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Show ft? -V ,Hiit I u j ... a. . v. v. X A J'ir-:- : :s j k &' J fss m fir wrjk HE foremost scientists of the world have been Pjn agreed for the last decade PJj that the crucial struggle tm ' numanity will not be sfrj ffo that of nations warring t for territory which each a envies the other, but will If Yj be a colossal battle to 7 keep from being driven off the earth itself! And in this battle It will be mankind against bugs! By its fecundity, its enormous comparative com-parative strength sometimes equivalent equiva-lent of what" would be, if the bug were as large as a horse. 1.000-horsepower and in its inextinguishable passionate passion-ate and concentrated will to live and its enormous adaptibility the insect kingdom makes the human race appear ap-pear incredibly Inefficient Civilization has for the last twenty years and more been steadily overturning over-turning the balance of nature, which has kept the insect kingdom down, and this scientists throughout the world have recognized. Within half that time what amounts to a world-wide organization has been formed to find and make known to all who care the best ways to cope with the fast-growing fast-growing swarms which menace humanity. hu-manity. It Is recognized that only by a tireless, long and costly and dangerous dan-gerous struggle will man be able to retain re-tain his dominance and freedom to develop de-velop his world. The latest warning of this peril to humanity has been sounded In a most remarkable fashion by Prof. C. A. Ealand, one of the foremost entomologists entomolo-gists of the world and the late principal prin-cipal of the East Anglian college of agriculture of England. Professor Ealand begins his remarkable work, which he calls "Insects and Man," , with the following statement: "It Is fortunate for man that the Insect In-sect world Is a house divided against itself. Except for this check the human hu-man race would be extinct In Ave or six years." The fecundity of many Insects Is enormous. Huxley estimated that, mishaps apart, a single green fly would In ten generations produce a mass of organic matter equivalent to 5U0.0O0,. 000 human beings, or as many as tho whole population of tho Chinese empire! em-pire! From the earliest times man has suffered suf-fered from Insect damage to his crops, his live stock and himself. Locust plagues rivaling those of Egypt havo come to man from time to time. The United States suffers damage annually to the extent of $IO,Ouu,Oiio owing to the depredations of tho Hessian Hes-sian fly; the cotton boll weevil causes c annual loss of jno.UOO.OOO; tho codling cod-ling moth J 15.000.000, and tho chinch bug S7.nnO.nno. Add to this tho dam-Ape dam-Ape rlnnp hv pvriHV mul hrnii-n.t n (I moths and the San Joso scale, to say nothing of the host of minor pests, and the total assumes alarming proportions. pro-portions. The Btrugglo for supremacy between insects and man Is a very real ono tho world over. But only by ceaseless Btrugglo can man keep his dominance In his fight against Insects and bugs ho has arrayed ar-rayed against him an lncredlblo fecundity fecun-dity and power of destruction. The majority of people unscientific people, that Is says Professor Ealand. think that tho locust Is tho moBt (Instructive (In-structive Insect. This Is partly because be-cause of the Illbllcal plnguo having been fixed In their minds. Tho locusts lo-custs have done more damage in South Africa and hindered agricultural prog- ress there more than anywhere else In the world. In one winter alone the locust damage In South Africa was estimated es-timated at $5,000,000. To cope with the insects the government govern-ment has established a central bureau for watching them. Flights can be predicted and measures taken to minimize min-imize them. In the latter half of 1912 locust swarms did $10,000,000 damage in our own island of Visaya, In the Philippines. Philip-pines. While the locust Is prolific the cotton cot-ton weevil beats him. Professor Ealand estimates that one weevil laying lay-ing her 139 eggs by June 10 would probably bring half that number say 75 to maturity by June 29. There are at least four generations in a season, sea-son, and the second generation would number about 2,450; the third $5,750, and the last and final generation 1,-001,250, 1,-001,250, or a total of 3.0S9.520 individuals indi-viduals as the progeny of a single pair of weevils and their progeny In a season. sea-son. That is to say. ono weevil for every square foot of area In a 75-acre field. As over 50 per cent are destroyed de-stroyed by natural conditions. It is doubtful If the actual increase in one season from a single pair ever exceeds ex-ceeds 2.0"0,00u. Alarming figures In all conscience, exclaims the entomologist This is only one of a vast number of insects that man has to fight against. Next come the