The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-10-23

should be so healthful a place for youth full lions is an unsolved question, but the fact remains that the Irish lion'' is a sort of standard quality with the mana gers of zoos, museums and travelling circuses.
 Scientists have often called attention to the kindness of nature in providing many of it's creatures with a disguise that in moments of danger makes them difficult to distinguish from the sur rounding foliage. But some times nature goes even further and supplies them with war mask, as it might be called, that makes them frightful and terrifying ob- jects to the eyes of their natural enemies.
 One of the most remarkable examples of this combination of a disguise for concealment and then, if the disguise fails to deceive the enemy, mask to in- spire terror and repulsion is the socalled Lobster moth caterpiller. When at rest this caterpiller looks so much like an ordinary leaf that it is only discovered by careful examination. But if 1t is ap- preached too closely either by some in- sect eating bird or by the small flies that have the habit of depositing their eggs on living caterpillers and thus slowly kill ing them, the resemblance to leaf van- ishes and the creature assumes the ap- pearance of a particularly ugly and ven- omous spider Scientists who have closely studied the creature have seen it's larger enemies actually frightened away by this repulsive transformation, while in the case of the flies the change is naturally even more terrifying. Instead of a harmless caterpiller the fly finds it. self confronted by it's own most deadly natural enemy, with all It's most horror inspiring physical characteristics greatly exaggerated. Of course the caterpiller isn't as dangerous as he looks, but the moral effect like that of large navy owned by peaceful nation, is equally prohibitive.
 Strikes are not usually amusing but in the history of labor contests the world over there have been instances in which the element of picturesque absurdity has been sufficiently marked to suggest much more a comic opera than a serious mat ter-of-fact reality. In Holland for ex- ample. the baker boys of Amsterdam not long ago decided that they had griev- ance, but before they struck they used every possible argument to persuade the servant girls of Amsterdam to strike with them, even going so far as to an- nounce the prospect of this cooperation in local newspaper. The next day, how ever, the servant girls announced, in an- other newspaper that they had no in- tention of striking and that they had no sympathy whatever with the baker boys. If it had been the butcher boys the case might perhaps have been different. As it was the Amsterdam housewives breathed a great sigh of relief and the strike came to nothing.
 At about the same time an entire En- glish village went on strike against the local inn-keeper for raising the price of beer and ale. The villagers held public meetings. framed resolutions, appointed pickets to restrain the thirsty and weak in spirit. and became the strictest kind of prohibitionists. As a result the inn keepers finally yielded and the price or | drinks returned to their former level. | Probably one of the most remarkable modern changes in the planning of im-
 portaut public and private buildings Is