THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2623, 22 June 1904, Page 68

THE NATURALIST.

Fow Tishes Talk. Beyond tho possibility of doubt, many f,sh&3 are r?marka>b!e for the intensity anvl variety of the sounds whioh they make. Tho grasshopper p.rodueps sound by scraping its legs against its wings; while the cricket on the hearth creates its chirrup by rubbing- one wing against the other. Many fisho? are known to produce* founds ir an almost exactly similaa- manner. — The Language of the Stickleback. — Paits of tl.e skeleton having roughened surfaces are so plrced as to rub against each other by the action of certain muscles, and proeiuoe sound. This is so in th© common Ihree-spincd stickleback. In other instancies tlio sound is scceptudted by being brought into contact with tho air-bladder, whicn acts as a, resonator. The English gurmrd and t-hn "John dory" be-long to this kind. Yet ether fish give ofi a drumming sound, which is brought about by a rort of elastic spring r-ttached to the vertebra? being struck with great rapidity upo-i tho tense wall cf the airbladder. — Fish that Pipe in their Glee. — In. another case, of a South American full, a number of pipe-like branches are attached to each side of th© air-bladder. The air in the bladder being made to ppis over the mouths of these, much after the style of tho "pan-pipes," produces a, deep bass or growling sound. Th© sound produced by fishes ca.ti be heard sometimes when they aro 30ft or 40ft below the siirface of the water, and the ear of the libtener sft or 6ft above. ■ — Fish as Sirens. — There is no doubt that the sirens of ancient days were simply vocal fishes, which could be seen any day in thi3 fish, market at Athens. The purpose of the sounds in most, cases is doubtless to attract species of tho Fame kind together, while in otih&r cases the purpose is to warn other fish that they had best be left alone.— Professor Bridge. Pigeons as Po-tnim. — The news t'nat pigeons were used to convey news of tho raising of the ill-farted submarine Al leminds one that these useful birds are part of the personnel of our navy. There are Government; lofts at Portsmouth, DartmoiMh, and elsewhere, and the birds are numbered and registered in exactly the same- manner as our bluejackets- theia'selves. In tho Portsmouth lofts, which are in the Royal Clarence Victualling Yards at Gosport, and from which tlie birds now doing .such useful work are drawn, is an offioo wheie tho official log-books are kept with thf utmost eletail and precision. There are stud registers, and r-eport books in which the doings of every pigeon are chronicled ; one volume is devoted to a record of times of liberation, another to pigeons homing ah the loft, and in another volume the -\arious messages carried by the birds are parted. Among these it is interesting to notice many tliat hare been sent to the lefts by members of oivr Royal Family when crossing the Channel. The moment a bird enters the loft it is automatically bhut into a box by the dropping of a noiseless slide, and an electric bell summons an attendant to take the message it has brought. — Westminster Gazette.