1925-05-02 — Page 7

SATURDAY, MAY 2, 1925,

THE CHINA MAIL.

ASTER IN THE INSECT WORLD

·EGOS DE VARIOUS SALCHES

With Many of Them it is a Literal Resurrection- "When Spring Arrives, the Beetles, Emerge

from Burial Underground, and Eggs of Multitudinous Moths Are Hatched.

By RENE BACHE

This world that we enll, pars was, lichens on the trunks of teises will repay built for bugs. They are the ventures. The trouble of detaching and shaking really nométons out the enzta. Man and Them over alveris of white paper, when al inher saidialy put together are, they will yield an incredible number numerically speaking, just TE dew, sinalt bugs, 1n burdorse heads will be relatively

to the fat larvae of ertain moths,

Mastertile, marks a wholesale, ¿exur- | while die chrysulitis of other species avetine for the inserts, Multitudinois may be discovered beneath old leg and "spreds of beetles emerge from their | chips, sometimes covered with is,

Winter's burial underground, “runing alvin, as one might my he Ages of countless kinds of mustheletid The previous fall on leaves and twigs and bark of treesluitek out, young. 16 in, everywhere, a renewal of DNA

Many, speras of moths spend the winter in cumanns, woven of silken thread tu form temporary rufling. The cavours are not really cußins, of course, heenuse at the Easter period their megapants wake up, as if from u cuunter denth, and prepare La emerge as wingen inserta

The one of the beetles is altogether remarkable. By no means all of them week burial in the ground during the cold months of the year, hab in every instance they must pass through what be called the "papa" stage; when they seem all but dend, being what up in la Hille box. While in the stage their

inside werks literally dissolve to formless jetly, and out of the latter, by swing mysterious process of nature, an entirely new set of 'Lorgane, is developed. The crawling grub bicomes a beetle, usually provided with wings for flying, and, when the Bramforma- tion is complete, it emerges.

When The Bugs Go To Bed.

The arrival of winter is marked by

a genernt disappearance of inserts of

A kinds. It is rather apparent than real, however. You can find plenty of them in the coldest of weather, if you know how to look for them. Along the burders of swamps, examination of the reedi-hentis pf cattails will reveal large olive-brown eaterpillars and quiver-look- ing beetles. Tufts of

INDEK

and

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Even the intenseest vuką) seems to buves Baile or an effect upon such hilsenating int “Some of them netally live over the winter embedded in nulih ice. Having asıbmışin eundlition Dunk roupi turfeits dirath, they do not need warmth. No matter how law the themmureter, muy drop, a bug never fræczam. But, it disturbed and taken from the place which it has prepped for itself, iar a on or otherwise it will perish. Even in the depths of winter many inagts may be soon moving, shout on He bottom of d'or water, in trening or punda. - Large water-betes and | yurious other aquntle bugs exhibit this indiffervore te temperature, untk if some of the debris from the bottom y caumined, I will be found to contain. the maggots of several kinds of fius. There is one species of mustpite that, breeds in the thuid contained in the pitchers of pitcher-plants, and in the winter time its wrigglers are often to he discovered frozen in solid ice inside of the Burious receptacles. In spring they are thawed out and transform into winged skeets.

Moths And Butterflies.

It is a wonderful world of insect life that is revealed by intelligent search in

3. OR THE DEATHS

HACAO/TOTH

Lemporarily dead, an it were but awaiting resurrection and new life when the spring comes again.

Eggs deposited in late autumn by moths and other insects upon leven, e-branches, Ur plant-stalks: .078- usually rather compicuous to the eye of an cbservant person, in, the winter time. Most people do not notice them because they are not accustomed to look tor them or to recognize them. It is an easy matter to collect them, together with the leaves, bark or what not, to which they are attachod and to hatch them out.

Once hatched, the larvae may be fed on their accustomed food plants, and so reared to the adult form. It will Afford

exceedingly A71

interesting amusement, and the business of collect body who in fond of nature and out doors,

the winter, when to the casual eya thereing the eggs in sare to appeal to any

is no such thing as a hug to be seen.

