Evening star., 1934-06-21

Of feathery appearance and may easily
be mistaken for a bird.
Its lack of fear, however, puts 1t
out Of that class into the classifica-
ton Of insects, many of which have
no intellectual recognition Of man,
either as friend or enemy.
Because of its preference for the
nectar Of blossoms of the phlox this
moth has been dubbed the "phlox
bug" by some gardeners.
1t is possible to catch the creature
in the hand, so Indifferent is it to
the approach Of the gardener. There
seems to be sort OF periodocity
about its appearances: in some gar
dens it is seen only on Sundays,
hence its impromptu name of Sun
day phlox bug"
1t seems a friendly and harmless
sort of thing, and no doubt should
be let alone. One should violate the
rule. to deal harshly with all insects,
in favor Of this one.
Every piece Of stone or brick which
may be upturned harbors creatures
OF one sort or another, from appar-
emily harmless "pillbugs" to slugs both
long, gray and fat.
The former are the despair Of anna
teur aquarium keepers. who desire to
give their charges live food, and there
fore start culture of a variety of
small white worm known In the
fancy" as Enchytrae
These worms are cultured in small
boxes Of humus and are fed on un-
salted crackers and milk.
A culture will be going along all
right, until one fine day the enthusi-
asst finds a number of small, round,
brownish bugs" in the humus, along
with the worms.
These are ''pilfbugs." but how they
get there, where they come from or
why, no one seems to know. 1t is
much the same with. Turbellarians,
minute white worms which will form
in the aquarium when too much food
is put in especially finely ground food
stuffs, such as is used for feeding
baby fishes.
These Turbellarians are positive
evidence of overfeeding. But Just
where do they come from? The food
used has been cooked. in all likelihood
the water Is clean, the plants are ap-
parently clean.
These are but samples Of the mys-
terious business of Nature, which
seems to bring life out of nothing at
all. It is no wonder the ancients be-
lieved In spontaneous generation.
They did not have microscopes to show
them the minute wonders of life.
While the pillbugs probably do no
harm in the garden, as much cannot
DC said for the slugs. those unhealthy
looking creatures which come out at
night to feast on plant life.
These are sort of shell-less snail
and must be ruthlessly destroyed. es-
pecially in suburban areas where
there are many large trees and an at
tending dampness in the garden.
They are interesting, however, be-
cause they show one mood of Nature
that most curious Nature which has
evolved so many forms, both large and
small, and larger and smaller. each
preying on the other, each in turn
being preyed upon.
Nature so solved the food problem,
after making food necessary. One
may, in moments of speculation, ques-
| tion the scheme, but the questioning
is useless, the scheme goes right ahead
and the questioner is part of the
scheme. especially II he patronizes the
products Of the vast stockyards and
slaughter houses.
1t is best, in relation to garden
slugs, not to be philosophical, but to
destroy them as fast as found. and to
make point of finding them.