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© THE INSECT WORLD;

BEING

A POPULAR ACCOUNT OF THE ORDERS OF
INSECTS,

TOGETHER WITH A DESCRIPTION

OF

THE HABITS AND ECONOMY OF SOME OF THE MOST
INTERESTING SPECIES.

BY

LOUIS FIGUIER,

AUTHOR OF “THE WORLD BEFORE THE DELUGE,” “ THE VEGETABLE WORLD,”
“THE OCEAN WORLD,” ETC., ETC.

Fourth ThousanI—English Translation.
REVISED AND CORRECTED BY KE. W. JANSON, Lisey. E.S.,

MEMBER OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETIES OF LONDON, FRANCE, BERLIN, STETTIN,
ETC., ETC.

WITH 576 ILLUSTRATIONS,

BY MM. EH. BLANCHARD, “DELAHAYE, AFTER REAUMUR, ETC.

LONDON: }
CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY.

cds OOy

PREFACH TO SECOND EDITION.

In preparing the present edition of the “Insect World,” I have
adhered to the text of the first, except where alterations were
imperatively needed.

With regard to the Strepsiptera, placed originally before the
Coleoptera, I have followed the generally accepted plan of incor-
porating these remarkable insects as a distinct family, with the
latter Order.

Epwarp W. JANSON.

March, 1869.

EDITOR’S PREFACE.

(FIRST ENGLISH TRANSLATION. )

Tue following translation of M. Figuier’s “Les Insectes” was
put into my hands, chiefly for the purpose of rendering the
technicalities and the names of species, when made necessary
by the use of French vernaculars, intelligible to English readers.
In this not always easy task, I have received much kind
assistance from Mr. Janson and Mr. F. P. Pascoe, to whom I
offer my best thanks. Beyond this, some generic synonyms of
frequent use, placed between brackets, some foot-notes en passant,
a few remarks on the occurrence of individual species in this
country, and the insertion of the short chapter on the Order
Strepsiptera, I have interfered but little with the sense of the
original.

Ye D:

CusyGaTEr, NEAR Hsuer, Surrey,
April, 1868.

CONTENTS.

In rRODUCTION
APTERA
DipreRA

Nemocera

Brachyeera .

HEMIPTERA
Heteroptera

Homoptera .

LEPIDOPTERA 5 :
’ The Larva, or Caterpillar
The Chrysalis, or Pupa
The Perfect Insect
ORTHOPTERA
HYMENOPTERA
NEUROPTERA
CoLEOPTERA

INDEX

PAGE

. 433
. 518

LIST OF PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS.

THE DRAGON-FLY—PERFECT InsEcT, LARVH, AND PuPz Frontispiece.

TO FACE PAGE

A HERD oF HORSES ATTACKED BY GAD-FLIES. . : : Shy fe)
A HERD OF CATTLE ATTACKED BY BOT-FLIES . ; : ; om 62
SHEEP ATTACKED BY Cephalemyia ovis 3 : : : : 1) 106
GATHERING COCHINEAL IN ALGERIA . 4 ‘ : : 3 7 18o
THE HMPRESS SI-LING-CHI GATHERING MULBERRY LEAVES . eile
A SILK-WoRM REARING ESTABLISHMENT . : : 2 7 - 234
THE GoatT-MOoTH—LARVA, PUPA, AND PERFECT INSECT . : ~ Zo
A CLoup oF Locusts IN ALGERIA . : : : ernie . 806
Nests OF WHITE ANTS 4 : i : s ; F : . 404
A DImiGENCE SURROUNDED BY A CROWD OF COCKCHAFERS ; . 447
GATHERING CANTHARIDES . : A : : é : E 5 aOR

THE INSECT WORLD.

INTRODUCTION.

Ir is not intended here to thoroughly investigate the anatomy
of insects; but, as we are about to speak of the habits and economy
of certain created beings, it is necessary first to explain the
principal parts of their structure, and the stages which every
perfect insect or zmago has undergone before arriving at that
state. .

We therefore proceed to explain, as simply as may be, the
anatomy of an insect, and the functions of its organs.

If we take an insect, and turn it over, and examine it carefully,
the first thing that strikes us is that it is divided into three parts:
the head; the thorax, or chest; and the abdomen, or stomach.

The head (Fig. 1) is a kind of box, formed of a single piece,
having here and there joints more or less strongly marked, some-
times scarcely visible. It is furnished in front
with an opening—often very small—which
is the mouth; and with others for the eyes,
and for the insertion of the antenne, or horns.

The integuments of the head are generally
harder than the other parts of the body. It
is necessary that this should be so. Insects
often live and die in the midst of substances

5 < i Fig. 1.—Head of an
which offer some resistance. It is necessary, insect.

therefore, that the head be strong enough to overcome such resist-
ance. The head contains the masticatory organs, which, frequently
B

2 THE INSECT WORLD.

having to encounter hard substances, must be strongly supported.
The exception to this rule is among insects which live by suction.

It would be out of place here to mention the numerous modifi-
cations of the head which are presented in the immense series of
the class of insects.

The eyes of insects are of two kinds, called compound eyes, or
eyes composed of many lenses, united by
their margins and forming hexagonal
facettes ; and simple eyes, or ocelli, called
also stemmata.

The exterior of the eye is called the
Fig. 2.—A Compound cornea (Fig. 2), each facette being a
ec cornea; but the facettes unite and form
a common cornea, which is represented by the entire figure: these
facettes vary in size even in the same eye.
In order to show the immense number of these facettes possessed
by many insects, we give the following list :—

In the genus Mordella (a genus of beetles) the eye has 25,008 facettes.

In the Lrbellula (dragon-fly) . . . B19 6 0 HAG b
In the genus Papilio (a genus of butterflies) ater ened OO mame
In Sphing convolvuli (the convolvulus hawk-moth) . . 1,300 ,,
In Bombyx mori (the common silkworm moth) . . . 6,286 ,,
Toa qdals) INOWRESI: At al Bo 60) Om eo. 8 og 6 EDOO) 5
Tras the an taivenyesi nice Ui siiscetn cena ied pea naire iteate rem iiS 50° 55
iin’ thelcockehiaterk sw (yy vueiiey lane) vcis velailcg ime yy esters O62 Ones

The facettes appear to be most numerous in insects of the genus
Scarabeus (a genus of beetles). They are so minute, that they can
scarcely be detected with a glass.

Looked at in front, a compound eye may be considered an
agglomeration of simple eyes; but internally its structure is
altogether different.

On the under side of each facette we find a body of a gelatinous
appearance, transparent, and usually conical; the base of which
occupies the centre of the facette in such a manner as to leave
around it a ring to receive the pigment. This body diminishes
in thickness towards its other extremity, and terminates in a point
where it joins a nervous filament, proceeding from the optic
nerve. ‘These cones, agreeing in number with the facettes, play

INTRODUCTION. 3

the part of the crystalline, or lens, in the eyes of animals. They
are straight and parallel with each other. A pigment fills all the
spaces between the cones, and between the nervous filaments,
and covers the under side of each cornea, except at the centre.
This pigment varies much in colour. There are almost always
two layers, of which the exterior one is the more brilliant. In
fact, these eyes often sparkle with fire, like precious stones.

M. Lacordaire, in his “ Introduction 4 l’Entomologie,” from
which we borrow the greater part of this information, has summed
up as follows, the manner in which, according to Miller, the
visual organs of insects operate :—

“Hach facette with its lens and nervous filament, separated
from those surrounding them by the pigment in which they are
enclosed, form an isolated apparatus, impenetrable to all rays of
light, except those which fall perpendicularly on the centre of
the facette, which alone is devoid of pigment. All rays falling
obliquely are absorbed by that which surrounds the gelatinous
cone. It results partly from this and partly from the immobility
of the eye that the field of vision of each facette is very limited,
and that there are as many objects reflected on the optic filaments
as there are corner. The extent, then, of the field of vision will be
determined, not by the diameter of these last, but by the diameter
of the entire eye, and will be in proportion to its size and con-
vexity. But whatever may be the size of the eyes, like their fields
of vision, they are independent of each other; there is always a
space, greater or less, between them; and the insect cannot see
objects in front of this space without turning its head. What a
peculiar sensation must result from the multiplicity of images
on the optic filaments! This is not more easily explained than
that which happens with animals which, having two eyes, see
only one image ; and probably the same is the case with insects.
But these eyes usually look in opposite directions, and should see
two images, as in the chameleon, whose eyes move independently
of each other. The clearness and length of vision will depend,
continues M. Miller, on the diameter of the sphere of which
the entire eye forms a segment, on the number and size of the
facettes, and the length of the cones or lenses. The larger each
facette, taken separately, and the more brilliant the pigment placed

B2

4 THE INSECT WORLD.

between the lenses, the more distinct will be the image of objects at
a distance, and the less distinct that of objects near. With the
latter the luminous rays diverge considerably ; while those from
the former are more parallel. In the first case, in traversing
the pigment, they impinge obliquely on the crystalline, and
consequently confuse the vision; in the second, they fall more
perpendicularly on each facette. —

“‘ Objects do not appear of the same size to each optic let
unless the eye is a perfect section of.a sphere, and its convexity
concentric with that of the optic nerve. Whenever it is other-
wise, the image corresponds more or less imperfectly with the size
of the object, and is more or less incorrect. Hence it follows,
that elliptical or conical eyes, which one generally finds among
insects, are less perfect than those referred to above.

“The differences which exist in the organisation of the eye
among insects are explicable, to a certain point, on the theory
which we are about to explain in a few words. Those species
which live in the same substances on which they feed, and those
which are parasitical, have small and flattened eyes ; those, on the
contrary, which have to seek their food, and which need to see
objects at a distance, have large or very convex eyes. For the
same reason the males, which have to seek their females, have
larger eyes than the latter. The position of the eyes depends
also on their size and shape; those which are flat, and have
consequently a short field of vision, are placed close together, and
rather in front, than at the sides of the head, and often adjoiing.
Spherical and convex eyes, on the contrary, are placed on the
sides, and their axes are opposite. But the greater field of vision
which they are able to take in makes up for this position.”

Almost all insects are provided with a pair of compound eyes,
which are placed on the sides of the head. The size and form of
thesé organs are very variable, as we shall presently see. They
are generally placed behind the antenne.

We do not find simple eyes (ocelli or stemmata) in all the
orders of insects, although we frequently find them. ‘They are
generally round, and more or less convex, black, and to the
number of three in the majority of cases. In this case they are
most frequently placed in a triangle behind, and at a greater or less

‘INTRODUCTION. 5

distance from the antenne. Under the cornea, which varies in
convexity, is found a transparent, rather hard, and nearly globular
body, which is the true crystalline resting on a sort of lens, which
- represents the vitreous body. This vitreous body is enclosed in an
expansion of the optic nerve. Besides these, there is a pigment,
most frequently red-brown, sometimes black, or blood-red. The
organisation of these eyes is analogous to the eyes of fishes, and
their refractive power is very great.

With these eyes insects can ‘only see such objects as are at a
short distance. Of what use then can stemmata be to insects also
provided with compound eyes? It has been remarked that most
insects haying this arrangement of eyes feed on the pollen of
flowers, and it has been surmised that these stemmata enable them
to distinguish the parts of the flowers.

The antenne, commonly called horns, are two flexible appen-
dages, of very variable form, which are joined to different parts of
the head, and are always two in number. The joints of which
they are made up have each the power of motion, and enable the
insect to move them in any direction.

The antennz consist of three parts: the basal joint, commonly
distinguished by its form, length, and colour; the club formed by
a gradual or sudden thickening of the terminal joints, of which
the number, form, and size present great variations ; lastly, the
stalk formed by all the joints of the
antennz, except the basal one when
no club exists, and in case of the
existence of a club, of all those be-
tween it and the basal one.

We give as examples the anten-
ne of two beetles, one of the genus
Asida, the other of the genus Zygia
(Figs. 3 and 4).

Insects for the most part, while
in repose, place their antenne on
their backs, or along the sides of the Fig.3.—Antemaofa Fig. 4.— Antenna of

species of Asida. Zygia oblonga.
head, or even on the thorax. Others
are provided with cavities in which the antenne repose either
wholly or in part.

6 THE INSECT WORLD.

During their different movements, insects move their antennz
more or less, sometimes slowly and with regularity, at other times
in all directions. Some insects impart to their antennee a perpetual
vibration. During flight they are directed in front, Goyette
to the axis of the bein or repose on the back.

What is the use of the antennz, resembling, as they do, feathers,
saws, clubs, &c.? Hverything indicates that these organs play a
very important part in the life of insects, but their functions are
imperfectly understood. Experience has shown that they only
play a subordinate part as feelers, and have nothing to do with
the senses of taste or smell. There is no other function for them
to fulfil except that of hearing.

On this hypothesis the antennz will be the principal instru-
ments for the transmission of sound-waves. ‘The membrane at
their base represents a trace of the tympanum which exists among
the higher animals. This membrane then will be an auditory
nerve.

Situated intermediately between the inferior animals, whose
functions more or less resemble those of plants, and the vertebrates,
whose functions are localised in a very high degree, insects have
received, like these latter, special organs for nutrition. The mouth
is the most exterior of these apparatuses.

The mouth of insects is formed after two general types, which
correspond to two kinds of requirements. It is suited in the one
case to break solid substances, in the
other to imbibe liquids.

At first sight there seems no simi-
larity between the mouth of a grind-
ing insect and of one living by
suction. But on examination it is
found that the parts of the mouth
in the one animal are exactly ana-
logous to the same parts in the other,

Ee ane and that they have only undergone
modifications suiting them to the
different purposes which they have to fulfil.

The mouth of a biting insect is composed of an upper lip, a
pair of mandibles, a pair of jaws, and a lower lip (Fig. 5).

INTRODUCTION. 7

The lower lip and the jaws carry on the outside certain nervous
filaments which have received the name of palpi.

_ When speaking of sucking insects, and in general of the various
orders of insects, we shall speak more in detail of the various parts
of the mouth.

The thorax (Fig. 6), the second primary division of the body
of insects, plays almost as important a part as the head. It con-
sists of three segments or rings,
the prothorax, the mesothorax,
and the metathorax, each of
which bears a pair of legs, and
they are in general joined to- .
gether. The wingsareattached _ Fig. 6 —Thorax of _Acrocinus longimanus
to the two posterior segments. ese

All insects have six legs. There is no exception whatever to
this rule, though some may not be developed.

After the segments to which they are attached, the legs are
called anterior, posterior, and intermediate. The legs are com-
posed of four parts: the trochanter, a short joint which unites the
thigh to the body ; the thigh or femur ; the tibia, answering to the
shank in animals; and the tarsus, or foot, composed of a variabie
number of pieces placed end to
end, and called the phalanges.

We take for example the
front leg of a Heterocerus
(Fig. 7), and the posterior lee
of a Zophosis (Fig. 8), genera
of beetles.

We shall not dwell on the
different parts, as they perform
functions which will occupy us

SSS

ee

See

later, when speaking of the wh
various species of the great % |
class of insects. Fig. 7.—Hind leg of a Fig. 8.—Front leg
The functions which the Heterocerus. of a Zophosis.
legs of insects have to perform consist in walking, swimming, or

jumping.
In walking, says M. Lacordaire, insects move their legs

8 THE INSECT WORLD.

in different ways. Some move their six legs successively, or only
two or three at a time without distinction, but never both legs of
the same pair together, consequently one step is not the same as
another. The walk of insects is sometimes very irregular, espe-
cially when the legs are long; and they often hop rather than
walk. Others have one kind of step, and walk very regularly.
They commence by moving the posterior and anterior legs on the
same side and the intermediate ones on the opposite side. The
first step made, these legs are put down, and the others raised im
their turn to make a second.

Running does not change the order of the movements, it only
makes them quicker—very rapid in some species, and surpassing
in proportion that of all other animals; but in others the pace is
slow. Some insects rather crawl than walk.

In swimming, the posterior legs play the principal part. The
other legs striking the water upwards or downwards, produce an
upward or downward motion. The animal changes its course at
will by using the legs on one side only, in the same way as one
turns a rowing boat with one oar without the aid of a rudder.
Swimming differs essentially from walking, for the foot being
surrounded by a resisting medium, the legs on both sides are
moved at the same time. .

The act of jumping is principally performed by the hind legs.
Insects which jump have these legs very largely developed, as in
the figure (fig. 9). When about
to jump they bring the tibia into
contact with the thigh, which is
often furnished with a groove to
receive it, having on each side a
row of spines. The leg then sud-
denly straightens like a spring,
and the foot being placed firmly
on the ground, sends the insect
into the air and at the same time
propels forward. The jump is greater in proportion as the leg is
longer.

Fig. 9.—Posterior leg of a jumping insect.

To speak here in a general manner of the wings of insects
would be too’ vague. We shall speak of them at length in their

INTRODUCTION. 9

proper place, when speaking of the various types of winged
insects.

In the perfect insect (of which we have been speaking in the
preceding pages) the. abdomen does not carry either the wings
or the legs. It is formed of nine segments, which are without
appendages, with the exception of the posterior ones, which often
earry small organs differing much in form and function. These
are saws, probes, forceps, stings, augers, &c. We will speak later
of these different organs in their proper places.

With vertebrate animals, which have an interior skeleton suited
to furnish points of resistance for their various movements, the
skin is a more or less soft covering, uniformly diffused over the
exterior of the body, and intended only to protect them against
external injury. In insects the points of resistance are changed
from the interior to the exterior. The skin changes in nature to
fit it to this purpose. It becomes hard, and presents between
the segments only membranous intervals, which allow the hard
parts to move in all directions.

We are examining a perfect insect; we have glanced at its
skeleton and the different appendages which spring from it. The
principal organs which are contained in the body remain to be
examined.

We will first study the digestive apparatus. This apparatus
consists of a lengthened tubular organ, swollen at certain points,
forming more or less numerous circumvolutions, and provided with
two distinct orifices. This alimentary canal is always situated
in the median line of the body, traversing its whole length, in
juxtaposition to the nervous ganglia.*

In its most complicated form the alimentary canal is composed
of an esophagus, or gullet, of a crop, of a gizzard, of a chylific
ventricle, a small intestine, a large intestine, divers appendages,
salivary, biliary, and urinary glands. The csophagus is a duct
often not thicker than a hair, in many species enlarged into a
pouch, which is called the crop because it occupies the same
position, and performs analogous functions with that organ in
birds. It is enough to say that the food remains there some time
before passing on to the other parts of the intestinal canal, and

* Ganglion—a mass, literally a knot, of nervous matter.—E. W. J.

10 THE INSECT WORLD.

undergoes a certain amount of preparation. It is in the gizzard,
when one exists, that the food, separated by the masticatory
organs of the mouth, undergoes another and more. complete
erinding. Its structure is suited to its office. It is, in fact, very
muscular, often half cartilaginous, and strongly contractile. Its
interior walls are provided with a grinding apparatus, which
varies according to the species, and consists of teeth, plates, spines,
and notches, which convert the food into pulp. It only exists
among insects which live on solid matters, hard vegetables, small
animals, tough skin, &c. This apparatus is absent in sucking
insects and those which live on
soft substances, such asthe pollen
of flowers, &e.

The chylific ventricle is never
absent; it is the organ which
performs the principal part in
the act of digestion.

Two kinds of appendages be-
long to the chylifie ventricle,
but only in certain families. The
first are papille, in the form of
the fingers of a glove, which
bristle over the exterior of this
organ, and in which it is believed
that the food begins to be con-
verted into chyle. The second
are ceca, and larger and less
numerous.

They have been considered as
secretory organs, answering to
the pancreas in vertebrate ani-~
mals.

Fig. 10, which represents the
digestive apparatus of Carabus auratus, a common beetle, presents to
the eyes of the reader the different organs of which we are speaking.

A is the mouth of the insect, B the cesophagus, c the crop, D the
gizzard, © the chylific ventricle, F and G the small and large
intestines, and H the anus. ;

Fig. 10.—Digestive apparatus of Carabus auratus.

INTRODUCTION. 11

We will not mention the other parts of the alimentary canal in
insects. We will only speak of some of the appendages of this
apparatus.

The salivary glands pour into the digestive tube a liquid, gene-
rally colourless, which, from the place where it is secreted, and its
alkaline nature, corresponds to the saliva in vertebrate animals. It
is this liquid which comes in the form of drops from the tongue of
sucking insects.

These vessels are always two in number. Their form is as

variable as complicated. The most simple is that of a closed
flexible tube, generally rolled into a ball,
and opening on the sides of the ceso-
phagus.
- At the posterior extremity of the
chylific ventricle are inserted a vari-
able number of capillary tubes, usually
elongated and flexible, and terminating
in culs-de-sac. heir colour, which de-
pends on the liquid which they contain,
is sometimes white, but more frequently
brown, blackish, or green. They appear
to be composed of a very slight and deli-
cate membrane, as they are very easily
torn, and nothing is more difficult than
to unroll and to disengage them from
the fatty or other tissues by which they
are enveloped.

The function of these vessels is un-
certain. Cuvier and Léon Dufour sup-
posed them to be analogous to the liver,
and on that account they have been called
biliary vessels; but as this opinion is not
generally held, it has been agreed to call
them the Malpighian vessels, after the
name of their discoverer.

According to M. Lacordaire, their func- BE Ge Te eee ae
tions vary with their position. When wa
they enter the chylific ventricle, they furnish only bile; bile and

12 THE INSECT WORLD.

a urinary liquid when they enter the posterior part of the ventricle
and the intestine ; and urine alone when they are placed near the
posterior extremity of the alimentary canal.

Hig. 11 represents part of the preceding figure more highly
magnified, showing the manner in which these tubes enter the
chylific ventricle. .

In our rapid description of the digestive apparatus of insects, it
only remains for us to mention certain purifying organs which
secrete those fluids, generally
blackish, caustic, or of peculiar
smell, which some insects emit
when they are irritated, and which
cause a smarting when they get
into one’s eyes.

Less widely diffused than the
salivary organs, they are often of
a very complicated structure, In
Fig. 12 is represented the secre-
tory apparatus of the Carabus
auratus, which will serve for an
example: A represents the secre-
tory sacs aggregated together like
a bunch of grapes, B the canal, c
the pouch which receives the secre-
tion, D the excretory duct.

Sometimes the secretion is
liquid, and has a feetid or ammo-
niacal odour; sometimes, as in the Bombadier beetle (Grachinus
crepitans), it is gaseous, and is emitted, with an explosion, in the
form of a whitish vapour, having a strong pungent odour ana-
logous to that of azotic or nitric acid, and the same properties.
It reddens litmus paper, and burns and reddens the skin, which after
a time becomes brown, and continues so for a considerable time.

About the middle of the seventeenth century Malpighi at
Bologna, and Swammerdam at Utrecht, each discovered in different
insects a pulsatory organ occupying a median line of the back,
which appeared to them to be a heart. Nevertheless, Cuvier,
having declared some time afterwards that there was no circula-

Fig. 12.—Secretory apparatus of Carabus
auratus.

INTRODUCTION. 13

tion, properly so called, among insects, his opinion was universally
adopted.

But in 1827 a German naturalist named Carus discovered that
there were real currents of blood circulating throughout the body,
and returning to their point of departure. The observations of
Carus were repeated and confirmed by many other naturalists,
and we are thus enabled to form a sufficiently exact idea of the
manner in which the blood circulates.

The following summary of the phenomena of circulation among
insects is borrowed from “‘ Lecons sur la Physiologie et l’ Anatomie
comparée,”’ by M. Milne Edwards :—

The tube which passes under the skin of the back of the head,
and front part of the body, above the alimentary canal, has been
known for a long time as the dorsal vessel. It is composed of two
very distinct portions: the anterior, which is tubular and not con-
tractile; and the posterior, which is larger, of more complicated
structure, and which contracts and dilates at regular intervals.

This latter part constitutes, then, more particularly the heart of
the insect. Generally it occupies the whole length of the abdomen,
and is fixed to the vault of the tegumentary skeleton by membra-
nous expansions, in such a manner as to leave a free space around
it, but shut above and below so as to form a reservoir into which
the blood pours before penetrating to the heart. This reservoir
is often called the auricle, for it seems to act as an instrument of
impulsion, and to drive the blood into the ventricle or heart,
properly so called.

The heart is fusiform, and is divided by numerous strictures into
chambers. These chambers have exits placed in pairs, and mem-
branous folds which divide the cavity in the manner of a portcullis.
The lips of the orifices, instead of terminating in a clean edge,
penetrate into the interior of the heart in the form of the mouth-
piece of a flute. The double membranous folds thus formed on
each side of the dorsal vessel are in the shape of a half moon, and
separate from each other when this organ dilates; but the contrary
movement taking place, the passage is closed.

By the aid of this valvular apparatus, the blood can penetrate
the heart from the pericardic chamber, the empty space surrounding
the heart, but cannot flow back from the heart into that reservoir.

ue THE INSECT WORLD.

The anterior or aortic portion of the dorsal vessel shows neither
fan-shaped lateral expansions, nor orifices, and consists of a single
membranous tube. On reaching the interior of the head it opens
in the lacunary inter-organic system. The whole of the blood set
in motion by the contractions of the cardial portion of the dorsal
vessel runs into the cavity of the head, and circulates afterwards
in irregular channels formed by the empty spaces left between
the different organs. It is the unoccupied portions of the great
visceral cavity which serve as conductors to the blood, and
through them run the main currents that one sees in the lateral
and lower parts of the body, whence these currents regain the
back part of the abdomen, and enter the heart after having
traversed externally the different organs they encountered.
These principal channels are in continuity with other gaps pro-
vided between the muscles, or between the bundles of fibres of
which these muscles are composed, or else in the interior of the
intestines.

The principal currents send into the network thus formed minor
branches, which, having ramified in their turn among the prin-
cipal parts of the organism, re-enter some main current to regain
the dorsal vessel.

In the transparent parts of the body the blood may be seen
circulating in this way in a number of inter-organic channels,
more or less obvious, penetrating the limbs, overspreading the
wings, when these appendages are not horny, and, in short, dif-
fusing itself everywhere. ‘‘ If, by means of coloured injections,”
says M. Milne Edwards, “ one studies the connections which exist
between the cavities in which sanguineous currents have been
found to exist, and the rest of the economy, it is easy to see that
the irrigatory system thus formed penetrates to the full depth of
every organ, and should cause the rapid renewal of the nourishing
fluid in all the parts where the process of vitality renders the
passage of this fluid necessary.”

We shall see presently, in speaking of respiration, that the
relations between the nourishing fluid and the atmospheric air are
more direct and regular than was for a long time supposed.

In short, insects possess an active circulation, although we find
neither arteries nor veins; and although the blood put in motion

INTRODUCTION. 15

by the contractions of the heart, and carried to the head by the
aortic portion of the dorsal vessel, can only distribute itself in the
different parts of the system to return to the heart, by the gaps
left between the different organs, or the membranes and fibres of
which these organs are composed.

Fig. 13 (page 17), which shows both the circulating and
breathing systems of an insect, enables us to recognise the
different organs which we have described, .as helping toe keep up
both respiration and circulation.

The knowledge of the respiration of the insect is a scientific
acquisition which is quite modern. Malpighi was the first to
prove, in 1669, that these animals are provided with organs
of respiration, and that air is as indispensable to insects as it is
to other living beings. But the opinion of this celebrated
naturalist has been contradicted, and his views have been con-
tested, even in the present day. Now, however, one can easily
recognise the apparatus by the aid of which the respiration of the
insect is effected.

In all these animals the respiratory apparatus is essentially
composed of membranous ducts of great tenuity, of which the
ramifications in incalculable numbers spread everywhere, and
bury themselves in the different organs, much in the same way as
the fibrous roots of plants bury themselves in the soil. These
vessels are called trachee. Their communications with the air
are externally established in different ways, according to the
character of the medium in which the insect lives.

It is well known that the greater part of all insects live in the
air. This air penetrates into the trachez by a number of orifices
placed at the sides of the body, which are termed spiracles. On
close examination these may be seen, and are in the shape of
button-holes in a number of different species. Let us dwell for a
moment on the breathing apparatus of the insect, that is to say,
the trachez.

This apparatus is sometimes composed of elastic tubes only,
sometimes of a collection of tubes and membranous pouches. We
will first speak of the former.

The coats of these breathing tubes are very elastic, and always
preserve a cylindrical form, even when not distended. This state of

16 _ THE INSECT WORLD.

things is maintained by the existence, throughout the whole length
of the trachez, of a thread of half horny consistency, rolled up in
a spiral, and covered externally by a very delicate membranous
sheath. The external membrane is thin, smooth, and generally
colourless, or of a pearly white. The cartilaginous spiral is some-
times cylindrical, sometimes flat, and also resembles mother-of-
pearl. It only adheres slightly to the external membrane, but is,
on the other hand, closely united to the internal one. This spiral
thread is only continuous in the same trunk; it breaks off when
it branches, and each branch then possesses its own thread, in such
away that it is not joined to the thread of the trunk from which it
issued, except by continuity, just as the branch of a tree is attached
to the stem which supports it. This thread is prolonged, without
interruption, to the extreme points of the finest ramifications.

The number of tracheze in the body of an insect is very great.
That patient anatomist, Lyonet, has proved to us, in his great
work on the Goat-moth Caterpillar, Cossus ligniperda, that the
insect has much affinity as regards its muscles with animals of a
superior class. iyonet, who congratulated himself on having
finished his long labours without having had to destroy more than
eight or nine of the species he wished to describe, had the patience
to count the different air-tubes in that caterpillar. He found that
there were 256 longitudinal and 1,336 transverse branches ; in
short, that the body of this creature is traversed in all directions
by 1,572 aeriferous tubes which are visible to the eye by the aid
of a magnifying glass, without taking into account those which
may be imperceptible.

The complicated system of the breathing apparatus which we
are describing is sometimes composed of an assemblage of tubes
and membranous pouches, besides the elastic tubes which we have
already mentioned. These pouches vary in size, and are very
elastic, expanding when the air enters, and contracting when it
leaves them, as they are altogether without the species of frame-
work formed by the spiral thread of the tubular trachez, of which
they are only enlargements. These, which are called vesicular
trachez, more especially belong to those species whose flight is
frequent and sustained, such as the grasshopper, the humble-bee,
the bee, the fly, the butterfly, &e.

INTRODUCTION. ©

fad
~I

It will be necessary to look at Fig. 13 in order to see the organs
of respiration of which we are speaking.
The respiratory mechanism of an insect is easily understood.

Fig. 13.—A, abdominal portion of the dorsal vessel. B, aortic or thoracic portion. C, air-vessels of the
head; D, of the abdomen.

“The abdominal cavity,” says M. Milne Edwards, “in which is
placed the greater part of the respiratory apparatus, is susceptible
C

18 THE INSECT WORLD.

of being contracted and dilated alternately by the play of the
different segments of which the skeleton is composed, and which
are placed in such a manner that they can be drawn into each
other to a greater or less extent. When the insect contracts its
body, the trachez are compressed and the air driven out. But
when, on the other hand, the visceral cavity which contains the
tracheze assumes its normal size, or dilates, these channels become
larger, and the air with which they are filled being rarefied by
this expansion, is no longer in equilibrium with the outer air with
which it is in communication through the medium of the spiracles.
The exterior air 1s then impelled into the interior of the respira-
tory tubes, and the inspiration is effected.”

The respiratory movements can be accelerated or diminished,
according to the wants of the animal; in general, there are from
thirty to fifty to the minute. in a state of repose the spiracles
are open, and all the tracheze are free to receive air whenever
the visceral cavity is dilated, but those orifices may be closed,
and the insect thus possesses the faculty of stopping all communi-
cation between the respiratory apparatus and the surrounding
atmosphere.

Some insects live in the water; they are therefore obliged to
come to the surface to take the air they are in need of, or else to
possess themselves of the small amount contained in the water.
Both these methods of respiration exist under different forms in
aquatic insects. |

To inhale atmospheric air, which is necessary for respiration,
above the water, certain insects employ their elytra* as a sort of
reservoir ; others make use of their antennz, the hairs of which
retain the globules of air. In this case it is brought under the
thorax, whence a groove carries it to the spiracles. Sometimes
the same result is obtained by a more complicated arrangement,
consisting of respiratory tubes which can be thrust into the air,
which it is their function to introduce into the organisation.

Insects which breathe in the water without rising to the surface
are provided with gills; organs which, though variable in form,
generally consist of foiiaceous or fringed expansions, in the midst
of which the trachez ramify in considerable numbers. These

* The horny upper wings with which some insects are provided are called elytra.
—Ep.

INTRODUCTION. 19

vessels are filled with air, but if does not disseminate itself in them
directly, and it is only through the walls of these tubes that the
contained gas is exchanged for the air held in suspension by the
surrounding water.. The oxygen contained in the water passes
through certain very permeable membranes of the gill and pene-
trates the trachex, which discharge, in exchange, carbonic acid,
which is the gaseous product of respiration.

Fig. 14 represents the gills or breathing apparatus in an aquatic

insect. We take as an example the
EEphemera.* t may be observed that
the gills or foliaceous lamine are placed
at the circumference of the body, and
at its smallest parts.

We have now seen that the respi-
ratory apparatus is considerably deve-
loped in insects; it is, therefore, easy
to foresee that those functions are most
actively employed by. them. In fact,
if one compares the oxygen they im-
bibe with the heavy organic matter
of which their body is composed, the
amount is enormous.

Before finishing this rapid exami-
nation of the body of an insect, we
shall have to say a few words on the
nervous system.

This system is chiefly composed of a
double series of ganglions, or collections
of nerves, which are united together by
longitudinal cords. The number of
these ganglions corresponds with that
of the segments. Sometimes they are
at equal distances, and extend ina chain
from one end of the body to the other ;
at others they are many of them close
together, so as to form a single mass.

Tm\\
fil

Z

ZZLLZA

ZB

GF fi)
fi

Fig. 14.—Branchie, or gills, of an aquatic
larva (phemera).
A, foliaceous laminz, or gills.

The cephalic ganglions are two in number ; they have been
* May-fly family.—Ep.

ee

20 THE INSECT WORLD.

described by anatomists under the name of brain. “This expres-
sion,” says M. Lacordaire, “‘ would be apt to mislead the reader,
as it would induce him to suppose the existence of a concentration
of faculties to assemble the feelings and excite the movements,
which is not the case.”* The same naturalist observes, ‘‘ All the
ganglions of the ventral chain are endowed with nearly the same
properties, and represent each other uniformly.”

The ganglion situated above the esophagus gives rise to the
optic nerves, which are the most considerable of all those of the
body, and to the nerves of the antenne. The ganglion beneath
the cesophagus provides the nerves of the mandibles, of the jaws,
and of the lower lip. The three pairs of ganglions which follow
those placed immediately below the cesophagus, belong to the
three segments of the thorax, and give rise to the nerves of the
feet and wings. They are in general more voluminous than the
following pairs, which occupy the abdomen.

Fig. 15 represents the nervous system of the Carabus auratus :
Ais the cephalic ganglion; B, the sub-csophagian ganglion; c,
the prothoracic ganglion; D and & are the ganglions of the meso-
thorax and metathorax. The remainder, F F, are the abdominal
ganglions.

Before finishing these preliminary observations, it is necessary
to say that the preceding remarks only apply absolutely to insects
arrived at the perfect state. It is important to make this remark,
as insects, before arriving at that state, pass through various other
stages. These stages are often so different from each other, that
it would be difficult to imagine that they are only modifications
of the same animal; one would suppose that they were as many
different kinds of animals, if there was not abundant proof of the
contrary.

The successive stages through which an insect passes are four
in number: the egg; the larva; the pupa, nymph, or chrysalis ;
and the perfect insect, or imago.

The egg state, which is common to them, as to all other articu-
late animals, it is unnecessary to explain. Nearly all insects lay
eggs, though some few are viviparous. There often exists in the
extremity of the abdomen of the female a peculiar organ, called

* Introduction 4 1’Entomologie, tome ii. p. 192. S8vo. Paris. 1838.

INTRODUCTION. 21

the ovipositor, which is destined to make holes for the reception
of the eggs. Bya wonderful instinct the mother always lays her
eggs in a place where her young, on being hatched, can find an
abundance of nutritious substances. It will not be needless to
observe that in most cases these aliments are quite different to
those which the mother seeks for herself.

In the second stage, that is to say, on leaving the egg,—the

Fig. 15.—Nervous system of Carabus auratus

larva period,—the insect presents itself in a soft state, without
wings, and resembles a worm. In ordinary language, it is

22 THE INSECT WORLD.

nearly always called a worm, or grub, and in certain cases,
caterpillar.

Linnzus was the first to use the term “larva,’”—taken from
the Latin word larva, ‘‘a mask,’-—as he considered that, in this
form, the insect was as it were masked. During this period of its
life the insect eats voraciously, and often changes its skin. At a
certain period it ceases to eat, retires to some hidden spot, and,
after changing its skin for the last time, enters the third stage of
its existence, and becomes a chrysalis. In this state it resembles
a mummy enveloped in bandages, or a child in its swaddling
clothes. It is generally incapable of either moving or nourishing
itself. It continues so for days, weeks, months, and sometimes
even for years.

While the insect is thus apparently dead, a slow but certain
change is going on in the interior of its body. A marvellous work,
though not visible outside, is being effected, for the different
organs of the insect are developing by degrees under the covering
which surrounds them. When their formation is complete, the
insect disengages itself from the narrow prison in which it was
enclosed, and makes its appearance, provided with wings, and
capable of propagating its kind; im short, of enjoying all the
faculties which nature has accorded to its species. It has thrown
off the mask; the larva and pupa have disappeared, and given
place to the perfect insect.

To show the reader the four states through which the msect
passes in succession, in Fig. 16 is represented the insect known
as the Hydrophilus,* firstly, in the egg state; secondly, as the
larva, or caterpillar; thirdly, in the pupa; and fourthly, as the
perfect insect, or imago. The different degrees of transforma-
tion and evolution which we have just described, are those which
take place either completely or incompletely in all insects. Their
metamorphoses are then at an end. There are certain insects,
however, that show no difference in their various stages except
by absence of wings in the larva; and in these the chrysalis is
only characterized by the growth of the wings, which, at first
folded back and hidden under the skin, afterwards become free, but
are not wholly developed till the last skin is cast. These insects

* A kind of water-beetle.—Ep.

INTRODUCTION. 23

are said to undergo incomplete metamorphoses, the former com-
plete metamorphoses. Some never possess wings; indeed, there
are others which undergo no metamorphosis, and are born pos-
sessed of all the organs with which it is necessary they should
be provided.

Some curious researches have been lately made on the strength
of insects. M. Felix Plateau, of Brussels, has published some

%

ise

SSS SS SS

ss
Sa

Ah
ANUS
ej

I)
Ih

cs

Fig. 16.—Hydrophilus in its four states.
A, eggs; B, larva; C, pupa; D, imago, or perfect insect.

observations on this point, which we think of sufficient interest to
reproduce here.

In order to measure the muscular strength of man, or of
animals, as the horse, for instance, many different dynamometric
apparatuses have been invented, composed of springs, or systems
of unequal levers. The Turks’ heads which are seen at fairs, or
in the Champs Elysées, at Paris, and on which the person who
wishes to try his strength gives a strong blow with the fist, repre-
sent a dynanometer of this kind. The one which Buffon had

24 THE INSECT WORLD.

constructed by Régnier, the mechanician, and which is known
by the name of Régnier’s Dynamometer, is much more precise.
It consists of an oval spring, of which the two ends approach
each other: when they are pulled in opposite directions, a needle,
which works on a dial marked with figures, indicates the force
exercised on the spring. It has been proved, with this instrument,
that the muscular effort of a man pulling with both hands is about
124 lbs., and that of a woman only 74 lbs. The ordinary effort
of strength of a man in lifting a weight is 292 lbs. ; and a horse, in
pulling, shows a strength of 675lbs.; a man, under the same
circumstances, exhibiting a strength of 90 lbs.

Physiologists have not as yet given their attention to the
strength of invertebrate animals. It is, relatively speaking,
immense. Many people have observed how out of proportion
the jump of a flea is to its size. A flea is not more than an
eighth of an inch in length, and it jumps a yard; in propor-
tion, a lion ought to jump two-thirds of a mile. Pliny shows,
in his ‘‘ Natural History,” that the weights carried by ants appear
exceedingly great when they are compared with the size of these
indefatigable labourers. The strength of these insects is still more
striking, when one considers the edifices they are able to construct,
and the devastations they occasion. The Termes, or White Ant,*
constructs habitations many yards in height, which are so firmly
and solidly built, that the buffaloes are able to mount them, and
use them as observatories; they are made of particles of wood
joined together by a gummy substance, and are able to resist even
the force of a hurricane.

There is another circumstance which is worth being noted.
Man is proud of his works; but what are they, after all, in com-
parison with those of the ant, taking the relative heights into
consideration ? The largest pyramid in Egypt is only 146 yards
high, that is, about ninety times the average height of man;
whereas the nests of the Termites are a thousand times the height
of the insects which construct them. Their habitations are thus
twelve times higher than the largest specimen of architecture
raised by human hands. We are, therefore, far beneath these
little insects, as far as strength and the spirit of working go.

* A Neuropterous insect, not a true Ant.—Ep.

INTRODUCTION. 25

The destructive power of these creatures, so insignificant im
appearance, are still more surprising. During the spring of a
single year they can effect the ruin of a house by destroying the
beams and planks. . The town of La Rochelle, to which the
Termites were imported by an American ship, is menaced with
being eventually suspended on catacombs, like the town of
Valencia in New Grenada. It is well known what destruction is
caused when a swarm of Locusts alight in a cultivated field,
and it is certain that even their larvee do as several injury as
the perfect insect. All this sufficiently proves the destructive
capabilities of these little animals, which we are accustomed to
despise.

M. Plateau has studied the power of traction in some insects,
the power of pushing in the digging insects, and the lifting
power of others during flight. He has thus been able to make
some most interesting comparisons, of some of which we will relate
the results.

The average weight of man being 142 lbs., and his power of
traction, according to Régnier, being 124 lbs., the proportion of
the weight he can draw to the weight of his body is only as 87 to
100. With the horse the proportion is not more than 67 to 100;
a horse 1,350 lbs. in weight only drawing about 900Ibs. The
horse, therefore, can draw little more than half his own weight,
and a man cannot draw the weight of his own body. -

This is a very poor result, if compared with the strength of the
cockchafer. This insect, in fact, possesses a power of traction
equal to more than fourteen times its own weight. If you
amuse yourself with the children’s game of making a cockchafer
draw small cargoes of stones, you will be surprised at the great
weight which this insignificant looking animal is able to accomplish.

To test the power of traction in insects, M. Plateau attached
them to a weight by means of a thread fastened to one of their
feet. The Coleoptera (Beetles) are the best adapted for these
experiments. .

The following are some of the results obtained by the Belgian
physician :—Carabus auratus can draw seven times the weight of
its body; Nebria brevicollis, twenty-five times; Necrophorus ves-
pillo, fifteen times; Trichius fasciatus, forty-one times; and

26 ~ THE INSECT WORLD.

Oryctes nasicornis, four times only. The bee can draw twenty
times the weight of its body ; Donacia nymphee,* forty-two times
its own weight.

From this it follows that if the horse possessed the same
strength as this last insect, or if the imsect were the size of a
horse, they would either of them be able to draw 155,250 lbs.
M. Plateau has ascertained the pushing power in insects, by intro-
ducing them into a pasteboard tube, the interior of which was
made rough, and in which was fixed a glass plate, which allowed
the light to penetrate into the prison. The animal, if excited,
struggled with all its strength against the transparent plate, which,
on being pushed: forward, turned a lever adapted to a miniature
dynamometer, which indicated the amount of effort exercised.

The results thus obtained prove that the pushing power, like
the power of traction, is greater in imverse proportion to the
size and weight of the animal. A few figures will better explain
this curious law. In Oryctes nasicornis, the proportion of the
pushing power to the weight of the insect is only three to two;
in Geotrupes stercorarius, it is sixteen to two; and in Onthophagus
nuchicornis, seventy-nine to six.

Experiments have been made on the lifting power of insects,
by fastening a ball of soft wax to a thread attached to the hind
legs. The proportion of the weight lifted has been found equal
to that of the body. That is to say, that. the sect when fiying
can lift its own weight. This is proved by the following calcula-
tions :—In the Neuroptera, the proportion is 1 in the Dragon-fly
(Libellula vulgata), ‘7 in Lestes sponsa. In the order Hymen-
optera, it is "78 in the bee, and -63 in Bombus terrestris, the
humble-bee. In the Diptera, it is -9 in Calliphora vomitoria,t 1:84
in the Syrphus corolle, and 1-77 in the house-fly.

These results show that insects have only sufficient power to
sustain their own weight when flying, as the above calculations
exhibit the maximum of which they are capable, and at the utmost
this strength would only compensate for the fatigue occasioned
by the action of flight. :

At the same time it is to be observed that the Diptera, and
among others the house-fly, can sustain their flight longer than the

* A beetle.—Ep. + The meat-fly.— Ep.

INTRODUCTION. 27

Hymenoptera and Neuroptera, although one would not think so
from their appearance. In conclusion, if an insect’s power of
flying is not considerable, its power of traction and propulsion are
immense, compared with the vertebrate animals; and, in the same
group of insects, those that are the smallest and lightest are
the strongest. The proportion between the muscular strength of
insects and the dimensions of their bodies, would not appear
to be on account of their muscles being more numerous than
those of vertebrate animals, but on account of greater intrinsic
energy and muscular activity. The articulations of insects may
be considered as solid cases which envelop the muscles, and
the thickness of these cases appears to decrease in a singular
manner according to the size of the creature. The relative
bulk of the muscles being less in the smaller species than in the
larger, it is necessary to explain the superior relative strength of
the former by supposing them to possess a greater amount of vital
energy.

These astonishing phenomena will perhaps be better under-
stood if we consider the obstacles which insects have to overcome
to satisfy their wants, to seek their food, to defend themselves
against their enemies, &c.

To meet these requirements they are marvellously constructed
for both labour and warfare, and their strength is superior to that.
displayed by all other animals. It is also much greater than that of
the machines we construct to replace manual labour. They repre-
sent strength itself. God’s workmen are infinitely more powerful
than those invented by the genius of man, which we call machines.

We think it necessary, in closing this chapter, to give a sort of
general outline of the great class of animals which we are about to
study. If we wished to characterise insects by their exterior
aspect we might consider them as articulate animals, whose
bodies, covered with tough and membranous integuments, are
divided into three distinct parts: the head, provided with two
antenne, and eyes and mouth of very variable form; a trunk or
thorax, composed of three segments, which has underneath it
always six articulated limbs, and often above it two or four wings;
and an abdomen, composed of nine segments, although some
may not appear to exist at first sight.

28 THE INSECT WORLD.

If, in addition to these characteristics, one considers that these
animals are not provided with interior skeletons—that their
nervous system is formed of a double cord, swelling at intervals,
and placed along the underside of the body, with the exception of
the first swellings or ganglions which are under the head—that they
are not provided with a complete circulating system—that they
breathe by particular organs, termed trachee, extending parallel
to each other along each side of the body, and communicating
with the exterior air by lateral openings termed spiracles—that
their sexes are distinct—that they are reproduced from eggs—and,
in conclusion, that the different parts we have mentioned are not
complete until the creature has passed through several successive
changes, called metamorphoses, a general idea may be formed of
what is meant in zoology by the word “insect.”

Insects, whose general organisation we have briefly traced, have
been classed by naturalists as follows :—

. ApTERA (Fleas and Lice).

. Divrera (Gnats, Flies, etc.).

Hemiptera (Bugs, etc.).

. LeprpoprTera (Butterflies and Moths).

. OnTHoprERA (Grasshoppers, Crickets, Cockroaches, etc.).

. Hymernortera (Bees, Wasps, etc.).

. NevrortEra (Libellula, or Dragon-fly ; Ephemera, or las fly ;

Phryganea, or Alder-fly).
8. CoLzoprEeRA (Beetles).

NOOO FP WON

We shall commence the history of the various orders, by
examining the Aptera.

APTERA.

Insects of this order are without wings, and the name is
derived from two Greek words, «, privative, and mrepov, wing,
indicating the negative character which constitutes this order.*
It consists of Fleas and Lice. The Flea (Pulex), of which
De Geer formed a separate group, and called Swuctoria, includes
several species.

The Common Flea (Pulex irritans, Fig. 17) has a body of oval
form, somewhat flattened, covered with a
rather hard horny skin of a brilliant chestnut
brown colour. It is the breaking of this hard
skin which produces the little crack which
is heard when, after a successful hunt, one has
the happiness to crush one of these parasites Fig. 17.—Flea (Pules
between one’s nails. re):

Its head, small in proportion to the body, is compressed, and
carries two small antennz, of cylindrical form, composed of
four joints, which the animal shakes continually when in motion,
but which it lowers and rests in front of its head when in a
state of repose. The eyes are simple, large, and round. The
beak is composed of an exterior jointed sheath, having inside
it a tube, and carrying underneath two long sharp lancets, with
cutting and saw-like edges. It is with this instrument that the

* It is probable that one day the order Aptera will be superseded. The
absence of wings is not really a character of great value. De Blainyille, Mollard,
Pouchet, Van Beneden, and Gervais, have made several attempts in that direction.
The fleas have been placed among the Diptera, and the lice among Hemiptera in
the “‘ Traité de Zoologie Médicale”’ of these two last authors.

20 THE INSECT WORLD.

flea pierces the skin, irritates it, and causes the blood on which
it lives to flow.

This bite, as every one knows, is easily recognised by the pres-
ence of small darkish red spots, surrounded by a circle of a paler
colour. The quantity of blood absorbed by this little creature is
enormous when compared with its size.

The body of the flea is divided into thirteen segments, of which
one forms the head; three the thorax, which is short; and the
remainder the abdomen.

The limbs are long, strong, and spiny. The tarsus, or foot, has
five joints, and terminates in hooks turned in opposite directions.
The two anterior limbs are separated from the others, and are
inserted nearly under the head ; the posterior ones are particularly
large and strong.

The jumps which fleas are able to make are really gigantic, and
the strength of these little animals quite herculean when compared
with the size of their bodies. The reader may be inclined to smile
at the assertion that the flea possesses herculean strength ; but
let him wait a little, and he will find that it is no exaggeration.

To give some idea of the strength, the docility, and the good-
will of the fleas, some wonderful little things have been made,
which have served at the same time to show the astonishing skill
of certain workmen.

In his “ Histoire abrégée des Insectes,”’ published in the seventh
year of the French Republic, Geoffroy relates that a certain Mark,
an Englishman, had succeeded, by dint of patience and art, in
making a gold chain the length of a finger, with a padlock and
a key to fasten it, not exceeding a single grain in weight. A
flea attached to the chain pulled it easily. The same learned
writer relates a still more surprising fact. An English workman
constructed a carriage and six horses of ivory. The coachman
was on the box with a dog between his legs, there were also a
postillion, four persons in the carriage, and two servants behind,
and the whole of this was drawn by one flea.

In his “ Histoire Naturelle des Insectes Aptéres,” Baron Walck-
enaer relates the following marvellous instance of industry,
patience, and dexterity :—

“J think it is about fifteen years ago, that the whole population

APTERA. 3l

of Paris could see the following wonders exhibited on the Place de
la Bourse for sixty centimes. They were the learned fleas. I
have seen and examined them with entomological eyes, assisted by
a glass. :

“Thirty fleas went through military exercises, and stood upon
their hind legs, armed with pikes, formed of very small splinters
of wood.

“Two fleas were harnessed to and drew a golden carriage with
four wheels and a postillion. A third flea was seated on the coach-
box, and held a splinter of wood for a whip. Two other fleas drew
acannon on its carriage. ‘This little trmket was admirably
finished ; not a screw or a nut was wanting. These and other
wonders were performed on polished glass. The flea-horses were
fastened by a gold chain attached to the thighs of their hind
legs, which I was told was never taken off. They had lived
thus for two years and a half, not one having died during
the period. To be fed, they were placed on a man’s arm,
which they sucked. When they were unwilling to draw the
cannon or the carriage, the man took a burning coal, and on it
being moved about near them, they were at once roused, and
recommenced the performances.”

The learned fleas were the admiration and amazement of Paris,
Lyons, and the chief provincial towns of France, in 1820.

But how, one will ask, was it possible in a large public room to
see this wonderful sight? And it is necessary that this should be
explained. The spectators were seated in front of a curtain, pro-
vided with magnifying glasses, through which they looked, as they
would at a diorama at landscapes or buildings.

But let us return to the natural history of our insect. The
female flea lays from eight to twelve eggs, which are of oval shape,
smooth, viscous, and white.

Contrary to what one might think, @ priori, the flea does not
fix its eggs to the skin of its victims. She lets them drop on the
eround, between the boards of floors, or old furniture, and among
dirty linen and rubbish.

M. Defrance has remarked that there are always found mixed
with the eggs a certain number of grains of a brilliant black
colour, which are simply dried blood. ‘This is a provision which

32 THE INSECT WORLD.

the foreseeing mother has prepared at our expense to nourish her
young offspring.

In four or five days in summer, and in eleven days in winter,
one may see coming out of these eggs small, elongated larve,
of cylindrical form, covered with hair, and divided into three
parts, the last provided with two small hooks. The head
is scaly above, has two small antenne, and is without eyes.
These larvae are without limbs, but they can twist about, roll
themselves over and over, and even advance pretty fast by raising -
their heads. Though at first white, they become afterwards of a
reddish colour.

About a fortnight after they are hatched they cease to eat,
and are immovable, as if about to die. They then commence to
make a small, whitish, silky cocoon, in which they are trans-
formed into pup. In another fortnight these pupz become
perfect insects.

A most remarkable trait, and unique among insects, has been
observed in the flea. The mother disgorges into the mouths of
the larvee the blood with which she is filled.

The flea is most abundant in Europe and the North of Africa. -
Certain circumstances particularly favour its multiplication ; being
most abundant in dirty houses, in barracks, and in camps, in
deserted buildings, in ruins, and in places frequented by people of
uncleanly habits.

Other kinds of fleas live on animals, as, for example, the cat
flea, the dog flea, and those of the pigeon and poultry.

We shall say a few words about a peculiar species which abounds
in all the hot parts of America, but principally in the Brazils and
the neighbouring countries. This formidable species is the Chigo
(Pulex penetrans).

The chigo, called also the tick, is smaller than the common flea.
It is flat, brown, with a white spot on the back, and is armed with
a strong, pointed, stiff beak, provided with three lancets. It is
with this instrument that the female attacks man with the inten-
tion of lodging in his skin and bringing forth her young there.

The chigo attacks chiefly the feet. It slips in between the
flesh and the nails, or gets under the skin of the heel. Notwith-
standing the length of the animal’s beak, introducing itself

APTERA. 33

beneath the skin does not at first cause any pain. But after a
few days one is made aware of its presence by an itching, which,
though at first ene gradually increases, and ends by becoming
unbearable.

The chigo, when smile: the skin, betrays itself by a hihi
outside. Its body has now become as large as a pea; in the
attacked skin a large brown bag containing matter is formed. In
this bag are collected the eggs, which issue from an orifice in
the posterior extremity, and are not hatched in the wound itself,
as was long thought to be the case.

The chigoes are an object of terror to the Brazilian negroes.
These formidable parasites sometimes attack the whole of the
foot, which they devour, and thus bring on mortification ; many
negroes losing the bones of some of their toes by the ravages
of these dangerous creatures. To guard against their attacks,
they wear thick shoes, and examine their feet carefully every
day. The plan usually followed in the Brazils to prevent the
chigoes from injuring the feet, is to employ children, who, by
their sharpness of sight, can easily perceive the red spot on the
skin, where the chigo has entered. These children are in the
habit of extracting the insect from the wound by means of a
needle. But this is not without risk; as, if any portion of the
insect remains in the wound, a dangerous inflammation may ensue.
For this reason, operators who are renowned for their skill are
much sought after, flattered, and rewarded by the poor negroes
of the plantations.

The Head Louse (Pediculus capitis, Fig. 18) is an insect with
a flat body, slightly transparent, and of greyish colour, spotted
with black on the spiracles, soft in the middle, and rather hard
at the sides. The head, which is oval, is furnished with two
thread-like antennze, composed of five joints, which are constantly
in motion while the creature is walking; it is also furnished with
two simple, round, black eyes; and lastly, with a mouth. In the
front of the head is a short, conical, fleshy nipple. This nipple
contains a sucker, or rostrum, which the animal can put out when
it likes, and which, when extended, represents a tubular body,
terminating in six little pointed hooks, bent back, and serving
to retain the instrument in the skin. This organ is surmounted

D

34 THE INSECT WORLD.

by four fine hairs, fixed to one another, and seated in its interior.
It is by means of this complicated apparatus that the louse pricks
and sucks the skin of the head. The thorax is nearly
square, and divided into three parts by deep incisions.
; The abdomen, strongly lobed at the sides, is composed
i,’ of eight rings, and is provided with sixteen spiracles.
The limbs consist of a trochanter, a thigh, a shank,
and a tarsus of a single joint, and are very thick.
eae A strong nail, which folds back on an indented projec-
tis) magnised. tion, thus forming a pincer, terminates the tarsus. It
is with this pincer that the louse fastens itself to the hair.

Lice are oviparous. Their eggs, which remain sticking to the
hair, are long and white, and are commonly called “nits.” The
young are hatched in the course of five or six days; and in
eighteen days are able to reproduce their kind. Leuwenhoek
calculated that in two months two female lice could produce ten
thousand! Other naturalists have asserted that the second gene-
ration of a single individual can amount to two thousand five
hundred, and the third, to a hundred and twenty-five thousand !
Happily for the victims of these disgusting parasites, their repro-
duction is not generally to this prodigious extent.

Many means are employed to kill lice. Lotions of the smaller
centaury or of stavesacre, and pomatum mixed with mercurial
ointment, are very efficacious. But the surest and easiest remedy
is to put plenty of oil on the head. The oil kills the lice by
obstructing their trachez, and thus stopping respiration.

There are other kinds of lice, but we will only mention the
louse which infests beggars and people of unclean habits. Pedi-
culus humanus corporis, producing the complaint called phthiriasis.
In the victims of this disease these parasites increase with fearful
rapidity. This dreadful disorder is often mentioned by the
ancients. King Antiochus, the philosopher Pherecydes of Scyros,
the contemporary and friend of Thales, the dictator Sylla,
Agrippa, and Valerius Maximus are said to have been attacked
by phthiriasis, and even to have died of it. Amatus Lusitanus,
a Portuguese doctor of the sixteenth century, relates that lice
increased so quickly and to such an extent on a rich nobleman
attacked with phthiriasis, that the whole duty of two of his ser-

APTERA. 35

vants consisted in carrying away, and throwing into the sea, whole
basketfuls of the vermin which were continually escaping from
the person of their noble master !

Little is known at the present day of the details of this
complaint; though it is observed frequently enough in some parts
of the south of Europe, where the dirty and miserable inhabitants
are a prey to poverty and uncleanliness—two misfortunes which
often go together. In Gallicia, in Poland, in the Asturias, and
in Spain, we may find many victims of phthiriasis.

Lice increase with such rapidity on persons thus attacked, that
it is common to attribute their appearance to spontaneous genera-
tion alone. But the prodigious suddenness of reproduction in
these insects sufficiently explains their increase.

\

D2

II.
DIPTERA.

Au suctorial msects which in the perfect state possess only two
membranous wings, are called Diptera, from two Greek words
—dic, two, and 7Tepov, wing.

The Diptera were known and scientifically described at a very
early date. They are found often mentioned by Aristotle in his
History of Animals; and he applied the term to the same insects
as now constitute the order.

The absence of the second wings, common to other insects,
which are in this case replaced by two appendages, which have
received the name of balancers,* because they serve to regulate the
action of flight, constitutes the chief characteristic of the Diptera.
Let us, however, give a glance at their other organs, which have
more or less affinity with those which exist in other classes of
insects, preserving, nevertheless, their own especial characteristics.

The mouth, for instance,—suited for suction only,—is in the
form of a trunk, and is composed of a sheath, a sucker, and two
palpi. The antenne are generally composed of only three joints.
The eyes—usually two in number—are very large, and sometimes
take up nearly the whole of the head. They are both simple and
compound. The wings are membranous, delicate, and veined ;
the limbs long and slight. In giving the history of the principal
types of Diptera, we shall more fully explain the formation of
these organs.

The Diptera, by their rapid flight, enliven both the earth and
the air. The different species abound in every climate, and in

* Sometimes called halteres.—Ep.

DIPTERA. 37

every situation ; some inhabiting woods, plains, fields, or banks
of rivers; others preferring our houses. They each take their
share of vegetation, preferring either the flowers, the leaves, or
the stems of the trees of our woods, our gardens, or our planta-
tions. Their food varies very much; and the formation of the
sucker is regulated by it. Some imbibe blood, others live on the
secretions of animals. Their chief nourishment, however, consists
of the juices of flowers, on whose brilliant corollas the Diptera
abound, either plundering from every species indiscriminately,
or attaching themselves to some particular kind. They dis-
play the most wonderful instinct in their maternal care, and
employ the most varied and ingenious precautions to preserve
their progeny.

The Diptera, besides their variety and the number of their
species, are remarkable on account of their profusion. The myriads
of flies which rise from our meadows, which fly in crowds around
our plants, and around every organised substance from which
life has departed, some of which even infest living animals, are
Diptera.

The profusion with which they are distributed over the face
of the globe, causes them to fulfil two important duties in the
economy of nature. On the one hand, they furnish to insecti-
vorous birds an inexhaustible supply of food; on the other, they
contribute to the removal of all decaying animal and vegetable
substances, and thus serve to purify the air which we breathe.
Their fecundity, the rapidity with which one generation succeeds
another, and their great voracity, added to the extraordinary
quickness of their reproduction, are such that Linnzus tells us
that three flies, with the generations which spring from them,
could eat up a dead horse as quickly as a lion could.

These Diptera, which are worthy of so much attention, and
deserve so much study with regard to the part they play in the
general economy of nature, are an object of fear and repulsion
when one considers their relations to us and other animals. Gnats
and mosquitoes suck our blood ; the gad-fly and the asilus attack
our cattle. The order Diptera is composed of a great number of
families, and these families are again divided into tribes, which
themselves comprise several genera. We shall only speak of

38 THE INSECT WORLD.

those genera of Diptera which are composed of insects on some
account remarkable.

M. Macquart, the learned author of “ L’ Histoire Naturelle des
Diptéres,”’* divides this great class of insects into two principal
groups. In one of these groups, the antenne are formed of at
least six joints, and the palpi of four or five: these are called
Nemocera. In the other, the antennz consist only of three joints,
and the palpi of one or two: these are the Brachycera.

The Nemocera may generally be distinguished from the other
Diptera, independently of the difference in the antenne and palpi,
by the slenderness of the body, the smallness of the head, the
shape of the thorax, and the length of the feet and wings. The
result of this organisation is a graceful, light, and aerial form.

NEMOCERA.

Abounding everywhere, the Nemocera live, some on the blood
of man and animals, some on small insects, and others on the
juices of fragrant flowers.

In all climates, in every latitude, in the fields and woods, even
in our dwellings, they may be seen fluttering and plundering.
The Nemocera are divided into two families, that of the Culicide,
of which the gnat (Culex), which has a long, thin trunk, and a
sucker provided with six bristles, is a member; and that of the
Tipulide, which have a short, thick trunk, and a sucker having
two bristles.

We will begin our examination with the Gnat (Culex pipiens),
of which Réaumur, in his “‘ Memoires pour servir a. l’ Histoire des
Insectes,” has given such a curious and complete history. ‘‘ The
gnat is our declared enemy,” says Réaumur, in the introduction
to his memoir, “and a very troublesome enemy it is. However,
it is well to make its acquaintance, for if we pay a little attention
we shall be forced to admire it, and even to admire the instru-
ment with which it wounds us. Besides which, throughout the
whole course of its life it offers most interesting matter of
investigation to those who are curious to know the wonders of
nature. During a period in its life the observer, forgetting that

* “Suites 4 Buffon,” 2 vols., 8vo.

(DIPTERA ( 39

it will at some time annoy him, feels the greatest interest in its
life-history.”

As this is the case, let us explain the history of these insects,
which excite so much interest. The illustrious naturalist we have
just mentioned will be our guide.

Figs. 19 and 20.—The Gnat (Culex pipiens).

The body of the gnat is long and cylindrical. When in a state
of repose one of its wings is crossed over the other. They present
a charming appearance when seen through a microscope, their
nervures, as well as their edges, being completely covered with

Fig. 21.—Antenna of Gnat, magnified. Fig. 22.—Head of Gnat, magnified.

scales, shaped like oblong plates and finely striated longitudinally.
These scales are also found on all the segments of the body.

The antennz of the gnat, particularly those of the male, have
a fine feathery appearance (Fig. 21).

Their eyes, covered with network, are so large that they cover

40 THE INSECT WORLD.

nearly the whole of the head. Some ‘have eyes of a brilliant
green colour, but looked at in certain lights they appear red.
Fig. 22 shows the head of the gnat with its two eyes, its antenne,
and trunk.

The instrument which the gnat employs for puncturing the
skin, and which is called the trunk (Fig. 23), is well worthy of
our attention. That which is generally seen is only the case of
those instruments which are intended to pierce our skin and suck
our blood, and in which they
are held, as lancets and other
instruments are held in a sur-
geon’s case. The case (Fig. 24)
is cylindrical, covered with
scales, and terminates in a
small knob. Split from end
to end that it may open, it
contains a perfect bundle of
stings. Réaumur tried to ob-
serve, by allowing himself to

Faye oBERION: be stung by gnats, what took

Pe Oy GLa See place during the attack. He

forgot, in watching the operations of the insect, the slight pain

caused by the wound, soliciting it as a favour, his only regret
being not to obtain it when he wished.

Réaumur observed that the compound sting, which is about a
line in length, enters the skin to the depth of about three-
quarters of a line, and that during that time the case bends into
a bow, until the two ends meet. He noticed besides, that the
trunk-case of certain gnats was even more complicated than that
which we have described. But we will not dwell any longer on
this point.

Let us now try to give an idea of the construction and com-
position of this sting, which after piercing the skin draws our
blood.

According to Réaumur, the sting of the gnat is composed of
five parts. He acknowledges, however, that it is very difficult to
be certain of the exact number of these parts, on account of the way
in which they are united, and of their form. At the present day we

DIPTERA. 41

know that there are six. Réaumur, as also Leuwenhoek, thought
he saw two in the form of a sword blade with three edges. These
have the points reversed, and are serrated on the convex side of
the bend (Fig. 25). To form an idea of the shape of the other
points, the reader should look at Figs. 26 and 27. He will then
see that the gnat’s sting is a sword in miniature. .

The prick made by so fine a point as that of the sting of the
enat, ought not to cause any pain. “The point of the finest
needle,” says Réaumur, “compared to
the sting of the gnat, is the same as the
point of a sword compared to that of the
needle.” How is it then that so small
a wound does not heal at once? How
is 1t that small bumps arise on the part
that is stung? The fact is, that it is not
only a wound, but it has been imbued with
an irritating liquid.

This liquid may be seen toexude, under
different circumstances, from the trunk of the gnat, like a drop of
very clear water.

Réaumur sometime saw this liquid even in the trunk itself.
“There is nothing better,’ he observes, “to prevent the bad
effects of gnat bites than at once to dilute the liquid they
have left in the wound with water. However small this wound
may be, it will not be difficult for water to be introduced.
By rubbing, it will be at once enlarged, and there is nothing to do
but to wash it. I have some time found this remedy answer very
well.”

The gnat is not always in the form of a winged insect, greedy
for our blood. There is a period during which they leave us in
repose. This is the larva period. It is in water, and in stagnant
water in particular, that the larva of the insect which occupies
our attention is to be found. It resembles a worm, and may be
found in ponds from the month of May until the commencement
of winter.

If we desire to follow the larva of the gnat from the
beginning, we have only to keep a bucket of water in the open
air. After a few days this water will be observed to be full

Figs. 25, 26, 27.
Lancets of the Gnat.

42 THE INSECT WORLD.

of the larve of the gnat (Fig. 28). They are very small, and .
come to the surface of the water to breathe; for which purpose
they extend the opening of a pipe, A, which is attached to the
last segment of the body, a little above the surface. They
are, consequently, obliged to hold their heads down. By the
side of the breathing-tube is another tube, B, shorter and thicker
than the former, nearly perpendicular to the body, its orifice
being the exterior termination of the digestive-tube. At the
anus it is fringed with long hairs, having the appearance, when
in the water, of a funnel. At the end of
the same tube, and inside the hair funnel, are
four thin, oval, transparent, scaly blades, hav-
ing the appearance of fins. They are placed
in pairs, of which one emanates from the right
side, the other from the left.

These four blades or fins have the power
of separating from each other. Hach segment
of the abdomen has on both sides a tuft of
hair, and the thorax has three. The head is
round and flat, and is provided with two
simple brown eyes. Round the mouth are
several wattles, furnished with hair, of which
two of crescent-like form are the most con-

Fig. 28—Larva of the Spicuous. ‘These tufts move with great quick-

aa ness, causing small currents of liquid to flow
into the mouth, by means of which the necessary food, microscopic
insects and particles of vegetable and earthy matter, is brought to
the larva.

They change their skin several times during their continuance
in this state. This latter fact has been remarked by Dom
Allou, a learned Carthusian, “ whose pleasure,” says Réaumur,
“consisted in admiring the works of the Almighty, when not
occupied in singing his praises.” We think it will be inter-
esting to repeat the few lines which accompany the mention
made by Réaumur of this worthy Carthusian. They appear to us
to be well worth reading even at the present day.

“Tf the pious monks who compose so many societies, possessed,
like Dom Allou, the love of observing insects, we might hope

DIPTERA. 43

that the most essential facts in the history of those little creatures
would soon be made known to us. What enjoyment more worthy
of the calling they have chosen could these pious men pursue than
that which would place before their eyes the marvellous creations
of an Almighty Power? Even their leisure would then incline
them to adore that Power, and would furnish them the means to
make others do so who are occupied by too serious or too frivolous
employments.”

After having changed its skin three times in a fortnight or
three weeks, the larva of the gnat throws off its covering for a
fourth time, and is no longer in the larva state. It is changed
both in shape and condition. Instead of being oblong, its body
is shortened, rounded, and bent in such a way that the tail is
applied to the under part of the head. This is the case when the
animal is in repose; but it is able to move and swim, and then,
by bending its body and straightening it again, propels itself
through the water.

In this new condition, that is to say, in the pupa state
(Fig. 29), it does not eat. It no longer possesses digestive _
organs, but it 1s necessary, even more than before its
metamorphosis, that it should breathe atmospheric air.
Besides, the organs of respiration are greatly changed.
During the time the insect was in the larva state, it was
through the long tube fixed to the posterior part that it
received or expelled the air; but in casting its skin it
loses the tube, two appendages resembling an ass’s ears
being for the pupa what the tube was for the larva, the
openings of these ears being held above the surface of the
water. From this pupa the perfect insect will emerge ;
it is developed little by little, and the principal members
may be distinguished under the transparent membranous skin
which envelops it.

When the insect is about to change from the pupa state, it lies
on the surface of the water, straightening the hind part of its
body, and extending itself on the surface of the water, above which
the thorax is raised. Before it has been a moment in this position,
its skin splits between the two breathing trumpets, the split in-
creasing very rapidly in length and breadth.

Fig. 29.
Pupa of
the Gnat.

44 THE INSECT WORLD.

“Tt leaves,” says Réaumur, “a portion of the thorax of the
enat, easily to be recognised by the freshness of its colour, which
is green, and different from the skin in which it was before
enveloped, uncovered.

“As soon as the slit is enlarged,—and to do so sufficiently is
the work of a moment,—the fore part of the perfect insect is not
long in showing itself; and soon afterwards the head appears,
rising above the edges of the opening. But this moment, and
those which follow, until the gnat has entirely left its covering,
are most critical, and when it is exposed to fearful danger. This
insect, which lately lived in the water, is suddenly in a position
in which it has nothing to fear so much as water. If it were
upset on the water, and the water were to touch its thorax or body,
it would be fatal. This is the way in which it acts in this critical
position. As soon as it has got out its head and thorax it lifts
them as high as it is able above the opening through which they
had emerged, and then draws the posterior part of its body
through the same opening; or rather that part pushes itself
forward by contracting a little and then lengthening again, the
roughness of the covering from which it desires to extricate itself
serving as an assistance.

“A larger portion of the gnat is thus uncovered, and at the
same time the head is advanced farther towards the anterior end
of the covering ; but as it advances in this direction, it rises more
and more, the anterior and posterior ends of the sheath thus
becoming quite empty. The sheath then becomes a sort of boat,
into which the water does not enter; and it would be fatal
if it did. The water could not find a passage to the farther
end, and the edges of the anterior end could not be submerged
until the other was considerably sunk. The gnat itself is the
mast of its little boat. Large boats, which pass under bridges,
have masts which can be lowered; as soon as the boat has passed
the bridge the mast is hoisted up by degrees, until it is perpen-
dicular. The gnat rises thus until it becomes the mast of its own
little boat, and a vertical mast also. It is difficult to imagine how
it is able to put itself in such a singular, though for it necessary,
position, and also how it can keep it. The fore part of the boat is
much more loaded than the other, but it is also much broader.

DIPTERA. 45

Any one who observes how deep the fore part of the boat is, and
how near the edges of its sides are to the water, forgets for the

we
WZ

SM]
Wy A

Zz
ANS MMDHKXX

Fig. 30.—Gnats emerging.

time being that the gnat is an insect that he would willingly
destroy at other times. One feels uneasy for its fate; and the
more so if the wind happens to rise, particularly if it disturbs the

46 THE INSECT WORLD.

surface of the water. But one sees with pleasure that there is air.
enough to carry the gnat along quickly ; it is carried from side to
side; it makes different voyages in the bucket in which it is borne.
Though it is only a sort of boat, or rather mast, because its wings
and legs are fixed close to its body, it is perhaps, in proportion to
the size of its boat, a larger sail than one would dare to put on a
real vessel ; one cannot help fearing that the little boat will capsize.
* * * As soon as the boat is capsized, as soon as the gnat is
laid on the surface of the water, there is no chance left for it.
Ihave sometimes seen the water covered with gnats which had
perished thus as soon as they were born. It is, however, still
more extraordinary that the gnat is able to finish its operations.
Happily they do not last long; all dangers may be passed over in
a minute.

“The gnat, after raising itself perpendicularly, draws its two
front legs from the sheath, and brings them forward. It then
draws out the two next. It now no longer tries to maintain
its uneasy position, but leans towards the water; gets near it, and
places its feet upon it; the water is sufficiently firm and solid
support for them, and is able to bear them, although burdened
with the insect’s body. As soon as the insect is thus on the
water it is in safety; its wings are unfolded and dried, which is
done sooner than it takes to tell it: at length the gnatis na -
position to use them, and it is soon seen to fly away, particularly
if one tries to catch it.”

One more word about the gnat, whose life is full of such
interesting details.

The reader will perhaps not feel much pleasure in learning that
the fecundity of these insects is extraordinary. Many generations
are born in a single year, each generation requiring only three
weeks or a month to arrive at a condition to bring forth a new
generation. Thus, the number of gnats
which comes into existence in the
course of a year is something fearful.
Only a few days after the pup in
a bucket are transformed into gnats,
eggs which have been left by the females may be observed floating
on the surface of the water in little clusters.

Fig. 31.—Eggs of the Gnat, magnified.

DIPTERA. 47

Many species of gnat, known as mosquitoes, are to be found in
‘America. All travellers speak of the sufferings endured by a
stranger in that country, from the bites of these insects. One can
only preserve oneself from these cruel enemies during sleep by
hanging gauze, called a mosquito curtain, round the bed. Mos-
quito curtains are not only necessary in America. During the
hot season, in Spain, throughout the whole of Italy, and a part of
the south of France, it is necessary to hang these curtains round
the bed, if one wishes to obtain any sleep: it is also a necessary
‘precaution not to have a light in one’s bedchamber, as the sight
of it at once attracts these dangerous companions, whose buzzing
and stinging prevent any possibility of repose during the whole
night. Such is our advice to people who travel in the above-
mentioned countries.

The Yipulide have a narrow, elongated abdomen, and long
and slight limbs. The head is round, and the eyes, which are
compound, are, especially in the males, very large. The wings,
which are long and narrow, are sometimes held wide apart,
sometimes horizontally, and sometimes bent so as to form, as it
were, aroof. The balancers are naked and elongated ; the abdomen
long, cylindrical, and often terminating in a club in the male, and
in a point in the female. The antenne, which are longer than
the head, are generally composed of from fourteen to sixteen
joints, and are sometimes in the form of a comb or saw, some-
times furnished with hair, in form of plumes, bunches, or in a
whorl. The larve live on plants, in the fields, in gardens, and
sometimes in woods. The perfect insects, at first sight, resemble
enats, but are without a trunk, or rather their trunk is extremely
short, terminating in two large lips, and the sucker is composed
of two fibres only.* The larger species of Tipule, which are

* The genus Cecidomyia, which belongs to this family, presents the most extraor-
dinary instance of agamo-genesis, or reproduction without fertilisation by another
individual, at present known among insects. Until lately it was almost an axiom
with naturalists that no sect was capable of reproduction until it had attained its
adult or perfect state. Several continental observers, some of them without any
knowledge of the others’ discoveries, have found that the /arve of some of the species
of this genus reproduce larvee resembling themselves in every respect ; and what is
still more strange, these laryze live in a free state within the parent larva, feeding

upon its tissues, and causing its ultimate destruction.
A very interesting article on this subject will be found in the ‘‘ Popular Serene

48 THE INSECT WORLD.

commonly known as “Daddy Longlegs,” &c., and in France as
“ Tailleurs” and “ Couturiéres,” are found in fields at the end of
September and commencement of October.

“Although they sometimes fly a considerable distance,” says
Réaumur, “when the sun is bright and hot, they generally do
not go far; often, indeed, only along the ground, or rather
the top of the grass. Sometimes they only use their wings to
keep them above the level of the herbage, and to take them
along. Their legs, particularly the hind ones, are dispropor-
tionately large. They are three times the length of the body,
and are to these insects what stilts are to the peasants of marshy
and inundated countries, enabling them to pass with ease over the
higher blades of grass.”

One of the smaller species has been termed culiciformis on
account of its resemblance to the gnat. The smaller are more
active than the larger species which we have mentioned. Not
only do they fly more rapidly, but there are some kinds which are
continually on the wing. In all seasons, even during the winter,
at certain hours of the day, clouds of small insects are seen in the
air, which are taken for gnats: they are Tipule. Their flight is
worthy of attention; they generally only rise and fall in the same
vertical line. All these flies come from larvae, which resemble
very elongated worms, having scaly heads, generally furnished
with two very small conical antennz, and certain other organs,
for the purpose of obtaining food. Their bodies are jointed,
without limbs, but nevertheless provided with appendages which
supply their place. The larvee of the various species are of very
different habits. Some are aquatic, as that of Tipula culiciformis,
a small species which is very numerous in stagnant waters.

It is necessary to say a few words about these worm-like larvee,
which are extremely common. They are of a brilliant red colour,
and inhabit little oblong bent masses of earth, thickly pierced
with holes. Each hole allows a worm to extend its head, and the
foremost part of its body, out of the cell, which is made of light,
spongy matters, remains of decayed leaves, &c. These larve
are transformed into pups, in the cell in which they have lived,

Review ”’ for the 1st April, 1868. The larva of a species (Cecidomyia tritict) frequently
causes much injury to the wheat.—Ep.

DIPTERA. 49

during the larva state, losing by this metamorphosis the scaly
coverings of the head and of all the exterior parts. They pass
into the pupa state, and have the thorax provided with dainty
plumes, which probably assist in the action of respiration. This
pupa is very active and quick in its movements in the water.
When the moment comes for its last metamorphosis, it throws off
its feathery covering in much the same manner as the gnat.

Fig. 32.—Daddy Longlegs (Zipula oleracea).

Fig. 32 represents T%pula oleracea in the different stages of
larva, pupa, and perfect insect.

Other species of small Tipule have aquatic larvee-very similar
to those which we have described. Réaumur remarked that each
of these worms is lodged in a thick mass, convex at the top, formed
of a transparent and adhesive white jelly. The larve of the
larger Tipule are not aquatic, but are of different habits, and
live under the ground; all soil which is not frequently turned
is suitable to them, but they are to be found especially in low damp
meadows.

Réaumur saw large districts of grassy swamps in Poictou
which in certain years furnished very little grass for the cattle,

E

50 THE INSECT WORLD.

on account of the ravages caused by these larve. ‘They had
also much injured the harvest in the same districts during those
years.

These larve appear to require no other food than vegetable
mould. Their excrements are, in fact, according to Réaumur,
nothing else than dried earth, from which the stomach and intes-
tines of the insect have withdrawn all nourishing matter.

Old trees have often hollow cavities occasioned by the decay
of the trunk. When these cavities are old, their lower parts are
full of a sort of mould which is in fact half-decayed wood. It is
there that the Tipule often lay their eggs. Réaumur frequently
found the larve in the trunks of elms or willows, and also in the
fleshy parts of certain kinds of mushrooms. He carefully observed
the habits of one, which lived under the covering of a mush-
room, the Oak agaric (Agaricus quercinus). This larva is round,
grey, and resembles an earth-worm. It does not walk, but
crawls; and the places where it stops, or which it passes over, are
covered with a sort of brilliant slime, like that left by the snail
or slug.

M. Guérin-Méneville has published some very interesting re-
marks on the migrations of the larve of a particular kind of
Tipula, kvown by the name of Sciara. We will borrow from
that entomologist the following curious details, which will initiate
us into one of the most wonderful phenomena in the whole his-
tory of insects. ‘These small larva are without feet, hardly five
lines in length, and about the third of a line in diameter.
They are composed of thirteen segments, and have small black
heads.

In some years, during the month of July, may be found on the
borders of forests in Norway and Hanover, immense trains of
these larvae, formed by the union of an innumerable quantity fixed
to each other by a sticky substance. These collections of larvz
resemble sume sort of strange animal of serpent-like form, several
feet long, one or two inches in thickness, and formed by the union
of an immense number, which cling to each other by thousands,
and move on together. The whole society advances thus with
one accord, leaving a track after it on the ground, as a material
indication of its presence.

DIPTERA. 51

These strange collections of living creatures form societies,
sometimes only a few yards long; but at other times it happens
that they form bands from ten to twelve yards in length, of the
breadth of a hand and the thickness of a thumb. M. Guérin-
Méneville observed columns as many as thirty yards in length.
These troops advance as slowly as a snail, and in a certain
direction. If they encounter an obstacle—as a stone, for instance
—they cross over it, turn round it, or else divide into two sec-
tions, which reunite after the obstacle is passed. If a portion of
the column be removed so as to divide it into two parts, it is
quickly reunited, as the hindmost portion soon jos that which
precedes it. Lastly, if the posterior part of this living ribbon be
' brought into contact with the anterior, a circle is formed, which
turns round and round on the same ground for a long time, some-
times even for a whole day, before breaking, and continuing to
advance. They are never met with in bad weather, but only
when the sun is warm.

The curious and astonishing phenomenon of an assembly of
larvee without feet, advancing with an equal movement resulting
from the individual motion of thousands of little worms, was
remarked for the first time, in 1608, by Gaspard Schwenefelt.
This naturalist says that the inhabitants of Siberia consider this
phenomenon as an indication of a bad harvest if they go towards
the mountains ; whereas, if they descend towards the plains, it
is the sign of a good one. In 1715 Jonas Ramus mentioned the
same phenomenon, recalling a superstition attached to it by the
peasants of Norway. ‘This writer informs us that the peasants of
that country, on meeting one of these moving columns, throw
down their belts or waistcoats on the ground before it. If the
orme-drag (that is the name given to the moving column) crosses
over this obstacle, it is a good sign; but, on the other hand, if
the column turns round the obstacle, instead of crossing it, some
mischief may be expected.

The same animals were observed in 1845 at Birkenmoor,
near Hefeld, by M. Rande, Royal Inspector of the Forests of
Hanover.

M. Guérin-Méneyville is of opinion that these larve, which
exist in great numbers in certain districts, sometimes devour all

E 2

52 THE INSECT WORLD.

the nutritive substances contained in the ground. After having
done so, they are obliged to come out of it, in order to seek at
a distance a place where they will find food, or perhaps only
a suitable place to undergo their metamorphosis. It is then that
this singular journey commences. As regards the uniting of
these myriads of individuals into columns, M. Guérin-Méneville
thinks that it can be explained by the necessity these insects feel
for mutual protection against the drying effect of the atmosphere
when they are forced to leave the ground. United into masses,
and moistened by the glutinous matter which connects them, they
can leave their former place of abode without danger; if each
were by itself, they would soon perish. Here, as in other cases,
union is strength; and the strength of these larvee lies in this
protecting moisture. However it may be explained, the migra-
tions of these troops of insects are among the most astonishing
phenomena of nature.

BRACHYCERA.

The Brachycera, from Boayts, “ short,’ and épas, “a horn,”—
these Diptera having short antennse,—are divided into four groups.
In this subdivision the sucker is composed of six bristles. Amongst
other families it includes that of the Tabanide; the insects be-
longing to which family are of remarkable strength, and possessed
of daring and courage in the highest degree. Their wings are
provided with powerful muscles, their feet are very strong, and
their trunk is provided with six flat, sharp lancets. Distributed
over the entire world, their instinct is everywhere the same: it
is the desire for blood, at least in the females, for the males are
not so warlike. They do no harm, but live on the juices of
flowers. They are chiefly found in woods and pastures, and,
during the hottest part of the day in summer, may be seen flying
about, seeking for their prey.

M. de Saint-Fargeau has described the manner in which the
males fly. They may be seen flying hither and thither in the
glades of woods, remaining for some time suspended in the air,
then darting quickly and suddenly away a yard or two, again

DIPTERA. 53

taking up the same immovable position, and in each of these
movements turning the head to the opposite way from that in
which they are going. This naturalist is certain that on these
occasions they are watching for the females, which they dart
upon. When they have succeeded in doing so, they rise so high
as to be out of sight.

To this group belongs the genus Tadanus.

The first species we shall mention, Tabanus autumnalis (Fig.
33), a common species, is eight or nine lines in length, and of

Fig. 83.—Tabanus autumnalis. Fig. 34.—Chrysops cxcutiens.

blackish colour. The palpi, the face, and the forehead are grey ;
the antenne black; the thorax grey, striped with brown; the
abdomen spotted with yellow, the legs of a yellowish white, and
the outer edge of the wings brown.

Another species (Tabanus bovinus) is twelve lines in length, and
of a blackish brown. The palpi, the face, and the forehead are
yellow; the antenne black, with a whitish base; the thorax,
covered with yellow hair, is striped with black; the posterior
edge of the segments of the abdomen pale yellow; the legs

o4 THE INSECT WORLD.

yellowish, with the extremities black, and the exterior edge of the
wings yellow. This species is frequently met with in woods.

A third species, Chrysops cecutiens (Fig. 34), which belongs
to the same family, and of which the generic name chrysops
signifies golden-eyed, torments horses and cattle very much by
biting them round the eyes. Its thorax is of a yellowish colour,
striped or spotted with black; the abdomen yellow, and the eyes
golden. |

In the next group of the Brachycera the sucker is composed of
four bristles, and the antennz gene-
rally terminate in a point which
appears to be rather a development
than an appendage.

This group includes a number of
genera, but the following only pos-
sess sufficient interest to claim our
attention. From the Tanystome we
select the families of the Asilde,
Eimpide, and Bombylide. As types
of the Brachystome we select the
Leptide and Syrphide.

The chief characteristic of the
Asilidé is strength. All their organs
combine to produce this quality,
which they display only too much,
being as formidable to cattle as the
Tabani, but even surpassing those
insects in natural cruelty.

The Aside unceasingly attack
other insects, and even those of their
own kind. Their trunk is strong ;
one of the fibres of the sucker is fur-
nished with small points, turned back, which are intended to hold
firmly to the body into which it has entered. They carry on their
devastations in the glades of woods and on sunny roads.

We will mention in this group, Astlus crabroniformis (Fig. 35),
an insect ten to twelve lines long, having a yellow head, black
antenne, and thorax of a brownish yellow. ‘The three first seg-

Fig. 35.—Asilus crabroniformis.

DIPTERA. r 3)

ments of the abdomen are black, the second and third having a
white spot on each side, the remaining segments are yellow. The
wings are yellowish, spotted with black on the inner and hind
margin. This species is common over the whole of Europe, and
lives at the expense of caterpillars and other insects, of which
it sucks the blood with the greatest voracity.

The Hmpide@ live in the same way as the Asilide, but the males
are chiefly nourished by the juices of flowers.

“The rapine they exercise on other insects,” says M. Macquart,
in his ‘‘ Histoire Naturelle des Diptéres,” “ takes place either when
flying or running, and they seize their victims with their feet,
which are formed in various ways, and well adapted for their
purpose, but it is in the air that their hunting, as well as their
amours, chiefly take place. They unite together in numerous
companies, which during fine summer evenings whirl like gnats
about the water’s edge. <A singular observation, however, that I
have made on the Hmpzis, is, that among the thousands of pairs
that I have seen resting on hedges and bushes, nearly all the
females were occupied in sucking an insect; some had hold of
small Phryganee,* others of Hphemere,t and the greater part of
Tipule.”

The Hmpide have the trunk bent down, and resembling the
beak of a bird ; but the Bombylide, on the contrary, have the trunk
extended straight in front.

The typical genus which has given its name to this latter
group is easily to be recognised by the elegance of the fur which
covers its body, the slenderness of its feet, and the length of its
wings, which extend horizontally on each side of the body.

Much more common in hot climates than in the North, these
insects, the larvee of which are not yet known, take flight im the
middle of the day, when the sun’s rays are hottest. They fly very
fast, making a dull buzzing sound, and hover over flowers, from
which they draw the juices without settling.

Fig. 36 represents the Bombylius major, which is common
enough throughout the whole of Europe. This insect is from four
to six lines long, black, with yellow fur; the feet light yellow ;
and the wings have the edges bordered with a sinuous brown band.

* The insects produced from the caddis or case-worm.—Ep. f+ May-fly family.—Hp.

56 THE INSECT WORLD.

The genus Anthrax, belonging to this family, has a different form
to Bombylius. The body is much less hairy; the trunk is short
and concealed in the mouth; the wings,
which are very large, are clothed, at least
in the principal genus, in a garb of
mourning, sufficiently remarkable, in
which the combinations of black and
white are admirably diversified.

“Here,” says M. Macquart, “the line
which separates the two colours is
straight, there it represents gradations, in
other cases it is deeply sinuous. Some-
times the dark part shows transparent
points, or the glassy part dark spots.
This sombre garb, added to the velvet
\ black of the body, gives the Anthrax a
most elegant appearance; and while
resting on the corolla of the honey-
suckle and hawthorn to suck the juice,
forms a most striking contrast, and sets
forth its beauty no less than that of

Fig. 36.—Bombylius major.

those lovely flowers.”
Anthrax sinuata is common in Europe.
The family of the Syrphide includes three remarkable types, .

< ye which we cannot pass over in silence.
i! They are Vermileo, Volucella, and Helo-
_ \ Sie = philus.

A == Vermileo de Geeri (Fig. 37), which

inhabits the central and southern parts
\ of France, is four or five lines in
length. Its face is white; its forehead
erey, bordered with black ; the thorax
: ‘ of a-yellowish grey, with four brown
Be ool Verne de Geen, stripes in the male; the abdomen
light yellow, spotted with black ; and the wings glassy.
The larva of the Vermileo has a thin cylindrical body, capable
of bending itself in every direction; a conical head, armed with
two horny points; and the last segment elongated, flat, elevated,

DIPTERA. 57

and terminated by four hairy tentacles; at the sides of the fifth
segment may be observed a little angle, from which projects a
horny retractile point.

It is of very singular habits. It makes a small tunnel in
the sand, having a conical mouth, where it waits, like the
spider, immovable. As soon as an insect falls into the hole, it
raises its head, and squeezing its prey in the folds of its body,
devours it, and afterwards throws out the skin. .It lives in this
way for at least three years before attaining the perfect state.

The Volucelle (Fig. 38) have a strong resemblance to
the humble-bee. . Certain kinds make use and abuse of this
resemblance to introduce themselves fraudulently into its nests,
and to deposit their eggs therein. When these eges have hatched,
the larve, which have the mouth armed with two mandibles,

Fig. 38.—A species of Volucella. Fig. 39.—A species of Helophilus.

devour the larvz of their hosts, the bees. This is the return they
make for the hospitality they have received !

The Helophili (Fig. 39) deserve to be mentioned here on
account of the singular form of many of their larve. The head
is thick, fleshy, and varying a little in form. But the point
by which they are easily to be distinguished from most other
larvee is, that they have always very long tails, sometimes, indeed,
out of proportion to the length of the body. Réaumur called these
larvee “vers 4 queue de rat;”’ they are known in England as
rat-tailed maggots, and their habits are aquatic. Having placed
some of them in a basin of water, Réaumur saw that they kept
in a perpendicular position at the bottom of the basin, and parallel
to one another, the extremities of their tails being on the surface

58 THE INSECT WORLD.

of the water. He then increased the depth of the water by
degrees; and as it got deeper, observed that the tail of each
worm became longer. These tails, which at first were only two
inches long, at last attained to five.

Fig. 40.—Larve of a Helophilus.

It will be remarked that the body of each worm does not exceed
five lines in leneth. The tail is a peculiar organ, by the aid of
which the worm breathes, although its body may be covered by
water to the depth of several inches. It is composed of two tubes,
one of which shuts into the other, like a telescope. Réaumur calls
it the breathing tube. It terminates in a little brown knob, in
which, according to Réaumur, are two holes for the purpose of
receiving the air, and which have five little tufts of hair, which float
on the surface of the water. When the time comes for the meta-
morphosis of these worms, they come out of the water and bury
themselves in the earth; the skin then hardens and becomes a
sort of cocoon. In this cocoon the insect loses the form of a
worm, and takes by degrees that of the pupa, which it keeps until
circumstances cause it to throw off its last coverings, and to appear
in the winged state. .

What an eventful life! what a life full of changes and turns of
fortune is that of these insects, which pass the first and longest
period of their existence under water, another part of their life

PLATE I.

A Herd of Horses attacked by Gad-flies (straws equi).

=

DIPTERA. 359

under the ground, and, finally, after having existed in these
two elements, enjoy, high in the air, the pleasures of flight '

The third group of Brachycera is that of the Dicheta ; that is,
those flies having two-fibred suckers. Among these are classed
the Cstri, the Conopes, and the flies properly so called.

The genus Cistrus, the Gad, Bot-fly, or Breeze, comprises those
formidable insects which attack the horse, the sheep, and the ox.*
The labours of Réaumur, in his admirable Memoirs, and those of
M. Joly, Professor of Zoology to the Faculté des Sciences de
Toulouse, who published some most valuable researches on this
subject, in 1846, will guide us in the following brief explanation.

The following is the description given by M. Joly of the Gad-

Fie’. 41.—Horse-fly, male (Aistrus (gasterophilus) Fig. 42.—Horse-fly, female (Gistrus (gasterophiius)
equ’). equi).

fly (Gistrus equi), represented in Figs. 41, 42, which are taken
from a drawing which accompanies that naturalist’s memoirs.

The head of this insect is large and obtuse; the face light
yellow, with whitish silky fur; the eyes blackish; the antennz
ferruginous; the thorax grey; and the abdomen of a reddish
yellow, with black spots. The wings are whitish, not diaphanous,
with a golden tint, and divided by a winding band of blackish
colour. ‘The feet are palish yellow.

This species is found in France, in Italy, and also in the Kast,

‘especially in Persia, and rarely in England. During the months

of July and August, the Gstrus frequents pastures, and deposits

its eggs chiefly on the shoulders and knees of horses. In order
to do this, the female suspends herself in the air for some seconds
over the place she has chosen, falls upon it, and with her abdo-

5)

* Mr. Bates, in his interesting “ Naturalist on the Amazons,” mentions an (istrws
as occurring in those regions, which deposits its eggs in the human flesh, the larva
causing a swelling which resembles a boil.—Ip.

60 THE INSECT WORLD.

men bent, sticks her eggs to the horse’s hairs by means of a
glutinous liquid with which they are provided, and which soon
dries. This is repeated at very short intervals. It often happens
that from four to’ five hundred eggs are thus deposited upon
the same horse. Guided by a marvellous instinct, the female
Cstrus generally places her eggs on those parts of the horse’s
body which can be most easily touched with the tongue, that is,
at the inner part of the knees, on the shoulders, and rarely on the
outer part of the mane. 7

Horses are much afraid of the attacks of these insects. Their
skin contracts where the @strus deposits its eggs, and the effects
of the bite soon become serious.

The eggs of the Gstrus, which are white and of conical form,
adhere to the horse’s hair as shown in Fig. 43. They are
furnished with a lid, which at the time of hatching opens, to
allow the exit of the young larva, which takes place, according

eS

=

Fig. 43.—Eggs of the Gad-fly ( Zstrus ( gasterophilus) equi) deposited on the hairs of a horse.
to M. Joly, about twenty days after they are deposited. In fact,
it is not in the egg state, but really in that of the larva, that
the horse, as we shall explain, takes into his stomach these para-
sitical guests to which nature has allotted so singular an abode.
When licking itself, the horse carries them into its mouth, and
afterwards swallows them with his food, by which means they enter
the stomach. It is a remarkable fact that it is sometimes other
insects, as the Yabani for instance, that by their repeated stinging
cause the horse to lick himself, and to thus receive his most cruel
enemy. In the perilous journey they have to perform from the
skin of the horse to his stomach, many of the larvee of the @strus,
as may be supposed, are destroyed, ground by the teeth of the
animal or crushed by the alimentary substances. There is hardly
one C#strus in fifty that arrives safely in the stomach of the horse,
and yet if one were to open a horse attacked by str, the stomach
would be nearly always found to be literally full of these larvee.