disease carriers. First In deadllness Is the mosquito, which Infests man with malaria, yellow yel-low fever and filariasis. Many parts of the tropics and localities otherwise most desirabla. are practically uninhabitable unin-habitable to civilized man, owing to the ravages of malaria. Malaria has been held responsible for the wiping out of the ancient Greeks. Not health alone, but man's very pockets are affected by this overmastering overmas-tering Incubus. The mosquito plague has been responsible for arresting the development of the whole statu of New Jersey. Malaria Is a country rather than a town disease It was once supposed to ho caused by dwelling In dump and marshy places, and even now tho belief dies hard In the minds of many people, but It has been proved beyond dispute that by the bito of infected mosquitoes, and by that means alono. can this dread disease bo transmitted from man to num. Various estimates havo been madn as to tho number of bacteria that may be carried about tho body of a single healthy, active fly. Ono Investigator, Torry. puts tho number at 2S.uon.000 In Its Intestine and 4.500.000 on tho outer surface. Esten and Mason, by careful experiment, found that the number of external bacteria varied from 550 to over G, 500. 000; other observers ob-servers havo put tho number as high as 500.0o0.u00 per 11 y. Tho numbers seem lncredlblo. That one house fly can- carry uhout its body as many us 5O0.0UO.000 germB Is almost beyond belief, be-lief, yet tho estimated number Is not tho result of guesswork, but of caro-ful caro-ful experiment. l-ooking at tho matter mat-ter from tho most favorable point of view, and supposing caai lly to carry only 550 bacteria from placo to place, tho supposition, says Professor Kaland. Ib not pleasant. The dreadful Infantllji poralysls has been discovered to bo carried by tho stable fly. Then there Is tho sleeping sickness, which Is carried by tho tselso lly. Wholo districts of Africa nro absoluto- ly uninhabitable because of this disease. dis-ease. Come next the armies of ticks. It has been shown by experiment that one variety of these which feeds upon human blood will weigh after a meal ten times its original weight Some species Increase tj thirty times their original weight Imagine, says Professor Pro-fessor Ealand, a hungry 200-pound man weighing 6,000 pounds after a single meal, or even after many meals! Relapsing Re-lapsing fever, spotted fever, a peculiarly pecu-liarly deadly disease called verruga, are given man by ticks. Then there are the lice which carry typhus and a form of Inflammatory rheumatism, and the fleas, which transmit plague to man. As for the hosts that attack the domestic animals and transmit to them disease, were It not for natural checks and the vigilance of man there would not be a single animal left In the world within ten years! It Is this matter of natural checks, the equilibrium which nature has provided pro-vided against these most prolific of her children, that Is now most worrying wor-rying tho scientists. I'p until comparatively recent times great quantities of Insects were used for medicine, for dyes and so on, but this use has steadily lessened, and with the lessening naturally the In sects have Increased. The practice of the control of Insect pests by their natural enemies Is one of modern times, for the earliest record rec-ord of work on anything approaching a commercial Bcale, dates back by 25 years. It is based on the assumption that all nature Is In a state of equilibriumthat equili-briumthat Is to say, that all life, In Its native home. Is kept In check by other forms of llfe'whlch prey upon it. Moro than thirty distinct parasites and seven kinds of predatory beetles havo been Introduced Into the United States to wage war on the gypsy and brown-tail moths, says Professor Ealand. It will be recognized, says Profes sor Ealand. thnt unless a parasite shows greater fertility than Its host. Its power of controlling the latter must be very greatly diminished. In this connection nature has come to the rescue In a marvelous manner by endowing many of tho parasites with tho power of "polyembryony." a phenomenon that Is unique In the animal an-imal kingdom. Parasites so endowed lay eggs similar In external form to those of their less fortunate relations, but from each egg emerges In due courso not ono larva, but a number of larvae, and by this means their fertility Is much Increased. A second and still more modern method of natural Insect control Is carried car-ried Into effect by means of fungoid disease of Insects. These fungolds arj scattered over largo plantations wun a dusting machine. All the Insects Infected In-fected carry tho dlseaso to their nu. merous relatives. Tho fight. Indicates Professor l-laland, Is only at Its beginning. Man will probably win. but even If he does tho bug. through Its persistence, will outllvo him. |
