Relentless Foes.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 29, Issue 40, 25 May 1917, Page 2

Relentless Foes.

Got your note-book handy ? There are 500,000 different kinds of insects known to man, and every year more are being duly labelled and docketed. There ! Next item. A single grey flesh fly is so prolific that, assuming it to devote only three months to nursery matters, and to have a successful time —no accidents, no diseases—there would be, according to the late Russel Wallace, “one hundred millions of millions of millions —a number greater probably than exists at any one time in this world.' And what do you think of that now ? When we try to grasp the significance of such figures as I have quoted—Dr. Wallace was not the man to exaggerate—we realise what an excellent thing it is for us that the insect world is beset by many foes. There is not the remotest chance of those same foes ever winning. In spite of all attacks levelled against them, the insects are quite safe, but just think what would happen if the foes in question were to give up the game !

As good, all-round insect destroyers birds take a lot of beating, but it is quite a mistake to suppose that birds are the only foes the insects have need to be seriously afraid of. There are many mammals which do their share of the work of destruction ; they range from the monster anteater to the tiny field mouse, which accounts for its quota. How many ants and other insects do you suppose go to the making of one decent ant-eater ? There are also many reptiles which live exclusively on insects nor must we overlook the fish, which do their share, even if their area of usefulness is somewhat restricted. Birds, mammals, reptiles, fishes, yes, and certain plants, too, but they really must have a paragraph to themselves another time ; their uncanny machinations are extraordinary. “Some’’ enemy, what ? One wonders how an insect can sleep o’ nights. There are those which don’t.

But when all is said and done, an insect’s worst foes are those of its own race. This fact is often overlooked. There are insects preying upon insects all day long. Spiders—for our purpose they are insects—are bad enough, but there are many more deadly cannibals. Most spiders at least content' themselves by setting snares into which insects blunder, or else by lying in wait to spring on a passer-by, though there is also a hunting variety. Wasps, on the other hand, go always in search of their quarry, moving with incredible swiftness, the very personification of efficient ferocity. There are lots of others, including that arch humbug, the praying mantis, while always there are those dreaded parasites.