410 



Marvels of Insect Life, 



names ^- -be known as cobblers, the long antenna: having suggested to their sponsor 

 the wax thread of the shoemaker. These beetles, though plentiful in the pine- 

 growing districts of Europe, are of only rare occurrence in this country. We give 

 a photograph of the male sartor, and it will be seen that though his antennae are 

 more than twice the length of his body, they are proportionately much shorter than 

 those of the smaller timberman. The antennae of the female are much shorter. 

 Another character of the males in these and some other long-horned beetles is 

 found in the greater length of the first pair of limbs. An allied species ^ is recorded 

 as having emerged from a piece of furniture known to be fifteen years old ; 

 and the evidence went to show that the grub was at work in the wood before 

 it was worked up. Other cases point to the probability that the grubs of these 

 long-horned beetles may extend their existence — mider similar unnatural 

 conditions — over twice that 'period of time. 



African Locust. 

 This species appears to have its headquarters in East Africa, whence its surplus broods, numbered by bilUons, overflow into the 

 surrounding country-, usually taking a northerly direction. They migrate in clouds, so vast that daylight is obscured. 



Migratory Locusts. 



The story of what man in all the ages has suffered from the ravages of vast 

 armies of locusts would fill a goodly book. From the earhest times they 

 impressed man with his impotence pitted against a foe individually des|:>icable but, 

 when associated in untold millions, irresistible. Not relishing defeat at the hands 

 of so insignificant a creature, some of the ancients took to magnifying him in their 

 imagination ; and so Pliny tells of a locust which was three feet long, and had 

 legs so strong and well-toothed that they were used as saws. The Arabians, who 

 suffered much from the locust, pictured it as being endowed with some of the 

 attributes of the strongest, swiftest, and most dangerous of other animals. It 



' jMonohammus sartcir ;nul M. sutor. ^ ]\i, confusus. 