'

DIPTERA. 61

Fig. 44, taken from a drawing which accompanies M. Joly’s
memoirs, represents the state of a horse’s stomach attacked by
the Gad-fly.

The larvee are of a reddish yellow, and each of their segments
is armed at the posterior edge with a double row of triangular
spines, large and small alternately, yellow at the base, and black
at the point, which is always turned backwards. The head is
furnished with two hooks, which serve to fasten the larva
to the interior coats :
of the stomach. The
spines with which the
whole surface of the
body is furnished con-
tribute to fix it more
solidly, preventing the
creatures, by the man-
ner in which they are
placed, from being
carried away by the
food which has gone.

ee

through the first pro- SSS
i a Fig. 44.—Portion of the stomach of the horse, and larvee

cess of digestion. of Gstrus (gasterophilus) equi.

It is probable that this larva, so singularly deposited, is
nourished by the mucus secreted by the mucous membrane of
the stomach, and that it breathes the air which the horse swallows
with its food during the process of deglutition.

It must be acknowledged, however, that it is in the midst of a
gaseous atmosphere which is very unhealthy, for nearly all the
gases generated in the stomach of the horse are fatal to man and
to the generality of animals, as they consist of nitrogen, carbonic
acid, sulphuretted hydrogen, and carburetted hydrogen. ‘To
explain how the insect can live under such circumstances, M. Joly
has suggested the following ingenious hypothesis :— -

“When the stomach which the larva inhabits,” says this
learned naturalist, “contains only oxygen, or air that is nearly
pure, the insect opens the two lips of the cavity which contains
the spiracles, and breathes at its ease. When the digestion of the
alimentary substance generates gas which is unfit for respiration,

62 THE INSECT WORLD.

or when the spiracles run the risk of being obstructed by the
solid or liquid substances contained in the stomach, it shuts the
lips, and continues to live on the air contained im its numerous
trachez.”

‘‘ Whatever may be the value of this explanation,” adds M.
Joly, “it is nevertheless very curious to see an insect pass the
greater part of its life in an atmosphere which would be instantly
fatal to most animals, and in an organ where, under the govern-
ment of life, chemical processes bring about the most wonderful
changes of the food into the substance of the animal itself. But
how can the insect itself resist the action of these mysterious
powers, and remain alone intact in the midst of all these matters
which are unceasingly changing and decomposing? This is
another question which it is difficult, or rather impossible, to
explain in the present state of science, another enigma which
humbles our pride, and of which He who has created both man
and the worm alone knows the secret.”

Arrived at a state of complete development, the larva of the
(istrus imprisoned in the stomach of the horse leaves the mem-
brane to which it has been fixed, then directing the anterior part
of its body towards the pyloric opening of the stomach, allows
itself to be carried away with the excrementitious matter. It
traverses, mixed with the excrementary bolus, the whole length of
the intestinal canal, leaves it by the anal orifice, and on touching
the ground at once seeks a suitable place to go through the last
but one of its metamorphoses. :

The skin then gets thick, hardens, and becomes black ‘acide
All the organs of the animal are composed of a whitish amorphous
pulp, which soon assumes its destined form, and the insect becomes
perfect. It then lifts a lid at the anterior part of its cocoon,
emerges, dries its wings, and flies off.

The Bot-fly (Gistrus bovis, Fig. 45) has a very hairy body,
large head, the face and forehead covered with light yellow hair,
the eyes brown, and the antennz black. The thorax is yellow,
barred with black; the abdomen of a greyish white at the base,
covered with black hair on the third segment, and the remainder
of an orange yellow; the wings are smoky brown.

As soon as the cattle are attacked, they may be seen, their

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A Herd of Cattle attacked by Bot-flies (@stras bovis).

DIPTERA. 63

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heads and necks extended, their tails trembling, and held in
a line with the body, to rush to the nearest river or pond, while
such as are not attacked disperse. It is asserted that the buzzing
alone of the Gstrus terrifies a bullock to such an extent as to

Fig. 45.—Bot-fly (Gstrus bovis).

render it unmanageable. As for the insect, it simply obeys its
maternal instinct, which commands it to deposit its eggs under the
skin of our large ruminants.

Let us now explain how the eggs of the Gstrus, deposited in
the skin of the bullock, accommodate themselves to this strange
abode. The mother insect makes a certain number of little
wounds in the skin of the beast, each of which receives an ege,
which the heat of the animal serves to bring forth. It is a
natural parallel to the artificial way which the ancient Egyptians
invented of hatching the eggs of domestic fowls, and which has
been imitated badly enough in our day.

Directly the larva of the Bot-fly is out of the egg and lodged
between the skin and the flesh of its host, the bullock, it finds
itself in a place perfectly suitable to its existence. In this happy
condition the larva increases in growth, and eventually becomes a
fly in its turn. Those parts of the animal’s body in which the
larvee are lodged are easily to be recognised, as above each larva

64 THE INSECT WORLD.

may be seen an elevation, a sort of tumour, termed a bot—a bump,
as Réaumur calls it, comparing it more or less justly to the bump
caused on a man’s head by a severe blow.

Fig. 46, taken from a drawing in Réaumur’s memoirs, represents
the bots of which we speak.

The country people are well aware of the nature and cause of
these bots. They know that each one contains a worm, that

Fig. 46.—Bumps produced on Cattle by the larve of the Bot-fly.

this worm comes from a fly, and that later it will be transformed
into a fly itself. Hach of these bots has in its interior a cavity,
occupied by a larva, which, as well as the bot, increases in size as
the larva becomes developed.

It is generally on young cows or young bullocks—in fact, on
cattle of from two to three years of age—that these tumours exist,
and they are rarely to be seen on old animals. The fly, which by
piercing the skin occasions these tumours, always chooses those
whose skin offers little resistance. Hach tumour is provided with
a small opening by which the larva breathes.

DIPTERA. 65

Tn order to examine the interior cavity, Réaumur opened some
of these tumours, either with a razor or a pair of scissors. He
found it in a most disgusting state. The larva is lodged in a
regular festering wound, matter occupying the bottom of the
cavity, and the head of the worm is continually, or almost con-
tinually, plunged in this liquid. “It is most likely very well off
there,” says Réaumur; and he adds that this matter appears to
be the sole food of the larva.

‘The pesition of a horned beast,” observes the great naturalist,
“which has thirty or forty of these bumps on its back, would be
a very cruel one, and a terrible state of suffering if his flesh were
continually mangled by thirty or forty large worms. But it is
probable they cause no suffering, or at least very little, to the
large animal.” ‘“ Besides,” continues Réaumur, “those cattle
whose bodies are the most covered with bumps, not only show no
signs of pain, but it does not appear that they are prejudicial to
them in any way.”

Réaumur tried to discover how the larva, when arrived at its
full growth, succeeds in leaving its abode, as the opening is
smaller than its own body.

“Nature,” says Réaumur, “has taught this worm the surest,
the gentlest, and the most simple of methods, the one to which
surgeons often have recourse to hold wounds open, or to enlarge
them. They press tents’ into a wound they wish to enlarge.
Two or three days before the worm wishes to come out, it com-
mences to make use of its posterior part as a tent, to increase the
size of the exit from its habitation. It thrusts it into the hole
and draws it out again many times in the course of two or three
days, and the oftener this is repeated, the longer it is able to
retain its posterior end in the opening, as the hole becomes larger.
On the day preceding that on which the worm is to come out,
the posterior part is to be found almost continually in the hole.
At last, it comes out backwards and falls to the ground, when it
gets under a stone, or buries itself in the turf; remaining quiet
and preparing for its last transformation. Its skin hardens, the
rings disappear, and it becomes black. Thenceforth the insect
is detached from the outer skin, which forms a cocoon, or box.
At the front and upper part of the cocoon is a triangular piece,

F

66

THE INSECT WORLD.

which the fly gets rid of when it is in a fit state to come into the

open air.”

==
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SSS

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BE

Az

Fig. 47.—Imago of
Bot-fly emerging.

Fig. 47, taken from drawings in Réaumur’s
memoirs, represents the imago of the Gstrus
leaving the cocoon.

The reader is, most likely, desirous to know

- i ‘ with the aid of what instrument the Cstrus is

able to pierce the thick skin of the ox.

The female only is possessed of this instru-
ment, which is situated in the posterior ex-
tremity of the body. It is of a shiny blackish
brown colour, and as it were covered with scales.
By pressing the abdomen of the fly between
one’s two fingers it is thrust out. Réaumur
observed that it was formed of four tubes, which

could be drawn the one into the other, like the tubes of a telescope
(Fig. 48). The last of these appears to terminate in five small
scaly knobs, which are not placed on the same line,

Fig. 48.—Ovi-

but are the ends of five different parts. Three of
these knobs are furnished with points, which form an
instrument well fitted to operate upon a hard thick

skin. United together, they form a cavity similar to
that of an auger, and terminating in the form of a
spoon.

The Gad-fly, or Breeze-fly of the sheep, Mstrus
(Cephalemyia) ovis, has obtained notoriety on account
of its attacking those animals. ,

Even at the sight of this insect the sheep feels the

ea ereatest terror. As soon as one of them appears, the
(Gistrus bovis.) flock becomes disturbed, the sheep that is attacked
shakes its head when it feels the fly on its nostril, and at the
same time strikes the ground violently with its fore-feet ; it then
commences to run here and there, holding its nose near the
ground, smelling the grass, and looking about anxiously to see if
it is still pursued.
It is to avoid the attacks of the Cephalemyia that during the
hot days of summer sheep le down with their nostrils buried in
dusty ruts, or stand up with their heads lowered between their

LLL tll,

Sheep attacked by Cephalemia ovis.

DIPTERA. 67

fore-legs, and their noses nearly in contact with the ground.
When these poor beasts are in the open country, they are observed
assembled with their nostrils against each other and very near
the ground, so that those which occupy the outside are alone
exposed. The Cephalemyia ovis (Fig. 49) has a less hairy head,

Fig. 49.—Cephalemyia ovis.

but larger in proportion to the size of its body than the Gad-fiy
(Gasterophilus equi). Its face is reddish, its forehead brown with
purple bars, its eyes of a dark and changing green, its antennz
black, its thorax sometimes grey, sometimes brown, bristling with
small black turbercles, the abdomen white, spotted with brown or
black, and the wings hyaline.

The Cephalemyia (CEstrus) ovis is to be found in Europe,
Arabia, Persia, and in the East Indies. It lays its eggs on the
edges of the animal’s nostrils, and the larva lives in the frontal
and maxillary sinuses. It is a whitish worm, having a black
transverse band on each of its segments. Its bead is armed with
two horny black hooks, parallel, and capable of being moved up
and down and laterally. Underneath, each segment of the body
has several rows of tubercles of nearly spherical form, surmounted
by small bristles having reddish points, and all of them bent
backwards. ‘These points,” says M. Joly, “probably serve to

¥2

68 THE INSECT WORLD.

facilitate the progress of the animal on the smooth and slippery
surfaces of the mucous membranes to which it fixes itself to feed,
and perhaps also to increase the secretion of these membranes
by the irritation occasioned by the bristles with which they are
furnished.’’*

Fixed by means of these hooks to the mucous membrane, which
it perforates, the larva nourishes itself with mucus, and lives in
this state, according to M. Joly, during nearly a whole year. At
the end of this time if comes out, following the same course by
which it entered, falls to the ground, and burying itself to the
depth of a few inches, is transformed into a pupa. The cocoon is
of a fine black colour. Thirty or forty days after its burial it
emerges in the perfect state, and detaching the lid at the anterior
end of the cocoon by the aid of its head, which has increased
considerably in size, takes flight.

Notwithstanding the formidable appearance of their trunks, the
habits of the perfect Conopes (Fig.
50) are very quiet. In the adult
state, they are only to be seen on
flowers, of which they suck the
honeyed juice. But with their
larvee the case is otherwise. These
latter live as parasites on the
humble-bees (Bomdz). Latreille saw
the Conops rufipes issue in the
perfect state from the body of a
humble-bee, through the intervals of the segments of the abdomen.

The Muscides form that great tribe of Diptera commonly known
as Flies, and which are distributed in such abundance over the
whole world. Faithful companions of plants, the flies follow them
to the utmost limits of vegetation. At the same time they are
called upon by nature to hasten the dissolution of dead bodies.
They place their eggs in the carcasses of animals, and the larvee
prey upon the corrupt flesh, thus quickly ridding the earth of
these fatal causes of infection to its inhabitants. The organs of

Fig. 50.—Conops.

* “ Recherches sur les (strides en général, et particuliérement sur les Gistres qui
attaquent homme, le cheval, le boeuf, et le mouton.’”’ Par N. Joly, Professeur a la
Faculté des Sciences de Toulouse. Lyons, 1846. P. 63.

DIPTERA. 69

these insects are also infinitely modified in order to adapt them to
their various functions.

M. Macquart divides the Muscides into three sections: the
Creophilt, the Anthomyzides, and the Acalyptera.

The Creophili have the strongest organisation ; their movements
and their flight are rapid. The greater part feed on the juices
of flowers, some on the blood
or the humours of animals.
Some deposit their eggs on
different kinds of insects,
others on bodies in a state of
decomposition, some again are
viviparous. The insects of the
genus Hchinomyia, for instance
(Fig. 51), derive their nourish-
ment from flowers. They de-
posit their eggs on caterpillars,
and the young larvee on hatch-
ing penetrate their bodies and
feed on their viscera. How
surprised, sometimes, is the
naturalist, who, after carefully
preserving a chrysalis, and
awaiting day by day the
appearance of the beautiful
butterfly of which it is the
coarse and mysterious enve-
lope, sees a cloud of flies
emerge in place of it !

But there is another singular manceuvre performed by some of
the species of the Diptera, with which we are at present occupied,
to prepare an abundant supply of provision for their larve as
soon as they are hatched. ‘The following are the means they
employ. Itis well known that certain fossorial Hymenoptera carry
their prey, other insects which they have caught, weevils, flies,
&c., and which they intend should serve as food for their
own larve, into their subterranean abodes. These Diptera,
spying a favourable moment, slip furtively into their retreats, and

Fig. 51.—Echinomyia grossa.

70 THE INSECT WORLD.

deposit their eggs on the very food which was intended for others.
Their larvee, which are soon hatched, make great havoe among
the provisions gathered together in the cave, and cause the legiti-
mate proprietors to die of starvation.

“This instinct,” says M. Macquart, “is accompanied by the
greatest agility, obstinacy, and audacity, which are necessary to
carry on this brigandage ; and, on the other hand, the Hymenop-
tera, seized with fear, or stupefied, offer no resistance to their
enemies, and although they carry on a continual war against dif-
ferent insects, and particularly against different JMuscides, they
never seize those of whom they have so much to complain, and
which, nevertheless, have no arms to oppose them with.”

The Sarcophageé are a very common family of Diptera, and are
chiefly to be found on flowers, from which they steal the juice.
The females do not lay eggs, but are viviparous.

Réaumur, with his usual care, observed this remarkable instance
‘of viviparism proved in a fly, which seeks those parts of our houses
where meat is kept to deposit its larvae. This fly is grey, its
legs are black, and its eyes red.

When one of them is taken and held between the fingers, there
may often be seen a small, oblong, whitish, cylindrical worm
come out of the posterior part of the body, and shake itself in order
to disengage itself thoroughly. It has no sooner freed itself than
the head of another begins to show. ‘Thirty or forty sometimes
come out in this manner, and, on pressing the abdomen of the fly
shghtly, more than eighty of these larvee may sometimes be made
to come out in a short space of time. If a piece of meat be put
near these worms, they quickly get into it, and eat greedily. They
grow rapidly, attaining their full size in a few days, and make a
cocoon of their skin, from which in a certain time the imago
issues. If the body of one of these ovoviviparous flies (for the
egos hatch within the parent) be opened, a sort of thick ribbon of
spiral form is soon seen. This ribbon appears at first sight to be
nothing but an assemblage of worms, placed alongside of and
_ parallel to one another.

Each worm has a thin white membranous envelope, similar to
those light spiders’ webs which float about in autumn, which the
French call jils de la vierge, and we denominate gossamer.

DIPTERA. “1

The fecundity of this fly is very great, for in the length of a
quarter of an inch, the envelope in which these small worms are
enclosed contains 2,000 of them. Therefore this ribbon, being
two inches and a half iong, contains about 20,000 worms.

The members of the genus Stomoxys, though nearly related to
the house-fly, differ from it very much in habits. They live on
the blood of animals. The Stomoxys calcitrans is very common
in these climates. Its palpi are tawny yellow, antennz black,
thorax striped with black, abdomen spotted with brown, and its
trunk hard, thin, and long. It deposits its eges on the carcasses
of large animals.

The Golden Fly, Lucilia Cesar, lays its eggs on cut-up meat, or
on dead animals. It is only three or four lines in length, of a golden
green, with the palpi ferruginous, antennee brown, and feet black.

A species of this genus, the Lusilia hominivorax, has lately
obtained a melancholy notoriety. We are indebted to M. Charles
Coquerel, surgeon in the French imperial navy, for the most exact
information concerning this dangerous Dipteron, and the revela-
tion of the dangers to which man is liable in certain parts of the
globe. But let us first
describe the insect,
which is very pretty
and of brilliant colours.

Fig. 52, taken from
M. Charles Coquerel’s
memoir, represents the
larva and the perfect
insect, as well as the
horny mandibles with
which the larva is pro-
vided. It is rather more than the third of an inch in length, the
head is large, downy, and of a golden yellow. ‘The thorax is dark
blue and very brilliant, with reflections of purple, as is also the
abdomen. The wings are transparent, and have rather the appear-
ance of being smoked ; their margins as well as the feet are black.

This beautiful insect is an assassin: M. Coquerel has informed
us that it sometimes occasions the death of those wretched convicts
whom human justice has transported to the distant penitentiary
of Cayenne.

Fig. 52.—Lucilia hominivorax.

=I
bo

THE INSECT WORLD.

When one of these degraded beings, who live in a state of sordid
filth, goes to sleep, a prey to intoxication, it happens sometimes
that this fly gets into his mouth and nostrils. It lays its eggs
there, and when they are changed into larve, the death of the
victim generally follows.*

These larve are of an opaque white colour, a little over half an
inch in length, and have eleven segments. They are lodged
in the interior of the nasal orifices and the frontal sinuses,
and their mouths are armed with two very sharp horny mandibles.
They have been known to reach the ball of the eye, and to gan-
grene the eyelids. They enter the mouth, corrode and devour the
eums and the entrance of the throat, so as to transform those
parts into a mass of putrid flesh, a heap of corruption.

Let us turn away from this horrible description, and observe
that this hominivorous fly is not, properly speaking, a parasite of
man, as it only attacks him accidentally, as it would attack any
animal that was in a daily state of uncleanliness. ‘

In many works on medicine may be found mentioned a circum-
stance, which occurred twenty years ago, at the surgery of M. J.
Cloquet. The story is perhaps not very agreeable, but is so
interesting as regards the subject with which we are occupied,
that we think it ought to be repeated here. One day a poor
wretch, half dead, was brought to the Hotel-Dieu. He was a
beggar, who, having some tainted meat in his wallet, had gone to
sleep in the sun under a tree. He must have slept long, as the
flies had time enough to deposit their eggs on the tainted meat,
and the larve time enough to be hatched, and to devour the
beggar’s meat. It seems that the larvae enjoyed the repast, for
they passed from the dead meat to the living flesh, and after
devouring the meat they commenced to eat the owner. Awoke by
the pain, the beggar was taken to the Hdtel-Dieu, where he expired.

Who would suppose that one of the causes which render the
centre of Africa difficult to be explored is a fly, not larger than
the house-fly? The Tsetse fly (Fig. 53) is of brown colour,

* “The majority of convicts attacked by the Lucilia hominivorax,”’ says M. F.
Louyer, captain of the frigate, in “ Un Voyage a la Guyane Francaise,” “ have suc-
cumbed despite the assistance of science. Cures have been the exception: ina dozen
cases three or four are reported.’’— Tour du Monde, 1866, ler Semestre, p. 318.

DIPTERA. 73

with a few transverse yellow stripes across the abdomen, and
with wings longer than its body. It is not dangerous to man,
to any wild animals, or to the pig, the mule, the ass, or the goat.

Fig. 53.—The Tsetse fly (Glossina morsitans).

But it stings mortally the ox, the horse, the sheep, and the dog,
and renders the countries of Central Africa uninhabitable for
those valuable animals. It seems to possess very sharp sight: “It
darts from the top of a bush as quick as an arrow on the object it
wishes to attack,” writes a traveller, M. de Castelnau.

M. Chapman, one of the travellers who have advanced the
farthest into the middle of Southern Africa, relates that he covered
his body with the greatest care to avoid the bites of this nimble
enemy. But if a thorn happened to make a nearly imperceptible
hole in his clothing, he often saw the Tsetse, who appeared to
know that it could not penetrate the cloth, dart forward and bite
him on the uncovered part. This sucker of blood secretes in a
gland, placed at the base of his trunk, so subtle a poison that three
or four flies are sufficient to kill an ox.

The Glossina morsitans abounds on the banks of the African
river, the Zambesi, frequenting the bushes and reeds that border
it. It likes, indeed, all aquatic situations. The African cattle
recognise at great distances the buzzing of this sanguinary enemy,
and this fatal sound causes them to feel the greatest fear.

74 THE INSECT WORLD.

Livingstone, the celebrated traveller, in crossing those regions
of Africa that are watered by the Zambesi, lost forty-three mag-
nificent oxen by the bites of the Tsetse fly, notwithstanding that
they were carefully watched, and had been very little bitten.

“A most remarkable feature in the bite of the Tsetse is its
perfect harmlessness in man and wild animals, and even calves
so long as they continue to suck the cows. We never experienced
the slightest injury from them ourselves, personally, although we
lived two months in their habitat, which was in this case as sharply
defined as in many others, for the south bank of the Chobe was
infested by them, and the northern bank, where our cattle were
placed, only fifty yards distant, contained not a single specimen.
This was the more remarkable, as we often saw natives carrying
over raw meat to the opposite bank with many Tsetses settled on it.

“The poison does not seem to be injected by a sting, or by ova
_ placed beneath the skin, for, when one is allowed to feed freely on
the hand, it is seen to insert the middle prong of three portions,
into which the proboscis divides, somewhat deeply, into the true
skin. It then draws it out a little way, and it assumes a crimson
colour, as the mandibles come into brisk operation. The previously
shrunken belly swells out, and, if left undisturbed, the fly quietly
departs when it is full. A slight itching irritation follows, but
not more than in the bite of a mosquito. In the ox this same
bite produces no more immediate effects than in man. It does not
startle him as the gad-fly does; but a few days afterwards the
following symptoms supervene: the eye and nose begin to run,
the coat stares as if the animal were cold, a swelling appears uhder
the jaw, and sometimes at the navel; and, though the animal
continues to graze, emaciation commences, accompanied with a
pecular flaccidity of the muscles, and this proceeds unchecked
until, perhaps months afterwards, purging comes on, and the
animal, no longer able to graze, perishes in a state of extreme
exhaustion. Those which are in good condition often perish, soon
after the bite is inflicted, with staggering and blindness, as if the
brain were affected by it. Sudden changes of temperature pro-
duced by falls of rain seem to hasten the progress of the complaint ;
but in general the emaciation goes on uninterruptedly for months,
and, do what we will, the poor animals perish miserably.

DIPTERA. 73

“When opened, the cellular tissue on the surface of the body
beneath the skin is seen to be injected with air, as if a quantity
of soap bubbles were scattered over it, or a dishonest awkward
butcher had been trying to make it look fat. The fat is of a
greenish-yellow colour, and of an oily consistence. All the
muscles are flabby, and the heart often so soft that the fingers
may be made to meet through it. The lungs and liver partake
of the disease. The stomach and bowels are pale and empty, and
the gall-bladder is distended with bile. These symptoms seem
to indicate, what is probably the case, a poison in the blood; the
germ of which enters when the proboscis is inserted to draw
blood. The poison-germ contained in a bulb at the root of the
proboscis, seems capable, although very minute in quantity, of
reproducing itself. The blood after death by Tsetse is very small
in quantity, and scarcely stains the hands in dissection.

“The mule, ass, and goat enjoy the same immunity from ae
Tsetse as man and the game. Many large tribes on the Zambesi
can keep no domestic animals except the goat, in consequence of
the scourge existing in their country. Our children were fre-
quently bitten, yet suffered no harm; and we saw around us
numbers of zebras, buffaloes, pigs, pallahs, and other antelopes,
feeding quietly in the very habitat of the Tsetse, yet as undisturbed
by its bite as oxen are when they first receive the fatal poison.
There is not so much difference in the natures of the horse and
zebra, the buffalo and ox, the sheep and the antelope, as to afford
any satisfactory explanation of the phenomenon. Is a man not
as much a domestic animal as a dog P

“‘The curious feature in the case, that dogs perish though fed on
milk, whereas the calves escape so long as they continue sucking,
made us imagine that the mischief might be produced by some
plant in the locality, and not by Tsetse ; but Major Vardon, of the
Madras army, settled that point by riding a horse up to a small
hill infested by the insect, without allowing him time to graze,
and though he only remained long enough to take a view of the
country and catch some specimens of Tsetse on the animal, in ten
days afterwards the horse was dead.’’*

* “Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa, by David Livingstone,
LL.D., D.C.L.” London, John Murray, 1857, p. 81, e¢ seg. (The extract in the

76 THE INSECT WORLD.

The inhabitants of the Zambesi can, therefore, have no domestic
animal but the goat. When herds of cattle driven by travellers
or dealers are obliged to cross these regions, they only move them
during the bright nights of the cool season, and are careful to
smear them with dung mixed with milk; the Tsetse fly having
an intense antipathy to the dung of animals, besides being in this
season rendered dormant by the lowness of the temperature. It
is only by such precautions that they are able to get through this
dangerous stage of their journey.

The large blue Meat-fly, the familiar representative of the
genus Calliphora, is known to all by its brilliant blue and white
reflecting abdomen. This fly, which is common everywhere, is
the Calliphora vomitoria on which Réaumur has made many
beautiful observations, which we will make known to our
readers.

If we shut up a blue meat-fly in a glass vase, as Néaumur did,
and place near the insect a piece of fresh meat, before half a day
is passed, the fly will have deposited its eggs thereon one after
the other, in irregular heaps, of various sizes. The whole of
these heaps consist of about two hundred eggs, which are of an
iridescent white colour, and four or five times as long as they are
broad. In less than twenty-four hours after the egg is laid the
larva is hatched. It is no sooner born than it thinks of feeding,
and buries itself in the meat, with the aid of the hooks and lancets
with which it is provided.

hese worms do not appear to discharge any solid excrement,
but they produce a sticky liquid which
keeps the meat in a moist state and
hastens its putrefaction. The larvae eat
voraciously and continually ; so much
so, that in four or five days they arrive
at their full growth. They then take no
Fig. 54,—Fags of the Meat-fty. More nourishment until they are trans-

aie wn hte tate formed inte flies. They are now about

to assume the pupa state. In this condition it is no longer necessary

original of this work is from a French translation: “Explorations dans I’ Intérieur
de l'Afrique australe, et voyages 4 travers le continent Sainte-Paul de Loanda a
l’Embouchure du Zambéze, de 1840 & 1846, traduit de l'Anglais.”” 8vo. Paris, 1859.
Pages 93 —95.—Ep.)

DIPTERA. 77

for them to remain on the tainted meat, which has been alike their
eradle and their larder, and where until now they were so well off.
They therefore leave it and seek a retreat under ground.

The larva then assumes a globular form and reddish colour, loses
all motion, and cannot any longer either lengthen or shorten, or
dilate or contract itself. Life seems to have left it. ‘It would be
considered a miracle,” says Réaumur, “if we were told there was
any kind of quadruped of the size of a bear, or of an ox, which at
a certain time of the year, the beginning of winter for instance,
disengages itself completely from its skin, of which it makes a box
of an oval form ; that it shuts itself up in this box; that it knows
how to close it in every part, and besides that it knows how to
strengthen it in such a manner as to preserve itself from the
effects of the air and the attacks of other animals. This prodigy
is presented to us, on a small scale, in the metamorphosis of our
larva. It casts its skin to make itself a strong and well-closed
dwelling.”

If one opens these cocoons only twenty-four hours after the
metamorphoses of the worms, no vestige of those parts appertaining
to a pupa is to be found. But four or five days afterwards, the
cocoon 1s occupied by a white pupa, provided with all the parts of
a fly. ‘The legs and wings, although enclosed in sheaths, are very
distinct ; these sheaths being so thin that they do not conceal
them. The trunk of the fly rests on the thorax ; one can discern
its lips, and the case which encloses the lancet. The head is large
and well formed, its large, compound eyes being very distinct.
The wings appear still unformed, because they are folded, and, as
it were, packed up. It is a fly, but an immovable and inanimate
fly ; it is like a mummy enveloped in its cloths.

Nevertheless, it is intended this mummy should awake, and
when the time comes it will be strong and vigorous. Indeed, it has
need of strength and vigour to accomplish the important work of
its life. Although its coverings are thin, it is a considerable work
for the insect to emerge, for each of its exterior parts is enclosed
im them as in a case, much the’same as a glove fits tightly to all
the fingers of the hand. But that for which the most strength is
necessary is the operation of forming the opening of the cocoon,
im which as a mummy it is so tightly enclosed.

78 THE INSECT WORLD.

The fly always comes out at the same end of the cocoon, that is,
at the end where its head is placed, and also where the head of the
larva previously was. ‘This end is composed of two parts—of two
half cups placed one against the other. These can be detached
from each other and from the rest of the cocoon. It is sufficient
for the fly that one can be detached, and in order to effect this, it
employs a most astonishing means. It expands and contracts its
head alternately, as if by dilatation ; and thus pushes the two half
cups away from the end of the cocoon. This is not long able to
resist the battermg of the fly’s head, and the insect at length
comes out triumphant. This fly, which should be blue, is then
erey ; it, however, comes quickly to perfection, at the end of
three hours attaiming its ultimate colour; and in a very short
space of time every part of the animal becomes of that firmness
and consistency which characterise them. At the same time, the
wings, which at the moment it came into the world were only
stumps, extend and unfold themselves by degrees. The meat-fly
is represented below (Fig. 55).

One of the features in the formation of this fly which most
attracted the attention of
Réaumur, and which is likely
to excite the curiosity of all
those who take an interest in

NT,
iin
i : \

Vig. 55.—Blue-bottle fly
(Calliphora vomitoria), magnified.

CS<ET« . i f ie
oa i “iM aN insects, is the composition of
| Oh ve NN ° 3
| A il 1D its trunk. We will therefore,
All’ WYN HH) ™
VN

with that illustrious observer,
take a glimpse at the remark-
able and complicated appa-
ratus by the aid of which the

fly can suck up liquids, and can even taste solid and crystalline
substances, such as sugar. Gi ,

Tt is no difficult matter to make a fly show its trunk,
extended to its full extent. One has only to press between
the finger and thumb either the two sides or the upper and under
part of the thorax. It is thus forced at once to put out its
tengue.

The trunk appears to be composed of two parts joined together,

DIPTERA. 79

and forming a more or less obtuse angle (Fig.56). The first portion
of the trunk, that which joins the head, is perfectly membranous
and in the form of a funnel. We will call it the conical part, and
show it separately (Fig. 57).. The second portion terminates in a

Fig. 56.—Trunk of the Meat-fly. Fig. 57.—Conical part of the trunk.

thick mass, in part cartilaginous or scaly, and of a shiny brown
colour. Above.the conical portion are two oblong antenne, with-
out joints, of chestnut colour, and furnished with hairs.

On ceasing to press the thorax, the membranous conical portion
may be seen to draw itself back within its sheath (Fig. 58). The
second portion is at the same time drawn
into the cavity, but it raises itself by
forming a more and more acute angle,
so that when it reaches the opening of
the cell it is parallel with, and its length
“is equal to, that of the cell, which is ia neehnste resumen
quite large enough to receive it. The Cartes portlertiy.
base lengthens and flattens a little, and conceals the trunk.

Let us cause the trunk to extend itself a second time, in order
to observe its tip minutely. Here the opening is placed, which
may be looked upon as the mouth of the insect, and is provided
with two large thick lps (Fig. 59). These lips form a disk,
perpendicular to the axis of the trunk; the disk is oval, and is
divided into two equal and similar parts by a slit. The lips
have each a considerable number of parallel
channels situated perpendicularly to the sht.
These channels are formed by a succession of
vessels placed near each other. On pressing
the trunk we see that these vessels are distended sl ian oe
by a liquid. Réaumur, from whom we borrow proboscis of a fly.
these details, discovered a few of the uses to which this trunk

80 THE INSECT WORLD.

is applied. He covered the interior of a transparent glass vase
with a light coat of thick syrup. He then put in some flies,
when it was easy to see some of them proceed to fix themselves —
to the sides of the vase, and regale themselves on the sugary
liquid, of which they are very fond. He observed them carefully,
and in his admirable work he recommends those who are curious
to try the experiment, with which, like himself, they will certainly
be satisfied. :

While the body of the trunk is stationary, its end is much
agitated. It may be seen to move in different ways, and with an
astonishing quickness; the lips acting in. a hundred different
ways, and always with great rapidity. The small diameter of the
disk which they form lengthens and shortens alternately ; the
angle formed by the two lips varies every instant; they become
successively flat and convex, either entirely or partly. All these
movements, Réaumur remarks, give a high idea of the organisation
of the part which performs them.

The object of all these movements is to draw the syrup into the
interior of the trunk. If we observe the lips (Fig. 60) atten-
tively, it will easily be seen that they touch each other
about the centre of the disc and leave two openings,
one in front, the other at the back. The one in front,
1s, one may say, the mouth of the fly, as it is to this
opening that the liquid is brought, which is intended
as to be and is soon introduced into the trunk. Waith-

ofa‘: out occupying ourselves for the present with the
channel through which it rises, we may first ask, whatever that
channel may be, what is the power that forces the liquid into it P

It is nearly certain that suction is the principal cause of the
liquid flowing up the trunk. It would thus be a sort of pump,
into which the liquid is forced by the pressure of the external air.
The fly exhausts the air from the tube of its trunk, and the drop
of liquid which is at the opening penetrates and goes up this
channel through the influence of the atmospheric pressure. To
this physical phenomenon must be added the numerous and multi-
plied movements which take place in the trunk, and which are
intended to cause sufficient pressure to drive the liquor which is
introduced into the channel upwards.

WH

S
=

DIPTERA. 81

Réaumur wished to know how it was that very thick syrups,
and even solid sugar, can be sucked up by the soft trunk of the
fly. What he saw is wonderful. If a fly meets with too thick a
syrup, it can render it sufficiently liquid; if the sugar is too hard,
it can dissolve small portions of it. In fact, there exists in its
body a supply of liquid, of which it discharges a drop from the
end of its trunk at will, and lets this fall on the sugar which it
wishes to dissolve, or on the syrup it wishes to dilute. A fly,
when held between the fingers, often shows, at the end of its
trunk, a drop, very fluid and transparent, of this liquid. ‘The
water poured on the syrup,” says Réaumur, “ would not always
insinuate itself sufficiently quick into every part of it; the move-
ment of the fly’s lips hastens the operation ; the lips turn over,
work, and knead it, so that the water can quickly penetrate it, in
the same way as one handles and kneads with one’s hands a hard
paste which it is wished to soften, by causing the water by which
it is covered to mix with it. This, again, is the same means the
fly employs with sugar. When the trunk is forced to act upon
a grain of irregular and rugged form on which it cannot easily
fasten, its end distorts itself to seize and hold it. It is sometimes
very amusing to see how the fly turns over the grain of sugar in
different ways ; 1t appears to play with it as a monkey would with
an apple. It is, however,-only that it may hold it well in order
to moisten it more successfully, and afterwards to pump up the
water which has partly dissolved it.”’

Réaumur often observed a drop of water at the end of the
trunks of flies which were perfectly surfeited with food. This
drop ascended the trunk, then re-descended to the end, and this
many times in succession. It appeared to him that it was neces-
sary for these insects, as for many quadrupeds, to chew the cud,
as it were; that, in order the better to digest the liquid they had
passed into their stomachs, they were obliged to bring it back into
the trunk that it might return again better prepared.

In order to assure himself directly of the reality of his suppo-
sition, Réaumur tested the water which a fly, that he says “ had
got drunk on sugar,” had brought back to the end of its trunk ;
he found this to be sugar and water. Also, having given a fly
currant-jelly, he observed, after it had sufficiently gorged itself,

G

§2 THE INSECT WORLD.

several drops of red liquid in its trunk, and having tasted it,
found it had the flavour which, from its appearance, he guessed
it would have.

The illustrious observer, who had already made all these dis-
coveries on the formation and functions of the trunk of insects,
often reflected on the fact that the liquors of which flies are most
fond are enclosed under the skin of certain fruits, such as pears,
plums, grapes, &c., or even under the skin of some animals of
which they suck the blood. In order that the trunk of a fly may
act under such circumstances, it is necessary for it to pierce and
open the skin. If this is the case, flies ought to be possessed of
a lancet. He looked a long time for this lancet, and at last found
it. It is situated on the upper side of the part of the trunk
which is terminated by the lips, and is placed in a fleshy groove,
and enclosed in a case. It has a very fine point, and is of light
colour (Fig. 61). The point is situated in the opening which is
to be seen between the lips of the
trunk, at its anterior end, through
which the streams of liquid pass, on
which the lips operate. That is the
only opening of the lips; and the
sucker which takes up the liquid is the
same part which we just now called the case of the lancet.

When once with Réaumur, one would never wish to leave him.
However, we will stay these details, to continue our review of the
principal kinds of Diptera.

The genus Musca (fly), in which Linneus comprised the im-
mense series of Diptera, with the exception of the T%pulide, the
Tabanide, the Asilide, the Bombylide, and the Empide, is now
reduced to the House Fly, and a few resembling it. The habits of
these companions in our dwellings are in conformity with the two
great principles of animal life, that is, eating and propagating
their species.

Flies feed principally on fluids which exude from the bodies of
animals; that is, sweat, saliva, and other secretions. They also
seek vegetable juices; and they may be seen in our houses to feed
eagerly on fruits and sweet substances.

The common flies deposit their eggs on vegetables, and parti-

Yip

Fig. 61.—Lancet of the Meat Fly.

DIPTERA. 83

cularly on fungi in a state of decomposition, on dung-heaps, cow
dung, &e. They are essentially parasites, settling on both man
and beast, to suck up the fluid substances which are diffused over
the surface of their bodies. In our dwellings they eat anything
that will serve to nourish them. Generation succeeds generation
with the greatest rapidity.

The House Fly (Musca domestica, Fig. 62) is about three lines
in length, ash coloured, with the face black, the sides of the head
yellow, and the forehead yellow with black
stripes ; the thorax is marked with black lines ;
the abdomen is pale underneath, and a trans-
parent yellow at the sides, in the males; and is
speckled with black. The feet are black; the
wings transparent, and yellowish at the base. ie ee ce aa
This species is extremely plentiful through-
out the whole of Kurope. Every one knows how annoying it is
towards the end of the summer, and especially so in the South of,
France during the hot season.

The Ox Fly (Musca bovina), a near relation of the house fly, is
also very common. It settles on the nostrils, the eyes, and the
wounds of animals.

The Executioner Fly (Musca carnifex), which is not rare in
France, also attacks oxen. It is of a dark metallic green colour,
with a slight ash-coloured down. Its forehead is silvery at the
front and sides, the abdomen is edged with black, the wings hyaline
and yellow at the base.

Section of the Anthomyides.—The section of Anthomyides com-
prises insects which appear to be Creophili whose organisation has
become weakened by almost insensible degrees. Their colours vary
very much—black, grey, and iron-colour are everlastingly shaded
and blended together. To that may be added reflections which
are above the ground colour, and which change the hues of the
little animal according to the incidence of the rays of ight. The
Anthomyides resemble the genus Musca very closely in their habits
as well as in their organisation.

In this group of Diptera we will first say a few words about the
Anthomyie. These flies are to be found in all places and on all
flowers, particularly on the heads of Composite and Umbellifere.

Gee

84 THE INSECT WORLD.

They often unite in numerous bands in the air and indulge in the
joyous dances to which love invites them. The females deposit
their eggs in the ground, and their larve are there quickly deve-
loped. ‘The latter suspend themselves to certain bodies, the same
as some lepidopterous chrysalides, in order to transform them-
selves into pupe. )

The Anthomyia pluvialis (Fig. 63) is from two to four lines in
length, and of a whitish ash-colour. Its wings are hyaline, the
thorax has five black spots, and the abdomen three rows of similar
spots.

We will stop a moment with the Pegomyi@, which are very
interesting in the larva state, and which excited the interest and
sagacity of Réaumur.

The cradle of these Diptera is the interior
of leaves. They work as the miners of the
vegetable world, in the parenchyma of the
leaf, between the two epidermal mem-
branes. The henbane, the sorrel, and the
thistle, especially nourish them. If one
holds a leaf in which one of these miners
has established itself against the light, one
sees the workman continually boring the
vegetable membrane. Its head is armed
with a hook, formed of two horny pieces,
and with this hook it digs into the paren-
chyma of the leaf. The effect of this
digging is visible, as those places become
by degrees transparent. Hach blow detaches
a small portion of the substance of the
leaf. It is thus that these miners hollow
out galleries for themselves, in which they
find shelter, food, and security. Some are
changed into pup .in the gallery which they have hollowed
out, others go out of the leaves when ‘they are near their final
transformation.

Section of Acalyptera.—The Acah bien, which are the last of
the great tribe of Muscide, comprehend the greater number of
these insects. Their organisation is impaired and their consti-

Fig. 63.—Anthomyia pluvialis.

DIPTERA. 85

tution delicate. They live principally in the thickest part of woods,
on grasses, and aquatic plants. Fearing the lustre and warmth of
the sun, they never draw the nectar from flowers. Their flight is
feeble, and they never indulge in those joyous ethereal dances
which we have mentioned when speaking of the preceding groups.
Their life is generally melancholy, obscure, and hidden. Some of
them seek decomposed animal and vegetable substances, others
living vegetables.

We shall only be able in this immense group of Muscide to
mention a few types which are interesting from various reasons,
such as the Helomyze, the Scatophage, the Ortalides, the Daci,
and the Thyreophore.

The Helomyze (Fig. 64) live in
the woods. Their larvee are developed
in the interior of fungi. Réaumur
studied the larvee of the Truffle Helo-
myza. The head of this fly is ferru-
ginous, its thorax is of a brownish
grey, its shoulders of a brownish yel-
low, its wings brownish, the abdomen
yellow and brown, and the feet red.
The larve of these insects commit
depredations for which gourmands
will never forgive them, destroying,
as they do, their truffles. When one
presses between one’s fingers a
truffle that is in a too advanced
state, one feels certain soft parts
which yield under pressure. On
opening the truffle, the larvee of the
insect of which we are speaking
will be found inside. These larvae
are white and very transparent. \
Their mouth is armed with two black Fig. 64.—A species of Helomyza.
hooks, by means of which they dig
into the truffle in the same way as other larve dig into meat.
The excretions of these little parasites cause the truffle to become
decomposed and rotten. In a few days the larve are full-grown.

86 THE INSECT WORLD.

They then leave their abode and go into the ground, there to
change into pupe.

The Ortalide form a tribe which is remarkable for the upright
carriage of the wings, which are generally speckled, by the vibratory
movement of these organs, and especially for the cradle chosen by
them for their progeny in fruits and grains. Nature seems to have
assigned to each species its own particular vegetable.

We will only mention here the Cherry-tree Ortalis, whose —
larva lives on the pulp of that fruit. This fly is about a line and
ahalflong. It is of rather a metallic black colour, its head ight
yellow, the edges of its eyes white, and the tarsi red. The wings
have four broad black stripes.

The Olive Dacus (Dacus olee, Fig. 65) is a little fly, about
half the size of the house fly,
of ashy grey colour on the back,
its head orange-yellow, its
eyes green, and its forehead
yellow, marked with two large
black spots. The thorax is
adorned with four lightish yel-
low spots, and its hind part,
as well as its antenne and
wings, are of the same colour. The wings are transparent, reflect-
ing green, gold, pink, and blue, according as the rays of light fall
upon them, and are remarkable for having a small black spot at
their extremity. The abdomen is of a fawn colour or orange-
yellow, spotted with black on each side. This fly performs sudden
and jerking movements; it keeps its wings extended, and rather
jumps than flies. It is a destructive insect, a perfect scourge, which
causes every two or three years a loss of five or six millions of
frances to French agriculture.

Fig. 65.—Dacus ole.

M. Guérin-Méneville has made some valuable observations on
the Olive Dacus, and, at the request of the Imperial Society of
Agriculture of Paris, has indicated the way to preserve the olive
from these ruinous larvee, which generally destroy two crops out
of three. We will borrow the following details from this learned
entomologist. ‘At the time when the olives are formed, the
Dacus proceeds to place an egg under the skin of each of the fruits.

DIPTERA. 87

By means of a little horny instrument, with which the female is
provided, and which contains a small lancet, she pierces the skin
of the olive; she moves her wings and lays her egg. She after-
wards cleans and rests herself, by passing her feet over her head,
wings, and other parts of her body. She then flies away and seeks

Fig. 66.—Olives attacked by Dacus olez.

another olive to deposit in it another egg; she repeats this opera-
tion until she has placed on as many olives the three or four
hundred eggs which she bears.”’

Fig. 66, taken from the memoir published by M. Guérin-

88 THE INSECT WORLD.

Méneville, in the “Revue Nouvelle” of the 15th July, 1847, shows
the Dacus laying its egg on the olive, and the larve that are
already hatched in another of the same fruit. The larvee which
succeed these eggs (Fig. 67) are whitish, soft, and without limbs.
They pass fifteen or sixteen days in boring a gallery in the pulp of
the olive, at first vertically, until they
reach the stone, then on one side,
and along the side of the stone. When
they have reached the term of their
development, they approach the sur-
face, enlarging the first channel and
leaving between it and the exterior air

only a thin pellicle, in the middle of
Ct Wie ana ae Cena awitickl may be perceived the first small
opening by which the mother had imtroduced her egg in the
commencement.

Fig. 68, copied from a drawing in the memoirs of M. Guérin-
Méneville, shows the gallery bored round the olive by the
larva of the Dacus. The larva thus prepares an easy issue for
the perfect insect. Its skin then contracts, its body diminishes in
length and is transformed into an oval cocoon, which soon gets
brown, and is the chrysalis of the insect. At the side of the head
it shows a curved line, a thin suture which marks a sort of cap or
door, which, at the time of its hatching,
the insect will be easily able to force open
with its head. The fly is hatched twelve
days after its metamorphosis from the larva
to the pupa. It has thus taken the Dacus
twenty-seven to twenty-eight days to arrive

Fig. 68.—Gallery formed by at this state, from the time the egg was laid ;

larva of Dacus oleze. ° 6 : : :
besides which, this species, in the warm
climates of Provence and Italy, can reproduce itself several times
from the beginning of July, the period at which the first flies
begin to lay, till the end of autumn.

In order to save a considerable portion of the olive crop of these
countries, M. Guérin-Méneville has advised hastening the harvest
sufficiently for all the olives to be pressed at a time when the
larvae of the last generation, which would be preserved in the

DIPTERA. 89

olives that are left, or in the earth, according to the climate,
are still in the fruit. If a first operation were not sufficient
to destroy them all, it should be repeated the following year.
The sacrifice entailed by this practice would be amply com-
pensated by a succession of good crops and the certainty of
a sure and permanent profit. In fact, by an early gathering
at least half a crop of oil is still obtained; whereas by waiting
for the usual period of gathering the olives, sufficient time is
left for the larvee of the Dacus to devour their parenchyma, which
deprives them of the little oil that they might have yielded if
their destruction had been accomplished earlier. This early
gathering has the advantage of causing the destruction of a great
number of larvae, which will be so much towards diminishing the
means of reproduction of the fly.

JUDE,
HEMIPTERA.

Tue Hemiptera are particularly distinguished from other kinds of
insects by the form of their mouth, which consists of a beak, more
or less long, composed of six parts: that is, of a lower lip, or
sheath ; four internal threads, representing the mandibles and jaws
of the grinding insects, and which are the perforating parts of the
beak ; and, lastly, of the upper lip or labrum. Owing to this
apparatus these insects are essentially sucking ones, and chiefly
nourish themselves with the juice of vegetables, which they draw
up with their beak. The wings of the Hemiptera are usually four
in number; sometimes altogether membranous and similar to
each other. Sometimes the upper ones are of rather harder con-
sistency than the lower ones. In general, the former are quite
different from the lower wings, and are only membranous at the
tip, whereas the other part is thick, tough, and coriaceous.

The Hemiptera are divided into two very distinct sections. The
one is composed of insects whose beak grows from the forehead or
upper part of the head, and of which the anterior wings are half
coriaceous and half membranous, having the base of a different
texture from the extremity: these are the Heteroptera (érepos,
different ; wrepov, wing). The other section is composed of those
whose beak grows from the lower part of the head, and of which
the anterior wings are always of the same consistency throughout :
these are the Homoptera (60s, the same; 7repov, wing). We are
about to give the history of these two sub-orders.

HEMIPTERA. 91

‘HETEROPTERA.

The insects formerly known by the general name of Bugs have
been divided by Latreille into two large families, containing : the
one the Geocorise,* or Land Bugs; the other the Hydrocoris@,f or
Water Bugs.

The land bugs consist of a great number of kinds, which, for
the most part, are of little interest. We will only mention here
the Pentatomide, commonly known as Wood Bugs; the Lyge,
Bugs,*properly so called; the Reduvii, and the Hydrometre.

The Pentatomide, which at the present time comprise many
genera, include the wood bugs of most authors. They are to be
found on plants and trees. They fly quickly, but only for a short
time.

The Ornamented Pentatoma (Strachia (Pentatoma) ornata), known
as the Red Cabbage Bug, is very commonly
found on the cabbage and most of the crucife-
rous plants. It is variegated with red and
black, and its colours are subject to numerous
variations. ‘The Grey Pentatoma (faphigaster
griseus) (Fig.69) is common throughout the
whole of Europe. In autumn, these bugs are rig. 69.—Grey Pentatoma
frequently to be found on raspberrries, to which aad
they impart their disagreeable smell. They are also to be found
in quantities on the mullein when that plant is in flower. The
upper parts of the head are of a greyish brown, sometimes slightly
_ purple. The coriaceous part of the hemelytra is of a purple tint,
but the membranous part is brown. All these parts are covered
with black spots, which are only to be seen with a magnifying-
glass. The wings are blackish. The under part of the whole
body and the feet are of a light and rather yellowish grey, with
a considerable number of small black spots. The abdomen is

lack above; and it is bordered. with alternate black and white
spots.

We haye repeated here the description given of this bug by the

* From yn, the earth, and xopic, a bug. —Ep.
T From tdwp, water, and copic, a bug.—Ep.

92 THE INSECT WORLD.

illustrious Swedish naturalist, De Geer, because our young readers
have most likely met with this insect, or will do so some day
when gathering raspberries.

The Grey Pentatoma, marked with black, yellow, and red, is to
be found throughout the whole of Europe in cultivated fields and
gardens, sometimes also on the trunks of large trees, especially
elms. This species, in common with the greater part of those
which compose the group we are describing, emits a smell when
irritated or menaced with some danger. At other times no odour
will be noticed. Let us hear what M. Léon Dufour says on this
subject.

“Seize the Pentatoma with a pair of pincers and plunge it into
a glass of clear water; look through a magnifying-glass, and you
will see innumerable small globules arising from its body, which,
bursting on the surface of the water, exhale that odour which
is so disagreeable. This vapour, which is essentially acrid, if it
touch the eyes, causes a considerable amount of irritation. If
one of these insects is held between the fingers, so as not to stop
up the odoriferous orifices, and to cause this vapour to touch a
part of the skin, a spot, either brown or livid, will ensue on
that part, which lotions, though repeatedly applied, will at first
fail to remove, and which produces in the cutaneous tissue an
alteration similar to that which succeeds the application of mineral
acids.” }

The disagreeable smell exhaled by different species of Penta-
toma is the result of a fluid secreted by a single pear-shaped gland,
either red or yellow, which occupies the centre of the thorax, and
which terminates between the hind legs.

With the Syromastes, which are bugs of this same section, the
secretion has, on the contrary, an agreeable smell, which reminds
one of that of apples. Many kinds of Pentatoma are destructive
to agriculture. Others, however, attack the destructive insects,
and ought therefore to be carefully spared. We will mention in
this case the Blue Pentatoma, which kills the Altica* of the vine.

There may be observed, at the foot and about the lower part of
trees, or at the base of walls exposed to the mid-day sun, groups
of fifty or sixty small insects pressed close to each other, and often

* A genus of beetles.

HEMIPTERA.’ 93

one on the top of the other, their heads in the direction of a centre
point. They are red, spotted with black. In the neighbourhood
of Paris, the children call them “ Swisses,” probably on account
of the red on their bodies, that being the colour of the uniform
of the Swiss troops formerly in the service of France. In Bur-
gundy, the children call them “ petits cochons rouges.” They will
be found described in Geoffroy’s ‘ Histoire des Insectes,’”’ under
the name of the Red Garden Bug. At the present day they are
placed in the genus Lygeus.* When the bad weather comes,
these little “ Suwisses” take refuge under stones and the bark
of trees to pass the winter. During the whole of that season
they remain in a sort of torpid state. But in the first days of
spring they revive, and resume their ordinary habits. They
suck the sap of vegetables, piercing the capsules of divers kinds
of mallows, and always keeping in the sunshine.

The Bug, popularly so called, or Bed Bug (Acanthia lectularia,
or Cimex lectularius, Fig. 70), a most disagreeable and stinking
insect, abounds in dirty Thats, principally
in towns, and above all in those of warm
countries. It lives in beds, in wood-work,
and paper-hangings. There is no crack,
however narrow it may be, into which it is
unable to slip. It is nocturnal, shunning
the light. ‘ Nocturnum fcetidum animal,”
says Linneus. Its body is oval, about the
fifth of an inch in length, flat, soft, of a brown ae Le ae
colour, and covered with little hairs. Its F
head is provided with two hairy antenne, and two round black
eyes, and has a short beak, curved directly under its thorax, and
lying in a shallow groove when the animal is at rest. This beak,
composed of three joints, contains four thin, straight, and sharp
hairs. The thorax is dilated at the sides. The abdomen is very
much developed, orbicular, composed of eight segments, very
much depressed, and easily crushed by the fingers. The hemelytra
are rudimentary. It has no membranous wings. The tarsi have
three articulations, of which the last is provided with two strong
hooks.

* This species is Lygeus militaris.—Ep.

94 THE INSECT WORLD.

«These animals,” says Moquin-Tandon, in his “ Zoologie
Medicale,” “(do not draw up the sanguineous fluid by suction,
properly: so-called, as leeches do. The organisation of their
buccal apparatus does not allow of this. The hairs of the beak
applied the one against the other exercise a sort of alternate
motion, which draws the blood up into the esophagus, very much
in the same manner as water rises in a chain pump. This
rising is assisted by the viscous nature of the fluid, and above
all, by the globules it contains.” The part of the skin which
the bug has pierced, producing a painful sensation, is easily
recognised by a little reddish mark, presenting in its centre a
dark spot. Generally a little blister rises on the point pierced,
and sometimes, if the bug-bites are numerous, these blisters
become confluent, and resemble a sort of eruption. These dis-
gusting insects lay towards the month of May, oblong whitish

egos (Fig. 71), having a small aperture, through
‘ which the larva comes out. The larva differs from

the insect in its perfect state, in its colour, which

Fig. 71.—Egg of . : : : :

Bug, magnified. is pale or yellowish, and in having no hemelytra or
wings. This insect exists in nearly the whole of Europe,
although it is rare or almost unknown in the northern parts.
The towns of central Europe are the most infested by this para-
site, but those of the north are not completely free from its
presence. The Marquis de Custine assures us that at St. Peters-
burg he found them numerous. It is found also in Scotland ;
is very rare in the south of Kurope; and seldom seen in Italy,
where it is, however, replaced by other insects, more dangerous
or more annoying.

Tt has been said that the bug was brought into Europe from
America; but Aristotle, Pliny, and Dioscorides, mention its exist-
ence. It is certain that it was unknown in England till the
beginning of the sixteenth century. A celebrated traveller, a
Spanish naturalist, Azara, has remarked that the bug does not
infest man in his savage state, but only when congregated together
in a state of civilisation, and in houses, as in Europe. From
this he. concluded that the bug was not created till long after
man, when, after many centuries had elapsed since his appearance
on the globe, men formed themselves into societies, into republics,

HEMIPTERA. 95

or little states. Palzontology (the science of fossils) has in no
way confirmed this opinion.

The bug is not a gluttonous insect, always blood-thirsty ; on
the contrary, its sobriety is remarkable. It is only after a pro-
longed fast that it bites animals, and Audouin has stated that it
can live a year and even two years without food.

From time immemorial a number of different means have been
employed for destroying these insects; but in spite of all,
nothing is more difficult than to get rid of them from wood-work
and paper-hangings when they have once infested them. In
general, strong odours cause their death. And so, to rid oneself
of these disagreeable guests, it has been recommended to use
tobacco smoke, essence of turpentine, the fumes of sulphur, &c.
Mercurial omtment and corrosive sublimate are also excellent
means for their destruction ; and for the same purpose the merits
of a plant belonging to the order Cruciferse, Lepidium ruderale,
have been much vaunted ; and more recently still, the root of the
Pyrethrum, a species of Camomile, reduced to powder, and blown
into the furniture or wood-work. This powder is known and em-
ployed at Paris under the name of “ poudre insecticide.”

There are two other kinds of bugs (Acanthia) which attack men.
The one is the Acanthia ciliata, which has been found in the
houses of Kazan, and which differs from the bed bug not only in
its form, but also in its habits. It does not live in companies,
in the narrow cracks of furniture, but moves about alone, at a
slow pace, over the walls or counterpanes of beds. Its beak is
very long, and its bite is very painful, and produces obstinate
swellings.

The other species is the Acanthia rotundata, which is found in
the Island of La Réunion, and attacks men in the same way as
does the European bug. Two species of the same genus live as
parasites on swallows and domestic pigeons. ‘There is another
species which is peculiar to the bats of our climates.

The Reduvius personatus, called also Fly Bug, by Geoffroy, the
old historian of the insects of the environs of Paris, is common
enough in France. It keeps to the houses, and is found especially
near ovens and chimney-pieces. It is about three-quarters of an
inch in length, oblong, flat on its upper side, brownish, has hori-

96 THE INSECT WORLD.

zontal hemelytra crossed over each other, and very fully developed.
wings, which serve for flight. Its head, narrow, supported by a
well-defined neck, is provided with two composite and two simple
eyes. It requires, no doubt, to see very clearly, as it flies by
night. It should not be caught without great caution. If
you desire to examine it closely, when in the hottest part of the
summer it comes in the evening, and flutters round the lights,
you must be careful how you seize it; for it bites. The wounds
inflicted by it are very painful, more painful than those of the
bee, and they immediately cause a numbness in the member
wounded.

As the Reduvius kills different insects very rapidly by piercing
them with its long beak, it is probable that it secretes some kind
of venom. But as yet the organ that produces this poison has not
been discovered. However that may be, its beak is curved, and
about the tenth of an inch long, the surface bristling with hairs.
It is composed of three joints, and contains four stiff, lanceolate,
and very pointed squamose hairs.

This insect often seeks its prey in places where spiders spin
their webs. When they walk on, or are caught in, the spiders’
webs, the spiders take care not to seize them, for they fear their
bite. They prudently allow them to toss about in their nets,
where they very soon die of hunger. The Reduvius is often seen,
either a prisoner or dead, in the midst of a spider’s web.

We will let a celebrated naturalist, Charles De Geer, that savant
who has acquired more glory than any other since Réaumur, by
his profound and persevering studies of the habits and organisation
of insects, speak. De Geer was a Swede, and a contemporary of
Réaumur’s. Let us listen to what the Swedish Réaumur says
about the Reduvius personatus :—

“This bug,” says Charles de Geer, “has, in the pupal condition,
or before its wings are developed, an appearance altogether hideous
and revolting. One would take it, at the first glance, for one of
the ugliest of spiders. That which above all renders it so dis-
agreeable to the sight is that it is entirely covered, and, as it were,
enveloped with a greyish matter, which is nothing else but the
dust which one sees in the corners of badly-swept rooms, and
which is generally mixed with sand and particles of wool, or silk,

HEMIPTERA. 97

or other similar matters which come from furniture and clothes,
rendering the legs of this insect thick and deformed, and giving
to its whole body a very singular appearance.”

What instincts! what habits! Under this borrowed costume,
under this cloak, which is no part of itself, the insect, as it were
masked, has become twice its real size. What becomes of its dis-
guise, and how does it manage to walk? Of what use to it is this
dirty and grotesque fancy dress ?

Let us listen to De Geer. “It walks as fast, when it likes, as
other bugs; but generally its walk is slow, and it moves with
measured steps. After having taken one step forward, it stops
awhile, and then takes another, leaving, at each movement, the
opposite leg in repose ; it goes on thus continually, step after step
in succession, which gives it the appearance of walking as if by
jerks, and in measure. It makes almost the same sort of move-
ment with its antenns, which it moves also at intervals and by
jerks. All these movements have a more singular appearance than
it is possible for us to describe.’’*

By means of this disguise, it can approach little animals, which
become its prey; such as flies, spiders, bed bugs.

To see what a curious appearance the Reduvius presents, one
should take off its borrowed costume. ‘Then you will see an

Fig. 72.—Pupa of Reduvius personatus, covered § Fig. 73.—Pupa of Reduvins personatus, denuded
with its cloak of dust (magnified), of its cloak of dust (magnified).
entirely different animal, and one which has nothing repulsive
about it. With the exception of the hemelytra and wings, which

* “Mémoires pour servir 4 l’Histoire des Insectes.’’ Stockholm, 4to-, 1773.
Tome iii,, p. 283.

H

98 THE INSECT WORLD.

it has not yet got, all its parts have the form which they are to
have later, after the wings are developed.

Fig. 72 represents, after Charles de Geer’s memoir, the pupa
of the Reduvius personatus covered with dust, and resembling a
spider; Fig. 73, the same insect cleaned—freed from the cloak of
dust which served to disguise it.

The Hydrometre (from t8wo, water, and perpeiv, to measure) have
linear bodies. The head, which forms nearly the third of the

. entire length, is furnished with
two long antenne, and armed
" with a thin, hair-like beak. The
legs arelong, and of equal length.
The reader may have often seen
the Hydrometra stagnorum walk-
ing by jerks on the surface of the water (Fig. 74). The body
and legs are of a ferruginous colour, the hemelytra a dull brown,
and the wings hyaline, or glassy, and slightly blackish. Geoffroy
says that it resembles a long needle, and calls it the Needle Bug.

The Hydrocores, or Water Bugs, have the antenne shorter than
the head, or scarcely attaining to its length, and inserted and
hidden under the eyes, which are in general of
remarkable size. All these Hemiptera are aquatic
and carnivorous. We will mention the two prin-
cipal types, the Nepe, or Water Scorpions, and
the Notonecte, or Boatmen.

The Nepa cinerea (Fig. 75), which Geoffroy
calls the Oval-bodied Water Scorpion, and which
he also designates by the name of the Water Spider,
is very common in the stagnant waters of ponds
and ditches. Its body, oval, very flat, of an ashy
colour, with red on the abdomen, is four-fifths of an

Fig. 15. inch long. The hemelytra are horizontal, coriace-
Menarcueyee ous, and fee a dirty grey. Its front legs, with short
haunches, and very broad thighs, are terminated by strong pincers,
which give tc the insect a strong resemblance to the scorpion. It
is by folding back the leg and the tarsus under the thigh, that
the animal holds its prey, and sucks it with its rostrum or beak.
This rostrum is composed of three joints, and contams four

Fig. 74.—Hydrometra stagnorum.

HEMIPTERA. 99

pointed bristles. Two present on one side a sort of narrow sharp
blade, and have teeth towards their base. Of the two others, the
one is a thin smooth needle, the other is provided with hairs
directed backwards and forwards.

It is with this rostrum, which resembles a case of surgical in-
struments, that the Nepa bites and sucks little aquatic insects, not
even sparing its own species. Its bite is painful to man, but not
in the least dangerous. With its four hind legs the Nepa swims,
but at a very slow pace. It generally drags itself along the
bottom of the water, on the mud, and does not avoid the hand
put out to seize it. Its body is terminated by a tail, composed of
two grooved threads, which, when applied together, form a tube,
capable of being moved from side to side. Through this canal it
breathes. the outer air; it puts the end of it out of the water,
and the air enters it by inspiration. Some very small hairs, with
which the interiors of the grooves are lined, interlace each other,
and prevent the water from penetrating into the canal. It is
probable that this same canal serves also for depositing the eggs.
These last resemble small seeds, covered with points, and are
buried in the stalks of aquatic plants.

Next to the Nepa comes the Ranatra, with a cylindrical, elon-
gated, linear body, with very long and very thin hind legs, and
of which one species, which Geoffroy
calls the ‘‘ aquatic scorpion with an
elongated body,” is common every-
where in stagnant waters in spring.
It is brownish, carnivorous, and very
voracious.

We must now mention the genus
Corixa, of which one species, the
Corixa striata, 18 very common.
This insect walks badly and slowly
on land, but swims and cuts through the water with a prodigious
rapidity.

However, it is not to delay over this last species that we have
here mentioned the name of this genus. Some insects which belong
to it, and which are found in Mexico, deserve to be alluded to,
on account of certain peculiarities which their eggs present. A

H 2

Fig 76.—Corixa striata.

100 THE INSECT WORLD.

naturalist, M. Virlet d’Aoust, has published the foliowing details
on this subject :—

“Thousands of small amphibious flies,” he says, “ flit about
in the air on the surface of lakes, and diving down into the
water many feet and even many fathoms, go to the bottom to
lay their eggs, and only emerge from the water probably to die
close by. We were fortunate enough to be present at a great
fishing or harvest of the eggs, which, under the Mexican name
of hautle (haoutle), serve for food to the Indians, who seem to be
no less fond of them than the Chinese are of their swallows’ nests,
which they resemble somewhat in taste. Only the havtle is far
from commanding such high prices as the Chinese pay for their
birds’ nests, which for that reason are reserved entirely for the
tables of the rich; while, for a few small coins, we were able to
carry away with us about a bushel of the /autle, of which, at our
request, Mme. B was kind enough to prepare us a part.

“They dress these in different ways, but generally make a sort
of cake, which is served up with a sauce, to which the Mexicans
give a zest, as they do indeed to all their dishes, by adding to it
chilié, which is composed of green pimento crushed. ‘This is how
the natives proceed when they are fishing for hautle: they form
with reeds bent together a sort of fasces, which they place verti-
cally in the lake at some distance from the bank, and as these are
bound together by one of the reeds, whose ends are so arranged
as to form an indicating buoy, it is easy to draw them out at will.
Twelve to fifteen days suffice for each reed in those fasces to be
entirely covered with eggs, which they thus fish up by millions.
The former are then left to dry in the sun, on a cloth, for an hour
or more; the grains are then easily detached. After this operation,
they are replaced in the water for the next hautle harvest.”

M. Virlet had attributed to flies the eggs of which we have been
speaking. But in 1851 M. Guérin-Méneville having received,
transmitted to him by M. Ghiliani, eggs of which /awtle is made,
and some of the insects said to produce them, stated that the latter
belonged to two different species. The one had been known a
long time since under the name of Corixa mercenaria ; M. Guérin-
Méneville called the other Corira femorata.

The same entomologist discovered, among the eggs of these

HEMIPTERA. 101

two species, other eggs of a more considerable size, and which he
attributed to a new species of the genus Notonecta, about which
we are now going to say a few words.

The Notonecta glauca, which Geoffroy calls the Large Bug with
Oars (“Grande punaise a avirons”’), is very common in ditches,
reservoirs, and stagnant waters. Its body is oblong, uarrow, con-
tracted posteriorly, convex above, flat below, having, at its sides and
its extremities, hairs which, when spread out, support the animal on
the water. Its head is large and of a slightly greenish grey, and
has on each of its sides a very large eye of a pale brown colour.
Its thorax is greyish, the hemelytra of a greenish grey, the mem-
branous wings white. Of its legs, the front four are short; but
the hind legs, almost twice as
long, are furnished with long
hairs, and resemble oars. It
is with the aid of these that
the animal moves through the
water; and it does so in a
singular manner, placing itself
on its back, and generally in
an inclined position, as in Fig. 77.

When this insect, on the contrary, drags itself along on the
mud, the front legs are those which it employs, the hind legs
being idle, and merely drawn along behind it. It is generally
towards the evening or during the night that it comes out of
the water, to walk and to fly, if it wishes to pass from one marsh
to another.

This blood-thirsty insect lives entirely by rapine; it is one of
the most carnivorous of insects. Those which it attacks die very
soon after they have been bitten by it. De Geer thinks that the
water bug drops into the wound a poisonous humour. It seizes
upon insects much bigger, and apparently much stronger, than
itself, and does not spare its own species.

The instrument with which the Notonecta attacks its prey is
composed of a very strong and very long conical beak, formed
of four joints. The sucker is composed of an upper piece, short,
pointed, and of four fine pointed hairs. a

The female of the Notonecta glauca lays a great number of eggs,

Fig. 77.—Notonecta glauca.

102 THE INSECT WORLD.

white, and of elongated shape, which it deposits on the stems and
leaves of aquatic plants. ‘The eggs are hatched at the beginning
of spring, or in May, and the young ones at once begin to swim
about like their mother, on their backs, belly upwards. M. Léon
Dufour says on. this subject :—

‘A dorsal region, raised like a donkey’s back, or like the rounded
keel of a boat, and covered with a velvety substance, which renders
it impermeable, numerous fine fringes which garnish either the
hind legs, or the borders of the abdomen and thorax, or lastly in
a double row a small crest or comb running down the surface of
the belly, and which spread themselves out or fold themselves
in at the will of the insect, just like fins, favour both this supine
attitude and the accuracy of the swimming movements of the
Notonecte. Since nature, which seems often to delight in pro-
ducing extraordinary exceptions to her ordinary rules, thus bearing
witness to the immensity of her resources, had condemned this
animal to pass its life in an inverted position, it was necessary, for
the maintenance of its existence, that it should provide it with an
organisation in harmony with this attitude.. It is also for this
object that its head is bent over its chest ; that its eyes, of an oval
shape, can see below from above; that the front as well as the
middle legs, agile and curved, solely destined for prehension, can
to a certain extent become unbent by means of the elongated
haunches which fix them to the body, and clutch firm hold of
their prey with the strong claws which terminate the tarsi.”

HoMoPTERA.

We come now to the second group of the order Hemiptera,
namely, Homoptera.

The insects which compose this division are numerous. They
may be arranged into three great families, of the most remarkable
members of which we shall give some account. These are the
Cicadide, the Aphide, or Plant Lice, and the Coce:de.

The Cicada is the type of the first of these families. It has a
deafening and monotonous song; as Bilboquet says, in the ‘ Sal-
timbanques,” “those who like that note have enough of it for
their money.” Virgil pronounced a just criticism on the song of

HEMIPTERA. 103

the Cicada: he saw in it nothing better than a hoarse and dis-
agreeable sound :—

** At mecum raucis, tua dum vestigia lustro,

Sole sub ardenti resonant arbusta cicadis,”’

says the Latin poet in his “ Eclogues,” and repeats the same opinion
in a verse in his ‘‘ Georgics : ”—

“ Kt cantu querule rumpent arbusta cicadze.”’
The song of the Cicada, so sharp, so discordant, was, however,
the delight of the Greeks.

Listen to Plato in the first lines of “ Phedo:” “By Juno,”
eries the philosopher-poet, ‘‘what a charming place for repose!
. .. . It might well be consecrated to some nymphs and to the
river Achelous, to judge by these figures and statues. Taste a
little the good air one breathes. How charming, how sweet!
One hears as a summer noise, an harmonious murmur accompany-
ing the chorus of the Cicada.”

The Greeks then had quite a peculiar taste for the song of the
Cicada. They liked to hear its screeching notes, sharp as a point
of steel. To enjoy it quite at their ease, they shut them up
in open wicker-work cages, pretty much in the same way
as children shut up the cricket; so as to hear its joyous cri-cri.
They carried their love for this insect with the screaming voice so
far as to make it the symbol of music. We see, in drawings emblem-
atical of the musical art, a Cicada resting on strings of a cythera.
A Grecian legend relates that one day two cythera players,
Hunomos and Aristo, contending on this sonorous instrument,
one of the strings of the former’s cythera having broken, a Cicada
settled on it, and sang so well in place of the broken cord, that
Hunomos gained the victory, thanks to this unexpected assistant.
Anacreon composed an ode in honour of the Cicada. ‘‘ Happy
Cicada, that on the highest branches of the trees, having drank
a little dew, singest like a queen! ‘Thy realm is all thou seest
in the fields, all which grows in the forests. Thou art beloved by
the labourer ; no one harms thee; the mortals respect thee as the
sweet harbinger of summer. Thou art: cherished by the muses,
cherished by Pheebus himself, who has given thee thy harmonious
song. Old age does not oppress thee. O good little animal,
sprung from the bosom of the earth, loving song, free from suffer-

104 THE INSECT WORLD.

ing, that hast neither blood nor flesh, what is there prevents thee
from being a god ?”’

It was in virtue of the false ideas of the Greeks on natural
history in general, and on the Cicada in particular, that this little
animal symbolised, among the Athenians, nobility of race. They
’ imagined that the Cicada was formed at the expense of the earth,
and in its bosom, on which account those who pretended to an
ancient and high origin, wore in their hair a golden Cicada. The
Locrians had on their coins the image of a Cicada. This is the
origin which fable assigns to the custom :—

The bank of the river upon which Locris was built was covered
with screeching legions of Cicadas; whereas they were never heard
(so says the legend) on the opposite bank, on which stood the town
Rhegium. In explanation of this circumstance, they pretended
that Hercules, wishing one day to sleep on this bank, was so
tormented by the “sweet eloquence ” of the Cicadas, that, furious
at their concert, he asked of the gods that they should never sing
there for evermore, and his prayer was immediately granted!
This is why the Locrians adopted the Cicada as the arms of their
City.

The Greeks did not only delight as poets and musicians in the
song of the Cicada; they were not content with addressing to it
poems, with adoring it and striking medals bearing its image;
obedient to their grosser appetites, they eat it. They thus satisfied
at the same time both the mind, the spirit, and the body.

The Cicadas are easily to be recognised by their heavy, very
robust, and rather thick-set bodies, by their broad head, unpro-
longed, having very large and prominent oce//i, or simple eyes,
three in number, arranged in a triangle on the top of the fore-
head, and short antenne. The immature anterior and posterior
wings have the shape of a sheath, or case, enveloping the body when
the insect is at rest; these are transparent and destitute of colour,
or sometimes adorned with bright and varied hues. The legs
are not in the least suited for jumping. The female is provided
with an auger with which she makes holes in the bark of trees
in which to lay her eggs. The male (Fig. 78) is provided with
an organ, not of song, but of stridulation or screeching, which
is very rudimentary in the female. We will stop a moment to

HEMIPTERA. 105

consider the apparatus for producing the song, or rather the noise,
of the male Cicada, and the structure of the
female’s auger. We are indebted to Réaumur
for the discovery of the mechanism by the aid
of which the Cicada produces the sharp noise
which announces its whereabouts from afar.
We will give a summary of the celebrated
memoir in which the French naturalist has
so admirably described the musical apparatus
of the Cicada.*

Itis not in the throat that the Cicada’s organ
of sound is placed, but on the abdomen. On
examining the abdomen of the male of a large
species of Cicada one remarks on it two Ru) Ue
horny plates, of pretty good size, which are Fig. 78.—Cicada
not found on the females. Each plate has ae
one side straight ; the rest of its outline is rounded. It is by the
side which is rectilinear that the plate is fixed immediately
underneath the third pair of legs. It can be slightly raised with
an effort by two spine-like processes, each of which presses upon
one of the plates, and when it is raised, prevents it from being
' raised too much, and causes it to fall back again immediately.

If the two plates are removed and turned over on the thorax,
and the parts which they hide laid bare, one is struck by
the appearance which is presented. ‘‘One cannot doubt that all
one sees has been made to enable the Cicada to sing,” says
Réaumur. ‘“ When one compares the parts which have been
arranged so that it may be able to sing, as we may say from its
belly, with the organs of our throat, one finds that ours have not
been made with more care than those by means of which the Cicada
gives forth sounds which are not always agreeable.”

We here perceive a cavity in the anterior portion of the
abdomen, and which is divided into two principal cells by a horny
triangle.

“The bottom of each cell offers to children who catch the Cicada,
a spectacle which amuses them, and which may be admired by
men who know how to make the best use of their reason. The

=i
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NES | aN

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* Mémoires, tome y. 4to.

106 THE INSECT WORLD.

children think they see a little mirror of the thinnest and most
transparent glass, or that a little blade of the most beautiful tale is
set in the bottom of each of these little cells. That which one might
see if this were the case would in no way differ from what one
actually sees; the membrane which is stretched out at the bottom
of the cells does not yield in transparency either to glass or
to tale; and if one looks at it obliquely, one sees in it all the
beautiful colours of the rainbow. It seems as if the Cicada has
two glazed windows through which one can see into the interior of
its body.” 3

The horny triangle of which we spoke above only separates in
two the lower part of the cavity. The upper part is filled by a
white, thin, but strong membrane. ‘This membrane is only drawn
tight, when the body of the Cicada is raised. But with all this,
where is the organ of song? What parts produce the sound?
Réaumur will enlighten us on this point.

He opened the back of a Cicada, and laid bare the portion of the
interior which corresponds with the cavity where the mirrors are,
and was immediately struck with the size of the two muscles which
meet and are attached to the back of the horny triangle, and to
that one of its angles from which start the sides which form the
cavities in which are both the mirrors.

“‘ Muscles of such strength, placed in the belly of the Cicada, and
in that part of the belly in which they are found, seem to be only
so placed in order that they may move quickly, backwards and
forwards, those parts which, being set in motion, produce the noise
or song. And indeed, whilst I was examining one of these
muscles, in moving it about gently with a pin, slightly displacing
it, and then letting it return to its proper place, it so happened
that I made a Cicada that had been dead for many months sing.
The song, as might be expected, was not loud; but it was strong
enough to lead me on to the discovery of the part to which it was
due. J had only to follow the muscle I had been moving, to
search for the part on which it abutted.”

In the large cavity in which are the mirrors and the other parts
mentioned above, there are besides two equal and similar com-
partments, two cells in which are placed the instrument of sound.
This is a membrane in the shape of a kettle-drum, not smooth,

_ HEMIPTERA. 107

but, on the contrary crumpled and full of wrinkles (Fig. 79). When
it is touched, it is more sonorous than the driest parchment. If the
furrows or its convex surface are rubbed with a small body, such as
a piece of rolled-up paper, incapable of piercing or tearing it, it 1s
easily made to sound; and the sound is occasioned by the portions
of the kettle-drum which are. depressed by the
friction of the small body, returning to their
former position as soon as it has ceased to act upon
them. It is here that the two strong muscles act
whose existence and use were discovered by
Réaumur.

“Tt is clear,” says this naturalist, ‘ that when
the muscle is alternately contracted and expanded
with rapidity, one convex portion of the kettle-
drum will be rendered concave, and will then re-
sume its convex form by the force of its own
spring. Then this noise will be made, this song
of which we have been so long seeking an explanation, because we
wished to find out all the parts by means of which He, who never
makes anything without its use, willed that it should be produced.”

Let us add, to complete what we have already said on this sub-
ject, that if the kettle-drums are the essential organs of the insect’s
song, the mirrors, the white and wrinkled membranes, and the
exterior shutters which cover in the whole apparatus, contribute
largely, as Réaumur pointed out, to modify and strengthen the
sound.

We have said above that the female Cicada does not sing. And
so her singing organs are quite rudimentary. This fact, moreover,
has been known for ages. Xenarchus, a poet of Rhodes, says,
with little gallantry :—

Fig. 79.
Musical Apparatus of the
Male Cicada.

“‘ Happy Cicadas! thy females are deprived of voice!”

Nature has indemnified the female Cicada for this privation, by
giving her an instrument less noisy indeed, but more useful. This
is a sort of auger, destined to penetrate the bark of the branches
of trees, and lodged in the last segment of the abdomen, which,
for this purpose, is hollowed out groove-wise. By the aid of a
system of muscles the augur can be protruded or retracted at

108 THE INSECT WORLD.

pleasure. It is furnished with three implements. In the middle
there is a piercer, or bodkin,
which when run into a branch
supports the insect, and two
stylets, whose upper edges,
-having teeth like a saw, rest-
ing back to back, on the middle
implement, move up and down
it. With this admirable in-
strument, the female Cicada
incises obliquely the bark and
wood until she has almost
reached the pith (Fig. 80). The
male sings while she is at work.
When the cell is sufficiently
deep and properly prepared,
the female lays at the bottom
of it from five to eight eggs.
From these eggs come very
small white grubs (Fig. 81),
which leave their nest, de-
ne scend by the trunk, and bury
ZZ aa A themselves in the greund,
Vig. $0.—Female Cicada laying her eggs in the where they devour the roots
groove she has bored in the branch ot a tree.
of the tree. They then become
pupe, and hollowing out the earth with their front legs, which
are very much developed, continue to live at the expense
of the roots. At the end of spring these pup (I"ig. 82) come
out of the earth, hook themselves on to the trunks of trees,
and strip themselves one fine evening of their skin, which remains
whole and dried. Very weak at first, these metamorphosed insects
drag themselves along with difficulty. But next day, warmed
by the first rays of the sun, having had, no doubt, time to reflect
on their new social position, and less astonished than they were
on the preceding evening, they agitate their wings, they fly, and
the males send forth into the air the first notes of their screeching
concert. The Cicadas remain on trees, whose sap they suck by
means of their sharp-pointed beak. It is difficult enough to

nga iy

HEMIPTERA. 109

catch them, for owing to their large, highly-developed wings,
they fly rapidly away on the slightest noise.

They inhabit the south of Europe, the whole of Africa from
north to south, America in the same latitudes as Europe,
the whole of the centre and south of Asia, New Holland, and
the islands of Oceania. The Cicada, which in hot climates
always exposes itself to the ardour of the most scorching sun,
is not found in temperate or cold regions. The consequence

Fig. 81.—Larva of the Cicada. Fig. 82.— Pupa of the Cicada.

is that the southern nations know it very well, whilst in the
north the large green grasshopper, which is so common in those
regions, and whose song closely resembles that of the Cicada, is
commonly taken for it. There was to be seen at the Exhibition
of Fine Arts in 1866 a picture by M. Aussandon, “ La Cigale et
la Fourmi,” which showed under an allegorical shape the subject
of La Fontaine’s fable. The painter here represented the Cigale,
or Cicada, under the form of a magnificent apple-green grass-
hopper. The artist materialised here, as we may say, the
common mistake of the inhabitants of the north, which makes
them confound the Cicada with the great green grasshopper.

For the rest, we may, by-the-bye, say that La Fontaine’s
fable of “La Cigale et la Fourmi” is full of errors in natural
history. Nothing is easier than to prove the truth of this asser-
tion. From the very first verses, the author shows that he has
never observed the animal of which he speaks.

“ La Cigale ayant chanté
Tout 1 été.”
No Cicada could sing “tout l’été,” since it lives at the utmost
for a few weeks only.

‘Se trouva fort depourvue
Quand la bise fut venue.”

“Quand la bise fut venue’? means without doubt the month of

110 THE INSECT WORLD.

November or of December. But at this season of the year the
Cicada has a long time since passed from life to death. When -
one wanders along the outskirts of woods as early as the month
of October, in the south of France, one finds the soil covered with
dead Cicadas. La Fontaine’s Cigale then could not have found
itself ‘fort dépourvue,” for the simple reason that it was already
dead.

“Hille alla crier famine
Chez la Fourmi, sa voisine,
La priant de lui preter
Quelque grain pour subsister.”

The ant is carnivorous, and although it likes honey, it has
nothing to do with grains of wheat, nor with any other grain, of
which, according to the fabulist, it had laid up a stock. On the
other hand, the Cicada, which he blames for having

“ Pas un seul petit morceau
De mouche ou de vermisseau,”

never dreamt of such victuals, for it lives entirely on the sap of
large vegetables. The fables of the poet, who is called in France,
ope never knows why, ‘‘ Le bon La Fontaine,” teem with errors
of the same kind as those we have just pointed out. The habits
of animals are nearly always represented as exactly the contrary
to what they really are. To initiate himself into the mysteries of
the habits of animals, La Fontaine certainly had neither the works
of Buffon nor the memoirs of Réaumur, which had not then been
written ; but had he not the book of Nature ?

But it is time to mention the principal species of the Cicada.
We will describe two: that of the Ash, which lives on those trees
in the south of France; and that of the Manna Ash, which is very
common in the south-east of France. It is particularly plentiful
in the forests of pines which abound between Bayonne and Bor-
deaux. It is on these two species of Cicada that Réaumur made
the beautiful observations of which we gave a summary above.

The Cicada plebeia or Tettigonia fraxini, very common in Pro-
vence, is found, though rarely, in the forest of Fontainebleau,
oceasionally in La Brie. It is of a grey yellow below, black
above; the head and thorax are marked or striped with black.

HEMIPTERA. 111

M. Solier, in a memoir inserted in the ‘‘ Annales de la Société
Entomologique de France,”’ says that its song, very loud and very
piercing, seems to consist of one single note, repeated with rapidity,
which insensibly grows weaker after a certain time, and terminates
in a kind of whistle, which can be partly imitated by pronouncing
the two consonants st, and which resembles the noise of the air
coming out of a little opening in a compressed bladder. When
the Cicada sings, 1t moves its abdomen violently, in such a manner
as alternately to move it away from, and to bring it near to, the
little covers of the sonorous cavities; to this movement is added a
slight trembling of the mesothorax.

The same entomologist relates a very interesting observation
made on this species of Cicada by his friend, M. Boyer, a chemist
at Aix, and which he himself verified. The Cicadas, in general,
are very timid, and fly away at the least noise. However, when a
Cicada is singing, one can approach it, whistling the while in a
quavering manner, and imitating, as nearly as possible, its ery,
but in such a manner as to predominate over it. The insect then
descends a small space down the tree, as if to approach the
whistler; then it stops. But it one present a stick to it, con-
tinuing to whistle, the Cicada settles on it and begins again to
descend backwards. From time to time it stops, as if to listen.
At last, attracted, and, as it were, fascinated by the harmony of
the whistle, it comes to the observer himself.

M. Boyer managed thus to make a Cicada, which continued to
sing as long as he whistled in harmony with it, settle on his nose.
Charmed by this concert, the insect seemed to have lost its
natural timidity.

The Cicada orni is of a greenish yellow, spotted with black.
The abdomen is encircled by the same colours. The elytra
and the wings are hyaline, or glassy, and their veins alternately
yellow and brown. ‘The legs are yellow throughout. The song
of this species is hoarse, and cannot be heard at any great
distance.

M. Solier, in the work we quoted just now, says that the song
of this Cicada is of a deeper intonation, but that it is quick and
is sooner over. It does not terminate in the manner which
characterizes that of the other species.

112 THE INSECT WORLD.

Next the genus Cicada comes Fulgora, whose type is the Ful-
gora lanternaria, or Lantern Fly (Fig. 83).
Belonging to South America, these insects are above all

Fig. €3.—Lantern Fly ( Fulgora lanter nari.)

remarkable and easy to recognise, by their very large elongated
head, which nearly equals three-quarters of the rest of the body.
This prolongation is horizontal, vesiculous, enlarged to about the

HEMIPTERA. 113

same breadth as the head, and presents above a very great gib-
bosity. The antennz are short, with a globular second articu-
lation, and a small terminal hair. The species represented in
Fig. 83 is yellow, varied with black. The elytra are of a greenish
yellow, sprinkled with black; the wings, of the same colour, have
at the extremity a large spot resembling an eye, which is sur-
rounded by a brown circle very broad in front. It inhabits
Guyana. This remarkable insect enjoys a great renown with the
vulgar, by a peculiarity which may be called its speciality—the
property of shining by night or in the dark. Hence its name of
Fulgora lanternaria.

The knowledge of the Fulgora lanternaria has been spread and
popularised in Europe by a celebrated book, which has for its title,
““ Métamorphoses des Insectes de Surinam.” ‘This book, which
contains the result of patient study of the natural history of
Dutch Guyana (Government of Surinam), was written and pub-
lished in three languages, by a woman whose name this work has
rendered immortal—Mlle. Sybille de Mérian, and who won the
admiration and respect of her contemporaries by her love of the
beauties of nature, and her perseverance in making them known
and admired. Sybille de Mérian was born at Bale. Daughter,
sister, and mother of celebrated engravers, herself an excellent
flower-painter, she had worked a long time at Frankfort and
at Nuremburg; and had read with the greatest attention the
““Théologie des Insectes,” * and with admiration Malpighi’s book
on the silkworm. Full of enthusiasm for the study of natural
history, she left Germany, to visit the magnificent collection of
plants which were kept in the hot-houses of Holland, and made
admirable reproductions of them with her pencil.

This attentive study of the vegetable world suggested to her the
idea, which soon became an ardent desire, of observing these
marvels of nature in those parts of the globe in which they display
themselves with the greatest magnificence and splendour. At the
age of fifty-four, Sybille de Mérian set out for equatorial America.
From the very first days of her arrival, she hazarded her life,
sometimes without a guide, in the swampy plains or burning

* “ Théologie des Insectes, on Démonstration des Perfections de Dieu dans tout ce
qui concerne les Insectes, par Lesser, traduit en Francais.” La Haye, 1742.

I

114 THE INSECT WORLD.

valleys of Guyana. During the two years she sojourned in these
dangerous parts, she made a large collection of drawings and
paintings, which were destined to inaugurate in Hurope the intro-
duction of art into natural history.

In the plates to her work, Sybille de Mérian represents always
the insect she wishes to describe under its three forms of larva,
pupa, and perfect insect. With this drawing she gives another of
the plants which serve the insect for food, as also of the animals
which prey on it. Each plate is a little drama. Near the insect
is seen the greedy lizard opening its dreadful mouth, or the fero-
cious spider watching for it. The short life of insects is shown
here in its entirety, with its continual struggles, its infinite arti-
fices, its rapid end, and all the episodes of its existence, for which
life, as in the case of the moral man, is but a long and painful
struggle. |

Such was the work, such were the noble devotion and the worthy
career of Sybille de Mérian. Let women, let young girls, who are
martyrs to the ennui of a life devoid of occupation, peruse her
beautiful book, and learn from it how much a woman may do
with the time which is now either utterly unoccupied or only
devoted to useless employments. To study nature, in any of
its phases, ought, it seems to us, to give more satisfaction to the
soul, more strength to the mind, and cause more admiration of,
and gratitude to, the supreme Author of nature, than doing a little
embroidery. _

It is, as we have already said, in the work of Sybille de Mérian,
‘“‘Métamorphoses des Insectes de Surinam,” that one-finds men-
tioned, for the first time, the luminous properties of the Pulgora
lanternaria. The author thus relates her observations, which
were the result of chance :—

“Some Indians having one day brought me a great number
of the Lantern Flies. I shut them up ina large box, not knowing
then that they gave light at night. Hearing a noise, I sprang
out of bed and had a candle brought. I very soon discovered
that the noise proceeded from the box, which I hurriedly opened ;
but, alarmed at seeing emerging from it a flame, or, to speak
more correctly, as many flames as there were insects, I at first
let it fall. Having recovered from my astonishment, or rather

HEMIPTERA. 115

from my fright, I caught all my insects again, and admired this
singular property of theirs.”

Since the time when Mlle. de Mérian visited Guyana, different
travellers have said that they could not observe, as she did, this
phosphorescent phenomenon. It is, then, probable that this
property only exists in the male or female insect, and then only
at certain seasons.

What a marvellous spectacle must the rich valleys of Guyana
present, when, in the stillness of the night, the air is filled with
living torches ; when the Fulgore flying about in space, the flashes
of fire cross each other, go out and blaze up again, shine brightly
and then die out, and present, on a calm evening, the appearance
of those lightning flashes which are usually seen only in the
midst of a tempest !

Let us now go on to another interesting insect of the order of
which we are treating, the Aphrophora, without being frightened
by its disagreeable name, for there are many other names we may
give it if we choose, among those by which it is popularly known.
In the months of June and July, one sees on nearly every tree,
and on plants of the most different kinds, a sort of white froth,
composed of air bubbles, deposited on the leaves’ and branches.
It is produced by an insect which the peasants in France call
Crachat de Coucou, or Ecume printaniére (spring froth), and which
is called in England, Cuckoo’s spittle. De Geer carefully studied
the metamorphoses of this insect. The Aphrophora (from é¢p0s,
foam, and ¢épo, I bear or carry) is lodged in the froth of which
we have just been speaking. It lives in it, only leaving it when
it has its wings. De Geer wondered why this insect confines
itself during the whole of its life in liquid, and concludes that
the froth has the effect of protecting the insect from the burning
heat of the sun. This covering seems also to protect it from
the attacks of carnivorous insects and spiders. On the other hand,
its skin is without doubt so constituted that it would perspire too
freely if it were exposed to the air, and the insect would very
soon die dried up. Whatever explanation may be given of the
necessity for this semi-aérial, semi-liquid medium, it is easy to
verify the fact that the larva of the Aphrophora cannot live long
out of its frothy envelope. If withdrawn from it, the volume of

12

116 THE INSECT WORLD.

its body diminishes perceptibly, and the poor animal dies, like a
fish taken out of its natural element.

The insects which live in this froth are six-legged grubs
(Fig. 84), which, when the froth is cleared from
them, walk quickly enough on the stalks and leaves
of plants. They are green, with the belly yellow.

De Geer wished to know how they produced this
singular froth, and found out in the following man-
ner :—He took one of them out of its frothy dwelling,

wiped it dry with a camel’s hair pencil, and placed
Sear * Gt on a young stalk, recently cut from the honey-
rina. suckle, which he put into water in a glass, in order
to preserve its freshness, and this is what he observed :—

“Tt begins,” says the Swedish naturalist, “ by fixing itself on a
certain part of the stalk, in which it inserts the end of its trunk,
and remains thus for a long time in the same attitude, occupied
in sucking and filling itself with the sap. Having then with-
drawn its trunk, it remains there, or else places itself on a leaf,
where, after different reiterated movements of its abdomen, which
it raises or lowers and turns on all sides, one may see coming out
of the hinder part of its body a little. ball of liquid, which it causes
to slip along, bending it under its body. Beginning again the
same movements, it is not long in producing a second globule of
liquid, filled with air like the first, which it places side by side
with, and close to, the preceding one, and continues the same
operation as long as there remains any sap in its body. It is
very soon covered with a number of small globules, which, coming
out of its body one after the other, tend towards the front part,
aided in this by the movement of the abdomen. It is all these
e'lobules collected together which form a white and extremely fine
froth, whose viscosity keeps the air shut up in the globules, and
prevents its froth from easily evaporating. If the sap which the
larva has drawn from the plant is exhausted before it feels itself
sufficiently covered with froth, it begins afresh to suck, until it
has got a new and sufficient quantity of froth, which it takes care
to add to its first stock.” *

* « Memoires pour servir 4 |’ Histoire des Insectes,”’ tome iii.

HEMIPTERA. 117

‘It is in the froth that the larve change into pupz, and do not
leave their habitation to undergo their final metamorphosis. They
have then, says De Geer, the art of causing the froth inside to
evaporate and dry up, in such a manner as to form a space inside
the mass of froth, in which their bodies are entirely free. The
exterior froth forms a roof closed in on all sides, under which the
insect lies quite dry.

In this vaulted cell, the pupa disengages itself little by little
from its skin, which first splits up along the head, and then on
the thorax. This opening is sufficiently large to enable it to
come out of its envelope. It is in the month of September that
these insects are particularly abundant, when the trees and plants
are covered with them. Sometimes the froth drips off, like a sort
of small rain, from branches which are covered with it. Towards
the autumn the females are gravid. They are then so heavy, that
they can hardly jump or fly. The males, on the contrary, make
prodigious bounds; they throw themselves sometimes forward to
a distance of more than two yards. They are very difficult to
catch, and still more difficult to find again when one has once let
them escape. And so Swammerdam calls these insects Sauterelles-
Puces (Flea-Grasshoppers), because they jump
like fleas.

All that we have said relates to the Aphro-
phora spumaria, or Froghopper (Fig. 85), an
insect common all over Europe, and which (Epi ens smunariny.
Geoffroy calls the Cigale bedeaude.

“Tt is of a brown colour,” says Geoffroy, “ often rather greenish.
Its head, its thorax, and its elytra, are finely dotted ; on these last
one sees two white oblong spots. The lower part of the insect is
light brown.’’*

We will mention, as it belongs to the group with which we are
now occupied, a noxious insect, the Jassus devastans, which since
1844 seems to have taken up its quarters in the commune of
Saint Paul, in the department of the Basses-Alpes. It sucks the
leaves and stalks of cereals, causing them to wither, and may be
found even in winter on young corn, but principally in the spring.

* “ Histoire abréoée des Insectes, dans laquelle ces animaux sont rangés dans un
ordre méthodique.” In 4to., an VII. de la République, tome i., p, 416.

118 THE INSECT WORLD.

According to M. Guérin-Méneville, its head is of an ochrey yellow,
with the apex marked with black spots; the forehead yellow,
elongated, striped with black, as are the legs. The elytra are
straw-coloured and spotted with brown. The wings are trans-
parent, and slightly blackened at the extremities. This redoubt-
able insect, which is not more than the twelfth of an inch in length,
jumps and flies with great ease.

