THE AQUARIUM, APRIL, 1896. 



47 



" The midget of the whole tree family is 

 "the Cxreenland birch," says the Li.nnber 

 Trade Journal. "It is a perfect tree in 

 every sense of that term, and lives its 

 allotted number of years (from 75 to 130 

 j^ears), just as other species of the great 

 birch family do, although its height, under 

 the most favorable conditions, seldom ex- 

 ceeds ten inches. Whole bluffs of the east 

 and southeast coast of Greenland are cov- 

 ered with ' thickets ' of this diminutive 

 species of wood}" plant, and in many places, 

 where the soil is uncommonly poor, and 

 from eight to ten months a year, a ' forest ' 

 of these trees will flourish for half a century 

 without growing to a height exceeding four 

 inches." 



A Dealer of Meibingen, Switzerland, 

 shipped in one week this winter 110,000 

 snails weighing two tons (4,000 pounds;, to 

 .the Paris market. These snails, known as 

 " Bui'gundy snails," or "Vineyard snails 

 {Helix ■pomatia) are carefully cultivated in 

 gardens. The business is said to be very 

 profitable. See another note on this sub- 

 ject above. 



A Cat's FtiNERAL as Conducted by a 

 Dog. — " Every one has observed instances 

 of affection between those proverbially hos- 

 tile animals, the dog and the cat," says 

 The American Naturalist (February) "but 

 .a case cited by l' Eleven r merits especial 

 attention. A dog and a cat belonging to 

 the same master were the best friends in 

 the world, and spent their time in frolick- 

 ing together. One day, while playing as 

 usual, the cat died suddenly, falling at the 

 dog's feet. The latter at first did not 

 realize what had happened, but continued 

 his play, pulling, pushing and caressing his 

 companion, but with evident astonishment 

 at her inertness. After some time he ap- 

 peared to imderstand the situation, and his 

 grief found vent in prolonged howls. Pres- 

 ently he was seized with the idea of burying 

 the cat. He pulled her into the garden^ 

 where he soon dug a hole with his paws, 

 and put in it the body of his former com- 

 Tpanion. He then refilled the hole with dirt, 

 and stretching himself out on the grave, 

 resumed his mournful howling. The idea 

 •of burying the dead cat was extraordinary. 

 Whence came the thought ? Could it be 

 imitation, or, which is a better explanation. 



did the dog have a vagiie idea of concealing 

 the event which might possibl}- be imputed 

 to him ■? But then it wovild seem unreason- 

 able for him to call attention to the fact, hy 

 installing himself on the grave and howling. 

 However, even human criminals are some- 

 times equally inconsistent. It is difficult to 

 form an exact idea of what gave rise to the 

 dog's conduct in this case. " 



Why People Like Dotjs. — And why do 

 people keep such lots of dogs themselves 

 and go in such numbers to see other 

 people's dogs ? Because the dog is at once 

 the sincerest flatterer and the most success- 

 ful cheerer that the human race ever had. 

 A good dog always gives us the feeling that 

 we men and women are a sort of gods. No 

 other animal does anj'thing of the kind. 

 The cat treats us as an inferior, and the 

 horse will treat us as a dear friend, not a 

 divinity. The dog, moreover, imparts some- 

 thing of his peculiar gayety to us in a way 

 that is irresistible. He mingles his sugges- 

 tions of gayety with his flattery, for he not 

 onlj" leaves his dinner untasted to walk with 

 us, but the mere fact that we are apparently 

 giving ourselves the pleasure of a walk 

 raises him into such a delirium of delight 

 that the sight of it puts all our dumps and 

 blues to such reproach that we shake them 

 off in very shame. And wheii we don't 

 walk, but sit moodily at home, the dog 

 curls up lovingly at our feet and looks up 

 now and then into our eyes and " glides 

 into our darker musings with a mild and 

 healing sympathy." Yes, there is a solid 

 reason for the fondness of men for dogs, 

 and it will never come to an end until 

 either men or dogs become very different 

 beings from what the}' are now. — Bontun 

 2'ranscript. 



Uncle Jack returns from a long walk, and 

 being somewhat thirsty drinks from a tum- 

 bler he finds on the table. 



Enter his little niece Alice, who instantl}- 

 sets up a cry of despair. 



Uncle Jack— "What's the matter, Allie ? " 



Alice (weeping)— " You drinked up my 

 'quarium, and you've swallowed up my free 

 pollywogs ! " — American., Philadelphia. 



Have any of The Aquabium readers dis- 

 covered that the little Florida lizards 

 (called chameleons in New York, but 



