wasp. It seems that these ice worms abound up in the Arctic regions, where they are busily engaged in clearing a passage to the north pole, and the professor thinks that in the course of from two hundred and thirty to two hundred and fifty years more they will have so thoroughly gnawed away the ice in that region that a trip to the pole will become simply a pleasant summer excursion. The formation of iceberge has hitherto been something of a puzzle to most people who could not understand why these great frozen monsters should break away from their native moorings and go cruising around the ocean until they get down south and are thawed out of existence. But Prsf. Pintori and Dr. Hechelmeyer make this us plain as mud. The deadly nematoris eocena sets his jaws at work upon the Arctic glaciers and cuts off these big icebergs just as readily as a butcher cuts off the head of a hog. The destroyer’s work does not end here. He follows the fated iceberg and, bit by bit, gnaws off the bottom of it until it becomes top-heavy and lurches over; then he whittles down the top until it rights itself again, and so systematically and relentlessly pursues this course that the poor, harressed berge eventually succumbs to the appetite of the gorged monster, and entirely disappears within its capacious maw.
The nematoxis eocena, or ice fiend, is a peculiar worm, about six inches in length. It is almost transparent and can conceal itself in a block of ice readily. Careless housemaids are apt not to notice its presence when cleaning the morning lump preparatory to placing it in the cooler or refrigerator. It is through the ravages of these worms that the ice melts so quickly, and persons are apt to ascribe it to a defective manufacture of the ice-chest or to careless wrapping of the frigid lump.
