The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1903-02-07
THESE INSECTS MALIGNED,
FALSE REPORTS ABOUT MANY
PRETTY SPECIES.

L
Dread Of Insects-Facts About tn:
Humble centiped.
1t is about time for some hazily d.
scribed insect to begin in some corne
OF the country crusade against th'
life. liberty and pursuit of happiness O
humanity, says the Baltimore Ameri
can. Probably the most remarkabl,
of these illusional pests was the so
called kissing bug" of unlamentet
memory. which. either as egg, larva
pupa or adult of its kind. never had ex
istence outside the happy imagination
which produced it, any more than die
the Gold Bug" that Poe imnortalized
Side by side with the absurdity i:
another-that somebody has been "bit
ten. or "stung" by grasshopper
Somebody somewhere may believe
this. but if there is such a one he OF
she stands sad and monumental re
Election on the boasted intelligence oil
the people of this enlightened period
This subject opens, naturally, some
consideration of the various alleged
deadly attributes of a number of com
mon insects il our midst. The seem
ing broad assertion can at once be
made that ninety-nine out of hundred
allegations of this kind are absolutely
without foundation, except of entirely
accidental kind, and that these as a
whole are veriest child-chattcr. par.
donable in children, but ridiculous in
the extreme in adults, though children
and adults seem joint possessors of
even the widest of these superstitions.
Many OF the breads of insects can
be traced to the repulsive appearance
OF them. Spiders, probably the most
maligned, and centipedes cnly little
less besmlrched in reputation, are, ex-
cept to knowing eye, terrifying to be-
hold. so that some uncanny yarn told
OF any member of either of these
classes finds ready acceptance. Bugs
and insects in toto seem to be under a
popular ban, and when Imagination
wearies of concocting folk lore of the
pernicious traits belonging to species
already in existence, 10, tie name of a
new one is heard in the land and new
attributes or old ones in a new guise
alleged to characterize it's behavior
send shudder through the land. 1t so
happens that, with the exception of
the moths. the arthradopae Of North
America are well known, and these
stories OF new insects can be nailed as
canards just as soon as the discoverer
or a victim undertakes to accurately
describe it's personal appearance Ten
to one tat several Thousand entomolo-
gists rise up Immediately who are fam
iliar enough with the bug or insect to
call it by its first name, and who
promptly put quietus to stories of
its deadliness by telling truthfully just
how inoffensive part it is. Or. if
the description, on the other hand,
is OF a species never before heard of
there is just as deadly fate awaiting
the stories, for imagined descriptions
Of non-existent bugs are apt to violate
known chronological laws, and the en-
tomologist is again caiied upon to ex-
pose hoax.
Aside from imagined creeping, crawl
ing and flying things, however, there
are bugs that are we'll known, could
be we'll known by everybody, much to
heir personal comfort, if they share
common superstitions which. never
.heless. are afflicted with unjustly ap-
piled aspersiors.
There is the spioer. There is no
loubt that the spide., at least most
# its kind is possessed of poison ack.
rom which he can eject the fluid
through a tiny aperture near the end
II his clawlike auxiliary masticator.
some Of the large specimens might
possibly be able to runcture human
lesh, sa.- On the tender parts between
he fingers, and the result would be
wound, producing, with poison includ-
d, about one-half the seriousness Of
bite, If the New Jersey belli-
Grant is in anything like good health
This is the extent of the death-dealing
Of the most desperately ven
NOUS spiders to be found anywhere
bout here. except in the case of a
tray tarantula that may reach the
anana wharves. Here, too, is a field
or exaggeration that has not been
verlooked. In Brazil children are in
he habit of digging species of taran-
lla from its hiding place. whereupon
hey tear Of it's head, containing the
olson gland, then greedily eat the rest
s if it were a gobbler, and pronounce
!, a dainty that has sugar candy sour
nth envy.
TIE epeira vulgaris, or ordinary gar.
en- spider, which Is most often seen,
hares the antapathy shown its more i
enomous brethren. despite the fact |
nat for harmfulness it is not in the
anne class with the interesting, detest-
4, but non-horrifying pulex irritans,
'hich Dy the way, occupies class by
self among the arthropodae for traits
Lher than those which convinced
lark Twain of his right to inimitable
lme.
No one will ever accomplish the task
I healing the breach between men, wo.
len and children and tne humble CEN
pede, or thousand-leg, which thousand
'gs are represented by just fifteen
hrs nr thirty in all The oYaGrar1