The Lancaster Farmer. 



Prof. S. S. RATHVON, Editor. 



LANCASTER, PA., AUGUST, 1876. 



Vol. VIII. No. 8. 



INSECTS NEVER GROW. 



Many fancy that a little tly is only little lie- 

 cause it is yodufi, and tliat it will ^aow up in 

 process of time to be as big as a lilue-bottle. 

 Now tliis is entirely wnniR, for wlieii an insect 

 hasonce attained to its wiiigcd slateit>j;ro\vsno 

 more. All the growing, and most part nf the 

 eating is done in its iirevious state of life, and 

 indeed there are many insects, such as the silk 

 worm moth, which do not eat at all from thu 

 time tliat they assume the chrysalis state to the 

 time tliey die. — Uhaixh Union. 



" That's so" — and yet it is only so in a qual- 

 ified sense, for there are some insects that 

 never attain to a wiTiged state ; that is, tliey 

 are either totally wingless, or are so seldom 

 seen in that state, that most i)ersons never 

 know otherwise than that they are wingless 

 always. Especially is this the case with ants, 

 lleas, s|>ring-lails, and the females of some bugs, 

 grasshoppers, crickets, b.'etles, moths, Hies, 

 and all lice, as well as many others. Although 

 it is not strictly true that "insects never 

 grow," yet it is true that they never grow 

 after that stage of development when the 

 large body of the insect world attain to a 

 winged state ; but there are some orders of in- 

 sects to which the rule may be applied almost 

 universally. There is nothing that is more 

 likely to leave a false impression upon the 

 minds of the superficial on this subject than 

 the appcnriince that insects do grow without 

 any qnalitication whatever — indeed we often 

 meet persons thoroughly informed on many 

 other subjects, who suppose that the dilVerent 

 sizes in insects of apparently the same kinds, 

 are indications of difierent ages. Practically 

 there are four more or less directly marked 

 periods in the life of insects, and are the ora, 

 or egg state ; the lar>Hi, or worm state ; the 

 piqjii, or intermediate state, and iiii'iyo, or 

 adult state ; and in one or the other of these 

 states the species are perpetuated, or carried 

 over from one season to another. In beetles, 

 butterflies, moths, bees, wasps, hornets, flies, 

 dragon-flies, and some others, these states, 

 as a general rule, are very distinctly marked ; 

 but they are not so in bugs, cockroaches, 

 locusts, earwings, grasshop|)ers, treehoi)pers, 

 crickets, and a number of others. In this 

 latitude, perhaps, the one particular spe- 

 cies (except the connuon house-fly) which im- 

 presses itself earliest and the most indeliljly 

 upon the minds of youth or adult age, is the 

 common " tiunble-hug " or "tumble-dung," 

 from its habit of forming a ball out of animal 

 excretions, and rolling jt for some distance be- 

 fore burying it in the earth. This is the C«?i- 

 tkon iit'ci.s of entomologists, although there are 

 various si)eciesof them. Now, from more than 

 fifty years ago, when we made the lirst obser- 

 vation, down to five and thirty years ago, we 

 were under the impression that the various 

 sizes of these insects, found in the droiipings 

 of cattle, were the young and the old of tlie 

 same specie.s. For, had we not over and over 

 again deprived the industrious and persevering 

 owners of these l)alls, opened them, and found 

 tlierein a small black beetle, approximating in 

 form to the former pos.ses.sors of the ball, and 

 what else, we thought, could they possibly be 

 if they were not their legitimate offspring? 

