Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-02-10
THE FREEZING OF INSECTS.
A PAPER EY DIR. RATRVON.
In Which lie Sets Dr. Greene Right.


there We probably could not have heard
what was said on this subject. The reports
OF the proceedings by tue three daily papers
do not seem to convey exactly what DR.. |
Greene advanced, but all seem to aoree
that he admOnished those presen: that
they need not entertain any apprehension
i'll regard to insects the coming season.
9 solely from the fact that through the
long and intense cold Of the present win
ter, eggs, larva, pupa, and mature insects
would largely be frozen. This does not
follow by any means. Under favorable
circumstances (unfavorab!e to the in
sects) this may follow to some extent.
but it cannot be regarded as y matter Of
course. 1t is very hard to freeze the eggs
of insects, especially in Il dry and contin-
uously cold winter. Tho eggs OF Aphids
Cocei, and ''Tent' caterpilars, will bear
very low degree of cold without injury,
and this is also the case with many OF the
pupH, and even some of the larcr. As to
the developed insects themselves. many of
the hibernating species are under ground,
and the ground too deeply covered with
snow to be much Effected by freezing. \
few years ago, when Mr.. Lutz reported
the ground frozen three feet in depth. in
Lancaster cemetery, Colorado potato
beetles taken out of solid blocks ofearth.
revived in two hours after they had been
removed to warm room. That same
winter we had our eye daily OH chrysal;s
of the white cabbage butterfly" from
the month of November until the follow
ing April, when one warm day the fly
evolved and fled. We think it was that
same winter. that one of those butterflies
flew into the 1NTELLIGENCEE office on
the 22d day of February, which was
given to us by Lieut.. Johnston. The day
was not very cold, but the ground was still
covered with snow. When silk worm
breeder receives eggs before he has any
food for them he puts them in an ice house
to retard incubation. The Japanese send
silk-wOrm eggs to San Francisco, from
whence they are shipped across the conti-
nent to New York, and from thence to
different ports in Europe. These are pre-
served from incubation by placing them
in refriserators, or packing them in ice.
We have frequently seen species of Per-
hd,e (shad tlies) coming up through fis-
sures in decOmpOsing ice along the shore
| OF the Susquehanna, in February and
March. We have also found insect llrvo
frozen SO stiff that they could be broken
| like icicles, aud yet on the removal Of
those intact to Il warm medium, they have
| revived and become active. On one Occa-
| sion VIC cut the caterpillar of Arctn lssn.
bella out of solid block of ice, in i rain
stand, and within one hour afterwards We
found it creeping over the carpet in Il
warm room almost as brskly as ir sum-
| mcr. During the cold winter alluded to
above Mr.. Hcnsel, of East Orange street.
| cut potato beetles out of frozen earth but
%l,oI {1nr-< Ill tr k,s,t
| they mashed and made q yclowish streak,
| as they do OH being crushed in summer
time. And yet, :hcre are meteorological
| conditions that are detrimental to the life
| an / health of insects, namely, watcry
satuartions and extremes of alternate freez-
| ings and tlawings. Almost all the
| architectural structures of insects
| are imperviOus to water. The OBJ
ject seems to be to keep out moisture and
not the cold. \ gravid female insect ap-
pears to have rs many lives rs y cat. AZ
ter all her eggs arc deposited she loses
her tenacity the case is similar with u
''bachclOr' male. After his icrtiizing
Office is performed he looscs his vitality
and passes away. When we advise u far
mer to turn up his soil with Il plow and
expose the l,rva OF chrysalids in it, it is
more to subject them to dcstruction- by
birds, skunks, ETC., and to freeZingS, thaw-
ings and watery saturatiOns, than to cold.
All this, however, does not initiate
against the fact that insects ut u certain
low temperature may freeze especially
when other conditions render them more
susceptible to the effects of cold but We
do not think that it makes any difference
with those below the ''snOw line " the
present winter, how cold it is above that
line and to illustrate how invulncrabIc
some above that line arc, We have only to
mention that on Monday, the 7th inst, Il
young man brought t"us II lively chrys;sIis
of -iUocus cecropio-''for II mc'-which
he had very injudiciOusly taken out
OF its COCOON. This is the large :. Amcri
can siik-worni," or ''Cccropia moth" and
we think if any insect would be likely to
freeze this one would. for it always spins
its cocoon and fastens it in a low branch,
Il weed, Il shrub or some sich place. Its
COCOON is impervious to water, and that
is pretty much all it provides against.
Thus secured. it is very doubtful il ever
one vas killed by cold. Nor will water
always effect the destruction of insects,
unless they arc immersed in it for Il lon.
period or until decomposition takes place.
1t is certainly known that "hOusc flies
caught in u "water trap have revived
after exposure to the suns rays in less
than an hour. Rev. Mr.. Kirby, one of Eng
lands most distinguished entomolosists,
had his attention first called to the study
Of insects from u most striking ease of
their tenacity, which came under his OBJ
scrvatiOn. He immersed Il small yellow
and black spotted "Lady bird" (COccineln
90 -punctata) in spirits, and OH placing it
f&r,,.
vivcd and flew away. We have often been
astonishcd, when VIC had killed and i'm
pa!cd insects, to find them 'alive and
kicking twO or three days thereafter.
Although certain degree of heat will ro-
yet intense heat is a surer mode Of de-
struction than intense cold. We wish we
could assure farmers and others of Il milIen
NAL absence of fnoxiOus insects through the
intervention of cold winters, but we cannot
They are here, and have been here from
our earliest recollection, and perhaps al
ways will be here as long as the earth pro-
duccs food for them to feed upon, and the
more the ,,ntamcd earth is cultivated and
its products improved in quantity and
quality. the more inviting and facilitating
will it be to the presence and the increase
of insects. No farmer cures his meat. or has
his meals cooked without providing salt
This is an all-pervading and ever accom-
panying essential. Let him regard insects
as something that he shall have "aIways
with him. as 4 matter OF course. and
make provisions by prevention, circum-
ventiOn, Or extern nation. as conditions
upon which he can only be enabled to
reap what nc sows."
As to Prof. Riley's predictions in refer
cnce to the appearance Of the seventeen
year locust in Lancaster county i'm 1881 to |