6IQLOGY LIBRARY

OUR COMMON INSECTS,

• .
.'

Library

COMMON INSECTS

A POPULAR ACCOUNT OF THE INSECTS

Illustrated with 4 Plates and 268 Woodcuts.

By

A. S. PACKARD, JR.,

Author of " A GUIDE TO THE STUDY OF INSECTS."

SALEM.

NATURALISTS' AGENCY,

BOSTON: Estes & Lauriat NEW YORK: Dodd & Mead.

1873.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by

F. W. PUTNAM & CO.,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

PRINTED AT

THE SALEM PRESS,
P. W. PUTNAM & CO.,

Proprietors.

DEDICATION.

TO SAMUEL H. SCTJDDER.

MY DEAR SCUDDER : — You and I were drawn together
many years ago by a common love for insects and their
ways.

I dedicate this little volume of ephemeral essays to
you in recognition of your worth as a man and a
scientist, and as a token of warm friendship.

Yours sincerely,

A. S. PACKARD, JR.

PREFACE.

THIS little volume mainly consists of a reprint of a
series of essays which appeared in the "American Natu-
ralist" (Vols. i-v, 1867-71). It is hoped that their
perusal may lead to a better acquaintance with the
habits and forms of our more common insects. The
introduction was written expressly for this book, as
well as Chapter XIII, "Hints on the Ancestry of In-
sects." The scientific reader may be drawn with greater
interest to this chapter than to any other portion of
the book. In this discussion of a perhaps abstruse
and difficult theme, his indulgence is sought for what-
ever imperfections or deficiencies may appear. Our
systems of classification may at least be tested by the
application of the theory of evolution. The natural
system, if we mistake not, is the genealogy of organ-
ized forms ; when we can trace the latter, we establish
the former. Considering how much naturalists differ
in their views as to what is a natural classification, it
is not strange that a genealogy of animals or plants

vm

seems absurd to many. To another generation of
naturalists it must, perhaps, be left to decide whether
to attempt the one is more unphilosophical than to
attempt the other.

Most of the cuts have already appeared in the "Guide
to the Study of Insects" and the "American Naturalist,"
where their original sources are given, while a few
have been kindly contributed by Prof. A. E. Verrill,
the Boston Society of Natural History, and Prof. C. V.
Riley, and three are original.

SALEM, June, 1873.

OUR COMMON INSECTS.

INTRODUCTORY.

What is an Insect? When we remember that the insects
alone comprise four-fifths of the animal kingdom, and that
there are upwards of 200,000 living species, it would seem a
hopeless task to define what an insect is. But a common plan
pervades the structure of them all. The bodies of all insects
consist of a succession of rings, or segments, more or less hard-
ened by the deposition of a chemical substance called chitine ;
these rings are arranged in three groups : the head, the thorax,
or middle body, and the abdomen or hind body. In the six-
footed insects, such as the bee, moth, beetle or dragon fly,
four of these rings unite early in embryonic life to form the
head; the thorax consists of three, as maybe readily seen on
slight examination, and the abdomen is composed either of ten
or eleven rings. The body, then, seems divided or insected
into three regions, whence the name insect.

The head is furnished with a pair of antennae, a pair of jaws
(mandibles), and two pairs oF maxillae, the second and basal
pair being united at their base to form the so-called labium, or
under lip. These four pairs of appendages represent the four
rings of the head, to which they are appended in the order stated
above.

A pair of legs is appended to each of the three rings of the
thorax ; while the first and second rings each usually carry a
pair of wings.

-

IV INTRODUCTORY.

The abdomen contains the ovipositor; sometimes, as in the
bees and wasps, forming a sting. In the spiders (Fig. 1),

however, there are no an-
tennae, and the second
maxillae, or labium, is
wanting. Moreover, there
are four pairs of legs.
The centipedes (Fig. 2, a
Myriopocl) also differ from
the rest of the insects
in having an indefinite
number of abdominal
rings, each bearing a pair
of legs.

On examining the ar-
1. Spider (Tegenaria). rangement of the parts

Within, we find the nervous cord, consisting of two chains of
swellings, or nerve-knots, resting upon the
floor or under side of the body ; and the heart,
or dorsal vessel, situated just under the skin
of the back; and in looking at living cater-
pillars, such as the cut- worm, and many thin-
skinned aquatic larvae, we can see this long
tubular heart pulsating about as often as our
own heart, and when the insect is held against
its will, or is agitated, the rapidity of the pulsa-
tions increases just as with us.

Insects do not breathe as ill the higher ani-
mals by taking the ajr into the mouth and filling
the lungs, but tijere are a .series, of U°les or
pores along the side of the body, as seen In the
grub of the humble bee, through which the air a. Pentipede.
enters and is conveyed to every part of the body by an immense
number of air tubes. (Fig. £ it? t^^13? °* ^r^cllLe8e' in t?ie cau"

\

WHAT IS AN INSECT? V

dal appendage of the larva of a dragon fly). These air tubes
are everywhere bathed by the blood, by which the latter becomes
oxygenated.

Indeed the structure of an insect is entirely different from
that of man or the
quadrupeds, or any
other vertebrate ani-
mal, and what we

call head, thorax, 3- Caudal appendage of larva of Agrion.
abdomen, gills, stomach, skin, or lungs, or jaws, are called so
simply for convenience, and not that they are made in the same
way as those parts in the higher animals.

An insect differs from a horse, for example, as much as a
modern printing press differs from the press Franklin used.
Both machines are made of iron, steel, wood, etc., and both
print; but the plan of their structure differs throughout, and
some parts are wanting in the simpler press which are present
and absolutely essential in the other. So with the two sorts
of animals ; they are built up originally out of protoplasm, or
the original jelly-like germinal matter, which fills the cells com-
posing their tissues, and nearly the same chemical elements
occur in both, but the mode in which these are combined, the
arrangement of their products : the muscular, nervous and skin
tissues, differ in the two animals. The plan of structure, namely,
the form and arrangement of the body walls, the situation of
the appendages to the body, and of the anatomical systems within,
i. e., the nervous, digestive, circulatory, and respiratory systems,
differ in their position in relation to the walls of the body.
Thus while the two sorts of animals reproduce their kind, eat,
drink and sleep, see, hear and smell, they perform these acts by
different kinds of organs, situated sometimes on the most oppo-
site parts of the body, so that there is no comparison save in
the results which they accomplish; they only agree in being
animals, and in having a common animal nature.

VI INTRODUCTORY.

How Insects Eat. The jaws of insects (Fig. 4) are horny pro-
cesses situated on each side of the mouth. They are variously

toothed, so as to
tear the food,
and move hori-
zontally instead
4. Different forms of jaws. of up and down

as in the horse. The act of taking the food, especially if the
insect be carnivorous in its habits, is quite complex, as not only

5. Mouth-parts of the Larva of a Beetle.

the true jaws, but the accessory jaws (maxillae, Fig. 5, a, upper,
&, under side of the head of a young beetle ; at, anten-
nae, md, mandible, mx, maxillae, wcc1, labium) and the
feelers (palpi) attached to the maxillae, and the un-
der lip (labium) are of great service in enabling the
insect to detect its food both by the senses of touch
and smell. The maxillae are in the fully grown bee- G Maxjua of
tie (Fig. 6) divided into three lobes, the outermost " a Beetle,
forming the palpus, and the two others forming sharp teeth,
often provided with hairs and minute brushes for cleansing the
adjoining parts; these strong curved teeth are used in seizing

HOW INSECTS EAT.

VH

the food and placing it between the grinders, where it is crush-
ed, prepared for digestion and swallowed. -Fig. 7 represents
the mouth parts
of the humble bee
(6, upper lip; d,
mandible; e, max-
illa ; /, maxillary
palpus; g, tongue;
ihj labium and la-
bial palpi ; k, eye.)

The alimentary
canal passes
through the middle
of the body, the
stomach forming
usually a simple
enlargement. Just
before the stomach
in certain insects, 7. Mouth parts of a Humble Bse.

as the grasshopper, is a gizzard armed with rows of powerful
horny teeth for finely crushing grass.

Insects eat almost incredible quantities of food when young
and growing rapidly. Mr. Trouvelot tells us in the " American
Naturalist" that the food taken by a single American Silk-
worm in fifty-six days is equal to eighty-six thousand times its
primitive weight! On the other hand, after the insect has
finished its transformations, it either takes no food at all, as in
the May fly, or merely sips the honey of flowers, as in the butter-
fly, while the June beetle and many others like it eat the leaves
of trees, and the tiger and ground beetles feed voraciously on
other insects.

How Insects Walk. In man and his allies, the vertebrates, the
process of walking is a most difficult and apparently dangerous
feat. To describe the mechanics of walking, the wonderful

VIH INTRODUCTORY.

adaptation of the muscles and bones for the performance of
this most ordinary action of life, would require a volume. The
process is scarcely less complex in insects. Lyonnet found
3,993 muscles in a caterpillar, and while a large proportion be-
long to the internal organs, over a thousand assist in locomotion.
Hence the muscular power of insects is enormous. A flea will
leap two hundred times its own height, and cer-
tain large, solid beetles will move enormous
weights as compared to the bulk of their bodies.
In walking, as seen in the accompanying figure
(Fig. 8), three legs are thrown forward at a time,
two on one side and one on the other.

Flies and many other insects can walk upside
down, or on glass, as easily as on a level surface.
8. Larva of a bee- A fly's foot, as in most other insects, consists of
18)< five joints (tarsal joints), to the last one of which
is appended a pair of stout claws, beneath which is a flat, soft,
fleshy cushion or pad, split into two (sometimes three) flaps,
beset on the under surface with fine hairs. A part of these
hairs are swollen at the end, which is covered with " an elastic
membranous expansion, capable of close contact with a highly
polished surface, from which a minute quantity of a clear, trans-
parent fluid is emitted when the fly is actively moving." (T.
West.) These hairs are hence called holding, or tenent, hairs.
With the aid of these, but mainly, as Mr. West insists, by the
pressure of the atmosphere, a fly is enabled to adhere to per-
•fectly smooth surfaces. His studies show the following curious
facts. " That atmospheric pressure, if the area of the flaps be
alone considered, is equal to just one-half the weight of a fly.
If the area covered by the tenent hairs be added, an increase
of pressure is gained, equal to about one- fourth the weight of
a fly. This leaves one-fourth to be accounted for by slight
viscidity of the fluid, by the action I have so often alluded to,
which may be called 'grasping,' by molecular attraction, and,

HOW INSECTS FLY. IX

doubtless, by other agents still more subtle, with which we have
at present scarcely any acquaintance."

How Insects Fly. Who of us, as remarked by an eminent orni-
thologist, can even now explain the long sustained, peculiar
flight of the hawk, or turkey buzzard, as it sails in the air with-
out changing the position of its wings ? and, we would add, the
somewhat similar flight of a butterfly ? It is the poetry of mo-
tion, and a marvellous exhibition of grace and ease, combined
with a wonderful underlying strength and lightness of the parts
concerned in flight.

Before we give a partial account of the results obtained by
the delicate experiments of Professor Marey on the flight of
birds and insects, our readers should be reminded of the great
differences between an insect and a bird, remembering that the
former, is, in brief, a chitinous sac, so to speak, or rather a
series of three such spherical or elliptical sacs (the head, thorax
and abdomen) ; the outer walls of the body forming a solid but
light crust, to which are attached broad, membranous wings,
the wing being a sort of membranous bag stretched over a
framework of hollow tubes (the tracheae), so disposed as to give
the greatest lightness and strength to the wing. The wings are
moved by powerful muscles of flight, filling up the cavity of the
thorax, just as the muscles are the largest about the tnorax of
a bird. Moreover in .the bodies of insects that fly (such as the
bee, cockchafer, and dragon fly), as distinguished from those
that creep exclusively, the air tubes (tracheae) which ramify
into every part of the body, are dilated here and there, espec-
ially in the base of the abdomen, into large sacs, which are filled
with air when the insect is about to take flight, so that the
specific gravity of the body is greatly diminished. Indeed,
these air sacs, dilatable at will by the insect, may be compared
to the swimming bladder of fishes, which enables them to rise
and fall at will to different levels in the sea, thus effecting an
immense saving of the labor of swimming. In the birds, as

X INTRODUCTORY.

every body knows who has eaten a chicken, or attended the
dissection of a Thanksgiving turkey, the soft parts are external,
attached to the bony framework comprising the skeleton, the
wing bones being directly connected with the central back
bone ; so that while these two sorts of am mated flying machines
are so different in structure, they yet act in much the same man-
ner when on the wing. The difference between them is clearly
stated by Marey, some of whose conclusions we now give almost
word for word.

The flight of butterflies and moths differs from that of birds
in the almost vertical direction of the stroke of their wings, and
in their faculty of sailing in the air without making any move-
ments ; though sometimes in the coufse they pursue they seem
to resemble birds in their flight.

The flight of insects and birds moreover differs in the form
of the trajectory in space; in the inclination of the plane in
which the wings beat; in the role of each of
the two alternating (and in an inverse sense)
movements that the wings execute; as also in
the facility with which the air is decomposed

during these different movements. As the

•
wings of a fly are adorned with a brilliant

array of colors, we can follow the trajectory
or figure that each wing writes in the air. It
is of the form of a figure of eight (Fig. 9), first

9. Figure cut by an discovered by Professor J. Bell Pettigrew of
insect's wing. Edinburgh.

By an ingenious machine, specially devised for
the purpose, Professor Marey found that a bird's
wing moves in an ellipse, with a pointed summit
(Fig. 10). The insect beats the air in a distinctly
horizontal plane, but the bird in a vertical plane.
The wing of an insect is impervious to the air; ' ^ ah d'
while the bird's wing resists the air only on its wing.

HOW INSECTS FLY. XI

under side. Hence, there are two sorts of effects; in the
insect the up and down strokes are active; in the bird, the
lowering of the wing is the only active period, though the
return stroke seems to sustain the bird, the air acting on the
wing. The bird's body is horizontal when the wing gives a
downward stroke; but when the beat is upward, the bird is
placed in an inclined plane like a winged projectile, and mounts
up on the air by means of the inclined surfaces that it passively
offers to the resistance of this fluid.

In an insect, an energetic movement is equally necessary to
strike the air at both beats up and down. In the bird, on the
contrary, one active beat only is necessary, the down beat. It
creates at that time all the motive force that will be dispensed
during the entire revolution of the wing. This difference is due
to the difference in
form of the wing.
The difference be-
tween the two
forms of flight is 11. Trajectory of an insect's wing,

shown by an inspection of the two accompanying figures (11,
12). £n insect's wing is small at the base and broad at the end.
This breadth would be useless near the body, because at this
point the wing does not move swiftly enough to strike the
air effectively. The type of the insectean wing is designed,

then, simply to
strike the air.
But in the bird the
wing plays also a
passive role, i. e.,
12. Trajectory of a bird's wing. it receives the pres-

sure of the air on its under side when the bird is projected
rapidly onward by its acquired swiftness. In these conditions
the whole animal is carried onward in space ; all the points of
its wing have the same velocity. The neighboring regions

XH INTRODUCTORY.

of the body are useful to press upon the air, which acts as on
a paper kite. The base of the wing also, in the bird, is broad,
and provided with feathers, which form a broad surface, on
which the air presses with a force and method very efficacious
in supporting the bird. Fig. 12 gives an idea of this disposition
of the wing at the active and passive time in a bird.

The inner half of the wing is the passive part of the organ,
while the external half, that which strikes the air, is the active
part. A fly's wing makes 330 revolutions in a second, executing
consequently 660 simple oscillations ; it ought at each time to
impress a lateral deviation of the body of the insect, and destroy
the velocity that the preceding oscillation has given it in a con-
trary direction. ' So that by this hypothesis the insect in its
'flight only utilizes fifty to one hundred parts (or one-half) of
the resistance that the air furnishes it.

In the bird (Fig. 13), at the time of lowering the wings,
the oblique plane which strikes the air, -in decomposing the
resistance, produces a vertical component which resists the
weight of the body, and a horizontal component which imparts
swiftness. The horizontal component is not lost, but is utilized
during the rise of the wing, as in a paper kite when held in the

13. A bird on the wing.

air against the wind. Thus the bird utilizes seventy-five out
of one hundred parts of the resistance that the air furnishes.
The style of flight of birds is, therefore, theoretically superior
to that of insects. As to the division of the muscular force
between the resistance of the air and the mass of the body of
the bird, we should compare the exertion made in walking on

THE SENSES OF INSECTS. XIH

sand, for example, as c6mpared with walking on marble. This
is easy to measure. When a fish strikes the water with its tail
to propel itself forward, it performs a double task; one part
consists in pushing backwards a certain mass of water with a
certain swiftness, and the other in pushing on the body in spite
of the resistance of the surrounding fluid. This last portion
of the task only is utilized. It would be greater if the tail of
the fish encountered a solid object. Almost all the propelling
agencies employed in navigation undergo this loss of labor,
which depends on the mobility of the point d' appui. The bird is
placed among conditions especially unfavorable.

The Senses of Insects. The eyes of insects ar>e sometimes
so large as to envelop the head like an Elizabethan ruffle, and
the creature's head, as in the common house fly, seems all eyes.
And this is almost literally the case, as the two great staring
eyes that almost meet on the top of the head to form one, are
made up of myriads of simple eyes. Each facet or simple eye
is provided with a nerve filament which branches off from the
main optic nerve, so that but one impression of the object per-
ceived is conveyed to the brain ; though it is taught by some
that objects appear not only double but a thousand times mul-
tiplied. But we should remember that with our two eyes we
see double only when the brain is diseased. Besides the large
ordinary compound eyes, many insects possess small, simple
eyes, like those of the spider. The great German anatomist,
Johannes Muller, believed that the compound eyes were adapted
for the perception of distant objects, while those nearer are
seen by the simple eyes. But it may be objected to this view
that the spiders, which have only simple eyes, apparently see
both near and remote objects as well as insects.

The sense of touch is diffused all over the body. As in the
hairs of the head and face of man, those of insects are delicate
tactile organs; and on the antennae and legs (insects depend-
ing on this sense rather than that of sight) these appendages

XIV INTRODUCTORY.

are covered with exquisitely fine hairs. • It is thought by some
that the senses of hearing and smell are lodged in the antennae,
these organs thus combining the sense of feeling with those of
hearing and smelling. And the researches of anatomists lend
much probability to the assertion, since little pits just under
the skin are found, and even sometimes provided with grains
of sand in the so-called ear of the lobster, etc., corresponding
to the ear bones of the higher animals, the pits being con-
nected with nerves leading to the brain. We have detected
similar pits in the under side of the palpi of the Perla. It seems
not improbable that these are organs of smell, and placed
in that part of the appendage nearest the mouth, so as to enable
the insect to select its proper food by its odor. Similar organs
exist on the caudal appendages of a kind of fly (Chrysopila),
while the long, many -jointed caudal filaments of the cockroach
are each provided with nearly a hundred of these little pits,
which'seem to be so many noses. Thus Lespes, a Swiss anato-
mist, in his remarks on the auditory sacs, which he says are
found in the antenna of nearly all insects, declares that as we
have in insects compound eyes, so we have' compound ears.
We might add that in the abdominal appendage of the cock-
roach we have a compound nose, while in the feelers of the
Perla, and the caudal appendage of the Chrysopila, the "nose"
is simple. We might also refer here to Siebold's discovery of
ears at the base of the abdomen of some, and in the forelegs of
other kinds, of grasshoppers. Thus we need not be surprised
at finding ears and noses scattered, as it were, sometimes
almost wantonly over the bodies of insects (in many worms the
eyes are found all over the body), while in man and his allies,
from the monkey down to the fish, the ears and nose invariably
retain the same relative place in the head.

How Insects Grow. When beginning our entomological studies
no fact seemed more astonishing to our boyish mind than the
thought that the little flies and midges were not the sons and

HOW INSECTS GROW.

XV

daughters of the big ones. If every farmer and gardener knew

this single fact it would be worth their while. The words larva

and pupa will frequently occur in subsequent

pages, and they should be explained. The

caterpillar (JFig. 14, a) represents the earliest

stage or babyhood of the butterfly, and it is

called larva, from the Latin, meaning a mask,

because it was thought by the ancients to mask

the form of the adult butterfly.

When the caterpillar has ended its riotous
life, for its appetite almost transforms its be-
ing into the very incarnation of gluttony, it
suddenly, as if repenting of its former life as a

Ion vivant, seeks a solitary cell or hole where !*• o Larva, 6 chrys-
alis of a butterfly,
like a hermit it sits and leads apparently about

as useless an existence. But meanwhile strange processes
are going on beneath the skin; and after a few convulsive
struggles the back splits open, and out wriggles the chrysalis,
a gorgeous, mummy-like form, its body adorned with golden
and silvery spots. Hence the word chrysalis (Fig. 14, &), from
the Greek, meaning golden, while the Latin word pupa, meaning
a baby or doll, is indicative of its youth. In this state it hangs
suspended to a twig or other object ; while the silk worm, and

others of its kind, previ-
ous to moulting, or cast-
ing their skins, spin a
silken cocoon, which en-
velops and protects the
chrysalis.

At the given time, and
15. Imago or adult Butterfly. after the body of the

adult has fully formed beneath the chrysalis skin, there is an-
other moult, and the butterfly, with baggy, wet wings, creeps
out. The body dries, the skin hardens, the wings expand, and

XVI

INTRODUCTORY.

in a few moments, sometimes an hour, the butterfly (Fig. 15)
proudly sails aloft, the glory and pride of the insect world.

We shall see in the ensuing chapters how varied are the larvse
and pupae of insects, and under what different guises insects live
in their early stages.

Larva, pupa, and adult of a Leaf Beetle (Galeruca).

OUR COMMON INSECTS.

CHAPTER I.

THE HOME OF THE BEES.

THE history of the Honey bee, its wonderful instincts, its
elaborate cells and complex economy, have engrossed the atten-
tion of the best observers, even from the time of Virgil, who
sang of the Ligurian bee. The literature of the art of bee-
keeping is already very extensive. Numerous be"e journals and
manuals of bee-keeping testify to the importance of this art,
while able mathematicians have studied the mode of formation
of the hexagonal cells,* and physiologists have investigated
the intricate problems of the mode of generation and develop-
ment of the bee itself.

In discussing these difficult questions, we must rise from the
study of the simple to the complex, remembering that —

"All nature widens upward. Evermore
The simpler essence lower lies :
More complex is more perfect — owning more
Discourse, more widely wise,"

and not forget to study the humbler allies of the Honey bee.
We shall, in observing the habits and homes of the wild bees,
gain a clearer insight into the mysteries of the hive.

The great family of bees is divided into social and solitary
species. The social kinds Iiv6 in nests composed of numerous
cells in which the young brood are reared. These cells vary in
form from those which are quite regularly hexagonal, like those
of the Hive bee, to those which are less regularly six-sided,
as in the stingless bee of the tropics (Melipona), until in the
Humble bee the cells are isolated and cylindrical in form.

* The cells are not perfectly hexagonal. See the studies on the formation
of the cells of the bee, by Professor J. Wyman, in the Proceedings of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Boston, 1866; and the author's
Guide to the Study of Insects, p 123.

(17)

18 THE HOME OF THE BEES.

Before speaking of the wild bees, let us briefly review the life
of the Honey bee. The queen bee having wintered over with
many workers, lays her eggs in the spring, first in the worker,
and, at a later period, in the drone-cells. Early in the summer
the workers construct the large, flask-shaped queen-cells, which
are placed on the edge of the comb, and in these the queen larvre
are fed with rich and choice food. The old queen deserts the
nest, forming a new colony. The new-born queen takes her mar-
riage flight high in the air with a drone, and on her return under-
takes the management of the hive, and the duty of laying eggs.
When the supply of queens is exhausted, the workers destroy the
drones. The first brood of workers live about six weeks in
summer, and then give way to a new brood. The queens, ac-
cording to Von Berlepsch, are known to live five years, and
during their whole life lay more than a million eggs.

In the tropics, the Honey bee is replaced by the Meliponas
and Trigonas. They are minute, stingless bees, which store up
honey and live in colonies often of immense extent. The cells
of Melipona are hexagonal, nearly approaching in regularity
those of the Hive bee, while the honey cells are irregular, being
much larger cavities, which hold about one-half as much honey
as a cell of the Humble bee. " Gardner, in his travels, states
that many species of Melipona build in the hollow trunks of
trees, others in banks; some suspend their nests from the
branches of trees, whilst one species constructs its nest of clay,
jt being of large size." (F. Smith.)

In a nest of the coal-black Trigona (Trigona carbonaria), from
eastern Australia, Mr. F. Smith, of the British Museum, found
from four hundred to five hundred dead workers, but no females.
The combs were arranged precisely similar to those of the com-
mon wasp. The number of honey-pots which were placed at
the foot of the nest was two hundred and fifty. Mr. Smith in-
clines to the opinion that the hive of Trigona contains several
prolific females, as the great number of workers can only be
thus explained, and M. Gueriu found six females in a nest of the
Tawny-footed Melipona (M. fulvipes).

At home, our nearest ally of the true Honey bee, is the Hum-
ble bee (Bombus), of which over forty species are known to
inhabit North America.

The economy of the Humble bee is thus : the queen awakens
in early spring from her winter's sleep under leaves or moss,

THE HUMBLE BEE. 19

or in the last year's nest, and selects a nesting place, gener-
ally in an abandoned nest of a field-mouse, or beneath a stump
or sod, and " immediately," according to Mr. F. W. Putnam,*
"collects a small amount of pollen mixed with honey, and in
this deposits from seven to fourteen eggs, gradually adding to
the pollen mass until the first brood is hatched. She does not
wait, however, for one brood to be hatched before laying the
eggs of another, but, as soon as food enough has been collected,
she lays the eggs for a second. The eggs are laid, in contact
with, each other, in one cavity
of the mass of pollen, with a
part of which they are slightly
covered. They are very soon
developed ; in fact, the lines are
nowhere distinctly drawn be-
tween the egg and the larva,
the larva and pupa, and again

between the latter and the ima- 15. Cell and Eggs of Bombus.
go; a perfect series, showing this gradual transformation of
the young to the imago can be found in almost every nest.

"As soon as the larvae are capable of motion and commence
feeding, they eat the pollen by which they are surrounded, and,
gradually separating, push their way in various directions.
Eating as they move, and increasing in size quite rapidly, they
soon make large cavities in the pollen mass. When they have
attained their full size, they spin a silken wall about them, which
is strengthened by the old bees covering it with a thin layer of
wax, which soon becomes hard and tough, thus forming a cell
(Fig. 15, 1, cell containing a larva, on top of which (2) is a pol-
len mass containing three eggs). The larvae now gradually at-

* Notes on the Habits of the Humble Bee (Proceedings of the Essex Insti-
tute, vol. iv, 1864, p. 101).

Mr. Angus also writes us as follows concerning the habits of the Wan-
dering Humble bee (Bombus vagans): "I have found the males plentiful
near our garden fence, within a hole such as would be made by a mouse.
They seem to be quite numerous. I was attracted to it by the noise they
were making in fanning at the opening. I counted at one time as many
as seven thus employed, and the sound could be heard several yards off.
Several males were at rest, but mostly on the wing, when they would make
a dash among the fanners, and all would scatter and play about. The
workers seem to be of a uniform size, and full as large as the males. I
think the object of the fanning was to introduce air into the nest, as is done
by the Honey bees."

20 THE HOME OF THE BEES.

tain the pupa stage, and remain inactive until their full develop-
ment. They then cut their way out, and are ready to assume
their duties as workers, small females, males or queens.

"It is apparent that the irregular disposition of the cells is
due to their being constructed so peculiarly by the larvae. After
the first brood, composed of workers, has come forth, the queen
bee devotes her time principally to her duties at home, the
workers supplying the colony with honey and pollen. As the
queen continues prolific, more workers are added, and the nest
is rapidly enlarged.

"About the middle of summer, eggs are deposited, which
produce both small females and males." . . . ."All eggs laid
after the last of July produce the large females, or queens, and,
the males being still in the nest, it is presumed that the queens
are impregnated at this time, as on the approach of cold weather
all except the queens, of which there are several in each nest,
die."

While the Humble bee in some respects shows much less
instinct than the solitary bees mentioned below, it stands higher
in the series, however, from having workers, as well as males
and females, who provide food for the young. The labors of
the Mason bees, and their allies, terminate after the cell is once
constructed and filled with pollen. The eggs are then left to
hatch, and the young care for themselves, though the adult bee
shows greater skill in architecture than the Humble bee. It is
thus throughout nature. Many forms, comparatively low in the
scale of life, astonish us with certain characters or traits, remind-
ing us of beings much superior, physically and intellectually.
The lower forms constantly reach up
and in some way ally themselves with
creatures far more highly organized.
Thus the fish-like seal reminds us
strikingly of the clog, both in the form
of the head, in its docility and great in-
telligence when tamed, and even in its
bark and the movements of the head.
The* parasites of the Humble bee are
numerous. Such are the species of
16. Meloe. Apathus, which so closely resembles

the Humble bee itself, that it requires long study to distinguish
it readily. Its habits are not known, other than that it is found

THE CARPENTER BEE. 21

in the nests of its host. It differs from the Humble bee in having
no pollen-basket, showing that its larvae must feed on the food
stored up by their host, as it does not itself collect it. The
mandibles also are not, like those of Bombus, trowel-shaped for
architectural purposes, but acutely triangular, and are probably
not used in building.

Tlie caterpillars of various moths consume the honey and
waxen cells ; the two- winged flies, Volucella and Conops, and
the larva? of what is either an Anthomyia or Tachina-like fly,
and several species of another genus of flies, Anthrax, together
with several beetles, such as the Meloe (Fig. 16), Stylops (Fig.
17, male; 18&, female; a, position in the body of its host), and
Antherophagus prey upon them.

The power of boring the most symmetrical tunnels in solid
wood reaches its perfection in the large Virginian Carpenter bee

17. Male Stylops.

(Xylocopa Virginica, Fig. 19). This bee is as large as, and some
allied exotic species are often considerably larger than, the Hum-
ble bee, but not clothed with such dense hairs. We have received
from Mr. James Angus, of West Farms, N. Y., a piece of trellis
from a grape vine, made of pine wood, containing the cells and
young in various stages of growth, together with the larva? and
chrysalids of Anthrax sinuosa (Fig. 20), a species of fly parasitic
on the larva. The maggot buries its head in the soft body of
the young bee and feeds on its juices.

Mr. Angus thus writes us regarding its habits, under date of
July 19 : "I asked an intelligent and observing carpenter yes-
terday, if he knew how long it took the Xylocopa to bore her
tunnel. He said he thought she bored about one-quarter of an

22

THE HOME OF THE BEES.

inch a day. I don't think myself she bores more than one-half
inch, if she does that. If I mistake not, it takes her about two

days to make her own length at
the iirst start; but this being
across the grain of the wood,
may not be so easily done as the
remainder, which runs parallel
with it. She always follows the
grain of the wood, with the ex-
ception of the entrance, which
is about her own length. The
tunnels run from one to one and
a half feet in length. They gen-
erally run in opposite directions
from the opening, and sometimes
other galleries are run, one di-
rectly above the other, using the

same opening. I think they only
18. Female Stylops. mftke n(JW tunnels when old ones

are not to be found, and that the same tunnels are used for many
years. Some of the old tunnels are very wide. I have found
parts of them about an inch in diameter. I think this is caused
by rasping off the sides to procure the necessary material for
constructing their cells. The partitions are composed of wood
raspings, and some sticky fluid, probably saliva, to make them
adhere.

" The tunnels are sometimes taken possession of by other bees
and wasps. I think when this is the case, the Xylocopa prefers
making a new cell, to cleaning
out the dirt and rubbish of the
other species. I frequently find
these bees remaining for a long
time on the wing close to the
opening, and bobbing their
heads against the side, as if
fanning air into the opening. I
have seen them thus employed
for twenty minutes. Whether
one bee or more makes the tun- 19- Carpenter Bee.

nel, that is, whether they take turns in boring, I cannot at
present say. In opening the cella (Fig. 21), more than one are

THE CARPENTER BEE. 23

generally found, even at this season. About two weeks ago, I
found as many as seven, I think, in one." *

The hole is divided by partitions into cells about seven-tenths
of an inch long. These partitions are constructed of the coarse
dust or chippings made by the bee in
eating put her cells, for our active little
carpenter is provided with strong cut-
ting jaws, moved by powerful muscles,
and on her legs are stiff brushes of hair
for cleaning out the tunnel as she de-
scends into the heart of the solid wood,
She must throw out the chips she bite§
off with her powerful mandibles from
the sides of the burrow, by means of her
hind legs, passing the load of chips back-
wards out of the cell with her fore limbs,

which she uses as

hands.
The partitions are

built most elaborately

of a single flattened

band of chips, which

is rolled up into a coil

four layers deep. One

side, forming the bot-
20. Larva and Pupa torn of the cell, is con-
of Anthrax, cave, being beaten
down and smoothed off by the bee. The
other side of the partition, forming the
top of the cell, is flat and rough.

At the time of opening the burrow,
July 8th, the cells contained nearly full-
grown larvaB, with some half developed.
They were feeding on the masses of
pollen, which were as large as a thick kid-
ney bean, and occupied nearly half the
celL The larvre (Fig. 21) resemble those 21- Nest of Carpenter Bee.
of the Humble bee, but are slenderej*, tapering more rapidly
towards each end of the body.

* " Since writing the above I have opened one of the new holes of Xylo-
copa, which was commenced between three and four weeks ago, in a pine

** THE HOME OF THE BEES.

The habits and structure of the little green Ceratina ally it
closely with Xylocopa. This pretty bee, named Ceratina dupla
by Mr. Say, tunnels out the stems of the elder or
blackberry, syringa, or any pithy shrub, excavating
them often to a depth of six or seven inches. She
makes the walls just wide enough to admit her
body, and of a depth capable of holding three or
four, often five or six cells (Fig. 22). The finely
built cells, with their delicate silken walls, are
cylindrical and nearly square at each end, though
the free end of the last cell is rounded off. They
are four and a half tenths of an inch long, and a lit-
tle over one-third as broad. The bee places them
at nearly equal distances apart, the slight interval
between them being filled in with dirt.

