The Strangest Things in the World: A Book About Extraordinary Manifestations of NatureHenry, Thomas R. (Thomas Robert)
History
The Strangest Things in the World: A Book About Extraordinary Manifestations of Nature
Henry, Thomas R. (Thomas Robert)
Animal behavior; Natural history
Rains of worms often have been reported. After a summer shower surfaces
of puddles sometimes will be found covered with countless thread worms
or nematodes. These worms have just come out of the bodies of water
beetles and other insects, where they have developed as parasites.
Before the shower the insects were dormant. These little worms in farm
watering troughs led to the long-held belief that horsehairs sometimes
changed into worms.
This does not, however, explain the following report in the _Levant
Times_, an English newspaper published in Constantinople, of August 6,
1872:
“A letter from Bucharest reports a curious atmospheric phenomenon which
happened there on the 25th ult. a quarter past nine in the evening.
During the day the heat had been stifling and the sky was cloudless. In
the evening everybody went out walking and the gardens were crowded.
The ladies were mostly dressed in white, low-necked robes.
“Toward nine o’clock a small cloud appeared on the horizon and a
quarter of an hour afterwards rain began to fall which, to the horror
of everybody was found to consist of black worms the size of ordinary
flies. All the streets of Bucharest were strewn with these curious
animals.”
_The Icy Arctic Wonderland_
Abundant and fantastic are the creatures of the shallow Arctic sea
bottom. All are invertebrates—worms, sea anemones and a host of other
creatures—most of whom spend their lives buried in the mud.
Some of the creatures and their curious ways of life:
Ribbon worms which, when washed ashore, literally tie themselves in
knots, curl up in balls, and secrete bags of mucous around themselves.
Bright green spoon worms about three inches long. These formerly were
eaten by Eskimos.
Billions of small, transparent and essentially invisible arrow worms.
One species, about a half inch long, apparently is the kangaroo of the
worm world.
An important element of the bottom fauna at Point Barrow, Alaska, are
the lace worms. Hardly a stone in the area does not have at least one
lace or moss patch.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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