The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1901-05-09

men,Just as the Almighty knows that
! there are black beetles" Yet those gal
liant juniors of glorious service-from
! whom, after all, the captains and the ad-
ihirsis nave 10 come-may discover rather
an honor than disparaement in Mr.
kipling's smile. For what has lately hn o.
pened in this, as Mr.. Herbert Goss tells
us In his new volume entitled THE Geol-
ogical Antiquity of Insects" There has
been found In the LAS at more than one
spot, amid the ma jsstie remains OF the
great fossil reptiles and tying lizards,
a cockroach. or the remains of one which
is the oldest insect known. This immense
venerable bug stands at the head OF the
whole insect world, and existed when
there We're few, IL any. fishes and no
| birds OF mammals whatsoever. Man I'm
presence OF this impressive relic OF the
past, IL mere parvenu. a thing OF YES
terday, supplemental idea of nature
who sketched her cockroach and made an
eternal type o. 1t millions OF years before
she invented the genus homo"
AZ stroke the discovery places black
beetles practically AZ the head OF creation
genealogically, and the wonder is that
such as we see him today. 80 did Ma
ture originally construct him. She at
least was wei satisfied from the first
with her black beetles, who rise by this
announcement of the. geotogists 10 a
higher eminence than Darwin's notable
little volume gave one day To the
worms The great naturalist told an uu-
grateful world how that worms were the
chief agriculturists OF the earth: how
that they. and they only. manufacture
all the mould and loan in which we
grow our chops and how the planet
wenid- stff've- but for the vast, Htfent IA
bors of these strange and lowly beings
And now science bids us learn that the
despised black beetle stands in this supe-
rior place, In the ancestral tree OF life,
and was adJudged so'peffect In the begin
ming that not a single point has been
modified. Such as we see him securing
the pantry floor for food and scutting up
the larder we'll. so did this mara uder OF
the Kitchen pursue his business in pres
ence Of the mighty prehistoric saurians
before man had lighted his first kitchen
IRE as fearessly as he does today In our
midst,
Black beetles were not without GER
tain classical and scientific dignity before
this. lt must be remembered o their
credit. that they had Aristotle himself
Tor their godfather II was that Illus
trious philosopher who gave 10 them and
20 their kindred insects the Greek name
by which they 20 OF "coeoptera." or
sheath wings. This accurately describes
the puciliar arrangemtn for flying which
characterizes almost the entire genus
The first beetle unspeakably ancient.
probably had naked wings. But hnding |
that most of his IDEALLY business was don. |
on foot and that his delicate pinions of |
hlmy membrane soon became damaged
nc and Dame Nature between them hard /
lned IN outer pair into two chitnnus Gov |
nrS STYLED "elytra. which admirably nro /
tcct the Inner wings. Having started her
beetle In such good time. and having hit /
upon this excellent idea or giving 10 IN \
comfortable command OF earth and air
md also indeed of water. the divine moth |
n appears 10 have positively reveIled In
multiplying the variations OF her design.
II Is bewildering 20 study the countless
ypes OF sheath-wlnged beetles When
hey want TO live under the bark OF
rees they fatten like warers: when they
ire born 60 bore holes Ga trees or tim |
Der they take the shape or animated
'imlets; when II Is desirable f0f them 10
~ giobulur VI oval. or circular Or stick. |
Ike, ~ "a Initiate l.af they fakv such
ofms TIE ntts son slOE~oru Ntth
ief pale lsmp burning under the fDusss |
II The thick7t. IL beetle anS - De- tt,
o0hcsd tortoise iadyofrc Win -
esrlet shell spotted with black I'D -
gain is the soldier bug ne ctickef M
'eevil. anr the sarwis The soho0ibo,'s
HNoIitr. the clafsf. or maybug is an.
iher example efsi heiur creat.d wiih a
lnE Z" hie abdomen ! grieve te mention
hst Ari-tcrhsnes tel, us IN the cisuds