Dr. T. W. Harris states that May 15, 1832, one
female laid its eggs in the hollow of an aster stalk.
Three perfect insects were disclosed from it July
28th. The observations of Mr. Angus, who saw
some bees making their cells May 18th, also con-
firm this account. The history of our little uphol-
sterer is thus cleared up. Late in the spring she
builds her cells, fills them with pollen, and lays one
or more eggs upon each mass. Thus in about two
Ceratina. months the insect completes its transformations ;
within this period % passing through the egg, the larva and
chrysalid states, and then, as a bee, living a few days more, if a

slat used in the staging of the greenhouse. The dimensions were as fol-
lows : — Opening fully 3-8 wide ; depth 7-16 ; whole length of tunnel 6 5-16
inches. The tunnel branched both ways from the hole. One end, from
opening, was 2 5-8, containing three cells, two with larva and pollen, the
third empty. The other side of the opening, or the rest of the tunnel,
was empty, with the exception of the old bee (only one) at work. I think
this was the work of one bee, and, as near as I can judge, about twenty-
five days' work. Width of tunnel inside at widest 9-16 inch.

I have just found a Xylocopa bobbing at one of the holes, and in order to
ascertain the depth of the tunnel, and to see whether there were any others
in them, I sounded with a pliable rod, and found others in one side, at a
depth of five and one half inches; the other side was four inches deep
without bees. The morning w*as cool, so that the object in bobbing could
not have been to introduce fresh currents of air, but must have had some
relation to those inside. Their legs on such occasions are, as I have
noticed, loaded with pollen."

THE CARPENTER BEE.

26

23. Larva of Ceratina.

male ; or if a female, living through the winter. Her life thus

spans one year.

The larva (Fig. 23) is longer than that of Megachile, and com-
pared with that of Xylocopa, the different segments are much

more convex, giving a serrate outline

to the back of the worm. The pupa,

or chrysalis, we have found in the

cells the last of July. It is white,

and three-tenths of an inch long. It

differs from that of the Leaf-cutter bee in having four spines on

the end of the body.
In none of the wild bees are the cells constructed with more

nicety than those of our little Ceratiua. She bores out with

her jaws a long deep well just the size of her body, and then
stretches a thin, delicate cloth of silk
drawn tight as a drum-head across each
end of her chambers, which she then fills
with a mixture of pollen and honey.

25. Tailor Bee.

Her young are not, in this supposed
retreat, entirely free from danger. The
most invidious foes enter and attack the
brood. Three species of Ichneumon flies,
24. Nest of Tailor Bee. two of which belong to the Chalcid fam-
ily, lay their eggs within the body of the larva, and emerge
from the dried larva and pupa skins of the bee, often in great
numbers. The smallest parasite, belonging to the genus Antlio-
phorabia, so called from being first known as a parasite on
another bee (Anthophora), is a minute species found also abun-
dantly in the tight cells of the Leaf-cutter bee.
3

26 THE HOME OF THE BEES.

The interesting habits of the Leaf- cutting, or Tailor bee
(Megachile), have always attracted attention. This bee is a
stout, thick-bodied insect, with a large, square head, stout,
sharp, scissors-like jaws, and with a thick mass of stout, dense
hairs on the under side of the tail for carrying pollen, as she is
not provided with the pollen-basket of the Honey and Humble
bees.

The Megachile lays its eggs in burrows in the stems of the
elder (Fig. 24), which we have received from Mr. James Angus ;
we have also found them in the hollows of the locust tree. Mr.
F. W. Putnam thus speaks of the economy of M. ceutuncularis,
our most common species. " My attention was first called, on
the 26th of June, to" a female busily engaged in bringing pieces
of leaf to her cells, which she was building under a board, on
the roof of the piazza, directly under my window. Nearly the
whole rnorning was occupied by the bee in bringing pieces of
leaf from a rose bush growing about ten yards from her cells,
returning at intervals of a half minute to a minute with the
pieces, which she carried in such a manner as not to impede
her steps when she alighted near her hole." When the Leaf-
cutter bee wishes to cut out a piece of a leaf (Fig. 25) she alights
upon the leaf, and in a few seconds swiftly runs her scissors-
like jaws around through it, bearing off the piece in her hind
legs. " About noon she had probably completed the cell, upon
which she had been engaged, as, during the afternoon, she was
occupied in bringing pollen, preparatory to laying her single
egg in the cell. -For about twenty days the bee continued at
work, building new cells and supplying them with pollen. . . .
On the 28th of July, upon removing the board, it was found that
the bee had made thirty cells, arranged in nine rows of unequal
length, some, being slightly curved to adapt them to the space
under the board. The longest row contained six cells, and was
two and three-quarters inches in length ; the whole leaf struc-
ture being equal to a length of fifteen inches. Upon making an
estimate of the pieces of leaf in this structure, it was ascertained
that there must have been at least a thousand pieces used. In
addition to the labor of making the cplls, this bee, unassisted
in all her duties, had to collect the requisite amount of pollen
(and honey ?) for each cell, and lay her eggs therein, when com-
pleted. Upon carefully cutting out a portion of one of the cells,
a full-grown larva was seen engaged in spinning a slight silken

THE MASON BEE. 27

cocoon about the walls of its prison, which were quite hard and
smooth on the inside, probably owing to the movements of the
larva, and the consequent pressing of the sticky particles to the
walls. In a short time the opening made was closed over by a
very thin silken web. The cells, measured on the inside of the
hard walls, were .35 of an inch in length, and .15 in diameter.
The natural attitude of the larva is somewhat curved in its cell,
but if straightened, it just equals the
inside length of the cell. On the 31st
of July, two female bees came out,
having cut their way through the sides
of their cells." In three other cells
" several hundred minute Ichneumons
(Anthophorabia megachilis) were
seen, which came forth as soon as the
cells were opened."

The habits of the little blue or green
Mason bees (Osmia) are quite varied.
They construct their cells in the stems
of plants, and in rotten posts arid trees,
or, like Andrena, they burrow in sunny
banks. A European species selects
snail shells for its nest, wherein it
builds its earthen cells, while other
species nidificate under stones. Curtis
found two hundred and thirty cocoons
of a British species (Osmia paretina),
placed on the under side of aflat stone,
of which one-third were empty. Of
the remainder, the most appeared be-
tween March and June, males appear-
ing first; tjiirty-flve more bees were
developed the following spring. Thus
there were three successive broods, 26. Nest of Osmia

for three succeeding years, so that these bees lived three years
before arriving at maturity. This may partly account for insect
years, which are like "apple years," seasons when bees and
wasps, as well as other insects, abound in unusual numbers

Mr. G. K. Waterhouse, in the Transactions of the Entomo
logical Society of London, for 1864, states that the cells of
Osmia leucomelana "are formed of mud, and each cell is built

28 THE HOME OF THE BEES.

separately. The female bee, having deposited a small pellet of
mud in a sheltered spot between some tufts of grass, immedi-
ately begins to excavate a small cavity in its upper surface,
scraping the mud away from the centre towards the margin by
means of her jaws. A small, shallow mud-cup is thus produced.
It is rough and uneven on the outer surface, but beautifully
smooth on the inner. On witnessing thus much of the work
performed, I was struck with three points : first, the rapidity
with which the insect worked; secondly, the tenacity with
which she kept her original position whilst excavating; and
thirdly, her constantly going over work which had apparently
been completed. . . . The lid is excavated and rendered concave
on its outer or upper surface, and is convex and rough on its
inner surface ; and, in fact, is a simple repetition of the first-
formed portion of the cell, a part of a hollow sphere."

The largest species of Osmia known to us is a very dark-blue
species (O. lignivora). We are indebted to a lady for speci-
mens of the bees with their cells, which had been excavated in
the interior of a maple tree several inches from the bark. The
bee had industriously tunnelled o*ut this elaborate burrow (Fig.
26), and, in this respect, resembled the habits of the Carpenter
bee more closely than any other species of its genus.

The tunnel was over three inches long, and about three-tenths
of an inch wide. It contracted a little in width between the
cell, showing that the bee worked intelligently, and wasted no
more of her energies than was absolutely necessary. The bur-
row contained five cells, each half an inch long, being rather
short and broad, with the hinder end rounded, while the oppo-
site end, next to the one adjoining, is cut off squarely. The cell
is somewhat jug-shaped, owing to a slight constriction just
behind the mouth. The material of which the cell is composed
is stout, silken, parchment-like, and very smooth within. The
interstices between the cells are filled in with rather coarse
chippings made by the bee.

The bee cut its way out of the cells in March, and lived for a
month afterwards on a diet of honey and water. It eagerly
lapped up the drops of water supplied by its keeper, to whom it
soon grew accustomed, and seemed to recognize.

Our smallest and most abundant species is the little green
Osmia simillima. It builds its little oval, somewhat urn-shaped
cells against the roof of the large deserted galls of the oak-gall

THE MASON BEE. 29

fly (Diplolepis confluentus), placing them, in this instance eleven
in number, in two irregular rows, from which the mature bees
issue through a hole in the gall (Fig. 27, with two separate cells).
The earthen cells, containing the tough dense cocoons, were
arranged irregularly so as to fit the concave vault of the larger
gall, which was about two inches in diameter. On emerging
from the cell the Osmia cuts out with its powerful jaws an ovate
lid, nearly as large as one side of the cell.

In the Harris collection are the cells and specimens of Osmia
pacifica, the peaceful Osmia, which, according to the manuscript

27. Nest of Osmia in a gall.

notes of Dr. Harris, is found in tne perfect state in earthen cells
beneath stones. The cell is oval cylindrical, a little contracted
as usual with those of all the species of the genus, thus forming
an urn-shaped cell. It is half an inch long, and nearly three-
tenths of an inch wide, while the cocoon, which is rather thin,
is three-tenths of an inch long. We are not acquainted with
the habits of the larva and pupa in this country, but Mr. F.
Smith states that the larva of the English species hatches in
eight days after the eggs are laid, feeds ten to twelve days, when
it becomes full-grown, then spins a thin silken covering, and
remains in an inactive state until the following spring, when it
completes its transformations.

30

THE HOME OF THE BEES.

In the economy of our wild bees we see the manifestation of
a wonderful instinct, as well as the exhibition of a limited reason.
We can scarcely deny to animals a kind of reason which appar-
ently differs only in degree from that of man. Each species
works in a sphere limited by physical laws, but within that
sphere it is a free agent. They have enough of instinct and
reason to direct their lives, and to enable them to act their part
in carrying out the plan of creation.

Paper Wasp.

CHAPTER II.

THE HOME OF THE BEES.
[Concluded.]

WHILE the Andrena and Halictus bees, whose habits we now
describe, are closely allied in form to the Hive tfee, socially they
are the " mud-sills " of bee society, ranking among the lowest
forms of the family of bees. Their burrowing habits ally them
with the ants, from whose nests their own burrows can scarcely
be distinguished. Their economy does not seem to demand the
exercise of so much of a true reasoning power and pliable in-
stinct as characterizes bees, such as the Honey and Humble bee,
which possess a high architectural skill. Moreover they are
not social ; they have no *part in rearing and caring for their
young, a fact that lends so much interest to the history of the
Hive and Humble bee. In this respect they are far below the
wasps, a family belonging next below in the system of Nature.

A glance at the drawing (Fig. 28), of a burrow, with its side
galleries, of the Andreua vicina, reveals the economy of one
of our most common forms. Quite early in spring, when the
sun and vernal breezes have dried up the soil, and the fields
exchange their rusty hues for the rich green verdure of May,
our Andrena, tired of its idle life among the blossoms of the
willow, the wild cherry, and garden flowers, suddenly becomes
remarkably industrious, and wields its spade-like jaws and busy
feet with a strange and unwonted energy. Choosing some
sunny, warm, grassy bank (these nests were observed in the
"great pasture" of Salem), not always with a southern expo-
sure however, the female sinks her deep well through the sod
from six inches to a foot into the sandy soil beneath. She goes
to work literally tooth and nail. Reasoning from observations

(31)

THE HOME OF THE BEES.

Fig. 28.

Nest (natural size) of Andrena vicina,
showing the main burrow, and the
cells leading from it; the oldest cell
containing the pupa (a) is situated
nearest the surface, while those con-
taining the larva (6) lie between the
pupa and the coll (e) containing the
pollen mass and egg resting upon it.
The most recent cell (/) is the deep-
est down, and contains a freshly
deposited pollen mass. At c is the
beginning of a cell; g, level of the
ground.

made on several species of
wasps, and also from studying
the structure of her jaws and
legs, it is evident that she digs
in and loosens the soil with her
powerful jaws, and then throws
out the dirt with her legs. She
uses her fore legs like hands, to
pass the load of dirt to her hind
legs, and then 'runs backward
out of her hole to clump it clown
behind her. Mr. Emerton tells
me that he never saw a bee in
the act of digging but once,
and then she left oft' after a few
strokes. He also says, "they
are harmless and inoffensive.
On several occasions I have lain
on the grass near their holes for
hours, but not one attempted to
sting me; and when taken be-
tween the fingers, they make but
feeble resistance."

To enter somewhat into detail,
we gather from the observations
of Mr. Emerton (who has care-
fully watched the habits of these
bees through several seasons)
the following account of the
economy of this bee : On the 4th
of May the bees were seen dig-
ging their holes, most of which
were already two inches deep,
and one, six inches. The mounds
of earth were so small as to be
hardly noticed. At this time
an Oil beetle was seen prowling
about the holes. The presence
of this dire foe of Audrena at this
time, it will be seen in a suc-
ceeding chapter on the enemies

THE GROUND BEE. 33

of the bees, is quite significant. By the loth of May, hundreds
of Andrena holes were found in various parts of the pasture,
and at one place, in a previous season, there were about two
hundred found placed within a small area. One cell was dug
up, but it contained no pollen. Four days later, several Andre-
nas were noticed resting from their toil at the opening of their
burrows. On the 28th of May, in unearthing six holes, eight
cells were found to contain pollen, and in two of them a small
larva. The pellets of pollen are about the size of a small pea.
They are hard and round at first, before the young has hatched,
but as the larva grows, the mass becomes softer and more
pasty, so that the larva buries its head in the mass, and greedily
sucks it in. When is the pollen gathered by the bee and kneaded
into the pellet-like mass? On July 4th, a cell was opened in
which was a bee busily engaged preparing the pollen, which was
loosely and irregularly piled up, while there was a larva in an
adjoining cell nearly half an inch long. It would seem, then,
that the bee comes in from the fields laden with her stores of
pollen, which she elaborates into bee bread within her cell.

When the bee returns to her cell she does not directly fly
towards the entrance, since, as was noticed in a particular
instance, she flew about for a long time in all directions without
any apparent aim, until she finally settled near the hole, and
walked into her subterranean retreat. On a rainy clay, May
24th, our friend visited the colony, but found no bees flying
about the holes. The little Jiillocks had been beaten down by
the pitiless raindrops, and all traces of their industry effaced.
On digging down, several bees were found, indicating that on
rainy days they seek the shelter of their holes, and do not take
refuge under leaves of the plants they frequent.

On the 29th of June, six full-grown Iarva3 were exhumed, and
one, about half grown. On the 20th of July, the colony seemed
well organized, as, on laying open a burrow at the depth of six
inches, he began to find cells. The upper ones, to the number
of a dozen, were deserted and filled with earth and grass roots,
and had evidently been built and used during the previous year.
Below these were eight cells placed around the main vertical
gallery, reaching down to the depth of thirteen inches, and all
containing nearly full-grown larvae of the bees, or else those of
some parasitic bee (Nomada) which had devoured the food pre-
pared for the young Andrena.

34: THE HOME OF THE BEES.

About the first of August the larva transforms to a pupa or
chrysalis, as at this time two pupse were found in cells a foot
beneath the surface. As shown in the cut, those cells situated
lowest down seem to be the last to have been made, while the
eggs laid in the highest are the first to hatch, and the larvae
disclosed from them, the first to change to pupae. Four days
later the pupaj of Cuckoo bees (Nomada) were found in the
cells. No Andrenas were seen flying about at this time.

On the 24th of August, to be still very circumstantial in our
narrative though at the risk of being tedious, three burrows
were unearthed, and in them three fully formed bees were found
nearly ready to leave their cells, and in addition several pupea.
In some other cells there were three of the parasitic Nomada
also nearly ready to come out, which seemed to be identical
with some bees noticed playing very innocently about the holes
early in the summer.

On the last day of August, very few of the holes were open.
A number of Oil beetles were strolling suspiciously about in the
neighborhood, and some little black Ichneumon flies were seen
running about among the holes.

During midsummer the holes were found closed night and
day by clods of earth.

The burrow is sunken perpendicularly, with short passages
leading to the cells, which are slightly inclined downwards and
outwards from the main gallery. The walls of the gallery are
rough, but the cells are lined with a mucous-like secretion,
which, on hardening, looks like the glazing of earthenware.
This glazing is quite hard, and breaks up into angular pieces.
It is evidently the work of the bee herself, and is not secreted
and laid on by the larva. The diameter of the interior of the
cell is about one-quarter of an inch, contracting a little at the
mouth. When the cell is taken out, the dirt adheres for a line
in thickness, so that it is of the size and form of an acorn.

The larva of Andrena (Fig. 29) is soft and fleshy, like that of
the Honey bee. Its body is flattened, bulging out prominently
at the sides, and tapering more rapidly than usual towards each
end of the body. The skin is very thin, so that along the back
the heart or dorsal vessel maybe distinctly seen, pulsating about
sixty times a minute.

Our cut (Fig. 28, a) also represents the pupa, or chrysalis, as
seen lying in its cell. The limbs are folded close to the body

THE GROUND BEE.

35

in the most compact way possible. On the head of the semi-
pupa, i. e., a transition state between the larva and pupa, there
.are two prominent tubercles situated behind the simple eyes, or
ocelli; these are deciduous organs, apparently aiding the insect
in moving about its cell. They disappear in the mature pupa.

To those accustomed to rearing butterflies, and seeing the
chrysalis at once assuming its perfected shape, after the caterpil-
lar skin is thrown off, it may seem strange to hear one speak of a
"half-pupa," and of stages intermediate
between the larva and pupa. But the ex-
ternal changes of form, though rapidl}T
passed through, consisting apparently of a Fig. 31.
mere sloughing off of the outer skin, are
yet preceded by slow and very gradual
alterations of tissues, resulting from the
growth of cells. An inner layer of the
larva-skin separates from the outer, and,
by changes in the form of the muscles, is
drawn into different positions, such as is
assumed by the pupa, which thus lies con-
cealed beneath the larva-skin. But a rig. 29.
slight alteration is made in the general
form of the larva, consisting mostly of an
enlargement of the thoracic segments,
which is often overlooked, even by the
special student, though of great interest
to the philosophic naturalist.

From Mr. Emerton's observations we
should judge that the pupa state lasted
from three to four weeks, as the larvae Fig. 30.
began to transform the first of August,
and appeared during the last week of the
same month as perfect bees.

The Andrena is seen as late as the first Fig. 31. Larva of Halic-

tus parallclus.

week in September, and again early in Fig. 29. .Larva of Andre-
April, about the flowers of the willow. ri^so^Pupa of Haiic-

It is one of the largest of its genus and a *us parallclus seen

from beneath,
common species.

Having, in a very fragmentary way, sketched the life history
of our Andrena, and had some glimpses of its subterranean life,
let us now compare with it another genus of solitary bee

36 THE HOME OF THE BEES.

(Halictus), quite closely allied in all respects, though a little
lower in the scale.

The Halictus parallelus excavates cells almost exactly like
those of Andrena; but since the bee is smaller, the holes are
smaller, though as deep. Mr. Emerton found one nest in a
path a foot in depth. Another nest, discovered September 9th,
was about six inches deep. The cells are in form like those of
Andrena, and like them, are glazed within. The egg is rather
slenderer and much curved; in form it is long, cylindrical,
obtuse at one end, and much smaller at the other. The larva
(Fig. 31) is longer and slenderer, being quite different from the
rather broad and flattened larva of Andrena. The body is
rather thick behind, but in front tapers slowly towards the
head, which is of moderate size. Its body is somewhat tuber-
culated, the tubercle aiding the grub in moving about its cell.
Its length is nearly one-half (.40) of an inch. On the pupa are
four quite distinct conical tubercles forming a transverse line
just in front of the ocelli ; and there are also two larger, longer
tubercles, on the outer side of each of which, an ocellus is
situated. Figure 30 represents the pupa seen from beneath.

Search was made on July 16th, where the ground was hard as
stone for six inches in depth, below which the soil was soft and
fine, and over twenty cells were dug out. "The upper cells
contained nearly mature pupa3, and the lower ones, Iarva3 of
various sizes, the smallest being hardly distinguishable by the
naked eye. Each of these small Iarva3 was in a cell by itself,
and situated upon a lump of pollen, which was the size and
shape of a pea, and was found to lessen in size as the larva
grew larger. These young were probably the offspring of
several females, as four mature bees were found in the hole."
The larva of an English species hatches in ten days after the
eggs are laid.

Another brood of bees appeared the middle of September, as
on the ninth of that month (18G4) Mr. Emerton found several
holes of the same species of bee, made in a hard gravel road
near the turnpike. When opened, they were found to contain
several bees with their young. September 2d, of this year,
the same kind of bee was found in holes, and just ready to leave
the cell. It is probable that these bees winter over.

"We have incidentally noticed the presence in the nests of
Andrena and Halictus of a stranger bee, clad in gay, fantastic

THE CUCKOO BEE: 37

hues, which lives a parasitic life on its hosts. This parasitism
does not go far enough to cause the death of the host, since we
find the young of the parasitic Cuckoo bee, in cells containing
the young of the former.

Mr. F. Smith, in his "Catalogue of British Bees," says of this
genus : "No one appears to know anything beyond the mere
fact of their entering the burrows of Andrenidse and Apida3,
except that they are found in the cells of the working bees in
their perfect condition: it is most probable that they deposit
their eggs on the provision laid up by the working bee, that
they close up the cell, and that the working bee, finding an egg
deposited, commences a fresh cell for her own progeny."

He has, however, found two specimens of Nomada sexfasciata
in the cells of the long-horned bee, Eucera longicornis. He
also states, that while some species are constant in their attacks
on certain Halicti and Andrenre, others attack different species
of these genera indiscriminately. In like manner another
Cuckoo bee (Ccelioxys) is parasitic on Megachile and Saropoda ;
Stelis is a parasite on Osmia, the Mason bee : and Melecta
infests the cells of Anthophora. '

The observations of Mr. Emerton enable us still further to
clear up the history of this obscure visitor. He found both the
larva and pupa, as well as the perfect bee, in the cells of both
genera; so that either both kinds of bee, when hatched from
eggs laid in the same cell, feed on the same pollen mass, which
therefore barely suffices for the nourishment of both; or the
hostess, discovering the strange egg laid, cuckoo-like, in her
own nest, has the forethought to deposit another ball of pollen
to secure the safety of her young.

Is such an act the operation of a blind instinct? Does it not
rather ally our little bee with those higher animals which
undoubtedly possess a reasoning power? Its instinct teaches it
to build cells, and prepare its pollen mass, and lay an egg
thereon. Its reason enables it, in such an instance as this,
when the life of the brood is threatened, to guard against any
such danger by means to which it does not habitually resort.
This instance is paralleled by the case of our common summer
Yellow bird, which, on finding an egg of the Cow bunting in its
nest, often builds a new nest above it, to the certain destruc-
tion of the unwelcome egg in the nest beneath.

In the structure of the bee, and in all its stages of growth,
4

38 THE' HOME OF THE BEES.

our parasite seems lower in the zoological-scale than its host.
It is structurally a degraded form of Working-bee, and its posi-
tion socially is unenviable. It is lazy, not having the provi-
dent habits of the Working-bees ; it aids not in the least, so far
as we know, the cross-fertilization of plants,— one great office
in the economy of nature which most bees perform,— since it is
not a pollen-gatherer, but on the contrary is seemingly a drag
and hinderance to the course of nature. But yet nature kindly,
and as if by a special interposition, provides for its main-
tenance, and the humble naturalist can only exclaim, " God is
great, and his ways mysterious," and go on studying and col-
lecting facts, leaving to his successors the more difficult task,
but greater joy of discovering the cause and reason of things
that are but a puzzle to the philosophers of this day.

The larva of Nomada may be known from those of its host, by
its slenderer body and smaller head, while the body is smoother
and more cylindrical. Both sexes of Nomada imbricata and
N. pulchella were found by Mr. Emerton, the former in both the
Audreua and Halictus nests, and both were found in a single
Audrena nest.

Wood Wasp.

CHAPTER III.

0 THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY BEE.

VERY few bee-keepers are probably aware how many insect
parasites infest the Honey bee. In our own literature we hear
almost nothing of this subject, but ill Europe much has been
written on bee parasites. From Dr. Edward Assmuss' little
work on the "Parasites of the Honey Bee," we glean some of
the facts now presented, and which cannot fail to interest the
general reader as well as the owner of bees.

The study of the habits of animal parasites has of late gained
much attention among naturalists, and both the honey and wild
bees afford good examples of the singular relation between the
host and the parasites which live upon it. Among insects gen-
erally, there are certain species which devour the contents of
the egg of the victim. Others, and this is the most common
mode of parasitism, attack the insect in its larva state ; others,
in the pupa state, and still others in the perfect, or imago state.
Dr. Leidy has shown that the wood-devouring species of beetle,
Passalus cornutus, and some Myriopods, or "thousand legs,"
are, in some cases, tenanted by myriads of microscopic plants
and worms which luxuriate in the alimentary canal, while the
"caterpillar-fungus" attacks sickly caterpillars, filling out their
bodies, and sending out shoots into the air, so that the insect
looks as if transformed into a vegetable.

The Ichneumon flies, of which there are undoubtedly several
thousand species in this country, are the most common insect
parasites. Next to these are the different species of Tachina
and its allied genera. These, like Ichneumons, live in the bodies
of their hosts, consuming the fatty parts, and finishing their

(39)

40 THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY BEE.

transformations just as the exhausted host is ready to die, issue
from their bodies as flies, closely resembling the common house-

fly.

A small fly has been found in Europe to be the most formid-
able foe of the hive bee, sometimes producing the well-known
disease called "foul-brood," which is analogous to the typhus
fever of man.

This fly, belonging to the genus Phora (Fig. 32, Phora incras-
sata; a, larva; 5, puparium; c, another species from Mammoth

32. Phora and its Young.

Cave), is a small insect about a line and a half long, and found
in Europe during the summer and autumn flying slowly about
flowers and windows, and in the vicinity of beehives. Its white,
transparent larva is cylindrical, a little pointed before, but
broader behind. The head is small and rounded, with short,
three-jointed antenna?, and at the posterior end of the body are
several slender spines. The puparium, or pupa case, inclosing
the delicate chrysalis, is oval, consisting of eight segments,
flattened above, with two large spines near the head, and four
on the extremity of the body.

When impelled by instinct to provide for the continuance of
its species, the Phora enters the beehive and gains admission
to a cell, when it bores with its ovipositor through the skin of
the bee larva, laying its long oval egg in a horizontal position
just under the skin. The embryo of the Phora is already well
developed, S*o that in three hours after the egg is inserted in the
body of its unsuspecting and helpless host, the embryo is nearly
ready to hatch. In about two hours more it actually breaks off
the larger end of the egg-shell and at once begins to eat the
fatty tissues of its victim, its posterior half still remaining in
the shell. In an hour more, it leaves the egg entirely and buries
itself completely in the fatty portion of the young bee.

THE PHORA PARASITE.

41

The maggot moults three times. In twelve hours after the
last moult it turns around with its head towards the posterior
end of the body of its host, and in another twelve hours, having
become full-fed, it bores through the skin of the young, eats its
way through the brood-covering of the cell and falls to the bot-
tom of the hive, where it changes to a pupa in the dust and dirt,
or else creeps out of the door and transforms in the earth.
Twelve days after, the fly appears.

The young bee, emaciated and enfeebled by the attacks of its
ravenons parasite, dies, and its decaying body fills the bottom
of the cell with a slimy, foul-smelling mass, called "foul-brood."
This gives rise to a miasma which poisons the neighboring
brood, until the contagion (for the disease is analogous to
typhus, jail or ship-fever) spreads through the whole hive, unless
promptly checked by removing the cause and thoroughly cleans-
ing the hive.

'Foul-brood sometimes attacks our American hives, and, though
the cause may not be known, yet from the hints given above we
hope to have the history of our species of Phora cleared up,
should our disease be found to be sometimes due to the attacks
of such a parasitic fly.

• We figure the Bee louse of Europe (Fig. 33 5, Braula caeca),
which is a singular wingless spider-like fly, allied to the wing-
less Sheep tick (Melophagus), the wingless Bat tick (Nycteribia)

33. Bee Louse and Larva.

and the winged Horse fly (Hippobosca). The head is very large,
without eyes or ocelli (simple eyes), while the ovate hind-body
consists of five segments, and is covered with stiff hairs. It is
one-half to two- thirds of a line long. This spider fly is "pupi-
parous," that is, the young, of which only a very few are pro-

42

THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY BEE.

34. Hive Tricliodes.

duced, is not born until it has assumed the pupa state or is just
about to do so. The larva (Fig. 33 a) is oval, eleven-jointed,
and white in color. The very day it is hatched, it sheds its skin
and changes to an oval puparium of & dark brown color.

Its habits resemble those of the flea. Indeed, should we com-
press its body strongly, it would bear a striking resemblance to
that insect. It is evidently a connecting link between the flea,

and the two winged flies.
Like the former it lives on
the body of its host, and ob-
tains its food by plunging its
stout beak into the bee and
sucking its blood.

It has not been noticed in
this country, but is liable to
be imported on the bodies of
Italian bees. Generally, one
or two of the Braulas may, on
close examination, be detected
on the body of the bee ; sometimes the poor bees are loaded
down by as many as a hundred of these hungry blood-suckers.
Assmuss recommends rubbing them off with a feather, as the
bee goes in and out of the door of its hive.

Among the beetles are a few forms occasionally found in bees'
nests and also parasitic on the body of the bee. Trichodes
apiarius (Fig. 34, a, larva; &, pupa,
front view) has long been known in
Europe to attack the young bees. In •
its perfect, or beetle state it is found
on flowers, like our Trichodes Nuttallii,
which is commonly found on the Spiraea
in August, and which npy yet prove
to enter our beehives. The larva de-
vours the brood, but with the modern
hive its ravages maybe readily detected.

The Oil beetle, Meloe angusticollis 35. Meloe.

(Fig. 35, male, differing from the female by having the anten-
nae as if twisted into a knot ; Fig. 36, the active larva found on
.the body of the bee), is a large dark blue insect found crawling
in the grass in the vicinity of the nests of Andrena, Halictus,
and other wild bees in May, and again in August and September.

THE MKLOB PARASITE.

43

The eggs are laid in a mass covered with earth at the root of
some plant. During April and early in May, when the willows
are in blossom, we have found the young recently hatched larvae
in considerable abundance creeping briskly over the bees, or with
their heads plunged between the segments of the body, greedily
sucking in the juices of their host. Those that we saw occurred
on the Humble and other wild bees, and on various flies (Syr-
phus and Muscidae), and there is no reason why they should not
infest the Honey bee, which frequents similar flowers, as they are
actually known to do in Europe. These larvae are probably
hatched out near where the bees hibernate, so as to creep into
their bodies before they fly in the spring, as it would be impos-

Early Stages of Meloe.

sible for them to crawl up a willow tree ten feet high or more,
their feet being solely adapted for climbing over the hairy body
of the bee, which they do not leave until about to undergo their
strange and unusual transformations.

In Europe, Assmuss states that on being brought into the nest
by the bee, they leave the bee and devour the eggs in the bee
cells, and then attack the bee bread. When full-fed and ready
to pass through their transformations to attain the beetle state,
instead of at once assuming the pupa and imago forms, as in the
Trichodes represented in fig. 34, they pass through a hyper-meta-
morphosis, as Fabre, a French naturalist, calls it. In other words,
the changes in form which are preparatory to assuming the pupa
and imago states are more marked and almost coequal with

44 THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY BEE.

the larva and pupa states, so that the Meloe, instead of passing
through three states (the egg, larva and pupa), in reality passes
through these and two others in addition, which are interme-
diate. The whole subject of the metamorphosis of this beetle
needs revision, but Fabre states that the larva, soon after enter-
ing the nest of its host, changes its skin and assumes a second
larva form. Newport, who with Siebold has carefully described
the metamorphoses of Meloe, does not mention this stage in
its development, which Fabre calls "pseudo-chrysalis." It
is motionless, the head is mask-like, without movable appen-
dages, and the feet are represented by six tubercles. This is
more properly speaking the semi-pupa, and the mature pupa
grows beneath its mask-like form, which is finally moulted. This
form, however, according to Fabre, changes its skin and turns
into a third larva form (Fig. 37). After some time it assumes
its true pupa form (Fig. 38), and finally moults this skin to
appear as a beetle.

Fabre has also, in a lively and well- written account, given a
history of Sitaris, a European beetle, somewhat resembling
Meloe. He states that Sitaris lays its eggs near the entrance
of bees' nests, and at the very moment that the bee lays her egg
in the honey cell, the flattened, ovate Sitaris larva drops from the
body of the bee upon which it has been living, and feasts upt>n
the contents of the freshly laid egg. After eating this delicate
morsel it devours the honey in the cells of the bee and changes
into a white, cylindrical, nearly footless grub, and after it is
full-fed, and has assumed a supposed "pupa" state, the skin,
without bursting, incloses a kind of hard " pupa" skin, which is
very similar in outline to the former larva, within whose skin
is found a whitish larva which directly changes into the true
pupa. In a succeeding state this pupa in the ordinary way
changes to a beetle which belongs to the same group of Coleop-
tera as Meloe. We cannot but think, from observations made
on the humble bee, the wasp, two species of moths and several
other insects, that this "hyper-metamorphosis " is not so abnor-
mal a mode of insect metamorphosis as has been supposed, and
that the changes of these insects, made beneath the skin of the
mature larva before assuming the pupa state, are almost as
remarkable as those of Meloe and Sitafis, though less easily
observed than they. Several other beetles allied to Meloe are
known to be parasitic on wild bees, though the accounts of
them are fragmentary.

THE STYLOPS PARASITE.

45

The history of Stylops, a beetle allied to Meloe, is no less
strange than that of Meloe, and is in some respects still more
interesting. On June 18th I captured an Andrena vicina which
had been " stylopized." On looking at my capture I saw a pale
reddish-brown triangular mark on the bee's abdomen ; this was
the flattened head and thorax of a female Stylops (Fig. 39a, posi-
tion of the female of Stylops, seen in profile in the abdomen of
the bee ; Fig. 39&, the female seen from above. The head and
thorax are soldered into a single flattened mass, the baggy hind-
body being greatly enlarged like that of the gravid female of the
white ant, and consisting of nine segments).

