breed iae a table delicacy; the Mus rattus, or blaek rat, which was introduced—not intentionally, of course—by Captain Cook, or subsequent navigators; and the Mue decumanus, the Norwegian rat —improperly so oaillcd, the Wanderer would be <a more suitable name — which has almost exterminated the bla/crk rat. The epeoimen sent, as I have said, ia tho M. rattus, or black rat, a good specimen, too. for it had a beautiful bluish-black fui. I might add that Ptofcasor Benham, at a meeting of the Ota-go Institute, described it, and had on exhibition the Maori rat— much the same in size, but fur not so dark— and several specimens, of the Norwegian rat, tho one usually seen in houses, grain stores, etc.

The trouble the professor went to to givo us his little dissertation on rats aroused my interest, eo I looked up several boolos. including five or six volumes of tho "Tranaactions of tho New Zealand Institute," and made some notes, thinking they would interest "Quill Driver" and others.

THE BLACK RAT. This is much smaller than the übiquitous rat, and from India has penetrated into almost all parts of fcbe world, and has nearly if not entirely, exterminated the indigenous rat. It is supposed to havo reached Europe in the thirteenth century. Of late years ajiothcr, and even darker, species, the Black Sea black rat (M. rattus ater)/ baa mad© its appearance. Through the wheat ahipe, I wonder? Botli are "of predacious habits, have an omnivorous diet, and great fecundity," bringing forth young four or five times a year, commencing to bear when half-grown—about six months' old—and have from four to 10 naked, blind young ones at a birth. The period of gestation is about 20 days. THE BROWN RAT. " The brown—or, as it is inappropriately called, tho Norway—rat (Mus decumanus) offers one of thi most remarkable instances of a successful usurpation to be found in the animal kingdom, this creature having ousted the black rat from most parts of England and a large area on the Continent. So far as can be ascertained, its original home appears to have been Western China, whence it gradually travelled westwards to Continental Europe, finally reaching the shores of the British Islands by the involuntary aid of ships. Its westerly migration was, howovcr, by no means limited to Europe, as it has been carried by vessels across the Atlantic, and is now as abundant in many parts of North America as it is in tho Old World. The migration of the rat into Russia is known to have taken place about 1727, in which year large troops of these animals crossed the Volga from Central Asia, and made their way westwards. In Paris it appeared about the middle of the eighteenth century, a,nd it is generally supposed to have first reached England in 1730. " The prolific nature of the brown rat is little short of marvellous, and thoroughly accounts for its enormous number in favourable situations. Several litters are produced annually, each of which generally contains from eight to 10, and sometimes as many as 12 or 14, young; and a female rat will breed when only half-grown, although tho number of its progeny is then but three or four at a birth. . . . Some years ago the number of rats in the slaughter-houses around Paris was so great that as many as 2650 were killed in a single night, and over 16,000 in a month.

" Rats, impelled by scarcity of provisions, at times make migrations in large bodies. . . . Some years ago the rats that frequented the London Zoological Gardens were in the habit of regularly swimming to and from across the Regent's Canal. When brought to hay, the ferocity with which a rat will defend itself against a human or canine foe is known to most persons. When pressed by hunger, rats will, liowever, occasionally attack human beings without provocation ; and it is on record that an unfortunate man, on entering a coalpit which had been closed for some time, was actually killed and devoured by a starving host of rats."

It is this rat that spreads plague, not of itself, but through the fleas which infest it. Rats: Numerous, Cunning, and ITearless. —This extract is taken from a paper by A. Roischek, F.L.S.: —" But it is in Chalky Sound, where I am at present, that they have played on mo the most devilish tricks, and are more numerous than in any other place I have been. I fed them on poisoned plaster of Paris and oatmeal, trapped, and shot them; but as fast as I cot rid of one lot another came. They made so much noise in the hut at night that 1 could scarcely sleep. They ran over us in bed. knocked articles down from the shelves.

