Naturalist

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 422, 19 May 1904, Page 7

Naturalist

A DOG STOBY. a Birmingham lady who tKkL was P zocee ding by rail to Eubery, Jgyii was annoyed to find that when about to enter the train at the station the house dog had followed her. She ordered the animal to return home, and entering the compartment thought no further of tHe matter until she arrived at King's Norton, where she had to change. There, to her amazement, she found the dog seated on one of the buffers at the end of the carriage. Failing to enter the compartment in which its mistress travelled, the dog-jumped on to the buffer and made the journey in this risky position rather than be left behind. THE SEASONING OF ANIMALS. In a recent number of the ' Animals' Friend' there is a story told which seems to show that, in que«t of its prey, a cat can display all the intelligent watchfulness of a deerstalker or a poacher. The animal in question belongs to the manageress of a railway station refreshment buffet. One day recently, ' M'idget' noticed a mouse which had contrived to find its way into & cupboard among a lot tf wine glasses. Evidently the oat saw

J that to capture the mouse in that retreat would bo somewhat so, jumping on to the top of the cupboard, from a plate there he gently precipitated a pieoe of oheeße on the floor—and waited. For oyer an hour ' Midgot's * keen eyes were glued on the decoying morsel, and not in vain. At last the mouse could resist the temptation no longer, and made a rush for the cheese, when the problem which the oat had seemingly propounded to himself found a solution.

! A USEFUL LITTLE INSECT. With their little red wrappers deoprated with black polka dots, the various members of the lady-bng family are gay and attractive members of the insect world. They are always man's friend, and get moßt of their living by preying on the destructive soft-bodied plant lice, the most common of which is the green aphis, whioa can commonly be found on house plants and rose bushes, The moßt striking example of the usefulness of the lady-bug to the horticulturists is seen in the case of Vedalia cardinalis, the bug which was imported from Australia and which saved the citrus trees of California by devastating the orange and lemon groves. In the study of the grain aphis it was found that a species of lady-bug preyed upon this pest. The former were observed to go down among the roots of the grain in the field in search of the aphidis, and to paBB the winter along with them in that situation. Tnelarvro of the lady-bug also live principally upon insects which are destructive to garden and field crops. The dainty lady bug should never be Scientific American.' A NET FULL OF SHAKES. On the north coast of Trinidad, just across the mountain range behind Port of Spain, lies the little bay callel Sant d'Eau after the waterfall which leaps down from the low surrounding cliff on to its shingly beach. The family of Tardioua, ex-whalers, fishermen, and cocoa growers, own the bay, and have a fishing station there. Continuing, he remarks : ' Charles Tardieu is my authority for the truth of the following acoount of a very curious fishing experience which befell him there one day last March. He and his crew of seven or eight men had spent ten days at Sant d'Eau watching for cavalho, which at this season are generally to be found on that coast in large numbers. But the sea was too rough for seining, and no fish were seen during all that time. One morning, however, the bay was found to be full of. the sardine dore, or golden sardine, one of the favourite food fishes of the cavalho, thekiEgfiah, and the shark, and although there was no sign of any larger fish, Tardieu resolved to shoot the net, on the offchance of the fish being here, and deep down. The seine he used is nearly 400 yards long, and easily covers the whole of the bay, which is not more than 150 yards across. All went well until the net came inside the headlands of the bay, when the taßk of hauling it further inside became gradually more and more difficult. Finally the net stuck, not in one place, but all around its circumference, and could not posaibly be drawn any further. Not one of the men, ali of them experienced hands, could suggest a cause for the net's unprecedented behavior, till first one and then another and then several sharks jumped and. slid over the corks and made off to the open sea. Then Tardieu saw what was the matter, and shouted to the two men in the boat outside the seine to haul the net up and let the brutes go. They tried their best, but so great was the pressure inside that they could not move it from the bottom. They did not try long, however, for in a very short time the little bay was absolutely alive with sharks beating, jumping, thrashing in a frenzy of terror, and the two men were very glad to join their fellows ashore and watch the extraordinary sight of a seine full of sharks. Over a hundred at the very least got away over the net, When the turmoil had quite subsided, and they were able to drag the net ashore, they landed 59 sharks, all entangled in the meshes and drowned, and in the net tbere were 73 holes from 2 feet to 3 feet in diameter, through each of which at least one shark had escaped. It took them three days and 16? worth of twine to mend that seine. Tardieu says that he has often in the old whaling days seen sharks eating whale. But he never saw anything like this before. He says he and his men were trembling as they watched from the safe vantage ground of the shore. The sharks were from 6 feet to 12 f6et in length, and were all of a species common on this coast.'