Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

white pine, ready planed by the carpenter, to the dimensions of one inch and an eighth in width, and three sixteenths of an inch in thickness. These slips are cut to the proper length, and fastened in the form of a rectangle by common pins at the corners, as shown in Fig. 2. Previous, however, to forming the slips of wood into frames, they are coated on all sides with tinfoil, which is attached by means of the cement above described, omitting the coloring matter. I find it convenient to keep on hand while preparing these cases a supply of tinfoil, coated on one side ready, when required, to be cut into slips of the proper size. The coating of cement is put on by means of a brush dipped into the melted material.

Fig. 2.

Another plan, and I believe the best one, is to have the cement enclosed in a muslin bag, which may be tied to the end of a short stick; the tinfoil is to be spread out on a hot iron plate, say the top of a stove, when the bag containing the cement is rubbed over its surface, and the heat being sufficient to melt the wax and resin, the foil may be evenly coated, and on removal from the hot c metal plate, as it cools quickly, may then be rolled up and kept in readiness to be cut in suitable pieces for use.

Fig. 3 exhibits a box thus formed, of which a, b, c, d are the wooden sides covered with tinfoil, and e the glass plate, on the inside of which are placed the paper numbers covered by the cork supports. The next step Fig. 3. in the process is to transfer the butterflies in the preliminary box to their several supports on the glass plate, and to securely pin them to the cork so as not to fall off in the ordinary handling of the cabinet. After this the box is to be permanently closed with a glass cover of the same dimensions as the one which forms the bottom, and the whole fastened air-tight by means of the tinfoil. By this arrangement the specimens are hermetically sealed between two parallel panes of plate glass, which allow the under as well as the upper surfaces of the insect to be seen, while the whole is preserved from atmospheric changes and the ravages of insects.

The cases containing the specimens are now furnished, so far as the means of preserving the contents are concerned, but this case itself requires to be guarded

from injury and kept free of dust. For this purpose it is placed in an outer case, which I prefer to make in the form of a book with covers, which, on opening, exhibit the glass plates and the contents of the case. On the inner surfaces of these covers I write, or print, the names of the specimens therein contained.

All the cases which form the whole cabinet are arranged in an ordinary bookcase with glass doors, and when properly ornamented on the back resemble a series of large octavo volumes. The cases should always be kept like books in a case, in an upright position, and never allowed to lie on their sides, except when in use. The reason for this will be obvious: the perfect Dermestes might find a small hole in the tinfoil wherein to enter, or, deposit its eggs; but should the glass be upright, neither the old nor the young depredators would be able to climb up to the specimens, which they possibly might reach if the case should lie on its side.

[graphic]

Fig. 4.

Thirty-five years' experience with cases made as above described has proved the correctness of the theory of their construction.

AN ACCOUNT

OF

A REMARKABLE ACCUMULATION OF BATS.

BY M. FIGANIERRE É MORAO, MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY FROM PORTUGAL TO THE

UNITED STATES.

IN the winter of 1859, having purchased the property known as Seneca Point, in the margin of the Northeast river, near Charleston, in Cecil county, Maryland, we took possession of it in May of the next year. The dwelling is a brick structure, covered with slate, in the form of an L, two storied, with garret, cellars, and a stone laundry and milk-house attached. Having been uninhabited for several years, it exhibited the appearance, with the exception of one or two rooms, of desolation and neglect, with damp, black walls, all quite unexpected, as it had been but very slightly examined, and was represented in good habitable condition, merely requiring some few repairs and a little painting.

The boxes, bundles, and other packages of furniture which had preceded us, laid scattered around and within the dwelling; these, with the exception of some mattresses and bedding for immediate use, were hastily arranged for unpacking and placing in order at leisure. The weather, which was beautiful, balmy and warm, invited us towards evening to out-door enjoyment and rest, after a fatiguing day of travel and active labor; but chairs, settees, and benches were scarcely occupied by us on the piazza and lawn, when, to our amazement and the horror of the female portion of our party, small black bats made their appearance in immense numbers, flickering around the premises, rushing in and out of doors and through opened windows, almost obscuring the early twilight, and causing a general stampede of the ladies, who fled, covering their heads with their hands, fearing that the dreaded little vampires might make a lodgement in their hair.

This remarkable exhibition much increased our disappointment in regard to the habitable condition of our acquisition, and was entirely unexpected, inasmuch as the unwelcome neighbors were in their dormant state and ensconced out of sight when the property was examined previous to purchase. With their appearance, and in such immense numbers, the prospect of immediate indoor arrangement and comfort vanished; the paramount the urgent necessity was to get rid of such a nuisance as quickly as possible, and the question was by what means could this be accomplished. Our scientific friends and acquaintances both in New York and Philadelphia were consulted, various volumes of natural history were examined, in order to ascertain the peculiar habits of the vermin, but we derived no effectual consolation from these sources. One of our friends, indeed, sent us from New York an infallible exterminator in the form of a recipe obtained at no inconsiderable cost: strips of fat pork saturated with a subtle poison were to be hung up in places where the annoying creatures did most congregate"-of this they would surely eat and thus "shuffle off their mortal coil." How many revolving bat seasons it might have required by this process to kill off the multitude, the urgency of the case would not allow us to calculate, and the experiment was therefore abandoned.

