St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 33

gouts ost-gisnalcli. 19, 1880. S3 ENGLISH BEES ARE MAD. A PETRIFIED MAN. BIGGEST BIRDS THAT EVER LIVED.

AFRICAN DWARFS IH ABYSSINIA. CANNIBALS IN AUSTRALIA STILL. fie Natives in Some Parts Refuse to Succumb t9 Progress. DEYIL IS WELL NAMED. An Antipodeaa Beast Which It th Fiercest in the World.

0 UBr-LE GED BIRDS. Climb Like Monkeys and Look Like Tree Frogs. Nothing In the realm of natural history of late excels in Interest the announcement are able to make of the discovery In British Guiana of a bird with four legs, "ays Science Sittings. The Crested Hoat-'n (Opisthocomus Cristatus), the only survivor of a race of birds, several of which are known as fossils, inhabits the most secluded parts of the forests of South America, and It Is probable that It Is owmg to its retiring habits It has outlived Its congeners, as well as to the fact Pigmy Warriors Who Aided Menelik in Fighting Italians. These are probably the smallest and queerest soldiers which, armed with modern rifles, have ever fought against civilized troops.

They are Central African dwarf3. and In the servlco of the Vegus (or Emperor of Abyaslnla assisted In the rout of the Italians troops. These pigmies are scarcely more than half the height of an ordinary man. Despite thelr diminutive height, they are fierce, cruel and cunning, and armed with firearms are as formidable as big men. Particular ethnological Interest has attached to the disastrous expedition of Gen.

Bariaterl from the fact that t-hore have been pigmies numbered among the hostile forces. It is only within the past few years hat the existence of these hostile people PIGMY WAEEIOBS EN" lias been generally accepted. Herodotus, the Greek historian, wrote about them, but he has been scoffed at and hi3 accounts characterized as fiction. Du Chaillu and other African explorers who claimed to have found the pigmies in Central Africa had to encounter just as sceptical a public. Stanley account of the dwarf people of the Dark Continent is the first that really gained general credence.

Akkas is the name g.ven to these curious little people, who are supposed to be the survivors of the "aboriginal inhabitants of Central Africa. There have been t'hree of these queer people taken to Europe. Two were men. They were called Lebo and Chairallah. The third was a lady Akka, named Saida.

FISH WITH A HUMAN FAC1 It Also Has a Pair of Hands and Feet. A new species of fish has been discovered In Texas. It has almost a human head and Is endowed with hands and feet to EISH WITH A HTTMA3T FACE Parliament Asked to Pass a Law Requiring Them to Be Muzzled. Bees In England are declared to be suffering from hydrophobia, and Parliament la to be asked to pass a law requiring persons who keep beea to muzzle them. At first sight thla proposition seems absurd, yet when It Is carefully considered It will be seen that, after all.

It la placed on a scientific basis. It has been noticed for some time among those who have given careful attention to the subject of apiaries and their inhabitants, that some disease, untraceable In its nature, and yet exceedingly virulent, was monthly growing more prevalent among the swarms in the United Kirgdom. This disease teemed a sort of murrain, which one bee communicated to another. Investigation showed it was a species of rabies, which the insects Imparted to each other by bites. This was the conclusion the Surrey Bee Keepers' Association reached at a recent meeting In the course of a long debate the president of the association, Mr.

Hal-sey chairman of the Surrey County Council announced that It was the Intention of' many, if possible, to muzzle the beea in order to eet rid of the dlseas It was finally decided that it would be best to ask Parliament to pasa an act making it obligatory for bee owners to inuzzle their Insects precisely as dogs are required to be muzzled during certain periods of the year in England, and there ia good reason ior will be passed by Parliament. MENELIK'S ARMY. It is proposed to make the act almost precisely the same as that with reference to dogs, and upon the same ground, that the new disease is quite as communicable as is rabies. The support of the Board of Agriculture has been enlisted, but as yet that body has given no opinion upon the subject. Just how the muzzles will be placed upon the Insects, how they will be kept there, and of just what they will consist are details that have not yet been decided.

Thera would seem to be, however, considerable difficulty in muzzling a hee, and considerable danger to the keeper attempting to do. It is not knovtn as yet that it Is quit? possible, but the bee farmers are convinced something must be done, and they think their Ingenuity will be. equal to the emergency. LEECHES BY THE They Are Bred in France and Fed on Live Horses. Mr.

