The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-07-30

gnats only the females are bloodthrsty. They
"plerce the skin by means Of an auRer With
teeth at the end they suck the blood, and
| before they fly away distll a liquid venom into
the wound" which is their way Of having the
last word. The males live on juices OF flowers,
kind OF food to which the females resort when,
| for any reason, they cannot suck blood enough
| for their sustenance. They are entirely harm
| less until they have wings; and though under
their first wlngless form they live long in water
or I'm damp EARTH their existence as fully devel-
oped insects Is short. IL IL hardly needful to
call attention to the likeness, as parasites, be-
tween gnats and leeches. One noticeable differ
ence is that all loeches, without Distinction OF
sex, are blood-suckers. Other well-known
bloodthrsty flies are common. The Tsetse
Ia found In Africa. This fly produces no
effoct on man, but attacks the horse, the
OK. and tho dog by preference, and kills
them In few hours. 1t was this fly which
forced Green to give up his plan OF reach
| ing Libebe, 10y killing one after another Of his
beasts Of burden. In Mexico a 1y called by
| naturdlists Luctltd hOmtntUOrd, attacks and de-
stroys the CLOTHS and the sides aud roof Of mans
mouth. "Vercammer, military surgeon Of the
| Belgian army, relates that a soldier In Mexico
had his CLOTHS destroyed aud the sides and the
roof OF his mouth rendered ragged and torn az
~ a cutting punch had been driven into those
organs. This soldier threw up With his spitte
more than two hundred larv@ Of this fly"
| But man and the larger brute animals arc not
| the only ones that suffer In consequence OF the
mode OF generation and manner OF llfo pre-
scrlbed for insects and parasites OF other
classes. IL seems as II no creature is small
enough TO escape parasltcal attacks from some
one smaller These attacks are in many in
stances eventually fatal, so that In these cases
the parasite Is In effect, though indirectly, an
animal OF prey. The ichneumon fly has already
been mentioned. She deposits her egg In per
fectly healthy caterpillar by means OF long,
| thread-like oviposltor. As soon as the larv@
| are hatched they begin to eat the caterpillar,
| organ after organ land for fear that death
should supervene too quickly, the mother takes
care to chloroform the victim beforehand to
make her last longer" And thus "it has some
times happened that entomolOelsts, instead OF
finding beautiful butterflies produced from tho
caterpillars which they have reared, have had
| nothing Matched but brood OF ichneumons."
| Fortunately, 1.-THE most common caterpillar, and
that which Is tho most dreaded on account OF lite
great fecundlty, Is precisely that which Is most
eagerly sought by the greater number Of ichneu-
mons. These Insects contribute more eGectually
to the destruction OF caterplllars than all the
means employed by man."
In some cases the Intruder Is 80 far beforehand
that Its larvW Is Matched in the egg OF the insect
on which the intrusion ia made. An instance VI
this Is described In the following citation:
In the substance o. thosc beautiful leaves OF tho
See charming nsee, kno.n by tho name Of Ag,rol
aec9gn. o. Is raeef9l atutnies snd its elesant ap.
great prudence fully persuaied that they safe IA
ekDns sho1. H. pI seS PS9r SsIrRs
named togHenp ne there satcning every movement OF
The PoBnema darts down Ike bird Of prey on lie vie.
Tue ess Of tie sD &sS Vii aeh me- sG Rs
@ &C @Ih ,ess erns,ty s1ce she Is cga'.nted 70
Remarksble examples Of The refinement Of cruelty,
world Il Is not enough that some among them iced on
tn ent,als Of then ung nelsaoors there are ws-ps
he 'ds 81 tne go ~hlsG ,eeI lay ehorSformed nes
Ihemselves up s palpltitng, 70 these young yrsnts.
csneap T s 1ysa he ~ s,. n,e
ing morse As the process OF hatehing proceeds the
the age VI the young wasps
Some OF the animal parasites that live upon
plants are we'll known aud very useful la the
arts such, for Instance. as the cochinea Al insec
which was nrst found In Mexico. II Is truo
parasite, and from II the highly esteemed color.
ing IN after carmine, Is obtained. Lake, another
valuable coloring matter, ia produced ny spa
CITES OF the same genus, originally native Of
India. In some cases the parasite Ia beneA cial
| ~ eh' RlhhN lANtls W nat kut khtutneT OOes TO
plants, the aphs has often done before, In order
to arrest too Vigorous aud rapid growth"
There Is, however. Kind Of aphis (Phyllorcrd
VIStdtriIl that Is greatly feared by winners.
Not long since IL attacked the VINEYARDS In
| France. "and small as II Ia u Is dreaded a.
plague which scatters ruin In its path. To stay
Its rayages advantage has been taken Of the
knowledge obtained oi studying the characters
and habits Of this little animal world. mons.
Planchon has Just discovered in America Its
mortal enemy aud It Is only necessary 10 mul-
tiply them IN order 10 destroy this terrible pest
Of the glneyards. We thus see that we hav o
only to initiate this so-oalled blind nature, in
order that we may arrest misfortune against
which man Is unable to protect himself by Is
own powers
SIZE % pin's mead, coming Ike cloud buds
mmriiatesp There are green one, GU certain plant.
AMI niscS cues on otAcr. out whatever be their color
tnrl are Nv ~ pears ".ch form garland, round the
stsk Ne Notd cons de ,hem as yerlnin, and they
nnsers. 70 the naturalist they are little world Of
rss gains Of a4 s.eh sa %,sn}as 'a;
n.e charming insect, whose head is Adorned with two
tenine Win pae enesI eolors' behind tnSe are twc
rescTsf7 OF lnld sas " elegaaty moune on pol.
support the eionular body.
Much has been wr tea about these smali sugar mann.
isv,ot,S,. 80 wen SHOWN ~ anus mat they nave pro
Ssrrn iI sne aPi. 'ne nsne Of anelw Among the
msled DUST that which Interests relates 10 tne
ssuny Snr V' rcaa. mon s Of a5 SSssS n
rev hour- o. atrnst tue eNuherdnce u Vgrhfon ami
as " sNc dlntru'el the Assistance II the insect,
sir 'ptNse- VITA II, ana tue iemne brings into td
WORN daus tier already prepared 10 produce grand
daughter. generations succeed each other witu
rapidiy that n the dAu1uirr urtn Wcr. % M IT
win any OBSTACLE m her passage, the granddaughter
nsht come uto me world before her mother. single
e. can produce IN the cuur-e - one season mifd.
OF ihlNilutls. kach pgAt has lie apnls, ana IA
iniHi lNclNtts the rayascH OF the IIhs dntysf arc
but too vel Known thOugnlt was unknown 10 Europe
quarter OF century ago.
Hell Ventilated.