The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1854-03-14
MiarrllanfulIls,.
Interesting facts in Natural Science,


We sometimes feel that the inuumerable facts
continually presented to the mind of the obser:
YER by Nature, are almost too highly regarded.
The calm Indifference with which men, familiar
to the external features Of fnature are accus tom.
cd to regard facts as important as any extent
seems almost a species of stoical blasphemy.
The law of like is the most marvellous in Nat.
ural Science, and especially in that department
where. from the minuteness Of forms study has
been very limited. We allude to Entomolo-
gy. A little observation in this departments
will unfoldt to the; stu'Ieut series sof5wonders
unsurpassed by the; gigantic exhibition OF phe-
nomena presented in Niagara and Vesuyius 80
,ss,N Not the least astounding among these facts,
is the extraordinary s,nultiphcityg of species
the innumerable diversity sof forms connected
with ilanilnate enatufe.ST he larger forms, such
as are daily presented dstous,s seem comparative
ly limited land we easily cemPrellend lbe rea-
son: If they were very numerous, 50 must be
their means of subsistence. But as ,only.a
certain amount Of subsistencefcan be CLEANED;
from q square mile, under. the most favorable
conditions, and that amount:is not large, The
existence of the larger forms comprise ex-
tremely limited numbers. But when we de-
sceud to Entomologysa aud ConchUlogy, we are
confused with the almost innumerable diversity
of species and Variety Ofs,he beetle alone,
there have been ascertained no less than thir-
teen thousand branches Of this one family.
When surveying these apparently disgusting
insects, what AN idea of creative power might
we gain from knowledge of this 8 The study
of every branch Of the insect creation presents
the same fruitful reflection. s5 ~ .,s.ss " :
Lyonnet, French naturalist, spent several
years lin examining tie: structure ola single in.
sect, and left the work unfinished ); thus show.
ing the exceeding delieateness of the structure.
In the body Of arrinsect about an ilehin length.
M. Strauss has enumerated three hundred aud
six plates, composing the structure of the outer.
envelope; four hundred and ninety;four. mus.
cles, for putting these in motion; twenty-tour
pair-nf-.+~--
eirat pairs of trachee, or breathing organs,
equally ramifed and divided, to convey ar ana
sustenan-e to this complicated tissue
We regard the common, house ny as con.
temptible insect-but how important an object
of study its structure may be, can be learned
from the fact that its eye is one OF the most
singular and curiously constructed mirrors that
science has yet invented, or study discovered,
The number of lenses i'll its eyeis numbered
at six or seven thousand lin the.eye OF drag,
ON fIv twelve thousand-in the eye of but,
teray. seventeen thousand. The house tys
winG has a power OF six hundred strokes in a
second, which can propel it thirty five teet,
while the speed Of a swift race horse !, Is but
ninety feet per second-morc than mile per
minute. The beauty of the butterfly Is pro;
verbal: but how much more intense should oe
orr admiration when we learn that it is's thing
of 81 600 eyes, and that on a single wing there
have been found 100, 900 :scuies. The wings OF
many insects are of such extreme tenuity that
ffty thousand of them, placed over each other,
would compose the thickness OF a quarter OF
an inch and vet thin as they are, each is dou'
bic, so that the actual lamna here would be
100000.
We often see in pools of water small b,ts OF
elongated straw and wood, seemingly having
the power of motion With whatInterest has
science invested these, when we md each elon.
oated tube is the home of a caddsworm, which
IS ultimately to become worm or Hy-Such
as the ephemeron fly, whose peculiar charac'
,eristic we have before noticed. These worms
are exposed to the ravages of birds and fishes,
and hence theyglue together small bits OF wood
and straw to make house for shelter; and
when the frail castle is too buoyant, they aod
a piece of gravel to preserve the oaiahce' IN
order that the castle should not be burdensome
nor too buoyant. We regard the web OF a
common spider as the trifng excrescence OF a
disgusting insect but it is an object OF intense
cnrosity when we reflect that each thread IS
composed of 1000 threads, and that 4,O00,0Oo
of these small threads would not make chord
thicker than single hair from mans head
There is one species of spider that lives in wa
Ter. in house of air, like diving bell; and an
other builds house in the ground, with door
upon elastic hinges, which keeps it constantly
shut.
In Conchology (study of shellsl are many
facts of an interesting character Inc variety
of form, color and construction are such as 10
strike the observer with astonishment. These
forms vary from simple hollow tube to the
most complicated conyolutions, einbodylng the
shapes of boxes, cups, cones, spires, turbans
Sc The Athenians used shell to write
note upon, hence the term Testament and at
testation. which are derived from testado, q
shell. The shell animals exudc from their Ooa
les viscid moisture, with which the sheil II
increased in dimensions, or repaired whv'. bro
ken. Linnnus has divided shells into thirty
six genera; aud the total number OF specie:
hitherto described, amount to $500, exclusive
of varieties, of which $50 are TO be found II
and about the British Isles. There was no
ton once prevalent in England and Scotlane
that species of barnacle shell contained 'h'
germ of young goose. writer named Mau
Wrote treatise expressly Oh this bird, and say: