Marvels of the Universe 



45 



WATERSPOUTS 



BY FRANK T, BULLEN". F.R.G.S. 



Gigantic and never-ceasing as are all the ocean's activities for the well-being of the Icirestrial life 

 of the globe, there are none of them that are more obvious and direct, to even the meanesl sn\age 

 capacity, than the provision of fresh water, without which we nil perish. A \'ast quantit\' of the 

 amount needed is daily drawn into the air by evaporation, a steady unspectacular process which 

 goes on continually wherever the sun is shining. But in order to realize how vast and rapid, as 

 well as astounding, are Nature's processes, it is necessary that we jhoidd witness the birth, life, 

 and death of a waterspout, a histor\- which is comprised within a few minutes. Within the 

 debatable area of the tropical seas between the limits of the north-east and south-east trade 

 winds is the most favoured place to witness this stupendous alchcmv of Nature. The wind has 

 died into fitful airs from all parts of the compass, the sky is overcast with massive clouds and the 

 atmosphere is tense with electrical energy. Suddenly there will appear in the sea, without 

 any apparent proximate cause, a tiny whirlpool, 

 if one may so call a rapid circidar movement of 

 the sea, whose centre rises instead of being 

 depressed. 



On looking upward, immediately above this 

 movement of the waters will be seen a corre- 

 sponding excitement in a cloud, from which will 

 presently descend a dark tube, much like the 

 trunk of some mighty elephant, swaj-ing about as 

 it lengthens, until at last it joins the mound of 

 water beneath and establishes a connection be- 

 tween sea and skj-. Now, in obedience to who 

 knows what centrifugal impulse, the water of the 

 sea rushes upwards with a roar which may be 

 heard five hundred yards away. The cloud 

 above grows black, menacing, monstrous. In a 

 few minutes some mysterious operator has sig- 

 nalled that the one hundred thousand tons or so 

 of water received above is sufficient for the 

 cloud to bear, and immediately the connecting 

 tube begins to dwindle, until soon it ceases to 

 exist and its attenuated length is absorbed into 

 the black bosom above. 



Away sails the vast reservoir to thirsty 

 lands far off. often letting fall at the break- '■""""^' ,,, ,,,.„„,.3 ,,,,3. ^■'^ ''■ "'"'•^- 



ing of the connection between cloud and tu. u a t .u a . \ ■ j i 



«.ii>u i he head oi the Ant-Lion as seen under the microscope. 



sea a mass of water which is perfectly ^^lere is no true mouth, but the jaws are perforated, and when 



f ypvh points are fixed in its prey its juices are sucked ihrough 



' ' . them. 



THK ANT-LION AND ITS TRAP 



BY JOHN J. WARD, F.E.S. 



The perfect Ant-Lion might easily be mistaken for a dragon-fly. Its gauzy, brown-blotched wings 

 and similar-shaped body give it a considerable resemblance ; the short, clubbed antenna:, however, 

 readily distinguish it. The fly itself is of little interest, but in its larval stage it is one of the most 



