OBSERVATIONS ON TEXAS INSECT AND 

 ANIMAL LIFE IN GENERAL 



With Reference to the Objects Seen on the 

 Miniature Views Herein in Particular 



Formerly the quaint and his- 

 toric old Spanish-Mexican town of 

 San Antonio, now the Metropolis 

 and pride of Southwest' Texas, 

 due to its semi-tropical climate 

 and luxuriant vegetation and soil, 

 in its frontier days harbored a large 

 number of dangerous insects, which 

 nowadays are nearly extinct; but 

 the scorpion and centipede, and 

 a few others of its kind, are 

 yet occasionally met with along the 

 river bottoms, under old bark of 

 trees, under large, flat stones, 

 and among accumulated debris 

 after a flood. Though dangerous, 

 they are not as fatal in their venom- 

 inoculation, as for instance, some 

 variety of scorpions and centepedes 

 of tropical Mexico; however, their 

 repugnant appearance is enough 

 for us to let them, as many other 

 poisonous insects, severely alone. 



Being a great friend of outdoor 

 life, whenever opportunity allowed 

 it I had lots of practical experience 

 in my younger years to study all 

 kinds of Texas insects and animals 

 during hunting and outing tours; 

 and after, or during such trips 

 also prepared a nice photo collec- 

 tion of various of the Texas fauna 

 of Southwest Texas. A small part 

 of this collection is represented in 

 the miniature photo submitted 

 herewith, on page 6, the original ob- 

 jects being prepared on 4x5 plates, 

 while the entire original framed col- 

 lection is 26 by 33 inches in size. 



It would be going too far, enume- 

 rating in detail all the objects of 

 this miniature photo collection; 

 some of them, however, undoubt- 

 edly will interest the readers, for 



instance, the first upper object 

 representing the headparts with 

 poison fangs. of a very young Texas 

 centepede which was, when alive, 

 hardly two inches in length, and 

 which shows how boldly, even at 

 this remote age of its existence, 

 the poison fangs are already de- 

 veloped, as also the feelers and man- 

 dibles, and is readily seen on the 

 original and highly magnified photo- 

 micrograph of this same insect. 

 In the third lower row, a centepede 

 is depicted, which was about six 

 inches in length, and captured in 

 a stable by a friend, (Edw. Heus- 

 inger, Esq., Secretary of the San 

 Antonio Scientific Society.) 



During an outing in the hills 

 of Helotes, north of San Antonio, 

 the writer once came across one 

 of the attractive and globular 

 Cereus Cacti in full bloom. It 

 was one large conglomerated bun- 

 dle of about ten or twelve cactus, 

 one ingrown close to the other, 

 so as to form a perfect roundesd 

 mound, the size of a large bucket; 

 and, for reason of its attractive 

 blossoms of golden-yellow color we 

 were induced to dig the entire con- 

 glomeration out for transplanta- 

 tion at home. First we tried this 

 with apiece of mesquite wood, and, 

 after cqming down to the roots of 

 the cactus, I put my right hand 

 under the loosened plant in order 

 to give it the final lift. As quick 

 as lightnings however, I withdrew 

 my hand, for I received a fearful 

 and excruciating sting in my index 

 finger, from a large female scorpion, 

 which had prepared its breeding 

 nest in a furrow leading toward the 



