Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1900-09-27
INSECTS IN WINTER.
where They Go when They Don't Die an
What They Do.

INSECTS IN WINTER.
where They Go when They Don't Die and
What They Do.
Chicago Post.
The housef1y and blue-bottle fly, the
bane OF the housekeeper, are short lived
at best. Many flies live but day. The |
excitement Of escaping determination |
and rearing their young rounds out an |
existence of "a hours. Nature, in APP |
| probation OF their short career, has pro- |
vided them with compound eyes, which |
see about on all sides, a marvelously |
acute scent and facility of flight which |
is the aggravation Of him who dozes at
| MONDAY and who tries to catch that one
| fly. When autumn comes the death kneli
| of millions of flies has sounded. They
make no preparation for winter. The
majority die, and their insignificant bodies
are blown away by the passing breeze.
A few hardy survivors linger In cracks In
the wall, creep under the door frames or
| in crevices In the woodwork. 1t is prob
able that eggs are laid, larve Matched and
other flies creep from the metamorphosed
maggots during the winter. But some
naturalists assert that the few lingering
flies are the parents of the multitude that
appear in the warm days Of June. The
eggs they lay are numberless.
Katydids, grasshoppers, locusts, "walk-
ing sticks" crickots and beetles are killed
bythe frost The eggs hidden in the ground
or concealed in the bark Of trees furnish
the supply for the next year. The cold
retards the development OF the egg, which
matches in the warm days Of spring.
Sometimes an unusually cold winter plays
havoc with the dormant insect life, but
the cunning of nature strengthens the
frail eggshell against the power of heat
and cold alike, until the secret alchemy
of the sun stirs the budding life and bids
II come forth.
Beetles exhibit wonderful instinct In
caring for their helpless young. Among
certain species the eggs are rolled In
balls of material suitable for food. The
balls are packed away in nest to await
the voracious appetites of the infant
beetle that must eat Its way out The
burying or sexton beetles deposit their
eggs in the bodies Of dead birds or field
mice. They then set to work and per-
form the proper rites of burial, heaping
young beetle Matched from the egg finds
store of food awaiting him on his ar
rival In the world.
Butterflies and moths are victims of
cold weather, though in some instances it
has been proved that they have great
powers of endurance. Both butterflies
and moths live in the region of glaciers In
the high Alps, and certain species is
found fluttering about on the summit of
Mount Washington and amid eternal
snow. These butterflies and moths are
intimately associated with the gentians
and other flowers belonging to these lofty
attitudes, and act as aids in cross fertili-
cation.
Our temperate zone boasts of one or
two winter butterflies warmly clothed In
microscopic feathers. And on cherries
February and March days these blithe.
some herald of spring sport about like
animated sunbesms and living prophecies
of springtide. But what has become OF
the butterflies and moths of the vanished
summertidep They are gay yet thrifty
folk in looking out for the future of their
race. Search the garden and cocoons and
chrysalids are found in all sorts of shapes
and conditions-angular and ovoid, short
and thick, long and thin, suspended by
the head, or by the tail, head downward !;
hung horizontally in curled leaf, like
the darling baby in the tree top; tucked
away under soft web coverlet on the
sheltered side of the gate post, or under
the edge of the sidewalk; within the
warm corner Of knothole or crack in
the boards, under the bark of the trees, in
cozy crotch of the twigs and even
buried in the ground. The delicate yet
firm silken threads bind them 10 the top
most branches, where, exposed to slcet,
snow and rain, whirled about by every
bowling blast, they defy the winter.
The butterfly and moth lay eggs in q
suitable feeding ground during the early
summer. The Matched larva or caterpillar
eats voraciously, gorging itself until II can
eat no more. Or, if too fat for further ex.
ertion, it spins cocoon and makes ready
for winter. During the winter 1t appar-
emily sumbers in its snug quarters,
nourished by the plentiful supply of fat
it accumulated during the caterpillar
stage, and at the proper time energies q
full.grown moth or butterfly, gorgeously
attirei and bent on holiday making.
The spiders, so far as can learn, store
away no food supply in winter quarters.
Quantities of eggs are laid and carefully
sheltered in velvety cobweb sacks imper
vious to the weather. These sacks may
J be found swinging by silken ropes from
the golden rod and milkweed and hidden
away in crevices and corners of board
| fences and stone walls. The little spiders
creep from the luxurious sleeping bags
, provided by the solicitous care of their
wise mother, and if they escape the cauni.
bal,stic propensities of their brothers and
sisters enter at once on career of trap
ping and hunting.
The old saying, go the ant, thou slug
gard" and the quaint fable of the foolish,
shivering grasshopper and the wise and
thrifty ant would lead us to believe that
, wisdom dwelt in the halls Of the ant hill
along with the forethcught so common to
the beehive. The bees and wasps do lay
, up stores for winter. The wasps do not
! provision quite SO wisely as the bees, but
!, in the centre of the cone-shaped nest Of
the paper. making wasps may be found a
goodly store of honey. All bees do not
store as literally as does the hive bee, and
, the mortality among bees is widespread.
= While thousands die, few survive, and
!, of these few it is generally the females that
= show the greatest tenacity to life and
! serve as mothers of the race for the next
! summer. Hive bees receive such foster.
! ing care from man that they can hardly
|, be counted among our wild friends who
. must shift for themselves.
!. The thrifty ant deserves much SYM
: patty in that it is the favorite prey of
: spiders, crickets, beetles and other insect
hunters. In spite of vicissitudes it is de-
. voted to its community life. The care of
|, its young, the management OF its slaves
= and captured aphides from which the