Show and D WA OF a 11 affo WO A HAROLD BANIN ax I 1 OST people believe that all insects are very small and in a certain sense this Is true for or the largest known insect appears diminutive when contrasted with the vast bulk ot of such a creature as a whale or an elephant but this Is hardly a fair comparison because I 1 insects sects are in every way dissimilar to vertebrate animals having developed along entirely different lines in place of physical hugeness we find amazing delicacy of 0 structure and adjustment and it wei we liken the VP vertebrate to a locomotive engine the insect must be represented by a ladys watch to complete the metaphor in fine mul in has hag been the watchword of insect evolution nevertheless th eless when judged in their own sphere insects display a remarkable range of size site take for example the beetles the largest living representatives ot of the clau clan are the ot of africa and the Mega somas of 0 tropical south america A fair sized male specimen of the latter measures four our and a halt inches from the tip of the horn hom to the extremity of the abdomen the male ot of the hercules beetle also of south america may be two inches or more longer but welI nigh halt half its length Is made up by the great hornlike process which springs from its thorax A good idea of these beetles huge proportions may be gained by placing one of them side by side with a common two spot ladybird yet the ladybird Is by no means a small beetle as beetles go comparisons no less striking may be made among the moths the largest british moth Is the deaths head a truly noble insect with a wing expanse ot of tour four and a halt half inches but its proportions are sadly dwarfed when we contrast them with the huge owl moth the of science which Is not uncommon in many parts of south 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 foot from tip to tip ot of the tore fore wings for the sake ot of familiarity a mili arity we may place the little clothes moth ot of our wardrobes at the other end of the scale though it is not by any means the smallest ot of its kind the atlas and the owl moths mentioned above have larger wings than any other living insects so tar far as Is known but they are not the largest flying insects on record for or some of the extinct I 1 dragon flies files of 0 the carboniferous boni ferous period measured two feet across the wings the largest british dragon fly with a wing expanse of to tour ur inches Is a byg pygmy my contrasted size for size with one of 0 its gigantic prehistoric ancestors among the tha 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 popularly as electric light bugs because they have the habit at night aa v leaving v 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 ot of ponds and sluggish streams it belongs to the same tams atsas the giant bugs besides which be termed a dwarf irmay it may fairly the longest of living insects are found among the ids or walking sticks some attain nine inches from head bead to tall while if the outstretched legs are included ed the measurement ur Is much greater two of these strange insects are in marked Con 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 the phrase but a lew few of the species axe are much heavier in build this la is the case with the very remarkable creature ano known n as Eury cantha dorrida from australia it Is r not only long but bulky and what with its hard armor plate integument and forbid 0 va aa jo 00 ww able array of 0 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 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 us insects the largest species are 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 tangs fangs Is attacked and destroyed it should be noted that these wasps do not themselves eat the spiders that they kill but store them away in cunningly contrived nests tor for the benefit of their young young our little vi aticus 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 f the wasp itself for these dwarfs of the insect world are by no means weaklings wea klings but on the contrary possess marvelous muscular force and what certainly Is a well nigh inexhaustible lund fund of energy probably most insects are stronger and more enduring in proportion tc their size than any of 0 the higher ani mals they are always active and apparently quite beyond the reach ol 01 fatigue while life lasts but ceaseless rapid movement imposes a serious tax tai upon the machinery consequently we w find that the insect Is almost always short lived it Is said that the worker hive bee liter literally ally wears herself out and dies after a few weeks of toll toil forthe cj ib benefit of the commonwealth in which h ich she plays this brief part |