Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 March 1894 — Herculean Feats of Insects. [ARTICLE]

Herculean Feats of Insects.

Insects for their size, are believed to be the strongest members of the animal creation, and, amongst insects, the Hercules Bede stands first in this respect. It can support and even lift a weight equal to more than 500 times the weight of its own body. If a man were possessed of equal strength he would be able to raise a weight of more than 120 tons, or, putting it in another way, he would be able to lift 500 other men. The flea is also possessed of marvellous strength and agility. It can leap more than 200 times its own height, and drag more than 80 times its own weight. To equal the jumping power of a flea, a man, from a standing position, would be ahle to leap over the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The flea is excelled in leaping .power by the cuckoo-spit froghopper, a small insect which can cover more than 250 times its own length. In power of grip, infects are surpassed by the oyster and the limpet. The force required to open the shell of a living oyster is more than 1,800 times its own weight; while the strength of the limpet in adhering to the rock Is almost equally great. The mites makes 500 steps in a second, or 80,000 in a minute. Allowing the horse to move at an equal rate, he would perform 1,022 miles an hour. The journey from London to Birmingham would occupy but six minutes and a fraction.—[Yankee Blade.