disagreeable, spiders fix the terminating filaments, on which the whole
web is sustained, unusually short. If the terminating filaments are made
uncommonly long, the weather will be serene, and continue so, at least
for ten or twelve days. If spiders be totally indolent, rain generally
succeeds; their activity during rain is certain proof that it will be of
short duration, and followed by fair and constant weather. Spiders
usually make some alteration in their webs every twenty-four hours; if
these changes take place between the hours of six and seven in the
evening, they indicate a clear and pleasant night.
"The clouds grow heavier over head—
The spider strengtheneth his web."
_Muscles of the Caterpillar._
Our varied movements are executed by the aid of fleshy muscles attached
to the skeleton. In these, insects possess a numerical and dynamical
superiority over the human race. Anatomists calculate that there are
only 370 of these muscles in a man, whilst the patient Lyonet discovered
more than 4000 in a single caterpillar.
_A Persistent Fly._
Linnæus saw one of the flies which attack cattle follow a reindeer an
entire day, though dragging its sled at a gallop over the snow. The fly
flew almost continuously by its side, watching for the moment when it
might introduce one of its eggs beneath the skin.
_Phosphorescent Insects._
In tropical America there are phosphorescent insects of remarkable
splendor. In Cuba the women often inclose several of the luminous
beetles in little cages of glass, which they hang up in their rooms, and
this living lustre throws out sufficient light for them to work by.
Travelers, in a difficult road, light their path in the middle of the
night by attaching one of these beetles to each of their feet. The
Creoles sometimes set them in the curls of their hair, where, like
resplendent jewels, they give a fairy-like aspect to their heads. The
negresses, at their nocturnal dances, scatter these brilliant insects
over their robes of lace which nature provides for them, all woven from
the bark of the Lagetto.
_Eating Clouds._
Dr. Livingstone, relating his adventures on Lake Nyassa, says: "During a
portion of the year the northern dwellers on the lake have a harvest
which furnishes a singular kind of food. As we approached our limit in
that direction, clouds as of smoke arising from miles of burning grass
were observed tending in a southeasterly direction, and we thought that
the unseen land on the opposite side was closing in, and that we were
near the end of the lake. But next morning we sailed through one of the
clouds on our own side, and discovered that it was neither smoke nor
haze, but countless millions of midges, called "kungo," (a cloud or
fog.) They filled the air to an immense height and swarmed upon the
water, too light to sink in it. Eyes and mouth had to be kept closed
while passing through this living cloud—they struck upon the face like
fine drifting snow. The people gathered these insects by night, and
boiled them into thick cakes to be used as a relish—millions of midges
in a cake. A kungo cake an inch thick, and as large as the blue bonnet
of a Scotch plow-man, was offered to us. It was very dark in color, and
tasted not unlike caviare or salted locust."
_A Hundred Stomachs._
Some of the animalcules have in the interior of the body large cavities,
which incessantly empty and fill themselves with colored fluid. These
cavities represent the heart of large animals and their fluid the
blood; and this circulating system is relatively so large that it may be
stated, without exaggeration, that some microscopic beings have hearts
fully fifty times as large and as strong, in proportion, as that of the
horse or ox. A man has only one stomach, whilst invisible microzoa have
sometimes a hundred.
_Motherly Sacrifice by the Gall Insect._
Some kinds of gall insects immolate themselves in order to protect their
offspring. As the enormously distended insect gradually expels its eggs,
it heaps them up in a little pile, and when its body is quite cleared
out, and only resembles a hollow bladder, the female straightway covers
its progeny with it, attaches the edges round them, and dies directly
after. It thus forms for them a convex, solid roof, the impermeability
of which protects its eggs against the injurious agency of the air and
storms. The mother pays for her childbirth with her life, and her young
are born under the shelter of her mummified corpse.
_Wonderful Spider's Web._
Across the sunny paths of Ceylon, where the forest meets the open
country, and which constitute the bridle-roads of the island, an
enormous spider stretches its web at the height of from four to eight
feet from the ground. The cordage of these webs is fastened on either
side to projecting shoots of trees or shrubs, and is so strong as to
hurt the traveler's face, and even lift off his hat, if he happened not
to see the line. The nest in the centre is sometimes as large as a man's
head, and is continually growing larger, as it is formed of successive
layers of the old webs rolled over each other, sheet after sheet, into a
ball. These successive envelopes contain the limbs and wings of insects
of all descriptions, which have been the prey of the spider and his
family, who occupy the den formed in the midst. There seems to be no
doubt that the spider casts the web loose and rolls it around the
nucleus in the centre when it becomes overcharged with carcasses, and
then proceeds to construct a fresh one, which in its turn is destined to
be folded up with the rest.
