Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-02-05
WINTER INSECTS.


What May Now be Found in Walk
Through the Woods.
On winter day, when the sore land
scapc is cnlivened by an unclouded sun,
let his genial rays tempt the reader to
stroll in the Pennsylvania woods. lie
may be cheercd by no bird song; no
plants except Il few evergreen leaves
may Brighten his path: but insect life
will be there to welcome him,
Those merriest of dancers. the gnats,
come forth from the moist earth at the
call of the sun. Moaquito-like, they
have passed their immature life in the
water. and the cases of the little wiring
lers are ready to burst open and liber-
ate the winged insects whenever the
sun peeps forth from the clouds This
may occur on a sunny day, even when
the temperature of the air is far below
the freezing point.
Arctic explorers tell us that as far
north as they have gone, away up in the
icy fields of Greenland, even where
there is no vegetation, these gnats, or
species so closely resembling them that
only naturalists can detect the differ
ence, are found dancing on wing in the
sunlight OF clinging to the sides of boats
and sledges.
AS we continue our walk through the
winter woods we turn over a log and
find crawling about beneath it small,
black beetles, few tough-skinned,
hard-headed grubs, and now and then
spider. If the sun shines brightly, even
though snow may lie deep on the
ground, wasps will be tempted forth
from crevices of bark in which they
have lain dormant with the cold, and
after becoming thoroughly warmed
they will take wing through the woods.
A butterfly known as the mourning
cloak, richly dressed in brown and blue
velvet, bordered with gold, comes forth
from it's snug retreat when the winter
sun is bright and wings it's way through
| the woods as gayly as he would in mid
summer. His hiding place has been in
| the wind-cracks of an old chestnut tree
or a bunch of clinging leaves. He may
be seen fitting even when the snow lies
| several inches deep. Far off in the
| Rocky mountains and among the Alps
of Switzerland butterflies of various
| species may often be seen flying over
the snow and glacier ice.
| If we displace the rustling leaves that
cover the ground in the woods we notice
now and then large black beetle run
ming quickly from under our feet. If
snow is on the ground we shall not see
him, but in its absence we shall find
him even on the coolest day. lie evil
| IDENTIFY knows where to hide himself
when the unwelcome snow and ice APP
pear.
Wherever wood is still sufficiently
abundant to be used as fuel, insect life
comes forth from rotting chunks that
are carried in and laid near the fire.
| When these are picked up in the woods
no signs of such life may appear, but
after being laid in the warm room they
are soon swarming with ants. Some of
them may be of the large black species
and others the smaller red ones. When
the heat from the stove or fireplace
reaches them they awake from the
deathlil1e torpor into which Jack Frost
has plunged them, often too late to es-
cape their fate in a fiery furnace.
| This torpor of insects is a very differ
emit condition from the Information of
warm-blooded animals, such as the bear
and the marmot. In the latter slow
and feeble circulation and respiration
are kept up, and the creature lives on
the fat that had been stored up in it's
body before the winter sleep came on.
Different insects are affected by cold
in very different degrees. Many, like
the common house-fy, become torpid
before the temperature falls to the
freezing point. Long before frost comes
they succumb to the moderate cold of
autumn. There is no doubt that Sc
verely cold winters are attended with
great loss of insect lifA which in a
milder season would havs survived
Philadelphia Times.
| Famous Blind Men,