28 
NATURE NOTES. 
has been extracted. This is done without breaking the fruit 
from the branch where it still hangs — another illustration of the 
proverb, “ All that glitters is not gold.” 
While talking of my flower garden, the manner in which 
burnet got there may be interesting, as showing one of the 
curious ways in which new plants arrive. In 1891, when I was 
in Scotland, I noticed a plant of burnet in one of m}- father’s 
rockeries. It was then new to me. I enquired the name and 
how it got there. It had been taken from Devonshire, I was 
told, and was valued because of certain associations. Last spring, 
in sowing seeds in my garden, I came across some in an old 
envelope. I recollected their shape but could not recall the 
name. They germinated and threw out leaves, but it was not 
until I saw the greenish insignificant flower that I recollected 
the name, and knew that after three years’ forgetfulness I had 
raised burnet in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, from a plant 
originally taken from Devonshire, England. 
A few nights ago I noticed a couple of bats flying about the 
house at dusk. In New Zealand there are two kinds ; both 
live in communities, choosing some hollow tree for their home. 
There they congregate in thousands, clinging to the sides, the 
successive tiers being packed so closely as to occupy the entire 
space. Very often their strong smell leads to the detection of 
these colonies. I have seen bats frequently enough when fish- 
ing late in forest lands ; indeed, it is not until the bats fly and 
the earliest stars shine forth that in hot weather the trout begin 
to move. Where, however, these two came from that were only 
seen for a single night is a puzzle. 
During the fine nights of the month the glow-worms have 
been very brilliant. They love the damp banks along the sides 
of roads and little mossy burns ; in the limestone caves not very 
far from here they are extraordinaril}' plentiful. The larvae 
shine most brilliantly in dark damp nights with a light north- 
west breeze. Their web is suspended in some dark cavity 
or earthy niche. It consists of a thick glutinous thread 
stretched across this hollow and supported by several smaller 
threads running right and left and attached to the side and end 
of the cavity. On this the larva rests. When disturbed it glides * 
back along the main thread, retreating into a hole provided at | 
the end. From the lower side of this central thread numerous j 
smaller threads hang down and are always covered with little • 
globules of water, resembling a number of minute silver-beaded | 
necklaces. All these threads are constructed by the larva from ; 
a sticky mucus exuded from the mouth. Contrary to what 
might have been expected, no remains of entangled insects are 
found in this clammy web. The lights in captive larv^ae show 
great irregularity in their occurrence, and experiments tried on 
female flies brilliantly illuminated did not prove their luminosity 
successful in attracting males. The writer from whom I take 
these particulars declares he is still at a less to explain the light 