On carefully drawing out the whole body (PL 1, Fig. 6, as seen
from above, and showing the alimentary canal ending in a blind
sac; Fig. Ga, side view), which
is very extensible, soft and baggy,
and examining it under a high
power of the microscope, we saw
multitudes, at least several hun-
dred, of very minute larvae, like
particles of dust to the naked
eye, issuing in every direction
from the body of the parent now
torn open in places, though most
of them made their exit through
an opening on the under side of
the head-thorax. The Stylops,
being hatched while still in the
body of the parent, is therefore
viviparous. She probably never
lays eg^s. 39- Female Stylops.

On the last of April, when the Mezereon was in blossom, I
caught the singular looking male (Stylops Children!, Fig. 40 ; a,
side view; it is about one-fourth of an inch long), which was
as unlike its partner as possible. I laid it under a tumbler,
when the delicate insect flew and tumbled about till it died of
exhaustion in a few hours.

It appears, then, that the larvae are hatched during the middle
or last of June from eggs fertilized in April. The larvae then
crawl out upon the body of the bee, on which they a^e trans-
ported to the nest, where they enter, according to Peck's obser-
vations, the body of the larva, on whose fatty parts they feed.

•46

THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY BEE.

Previous to changing to a pupa the larva lives with its head
turned towards that of its host, but before assuming the perfect
state (which they do in the late summer or autumn) it must
reverse its position. The female protrudes the front part of
her body between the segments of the abdomen of her host, as
represented in our figure. This change, Newport thinks, takes
place after the bee-host ^ias undergone its metamorphoses,
though the bee does not leave her earthen cells until the fol-
lowing spring. Though the male Stylops deserts his host, his
wingless partner is imprisoned during her whole life within her
host, and dies immediately after giving birth to her myriad (for
Newport thinks she produces over two thousand) offspring.

40. Male Stylops.

Xenos Peckii, an allied insect, was discovered by Dr. Peck to
be parasitic in the body of wasps, and there are now known
to be several species of this small but curious family, Stylopidse,
which are known to Ifve parasitically on the bodies of our wild
bees and wasps. The presence of these parasites finally exhausts
the host, so that the sterile female bee dies prematurely.

As in the higher animals, bees are afflicted with parasitic
worms which induce disease and sometimes death. The well-
known hair worm, Gordius, is an insect parasite. The adult
form is s^out the size of a slender knitting needle, and is seen
ia moist soil and in pools. It lays, according to Dr. Leidy,
"millions of'eggs connected together in long cords." The mi-

THE HAIR WORM PARASITE. 47

croscopical, tadpole- shaped young penetrate into the bodies of
insects frequenting damp localities. Fairly ensconced within the
body of their unsuspecting host, they luxuriate on its fatty tis-
sues, and pass through their metamorphoses into the adult form,
when they desert their living house and take to the water to lay
their eggs. In Europe, Siebold has described Gordius subbifur-
cus, which infests the drones of the Honey bee, and also other
insects. Professor Siebold has also described Mermis albicans,
which is a similar kind of hair worm, from two to five inches
long, and whitish in color. This worm is also found, strangely
enough, only in the drones, though it is the workers which fre-
quent watery places to appease their thirst.

Thousands of insects are carried off yearly by parasitic fungi.
The ravages of the Muscardine, caused by a minute fungus
(BotrytrisBassiana), have threat-
ened the extinction of silk cul-
ture in Europe, and the still
more formidable disease called
• pebrine is thought to be of veg-
etable origin. Dr. Leidy men-
tions a fungus which must annu-
ally carry off myriads of the
Seventeen Year Locust. A some-
what similar fungus, Mucor mel-
litophorus (Fig. 41), infests
bees, filling the stomach with
microscopical colorless spores,
so as greatly to weaken the in-
sect.

As there is a probability that
many insects, parasites on the 41- Bee

wild bees, may sooner or later afflict the Honey bee, and also to
illustrate farther the complex nature of insect parasitism, we
will for a moment look at some other bee parasites.

Among the numerous insects preying in some way upon the
Humble bee are to be found other species of bees and moths,
flies and beetles. Insect parasites often imitate their host:
Apathus (Plate 1, Fig. 1, A. Ashtoni) can scarcely be distin-
guished from its host, and yet it lives cuckoo-like in the cells
of the Humble bee, though we know not yet how injurious it
really is. Then there are Conops and Volucella, the former

PI. 1.

(48) PARASITES OF

PARASITES OF WILD BEES.

49

of which lives like Tachina and Phora within the bee's body,
while the latter devours the brood. *The young (Plate 1, Tigs.
5, 5 a) of another fly allied to Anthomyia, of which the Onion
fly (Fig. 42) is an example, is also not unfrequently met with.
A small beetle (Plate 1, Fig. 4, Antherophagus ochraceus) is a
common inmate of Humble bees' nests, and probably feeds upon
the wax and pollen. We have also found several larvae (Fig.
43) of*a beetle of which we do not know the adult form. Of
similar habits is probably a small moth (Nephopteryx Edmandsii,
Plate 1, Figs. 2; 2 a, larva; Fig. 2 &, chrysalis, or pupa) which
undoubtedly feeds upon the waxen walls of the bee cells, and
thus, like the attacks of the common bee moth (Galleria cere-
ana), whose habits are so well known as not to detain us, must
prove very prejudicial to the well being of the colony. This moth
is in turn infested by an Ichneumon fly (Microgaster nephopter-
icis, Plate 1, Figs. 3, 3 a) which must prove quite destructive.

42. Onion Fly and Maggot. 43. Larva of Beetle.

The figures of the early stages of a minute ichneumon repre-
sented on the same plate (Fig. 7, larva, and 7 a, pupa, of An-
thophorabia megachilis) which is parasitic on Megachile, the
Leaf-cutter bee, illustrates the transformations of the Ichneumon
flies, the smallest species of which yet known (and we believe
the smallest insect known at all) is the Pteratomus Putnami
(PI. 1, Fig. 8, wanting the hind leg), or "winged atom," which
is only one-ninetieth of an inch in length, and is parasitic on
Anthophorabia, itself a parasite. A species of mite (Plate 1,
Figs. 9 ; 9 a, the same seen from beneath) is always to be found
in humble bees' nests, but it is not thought to be specially ob-
noxious to the bees themselves, though several species of mites
(Gamasus, etc.) are known to be parasitic on insects.
5

CHAPTER IV.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT MOTHS.

THE butterflies and moths from their beauty and grace, have
always been the favorites among amateur entomologists, and
rare and costly works have been published in which their forms
and gorgeous colors are represented in the best style of natural
history art. We need only mention the folio volume of Madam
Merian of the last century, Harris's Aurelian, the works of
Cramer, Stoll , Dr«ry, Hiibner, Horsfield, Doubleday and West-
wood, and Hewitson, as comprising the most luxurious and
costly entomological works.

Near the close of the last century, John Abbot went from
London and spent several years in Georgia, rearing the larger
and more showy butterflies and moths, and painting them in the
larva, chrysalis and adult, or imago stage. These drawings he
sent to London to be sold. Many of them were collected by
Sir James Edward Smith, and published under the title of " The
Natural Histoiy of the Rarer Lepidopterous Insects of Georgia,
collected from the Observations of John Abbot, with the Plants
on which they Feed." (London, 1797. 2 vols., fol.) Besides
these two rare volumes there are sixteen folio volumes of draw-
Ings by Abbot in the Library of the British Museum. This
work is of especial interest to the American student as it illus-
trates the early stages of many of our butterflies and moths.

Indeed the study of insects possesses most of its interest
when we observe their habits and transformations. Caterpil-
lars are always to be found, and with a little practice are easy
to raise ; we would therefore advise any one desirous of begin-
ning the study of insects to take up the butterflies and moths.
They are perhaps easier to study than any other group of
insects, and are more ornamental in the cabinet. As a scientific
(50)

TRANSFORMATIONS OF MOTHS. 51

study we would recommend it to ladies as next to botany in
interest and in the ease in which specimens may be collected and
examined. The example of Madam Merian, and several ladies
in this country who have greatly aided science by their well
filled cabinets, and critical knowledge of the various species
and their transformations, is an earnest of what may be
expected from their followers. Though the moths are easy
to study compared with the bees, flies, beetles and bugs, and
dragon flies, yet many questions of great interest in philosoph-
ical entomology have been answered by our knowledge of their
structure and mode of growth. The great works of Herold on
the evolution of a caterpillar ; of Lyonet on the anatomy of the
Cossus; of Newport on that of the Sphinx; and of Siebold on
the parthenogenesis of insects, are proofs that the moths have
engaged the attention of some of the master minds in science.

The study of the transformations of the moths is also of great
importance to one who would acquaint himself with the ques-
tions concerning the growth and metamorphoses and origin of
animals. We should remember that the very words " metamor-
phosis" and "transformation," now so generally applied to
other groups of animals and used in philosophical botany, were
first suggested by those who observed that the moth and
butterfly attain their maturity only by passing through
wonderful changes of form and modes of life.

The knowledge of the fact that all animals pass through some
sort of a metamorphosis is very recent in physiology. More-
over the fact that these morphological eras in the life of an
individual animal accord most unerringly with the gradation of
forms in the type of which it is a member, was the discovery of
the eminent physiologist Von Baer. Up to this time the true
significance of the luxuriance and diversity of larval forms had
never seriously engaged the attention of systematists in ento-
mology.

What can possibly be the meaning of all this putting on and
taking off of caterpillar habiliments, or in other words, the
process of moulting, with the frequent changes in ornamenta-
tion, and the seeming fastidiousness and queer fancies and
strange conceits of these young and giddy insects seems hidden
and mysterious to human observation. Indeed, few care to
spend the time and trouble necessary to observe the insect
through its transformations ; and that done, if only the larva of

52 A FEW WORDS ABOUT MOTHS.

the perfect insect can be identified and its form sketched how
much was gained I A truthful and circumstantial biography, in
all its relations, of a single insect has yet to be written !

We should also apply our knowledge of the larval forms of
insects to the details of their classification into families and gen-
era, constantly collating our knowledge of the early stages with
the structural relations that accompany them in the perfect state.

The simple form of the caterpillar seems to be a concentra-
tion of the characters of the perfect insect, and presents easy
characters by which to distinguish the minor groups ; and the
relative rank of the higher divisions will only be definitely
settled when their forms and methods of transformation are
thoroughly known. Thus, for example, in two groups of the
large Attacus-like moths, which are so amply illustrated in Dr.
Harris's " Treatise on Insects injurious to Vegetation ; " if we
take the different forms of the caterpillars of the Tau moth of
Europe, which are figured by Duponchel and Godard, we find
that the very young larva has four horn-like processes on the
front, and four on the back part of the body. The full grown lar-
va of the Regalis moth, of the Southern and Middle states, is
yery similarly ornamented. It is an embryonic form, and there-
fore inferior in rank to the Tau moth. Multiply these horns over
the surface of the body, lessen their size, and crown them with
hairs, and we have our lo moth, so destructive to corn. Now
take off the hairs, elongating and thinning out the tubercles,
and make up the loss by the increased size of the worm, and we
have the caterpillar of our common Cecropia moth. Again,
remove the naked tubercles almost wholly, smooth off the
surface of the body, and contract its length, thus giving a
greater convexity and angularity to the rings, and we have
before us the larva of the stately Luna moth that tops this royal
family. Here are certain criteria for placing these insects
before our minds in the order that nature has placed them.
"We have certain facts for determining which of these three
insects is highest and which lowest in the scale, when we sec
the larva of the Luna moth throwing off successively the lo and
Cfecropia forms to take on its own higher features. So that
there is a meaning in all this shifting of insect toggery.

This is but an example of the many ways in which both
pleasure and mental profit may be realized from the thoughtful
study of caterpillar life.

BENEFICIAL INSECTS.

53

In collecting butterflies and moths for cabinet specimens, one
needs a gauze net a foot and a half deep, with the wire frame a
foot in diameter ; a wide-mouthed bottle containing a parcel of
cyanide of potassium gummed on the side, in which to kill the
moths, which should, as soon as life is extinct, be pinned in a
cork-lined collecting box carried in the coat pocket. The
captures should then be spread and dried on a grooved setting
board, and a cabinet formed of cork-lined boxes or drawers ; as
a substitute for cork, frames with paper tightly stretched over
them may be used, or the pith of corn-stalks or palm wood.
Caterpillars should be preserved in spirits, or in glycerine with
a little alcohol a,dded.
Some persons ingeniously
empty the skins and inflate
them over a flame so that
they may be pinned by the
side of the adult.

Some of the most troub-
lesome and noxious in-
sects are found among the
moths. I need only men-
tion the canker worm and
American teut caterpillar,
and the various kinds of
cut worms, as instances.

We must not, however,
forget the good done by
insects* They undoubt- 43. Parasite of the American Silk Worm,
edly tend by their attacks to prevent an undue growth of vege-
tation. The pruning done to a tre* or herb by certain insects
undoubtedly causes a more healthy growth of the branches and
leaves, and ultimately a greater production of fruit. Again, as
pollen-bearers, insects are a most powerful agency in nature. It
is undoubtedly the fact that the presence of bees in orchards
increases the fruit crop, and thus the thousands of moths
(though injurious as caterpillars), wild bees and other insects,
that .seem to live without purpose, are really, though few realize
it, among the best friends and allies o*f man.

Moreover, insects are of great use as scavenger*; such are
the young or maggots of the house fly, the mosquitoes, and
numerous other forms, that seem created only to vex us when

54

A FEW WORDS ABOUT MOTHS.

in the winged state. Still a larger proportion of insects are
directly beneficial from their habit of attacking injurious spe-
cies, such as the ichneumons (Fig. 43, the ichneumon of the
American silk worm) and
certain flies (Fig. 44, Ta-
china) ; also many carniv-
orous species of wasps
beetles and flies, dragon
flies and Aphis lions (Fig.
45, the lace-winged fly;
adult, larva and eggs).

But few, however, sus-
pect how enormous are the
losses to crops in this coun
try entailed by the attack^

of the injurious species. 44. Tachina) parasite of Colorado Potato
In Europe, the subject of Beetle,

applied entomology has al-
ways attracted a great deal of attention. Most sumptuous
works, elegant quartos prepared by naturalists known the world
over, and published at government expense, together with
smaller treatises, have frequently appeared ; w"hile the subject

is taught in the nu-
merous agricultural
colleges and schools,
especially of Germa-
ny-

In the density pop-
ulated countries of
Europe, the losses oc-
casioned by injurious
insects are most se-
verely felt, though
45. The Lace-winged Fly, its Larva and Eggs. from . m a n y causes,

such as the greater abundance of their insect parasites, and the
far greater care taken by the people to exterminate their insect
enemies, they have not proved so destructive as in our own
land.

In this connection I may quote from one of Dr. Asa Fitch's
reports on the noxious insects of New York, where he says : "I
find that in our wheat- fields here, the midge formed 59 per cent.

INJURIOUS INSECTS. 55

of all the insects on this grain the past summer; whilst in
France, the preceding summer, only 7 per cent, of the insects
on wheat were of this species. In France the parasitic des-
troyers amounted to 85 per cent. ; while in this country our par-
asites form only 10 per cent."

A true knowledge of practical entomology may well be said to
be in its infancy in our own country, when, as is well known to
agriculturists, the cultivation of wheat has almost been given
up in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and
Virginia, from the attacks of the wheat midge, Hessian fly,
joint worm, and chinch bug. According to Dr. Shimer's
estimate, says Mr. Riley, in his Second Annual Keport on the
Injurious Insects of Missouri, which may be considered a reason-
able one, "in the year 1864 three-fourths of the wheat, and
one-half of the corn crop were destroyed by the chinch bug
throughout many extensive districts, comprising almost the
entire North- West. At the annual rate of increase, according
to the United States Census, in the State of Illinois, the wheat
crop ought to hare been about thirty millions of bushels, and
the corn crop about one hundred and thirty-eight million
bushels. Putting the cash value of wheat at $1.25, and that of
corn at 50 cents, the cash value of the corn and wheat
desl^yed by this insignificant little bug, no bigger than a grain
of rice, in one single State and one single year, will therefore,
according to the above figures, foot up to the astounding total
of over seventy-three millions of dollars /"

The imported cabbage butterfly (Pieris rapa3), recently intro-
duced from Europe, is estimated by the Abbe Provancher, a
Canadian entomologist, to destroy annually two hundred and
forty thousand dollars' worth of cabbages around Quebec. The
Hessian fly, according to Dr. Fitch, destroyed fifteen million
dollars' worth of wheat in New York State in one year (1854).
The army worm of the North (Leucania unipuncta), which was
so Abundant in 1861, from New England to Kansas, was re-
ported to have done damage that year in Eastern Massachu-
setts exceeding half a million of dollars. The joint worm
(Isosoma hordei) alone sometimes cuts off whole fields of
grain in Virginia and northward. The Colorado potato beetle
is steadily moving eastward, now ravaging the fields in Indiana
and Ohio, and only the forethought and ingenuity in devising
means of checking its attacks, resulting from a thorough study

56 A FEW WORDS ABOUT MOTHS.

of its habits, will deliver our wasted fields from its direful
assaults.

These are the injuries done by the more abundant kinds of
insects injurious to crops. We should not forget that each fruit
or shade tree, garden shrub or vegetable, has a host of insects
peculiar to it, and which, year after year, renew their attacks.
I could enumerate upwards of fifty species of insects which
prey upon cereals and grass, and as many which infest our field
crops. Some thirty well known species ravage our garden
vegetables. There are nearly fifty species which attack the
grape vine, and their number is rapidly increasing. About
seventy-five species make their annual onset upon the apple
tree, and nearly an equal number may be found upon the plum,
pear, peach and cherry. Among our shade trees, over fifty
species infest the oak; twenty -five the elm; seventy-five the
walnut, and over one hundred species of insects prey upon the
pine.

Indeed, we may reasonably calculate the annual loss in our
country alone, from noxious animals and the lower forms of
plants, such as rust, smut and mildew, as (at a low estimate)
not far from five hundred million dollars annually. Of this
amount, at least one-tenth, or fifty million dollars, could prob-
ably be saved by human exertions. ^

To save a portion of this annual loss of food stuffs, fruits and
lumber, should be th« first object of farmers and gardeners.
When this saving is made, farming will become a profitable and
safe profession. But while a few are well informed as to the
losses sustained by injurious insects, and use means to ward off
their attacks, their efforts are constantly foiled by the negli-
gence of their neighbors. As illustrated so well by the history
of the incursions of the army worm and canker worm, it is only
by a combination between farmers and orchardists that these
and other pests can be kept under. The matter can be best
reached by legislation. We have fish and game laws;* why
should we not have an insect law? Why should we not frame
a law providing that farmers, and all owning a garden or
orchard, should cooperate in taking preventive measures
against injurious insects, such as early or late planting of
cereals, to avert the attacks of the wheat midge and Hessian
fly ; the burning of stubble in the autumn and spring to destroy
the joint worm ; the combined use of proper remedies against

INJURIOUS INSECTS.

57

the canker worm, the various cut worms, and other noxious
caterpillars? A law carried out by a proper State entomolog-
ical constabulary, if it may be so designated, would compel the
idle and shiftless to clear their farms and gardens of noxious
animals.

Among some of the injurious insects reported on by Mr. Riley,
the State Entomologist of Missouri, is a new pest to the cucum-
ber in the West, the Pickle worm (Phacellura nitidalis, Fig. 46),

46. Pickle Worm and Us Moth.

This is a caterpillar which bores into the cucumbers when large
enough to pickle, and which is occasionally found in pickles.
Three or four worms sometimes occur in a cucumber, and in the
garden a single one will cause it to rot. One of the most trouble-
some intruders in our graperies is the Vine dresser (Chcero-
campa pampinatrix, Fi§. 47, larva and pupa; Fig. 48, adult), a
single caterpillar of which will sometimes "strip a small vine
of its leaves in a few nights," and occasionally nips off bunches
of half-grown grapes.

Another caterpillar, which is sometimes so abundant as nearly
to defoliate the grape vine, is the eight spotted Alypia (Fig.
49; «, larva; &, side view of a segment). This must not be
confounded with the bluish larva of the Wood Nymph, Eudryas
grata (Fig. 50), which differs from the Alypia caterpillar in
being bluish, and in wanting the white patches on the side of
the body, and the more prominent hump on the end of the body.

58

A FEW WORDS ABOUT MOTHS.

48. Vine Dresser Moth.

47. Vine Dresser and Chrysalis.

GRAPE MOTHS.

59

Another moth (Psychomorpha epimenis, Fig. 51, a, larva; &, side
view of a segment; c, top view of the hump), also feeds on the
grape, eating the terminal
buds. It is also bluish, and
•wants the orange bands on
the side of the body. An-
other moth of this family is
the American Procris (Acolo-
ithus Americana, Fig. 52a, lar-
va ; 6, pupa ; c, cocoon ; d, e,
imago) ; a dark blue moth,
with a deep orange collar,
whose black and yellow cat-
erpillar is gregarious (Fig.
53), living in companies of a
dozen or more and eating the 49' ®gM-spotted Alypia and Larva.

softer parts of the leaves. It is quite common in the Western
and Southern States. The figure represents two separate

broods of caterpillars feed-
ing on either side of the
midrib of the leaf.

But if the moths are, as
a rule, the enemies of our
crops, there are the silk
worms of the East and
Southern Europe and Cali-
fornia, which afford the
50. Eudryas grata. mcans of supporfc to muiti.

tudes of the poorer classes, and supply one of the most valuable
articles of closing. Blot out the silk worm, and we should

51. Larva of Psychomorpha.

remove one of the most important sources of national wealth,
the annual revenue from the silk trade of the world amounting
to $254,500,000.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT MOTHS.

JO. 1> C

52. American Procris and Young.

Silk culture is rapidly assuming importance in California, and
though the Chinese silk worm has not been successfully culti-
vated in the Eastern States, yet the American silk worm, Teleas
Polyphemus (see frontispiece, male; Fig. 54, larva; 55, pupa;

56, cocoon), can, we are
assured by Mr. Trouvelot,
k° made a source of profit.

This is a sPlendid mem-

ker °f ^ie grouP °f which
the gigantic A ttacus Atlas
of China is a type. It is
a large, fawn colored moth
with a tawny tinge ; the
caterpillar is pale green,
and is of the size indicated
in the cut. Mr. Trouvelot says that of the several kinds of silk
worms, the larva of the present species alone deserves atten-
tion. The cocoons
of Platysamia Ce-
cropia may be ren-
dered of some
commercial value,
as the silk can be
carded, but the
chief objection is
the difficulty of
raising the larva.
"The Polyphe-
mus worm spins
a strong, dense,
oval cocoon,
which is closed at
each end, while
the silk has a very
strong and glossy
fibre." Mr. Trou-
velot, from whose 53. Larvae of American Procris.
interesting account in the first volume of the "American Natu-
ralist" we quote, says that in 1865 " not less than a million could
be seen feeding in the open air upon bushes covered with a net ;
five acres of woodland were swarming with caterpillar life."

SILK WORMS. 61

*

The bushes were scrub oaks, the worms being protected by a
net. After meeting with such great success Mr. Trouvelot lost
all his worms by pebrine, the germs being imported in eggs
received from Japan through M. Guerin-M6neville of Paris.
Enough, however, was done to prove, that silk raising can be
carried on profitably, when due precautions are taken, as far
north as Boston. As this moth extends to the tropics, it can be
reared with greater facility southwards. The cocoon is strong
and dense, and closed at
each end, so that the
thread is continuous,
while the silk has a very
strong and glossy fibre.

Next in value to the
American silk worm, is
the Ailanthus silk worm
(Samia Cynthia) a spe-
cies allied to our Callo-
samia Promethea. It
originated from China,
where it is cultivated,
and was introduced into
Italy in 1858, and thence
spread into France, where
it was introduced by
M. Guerin-Meneville. Its
silk is said to be much
stronger than the fibre of
cotton, and is a mean be-
tween fine wool and ordi-
nary silk. The worm is
very hardy, and can be
reared in the open air
both in this country and

in Europe. The main

54. American Silk Worm,
drawback to its culture is

the difficulty in unreeling the tough cocoon, and the shortness
of the thread, the cocoon being open at one end.

The Yama-mai moth (Anthersea Yama-mai) was introduced
into France from Japan in 1861. It is closely allied to the
.Polyphemus moth, and its caterpillar also feeds on the oak. Its

62

A FEW WORDS ABOUT MOTHS.

silk is said to be quite brilliant, but a little coarser and not so
strong as that of the Bombyx mori. The Perny silk worm is
extensively cultivated by the Chinese in Manchouria, where it

feeds on the oak. Its silk is
coarser than that of the com-
mon silk worm, but is yet fine,
strong and glossy. Bengal has
furnished the Tussah moth,
which lives in India on the oak
and a variety of other trees. It
55. Chrysalis of American is largely raised in French and
Silkworm. English India, according to

Nogues, and is used in the manufacture of stuffs called corahs.
The last kind of importance is the Arrhindy silk worm, from
India. It has been naturalized in France and Algeria by M.
Guerin-Meneville, who has done so much in the application of
entomology to practical life. It is closely allied to the Cynthia
or Ailanthus worm, with the same kind of silk and a similar
cocoon, and feeds on the castor oil plant.

The diseases of silk worms naturally receive much attention.
Like those afflicting mankind, they arise from bad air, resulting
from too close confinement, bad food, and other adverse causes.
The most fatal and wide-spread disease, and one which since
1854 has threatened the extermination of silk worms in Europe,
is the pebrine. It is due to the presence of minute vegetable
corpuscles, which attack both the worms and the eggs. It
was this disease which swept off thousands of Mr. Trouvelot's
Polyphemus worms,
and put a sudden ter-
mination to his im-
portant experiments,
the germs having
been implanted in
eggs of the Yama-
mai moth imported
from Japan by M.
Guerin-Meneville,

56. Cocoon of American Silk Worm.

and which were probably infected as they passed through Paris.
Though the disaster happened several years since, he tells us
that it will be useless for him to attempt the raising of silk
worms in the town where his establishment is situated, as the
germs of the disease are most difficult to eradicate.

DISEASE OF THE SILK WORM.

63

So direful in Trance were the ravages of this disease that two
of the most advanced naturalists in France, Quatrefages and
Pasteur, were commissioned by the French government to inves-
tigate the disease. Pasteur found that the infected eggs differed
in appearance from the sound ones, and could thus be sorted
out by aid of the microscope and destroyed. Thus thes'e inves-
tigations, carried on year after year, and seeming to the igno-
rant to tend to no practical end, resulted in saving to France
her silk culture. During the past year (1871) so successful has
his method proved that a French scientific journal expresses the
hope of the complete reestablishment and prosperity of this
great industry* A single person who obtained in 1871 in his
nurseries 30,000 ounces of eggs, hopes the next year to obtain
100,000 ounces, from which he expects to realize about one mil-
lion dollars.

•The Potato Caterpillar.

CHAPTER V.

THE CLOTHES MOTH. •

FOR 'over a fortnight we once enjoyed the company of the
caterpillar of a common clothes moth. It is a little pale, deli-
cate worm (Fig. 57, magnified), about the size of a darning
needle, and rather less than half an inch in length, with a pale
horn-colored head, the ring next the head being of the same
color. It has sixteen feet, the first six of them well developed
and constantly in use to draw the slender body in and out of it's
case. Its head is armed with a formidable pair of jaws, with
which, like a scythe, it mows its way through thick and thin.

But the case is the most remarkable feature in the history
of this caterpillar. Hardly has the helpless, tiny worm broken
out of the egg, previously laid in some old garment of fur or
wool, or perhaps in the haircloth of a sofa, when it begins
to make a shelter by cutting the woolly fibres or soft hairs
into bits, which it places at each end in successive layers, and,
joining them together by silken threads, constructs a cylindrical
tube (Fig. 58) of thick, warm felt, lined within with the finest
silk the tiny worm can spin. The case is not perfectly cylindri-
cal, being flattened slightly in the middle, and contracted a little
just before each end, both of which are always kept open. The
case before us is of a stone-gray color, with a Mack stripe along
the middle, and with rings of the same color round each opening.
Had the caterpillar fed on blue or yellow cloth, the case would,
of course, have been of those colors. Other cases, made by
larvae which had been eating loose cotton, were quite irregular
in form, and covered loosely with bits of cotton thread, which
the little tailor had not trimmed off.

Days go by. A vigorous course of dieting on its feast of
(64)

THE CLOTHES MOTH.

65

wool has given^.stature to our hero. His case has grown uncom-
fortably small. Shall he leave it and make another? No house-
wife is more prudent and saving. Out come those scissor-jaws,
and, lo ! a fearful rent along each side of one end of the case.
Two wedge-shaped patches mend the breach; the caterpillar
retires for a moment and reappears at the other end ; the scis-
sors are once more pulled out; two rents appear, to be filled up
by two more patches or gores, and our caterpillar once again
breathes more freely, laughs and grows fat upon horse hair and
lambs' wool. In this way he enlarges his case till he stops
growing.

Our caterpillar seeming to be full-grown, and apparently out
of employment, we cut the end of his case half off. Two or
three clays after, he had mended it from the inside, drawing the
two edges together by silken threads, and, though he had not
touched the outside, yet so
neatly were the two parts
joined together that we had
to search for some time,
with a lens, to find the scar.

To keep our friend busy
during the cold, cheerless
weather, for it was mid-
winter, we next cut a third
of the case entirely off. No-
thing daunted, the little fel-
low bustled about, drew in a mass of the woolly fibres, filling
up the whole mouth of his den, and began to build on afresh,
and from the inside, so that the new-made portion was smaller
than the rest of the case. The creature worked very slowly,
and the addition was left in a rough, unfinished state.

We could easily spare these voracious little worms hairs
enough to serve as food, and to afford material for the construc-
tion of their paltry cases ; but that restless spirit that ever
urges on all beings endowed with life and the power of motion,
never forsakes the young clothes moth for a moment. He
will not be forced to drag his heavy case over rough hairs and
furzy wool, hence with his keen jaws he cuts his way through.
Thus, the more he travels, the more mischief he does.

After taking his fill of this sort of life he changes to a chrys-
alid (Fig. 59), and soon appears as one of those delicate, tiny,

59. 58. 57.

Early Stages of the Clothes Moth.

66 ' THE CLOTHES MOTH.

demure moths that fly in such numbers from early in the spring
until the autumn.

Very many do not recognize these moths in their perfect
stage, so small are they, and vent their wrath on those great
millers that fly around lamps in warm summer evenings. It
need scarcely be said that these large millers are utterly guilt-
less of any attempts upon our wardrobes; they make their
attacks in a more open form on our gardens and orchards.

We will give a more careful description of the clothes moth,
which was found in its different stages June 12th in a mass of
loose cotton. The larva is white, with a tolerably plump body,
which tapers slightly towards the tail, while the head is much
of the color of gum-copal. The rings of the body are thickened
above, especially on the thoracic ones, by two transverse thick-
ened folds. It is one-fifth of an inch long.

The body of the chrysalis, or pupa, is considerably curved,
with the head smooth and rounded. The long antennae, together
with the hind legs, which are folded along the breast, reach to
the tip of the hind body, on the upper surface of each ring of
which is a short transverse row of minute spines, which aid the
chrysalis in moving towards the mouth of its case, just before
the moth appears. At first the chrysalis is whitish, but just
before the exclusion of the moth becomes the color of varnish.
When about to cast its pupa skin, the skin splits open on the
back, and the perfect insect glides out. The act is so. quickly
over withj that the observer has to look sharp to observe the
different steps in the operation.

Our common clothes moth (Tinea flavifrontella, Tig. GO) is
of a uniform light-buff color, with a silky iridescent lustre, the
hind wings» and abdomen being a little paler. The head is
thickly tufted with hairs and is a little tawny, and
the upper side of the densely hirsute feelers (palpi)
is dusky. The wings are long and narrow, with the
most beautiful and delicate long silken fringe, which
60. Clothes increases in length towards the base of the wing.

Moth. They begin to fly in May, and last all through the

season, fluttering with a noiseless, stealthy flight in our apart-
ments,* and laying their eggs in our woollens.

Successive broods of the clothes moth appear through the
.summer. In the autumn they cease eating, retire within their
cases, and early in spring assume the chrysalis state.

THE CLOTHES MOTH. 67

There are several allied species which have much the same
habits, except that^they do not all construct cases, but eat car-
pets, clothing, articles of food, grain, etc., and objects of natu-
ral history.

Careful housewives are not much afflicted with these pests.
The slovenly and thriftless are overrun with them. Early in June
woollens and furs should be carefully dusted, shaken and beaten.
Dr. T. W. Harris states that "powdered black pepper, strewed
under the edge of carpets, is said to repel moths. Sheets of
paper sprinkled with spirits of turpentine, camphor in coarse
powder, leaves of tobacco, or shavings of Russia leather, should
be placed among the clothes when they are laid aside for the
summer; and furs and other small articles can be kept by being
sewed in bags with bits of camphor wood, red cedar, or of
Spanish cedar ; while the cloth lining of carriages can be secured
forever from the attacks of moths by being washed or sponged
on both sides with a solution of the corrosive sublimate of mer-
cury in alcohol, made just strong enough not to leave a white
stain on a black feather." The moths can be most readily killed
by pouring benzine among them, though its use must be much
restricted from the disagreeable odor which remains. The
recent experiments made with carbolic acid, however, convince
us that this will soon take the place of other substances as a
preventive and destroyer of noxious insects.

The Juniper Sickle-wing.

CHAPTER VI.

THE MOSQUITO AND ITS FRIENDS.

THE subject of flies becomes of vast moment to a Pharaoh,
whose ears are dinned with the buzz of myriad winged plagues,
mingled with angry cries from malcontent and fly-pestered sub-
jects; or to the summer traveller in northern lands, where
they oppose a stronger barrier to his explorations than the lofti-
est mountains or the broadest streams ; or to the African pio-
neer, whose cattle, his main dependence, are stung to death by
the Tsetze fly ; or the farmer whose eyes on the evening of a
warm spring day, after a placid contemplation of his growing
acres of wheat blades, suddenly detects in dismay clouds of the
Wheat midge and Hessian fly hovering over their swaying tops.
The subject, indeed, has in such cases a national importance,
and a few words regarding the main points in the habits of flies
— how they grow, how they do not grow (after assuming the
winged state), and how they bite; for who has not endured the
smart and sting of these dipterous Shylocks, that almost tor-
ment us out of our existence while taking their drop of our
heart's blood — may be welcome to our readers.

