The Strangest Things in the World: A Book About Extraordinary Manifestations of NatureHenry, Thomas R. (Thomas Robert)
History
The Strangest Things in the World: A Book About Extraordinary Manifestations of Nature
Henry, Thomas R. (Thomas Robert)
Animal behavior; Natural history
When they emerge from the last of their feeding chambers, the locusts
dig rapidly upward and construct a somewhat different type of dwelling
some inches below the surface. These are two-chambered, with upper and
lower rooms connected by tunnels five to ten inches long. These are
so ingeniously constructed, according to Dr. E. A. Andrews of Johns
Hopkins University, that they provide “the advantage of safety along
with quick access to the surface when the proper time comes. In the
shaft the nymph climbs close to the surface or falls rapidly to the
bottom to escape attacks. The lining of the shaft is smooth mud a few
millimeters thick. The shafts are by no means always straight or of
uniform diameter, but may be sinuous and present swollen regions.” In
one area examined he found at the topsoil was such a mass of small
stones and roots that the insects must actually have cut their way
through roots. Large obstacles often were avoided by a change in
direction.
“The chief implements used in making cavities in the earth”, according
to Dr. Andrews' report, “are the big first legs. Here, as in other
legs, the end segment is used chiefly in walking and may be folded
down when not needed. The second segment from the tip is used to pick
off particles of earth. The third segment is the largest and, like a
powerful thumb, acts with the opposing second segment as a forceps to
pick up pellets of earth and small stones. The minute particles picked
loose from the earth are raked together by the tip segment to make a
pellet, which the forceps can carry or shove into the walls of the
cavity. However, all parts of the body may come into use, for the hind
legs and the abdomen may help shove earth aside and the head may carry
earth plastered upon it. In vertical tunnels the animal braces its legs
against the sides and, if disturbed, relaxes and drops down.”
The last dwelling is large enough for the nymph to turn around
inside and usually has a flattened floor. The top comes quite close
to the surface without actually breaking through, leaving only a
few millimeters of earth through which the insect must dig when the
transmutation to an adult locust takes place. Examination of many
of these tubular dwellings shows that there are no interconnections
between them. Each has its own individual exit and along its course
avoids contact with other chambers, although they often are very close
together. This last home of the locust, before it emerges from the
everlasting darkness to the world of light and quick death which is its
pre-ordained destiny, is not necessarily restricted to the earth but
may be contained above the surface. Aerial extensions may, in fact,
be abundant and are in the form of turrets, towers, cones, chimneys,
huts and adobe houses. The walls are of dense mud, not natural soil.
Externally they are made of tiny mud pellets, but lined internally with
the same smooth layer found in the underground dwellings.
_Plants That Create Mirages_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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