THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 1945, 4 June 1891, Page 41

THE NATURALIST.

The Mysteries of Swan Culture.

The abundance of swans on the Thames id due to the fact that they are carefullytended. They are not to be reckoned among feres naturee; indeed, though other species are cbanca visitors, the " mute swan " is never, strictly speaking, a wild bird in England ; but they are private property, the Dyers' and Vintners' Companies being among the principal owners. Keepers are appointed to look after them, especially in the building season, when they are in some danger from predaceous animals, and more from predaceous persons. Still, they can take pretty good care of themselves, for the cock bird is I very fierce in defence of his nest or young, and can deal formidable blows with his pinions, although, if he has succeeded in breaking a limb, as popular report assert", the sufferer's bones must have been rather weak. The nests are generally built on the -" aits," where the ozier beds afford a quiet retreat and a good foundation for the capacious structure. This is construdted roughly of twigs and reeds, and raised some little height ahove the ground. In former days, wheo fay cc que voudras was a motto adopted by city companies more easily than in the present, they used, as sole conservators of the River Thames, to make an excursion annually in their barges, with all due ceremony and festivity, in order to count and mark their swans. This process was called " swan tipping," corrupted generally iato " swan hopping." The swans were caughtTand examined, sometimes not without a good deal of tiouble, for a strong old cock bird did not submit himself very willingly to the physical suasion of the " swan crook." Cygnets were marked on the bill with the special symbol of the company to which the parent birds belonged. The Vintners' Company mark was two nick?, whence, by a slight corruption, came the curious inn sign of the "swan with two necks." — From " The Rivers of Great Britain."

The Spider's Web,— The body of every spider contains four little masses pierced with a multitude of holes, imperceptible to the naked eye, each hole permitting of the passage of a single thread ; all the threads, to the number of 1000 to each mass, join together when they come out and make the single thread with which the spider spins its web, so that what we call the spider's thread consists of more than 4000 threads united. — Scientific American.

Alpine Butterflies.— Butterflies are very common on the Alps, and some species are to be seen fluttering about pe<*ks over 12,000 ft high. Many Alpine plants are fertilised by their means. These plants, though their flowers sometimes melt their way through the snow, often require, in cultivation, to be guarded from frost and direct sunlight, being accustomed to the protection of snow in their native haunts.

How the World <■ Appears to the Loweb Animals. — In addition to the organs of hearing, touch, and smel', Sir John Lubbock has found upon the antennas of insects certain organs that seem to be connected with senses that we know nothing about. Experiments made upon certain freshrwater crustaceans show that they are sensible to sounds corresponding to more than 40,000 vibrations per second (sounds that we cannot hear), nnd to ultrar violet rays that we cannot perceive appear to us with definite colouis, and it should be the same with these animals; so it is probable that they see colours unknown to us, and which are as different from those that we are familiar with as red is different from yellow or green from violet. It would result from this that natural light, which seems white to us, would appear coloured to them, and that the aspect of Nature would be entirely different to them from what it is to us. It is possible, therefore, that to certain animals Nature is full of sounds, colours, and sensations that we have no idea of,