Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1878-04-19
" Doodle BuRs.o

1t is known fact that nearly every
thing in nature likes music; snakes have
danced to it, mice have come from their
holes and listened with rapt attention,
and even bugs are not insensible.
owe call the Doodle Bugs up any
time we have mind" said some little
girls to me one day when I was teaching
school in Western Virginia.
doodle Bugs?" said I. CT never
heard of such things"
"Would you like to see them % asked
one.
"Most assuredly," answered.
Then the little girl led me forth to the
ruins of an old log school-house, roofess
and foorless, and, joining hands, they
squatted upon the ground, forming
ring, and began chanting in the most
musical tones they could command:
" Uncle Doodle, Uncle Doodle, Uncle
Doodle Bugs :"
I looked on in establishment, for I
could see nothing but hard baked earth.
There seemed not living thing visible !;
but the children kept up their chant
some three or four minutes, when I
noticed the ground began to heave in
little spots and tiny heads peeped out,
soon followed by half or the whole body
of dirt colored beetle.
When the children stopped singing
the little things scampered back into
their holes.
This struck me as very singular But
then we are constantly meeting with
strange things in Bugdom. It is like
fairy land if we only become interested.
There are many, many kinds of beetles
called cOIeOpterouS insects, because they
have wing cases; that is they have shells
or cases on their backs, under which they
fold their wings, some kinds using them
so very seldom that we would never
know that they had wings. A great
many live under ground, and others on
the trees, flowers and grain. Indeed,
there is scarce place where you may
, not find them.
All of you know that the ugly cater.
piller becomes butterfly, but some Of
, you may not know that nearly every
worm you can find, turns out some day
! to be a creature with wings.
Almost every child who has lived il
( the country has noticed, and perhaps
, been very much amused with the Bill
t Chafer, or Tumble Bug, as we call i
3 here in New Jersey. How they seem t.
be playing with marbles right in the
t middle of the road on hot, dusty days
t How they push and tumble, and ge
their jackets all dusty in their efforts
3 Sometimes it takes two or three beetles
to roll their ball up an elevation or Owe
=, some impeachment in the way.
t Did you never wonder what all sucl
s work meant. or did you suppose it wa
9 just the way those bugs have of amusing
s themselves? 1 can remember when
thought so myself. But after I becam
: older L began to wonder where the bug
D got the balls, what they were made OF
# and what they were going to do witt
y them. l have since found it out, and j
y is all very interesting.
e They make the balls ont of the excre
/ tions of animals, in which they deposi
# an egg, leaving it in the sun until it
n baked almost as hard as a marble; the
It begins their work. They toll and strue
6 gle until they get the balls three fee
n under ground. Then the little one
q left in it's spherical home from earl
e September until the next spring, q
d warm and cozy as you please, GROWN
8. larger and larger until it bursts from il
b shell, little worm with six legs, an
n creeps up to the surface of the grount
a or, as some say, they remain in the bal
d until they become chrysalids, and com
,e out beetles or tumble bugs, ready to b.
] gin tumbling and pushing like the
T." mothers before them.-A. p. @. Ande
- am