Fig. 86.
J. Hypsauchenia balista. 3. Centrotus cornutus. 5. Boeydium globulare.
2. Membracis foliata. 4. Umbonia Spinosa. 6. Cyphonia furcata.

In the damp parts of woods throughout nearly the whole of
urope, particularly on the upper parts of fern stalks, on sallow-
wort, and thistles, one sees springing, with remarkable vigour, a
small brownish insect, whose strange appearance struck Geoffroy,
the historian of the insects of the environs of Paris.

HEMIPTERA. 119

Geoffroy calls this insect “le Petit Diable.”’ “Le Petit Diable,”
says he, “is of a dark blackish-brown. Its head is flat, projecting
but slightly, and, as it were, bent downwards. Its thorax, which is
rather broad, has two sharp horns, which terminate in pretty long
points on the sides. -In the middle of the thorax is a crest or
comb, which, prolonged into a sort of sinuous and crooked horn,
terminates in a very sharp point, reaching to within one quarter
of the extremity of the wing-cases. These—viz., the wing-cases
—are dark, with brown veins; and the wings, shorter than their
cases, are rather transparent. It jumps very well, and it is not
éasy to catch it.”’*

The Petit Diable of Geoffroy is the Centrotus cornutus of modern
naturalists. This curious little insect belongs to a strange and
remarkable group, whose thorax takes the most extraordinary and
most varied forms, as may be seen in Fig. 86, which represents,
somewhat magnified, many of these insects. Nearly all inhabit
Guyana, the Brazils, and the islands of Florida.

We will now examine one of the most interesting groups to
study from different points of view—that of the Plant-lice.
These insects have for a long time attracted the attention of
- observers. ‘They are so abundant that all our readers have seen
them, and there are few plants in our fields or gardens which
do not nourish some species. How often does one hesitate in
gathering a rose or a bit of honeysuckle, for fear of touching the
unattractive guest of those charming flowers !

During the whole of the summer, one sees on the branches, on
the leaves, but principally on the young shoots of the rose-tree,

Figs. 87, 88.—Winged Aphides, or Plant-lice (magnified).
large companies of green plant-lice, which subsist on the sap of
the tree. Some are provided with wings (Figs. 87, 88), others are

* “ Histoire abrégée des Insectes, dans laquelle ces animaux sont rangés dans un
ordre méthodique.” In 4to., an VII. de la République, tome i., p. 423.

120 THE INSECT WORLD.

wingless (Figs. 89,90). The last-named are the largest: and are
a line and a half long. They are entirely green, except two parts,

Figs. 89, 90.—Wingless Aphides, or Plant-lice (magnified).

of which we will speak immediately. The body is oval; the head
is small, and furnished with two brown eyes. The skin smooth,
and tight drawn over the body. The antenne, which are very
long and slender, almost exceed the body in length. The six legs
are long and slim, and the feet terminated in two hooks, short.
On the upper part of the body are two small cylindrical horns,
surmounted by a small knob. ‘The antennee and these horns are
black.

The winged individuals are of the same size as these, but of a
dark green, mixed with black. The wings are transparent, the
upper ones as long again as the body. The young shoots of the
elder-tree are often covered with black plant-lice, or with
those of a ‘greenish-black colour, all round their circumference
for the length of from a foot to a foot and a half. ‘They are
crowded one against the other, and sometimes there are two layers
of them.

If observed without moving the plant about, they appear to be
tranquil and inactive. They are, however, then absorbing from
the plant the nourishment it should have; piercing with the
point of their trunks the epidermis of the leaves or stalks, and
drawing from them a nourishing liquid.

But this occupation is confined to those which are on the plant
itself. Those which, on account of the enormous agglomeration
of these insects, walk, not on the branch, but on other plant-lice,
and cannot therefore suck the sap of the plant, are employed
entirely in preserving and multiplying their species.

Réaumur often saw the latter, easily recognised by their great
size, giving birth to little plant-lice, which are quite alive when

HEMIPTERA. 121

they leave their mother. The young ones set off and mount or
descend till they reach one end of the crowd, and there each
takes up its position, like a cardboard capucin (capucin de carte),
in such a manner that the head is just behind the plant-louse
which precedes it. There they bury their trunks in the vegetable
tissue, and set to work to imbibe the sap.

Small as is the trunk of the plant-louse, yet when there are
thousands of those little beings fixed to the stalk or the leaves of
a plant, it is evident that it must suffer. And so the plant-
louse is, in truth, one of the most terrible enemies of our agricul-
tural and horticultural productions, and the exact list of the
ravages which it occasions would be indeed interminable. We
will confine ourselves to a few examples. For some years
the lime-tree aphis has seriously attacked the lime-trees of the
public promenades of Paris. The peach-tree plant-louse
causes the blight of the leaves of that tree. It is to these
prolific little parasites that are due, in a great number of cases,
the contortions of leaves and of the young shoots of trees of all
sorts.

These insatiable depredators cause sometimes a still more re-
markable alteration. On the leaves of elms one sees often bladders,
round and rosy, like pommes d’api. On opening these bladders
one finds that, they are inhabited by a species of aphis. On the
black poplar grow galls of different kinds, some from the leaf
stalks, and others from the young stems. They are rounded,
oblong, horned, and twisted in a spiral. Other galls show them-
selves on the leaf itself. They are all inhabited by plant-lice,
differing from those of which we have given a description above,
in the extremity of their abdomen not presenting the two
remarkable horns to which we shall have later to call the
attention of the reader. The body is generally covered with a
long and thick down.

Of this genus, the species, alas! so unfortunately celebrated is
the Apple-tree Aphis (Myzoryle mali), which attacks that tree.
This insect is of a dark russet brown, with the upper part of the
abdomen covered with very long white down. Its presence was
announced for the first time in England in 1789, and in France,
in the department of the Cotes-du-Nord, in 1812. In 1818,it was

122 THE INSECT WORLD.

- found in Paris, in the garden of the Ecole de Pharmacie. It had
become common in 1822 in the departments of the Seine, the
Somme, and the Aisne. In 1827, its presence in Belgium was
announced.

The apple-tree aphis, according to M. Blot, can only exist on
that tree. Carried away and placed on any other, it very soon
perishes. It does not attack the blossom, the fruit, nor the
leaves, but fixes itself on the lower part of the trunk, whence it
propagates itself downwards as far as the roots, underneath the
graftings, &e. It also likes to lodge in cracks of the trunk and
large branches. But it always looks out for a southern, and
avoids a northern aspect. It is not active, walks very little, and
its dissemination from one place to another can only be explained
by the facility with which so small an insect can be transported
by the wind, its lightness being still more increased by the down
which covers it.

The Myzoxyle mali renders the wood knotty, dry, hard, brittle,
and brings on rapidly all the symptoms which characterize old age
and decay in attacked trees. M. Blot recommends the following
means for preserving the apple-trees from this insect: Employ
for the seed-beds the pips of bitter apples only; give to the
nursery and to the plants only as much shelter as is absolutely
necessary ; avoid those sites which are too low and too damp;
encourage the circulation of air, and the desiccation of the soil ;
surround the foot of each apple-tree with a mixture of soot or of
tobacco and fine sand.

As for the manner of freeing a tree once invaded by this insect,
the most simple plan is to rub the trunk and the branches, in
order to crush the insects, or to employ a brush or broom.

We spoke above of the reproduction of the aphis, but without
entering into any particular details; we will now touch upon this —
question, one of the most interesting in natural history.

It was at the time when Réaumur was writing his immortal.
‘Histoire des Insectes,” when Trembley was publishing his
admirable researches on the freshwater Hydra, whose prodigious
vitality we have mentioned in our work on Zoophytes and
Molluses,* that another naturalist astonished the learned world

~* “The Ocean World.” London: Chapman and Hall, 1868.—Ep.

- HEMIPTERA. 123

by his experiments on the reproduction of plant-lice. This
naturalist, whose name will live quite as long as those ot
Réaumur and of Trembley, was Charles Bonnet, of Geneva.

Charles Bonnet made the extraordinary discovery that aphides
can increase and multiply without copulation. An isolated’ speci-
men can produce a series of generations of its kind. We will
relate the curious experiments of the Genevese naturalist. He
placed: in a flower-pot, filled with mould, a phial full of water, and
put into this phial a little branch of spindle, having only five or
six leaves, and perfectly free from any insect. On one of these
leaves he placed a plant-louse, which was born under his own eyes,
of a wingless mother. He then covered the branch with a glass
shade, whose rim fitted exactly into the top of the flower-pot.
Having taken these precautions, Charles Bonnet was perfectly cer-
tain of being able to observe his prisoner at his ease. He could
keep it under his eye and under his hand, with more certitude and
security than was the mythological Danaé, shut up, by order of
Acrisius, in a tower of bronze.

“T took care,” says Charles Bonnet, “to keep a correct journal
of the life of my insect. I noted down its least movements ;
nothing it did seemed to me indifferent. Not only did I observe
it every day from hour to hour, beginning generally at four or
five o’clock in the morning, and only leaving off at about nine
or ten at night; but I even looked many times in the same hour,
and always with the magnifying glass, to render my observation
more exact, and to learn the most secret actions of my little lonely
one. But if this continual application cost me some trouble, and
bored me not a little, im amends I had some cause for self-applause
and for having subjected myself to all this trouble. . . . . My
plant-louse changed its skin four times: on the 28rd, in the
evening; on the 26th, at two in the afternoon; on the 29th, at
seven o'clock in the morning; and on the 31st, at about seven
o’clock in the evening. . . . . Happily delivered from these four
illnesses through which it was obliged to pass, it at last reached
that point to which, by my care, I had been trying to bring it.
It had become a perfect plant-louse. On the 1st of June, at about
seven o’clock in the evening, I saw, with great satisfaction that it
had given birth to another; from that time I thought I ought to

124 THE INSECT WORLD.

look upon it as a female. From that day up to the 20th, inclu-
sive, she produced ninety-five little ones, all alive and doing
well, the greatest number of which were born under my own
Syes §

He very soon made some other experiments on the aphis of the
elder-tree, so as to assure himself if the generations of plant-lice,
reared successively in solitude, preserved the same prope of
procreating without copulation.

“ On ay 12th of July,” says he, “about three o’clock in
the afternoon, I shut up a plant-louse that had just been born
under my eyes. On the 20th of the same month, at six o’clock
in the morning, it had already produced three little ones. But I
waited till the 22nd towards noon before I shut up a plant-louse
of the second generation, because I could not manage earlier to be
present at the birth of one of those produced by the mother I had
condemned to live in solitude. J-always continued to observe the
same precaution. I shut up only those plant-lice which were born
under my very eyes. <A third generation began on the Ist of
August ; it was on this day that the plant-louse I had shut up on
the 22nd of July gave birth to this generation. On the 4th of
August, about one o’clock in the afternoon, I put into solitary
confinement a plant-louse of the third generation. On the 9th of
the same month, at six in the evening, a fourth generation, due
to this last one, had already seen the light: it had given birth
to four little ones. On the same day, towards midnight, all inter-
course with its own species was forbidden to the plant-louse of the
fourth generation, born at that hour. On the 18th, between six
and seven o’clock in the morning, I found this last in the company
of four little ones to which it had given birth.” +

In this case, the want of food caused the death of the isolated
individual of the fifth generation, and the experiment was brought
to a close.

Bonnet then tried experiments on the plantain aphis, following
them up during five consecutive generations, which succeeded each
other without interruption, in the space of three months.

=< Traité d’Insectologie, ou Observations sur les Pucerons;”’ lre partie, 18mo.

Paris, 1745, pp. 28—38.
+ Ibid., pp. 67—69.

HEMIPTERA. 125

After having stated the extraordinary facts, which he relates
with the most perfect simplicity, Charles Bonnet, examining at
the end of the fine season specimens of the winged oak-tree aphis,
was able to be present at their nuptials. He preserved the females
with great care, and saw, not without profound astonishment, that
they gave birth, not to small living insects, as was the case in the
first experiments, but to eggs of a reddish colour, which were
stuck fast to each other, on the stem or stalk of the plant.

A short time afterwards, this illustrious observer was able to
convince himself that the oak-tree plant-lice, whose nuptials he
had witnessed in the autumn, present the same phenomena of
solitary and viviparous propagation, already so often mentioned
by him.

At last some new observations permitted him to establish beyond
all doubt the connection of these facts, in appearance so contra-
dictory. He discovered that, during the whole of the fine season,
the plant-lice are solitary and viviparous, but that towards the
autumn these creatures return to the ordinary course of things,
and are propagated by eggs, whose development requires the co-
operation of a male and female individual. These eggs are hatched
in spring, and produce only viviparous plant-lice. In the autumn
the males and females show themselves, and from that moment
Ovipositing recommences. ‘These curious facts, seen and published
more than a century ago, have been verified many times since.

In 1566, M. Balbiani asserted that the plant-lice are herma-
phrodite, or of both sexes at the same time, which would explain
the facts observed by Charles Bonnet. But the anatomical proofs
appealed to by Balbiani in support of this idea are far from esta-
blishing the existence of this arrangement of sexes among them.
The observations of Charles Bonnet produced profound astonish-
ment among naturalists, and, in this respect, 1743 may be con-
sidered as a memorable year.

The simple statement of the few experiments.which he made,
and which we have cited, has sufficed to show how rapid is the
multiplication of aphides. A single female produced generally 90
young ones ; at the second generation these 90 produce 8,100 ; these
give a third generation, which amounts to 729,000 insects; these,
in their turn, become 65,610,000; the fifth generation, consisting

126 THE INSECT WORLD.

of 590,490,000, will yield a progeny of 53,142,100,000; at the
seventh, we shall thus have 4,782,789,000,000; and the eighth
will give 441,461,010,000,000. This immense number increases
immeasurably when there are eleven generations in the space of a
year. Fortunately a great many carnivorous insects wage fierce
war against the plant-lice, and destroy immense numbers of them.
Thus they are kept in check, and prevented from multiplying
inordinately. To show with what prodigious abundance the re-
production of these little but formidable parasites must go on, we
will relate a fact which was made known to us by M. Morren,
Professor in the University of Liége.

The winter of 1883—34 had been extremely warm and dry ;
whole months had passed without any rain. A well-known savant,
Van Mons, had foretold, as early as the 12th of May, that all the
vegetables would be devoured by plant-lice. On the 28th of
September, 1834, at the moment when the cholera had began to
spread its ravages over Belgium, all of a sudden a swarm of plant-
lice showed themselves between Bruges and Ghent. They were
to be seen the next day at Ghent, hovering about in troops, in
such quantities that the daylight was obscured. Standing on the
ramparts, one could no longer distinguish the walls of the houses
in the town, so covered were they with plant-lice. The whole
road from Antwerp to Ghent was rendered black by innumerable
legions of them. They appeared everywhere quite suddenly.
People were obliged to protect their eyes with spectacles and their
faces with handkerchiefs, to keep off the painful and disagreeable
tickling caused by them. The progress of these insects was inter-
rupted by mountains, hills, even by undulations of land of very
slight elevation, but sufficient to have an influence on the wind.
M. Morren thinks that they came from a great distance, and that

.they arrived in Belgium by the sea-coast. Whatever be the
explanation of the phenomenon, it establishes sufficiently the
prodigious multiplication of these little insects.

There is another trait, and without doubt the most curious in
the history of the aphides, to which we have still to call the atten-
tion of the reader: we mean the relations which exist between
them and the ants.

No one can have failed to observe ants frequenting those places

HEMIPTERA. 127

where plant-lice are gathered together in great numbers. Are
ants simply friends of the plant-lice, as thought the ancients? Or
have their visits some selfish object ?

Linnzeus, Bonnet, and Pierre Huber thought that the ants did
not pay these visits for nothing, and that they had some object
in view. But what could they want of the plant-lice? It is to
Pierre Huber we owe the solution of this mystery. This natu-
ralist has made the most beautiful observations on the relations
which exist between plant-lice and ants. They are detailed in
a chapter of his admirable work, entitled ‘‘ Recherches sur les
Meceurs des Fourmis Indigénes.”’

The plant-lice have, as we have said, at the extremity of their
abdomen two small movable horns. ‘These are in communication
with a little gland which produces a sugary liquid. When one
carefully observes plant-lice attached to the stem of a plant, one
sees a little syrup droplet oozing out of the extremity of these
tubes.

M. Morren, who has made some interesting observations on the
anatomy and generation of the aphis, says that, having shut
up females in wide-mouthed glass bottles, he saw the young,
a little time after their birth, suck the sweet juice which exudes
from the little tubes at the extremity of the mother’s abdomen.
This secretion seems, then, destined for the nourishment of the
young in the first moments of their existence, before they are able
to nourish themselves on vegetable juices. ‘The saccharine fluid
produced by the mother must be, then, a sort of milk intended for
the nourishment of her young. ‘This being established, listen to
what follows. In all places where plant-lice are assembled in great
numbers it is easy to observe how excessively fond ants are of the
sugary liquid destined for suckling the young. But how do the
ants manage to get the plant-lice to allow themselves to be, as we
may say, milked ?

“Tt had been already noticed,” says this celebrated observer,
“ that the ants waited for the moment at which the plant-lice caused
to come out of their abdomen this precious manna, which they im-
mediately seized. But I discovered that this was the least of their
talents, and that they also knew how to manage to be served with
this liquid at will. ‘This is their secret. A branch of a thistle

128 THE INSECT WORLD.

was covered with brown ants and plant-lice. I observed the latter
for some time, so as to discover, if possible, the moment when they
caused this secretion to issue from their bodies; but I remarked
that it very rarely came out of its own accord, and that the plant-
lice, which were at some distance from the ants, ee it out
with a movement resembling a kick.

“ How did it happen, thew that the ants wandering about on
the thistle were nearly all remarkable for the size of their abdomen
and were evidently full of some liquid? ‘This J discovered by
narrowly watching one ant, whose proceedings I am going to
describe minutely. I saw it at first passing, without stopping,
over some plant-lice, which did not seem in the least disturbed
by its walking over them; but it soon stopped close to one
of the smallest, which it seemed to coax with its antenne,
touching the extremity of its abdomen very rapidly, first with one
of its antenne and then with the other. I saw with surprise the
liquid come out of the body of the plant-louse, and the ant forth-
with seize upon the droplet and convey it to its mouth. It then
brought its antennee to bear upon another plant-louse, much larger
than the first; this one, caressed in the same manner, yielded the
nourishing fluid from its body in a much larger dose. The ant
advanced and took possession of it. It then passed to a third,
which it cajoled as it had the preceding ones, giving it many
little strokes with its antennz near the hinder extremity of its
body ; the liquid came out immediately, and the ant picked it
up. . . A small number of these repasts are sufficient to
matics “the ant’s appetite.

“Tt does not appear that it is out of importunity that these
insects obtain their nourishment from the plant-lice.

“The neighbourhood of ants is agreeable to plant-lice, since
those which could get out of the way of their visits, viz., the
winged plant-lice, prefer to remain amongst them, and to lavish
upon them the superabundance of their nourishment.’’*

What we have just related ‘applies not only to the brown
(Formica brunnea), but also to the tawny ant (Lormica flava),
to the ashy black (Formica migra), to the fuliginmous (Lormica
JSuliginosa), and to a great many more.

* “ Recherches sur les Moeurs des Fourmis Indigénes.” S8vo. Paris, 1810. Pp.
181—186.

HEMIPTERA. 129

The Red Ant (Lormica rufa) is singularly adroit in seizing the
droplet left it by the plant-louse. According to Pierre Huber, it
employs its antennz, which swell somewhat towards their extre-
mities, in conveying this droplet to its mouth, and causes it to
enter it by pressing it first on one side, then on the other, using
its antennee as if they were fingers. The greater number of ants
seek them on those plants on which they usually fix themselves—
the lowest herbs, as well as the highest trees. There are some,
however, which never leave their place of abode, and never go out
to the chase. ‘These are the little ants, of a pale yellow colour,
rather transparent, and covered with hairs, and which are extremely
numerous in our meadows and orchards. These subterranean
creatures are very noxious to the farmer. Pierre Huber often
wondered how they subsisted, and with what food they could
provision themselves, without quitting their gloomy habitations.
Having one day turned up the earth of which a habitation was
composed, in order to discover if any treasure were to be found
stowed away there, he found nothing but plant-lice. - Of these
the greater number were fixed to the roots of the trees which
hung down from the roof of their subterranean nest; others
were wandering about among the ants. These latter, more-
over, set about milking their nurses as usual, and with the same
success. ‘To verify his discovery, he dug up a great number of
nests of the yellow ant, and invariably found in them aphides.
So as to study the relations which must exist between these
insects, he shut up ants with their friends, the plant-lice,.in a
glazed box, placing at the bottom of the box, earth, mixed with
the roots of some plants, whose branches vegetated outside the
box. He watered this ant-hill from time to time, and thus both
the animals and the plants found in his apparatus sufficient
nourishment.

“The ants,” he says, “did not endeavour in the least to make
‘their escape. They seemed to want for nothing, and to be quite
content. They tended their larve and females with the same
affection they would have shown in their usual ant-hill; they took
great care of the plant-lice, and never did them any harm. These,
on the other hand, did not seem to fear the ants; they allowed
themselves to be moved about from one place to another, and

K

130 THE INSECT WORLD.

when they were set down they remained in the place chosen
for them by their guardians. When the ants wished to move
them to a fresh place, they began by caressing them with their
antenne, as if to request them to abandon their roots or to
withdraw their trunk from the cavity in which it was inserted ;
then they took them gently above or below the abdomen with
their jaws, and carried them with the same care they would have
bestowed on the larvee of their own species. I saw the same ant
take three plant-lice in succession, each bigger than itself, and
carry them away into a dark place. .... However, the ants
do not always act so gently towards them. When they fear
that they may be carried off by ants of another kind, and
living near their habitation, or when one opens up too suddenly
the turf under which they are hidden, they seize them up in
haste and carry them off to the bottom of their little cavern.
I have seen the ants of two different ant-hills fighting for their
plant-lice. When those belonging to one ants’ nest could enter
the nest of the others, they took them away from their rightful
owners, and often these took possession of them again in their
turn; for the ants know well the value of these little animals,
which seem made on purpose for them,—they are the ants’
treasures. An ants’ nest is more or less rich, according as it is
more or less stocked with plant-lice. The plant-lice are its cattle,
its cows, its goats. One would never have thought that the ants
were a pastoral people!” *

Their hiding in the ants’ nest is not voluntary; they are
prisoners of war. The ants, after having hollowed out galleries
in the midst of roots, make a foray upon the turf, and seize
upon plant-lice scattered about here and there, bringing them
with them, and collect them together in their nests. The captive
insects take their wrongs with patience, and behave like philo-
sophers under this new kind of life. They lavish on their masters,
with the best grace in the world, the nutritious juices with which:
their bodies superabound. Charles Bonnet has stated some real
wonders of the cleverness and industry of other ants which also
make a provision of plant-lice.

““T discovered one day,” says he, “a euphorbia, which supported

* Recherches, &e., pp. 192—194.

HEMIPTERA. 131

in the middle of its stem a small sphere, to which it served as the
axis. It was a case which the ants had constructed of earth.
They issued forth from this by a very narrow opening made in
its base, descended the stem, and passed into a neighbouring ants’
nest. I destroyed one part of this pavilion, built almost in the
air, so that I might study the interior. It was a little room,
whose vault-shaped walls were smooth and even. The ants had
profited by the form of the plant to sustain their edifice. The
stalk passed up the centre of the apartment, and for its timber-
work it had the leaves. This retreat contained a numerous family
of plant-lice, to which the brown ants came peacefully, to make
their harvest, sheltered from the rain, the sun, and from other
ants. No insect could disturb them, and the plant-lice were not
exposed to the attacks of their numerous enemies. I admired this
trait of industry, and I was not long in finding it again, in a more
interesting character, in ants of different species.

“Some red ants had built round the foot of a thistle a tube of
earth, two inches and a half long by one and a half broad. The
ants’ nest was below, and communicated directly with the cylinder.
I took the stalk, with what surrounded it, and all that the cylinder
contained. That portion of the stem which was inside the earthen
tube was covered with plant-lice. I very soon saw the ants coming
out of the opening I had made at the base; they were very much
astonished to see daylight at that place, and I saw that they
lived there with their larvee. They carried these with great haste
to the highest part of the cylinder which had not been altered.
In this retreat they were within reach of their plant-lice, and here
they fed their young.

“Tn other places many stalks of the euphorbia laden with plant-
lice rose in the very centre of an ant-hill belonging to the brown
ants. These insects, profiting by the peculiar arrangement of the
leaves of this plant, had constructed round each branch as many
little elongated cases; and it was here they came to get their food.
Having destroyed one of these cells, the ants forthwith carried off
into their nests their precious animals; a few days afterwards it
was repaired under my eyes by these insects, and the herd were
taken back to their pens.

“These cases are not always at a few inches from the ground.

K 2

132 THE INSECT WORLD.

I saw one five feet above the soil, and this one deserves also to be
described. It consisted of a blackish, rather short tube, which was
built round a small branch of the poplar at the poimt where it

Aw

Fig. 91.—Aphides and Ant (magnified).

left the trunk. The ants reached it by the interior of the tree,
which was excavated, and without showing themselves, they were
able to reach their plant-lice by an-opening which they had made

‘ HEMIPTERA. 133

in the base of this branch. This tube was formed of rotten wood,
of the vegetable earth of this very tree, and I saw many a time
the ants bringing little bits in their mouths to repair the breaches
I had made in their pavilion. These are not very common traits,
and are not of the number of those which can be attributed to an
habitual routine.” *

One day, Pierre Huber discovered in a nest of yellow ants a
cell containing a mass of eggs having the appearance of ebony.
They were surrounded by a number of ants, which appeared to
be guarding them, and endeavouring to carry them off.

Huber took possession of the cell, its inhabitants, and of the
little treasure it contained, and placed the whole in a box ld,
covered with a piece of glass, so as to be more easily observed.
He saw the ants approach the eggs, pass their tongues in between
them, depositing on them a liquid. They seemed to treat these
egos exactly as they would have treated those of their own
species; they felt them with their antenne, gathered them to-
gether, raised them frequently to their mouths, and did not leave
them for an instant. They took them up, and turned them over,
and after having examined them with care, they carried them
with extreme delicacy into the little box of earth placed near
them.t+

These were not, however, ants’ eggs. They were the eggs of
aphides. The young which were soon to be hatched were to
give to the provident ants a reward for the attentions they had
lavished upon them. How wonderful are the life and the habits
of the plant-lice, and their relations to ants! But we should be
led on too far, if we were to pursue these attractive details.

We pass on now to the histery of another family—namely,
the Gallinsecta, as Réaumur calls them, or Cocci. They pass
the greatest part of their lives—that is to say, many months—
entirely motionless, sticking to the stalks or branches of shrubs ;
remaining thus as devoid of movement as the plant to which they
are attached. One would say that they were part and parcel of
it. Their form is so simple, that nothing in their exterior would
make one guess them to be insects. The larger they become, the

* Traité d’Insectologie, &e., pp. 198—201.
t+ Recherches, &e., pp, 205, 206.

134 THE INSECT WORLD.

less they resemble living things. When the coccus is in a state
for multiplying its species, when it is engaged in laying its
thousands of eggs, it resembles only an excrescence of the tree.

The Gallinsecta are found on the elm, the oak, the lime, the
alder, the holly, the orange tree, and the oleander. Some of the
species are remarkable for the beautiful red colourmg matter
which they furnish. Such are the Coccus cacti, the Chermes
variegatus, or Oak Tree Cochineal, and the Coccus polonicus.

The Common Cochineal, Coccus cacti, is found in Mexico, on
the Nopal, or prickly pear (Opuntia), particularly on the Opuntia
-oulgaris, the Opuntia coccifera, and the Opuntia una, plants
which belong to the family of the Cactaceze.

These insects are rather remarkable, in that the male and female
are so unlike, that one would take them for
animals of different genera.

The male presents an elongated, depressed body,
of a dark-brown red. Its head small, furnished
with two long feathery antennz, has only a rudi-
mentary beak. The abdomen is terminated by
two fine hairs longer than its body. The wings,
perfectly transparent, reach beyond the extremity
of its abdomen, and cross each other horizontally

Fig. 92.Cochineal : s : o :
inscie (Conse, overits back. It is lively and active. The female

male and female. presents quite a different appearance. It is in

the first place twice as large as the male (Fig. 92), convex above,
flat below. It resembles a larva, and has no wings. Its body
is formed of a dozen segments, covered with a glaucous dust.
The beak is very fully developed, and the two hairs or bristles
on the abdomen are much shorter than in the male.

The weight of the body, combined with the shortness of the
legs, prevents these creatures from being active. The legs only
serve, in fact, for clinging to the vegetable from which they draw
their nourishment. ‘The circumstances attending the birth of the
cochineal insect are very curious. The larvze are born in the
dried-up body of their dead mother, the skeleton of their mother
serving them as a cradle. This happens thus :—The eggs are
attached to the lower part of the mother’s body. When the abdo-
men of the mother is empty, its lower side draws up towards the

PLATE IV.

Gathering Cochineal in Algeria.

HEMIPTERA. 138

upper side, and the two together form a pretty large cavity. When
the mother dies, which is not long in happening, her abdomen
dries up, her skin becomes horny, and forms a sort of shell. It
is in this membranous cradle that the larve of the cochineal insect
are born. The cochineal insect in its wild state lives in the
woods. But it can without difficulty be reared artificially.

Every one knows that the little insect called the cochineal
furnishes, when its body has been dried and reduced to powder,
a colouring matter of a beautiful red, peculiar to itself. This
circumstance has saved the cochineal from the persecution to
which so many other kinds of insects have been devoted by the
hand of man. In hot climates, in which the cochineal insect
delights, it has been preserved, and is cultivated as an article of
commerce. This is how the cochineal is reared in Mexico :—An
open piece of land is chosen, protected against the west wind,
and of about one or two acres in extent. This is surrounded
with a hedge of reeds, planted in lines, distant from each other
about a yard, with cuttings of cactus at most about two feet
apart. The cactus garden made, the next thing is to establish
in it cochineals. With this object in view they are sought in the
woods, or else the females of the cochineal insect which are gravid
are taken off plants which have been sheltered during the winter,
and placed in dozens, in nests made of cocoa-nut fibres, or in little
plaited baskets made of the leaves of the dwarf palm, and hung
on the prickles of the cactus. These are very scon covered with
young larve. The only thing now required to be done is to
shelter them from wind and rain. .

The larvee are changed into perfect insects, which take up their
abode permanently on the branches of the cacti, as Fig. 93 repre-
sents. The Mexicans gather them as soon as they have reached
the perfect state. The harvest cannot be difficult, considering
the immobility of these little creatures. When collected, the
cochineals are killed, packed in wooden boxes, and sent to Europe,
to be used in dyeing.

Such is the method, very simple, as we see, of rearing the cochi-
neal, a method which has been followed for centuries in Mexico.
Towards the end of the year 1700, a Frenchman named Thierry
de Menouville, formed the project of taking this precious insect

136 THE INSECT WORLD.

away from the Spaniards, and of bestowing it upon the French
colonies. He landed in Mexico, and concealed so well the object
of his voyage, that he managed to embark and carry to St. Domingo
several cases containing plants covered with living cochineals.
Unfortunately, a revolution which had broken out at St. Domingo

Fig. 93.—Branch of the Cactus, with Cochineal insects on.

prevented him from succeeding in his praiseworthy endeavours.
The cochineals died, and the Spaniards preserved their monopoly
in the rearing of this insect.

In 1806 M. Souceylier, a surgeon in the French navy, suc-

HEMIPTERA. 137

ceeded in bringing from Mexico into Europe some live cochineals.
He gave them to the professor of botany at Toulon; but this
attempt to preserve them was unsuccessful.

In 1827 the naturalisation of the cochineal was attempted in

Corsica, but without success. During the same year the cochineal
was introduced into the Canary Islands, but the inhabitants did
not understand the importance of the experiment. They counted
the cochineal among the number of noxious insects, and tried in
all ways to rid themselves of it. It was only after results obtained
by some more intelligent farmers, that the inhabitants of the
Canary Islands perceived the profits they might derive. From
that time its cultivation was extended, and after the year 1831 it
increased rapidly. Thus the cochineal imported from the Canary
Isles in that year amounted to only 4 kilogrammes. In 1832 the
amount was 60 kilogrammes, in 1833 it was 660 kilogrammes,
in 1838, 9,000 kilogrammes, and in 1850, 400,000 kilogrammes.
The French colonists in Algeria also tried to raise it. In 1831,
M. Limonnet, a chemist of Algiers, collected some cochineals,
and had the merit of first introducing the insect into the colony.
On account of bad weather, these first essays were fruitless, but
it was not long before they were repeated.
_ M. Loze, surgeon in the navy, undertook to introduce the
insect again, and with M. Hardy, director of the central garden
of Algiers, gave himself up, with great intelligence, to the
naturalisation and rearing of the cochineal in Algeria.

In 1847 the French Minister of War, for the purpose of having
the value of the Algerian cochineal fixed by commerce, caused to
be sold publicly on the market-place of Marseilles a case of
cochineal, the produce of the harvests of 1845 and 1846, from the
experimental garden of Algiers, and which contained 17 kilo-
grammes of this commodity. Since that time the cultivation of
this insect, the beginning of which was due to M. Limonnet, has
rapidly developed. In 1853, in the province of Algiers alone,
there were fourteen nopa/leries, or cactus gardens, containing 61,500
plants. The Government at that time bought the harvests for
fifteen frances the kilogramme.

We have only pointed out in a general way how the cochineal
harvest is conducted. We will now enter into some details on the

138 THE INSECT WORLD.

subject. These insects are gathered when the females are about
to lay, that is, when a few young are hatched. It is when the
females are gravid that they contain the greatest amount of
colouring matter. When the harvest time has arrived, the
rearers stretch out on the ground pieces of linen at the foot of the
plants, and detach the cochineals from them, brushing the plants
with a rather hard brush, or scraping them off with the blade of
a blunt knife.

If the season is favourable, the operation may be repeated three
times in the course of a year in the same plantation. The insects
thus collected are killed, by dipping into boiling water, being put
into an oven, or by torrefying them on a plate of hot iron. The
cochineals when withdrawn from the boiling water are placed
upon drainers, first in the sun, then in the shade, then in an
airy place. During their immersion in water they lose the white
_ powder which covers them. In this state they are called in
Mexico ronagridas. ‘Those which have been passed through the
oven they call jaspeadas, and are of an ashy grey; those that
are torrefied are black, and are called xegras. In commerce
three sorts of cochineal are recognised ; first, the mastique (mes-
téque), of a reddish colour, with a more or less abundant glaucous
powder; secondly, the noire, which is large and of a blackish
brown; thirdly, the sylvestre, which is, on the contrary, smaller
and reddish. The latter is the least esteemed, and is gathered on
wild cacti.

Hach year there are imported into France 200,000 kilogrammes
of cochineals, which represent a value of about three millions of
francs. very one knows that it is from cochineal that carmine
is made, a magnificent red frequently employed by painters.
Lake carmine is another product obtained from the cochineal.
And, lastly, scarlet is the powder of the cochineal precipitated by
a salt of tin.

Before the Mexican cochineal was known in Europe, the hermes,
or Coccus ilicis, known still in commerce and by chemists under
the names of Animal kermes, Vegetable kermes, and Scarlet seed,
was used for the preparation of the carmine employed in the
arts. ‘This cochineal lives by preference (at least, so it is sup-
posed) on the evergreen oak (Quercus ilex); whence its specific
name.

HEMIPTERA. 139

The Coccus ilicis.develops itself almost exclusively, not on the
evergreen oak, but on the Quercus coccifera, or kermes oak, a shrub
common in dry arid places on the Continent, and which vegetates
on a great number of spots on the Mediterranean, particularly
on the garrigues, or waste lands, of Herault.

The females of this insect, which, dried, bear the name of
graines de kermes, are of the size of an ordinary currant, without
any trace of rings, nearly spherical, of a violet and glaucous
colour. They adhere to the boughs of the shrub Quercus coccifera,
and form dry, brittle masses, which the peasants of the south of
France collect, and sell at a tolerably high price.

Before we possessed the cochineal of Mexico and of Algeria,
this cochineal was very much employed in the south of Kurope,
in the East, and in Africa. It furnishes a beautiful red colour.
This last named and the Mexican cochineal are somewhat used
in pharmacy. They enter into alkermes, a sort of liquor served
at dinner in Italy, chiefly at Florence and Naples.

Another species of cochineal is the Coccus polonicus, which is
met with in Poland and Russia, more rarely in France, on the
roots of a small plant, the Scleranthus perennis. This cochineal
is gathered in the Ukraine towards the end of June, when the
abdomen of the female is swollen, and filled witha purple and
sanguineous juice.

The Polish kermes (Coccus polonicus) was formerly used very
much in Europe. This product has not indeed lost all its im-
portance in those countries where it is met with in abundance.

We have now only to point out among the insects of this group
the Coccus lacca, which lives in India on many trees, among
others on the Indian fig-tree, the Pagoda fig-tree, the Jujube tree,
on the Croton, &c.

These last-mentioned insects produce a colouring matter known
under the name of Lac Dye. They fix themselves on the little
branches, getting together in great numbers, forming nearly
straight lines. The bodies of many fecundated females, united
together by a resinous exudation which is caused by the piercing
of the bark, constitutes the matter called in commerce and by
dyers, by the name of Lac Dye, Shell-lac, Gum-lac, &e.

Resinous lac is found in commerce under four forms: first, the

140 THE INSECT WORLD.

stick-lac, such as it is found concreted at the extremity of the
branches whence it exudes—it is an irregular brownish crust ;
secondly, the seed-lac, picked off the branches and pounded ;
thirdly, shell-lac in scales melted down and run into thin plates,
which vary in quality according to the proportion of colouring
matter they contain ; fourthly, thread-lac, which resembles reddish
threads, and is prepared thus in India.

One more word about the cochineal. The Coccus manniparus
which lives on the shrubs (Tamarix mannifera) on Mount Sinai,
causes to exude from the branches it has pierced a sort of manna.
The Coccus sinensis produces a kind of wax which is employed in
China in the manufacture of candles.

JONG
LEPIDOPTERA.

Tuts order of insects is known popularly by the names of Butter-
fly and Moth. Linnezus gave them the name of Lepidoptera,
meaning insects with scaly wings (Aezés, a scale ; and rrepdv, a wing).
They are to be found in great numbers in all parts of the world. All
the insects contained in the order are, in their perfect state, remark-
able for the elegance of their shape, the rapidity and airiness of their
flight, and the multiplicity and beauty of their colours. Before
they arrive at this perfect state, the Lepidoptera have to undergo
three complete transformations. They leave the egg in the larva, or
caterpillar, state ; they pass next to the state of pupa, or chrysalis ;
they then assume, after a variable time, their final, or perfect, form.
We will study them in their three different states in succession.

THe Larva, or CATERPILLAR.

When the winter has stripped the leaves off the trees, the
Lepidoptera are seen no more. Sut as soon as the leaves begin
to show themselves on the trees and shrubs this tribe of the
insect race again make their appearance. Caterpillars of all
kinds are gnawing at the leaves, even before they are fully
developed. Many of them have just emerged from the eges
which the perfect insects had laid at an earlier period; others
have passed the winter in this state.

When they come out of the egg, the young caterpillars are
in shape more or less elongated and cylindrical. Their body is
composed of twelve segments, or rings. In front is the head ;
then come three segments, on which are the front legs, and which

142 THE INSECT WORLD.

constitute the thorax ; the other segments constitute the abdomen.
The head is formed of two scaly parts. It is often very deeply
hollowed out on its upper side, and divided into two lobes, which
contain in the angle formed by their separation the different parts
of the mouth. The head is uniform, rarely having, as far as our
caterpillars are concerned, any protuberance; but in the tropical
species it is often armed with prickles, spikes, and extraordinary
appendages. ‘They are provided with six small simple eyes;
isolated from each other. The mouth is armed laterally with
a pair of very solid horny mandibles, articulated by means of
vigorous muscles, and moving horizontally. It is the function
of the mandibles, as with the jaws, to divide the creature’s food.
On the middle of a broad under-lip, one may perceive a little
elongated tubular organ, pierced with a microscopic orifice. This
organ is the spinning apparatus, which the animal uses in fabri-
cating the threads which it will one day require. It is a tube
composed of longitudinal fibres. It presents only one orifice, cut
obliquely, and capable of applying itself exactly to the body
on which the larva is placed. From the contractile nature of
this organ and the form of its orifice, combined with the
faculty the. insect possesses of moving it in all directions, result
the great differences we observe in the diameter and form of the
threads.

The external organs of the trunk and abdomen are the legs,
the spiracles, and various occasional appendages. ‘The legs are

Fig. 94.—Scaly legs of the Caterpillar of the Gipsy Moth (Liparis dispar).

of two different kinds. The one to the number of six, attached
by pairs to the trunk, are covered with a shiny cartilage, and
armed with hooks. These are the true legs. Fig. 94 represents,
after Réaumur’s ‘“ Mémoire sur les Différentes Parties des Che-

LEPIDOPTERA. 143

nilles,’* the scaly legs of the caterpillar of the Gipsy Moth.
The others are membranous, fleshy, generally conical or cylin-
drical, contractile, and taking, according to the will of the animal,
very different forms. Fig. 95 represents, after the same memoir
of Réaumur’s, the different forms of the membranous legs of

Fig. 95.—Membranous legs of the Silkworm (Bombyx mort).

the Silkworm caterpillar. This plate gives a sufficiently good
idea of the shape of these organs, and of the hooks, circular or
semi-circular, with which they are furnished.

In Fig. 96 are represented, after the same author, two mem-
branous legs of a large caterpillar,
of which the hooks of the feet are
fastened into a branch of a shrub.

Caterpillars have from two to ten
false lees, the scaly legs being always
sixin number. The pro-legs, as the
fleshy ones are called, are divided
into hinder and intermediate. The
former are two in number; the in-
termediate are rarely more than
eight in number.

In the caterpillars which have the
full number of legs—that is to say,
sixteen—there are two empty spaces,

Fig. 96.—Membranous legs of a large
where the body has no support : the Caterpillar embracing a twig.

one between the legs and the pro-legs, formed by the fourth and
fifth seement; the other, between the intermediate pro-legs and
the anal legs, formed by the tenth and eleventh ring.

* Tome i., p. 164, Plate iii., Figs. 1, 2.

144 THE INSECT WORLD.

The variations which caterpillars present, as far as the number
and situations of their pro-legs are concerned, are the followig :—

The greatest number among them have ten pro-legs; others
have only eight; others only six—these may be called semi-
loopers; others only four, one pair being situated on the last
ring, and the other on the ninth, as in the case of looper cater-
pillars. And, lastly, there are others which have only two pro-legs.

The various forms, numbers, and positions of these organs, produce
great differences in the mode of locomotion of caterpillars. Those
provided with ten or eight membranous legs have in walking
only a very slight undulating motion. Their bodies are parallel
to the plane which supports them. They can walk very quickly ;
but their steps are short and quickly repeated. Others, on the
contrary, in proportion as the number of their false legs diminish,
and the spaces between the legs increase, walk in a more irregular
and quaint manner.

If the reader will glance at Fig. 97, taken from Réaumur’s
“‘Memoire sur les Chenilles en général,’’* which represents a looper
caterpillar, with four mem-
branous legs, he will see that
there is a considerable space
between the posterior legs and
the first pair of pro-legs, along
which the body has no points
of support. If one of these caterpillars, lying quiet and at full
length, determines to walk, in order to take its first step (Fig. 98)
it begins by humping its back, curving into an arch that part which
has no legs, and finishes by assuming the position seen in Fig. 99.

Fig. 97.—Looper Caterpillar.

Fig. 98.— Caterpillar curved into an arch. Fig. 99.—Caterpillar at full length.

In the former position it has its two intermediate legs against the

posterior legs, and, in consequence, it has brought forward the

hinder part of its body, a distance equal to the interval of the five

segments which separate them. There it hooks on by its interme-
* Tome 1., p. 49, Plate i., Fig. 6.

LEPIDOPTERA. 145

diate and hind legs. Then it has only to raise and straighten the
five rings which had formed the loop, and to advance its head to
a distance equal to the length of five segments. ‘The step is thus
made, the caterpillar making the same movements in taking the
second and following steps.

This sort of gait has gained for them the name of Geometers,
because they seem to measure the road over which they travel.
When they make a step, they apply the part of their body which
they have just curved up to the ground, in exactly the same
way as a land surveyor applies his chain to it.

These looper caterpillars cannot shorten nor lengthen their seg-
ments at will, as other caterpillars, but only bend their bodies. There

Fig. 100.—Caterpillar of the Canary-shouldered Thorn ( Zugonia alnarza).

are many species whose bodies are cylindrical, stiff, and of the same
colour as bark. Their attitudes deceive even the close observer.
They embrace the stem of a leaf or twig with their hinder and
intermediate legs, whilst the rest of their body, vertically elevated,
remains stiff and immovable for hours together. Fig. 100 shows
the caterpillar of the Canary-shouldered Thorn (Eugonia alniaria)
in this strange position. Now this is a feat of strength which
the most skilful of our acrobats, ordinary and extraordinary,
1,

146 THE INSECT WORLD.

which all the Leotards of the present day, and those who are to.
succeed them, can never accomplish. With such a persistency,
this caterpillar can sustain its body in the air for a considerable
time, in all the positions imaginable, between the vertical and the
horizontal, and downwards again in any incline from the horizontal
to the vertical. “If one considers,” says Réaumur, “ how far we
are from having in the muscles of our arms a force capable of sup-
porting us in such attitudes as these, we must own that the power
of the muscles in these insects is prodigious.”

We will not dwell now on the variableness of the length of the
body of caterpillars; on the fleshy appendages which are to be
observed on them; on the hairs which ‘either beautify or render
them hideous, according to the fancy of the observer; nor on the
various colours with which they are decorated. We will speak
again on. these various characteristics, when giving the history
of some species of Lepidoptera remarkable in different ways.

Many caterpillars are solitary ; others live in companies more or
less numerous, either when young, or during the whole of their
existence.

With the exception of a great number of moths, which live at the
expense of our furs, or woollen stuffs, and leather or fatty matters,
all caterpillars feed on plants. From the root to the seeds, no part
of the vegetable is safe from their attacks. The greatest number
of the species, however, prefer the leaves. Those of the most acrid
and poisonous are no more spared than those of the most harmless
plants. There are caterpillars which eat the leaves of the Euphorbia,
or spurge, for instance.

“T wished to try,” says Réaumur, “the milk of this plant on
my tongue. It produced hardly any effect upon it at first; but -
after a quarter of an hour I found my mouth on fire, and it was a
heat which reiterated garglings with water during many hours
in succession could not quench. This continued till the next day.
The heat passed successively from one part of my mouth to another.
J, however, saw many of my caterpillars drinking greedily the
great drops of milk which were at the end of the broken stem I
had presented to them.”’

Ts it not extraordinary that there are caterpillars which live on
the nettle P—-that they eat the leaves of this plant, armed as it is

LEPIDOPTERA. 147

with stinging bristles, which cause such smarting and itching to
our skin, and produce blisters upon it ?

It has often been said that each plant has its own peculiar species
of caterpillar. All we can say is, that a certain number of vege-
tables only suit certain caterpillars. The species which eat roots
are few; those which live in the interior of stalks or stems which
they feed on are numerous, and those which nourish themselves
on the pulp of fruits are rare. In general, after the leaves, the
caterpillars prefer the flowers ; in this they certainly do not show
bad taste. Their growth is more or less rapid, according to the
species, according to the nourishment they take, and according
to the season of the year. ‘Those whose food is succulent, grow
more rapidly than those which have for their food dry gramineous
plants and coriaceous lichens. Most of them eat at night, and
remain during the day motionless, and as it were in a state of
torpor; others are so voracious that they are constantly eating.
This voracity is indeed sometimes surprising. Malpighi has
observed that a silkworm often eats in a day mulberry leaves
equal to its own weight. How could we provide our horses and
oxen with provender, if they required each day their own weight
of hay and grass? There are even some caterpillars which are
still more voracious than that. Réaumur weighed several cater-
pillars of a species which lives on the cabbage, and gave them bits
of cabbage leaves which weighed twice as much as their bodies.
Tn less than twenty-four hours they had entirely consumed them.
In this space of time their weight increased one-tenth. Fancy
a man whose weight is 180 lbs. eating in one day 360 lbs. of
meat, and gaining 18 lbs. in weight! Caterpillars eat by the aid
of two jaws, or mandibles, so broad and solid that, considering the
smallness of the insect, they are equivalent to all the teeth with
which large animals are furnished. It is by the alternate move-
ment of these mandibles that the caterpillars devour the leaves
with so much greediness and ease.

“ A caterpillar, when it wants to gnaw the edge of a leaf,” says
Réaumur, “ twists its body in such a way that at least one portion
of the edge of this leaf is passed between its legs. These legs
hold fast that portion of the leaf which is to be cut by the insect’s
jaws (Fig. 191). To give the first bite, the caterpillar elongates

L2

148 THE INSECT WORLD.

its body, and carries its head as far forward as possible. The
portion of the leaf which is between the open jaws is cut
through the instant the teeth
meet each other; the bites
succeed each other quickly ;
there is not one, or scarcely
one of them, that does not
detach a bit, and each bit is
swallowed almost as soon as
cut off. At each fresh bite,
the head approaches the legs
in such a way that during the
succession of bites it describes
Fig. 101.—Looper Caterpillar eating the leaves aids BIG | it hollows out the
eR ne Ab Hicoe cater Reponiuy). portion of the leaf in a segment
of a circle, and it is always in this order that it gnaws it.”

But there is a phenomenon in the life of caterpillars which we
ought to point out, and which has attracted the attention of the
most illustrious observers. All caterpillars change their skins
many times during their life. It is not, indeed, enough to say
that they change their skins; the skins or cases they cast are so
complete, that they might be taken for entire caterpillars. The
hairs, the cases of the legs, the claws with which the legs are
provided, the hard and solid parts which cover the head, the
jaws,—all these are found in the skin which the insect abandons.
What an operation for the poor little animal! This labour is so
enormous, so troublesome, that one cannot form a just idea of it.
One or two days before this grand crisis, the caterpillar leaves
off eating, loses its usual activity, and becomes motionless and
languid. Their colour fades, their skin dries little by little, they
bow their backs, swell out their segments. At last this dried-up
skin splits below the back, on the second or third ring, and lets
us have a glimpse of a small portion of the new skin, easily to be
recognised by the freshness and brightness of its colours.

““When once the split has been begun,” says Réaumur, “it is
easy for the insect to extend it; it continues to swell out that part
of its body which is opposite the slit. Very soon this part raises
itself above the sides of the split; it does the work of a wedge,

LEPIDOPTERA. 149

which elongates it; thus the split soon extends from the end or
the commencement of the first ring as far as the other side of the
end of the fourth. The upper portion of the body which corre-
sponds to these four rings is then laid bare, and the caterpillar
has an opening sufficiently large to serve it as an egress through
which it can entirely leave its old skin. It curves its fore part,
and draws it backwards; by this movement it disengages its head
from under its old envelope, and brings it up to the beginning of
the slit; at once it raises it, and puts it out through this slit.
The moment afterwards it stretches out its fore part and lowers its
head. ‘There now remains for the caterpillar nothing but to draw
its hinder part from the old case.”

This excessively laborious operation is finished in less than a
minute. The new livery which the caterpillar has just put on is
fresh and bright in colour. But the animal is exhausted by
its fast, and the efforts which it has made. It requires a few
hours in which to regain its equilibrium, and at the same time
its former activity and voracity.

THE CHRYSALIS, OR PUPA.

Having attained its full development, the caterpillar ceases to
eat, as at the approach of a moult, it empties its intestinal canal
by copious ejections; it loses its colours, and becomes dull
and livid, and thus prepares itself to enter a new phase of its
existence.

Some, when about to transform themselves into chrysalides,
suspend themselves to foreign bodies. Others spin a cocoon,
composed of silk and other substances, which secures them
against the attacks of their enemies and the action of the atmos-
phere. Those which suspend themselves can be divided under
two heads, according to the mode of their suspension :—1. Those
which suspend themselves perpendicularly by the tail. 2. Those
which, after having fixed themselves by the same part, suspend
themselves horizontally, by means of a silk thread passed round
the body.

To understand the difficulty which the first of these operations

150 THE INSECT WORLD.

presents, we must consider the problem which the caterpillar has
to solve. In this problem there are two unknown quantities to
be discovered. For the first, the caterpillar must suspend itself
firmly ; for the second, the pupa, having no communication with
the object which supports it, must be suspended in the same
manner. This problem is difficult, apparently impossible, to solve.
It is only by watching these insects at work that one can discover
the admirable mysteries of their lives. Swammerdam, Valisnieri,
and other observers who have studied insects, had not, however,
observed the manceuvres of caterpillars in this curious phase of

Figs. 102, 103.—Caterpillars of the small Tortoise-shell Butterfly (Vanessa urtice)
undergoing their metamorphosis.

their existence. It is to Réaumur, again, that science is indebted.
for the most charming and valuable observations on this point.
He got together a great number of caterpillars of the small
Tortoise-shell Butterfly (Vanessa urtice), black, prickly cater-
pillars which are common on the stinging-nettle, where they live
in companies, and suspend themselves by the tail. When the
time approaches at which the caterpillars of this species ought to
undergo their transformations, they usually leave the plant which
had up to that time served them as food. After having wandered
about a little, they select some convenient spot, where they hang
themselves up head downwards (Figs. 102, 108).

In order to hang itself in this way, the caterpillar begins by
covering, with threads drawn in different directions, a pretty
large extent of the surface of the body against which it wishes

LEPIDOPTERA. 151

to fix itself. After having covered it thus with a kind of thin
cobweb, it adds different layers of threads on a small portion of
this surface, im such a manner that the upper one is always smaller
than that upon which it is laid. In this manner a small hillock
of silk is formed, the tissue of which is not at all compact. It
resembles an assemblage of loose or badly interwoven threads.
The membranous feet of the caterpillar are armed with hooks of
different lengths, with the aid of which it suspends itself. By
alternately contracting and elongating its body, it pushes its
hindermost legs against the hillock of silk, presses against it the
hooks of its feet so as to get them better entangled, and lets its
body fall in a vertical position.

It remains hanging thus, often for twenty-four hours, during
which time it is occupied in a difficult task, that of splitting its

Figs. 104, 105.—Chrysalides of the small Tortoise-shell Buttertly freeing themselves from
the Caterpillar skin.
skin. , In order to effect this, it incessantly curves and recurves
its body (Fig. 102), until at last a split appears on the skin of the
back, and through this split emerges a part of the body of the
chrysalis. This acts as a wedge, and little by little the split widens
from the head to the last of the true legs, and beyond them.
Then the opening is sufficient to allow of the chrysalis drawing
out its anterior portion from the envelope, which it immediately
does. To set itself entirely free, the chrysalis lengthens and
shortens itself alternately (Fig. 105). Hach time that it shortens

152 THE INSECT WORLD.

itself, and when it consequently distends the part of its body
which is outside the old skin, that part acts against the edges of
the slit, and gradually pushes the old skin upwards. Thus the
caterpillar skin ascends, its plaits are pushed
nearer and nearer together, and it is soon reduced
to a packet so small that it covers only the end
of the tail of the chrysalis (Fig. 106).

But here comes the culminating point, the
most difficult part of the operation. The chrysalis,
which is shorter than the caterpillar, is at some
distance from the silky network to which it
Sm Ue must fix itself; it is only supported by that

ie ma Terbine sl extremity of the caterpillar’s skin which had not

He quarioa of ans been split open. It has neither legs nor arms,

and yet it must free itself from this remaining
part of the skin, and reach the threads to which it is to suspend
itself. ;

The supple and contractile segments of the chrysalis serve for
the limbs which are wanting to it. Between two of these seg-
ments, as with a pair of pincers, the insect seizes a portion of the
folded skin, and with such a firm hold that it is able to support
the whole of its body on it. It now curves its hinder parts
slightly, and draws its tail entirely out of the sheath in which it
was enclosed. It then reposes for an instant only, for it has not
yet finished the laborious operation of its deliverance. It must
free itself entirely from the dry skin which surrounds the
extremity of its body.

The insect curves the part which is below its tail in such a
manner that that part can embrace and seize the packet to which
it holds on. It then gives to its body a violent shock, which
makes it spin round many times on its tail, and that with great
rapidity. During all these pirouettes the chrysalis acts against
the skin ; the hooks of its legs fray the threads, and break them
or disentangle themselves from them. Sometimes the threads do
not break at once. Then the animal recommences its revolutions
In an opposite direction, and this time it is almost certain to
succeed. Réaumur, however, saw a chrysalis which, after having
tired itself in vain in its endeavours to get entirely free of its

LEPIDOPTERA. 153

old skin, despairing of ever being able to manage it, abandoned
it where it was so solidly fixed. We represent (Fig. 107), rather
magnified, the chrysalis arrived at its final state, and suspended
to a branch of a tree by a network of silk.*

We come now to the mode of suspension
employed by those caterpillars which, after
having fixed themselves by the tail, strengthen
the support by means of a small silk cord
passed round their body.

It is again to Réaumur, that indefatigable
observer of the habits of insects, that we go
for the details of this manner of suspension.
According to Réaumur, these caterpillars
make and put on this belt in three different Hg. 107-—Chrysalis divested
ways. But of these three ways the simplest,
and the least lable to meet with accident, is that employed by
the larva of the Cabbage Butterfly (Pieris brassice). When
the time for its metamorphosis is only a few days distant, one
may observe this caterpillar engaged in stretching threads
on different parts of the case in which it is confined. It then
chooses a spot, which it covers entirely with threads, some more
compact than the others, and disposed in layers, which cross
each other in different directions. These threads form a thin
white cloth, against which the belly of the caterpillar and
later that of the chrysalis are applied. Very soon we see a
small hillock of silk rismg. The caterpillar hooks itself on
to this by the claws of its hinder feet, and sets to work to secure
itself.

To understand this process, it suffices to know that after having
lengthened its body to a certain point, this caterpillar can turn
back its head on to its back, and reach to the fifth ring, having
its three pairs of true legs in the air. But without putting the
caterpillar into such an unnatural position, let us take it in a
position in which it is simply bent sideways in such a manner
that its head, with the thread-spinning apparatus, which is
below, can be applied opposite and pretty near to one of the legs

* It has been remarked that only those whose continuance in the pupal state is
short, undergo their metamorphosis in this apparently inconvenient position.—Eb.

154 THE INSECT WORLD.

belonging to the first pair of membranous legs. Our caterpillar
begins by fixing on this point a thread, which is the first of those
that are intended to tie it up securely.

“This thread,” says the illustrious author of the “ Mémoires
pour |’Histoire des Insectes,” “must pass over the caterpiliar’s
body, and be attached by its other end near the leg corresponding
to that near which the first end was fastened. To spin the
thread the proper length, and at the same time to fix it in its

Fig. 108.—Caterpillars of the Cabbage Butterfly (Pieris brassicae).

proper place, the caterpillar has only to bring round its head to
the fifth segment. ‘The thread will be drawn from the spinning
apparatus as the head advances over half the circumference of
the circle which it has to describe; and when it has described
this, there will only remain for it to secure the second end of the
thread against the support. Thus the head, which was at first
placed against one of the legs, advances little by little on the out-
line of the fifth ring as far as to its middle (Fig. 108). It is the
facility the caterpillar has of reversing its body that enables it to
make its head perform ‘this journey; in proportion as it moves it
over the circumference of the ring, it twists its body. And at
last, when it has brought it over the top of the segment, its body
is exactly folded in two; it draws it little by little from this
situation by bending towards the other side, and by causing its

LEPIDOPTERA. . 155

head to pass gently over the last quarter of the circle. At last
the caterpillar finds itself bound on the second side; the head
rests on the thread-covered plane, and the insect fixes the second
end of the thread.”

It has only to repeat the same manceuvre as many times as
there are threads wanted to make a strong band. But each
thread embraces the head,
or rather the lower part
of the head, for it knows
how to make each thread
it spins glide into the
bend or crease of its
neck by a little movement of its head. It must disengage its
head from under the band, not a difficult opera-
tion. It causes it to slide along the threads near
one of the places where they are fixed, and it is
then in the position indicated by the foregoing
engraving (Fig. 109).

About thirty hours after the caterpillars have
succeeded in making themselves fast, they have
completed their transformation into chrysalides,
Fig. 110, where the chrysalis of the above-
mentioned caterpillar is seen in two different
positions, and held by the same band which first
supported the caterpillar.

Those caterpillars which construct cocoons, make
them of silk and other substances. These cocoons
are, for the most part, oval or elliptical, some-
times boat-shaped, and ordinarily white, yellow,
or brown in colour. The threads may very slightly
adhere together, or be closely united by a gummy
substance with which the caterpillar lines the in- ed OM Daa oF
terior of the cocoon, and which it expels from the — Pits bmssice.
anus. Some cocoons are composed of a double envelope, others are
of an uniform texture. Some are of a tissue so close that they
entirely hide the chrysalis contained within; others form a very
light covering, through which the chrysalis can be easily perceived

(Fig. 111).

Fig. 109.—Caterpillar of the Pieris brassice.

156 THE INSECT WORLD.

Among caterpillars that make a very slight cocoon, some, as the
Catocalas, gather together two or three leaves into a ball, to
protect them. Others strengthen their cocoons,
and render them opaque by adding earth or other
substances, often obtained from their own bodies.
Some, after having spun their cocoon, cast forth
through the anus three or four masses of a matter
resembling paste, which they apply with their
head to the inside of the cocoon, and which, dry-
ing quickly, becomes pulverulent. Others employ
eee for the same purpose the hairs with which their

after Réaumur. bodies are covered.
The larva of Acronycta aceris (Fig. 113) is covered with tufts of

Fig. 112.—Larve of Catocala fraxini.

yellow hair. .Réaumur made these caterpillars work under his
own eye in glass vases. They make the layer which is to form

LOS

Fig. 113.—Larve of Acronycta aceris.
the exterior surface of their shell, or cocoon, of pure silk, and when

it is thick enough, tear out their hair, now from one place, now
from another. But we will leave the illustrious observer to relate

LEPIDOPTERA. 157

this operation himself, which must without doubt be painful to
the poor animal :—

“Its two jaws are the pincers the caterpillar uses in seizing a
portion of one or other of the tufts of hair; and when it has
seized it, it tears it out without much difficulty. It at once places
this against the tissue it has already commenced, in which it
entangles it at first simply by pressure; it fixes it then more
securely by spinning over it. It does not leave off tearing out
its hairs till it has entirely stripped them off. When the cater-
pillar has taken between its jaws and torn out a whole tuft of
hair, the head carries it and deposits it on some part of the lower
surface of the cocoon; but it does not leave the hairs of such a
large parcel together. The next moment one sees its head
moving about very quickly; then taking a portion of the hairs

Fig. 114.—Larva of Acronycta aceris. Fig. 115.—Larva of Acronycta aceris taken
out of its cocoon.
from the little heap, it distributes them about on the neighbouring
parts of the cocoon. If one opens one of these shells before the
caterpillar has become a chrysalis, the larva, which is quite
naked, and which was only known by its hair, can be no longer
recognised.”

The caterpillar of the Tiger Moth, or Woolly Bear, called by
Réaumur Marte or Herisson (Chelonia caja, Fig. 116), is covered
with long inclined hairs. This caterpillar also makes use of its
hairs for strengthening the tissue of its cocoon; but whether it
feels the pain more acutely than the former, or whether it
would suffer more, it does not tear out its hairs. It adopts
another system; it cuts them. The caterpillar is then enveloped

158 THE INSECT WORLD.

on all sides in its hair, which is to serve it in the construction of
its cocoon.

Fig. 116.—Larva of Chelonia caja.

Another species uses its hair in the composition of its cocoon ;
but its adopts an entirely peculiar way of tearing them out, when
the tissue of its cocoon has become
a species of network of pretty
closely packed rings. Réaumur
one day saw one part of the
cocoon bristling with hairs, These
were the hairs of a part of the
back of the caterpillar, which it
had pushed through the rings of
its cocoon. The caterpillar then
moved about as if rubbing this

Fig. 117.—Larva of Chelonia cajaforming part of its back successively in

Ht Caco opposite directions against the
interior surface of the cocoon. In this way the hairs were very
soon torn out and kept retained in the rings of the cocoon. This
cocoon is then bristly inside, and does not at all suit the future
chrysalis, which does not like to be touched by any but smooth
surfaces. The caterpillar then works with its head, to lay the
hairs along the interior surface, and to keep them down by threads,
which it draws over them. At another time Réaumur saw a small
hairy caterpillar, which appeared to live on lichens, using its hair
in another way. It tore them out to make its cocoon, but it was
not to lay them down and work them into a tissue. It set them
straight up like the stakes of palisades, on the circumference of
an oval space, in which it was placed. Shut up within this pali-
sade, it spun a light white web. This web supports the hairs,

LEPIDOPTERA. 159

causing the greater part of them to curve at their upper extremity,
in such a manner as to form a sort of cradle.

It remains for us now to speak of the caterpillars that make
their cocoons of silk, together with other materials. Réaumur saw

Fig. 118.—Small Caterpillar of the Pimpernel. Fig. 119.—Cocoon of the same.

the Pimpernel caterpillar arranging and sticking together the
leaves of that plant, and spinning underneath them a thin cocoon
of white silk (Fig. 119)..

Some caterpillars make their cocoons on the surface of the
earth, and even with earth. These cocoons are spherical or
oblong. Their exterior is more or less well shaped, but their
interior is always smooth, polished, shining like moistened earth,
worked up together into a kind of paste, and carefully smoothed
out. This cocoon is besides lined with a covering of silk of
variable thickness. The shell is not made of earth alone; threads
of silk may be seen in it, crossing each other, and binding
together the particles of earth.

These subterranean workers do not allow their proceedings to
be easily observed. Réaumur was fortunate enough to be able to
discover the artifice they employ in the construction of their shells
or cocoons. The Cucullia verbasci (Fig. 120) makes itself a
thick and very compact cocoon of the form of an egg (Fig. 121).
Réaumur took one of these out of the ground before it was
fortified. He tore it partially open, and placed it in a glass
vase containing sand, but the poor insect was not long in repair-
ing the disorder caused by the rough hand of our naturalist. It
only took four hours to restore its cocoon to its former state.

“Tt began,” says Réaumur, “by coming almost entirely out,

160 THE INSECT WORLD.

and left only its hinder part within. It moved its head forwards
as far as was necessary to enable it to seize a particle of earth.

Fig. 120.—Larva of Cucullia verbasci.

As soon as it had got its load, it re-entered the interior of the
cocoon. It deposited the grain of earth, and came out again im-
mediately, as it did at first, to pick up another grain, which it
carried likewise into the interior of the cocoon. This operation
it continued for more than an hour.
.... The provision of materials
being got together, the caterpillar
now devoted his whole attention to
working them up. It began by
spinning over one part of the edges
of the opening. After having put
over this a small band of very loose
web, the caterpillar’s head left the opening, the insect went right
back again into its cocoon, and the head returned to the opening
loaded with a little grain of earth, which it entangled in the silky
threads. It then entangled in them two or three, or a greater
number of grains, according to the quantity of threads it had
spun. It bound them into these with other threads, after
which it drew threads over the edges of another part. By
thus going round the whole rim of the opening, and by carrying
and fixing the grains of earth in the threads which were the last
stretched over the opening, it rendered its diameter smaller and

Fig. 121.—Cocoon of the Cucullia verbasci.

smaller.”
It was by working with its head that our mason. gave to the

new wall of its cocoon the necessary curvature. It was interest-
ing to know how, as it could no longer put out its head, it could
stop up the orifice.

LEPIDOPTERA. 161

“Tt knew how to change its mancuvres. When the opening
was reduced to a circle of only a few lines in diameter, it drew
threads from a point on the circumference to another on the
fother) sides 4.) =) Thus the opening was covered in with a rather
open net-work. . . . . As soon as this web was finished, it got a
grain of earth (which it had laid by until it was wanted), brought
it up, placed it against the web, and by pushing and pressing it,
made it pass through the web until it reached the. exterior.
And so in succession the whole of the web was covered with
grains of earth..... It was not contented with rendering the
exterior of this place exactly like the rest of the shell; it fortified
it thoroughly ; it added to it, one after another, layers of grains
of earth till it was as solid and as thick as the rest.”

The larva of Pyralis corticalis, which is found on oak trees,
in the month of May, exhibits to what point these little insects
carry their industry in the construction of their cocoons, in
the choice of their materials, in their manner of working them
up, and in the forms they cause them to assume. Réeaumur
one day saw this caterpillar on a small branch, between two tri-
angular appendages (Figs. 122, 123). This was the beginning of a
cocoon. Each triangular blade was composed of a great number
of small, thin, rectangular plates, taken from the bark of the
twig. The caterpillar detached with its jaws a small band of
bark, and fitted it on, and adjusted it with admirable precision
against the edge already formed. It then fixed it securely with
silk threads. Réaumur saw this caterpillar work and raise in
this way a large blade during one hour and a half.

“When one sees,” he says,* “an insect which, to con-
struct a cocoon, begins by collecting together an infinite number
of small plates of bark in order to compose of them two flat
triangular blades; which, to gain its end, takes means that
seem so roundabout, although they are the most suitable and
the quickest it could adopt, one is very much tempted to con-
sider such an insect, when one sees it thus acting, possessed of
reason.”

These two blades are at last transformed into a regular cocoon.
The little animal, which is at the same time architect, cabinet-
* Mem. 12, vol.i., p. 487.

M

THE INSECT WORLD.

162

maker, and weaver, arranges it in such a way as to form a

hollow cone, which it only remains for it to shut.

Réaumur

calls this sort of cocoon, or shell, /a cogue en bateau, the boat-

SSL SSS——=
SS SSS SS SSS
SSS —

inch).

2
=

22, 123.—Cocoon of Pyralis corticalis (magnified, proper size

Figs. 1

Some caterpillars

form with pure silk.

shaped cocoon.

weave cocoons of the same

, we will mention the industry

To bring this subject to an end
of the Puss Moth (Dicranura vinula

and that of a small Tinea,

i

The larva of the puss moth employs in the construction of its
shell the wood of the tree on which it has lived. It bites it
up, and mixing it with a glutinous fluid which it secretes from

which eats the barley stored away in our granaries.

LEPIDOPTERA. 163

its mouth, reduces it to a sort of paste, which it then uses in the
formation of an envelope, of such hardness that a knife can hardly
cut into it.

The Tinea lines the interior of a grain, of which it has
previously devoured the contents, with a coating of silk, and
divides it thus into two different chambers. In one of these it
is to change into a pupa; in the other it places its excrement.
And so the little careful architect constructs its house in such a
manner as to find in it tranquillity, cleanliness, and comfort.

When caterpillars have not within their reach the materials
they are in the habit of employing, like good workmen, they
content themselves with what they can get. Réaumur reared a
caterpillar which formed its cocoon of pieces of the paper of
which the box was made in which it was imprisoned.

What an extraordinary condition! what a strange phase of
vitality does the chrysalis present to us—a being occupying the
middle state between the caterpillar and the perfectinsect! How
little does it resemble that which it previously was, and what
it will become! In appearance it is scarcely a living being; it
takes no nourishment, and has no digestive organs; can neither
walk nor drag itself along, and hardly bends the joints of its
body. ‘The outside skin of the chrysalis appears to be cartila-
ginous ; it is generally smooth, although some species have hairs
scattered over their bodies.

We distinguish in chrysalides two opposite sides. The one is

Fig. 124.—A conical pupa. Fig. 125.—Pupa having angular projections.

the insect’s back, the other its under side. On the upper part of the
latter (Fig. 124) we perceive various raised portions, formed and
M 2

164 ; THE INSECT WORLD.

arranged like the bands round the heads of mummies; the back
is plain and rounded in a great number of pup. But a great
many others have on the upper part, along the edges which
separate the two sides, little humps, eminences broader than they
are thick, ending in a sharp point (Fig. 125).

The head of the angular pups terminates sometimes in two
angular parts, which diverge from each other like two horns
(Fig. 126). In some other cases they are curved
into the form of a crescent. These appendages some-
times give to the pupa the appearance of a mask,
especially as an eminence placed on the middle of
the back is rather like a nose, and the small cavyi-
ties may represent the eyes (Fig. 125).

The colours of angular pupe attract our attention.
ee Some are superbly covered; they appeared to be

Butterfly. wrapped in silk and gold. Others have only spots of
gold and silver on their belly or their back. All, however, have
not this remarkable splendour, nor these metallic spots. Some are
green, yellow, and spotted with gold. Generally, they are brown.
Réaumur has shown that this golden colour is not due, as was
thought for a long while, to colouring matter, but to a little whitish
membrane, placed under the skin, which reflects the ight through
the thin outer pellicle, in such a manner as to produce the optical
illusion which imparts to the robe of the chrysalis the golden hues
of a princess in grand costume. All is not gold that glitters,
Réaumur proves literally, in the case of chrysalides.*

Let us add that the chrysalis remains thus superbly dressed as
long as it is tenanted, but loses its colour as soon as the butterfly
has quitted it.

The cone-shaped pupz belong to the twilight and night-flying
Lepidoptera, and to those butterflies whose caterpillars are onisci-
form, or in shape resembling a wood-louse. ‘They are generally
oval, rounded at the head, and more or less conical at the lower
end. Their colour is generally. of an uniform chestnut brown.

What a mystery is that accomplished in the transition from the

* The word is derived from ypvooc, golden; for that reason pupa is a better word
than chrysalis, as this only strictly applies to a very small number; for the same
reason aurelia is a bad word.—Ep.

LEPIDOPTERA. 165

chrysalis to the perfect state! Those great changes from the larva
state to that of the pupa, and from the pupa to that of the imago,
are accomplished with such rapidity, that these phenomena were
looked on as sudden metamorphoses, like those related in mytho-
logy. It has been thought also that there was in these changes
from one state to another a sort of resurrection. There is here
neither sudden metamorphosis, nor, as we will show, resurrection.
Tn fact, the chrysalis is a living being ; it indeed shows its vitality
by exterior movements. Under the old skin of a caterpillar about
to moult, under the envelope which is soon to be cast off, the new
integuments are being prepared. There is here then only a
change of dress.

Some days before the moult, split the caterpillar’s skin, and you
will find already beneath it the skin which is to take its place.
If some days before the transformation of the
caterpillar into a chrysalis, one opens it,
the rudiments of wings and antenne may
be discovered. If one is contented with
examining a chrysalis on the outside only,
all the parts of the future insect can be dis-
tinguished under the skin: the wings, the legs,
the antenne, the proboscis, &c.; only, these
parts are folded and packed away in such a
manner that the chrysalis can make no use
of them. It could not, moreover, make use
of them on account of their incomplete develop-
ment. Fig. 127 shows, after Réaumur,* a
chrysalis magnified and seen from its lower
side, on which we observe :—a, the wings; 66,
the antennee ; ¢, the trunk, or proboscis. if

There is a moment when these parts, pressed Fig. 127.—Chrysalis of the

: 5 large Tortoise-shell But-
one against each other, and as it were swathed _ terfly (Vanessa polychio-

up lke a mummy, are very easily seen, for Holomatey 0
they are, as we may say, laid bare. This moment is that in which
the pupa has just quitted the caterpillar’s skin. It is then
still soft and tender. Its body is moistened with a liquid, which,
drying rapidly, becomes opaque, coloured, and of a membranous

* Tome i., p. 382, planche 26, Fig. 6.

166 THE INSECT WORLD.

consistency. The result is that the parts which did not cohere
in the least when the chrysalis made its first appearance, are
fastened together, so that though one could at first observe them,
through a layer of transparent fluid, they are hidden now under
a sort of veil or cloak. It is necessary to seize then the moment
of the birth of the chrysalis, to observe it accurately.

On examining the pupa before the liquid which pervades these
parts has had time to dry, one finds that it resembles the perfect

t

SER
¥ Rate aN
S

edasseggye
i | Se lp {>

“fill

@
a Se, ff
aes eStargensscsite

==

————

BEas F
is .
SS = ee

YY |)

=

Es

= i
Fy rT tt)

=e
——

2 = C5 cet

Fig. 128.—Chrysalis of the Large Tortoise-shell Butterfly ( Vanessa polychloros) whose different
parts have been opened before they were fastened down.

(a, wings. 66, antenne. ¢, trunk, or proboscis.)

insect. One can indeed then separate from each other all the ex-
terior parts which belong to the imago. One recognises the head,
which is then resting on the thorax ; the two eyes and the antennz
(Fig. 128), which are brought forward like two ribbons; the
wings also brought over the thorax, but these are separated arti-
ficially in the drawing we have given after Réaumur ;* and lastly
in the space left between the wings, the six legs, and the body of
the insect.

To sum up: the pupa, when it approaches the period for being
hatched is only a swaddled butterfly. Directly it has strength
enough to rid itself of its wrapping, the insect frees itself from its

* Tome i., p. 382, planche 26, Fig. 7.

LEPIDOPTERA. 167

fetters; it flies away, brilliant and free, and its many-coloured
wings glitter in the sun.

The duration of the pupa state is variable, according to the
species and the temperature. Réaumur placed in a hot-house,
in the month of January, some pup which, in the ordinary
course of things, would not have been hatched till the month
of May, and a fortnight afterwards the imagos had appeared.
On the other hand, he shut up some pupe in an ice-house during
the whole of a summer, and thus retarded their being hatched
by a whole year. The influence of the temperature on the period
of emerging, and, consequently, the influence of the seasons on
the length of this period, are completely brought to light by
these experiments.*

We will now see how the insect delivers itself from the last
skin. To quit the pupa case is not so laborious an operation as
it was for the same insect to quit the caterpillar’s skin. This is
because the pupa case is drier; it does not adhere to every part of
the body, and is brittle. Those which are enclosed in a cocoon free
themselves of the pupa envelope in the cocoon itself. To witness
the last operation, the cocoon may be opened, and the pupa
drawn out of it with care. If then placed in a box, one sees the
metamorphosis take place. To study this last evolution which
1s now occupying our attention more at his ease, Réaumur covered
a large extent of the wall of his study with pupe of the Vanessa
polychloros and other species.

When the parts of the body of the insect have attained to a
certain degree of solidity within the envelope, it has no great dif-
ficulty in making the thin and friable membrane which surrounds
it split in different places. If it even distends itself or moves, a
small opening is made in the dried skin. If it reiterates its move-
ments, the opening increases in size, and very soon allows the
imago to emerge. It is on the middle of the upper part of the
thorax that the envelope begins to split. The split extends over
the middle of the forehead and back. The pieces of the thorax
open, separate themselves from the other parts to which they were

* They hardly seem from later experiments to be so fully explained. It is a well-
known fact that many insects remain in this state a variable time—the Small Eggar
(Bombyx lanestris) sometimes as many as seven years.—ED.

168 THE INSECT WORLD.

fixed, and the insect can take advantage of the opening which is
made, and escape. Little by little also it advances its head.
The head is the first out of the old skin, and the insect sets itself
entirely free.

This occupies rather a long time; for we must remember that,
under the pupal envelope, its legs, its antenne, its wings, and
many other parts, are enclosed in special cases. These peculiar
circumstances show that the animal has much trouble and must
employ some time in setting free all the parts.

At last our prisoner has come out of its narrow cell, and is
delivered from its old covering. What poet can describe to us
the sensations of this charming and frail creature which has just
risen from the tomb, and for the first time is enjoying the splendid
light of day, the radiant sky, and the flowers
redolent with intoxicating perfumes, which are
inviting it to kiss and caress them !

The wings strike one most. They are very
small at the time of birth.
| Fig. 129 represents, after Réaumur,* a moth
# at the moment in which it has just emerged
from the pupa. But at the end of a short
period the wings become developed; only they
are wrinkled, as Fig. 130, given by Réaumur,

Fig. 129.—Moth just

emerged. represents.
Réaumur having taken between his fingers a very short wing
ae 7 of a butterfly which was just hatched, drew it

about gently in all directions. He succeeded thus
in giving it the whole extent it would have
assumed naturally. According to Réaumur the
wing of a butterfly just born, which appears so
small, is really already provided with all its parts
only it is folded and refolded on itself. He sup-
poses that what his hands did to lengthen the
butterfly’s wings, is done naturally by the liquids
ME ae which are contained in the insect which has just
wings are folded up. emerged, and whose wings are no longer confined
in their cases. At the time of its birth the wings are flat and
* Tome 1., p. 654, planche 46, Fie. 1.

LEPIDOPTERA. 169

thick; as they grow, little by little they spread themselves out
and become curled up. When they are completely developed and
flattened, the wings become firm and hard imperceptibly, and this
firmness extends at the same time to the whole of the body.

Figs. 131 and 182, borrowed, like the preceding, from the 14th
ence of Réaumur (sur la transformation des chrysalides en

Fig. 181.—Moth whose wings are developing. Fig. 132.—Moth whose wings are developed.

papillons), show the states through which the wings of the same
-moth pass, before they are ‘nerouehly developed.

Those pupz enclosed in cocoons free themselves entirely or or in
part from their old skin, in the shell itself; but the imago is still
a prisoner. It has broken through a first enclosure; it must
open itself a way through the second. How does it manage to
bore through the often very solid walls of this second prison, so
as to regain its liberty? Réaumur stated that in the Lackey
Moth (Bombyx neustria) the head is the only instrument of which
the insect makes use in opening a passage, the compound eyes
then acting like files. These files cut the very fine threads of
which the cocoon is composed, and as soon as the end of the
cocoon is pierced through, the insect uses its thorax like a wedge,
to enlarge the hole. It very soon manages to get its two front
legs out, fixes itself by them on to the outside, and little by little
emerges from its prison.

Tue Perrecr Insect.

Who does not admire the extraordinary splendour, the vivacity,
the prodigious variety of colours of these brilliant inhabitants of

170 THE INSECT WORLD.

the air? Some amateurs have devoted to the purchase of certain
butterflies large sums of money. ‘“ Diamonds,” says Réaumur on
the subject, ‘‘ have perhaps beauties no more real than those of a
butterfly’s wings; but they have a beauty which is more acknow-
ledged by the world in general, and which is more recognised in
commerce.” The essential and distinctive character of butterflies
and moths makes them very easily recognisable among all other
insects. All have four wings, and these wings differ from those
of other insects, in that they are covered with scales, which
communicate to them the brilliant colours with which they are
decorated. It is these scales which adhere to the fingers when
we seize one of these charming creatures.

For a long time this dust was thought to be formed of very
small feathers, but Réaumur showed that it is composed of little

VovuoOVU Dwwwy

Fig. 133.—Different forms of the scales of Butterflies, after Réaumur.

scales. Their form varies singularly, as we may see in Fig. 133,
borrowed from the memoirs of Réaumur,* which represents the
different forms of the scales which cover the wings of Lepidoptera.
M. Bernard Deschamps has closely studied them. According to
this naturalist, they are composed of three membranes, or plates,
superposed one on the other, of which the first is covered with
eranulations of a rounded form, which give to these scales their
splendid and varied colours; the second plate is covered with silk,
* Tome i., planche 7, Vig. 1 a 23.

LEPIDOPTERA. 171

forming sometimes curious designs; the third plate, viz., that
which is applied to the membrane of the wing, has the peculiar
property of reflecting colours the most brilliant and the most
varied, although the surface of the scales visible to the eye is
often dull and colourless. :

“Supposing,” says M. Bernard Deschamps, “that a painter was
possessed of colours rich enough to represent on canvas with all
their splendour, gold, silver, the opal, the ruby, the sapphire, the
emerald, and the other precious stones which the East produces,
that with these colours he formed all the shades which could
result from their combination, one might affirm without the chance
of contradiction, that he would have none of these colours and of
their various shades, whatever might be the number, which could
not be discovered by the microscope on part of the scales of the
Lepidoptera, which nature has been pleased to conceal from our
gaze.” .

Hach of these scales adheres to the membrane of the wing by a
small tube, which is solidly fixed to it. Réaumur has called our
attention to the admirable arrangement of these scales, which are
disposed like those of fish,
that is to say, in such a
manner that those of a row
shall partially overlap those
in the following one.

In Fig. 134, representing
a portion of the wing of
the Saturnia pavonia-mapor,
magnified, which we borrow
from Réaumur’s memoir,
the scales are arranged in

rows; isolated scales, and Fig. 134.—Portion of the wing of a Moth (Saturnia
the pointswhere other scales pag
were fixed before they were taken off, are represented.

The membranous frame which supports the coloured scales of
butterflies and moths is well worth a moment’s consideration. It
consists of two membranes intimately united by their interior
surfaces, and divided into many distinct parts by horny, fistulous
threads, more or less ramified, which seem intended to support

172 THE INSECT WORLD.

the two membranes mentioned above, and which branch out from
the base to the edge of the wing. Their number, counting from
the exterior edge, is not always the same in the upper and lower
wings. It varies from eight to twelve.

With its large and light wings, the butterfly can fly for a long
time. But this flight is not in the least regular; it is not made
in a straight line. When the insect has to go some distance, it
flies alternately up and down. The line it takes is composed of
an infinity of zig-zags, going up and down, and from right to left.
This irregularity of flight saves the little insect from falling a
prey to birds. “I saw one day with pleasure,” says Réaumur,
“‘a sparrow which pursued in the air a butterfly for nearly ten
minutes without being able to catch it. The flight of the bird was
nevertheless considerably more rapid than that of the butterfly,
but the butterfly was always higher or lower than the place to
which the bird flew, and where it thought it would catch it.”

But let us leave the wings to pass on to the other parts of the
butterfly. These other parts are the thorax or chest, the body or
abdomen, and the head.

The thorax is solidly put together, so as to bear the movements
of the wings and legs. These latter are composed, as in other
insects, of five parts: the coxa, the trochanter, the thigh, the
shank, and the tarsus.

Many butterflies have all their six legs of equal length. In
others, the two fore legs are very small, and are not suited for

Fig. 135.—Lee of Butterfly armed with hooks. Fig. 156.—Leg not suitable for walking.

walking. In others, again, they are as it were abortions, deprived
of hooks, very hairy, and applied on to the front edge of the breast
like a tippet. .

This difference of structure may be seen in Figs. 1385 and
136, one of which represents, after Réaumur, a leg unsuited
for walking, very hairy, and terminated in a sort of brush

LEPIDOPTERA. 173

resembling the tail of a tippet; and the other a leg furnished
with hooks.

The abdomen has the form of an elongated, or in the majority
of species, an almost cylindrical oval. It is composed of five
segments, each formed of an upper and a lower ring, joined
together by a membrane. The first are larger than the others,
and generally overlap the edges, which gives to this part of the
body the power of dilating considerably.

We must dwell longer on the head. It is generally rounded,
compressed in front, longer than it is broad, and furnished with fine
or scaly hairs. Theimportant organs of which this part is the seat
are the eyes, the antenne, the palpi, and the proboscis or trunk.

The eyes are more or less spherical, surrounded by hairs, and
composed of innumerable facettes. One often sees on these,
colours as various as those of the rainbow. But the colour which
serves as a base to all, is black in some, grey in others; then
again there are different gold or bronze-colours of the greatest
splendour, inclining sometimes to red, sometimes to yellow, some-
times to green. On the compound eye of a butterfly have been
counted as many as 17,325 facettes. Simple eyes, or stemmata,
are moreover observed in certain species, and are generally more
or less hidden by scales.

The antenne are situated near the upper rim or border of each
eye. Reaumur has: pointed out six principal shapes. One termi-
nates in a little nob, and belongs to the butterflies. The others are
variously shaped, and belong tothe moths. Some are prismatic,
or like beading. And lastly, others are shaped like feathers. We
represent, in Fig. 137, the different forms of the antenn, which
Réaumur collected together in plates 8 and 9 of his 5th Memoir.*

The palpi are four in number, two maxillary and two labial.
The first are generally excessively small; one can only ascertain
their existence by the aid of a strong magnifying glass: the
second are in general very apparent, straight, cylindrical, covered
with scales, and formed of three joints, of which the last is often
very small and sometimes very pointed. They also sometimes
bristle with stiff or silky hairs.

The trunk is placed exactly between the two eyes. As long as

* “Sur les parties extérieurs des papillons,” tome i., p. 197.

174 THE INSECT WORLD. ra

the butterfly does not want to take nourishment, the trunk remains
rolled in a spiral. Some are so short, that they scarcely make one

QO \Wass Tim

Tanta Su Ys
27 SN TTT =<)
Gin eaitll \

Fig. 187.—Antenne of Lepidoptera.

turn and a half or two turns; some larger sized make three turns
and a half or four turns; lastly, some very long are curled as
many as eight or ten times.

This is how the butterfly makes use of its trunk: When it is
fluttering round a flower, it will very soon settle on or quite
close to it. It then brings it forward entirely or almost entirely
unrolled; very soon afterwards it almost straightens it, directs
it downwards, and plunges it into the flower. Sometimes it
draws it out a moment after, curves it, twists it a little, and
sometimes even curls it partially up. Immediately it straightens
it again, to plunge it a second time into the same flower. It
repeats the same manceuvre seven or eight times, and then flies
on to another.

sy LEPIDOPTERA. 175

This trunk, of which the butterfly makes such good use, is com-
posed of two filaments more or less long, horny, concave in their
interior surfaces, and fastened together by
their edges. When cut transversely, one
sees, according to Réaumur,* that the in-
terior is composed of three small rings.
Consequently, there are three canals in the
trunk: one central, the other two lateral
(He. 138). Are all these three used to con-
duct the juice of flowers into the butterfly’s
body P Réaumur has made some very in-
teresting observations on this subject, by

7 | ral Fie. 138.—Section of a Butter-
observing a moth which was sucking a lump 7h eee ccm

of sugar, whilst its portrait was being taken.

“J held in one hand,” says Réaumur, “a powerful magnifying
glass, which I brought near to that part of the trunk I wished to
examine; I was sometimes half a minute, or nearly a minute,
without perceiving anything, after which I saw clearly a little
column of liquid mounting quickly along the whole length of the
trunk. Often this column appeared to be intersected by little
balls, which seemed to be globules of air which had been drawn up
with the liquid. This liquid ascended thus during three or four
seconds, and then ceased. At the end of an interval of a greater
number of seconds, or sometimes after an interval as short, I saw
some fresh liquid mounting up along the trunk. But it was straight
up the middle of the trunk that it seemed to ascend.

“The Author of nature has given to insects means of working,
which, though very simple, we cannot divine, and which often
we are not able even to perceive. Whilst I was observing the
trunk of our butterfly, between the columns of liquid which I saw
ascending, there were, but more rarely, times when I saw, on the
contrary, liquid descending from the base of the trunk to the point.
The descending liquid occupied half or two-thirds of the tube. It
was no longer difficult to perceive how the butterfly is able to
nourish itself on honey, the thickest syrup, and even the most
solid sugar. The fluid it sends down is probably very liquid ;
it drives against the sugar, moistens, and dissolves it. The

* Planche 9, Fig. 10, de Mémoire, “ Sur les parties extérieurs des papillons.”

176 THE INSECT WORLD.

butterfly pumps this liquid up again when it is charged with
sugar, and conducts it along as far as the base of its trunk, and
beyond it.”

The life of the perfect insect is generally very short. Like
nearly all other insects, they die as soon as they have propagated
their species. The female lays her eggs, which vary in shape,
on the plant which is to nourish her progeny. ‘The colour is also
very various, and passes through all sorts of shades. At the
moment they are laid, many are covered with a gummy substance,
insoluble in water, which serves to stick them on the plant.

In some species, the mother lays her eggs on the trunks of trees,
and covers them with down or with the hairs which clothe her
abdomen, so as to preserve them from cold and damp. She may
also hide them entirely under a whitish, foamy substance. Some
do not lay more than a hundred eggs; others lay some thousands.

To bring the history of the Lepidoptera to an end, it only
remains for us to give a sketch of their classification, and to point
out some species remarkable, either on account of their beauty
or their utility.

We see during the day butterfles flymg im our gardens, in
meadows full of flowers, or in the alleys of woods. Towards
evening, at the sombre hour of twilight, the stroller is some-
times surprised to see pass near him large moths, with a heavy
and unequal flight; or if we go into a garden on a beautiful
calm summer’s night, bearing a light, we see a crowd of moths
fiying from all parts towards it.

It is on account of these different hours at which the Lepidoptera
show themselves, that naturalists for a long time divided them
into diurnal, crepuscular, and nocturnal. This division was simple,
convenient, and seemed founded on nature. Unfortunately, the
night fliers of the old authors do not all fly by night: some
species, classed by the old naturalists among the crepuscular, or
nocturnal, show themselves in the very middle of the day, seek-
ing their food in the hottest rays of the sun. In the regions near
the poles they appear during the day, and in other countries they
are more or less friends of the twilight.

So as not to multiply methodical divisions, we will confine our-
selves to classing the Lepidoptera into two sections.

LEPIDOPTERA. 177

‘The first section contains those which jly during the day, which
have club-shaped antenne, and which have their four wings entirely
free, and standing perpendicularly* when the insect is at rest.
They are called Butterflies, or Rhopalocera. ‘This section is
divided into a number of families, which comprise many genera.
We will content ourselves with calling the attention of the reader
to some of the most remarkable of these groups, and to those species
which, either on account of their beauty or abundance, strike, or
ought to strike, the attention of every one.

In the family of the Papihonde, we will mention the genera
Papilio, to which belong the Swallow-tailed Butterfly (Papilio
machaon), Papilio podahrius, &c., and Parnassius, of which we
will notice Parnassius Apollo, and Parnassius mnemosyne.

Fig. 159.—Swallow-tailed Butterfly (Papilio machaon).

The swallow-tailed butterfly is found plentifully in the fens of
Cambridgeshire, and Norfolk and Suffolk, and very commonly in
the environs of Paris. It is seen from the beginning of May till
towards the middle of June; then from the end of July till Sep-
tember. It frequents gardens, woods, and, above all, fields of
lucerne. It is easily taken when settled, particularly at sunset.

This is one of the largest and the most beautiful of the

* There are exceptions to this.—Iip.
N

178 THE INSECT WORLD.

Kuropean butterflies. The wings are variegated with yellow and
black; the eyes, antenne, and trunk are black. The body is
yellow on the sides and underneath, and black above. The front
wings have rounded edges; the hind ones, on the contrary, are
notched, and one of these notches is prolonged into a sort of tail.

Fig. 140.—Larva and Chrysalis of Papilio machaon.

The first are black, spotted and striped with yellow; the second
have their upper part and middle yellow, with some touches only

Fig. 141.—Papilio alexanor.

of black. Near the margin is a broad black band, dusted with
blue; lastly, six yellow spots in the form of a crescent run along

LEPIDOPTERA. 179

the border, and end in a magnificent eye of a reddish colour, bor-
dered with blue.

The caterpillar of this species is large, smooth, and of a beauti-
ful light green, with a transverse black band on each ring.
These bands are sprinkled with orange spots. It lives on the
fennel, carrot, and other Umbellifere. If teased, it thrusts from
the first ring after the head a fleshy, orange-coloured ten-
tacle. ‘The chrysalis, attached to a stalk of grass, is sometimes
light green, sometimes greyish.

In the low Alps, on the plains near the environs of Digne and
Barcelonette, is found in the months of May and July the Papilio

Fig. 142,—The scarce Swallow-tailed Butterfly (Papziio podalirius).

alexanor (Fig. 141), and in Corsica and Sardinia is found the Papilio
Aospiton, a rare species, nearly related to our swallow-tailed
butterfly, but which we will here content ourselves with men-
tioning.

The Papiho pedatirius (Fig. 142) is in form very analogous to
Papilio machaon. It is of a rather pale yellow colour, marked
with black, as if singed. The lower wings have tails longer and

N2

180 THE INSECT WORLD.

narrower than those of the latter, and are magnificently orna-
mented with blue crescent-shaped spots and an orange-coloured
eye bordered below with blue. This beautiful species is not rare
at Montmorency, at Ile-Adam, and at St. Germain. It is said to
have been taken in England, and is called the scarce Swallow-
tail, but its capture is considered as very questionable. It
appears for the first time at the end of April, and for the second

Marana

Fig. 148.—Parnassius Apollo

in July and August. The Parnassius Apollo (Fig. 143), is a
beautiful butterfly which appears in June and July, and is found
commonly enough in the Alps, the Pyrenees, and the Cevennes.
Its wings are of a yellowish white. The upper part of the fore
wings presents five nearly round black spots; the base and the
costa, or front edge, of these wings are sprinkled with black
atoms. The upper part of the hind wings presents two eyes of
a vermilion red, the inner border furnished with whitish hairs
amply dotted with black, and marked towards the extremity with
two black spots. The under part of the fore wings is very
similar to the upper. But the under part of the hind wings
presents four red spots bordered by black, forming a trans-
verse band near the base. ‘The body is black, furnished with
russety hairs, and the antennze white, with the club black.

The larva of the Apollo lives on saxifrages. To effect its
transformation it surrounds itself with a slight network of silk
in which are confined one or more leaves. This caterpillar
is thick, smooth, cylindrical, and covered with small slightly
hairy warts, and ornamented on the first ring with a fleshy tentacle

LEPIDOPTERA. 181

in the shape of a Y. The chrysalis is conical, sprinkled over
with a bluish efflorescence resembling the bloom on a plum. The
Parnassius mnemosyne is found in the month of June in the moun-
tains of Dauphiné, in Switzerland, Sicily, Hungary, Sweden, and
in the Pyrenees.

