ALL THE REST —  October 5
  

One of God's most beneficial insects to man.

The Lacewing

The lacewings are a large group of small insects. There are at least 50 different species that live in North America. These insects have complete metamorphisis and therefore go though each level of development: the egg, pupal, larval and adult stages.

The adult lacewings are generally active only at dusk and have very short lives. Their wings are transparent, guazy, and covered with a fine network of veins. Most of the adult, lacewings are very poor fliers and would be easy prey if active during the daylight hours. The main activity of the adult lacewing is concerned with reproduction. The adult lacewing has no means of defence except, perhaps, the strong, fetid odor that it emits. Many never eat as an adult, limiting their lifespan to 4 to 6 weeks as an adult.

Before the female lacewing lays an egg, she emits a small drop of sticky substance that is drawn into a long slender thread by lifting her abdomen. Once the thread is in place, an egg is attached to the tip of the thread. This, somewhat strange habit, is very important to the survival of the lacewing species. In 6 to 14 days the egg will hatch. The hungry larva are voracious eaters and begin eating immediately. The larva are indiscriminate about what they eat and if they were not attached to the egg thread would soon eat the eggs of their own kind.

The lacewing larvae are called 'aphis-lions.' They are odd greyish-brown creatures with large curved jaws. They are designed as a very effective eating machine. The aphis-lion will grasp the first aphid or other soft boddied insect and insert its pincer like jaws and suck out the body fluid of its victim. The bottom edge of the mandible has a groove running its length that, when closed against the maxilla, forms a tube. Through this tube the juices of its prey is sucked out in less than a minute. The lacewing larva is one of the most beneficial of all insects. They destroy many kinds of plant pests, including the eggs of plant lic, scale insects, and mealy bugs.

The size that the larva grows is dependent only on the amount of food available. In about 10 days the fast growing larva rolls up in the curve of a leaf and spins a cocoon in which it spends its pupal stage. In about 2 weeks a small, delicate adult emerges and the cycle begins anew.

Sources: | Audubon Nature Encyclopedia |s

A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Proverbs 17:22 (NIV)

"What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but, scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable."

Joseph Addison

 

Did You Hear About...

A Frenchman, an Englishman, and a New Yorker were captured by cannibals. The chief comes to them and says, "The bad news is that now that we've caught you, we're going to kill you. We will put you in a pot and cook you, eat you, and then use your skins to build a canoe. The good news is that you get to choose how you die."

The French says, "I take ze poison." The chief gives him a small vial of a dark liquid. The Frenchman holds it up, says, "Vive la France!", swallows the liquid, and promptly dies.

The Englishman says, "A pistol for me, please." The chief gives him a pistol. He points it at his head, says, "God save the Queen!" and blows his brains out.

The New Yorker says, "Gimme a fork." The chief is puzzled but he shrugs, and gives him a fork. The New Yorker takes the fork and starts jabbing himself all over -- the stomach, the sides, the chest, everywhere. There's blood gushing all over, it's horrible.

The chief is appalled, and asks, "WHAT are you doing?"

The New Yorker says, "So much for your canoe, you stupid jerk!"

Contributed by Danielle Krivas From DigiDay

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Departures and Arrivals

Two men named Richard Hanson lived near each other in the same community. One was a minister and the other was a businessman. The minister passed away at about the same time as the businessman went on a trip to Florida.

When the businessman arrived in Florida, he sent a telegram to his wife informing her of his safe arrival. Unfortunately, the message was delivered in error to the wife of the recently deceased minister.

The telegram read: ARRIVED SAFELY; HEAT HERE TERRIFIC.

From: Catherine Weeks

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Texas tourist:

A Texan was taking a taxi tour of London, and was in a hurry.

As they went by the Tower of London the cabbie explained what it was and that construction started in 1346 and it was completed in 1412, the Texan replied, "Shoot, a little ol' tower like that? In Houston we'd have that thing up in two weeks!"

House of Parliament next - Started construction in 1544, completed 1618 "Boy, we put up a bigger one than that in Dallas and it only took a year!"

As they passed Westminister Abbey the cabby was silent.

"Whoah! What's that over there?" exclaimed the Texan.

"I couldn't say, it wasn't there yesterday..."

Source: bill@ssbn.UUCP (Bill Kennedy)

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A man said his credit card was stolen but he decided not to report it because the thief was spending less than his wife did.

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Good Afternoon! I just received the following virus alert from a good friend who is very computer and cyberspace savvy. Be careful and heed the warning.

If you receive an email entitled "Badtimes," delete it immediately. Do not open it. Apparently this one is pretty nasty.

It will not only erase everything on your hard drive, but it will also delete anything on disks within 20 feet of your computer. It demagnetizes the stripes on ALL of your credit cards. It reprograms your ATM access code, screws up the tracking on your VCR and uses subspace field harmonics to scratch any CD's you attempt to play.

It will re-calibrate your refrigerator's coolness settings so all your ice cream melts and your milk curdles. It will program your phone auto dial to call only your mother-in-law's number. This virus will mix antifreeze into your fish tank. It will drink all your beer. (For God's sake, are you listening?!!!!!!) It will leave dirty socks on the coffee table when you are expecting company. It will replace your shampoo with Nair and your Nair with Rogaine, all while dating your current boy/girlfriend behind your back and billing their hotel rendezvous to your Visa card. It will cause you to run with scissors and throw things in a way that is only fun until someone loses an eye.

It will rewrite your backup files, changing all your active verbs to passive tense and incorporating undetectable misspellings which grossly change the interpretations of key sentences.

If the "Badtimes" message is opened in a Windows95/98 environment, it will leave the toilet seat up and leave your hair dryer plugged in dangerously close to a full bathtub. It will not only remove the forbidden tags from your mattresses and pillows, it will also refill your skim milk with whole milk.

Be careful!

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TRUE FACT ...

Humans begin laughing at two to three months of age. Six year olds laugh about 300 times per day, while adults laugh from 15 to 100 times per day.

SOURCE: NYT, Dr. William F. Fry, Stanford University

Life is like a box of chocolates. It's full of nuts.

Daily Miscellany Comics

Have A Great Day !

Phillip

Soul Food October 5

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