THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2399, 22 February 1900, Page 58

THE NATURALIST.

'ilic Spider-catching: Fly.

Mr W. JT. H. Roberts, of Oamaru, wiitcs io the Southland New^to conect :i mistake tliab appeared in th.it paper in a former issue, where it wars .^tdted that this fly eats the spiders it catches. The writer giveb a lengthy descriptor of the habits of this insect, which will be read with inieie;=t by those who m ike entomology a °tndv : —

I was much interested in Ihc short account of the " spider-cotcking ily '' which appeared in your paper a short time ago. As there was a- mistake in saying that the fiy eats the J-pider, T take the liberty of asking you to correct it. The fly referred to is the Ichneumon of the order Hymenoptera (meinbrrne-winged). They are a very numerous tribe, some of them very minute, some large, and vary much in colour. In the vicinity of Oamaru we see them icd, blue, and black, and of various sizes. In the perfect stale they feed only on the juice of flowers, but the legless lai-we require a diet of flesh, consequently the maternal parent deposits her eggs in the body of some insect ; the particular variety referred to by you selects the spider, preferring the large ones. Some of the smaller flies deposit their eggs in aphidfes-, and other ulight or caterpillars and are thus extremely useful to the farmer and gaidener. The Ichneumon first stings its quarry, which benumbs the victim, but does not kill it. The fly then drags its quarry to some place of security. In doing so it walk* backwards and with wonderful strength surmounts all obstacles. In the case of trap-door spiders it takes the spider to its nest, and, having laid one or Lwo eggs in its body, for which purpose the fly has a special ovipositer, puts the spider back in its own nest and fastens down the door. In the case of ordinary spiders and other insects, the Ichneumon, by means of its powerful incisors or nippers, bores a hole in wood in some sheltered position, as verandahs oi sheds, and having laid its egg in the body of its quany, places it in the cavity, which it closes with an imposition of moist arenaceous earth. When the egg is hatched the larva feeds on the " preserved "' spider or other insect, and as soon as it has devoured all the eatable portion it force? its way out of captivity, and assumes a volitant mode of life, flying from flower to flower, preferring the urnbrellii'cvous ones, cr hunting for victims wherein to deposit its eggs. From their boring operations they ore in some parts of India designated the carpenter fly. The Ichneumon fly here referred to is something oi a wasp shape, though thinner and longer both in body and legs-, the abdomen united to the thorax by a very slender pedicle. The whole form is long and thin, almost attenuated, but is very strong and muscular. It i& armed with a pair of forceps or nippers which give it a formidable appearance. It is numerous in India and Tasmania, as well as in New Zealand.

What a Bird Eats. — The appetite of a biid is commonly supposed to be very small. As a matter of fact, it is exceedingly large. In a crop of a kestrel, for instance, have been found 79 caterpillars, 24 beetles, a field-mouse, and, strangest of oil, a leech. This, however, was merely a slight repast, and fails to give a fair idea of the bird's gastronomical abilities, for kes-

trels feed principally upon mice, of which each is responsible for about 1000 per month. A tome barn owl, in the j>ossession of the late Lord Lifford, once swallowed sevea mice one after the other. Three hoar.-; later, however, the owl was hungry again, and ate four more mice. "But," says «i writer, "the recoid for a large appetite is held by a robin." One of these birds devoured 14ft of earthworms per diem without increasing in weight. Now 14ft of earthworms, taking lai'ge and small together, weigh tibont 2£oz, while a robin weighs only loz.

Zoological Gardens. — The mofci extensive zoological gardens in the world are In South Africa, where the South African Republic's zoological collection ?nd garden's are the finest and largest in tho world. The gardens, which, are in the Lebombo region, are guarded by a whole tribe of Kaffirs, and contain every species of wild iinnml to bo found in South Africa. The zoological collection ah Broux Park, New York, is a remarkably fine one. The guldens cover 300 acres, and one of its most important features is the natural environments provided for the animals. The animals oi South America, for instance, are given the free range o' large melosures eon taining miniature mountains, rivers, and forests ; while the tigers and lions live in sandy stretches, jungles, and so on. The "Yellowstone National Park of the United states, with its area of 3575 square miles, forms a zoological preserve for almost every species of animal found in that part of tht vforld. The London Zoological Gardens contain ne<nly 3000 animals ; those at Berlin about 1500 ; and the Jardin cles Plants, iAtjL'K ybout 1000 animal-'.

How .Rare Buds are Treated in England. — " A few very rare birds have recently ]> j en seen in the eastern jmi't of KnglanJ. ' What follows? Every one was ,vhot. If y farmer found among his stock or crop something out of tho common he would endeavour to preserve the specimen as long as possible, and- propagate the species. But " a pair of dtiks, two splendid specimens oi the kiugiiblier, and the lioney buzzard.

which was supposed to be extinct in England." have recently nil fallen a prey to che collector. We have not so man}- feathered friends that we can afford to shoot those who from stress of weather or .some other cause ,-eck a haven on parts of our island, where they are, as a nile, stranger.-. It is a pity that spoitsmen do not li°-itiite before "bagging"' every strange visitant, for we might then, in a short space of time, have considerable and valuable additions to our bird population. We know that some of our purely* English bird^, are anything but friends to the farmer^ ; but as a rule the foreigners are the reverse. — Home paper.

Victim and Pursuer. — The following story is being related in hunting circle^. A cunning old fox had been well hunted, and eventually got away. (Some than afterward* a passer-by saw a dead-be \t fox slowly making liis way across a ploughed fieM, followed by three hounds. The quartet were thoroughly licked, and tlic fox, being unable to go further, lay down, when the clogs by i supreme effort struggled up to the fox and lay clown also. What would havo happened when the aninnl" recovered we are unable to say, but the story ends with a Lu-mer coming up and bagging the iox. l\ow this story lw.> been everywhere ridiculed as most improbable, and it has e^ en been suggested that foxhr.nlers have entered into competition with angler.-, and made a desperate effort to deiwive them of their world-wide reputation. We, however, bsiieve that such an incident might have occurred, as we know of something verisimilar having t-tken place in Wa!e'«. An old sheepdog, who had been a keen Luncar of hares in his da}', in process of tiinc hecame st'ff, and could not follow the hares which frequented his hill with Hie (.eltrity of his youchiul clays. He. however, was er- keen as ever, but the hares, in consequence ot' his infirmities, were able to :-coff at all bis efforts io cftcl 1 them, and, m fact, would amble a little distance ar.cl wait for the oid clog to com? up, and then lesume their .antalising antics. Thi? old sheepdog has been seen to trot after a "i«re, and when blown has sat up on his haunches, the hare doing the same, and che lwo animals would gazo at each other at only a few yards distance, until the dog recovered his wind. The old dog is still alive and still amu&es himself, and doubtless the hares of the hill also, with these mmv games of " catch if you can."