Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1900-07-10
INSECT LIFE In CUBA.
SPECIMENS ARE PLENTY, BUT
VARIETIES ARE LIMITED.
Natives Handle Scorpions and Taran-
tuIas with. Inpuni y-Processions of
Umbrella Ants-Dread of the Cent?
pede-Firefy Most Curious Insect.

1t was a surprise TO the writer TO
find in Cuba great scarcity of insect
life, or at least a great scarcity of va
riety, As an enthusiast in entomology,
had locked forward with pleasure to
finding plenitude of the brightly col
ored insects so common TO other trop
Ical countries. Ny disappointment was
great, for with the exception of scor-
pions, centipedes, tarantulas, mosqui-
toes and ants, a very few butterflies
and an occasional firefy, there are no
insects on the island. Even the house
work performed by them in our own
country being attended TO by ants and
buzzards. The latter are innumerable.
Nothing is safe from the ants. 1t is
necessary to place the legs of tables
on which food is kept In vessels filled
with water, else the ants viii in single
night deyour everything. OF the many
kinds of ants, the most interesting is
perhaps the umbrella ant. l have seen
a procession of these little fellows 200
jaws 'OASs III nnlNn vain ehAA \AAAAS0
over his head a bit of leaf. They had
the appearance of carrying umbrellas
to shade themselves from the sun,
hence their name.
The scorpion, which is called "alak-
ram by the Cubans, is little feared by
them. They have no hesitancy in dex
terously picking up the 'alakran" by
his business end. TO do this without
getting stung requires some skill and
great quickness. l was stung several
times before learned The trick. While
the sting is very painful, it is in no
sense dangerous. Suction of the wound
ed part with the mouth removes the
poison, and the swelling is not so great
as from the sting of our own big bum
bic bee. The scorpion is probably the
In Cuba. The old stone walls, of which
there are many, are full of them, and
on the rocky hillsides every stone has
pne or more under it.
The Cubans show the same lack of
fear Of the tarantula as they do of the
SCORPION. / have seen a Cuban boy pick
| up an 'sarana pelour," as the tarantula
is called, in his naked fingers witlNper-
| feet nonchalance. 1t is really a s1fer
| proceeding than would seem, as the
arantula is slow-moving insect. and
| he is caught by his fat thorax he is
| owerless, for his fangs are beneath
! lis body and cannot be readily used.
| fhe tarantula is not considered deadly
| oy the Cubans, a little suction and a
good deal of Cognac being the only
remedy used for the bite.
The one insect for which the Cubans
have wholesome respect is the cent?
| pede. He is called by them ''cien pies
hundred feet. The centipedes grow
to great size, the writer having cap
tured several specimens eight inches
| long While / do not think that the
centipede is deadly, yet l have never
been able to get over a creepy feeling
In handling them, and never attempt
ed to make a captive of one unless my
hands were covered with thick buck
| skin gloves. They are not much to be
feared however, for they scuttle away
with the speed of railroad train at the
approach of a human being, and speci-
mems can only be gotten by turning
over the largest stones, and that in a
hurry.
The freely is possibly the most curl
Gus of the Cuban insects. He belongs
to the family of swapping beetles of
| which there are so many varieties in
the United States. On his thorax there
are two spots about the size of large
! pinhead. In the daytime these appear
only as yellow spots. At night they
emit brilliant greenish light, so bright
that it is possible to read newspaper
by its light. Several of these confined
in bottle will serve to light a room
! They are worn as hair ornaments by
the senoritas, with peculiar and strik.
| ing effect.
l must not forget to speak of mos
| quitoes, which abound in Cuba at GER
| tain seasons. During March, April
May and June it is impossible to sleep
without mosquito bars over the beds,
But about the 1st of July the mosqui-
| toes disappear, no one knows where
and they do not reappear until the fol
! lowing March.-New York Evening
! Post.
She Wanted to Know