INTRODUCTION. 23 



far beneath these Httle insects, as far as strength and the spirit of 

 working go. 



The destructive powers of these creatures, so insignificant in 

 ai)pearance, are still more surprising. During the spring of a single 

 year they can effect the ruin of a house by destroying the beams and 

 l)lanks. The town of La Rochelle, to which the Termites were 

 imported by an American ship, is menaced with being eventually 

 suspended on catacombs, like the town of Valencia in New Granada. 

 It is well known what destruction is caused when a swarm of locusts 

 alight in a cultivated field ; and it is certain that even their larvae do 

 as severe injury as the perfect insect. All this sufficiently proves the 

 destructive capabilities of these little animals, which we are accus- 

 tomed to despise. 



M. Plateau has studied the power of traction in some insects, the 

 power of pushing in the digging insects, and the lifting power of 

 others during flight. He has thus been able to make some most 

 interesting comparisons, of some of which we will relate the results. 



The average weight of man being 142 lbs., and his power of 

 traction, according to Regnier, being 124 lbs., the proportion of the 

 weight he can draw to the weight of his body is only as 87 to 100. 

 With the horse the proportion is not more than 67 to 100, ahorse 

 1,350 lbs. in weight only drawing about 900 lbs. The horse, there- 

 fore, can draw little more than half his own weight, and a man cannot 

 draw the weight of his own body. 



This is a very poor result, if compared with the strength of the 

 cockchafer. This insect, in fact, possesses a power of traction equal 

 to more than fourteen times its own weight. If you amuse yourself 

 with the children's game of making a cockchafer draw small cargoes 

 of stones, you will be surprised at the great weight which this insigni- 

 ficant-looking animal is able to manage. 



To test the power of traction in insects, M. Plateau attached 

 them to a weight by means of a thread fastened to one of their 

 feet. The Coleoptera (Beetles) are the best adapted for these 

 experiments. 



The following are some of the results obtained by the Belgian 

 physician : — Carabiis auratus can draw seven times the weight of its 

 body ; Nebria brevicollis^ twenty-five times ; Necrophorus vespillo^ 

 fifteen times ; Trichius fasciatiis, forty-one times ; and Oryctes nasi- 

 cornis, four times only. The bee can draw twenty times the weight 

 of its body ; Donacia nyinphea * forty-two times its own weight. 



* A beetle. —Ed, 



