The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1881-07-22
FACTS FOR THE CURIOUS.

FISHES have been taught to come when
called by their names.
A FEMALE spider will suffer death be-
fore she will forsake her eggs.
THERE was tree discovered near the
Tule river. in California, in 1874, which
is calculated to be 4 $40 years old. The
top is broken OFF, but it still has height
of 240 feet.
One of the wonders of the American
forests is the fir tree of Puget sound.
The trees average 200 feet high, and
some specimens have been cut that
measured 800 feet in length and twelve
feet IN diameter at the base, with a
straight and well-proportioned log
length of ninety feet TO the first limb.
zszf. f,frasss- ls>.saters OF Ceylon aHsls
India corroborate Sinbad's story that
elephants, when they feel the approach
of death, retire to a solitary and irac-
cessible valley, aud there die in peace.
The Superintendent of Elephants to the
Government of India states that no liv-
ing man has yet come across the corpse
of a wild elephant that has died natural
death.
BBLIoPHILEs heap execration upon
the memory of John Bagford, an anti
auarian shoemaker, who has been named
the '' Bibhoclast' He went about the
old country at the beginning of the last
century, from library to library, tearing
away title pages from rare books of all
sizes. which he sorted out into nationaG-
ties and towns, and SO with lot of hand
1 bills, manuscript notes and miscel-
laneous collections of all kinds formed
over hundred folio volumes now
| preserved in the British Museum-the
remains of many rare works
IT is not generally known that in the
/ Congressional Library, at Washington,
there Is an old Bible which is well
worth q walk TO the Capitol TO examine.
| 1t is OF Italian origin, and Is supposed to
have been written In the thirteenth or
fourteenth century, but the actual date
is unknown. 1T Is written IN Latin,
upon vellum, IL clear, bold characters,
and extremely uniform. The writing is
in two columns, about three inches
wide, with margin of two inches. 1t
Is embelhshed with 146 miniature paint
ings, and upward of 1900 smaller IL
| luminations, which are beautifully exc
cuted, and are as brilliant to-day as the
day they were done. The initials of
books and prologues are two and half
inches IN height, and those of the chap
ters are one inch in height. 1t is con-
tanned IN two large volumes, and cost
the Government 81, 200 in gold when
gold was at premium.
THE long and careful observations of
Sir John Lubbock, i'll reference to the
instincts aud lie of ants, have estab-
lished many curious facts They have
model communities for good order, and
industry, and cleanliness, and care for
the common good. They can commune
cate freely with each other, and work
together, or divide into sections, each
attending to a special task, as intelh-
gently men, They know each other,
and instantly detect a stranger; they
never mistake one of their own number
for a stranger, though he may have been
separated from them for months. But
they never attempt to hberate their
friends when In confinement, or even to
help them, save when wounded in bat
tie. Sir John Lubbock took ants from
several hills, and confined them in bot
ties covered with gauze, close by tbeir
homes. In no case did the ants pay any
attention to them, or offer any help.
But when he put strange ants, in similar
bottles, near the hills, the whole bo1y
were at once agitated. Some were. on
guard continually, and in every case
they managed to penetrate the gauze
and destroy the strangers. He con-
cludes that hatred is stronger than af-
fection IN ant life.