_Horrible Mode of Assassination._
Before English law and custom had subdued the barbarism of Hindostan,
the following mode of assassination was not uncommon: The murderer would
kill one of a pair of cobras, and drag the body of the snake along the
ground into the bungalow, over the floor, and into the very bed of the
victim. After a few moments, the dead snake, having accomplished the
purpose of leaving an odorous trail to the sleeping couch of the victim,
would be thrown away. The dead cobra's living mate would infallibly
follow the trail to the bed, where it would coil itself at rest, waiting
to strike the sleeper.
_Fighting Fish._
It is a favorite amusement among the natives of the East Indian islands
to secure a number of these fish, and pit them one against the other,
just as English "gentlemen" of days gone by used to match game-cocks to
fight each other. Mons. Carbonnier has never placed two together in the
same vessel, but if two are put into separate glasses and placed near to
each other, it is very amusing to watch their attempts at combat. At
first they will closely scan each other from a distance; then, changing
color and becoming almost black, the gill-covers are opened out and form
a sort of collarette round the head, giving the fish a most curious
appearance. The tail and fins become phosphorescent in color, as well as
the eyes, and are tinted with the most beautiful hues. Then they attempt
to get at each other, but are prevented by the intervening glass. When
their anger is sufficiently aroused, they are turned into the same
vessel, when they fight vigorously with rapid strokes of the tails and
fins, till one of them seeks safety in flight, and turns a sort of
grayish-white color, often jumping out of the water to escape his
conqueror.
_A Snake's Attachment for Home._
Lord Monboddo relates the following anecdote of a serpent: "I am well
informed of a tame serpent in the East Indies, which belonged to the
late Dr. Vigot, once kept by him in the suburbs of Madras. This serpent
was taken by the French when they invested Madras, and was carried to
Pondicherry in a close carriage. But from thence he found his way back
to his old quarters, though Madras was above one hundred miles distant
from Pondicherry."
_Queer Legend about Fish._
Most of the flat-fish, such as the flounder, plaice, sole, &c., are
white or colorless on one side and dark colored on the other.
Naturalists account for this by saying that these fish live at the
bottom of the sea, dark side uppermost, to prevent their being easily
seen by the ocean monsters that devour them. The Egyptians give another
explanation. They tell that Moses was once cooking a flat-fish, and when
it had been broiled on one side, the fire or the oil gave out, and Moses
angrily threw the fish into the sea, where, though half broiled, it
became as lively as ever, and its descendants have retained its
parti-colored appearance to the present day, being white on one side and
brown or black on the other.
_An Old Pike._
In the year 1497 a pike was captured in the vicinity of Mannheim,
Germany, with the following announcement, in Greek, appended to his
muzzle:—
"I am the first fish that was put into this pond by the hands of the
Emperor Frederic the Second, on this third day of October, 1262."
The age of the pike, therefore, if the notice spoke the truth (and the
enormous dimensions of his body left little doubt on that point), was
more than two hundred and thirty-five years. Already he had been the
survivor of many important changes in the political and social world
around him, and would have survived perhaps as many more, had it not
been for his capture. His carcass, which weighed three hundred and fifty
pounds, and measured nineteen feet, was sent to the museum at Mannheim,
where it now hangs, a light, desiccated skeleton, which a child might
move.
_Colossal Shells._
One of these in particular has acquired a certain celebrity on account
of its size and the peculiar use to which it has been put. It is the
gigantic Tridacna, commonly known as the "font," because it is sometimes
employed in churches to contain the sacred water. The great Tridacnæ,
which are only detached from the rocks by cutting their cable with an
axe, sometimes weigh more than five hundred pounds. The natives of the
Molucca Islands eat them like we do oysters, to which they are
analogous, and the flesh of one is a sufficient meal for twenty people.