M. Hadden writes to a London paper to explain why so many old horses are ship- FOUND BY A TEXAS GIRL. ped from England to France. He says: "Certain speculators some years ago made artificial swamps on the banks of the Ga-ronnne, and filled the swamps with leeches. To be profitable these leeches must multiply themselves by millions; to do thla they must be liberally supplied with food.

To thu3 supply them the Bordelaia speculatora buy up old and worn-out horses, and drive or drag them Into the swamps, which have wooden compartments, so placed that when these unhappy animals have been forced Into the mud there Is no escape for them. The leeches fasten on them by thousands. The horse la in a few momenta bfack with crawling creatures; the bloodsuckers fix themselves most of all on the open wounds and galls. The frantlo terror of the poor animala Is indescribable, as, bleeding from all their sensitive parts, they try vainly to shake off the leeches, but are at last sucked down Into the noxious slimes and seen no more. Nearly 20.0W) horses are said to be sacrificed annually in this way at Bordeaux.

The agonies of the horses are not sufficient reason check the barbarities greedy speculator but it has been point-d out that leeches, I and often diseased lVrses. are very likeiv to convey ulcers, inflnmations, and scrofulous maladies into WA buma systeBi! -7ara While Turning to btone. George Keller, styled the "petrified- man, who died In Phlladelphita last week, had lain fourteen years In one position, suffering from a malady known as rheumatoid arthritis, brought on wholly by cold baths in tho surf. Such progress had the disease made that at the time of his death he waa abl to move only the fingers of his left hand. It Is said that when Keller was 21 years old he was perfectly strong and healthy and a fine type of young manhood; but, however that may be, it was at this time that he went down to Atlantic City, and, after dancing for some time one evening, put on a suit and took a surf bath.

After the bath he and his companions raced along the beach until they were thoroughly heated, and again plunged Into the surf The next morning he could scarcely move his legs, and from that day the disease made steady progress. Before three months had passed he was unable to leave his Keller had the best of medical care. In 1879 and 1S80 he waa treated at the Jefferson Hospital, Philadelphia, where his case was pronounced incurable. Later he passed through the hands of skilled physicians, surgeons, and scientists in the Presbyterian Hospital and in the University Hospital, and from each he waa discharged as Incurable. remarkable thing about the case ia, that the man always maintained the most cheerful spirits.

Though often suffering great pain aggravated by severe indigestion MOST FEROCIOUS BEAST IN THE no complaint was ever heard. He welcomed all friends eagerly, and would converse with them by the hour, not referring in any way to the Intensity of his suffering. He was a great smoker, and those who attended him say that hia pipe waa his greatest joy. A HORN ON HIS HEAP. A Massachusetts Negro Who Is Used for a Wood Splitter.

Abe Hunter, a colored Inmate of- the poor-house at South Williamston, probably haa the nobbiest head in all America. Just at the top of where hia forehead used to be before ago made lta extensions of It rises a knob as large as a plgecn'a egg directly where it will be of use as a horn. It is to thia knob and the general thick-nesa of hia skull that Abe owes his principal fame. The great work of his life has been as a "burner," and the trlcka he haa done in this way are many and wonderful. One that has many times been performed is the breaking of two-Inch planks on his head.

Abe's own method of doing this ia peculiar. Taking a board In both hands he holds it at arm's length and brings It down with a crash on the knob of hia skull. The first blow la generally not enough to break it, but by continued thumps it finally gives way, cracking across as If broken by blows from the blunt end of an ax. Thla performance is varied at times by fastening a plank at both enda and letting Abe bunt it in the manner of a billy goat. He plunges at it with desperate earnestness and it generally gives way at the first blow.

It Is related that a party of young men at one time invited Abe to take part In a carousal provided he would contribute to the amusement of the occasion. The darky agreed. All he was required to do was to stand still while they broke two-inch Dlanks over his knob. This wood-splitting. however, soon became too much like work.

and one festive youth smote Abe a per ilous blow witn the edge or the plank and felled him to the ground. Rising up slowly the old man said: "Guess yo' let that slip that time. Fo' God. yo' oughtn't to be so careless; yo might hurt somebody some dav." Beyond suffering the discomfort of having hia knob somewhat peeled old Abe seemed to have Deen uninjured. CRAWLS LIKE A SNAKE.

