The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1882-01-20
WONDERFUL STRENGTH OF INSECTS
MEASURING THE MOVEMENTS OF A
FLT's WINGS AND THE POW
Err OP AN ANT.

Err OP AN ANT.
eff you want 70 see muscle" natur-
alist said, 'take a glance through this
glass; pointing to a seat before pow
erful microscope. The drop of Croton
water was fairly alive with little round
{ or oval bodies. There was nothing spe-
cialv remarkable about them; but soon
a wonderful creature rolled upon the
scene from a distant part of the drop. In
appearance it resembled a CRYSTAL bell
The edges were ornamented with deli
cate fringe. and the entire mass was as
transparent as glass. The mouth of the
bell was evidently the mouth of the ami
NAL, because the observer saw it rush
along like a scoop, and turning down.
fasten its edges to the bottom, as If to
secure some minute animal that was re-
slstlng, and a second later some object
could be seen passing up into the body.
III you had the strength of that ami
maj, the naturalist said. ''in proportion
to your size, you could take Trinity
church by its steeple and toss it over into
New jersey. There are animals in this
drop that we can't see with this power
full glais. Suppose there was this same
difference in size among the larger ami
mails. Elephants would be as large as
the State of Rhode Island If this bell
animal was as much larger than man as
1t Is than these little creatures it Is eat
ing, we would see a gigantic scope of
Jelly larger than the Fortv-second street
reservoir coming down upon US, wh;rlinp
IN the water and causing such a suction
That a regiment of men would, if in the
water, be hurled and twisted and then
encOmpasSed by it. The strength of the
creature can be imagined. when it is
known that the smallest section of the
finest hair that could be cut seemed like
amOuntain beside it: yet the microseopic
creature moved the end of an entire hair
placed over the glass. In moving about
1t threw aside bits of alga and mud.
Ihat could be compared to the act of a
single man striking down one of the
giant trees of California or kicking over
block of houses. l am devising an in
strument to measure the power of these
microscopic giants. You see. among the
Iot there are always number to that
seen, from no special cause. to be in
great terror, rushing about wildly. stop-
ping at nothing, passing through masses
OF weed and mud in direct lines. Now,
the force with which they bring up
against barrier is certainly the maxi
mum of their strength; so l arranged a
machine after the plan of one that have
seen to measure the velocity of shot. the
the blow being recorded on a scale. For
my partition l took what was evidently
the eggShell or cover of some micrOsco-
pic animal. | attached it bV one end to
a larger body, and the whole thing stood
over a delicate scale that was cut on the
glass slide, and as the animals rushed
along they struck the partition or hand
and pushed it around the scale -
what was the reSult?'
''Well, to tell the truth. the first one
that came along broke down the parti-
tion, and l havn't been able to adjust it
again. When ! do I'll let YOU know.
haven't sold any stock yet, and haven't
even applied for patent, so the general
public won t suffer. l have in hand an
other instrument, with which | intend
TO measure the movements of ~ wings
and legs OF insects per minute and sec
Ond, and | think they can be phOtOgraDh-
cd as well as the feet of trOtter while
IN motion. This will be fine work. as
with simple instrument | have shown
JhaJ the wings of a common hOuse-fy
move more than 200 times per second.
and the machine lost more than half the
vibrations. 1 have watched a fiy for five
minutes hanging almost in one SPOT I'M
der chandelier kept up by the c0ntinu-
Gus movement of it's wings. and estima-
ted that the operation required OvOr
IuO,UUO beats OF the wings. or over 400
a second, or 800 simple oscillations. and
the hOuse-fy is not as lively as some
others OF the tribe. l have. in following
wild bees to find their nest, found that
they are often on the wing thirty min
utes IN foTty-fve the allowance being
for the time in which they were on fOw-
ers, and during thai period they must
nave peat their wings 342 600 times. a
spider can bind fly securely, winding
twenty or thirty cables of silk about it.
IN less than a second and a half. These
rapid movements show the wonderful
physical powers Of small animals. Here
are some contrivances to measure the
strength of beetles and large insects.n
One was long box, san6ed on the
bottom with glass sides. At the end
was small friction wheel. over which
ran 4 silk thread. On one end was at
tached tissue-paper receptacle for
weights, and the other was tied in slip
moose A large black ant was taken from
flask, the moose caught around his
body, and, on being released. rushed
away up the miniature street. hosting
the scales and three grains of corn with
the greatest ease. A small red ant was
then brought out, and, after showing
evidence of 4 decidedly mulish dispOsi-
tiOn, it ran off. hOisting very heavy pea.
AN ant can carry a weight about
seventy-five times its own," the natur-
aliSt said. If you had the muscle of one
of these little creatures in proportion to
your size You could lift about II, 900
pounds. ''-BdItinlOre Gazette