96 



NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



much as half an hour in swaying 

 back and forth before a good land- 

 ing could be effected. 



There are many points to be 

 told of the habits of Spiders, par- 

 ticularly regarding their nestings 

 and care of eggs, and their manner 

 of catching and feeding on unlucky 

 insects. They are very voracious as 

 well as ferocious and when insect 

 food is not present in sufficient 

 quantity, will feed upon one- 

 another. 



Their enemies are numerous, and 

 many species of birds eat them 

 whenever found. The common 

 toad also feeds upon spiders, and 

 perhaps this is the worst enemy 

 the ground nesting Spiders have. 



Morris Gip.bs. 



Vacation Studies. 



Our leading colleges have pro- 

 vided "Summer schools of natural 

 history," which are proving most 

 useful aids to science and educa- 

 tion. Of these we may speak 

 hereafter. At present we wish to 

 point out that it is in the power of 

 every person of average attain- 

 ments to utilize a summer's vaca- 

 tion, in the interest of science. 

 And this can be done, too, at no 

 special cost in money, time or con- 

 venience. It is only requisite to 

 make use of one's opportunities of 

 observation. 



Very recently, a charming ac- 

 count of the way in which the 

 "agricultural ant" makes its toilet, 

 has gone the rounds of the news- 

 papers. The observer, the Rev. 

 H. C. McCook, brought the mat- 

 ter before the Philadelphia Acad- 

 emy of Sciences, and it thus ob- 

 tained publication. The tidiness 

 of these ants, the care and thor- 

 oughness with which they "comb" 

 and "sponge" each other, the sin- 

 gular attitudes they take during 

 the process, and the pleasure they 

 seem to have in being cleansed, 

 are deliciously described. The ac- 

 count is thoroughly entertaining, 

 and yet, because it is precise, it is 

 of decided scientific value. Sir 

 John Lubbuck has been equally 

 successful in studying the habits 

 and reasoning powers of other 

 species of ants, and has contribut- 

 ed to natural history a great deal 

 that is new, interesting, and valu- 

 able. 



Now the ant has been observed 

 at least as far back as the time of 

 Solomon. No insect has a more 

 extended range in literature, ex- 

 cept, perhaps, the "busy bee." 

 Being found in all the temperate 



and tropical climes, the ant has 

 been easily studied. And yet here 

 we have within a year or two these 

 great additions to knowledge on 

 the subject. 



We doubt not that the same 

 amount of patient, careful observa- 

 tion, if applied in other directions, 

 would bear equal fruit. The oper- 

 ations of a fly in cleaning himself 

 are almost as elaborate as those of 

 Mr. McCook's ants. The most 

 supple contortionist that has ever 

 gained the stage title of an "india- 

 rubber man," never did anything 

 with legs, arms or backbone, half 

 so astonishing as a honse-fiy does 

 when cleaning his wings. To 

 throw the legs over the small of 

 the bock, and pass them slowly 

 downward to the extremity of the 

 body, and then to wipe them off in 

 the mouth is a performance that 

 no human acrobat would think of 

 trying. The fly toilet has been 

 partly studied and described, but 

 the man or woman who shall thor. 

 oughly observe it, has not yet taken 

 advantage of an every-day oppor- 

 tunity. 



On an idle day in the country, 

 there are thousands of things 

 around us that would repay study, 

 even if nothing new or strange 

 should be discovered. Merely as 

 an instance, we may cite one of the 

 experiences of the writer of this 

 article, when spending a few days 

 on Shelter Island. The locality is 

 opposite Greenport, L. I., and is 

 sheltered on all sides. Long 

 tongues of land stretch out north 

 and south of the island; it lies in 

 the basin of a great bay, and is 

 protected from the ocean by Gar- 

 diner's Island, which stretches 

 partly across the opening. The 

 tides there rarely rise more than 

 three or four feet, and surf is un- 

 known. In the still waters that 

 surround the island there is the 

 most endless variety of marine life, 

 and strange forms of radiates and 

 mollusks are to be seen by any- 

 body who looks into the quiet 

 depths. 



In preparing to catch blackfish 

 there, it is customary to collect a 

 quantity of fiddler-crabs for bait. 

 These crabs are queer creatures. 

 You may see them in numbers on 

 the sandy beach twenty feet ahead 

 of you, but when you reach the 

 spot where they were, there is not 

 a fiddler visible. As you approach 

 every one of them has retreated, 

 wrong end first, into holes that in 

 dry sand may be two or three feet 

 deep. Possibly the crabs see a 

 person approaching them, but it is 

 more probable that they take 



alarm from the vibration of the 

 soil, caused by footsteps. They 

 have a limited power of hearing, 

 and the writer has twice seen them 

 shudder when a gun was fired at a 

 distance, but, strange to say, it 

 did not alarm them so as to cause 

 a retreat to their holes. Words 

 spoken quite loudly do not seem 

 to frighten them. Their sight is 

 better than their hearing, and yet 

 if a person stays, sitting or stand- 

 ing, motionless for about ten min- 

 utes among the crab holes, he may 

 see the fiddlers come out cautious- 

 ly, almost under his fee,t. 



Remaining quiet thus, one may 

 observe the curious performances 

 of the crabs, though they rarely go 

 far from their holes and are ready 

 to retreat at any moment. Most 

 of them engage in feeding; a few, 

 in digging out their habitations. 

 The latter process is laborious. 

 The crab carries up from below, 

 held between his forelegs and 

 claws, a large pellet of moist sand; 

 and taking it outside of his hole, 

 deposits it at a distance of three or 

 four inches. This pellet has come 

 from the bottom of the hole, and 

 has been clawed off and shaped 

 there. It is usually darker than 

 the surface sand, and contains 

 more or less of vegetable substance; 

 it is dirty sand. When a sufficient 

 number — say one or two dozen of 

 these pellets — may have been pro- 

 vided, they lay the foundation for 

 a square meal. 



The feeding is a less tedious 

 operation; it consists in picking 

 the eatable matter out of the pel- 

 lets. The smaller of the two arms 

 of the crab does duty as a fork, and 

 the rapidity with which it transfers 

 to the mouth is such that the mor- 

 sels selected — probably not bigger 

 than a pin-head — cannot be seen 

 while in transit. The double-claw 

 of this smaller arm is nsed exactly 

 as if it were a hand with two fin- 

 gers. The food is tucked into the 

 mouth with it, fast enough to keep 

 the crab's jaws constantly in mo- 

 tion. 



But now and then, while feeding 

 so rapidly, the fiddler will take a 

 reconnoissance. He raises himself 

 on his hind legs, stretches his body 

 to its full height, and spreads out 

 his great forearm, undoubling it 

 for the purpose. The attitude is 

 that of listening, and there can be 

 little doubt that such is the object. 

 The male crab cannot remain in 

 this position more than a few sec- 

 onds, as his great claw makes him 

 top-heavy. It was while thus 

 erect that fiddlers were observed 

 to shudder at the report of a gun. 



( Continued next week.) 



