Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-11-30
INSECTS AND BIRDS
How the Locust Changes Its
Clothes.
WHAT HUNMIEG BIRDS FEED UPON
The Strength of the Squirrels
Chisel-Like Teeth.
ENAMEL Is ON THE FRONT

Copyright. 1901. by Hughes ousiey. LouisyfIe)
Written for The Evening Star.
Each summer and early fall numbers OF
trees have their trunks dotted with the
thin. brown shells of locusts. From a point
near the middle OF the back TO between the
eyes each shell has a split-plainly shown In
one OF the illustrations.
Almost every one OF these insects under
goes its metamorphosis at night. The APP
parent reason for this change only after
darkness sets In is that the locusts may
escape injury or death from enemies while
they are soft and unable TO move.
Last summer found a grub lust as II
emerged from the ground near the foot OF
large maple tree. 1t walked slowly and
with seeming difficulty. and no wonder. its
whole existence having been passed down
In the dark ground. where It was busy
| sucking the sap from the trees roots.
was anxious TO see the whole change, and,
as IL was late in the afternoon, / carried
| the grub into the house and allowed IL to
climb up a twig which placed in a bottle.
| When 1t reached the top of the txig,
| shown In the first photograph, unable to go
| farther. 1t carefully fastened its sharp dig
gIng claws into the wood and remained per-
I fectly still Then 1t was i obtained this
photograph / was anxious to get a whole
/ series OF photographs of the change, but
| night came on.
While examining the grub 1 overturned
the twig and II was thrown or / tried to
| replace 1t and found that Il had lost the
| power Of using its legs. / fastened il back
the best could and watched IT closely. as
| L knew 1t must be about ready to change.
Presently the skin split down the back
and across between the eyes. Gradually
| the split widened and between the dirty
| brown skin of the grub tender green
showed the perfect insect within. In fifteen
| minutes the insect had its head clear of the
old shell and it made a slow forward and
| backward movement to free itself. As the
body emerged from the old shell the insect
| gave shivering motion, evidently to free
| its legs from the hardening envelope.
In an hour and a quarter the locust had
| got out of its old earthly body and was ex-
| panoing and drying its wings for flight
| early the next morning. Gradually the ten
der pea green of its body changed to dark
| air. l was much interested in watching
this wonderful transformation. IL showed
| how strangely instinct gives all life the i'm
| pulse to do certain definite things.
/ In the third photograph is shown the To-
| Gust as 1T appeared the next morning with
| its wings fully expanded and ready for
flight And between the locust's body and
| abdomen were two thin, convex plates fit
| ted for making the strange whirring noise
with which he wooes his lady love-
In writing of this insect l have used the
common but erroneous name locust. 1t Is
really cicadae. The locust proper is a
grasshopper. But in this country the name
locust is commonly used for this cicadae
that 1t is probably permissible. The photo
graphs are of the two-year cicadae. The
other which We have is the seventeen-year
cicadae, or seventeen-year locust.
Inc common two-year locusts grub stays
| in the ground and does not attain its full
| growth for two years. The seventeen-year
| locust requires seventeen years under
ground to obtain its growth. In the SOUTH
the summers being longer, they only REQUIRE
| thirteen years for their full growth.
Qneer MET nf M
A flash of emerald in the strong sunlight,
a drowsy whirring Of wings and a slender
body poises just under the hanging clusters
of the honeysuckle blossoms. Carefully
the long, slender, curved bill probes each
blossom. Some one moves. and it is gone
a CLINT of green in the summer air.
From watching these tiny bits of bird life
! as they sip the sweets of flowers has grown
the popular Idea that they live exclusively
on this diet For a long tine L never saw
humming birds feed on anything more sub
stantial SO too shared the popular belief
MY eyes were opened one bright. sunny
! morning when. as the sun peeped over the
/ eastern hills, the wales were draped in mist
Each small spider web was a silver cloth
/ mantiing weed. shrub and tree. i was sit
: ing looking into group of cedar trees
: which stood in the yard when my attention
was attracted by several ruby-throated
humming birds darling about. For a few
moments 1 could not understand what they
i could be doing in the trees, as the latter
bore no blossoms for the birds to visit
By this time had become deeply inter
ested in their seemingly erratic movements
} as they darted in and out OF the dense
| green foliage. L walked out and stood i'm
mediately under the trees and watched A
, humming bird rushed out just over my
, mead and appeared about to fly through a
delicate little spider web which hung be-
: tween two small twigs AT the instant It
seemed on the point of passing through
the lacelike web it suddenly backed and
1 al fhg o.
maneuver again and again, and each time
! 1t deity picked the tiny spider from the
center of the web.
Since then L have seen humming birds
. FEEDING on spiders quite often. / find they
: are fond of catching them early In the
morning. while they are heavy and dull
/ with the chilly dew.
Chisel-Like Teeth of the SQUIRREL.
Quite often some one will ask, How do
squirrels break nuts?' If the walnuts I'M
der tree where squirrel has its nest are
examined It will be seen that they have
two small holes drilled in each side. The
' instruments which can cut into the hard
| shells Of seasoned walnuts must be strong
and well adapted to their work
The front teeth of squirrels are indeed
wonderful chisels. and cut into the wal
nuts with great rapidity. You have often
, seen squirrels sitting on their hind legs
ous1iy engaged in cutting into nuts. but no
doubt you have never seen how the teeth
J are formed to do this work.
In mans teeth the soft dentine is in the
interior, and comprises the greater part OF
their bulk. 1t is covered with the hard
, strong enamel which protects II from wear
, ing away in chewing. The enamel on a
, | squirrels tooth is all on the front and the
dentine makes UP the rest of the tooth
When the squirrel cuts with it's sharp teeth
, | the soft dentine wears away faster than
!, | the hard front of enamel, and the top of
, the tooth Is chisel-shaped. lower In the
rear and coming to a sharp edge in front
! Thus a squirrel really keeps its teeth sharp
by using them.