NOTES AND QUERIES. 
(Under this Department Heading queries relative to all branches of Natural History will be answered. } 
TENACITY OF LIFE IN ANIMALS. 
The lower we descend in the scale ot animal 
life the more deficient we find those organs 
which, combined, form the monad and man, 
yet in all cases these creatures are formed cor- 
rectly for the life they lead. In no case, ex- 
cepting the abnormal ones, are their powers of 
perception and action inadequate to their man- 
_ner of existence. 
I made some experiments relative to the de- 
grees of tenacity of animal life in the lower 
vertebrates, as well as insects, etc., and was 
surprised to learn to what a wonderful extent 
of injury these creatures may be subjected 
without totally destroying their vitality. 
A beetle of the large snapping species (£/azer 
oculates, L.) was quite active twenty-four 
hours after decapitation; a wasp was alive 
eight days impaled on a pin. It is generally 
supposed that bees die after losing their stings, 
but this is not always so, as one which stung 
me and left its poisonous javelin in my skin 
was carefully attended and did not seem bacly 
crippled, but fed on the pollen of cherry blos- 
soms. It was agreeable to find that the indus- 
trious insect did not reacquire its means of de- 
fense while in my possession. 
Spiders cannot only survive the loss of at 
least four legs at once from their set of eight, 
but will be supplied with new legs in place of 
those torn off. 
The tenacity of life in reptiles is proverbial, 
and particularly is this noticeable in the turtle 
class. I can attest to the following case: A 
turtle, known as the snapper (Chelydra ser- 
pentina), was decapitated preparatory to mak- 
ing him into soup, an agreeable dish, when a 
few experiments were tried on him. His legs 
were going in the swimming movements con- 
stantly, and he would walk off briskly on land 
when a live coal was dropped on his back, after 
the manner cruelly followed sometimes on live 
turtles. His jaws would open and contract, 
and at last the trial was made to let the dis- 
severed head bite the long tail, after which the 
body was placed in the water, and we had the 
peculiar spectacle of a turtle swimming off as 
in life, almost, with the rigid jaws of the head 
strongly gripping the tail. From some natural 
cause, call it instinctive, if you will, the legs 
took him rapidly into deep water and we lost 
him. 
I know of a massasauga, or the common 
prairie rattlesnake (Crotalophorous tergemi- 
nus), which was kept in captivity for over three 
months, during which time it never ate a thing, 
although it was offered food. This poisonous 
specimen was freely experimented with, and 
was forced to use its venom on small mammals 
weekly, yet it lived through its bondage and 
finally escaped. 
It should not be understood that these ven- 
tilations were made with a view to producing 
pain. On the contrary, pain is but little felt by 
the lower animals. 
Nest-BUILDING FISHES. 
It is generally supposed that fishes take no 
care whatever of their young, leaving them en- 
tirely to the attention of nature ; but the fact is 
much otherwise with many species. The most 
remarkable point, however, regarding certain 
fishes is, that the males do the care-taking and 
not the females. 
If you will go out any time during the month 
of August, in this latitude, you will see in 
streams and ponds big catfish of the common 
sort, each one accompanied by a swarm of 
small fry. In each case the old one is a male 
and he is engaged in taking care of his off- 
spring. If an intruder comes near he will dash 
at him and drive him away. + 
It has been known for a long while that cat- 
fishes had this way of guarding their young ; 
but only lately has it been ascertained that it 
was the papa fish which did the care-taking. 
Some time back there was a pair of catfish 
in one of the aquaria at the building of the Fish 
