Evening star., 1952-08-29
PIiny's Story Recalled
Of Bug Big as q Wolf
Yet Insect World Curiosities
Are Beyond Imagination

Yet Insect World curiosities
Are Beyond Imagination
By Thomos R. Henry
The Roman naturalist Pliny wrote of
ants in the Himalayas "the color Of Q
cat and as large as an Egyptian wolf."
Somewhat Of an exaggeration, accord
Department just issued here, but the
actual curiosities Of the insect world
are almost as strange as anything i'm
agined by the ancients.
Some Of these are described by DR..
Edward w. Teale, former president Of
the New York chronological Society.
There are bugs that live in ice. bugs that
are happy only in near boiling water,
Snow-white bugs that dwell deep In tho
earth. bugs that make their homes in
petroleum pools. None are as big as
Egyptian wolves, but the insect world
has its giants as well as its dwarfs. The
Atlas moth Of India has o wing spread
Of foot. An East Indian walking stick
is Is inches long. The Hercules beetle
Of Africa sounds like an airplane.
There are many oddities of form.
''Near the pyramids Of Egypt" says Mr..
Teale. "early entomologists discovered
a singular ant lion with o slender and
elongated neck. It's caliper jaws seem
held at the end of an outstretched arm.
The pipestem neck. in many cases, is
far longer than the rest of the insects
body. This lengthy neck. 1t has been sug-
gested. permits the insect to secure its
prey in deep crevasses.
Hooking Captive Dinners.
"A folding, extensible lip, which
reaches out like q Strengthened arm to
grasp underwater victims Is q feature of
the head Of every dragonf1y nymph. At
the end OF the lip are grasping hooks by
means Of which the nymph pulls its cap
tive back into its mouth.
Enormous forelegs, more than twice
the length Of the rest of the body. are
characteristic of black wood beetle
which covers a space of eight inches with
all its legs extended. A curiosity of the
Malay Archipelago is an antlered ny.
Various species have protuberances on
their heads that suggest the horns Of q
deer. A South African fly has its eyes
extending out from the sides of its head.
The stalks to which they are attached
are so long that the measurement from
eye to eye is one-third more than the
length Of the body from head to tall"
One blood-sucking insect can distend
itself with blood to more than IL
times its original weight. AS the huge
meal is digested the abdomen contracts
like debating balloon.
DR.. Teale recounts: 1.-THE death
watch beetle. standby Of ghost stories in
old castles, bumps its head on the top
of its wooden tunnel to send kind Of
telegraphic message to its mate. Some
chalcid flies which paralyze caterpillars
lay self multiplying eggs SO that more
than 1000 larvae may be produced by
depositing single egg In the body Of
the victim.
"Goat" with Varied Menu.
1.-THE goat of the insect world. the
drugstore beetle, is known to consume
As different substances. including the
poisons aconite and belladonna. Other
beetles feed on cigarettes, mustard plas-
tiers and red pepper. Ants have shown
themselves resistance to cyanide. In the
case of some insects q reduced diet slows
down growth. Some wood-boring gruhs
sometimes live in house timbers or fur
niture for years after they have been put
in place. In one instance an adult
beetle emerged from q porch post that
had been standing for twenty. years.
The dried timber lacks the nutritiye
quantities of the living tree and the
growth of the grub Is arrested so that
long periods pass before it reaches ma
turity.
"A carniverous butterfly larva lives In
the nests of an Australian ant where 1t
feeds on the young. An especially tough
outer shell protects 1t from attacks BY
adult ants.
"The rat-tailed maggot inhabits stag
nant water. It feeds on the bottom and
breathes air through an extensible tube
that forms its tail. Like diver obtain
ing oxygen through an air hose while
working on sea bottom, 1t is able to re-
main submerged as long as 1t desires.
1.-THE little frog hopper produces its
own climate. In spring and summer
small masses of froth often appear on
grass stems and weeds. Within such q
bubble mass, sheltered from direct rays
of the sun and kept moist by the foam
the immature insect spends its early
days. For millions Of years 1t has been
employing its own primitive form OF oil
conditioning"