The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-22
SOME ANIMALS THINK.
Wonderful Intelligence Shown BY
Even Bugs and Flies.

Crabs.
From the Philadelphia Press
Kirby and Spence record that mem
her of the beetles finding pellet which it
had made for the reception Of its eggs too
heavy for its own strength. went off to an
adjoining heap and obtained the assist
snce of three companions. "All four now
anplied their united strength to the pellet
and at length succeeded in pushing it out,
which being done the three assistant
beetles left the, spot and returned to their
own quarters"
Most people must be familiar with the
b1rviug beetles. Buchner writes: ''Sev-
erai of them unite together TO bury under
the ground as food and shelter for their
Young some dead animals, such as a
nose a toad, mole, bird, etc. The
bnrial is performed because the corpse, if
left abo g ground, would either dry up or
grow rotten or be eaten by other animals.
In all these cases the young would perish,
whereas the dead body lying in the earth
and Withdrawn from the outer air lasts
very WELL The burYing beetles proceed
about their work in well considered fash
ion for they scrape away the earth ly
ing under the body, so that II sinks of
itself deeper and deeper. When tits deep
enough down il is covered from above.
If the situation is stony, the beetles with
united forces and great efforts drag the
Il corpse to some place more suitable for
burving. They work so diligently that a
mouse, for instance, is buried within
three hours. But they often work on for
davs. so as to bury the body as deeply as
possible. From large carcasses, such as
those of horses, sheep, etc, they only
bury pieces as large as they can manage.
The following story, given on the au-
thority of the well-known writers, Kirby
and Spence, is astonishing as showing in
remarkable degree the power of calcu-
lating: "A friend of Gledditsch fastened
a dead toad, which he desired to- dry,
upon the top of an upright suck. The
burying beetles were attracted by the
smell and finding that they could not
reach the toad they undermined the stick,
thus causing it to fall with the toad,
which was then buried safe out of harms
way"
Dr. Garraway, of Faversham, commu-
picated the following to Mr. Romans:
On a bank of moss in the Black Forest he
saw beetle alight with caterpillar
which it was carrying and proceed to ex-
cavate a cylindrical hole in the peat,
about an inch and half deep. into which,
when completed, it dropped the caterpil-
lar and then few away through the pines.
81 was struck with the creatures folly in
n leaving the hole uncovered, as every Curl
j
tempted to enter therein. However. in
about minute the beetle returned, this
time carrying a small pebble, of which
there were none in the immediate vicinity.
and having carefully fitted this into the
aperture, few away into space"
INTELLIGENCE OF THE HOUSE FLY.
Perhaps one is but little better prepared
for an exhibition OF intelligence on the
part of the house fly, whose room we pre-
IN IPCSA hnW6uap in,
that delightful book "Jesse's Gleanings,"
gives a wonderful story: "Slingsby, the
celebrated opera dancer, resides in the
large house in Crossdeep. Twickenham,
next to Sir Wathen Walters, looking
down the river He was fond of the study
of natural history, and particularly of in
sects, and he once tried TO tame some
house flies and preserve them in state
Of activity through the winter For this
purpose, quite at the end of the autumn
and when they were becoming almost
helpless, he selected four from his break
fast table and put them upon a large
handful of cotton and placed them IN one
corner of the window nearest the fire
place
Not long afterward the weather be-
came so cold that all flies disappeared ex-
Cept these four which constantly left
their bed of cotton at his breakfast time,
II came and fed at the table and then re-
for a short time. when three of them be-
came lifeless in their shelter and only
one came down. This one Sliugsby had
"A trained to feed upon his thumbnail, by
placing on it some moist sugar mixed
with little butter. Although there had
been at intervals several days of sharp
frost the fly never missed taking his daily
meal in this way till after Christmas,
s when, his kind preserver having invited
81 friend to dine and sleep at his house,
q the fly the next morning perched upon
n the thumb of the visitor, who, being ig
norant that it was pet of the hosts,
ri capped his hand upon it and thus put an
# end to Mr.. Slingsbys experiment"
81 Naturalists in all parts of the world
have noticed the quaint, uncanny actions
"a OF crustaceanS, notably of crabs. Now
that public acquaria are multiplying
# their habits may be more closely studied.
81 The amount of interest which such
study promises to afford may be gathered
from the following extract from Prof.
Moseley's notes" of the Challenger ex-
petition:
In vast abundance all over the rocks,
crawls about crab, the same as that al
ready noticed at the Cape Verde Islands.
MS crab has been referred to by nearly
all visitors to the rocks (St. Paul'sl. 1t
Is far more wide-awake than the birds,
and keeps well out of reach, being thus
Of some difficulty to catch. The crabs
are all over the rocks; every crevice has
several in it. You are fishing, and you
nave put down at your feet nice bait,
guy with some care and difficulty from a
nsh sacrificed for the purpose. You are
absorbed in the sport. A fish carries off
Il your bait; you look down and see two
cra0s disappearing into an impracticable
& ere Ice carrying your choice morsel be.
N tween them. You catch fish and throw
II down beside you. Before long you find
swarm of crabs around it, tearing NOR
SeIs OF the gills, using both claws alter
uaIely to carry them to their mouths, and
olg old era digging away at the skin of
'le 1sh and trying TO bite through it,"
CURIOUS INSTINCT IN CRABS.
Darwin found on Kneeling Island a
monster land crab, which feeds on the
yocoanut. He says: 1.-The front pair of
reeS terminate in very strong and heavy
pihcers and the last pair are fitted with
uthers weaker and much narrower. it
you'd at first be thought quite impossible
ior crab to open strong cocoanut COW
ereu with the husk, but Mr.. Liesk assures
s le mat he has repeatedly seeI this eff
ecleo, The crab begins by tearing the
auSk' hber by fiber, and always from that
euu under which the three eye holes are
81 0IIudted. When this is COMPLETED the