The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1894-08-17
INTERESTING INSECTS.
Some Facts Concerning Locusts
and Dragon Flies
Tho Insect Tint Caused So much Deeoia-
tloa Throughout the World the sanec
That John the Isaptist eate
yeraeieus Dragon Files.

yeraeleus Dragon Fllet.
Have you ever seen or read or
heard anything about the locusts?
1t is an odd insect, distantly related
TO the grasshopper and alike in
shape, but thelocust has claws some
thing like aiobsters, andifit should
catch on the finger Il clings and
makes q painful wound. Ithas above
Its mouth a little clfneher, with
which it does a great deal 81 mis-
CHIEF, andithas very beautiful wings,
Its home Is in America, Africa AND
certain parts Of Europe. The locusts
goabout IN swarms, and settle down
in the fields, where they do great
mischief. III a few days they will
sweep the grain aud wheat fields
clean and destroy the whole years
harvest
In hot climates the devastation
caused by them is not felt so great
ly, as in n short time new crop
may be raised. But In moderate
climate, when a crop can be raised
only once q year. their rayages are
greatly felt aud often result in
famine. They frequently swarm in
trees first before they descend on
the fields.
Locusts are very jaicy and ten
der, aud in the east are considered
dainty food. There all creatures
eat them, even to the dogs. When
the latter become hungry branches
of the trees on which the locusts
swarm are brought down and the To-
Gusts shaken off like orr nuts in the
fall for the dogs to eat. It was on
such locusts with honey that John
the. Baptist is spoken of in the Bible
as having lived. A traveller in the
east tells US that as he was once GO
ing through a great desert he saw .
swarm of them about FIVE miles
away flying close to the earth. which
they darkened like a cloud. AS they.
came nearer he saw that they were
white, and he describes them as
looking beautiful ON their wing.
They were crossing the desert to
reach the trees and grain fields on
the other side. The locust, although
1t is not eaten here, is practically
the same oil the world over.
Then there is the dragon hy you
have seen him In the fields perhaps
decked out in his handsome gauzes
and looking more beautiful even
.thanhis copies in the lewelry stores,
and thought him a fine fellow in
deed. He is certainly the finest fell
low in the insect creation, when you
Judge him from his coat, but hand
some is as handsome does, and there
isn't a tiercer, more voracious or
more cruel fellow in the insect crea-
tion than this very fine dragon fiy OF
ours. He is as wicked as he is hand
some. He chases and eats every
poor little fly that comes in his way.
He fights with the spider and de-
YOURS him. He tackles insects far
bigger than himself and masters and
eats them all up. Even the big,
gapzy-wipged butterfly is no match
for the dragonlf ywhen he is hungry,
and he seems to be hungry all the
time. His fine coat is really a coat
of mail that even the sting Of a wasp
will not puncture. Nature has made
him very strong. Then, too, he has
-a.yerystrong mouth for his work and
heis vicious. Indeed, he might
be called the pirate among insects,
forheregards them all as prey and
recognizes no law Of honesty, even
with his own kind. Indeed, when
the dragon fly has been cut In two
so that he has no stomach, he will
still'eat anything placedinhis grasp,
and on one occasion after being cut
in two was fed with twenty flies and
four spiders, by a man who knows
all about insects, and who declared
that no doubt he would have kept on
eating indefinitely had hes(th many
not grown tired Of catching the flies.
So you see, it Is very hard to kill a
dragon fly.
The larva or young Of the dragon
fly, which is Matched in water, Is in
its babyhood so voracious that it will
jump to the surface to catch a fly or
snap at anything that comes within
its vision, and as the dragon fly is
well supplied with eyes, having sew
eral in its head, both behind and in
front, it sees o good deal. Indeed,
the only good thing know about the
dragon fly is that 1t takes up a good
deal of foul air in its lifetime, and
so makes the air purer and healthier
for US TO breathe. IN. Y. Advertiser.