The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-11
PRESIDE SCIENCE
sy RANsoMe SUTTON CLXXyI.-HIBERNATION

| niDernatlon means winter sleep-
 the dormant condition in which cer-
 tain animals pass the winter in cold
 attitudes. More or less completely, the i following animals hibeinate.: many. kinds of insects, bats, hedge hogs, dor: mice, Jumping mice, gophers, flying | squirrels, bears, anteaters, all kinds of
 reptiles, frogs, toads, tortoises, some kinds of insects, bats, hedgehogs, dor cies not referred to. s Alternating animals neither eat nor excrete. It is questionable whether or not they breathe. Alternating bats have been known to live four hours in carbon dioxide, yet single inhalation of that gas would have proved fatal pretty good proof they do not breathe.
 In this article particular reference is made to the. hibernating habits of I the sladyhifd beetle. Ladybirds (com- nnonly, called ladybugs) lay their eggs among the eggs of fs&phides and mealy- ,ugs-the pests which destroy citrus fruits. When, the ladybirds' eggs hatch. the larvae devour the matching adh- ides and mealy bugs.SS Were it not for the ladybirds, therefore, no oranges. lemons or grapefruit could be raised in this country.
 Soon after laying eggs the ladybirds die. The second generation lay eggs and die and the third generation like wise, lay: eggs and die. But the last brood hof. the summer-usually the fourth generation---do not immediate ly lay eggs nor die; they disappear in the fall, reappear in the spring, then lay eggs and die. Where do they go and how do they spend the winter? That is the question Mr. Tolhurst, who produces motion pictures of the late history of insects, and l concluded we'd find out s.
 At the California State insectorium we were told that the bugs" go to hibernating grounds; above the snow line on the mountains, and we finally succeeded in finding an ex-forest rang CT who knew the location of the grounds. Leaving Santa Paula, Cal, on the 9th iof January, 1923. two days of 'q horseback riding landed us at Rattlesnake Canyon, 4.500 feet above Mountain. At this mid-winter season the mountain sides were patched with snow and the highland canyons were in places, knee deep in snow. Where two ravines run together. in the bot tom of Rattlesnake Canyon, we found the ladybirds-950, ,0O0, 900 on a patch of ground n6 larger than a city lot. We know there were at least 95O,- O,0O0, because our guide had gauge Aof the kind citrus growers use when buying ladybirds, and we gathered up bag full from enc square foot, then multiplied the number the gauge show ed to be in the bag by the number of square feet on the grounds. That " shaped bed, covered with evergreen shrubs and matted vines, was overlaid with ladybirds to. depth of several inches. When at noon time the sun struck the grounds the sleeping bugs" awoke and formed seething mounds all over the grounds. Beyond the bounds of this little V-shaped patch, however, not beetle could be found.
 Four such hibernating grounds are known to .exist-all close to the ese- l.renely cold peak of Topo-T -Topo Noun
 tain. Why should the ladybirds come here's To place themselves in cold | storage, for if they remained down in the warm orchards during the winter l they would surely die. Like seeds, it seems, they have to pass through a
 period of freezing before being able to reproduce themselves. The spot they have chosen is 6 safe place to sleep; for their worst enemies are ants and birds, and not single ant, and only one small bird did we find in the entire canyon. The grounds lie where the sun shines only one hour during the day, and where only oc- casionally the rays are warm enough to melt snow--as happened the day we were there. As beetles cannot fly far, they must come and go between the hibernating grounds and orchard is in short stages, and how they know the way is beyond human comprehension. Those that leave the grounds do not return-it is their great-great-great- grandchildren that come back in the fall. This is indeed a more remarkable display of instinct than that which guides migratory birds back and forth between their winter and summer re- sorts. '.t
 The chances are that other beetles, such as the destructive potato bug, likewise hibernate in sequestered hooks in the Adirondacks. If such be the case and if the hibernating grounds should be discovered, it would be pos sible to wipe out the. entire species. Certainly, it would be easy to ex-, terminate the whole race of ladybirds now that their hibernating grounds have been located, but if that were done the aphides and mealy-bugs would make. quick work of hte lemon and orange groves of California The lady birds are said to be worth more to California than all the gold her noun tains yield. e.