A Man Who Thinks He Is a Serpent With a Fiery Sting. A New York policeman the other day stumbled over a man wriggling along 'a path in Bedford Park. The man was a powerful fellow, hatless, and lay flat on his face. "What's this?" exclaimed the pollcaman. The prostrate man hissed between his teeth: "Take care, take care.

I'm a snake. I'll bite you." "Oh. get out of this. Come with me," said Policeman Kane. Tho man sat up and began thrusting out his head and drawing it back like a snake coiling for a Jump on its prey.

The human snake was with great difficulty bundled Into a patrol wagon and taken to the Trernont Station, where he in both French and German: "I'm a serpent with a fiery sting." When Dr. KlHn, who had rum from Fcrdham HospUnl in response to nn ambulance call, arrived the man tried to bit" him. and hia teeth Jut grazed the doctor's ear. ile wa finally iand in the Harlem Hospital. The cooiors thiiik that Fran, lib been bitten by a snake nr frighte.iel by one.

He Is undoubtedly mad aod his bite would be poiaouous, liity tay. A DOG Extinct Patagoniaiv Bipeds Wih Leg3 Like a Horse. A monster hunting expedition has Just been sent out by Princeton College. It is going to Patagonia, where there are more remarkable creatures, dead and alive, than in any other part of the world. The members of the party expect to make notable additions to the specimena of prehistorio creatures now in thla country.

In Patagonia have been dug up remains of extinct birda whoso leg bones were bigger than those of a horse. These gigantic fowla are massively built, and probably weighed as much as five hundred pounds when full grown. They had enormous heads, which ia some instances measured nearly two feet from the back of the skull to the tip of the huge beak. Undoubtedly they were carnivorous, and, it la believed, waders, resembling herons In their habits. They could not fly at all.

Thla strange country of Patagonia was the home of vast numbers of gigantio sloths, representing numerous species. Some of these queer animals were as big as two elephants, but extremely sluggish. They were very stupid, having nearly the smallest brains of any known mammals ia proportion to their size. Their food was vegetablea wholly, and it was a habit of theirs to pull up trees by the roota for the purpose of getting at the foliage. -For this purpose the monster would squat on its haunches, its massive hind legs and huge tail serving as a sort of tripod, while it grasped the tree trunk with its forearms and dragged it out of the ground.

Not less strange than the sloths were the colossal glyptodons precursors of the modern armadillos. Though bearing some sort of resemblance to tortoises, they were mammo-ls. They had skeletons on the outside of their bodies as well as on the inside; in other words, they were clad in an impenetrable armor bone from nose to tail. This armor was solid, and not flexible like that of the armadillo. Full-grown specimens attained a length of ten feet and a weight ot over a ton.

In those days there were multitudes of huge creatures in Patagonia, which resembled modern ant-eaters, of the genua sloth and f-illy twelve feet long. Over the plains of Patagonia 100,000 years ago roamed herds of animals related to the modern llamas, which are cousins to the camels of the Old World. Some of them were far larger than any camel, as is shown by bones that have been dug up. The whole country ia full of the fossil remains of astonishing creatures, whose species have long since passed away. One object of the Princeton expedition is to obtain data that will throw light upon the relation of the fauna of that region to the fauna of North America.

It Is believed that many species of animala now Inhabiting the United Statea notaMy certain rodents, such as the gopher originated in Patagonia and made their way gradually northward. The modern fauna of Patagonia la hardly less remarkable than that which is extinct. At the southern extremity of that country the guanacos animals of the camel tribe have a "dying place." It is a spot to which all of these beasts inhabitating the neighboring plains repair at the approach of death to deposit their bones. Darwin first recorded this strange instinct of theirs, and his observations have since been fully confirmed by others. Accurately speaking, there are several of theso dying places, the best known being on the banks of the Santa Cruz and Galiegos rivers, where the valleys are covered with dense thickets of bushes and trees of stunted growth.

There the ground is scattered thickly with the bones of countless dead generations, the In most cases having crawled before dying beneath and among the bushes. The strange armadillo, one of the most ancient of surviving creatures, figures conspicuously in the fables current among the natives of Patagonia, being represented as an animal fertile in expedients and duping other beasts, especially the fox, just as Brer Rabbit does. Snakes, venomous or otherwise, are its favorite prey, and it kills them actually by sawing them in two with the serrated edges of its sharp, bony shell. The armadillo sems to be proof against the venom of the serpent. In the same part of the world ia found a venomous species of toad, the bite of which is often fatal.

