Is That So?
By EUGENE BURNS
Ringer-Naturalist
In studying animals, one is al-. about four-inches and live on
ways baffled: where does blind ' nectar. When excited they give
instinct leave off? And where, off a warning ordor. Their sting
possibly, does reasoning begin? is potent, much worse than that
Take the deadly relationship of a bee.
Around Hollywood
By ALINE MOSBT
United Press Correspondent
of the tarantula spider and dig
ger wasp of our Southland.
Customarily tarantulas live in
deep burrows from which they
emerge at dusk and into which
they retire at dawn. Although
the male dies in a few weeks
after mating, the female lives
many years and lays from 200
to 400 eggs at a time, thus is
capable of producing several
thousand young. Upon birth,
each of these young are im
mediately independent.
Although tarantulas have no
toriously poor eyesight and littl
or no sense of hearing, they have
an extremely delicate sense of
touch and when touched.
hungry, attack immediately. So
swiftly, in fact, that when
seizes a cricket the human eye
is too slow to record the swift
assault. But when not hungry,
an insect can walk under its
hairy body unharmed.
Now, for its deadly enemy,
our digger wasp Pepsis.
These solitary wasps of beauti
ful blue have a wing span of
On The Side
By E. V. DURUNG
(Distributed by King Features
Syndicate. Inc.)
The average Danish bachelor
would not think of accepting a
young woman s proposal of mar
riage- unless she could display
a diploma indicating her gradua
tion from a "housewife school.
In these Danish schools young
women are given a thorough
six-month course in housekeep
ing, cooking, child rearing and
interior decoration. Similar
courses are given in this coun
try in so-called "brides schools.
But they are not greatly attend
ed. The average American girl
waits until she is married to
learn how to cook and be an ef
ficient housewife.
Among The Married
What did your wife weigh on
her wedding day? What were
her measurements on that happy
occasion? Has she still her
bride's figure?" A marked in
crease in weight on a wife's part
frequently develops a dangerous
situation. Her spouse's love may
begin to fade. He may permit
his eyes to wander longingly in
the direction streamlined beau
ties passing by. In Chicago a
husband offered his wife's in
crease in weight as grounds for
divorce. What's more the judge
presiding expressed the view
there was justice in this plea
When married, the wife in ques
tion was five feet, two inches,
and weighed 137. Eighteen years
later she was still five feet, two.
but weighed 190! The judge ask
ed the husband if he would
agree to cancel the divorce plea
if his wife would reduce her
weight to what it was when she
was a bride. The husband agreed
to that. The wife was given six
months to affect the reduction.
She did it.
Profitable Disc
From one recording of the
song titled "Little Things Mean
A Lot, Kitty Kallen has col
lected royalties amounting to
$80,000. Remember when they
said the introduction of the ra
dio would kill the phonograph
recording business?
Please Note
. The whining excuse that
carrying 132 pounds would be a
menace to Nashua's future
health and breeding ability is
an insult to any well informed
turf fan's intelligence. Discovery
who earned 136 pounds to vic
tory in the Brooklyn handicap
is now 25 years old, in good
health and the possessor of a
remarkable breeding record.
Asides
William Franklin Beedle.
Cinema luminary professionally
known as William Holden. He is
a native of O'Fallon, 111. His
future is well taken care of. He
has a 14-year contract calling
for a salary of about $6,000 a
week. Not bad. Still Tom Mix,
the great western star of the
yesteryear, had a contract call
ing for $20,000 a week. And
that was when the dollar had
three times its present buying
power and the income tax was
much less . . . Charles B.
Wrightsman. Texas oil tycoon.
He is a graduate of Phillips Exe
ter Academy, the second best
preparatory school in America.
Now quite an art collector. Re
cently paid $350,000 for Ver
meer's "Portrait of Young
Girl."
Princess
Grace Kelly is now a princess
but indications are that her
feelings are still 100 per cent
American. She sailed to her wed
ding on an American ship and
plans to make her first trip
home on another American ship,
the S.S. United States. More
power to her. I
In the adult stage, the wasp
lives a few months and the fe
male produces but a few eggs.
one at a time every two or three
days.
One for Each Egg
And now for their deadly re
lationship. For each of its eggs,
the mother wasp must provide
one adult paralyzed tarantula
This tiny egg, the mother wasp
attaches to the host. Upon hat
ching, the immature young feeds
on the tarantula's body it takes
no other food or water and by
the time It has finished its en
ormous meal, it is ready to take
up wasphood and the female to
lay her eggs in other tarantulas
As soon as the egg within the
female wasp is almost ready to
be laid and note the timing
the mother wasp at once goes
tarantula hunting. Mind, it is a
solitary wasp and has never seen
a tarantula before. But flying
low over the ground, towards
dusk, the wasp knows exactly
where to look for its victim,
near the mouth of a tarantula
burrow, a round hole edged with
silk.
And the knowing wasp is a
sharp entomologist. Each species
of this wasp knows its spiders
by heart it requires a certain
species of tarantula, and never
attacks the wrong kind.
