The Panola weekly star. (Sardis, Miss.) 1882-18??, 1885-04-11

action a REARED liaelf upon ~ hind eKs
and f0f few sef0ads itnlRgled as u IN
AIT A kitian sihleeleI 10 = llks de
charge apli and rubbed her n0ae IN faxn
anil feaf and finally, Hfier several other
discharges, tho supply u sfnmanliloH
seemed b give oui
There protection f0f yvn, said tbs
delighted ownsf, taking ~ the dyns.
mlia bug. which was rather long and
narrow. having = curiotn general ap.
pcarance from Tho fact that The head
and ihOfax were narrower than tbs
abiomcn. II call II iiossa. because a
makes n disturbance aud everything
boil and frrlnent but In fuallty does no
harm. Tho beetle" he continued,
twas hrnnQhl from China by friend
" mine, Or. | should say, he sent me q
dozen or 50 of tho laryas aud J hatched
them out In my Inacct case. IL u very
common In China and japan and vari-
ous parts Of the East, aud some species
In South America The scientific name
IA Brdchinidr that is that's thd
family name but they generally 70 by
the name of the ljombardicr Beetle.
from their habit Of bombarding all In
trudus nj short notice The explosive
IN this case Ia volatile fluid secreted
In tho posterior Of the body. which
tho insect ha. the power of eject
Ing with such force that II II felt several
inches away, aud forming, for moment.
cloud as Il were Of smoke. To very
small animals this may be fatal, and To
largo forms II Is quite sufficient to stop
lhoir progress In given direction. 10
stings and burns the human flesh for
several moments and stains II 30 that
tho marks are visible for several days.
A TRAvELER's EXPERIENCE
"To show tho power Of the explosive
rs force. | have placed q beetle three
inches under water and the forcc OF the
explosion would make the waterb boil all
about Experiments tried In hot water
showed that tho latter oflervescod. To
tho human nostril the odor resembles
that Of muriatic acid and Ia extremely
irritating. II any one wishes TO try 1t
In the interests Of science ! have an-
other all loaded''--but there were no
martyrs present Nearly nil the beetles
Of this family have this peculiar method
Of defense, and In some localities the
odor and effect Is much. worse than In
others. Burchard, tho welLknown
traveller, had curious experience
with n party Of natives he started out
one evening to make some astronomical
observations, when his attention was
attracted by great numbers OF beetles
running about upon the shore. Being
naturalist, he directed his men 70
capture some, which they proceeded To
do, but the moment tho insects were
touched they faced about and sent such
an irritating discharge upon the hands
of the men that they dropped thems
bowling with fear and pain. SO pain
ful was the discharge that only few
Of tho insects were caught II was
noticed at tho time of the explosion .
white, semi-lumInous cloud appeared In
the air.
Here" said the insect man, taking
up the dish OF water, ''ls another living
! gun and rs he spoke he touched .
small object and stream Of water four
inches In length sprang into tho air.
"The first time | noticed this" con-
tiuucd the speaker, II was looking
down into the water and was struck BY
the stream fairly In the eye and upon
I, investigation found that II came from
the respiratory organ Of tho larva Of
tho dragon Ay. This shooting water
J method is not peculiar 10 Insects.
There are number Of fishes that have
similar habit. One known as tho
archer fish will rise 10 tho surface and
! eject n stream Of water four or hvs
= inches above the surface and 20 20
! curats IN their aim that they can hit "a
: object as small as q fly with the great
! est ease. The long-nosed chaltodon d
equally remarkable In this respect
Their bill seems arranged 70 form {
perfect air-gun, through which droT
Of water u forced at an insect with un'
! erring aim" The quids have similaI
y fsculiy Of ejecting a stream Of pur'
: black ink. and tho writer has seen TN
face Of person drenched in this way
? the inky streams rising four or Nv
a. inches from the water.--Fhiiadslphst
Tines