Show il A N 7 lk 0 F A WO LV ae HAROLD BANIN i 40 A r SAU SA U 11 ll S OST people believe that all in a FM 1 M sects are very small and in a certain sense this Is true tor for the largest known insect appears diminutive when contrasted with the vast bulk of such a creature as a whale or an elephant but this Is ig hardly a fair comparison because insects are in every way dissimilar to vertebrate animals having developed along entirely different lines in place of physical hugeness we find amazing delicacy ot of structure and adjustment and it if we liken the vertebrate to a locomotive engine the insect must be ie represented presented by a ladys watch to complete the metaphor in fine in has been the watchword of insect evolution nevertheless th eless when judged in their own sphere insects display a remarkable range ot of size take for or example the beetles the largest living representatives of the clan are the of africa and the a of tropical south america A fair sized male specimen of the latter measures four and a halt half inches from the tip of the horn to the extremity of the abdomen the male of the hercules beetle also of south america may be two inches or more longer but well nigh halt half its length Is made up by the great hornlike process which w springs from its thorax A good idea of 0 these beetles leet les huge proportions may be gained by placing one 0 of them side ly by side with a cornmon common two spot ladybird yet the ladybird is by no means a small beetle as beetles go comparisons no less striking may be made maae among the moths the largest british moth is the deaths head a truly noble insect with a wing expanse of four our and a halt half inches but its proportions are sadly dwarfed when we contrast them with the he huge owl moth the of 0 science which Is not uncommon in many parts of 0 south soth america it may measure ten inches or more across then there Is the giant atlas moth from india which may measure as much as a oot foot from tip to tip ot of the lore fore wings for the sake ot of familiarity mili mil arity larity we may place the little clothes moth of 0 our wardrobes at the other end ot of the scale though it is not by any means the smallest of its kind the atlas and alid the owl moths mentioned above have larger wings than any other living insects so BO far as Is known but they ire are not the largest flying insects on record for or some of the extinct dragon flies files of the carboniferous boni ferous period measured two feet beet across the wings the largest british dragon fly with a wing expanse of four our inches Is a pygmy contrasted size for size with one of its gJ gigantic gantic prehistoric ancestors among the largest existing insects must be reckoned the giant water bugs some of which attain a length of nearly five inches in the united states these insects are known barly as electric light bugs because they have the habit babit at night of it leaving the pools and lakes where they get their living and flying around are arc lamps especially when these are mounted upon high buildings the british water scorpion Is a well known denizen of bf ponds and sluggish streams it belongs to the same family as the giant bugs besides which fairly be termed a dwart dwarf it may the longest of living insects are found among the ids or walking sticks some attain nine inches head bead to tall tail while it if the outstretched fr from 0 in legs are included the measurement Is much greater two of these strange insects are in marked contrast with a stag beetle the largest british beetle by the way clearly these ids are long drawn out in a very literal sense of but a few of the species the phrase are much heavier in build this Is the case with the very remarkable creature known as Eury cantha horri from australia it II Is not only long but bulky and what with its hard ar integument and forbid mor plate i L A W alffa Ulf fA jo 7 auw vom 11 able array of prickles brickles pr ickles it looks a decidedly dangerous customer one Is relieved to learn that its tastes are exclusively vegetarian the vast majority of the hymenoptera the ants bees wasps and their relatives are comparatively small insects but among the solitary spider balder killing wasps we find some notable exceptions some of these giants measure two inches or more from head to tall and withal are exceptionally strong and vigorous insects the largest species are round found in south america where they deal death and destruction to the spider population even the formidable bird eating spider a grim and hairy monster with fearsome fangs Is attacked and destroyed it should be noted that these wasps dri do not themselves eat the spiders that they kill but store them away in cunningly contrived nests for the benefit of their young our little unfortunately it has no popular name behaves in precisely the same way but naturally chooses spiders proportionate to its own size even in this instance however the spider is usually several times heavier than I 1 edg W J x lr J azy Z JT a za w the wasp itself for these dwarfs of 0 the insect world are by no meant means wea weaklings klings but on the contrary possess marvelous inar muscular force and what certainly Is a well nigh inexhaustible fund of 0 energy probably most insects are stronger and more enduring in proportion tc their size than any of the higher ant mals they are always active and apparently quite beyond the reach ot ol fatigue while life lasts but ceaseless rapid movement imposes a serious tax upon the machinery consequently we find that the insect Is almost always short lived it Is said that the worker hive bee literally wears herself out and dies after a few weeks of toil forthe tor the benefit of the commonwealth in which she plays this brief part |