BITS OF NATURAL HISTORY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5154, 12 January 1895, Page 2

BITS OF NATURAL HISTORY.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT

ANIMAL LIFE.,

(8t Louis Qlobe Democrat).

In old age the height of man diminishei* Blue-eyed cats are said by Darwin to bo always deaf. ■ The tail o f a beaver is a regular trowel. End io used aa euob.

The hog eats fewer plantß than any Oyhor herb-feeding animal. Carnivorous animals seldom produce more than two young at a birth. The fli sh of the bon, constrictor is eaten by the aborigines of Brazil. In many tropical conntriea the eoorpion grows to the length of a foot. The eggs of the crocodile are scarcely • larger than thoße of the gooae. The strongest muscle in a monkey's body is found in his prehensile tail. Certain parts of the hippopotamus's hide attain a thickness of two inches. The skin is the only part of the human body that is not hardened by age. Moles can swim with great dexterity, their broad forepawa acting ss paddlet. The swordfish doeß not use its terrible weapon as a dagger, but as a flail, ' ' Students of nature have never been able to explain, the chameleon's change of : colour. i The greatest velocity attained by a whale when Btruck by aharjoon.isnine miles an hour. . Tusks of' the mammoth have been fonnd \ of a length of nine feet, measured .along thecurvo. ■ , The whole body of a boa or other conotriotor is a porfeot network of powerful muscles. The natural life of an elephant is said to be 120 years. It is greatly shortened by captivity. Some naturalists gay that the whale was once a land animal that took to the water tor safety. - Elephants annoyed by flies have often been Known to break off a branch and use it as a fan. Oxen and sheep are believed by some stockmen to fatten better in company than when, kept alone. The bones of very aged persons are said to have a greater proportion of lime than those of young people. The rhinoceros has a perfect paseion for wallowing in the mud, and is usually covered with a thick coat ot it, The mole is an excellent civil engineer. He always sequres hia own safety by having several entrances to hiß dwelling. The lowoat order of animal life is found in the microscopic jellyfish. It iB simply a minute drop of gelatinous matter. Masy birds have the trick of tumbling along on the ground ahead of a sportsman, in. order to draw him away from their neefcs. , . European marmots remain dormant during winter. Before becoming .torpid they carefully cement the entrance to . their dwelling. The outer layers of the alligator's skin are said to contain a large percentage of cilioa, hence the hardnesß of the animal's hide. Although on land a clumsy animal, the seal is wonderfully quick in the water, and in a fair race can generally catch almost any flab. With both the alligator and the crocodile the tail is the moat formidable weapon. One stroke may break the legs of the strongest man. It io said that the flesh on the forequarters of the beaver resembles that of laud animals, while that on the hind* quarters has a fishy taste. It is believed by mioroscopints tbatjjjfe" highest powers of their instmm£fts*fiaye not yet revealed the- jnost_ jjrfhnte forms of Ruitnal life.' ■"'" •'" i; v " The aye-aye of Madagascar is remarkable chiefly for its oyea, which are larger, in proportion to its size, than thoße of any other creature. Voluntary munclea are almost always red; involuntary muscles are generally white, the moat notable exception in the latter cftse being the heart. .Snakes have the singular property of beiug able to elovate the head and remain without the slightest movement for many minutes at a time. Cats and several other animals have a. false eyelid, which can bo drawn over the eyeball, either to cleanse it or to protect it from too Btrong a light. The muscles of a pig's snout are excendiDgly powerful for their size, and thus, eaablo the animal io turn up very hard ground with the utmost ease. A bat finds its way about without the aseiatanco of its eyes. A blinded bat will avoid wires, and obstructions as dexterously as though it could ess, perfectly. When falling, as out of n tree or down a steep declivity, bears will roll themselves iittu a cloro resemblance to a huge furry ball, and thus eecapo without injury. Tho mole is not blind, as many persons i suppose. Ite eye is hardly larger than a' piuhead, and is carefully proteoted from. | duet and dirt by means or enclosing hsirß. No parental care ever fallo to the lot of' a single member of the insect tribe. In general tbe eggo of an insect are destined to bo hatched long after tho parents are. deftd. Tbe elephant io commonly supposed to be a slow, clumsy animal, but, when excited or frightened, can attain a speed of twenty miles an hour' and can keep it up for half a day. ' « The blcsnu;? of Palestine ia a Bmall falcon, or hawk, which destroys the field mice. Were the hawks exterminated, the human population would be obliged to abandon the country. The common housefly is often literally devoured by parasites, and it has been proved that these parasites are also infested with minute oreatuiea that threaten their destruction. ' . In the mountains of Sweden, Norway svad Lapland nil vegetation would be destroyed by tbe Norway rats, were ifc not for the white foxes that make special game of the rodents. ■ The horn of the. rhinoceros doeß not grow from the bone, but is a mere excrescenco of tho sVin, like the hair and □ails. It can bo separated from the skin by ilib usa of a sharp knife. The chameleon's eyes are situated in bosy Kockota projecting from the head. By thia contrivance the animal can see in any direction without the slightest motion save of the eye. The habit of turning around three or four times before lying down has survived in the domestic dog from his savage ; ancoßtry. It then served to break down, tho grass and make a bed. Were it not for the multitude of storks that throng to Etfvpt every winter, there would bo no living iu the country, for after every inundation frogs appear in most incredible numbero. The blood flows almost as freely through the banes rb through tho fleßh of very young children, but us age comes on, the blood vessels in the bones are almost filled with matter. A carious partnership often exists between the sen anemone end tho hermit crab. The latter always has an anemone fastened to his shell, and when he changes his quarters he takta his anemone, along*

