Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1920-03-28
THAT HAVE NOT
MOVED FOR CENTURIES
Noted Scientist Has Insects That Arc
Older Than Antiquity Of
Egypt.
BY GAHREI"r y. sERVIsS.

have in my possess on come spccl-
mems OF amber from the shores o. tae
closed an insect that iiast not nuttc:eu
wing, or nSi:atcd an antenna. OK
made the least movement in 10000
years, but has become 4 true foster
.hi!d OF silence and slow time; itself
IS " statue. fixed forever, n mon.}
mental sculpture In a golden tomb
.hrinks TO nothing when / look a. tncs.
nupmicd forms from tho most ,cc"n.
u geological sepuit,rcs. Old Harnesses
lived with osiris and Isis and hop
nobbcd with AnuDis. att'td close In t;.c
foreground, like ths 'ntcr-strippeu
lin IN The distance | = nipsc the hii,s
81 time In whose nccro .jnti5 these nuni-
mics o! the amber iaN %cnto,nbed.
insects Not IDecnycd.
Their death-throcs we're mmortaliGcn
NTH their nodes. Their long. slcu-
flcr legs ana antcnnac wound round
ind tangled in the flowing resin. seem
FIJI! desperately straining to get free,
housn the t~ran mass that hD,Cs
hcfn has nccn stony amber for more
nan 200 centuries. Thorc has bcet,
- delicate AS IL shaped by fairy hands.
when ] carry them to the window
md View them with Il strong lens. I,
zee the sunshine CLINT ncrr!iy on the
Eyes. The eyes look like globui"8
pr s1ln deiieatniy engraved by alto
pure. jewelers.. tnc iHcttt@u eye OF x;
modern ny is coarse compared Win
these.
SO II seems tina this strange plan
of insect vision. this optical co~InplcXity
q multiple images, was perfected hun
tired a. thousands, perhaps millions
years before cur!ons minded man
fieering into the structural secrets Of
t,rea.nros wh"sr diu,urnal lineage
shortens his brief pedigree 20 Il span.
Everything * Intact.
There liz not {" facet lost. or a minis
culc lens broken Oh those coruscaiirE
microscopic srheruics which Veil Them
modern sunshin" streams upCu them
trough tn amber walls. Eut th"s,
Fight rays. as they did ~ pliEoccno
days. into living pictures Of the cir
c~iinlamhi"nt world, printed IN NINA
Yet the pictures inigh. Mvs again.
or the caincra il there. still pcrfcct.
only the brain could re-
But how different they would
re nov from those OF ,ha; ancien.
anes men af inc ms my nn ,bs Gomino6
JUS, been conceived. This is Tic
,,honsh, That thrills me- a: ] look
there In the focus OF my CodJington
lens. actually saw this world ages
upon ages before man was!
Resemble Jewel-Bearcr..
as ] turn the amber l.ain in the
naming afternoon SUNSHINE. the 1T
,~~ei-hcarer Their bent arms ara
claspcd around bales Of Kaleidoscope
gems. The least tremble sets them
flashing. Minute bubbles In the am
Der are changed by reelection through
the arreatc medium into the ncr
oi pol:sheh gold beads. In certain
slants u. light. bodies. limbs. antcnnan
and wings all seem made OF vari-
tinted gold. some nj tho tiny victims
have a bubble before their mouths
IfntlE last breath rod. hicf,
s!ows wonderfully at the touch Of a
sunbeam.
These insects, o. al least al that I
haHe. bear n general resemblance ia
,mail. slender-bodied moths. With tho
FUZZY covering of minute hairs. or
iusty scales nearly nil rubbed OF from,
these particle; apnarentiy dragged
ot the resin before ii s6lidhcd hi"
amhar. surround and train behind some
or L~epiaop,crous Order.
The separation or these delicate
on q. = mere touch. Would naturally
be effected in the sticky medium even
without. much STRUGGLING by tho en-
quilted insects. Bu, II I am right in
sfppostnE ,hs, the specimens I save
before nc belong to the ~lepidoptcrous
order, OF insects: it should not be- in
specially characteristic OF the amher.
or or the early Tertiary periods Ia
which, these miniature tragedies oc-
insects. reprcscniin= ali Of The princi..
pal orders. have contributed TO that
s%iien, multitude which. popuiatns this
n saying sha, thcse creatures lived
e 4 quarter OF q million years ago, !
am avoiding .overstatcment Many q.
fihhs fT IN ths E:d inses'T p. TiaS s wSIe, low opG.
~scoloFical period back OF the great