FROM NATURE S BOOK.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 23, Issue 6, 23 January 1912, Page 2

FROM NATURE S BOOK.

The banana and the potato are almost identical in chemical compos!-’ tion. Oysters can only live in water' which contains at least thirty-seven I parts of salt to every one thousand I parts of water. j Within the Antarctic circle there' has never been found a flowering plant. In the Arctic regions there' are 762 different species of flowers. A curious tree grows in Malabar. ' It is called the tallow tree from the* fact that its seeds, when boiled, produce a tallow that makes excellent candles. I Rabbits are by no means fond of, swimming ; yet they can swim under j compulsion. They look very odd when swimming. They keep their • heads and tails above the water, i while the forepart of their bodies is : deeply submerged. j Balloonists have noticed that the ; great majority of birds keep within ■ 1.000 yards of the earth, and most ( of thes", indeed, within a couple of hundred yards, even in long flights. ( Crows, however, were frequently observed at a height of 1,400 yards, a lark was once encountered at 1,900 ' yards, and an eagle is on record at 3.000 yards. The exquisitely beautiful gold beet-' les of Central America belong to the genus Plusiotis, and one might easi- j ly imagine a specimen to be the work ■ of some clever artificer in metal. The head and wingcases are brilliantly j polished, with a / "lustre as of gold it-; self. To sight and touch they have j all the seeming of metal, and it is j hard to realise that the creature is ! a mere insect. * j Prof. Felice del Santo, the Italian painter, was recently painting near the Castle of San Giorgio, in the 1 Spezia district, when, he avers, there suddenly stood before him a strange beast about 16ft. long, with a lon S tail, and a head like a foxhound, with a heart-shaped tuft upon it. After pawing the ground for a few minutes the beast bolted into the thick wood. One or two other people claim to have seen this strange animal vision within the past year or two. The cow tree of Venezuela yields a milk of good quality. The trees form large forests along the,, sea coasts, and the milk, which is obtained by making incisions in the trunk, so closely resembles that of the cow, both in appearance and quality, that ■ it is commonly used by the natives as an article of food. Unlike many other vegetable milks, it is perfectly wholesome and very nourishing, possessing an agreeable taste, like cream and a pleasant balsamic odour. As illustrating the ability of certain snails to sleep and abstain from food for lengthy periods, the fact may be adduced that at the British Museum there was received on March 25, 1846, a specimen of the desert snail from Egypt. It was fixed to a tablet in the usual way. On March 7, 1850, it was seen that it must have come out of its shell in the interval, for the paper was discoloured. Finding it could not escape, -it had retired again, and closed its shell with the usual film. These signs of life led to the immersion of the shell in tepid water, and the recovery of the animal. : On March* 13, 1850, it was alive and well, and its portrait, was .engraved for insertion in Woodward’s “Manual of the Mollusca.” There is some lucky animals that are. never troubled with thirst ; ■ birds also. For instance, there is a para-, keet that has lived for over half a century without drinking anything. Many naturillsts have a theory that hares never drink—or, at all events, that) water is not a necessity to their existence. The dew on the grass is supposed to be sufficient liquid for their wants. There is a certain breed of gazelle that never drinks, and the llamas of Patagonia live for years without taking water. In France there is a particular class of cattle near Losere that rarely touches any water. This is all the more remarkable because these cattle give milk of a rich quality, from which excellent cheese is made.