The Mosquito will be our first choice. As she leaps off from
her light bark, the cast chrysalis skin of her early life beneath
the waters, and sails away in the sunlight, her velvety wings
fringed with silken hairs, and her neatly bodiced trim figure
(though her nose is rather salient, considering that it is half as
long as her entire body), present a beauty and grace of form and
movement quite unsurpassed by her dipterous allies. She draws
near and softly alights upon the hand of the charmed beholder,
subdues her trumpeting notes, folds her wings noiselessly upon
her back, daintily sets down one foot after the other, and with
(68)

THE MOSQUITO.

an eagerness chastened by the most refined delicacy for the
feelings of her victim, and with the air of Velpeau redivivus,
drives through crushed and bleeding capillaries, shrinking nerves
and injured tissues, a many-bladed lancet of marvellous fine-
ness, of wonderful complexity and fitness. While engorging
herself with our blood, we will examine under the microscope
the mosquito's mouth. The head (Fig. 61) is rounded, with
the two eyes occupying a large part of the surface, and nearly
meeting on the top of the head. Out of the forehead, so to
speak, grow the long, delicate, hairy antennae (a), and just be-
low arises the long beak which consists of the bristle-like max-
illae (mx, with their palpi, mp) and mandibles (m), and the
single hair-like labrum,
these five bristle-like or-"
gans being laid in the hol-
lowed labium (I). Thus
massed into a single awl-
like beak, the mosquito,
without any apparent effort,
thrusts them all except the
labium into the flesh. Her
hind body may be seen fill-r
ing with the red blood, un-
til it cries quits, and the
insect withdraws its sting
and flies sluggishly away.
In a moment the wounded
parts itch slightly, though
a very robust person may
not notice the irritation, or a more delicate individual if asleep ;
though if weakened by disease, or if stung in a highly vascular
and sensitive part, such as the eyelid, the bite becomes really
a serious matter. Multiply the mosquito a thousand fold, and
one flees their attacks and avoids their haunts as he would a
nest of hornets. Early in spring the larva (Fig. 62, A) of the
mosquito may be found in pools and ditches. It remains at
the bottom feeding upon decaying matter (thus acting as a
scavenger, and in this state doing great benefit in clearing
swamps of miasms), until it rises to the surface for air, which
it inhales through a single respiratory tube (n) situated near
the tail. When about to transform into the pupa state, it

61. Head of the Mosquito.

70

THE MOSQUITO AND ITS FRIENDS.

62. Larva and Tupa of the Mosquito.

contracts and enlarges anteriorly near the middle, the larval
skin is thrown off, and the insect appears in quite a different
form (Fig. 62, B). The head and thorax are massed together,
the rudiments of the mouth parts and of the wings and legs
being folded upon the breast, while there are two breathing

tubes (ef) situated upon
the back instead of the
tail, which ends in two
broad paddles (a) ; so that
it comes to the surface,
head foremost instead of
tail first, a position ac-
cording better with its
increased age and expe-
rience in pond life. In a
few days the pupa skin' is
cast ; the insect, availing itself of its old habiliments as a raft
upon which to float while its body is drying, grows lighter, and
its wings expand for its marriage flight. The males are beau-
tiful, both physically and morally, as they do not bite ; their
manners are more retiring* than those of their stronger minded
partners, as they rarely enter our dwellings, and live unnoticed
in the woods. They may be easily distinguished from the
females by their long maxillary palpi, and their thick, bushy,
feathered antenna. The female lays her elongated, oval eggs in
a boat-shaped mass, which floats on the water. A mosquito
lives three or four weeks in the water before changing to the
adult or winged stage. How many days they live in the latter
state we do not know.

Our readers will understand, then, that all flies, like our mos-
quito for example, grow while in the larva and pupa state, and
after they acquire icings do not grow, so that the small midges are
not young mosquitoes, but the adult winged forms of an entirely
different species and genus of fly ; and the myriads of small flies,
commonly supposed to be the young of larger flies, are adult
forms belonging to different species of different genera, and per-
haps of different families of the'suborder of Diptera. The typi-
cal species of the genus Cnlex, to which the mosquito belongs,
is Culex pipiens, described by Linnaeus, .and there are already
over thirty North American species of this genus described in
various works. Few insects live in the sea, but along the coast

THE OCEAN GNAT.

71

of New England a small, slender white larva (Fig. 63a, magnified,
and head greatly enlarged ; Fig. 64, pupa and fore foot of larva,
showing the hooks), whose body is no thicker than a knitting
needle, lives between tides, and has even been dredged at a
depth of over a hundred feet, which transforms into a yellow
mosquito-like fly
(Fig. 65, with
head of the fe-
male, magnified)
which swarms in
summer in im-
mense numbers.
I have -called it
provisionally
Chironomus oce-
anicus, or Ocean
gnat. The larvae
of other species
have been found
by Mr. S. I. '
Smith living at 65. Ocean Gnat,

great depths in our Northern lakes. These kinds of gnats are
usually seen early in spring hovering in swarms in mid air.

The strange fact has been discovered by Grimm, a Russian
naturalist, that the pupa of a feathered gnat is capable of laying
eggs which produce young during the summer time. Previous
to this it had been discovered that a larva of
a gnat (Fig. 66, a,
eggs from which
the young are pro-
duced) which lives
under the bark of
trees in Europe, al-
so produced young
born alive.

The Hessian fly
(Fig. 67, a, larva;
b pupa; c, stalk of wheat injured by larvae) 64. Pupa of Ocean
and Wheat midge, which are allied to the Gnat,

mosquito, are briefly referred to in the calendaT, so that we pass
over these to consider another pest of our forests and prairies.

63. Larva of Of.ean Gnat.

72

THE MOSQUITO AND ITS FRIENDS.

The Black fly is even a more formidable pest than the mos-
quito. In the northern, subarctic regions, it opposes a barrier
against travel. The Labrador fisherman spends his summer on
the sea shore, scarcely daring to penetrate the interior on ac-
count of the swarms of these flies. During a
summer residence on this coast, we sailed up the
Esquimaux river for six or eight miles, spending
a few hours at a house situated on the bank.
The day was warm and but little wind blowing,
and the swarms of black flies were absolutely
terrific. In vain we frantically waved our net
among them, allured by some rare moth; after
making a few desperate charges in the face of the
thronging pests, we had to retire to the house,
where the windows actually swarmed with them ;
but here they would fly in our faces, crawl under
one's clothes, where they even remain and bite
in the night. The children in the house were
sickly and worn by their unceasing torments ;
and the shaggy Newfoundland dogs whose thick
coats would seem to be proof against their bites
ran from their shelter beneath the bench and
dashed into the river, their only retreat. In
cloudy weather, unlike the mosquito, the black
fly disappears, only flying when the sun shines. The bite of
the black fly is often severe, the creature leaving
of blood to mark the scene \

of its surgical triumphs.
Prof. E. T. Cox, State
Geologist of Indiana, has
sent us specimens of a
iruch larger fly, which
Baron Osten Sacken refers
to this genus, which is
called on the prairies,
where it is said to bite
horses to death, the Buf-
falo Gnat. Westwood
states -that an allied fly • 67. Hessian Fly audits Young,
(lihagio Columbaschensis) is one of the greatest scourges of
man and beast in Hungary, where it has been known to kill
cattle.

G6. Viviparous
gall larva.

THE BLACK FLY.

73

The Simulium molestura (Fig. 68, enlarged), as the black fly
is called, lives during the larva state in the water. The larva
of a Labrador species (Fig. 69, enlarged) which we found, is
about a quarter of an inch long, and of the appearance here indi-
cated. The pupa is also aquatic, having long respiratory fila-
ments attached to each side of the
front of the thorax. According to
Westvvood, "the posterior part of its
body is enclosed in a semioval mem-
branous cocoon, which is at first formed^
by the larva, the anterior part of which
is eaten away before
changing to a pupa, so as
to be open in front. The 68- Black F1y-

imago is produced beneath the surface of the water,
its fine silky covering serving to repel the action
of the water."

Multitudes of a long, slender, white worm may
often be found living in the dirt, and sour sap run-
ning from wounds in the elm
tree. Two summers ago we
discovered some of these lar-
va3, and on rearing them found
that they were a species of
Mycetobia (Fig. 70 ; a, larva ;
6, pupa). The larva is remark-
able for having the abdominal
segments divided into two
portions, the hinder much

69. Black Fly
Larva.

smaller than the anterior divi-
sion. Its whole length is a

little over a third o£, an inch. The pupae

were found sticking out in considerable

numbers from the tree, being anchored by

the little spines at the tail. The head is

square, ending in two horns, and the body is straight and

covered with spines, especially towards the end of the tail.

They were a fifth of an inch in length. The last of June the

flies appeared, somewhat resembling gnats, and about a line

long. The worms continued to infest the tree for six weeks, the

flies remaining either upon or near it.
7

74

THE MOSQUITO AND ITS FRIENDS.

We now come to that terror of our equine friends, the Horse
fly, Gad, or Breeze fly. In its larval stato, some species live in
water, and in damp places under stones and pieces of wood,
and others in the earth away from water, where they feed on
animal, and, probably, on decaying matter. Mr. B. D. Walsh
found an aquatic larva of this genus, which, within a short time,
devoured eleven water snails. Thus at this stage of existence,
this fly, often so destructive, even at times killing our horses, is
beneficial. During the hotter parts of summer, and when the
sun is shining brightly, thousands of these Horse flies appear
on our marshes and inland prairies. There are many different
kinds, over one hundred species of the genus Tabanus alone,
living in North America. Our most common species is the
"Green head," or Tabanus lineola. When about to bite, it set-
tles quietly down upon the hand, face or
foot, it matters not which, and thrusts its
formidable lancet-like jaws deep into the
flesh. Its bite is very painful, as we can
testify from personal experience. We were
told during the last summer that a horse,
which stood fastened to a tree in a field
near the marshes at Rowley, Mass., was
bitten to death by these Green heads ; and
it is known that horses and cattle are occa-
sionally killed by their repeated harassing
bites. In cloudy weather they do not fly, and
they perish on the cool frosty nights of September. The Timb,
or Tsetze fly, is a species of this group of flies, and while it
does not attack man, plagues to death, and is said to poison by
its bite, the cattle in certain districts of the interior of Africa,
thus almost barring out explorers. On comparing the mouth-
parts of the Horse fly (Fig. 71, mouth of T. lineola), we have
all the parts seen in the mosquito, but greatly modified. Like
the mosquito, the females alone bite, the male Horse fly being
harmless, and frequenting flowers, living upon their sweets.
The labrum (Z6), mandibles (m) and maxillae (mx), are short, stiff
and lancet-like, and the maxillary palpi (nip ; a, the five termi-
nal joints of the antennae) are large, stout, and two-jointed.
While the jaws (both maxillae and mandibles) are thrust into
the flesh, the tongue (Z) spreads around the tube thus formed by
the lancets, and pumps up the blood flowing from the wound, by

71. Mouth Parts of
Tabanus.

THE CARPET FLY.

75

aid of the sucking stomach, or crop, being a sac appended to the
throat. Other Gad flies, but much smaller, though as annoying
to us in woods and fields, are the species of Golden eyed flies,
Chrysops, which fly and buzz interminably about our ears, often
taking a sudden nip. They plague cattle, settling upon them
and drawing their blood at their leisure.

We turn to a comparatively unknown insect, which has occa-
sionally excited some distrust in the minds of housekeepers. It
is the carpet fly, Scenopiuus pallipes (Fig. 72), which, in the
Inrva state, is
found under car-
pets, on which it
is said to feed.
The worm (Fig.
73) has a long,
white, cylindrical
body, divided into
twelve segments,
exclusive of the
head, while the
first eight abdom-
inal segments are 72- CarPet F]y-
divided by a transverse suture, so that there appear to be seven-
teen abdominal segments, the sutures appearing too distinct in
the cut. Mr. F. G. Sanborn has reared the fly, here figured,
from the worm. The larva also lives in rotten wood ;
it is too scarce ever to prove very destructive in
houses. Either this or a similar fly was once found,
we are told by a scientific friend, in great numbers in
a "rat" used in dressing a young lady's hair; the
worms were living upon the hair stuffing.

One of the most puzzling objects to the collector
of shells or insects, is the almost spherical larva of
Microdon globosus (Fig. 74). It is flattened and
smooth beneath and seems to adhere* to the under
side of stones, where it might be mistaken for a
snail.

The Syrphus fly, or Aphis eater, deserves more than
the passing notice which we bestow upon it. The
maggot (Fig. 75, in the act -of devouring an Aphis) is to -be
sought for established in a group of plant lice (Aphis), which it

73. Carpet
Worm.

7G

THE MOSQUITO AND ITS FRIENDS.

seizes by means of the long extensible front part of the body.
The adult fly (Fig. 7G) is gayly spotted and banded with yellow,
resembling closely a wasp. It frequents flowers.

The singular rat-tailed pupa-case of Eristalis (Fig. 77) lives
in water, and when in want of air, protrudes its long respiratory
tube out into the air. We present the figure of an allied fly,
Merodon Bardus (Fig. 78; a, puparium, natural size). We will

74. Microdon.

5. Syrphus Larva.

76. Syrphus Fly.

not describe at length the fly, as the admirable drawings of Mr.
Emerton cannot fail to render it easily recognizable. The larva
is much like the puparium or pupa case, here figured, which
closely resembles that of Eristalis, in possessing a long respira-
tory filament, showing that the maggot undoubtedly lives in the

77. Larva of Rat-tailed Fly.

78. Rat-tailed Fly and its Pupa.

water, and wffen desirous of breathing, protrudes the tube out
of the water, thus drawing in air enough to fill its internal res-
piratory tubes (trachea). The Merodon Narcissa probably lives
in the soil, or in rotten wood, as the pupa-case has no respira-
tory tube, having instead a very short, sessile, truncated tube,
scarcely as long as it is thick.* The case itself is cylindrical, and
rounded alike at each end.

THE EOT FLY.

77

We now come to the Bot flies, which are among the most

extraordinary, in their habits, of all insects. The history of the

Bot flies is in brief thus. The adult two-winged fly lays its eggs

on the exterior of the animal to be infested. They are conveyed

into the interior of the host, where they hatch, and the worm or

maggot lives by sucking in the purulent

matter, caused by the irritation set up by

its presence in its host ; or else the worm

itself, after hatching, bores under the skin.

When fully grown, it quits the body and

finishes its transformations to the fly-state

under ground. Many quadrupeds, from

mice, squirrels, and rabbits, up to the ox,

horse, and even the rhinoceros, suffer from

their attacks, while man himself is not

exempt. The body of the adult fly is stout

and hairy, and it is easily recognized by

having the opening of the mouth very small*

the mouth-parts being very rudimentary.

The larvae are, in general, thick, fleshy,

footless grubs, consisting of eleven seg-
ments, exclusive of the head, which are covered with rows of

spines and tubercles, by which they move about within the body?

thus irritating the animals
in which they take up their
abode. The breathing pores
(stigmata) open in a scaly
plate at the posterior end
of the body. The mouth-
parts (mandibles, etc.) of
the subcutaneous larva? con-
sist of fleshy tubercles, while
in those species which live
in the stomachs and frontal
sinuses of their host, they
are armed with horny hooks.
The larvae attain their full
size after moulting twice.

79. Human Bot Wornu

80. Horse Bot Fly.

Just before assuming the pupa state, the maggot leaves its pecu-
liar dwelling place, descends into the ground and there becomes
a pupa, though retaining its larval skin, which serves as a pro-
tection to it, whence it is called a "pupariunu"

78

THE MOSQUITO AND ITS FRIENDS.

Several well-authenticated instances are on record of a species
of bot fly inhabiting the body of man, in Central and South
America, producing painful tumors under the skin of the arm,
legs and abdomen. It is still under dispute whether this humnn
bot fly is a true or accidental parasite, the more probable opin-

81. Bot Fly of Ox, and Larva.

ion being that its proper host is the monkey or dog. In
Cayenne, this revolting grub is called the Ver macaque (Fig. 79) ;
in Para, Ura ; in Costa Rica, Torcel ; and in New Granada, Gusano
peludo, or Nuche. The Dermatobia noxialis, supposed to be the
Ver moyocuil of the inhabit-
ants of Mexico and New Gra-
nada, lives beneath the skin of
the dog.

The Bot fly of the
horse, (Gastrophilus
equi, Fig. 80 and lar-
va), is pale yellowish,
spotted with red, wTith
short, grayish, yellow
82. Sheep hairs, and the wings

Bot. are banded with red- 8o Skin Bjt F1 ,

dish. She lays her eggs upon

the knees of the horse. They are conveyed into the stomach,
where the larva lives from May until October, and when full
grown are found hanging by their mouth hooks on the edge of
the rectum of the horse, -whence they are carried out in the

THE BOX FLY. 79

excrement. The pupa state lasts for thirty or forty days, and
the perfect fly appears the next season, from June until October.

The Bot fly of the ox (Hypoderma bovis, Fig. 81, and lar-
va), is black and densely hairy, and the thorax is banded with
yellow and white. Tffe larva is found during the month of May,
and also in summer, living in tumors on the backs of cattle.
When fully grown, which is generally in July, they make their
way out and fall to the ground, and live in the pupa-case from
twenty-six to thirty days, the fly appearing from May until Sep-
tember. It is found all over the world. The CEstrus ovis, or
sheep Bot fly (Fig. 82, larva), is of a dirty ash color. The
abdomen is marbled with yellowish and white flecks, and is
hairy at the end. This species of Bot fly is larviparous, i. e.,
the eggs are hatched within the body of the mother, the Iarva3
being produced alive. M. F. Brauer, of Vienna, the author of
the most thorough work we have on these flies, tells me that he
knows of but one other Bot fly (a species of Cephanomyia)
which produces living larvae instead of eggs. The eggs of cer-
tain other species of Bot flies do not hatch until three or four
days after they are laid. The larva? of the sheep Bot fly live,
during April, May and June, in the frontal sinus of the sheep,
and also in the nasal cavity, whence they fall to the ground
when fully grown. In twenty-four hours they change to pupa3~,
and the flies appear during the summer.

We also figure the Cuterebra buccata (Fig. 83 ; «, side view,)
which resembles in the larval state the ox Bot fly. Its habits
are not known, though the young of other species infest the
opossum, squirrel, hare, etc., living in subcutaneous tumors.

l^W

The banded Lithacodes.

CHAPTER VII.

THE HOUSE FLY AND ITS ALLIES.

THE common House fly, Musca domestica, scarcely needs an
introduction to any one of our readers, and its countenance is so
well known that we need not present a portrait here. But a
study of the proboscis of the fly reveals a wonderful adapta-
bility of the mouth-parts of this insect to their uses. We have
already noticed the most perfect con-
dition of these parts as seen in the
horse fly. In the proboscis of the
house fly the hard parts are obsolete,
and instead we have a fleshy tongue-
like organ (Fig. 84), bent up beneath
the head when at rest. The maxillse
are minute, their palpi (mp) being
single-jointed, and the mandibles (m)
are comparatively useless, being very
short and small, compared with the
lancet-like jaws of the mosquito or
horse fly. But the structure of the
tongue itself (labium, Z) is most curi-
ous. When the fly settles upon a
lump of sugar or other sweet object, it unbends its tongue,
extends it, and the broad knob-like end divides into two broad,
flat, muscular leaves (Z), which thus present a sucker-like sur-
face, with which the fly laps up liquid sweets. These two
leaves are supported upon a framework of tracheal tubes. In
the cut given above, Mr. Emerton has faithfully represented these
modified tracheae, which end in hairs projecting externally.
(80)

84. Mouth-parts of the
House fly.

THE COMMON HOUSE FLY.

81

Thus the inside of this broad fleshy expansion is rough like a
rasp, and as Newport states, "is easily employed by the insect
in scraping or tearing delicate surfaces. It is by means of this
curious structure that the busy house fly occasions much mis-
chief to the covers of our books, by scraping off the albuminous
polish, and leaving tracings of its depredations in the soiled and
spotted appearance which it occasions on them. It is by means
of these also that it teases us in the heat of summer, when it
alight* on the hand or face to sip the perspiration as it exudes
from, and is condensed upon, the skin."

Every one notices that house flies are most abundant around
barns in August and September, and it is in the ordure of sta-
bles that the early stages of this insect are passed. No one
has traced the transformations of
this fly in our country, but we copy
from Bouche's work on the trans-
formations of insects, the rather
rude figures of the larva (Fig. 85),
and pupa-case (a) of the Musca
domestica of Europe, which is sup-
posed to be our species. Bouche
states that the larva is cylindrical,
rounded posteriorly, smooth and shin-
ing, fleshy, and yellowish white, and
four lines long. The pupa-case, or
puparium, is dark reddish-brown, and
three lines in length. It remains in
the pupa state from eight to fourteen
days. In Europe it is preyed upon
by minute ichneumon flies (Chalcids). The flesh fly, Musca
Ciesar, or the Bine-bottle fly, feeds upon decaying animal mat-
ter. Its larva (Fig. 86) is long, cylindrical, the head being
pointed, and the body conical, the posterior end being squarely
docked. The larva of a Sargus-like form which feeds on offal,
transforms into a flattened pupa-case (Fig. 87), provided with
long, scattered hairs. The House fly disappears in autumn, at
the approach of cold weather, though a few individuals pass
through the winter, hibernating in houses, and when the rooms
are heated may often be seen flying on the' windows. Other
species fly early in March, on warm days, having hibernated
under leaves, and the bark of trees, moss, etc. An allied spe-

S5. Larva ; a,
Pupa-cage of
House fly.

Larva of
Flesh fly.

82

THE HOUSE FLY AND ITS ALLIES.

87. Larva of a
Sargus-like fly.

cies, the M. vomitoria, is the Meat fly. Closely allied are the
parasitic species of Tachina, which live within the bodies of
caterpillars and other insects, and are among the most beneficial
of insects, as they prey on thousands of injurious caterpillars.
Another fly of this Muscid group, the Idia
Bigoti, according to Coquerel and Mondiere,
produces in the natives of Senegal, hard, red,
fluctuating tumors, in which the larva resides.
Many of the smaller Muscids mine -leaves,
running galleries within the leaf, or burrowing
in seeds or under the bark of plants. We have
often noticed blister-like swellings on the
bark of the willow, which are occasioned by a
cylindrical, short, fleshy larva (Fig. 88 a, much
enlarged), about aline in length, which changes
to a pupa within the old larval skin, assuming
the form here represented (Fig. 88&), and about
the last of June changes to a small black fly
(Fig. 88), which Baron Osten Sacken refers doubtfully to the
genus Lonchaaa.

The Apple midge frequently does great mischief to apples
after they are gathered. Mr. F. G. Sanborn states that uine-
tenths of the apple crop in Wrentham, Mass., were destroyed
by a fly supposed to be the Molobrus mali, or Apple midge,

described by Dr.
a Fitch. "The

eggs were sup-
posed to have
been laid in
fresh apples, in
the holes made
by the Coddling-
m o t h (Carpo-
88. Willow Blister fly. capsapomo-

nella), whence the larvae penetrated into all parts of the apple,
working small cylindrical burrows about one-sixteenth of an
inch in diameter." Mr. W. C. Fish has also sent me, from
Sandwich, Mass., specimens of another kind of apple worm,
which he writes has been very common in Barnstable county.
"It attacks mostly the earlier varieties, seeming to have a par-
ticular fondness for the old fashioned Summer, or High-top

APPLE WORMS.

83

Sweet. The larva? (Fig. 89 a) enter the fruit usually where it
has been bored by the Apple worm (Carpocapsa), not uncom-
monly through the crescent-like puncture of the curculio, and
sometimes through the calyx, when it has not been troubled by
other insects. Many
of them arrive at ma-
turity in August, and
the fly soon appears,
successive genera-
tions of the maggots
following until cold
weather. I have fre-
quently found the
pupa? in the bottom 89' APPle Worm »nd its Larva,

of barrels in a cellar in the winter, and the flies appear in the
spring. In the early apples, the larvae work about in every
direction. If there be several in an apple, they make it unfit
for use. Apples that appear perfectly sound when taken from

the tree,
will some-
times, if
kept, be
a 1 1 alive
with them
in a few
weeks."
Baron Os-
ten Sacken
informs

me that it
90. Parent of the Cheese Maggot. jg a j)roso_

phila, "the species of which live in putrescent vegetable matter,
especially fruits."

An allied fly is the parent of the cheese maggot. The fly
itself (Piophila casei, Fig. 90) is black, with metallic green
reflections, and the legs are dark and paler at the knee-joints,
the middle and hind pair of tarsi being dark honey yellow.
The Wine fly is also a Piophila, and lives the life of a perpetual
toper in old wine casks, and partially emptied beer, cider and
wine bottles, where, with its pupa-case (Fig. 91), it may be
found floating dead in its favorite beverage.

84 THE HOUSE FLY AND ITS ALLIES.

We now come to the more degraded forms of flies which
live parasitically on various animals. We figure, from a speci-
men in the Museum of the Peabody Academy of Science, the
Bird tick (Ornithomyia, Fig. 92), which lives upon the Great
Homed Owl. Its' body is much flattened, adapted for its life

under the feath-
ers, where it
gorges itself with
the blood of its
host.

Here belongs
also the Horse
tick (Hippobosca
equina, Fig. 93).
It is about the
size of the house
fly, being black,
with yellow spots
on the thorax. Verrill* says that "it attacks by preference
those parts where the hair is thinnest and the skin softest,
especially under the belly and between the hind legs. Its bite
causes severe pain, and will irritate the gentlest horses, often
rendering them
almost unman-
ageable, and
causing them to
kick dangerously.
When found, they
cling so tirmly as
to be removed
with some diffi-
culty, and they
are so tough as
not to be readily

crushed. If one

93. The Horse Tick,
escapes when cap-
tured, it will instantly return to the horse, or, perchance, to the

*The External and Internal Parasites of Man and Domestic Animals. By Prof.
A. E. Verrill, 1870. We are indebted to the author for the use of this and the fig-
ures of the Bot fly of the horse, the turkey, duck and hog louse, the cattle tick, the
itch insect and mange insect of the horse.

THE SHEEP TICK.

85

94. Sheep Tick.

head of its captor, where it is an undesirable guest. Another
species sometimes infests the ox."

In the wingless Sheep tick (Melophagns ovinus, Fig. 94, with
the pupa-case on the left), the body is wingless and very hairy,
and the proboscis is very long. The young are developed within
the body of the parent, until they attain the pupa state, when
she deposits the pupa-
case, which is nearly
half as large as her
abdomen. Other gen-
era are parasitic on
bats ; among them are
the singular spider-
like Bat ticks (Nycte-
ribia, Fig. 95), which
have small bodies and
enormous legs, and are either blind, or
provided with four simple eyes. They
are of small size, being only a line or two

in length. Such degraded 95. Bat Tick.

forms of Diptera have a remarkable resemblance to

the spiders, mites, ticks, etc. The reader should

compare the Nycteribia with the young six- footed

moose tick figured farther on. Another

spider-like fly is the Chionea valga

(Fig. 96; and 97, larva of the European

species), which is a degraded Tipula,

the latter genus standing near the

head of the Diptera. The Chionea,

according to Harris, lives in its early

stages in the ground like many other

gnats, and is found early in the spring,

sometimes crawling over the snow.

We have also figured and mentioned 96' Spider fly>

previously (page 41) the Bee louse, Braula, another

wingless spider-like fly.

The Flea is also a wingless fly, and is probably, as
97. Larva of has been suggested by an eminent entomologist,
Spider fly. as Baron Osten Sacken informs us, a degraded genus
of the family to which Mycetobia belongs. Its transformations
are very unlike those of the fly ticks, and agree closely with the
8

86

THE HOUSE FLY AND ITS ALLIES.

early stages of Mycetophila, one of the Tipulid family. In its
adult condition the flea combines the characters of the Diptera,
with certain features of the grasshoppers and cockroaches, and
the bugs. The body of the flea (Fig. 98, greatly magnified ; a,
antennae ; 6, maxillae, and their palpi, c ; d, mandibles ; the lat-
ter, with the labium, which is not shown in the figure, forming
_ ^ ^ r w the acute

beak) is
much com-
pressed,
and there
are minute
wing -pads,
instead of
wings, pre-
s e n t in
some spe-
cies.

Dr. G. A.
Flea, magnified. Perkins, of

Salem, has succeeded in rearing in considerable numbers from
the eggs, the larvae of this flea. The larvae (Fig. 99, much
enlarged; «, antenna; b, the terminal segments of the abdo-
men), when hatched, are half a line in
length. The body is long, cylindrical, and
pure white, with thirteen segments exclu-
sive of the head, and provided with rather
long hairs. It is very active in its move-
ments, and lives on blood clots, remaining
on unswept floors of out-houses, or in
the straw or bed of the animals they
infest. In six clays after the eggs are
laid the larvae appear, and in a few days
after leaving the egg they mature, spin a
rude cocoon, and change to pupse, and the
perfect insects appear in about ten days.
A good authority states that the human flea does not exist in
America. We never saw a specimen in this country.

A practical point is how to rid dogs of fleas. As a preventive
measure, we would suggest the frequent sweeping and cleansing
of the floors of their kennels, and renewing the straw or chips

THE CHIGOE. 87

composing their beds, — chips being the best material for them
to sleep upon. Flea afflicted dogs should be washed every few
days in strong soapsuds, or weak tobacco or petroleum water.

A writer in "Science-Gossip"*' recommends the "use of the
Persian Insect Destroyer, one package of which suffices for a
good sized clog. The powder should be well rubbed in all over
the skin, or the dog, if small, can be put into a bag previously
dusted with the powder : in either case the dog should be washed
soon after."

One of the most serious insect torments of the tropics of
America is the Sarcopsylla pen-
etrans, called by the natives the
Jigger, Chigoe, Bicho, Cinque,
or Pique (Fig- 100, enlarged ; a,
gravid female, natural size).
The female, during the dry sea-
son, bores into the feet of the m Chis°c-
natives, the operation requiring but a quarter of an hour, usu-
ally penetrating under the nails, and lives there until her body
becomes distended with eggs, the hind-body swelling out to the
size of a pea; her presence often causes distressing sores. The
Chigoe lays about sixty eggs, depositing them in a sort of sac
on each side of the external opening of the oviduct. The young
develop and feed upon the swollen body of the parent flea until
they mature, when they leave the body of their host and escape
to. the ground. The best preventive is cleanliness and the con-
stant wearing of shoes or slippers when in the house, and of
boots when out of doors.

The Willow Gall Fly.

CHAPT,ER VIII.

»

THE BORERS OF OUR SHADE TREES.

IN no way can the good taste and public spirit of our citizens
be better shown than in the planting of shade trees. Regarded
simply from a commercial point of view one cannot make a
more paying investment than setting out an oak, elm, maple
or other shade tree about his premises. To a second gener-
ation it becomes a precious heirloom, and the planter is duly
held in remembrance for those finer qualities of heart and head,
and the wise forethought which prompted a deed simple and
natural, but a deed too often undone. What an increased value
does a fine avenue of shade trees give to real estate in a
city ? And in the country the single stately elm rising grace-
fully and benignantly over the wayside cottage, year after year
like a guardian angel sending down its blessings of shade,
moisture and coolness in times of drought, and shelter from the
pitiless storm, recalls the tenderest associations of generation
after generation that go from the old homestead.

Occasionally the tree, or a number of them, sicken and die, or
linger out a miserable existence, and we naturally after failing
to ascribe the cause to bad soil, want of moisture or adverse
atmospheric agencies, conclude that the tree is infested with
insects, especially if the bark in certain places seems diseased.
Often the disease is in streets lighted by gas, attributed to the
leakage of the gas. Such a case has come up recently at Mor-
ristown, New Jersey. An elm was killed by the Elm borer
(Compsidea tridentata), and the owner was on the point of
suing the Gas Company for the loss of the tree from the sup-
posed leakage of a gas pipe. While the matter was in dispute,
a gentleman of that city took the pains to peel off a piece of the
(88)

THE ELM BORER. 89

bark and found, as he wrote me, "great numbers of the larvae
of this beetle in the bark and between the bark and the wood,
while the latter is 'tattooed' with sinuous grooves in every
direction and the tree is completely girdled by them if! some
places. There are three different sizes of the larvae, evidently
one, two and three years old, or more properly six, eighteen and
thirty months old." The tree had to be cut down.

Dr. Harris, in his "Treatise on Injurious Insects," gives an
account of the -ravages of this insect, which we quote : " On
the 19th of June, 184G, Theophilus Parsons, Esq., sent me some
fragments of bark and insects which were taken by Mr. J. Rich-
ardson from the decaying elms on Boston Common,, and among
the insects I recognized a pair of these beetles in a living state.
The trees were found to have suffered terribly from the ravages
of these insects. Several of them had already been cut down,
as past recovery ; others were in a dying state, and nearly all
of them were more or less affected with disease or premature
decay. Their bark was perforated, to the height of thirty feet
from the ground, with numerous holes, through which insects
had escaped; and large pieces had become so loose, by the
undermining of the grubs, as to yield to slight efforts, and come
off in flakes. The inner bark was filled with burrows of the
grubs, great numbers of which, in various stages of growth,
together with some in the pupa state, were found therein ; and
even the surface of the wood, in many cases, was furrowed with
their irregular tracks. Very rarely did they seem to have pene-
trated far into the wood itself; but their operations were mostly
confined to the inner layers of the bark, which thereby became
loosened from the wood beneath. The grubs rarely exceed
three-quarters of an inch in length. They have no feet, and
they resemble the larvae of other species of Saperda, except
in being rather more flattened. They appear to complete their
transformations in the third year of their existence.