Their thick valves, which are sometimes five feet long, serve as troughs
for the inhabitants, which nature offers ready cut and polished, and
which they often use for feeding pigs, or convert into bath-tubs for
their children. Buffon speaks of a shell, the diameter of which was
equal to that of a carriage-wheel, and which was used for a mill-stone.
_Changing Colors in a Dying Mullet._
The mullet is a fish that was much esteemed by the ancients. The
Italians have a proverb which says: "He who catches a mullet is a fool
if he eats it and does not sell it"—owing to the high price which the
fish commanded. When it is dying, it changes its colors in a very
singular manner until it is lifeless. This spectacle was so gratifying
to the Romans that they used to show the fish dying in a glass vessel to
their guests before dinner.
_An Immense Zoological Cabinet._
Schleiden maintains that a single visiting card, when it is covered with
a white layer of chalk, represents a zoological cabinet containing
nearly 100,000 shells of animals. These shells are formed of carbonate
of lime, and are so extremely small that it has been calculated that it
would require 10,000,000 of them to make a pound of chalk.
_Chank-Shell._
This name is given to a shell of several species of _Turbinella_, a
genus of mollusks found in the East Indian seas. They are much used as
ornaments by Hindoo women, the arms and legs being encircled with them.
Many of them are buried with opulent persons. A chank-shell opening to
the right is rare, and highly prized in Calcutta, one hundred pounds
being sometimes paid for one.
_Edifices of the Polypi._
The prodigious surface over which the combined and ceaseless toil of
these little architects extends, must be taken into consideration in
order to understand the important part they play in nature. They have
built a barrier of reefs 400 miles long round New Caledonia, and another
which extends along the northeast coast of Australia 1000 miles in
length. This represents a mass in comparison with which the walls of
Babylon and the Pyramids of Egypt are as children's toys. And these
edifices of the Polypi have been reared in the midst of the ocean waves,
and in defiance of tempests which so rapidly annihilate the strongest
works constructed by man. They build their reefs and islands with
remarkable rapidity. One of the straits in the approaches to Australia,
which a few years ago only possessed twenty-six madrepore islands, at
present displays one hundred and fifty.
_Showers of Blood._
In the old chronicles we often read of drops of blood scattered here and
there being regarded as a sinister omen, or even of regular showers of
blood which carried terror into the minds of our superstitious
ancestors. Now-a-days we know that the phenomenon is connected with the
metamorphosis of insects. Gregory of Tours speaks of a shower of blood
which fell in the reign of Childebert and spread alarm among the Franks.
But the most celebrated is that which took place at Aix during the
summer of 1608. It struck the inhabitants of the country with terror.
The walls of the church-yard and those of the houses for half a league
round were spotted with great drops of blood. A careful examination of
them convinced a savant of that day, M. de Peirese, that all that was
told about the subject was only a fable. He could not at first explain
the extraordinary phenomenon, but chance revealed the cause. Having
inclosed in a box the chrysalis of one of the butterflies which were
then showing themselves in great numbers, he was astonished to see a
stain of scarlet red at the spot where the metamorphosis had taken
place. He had discovered the cause of the wondrous rain which had
alarmed the people. A prodigious swarm of butterflies had appeared at
the time, and his conjectures were confirmed by the fact that no drops
of blood had been found on the roofs of the houses, but only on the
lower stories, the places which the butterflies had chosen for their
metamorphoses.
_Shirts Growing on Trees._
"We saw on the slope of the Cerra Dnida," says Humboldt, "shirt trees
fifty feet high. The Indians cut off cylindrical pieces two feet in
diameter, from which they peel the red and fibrous bark without making
any longitudinal incision. This bark affords them a sort of garment
which resembles a sack of very coarse texture, and without a seam. The
upper opening serves for the head, and two lateral holes are cut to
admit the arms. The natives wear these shirts of Marina in the rainy
season; they have the form of the ponchos and manos of cotton which are
so common in New Grenada, at Quito and in Peru. As in this climate the
riches and beneficence of nature are regarded as the primary cause of
the indolence of the inhabitants, the missionaries do not fail to say,
in showing the shirts of Marina, 'In the forests of Oroonoka garments
are found ready made upon the trees.'"
