Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1908-06-04
Strange Habits of
Plants and Insects
BY JOHN z. QUININS.

What's this hear
About the new earnivora!
Can little plants
Eat bugs and ants,
And gnats and flies?
A sort Of retrograding:
Sure..y the fare
Of flowers is air
Or sunshine sweet;
They shouldn't eat
Or do aught so degrading.
The fact remains. however. that
there are several hundred carnivorous
plants that catch and eat insects. The
dogbane catches flies, and the silenes
and phloxes are furnished with
sticky gum which never fails to catch
insects. The moccasin flower catches
bumblebees. and the Venus fytrap ia
the greatest and most successful fly
catcher of all. The trumpet-leaf
plant, huntsman's cup. Indian dipper.
side-saddle flower and pitcher-plant
are all successful catchers and greedy
eaters of insects of the smaller kind.
Speaking of insects reminds me
that they, too, have some peculiar
habits and customs: for instance, the
dragon-fly will eat his own body when
offered to him. and the insect known
to most of us as the walking-stick
has no trouble in replacing lost limbs
when, through accident or some other
cause, its legs or arms have been cut
of.
1t certainly is a curious sight to see
M ooksc Had r jnO M hv {fco1f
yet this can often be seen in places
where the ant-decapitating fly
abounds. These flies lay their eggs
on the neck of the ant, and when the
egg matches the little larvae bores
right into the head of the ant and
after eating out the brain and grow
ing in the cavity, the head breaks
off from the body of the ant and is
propelled about by the growing insect
inside.
There are some bugs and beetles
whose beaks and nlppers are strong
enough to pierce the human skin, all
Of them belonging to the assassin-bug
species, of which there are about 1000
varieties. The kissing bug, which
gained SO much newspaper notoriety
q few years ago, belongs to this vast
army.
Coming back to the plant world,
suppose there are not many persons
who know that the mold we some
times see on old bread is really tiny
mushroom, so small that thousands
cover a space an inch square, and that
1t is a very similar kind of mushroom
growth that fastens flies onto the
window panes in fall or early winter.
We all like winter for the change
1t brings us from the heat of summer,
and so we need never be sorry when
we hear the noisy, crested titmouse.
for we know that when they are nois-
lest, the SHOWS and wintry days will
soon be here. "Heedle-de-dee. peto-
peto, daytee-daytee," he chirps and
sings as he fits from tree to tree.
Surely the name given him, Jack
Frost's trumpeter," fits him we'll.
Winter brings ice. and I'm sure not
one of us could or would want to live
or sleep in block of ice. but there is
one fish up in the waters of Alaska
whose vitality is so great that it can
be frozen for weeks, and when thawed
out will be as lively as ever.
Wolves we know are hungrier in
winter than in summer. because at
that season the kind of food they
crave is harder for them to get. SO
they gather and hunt in packs in
order that they may more readily
kill the larger game. There is a fish
in the sea called the bluefish, which
pursues similar tactics. and for this
reason Is also called the "wolf-fish"
of the sea. Swimming in schools,
they. like the wolves on land, pursue
and cut to pieces and destroy their
prey, which often consists of fish
much larger than themselves.
The Signal Corps of the Army are
not the only ones that can flash sig
nails, for long before they learned
how, the antelopes could and did flash
signals with the two white patches
on their backs. and which look to the
uninitiated like two large white