OBNOXIOUS #4

Page 1

the historia naturalis issue

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a magazine full of art, litter, politics, sword-fishes, design, literature, science, anthropology, taxidermy, beetles, sex & foreign or forgotten languages

really rich




Table of contentS ——of the —— historia naturalis issue





T he Red Fish


The “old man” snapper: an in-depth guide l at e r o n i n life and up to a fa i r ly-l a r g e size , t his species is k now n fir st as “squir e” a nd t hen a s “school s n a p p e r ”; w h i l e be yond t his stage , w e get w h at i s k n o w n a s t h e “ o l d -m a n s n a p p e r . ” at t h e l a s t-m e n t i o n e d stage , t he fish i s c h a r a c t e rised by a t r emendous , bon y

prot uber a nce at t h e t o p o f the head; and, at t h e s a m e t i m e , a f l a b b y, flesh y nose, of a lmost hum a n a ppe a r a nce is f o r m e d . at t h i s time , t he lik eness of t he old m a n s n a p p e r ’s countena nce to a human fa c e , i s o f t e n m o s t r e m a r ka b l e ; pa r t i c u l a r ly w h e n , a s

is so often the case , the nose h a s t h e b l oat e d a ppe a r a nce of a n i n e b r i at e ’s . t he old m a n sna pper is somet i m e s c au g h t of a w eight of ov er 3 0 pou n ds . it is fou nd on sa n dy bot toms i n fa i r ly-d e e p wat e r , w h e r e i t s u b s i s t s c h i e f ly upon sta r fishes , s a n d -w o r m s , c ru s t a c e a n s ,

etc . one would t h i n k t h at t h e c on dit ion of t h e t e e t h at t his stage might h av e s o m e t h i n g to do w ith this c h a n g e o f h a b it at, a s t h e y a r e t hen wor n a nd o f t e n d e c ay e d . it is wort h ment i o n i n g t h at a ll of the l a rge “ o l d -m a n ” s n a p p e r s t h at i h av e e x a m i n e d h av e been fem a les.

Behold the “ OLD M A N ” !

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from the time of herodotus until to-day, lion stories innumerable have been told and written. i have put some on record myself. but no lion story i have ever heard or read equals in its longsustained and dramatic interest the s tory of the tsavo man-eaters as told by col. patterson. a lion story is usually a tale of adventures, often very terrible and pathetic, which occupied but a few hours of one night ; but the tale of the tsavo maneaters is an epic of terrible tragedies spread out over several months, and only at last broug ht to an end by the resource and determination of one man.


LIONS: LOVELY BIG CATS OR DREADFUL MONSTERS?

HERE I AM

in the whole of my life i have never experienced anything more nerveshaking than to hear the deep roars of these dreadful monsters growing gradually nearer and nearer, and to know that some one or other of us was doomed to be their victim before morning dawned. once they reached the vicinity of the camps, the roars completely ceased, and we knew that they were stalking for their prey. shouts would then pass from camp to camp, “ khabar da?’, bhaieon, shaitan ata ” (“ beware, brothers, the devil is coming ”).


rouge en amérique, n’est que le même homme teint de la couleur du climat.

l ’ h o m m e, b l a n c en europe, noir en afrique, jaune en asie,

OBNOXIOUS.JIMDO.COM

issue contents:

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