Kitabı oku: «Illustrative Anecdotes of the Animal Kingdom», sayfa 21

THE PIKE

Anecdotes.– The rapacity of this fish is notorious. Jesse says, "Out of eight hundred gudgeons, which were brought to me by a Thames fisherman, and which I saw counted into the reservoir, – some few of which, however, died, – there were scarcely any to be seen at the end of three weeks. Indeed, the appetite of one of my pike was almost insatiable. One morning, I threw to him, one after the other, five roach, each about four inches in length. He swallowed four of them, and kept the fifth in his mouth for about a quarter of an hour, when it also disappeared."

The pike is an animal of extraordinary boldness. A few years ago, the head keeper of Richmond Park was washing his hands at the side of a boat, in the great pond, when a pike made a dart at one of his hands, which the keeper suddenly withdrew, otherwise he would have received a severe snap.

Mr. Jesse says, "Fish appear to be capable of entertaining affection for each other. I once caught a female pike during the spawning season, and nothing could drive the male away from the spot at which the female disappeared, whom he had followed to the very edge of the water. A person who had kept two small fish together in a glass, gave one of them away; the other refused to eat, and showed evident symptoms of unhappiness, till his companion was restored to him."

In the year 1497, a pike was caught, in standing water, at Heilbronn, on the Neckar, which had a copper ring round its head; the ring bore the following inscription in Greek: "I am the first fish that was launched into this pond, and was thrown in by Frederick the Second, emperor of the Romans, on the 5th of October, 1230." It appeared, therefore, that the pike was two hundred and fifty-seven years old when thus caught; it weighed three hundred and fifty pounds; and an exact representation of it exists to this day upon one of the gates of Heilbronn.

THE GOLDEN CARP

This beautiful fish was first introduced into England about the year 1691. It is a native of China, where they are very common in ponds. They are, however, very delicate, and unable to stand the powerful rays of the sun; on which account, in each of the ponds where they are kept, earthenware basins, with holes in them, are placed upside down, so that the fishes may retire under them for shade. In China these fish are taught to rise to the surface of the water, to be fed, at the sound of a bell. In very cold weather, they are frequently taken into the house, to prevent them from being frozen.

There are several varieties of this beautiful fish, – some of them appearing all speckled over with golden dust; others are pure silvery white; some are spotted with red and white; and a fourth variety is black and white, spotted.

Many of these, of a large size, may be seen in the ponds at the royal gardens of the Tuileries, at Paris. They are perfectly tame, and follow individuals round the ponds in hopes of being fed.

THE SALMON

Some years ago, a herdsman, on a very sultry day in July, while looking for a missing sheep, observed an eagle posted on a bank that overhung a pool. Presently the bird stooped and seized a salmon, and a violent struggle ensued: when the herdsman reached the spot, he found the eagle pulled under water by the strength of the fish; and the calmness of the day, joined to his drenched plumage, rendered him unable to extricate himself. With a stone, the peasant broke the eagle's pinion, and separated the spoiler from his victim, which was dying in his grasp.

THE HERRING

About fifty years ago, the shoals of herrings came into Loch Urn, Scotland, in such amazing quantities, that, from the narrows to the head, about two miles, it was quite full. So many of them were forced ashore by the pressure, that the beach, for four miles round the head, was covered with them from six to eighteen inches deep; and the ground under water, as far as could be seen, was in the same condition. Indeed, so dense and forcible was the shoal, as to carry before it every other kind of fish; even ground-fish, skate, flounders, and plaice, were driven on shore with the force of the herrings, and perished there.

It is a curious fact, that herrings die the moment they are taken out of the water; whence originated the adage, which is much used, as dead as a herring.

THE SHARK

This formidable animal is the dread of mankind in the seas where it is found. There is no safety in bathing where this monster abounds.

The late Sir Brooke Watson was at one time swimming at a little distance from a ship, when he observed a shark approaching towards him. Struck with terror at its appearance, he immediately cried out for assistance. A rope was instantly thrown out for him; and even while the men were in the act of pulling him up the ship's side, the shark darted after him, and at a single snap derived him of one leg.