_Whistling Trees._
Schweinfurth, in his "Heart of Africa," describes what may be termed an
insect organ-builder. In the country of the Shillooks, he says, the
acacia groves extend over an area of a hundred miles square and stretch
along the right bank of the stream. From the attacks of larvæ of
insects, which have worked to the inside, their ivory white shoots are
often distorted in form and swollen out at their base with globular
bladders measuring about an inch in diameter. After the mysterious
insect has unaccountably managed to glide out of its circular hole, this
thorn-like shoot becomes a sort of musical instrument, upon which the
wind, as it plays, produces the regular sound of a flute. On this
account the natives of the Soudan have named it the whistling tree.
_Aconite._
This plant was regarded by the ancients as the most violent of poisons.
They said that it was the invention of Hecate, and that it sprung from
the foam of Cerberus.
_Oysters Growing on Trees._
Mr. C. H. Williams, of the Geographical Society of England, tells us how
oysters inhabit the Mangrove woods in Cuba: "For several years I resided
in that island, and have several times come across scenes and objects
which many people would consider great curiosities—one in particular.
Oysters grow on trees, in immense quantities, especially in the southern
part of the island. I have seen miles of trees, the lower stems and
branches of which were literally covered with them, and many a good meal
have I enjoyed with very little trouble in procuring it. I simply placed
the branches over the fire, and, when opened, I picked out the oysters
with a fork or a pointed stick. These peculiar shell-fish are indigenous
in lagoons and swamps on the coast, and as far as the tide will rise and
the spray fly so will they cling to the lower parts of the Mangrove
trees, sometimes four or five deep, the Mangrove being one of the very
few trees that flourish in salt water."
_The Shaking Aspen._
The aspen is popularly said to have been the tree which formed the cross
upon which the Saviour was crucified, and since then its boughs have
been filled with horror and tremble ceaselessly. Unfortunately for the
probability of this story, the shivering of the aspen in the breeze may
be traced to other than a supernatural cause. The construction of its
foliage is particularly adapted for motion; a broad leaf is placed upon
a long footstalk so flexible as scarcely to be able to support the leaf
in an upright posture. The upper part of this stalk, on which the play
or action seems mainly to depend, is contrary to the nature of
footstalks in general, being perfectly flattened, and, as an eminent
botanist has acutely observed, is placed at a right-angle with the leaf,
being thus particularly fitted to receive the impulse of every wind that
blows.
_Tree Planting in Java._
In Java a fruit tree is planted on the birth of each child, and is
carefully tended as the record of his or her age.
_Turkish Superstition about the Geranium._
The Turks believe that the geranium was originally a swallow, and that
its existence was changed by a touch from the robe of Mahomet.
_Four-leaved Clover._
For centuries it has been considered lucky to find a four-leaved clover.
Melton, in his "Astrologaster," says: "That if a man, walking in the
fields, find any foure-leaved grasse, he shall in a small while after
find some good thing."
_Bitterness of Strychnia._
Strychnia, the active principle of the nux vomica bean, which has become
so famous in the annals of criminal poisoning, is so intensely bitter
that it will impart a sensibly bitter taste to six hundred thousand
times its weight of water.
_Copied from Nature._
The remarkably pleasing patterns which adorn the Cashmere shawls from
the foot of the Himalaya mountains are copied from the leaves of the
begonia.
_Rose of Jericho._
Under this trivial name is known one of the most singular forms of
plant-life. It is an annual, and is found in northern Africa, Syria and
Arabia. It presents nothing strange during the growing season, but, as
the pods begin to ripen on the approach of dry weather, the branches
drop their leaves and curl inward, appearing like dead twigs. When
completely ripe the whole plant presents the aspect of a ball of curious
wicker-work at the top of a short stem. The roots die away, and the wind
carries the plant to great distances. When the apparently dead,
worthless ball reaches the sea or other water, or becomes wedged
somewhere till a rain comes, then the curled and dried ball, under the
influence of water, unbends, and the branches resume their proper
places. The pods open and discharge their seeds perhaps hundreds of
miles from the place of original growth.
The monks of Palestine call it "Mary's Flower," from the belief that it
expands each year on the day and hour of the birth of the Saviour. It is
also known as the resurrection plant, and women in Palestine, about to
undergo the pangs of childbirth, place it in water at the beginning of
their pains in the hope that the blooming may be the signal of their
deliverance.
