Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1876-11-03
The Esessurees Of AnimaIs-How they
Gaard their Homes and Persons.

0ients, 10 ueleuu OF support hueit tAl5- |
lence, so curious as TO a.tonish even those
Observes who are most familiar with their
habits. ...t
Think Of The little gossamer spider,
which, having no wings, still finds It's
home in the upper air. Weaving tiny
kile Of web and flying it aioft by unwind
ing thin kite-string from It's spinneret, it
finally fastens the lower end TO twig and
climbs fearlessly up the flamert, till at
last il sits FAR above the earth and catches
midges upon its floating ran in the air.
This litile fOrsger has been found sailing
In the sun nearly mile high by bslloon-
islsl
Speaking Of spiders, tie male spider has
usually a very poor show for liberty or
even for life. Small and lean. weak and
cowardly, a mere speck by the side Of bis
big blusbing sweetheart, she generally
catches him when he first comes couriDg,
spears him with her 1ercs mandiLles,
gnaws the quveting flesh of his bones,
| and filings his polished skeleton int the
sewer. She is bsartiess aud -EerociOus-a |
coquelte aud a warrior. Womans rights |
are carried 10 an extreme. The husband is |
not allowed 10 vote or govern bis own fam- |
| lily. Before his brood OF 1000 children |
have climbed meriily upon their mothers |
back she has generally made breakfast Of |
| him, and his ZONES bleach in the back
| yard.
Then there is the hermit crab, the pug
nacfous cruslacean that GIN seldom sue
coed in preserving its own life at all except |
by finding the shell Of some large snail or
/ gnt IL nd
soft abdomen, IL is peculiarly Vulnerable
TO attack from predictions fishes and crabs,
and its only safety is in covering its salient
extremity. If it finds AN eligible snail
shell empty it immediately takes possess
ion by backing its exposed body in and
fastening the shell on by the poslerior
hooks, leaving its head and legs outside.
| Then it drags the shell around ill it is out
grown, when it seeks another. If II finds
none uuoccupied it frequently kills liv-
ing snail, eats him, and unceremoniously
takes possession OF his house. Or it attacks
a tenant crab, the winner OF the combat
retaining the premises. The loss Of an eye
or a claw is by no means a mortal injury,
or even permanent Gripping, as the mu-
tilation heals, and the eye or limb re-
appears as good as ever.
Speaking Of crusiaceans, did you ever
see long or soft-shell clam in his "natiye
wilds?" Do you know wba. that exposed
proboscis is which you call the "neck p
It is double-scting muscular pump, with
two pipes and valves, through one of which
salt water is.drawn. and through the other
expelled. 1t drenches the gills, which re-
tain as food any Bit Of nuiriment that may
float in, when the flteredl water is passed
out through the other valve. And that
dark lump in the clam which you have Of
ten rejected, madame, as the stomach" is
not the receptacle OF food at all, but mere
ly an excellent enlarged liver which cpl
cures might, without torturing the humble
bivalve, make into pate de IoiS 5rdS.
Most animals that are in danger from
predacious foes are OF neutral tint, re-
sembling the hue of the earth or trees up
on which they live. Partridges, quails,
and other sand and heath birds are brown,
like their dwelling place, and the color
serves TO conceal and protect them. Some
butterflies and locusts are exactly the
shape Of the leaves OF the tree upon which
they cling, so that they are not visible in
have settled you cannot see one, only the
lea yes clinging TO the branches and sway
ing IN the wind. Not only the color Of the
leaves is initiated, but the venation 10 the
most minute particular; and it is only
when you strike the bush with stick that
the "leaves" rise and hutter away. Some
of these leaf insects, as they are called,
change their colors with the season Of the
year-green in spring, brighter in sum-
: Iner, and brown in autumn, like the true
leaf. Even the imperfections Of the leaves
are mimmick ed-those characteristic mark
> ings and erasions OF the leaf which result
from the attacks OF minute insects. The
decay of dying leaves is so initiated that,
? as Mr.. Wallace remarks, "it is impossible
to avoid thinking at first sight that the but
teTfies themselves have been attacked by
: real fungi"
In the turbulent brooks OF Connecticut,
and probably of other states, is found an
ingenious little insect that the rural peo-
u pie know as a "bundlebug," an inch or
two long, which protects itself from preda-
j cious fishes by gluing to his sides small
sticks somewhat longer than his body, I'M
i til he is encased in an irregular wooden
cylinder-a jagged and clumsy boat in
!, which he alternately floats and crawls.
u This carpenter worm leaves an oriice for
. his head and legs, and his artificial shell
y seems a thorough shield.
u The inedusa or jelly fish Of our sea coast
), is well known TO all sea bathers-and It's
phosphorescence olien reveals its wherea-
- bouts TO steamboat travellers. 1t is as large
u as a tea-plale, fla, gelstinous, and translu-
cent with the convex portion forward IL
y pushes its way through Tue water as ii IL
!" were a small parasOl-a white fringe yard
y long waving back ward from the edge as
IL si,ting the resemblance. THIS creature has
a. hardly any liGe-it seems 10 have only one
70 organ, which receives and elects food, and
lis movement through The waller is by Sc
- ries OF convulsive jerks. Lift it out Uf tho
" water and it drops through the fingers like
thin Jelly. Bot in its native element II has
- the power OF sharply singing with The
fringe, from which it is called "netlle- fish"
This fringe when Inlcroscopically examin
y ed, Is found to be filed with minute sacks
oi each OF which contains a microscopic arrow
B. ready TO discharge. Friction bursts tn,
cells and causes the discharge of myriaC
lie arrows into any soft flesh that may be tn
D. cause of the disturbance. The harm is no
" great 10 any robust organism, but IL mus
~ be sufficient 10 shock and paralyze some o
ID the inferior fishes.-Ih Nei0 York Graph