In the family of the Pier:de, we will mention many species
remarkable in different ways, such as Pieris crategi, the Black-
veined White, Pieris brassice, the Cabbage Butterily, Pieris napi,
Pieris callidece, Anthocharis cardamines, the Orange-tip, Iho-
docera (Gonepteryx) rhamni, and Colias edusa, or Clouded-yellow.
Pieris crategi is white both above and below; the veins only of
the wings are black, and become a little broader at the edge of
the upper wings. These black veins on a rather transparent
white ground make this butterfly resemble a gauze veil, hence
its French name, Le Gaze. It flies in spring and summer in
meadows and gardens, but is not generally common in England.
In the first volume of his “Travels in the North of Russia,”
Pallas relates that he saw insects of this species flying in great
numbers in the environs of Winofka, and that he at first took
them for flakes of snow. The Pieris crategi fixes itself at sunset
on flowers, where it is easily taken by the hand. During the day,
on the contrary, it is difficult to catch. The larva, black at
first, afterwards assumes short yellow and white hairs, but it varies
much. They live in companies, under a silky web, in which they
pass the winter. The leaves of the hawthorn, the sloe, the cherry
tree, and of many other fruit trees, serve them for food. The
pupa, yellow or white, and sometimes of both colours with little
stripes and spots of black, is angular and terminated in front by
a blunt point.

The Pieris brassice (Fig. 144), or Cabbage Butterfly, is perhaps
the commonest of all butterflies. From the beginning of spring
till the end of autumn, one sees it flying about everywhere, in the
gardens, sometimes near and almost in the interior of towns. It
is of a dull white, spotted and veined with black, and it can be
seen at a long distance, when flitting from flower to flower, in a
meadow or garden. And so children wage desperate war against
this fying prey. The pursuit of the cabbage butterfly through
the alleys of parks, along the outskirts of woods, or on the green

182

THE INSECT WORLD.

turf of meadows, is the first joy and the first passion of children

in the country.

Fig. 144.—Pieris brassicz.

The caterpillar (Fig. 145) is of a yellowish green, or rather
greenish yellow, with three yellow longitudinal stripes separated

Fig. 145.—Caterpillar
and Chrysalis_ of
Pieris brassicee.

by little black points, from each of whieh springs
a whitish hair. It lives in groups on the cab-
bages in gardens, and on many other Cruciferee.
It is so voracious that it consumes in a day more
than double its own weight, and, as it multiplies
very quickly, commits great, ravages in the
vegetable garden. Its pupa (Fig. 145) is of an
ashy white, spotted with black and yellow.

The Pieris rape, or Small White Butterfly,
differs but little from the preceding except im
size. The caterpillar, which lives on the cab-
bage, turnip, mignonette, nasturtium, Xc., is
green, with three yellow lines. It does not
do these much harm. In France it is called
le ver du ceur (the heart-worm), because it
penetrates in between leaves pressed closely
together.

The Pieris napi, the Green-veined White, is very like the two
preceding, but the wings, the lower ones especially, have under-
neath broad veins, or bands, of a greenish colour. The Preris
callidice, the wings of which are white spotted with black, is
common in the Alps of France, in Savoy and Switzerland, and

LEPIDOPTERA. 183

in the Pyrenees. Its caterpillar lives near the regions of perpetual
snow, on small cruciferous plants.

The Orange-tips have, in the males, the extremity of the upper
wings of a beautiful orange yellow. . The rest of the wings is

Fig. 146.—Pieris napi. Fig. 147.—Anthocharis cardamines.

white in the only British species (Fig. 147), which is to be seen in
meadows from the end of April till the end of May, and sulphur-
coloured in some other species.

One species extremely common, and which appears with but short
interruption from the beginning of spring till the end of autumn,
is the Brimstone butterfly (Rhodocera (Gonepteryx) rhamni). The
wings are a lemon yellow, with an orange-coloured spot in the
middle of each, and the front border terminated in a series of very
small iron-coloured spots. The body of the butterfly is black with
silvery hairs.

The Colias edusa, or Clouded-yellow, so called from the colour
of the upper part of its wings, is not uncommon in meadows and
fields in early autumn throughout EKurope. The upper side of the
wings is of a marigold yellow; the upper ones having towards
the middle a large spot of black. At the extremity of each wing
is a broad black band, continuous in the case of the male, inter-
rupted by yellow spots in the female. The back of the body is
yellow ; the legs, as well as the antenne, rosy.

The family of the Lycenideé comprises a great number of species,
some of which we will mention.

The Thecle, or Hair-streaks, which the French call Petits Porte-
queues, on account of the tails which grace the hind margin of the
hind wings, inhabit woods, their larvee feeding according to the
species on the birch, the oak, the plum-tree, the bramble, «ec.

184 THE INSECT WORLD.

The Thecla betule (Fig. 148), or Brown Hair-streak, is somewhat
rare in this country.

Fig, 148.—Thecla betule.

The Purple Hair-streak (Thecla quercus, Fig. 149), which
Geoffroy calls the “ Porte-queue bleu a une bande blanche,” is not

Fig. 149.—Thecla quercus.

rare in woods; but it is very difficult to catch, as it flies, nearly
always by couples, at the top of trees. We still further represent
here the Black Hair-streak (Thecla pruni, Fig. 150), and the Green
Hair-streak (Thecla rubi, Fig. 151).

In the meadows are found the Copper Butterflies; butterflies
with wings of a bright, tawny colour, with black marks on the upper
side. Such is the Polyommatus (Lycena) phleas (Fig. 152), which

is very common from the end of May until late in the autumn.

LEPIDOPTERA. 185

‘The upper part of the wing is coppery, spotted with black. The

Fig. 150.—Thecla pruni.

under side of a orey colour, sprinkled with small eyes, and

Fig, 151.—Thecla rubi.

bordered by a zone of tawny spots. Linneeus counted forty-two
little black eyes on the under side of the wings.

Fig. 152.—Small Copper (Polyommatus (Lycena) phleas).

We also figure Polyommatus (Lycena) virgauree (Fig. 153), and

186 THE INSECT WORLD.

Polyommatus (Lycena) gordius (Fig. 154), neither of which occurs
in this country.

Fig. 153.—Polyommatus (Lyceena) virgauree.

Tn the meadows, the gardens, and the lucerne and clover fields,
are found the charming Blue Butterflies, the wings on the upper

Fig. 154.—Polyommatus (Lyczena) gordius.

side, in the majority of instances, blue in the case of the males,
brown in the females.

They comprise the genus Lycena, or, as it is frequently called,
Polyommatus,* though that name is now generally given to the
preceding. We will content ourselves here by giving drawings of

* It may not be out of place to remark that although both these generic names
are applied, sometimes to the one, sometimes to the other of these genera, the genus

named in the text Polyommatus and that called Lycena are never considered identical.

When either name is applied to the one, it is not at the same time applied to the
other.—Hp.

LEPIDOPTERA. 187

a few species of the genus, namely, the Lycena (Polyommatus)
Corydon, or Blue Argus (Fig. 155), which is not uncommon where-
ever there is chalk, in May and August ; the Eycena (Polyommatus)

Fig, 155.—Lycena (Polyommatus) Corydon.

battus, or Brown Argus (Fig. 156), which does not occur here; the
Lycena (Polyommatus) egon, which flies about our sandy heaths.
The caterpillars of this genus, as also those of the preceding,

Fig. 156.—Lycena (Polyommatus) battus. Fig. 157.—Lyczena (Polyommatus) egon

are broad and flat, resembling wood-lice, with very short legs, and
are very slow in their movements.

In the numerous family of the Vanesside are placed the beau-
tiful species known as the large and small Tortoise-shell, the
Peacock, &c.

The large Tortoise-shell Butterfly (Vanessa polychloros, Fig. 158)
has the wings of a tawny colour above, and of a blackish brown
below, with darker spots, bordered by a black band, with a stripe

188 THE INSECT WORLD.

of yellowish colour running down the middle. It is found in July

Fig. 158.—Large Tortoise-shell Buttertly ( Vanessa polychloros).

and September on the oak, the elm, the willow, and many fruit
trees.

a i ir

A Hula On ltt iH

| ° ae igs

cae

1 mh a man Hi im
pbyaay i Y

Fig. 159.—Larva and chrysalis of the large Tortoise-shell (Vanessa polychisros).

The larva (Fig. 159) is bluish or brownish, with an orange-
coloured lateral line, bristling with yellowish hairs. The chrysalis,
which is angular, and of a red tint, is ornamented with golden
metallic spots.

We give here a drawing of the small Tortoise- shell ( Vanessa
urtice, Fig. 160), which rosernblles the preceding, but is smaller.
Tts aeeaaee bristly, blackish, with four yellowish lines, lives in
companies on the nettle. The Peacock Butterfly (Vanessa Io,
Fig. 161) is very easily recognised by the peacock’s eyes to the

189.

_ LEPIDOPTERA.

number of four, one on each wing, which have gained for it the

The eye on the upper wings is reddish in the

name it bears.

That on the

middle and surrounded by a yellowish circle.

( Vanessa urtice).

* Fig. 160.—Small Tortoise-shell Butterfly

and contains

grey circle round it,
gs is of a russety brown

with a
The upper part of the win

b)

lower ones is blackish

bluish spots.

)

Fig. 161.—Peacock Buttertly (Vanessa Jo).

the under part blackish.

This Vanessa is met with in the woods,

190 THE INSECT WORLD.

in lucerne fields, and in gardens. Its spiny caterpillar is of
a shiny black with white dots, and lives in companies on nettles.
The chrysalis, at first greenish, then brownish, is SUAS with
golden spots.
The Vanessa Antiopa (Fig. 162), one of the greatest of entomo-
logical rareties in England, is not very common in the woods
about Paris, but itis frequently found in the environs of Bordeaux,

Fig, 162.—Camberwell Beauty ( Vanessa Antiopa).

and, above all, at the Grande Chartreuse (in the department of
Isére). The Parisian collectors goas far as Fontainebleau in pur-
suit of this beautiful species, with angular wings, of a dark purple
black, with a yellowish or whitish band on the hind border and
a succession of blue spots above it. The caterpillar is black, and
bristly, with red spots. It lives in companies on the birch, the
aspen, the elm, and different kinds of willows. The pupa is
blackish, sprinkled with a bluish powder, and has ferruginous-
coloured dots. ‘The butterfly, which emerges from the chrysalis
in July and August, is found, after hybernation, at the end of
February and until May. It flies very rapidly, and is very difficult
to catch.

The Red Admiral Butterfly (Vanessa Atalanta, Fig. 163) has
bands of vermilion colour on the upper side of its wings, which
are black above, and variegated beneath with different colours.
The caterpillar is bristly and blackish, with a succession of
spots of lemon-colour on its sides. It lives in solitude on the
stinging-nettle (Urtica dioica). Its chrysalis is blackish, with

LEPIDOPTERA. 191

golden spots. ‘This magnificent insect is common at the end
of summer, and easy to catch. If missed once it comes back

Fig. 163,—Red Admiral Butterfly (Vanessa Atalanta).

again almost immediately, and almost alights on the net of the
collector.
The Painted Lady (Vanessa (Cynthia) cardui, Fig. 164) owes

its vernacular name to the beauty of its colours. The upper

Fig. 164.—Painted Lady Butterfly (Vanessa (Cynthia) cardut).

wings are covered above with tawny spots, rather cerise coloured
towards the interior, and with white spots on the hind margin

192% THE INSECT WORLD.

towards the tip of the wing; the whole on a lightish ground.
The lower wings are of a reddish tawny colour, with many black
spots, a circular row of which borders the wing. The caterpillar is
bristly, brownish, with yellow lateral broken lines. It lives in
solitude on many species of thistle, on the artichoke, the milfoil or
yarrow, &c. It makes for itself a web, rather like a spider’s nest,
and lives therein. The chrysalis is greyish, with numerous golden
dots. The perfect insect shows itself almost without interruption,
from spring till autumn. It flies rapidly, and in certain seasons
is abundant.

The Vanessa (Grapta) C-album (Fig. 165), or Comma Butter-
fly, is not common in this country. Above, its wings are tawny,
spotted with black. Below, they
are more or less brown, with
different tints, and sometimes a
little blue. On the under side of
the lower wings is a white spot
of the formofaC. “ This spot,”
says old Geoffroy, “‘ caused this
butterfly to have the name of
gamma given to it, and its colour

Fig. 165.—The Comma Butterfly (Vanessa Of Diable enrhumé (sic), as also

een, the singular cut of its wings, has
caused it to be called by others Robert le Diable.” Its caterpillar
lives on the nettle, the honeysuckle, the currant, the hazel, and
the elm. It is of a reddish brown, with a white band on the
back. Réaumur calls it the Beadle, comparing it to the church
beadles, who usually dress in glaring colours.

The brilliant Vanesse, of which we have just briefly described
some remarkable species, have been the cause of superstitious terror.
This must at first sight»seem incredible, but it has arisen thus:
When they have just quitted the pupa, a red-coloured liquid drops
from them. Ifa great many butterflies are hatched at the same
time, and in the same place, the ground becomes, as it were,
sprinkled with drops of blood. Hence the origin of the pretended
showers of blood which, at different periods, have terrified the
ignorant, too much imbued with religious superstitions.

At the beginning of the month of July, 1608, one of these sup-

LEPIDOPTERA. 193

posed showers of blood fell on the outskirts of Aix, in Provence,
and this rain extended for the distance of half a league from the
town. Some priests of the town deceived themselves, or, desirous
of turning to account the credulity of the people, did not hesitate
to attribute this event to satanic agency. Fortunately, a learned
man, M. de Peiresc, who was not only well-versed in the know-
ledge of ancient literature, but who was, moreover, familiar with
the natural sciences, discovered that a prodigious multitude of
butterflies were flying about in the places which were thus mira-
culously covered with blood. THe collected some chrysalides and
put them into a box, and letting them hatch there, observed the
blood-like liquid, and hastened to make it known to the friends
of the miraculous. He established the fact that the supposed
drops of blood were only found in cavities, in interstices, under the
copings of walls, &c., and never on the surface of stones turned
upwards; and proved by these observations that they were drops
of a red liquid deposited by the butterflies.

However, in spite of the reassuring remarks of the learned
Peirese, the people in the outskirts of Aix continued to feel a
genuine terror at the sight of these tears of blood which stained
the soil. Peiresc attributes to this same cause some other showers
of blood related by historians, and which took place about the
same season. Such was a shower which was supposed to have
fallen in the time of Childebert, at Paris, and in a house in the
territory of Senlis. Such again was a so-called bloody shower
which showed itself towards the end of June, during the reign of
King Robert of France. Réaumur points out the large Tortoise-
shell as being the most capable of spreading these sorts of alarms,
founded on a deplorable ignorance and the spirit of superstition.

“Thousands,”’ says he, “change into pupze towards the end of
May or the beginning of June. Before their transformation they
leave the trees, often fastening themselves to walls, and, making
their way into country-houses, they suspend themselves to the
frames of doors, &c. If the butterflies which come out of them
towards the end of June or the beginning of July were all to fly
together, there would be enougk of them to form little clouds or
swarms, and consequently there would be enough to cover the
stones in certain localities with spots of a blood-red colour, and to

Oo

194. THE INSECT WORLD.

make those who only seek to terrify themselves, and to see prodi-
gies in everything, believe that during the night it had rained
blood.”

In the family of Nymphalide, we will first mention the White
Admiral (Fig. 166). The upper side of its wings is of a dark
brown, almost black, traversed in the middle by a white band
divided into spots very close
to each other. The lower
part of the wings is ferru-
ginous, with a band and
spots of white, as on the
upper, besides which it has
a double hinder trans-
verse row of black dots.
These dots are followed on
the hind wings by some
white spots, and the whole of the inner margin is of a glossy ashy
blue, with the base spotted with black. This butterfly is not rare

Fig. 166.—White Admiral (Limenitis szbilia).

Fig. 167.—Limenitis camilla.

in the month of. July in woods in the south of England, where it
flies round and settles upon the branches of the underwood. The
caterpillar is of a delicate green, with a lateral white stripe, and

LEPIDOPTERA. 195

rather bristly. It feeds on honeysuckle. The pupa is angular, of
greenish colour, with golden spots. .

The Limenitis camilla (Fig 167), of which the black on the
wings is shot with blue, is not found in England.

In the month of July, the Apatura ila (Fig. 168) and the
Purple Emperor (Apatura iris), sylvan insects of strong flight,
whose wings are beautifully shot with violet blue when examined
in certain lights,—the latter resembling Jia, but wanting the
eye-like spots on the front wings,—are met with. Jris only is
found in this country. Both species occur in the environs of
Paris.

The Charaxes iasius (Fig. 169), which is found along the whole

Fig. 168.—Apatura iia.

of the Mediterranean coast, has its lower wings terminated in two
points, whence the peasants call this butterfly the Pacha mith two
tails. 'The upper part of its wings is of a brown colour of changing
hues. The hind margin of the fore wings has along it a tawny
band with a fine black line running round. The hind wings have
their hinder margin black, and garnished with a little white
fringe. ‘The two tails are black and the groove of the inner
margin is of an ashy grey. The underneath of the wings is
0 2

196 THE INSECT WORLD.

ferruginous, with spots of an olive brown set in a framework
of white towards the base.

Fig 169.—Charaxes jasius.

The caterpillar is green, and flat like a slug, with four yellow
horns bordered with red (Fig. 170). It lives on the arbutus, a

Fig. 170.—Larva of Charaxes jasius Fig. 171.—Erebia Euryale.
about to change to a pupa. ;

shrub common enough on the hills and mountains of the coast of
the Mediterranean.

Fig. 172.—Chionobas aello.

‘To the family of the Satyride belongs the Hrebia Euryale

LEPIDOPTERA. US)

(Fig. 171), which is found in the month of July in sub-alpine
regions; the Chionobas aello (Fig. 172), which is found in the
Alps of Switzerland, of the Tyrol, and of Savoy, and which is
common enough, in the month of July, on the summit of Mon-

Fig. 173.—Meadow brown (Satyrus (Hipparchia) janira).
tanvers, near the mer de glace; the Satyrus janira, or Meadow
Brown (Fig. 173), which is very common, in the months of June
and July, in woods and fields.

We now pass on to the second section of Lepidoptera.

It contains those whose flight in the majority of species is nocturnal
or by twilight, but by day in some species. The antenneé are more
or less swollen out in the middle or before their extremities, and,
independently of that, sometimes prismatic, sometimes cylindrical,
sometimes pectinated or indented. The body—mhich was small in
comparison to the wings, and which was remarkably thin between
the thorax and the abdomen in the first section of Lepidoptera—is
in this section very much larger in proportion to the wings, and is
not drawn tightly in between the thorax and the abdomen. The
mings are horizontal or slightly inclined when the insect ts at rest ; the
upper then cover the lower, which
are generally comparatively short
and kept back by a bridle on the
Jirst, in the case of the males only.

We will take the genus Sesia
as the representative of the
Sesiide@. ‘These singular insects
have membranous wings, and re-
semble various species of Hyme-
noptera. The largest species is
the Sesia apiformis (Fig. 174), that is, bee-like, which is found in

Fig. 174.—Sesia apiformis.

198 THE INSECT WORLD.

this country, resting on the trunks of willows and poplar-trees,
from the end of May till the middle of July. It resembles a
hornet, and is of the same size and has the same colours; only
they are not quite so bright. When this moth is just hatched,
its wings are ferruginous; but its scales, ight and caducous, fall
as soon as the insect begins to fly. The caterpillar, which lives in
the trunks or roots of willows and poplar-trees, is of a yellowish
colour. The pupa is long, of a brownish colour, enclosed in a
cocoon composed of agglutinated saw-dust, the product of the
caterpillar’s erosions.

In the middle of summer the meadows are frequented by moths,
with brilliant black and velvety wings, marked with red, which
fly heavily and only for a short time together. They remain
motionless during the great heat of the day. These are the
Zygené, or Burnets, of the family of the
Zygenide., The Ram Sphinx of Geoffroy,
or the Six-spot Burnet Moth (Zygena
jilipendule, Fig. 175), is common from
the end of June till the beginning of
August. Its legs, antennz, head, and
Fig. 175.—Six-syot Burnet Moth D0dy are black and rather hairy; its upper

de a es wings are of a brilliant bluish green, with
six spots of a beautiful red on each, bordered by a little green. .
The caterpillar is yellow, spotted with black; its
cocoon is boat-shaped, with longitudinal furrows,
and is straw colour (Fig. 176).

Next to Zygena comes Procris, the species of
which fly during the day in damp fields. We will
mention particularly the Procris statices (Fig. 177),
which is plentiful enough where it occurs between
the middle of June and the middle of July, on the
sides of hills. Its fore wings, antenne, and the
whole of its body, are of a blue green above. The
same wings are of the same colour below, and the
surfaces of the lower ones are of an ashy brown.

The Sphinges, that is, those species that form the
Miho Zeon family of the Sphingide, have received this general

name from the attitude which their caterpillars

filipendule.

LEPIDOPTERA. 199

often assume. Raising the fore part of the body, which attitude
resembles the Sphinx of mythology, they keep for a very long
time this state of immobility. They fly very rapidly and briskly,

USS : = z ae ——
Ss = = as es as

Fig. 177.—1he Forester (Procris (dno) statices).

nd only make their appearance for the most part after sunset.

The caterpillars, which in this group are without hair, and have
almost always a horn on the eleventh segment of the body,
metamorphose themselves in the earth, without forming hard
cocoons. The chrysalides are sometimes enveloped in a very
slight shell, or cocoon, which when 1% exists is formed of particles
of earth or of vegetable débris bound together by threads. This
family comprises species generally remarkable for their size and
beauty.

The genus Macroglossa contains some species which fly rapidly
and for a long time together during the day. We will mention
particularly the Humming-bird Sphinx (Macroglossa stellatarum).
This moth (Fig. 178) has attracted the attention of all who have
ever spent much time in a flower garden. In Burgundy the
children call it dird-fly. In passing from one flower to another
it has brisk and rapid movements; but it remains suspended in
the air before each. It does not alight upon any; it is always
flying, thrusting its long trunk the while into the corolle of
flowers, counterbalancing the action of its weight by the con-
tinuous vibration of its wings.

We will describe in a few words this robust inhabitant of the
air, this charming Jird-fly. The Macroglossa stellatarum shows
itself during the whole of the fine season, and till the middle
of autumn, in our climate. It often penetrates in the middle of
the day into our houses and knocking itself against the window-

200 THE INSECT WORLD.

panes, falls an easy prey to children. Its front wings are of an

Wy oh tYZZe=—
Di , 2
\\\y oe

yy

Whi
iii?

i}

m

U

)

Uf

i]
li

ZZ

Fig. 178.—Humming-bird Hawk-Moth (Macroglossa stellaterum).

ashy brown, of changing hues above, with three black, trans-
verse, undulating lines. The lower,
shorter than the others, are of a rusty-
yellow colour. All the wings are yel-
lowish below near the body, ferruginous
in the middle, and of a dark brown at
their extremities.

The body is long, brown, hairy, and

terminating in a tuft of divergent hairs,

Fig. 179.—Caterpillar of Humming- . : : : .
bird Hawk-Moth (Macrog.ossa rewoinding one of a bird’s tail. It is for

Bens this reason that it has been called by the
French Sphinx Moineau, or Sparrow Sphinx. This resemblance is
so great that Mr. Bates, in his book on the Amazons, says he often
shot species of this genus in mistake for humming-birds. The

LEPIDOPTERA. 201

caterpillar of this remarkable Lepidopteron (Fig. 179) is of a pale
green, with eight transversal rows of small white dots and four
longitudinal rows, of which two are white and two yellowish. It

Fig. 180.—Pupa of Macroelossa stellatarum.

has a dark blue horn, with an orange-coloured tip. It lives on
different species of bedstraw, but by preference on the Galium
mollugo. Before its metamorphosis, it encloses itself in a shape-
less cocoon, made of the débris of leaves held together by threads,
and placed on the surface of the ground. The pupa (Fig. 180) is
of a light grey, sprinkled over with brown dots, and striped with
black. Its skin is so thin and transparent that one can follow it
through all the phases of transformation to the imago.

The genus Deilephila is composed of species whose flight is
rapid, and after sunset. Such are the Deilephila euphorbie, the
Oleander Hawk-Moth (Deilephila (Cherocampa) nerii), and the
large Elephant Hawk-Moth (Deilephila (Cherocampa) elpenor).

The Deilephila euphorbie (Fig. 181) has the upper wings of a
reddish grey, with three
spots of greenish or olive
colour along the costa, or
front margin, and abroad,
black, oblique band along
the hind margin. The
lower wings are red with
the base black, and a
transverse black band
towards the edge; they
have, moreover, a large
round white spot on the
inside. Beneath the wings are red, as also is the body, which is

Fig. 181.—Deilephila euphorbiz.

202 THE INSECT WORLD.

covered above with greenish hairs. This species is exceedingly
rare here, but is plentiful on the Continent during the months of
June and September.

The larva (Fig. 182) is one of the most remarkable of the genus
on account of the splendour and the vividness of its colours, and
appears to be covered with varnish. It has a number of small
yellow dots very close to each other on a glossy black ground,

Fig. 182.—Larva of Deilephila euphorbiee.

which are ranged in circles. On each side of the body are two
longitudinal rows of spots generally of the same colour as the dots,
and a narrow band of carmine runs down the middle of the back,
and a similar band, which is intersected by yellow, is to be seen
above the legs. This caterpillar is almost always found on the
Cyprus-leafed spurge. It is found first at the end of June.
Generally the chrysalis passes through the winter, and the moth
emerges in the following year.

The Deilephila (Cherocampa) nerii (Fig. 183), or Oleander
Hawk-Moth, is a charming species almost peculiar to hot
countries, where the shrub from which it derives its name grows
spontaneously—that is to say, in Africa, in the southern parts of
Asia, in Greece, in Spain, &e. Carried forward by its rapid flight,
and assisted by atmospheric currents, these beautiful insects some-
times come accidentally into the countries of central Europe.
They have been met with many times in Paris, in the garden of
the Luxembourg, where the Oleander is cultivated under glass.
But those which are hatched in the environs of Paris never
reproduce their species, on account of the coldness of the climate.
Both larva and imago, the former on periwinkle, have occurred
here. It abounds in the south of France.

LEPIDOPTERA. 203

The caterpillar of this species (Fig. 184) is one of those called
by the French Cochonnes, because their two first rings, which are

Fig. 183.—Deilephila (Cheerocampa) neril.

retractile and drawn back ‘under the third when the insect is at

Fig. 184,—Larva of Deilephila (Cheerovampa) nerii.

rest, taper in such a way as to resemble the snout of a pig, hence

204 THE INSECT WORLD.

the English name “ Elephant,” when they change their place or
are engaged in eating. It is of a beautiful green, with white
stripes and dots on the sides, and marked on the third segment
with two large spots like eyes, of an azure blue, encircled with
black, and having white pupils. A short orange-coloured horn
rises at the extremity of the body. A few days before its trans-
formation, this caterpillar entirely loses its rich livery, it becomes
brown on the back, and of a dirty yellow on the rest of its body,
and constructs for itself a cocoon at the foot of the shrub on which
it lived, with the débris of leaves fastened together with threads.

The cocoon contains a chrysalis (Fig. 185) of a hazel brown, ©
delicately streaked with a darker brown, and with a very con-
spicuous black spot on each of its stigmata.

Fig. 186.—Deilephila (Chzrocampa) elpenor.

The Elephant Hawk-Moth (Deilephila (Cherocampa) -elpenor

LEPIDOPTERA. 205

Fig. 186) is not rare during the month of June. Its fore wings
are purple red, glossy above, with. three bands of a light
olive green, having at the base a small black spot. The inner
margin is garnished with white hairs. The hind wings are of
a dark rose colour above, with the base black, and the hind
margin bordered with white. The four wings are rose coloured
below, with the costa and the middle of an olive green; the upper
ones have their interior border tinged with a blackish colour. The
body is rose colour, with two longitudinal bands of an olive green

Fig. 187.—Larva of Deilephila (Cherocampa) elpenor.
over the abdomen, and five diverging lines of this colour on the
thorax. The sides of the abdomen have along them a double
series of yellowish points.

The caterpillar of this sphinx (Fig. 187) is of a dark brown,
delicately striped with black. Two grey lines run down each side
of its body, and on the fourth and fifth segments are two black eyes
bordered by light violet. This caterpillar is found most often on -
certain kinds of Hpilobium, but will also eat the vine, fuschia, and

Fig. 188.—Pupa of Deilephila (Chzerocampa) elpenor.

bedstraw. One must look for it indamp places, by streams and ponds,
from the end of July till September. It constructs on the surface
of the soil a shapeless cocoon with moss and dry leaves, which it

206 THE INSECT WORLD.

fastens together with some silky threads. Its pupa (Fig. 188), of
a yellowish brown, has short bristles on the rings of the abdomen.
The caterpillar possesses in the highest degree the retractile power
which has gained for certain species of this genus their popular
names. The Privet Sphinx (Sphinx ligustri, Fig. 189) has its

Fig. 189.—Privet Hawk-Moth (Sphinx ligustrz).

upper wings rather narrow, about two inches long, of a reddish

grey, and veined with black above, with the middle of a dark
brown, the inner margin with rose-coloured hairs, and the hind
margin having two whitish flexuous lines running along it. The
hind wings are of a rose tint, with three black bands. The wings
are of a reddish grey below with a common black band. The
abdomen has black and rose-coloured rings above, and in the
middle a brownish band wholly divided by a black line.

This species is very common in all parts of Europe. One finds
it in gardens from June to September. Of all the caterpillars
of the genus Sphinx, this is the one which, by its attitude when
in a state of repose, most resembles the sphinx of fable, from
which the genus has derived its name. It is of fine apple
green with seven oblique stripes, half violet and half white,
placed on each side of its body, and three or four small white

LEPIDOPTERA. 207

spots beyond these stripes. The stigmata are orange, the head

Fig. 190.—Larva of the Privet Hawk-Moth (Sphinr ligustr¢).

is green bordered with black. The extremity of the body is sur-
mounted by a smooth horn, black above, yellow below (Fig. 190).

Fig. 191.—Pupa of Sphinx ligustri.

This beautiful caterpillar is not rare. It lives on a great number
of trees and shrubs, but it is principally on the privet, the lilac,
and the ash tree, that it must be looked for. Three or four
days before it buries itself in the earth to change itself into a
chrysalis, its beautiful colours grow dim. During the month of
June and September is found the Convolvulus Sphinx (Sphinx
convolvuli, Fig. 192), with brown wings, and with the abdomen
striped with transverse bands alternately black and red. The cater-
pillar of this species, which presents a great number of varieties,
lives on many kinds of Convolvul:, but particularly on the field
species. It is generally rare here, but occasionally abundant.

It is to the genus Acherontia that a well-known moth

208 THE INSECT WORLD,

belongs. We refer to the Death’s-head Moth (Acherontia atropos).
It is the largest species of hawk-moth. This insect presents,
roughly marked out in light yellow, on the black ground of its
thorax, a human skull. This funereal symbol, joined to the plain-
tive cry which this moth emits when frightened, has sometimes

Fig. 192.—The Convolvulus Sphinx (Sphinx convolvult).

inspired terror into the whole population of a country. The appear-
ance of this moth in certain countries having coincided with
the invasion of an epidemic disease, some thought they saw in
this doleful sylph of the night the messenger of death. The
Acherontia atropos plays a great part in the superstitions which
are believed in by the country folks in England. One hears
it said in country places that this ominous inhabitant of the
air is in league with the witches, and that it goes and murmurs
into their ears with its sad arid plaintive voice the name of
the person whom death is soon te carry off. In spite of
its ominous livery, the <Atropos does not come from Hades;
it is no envoy of death, bringing sadness and mourning.
It does not bring us news of another world; it tells us, on

LEPIDOPTERA. 209

the contrary, that nature can people every hour; that it was
her will to console them for their sadness, to grant to the twilight
and to the night the same winged wanderers, which are at once
the delight and ornament of the hours of light and of day.

This is the mission of science, to dissipate the thousands of

Fig. 193.—Death’s-head Hawk-Moth (Acherontia atropos).

prejudices and dangerous superstitions which mislead ignorant
people.

This moth has the front wings of a blackish brown colour, having
lighter irregular bands varied with brown and grey, above and
below. On the middle of the front wing there is a well-defined
white dot. The hind wings have two black bands, the upper
narrower than the lower one; the rest of the wing is a fine yellow.
The abdomen has likewise from five to six yellow and as many
black bands ; in the middle is a long blackish longitudinal band.
This moth is not very rare, and may be found in autumn. Its
flight is heavy, and as we have said, the insect never flies till

13

210 THE INSECT WORLD.

after sunset. If caught, or when teased, it utters a ery which is
very audible. "

The death’s-head hawk-moth would be a very inoffensive
being if it did not make its way into beehives, in order to steal
the honey, of which it is excessively fond. It is to no purpose that
the bees dart their stings at the intruder, they only blunt them
against its thick skin, and soon, terrified at its presence, disperse
on all sides. ne

The caterpillar of the Acherontia atropos (Fig. 194) is the
largest of all Huropean caterpillars. It attains to as much as four

Fig. 194.—Larva of the Death’s-head Hawk-Moth (Acherontia atropos).

and a half inches in length by eight lines in diameter. Its colour
is lemon yellow, which changes into green on the sides and belly.
From the fourth to the tenth ring inclusively, it 1s ornamented
laterally with seven oblique bands of an azure blue, which are
tinted with violet, and bordered with white on the side. These
bands joining together over the back of each segment resemble so
many chevrons placed parallel to each other. The body is, moreover,

LEPIDOPTERA. — 211

dotted with black. At its extremity is a yellow horn, curved
back like a hook, and covered with tubercles. The head is green
and marked laterally with a black stripe. It lives chiefly on the
potato, and the Lycium barbarum, sometimes called the tea-tree

Fig, 195.—-Chrysalis of the Death’s-head Hawk-Moth.

a shrub belonging to the Solanacee. It buries itself in the earth
to change into a chrysalis (Fig. 195) of a bright chestnut brown.
We will mention still further, in the family of the Sphingide,
three species of the genus Smerinthus, which fly heavily and by
twilight.
The Lime-tree Hawk-Moth (Smerinthus tilie, Fig. 196) has its
upper wines grey with some shades of green, and moreover, in the

ai

ANIA
Au ant \

fy
Lyd

YGGV/
Gi

\

\ Ny

Fig. 196.—Lime Hawk-Moth (Smerinthus tilie).

middle of the wing, an irregular band of a brownish green colour.
The thorax, covered with hairs, is grey, with three green longitu-

212 THE INSECT WORLD.

dinal bands. The abdomen is also grey. The moth flies heavily
after sunset, and is found on the trunks of trees during the months

Fig. 197.—Larva of the Lime Hawk-Moth (Smerinthus tili@). _

of May and June. The larva (Fig. 197) is glaucous green dotted _
with yellow, and marked on each side with seven oblique —

so

Fig. 198.—Kyed Hawk-Moth (Smerinthus ocellutus).

lines of the same colours. Its wrinkly horn is blue above and
yellow below. It is found on the lime and the elm. It buries itself

:
|
.
|
j

LEPIDOPTERA. 213

at the foot of the tree on which it has fed to change into a
chrysalis without making a cocoon.

Fig. 199.—Poplar Hawk-Moth (Smerinthus popult).

We will content ourselves by here giving drawings of two other

Fig. 200.—Larva of the Poplar Hawk-Moth (Smerinthus populz).

species of the same genus: the Eyed Hawk-Moth (Smerinthus
ocellatus, Fig. 198), which is not rare during the months of May

214 THE INSECT WORLD.

and sometimes August, the caterpillar of which lives on the leaves
of willows, poplars, and fruit-trees; and the Poplar Hawk-Moth
(Smerinthus populi, Fig. 199), whose caterpillar (Fig. 200) lives
on the poplar, the aspen, and sometimes on the willow and birch.

The division of Bombycina contains the largest of moths; and at
the same time species of a middle and small size. These moths
take no nourishment, and live only for a short time—long enough
to propagate their species. They rarely fly during the day,
only showing themselves in the evening. ‘lhe group is dispersed
over nearly all parts of the world, and may be recognised by
the antenne generally being cut like the teeth of a comb in the
males, by their thick, strong bodies, and in the majority of cases
by their large head, by their wings more or less large, and by
their heavy flight.

In the Bombycina are found the genera Séricaria, Attacus,
Bombyx, Orgyia, Liparis, &e.

It is to the genus Bombyx that the silkworm belongs, that
celebrated insect called by Linneeus Bombyx mori, a name which
reminds us at the same time of its most ancient denomination, and
of the mulberry tree, on which these caterpillars feed.

M. Guérin-Méneville has called the silkworm “the dog of
insects,” for it has been domesticated from the most ancient times,
and has become deprived of great part of its strength in the
process. The moth of the silkworm can no longer keep its
position in the air, or on the leaves of the mulberry when
they are agitated by the wind. It can no longer protect itself,
under the leaves, from the burning heat of the sun and from
its enemies. The female, always motionless, seems to be ignorant
of the fact that she has wings. The male no longer flies ; he flutters
round his companion, without quitting the ground. It ought, how-
ever, to be possessed in the wild state of a sufficiently powerful
flight. M. Ch. Martins found that after three generations reared
in the open air, the males recovered their lost power.

Before speaking of the different phases of the life of the silk-
worm and the rearing of this precious insect, we will say some-
thing about the origin and progress of the silk trade, one of the
most important branches of commerce in the South of Europe and
in the Hast.

PEALE Ve

The Empress Si-ling-chi gathering Mulberry Leaves.

LEPIDOPTERA. 215

The native country of the silkworm is not better known than that
of the greater number of plants and animals which form the staple
of agricultural industry. It is probable, however, that its native
country was China. It was certainly in this vast empire that long
since the business of fabricating silk began. One reads the
following in “L’Histoire générale de la Chine,” by le P. Mailla :—

“The Emperor Hoang-ti, who lived 2,600 years before our era,
wished that Si-ling-chi, his wife, should contribute to the happi-
ness of his people; he charged her to study the silkworm, and to
try to utilise its threads. Si-ling-chi caused a great quantity of
these insects to be collected, which she fed herself in a place
destined exclusively for the purpose; she not only discovered the
means of rearing them, but still further the manner of winding off
their silk and of employing it in the manufacture of fabrics.”

It may be asked, however, if the learned men who composed
this recital did not collect under the reign of the emperor Hoang-ti
all the events and all the discoveries whose dates were lost in the
obscurity of the most remote periods of history. Is not the
Empress Si-ling-chi a mythical person? a sort of Chinese Ceres,
to whom, under the title of goddess of the silkworm, they then
raised altars ? :

Here, at any rate,is how Duhalde* analyses the recital of the
Chinese annalists on the remarkable fact of the introduction of the
silkworm, and its rich products, into the Chinese empire :—

- “Up to the time of this queen (Si-ling-chi),”” says he, “when
the country was only lately cleared and brought into cultivation,
the people employed the skins of animals as clothes. But these
skins were no longer sufficient for the multitude of the inhabi-
tants ; necessity made them industrious; they applied themselves
to the manufacture of cloth wherewith to cover themselves. But it
was to this princess that they owed the useful invention of silk
stuffs. Afterwards, the empresses, named by Chinese authors,
according to the order of their dynasties, found an agreeable occu-
pation in superintending the hatching, rearing, and feeding of
sulkworms, in making silk, and working it up when made. There
was an enclosure attached to the palace for the cultivation of
mulberry trees.

* “ Description de la Chine,” tom. ii., p. 205.

216 THE INSECT WORLD.

“The empress, accompanied by queens and the greatest ladies
of the court, went in state into this enclosure, and gathered with
her own hand the leaves of three branches which her ladies in
waiting had lowered till they were within her reach; the finest
pieces of silk which she made herself, or which were made by her
orders and under her own eye, were destined for the ceremony of
the grand sacrifice offered to Chang-si.

“It is probable,” adds Duhalde, “that policy had more to do
than anything else with all this trouble taken by the empresses.
Their intention was to induce, by their example, the princesses
and ladies of quality, and the whole people, to rear silkworms:
in the same way as the emperors, to ennoble in some sort agri-
culture and to encourage the people to undertake laborious works,
never failed; at the beginning of each spring, to guide the plough
in person, and with great state to plough up a few furrows, and
in these sow some seed.

“ As far as concerns the empresses, it is a long time since they
have ceased to apply themselves to the manufacture of silk; one
sees, nevertheless, in the precincts of the imperial palace,'a large
space covered with houses, the road leading to which is still called
the road which leads to the place destined for the rearing of silk-
worms, for the amusement of the empresses and queens. In the
books of the philosopher Mencius, is a wise police rule, made under
the first reigns, which determines the space destined for the cul-
tivation of mulberry trees, according to the extent of the land
possessed by each private individual.”

M. Stanislas Julien* tells us of many regulations made by the
Emperor of China, to render obligatory, is care and attention
requisite to rearing silk.

Tchin-iu, being governor of the district of Kien-Si, ordered that
every man should plant fifty feet of land with mulberry trees.
The Emperor (under the dynasty of Wite1) gave to each man
twenty acres of land on condition that he planted fifty feet with
mulberry trees.t Hien-tsang (who ascended the throne in 806)

* «Résumé des principaux Traités Chinois sur la Culture des Muriers et 1 Educa-
tion des Vers a Soie, traduit par Stanislas Julien.” Paris, imprimerie royale, 1837.

+ “ Annales de la Dynastie des Liang.”

t “ Annales de la Dynastie des Wei.”

ee

LEPIDOPTERA. ° pA

ordered that the inhabitants of the country should plant two feet
in every acre with mulberry trees.* The first Emperor of the
dynasty of Song (who began to reign about the year 960) pub-
lished a decree forbidding his subjects to cut down the mulberry
trees.t

By all these means, according to the testimony of M. Stanislas
Julien, the business of the fabrication of silk became general in
China. This great empire could soon furnish to its neighbours
this precious textile material, and create for its own profit a very
important branch of commerce.

It was forbidden, under pain of death, to export from China the
silkworm’s eggs, or to furnish the necessary information in the
art of obtaining the textile material. The manufactured article
only could be sold out of the empire. It was thus that the Asiatic
nations very soon understood silk ; and that in many of their cities
they applied themselves to weaving stuffs of this precious sub-
stance. The carpets and dyed stuffs of Babylon, mixed with gold
and silk, enjoyed in ancient times an unparalleled renown. China
was not, however, the only country that then furnished silk
to the towns of Asia Minor. At a very distant period, India
sent by her caravans very considerable quantities of it. M. Emile
Blanchard (of the Institute) remarks, however, that the tissues
of India must be made of a different silk from that of China,
that is to say, of a silk of some of those Bombyces of which
the public has been told so much of late years, and of which we
shall have soon to speak. .

Silk commanded for centuries a prodigiously high price. In
the time of Alexander its value in Greece was exactly its own
weight in gold, and so it was very parsimoniously employed in
silk tissues. These were so transparent that women who wore
them were scarcely covered.

Silk was unknown to the Romans before Julius Cesar. It was
to him that Rome owed its acquaintance with this new material.
He introduced it, moreover, in a singularly magnificent manner.
One day, at a féte given in the Colosseum,—a combat of animals
and gladiators,—the people saw the coarse tent of cloth, intended
to keep off the rays of the sun, replaced by a magnificent covering
* « Annales de la Dynastie des Thang.” + “ Histoire de la Dynastie des Song.”

218 THE INSECT WORLD.

of Oriental silk. They murmured at this gorgeous prodigality,
but declared Cesar a great man. ‘The introduction of silk
among the Romans was the signal for luxurious expenditure. _
The patricians made a great display with their silk cloaks of
incalculable value; so that, from the time of Tiberius, the Senate
felt itself called upon to forbid the use of silk garments to men.
Examples of simplicity are sometimes set in high places ; thus the
Emperor Aurelian refused to the Empress Severina a dress so
costly.

The commerce in silk bore doubly hard upon Europe, both
on account of the value of the material and of the great use which
was made of it. Persia was the emporium and had the monopoly
of this merchandise. The Emperor Justinian I., who reigned
at Constantinople from a.p. 527 to 565, tried all the means within
his power of freeing his States from this ruinous tyranny, when
a circumstance occurred, very fortunately for the national com-
merce, which brought about the introduction into Europe of
sericiculture, or the cultivation of silk.

Two monks of the order of St. Basil, in their ardour for the
propagation of the faith, had pushed forwards into China. There
they had been initiated into the operations which furnished the
fabric so highly prized. On their return to Constantinople, and
hearing of the project that Justinian entertained of depriving the
Persians of the monopoly in silk, the two monks proposed to
the Emperor to enrich his state by introducing the art of fabri-
cating this material. ‘The proposition was rapturously accepted,
and the two monks returned again to China, with the object
of procuring the eggs of the insect. Having arrived. at the
end of their journey, they succeeded in getting possession of a
quantity of silkworms’ eggs. They hid them between the knots
of their sticks, and started back to their native country, with-
out being once interfered with. ‘Two years afterwards they
re-entered Constantinople-with their precious booty.* The larva
were fed on mulberry leaves. Immediately afterwards began the

* According to M. de Gasparin, author of an excellent “ Essai sur l’Histoire de
lV Introduction des Vers 4 Soie en Europe ”’ (Paris, in 8yo, 1841), it was not into China,
but only into Tartary, to Serinda, that the two monks went in search of the silk-
worms’ eggs (pp. 37—39).

LEPIDOPTERA. 219

rearing of the worms and the preparation of the silk, according
to the instructions given by these courageous travellers. The
first broods succeeded perfectly, and so plantations of mulberry
trees were seen to multiply and spread through the whole extent -
of the Eastern empire. It was, above all, in Southern Greece
that this branch of industry assumed an immense importance. It
was then the Peloponnesus lost its old name, and was called the
Morea, from the Latin name for “ mulberry,” morus.*

Constantinople and Greece, during centuries, furnished the
whole of Europe with silkworms. This diffusion, however, was
effected very slowly. The Greeks attached great importance to
retaining the monopoly, and the Emperor Justinian had caused
to be established at Constantinople itself silk manufactories, where
the most skilful artificers of Asia, forbidden to reveal the various
processes to strangers, worked.

Towards the beginning of the eighth century the Arabs intro-
duced the silkworm into Spain. But this industry remained con-
fined within narrow limits. It was, in fact, not till after the
twelfth century that sericiculture began to spread throughout
Europe. Roger, King of the Two Sicilies, possessing a navy that —
commanded the Mediterranean, employed it chiefly in making
excursions and conquests. He ravaged Greece, and, not satisfied
with the booty he carried away from that unfortunate country,
wished still further to deprive them, for the good of his own
kingdom, of the silk monopoly, the source of their riches. Roger
carried away into Sicily and Naples a great number of prisoners,
amongst whom were some weavers and men who had devoted
themselves to the rearing of silkworms. In 1169 he established
these workmen in houses adjoining his own palace at Palermo.
There they dyed the silk of different colours, and mixed it with
gold, pearls, and precious stones.

From Sicily the art of preparing silk spread over the rest of
Italy. In 1204, the workers in silk constituted themselves into
a syndicate at Florence. It is not, however, till 1428, more than
two hundred years after the introduction of this branch of industry
into Italy, that we find the first mention of the cultivation of the

* Others derive the name from more, the Slavonic word for the sea. See “On
the Study of Words.” By Dean Trench.—Ep,

220 THE INSECT WORLD.

mulberry tree in Tuscany. In 1440, each Tuscan peasant was
forced to plant at least five mulberry trees on the land he cul-
_ tivated. In 1474, the commerce in silk fabrics with all parts of
the world had become extremely prosperous at Florence. In 1314,
the Venetian manufactures began to assume much importance.
Three thousand workers in silk were then established in Venice.

Without dwelling longer on the propagation of the silk trade
in Italy, let us pass on to its establishment in France. It
was in 1340 that some French gentlemen, who had stayed some
time in Naples, planted in Avignon the first mulberry trees.“
According to Olivier de Serres, it was not introduced till much
later into Dauphiné. It was not introduced into Alan, near
Montelimart, till 1495, by the Seigneur Guyape de Saint-Aubain.t
Leuis XI. made great efforts to develop the silk trade in France
by mviting over Italian workmen, and they began under his
reign to fabricate silks in Touraine and Lyons. Francis I. greatly
developed the trade of Lyons. In 1554, under Henry IL., the
masters:and men employed in the manufacture of gold, silver, and
silk in Lyons were twelve thousand in number. Under Henry Ll.
were planted the mulberry trees of Bourdeziére, Tours, Chenon-
ceaux, Toulouse, and Moulins. These plantations, however, were
of very small extent. They were not the result of a general and
truly popular effort; moreover, civil war came very soon, and
turned men’s minds away from the isolated attempts of some few
private individuals. Sericiculture, in fact, did not assume any
great importance in France till the reign of Henry IV.

This king saw with grief considerable sums of money leaving
France each year for the purchase of raw silk or of silk stuffs.
Two men marvellously furthered his project of encouraging the
silk trade. One of these men was Barthélemy Laffemas, called
Beausemblant. For a long time, he had been writing memoir
upon memoir, to demonstrate the advantages to be derived from
the plantation of the mulberry tree in France; and he tells us
that silkworms were then raised with success at Nantes, at
Poissy, and even at Paris. The second supporter whom Henry LV.
found in the propagation of sericiculture was a man distinguished

* De Gasparin, ‘‘ Hissai sur |’ Introduction des Vers a Soie en Europe,” p. 70.
+ Théatre d Agriculture d’Olivier de Serres,” tom. i., p. 158. In 8yo.

LEPIDOPTERA. 221

in a very different way from that of M. Laffemas. This was
Olivier de Serres, the author of the ‘“Théatre de l’agriculture ;”
he whom Henry IV. called his lord and master in agriculture.
Olivier de Serres was the first among his countrymen who had
published instructions regarding the cultivation of mulberry
trees and the rearing of silkworms. Henry IV., who had noticed
his writings, called him to Paris; and, on his solicitation, caused
twenty thousand mulberry trees and a great quantity of silk-
worms’ eggs, of which a distribution was made over the whole
of France, to be imported from Italy. From that moment,
sericiculture was propagated rapidly in the Cévennes, in Pro-
vence, in Languedoc, in Touraime, and many other provinces.
Mulberry trees were planted at Fontainebleau, in the royal
park of Tournelles, and even in the garden of the Tuileries,
where an Italian lady, named Julle, reared silkworms for
Henry IV.

Notwithstanding this great impulse, sericiculture dwindled
away on the death of that king. It received a fresh impulse
under Colbert, the great minister, who succeeded in creating the
spirit of commerce and trade in France. New manufactories were
established, and plantations of mulberry trees formed in many of
the provinces. All this progress was suddenly brought to a stand-
still by the iniquitous revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which
deprived France of her leading commercial men. Driven from
their own country, the Protestant families of Cévennes established
abroad silk manufactories, of which the fabrics rivalled those of
French production.

In the eighteenth century, the intendants of the provinces tried,
but with very slight success, to give a fresh impetus to sericiculture
in France. The Abbé Boissier de Sauvages published, about
1760, some works, which prove him to have been a patient
observer, an accurate reasoner, and a clever rearer of silkworms.
Boissier de Sauvages is the father of modern silk-culture. During
the first Revolution, men’s minds were occupied with graver
subjects than the cultivation of the mulberry tree. But, on the
return of peace, they got to work again on all sides. In 1808,
the minister Chaptal estimated the weight of the cocoon harvest
at between five or six thousand kilogrammes; whilst the

222 THE INSECT WORLD.

invention of the Jacquard loom gave an immense impulse to the
weaving of silk stuffs. Amongst those who introduced and
benefited the art of sericiculture, we must not forget Dandolo.
Dandolo, who was born at Venice in 1758, and died in 1819, was
the first who, at the beginning of this century, applied himself
seriously to the amelioration of the processes employed in the
cultivation of silk. He endeavoured to regulate the temperature,
to introduce more order into the distribution of the food to the
worms, to have more spacious premises, and to have these properly
ventilated.

Now we are on this subject, we must mention the names of
those who at the present day have rendered important services to
sericiculture—such as M. Camille Beauvais, who raised silkworm
rearing from the inactivity into which it had been plunged ;
M. Eugéne Robert, who founded in the south of France the first
successful silkworm nursery; M. Guérin-Méneville, who has
devoted his life to the study of the same question, and to whom
Europe owes the introduction and the acclimatization of some
species which will render us, perhaps, one day very great services ;
and lastly, M. Robinet, who has elucidated several practical
questions in the art of sericiculture. In bringing to a close this
rapid historical epitome, we will state that France consumes
annually 30,000 kilogrammes of silkworms’ eggs, each kilo-
eramme being at the present time worth from 300. to 500 frances,
and even more. The value of manufactured silks represents
annually about 8,000,000 frances; and we find by official: sta-
tistics that France exported in 1863 silk stuffs to the value of
384,000,000 francs. This immense trade shows how much
silk is now-a-days everywhere appreciated; in those numerous ©
tissues called taffeta, satin, and velvet, each of which seems to
have a charm—a peculiar attraction. The consistency of the
stuff, the smoothness, the softness of surface, the manner in
which silk receives colours, the brightness, fineness, power of
reflecting, the rustling, the light or heavy folds,—all these are
beauty, elegance, and luxury, in whatever way these words are
understood.

The Bombyx mori has, however, nothing alluring in its appear-
ance. Other caterpillars of the genus Bombyx have brilliant

LEPIDOPTERA. 223

_ liveries; they are adorned with spots, blue as sapphires, green
as emeralds, red as rubies, but produce threads without bright-
ness and fineness. The humble silkworm, in a white blouse, like
a workman, has nothing brilliant in its dress, and yet it gives
to the whole world its most beautiful and gorgeous array. The
body of the silkworm is composed of thirteen distinct segments.
In front are three pairs of articulated legs, which will become
later those of the moth. In the middle and towards the posterior
part, are five pairs of membranous legs, furnished with a circle
of very fine bristles, which assist the animal to hook itself on to
leaves and stalks. On the two sides of its body are eighteen
stigmata, or respiratory mouths.

The silkworm is remarkable for its muzzle. This is scaly,
horny, and formed of one single piece. The mouth is provided
with six small articulated pieces. Below is a simple blade, the
upper lip, having in its middle a hollow, into which the animal
causes the edge of the leaf it is gnawing to enter, and holds it
thus without any exertion. Underneath the lip are inserted two
large jaws, which cut the leaf as a pair of scissors. Underneath,
some weaker jaws divide the fragments, and a little organ, articu-
lated on to each jaw, that is to say, a palpus, pushes them back
towards the mouth, and prevents the smallest particles of the leaf
from falling. And lastly, in the space comprised between the two
jaws, is an under-lip, which completely closes the mouth below.
At the extremity of this piece may be seen a little prolongation,
a sort of papilla, pierced with a hole, which is the orifice which
gives issue to the silky thread.

The organs which serve for the elaboration and emission of the
suk have a peculiar interest for us. If one dissects a silkworm _
under water, one succeeds very soon, after having removed the
outer parts, in laying bare a double apparatus, placed along
the two sides of the intestinal canal and below it. This is the
apparatus which secretes the silk; it is the double sericipary
_ gland. Each one of these glands is composed of a tube formed of
three distinct parts (Fig. 201). The part which is nearest to the
tail of the worm is a sort of bent tube, A B C, of a thirtieth of
an inch in diameter, and about nine inches in length, twisted a
great many times into irregular zigzags. This part of the silk-

224 THE INSHOT WORLD.

producing organ is continued in an enlarged portion, D E, which
is the reservoir of the silky matter. To the extremity, E, of this
reservoir, is attached another capillary tube, EF. These two

capillary tubes, proceeding from the two glands,

LB unite together like two vemous trunks, as the

f (G plate shows, in one single, short canal, F, which
opens in the mouth of the worm, at its under-lp.

It is in the narrow hinder tubes that the silky
matter is formed. It collects in the swollen part
D E, which is, properly speaking, the reservoir ;
and remains there in the glutinous state. Having
reached the capillary tubes, it begins to assume
consistency, and forms two threads, which are
united together at the point of junction of the
tubes, and come out through the orifice, with the
appearance of a single thread, to be conducted
and directed by the animal to those points it has
selected.

It was hoped that by taking from the body of
the worm the viscous matter contaimed in the
= glands, silk could be formed. But this hope was

Fig. 201.—Silk secret- disappointed. It was found possible, it is true,
me Str to take the silk out; to draw it out into threads
more or less fine; but up to this time it has only been possible
in this way to obtain a matter which, when dried, more or less
resembles catgut, and is easily enough spoilt by water.

The viscous substance contained in the glands must then be
elaborated by the insect itself. When it arrives in the conduit
common to the capillary tubes, under the form of a thread, it is
impregnated with a sort of varnish, which is poured into them
from two neighbouring glands. The varnish unites the two
threads into one single thread, and imparts to it the brilliancy of
silk, and the property of resisting the action of water. It is
during the last phases of the worm’s development that the silky
matter becomes abundant in the glands. At this period, the
animal eats much; and it is certain that the substance to be con-
verted is furnished by the leaf of the tree on which the insect
feeds.

LEPIDOPTERA. 225

In consequence of this having been remarked, some manufac-
turers have attempted to obtain their silk directly from the
mulberry leaf; but they only get a bad floss or refuse silk. This
is because the silk is not formed in the mulberry leaf. The
organs of insects are laboratories, in which manipulations un-
known to man are carried on, manipulations which he has not
been able to imitate.

After this rapid glance at the fundamental parts of the organism
of the silkworm, we will occupy ourselves with the natural history,
properly so called, of this insect, and with its rearing, carried on
with a view to the production of silk.

As belonging to the first part of this programme, we have to
speak of the moult, of the ages of the silkworm, of its maturity,
of its mounting or ascending season, of the formation of the cocoon,
of the chrysalis, of the moth, and the eggs.

The name moult has been given to a sort of crisis during which
the renewing of the skin of larve takes place. When it ap-
proaches, the silkworm changes its colour. Its robe, which was
white or grey, and opaque, becomes yellow
and somewhat transparent. The head swells con-
siderably, especially above, and the skin becomes
wrinkled (Fig. 202). The worm then fasts, ;
and prepares to cast its skin. It places here gis, 909 Head of the Silk.
and) there some silk threads on the sur- “™" Cs moulung. “
rounding objects. It then slips under these threads, so that during
its movements the old skin which it will abandon is, so to speak,
gathered up. It then assumes a
peculiar position, that repre- Pri Cy
sented in Fig. 203, and remains go!
in it in a state of immobility
which has been called sleep
(sommeit).

During this sleep the new skin is formed under the old. A liquid
oozes forth between the two membranes which separates them, and
allows the silkworm to leave its old skin. To effect this, the worm
begins by raising its head, and by making contortions. The old skin
splits round the muzzle, or snout, on the head and back; then by
different movements the animal emerges from its skin, which

Q

Fig. 203.—Position of Silkworm while moulting

226 | THE INSECT WORLD.

remains held up by the silken threads. The duration of the time
occupied in moulting varies with the degree of the heat or humidity
of the atmosphere ; but in general the state of sleep lasts from
twelve to twenty-four hours. One hour after the crisis the worm
begins again to eat.

The ages of the silkworm are the periods of time which elapse
between one moult and another. If we observe some silk-
worms when the temperature is favourable, we shall find that
there are four moults, and consequently five ages. At the first
age (ig. 204), the silkworm is black and hairy; then of a nut
colour at the moment when the first moult is going to
take place. “The appearance presented by these worms

collected together on a leaf,” says Dandolo, “is that of a

Bee aa downy surface of a dark chestnut colour, in the midst of

tstege. which one sees nothing but a movement of little animals

having their heads raised, working them about, and presenting

black, shiny muzzles. Their bodies are completely covered with

hairs arranged in straight lines, between which one perceives
along the whole length of the body other longer hairs.’’*

Ga @

Fig. 205. Fig. 206. Fig. 207.

Second age. Third age. Fourth age.

The first age lasts for five days. At the second (Fig. 205), the
worm is grey, almost without down, then of a yellowish white,
and one sees the crescents making their appearance on the second
and fifth segment. At the third age (Fig. 206), there is not a
single hair remaining, and the worm becomes whitish, and is
always becoming lighter. The third age lasts six days, as does
also the fourth (Fig. 207). At the fifth (Fig. 208), the worm
has very nearly reached the end of its career in the caterpillar
state, and now is the time of its greatest voracity. This age is
the longest; it lasts nine days.

* © T/ Art d’élever les Vers 4 Soie, par le Comte Dandolo.” In 8yo, 2e édition.
Lyon, 1825.

——— ee

LEPIDOPTERA. 227

At each of these periods in the life of the silkworm may be
remarked a physiological fact to which has been given the name of
fréze. When the silkworm has just moulted it eats little, but the
time very soon arrives when it eats with extraordinary avidity.
It is indeed insatiable. The /réze of the last age is called the
grande fréze. It takes place about the seventh day. During

Fig. 208.—Fifth age.

this day worms, the produce of thirty grammes* of eggs, consume
in weight as much as four horses, and the noise which their little
jaws make resembles that of a very heavy shower of rain. It is
at the end of this stage that the insect prepares the shelter in
which is to be brought about its metamorphosis into a chrysalis.

A little while before this it ceases to eat, turns yellow, and
becomes as transparent as a grape. It is now said to have reached
its maturity. Upto this moment the worm had never tried to
leave its litter. It lived a sedentary life, and never thought of
wandering away from its food. Now it is seized with an imperious
desire for changing its quarters. It gets up, it roams about,
and moves its head in all directions to find some place to cling
on to. It walks over everything within its reach, particularly
over those obstacles which are placed vertically. It aspires, not
to descend, like the heroes of classic tragedy, but to rise. It is for
this reason that this period of the silkworm’s life has received
the name of the mounting or ascending season. It now looks for
a convenient place in which to establish its cocoon. Every one
has remarked how the animal sets to work to accomplish its
task. It begins by throwing from different sides threads destined
for fixing the cocoon; this is what we call refuse silk. The
proper space having been circumscribed by this means, the worm
_ begins to unwind its thread—a continuous thread of about a
thousand métres long.

* One gramme = 15,4325 er. troy.
Q 2

228 | THE INSECT WORLD.

It has been calculated, let us say by the way, that forty thousand
cocoons would suffice to surround the earth at the equator with one
thread of silk. Folded on itself almost like a horse-shoe, its back
within, its legs without, the worm arranges its thread all round its
body, describing ovals with its head. It approximates gradually
the points of attachment of the thread. As long as the cocoon
is not very thick one can watch it through the meshes of the
web applying and fixing its thread, still to a certain degree
soft, in such a manner as to make it adhere closely to the parts
already formed.

“We can state,” says M. Robinet, ‘that the silkworm makes
every second a movement extending over about five millimetres.
The length of the threads being known, it follows that the worm
moves its head three hundred thousand times in making its cocoon.
If it employs seventy-two hours at its work, it is a hundred
thousand movements every twenty-four hours, four thousand one
hundred and sixty-six an hour, and sixty-nine a minute, that
is to say, a little more than one a second.”

About the fourth day, after having expended all its silk,* the
worm shut up in the cocoon becomes of a waxy white colour,
and swollen in the middle of its body. The abdominal legs
wither away; the six fore legs approach each other and bhe-
come black. The parts of the mouth tend downwards; the
skin wrinkles. Very soon it is detached and pushed down towards
the hinder part, and the chrysalis appears under the rents in
the skin. It is at first white, but speedily becomes of a brown
red.

The silkworm remains in general from fifteen to seventeen
days in the pupa state. At the moment of hatching, the moth
begins by breaking the skin in which it is shut up, and which
is pretty thin. But how can it come out of the silky prison
which it has itself built ? To effect this it makes use of a peculiar
liquid contained in a little bladder with which its head is provided,
and which was discovered by M. Guérin-Méneville. It moistens
the cocoon with this liquid; which soaks through and pene-
trates the whole thickness of the silken wall which confines
it. The threads of silk of which it is composed are moistened,

* “ Manuel de l Hducateur du Ver a Soie,”’ p. 37.

LEPIDOPTERA. 229

and disunited, but not broken. The moth opens a passage for
itself through the threads thus separated, and makes its ap-
pearance in the light of day. Its wings are folded back on
themselves, and it is still quite wet, but it seeks immediately
for a good place in which to
dry itself, and in a little time
assumes its final appearance
(Figs. 209, 210). The female
(Fig. 210) has whitish wings,
the antenne only slightly de- 5... 209_sineworm Moth (Bombyx mors)
veloped and pale, the abdomen HEELS,

voluminous, cylindrical, and well filled. It is quiet, heavy, and
stationary. The male is smaller; its wings are tinged with grey,
its antenne blackish ; it moves about, beats its wings together,
and 1s lively and petulant.

After copulation, before laying her eggs, the female looks out
for a place suitable for this purpose. When she has found this
place, she ejects an egg co- yw
vered with a viscous liquid,
which causes it to adhere to
the body upon which it fails.
Very soon she lays a second
ege by the side of the first,
then a third by the side of
the second, and soon. She
very rarely piles them up on
each other. The laying lasts
about three days; the number
of eggs is from 300 to 700
for each female. These egos are generally lenticular and flattened
towards the centre. At the moment at which they are laid they
are of a bright yellow. In a week they become brown. The
colour changes then to a reddish grey; lastly it becomes of a
slaty grey, remaining this colour during the autumn, winter,
and a great part of the spring. Then as the temperature rises,
the colour of the eggs passes successively through bluish, violet,
ashy, and yellowish shades. And, lastly, they become more and
more whitish every day as the hatching time approaches.

yiti
we

Fig. 210.—Silkworm Moth (Bombyx morz),
‘ female.

230 THE INSECT WORLD.

If looked at closely, one remarks a black spot and a brownish
crescent extending along the circumference. The black spot is the
head of the worm, which closely touches the shell; the crescent is
the body, which is already covered with little hairs. When it
leaves the egg, the silkworm gnaws through the shell on its side,
never on its flat surface. When the opening is large enough, it
breaks out through it, head foremost, and immediately fixes a
thread of silk to any object it can reach, no doubt in order to pre-
vent itself from falling. Sometimes the opening is too small to
allow of the head passing out, and the larva is forced to come out
backwards, that is to say, tail foremost. At times, not being able
to get its head free, the poor animal very soon dies of fatigue and
hunger.

We will now give a summary of the rearing of the silk-
worm, that is to say, of the attention which must be paid to
this insect that 1t may construct its cocoon advantageously. We
will call to our aid in this very rapid summary the works or
notices of MM. Robinet, Guérin-Méneville, Eugéne Robert, and
Louis Leclerc, and we must not forget the excellent and classical
Dandolo.*

When it is desired to rear silkworms,—magnans, as they were
called in old French, and as they are still called in the patois of
Languedoc,—the first thing to do is to obtain good eggs, good grain,
to use the technical word, and then to choose suitable premises.
The essential, the fundamental point, in the rearing, is to possess
premises in which the air is easily renewed. ‘The worms should
have as much air as possible given to them without ever being
allowed to be chilled. There is no better means of attaining this
end than by keeping a constant open fire in a room, and by letting
air into'the room from another chamber which separates it from
the open air. One has, in this way, the best workroom for a small
rearing.

In the workshop are arranged racks, by the aid of which are

* «TJ, Art d’elever les Vers a Soie, par le Comte de Dandolo, traduit par Philibert
Fontaneilles.” In 8vo. Lyons, 1825. Robinet, ‘“‘ Manuel de l’Kducation des Vers a
Soie.” In 8vo. Paris. (Guérin-Méneville et Eugéne Robert, ‘“ Manuel de l’Hduca-
tion des Vers a Soie.” In 18mo. Paris. Louis Leclere, ‘ Petite Magnanerie.” In
18mo. Paris.

LEPIDOPTERA. 231

placed, at the distance of 50 centimétres from each other, frames
made of reeds. These frames, or canisses, as they are called in the
Cévennes, may be from 1 métre to 13 métre in breadth. They
should be placed in such a manner that one can easily pass
round them to place and remove the worms, and to distribute their
leaves to them uniformly. They should be protected by a small
border of a few centimétres in height, to prevent the worms from
falling. And lastly, they should be covered at the bottom
with large sheets of paper. A provident silkworm-rearer has
always at his disposal a cellar or cool room, so as to be able
to stow away his leaves as soon as they are brought in from
the country.

What we have just said applies especially to a small rearing.
In large establishments, or even those of second-rate importance,
everything is in advance of this, and mathematically regulated :
aspect and arrangement of rooms, furniture of these rooms,
_ warming, ventilation, &c. So, fora rearing house for 800 grammes
of eggs, the building should be constructed in such a manner that
its front and back look east and west, to avoid any inequality in
the heat derived from the sun. It ought to consist of a ground-
floor, a very lofty first-floor, and of a rather low roof. The
ground-floor comprises the chamber of incubation, the store-room
for leaves, and the air-chamber with the grate intended for warmth
and ventilation. The first-floor constitutes the rearing-room
properly so called.

But let us leave these grand industrial establishments, to
return to our rearing houses on a small scale, such as are found
among the peasants of the Cévennes. They generally receive the
silkworms’ eggs before the end of the winter. In order to
preserve them till the hatching season, they are placed in thin
layers, in a piece of folded woollen stuff, which must be hung
up in a cool, but not a damp place, exposed to the north. As
soon as the buds of the mulberry tree begin to be partially open,
they proceed to the incubation of the eggs. They are spread
out on sheets of paper, in very thin layers, placed on a table in
a room having a southern aspect, and left thus during three or
four days, taking care to prevent the rays of the sun from touch-
ing them. It is necessary also, from time to time, to open the

232 THE INSECT WORLD.

windows. After three or four days, the fire is hghted, taking
care not to have more heat than 1é° Centigrade round about the
table which supports the eggs, and which should be placed as far
as possible from the fire. Hach day the room is warmed a little
more, in such a way that the temperature is raised from 1° to 2°
a day, until 25° Centigrade of heat have been attained, at which
temperature it is to be maintained when the eggs have reached
the last stage, and till the hatching is terminated. On the
first day few worms are hatched; but the hatching on the second
day is very abundant, as also that of the third. Of these newly-
born worms two divisions are made, separated by an interval
of twenty-four hours. The worms which are born afterwards
are thrown away, unless they are so abundant that they can be
made a third batch of, which is to be mixed up with the second at
the period of the moult.

In the large rearing houses there is a special chamber for the
incubation. Various simple, convenient, cheap apparatuses, whose
main object is to create a permanent warm and damp atmosphere,
whose degree of heat can be regulated at will, have been proposed.
M. Louis Leclere, in his pamphlet entitled “ Petite Magnanerie,”’
has given a description and drawing of a little box, which is very
useful for facilitating the hatching of eggs. We refer those of
our readers who wish for further information on the subject to
that work. As soon as the worms are hatched, the eggs are
covered with net, and over this are placed mulberry. boughs,
covered with tender leaves, on which all the little worms con-
gregate. They are then lifted up with a hook made of thin wire,
and the worms are placed on a table covered with paper, leaving
a proper space between each. They are given, as their first meal,
tender leaves cut into little pieces with a knife. These are the
operations gone through for the two raisings of worms on the
second and third day of the hatching. During this first age
they give them from six to eight meals a day, taking care to
distribute their food to them as equally as possible. The first
meal is given at five o’clock in the morning; the last at eleven or
twelve o’clock at night.

When the moult is approaching, the young ones are made to
climb on to boughs having tender leaves, so that they can be moved

LEPIDOPTERA. 233

to litters as thin and clean as possible, and there sleep ina good
state of health. When the mass of worms is well awake again, the
next thing to do is to take them off the litter on which they
moulted and to give them food. If this problem were pro-
posed to a person strange to the operation which is now occu-
pying our attention—to separate the worms from the faded and
withered food upon which they are reposing, without touching
them,—he would certainly be very much at a loss what to
answer.. The solution of this problem presented for a long time
great difficulties, and occasioned numerous reverses in the rear-
ing. Now-a-days, thanks to the employment of a net, the
délitement, or taking them off their bed, has become an easy
operation.

Over the worms, placed on a table, is spread a net, the
meshes of which are broad enough to allow them to pass through.
On this net are spread the leaves which are to compose a meal.

penis 211.—Lozenge-shaped net. Fig. 212.—Square net.

The worms immediately leave the old food, and get on to the
new leaves. They then lift the litter with the worms, and throw
away the old leaves, now unoccupied, clean the table, and replace
the net with the worms. At the next délitement the first net is
found under the litter. Figs. 211 and 212 represent two forms of
these nets made of thread.

Thread nets, which were of great use, have been supplanted
lately, with great advantage, by paper ones, which were invented

234 THE INSECT WORLD.

by M. Eugéne Robert. These are leaves of paper, of a peculiar
manufacture, pierced with holes proportioned to the size of the
worms which are to pass through them. The paper net can be
used advantageously also for separating the worms that are too
near together, or, as they say, for the dédoublement. Formerly,
the délitement and the dédoublement were done by hand—a tedious
work, and one that presented serious disadvantages. Now-a-days,
as we have seen, the worms themselves perform these two perilous
operations.

At the second age they still cut the leaves for the worms, but
into larger pieces, and proportioned to their size. During the
day, the temperature of the room ought to be kept to 21° Cen-
tigrade, but it may be lowered by 1° or 2° during the night.
Towards the end of this age they have only four meals. When
the worms are on the point of going to sleep, their meals are
decreased.

During the third age the number of the meals is kept to four,
the first being given towards five o’clock in the morning, and
the last between ten and eleven o’clock at night. The leaf is cut
into much larger pieces, and distributed.as equally as possible.
The deélitement and the dédoublement are proceeded with as in the

preceding age. One begins to find pretty often during this period —

of the life of worms, some (uisettes—that is to say, worms which
have not strength enough to moult. They are larger than those

just woke up, and that have not as yet eaten, and are shiny. They

must be carefully removed, for they will not be long before they
die, and infect the air of the room.

During the fourth age they no longer cut the leaves, but give
them a great deal more at once. The result is that the litters
increase in thickness, and that the délitement must be performed
oftener ; for the rest, four meals are always necessary. Many
luisettes may be seen during the fourth age. The moult which
follows the fourth age is the most critical phase in the life of the
silkworm. During their sleep they are a prey to acute suffering,
and are plunged into a state of lethargy which resembles death.
The dryest and cleanest litters diffuse very soon a sickly smell.
This moult lasts from thirty-six to forty-eight hours. During
this time the room should be kept to at least 22° Centigrade.

SS a ee es

A Silk-worm rearing Establishment.

LEPIDOPTERA. 235

- When they awake out of this last sleep the attendant —
should continually be on his guard, as it is then that diseases
break out. The worms suffering from these different diseases
have received different names. There are besides the /utsettes,

_ the arpians—that is to say, worms that have exhausted all their
energy in the work of the last moult, and have not even strength
to eat ;—the yellow or fat worms, which are swollen, of a yellowish
colour, and which very easily die. The fats or mous, the soft or
indolent ones which, after having eaten a great deal and become
very fat, die miserably, and enter into a state of putrefaction.
And. lastly, it is at this age that the muscardine, which hardly
shows itself at any other age of the insect, appears with great
intensity.

The muscardine is a terrible scourge to the rearers of silkworms.
The losses which result from this disease in France are estimated
at at least one-sixth of the profits. No particular symptom
allows of our recognising the existence of this disease in worms
which, however, contain its germ. Only, the worm, which has
eaten up to that time as usual, appears almost in a moment to
change to a duller white; its movements become slower, it
becomes soft, and is not long before it dies. Seven or eight days
after its death it becomes reddish and completely rigid. ‘Twenty-
four hours afterwards a white efflorescence shows itself round the
head and rings, and soon after the whole body becomes floury.
This flour is a fungus called Batrytis bassiana, of which the
mycelium develops itself in the fatty tissue of the caterpillar,
attacks the intestines, and fructifies on the exterior. This fungus
has been considered as the immediate cause of the muscardine, and
has been also regarded as the last symptom or end of the disease.
The communication of the disease by contagion has alternately
been admitted and denied. As its true cause, and any efficacious
means of opposing it, are still unknown, the breeders of silk-
worms must be content to apply, so as to prevent or struggle
against this dreadful scourge, the precepts of hygiene: good
ventilation, excessive cleanliness, frequent délitements, and good
food properly prepared.

After the muscardine, we must mention another epidemic disease
still more terrible: the gattine. This disease shows itself from.

236 THE INSECT WORLD.

the very beginning of the rearing, and increases in intensity at
each age, so that the number a worms able to enter regularly
into Bite moult becomes smaller and smaller. We are still ina
state of utter 1gnorance as to the cause of this last affection,
which has occasioned, for the last ten years, incalculable losses in _
the rearing houses, which threatens the silkworm with complete
destruction, and which in the meanwhile has ruined the unfortu-
nate countries of the Cévennes, the principal seat of sericiculture
in France.

During the fifth age, the worms become large so quickly that
on the fifth or sixth day they are obliged to be moved away from
each other on the litter. The délitement must be made every two
days, or, indeed, every day now, on account of the enormous
amount of the excrement; and, at the same time, a good venti-
lation must be constantly maintained. ‘The temperature of the
room should now be kept to 24°, without ever exceeding this
degree of heat. When it is perceived that the worms wish to
ascend, or mount, there are placed on the tables, at certain distances
from each other, little sprigs of heather or very dry branches of
heht wood.

When the worms begin to mount into the heather, one must
encabaner—that is to say, form with these branches little hedges,

omen i FEE mi i

Fig. 213.—Sprigs of heather arranged so that the Silkworms may mount into them.

eurved back like a hut or cradle, the openings of which are,
on an average, seventeen inches or so (Fig. 213). At the
expiration of twenty-four hours, all the good worms have
mounted. The laggards who remain under the cabanes are
taken off by hand, and placed on a table, which is tome
-encabaned.

LEPIDOPT#RA. aan

The .cocoons spun on these branches of heather ought to be
large, heavy, and well-shaped. The good cocoons are regular ;
their ends are rounded and not pierced; and they are hard,

y

at )

SEN
SANIT i
a vit

AN ps
Wate ahe
ed
eas aks
oa =
Fig. 214.—Spherical cocoon Fig. 215.—Cocoon of Bombyx mori,
of the Bombyx mori. drawn in towards. the middle.

especially at their extremities, and have a fine grain. ‘They are
cylindrical. The best are drawn in towards the middle, or have
a concavity on either side of it (Fig. 215). Every one knows
that there are white and yellow cocoons. They are the produce
of different races of worms.

Commerce recognises two kinds of white silk: the first white
and the second white. The silk of the first white is produced by
the race Sima, the cocoons of which are of a perfect and azured
white. They produce the most beautiful and most precious silk,
and serve for the fabrication of light and delicate coloured tissues.
The silk of the second white is furnished by two races: the
Lspagnolet and the Roquemaure.

The races that produce yellow cocoons are more numerous than
the white ones. The yellow races are divided into three greups :
those that have small, middle-sized, or large cocoons. The first
and second are stronger, and more esteemed than the last.

The greater number of the races of silkworms have, let us
here mention, white and yellow cocoons; there are some, how-
ever, whose cocoon is of a greenish white, or even quite green, or

238 THE INSECT WORLD.

of a reddish green. One race raised in Tuscany, near Pistoia,’
has cocoons of a pale rose colour; and, lastly, mention has been

made of cocoons of a purple colour.

Ze QJ ‘ S
TW S
F ATK AN =
arta \ Ye
‘i MN RSS
AOS
Se

Yy
3 3 i

\\

i

a)
di

aN

/
Zi /
/j

Fig. 216.—Larva, pupa, cocoon, and moth of Bombyx mori.

When the cocoons are completed, the people in charge of the
rearing establishments separate them from the heather and sell
them to the silk-spinners. But they must manage to get these
cocoons into a state in which they will remain entire during a

LEPIDOPTERA. 239

long time. They must, in other words, kill the chrysalides, to
prevent the cocoons being pierced by the moth. To kill the
chrysalides so as to prevent the development of the imago is an
operation which is called the étouffage, or stifling.

To effect this stifling, the cocoons are exposed to a high tem-
perature. Formerly, in the Cé-
~-vennes, the cocoons were placed in
a baker’s oven, heated for baking
bread. But they ran the risk
thus of being burnt, or of a certain
number of chrysalides remaining
alive. Now, to kill the chrysalides,
they make use of steam at 100°,
produced by water boiling in a
vessel, and which passes through
wicker baskets filled with co-
coons.

The rearer must also take care
at the time he gathers them, to
separate the cocoons which are \
to provide eggs for the next year. \

As the female cocoons are heavier
than the male cocoons, they are - Vl ]
easily separated by weighing Fig. 217.—Apparatus for s‘ifling the

. ° chrysalides in the cocoons.
them in a pair of scales.

To obtain the eggs, or grain, the cocoons are fixed on sheets
of brown paper, covered with a slight coating of paste made
of flour. They are arranged in such a manner that the moths
shall find no obstacle when they come out of them, head fore-
most ; and, moreover, so that they may be able to reach with their
legs the cocoon which is opposite them, so as to hang on to
it, and to facilitate their exit from their own cocoon (Fig. 218).
The male and female cocoons are pasted on separate sheets.

It is from fifteen to twenty days after the montée, or mounting,
and when the temperature of the rooms has been kept between
20° and 25°, that the moths begin to be hatched. As they appear,
they are seized by the wings and placed on cloths stretched out

240 THE INSECT WORLD.

for the purpose, where they are left for about an hour, till their
wings have fallen flat on their bodies. As soon as they have
evacuated a red liquor, the
males and females, which up
to that time have been apart,
are put together.

_ After copulation, they”
again separate them. They
stick sheets of paper on
to screens, putting from
twenty-five to thirty females
OCCCOCCCaC on each sheet (Hig. 219).
= a eae ==z2== It is here the moths lay

Fig. 218.—Sheet of paper with rows of cocoons pre- their eggs. The sheets of
pared for the exit of the moths destined for laying eggs. paper, Reread wail egos,
are then hung on wires, at a small distance from the ceiling of
a room havihe a northern aspect, which is never warmed. They
remain thus, exposed to
all variations of temper-
ature, till the return of
the warm weather. We
will say a few words to
bring this subject to an
end, on the winding of
cocoons and the spinning
. of silk.
== |e | The winding of cocoons

LA is an operation which at

ECC ee and inclined first sight ap pea Bis

simple, but which is in

reality a difficult and delicate process. It requires unremitting

attention, great experience, and a delicacy of touch which can

only be found in the fingers of woman, or rather, in the fingers
of certain women.

The woman who is spinning, stands before a sort of loom which
is called tour (Fig. 220). Under her hand is a copper containing
water, which she heats to the required degree by opening the tap
of a tube, which brings a current of steam. She plunges the

TOOTSNUACOCOO ASOT CTTCOO ATTA

TTL

TMT

Ge

TTT TATA 0

EN\

== ayy || d |

POOTANNO TAD NTTUTUA TANNER TTT TTT TTT

DUM ii

yp
l

TOUDSUOGSOATONOTOCOE AA TT

(3 Ismet

Nu
im NY
\ NY) Hl

|
| :

ip

=

es)

Fig. 220.—Silk-winding Establishment.

242 THE INSECT WORLD.

cocoons into the hot water, and moves them about in it, to soften
the gummy substance which sticks the silken threads of the
cocoon together. Then she beats them, with a light hand, with a
small birch-broom. The threads of the cocoons get caught in the
extremities of the twigs of which the little broom is made, and
the workwomen seizes with her fingers the bundle of threads, and
shakes them about till she perceives that they are all single, and
in a fit state to be joined together.

Let us suppose that itis wished now to make up a brin, or
staple, by uniting together the ends of five cocoons. She chooses
five ends in the mass, makes of these a bundle, and introduces it
into the hole of a jfiliére. She makes two staples (drins) at once,
one on her right, the other on her left hand. She then brings
them together, she crosses them, rolls them, and twists them,
the one on the other, several times; after which, she separates
them from above and keeps them well apart, making each of
them pass into a hook at a distance, from which they are going
to twist round into a hank, separately, on a wheel. The two
threads thus twisted are drawn close together, compressed, and
become one, getting round by rolling on each other, and being
kept in continual motion, drawn out as they are by the rapid
motion of the wheel.

The difficulty which the emptying the cocoon of its silk thread
presents, makes us understand what difficulties those manufacturers
must have met with who have lately attempted to extract from
the stalks of mulberry leaves a sort of silk. We will enter
into no details of the attempts which have been made to accom-
plish this object in our time, attempts which have, however,
been crowned with no success whatever. We will confine our-
selves to reminding the reader that these attempts are far from
being of recent origination, since they date back to as far as
Olivier de Serres, the father of French sericiculture.

In a little work published by Olivier de Serres, in 1608, under
the title of Cuedllette de la Soie, “ The Gathering of Silk,” we find
a memoir entitled: La second richesse du Murier qui se trouve en
son escorce, pour en faire des toiles de toute sorte, mon moins
utile que la sove provenant d’icelui, “The second wealth of the
mulberry tree which is found in its bark, how to make of it cloth

LEPIDOPTERA. 243

of all sorts, not less useful than the silk derived from this tree.”
Olivier de Serres proves in this memoir that the second bark, or
liber, of the mulberry tree contains a fibre capable of replacing
hemp or flax, and he describes the processes by which this may
be obtained. The processes which had been proposed by Olivier de
Serres in 16038, were-resumed in the Cévennes a dozen years
ago by M. Duponchel on the one hand, and on the other by
M. Cabanis,* who operated on bark instead of taking the whole
of the wood of the mulberry tree. But none of these attempts
have given any good results up to the present moment.

The various diseases which, for the last fifteen years, have
been so fatal to the mulberry silkworm, have suggested the idea
of acclimatizing in Europe other silk-producing Bombyces, if not
with the view of superseding, at least as auxiliaries to the mul-
berry species. The genus Aftacus has furnished these auxiliaries.
Among the species which have, in this respect, the greatest
claims to our attention, we must place in the first rank those
which feed upon the leaves of the oak tree. Indeed, the trees
‘which can be made use of for their cultivation are very numerous
in Europe, and, moreover, the silk produced by these worms appears
to possess superior qualities.

There are three oak-feeding species of the genus Attacus. They
are Yama-Mai, Pernyi, and Mylitta.

The silk of Yama-Mai is as bright as that of the mulberry silk-
worm, but a little less fine and strong, and occupies the first rank
after it. If we could succeed in acclimatizing this species it would
supply any deficiency there might be in our crops of ordinary
silk.

The eggs of the Attacus Yama-Mai were brought from Japan,
where this worm is reared, conjointly with the mulberry silk-
worm, in 1862. The larve hatched at Paris, in 1863, were
green, of a great size, remained in that state eighty-two days,
and were easily reared. Their cocoon resembles that of the
mulberry species. It is composed of a beautiful silk of a silvery
‘whiteness in the interior, and of a more or less bright green
on the exterior. The moth is very large and. beautiful, of a
bright yellow colour, approaching orange.

* See our “ Année scientifique,” 7e année, p. 432.

R2

244 THE INSECT WORLD.

We give a drawing of the Attacus Yama-Mai, taken from the
plates which accompany M. Guérin-Méneville’s memoir.*

a SS
—SS
aS

ec,

iia

A

A
AN
Fig. 221.—Larva of Attacus (Bombyx) Yama-Mat.

Fig. 221 represents the larva, or caterpillar, two-thirds natural

Fig, 222.—Cocoon of Attacus (Bombyx) Yama-Mai.

size; Fig. 222, the cocoon, drawn on the same scale; and Fig. 223,
the moth.
In 1866, M. Camille Personnat published a very interesting

* Sur le Ver 4 Soie du Chéne et son Introduction en Europe. Extrait du Magasin
de Zoologie, 1855, No. VI.

[For an account of experiments conducted in England by Dr. Wallace, which
unfortunately were a complete failure as far as rearing the moth went, see an essay
by that gentleman in “'The Transactions of the Entomological Society of London.”
3rd series, vol. v., pt. 5. Longmans and Co. The results of an experiment which
give the greatest hopes of success, will be found in “The Entomologist”’ for
October, 1867.—Hp. |

LEPIDOPTERA. 245

monograph of Yama-Mai, which may be consulted with profit by
both cultivators of silk and naturalists.*

Fig. 223.—Attacus (Bombyx) Yama-Mai.

Attacus pernyi yields a remarkably beautiful silk, fine, strong,
and brilliant, which can be spun and dyed with great ease. The
tissues obtained from it partake of the qualities of ordinary silk, of
wool, and of cotton. This species of Attacus, which is reared on
the oak in Mandchouria, has given rise to great hopes in France.
The cocoons and moths of this worm were exhibited for the first

Fig. 224.—Cocoon of Attacus (Bombyx) pernyi.

time at the Universal Exhibition of 1855. They were reared by
M. Jordan, of Lyons, from some cocoons sent over from China by

* Le Ver a Soie du Chéne (Bombyx Yama-Mai), son histoire, sa description, ses
mceurs. 8vo., avec planches coloriées.. A Laval, 4 l’école de sériciculture.

246 THE INSECT WORLD.

the missionaries. It is much to be desired that this species may
be acclimatized in Europe.

Figs. 224 and 225 represent, after drawings in the memoir of
M. Guérin-Méneville, already referred to, the cocoon and moth of
the Attacus pernyi.

The silk which Attacus Mylitta produces is perhaps superior to
that of Pernyi. When the cocoons are properly prepared, the
silk can with ease be wound off from one end of them to the other.
This worm is found in various parts of Bengal and of Calcutta, and
also at Lahore, and its silk is exported in considerable quantities

©

Fig. 225.—Attacus (Bombyx) pernyi.

under the name of twsseh. Brownish stuffs are made of it in India
of firm and bright texture, which are used for summer clothing,
or for covering furniture.

Figs. 226 and 227 represent the moth and the cocoon of Attacus
Mylitta after M. Guérin-Méneville.

In 1855, M. de Chavannes reared this species in the open air,
near Lausanne, in Switzerland. ‘This treatment succeeded per-
fectly, without any degeneration, for many years. It, however,
died out at last, from the effects, perhaps, of too great a difference
in the climate, or from those accidents, still so little understood,
to which even the insects of our own country are subject. This
was unfortunate, as this species is one of those whose accli-
matization in Kurope is the most to be desired, for it would render
great service to the cultivators of silk.

LEPIDOPTERA. 247

It remains for us to speak of two other species which are very
important, inasmuch as their domestication in Europe is now an

Fig. 226.—Attacus (Bombyx) Mylitia.

accomplished fact. We mean the Attacus or Bombyx of the
Ailanthus, and also that of the Castor-oil plant.

Every one has heard of the Ailanthus silkworm (Aftacus
(Bombyx) Cynthia), whose acclimatization in Europe has been

Fig. 227.— Cocoon of Attacus (Bombyx) Mylitta.

materially assisted by the admirable and persevering efforts of
M. Guérin-Méneville.

The Ailanthus worm is a native of Japan and of the north of
China. It was brought over in 1858 by Annibale Fantoni, and
sent to M. Guérin-Méneville.by MM. Griseri and Colomba, of
Turin. When it is nearly full-grown, it is emerald green, with
the head, the feet, and the last segment of a beautiful golden
yellow, and has black spots on each segment. This worm, in its
full-grown state, is represeated by Fig. 228; in the same figure

248 THE INSECT WORLD.

are also represented the eggs and the cocoon. The moth has the
abdomen yellowish underneath, with little white tufts. Its wings
are traversed by a white band, which is followed exteriorly by a
line of a bright rose; each wing is also marked with a lunula or
crescent-shaped spot.

In 1858 M. Guérin-Méneville presented to the Académie des
Sciences of Paris the first moths and the first eggs laid in France
of the Attacus Cynthia. This able entomologist demonstrated

SS
SS

Fig. 228.—Eges, larvae, and cocoons of Attacus (Bombyx) Cynthia.

very soon afterwards—lIst, that the caterpillars of this insect can
be reared in the open air, and with scarcely any cost for manage-
ment; 2ndly, that it produces two crops a year in the climate of
Paris and the north of France; 3rdly, that the cultivation of the
Ailanthus, or the false Japan varnish tree, on which this insect
lives, is easy even in the most sterile soil.

LEPIDOPTERA. 249

M. Guérin-Méneville showed still further that azlantine, the
textile matter furnished by the cocoon of the Cynthia, is a sort of
floss silk holding a middle place between wool and the silk of the
mulberry-tree worm, and which, as it can be produced at scarcely
any expense, would be very cheap, and would serve for the fabri-
cation of what are called fancy stuffs, for which ordinary floss silk
is now used. In 1862 M. Guérin-Méneville sent in a report to
the Minister of Agriculture on the progress of the cultivation of
the Ailanthus, and of the breeding of the silkworm, which -was
reared in the open air on this tree. He mentions, in his report,
the rapid development of the cultivation of the tree in France,
the great number of eggs of the Ailanthus silkworm sold, the
foundation of a model blieeoton nursery at Vincennes, and this
one great point gained, that they had found out the way of
unwinding the silk from the cocoons of the Cynthia in one
unbroken and continuous thread.

Till then European industry had only succeeded in drawing from
the cocoons of the Ailanthus silkworm a floss silk composed of
filaments more or less short, obtained by carding, and unable to
produce when twisted, anything better than lose, that is to say,
refuse silk. It is to the Countess de Vernéde de Corneillan on the
one hand, and to Doctor Forgemot on the other, that the merit is
due of having obtained an unbroken thread of silk from the cocoon
of Attacus Cynthia.

A monograph on the Ailanthus silkworm appeared in 1866 under
the title, “ L’Ailante et son Bombyx, par Henri Givelet.”* It is
a complete account of all the results obtained up to the time,
both as regards the rearing of the silkworm and also as regards
the cultivation on a large scale of the Ailanthus, or false Japan
varnish tree. +t

The Castor-oil Plant Silkworm (Attacus (Bombyx) ricini) is a
species very nearly akin to the Alianthus worm, perhaps only a
variety, and comes from India. The silk which it produces is

_ * Tn 8vo, avec plans et planches coloriées. Paris, 1866.
+ A work by M. Guérin-Méneville on the same subject, entitled, “‘ Education des
Vers a Soie de |’Ailante et du Ricin,” in 12mo., Paris, 1860, may also be consulted.
[For a full account of successful experiments carried on in England, see Dr.
Wallace’s essay in “The Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,”
3rd series, vol. y., pt. 2. Longmans and Co.—Ep. |

250 THE INSECT WORLD.

very similar in every respect to that of the Cynthia. The rearing
of this worm could never attain to any great importance in
France, on account of the necessity there is of renewing the
plantations of the castor-oil plant each year. It would, however,
afford an additional source of income to the farmers in the south
of France, who cultivate the castor-oil plant with a view to sell-
ing its seeds, which are much used in pharmacy.

Nearly allied to the genus Attacus, which furnishes us with all
these precious auxiliaries to the mulberry silkworm, are a great
number of other species, both indigenous to Europe, and exotic,

Fig. 229.—Saturnia pavonia-major.

mostly remarkable for their great size, and a few of which are
common in this country.

Fig. 229 is the largest European moth, but never found far-
ther north than the latitude of Paris.. Its wings are brown,
waved, and variegated with grey. Hach of them has a large
black eye-shaped spot, surrounded by a tawny circle, surmounted
by one white semicircle, and by another of a reddish hue, the

LEPIDOPTERA. 251

whole completely enclosed in a black circle. ‘These moths,” says
Geoffroy, ‘are very large; they look as if they were covered with
fur, and, when they fly, one is inclined to take them for birds.”
Saturnia pavonia-maor comes from a very large caterpillar,
which is of a beautiful green, with tubercules of turquoise
blue, each of which is surmounted by seven stiff divergent hairs.
This caterpillar lives principally upon the elm, but it feeds also
upon the leaves of the pear, plum, and other trees. It spins a

Fig. 230.—Emperor Moth (Saturnia carpint).

brown cocoon, formed of a coarse silk of great strength. It is not
until the following spring that it becomes a moth.

The Emperor Moth (Saturnia carpini, Fig. 230) much resembles
the above, except in size. This species iscommon in England, and
its green larva, covered with black or pink warts, from which
spring hairs as in the last, is by no means rare on heath in the
autumn. It also feeds on bramble and other plants.

Among the Attaci foreign to Europe, we must mention Atlas
(Fig. 231), the expanse of whose wings exceeds four and a
quarter inches. This magnificent moth, one of the largest known,
comes from China.

The family Bombycide comprises many species which we must
not omit to mention.

252 THE INSECT WORLD.

The Lackey (Bombyx neustria) derives its name from the colour
of the caterpillar, which has longitudinal lines of various colours

L)
yp,
Mit ie

Fig. 231.—Attacus (Bombyx) Atlas.

anda blue head. These caterpillars live together on a great number
of our forest and garden trees, to which they do much damage. The

Fig. 232.—The Lackey (Bombyx neustria). .

moth (Fig. 282) has a brownish body, and wings of a more or less

tawny yellow colour, with two darker lines on the front wings.
The Procession Moth (Bombyx processionea) is a small greyish

moth, the caterpillars of which live in numerous troops on oak

LEPIDOPTERA. 253

trees, and devour the leaves at the moment of their development.
In the evening these caterpillars come out of their common nest,
and form a sort of procession; hence their name Procession Moth.
“‘T kept some for a little time in my house in the country,” says
Réaumur. “I brought an oak branch which was covered with
them into my study, where I could much better follow the order
and regularity of their march than I could have done in the woods.
I was very much amused and pleased at watching them for many
days. I hung the branch on which I had brought them against
one of my window shutters. When the leaves were dried up,
when they had become too hard for the jaws of the caterpillars,
they tried to go and seek better food elsewhere. One set himself
in motion, a second followed at his tail, a third followed this one,
and soon. ‘They began to defile and march up the shutter, but
being so near to each other that the head of the second touched
the tail of the first. The single file was throughout continuous ;
it formed a perfect string of caterpillars of about two feet in length,
after which the line was doubled. There two caterpillars marched
abreast, but as near the one which preceded them as those who
were marching in single file were to each other. After a few rows
of our processionists who were two abreast, came the rows of three
abreast ; after a few of these came those which were four abreast ;
then there were those of five, others of six, others of seven, others
of eight caterpillars. This troop, so well marshalled, was led
by the first. Did it halt, all the others halted: did it again
begin to march, all the others set themselves in motion, and fol-
lowed it with the greatest precision. . . . That which went on in
my study goes on every day in the woods where these caterpillars
live. . . . When it is near sunset you may see coming out of any
of their nests, by the opening which is at its top, which would
hardly afford space for two to come out abreast, one caterpillar.
As soon as it has emerged from the nest, it is followed by many
others in single file; when it has got about two feet from the nest,
it makes a pause, during which those who are still in the nest con-
tinue to come out; they fall into their ranks, the battalion is
formed ; at last the leader sets off marching again, and all the
others follow him. That which goes on in this nest passes in all
the neighbouring nests; all are evacuated at the same time.”