In the West Indies, the negroes have frequently the hardihood to engage the shark in single combat, by diving beneath him, and, in ascending, stab him before he sees where they are. In these combats they frequently conquer this formidable creature; and thus, through courage and tactics, overcome his great strength and ferocity.

INVERTEBRATA

We come now to the second grand division of the animal kingdom – the Invertebrata Animals – those which, instead of an internal skeleton, have, for the most part, an external shell, or framework, by means of which the fleshy parts are sustained.

CLASS I. MOLLUSCA … SOFT ANIMALS.
THE SQUID

There is a singular genus of animals, called Sepia, of which the cuttle-fish is a familiar example. Some of them are of great size, having arms nearly thirty feet in length. We are told of a Sardinian captain, who, while bathing, felt one of his feet in the grasp of a squid; he instantly tried to disengage himself with his other foot, but this limb was immediately seized by another of the monster's arms. He then with his hands endeavored to free himself, but these also, in succession, were firmly grasped by the creature, and the poor man was shortly after found drowned, with all his limbs strongly bound together by the arms and legs of the fish; and it is extraordinary that, where this happened, the water was scarcely four feet deep.

Mr. Beale gives us the following narrative: "While upon the Bonni Islands, searching for shells, I one day saw, towards the surf, a most extraordinary-looking animal, crawling upon the beach. It was creeping on eight soft and flexible legs, and, on seeing me, made every effort to escape. To prevent this, I pressed one of its legs with my foot; but it quickly liberated the member. I then laid hold of it with my hand, and gave it a powerful jerk, which it resisted by clinging with its suckers to the rock; but the moment after, the apparently enraged animal let go its hold, and sprang upon my arm, which I had previously bared to the shoulder, and clinging to it with great force, endeavored to get its beak between its arms in a position to bite.

"A sensation of horror pervaded my whole frame. Its cold, slimy grasp was extremely sickening, and I immediately called to the captain, who accompanied me, and who was at a little distance, to come and release me from my disgusting assailant. He came and set me free, by cutting my tormentor apart with his boat-knife. It must have measured four feet across its extended arms, while its body was not larger than a clinched hand. This was of that species called by whalers 'rock squid.'"

THE NAUTILUS

In some places, where the sea is not agitated by winds, great numbers of these singular creatures may occasionally be seen sailing and sporting about. Le Vaillant observed several of them on the sea near the Cape of Good Hope; and, as he was desirous of obtaining perfect specimens of the shells, he sent some of his people into the water to catch them; but when the men had got their hands within a certain distance, they always instantly sank, and, with all the art that could be employed, they were not able to lay hold of a single one. The instinct of the animal showed itself superior to all their subtlety; and when their disappointed master called them away from their attempts, they expressed themselves not a little chagrined at being outwitted by a shell-fish.

THE SNAIL

M. de Martens states that the annual export of snails from Ulm, by the Danube, for the purpose of being used as food in the season of Lent by the convents of Austria, amounted formerly to ten millions of these animals. They were fattened in the gardens in the neighborhood.

Mr. Rowe gives us the following account: "I was at Mr. Haddock's," says he, "in Kent, and was making a little shell-work tower, to stand on a cabinet in a long gallery. Sea-shells running short before I had finished, I recollected having seen some pretty large snails on the chalk hills, and we all went out one evening to pick up some. On our return, I procured a large China basin, and putting a handful or two of them into it, filled it up with boiling water. I poured off the first water, and filled the bowl again. I then carried it into a summer-house in the garden. Next morning, how great was my surprise, on entering the summer-house, to find the poor snails crawling about, some on the edge of the basin, some tumbling over, some on the table, and one or two actually eating paste that was to stick them on! I picked up every snail carefully, and carried them into a field, where I make no doubt that they perfectly recovered from their scalding."

THE OYSTER

A gentleman who lived at Salisbury, England, used to keep a pet oyster, of the largest and finest breed. He fed it on oatmeal, for which it regularly opened its shell. It also proved itself an excellent mouser, having killed five mice, by crushing the heads of such as, tempted by the meal, had the audacity to intrude their noses within its bivalvular clutches.