It is extremely hideous, and bigger than a man's fist. It snaps savagely at anything that comes near, hanging on with the tenacity of a bulldog. When teased it swells Itself to such an extent as to appear as if about to burst. There ia a species of frog in Patagonia known as the "wrestling which does not hesitate to attack human beings. Dr.

W. H. Hudson, the naturalist, tells of an adventure, says the San Francisco Examiner, he hack while out snipe shooting one day, when, peering into the1 disused burrow of some rodent animal, he saw a burly-looking frog sitting within it. "Though it watched me attentively," he says, "the frog remained perfectly motionless, and this surprised me. Before I was sufficiently near to make a grab, it sprang straight at my hand, and, catching two of my fingers with its forelegs, administered a hug so sudden and violent as to cause an acute sensation of pain.

Then it released its hold and leaped away." The supposition ia that this frog relies on its hugging power to astonish an adversary, and in tha confusion which follows it escapes. SNAPPING TURTLES FIGHT. They Hold on For Two Months and Will Till It Thunders. Two months ago a crowd of coal miners near Newport, N. took two snapping turtles to a cockpit and forcing their Jawa open poured whisky down their throats.

Then they were, turned loose on each other and about $800 waa wagered on the fight, with the understanding that no decision would be made until one of the snappers gave up or waa killed. The turtles fought fiercely, each tearing hia antagonist's head and neck with hia horny beak until one obtained a grip on the other's flipper. After a brief but ineffectual struggle to break hia antagonists hold, the turtle whose flipper was thus caught seized the other by the neck. Aside from a sawing motion there waa no further demonstration for several hours. The crowd of miners watched them from early evening until long after midnight, when the turtles, each retaining his grip on the other, were placed in the cellar of a deserted house.

Thia was two months ago, and since then neither of the snappers has shown any signs of weakening hia hold upon the other, and the bets have not yet been declared off. THE LEAP YEAR BIRD. The Female Doe3 the Courting and the Poor Male Has No Show. One of the most interesting species of birds described by Mr Elliot Is red-necked phala-rope, a beautiful bird, of which we see little in these islands, the London News says, but which is upon Its native heath in the arctic regions of America. It is especially remarkable because, as rarely happens among birda, the.

female is larger and more brightly colored than her mate. And i is the hen bird that does all the courting "The male," says Mr. Elliot, "is as coy and retirinK as the most bashful maiden, turning away from the proffered ettentlons, first to this side, then to that, even flying to the opposite side of the pool, or to another near by; but all in vain, for he is followed by the fair one who haa chosen him from his fellows, and there is no escape. At last, like anv other poor bachelor so beset, he yields, and thi nest, a slight structure of dry stalks, is placed in the center of a tuft of grass. The eggs aie four.

in number. On these the poor male, tl victim of woman's is obliged to the greater part of the time, the female arc sing herself on the pool near by." The native tribes In the northern districts of Queensland, Australia, are a bad lot. They are belligerent and treacherous. To a certain extent they are addicted to cannibalism. The advance of European civilization In their direction la deeply resented by these FIERCE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINALS.

Australian aboriginals. They refuse to succumb to any effort made to bring them within the Influences of modern progress. Many of their customs are strange and grotesque. Their religious rites are of a wild and disgusting character. While their cannibalism is not greatly in evidence there ia no doubt of its existence, and It does not appear to be dying out.

In Northern Queensland the nativea decorate their wiry bodies with white wood ashes. Grease or crude rosin is used to make the ashes adhere to the skin. Upon their bodies they paint rude figures in white, sometimes creating gruesome effects by using the ashes on their faces. They also mutilate themselves by pushing Email sticks through their nostrils. Their chief pleasure la found In war.

Even the very children are taught to fight, and an aboriginal Queenslander Is in battle a large part of his life. Their weapons are rude and primitive, but they are daring to the point of recklessness. Their physical strength is great and their endurance remarkable. Their costume ia not much beyond what nature provides. As a general thing they wear nothing but a piece of cloth around the loins.