"The beetles probably leave their holes in the bark during
the month of June and in the beginning of July , for, in the
course of thirty years, I have repeatedly taken them at various
dates, from the fifth of June to the tenth of July. It is evident,
from the nature and extent of their depredations, that these
insects have alarmingly hastened the decay of the elm trees on
Boston Mall and Common, and that they now threaten their
entire destruction. Other causes, however, have probably con-

90

THE BORERS OF OUR SHADE- TREES.

tributed to the same end. It will be remembered that these
trees have greatly suffered, in past times, from the ravages of
canker-worms. Moreover, the impenetrable state of the sur-
face SQJI, the exhausted condition of the subsoil, and the depri-
vation of all benefit from the decomposition of accumulated
leaves, which, in a state of nature, the trees would have enjoyed,
but which a regard for neatness has industriously removed, have
doubtless had^ no small influence in diminishing the vigor of
the trees, and thus made them fall unresistingly a prey to insect-
devourers. The plan of this work precludes
a more full consideration of these and other
topics connected with the growth and decay
of these trees ; and I can only add, that it
may be prudent to cut down and burn all that
are much infested by the borers."

The Three-toothed Compsidea (Fig. 101),
is a rather flat-bodied, dark brown beetle,
101. Elm Tree Beetle. with & rusty red curved line behind the eyes,

two stripes on the thorax, and a three-toothed stripe on the outer
edge of each wing cover. It is about one-half an inch in length.
The larva (Fig. 102) is white, subcylindrical, a little flattened,
with the lateral fold of the body rather prominent ; the end of
the body is flattened, obtuse, and nearly as
wide at the end as at the first abdominal ring.
The head is one-half as wide as the prothoracic
ring, being rather large. The prothoracic ring,
or segment just behind the head, is transversely
oblong, being twice as broad as long ; there" is
a pale dorsal corneous transversely oblong
shield, being about two- thirds as long as wide,
and nearly as long as the four succeeding seg-
ments ; this plate is smooth, except on the pos-
terior half, which is rough, with the front edge
irregular and not extending far down the sides.
Fine hairs arise from the front edge and side of
the plate, and similar hairs are scattered over the body and
especially around the end. On the upper side of each segment
is a transversely oblong ovate roughened area, with the front
edge slightly convex, and the hinder slightly arcuate. On the
under side of each segment, are similar rough horny plates, but
arcuate in front, with the hinder edge straight.

102. Elm Tree
Borer.

THE LINDEN TREE BORER.

91

103. Linden Tree
Beetle.

It differs from the larva of the Linden tree borer (Saperda
vewtita) in the body being shorter, broader, more hairy, with
the tip of the abdomen flatter and more hairy. The protho-
rncic segme'nt is broader and flatter, and the rough portion
of the dorsal plates is larger and less tranversely ovate. The
structure of the head shows that its generic distinctness from
Saperda is well founded, as the head is
smaller and flatter, the clypeus being twice
as large, and the labrum broad and short,
while in S. vestita it is longer than broad.
The mandibles are much longer and slenderer,
and the antennae are much smaller than in
S. vestita.

The Linden tree borer (Fig. 103) is a green-
ish snuff-yellow beetle, with six black spots
near the middle of the back ; and it is about
eight-tenths of an inch in length, though
often smaller. The beetles, according to Dr.
Paul Swift, as quoted by Dr. Harris, were
found (in Philadelphia) upon the small branches and leaves on
the 28th day of May, and it is said that they come out as early
as the first of the month, and continue to make their- way
through the
back of the I

trunk and large
branches dur-
ing the whole
of the warm
season. They
immediately fly
into the top of
the tree, and
there feed upon
the epidermis
of the tender
twigs, and the
petioles of the 104- Linden Tree Borer,

leaves, often wholly denuding the latter, and causing the leaves
to fall. They deposit their eggs, two or three in arplace, upon
the trunk or branches especially about the forks, making slight
incisions or punctures for their reception with their strong

THE BORERS OF OUR SHADE TREES.

jaws. As many as ninety eggs have been taken from a single
beetle. The grubs (Fig. 104, e ; a, enlarged view of the head
seen from above ; 6, the under view of the same : c, side view,
and d, two rings of the body enlarged), hatched from these

eggs, undermine the bark to the
extent of six or eight inches, in
sinuous channels, or penetrate the
solid wood an equal distance. It
is supposed that three years are
required to mature the insect.
Various expedients have been
tried to arrest their course, but
without effect. A stream, thrown
into the tops of trees from the
hydrant, is often used with good
success to dislodge other insects ;
but the borer-beetles, when thus
disturbed, take wing and hover
over the trees till all is quiet, and

105. Poplar Tree Borer.

then alight and go to work again. The trunks and branches
of some of the trees have been washed over with various prep-
arations without benefit. Boring the trunk near the ground
and putting in
sulphur and
other drugs, and
plugging, have
been tried with
as little effect.

The city of
Philadelphia has
suffered griev-
ously from this
borer.

Dr. Swift re-
marks, in 1844,
that "the trees
in Washington
and Indepen-
dence Squares

were first o'bserved to have been attacked about seven years
ago. Within two years it has been found necessary to cut down

THE POPLAR TREE BORER.

93

forty-seven European lindens in the former square alone, where
there now remain only a few American lindens, and these
a good deal eaten." In New England this beetle should be
looked for during
the first half of
June.

The Poplar tree
is infested by an-
other species of Sa-
perda (S. calcarata).
This is a much larger
beetle than those
above mentioned,
being an inch or a
little more in length.
It is gray, irregu-

"larly striped with

107. Larva of the Plain Saperda.

ochre, and the wing-covers end in a sharp point. The grub
(Fig. 105 a; &, top view of the head; c, under side) is about-
two inches long and whitish yellow. It has, with that of the
Broad-necked Prionus (P. laticollis of Drury, Fig. 106, adult
and pupa), as Harris states, "almost entirely destroyed the

Lombardy poplar in this vicin-
ity" (Boston). It bores in the
trunks, and the beetle flies by
night in August and Septem-
ber. We also figure the larva
of another borer (Fig. 107 c;
a, top view of the head; 6,
under side ; e, dorsal view of
an abdominal segment ; d, end

of the body, showing its peculiar form), the Saperda inornata of
Say, the beetle of which is black, with ash gray hairs, and with-
out spines on the wing-covers. It is much smaller than any of
the foregoing species, being nine-twentieths of an inch in length.
Its habits are not known. We also figure the Locust and Hick-
ory borer (Fig. 108; «, larva;- 6, pupa), which has swept off the
locust tree, from New England. The beautiful yellow banded
beetles are very abundant on the flowers of the golden rod in
September.

108. Locust Borer.

CHAPTER IX.

CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS.

THE subject of our discourse is not only a disagreeable but
too often a painful one. Not only is the mere mention of the
creature's name of which we are to speak tabooed and avoided
by the refined and polite, but the creature itself has become
extinct and banished from the society of the good and respect-
able. Indeed under such happy auspices do a large proportion
of the civilized world now live that their knowledge of the habits
and form of a louse may be represented by a blank. Not so with
some of their great-great-grandfathers and grandmothers, if his-
tory, sacred and profane, poetry,* and the annals of literature
testify aright; for it is comparatively a recent fact in history that
the louse has awakened to find himself an outcast and an alien.
Among savage nations of all climes, some of which have been
dignified with the apt, though high sounding name of Phthiri-
ophagi, and among the Chinese and other semi-civilized peoples,
these lords of the soil still flourish with a luxuriance and rank-
ness of growth that never diminishes, so that we may say with-
out exaggeration that certain mental traits and fleshly appetites

*Ha! whare ye gaun, ye crowlin ferliel
Your Impudence protects you sairly:
I canua say but ye strunt rarely,

Owre gauze and lace;
Tlio' faith, I fear ye dine but sparely

On sic a place.

Ye ugly, creepin, blastlc wonner,
Detested, shunn'd by s#unt and sinner,
How dare ye set your fit upon her

Sae fine a lady!

Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner
Oil some poor body.

(To a Louse. — Burns.)
(94)

ANIMAL PARASITES. 95

induced by their consumption as an article of food may have
been created, while a separate niche in our anthropological mu-
seums is reserved for the instruments of warfare, both offensive
and defensive, used by their phthiriophagous hunters. Then have
we not in the very centres of civilization the poor and degraded,
which are most faithfully attended by these revolting satellites !

But bantering aside, there is no more engaging subject to the
naturalist than that of animal parasites. Consider the great
proportion of animals that gain their livelihood by stealing that
of others. While a large proportion of plants are more or less
parasitic, they gain thereby in interest to the botanist, and
many of them are eagerly sought as the choicest ornaments of
our conservatories. Not so with their zoological confreres.
All that is repulsive and uncanny is associated with them, and
tlios* who study them, though perhaps among the keenest intel-
lects and most industrious observers, speak of them without
the limits of their own circle in subdued whispers or under a
protest, and their works fall under the eyes of the scantiest
few. But the study of animal parasites has opened up new
fields of research, all bearing most intimately on those two
questions that ever incite the naturalist to the most laborious
and untiring diligence — what is life and its origin ? The sub-
jects of the alternation of generations, or parthenogenesis, of
embryology and biology, owe their great advance, in large
degree, to the study of such animals as are parasitic, and the
question whether the origin of species be due to creation by
the action of secondary laws or not, will be largely met and
answered by the study of the varied metamorphoses and modes
of growth, the peculiar modification of organs that adapt them
to their strange modes of life, and the consequent variation in
specific characters so remarkably characteristic of those ani-
mals living parasitically upon others.*

With these considerations in view surely a serious, thought-
ful, and thorough study of the louse, in all its varieties and
species, is neither belittling nor degrading, nor a waste of time.
We venture to say, moreover, that more light will be thrown
on the classification and morphology of insecte by the study of

* We notice while preparing this article that a journal of Parasitology has for
some time been issued in Germany — that favored land of specialists. It is the
" Zeitschrift fur Parasitenkuude," edited by Dr. E. Hallier and F A. Zuru . 8vo,
Jena.

96

CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS.

109. Podura.

the parasitic species, and other degraded, wingless forms that
do not always live parasitically, especially of their embryology
and changes after leaving the egg, than by years of study of
the more highly developed insects alone. Among Hymenoptera
the study of the minute Ichneumons, such as the Proctotrupids
and Chalcids, especially the egg-parasites ;
among moths the study of the wingless can-
ker-worm moth and Orgyia; among Diptera
the flea, bee louse, sheep "tick, bat tick, and
other wingless flies ; among Coleoptera, the
Meloe, and singular Stylops and Xenos ;
among Neuroptera, the snow insect, Boreus,
the Podura (Fig. 109) and Lepisma, and espe-
cially the hemipterous lice, will throw a flood
of light on these prime subjects in philosoph-
ical entomology.

Without farther apology, then, and very
dependent on the labors. of others for our
information, we will say a few words on some
interesting points in the natural history of
lice. In the first place, how does the louse
bite ? It is the general opinion among physicians, supported by
able entomologists, that the louse has jaws, and bites. But
while the bird lice (Mallophaga) do have biting jaws, whence
the Germans call them skin-eaters (pelzfresser) , the mouth parts
of the genus Pediculus, or true louse, resemble in their structure f
those of the bed-bug (Fig. 110), and other Hemiptera. In its
form the louse closely resembles the bed-bug, and the two groups
of lice, the Pediculi and Mallophaga, should be
considered as families of Hemiptera, though
degraded and at the base of the hemipterous
series. The resemblance is carried out in the L
form of the egg, the mode of growth of the 1
embryo, and the metamorphosis of the insect
after leaving its egg.

Schiodte, a Danish entomologist, has, it
seems to us, forever settled the question as to
whether the louse bites the flesh or sucks blood, and decides
a point interesting to physicians, i. c., that the loathsome disease
called phthiriasis is a nonentity. From this source not only
many living in poverty and squalor are said to have died, but

110. Bed-bug.

THE LOUSE. 97

also men of renown, among whom Denny in his work on the
Anoplura, or lice, of Great Britain, mentions the name of "Phe-
retima, as recorded by Herodotus, Antiochus Epiphanes, the
Dictator Sylla, the two Herods, the Emperor Maximian, and
Phillip the Second." Schioclte, in his essay " On Phthinus, and
on the Structure of the Mouth in Pediculus" (Annals and Maga-
zine of Natural History, 1866, page 213), says that these state-
ments will not bear examination, and that this disease should be
placed on the " retired list," for such a malady is impossible to
be produced by simply blood-sucking animals, and that they are
only the disgusting attendants on other diseases. Our author
thus describes the mouth parts of the louse.

"Lice are no doubt to be regarded as bugs, simplified in
structure and lowered in animal life in accordance with their
mode of living as parasites, being small, flattened, apterous,
myopic, crawling and climbing, with a conical head, moulded
as it were to suit the rugosities of the surface they inhabit,
provided with a soft, transversely furrowed skin, probably
endowed* with an acute sense of feeling, which can guide them
in that twilight in which their mode of life places them. The
peculiar attenuation of the head in ffont of the antenna? at once
suggests to the practised eye the existence of a mouth adapted
for suction. This mouth differs from that of the Hemiptera
(bed-bug, etc.) generally, in the circumstance, that the labium is
capable of being retracted into the upper part of the head,
which therefore presents a little fold, which is extended when
the labium is protruded. In order to strengthen this part, a flat
band of chitine is placed on the under surface, just as the shoe-
maker puts a small piece of gutta-percha into the back of an
India-rubber shoo ; as, however, the chitine is not very elastic,
this baud is rather thinner in the middle, in order that it may
bend and fold a little when the skin is not extended by the
lower lip. The latter consists, as usual, of two hard lateral
pieces, of which the fore ends are united by a membrane so that
they form a tube, of which the interior covering is a continu-
ation of the elastic membrane in the top of the head ; inside its
orifice there are a number of small hooks, which assume differ-
ent positions according to the degree of protrusion ; if this is
at its highest point the orifice is turned inside out, like a collar,
whereby the small hooks are directed backwards, so that they
can serve as barbs. These are the movements which the animal
9

98

CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS.

executes after having first inserted the labium through a sweat-
pore. When the hooks have got a firm
hold, the first pair of setse (the real
mandibles transformed) are protruded ;
these are, towards their points, united
by a membrane so as to form a closed
tube, from which, again, is inserted the
second pair of setae, or maxilla?, which
in the same manner are transformed
into a. tube ending in four small lobes
placed crosswise. It follows that when
the whole instrument is exserted, we
perceive a long membranous flexible
tube hanging down from the labium, and
along the walls of this tube the setiform
mandibles and maxilla in the shape of
long narrow bands of chitine. In this way
the tube of suction can be made longer
or shorter as required, and easily ad-
justed to the thickness of the skin in
the particular place where the animal is
sucking, whereby access to the capil-
lary system is secured at any part of
the body. It is apparent, from the
whole structure of the instrument, that
it is by no means calculated on being
used as a sting, but is rather to be com-
pared to a delicate elastic probe, in the
use of which the terminal lobes proba-
bly serve as feelers. As soon as the
capillary system is reached, the blood
will at once ascend into the narrow
tube, after which the current is contin-
ued with increasing rapidity by means
of the pulsation of the pumping ventri-
cle and the powerful peristaltic move-

*lll. Mouth of the Louse, ment of the digestive tube."
If we compare the form of the louse (Fig. 112, Pediculus

* Figure 111 represents the parts of the mouth In a large specimen of Pediculus
vestimenti, entirely protruding, and seen from above, magnified one hundred and
sixty times; aa, the summit of the head with four bristles on each side; Ib, the

THE LOUSE.

99

capitis, the head louse; Fig. 113, P. vestimenti, the body louse)
with the young bod-bug as figured by Westwood (Modern.
Classification of Insects, ii, p. 475) we shall see a very close
resemblance, the head of the young Ciraex being proportionally
larger than in the adult, while the thorax is smaller, and the
abdomen is more ovate, less rounded; moreover the body is
white and partially transparent.

Under a high power of the microscope specimens treated
with diluted potash show that the mandibles and
maxillae arise near each other in the middle of the
head opposite the eyes, their bases slightly diverg-
ing. Thence they converge to the mouth, over
which they meet, and beyond are free, being hol-
low, thin band^'of chitine, meeting like the maxillae,
or tongue, of butterflies to form a hollow tube for
suction. The mandibles each suddenly end in a
curved, slender filament, which is probably used
as a tactile organ to explore the best sites in the
flesh of their victim for drawing blood. On the
other hand the maxillae, which are much narrower
than the mandibles, become rounded towards the end, bristle-
like, and tipped with numerous exceedingly fine barbs, by which
the bug anchors itself in the flesh, while the
blood is pumped through the mandibles. The
base of the large, tubular labium, or beak, which
ensheathes the mandibles and maxillag, is oppo-
site the end of the clypeus or front edge of the
upper side of the head, and at a distance beyond
the mouth equal to the breadth of the labium
itself. The labium, which is divided into three
joints, becomes flattened towards the tip, which
is square, and ends in two thin membranous
113. Body Louse, lobes, probably endowed with a slight sense of
touch. On comparing these parts with those of the louse, it
will be seen how much alike they are with the exception of the
labium, a very variable organ in the Hemiptera. From the long

chitinous band, and c, the hind part of th& lower lip, such as they appear through
the skin by strong transmitted light; dd, the foremost protruding part of the lower
lip (the haustellum) ; ee, the hooks turned outwards ; /, the Inner tube of suction,
slightly bent and twisted; the two pairs of jaws are perceived on the outside as
thin lines; a few blood globules are seen iu the interior of the tube.

100

CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS.

sucker of the Pediculus, to the stout chitinous jaws of the
Mallophaga, or bird lice, is a Sudden transition, but on com-
paring the rest of the head and
body it will be seen that the dis-
tinction only amounts to a family
one, though Burmeister placed the
Mallophaga among the Orthoptera
(grasshoppers and crickets) on
account of the mandibles being
adapted for biting. It has been a
common source of error to depend
too much upon one or a single set
of organs. Insects have been classi-
fied on characters drawn from the
wings, or the number of the joints
of the tarsi, or the form of the
mouth parts. We must take into
account in endeavoring to ascer-
tain the limits of natural groups,
all the organs collectively, as well
as the internal anatomy and the
embryology and metamorphosis of
insects, before we can hope to
obtain a natural classification.
The family of bird lice is a very extensive one, embracing
many genera, and several hun-
dred species. One or more spe-
cies infest the skin of all our
domestic and wild mammals and
birds, some birds sheltering
beneath their feathers four or
five species of lice. Before giv-
ing a hasty account of some of
our more common species, we
will give a sketch of the embryo-
logical history of the lice, with
special reference to the structure
of the mouth parts.

The eggs (Fig. 114, egg of the head louse) are long, oval,
somewhat pear-shaped, with the hinder end somewhat pointed,
while the anterior end is flattened, and bears little conical micro-

114. Embryo of the "Louse.

Moufch partg Qf the Loilse

MOUTH OF THE LOUSE.

101

pyles (m, minute orifices for the passage of the spermatozoa

into the egg), which vary in form in the different species and

genera; the opposite end

of the egg is provided with

a few bristles. The female

•attaches her eggs to the

hairs or feathers of her

host.
After the egg has been

fertilized by the male, the

blastoderm, or primitive

skin, forms, and subse-
quently two layers, or em-

b r y o n a 1 membranes, ap- m Mouth Parts of the Louse>

pear; the outer is called the amnion (Fig. Il4, am), while the
inner visceral membrane (db) partially
wraps the rude form of the embryo in
its folds. The head (ok) of the em-
bryo is now directed towards the end
of the egg on which the hairs are situ-
ated ; afterwards the embryo revolves
on its axis and the head lies next to
the opposite end of the egg. Eight
tubercles bud out from the under side
of the head, of which the foremost and

longest are the antennas (as), those succeeding are the mandi-
bles, maxillae, and second

maxilla), or labium. Behind

them arise six long, slender

tubercles fornjing the legs,

and the primitive streak

rudely marks the lower

wall of the thorax and

abdomen not yet formed.

Figure 115 represents the

head and mouth parts

of the embryo of the same

louse ; vk is the forehead,

or clypeus ; ant, the anten-
na); mad, the mandibles;

max1, the first pair of maxillae, and max*, the second pair of

118. Mouth Parts of Louse.

117. Mouth Parts of Louse.

102

CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS.

119. Louse of Cow.

maxillae, or labium. Figure 116 represents the mouth parts
of the same insect a little farther advanced, with the jaws and
labium elongated and closely folded together. Figure 117 repre-
sents the same still farther advanced; the mandibles (mad) are
sharp, and resemble the jaws of the
Mallophaga; and the maxillae (jnaxlj
and labium (max2) are still large, while
afterwards the labium becomes nearly
obsolete. Figure 118 represents a front
view of the mouth parts of a bird louse,
Goniodes; Ib, is the upper lip, or
labrum, lying under the clypeus; mad,
the mandibles; max, the maxillae; Z,
the lyre- formed piece; and pi, the
"plate."

We will now describe some of the
common species of lice found on a few
of our domestic animals, and the mal-
lophagous parasites occurring on cer-
tain mammals and birds. The family
Pediculina, or true lice, is higher than the bird lice, their mouth
parts, as well as the structure of the head, resembling the true
Hemiptera, especially the bed bug. The clypeus, or front of the
head, is much smaller than in the bird lice, the latter retaining
the enlarged forehead of the embryo, it
being in some species half as large as
the rest of the head.

All of our domestic mammals and
birds are plagued by one or more species
of lice. Figure 119 represents the Hae-
matopinus vituli, which is brownish in
color. As the specimen figured came
from the Burnett collection of the Bos-
ton Society of Natural History, together
with those of the goat louse, the louse
of the common fowl, and of the cat,
they are undoubtedly naturalized here. 12°- Louse of Ho»-
Quite a different species is the louse of the hog (H. suis, Fig.
120).

The remaining parasites belong to the skin-biting lice, or
Mallophaga, and I will speak of the several genera referred to

LICE OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

103

in their natural order, beginning with the highest form and
that which is nearest allied to Pediculus.

The common barn-yard fowl is infested by a louse that we
have called Goniocotcs Burnettii (Fig. 121), in honor of the late
Dr. W. I. Burnett, a young and
talented naturalist and physiolo-
gist, who paid more attention than
any one else in this country to the
study of these parasites, and made
a large collection of them, now in
the museum of the Boston Society
of Natural History. It differs from
the G. hologaster of Europe, which
lives on the same bird, in the short
second joint of the antenna, which
are also stouter; and in the long
head, the clypeus being much
longer and more acutely rounded ;
while the head is less hollowed out 121. Louse of Domestic Fowl,
at the insertion of the antennae. The abdomen is oval, and
one-half as wide as long, with transverse, broad, irregular bands
along the edges of the segments. The mandibles are short and
straight, two toothed. The body is slightly yellowish, and
variously streaked and banded with pitchy black. The duck is
infested by a remarkably slender form (Fig. 122, Phil-
opterus squalidus). Figure 123 represents the louse
of the cat, and another species (Fig. 124) of the same
genus (Trichodes) lives upon the goat.

The most degraded genus is Gyropus. Mr. C. Cook
has found Gyropus ovalis of Europe abundant on
the Guinea pig. A species is also found on the por-
poise ; an interesting fact, as this is the only insect
we know of that lives parasitically on any marine
animal.

The genus Goniodes (Fig. 125, G. stylifer, the tur-
122. Duck ]jey louse) is of great interest from a morphological
Louse- and developmental point of view, as the antenna? are
described and figured by Denny as being " in the males cheli-
form (Fig. 126, a, male ; b, female) ; the first joint being very
large and thick, the third considerably smaller, recurved towards
the first, and forming a claw, the fourth and fifth very small,

104

CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS.

123. Louse of the Cat.

arising from the back of the third." He farther remarks, that
"the males of this [which lives on the turkey] and all the other
species of Goniodes, use the first and third joints of the anten-
na3 with great facility, acting the part of a finger and thumb."
The antennae of the females are of the
ordinary form. This hand-like structure,
is, so far as we know, without a parallel
among insects, the antennae of the He-
miptera being almost uniformly filiform,
a'nd from two to nine-jointed. The
design of this structure is probably to
enable the male to grasp its consort and
also perhaps to cling to the feathers, and
thus give it a superiority over the weaker
sex in its advances towards courtship.
Why is this advantage possessed- by the
males of this genus alone? The world
of insects, and of animals generally
abounds in such instances, though exist-
ing in other organs, and the develop-
mentist dimly perceives in such departures from a normal type
of structure, the origin of new generic forms, whether due at
first to a seemingly accidental variation,
or, as in this instance, perhaps, to long
use as prehensile organs through suc-
cessive generations of lice having the
antennae slightly diverging from the
typical condition, until the present
form has been developed. Another
generation of naturalists will perhaps
unanimously agree that the Creator has
thus worked through secondary laws,
which many of the naturalists of the
present day are endeavoring, in a truly
scientific and honest spirit of inquiry,
to discover.

In their claw or leg-like form these ,124' Louse of the Goat'
male antenna also repeat in the head, the general form of the
legs, whose prehensile and grasping functions they assume.
We have seen above that the appendages of the head and tho-
rax are alike in the embryo, and the present case is an interest-

FACTS FOR THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION.

105

irg example of the unity of type of the jointed appendages of
insects, and articulates generally.

Another point of interest in these degraded insects is, that
the process of degradation begins either late in the life of the
embryo or during the changes from the larval to the adult, or
winged state; An instance of the latter may be observed in the
wingless female of the canker worm, so different from the winged
male; this difference is created after the larval stage, for the

caterpillars of

both sexes are

the same, so far

as we know. So

with numerous

other examples

am on g the

moths. In the

louse, the em-
bryo, late in its

life, . resembles

the embryos of

other insects,

even Corixa, a

member of a not 12G- Antenna? of
Goniodes.

125. The Turkey Louse.

remotely allied family. But just before hatch-
ing the insect assumes its degraded louse physiognomy. The
developmeutist would say that this process of degradation
points to causes acting upon the insect just before or immedi-
ately after birth, inducing the retrogression and retardation of'
development, and would consider it as an argument for the
evolution of specific forms by causes acting on the animal while
battling with its fellows in the struggle for existence, and per-
haps consider that the metamorphoses of the animal within the
egg are due to a reflex action of the modes of life of the ances-
tors of the animal on the embryos of" its descendants.

CHAPTEE X.

THE DRAGON FLY.

WERE we to select from among the insects a type of all that
is savage, relentless, and bloodthirsty, the Dragon fly would be
our choice. From the moment of its birth until its death, usu-
ally a twelve-month, it riots in bloodshed and carnage. Living
beneath the waters perhaps eleven months of its life, in the
larva and pupa states, it is literally a walking pitfall for luckless
aquatic insects ; but when transformed into a fly, ever on the
wing in pursuit of its prey, it throws off all concealment, and
reveals the more unblushingly its rapacious character.

Not only do its horrid visage and ferocious bearing frighten
children, who call it the " Devil's Darning-needle," but it even
distresses older persons, so that its name has become a byword.
Could we understand the language of insects, what tales of hor-
ror would be revealed! What traditions, sagas, fables, and
myths must adorn the annals of animal life regarding this
JDragon among insects !

To man, however, aside from its bad name and its repulsive
aspect, which its gay trappings do not conceal, its whole life is
beneficent. It is a scavenger, being like that class ugly and
repulsive, and holding literally, among insects, the lowest rank
in society. In the water, it preys upon young mosquitoes and
the larvae of other noxious insects. It thus aids in maintaining
the balance of life, and cleanses the swamps of miasmata, thus
purifying the air we breathe. During its existence of three or
four weeks above the waters, its whole life is a continued good
toman. It hawks over pools and fields, and through gardens,
decimating swarms of mosquitoes, flies, gnats, and other baneful
insects. It is a true JMalthus' delight, and, following that san-
guinary philosopher, we may believe that our Dragon fly is an
(106)

THE DRAGON FLY. 107

entomological Tamerlane or Napoleon sent into the world by a
kind Providence to prevent too close a jostling among the myri-
ads of insect life.

We will, then, conquer our repugnance to its ugly looks and
savage mien, and contemplate the hideous monstrosity, — as it
is useless to deny that it combines the graces of the Hunchback
of Notre Dame and Dickens' Quilp, with certain features of its
own, — for the good it does in Nature.

Even among insects, a class replete with forms the very incar-
nation of ugliness and the perfection of all that is hideous in
nature, our Dragon fly is most conspicuous. Look at its enor-
mous head, with its beetling brows, retreating face, and heavy
under jaws, — all eyes and teeth, — and hung so loosely on its
short, weak neck, sunk beneath its enormous hunchback, — for
it is wofully round-shouldered, — while its long, thin legs,
shrunken as if from disease, are drawn up beneath its breast,
and what a hobgoblin it is !

Its gleaming wings are, however, beautiful objects. They
form a broad expanse of delicate parchment-like membrane
drawn over an intricate network of veins. Though the body is
bulky, it is yet light, and easily sustained by the wings. The
long tail undoubtedly acts as a rudder to steady its flight.

These insects are almost universally dressed in the gayest
colors. The body is variously banded with rich shades of blue,
green, and yellow, and the wings give off the most beautiful
iridescent and metallic reflections.

During July and August the various species of Libellula and
its allies most abound. The ^ggs are attached loosely in bunches
to the stems of rushes and other water-plants. In laying them,
the Dragon fly, according to Mr. P. R. Uhler's observations,
" alights upon water-plants, and, pushing the end of her body
below the surface of the water, glues a bunch of eggs to the
submerged stem or leaf. Libellula auripennis I have often
seen laying eggs, and I think I was not deceived in my obscr-
tion that she dropped a bunch of eggs into the open ditch while
balancing herself just a little way above the surface of the
water. I have, also, seen her settled upon the reeds in brackish
water with her abdomen submerged in part,' and there attaching
a cluster of eggs. I feel pretty sure that L. auripennis does
not always deposit the whole of her eggs at one time, as I have
seen her attach a cluster of not more than a dozen small yellow

103

THE DRAGON FLY.

eggs. There must be more than one hundred eggs in one of
the large bunches. The eggs of some of the Agrions are bright
apple -green, but I cannot be sure that I have ever seen them in
the very act of oviposition. They have curious habits of set-
tling upon leaves and grass growing in the water, and often
allow their abdomens to fall below the surface of the water ;
sometimes they fly against the surface, but I never saw what I

could assert to be the project-
ing of the eggs from 'the body
upon plants or into the water.
The English entomologists
assert that the female Agriou
goes below the surface to a
depth of several inches to
deposit eggs upon the sub-
merged stems of plants." The
Agrions, however, according
to Lucaze Duthiers, a French
anatomist, make, with the ovi-
positor, a little notch in the
plant upon which they lay their
eggs.

These eggs soon hatch, pro-
bably during the heat of sum-
mer. The larva is very active
in its habits, being provided
with six legs, attached to the
thorax, on the back of which
are the little wing-pads, or
rudimentary wings. The large

127. Under side of head of Diplax,
with the labuim or mask fully ex-
tended, x, x', x", the three subdi-
visions of the labium. y, the max-
illae or second pair of jaws.

head is provided with enor-
mous eyes, while a pair of sim-
ple, minute eyelets (ocelli) are
placed near the origin of the small bristle-like feelers, or anten-
nae. Seen from beneath, instead of the formidable array of
jaws and accessory organs commonly observed in most carniv-
orous larva?, we see nothing but a broad, smooth mask covering
the lower part of the face ; as if from sheer modesty our young
Dragon fly was endeavoring to conceal a gape. But wait a
-moment. Some unwary insect comes within striking distance.
The battery of jaws is unmasjved, and opens upon the victim.

THE DRAGON FLY'S MASK.

109

This mask (Fig. 127) is peculiar to the young, or larva and pupa
of the Dragon fly. It is the labium, or under lip greatly
enlarged, and armed at the broad spoon-shaped extremity (Fig.
127, x} with two sharp hooks, adapted for seizing and retaining
its prey. At rest,' the terminal half is so bent up as to conceal
the face, and thus the crea-
ture crawls about, to all
appearance, the most inno-
cent and lamb-like of in-
sects.

Not only does the imma-
ture Dragon fly walk over
the bottom of the pool or

128. Abdominal valves ; a, side view.

stream it inhabits, but it
can also leap for a consid-
erable distance, and by a most curious contrivance. By a
syringe-like apparatus lodged in the end of the body, it dis-
charges a stream of water for a distance of two or three inches
behind it, thus propelling the insect forwards. This apparatus
b combines the functions of

locomotion and respiration.
There are, as usual, two breath-
ing pores (stigmata) on each
side of the thorax. But the
process of breathing seems to
be mostly carried on in the tail.
The tracheae are here collected
in a large mass, sending their
branches into folds of mem-
brane lining the end of the ali-
mentary canal, and which act
like a piston to force out the
water. The entrance to the
canal is protected by three to
fi v e triangular horny valves
(Fig. 128,9, 10,- 128 a, side
129. Agrion; 6, False Gill of Larva, view), which open and shut at
will. When open, the water flows in, bathing the internal gill-
like organs, which extract the air from the water, which is then
suddenly expelled by a strong muscular effort.
In the smaller forms, such as Agrion (A. saucium, Fig. 129 -,
10

110

THE DRAGON FLY.

Fig. 129 6, side view of false gill, showing but one leaf), the
respiratory leaves, called the tracheary, or false-gills, are not
enclosed within the body, but form three broad leaves, perme-
ated by tracheae, or air-vessels. They are not true gilis, how-
ever, as the blood is not aerated in them. They only absorb
air to supply the tracheae, which aerate
the blood only within the general cavity
of the body. These false gills also act as
a rudder to aid the insect in swimming.
It is interesting to watch the Dragon
flies through their transformations, as
they can easily be kept in aquaria. Lit-
tle, almost nothing, is known regarding
their habits, and any one who can spend
the necessary time and patience in rear-
ing them, so as to trace up the different

stages from the larva to the adult fly, and 13°- Pupa of Cordulia.
describe and figure them accurately, will do good service to
science.

Mr. Uhler states that at present we know but little of the
young stages of our species, but the larva and pupa of the Libel-

lulas may be al-
ways known from
the .ZEschnas by
the shorter,
deeper and more
robust form, and
generally by their
thick clothing of
hair. Figure 130
represents the
pupa of Cordulia
lateralis, and fig-
ure 131 that of a
Dragon fly re-
ferred doubtfully
131. PupaofDidymops? to the genu.s

Didymops. For descriptions and figures of other forms the
reader may turn to Mr. Louis Cabot's essay " On the Immature
State of the Odonata," published by the Museum of Compara-
tive Zoology at Cambridge.

METAMORPHOSIS OF THE DRAGON FLY.

