396 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



October 



The Best Detectives. 



A Frenchman naturally thinks the 

 Parisian deteclives the best. English- 

 men swear by the shrewdness of Scot- 

 land Yard men, and Americans, of 

 course, swear by the New York detect- 

 ives. After three years' residence in 

 China (says a traveler), I do not think 

 either of the three bodies is entitled to 

 the credit given it. The Chinese beat 

 them all. 



They are at one time the most expert 

 thieves and at another the most skilled 

 detectives in the world. A Chinaman 

 can steal your watch while you are look- 

 ing at it, and he can catch the man who 

 stole it, if it happens to be some other 

 man than himself, when a French de- 

 tective could not. 



I have peen evidences of detective 

 ability among the Chinese which would 

 startle even Lecocq. It is impossible for 

 an evildoer to long elude the Chinese 

 detectives. They scent a crime and fol- 

 low it to the last before civilized detect- 

 ives would know of it. 



The Chinese detective force is a secret 

 body, and the best organized in the 

 ■world. TLey have an eye upon every 

 man, woman and child, foreign or na- 

 tive, in China, and in addition watch 

 over each other. 



Informers are encouraged, and col- 

 lusion is impossible. The head of the 

 Chinese police is not known, but there 

 is one, and a very active one too. 1 

 have heard that the present head was 

 once an ambassador to a European coun- 

 try, but really I do not believe that any 

 one knows who he is. There are said tc 

 be over 60,000 men under him and his 

 assistants who control the various dis« 

 tricts. — Pearson's Weekly. 



Air Bubble Nests. 



Paradise fishes come from Japan, and 

 their nests are very odd, indeed, for 

 they are composed of air bubbles. Un- 

 like goldfish, they will breed and raise 

 their young in an aquarium or even a 

 glass globe, and, as they raise three oi 

 four broods each year, the girl or boy 

 who owns a pair of the interesting pets 

 is almost sure to have a large fish fam- 

 ily in a few months. 



Ordinarily the male paradise fish ia 

 of a dull silvery color, but when he goes 

 a-courtiug he puts on a brilliant coat, 

 striped with streaks of red, blue and 



green. When the female fish is ready 

 to lay eggs, she builds her nest by swal- 

 lowing air and making bubbles, which 

 are held together by a sticky secretion 

 that comes from her mouth. 



The eggs rise in the water and find a 

 resting place among the air bubbles, to 

 which they cling. The female fish tries 

 to swallow the eggs, but her husband 

 drives her away and keeps guard until 

 the eggs are hatched. If the air bubbles 

 burst, the male fish blows some more, 

 so that the nest is always floating on 

 the surface of the water. 



At the end of five days the young are 

 hatched out. They cannot swim, but 

 cling like tadpoles to the air bubbles. 

 If one falls, the father fish catches it in 

 his mouth and blows it up among the 

 bubbles again. He does not leave his 

 little ones until they are able to swim, 

 and then they take care of themselves. 



The paradise fish grows to a length 

 of three or four inches and thrives best 

 on chopped up angleworms. If they 

 are kept from the cold, they increase 

 rapidly and make fine pets. — Chicago 

 Record. 



Consanguineous Marriages. 



With regard to deaf mutism, statis- 

 tics show, for the most part, that the 

 closer the degree of relationship between 

 the parents, the more numerous are the 

 number of the deaf mute children born. 

 For example, one marriage between 

 an aunt and nephew produced 3 deaf 

 mutes. Four marriages between uncle 

 and niece produced ] 1 deaf mutes. 

 Twenty-six marriages between first 

 cousins produced 38 deaf mutes. Sixteen 

 marriages between second cousins pro- 

 duced 28 deaf mutes. Forty-seven mar- 

 riages between blood relatives produced 

 72 deaf mutes. These are important 

 facts, which leave no measure of doubt 

 as to the influence of the intermarriage 

 of blood relations in causing deaf mut- 

 ism. But just in the same way as con- 

 sanguineous marriages should be avoid- 

 ed so also should the intermarriage of 

 persons tainted with hereditary disease 

 be discouraged. — London Medical Press. 



Are Our Laws Jnst? 



A man was accused of having stolen 

 a pair of trousers. There were several 

 witnesses, but the evidence was rather 

 meager, and so the accused was acquit- 



