Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1870-03-23
From Putnam's Magazine.
InSect-Life i'm WinfPr.

While exploring the heights of Mont Blanc,
l,rsl lar aboye the l,qe OF perpetual snow, NJ. de
wing over glaciers, where the lammergeyer
and the chamois have their haunts. 1t is
amazing to think of creature so frail, and
so delicate, futterng over those Alpine
heights, far away from the meadows and
gardens in which it delights. We should
imagine that in region so foreign to Its ma
ture in cl mate so severe and trying even
to man, the butterfly would instantly fold its
painted wings, droOp and die. But other
Alpine travellers tell the same tale And
Arctic navigot tors report that wandering but
terfies have been found amid the SHOWS OF
the extreme northern latitudes of this contl-
nent. In these last instances the little crea-
lures must have been born of an Arctic
parentage, the tiny eggs must have been laid,
the cocOons spun, and the butterflies first
emerged into the light in the frigid zone.
There are, it seems. Esquimaux butterflies,
as well as Esquimaux bears and whales.
This fact is but one of very many proofs
of remarkable tenacity of life in the insect
world, under some circumstances a very re-
markable power of endurance when exposed
to cold If daily experience did not prove
to us the contrary, we should naturally sup
pose that of the myriads of insects swarming
In the fields and gardens, during our warm
American summers, none could survive the
cold winters OF the same latitudes that all
must inevitably perish beneath deluge OF
snow that none could endure the severity
of frosts which penetrate many inches below
the sod Who would believe it credible-if
not already familiar with the fact-that the
gnat, the FREELY, the dragonhy, the tiny red
spider, the ladybird, the bee, the ant, aye,
the butterfly too, in some of its species,
| could survive degree of cold beneath which
men have often persisted? Yet such is the
truth-one of the very many truths stranger
than fiction. If we look from our windows
to-day, we see the whole earth covered with
snow the sharpest eye cannot discover one
of the myriads of last summers s insect-people.
| If we remove the snow, we find the earth
| frost bound to a consistency that no spade
can loosen, which must be quarrled, like the
rock, with the sharpest and heaviest tools
And yet beneath that snow, in the very heart
of the frost-bou sod, beneath the bark of
trees now perchance glazed with ice, lie the
whole tinv people torpid in death-like sleep
but still living, still endowed with every fac
ulty, every sense, every instinct safe and ,un-
injured, all to awaken again to the fulness of
life and activity with the FIRST warm breath
of spring. This tenacity of life, when ex-
posed to severe cold, becomes still more re-
markable in the insect-tribes, when we re-
member that it is their nature to love warmth
and that to a certain degree they are very
sensitive to cold During the warmest sum
mer days they are all life and activity, eager
ly plying their tasks if they belong to the
notable tribes, like the bee and the ant, or
happy in idle enjoyment, like the dancing
gnat, or the rowing butterfly. Let chilly
day visit US in summer, as may well happen
with our tickle climate: the insect-world
droops, and flies away to its own secret
9 haunts, there to await a warmer hour. What
. a difference the first sharp frost will make in
| their numbers We may walk over a path
way crowded yisibly, the day before, with
! grasshoppers, ants, crickets, and but few
of the brayest and boldest will be found there
to-day. And yet, while feeling the cold
while sensitive to it's influence, while delight
ing in the warmth, the more common tribes
are all endowed with this wonderful power
J of endurance in their torpid winter state
= Many individuals, no doubt, perish, else al
the different families would be as numerOu
here, in the temperate zone, as they are il
the tropics, where the throngs of these lon'
, creatures become a great annoyance.
} But the most remarkable proof of thi
power of enduring cold is found in the fac
that, occasionally, a few insects belonging t.
countries almost tropical will not only sur
: viye few striking changes of climate t
r more northern latitudes, but actually form
8 colonies, thrive. and increase there. no
table instance of this has occurred in France
Many readers must be already aware tha
there is an insect of formidable character
found in tropical regions, called the whit
I'VE have seen live flies running through the ali
holes In giacierce at some of the highest points
the Swiss mountans.-EDITOR.