That they will ever be brought within the reach of civilizing Influences seems Improbable. They are doomed to extinction as the Europeans advance Into their country. In their outlandish way they resemble the Old Guard. They die, but never urrende. HOVING MOUNTAINS.

One Is "Working1 Great Mischief tn a French Village. A "moving mountain" Is working great mischief in tho mining districts of the Gard, thirty miles from Nimes, in France. This mountain, known as the Gouffre, la advancing at the rate of five yards a day towards the Garden river, has already destroyed a big colliery, and threatens the main line of the Paris-Barcelona Railway. The crowning catastrophe will come when the mountain fails into and diocks up ine river; for then the damming of the stream will mean the inundation of the whole country. The explanation of this phenomenon of a mountain in motion is simple.

The Gouffre lies upon a layer of soft rock, which has been converted, by the heavy rainfall of the Cevennes, into a sort of tobogganing ground for the superimposed layeTs; the layer underneath of hard rock impervious to water. This unhappy combination of strata has caused many terrible landslips, perhaps the most notable of which was the slipping forward of the Rossberg into the Lawke of Lowerz, whereby the whole village of Goldau was overwhelmed and destroyed. This happened Just ninety years ago. Quite recently a disaster of a similar nature occurred at Elm, another Swiss village. The annals of Switzerland contain many records of this kind, though happily the landslips are seldom attended with great loss of life, because ample warning is given, as a rule, of tho impending catastrophe.

BALLAST FOR DUCKS. A Scientific Discovery That Elucidated a Puzzling Mystery. "Few people credit a duck with the sense he really possesses," said Fred Ozenne, a disciple of Nimrod to a New Orleans Times-Democrat reporter. "For years. I had been wondering what had caused the presence of a good-sized pebble bank on the shore of the lake in the Grandivola section of the Louisiana marsh.

Had it been a sand bank I could have understood it, but it was composed of pebbles, all very much alike, rounded and smooth, almost to a size, and apparently differing from the small stones found In the gravel beds of the South. Several of the hunters in that section had seen the pebble beach, and, like myself, they could not understand it. All winter long it seemed fresher than at other times, and during the summer the grass would kinder cover Its upper portion and the mud from the fresh water dim the luster of the stones near the edge. There wae not another beach like it in the marsh. "One winter, in fact, it was Just when tha first cold spell had struck us, I was hunting with a friend in the lake I spoke of.

It was one of the finest ducking spots in the State. This was before they had begun to make glue from the eggs in Canada. When we reached the lake there was not a duck to be seen. The next morning I was hiding in the grass near the pebble beach when I heard a sound of wings, and large flock of mallard settled near me. Before I could raise my gun the entire lot walked out on the pebble bank, and, to my astonishment, began to disgorge a lot of small stones like the ones already there.

This occupied but a short time, and the flock began quacking and ailed into the lake, and I shot several. This settled the mystery of the pebble beach. In the spring I was again hunting in the lake, and when the first warm weather came the ducks began to go home. They would come to the beach, and, after a few preliminaries, swallow a lot of pebbles, then fly around for a few minutes in order to see if their balance was right. If they were too heavy they would disgorge a few stones, or if too light swallow half a dozen more.

"I found by observation that In order for the ducka to make long flights it was necessary for them to fill up with a certain number of stones to secure a proper equilibrium for the return trip. After I found this out I always had plenty of game to show my friends." BEAR-FACED DOGS." They Are Called "Wunks" and Come From Asia. Jay Sedgwick of Tacoma was in St. Paul recently, and had with him a couple of anl- ffwi to th canine e-pecies. the like of which has not been before seen on the continent of North America.

He held J1 aUhoush the beasts were rJi lnftensive. and he would not lce sight of them, for they were rare er.ougl to be taken care of. They were "wunks," a species of dog peculiar to the interior to the continent of Asia and the first cf their kind ever brought to America. The animals were peculiar in that they have faces or bears and the body of a common dog. One was entirely black, and the color extended to his mouth, his tongue being as black as though dipped in an Ink well.

The other was whitish. The animals looked very like woolly Spitz dogs, and were entirely domes ticaterl. They are to the Tartars what the collie is to the shepherd of Scotland. Of peculiar interest are they to the Northwest, because their kind have sacrificed their coats for many years to make the dokskin coats that have been so much used in the Northwest during the last tali decade. A beast more ferocious, more fiendish or one less likely to be tamed that the Tas-mantan "devil" is not to fce found.

