Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1914-07-24
FACTS ABOUT BUGS
Expert Says Cockroach Can Live
for Five Years.
David FaIrchild Writes About the
Rip Van Wrinkles, the JekyIls and
Hydes, and the Aeronauts OF
the insect World.

Washing ton-The Rip Van Wrinkles,
the Jekylls and Hydes, the aristocrats,
the philosophers and the "hoboes" OF
the insect world are described in
communication to the National Geo
graphic society, by David Fairchild.
the plant explorer, who has secured
the world for plants of economic value
and introduced them into the United
States
In describing the peculiar habits and
remarkable achievements of insects,
he says the champion aeronaut is the
king grasshopper, which has the abil-
ity to jump 100 times it's length. 1t
can also sail for 1000 miles before
the wind. These grasshoppers some
times go In such numbers that they
make cloud 1000 square miles in
extent
Its great front lip hides pair
of jaws as effective as haychopper,
and it has an appetite as voracious as
that Of hippopotamus," writes Mr..
Fairchild "A young chick finds itself
shut inside the egg-shell and must
work it's way out alone. but the young
grasshoppers find themselves-the
whole nestful-shut in a hardened
case in the ground made by their
mother, and it takes half dozen OF
them working together to dislodge the
lip which shuts them In.
THE carrying power Of the song
of the cricket is extraordinary; there
are species whose strident notes can
be heard for a mile, although their lit
tie bodies are scarcely more than an
inch in length. The males alone are
musical, and II Is reasonable to sup
pose, since the females have ears In
their forelegs, that the males are sing
ing to their mates and not to man
kind. AS one listens to their friend
ly song it is hard to appreciate what
fighters they are among themselves,
the larger ones even turning canni-
balls when food is scarce.
'Of all creatures of our Eouses, the
cockroach Is the most detested.
Housewives may be surprised to learn
that a cockroach can live five years,
and that it takes year to develop
10 maturity. The female lays her eggs
la a horny capsule like a spectacle
case, which she carries about with
her until she Is ready to deposit 1t IN
a suitable place. Later she returns
to help her baby cockroaches out Of
their shells"
The insects known as moth-slayers,
which have been brought here from
other lands to aid in the work of ex-
termination, are said to be slaughter
ing the moths by wholesale and thriv-
ing at their sanguinary task.
One of the most noteworthy of the
alien insects, and one which has been
most active in the slaughter, is a
moth world
Here is terrible creature indeed,
a creature of intrepid ferocity and
magnificent voracity. Beside him the
hog is a beast of most delicate appe-
tite. The green beetle would devour
ten times his weight in gypsy moth
caterpillars In single day, and be
ready to duplicate this performance
on the morrow.
His nominal two seasons of active
life are a wild orgy of Staying and
feasting His span Of mortality in
cludes a mere fortnight of larval life
and two brief summers of adult exist
ence, representing less than five
months of activity altogether; but
during this time he will normally de-
YOUR nearly $50 gypsy moth caterpil-
lars or pupae as big as himself.
A single pair have been observed
to eat 1000 caterpillars within eight
weeks, gluttony almost beyond be-
lief.