A great number of large creeks and rivers wander through the marshes on the seaboard of Georgia. Whenever the tide bends forcibly against the land, the effects are counteracted by the walls of living oysters which grow upon each other from the beds of the rivers to the very verge of the banks. They are in such abundance, that a vessel of a hundred tons might load herself in three times her length. Bunches of them sufficient to fill a bushel are found matted as it were together, and the neighboring inhabitants and laborers light fires upon the marsh grass, roll a bunch of oysters upon it, and then eat them.

THE SCALLOP

The Great Scallop has the power of progressive motion upon the land, and likewise of swimming on the surface of the water. When it happens to be deserted by the tide, it opens its shell to the full extent, then shuts it with a sudden jerk, often rising five or six inches from the ground. In this manner, it tumbles forward until it regains the water.

When the sea is calm, troops of little fleets of scallops, it is said, are sometimes to be observed swimming on the waves. They elevate one valve above the top of the water, which is used as a kind of sail, while they float on the other, which remains on the surface.

CLASS II. ARTICULATA … JOINTED ANIMALS

These animals have not an internal skeleton, like the vertebrata; nor are they wholly destitute of a skeleton, as are the mollusca. The hard parts are external, and the muscles are internal. The class includes red-blooded worms, the crustacea, spiders, and insects.

THE LEECH

If you ever pass through La Brienne, in France, you will see a man pale, and straight-haired, with a woollen cap on his head, and his legs and arms naked. He walks along the borders of a marsh, among the spots left dry by the surrounding waters, but particularly wherever the vegetation seems to present the subjacent soil undisturbed. This man is a leech-fisher. To see him at a distance, – his hollow aspect, livid lips, and singular gestures, – you would take him for a patient who had left his sick bed in a fit of delirium. If you observe him every now and then raising his legs, and examining them one after another, you might suppose him a fool; but he is an intelligent leech-fisher. The leeches attach themselves to his legs and feet, and as he moves along their haunts, he feels them bite, and gathers them as they cluster round the roots of the bulrushes and sea-weeds.

THE CRAB

The following incident is from a late English journal: "In the year 1812, a sailor, in company with several persons, at Sunderland, perceived a crab which had wandered to the distance of about three yards from the water-side. An old rat, on the look-out for food, sprang from his lurking-place, and seized the crab, who, in return, raised his forcep-claws, and laid fast hold of the assailant's nose, who hastily retired, squeaking a doleful chant, and much surprised, no doubt, at the reception he had met with.

"The crab retreated as fast as he could towards his own element; but after a short space, the rat renewed the contest, and experienced a second rude embrace from his antagonist. The rat again retreated, but returned again to the attack. After the contest had lasted half an hour, the crab, though much exhausted, had nearly reached the sea, when the rat made a sudden spring, and capsized his antagonist; then, taking advantage of this manœuvre, like a successful general, seized the crab by his hind leg. The crab, however, again made his escape in a most mutilated condition; the rat, however, closely pursuing him, soon dragged him back to his den, where he doubtless regaled his wife and family with his hard-earned prey.

"In the year 1833, as a lady in England was in the act of dressing a crab, she found in its stomach a half guinea, of the reign of George III., worn very thin; but some of the letters were so entire as to enable the reign to be traced."

THE SPIDER

The celebrated Lewenhoek found by microscopic observation that the threads of the minutest spiders, some of which are not larger than a grain of sand, are so fine that it would take four millions of them to make a thread as thick as a hair of his beard. In the early part of the last century, M. Bon, of Languedoc, fabricated a pair of stockings and a pair of gloves from the threads of spiders. They were nearly as strong as silk, and of a beautiful gray color.

The animal ferocity of spiders makes it impossible to keep them together. M. Bon distributed 4 or 5000 spiders into different cells, putting in each cell about 200, and fed them with flies; but the large ones soon devoured the small ones, and in a short time there were only one or two large ones left in each cell.

To test the ingenuity of the spider, a gentleman frequently placed one on a small upright stick, and surrounded the base with water. After having reconnoitred, and discovered that the ordinary means of escape were cut off, it ascended the stick, and, standing nearly on its head, ejected its long web, which the wind soon carried to some contiguous object: along this the sagacious insect effected its escape – not, however, until it had ascertained, by several exertions of its own strength, that its web was securely attached at the end.