gnawed the provision cases. . . . They dug up and carried away potatoes which were planted in the garden. The bird skins I had in a drying hut, hung on thin wires and well poisoned, but the rats climbed the rafters, jumped down on them, and spoilt several. I had ske-letons hanging on a thin wire, 12ft high and 20ft long; for three weeks they tried in vain to walk the tightrope, and at last succeeded; then they wound their tails round the flax like an opossum, and slid down nearly 2ft, when they gnawed the bones and spoilt the skeletons. . . . The first night wo camped on the mountains the grass country was swarming with rats. They gnawed at our boots, though we had them with us in the tent; while we ate our supper by the fire they came behind us and nibbled at the bones we placed for the dogs; but they amused mo most by disturbing Mr Rimmer, my companion. He sleeps so soundly thai nothing wakes him; even when I fired the gun at the rats in the hut he did not hear it. But on the mountains they took a fancy for his hair, and he was awakened three times in one night by their biting .t away.'' _ THE MAORI RAT. As I ihavc said, the Maor? rat—Kiore, the Maoris call" it, but it is known to ecinnco as Mus maorium—was brought over to New Zealand with the Maori dog. The dog is extinct, but is the rat? Some say it is, others say not. Readers of "Maori Life in Ao-tea " will there find several reference to it.. There we are told that it was fond of miro berries, the bark of the patetc, and nibbled the kumaras, and relished the honey of the puriri, which often 6tuD : fied and poisoned them; and that the patakas (food houses) " were either raised on squared or carved posts, or the walls at the ground were lined with slabs cut from tree-ferns, which were proof against the teeth of that animal." The .Snaring of the Kiore.—" Kioro wore trapped in the forests, where they made their nests in the drooping dry leaves of tho ponga and other 6urih sheltered places. Tlicy were caught in pits, wider at the bottom than at the top, roasted berries of hinau being scattered on the floor. Finding easy access to this mucih-liked food by means 'of a log leaning from tho side of tho floor, the kiore would soon become accustomed to the pit; and when the log was removed, down they leaped, enjoying tho dainties. But., alas! tho hunters must help them out again. Long narrow tracks of great length, too, would bo cleared in the forests, along which were set baited traps; or they would bo set along any path constantly used by the kiore, when no bait was necessary. . . . Karakia and ceremonies ensured the cfficacy of tho and futher to ensure succcss, when hunters went out they never mentioned the kiore by name, but called him ' tho fellow,' lest he should be warned away. Nor was he altogether ignorant of tho purpose for

which tlio traps wero there, us is tif'i'n by this joyous song o£ tho forc.-t. kiore its tlicy sut. in the treo. First Kion': '10 kioro c! let. lis two descend.' Second Kiore : ' Why should we two descend T First Kiore: 'To gather up the tempting 1 baits for us to eat.' Second Kiore: 'What arc (lie tempting baits:' First Kiore: Sweet ripe fruits of unround kahikutea.' Third Kiore: ' Hi! fudge! I am but eoine from below, 0 my friends! and down there is the fear and trembling, O my friends! — tho spring of the .snare resounds with a click—my neck is caught and held fast— I can only squeak "Toreto! Torete!" —Bo assured I will not go below, seeking those tempting baits. Oil, no! ;ila/-!'" Preparation for Food.— Speaking of domestk: duties, etc., of the women, C. Johannes Andersen says: "From the forest snares, too, set. in prepared tracks, large numbers of kiore had been taken: their bones broken and extracted through the natural vent, leaving the skin whole, lay ready for cooking as delicacies for the expected rangatira."

It might be added here, that while tho Maoris ate the kiore as a delicious dish, thinking it cleanly and wholesome, they abhorred the black and brown rate, because these eat excrement and putrescent fleeh.

Arboreal Habits.—ln 1897 Mr Taylor White read a paper on the arboreal habits of the rat —the account will stand for either the Maori or the pakeha rat—before the Hawke'e Bay Philosophical Society. The following is an extract: —

