The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1914-10-30
GIANTS andDWARES
Of thsINSECT WORLD
,6T HAROLD BA5TIN 49,.

OST people believe that all IN
M sects are very small; aud IN
- a certain sense this Is true
aSaRN for the largest known insect
appears diminutive when con-
trasted with the vast bulk OF suca
creature as a whale or an elephant But
this is hardly a fair comparison, be-
cause insects are in every way dis
similar to vertebrate animals, having
developed along entirely different
lines. In place OF physical hugeness
We find amazing delieacy Of structure
and adjustment; and II We liken the
vertebrate to a locomotive engine, the
insect must be represented by ladys
watch to complete the metaphor. In
fine, multum in parvo has been the
watchword of insect evolution. Never
theless, when judged in their own
sphere, insects display a remarkable
range Of size.
Take, for example, the beetles. The
largest living representatives of the
clan are the Goliaths of Africa and the
Megasomas Of tropical South America.
A fair-siZed male specimen of the lat
ter measures four and a half inches
from the tip of the horn TO the ex'
.remity Of the abdomen. The male OF
the Hercules beetle, also Of South
America, may be two inches or more
longer, but wellnigh half its length
is made up by the great hornlike proc
ess which springs from its thoraX A
good idea of these beetles huge pro-
portions may be gained by placing
one of them side by side with a com
mon two-spot ladybird. Yet the lady
bird is by no means a small beetle as
beetles so.
Comparisons no less striking may |
be made among the moths. The /
largest British moth is the Deaths I
Head truly noble insect with a
wing expanse of four and a half
inches. But its proportions are sadly
dWarfed when we contrast them with
the huge Owl moth-the Noctua striX
OF science-which is not uncommon in
many parts of South America. 1t
may measure ten inches or more
across. Then there is the giant Atlas
moth, from India, which may measure
as much as a foot from tip to tip OF
the fore-wings. For the sake of fa-
millarity we may place the little
clothes moth of our wardrobes at the
other end Of the scale-though 1t is
not by any means the smallest Of its
kind.
The Atlas and the Owl moths men,
toned above have larger wings than
any other living insects, 80 far as is
known; but they are not the largest
flying insects on record, for some Of
the extinct dragon flies Of the car
boniferous period measured two feet
across the wings. The largest British
dragon fly, with a wing expanse of four =
inches, is a pygmy, contrasted size for
size with one of its gigantic prehis-
toric ancestors.
Among the largest existing insects
must be reckoned the giant water '
bugs, some of which attain a length | l
Of nearly five inches. In the United 7
States these insects are known popu- +
arly as electric light bugs" because v
they have the habit at night Of leav- d
ing the pools and lakes, where they b
get their living, and flying around arc s
amps, especially when these are c
mounted upon high buildings. The d
British water scorpion is a well-known S
ienizen of ponds and sluggish n
streams. 1t belongs to the same fam b
" as the giant bugs, besides which Il
t may fairly he termed dwarf n
The longest of living insects are s.
ound among the phasmids, or walk W
ng sticks" Some attain nine inches L
rom head to tail, while if the out U
tretched legs are included the meas r
.rement is much greater Two of ri
hese strange insects are in marked
optrast with Stag beetle-the Il
srgest British beetle, by the way. B
,learly these phasmids are long S
rawn out in very literal sense of P
he phrase but few Of the species Il
re much heavier in build This is the pt
ase with the very remarkable crea- dt
ure known as Eurycantha horrida et
rom Australia. II is not only long, V;
ut bulky, and what with its hard ar tE
lor plate integument and formid- m
-