The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-08-15

ground or concealed IN the DARK OF trees
furnish the supply for the next year. The
cold retards the development OF the -gg.
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
ana cold alike. until the secret alchemy of
the sun stirs the budding life and bids it
come forth.
Beetles exhibit a wonderful instinct in
caring for their helpless young. Among a
certain species the eggs are rolled in balls
Of material suitable for food. he ba Is arr
packed away in a nest 70 avail the voTa-
cious appetites Of the infant beetle that
must eat its way out. The burying or sex
Ton teetl5s deposit their eggs in the bod
les OF dead birds or field mice. They thea
set 10 work and perform the proper rites
Of burial, heaping the earth over the body
of the dead. The young beetle Matched
fro m the tgg finds store of food await
ing him on his arrival IN the world
Butterflies and moths are victims of
cold weather though in some instances it
has been proved that they have great pow
ers of endurance. Both butterflies and
moths live in the ragion of glaciers in
the high Alps and a certain species is
found fiuttering about on the summit of
Mount Washington and amid eternal
Snow. These butterflies and moths are in
timately associated with the gentians and
other flowers belonging TO these lofty al
titudes, and act as aids in cross fertiliza-
ton.
Our temperate zone boasts of one or two
winter butter flies warmly clothed in mi
croscope.c Gathers. And on cheerlsss Feb
ruary and March days these blithesome
heralds of spring sport about like Animal
ed sunbeams and living prophecies OF
springtide. But what has become of the
butterflies and moths of the vanished sum-
mertide? They are a gay yet thrifty folk
in looking out for the future of their race.
S arch the garden and cocoons and chry-
salids are found in al sorts of shapes and
CT nditions-angular and ovoid, short and
thick, long and thin, suspended by the
head, or by the tail, head downward; hung
horizontally in a curled leaf, like the dar-
ling baby in the tree top; tucked away I'M
der a soft web coverlet on the sheltered
siee of the gaze post, or under the edge
of the sidewalk; within the warm corner
of a knothole or a crack in the boards
under the bark of the trees, in a cozy
crotch of the twigs asd even buried in the
ground. The delicate yet firm silken
threads bind them to the to2most
branches, where exposed to sleet. snow
ard rain, whirled about by every bowling
The butterfly and moth lay eggs in a
suitable feeding ground during the early
summer. The Matched larva or caterpillar
eats vorac iously, gorging itself until it can
eat no more. Or If too fat for farther ex-
ertion, it spins a cocoon and makes ready
for winter. During the winter IL appar-
entity SAUNDERS in its snug quarters, nour-
ished by the plentiful supply Of fat 1t ac-
cImulated during the caterpillar stage,
fta1l
grown moth or butterfly gorgeously at
tired and bent on holiday making.
The spiders, so far as l 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
| be found swinging by silken ropes from
| the golden rod and milkweed and hidden
| away in creviceSand corners of board fences
and stone walls The little spiders creep
| from the luxurious sleeping bags provid-
| ed by the solicitous care of their wise
mother and if they escape the oannibal-
istic propensities of their brothers and
| sisters enter at once on a career of trap
ping and hunting.
The old saying GO TO the ant, thou
sluggard," and the quaint fable of the
| foolish, shivering grasshopper and the
wise and thrifty ant would lead us to be-
| lieVe that wisdom dwelt In the halls of
| the ant hill along with the forethought 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, hut in the center of the cone
shaped nest of the paper making wasps
may he 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, a few
survive. ard of these few it is generally
the females that show the greatest tenac-
| !ty 10 life and serve as mothers of the
race for the next summer. Hive bees re-
| ceive such fostering care from man that
! they can hardly be counted among our
wild friends who must shift for them
selves.
The thrifty ant deserves much sympa-
thy in that it is the favorite prey of sol
| ders crickets beetles and other insect
hunters. In spite of vicisisitudes it is de-
voted to its community life. The care OF
| its young the manag ement of its slaves
| and captured aphides from which the
| honeydew is MIXED, furnish incidents for
| tale as interesting as the customs of any
wandering tribe of the desert or any lost
nation of Central Africa A few ants may
survive and feed on accumulated stores
! during the winter but ii is chiefly the
| eggs and cocoons hidden away in the Sc
| curity of the underground chambers OF
| the ant hill that furnish the ant popula-
| ton Of a succeeding summer.