" During tho winter of 1895, when cutting down a small tree so that my Angora goats might eat tlio leaves, I saw amongst its branches a dark something. . . . When looking more closely, it proved to bo a nest of a most peculiar architecture, and a great novelty. . . . Upon this platform a rat had evidently raised a superstructure whicfli was to serve ihim as a permanent home, or perhaps Mrs Rat required a nursery for her children. . . . The small tree which held the nest, some 10ft from the ground, was growing in close proximty to a large rata tree. . . . Into the top of this large tree extended the rope-like vines of a s%:ond species of rata. ... By the aid of this natural ladder my rat had evidently climbed up to the nest, and by this road carried all the material for the building of the nest." Mr White subsequently found another neet, this time in a young ribbonwood tree." It will be noticed that both the pakeha (black) and Maori (kiore) rats are referred to as having arboreal habits. A RAT PLAGUE. I' think I'll finish up with a reference to the rat mvjvsion which troubled Marlborough and Nelson in the spring of 18t4. For tins account I am indebted to a paper by John Moeson, 8.A., read before the Nelson Philosophical Society: — 'lhe magnitude of tho plague is the subject of ordinary conversation. Nelson and Marlborough ... is enduring a perfect invasion. Living rats are sneaking into every corner, scuttling across every path; their dead bodies, in various stages of decay, and in many cases more or less mutilated, strew the roads, fields, and gardens, pollute the wells and streams in ad directions. Whatever kills the animals does not succeed in materially diminishing their numbers. Fresh battalions take the place of those slaughtered. Young and succulent crops, as of wheat and peas, are so ravaged as to bo unfit for, and not worth the trouble of, cutting and harvesting. A young farmer the other day killed with a stout stick 200 of the little rodents in a couple of hours in his wheat field." In his paper tho writer asks three questions: (1) Whence do the animals come? (2) To what species do they belong. (3) What kills them off in such numbers'/ In searching for an answer to tho first question, he arrived at the conclusion that the habitat of tho invading force "was somewhere in the high, rough, and secluded country on the western side of the Kaikoura Range," whence they descended upon Blenheim and Picton, and then " made their way in a westerly direction through the Wangamoa to Wakapuaka, Nelson, and the Waimeas. Thousands of them made a mistake while passuig on the eastern coast of Blind Bay towards Nelson. They took to the boulder bank, and travelled along that curious prong of land to its very extremity. To continue their course onwards they then boldly swam across the passage leading into the harbour [the boulder bank was not then cut through to give access to the harbour] rather than lose time by retracing their steps. From the Waimeas tho invading force journeyed onwardß round Tasman Bay to the Motueka; took possession in countless myriads of the valley of the Motueka, sprtad round Golden Bay, passed Collingwood, and planted their outposts even as far as Oape Farewell. They havo now completely overrun the southern shores of Cook Strait, and have even appeared on D'Urville Island, which apparently they could only have reached by swimming the French Pass."

What caused the invasion ? No one knows; but Mr Meeson mentions what may be a curious fact. "'1 have examined many of these animals," he wrote, and have not found a single female. One of my neighbours has examined 200 of them, and a Maori at a pa beyond Wakapuaka 100, with the same negative result. I have not heard of many females as yet being taken amongst tho whole host. ... If it really be tho case that nearly all these visitors ot ours are males, wo may safely prognosticate that . . . the infliction under which we suffer will not bo of long continuance. Arguing by analogy, wo should say that the ypung males driven, or volunteering, on a dangerous foray, will not stay long from their old quarters if they be unaccompanied by tho other sex. But is it possible that the weaker males have been driven out by the stronger through jealousy—or that, through ' res angusta domi,' like drones from a hive of bees, they havo decamped' to escape the massacre with which they were threatened by a combination of the strongest males and the whole body of females?" The rats concerned, it is generally conceded, were the imported black rat, which here, as elsewhere, has pretty well disappeared before tho newer invasion, the Norwegian rat, just as the black rat drove out indigenous rats. By the bye, I think it is generally concluded that there were no rats here before the Maoris came, and that the Maori rat is identical with the rat of tho Pacific Islands. THE OTAGO INSTITUTE. I wish many more of our teachers were attending these meetings of this institute, for the proceedings are almost always interesting to those engaged in teaching. On July 7 Dr Malcolm showed us how a muscle vvcrks. J-ist before the meeting was held he had killed a frog—l inferred by removing its brein —and had removed one of its muscles and fixed it in his recording apparatus. But why the muscle of a frog? The lower tho natural temperature of an animal tho longer after death are the nerves and muscles answerable to an impulse, and it may be half an hour, without any irritant,

