The times., 1898-10-16
The Dry Summer Saved Man
Much Annoyance.
THE NEW ELECTRIC BUG
How the Farm Crops Were Protect
eel Against Destruction From In
sects That Devour-A BaItimore
Professor Describes the Ugly Bug
Attracted by ELECTRICITY.

10 hdshihSton- naturally, everybody
here is interested in insect life, so that
this article from the Baltimore Sun will
find many readers:
There Is bug which. within the past
year. has been spreading over the city
wherever an electric light shines and has
attracted attention. People have looked
at this ugly insect. with its long avs
and distorted body. have walked on {.
had it flap in their faces and make itself
generally disagreeable. and have grown
to call 1t the electric bug"
1t appears only at night and congre-
gates in great numbers around the lights.
In some of the downtown streets the
pavements at times become slimy through
the great numbers OF these bugs walked
OIL and killed by passers-by.
Prof. Philip K. Uhler. provost of the
Peabody Institute. says: Il have noticed
this bug flying about electric Hgats n
great numbers, especially on Lexington
Street, where the glare is very str.ng-
1t flies up against the globes and wires
ana urS1s to the ground and is L odd=n
ON by people passing 1t is u great I-ui-
sanee and makes walking past a light
unpleasant still, there Is nothing tEat
can be done TO lessen the number. Il Is
one OF the evils which came wiIn tbs e.ec-
tric light and We have TO put up vita Il.
The bug is called the giant water b~g.
whose home is down the river. 1t Is an
usly-looking creature, two inches lOng
and one inch across. 1t is armed with
long c.aws; its back is brown, with white
stripes. and it has strong wings Es-
rfsaII Sf 80 l.rrgr
the water down By Spring Garden-i. whera
It feeds on fish. sucking tine bioCd cut OF
them and killing them / he way IN wnich
IT comes up TO the city is unique The
glare of the lights attracts the attention
OF the bugs and they fly up in body 10
see for themselves the cause OF the Drill
iiancy. As they approach the city tie
light attract5 them more and more and
| tney congregate about electric lamps.
They appear to be harmless and DO not
hurt the trees. but, nevertheless, "hen
they come in numbers, ike th-y na. c
been doing. are u great pest Ine SuS -
sometimes called the 'dart-nolGer.
The early dry summer that we had
This year has been unfavorabIe 10 most
kinds OF insect lie. II We had had an
abundance OF rain during June and July
as well as August the number of insects
of all kinds that would have Hooded tAe
State would have been alarming You
would hardly have been able 10 walk for
them. and they would simply have over
run the land. This has been decideiy a
katydid year All over the country and
especially in the mountains, the song OF
| this green insect can be heard from XVII
| light until midnight almost INCREASINGLY
! There are millions of them in the land II
present. Locusts have suffered through
| the dry weather. and the only thing that
| has saved the crops of the farmers from
| the army worm has been the great num-
ber of parasites that have been in the
| land
The army worm is probably the most
| destructive insect that troubles Mary
| land farmers. Its eggs are Matched IN
| der the bark of a tree. and the tiny thinS
crawls along TO the edgs OF a twiS, where
| il nibbles an almost infinitesimal part OF
| a leaf. When It does this it grows very
| quickly. it swells. its skin splits down
| the back, and II comes out entirely new
| and increased by one size This change
! of skin is called 'moulting. and each time
/ ii is done the worm is larged and stronger
| and capable OF eating more The skin
| Is dark brown, but when the worm mOults
| If comes out of its skin green. As soon
| as 1t starts to eat however. the brown
| begins to appear again and in short
| time another skin has formed The army
| worm cannot grow with its skin on il can
| only swell Its fun growth is about ! IL
! inches in length. and when they are in
| great numbers they can devastate acre
after acre of corn or wheat, eating stalk
| and grain. Sometimes millions and MIL
lions of them are produced in year. and
| swarm over the land After it has grown
| its full size it turns into chrysalis, and
| goes under dirt or bark, where 1t remains
for a few weeks and comes out winged
| moth. II dies Immediately after laying
its eggs. one insect sometimes laying as
as many as 500 eggs. The parasite Is
still smaller insect. which feeds upon the
army worm and deposits a poisonous egg
| under the skin which kills 1t Tbs
presence of these in large numbers has
| had a good effect on the crops by destroy
ing the army worm.
''The terrible grasshopper, which IS 50
very destructive to crops, has been para
lived by the early dry season The peo-
ple in this state have no idea what a
grasshopper invasion means having new
er had one here. Out West the condi-
tions are more favorable 90 their produc-
ton than here. Several years ago I had
an experience with grasshoppers which
hope never to duplicate. l was in the
Rocky mountain regions and was rid ug
| a horse and suddenly found myself in
the midst of swarm of millions of
| graSShOppers. They were 0yinC toward
me and beat against my face like hail
stones. l was obliged to put my hands and
! handkerchief in front of my face to mo-
tect my eyes. They were six inches deer
on the ground and nv horse had hard
time getting through them This lasted
, for six miles I went out there again ir
several months and for a radius of thit-
l. tv miles there was not a single g. e.
thing growing. The country hai sim lly
been swept bare; everything had la@r
eaten and the farmers wers ,n a -.i1H
, way.
THE wheat fly her lss7sH'' hit
greatest pest. and tn rl~ rF Hew
, hurt the wheat g
: ers in certain -.r -ar.r -
them and f. inns sa'- I'D r
a against the~ Tho rl-s1er. -s
: | plows and aars~ his sla'-
+ | way for ttsa lU7. -s r0 -7Ua ~
grcru5 nas How ,ran -5 .'a owe
= | can ar ftIrr rr Hase nm-s in
. ! u.u. eur sop W- GRANGE a farme
wu1i5 rH battling them. II 1
.stIe- 6r nearly M. insects to d
! - work H-r tw mt and In tn
nj, -t u nat time that tn
. | whe. au- ne stalk.
"One insect mat is numerous in Mn
ryland IS y. ar is the yellow May chat
= er. whic. have known to go througl
whole orchards of cherry trees. so tina
/ not a single cherry would be fit to eat
It is impossible to shake them out q
= the tree without shaking the cherries OF
/, too and 1t is equally impossible to pu
Paris green or other poisons on the tire
for fear of hurting the fruit 1t is hardl
y ~