Ill

The pupa scarcely differs from the larva, except in having
larger wing-pads (Fig. 132). It is still active, and as much of
a gourmand as ever. When the insect is about to assume the
pupa state, it moults its skin. The body having outgrown the
larva skin, by a strong muscular effort a rent opens along the back
of the thorax, and the insect having fas-
tened its claws into some object at the
bottom of the pool, the pupa gradually
works its way out of the larva-skin.' It
is now considerably larger than before.
Immediately after this tedious operation,
its body is soft, but the crust soon hard-
ens. This change, with most species,
probably occurs early in summer.

When about to change into the adult
fly, the pupa climbs up some plant near
the surface of the water. Again its back
yawns wide open, and from the rent our
Dragon fly slowly emerges. For an hour
or more, it remains torpid and listless,
with its flabby, soft wings remaining
motionless. The fluids leave the sur-
face, the crust hardens and dries, rich m Pupa of ^8Chna.
and varied tints appear, and our Dragon fly rises into its new
world of light and sunshine a gorgeous, but repulsive being.
Tennyson thus describes these changes in "The Two Voices" : —

To-day I saw the Dragon fly

Come from the wells where he did lie.

An inner impulse rent the veil

Of his old husk : from head to tail

Came out clear plates of sapphire mail.

He dried his wings; like gauze they grew;
Through crofts and pastures wet with dew
A living flash of light he flew.

Of our more common, typical forms of Dragon flies, we figure
a few, commonly observed during the summer. The three-
spotted Dragon fly (Libellula trimaculata), of which figure 133
represents the male, is so called from the three dark clouds on
the wings of the female. But the opposite sex differs in having
a dark patch at the front edge of the wings, and a single broad
cloud just beyond the middle of the wing.

Libellula 'quadrimaculata, the four-spotted Dragon fly (Fig.

112

THE DRAGON FLY.

134), is seen on the wing in June, flying through dry pine
woods far from any standing water.
The. largest of our Dragon flies are the "Devil's Darning-

133, Libellnla trimaculata, male.

needles," Eschna heros and grandis, seen hawking about our
gardens till dusk. They frequently enter houses, carrying dis-

134. Libellula quadrimacnlata.

may and terror among the children. The hind-body is long and
cylindrical, and gaily colored with bright green and bluish bands
and spots.

THE DRAGON

113

135. Diplax Berenice, male.

One of our most common Dragon flies is the ruby Dragon fly,
Diplax rubicund ula, which is yellowish-red. It is seen every-
where flying over pools, and also frequents dry sunny woods and
glades. Another common
form is Diplax Berenice
(Fig. 135 male, Fig. 13G
female. The accompany-
ing cut (137) represents
the larva, probably of this
species, according to Mr.
Uhlcr.) It is black, the
head blue in front, spotted
with yellow, while the
thorax and abdomen are
striped with yellow.
There are fewer stripes on the body of the male, which has only
four large yellow spots on each side of the abdomen.
Still another pretty species is Diplax Elisa (Fig. 138).
It is black, with the head yellowish and with greenish-
yellow spots on the sides of the thorax and base of the
abdomen. There are three dusky spots on the front
edge of each wing, and a large cloud at the base of the
hind pair towards the hind angles of the wing.
137. Larva Rather a rare form, and of much smaller stature is
of Diplax. tlie Nannophya bella (Fig. 138, female). It was first
detected in Baltimore, and we afterwards found it not unfre-
quently by a pond in
Maine. Its abdomen is
unusually short, and the
reticulations of the
wings are large and sim-
ple. The female is black,
while the male is frosted
over with a whitish pow-
der. Many more species
of this family are found
in this country, and for
descriptions of them we

136. Diplax Berenice, female.

would refer the reader to Dr. Hagen's " Synopsis of the Neurop-
tera of North America," published by the Smithsonian Insti-
tution.

114

THE DRAGON FLY.

The Libellulidse, or family of Dragon flies, and the Ephtfmer-
idae, or May flies (Fig. 140), are the most characteristic of the
Neuroptera, or veiny-winged insects. This group is a most

interesting one to the
systematist, as it is
composed of so many
heterogeneous forms
which it is almost
impossible to classify
in our rigid and at
present necessarily
artificial systems.
"We divide them into

families and sub-fam-
138. Diplax Elisa.

ilies, genera and sub-
genera, species and varieties, but there is an endless shifting
of characters in these groups. The different groups would seem
well limited after studying certain
forms, when to the systematist's sor-
row, here comes a creature, perhaps
mimicking an ant, or aphis, or other
sort of bug, or even a butterfly, and
for which they would be readily mis-
taken by the uninitiated. Bibliogra-
phers have gone mad over books that 139. Nannophya bella.
could not be classified. Imagine the despair of an insect-hunter
and entomophile, as he sits down to
his box of dried ueuroptera. He seeks
for a true neuropter in the white ant
before him, but its very form and
habits summon up a swarm of true
ants ; and then the little wingless book
louse (Atropos, Fig. 141) scampering
irreverently over the musty pages of
his Systema Naturae, reminds him
of that closest friend of man— Pedic-
ulus vestimenti. Again, his studies
lead him to that gorgeous inhabitant
of the South, the butterfly-like Ascalaphus, with its resplendent
wings, and slender, knobbed antennae so much like those of
butterflies, and visions of these beautiful insects fill his mind's

140. May Fly.

SYSTEMS FOUNDED IN NATURE.

115

eye ; or sundry dun-colored caddis flies, modest, delicate neu-
roptera, with finely fringed wings and slender feelers, create
doubts as to whether they are not really allies of the clothes
moth, so close is the
resemblance.

Thus the student is
constantly led astray by
the wanton freaks Nature
plays, and becomes seep- K
tical as regards the truth
of a natural system,
though there is one to
be discovered; and at
last disgusted with the
stiff and arbitrary sys-
tems of our books, — a
disgust we confess most
wholesome, if it only
leads him into a closer
communion with nature.
The sooner one leaves
those maternal apron- 14L Death Tick<

strings,— books,— and learns to identify himself with nature,
and thus goes out of himself to affiliate with the spirit of the
scene or object before him, — or, in other words, cultivates
habits of the closest observation and most patient reflection, —
be he painter or poet, philosopher or insect-hunter of low
degree, he will gain an intellectual strength and power of inter-
preting nature, that is the gift of true genius.

The Ant Lion and adult.

CHAPTER XI.

MITES AND TICKS.

BUT few naturalists have busied themselves with the study of
mites. The honored names of Hermann, Von Heydcn, Duges,
Dujardin and Pagenstecher, Nicolet, Koch and Kobin, and the
lamented Claparede of Geneva, lead the small number who haVe
published papers in scientific journals. After these, and except
an occasional note by an amateur microscopist who occasionally
pauses from his "diatomaniacal" studies, and looks upon a mite
simply as a "microscopic object," to be classed in his micro-
graphic Vade Mecum with mounted specimens of sheep's wool,
and the hairs of other quadrupeds, a distorted proboscis of a
fly, and podura scales, we read but little of mites and their
habits. But few readers of our natural history text-books learn
from their pages any definite facts regarding the affinities of
these humble creatures, their organization and the singular
metamorphosis a few have been known to pass through. We
shall only attempt in the present article to indicate a few of the
typical forms of mites, and sketch, with too slight a knowledge
to speak with much authority, an imperfect picture of their
appearance and modes of living.

Mites are lowly organized Arachnids. This order of insects
is divided into the Spiders, the Scorpions, the Harvestmen
and the Mites (Acarina). They have a rounded oval body,
without the usual division between the head-thorax and abdo-
men observable in spiders, the head-thorax and abdomen being
merged in a single mass. There are four pairs of legs, and the
mouth parts consist, as seen in the adjoining figure of a young
tick (Fig. 142, young Ixodes albipictus), of a pair of maxilla3
(c), which in the adult terminates in a two or three-jointed
palpus, or feeler; a pair of mandibles (ft), often covered with
several rows of fine teeth, and ending in three or four larger
(116)

PEAR MITE.

117

hooks and a serrated labium (a). These parts form a beak
which the mite or tick insinuates into the flesh of its host, upon
the blood of which it subsists. While many of the mites are
parasitic on animals, some are known to devour the eggs of
insects and other mites, thrusting their beaks into the egg, and
sucking the contents. We have seen a mite (Nothrus oviv-
orus, Fig. 143) busily engaged in destroying the eggs of a moth
like that of the Canker worm, and Dr. Shinier has observed the
Acarus? malus sucking the eggs of the Chinch bug. I have
also observed another mite
devouring the Aphides on
the rose leaves in my gar-
den, so that a few mites
may be set down as bene-
ficial to vegetation. While
a few species aro injurious
to man, the larger part are
beneficial, being either par-
asitic and baneful to other
noxious animals, or more
directly useful as scaven-
gers, removing decaying
animal and vegetable sub-
stances.

The transformations of
the mites are interesting to the philosophic zoologist, since the
young of certain forms are remarkably different from the adults,
and in reaching the perfect state the mite passes through a
metamorphosis more striking than that of many insects. The
young on leaving the egg have six legs, as we have seen in the
case of the Ixodes. Sometimes, however, as, for example, in
the larva, as we may call it, of a European mite, Typhlodromus
pyri, the adult of which, according to A. Scheuten, is allied to
Acarus, and lives under the epidermis of the leaves of the pear
in Europe (while Mr. T. Taylor, of the Department of Agricul-
ture at Washington, has found a species in the pear leaves about
Washington, and still another form in peach leaves), there are
but two pairs of legs present, and the body is long, cylindrical

142. Ixodes albipictus and young.*

<• The figure at the bottom on -the left represents the adult, fully-gorged tick.

118 MITES AND TICKS.

I have had the good fortune to observe the different stages
of a bird mite, intermediate in its form between the Acarus and
Sarcoptes, or Itch mite. On March 6th, Mr. C. Cooke called my
attention to certain little mites which were situated on the nar-
row groove between the main stem of the barb and the outer
edge of the barbules of the feathers of the Downy Wood-
pecker, and subsequently we found the other forms in the down
under the feathers. These long worm-like mites were evidently
the young of a singular Sarcoptes-like mite, as they were found
on the same specimen of Woodpecker at about the same date,
and it is known that the growth of mites is rapid, the metamor-
phoses, judging by the information which we now possess, occu-
pying usually but a few days.

The young (though there is, probably, a still earlier hexapo-
dous stage). of this Sarcoptid has an elongated, oblong, flattened
body, with' four short legs, provided with
a few bristle-like hairs, and ending in a
stalked sucker, by aid of which the mite
is enabled to walk over smooth, hard
surfaces. The body is square at the
end, with a slight median indentation,
and four long bristles of equal length.
They remained motionless in the groove
on the barb of the feather, and when
removed seemed very inert and sluggish.
143. Egg-eating Mite. A sucoeeding stage of tnis mlte, which

may be called the pupal, is considerably smaller than the larva
and looks somewhat like the adult, the body having become
shorter and broader. The adult is a most singular form, its
body being rudely ovate, with the head sunken between the
fore legs, which are considerably smaller than the second pair,
while the third pair are twice as large as the second pair, and
directed backwards, and the fourth pair are very small, not
reaching the extremity of the body, which is deeply cleft and
supports four long bristles on each side of the cleft, while other
bristles are attached to the legs and body, giving the creature,
originally ill-shapen, a haggard, unkempt appearance. The two
stigmata or breathing pores open near the cleft in the end of
the body, and the external opening of the oviduct is situated
between the largest and third pair of legs. No males were
observed. In a species of Acarus (Tyroglyphus),' somewhat

CABBAGE SEED MITE.

119

like the Cheese mite, which we have alive at the time of writing,
in a box containing the remains of a Lucanus larva, which they
seem to have consumed, as both young and old are swarming
there by myriads, the young are oval and like the adults, except
that they are six-legged, the fourth pair growing out after a
succeeding moult.

Such is a brief summary of what has been generally known
regarding the metamorphoses of a few species of mites. In
a few kinds no males have been found ; the females have been
isolated after being hatched, and yet have been known to lay
eggs, which produced young without the interposition of the
males. This parthe-
nogenesis has been . . \\J
noticed in several spe-
cies.

These insects often
suddenly appear in
vast numbers on vari-
ous articles of food
and about houses, so
as to be very annoy-
ing. Mr. J. J. H.
Gregory, of Marble-
head, Mass., has found
a mite allied to the
European species here
figured (Fig. 144) very
injurious to the seeds
of the cabbage, which- 144' Cheyletus-

it sucked dry. This is an interesting form, and we have called
it Cheyletus seminivorus. It is of medium size, and especially
noticeable from the tripartite palpi, which are divided into an
outer, long, curved, claw-like lobe, with two rounded teeth at
the base, and two inner, slender lobes pectinated on the inner
side, the third innermost lobe being minute. The beak termi-
nates in a sharp blade-like point.

We have received a Cheyletus-like mite, said to have been
"extracted from the human face" in New Orleans. The body is
oblong, square behind ; the head is long and pointed, while the
maxillae end in a long, curved, toothed, sickle-like blade. That
this creature has the habits of the itch mite is suggested by the

120 MITES AND TICKS.

curious, large, hair-like spines with which the body and legs are
sparsely armed, some being nearly half as long as the body.
These hairs are covered with very fine spinules. Those on the
end of the body are regularly spoon-shaped. These strange
hairs, which are thickest on the legs, probably assisted the mite
in anchoring itself in the skin of its host. We have read no
account of this strange and interesting form. It is allied to the
Acaropsis Mericourti which lines in the huma'n face.

A species, "apparently of the genus Gamasus," according to
Dr. Leidy, has been found living in the ear (at the 'bottom of
the external auditory meatus, and attached to the membrana
tympani) of steers. "Whether this mite is a true parasite of
the ear of the living ox, or whether it obtained access to the
position in which it was found after the death of the ox in the
slaughter house, has not yet been determined."

We will now give a hasty glance at the different groups of
mites, pausing to note those most interesting from their habits
or relation to man.

The most highly organized mite (and by its structure most
closely allied to the spider)' is the little red garden mite, belong-
ing to the genus Trombidium, to which the genus Tetranychus
is also nearly related. Our own species of the former genus
have not been "worked up," or in other words identified and
described, so that whether the European T. holosericeum Linn,
is our species or not, we cannot tell. The larvae of this and
similar species are known to live parasitically upon Harvest-
men (Phalangium), often called • Daddy-long-legs ; and upon
Aphides, grasshoppers and other insects. Mr. Riley has made
known to us through the "American Naturalist" (and from his
account our information is taken), the habits of certain young
of the garden mite (Trombidium) which are excessively annoy-
ing in the Southwestern States. The first is the Leptus ? Amer-
icanus (Fig. 145), or American Harvest mite. It is only known
as yet in the larval or Leptus state, when it is of the form indi-
cated in the cut, and brick red in color. "This species is barely
visible with the naked eye, moves readily and is found more
frequently upon children than upon adults. It lives mostly on
the scalp and under the arm pits, but is frequently found on the
other parts of the body. It does not bury itself in the flesh,
but simply insinuates the anterior part of the body just under
the skin, thereby causing intense irritation, followed by a little

HARVEST MITE. 121

red pimple. As with our common ticks, the irritation lasts only
while the animal is securing itself, and its presence would after-
wards scarcely be noticed but for the pimple which results."

The second species (Fig. 145 6, Leptus ? irritans) is also only
known in the Leptus stage. It is evidently the larva of a dis-
tinct genus from the other form, having enormous maxilla? and
a broad body; it is, also brick red. Mr. Riley says that "this is
the most troublesome and, perhaps, best known of the two,
causing intense irritation and swelling on all parts of the body,
but more especially on the legs and around the ankles. Woe
betide the person who, after bathing in the Mississippi any-
where in this latitude, is lured to some green dressing-spot of
weeds or grass ! He may, for the time, consider himself fortu-

b

145 a. American Harvest Mite; 6. Irritating Harvest Mite; the dots under-
neath indicating the natural size.

nate in getting rid of mud and dirt, but he will afterwards find to
his sorrow that he exchanged them for something far more tena-
cious in these microscopic Harvest-mites. If he has obtained
a good supply of them, he will in a few hours begin to suffer
from severe itching, and for the next two or three days will be
likely to .scratch until his limbs are sore.

"With the strong mandibles and the elbowed maxillre which
act like arms, this mite is able to bury itself completely in the
flesh, thereby causing a red swelling with a pale pustulous cen-
tre containing watery matter. If, in scratching, he is fortunate
enough to remove the mite before it enters, the part soon heals.
But otherwise the irritation lasts for two, three or four days,
the pustulous centre reappearing' as often as it is broken.
11

122 MITES AND TICKS.

" The animal itself, on account of its minute size, is seldom
seen, and the uninitiated, when first troubled with it, are often
alarmed at the symptoms and at a loss to account for them.
Fortunately these little plagues never attach themselves to per-
sons in such immense numbers as do sometimes young or so-
called 'seed' ticks; but I have known cases where, from the
irritation and consequent scratching, the flQsh had the appear-
ance of being covered with ulcers ; and in some localities,
where these pests most abound, sulphur is often sprinkled dur-
ing 'jigger* season in the boots or shoes as a protection.

"Sulphur ointment is the best remedy against the effects of
either of these mites, though when that cannot be obtained,
saleratus water and salt water will partially allay the irritation.
*"The normal food of either must, apparently, consist of the
juices of plants, and the love of blood proves ruinous to those
individuals who get a chance to indulge it. For
unlike the true Jigger, the female of which
deposits eggs in the wound she makes, these
Harvest-mites have no object of the kind, and
when not killed by the hands of those they
torment, they soon die victims to their san-
guinary appetite."

Another Leptus-like form is the parasite of
146. Astoma of the the fly, described by Mr. Riley under the name
of Astoma? muscarum (Fig. 146). How nearly
allied it is to the European Astoma parasiticum wre have not the
means of judging.

The European Tetranychus telarius Linn., or web-making
mite, spins large webs on the leaves of the linden tree. Then
succeed in the natural order the water mites (Hydrachna), which
may be seen running over submerged sticks and on plants,
mostly in fresh water, and rarely on the borders of the sea.
The young after leaving the egg differ remarkably from the
adults, so as to have been referred to a distinct genus (Achly-
sia) by the great French naturalist, Audouin. They live as
parasites on various water insects, such as Dytiscus, Nepa and
Hydrometra, and when mature live free in the water, though
Von Baer observed an adult Hydrachna concharum living para-
sitically on the gills of the fresh-water mussel, Anodon. The
species are of minute size. Collectors of beetles often meet
with a species of Uropoda attached firmly to their specimens of

CATTLE TICK.

123

dung-inhabiting or carrion beetles. It is a smoothly polished,
round, flattened mite, with short, thick legs, scarcely reaching
beyond the body.

We now come to the Ticks, which comprise the largest mites.
The genus Argas closely resembles Ixodes. Gerstaecker states
that the Argas Persicus is very annoying to travellers in Persia.
The habits of the wood ticks (Ixodes) are well known. Travel-
lers in the tropics speak of the intolerable torment occasioned
by these pests which, occurring ordinarily on shrubs and trees,
attach themselves to all sorts of reptiles, beasts and cattle, and
even man himself as he passes by within their reach. Some-
times cases fall within the practice of the physician, who is
called to remove the tick, which is found sometimes literally
buried beneath the skin. Mr. J. Stauffer writes me, that "on
June 23d the daughter of Abraham Jackson (colored), playing
among the leaves in a wood, near
Springville, Lancaster County,
Penn., on her return home com-
plained of pain in the arm. No
attention was paid to it till the
next day, when a raised tumor
was noticed, a small portion pro-
truding through the skin, appar-
ently like a splinter of wood.
The child was taken to Dr.
Morency, who applied the for-
ceps, and after considerable pain
to the child, and labor to himself, extracted a species of Ixodes,
nearly one-quarter of an inch long, and of an oval form and
brown mahogany color, with a metallic spot, like silver bronze,
centrally on the dorsal region." This tick proved, from Mr.
Stauffcr's figures, to be, without doubt, Ixodes unipunctata. It
has also been found in Massachusetts by Mr. F. G. Sanborn.

Another species is the Ixodes bovis (Fig. 147), the common
cattle tick of the Western States and Central America. It is
very annoying to horned cattle, gorging itself with their blood,
but is by no means confined to them alone, as it lives indiffer-
ently upon the rattlesnake, the iguana, small mammals and
undoubtedly any other animal that brushes by its lurking-place
in the forest. It is a reddish, coriaceous, flattened, seed-like
creature, with the body oblong oval, and contracted just behind

147. Cattle Tick.

124 MITES AND TICKS.

the middle. When fully grown it measures from a quarter to
half an inch in length. We have received it from Missouri, at
the hands of Mr. Riley, and Mr. J. A. McNiel has found it very
abundantly on horned cattle on the western coast of Nicaragua.
We now come to the genus Acarus (Tyrogly pirns), of which
the cheese and sugar mites are examples. Some species of
Acarian mites have been found in the lungs and blood-vessels,
and even the intestinal canal of certain vertebrates, while the
too familiar itch insect lurks under the skin of the hand and
other parts of the body of certain uncleanly human bipeds.

Many people have been startled by statements in newspapers
and more authoritative sources, as to the immense numbers of
mites (Acarus sacchari, Fig. 148) found in unrefined or raw
sugar. Accordiug to Prof. Cameron,
of Dublin, as quoted in the "Journal of
the Franklin Institute," for November,
1868, "Dr. Hassel (who was the first to
notice their general occurrence in the
raw sugar sold at London) found them
in a living state in no fewer than sixty-
nine out of seventy-two samples. He
did not detect them in a single speci-
men of refined sugar. In an inferior
sample of raw sugar, examined in
148 Su"-ar Mite Dublin by Mr. Cameron, he reports

finding five hundred mites in ten grains

of sugar, so that in* a pound's weight occurred one hundred
thousand of these little creatures, which seem to have devoted
themselves with a martyr-like zeal to the adulteration of sugar.
They appear as white specks in the sugar. The disease known
as grocer's itch is, undoubtedly, due to the presence of this mite,
which, like its ally the Sarcoptes, works its way under the skin
of the hand, in this case, however, of cleanly persons. Mr.
Cameron states that "the kind of sugar which is both health-
ful and economical, is the dry, large-grained and light- colored
variety."

Closely allied to the preceding, is the Cheese mite (Acarus
siro Linn.), which often abounds in newly made cheese. Lyonet
states that during summer this mite is viviparous. Acarus
farinse DeGeer, as its name indicates, is found in flour. Other
species have been known to occur in ulcers.

ITCH MITE.

125

We should also mention the Mange insect of the horse
(Psoroptes equi, Fig. 149, much enlarged; a, head more magni-
fied). According to Prof. Verrill it is readily visible to the
.naked eye and swarms on horses afflicted with the mange, which

149. Mange Mite.

150. Itch Mite.

is a disease analogous to the itch in man. It has a soft,
depressed body, spiny beneath at the base of the legs and on
the thorax. One or both of the two posterior pairs of feet bear
suckers, and all are more or less covered with long,
slender hairs. This insect may be destroyed by the
same remedies as are used for lice and for the human
itch. The best remedy is probably a solution of- sul-
plmret of potassium.

The itch insect (Sarcoptes scabiei, Fig. 150) was first
recognized by an Arabian author of the twelfth cen-
tury, as the cause of the disease which results from
its attacks. The body of the insect is rounded, with
the two hind pair of feet rudimentary and bearing
long hairs. It buries itself in the skin on the more
protected parts of the body, and by its punctures isr. Nose
maintains a constant irritation. Other species are Mite.
known to infest the sheep and dog. Another singular mite is
the Demodex folliculorum (Fig. 151), which was discovered by
Dr. Simon, of Berlin, buried in the diseased follicles of the wings
of the nose in man. It is a long, slender, worm-like form, with

126 MITES AND TICKS.

t _ 0

eight short legs, and in the larva state has six legs. This sin-
gular form is one of the lowest and most degraded of the order
of Arachnids. A most singular mite was discovered by New-
port on the body of a larva of a wild bee, and described by him
under the name of Heteropus ventricosus. The body of the
fully formed female is long and slender. After attaining this
form, its small abdomen begins to enlarge until it assumes a
globular form, and the mass of mites look like little beads. Mr.
Newport was unable to discover the male, and thought that this
mite was parthenogenous. It will be seen that the adult Dem-
odex retains the elongated, worm-like appearance of the larva
of the higher mites, such as Typhlodromus. This is an indica-
tion of its low rank, and hints of a relationship to the Tardi-
grades and the Pentastoma, the latter being a degraded mite,
and the lowest of its order, living parasitically within the bodies
of other animals.

Harvestman.

CHAPTER XII.

BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS.

THE Thysanura, as the Poduras and their allies, the Lepismas,
are called, have been generally neglected by entomologists, and
but few naturalists have paid special attention to them.* Of all
those microscopists who have examined Podura scales as test
objects, we wonder how many really know what a Podura is?

In preparing the following account I have been under constant
indebtedness to the admirable and exhaustive papers of Sir John
Lubbock, in the.London "Linnaean Transactions" (vols. 23, 26
and 27). Entomologists will be glad to learn that he is shortly
going to press with a volume on the Poduras, which, in distinc-
tion from the Lepismas, to which he restricts the term Thysa-
nura, he calls Collembola, in allusion to the sucker-like tubercle
situated on the under side of the body, which no other insects
are known to possess.

The group of Bristle-tails, as we would dub the Lepismas in
distinction from the Spring-tails, we will first consider. They
are abundant in the Middle States under stones and leaves in
forests, and northward are common in damp houses, while one

*Nicolet, in the "Annales de laSociete Entomologique de France" (tome v, 1847),
has given us the most comprehensive «ssay on the group, though Latreille had
previously published an important essay, "De 1'Organization Exterieure de3 Thy-
sanoures" in the "Nouvelles Annales du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris,
1832," which I have not seen. Gervais has also given a useful account of them iu
the third volume of "Apteres " of Roret's Suite a Buffon, published in 1844.

The Abbe Bourlet, Templeton, Westwood, and Haliday have published important
papers on the Thysanura; and Meinert, a Danish naturalist, and Olfers, a German
anatomist, have published important papers on the anatomy of the group. In this
country Say and Fitch have described less than a dozen species, and the writer has
described two American species of Campodea, C. Americana, our common form,
and C. Cookei, discovered by Mr. C. Cooke in Mammoth Cave, while Humbert has
described in a French scientific journal a species of Japyx (J. Saussurii) from
Mexico.

(127)

128 BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS.

beautiful species that we have never noticed elsewhere, is
our "cricket on the hearth," abounding in the chinks and
crannies of the range of our house, and also in closets, where it
feeds on sugar, etc., and comes out like cockroaches, at night,
shunning the light. Like the cockroaches, which it vaguely
resembles in form, this species loves hot and dry localities,
in distinction from the others which seek moisture as well
•as darkness. By some they are called " silver witches," and as
they dart off, when disturbed, like a streak of light, their bodies
beiqg coated in a suit of shining mail, which the arrangement
of the scales resembles, they have really a weird and ghostly
look.

The most complicated genus, and the one which stands at the
head of the family, is Machilis, one species of which lives in
the Northern and Middle States, and another in Oregon. They
affect damp places, living under leaves and stones. They all
have rounded, highly arched bodies, and large compound eyes,
the two being united together. The maxillary palpi are greatly
developed, but the chief characteristics are the two-jointed
stylets arranged in nine pairs along each side of the abdomen,
reminding us of the abdominal legs of Myriopods. The body
ends in three long bristles, as in Lepisma.

The Lepisma saccharina of Linnaeus, if, as is probable, that is
the name of our common species, is not uncommon in old damp
houses, where it has the habits of the cockroach, eating cloths,
tapestry, silken trimmings of furniture, and doing occasional
damage to libraries by devouring the paste, and eating holes in
the leaves and covers of books.

In general form Lepisma may be compared to the larva of
Perla, a net-veined Neuropterous insect, and also to the narrow-
bodied species of cockroaches, minus the wings. The body is
long and narrow, covered with rather coarse scales, and ends
in three many jointed anal stylets, or bristles, which closely
resemble the many jointed antenna, which are remarkably long
and slender. The thermophilous species already alluded to may
be described as perhaps the type of the genus, the L. saccharina
being simpler in its structure. The body is narrow and flat-
tened; the basal joints of the legs being broad, flat and almost
triangular, like the same joints in the cockroaches. The legs
consist of six joints, the tarsal joints being large and two in
number, and bearing a pair of terminal curved claws. The

MOUTH-PARTS OF LEPISMA. 129

three thoracic segments are of nearly equal size, and the eight
abdominal segments are also of similar size. The tracheae
are well developed, and may be readily seen in the legs. The
end of the rather long and weak abdomen is propped up by
two or three pairs of bristles, which are simple, not jointed,
but moving freely at their insertion ; thus they take the place
of legs, and remind one of the abdominal legs of the Myri-
opods ; and we shall see in certain other genera (Machilis and
Campodea) of the Bristle-tails that there are actually two-
jointed bristles arranged in pairs along the abdomen. They
may probably be directly compared with the abdominal legs of
Myriopods. Further study, however, of the homologies of these
peculiar appendages, and especially a knowledge of the embry-
*ological development of Lepisma and Machilis, is needed before
this interesting point can be definitely settled. The three many
jointed anal stylets may, however, be directly compared with
the similar appendages of Perla and Ephemera. The mode of
insertion of the antennae of this family is much like that of the
Myriopods, the front of the head being flattened, and concealing
the base of the antennae, as in the Centipedes and Pauropus.
Indeed, the head of any Thysanurous insect seen from above,
bears a general resemblance in some of its features to that of
the Centipede and its allies. So in a less degree does the head
of the larvae of certain Neuroptera and Coleoptera. The eyes
are compound, the single facets forming a sort of heap. The
clypeus and labrum, or upper lip, is, in all the Thysanura, car-
ried far down on the under side of the head, the clypeus being
almost obsolete in the PodurJUae, this being one of the most
essential characters of that family. Indeed, it is somewhat
singular that these and other important characteristics of this
group have been almost entirely passed over by authors, who
have consequently separated these insects from other groups on
what appear to the writer as comparatively slight and inconsid-
erable characters. The mouth-parts of the Lepismatidse (espe-
cially the thermophilous Lepisma, which we now describe) are
most readily compared with those of the larva of Perla. The
rather large, stout mandibles are concealed at their tips, under
the upper lip, which moves freely up and down when the crea-
ture opens its mouth. The mandible is about one- third as broad
as long, armed with three sharp teeth on the outer edge, and
with a broad cutting edge within, and still further inwards a lot

130 BRISTLE- TAILS AND SPRING- TAILS.

of straggling spinules. In all these particulars, the mandible of
Lepisraa is comparable with that of certain Coleoptera and Neu-
roptera. So also are the maxillae and labium, though we are
not aware that any one has indicated how close the homology
is. The accompanying figure (152) of the maxilla of a beetle
may. serve as an example of the maxilla of the Coleoptera,
Orthoptera and Neuroptera. In these insects it consists almost
invariably of three lobes, the outer being the palpus, the middle
lobe the galea, and the innermost the laciuia; the latter under-
going the greatest modifications, forming a comb composed of
spines and hairs varying greatly in relative size and length.
How much the palpi vary in these groups of insects is well
known. The galea sometimes forms a palpus-like appendage.
Now these three lobes may be easily distinguished*
in the maxilla of Lepisma. The palpus Instead of
being directed forward, as in the insects mentioned
above (in the pupa of Ephemera the maxilla is
much like that of Lepisma), is inserted nearer the
base than usual and thrown off at right angles to
152 Ma- the maxilla> so tliat/ ifc is stretched out like a leg,
and in moving about the insect uses its maxillae
partly as supports for its head. They are very long and large,
and five or six-jointed. The galea, or middle division, forms a
simple lobe, while the lacinia has two large chitinous teeth on
the inner edge, and internally four or five hairs arising from
a thin edge.

The labium is much as in that of JPerla, being broad and short,
with a distinct median suture, indicating its former separation
in embryonic life into a pair of appendages. The labial palpi
are three-jointed, the joints being broad, and in life directed
backwards instead of forwards as in the higher insects.

There are five American species of the genus Lepisma in the
Museum of the Peabody Academy. Besides the common L. sac-
charina? there are four undescribed species; one found about
outhouses and cellars, and the heat-loving form, perhaps an
imported species, found in a kitchen in Salem, and apparently
allied to the L. thermophila Lucas, of houses in Brest, France ;
and lastly two allied forms, one from Key West, and another
from Polvon, Western Nicaragua, collected by Mr. McNiel.
The last three species are beautifully ornamented with finely
spinulated hairs arranged in tufts on the head ; while the sides

NICOLETIA.

131

of the body, and edges of the basal joints of the legs are
fringed with them.

The interesting genus Nicoletia stands at the bottom of the
group. 'It has the long, linear, scaleless body of Campodea, in
the family below, but the head and its appendages are like
Lepisma, the maxillary palpi being five-jointed, and the labial
palpi four-jointed. The eyes are simple, arranged in a row of

153. Japyx solifugus.

seven on each side of the head. The abdomen ends in three
long and many jointed stylets, and there are the usual " false
branchial feet" along each side of the abdomen. There are two
European species which occur in greenhouses. No species
have yet been found in America.

The next family of Thysanura is the Campodeae, comprising
the two genera Campodea and Japyx. These insects are much

132

BKISTLE- TAILS AND SPHING-TAILS.

smaller than the Lepismidae, and in some respects are interme-
diate between that family and the Poduridae (including the
Smynthuridse).

In this family the body is long and slender, and the segments
much alike in size. There is a pair of spiracles on each thoracic
ring. The mandibles are long and slender, ending in three or
four teeth, and with the other appen-
dages of the mouth are concealed
within the head, "only the tips of the
palpi (and of the maxillae when these
are opened) projecting a very little
beyond the rounded entire margin of
the epistoma," according to Haliclay.
The maxillae are comb-shaped, due to
the four slender, minutely ciliated
spines placed within the outer tooth.
The labium in Japyx is four-lobed and
bears a small two-jointed palpus. The
legs are five-jointed, the tarsi consist-
ing of a single joint, ending in two
large claws. The abdomen consists
of ten segments, and in Campodea
along each side is a series of minute,
two-jointed appendages such as have
been described in Machilis. These are

wanting in Japyx. None of the spe-
154. Campodea staphylinus. cieg in thig family haye the body coy.

ered with scales. They are white, with a yellowish tinge.