before the heart stops beating. By irritating the muscle with an electrical current, he showed) the extent of tho expansion and contraction of the muscle and how musclefatiguo could be registered. Wo were also told, in an easy, chatty way, as the experim< nts were proceeding, that muscles are the most economical and efficient machines known, for one unit of energy is obtained by using two of heat, a result no engine can approach. Incidentally we were told that many persons of sedentary occupations use only 10 per cent, of their lung capacity, and so become a prey to various bac.lii. Moral: Take plenty of breathing exercises; keep your living rooms well ventilated; and get out into the open. Mr Tannock's lecturetto was partly reported, and I am using some of his figure® in our next batch of meteorological notes. He waa followed by Mr G. Howes, who exhibited, on behalf of the maker, some exquisite oasts in aluminium. Stings of nettles, hairs on plants, etc., were reproduced in exact detail. One cast was a spider in silver; but as silver tarnishes, the polishing caused the loss of some of the minute detail. Mr O. E. Davies promised at some future meeting to show tho prooess in all its stages. With these Mr Howes showed some larvae of his own mounting. This is most delicate work, requiring fineness of touoh, taste, and great patience. , Then camo Dr Bcnham with a lecturetto on " Rats," prompted by the specimen sent mo last week from Hastings. This I am referring to elsewhere. Now, isn't it a n.ty that such interesting evenings should) be enjoyed by so few when so many could participate? Teachers, above all, should get out of themselves and mix up with men and women of intellectual attainments worked upon lines out of tho primary school ruts. Retailing to children what was said at the meetraig would benefit tea/eher and taught, and be all the more interesting to the latter because, thougti informative and educative, it would not be necessary to deposit it in inspectors' laps. CORRESPONDENCE NOTES. Meteorological notes next week all being well. I hope Mr Winchester is not forsaking us, for his records, coming as tihey do from the West Coast, are valuable. Well done, Dorothy! You and your chums must have put your minds to it propony. lam publishing your letters, But not your diagrams, though they are so well done. You see you liavon't given the dimensions of the oblong and the exact details of tho folding. Eacui folci.ng must havo definite angles or distances. The diagram I saw had just two or three simple folds on definite prinoiple6, and the thing was done. Technical School, Balclutha, July 6. Dear " Magister,"—After reading your request to make a five-pointed star with one clip of tho scissors, I became very anxious to "try to make one. After a few attempts I succeeded, and I have made diagrams illustrating the method. Diagram 3 is perihaps a little hard to follow at first attempt, so I shall enclose a piece of paper to show the step more clearly. Our attempts afforded a great deal of amusement, some of the stars had a remarkable number of points. No one would give up until he or she had made a pcrfect five-pointed star. I apologise [none needed] for No. 3 being so smudgy, but that was caused through completely changing the diagram.—Yours sincerely, Dobothy Appleby. "W. S. D.'s" (Hillgrove) letter will appear next weok with tho meteorological notes. I am giving lip a good deal of space to day to rats ! " Quill-driver's " letter and specimen from Hastings aroused my curiosity. Perhaps some will think I have become " ratty " on rats. SCIENCE CONGRESS—NEW ZEALAND, 1914. For tho first time in its history the British Association some scientists from America —British, of course, covers the Empire—jg holding its congress in Australia, and some of the members are coming to New Zealand, and will deliver lectures in the metropolitan centres. A circular has been issued asking for contributions from New Zealand. Good men have gone out from among us—Rutherford and Mellor, for instance—and many more let us hope will be an honour to the dominion. Perhaps some readers will like to contribute papers, and so date their admission into scientific circles on a most auspicious occasion. Hero is tho circular: — "Dear Sir, —As you are no doubt aware some members of the British Association and visiting American scientists will meet in New Zealand in September next—in Wellington on the 3rd, 4th, and sth, and in Christchurch on the 7th, Bth, and 9th. Papers will bo read by the visitors, but it is hoped that there will be an opportunity for the reading of brief original papers by New Zealand writers. These should preferably be of a goneral nature, and such as may give rise to interesting and profitable discussion. Should you wish to submit a paper, will you please forward the title to the assistant secretary of the appropriate section not later than July 14, and forward the paper itself as early as possible, in any case not later than August 17. Each paper should be accompanicd by an abstract suitable for including in the minutes of the proceedings, and for publication in (lie press. The acceptance of any paper will, as is usual in such cases, depend upon the decision of tho referees as to whether it is suitable for presentation at tho meeting of the section. As t.ho meetings of the congress are brief, no guarantee can be given that any paper will bo read, the time available for the reading of New Zealand papers being dependent upon the number of papers read by the visitors. The following are tho sections of tho congress, and the names and addresses of the assistant, secretaries: —Section 1: Mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, and engineering—Mr C. K. Adams, Hector Observatory, Kelbume, Wellington. Section 2: Zoology, botany, physiology, agriculture (in its biological aspect)—Dr Hilgendorf, Lincoln Collects, Canterbury. Section 3: Geography (physical), geology, anthropology— Mr P. 0. Morgan, Director Geological Survey. Wellington. Section 4: Education economics, agriculture (economic), engineering (economic), geography (economic) —Mr \V. E. Spencer. Education Department, Wellington.—G. HofiBEX. Chairman, British Assocbiaaz. Reception Committee.