Nature.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1676, 22 March 1890, Page 2 (Supplement)

Nature.

Wonders of the Sea, 3 Facts Aboul Sep. Urchins, Sfcar-Pish and O:her Queer Creatures! It is cot surprising that the man of science, living in a world of wonders, gazing always cagetly through the microscops or telpscope, should differ from the commou folk whoße eyes look out languidly upon life through a natural or corrective lens. The naturalist particularly, amid the marvels of field, foreet, pwarnp and shore, finding stimulus ever; day to his worship of the great myi-tery, reveifca to tho feelings of childhood. Hid supreme sense of the sublime felt in the contemplation of the classified thousands acoesaible to h?m among the icfiaite millions of living thifcgs- this sense is never jaded. Man rusy be a proper, hnt he is not the only study of mankind ; and it is •well for us new and then to be as little ithildrf-n and listen open-eyed to the sohoolmaatev telling the things we once kntw but have forgotten. There is the eea-urohiu to begin with. It looks like & chestnut burr, and is commonly called the sea-ohesteut, but it is a fish | that has four thousand feet known us the, " ambulaoral " usBt. Their arrangements permits the urohin to progress in any direction. At the base of each contractile tube there is a sac, acting as a reservoir'of water. If ibe urchin wishes to march, this Bac contracts, the ambulaccal foot ia distended wish walfe!", something like the ! finger of a glove if you blow into it, the i euci'er &t the end is fixed on tho ground, the j other arubulaeral feet repeat the operation, ' and tho urchin is out for a walk. This creai ture, so fragile in appeal ance, is nevertheI lees able, en rocky eoastts where the eurf is I violent, to pierce the hardest stones and I to excavate a lodging for itself, even in I granite. The star-fish we know so well ia a kindred creature equally amazing. The white part in the centre of it is the stomach. At first sight it has the appearance of a transparent mass divided into five equal parts, and yet ifc grinds with the power of a gjzsard. M. Beaugrand tells of the devastation committed by star-fishes on a bed of muesela. They had settled on them by millions. All the rocks were covered with them, ai:d from a little way off appeared quite, red. When a star-fish wanted its breakfast it came dragging Blong by tha aid of its ambuiacral feet and rested itß fitomaon I on tho hinge-joint of tho shells of a mussel. In a few minutes, by the action of the gastrio juices, the mueclcb of the hinga were dissolved, the stomach penetrated between the shells of the mussel and carried on there a | suction so powezin! that in & brief time no- | thing vertifiinod of the mussel. The foot itee'.f, altbcuph to difficult to detach, shared tho tame iate as the other parts. The stomach of the ogre then returned to its normal situation, and the star-fish made a freßh move to satisfy its appetite. So thoroughly was this done, that in the course of a few dajs &\l the mussels in the locality were exterminated. The most depraved of the " corsairs of the I sea" i? the hermit orab, whose very hermitage—the sheli it bears upon its back — is BBolen. It is a shameless parasite, the personification of laziness. When still young it makes its debut by an. assaseination. Seeking a shell of fitting size, it installs itself therein, after having devoured the rightful owner. Then it sets out to make its foetune, pillaging ruthlessly on all sides. When its shell or hermitage becomes too small, it promptly steals another. "I am acquainted," says M. Beaugrand, "with a collection in which there is a hermit that was found in the tropics, and had laken up his abode in a great helmet shell, such as you may see in the window of a natural history dealer. The | clawa of thi3 hermit measured mora than eight inches." M. Beaugrand calls the herrait crab a "hypocritical old fellow." A word about tha cuttle-fish or sepie. Figure to yourself a bag about three inches long, surrounded by a broad border. From this grey and gelatinous body a short tube comes out and above this is a shapeless head, with two square eyes gleaming like molten gold. Like the octopus the sepia is a great destroyer of crabs and* small fish, seizing them -with its eight suokers as they pass. It can change its color like the chameleon, and by a very simple meshod. In the intestines of the skin there are globules of various colors, and in accordance with the impressions made on the animal these are expanded or contracted, thus producing the strangest effects. It appears also to have the gift of tears. At any'rate it is well supplied with lachrymal glands. By contracting its tube and ejecting tho water contained the cuttlefish can rebound with great velocity. Then thero is the thiak, bleak ink it ejects in eelfproiection. The ane'ents scarcely knew (f any other ink. Ouvier, Mr. Beeugrand says, was the last to put the sepia ink to an important use. As a fit whim for a scientific man ho made use of it to writs high memoir on Cephalopoda and make the drawings. Another wily and knowing fish is the fishing frog. It is very repulsive in appearance, with a broad body and an enormous mouth, surmounted by two long filaments terminating above in bright, shining surfaces. The fishing frog, buried in the mud, vibrates these filaments above its bead until some fish thoughtlessly cornea loitering around the novel bait. Then the capacious maw opens, entombs the victim, and the game begins again. Market-women sometimes speculate on the voracity of the fishing frogs, and purchase them at a low price on the strength of what they contain. The fish swallows its prey gluttonously without mastioation, and the women often find m itß stomach smaller fißh, little damaged, which they sell to unobservant customers. Ihe Mosquito. To expel mosquitoes, take of gum camphor a piece about one-third the Bize of a hen's egg, and evaporate it by placing it in a tin vessel and holding it over a lamp, taking care that it doss not ignite. The smoke will j soon fill the room anrl expel the rnoequitoee, ! and they will not return, even though the windows should be lef 6 open all night. I learned the Eearet of successful warfare against these pests when living in the swamps of Louisiana, where, in summer or I winter, mosquitoes swarm. For some years life was unendurable, and no meal could be eaten in peace. But all at once there was a change for the better. Bars and screens were oi ten cut of place, but there was almost an immunity from insects. I had just changed my colored boy. The newcomer explained how he kept the " critters " away. He burned small pieces of gummed camphor on the cook stove, and used a secret preparation he called '• sudekillo." When I married and came to Missouri, I imparted the secret to my wife, and as there is no patent on it that I know of, I would advise all fellow sufferers to go and do likewise. The gum camphor alone is ample for the purpose, | and need only bg used two or three times a I week.