The more complicated genus of the two is Japyx (Fig. 153,
Japyx solifugus, found under stones in Southern Europe ; a, the
mouth from beneath, with the maxillae open ; 6, maxilla ; d, man-
dible; c, outline of front of head seen from beneath, with the
labial palpi in position) which, as remarked by the late Mr. Hal-
iday (who has published an elaborate essay on this genus in the
Linnsean Transactions, vol. 24, 1864), resembles Forficula in the
large forceps attached to its tail. An American species (J. Saus-
surii) lives in Mexico, and we look for its discovery in Texas.

Campodea (C. staphylinus Westw., Fig. 154, enlarged ; a,
mandible; b, maxilla), otherwise closely related, has more rudi-
mentary mouth- parts, and the abdomen ends in two many
jointed appendages.

CAMPODEA. 133

Our common American species of Campoclea (C. Americana)
lives under stones in damp places. It is yellowish, about a
sixth of an inch in length, is very agile in its movements, and
would easily be mistaken for a very young Lithobius. A larger
species and differing in having longer antennae, has been found
by Mr. C..Cooke in Mammoth Cave, and has been described
in the "American Naturalist" under the name of Campodea
Cookei. Haliclay has remarked that this family bears much
resemblance to the Neuropterous larva of Perla (Fig. 155), as
previously remarked by Gervais ; and the many points of resem-
blance of this family and the Lepismidae to the larval forms of
some Neuroptera that are active in the pupa state (the Pseudo-
neuroptera of Erichson and other authors) are very striking.
Campodea resembles the earliest larval form of Chloeon, as
figured by Sir John Lubbock, even to
the single jointed tarsus ; and why these
two Thysanurous families should be
removed from the Neuroptera we are
unable, at present, to understand, as to
our mind they scarcely diverge from the
Neuropterous type more than the Mallo-
phaga, or biting lice, from the type of
Hemiptera.

Haliday, remarking on the opinion of
Linnaeus and Schrank, who referred
Campodea to the old genus Podura, says Fig' 155< Lan
with much truth, "it may be perhaps no unfair inference to
draw, that the insect in question is in some measure inter-
mediate between both," i. e., Podura and Lepisma. This is
seen especially in the mouth-parts which are withdrawn into
the head, and become very rudimentary, affording a gradual
passage into the mouth-parts of the Poduridae, which we now
describe.

The next group, the Podurelles of Nicolet, and Collembola
of Lubbock, are considered by the latter, who has studied them
with far more care than any one else, as "less closely allied" to
the Lepismidse "than has hitherto been supposed." He says
"the presence of tracheae, the structure of the mouth and the
abdominal appendage, all indicate a wide distinction between
the Lepismidae and the Poduridae. We must, indeed, in my
opinion, separate them entirely from one another ; and I would
12

134: BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS.

venture to propose for the group comprised in the old genus
Podura, the term Collembola, as indicating the existence of a
projection, or mammilla, enabling the creature to attach or glue
itself to the body on which it stands." Then without expressing
his views as to the position and affinities of the Lepismida3, he
remarks "as the upshot of all this, then, while the Collembola
are clearly more nearly allied to the Insecta than to the Crus-
tacea or Arachnida, we cannot, I think, regard them as Orthop-
tera or Neuroptera, or even as true insects. That is to say, the
Coleoptera, Orthoptera, Neuroptera, Lepidoptera, etc., are in my
opinion, more nearly allied to one another than they are to the
Poduridse or Smynthuridse. On the other hand, we certainly
cannot regard the Collembola as a group equivalent in value to
the Insecta. If, then, we attempt to map out the Articulata, we
must, I think, regard the Crustacea and Insecta as continents,
the Myriopoda and Collembola as islands — of less importance,
but still detached. Or, if we represent the divisions of the
Articulata like the branching of a tree, we must picture the Col-
lembola as a separate branch, though a small one, and much
more closely connected with the Insecta than with the Crustacea
or the Arachuida." Lamarck regarded them as more nearly
allied to the Crustacea than Insecta. Gervais, also, in the "His-
toire Naturelle des Insectes : Apteres," indicates a considerable
diversity existing between the Lepismidae and Poduridae, though
they are placed next to each other. Somewhat similar views
have been expressed by so high an authority as Professor Dana,
who, in the "American Journal of Science" (vol. 37, Jan., 1864),
proposed a classification of insects based on the principle of
cephalization, and divided the Hexapodous insects into three
groups : the first (Ptero-prosthenics, or Ctenopters) comprising
the Hymenoptera, Diptera, Aphaniptera (fleas), Lepidoptera,
Homoptera, Trichoptera and Neuroptera; the second group
(Ptero-metasthenics, or Elytropters) comprising the Coleoptera,
Hemiptera and Orthoptera; while the Thysanura compose the
third group. Lubbock has given us a convenient historical
view of the opinions of different authors regarding the classifi-
cation of these insects, which we find useful. Nicolet, the natu-
ralist who, previous to Lubbock, has given us the most correct
and complete account of the Thysanura, regarded them as an
order, equivalent to the Coleoptera or Diptera, for example. In
this he followed Latreille, who established the order in 1796.

PODURIDS. 135

The Abbe Bourlet adopted the same view. On the other hand
Burmeister placed the Thysanura as a separate tribe between
the Mallophaga (Bird Lice) and Orthoptera, and Gerstaecker
placed them among the Orthoptera. Fabricius and Blainville
put them with the Neuroptera, and the writer, in his "Guide to
the Study of Insects," and previously in 1863, ignorant of the
views of the two last named authors, considered the Thysanura
as degraded Neuroptera, and noticed their resemblance to the
larvse of Perla, Ephemera, and other Neuroptera, such as Rha-
phidia and Panorpa, regarding them as standing "in the same
relation to the rest of the Neuroptera [in the Linnsean sense],
as the flea does to the rest of the Diptera, or the lice and Thrips
to the higher Hemiptera."

After having studied the Thysanura enough to recognize the
great difficulty of deciding as to their affinities and rank, the
writer does not feel prepared to go so far as Dana and Lubbock,
for reasons that will be suggested in the follow-
ing brief account of the more general points in
their structure, reserving for another occasion a
final expression of his views as to their classifi-
cation.

The Poduridse, so well known by name, as
affording the scales used by microscopists as
test objects, are common under stones and wet
chips, or in clamp places, cella/s, mushrooms

and about manure heaps. They need moisture, ,,

156. Smynthurus.
and consequently shade. They abound most in

spring and autumn, laying their eggs at both seasons, though
most commonly in the spring. During a mild December, they
may be found in abundance under sticks and stones, even in
situations so far north as Salem, Mass.

The body of the Poduras is rather short and thick, most so in
Smynthurus (Fig. 156), and becoming long and slender in Tomo-
cerus and Isotoma. The segments are inclined to be of unequal
size, the prothoracic ring sometimes becoming almost obsolete,
and some of the abdominal rings are much smaller than others ;
while in Lipura and Anura, the lowest forms of the group, the
segments are all much alike in size.

The head is in form much like that of certain larvse of Neu-
roptera and of Forficula, an Orthopterous insect. The basal
half of the head is marked off from the eye-bearing piece (epi-

136

BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS.

157. Head of De-
geeria.

cranium) by a V-shaped suture* (Fig. 157, head of Degeeria;

compare also the head of the larva of Forficula, Fig. 158? in

which the suture is the same), and the insertion of the antennae

is removed far down the front, near the mouth,

the clypeus being very short; this piece, so

large and prominent in the higher insects, is

not distinctly separated by suture from the

surrounding parts of the head, thus affording

one of the best distinctive characters of the

Poduridae. The eyes are situated on top of

the head just behind ^;he antennae, and are

simple, consisting of a group of from five to

eight or ten united into a mass in Smynthurus,

but separated in the Poduridse (see Fig. 176, e, eye of Anurida).

The antennae are usually four-
jointed, and vary in length in the
different genera.

The mouth-parts are very diffi-
cult to make out, but by soaking
the insect in potash for twenty-
four hours, thus rendering the
body transparent, they can be
satisfactorily observed. They
are constructed on the same gen-
eral type as the mouth-parts of
the Neuroptera, Orthoptera and
Coleoptera, and except in being
degraded, and with certain parts

obsolete, they do not essentially differ, f On observing the living

Podura, the mouth seems a simple ring, with a minute labrura

and groups of hairs and spinules, which the observer, partly by

* The direct homologyof these parts of the head (the occiput and the epicra-
nium) with Perla, Forflcula, etc., seems to me the best evidence we could have that
the Podurse are not an independent group. In these most fundamental characters
they differ widely from the Myriopods. ~I am not aware that this important rela-
tion has been appreciated by observers.

fAs we descend to the soft, tube-like, suctorial (?) mouth of Anura, which is said
not to have hard mouth-parts, we see the final point of degradation to which the
mouth of the Thysanura is carried. I think that this gradual degradation of the
mouth-parts in this group indicates that the appendages in these animals are not
formed on an independent type, intermediate, so to speak, between the mandibulate
and haustellate types, but are simply a modification (through disuse) of the man-
dibulate type as seen in Neuropterous insects.

158. Larva of Forflcula.

MOUTH-PARTS OF TOMOCERUS. 137

guess-work, can identify as jaws and maxillae, and labium.
But in studying the parts rendered transparent, we can identify
the different appendages. Figure 159 shows the common Tomo-
cerus plumbeus greatly enlarged (Fig. 160, seen from above),
and as the mouth-parts of the whole group of Poduras are
remarkably constant, a description of one genus will suffice for
all. The labrum, or upper lip, is separated by a deep suture
from the clypeus, and is trapezoidal in form. The mandibles
and maxillae are long and slender, and buried in the head, with
the tips capable of being extended out from the ring surround-
ing the mouth for a very short distance. The mandibles (md,
Fig. 159) are like those of the Neuroptera, Orthoptera and
Coleoptera in their general form, the tip ending in from three
to six teeth (three on one mandible and six on the other), while
below, is a rough, denticulated molar surface, where the food
seized by the terminal teeth is triturated and prepared to be
swallowed. Just behind the mandibles are the maxillae, which
are trilobate at the end, as in the three orders of insects above
named. The outer lobe, or palpus, is a minute membranous
tubercle ending in a hair (Fig. 161, mp), while the middle lobe,
or galea, is nearly obsolete, though I think I have seen it in
Smynthurus, where it forms a lobe on the outside of the lacinia.
The lacinia, or inner lobe (Fig. 161, Ic; 162, the same enlarged),
in Tomocerus consists of two bundles of spinules, one broad
like a ruffle, and the other slender, pencil-like, ending in an inner
row of spines, like the spinules on the lacinia of the Japyx and
Campodea and, more remotely, the laciniae of the three sub-
orders of insects above referred to. There is also a horny,
prominent, three-toothed portion (Fig. 161, gr). These homol-
ogies have never been made before, so far as the writer is
aware, but they seem natural, and suggested by a careful exam-
ination and comparison with the above-mentioned mandibulate
insects.

'The spring consists of a pair of three-jointed appendages,
with the basal joints soldered together early in embryonic life,
while the other two joints are free, forming a fork. It is longest
in Smynthurus and Degeeria, and shortest in Achorutes (Fig.
172, 6), where it forms a simple, forked tubercle; and is obsolete
in Lipura and Anura, its place being indicated by an oval scar.
The third joint varies in form, being hairy, serrate and knife-
like in form, as in Tomocerus (Fig. 159, a), or minute, with a

138

BHISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS.

159.

160.

162.

Tomocerus plnmbeus and mouth-parts, greatly enlarged.

OVIPOSITOR OF ACHORUTES. 139

supplementary tooth, as in Achorutes (Fig. 172, c). This spring
is in part homologous with the ovipositor of the higher insects,
which originally consists of three pairs of tubercles, each pair
arising apparently from the seventh, eighth, and ninth (the lat-
ter the penultimate) segments of the abdomen in the Hymenop-
tera. The spring of the Podura seems to be the homologue of
the third pair of these tubercles, and is inserted on the penulti-
mate segment. This comparison I have been able to make from
a study of the embryology of Isotoma.

Another organ, and one which, so far as I am aware, has been
overlooked by previous observers, I am disposed to consider as
possibly an ovipositor. In the genus Achorutes, it may be found
in the segment just before the spring-bearing segment, and
situated on the median line of the body. It consists (Fig. 163)
of two squarish valves, from between which
projects a pair of minute tubercles, or blades,
with four rounded teeth on the under side*
This pair of infinitesimal saws reminds one of
the blades of the saw-fly, and I am at a loss
what their use can be unless to cut and pierce
so as to scoop out a shallow place in which to
deposit an egg. It is homologous in situation
with the middle pair of blades which composes
the ovipositor of higher insects, and if it should
prove to be used by the creature in laying its lesTcatchliolding
eggs, we should then have, with the spring, an spring of Acho-
additional point of resemblance to the Neurop-
tera and higher insects, and instead of this spring being an
important differential character, separating the Thysauura from
other insects, it binds them still closer, though still differ-
ing greatly in representing only a part of the ovipositor of the
higher insects. (This is a catch for holding the spring in place.)

But all the Poduras differ from other insects in possessing a
remarkable organ situated on the basal segment of the abdo-
men. It is a small tubercle, with chitinous walls, forming two
valves from between which is forced out a fleshy sucker, or, as
in Smynthurus, a pair of long tubes, which are capable of being
darted out on each side of the body, enabling the insect to
attach itself to smooth surfaces, and rest in an inverted position.

The eggs are laid few in number, either singly or several
together, on the under side of stones, chips or, as in the case

T40

BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS.

of Isotoma Walkerii, under the bark of trees. They are round,
transparent. The development of the embryo of Isotoma in
general accords with that of the Phryganeidae and suggests on
embryological grounds the near relationship of the Thysanura
to the Neuroptera.

The earliest stage observed was at the time of the appearance
of the primitive band (Fig. 164, a, 6, folding of the primitive

Development of a Poduran.

band ; c, the dotted line crosses the primitive band, and terminates
in a large yolk granule) which surrounds the egg as in the Caddis
flies. Soon after, the primitive segments appear (Fig. 165; 1,
antennae ; 2, mandibles ; 3, maxillae ; the labium was not seen ; 5-7,
legs ; c, yolk surrounded by the primitive band) and seem to orig-
inate just as in the Caddis flies. Figure 166 is a front view of

DEVELOPMENT OF A PODURID. 141

the embryo shortly before it is hatched ; figure 167, side view of
the same, the figures as in Fig. 165; sp, spring; I, labrum. The
labrum or upper lip, and the clypeus are large and as distinct as
in the embryos of other insects, a fact to which we shall allude
again. The large three-jointed spring is now well developed,
and the inference is drawn that it represents a pair of true
abdominal legs. The embryo when about to hatch throws off
the egg-shell and amnion in a few seconds. The larva is per-
fectly white and is very active in its movements, running over
the damp, inner surface of the bark. It is a little over a hun-
dredth of an inch in length, and differs from the adult in being
shorter and thicker, with the spring very short and stout. In
fact the larva assumes the form of the lower genera of the
family, such as Achorutes and Lipura, the adult more closely
resembling Degeeria. The larva after its first moult retains
its early clumsy form, and is still white. After a second moult
it becomes purplish, and much more slender, as in the adult.
The eggs are laid and the young hatched apparently within a
period of from six to ten days.

Returning to the stage indicated by figures 166 and 167, I am
induced to quote some remarks published in the Memoirs of
the Peabody Academy of Science, No. 2, p. 18, which seem to
support the view that these insects are offshoots from the Neu-
roptera.

"The front of the head is so entirely different from what it is
in the adult, that certain points demand our attention. It is evi-
dent that at this period the development of the insect has gone
on in all important particulars much as in other insects, espe-
cially the Neuropterous Mystacides as described by Zaddach.
The head is longer vertically than horizontally, the frontal, or
clypeal region is broad, and greater in extent than the epicra-
nio-occipital region. The antenna are inserted high up on the
head, next the ocelli, falling down over the clypeal region.
The clypeus, however, is merged with the epicranium, and the
usual suture between them does not appear distinctly in after
life, though its place is seen in figure 167 to be indicated by a
slight indentation. The labrum is distinctly defined by a well
marked suture, and forms a squarish, knob-like protuberance,
and in size is quite large compared to the clypeus. From this
time begins the process of degradation, when the insect assumes
its Thysanurous characters, which consist in an approach to the

142 BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS.

form of the Myriopodous head, the front, or clypeal region
being reduced to a minimum, and th,e antennae and eyes brought
in closer proximity to the mouth than in any other insects."

Sir John Lubbock has given us an admirable account of the
internal anatomy of these little creatures, his elaborate and
patient dissections filling a great gap in our knowledge of their
internal structure. The space at our disposal only permits us
to speak briefly of the respiratory system. Lnbbock found a
simple system of trachea? in Smynthurus which opens by "two
spiracles in the head, opposite the insertion of the antenna^" i.
e., on the back of the head. (Von Olfers says that they open on
the prothorax.) Nicolet and Olfers claim to have found tracheae
in several lower genera (Orchesella, Tomocerus, and Achorutes
and allied genera), but Lubbock was unable to detect them, and
I may add that I have not yet been able after careful search to
find them either in living specimens, or those rendered trans-
parent by potash.

Having given a hasty sketch of the external aspect of the
Poduras, I extract from Lubbock's work a synopsis of the fam-
ilies and genera for the convenience of the student, adding the
names of known American species, or indications of unde-
scribed native forms.

SMYNTHURID^K. — Body globular or ovoid ; thorax and abdomen
forming one mass ; head vertical or inclined ; antennas of four
or eight segments. Eyes eight on each side, on the top of the
head. Legs long and slender. Saltatory appendage with a
supplementary segment.

Smynthurus. Antennas four-jointed, bent at the insertion
of the fourth, which is nearly as long as the other three, and
appears to consist of many small segments. No conspicuous
dorsal tubercles. (In this country Fitch has described five spe-
cies : S. arvalis, elegans, hortensis, Novaeboracensis, and signi-
fer. Figure 156 represents a species found in Maine.)

Dicyrtoma. Antennae eight-jointed, five before, three after
the bend. Two dorsal tubercles on the abdomen.

Papirius.* Antennae four-jointed, without a well-marked

* Lnbbock considers that Papirius should be placed in a distinct family from
Smyuthurus, because it wants tracheae. Their presence or absence scarcely seems
to us to be a family character, as thpy are wanting in the Poduridae, and are not
essential to the life of these animals, while in other respects Papirius seems to
differ but slightly from Smynthurus.

PODURIDS.

143

elbow, and with a short terminal segment offering the appear-
ance of being many -jointed.

PODURID^E. — This family comprises those species of the old
genus Podura, in which the mouth has mandibles [also maxilla3
and a labium], and the body is elongated, with a more or less
developed saltatory appendage at the posterior extremity.

Orchesella. Segments of the body unequal in size, more or
less thickly clothed with clubbed hairs. Antennae long, six-
jointed. Eyes six in number on each side, arranged in the
form of an S. (One or two beautiful species live about Salem.)

Degeeria. Segments of the body unequal in size, more or
less thickly clothed by clubbed hairs. Antennae longer than the
head and thorax, filiform, four-jointed. Eyes
eight in number on each side of the head.
(Two species, Degeeria decem-fasciata, PL
10, Figs. 2, 3, and D. purpurascens, Figs. 4, 5,
are figured in the "Guide to the Study of
Insects." Figure 168 represents a species
found in Salem, Mass., closely allied to the
European D. nivalis. Five species are already
known in New England.)

Seira. Body covered with scales. Antennas
four-jointed; terminal segment not ringed.
Eyes on a dark patch. Thorax not projecting
over the head. Abdominal segments unequal.

Templetonia. Segments of the body sube-
qual, clothed by clubbed hairs, and provided
with scales. Antennae longer than the head
and thorax, five-jointed, with a small basal
segment, and with the terminal portion ringed.

Isotoma. Four anterior abdominal segments subequal, two
posterior ones small; body clothed with simple hairs and with-
out scales. Antenna} four-jointed, longer than the head ; seg-
ments subequa'l. Eyes seven in number on each side, arranged
in the form of an S. (Three species are found in Massachu-
setts, one of which (I. plumbea) is figured on PI. 10, Figs. 6, 7,
of the "Guide to the Study of Insects," third edition.)

Tomocerus. Abdominal segments unequal, with simple hairs
and scales. Antennae very long, four-jointed, the two terminal
segments ringed. Eyes seven in number on each side. (The
European T. plumbea, Podura plumbea of authors, is our spe-

168. Degeeria.

144

BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS.

cies, and is common. Fig. 160, greatly enlarged, copied from
Templeton; Fig. 159, side view, see also Fig. 161, where the
mouth-parts are greatly enlarged, the lettering being the same,
md, mandibles ; mx, maxillae ; mp, maxillary palpus ; lb, labium ;

169. Scales of Tomocerus.

171. Scale of Lepidocyrtus.

Ip, labial palpus ; Zc, lacinia ; g, portion ending in three teeth ; I,
lobe of labium ; sp, ventral sucking disk ; the dotted lines passing
through the body represent the course of the intestine; b, end
of tibia, showing the tarsus, with the claw, and two accessory

spines ; a, third joint of the spring.
Fig. 162, lacinia of maxilla greatly
enlarged. Fig. 169, different forms
of scales, showing the great vari-
ation in size and form, the narrow
ones running into a linear form,
becoming hairs. The "markings
are also seen to vary, showing
their unreliable character as test
objects, unless a single scale is
kept for use.)

Lepidocyrtus. Abdominal seg-
ment unequal, with simple hairs
and scales. Antennae long, four-
jointed. Eyes eight in number
on each side. (Fig. 170, L. albi-
nos, an European species, from Hardwicke's "Science Gossip."
Fig. 171, a scale. Two species live in New England.)

Podura. Abdominal segments subequal. Hairs simple, no
scales. Antennae four-jointed, shorter than the head. Eyes

170. Lepidocyrtus.

ACHORUTES.

145

eight in number on each side. Saltatory appendage of moderate
length.

Achorutes. Abdominal segments subequal. Antennae short,
four-jointed. Eyes eight in number on each side. Saltatory
appendage quite short.

Figure 172 represents a species of this genus very abundant
under the bark of trees, etc., in New England. It is of a blackish
lead color ; a, end of tibia bearing a tenant hair, with the tarsal
joint and large claw; Z>, spring; c, the third joint of the spring,
with the little spine at the base ; figure 163, the supposed ovi-

172. Achorutes.

173. Lipura fimetaria.

positor; «, the two blades spread apart; 6, 'side view. The
mouth-parts in this genus are much as in Tomocerus, the max-'
illse ending in a lacinia and palpus.

The three remaining genera, Lipura, Anurida and Anura, are
placed in the "family" Lipuridae, which have no spring. Lub-
bock remarks that "this family contains as yet only two*
genera, Lipura (Burmeister), in which the mouth is composed
of the same parts as those in the preceding genera, and Anura
(Gervais), in which the mandibles and maxillae disappear." Our

*Dr. Labonlbene has recently, and we think with good reason, separated Anura
maritima from the genus Anura, under the name of Anurida maritima.
13

146

BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS.

common white Lipura is the European L. fimetaria Linn. (Fig.
173, copied from Lubbock). The site of the spring is indicated
by an oval scar.

Figure 174 represents Anurida maritima found under stones
between tide marks at Nantucket. It is regarded the same as
the European species by Lubbock, to whom I had sent specimens
for comparison. This genus differs in the form of the head

175.

Amirida.maritima.

from Lipura and also wants the terminal upcurved spines, while
the antennas are much more pointed. The legs (Fig. 175)
end in a large, long, curved claw. On examining specimens
soaked in potash, I have found that the mouth-parts of this
species (Fig. 176, md, mandibles; mx, maxillae; e, eyes, and a
singular accessory group of small cells, are like those of Acho-
rutes, as previously noticed by Laboulbene. The mandibles,
like those of other Poduras, end in from three to six teeth, and

COLLECTING PODURIDS. 147

have a broad, many-toothed molar surface below. The maxillae
end in a tridentate lacinia as usual, though the palpi and galea
I have not yet studied.

The genus Anura may be readily recognized by the mouth
ending in an acutely conical beak, with its end quite free from
the head and hanging down beneath it. The body is short and
broad, much tuberculated, while the antenna3 are short and
pointed, and the legs are much shorter than in Lipura, not
reaching more than a third of their length beyond the bod}'.
Our common form occurs under the bark of trees.

For the reason that I can find no valid characters for separa-
ting these three genera as a family from the other Poduras, I
am inclined to think that they form, by the absence of the
spring, only a subdivision (perhaps a subfamily) of the Podu-
ridse.

The best way to collect Poduras is, on turning up the stick or
stone on the under side of which they live, to place a vial over
them, allowing them to leap into it; they may be incited to leap
by pushing a needle under the vial. They may also be col-
lected by a bottle with a sponge saturated with ether or chloro-
form. They may be kept alive for weeks by keeping moist
slips of blotting paper in the vial. In this way I have kept
specimens of Degeeria, Tomocerus and Orchesella, from the
middle of December till late in January. During this time
they occasionally moulted, and Tomocerus plumbeus, after shed-
ding its skin, ate it within a few hours. Poduras feed ordinarily
on vegetable matter, such as dead leaves and growing crypto-
gamic vegetation. These little creatures can be easily preserved
in a mixture of alcohol and glycerine, or pure alcohol, though
without the glycerine the colors fade.

We have entered more fully in this chapter into the details of
structure than heretofore, too much so, perhaps, for the patience
of our readers. But the study of the Poduras possesses the
liveliest interest, since these lowest of all the six-footed insects
may have been among the earliest land animals, and hence to
them we may look with more or less success for the primitive,
ancestral forms of insect life.

CHAPTER XIII.

HINTS ON THE ANCESTRY OF INSECTS.

THOUGH our course through the different groups of insects
may have seemed rambling and desultory enough, and pursued
with slight reference to a natural classification of the insects of
which we have spoken, yet beginning with the Hive bee, the
highest intelligence in the vast world of insects, we have gradu-
ally, though with many a sudden
step, descended to perhaps the
most lowly organized forms
among all the insects, the para-
sitic mites. While the Demodex
is probably the humblest in its
organization of any of the insects
we have treated of, there is still
another mite, which some emi-
nent naturalists continue to re-
gard as a worm, which is yet lower
in the scale. This is the Pentas-
toma (Fig. 177, P. tsenioides;,
which lives in the manner of the
tape worm a parasitic life in the
higher animals, though instead of
inhabiting the alimentary canal,
the worm-like mite takes up its
abode in the nostrils and frontal
sinus of dogs- and sheep, and sometimes of the horse. At first,
however, it is found in the liver or lungs of various, animals,
sometimes in man. It is then in the earliest or larval state, and
assumes its true mite form, being oval in shape, with minute
horny jaws adapted for boring, and with two pairs of legs armed
(148)

177. Pentastoma.

178. Centipede.

COMMUNITY OF PLAN IN INSECTS.

149

with sharp retractile claws. Such an animal as this is little
higher than some worms, and indeed is lower than many of them.

We should also not pass over in silence the Centipedes (Fig.
178, Scolopocryptops sexspinosa) and Galley worms, or Thou-
sand legs and their allies (Myriopods), which by their long
slender bodies, and great number of segments and feet, vaguely
recall the worms. But they, with the mites, are true insects, as
they are born with only three pairs of feet, as are the mites and
ticks, and breathe by tracheae; and thus a common plan of
structure underlies the entire class of insects.

A very strange Myriopod has been discovered by Sir John

179. Young Pauvopus. 180. Spring-tail. i81. young Juhls.

Lubbock in Europe, and we have been fortunate enough to find
a species in this country. It is the Pauropus. It consists, when
fully grown, of nine segments, exclusive of the head, bearing
nine pairs of feet. The young of Pauropus (Fig. 179) is born
with three pairs of feet, and in its general appearance reminds
us of a spring-tail (Fig. 180) as may be seen by a glance at the
cut. This six-legged form of Pauropus may also be compared
with the young galley worm (Fig. 181).

Passing to the group of spiders and mites, we find that the
young mites when first hatched have but three pairs of feet,
while their parents have four, like the spiders. Figure 182

150

HINTS ON THE ANCESTRY OF INSECTS.

represents the larva (Leptus) of the red garden mites ; while a
figure of the "water bear," or Tardigrade (Fig. 183), is intro-
duced to compare with it, as it bears a resemblance to the
young of the mites, though their young are born
with their full complement of legs, an exception
to their nearest allies, the true mites. Now if
we compare these early stages of mites and
myriopods with those of the true six- footed
insects, as in the larval Meloe, Cicada, Thrips
and Dragon fly, we shall see quite plainly that
they all share a common form. What does this
mean ? To the systematist who concerns him- 182' LePtus-
self with the classification of the myriads of different insects
now living, it is a relief to find that all can be reduced to the
comparatively simple forms sketched
above. It is^to him a proof of the
unity of organization pervading the
world of insects. He sees how nature,
seizing upon this archetypal form has,
by simple modifications of parts here
and there, by the addition of wings and
other organs wanting in these simple

S) y \ j ^-j ,;r-v creatures, rung numberless changes

s/' ! y\ \ J)^. in tllis elemental form. And starting

r/ /-~x I / T^*^ from the simplest kinds, such as the
Poduras, Spiders, Grasshoppers and
May flies, allied creatures which we
now know were the first to appear in
the earlier geologic ages, we rise to
the highest, the bees with their com-
plex forms, their diversified economy
and wonderful instincts. In ascending
this scale of being, while there is a
progress upwards, the beetles, for in-
stance, being higher than the bugs and
grasshoppers ; and the butterflies and moths, on the whole,
being more highly organized than the flies ; and while we see the
hymenopterous saw-flies, with their Iarva3 mimicking so closely
the caterpillars of the butterflies, in the progress from the saw-
flies up to the bees we behold a gradual loss of the lower
saw-fly characters in the Cynips and Chalcid flies, and see in

183. Tardigrade.

THE ARCHETYPAL AN ANCESTRAL FORM. 151

the sand- wasps and true wasps a constant and accelerating like-
ness to the bee form. Yet this continuity of improving organi-
zations is often broken, and we often see insects which recall
the earlier and more elementary forms.

Again, going back of the larval period, and studying the in-
sect in the egg, we find that nearly all the insects yet observed
agree most strikingly in their mode of growth, so that, for
instance, the earlier stages of the germ of a bee, fly or beetle,
bear a remarkable resemblance to each other, and suggest again,
more forcibly than when we examine the larval condition, that
a common design or pattern at first pervades all. In the light
of the studies of Von Baer, of Lamarck and Darwin, should we
be content to stop here, or does this ideal archetype become
endowed with life and
have a definite exis-
tence, becoming the
ancestral form of all
insects, the prototype
which gave birth to
the hundreds of thou-
sands of insect forms
which are now spread
over our globe, just
as we see daily hap-
pens where a single
aphis may become the m- Male Stylops.

progenitor of a million offspring clustering on the same tree?
Is there not something more than analogy in the two things, and
is not the same life-giving force that evolves a million young
Aphides from the germ stock of a single Aphis in a single sea-
son, the same in kind with the production of the living races
of insects from a primeval ancestor? When we see the Aphis
giving origin in one season to successive generations, the indi-
viduals of which may be counted by the million, it is no less
mysterious than that other succession of forms of insect life
which has peopled the globe during the successive chapters of
its history. While we see in one case the origin of individual
forms, and cannot explain what it is that starts the life in the
germ and so unerringly guides the course of the growing em-
-bryo, it is illogical to deny that the same life-giving force is
concerned in the production of specific and generic forms.

152

HINTS ON THE ANCESTRY OF INSECTS.

Who can explain the origin of the sexes ? What is the cause
that determines that one individual in a brood of Stylops, for
example (Fig. 184, male; Fig. 185, grub-like female in the body
of its host), shall be but a grub, living as a parasite in the
body of its host, while its fellow shall be winged and as free iu
its actions as the most highly organized insect? It is no less
mysterious, because it daily occurs before our eyes. So perhaps
none the less -mysterious, and no more discordant with known
natural laws may the law that governs the origin of species
seem to those who come after us. Certainly the present
attempts to discover that law, however fatuitous they may
seem to many, are neither illogical, nor, judging by the impetus

already given to biology, or the
science of life, labor altogether
spent in vain. The theory of
evolution is a powerful tool,
when judiciously used, that must
eventually wrest many a secret
from the grasp of nature.

But whether true or unproved,
the theory of evolution in some
shape has actually been adopted
by the large proportion of natu-
ralists, who find it indispensable
in their researches, and it-will be
used until found inadequate to
explain facts. Notwithstanding
the present distrust, and even
185. Female Stylops. fear, with which it js received

by many, we doubt not but that in comparatively few years all
will acknowledge that the theory of evolution will be to biology
what the nebular hypothesis is to geology, or the atomic theory
is to chemistry. While the evolution theory is as yet imperfect,
and many objections, some seemingly insuperable, can be raised
against it, it should be borne in mind that the nebular hypoth-
esis is still comparatively crude and unsatisfactory, though
indispensable as a working theory to the geologist; and in
chemistry, though the atomic theory may not be satisfactorily
demonstrated to some minds until an atom is actually brought
to sight, it is yet invaluable in research.
Many short sighted persons complain that such a theory sets

THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION FOUNDED IN NATURE. 153

in the back-ground the idea of a personal Creator ; but minds no
less devout, and perhaps a trifle more thoughtful, see the hand
of a Creator not less in the evolution of plants and animals from
preexistent forms, through natural laws, than in the evolution
of a summer's shower, through the laws discovered by the
meteorologist, who looks back through myriads of ages to the
causes that led to the distribution of mountain chains, ocean
currents and trade winds, which combine to produce the neces-
sary conditions resulting in that shower.

Indeed, to the student of nature, the evolution theory in biol-
ogy, with the nebular hypothesis, and the grand law in physics
of the correlation of forces, all interdependent, and revealing
to us the mode in which the Creator of the Universe works
in the world of matter, together form an immeasurably grander
conception of the order of creation and its Ordainer, than was
possible for us to form before these laws were discovered and
put to practical use. We may be allowed, then, in a reverent
spirit of inquiry, to attempt to trace the ancestry of the insects,
and without arriving, perhaps, at any certain result, for it is
largely a matter of speculation, point out certain .facts, the
thoughtful consideration of which may throw light on this
difficult and embarrassing question.

