IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13797, 31 October 1908, Page 8

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.

NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY IN NEW ZEALAND. (B\ James Drunimond, F.L.S., F.Z.S.) It was announced a few months ago that the Carnegie Institute, of Washington, intended to establish an important astroinomieul observatory in .some part oi the southern hemisphere, and that New Zealand, South Africa, or South America would be selected. It was hoped that Otago might be the fortunate district, but a letter 1 received recently from Mr K. S. Woodward, president of the Institute, shows that the new observatory ttill be established at San Luis, in the Argentine. Mr Woodward states that the principal astronomers who are in charge of the work are now at San Luis. "The object of this temporary observatory." he says, "is to supply the missing links in stellar observation in the southern hemisphere. As you know, doubtless, there are only a few first-class observatories in the southern hemisphere, and these have not sufficed to bring the observational data for stars in the southern hemisphere to the degree of precision attained for stars in the northern hemisphere. Our observatory will be maintained at San Luis for a period of three to five years. When the observations it is intended to make are completed, our department will prepare a catalogue giving precise positions of all stars in both hemispheres, from the brightest down to the seventh magnitude inclusive. The number of such stars is about 25,000. There will thus be produced a fundamental catalogue which may be used by astronomers for the next five hundred io a thousand years." In regard to the investigations that correspondents are- now making into the parasitical habits of the shining cuckoo and the long-tailed cuckoo, the following extract from a letter written to Sir Walter Duller some time ago will be interesting : -—"lt is not a difficult task to find the grey warbler's nest when the cuckoo is about to lay her egg, or immediately afterwards. Tt is laid very early in the morning, and, after the female has deposited it, her mate may be seen Hying rapidly after her, dashing through the trees and sometimes in the open, the female uttering a distressed, peevish cry. On such occasions I have seen them fly long distances outside the hash." Referring to the nest of the cuckoo's victim, the writer of the letter says: "I may inform you of a curious position in which the grey warbler occasionally builds. Of course you have seen the grand old white pines whose trunks are thickly 'bearded with moss.' Selecting a spot where- this moss is four or five inches thick, it constructs its nest amongst it, leaving the entrance just flush with the outer fringes. I was shown one by an old gum-digger, who assured me that during the last twentyfivo years he has on frequent occasions found the nest of the warbler in such situations." A resident of North Canterbury, who has sent me some excellent notes on bird-life, writes: "It may be of some interest to your readers to know that three different varieties of butterflies have disappeared in the North Canterbury district during the past few years. The principal one, the meadow marsh brown butterfly, is a large insect with one or two white spots on each wing. It is very common, and is plentiful in the neighbourhood of the Ashley Gorge. The others are the small copper butterfly, a small copper-coloured insect.with dark spots, and the blue butterfly, which is pure dark blue without any spots. There is also a small variety of the blue which was here last season, but was not plentiful. I have seen each of these varieties in Europe. Are they natives here, or have they been imported by the eggs getting mixed up with the grass seed ? Another bad pest has arrived in the district, the common earwig, so troublesome to dahlia-growers in England." A correspondent, writing af>out spiders, states that some time ago, when he was near Amberley, he saw a hole, which was evidently the work of a trap-door spider, but without the trap-door. It was a tunnel, made horizontally into the side of a bank to a depth of nearly a foot, and with a circumference large enough to admit his thumb. He dug out the hole and pulled from it a complete tube which had lined the hole, and which was very ingeniously and beautifully constructed of web. The owner and occupier was inside. He was a fairly large spider, with a dark, hairy body. He seemed to bo quite dazed with the light, but was soon able to crawl away and get under a stone. The correspondent suggests that New Zealand's spiders are a fair subject for a comprehensive investigation and study. About 200 species have been named, but very little is known of their habits. The famous katipo and several species of trap-door spiders have received a good deal of attention, but nearly all the others, although, apparently, oi" more than passing interest, have been neglected. They are waiting for somebody to come forward and deal with them." Mr Elsdon Rest, whose aticles on many phases of ancient Maori life are read v. ith interest by ethnologists in all parts of the Empire, finds time to make some valuable observations of Nature's methods in Tuhoe Land, in the Urewera country, which lie has made famous. In a note he has written on the deciduous trees of his historical district, be says that the birch-like ribbon wood grows to a large size in the deep gullies of the highlying ranges Tuhoe Land, but it is not found on the low-lying lands. It loses all its leaves in the early winter, and remains leafless until spring. He adds that, as- far as he can recollect, this tree also shed its leaves in the winter at Taw a Flat, near Wellington, w lien the forests still held that land, in years that have long passed away. The kotukotuku or fuschia, is another deciduous tree in Tuhoe Land. It is very common in the high country near Ruatahuna. The Maoris there call its fruit, which is edible, hona. and the flowers takawa. This custom of giving distinct names to blossom and fruit oJ a tree is very noticeable amongst the Tuhoe bushinen. The trunks of the fuschia made good iencing posts. The • heart wood is durable, but the pc-'-i -s are liable to split on exposure to the weather. The tapia. or Antarctic tu-j peid, a true parasite, is deciduous in Tuhoe Land, where it i.s very common. It is almost invariably found growing , on the puahou tree, the I'nniiv }ir>>or ' cum, where it flourishes well. Mr Best - has found it on only one occasion on another species, the Kai-weta, or Car- . podetus herratu-". The tapia bears berries that are eaten by Maori children. Settlers sometimes call it the mistletoe. Mr Rest wants to know why it grows only on the puahou tree. The kowhai U almost deciduous in Tuhoe Land. Jn nianv cases n loses jill its leaves hi win- | i ter , in oilier caMs :> it w leave-, are retained. Vppai'eiilly :illiin<le d< cidc» whether ihis tree should lose or ivl.iin irs leaves.