Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 September 1892 — BUGS AND SO FORTH. [ARTICLE]

BUGS AND SO FORTH.

The Mohammedans, it is said, consider silk unclean because it is producefl by a worm. ' A Milford, Ind., woman was bitten on the cheek by a mosquito a levr days aga. Blood poisoning resulted and her life was saved with An Atchison, Kan., woman has 1 brought up her chickens on the bugs collected from the machinery at the electric light station every morning. The Guadeloupe bees lay their honey in bladders of wax about as large as a pigeon’s egg, and not in combs. The honey never hardens and is of an oily consistency. Morehead, Ky., has been invaded by fleas to such an extent that, according to the Sun of that city, “it is not unusual to see the ders of both sexes stop on the Sidewalks to scratch." In connection with the Egyptian nations, the Gnostics, as well. as some of the early Christian fathers, speak of Christ as the scarabaeus and symbolize Him as a man with a beetle’s head The Egyptians always embalmed this sacred insect. The latest triumph of Yankee inventive genius is an India rubber fish worm. It is said to be a remarkably good imitation of tho common earth worm, is indestructible, and in actual use proves as alluring to the fishes as the genuine article. The snail is very prolific. Assuming that the reproductive season extends from March to September, and assuming further that the snail lives but two years, we have the following estimate ot the total number of the offspring of a single pair: At the close of the first season, 1,90i>; 950 , pairs at close of second season, 1,805,000; original pair at close of second .season, 1,900. Total number of offspring in two years, 1,808,800. C It has been found that horseflies, bees, bumblebees and other insects of that ilk can be held by the legs and mode to produce tho humming or buzzing noises so characteristic of the two winged insect family, even though their wings bo entirely removed;* and that u partial (say the clipping of a half or two-thirds of each wing) removal of the organs of flight only serves to increase tbs shrillness of the noise.