_Curious Oranges._
There are many oranges, of curious shape and flavor, which we seldom or
never see in this country. Such are the pear-shaped kind grown in the
far East; the orange of the Philippines, which is no larger than a
good-sized cherry; the double orange, in which two perfect oranges
appear, one within the other; and the "fingered citron" of China, which
is very large, and is placed on the table by the Celestials rather for
its exquisite fragrance than for its flavor.
_Trifoliated Plants considered Sacred._
Many trifoliated plants have been held sacred from a remote antiquity.
The trefoil was eaten by the horses of Jupiter, and a golden,
three-leaved, immortal plant, affording riches and protection, is
noticed in Homer's Hymn _in Mercurium_. In the palaces of Nineveh, and
on the medals of Rome, representations of triple branches, triple leaves
and triple fruit are to be found. On the temples and pyramids of
Gibel-el-Birkel, considered to be much older than those of Egypt, there
are representations of a tri-leaved plant, which, in the illustrations
of Hoskin's "Travels in Ethiopia," seem to be nothing else than the
shamrock. The triad is still a favorite figure in national and heraldic
emblems.
_The Belladonna Lily._
This flower (the _Amaryllis formosissima_), in a strong light, has a
yellow lustre like gold. It was originally named _flos Jacobœbus_,
because some imagined that they discovered in it a likeness to the badge
of the knights of the order of St. James, founded in Spain in the
fourteenth century.
_Thirty Years in Blossoming._
The bamboo tree does not blossom until it attains its thirtieth year,
when it produces seed profusely and then dies. It is said that a famine
was prevented in India, in 1812, by the sudden flowering of the bamboo
trees, where fifty thousand people resorted to the jungles to gather the
seed for food.
_Mouse-Ear._
Lupton, in his third "Book of Notable Things," 1660, says: "Mousear, any
manner of way administered to horses, brings this help unto them, that
they cannot be hurt while the smith is shoeing of them; therefore it is
called of many, herba clavorum, the herb of nails."
_Mugwort._
Coles, in his "Art of Simpling," says: "If a footman take mugwort and
put into his shoes in the morning, he may goe forty miles before noon,
and not be weary."
_The Shoe-black Plant._
There is a species of hibiscus growing in New South Wales, the showy
flowers of which contain a large proportion of mucilaginous juice of a
glossy, varnish-like appearance. Chinese ladies use the juice for dyeing
their hair and eyebrows. In Java the flowers are used for blacking
shoes.
_St. John's Wort._
The common people in France and Germany gather this plant with great
ceremony on St. John's day, and hang it in their windows as a charm
against thunder and evil spirits. In Scotland it is carried about as a
charm against witchcraft and enchantment, and the people fancy it cures
ropy milk, which they suppose to be under some malignant influence. As
the flowers, when rubbed between the fingers, yield a red juice, it has
obtained the name of _Sanguis hominis_ (human blood) among some fanciful
medical writers.
The young maid stole through the cottage door,
And blushed as she sought the plant of pow'r—
"Thou silver glow-worm, O lend me thy light,
I must gather the mystic St. John's wort to-night."
_Vegetable Fungus._
At the beginning of the present century Sir Joseph Banks, of London, had
a cask of wine which was too sweet for immediate use, and it was placed
in the cellar to become mellowed by age. At the end of three years he
directed his butler to ascertain the condition of the wine, when, on
attempting to open the cellar door, he could not effect it in
consequence of some powerful resistance. The door was cut down, and the
cellar was found completely filled with a firm fungus vegetable
production—so firm that it was necessary to use an ax for its removal.
This had grown from and had been nourished by the decomposed particles
of the wine. The cask was empty and touched the ceiling, where it was
supported by the surface of the fungus.—_Hone._
_The Rose at Midsummer._
The gathering of a rose on midsummer eve was once superstitiously
associated with the choice of a husband. The custom is stated to be a
relic of Druidical times, and is thus mentioned in the _Connoisseur_,
No. 50:—
"Our maid Betty tells me, that if I go backward, without speaking a
word, into the garden, upon midsummer eve, and gather a rose, and keep
it in a clean sheet of paper without looking at it until Christmas day,
it will be as fresh as in June; and if I then stick it in my bosom, he
that is to be my husband will come and take it out."
Another custom was to gather the rose and seal it up while the clock was
striking twelve at mid-day.
_The House Leek._