In the deepest recesses of hollow trees

and under fence-rails will be found

Insects. Eggs Are Pretty. hibernating "painted ladies," "swallow- The eggs themselves are, most inter- tails"" and other butterflies, while the esting to study under a strong magni- chrysalids of many species of mothsfying glass. Those laid by muths and are dhcoverable in clumps of gras butterflies have all sorts of curious above the snow, or in bunches of dend ferma, some of them resembling goose. kaves on bush or tree. All of them are berries, blackberries, and other fruits

ABONATOMY

THE BURLRE

in miniature. Many of them are very beautiful. If mounted on microscope slides, and thus preserved. for observa tian, they will present a most attructive series of nature pictures:

The object sought by the mother moth to always to "deposit her eggs in A place where the caterpillars, when duly fetched, will find their chosen food close at hand. Thus, ordinarily, he lays them on a plant of the kind 'preferred by her own particular species. She muy lay them in a single clamp, or she mayseniter them about by ones and twen, One. kind deposits them on the points of thorns. Some cover them with scales or hair from their bodies, The eggs of timerous species of beetles may, in winter, be found in vegetable debris, retten logs, and all sorts of odd places. To hatch them and rear the grabe to the adult stage. in a fascinating indoor sport. This may be accomplished in glass Jars, so that their transformations can be watched at leisure. In the case of a species that. hibernates underground, the entire life cycle may be studied by thus im- prisoning a few specimens with some earth at the bottom.

น

IOUS 277,DOPTÉO

THE GIPSY MOTH

If a little sponge, saturated with the syrup, be laid upon the net, the moth will soon find it and feed contentedly through the mesh. She will live for a week or ten days, and if the sponge be kept moistened, will deposit her eggs upon the plant.

To most people the most interesting. of all insects are butterflies, by reason of their beauty. Many amateurs collect them, and good examples of rare species command' high prides in the market. To capture a butterfly in perfect condition is not so easy, as one might, imagine, because their wings are able to suffer One of the most remarkable moths more or less damage, but perfect speciis the parent of the "tent caterpillar," mens can be obtained by collecting and which spine enormous webs that serve, hatching the eggs, and, thereupon rear- Le communal hosts. They are in effect" ing the caterpillars in captivity until moth towns. Touring motorists often they transform. Professional collectors notice these neata, resembling tents and often have recourse to that clever sometimes more than six feet high, expedient.

along roadsides, but, riot knowing what they are, give them only, a passing attention.

Rearing Moths In Captivity. Many kinds of moths are strikingly beautiful-as, for example, the large and brightly coloured ail-anthus moth, sometimes called the American silk moth. its larva being an excellent silk- ap nne and may be hatched and rear ed in the same way. The easiest way to do it, in order to make sure of the species, is to capture a female in warm weather, ahut her up in a cage with a. growing slip of her chosen food plant, and feed her on a syrup of sugar and water. A small glass jar, covered with mosquito-net, will serve the purpose.

Recently the Liverpillars set up a vast encampment near Win- cherden, Mass., comprising more than 8,000 temis, a veritabile insect city.

A boautiful beetle, very common in cottonwood trees, on the leaves of which it feeds, is the "silversmith," reperabling in appearance a big Junie bug, its golbur being between silver and gold. Many [.ignorant people believe that it contains those metals, for both of which, in order. to extract them, it has been "amelted" many and many a time. As for the Jund bug, so familiar, few people know

AGGS OF IVE", CUTWORM MOTH

that its larva in the common white grub which may be found almost anywhere in rich soil, underground. Our Bureau. of Entomology. says that these grubs are good to eat, if properly prepared.

Gold And Silver "Bugs," The ailversmiths are common, and therefore cheap, but there are other silver and gold bugs that command high prices, being much in" demand by collectors. One of the most beautiful of beetles is the "blue hoplia," its back sky-blue in colour, and the under part of its body bright silver. The notion that it contains silver is widely, enter- tained, and attempts have frequently been made to extract that metal from it. The same thing has been tried with beetles of other kinds, such as the "gold bugs" of Central America. Those aro truly remarkable insects, their heads and wing-cases brilliantly polished, with a lustre as of gold itself. One might easily imagine a specimen to be the work of a clever artificer in metal. sight and touch they have Indeed, all the seaming of metal, -Oddly enough, there is a nearly related to the same region,. "pecics, native which has the appearance of being solid 'silver, freshly. wrought in burnished. !

