SCHOOL IN THE OPEN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18149, 7 May 1927, Page 20

SCHOOL IN THE OPEN.

1 STUDIES IN TOE GREAT OUT-OF-DOORS. jjj

I (By J

J. J. S. Cornes,

8.A., B.Sc.

gjg The "Star" has arranged with Mr J. J. S. Cornes, BA., B.Sc, to ws a | write a series ni Illustrated articles which will give teachers and 18 others a fuller appreciation of the Great Out-of-doors. Thfcy will ? « deal with various aspects of plant and animal life, as well as with ||j » I inanimate nature. Questions and material for identification will .IS bo welcomed.

I AUTUMN. r CLXiir. There is great charm in fine autumn fays—the nip in the air, the cloud ;ft'ects, the flush of withering leaves, :he ripening fruits, the whirling seeds, ft is a quiet time compared with spring and summer. The singing birds have gone or arc quiet, the musical insects are silent. For some have said-good-bye, and the rest good-night. But colour makes up for silence; the great splashes in the trees are finer than summer meadows. There are many sights and events of great scientific interest—the earthworms planting seeds, the falling leaves, the dying away of humble-bees.

the hibernating of the frogs, and so on, through a long and delightful list. There are four sets of facts that stand out in the natural history of autumn, connected with survival of living things over winter’s cold and want. They are: (1) Parents are dying away, but the race lives on. The plant dies, but the seeds survive; the moths die, but their pupae are safe. (2) A part of the organism, or individuals out of a host, may be sacrificed, but the remainder or a remnant remains. The leaves fall, but the trees stand. The workers and drones among the humblebees n.ll die, but the young fertilised queens survive the winter. (3) Very characteristic are the preparations and storing up for hard times—preparations sometimes automatic and unconscious, as fattening, or instinctive, as in hive-bees, or perhaps even intelligent in some animals as beavers. Not only

are there all sorts of storing of fuel, but also of warm blankets—as scales—around buds and seeds as cocoons around sleeping pupae, as fur around mammals. (4) Then there are those animals that evade winter instead of facing it; as birds that migrate, and

as winter sleepers, for example the frogs. And where is the pair of hedgehogs that did so much nightly hissing and squeaking in my vegetable garden this summer? In some ways, autumn seems a sad season—a time of retreat, entrenchment, lethargy', farewell, even of death. But let us look also at the other side—it is a time of endurance and persistence, of preparation and circumvention—it is a time of victory for life, ' that, will never be beaten. We have mentioned the work of earthworms as especially noticeable in autumn. Our squares, such at Latimer Square, are sprinkled just now between the turf with many small mounds of castings. In other places, near hte trees, the earthworm activity is connected with the autumnal abun-

dance of withered leaves, which the earthworms drag down into their burrows. It was Darwin who proved that the earthworm is the most useful animal in the world, having in the course of ages made the greater part of the fertile soil ,of the globe. For earthworms drag leaves into their burrows, partly to cat them when they rot, and partly to make their underground retreats more comfortable. Thus they have made the greater part of the world’s vegetable mould or humus. They often plant trees by burying the seeds; and they bring bacteria to the surface, which may mean exposing virulent ones to the sunlight that kills them, or to the wind that scatters them abroad. For good or ill they cause bacteria, as well as the soil, to circulate. Of their uses to birds and to anglers we need say only that these just show the many circles of life that the earthworm’s circle intersects. Earthworms are about the earliest discoverers of the underworld, an underworld no longer as safe as it used to be. Various arguments, such as the presence of gills on some species, lead to the conclusion that earthworms come of an aquatic race. As the pools dried up. some pioneers took to burrowing in the soil—a poorer soil then than now. They discovered a new world; they entered upon a Golden Age of peace and plenty. But it was too good to last. For other creatures followed—venomous centipedes and carnivorous slugs. As with this year’s prices for onions, it was the increased competition that spoilt the safety'- of their refuge-habitat. Their underworld ceased to be secluded, and nowadays the earthworms are much persecuted animals. That is why they are so sensitive all over. They have no ears, yet they can detect the light footsteps of the thrush, who, to deceive them, stands stock-still upon the lawn, with head aside, listening. They have no eyes, yet they are sensitive to the dawn, and hurry back to their holes. For it is not true that the early bird gets the early worm, but only the belated ones, the ones who stayed out all night, who would not go home till morning. (To be continued next Saturday.)