NATURE'S SHARPSKOOTERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 84, 29 July 1942, Page 2

NATURE'S SHARPSKOOTERS

Patient aii:ni:; 1- wat -hers diMV-.-er tilt* most u iic\p :v i e.i (lua'il-es and abi li[ics in the o;.-joe*!:;f Lll-• ■ r study. T!) "v have l< ired. for instance, thai some an'.mais are even —given I'aou-able co,: iit'ons-excel-lent m-:ii'k.sm<Mi. Those ugiy, fat garden ship's, who certanry do not impress one ' ;is amusing or spirited creatures, are firsl-raio inark.snuMi. '"musketeers of love 1." After a. warm summer rain these anima's become lively am! Oirtatious. Sudden ! y ;■ thin vaji'Uir appears. hovering n\v one; of lir.' slug's. A tiny arrow, ilir.through the a'r: a second s:ug a leisurely.walk stops, iras, st;e ehoitself and walks on again. A we'laimed shot lias been lire;!, a snia!'l lime arrow thrust forth by the pressure of the muselcs: this is a strange caress from one an*ma', to Ihe other .sent through the summer air. Zoologists call these small attentions of amorous male slugs, "'love arrows," and, strange to say.; these arrows always'score a bit. There is a'so a Siamese fish, a kind of perch, called the "shooting fish" on account of its great gifts as a marksman. A soon as this fish -sees an insect approaching in tire air lie rises to the surface of the water, takes aim, and fires a drop of'-water straight at the insert. The frightened and half stunned insect falls into the water, and the perch seizes it immediately. If a human being comes too close, the perch begins to "lire l ' violently, always trying to hit the eyes, so as to confuse his stronger adversary. Warfare is not solely a human activity, 3-011 see.