The notion of extracting gold and silver from booties by smelting seems Whan to be of very ancient origin: failure is usually attributed to some- such attempts do not succeed, the

thing wrong with the process, employ- ed. There is nothing harder to extin guish than a delusion.

If it were not for their ability to hibernate through the winters, in a condition simulating death, insects, generally speaking, could not survivá in cool latitudos. But, in that way they' are enabled to keep their species going, coming alive, again, as it were, at Eastertide, by a veritable resurrection.

OIL AS SHIPIFUEL

Space That Would Be Occupied By Coal Bunkers-Is-Now-Left- Open for Revenue Cargo-Growth of Oil Fuel On American Ships.

By NORMAN C. McLOUDA

In these days, when the American fag goes to nei it is apt to travel on n. ship using oil for fuel,

As I write I am crossing the Atlantic on a vesel in which the engines are driven by oil cambustion while the space Jormerly pesupied by the coal supply is pucked with export freight.

At the Hoboken piers, 1 Juve seen the ship louled with fuel through pipe. lipes instead of by cond-handling Appunto. I have seen the fue dis- appear into the skin of the vessel instead of taking up valuable space needed for enrgo. Better still, I have seen ease after case of Americka mer. chandise stowed away in the art of the ship in which coal was formerly maried. With ponail and paper 1, have

been able to figure the extra freight I through a system of heating coils revenue pindured by this additional designed to mise its temperature."

Oil Hented For Using.

cargo.

The oil-burner. in, a development of The beating coils are, an important recent yours. Since the War there hnefactor in the successful use of all for fuel been stendy expansion of this type of

purposes. They uré maintained in the vessel, Gauged by present progres the storage tanka na well on in the there is good reason to believe that if

settlement tank. This is necessary cheap uil proven available the oil-burner

- because of the difficulty in handling will enjoy increasing popularity.

vil st low temperatures. In cold waters the natural tempera:

+

Stored In Skin Of Ship

One of the strong facture in estab-ture of the storage tanke may be

lishing the vogue of the oil-laner bus been, the saving of cargo spues The oil is stored in tanks forming the inner bottom of the ship. The tanks cover the backbone of the ship, which muat be covered anyway, an a matter of structural necessity. In this way the storage space for fuel occupies na space that would be available. If the tanks were omitted.

The tanks extend both ways from the centro keel. In the matter of con- struction each tank in sub-divided "by of-light bulkheads extending as high na the upper dock of the vessel. The purpose of these divisions in te produce enfoty at sen. In cane of collision the bulk-hezan still hold the oil in confine- ment Distribution of weight, noeded for the maintenance of an even keel, is easily accomplished by shifting oil from one tank to Enother and by distribution cf water ballest

The story, of fuel oil on shlyboard atarts with the loading, This is accom- plished by steady flow, from the high point at which the liquid fuel is brought into the vensol. From this elevation the oll flows down into the fanks through manifold piper-kading-der-zarions

below.

considerably

as low as 40 degrees. The steam coila keep the temperature above this figure in the storage tanks and raise it to 150 degrees or higher before the furnace is reached.

Each boiler has one small pump. which delivers the eil under pressure. This pressure je strong enough to eject. the oil in the form of a fine spray, which becomes mixed with air as it approaches the barner beneath the boiler. In point of fuct the mixture of spray and air approximates the volatility of gas, in which condition it is readily combustible

written I have seen an utter absence of this laborious round of effort. I have watched the firemen at their work and have seen that their only responsibility in to watch their burners, their pumps and their heating colls. If something goes wrong with either of the three types of apparatus the Breman knows it from the action of his burner. The remedy is quickly applied and com bustion proceeds in the way it should

go,

On the coal-burning vessel the fire- men constitute a large percentage of the draw, augmented by the coal-passers who wheel the fuel from the bunkers to convenient position in front of ench furnace. The mammoth Leviathan, for instance, would require half a hundred coal-passers for the more delivery of the fuel to points within easy reach of the stokers. On the oil-burning_ship the coal passers are eliminated. Their work is done by the pumps.

