THE NATURALISTS’ ^ COMPANION. 
7 
USEFUL-STESS OF DE AGON-FLIES.— 
The much-abused dragon-hies are 
perfectly harmless to human beings; 
they neither bite nor sting, but de¬ 
stroy vast quantities of gnats, flies, 
end other insects. They can be 
brought into the house to catch 
flies and gnats, which duty they 
preform if unmolested. While in 
the lavra state they preforip the 
same good work. 
A magnesian limestone found at 
tiie entrance of the Tyne, in England, 
is reported to be so flexible that thin 
layers thrr^e feet or more in length 
may be bent in a circle while damp, 
retaining that form on becoming 
dry. 
The Taylor museum,is a magnifi¬ 
cent collection, much admired by 
foreign scientists, and much saught 
other institutions, and rich in the 
mineralogy and paleontology ot the 
United States, and of foreign coun¬ 
tries, including Italy and Ireland. 
This collection is the magnificent 
gift of Hr. Julius S. Taylor, of Kan¬ 
kakee, Ill., and is the result of much 
labor and expense during more than 
forty years. Hr. Taylor has been 
appointed director of the museum, 
and is now giving a large share of 
his time in putting up and arrang¬ 
ing this vast collection, which the 
friends of Blackburn Univercity are 
Jnvited to examine. —Local. 
Lesson in Natiiral History.—Said 
a Fifth avenue four-year old maiden: 
“Ho the geese lay the gooseberries?” 
“Oh, no, my child ; they grow on 
the trees,” 
“Well, what are goose eggs any¬ 
how?” 
“They are the things, my dear, 
which the base-ball players make 
when they don’t make anything. 
Mount Koscuisco,7,171 feet high, 
was hitherto considered the highest 
peak of the Australian Alps. Hr. 
Lendenfeld has recently discovered 
another higher mountain which he 
named Mount Clarke, and which he 
found to be 7,256 feet high. The 
upper limit of trees upon it is 5,900 
feet. Above 6,500 feet patches of 
snow are formed on the lee side of 
the mountain range. 
Our readers may think this issue 
rather dry; the reason is that we 
have not had time to solicit items 
from our correspondents. This will 
not occur again if our readers will 
be prompt with their items. 
The president of the London 
Zoological Society, Prof, W. H. 
Fowler,says on the origin of whales: 
“The evidence is absolutely conclus¬ 
ive that they were not originally 
aquatic, but sprang from land 
mammals of the placential di¬ 
vision, animals with hairy covering 
and wdth sense organs, especially 
that of smell, adapted for living on 
land; animals, moreover, with four 
completely developed pairs of limbs 
on the t^/pe of higher vertebrates, 
and not that of fishes. 
In a lecture at the Lowell Insti¬ 
tute, Boston, Professor lUood gave 
som.e very interesting details regard¬ 
ing the phenomana of spider life. 
Thefemals is much larger and fiercer 
than the male, ivho while paying ad¬ 
dresses is constantly in a state of 
danger. Three different kinds of 
thread are spun by spiders for their 
webs. A scientific experimmiter 
once^ drew 8,480 yards of thread or 
spider silk from the body of a single 
spider. Silk may be woven of a 
spider’s thread which is more glossy 
and brilliant than that of a silkworm. 
