River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1888-08-16
NOTES ron NArusALIsrs.

A STRANGE new insect, somewhat on the
lines of the lady bug. has appeared By mill
/ ions IN the cat fields Of Duchess County,
| n. Y, and threatens TO make the harvest a
| light and chaffy one.
THE smallest known Towering plant,
scarcely visible to the naked eye, is TolGla
/ microscopic, "A water weed of India. Two
| species of the same genus, the largest about
/ one twenty-fifth of an inch in diameter,
| grow in the eastern United States.
/ IL Sylyania, Ga, recently, a strange
/ animal parasite put in an appearance. II is
| a worm which frequents the tails of cows,
/ encircling the bone and cutting of the APP
4 pendage According 10 resident Of the
/ place who had observed its movements, il
| is invulnerable TO even 50 strong an appli-
4 cation as kerosene.
Two PERFECTLY pure white birds, which
were caught in Galena, H., have been ex-
amined by local ornithologists, who pro
/ nounce them genuine robins. These ex-
I cecdingly rare specimens of the feathered
/ tribe are about two-thirds grown, aud were
/ taken from = nest known to have been built
/ by robins OF The ordinary red-breasted va
/ riety.
THE Geological Society, of Philadelphia,
/ rlourns the loss Of a queer animal, belong
/ known as the echidna. Though among
| these animals the mothers nurse the young,
/ tho latter arc born from eggs laid by the
/ mother parent, and Matched as in birds and
/ reptiles. As the ANIMALS mouth is only ad-
I justed to the use of ants as food, and these
1 could not be supplied in sufficient quantity
/ by those having this peculiar specimen in
/ charge, it lived only SIX weeks.
THERE grows in Mixteca, Mex, a plant
I which the natives cali "The Herb of Proph-
4 ecy." II is said that whoever partaKes of
+ the herb, in a few moments sinks into a
/ sort OF sleep, or rather hypnotic state, in
which, while apparently quite insensi-
/ bic, he has q kind of prophetic gift, or
/ double sight, answers questions that are
4 put 10 him, and becomes so under the will
/ of another that he obeys any command,
/ even TO taking his own life. When the
/ effects of the herb wear off he remembers
/ nothing Of what ne has done
/ NIGuTINGALEs build at the bottom of
/ hedges and shrubs. They use dry oak
/ leaves and arrange them according TO the
direction in which the leaves have curled.
/ so they fit partially over one another, like
( plates in a coat Of mail Inside the leaves
/ there is lining Of grass and small roots;
| but the loose grace of the outside is so de-
/ ceptive that only a skillful observer can
/ guess that the mass Of dry leaves he sees
huddled together among twigs and grasses
is anything save a heap of refuse left be-
/ hind by some winter whirlwind.
THE vineyards in the vicinity of Varna,
Bulgaria, have been attacked by new kind
( of an insect pest called the Kara terri. or
the black tailor an appellatiOn which is
| supposed TO Indicate its appearance and
4 habits. 1t is described as an adipOse black
/ beetle measuring about thrce-fourths Of an
! inch in body-length, and furnished with q
/ short pair of shears with these, in the
| mornings of April and May, it cuts of the
/ young vino shoots, which it leaves on the
/ ground until they are parched by the sun,
/ when il drags them into the rccesses of its
/ deep and tunneled hole, generally situated
/ ct the foot Of the plant attacked.
/ THE dugong, a species of whale taken in
/ large numbers at Queensland, has probably
/ furnished the slender basis of fact uDOn
/ which the mermaid and norman stories arc
/ founded. II is about eight TO twenty feet in
/ length, lives upon submarine beds of sea
weed, breathes by means of lungs, has a
4 humanlike head, with hair resembling q
/ mans beard. Tho flesh of the animal Is
eaten and is said to have the favor of beef,
veal or bacon, according to the part of the
/ body from which the meat is taken. The
/ oil has all the medical qualities of cod-liver
/ oil, without the disGgreeable taste or smell
| of the latter