 These little black beetles, we sulweipiently 

 learned, were not only dill'erent species, but 

 belonged to different genera, Aiihodius. Onthn- 

 2)li(i(jux and others. Nor did tin; fact that we 

 sometimes foun<l w'ltbin these balls little 

 beetles that were not entirely black — the 

 hinder half of the body beinir mottled with 

 clay yellow — astonisli us any more than that 

 we should occiisionally sec a robin, a catbird, 

 or a mouse, that wiu> altogether or nearly 

 white. 



liut since then it has been demonstrated to 

 us a thousand times, clear as the light of the 



living day, that these beetles do not grow or 

 ac(pnre any new beauty after they have jussum- 

 ed the beetle form— nor any other species lie- 

 longing to the same order — and that all the 

 dilferent sizes indicate dilferent .sjiecios, or 

 varieties of the same species. The eggs, how- 

 ever, of some ius(rts do very perceptibly in- 

 crease in size, and the larva or grub grows, 

 and sometimes grows very rapidly, in all of 

 them. ]?ut tlu^'c is as much dilTereiiec in the 

 size of the larni as there is in the sizt; of the 

 beetles into which they are suhseipienlly trans- 

 formed. As a general thing the m.iture beetles, 

 if they feed on anything at all, it is on a dif- 

 ferent substance from which the larva fed upon. 

 We may except the carniverous species, and 

 someT)fthe cilliYSOMEL.VNS— the "Colorado 

 I>otato beetles," the "Tortoise beetles," &c., 

 &c.,for instance; under any circunistances, 

 however, it is while they are in the larva state 

 that they increase; in size, or grow, and it is 

 during that state that the destructive kinds are 

 the most destructive. Tjike active and hungry 

 boys, they are always hungry and can always 

 eat. Indeed, childhood and youth may be ap- 

 propriately regarded as the larval period of 

 manhood, and the future perfection of the in- 

 sect deiiends as much upon a i)lcntiful supply 

 of healthy food as the physical perfection of 

 manhood dei>ends upon proper food and physi- 

 cal training whilst in the boy state. During 

 the jiupii or intermediate state, beetliw eat 

 nothing. Some eat nothing, or next to not hing, 

 in the im'iijo state; but others eat fruit, foliage, 

 pollen, flowers, and the predaceous kinds feed 

 on carrion or other small insects, grubs, water 

 animals, or fishes, &c., &c. 



The larva of butterflies and moths, which 

 are known under the names of caterpillars, 

 cut-worms, sphinxes, or simply worms, all 

 grow ; and in many instances grow very rap- 

 idly ; and during that period feed very raven- 

 ously, eating their own bulk and weight in a 

 single day ; but after they have assumed the 

 butterfly and motli forms they never grow 

 .any. They not only do not grow, but they 

 acquire no new beauties, but rather lose their 

 original beauty the older they get, and we 

 often see them awkwardly flitting about in 

 faded and tattered garment?, dilapidated car- 

 icatures of their former .selves. The best speci- 

 mens obtained by entomologists, are those 

 which are bred under their own personal su- 

 ])ervision. Therefore, all the different sizes of 

 these insects we sec, are indications of ditTiu"- 

 ent species, except, as before stated, the dilfer- 

 ent varieties or sizes in the same species, which 

 may have Ijcen caused by contingencies be- 

 yond the control of the insects, such as stinted 

 food, inferior (luality of the food, or unfriend- 

 ly weather and surroundings. In no other 

 r>i'(?fr of insects, universally Considered, is there 

 a more marked distinction in form and habits 

 — l)etween the larva, the pup (, and the iiiiarjii 

 — than there is in that which includes th(; but- 

 terflies and moths. T]u'larv(i' are ma.sli<;ating 

 animals, thepiyw'are (piiescent and fixed, and 

 the «(ia;/rc are suctorial in their feeding habits. 

