Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-02-28

the folks at the bank could not make
the balance come correct by just tlOO.
This is q very serious matter IN that
little establishment. | do not mean
the cash, but the mistake IN arithmetic,
for it requires world of scrutiny. An
error in balancing has been known, l
am told to keep delegation of clerks
from each office at work som etlmes the
whole night. A hue and cry was, OF
course, made after this G1OO, as If the
old lady in Threadneedle street would
be in the Gazette for want of it. Luck
lily on Sunday morning, a clerk, in the
middle of sermon, dare say, if the
truth were known, felt suspicion of
the truth flash through his mind quick
er than any flash of the telegraph itself.
He told the chief cashier that perhaps
the mistake might have occurred in
packing some boxes of specie for the
West Indies, which had been sent to
Southampton for shipment. The sug
gestion was Immediately acted upon.
Here was a race, lightning against
steam Steam with eight and forty
hours the start. Instantly the wires
asked, whether such a vessel had left
the marlboro Just weighed anchor
was the reply. stop her y frantically
shouted the telegraph. Itwas so done.
'Heave up on deck certain boxes
marked so and SO; weigh them care
fully" They were weighed, and one
the delinquent-was found heavier by
just one packet Of hundred sovereigns
than it ought to be. Let her CO. said
the mysterious telegraph. The West
Indies were debited with just 91OO
more, and the error was corrected with
out ever looking into the boxes or de-
laying the voyage an hour. Now that
is what we call doing business"
The Queen and Soldiers of the White
From Chambers Journal.
The males and perfect females have
four large transparent wings, the sec
ond pair being rather smaller than the
first. At the beginning of the rainy
season they leave the nest in myriads
and pair. They then shed their wings
and fall to the ground. So eagerly are
they sought after by birds and other
enemies that very few couples escape
being devoured. The survivors are
carefully sheltered by the workers, and
become the kings and queens of new
colonies. They are much larger than
the workers or soldiers, and are kept in
close confinement, the doors Of their
cells being too small to permit the
egress of either. The queen is always
found in gravid condition, her abdo-
men enormously distended with eggs.
"This soft, wh1tish BEAST" says NJ.
Michlet, "a belly rather than q being,
is as large at least as ones thumb: a
traveller processes to have seen one OF
the size Of crawfsh. The larger she
is, the more fruitful, the more mex
haustible, this terrible insect mother
seems to be, the more adored by the
fanatical rabble. She seems to be their
beau ideal, their poetry, their enthusi-
asm. If you carry away with any rub
Dish portion Of their city. you see
them instantly set to work at the
breach to build an arch which may
protect the venerated head of the
mother, to reconstruct the royal cell,
which will become Gf there are suf-
ficient materials the center, the base,
of the restored city. [ am not aston
ished, though, at the excessive love
which this people show for this instru-
ment of fecundity. The mother bee
does not produce in a year what the
female white ant can produce in a
day."
The number Of eggs produced by a
single termite is prodigious. She is
said to lay them at the rate of one in
every second, and as the process of
oviposition continues without interrupt
ton for many weeks, and even months,
the number of eggs produced by one
of these insects in s. year is many mil
lions. The habits of the marching ter
mites are also very interesting. The
English traveller, Smeathan, vino
studied these insects with great care
when IN South Africa, one day saw al
army of them march past him. His
attention was first attracted by loud
hiss. This noise caused him to move q
few PAGES from the path, when he saw
an army Of tern1ites coming out of a
hole in the ground. They came out in
vast hordes and with great rapidity
At short distance from the hole they
separated into two columns, composed
almost entirely Of laborers, twelve OF
fifteen abreast, crowded as closely as
sheep in drove, with here and there
a soldier. While these were hastening
forward algreatimany soldiers appeared,
scattered along both sides of the two
companies, some standing still, others
marching up and down the lines, but
all evidently preparing for any attack
that might be made upon the laborers.
But the most extraordinary part of the
march was the conduct of some of the
soldiers, who, having mounted the
plants which grew here and there, had
placed themselves on the points of the
leaves which were raised ten or fifteen