Part 11 (1/2)
Sometimes the wavelets did the kneading and rolling so clumsily that the nodule was malformed, but the majority were singularly symmetrical, evidencing nice adjustment between the degree of adhesiveness of the ”pug” and the applied force of the wave. Several weighed nearly a quarter of a pound, while the majority were not much bigger than marbles, and the oval was the most frequent form.
Is it reasonable to conjecture that some of these singular formations which Neptune turned out by the score during an idle afternoon may be preserved--kernels of sedimentary rock each in a case of sandstone-- throughout the wreck of matter to form the texts of scientific homilies in ages to come?
THE ATROCITY OF THE SNAKE
September 28, 1909.
A red snake discovered in a coop with a hen and clutch of chicks. The coop had been deemed snake-proof, but the slim snake had easily pa.s.sed in at the half-inch mesh wire-netting in front. Upon investigation it was found that the snake had swallowed one chick (and had thereby become a prisoner), had killed three others and maimed a fifth so that it died, and that the hen had killed the snake by pecking its head. The snake (a non-venomous species) was about a yard long and had killed the chicks by constriction. If snakes are in the habit of killing more than they can eat of the broods of wild birds, how enormous the toll they take!
CHAPTER XVIII
INSECT WAYS
”Some day ere I grow too old to think I trust to be able to throw away all pursuits, save natural history, and to die with my mind full of G.o.d's facts instead of men's lies.”--CHARLES KINGSLEY.
August 2, 1909.
A lanky gra.s.shopper with keeled back and pointed prow flew before me, settling on a leaf of blady gra.s.s, at once became fidgety and restless; flew to another blade and was similarly uneasy. It was bluff in colour with a narrow longitudinal streak of fawn, while the blades of gra.s.s whereon it rested momentarily were green. Each time it settled it adjusted itself to the blade of gra.s.s, became conscious of discomfort or apprehensive of danger, and sought another. Presently it settled on a yellowing leaf, the tints of which exactly corresponded with its own. The longitudinal streak became absorbed in the midrib of the blade, and the insect rested secure in its invisibility. The event demonstrated the purpose of its previous restlessness.
CARNIVOROUS WASPS
October 6, 1909.
This morning the soda siphon (which had not been used for a couple of days) refused duty, owing to a plug of terra-cotta-coloured clay.
Upon the spout being probed the gush of gas expelled a quant.i.ty of clay and thirty-five small spiders, representative of about six different species. The spout had been converted into a nursery and larder by a carnivorous wasp, for in addition to the moribund spiders stored for the sustenance of future grubs were several unhatched eggs. Such wasps are exceedingly common, some building ”nests” as large as a tea-cup, the last compartment being fitted with an elegantly fas.h.i.+oned funnel, the purpose of which is not obvious.
If these nests are broken up, after the hatching out, the grubs are found-several in each compartment--feasting on the comatose spiders or caterpillars stored for their refreshment. Others of the species build a series of nests, detached or semi-detached, and shaped in resemblance to Greek amphora. Another species selects hollows in wood in which the eggs and insects are scaled. The larger wasps are not fearful of attacking so-called tarantulas, one sting rendering them paralytic.
November 10 1909.
Blue has a decided fascination for the bloodsucking ”March” flies. In the ”blue” tub of the laundry hundreds are lured to suicide, while the other tubs alongside count no voluntary victims. Blue clothing attracts scores, whereas the effect of any other colour is normal upon the appreciative sense of the flies. I am not well a.s.sured whether an attack of the ”humph”--”the humph which is black and blue”--is not also diagnosed by the contemplative insects and forthwith attended to.
Certainly if one has the misfortune to have become a.s.sociated for the time being with devils of cerulean hue, the company of the flies seems all the more persistent and provocative of vexation. Imagination reels before the consequences of a blue costume, ”all's blue,” and the thrice intensified attacks of the indolent but persevering blood-suckers.
November 16, 1909.
Found a flat hairy spider, about 1 in. in diameter of body, mottled pale brown and grey, brooding over a flat egg capsule almost of the same tints as itself. It was on the trunk of the jack fruit tree, and so closely resembles the egg-capsule produced by contiguous fungi as to be absolutely invisible unless the gaze happened to be concentrated on the spot. No doubt in my mind that the similitude of the spider, together with its egg-capsule, to the adjacent discs of fungi enabled it to escape detection. When disturbed the spider whisked into absolute invisibility.
I inspected the trunk of the tree for several minutes before I found it, within six inches of its original resting-place, perfectly still, acting the part of an obscure vegetable.
TARANTULAS AND TARANTISMUS
A few months ago I read in a text-book a dogmatic a.s.sertion to the effect that the so-called tarantulas were perfectly innocent of venom, and formidable only to the insects on which they prey. The great, good-tempered fellow, as uncouth in its hairiness as Nebuchadnezzar during his lamentable but salutary attack of boanthropy, is regarded with a good deal of suspicion, if not dread, though it pays for its lodging by reason of its large appet.i.te, which latter statement seems self-contradictory. To satisfy its pangs of hunger it captures numbers of small insects which, w.i.l.l.y nilly, tenant our homes.