Th creature was known as the Ursian sarco. philus, but "devil" Is the terse and appropriate name by which It Is known in Us habitat. The "devil" ia about the size of a large bulldog. Its head Is one-third the length of Its body, and Is flat, broad and hideous. Its feet resemble those of tha badger, with big claws, while its tail tticks out stiffly.

Its coat looks like wool rubbel the wrong way. The creature becomes a veritable fiend when disturbed ever so slightly. He at. tacks everything before him, dead or living, and in his mad rage flies at a mastiff or a barn door with equal ferocity. He fights WORLD, THE DEVIL.

always to a dead finish, knowing neither truce nor quarter. So long as there 'is a shred of flesh to tear or a bone to shatter, he clings to hia foe, and, unmindful ot the Injury he may receive, ho plies his powerful jaws until hia strength fails. A "devil" that waa captured when quit young and kept solely as a curiosity never changed a bit when in captivity. He was surly and feroffous throughout, and ulti mately killed hlmseir in a mad struggle with the bars of hia cage. lit haa been known to rush at a solid stone wall In a paroxysm of fury, uttering growls and barks, and beating the air the while.

Tho "devil ia nocturnal In Its habits, and la easily trapped. He la voracloua. What ever tempts his, appetite he must have. matter what obstacle ia In tho way. QTTEER RIVER3.

One Is a Natural ink and the as Sour as vinegar. Travelers report that In Alirerli exists a small stream whlchthe try of nature has turned toInk. formed by the union of two rivulets, of which Is very strongly lmpregna Willi nuii, through a peat marsh, imbibes lurga quan- titiea of gallic acid. Betters have been written wixn me naiuiai acid, which forms this small yet wonderful stream. The Rio de Vlnagr in uoiomum stream, the waters of which, by admixture with sulphuric acid, became so sour va.

hwn annronriately named the Rio de Vinagre, or Vinegar River, A DOG BICYCLIST. There Is One in'Paris That Haa Learned to Ride a Tandem. There ia a dog in Paris that rides a bicycle. He takes a spin on a tandem with his master. M.

Henri de Thieriant. with as much enjoyment apparently as a person would derive from that pleasure. Perhaps he gets more. Dogs that are clever enough to learn bicycle riding mar enjoy it hugely. Who knowsV, The dog is a thoroughbred ScoVh-Gordoa setter.

"With a v-ry few lessons learned to balance mmseii nun nr-p Inasmuch as the dog in only a pacm-nKT, M. Thiersant makes him got off going up hills. Accordingly hs fo up on his own legs and waits the top tor his master te bring the mnrhlne. Then he reiuraei n.e seat with evident gratification. SEA SOUP.

What Whales and Herring Get Tat oa in Deep Water. The discovery that the sea a Tt brew of mlcrscoplc creatures explain ho flsh can thrive in deep sea wera where there are neither vegetable growths nor animal forms visible to the naked nc This puzzlied itU'5i-ril of fixhe for a Ion time and they formed many curious theories. Great shoals of hrrlng at certain times leave the coastwise waters ar.d dl-appear In the apparently faodltus wddte cf the ea yt they return fat. Certain of whales thrive under the am. condl- "nVran a mjsferr until It wa.

recently ettlfd brvond con tht boin hulea and herrin? are sU (subsist ctx mlcrncopi nliith Sfcarra cvn in t-e water tf -liu'van. The es i in fact rrt nutritious vU9 aaJ the hates fti la it aud lika lU mai, ieeding as it does upon wild arum leaves. Its flesh acquires so offensive an I as to have gained It "the name of the "stink" bird, and render it entirely unfit for food. It is a large bird, almost large as a peacock, tn lact, but is very seldom seen. Oftener Its loud, wailing cry is heard.

The chief peculiarity of the Hoatzin consists in the fact that when it is hatched It possesses four well-developed, the front pair being of a reptilian character. The young birds leave the nest and climb about like monkeys over the adjoining limbs and twigs, and act and look more like tree toads than birds. After hatching, the modification of the fore limbs begins, the claws of the digits falling off, and the whole of the claw-like hand becoming flattened, change into wings. After this modification has taken place, feathers begin to grow, and in a short time not a vestige remains of its original character. The adult not ocly have no claws upon their wings, but their thumbs even, are bo poorly developed that one would hardly suspect that In the nestling we have the nearest approach to a quadruped found among existing birds.

