28 JOURNAL OF THE [January, 



we venture to assert that present notions will be modified, if not 

 revolutionized, when it is done. The earliest synthetic, organic 

 chemists of our globe have not lost all their early knowledge, 

 and developed totally into ignorant freebooters. 



STRIATED MUSCLE-FIBRE OF THE HEAD OF 

 HARPALUS CALIGINOSUS, FAB. 



BY E. B. GROVE. 



(Read October -^th, 1887.) 



All at some time have noticed the extraordinary strength, out 

 of all proportion to their size, possessed by insects of all genera, 

 but especially by those which are classed with the coleoptera. 

 Numbers of anecdotes and accounts of what has been witnessed 

 of feats of strength can be found, not only in books treating of 

 scientific subjects, but also, from time to time, in newspapers 

 and periodicals not strictly scientific. 



It may safely be said that at least two-thirds of these accounts 

 have reference to the various feats performed by insects, walk- 

 ing under and moving heavy weights, or in drawing the same. 

 The remaining one-third is of feats performed by the mandibles, 

 and can be explained by the wonderful muscular system seated 

 in the head. 



From time immemorial the strength of the mandibles of the 

 Lucanus cervus, the European stag-beetle, has been commented 

 upon by all naturalists. There is an authentic account of one 

 having gnawed or rasped a hole one inch in diameter through 

 the side of an iron canister in which it was imprisoned. And 

 our American species of the Lucanus, also, will at least speedily 

 free itself from any pasteboard or thin wood box in which it is 

 confined. 



While making no pretence to being either a histologist or an- 

 atomist, I have always been interested in the economic anatomy 

 of all insects, especially of their digestive and muscular systems. 

 Many fine specimens of butterflies, moths and beetles have I 

 ruthlessly "cut up," in the quest for knowledge as to their life 

 and habits, rather than mount them and place them in my 

 cabinet. 



Muscles are structures of an elastic nature, which under the 

 effect of certain irritations are capable of altering their form, /'. 