254 THE INSECT WORLD.

One part of Fig. 233 shows the arrangement of the caterpillars
on coming out of the nest, and in another part is shown a
different arrangement, in which each row has only one caterpillar
less than the one which preceded it. ‘These caterpillars are fur-
nished with long hairs, slightly tufted, which come off with the

ye

‘

\

SSO
NSS

\ \ Ni
CY
~ c. \

Hebe

Fig. 233.—Larve of the Procession Moth (Bombyx processionea).

greatest ease, and which if they penetrate into the skin, cause
violent itching. In 1865, a number of the alleys of the Bois de
Boulogne were shut up from the public in order to save them
from this annoyance. These caterpillars construct a covering
common to them all, in which they live, and transform them-
selves therein, each insect making for his own private use a small
cocoon. ‘This insect is said to have occurred in England, but
there is not sufficient evidence to admit it into our lists.

The Orgyias comprise a great number of small species, of a
dark colour, which do a great deal of damage to our forest trees.
In September and October the male of the Orgyia antiqua, with
his tawny wings, may often be seen flying about the streets of

LEPIDOPTERA.

258
London. The female (Fig. 234) is remarkable, as she has only
the rudiments of wings, and only goes as far as the side of

Fig. 234.—The Vapourer Moth ( Orygia antiqua), male and female.

her cocoon. The caterpillar of the Orgyia pudibunda,

called
also the Hop Dog, attacks almost every sort of tree.

When

Fig. 235.—Orgyia pudibunda.

the state of the atmosphere favours their propagation, they appear

in fearful quantities, and cause the greatest havoc. During the

256 ‘THE INSECT WORLD.

autumn of 1828, in the environs of Phalsbourg, they were to be
counted by millions. The extent of the woods laid waste was
calculated at about fifteen hundred hectares. It is common in
this eountry. i

Among the genus Liparis, the species of which are also very
destructive to trees, we must mention the Brown-tailed Moth
(Liparis chrysorrhaea, Fig. 236), a species by no means rare in
England. The caterpillars live in quantities, on apple, pear, and
elm trees, and destroy the plantations of the promenades of Paris.

The females of this genus tear off the fur from the extremity of
their abdomens to make a soft bed for
their eggs, and to preserve them from
the cold. And yet they are never to
see their young, for they die after they
have laid their eggs. Another tribe
of Bombycina contains species of a
small size, which are remarkable
from the habits of their caterpillars which make, with foreign
bodies, cases, in the interior of which.they live and undergo their
metamorphoses.

The caterpillars of the genus Psyche live in a case composed of

Fig. 236.—Liparis chrysorrhcea.

Fig. 240.—Case e Deen ee

Fig. 241.—Larva of Psyche gramimella. Fig. 242.—Psyche graminella,

fragments of leaves, of bits of grass and straw, of small sticks,

PLATE VAL.

My CC cauatll iy | | \ M | i '
i a \\ AN || et | ae Li \ , i

"The Goat-moth (Cossus ligniperda). Larva, pupa, and perfect insect.
1, 2. Perfect insect. 3. Pupa. 4. Larva.

LEPIDOPTERA. 257

of wood, or of little stones, stuck together, and intermixed with
silky threads. ae

We give a representation (in Figs. 237, 239, and 240) of the
cases of the caterpillars of three different kinds. The females of
these moths are completely destitute of wings and resemble cater-
pillars. As a general rule they hardly ever leave their case. The
males (Figs. 238, 242) are of a blackish grey and fly very swiftly.

The caterpillars of the genus Hepialus are difficult to observe,
as they live in the interior of the roots of various vegetables. -Such
is the common Ghost Moth (Hepialus humuli), which sometimes
causes the greatest damage.

The type of the genus Zeuzera is Zeuzera esculi, or Wood
Leopard (Fig. 243). It has .white wings with large blackish

fo E68 rte
Sl See 0090 G07
Ls PAA)
= Pai SALES.
sO @ Cee Ce —

Fig. 243.—Zeuzera esculi. ~

blue spots on the anterior, and small black spots on the posterior
wings. The caterpillar, of a livid yellow, spotted with black,
lives in the interior of the trunks of a great. many trees, princi-
pally the chestnut, the elm, the lime, and the pear tree. This
moth, which is known also by the name of Coquette, is to be seen
in the evening flying about the public gardens of Paris, and is not
rare in England. The most celebrated species of the allied genus
Cossus is the Wood-boring Goat Moth (Cossus ligniperda). The
moth has a heavy brownish body and greyish wings streaked
with black. It is found in most parts of Europe. The cater-
pillar is of a reddish colour, as if it had on a leathern jerkin, and
disgorges a liquid which is believed to soften ligneous fibres,
s

258 THE INSECT WORLD.

and lives in the interior of willows and other trees. It was on
this caterpillar that Lyonnet made his admirable anatomical
researches.

Fig. 244.—Larva of Dicranura vinula.

Another tribe of Bombyces comprises some very strange cater-
pillars, whose hindermost feet are changed into forked prolonga-
tions, which they move about in a threatening manner. ‘These
sort of fly-traps are perhaps meant to keep at a distance those
insects which would lay their eggs upon the caterpillar’s body.
The caterpillars of Dicranura are of this kind. We give a repre-

Fig. 245.—Dicranura vinula.

sentation of the caterpillar and the moth of the Puss Moth (Dicra-
nura vinula, Figs. 244, 245), as also the moth of the Dicranura
verbasci, the former of which is common in Eneland, and the larva

LEPIDOPTERA. 259

may be found during the late summer and early autumn feeding
on poplars and willows; and of the caterpillar of Stauropus

Fig. 246.—Dicranura verbasci.

Jagi, the Lobster Moth (Fig. 247), rare in this country, whose

44 Us Wp, Ly,
Fig. 247.—Larva of the Lobster Moth (Stawropus fagt).

appearance is strange indeed. The moths, on the contrary, have
nothing about them remarkable

Fig, 248.—Noctua tegamon.

The Noctuwina are a group of Lepidoptera of middling size, and
s 2

260 THE INSECT WORLD.

generally found in woods, meadows, and gardens, where their
caterpillars have lived. They seldom fly till about sunset, or
during the night. Their upper wings are of a dark colour, with

|Fig. 249.—Noctua nebulosa.

spots in the middle of a particular shape. Their lower wings are
of various colours, often whitish, sometimes red or yellow.

ee RES
SAAIE ANG

Nurs
SS
e ASSO

Fig. 250.—Noctua musiva.

We give representations of some of the species of this group.*
Noctua tegamon, Fig. 248; Noctua nebulosa, Fig. 249; Noctua
musiwa, Fig. 250; Noctua brunnea, Fig. 251; Catocala fraxini,
Fig. 252; Catocala Americana, Fig. 253; Catocala paranympha,

* In England it numbers about three hundred species. The larve are of

diverse habits, but the majority feed on low plants; the moths are provided with
trunk, and are very partial to sweets.—Hp.

LEPIDOPTERA. 261

‘ie. 254; Catocala nupta, Fig. 255, the Red Underwing; and
Lrebus strix, Fig. 256.

Fig. 251.—Noctua brunnea.

The bodies of these moths are robust and sometimes massive, and
are scaly rather than woolly. The thorax is sometimes bristling
with hairy tufts.

This genus includes eight hundred species, of which there are

Fig. 252.—Catocala fraxini.

about three hundred in France. The caterpillars of the Noc-
tuina are smooth or very slightly covered with hair, usually
of a pale colour, and live on low plants, of which they devour,
some the leaves, others the roots; then it is they are most destruc-

262 THE INSECT WORLD.

tive to agriculture. There are some of them which eat any cater-
pillars they may chance to meet, and even those of their own

Fig. 253.—Catocala Americana.

species, leaving nothing but the skin. Some of them surround
themselves with a light cocoon before becoming chrysalides, others

bury themselves in soft, well-pulverised soil.

hy iS
a Us Se
J \

Xx

Fig. 254.—Catocala paranympha.

The family of Geometrine, or Geometers, comprises moths of
a middling size, and usually flying after sunset and during
the night.* They frequent the alleys of damp woods, where
they become the prey of the Lzbellulet and other carni-

* A few species fly in bright sunshine.—Ep. + Dragon-flies.—Ep.

LEPIDOPTERA. 263

Fig. 256.—Erebus strix.

264 THE INSECT WORLD.

vorous insects. Their bodies and abdomens are slender, their
wings large, thin, fragile, often of a dark colour, with brilliant
markings.

The caterpillars of the Geometrine are known by the name of
loopers or geometers. We have described their singular organisa-
tion above. They are continually spinning a silken thread, which
keeps them attached to the plant on which they live. If you
touch the leaf which supports them, they immediately let them-
selves fall.

“‘ Nevertheless, they do not generally fall to the ground,” says
Réaumur ; ‘there is a cord ready to support them in the air
(Fig. 257), and a cord which they can lengthen as they will;
this cord is only a very thin thread, but has nevertheless strength
enough to support the caterpillar (Figs. 258, 259). All. that

Vig. 257.—Looper Fig. 258.—Seen Fig. 259.—Front Figs. 260 and 261.—Remounting its
hanging by its at the side. . view. thread.
thread.

there seems to fear is, that the thread may lengthen too quickly
and the caterpillar fall, rather than descend gently, to the
ground. But what we must first remark and admire is, that
the caterpillar is mistress of its movements, and is not obliged

LEPIDOPTERA. 265

to descend too quickly ; it descends by stages; it stops in the air
when it pleases. Generally it only descends at most about one
foot at a time, and sometimes only half a foot or a few inches,
after which it makes a pause more or less long as it pleases.” It
is in this way that the caterpillars let themselves fall from the
top of the highest trees. They remount again with no less ease.
Let us listen to Réaumur’s description of the means em-
ployed by this caterpillar to ascend these heights. Figs. 260 and
261, drawn as the three preceding ones from the plates in Réau-
mur’s Memoir, help us to follow the explanation given by the
illustrious naturalist of the evolutions of our little acrobat :—
“To remount,” says Réaumur, “the caterpillar seizes the thread
between its jaws, as high up as it can catch it; as soon as it has
done this it twists its head round, lays it over on one side, and
continues to do so more and more every moment. Its head seems
to descend below the last of the scaly legs which are on the same
side as that to which it is inclined. The truth is, however, that
it is not its head which descends, the part of the thread which it
holds between its jaws is a fixed point for its head and for the rest
of its body: it is that portion of the back corresponding with its
scaly legs which the caterpillar twists upwards; the consequence
is that it is the scaly legs and that part of the body to which they
belong which then ascend. When the last pair of legs are just
over the jaws of the caterpillar, one of its legs, viz., that which
‘is on the side towards which the head is inclined, seizes the thread
and brings it over to the corresponding leg on the other side,
which is advanced to receive it. If the head then raises itself,
which it will not fail to do immediately, it is in order that it may
seize the thread at a higher point than that at which it seized it
at first ; or, which is the same thing, the head, and consequently
the whole body of the caterpillar, is found to have ascended to a
height equal to the length of the thread which is between the
place where its jaws seized it the first time and that where they
seized it the second time. Here then is, so to say, its first step up-
wards. Hardly has the caterpillar taken this than it takes a second.
If you were to seize the caterpillar when it had arrived at
the end of its upward journey, you would sce a packet of threads
huddled together between the four hindmost of the scaly legs.

266 | THE INSECT WORLD.

This packet is more or less large according as the height ascended
by the caterpillar is greater or less. All the turns of the thread
which compose it are entangled. So the caterpillar does not con-
sider it of any value; as soon as it can walk it gets rid of it, sets
its legs free, and leaves it behind before it has taken one or at
most two steps. Hach time, then, costs it the cord it made use of
to effect its ascent, but this is an expense it can always be at when-
ever it likes; it has in itself the source of the matter necessary
for the composition of the thread,
and it 1s a source in which that
which was drawn off is being con-
tinually re-supplied. Moreover,
spinning the thread costs the
caterpillars little; indeed, the
loopers economise this thread so
little that most of them leave it
behind them wherever they go.”

They are found on many trees,
but particularly on the oak, whose
foliage they often entirely devour.
They burrow into the ground to change into chrysalides, and
undergo all their metamorphoses in the course of the year. Others
do not become perfect insects till the autumn, or sometimes not
even till the following spring. A few assume the perfect state in
winter. There are, indeed some of these, such as the males of thé
Hybernias, which fly about on the foggy evenings of November.
The females of this genus have either no wings at all, or else only
rudimentary ones. Two species, the Hybernia defoliaria, or Winter

Fig. 262.—Hybernia leucophearia, male.

Fig. 263.—Winter Moth ( Hybernia Fig. 264.—Winter Moth ( Hylernia
defoliaria), male. defolaria), female.

Moth, and the Chimatobia brumata, abundant here, are very
common in the environs of Paris.

LEPIDOPTERA. 267i

M. Maurice Girard says, in his work on the Metamorphoses of
Insects, that the females of these moths can easily be found at the

Fig. 265.—Chimatobia brumata, male. Fig. 266.—Chimatobia
brumata, female.

beginning of November, in a very strange place, namely, on the
gas lamps of the public promenades ; for instance, along the roads
in the Bois de Boulogne. No doubt they had climbed up to this
height, attracted by the light, or perhaps had been carried thither
by the males, which fly, having wings.

In February and March appear other analogous species. ‘‘ One
finds,” says M. Maurice Girard, “near Paris, in the meadows which
surround the confluence of the Seine and the Marne, at the end of

Fig, 267.—Nyssia zonaria, male and female.

the month of March, the Vyssia zonaria (Fig. 267), the males of
which insect remain during the day motionless on the grass.” *

There are some species of this family in which the wings of the
females are developed like those of the males.+ Such are the
Peppered Moth (Amphidasis betularia) and the Currant Moth

* With us this insect has a very limited range, being only found at New Brighton,
near Birkenhead, where it is most abundant.—Ep.

+ The exception is with those in which the wings are zot developed in both cases,
and in England this peculiarity is confined to species appearing during the winter
and early spring.—Ep. :

268 THE INSECT WORLD.

(Abraxas grossulariata), whose caterpillar lives on the red cur-
rant and gooseberry, and an immense number known as Thorns,
Carpets, Waves, &c.

The section of the Pyralina contains the smallest nocturnal
Lepidoptera, and nearly all those tiny species which flutter round
our lights in the evening.

Here are some drawings of a few of the numerous species of
this section, remarkable for their small size and beauty :—Penthina

Fig. 268.—Penthina pruniana,

pruniana, “dia pusiella, Xylopoda fabriciana, Paedisca autumnana,
Tortrix roborana, Philobacera fagana, Tortrix sorbiana, Antithesia

Qa, »

Fig. 269.—Aédia pusiella. Fig. 270.—Xylopoda fabriciana.

salicana, Poedisca occultana, Argyrolepia eneana, Sericoris Zinke-

nana, Sarrothripa revayana, Cochylis francilana, Choreutes dolo-
sana (Figs. 268 to 281).*

* Many of these are placed by some authors among the Pyralina, and by others
among the Tortricina.—Ep.

LEPIDOPTERA. 269

Tn a book of this kind we can only mention some types among
these last insects, which claim our attention in what we might
almost call a tyrannical manner. We will, therefore, content our-
selves by saying a few words about the Green Tortrix, the Pyralis

Fig. 271.—Peedisca autumnana. Fig. 272.—Tortrix roborana.

of the Vine, the Bee-hive Moth, some species of the Clothes Moth
family (Teneina), and finally of the Gicophore.

The Green Tortrix (Yortrix viridana) has wings of a green
colour, with the margin and fringe whitish on the anterior, and

eet XY

ou

Fig. 273.—Philobacera fagana. Fig. 274.—Tortrix sorbiana.

of an ashy grey on the posterior wings. The under-side of the
four wings is of a bright white, as if it had been silvered. This
pretty moth comes out in the month of May. It is so common
everywhere, that at this season it is only necessary to shake the
branches of the oaks which border the alleys of the woods to set
in motion hundreds of them. ‘The caterpillar is green, with black

270 THE INSECT WORLD.

warty spots, each having a hair of the same colour. They are
wonderfully lively, the moment they are disturbed taking refuge
in a rolled leaf, which serves them as a dwelling-place. If they
are pursued, they let themselves fall by the aid of a thread,

Fig. 275.—Antithesia salicana. Fig. 276.—Peedisca occultana. Fig. 277.—Argyrolepia
zeneana.

and do not re-ascend till they think they can count on repose
and security. This, and many kindred species, do a great deal
of damage to our trees. They strip them of their leaves, and
sometimes give them, during the first days of summer, the sad

Fig 278 —Sericoris Zinkenana. Fig. 279.—Sarrothripa revayana.

and melancholy appearance which they present in the middle of
winter.

We have just alluded to the tube formed of a rolled leaf, in
which the caterpillar takes refuge, and in which it lives. This

Fig. 280.—Cochylis francilana. Fig. 28i.—Choreutes dolosana.

tube it constructs itself. Réaumur has devoted a magnificent
‘hapter of his Memoirs to observations on the skill with which
divers species of caterpillars fold, roll, and bind the leaves of
plants and trees, especially those of the oak. Let us listen to the
great observer :—“ If one looks attentively at the leaves of the
oak tree towards the middle of the spring, many of them will be
seen to be rolled in different ways. The exterior surface of the

LEPIDOPTERA. 271

=

end of one of these leaves has, it appears, been rolled back towards
the interior surface, in order to describe the first turn of a spiral,
which is then-covered by many other turns (Fig. 282). Some

Fig. 282 —Oak leaf rolled perpendicularly. Fig. 283.— Oak leaf rolled sideways.

leaves are rolled towards their exterior surfaces, others are rolled
towards their interior surfaces, but in a totally different direction.
The length or axis of the first roll is perpendicular to the principal
rib and to the stalk of the leaf, the axis of the latter parallel to the
same rib (Fig. 283). Work of this kind would not be very difficult
to perform for those who had fingers; but caterpillars have neither
fingers nor anything equivalent to fingers. Moreover, to have
rolled the leaves is only to have done half the work: they must be
retained in a position from which their natural spring tends con-
stantly to draw them. The mechanism to which the caterpillars
have recourse for this second part of their work is easily perceived.
We see packets of threads attached by one end to the surface of
the roll, and by the other to the flat surface of the leaf. They are
so many bands, so many little cords which hold out against the
spring of the leaf. There are sometimes more than from ten to
twelve of these bands arranged nearly in the self-same straight
line. Lach band is a packet of threads of white silk, pressed one
against the other, and yet we must remember all are separate.’’*
Réaumur made the oak-leaf rollers work in his house. He has

* Mémoires pour servir 4 1’ Histoire des Insectes, tome ii., page 210 (5e Mémoire).

272 THE INSECT WORLD.

admirably described all their little manceuvres; but we lack the
space to convey to the reader the result of his minute observations.
In fact, the leaf-rollers construct for themselves a sort of cylin-
drical cell, which receives light only through the two extremities.
The convenience of this green fresh habitation is, that its walls
furnish food to the animal-which inhabits it. The caterpillar,
thus sheltered, sets to work to gnaw away at the end of the leaf
which it rolled first ; it then eats all the rolls it has made, up to
the very last.
Réaumur found also rolls which had been formed of two or three
leaves rolled lengthwise, and he saw that the leaves which had
occupied the centre had been almost entirely eaten. He saw also

Fig. 284.—Leaf of sorrel, a portion of which is cut and rolled perpendicularly to the leaf.

caterpillars which continued to eat while they were making their
habitation. Let us add that one of the ends of the roll is the
opening through which the caterpillar casts its excrement; that
the caterpillar can prepare itself a fresh roll, if it is turned out of
the first; and, lastly, that it is in a rolled leaf that the caterpillar
undergoes its metamorphoses into a chrysalis and into a moth.

Réaumur studied other leaf-rollers; for instance, those which
roll the leaves of nettles and of sorrel. ‘This last one works in a
manner which deserves to be mentioned. Its roll is of no parti-
cular shape, but it is its position which is remarkable. It is set
upon the leaf like a ninepin (Fig. 284). The caterpillar has not
only to twist it up into a roll, but also to place it perpendicularly
on the leaf.

Next to the rolling caterpillars, let us mention those which are
contented with folding the leaves. These caterpillars then lie in a
sort of flat box. Besides the rolling and folding caterpillars, there
are still those which bind up a good many leaves in one packet.

LEPIDOPTERA. 273

These packets are to be found on nearly every tree and shrub, and
the caterpillar, lying nearly in the middle of the packet, is well
sheltered, and surrounded by a good supply of food. We will
content ourselves by giving a drawing, after Réaumur, of the

Figs. 285 and 286.—Willow leaves rolled by a caterpillar, and section of a bundle of leaves drawn
together by a caterpillar.

pretty arrangement of the leaves of a species of willow (Figs. 285,
286). In the figures we see the parcel bound together by the
caterpillar. In that to the right we see the transverse section of
the packet of leaves magnified. At the two edges are seen the
threads which keep the leaves together, and the cavity occupied
by the caterpillar. -

The Vine Pyralis is Coe from a leaf-rolling caterpillar,
which deserves our attention on account of the ravages which it
has for some time committed, and which it still commits in vine-

T

274 THE INSECT WORLD.

yards. It was at the end of the sixteenth century that this
pyralis first showed itself in the environs of Paris, in the territory
of Argenteuil. “The inhabitants of this commune,” writes the
Abbé Lebceuf, “looked on the insects which spoiled their vines
in the spring of 1562 as a visitation of God. The Bishop of
Paris gave orders that they should offer up public prayers for
the diminution of these insects, and that they should join to their
prayers, exorcisms, without leaving the church.” Prayers, pro-
cessions, exorcisms, were again had recourse to, in 1629, in 1717,
and in 1733, to stop the ravages of this insect among the vines of
Colombes, in the territory of Ai.

The country of the Maconnais and the Beaujolais became in
their turn the theatre of the ravages of the pyralis. These
ravages very soon increased and spread. In 1886, 18387, 18388,
this plague raged in the departments of the Sadne et Loire, of
the Rhone, of the Cote-d’Or, of the Marne, of the Seine et Oise,
of the Charente Inférieure, of the Haut-Garonne, of the Pyrénées-
Orientales, and of the Hérault.

To give an idea of the losses which may be occasioned by the
pyralis, in a period of ten years (1828-1837), twenty three com-~
munes comprised in the two departments of the Sadne et Loire
and of the Rhone lost seventy-five thousand hectolitres of wine a
year, which may be valued at one million five hundred thousand
frances. .If we were to calculate the supply of articles of all sorts
which this great number of casks of wine would have necessitated,
the imposts on their transport, the duty, the taxes levied on their
sale, the carriage by land and water, which would have brought
receipts into the treasury, and lastly the diminution of taxes which
had to be granted for seven years to the vine proprietors in the
department of the Sadne et Loire, and in 1837 in the department
of the Rhéne, and which amounted to a total of more than a hun-
dred thousand franes, we shall find that the ravages of the pyralis
caused in these two departments an annual loss of three millions
four hundred and eight thousand francs, and as the visitation
lasted ten years, we get the enormous sum total of thirty-four
millions destroyed by the ravages of one species of insect. The
moth of the pyralis (Fig. 287) shows itself from the 10th to the
20th of June. It is yellowish, more or less shot with gold.

LEPIDOPTERA. 275

When at rest, its wings are folded back one over the other like
a roof. Its flight is of short duration, it contents itself with
going from one vine stock to another.

It is at sunset mostly that you see the moths of the pyralis
fluttering about. They remain quiet during the day, particularly

Fig. 287.—The Vine Pyralis. Fig, 288.—Caterpillar of the Vine
Pyralis.

when the sun is at its hottest. They live on an average for ten
days. The females lay their eggs—which are at first green, then
yellowish, then brown—on the lower surface of the leaves

The caterpillar of the pyralis (Fig. 288) is called in vulgar
parlance, according to the different places in which it occurs, vine
worm, summer worm, vintage worm, shell. In the south of France
it is called, in the patois of Languedoe, dabota. Almost immediately
after they leave the eggs, the little caterpillars hide themselves
in the fissures of the vine stocks or the props which support them.
They spin for themselves a small
cocoon of a greyish silk, in which
they remain curled up till the month
of May. From the moment the leaves
begin to develop they throw out threads
here and there, entangling all the
young shoots of the vine, which gives a desolate appearance to
the vineyards. The leaves of the vine are their favourite food,
but they attack the seeds of the grape also. It is said that in

T2

Fig. 289.—Chrysalis of the Vine Pyralis.

276 THE INSECT WORLD.

the morning you can. hear the noise made by the caterpillars
while eating. As they increase in size every day, the damage
they do goes on increasing, and has not reached the maximum

Fig. 290.—The Vine Pyra.is in its three states. 1. Leaf with batches of eggs laid upon it. 2. Batches
of recently laid egos. 3. Egesin which caterpillars can be perceived. 4. Batch of eges from
which the caterpillars have already emerged. 5. Small caterpillars hanging by threads. 6. Leat
with the chrysalis. 7. Caterpillar. 8 Moth.

of intensity till the moment when the caterpillars are about to
change into chrysalides. They are then three quarters of an inch
long and of a yellowish green colour.

From the 20th of June to the 10th of July, they seek shelter

LEPIDOPTERA. 207

in the dry and interlaced leaves which have already served them
for places of refuge and partly also for food, or else they make
themselves a fresh nest.

At the end of two or three days, the caterpillar has become a
chrysalis (Fig. 289), which in a short time assumes a brown
colour. Shut up in the interior of the cocoon which the cater-
pillar had spun before undergoing its metamorphosis, it changes
into a moth at the end of from fourteen to sixteen days.

The best way to diminish the ravages of the pyralis is to pluck
off the leaves which are laden with eggs and burn them, or bury
them in deep holes. :

Fig. 290, which we devote to the conspicuous insect whose
destructive history we have been here able to sketch only slightly,
gives all the particulars relating to this dangerous guest of the
vineyards. On a branch of the vine, may be perceived the pyralis
in the caterpillar state, the eggs which have been laid by the
moths, the chrysalides, and perfect insects. The eggs are shown
at two periods of their development.

The Bee-hive or Wax Galleria is to be met with in all countries
where bees are reared.

The moth (Fig. 291) hides itself
during the day round about the bee-
hives, and endeavours to make its way
into them after sunset. The caterpillar
is of a dirty white, with brown warty
spots, each surmounted by a fine hair.
It lives on wax, twines its threads
round the honeycomb and very soon causes the larvae contained
in it to perish.

When it emerges from the egg, which the female has laid in
the honey comb, the caterpillar makes for itself with the wax a
rounded tube, in which it is safe against the stings of the bees.
This tube, at first very small, is lengthened and enlarged as the
caterpillar increases in size. It is generally from three to five
inches in length. It is in the interior of this that the caterpillar
constructs itself a hard cocoon, resembling leather, and it changes
into a brownish chrysalis.

A species of the genus Butalis, the Butalis or Alucita granella,

Fig. 291.—Galleria cerella.

278 THE INSECT WORLD.

is, in certain cantons of France, one of the greatest pests to agri-
culture. The caterpillar of the Tinea granella undergoes its
metamorphosis in the interior of grains of barley and of wheat,
which it devours without being perceived from without. The
female lays her eggs on the grains of corn before
they are ripe. From four to six days after, the
eges are hatched, and the young caterpillars are

Fig. 292.~Tinea hevally as thick asa hair. Hach one takes pos-

Se a session of a grain of corn, and penetrates into
it by an imperceptible opening. They eat the flour without
injuring the teguments of the grain.

When it has attained.its full size it spins itself a cocoon of
white silk in the interior of the grain, which, after having been
its lodging and its larder, becomes for some time its tomb. It
has, however, taken care beforehand to make at the extremity of
the grain a circular opening, through which the moth may come
out when the grains have been threshed and stored up in the
eranary.

It is important to mention the T%neina, not because these
little moths are beautiful—they are, on the contrary, very dingy
—but because it is in this group that are found those insects
which do the greatest damage to our crops. The moths of the
genus Tinea are very small. Their wings, which are greyish
or brownish, are generally marked with whitish and yellowish
spots or lines. These are the little moths which, in our houses,
burn themselves so frequently in the flames of the candles.

Their caterpillars are small, voracious, and deserve, on account
of the damage which they cause, to be compared to rats and mice.
Furnished with powerful jaws, they destroy everything they
find in their way, such as woollen stuffs, hair, furs, feathers,

grain, &e.

The Yineina are divisible into three groups: Ist, the species
hurtful to our stuffs and furs; 2ndly, the species which destroy
our corn crops; 3rdly, the phytophagous species, that is to say,
those which feed on plants.

In the first sub-division must be classed the Fur Moth, the
Woollen Moth, and the Hair Moth.

The Woollen Moth is represented in the following figure. Its

LEPIDOPTERA. 279

caterpillar has the form of a worm, and is of a glossy whiteness,
with a few hairs thinly sprinkled over it and a grey line on
its back. It is enclosed in a tube, or sheath,
open at both ends, in the interior of which
is a sort of tissue of wool, sometimes blue,
sometimes green, sometimes red, according to
the colour of the stuff to which the insect Fig. 2 e Neoleanes
attaches itself and which it despoils. The
exterior of this sheath is, on the contrary, formed of silk made
by the insect itself, of a whitish colour.

The caterpillars are hardly hatched before they begin to clothe
themselves. Réaumur observed one of these worms during the
operation of enlarging its case. To do this it put its head out of

Fig. 294.—Larve of the Woollen Moth (Zinea tapezella).

one of the extremities of its sheath, and looked about eagerly, to
the right and to the left, for those bits of wool which suited it
best for weaving in. In Fig. 294, we see two larve occupied in
eating a piece of cloth.

“The larva changes its place continually and very quickly,”
says Réaumur. “Tf the threads of wool which are near it are not
such as it desires, it draws sometimes more than half its body
out of its case to go and look for better ones farther off. If it
finds a bit that pleases, the head remains fixed for an instant; it
then seizes the thread with the two mandibles which are below its
head, tears the bit out after redoubled efforts, and immediately

280 THE INSECT WORLD.

carries it to the end of the tube, against which it attaches it. It
repeats many times in succession a similar manceuvre, sometimes
coming partly out of its tube, and then again re-entering it to fix
against one of its sides a new piece of wool.”

After having worked for about a minute at one end of its tube,
it thinks of lengthening the other. It turns itself round in its
tube with such quickness, that you. would imagine it could not
have had time to do so, and would think that its tail was formed
in the same way as its head, and possessed the same address in
choosing and tearing out the bits of wool.

Furthermore, when the moth
which is working at elongating its
case does not find the threads or
hairs of wool to its taste within
reach of its head, it changes its
place. Réaumur saw this insect walking, at some speed even, car-
rying with it its case. It walks on its six front legs (Fig. 295).
With the middle and hind legs it clings to the interior of its case.

At the same time that the larva becomes longer it becomes
stouter. Very soon its garment will be too narrow for it. Will
it enlarge its old coat, or will it make itself a new one? Réaumur
discovered that it preferred to widen its old coat.

This is what our naturalist saw when he placed larvee with blue
cases, for instance, upon stuff of a red colour. The bands, which
extended in straight lines from one end of the case to the other, .
showed the part that had been added.

“From watching them at different times,” says this admirable
observer, “I find that the means which they employ is precisely
that to which we should have had recourse in a similar case. We
know of no other way of widening a sheath, a case of any stuff
that we find too narrow, than to split it right wp and to let in a
piece of the proper size between the parts which we have thus
divided ; we should let in a piece on each side if the shape of the
tube seemed to require it. This is also exactly what our larve do,
with an extra, and which with them is a necessary, precaution, so
as not to remain exposed whilst they are working at the enlarge-
ment of their garment. Instead of two pieces, which should each
be as long as their case, they let in four, each of which is not longer

Fig. 295.—Larva of a Tinea walking.

LEPIDOPTERA. 281

than half the length of their case; and so they never split up
more than half the length of the case at the same time, which has
enough stuff left in it to keep it together while this opening is
being filled up.”

The wools of our stuffs furnish the moths not only with clothing,
but also with food. Their excrements are little grains, which are
the same colour as the wool they have eaten.

When they are full grown, and the time approaches for their
metamorphosis, the larvee abandon their food, and establish them-
selves in the angles of the walls. They creep up to the ceilings
and suspend themselves to them by one SER of their uae:
The two ends of the tube are now closed bya 4
silken tissue (Fig. 296). The larva thus enclosed
very soon changes its form; it becomes a chry-
salis; then at the end of about three weeks it is
set free as a moth.

The Fur or Skin Moth works like the carpet
moth ; it makes itself a case of the same form, and 404i stoned to» piece
constructs it in the same manner. Only in this Pee
case its covering is made of a sort of felt resembling that of
which our hats are made.

While the Carpet Moth only detaches from the various stuffs
the wool it requires for clothing and nourishment, the Fur Moth
causes much more considerable and more rapid damage. It cuts
_ off all the hairs which are in its way right down to the skin ; it
seems as if it took a delight in cutting them off. That which is
necessary for its wants is nothing in comparison to the great quan-
tities of hair one sees fall off a skin on which it has established
itself, when it is shaken. As it advances it cuts more thoroughly
than a razor could all the hairs which are in its way.

The Hair Moth (Fig. 297) shows itself in great
numbers in the perfect state, from the end of April
till the beginning of June. They appear again in Ms. 297-—Hair Moth.
September, and generally stay behind cabinets and other pieces of
furniture.

The caterpillar, which is cylindrical, white, destitute of hair,
and striped with brown, lives principally in the hair with which
furniture is stuffed, and sometimes in hair mattresses. When

282 THE INSECT WORLD.

it has reached its full size, it abandons its abode, pierces through
the stuff which covers the hair, and constructs for itself with
this stuff a case of silk, open only towards the end where its
head is. At the beginning of April it shuts its case, and changes
itself into a chrysalis.

We can only here mention some of the phytophagous species,
as the Cherry-tree Moth (Tinea cerasiella), the Hawthorn Moth
(Tinea crategella), the Burdock Moth (Tinea lapelia), and the
Rustic Moth (Tinea rusticelia).

The caterpillars of the Ccophore resemble whitish worms.
They attack the leaves, the blossoms, the bark, and certain parts
of the fruit of trees. Some of these hollow out for themselves
galleries in eating the fleshy part; others also make galleries, but
only in the cuticle of the tree or in the tenderest part of its
bark. Some, again, shut themselves up in one or many leaves
rolled like a trumpet, while others keep at the summits of plants,
whose leaves they bind together in a parcel with threads. And,
lastly, some devour the stones of fruits, such as that of the olive.

The moths of these caterpillars are very small, and generally of
brilliant metallic colours. They are to be found in the woods, and
still more in the orchards, from the beginning of June till the
month of September.

The Cicophore are very slim and elegantly formed. Their
anterior wings, which are very narrow, are often ornamented with
silvery longitudinal lines, the posterior wings exactly resembling
two feathers.

The caterpillars live and metamorphose themselves in portable
cases, which they manufacture from the membranous portions of
leaves, whose flesh alone they eat. These cases are generally of
a brown colour, resembling a dead leaf. They are attached per-
pendicularly under the leaves of many trees, but often under those
of fruit trees.

Certain species of Gicophore have cases partly covered with
loose pieces only slightly attached, formed of portions of leaves,
and arranged in such a way that Réaumur compares them to the
furbelows which ladies used formerly to attach to the bottom of
their dresses.

Wi
ORTHOPTERA.

Amonce the Orthoptera* we meet with some of the largest of insects,
and particularly those which are of strange and extraordinary
shapes. The best known insects of this order are the Mantes,
Cockroaches, Earwigs,t Locusts, Grasshoppers, Crickets, &e.

The Orthoptera have the anterior wings long, narrow, half-
horny. These are elytra, which serve as cases for their second
wings, as is the case with the Coleoptera. But the elytra of the
Orthoptera are less solid and less complete than those of the
Coleoptera. Moreover, they generally over-lap each other when
the insect is at rest, which is another distinctive characteristic.
The second wings are membranous, very broad, and veined ; and,
when at rest, are folded up ike a fan. The mouth is composed of
free pieces. The mandibles, the jaws, and the two lips, always
well developed, show them to be insects which grind their food.
Their voracity, and the rapid way in which they multiply, some-
times make these insects the pest of the country. Above all, they
are to be met with in hot countries, where they cause such great
damage that all vegetation disappears on their passage. There
are not a great variety of species of Orthoptera. They are insects
whose metamorphoses are incomplete ; that is, they undergo only
trifling changes from the moment when the eges are hatched to
the time when the insect is fully developed.

When it leaves the egg, the young one resembles its parents ;

* From doc, straight, and mrepov, wing, on account of the manner in which the

under-wingss are folded under the upper.—Ep.
+ Made a separate Order, Dermaptera, by Kirby.—Ep.

284 THE INSECT WORLD.

it differs only in size and in having no wings. After moulting
four or five times it has almost reached its full growth, and its
wings begin to appear under a sort of membrane. ‘This is the
pupa state. A final moulting sets free the wings also, and the
insect, now perfect, launches itself into the air with its congeners.

The Orthoptera are vegetable feeders, and frequently commit
great ravages on various crops. They are divided into two groups,
viz., those which run, and those which jump or leap. We will begin
with those which run, which contain the Earwig (orficula), the
Cockroach (Blatta), the genus Mantis, or Leaf Insects, and the
genus Phasma.

The Forficula, or Earwig, is represented in Figs. 298, 299, 300,
in its three different states. The lower wings are very broad, and
folded at the same time like a fan, and doubled up. Its abdomen
terminates in a sort of pair of pincers, resembling those which the
jewellers formerly used for piercing the ears of young girls as a
preparatory step to their wearing ear-rings. Hence, without doubt,

Figs. 298, 299, 300.—Common Earwig (Forficula auricularia)—larva, pupa, and imago.

their French name of Perce-oreille, or ear-piercer; for there is
nothing to justify the vulgar belief that these insects introduce
themselves into the ear, and bore a hole in its interior, through
which they may penetrate into the brain; in fact, they are very
innocent insects, and do little harm. They live on vegetable
matter, and more especially the interiors of certain flowers.

The Forficule avoid the light. They are to be found in the
chinks of trees, under bark, and under stones. The female watches
over the eggs with maternal solicitude, and carries them away
elsewhere when they are touched. She also protects the larve

ORTHOPTERA. 285

and pup till they are strong enough to dispense with all
attention.

The Blatt, or Cockroaches, are very destructive insects, as the
name, derived from the Greek word BAarrew, to damage, implies.
They are omnivorous, attacking all sorts of dead substances,
vegetable and animal. Horace reproaches them with devouring
stuffs like the moths :—

* Cui stragula vestis,
Blattarum ac tinearum epule,
Putrescit im arca.”

These disagreeable msects devour our eatables, abounding in
kitchens, in bakers’ shops, on board merchant vessels, &c. Their
flattened bodies allow them easily to introduce themselves into the
cracks of cases or barrels ; so that, to be safe against their attacks,
it is necessary, on long voyages, to shut up the goods in zinc-
lined boxes, or cases made of sheet-iron well soldered together.

Chamisso relates that the sailors having opened some barrels
which should have contained rice and wheat, found them filled
with German Cockroaches (Blatta Germanica). This transub-
stantiation was not very agreeable to the crew! Other naturalists
have seen this insect invading by millions bottles which had con-
tained oil. The Cockroach is very fond also of the blacking on
boots, and devours leather and all. One pupa sometimes eats the
skin cast off by another pupa, but a Cockroach has never been
known to attack another, with a view to eating him afterwards.

These Orthoptera have a flat broad body, the thorax very much
developed, the antennze very long, and the legs thin but strong,
which enable them to run with remarkable quickness. Thev
diffuse around them a sickening odour, which often hangs about
objects they have touched. Aristophanes, the comic Greek poet,
mentions this peculiarity in his comedy of ‘The Peace.” They
come out mostly at night, and hide themselves during the day.
They are the most cosmopolitan of all insects. Carried over in _
ships, they perpetuate everywhere, just like weeds! Persian
powder, composed of pulverised pyrethra, is an excellent means
to employ for their destruction.

_ Most of the species of cockroaches are black or brownish. Two

286 THE INSECT WORLD.

among them, the Blatta Germanica and the Blatta Laponica,
which are to be met with in the woods round about Paris, have
domesticated themselves in dwellings of the northern countries.
They are a quarter of an inch in length. The Russians pretend
that the former was imported from Prussia by their army, on its
return from Germany, after the Seven Years’ War (1756—1762).
Till this period it was unknown at St. Petersburg, where now-a-
days it is met with in great numbers. It lives in houses, and
eats pretty nearly everything, but prefers white bread to flour and
meat. The Blatta Laponica devours the smoked fish prepared for
the winter.

The German naturalist, Hummel, made some interesting obser-
vations on the development and habits of the very prolific Blatta
Germanica. It lays its eggs in a silky capsule, which is in the
form of a bean, with two valves in the interior. This is drawn
about for some time appended to the extremity of the abdomen,
and after a time abandoned.

Hummel placed under a bell-glass a female cockroach and a
perfect egg-pouch, which had only just been abandoned by another
female. He saw the cockroach approach:the bag, feel it, and turn
it about in all directions. She then took it between her front
legs, and made a longitudinal opening in it. As the opening grew
wider, little white larvae were seen to come from it rolled up and
attached two together. The female presided at this operation.
She assisted the larve to set themselves free, aiding them out
gently with her antenne. Jn a few seconds they were able to
walk, when she ceased to trouble herself about them.

The larvee change their skin six times before reaching the per-
fect state. When they come out of their skin they are colourless,
but the colour comes in a few minutes. At the fifth moult, which
takes place three months ‘after birth, they become pupz, with
rudimentary wings, the whole shape of the insect bemg well
marked. The sixth, or last moult, takes place at the end of six
. weeks. The pupa is now changed into a perfect insect. The
female is distinguished from the male by the greater size of her
abdomen.

The most destructive of the Blatte, or Cockroaches, are those
which have been imported into Europe by the ships coming from

ORTHOPTERA. 287

the colonies. The Kakerlac Americana is from one inch to one
inch and a quarter long. It infests ships, running about at night
over the sleeping passengers, and devouring the food. They are
to be met with in all parts of the world. They abound par-
ticularly inthe warm parts of America. The Blatta orientalis is
more commonly met with than the above. It swarms in kitchens,
in bakers’ shops, provision shops, &c., where it hides in the
eracks of the walls, or against the hinges of the doors. It is a
small hideous animal, of a re-
pulsive smell, and of a reddish
brown colour. It is a little
larger than the Blatta Ameri-
cand. In France it is called by
various names, such as Cafard,
Panetiére, Notrot, Béte noir, &c.
If in the middle of the night you
suddenly enter with a light into
the down-stairs kitchens, you will
often see these little beasts run-
ning about on the table, and
devouring the remains of the
food, with astonishing rapidity.

The largest species of the genus of which we are now treating
is the Kakerlac insignis, which inhabits Cayenne and Brazil, and
in length sometimes exceeds an inch and three-quarters, and in
the extent of its wings four inches and a half.

It is principally in hot countries that the cockroaches do the
greatest damage. In the Antilles, of which they are the pest, it
is affirmed that they can in one single night bore holes through
trunks, through cases, and through bags, and destroy objects
which were supposed to be in perfect safety. Sometimes the
walls, the floors, the beds, the tables, everything, in short, is
infested by them, and it is impossible to find a way of preserving
the food from their repulsive touch. One can, however, partially
succeed in destroying them by the aid of insect powders. They
have, besides, natural enemies. Poultry and owls are very fond
of them. A species of wasp, Chlorion compressum, lays up a stock
of cockroaches, which it previously renders insensible, for its

Fig. 301.—The Cockroach (Blatta orientalis).

288 THE INSECT WORLD.

larve. Many species of Chalcidie, a family of Hymenoptera, also
live on the eggs of these Orthoptera. There are also among
the cockroaches certain brightly-coloured exotic species. These
colours show that they do not avoid the light. We will mention
as examples the Brachycola robusta and the species of Corydia.

The Mantide are pretty insects, of very different habits from
the preceding. They alone of the Orthoptera are carnivorous.
They eat live insects, seizing their prey as it passes by them.
They rest generally on shrubs, remaining for hours together per-
fectly motionless, the better to deceive other insects which are to
become their victims.

It is this fixed and, as it were, meditative attitude which has
gained for them the name of Manis, derived from the Greek word
péves, or “ diviner,”’ as it was imagined that in this attitude they
interrogated the future. The manner in which they hold their
long front legs, raised like arms to heaven, has also -contributed
to make this superstitious notion believed, and sufficiently explains
the names given to divers species of Mantide; such as Nun,
Saint, Preacher, Suppliant, Mendicant, &c. Caillaud, the traveller,
tells us that in Central Africa a Mantis is an object of worship.
According to Sparmann, another species is worshipped by the
Hottentots. If by chance a Mantis should settle on a person,
this person is considered by them to have received a particular
favour from heaven, and from that moment takes rank among
the saints !

In France the country people believe that these insects point
out the way to travellers. Mouffet, a naturalist of the seventeenth
century, says on this subject, in a description of the Mantis—
“This little creature is considered of so divine a nature, that to
a child who asks it its way, 1t points it out by stretching out one
of its legs, and rarely or never makes a mistake.” ;

In the eyes of the Languedoc peasants the Mantis religiosa is
almost sacred. They call it Prega-Diou (Prie-Dieu), and believe
firmly that it performs its devotions—its attitude, when it is
on the watch for its prey, resembling that of prayer. Settled on
the ground, it raises its head and thorax, clasps together the
joints of its front legs, and remains thus motionless for hours
together. But only let an imprudent fly come within reach of our

ORTHOPTERA. 289

devotee, and you will see it stealthily approach it, like a cat who
is watching a mouse, and with so much precaution that you can
scarcely see that it is moving. Then, all of a sudden, as quick as

Fig. 302.—Mantis religiosa and its larva (A). Blepharis mendica and its larva (B).

lightning, it seizes its victim between its legs, provided with

sharp spines, which cross each other, conveys it to its mouth,

and devours it. Our make-believe Nun, Preacher, our Prega-
. U

299 THE INSECT WORLD.

Diou, is nothing better than a patient watcher and pitiless
destroyer. The Mantis religiosa (Fig. 302), common enough in
the south of France, comes as far north as the environs of Fon-
tainbleau. The Mantis oratoria, rather smaller, is less commonly
met with. |

These elegant insects are remarkable for their long slim bodies,
their large wings, and their colours, which are generally very
bright. In some species their green or yellowish elytra look so
exactly like the leaves of trees that one can hardly help taking
them for such.

The Mantis lays its eggs at the end of summer, in rounded,
very fragile shells, attached to the branches of trees; they do not
hatch till the following summer. The larve undergo several
successive moultings. Nothing equals the ferocity of these
Orthoptera. If two of them are shut up together, they engage ~
in a desperate combat; they deal each other blows with their
front legs, and do not leave off fencing till the stronger of the
two has succeeded in eating off the other’s head. From their very
birth, the larvee attack each other. The male being smaller than
the female, is often its victim.

Kirby tells us that in China the children procure them as in
France they do cockchafers, and shut them up in bamboo cages
to enjoy the exciting spectacle of their combats.

Acanthops, a genus of this family, inhabits the Brazils.

Akin to the Mantis are the Hremiaphile, which live in the
deserts of Africa and Arabia. They drag themselves gently along
on the ground, and as they are of the same colour as the sand on
which they are found, it is very difficult to distinguish them when
at rest. The traveller, Lefebvre, relates that he always found
these Orthoptera in places destitute of all vegetation, and where
there were no other sorts of insects which could have served them
for food; it is therefore probable that they live on microscopic
insects.

The Empusa, which forms another genus of Mantide, has the
antennze indented like a comb in the males, thread-like in the
females. The Hmpusa gongylodes, which inhabits Africa, has
cuffs to its arms and flounces to its robe.

The genus Blepharis, to which belongs the Blepharis mendica,

ORTHOPTERA. 291

is met with in Egypt, Arabia, and in the Canary Islands. ‘This
insect, which is of a pale green, is not rare in the south of France.
It is represented with the Mantis religiosa in Fig. 302.

The Phasme, or Spectres, are distinguished from the Mantide by
their very elongated bodies, straight and stiff as a stick, by their
having no prehensile legs, and by their food, which is exclusively
vegetable. Their eggs are laid uncovered, having no silky envelope.
As for the habits of these insects, they are little known, the
greatest number of the species being exotics, inhabiting chiefly
South America, Asia, Africa, and New Holland. It is in this
tribe that we meet the most extraordinary and the most mon-
strously shaped insects, as the popular names they have received
in different countries show: such as Spectres, Phantoms, Devil’s
Horses, Soldiers of Cayenne, Walking Leaves, Animated
Sticks, &e.

Among the Phasme we also find the largest insects known, for
they attain a considerable length, Phasma gigas nearly reaching a
foot. The most beautiful are those of New Holland and of Tas-
mania, such as Cyphocrana (Phasma) gigas.

Some species are destitute of wings, and resemble so exactly
dry sticks that it is impossible to tell the difference. The best
known is the Bacillus (Phasma) Rossia (Fig. 303), which is found
in the south of France. This inoffensive insect walks gently
along the branches of trees, and hikes to repose in the sun, its
long antennz-like legs stretched out in front. Others of the
genus Phyllium are provided with wings, and have altogether the
appearance of the leaves on which they live ; such are the Walking
Leaves of the Hast Indies. According to Cunningham, all these
insects are of solitary and peaceable habits. They are only to
be met with, alone or in pairs, drawing themselves gently along
on shrubs, on which they pass the hottest months of the year.
Some of them, when they are seized, emit a milky liquid, of a
very strong and disagreeable odour.

_ Those Orthoptera which we have already mentioned had all

their six legs adapted to running, and are called Cursoria. Those

which jump, to which we now come, have their hind-legs

stronger and thicker, which enables them to leap, and are on that

account called Saltatoria. This section comprises three families,
u 2

292 THE INSECT WORLD.

which have for their principal types the Crickets, Locusts, and
Grasshoppers.
All these insects resemble each other in the disproportion which

i
f :
Hf} :) py
Ue
Mi

Fig. 303.—Phasma Rossia—male, female, and larva.

exists between their hind-legs and the other pairs. Another
characteristic which is common to them consists in the song of the
males. This song, so well known, which seems to have for its

ORTHOPTERA. 293

object to call the females, is nothing but a sort of stridulation or
screeching, produced by the rubbing together of the wing cases, or
elytra. But the mechanism by which this is produced varies a
little in all the three kinds. With the Crickets the whole surface
of the wing cases is covered with thick nervures, very prominent
and very hard, which cause the noise the insect produces in rub-
bing the elytra one against the other. With the Locusts, there
exists only at the base of the elytra a transparent membrane called
the mirror, which is furnished with prominent nervures, and
produces the screeching noise. And, lastly, in the Crickets the
thighs and elytra are provided with very hard ridges. The
thighs, being passed rapidly and with force over the nervures of
the elytra, produce the sound, in the same way as a fiddle-bow
when drawn across the strings of a violin. With all these insects
the male alone is endowed with the faculty of producing sound.

The Crickets and Grasshoppers have very long thin antenne,
whilst the Locusts have short antenne, and either flattened
or filiform, or swelling out at one extremity like a club. The
female of the first two is provided with an ovipositor in the shape
of an auger.

We will study successively the three types of these families,
that is to say, the Crickets, the Locusts, and the Grasshoppers.

S S 2 ~, S Nv
Fig. 304.—Field Cricket ( Gryllus campestris).

The Field Cricket (Gryllus campestris, Fig. 304) lives alone in a
hole which it digs in the ground, and in which it remains during
the day. It only quits its retreat at night, when it goes in

294 THE INSECT WORLD.

search of food. It is very timid, and at the least noise ceases its
song. If it is stationed on the side of its hole, it retreats into it
the moment any one approaches.

The holes of the crickets are well known to country children,
who take these insects by presenting a straw to them. The
pugnacious cricket seizes it directly with its mandibles, and
lets itself be drawn out of its hole. It is this which has given
rise to the saying, “plus sot qgu’un grillon” (a greater fool than a
cricket). It is very susceptible of cold, and always makes the
opening of its hole towards the south. It lives on herbs, perhaps
also on insects.

The House Cricket is about half an inch long, of an ashy colour,
and is to be met with principally in bakers’ shops and country
kitchens, where it hides itself during the day in the crevices of the
walls or at the back of the fireplaces. It eats flour, and also,
perhaps, the little insects which live in flour.

If crickets are put into a box together, they devour each
other. This does not prove conclusively that they are carnivorous,
for there are many species, eating nothing but vegetables, which
would destroy each other in a similar case. Some authors say
that these insects are always thirsty, for they are often to be found
drowned in the vessels containing any kind of liquid. Everything
damp is to their taste. It is for this reason that they sometimes
make holes in wet clothes, which are hung up before the fire to
dry. ‘They inhabit, by preference, houses newly built; for the
mortar, being still damp, allows them to hollow out their dwelling:
places with greater ease.

The habits of the House Cricket (Grylls domesticus) are noc-
turnal, like those of its congener of the fields. It is only at night
that it leaves its retreat to seek its food. When it is exposed
against its will to the light of day, it appears to be in a state of
torpor. This insect reminds one of the owl, among birds, not
only from its habit of avoiding the light, but also from its mono-
tonous song, which the vulgar consider, one does not know why, a
foreboding of ill-luck to the house in which it is heard. Formerly
this singular prejudice was much deeper rooted than it is at
present. The song of the cricket has merely the object of calling
the female. The Wood Cricket (Gryllus (Nemobius) sylvestris) is

ORTHOPTERA. 295

much smaller than the above, and is met with in great numbers
in the woods, where its leaps sometimes produce the noise of drops
of rain.

The female crickets have a long auger, with which they deposit
their eggs, of which each one lays, towards the middle of the
summer, about three hundred, in the cracks and crevices of the
soil. The larve pass the winter in that state, and do not become
pupee and perfect insects till the following summer.

Mouffet relates that, in certain regions of Africa, the crickets
are objects of commerce. They are brought up in little cages, as
we do Canary birds, and sold to the inhabitants, who lke to hear
their amorous chant. This song lulls them to sleep. It is said
that certain peoples eat these insects. In France they are sought

Fig. 305.—Mole Cricket (Gryllo-talpa vulgaris).

after as baits for fishing, and are used also in menageries for
feeding small reptiles. Next to Gryllus come the genera Gican-
thus, insects of the south of Europe, which live on plants, and
which one often sees fluttering about flowers; Spheria, which
live in ant-hills; Platydactylus; and, lastly, the Mole Cricket
(Gryllo-talpa), whose habits deserve attention for awhile.

296 3 THE INSECT WORLD.

The Mole Crickets are distinguished from all other insects by
the structure of their fore-légs, which are wide and indented, in
such a manner as to resemble a hand, analogous to that of the
mole. This hand betrays its habits much better than our hands
betray ours. One need not be much of a fortune-teller to read on
it its digging habits. They make use of their hands, indeed, as
spades, with which they hollow out subterranean galleries, and
accumulate at the side of the entrance-hole the rubbish thus
drawn out. Their French name comes from the old French word
courtille, which means garden. It reminds one that these are
the favourite haunts of these destructive insects.

If the Mole Crickets, or Courtiliéres, have spades to their front
legs, their hind-legs are very little developed, so that it would
be perfectly impossible for them to jump, particularly as their
large abdomen would hinder their so doing. The wings are broad,
and fold back in the form of a fan; they make little use of
them, and it is only at night-fall that the mole cricket is seen
to disport himself, describing curves of no great height in the
air. It is found principally in cultivated land, kitchen-gardens,
nursery gardens, wheat fields, &c., where it scoops out for itself
an oval cavity communicating with the surface by a vertical hole
(fig. 306). On this hole abut numerous horizontal galleries,
more or less inclined, which permit the insect to gain its retreat
by a great many roads when pursued.

It is easy to understand that an insect which undermines land
in this way must cause great damage to cultivation. Whether
the crops serve it for food or not, they are not the less destroyed
by its underground burrowings. Lands infested by the mole
ericket are recognisable by the colour of the vegetation, which
is yellow and withered; and the rubbish which these miners
heap up at the side of the openings leading to their galleries,
resembling mole-hills in miniature, betrays their presence to the
farmer. ‘To destroy them, they pour water or other liquids into
their nests, or else they bury, at different distances, vessels filled
with water, in which they drown themselves. From the month
of April the males betake themselves to the entrance of their
burrows and make their cry of appeal. Their notes are slow,
vibrating, and monotonous, and repeated for a long time without

ORTHOPTERA. 297

interruption, and somewhat resembling the ery of the owl or the
goat-sucker.
The impregnated female lays her eggs, to the number of from

Fig. 306.—The nest of the Mole Cricket ( Gryllo-talpa vulgaris).

two to three hundred, in the interior of a sort of chamber scooped
out in soil stiff enough to resist the action of rain. The hatching
takes place at the end of a month.

298 THE INSECT WORLD.

Tt is not till the following spring that the larve pass into
the pupa state, and that the organs of flight begin to be marked
out. According to M. Féburier, three years are required for the
complete development of the mole cricket, which is a fact that
indicates remarkable longevity in these insects. All authors
agree, moreover, in extolling the solicitude with which the mole
cricket takes care of her little ones. She watches over them, and,
they say, procures them food. |

The genus Tridactylus, which bears a great analogy to the mole
cricket, is the smallest genus of Orthoptera known: the species
are not more than a sixth of an inch in length, and are found
in the south of France, on the banks of the Rhone and other
rivers, where they disport themselves in sand exposed to the sun.
The Trydactyli leap with remarkable agility, even on the surface
of the water, for their legs are provided with flat appendages much
resembling battledores.

The Grasshoppers and Locusts take much longer leaps than the
Crickets, owing to the conformation of their hind-legs, and they
often make use of their wings also, which are very fully developed.
These insects are unable to walk on account of the disproportion
which exists between their different pairs of legs. The female is
provided with a curved auger with two valves, which serves for
breaking up the ground for the reception of its eggs. The male
ae oauees a sharp stridulation or screeching sound, by rubbing
the cases of its wings, which are furnished with plates which
might be compared to cymbals, one against another.

The song of the grasshopper, known by every one, is a mono-
tonous zic-zic-zic, which can be heard during the day in grassy
places. It is on account of this song that the name of Cigale is
sometimes given, though wrongly, to the great green grasshopper.
As we have already said in speaking of the Cigale, it is the green
grasshopper which La Fontaine had in view in his fable of La
Cigale et la Fourmi, for all the plates which ornament the ancient
editions of the fables of this author represent a grasshopper, and
not a Cigale. Grasshoppers are spread over the whole surface of
the earth, but are to be met with chiefly in South America, which
contains nearly three-fourths of the species known. The Huropean
species, on the contrary, are few.

ORTHOPTERA. 298.

Their habits resemble those of the other herbivorous Orthoptera.
They live in meadows, on trees, devouring the leaves and stalks
of plants; but they are never found in such great numbers as
to cause damage at all to be compared to that caused by the
Locust. They appear in the month of July and disappear at the
beginning of the cold weather. Towards the end of the summer,
their song is heard in the meadows and wheat fields. The females,
summoned by the males, are not long in coupling and laying their
egos, which do not hatch until the following spring, in the ground.
After four months the larve change into pupz, which already
show rudimentary wings, and which by a fifth month pass into
the perfect state.

The Great Green Grasshopper (Locusta viridissima) is very com-
mon in Hurope. It remains during the day on trees, and in
the evening disports itself in the fields.

=

Fig. 307.—Decticus verrucivorus.

The Decticus verrucivorus (Fig. 307) 1s a shorter and more
thick-set species, whose distinctive feature is a very broad head.
Its colour is grey of various shades, and it is to be heard singing
during the day in fields of ripe wheat. The name comes from
the use made of it by the peasants in Sweden and Germany as a
cure for warts.

300 . THE INSECT WORLD.

“The peasants,’ says Charles de Geer, ‘make these locusts
bite the warts which they often have on their hands, and the
liquid which at the same time flows from the insect’s mouth into
the wound, causes the warts to dry up and disappear. It is for
this reason they have given them the name of Wart-bit or Wart-
biter.”

The Phaneroptere and the Copiphores are exotic Locusts. The
Ephippigeré are small species whose thorax, which is very convex,
resembles a saddle.

One often meets in the environs of Paris the Vine Ephippiger
(Ephippigera vitium), which is greenish, with four brown stripes on
its head. In this species the wing cases, or elytra, are almost
obsolete, and the wings are reduced to mere arched scales whose
friction produces a stridulation or screeching noise. The females
are provided with a similar apparatus, so that they perform duets.*

The genus Gryllacris resembles the crickets. It contains the
Anostostome of New Holland, which are said to be destitute of
wings, even in the perfect state.

We arrive now at the redoubtable tribe of Acridiwm, or Locust,
whose fearful ravages are so well known.

These are, among the Orthoptera, the best adapted for jump-
ing. The thigh and the leg, folded together when at rest,
are stretched out suddenly under the action of very powerful
muscles. The body, resting then on the tarsi and on the flexible
spines of the legs, is shot into the air to a great height.
They fly very well, but the power of walking and running is
denied to them, as it is also to the other Sadtatoria. The females
have no ovipositor. This peculiarity, and the formation of their
antenne, which are very short, distinguish the Locusts from the
Grasshoppers.

The males, as we have already said, make a shrill stridulation
by rubbing their thighs over their elytra. There is never more
than one thigh in motion at a time; the insect using the right
and the left by turns. The sound is made stronger by a sort of

* The species of genus Saga sometimes reach extraordinary dimensions. Thus,
in 18638, there was found in Syria, after a shower of ordinary locusts, a specimen
of the Saga which was three inches and a quarter long. It was presented to the
Museum of Natural History of Paris, by M. L. Delair.

ORTHOPTERA. 301

drum filled with air, and covered with a very thin skin, which is
found on each side of the body, at the base of the abdomen. The
locust’s song is less monotonous than that of the grasshopper.
It is capable of much variation; it is a noise just like that of a
rattle, but with sounds which vary very much, according to the
species. j

They move about by day, frequent dry places, and are very
fond of sitting on the grass in the sun. Certain species, which
inhabit the warm regions of the south, move their legs with
scarcely any noise; it being only perceptible to a very fine ear.

Locusts are very abundant in many parts of the world. In
northern countries, where they multiply less rapidly, their ravages
are less disastrous, though still very considerable. But in the
southern portions of the globe they are a perfect pest—the eighth
plague of Egypt. Certain species multiply in such a prodigious

Fig. 308.—Locust (Acridium (CGidipoda) migratoriam).

manner, that they lay waste vast spaces of land, and in a very
short time reduce whole countries to the very last state of misery.
These insects inflate themselves with air, and undertake journeys
during which they travel more than six leagues a day, laying
waste all vegetation on their road.

The most destructive species is the Migratory Locust (Acridium
or Ctdipoda migratoria, Fig. 308), which is very common in
Africa, India, and throughout the whole of the East. Isolated
specimens of this insect are to be found in the meadows round
about Paris, especially towards the end of the summer, and, very

302 THE INSECT WORLD.

rarely, in England. This species is greenish, with transparent
elytra of a dirty grey, whitish wings, and pink legs. A second
species, the Italian locust, also does a great deal of damage in the
south. All the species undergo five moults, which take six weeks
each. The last takes place at the end of the hot weather, towards
the autumn. :

It is especially in warm climates that they become such fearful
pests to agriculture. Wherever they alight, they change the
most fertile country into an arid desert. They are seen coming
in innumerable bands, which, from afar, have the appearance of
stormy clouds, even hiding the sun. As far and as wide as the
eye can reach the sky is black, and the soil is inundated with
them. The noise of these millions of wings may be compared
to the sound of a cataract. When this fearful army alights
upon the ground, the branches of the trees break, and in a few
hours, and over an extent of many leagues, all vegetation has
disappeared, the wheat is gnawed to its very roots, the trees are
stripped of their leaves. Everything has been destroyed, gnawed
down, and devoured. When nothing more is left, the terrible
host rises, as if in obedience to some given signal, and takes its
departure, leaving behind it despair and famine. It goes to look -
for fresh food—seeking whom, or rather in this case, what it may
devour !

During the year succeeding that in which a country has been
devastated by showers of locusts, damage from these insects is the
less to be feared ; for it happens often that after having ravaged
everything, they die of hunger before the laying season begins.
But their death becomes the cause of a greater evil. ‘Their innu-
merable carcasses, lying in heaps and heated by the sun, are not
long in entering into a state of putrefaction ; epidemic disease,
caused by the poisonous gases emanating from them, soon break
out, and decimate the populations. ‘These locusts are bred in the
deserts of Arabia and Tartary, and the east winds carry them into
Africa and Europe. Ships in the eastern parts of the Mediter-
ranean are sometimes covered with them at a great distance from
the land.

It is related in the Bible, in the tenth chapter of Exodus, that
Jehovah commanded Moses to stretch forth his hand to make

ORTHOPTERA. 303

locusts (Arbeth) come over the whole land of Egypt, as the eighth
plague, destined to intimidate Pharaoh, who had rebelled against
Him. These insects arrived, brought by an east wind, and covered
the surface of the country to such a degree that the air was
darkened by them.*

They ate up all the herbs of the field and all the fruit of the
trees which the hail (the seventh plague) had left. A west wind
swept them away again, when Pharaoh had at last promised to
allow the children of Israel to depart.

Pliny relates that in many places in Greece a law obliged the
inhabitants to wage war against the locusts three times a year ;
that is to say, in their three states of egg, larva, and adult. In
the isle of Lemnos the citizens had to pay as taxes so many
measures of locusts. In the year 170 before our era, they devas-
tated the environs of Capua. In the year of our Lord 18],
they committed great ravages in the north of Italy and in Gaul.
In 1690 locusts arrived in Poland and Lithuania by three
different ways, and, as it were, in three different bodies. “They
were to be found in certain places where they had died,” writes
the Abbé Ussaris, an eye-witness, ‘‘lying on one another in heaps
of four feet in height. ‘Those which were alive perched upon the
trees, bending their branches to the ground, so great was their
number. The people thought that they had Hebrew letters on
their wings. A rabbi professed to be able to read on them words
which signified God’s wrath. The rains killed these insects:
they infected the air; and the cattle, which ate them in the grass,
died immediately.”

In 1749, locusts stopped the army of Charles XII., King of
Sweden, as it was retreating from Bessarabia, on its defeat at
Pultowa. The king thought that he was assailed by a hailstorm,

* “ And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord
brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it
was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts went up over all
the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt; very grievous were they ;
before them were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. For
they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they
did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left ;
and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field,
through all the land of Egypt.” —Exod. x. 18—16.

304 THE INSECT WORLD.

when a host of these insects beat violently against his army as it
was passing through a defile, so that men and horses were blinded
by this living hail, falling from a cloud which hid the sun. The
arrival of the locusts had been announced by a whistling sound
like that which precedes a tempest ; and the noise of their flight
quite overpowered the noise made by the Black Sea. All the
country round about was soon laid waste on their route. During
the same year a great part of Hurope was invaded by these pests,
the newspapers of the day being full of accounts relating to this
public calamity. In 1753 Portugal was attacked by them. This
was the year of the earthquake of Lisbon, and all sorts of
plagues seemed at this time to rage furiously in that unfortunate
country.

In 1780, in Transylvania, their ravages assumed such gigantic
proportions that it was found necessary to call in the assistance of
the army. Regiments of soldiers gathered them together and
enclosed them in sacks. Fifteen hundred persons were employed
in crushing, burying, and burning them; but, in spite of all this,
their number did not seem to diminish; but a cold wind, which
fortunately sprang up, caused them to disappear. In the fol-
lowing spring the plague broke out again, and every one turned
out to fight against it. The locusts were swept with great brooms
into ditches, in which they were then burnt; not, however, before
they had ruined the whole country. Locusts showed themselves
at the same time in the empire of Morocco, where they caused
a fearful famine. The poor were to be seen wandering on all
sides digging up the roots of vegetables, and eagerly devouring
camels’ dung, in hopes of finding in it a few undigested grains
of barley.

Barrow and Levaillant, in their travels through Central Africa,
speak of similar calamities having happened many times between
1784 and 1797. They add that the surface of the rivers was
then hidden by the bodies of the locusts, which covered the whole
country.

According to Jackson, in 1739 they covered the whole surface
of the ground from Tangiers to Mogador. All the region near
to the Sahara was ravaged, whilst on the other side of the
river El Klos there was not one of these insects. When the wind

ORTHOPTERA. 305

blew they were driven into the sea, and their carcasses occasioned
a plague which laid Barbary waste.

India and China often fall victims to these destructive insects.
In 1785 clouds of locusts hid from the Chinese both the sun and.
moon. Not only the standing crops, but also the corn in the
barns and the clothes in the houses being devoured.

In the south of France locusts multiply sometimes so prodi-
giously, that in a very short time many barrels may be filled with
their eggs. They have caused, at different periods, immense:
damage. It was chiefly in the years 1613, 1805, 1820, 1822,
1824, 1825, 1832, and 1834, that their visits to the south of France:
were most formidable.

Mézeray relates that in the month of January, 1613, in the reign
of Louis XIII., locusts invaded the country around Arles. In
seven or eight hours the wheat and crops were devoured to the.
roots over an extent of country of 15,000 acres. They then crossed
over the Rhine, and visited Tarascon and Beaucaire, where they
ate the vegetables and lucerne. They then shifted their quarters
to Aramon, to Monfrin, to Valabregues, &., where they were
fortunately destroyed in great part by the starlings and other
insect-eating birds, which flocked in innumerable numbers to this.
game.

The consuls of Arles and of Marseilles caused the eggs to be:
collected. Arles spent, for this object, 25,000 francs, and Mar-
seilles 20,000 francs. 3,000 quintals of eggs were interred or
thrown into the Rhéne. If we count 1,750,000 eggs per quintal,.
that will give us a total of 5,250,000,000 of locusts destroyed in the
ege, which otherwise would have very soon renewed the ravages of
which the country had so lately been the victim. In 1822 were
spent again, in Provence, 2,227 francs for the same object. In
1825 were spent 6,200 francs. A reward of 50 centimes was given
for every kilogramme of eggs, and half the sum for every kilo-
eramme of insects. The eggs collected were burnt, or else crushed
under heavy rollers. The gathering was entrusted to women and
children. The operation consisted in dragging along the ground
great sheets, the corners of which were held up. The locusts came
and settled on these, and were caught by rolling the sheet up.

In the territory of Saintes-Maries, situated not far from Aigues-

x

306 THE INSECT WORLD.

Mortes, on the Mediterranean coast, 1,518 wheat sacks were filled
with dead locusts, amounting in weight to 68,861 kilogrammes,
and at Arles 165 sacks, or 6,600 kilogrammes. The rewards
given amounted to 5,542 frances; but, notwithstanding all this, the
following year the locusts caused still greater damage.

Locusts are always to be found in Algeria, in the provinces of
Oran, Bona, Algiers, and Bougia, but they never commit those .
terrible ravages which change cultivated countries into deserts.
There are in Algeria years of locusts as there are with us years of
cockroaches, of blight, of caterpillars, &. These plagues are
fortunately rare. The most terrible took place in 1845 and in 1866.
In the former year a formidable invasion of locusts took place. It
lasted five months, from March to July, each day bringing new
bands of these devastating insects: and M. Henry Berthoud,
then in Algeria, saw a column of them, whose passage began
before daylight, and had scarcely ended at four o’clock in the
afternoon. Dr. Guyon, doctor to the army, and correspondent
of the Institute, addressed to this learned body an account of a
few peculiarities of this invasion, of which he was a witness. He
speaks of a band which passed on the 16th of March over the
plain of Sebdon, going in the direction of the desert of Angard.
Their passage lasted three hours. The locusts, having found
nothing to devour in the desert, came back again, and next day
made a descent upon the plain of Sebdon, which is 30 kilométres
long, by 12 to 15 kilométres broad. In four hours all the crops
were devoured, and all vegetation destroyed. ‘‘ The locusts,” says
the Doctor, ‘left behind them an infectious odour of putrid herbs,
produced by their excretions.”

At Algiers, in the Faubourg Bab-Azoum, they penetrated in
masses into the barley stores, and there was the greatest difficulty
in driving them away, great barricades being raised before the
store-rooms to stop the invasion. In 1845 they penetrated into
the pits in which the natives preserve their wheat. According
to the report of the Commandant de la place of Philippeville,
M. Levaillant, a column of locusts alighted in the country round
about that town.on the 18th of March, 1845, which extended from
30 to 40 centimetres, and the locusts were found heaped upon the
eround to the height of three décimétres,

mls 3
=a |
Th

|

i

A Cloud of Locusts in Algeria.

ORTHOPTERA. 307

Tn the environs of Algiers alone were destroyed, in 1845, 369
quintals of locusts. It is computed that four hundred locusts go
toa kilogramme. ‘This gives, then, a total of 14,760,000 insects
destroyed. As in this number half were probably females, and as
each female lays on an average 70 eggs, the result we arrive at is,
that this stopped the production of 516,600,000 larve on the
territory of Algiers alone. The invasion of locusts which took
place in 1866 was as disastrous as that of 1845. It was in the
month of April, 1866, that the vanguard of these destructive
insects appeared. Debouching through the mountain gorges and
through the valleys into the fertile plains near the coast, they
alighted first on the plain of the Mitidja and on the Sahel of
Algiers. Their mass, at certain points, intercepted the light
of the sun, and resembled those whirlwinds of snow which, during
the storms of winter, hide the nearest objects from our view.
Very soon the cabbages, the oats, the barley, the late wheat, and
the market-gardeners’ plants were partly destroyed. In some
places the locusts penetrated into the interiors of the houses. By
order of the government of Algiers the troops joined the colonists
in combating the plague; and the Arabs, when they found that
their interests were suffering, rose to lend their aid against the
common enemy. Immense quantities of locusts were destroyed in
a few days; but what could human efforts do against these winged
multitudes, who escape into space, and only abandon one field to
alight in the next?

It was impossible to prevent the fecundation of these insects.
The eggs quickly producing innumerable larve, the first swarms
were very soon not only replaced, but multiplied a hundredfold by
a new generation. The young locusts are particularly formidable
on account of their voracity. These hungry masses threw them-
selves upon everything which was left by those which went before
them. 'They choked up the springs, the canals, and the brooks ;
and it was not without a great deal of trouble that the waters were
cleared of these causes of infection. Almost at the same time the
provinces of Oran and of Constantine were invaded. At Tlemcen,
where within the memory of man locusts had never appeared,
the ground was covered with them. At Sidi-bel-Abbes, at Sidi-
Brahim, at Mostaganem, they attacked the tobacco, the vines, the

x2

308 THE INSECT WORLD.

fig-trees, and even the olive-trees, in spite of the bitterness of
their foliage. At Relizane and at L’Habra they attacked the
cotton-fields. The road, 80 kilométres long, which connects Mos-
taganem with Mascara, was covered to the whole of its extent.

In the province of Constantine the locusts appeared almost
simultaneously, from the Sahara to the sea, and from Bougia to
La Calle. At Batna, at Setif, at Constantine, at Guelma, at Bona,
at Philippeville, at Djidjelly, the inhabitants struggled with energy
against this invasion, but neither fire nor any obstacles opposed
to the advance of this winged army were able to stop their
ravages. The French Government, to alleviate as much as pos-
sible the ruin which was thus brought upon the colony, opened a
public subscription at the end of the year 1866.

The negroes of Soudan endeavour to frighten the locusts in
their flight by savage yells. In Hungary they employed for the
same object the noise of cannon. In the middle ages, for the
want of cannon, they exorcised the locusts. A traveller of the
sixteenth century, the monk Alvarez, relates that he also employed
exorcisms against an immense host of these destructive insects
which he met with in Ethiopia. When he perceived them, he made
the Portuguese and the natives form in procession, and ordered
them to chant psalms. ‘Thus chanting,” says he, “we went into
a country where the corn was, which having reached, I made them
catch a good many of these locusts, to whom I delivered an
adjuration, which I carried with me in writing, by me composed
the preceding night, summoning, admonishing, and excommu-
nicating them. Then I charged them in three hours’ time to
depart to the sea, or else to go to the land of the Moors, leaving
the land of the Christians. On their refusal of which, I adjured
and convoked all the birds of the air, animals and tempests, to dis-
sipate, destroy, and devour them; and for this admonition I had a
certain quantity of these locusts seized, and pronouncing these
words in their presence, that they might not be ignorant of them,
I let them go, so that they might tell the rest.” If one reflects
that on their arrival in the land of the Moors, these same locusts
were perhaps received by prayers which had for their object to
send them back to the land of the Christians, they must have
been very much embarrassed by such contradictory adjurations.

ORTHOPTERA. 309

The Arabs have also an infallible means of ridding themselves of
the locusts. Here is what General Daumas tells us on the subject.
According to Ben-Omar, the Prophet read one day, on the wings
of a locust, written in Hebrew characters: “We are the troops
of the Most High God ; we each one lay ninety-nine eggs. If we
we were to lay a hundred, we should devastate the whole world.”
Upon which Mahomet, greatly alarmed, made an ardent prayer,
in which he begged God. to destroy these enemies of Mussulmans.
Tn answer to this invocation, the angel Gabriel told Mahomet
that a part of his prayer should be granted. Since that epoch,
indeed, words of invocation to the Prophet, written on a piece of
paper, and enclosed in a reed, which -is planted in the middle of a
wheat-field or orchard, have the power of turning away the locusts.*
This receipt is infallible, at least so say the devout Mussulmans.

There exists another quite as efficacious. They take four locusts,
and write on the wings of each a verse of the Koran (four verses
of the Koran are appropriated to this purpose). They then let
the locusts thus marked fly into the midst of the swarm, and the
flying army immediately take another direction.

By what the Arabs say, the locusts possess a number of virtues.
When you see them in a dream, they announce the future; if you
dream that you are eating them, it is a good omen ; if you dream
that it rains golden locusts, God will restore to you that which
you have lost, &e. When Omar-ben-el-Khottal was Caliph, the
locusts seemed to have completely disappeared. There was great
sadness in the country in consequence. The Caliph especially
was very much afflicted at it. He sent carriers into Yemen, into
Cham, and into Irak, to see if they could not find a few. One of
the envoyés succeeded in his mission, and brought back a handful
of locusts. “God is great!” eried Omar, who from that day had
no more misgivings. In order to understand first the despair
and then satisfaction of the Caliph Omar, it is written, so say the
Mussulmans, that the human race will disappear from the earth
after the extinction of the locusts; that these insects were formed
of the rest of the clay out of which man had been formed, and
that they were destined to serve him as food.

* «Te Grand Desert,” par le Général E. Daumas et E. de Chaucel, in 18mo-
Paris. 1860.

310 THE INSECT WORLD.

And so locusts and fish are the only creatures which God allows
the Mussulman to eat without being skinned. They must, how-
ever, have been killed by one of the faithful, for otherwise their
flesh is impure! The Arabs eat, and are very fond of locusts.
When he was asked his opinion on this article of food, the Caliph
Omar-ben-el-Khottal said, “I only wish I had a basketful of
them, wouldn’t I scrunch them !”

According to General Daumas, locusts, fresh or preserved, are
good food for both men and camels. They are eaten grilled or
boiled, or prepared in the kous-koussou, after their legs, wings,
and heads have been taken off. Sometimes they are dried in the
sun, and reduced to powder, which is mixed with milk, and made
into cakes with flour, dripping, or butter and salt. Camels are
very fond of them; and they are given to them after having been
dried, or roasted between two layers of ashes. Dried and salted,
they are in Asia and in Africa an object of commerce. At Bagdad
they sometimes cause the price of meat to fall. The taste of their
flesh may be compared to that of the crab. astern nations have
eaten locusts from time immemorial. The Greek comic poet,
Aristophanes, tells us, in the “‘ Acharnians,” that the Greeks sold
them in the markets. Moses allowed to the Jews four species,
which are mentioned in Leviticus. St. John the Baptist, fol-
lowing the example of the prophet Amos, made them his food in
the desert, where he found nothing but locusts and a little honey.
The wholesomeness of this food was, however, disputed among the
ancients. Strabo relates that there existed on the borders of the
eulf of Arabia a people called by him Acridophagi, or Locust-
eating people; but they all came to a miserable end. These
people procured for themselves locusts by lighting great fires,
when the equinoctial winds brought these hosts. Blinded and
suffocated by the smoke, the locusts fell to the ground, and were
picked up greedily by them, and eaten, fresh or salted. ‘These
locust-eaters,’’ says Strabo, “are, it 1s true, active, good runners;
but their life never exceeds forty years. As they approach this
age, a horrible vermin issues from their bodies, which eats them
up, beginning from the belly, and so they die a miserable death.”
The same tale is to be met with in a description of Admiral
Drake’s voyage round the world. This traveller speaks of the

ORTHOPTERA. 311

natives of Ethiopia, who live on locusts, as dying eaten up by
winged insects bred in their own bodies.

It is difficult to explain the origin of such fables. Travellers
who have visited Arabia agree in declaring that the locust is a
most wholesome article of food; that it is even fattening. At any
rate, it is good food for cattle and poultry. The ancients employed
locusts in medicine. JDuioscorides asserts that the thighs of the
locust, reduced to powder,.and mixed with the blood of the he-
goat, is a cure for leprosy ; and mixed with wine, is a specific
against the bite of the scorpion, &c.

It remains for us to describe some other species of grasshoppers
less destructive in their ravages than the Acridium migratorium.

In the deserts of Egypt is to be met with the great Hremobia,
and in South America the Ommexeca, which walks rather than
springs. On the other hand, the Tetrix springs very well. A
remarkable feature about them is their thorax, which is prolonged
into a point, and covers the whole body. They are small insects
of gay and brilliant colours, and generally remain on the leaves
of low plants, and escape easily from the hand that tries to catch
them. The Tetrix subulata, of a brownish colour, is common
during spring, in the environs of Paris, in the woods, and in dry
and arid fields. The Pnewmore are very strange insects. The
males have a very prominent abdomen, which resembles a bladder
filled with air; and their wings are very much developed. The
females have the abdomen of the ordinary shape; their wings are
very short, or even quite rudimentary. The former producé a
sharp stridulation, by rubbing their hind-legs against a row of
small tubercules, which are to be seen on each side of the abdomen.
The sound is rendered still more penetrating by the vesiculous or
bladder-like abdomen, the skin of which is stretched as. tight as
adrum. The Pneumore inhabit the South of Africa, as also do
the Truxales, a few varieties of which, however, are to be met
with in Spain, Sicily, and the South of France.

We will pass in silence over a great number of other less in-
teresting species of Orthoptera. Those which we have described
suffice to justify us in what we said above, namely, that this order
contains insects of the strangest and most anomalous forms.

Wie

HYMENOPTERA.

Tuer Order Hymenoptera comprises those insects which have four
naked membranous wings, lying in repose horizontally upon the
body, and intersected by a network of nerves. The name is
derived from two Greek words—ipyv, a membrane, and zreodv, a
wing. The mouth is composed of two horny mandibles, jaws, and
lips adapted for suction.

It is amongst the Hymenoptera that we meet with the most
industrious insects, some of which seem to possess real intelligence.
These little animals offer the most admirable examples of socia-
bility. Born architects, they construct dwellings marvellously
contrived, which serve them, at the same time, as nurseries in
which to rear their progeny, and storehouses in which to lay by.
their provisions. Nothing can equal the solicitude with which
they watch over their young larve, still incapable of motion.
They form republics, governed by immutable laws, and make war
against their enemies in order of battle. They have predilections
or antipathies for those who court their society, on account of the
material advantages they derive from them.

The Bees, the Humble Bees, the Wasps, and the Ants, are the
best-known types of this order of insects. Among a great number
of the Hymenoptera the females are armed with a sting, or lancet,
a wound from which causes great pain. All these insects undergo
complete metamorphoses. In the larva state the aculeate species
are incapable of motion and of obtaining food; but nature has
provided in different ways for their preservation. They are often
lodged and fed by the workers of the tribe, unfruitful females,
which, with a self-denial very rare in nature, seem to have no

HYMENOPTERA. 313

other vocation than to sacrifice themselves to the welfare of the
larvee. The workers construct the nest and bring in the provisions.
This is the case with honey bees, wasps, and ants.

Some deposit their eggs in the bodies of other insects, which die
immediately the larvee which live in them have attained their full
development. The larve of the Chalcidide and of the Ichneumonide
furnish examples of Hymenoptera which inhabit the interior of the
body of another insect. Other parasitical species carry on their
depredations in a different way. They content themselves with lay-
ing their eges in the nests of other species of the order, which have
the advantage over them in being able to construct for themselves
places of refuge. Their larve live thus on their neighbours’ goods,
nourishing themselves on the provisions which were laid up for others.
In this way live the Cleptes, the Chrysides, &c. Lastly, others, such
as the Gall-insects, and the Tenthredinete, or Saw-flies, live in their
first state exposed on plants, and feed upon their leaves.

We shall only here describe the principal families of the Order
Hymenoptera, which contains a considerable number of species.
These families will be—Ilst. The Apiarie, containing the Honey
Bees, the Meliponas, and the Humble Bees. 2nd. The Vespiarie, or
Wasps. 3rd. The Formicarie, or Ants. 4th. The Gallicole, or
Gall-insects.

Brxrs.—Man, from the very earliest age, before any civilisation
existed, knew the value of bees, and took advantage of the pro-
ducts of these industrious insects. The Bible makes mention of
honey bees. Their Hebrew name is Deborah. The Greeks called
them by the name of Melissa, or Melitta.

Their wonderful architectural, powers, their economical fore-
thought, the wonderful combination of their reasonings, which
denote a real intelligence, their admirable social organisation,
have in all times fixed the attention of naturalists, as they have
also that of poets and thinkers. Virgil has celebrated them.
In the fourth book of his Georgics, the Latin poet has summed
up all that the ancients knew about bees. He paints with a good
deal of truth many traits in their history, points out their enemies,
and sets forth with accuracy all the care that should be taken of
them. In the words of the Mantuan poet, they are heavenly
gifts, dona celestia, and their intelligence excited his admiration :—

314 THE INSECT WORLD.

“His quibus signis atque heec exempla secuti,
Esse apibus partem divine mentis, et haustus
Aithereos dixere.’ ....

Let us hasten to say, however, that all which the ancients,
naturalists or poets, Greek or Latin, relate on the subject of bees,
is a mixture of truth and error, and rests generally on mere
suppositions. Aristotle knew well the three sorts of individuals
which are comprised under the title of bees, and some other prin-
cipal facts relating to their history; but these facts are not stated
accurately and precisely in his account of them, and they are, above
all, misinterpreted. The Greek philosopher understood insects in
general very badly. He made them spring from the leaves of
trees, and brought forward a multitude of errors about them, which
the most simple observation would have sufficed to dissipate.
Pliny tells us that Aristomachus of Soles consecrated fifty-eight —
years to the observation of the habits of the bee, and that Philiscus
of Thrace passed, for the same motive, all his life in the forests.
But this devotion to one object does not appear to have produced
much result, if one compares the discoveries of our own age with
the errors which Pliny, Aristotle, and Columella have chronicled
respecting them. Pliny says that bees occupy the first rank among
insects, and that they were created for man, for whom their work
procures honey and wax. He adds that they form political asso-
ciations, that they have councils, chiefs, and even a code of morality
and principles.

One sees by this opinion of the Roman naturalist in what high
esteem the ancients held bees. But they had the most singular
ideas on the reproduction of these little beings; and as no one
had ever seen their generation, they invented fable after fable
to explain their origin. Some pretended that bees sprang from an
ox recently killed, and buried in manure. Others added that they
only sprang into existence from the chest of a young ox killed
with violence. The most courageous bees came from the belly of
a lion in a state of putrefaction. It was from the head of this
same animal, in a state of corruption, that the hings (i.e., the
queens were formed. The carcasses of cows furnished the mild and
tractable bees; a calf could only furnish small and weak ones.
Other naturalists, or rather other dreamers, made these insects

HYMENOPTERA. 315

spring from the calices of sweet-scented flowers. Combined and
separated in a certain manner, the flowers engendered bees. They
said, further, that the bees sought on the blossoms of the olive
trees and of the reed a seed which they rendered fit for the forma-
tion of their larve.

All these fables, which sprang from the imagination of the
ancients, were developed by a writer of the Renaissance, a certain
Alexander de Montfort, author of a work entitled ‘“‘ Printemps de
VAbeille.”” If we were to believe him, the king of the bees is
formed of the juice which the workers extract from plants. These
latter are created from honey; and the tyrants, 7.e., the females,
which do not manage to become sovereigns of a hive, are formed
only of gum. It will be seen that he had profited only too well
by what he had read in Greek and Roman authors.

The bee was very much thought of in ancient Egypt, and is
often represented on their monuments, above the sculptured orna-
ments which contain proper names, with two semicircles and a
sort of sheaf, or fasciculus. Champollion Figeac thinks that this
group, taken together, represents a title added to a proper
name. According to Hor-Apollon, another commentator on
Egyptian hieroglyphics, the bee in the country of the Pharaohs
was the emblem of a people sweetly submissive to the orders of
its king. Nothing can be better than this comparison. It was
for this reason, no doubt, that Napoleon I. sprinkled the sym-
bolical bees over the imperial mantle which bears the arms of his
dynasty.

All the fables, all the hypotheses, spread about and cherished
by the ancients respecting these industrious little insects, were
dissipated in a moment when, by the invention of glass beehives,
first made in the beginning of the last century by Maraldi, a
mathematician of Nice, we were enabled to observe their opera-
tions and habits. It is from this period only that our exact
knowledge of the really wonderful life of these insects dates.
Before Maraldi, the Dutch naturalist, Swammerdam, had written
an excellent History of Bees. He died before he had published
his work, and when, a long while after his death, it was at length
printed, other investigators had already pushed on their observa-
tions further than he had. Thanks to the invention of Maraldi,

316 THE INSECT WORLD.

Réaumur, John Hunter, Schirach, and Francis Huber, had
unveiled, by their admirable researches, the wonderful habits of
these insects. The discoveries of Francis Huber seem to be almost
miraculous, when we remember that this observer was blind from
the age of seventeen.

Deprived of sight, Francis Huber did not the less wish to conse-
crate his life to the observation and the study of nature. He
caused the best works of his day on natural history and physics to
be read to him, his usual reader being his servant, named Francis
Burnens, a native of the Pays de Vaud. The honest Burnens took
a singular interest in all he read, and showed by his judicious
reflections the true talent of an observer, and Huber resolved to
cultivate his talent. Very soon he could place implicit reliance
in his companion, and see with another’s eyes as if they were his
own.

The two naturalists (we do not hesitate to give this title to the
poor peasant of the canton of Vaud, who so well seconded his
master in his long hours of study) conceived a host of original
experiments, which led them to discover truths which no one up
to that time had dreamt of. The results of their researches were
published, in 1789, in a volume which produced a profound sensa-
tion among naturalists.* Burnens was at a later period called
back to the bosom of his family, and invested by his fellow-citizens
with important functions. Francis Huber then continued his
observations through the eyes of the excellent wife he had married.
A second volume was thus composed by him twenty years after
the appearance of the first. This volume was published by his
son, Pierre Huber, to whom we are indebted for the admirable
researches concerning ants, of which we shall have to speak
further on.

We will now speak of the habits of the bees. The labours of
Réaumur, of Schirach, and of Huber, have perfectly revealed them
to us, and have initiated us completely into the habits of these
precious insects, which are for us to a certain extent domestic
animals. We will begin by describing the Common Bee (Apis
mellifica).

* “Nouvelles Observations sur les Abeilles,’ par Francois Huber. Paris et
Genéve, in 8yo. 2e edition. 1814.

HYMENOPTERA. 317

During the greater part of the year the population of our hives
is composed exclusively of two sorts of individuals—the female, or
mother bee, called also the queen bee; and the working bees, or
neuters, which are, properly speaking, females incompletely deve-
loped. A third kind of individuals, the males, called also drones,
are generally not met with except from May to July.

The working bees are the people, the crowd, the servum pecus,
the living force, the bee community. They are
recognised by their small size, reddish brown
colour, and, above all, by the palettes and brushes
with which the hind legs are furnished. ah

The three pairs of legs which are inserted in 4, het en Bhs
its thorax are its tools. The two hind-legs are (47s elie.
longer than the other pairs, and present on the exterior a tri-
angular depression, resembling a palette, which is surrounded
by stiff hairs, forming, as it were, the borders of a sort of basket,
in which the insect deposits the pollen of flowers. The broadest
part of the leg articulates with the tarsus, which is of a square
form, smooth on the exterior, and having hairs on its interior

Fig. 310.—Leg of a Bee (magnified), Fig. 311.—Trunk of a Bee (magnified).

surface, which has caused it to be named the brush. The joint
is used for gathering the pollen; it folds back on the leg
(Fig. 310), and forms with it a sort of small pair of pincers ; and,
finally, the leg is terminated by four smaller articulations, the last

318 THE INSECT WORLD.

of which is armed with hooks. The other tools of the working bee
consist of a pair of movable mandibles, which close the mouth on
its two sides, and of a trunk or proboscis (Fig. 311), which may
be considered as a sort of tongue.

With its mandibles the working bee seizes any hard substunes
The trunk serves it to collect the juice lying on the surface of
the petals, or at the bottom of the corolla of the flower. When
a bee has settled on a full-blown flower, it 1s seen immediately
to make for the interior of the corolla, put out its trunk, and
apply it to the petals; it lengthens it, shortens it, and twists and
bends it in all directions. When the hairy surface of this
organ is covered with vegetable juice, the bee returns it to its
mouth, and deposits its booty in a conduit, whence the juice
passes into its first stomach. This trunk is then, in all re-
spects, a tongue, with which the bee sucks, licks, and pumps up
the honey of flowers. But it also gathers the pollen. When it
enters a flower the bee covers itself with pollen from head to
foot, and then passing its brushes carefully over its whole body,
removes the dust which adheres to it in every part, and piles it
up on the triangular palettes of its hind-legs, in such a manner as
to form balls of greater or less size. If the flower is not quite full
blown, the bee makes use of its mandibles to open the anthers,
in which case the front pair of legs transmit the booty to the
second pair, which stores them in the baskets of the third.
When it has gathered as much as it can carry, the bee returns to
the hive, its legs laden with pollen.

Fig. 312.— Male, or Drone Fig. 513.— Female, or Queen
(Apis mellifica). (Apis mellifica).
This complete set of tools which we have just described is only
to be met with among the working bees. The males, or drones
(Fig. 312), larger and more hairy than the working bees, emitting

~HYMENOPTHRA. — 319

a sonorous and buzzing sound, have no palettes on their legs, the
hairs on their tarsi are not appropriated to the work of gathering,
their mandibles are shorter, and they have no acu/eus, or sting,
which is the working bee’s weapon.

The female, or queen (Fig. 313), is smaller than the male, and
has a longer body than the working bees, and the wings, shorter
in proportion, cover only the half of its body, whereas with the
other bees they cover it entirely. The only part she has to play
is that of laying eggs, and so she has no palettes and brushes.
The sovereign is, as suits her supreme rank, exempted from all
work. She is always escorted by a certain number of working
bees, who brush her, lick her, present honey to her with their
trunks, save her every kind of fatigue, and compose a train worthy
of her feminine majesty. One very remarkable fact is that only
one queen lives in each hive. Perfect sovereign of this tiny state,
she rules over a people of some thousands of workers. It is not
rare to find twenty thousand working bees in a hive, and all
submissively obey their sovereign. The number of males is
scarcely one-tenth part of that of the working bees; and they only
live about three months. The workers represent the active life of
the community.

“The exterior of a hive,’ says M. Victor Rendre, “ gives the
best idea of this people, essentially laborious. From sun-rise to
sunset, all is movement, diligence, bustle ; it is an incessant series
of goings and comings, of various operations which begin, con-
tinue, and end, to be recommenced. Hundreds of bees arrive
from the fields, laden with materials and provisions; others cross
them and go in their turn into the country. Here, cautious
sentinels scrutinise every fresh arrival; there, purveyors, in a
hurry to be back at work again, stop at the entrance to the hive,
where other bees unload them of their burdens; elsewhere it is a
working bee which engages in a hand-to-hand encounter with a
rash stranger; farther on the surveyors of the hive clear it of
everything which might interfere with the traffic or be prejudicial
to health; at another point the workers are occupied in drawing
out the dead body of one of their companions; all the outlets are
besieged by a crowd of bees coming in and going out, the doors

hardly suffice for this hurrying, busy multitude. All appears

820 THE INSECT WORLD.

disorder and confusion at the approaches to the hive, but this
- tumult is only so in appearance ; an admirable order presides over
this emulation in their work, which is the distinctive feature in
bees.”’* A very simple calculation may serve to give us an idea
of this prodigious activity. The opening of a well-stocked hive
gives passage to one hundred bees a minute, which makes, from
five o’clock in the morning till seven o’clock in the evening,
eighty thousand re-entrances, or four excursions for each bee,
supposing there is a population of twenty thousand workers.

Let us now follow their occupations from the moment in which
they establish themselves in a hive. The workers begin by —
stopping up all the openings except one door, which is always to
remain open. A certain number set out to look for a resinous and
sweet-scented substance known under the name of propolis, which
is destined. to cover the inner surface of the hive, as its name
shows, which is derived from a Greek word signifying out-skirts,
or suburb. Huber asserts that it is gathered from the buds of
plants. This substance has not yet been employed in the arts,
although it possesses the same qualities as wax, as M. de Frariére
remarks in his work on Bees and Bee-keeping.t The propolis is
employed in Italy for making blisters. This gum is viscous and
very adherent. The bee works it up into balls, and carries it,
in this form, to the hive, where other labourers take possession
of it. They seize the pellet with their mandibles, and apply
it to cracks which they have to make air-tight. They use
the propolis for another purpose still, which deserves to be
mentioned.

