Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1874-01-08

In SOME recent experiments on tho
Dr0era it was found that tho leaves
could reach around and catch q dy
anywhere within half an inch of the
plant. Tho flies have to he tied, as it
takes tho leaves about an hour to get
round.
A MIL has been recently started in
England in which flour 10 made by
crushing the grain by small trip
hammers instead of grinding it. It is
claimed that pounding mill, cost
ing 81, 900, will produce as much -four
In the same time as grinding mill
worth 5000.
PROFESSOR LIE C0NTR, in the Amer
lean Naturalist, in bis paper on eco
nomic entomology, gives an instance in
which all the caterpillars in nine-acre
piece of woods we're destroyed by q
disease which had been communicated
to them by sick silkworm. The same
principle might be used in DESTROYING
the cotton worm and others of like ma.
ture.
MATURE" in paper on the Frog.
says that Batrachians are in the main
aquatic animals, inasmuch as the
greater number, even when adult, fire.
quent, at least at intervals, ponds and
streams, or delight in humid localities.
Nevertheless, in spite of this predomi-
mating aquatic habit, all Batrach1ans,
both living and fossil, appear to in
habit, and to have inhabited, fresh
water only. No Batrachian Of any
period is yet known to have been
marine. This is the moro remarkable
since the most nearly allied class, that
of fishes, is much more rich in salt
water than in fresh water forms while
even existing reptilia have lin the true
sea- snakes, and in gchelonians) repre-
sentatives which inhabit the open
ocean, while in the secondary geologic
al period marine reptiles (tchthyosouri
and pLesiosusI,i) abonnded.
Persons believing in total abstinence
will hereafter have to give up eating
fresh bread. Mr.. Bolas, of London,
has found that the alcohol formed IN
the primary fermentation of bread was
not all expelled during the process of
baking. He shows that when about
two ounces Of ordinary bread Is mixed
with water and distilled, and the dis.
tillate is afterwards purified. a percep-
t,ble quantity of alcohol may be OBJ
tanned. If made cumulative, analyses
of six samples of fresh bread, obtained
in as many shops in London, which
gave of alcohol an average of 0.314 per
cent. So that when a man has eaten
100 pounds of fresh bread, he has con-
sumed with it five ounces of pure alco-
hol. An ordinary loaf of bread would
contain about as much alcohol % q
light glass of beer.
HENRY EDWARDS, in the American
Naturalist, gives an interesting account
of the honey making ant of New Mex
leo. Itappears that the communities
consist Of three distinct kinds of ants
the guards, the nurses or feeders,
and the honey makers. The site of q
nest is usually in sandy soil, and from
four to five feet square. The surface
of the ground is no disturbed, and if
it were not for the presence of the ants
the position of the nest would not be
suspected. The black workers sur.
round the nest as guards or sentiuels,
and are always in a state Of
great activity. They form two lines
OF defense, moving different ways,
| taelr marcn always oelng along three
sides of square, one column moving
from the southeast to the southwest
! corner of the fortification, while the
other proceeds in the opposite direc-
ton. In most of the nests examined
tho eastern, western and northern
sides were guarded, while the southern
side was left undefended. If any
enemy approached the line he was at
once ferociously attacked. A portion
of the soldiers brought flowers and
aromatic leaves and deposited them in
the centre of the square, whence they
were taken by the nurses and carried
into the nest. The honey-makers
never leave their cells, their abdomen
being too much swollen by the honey
they contain. It is supposed, but has
not been proved, that all ants use this
hon ey as food.