The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1874-11-07

Small naIi IuN, sibNi iH'9N i'SN'i " 'p'S va
; surface Of the soil; then some long, hair
n legs stretched themselves out from tub
u which the lid had previously covered wit
y the utmost eXactness.
:, The apparitiOn WAS that of Trapd0C
: Spidcr (lygaLs c0,mentdrtd), Il species widel
!, spread over the south Of France, which c,
D hibits IN its name the wonderful instinct b.
e which il is marked. Squa,ting under the lIt
: which rested on her back as she lay half GU
a o! The tube, the spider eagerly watched ever
: movement of delicate lacewing fly whic
j. stalkcd lazily over the gildcd petals of a trt
toll. The hairy spinner fairly trembled wit
, excitement and impotence as the graceful n
moved slowly toward the den, dark and coll
as the grave, where the spider lay in ambush
In another moment it walked into the yer,
Jaws of death, when heard slight crack
ing in the dry heritage, and then, with a sud
denness which made me start, bright greer
lizard dashed from tuil of grass and bound
ed toward the spider. Though quite takeI
by surprise, the latter had just time to avoi(
the fatal stroke by drawing back with a RI
pidity at least equal to that of her enemy, anC
violently closing the lid of her gallery. 5,
near, however, was the lizard TO scizing hi,
prey, that the toes Of the right fore foot were
actually caught between the door and the side
of the tube, and vain were the reptiles efforts
to discngage ITSELF though it twisted It's 1.-THE
body from side to side like one possessed
! Had the spider been able to close the gate
of the castle with stout bolt and bar, neyeC
would our lizard have boosted of another
victory over spider or insect; it must have
perished miserably Of hunger and eXhaus
ton Meanwhile, Il strove hard to raise the
lid with its muzzle, and failing in this after
several attempts, it managed in the course of
its struggle to insert the end Of its tail into
the slight opening made by its foot. Then
for the first time | could see the WrctChed
spider doubled up against the wall of its den
and holding on with all its might by means
Of its claws, to the inner face of the sllken
door, which, however, was gradually yielding
to the efforts of the enemy. | thought it
right, therefore, to put "a stop without delay
to the unequal combat. No sooner thought
than done. From the summit of the hill0ck
on which my chin was resting, | emitted y
loud burr! In a second, as once with the
great god, Jove,
Olympus trembled at my nadm
the frightened lizard, in the energy of despair
tore its foot from the trap, with the loss Of
of two or three toes, and, bounding in the
grass, disappeared from view. Mygale in.
stantly closed her gate, without affecting me
a single expression or gratitude for the good
turn had done him.
WHITE MICE.
White mice are very pretty pets, yet many
object to them on account of their mousy
odor which is natural to them and canno,
be removed. BY keeping little box of
chloride of lime or carboic disinfecting
powder in their cage, this Odor may be en-
tirely neutralZed- A good box for the pur.
pose may be made of "a TIN baking soda can,
and mailing ii to the upper part Of the cage
A cage for the mice can be constructed out Of
A starch. box, fitting 1t with second story
leading from the first By fight of stairs
Tin cages are very nice, The best diet for
white mice consists of wheat flour and
cracked dust, alternating with oatmeal once
or twice week. An occasional crust of
bread, nlbble of oats, canary seed, etc, will
be reliseed. Raw meat, fed just before the
litter, will tend to prevent their devouring
their young. Milk shoud.be their sole bev
erage White mice are very prolific producing
monthly ltters of from four to twenty. They
IRE very intelligent little creatures, and can
be taught innumerabe tricks and antics One
was once Gagged with a canary with which il
was on the most amiable terms, eating and
drinking from the same dish without quar-.
cling.
FRUSTRATING PLANTS.
Popular attention in England has been so
argcly drawn to the curious habits of flesh |
eating plants through the recent publications
IF the observations of Mr.. Darwin, and the
address of DR.. Hooker at the Belfast meeting
If the British Association for the advance
nent of Science, that the newspapers are adj |
using intelligent persons who have no scicn- |
itic training to assemble collections of the |
plants and make them objects of study. The !
questions which are suggested to amateur oh.
servers as particularly worth investigating
are these: How much flesh can plants eat !
n twenty .four hoars? When do they eat
most ?and under What conditions? Plants
If Droserd r0tuadJoita Qound-leaved sunden)
are advertised for sale at ninopence each, and !,
English dealers are urged to make special
les of all known carniverous plants. Two |
species of the DrOsefd grow in abundance
n the vicinity of Pine Station, about
30 miles out on the Michigan Southern
and, If any ChicaCoans would like |
o experiment with the little flesh eaters, they
AN be easily procured in the season of them
SALT WATER ICE
The notion generally prevails that, when
,alt water freezes, the ice is fresh, and wher
melted, will produce fresh water Prot
Tyndall states that such Is the case, in his
: Forms of Water" But DR.. Rae, the Attic
explorer, declares that he was never able to
find sea ice, in stu, eaiablc when solid, or
irinkable when thawed, it being invariably
too salt" He adds, however, that, when his
party found ice projecting above the water,
and from its appearance indicated that 1t was
Il year or moreo DID, 1t was generally fresh, and
made good drinking water. His theory ex
planning the fact is, that the salt is not itself
but that a concentrated brine, int
prisioned in minute cells, is retained in the
solid ice. These cells communicating with
each other, when the ice is lifted above the
general level, the brine is drained off, leaving
the mass fresh.
sc2'w LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS.
4 French agricultural journal, which is |
considered good authority, testsfies that straw
makes good lightning conductors. 1t was
noticed that straw would discharge Leyden |
jars without spark or explosion; and, upon
This hint, some one near Tarbes tried the ex-
,arip N gtraw liuht.nt,r 1.