It happens sometimes that an enemy penetrates into their hive,
and that the bees are not strong enough to cast this intruder out
of their dwelling. What do they do? As soon as they have
discovered the invasion of their domicile, they set upon the
impudent intruder, and sting him to death. But how can they
drag out the dead body, which is often very heavy? Such, for
instance, as a slug. On the other hand, it would be dangerous
to abandon its carcass in the midst of the hive. A Roman
Emperor said that the dead bodies of our enemies always smelt

* “T’Intelligence des Bétes.” In18mo. Paris, 1864.
+ “Sur les Abeilles et Apiculture.’” In18mo. 2e edition. Paris,

HYMENOPTERA. 321

good. This is not the opinion of the bees. They know that if
they abandoned the carcass in the hive it would infect the place,
to the great danger of their health. They therefore embalm it.
They encase it in propolis, which preserves it from putrefaction.
It is said that the art of embalming was practised for the first
time by the ancient Egyptians. It is an error; the first inventors
of this art were bees.

If, instead of a slug, it is a snail whose evil genius has conducted
it into the interior of a beehive, the proceeding is more simple.
The moment he has received one sting, the snail retires under the
protecting roof of his movable house. The bees thereupon at once
wall him in by closing the opening to his shell with this material.
The shell is then cemented to the floor of the hive, and the house
of the poor mollusc, become its tomb, remains thus in the midst of
the hive as a sort of decorative tumulus. When the sides of the
hive are well closed, the bees lay the foundations of their cells.

It was not formerly so easy to observe the details of the work
done by the bees as it is at the present day; for these insects,
once in their hives, have a great aversion to the light. If they
are put into a glazed hive, their first care is to shut up all the
windows, either by plastering them over with propolis, or by
forming, by means of the well-marshalled battalion of working
bees, a sort of living curtain. In order to be able to take them
unawares, and study them at his own convenience, Huber con-
structed a hive with leaves, which opened like a book. Fig. 314,
which represents the hive with leaves, which is sometimes used,.
gives an idea of the plan adopted by Huber in order to enable him
at will to open the hive and surprise its inmates. Huber had also
recourse in certain cases to a glass cage placed in the interior of
the hive, and which he could easily move to the light.

Thanks to his ingenuity, Huber was able to follow the working
bees in all the various phases of their labours. When they begin
to construct their hive they divide the work among themselves.
A first detachment is employed to gather the wax, which is the
building stone of our little architects. It was thought for a long
time that wax was solely the pollen of flowers, elaborated in the
stomach of the bees, and then disgorged by the mouth. It was
reserved for a peasant of Lusac to be the first to discover the

Y¥

322 THE INSECT WORLD.

true nature of this secretion. This observer, who did not belong
to any school, or at most belonged to Nature’s school, found the

flakes of wax sticking between the lower arches of the rings of

Fig. 314.—Beehive in Leaves.
the abdomen or belly of the working bee. The wax, then, is

produced by the insect by exudation, and is not simply the pollen

Vig. 815.—Bee seen through a magnifying glass at the moment when the plates of wax appear
between the segments of the abdomen.

gathered from flowers. Huber himself states that bees exclusively
1ourished on pollen do not secrete wax, and that, on the contrary,
they do furnish it when they eat saccharine matter. It is easy to

HYMENOPTERA. 323:

a

perceive the little plates of wax by slightly raising the last rings
of the bee’s abdomen. Fig. 315 represents a bee very heavily —
laden with this matter.

The working bees suspend themselves from the roof of the hive

Fig. 316.—Clusters of Bees.

in such a manner as to form festoons. The first clings to the
roof with his front legs, the second hooks himself on to the hind
legs of the first, and so on, as is shown in Fig. 316. They in
this manner form chains, fixed by the two ends to the roof,
which serve as a bridge or ladder to the bees which join this
assembly.

The result of all this is at last a cluster or swarm of bees which
hangs down to the bottom of the hive. In this attitude they
remain at first motionless, waiting till the honey in their stomachs
is changed into wax. When the wax is sufficiently elaborated in
its organs, one of them detaches itself from the group of which it

x2

324 THE INSECT WORLD.

forms a part. It takes between its legs one of the flakes of wax
adhering to the rings of its abdomen, kneads it with its mandibles,
moistens it with its saliva, and gives it the appearance of a soft
filament, which it sticks on to a projecting point of the roof. To
this first layer it adds others, till it has exhausted all its wax.
Then it leaves its post, and returns to the fields; another worker,
another mason, as they are sometimes called, succeeds it, and con-
tinues the laying of the foundations. Presently shapeless blocks
of wax hang down from the roof. It is in these blocks that other
workers, with their mandibles, hollow out and form the first cells.
While the workers continue to prolong the foundation-wall, and
whilst the first cells are being shaped, new ones are roughly
sketched out or rough hewn, and the work advances with a mar-
vellous rapidity.

Each cell forms a small hexagonal cup, closed on one side only
by a pyramidal base, produced by the meeting together of three
rhombs. The honeycombs are the result of two layers of cells
placed back to back, arranged in such a way that the bases of
the one become the bases of the other, the base of each little cell
being formed by the union of the bases of three opposite cells.
The bees begin by forming the base of the cell; they then add
the six sides, or walls, which are to complete the hexagonal cup.
At the same time others set to work on the opposite side of the
comb, and construct little cells back to back with the cells of the
front surface. They do not finish them off at once. The walls
are at first very thick: new workers, who succeed those who
merely mark out the work, being occupied in planing down the
rough-hewn cells, and in reducing the walls to the desired thick-
ness. ‘This work is accomplished with an incredible celerity, for
the bees can build as many as four thousand cells in twenty-four
hours. There is very good reason for the hexagonal form being
adopted by the bees in constructing their cells, as it involves a
question of economy, which these insects have solved in their most
admirable manner.

‘““When one has well examined,” says Réaumur,* “the true
shape of each cell, when one has studied their arrangement,

* “Mémoires pour servir 4 |’ Histoire des Insectes,’’ tome ‘v., p. 379.

HYMENOPTERA. - 325

geometry seems to have guided the design for the whole work,
and to have presided over its execution. One finds that all the
advantages which could have been desired are here combined.
The bees seem to have had to solve a problem containing con-
ditions which would have made the solution appear to be difficult
to many geometricians. This problem may be thus enunciated :
given a quantity of matter, say of wax, it is required to form cells,
which shall be equal and similar to each other, of a determined
capacity, but as large as possible in proportion to the quantity of
matter which is employed, and the cells to be so placed that they
may occupy the least possible space in the hive. To satisfy this
last condition, the cells should touch each other in such a manner
that there may remain no angular space between them, no gap to
fill up. The bees have satisfied these conditions, and at the same
time they have satisfied the first conditions of the problem in
making cells which are tubes having six equal sides, or in other
words, hexagonal tubes... . . We see still further that the best
thing the bees could do to economise their space and materials,
was to compose their honeycombs of two rows of cells turned in
opposite directions.”

This arrangement, it will be seen, enables them to economise the

‘half of the wax intended for making the bases of the cells. They
economise it still more by making the bases and the sides of the
tubes extremely thin ; the borders only of the comb being’ fortified
by an excess of wax. These two-sided combs descend from the
roof of the hive in parallel series, their thickness being about half
aninch. They are fixed to the top by a sort of wax foot, and
fastened to the sides by numerous bands. The bees pass between
the rows, besides excavating circular openings, which serve as
doors of communication. The form and the general arrangement
of these buildings are otherwise very varied, according to circum-
stances. ‘The bees always accommodate themselves to the nature
of the hive.

In all these operations they exhibit great judgment. It is im-
possible, when one has once seen them at work, to look on them
as mere organised machines, whose instinct is their spring of
action ; we are forced to concede to them intelligence.

The cells are of three dimensions: the small ones intended for

326 THE INSECT WORLD.

the larvee of the workers, the middling-sized ones for the larvz of
‘the males, and the large ones for the larvee of the queens.

Fig. 317.—Cells constructed by Bees.

These last—that. is, the royal cells—are generally only about
twenty in number, in a hive containing
twenty thousand bees. Constructed of a
mixture of wax and of propolis, resembling
a rounded thimble, they form tubes of half
an inch long, turned towards the exterior,
and placed always vertically, in such a
_ manner as to appear detached from the comb.

The weight of a royal cell is equivalent to
that of a hundred other cells. The bees
spare nothing to make it comfortable and
spacious. “It is quite a Louvre,” says
Fig. 318.—The cells of a Beehive. Réaumur.

A, large cell intended for the

larvee of the queens. B,midding- But independently of their use as cradles,
sized cells intended for the larve

of the males. C, small cells in- these cells serve as store-houses for honey.
tended for the larve of the

workers. A few of these are used in turn for both
these purposes, but a great number are reserved exclusively for

HYMENOPTERA. 327

stores of honey and pollen. This is brought, as we have already
said, in the form of pellets, in the baskets which the hind-legs
form. The working bee, when it has gathered it, pushes it into
the cell, pressing it in with its hind-legs. Another then arrives,
and kneads up the mass to make it adhesive. The bee brings the
honey in its first stomach, and disgorges it into one of the cells
where it is to be kept. However, it is not always by carrying

Fig. 319.—Interior of a Hive.

its honey into a cell that the worker is relieved of it, often finding
an opportunity to deliver it on the way.

“When it meets,” says Réaumur,* “any of its companions
who want food, and who have not had time to go and get any, it
stops, erects and stretches out its trunk, so that the opening by
which the honey may be taken out is a little way beyond the man-
dibles. It pushes the honey towards this opening. The other
bees, who know well enough that it is from there they must take
it, introduce the end of their trunks and suck it up. The bee
which has not been stopped on its road, often goes to the places
where other bees are working, that is, to those places where

* “ Mémoires pour servir 4 |’ Histoire des Insectes,” tome v., p. 449.

328 THE INSECT WORLD.

other bees are occupied, either in constructing new cells, or in
polishing or bordering the cells already built; it offers them
honey, as if to prevent them from being under the necessity of
leaving their work to go and get it themselves.”

The honey which fills the store cells is intended for daily con-
sumption, and also intended as a reserve for the period when the
flowers furnish no more. The empty cells are left open, the
workers making use of them when they want them, particularly
during rainy days, which’ keep them at home. But the cells
which contain the honey put by in reserve are closed. ‘They
are,” says Réaumur, “like so many little pots of jam or jelly,
each one of which has its covering, and a very solid covering it
is too.” This covering, composed of wax, hermetically seals the
pots containing this reserve of honey. The object of this is to
keep the honey in a certain state of liquidity, by preventing the
evaporation of the water it contains. It is a remarkable fact that
if does not run out of those cells which are open, although their
position is almost always horizontal. This is because there are
always in the sides of these narrow tubes points enough to keep it
in, and that besides this the last layer of honey is always of greater
consistency than the liquid in the interior, and upon which it
forms a sort of crust.

When the harvest has been abundant, many combs of closed cells
may be found in each hive, perfect storehouses of abundance, fur-
nished for the wants of the bad season. When the construction
of the cells goes on well,—often on the day after the bees have
installed themselves in their hive,—the queen goes out to meet
the males. At the hour when these are accustomed to disport
themselves in the sun, that is to say, from noon till five o’clock,
she leaves the hive, whirls about for a few seconds, and disappears
into the air. At the end of half an hour she returns, pregnant.

When the female returns to the hive, she is the object of every
attention, the workers pressing round her, and forming quite a
train. Many approach her, and lick the surface of her body ;
others brush her, caress her, and present her their trunks full of
honey. Forty-eight hours after her return to the hive, the mother
bee generally begins laying.* Running over the honeycomb, she

* Not invariably, the period is often longer.—Kb.

HYMENOPTERA. 399

deposits an egg in each empty cell, and fixes it to the bottom by
means of a glutinous secretion, in such a way that the egg is
suspended in the interior of the cell. They have the appearance
of little oblong bodies, of a bluish white. If the queen, in a
hurry to lay, lets more than one egg fall into the same cell, the
workers who accompany her hasten to carry out and destroy
those that are in excess. This is often the case when the combs
have not enough cells to contain all the eggs laid. We have
said that.the queen only lays worker eggs at this time; the others
are laid later. She continues to lay until the cold weather
approaches, when she ceases to do so, and does not resume
her occupation until the return of spring. This laying is very
abundant. The queen produces at least two hundred eggs a-day ;
so that in the space of two months she lays more than twelve
thousand. Towards the eleventh month of her existence in the
perfect state, the queen begins laying the eggs which will produce
males, their number varying from fifteen hundred to three
thousand: the deposition of these eggs occupies about a month.

Towards the twentieth day, the workers lay the foundations of
some royal cells. When these cells have attained a certain
length, the queen deposits an egg in each, allowing, however, one
or two days to intervene between the laying of these privileged
eggs, so that the young queens to whom they are to give birth
should not be hatched all at the same time, which would cause
difficulties and even wars concerning the right of their succession
to the throne. This complication, human governments have not
been always able to avoid, as history shows; but the bees have
found out a way of doing so. —

The distribution of the eggs in the cells is not left to chance.
Each egg, according to the sex to which it belongs, is deposited
in the cell which awaits it. The eggs of the females do not,
however, differ in any way from those of the workers. The differ-
ence in their development depends entirely on the space and food
allowed them.

We represent (Fig. 320) a portion of a comb containing the
eggs placed in the cells, as also the royal cells. The regular
order of laying is such as we have just described, but the result is
quite different when the impregnation of the queen has been

330 THE INSECT WORLD.

retarded by an accidental captivity of two or three weeks. The
longer this delay, the greater will be the number of male eggs.
If the queen is shut up for more than twenty days after her birth,
-she can then lay nothing
but male eggs during the
remainder of her existence.
It seems, also, that this
delay troubles her intel-
lect; for she then often
makes blunders as to the
cells. She lays the eggs
of the males, or drones, in
the cradles prepared for
the queens, and thus brings
confusion into the future
community.

The eggs, once laid, are
left to the care of the
working bees, which Réau-
7 mur called the nurses, in
7 ns aoa com ih te sececermyig opposition to the wax

Queen. workers, which are em-
ployed in works of construction. According to many bee-keepers,
and especially M. Hamet,* this division of duties is not positive.
The young workers are the wax-workers; the old ones, collectors
of honey, and nurses. However, when the honey-harvest is at its
height, all the workers collect the spoil. Every individual is
pressed into the service at the harvest-time, as with men.

The eggs are not long in being hatched. From the moment
when the larva comes out of the egg till that of its metamorphosis
into a pupa, it keeps in its cell, rolled up, motionless as an Indian
idol in its sacred temple. The working bees visit it from time to
time, to see that it wants for nothing, and to renew its provisions.
They also carefully inspect the different cells, and assure them-
selves of the good condition of their nurslings. The pap which
they give them as food is whitish, and resembles paste made of
flour. It is apparently a preparation of pollen, prepared in the

* “Cours d’Apiculture,” in 8vo. Paris, 1864. _

HYMENOPTERA. 331

body of the insect. As the larve increase in size, their food is
made to acquire a more decided taste of honey, and to become
even slightly acid. It seems, then, that the bees know how to
graduate the food of their larvee in such a manner as to bring it
nearer by degrees to honey.

In the space of five days, the larve are developed; they Taek
absorbed all their pap, and have no need from that
time of any nourishment, for they are about now to
change into pupe. Now the nurses pay them a last ©
attention. They wall them up in their cells, closing fig. 321—1Larva of
the openings with a waxen covering. The larve fey. Oe”
then get close to the wax covering. In thirty-six hours they have
spun for themselves a silky cocoon, in which they undergo their
transformation into pupe. The moult, which precedes their
metamorphosis, constitutes a crisis, as with the caterpillars of
Lepidoptera.

The perfect insect is hatched seven or eight days after its trans-
formation into a pupa, the organs being developed little by little,
and the young bee is then ready to appear in the broad daylight.
It breaks through the thin transparent covering in which it is
still swathed ; then, with its mandibles, it pierces the operculum,
or door, of its prison, and opens a way for itself by which it can
issue forth. With the assistance of its front legs, it clings to the
rim of the cell, and draws itself forward, till it has set free the -
whole of its body. ‘The other bees lavish upon this newly-arrived
little stranger all possible attention to make its entrance into the
world easy and agreeable ; assisting and supporting it till it has
become quite strong. It very soon becomes strong. If it is a
working bee, it is not long in getting to work and in mixing with
its companions in labour.

This is the way in which the hatching of ordinary bees takes
place, workers and males; the first, twenty days after they are
laid ; the second, twenty-four days after. The rearing and birth
of the young queens is slightly different. In proportion as the
larvee increase in size, do the workers enlarge the cells which
contain them ; and then again gradually diminish their size as
the moment of their last metamorphosis approaches. A special
and peculiar food is given to the larve of the queens; it is quite

332 THE INSECT WORLD.

different from that which is given to the larve of the working
bees, being a heavier and sweeter substance. This special food
seems to exercise such an energetic influence on the development
of the ovaries, that simple workers which have accidentally re-
ceived any of it, during their larval state, become pregnant and
lay afew eggs. But this anomalous development remains imper-
fect, because the prolific food was only administered in a small
quantity. Besides which, the size of the cells is of great import-
ance to the development of the larvee imprisoned in them; and
so the larvze of working bees having lived in the small cells, can
never attain the proportions of the queen, nor acquire her fecundity.
But all this is changed if these larvee are moved into the large
cells and fed on this royal pabulum ; they then become veritable
queens. If, with us, the coat does not make the man nor the
frock the monk, it is certain that with the bees the cradle helps
materially to make the queen.

When the queen through some accident or other has perished,
the plebian population of the hive very quickly perceive the mis-
fortune, and without losing time in useless regrets, apply them-
selves to repair their loss. They choose the larva of a working
bee, less than three days old, on which they bestow the treatment
suited to change it into a female. The workers enlarge the cell
of this grub by demolishing the surrounding cells, and administer
to it a strong dose of royal food to effect its transformation. This
marvellous metamorphosis is accomplished like those which one
reads of in fairy tales, where so many poor beggars are changed,
by a wave of the hand, into beautiful princesses, covered with gold
and precious stones. Only here the fairy tale is a true story ; the
poet’s dream a real phenomenon. According to Francis Huber,
the larva intended to produce a female has to change its posi-
tion. The workers add then to its domicile a sort of vertical tube,
into which they push, and turn round the young grub, which is
the hope of the community. For twelve days a bee, a sort of body-
guard, has special charge of the person of our infant. It offers
it food, and pays it many other delicate little attentions. When
the moment for the metamorphosis has come, the orifice of the
tube is closed, and the bees await the hatching of the new queen.
Thus the loss of the queen is speedily replaced. The larve of the

HYMENOPTERA. 333

queens, when they are shut up in their cells, have the head down-
wards, whilst the larvee of the males have the head upwards. Their
hatching takes place thirteen days after the laying of the eggs.

As soon as they have quitted their cradles, the young queens
are ready to take flight. The others, workers and males, are
less strongly organised. Before they are able to take a part in
the sports and labours of the old ones, they require a rest of
twenty-four hours, during which the nurses lick them, brush
them, and offer them honey. But the young workers require te
undergo no apprenticeship before they do the work which devolves
upon them. They go straight to their work, and suppress all
apprenticeship. Nature is their guide and counsellor.

When the hatching has begun, each day adds some hundreds of
young bees to the population of the hive, which is not long in
becoming too small for the number of its inhabitants. It is then
that those curious emigrations of this winged people take place
which are called swarms. The queen leaves the hive, with a part
of her subjects, and founds a new colony elsewhere. In the
climate of France the bees generally swarm in the months of
May and June. In the south, very thickly populated hives may
furnish as many as four swarms in a season; but in the north,
rarely more than one or two. But in some years swarming does
not take place at all, for the want of a sufficient population. In
such cases, the workers do not construct royal cells at the period
when the eggs of the males are laid, and the swarming is put
off till the following spring. It occasionally happens that a hive,
although full of bees, cannot make up its mind to send out a
swarm, and also that the hives thinly populated send out abundant
swarms. ‘There are, then, other causes than the excess of population
which exercise an influence on this annual crisis in the life of bees.
The first swarm is always led by the old queen; if other swarms
succeed, it is the young females lately hatched who lead the way.

There are many signs which announce that a swarm is going to
take place. The appearance of the males, or drones, is one of the
first signs. Another sign, but far from being infallible, is the
excess of the population in the common home. The bees seem
then to find themselves so ill at ease in their over-crowded hive,
that part of them go out and keep outside, either on the stand

304 THE INSECT WORLD.

upon which the hive is placed, or upon the hive itself. Crowds of
bees may be seen heaped up on each other outside, only waiting
for the signal of departure. But the least equivocal of all the
signs, that which points out the event for the very day, says
Réaumur, is when the bees of a hive do not go into the country
in as great a number as usual, although the weather may be
favourable and seem to invite them to do so. “ There is no sign,”
says Réaumur, “ which points out so surely that a swarm is pre-
paring to take flight, as when in the morning, at those hours
when the sun shines, and when the weather is favourable for
work, the bees go out in a small number from a hive from which
they went out in great quantities on the preceding days, and
bring back only a little rough wax. The fact of their acting in
this manner seems to force us to concede to bees more intelligence
and foresight than many people are inclined to allowthat they
possess; at any rate, it is exceedingly puzzling to those who
wish to explain all their actions by saying that they are purely
mechanical. Does it not seem proved that from the morning
all the inhabitants of a hive have been informed of the project
which will be executed not before noon, or, perhaps, not for some
hourshatten at) aien yc lie. There is a well-known story of an old
grenadier who, being comfortably asleep while his comrades were
pitching their tents, answered to his general, M. de Turenne, when
questioned on the subject, ‘that he knew very well that the army
would not remain long in the camp they were pitching.’

«‘ All our bees, or nearly all, seemed to have foreseen the move
that their queen was about to make, as that old soldier had fore-
seen the general’s order to his army.’’*

In a hive which is going to “cast,’’ as it is called in technical
phraseology, there is often heard, in the evening, and even during
the night, a peculiar humming. All seems to be in agitation.
Sometimes, to hear the noise, it will be necessary to bring your ear
close to the hive ; you then will hear nothing but clear and sharp
sounds, which seem to be produced by the flapping of the wings of
one single bee. ‘‘ Those who know better than I do the language
of bees,” says Réaumur, “have told marvels of these sounds.
They pretend that it is the new queen that makes this noise ;

* “ Mémoires pour servir 41’ Histoire des Insectes,’’ tome v., p. 611.

HYMENOPTERA. 335

that she is, perhaps, haranguing the troops she wishes to go with
her; or that, with a kind of trumpet, she animates them to under-
take the great adventure. Charles Butler, the author of ‘Female
Monarchy,’ attributes to this noise quite another signification.
He says that it seems as if the bee which aspires to become queen
supplicates the queen-mother by lamentations and groans to grant
it permission to lead a colony out from the hive; that the queen
does not yield sometimes to these touching prayers for two days ;
that when she does acquiesce, she answers the suppliant in a fuller
and stronger voice ; and that when you have heard the mother-bee
grant this permission, you may hope next day to have a swarm. .
Butler has determined all the modulations of the chant of the
suppliant bee, the different keys to which they are set, as also
those of the chants of the queen-mother. He pretends that it
is not allowed to those who wish to raise themselves to a superior
rank to imitate the chants of the sovereign; woe betide the young
female if she should dare to do so, it would only be in a spirit
of revolt; and she would be immediately punished by the loss
of her head. The old-established queen does more than that: at
the same moment she condemns to death those bees which had
been seduced.”* The true cause of this unusual noise is the
agitation of the wings of a great number of the bees in the
middle of the hive.

It has been remarked that when about to swarm, the bees seem
asif mad. They lose their senses, the queen setting them the
example. Francis Huber has made the most curious remarks
on this subject. Here is, according to this immortal observer,
what goes on in the hive when an emigration is about to take
place. The queen being angry at the noise which the young
females ready to be hatched are making in their cells, runs
about the hive, examines the cells, and endeavours to destroy
those which contain the females; but she meets with a very
firm resistance from the workers, who take upon themselves to
protect them. She endeavours here and there to lay an egg,
but generally retires without having done so. She runs, stops
short, sets off again, walks over the bodies of the workers she
meets; sometimes, when she stops, the bees near her stop

* «Mémoires pour seryir a l’ Histoire des Insectes,’ tome y., pp. 616, 617.

336 THE INSECT WORLD.

also, as if to look at her. They advance briskly towards her,
strike her with their heads, and mount on her back. She
then dashes off, carrying with her some of the workers. Not
one of them offers her honey; she takes it herself from the open
cells, which are for the use of the whole hive. They no longer
draw up in line on each side of her as she moves along, her
guard of honour no longer surrounds her; she seems fallen from
her high rank.

However, the first bees which were disturbed by her now follow,
running like herself, and spread alarm in their turn among
the rest of the population. The road which the queen has tra-
versed is to be recognised by the excitement which she has caused
on her passage, and which cannot now be calmed. Very soon
she has visited every corner of the hive, so that the fever has
become general. She now no longer lays her eggs in the cells,
but lets them fall anywhere at random. She seems to have lost
her wits.

The nurses in their turn are attacked with the contagion. They
pay no attention now to their charges. Those which return from
the country have no sooner entered the hive than they take part in
these tumultuous movements, and give themselves up to the general
excitement. Not even thinking of depositing the pellets of
pollen which they carry on their legs, they run about apparently
without aim. The delirium takes possession of the whole republic.
The end of all this is a general sortie. The whole hive, with the
queen at its head, precipitates itself towards the door, and issues
forth to create a swarm. Once in the fresh air, they become
quiet. Their madness subsides, and they fix themselves to a branch
of a tree, and having been captured, set to work again as usual.
Francis Huber often remarked that, in a swarm which had started,
if the queen, who directed the flight, were seized and killed, im-
mediately all the bees would return to the hive. It would seem
that, having lost their chief, they acknowledged themselves inca-
pable of forming a colony.

A swarm never comes out except on a fine day, or, to speak more
accurately, at an hour of the day when the sun is shining, when
the air is calm, and the sky clear. It is generally between ten
o’clock in the morning and three o’clock in the afternoon. ‘“ We

HYMENOPTERA. 337

observed,” says Francis Huber, “in a hive all the signs which are
the forerunners of a cast for a swarm—disorder and agitation ;
but a cloud passed before the sun, and quiet was restored to the
hive ; the bees thought no more of swarming. An hour after, the
sun having shown itself again, the tumult recommenced, increased.
very rapidly, and the swarm set out on its journey.” *

At the moment which precedes their exit, the buzzing increases
in the hive. Some of the workers go out first, as if to ascertain
the state of the atmosphere. The moment the queen has passed
the threshold, the emigrants follow in a cloud behind her; in
an instant the air is darkened with bees, which crowd together
and form a thick cloud. The swarm rises whirling round about
in the air; it poises itself for a few minutes over the hive, to allow
time to reconnoitre, and for the laggards to join, and then goes
off at full speed.

The queen does not make choice of the place where the company
shall find shelter. When a branch of a tree has been selected by
a certain number, they fix themselves on it. Many others follow
them. When a great many have collected the queen joins
the throng, and brings in her train the rest of the troop. The
group already formed becomes larger and larger every instant.
Those which are still scattered about in the air hasten to join the
majority, and very soon all together compose one solid mass or
clump of bees clinging to each other by their legs. This cluster
(Fig. 322) is sometimes spherical, sometimes pyramidal, and
occasionally attains a weight of nine pounds, and may contain as
many as forty thousand bees. From this moment, although they
are uncovered, they remain still. In a quarter of an hour every-
thing becomes quiet, and the bees cease to hover about the cluster
more than round an ordinary hive. Now is the moment to take
possession of the swarm in a hive prepared beforehand to receive
it. If delayed too long, the troop flies off, and establishes itself
in some natural cavity, as the hollow of a tree, &c. The bees
then return to their wild state.

* Tn general, bees very much dislike bad weather; when they are foraging in the
country, the appearance of a single cloud before the sun causes them to return home
precipitately. However, if the sky is uniformly dark and cloudy, and if there are not
any sudden alternations of darkness and light, they are not easily alarmed, and the
first drops of a gentle rain hardly drive them away from their hunting-ground.

Z

338 THE INSECT WORLD.

Under a warm climate where flowers abound, the hives may cast
several times in succession. The first swarm, however, is always the
best. It is more numerous, and has before it more time to provision
itself. If the weather remains favourable, it is not rare to see

Fig. 322.—Cluster of Bees hanging to a branch.

it send out a swarm itself three weeks after leaving the old hive.
The old queen then leads the emigration of the second swarm,
abandoning the colony she had lately founded. If the original
hive sends forth several swarms, the interval between the first and
the second is from seven to ten days; the third and the fourth
follow at shorter intervals. But these late casts have rarely
vitality enough to exist long.

A swarm never returns to a hive it has once left. It is sur-
prising then that a hive can furnish a second swarm after the
*nterval of a few days, without being too much weakened. But
the old queen, in quitting her domain, leaves behind her a
considerable quantity of brood. These larve are not long in
repeopling the hive, so as to furnish a second swarm. The third
and the fourth casts weaken the population more perceptibly ;

HYMENOPTERA. : 33

but there remain still enough workers to continue operations. In
some cases the agitation of the cast is so great as to cause all the-
bees to quit the hive together, leaving it deserted; but this deser-
tion only lasts an instant, one part of the swarm wisely returning
to their home.

All those which start away become members of the new colony.
When the general deliriuni we have spoken of has taken possession
of them, they precipitate themselves together, they pile themselves
up all at the same time by the door of the hive, and get so hot as:
to perspire freely. Those which are in the midst of the mélée bear’
the weight of the whole crowd, and seem bathed in sweat. Their
wings become damp, and they are no longer able to fly, and even
if they manage to escape, they get no farther than the stand, and’
are not long in re-entering the hive, instead of following the main
body of the emigrants. We must not forget that a part of the:
population is always out at those hours of the day when the:
swarms take place, engaged in collecting provisions, and having col--
lected the spoil, these workers return to the hive abandoned by the
greater part of their companions, and betake themselves to their
usual occupations as if nothing had happened. They form the
nucleus of the new population, which is soon enlarged by the
hatching of the pupz. We have already said that the first swarm
is always led by the old queen or mother, and that it starts before
the hatching of the young females. If she had not gone out
before their birth she would have destroyed them, and the new
hive would have been unable to reorganise itself for the want of a
chief.

The first swarm having set out, those bees which remain in the
hive pay particular attention to the royal cells. If the young queens
make efforts to escape from them, their guardians watch them
narrowly, and as the prisoners destroy their covers of wax the
guards restore them; but as they do not desire the death of
the inmates, they pass in some honey through the opening before
they close it, so as to ameliorate their captivity. At the appointed
moment, the issue of the first egg laid quits her cradle. Very
soon she yields to the murderous instinct which impels her to
destroy her rivals, so that she may reign with undivided sway over
the community. She searches for the cells in which these are

Z2

340 THE INSECT WORLD.

shut up, but the moment she approaches them the workers pinch
her, pull her about, drive her away, and oblige her to move
on, and, as the royal cells are numerous, she finds with difficulty
any corner in her hive where she may be at rest. Incessantly
tormented by the desire of attacking the other females, and
incessantly driven back by the guard, she becomes very much
excited, passes through the different groups of workers at a run,
and communicates to them her agitation. She leads the inmates
of the hive the same sort of dance frequently in the course of
the day.

Sometimes the young queen at the end of her attempts utters a
shrill song, analogous to that of the grasshopper. This song,
so unusual among these insects, has the effect of petrifying the
bees. So says Francis Huber, speaking of a queen which had
just been hatched, and which was trying in vain to satisfy her
jealous instincts. “She sang,” says he, “ twice. When we saw her
producing this sound, she was motionless, her thorax rested against
the honeycomb, her wings being crossed on her back, and she
moved then about without uncrossing them, and without opening
them. Whatever cause it was that made her choose this attitude,
the bees seemed affected by it, all of them now lowered their heads
and remained motionless. Next day, the hive presented the same
appearances, there remained still twenty-three royal cells which
were all assiduously guarded by a great number of bees. The
moment the queen approached these, all the guards were in a state
of agitation, surrounded her, bit her, hustled her in every way,
and generally finished by driving her off; sometimes when this
happened she sang, resuming the attitude which I just now
described ; from that moment the bees became motionless.”* But
the fever which had seized on the young queen ended by com-
municating itself to her subjects, and, at a particular moment, a
new swarm set out under her guidance.

When the emigration is effected, the workers which had remained
at home set free another female. This one acts in the same way
as the first. She tries to get at her rivals still imprisoned, and
whom she can smell in their cradles ; but the guard repel her with
wigour, and defeat all her attempts, till she makes up her mind

* “Observations sur les Abeilles,” tomei., p. 260.

HYMENOPTERA. 341

to emigrate with anew swarm. This curious scene is repeated,
with the same circumstances, three or four times in the space of a
fortnight, if the weather is favourable, and the hive well peopled.
In the end, the number of bees is so much reduced, that they
can no longer keep such vigilant guard round the royal cells, and
it then happens that two females come out together from their
cradles. Immediately the two rivals look for each other, and
fight, and the queen that comes victorious out of this duel to
the death reigns peaceably over the people she has won for
herself. If, in the tumult which precedes the swarming, a
female escapes from her prison, it may happen that she is carried
away in the swarm. In this case the deserters divide into two
separate bands, but the weakest in numbers are not long in
breaking up, the deserters going to swell the principal swarm.
At last all the troop is reunited, and it then contains two queens.
As long as the swarm remains fixed on its branch, all passes
quietly in spite of the presence of a second queen. But as soon as
it has become domiciled, the affair becomes serious; a duel to the
death takes place between the two aspirants to the command. Two
queens cannot exist in the same hive. One of them is de trop,
and must be got rid of.

Francis Huber was the first to describe these duels between the
queens. We quote an interesting account which he has left us
of a combat which he watched on the 12th of May, 1790 :—“‘Two
young queens,” says he, “came out on that day from the cells
almost at the same moment, in one of our smallest hives. <As
soon as they saw each other they dashed one against the other
with every appearance of the greatest rage, and put themselves
in such a position that each one had its antenne seized between
the teeth of its rival; the head, the thorax, and abdomen of
the one were opposite to the head, the thorax, and abdomen of
the other ; they had only to bend round the posterior extremity
of their bodies and they would reciprocally have stabbed each
other with their darts, and both engaged in the combat would
have been killed. But it seems as if nature would not allow this
duel to end by the death of the combatants. One would say that
she had ordained that those queens, finding themselves in this
position (that is to say, face to face and abdomen to abdomen),

342 THE INSECT WORLD.

should retreat that very instant with the greatest precipitation.
And so, as soon as the two rivals felt that their posterior parts were
about to meet, they left go of each other, and each one ran away
in an opposite direction. . . . . A few minutes after they had
separated from each other their fear ceased, and they recommenced
looking for each other. Very soon they perceived the object of
their search, and we saw them running one against the other.
They seized each other as at the first, and put themselves exactly
in the same position. The result was the same; as soon as their
abdomens approached each other they only thought of getting
free, and ran away. The working bees were very much agitated
during the whole of this time, and their tumult seemed to
increase when the two adversaries separated from each other.
We saw them on-two different occasions stop the queens in their
flight, seize them by the legs, and keep them prisoners for more
than a minute. At last, in a third attack, the queen which was
the most infuriated or the strongest rushed upon her rival at a
moment when she did not see her coming; seized her with her
jaws by the base of her wing, then mounted on to her body, and
brought the extremity of her abdomen over the last rings of her
enemy, whom she was then able to pierce with her sting very easily.
She then let go the wing which she held between her teeth, and
drew back her dart. The vanquished queen dragged herself heavily
along, lost her strength and expired soon afterwards.’’*

These singular combats take place between young maiden queens.
Francis Huber, by introducing into a hive some queens from other
hives convinced himself that the same animosity impels the
females which are pregnant to fight with and destroy each other.
From the moment when the young queen to whom the sove-
reignty has fallen is pregnant, she is anxious to destroy all the
royal pupze which still exist in the hive, and which are then
eiven up to her without resistance by the workers.

OvK ayabdv roAvKolpavin eis Koloavos éoTw,
His Bacitevs. . - - tt

Become a mother, the female attacks one after the other the cells

* “ Observations sur les Abeilles,”” tomei., pp. 174—178.

+ “Many ruling together is not good: let there be one ruler, one king.’’—Homer’s
“C TpTeL” ww, WHO,

HYMENOPTERA. 343

which still contain females. She may be seen to throw herself
with fury on the first cell she comes to. She makes an opening
in it with her mandibles large enough to allow her to introduce
her abdomen, and then turns herself about till she has succeeded
in giving a stab with her sting to the female which it contains.
She then withdraws, highly satisfied with what she has done. The
working bees, who up to this moment have remained indifferent
spectators of her efforts, take upon themselves the rest of the
business. ‘They set to work to enlarge the hole made by the
ruling queen, and to draw out the carcass of the victim.

In the meanwhile, the fierce and jealous sovereign throws her-
self on another cell, and breaks into it with violence. If she does
not find in it a perfect insect, but only a pupa, she does not con-
descend to make use of her royal weapon. The workers take on
themselves to empty the cell and destroy its contents. These
executions over, the queen can for the future occupy herself in
laying, without having anything to fear from rivals. Let us
remark, in passing, that man is not much behind these insects,
whose savage exploits in cruelty we have just related. Among
certain tribes of Ethiopians the first care of the newly-crowned
chief is to put in prison all his brothers, so as to prevent wars by
pretenders to the throne. Delivered from all dread of rivals, our
queen sets to work with an indefatigable zeal; and the workers,
animated by the hope of a numerous progeny, heap up provisions
around them.

But now a new tragedy is about to be enacted. The drones,
that is to say, the males, are now no longer wanted in the colony:
their mission is over. By an inexorable law of nature they must
be got rid of, and the working bees proceed to make general
massacre of them. It is in the months of July and August that
this frightful carnage takes place. The workers may then be seen
furiously giving chase to the males, and pursuing them to the ex-
tremity of the hive, where these unfortunate insects seek a place of
safety. ‘Three or four workers dash off in the pursuit after a male.
They seize hold of him, pull him by his legs, by his wings, by his
antenne, and kill him with their stings. This pitiless massacre
includes even the larvee and pup of the males. The executioners
drag them from their cells, run them through with their stings,

344 THE INSECT WORLD.

greedily suck the liquids contained in their bodies, and then cast
their remains to the winds. This slaughter goes on for many days,
continuing till the males have been completely got rid of, they
not being able to defend themselves, as they have no stings.

They are allowed to live, however, when they are fortunate
enough to inhabit a hive deprived of its queen. ‘There they even
find a place of perfect safety when they have been driven out of
another hive, and may be met with in this refuge until the month
of January. In like manner the lives of the males are spared in
those hives which, instead of a true queen, have only a female
half impregnated, which lays only male eggs; but a hive of this
kind, whose active population cannot be increased, ends by being
abandoned by its mhabitants. The sterility or absence of the
queen entails the dissolution of the society. - She is, in fact, the
life and soul of the hive; and without her there is no hope, no
courage, no activity. The populace, abandoned to itself, falls
into anarchy. Famine, pillage, ruin, and death are at its doors.
Having no progeny to set their hopes on, the bees live from one
day to another without a care for the morrow. They leave off
working, and live entirely on theft and rapine, and at last they
disappear entirely. It is a society become rotten and broken up
for the want of a moral tie.

If the loss of the mother bee takes place at a period at which
there still exist in the hive some larvee of working bees of less
than three days old, the nurses (as we have already said) adopt
some of these larvee, and make them into queens by means of the
physical education and the special nourishment which they give
them. In this case, then, the evil can be repaired; the workers
themselves find a remedy without assistance. But if the hive
possesses a degenerate queen, which only lays male eggs, the in-
tervention of man is necessary to save it, by the substitution of a
properly impregnated queen. If, indeed, a strange queen wished
to penetrate alone into a hive already containing a sovereign, she
would infallibly be stopped at the door and stifled by the sentinels
who guard the entrance to the hive. These would surround her
immediately, and keep her captive under them till she perished,
either through suffocation or hunger. They do not employ their
stings against an intruding queen, except in the case of an attempt

HYMENOPTERA. 345

being made to deliver her from their clutches. They get rid of
her by stifling.

When it is wished to introduce into a hive a stranger queen,
after having removed the original sovereign, many precautions
must be used before putting her into the common home. It is only
after some time that the bees become aware of the disappearance
of their queen; but they then manifest great emotion. They run
hither and thither, as though mad, leaving off their work, and
making a peculiar buzzing sound. If you return to them their
original sovereign, they recognise her, and calm is immediately
restored ; but the substitution of a new queen for the original
sovereign does not produce the same effect in every case. If you
introduce the new queen half a day only after the removal of the
old queen, she is very badly received, and is at once surrounded,
the workers trying to suffocate her. Generally she sinks under
this bad treatment. But if you allow a longer interval to elapse
before you introduce the substitute, the bees, rendered more
tractable by the delay, are better disposed towards her. If you
allow an interregnum of twenty-four hours, the stranger queen is
always received with the honours due to her rank, a general
buzzing announcing the event to the whole pupulation of the hive.
They assign to their adopted queen a train of picked attendants ;
they draw up in line on her passing by ; they caress her with the
tips of their antenne; they offer her honey. A little joyful flut-
tering of the escort announces that every one in the little republic
is satisfied. The labours out of doors and indoors then begin anew
with more activity than ever.

It is principally during stormy days, when the heat and the
electricity in the air are favourable to the secretion of pollen in
plants, that the bees go into the fields to make their harvest.
They heap up provisions in the hive against the cold season, not
forgetting, however, to watch over the eggs, their future hope,
“spem gentis,” as Virgil calls them. |

These peaceful occupations are sometimes interrupted by the dire
necessities of war. It happens that the bees of an impoverished
hive, impelled by hunger, that bad counsellor, make up their
mind to attack and to pillage the treasures of a neighbouring hive
which is abundantly stocked with provisions. A savage fight

346 THE INSECT WORLD.

then takes place between the two battalions. Each one precipi-
tates itself with fury upon its adversary. Two bees press against
and bite each other till one is overcome. The victor springs
upon the back of the vanquished, squeezes it round the neck with
its mandibles, and pierces it between the rings of its abdomen
with its sting. The victorious bee places itself by the side of its
fallen enemy, and resting on four of its legs, rubs its two hind
ones together proudly, as a sign of supreme triumph. Réaumur
relates a strange fact which he says he often observed, and which
proves that the insects we are treating of do not fight to satisfy
a sanguinary and savage instinct, but (which is less reprehensible)
to satisfy their hunger. Bees attacked by a superior force are
in no danger of losing their lives if their enemies can induce
them to give up their throats—that expression conveys the idea.
Supposing three or four are furiously attacking one bee: they are
pulling it by its legs and biting it on its thorax. The unfortunate
object of this attack has then nothing better to do, to escape alive
from such a perilous situation, than to stretch out its trunk laden
with sweet-scented honey. The plunderers will come one after
the other and drink the honey; then, cloyed, satisfied, having
nothing more to demand, they go their way, leaving the bee to
return to his dwelling-place.

There are also strange fights—regular duels—between the bees
of the same hive. Very hot weather has the effect of irritating
them, and making them boil over with rage. They are then
dangerous to man, whom they attack boldly. But more often it is
amongst themselves that they quarrel. One often sees two bees
which meet seize each other by the neck in the air. It happens
also that a bee, in a state of fury, throws itself on another who is
walking quietly and unsuspiciously along the edge of its hive.
When two bees are struggling in this manner they descend to the
ground, for in the air they would not be able to get purchase
enough to be sure of striking each other. They then engage in a
hand-to-hand fight, as the gladiators used formerly to do in the
circus. They are continually making stabs with their stings, but
almost always the point slips over the scales with which they are
covered. The combat is sometimes prolonged during an hour
before one of them has found the weak point in the other’s natural

HYMENOPTERA. 347

cuirasse, and has buried its terrible weapon in the flesh. The
victor often leaves its sting in the wound which it has made,
and then dies, in its moment of triumph, through the loss of this
organ. Sometimes the two combatants, in spite of long and savage
assaults, cannot succeed in injuring either’s solid armour. In such
a case they leave each other, tired of war, and fly away, despairing
of obtaining a victory.

At the end of autumn, when the bees no longer find any flowers
in the fields to plunder, they finish rearing the eggs on the pollen
which they keep in store, and the queen ceases to lay. Numbed
by the cold of the winter, the workers cease to go out. Crowded
together, they mutually warm each other, and thus hold out, when
the cold is not too intense, against the rigour of the frosts.
Huddled up between the cakes of the honeycomb, they wait for the
return of fine weather, to recommence their labours at home and
abroad. After two or three years of this laborious existence the
bee dies, but to live again in a numerous posterity, as Virgil

Says :—
“At genus immortale manet, multosque per annos
Stat fortuna domus, et avi numerantur avorum!”

There has been a good deal of discussion on the question
whether bees constitute monarchies or republics. According to
our opinion, theirs isa true republic. As all the population is the
issue of a common mother, and as each bee of the female sex can
become a queen—that is to say, a mother-bee, if it receives an
appropriate nourishment—it is manifest that the title of queen has
been wrongly given to the mother-bee. After all, she is nothing
more than president of a republic. The vice-presidents, as we
have already pointed out, are all those females which at any given
moment may be called by choice—that is, by popular election—to
fulfil the functions of the sovereign, when death or accident
has put an end to her existence. ‘There is no such thing as a
king in nature,” said Daubenton one day, in one of his lectures
at the Jardin des Plantes. The audience immediately applauded,
and cried “ Bravo!” The honest savant stopped, quite disconcerted,
and asked his assistant naturalist the cause of this applause, per-
haps ironical. ‘I must have’said something stupid,” repeated
poor Daubenton between his teeth, remembering the saying of

348 THE INSECT WORLD.

Phocion under similar circumstances. “No,” replied his assistant
naturalist, “you have said nothing but what is quite true; but,
without meaning it, you have made a political allusion. You spoke
against kings, and our young republicans thought that you were
alluding to Louis XVI.” ‘Indeed,’ cried the coadjutor of
Buffon, “I had no idea that I was talking politics!”? The bee
republic, this little animal society, is admirably constituted, and
all its citizens obey its laws with docility. .

Bees have often served as an example, proving, according to
some, the marvellous intelligence of certain little animals; accord-
ing to others, an instinct wonderfully developed. For ourselves,
we have never well understood what people mean by the word
instinct ; and we frankly grant to the bee intelligence, as we do
also to many animals. The greater number of the acts of their
life seem to be the result of an idea, a mental deliberation, a
determination come to after examination and reflection. The
construction of their cells, always uniform, is, they say, the result
of instinct. However, it happens that under particular circum-
stances, these little architects know how to abandon the beaten
track of routine, reserving to themselves the power of returning,
when it is useful to do so, to the traditional principles which
ensure the beauty and regularity of their constructions. Bees
have been seen, indeed, to deviate from their ordinary habits in
order to correct certain irregularities, the result of accident or
produced by the intervention of man, which had deranged their
works.

Francis Huber relates that he saw bees propping up with
pillars and flying buttresses of wax a piece of the honeycomb
which had fallen down. At the same time, put on their guard by
this sad accident, they set to work to fortify the principal frame-
work of the other combs, and to fasten them more securely to the
roof of the hive. This took place in the month of January, and
therefore not during the working season, and when to provide
against a distant eventuality was the only question. M. Walond
has reported an analogous observation. Is there not here, in the
first place, a true and excellent reasoning, then an act, an opera-
tion, a work, executed as the result of this reasoning? Now, an
operation which is performed as the result of reasoning, is attri-

HYMENOPTERA. 349

butable to intelligence. Again, the bees give different sorts of food
to the different sorts of larve. They know how to change this
food when an accident has deprived the hive of its queen, and it
is necessary to replace her; this is another proof of intelligence.
But it is, above all, in the face of an enemy that the intellectual
faculties of these insects show themselves. There are always at

()

SUTTON TTT DETAR OUAV TTT TTR
PTA HIN HITLT (ity,
ij TTT HTD SSA H \ HA

CNA NRA (f i i
Ke |
ti

= SS = = ;

Fig. 323.—Sentinel Bees guarding the entrance to the hive.

the entrance of every hive three or four bees, which have nothing
else to do but to guard the door, to keep a watch over incomers
and outgoers, and to prevent an enemy or an intruder from
slipping into the community. When one of them perceives an
enemy on the borders of the hive, it dashes forwards towards it,
and by a menacing and significant buzzing warns it to retire.
If it does not understand the warning, which is a rare occurrence,

350 THE INSECT WORLD.

—for men, horses, dogs, and animals of all kinds know perfectly
well the danger to which they expose themselves by approaching
too near to a hive in full operation,*—the bee gets a reinforcement
and very soon returns to the combat with a determined battalion.
All this is, it seems to us, intelligence.

We have just said that there are sentinels at the entrance of
every hive. They touch with their antennz each individual that
wishes to penetrate into the house. Hornets, the Death’s-head
Sphinx, slugs, &c., often try to introduce themselves into the hive.
In that case, on the appeal of the watchful porters, all the bees
combine their efforts to defend the entrance to their habitation.
It would be impossible for them, in fact, to stop the ravages of
their enemies when once entered into the interior. When a
sphinx has succeeded in introducing itself into a hive, it sits down
and drinks the honey in great bumpers, devouring all the pro-
visions: and the unfortunate proprietors of the house are obliged
to emigrate. To stop the entrance of moths which fly by night,
the bees contract, and sometimes barricade, their door with a
mixture of wax and propolis, When a slug or any other large
animal has managed to introduce itself into the interior, they kill
it and wrap it up in a shroud of propolis, as we have already
related.

However, they are quite helpless against certain microscopic
parasites which sometimes attack them. The bee-louse, which
has been described and drawn by Réaumur in one of his Memoirs,t
and the parasite which was described in 1866 by M. Duchemin,
the Sugar Acarus, which is found in the liquid honey of
those hives which are attacked by the disease called the rot
(pourriture), are the most serious enemies of the bee. The
Gallerias are also terrible enemies to them. Every hive thus
attacked is ruined. These destructive insects attack also the wild
bees, drive them from their nests, and destroy the wax of the
cakes forming the comb. The Gadlerta impudently makes his
home in the houses of bees, wild as well as domesticated.

* The bee’s sting may lead to very serious consequences. It often happens that
large animals, such as horses or oxen, tied up in the neighbourhood of a bee-hive,
and which have disturbed the bees, die in consequence of stings received from

them.
+ Tome v., planche 36,

HYMENOPTERA. 351

The habits of bees in their wild state, which make their nests
in the trunks of trees and other cavities, do not differ from those
of domesticated bees. Only the latter become tame with man,
getting used to those who look after them, and becoming less
ageressive towards strangers.

Apiculture, or bee-keeping, is still at the present day an. im-
portant business, although honey has lost a great deal of its
utility since the introduction of sugar into Europe. Without
entering into many details on apiculture, that is to say, on the
attention it is necessary to pay to bees, we will mention the
principal duties of the bee-keeper.

When, in the spring, the bees font la barbe (as the French
say), that is, when they are getting ready to swarm, one must
watch narrowly, so as not to lose them. As soon as a swarm
has settled on a tree or on any artificial resting-place prepared on
purpose in the neighbourhood, it is approached, after having
covered one’s face with a piece of transparent linen or canvas, or
with a hood, and the cluster is caused to fall into a hive turned
upside down. The hive is then turned up and again put in its
place; or else, if it is only to serve for the conveyance of the
swarm to another place, shaken about before the door of the
hive which the swarm is destined to occupy. The bees then
beat to arms, and set to work to enter their new habitation in
a compact column. Fig. 324 represents the manner in which one
ought to proceed in order to gather a swarm of bees, which is fixed
on a branch of a tree, and introduce it into the hive prepared for it.
Let us listen on this subject to an experienced bee-keeper, M.
Hamet :—“ As soon as a swarm has fixed itself anywhere, and there
are only a few bees fluttering round the cluster, you must make your
preparations for lodging them in 2 hive you have got ready for the
purpose. Some people rub the hive on the inside with aromatic
plants or honey, with the object of making the bees fix themselves
there more surely. This precaution is not indispensable. What
is essential is, that the hive should be clean and free from any bad
smell. It is a good thing to pass it beforehand over the flame of a
straw fire, which destroys the eggs of insects and insects them-
selves which may have lodged in it.

“After having covered your head with a veil, if the swarm has

362 THE INSECT WORLD.

settled in a difficult place, and you are afraid of being stung, you
hold the hive under the cluster of bees and make them fall into it, ©
either by shaking the branch to which the swarm is attached very
hard, or by means of a small broom, or even with the hand, for
then they very rarely sting: It is hardly ever necessary to take
any precautions in approaching them, except for swarms which

Fig. 324.—Taking a swarm.

have been fixed for many hours, or since the day before. When
the bees have fallen in a mass to the bottom of the hive, you turn
this gently over, and place it on a piece of linen stretched out on
the ground near the place where the swarm was, or on a tray, or
simply on the ground itself, if it is dry and clean. You will have
taken care to place on this linen a little wedge, a stick or a
stone to raise the hive a little, and to leave room through

HYMENOPTERA. 303

which the bees may enter. A great part of the bees which
fall into the hive fix themselves on to its sides; but a good
number are dropped on the linen when the hive is turned. This
is the manner in which you act when itis determined to lodge the
swarm; but when the swarm is to be lodged in another hive, as
we shall see farther on, immediately that the bees recognise the
lodging which is destined for them, they set to work to beat to
arms, and to enter in a compact column their new dwelling ; those
which are fluttering about in the air are summoned by this call,
and are not long in alighting on the spot where the rest of their

Fig. 325.—Bell-shaped hive. Fig. 326.—English hive.

companions are fixed. At. the end of a quarter or half an hour
at the most, all, or nearly all, have entered the hive. A few
still hover about round the place where the swarm was fixed. If
the number is considerable, and if many have stopped in this
place, you must make them quit it by placing some offensive herb
such as celandine, horehound, field camomile, &c., on it, or project
the smoke of a rag upon them, which will drive away the bees and
force them to look for the colony or to return to the mother-
hive. You may also project smoke, but in moderate quantities,
on the bees grouped around and on the borders of the lodging
INGA

304 THH INSECT WORLD.

which you have just given them, and which they will not be long
in entering.””*

A good swarm weighs from four to six pounds; one pound
contains about four thousand bees. The second swarms weigh
rarely more than two pounds, and the third still less. You can
also form artificial swarms by drawing off the bees of one hive into
another; an operation which is easy with well-shaped hives. <A
glance at Fig. 325, which represents the common hive of the
north of France, that is to say, the bell-shaped, will show how easy
it is to effect this drawing off, or pouring out of the bees, by
joing together at their bases two hives, the one empty, the other
containing a swarm. In order to have control over the bees during
the operation, you must slightly stupefy them with the smoke of a
smouldering rag. ;

Beehives are of a thousand different shapes, each of which has its
particular advantages. They are made of wood and of straw; and

ETA
i Ail

le age

ss eS ane xe
Vj x7 : Ge wel

\ W ' | >

Fig. 327.—Swiss hive. Fig. 328.—Polish hive.
the shapes used in different countries are very various. We give
as examples, Figs. 325, 326, 327, 328.
The site, that is, the place where hives stand, is not a
* Cours d’Apiculture,”’ pp. 78, 74.

HYMENOPTERA. 300

matter of difference. It is generally supposed that bees ought
to be established in a place fully exposed to the sun, and to the
greatest heat of the day. This is a mistake. M. de Frariére,
in his work on bees and bee-keeping, recommends the hives to
be placed under trees, in such a way that they may be kept in

62 PNY BOE ll
Pk iy vce Mf \ Wf) )) Sa
SSSA NEE aNd le 7 —

ay 8 Ra

= SQQVHN NYS SHEL
»Y SSS eS =

¥

Fig, 329.— Garden hive.

the shade. Vig. 330 shows the way in which M. de Frariére
recommends hives to be arranged.

Dr. Monin, author of an interesting monograph of the bee,
published in 1866, after treating of the different arrangements
which have been recommended for hives, concludes thus :—
“Tt is to satisfy all these requirements that experienced bee-
keepers so much recommend for the hives an exposure to the
ten o'clock sun; that is to say, that they should be turned in
such a manner that the sun may shine on their entrances when
it has already attained a certain height above the horizon, and
sufficiently warmed the surrounding air for the bees, which the
brightness of its rays has tempted forth, not to be seized with

AA2

306 THE INSHCT WORLD.

cold, and numbed before they have been able to return home
again.” *

In the month of March, a gathering of wax is made by cutting
away the lower part of the hives, where the cakes have grown
old. The principal honey harvest takes place towards the end
of May, June, or July, according to the place the hives are in.
A larger or smaller gathering takes place according to the quan-
tity of honey ready, and the state of the season. As the bees

will not see the violation of their domicile and theft of their

Hig. 330.—Hives under the shade of trees.

winter provisions without anger, to get possession of the honey-
comb with which the hive is filled, you must put these irritable
insects into such a state that they are unable to injure you. They
can be rendered peaceable by smoking them. The smoke is
forced into the hive with the assistance of a pair of bellows, the
arrangement of which is shown in Fig. 331. If the fumigation
is prolonged, the bees are very soon heard to beat their wings in
a peculiar manner; they are then in what is called in French
état de bruissement, or roaring state. When they stand up on

* “Physiologie de I’ Abeille, suivie de l’art de soigner et d’exploiter les Abeilles,
d’aprés une methode simple, facile.” Paris, 1866. P. 94.

HYMENOPTERA. 307

their hind legs and agitate their wings, you can do with them
almost anything you like—cut away the honeycomb, abstract the
eggs, or take out the honey—without their troubling themselves

Fig 331.—Bellows used to stupefy Bees.

about it. But this state of things must not last too long, or you
- may suffocate your bees. It is a sort of anesthesis into which
the bees have been thrown; and, as with men, this must not be
prolonged.

Some bee-keepers, in order to collect the honey harvest, suffocate
their bees by burning sulphur matches. This is a bad practice.
“Those authors who recommend us -to suffocate the bees,’ says
M. Hamet, ‘under the pretext that their colonies will become
too numerous, and who add, ‘ You cannot eat beef without killing
the ox,’ are more stupid than the animal they have chosen for
their comparison.” A hive often produces from twelve to twenty
pounds of honey each year, and a proportional quantity of wax.
It may, then, furnish to the bee-keeper an important revenue,
especially as the rearing of bees gives scarcely any trouble, and
involves scarcely any labour, as it is only necessary to select a
spot with a proper exposure and well-supplied with flowers.

We possess in Hurope two species or races of bees—the
Common Bee (Apis mellifica), and the Ligurian Bee (Apis ligus-
tica), whose abdomen is tawny, with the rings bordered with
black. It is this species of which Virgil sang, and which is found
in Italy and Greece. It has been remarked that the Ligurian bee
pierces the calices, at their bases, of those flowers which are too
long for it to penetrate into easily, and thus gets possession of
the honey, whilst the common bees pass these flowers over. ‘This
observation proves that the former is the more intelligent of the
two races. In Egypt a bee is reared, called the Banded Bee
(Apis fasciata).

Ten or twelve other species of honey-bees exist in Senegal, the
Cape of Good Hope, Madagascar, Hast Indies, at Timor (Apis

358 THE INSECT WORLD.

Peronii), &e. The European bee has been acclimatized in America,
but it soon returns to its wild state, as indeed do all our domestic
animals when transported to the other hemisphere. At the
Cape of Good Hope, the Hottentots seek greedily after the nests
of wild bees, a bird called the Indicator guiding them in this
chase. This bird is observed flitting about from tree to tree,
making a little significant cry. They have only then to follow
this bird-informer, for it will not be long in stopping before
some hollow tree which contains a nest of bees. The Hot-
tentots always acknowledge its services by leaving it a part of the
booty.

Fenimore Cooper, the novelist, tells us, in his work entitled
“The Prairie,’ how the bee-hunters in America discover the
wild hives. They place on a plank, covered with white paint
still moist, a piece of bread covered with sugar or honey. The
bees, in plundering this bread, get some of the paint on their
bodies, and are then more easily tracked when they return to
their hives. In North America they are, as it were, the har-
bingers of civilisation. When the Indians perceive a swarm
trying to establish themselves in the solitudes of their forests,
they say to one another, “The white man is approaching; he
will soon be here.” True pioneers of civilisation, these insects
seem to announce to the forests and deserts of the New World that
the reign of nature has passed away, and that now the social
state has begun to play its part—a part that will never end.

The bees peculiar to South America have no
sting: these are the Meliponas. These (Fig.
332) are more compactly formed than our bees,

have a more hairy body, and are smaller in size.

Baie Very numerous in the virgin forests, they make
their nests in the hollows of trees. The wax produced by them
is brown, and of an indifferent quality. Under thick leaves of
wax are found cakes, with hexagonal cells, containing the males,
females, and neuters. The cells of the larve are closed by the
workers, and the larve spin themselves a cocoon inside. All
around the cradles are large round cells, entirely different in form
from the cradles, in which the honey is stored. It is probable
that the males, the workers, and the females, live together in

HYMENOPTERA. 309

great harmony, and even that there is in each nest more than
one female, for the absence of the sting must prevent any combats.
If a few cakes of the Melipona’s honeycomb are moved into
the hollow of a tree, they always found there a new colony. We
may conclude from this that the workers procure for themselves
females whenever they want them by means of a special sort
of food. The savage inhabitants of the American forests collect
this honey; but with the carelessness of uncivilised man, they at
the same time destroy the nests of these precious insects. They
have now begun to domesticate certain species of Meliponas, by
introducing them into earthen pots or wooden cases. These
insects have been brought to Europe, but they have always
perished in the first cold weather. During the summer of 1863
there was, in the Museum of Natural History of Paris, a nest of
Melipona scutellaris from Brazil, but it did not prosper.

Tue Humsie or BuMBLE BEEs.

If in the month of March one passes through the fields,
which are beginning to get green, or through the woods, still
deprived of their leaves, there may be seen, hovering hither
and thither, great hairy insects, resembling gigantic bees. These
are the females of the humble bee, called by the French “ bour-
dons,” from the buzzing noise they produce. These females
have been awakened by the spring sun. They examine the
cavities of stones, the heaps of moss, and the holes in banks,
&e., seeking for a suitable spot to construct a nest for their
progeny.

The humble bees are of the same family as the bees, whom they
resemble in their organisation. Like them, they are divided into
males, females, and neuters, or workers. But their companies only
last a year. At the end of autumn, the whole population has
become extinct, with the exception of the pregnant females, which
pass the winter in a state of torpor, at the bottom of some hole,
where they wait till the spring to perpetuate their race. Their
societies comprise generally only a small number of individuals,
from fifty to three hundred. They are of peaceful habits, their
ephemeral existence beginning and ending with the flower season.

360 THE INSECT WORLD.

The humble bees are known by their great size, their short,
robust body, encircled by bands of very bright colours, and by
the noise they make in flying. Their hind
legs are armed with two spurs. The females
and the workers have the same organisation
for plundering flowers as the bees have:
they have similar trunks and their legs are
fitted with brushes and baskets for gathering
pollen. The males, like the males of hive
bees, have no sting. The greater number
have their dwelling-places under ground ; others make their nests
on the surface of the soil, in the cracks of walls, in heaps of
stones, &c. The former establish themselves in cavities situated
as far as half a yard under ground, and approached by a long
narrow gallery. It is almost always a solitary female who has
been the architect of the nest. She cleans out the cavity she
has chosen, makes it as smooth as possible, and lines it with
leaves and moss, to embellish the subterranean house in which
she is to pass nearly all her existence.

The Moss Humble Bee (Bombus muscorum), called also the
Carding Bee, chooses an excavation of very little depth in which
to make its nest, or else itself undertakes the hollowing out of a
hole in the ground. It covers: this with a dome of moss or dry
herbs. But it does not fly when transporting the moss, it drags
it along the ground, with its back turned towards the nest.
Having seized a packet of the moss, it sets to work to draw out
the bits with its mandibles, and then pushing them under its body,
throws them in the direction of the nest by a sort of kick from its
hind legs. Sometimes, towards the end of the season, many humble
bees are to be seen working in line. The first seizes the moss,
and after having carded it, passes it under its body, and throws it
to the second, which throws it on to the third, and so on, up to
the nest. When the materials are ready, the insect makes use of
them to manufacture a sort of hemispherical lid, or covering,
resembling felt, which shuts the nest in, and is lined with wax.
If you lift up this covering, or small dome, which it is not dan-
gerous to do, for humble bees are not very aggressive, you find
beneath it a nest, composed of a coarse comb.

Fig. 333.—Male Humble Bee.

HYMENOPTERA. 361

The cells which compose the nest, and which are to receive
the larvee of the insect, are of an oval shape, and of a pale yellow
or even of a blackish colour. Fig. 334 represents these cells.

Fig. 334.—Cells from a Humble Bee’s nest.

The wax of which they are composed has none of the qualities of
that of hive bees, but is soft, sticky, and brownish.

When the mother humble bee, which at first was alone and built
her house single-handed, has made a certain number of cells, she
seeks for honey and pollen and prepares a paste, which she deposits
in the future cradles. She then lays six or seven eggs in each.
The larve which come from them live in common, at the same

table, under the same tent. The cell is at first only the size of a
pea; it soon becomes too narrow, splits and cracks, and requires
to be enlarged and repaired many times, a work of which our
industrious insects acquit themselves with a good deal of care and
attention. Before passing into the pupa state, each larva spins for
itself a shell, or cocoon, of very fine white silk. It ceases to eat,
remains at first rolled up, then expands itself little by little, and
changes its skin after three days. It passes fifteen days in the
pupa state in a quiescent condition. After the normal time has
elapsed for it to remain in its hiding-place, it delivers itself from
its mummy-like covering, with the help of the mother or the
workers. The humble bee then appears, robust, and its body
covered with a greyish down.

When the successive hatchings have furnished to the mother
the reinforcement she is waiting for, the workers she has raised

362 | THE INSECT WORLD.

occupy themselves in building new cells, and in raising the wall
of enclosure which is to protect the nest. This wall, formed of
wax, starts from the base, and raises itself, like a vertical rampart,
from every point in the circumference. They then surmount
this by the first roof, which is flat, supported by some pillars,
and in which they have left one or two irregular openings. ‘The
whole is finally protected by a hemispherical covering of moss,
made into a sort of felt and lined with wax. Fig. 335 represents,
in its entirety, a nest of this humble bee.

Dy

Z Ni)

Re ai We
TINA Ie
NWWzzi ve

a

) NS )
we yee NS : ‘
SUS eS He

es ASH —S Se SSo S ST Ny
Sa

rail.

Fig. 335.—Nest of the Moss Humble Bee ( Bombus muscorum).

The workers also take their part in rearing the eggs. They
bring the paste, which they slip into the cells to the larvee by a
small hole, which is shut immediately afterwards. Later, they
again give their assistance in disengaging the pupz from their
envelopes. In short, they make themselves generally useful; but

HYMENOPTERA. 363

they have one bad fault: they are very fond of eating the eggs
laid by the mother. They try to seize them as she deposits them,
or drag them from the cells, and suck their contents. And so
the mother is obliged to be incessantly defending her eggs against
the voracity of the workers, and to be constantly on her guard,
so as to be ready to drive away these marauders from cells newly
filled.

We owe to an English naturalist, Newport, the knowledge of
another curious fact relating to the laying of humble bees, which
is the expedient the females and the males have recourse to for
hastening the hatching of the eggs. They place themselves, like
fowls sitting on their eggs, over the cocoons containing the pup
almost hatched. By breathing quickly, these industrious insects
raise the temperature of their bodies, and consequently that of the
air in the cells. Thanks to this supplementary heat, the meta-
morphosis of the pups is much hastened. Newport, by shipping
miniature thermometers between the cocoons of the nymphs and
the sitting humble bees, ascertained that the temperature of the
latter was about 34° C., whilst the temperature of the cocoons left
to themselves was only 27° C.; that of the air in the rest of the.
nest being only from 21° to 24°C. After many hours of incu-
bation, at the same time natural and artificial, in which art and
nature are so closely allied, after the sitting insects have many
times relieved one another, the young humble bees come out of
their cells. They are at first soft, greyish, moist, and very sus-
ceptible to cold. But after a few hours they become stronger,
and the yellow and black bands with which their abdomens are
surrounded begin to be marked out. The spring laying produces
exclusively workers. The greatest abundance of eggs are laid in
August and September. The laying of the female eggs begins in
July ; that of the males follows soon after.

Until autumn, the humble bees are incessantly enlarging their
nests, and multiplying their little pots of honey. Without accu-
mulating a great stock of provisions, for which they have no
occasion, they always keep in reserve a quantity of pollen and
honey for their daily wants. The cells in which the honey is
stored differ very much in shape. Some species of humble bees
give them long and narrow necks; others, less recherché in their

364 THE INSECT WORLD.

style of construction, simply make cylindrical vases. Theve are
among the humble bees races of artists and races of simple builders :
the one construct with taste, the other only seek the useful.

During the day, the humble bees cull honey frem the flowers.
At night they enter their home; but a certain number take the
liberty of sleeping out. Surprised by the arrival of night, in the
bottom of the calyx of a sweetly-scented flower, they philosophi-
cally determine to sleep in the open air, lying on this perfumed
bed, with the heaven as their canopy.

The coupling of the humble bees takes place towards the end of
September. It costs the males their life, as it does with the hive
bees. The impregnated females do not lay till the following
spring; it is they who, after the winter is passed, will become the
mothers of new generations. ‘They will take the reins of the family
when the mother who founded the colony, the males, as also the
workers, shall, according to the laws of nature, have passed away.
There are often, on the other hand, some workers which, born in
the spring, become fruitful, and lay the same year, but only the
eggs of males. These become a butt for the jealousy of the
reigning mother, who pursues them with fury and devours their
egos. These, however, have themselves cruel hearts. Animated
by a profound jealousy, they dispute the occupancy of the cells
savagely, so as to be able to lay a few eggs in them, which are no
sooner laid than they are destroyed by their savage sisters. How-
ever, they never make use of their stings in any of these attacks.
- The humble bee population is peaceful, even in its combats.
After the first cold weather in autumn, all these insects, as we
have said, perish, except the pregnant females. These privileged
depositaries of the race, spem altera domi, look for a place of
retreat, and there sleep till the following spring. Then they wake
up and found new colonies, which continue the race.

For a long while were confounded with the humble bees certain
insects which have the same appearance, that is to say, a hairy
body, with bands of various colours, but whose hind legs are
adapted neither for gathering honey nor for building. These are
the genus Psithyrus: it was Lepelletier de Saint-Fargeau who
discovered their true position. These are parasites, and only
consist of males and fertile females, without workers. They lay

HYMENOPTERA. 365

their eggs in the nest of the humble bee. They are, indeed, so
like their hosts, that they can introduce themselves into their
dwellings without raising any suspicion. The humble bees admit
them freely, and receive them as if they belonged to the family ;
so much so, indeed, that the poor humble bees themselves bring up
the larvee of these impudent guests. In the Order Hymenoptera,
one meets with many examples of these sorts of parasites which
install their progeny in the nest of another insect, as the cuckoo
does in the nests of other birds.

SouirarRy BEEs.

We have up till now found the insects of the great family of
bees collected together in perfectly organised societies. But there
are a great number of species of this family which live alone. We
will briefly mention the most interesting of them.

The females of the solitary bees are impregnated like those of
the humble bees, and lay in spring, after having passed the winter
asleep. They build a nest divided into cells, fill it with eggs, and
with a honied paste shut it up and die, without having seen their
progeny hatched.

The Anthophoras (Figs. 336, 337, 338) resemble bees, but they

are more hairy, and of greyish colour. Their nest, composed of

Figs 336, 337, 338.—Anthophora parietina.

earth tempered and agglutinated with their saliva, is made in the
cracks of old walls or in the ground. It has the form of a twisted
tube, and is divided, by partitions, into compartments, each of
which is to receive a larva. Hach insect, when hatched, pierces
its own wall, and profits by the hole of exit of the brother which
preceded it.

These insects do not thes together in societies. Indifferent
neighbours, they do not lend each other mutual assistance. They

~

366 THE INSEOT WORLD.

have their parasites, the JJelectas, like the humble bees. These
parasites are hairy, blackish insects, spotted with white, laying
their eggs in the nests of the Anthophoras, which permit them to
do so, and, at the expense of their own progeny, bring up the
intruder’s little ones.

The Carpenter Bee, or Wood-piercer (Xylocopa), hollows out
galleries in decayed wood, and builds in them cells placed one
over the other, a work often occupying many weeks. She then
furnishes the bottom of the cell with pollen mixed up with honey,
lays an egg in the middle of this paste, and closes the cell by a
ceiling of sawdust agglutinated with saliva. On this ceiling she

Hig. 389.—Carpenter Bee, Pupe, Eggs, Galleries, and Nests.

establishes a new cell, and so on, right up to the orifice, which she
closes in the same manner. Réaumur is astonished, with reason,
at the admirable instinct which makes this provident mother
determine the exact quantity of nourishment which will be neces-
sary for its larva. When this has absorbed all its provision, it
alone quite fills up its cell, and changes into a pupa. It is worthy

HYMENOPTERA. 367

of remark, that the head of the young is always turned down-
wards, in such a way that it is by the bottom of its cell that it
comes out. The bottom of the first is very near the surface of the
wood, so that the insect it encloses has only a thin layer of wood
to pierce through in order to set itself free. Each one of those
which are born next has only to pierce the floor of its hiding-
place to find the road before it free. The Xylocope pass the

Fig. 340.—Mason Bee and Nest.

winter in the pupa state, and the perfect insects, with wings of a
beautiful metallic violet, appear in the spring, but are not found
in this country.

Other solitary bees have their hind legs unsuited for the gather-
ing of pollen, but have the rings of the abdomen furnished with
hairs for that purpose. Such are the Mason Bees of Réaumur,
belonging to the genera Osmia and Chalicodoma,* which build their
nests against walls with tempered earth, which become very hard.

* At a meeting of the Entomological Society of London, Feb. 18th, 1867, Mr.
Newman exhibited the lock of a door, one of several which, in 1866, were found at
the Kent Waterworks, Deptford, to be completely filled and choked up with nests of

368 THE INSECT WORLD.

These nests (Figs. 340 and 341) are filled with cells of oblong
form arranged irregularly. At first sight, they might be taken
for little lumps of earth plastered against the wall. When the
perfect insect emerges, it is obliged to soften the mortar with its
saliva, and to remove it, grain by grain, with its mandibles.
The nests of Chalicodomas are common in the environs of Paris,

Ni all ih
CS WA

on walls of rough stones exposed! to the south. They are
often to be found in the parks of Meudon, of Conflans, of
Vésinet, &c. ;

The Leaf- cutting Bees (Megachile) are not less worthy of remark
in their habits. ‘lhese insects make their nests in tubes lined with
the leaves of the rose, the willow, the lilac, &c., placed in a cylindri-
cal burrow. Each nest contains generally from three to six cells,
separated by partitions of leaves. They cut off the pieces of leaves

Osmia bicornis, a portion of the nest had been forced out by the insertion of the key ;
the locks were in pretty constant use, so that the nests must have been built in the
course of a few days.—“ Journal of Proceedings of the Entomological Society of
London,” 1867, lxxvi.—Ep.

HYMENOPTERA. 3 69

they require with their mandibles, the notches being wonderfully
cleanly cut, as if they had been done with a punch.

They make as many as eight or ten envelopes in succession with
the leaves, which, as they get dry, contract, keeping, however, the

Fig. 342.—Rose Megachile (Wegachile centunculuris ).

form given to them by the insect. The cells destined to receive
the eggs acquire thus a certain solidity. Fig. 342 represents the
nest of the Megachile.

The Uphosterer Bees (Anthocopas) line their nests with the petals
of flowers, as, for example (Papaver Rheas), the corn-poppy.
Their burrows are made perpendicularly in
the beaten earth of roads, and each contains
one solitary cell, lined with portions of
petals. When the egg has been laid at the
bottom of this cell, the bee fills up the rest
of the hole with earth to hide it from notice.

The Mining Bees (Andrene) hollow out in "S34 — G4 y 8 an Andrena-
the ground tubular galleries (Fig. 343). They are not larger

BB

310 THE INSECT WORLD.

than ordinary flies. A great number of other bees are known,
but their habits are little understood, and we shall not occupy
ourselves about them.

WASPS.

Every one knows the wasps as a race of dangerous brigands
which live by rapine, are incessantly fighting battles, and which

5 in

Fig. 344.—Wasps’ Nest.

exist only to.do harm. However, wasps, like Figaro, are better
than they are reputed to be. Their societies are admirably
organised ; their nests are models of industry and artistic fancy.
They have even certain domestic virtues which deserve our
esteem, only they are an excitable race it is well not to cross.
If great heat adds to their natural irritability, they savagely
attack those who annoy them, and pursue them to a distance.
No one, indeed, is ignorant that their sting is very painful. In

HYMENOPTERA. 371

cold weather and towards night, they are less vivacious and less to
be dreaded.

The wasps are distinguished from the bees by a decided charac-
teristic. In a state of repose they fold together their upper wings,
which then seem very narrow, only spreading them out when they
are about to fly ; whilst the latter when at rest keep their upper
wings spread out.

Wasps live in companies, which last only a year, and are com-
posed of males, females, and workers. But the female wasp does
not pass her entire life in idleness as.a queen, like the mother
hive bee. She occupies herself in making the nest and in taking
care of the young, like the mother humble bee. The males have
also their duties. They watch over the cleanliness of the habita-
tion, and are the sanitary commissioners and undertakers to the

Fig. 345. —Common Wasp (Vespa vulgaris). Fig. 846.—Bush Wasp (Vespa norvegica).
city. These are easily recognised by their oblong bodies, having
so slight a connection with the thorax, as it were by a thread.

Their sting is larger than that of the bees, and is supplied with
poison from a pouch placed at its base. The males have no sting.
Wasps do not secrete wax. With their mandibles they scrape
wood and plants, the fragments of which they agglutinate
together in such a way as to form a tough cardboard ‘Thus
they invented the manufacture of paper long before men. Charles
de Geer, in his celebrated work, sums up the habits of these
insects in the following manner :—‘ Wasps,” says he, “are, like
bees, fond of sweets and honey, although they rarely seek them
in flowers; but their principal food consists in matters of quite a
different kind, such as fruits of all kinds, raw flesh, and live insects,
which they seize anddevour. They sometimes do dreadful damage
in beehives, devouring the honey, and killing the bees. They do
not gather wax; their nests and their combs are composed of a
matter resembling grey paper, which they

BB 2

get from rotten wood,

s

372 THE INSECT WORLD.

and which they scrape off with their jaws; they make a sort of
paste of these scrapings by moistening them with a certain liquid
which they disgorge. The cells in the combs are hexagonal, and
very regular, like those of bees.’’*

Wasps collect the materials with which they build near the
place where they have chosen to establish their domicile. These
inaterials are ligneous fibre, mixed up with saliva, with the aid
of which these insects prepare the paper-like substance, which
is very tough, and destined to form the walls of the cells and their
exterior covering. ‘The greater number make their habitation in
the ground. Of these is our Common Wasp (Vespa vulgaris),
which is black, agreeably contrasted with bright yellow. The
Bush Wasp (Vespa norvegica), which inhabits woods, constructs
its nest between the branches of shrubs or bushes. It is smaller
than the common species. The Hornet is the largest European
species of the family of the. Vespide. The substance of its nest
is yellowish, and very fragile, and is constructed under a roof,

G9
fh
i

Fig. 347.—The mee (Vespa crabro).
in a loft, or in the hole of an old wall, but most often in the
hollow of a decayed tree. Another species of this family (Polistes
gallica, Fig. 348) fixes its little nest by a foot-stalk to the stem of
some plant.

Wasps begin laying in spring, and go on
laying all the summer. Hach cell receives one
single egg, and, as with bees, the workers’
eggs are the first laid. Hight days after the
laying, there comes out of each egg a larva
without feet, and already provided with two
mandibles. These larvee receive their food in
the form of balls, which the females or the
workers knead up with their mandibles and their legs before

* “Mémoires pour servir a |’ Histoire des Insectes.” Stockholm, 1771. In 4to.,
tome il., p. 765.

Fig. 348.—Polistes gallica.

HYMENOPTERA. 373

presenting te their nurslings, very nearly in the same way
as birds give their beak full of food to their little ones. At
the end of three weeks the larve cease to take food, and
begin to shut themselves up in their cells, the interior of which
they line with a coating of silk. In this they change their se
and assume the appearance of the perfect insect, with

its six legs and its wings, but motionless, and con-
tracted together. A sort of bag keeps all the organs
swathed up together (Fig. 349). This pupa state lasts
for eight or nine days, at the end of which time the
insect is fully developed; it casts its skin, breaks the “(Pike Gommoa
door of its prison, and launches itself into the air. A “*™

cell is no sooner abandoned than a worker visits, cleans it, and
puts it in a fit state to receive another ege.

During the summer the female wasp remains constantly in the
nest, absorbed with family cares. She is occupied in laying eggs
and in feeding her progeny, with the active assistance of the
workers, or mules, as Réaumur and Charles de Geer call them,
because they are unfruitful.

In the interior of the nests you generally find the most perfectly
good understanding existing, and the most perfect order, in spite of
the warlike instincts of these insects. It is only on rare occasions
that this domestic peace is disturbed by the quarrels of male with
male or worker with worker; but these combats are not deadly.
Never, moreover, has one nest of wasps been known to declare
war against another for the purpose of robbing it. ‘‘ The govern-
ment of wasps,” says M. Victor Rendu, “explains very well the
gentleness of their public conduct. Amongst them there are no
despots; no one either reigns or governs; each one lives at
liberty in a free city, on the sole condition of never being a
burden to the state. They all act in concert, without privileges
or monopolies, under the influence of a common law—the great
law of the public good, from which no one is exempted.” “

But this model republic is fatally doomed to early destruction.
At the approach of winter all the workers, as also the males,
perish. Some pregnant females alone hold out against the cold, and
get through the winter, to propagate and perpetuate their species.

* “TL Intelligence des Bétes.”’ In 18mo. Paris, 1864.

374 THE INSECT WORLD.

Before dying, these insects destroy all the larvae which are not
hatched at the first approach of cold weather. In spring the females
revive, and begin alone the construction of a new nest. They then
lay workers’ eggs, which are not long in furnishing them a whole
regiment of devoted and active assistants. These traits are pretty
nearly the same for the different species of wasps, the only dif-
ference being in the way in which they build their nests.

We have already said that the common wasp makes its nest in

Fig. 350.—Exterior of a Wasps’ Nest on a branch of a tree.

the ground. A gallery, of about an inch and a half in diameter,
leads to the nest, situated at a depth which varies from six inches
to two feet. ‘It is,’ says Réaumur, ‘a small subterranean town,
which is not built in the style of ours, but which has a symmetry
of its own. The streets and the dwelling-places are regularly
distributed. It is even surrounded with walls on all sides. I

HYMENOPTERA. ; 375

do not give this name to the sides of the hollow in which it is
situated ; the walls I allude to are only walls of paper, but strong
enough, nevertheless, for the uses for which they are intended.”
Generally, the shape of the outside of a wasp’s nest is spherical
or oval, sometimes conical. Its diameter is about frem twelve to
sixteen inches, its surface, which resembles a mass of bivalve
shells, has one hole for entrance, and another for exit, just large
enough to allow of one single wasp passing in or out at the same
time (Fig. 350).

The wasps’ nest is composed, in the interior, of fifteen or sixteen

Fig. 351.—Interior of Wasps’ Nest, after Réaunur.

horizontal galleries, arranged in stories, and supported by nume-
rous pillars of separation. We give here (Fig. 351) a section and
view of the interior, drawn from memory by Réaumur.* The
cakes forming the combs are composed of hexagonal cells, which
are always used as cradles, never as storehouses. They open below.

* Tome yi., planche 14, p. 167.

376 THE INSECT WORLD.

The exterior envelope of the nest is made with leaves of a sort
of greyish, very gummy paper, which is applied layer by layer.
Réaumur has given a very detailed account of the way in which
these insects construct their nests.* They collect fibres of wood, .
which are their raw material; make them into a sort of coarse
lint, which they reduce to balls, and carry between their legs to
the nest. These balls are next stuck on to the work already
begun. Then the insect stretches them out, flattens them, and
draws them into thin layers, as a bricklayer spreads mortar with
his trowel. The wasp works with extreme quickness, always
backwards, so that it may have incessantly before its eyes the
work it has done; the movement of its mandibles is even quicker
than that of its legs.

Towards the end of summer the nest may contain three thousand
workers, and many females, who live together in perfect harmony.
The number of males exceeds that of the females. A female
weighs, by herself, as much as three males, or six workers. With
the exception of those which are occupied in building and in
taking care of the eggs, all the wasps go out hunting during
the day. They are carnivorous, and may be seen attacking other
insects, which they tear to pieces after having killed, so as to
carry the bits to their nests, where thousands of mouths are
clamouring for their food. The wasp pays great attention to the
vines. It penetrates also into the interior of our houses, and
infests the butchers’ shops; but this the butchers do not much
mind, for the wasp drives away the flies, which would lay their
egos on the meat, and thus contribute to its corruption.

As the winter approaches, the wasps go out less and less, and
very soon cease to do so at all. The greater number then die,
huddled up in their nest. A few females only, as we have said,
get through the cold season. They sleep with their wings and
legs folded up, which gives them the appearance of chrysalides.
They can nevertheless sting in this state, as M. Guérin-Méneville
found out to his cost. The spring wakes them up, and they then
found new colonies. ‘It is at this season,” says M. Maurice
Girard, in his book on the Metamorphoses of Insects, “that, with
a little trouble, it would be easy to diminish in a very perceptible

* “ Mémoires,’ tome vi., p. 177.

HYMENOPTERA. 377

degree the number of wasps, which are, later, so destructive to
the fruit, by catching in nets the females, which might be attracted
in quantities by means of the blossom of the black currant.” This
is a useful hint to gardeners.

The Hornets are distinguished from other wasps by their great
size. They make their nests in the trunks of old trees, perforating
the sound wood to arrive at the heart, which is rotten, or hol-

ec

WiI!\ i yy i) Xs €
( yi)
“flee”

Fig. 352.—Hanging Hornets’ Nest.

lowing for themselves a hole, which they clear out by the gallery
which leads to it. In this hole they construct first a dome sus-
pended to the top by a footstalk ; then a series of combs composed
of cells, hanging the first to this dome, the second to the first, and
so on, by stalks or pillars of a paper-like substance. When fixed
under roofs, these nests have often the form of an elongated pear.
Fig. 352 represents one of these nests, after Réaumur. The
societies of hornets contain fewer members than those of the
common wasp; at most two hundred insects.

The Polistes are a peculiar kind of wasp, smaller than the
others, slender, with the abdomen tapering towards the base. The
construction of their nests is more simple, having no envelopes, as -
shown in Fig. 353. They attach them to the stems of broom,
furze, or other shrubs, by a footstalk, or pedicle. They are like

378 THE INSECT WORLD.

little paper bouquets, composed of from twenty to thirty cells,
erouped in a circle.

Fig. 353.—Nest of Polistes gallica.

The Card-making Wasp of Cayenne (Chartergus nidulans, Fig.
354) is a consummate artist. Its nest represents a sort of box or
bag, made of a substance resembling card-
board, so fine and so white that the best
worker in that material would be deceived
by it. This nest has only one single hole
at its base; each of the combs it contains
is likewise pierced by a hole in its centre,

Fig. 354.—The Card-making’ to afford a passage to the wasps. In an

Re ee es architectural’ point) ol yiewgee tonne ance
making wasp is almost superior to the bee, for the latter does not
build its house, it only furnishes it, as Latreille remarks with
truth. The Brazilian species of Chartergus, which the imbha-
bitants call Lecheguana,* manufactures a honey, the use of
which is not without danger, as it occasions vertigo and sharp
pains in the stomach. The naturalist, Auguste Saint-Hilaire,
during his sojourn in Brazil, himself experienced ill effects from
eating it.

There are, moreover, solitary wasps, which make their cells in
holes which they scoop out in the ground, or in the stalks of
certain plants. In the adult state these live on honey; but their
larvee are carnivorous, and the female is obliged to bring them
living insects. The commonest of these solitary wasps belong to
the genus Odynerus. This insect makes its nest in the stalk

* Hence the scientific name, Chartergus lecheguana.—ED.

HYMENOPTERA. 379

of a bramble or briar (Fig. 3858) with a mortar which it pre-

Fig. 355.—A species of Odynerus. Fig. 356.—Larva of the Fig. 357.—Pupa of
Odynerus. the Odyrerus.

pares. The larva (Fig. 356) lines its cell with a silky cocoon.
It is the last egg laid which is
hatched the first; then come the
others, in an inverse order from
that in which they were deposited.
If it had been in the other order, ( |
the insects could not have come Fig. 358.—Nest of an Odynerus in the stem
out of the cells without destroy- pre ;

ing on their way the less advanced pupa.

ANTS.

The habits of the Ants are as remarkable as the habits of the
bees. In their marvellous republics each one has his fixed duties
to perform, of which he acquits himself willingly and without
constraint. In consequence of their habits of foresight and fru-
gality, ease reigns in the dwellings of these little animals, which
become attached to their nest by a feeling of patriotism. Woe
betide him who disturbs them in their occupations, or destroys
their house. Like bees, they form a regular republic, composed
—first, of males; secondly, of females; thirdly, of neuters, or
workers. We shall see, further on, the labours and the part
played by each one of these three orders of the republic. Let
us speak first of the species.

Ants are divided into a great number of species, which have
been carefully described by De Geer, Latreille, and Francis Huber,
the son of the celebrated blind man who wrote the history of bees.
All these species have, however, some general traits in common,
by which they may be easily distinguished from all other insects.

380 THE INSECT WORLD.

Ants have a slim body on long legs. The workers are stouter
and smaller than the males; and these last are smaller than the
females. The males have large and prominent eyes, whilst the
eyes of the workers and females are small.

Ants are provided with antennee, bent in the form of an elbow,
with which they examine everything they meet, and which seem
to assist them in the communication of their ideas. Two horny,
very strong mandibles serve them at the same time as pincers,
tweezers, scissors, pick-axe, fork, and sword. A thin, short neck
joins the head to the thorax, to which, in the case of the males
and females, are attached four large veiny wings. ‘The workers
only have no wings. Of the three pair of legs, the hind ones are
the longest. Hach pair is armed with a spur, and fringed with
very short hairs, which serve the purpose of brushes. The
abdomen, large, short, oval, or square, is always most voluminous
in the females.

There are three genera of ants which we shall mention. The
Myrmice have two knobs te the pedicle, by which the abdomen
is attached to the thorax; the Ponere only one. In these two
genera, the females and the neuters have a sting, and the larva

Fig. 359.—Red Ant. Male, magnified Fig. 360.—Brazilian Umbrélla Ant
(Myrmica rubra). (Atta cephaiotes).

do not spin a cocoon in which to change into pupa. Lastly, the
Formice—ants properly so called—have but one knob on the
pedicle of the abdomen, as in Ponera; their larve spin a silky
cocoon. They have no sting, but they pour into the wounds made
by their mandibles an acid liquor, the pungent smell of which is
well known. This liquid is formic acid; a natural product which
the chemist now-a-days knows how to make artificially, by the action

HYMENOPTERA. 381

of dilute sulphuric acid on maize and other vegetable matters.
Their whole body is impregnated with this acid, and has a strong
sour smell. Some people like to chew ants, on account of their
sourish taste. ‘They also make,” says Charles de Geer, “creams
for side-dishes, to which these ants give, they say, the taste of
lemon-juice.”” We know, in the south of France, people who have
eaten these crémes aux fourmis! Polyergus forms a sub-genus of
Formica.

In all these species, the workers, or neuters, have the charge

| Fig. 361.—Sections of an Ants’ Nest.

of the building, provisioning, and rearing of the larvae—in fact,
all the care of the household, and the defence of the nest.
Deprived of wings, they are bound to the soil, and condemned to
work. As compensation, to them belong strength, authority,
power: nothing is done but through them. “ Born protectors of
an immense family still in the cradle,” says M. Victor Rendu,
“by their vigilance, their tenderness, and their solicitude, without

382 THE INSECT WORLD.

being mothers themselves, they share in the duties and joy of
maternity. Alone, they decide on peace or war; alone, they take
part in combats: head, heart, and arm of the republic, they ensure
its prosperity, watch over its defence, found colonies, and in their
works show themselves great and persevering artists.”

The nests of ants (Figs. 361, 362) are known under the name
of ant-hills. They vary very much, both as to their form and
the materials employed in making them: wood and earth are the
principal. That which strikes one at first sight, is the size of
these dwellings, which form a curious contrast to the smallness of
their builders. Each species of ant has an order of architecture
peculiar to it. The Red Ant (Formica rufa), one of the com-
monest in our woods, constructs a little rounded hillock with all
kinds of objects—fragments of wood, bits of straw, dry leaves, the
remains of insects, &c. This hillock, whose base is protected by
material of greater solidity, is nothing more than the exterior
envelope of the nest, which is carried underground to a very
ereat depth. Avenues, cleverly contrived, lead from the summit
to the interior. The openings vary in width; and, as night
approaches, are carefully barricaded. They are opened every
morning, except on rainy days, when the doors remain shut, and
the inhabitants confined within.

The ant-hill, or formicarium, is at first simply a hole hollowed .
out in the soil, the entrance to which is masked by the building
materials. But the miners do not cease to hollow out galleries
and chambers, arranged by stories. The earth and rubbish are
carried out, and serve to construct the upper edifice, which rises
at the same time that the excavation grows deeper. It is a
labyrinth bored in all directions. It contains corridors, landings,
chambers, and spacious rooms, which communicate with each other
by passages which are often vertical. All the corridors lead to
a large central space, loftier than the others, and supported by
pillars; it is here that the greater number of the ants congregate.
These ant-hills often rise to a height of fifteen inches above the
ground, and descend to an equal depth. The figure shows the
interior of an ant-hill, drawn from nature. Outside it are to be
seen some ants, occupied in sucking plant-lice.

The group of Mason Ants contains a great number of varieties:

-hill,

Section of an Ant

.

1g. 362

F

384 THE INSECT WORLD.

the Ashy-black Ant (Formica nigra, Fig. 363), the Brown, the
Yellow (Formica flava), the Blood-red, the Russety (/olyergus
rufescens), the Black, the Miner (Formica cunicularia), the Turf
Ant, &. All these species employ a mortar, more or less fine, in
raising their hillocks, at the same time that they hollow out their
underground dwellings. The Jet Ant (Formica fuliginosa) exca-
vates wood, hollowing out its labyrinth in the trunk of a tree

Fig. 363.—Ashy-black Ant (ormica nigrz). Male, female, and worker.

with consummate skill. The Red Ant (Myrmica rubra) plies,
according to circumstances, the trade of a mason or excavator.
The masons work when they can profit by the rain or by the
evening dew, to make their mortar. They only go out after
sunset, or when a fine rain has wetted their roof. Then they set
to work. They roll up pellets of earth, bring them back in their
mandibles, and stick them on to those places where the building
was left unfinished. From all sides the earth-workers may be

Fig. 864.—Ashy Ant. Male, worker, and female.

seen arriving, laden with materials. _ All these are bustling,
hurrying, busy, but always in the greatest order, and with a
perfect understanding among themselves. Every part of the
building is going on at the same time. The apartments spring
up one above another, and the edifice visibly rises. The rain, the
sun, and the wind consolidate and harden the building so cun-
ningly contrived by these industrious workers, who have received
from God alone their marvellous science. With no other tool

HYMENOPTERA. 385

than their mandibles, the excavators work their way through the
hardest wood. They bore holes. right through it, riddling it -
completely with numerous stories of horizontal galleries. The
Yellow Ant raises its little hillocks in fields, and passes the winter
in a burrow or underground dwelling-place.

Independent of the principal entrances, there exist, in some
nests, masked doors, guarded by sentinels. Many species also
hollow out covered galleries, which they only unmask in extreme
danger, either to open an outlet for the besieged, or to turn the
enemy who has already invaded the place. Ant-hills are, in fact,
perfect fortresses, defended by a thousand ingenious contrivances,
and guarded by sentinels always on the qui vive.

The domestic life of the different species is nearly the same.
The birth and rearing of the little ones, and the duties of the
adults, do not differ perceptibly from each other
in the various species of ants. The females live
together in harmony. They lay, without ceasing
to walk about, white eggs, of cylindrical form, and
microscopic dimensions. ‘The workers pick them
up, and carry them to special chambers. In a
fortnight after the laying, the larva (Fig. 365)
appears. Its body is transparent. A head and
wings can be made out, but no legs; the mouth
is a retractile nipple, bordered by rudimentary
mandibles, into which the workers disgorge the §2°'aar ieee
juices they have elaborated in their stomachs; 9 7”:
and as they lay by no provisions, they are obliged to gather each,
day the sugary liquids destined for the food of the larve.

From their birth, a troop of nurses is charged with the care of '
them. They put them out in the open air during the day..
Hardly has the sun risen, when the ants, placed just under the.
roof, go to tell those which are beneath, by touching them with
their antennz, or shaking them with their mandibles. In a few
seconds, all the outlets are crowded with workers carrying out the:
larvee in order to place them on the top of the ant-hill, that they
may be exposed to the beneficent heat of the sun. When the
larvee have remained some time in the same place, their guardians.
move them away from the direct action of the solar rays, and put.

