OCR Text |
Show Sense of Taste In Insects. The entomologists have detected and duly noted a singular development of the sense of taste in insects of the butterfly but-terfly family. The larvae of butterflies and moths all eat foods which are not adapted to the wants and tastes of the perfect insect, and which, in some instances, in-stances, is positively obnoxious to the fully doveloped creature. Take, for an instance, the horrid "hog nosed caterpillar, cater-pillar, " which lives on the leaves of the prickly ash and also makes life burdensome bur-densome to the orange grower. Its parents par-ents are Mr. and Mrs. Papilio Cres-phontes Cres-phontes of the order Lepidoptera, family fam-ily Papilionidae, and are the largest and most beautiful butterflies found in the latitude of Missouri. The full grown Insect of this species will not touch the leaves of either of the trees mentioned above, but on them it deposits eggs, and when these hatch the substance of the leaves furnish the proper food for the larva?. Are we to infer from this curious curi-ous habit that the female butterfly of this species remembers her early existence, exist-ence, and from that argues that prickly ash and orange leaves are the proper food for her young, or are we to say that "instinct" gnides her to a proper selection of food for her progeny? Is it not a fact that we attribute things to "instinct" because we are ignorant that is to say, because we do not know where "instinct" leaves off and reason Regius? St. Louis Republic. Mrs. G. M. Fowler has secured the appointment of overland mail carrier between be-tween Millport, O., and Qavers post-office, post-office, a distance of 17 milea When this route was advertised for sale, Mrs. Fowler Fow-ler put in a bid with a large number of competitors, and her proposition being the lowest she was awarded the contract con-tract She will be obliged to make the round trip daily, Sundays excepted. |