Naturalist

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 350, 22 January 1903, Page 7

Naturalist

HYPNOTISING FBOGS. aOfrOME further experiments with £pik; frogs were xeoently made by Mile. <mPm Stefanowski, of Brussels, to show how they act when hypnotised. Frogs which have spent the' winter in an aquarium can easily be hypnotised when they are exhausted after a prolonged fast -~iamely, during spring and summer. As'soon as they are turned on their backs they fall into a hypnotic state, and in many instances are even seized with catalepsy. INBENBIBLB TO PAIN. While they are hypnotised the action of their organs is practically suspended, and they are insensible to pain. The pupils of their eyes are al rays contracted and do not begin to dilate until they awake, and, furthermore, their hearts be»t slowly and their breathing is hardly perceptible. In this condition they may remain for a half hour, or even longer. According to Mile. Stefanowski this condition of profound hypnosis is especially marked in the case of these frogs which are kept during winter in a dry place, and which thus have nob the customary quantity of water in their bodies. Such frogs remain in a hypnotic state for a longer period than the others and are not easily aroused. Frogs collected in the spring can also be hypnotised, but have a greater power of resistance than the others. After they have fasted for sometime, however, they can be hypnotised as readily as - any others. Hence scientists conclude that experiments of this kind can be conducted most successfully, with frogs exhausted through a long fast and whose bodies lack the necessary supply of water.

, FEEDING A PYTHON When a twenty-six foot python loses its appetite, drastic measures have to be taken to save its life. Some time ago the New York Zoological Society secured one of these snakes, but it absolutely refused to eat. While it is possible for a snake to refrain from food for a considerable period there is a limit to its endurance. As there seemed to be no inclination on the part of this snake to sava itself from starvation the authorities decided tbat extreme measures must be taken. The food, which consisted of two rabbits and four guinea pigs, was prepared. The animals were fastened to the end of a long pole. The snake was firmly grasped by twelve men and brought out •■ ; i« : the centre of the reptile hoase. Its • mouth was opened and the food was pushed into it by the aid of the pole. The snake made violent efforts to breakaway, and it was only by the combined efforts of the men that he was held quiet enough to allow the gastronomical operation to be performed. He was then put back into the cage to allow the processes of digestion to resume.

MIKE, THE FEATHERED MASCOT. ' I bring in five and take out two.' This sounded like arithmetic, but it wasn't. It was j net business, railroad \ business,,pertaining to the very busy life Henry McCarthy, who, for 28 years has > pulled the lever on engines that have pulled great trains toward Kansas City sometimes and towards Denver at others, over the old Kansas Pacific, or Union Pacific, as it is now known. The numbers he mentioned referred to the numbers of the trains —5 and 2. His engine, McCarthy said, in 1474, ' and a better one of the kind,' he added, in the phraseology of 'My Uncle Toby,' 'you wouldn't find in a dozen years.' McCarthy was an engineer before he came to Colorado in 1373 and he has been an engineer ever since, barring three years when he was in tho sheep business inf Lincoln county—a disastrous three years ending in a total loss ef 1,000 sheep, which gave up the ghost under the asphyxiating force < f a waterspout. ' And that's the way I went out of the sheep business and back to rail-roading.' But Mr McCarthy is a modest man, if his hair is short on top, and doesn't talk unless he is drawn out. There are those who can draw him out, however, and one of those got at him the other night and

touched the right spring. 'No, I'm aot superstitions,'he began, as they all begin, when they are asked if they have any haunting ideas,' but I don't mind telling you of a curious thing which happened to me back east when I used to work a throttle on the Fort Wayne road. f*?A little bird lit on,the pilot of my engine one day as we were passing through Kokomo, Ind. Some crumbs of bread or something that had been left on the small platform by somebody attracted its attention. It picked and picked at the crumbs till we had travelled twenty miles to Pern, Ind. There it finished its meal and flew away. I didn't think any more about the circumstances till next day, when on my return through I again notiWi this small brown bird. It fluttered about the pilot for a moment, and .eetmed to mias something. Realising _at Bbnee>£Hat 'his was the same Httle bird which had travelled with me on the prewiouslday, lat once unpacked my lunch ' 2 boxSadd threw some crumbs out on one of the running'boards. * The bird caught on at once. He was an awfully cute little fellow and began to pick at. the dinner I had thrown out to him. He, rode back with me toKokomo and thero deserted me. The next time I came through he waß waiting for me, and I had his breakfast ready for him, all spread out. ... ■ Well, sir, that little fellow rode with me for two years. 1 took a great interest in him, and he got bo tame he would come right up into the cab and eat lunch with me., I inquired and found that' Mike,' as w| called him, was one of the despised English sparrows, but we didn't despise him; we thought the world of him—J Je Hennesey* my fireman, and I. 'We didn't know what a crusade was on against the sparrows or we would have looked ou,t better for Mike, but one day when we Icame through Kokomo Mike missed his train. It was the first time he had missed it Bince we had made his acquaintance, and we worried about him throughout the whole run. When we got back to Kokomo on the return trip we that there had been a great slaughter of sparrows, and we knew little Mike had been one of the victims.

BABBITS FOB PLEASURE AND ■PROFIT. The inner wmpartment of the breeding, hutch must be filled with clean hay or straw (straw is best, being less liable to tangle in the long wool) a week before the doe is due to kindle, as shown by the diary, which must always be kept to prove dates of mating. _ fV After that the inner compartment mast be left severely ....alone,,food and., ..drink being placed at night in the outer one, and during the day in the private run. _ - i When placing fo?d for night's consumption, be careful teshut thetdoe out into, her run. Then you can at the same- time txamine the litter through, the wirescreen at the back of the inner compartment, and, when necessary, remeve the dirt that accismalatea in the outer, Without frightening the nervous, and suspicions mother.