384 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



The following terms are used in the bible in reference to the 

 serpent: subtile, beguiled, fiery, brasen, c:ooked, poison, biteth 

 piercing, and wise. 



1748, Thomson, Castle of Indolence, (543), "In chamber brood- 

 ing like a loathly toad." 



1886, Besant, Children of Gibson, II, vi, "A knight was sent 

 forth to kill a dragon or a loathly worm." 



Animals have borne the burden of false misrepresentations 

 down through the ages. It is not surprising that the toad gets 

 the highest vote as to ugliness, 60% giving him that character- 

 istic. The other ugly animals were as follows: Bat (58%), 

 earthworm (54%), fly (51%), snake (51%), ant (47%), and eggs 

 of clothes moth (42%). 16% of the females in a college fresh- 

 man class think that the cow is ugly. It is a male trait to think 

 that the dragonfly and the silkworm is ugly. Ugliness seems to 

 be a matter of enchantment or prejudice. All these traditions 

 have been interwoven with modem progress. The heavy tax 

 levied by superstition on intelligence is well known to scientists. 



What Animlas are Injurious? 

 56% of all the pupils examined believe that the snake is in- 

 jurious; 27% the dragonfly; 26% the bat; 14% the earthworm; 

 and 28% the crow. It is a female trait to think the bat and eggs 

 of the clothes moth are injurious. Of course the eggs are harm- 

 less. The larvae that hatch from the eggs do the damage. It 

 is a male characteristic to think that the dragonfly and crow are 

 injurious. The value of these animals as insect destroyers is now 

 becoming generally recognized. It must be admitted however 

 that the process is slow and the only remedy is progressive work in 

 the grades to prevent the confounding of fancy with fact. 



What is Cross-pollination? 



Cross-pollination is the transfer of pollen such as by the wind or 

 by insects from one flower to the stigma of another. Cross- 

 pollination is not cross-fertilization. Cross-fertilization is the 

 union of the male and female elements. Cross-pollination makes 

 cross-fertilization possible. 



Epilogue: In the beginning of this article I suggested that too 

 much seems to centre on the reputation of the buried past and 

 not on direct observation of the living present. Antiques from 

 tradition-shops are still coddled by sentimentalists. These 