Cie

386 THE INSECT WORLD.

them in chambers a little way from the top of the hill, where a
milder heat can still reach them. We then see the ants them-
selves taking the well-earned luxury of a few minutes’ rest,
heaping themselves up together, right in the sun. There is no
observant inhabitant of the country who has not seen the curious
spectacle which we have just mentioned, that is to say, the popu-
lation of an ants’ nest carrying into the sun the young nurslings,
so that they may experience the action of the solar heat. We
recommend the dweller in towns, who is in the country for a day,
to stretch himself out near an ant-hill, in the warm weather,
and witness this spectacle, one of: the most curious in nature.
The care which the working ants bestow on their young does
not consist only in nourishing them and procuring for them a
proper temperature; they have also to keep them extremely
clean. With their palpi they clean them, brush them, distend
their skin, and thus prepare them for the critical trial of their
_ metamorphosis.
At this moment, the larve of ants, properly so called, spin
ives: a silky cocoon, of a close tissue, and of a grey or
: yellowish colour; those of the Myrmice and of the
Ponere do not ‘sureetnd themselves with a silky
cocoon before changing into pupee. These are at first
of a pure white, but they very soon assume a brown
colour, which increases until it becomes dark brown.
They possess all the organs of the adult, enveloped
in a membrane so thin that it seems to be iri-
descent. Fig. 366 represents the pupa of the red
ant. They are the cocoons enclosing the pup, which
are incorr ectly called in the country ants’ eggs,
mtheRedant Giyr- and are given to young pheasants and partridges.
ue oe Uptiys pupee remain motionless till the insects emerge,
which is accomplished with the assistance of the workers.
These latter tear the covering from the pupa, and complete
its deliverance. They then watch over the newly-born ant.
For some days they feed it, help it to walk, and do not
abandon it till it can dispense with their good offices. These
workers, when provisions fail, or when the ant-hill is threatened
with any great danger, take in their mandibles the eggs, the

HYMENOPTERA. 387

larve, the pups, and sometimes those females and the males
which refuse to follow them. Thus laden, they go their way,
to seek for another country they may call their own. They
never forget, in their hurried emigrations, the infirm or sick
workers, which would perish in the house now abandoned and
deserted. |

The males and females lately hatched do not enjoy the same
liberty as the young workers. They are confined to the ant-hill,
where they are kept in sight till the day of the general
departure. It is towards the end of the month of August that
swarms of winged ants of- both sexes are seen to issue forth,
The males come out first, agitating their iridescent and trans-
parent wings. The females, less numerous, follow them closely.
All of a sudden, one sees this troop raise itself at a given signal,
and disappear in the air, where the coupling takes place. The
males perish immediately afterwards. The females. impregnated.
return to the paternal home, or else found new colonies, with
the assistance of a few workers who are their escort.. From
this moment they no longer require wings. The workers. make
haste to cut them off, or, indeed, which oftenest happens, they
themselves tear them off. With their wings they lose the desire
for liberty. Henceforward, they will quit their retreat no more ;.
the cares of their approaching maternity now alone occupying them.
The working ants reserve for them subterranean chambers, where
they are kept in sight by the sentinels. At certain hours only
are they to be met with in the upper stories. When they, wish
to walk, a company of guards presses round them. on all sides,
so as to prevent them from adyancing too.quickly. There are no
sorts of attentions they do not heap upon them to make them
forget their captivity. They caress them, brush them, lick them,
they offer them food continually. On the least appearance of
danger, the workers take possession, first of all, of the pregnant
females and drag them out by the secret outlets, so as to put
in a place of safety their precious persons, the hope of the com-
munity. The workers’ task is immense, for their labours in-
crease in the same proportion as the population increases.
But the division of work and the good understanding which
exists between the members of the community, allow them ta

cc 2

388 THE INSECT WORLD.

be prepared for anything that may happen, and to supply all
their necessities.

Nothing is more amusing than to observe the shifts ants are
put to in transporting objects of great size. They stumble,
they tumble head over heels, they roll down precipices ; but, in
spite of all accidents, return to their task, and always accom-
plish it. |

The tranquil inhabitants of these subterranean republics are
bound together by a mutual affection in a devoted fraternity,
which makes them ever ready to assist each other. They all help
one another as much as they can. If an ant is tired, a comrade ~
carries it on its back. Those which are so absorbed with their
work that they have no time to think of their food, are fed by
their companions. When an ant is wounded, the first one who
meets it renders it assistance, and carries it home. Latreille
having torn the antenne from an ant, saw another approach the
poor wounded one, and pour, with its tongue, a few drops of a
yellow liquid on the bleeding wound.

Huber the younger one day took an ant’s nest to populate one
of those glass contrivances which he used for making his observa-
tions, and which consisted of a sort of glass bell placed over the
nest. Our naturalist set at liberty one part of the ants, which fixed
themselves at the foot of a neighbouring chestnut tree. The
rest were kept during four months in the apparatus, and at
the end of this time Huber moved the whole into the garden,
and a few ants managed to escape. Having met their old com-
panions, who still lived at the foot of the chestnut tree, they
recognised them. They were seen, in fact, all of them to gesti-
culate, to caress each other mutually with their antenne, to take
each other by the mandibles, as if to embrace in token of joy,
and they then re-entered together the nest at the foot of the chest-
nut tree. Very soon they came in a crowd to look for the other
ants under the bell, and in a few hours our observer’s appa-
ratus was completely evacuated by its prisoners. When an ant
has. discovered any rich prey, far from enjoying it alone, like a
gourmand, it invites all its companions to the feast. Community
of goods and interests exists amongst all the members of this
model society. It is the practical realisation of the dream formed

HYMENOPTERA. 389

by certain philosophers of our day, who were only able to conceive
the idea, the possibility, the project of such a community of goods
and interests, which is among ants a reality.

How do these insects manage to make themselves understood
in such various ways, asking for help, giving advice, giving invi-
tations? They must have a language of their own, or else they
must communicate their impressions by the play of their antenne.

When an ant is hungry, and does not wish to disturb itself
from its work, it tells a foraging ant as it passes, by touching it
with its antenne; the latter approaches it immediately, and
presents it, on the end of its tongue, some juice it has disgorged
for this purpose. The antenne, then, are used by the ants for
the purpose of making themselves understood by each other. Dr.
Kbrard, who studied these insects attentively, is of opinion that
they use them in the same way as.a blind man does his stick, to
feel their way with, for their sight is not good. The age to
which ants live is not well known. It is believed that the
workers live many years.

Ants eat all sorts of things. One sees them eating meat, fresh
or decaying, fruits, flowers, particularly everything which is
sugary. ‘They attack living insects, and kill them and suck their
blood. Like many insects, they are very fond of sugary liquids—
honey, syrups, pure sugar, &e. Dupont de Nemours relates
in his Memoirs that, to guarantee his sugar-basin against the
invasion of ants, he had found no better plan than to make it “an
island,” that is to say, to place it in the middle of a vessel full of
water. He felt sure that he had made the fortress safe against any
attack ; but listen to the stratagem made use of by the besiegers.
The ants climbed up the wall to the ceiling, exactly perpen-
dicularly over the sugar-basin. From there they let themselves
fall into the interior of the place, penetrating thus by main force,
and without injuring any one, into the magazine. As the ceiling
was very high, the draught caused them to deviate from the
straight line, and thus a certain number fell into the fosse of the
citadel, that is to say, into the water in the vessel. Their com-
panions stationed on the bank made all efforts imaginable to
fish out the drowning ants, but were afraid of taking to the water
of such a large lake. All that they could do was, to stretch

390 THE INSECT WORLD. °

out their bodies as far as possible (keeping on the bank the
while), to lend a helping hand to their drowning friends. |
Nevertheless, the salvage did not progress much, when the ants,
which were getting very uneasy, conceived a happy thought. <A
few were seen to run to the ant-hill and then to reappear.
They brought with them a squad of eight grenadiers, who threw
themselves into the water without any hesitation, and who,
swimming vigorously, seized with their pincers all the drowning
ants, and brought them all on to terra firma. Eleven, half-dead,
were thus brought to shore, that is, to the rim of the basin.
They would probably all of them have succumbed, if their com-
panions had not hastened to lend them assistance. They rolled
them in the dust, they brushed them, they rubbed them, they
stretched themselves on their dying companions to warm them ;
then they rolled them and rubbed them again. Jour were
restored to life. A fifth half-recovered, and still moving its legs
and its antenne a little, was taken home with all sorts of pre-
cautions. The six others were dead. They were carried into
the ant-hill by their afflicted companions. One thinks one must
be dreaming when one reads such things as this, and yet Dupont
de Nemours tells us, ‘“‘ I have seen it!”’

Ants are also very fond of a peculiar liquid which the plant-lice
secrete from a pouch in the abdomen. When they have got pos-
session of a plant-louse, they excite it to secrete this liquid, but
without doing it any harm. They carry the plant-lice into the
ant-hill, or into private stables. There they keep them, give
them their food, and suck them. We have already mentioned these
curious relations which are established between ants and plant-
lice.* Fig. 367 shows an ant thus occupied. The Gallinsecta also
furnish the ants with sugary liquids.

During the cold of winter the ants sleep at the bottom of
their nests, without taking any food. A small number of species
only held out through the severe season, by shutting themselves
up in the ant-hill with a number of plant-lice. It is thus that
they pass the winter with a supply of food. We must mention,
however, that in warm countries the ants do not hybernate.

We have just described ant society during the quiet periods

* See the Order Hemiptera, swpra.—Ep.

HYMENOPTERA. 391

when peace reigns supreme; but they are not more exempt than
other animals from the necessities and dangers of war. They have
a great many enemies among the population of the woods; they

#¥ Fig. 367.—Ant milking Aphides, or Plant-lice (magnified),

must, then, be prepared to repel their attacks. They display in that
the most scientific resources of the military art applied to defence.
It is almost needless to say that sentinels are, at all times, posted

392 ; THE INSECT WORLD.

at a reasonable distance from the ant-hill, to observe the environs.
When the fortress 1s unexpectedly attacked, whether by large
insects, Coleoptera, for instance, or by the ants from a neighbour-
ing nest, these vigilant sentinels immediately fall back and give
the alarm to the camp, not, however, without having boldly con-
fronted the enemy and opposed to him an honourable resistance.
Having re-entered the nest in all haste, they precipitate them-
selves into the passages, tapping with their antenne all the ants
which they meet, and thus spreading the alarm in the city.
Very soon the agitation has become general, and thousands of
combatants sally forth from the citadel, ready to ages! the attack
and make the enemy bite the dust.

The possession of a flock of plant-lice is sometimes a subject
of discord, and becomes a casus belli between two neighbouring
ant-hills. But, usually, the war has for its object to make pri-
soners in other nests, and to carry off part of the inhabitants as
slaves. This is the origin of mixed ant-hills, which, independently
of their natural founders, contain one or two foreign species, helots
whom the conquerors have taken away from their birth-place, to
make of them auxiliaries and slaves. In these mixed ant-hills, the
species imported occasionally exceed in number the original popu-
lation, as it happens sometimes in those ships which are used in
the slave trade, and on which the slaves are often found in greater
numbers than the sailors composing the crew. The phalanx of
ants reduced to a state of slavery pay all sorts of attentions to
their masters. They lick them, brush them, caress them, carry
them on their backs, feed them—good and faithful servants that
they are—and even rear their progeny. The masters impose on
their slaves all sorts of work. They only reserve for themselves
the making of war. From time to time, they undertake expeditions
against some neighbouring ants’ nest. If they are conquered
and come back without bringing with them any prisoners, the
slaves or auxiliaries are sulky to them, and will not allow them
-for some time to enter the nest. If they return, on the con-
trary, loaded with booty, they flatter them, they givé them food,
they relieve them of their prisoners, which they lead away into
the interior of the fortress. The warlike tribes, however, never
carry off any other but the larve and nymphs of workers from

HYMENOPTERA. 393

the ant-hills they plunder. These young captives get used to
their kidnappers: brought up in fear of their masters, they never
think of abandoning them.

Two species constitute the warrior tribes which form societies
mixed with the species they reduce to slavery. They are the
Russet Ant (Fig. 368) and the Blood-red Ant (Fig. 369). They

Fig. 368.—Russet Ants (Polyergus rufescens).

always attack the nests of the Ashy-black (Formica fusca) and
the Miners. The Russet Ant has mandibles made for war; they
appear cut out for struggling and fighting. The Blood-red Ants
are less ferocious. They work themselves, and make none of those

Fig. 369.—Blood-red Ant ( Formica sanguinea).

sweeping raids by which the Russet Ants depopulate the neigh-
bouring ant-hills.

What Peter Huber has done for bees, Francis Huber, his son,
has for the ants. It is from Francis Huber that we borrow the
description which it remains for us to give, of the habits of ants
in times of war. He thus relates one of these expeditions, of which
he was a witness :—‘‘On the 17th of June, 1804,” says he, “as I
was walking in the environs of Geneva, between four and five in
the afternoon, I saw at my feet a legion of largish russet ants
erossing the road. They were marching in «a body with rapidity,
their troop occupied a space of from eight to ten feet long by three
or four inches wide; in a few minutes they had entirely evacuated
the road; they penetrated through a very thick hedge and went
into a meadow, whither I followed them. They wound their way
along the turf without straying, and their column remained always
continuous, in spite of the obstacles which they had to surmount.

394 THE INSECT WORLD.

Very soon they arrived near a nest of ashy-black ants, whose
dome rose among the grass, at twenty paces from the hedge. A
few ants of this species were at the door of their habitation. As
soon as they descried the army which was approaching, they threw
themselves on those which were at the head of the cohort. The
alarm spread at the same instant in the interior of the nest, and
their companions rushed out in crowds from all the subterranean
passages. The russet ants, the body of whose army was only two
paces distant, hastened to arrive at the foot of the nest ; the whole
troop precipitated itself forward at the same time, and knocked
the ashy-black ants head over heels, who, after a very short, but
very smart combat, retired to the extremity of the habitation.
The russet ants clambered up the sides of the hillock, flocked to
the summit, and introduced themselves in great numbers into the
first avenues; other groups worked with their teeth, making a
lateral aperture. In this they succeeded, and the rest of the army
penetrated through the breach into the besieged city. ‘They did
not make a long stay there; in three or four minutes the russet
ants came out again in haste, by the same adits, carrying each one
in its mouth a pupa or larva belonging to the conquered. ‘They
again took exactly the same road by which they had come, and
followed each other in a straggling manner; their lne was
easily to be distinguished on the grass by the appearance which
this multitude of white cocoons and larve, carried by as many
russet-coloured ants, presented. They passed through the hedge
a second time, crossed the road, and then steered their course into
a field of ripe wheat, whither, I regret to say, I was unable to
follow them.” *

Huber adds that, having returned to the pillaged nest to
examine it more closely, he saw some ashy-black workers bringing
back to their home the few larve which they had succeeded in
saving. Having later discovered the nest of these Amazons,
which is the name he gives to the warrior ants, he found there
many of the ashy-black ants living on very good terms with their
kidnappers,

The Amazons begin their expeditions at the end of June,
during the hottest hours of the day. They come out in long

* “ Recherches sur les Moeurs des Fourmis indigénes.’’ Paris, 1810. P. 210.

HYMENOPTERA. 395

files, eight or ten abreast, preceded by their scouts. These
columns start at a run, in a straight line, and without feeling
their way. They have no chieftain. The van is re-formed every
moment. Those who are in front do not remain there; at the end
of a certain time they go and range themselves in the rear, and
are replaced by those which were behind. The whole troop is
thus in constant communication throughout its entire length.
Rarely does the expedition divide into two bodies. Arrived
under the walls of the fortress, the column halts and masses itself
into one corps. The assault is made with incredible impetuosity.
In the twinkling of an eye the place is escaladed, taken by
storm, and pillaged, and the ashy-black ants are either put to flight
or led away into captivity. The same ant-hill may be invaded
as many as three times running on the same day; but then the
ashy-black ants, on their guard, have barricaded themselves in,
and in that case the aggressors return home without pillaging
them.

The Mining Ants (Fig. 370) are less timid than the ashy-black,
and as they defend themselves with more energy, there are fre-

Fig. 370.—Mining Ant (formica cunicularia), male, worker, and female.

quently deadly combats, and the field of battle is left covered with
heads, legs, and limbs scattered about here and there, with the
dead and wounded. The miners pursue the pillagers, and snatch
their plunder from them. But they are sometimes driven back
vigorously, and the russet ants gain their lair with their plunder.

The tactics of the Red Ants (formica sanguinea) differ from those
of the russet. They only sally forth in small detachments, which
begin by engaging in skirmishes with the scouts thrown out
round the enemy’s ant-hill. Couriers, despatched from time to
time to the camp of the red ants, bring up reinforcements.
When the troop feels itself sufficiently strong, it invades the
nest of the ashy-black ants, and carries off their offspring, which
the latter have not had time to secure. Sometimes, also, the red

396 THE INSECT WORLD.

ants instal themselves in the nest whose inhabitants they have
ejected, and transfer their own population to it. The motive for
this emigration is that the old nest has become useless, or that
it is exposed to some danger. The red ants are not the only
ants which thus desert their birthplace. Many species abandon
it likewise for analogous motives, and construct elsewhere another
dwelling, to which they transport all the population of the first
nest. :

When one reflects on the habits of ants, one is forced to admit
that intelligence and reason appear still more in their acts than
in those of bees. The life of ants, as well as that of bees, as far
as we are concerned, is an unintelligible enigma. The acts of
animals, in general, are sometimes an abyss unfathomable to our
reason. The Orientals say, “‘ The last word may be written on
man: on the elephant, never!” Let us add that they should no
more say that the elephant will be an inexhaustible theme, but
that the history of the ant will continue so always.

The best-known genus of the Fossores, or Fossorial Hymenop-
tera, is Philanthus (Fig. 371), which feeds its larvee on bees,
having first numbed them by its sting; Pompilus and Sphex

Fig. 371.—Philanthus triangulum. Fig. 372.—Mutilla Europea. Male and female.

which attack spiders; Mutilla (Fig. 372), whose females resemble
ants, agreeably variegated with red and yellow; the males, pro-
vided with wings and smaller in size, being black. The Mutille
are parasitical on solitary bees, their larvee devouring the larve
of these.

Other Hymenoptera lay their eggs under the skin of certain
insects, especially when these are in the larva or caterpillar: state,
thus rendering service to agriculture by destroying a great
number of noxious insects. In lieu of a sting they have an
auger, intended to pierce the skin of their victims. It is thus that
the Jchneumons introduce their eggs under the skin of caterpillars.

HYMENOPTERA. 397

Pimplas (Fig. 373), which belong to this group, have a very
long ovipositor, which, with its two appendages, constitute three
lancets, and enable them to get at the larve in their -retreats.

Ne

ea

\

Fig. 373.—A species of Pimpla. Fig. 374.—A species of Ophion.

The Ophions (Fig. 374) have a sickle-shaped abdomen. They lay
their eggs on the skin of caterpillars, which they attack with the
short, cutting auger with which they are provided.

The Cynips, or Gall-insects, are small black or tawny Hyme-
noptera, the females of which have an auger, rolled up spirally
and hidden in a fissure of the abdomen, with which they prick
the young shoots of plants. A peculiar liquid which they pour
into the hole round the egg they have laid, causes an excrescence
to grow, which is called a “gall.” The larva is developed .in the
centre of this gall, and transformed into a pupa, and afterwards
into a perfect insect, which makes its exit by a hole in the wall
of its prison. Fig. 375 represents the Cynips of the oak tree

398 THE INSECT WORLD,

(Cynips quercusfolit), and Figs. 376 and 377 the galls it produces.
The galls of the rose are hairy, and are sometimes called “ Robin’s
Cushion.”’ The gall-nut, rich in tannin, which is used in the

a

Firat Ws
iat
. ial Wr
a

it
i
\

Fig. 375.—Gall insect Fig. 876.—Oak Galls, produced by . Fig. 377.—Interior
(Cynips quercusfolit). Cynips quercusfolit. of a Gall.

manufacture of ink, is the produce of a foreign Cynips, which lives
on an oak found in the Kast. Apples of Sodom, which travellers
bring back from the shores of the Dead Sea, are large galls,* full
of dry dust and larvee.

The Urocerata and the Tenthredinete form two tribes of insects,
of which the first are of great size, have a cylindrical body, the
abdomen being attached to the thorax in its whole breadth, with-
out any pedicle.

The insects of the genus Szrex (Fig. 378), belonging to the
former of these, lay their eggs in living wood, and their larve live
for many years in the interior. They are to be met with in great
numbers in forests of pine trees, and according to Latreille, show
themselves sometimes in such great numbers as to become an object
of terror. The female of the Giant Sirex (Szrex gigas) possesses
a long rectilinear auger. The mandibles of the larve are of great
strength, and are even capable of perforating lead. This fact has
been observed many times. In 1857 Marshal Vaillant presented
to the Académie des Sciences some packets of cartridges containing

* Made by Cynips insana,—Ep.

HYMENOPTERA, 399

balls which had been pierced through by the larve of the Sirex
during the sojourn of the French troops in the Crimea, Some of
these insects were still shut up in the gallery which they had

Fig. 378.—Sirex gigas.

hollowed out in the metal. M. Dumeril (and this was one of the
last works of that venerable and learned naturalist) wrote a Report
on this subject, in which were recorded many analogous instances.
He quoted, as an example, that M. le Marquis de Bréme, in 1844,
showed to the Soeiété Zoologique many cartridges in which the
balls had been perforated by the insects to a depth of about a
quarter of an inch. These cartridges came from the arsenal of
Turin. They had been placed in barrels made of larch wood, the
inside of which had been attacked by the insects. It was dis-
covered that it was after having left the wood that they had
gnawed through the envelopes of the cartridges, and at last into
the balls themselves. In 1833 Audouin presented to the Société
Entomologique de France a plate of lead, from the roof of a
building, on which this naturalist supposed that the larvee of a
Callidium* had made deep sinuosities, as they do in wood. Before
this, parts of the leaden roofs at La Rochelle had been noticed
not only gnawed, but pierced from one side to the other, by the
larvee of Bostrichus capucinus.t In 1844 M. Desmarest reported
the erosion and perforation of sheets of lead by a species of
Bostrichus and by Callidium. In 1843 M. Du Boys presented to
* A Coleopterous insect.—Ep. t+ Also a Beetle.—Ep.

400 THE INSECT WORLD.

the Société d’Agriculture of Limoges some stereotyped plates— _
composed, as is well known, of a very hard alloy, formed of anti-
mony and lead—which had been pierced and riddled with holes
by two specimens of a Bostrichus. The holes were a seventh of an
inch in diameter, by two inches in depth. The stereotypes were
thus perforated, although they had been wrapped up in many
folds of paper and cardboard. As the printing served for the
work called “ Les Fastes Militaires de la France,” one may say
that the brave soldiers received from an insect more wounds than.
their enemies had ever given them.

To prove that these insects have really the power to perforate
metals as others perforate and pass through woody matter, the
entomologist of Limoges made the following experiment. He
placed in a leaden box, whose sides were thin, a living specimen
of the Fire-coloured Lepture of Geoffroy (Callidium sanguineum),
a Coleopteron which is commonly found in houses in France in
winter, its larvee being developed in great numbers in firewood.
‘Above this box he fitted on another, also containing a specimen
of this insect, which he shut in with a third box. A few days
afterwards he separated the boxes. The middle one had been
pierced through, and the two insects were found together, the one
which was below having made a hole through which it might
introduce itself into the middle box. M. Du Boys made a chemical
experiment which enabled him to establish beyond a doubt that
the insect which had gnawed the metal had not made it serve as
its food. The dried body of one of these insects was analysed.
After having immersed it in nitric acid it was completely burnt,
and there could not be found in the ashes acted upon by the nitric
acid the least trace of lead. ‘This experiment proves that these
insects had for their object only to escape from the galleries in
which they were accidentally deposited in their larva state, and
that it was not until they had undergone their complete trans-
formation that they endeavoured to gain their liberty. Observa-
tious of the same kind were multiplied after the Report of M.
Dumeril. The Académie des Sciences received, in the month of
June, 1861, two Memoirs—one from M. Heriot, captain of artillery;
the other from M. Bouteille, curator of the Museum of Natural
History of Grenoble—containing many new observations on the

HYMENOPTERA. 401

perforation by insects of leaden balls contained in cartridges
prepared for war. M. Milne Edwards read to the Académie des
Sciences a short Report on these works.

The insect which had produced the perforations observed in the
balls sent to the Crimea in 1857, and which M. Dumeril par-
ticularly studied, was the Sirex juvencus, and had been taken from
France in the wood forming the boxes which contained the
cartridges. In the other case of which we are speaking, that is
to say, of the cartridges which were sent in 1861 to the Académie
by Captain Heriot and by M. Bouteille, the perforations had been
produced by another species. M. Milne Edwards, who found the
insect that had caused this strange damage, had no trouble in
recognising it as the Sirex gigas, which, in its larva state, lives
in the interior of old trees or pieces of wood, and which after it
has gone through all its metamorphoses, comes out of its retreat,
to reproduce its kind. To clear themselves a way, they cut away
with their mandibles the ligneous substances or other hard bodies
they meet with on their road. It was in pursuing this object that
the insects, imprisoned accidentally in the packets of cartridges
when they were yet only in the larva state, must have attacked
the leaden balls, as also the paper and the other matters which
they met with on their road, and which opposed their passage.
M. Bouteille proves, in his Memoir, that
M. Dumeril has committed an error in
saying that the perforating organ em-
-ployed by the Srrex to attack the leaden
balls in the cartridges in the Crimea was
the auger situated at the extremity of the
abdomen of the female, and intended for
cutting into that part of the wood where
it is to lay its eggs. M. Bouteille has
established, in fact, that they were not
only the females which attacked the car-
tridges, but that the males, which have no ~ gig, 379Tarva of a Saw Fly.
auger, had occasioned the same damage. aera:

The Tenthredineté are called ‘‘ Saw-Flies,” because the females
are furnished with a double auger, notched like a saw, with
which they cut into the branches in which they lay their eggs.

DD

402 THE INSECT WORLD.

The larvee of these insects
caterpillars of Lepidoptera.

Fig. 380.—Lophyrus pini.

before changing into pupe.

have a striking resemblance to the
They can only be distinguished from
them by a great globular head, not
hollowed out, and by their abdomi-
nal legs, in general to the number
of more than ten. They are called
false caterpillars (Fig. 379). Most of
them when touched, erect themselves
and move about in a threatening
manner. ‘They spin a silken cocoon

The Lophyrus pint, which devours

the leaves of pine trees, belongs to this family.

Wale
NEUROPTERA.

Tue Neuroptera—the type of which Order are the Libellulas, or
Dragon Flies—have four membranous wings, generally rather
broad, provided with transverse delicately reticulated nervures,
which gives them the appearance of lace. Although one of the
least extensive, this Order presents the greatest modifications of
form and of habits.

One section of Neuroptera contains some insects: which undergo
incomplete metamorphoses. The Libellule, the Ephemere, and the
Termites belong to this category. The insects belonging to the
other section, in which are classed the Phryganide,* or Caddis
Flies, the Panorpate, and the Myrmelionides, or Ant Lions, undergo
complete metamorphoses. The pup of the first walk and live
absolutely in the same way as the larvee; only, at the moment of
the last transformation, the skin of the pupa splits, and the perfect
insect comes forth. In the case of the second, on the contrary,
the pupa is motionless, inactive, and takes no food, as in the
Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, &c. In spite of this diversity in
their mode of development, all these insects resemble each other
too much for us to divide the Order; from which it follows that
we must not attach too much importance to differences of trans-
formation by which the insect arrives at its perfect state.

The most interesting insects among the Neuroptera are the
Termites, improperly called White Ants, on account of the great
analogy which exists between their habits and those of ants.
They constitute, by their way of living, a striking anomaly in

* These were separated from the Neuroptera and made a separate Order, under
the name of Trichoptera, by Kirby.—Ep.

DD 2

404 THE INSECT WORLD.

the Order in which their conformation places them. In fact, they
live in very numerous societies, and build very solid and very
extensive dwelling-places—quite Cyclopean or Titanic works in
comparison to the tiny dimensions and weak and feeble appearance
of the insect.

Many travellers have spoken of these insects. They are met
with in the Savannahs of North America, in Guyana, in Africa, in
New Holland, and even in Europe, whither they have been im-
ported. M. de Prefontaine relates that, when he was travelling in
Guyana, he saw the negroes besieging certain strange buildings,
which he calls ant-hills. They dared not attack them except from
a distance and with fire-arms, although they had taken the precau-
tion of digging all round them a little fosse filled with water, in
which the besieged would be drowned if they made a sortie. These
were the termites’ nests.

Perhaps it is to termites Herodotus alludes when he speaks of
ants which inhabit Bactria, and which, larger than a fox, eat a
pound of meat a day.* Retired in the sandy deserts, these gigantic
insects hollow out (says he) subterranean dwellings, and raise
mounds of golden sand, which the Indians carry away at the peril
of their lives. Pliny, who relates the same fables, adds that there
were to be seen in the Temple of Hercules the horns of these ants.
Even in our own days some travellers have repeated absurd
fables about termites. They have attributed to them a venom
which one cannot breathe without being poisoned; they have said
that a single bite was enough to cause a mortal fever. The truth,
as it is revealed to us by conscientious observers, is still stranger
than these fictions or errors. The termites present curious modi-
fications, on the nature of which naturalists are not agreed.
There, are, in the first place, the perfect insects, males and females,
which are provided with wings; then there are the neuters,
which are divided into soldiers, whose duty it is to defend the

nest, and into workers, upon whom devolve the architectural
works and household cares. These last are smaller than the
soldiers. Latreille and some other naturalists think that these
workers are the larvee of the termites. Smeathman thinks that the

* De Quatrefages, “ Souvenirs d’un Naturaliste,” in 18mo. Paris, 1854. Tome ii.
Pp. 377.

AML LLG Lu.

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Nests of White Ants.

NEUROPTERA. 405

soldiers are the pupe. M. de Quatrefages admits that the soldiers
are the neuters, and that the workers are recruited both from the
larve and from the pupe. It may be admitted, with other natu-
ralists, that the soldiers and the workers are neuters: the first,
abortive males; the second, abortive females. Here is, indeed, what
M. Lespés has observed in the termites of the Landes. Among
these insects, the most numerous are the workers: their size is
that of a large ant, and their duties are to excavate galleries, to
search for provisions, and to take care of the eggs, the larvee, and
the pupze. The workers have a rounded head and short mandibles,
and are blind. The soldiers, less numerous, have an enormous
head,—nearly as big as the rest of their body,—very strong, crossed
mandibles, and are blind like the workers. Anatomy showed M.
Lespés that both are neuters—that is, the soldiers, males, and the
workers, females, with aborted organs.

The larvee of the females much resemble the workers. Those
which are to become males or females are distinguished from those
which are to become neuters by very slight rudiments of wings,
and their pupe show already imperfect wings, hidden in cases ;
furthermore, they have eyes hidden under the skin. The males and
females alone have eyes; they also have wings, which they lose
immediately after the coupling. Those which proceed from the
pupe with long wing-cases become small kings and queens after
their swarming, which takes place at the end of May. The pupe
with short wing-cases become perfect in the month of August, and
produce larger males and females, which become kings and queens.
All these couples are collected by the neuters; and the queens,
large and small, set to work immediately to lay. The largest are
much the more fruitful. The workers do not seem to take any
care of them at all. With the exception of this last peculiarity,
everything probably goes on in the same manner with the exotic
termites ; but with the latter the queen is an object of worship.

Fig. 381 represents the four types of the republic of the Termes
lucifugus. On the left is a worker, on the right a soldier, in the
centre a winged male; all three very much magnified, the lines
drawn by their side showing the natural size. Below the male is
the pregnant queen (D D D D), of a species of which we are about
to speak, of the natural size.

406 THE INSECT WORLD.

Many species of termites were studied with care by the English
traveller, Smeathman, at the end of the last century, in Southern
Africa. His account of them is the most exact and most complete

> a
a |

ie

ica

D {

| ee
sini io a | t

ENT ALT RES \ D

ay ip Hivnvarnnonn id ;
: \ eS ait
aa

TSE edliviesay iil WARE

Fig. 381.—Termes lucifugus. Male (A), Worker (B), Soldier (C), magnified.
Fecundated female of Termes bellicosus, natural size, surrounded by workers (D D D D).

which we have of these insects.* The largest of the species
observed is the Termes bellicosus,. The workers are a fifth of an

* “Some Account of the Termites,” &c., in the Philosophical Transactions, vol-
lxxi., 1781.

=

NEUROPTERA. 407

inch long, the body soft, and of an extreme delicacy, but the sharp
mandibles capable of attacking the hardest bodies. The soldiers
are twice as long, and weigh as much as fifteen workers, and may
be distinguished by their enormous horned head, armed with sharp
pincers. The male weighs as much as thirty workers, and attains
to a length of nearly four-fifths of an inch.

But the pregnant female leaves all these dimensions far behind.
Her abdomen becomes two thousand times as big as the rest of
her body! She then attains to six inches in length, and weighs
as much as thirty thousand workers. By a hideous contrast, the
head alone does not increase in size. D DD D (Fig. 381) is an
exact representation of this monster. She is always motionless
and captive in her cell, entirely occupied in laying. Her fecundity
surpasses all bounds: sixty eggs a minute, more than eighty
thousand a day. Smeathman is inclined to think that this pro-
digious laying goes on during the whole of the year. ‘“ This soft,
whitish beast,” says M. Michelet, “a belly rather than a being, is
as large, at least, as one’s thumb; a traveller professes to have seen
one of the size of a crawfish. The larger she is, the more fruitful,
the more inexhaustible, this terrible insect-mother seems to be
the more adored by the fanatical rabble. She seems to be their
beau-ideal, their poetry, their enthusiasm. If you carry away with
any rubbish a portion of their city, you see them instantly set to
work at the breach to build an arch which may protect the vene-
rated head of the mother, to reconstruct her royal cell, which will
become (if there are sufficient materials) the centre, the base of the
restored city. JI am not astonished, though, at the excessive
love which this people show for this instrument of fecundity. If
all other species did not: combine to destroy them, this truly pro-
digious mother would make them masters of the world, and—what
shall I say ?—its only inhabitants. The fish alone would be left ;
but imsects would perish. It suffices to be remembered that
the mother-bee does not produce in a year what the female
white ant can produce in aday. By her they would be enabled
to devour everything ; but they are weak and tasty, and so every-
thing devours them.”* In fact birds are very greedy after ter-
mites; poultry destroy immense quantities of them. Ants give

* J. Michelet, “ L’Inseete,’’ p. 328.

408 THE INSECT WORLD.

chase to them and eat them by legions. The negroes in Southern
Africa cannot be sated with them. They gather ia as have fallen
into the water and roast them like coffee; thus prepared, they eat
them by handfuls, and find them delicious. The Indians smoke
the termites’ nests, and catch those that have wings. They knead
them up with flour, and make a sort of cake of them. Travellers,
moreover, all agree in speaking of them as very nice food,
comparing their flavour to that of marrow or of a sugared
cream. Smeathman prefers them to the famous palm worm (ver
palmiste of the colonists), a delicacy known in South America,
which is the larva of the Calandra palmarum, a species of beetle.
It seems, however that an abuse of fried termites brings on a
dysentery which may prove mortal.

All the species of termites are miners, but the greater number
are also architects and masons. A few make their nest round a
branch of a tree. This nest is of enormous dimensions: it is as
large as a tun. The illustration (Fig. 382)—after a drawing in
Smeathman’s work—shows a nest of the Termes bellicosus, com-
posed of bits of wood firmly stuck together with gum. Above
their subterranean galleries the greater part of termites construct
vast edifices, which contain their magazines and nurseries. The
Termes mordax and Termes atrox raise perfect columns, surmounted.
by capitals which project beyond them and give them the appear-
ance of monstrous mushrooms. ‘These columns attain a height of
twenty inches, with a diameter of five; they are constructed with
a black clay, which, worked up by the insects, acquires great
hardness. The interior is hollow, or, rather, perforated with irre-
gular cells; but the most curious edifices are those of Termes
bellicosus. ‘These are irregularly conical mounds, flanked by a
certain number of turrets, decreasing in height. Smeathman
gives them a height of from ten to twelve feet; but Jobson *
affirms that he has seen some as high as twenty feet. If men
constructed monuments so disproportionate to their size, the great
pyramid of Giseh, instead of being one hundred and forty-six
métres in height, would be one thousand six hundred, and would
be higher than the Puy-de-Déme!

These knolls of earth are of a solidity sini will bear any trial.

* “ History of Gambia.”

= =: = amass!
=< a= ae
sv SS LAPLAN TEs Sle! >

LEE EE

a

—
= =
— =

Fig. 382.—Nest of the White Ant ( Termes bellicosus), in Central Africa, after Smeathman.
1, male; 2, 4, 5, neuters; 3, gravid female.

410 THE INSECT WORLD.

Not only can many men mount on them without shaking them,
but buffaloes establish themselves upon them as watch-towers,
from which they can see over the high grass which covers the
plain, if the lion or the panther is threatening them. These
edifices are hollow ; but their sides are from fifteen to twenty inches
thick, and are as hard as a rock. They are hollowed out into
galleries which connect them with the underground dwelling.
Under the dome is a pretty large vacant space, a sort of top story
or attic occupying one-third of the total height, and which keeps
up in the edifice a more uniform temperature than if all the block
had been filled up. On a level with the ground is the royal cell,
oblong, with a flat floor and a rounded ceiling, and pierced with
round windows. All round are distributed the offices; they are
rooms also with rounded and vaulted ceilings, communicating with
each other by corridors. On the sides rise the magazines, with
their backs placed against the walls of the house; they are filled
with gums and with vegetable juices solidified and in powder. On
the ceiling of the royal chamber rise pillars of about two feet in
height, which support the egg rooms. These are little cells with
partitions of sawdust stuck together with gum, which separate at
the opening the large chambers from the clay halls. Placed
between the attics and the great nave surmounting the royal hall,
the nursery is in the most desirable position possible for uniformity
of temperature and for ventilation.

The royal cell encloses an unique couple, objects of the most
assiduous attentions, but kept in closest captivity, for the doors are
too narrow to afford a passage to the monstrous queen, and even
to the male, who keeps generally crouching by her side. Thousands
of servants busy themselves round the mother; they feed her and
carry away, night and day, the myriads of eggs which she lays.
The eggs are placed in the egg houses, where they give birth to
white larvee, resembling the workers, which nourish themselves at
first on a sort of mouldy fungus which grows on the partitions of
their cells. They then become pupz, then neuters, or males and
females, the last two being provided with wings.

On a stormy evening the males and females come out of their
nest by millions to couple in the air; then immediately afterwards
they fall to the ground and lose their wings, when they become an

NEUROPTERA. 411

easy prey to their enemies. A few couples only, picked up by the
workers, are put under shelter, and become the nucleus of a new
colony. ‘The soldiers have no other occupation but to defend the
nest. If man attacks them, at the first blow with the pickaxe,
they are to be seen running out furiously. They attack their
aggressors, pierce them till they bring blood, and with their sharp
pincers hang on to the wound, and allow themselves to be torn to
pieces rather than leave go their hold. The negroes who have no
clothes are soon put to flight; Europeans only get off with
their trousers very much spotted with blood. During the
combat, the soldiers strike from time to time on the ground with
their pincers, and produce a little dry sound, to which the
workers answer by a sort of whistling. The workers immediately
make their appearance ; and with their pellets of mortar set to
work to stop up the holes, and to repair the damage. The sol-
diers then re-enter, with the exception of a small number, who
remain to superintend the work of the masons; they give, at
intervals, the usual signal, and the workers answer by a whistling
which means, “ Here we are!” as they redouble their activity. If
the attack recommences, the soldiers are at their posts, defending
the ground inch by inch. During this time the workers mask the
passages, stop up the galleries, and wall up with care the royal
cell. If you:manage to penetrate as far as this sanctuary, you
may pick up and carry away from the cell which contains them
the precious couple without the workers in attendance on them
interrupting their work, for they are blind.

They never venture in sight except in extreme cases. No one
is ignorant of the terrible destruction these insects occasion to
the works of man. Invisible to those whom they threaten, they
push on their galleries to the very walls of their houses. They
perforate the floors, the beams, the wood-work, the furniture,
respecting always the surface of the objects attacked in such a
manner that it is impossible to be aware of their hidden ravages.
They even take care to prevent the buildings they eat away from
falling by filling up with mortar the parts they have hollowed
out. But these precautions are only employed if the place seems
suitable, and if they intend to prolong their sojourn there. In
the other case, they destroy the wood with inconceivable rapidity.

412 THE INSECT WORLD.

They have been known, in one single night, to pierce the whole
of a table leg from top to bottom, and then the table itself;
and then, still continuing to pierce their way, to descend through
the opposite leg, after having devoured the contents of a trunk
placed upon the table. On account of the devastations which
they occasion, Linnzeus has called the white ant the greatest plague
of the Indies.

There exist in France two species of termites, the Termes
lucifugus, a little insect of a brilliant black (at least in the male),
with russety legs, which is common enough in the moors of
Gascony ; and the Yellow-necked White Ant (Termes flavicollis),
which lives in the interior of trees and does a great deal of mis-
chief in Spain and in the south of France to olive and other
precious trees, whilst the first attacks oak and fir trees. La-
treille established that it is the Termes lucifugus which causes
such havoc at La Rochelle, at Rochefort, at Saintes, at Tournay-
Charente, in the Isle of Aix, &., where many houses have been
completely undermined by these terrible insects. But M. de
Quatrefages* has proved that the habits of the termes found in
towns differ in many essential points from the habits of termes
in the country. And go it is most probable that the former
belong to an exotic species, which must have been unfortunately
imported into France by a merchant vessel. According to
M. Bobe-Moreau,t it was only in 1797 that termites were dis-
covered for the first time in Rochefort, in a house which had
stood for a long while uninhabited, and which they had com-
pletely undermined. In 1804, Latreille relates, as a “hear-
say,” that the termites had for some years made the inhabitants
of Rochefort uneasy ; but in 1829, the same author tells a very
different tale. He speaks with dismay of the ravages committed
by this insect in the workshops belonging to the Royal Navy.
The importation of the termes into France is then of recent date.
A note which was sent to M. de Quatrefages by M. Beltrémieux,
fixes with still greater accuracy the date of the importation
of the termites ; it must have taken place about 1780, a period at

* “ Note sur les Termites de la Rochelle.” Annales des Sciences Naturelles, 3e
série, tome xx., p. 18. 1853.

+ “Mémoire sur les Termites observés a Rochefort.’ Saintes, 1843.

NEUROPTERA. 413

which the brothers Poupet, rich ship-owners, caused bales of goods
to come from St. Domingo to Rochefort, to La Rochelle, and to
other places in that neighbourhood which possess storehouses. The
ravages which the termites have committed in the towns of La
Saintonge are really frightful. Like Valencia, in New Grenada,
these towns will find themselves one of these days suspended over
catacombs. At Tournay-Charente, the floor of a dining-room fell
in, and the Amphytrion and his guests tumbled together into the
cellar. There may be seen in the galleries of the Museum of
Natural History of Paris, the wooden columns which supported
this room, and which were preserved by Audouin, who had been
sent on a mission to report on the damages done. Audouin also
selected, as an object of curiosity, a lady’s bridal veil, which had
been entirely riddled with holes by the termites.

At la Rochelle these insects took possession of the prefect’s
house (built by the brothers Poupet), and of the Arsenal. There
they invaded offices, apartments, court, and garden. They could
not drive in a stake, or leave a plank in the garden, but it was
attacked the next day. One fine morning the archives of the
department were found destroyed without there being the smallest
trace of the damage to be seen on the exterior. The termites had
mined through the wood-work, pierced the card-board, eaten up
the parchments and the papers of the administration, but had
always scrupulously respected the upper leaf and edges of all the
leaves. It was by mere chance that a clerk, less superficial than
his colleagues, one fine day raised one of the leaves which hid this
detritus, and thus discovered the destruction of the archives. All
the papers of the prefecture are now shut up in boxes of zine.

These termites do not venture, any more than their congeners,
into the light of day. These terrible miners always envelop
themselves in obscurity, and construct on all sides covered galle-
ries as they advance into a building. M. Blanchard and M. de
Quatrefages saw m La Rochelle the galleries made by them. They
are tubes formed of agglutinated material, which are stuck along
the walls in the cellars and the apartments, or else suspended to
the roof like stalactites. Certain parts of Agen and of Bordeaux
begin also to suffer from the ravages of these insects. The danger
appears to be imminent.

414 THE INSECT WORLD.

We are indebted to M. de Quatrefages for some interesting
experiments on the termites of La Rochelle. Not only has the
learned naturalist helped to make known to us the habits of these
dark-loving insects, but he has also told us how to destroy them.
Different substances have been tried in vain to stop these terrible
ravages—essence of turpentine, arsenical soap, boiling lye, &e.
M. de Quatrefages had recourse to gaseous injections. He tried
successively binoxide of nitrogen, nitric acid, chlorine and sul-
phurous acid; chlorine, above all, fully answered his hopes. With
pure chlorine, he killed the termites instantaneously ; mixed with
nine-tenths of air, he suffocated them in half an hour. ‘“ For
attacking the termites,’ says M. de Quatrefages, “one ought to
choose by preference the period of their reproduction, so as to
destroy the pregnant females. It is probable that, like their
exotic congeners, the termites of France will endeavour to defend
themselves by walling up the interior of their galleries at the
first signs of an attack. The operator must then act with a great
deal of promptitude, and direct the apparatus as much as possible
into the very centre of their habitation, where the galleries are
the broadest and the most numerous.

“With whatever care one acts, and whatever may be the suc-
cess of a first attempt, it seems to me impossible to destroy in
one campaign all the termites of a locality. In this, as im all
operations of the same kind, a certain amount of perseverance is
necessary, especially if it is in a town or in a country infested by
them to a very great degree; in that case, one will be forced to
repeat the operation from time to time. When, on the contrary,
the termites are already cantoned, it seems to me that the success
ought to be lasting. This is fortunately the case at La Rochelle;
and by knowing how to profit by it, one may doubtless prevent
the spread of these pests, which, at one time or another, may
attack the whole town.’’*

In 1864 the Lords of the English Admiralty addressed an in-
quiry to the Entomological Society of London, on the best means
of preserving wood from the attacks of the Indian termites. In
answer to this inquiry, the Entomological Society recommended

* “Mémoires sur la destruction des Termites.” Annales des Sciences Naturelles,
de serie, tome xx., p. 15.

NEUROPTERA. 415

many processes: the injection of quicklime or of creosote, the
application of arsenical soap, &c. But it does not appear that
these processes are infallibly efficacious, nor, above all, easy to
employ.

Among other Neuroptera which undergo incomplete meta-
morphoses we will mention, first, the genera Perla and Nemoura*

4
!

Fig. 383.—Larva of Perla Fig. 384.—Larva of a Fig, 585.—-Perla marginata
bicaudata. Nemoura. (larva).

(Figs. 388, 384, and 385), which flutter about the banks of rivers,
and settle on stones, shrubs, and aquatic plants. Their larvee are
naked, without cases, and always live in the water, hiding them-
selves under stones, to watch for small insects, for they are carni-
vorous. One sees them often balancing their bodies, holding on
to a pebble. They go through the winter, and only become pup
in the spring. After moulting, they have the rudiments of wings.
Very soon afterwards the pupe leave the water, and undergo their
metamorphosis. The adult lives only a few days, for its mouth is
not suited for receiving food. The larvee have, at the end of their
bodies, two long threads, which remain in the perfect Perla, but
not in the perfect Nemoura; the latter lose the two caudal hairs
* From yypa, a thread ; and ovpa, a tail.—Eb.

416 THE INSECT WORLD.

when they arrive at the adult state. One species of Perla is very
common on the quays of Paris.

=
a

as
: ==

ee

Fig. 386.—Perla bicaudata.

The Ephemeride, or May-F ly family, have long, slender bodies,
provided with two or three long silky hairs. Their name indi-
cates the short duration of their existence. They appear in great

x

Fig. 387.—Nemoura variegata. Fig. 588.—Nemoura variegata (larva).

numbers at certain seasons of the year. Their hatching takes
place at sunset; they have coupled and laid their eggs by sunrise
next day, and have ceased to live; so that the banks of rivers,
of ponds, of lakes, are strewed with their bodies. Their number
is sometimes so considerable that, according to Réaumur, the soil
seems as if it were covered with snow, and they are gathered up
for manure. The Common Ephemera, or May-Fly (Ephemera

NEUROPTHRA. 417

vulgata, Fig. 389), is of a brown colour, banded with yellow, and
the wings smoky, with brown spots. These insects are remarkable

for their elegant flight; they are continu- Z
\ f
\ /

ally rising and falling. When they move
their wings, they rise; but if their wings,
though spread out, remain motionless, as
also the silky hairs which form their tail,
they fall again. They may be seen in
myriads in places where there is much
water.

We have said that the Ephemere live
only for a few hours. This is the general
rule; but their existence can be prolonged
for ten or fifteen days by preventing their
copulation. If, however, the duration of
the life of these insects is so short when
they have reached the perfect state, and
when the conformation of the mouth pre-
vents them from taking any nourishment,
their larva state is of very long continu-
ance. Swammerdam says, in his curious |
memoir, entitled ‘“ Vita Ephemeri,” it is Fig. Rta
not less than three years.

The females lay their eggs in one single mass, and let them
fall into the water, in the form of a packet. The larve which
come out of them are very active, and swim with great ease; but
generally conceal themselves under the pebbles at the bottom.
The sides of their abdomen are provided with gills, very much
fringed, which serve them, not only for breathing the air under
the water in the same way that fish do, but also for swimming.
The larve have, at the extremity of their body, two or three
hairs, like the perfect insect. They hollow out galleries in the
beds of rivers and ponds, and live on small insects. The pupa
(Fig. 391) differs only from the larva (Fig. 390) in having the
rudiments of wings. When about to undergo their metamor-
phosis, they come out of the water and cling to plants, &. The
skin cracks on the back when it is dry, and there comes out a
heavy insect, which flies feebly, and has opaque wings. It is

EE

418 THE INSECT WORLD.

still enveloped in a very thin skin, of which a last moult, after

Fig. 390.—Larva of an Ephemera.

a few hours, frees it. This

j
/ ‘
f \ :

2

Fig. 392.—Cloé€on diptera.
are insects of a well-defined

Fig. 391.—Pupa of an Ephemera.

skin remains sticking to the plant
on which the moulting was effected,
preserving the shape of the insect.
This moult is peculiar to the Ephem-
ere; it is the transition from the
false imago (pseudo-imago) to the
Imago.

In the same family is the genus
Cloéon, whose larvee prey on minute
insects. The Cloéon diptera (Fig.
392), which has only two wings, is
often to be met with in houses,
resting on the window panes and
curtains. All these insects keep
badly in collections ; they lose their
shape, and their members are so
fragile that the least shock suffices
to break them.

The Libellulas, or Dragon-Flies,
type. The elegance of their shape,

NEUROPTERA. 419

the grace of their movements, have won for them among the
French their common appellation of “‘ Demoiselles.” They are
always of largish size. Many are of bright and metallic colours,
which are not inferior in beauty to those of butterflies. Their
wings, of an extreme delicacy, always glossy and brilliant, present
varied tints ; sometimes they are completely transparent, and have
all the colours of the rainbow. Often, the colour of the males
differs from that of the females. They may be seen fluttering
about on the water during the whole summer, especially when the
sun is at its highest. They fly with extreme rapidity, skimming
over the water at intervals, and escaping easily when one wishes
to catch them. Nothing is prettier than a troop of dragon-flies
taking their sport on the side of a pond or on the banks of a
river, on a fine summer’s day, when a burning sun causes their
wings to shine with most vivid colours.

In the perfect state, as well as in that of the larva and the pupa,
the Libellulas are carnivorous. Their rapid flight makes them
expert hunters, and their enormous eyes embrace the whole
horizon. They seize, while on the wing, flies and butterflies, and
tear them to pieces immediately with their strong mandibles.
Sometimes, the ardour of the chase leading them on far from the
' streams, they are met with in the fields. The female lays her
egos in the water, from which emerge larve which remind one
somewhat of the form of the insect, only their body is more com-
pact and their head flattened. The larvee and pupz inhabit the
bottom of ponds and streams, where, keeping out of sight in the
mud, they seek for insects, molluscs, small fish, &e. If any prey
passes within their reach, they dart forwards, like a spring, a
very singular arm, which represents the under lip. It is a sort of
animated mask, armed with strong jagged pincers and supported
by strong joints, the which, taken together, is equal to the length
of the body itself. This mask acts at the same time as a lip and
an arm; it seizes the prey on its passage and conveys it to the
mouth. ‘‘ When any aquatic insect approaches them at a time
when they are in a humour for eating,” says Charles de Geer,
“they shoot the mask forward very suddenly and like a flash of
lightning, and seize the insect between their two pincers; then,
drawing back the mask, they bring the prey up to their mandibles,

EE2

420 THE INSECT WORLD.

and begin to eat it. I have remarked that they do not spare those
of their own kind, but that they eat each other up when they can,
and I have also seen them devouring very small fish which I put
by them. It is very difficult for other insects to avoid their blows,
because, walking along generally in the water very gently, and,
as it were, with measured steps, almost in the same way a cat does
on the look-out for birds, they suddenly dart forward their mask
and seize their prey instantaneously.”* Fig. 393 represents, to
the left, the larva of the dragon-fly, with the instrument of attack
which we have called “a mask,” and which it is making use of

Fig. 393.—Larva of the Libed/u/a and the perfect insect emerging.

for seizing a small insect; ou the right, the adult dragon-fly
coming out of the nymph.

The respiration of these larvee is very singular. Their abdomen
is terminated by appendages which they open to allow the water to
penetrate into the digestive tube, whose sides are furnished with
gills communicating with the trachee. The water, deprived of
oxygen, is then thrown out, and the larva advances thus in the
water by the recoil. It has no tufts of external lateral gills, which

* Charles de Geer, ‘‘ Mémoires pour servir 4 l Histoire des Insectes,” tome ii.,
2e partie, p. 674.

NEUROPTERA. 421

in the case of the Ephemere do the duty of fins. The pupa already
presents stumps of wings. To effect its metamorphosis it drags
itself out of the water, where it has lived for nearly a year, climbs
slowly to some neighbouring plant, and hangs itself there. Very
soon the sun dries and hardens its skin, which all of a sudden
becomes crisp and cracks. The dragon-fly then sets free its head
and its thorax, and its legs, its wings, still soft and wanting in
vigour, gain strength by coming in contact with the air, and,
after a few hours, they have attained their full development.
Immediately the insect abandons, like a worn-out suit, the dull
slimy skin which had covered it so long, and which still preserves
its shape (Fig. 393), and dashes off in quest of prey.

Se,
ee

oSK
(PLS

<h
i St
ee

Fig. 394.—Libellula depressa, the Common Dragon-Fly.

The Libellulas are common all over the world. Their type is
the Libellula depressa (Fig. 394), very common in Europe. The
male is brown, with the abdomen blue underneath ; the female, of
a sort of olive-yellow, bordered by yellow on the sides. Both have
the abdomen broad and flattened.

The shna, with a cylindrical abdomen, attains to the length
of two and a half inches. Its flight is more rapid than that of the
swallow. The Calepteryx flies more slowly. The male is of a
metallic blue, its diaphanous wings are traversed by a band of
greenish blue; the female, of a bronzed green, has wings of a _
metallic green, with a yellowish mark on the edge. These insects
rest on reeds, retaining their wings in a vertical position.

422 THE INSECT WORLD.

The Agrions, which are of the same family, have the body white,
brown, or green, and the eyes very prominent. They are more
slim and graceful than the Libellulas, properly so called; their
larvee are very elongated.

In the spring, one meets in the woods with insects having large
heads and elongated thoraces. The females have a long auger,
with which to deposit their eggs under the bark of trees, where
their larve, which feed on insects, and twist themselves about
like small serpents, live. The pups are also very active; they

Fig. 395.—Male Raphidia. Fig. 396.—Larva of a Raphidia. Fig. 397.—Pupa of a Raphidia.

resemble the adults:very much, and have the wings laid against
the body. ‘These insects, which are met with everywhere, but
always in small numbers, are the Aap/idras, which we see repre-
sented (Figs. 395, 396, 397) in the state of larva, pupa, and adult,
and the Mantispas (Fig. 398), one species
of which is common in the south of Europe.
M. Blanchard classes in the same tribe the ©
genus Semblis, whose larve are aquatic, with
scaly heads, provided with eyes, and with
curved mandibles and short antenne. The
Fig. 298.—Mantispa pagana- Jarvee and the pupe breathe, like those of the
Ephemere, by articulated external processes, or gills, analogous to

Fig. 399.—Semblis lutarius, imago, pupa, and larva.

those of fishes. Nevertheless the pupz live on land, not in water.

NEUROPTERA. 423

They hide themselves in the earth at the foot of trees, and the
adult issues forth at the end of a fortnight, leaving its pupa skin
behind. It lives but a few days. The female lays her eggs on
reeds, stones, &c. Fig. 399 represents the Mud Sembdlis in its
three states.

We now come to those -Neuroptera which undergo complete
metamorphoses. They are the Myrmeleonide, of which the Ant-
lion (Myrmeleo) is the most prominent type, and the Phryganide,
or Caddis Flies.

The larvee of the Ant-lions live on the land, and are carnivorous.
When about to undergo their transformation into pup, they spin
for themselves a silky cocoon. The larvee of the Phr; yganeds, OL
the contrary, live in the water. They surround themselves with

Fig. 400.—Ant-lion (Myrmeleo formicarius).

a sort of protecting case, composed of a silky shell and incrusta-
tions of all sorts. The pupee, as well as the larvee of these insects,
breathe by means of gills.

The Ant-lion (Myrmeleo formicarius, Fig. 400) is found in the
environs of Paris. It is an elegant insect, resembling the dragon-
fly, but is distinguished from it by its antenne. itis larva is of
a rosy, rather dirty grey, with little tufts of blackish hair on its
very voluminous abdomen. Its legs are rather long and slender ;
the two anterior pair of legs are directed forwards, whilst the hind
legs are fixed against the body, and only permit the animal to
walk backwards. These larve are met with in great abundance
in sandy places very much exposed to the heat of the sun. There
they construct for themselves a sort of funnel in the sand (Fig. 401),

424. THE INSECT WORLD.

by describing, backwards, the turns of a spiral whose diameter -
gradually diminishes. Their strong square head serves them as a
spade with which to throw the sand far away. They then hide
themselves at the bottom of the hole, their head alone being out,
and wait with patience for some insect to come near. Scarcely has
the ant-lion perceived its victim on the borders of its funnel, when
it throws at it a shower of dust to alarm it, and make it fall to

————= = SS

Fig. 402. —Larva, cocoon, and

: Wy peas ies
Fig. 401.—Ant-lion’s funnel. pupa of the Ant-lion.

the bottom of the precipice, which does not fail to happen. Then
it seizes it with its sharp mandibles, and sucks its blood; after
which it throws its empty skin out of the hole and resumes the
look-out. Ants especially become its prey, whence its name of
Ant-lion. Towards the month of July, the larve make them-
selves a spherical cocoon, mixed with grains of sand, in which
they are transformed into pupe which are hatched towards the
end of August. The perfect ant-lions diffuse an odour of roses;
their flight, which is weak, distinguishes them from the dragon-
flies. We meet in the south of France with a very beautiful
species of Ant-lion, the Myrmeleo libelluloides (Fig. 403) ; its larva
can move forwards, and does not dig itself a funnel.

The genus Ascalaphus (Fig. 406) is remarkable for the long
clubbed antennee of its members, and for their rapid flight. They
like the sun, and live especially in hot countries; however, one
meets with the Asca/laphus, in the month of July, near Paris,
on the dry declivities of Lardy and of Poquency. Their larvze

NEUROPTERA. 425

_ (Fig. 405) have mandibles adapted for suction. They watch for
insects under heaps of stones, and spring upon their prey.
The first states of the Nemoptera* (Fig. 407) are as yet little

Fig. 403.—Myrmeleo libelluloides.

known. They are insects with wings spotted with yellow and
black, the lower ones almost linear, and are met with in southern
countries, and but very rarely in the south of France.

* From yypa, a thread, and wrepov, a wing.

426 THE INSECT WORLD.

‘The Hemerobii, to which are given by the French the name
of Demoiselles terrestres, or Land Dragon-Flies, are very small

Fig. 404,— Larva of Fig. 405.—Larva Fig. 406.— Ascalaphus meridionalis.
Myrmeleo libelluloides of Ascalaphus.

delicate insects, of an apple-green colour, with golden red eyes.
These insects leave on the fingers, when seized, an offensive odour.

Fig. 407.—Nemoptera Coa.

Réaumur calls them Lions des pucerons (Plant-Lice Lions), because
their larvee, which resembles the larvee of the ant-lions, and which
live on plants, feed on plant- -
lice. They attack ,also cater-
pillars. Their mandibles are
provided with a canal for suc-
tion, like those of the foregomg
species.
Fig. Soak maculatus. The ins ects of th e genus
Osmylus (Fig. 408) are rather rare; but may be found in the
month of August in the shrubs which border ponds. They also
belong to the Hemerobide. Their larvee live in wet ground.

NEUROPTERA. — 427

The Panorpate constitute a singular little family, having .a
peculiar shaped head, which is prolonged to a sort of long and
slender beak. Aristotle called them Scorpion Flies, and thought
they were winged scorpions. The Panorpas, properly so called
(Fig. 409), are found on hedges and plants during the summer.
They have slim bodies spotted with yellow and black, and four
straight wings, also spotted with black. In the males the abdo-
men terminates in a pair of pincers (Fig. 410), which rather

Fig. 499.—Panorpa, male and female.

remind one of the tail of a scorpion, and which are destined to
seize their prey, which they kill by piercing with their beak.
The female lays her eggs in the ground (Fig. 411). In a week,
the larva makes its appearance; it is a month in developing, it
then buries itself still deeper in the earth, and changes into a

Fig. 410.—Pincer of male Panorpa. Fig. 411.—Female Panorpa laying.

pupa, which, after a fortnight, comes again into the light in the
form of a perfect insect. There are two other genera of Panor-
pute, of which Bittacus tipularis (Fig. 412)—resembling a
large gnat, furnished with four wings—and Boreus /hyemalis
(Fig. 413) —of a brilliant black, met with in Sweden and
in the elevated parts of the Alps, jumping about on the snow,

428 THE INSECT WORLD.

in considerable troops—are representatives. The latter has been
found in England.

Fig. 412.—Bittacus tipularis. Fig. 413.—Boreus hyemalis (magnified and natural size)

The Phryganide, or Caddis Flies are known by their larvee, of
which anglers make great use. Réaumur classed them as aquatic
moths. The soft and delicate body of the larvee is protected by a

ae
cal
Fig. 415.—Phryganea rhombica,
in repose.
Fig. 414.—Larva of Phryganea rhombica. Fig. 416.—Phryganea rhombica.

case, to which they cling by two hooks, placed at the extremity of
their abdomen. They are called by different names in allusion to

NEUROPTERA. 429

their habits; as, for instance, case worms, from their living in a
case covered with little bits of wood or sand, which they draw after
them as they go. Their scientific name, Pryganea, signifies
fagot.* The Phrygane@, in the adult state, very much resemble
moths. They approach them in having rudimentary mouths, and
wings without articulations, but furnished with small hairs, analo-
gous to the scales of Lepidoptera. They may be said to form a
sort of connection between the Lepidoptera and Neuroptera. They
have been called Mouches papilionacées, or Papilionaceous Flies.
The eggs laid by the female P/ryganea are enclosed in gelatinous
capsules, which swell in the water and attach themselves to stones,
&e. ~The larva has the appearance of a little worm without feet.
It is soon hatched, and resembles at first a little black line, and
may be easily reared in an aquarium. The operation of making
the silky case which it draws after it, and which protects its abdo-
men, may then be observed. When it is disturbed, it retreats
entirely within its case. The interior is smooth, and lined with
mud ; on the exterior it is fortified with stones, &c.

The Phryganea rhombica (Figs. 414, 415, 416) furnishes its
case with bits of wood or grass, arranged as shown in Fig. 417.
Some species arrange these bits of wood and grass in spiral, others
in parallel series. The Phryganea flavicornis covers its dwelling
with little shells. “These kinds of dress,” says Réaumur, “are
very pretty, but they are also excessively singular. A savage
who, instead of being covered with
furs, should be covered with musk rats,
moles, or other entire animals, would
have on an extraordinary costume ;
this 1s in some sort the case with our
larve.’’? Other Phryganee employ for
constructing the case which serves
them as a dwelling, sand and small
pebbles ; each species always employ- Fig. 417.—Regular cases of a Phryganea.
ing the same materials, unless they are entirely deprived of
these and obliged to employ others. These cases protect. the
larvee against the voracity of their enemies. The larvee have a
scaly head ; and the three first rings of their body are harder than

* From gotyamor, a stick.

430 THE INSECT WORLD.

the rest. They live in water, and breathe by means of branchious
sacs, arranged on the abdomen in soft and flexible tufts. They eat
everything that is presented to them: leaves, and even insects,
and the larvee of their own kind. The pupz are motionless. They
stay about a fortnight in their case, whose orifice is closed by

AYty

—_

ern

es,
en
=
>
4 Ry

as

au sE BEES a issa/—
ZA 1)

Fig. 418.—Pupa of Phryganea Fig. 419.—Phryganea pilosa.
pilosa, magnified.

gratings of silk, then break through the gratings and leave their
prison. In this state (Fig. 418) they swim on the water until they
meet with an object to which they can attach themselves, and so
get out. Then they swell till they crack their skin over the back,
when the perfect insect emerges. .

The Phryganea pilosa (Fig. 419) is of a yellowish grey, with
hairy wings little adapted for flymg. These insects do not eat,
and never leave the neighbourhood of the water. During the day,
they rest on flowers, on walls, or.on the trunks of trees, their
wings folded back, and their antennee together. In the evening
they fly in dense swarms over streams and ponds. They are
attracted by light, as are many nocturnal insects; and are some-
times found in great numbers on the lamps on the quays in.
Paris.

NEUROPTERA, «= ae

The Hydropsyches (Fig. 420) and Rhyacophili (Fig. 421) “are

Fig. 421.—Rhyacophilus vulgatus, larva, pupa, cocoon, and imago (male).

larve have, for the purposes of respiration, some gills, others re-

432 THE INSECT WORLD.

tractile tubes. They construct for themselves fixed places of
shelter, more or less imperfect, at the bottom of the water, and
against large stones, which they leave occasionally for a few
moments. Sometimes these cases contain several larve. Fig. 420
represents the various states of a Hydropsyche ; the larva is seen
on the left, the pupa on the right, the winged insect in the middle.
Two of the insect’s tents, or places of shelter, are represented below.
Fig. 421 shows the different states of Rhyacophilus vulgatus, larva,
cocoon, pupa, and imago. The genus Rhyacophilus has this pecu-
liarity, that the larva spins itself a cocoon in the interior of its
dwelling before changing into a pupa.

WaELT:
COLEOPTERA.

In collections of insects, the Coleoptera almost always occupy
the principal place. They are sought after by collectors on
account of the brightness of their colours, of the solidity of
their integuments, and the facility with which they can be pre-
served. This circumstance has contributed much to give to the
Coleopterous Order marked preponderance in the immense series
of insects. Many more have been collected than any one has
as yet been enabled to describe ; and the collections are encum-
bered with species of which no naturalist has yet given an
account.

Admitting that the first-rate collections contain each about
twenty-five thousand perfectly distinct species, and that a certain
fraction of these treasures is peculiar to each collection, M. Blan-
chard came to the conclusion that we must estimate the number
at more than a hundred thousand of the species of Coleoptera
which would be obtained if the different entomological collections
of France, England, and Germany were put together. But every
day we see arriving from different regions of the globe new
riches, hardly dreamt of up to that time; and it is not only
the small species, but the larger and more beautiful also,
which furnish their contingent. It may, then, be believed that,
if the entire surface of the earth were carefully explored, we
should obtain an incalculable number of Coleoptera, having
sufficient characteristics to constitute distinct species, or kinds.

The Coleoptera (from xodedés, a sheath, and z7vepév, a wing) are
insects with four wings. The anterior wings, or elytra, are not used

F F

434 THE INSECT WORLD.

in flying; they are sheaths more or less hard, sometimes varied
with bright colours, and never crossing over each other. The pos-
terior wings are membranous, presenting a ramification of veins,
and usually folding up under the elytra, which protect them when
at rest. The mouth of Coleoptera is provided with mandibles, with
jaws, and two quite distinct lips, and is suited for mastication. They
undergo complete metamorphosis. After an existence of greater
or less extent in the larva state (in the case of the cockchafer
three years), the insect changes into a pupa, which remains in a
state of complete immobility. After a certain time, the pupa
bursts its envelope and assumes the form of a perfect insect.
The Coleoptera present the utmost variety of habits as regards
their habitations and food. One does not find in this Order
those admirable instincts, those manifestations of intelligence,
which bring certain Hymenoptera near to those beings which
are highest in the animal scale; but they offer peculiarities very
well deserving serious and profound study. Some are carnivo-
rous, and thus they are useful to man in destroying other noxious
insects, which they seek on the ground, on low plants, on trees,
and even in the depths of the waters. Many of these Coleoptera
feed on animal matter in a state of putrefaction. We may look
on them as useful auxiliaries: they are Nature’s undertakers.

A great number live in the excrements of animals. The
dung of oxen, buffaloes, and camels afford shelter to Coleoptera
of different families, which thus live on vegetable matter more
or less animalised. Others attack skins and dried animals in
general; and some are the pest of entomological collections. Lastly,
immense legions of Coleoptera are phytophagous; that is to
say, they attack roots, bark, wood, leaves, and fruits, and cause
much annoyance to the agriculturist. Above all, the larve are to
be dreaded. Those which live in wood may in a few years
oceasion the loss of trees, vigorous and full of life ; or completely
destroy the beams of a building. Certain larvee, such as those of
the cockchafer, eat away the roots of vegetables, and so destroy
the harvests. Others, lastly, devour the leaves and the stalks of
plants, attack the flowers in the gardens, or the corn in the barns ;
and so man makes desperate war against them.

In the immense variety of known Coleoptera we must be con-

COLEOPTERA. 435

tented to choose those types which are most prominent and most
characteristic. We will begin with the Scaraéeides, with their
heavy compact body, and short antennz, terminated by a foliaceous
club. It is to this tribe that belongs the beautiful Rose Beetle
( Cetonia aurata), which lives on roses ; the Cockchafer (Melolontha
vulgaris), the Scarabeus of the Egyptians, &c.

This is the most interesting tribe of the whole Order Coleoptera.
It corresponds with the great division of the Lamellicornes of
Latreille. This name of Lamellicornes was intended to remind us
of the arrangement into lamine, more or less close together, of the
club of the antennee of these insects. Many Scarabe@i have their
mandibles membranous, or at least partially so, and always small.
This peculiarity corresponds to their habits. Never, indeed, have
they to triturate hard bodies; they all feed either on flowers,
on leaves, or on stercoraceous matter. Their larvee resemble each
other much, even those of families very widely differing from each
other in the perfect state. They are large, whitish worms, with
diaphanous skins, scaly heads, furnished with toothed mandibles,
living in the ground or in rotten wood. The pups are fat and
stumpy, and they already show the features of the perfect insect.
They make a chamber in which to undergo their changes. They
remain generally three years in the larva state. The duration of
the pupa is very short, as also is that of the perfect insect. The
differences of the sexes are often very marked on the exterior, by
protuberances, horns, &c., which constitute the distinctive orna-
ment of the males.

In the group of Scarabeides we shall have to speak, above all,
of the Centoniade, the Chafers, and the Scarabei properly so called.
The family of Cetoniade is one of the most remarkable, en account
of the beauty of the insects which compose it and of the richness
of their metallic lustre, some being of great splendour, and others
having velvety tints. The larvee live in wood in a state of decom-
position ; the perfect insects frequent flowers, and like the sun.

This family contains a great number of species, the type of
which is the Rose Beetle (Cetonia aurata), of a beautiful green
colour shot with gold, with transverse whitish lines. The rose
beetle frequents roses especially, of which it eats the petals
and the stamens. It is the Golden Melolontha of Aristotle,

FRE2

436 THE INSECT WORLD.

who tells us that this unfortunate insect shared with the cockchafer
the privilege of amusing children. The Cetonia flies by day and
by night, making use of its inferior wings without opening the
elytra (Fig. 422). When seized, it pours out from the extremity
of its abdomen a feetid liquid, the only means of defence the poor

Fig 422.—Rose Beetle (Cetonia aurata).

insect possesses. The larva (Fig. 423) much resembles the larva
of the cockchafers, but the legs are shorter. It is found in rotten
wood, and often in ants’ nests. When it has acquired its full
development it makes a cocoon of an oval form (Fig. 423), in which

Fig. 423.—Larva and cocoon of the Rose Beetle.

it transforms itself into a pupa; the cocoon is composed of bits
of wood agglomerated with a silky matter which the larva
secretes.

The larva of the Cetonia splendidula, which is the most mag-
nificent found in France, is met with sometimes in the nests of wild
bees. In Russia the rose beetle is considered a very efficacious
remedy for hydrophobia. In the governorship of Saratow, which
is traversed by the Volga, hydrophobia is very frequent on account
of the heats which reign during the whole summer in its arid
steppes. The inhabitants, incessantly exposed to be bitten by mad

COLEOPTERA. 437

dogs, have tried in succession a great many preparations to remedy
the results of these terrible accidents. It appears that the Cetonza,
dried and reduced to powder, has produced on many occasions good
effects. This is the recipe which an inhabitant of Saratow pub-
lished in a Russian journal—adding, that he had employed it for
thirty years, that not one of the patients treated by him had died,
and that his remedy could be employed with success in all the
phases of the disease. In spring they search at the bottom of the
nests of the wood ant for certain white larve, which they carefully
preserve in a pot, together with the earth in which they were
found, till the moment of their metamorphosis, which takes place
in the month of May. The insect, which is the common rose
beetle, is killed, dried, and kept in pots hermetically sealed, so
that it may preserve the strong odour which it exhales in spring,
which seems to be a necessary condition of the remedy proving
efficient. When a case of hydrophobia presents itself, they reduce
to powder some of these, and spread this powder on a piece of
bread-and-butter, and make the patient eat it. Every part of the
insect must enter into the composition of this powder, which, for
this reason, cannot be very fine. During the whole time a patient
is under treatment he must avoid drinking as much as possible, or,
if his thirst is very great, he must only drink a little pure water ;
but he may eat. Generally, this remedy produces sleep, which
may last for thirty-six hours, and which must not be disturbed.
When the patient wakes, he is, they say, cured. The bite must be
treated locally with the usual surgical appliances.

As to the dose of the remedy, that depends on the age of the
patient and the development of the disease. They give, to an
adult, immediately after the bite, from two to three beetles; to a
child, from one to two; to a person in whom the disease has already
declared itself, from four to five. Given to a person in good
health the remedy, however, would not be the least dangerous.
In cases in which the symptoms of hydrophobia show themselves
some days after the employment of the remedy, they recommence
the treatment. They have also tried to prepare this remedy with
insects collected, not in their larva but in the imago state, by
catching them on flowers, and it seems that these attempts have
succeeded. According to M. Bogdanoff, in many governorships

438 THE INSECT WORLD.

of the south of Russia the lovers of sporting are in the habit of
making their dogs, from time to time, swallow (as a preservative)
half of a Cetonia with bread or a little wine. very one in those
countries is persuaded of the efficacy of this means for stopping
the development of the disease. One ought not, perhaps, to
reject a belief so widespread and deeply rooted without some
experiments to guarantee us in doing so, for medicine does not yet
possess any remedy against hydrophobia. It might not then be
useless to try this.

Two smaller species than the rose beetle, the Cetonia stictica
and the Cetonia hirtella, which has yellowish hairs, live on the
flowers of thistles. Western Africa, the Cape, Madagascar, &c.,
are very rich in species of Cetonie. Among
the Cetoniade is the genus Goliathus, gigantic
insects which inhabit Africa. Their total
length sometimes attains from three to five
inches. Their colours are generally a dull
white or yellow, which has nothing metallic
about it, with spots of a velvety black; these
are due to.a sort of down of an extreme thin-
ness, and which very easily comes off. The
} head of these enormous Coleoptera is gene-
Fig. 424.—Cetonia argentea. rally cut or scooped out, and is adorned some-
times with one or two horns. Their legs, strong and robust, are
armed with spurs, and sometimes present on their exterior sharp
indentations, which give to these insects.a crabbed physiognomy,
which their inoffensive habits are far from justifying. All these
horns, and all these teeth which look so terrible, are nothing in
fact, with a great number of these insects, but simple ornaments.
They compose the picturesque uniform of the males. It is equi-
valent to the bear-skin caps, the flaming helmets, and the bullion-
fringed epaulettes of our soldiers. The dress of the female
Goliathus is much more modest, as is becoming to the sex. We
here represent the Goliathus Derbyana (Fig. 425) and Polyphemus
(Fig. 426).

The Goliaths were formerly excessively rare in collections, and
of a price inaccessible to ordinary amateurs—one single specimen
costing as much as twenty pounds. But for some time the

COLEOPTERA. 439

Goliaths of the coast of Guinea and of Cape Palmas have been sold
to European amateurs at a modest price, thanks to those travellers

Fig, 425.—Goliathus Derbyana. Fig. 426.—Goliathus Polyphemus.

who, after the example of Dr. Savage, have collected them by
hundreds in the countries which produce them. ‘These enormous
Coleoptera are seen on the coast of Guinea fluttering about at
the top of trees, whose flowers they are seeking after. To catch
them, the trees are felled, or else they are shot at with a gun
loaded with sand, as is also done for the humming-birds. The
species which Dr. Savage made common is the Goliathus cacicus,
of which we represent the male and female (Figs. 427, 428). It
is met with on the coast of Guinea. The Goliathus Drury (Fig.
429) inhabits Sierra Leone, on the west coast of Guinea. The
numerous expeditions which are at the present moment being made
into the interior of Africa will not fail to increase the number of
species of these splendid insects, which are the ornament of all
collections.

440 THE INSECT WORLD.

The group of the Trichiade, which has in this country and in
France a few representatives, is very nearly the same as that of
the Cetoniade. The Trichiade have the elytra shorter, the abdo-
men bigger, and the legs more slender. The Zvichius fasciatus,

Fig. 427.—Goliathus cacicus, male.

which is black, and covered with an ashy down, with the elytra
yellow, and with three black bands, is to be met with in quantities
on the garden rose-tree, in the months of June and July. The

COLEOPTERA. 441

larve live in the interior of old beams of wood, respecting their
surfaces. In a garden, at a few leagues from Paris, a little wooden
bridge had been built. It seemed on the outside to be in a perfect
state of preservation. Nothing on the exterior would have led one

Fig. 428.—Goliathus cacicus, female.

to think it was possible for the oak timbers which composed it to
break down. A good many of them, however, broke suddenly. It |
was then seen that the wood had been scooped out right up to
the surface, which was nothing better than a thin sheet, of an

442 : THE INSECT WORLD.

imperceptible thinness. All the interior was full of Zrichz, in the
states of larva, pupa, and perfect insect.

BER TUR
eA

Fig. 429.—Goliathus Druryi (natural size).

The Trichius fasciatus, sometimes called the Bee Beetle, is very
common in the environs of Paris. Geoffroy has described it under

&

COLEOPTERA. 443

the rather quaint name of the “ Livrée d’Ancre,” because the
Marquis of Ancre made his servants wear yellow coats, bordered
by braid alternately crossed with green and yellow.

The Osmoderma eremita is a large insect, of purple colour,
formerly common in the environs of Paris, and which, now-a-
days, cannot be found nearer than Fontainebleau. One must
look for them in earth which fills up the cavity of old willows
or of pear trees. The smell of Russia leather, or of plum, which it
exhales, has caused it to be called, in some places, the Plum-tree
Beetle.

The Gnorimus nobilis much resembles the rose beetle, and is
found on elder flowers, whose whiteness this golden insect relieves.
One species, much smaller, only one or two lines long, is the
Valgus hemipterus, which one often meets with in spring, in the
dust.of the roads. The female has-a long auger, which enables it
to deposit its eggs in rotten wood. Dumeril has described at
length the singular movements of this little insect :—The jerking
and, as it were, convulsive movements by which it transports itself
from one place to another; its tottering attitude, resulting from
the excessive length of its hind legs; the vertical carriage of
these, which, by their singular direction, interfere much with the
walking, which is directed by the other legs. One should, above
all, notice the artifice which the Valgus employs, as indeed do
many Coleoptera, to escape from his persecutors, by counterfeiting
death. As soon as it is seized by any enemy, its members stiffen
and become motionless. ‘The body, abandoned to itself, lies un-
evenly on whatever side it falls, for its legs no longer bend ; if
you bend them over, they remain in the inclination given to them.
Nothing then betrays life in this little dry and slender being,
frozen with fear, and imitating death, without, perhaps, being
aware itself of what it is doing.

We must still further mention here the Jmcas—beautiful insects
of the same group, which are met with in South America, and
whose males have an extraordinary head. They fly during the
day round the great trees on which they live. Fig. 430 represents
the Inca clathrata.

The most commonly-known insect of the family with which we
are now occupied, is the cockchafer. The French word for

444 THE INSECT WORLD.

cockchafer, Hanneton, according to M. Mulsant, comes from the
Latin, Alitonus (which has sonorous wings), which first became
fTalleton. Linneeus gave them first the name of Melolontha, which
they probably had among the Greeks, and which seems to be
the case from this passage in Aristophanes, in his comedy of
“The Clouds.” ‘Let your spirit soar,” says the Greek author,
“let it fly whither it lists, like the Melolontha tied- with a

iy yi 1D \
(ae NN hi
tP, Wi) /4 y
Ui

Fig. 480.—Inea clathrata.

thread by the leg.” We see that the habit of martyrizing cock-
chafers is of very early date. The Common Cockchafer (Fig. 431)
is one of the greatest pests to agriculture. In its perfect state it
devours the leaves of many trees, principally those of the elm ;
and so children call the fruit of the elm-tree by the name of
“ Pains d’Hanneton.”” But the destruction which they occasion
in their perfect state is little when compared with that which is
caused by their larvae—those white grubs so dreaded by agricul-
turists.

Cockchafers make their appearance from the month of April,
if the season is warm. But it is in the month of May that they
show themselves in great quantities. And so they are called in

COLEOPTERA. 445

Germany Maikafer (Maychafer). They are met with also in
June. The duration of their life as a perfect insect is six weeks.
They fear the heat of the day, and the bright sunshine; s0,
during the day, they remain hooked on to the under surface
of leaves. It is only early in the morning, and at sunset, that
one sees the cockcHafers fluttering round the trees which they

y X\\ At,
AW
\\\ N\\..
Me
\ _ \ aah \

Fig 431.—Cockchafer (We/olontha vulgaris).

frequent. They fly with rapidity, producing a monotonous sound
by the friction of their wings. But the cockchafer steers badly
when it flies. It knocks itself at each instant against obstacles
it meets with. It then falls heavily to the ground, and becomes
the plaything of children, who are constantly on the look-out
for them. There is a saying, “ Etourdi comme un Hanneton.”
What contributes still more to render the flight of these insects

446 THE INSECT WORLD.

heavy and sustained only for a short time together, is, that they
are obliged to inflate themselves like balloons in order to rise
into the air. It is a peculiarity which they share with the migra-
tory locust. Before taking its flight, the cockchafer agitates its
wings for some minutes, and inflates its abdomen with air. The
French children, who perceive this manceuvre, say then that the
cockchafer ‘‘compte ses écus”’ (is counting its money), and they
sing to it this refrain, which has been handed down for many
generations :—

*¢Hanneton, vole, vole,
Va-t’eu a Vécole.”’

A variation which we hear in the western provinces of France
is the following :—

* Barbot, vole, vole; vole,
Ton pére est a l’ecole
Qui m’a dit, si tu ne voles,
I] te coupera la gorge
Avec un grand couteau de Saint-George.’”

During the day the cockchafers remain under the leaves in a
state of perfect immobility; for the heat which gives activity to
other insects, seems, on the contrary, to stupefy them, and it is
during the night only that they devour the leaves of elms, poplars,
oaks, beech, birch trees, &c. In years when their number is not
very great, one hardly perceives the damage done by them; but
at certain periods they appear in innumerable legions, and then
whole parts of gardens or woods are stripped of their verdure,
and present, in the middle of the summer, the appearance of a
winter landscape. The trees thus stripped do not in general die;
but they recover their former vigour with difficulty, and, in the
case of orchard trees, remain one or two years without bearing
fruit. It is principally the trees skirting woods, and situated
along cultivated fields, which are exposed to the ravages of the
cockchafer, because the larvee of these insects are developed in the
fields. In the interior of forests they are never met with in great
numbers.

In certain years cockchafers multiply in such a frightful manner
that they devastate the whole vegetation of a country. In the

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COLEOPTERA. 447

environs of Blois fourteen thousand cockchafers were picked up by
children in a few days. At Fontainebleau they could have gathered
as many in a certain year in as many hours. Sometimes they
congregate in swarms, like locusts, and migrate from one
locality to another, when they lay waste everything. To present
an idea of the prodigious extent to which cockchafers increase
under certain circumstances, we will give a few statistics :—
In 1574, these insects were so abundant in England that they
stopped many mills on the Severn. In 1688, in the county of
Galway, in Ireland, they formed such a black cloud that the sky
was darkened for the distance of a league, and the country people
had great difficulty in making their hay in the places where they
alighted. They destroyed the whole of the vegetation in such a
way that the landscape assumed the desolate appearance of winter.
Their voracious jaws made a noise which may be compared to that
produced by the sawing of a large piece of wood: and in the
evening the buzzing of their wings resembled the distant rolling
of drums. The unfortunate Irish were reduced to the necessity of
cooking their invaders, and, for the want of any other food, of
eating them. In 1804, immense swarms of cockchafers, pre-
cipitated by a violent wind into the Lake of Zurich, formed on
the shore a thick bank of bodies heaped up one on the other,
the putrid exhalations from which poisoned the atmosphere. On
May 18, 1832, at nine o’clock in the evening, a legion of cock-
chafers assailed a diligence on the road from Gournay to Gisors,
just as it was leaving the village of Talmontiers; the horses,
blinded and terrified, refused to advance, and the driver was
obliged to return as far as the village, to wait till this new sort
of hail-storm was over. M. Mulsant, in his ‘‘ Monographie des
Lamellicornes de la France,” relates that in May, 1841, clouds
of cockchafers traversed the Sadne, from the south-east in the
direction of the north-west, and settled in the vineyards of the
Maconnais. The streets of the town of Macon were so full of
them that they were shovelled up with spades. At certain hours,
one could not pass over the bridge unless one whirled a stick
rapidly round and round, to protect oneself against their touch.
The coupling takes place towards the end of May, after which
the males die; the females only surviving them for the time

448 _ THE INSECT WORLD.

necessary to ensure the propagation of the species. The number
of eggs which a female lays is from twenty to thirty. With her
front leg she hollows out a hole in the ground from two to four
inches in depth, and deposits her eggs, of a yellowish white and
of the size of hemp-seed, therein. Her instinct leads her to choose
soft, light, and well-manured soils, which are, at the same time,
the best ventilated and the most fertile. We may conclude from
this that cultivation and labour have made the cockchafer more
common than it was formerly. It is the child of civilisation, the

Fig. 432.—Larva of the Cockchafer (M/elolontha vulgaris).

parasite of agriculture. In from four to six weeks after being
laid, the little larve are hatched (Fig. 432), and immediately
attack the roots of vegetables. They have a hard and horny head,
and slender black legs, longer than in other species of Scarabeides.
Their body is composed of a whitish pulp under a transparent
skin, the head and the mouth have a reddish tinge. The length

Fig. 433.—Pupa of the Cockchafer (Melolontha vulgaris).

of their existence in this state is three, sometimes four years.
From the egg laid in the month of June is hatched a larva in the
month of July. It increases in size during the last six months
of the year, and continues to do so during the two following

COLEOPTERA. 449

years, changing its skin many times during the period. Towards
the end of the third year it changes into a pupa, after having
surrounded itself with a cocoon consolidated with a glutinous
froth and some threads of silk. The pupa (Fig. 433) is of a pale
russety yellow, with two little points at the extremity of its body;
the elytra and the wings, lying down, cover the legs and the
antenne.

Towards the end of October the perfect insect is already marked
out, but it is still soft and weak. It passes the winter in its
hiding-place, hardens and becomes coloured at the end of the
winter, and shows itself by degrees on the surface of the ground.
In the month of April, three years after its birth, the cockchafer
emerges from the earth, and commences its attacks on the leaves
of trees. This long duration of the development of the insect
explains why we do not see them every year in the same number.
When they have once appeared in great quantities, it is not for
three years afterwards that we need expect to see their progeny
again in proportionate numbers. It is then every three years
that we have a cockchafer year, like 1865, but in the intermediate
years they are never very abundant. For the first year the little
larvee do not eat much. ‘They feed then principally on fragments
of dung, and on vegetable detritus, and keep together in families.
In winter they bury themselves deeply, so as to be secure against
frost and floods. Next spring the want of a greater abundance
of food forces them to disperse. They then make subterranean
galleries in all directions, without, however, going far from the
place where they were hatched. They begin attacking the roots
which they find within their reach ; the damage they do increasing
with their size and the strength of their mandibles. Among
roots, they seem to prefer those of the strawberry and of rose
trees ; but they do not despise other vegetables, and attack legumes
and cereals as well as bushes and plants. The ravages which they
occasion are sometimes incalculable ; market gardens are sometimes
entirely devastated. Fields of lucerne have been seen partially
destroyed by them, meadows of great extent lose their pasturage,
oat fields die off before they have come to maturity, and many of
the ears of corn fall before they are cut.

In proportion as they increase in age and in strength, especially

GG

450 THE INSECT WORLD.

in their last year, do they attack also ligneous vegetation. When
they have gnawed away the lateral roots of a young tree, the
new shoots corresponding to them dry up. The larve then attack
the principal root, and thus bring about the death of the tree.
There will be found round the roots of trees thus attacked immense
numbers of these worms. M. Deschiens relates that he had seen
six hectares of acorns, sown three times in the space of five years
with a perfect result, entirely destroyed as many times by the larvee
of the cockchafer. A nurseryman of Bourg-la-Reine suffered, in
1854, from the ravages of these terrible larvee, losses which he
estimated at thirty thousand francs. Others only preserved about
a hundredth part of their plants. In Prussia they destroyed, in
1835, a considerable nursery of trees in the Institut Forestier. In
the forest of Kolbetz more than a thousand measures of wild pines
were destroyed in the same way.

We shall not, then, be surprised to learn that the thunders of
excommunication were formerly launched at the cockchafers, as
they were also at the caterpillars and the locusts. We do not
know whether this had much impression upon them. In 1479,
the cockchafers having occasioned a famine in the country, were
cited before the ecclesiastical tribunal of Lausanne. The advocate
Fribourg, who defended them, did not find, doubtlessly, in the
resources of his eloquence arguments powerful enough in their
favour; for the tribunal, after mature deliberation, condemned
the accused troop, and sentenced them to be banished from the
territory. But it isnot enough to pass a sentence—there must also
be the means of putting it in execution ; and these were wanting
to the tribunal of Lausanne. And so the condemned cockchafers
continued to live on Swiss land, without appearing mindful of the
condemnation which had been fulminated against them.

The larvee of the cockchafer are not easily destroyed. They
successfully resist those scourges which one fancies must harm
them. Thus the inundation which devastated the banks of the
Sadne, fifteen years ago, had no effect on them. The land and
meadows, which had remained for from four to five weeks under
water, were none the more rid of them. The only circumstance
which is really hurtful to them, and to the adult cockchafer, is
late frost in the month of April and. May. When these frosts

COLEOPTERA. 451

come after mild weather, they surprise the larve at the surface
of the soil, and kill them. Unfortunately, the same causes do
harm to the plants which have already begun to spring up.
Nature has not then sufficiently provided the means of destroying
these mischievous beings. One would say that she had not fore-
seen their extraordinary multiplication, which has been, we must
confess, encouraged by agriculture and by the cultivation of the
land.

Animals do not contribute much towards limiting the number
of cockchafers, although the latter are not wanting in natural
enemies. Among insects, it is the large species of Carabus which
search after the larve as well as the adult cockchafers. The
Carabus auratus attacks them with great coolness. M. Blanchard
saw a carabus seize a cockchafer in the middle of the road,
open its belly with its mandibles, and devour its intestines.
The cockchafer tossed about from one side to the other, and
even walked, while it was undergoing its cruel punishment; and
the Carabus followed it without interrupting its work. Some
reptiles, many carnivorous animals, such as the shrew-mouse, pole-
cats, weazels, rats, and certain birds, especially the night-birds,
prey upon the cockchafer and its larve. Ravens and magpies,
which one sees going from clod to clod, make savage but insuffi-
cient war against them. In fact, all these animals together do
not destroy the hundredth part of the cockchafers which are born
every year.

As an example which will show the extent of the evil, a
field of 29 acres was ploughed up into 72 furrows. At the first
ploughing were gathered 300 larve per furrow; at the second,
200; at the third, 50 more; which amounted to 600 per furrow,
and to 43,200 in all. Man, who is the victim of these ravages,
has been necessarily obliged to think of a means of destroying
this enemy. Many infallible means have been proposed, which
have, however, given no result. Prizes have been offered, but the
evil has not diminished. Here are a few of the processes recom-
mended.

Immediately after the ploughing, you must turn into the field
infested by the larve a flock of turkeys, to whom it will be a
great treat to devour them; or else, you must sow in the field

GG2

452 THE INSECT WORLD.

rape-seed, very thickly, which you must then bury by a very deep
ploughing, when it is as high as your hand. The colewort, they
say, kills the larvee, while it at the same time manures the soil.
Or again, you must plough up the land on the approach of hard
frosts, to expose the worms to the cold. Lastly, you can water
the field with oil of coal, or sprinkle it with ashes of boxwood.
All these are expensive. The simplest means are here the best.
It is better to depend upon labour than destructive substances,
whose employment always presents inconveniences. Considering
the difficulties which oppose themselves to us in our search
after larve, we had better collect them in their adult state
by violently shaking the branches of the trees on which they
doze during the day, and then kill them in some way or other,
thus destroying from twenty to forty eggs with each female. A
general cockchafer hunt, rendered obligatory by a law, and
encouraged by prizes, would be the only efficacious means of
opposing a pest which costs agriculture many millions. This
means would also be less costly than the turning up of the land
concealing the larve, when it is remembered that they prefer
land in full bearing.

In 1835, the General Council of La Sarthe voted a sum of
20,000 franes for a cochchafer hunt. Nearly six hundred thousand
litres were delivered in, thanks to a prize of three centimes per
litre. Asa litre contains about five hundred cockchafers, there were
thus destroyed about three hundred millions of them. It is true
that M. Romieu, then Prefect of La Sarthe, who was the principal
promoter of this excellent measure, became food for the wit of the
newspapers, and was represented dressed like a cockchafer in
the Charwart. Derision and ridicule are too often the reward of
useful ideas. In Switzerland were taken, in 1807, more than one
hundred and fifty millions of these insects. But these isolated
measures were useless in producing a durable result.

It has been tried to make use of cockchafers in industrial arts.
According to M. Farkas, they have succeeded, in Hungary, by
boiling them in water, in extracting from them an oil, which is
used to grease the wheels of carriages; and, according to M. Mul-
sant, the blackish liquid which is contained in the cwsophagus
may be used for painting. But the produce arising from these

COLEOPTERA. 453

industrial occupations is not considerable enough to ensure them
a certain extension, which is to be regretted, for agriculture
would thus be rid of one of its most formidable scourges. Poultry
are sometimes fed on these insects; pigs are also very fond of
them.

The Melolontha Hippocastani differs from the common species
in having black legs. The Melolontha fullo, twice as large as the
common species, is variegated with tawny and white. It is met
with on the sea-coasts, and on the downs of the north and south
of France ; as its larvee feed on the roots of maritime plants.

Among the genera very near to the cockchafer we will mention
the little Rhizotrogus , light coloured and hairy, which flies in the
evening in the meadows, and the Kuchloras, or Anomalas, of
splendid metallic colours. The Axomala vitis is an insect of
about half an inch long, of a beautiful green, bordered by yellow,
with the elytra deeply furrowed. It sometimes causes extensive
ravages in the vineyards.

After the Cetoniade and the Cockchafers, we come to the Scara-

Ss

Fig. 435.—Head of Oryctes nasicornis,
mule.

Fig. 434.—Oryctes nasicornis, male. Fig. 436.—Head of Oryctes nasicornis,
female.

beide, properly so called. The Oryctes nasicornis (Fig. 434) is
very common all over Europe. It is about an inch long, of a
chestnut-brown, and perfectly smooth. The male has on the head
‘a horn, which is wanting in the female (Fig. 436). Its larva,
which is a great whitish worm, larger than that of the cockchafer,
lives in rotten wood and in the tan which is employed in hot-
houses and in garden-frames. They were to be found by hundreds
in the old hothouses of the Jardin des Plantes at Paris. The

454. THE INSECT WORLD.

market-gardeners, who employ the tannin of the oak bark, have
rendered this Coleopteron very common in the environs of that
capital. Fig. 437 represents an exotic species, the Xylotrupes
dichotomus.

Among the true Scarabe@i, we meet with many species of
gigantic size, especially in America. The Dynastes Hercules, a
great insect of a fine ebony black, with its elytra of an olive grey,

Fig. 437.—Xylotrupes dichotomus.

is not rare in the Antilles. Its thorax is prolonged into a horn as
long as its body, and bent round at the extremity; its head has
also a long horn standing erect. The females want these append-
ages. Fig. 438 represents the Golofa claviger of Guyana.

Fig. 438.—Golofa claviger.

The Geotrupes are insects almost as common as the chafers. As
their name reminds us, they make holes in the ground, which they
scoop out, particularly in meadows, under cow-dung which has
grown dry on the surface. It is under the excrements of ruminat-

COLEOPTERA. 455

ing animals and horses that they must be looked for. They fly
especially at night, and may be seen buzzing about on fine sum-
mer’s evenings in the vicinity of dung heaps.

