Texas Nature Observations and Reminiscenses Page: 5
323 p. : ill., ports. ; 26 cm.View a full description of this book.
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OBSERVATIONS ON TEXAS INSECT AND
ANIMAL LIFE IN GENERAL
With Reference to the Objects Seen on the
Miniature Views Herein in ParticularFormerly 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, forinstance, 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 showed 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 rounded
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 a piece of mesquite wood, and,
after coming 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 lightning, 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
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Menger, R. Texas Nature Observations and Reminiscenses, book, 1913; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth143558/m1/9/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Texas Health Science Center Libraries.