The Delta independent., 1891-02-24
TWO BUGS or PREY.
one Dslights In the 0hass of the Cock.
roach, the Other Catches Catsrpillars.

l 4
One Dslights In the Chase of the Cock.
roaoh, the Other Catches Catsrpillars.
| A Star reporter learned that two
bugs common in Washington, are re-
garded with superstition. One Of these
Is what housekeepers are accustomed
to call the ''earwig." 1t has 100 legs,
more or less, makes its nests in peoples
ears and is an object to attack with a
slipper at every opportunity. As q
matter of fact, this creature is not an
earwig at all. An earwig is an insect
while the bug with many legs. so COM
mon here, is "myriapod." The diff
ferences distinguishing the two are too
technical to be worth defining in de-
tail. but one of them is that true
insect does not have more than six
] legs, whereas some of the inyriapods
have more than 200. This particular
myriapod has fifteen pairs of legs.
The earwig properly SO called, is
rare in this country, though plentiful
in England. where it inhabits gardens
chiefly. though sometimes it is lured
into houses by lights. 1t is about an
inch in length, and its rear is furnished
with pair of long forceps that may
pinch little. Most remarkable among
the traits of the earwig is tho way it
has of brooding over its young after
they are matched from the eggs. 1t is
one of the very few insects that take
care of their progeny after they
have come into the world. The ear
wig does not make nests in peoples
ears, Notwithstanding the popular no.
tion that effect, and it is more close
ly related to the grnsshopper than to
anything else.
| Whereas the earwig is an outdoor
animal, nocturnal in its habits, the
myriapod known hereabouts by that
name finds houses its most convenient
habitat. Instead of destroying it
housekeepers ought to encourage it,
because it is deadly enemy to flies
and most particularly to cockroaches.
1t is predatory creature, and feeds
upon these Objectionable insects. The
manner in which it attacks and de-
YOURS its prey is most interesting. 1t
will approach cockroach quietly. and,
leaping upon it, will embrace it with
its legs. passing its victim toward its
head from one pair of legs to another
until it gets 1t within reach of its jaws.
| Then it bites into the body of the cock
roach and devours the soft parts, throw
ing away the outer shell when the lat
ter is emptied.
Very often this "cermatia forccps'-
for such is its scientific name, and it
has no satisfactory popular one-sees a
second cockroach while it is devouring
the first one. With its prey in its
mouth it leaps upon cockroach number
| two. grasplng the latter between It's
legs until it has finished cockroach
number one. Having polished of
cockroach number one, it passes up
cockroach number two 10 its jaws and
proceeds rs before.
This myriapod-the term signifies
.thousand footed"-is generally inn
ngined to have poisonous bite. but
entomolosists do not believe that it
ever attacks human beings. 1t is most
.cleanly in its habits. spending its entire
leisure making its toilet; its preference
is for damp houses. probably not be-
cause it prefers dampness itself, but be-
cause the flies and cockroaches it preys
upon frequent such localities. If you
touch one it falls to pieces, shedding
| its legs in reckless fashion.
The other bug referred to is found
out of doors most plentifully in Wash
ington, and is popularly known as the
'.rearhorse." Probably there is no in
sect in the world about which so many
superstitious are entertained. 1t is
commonly called in other parts of the
world the "mantis." the praying
mantis," the "sooth-sayer," and by
many other names 1t is the most
formidable enemy OF the caterpillar
that commits such depredations upon
| Washington trees, and is therefore to
be regarded with decided prejudice
In its favor. Ii you will look carefully
| in the winter time you will find upon
the bare twigs and branches little
elongated clusters Of rearhorse eggs.
though the creature is not so easy to
discover in the summer time, because
of Il way it has of mimicking in color
and Jpearance otherwise whatever it
rests upon. 1t has first cousin known
as the ''walking stick" which is SO like
IL twig in appearance. with joints and
shoots corresponding, that you would
never imagine 1t to be anything else
unless you took 1t in your hand. The
| mantis grows to be nearly three inches
Matched out not its own young, but
other insects, which bore into the eggs
after they are laid and subsequently
come out of them in the shape of hies.
1t is very remarkable thing to OBJ
serve q mantis in the act of approach
ing caterpillar or other insect that it
wishes to devour. 1t walks stealthily
towards its intended prey, lifting one
| leg after the other ever SO slowly until
1t is fairly upon the object, which It
seizes with its powerful forelegs and
proceeds to devour. Frequently the
mantis flies about toward sunset. 1t
does not bite human beings, though it
may pinch little. The mantis-its
name is Greek for 'soothsayer"-ge
this name from the fact that for ages
past it has been thought to foretell
events. 1t is called the praying
mantis" because. while making for
victims, it holds its forelegs in the mir
(, in very much the attitude assumed by
a person in prayer. On account of the
resemblance of this attitude to the one
they themselves assume in supplicatiug
| the Deity, Mohammedans reverence
the insect particularly. The supersti-
tion regarding it extends as far as the
south Of Africa. where the Hottentots
believe that to kill one would cause
the destruction of all their focks and
herds and future happiness. Among
them if mantis aliohts upon the head
Of one of the tribe. that person is looked
upon as saint. Other people believe
that the inantis foretells death and