THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2523, 23 July 1902, Page 68

THE NATURALIST.

Murder and Revenue in the Animal World.

A full-giown labbit weighs almost as muny pounds as a stoat does ounces. Yet a stoat kills, on an average, two rabbits a week all the year round ; and the rabbit — though an old buck has been known to successfully fight a dog — never seems to dream of resisting its tiny enemy, but flies in mad, blind panic, until, paralysed with fright, it yields up its life to the slow but sure pm suer.

Courage among animals seems to bear no relation to size, for the smallest creatures are often the bravest. A most startling instance of this fact was noticed early last year in a menagerie which was in winter quarters in the North of London. In two cage*, side by side, were a Binme-se leopard — a cieature weighing some 801b — and a jungle cat known as the fishing-cat. The latter was about the size of a large leiriei. One morning early a terrific din was heard. A keeper rushed in, to find that the fishing cat had worked its way through into its big neighbour's cage, and killed it. The difference in size between the two creatures ■uas as three to one.

No relation id the fishing-cat, although its name is simil.u. i* <he Canadian n>h"r, a creature which, is much piized for i' s magnificent fur. This animal is the largest of the weasel family, lives on ii^h. and weighs about 161b. A trapper named Norman was engaged during the winter of 1900 in catching the«e animals to the north of the (ireat Slave Lake. One day he was missing, and his companions at last oiganised .a seaich. They found lum. with his tin oat torn, stiff and dead, and clutched in hi.s dead hands was a fisher, also dead. The creature had caught him as he took it from the trap.

Seeing that a crocodile lay* upwards of 20 eggs it seems -wonderful that in,.iegioiis like the Upper Nile these big and savage reptiles do not increase to .such an" extent as to become masters of the whole country i'lound the river. Fortunately, a soit of swamp rat ha.s found that crocodile eggsare good to eat, so digs them up from the mound in -v hi< h the paient has buried them to hatch, and devours them by the df /en.

The Ta.smnnii'ii devil is les-.s than 2ft long. Hut it makes up in feiocity what it lacks in length. Theie is not a more ferocious thing alive than this shaggy little monster, with its deep set. malignant eyes. It feeds on sheep since European settlers introduced them, and when it get* .nnong a flock slaughters light and left from mere joy in killing. A single one of these beast*-, weighing no more than 201b. has be*n known to kill half a ton of mutton in a night, and then to tackle the shepherd who came to the re-cue, mauling him hornblv before it was ,tt last killed.

But the difference in fize between tiie Tasmanian devil and its prey is small compared with that between thf common wolfspider and its duly food. The wolf-spider may be -een any sunny day in summer, sitting on a, wooden fence or any place wheie flies settle. It is a tiny insect, with a body smaller than a small pea. ,:nd with long and hairy legs. It ha.s eight eyes, <md -\\ lth them keeps good watch as it creeps stealthily along. A big bluebottle plump* down six inches fiom where the wolf-spider is hiding behind a tiny projection in the bark. One spiing. and two sm ill but poweiful jaws aie buried in the buzzing, struggling inject, which soon yields up its life beneath the resistless strength of its attackc-r. A single wood-ant has been seen to attack and kill a caterpillar which, actually Avejghad as much, ag. 2? of its gjajaaefifcs.

The driver-ants of Central Africa at tim€j; march through the forest in solid columns hundreds of yards wide. They stop at nothing. Whatever is in their way is covered with savage insects, whose powerful jaws bite like fire. A buffalo has been found devoured and skeletonised by these resistless insect*.

In the water also it is often the small that prey upon the great. The hapfish, which looks like a lamprey, settles on fisli hundreds of times larger than itself, fixes its great mouth upon thern^ and sucks their life-blood.

A Four-footed Bird. — Most birds have two feet. There are. however, excejjtions to all rules, and so it is also in the case of birds. TLe exception in this instance is furnished by a remarkable little creature which is found in South America, and. which is known as the crested hoatzin. This creature, which is a relic of a bygone age. is, when fully grown, about as large as a peacock. When first hatched. 1 the young birds have four legs, the front pair being reptilian in character, and possessing strong claws. As they grow older these claws fall off, the legs become fattened, feathers crow on them, and they develop into wings. These nestlings are the nearest approach to a reptile that can be found among birds, and they can climb and dive and swim with great facility. Age of Fish — Hitherto much difficulty has been experienced in determining the age of fish, since mere size is but a very unreliable criterion on this point, the size of fish is very largely determined by the quantity of food available. According to I'iofessor Hans-en, however, the age of fish can be very easily and accurately determined by an examination of what are known as the "hearing sstones." These ear stones aie of varied forms and size, and look like bits of china ; it is found that they grow with the growth of the fi>h. They are not met with in all fisher, but wherever they are found, Professor Hansen says that they may be consulted with safety as an index to the age of the ifth. We are told that, as in the case of trees, a new ring of growth is formed in these stones • for every year of the fish's existence. Thirty Thousand Teeth on a Tongue. — It is a fortunate thing for man and the rest of the animal kingdom that no large animal has a mouth constructed with the devouring apparatus built on the plan of the insignificant-looking snail's mouth, for that animal could out-devour anything that lives. The snail itself is such an entirely unpleasant, not to say loathsome, creature to handle, that few amateur naturalists care to bother with it ; but by neglecting the snail they miss studying one of the most interesting objects that come under their observation. Anyone who lias noticed a .snail feeding on a leaf must have wondered how such a soft, flabby, slimy animal can make such a sharp and cleancut incision in the leaf, leaving an edge as smooth and straight as if it had been cut with a knife. That is due to the peculiar and formidable mouth he has. The snail eats with his tongue and tl'o roof of his mouth. The tongue is a ribbon, which the snail keeps in a coil in his mouth. This tongue is in reality a bandsaw, with the teeth on the surface, instead of on the edge. The teeth are so> email that as many as 30,000 of them have been found on one snail's tongue. They are exceedingly sharp, and only a few of them are used at a time — not exactly only a few of them, but a few of them, comparatively, for the snail will probably have 4000 or 5000 of them in use at once.

—In Franc© the oxen that work in tho fiekU are regularly sung to as an encouragement to exertion, and no peasant has the slightest doubt that the animals listen to him with pleasure.