The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-08-12
"KILL OR BE KILLED"


Not on this mundane sphere will the
golden age come to pass. A glimpse
into the insect world is enough to con-
vince one of the hopelessness of mag
lining such a thing. Hunt or you will
be hunted. kill or you will be killed,
eat or you will be eaten, are immuta-
BILE laws among the six and eight
footed folk. Nature is kinder 10 them
than she is to man. He must learn
tricks of warfare. They, after the man
ner of Minerva, leap into existence
fully equipped as destroyers. Maternal
instinct places the helpless egg where
the youngling may begin it's preying
the instant it is Matched. Quick as the
shell is broken, it commences to de-
stroy life, and is as dangerous as it
is in later stages when it skips. hops
or flies on its own account.
Nature is full of resources and a
marvellous mother of invention, When
warfare is not carried on by the use
of weapons means are provided for
eluding the enemy, throwing dust in
his eyes or frightening him out of his
tactics. Call to mind few of the COM
mon means of defense and protection.
Here is the great June beetle, glitter
ing in coat of mail, as iridescent as
mother of pearl. Han has invented
no armor plate combining lightness,
toughness and protective qualities
equal the June beetles coat. These
outer wing covers or elytra of the bee
tie are impervious to rain, lay like a
sheath over the delicate membranous
wings and form a rare combination of
beauty and utility. The mouth of the
beetle Is enough to scare the wits
away from an ordinary hunting insect
or timid bird out in search of a meal.
It's mouth parts are formed for biting,
and when it bites it bites with a will.
They Live ON Juices of Plants.
Tree hoppers or brownies bugs are
innocent little creatures that spend
their time tipping on the juices of
plants. Other insects must find them
delicacies. Dainty in their ways, rear
ed on g. vegetarian diet, one would
naturally expect them to have a fine
flavor. Ants have found out the habits
of a species excreting honey dew, and
it is only another evidence of ant wis
dom that the honey dew tree hopper
is corralled and MIXED by these low
ers of sweets.
Innocent young ants, that have not
grasped their inherited instincts, must
be fearfully terrified at the first sight
of these tree hoppers-their faces are
so grotesque and their little pop eyes
leer in a distracted fashion. 1t may be
that in secret they lament that moth
er nature fashioned them like scare
crows, but if they only knew they
would be thankful and enjoy the bless
ings afforded them without question as
to looks.
Birds know certain poisonous insects
by instinct, just as some of us know
the edible mushroom from the nox-
ious, and know it to certainty with
out being able to tell the reason why.
In order to give. the insect chance
nature has dressed a few of the harm
less ones in exactly the same attire
worn by the poisonous ones. Some OF
the ugliest caterpillars are the most
harmless.
Those ingenious appearing crawlers
moving about in an unobtrusive way
are confidence men in caterpillardom,
and veritable snakes in the grass. Be
ware of them. Yet the foolish birds
are all a-flutter and anxiety when a
gorgeously striped caterpillar, with
orange tipped horns and ebony black
brushes sticking up over it's back,
crawls across their path.
A scientific friend confessed that af-
ter severe self-discipline he was able
to taste caterpillars without repug-
nance. If the birds were so greedy for
them surely they must be good to eat.
He gathered his caterpillars and la
belled the different species and pro-
ceeded to taste them after watching
the conduct of sparrows and robins
and catbirds in regard to them. A
hairy caterpillar striped and arrayed
in coat of many colors as if out on
a masquerade was the cause of chat
tering on the part of the sparrows,
tail tapping and comment from the
robins and excitement and sarcastic
looks from the catbirds. At night time
the scientist tasted the caterpillar to
find out If it was as bitter and naus-
eous as the birds had led him to be-
lieVe. Not so at all. He was agreeably
surprised by delicious. nutty flavor.
In spite of the experience of the scien-
fist 1 would not advise any boy OF
my acquaintance to sample caterpil-
lars as long as there are so many har-
vest apples and hickory nuts and wal
nuts in the world. A scientist is sup
posed to know the poisonous larvae
of butterflies and moths, and while 1t
lis interesting to learn, still there are
chances of getting ones fingers burned
while hunting for innocent creatures
sailing under false colors.
Enemies Lying in Wait.
Caterpillars have their enemies lying
in wait for them when they are hatch
ed from the egg. Sometimes il hap
pens that they do not get out of the
shell. Along comes another insect
which lies in wait while the beautiful
butterfly deposits her eggs. AS soon
as she is fitting on her way her enc
my proceeds to lay her eggs among
those of the butterfly. Like human par
asites they are active in making a
living off others, and they break their
she'll and come out before the butter
flies, and either make a meal of the
eggs or wait until the feeble larvae ap-
pear, and then proceed to feast.
hereditary feud exists between the
ichneumon flies and the caterpillars
From all appearances the ichneumons
have all the advantage. Though the
housewife cries over the caterpillars in
her parsley bed, she cannot help feel
ing a thrill of pity for the tragedy OF
1t all when the ichneumon fly finds
them out This gauzy winger economist
lays eggs on the back Of the caterpil-
lar. The caterpillar spins a cocoon
preparatory to going into seclusion be-
fore II metamorphoses into butter
fly or moth. Once Secluded up in the
snug web. the ichneumon fly's eggs
hatch. What feast awaits the young
grub 1t preys on its host, grows fat,
and when strong enough eats its way
into the outer world.
This is only one of the tricks ~ the