A RAT WHO WAS CAUGHT BY A LIMPET.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 429, 4 August 1904, Page 6

A RAT WHO WAS CAUGHT BY A LIMPET.

A few years ago the writer and a friend were enjoying a few holidays at Campbeltown, and in the course of one of our rambles we had an experience rfhich, at the time, I thought both notable and curious. No visit to Whiskyopolis is complete without a rutt to Machrihanish Bay, or the'Saut Pans," aa the place is more familiarly called by the natives. After a light lunch at Haohrihanish Hotel, we went for a stroll along the beach. It was a beautifully dear day in July, and we were absorbed in contemplating the distant outline of the northern coast of Ireland on the one side, and the towering 'paps' of the Isle of Jura away to the west, almost directly in front of us, Nothing disturbed the calmness and serenity all around, until our attention was arrested by a peculiar squeaking sound which issued from among the rooks on the rugged shore,-What could it be? Simultaneously we stopped and looked at each other, our eyes.asking the same questioa, After consultation we decided to investigate the mystery; so stumbling over the boulders, following the peculiar sound, we ultimately reached the object of our search. Oar astonishment may be imagined when we saw a: large water rat held fast to a rook with its tongue under a limpet shell, and yelling (if I may use the term) as if in awful agony. Our previous anxiety was at once turned to mirth, and we determined to end his ratship'B pain, whieh we did—David and Goliath fashion—by aid of a stone. How the circumstance ooourred remains for scientists to tell, I have frequently told the story to residents at coast places, but none oould quote a parallel.

THE MOTOR DOG.

• L'lllnstration,' a Paris journal, publishes the portrait of an apparently new animal, a kind of dog, with ejes literally aa big as saucers, and an extra cuticle. Naturalists will be disappointed to learn that it is oaly an ordinary dog, dressed for—szarcise in the motor car. The saucers are goggles, and the extra cuticle is a dust coat. The human automobiliat has at last discovered that, while protecting his own eyes, he ought not to expose his dog to the risk of ophthalmia. But now another fearsome object is addded to the landscape, and the F/enoh peasant 'shakes his head when he sees rushing through the dust this animal which loo&s like the little brother of the gorilla who drives the flying car.'

I envy all women with a profession. When loneliness comes into their lives they have something which has to be done, whether they are sad or gay. That is the. salvation of men, and I believe it is going to be the salvation of women. Bemember, some people only .begin to Wftke np at forty-three,, .and then they have to crowd all sorts of .splfcnded achievements into the remaining years.

busts of ancient Komatia have no beards, and most arolent nations allowed their beards to grow only as a sign of mourning. '§ '3wfc