provided he c*n detach it from tho old Bhell. ; a The toad captures insects by darting out ' its tongue so rapidly that the. eye cannot follow. The liu is covered with a glutinous secretion, to which a fly or other insect adheres. . < The latid tortoises oE many countries bury themselves in the mud at tlra bottoms of Btreams and marahes on the approach of winter, and also at the coining of a protracted drought. • The hedgehog, badger, equirrel and Bomo kinds of mice lay up a regular store of provisoes for the winter. It ia said that they eat only during mild weather, ahd in extrome cold remaiu torpid. . Animals that live in cold countries have a warm matting of wool or fine fur underneath their hr.ir? coats, bo that they are almost perfectly protected from tho cold. Tina wool usually falls off in cummer. The whiskers of a cut are suppesad by some naturalists to be provided with nerves down to the tip, while others , believe that the base of the hair is better fitted oat with nerves than most other parts of the skin. The vital priuciplo is strongest ia the common tortoise. One of theso animals hds lived for six month a after the removal of its brain, and tho severed head has given signs of life time days after being; cutoff. The stentor, or trumpet nnimaloule, is j Bhaped exactly like a trumpet, save that j at the Bmall end there ia a globo which seems to answer tbe purposes of heart, stomach, liver, lungs and all other organs. The beaver has more skill than a governoent engineer. The dams constructed by beavero are never washed awoy, while eNrery freshet witneesea the destruction of . a portion at loaat of a government's Works on the river. The alligator never leaves f renh water, while Jthe. crocodile frequently travels long distances by u«a. ' Id has been seen ope thpnsand miles from land, and it ia possible, that these sea-going crocodiles have given rise to sa& serpent storieß. ' "In a wild state tbe elephant is a nocturnal animal. When domesticated hiß size and dark colour make Mm a great sufferer from the heat. To relieve hiineHlf he draws . water from, bis stomach by '■' means of hia trunk and equirts it over his .body. Several marina, animals propagate' by voluntary self-division. . A piece breaks off and floats away. For a time ifc shows fib sjgn of life, but when it has recovered from the. shock of separation - it develops into a perfqoi/ aqimal. . .The frog , deposits its eggs ia shallow water, where the warmth of the sun projnotss Bjpeedy hatching. The common unake often eeleots a bed of decomposing vegetable matter. The crocodile and the clumsy aea tortoise go c shore to lay their egga. ■,;.-•.•,■ . ' ■ .The camel's foot is a soft cushion peculiarly well adapted to the stones and gravel over which it is constantly walking. During a single journey through, the Sahara horses have wocn out three seta of ohoGd, while tbe.oamol'a feat axe . not even Bore. ' " •

