THE STING-RAY

Hokitika Guardian, 21 June 1932, Page 2

THE STING-RAY

POISON IN GLANDS

People in New Zealand stung by sting-rays, commonly called stingarees, writes J. Drummond, F.L.S., F.Z.S., suffer so severely that they believe that the fishes., inject poison .into the wounds. From remote times, fishermen held the same opinion, sometimes supporting it by exaggerated statements. These may have led to the myth that Circe, after seeking for the most formidable weapon she could place in Lei- son’s hands, gave him a spear pointed with * the spine of a huge sting-ray. Conning down to facts, a manN arm Idas been amputated as the result of a sting-ray's attack.

NOT LIKE SNAKE POISON

A scientific theory was that the effects were produced by infections from bacteria carried in with slime covering the spine that .makes the wound. Hr K. W. Gudger, an .American student or fishes, concluded tli.it the dreadful pain and the swelling that fol'ow immediately an infliction of the wound were too rapid and severe to be explained by bacteria! infection. He fell back on the explanation that quick effects were caused by the slime acting as a chemical poison when circulating in the blood. The latest pronouncement, made by an English surgeon, Dr H. M. 'Evans, after specie) research. returns to the orig'nal view. R. i*l that at the base of the spine there is a smni'l poison guiud. When the spine is inserted into an enemy's flesh, the gland squeezes ppPon down a • groove in the spine, and th e poison is injected into the victim’s flesh and blood. Analysis of the secretion seems to show that it is only moderately poisonous ; it i< less venomous than poisons used by. some snakes, but is siiffieleiik'y effective to be very unpleasant. CANNOT POISON SHARKS. A peculiar feature .of a sting-ray’s poison is that, shark', apparently, are j immune from it. A Gisborne corre.-pon. dent, describing attempts to catch a large old-man shark that visited waters near Wainui Beach, stated 'that the trap was baited with sting-ray. Th’s may have been done at the suggestion of Maori b but it .is commonly known amongst fishermen that sharks take sting-ray more readily, perhaps, than any other bait. Sharks and sting-rays belong to the same group of fishes and sharks, in satisfying a ta=tc for stinglivys, may be .said to practice cannibnßsin. There is ample evidence that sharks attack and devour stingrays with impunity. A hammer-head, thirteen , feet long, had in its stomach three sting-rays and remnants of seventeen sting-rays’ spines. There wel’e many spines in that hammerhead’s jaw, and twenty-four spines in the gum. Hammer-heads, judging by his evidence, have a particular weakness for their cousin s , the sting-rays.

11l one cusp, a spine was thrust into tissues of tho jaw when the hammerhead caught the sting-ray. LITTLE SPITFIRES.

One of. the Commonwealth’s "gifts to this Dominion is a paper-nest wa-p with a painful skiing, Polistes variabilis. It came uninvited, probably about thirtyfive iyears ago, establishing itself in 'the congenial north, and spreading south, but not so far south as to shiver in the old atmospher e it dislikes. ' Its aggressiveness makes lit a nuisance. Mr >l. C. M’Keown, who lias studied the habits of tl’iese wasps in their native livul, states if a person approaches a nest every wasp n't hom e faces towards the intruder in hostile- attitude, ready to attack. This disposition throws diffi. 1 cnlty -in the way of studying tlr-se spitfires unless a nest is in a favourable place outside a window, and there, is between observer and observed a pane of glass or a gauze fly-screen. With these precautions, Mr M’Keown assures readers of “The Austin’lan Museum Magazine,” the study is’ fascinating.

A PAPER HOME. A nest is composed of many hexagonal cells. It is madp of material scraped off fencing-posts and trunks of trees mixed, with saliva until it becomes papier-mache. Only a few cells are built at first. The female, or queen wa-p.

deposits an egg in each cell. She feeds the young wasps, when they are hatched, with the ehpwed-np bodies of caterpillars or spiders, helped down, perhaps, with a little honey. Spinning a silken cap over its cc'l, a young wasp lies inert lin'Gde during its chrysalis stage. The great day arriving it emerges a per feck wasp. Worker wasps feed the young and buih] new cells, thg queen wasp laying her eggs in them. As new eells are added to the old ones, the papery home is increased until it may be six inched in diameter. Courting takes p]ac e in the autumn. The males then die. Tin* females hibernate in the winter, sliel"cring in the crevic,. of a hollmv tree trunk or in other suitable places. Reei't'lecl from slumber by the warmth of spring. they begin life's cycle agiiu, luii'diiig now homos and establishing i’ow communitL ;. POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. In popular natural li'rtbrv, th-' quarterly magazine published bv the trustees of (he Australian Museuin, Sydney, ranks atnongs 1 : the beat. In the -'nril-Jum number in addition to Mr M.’Keown’s article on wasps. Miss Nancy Adams has an artiel,, i,n-t'we-tmg to New Zealanders, as it re. fers to the labile of the common furniture bow r, or house borer. A nobum! pnuctatmn. will b. curbing ,I"v----ro'\ is a notorious worker of mlsi-liKf. ar t . info'i'iative artiel”-, on snails, ungl r fishes, (ho platypus, and wild life in AiisLivJin getm—div. from which much may be learnt without effort. I