 In the order Dqilera, or two-winged (lies, the 

 ca.se is the same, that is, they do not grow- 

 after they have assumed the form of a fly, not- 

 withstanding the great variety in the sizes of 

 the masses that are sometimes found congre- 

 gated together, may appear as if they were 

 young and old, but it is only an ujipiarancc, 

 for, in reality, tlie smallest fly may happen to 

 be the oldest, and virc versa. It is the same 

 in offers mentioned and umnentioned, alter 

 they have acquired wings, namely, they do not 

 grow. It will be remembered that in the fore- 

 goina the larvie are excluded from the eggs in 

 the form of grubs, worms, cateriiillars, mag- 

 gots, &c., some entirely footless, and others 

 having from six to twenty-two feet ; but in 

 those which follow, the larva come from the 



eggs in the form of the mature insects— or 

 nearly so— lacking only the wings ; having the 

 usual six feet, the m.ilidibulated or suctorial 

 mouths the same, in all their states of transi- 

 tion, and feed throughout the entire peritMls 

 of their lives; and conseriuently liave no (jui- 

 esc(!nt period, but are as iictive and dastruc- 

 tive in one state ius they are in the otlicr. In 

 these it may appt^ar to the novice that insects 

 dngrow, from the fact that he may not l»e able 

 to distinguish between larva, pupa and imago, 

 but even in these they do not grow after they 

 get wings, although some of fliem never attain 

 those a|)pendages, whether they are miles or 

 females, ov whether they are old or young. 



(Jrilsshoppers (tnic), locusts, ami crickets, 

 for instance, have the same number anil the 

 same formed limbs when youngth'^y ever have, 

 and can hop from thi! moment they leave the 

 eggs. This is the same in reg.ard to tin; true 

 bugs-, the tree-hoppers, the false locusts, and 

 approximately many othcn's that do not hop. 

 Therefore, to say that " Insectsdo not grow," 

 without any (pialilication whatever, would not 

 be credited by tho.se who may have the demon- 

 stration before their eyes daily, that they do 

 grow ; so little are the mas.ses of the i>e"ople 

 acciLstomed to observe and consider in.sects 

 with reference to the different stages of their 

 develoiunent. liut, it nevertheless is strictly 

 true, that insects do not grow after they have 

 emerged from the intermediate or pupa state, 

 whether they have wings or not. They not 

 only do not increase in size, but they acipiiro 

 no new instincts, nor do they ;icquire any new 

 colors or new beauties ; but, on th(( contrary, 

 many of them almost immediately after their 

 final transf(n'mation, begin to lose the colors 

 .and beauties they originally h.ad. 



In conclusion, we may state that where we 

 have used the terms locust and (n«e locust, we 

 do not allude to the iiusect which has wrongly 

 received the popular name of liKiu<t in tlio 

 United States, and which we have denominat- 

 ed -.i false locust. We allude to what is po|)U- 

 larly called a grasshopper. There seems, how- 

 ever, little u.se now in explaining the dis- 

 tinction between true and false locusts, because 

 the min<ls of the masses seem set in a wrong 

 direction on that subject, and it is (juestiona- 

 ble whether they will ever get right on it. If 

 a knowledge of the distinction and compli.ance 

 therewith were made the basis of .salvation in 

 this Union, hardly one in a thousiiud could 

 possibly be saved. — El). 



A NEW PEST. 



A new enemy of the farmer's has made its 

 appearance in the shape of a small worm, 

 which infests the clover bloss'ims, eating them 

 off, and thus preventing the production of 

 seed. Mr. I'aul Halliet, of Ballietsville, I'a.. 

 brought a lot of clover to town, which he hau 

 gathered on his way hither. Some of the 

 blo.ssoms were entirely filled with these worms, 

 and the others more or less so. These worms 

 are a nuich greater pest and more dangcntus 

 than the potato bug, from the fact that they 

 are .so small as to be hardly discernible, and 

 complete their ravages before they can lie dis- 

 covered. It is said that in Berks county acres 

 of clover fields have been visited by these 

 Worms, and that fears are entertained of a 

 total failure of the clover crop. — Eastoii Free 

 Press. 



The above pai-agraph has appeared in several 

 papers in the eastern part of Pennsylvania ; 

 but if the in.sect referred to has m.Kle its ai>- 

 pearance in I>anca.stcr county, it has thus far 

 not come to our knowledge. There is some- 

 thing very indefinite, however, instating that 

 an insect "in the .shai>e of a small worm " is 

 destroying the clover, especially since there 

 are so many thousiuids of worms, of different 



