The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-05-04

popes used to curse the caterpillars.
During the prevalence of the silk worm
mania in this country fifty years ago,
to meet the great demand for eggs
fish spawn was commonly distributed and
the humbug was highly successful. The
first silk dresses worn by the ladies Of an
cient Rome were from the island Of Cos,
aud of them Pliny said that while they
covered a woman they at the same time re-
vealed her charms In fact. they were
so fine as to be transparent, and were some
times dyed purple aud enriched with stripes
of gold, For ages silk was a scarce article
among the Romans. and so highly prizsi
as to be worth many times its weight
in gold. The Emperor Aurellan. who died
in the year l25 of the Christian era, refused
his empress a silk dress because IL was So ex-
pensive.
The Egyptian and the Greek emblem for
the soul was the butterfly, which is at first
only a caterpillar, but at length bursting its
bonds comes out with new life and in most
beautiful attire, thus affording a representa-
ton Of the spirit of man and of the immor-
tally to which he aspires. 1t is worth men
tioning, by the way, that within the homely
caterpillar can be found, by careful disSsc-
ton, the future butterfly, neatly folded up
and complete in all its parts. like the rose IN
its uneXpanded bud or the plant within the
seed. In the forests of Guinea some people
gathering them in paper boxes and export
ing them to collectors in Europe. The Bush
men Of Africa eat the caterpillars of butter
flies. Insects of this kind, soon after they
are transformed into butterflies, commonly
discharge drops Of red fluid, and such per-
formances by great fiocks of them have
many times in history given rise to tales of
bloody rains which greatly excited the fears
of the supersitious.
Bees were not originally natives OF this
country. They were brought to Boston first
from England, and were subsequently, car
ried over the Allegheny mountains by a
hurricane. For long time they were
known to the Indians by the name Of
English flIes,n and we're looked upon as the
harbinger of the white man. Longfellow,
in his ''Song of Hiawatha," describing the
advent of the European into the new world,
makes his native warrior say Of the bee and
the white clover:
Whereso'er they move before them
Swarms the stinging fly, the Ahmo.
Swarms the Bee, the honey-maker;
Nhereso'er they tread, beneath them
Springs flower unknown among us,
Springs the white mans Foot in blossom.
In some countries bees are carried about
with their hives in caravans during the
summer season, being permitted to gather
honey from the flowers in field after field
along their journeys. so that they have
always a supply of fresh blossoms.
This method is practiced in lower Egypt,
where boats laden with beehives by thous-
ands are tloated slowly down the river,
stopping at intervals for longer or shorter
time, according to the pasture. The pro-
pr1etorS of the hives pay the boatman for
this service, and in this manner the people
get their honey from all the choicest blooms
III every part of the land
A curious superstition respecting the
beetle has reference to a scarab which is
believed by the Singhalese to be a demon.
In the shape of an insect the diabolical
agent sometimes appears in adwelling after
nlghttall for the purpose of comprising the
destruction of one or all Of the inmates
The only means Of averting the catastrophe
is that some one shall perform a counter
charm, the effect of which is to send back
the beetle to destroy his original DESTROYER
tor in such case the death Of one or the
other is essential to appease the evil one
whose aid has been invoked. BY the Egyp-
tians the beetle called the scarabmus was
considered sacred to the sun, the thirty
joints Of its feet answering to the DAYS of a
solar month. The warriors of that nation
all wore rings with beetles engraved upon
them, for the reason that these creatures
are always in armor. There is a popular
belief III Germany that the stag beetle car
rles burning Goals into houses with its jaws
and thus occasions many fires.
A superstition obtains among the cow
boys that if a cow be lost its whereabout
may be learned by inquiring of the daddy
long-legs, which points out the direction Of
the lost animal with one of its forelegs. The
spider web fabric has been carried so nearly
to transparency that the Emperor Aureng-
zebe Of Hindostan is said to have reproved
his daughter for the indelIcacy of her cos
tune when she wore as many as seven thick
nesses it. AT Hardensburg in Sweden, the
method of choosing burgomaster is this:
The persons eligible sit around with their
boards resting upon a table. A louise is
then put in the middle of the table and the
one in whose heard the insect first takes
cover is the magistrate for the ensuing year.
The big mosquito of the lower Mississippi,
called the 'gallinipper" is described by the
boatmen to be as large as a goose AID hav~
ing the peculiar habit of flying about at
night with brickblt under It's wings, with
which to sharpen its sting. Alth ugh the
well-known biblical quotation is commonly
quoted. "Strain at a gaat and swallow a
camel" as it is written. it should be trans
lated, Strain out gnat." referring to the
practice that formerly prevailed in oriental
countries of passing wine and other liquors
through strainer, so that no insect might
get into the cup.