Wicked Bugs: The Louse that Conquered Napoleon's Army & Other Diabolical Insects

240 Pages·2011·5.13 MB·English

by  Stewart Amy

WICKED BUGS
ALSO BY AMY STEWART
From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden
The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms
Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of
Flowers
Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother & Other Botanical
Atrocities
Wicked Bugs
THE LOUSE THAT CONQUERED NAPOLEON’S ARMY &
OTHER DIABOLICAL INSECTS
Amy Stewart
ETCHINGS AND DRAWINGS BY
Briony Morrow-Cribbs
Published by
ALGONQUIN BOOKS OF CHAPEL HILL
Post Office Box 2225
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27515-2225
a division of
WORKMAN PUBLISHING
225 Varick Street
New York, New York 10014
© 2011 by Amy Stewart. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Published simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son Limited.
Design by Anne Winslow, with thanks to Jean-Marc Troadec.
Reproduction of the Schmidt Pain Index (pages 137–138) reprinted by
permission of Justin O. Schmidt.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stewart, Amy.
Wicked bugs : the louse that conquered Napoleon’s army & other
diabolical insects / Amy Stewart ; etchings and drawings by
Briony Morrow-Cribbs.—1st ed
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-56512-960-3
1. Insect pests. 2. Arachnida. I. Morrow-Cribbs, Briony. II. Title.
SB931.S83 2011
632′.7—dc22 2011003629
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First Edition
To PSB
CONTENTS
Warning: We Are Seriously Outnumbered
African Bat Bug
She’s Just Not That Into You
Asian Giant Hornet
Assassin Bug
Bugs of War
Bed Bug
Biting Midge
Black Fly
Black Widow
Stinging Caterpillars
Bombardier Beetle
Brazilian Wandering Spider
Curse of the Scorpion
Brown Marmorated Stink Bug
Brown Recluse
Chigger Mite
Chigoe Flea
Have No Fear
Cockroach
Colorado Potato Beetle
The Gardener’s Dirty Dozen
Corn Rootworm
Death-Watch Beetle
Bookworms
Deer Tick
Filth Fly
I’ve Got You Under My Skin
Formosan Subterranean Termite
The Ants Go Marching
Giant Centipede
Mediterranean Fruit Fly
Millipede
Arrow Poisons
Mosquito
Mountain Pine Beetle
Nightcrawler
The Enemy Within
Oriental Rat Flea
Paederus Beetle
Corpse-Eaters
Phylloxera
Rocky Mountain Locust
Fear No Weevils
Sand Fly
Scabies Mite
What’s Eating You?
Spanish Fly
Tarantula
Tsetse fly
Zombies
END NOTES
About the Artist
Resources
Bibliography
Index
INTRODUCTION
WARNING: We Are Seriously Outnumbered
In 1909, the Chicago Daily Tribune ran an article titled “If Bugs Were the
Size of Men.” It began with this ominous statement: “All the powers of
destruction that were ever invented by man are puerile and absurd compared
with those with which nature has invested insects.” The reporter went on to ask
what would happen “if some mighty magician’s wand should be waved over the
world tomorrow and mankind be reduced to the size of insects, while these tiny
creatures should reach the size of men.”
Chicagoans must have read with alarm of the calamities that would befall
them if they were to trade places with bugs: the giant Hercules beetle was not
just formidable, but immoral, with a taste for drinking and brawling; bark beetles
would mow down massive fortresses; armies would be helpless against the
artillery of the bombardier beetle; and spiders would “destroy elephants . . . a
man’s only possible salvation would be that he was too insignificant to attack.”
Even lions would cower in fear against these new winged and multilegged
enemies.
The reporter’s intent was, undoubtedly, to make the point that insects are
powerful in their own way and to suggest that only their diminutive size keeps
them from conquering the world.
If only that were true. In fact, insects have changed the course of history.
They have halted soldiers in their tracks. They have driven farmers off their land.
They have devoured cities and forests, and inflicted pain, suffering, and death
upon hundreds of millions.
This is not to say that they don’t do good as well. They pollinate the plants
that feed us, and they are themselves food for creatures up and down the food
chain. They do the vital work of decomposition, returning everything from fallen
leaves to fallen heroes back to the earth. Any number of insects, from the blow
fly to the blister beetle, have proven useful in medicine. And they prey on one
another, keeping pests in check. We could not live without them. In fact,
indiscriminate pesticide use and destruction of insect habitats is far more
harmful than simply learning to live alongside them and to appreciate their finer
qualities.