WINTER MEETING. 19i> 



larva or venturesome ant that may cross their pathway or fall into their traps. As 

 the midsummer night comes on, from every tree-top resound the deafening drums 

 of the cicadas, whose noisy chorus is followed by the recitative of the katydids to 

 the accompaniment of the whirring of tree-crickets and orchilinums ; a fusilade 

 of clumsy nocturnal beetles beats against our lighted windows ; pale, broad- 

 winged moths flit ghost-like in the moonlight, while wierd-looking mantes find 

 entrance through some unguarded wiadow or door, and startle us by suddenly 

 alighting upon our shoulders or upon the table beside us, and regarding us with 

 head askew and goggle eyes in a way to quite upset sensitive nerves. 



Nor are insects simply contributions to the sights and sounds of the season. 

 Tiny as they are and individually insignificant and ephemeral, collectively they are 

 most potent for annoyance and destruction. Close watch must the orchardist keep 

 on his trees, that borers do not weaken the trunks and cut off circulation of sap, 

 that caterpillars and grubs do not devour the foliage, or worms corrupt the fruit. 

 The waving grain-fields and meadows are menaced by scores of insidious destroy- 

 ers, and even at times by those who attack in boldly marching armies. The herds 

 are tormented by bot-flies, gad-flies and horn- flies from " morn till dewy eve," and 

 even then certain species do not intermit their irritating pricks. Neither in the 

 house are we exempt from care and loss of their occasioning. Windows and doors 

 must be screened from the swarms of hou?e-flies and the mosquitoes ; the pantry 

 guarded against incursions of fruit flies, meat-flies and marauding ants; the sinks 

 baited for cockroaches, and the contents of closets and store-rooms frequently 

 unfolded, shaken and medicated to preserve them from the gnawings of clothes- 

 moths and dermes^fs. 



Such are a few of the ways in which insects for more than one-half of our year 

 become an important factor in the cares, labors, losses and discomforts of human 

 life, as well as contributing some small share to its sesthetic gratification. But as 

 the midday sun recedes from the zenith, the carnival of hexapod life becomes less 

 gay, the drums of the harvest flies cease to reverberate through the purple twi- 

 light, and only a few katydids croak their iterations through the midnight hours. 

 Presently on some clear night Jack Frost makes his debut, and before his presence 

 the insect tribes vanish, as by magic, from sight and sense. We can hardly at flret 

 accept the charge, so still are the starry nights, so unshadowed the noonday sun- 

 beams. And have all these myriads miserably perished ? Do we find their varied 

 lifeless forms beneath our feet as we visit our dismantled gardens and leafless 

 groves ? By no means. Rarely indeed do we flad an improvident bee or a stiffened 

 butterfly clinging to a frozen flower. They have all been cared for by nature's kindly 

 providence, and in what quaint and curiaus caskets, in what secure retreats and 

 unsuspected shelters she has hidden them is her secret, but a secret that she will 

 not withhold if we persistently urge its revelation. 



The preparations for hibernation among insects are as varied as are \he forms 

 and habits of the different species. In every case compactness and inconspicuous- 

 ness characterize the method. As life in the great majority of plants survives the 

 winter only in the form of a tiny seed, so the embryos of a vast number of insects 

 are impervious to the cold and dampness of the winter months, within the metallic 

 or varnished cases of thousands of beautiful and peculiar forms of eggs. In this 

 form the acme of vital condensation is achieved. A large number of insects,^ 

 especially in the order in which transformation is complete, hibernate in that pe- 

 culiar mummy-like form which entomologists designate as a pupa, which is pro- 

 tected by a silken or papery cocoon, or i? buried deep in the earth. Those ap- 

 proaching nearest these in habit are species which, upon the approach of cold 