To indentify the right species
and there are many the dig
ger wasp explores the tarantula
spider with her antennae, crawl
ing under it and walking over
it without arousing any hostil
ity although the investigation
may cause the tarantula to rise
up on all eight legs as if on
stilts, standing this way some
times for several minutes.
Satisfied that this is the right
species, the knowing wasp now
moves off a few inches and ex
cuvates a hole up to 10 inches
deep, with a diameter just a
fraction large than the spider's
width the spiders grave.
They Roll on Ground
Grave finished, the wasp re
turns to its ghastly job. Again,
she feels over her victim. This
time searching for exactly the
right spot and there is only
one spot where she could pene
trate the taranaula s horny
skeleton. Finally, spot found,
she grasps one of the spider's
legs in her powerful jaws. Now
a terrifying battle begins: the
two roll over and over on the
ground. But the outcome is al
ways the same the wasp
thrusts her sting deep into the
soft vital spot and holds it there
for a few seconds, pumping in
the poison.
Almost immediately, the tara
ntula falls paralyzed on its
back, its lees stop twitching and
its heart stops beating. Yet it
not dead, only paralyzed
kept in a moist place, it can be
restored to some sensitivity
months later.
Next, the wasp drags the help
less tarantula into the bottom of
the grave, attaches her egg with
a sticky secretion, emerges, fills
the grave with soil carried bit
by bit in her jaws, and finally
tamps the ground all around
evenly to hide any trace of the
grave from prowlers. Her off
spring is safely started in life.
Contrast the two: the tarant
ula's confusion and stupidity; the
wasp's seemingly intelligent ac
tions.
Recognizing this, nature has
provided the answer: fertility,
To keep the species going, the
tarantula is 'capable of giving
birth to several thousands; the
wasp to less than 1 100th part
of this number. And so, digger
wasp and tarantula thrive.
(Copyright, 1956, by
Eugene Burns)
(Released by McClure News
paper Syndicate)
Free: By special arrangement
with the editors of the Encyclo
pedia Americana, my panel of
judges will award each week to
the reader who sends me the best
true-life nature adventure, the
best nature observation, or the
best question on nature and wild
life, a complete 30-volume set
of this world-famous reference
work in a handsome Sealcraft
binding. Each week new submis
sions will be considered. Sorry,
I simply can't answer your many
friendly letters. Please addre
your letter to: Is That So! co
Medford Mail Tribune, Box 575,
Sausalito, Calif.
xaminer Completes
irsf of Hearings
Washington (U.R) A Fed
eral Power commission examiner
Friday completed the first round
of hearings on the Pacific North
west Power company's proposal
to build a $217.4 million hydro
electric project on the Snake riv
er below Hells Canyon.
Hearings before Chief Examin
er Edward B. Marsh will resume
on Sept. 24.
Pacific Northwest is a gener-
ting company formed by four
Northwestern utilities. It has pro
posed a two-dam project which
would generate almost 1.2 mil
lion kilowatts. The company said
it would be the only new devel
opment capable of relieving criti
cal power shortages in the area
in 1960.
Use Tribune Want Ads
Editor's note: Aline Mosby
is on vacation. Sheree North
lakes pen in hand today to
complain about the lack of
comedies in the movies.
By SHEREE NORTH
Written for United Press
Hollywood (U.R) Everyone
is so busy contemplating their
own navels since the New York
Actor's Studio routine; everyone
is so darn serious about the
thespian art, that people are
forgetting the wonderful art of
making people laugh.
My agent has given me about
60 scripts to read but not one
of them made me smile, much
less grin or chuckle.
It seems to me the only people
who still make the art of laugh
ter an art are the French, es
pecially Fernandel. Everyone
else in all the drama classes is
working on "Hedda Gabler."
Laugh-getting Difficult
1 Take those wonderful scripts
which two of us in class will get
up and go but not one of us
can get up and make someone
else laugh.
We don't seem to have many
performers who can make us
laugh. I've seen some of the
stuff that's supposed to be great
comedy on TV I don't mean a
Sid Caesar or indvidual comed
ians. I mean a play that has
comedy situations. You don't see
them.
I liked "I Am A Camera." It
was a little long, but it had
monderful comedy touches. I'd
like to see more of that type
of thing. Nowadays everyone is
interested in taking off their
makeup and doing the "Snake
pit" routine.
More Comedy Needed
What the world needs Is more
comedy like "The Sheep Has
Five Legs," "The Little World
of Don Camillo," and the Alec
Monday, August 20, I95S
MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE SEVEN
Guiness comedies, and more
Cary Grant. Above all, Cary
Grant. Remember "Bringing Up
Baby" with Cary and Katherine
Hepburn? What's Cary doing in
a Spanish drama, if that's what
it is, like "The Pride And The
Passion." Come back, Cary, to
what you're the undisputed
master of-Iight comedy.
Maybe the lack of comedies
is the fault of writers rather
than actors. When you get some
good comedy situations in a pic
ture -you're glad you're in it.
I don't have the comedy in my
latest, "The Best Things in Life
Are Free," but I do in the next.
"Do-Re-Mi," from a story in the the story I never dreamed I'd
Atlantic Monthly. When I read get to do It. . - '
FIRST Showing III MEDFORD I
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