THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2288, 6 January 1898, Page 48

THE NATURALIST.

THE LAZY FLY. A Contrast to the Exemplary Busy Bee. That certain flies will steal a ride on the back or vzings of some larger inßecb, and that this labour-saving process may. be habitual, is indicated by the observations of the Rev. A. E. Eaton, who noticed in Algeria a small fly of the BorboriDse group riding on the backs of big coprophsgons beetles. They settle down on the prothorax and on the base of the wing cover?, sometimes half a dozen females on one beetle.

"The beetles occasionally throw themselves on their backs to try and get rid o£ them by rolling ; but the fiies elude all their efforts to dislodge them, dodgiag out of harm's way into the joinings of the thorax and out again, and darting from back to breast and back again in a way that drives the beetle nearly mad. In vain she scrapes over them with her legs ; in vain does she roll over or delve down among the roots of the herbage ; the flies are as active as monkeys, and there is no shaking them off." A somewhat similar case has been reported by Mrs Slosson, says the ladependent, who observed at Franconia a lacewing fly (Ohiysopa) which seemed to have a black raided spot upon each wing, "and others with but a single spot. She caught other chrysopas, and in the net with one of them was a minute Cecidomyia fly still clinging to the wing of a lacewing fly. It apparently is a tramp fly, stealing a ride on the larger insects, though the lacawinged flies ars not rapid flier?, nor do they fly to a graafc distance.

Artistic Nest.-«. — The long-tailed titmouse constructs the prettiest nest in Great Britain. It is oval in shape, rooted, with, the opening at the side, the entrance being generally closed by a feather when the bird, is away. When sitting it sticks its long tail straight up like a mast, and therefore its nest is hJerh and narrow. The wren roofs

her nest, building a dome of grass ; while the magpies make their neßt with a roof built roughly of twig?, but to save themselves trouble they often adopt an old crow's nest, addiug a roof to it. Among other roofnestiog birds may be mentioned the willow warbler, chiff-chaff, and wood wren.

An Odd Fish. — In the Pacific Ocean, araoEg the islands of Santa Barbara, and in the lakes of California a qaeer fish spends a lazy life floating on the surface for the most of the time, and basking in the sunshine with part of "-his body out of the water. Ifc is called the mola-mola by the natives, and the " mole " or " moon " fish by the whites. Utlike other fi-shes it has no tail in the proper sense of the word, only a kind of frisga acting as a rudder. Ifc is sometimes over 10ft across the Gas, and round as a bladder. Strange to say, it serves as a floating island for large numbers of sea birds, especially gulls ami cormorants, to rest upon and preen their'plumjigt}. When chased the indolent moonfish dives like a duck, to reappear further off. Nevertheless it would be easily caught were the flesh arood to eat, but it is so exceedingly tough that ifc is really only fit to dry in the sun to form a substitute for indiarubber balls.

Do Animals Sufj?ek from Illusions like Mankind? — All animals appear at times to suffer from illusions, birds and horses notably co. A swan on the Thames tfas recently observed fighting his own reflection a3 seen by him in the window of a partly sunken house boat, which acted a3 a looking glass. He had been waging battle some time when ha began to have some misgivings as to whether the enemy were real or not, for at intervals he deaisted from the attack and tapped the frame of the window all round with his bill. A bird has been known to make, a nest round a golf ball under the illusion that it was one of its eggs. Many quadrupeds, sach as the horss, brave to face dangers which they can understand, become a prey to a hundred terrors of imagination due to illusions or mistakes as to what they fancy they see. Animals are frequently mistaken in sounds, and are occasionally taken in by the mimicry of a parrot ; and a nervous dog, which had a special dread of thunder, has been known to go into a fit when it heard a sack of coals being emptied into the cellar, under the illusion that it was the dreaded thunder.

— No man is stingy when it comes to giving advice. — Social Agonies. — "How did you get on with Miss Biggp, to whom I presented you 2 " — Didn't get on at all. First time I opened my mouth I called her Miss Baggs." — " Well 1 ' — " She glared at me, and I said : 1 Oh, I bsg pardon, Miss Boggs.' " — " Yes ? "— " Then she walked off and left me." — " Do you not think," the student of social problems was asking, " that the lack of fortuitous advantages rather than inborn wickedness is responsible for most of these men being here?" The prison warder inclined bis head. "Beyond a dpubt," he answered earnestly. " There is hardly a thief in my charge who with wealth and position and culture might not have been a kleptomaniac."