"LADY BUG, LADY BUG".

National Park Inn at Longmire Springs was "host" last week to what was without doubt the largest assembly of "ladies" that ever gathered there. But they were Lady Bugs, or more correctly speaking Lady Beetles.

During the afternoon about tea time in fact, these friendly insects "dropped-in" literally by the tens of thousands. They were not asked to register so no accurate count was made. Hotel people spoke of "millions of them" and a casual glance would lead one to suspect that they were right. Certain large spots beneath the eaves of the hotel and especially the surrounding cottages were litteraly red with small beetles. In other places they resembled swarming bees. Many of them spent the night at the Inn but all of them departed next day.

This fall assembly of Lady Bugs is not an uncommon spectacle in the West, as it is the habit of this species to gather together in imense numbers and huddle together beneath the loose bark of dead trees, in crevices of rock, or other suitable shelter, during their winter hibernation. In the spring they will be out again in similar flocks.

The lady Beetle is exceedingly beneficial to mankind as both the larvae and the adults spend their time searching out and eating insects that are so destructive to vegetation.