Show INSECT LIFE IN CUBA 1I 1 The Natives Handle Scorpions anti j 1 I Tarantulas With Impunity j It was a surprise to the writer to find In Cubit o great jrnrrlty of insert life or at least a great acarclty of variety As an enthusiast In entomology 1 had looked forward with pleasure to finding the brightly colonel Insets MO common to other tropical countries My dlzap polntinrnt wan great for with the ox t option of arorplonp centipedes tarn J tulas inoKqullor and ant a very few buttcrillcs and on occasional rtrcily there arc no Insects on tho Island len ihe housefly Is rare nearly all of time scavenger work performed by them In our own country being attended to by ants nod buzzards The latlor are Innumerable In-numerable Nothing is wire from the ante It Is ncce nary to place the logs of tables on which food IB kept in vessels ves-sels filled with water vise the ants will In a single night devour everything every-thing Of thc many kinds of ants time most interesting Is perhaps the umbrella um-brella ant 1 have seen a procession of tins little follows 200 yards long In which each ant carried over hi head u bit of loaf They had the appearance of carrying umbrellas to BhudV themselves 0 them-selves from the sun ivme their nam1 1 bellvt thai the American srldleia who first carno to Cuba had much nmro fear of the stings of time nocalled deadlv Insects than of tho bullets of time Span lards 1 tivf laughed myeolf almost inlo hysterics over the tremendous ox cllemenl that IHIB been created In a trnt full of noldlcr boyH over the discovery of a single frightened little scorpion In a blanket Nothing could be moro amusing than to see eight or ton big strong men armed with sticks beating and pounding away at a cot until 11 L was smashed Into kindling In an effort to kill a scorpion that I had already slciled out under time tent Tho scorpion which Is called nlakran by thc Cubans Cu-bans IK little I I t feared by them I They have no hesitancy In dexterously pickIng pick-Ing up iho nlakran by i hlH buslnctia end To do this without getting stung requires some skill and great quick hellS I was stung several times before I learned the trick While the slLng IB very painful It Is In no sense dangerous danger-ous Suction of the woundod part with tIme mouth removes the nolson and the swelling is not so great as from the sting of our ovn big bumble boo The native boys annis themselves with but ties between iwo of these fellow They pet tile largest they can find and put them In a glass dish or Jar together Thc fun Is fast and furious while It lasts The scorpion is probably the most common of the poisonous Insects in Iulia Time old Mono walls of which they are many are full of thom and on tho rocky hillsides every stone has ono < ir i more under It Tho tubnns show time same lack off of-f ar of the tarantula an they do of the scorpion I have seen a Cuban boy pick up an aiana pelour ap thc tarantula Is called In his naked fingers with perfect nonchalance It Is really a safer proceeding than would scorn as the tarantula ls I a Hlo moving insect In-sect and If ho is caught by his fat thorax he is powerless for his fangs are beneath his b ody l and cannot bo readily used I saw a party of American Ameri-can 1 inch los scared almost Into hysteria at time sight of a big tarantula wth a spread larger than u mans hand walkIng walk-Ing across the hoar of a parlor of a Iuban house at which hey I werc callIng call-Ing Thoir fright was not lessoned greatly Svhen they saw the little eon of tho hostess take up the big feliov In his lingers and bear him forth to sacrifice The tarantula Is not considered deadly by the Iulmns a llttly suction and a good deal of Cognac being the only remedy used for the bile The ono Insert for which time Cubans haw a wholesome reaped Is the cenil pedi He Is callid bylhem i i deli pies hundred feel The centipedes t I grow lo groat SIze the writer having rap I turod sovoral I specimens eight Inches I long Vhll I do rot think that the ontjporlc Is deadly yd I havo never boen able to get over a creepy feeling In handling them and I never attempted at-tempted to mako a captive of ojio un less my hands wero covered with thick 1 buokskln gloves They nro not much to be fen red however for they scuttlo away with the speed of a railroad iraln at tIme approach of a human being und specimens can only be gotten by turn Ins over the largest stones and that In a hurry j Time firefly is possibly tho most curious curi-ous of tIme Cuban Insects llo belongs to the family of snapping beetles of which there are so many varieties Jn the United Stales On his thorax there are two spots about the size of a large pinhead In I the daytime these appear only as yellow spots At night bOy j I omit a brilliant greenish Ifeht so bright that it Is puufiblo to read a newspaper by its light Several of tluso confined iii a bottle will servo to I light a room Thoy are worn as hair I t ornaments by time sonorltas with peculiar and strik mug effect I muni not forgot to speak of mo sciultocM which abound in I < uba during I f01 lain seabons During March April May and June It Is Impossible to sleep without mosQUito bars over the beds But about the 1st of July tho mosrjul toes disappear no ono knows where ri and they do not reappear until the following fol-lowing i March New York Evening Sun |