HERE AND THERE

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18056, 17 January 1927, Page 6

HERE AND THERE

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING. The Wonderful Ant. Primitive ants eat flesh: they are predatory upon other insects. Those that have remained subterranean have preserved to a great extent these habits, and the subterranean ants are as a rule primitive. On the other hand, those that have come to li.vc upon the surface of the earth arc in the main vegetarian. The great predatory ants of the equatorial regions arc also carnivorous, but they, like the hunter class in the history of man. are nomadic, and range over a great area. The pastoral stages may perhaps £> c represented by those ants which lively largely on honeydew, a secretion partly of plants and partly of plant-lice and other small insects which live on plants. These ants are literally pastoral, for they milk the aphides by stroking them with their antennae. They also protect and care ,fqr” these domesticated “cattle” in specially constructed shelters or sheds. A further development is <hat certain aats. use their bodies as storehouses for nutriment. The abdpmen shells to an appalling extent; the insect becomes unable to walk, and hangs suspended from the top of its nest by it's claws. Th<? ordinary worker ant whqp hungry strokes the abdomen of its irtjert mate with its antennae, and the living storehouse releases some of its stored-up nourishment. . . But we have a further stage exemplified by the same insects in the agricultural Myrmicinoe. These ants literally cultivate crops. They remove the leaves, or parts of them, from trees, and bringing them back to their nests cut them into small pieces and build up spongc-like masses of leaf tissue which becomes cbvered with a mould. These moulds are eaten by the ant. which preserves them from one generation to another.—“ Science for All.” k How the Orange Blossom Went to France. The first orange tree introduced : to Spain came from Italy. When the King of Spain received it he was so pleased that he appointed a special gardener to take care of it, and to propagate from it. As soon as the young plants were obtained, the French ambassador was seized with an ardent desire to get hold of one so that he might present it to the King of France. But the gardener’s orders were very strict to keep all the young plants exclusively for his royal master’s use, and so for a long time the ambassador was baffled. The story is that the gardener’s son was deeply in love with a beautiful girl, and wanted badly to marry her, but he was too poor to make her a home. Then the idea came to him that, if he could obtain one of these treasured plants for the French ambassador, the way would be smooth. He did so, made a good bargain, and furnished the cottage. All went merrily, and when the happy lover thought of the orange tree which had brought him such good fortune he resolved to deck his sweetheart’s hair for the wedding ceremony with one or two blossoms from the parent tree by way of remembrance. But, alas, the King was out early on the particular morning that they were being secretly married, and by chance dropped into the church. He at once noticed the stolen orange blossoms. But the bride was pretty, and pleaded with tears f<sT her lover, so the Most Christian King relented, and forgave him for her sake. The chronicler of this pretty story does not say whether the King had been told that a scion of his treasured tree had by that time found its way to Paris!

Poppy Legends. The poppy has been the symbol of death since the time the son of Tarquinius Superbus asked his father what should be done with the people of a conquered city. Tarquin did not reply, but going into the garden he slashed off the heads of the largest poppies, thereby commending the massacre of the most influential citizens. The colour of the poppy, resembling blood, also symbolises death. When Persephone was stolen toy Pluto her mother, Ceres, searched , f°£ her dav and night without pause. The. gods, pitying her and unable to restore Persephone, caused poppies to spring about her feet. She inhaled their "heavy. bitter scent, and put tlie seeds into her mouth, and presently sleep closed her eyelids and she gained that rest which her weary body heeded. The State flower of California is a brilliant yellow poppy, which shines on the mountain slopes, under which gold lies hidden. The Saxon name for poppy is “ popig.” It used to be a custom in olden days aq strike a poppy petal in the hands in order to ascertain whether a lover was faithful or not. If it broke, it signified that, he was unfaithful, but it it held together and made a noise it. showed he was true. 3 3 A Wordy Book. The Encyclopaedia Britannica contains about 49,000.000 words. O'er 500 years ago even these figures were exceeded in a similar work compiled by the Chinese, at the instance of the Emperor Yung Lo (says a writer ill “The Daily Chronicle”). The editorial staff numbered 28. and with over 2000 assistants they turned out In five years a compendium occupying some 900,000 pages, and containing 367 million symbols. This work was completed in the 'ear 1408 Only threa copies were made, and one of these existed in Pekin until the Boxer rising in 1900. during which all but a few of the 11.000 odd volumes were destroyed. “ The Great Julien ” and His Music. Louis Julien was the most popular conductor of music in England in the middle of the nineteenth century. He was a man who believed very firmly indeed in advertisement. Whether criticism was good or bad did not worry him as long as somebody said something. He was full of little eccentricities. such as conducting Beethoven with a jewelled baton, wearing a new pair of white kid gloves tor each piece he conducted, indulging in a prodigious display of diamonds, and so On. He was known, on account of his extravagances. as " The Great Julien Nevertheless, he was a man Of sound musical common sense, who started a series of promenade concerts in London so that the public could hear the grear clashes cheaply; who dreamed of founding an English opera company in connection with the Royal Academy of Music: who, in short, spent a vast amount of energy in fastening a love of good music among the people ot England. ;