The Geotrupes stercorarius, the Shard-born Beetle, Clock, or

Fig. 439.—Scarabeeus (Golofa) Povteri.

Dumbledor, is of a brilliant bluish black, and attains to a length
of about two-thirds of an inch. We may consider this Coleopteron
as an useful auxiliary of man, in ridding the soil of excrementious
matter. The genus 77ox, which belongs to the same group,

456 THE INSECT WORLD.

generally inhabits sandy countries, and has its body nearly always
covered with earth or dust; it lives on vegetable substances, or on
animal matter in a state of decomposition. The habits of the genus
Copris resemble those of Geotrupes ; they live in excrement. The
form of their clypeus, broad, rounded, without teeth, and advancing
over the mouth, suffices to distinguish the kindred species. In
the environs of Paris and in England the Copris lunaris is found.
The larvee of these insects form a cocoon composed of earth and
dung, before transforming themselves into pups: this cocoon is
more or less round, and acquires a great hardness.

The species of the genus Ateuchus collect portions of excre-
ment, which they make up into balls, and roll till they are
as perfectly rounded as pills, and in which they lay their eggs.
This habit has gained for these insects the name of pill-makers.
Their hind legs seem to be particularly adapted for this operation,
for they are very long and somewhat distant from the other legs,
which gives to the Afeuchi a strange appearance, and makes it
hard work for them to walk. They walk backwards and often fall
head over heels. They are generally seen on declivities exposed
to the greatest heat of the sun, assembled together to the number
of four or five, occupied in rolling the same ball; so that it is
impossible to know which is the real proprietor of this rolling
object. They seem not to know themselves; for they roll indiffer-
ently the first ball which they meet with, or near which they are
placed.

The Ateuchi are large flat insects, with a broad toothed clypeus ;
they all belong to the Ancient Continent. The type of the genus
is the Ateuchus sacer (Fig. 441), the Sacred Scarabzeus of the
Egyptians. This insect is black, and attains toa length of a little
less than an inch. It is to be found commonly enough in the south
of France, in the whole of southern Europe, Barbary, and Egypt.
The paintings and amulets of the ancient Kgyptians very often
represent it, and sometimes give it a gigantic size. It is, doubt-
less, then this species which was an object of veneration with the
Egyptians.

There exists another species which is always represented as of
a magnificent golden green, and to which Herodotus also attributes
this colour. As it was not to be found in Egypt, it was thought

COLEOPTERA. 457

for a long while that the Egyptians had painted the black species
of a more splendid colour in order to pay it homage. But in
1819, M. Caillaud actually found at Meroe, on the banks of the
White Nile, the Ateuchus Agyptiorum, which resembles the
Ateuchus sacer much in colour, but has a golden tint. Since then
it has also been brought from Sennaar. The two species were
both probably sacred. Hor-Apollon, the learned commentator
on Egyptian hieroglyphics, thinks that this people, in adopting
the scarabzeus as a religious symbol, wished to represent at once,
an unique birth—a father—the world—a man. The unique birth
means that the scarabeus has no mother. A male wishing to
procreate, said the Egyptians, takes the dung of an ox, works it

Fig. 440.—Scarabeus enema, or Enema infundibulum.

up into a ball, and gives it the shape of the world, rolls it with
its hind legs from east to west, and places it in the ground, where
it remains twenty-eight days. The twenty-ninth day it throws
its ball, now open, into the water, and there comes forth a male
scarabeeus. This explanation shows also why the scarabzeus was
employed to represent at the same time a father, a man, and the
world. There were, however, according to the same author, three
sorts of Scarab@i: one was in the shape of a cat, and threw out
brightly shining rays (probably the Golden Scarabzeus, Ateuchus
Lgyptiorum) ; the two others had horns; their description seems
to refer to a Copris and a Geotrupes.

As other remarkable species of Scarabei we represent the
Scarabeus enema (Fig. 440), with strong horns, the Megacerus

458 THE INSECT WORLD.

chorineus (Fig. 442), the Megalesoma anubis (Figs. 443 and 444),
and the Dynastes Hercules (Fig. 445).
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The last family of the Scarabeide contains the Lucanide, or

COLEOPTERA. 459

Stag Beetles. These Coleoptera are of great size, and their head
is armed with enormous robust mandibles, which give them a

Fig. 442.—Meeacerus chorinzeus.

ferocious air, which their inoffensive habits do not in any way
justify. They live in half-rotten trees, whose destruction they

Fig. 443.—Megalosoma anubis (male).

accelerate. Their mandibles, of such prodigious size only in the
male, are of more inconvenience to them than they are of use, as
they impede their flight. Their strength enables them to raise
considerable weights, but they make no other use of them than to
show their strength, which is enormous. They do not attack other
insects, and live only on vegetable juices.

460 THE INSECT WORLD.

The common Stag Beetle (Figs. 446* and 447) attains to a length
of two inches or more including its mandibles, and is of a dark brown

Fig. 444.—Megalosoma anubis (female). Fig, 445.—Dynastes Hercules.
chestnut colour. They are met with during the months of May,

* The figure may possibly mislead, as it shows the larva and pupa in the ground,
for although recent observations show that this species does occasionally undergo
its metamorphoses therein, it is not probable that the larva lives anywhere but in
wood.—Kp.

—_— Ss

COLEOPTERA. 461

June, and July, in large forests, climbing along trees and hooking
themselves on to the trunks by their mandibles. Charles de Geer
says that the Stag Beetle imbibes the honied liquid which is
found on oak trees, a tree it particularly seeks after, which has
caused it to be called in Swedish Hk-Oxe (Oak Ox). It is sup-

Fig. 446.—Common Stag Beetle ( Lucunus cervus).

posed that it eats the leaves also. It sometimes attacks insects.
Westwood says that it has been seen to descend from a tree
carrying a caterpillar in its mandibles. Swammerdam had one
which followed him like a dog when he offered it honey.

462 THE INSECT WORLD.

They only fly in the evening, holding themselves nearly straight, so
as not to see-saw. Their larvee—which are whitish, with russety
heads, whose existence in that state lasts nearly four years—live in
the interior of trees. Many naturalists think that the larva of the
Lucanus was the Cossus of the Romans, which figured on the
tables of the rich patricians, and particularly of Lucullus.

Fig. 447.—Stag Beetle (Lucanus cervus). Fig. 448.—Lucanus (Homoderus) Mellyi.

Fig. 447 represents the Stag Beetle (Lucanus cervus); Fig. 448,
an exotic species, the Lacanus (Homoderus) Mellyi, from Gabon ;
Fig. 449, the Lucanus bellicosus; and Fig. 450, another exotic
species from Celebes, Dorcus Titan.

The Syndesus cornutus (Fig. 451) of Tasmania, and the Chiasog-
nathus Granti, from the coast of Chili (Fig. 452), of a beautiful
golden green, shot with copper, belong to genera akin to Lucanus.

We arrive now at the tribe of Silphales, which are still more
useful to man than the Dung Beetles (Scarabeide), since many of
them disencumber the soil of the carcasses of animals in a state of

COLEOPTERA. 463

putrefaction. The most remarkable insects of this tribe are the
Histers, the Silphas, properly so called, and the Necrophori.

The Histers are small insects, to be recognised by their body
being almost round, smooth, and shining, with the elytra marked

Fig. 449.—Lucanus bellicosus.

with striaz, and their mandibles pretty well developed. They
attain to a length of about a fifth of an inch. The Silphe,
thus named on account of their broad and rounded form, are
of a larger size (about half to three-quarters of an inch), of a
dark colour, and exhale a sickly odour. When seized, they dis-
gorge a blackish liquid. They introduce themselves under the
skin of the carcasses of animals, and devour their flesh to the
very bone. The larvee, flat and serrated, live, like the adults, in
carrion. The commonest species is the Si/pha obscura, of an

464 THE INSECT WORLD.

intense black, delicately dotted. Two species found in England

Fig. 450. - Dorcus Titan.

and in the environs of Paris, Silpha quadripunctata and the
Silpha thoracica, climb trees and attack cater-
pillars. It appears to be certain that the larva
of the Silpha obscura does a great deal of
damage to beetroot, whose leaves it devours.
The Wecrodes come very near to the Silphe.
They are distinguished from them by having
the hind legs larger. Only one, ecrodes
ittoralis, occurs in England. Fig. 458 repre-

Fig. 451.—Syndesus °
cornutus. sents the Wecrodes lacrymosa, from Australia.

The Necrophori, or Grave-diggers, are honest undertakers, who

COLEOPTERA. 465

carefully bury carcasses left on the soil. As soon as they smell a
field-mouse, a mole, or a fish in a state of decomposition, they
come by troops to bury it, getting under the carcass, hollowing
out the ground with their legs, and projecting the rubbish they

+f
ma\i
LY

Fig. 452.—Chiasognathus Grantii.

dig out in all directions. Little by little the carcass sinks; at

the end of twenty-four hours it has generally disappeared into

a hole five inches in depth, but the Necrophori sink it still lower

—as far as from seven to ten inches below the surface. They
H H

466 THE INSECT WORLD.

then mount it, cast the earth down into the grave so as to
fill it, and the females lay their eggs in the tomb, where the
larvee will find an abundance of food. When the ground is too
hard to be dug, the Necrophort push the carcass further, till

Fig. 453.—Hister rugosus. Fig. 454.—Silpha quadripunctata. Ee ae
they find permeable soil. A mole has been run through with
a stick, or else tied by a string, to see how the Necrophori would
get over the difficulty. They scooped out the soil underneath
the stick, and cut through the string, and the mole was buried in

Fig. 456.—Necrodes littoralis Fig. 457.—Necrodes littoralis Fig. 458. —Necrodes lacry-
(male). (female). mosa.

spite of the obstacles. Fig. 459 represents a troop of Necrophori
burying a small rat.

The Necrophorus vespillo (Fig. 460) is variegated with yellow
and black ; the Necrophorus germanicus (Fig. 461) is larger, quite
black, and rarer. All these insects exhale a disagreeable musky
smell. Their bodies are often covered with parasites, which

COLEOPTERA. 467

are carried along by them by hooking on to their hairs, and which

Fig. 459.—Burying Beetles (Wecrophorus vespillo) interring the body of a rat.

make use of the Necrophorus as a vehicle in which they get their
food.
The Staphylinide live in the carcasses of animals, on manure,

Fig. 460.—Necrophorus vespillo. Fig. 461.—Necrophorus germanivus.

in detritus, and attack living insects. They are, for the most part,
H H 2

468 THE INSECT WORLD.

of small size, and are distinguished by their elytra, which are
short, and resemble a waistcoat or a jacket; but their wings
are fully developed. The large species have strong mandibles.

Fig. 462.—-Staphylinus (O¢ypus) olens, imago, pupa, and larva.

When irritated, the Staphylint disgorge an acrid black liquid ;

and by the abdomen they emit a volatile fluid having a musky
odour.

Fig. 463.—Staphylinus (Ocypus) olens.

We see frequently on roads the Staphylinus olens (Figs. 462 and
463), which, when it finds itself attacked, raises its abdomen, and

COLEOPTERA. 469

thrusts out two little whitish bladders, which pour out a volatile
liquid. Its larva lives under stones, and its habits are the same as
those of the adult insect. It is very carnivorous, and very active,
and often attacks those of its own kind. The Staphylinus hirtus

Fig. 454.—Staphylinus maxillosus. Fig. 465.—Staphylinus hirtus.

(Fig. 465) resembles at a distance a humble-bee, on account of its
long yellow hairs. The Staphylinus maxillosus (Fig. 464) has

Fig. 466.—Pselaphus Heisii (magnified). Fig. 467.—Claviger foveolatus (magnified).

black and white hairs. The genera Pselaphus and Claviger, akin
to the above, contain little insects which live as parasites in the
nests of ants. The Pselaphus Heisii (Fig. 466), less than a line
long, lives on the débris of reeds, on the borders of marshes.

470 THE INSECT WORLD.

The Claviger foveolatus (Fig. 467) is met with in the nest of a
little yellow ant, which takes as much care of it as of its own
progeny, because the Claviger secretes a liquid very much
appreciated by ants, who are contimually occupied in licking its
back.

The Dermestide attack by preference the tendons and the
skins of carcasses. A few of the insects of this family are the

Fig. 468.—Bacon Beetle ( Dermestes lardarius), magnified and natural size.

plague of our collections and the furriers. They devour a
quantity of dry substances—skins, feathers, catgut, hair, objects
made of tortoise-shell, the dried bodies of insects, &e. Some other
Dermestide feed on animal matter still fresh: such is the Bacon
Beetle, Dermestes lardarius (Fig. 468), which is to be met with in
some dirty pork-shops. It is black, with the base of its elytra
tawny and marked with three black spots. The larvee are covered

Fig. 469.—Attagenus pellio, magnified and natural size.

with a russety hair; they eat, bacon, skins, and also attack each
other. The perfect insect doesno damage. Like all the Dermestide,
it counterfeits death when handled. The Dermestes vulpinus, of a
tawny grey, injures furs, and the Hudson’s Bay Company,
whose storehouses in London were infested by this insect, offered
a reward of £20,000 for a means of destroying this insect.
The furriers have also cause to dread the Attagenus pellio(Fig. 469),

COLEOPTERA. 471

whose larva, covered with yellowish hairs, has at its extremity a
sort of broom, which assists it in moving.

The Anthrenus museorum, the fifteenth of an inch in length,
black, with three grey bands, drives collectors to despair, for its
larva destroys their collections. It is covered with grey and
brownish hairs, which it bristles up the moment it is touched.
The perfect insect feeds on flowers, and counterfeits death when
seized. All possible means have been tried for getting rid of the
Anthrenus by placing in the collection camphor, benzine, tobacco,
sulphur, &c., but benzine very soon destroys them.

Fig. 470.—Hydrophilus piceus.

The Hydrophili, very different to the group which we shall
presently consider, are herbivorous, and are to be found on the
leaves of aquatic plants. The Hydrophilus piceus (Fig. 470), which
attains to an inch in length, is common in our fresh waters. It
must not be seized without taking precautions; as its breast is
provided with a strong point, which pierces the skin. It draws
in air by thrusting its antenne out of the water, and placing them
against its body, the bubbles of air, which get involved in a sort
of furrow, slip under the body, and fix themselves to the hairs,

472 THE INSECT WORLD.

in such a manner that the animal seems to be clothed in pearls. Tt
is thus the air reaches the spiracles. The female of the Hydrophilus
is sometimes seen clinging to aquatic plants, head downwards,
forming her cocoon, terminated by a long pedicle, in which she
places her eggs, by means of the two bristles situated at the
extremity of the abdomen (Fig. 471). After having drawn this
after her for some time, she leaves it to itself in calm water. At
the end of a fortnight, there come out from it little brown larve,
very active, which ascend the water plants. These larvz are at
the same time herbivorous and carnivorous. They live on plants
and smal! molluscs, which they seize from underneath, and whose
shell they break by pressing them against their back, to extract

Fig. 471.—Bristles at the extremity of the Fig. 472.—Pupa of the Hyd@rophilus.
abdomen of the Hydrophilus.
from it the animal. If attacked, they emit a black liquid, which
discolours the water, and enables them to escape. At the end of
two months, the larva comes out of the water, and burrows into
the ground to undergo its metamorphosis into a pupa (Fig. 472),
which becomes a perfect insect a month afterwards. The latter
gets its colour little by little, and comes out of the ground at the
end of twelve days. According to M. Dumeril, the intestine of
the larva grows gradually longer and longer, as its diet becomes
that of herbs, the adult preferring vegetable food to animal
matter. It is at the end of summer that the Hydrophilus piceus
becomes perfect, and it passes the winter in a state of torpor at
the bottom of the water. The females lay in the month of April.

COLEOPTERA. 473

A small species, Hydrous caraboides, is commoner than the large
one; its body is more rounded behind.

We are now going to consider a series of aquatic and carnivorous
insects : the Dytisci, Water Beetles, the Cybisters,and the Gyrinide,
or Whirligig Beetles. These are perfect corsairs, whose rapacity
even exceeds that of many of the land Coleoptera. Not contented
with devouring one another, when pressed by hunger, with attack-
ing especially the larvee of all aquatic insects, such as the Libel-
lule and Ephemere, they feed also on molluscs, on tadpoles, and
on small fish. It is easy to rear them in captivity. If confined
in a small aquarium, their habits would be much more amusing
than a few golden fish, which one meets with everywhere, and

Fig. 473. —Dytiscus marginalis, male and female, and front leg of male magnified.

which are only good enough to amuse European Schaabahams.
Care must be taken to cover the aquarium at the top with gauze,
to prevent the perfect insects from escaping. This tribe is not
very numerous, nor varied in its forms. An oval body, legs
_eurved and widened into oars, provided with hairs, distinguish
the insects which compose it. They imbibe air at the surface of
the water, like porpoises.

The most carnivorous of this group are the Dytisci and the
Cybisters. They may be called the sharks of the insect world.
Nothing which lives in the water is safe against the voracity of the
Dytiscus. They attack small molluscs, young fish, tadpoles, larvee
of insects, and suck greedily the bits of raw meat which are thrown

474 THE INSECT WORLD.

-to them. They may be kept in an aquarium for many years, by
feeding them on animal matter. Their oval-shaped body, with its
sharp sides, permits them to cut through the water with great ease
—the hind legs serving as oars. They are to be found in stagnant

Fig. 474.—Pupa and larva of Dytiscus marginalis.

waters during the greatest part of the year, but principally m
autumn. During the winter they bury themselves in the mud and
under moss. The females lay their eggs in the water. The
larvee are long, swelling out at the middle, furnished with hairs,

Fig. 475.—Dytiscus latissimus. Fig. 476.—Cybister Reselii.

and grow rapidly. To undergo their metamorphosis into pupe,
they bury themselves in the earth.

The perfect insects are amphibious, and fly from one pond to
another to satisfy their voracious appetites. The most common
species of this genus is the Dytiscus marginalis (Fig. 473), of a

COLEOPTERA. 475

dark greenish brown, yellowish on the sides. The elytra of the
male are smooth ; those of the female are fluted. The front leg of
the male is provided with suckers. The larva is brown; the pupa
of a dirty white.

The Dytiscus marginalis sometimes attacks Hydrophilus piceus.
It pierces it between the head and the thorax, that is, in the
weak point of its cuirass, and devours it, in spite of it being the
stronger. The largest of the Dytisci, the Dytiscus latissimus
(Fig. 475), is almost confined to the north of Europe. The Cydis-
ters abound especially in warm countries. The Cydster Reselii
(Fig. 476), a European species, has the reputation of having been
taken in England. This group contains also a great number of
insects more or less resembling the preceding, in their conforma-
tion and habits. We will confine ourselves to representing a few
by figures :-—

Fig 477.—Acilius sulcatus (male). Fig. 473.—Acilius sulcatus (female).

Big 479. Fig. 480. Fig. 481.
Acilius fasciatus (male). Acilius fasciatus (female). Noterus crassicornis.

476 THE INSECT WORLD.

Fig. 482. —Colymbetes cinereus. Vio. 483.—Colymbetes notatus.

Fig. 487.— Fig. 488. Fig. 489.
Hydroporus contluens. 0 Suphis cimicoides.

Fig. 490.—Laccophilus minutus. Fig. 491.—Hydaticus grammicus. Fig. 492.—Pelobius Hermanni

COLEOPTERA. 477

The Gyrinide, which come very near to the Dytiscide, like
water which is clear and a little agitated. They are small
black insects, living in troops, and which swim with rapidity,
describing incessantly capricious circles, which has gained for them
the name of “‘ Whirligigs.”” They are remarkable for the disposi-
tion of their eyes, which are double; so that the Gyrinide
seem to have four eyes. The lower ones look into the water and
watch for the prey or the fish that advances as an enemy ; whilst
the upper eyes look upwards towards the air, and warn the insect
of the approach of enemies from above. ‘To escape from fish, the
Gyrinus jumps out of the water, and also makes use of its wings ;
to escape from birds it dives rapidly. This activity, and this
double sight, make the capture of the Gyrini a task of great
difficulty. They must be surprised with a net. At the moment
of being seized, they emit a milky and fetid liquid.

The females lay their eggs end to end, on the leaves of aquatic
plants. The larve are long and narrow, and of a dirty white.

Fig. 493.—Gyrinus natator. Fig. 494.— Larva of Gyrinus natator.

They come out of the water at the end of the summer, and form
for themselves a cocoon on the plants bordering the banks. After
a month, the perfect insect is hatched, and plunges into the water.
The Gyrinus striatus (Fig. 495) is found in the waters of Southern
Europe.

All these species are of small size, and do not exceed a fifth of
an inch in length; but in the tropics we find Gyrini two-thirds of
an inch long. One of these species, distinctus, exists in the little
lake of Solazies, in Reunion Island, noted for its mineral waters.
The patients amuse themselves by fishing for this insect, with a

478 THE INSECT WORLD.

line baited with a bit of red cloth, which it attacks. It is found,
also, in a mineral spring in Algeria. The Hpinecti (Fig. 497)
are large Gyrinde from Brazil, with very long front legs.

Fig. 495.—Gyrinus striatus. Fig. 496.—Gyrinus distinctus. | Fig. 497.—Epinectus sulcatus.

The carnivorous land insects par excellence—those which are
most formidable, on account of their ravages and voracity—are the
Carabicit. This family, one of the most numerous of the Order
Coleoptera, consists of insects with long legs, and armed with
powerful mandibles, suited for tearing their victims to pieces. They
are the lions and the tigers of the Coleoptera, whilst the Necro-
phori and the Stlphe play the part of hyenas and jackals. The
eyes of the Carabici are very prominent, which allows them to
see their prey at a great distance. They take refuge under stones
and under the bark of trees; but in fine weather they are also to
be seen running along roads. Ardent and audacious, it is by no
means rare to see them attacking species much bigger than them-
selves. The activity which distinguishes these insects is found
also in their larvee, which pursue living prey, instead of remaining
shrouded in the midst of their food like the larve of the Scara-
beide.

These carnivorous insects are very numerous—a fortunate cir-
cumstance, considering the immense quantity of small noxious
creatures, caterpillars, weevils, and an infinity of other parasites,
the pests of agriculture, which they destroy. The popular pre-
judice, then, is to be regretted, which leads ignorant farmers to
exterminate them. They ought, on the contrary, to be intro-
duced into market gardens, as toads are, and as cats are into
granaries. “The Carabici,” says M. Michelet, “immense
tribes of warriors, armed to the teeth, which, under their heavy
cuirasses, have a wonderful activity, are perfect rural con-

COLEOPTERA. - 479

stabulary, day and night, without holidays or repose, protecting
our fields. They never touch the smallest thing. They are
occupied entirely in arresting thieves, and they desire no salary
but the body of the thief himself.” But ignorance destroys these
useful hunters. Children, seduced by the richness of the elytra
of the Carabi, amuse themselves in catching these vigilant
protectors of our farms, without knowing the bad effect of what
they are doing. Fortunately, education is spreading little by
little in the country ; the farmers begin to be awakened to their
true interests, and to know how to distinguish the useful animals
which it behoves them to preserve in their fields for the safeguard
of their crops. In some places in France they have already made
attempts to introduce the Carabide and the Cicindelide into
gardens, and they have found them succeed very well.

The true Caradi are to be known by their oval convex body,
their long antennz, and elegantly carved thorax. They are, in
general, of more massive forms than the Cicindelide, which com-
pose a kindred family. The latter form, in some sort, the van-
guard and the lght troops; the others, the heavy battalions.
The Carabi coming out in general at night, or at least at twilight,
and keeping themselves hidden under stones during the day, it
is not easy to observe their manceuvres.

The Carabus auratus (Fig. 498), which abounds in fields and
gardens on the Continent, may be considered as the type of this
genus. It has elytra of a beautiful green, with three ribs, and
the legs yellowish. When it is touched, it disgorges a black
and acrid saliva, and ejects from the abdomen a corrosive liquid, of
a disagreeable odour. It liveson the larve of other insects. It
has been seen to attack even large insects, such as the cockchafer.

In England and the environs of Paris, Carabus violaceus
(Fig. 499), whose dress, of a sombre colour, is surrounded by shades
of red and violet, is met with. In the Pyrenees, many Caradi with
metallic reflections are found, whose beautiful colours are the
delight of collectors ; the Carabus splendens, the Carabus rutilans,
&e. But the most beautiful insects of this tribe céme from
‘Siberia and the north of China. Let us mention, for example,
the Carabus smaragdinus, of a beautiful grass-green ; the Carabus
Vietinghovii, of a beautiful blue black, bordered with azure, with a
golden band, &e.

480 THE INSECT WORLD.

The Carabus Adonis (Fig. 501) is not rare in Alsace, and 1s
found on the banks of streams.

Fig. 498.—Carabvus auratus. Fig. 4¢9.—Carabus violaceus.

The long flat. larvee of the Caraéi live in the trunks of trees,

es

Fig. 500.—Carabus canaliculatus. Fig. 501.—Carabus Adonis.

among leaves, under moss, &c. They are active, and live on other

COLEOPTERA. 481

insects. Fig. 503 represents the larva of the Caradus auro-
nitens.
Another genus of the same family is Calosoma. They have

Hig. 502.—Carabus nodulosus. Fig. 503.—Larva of Carabus auronitens.

wings under their elytra,—the true Caradi have not,—which they
use In passing from one tree to another.

In the month of June is to be found on oak trees the beautiful
Calosoma sycophanta (Fig. 507), the occasional occurrence of which

Fig. 504.—Calosoma auropunctata. Figs. 505, 506.— Pupa and larva of Calosoma auropunctata.

in England is unquestionable; it is, however, presumed that the

specimens have reached our shores from the Continent by flight

favoured by strong easterly winds. This insect is of a beautiful
II

482 _ THE INSECT WORLD.

violet blue, having the antenne and the legs black, and the elytra
of a splendid golden green, with longitudinal streaks. According
to Réaumur, the larva of the Calosoma often chooses a home in
the nest of the Procession-Moth Caterpillar (Bombyx processionea),
on oak trees, and it very soon rids the tree which is infested by
them.

The Calosoma auropunctata is found in the south of France.
Its larva (Fig. 506) devours snails, and establishes itself in their
shells. These larvee have been known to fill themselves so full
of food as to become double their natural size; in which state

Fig. 507.—Calosoma sycophanta pursuing a Bombardier Beetle (Brachinus explodens).

they are sometimes devoured by those of their own species.
A smaller kind, the Calosoma inquisitor, is very frequently to
be met with in woods. Fig. 507 presents Calosoma sycophanta
pursuing a Bombardier (Brachinus explodens), which squirts out a
vapour of pungent odour.

In the countries of the south-east of Europe and in Asia
Minor, one finds enormous Carabidae, the Procrustes and the Pro-
ceri, which attain nearly two inches in length, and whose in-
teguments resemble very rough shagreen. One species alone is
met with in France, the Procrustes coriaceus (Fig. 508). In
Austria is found the Procerus gigas (Fig. 509).

COLEOPTERA. 483

The genus Omophron (Fig. 510) contains small, almost globular
Carabide of a pale yellow, with green lines, and which live in the

Fig. 503.—Procrustes coriaceus. Fig. 509.—Procerus gigas.

sand bordering rivers. The Medrias in general prefer moun-

Fig. 510.—Omophron libatum. Fig. 511.—Nebria arenaria.

tainous countries. The largest species, the Nebria arenaria

(Fig. 511), is found all along the coast of the Mediterranean, and

even on the western shores of France. But its colours grow paler
if

484 THE INSECT WORLD.

as it advances northward on the African coast. It is of a bright
yellow with black lines. The Nedrias hide themselves either
under masses of seaweed cast up by the waves, or under the
stumps of trees cast ashore by the sea. When they are deprived
of their place of shelter, they run away with such rapidity that it
is very difficult to catch them. In Senegal is found the genus
Tefflus (Fig. 512), great black Carabidae, with fluted elytra.

Fig. 512.—Tefflus Megerlei. Fig. 513.—Damaster blaptoides.

Other kindred genera are—Damaster (Fig. 513), remarkable
for its elongated pointed elytra; Anthia (Fig. 514), which is met
with in sand in Africa and in India, and whose head is armed in
a formidable manner; and Campylocnemis, of which Schreteri
(Fig. 515), an Australian insect, of a bright black, attains to more
than an inch and three quarters in length, and whose short serrated
legs enable it to hollow out the ground. There is found on the

COLEOPTERA. 485

coasts of the south of France a representative of this group in the

C
A \
Fig. 514.—Anthia thoracica. Fig. 515.—Campylocnemis Schreeteri.

Scarites levigatus (Fig. 516), which conceals itself in a hollow like

Fig. 516.—Scarites levigatus.

the cricket, and devours everything which comes within its reach.

486 THE INSECT WORLD.

The innumerable tribe of Harpalide contains carnivorous beetles
of very small size, sometimes of a bronze-green, sometimes black,
either dull or shining, and which render great service to our
gardens. Hidden under stones, in dry leaves, at the foot of
trees, they attack a number of small insects, caterpillars, mille- —
pedes, &c., and thus exterminate a quantity of vermin. The
Harpalus eneus (Fig. 517), which is seen shining in the midst
of the paving stones, like a little bronze plate, is found everywhere.

Fig. 517.

g. 518. : Fig. 519.
Harpalus eneus. Larva of Galerita Lecontei. Galerita Lecontei.

The Galeritas (Figs. 518 and 519) are distinguished by their
antenne, which are thick at the base; they exhale a very strong
odour : nearly all are peculiar to America. One of the most curious
insects of this tribe is the Mormolyce phyllodes of Java (Fig. 020)
whose elytra project in such a manner as to give it the appear-
ance of a leaf. It lives under bark. The larva and the pupa
(Fig. 521) resemble those of other genera of which we have been
speaking.

The next great family of the tribe of carnivorous beetles is
composed of the Cicindelide—slender insects, with large promi-

COLEOPTERA. - 487

nent heads, very long legs, and which are very active in their

Fig. 520.—Mormolyce phyllodes.

movements. The Cicindelide like sandy plains. When the

2

Fig. 521.—Larva and pupa of Mormolyce phyllodes.

sun shines they fly in a zig-zag manner; but their flight is not

488 THE INSECT WORLD.

continued for long together. In dull weather, they are to be
seen running on the turf or hiding themselves in holes, and are
met with on the sea-shore, where they are seen sometimes to pop
up by hundreds. They live on flies and little shrimps, which
abound on the sea-shore.

The Cicindela campestris (Fig. 522), or Tiger Beetle, is of a
beautiful green spotted with white ; the abdo-

men is of a bronze red. In this country it is
‘the commonest of the genus. The Cicindela
hybrida, of a dull green, relieved by light
bands, inhabits sandy woods; the Cicindela
maritima differs from the preceding. ‘The
Cicindela sylvatica, which flies very well, 1s not
easy to catch, and is to be often met with in
the warm glades of the forest of Fontainebleau
. and Montmorency ; it is not unfrequent here.
(Gmnee Its colour is brown, spotted with white ; it
diffuses a strong smell of the rose, to which

succeeds, on being seized, the acrid odour of the secretion which it
disgorges. We here represent the Cicindela Dumoulinii (Fig.528),

Fig. 523.—Cicindela Dumoulinii. Fig. 524.—Cicindela rugosa. Fig. 525.—Cicindela scalaris

the Cicindela rugosa (Fig. 524), the Cicindela scalaris (Fig. 525),
the Crcindela heros (Fig. 526), the Cicindela guadrilineata (Fig.
027), and the Cicindela capensis (Fig. 528).

The ferocity of these insects is remarkable. They quickly tear
off the wings and legs of their victim, and suck out the contents

COLEOPTERA. 489

of its abdomen. Often when they are disturbed in this agree-
able occupation, not wishing to leave it, they fly away with their
prey; their flight, however, is not sufficiently powerful to allow
of their carrying to any great distance such a heavy burden.

Fig. 526.—Cicindela heros. Fig. 527.—Cicindeta Fig. 528.—Cicindela
quadrilineata. capensis.

When a Cicindela is seized between the fingers, it moves about
its mandibles and endeavours to pinch, but its bite is inoffensive
and not very painful. They are prodigiously active in running.
Armed with jaws which are powerful enough to overcome their
victims and to seize them at once, they can dispense with
stratagem.

Fig. 529.—Larva of Cicindela Fig. 530.—Ambush of larva of
campestris. Cicindela campestris.

Their larve (Fig. 529) are soft, and have short legs. To

satisfy their voracity they are obliged to lie in ambush in holes.
They are two-thirds of an inch long; their head is horny and in

490 THE INSECT WORLD.

the form of a trapezium. The first segment is also horny, and
of a metallic green. The eighth has a pair of tubercles with
hooks, of which the larva makes use in ascending and descending
its vertical hole, like a sweep in a chimney. This hole (Fig.

Upper-side, Under-side.
Figs. 531, 532.—Pupa of a Cicindela.
530) is a foot or more deep. To dig it, the larva employs its
mandibles and its legs in the following manner: it twists itself
round, loads with earth the flat surface which covers its head,
climbs along the chimney by twisting itself into the form of the

Fig. 533.—Tetracha Klugii. Fig. 534.—Tetracha oxychiloides,

letter Z, and thus transports its load, as a bricklayer’s labourer
carries a hod of mortar up a ladder. Arrived at the mouth of
the hole, it throws to a distance the rubbish with which its head
is loaded; or, if too heavy, it simply deposits it, pushing it

COLEOPTERA. 491

away as far as possible. It is difficult to watch their proceed-
ings; for they are very mistrustful, and retire immediately into
their hole when alarmed. They remain in ambush at the
entrances of these subterranean passages, which they hermetically
seal with their head and thorax. It is a species of pitfall which
sets itself in motion the moment anything endeavours to pass
it. The unfortunate who ventures is precipitated into the well,
and the Cicindela forthwith devours it. These habits remind
one of those of the ant-lion. When the time arrives for the
metamorphosis, the larva of the Cicindela enlarges the bottom
of its hole, and stops up the entrance with earth before
changing. The pupa (Figs. 531, 532) is of a pale glossy yellow,
covered with small spines. The metamorphosis takes place
between August and October; the perfect insect emerges in
spring.

Nearly akin to the Cicin-
delas are the Tetrachas (Figs.
033, 034, 5385), from Africa
and tropical America; the
Manticoras (Fig. 536), which
are distinguished by their robust and thick-set appearance ; the
Pogonostomas (Fig. 537), which live in Madagascar; the
Ctenostomas, peculiar to America (Fig. 538), remarkable for the
length of their pendant and bristly palpi; the Omus, of California ;
the Therates (Fig. 539), insects of the East Indian Islands, &e.

The tribe of Tenebrionide, called formerly Melasomas, because
they are nearly all black, resembles in some points the Caradici.
They seek after dark places, and avoid the light, and are found
on the ground under stones ; their movements are slow, and they
walk with difficulty. The best-known insect of this group is the
Blaps, of repulsive smell, inhabiting dark damp places, such as
cellars, and only coming out of its retreat during the night.
The elytra are joined together, and they have no wings. The
vulgar regard them as an omen of ill-luck. Fig. 540 represents
the Blaps obtusa. According to the report of a traveller, the
women in Egypt eat the Blaps sulcata cooked with butter to
make them fat. They are employed also against the ear-ache, the
bite of scorpions, &c.

Fig. 535.—Tetracha bifasciata.

492 THE INSECT WORLD.

Another genus of the same family is the Tenebrio (Fig. 541),
of a blackish-brown, with the elytra striated, and of half an

Fig. 536.—Manticora tuberculata. Fig. 537.—Pogonostoma gracilis.

inch in length. The larvee, the well-known meal-worms, live in

Fig. 538.—Ctenostoma rugosa. Fiz. 589.—Therates labiata.

flour ; they are cylindrical, and of a light tawny colour (Fig. 541).
The insect which is considered as the type of the tribe of the
Pimelides is the Pimelia bipunctata, which is common in the south
of France.

PLATE XE

: Gathering Cantharides.

COLEOPTERA. 493

We come now to the tribe of blistering beetles, of which the
best known is the Cantharides (Cantharis or Lytta). These

Fig. 540.—Blaps obtusa. Fig. 541.—Tenebrio molitor
(larva and imago).

insects are generally of soft consistency, and their elytra very
flexible. A few remain constantly on trees. All are very brisk
and active. When swallowed they are a dangerous poison, but
are used in medicine for making blisters.

The Cantharides of commerce (Cantharis (Lytta) vesicatoria)
are of a beautiful green, attain to a size of four-fifths of an inch,-
and are found on ash trees, lilacs, and other shrubs: Commerce for
a long time brought them from Spain, and some still come from
that country; hence the common name of Spanish fly. As they
live in great numbers together, collecting them is easier and less
expensive than would be that of other species of the same family
which are not gregarious, but which have the same medicinal
properties. The presence of the Cantharides is manifested by the
strong penetrating odour which they diffuse to some distance.
When, by aid of this smell, they are discovered, generally settled
on an ash, they are collected in the following manner :—Very
early in the morning a cloth of light tissue is stretched out at the
foot of the tree, and the branches are shaken, which causes the
insects to fall. These, numbed by the cold of the night, do not
try to escape. When there is a sufficient quantity, the four
corners are drawn up and the whole plunged into a tub of
vinegar diluted with water. This immersion causes the death
of the insects. They then carry them to a loft, or under a very
airy shed. To dry them they spread them out on hurdles covered
with linen or paper, and from time to time, to facilitate the

494 THE INSECT WORLD.

operation, they are moved about, either with a stick or with the
hand, which is more convenient; but it is then necessary to take
the precaution of putting on gloves, for, if touched with the naked
hand, they would cause more or less serious blisters. The same
precaution must be observed in gathering them.

When the Cantharides are quite dry, they put them into wooden
boxes, or vessels of glass or earthenware, hermetically sealed,
and preserve them in a place protected from damp. With
these precautions, they may be kept for a long while without
losing any of their caustic properties. Dumeril made blisters of
Cantharides which had been twenty-four years in store, and
which had lost none of their energy. When dry, they are so
light that a kilogramme contains nearly thirteen thousand insects.
Aretius, a physician who flourished at Rome in the first century
of our era, seems to have been the first to employ Cantharides,
reduced to powder, as a means of vesication. Hippocrates ad-
ministered them internally in cases of dropsy, apoplexy, and
jaundice. But it is pretty nearly established that the Cantharides
of the ancients were not the same species used at the present day.
They were, probably, a kindred species, the Mylabris chicorti. A
blistering principle has been extracted from these insects, called
Cantharadine. 'This organic product presents itself under the form
of little shining flakes, without colour, soluble in ether or oil.
One atom of this matter applied to the skin, and particularly to
the lower lip, makes the epidermis rise instantaneously, and pro-
duces a small blister filled with a watery liquid. In spite of the
corrosive principle which the Cantharis contains, it is attacked,
like other dried insects, by the Dermestes and the Anthrenus,
which feast on them without suffering the smallest inconvenience.

The Stylopide, for which Kirby,* in 1811, instituted a distinct
Order, which he called Strepsiptera, in allusion to the contortion
of the elytra, and to which Latreillet subsequently applied the
name of hipiptera, are, perhaps, the most anomalous of all insects.
Great diversity of opinion has existed respecting their affinities ;
but modern systematists, with but few exceptions, concur in refer-
ring them to the Order Coleoptera, and locating them in proximity

* On a new Order of Insects, ‘ Linn. Trans.,”’ vol. xi.
t+ In Cuvier, “‘ Le Regne Animal,” ed. i. tome iii. p. 584.

COLEOPTERA. | 495

to Meloé. In the larva state, all the known species of the family
inhabit the bodies of Hymenopterous insects of the genera Andrena,
Polistes, &c., in this particular resembling the Dipterous genus
Conops, which inhabits the body of humble bees,* and apparently
in no way inconveniencing their victims; a fact which has been
accounted for on the supposition that their existence in the larva
state is but short, and that their attacks being directed against
the abdomen, and not the thorax, the seat of life in insects, their
presence does not affect the activity of the victim. The larva
has a soft fusiform body, surmounted by a somewhat globose head.
While feeding, the head is towards the base of the abdomen; but
on changing to a pupa, this position is reversed, and the head—
at first of light brown, but which after a short time becomes
black—thrust out between the plates of the abdomen.

The imagos, which are of small size, namely, about the eighth
of an inch long, are found during May and June. They have
four wings, but the anterior pair of hard texture, somewhat re-
sembling elytra, but hardly answering to them in structure, are
very poorly developed, and curled round the front pair of legs ;
hence the name bestowed by Kirby, from ozpepous, a twisting, and
mrepov, a Wing; the posterior wings are fully developed, and fold
up like a fan, whence the Order received the name of [hipiptera
from Latreille. The eyes, the facettes of which are few in number,
are placed on a foot-stalk, whence the name of the genus Stylops.
The parts of the mouth connect the Strepsiptera with the mandi-
bulated insects, although by some supposed to bear analogy by
their functions to those parts in the Diptera. The male only is
winged; the female is very like an apodal larva, the larva being
an active hexapod.

The family Stylopide is divided into four
genera, of which two only, Xenos and Sty-
lops, were described by Kirby in the essay Wea
referred to above. First, Xenos, from €evos, fe S \ ay
a guest, the most prolific in species, of Fin Gio
which Xenos Rossii, sometimes called ves- (aagnified).
parum, may be taken.as the type. Secondly, Hlenchus, of which
Elenchus Walkeri is the type. Thirdly, Stylops (Fig. 542), para-

* See p. 68. .

496 - THE INSECT WORLD.

sitical on various species of Andren@, of which Stylops Melitte,
having a fleshy abdomen and the wings longer than the body,
may be considered typical: and lastly, Halictophagus, of which
only one species, infesting Halictus eratus,* named Halictophagus
Curtisii, is known to exist, and which makes its appearance in
the month of August.

These singular insects are found in various parts of the world—
Europe, Australia, and America. They were discovered by Pro-
fessor Peck almost simultaneously with Mr. Kirby’s discovery in
this country, and to whom he sent specimens of a species which
has received the name of Xenos Peckii,—lately in New Zealand,
and elsewhere.

The genus My/abris corresponds most in structure, in appearance,
and in properties, to Cantharis, whose place they take in the
East, in China, and in the south of Hurope. They are found in
clusters on the flowers of chicory, thistles, &c. The Mylabris
chicorii, common enough in France, especially in the south, is of
small size, whilst the other species are rather large. It is black,
hairy, with a large yellowish spot at the base of each elytron, and
two transverse bands of the same colour.

Another genus of this family is Me/oé, with very short elytra,
and without wings. They walk slowly and with difficulty on low
plants, the female dragging along an enormous abdomen filled
with eggs. They are generally observed in spring. in Germany
they give them the name of Maiwurm (Mayworm). ‘Their succu-
lence would expose them, without doubt, to the voracity of birds,
and of insect-eating Mammifers, if they had not the power of
exuding at will, in the moment of danger, from all their articula-
tions, an unctuous humour, of a reddish-yellow colour, the
odour, and probably also the caustic properties, of which repel the
ageressor. The females lay their eggs underground, and out of
these come forth larvae of a strange shape. Swallowed by cattle,
they cause them to swell and die. It is for this reason that
Latreille has given it as his opinion that these insects are the
Buprestris of the ancients, of which the law of Cornelius speaks,
“Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis.” But the name of
Buprestis was applied by Linnzus to a genus of which we shall
treat farther on, and it has been generally adopted by naturalists.

* Halictus and Andrena are two genera of Bees.

COLEOPTERA. 497

The commonest among the Meloés is the Meloé proscarabeus,
which is to be found in abundance, in the month of April, in the
meadows near the bridge of Ivry, in the environs of Paris. The
metamorphoses of the insects of this family had remained for a °
long time surrounded with an impenetrable veil of mystery, but the
researches of Newport in England, and of M. Fabre (of Avignon)
in France, has made known, in our days, phases, extremely
curious, under which are accomplished the metamorphoses of
the Meloé cicatricosus, and of the Setaris humeralis, a species
which belongs to the same family.* These observations, of which
we are about to give a rapid summary, will probably help towards
unravelling the first states of Cantharis.

The Sitaris humeralis (Fig. 543) takes no nourishment when
arrived at the perfect state. When the female has been impreg-

Fig. 543.—Sitaris humeralis. Fig. 544.—First larva of Sitaris humeralis
(magnified).

nated, she lays at the entrance of the nest of a solitary bee from
two to three thousand very small whitish eggs, stuck together in
shapeless masses. A month afterwards there come out of these
eggs very small larve, of a shiny dark green, hard-skinned, armed
with strong jaws, and long legs and antenne (Fig. 544). These
are the first larvee. They remain motionless, and without taking
food, till the following spring. At this period are hatched the
male bees, which precede the appearance of the females by a
25) Annales des Sciences Naturelles,’”’ 1857, 4e serie, tome vii. p. 300.
KK

498 THE INSEOT WORLD.

month. As the bees come out of their nests, these larvee hook
themselves on to their hairs, and pass from them to the females,
at the coupling period. When the male bees have built the cells,
and furnished them with honey, the female, as we know, deposits
in each an egg. Immediately the larva of the Sitaris let them-
selves fall on these eggs, open them, and suck their contents.
Then they change their skin, and the second larva appears. This
one gets into the honey, on which it feeds for six weeks. It is

Fig. 545. penser “nymph Fig. 546.—Third larva of Sitaris Fig. 547.—Pupa of Sitaris
“ot Sitaris humeralis. humeralis. humeralis.

blind, whereas the first larva was provided with four eyes, no doubt
to enable it to see the bees which were to serve as its conductors,
in like manner as the companions of Ulysses watched the sheep of
Polyphemus, so as to escape out of the cave in which they were
retained as prisoners. A few days later, and this second larva
contracts, and detaches from its body a transparent skin, which
discloses a mass, at first soft, which very soon hardens, and becomes
of a bright tawny colour ; it is called the pseudo-nymph (Fig. 545).
It goes through the winter in this state. In the spring comes
forth a third larva (Fig. 546), resembling the second. This one
does not eat, and moults after a time. It very soon changes into
an ordinary pupa (Fig. 047), of a yellowish-white, from which
comes forth the adult Sitaris, which. lives only a few days, to
ensure the propagation of its species, as is observed in the case of
the Ephemere. The larve of the Sttaris had for a long time
been remarked clinging on to the hairs of the Anthophoras ; but
they were always taken for Acari, and they had been described as
such.

The Lampyride have the elytra weak and soft, like the insects
of the preceding tribe. In their perfect state they frequent
flowers. The laryee are carnivorous, attacking other insects or

COLEOPTERA. 499

worms. I¢ is to this group that the Lampyris noctiluca, or glow-
worm, which one sees shining during summer nights on grass
and bushes, belongs. It has the power of making this natural
torch shine or disappear at will.

The luminous properties with which these insects are endowed
have for their object to reveal their presence to the opposite sex,
for the females alone possess these properties. In the same way
as sounds or odours exhaling from some-insects attract the one
towards the other sex, so with the Lampyris a phosphorescent
light shows the females to the males. The seat of the phos-
phorescent substance varies according to the species. It exists
generally under the three last rings of the abdomen, and the light
is produced by the slow combustion of a peculiar secretion. It
has been stated that it is evolved quickly when the animal con-
tracts its muscles, either spontaneously or under the influence of
artificial excitement. Some chemical experiments have been made
to ascertain the nature or the composition of the humour which
produces this strange effect; but, up to this moment, they have
only enabled us to discover that the luminous action is more
powerful in oxygen, and ceases in gases incapable of supporting
combustion. In the most common species, the Lampyris noc-
tiluca, or Glow-worm, the phosphorescence is of a greenish
tint; it assumes at certain moments the brightness of white-hot
coal.

The females have no wings, while the males have them, and
possess very well-developed elytra. The females resemble the
larvee much, only they have the head more conspicuous, and the
thorax buckler-shaped, like the male. The larvee feed on small
molluscs, hiding in the snails’ shells after having devoured the
inhabitant. They also possess the phosphorescent property in a
less degree than the adult females. The female pupa resembles
the larva; the pupa of the male, on the contrary, has the wings
folded back under a thin skin. The perfect insect appears towards
the autumn.

The Glow-worm (Lampyris noctiluca, Fig. 548) is of a brownish
yellow. It is common in England. In a kindred species, the
Luciola Italica, the two sexes are winged, of a tawny-brown,
and equally phosphorescent. They are met with in great

KK 2

500 THE INSECT WORLD.

numbers in Italy, and the lawns are covered with them. Other
insects of this family are without the faculty of emitting light ;

—e

Fig. 548.—Lampyris noctiluca (male and female).*

as, for example, the genus Lycus, of brilliant colours, which are
met with in Africa and India. One of the finest is the Lycus
latissimus.

Drilus is another genus, comprising insects of very singular
habits. The type is the Drilus favescens. The male—a quarter
of an inch long, black and hairy, with elytra of a testaceous
yellow, and with pectinated antennse—for a long time was alone
known. The female—from ten to fifteen times as large, without
wings and elytra, of a yellowish brown—was not discovered till
much later, having apparently nothing in common with the male
in shape or colour. The metamorphoses of these curious insects
are now perfectly understood. Mielzinsky, a Polish naturalist
established at Geneva, found the Drilus in the larva state in the
shell of the Helix nemoralis. These larvee devour the snail
whose dwelling they occupy, as do the larve of the Lampyris.
Mielzinsky saw them emerge, but obtained only females, which
differed scarcely at all from the larvee from which they proceeded.
He made a separate genus of them, under the denomination of
Cochleoctonus, and called the species Vorax. Later, Desmarest
resumed these observations. He provided himself, at the
Veterinary College of Alfort, with a number of shells of the
Helix, filled with the same larve. He saw come out of them,
not only Cochleoctoni, but also Drili, and he watched their
coupling. It was then proved, by this unanswerable argument,
that these two insects, so unlike each other, belong to the same
species.

The larva of the Drilus flavescens fixes itself upon the shell of
the snail by a sort of sucker, like a leech. Little by little, it slips
in between the mollusc and its house, and devours it entirely.

COLEOPTERA. - 501

To change into a pupa, it shuts up the entrance to the shell with
its old skin; and when arrived at the perfect state, quits the shell
which served it as a temporary dwelling. The females of the
Drilus flavescens take refuge under stones and dry leaves, or crawl
slowly along the ground; whilst the males, which fly with great
ease, are on the plants and brushwood. ‘These insects are not rare
in the environs of Paris. M. H. Lucas has observed, in Algeria,
near to Oran, another curious species, the Drilus mauritanicus.
The larva of this insect lives at the expense of the animal of the
Cyclostoma Volzianum, which closes the entrance to its shell with
a covering of some calcareous substance. It fixes itself on the
edge of the shell, with the aid of its sucker, and directs its strong
mandibles to the side on which the snail is obliged to raise the
covering, either to breathe the air or to walk. In this position
it has the patience to wait for many days at the door. The
snail puts off for as long a time as he is able the fatal moment.
But when, overcome by hunger or nearly stifled in his prison,
he decides at last to open the door, the Dridus profits immediately
by this opportunity, and cuts the muscle which keeps back the
foot of the snail. The breach being made, nothing more opposes
itself to the entrance of the enemy. He slips in, and sets to work to
eat at his leisure the unfortunate inoffensive mollusc, which affords
him board and lodging. The Péilodactylides, the Hucinetides, and
the Cebrionides belong to the same family. The first is exotic.
The Hlateridé are rather large insects, often of hard texture,
having the prosternum prolenged into a point (Figs, 549 and 550),
and the antenne indented saw-wise. They have the power of
jumping when placed on their backs, and of alighting again on
their legs. Hence their name of Hater (derived from the same
root as the word elastic). They produce, in leaping, one sharp
rap, and often knock many raps when they are prevented from
projecting themselves. This is the mechanism which permits the
skip-jack to execute these movements. It bends itself upwards
by resting on the ground by its head and the extremity of the
abdomen, and then it unbends itself suddenly, like a spring. The
point at the end of the thorax penetrates into a hollow of the
next ring; the back then strikes with force against the plane on
which it rests, and the animal is projected into the air. It repeats

502 THE INSECT WORLD.

this manceuvre till it finds itself on its belly, for its legs are too
short to allow of its turning over. Its structure supplies it with
the means and the strength of rebounding as many times as it
falls on its back, and it can thus raise itself more than twelve
times the length of its body.

Fig. 550.—Jumping organ of the (Elater,
seen sideways.

Fig. 549.—Jumping organ Fig. 551.—Larva of the Elater.
of the Elater.

The larve of the Elateride (Fig. 551) are cylindrical, with
scaly skin and very short legs. They live in rotten wood or in
the roots of plants. According to M. Goureau, they pass five
years in this state.

The larvee of the genus Agriotes occasion considerable damage
to wheat-fields. They much resemble the meal-worm, or larva of
the Tenebrio. The Tetralobides are the largest of the Hlateride,
attaining to a length of two inches; and are inhabitants of Africa
and Australia.

In America are found phosphorescent Hlateride. These are
the Pyrophori, which the Spaniards of South America call by the
name of Cucuyos. They have, at the base of their thorax, two
small, smooth, and brilliant spots, which sparkle during the
night; the rings of the abdomen also emit a light. They give
light sufficient to enable one to read at a little distance. The
Pyrophorus noctilucus (Fig. 552) is very common in Havannah,
in Brazil, in Guyana, in Mexico, &c., and may be seen at night
in great numbers, in the foliage of trees. At the time of the
Spanish conquest, a battalion, just disembarked, did not dare to
engage with the natives, because it took the Cucuyos which were

COLEOPTERA. 503

shining on the neighbouring trees for the matches of the arque-
buses ready to fire. ‘In these countries,” says M. Michelet, “ one
travels much by night, to escape from the
heat. But one would not dare to plunge
into the peopled shades of the deep forests
if these insects did not reassure the traveller.
He sees them shining afar off, dancing, twist-
ing about; he sees them near at hand on
the bushes by his side; he takes them with
him; he fixes them on his boots, so that
they may show him his road and put to, flight
the serpents ; but when the sun rises, grate-
fully and carefully he places them on a
shrub, and restores them to their amorous. Fig. 552.—The Cucuyo

occupations. It is a beautiful Indian pro- aN Uicca):

verb. that says, ‘Carry away the fire-fly, but restore it from
whence thou tookest it.’”»* The Creole women make use of
the Cucuyos to increase the splendour of their toilettes. Strange
jewels! which must: be fed, which must be bathed twice a
day, and must be incessantly taken care of, to prevent them
from dying. The Indians catch these insects by balancing hot
coals in the air, at the end of a stick, to attract them, which
proves that the light which these insects diffuse is to attract.
Once in the hands of the women, the Cucuyos are shut up in
little cages of very fine wire, and fed on fragments of sugar-
cane. When the Mexican ladies wish to adorn themselves
with these living diamonds, they place them in little bags of
light tulle, which they arrange with taste on their skirts. There
is another way of mounting the Cucuyos. They pass a pin,
without hurting them, under the thorax, and stick this pin in
their hair. The refinement of elegance consists in combining with
the Cucuyos, humming-birds and real diamonds, which produce
a dazzling head-dress. Sometimes, imprisoning these animated
flames in gauze, the graceful Mexican women twist them into
ardent necklaces, or else roll them round their waists, like a fiery
girdle. They go to the ball under a diadem of living topazes, of
animated emeralds, and this diadem blazes or pales according as

the insect is fresh or fatigued. When they return home, after
* <““T7Imsecte.””

504 THE INSECT WORLD.

the soirée, they make them take a bath, which refreshes them,
and put them back again into the cage, which sheds during
the whole night a soft: light in the chamber. In 1766, a
Cucuyo, brought alive from America to Paris, probably in some
old piece of wood which happened to be on the vessel, caused
great terror to the inhabitants of the Faubourg St. Antoine,
when they saw it flying in the evening, glittering in the air.
In 1864, a number of Cucuyos were brought from Mexico
to Paris by M. Laurent, captain of the frigate, La Floride. An
experiment, made in the laboratory of the Ecole Normal, showed
that the spectrum of their light is continuous, without any
black rays; it differs, besides, from the spectrum of the solar
light by a greater intensity of the yellow colour. The lght is
produced probably as it is in the case of the Lampyris, by the
slow combustion of a substance secreted by the animal. The
Cucuyo can, nevertheless, at will, increase or diminish the
splendour of this light by means of membranes which it super-
poses, like sereens, in front of the phosphorescent bumps which it
has on its thorax.

In the Indies, and in China, the women use for dressing their
hair with, or as ear-rings, another Coleopteron of the same tribe,
which begins even to be employed for this purpose by the women
of the south of France. It is a Buprestis, of splendid colours,
and of metallic brightness. Linneus, as we said above, gave to
it, wrongly, the name of Buprestis, which among the ancients
served to designate a very different insect—the Meloé, of the
family of the Cantharide ; but modern naturalists have allowed
this illegitimate title.

The Buprestide walk heavily, but fly with the greatest
ease during the heat of the sun, and settle on the trunks
of trees exposed to its rays. In Europe, and especially in the
North, they are very rare, and of very small size. They must
be looked for on birch trees, whose white colour seems to
attract them. In the hottest parts of the world they are very
abundant, of large .dimensions, and adorned with sparkling
colours. They do not jump, and are not endowed with the phos-
phorescent property. Their larve have no legs, are elongate,
whitish, of a fleshy consistency, with the first ring of their bodies

COLEOPTERA. 505

very much broadened. They live in the trunks of trees, between
the bark and the wood, hollowing out for themselves irregular
galleries, and remaining sometimes in this state for ten years before
metamorphosing. Laporte de Castelnau and Gory have described
and made drawings of about thirteen hundred
species of Buprestide. Fig. 553 represents the
Buprestis imperialis. The Buprestis albosparsa,
the genera Julodis, the Chrysochroas, and the
Trachys belong also to the great family of Bu-
prestidé. The Cleride are connected with the
preceding. They have the thorax narrower than
the elytra, and rather long; their integu-
ments are less solid than those of the Elate-
ride and the Buprestide. The latter are
phytophagous, the former carnivorous. The "Véiaipaiais:
principal type of this family is the Clerus for-

micarius, russety, with the head and legs black, whose larva lives
at the expense of the larve of the weevil. Another genus, the
Necrobia, which lives on dried animal matter, has become cele-
brated, as it was the cause of the salvation of the greatest ento-
mologist of France. The name of Necrobia (from vexode and fds)
does not mean ‘“ which lives on dead bodies,” but it means “life
in death.” Here is the story of which this name is destined to
preserve the remembrance, and which Latreille himself has related
in his ‘‘ Histoire des Insectes.”” Before 1792, Latreille was known
only from some memoirs which he had published on insects. He
was then priest at Brives-la-Gaillarde, and was arrested with the
Curés of Limousin, who had not taken the oath. These unfortu-
nates were then taken to Bordeaux, in carts, to be transported to
Guyana. Arrived at Bordeaux in the month of June, they were
incarcerated in the prison of the Grand Séminaire till a ship
should be ready to take them on board. In the meanwhile, the
9th Thermidor arrived, and caused the execution of the sentence
which condemned the priests who had not taken the oath to
transportation to be for a while suspended. However, the prisons
emptied themselves but slowly, and those who had been condemned
had none the less to go into exile. Only their transportation had
been put off till the spring.

506 THE INSECT WORLD.

“‘Latreille remained detained at the prison of the Grand Sémi-
naire. In the same chamber which he occupied, there was, at
the time, an old sick bishop, whose wounds a surgeon came each
morning to dress. One day as the surgeon was dressing the
bishop’s wounds, an insect came out of a crack in the boards.
Latreille seized it immediately, examined it, stuck it on a cork
with a pin, and seemed enchanted at what he had found.

“Ts it a rare insect, then ?”’ said the surgeon.

“Yes,” replied the ecclesiastic.

“In that case you should give it to me.”

(a9 Why ? 99

“‘Because I have a friend who has a fine collection of insects
who would be pleased with it.”’

“Very well, take him this meee ts tell him how you came by it,
and beg him to tell me its name.’

The surgeon went quickly to his friend’s house. ‘This friend
was Bory de Saint Vincent, a naturalist who became celebrated
afterwards, but who was very young at that time. He already
occupied himself much with the natural sciences, and in par-
ticular with the classing of insects. The surgeon delivered to
him the one found by the priest, but in spite of all his researches,
he was unable to class it.

Next day the surgeon having seen Latreille again in his prison,
was obliged to confess to him that in his friend’s opinion this
Coleopteron had never been described. Latreille knew by this
answer that Bory de Saint Vincent was an adept. As they gave
the prisoner neither pen nor paper, he said to his messenger,—

“TY see plainly that M. Bory de Saint Vincent must know my
name. You tell him that I am the Abbé Latreille, and that
I am going to die at Guyana, before having published my ‘ Examen
des Genres de Fabricius.’ ”’

Bory, on receiving this piece of news, took active steps, and
obtained leave for Latreille to come out of his prison, as a con-
valescent, his uncle Dayclas and his father being bail for him,
and pledging themselves formally to deliver up the prisoner
the moment they were summoned to do so by the authorities.
The vessel which was to have conducted Latreille to exile or
rather to death, was getting ready whilst these steps were being

COLEOPTERA. 507

taken, and while Bory and Dayclas were obtaining leave for him
to come out of prison. This was quite providential, for it foundered
in sight of Cordova, and the sailors alone were able to save them-
selves. A little time afterwards his friends managed to have his
name scratched out from the list of exiles. It is thus that the
Necrobia ruficollis was the saving of Latreille.

The tribe of weevils is even much more numerous than that of
the Hlaterid@ and the Buprestide. One may know them by their
head prolonged into a snout er trunk, by their rudimentary
mouth, and by their elbowed antenne. There exist about twenty
thousand species. They feed on vegetables. Their larvae are
soft, whitish worms, without legs, with -very small heads, and live
in the interior of the stalks or seeds of plants, often occasioning
enormous damage. They are one of the plagues of agriculture.
Each of our dry vegetables, each variety of our cereals, has in
this immense family its particular enemy.

First are the Brucht. The Pea Weevil (Bruchus pisi, Fig. 554),
which is brown with white spots, comes out of the pea, at the
end of the summer. The female lays her eggs on peas which
are ripe, and still standing, in which the larva scoops out a habi-
tation, and then makes its exit by a circular hole (Fig. 455). It
remains at rest all the winter, and is not hatched till towards the
following spring. The Bean Weevil (Bruchus rufimanus) marks
each bean with many black spots. The vetch has also its special
Bruchus. The Wheat Weevil (Calandra granaria), of a darkish

Fig. 554.—Pea Weevil (Bruchus pisi), magnified. Fig. 555.—Pea pierced by the larva.

brown, lays its eggs on the grains, of which the larve then eat
the interior. A host of ways of getting rid of the weevil have
been proposed. The best means is to store corn properly, and
to keep the heap well aired. Let us mention further, the
Clover Weevil, belonging to the genus Apion, the Weevil of the
Rape (Ceutorhynchus brassice), the Turnip Weevil, &c., &e.

508 THE INSECT WORLD.

All vegetables, the vine, fruit trees, the ash, pines, &c., are
eaten by some weevil. As an example we give a figure of the

Fig. 556.—Pissodes pini.

spotted Pissodes pint, which, as the figure shows, takes the pre-
caution of cutting half through the young stems and the stalks of
the buds of the pine, “so as,” says M. Maurice Girard,* “ that
the sap flows only with difficulty into the withered organ, and
cannot suffocate the young larve.”

Scolytus, Hylesinus, and Bostrichus, which are connected with
the weevils, hollow out galleries between the wood and the
bark of different trees, when in the larva state, and devour the
leaves in the adult state. Fig. 557 represents the Hylesinus pini-

Fig. 557.—Hylesinus piniperda. Fig. 558.—Larva of Scolytus.

perda. The Scolyti are sometimes so numerous in the forests,
that the trees are tatooed all over by the larve. In 1837, they

* « Metamorphose des Insectes,” p. 116.

COLEOPTERA. 509

were obliged to cut down in the Bois de Vincennes, twenty
thousand feet of oak trees, aged from thirty to forty years, com-
pletely ruined by the ravages of the Scolytus, whose larva is here
represented (Fig. 558). The genus Yomicus, hairy, and of a
tawny colour, are a terrible plague to pine forests. In 1783, in
the Forest of Hartz, a million and a half of trees were lost by
these insects. Often have the priests implored, in the churches,
the Divine clemency, to put an end to the devastations made by
them.

We arrive at the tribe of the Longicornes, which contains
beautiful insects, of elegant shape and varied colours, sometimes
also of rather large dimensions.

The genus Cerambyx has the antenne very long; they exceed
in some of the species two or three times the length of the body.
The larve are large whitish worms, which live in the wood of trees,

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Fig. 559.—Imago aud pupa of Cerambyx heros.

the adult insects frequenting flowers, rotten trees, &c. In the
month of June, on the Continent, one meets on the oaks with the
Great Capicorne (Cerambyx heros, Fig. 559), of a dark brown,
whose larva (Fig. 560) scoops out its galleries in the interior of
the tree, and often occasions much damage.

510: THE INSECT WORLD.

The Chrysomelide are other phytophagous insects, dressed in
the brightest colours, having short and thickset bodies. The
larvee, soft and ovoid, devour the leaves of trees. One of the best

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Fig. 560.—Larva of Cerambyx heros,
known species is Lina populi, of a bronzed colour, with red elytra,
whose larva (Fig. 561), of a greenish grey, devours the leaves
of the poplar tree. The Galeruce and the Altice belong to the
same family, as also do the Casside, the Crioceres, and the Donacia.
The Cassida viridis frequents nettles and artichokes; the elytra
are of rounded form. Fig. 562 represents the Crioceris merdigera,
a great rarity in this country. The Crioceris asparagi, or
Asparagus Beetle, tawny, and barred with black, resembles it in

habit.

The last tribe of Coleoptera comprises the Coccinellide, or

fio. 563.—Lady-bird
(Coccinella septem-
punctata).

Fig. 561.— Larva of Fig. 562.—Larva and imago of Fig. 564.—Larva of the
Lina populi. Crioceris merdigera. Lady-bird.

Lady-birds (Fig. 563). These little globular, smooth insects,

COLEOPTERA. 511

red or yellow, with black spots, are very useful to us, for they
clear the trees of the aphides and other mischievous insects.
Their larvee (Fig. 564) make use of their front legs to carry their
prey to their mouths. When danger threatens a Coccinella, it
hides its feet under its body, and remains sticking to the stem of
the bush. If you touch it, it allows itself to fall to the ground,
but sometimes opens its elytra, and flies off rapidly. It also
exudes from the articulations of its abdomen a yellow mucilaginous
liquid, of a pungent and disagreeable odour. This is the only
means of defence possessed by this little inoffensive being, which
deserves in all respects the name “‘ Béte 4 bon Dieu,” which the
French children give it.

TNS DX,

Abdomen, the, 1, 172.

Abdominal cavity, contraction and dilatation of,
17.

Abraxas grossulariata, 268.

Acalyptera, 69, 84.

Acanthia ciliata, 95.

Acanthia lectularia, 93.

Acanthops, 290.

Acherontia Atropos, 208, 209.

Acilius fasciatus, 475.

sulcatus, 475.

Acridium, 500.

migratorium, 301.

Acronycta aceris, larva of, 156.

Aidia pusiella, 268.

ANdipoda migratorium, 3801.

Agrion, 422.

Agriotes, larvee of the genus, 502.

Ailanthus silkworm, 247.

Alimentary canal of insects, 9, e¢ seq.

Alticze, 510.

Alucita granella, the, 277.

Amphidasis betularia, 267.

Andrene, the, 369.

Anomala, 453.

vitis, 453.

Anostostome, the, 300.

Ant, 312, 379.

—— Ashy, 384.

—— Ashy-black, 384.

—- Black, 384.

—— Blood-red, 384, 593.

—— Brown, 384.

— Jet, 384.

— Mason, 384.

Mining, 384, 395.

—— Red, 380, 384, 385, 395.

pupa of, 386.

— Russety, 384, 595.

— Turf, 384.

—— Yellow, 384.

— White, see Termes.

Antenne, 5; function of, 6.

Anthia, 484.

Anthocharis cardamines, 181, 183.

Anthocopas, the, 369.

papaveris, 369.

Anthomya, 83.

pluvialis, 84.

Anthomyides, 69, 83.

Authophora parietina, 365.

Anthophoras, the, 365.

Anthrax, 56.

—— sinuata, 56.

Anthrenus museorum, 471.

Antithesia salicana, 268, 270.

Ant-lion, 403, 423.

Apatura, Ilia, 195.

——— Iris, 195.

Aphids, the, 102.

Aphides and Ants, 126, 391.

Aphis, Charles Bonnet on the, 123; of the apple,
121; of the oak, 125; of the plantain, 124.

Aphrophora, the, 115.

spumaria, 116.

Apiarie, the, 313.

Apis fasciata, 357.

— mellifica, 357.

—— Peronii, 357.

ae probable dismemberment of the order,

Argyrolepia zneana, 268, 270.
Articulate animals, egg-state common to, 20.
Ascalaphus, 424; larva of, 426.
— meridionalis, 426.
Asilide, 54.
Asilus crabroniformis, 54.
Ateuchus, 456.
Egyptiorum, 457.
——- sacer, 456.
Attacus, the genus, 214, 243; of the Ailanthus,
247; of the castor-oil, 249.
Atlas, 251, 252.
Cynthia, 248.
Mylitta, 243, 246.
Pernyi, 245, 246.
ricini, 249.
——— Yama-mai, 245.
Attagenus pellio, 470.

Bee, 312; cells constructed by, 526 ; bellows used
to stupety, 357.

— Banded, 357.

—— Carding, 360.

— Carpenter, 566.

— Common, 316, 557.

—— Humble, 313, 359; male, 360.

— larva of, 331.

— Leaf-cutting, 568.

—— Ligurian, 357.

—— male, 318.

— Mason, 3867.

—— Mining, 369.

—— moss, 360.

—— queen, 318.

—— Solitary, 365. .

—— Upholsterer, 369.

— Wood-piercer, 366.

—— worker, 317.

Beetle, Asparagus, 510.

—--—— Bacon, 470.

Bee, 442.

Clock, Dumbledor, Shard-born, 455.

Rose, 435.

Stag, 460.

Tiger, 488.

Water, 473.

Whirligig, 477.

Bittacus tipularis, 427, 428.

Blaps, 491.

obtusa, 491,

— sulcata, 491.

LL

514 INDEX.

Blatta, 284.
germanica, 285.
lapponica, 286.
orientalis, 287.
Blepharis, 290.
—— mendica, 290.
Boatman, the, 98.
Bombus muscorum, 360.
Bombycide, 251.
Bombycina, 214.
Bombylide, 54.
Bombylius major, 55.
Bombyx, 214; caterpillar of, 222; of the Ailan-
thus, 247; of the castor-oil, 249.
———— Atlas, 252.
——— Cynthia, 247.
mori, 214, 229; apparatus for stifling the
chrysalides of, 239; cocoon of, 237, 238 ;
larva, pupa, and moth of, 238.
neustria, 252.
——— Pernyi, 246.
processionea, 252.
ricini, 249.
——— yama-mai, 245.
Boreus hyemalis, 427, 428.
Bostrichus, 51s.
————— capucinus, 399.
Bot-fiy, the, 59, 62.
Brachycera, meaning of the word, 52.
Brachycola robusta, 288.
Breeze-fly of the sheep, 66.
Bruchus, 507.
pisi, 507.
—— rufimanus, 507.
Bug, 91; ege of, 94; means of destroying, 95;
Moquin-Tandon on, 94.
— Bed, 93.
— Fly, 95.
— Needle, 98.
—— Red Cabbage, 91.
Red Garden, 93.
— Water, 91, 98.
—— Wood, 91.
Buprestide, 504.
Buprestis, 496.
—— albosparsa, 505.
imperialis, 505.
Burnet Moth, 198.
- Six-spot, 198.
Butalis, 277.
Buttertlies, Copper, 184.
————.— Hair-streak, 183.
Buttertly, definition of, 169; eyes of, 173; flight
ot, 172; scales of, 170.
Black hair-streak, 184.
Black-veined white, 181.
Blue Argus, 187.
Brimstone, 183.
Brown Argus, 187.
Brown hair-streak, 184.
Cabbage, 153, 181. -
Clouded yellow, 183.
Comma, 192.
Green hair-streak, 184.
Green-veined white, 182.
Large Tortoise- shell, 187, 188.
Meadow brown, 197.
Orange-tip, 183.
Painted Lady, 191.
Peacock, 188.
Purple Emperor, 195.
Purple hair-streak, 184.
Red Admiral, 190.
Scarce Swallow-tailed, 179.
- Small Tortoise-shell, 188.
Small white, 182.
——— Swallow-tailed, 177.
—— White Admiral, 194.

Caddis Flies, 408, 428, 429.
Calandra granaria, 507.
Calepteryx, 421.
Callidium, 400.
—— sanguineum, 400.
Calliphora, 76.
vomitoria, 76; Réaumur on, 76.
Calosoma, 481.
auro-punctatus, 482.
Inquisitor, 482.
sycophanta, 481.
Campylocnemis, 484.
Schreeteri, 484.
Canary-shouldered Thorn , caterpillar of, 145.
Cantharadine, 494.
Cantharides, 493.
Cantharis, 493,
—— vesicatoria, 493.
Capricorne, Great, 509.
Carabus Adonis, 480.
auratus, 479; nervous system of, 21.
auronitens, larva of, 481.
rutilans, 479.
smaracdinus, 479.
splendens, 479.
Vietinghovyii, 479.
violaceus, 479.
1, 510.
——— viridis, 510.
Castor-oil plant, silkworm of the, 249.
Caterpillar, food of, 147; description of, ib. ;
scaly legs of the Gipsy Moth, 142; Looper,
144, 264,
Catocala, 156.
——— Americana, the, 260, 262.
fraxini, 260, 261; larvea of, 156.
nupta, 261, 263.
—— paranympha, 260.
Cebrionides, 501.
Cecidomyia, 47, note.
Centrotus cornutus, 119.
Cephalemyia ovis, 66.
Cerambyx, 509.
heros, 509.
Cetonia argentea, 438.
aurata, 435.
hirtella, 438,
splendidula, 436.
stictica, 438.
Cetoniade, 435.
Ceutorhynchus brassice, 508.
Cheerocampa Elpenor, 201, 204.
nerii, 201.

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Chafers, 435.

Chalcidide, the, 288; larvee of, 313.

Chalicodoma, 367 ; nests of, 368.

Charaxes Jasius, 195, 196.

Chartergus lecheguana, 378.

———— nidulans, 378.

Cheimatobia brumata, 266, 267.

Chelonia caja, 157; larva of, 158.

Chermes variegatus, 134.

Chiasognathus Grantii, 465.

Chigo, the, 82; eggs not hatched in the wound
made by, 33.

Chionobas Aello, 196, 197.

Chlorion compressum, 287.

Choreutes dolosana, 268, 270.

Chrysalis, 20, 149 ; meaning of the word, note, 164.

Chrysides, the, 313.

Chrysochroa, the genus, 505.

Chrysomelide, 510.

Chrysops cecutiens, 54.

Chylific ventricle, 9, 10; its appendages, 10.

Cicada, 102.

Ash, 110.

orni, 111.

—— plebeia, 110.

INDEX. 516

Cicadidz, 102.
Cicindela, campestris, 488.
——_ capensis, 488.
Dumoulinii, 488.
heros, 488.
—— hybrida, 488.
—— maritima, 488.
—— quadrilineata, 488.
—— rugosa, 488.
— scalaris, 488.
——— sylvatica, 488.
Cicindelidze, 479, 487.
Cimex lectularius, 93.

Hl

Circulation in insects, 12, e¢ seg. ; incomplete, 28.

Claviger, 469.

foveolatus, 470.
Cleptes, 313.

Cleridz, 505.

Clerus formicarius, 505.
Cloéon, 418.

diptera, 418.
Coccinella septempunctata, 510.
Coccinellide, 510.

Coccus, 133.

cacti, 134.

ilicis, 138.

lacca, 139.
Manniparus, 140.
polonicus, 139.
sinensis, 140.
Cochineal, 134.

— Oak-tree, 134.
Cochleoctonus, 500.
vorax, 500.
Cochylis francilana, 268, 270.

il

Cockchafer, 443, 444 ; larva of, 448 ; pupa of, 448.

Cockroach, 283, 284, 285.
Colias edusa, 181, 183.
Colymbetes cinereus, 476.
—— notatus, 476.
striatus, 476.
Conops, 59, 68.
Tufipes, the, 68.
Copiphora, 300.
Copris, 456.
lunaris, 456.
Corixa, 99.
femorata, 100.
mercenaria, 100.
striata, 99.
Corydia, the species of, 288.
Cossus, the genus, 257.
ligniperda, 257.
Crachat de Coucou, 115.
Creophili, the, 69.
Cricket, 283, 293.
—— Field, 293.
House, 294.
— Mole, 295.
Crioceris, 510.
asparagi, 510.
—— merdigera, 510.
Crop, the, 9.
Ctenostoma, 491.
Cuckoo's spittle, 115.
Cucullia verbasci, 159; cocoon of, 160; larva of,
160.
Cucuyo, 504.
Culex, the, 38.
Culicidze, the, 38.
Cursoria, 291.
Cybister, 473, 475.
—— Reeselii, 475.
Cynips, the, 397.
——— insana, 398.
——— quercusfolii, 398.
Cynthia cardui, 191.
Cyphocrana gigas, 291.
Cyria imperialis, 505.

Dacus, 85.

olez, 86; M. Guérin-Méneville on, 86.

Damaster, 484.

Decticus verrucivorus,; 299.

Deilephila, the genus, 201.

Elpenor, 201, 204.

———— euphorbie, 201.

nerii, 201, 202.

Dermaptera, the order, 283, note.

Dermestes lardarius, 470.

: vulpinus, 470.

Dermestide, 470.

Dicheta, the, 59.

Dicranura verbasci, 258.

——— _ vinula, larva of, 162, 258.

Diptera, fecundity of the, 37; divisions of the
order, 38 ; meaning of the name, 36; organs
of the, 7b.; immense number of species of,
37; the office of the, 7d.; strength in the, 26.

Dom Allou, Réaumur’s mention of, 42.

Donacia nyrmphea, 26.

Donacize, 510.

Dorcus Titan, 462.

Dragon-fiy, 404, 419; common, 421.

Drilus, the genus, 500.

flavescens, 500.

——— mauuritanicus, 501.

Dynastes Hercules, 454, 460.

Dytiscus, 473.

latissimus, 475.

———— marginalis, 475.

Earwig, Common, 283, 284.

Echinomyia, the genus, 69.

Ecume printaniére, 115.

Elateride, 502.

————— phosphorescent, 502.

Elenchus, 495.

—— Walkeri, 495.

Empide, M. Macquart on the, 54, 55.

Empusa, 290.

———— gongylades, 290.

Enema infundibulum, 457.

Ephemera, 404, 417; larva of an, 418; pupa of
an, 20.

—— Common, 416.

— respiratory apparatus of, 19.

vulgata, 416.

Ephemere, 55.

Ephemeride, 416.

Epbippiger, 300

——— vitium, 300.

Epinectus, 478.

sulcatus, 478.

Erebia Euryale, 196.

Erebus strix, 261, 263.

Eremiaphila, 290.

Eremobia, the, 311.

Euchlora, 453.

Eugonia alniaria, larva of, 145. :

Byes, 2; compound, 2b.; number of facettes in
various insects, 7b.; in the genus scarabeeus,
ib.; crystalline of, 3; pigment of, 20.;
simple, 4.

Femur, 7.

Flea, 29; jump of a, 24; strensth of, 30; eggs of,
31; the learned, 7b.; metamorphosis of, 32
larva of, 2b.

—— grasshopper, 117.

Flies, a beggar eaten by, 72.

Fly, tongue of, 82.

Executioner, 88.

—— House, 83.

—— Lanter, 112.

—— Ox, 83.

Spanish, 493.

Forficula, 284. :

———— auricularia, 284

516 INDEX.

Formica cunicularia, 384, 395.
Formice, 380.

Formica flava, 384.
fuliginosa, 384.
fusca, 384.
sanguinea, 393, 395.
Formicarie, 313.

Fossores, 396.

Fossorial Hymenoptera, 396.
Froghopper, 117.

Fulgora lanternaria, 112.

Gad-fly, 59; M. Joly on, 61.
Galerita, 486.

—— Lecontei, 486.

Galeruce, 510.

Galleria, Bee-hive, or Wax, 277, 350.
Gallicole, 313.

Gallinsecta, 102, 133.

Gall-insects, the, 313, 397.

Galls, Oak, 398.

Ganglions, cephalic, 19.

—— lLacordaire, M., on, 20.
Gastrus equi, 60.

Geocorise, the, 91.

Geometers, 145, 262.

Geometrine, the family of the, 262.
——— caterpillars of the, 264.
Geotrupes, 454.

—— stercorarius, 26, 455.
Ghost Moth, the, 257.

Gizzard, the, 9.

Glossina morsitans, 73.
Glow-worm, 499.

Gnat, the, 38; water good for the cure of bites, 41.

Gnorimus nobilis, 443.
Goat Moth, 257.
Goliathus, 438.

eacicus, 459.
—— Derbyana, 488.
—— Druryi, 439.
———— Polyphemus, 438.
Golofa claviger, 454.
Porteri, 455.
Gonepteryx rhamni, 183.
Grapta, C-album, the, 192.
Grasshopper, 283, 292.
————— Great Green, 298.
Grave-dizgers, 464.
Grillacris, the genus, 300.
Gryllo-talpa, vulgaris, the, 295; nest of the, 297.
Gryllus campestris, the, 293.
domesticus, the, 294.
sylvestris, the, 294.
Guérin-Méneville, M., on the Sciara, 50.
Gullet, 9. ‘
Gyrinidee, 477.
Gyrinus, 477.
distinctus, 477.
natator, 477.
striatus, 477.

Halictophagus, 496.
Curtisii, 496.

Harpalide, 486.
Harpalus eneus, 486.

Hautle, M. Virlet @’Aoust’s description of, 100.
Hawk-moth, Elephant, 201, 204.
———— Eyed, 213.

Lime-tree, 211.

Oleander, 201, 202.
: Poplar, 213.

Head, the, 1.

Heart, 13.

Helomyza, 85.

Helophilus, 56.

Hemerobide, 426.

Hemerobius, 426.

Hepialus, the genus, 257.

humuli, 257.

Herisson, 157.

Heterocera, see Moth.
Hipparchia Janira, 197.
Hister, 463.

Hive, Bell-shaped, 354.
— English, 353.

— Garden, 355.

— interior of a, 327.
— Polish, 354.

— Swiss, 354.
Homoderus Mellyi, 465.
Hop-dog, the, 255.

Hornet, the, 372, 377.
Humble Bee, 312; nest of, 362.
Hybernia defoliaria, 266.

; leucophearia, 266.
Hydaticus grammicus, 476.
Hydrocorise, the, 91, 98.
Hydrometre, the, 91, 98.
Hydrometra stagnorum, 98.
Hydrophili, 471.
Hydrophilus, four stages of the, 22.
piceus, 471.
Hydroporus confluens, 476.

—— griseo-striatus, 476.
Hydropsyche, 431.

————- atomaria, 431.

Hydrous caraboides, 473.

Hylesinus, 508.

—— piniperda, 508.
Hymenoptera, Fossorial, 396.
————— power of flight in the, 26.

Tassus devastans, 117.

Ichneumons, the, 396; larve of, 313.

Imago, 20.

Inca, 443.

—— clathrata, 443.

Insect, names of the principal parts of an, 1;
various stages of, 20; strength of, 23; power
of traction in, 25; classes of, 28.

Leaf, 284.

Intestine, large and small, 9.

Julodis, the genus, 505.

Kakerlac Americana, 287.
insignis, 287.
Kermes, 138.
Polish, 139.

Laccophilus minutus, 476.

———_ variegatus, 476.

Lackey Moth, the, 252.

Lady-birds, 510.

Lamellicormes, the, 435.

Lampyride, 498.

Lampyris noctiluca, 499.

Larva, 20; meaning of the word, 22.

Leaf-rollers, 271.

Lecheguana, the, 378.

Legs of Insects, 7, et seq.

Leopard, Wood, 257.

Le Petit Diable, 119.

Lepidoptera, meaning of the word, 141; antennz

of, 174.

Leptide, 54.

Libellula, 403, 418.

Libellula depressa, 421.

Limenitis Camilla, 194.
Sibilla, 194.

Lina populi, 510.

Lions des pucerons, 426.

Liparis, the genus, 214.

chrysorrhea, 256.

Lobster Moth, 259.

Locust, 283, 293, 301.

Locusta viridissima, 299.

‘Longicornes, 509.

INDEX.

Lophyrus pini, 402.
Louse, 33; means employed to kill, 34; of the
bee, 350.

Plant, 102, 119.
Lucanus, 460.

bellicosus, 462.

cervus, 462,
—— Mellyi, 462.
Lucilia Cesar, the, 71.
hominivorax, the, 71.
Luciola Italica, 499.
Lycena, genus, 186.

zegon, 187.
———— Battus, 187.

Corydon, 187.

see Polyommatus.
Lycenide, family of the, 183.
Lycus, the genus, 500.
latissimus, 500.
Lygeus, genus, 91, 93.
Lytta, 493.
vesicatoria, 493.

Macroglossa, the genus, 199.
stellatarum, 199.
Malpighian vessels, 11.
Mandibles, nerves of the, 20.
Manticora, 491.
———— tuberculata, 492.
Mantide, the, 288.
Mantis, the genus, 283, 284.
oratoria, 290.
Teligiosa. 288, 289.
Mantispa, 422.
————_ pagana, 422.
Marte, le, 157.
Mason Bee, nest of, 368.
May-fly, 416; respiratory apparatus of, 19.
Meal-worm, 492.
Megachile, 368.
———— centuncularis, 369.
Rose, 369.
Megalosoma anubis, 459, 460.
Melasoma, 491.
Melipona, the, 313, 358.
—— scutellaris, nest of, 359.
Meloé, 496.
proscarabeeus, 497.
Melolontha, Golden, 435.

fullo, 453.
——— Hippocastani, 453.
—— vulgaris, 445: larva of, 448; pupa

of, ib.
Meérian, Mdmille. Sybille de, 113.
Metamorphoses, 23.

Mormolyce phyllodes, 487.
Moth, definition of, 197.
Bee-hive, 269.
Brown-taiied, 256.
Burdock, 282.
Carpet, 281.
Cherry-tree, 282.
Clothes, 269.
Currant, 267.
Emperor, 251.

Fur or skin, 278; 281.
Hair, 278, 281.
Hawthorn, 282.
Peppered, 267.
Procession, 252.
Rustic, 282.
Winter, 266.
Woollen, 278.
Mouches papilionacées, 429.
Mouth of insects, 1, 5.
Musca bovina, 83.
carnifex, 83.

HAGEL

Or
rae
+I

Musca domestica, 83.
Muscides, the, 68 ; M. Macquart on the, 70.
Mutilla Europea, 396.
Mylabris, 496.
chicorii, 496.
Myrmeleo, 423.
—— formicarius, 423.
————-— libelluloides, 424; larva of, 426.
Myrmeleonide, 423.
Myrmeleonides, 403.
Myrmice, the, 380. z
Myrmica rubra, the, 380, 384; larva of, 385; pupa
of, 386.
Myzoxylus mali, 121.

Nebria, 483.

arenaria, 483.
brevicollis, 25.
Necrobia, genus, 505; meaning of the name, 7.
————- ruficollis, 507.
Necrodes, 464.

———— lacrymosa, 464.
———— littoralis, 464.
Necrophorus, 464, 467.
germanicus, 466.
vespillo, 25, 466.
Nemobius sylvestris, 294.
Nemoptera, 425.

———— Coa, 426.
Nemoura, 415.

variegatus, 416.

Nepa, 98.
cinerea, 98.
Nervous system in insects, 19.
Neuroptera, strength of, 26.
Noctua brunnea, the, 260.
— musiva, 260.
nebulosa, 260.
tegamon, 259.
Noctuina, the group, 259; caterpillars of the, 261.
Noterus crassicornis, 475.
Notonecta, 98, 101.
glauca, M. Léon Dufour on the 101,

102.
Nymph, 20.
Nymphalide, the family, 194.
Nyssia zonaria, the, 267.

Ocelli, 2, 4.

Ocypus olens, 468.

Odynerus, 378.

(eanthus, 295.

@cophora, 269 ; caterpillars of the genus, 282.
@sophagus, 9.

Cistrus, 59; parasitical on man, 7b.; M. Joly on

the, 67.
bovis, 62.
equi, 59.

ovis, 66.
Ommexeca, 311.
Omophron, 483.

Omus, 491.

Onihophagus nuchicornis, 26.
Ophion, 397.

Oran ge-tipped Butterfly, 181.
Orgyia, 214, 254.
pudibunda, 255.
Ortalidze, 85.

Ortalis, the Cherry-tree, 86.
Oryctes nasicornis, 26, 453.
Osmia, 367.

bicornis, 367, note.
Osmoderma eremita, 443.
Osmylus maculatus, 426.
Ovipositor, 21.

Palpi, 7.

Panorpas, 427.

Panorpatze, 403, 427.
Papilio, 177.

518

Papilio Alexanor, 178, 179.
Hospiton, 179.
Machaon, 177; larva of, 178.
Podalirius, 177, 179.
Papilionide, family of the, 177.
Parnassius, the genus, 177.
—— Apollo, 177, 180.
—— Mnemosyne, 177, 181.
Pediculus capitis, 33.
Pegomyas, the, 84.

Pelobius Hermanni, 476.
Pentatoma, 91.

Blue, 92.
———— Grey, 91.

—— ornata, 91.
Penthina prumiana, 268.

Perla, 415.

—— bicaudata, 416.

—— marginata, 415.
Phalanges of the foot, 7-
Phaneroptera, 300.

Phasma, 284, 291.

gigas, 291.

Rossia, 291.
Philanthus, 296.

triangulum, 396.
Philobacera fagana, 268.
Phryganea, 55, 423.

—— atomaria, 431.
——_—-——_flavicornis, 429.
pilosa, 430.

— thombica, 428, 429.
Phryganide, 403, 423, 428.
Phthiriasis, the disease called, 34.
Phyllium, the genus, 291.
Pievide, the family of the, 181.

Pieris brassice, 153, 181; pupz of the, 155.

— Callidice, 3, 181, 182.

— erategi, 181.

— napi, 181, 182, 183.

“—— rapee, 182.

Pimelia bipunctata, 492.

Pimeliarize, 492.

Pissodes pini, 508.

Platydactylus, 295.

Pneumore, 311.

Peedisca autumnana, the, 268.
occultana, the, 268, 270.

Pogonostoma, 491.

Polistes, 377.

——— gallica, 372; nest of, 378.

Polyergus, 381.

——— tufescens, 384, 393.

Polyommatus, 186.

se Gordius, the, 186.

——————— phleas, 184.

———_—— virgauree, 185.

————__ see Lyceena.

Pompilus, 396.

Ponera, 380,

Procerus, 482.

————_ gigas, 482.

Procession Moth, larvee of the, 254.

Procris, 198.

statices, 198.

Procrustes, 482.

———— coriaceus, 482.

Pselaphus, 469.

Heisii, 469.

Psithyrus, 364.

Psyche, 256.

graminella, 256.

muscella, 256.

rubicolella, 256:

Ptilodactylides, 501.

Pulex irritans, 29.

—— penetrans, 32.

Pupa, 20. ;

Puss Moth, larva of the, 162.

INDEX.

Pyralina, the section, 268.

Pyralis of the vines, 269, 273, 275; caterpillar of,
275; chrysalis of the, 275.

—— corticalis, cocoon of, 161.

Pyrophorus, 502.

———— noctilucus, 503.

Ram Sphinx of Geoffroy, 198.

Ranatra, 99.

Raphidia, 422.

Raphigaster griseus, 91.

Rat-tailed Maggot, 57.

Red Underwing Moth, 261.

Reduvius, 91.

—————_ personatus, 95; De Geer on, 96.

Regnier’s dynamometer, 24.

Respiratory system, 15; Lyonnet’s discovery of,
in the caterpillar of the Goat-moth, 16; M.
Milne Edwards on, 17 ; of aquatic insects, 18.

Rhipiptera, 494.

Rhizotrogus, 453.

Rhodocera rhamni, 181, 183.

Rhopalocera, 177.

Rhyacophilus, 431.

—- vulgatus, 432.

Robin’s Cushion, 399.

Saga, 300.
Saltatoria, the, 291.
Sarcophaga, 70; the females viviparous, 7b.
Sarrothripa revayana, 268, 270.
Saturnia carpini, 251.
Pavonia-major, 250; magnified wing of,
171.
Satyridze, the family of the, 196.
Satyrus janira, the, 197.
Sauterelles-Puces, 117.
Saw-flies, 313; larvee of, 401.
Scarabeeides, 435, 454.
Scarabzeus, 455; number of eyes in the genus, 2.
——— — enema, 457.
Sacred, 456.
Scarites lzvigatus, 485.
Scatophagus, 85.
Sciara, the, 50; superstitions connected with, 51
Scolytus, 508.
Secretion of various fluids used as defences, &c.,
apparatus for, 12.
Semblis, 422.
lutarius, 422.
-———— Mud, 423.
Sericaria, the genus, 214.
Sericoris Zinkenana, 268, 270.
Sesia, 197.
—— apiformis, 197.
Sesiide, the, 197.
Silk, kinds of, 237; winding establishment, 241.
Silk-worm, 223.
Silpha, 463.
obscura, 463.
quadripunctata, 464.
— thoracica, 464.
Silphales, 462.
Sirex, 398.
—— Giant, 398.
—— gigas, 398, 401.
—— juvencus, 401.
Sitaris humeralis, 497.
Skeleton, exterior of insects, 9, 28.
Smerinthus, 211.
— ocellatus, the, 213,
———— populi, 213, 214.
———-_— ftilie, 211.
Spheeria, the, 295.
Sphex, the, 396.
Sphingide, the family, 198.
Sphinx convolvuli, 207."
——— convolvulus, the, 207.
——— Hnumming-bird, 199.

INDEX. 519

Sphinx ligustri, the, 206.
Privet, 206.
Spider, Water, 98.
Spiracles, 15, 18, 28.
Spring froth, 115.
Staphylinide, 467.
Staphylinus hirtus, 469.
———— — maxillosus, 469.
_— olens, 468.
Stauropus fagi, 259.
Stemmata, 2, 4.
Stomoxys, 71.

——— calcitrans, 71.
Strength of insects, M. Felix Plateau on, 23, 25.
Stylopidee, 494.

Stylops, 495.

melitte, 496.
Sugar A: arus, 350.
Suphis cimicoides. 476.
Swarm of bees, 351.
Syndesus cornutus, 464.
Syromastes, 92.
Syrphici, 54, 56.

Tabanidee, the, 52.

Tabanus, 53, 60.

: autummnalis, 53.

——— bovinus, 53.

Tanystomee, 54.

Tarsus, 7, 30; of Lepidoptera, 172.
Tefflus, genus, 484.

megerlei, 484.

Tenebrio, 492; larva of, 492.
——— molitor, 493.
Tenthredinetz, 313, 398, 401.
Tenthredo, 401.

Termes, 24, 403.

of La Rochelle, M, de Quatrefages on,

414,

atrox, 408.
bellicosus, 406.
flavicollis, 412.
lucifugus, 405, 412. 1
mordax, 408.
Tetracha Klugii, 490.
Tetralobites, 5U2.
Meir ixer es lets
Tettigonia fraxini, 110.
Thecla, 183.
betule, 184.
pruni, 184, 185,
quercus, 184.
——— rubi, 184, 185.
Therates, 491.
Thorax, the, 1, 7, 27.
Thyreophora, 85.
Tibia, 7.
Tiger Moth, the, 157.
Tinea cerasiella, 282.
crateegella, 282.
lapella, 282.
rusticella, 282.
tapezella, 279.
Tineina, 278.
Tipula culiciformis, the, 48.
~-— oleracea, 49,

Tipulidz, 38, 47, 55.

Tomicus, genus, 509.

Tongue of the fly, 78.

Tortrix, Green, 269.

——— roborana, 268, 269.

—— sorbiana, 268.

— viridana, 269.

Trachez, 15, 18, 22; vesicular, 16.
Trachys, the genus, 505.

Trichides, 440.

Trichius fasciatus, 25, 440.
Trichoptera, order, 403.
Tridactylus, the genus, 298.
Trochanter, 7; of Lepidoptera, 172.
Trox, 455.

Truxales, 311.

Tsetse Fly, the, 72; Livingstone on the, 74.

Urocerata, the, 398.

Valous hemipterus, 443.
Vanessa antiopa, 190.
atalanta, 190.
C-album, 192.
eardui, 191.
Io, 188.
——— polychloros, 187, 188; chrysalis of, 166.
urtice, 150, 187, 188.
Vermileo, 56.

de Geeri, 56.
Vespa crabo, 372.
—— rufa, 371.
—— vulgaris, the, 372.
Vespiarie, 313.
Visceral cavity, 18.
Volucella, the, 56, 57.

Wasp, 312, 313, 370; pupa of common, 373; nest
of, exterior, 374, interior of, 375.

—— Bush, 372.

— Cardmaking, 378.

— Common, 372.

Water Scorpions, 98.

Weevil, 507.

Bean, 507.

Clover, 507.

Pea, 507.

Rape, 508.

Turnip, 508.

Vetch, 507.

Wheat, 507.

Whirligig Beetle, 477.

White Ant, see Termes.

Wings of Insects, 9.

W oolly:Bear Caterpillar, 157.

Xenos Peckii, 496.

— Rossii, 495.
vesparum, 495.
Xylocopa, 366.

Xylopoda fabriciana, 268.
Xylotrupes dichotomus, 454.

Zeuzera esculi, 257.
Zygena filipendule, 198.
Zygenide, 198.

THE END.

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