--Fuel consumption between porta-is another factor of economy. I am told

The firebox of the oil-barber has none of the grates found in the coni-barning by men who have used both coal and oil furnace. The bottom is tightly bricked. that there is from ten to fifteen per The burner is of a type akin to the old-, cent saving in the matter of fuel costa fashioned Bansen burner, with which alone. overy schoolboy is familiar. The fire max is 'a manipulator of valves instead. of t wielder of a comi shovel,

At The, Furnaces,

Fuel And Space Saving, '

A shipping expert reduces the apsce factor to cubic footage in striking fashion. He tells me that a vestel of 11,000 tons displacement will need

BONfa Clean,

mirrors on the principle of the trench A FAMILY OF WORDS. Greek word meaning "zar "Then there is the matter of relative; periscopes skąd during the European

honce the meaning of "telegraph" cleanliness. On passenger ships this is War Through one of these devices

clear, an being "to write at a place far a phase of" much, Importance. AB

Da." due to the fact that the telegraphic between coal and oil, there is no com-

the man in the engine room is enabled.

Words belong in families, as do dots and dashes can be printed by a parison. All the advantage is with to see the smoke as it issues from the human beings. The makers of the receiving. instrument many miles from the oil-burning vessel. This is true all funnels. By noting the colour, and English language found it a simple the wonder.. over the ship, and not in the orgine gauging the smoke by the standards, matter to choose a single word: from

"Photograph" means "to writs with On the coal-burning vessels I have

room alone. Every pansenger, foein the set forth in the Riogelragm scale the Greek or Latin and work it into various light. "Photos" a Greek word watched the stokers feeding the furnace

increased cleanliness of oil.

engineer lain position to judge the combinations,

meaning "light," "Autograph" means until my own back ached out of sheer practically four thousand tons of coal

One of the most familiar “examples | "written, by one's self:" "Of course, bad combustion will some amount of carbon that la' being wasted

"Auto" is a sympathy, I have seen these grimy for the typical nine day voyage across times come, regardless of the kind of through imperfect combustion. In this of this rule is in the use of "gravh" an- Greek word meaning "self."":"Grophie workers of the furnace room har end the Atlantic Ocean: This vast, bulk of fuel that is being used. When this way he knows at once what is required part of various English words “Graph”“”“ means, turally, wrlton, and is used" less streams of coal inin, the frabos, fuel occupice space that would accom- happens, with either coal or vil there in ] In the fursade room, without waiting comes from the Greale word: “'graphein to denote something written in clear

and read to with a spyERSEY DAY WHITO | HIGAN VAIMNE of Capt to be an amprentane deposit of wear peremptory call-From the barlal man mining lawrite Prommaluk

BChénography. they faced the fierce glare of the open revenue, producing cargo. Joms idea on the dacks "of the ship before, the

of the ship with orders for the sivilmay have? that - konsehold word ut phono. biros," mesping, "hand,”” con In preparing the oil for use in the ceru foot they smokes This devint a sza Phanos" is a Grock word

Geographyć 28, pourd hence, the furnsons, the fold is pumped from the to break up clinkers and work, the omit that 4,000 tone-of coal would fill apply the remedy, modern fuel tanks to the settling tank, in which | ashes through the grates in the interest | eighty railway cars of 100,000 pounds methods": however this discuity is

aph"literally mang #tó, the sediment is allowed to settle to the of improved combustion and I have capacity aplece. The train would but being overcome. - A devics Prow per me much that did not know, and not with sound because the marks, which bottom. When this process has taken wean, the men clowning, at 17 sshpits, three-quartsza of a mile in langth, and fected which enables the engineer to see the last of its teachings deal with "are buritian", on the surface of place the supply pumps take the oil manipulate the refuse to the ash holat, anyone of us will realize that this, the colour of his smaker from the fire"; "the Treight Chat would hava bean: left; record nesult in raproducfrie From the settling tank, at a point above and prepare it for dumping overboard represents a considerable amount of room. This in accomplished by means behind sff the burkare, and scarredounds." the line of sediment, and force it In the Amprican ship in which this a cargo space in a steamship,

of a periscopo made up of alloreal thousand tons per core addr

applicable to coal or oil, as desired.

My trip or an oil-burner the taught

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