The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1877-12-20
A Few Facts About Insects.

A Few Facts About Insects.
The bug question is as large as its
subject is small. There is nothing
that more fully illustrates the greatness
of small things than the attHude of the
bug in the universe. In some forms it
is the most valuable scavenger the
earth possesses. In other forms. and
multitudes Of them, it spreads the veg
etable Kingdom over the earth by the
distribution of pollen and does world
of good. In other forms it destroys
the surplus growth of trees and shrubs,
keeps down the otherwise irrepressible
tendencies of the plants, and by limit
ing their expansion greatly improves
the quality of their product. In still
other forms, it is a ruthless DESTROYER
of everything useful that grows. And
in still other forms than these, it is a
destroyer of these destroyers. When
we read that there are fifty insects that
infest the grapevine, fifty the oak,
twenty-five the elm, seventy-five the
walnut, and over one hundred the pine,
and that in America alone about $780,
GOO, 900 worth of crops is yearly de-
stroyed by insects, it is easy to see that
the whole brood should be swept away.
But when, on the other hand, we read
that the silk trade of the world (all due
directly to one single creature) yields
an annual revenue of 1921, 800, 900, we
begin to see a part of the other side.
All in all, they make a most interest
ing study, both philosophically and in
its fascinating details. Few amateurs
can hope to comprehend more than one
or two branches of insects, but their
study is as enjoyable diversion rs a
thoughtful person can wish for. They
are more heterogeneously made up
than the higher creatures, but nowhere
else is there more delicacy of finish or
more beautiful play of preparation
and usefulness. There are insects so
sensitive that they not only feel through
the hairs that cover them, but actual
ly smell and hear through them. There
are 1908 muscles in the ordinary cat
erpillar, and it requires more than
1000 Of these to perform its then not
first-rate locomotiOn. It is an old sto-
ry that the flea leaps 200 times its
height, and that the same power in
man would carry him about quarter
| of a mile at every step. There are
those, no doubt, who wish he had this
accomplishment; but on sober second
consideration it reveals good many
disadvantages.
More enviable is the attitude of the in
sect toward food. Many of them do all
their eating in the very early stages of
life, and forever afterward forget their
stomachs. For instance, the American
silk-worm, in it's first fifty-six days, eats
$4,000 times its primitive weight. At
this rate, the human ten-pounder''
would put away $50 tons in two months,
or, to say, in round numbers, seven
tons day. The mosquito is not one of
the bugs, however, that knows when it
has had enough, or that finds pleasure
in a disregard of appetite. Yet the
mosquito has its uses beyond the pro-
verbally sweet ones of adversely. In
its earlier state, as a water creature, it
abounds in swamps, and devotes all its
time to devouring the decaying vege-
table matter which might 60 to spread
malaria. Of the hosts of others that
come out of the water, the familiar
"devil's darning-needle'' is as interest
ing as any. That it is from its earliest
life under water to its death on land the
constant devourer of mosquitoes, will
give it cordial welcome where hereto.
fore it has been regarded with ignorant
disgust. The mosquito, we learn, from
the book, is useful for what it devours
in its water life. The ''darning-needle,' y
from the same authority, we learn,
is useful because in that state
it devours these mosquitoes of the fu.
ture. There seems to be some sort OF
a contradiction in this, but nothing, we
trust, that will deter the darning
needle. Like the Greek, the mosquito
is to be feared even when it displays its
useful gifts, and, fortunately, there il
no cessation in the pursuit. The vigi
liant, arrow-like flight of the darning
needle is the chase of the mosquito
even its idle moments, when it hang.
listless on a lilly-pad at the fisherman.
float, are not wasted. 1t is then depos
iting its eggs to set more mosquito
eaters at work. In the water-state i
illustrates peculiar mechanical phas,
which is every now and then "discov
ered'' by steamship-builders. By sud
denly ejecting a stream of water back
ward it projects itself forward rapid,
and seizes its prey. There are steam
boats to-day abroad that go On thi
same principle.
Turning from wild to domestic in
sects, it is pleasant to learn that there
is rare, as yet, but curious creature
in the carpet-worm and carpet-tly. L
is great destroyer of carpets when i
gets to work, and it is sometimes foun(
in the "rats'' with which ladies puff
their hair. Then there is sugar
mite, worth inquiring into. In sixty
nine samples of sugar out of seventy
eight tested there were found hvins
specimens. In one case they were pres
ent in the ratio of 100, 900 to the pount
of sugar. "Grocers' itch,'' an un
pleasant disease, is attributed to tn,
presence of these under the skin. 9th
ers are found in flour, and others arr
frequent as well as popular in cheese
1t is, no doubt, short-lived prejudice
that objects to them in our sugar, ant
our flour, and our groceries. If they
are good in cheese they should be Sc
elsewhere also.-Haryord Cossrunt.
A German Lady OF the Olden Time,
FROM curious and interesting bool
just published in Germany, being thu
| oOr,.ocpop1 IF tho t1,ron 1,rof how, ~