The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1925-11-03
Wasp Feeds on Locusts. Paralyzes
Victim, and Has Fresh Meat for
Long Time. Tragedy, lntelli-
gence and Enterprise Among
Earth's Humblest Creatures.


Earth's HumbIest Creatures.
While watching the cicada or har-
vest fly, or locust, whatever 1t IS CAL
cd in your own particular community
Won NAV witness a bold and shocking
occurrence in the insect world. Near
nv there may be a sloping bank, and
into this bank the solitary or digger
wasp NAV have sunk a tunnel, writes
William A. DuPay in the New York
Times. You NAV have seen these tun-
nels on your own lawn Scratching
like dog. but working with all SIX
legs the solitary wasp penetrates Tor
foot. then sends out tunnels to right
and left. At the end Of these tunnels
she digs globe like chambers. These
are to be store houses for food Tor her
young.
Now she is hunting. She spies this
eicada. or. more likely, she hears HIM
or possibly she smells him, since the
sense OF smell is the strongest sense
that insects have Few OF them team
see more than three feet, and they hear
only through the vibration OF their
feelers The hunting wasp pounces on
the cicada, which is four times her
size.
The two go tumbling to the ground
with a mighty burr OF wings. During
the melee the wasp stings the c1cada
in the back Of the neck. This sting
does not kill the bigger insect, but
merely paralyzes him. He becomes
linn and resists no more. He Will lie
naralvzed for weeks. but will still be
alive in this state he will remain fresh
meat 1t is as good as cold storage.
He will be edible when the wasp 5
Young that are laid within his body
hatch out.
Manages Big Load.
Having captured this choice bit OF
game the hunting wasp is faced with
a trying problem, that Of Carrying her
catch home. She tries, in fact, to fly
away with her prize but finds she
cannot do So She resorts to other de-
vices She seizes the victim and be-
gins excitedly to drag him up the tree
herself progressing backward In the
end she has climbed dozen feet.
From this elevation she launches
herself in the direction of the burrow
her wings humming vigorously. The
load is too great for her to sustain
and gradually pulls her down. she
may, however, have volplaned halt
way to the burrow before she IS dragg-
ed to the ground. She climbs another
tree in the same way and again vol
planes. In the end she gets the cicada
to her burrow and puts him in parai-
yzed storage.
This solitary wasp has cousins that
live different life; they are called So
cial wasps because they gather in col
onies. The simplest OF these colonies
NAV be seen on the rafters OF almost
anv barn. The hornet builds more
complicated nest, with one story hung
beneath the other. The ground wasps
build similarly, but in hollows dug out
beneath the surface
All of these wasps build OF the same
material, wood pulp paper, exactly like
that upon which newspapers are PRINT
ed. Wasps were the first papermakers.
They 60 to a piece OF broken timber
where the fibre is exposed, pull Oft bits
of the fiber, chew it into pulp and
construct their nests OF it.
Wasps, Bees and Ants Related.
Wasps. bees and ants are cousins,
lust as are the grasshoppers, katydids
and crickets. They belong to the by
menoptera, or membrane winged IN
sects. Ants got the habit OF living in
the ground and had no use for their
wings so discarded them. But certain
of the ants blossom out into wings fat
a certain season. You may have come
into your garden some June morning
and to your surprise found myriad
of ants ready to fly A phenomenon
Of nature is here unreeling itself.
These winged ants are the young
queens and their male companions, or
drones They have been cared tor
heretofore. Now it is covered wagon
days for them They must go out III
the world and plant new colonies. The
humble workers go quietly about their
business. II you catch them carefully
you may see them urging the queens
and drones on their way They do Sc
by nipping them on the heels Finally
the outcasts fly away in great swarms
Sometimes the sky becomes BLACK
with them; rivers become covered
with them. Nature in her wastefulnes;
sends forth thousands of queens, tha
one may succeed IN ESTABLISHING Tam
;ly. AT the end of the journey The
queen breaks off her wings as Cortel
burned his ships She then digs in II
fight her battles out, and occasionally
she survives. The drones, having full
filed their part in the cycle OF repro
duction, are OF no further use to ma
ture and quickly perish.
Ants Have Honey Cows.
The ants have honey cows. Thos
little insects in the heart of the ros
are ant cows, or aphids. Like the BIZ
cicada, they are sapsuckers. They fn'
an abundant supply OF food by simpl.
drilling into the back OF some plant
Sap has sugar in it. The aphids &c
this in abundance and have honey t