AN INSECT GHOST.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16662, 18 February 1922, Page 16

AN INSECT GHOST.

MYSTERY OF NATURE. 03 v ERNEST OR ABBE in “ Pearson’s Weekly.”) The full life of a beetle is one of the greatest mysteries of Nature. How ’t passes through the egg stage, the grub stage, and becomes a full-grown beetle is a romance of low* lire. The horror of beetles is almost universal amongst human beings, particularly children, and is explained as a legacy from prehistoric times. The commonest case is, of course, the general loathing that is felt for the ‘‘ black beetle ’’ of the kitchen, which (by the way; is not a beetle at all, but a cousin to the cricket. True beetles are those that pass through the orthodox “ grub ?> stage, whirli the “ black beetle ” or cockroach does not, and the best example for oui present purpose will be the common Watchman beetle. which drones its wheeling flight in the dusk and blunders against the window pane or even in our race as we stroll out or doors. A baffling mystery is waiting to be , solved concerning the transformations )f insects like this, for the closest observation has only enabled us to sec to some extent wliat does happen, and has left.the question of “ how? ” still unanswered. The whitish-grey grubs of Watchman beetles may easily be found at the roots of meadow-grass, and to observe the mystery in progress they should l>e placed with a little soil in a tiu box with a glass lid. As soou as the grub is full grown, it enters up a short but surprising series of changes which are weirdness itself, and quite different from those under gone by many other classes of insect. ft would seem as though this insect were possessed of some strange powers for every particle of it. all the external and internal orghns dissolved before i our eyes as surely as the Cheshire cat was supposed to have done, leaving not even the Grin behind. What is the nature of the spirit forces hero at work 9 We see. if we watch patiently, a subtle change soon taking place, usually in the dead of night, and a veritable ghost l>eetle appears, semi-trans-parent, water grey, and, as it were, from nowhere.. The gift of wings, eyes, and antenre is faintly discernible, and new limbs, as well as new internal organs, are obtained. Tt is a fateful moment for the insect itself, which sometimes perishes at this stage, being so delicate that the least change of temperature or disturbance, certainly the lightest touch of a hu • man finger, will cause the ghoat-beetle to shrivel away. If all goes well, however, the mystery deepens and the ghost-beetle becomg less ethereal. There will bo firmness and a flush of colour. The solidity increases further, mid before long horny plates appear, legs become pronounced and wings are released. The incredible has taken place, which must be seen to l>e believed, for there lias been no -chrysalis mask thrown off, ns in the case of butterflies and other insects.

Out nf the palp ghost, all that whj left of the soft white maggot, lias come a great metallic-blue mail-clad beetle similar to the ancient scarab, worshipped bv the Egyptians, a picture o: which can ho seen carved on Cleopatra's Needle.