A TRAINED SHRIMP. He Can "Waltz and Do an Acrobatic Turn. A Tioga, man haa probably tho most curious pet on record. It la nothing more nor less than a trained shrimp. One would scarcely believe a Bhrimp to be possessed of any intelligence, yet this little crustacean, whom his master haa christened Neptune, really seems to be a most observing littla chap.

Neptune is the pride of quite a large aquarium, in which he rulea supreme. He is very foud of music, and when his master places a mouth organ against the glass side of the aquarium and plays, Neptune shows every manifestation of joy. He hops around on his tail and twirls hia body as though dancing to the time of music, and when the strains cease he places his little nose against the glass as though begging for more. His favorite airs are "A Life On the Ocean Wave" and "Rocked in the Cradls of the Deep." Neptune's master has a little stick which he places In the aquarium, and the shrimp will play about this for hours, standing on his bead, turning handsprings and doing other equally re. markable things.

THE KOALA BEAR. Lives In Trees and Carries Its Cubs on Its Back. There is a bear In Australia known as the Koala bear. Very little ia known of it. One lone specimen with her cub is in captivity England.

Its peculiarity la that it lives in trees and the female carries her cubs on her back. The koala is a marsupial animal of Australia, commonly referred to the family Phalangistidae, resembling the phalangers In dentition, but possessing much larger molar tepth. The koala has hardly the rudiment of a tail. It resembles a small bear. scientific name comes from two AUSTRALIAN TREE BEAR CARRYING HER CUB.

Greek words meaning respectively a pouch and a bear. Its forefeet have five toes, two of which are opposed to the other three. This peculiarity does not extend to the hind limbs. In speaking of the koala an authority says that the animal "lives much on trees." The hasty reader should not infer from this that the koala devours trees in its effort to sustain life. The idea meant to be conveyed is that the.

tree bear spends a large part of hfs life in the branches of the Australian trees. The name koala is of Austrian origin, and seems to be an effort to put into one word sounds uttered by the tree bear. A FREAK STEER. It Has Three Each of Horns, Eyes and Nostrils. There are many strange animals at Madison Square Garden, New York, but the strangest of them all ia a Bteer with three horns, three eyes and three nostrils.

He is the strangest animal in the country, in fact. Hia owner calia him a "three time winner." Each of the queer animal's three horns HIS HAS THREE HORNS, THREE EYES AND THREiii tNuaiuiui. Twrfpctlv formed. Two of them are where thorns of a perfect steer should be and the third Is about midway between the others Two of his eyes are like these of an ordinary steer The third is not fully de-vefoSedTbut I Ms an eyo nevertheless. Each nf the trio of nostrils is well proportioned and the animal breaths and smella with all TheTxtra horn, eye and nostril are In a l'ne from the top of the nead down, each being a liUle to the left of the middle.

The amount of hooking and snorting that can bTdone by this marvellous Wc-ast can easily be Imagined. BICYCLIST. boot. It must not be Inferred that any one la going to put boots on the feet. The flsh has not acquired the feat of walking.

It swims like -any other flsh. There la no call for the ekeptlo to get funny and declare that the man who saw the fish had swallowed too much of the liquid bait which all true fishermen carry with them. It was a woman who discovered the monstrosity and she carried no Jug. Mt5s Myra Winkler was the namo of the young woman. It should be stated that she found it in water from an artesian well near San Marcos, which may account tor Its not being found before.

It had Just arrived from below. The fish ia described as being only two and one-half Inches long from face to tall. British. Guiana's Dwarf Indians. The Indians of British Guiana, according a writer tn the Nineteenth Century, itret Jiot far removed from the lowest of savages of tha dark continent.

A root called the covas is their principal food. It Is prepared for use by scraping it cm a Piece of timber studded with sharp pebbles. Cummunism to its fullest extent prevails among thorn. As to clothes the men get along with a breech clout, while the women fritvi" o' fashion with a simple th5r ar we made iii. 1, capital boatmen and are wimniers.

Ail the real wwrk Is by the wvroep. I i I i jeefcil.