THE NATURALIST.

Otago Witness, 1 June 1910, Page 76

THE NATURALIST.

Ant v. Spider. I was prostrate with malaria (writes a correspondent of the Weekly Scotsman) in an old Spanish house in. Manila at the time. My muchaoho had just shuffled out of the" room with the remains of my lunch, the sound of his flapping slippers growing momentarily fainter as he retreated down the long corridor to the kitchen back of the open court. I was staring idly through my mosquito netting at a print of the Virgin and Child upon the calcomined wall opposite, when I noticed an ant struggling with something on the floor. On closer inspection I saw that the sturdy little creature —one of the red variety—was trying to carry off a fragment of chicken, which must have gallen from Juan's tray. Drawing my cotton-filled pillow close to the edge of the bed, I watched my enterprising neighbour manoeuvre with his find, which was at least ten times the size of his own body. At first he grirjped it by the middle, and, sitting back like a dog on its haunches, tugged and strained, but to little purpose. At length he relinquished his hold, circled twice about the bulky treasure, and then, evidently struck with a new idea, seized it by the end and drew it rapidly across one of the wide hardwood boards of which the floor was constructed. At the edge of the board he got into difficulties, however, as he encountered a deep crack fully an inch wide. He moved the fragment as close to the edige as be dared without running the risk of its toppling over into the gulf below, and', renewing his hold, reached out with his hand leg« for the farther side; but, stretch as he might, he could not span the chasm. Finally, as if disgusted, he sprang back, and, leaving the meat behind, ran up and down the side of the crack in search of a crossing. At one , point he discovered a fragment of cloth caught in a sliver from Juan's polishing mop; but it would not bear his weight, so it was abandoned. Three feet farther on he found a mango pit wedged into the ©rack, land' after examining it with great care started back for the meat. —A New Claimant. — During his absence, however, a spider—one of the hairy variety with the letter D on its back—had chanced upon the bit of chicken and made off with it towards its den in the cracked and gaping wall at the head of my bed. On reaching the spot where he had left his prize, the ant paused, giving me the impression of unbounded astonishment; then he rushed off, darting this way and that, his excitement increasing at every turn, until he struck the trail of the thief. In the meantime the spider had also got into difficulties. Rushing along at top speed, with its booty firmly clutched in its powerful mandibles, it had encountered a crack even wider than the one that had barred the ant's progress, and into this the meat had fallen. As the ant bore down upon the pilferer, it tugged desperately at the treasure, desisting 'barely in time to wheel and close with its pursuer. —Unique Tus-of-War.— For a few moments there was a confused blur of red and grey, as the pigmy warriors rolled over and over on the floor; then I saw the spider dragging the ant after it, the pluek'y little fellow's jaws firmly imbedded in his antagonist's body, body. It certainly was a unique tug-of-war, the spider reaching out with its long hairy legs, which buckled under the extraordinary strain, the ant setting back with the igrim determination of a hulildog. Slowly, inch by inch, the spider worked its way toward the post of my bed, the ant disputing every step of its progress. Now, under each post of the bed was a tin can, filled with water and kerosene, this precaution being necessary to keep whole regiments of ants from marching over one's face in the small hours, of the night. The can that my combatants were thus fitfully approaching bad contained buttei. and the sides were not only very smooth, but thoroughly greased. Spyinig the shiny thing ahead, the spider summoned all its strength, and after much scratching and slipping on the polished floor finally reached it. Here the spider was at ?. decided advantage, dragging the ant up the slippery side of the can with comparative ease. The top of the can had been hastily gouged out with a can opener, leaving a jagged margin a third of an inch wide, and i-pon this greasv footing, like two men fighting on the brink of a precipice, the contest was renewed. The spider, now right beneath me "and within two feet of my face, tried every possible device to break the ant's hold', clawing impotently at him, reaching back in a vain atempt to seize him, and finally rolling over and over. —A Strategic Move. — When I could again distinguish the two, both were clinging to the inner edge of the can. Like a flash the ant relinquished his hold, darted at one of the spider's supporting legs, and severed it with one quick cut of his powerful little jaws. Falling into the oil, the spider struggled frantically for a few moments, and then curled up into a small grey ball, which shuddered once and then was still. The ant, after nosing about the dismembered leg for a little, to make sure that it was not good eating, .made his way down the side of the can and across the floor to the crack into which the bit of chicken had dropped, and after prolonged efforts nothing short of prodigious, worked it to the wall and out of sight. Two South American Eels. —The Purakue: the Perania. — The electric eel, or "puraque," exists in two varieties in the Amazon and its tributaries. And of these the smallest is the worst. Anyone subjected to shock from it in the water simply sinks like a stone, unable to more or to cry. They are very plentiful. The "perania," or "peraya," or "palainete," as.it is known in Brazil, is very common in and less so in the;

I rivers, except in the Paraguay, where it I simply swarms. As an example of the riskis attendant I upon it. the owner of a rubber baraoca in J the Beni came down to the river with me to wash his hands in the water, and two fingers were promptly snapped off. It is a member of the carp family, and its teeth are like razors. > At Oorumba a Brazilian soldier fishing for dorado (a most sporting and good eating fish), and wearing red pantaloons, fell into the river and hung on to the end of his canoe shouting for help. Another oanoe leisurely put out and towed him ashore, which he reached picked clean from the waist down. This is only on© of many cases. The perania is peculiarly voracious and plentiful in the neighbourhood of towns and cattle stations where the refuse of slaughtered animals and food is thrown into the river. I do not assert that everybody would be eaten, but it does occur, and is absolutely certain if there is the least suggestion ot blood or a preliminary bite given by one fish. We were upset in mid-river in the Upper Paraguay this year, and had to swim for it; but no one, fortunately, was touched. Still, it was an uncomfortable sensation. Bathing is generally effected with miuch eplashing and noise, but is under all circumstances risky.—Major P. H. Fawoett, in the London Evening News. Tree Life Curiosities. Among the curiosities of tree life is the sofar, or whistling tree, of Nubia. When the winds blow over this tree it gives out flute-like sounds, playing away to the wilderness for hours at a time strange, weird melodies. It is the spirit of the dead, singing among the branches, the natives say, but the scientific white man says that the sounds are due to a myriad of small holes which an insect bores in the spines of the branches. The weeping tree of the Canary Islands is "another aboreal freak. This tree in the dryest weather will rain down showers from its leaves, and the natives gather up the water from the pool formed at the foot of the trunk and find it pure and fresh. The tree exudes the water from innumerable pores at the base of the loaves. —London Globe.