[ocr errors]

Evening after evening did we patiently though not complacently watch this periodical exodus of dusky wings into light from their lurking-places one after

another, and in some instances in couples and even trebles, according as the size of the holes or apertures from which they emerged in the slate roofing would permit. Their excursions invariably commenced with the cry of the "whippoorwill" both at coming evening and at early dawn, and it was observed that they always first directed their flight towards the river, undoubtedly to damp their mouse-like snouts, but not their spirits, for it was likewise observed that they returned to play hide-and-seek and indulge in all other imaginable gambols; when, after gratifying their love of sport and satisfying their voracious appetites (as the absence of mosquitoes and gnats testified) they would re-enter their habitation, again to emerge at the first signal of their feathered trumpeter. I thus ascertained one very important fact, namely, that the bat, or the species which annoyed us, ate and drank twice in twenty-four hours. Such appeared their habit-such, therefore, was their indispensable need. Upon ascertaining this fact, after having tried suffocation by the fumes of brimstone with only partial success, I concluded to adopt a more efficient plan of warfare, and for this purpose commenced by causing all the holes, fissures in the wood-work, and apertures in the slating to be hermetically sealed with cement. This put a stop to their egress, but to avoid their dying by starvation and deprivation of water, which would much increase the annoyance by adding their dead to their living stench, Lordered apertures of about two feet square to be opened in the lathed and plas tered partition on each side of the gate to windows and also in the ceiling of every garret room; lastly, when the bat's reveille was sounded by the bugle of the whippoorwill, all the hands of our establishment, men and boys, each armed with a wooden implement, (shaped like a cricket-bat,) marched to the * [ «_third-floor “ on murderous deeds with thoughts intent;" a lighted lantern was placed in the middle of one of the rooms, divested of all furniture, to allure the hidden foe from their strongholds. After closing the window to prevent all escape into the open air, the assailants distributed themselves at regular distances to avoid clubbing each other, awaited the appearance of the bats, enticed into the room by the artificial light and impelled by their own natural craving. The slaughter commenced and progressed with sanguinary vigor for several hours, or until brought to a close by the weariness of dealing the blows that made the enemy bite the dust, and overpowered by the heat and closeness of the apartment. This plan succeeded perfectly. After a few evenings of similar exercise, in which the batteurs became quite expert in the use of their weapon every wielding of the wooden bat bringing down an expiring namesake, the war terminated by the extermination of every individual of the enemy.in the main building. However, there still was the cock-loft of the laundry, which gave evidence of a large population. In this case I had recourse to a plan which had been recommended, but was not carried out in regard to the dwellinghouse. I employed a slater to remove a portion of the slating which required repairing. This process discovered some fifteen hundred or two thousand bats, of which the larger number were killed, and the surviving sought the barn, trees, and other places of concealment in the neighborhood.

In the main building nine thousand six hundred and forty bats, from actual counting, were destroyed. This was ascertained in the following manner: after the battling of each evening the dead were swept into one corner of the room, and in the morning, before removing them to the manure heap, they were carefully counted and recorded; many had been killed before and some few after the reckoning was made, and were not included in it, nor were those killed under the adjoining laundry roof. The massacre commenced by killing fewer the first evenings, the number increasing and then diminishing towards the end, but it was generally from fifty or a hundred, up to six hundred and fifty, the highest mortality of one evening's work, dwindling down to eight, five, three, and two. This species of bat is generally small, black, and very lively; some smaller than the ordinary size were found, probably young ones, and one or two larger,

supposed to be grandfathers, of a reddish hue, which was thought to be from age. These vermin are generally more or less covered with a small-sized bug not very dissimilar to the common chinch, but of a different species. As previously stated, the bat has a very disagreeable odor, which also pertains to its ejection.

The manure as well as the bodies of the slain was used to fertilize the flowering and vegetable garden, and thus, in some degree, they served to compensate us for the annoyance to which we had been subjected. The manure, however, required to be applied with caution, since, if used in too large a quantity, it appeared to burn the organism of the plants.

To remove the very disagreeable odor which remained in the upper part of the house, various kinds of disinfectants were employed with some advantage; but the most effectual method resorted to was that of opening holes of about four inches square, two at each gable end, to permit a current of air to pass through. These holes were covered with iron gauze to prevent the re-entrance of any of the remainder of the army of the enemy which might hover around the premises. At the end of five years the odor has now nearly disappeared, being barely perceptible during a continuance of very damp weather.

[The fact mentioned above of the numerous parasites infesting bats is perhaps the most revolting feature in these creatures. The enormous population of Acari found upon their bodies is due to the great generation of animal heat in their close haunts, a condition conducive to a rapid increase of all kinds of vermin. In this country the common bed-bug (Cimex lectularis) is frequently found upon their fur. The entrance of a bat, with its precious burden, into the open window of a farm-house is the solution of that frequently propounded question of the despairing housewife, "Where can the bugs come from?"]

[blocks in formation]

=252.456 gr. =252.722 gr.

1 cubic inch of distilled water, in vacuo, at 62° F.....

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

1.00000 parts of gas at 32 F., 29.922 bar., (also at 32°,) become, at 60° F., bar. 30 inches, (also at 60°)

1.05720 parts.

FRANCE.

[blocks in formation]

The metre is a ten-millionth part of the quadrant of the meridian of the earth, or, in other words, the ten-milllonth part of the distance from the equator to the pole.

« AnteriorContinuar »