Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1873-07-09
MUSCULAR STRENGTH OF INSECTS

Up from the valley to effulgent day. ..-..t
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MUSCULAR STRENGTH OF INSECTS
IT is an interesting study to compare the
motive power of birds and insects, and
recent experiments prove that they are SUI
perior in this respect to quadrupeds, espec
tally when the possibility Of aerial naviga
ton is taken into account. In a few min
utes the condor will soar many miles in
height; the swallow is not weary of de-
scribing its rapid and graceful curves for
fifteen hours at a time. 1t has been
calculated that the eagle, with its rapid
flight, produces an effort sufficient to raise
and bear up it's own weight equal to
twenty-siX horse power.
Insect organization is as full of wonders
as that of the bird The energy which
lives in these curious little creatures NAV
well excite the wonder of an observer ''I1
you compare their loads with the size OF
their bodies," said Pliny, in speaking OF
ants, sit must be allowed that no other an
imal is endowed with such immense
strength in proportion" Sir Walter
Scott suggests the same idea When q
beetle is placed under candlestick, ii
will move it in it's efforts to escape; which
is relatively the same thing as a prisoner
in Newgate shaking the building with his
back. Linnaus remarks that an elephant
having the force of horn-beetle would be
able to move a mountain.
Mr.. Felix Plateau, a young Belgian
naturalist, and a son of the celebrated
physician, has lately tried some very deli
cate experiments to measure the muscular
strength of insects, as others have done
with man and the horse. The strength OF
the last two is estimated by the aid of a
machine called the dynamometer, where
the tension of a spring is counterbalanced
by an effort exercised for very short
time. A man, it is found has power OF
traction equal to five-siXths of his weight
a horse only the half or two-thirds of his
weight; but this is very small in compar
ison with the strength of insects, many OF
which can draw forty times that amount
The way in which NJ. Plateau has meas
uTed these powers is ingenious. He har-
messed the insect by a horizontal
thread, which was passed over a light
movable pulley; to this was attach
ed a balance loaded with few grains
of sand. To prevent the insect turn
ing aside, he made it walk between two
bars of glass on board covered with mus
lin, so as to afford rough surface; eX.
citing it forward, he gradually poured
fresh sand into the balance until it refused
to advance farther; the sand and the in
sect were then weighed, and the expert
ment was repeated three times, in order to
arrive at correct conclusion as to the
greatest effort that each could make The
tables which give the result Of these trials
seem clearly to demonstrate that in the
Of 1,n Irhtn Il
smallest possess the greatest strength; SO
that the relative force is in inverse ratio
to the weight. The law applies also to
the experiments in flying and pushing, as
well as to drawing.
This law, assuredly very curious and
interesting in the economy Of nature, has
been confirmed by trying dozen individ-
uals of various species in order to obtain
results more approaching to the truth
These have been fully successful in con
irming previous eXperience-for exam
PIE, the drone is four times the weight OF
the bee, yet it can only drag a weight fit
teen times greater than its own
whilst the bee easily draws TWEEN
ty-three or twenty-four times its own
bulk. In flying, it can raise weight very
little inferior to its own whilst the dront
can only transport IN this manner half its
own weight The law in question appears
also to apply not only to the species
which belong to the same chronological
subdivision, but in certain measure tt
the entire class of insects 1t is true thai
if the species examined are arranged by
the increasing order of their weight, the
corresponding relations which express
their relative force are not always exactly
progressive. There are exceptions, which
may be explained by the difference OF
structure. The law holds good if they
are divided into three groups, comprising
respectively, the lightest insects, those OF
a middle size, and the heaviest In this
way the relative force is represented foI
the first group by twenty-six; for the sec
ond, by nineteen; for the last, by nine
This relates only to the power Of traction
ii that in flying be taken into considera
ton, the lightest can far surpass the heavi
est-the first being equal to one and one
third; the last is but one-half. The strong
est insects appear to be those so familiar
to the naturalist which live on lilies and
roses, such as the Cripceres and Trichies
These little beings can draw a weight
about forty times superior to their own
and one, an athlete of the tribe, drew
sixty-seven times its own weight. A small
beetle of the tribe Gn0nale has executed
the same feat.
Another more remarkable fact is related
of horn beetle, which held between its
mandibles, alternately raising and lower
ing its head and breast, a rod of thirty
centimetres long, weighing four hundred
grammes; its own weight was but two
grammes. At the side of this insect what
are the acrobats who can carry table be-
tween their teeth! Such examples show
to what an extent insects are superior to
the larger animals in the strength of their
muscles Dry and nervous they can, in
proportion to themselves, move noun
tains. In addition to this, they are in
genious; when an obstacle does not yield
to them, they know how to turn it aside.