| Show e it J N O. O 8 8 S I It t R 1 t 4 dl a A e eI eM T I 4 J M the e Bu it M 1 J I I r Y y yf 1 r 1 1 1 f t t I 4 v J 1 tl R r ONE TINY INSECT KNOWN i 1 r m r- r AS THE SHORT CIRCUIT SHOR I THRU I BEETLE GNAWING CABLE INSULATION CAN CAN CAN- t ti f K r AND DOES PUT DOES PUT HUNDREDS DS L 4 2 rc i OF TELEPHONES OUT OF COMMISSION AT O ONCE CE i I 1 At the left is is the grub grub- b of the Hello HeIl Bu Bugs Bugs' 1 VT I jF P n t Y i Yit i fl 4 S r ti ti q 1 s r ky s f J 5 y G y h 1 Si J G Q 1 11 r R A T r i a y Sy Cb y I tib wo t r V 54 x t I aX 11 ci r p pw w i t She is eager and nd anxious to I e J I tf i y w t make the call all b but t poor k r 4 r r Y I j a ry thing she cant can't hear a a. wo word di m p r i v 1 r va i scowl an and sharpen h he her e ears ears Y f AY 1 S a. a K er n 1 fr 0 t l lK i t I j 1 s 1 t M I 1 I as she e will viii I ii f ff 0 11 i j. j J j I. I I t I I J. J J ilI r I r A Amature 1 1 4 t t lx G Ye t i mature Hello Bug all ali r r 6 J T read ze ready dy to start on his pro Pro- ro fit 1 M J I 1 11 1 J ls' ls 1 f inducing fanity-inducing m ins d career j. j 1 art Y r b r Mt I i T A k H e YI MAP 4 1 ee 4 i i WO 1 I t F y I c i 4 A section of lead insulation encasing conduit wires r 1 which has been tunneled by the Hello Bug r I Ii 1 r I I What hes he's thinking trans- trans translated into words would stirs stir a a. mule mule to action but the 4 b busy business man has cl clenched his teeth on some soma hot conversation because his hise f e phone will not work The trouble is all caused by an insect less than an inch long j wit wi an insatiable appetite for lead SUPPOSE that your telephone I O should should- suddenly cease to work r and that in response to inquiry you Were were informed that St Jt was was as bug trouble That I would puzzle you would it not T But Thit suppose that fifty subscribers subscribers sub sub- scribers ers or perhaps several hundred hundred hundred hun hun- dred of them all on the same telephone circuit with yourself were to find md their instruments put ut Y Out of business simul- simul I tane and owing to the same there cause there would be a considerable considerable consid consid- erable rable howl bowl j eh what Yet this very thing might t happen Sappen almost any day for the th e hello bug is abroad in th the e jand and its species i is widely I and hungry N i The hello bug is otherwise e I Known as the short circuit t I beetle It attacks cables boring bor bor- boring ing ilig holes into them Rainwater j JL h e t 1 i into info the canal th that t contains the wire short circuits its th the electric current Such a cable cable- comm commonly nl contains many wires so that hundreds of telephones telephones' may thereby be put out of com com- mission r rA A single hole bored by one beetle may accomplish h that much mischief But sometimes many holes holes- are bored in a single span meaning a foot length of cable between two poles poles and and in one recent instance the number of of or holes holes' counted in a a aspan span span was The matter is so serious that telephone comp companies companies' nies' nies have haye appealed appealed ap ap- appealed ap- ap pealed to the Government Bu Bureau Bureau Bu- Bu reau of Entomology for help They have been puzzled to know what to do for it is not practicable practicable practicable to go over oyer the cables constantly with magnifying glasses to locate bug g holes an anto and d to ext exterminate the beetles is ou out t of the question because they ar are e not easily found and there ar are areto areto e to many of them The insects live and breed in dead tree trunks and cordwood Why then do they attack k telephone cables ables The outer outs p sheathing of the latter is lead which is neither nutritious nor nor digestible To bore into it seems seem s tobe Q j just a fad of t theirs cirs f The hello bug is a beetle less than half the size of an i everyday ladybug It seems seems' t to have a special appetite for lead It bores t through rough lead rain gutters lead piping for water and gas lead lining of tanks and cisterns sheet lead protection protection protection tion of and even lead crucibles Complaint is made of damage it does to telephone fuses the purpose of which is to protect f the aPP apparatus aratus s from high b voltage currents The wire or tape used in these fuses is lead hardened with a small percentage of tin tinor tinor lor or By eating through the lead the bug makes replacement replacement replace replace- I m ment nt of of the I fuse use necessary The holes it makes are perfectly perfectly per per- I round and tenth one-tenth of an inch in in- diameter When it itI I bores into telephone cables the hole is always on the lower side close to where the suspending I ring or marline hang s rt t supports sup sup- up P. P ports th the cable The b borings Jj gs are made at points where the rings come corrie into contact with the the cable because the beetle beetIe most h have ve a afo fo foothold from rom which to fo attack a a k This it obtains by br bracing bracing- Cing itself against the ring J I s The object of the le lead d she sheathing sheath sheathing thing th- th ing is protection against t weather particularly a against t the the- e admission sion of rainwater If a a hole hol be suitably located and much h water enter it t the cable may be ruined for fifteen or twenty feet Inthe In Inthe Inthe the case of a slack cable or one running on a gra grade le water may penetrate the insulation for along a along along long distance T That at necessitates cutting out the cable splicing and insulating the wires and re- re re- re sheathing at a cost of of much skilled l labor bor When bug trouble is reported the leak is approximately located located to lo- lo from the telephone office offic e by means of the apparatus called a Wheatstone ne bridge Then to find t the ex exact ct place an and d repair the mischief a a lineman n travels along the cable on a pulley or sliding seat T The Th le e mending is is done by cutting aw away y the perforated sheathing and an d putting on a new j joint int o or r II sleeve or patching Dr Dry Dry y ry holes where moisture has not soaked