THE SCORPION

This is one of the largest of the insect tribe, and is not less terrible for its size than its malignity. Its sting, in some countries, is fatal. Volchammer put one of these creatures, and a large spider, into a glass vessel. The latter used all its efforts to entangle the scorpion in its web, which it immediately began to spin; but the scorpion stung its adversary to death; it then cut off all its legs, and sucked out the internal parts at its leisure.

The same naturalist shut up a female scorpion with her young in a glass case. She devoured all but one, which took refuge on the back of its parent, and soon revenged the death of its brethren by killing the old one in its turn.

THE DEATH-WATCH

This insect makes a ticking noise by beating its head with great force against whatever it happens to stand on. Two of them were kept in a box by a gentleman for three weeks; and he found that, by imitating their note by beating with the point of a pin or nail upon the table, the insect would answer him as many times as he made the sound.

THE GLOWWORM

The female of this insect is very luminous, and has no wings. The light always becomes brighter when the worm is in motion, and it can withdraw it when it pleases. When the light is most brilliant, it emits a sensible heat. When a glowworm is put into a phial, and this is immersed in water, a beautiful irradiation takes place. If the insect be crushed, and the hands and face rubbed with it, they have a luminous appearance, like that produced by phosphorus.

THE FIRE-FLY

"I was in the habit," says a writer on the Island of Jamaica, "of enclosing, every night, a dozen or more fire-flies under an inverted glass tumbler on my bedroom table, the light of whose bodies enabled me to read without difficulty. They are about the size of a bee, and perfectly harmless. Their coming forth in more than usual numbers is the certain harbinger of rain; and I have frequently, while travelling, met them in such numbers that, be the night ever so dark, the path was as visible as at noonday."

THE BEETLE

The following account of the Burying Beetle is given by M. Gleditsch, a foreign naturalist. He often remarked that dead moles, when laid upon the ground, especially if upon loose earth, were almost sure to disappear in the course of two or three days, often of twelve hours. To ascertain the cause, he placed a mole upon one of the beds in his garden. It had vanished by the third morning; and, on digging where it had been laid, he found it buried to the depth of three inches, and under it four beetles, which seemed to have been the agents in this singular inhumation. To determine the point more clearly, he put four of these insects into a glass vessel, half filled with earth, and properly secured, and upon the surface of the earth, two frogs. In less than twelve hours, one of the frogs was interred by two of the beetles; the other two ran about the whole day, as if busied in measuring the dimensions of the remaining corpse, which on the third day was also found buried. He then introduced a dead linnet. A pair of the beetles were soon engaged upon the bird. They began their operations by pushing out the earth from under the body, so as to form a cavity for its reception; and it was curious to see the efforts which the beetles made, by dragging at the feathers of the bird from below, to pull it into its grave. The male, having driven the female away, continued the work alone for five hours. He lifted up the bird, changed its place, turned it, and arranged it in the grave, and from time to time came out of the hole, mounted upon it, and trod it under foot, and then retired below, and pulled it down. At length, apparently wearied with this uninterrupted labor, it came forth, and leaned its head upon the earth beside the bird, without the smallest motion, as if to rest itself, for a full hour, when it again crept under the earth. The next day, in the morning, the bird was an inch and a half under ground, and the trench remained open the whole day, the corpse seeming as if laid out upon a bier, surrounded with a rampart of mould. In the evening, it had sunk half an inch lower; and in another day, the work was completed, and the bird covered. M. Gleditsch continued to add other small dead animals, which were all sooner or later buried; and the result of his experiment was, that in fifty days four beetles had interred, in the very small space of earth allotted to them, twelve carcasses: viz., four frogs, three small birds, two fishes, one mole, and two grasshoppers, besides the entrails of a fish, and two morsels of the lungs of an ox.

The Queen Beetle is about one inch and a quarter in length; she carries by her side two brilliant lamps, which she lights up at pleasure with the solar phosphorus furnished her by nature. These lamps do not flash and glimmer like those of the fire-fly, but give as steady a light as that of gas, exhibiting two glowing spheres as large as a minute pearl, which affords light enough, in the darkest night, to enable one to read by them. The queen beetle is found only in tropical climates.