The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-08-28

onuerfui Ieats OF Strength Performed by
Small Creatures ~ Astonishing Facts
About Seeds and Their Products Long
Lived Fish That do Funny Things.
There are many surprising things In
plant and insect life, especially when com
PARSONS are used 10 call attention to
them. For instance, Delisle tells us Of
tly that ran nearly three inches and made
$40 steps i'm half q second. This Is about
equal To "A mans running go miles n
minute. The flea leaps goo times its own
| lngth. At this rate a man six feet tall
| would bound at one effort distance OF
], 200 feet The mite in the cheese Is only
one fourth of an inch in length, yet 1t can
take the tip of Its tail in its mouth, and
then, letting 20 with sudden jerk, Jump
out of "A bowl six inches in depth To
| equal this man should be able TO Jump
out of vertical shaft in u mine l44 feet
| In depth.
beetle placed under glass tumbler
| Will push the tumbler around on a table.
To match this man relatively should be
able TO walk off with small lighthouse
| The brain of canary is larger than the
brain OF an elephant. "Oh, that can't be
truel" you exclaim. Remember We mean
| proportionately.
President Clark OF Amherst college
some years ago made a series Of expert
! ments upon the growing force OF a squash.
J When 1t was IS days old and measured 27
| Inches in circumference, he inclosed il in
n sort of iron and wooden harness, with
long lever attached to it. The latter was
weighted according to the growing power
Of the squash Beginning with go pounds
ON the twentieth day Of its existence, on
| the ninetieth day il lifted 5, 600 pounds.
A peculiar plant is found in the states
Of Oregon and Texas. 1t is known as the
compass plant, the polar plant and the
pilot weed, owing to the polarity Of its
leaves. The radical leaves present their
edges north and south, while their faces
are turned east and west. This popularity
has long been known TO hunters, who on
dark nights easily get their bearings by
feeling the direction OF the leaves. An
other guide to hunters is the moss on the
trees. lt grows more thickly on the north
side OF the tree than on any other side.
The seed of the globe turnip is not larger
perhaps than the twentieth part of an inch
In diameter, and yet in the course Of few
months this seed will be enlarged by the
soil and the air into 27,000,000 times its
original bulk, and this in addition to a
considerable bunch of leaves. DIR. Des-
guliers made some experiments, proving
that IN an average condition turnip
seed may increase its own weight 15 times
In a minute. BY an actual experiment.
made on peat ground tunips have been
found TO increase more than l5, 900 times
the weight of their seeds n day
There Is n shellfish called the coat OF
mail, which has its eyes not on its body.
where we would naturally look for them,
but on its shell. They glisten like crystals
In their calcarous settings. AS well might
we expect To see eyes on the shell OF n tor
toise or OH our finger nails. This discov-
cry, SO new in science has led TO closer
inspection. In one specimen $50 eyes were
counted, "a rows with an average of Is In
each row Another shell, in which the
eyes were very small, had s. 500 eyes on it,
Fish live to a wonderful age. Professor
Baird tells Us of a pike in Russia whose
nge dates back TO the fifteenth century.
In the royal aquarium at st. Petersburg
there are fish that have been there for i4O
years. They live on without seeming Co
arrive at maturity. There are also some
very queer crabs in the world. The soldier
crab of Bermuda carries heavy shells up
the hills. A shore crab in the Cape Verde
islands may "bo soen running along like |
piece of paper blown by strong wind"
In Ascension island there are crabs that
steal young rabbits from their nests, while
the famous robbcr crab Of the Philippines
cracks cocoanuts and eats them.
Perhaps not one boy I'm 20 while digging
worms for bait stops to wonder why |
worms were made or how many there are
I'm the ground. The attention OF Darwin,
the eminent naturalist, was attracted 90
the subject when boy, and one OF the
last articles that he wrote was treatise
ON the vast Importance of the earthworms
Co tho human race. The scientific world /
was astonishcd at what he had to say ON
the subject. The fertility OF our soil Is
due 90 the labors OF these insignificant
creatures BY penetrating the earth In
every direction and depositing their own
remains therein the fertility of the soil Is
not only kept up. but Is lsrgely improved
Their number is surprisingly large. In
old pastures In England the worms are
estimated nc 90, 900 TO tho acre and as
many as 1900 In richly cultivated gar
dcns. Mr. Urquhart estimated the mum
Der Of worms In the rich pasture lands
near Auckland at from 900, OOO To- 500 900
90 the acre Were H. not for the earth
worms soils would bccome barren and half
81 the world would die of starvation. -
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