through are merely y soldered Most of the damage is done don e from June to August when th the e new fledged beetles are re emerging in n large numbers from the the dead dea d tree trunks or other wood in which they were were hatched Th The e mischief they do however vever does doe g not become apparent until later late r after the rain ram falls when th the g water soaks in and causes short shor t circuits Thus all the lin line e trouble due to the hello bu bug g usually comes In in a a bunch Study of the life history o of f the species by government exI experts ex ex- P erts has shown that the mature matur C I female short l circuit beetle excavates a gallery or burrow 1 in n r J I B solid w wood d and andi lays ei labs r h her r eggs ggs which h hatch hatch in in three weeks weeks' time The young ounce grubs grubi mine min nih ne for for nine months in then the n wood o which affords them sub sub- I nce Then rhen a after ter passing I through the pupa stage they I r t o Beetles eat cat t their way out and emerge emerge Mating accomplished the female beetles start new niety burrows and so the life c cycle is is' is complete The woodis wood completely riddled by bv the burrows s of the beetles a and d the mines mines of the grubs When th they y are through with ith a aI I log nothing remains but the bark a and ald ld enough fiber to hold I the borings t together gether All the rest is holes holes the winding mines being closely packed with meal meal- like dust In Iii central and southern California practically every fallen oak in the forests sh shows ws extensive work by the insect Dead or dying elms in the parks or along highways are found to be be similarly infested Oak wood stored for fuel is riddled The first report of injury t to o telephone cables s by the hello bug was from California i ithe in n the fall of 1903 In August I 1904 1901 similar d damage mage was was reported reported re re- ported from from- Corsicana and Ft Worth in Texas means During th t the e next neat year Jear telephone companies in the south Atlantic and Gulf f states complained of t trouble C from this cause In 1910 telephone telephone telephone tele tele- phone fuses in Baltimore were e attacked by the bug Since Ince then there have been man many other complaints complaInts' from various parts part s of the the country In southern Call Cali fornia which is ono one of the the principal 1 centers of the the bugs activities damage damge dam dam- age ge don done by It Is ac accountable for a at t least one fifth of all telephone cab cable S troubles The districts affected ar are e along the coast from San Diego t to o some distance north of San Fran Fran- t cisco with scattering cases of at th the e mischief as s far east as Sacramento Sacrament o and Tha The government go entomologists S in n their study of the problem made mad a great many experiments To fin find d out what it If anything would sto stop p the boring of the beetles they too took k sections o of Infested logs loos an and covered covers d f 1 them with various materials materIal Thus I it was ascertained that when 8 el lead less was wrapped tightly around piece of oak log overlapped a nailed many of of the emerging bugs had apparently no great difficulty la gnawing their way out through tw lac of it it-a it a total total of of one ont ont eighth Of an inch i Sections o of Infested lo loss logs were were co cov cati covered ered red with arsenate jf f l lead id d paste It j tarred building building- paper with black Iro enamel I with white t porcelain ename enamel I I and other hard stances st but t tb j 1 new new fledged beetles g came i Trial was made of pine tar a n 1 sealing seating wax turpentine and ro rosS and several mineral p paints nt hone Kone I these prevented tb the bu bugs s from q t their heil normal emerge from the I It was at at- length found howe y that when the log leg sections 19 I wrapped with thin sheets of COP com comor or zinc c the beetles could not bor their way out a aIn In In the course of the u tw two large cages of wire I were built bunt and some Borne hundredS hundred e b the the little little- beetles were placed fo InI alE j of them Telephone cables vr I rrt I suspended In the cages some of ti tb Oel J I charged with sixty cycle i ic c current and others uncharged 1 was thought that conceivably m I current curreri t passing through a a. tt 1 might create a magnetic field t to the insects i li 1 These Thee trials were wholly ln k i elusive the bugs showing no na r to attack the cables Uon's of logs and of dead ca I were painted with rings of red i JL low and green to see If It any co cog attracted or repelled the bet bee They were placed in the W ca ire wherein the insects were flying Inviter ft tre r about but certainly did not invIte insects which left th them m 3 It seemed quite possible that J o D mal service service conditions along the t to te phone lIn lines s might Involve ae 80 ael m mi i l element not re reproduced in the c C I exp experiments Accordingly this Accordingly this la 11 was was done In southern California rn number of small cages each w raining a large largo number of bee beet were fastened around the sen senJ cables of the telephone company j left for tor awhile Several thou thousand san the Insects wore were used in these tr trio tho the cages being attached where ia I supporting rings so as w glue give the bugs every Invitation t tto w. w 6 to to work worl worlIn In many Instances did attack the cables but on J i whore whole ho no 1 data of special value x obtained Copper and zinc even in very 1 l I If It no o Sheets are d 4 fact had been ascertained this considered to r g e covery covert might be the trouble and expense of the she In some way the P G item lem has got gotto to be solved i fo for or r 1 hole ma may put sixty sixt or 60 t phones out of use for for a per Pe one to ten days to say nothing nothing the expense of repairs A But the question still remains remains- v does the beetle gnaw holes i W In e ephone 1 phone cables Why should It 41 lead lend which It cannot digest mi i In Ill n It what hilt I in is It Ml hat l the tho hello bug bus do O lr crass crass' T |