•When the common earthworm is cut in two to the tail there grows a head and to the head there grows a tail, find two animals are formed. Ab the wound heals a small white button is formed, which af fcerward'develops into rings and a perfect extremity. , The serpent movea by elevating the scales on its aMqmen and using .thenvto . push the body forward. The windings are always horizontal. The artists who represent the sinuosities as vertical' have never observed the animal in 'motion. It is impdSßibje for it to move in that way. preservation ,of tho fltoh of the i&frnimoiih for ages .in Siberia is not rezn&rkablo. In inost northern districts of t>Uat> country ground never thaws beyond a tf^bh'6f.lwo or three feet. Bodies of men btiried-200 years ago have recently been sveismtned arid' found unchanged, being Hrbijen perfectly' solid. '• jSea anemones /' and some marine ci eutdrea of'ldw^do^Q. mcrejjse their B{ ecies £y TJudaTng. AnnnaH-fcisa* Jorwatt a] spears ontha body of she animal, anrflby fti id by develops into a perfect, though mpnute, animal of the same .species, RGpa- ' n tes from its patent and Beta up in business for itoelf, .'.;'■' , '•: v'Auimala are oftarirable to bearyory, pi?6---4f acted faeting. In the Italian. earthquakes 'of 1795 two hogs yroxQ buried ab Soriano in ■ the rai'nß of a building. They wore taken oit ftllyd forty-two <3ays later, but very Man and weak. A dog* at the same time amd place, was buried for twenty-three -j-iEyß and r dooverdd. t i A country cat can always be kept at home / by cutting' off her Wa, or for a lime by / clipping out ttie haira in the interiSr. Tho long hairs serve to keep out the drops of due that fall from the leaves ot plants and grasses, and when the haira aro removed the cat will stay at homo rather than claw the water out of her ears. The teeth of rats are kept sharp by a very peouJiar provision of nature. Tho outer edge i of the l; 'incisors is covered with A layer of enamel as hard as flint, -while the under side ia much. softer. The layers of enamel on the under side, therefore, near away inuoh faster than those on the upper surface, arid a keen-cutting edge is always presented. . The loavoa of several plants often contract in a remarkable way to form lodging places for young insects to be hatched from eggs laid in the enbatunca of the loaf. When an egg baa been laid in a leaf cf the chickweod ic contracts into a globular (ora's tKe juniper iosf sends out it small globular body or oxcrescenco, while the leaf of the poplar puts forth a j nice that dries into a rod globe. Herbivorous animals do not eat all of Nature's menu. The horsa refuges the water hemlock that the goat eats with Avidity, and, on tho other hand, the goat refuses some plants that are eaten by the sheep. The tobacco plant ia avoided by all save the goat, mau and. the tobacco worm. Some botanists think that no plant Is absolutely poisonous, but only relatively ao, being harmful to only certain auirnals. The jawbones of . a" wbo!» tire sometimes £Oft in length,. arid. 'the wouth, when wide open, iB 12 by 18ft. The throat, however, is eo small a3 Bcarcaly4o' admit a hen's Bgg. The whale gota his living by atxainIng the animalcule and small fish out of the water he takes into' his capacious month. Ib musb bo slow work, but then he has plenty of time and nothing else to do, so ho attends to his eating so regularly that he 'often accumulates a ton of oil in his bulky system. j The sea anemone res-: rubles in shape a morning glory. Its tuoiith opens like the 4 aup of that flower, and abeve it jvre Been a number of tantacleß waving in. the water. Its food conßists of anything it can get, but generally it geta tho minuto ic sects that float in the eea. Ab any alarm it closes its cup and ia then hardly disfcingniehablo from the rock on whioli it is eooted. It has a sot cf sucker muscles that attach it ao firmly to the rock that it will aometimes be torn iii pieces rather than let go. Tho mosfa remarkable crcafcih-e in the world is the hydra. It- does not amount to much phyaically, for it is nothing but a Bftok, Open at onQ end and fastened by the other to a stone, bub it is almost impossible to kill it. Turn a hydra iuaido out, cud it will get along just us well as before. Trembley, the French naturalist, cut hydras in slicsa, aud each, iu a few davs, beaame a full-grown animal. Ho grat'! ed them, and produced raonotoro with sis mouthßftudonlyone borfy. £Jedividedtih: ; ui longitudinally, and produced a cluster of bydrao. He found this g'.wUikv id superior even to dtcompoßiiiou, tor when n p;»rt of B hydra's body decays, ifc throwu it off and teplaoes ib, as a matter of conree.