Without much doubt the Poduras are the lowest of the six-
footed insects. They are more embryonic in their appearance
than others, as seen in the large size of the head compared with
the rest of the body, the large, clumsy legs, and the equality in.
the size of the several segments composing the body. In other
characters, such as the want of compound eyes, the absence of
wings, the absence of a complete ovipositor, and the occasional
want of tracheae, they stand at the base of the insect series. That
they are true insects, however, we endeavored to show in the pre-
vious chapter, and that they are neuropterous, we think is most
probable, since not only in the structure of the insect after birth
do they agree with the larva? of certain neuropters, but, as we
have shown in another place * in comparing the development of
Isotoma, a Poduran, with that of a species of Caddis fly, the
correspondence throughout the different embryological stages,
nearly up to the time of hatching, is very striking. And it is a

* Memoirs of the Peabody Academy of Science, II. Embryological Studies on
Diplax, Peritheinis, and the Tliysuuurus genus Isotoma. Saleiu, 1871.

154

HINTS ON THE ANCESTRY OF INSECTS.

remarkable fact, as Kwe have previously noticed, that when it
begins to differ from the Caddis fly embryo, it begins to assume
the Poduran characters, and its development consequently in
some degree retrogrades, just as
in the lice previous to hatching,
as we have shown in a previous
chapter, so that I think we are
warranted at present in regarding
the Thysanura, and especially the
family of Podurids as degraded
neuropters. Consequently the Po-
duras did not have ah independent 18G- Embryo of Diplax.
origin and do not, perhaps, represent a distinct branch of the
genealogical tree of articulates. While the Poduras may be said
to form a specialized type, the Bristle-tails (Lepisma, Machilis,

Nicoletia and Campodea) are, as
we have seen, much more highly
organized, and form a generalized
or comprehensive type. They re-
semble in their general form the
larva of Ephemerids, and perhaps
more closely the immature Perla,
and also the wingless cockroaches.
Now such forms as these Thysa-
nura, together with the mites and
the singular Pauropus, we cannot
avoid suspecting to have been
among the earliest to appear upon
]-.yl the earth, and putting together the
facts, first, of their low organiza-
tion; secondly, of their compre-
hensive structure, resembling the
larvae of other insects ; and thirdly,
'—am of their probable great antiquity,
we naturally look to them as being
related in form to what we may
187. Embryo of Louse. conceive to have been the ancestor
of the class of insects. Not that the animals mentioned above
were the actual ancestors, but that certain insects bearing a
greater resemblance to them than any others with which We are
acquainted, and belonging possibly to families and orders now

dZL

THE LEPTUS, OR ANCESTRAL FORM OF INSECTS.

155

extinct, were the prototypes and progenitors of the insects
now known.

Though the study of the embryology of insects is as yet in its
infancy, still with the facts now in our possession we can state
with tolerable 'certainty that at first
the embryos of all insects are re-
markably alike, and the process of
development is much the same in
all, as seen in the figure of Diplax
(Fig. 186), the louse (Fig. 187), the
spider (Fig. 188) and the Podura
(Fig. 189), and we could give others
bearing the same likeness. We no-
tice that at a certain period in the
life of the embryo all agree in hav-
ing the head large, and bearing from
two to four pairs of mouth organs,
resembling the legs ; the thorax is
merged in with the abdomen, and
the general form of the embryo is 188. Embryo of Spider.
ovate. Now this general embryonic form characterizes the
larva of the mites, of the myriopods and of the true insects. To
such a generalized embryonic form to which the insects may be

referred as the descendants, we
would give the name of Leptus,
as among Crustacea the ances-
tral form is referred to Nau-
plius, a larval form of the lower
Crustacea, and through which
the greater part of the Crabs,
Shrimps, Barnacles, water fleas,
etc., pass to attain their defi-
nite adult condition. A little
water flea was described as a
separate genus, Nauplius, before
it was known to be the larva of
a higher water flea, and so also
Leptns was thought to be a
mature mite. Accordingly,we follow the usage of certain natu-
ralists in dealing with the Crustacea, and propose for this com-
mon primitive larval condition of insects the term Leptus.

189. Embryo of Podura.

156 HINTS ON THE ANCESTRY OF INSECTS.

The first to discuss this subject of the ancestry of insects was
Fritz Mttller, who in his «F(ir Darwin,"* published in 1803, says,
at the end of his work, "Having reached the Nauplius, the
j extreme outpost of the class, retiring

farthest into the gray mist of primitive
time, we naturally look round us to see
whether ways may not be descried thence
towards other bordering regions. * * *
But I can see nothing certain. Even
towards the nearer provinces of the Myri-
opoda and Arachnida I can find no bridge.
For the Insecta alone, the development
of the Malacostraca [Crabs, Lobsters,
Shrimps, etc.] may perhaps present a
point of union. Like many Zoea;, the
Insecta possess three pairs of limbs
serving for the reception of nourishment,
and three pairs serving for locomotion ;
like the Zoeae they have an abdomen
190. Zoea. without appendages ; as in all Zoese the

mandibles in Insecta are destitute of palpi. Certainly but little
in common, compared with the much which distinguishes these
two animal forms. Nevertheless, the supposition that the In-
secta had for their common ancestor a Zoea which raised itself
into a life on land, may be recommended for further examina-
tion" (p. 140).

Afterwards Haeckel in his "Generelle Morphologic" (18G6)
and "History of Creation," published in 1868, reiterates the
notion that, the insects are derived from the larva (Zoea, Fig.
190) of the crabs, though he is doubtful whether they did not
originate directly from the worms. f
It may be said in opposition to the view that the insects came

* Translated in 18G9 by Mr. Dallas under the title "Facts for Darwin."
f'Whether that common stem-form of all the Tracheata [Insects, Myriopods and
Spiders] which I have called Protracheata in my 'General Morphology' has devel-
oped directly from the true Annelides (Coelelminthes),or, the next thing to this
(zunachst), Qjut of Zoea-form Crustacea (Zoepoda), will be hereafter established
only through a sufficient knowledge and comparison of the structure and mode of
growth of the Tracheata, Crustacea and Annelides. In either case is the root of the
Tracheata, as also of the Crustacea, to be sought in the group of the tme jointed
worms (Annelides, Gephyrea and Rotatoria." He considers the first insect to have
appeared after the Silurian period, viz., in the Devonian.

THE INSECTS DERIVED FROM THE WORMS. 157

originally from the same early crustacean resembling the larva
of a crab or shrimp, that the differences between the two types
are too great, or, in other words, the homologies of the two
classes too remote,* and the two types are each too specialized
to lead us to suppose that one was derived from the other.
Moreover, we llnd through the researches of Messrs. Hartt and
Scudder that there were highly developed insects, such as May
flies, grasshoppers, etc., in the Devonian rocks of New Bruns-
wick, leading us to expect the discovery of low insects even in
the Upper Silurian rocks. At any rate this discovery pushes
buck the origin of insects beyond a time when there were true
Zoea?, as the shrimps and their allies are not actually known to
exist so far back as the Silurian, not having as j*et been found
below the coal measures.

The view that the insects were derived from a Zoea was also
sustained by Friedrich Brauer, the distinguished entomologist
of Vienna, in a paper f read in March, 18G9. Following the
suggestion of Fritz Miiller and Hseckel, he derives the ancestry
of insects from the Zoea of crabs and shrimps. However, he
regards the Podurids as the more immediate ancestors of the
true insects, selecting Campodea as the type of such an ances-
tral form, remarking that the " Campodea-stage has for the
Insects and Myriopods the same value as the Zoea for the
Crustacea." He says nothing regarding the spiders and mites.

At the same time J the writer, in criticising Haeckel's views
of the derivation of insects from the Crustacea (ignorant of
the fact that he had also suggested that the insects were possi-
bly derived directly from the worms, and also independently of
Brauer's opinions) declared his belief that though it seemed pre-
mature, after the discovery of highly organized winged insects

* The Zoea is born with eight pairs of jointed appendages belonging to the head,
and with no thoracic limbs, while in insects there are but four pairs of cephalic
appendages and three pairs of legs. Correlated with this difference is the entirely
different mode of grouping the body segments, the head and thorax being united
into one region in the crab, but separate in the insects, the body being as a rule
divided into a head, thorax and abdomen, while these regions are much less dis-
tinctly marked in the crabs, and liable in the different orders to great variations.
The great differences between the Crustacea and insects are noticeable at an early
period in the egg.

f Considerations on the Transmutation of Insects in the Sense of the Theory of
Descent. Head before the Imperial Zoological-botanical Society in Vienna, April
3, 18C9.

J American Naturalist, vol. 3, p. 45. March, 1869.
14

158 HINTS ON THE ANCESTRY OF INSECTS.

in rocks so ancient as the Devonian, and with the late discovery
of a land plant in the Lower Silurian rocks of Sweden,* to even
guess as to the ancestry of insects, yet he "would suggest that,
instead of being derived from some Zoea, "the ancestors of the
insects (including the six-footed insects, spiders and myriopods)
must have been worm-like and aquatic, and when the type
became terrestrial we would imagine a form somewhat like the
young Pauropus, which combines in a remarkable degree the
characters of the myriopods and the degraded wingless insects,
such as the Smynthurus, Podura, etc. Some such forms may
have been introduced late in the Silurian period, for the inter-
esting discoveries of fossil insects in the Devonian of New
Brunswick, by Messrs. Hartt and Scudder, and those discovered
by Messrs. Meek and Worthen in the lower part of the Coal
Measures at Morris, Illinois; and described by Mr. Scudder,
reveal carboniferous myriopods (two species of Euphorberia)
more highly organized than Pauropus, and a carboniferous scor-
pion (Buthus?) closely resembling a species now living in Cali-
fornia, together with another scorpion-like animal, Mazonia

'See Prof. Torell's discovery of Eophyton Liiinaeanum, a supposed land plant
allied to the rushes and grasses of our day, in certain Swedish rocks of Lower
Cambrian age. The writer has, through the kindness of Prof. Torell, seen speci-
mens of these plants in the Museum of the Geological Survey at Stockholm. Mr.
Murray, of the Canadian Geological Survey, was the first to discover in America
(Labrador, Straits of Belle Isle) this same genus of plants. They are described
and figured by Mr. Billings, who speaks of them as " slender, cylindrical, straight,
reed-like plants," in the "Canadian Naturalist" for August, 1872.

Should the terrestrial nature of these plants be established on farther evidence,
then we are warranted in supposing that there were isolated patches of land in
the Cambrian or Primordial period, and if there was land there must h:ive been
bodies of fresh water, hence there may have been both terrestrial and aquatic
instcts, possibly of forms like the Podurids, May flies, Perlaj, mites and Paurop .s
of the present day. There was at any rate land in the Upper Silurian period, as
Dr. J. W. Dawson describes Ian 1 p'ants (Psilophyton) from the Lower Helderberg
Rocks of Gaspe, New Brunswick, corresponding in age with the Ludlow rocks of
England.

"We might also state in this connection that Dr. Dawson, the eminent fossil bota-
nist of Montreal, concludes from the immense masses of carbon 'in the form of
graphite in the Laurentian rocks of Canada, that " the Laun-nlian period was
probably an age of most prolific vegetable growth. * * * Whether the vegeta-
tion of the Laurentian was wholly aquatic or in part terrestrial we have no means
of knowing." In 1855, Dr. T. Sterry Hunt asserted " that the presence of iron ores,
not less than that of graphite, points to the existence of organic life even during
the Laurentian or so-called Azoic period." In 1861 he went farther and stated his
belief in " the existence of an abundant vegetation during the Laurentian period."
The Eophyton in Labrador occurs above the Trilobite (Paradoxides) beds, while
in Sweden they occur below.

THE LEPTUS AND NAUPLIUS FORMS COMPARED. 159

Woodiana, while the Devonian insects described from St. John
by Mr. Scudder, are nearly as highly organized as our grass-
hoppers and May flies. Dr. Dawson lias also discovered a well
developed milleped (Xylobius) in the Lower Coal Measures of
Nova Scotia ; so that we must go back to the Silurian period in
our search for the earliest ancestor, or (if not of Darwinian
proclivities) prototype, of insects."

Afterwards* the writer, carrying out the idea suggested above,
"referred the ancestry of the Myriopods, Arachnids, and Hex-
apodous insects to a Leptus-like terrestrial animal, bearing a
vague resemblance to the Nauplius form among Crustacea, inas-
much as the body is not differentiated into a head, thorax and
abdomen [though the head may be free from the rest of the
body] and there are three pairs of temporary locomotive appen-
dages. Like Nauplius, which was first supposed to be an adult
Entomostracan, the larval form of Trombidium had been de-
scribed as a genus of mites under the name of Leptus (also
Ocypete and Astoma) and was supposed to be adult."

In the same year Sir John Lubbockf agrees with Brauer that
the groups represented by Podura and Campodea may have been
the ancestors of the insects, remarking that "the genus Cam-
podea must be regarded as a form of remarkable interest, since
it is the living representative of a primaeval type from which
not only the Collembola (Podura, etc.) and Thysanura, but the
other great orders of insects, have all derived their origin."

The comparison of the Leptus with the Nauplius, or pre-Zocal
stage of Crustacea, is much more natural. But here we are met
with apparently insuperable difficulties. While the Nauplius
(Fig. 191) has but three pairs of appendages, which become the
two pairs of antennae and succeeding pair of limbs of the adult,
in the Leptus as the least number we have five pairs, two of
which belong to the head (the maxillae and mandibles) and three
to the thorax ; besides these is a true head, distinct from the
hinder region of the body. It is evident that the Leptus funda-
mentally differs from the Nauplius and -begins life on a higher
plane. We reject, therefore, the Crustacean origin of the
insects. Our only refuge is in the worms, and how to account

*In a communication made to tlie Boston Society of Natural History, Oct. 17,
1870 (see also "American Naturalist" for Feb. and Sept., 1871).

fOn the Origin of Insects, a paper read before the Linna^an Society of London
Nov. 2, 1871, and reported in abstract in "Nature," Nov. 9, 1871.

160 HINTS ON THE ANCESTRY OF INSECTS.

for the transmutation of any worm with which we are at present
acquainted into a form like the Leptus, with its mandibulated
mouth and jointed legs, seems at first well nigh impossible.
We have the faintest possible indication in the structure of
some mites, and of the Tardigrades and Pentastoma, where
there is a striking recurrence, as we may term it, to a worm-like
form, readily noticed by every observer, whatever his opinion
may be on the developmental theory. In the Demodex we see
a tendency of the mite to assume under peculiar circumstances
un elongated, worin-like form. The mouth-parts are aborted
(thonjrh from what we know of the embryology of other mites,

they probably
are indicated
early in embry-
onic life), while
the eight legs a re
not jointed, and
form simple tu-
bercles. In the
Tardigrades, a
long step lower,
we have un-
Mointed fleshy
I legs armed with
from two to four
| claws, but the
mouth-parts are
essentially mite
in character. A

191. NauplhiB. decided worm

feature is the fact that they are hermaphrodites, each individual
having ovaries and spermaries, as is the case with many worms.
When we come to the singular creatures of which Fentastoma
and Linguatula are the type, we have the most striking approx-
imation to the worms in external form, but these are induced
evidently by their parasitic mode of life. They lose the rudi-
mentary jointed limbs which some (Linguatula especially) have
well marked in the embryo, and from being oval, rudely mite-
like in form, they elongate, and only the claws or simple curved
hooks, like those of young tape worms, remain to indicate the
original presence of true jointed legs.

ANCESTRY OP LEPTUS. 161

In seeking for the ancestry of our hypothetical Leptus among
the worms, we are at best groping in the dark. We know of
no ancestral form among the true Annelides, nor is it probable
that it was derived from the intestinal worms. The only worm
below the true Annelides that suggests any remote analogy to
the insects is the singular and rare Peripatus, which lives on
land in warm climates. Its body, not divided into rings, is pro-
vided with about thirty pairs of fleshy tubercles, each ending in
two strong claws, and the head is adorned with a pair of fleshy
tubercles. It is remotely possible that some Silurian land
worm, if any such existed, allied to our living Peripatus, may
have been the. ancestor of a series of types now lost which
resulted in an animal resembling the Leptus.

We may, however, as bearing upon this difficult question, cite
some remarkable discoveries of Professor Granin, a Russian
naturalist, on the early stages
of certain ichneumon parasites,
which show some worm fea-
tures in their embryonic devel-
opment. In a species of Platy-
gaster (Fig. 192, P. error of
Fitch), which is a parasite on a
two- winged gall fly, the earliest
stage observed after the egg is
laid is that in which the egg
contains a single cell with a . 192- Platygaster error,
nucleus and nucleolus. Out of this cell (Fig. 193 A, a) arise
two other cells. The central cell (a) gives origin to the em-
bryo. The two outer ones multiply by subdivision and form
the embryonal membrane, or "amuion," which is a provisional
envelope and does not assist in building up the body of the
germ. The central single cell, however, multiplies by the sub-
division of its nucleus, thus building up the body of the germ.
Figure 193 B, g, shows the yolk or germ just forming out of
the nuclei (a) and 5, the peripheral cells of the blastoderm
skin, or "amnion." Figure 193 C shows the yolk transformed
into the embryo («/), with the outer layer of blastodermic cells
(6). The body of the germ is infolded, so that the embryo
appears bent on itself. Figure 193 D shows the embryo much
farther advanced, with the two pairs of lobes (md, rudimentary
mandibles; d, rudimentary pad-like organs, seen in a more

162

HINTS ON THE ANCESTRY OF INSECTS.

advanced stage in E), and the bilobate tail 00- Figure 194 (w,
mouth ; at, rudimentary antennae ; md, mandibles ; d, tongue-like
appendages ; st, anal stylets ; the subject of this figure is of a
different species from the insect previously figured, which, how-
ever, it closely resembles) shows the first larva stage after
leaving the egg. This strange form, the author remarks, would
scarcely be thought an insect, were not its origin and farther
development known, but rather a parasitic Copepodous crusta-
cean, whence he calls this the Cyclops-like stage. In this cou-

m at md
193. Development of Platygaster.

dition it clings to the inside of its host by means of its hook-like
jaws (md), moving about like a Cestodes embryo with its well
known six hooks. The tail moves up and down, and is of but
little assistance in its efforts to change its place. Singularly
enough, the nervous, vascular, and respiratory systems (tra-
chese) are wanting, and the alimentary canal is a blind sac,
remaining in an indifferent, or unorganized state. How long
it remains in this state could not be ascertained.

METAMORPHOSIS OF PLATYGASTER.

163

The second larval stage (Fig. 195 ; ce, oesophagus ; ng, supra-
ojsophageal ganglion ; n, nervous cord ; ga, and g, genital organs ;
ms, band of muscles) is attained by means of a moult, as usual
in the metamorphoses of insects. With the change of skin the
larva entirely changes its form. So-called hypodermic cells are
developed. The singular tail is dropped, the segments of the
body disappear, and the body grows oval, while within begins

104. First Larva of Platygaster. 195. Second Larva of Platygaster.

a series of remarkable changes, like the ordinary development
of the embryo of most other insects within the egg. The cells
of the hypodermis multiply greatly, and lie one above the other
in numerous layers. They give rise to a special primitive organ
closely resembling the ''primitive band" of all insect embryos.
The alimentary canal is made anew, and the nervous and vascu-

164

HINTS ON THE ANCESTRY OF INSECTS.

lar systems now appear, but the tracheae are not yet formed.
It remains in this state for a much longer period than in the
previous stage.

The third larval form only a few live to reach. This is of the
usual long, oval form of the larvsB of the ichneumons, and the
body has thirteen segments exclusive of the head. The muscular
system has greatly developed and the larva is much more lively
in its motions than before. The new
organs that develop are the air tubes and
fat bodies. The "imaginal disks" or rudi-
- at mentary portions destined to develop and
form the skin of the adult, or imago, arise
in the pupa state, which resembles that of
other ichneumons. These disks are only
engaged, in Platygaster, in building up
the rudimentary. appendages, while in the
flies (MuscidaB and Corethra) they build
up the whole body, according to the
remarkable discovery of Weismann.

Not less interesting is the history of the
development of a species of Polynema,
another egg-parasite, which lays its eggs
(one, seldom two) in the eggs of a small
dragon fly, Agrion virgo, which oviposits
in the parenchyma of the leaves of water-
lilies. The eggs develop as in Platygaster.
The earliest stage of the embryo is very
remarkable. It leaves the egg when very
small and immovable, and with scarcely a
trace of organization, being a mere flask-shaped sac of cells.*
It remains in this state five or six days.

In the second stage, or Histriobdella-like form, the larva is,
in its general appearance, like the low worm to which Ganin
compares it. It may be described as bearing a general resem-
blance to the third and fully developed larval form (Fig. 196, ty,

* This reminds us (though Ganin does not mention it) of the development of the
embryo of Julus, the Thousand legs, which, according to Newport, hatches the
25th day after the egg ia laid. At this period the embryo is partially organized,
having faint traces of segments, and is still enveloped in its embryonal membranes
and retains its connection with the shell. In this condition it remains for seven-
teen days, when it throws off its embryonal membrane, and becomes detached
from the shell.

196. Third Larva of
Polynema.

ORIGIN OF THE STING.

165

md

three pairs of abdominal tubercles destined to form the sting ;
Z, rudiments of the legs ; /fc, portion of the fatty body ; at, rudi-
ments of the antennae ; fl, imaginal disks, or rudiments of the
wings). No tracheae are developed in the larva, nor do any exist
in the imago. (Ganin thinks, that as these insects are some-
what aquatic, the adult insects flying over the surface of the
water, the wings may act as respiratory organs, like gills.) It
lives six to seven days before pupating, and remains from ten
to twelve days in the pupa state.

The origin of the sting }s clearly ascertained. Ganin shows
that it consists
of three pairs of
tubercles, situ-
ated r e s p e c -
lively on the
seventh, eighth,
and ninth seg-
ments of the ab-
domen (Fig. 196,
tg). The labium
is not developed
from a pair of
tubercles, as is
usual, but at
once appears as
an unpaired, or
single organ.
The pupa state
lasts for five or
six days,' and 197. Development of Egg-parasites.

when the imago appears it eats its way through a small round
opening in the end of the skin of its host, the Agrion larva.
The development of Ophioneurus, another egg-parasite, agrees
with that of Platygaster and Polynema. This egg-parasite passes
its early life in the eggs of Pieris brassicse, and two or three
live to reach the imago state, though about six eggs are depos-
ited by the female. The eggs are oval, and not stalked. The
larva is at first of the form indicated by figure 197 E, and when
fully grown becomes of a broad oval form, the body not being
divided into segments. It differs from the genera already men-
tioned, in remaining within its egg membrane, and not assuming

ul

166 HINTS ON THE ANCESTRY OF INSECTS.

their strange forms. From the non-segmented, sac-like larva,
it passes directly into the pupa state.

The last egg-parasite noticed by Ganin, is Teleas, whose
development resembles that of Platygaster. It is a parasite iii
the eggs of Gerris, the Water Boatman. Figure 197 A repre-
sents the egg; B, C, and D, the first stage of the larva, the
abdomen (or posterior division of the body) being furnished
with a series of bristles on each side. (B represents the ven-
tral, C the dorsal, and D the profile view ; at, antennae ; md,
hook-like mandibles ; mo, mouth ; 6, bristles ; ra, intestine ; sto,
the tail; ul, under lip or labium.) In the second larval stage,
which is oval in form, and not segmented, the primitive baud
is formed.

In concluding the account of his remarkable discoveries,
Ganin. draws attention to the great differences in the formation
of the eggs and the germs of these parasites from what occurs
in other insects. The egg has no nutritive cells ; the formation
of the primitive band, usually the first indication of the germ,
is retarded till the second larval stage is attained; and the
embryonal membrane is not homologous with the so-called
"amnion" of other insects, but may possibly be compared with
the skin developed on the upper side of the low, worm-like aca-
rian, Pentastomum, and the "larval skin" of the embryos of
many low Crustacea. He says, also, that we cannot, perhaps,
find the homologues of the provisional organs of the larvae, such
as the singularly shaped antennae, the claw-like mandibles, the
tongue- or ear-like appendages, in other Arthropoda (insects
and Crustacea); but that they may be found in the parasitic
Lerna3an crustaceans, and in the leeches, such as Histriobella.
He is also struck by the similarity in the development of these
egg-parasites to that of a kind of leech (Nephelis), the embryo
of which is provided with ciliae, recalling the larva of Teleas
(Fig. 197 B, (7), while in the true leeches (Hirudo) the primi-
tive band is not developed until after they have passed through
a provisional larval stage.

This complicated metamorphosis of the egg-parasites, Ganin
also compares to the so-called "hyper-metamorphosis" of cer-
tain insects (Meloe, Sitaris, and the Stylopidae) made known by
Siebold, Newport and Fabre, and he considers it to be of the
same nature.

He also, in closing, compares such early larval forms as those

EVOLUTION BY ACCELERATION AND RETARDATION. 167

given in figures 193 E and 194, to the free swimming Copepoda.
Finally, he says a few words on the theory of evolution, and
remarks "there is no doubt that, if a solution of the questions
arising concerning the genealogical relations of different animals
among themselves is possible, comparative embryology will af-
ford the first and truest principles." He modestly suggests that
the facts presented in his paper will widen our views on the
genetic relations of the insects to other animals, and refers to
the opinion first expressed by Fritz Mu'ller (Fur Darwin, p. 91),
and endorsed by Haeckel in his "Generelle Morphologic," that
we must seek for the ancestors of insects and Arachnida in the
Zoe'a form of Crustacea. Pie cautiously remarks, however, that
" the embryos and larvae observed by me in the egg-parasites
open up a new and wide field for a whole series of such consid-
erations ; but I will suppress them, since I am firmly convinced
that a theory, which I build up to-day, can easily be destroyed
with some few facts which I learn to-morrow. Since compara-
tive embryology as a science does not yet exist, so do I think
that all genetic theories are too premature, and without a strong
scientific foundation."

The writer is perhaps less cautious, but he cannot refrain
from making some reflections suggested by the remarkable dis-
coveries of Ganin. In the first place, these facts bear strongly
on the theory of evolution by " acceleration and retardation."
In the history of these early larval stages we see a remarkable
acceleration in the growth of the embryo. A simple sac of
unorganized cells, with a half-made intestine, so to speak, is
hatched, and made to perform the duty of an ordinary, quite
highly organized larva. Even the formation of the "primitive
band," usually the first indication of the organization of the
germ, is postponed to a comparatively late period in larval life.
The different anatomical systems, i.e., the heart with its vessels,
the nervous system and the respiratory system (trachea?), appear
at longer or shorter intervals, while in one genus the tracheae
are not developed at all. Thus some portions of the animal are
accelerated in their development more than others, while others
are retarded, and in some species certain organs are not devel-
oped at all. Meanwhile all live in a fluid medium, with much
the same habits, and surrounded with quite similar physical
conditions.

The highest degree of acceleration is seen in the reproductive

168 HINTS ON THE ANCESTRY OF INSECTS.

organs of the Cecidomyian larva of Miastor, which produces a
summer brood of young, alive, and living free in the body
of the child-parent ; and in the pupa of Chironomus, which has
been recently shown by Von Grimm, a fellow countryman of
Ganin, to produce young in the spring, while the adult fly lays
eggs in the autumn in the usual manner. This is in fact a true
virgin reproduction, and directly comparable to the alternation
of generations observed in the jelly fishes, in Salpa, and certain
intestinal worms. We can now, in the light of the researches
of Siebold, Leuckart, Ganin and others, trace more closely than
ever the connection between simple growth and metamorphosis,
and metamorphosis and parthenogenesis, and perceive that they
are but the terms of a single series. By the acceleration in the
development of a single set of organs (the reproductive), no
more wonderful than the acceleration and retardation of the
other systems of organs, so clearly pointed out in the embryos
of Platygaster and its allies, we see how parthenogenesis under
certain conditions may result. The barren Platygaster larva, the
fertile Cecidomyia larva, the fertile Aphis larva, the fertile Chir-
onomus pupa, the fertile hydroid polype, and the fertile adult
queen bee are simply animals in different degrees of organiza-
tion, and with reproductive systems differing not in quality? but
in the greater or less rapidity of their development as compared
with the rest of the body.

Another interesting point is, that while the larvae vary so
remarkably in form, the adult ichneumon flies are remarkably
similar to one another. Do the differences in their larval
history seem to point back to certain still more divergent
ancestral forms?

These remarkable hyper-metamorphoses remind us of the
metamorphosis of the embryo of Echinoderms into the Pluteus-
and Bipinnaria-forms of the starfish, sea urchins and Holothuri-
ans ;* of the Actinotrocha-form larva of the Sipunculoid worms ;

*It is a suggestive fact that these deciduous forms give way through histolysis
to true larval forms, just as in some flies (Musca vomitoria) the true larval lorm
goes under, and the adult form is built up from the hnaginal diskg of the larva. In
an analogous manner the deciduous, pluteus-condition of the young Echinoderm
perishes and is absorbed by the growing body of the permanent adult stage. This
deciduous stage of the ichneumon may accordingly be termed the prelarval stage.
Now as we find, insects with and without this prelarval stage, and in the radiates
quite different degrees of metamorphoses, the inquiry arises how far these differ-
ences are correlated with, and consequently dependent upon, the physical sur-

THE WORMS THUS ANCESTORS OP INSECTS. 169

of the Tornaria into Balanoglossus, the worm ; of the Cercaria-
form larva of Distoma; of the Pilidium-form larva of Neraertes;
and the larval forms of the leeches ;* as well as the mite Pentas-
tomum, and certain other aberrant mites, such as Myobia.

While Fritz Miiller and Dohrn have considered the insects as
having descended from the Crustacea (some primitive zoe'a-
form), and Dohrn has adduced the supposed zoea-form larva of
these egg-parasites as a proof, we cannot but think, in a subject
so purely speculative as the ancestry of animals, that the facts
brought out by Ganin tend to confirm our theory, that the
ancestry of all -the insects (including the Arachnids and Myrio-
pods) should be traced directly to the worms. The development
of the degraded, aberrant Arachnidan Pentastomum accords, in
some important respects, with that of the intestinal worms.
The Leptus-form larva of Julus, with its strange embryological
development, in some respects so like that of some worms,
points in that direction, as certainly as does the embryological
development of the egg-parasite Ophioneurus. The Nauplius
form of the embryo or larva of nearly all Crustacea, also points
back to the worms as their ancestors, the divergence having
perhaps originated, as we have suggested, in the Rotatoria.

While the Crustacea may have resulted from a series of
prototypes leading up from the Rotifers (Fig. 198), it is barely

roundings of these animals in the free swimming condition. Merely to point out
the differences in the mode of development of animals is an interesting mutter,
and one could do worse things, but the philosophical naturalist cannot rest here.
He must seek how these differences were brought about.

* Leuckart, in his great work, "Die Menschlichen Parasiten," p. 700, after the
analogy of Hirudo, which develops a primitive streak late in larval life, ventures
to consider the first indications of the germ of Nemertes in its larval, Pilidium
form as a primitive streak. He also suggests that the development of the later
larval forms of the Echinoderms is the same in kind.

Moreover, nearly twenty years ago (1854) Zaddach, a German naturalist, con-
tended that the worms are closely allied in their mode of development to the
insects and crustaceans. He compares the mode of development of a leech (Clep-
sine) and certain bristle-bearing worms (Sa^nuris, Lurnbriculus and Uaxes), and
we may now from Kowaleusky's researches (1871) add the common earth worm
(Lumbricus), in which there is no such metamorphosis as in the sea Nereids^to
that of insects; the mode of formation of the primitive band in the leeches and
eartli worms being much like that of insects. This confirms the view of Leuckart
and Ganin, who both seem to have overlooked Zaddach's remarks. Moreover, the
rings of the harder bodied worms, as Zaddach says, contain chitlne, as in the in-
sects. Zaddach also enters into farther details, which in his opinion ally the
worms nearer to the insects than many naturalists at his time were disposed to
allow. The singular Echiuoderes has some remarkable Arthropod characters.
15

170 HINTS ON THE ANCESTRY OF INSECTS.

possible that one of these creatures may have given rise to a
form resulting in two series of beings, one leading to the Lep-
tus form, the other to the Nauplius. For the true Annelides
(Chaetopods) are too circumscribed and homogeneous a group
to allow us to look to them for the ancestral forms of insects.
But that the insects may have descended from some low worms
is not improbable when we reflect that the Syllis and allied
genera of Aunelides bear appendages consisting of numerous
joints; indeed, the strange Dujardinia rotifera, figured by Qua-
trefages, in its general form is remarkably like the larva of

Chloeon. It has a quite distinct
head, bearing five long, slender,
jointed antennae, and but eight or
nine rings to the body, which ends
in two long, many jointed appen-
dages exactly like the tentacles.
|Quatrefages adds, that its move-
ments are usually slow, but "when
it wishes to move more rapidly, it
moves its body alternately up and
down with much vivacity, and
shoots forwards by bounds, so to
speak, a little after the manner of
the larvae of the mosquito" (His-
toire Naturelle des Anneles,Tome
2, p. 69). The gills of aquatic
insects only differ from those of
worms in possessing trachea},
198. A Rotifer. though the gills of the Crustacea

may be directly compared with those of insects.

But when once inside the circle of the class of insects the
ground is firmer, as our knowledge is surer. Granting now that
the Leptus-like ancestor of the six-footed insects has become
established, it is not so difficult to see how the Podurae and
finally a form like Campodea appeared. Aquatic forms resem-
bling the larva of the Ephemerae, Perlae and, more remotely,
the Forficulse and white ants of to-day were probably evolved
with comparative suddenness. Given the evolution of forms
like the earwigs (Forficula), cockroaches and white ants (Ter-
mes), the latter of which abounded in the coal period, and it
was not a great step forward to the evolution of the Dragon-

ORIGIN OF THE TRACHEA.

171

flies, the Psocus, the Chrysopa, the lice or parasitic Ilemiptera,
together with Thrips, thus forming the establishment of lines
of development leading up to those Neuroptera with a complete
metamorphosis, and finally to the grasshoppers and other forms
of Orthoptera, together with the Hemiptera.
We have thus advanced from wingless to winged forms, i. e.,

199. Chrysopa. 200. 1'anorpa.

from insects without a metamorphosis to those with a partial
metamorphosis like the Perlas; to the May flies and Dragon
flies, in which the adult is still more unlike the larva; to the
Chrysopa (Fig. 199) and Forceps Tails (Panorpa, Fig. 200) and
Caddis flies, in which, especially the latter, the
metamorphosis is complete, the pupa being
inactive and enclosed in a cocoon.

Having assumed the creation of our Leptus ZlJ
by evolutional laws, we must now account for
the appearance of tracheae and those organs so
dependent on them, the wings, which, by their
presence and consequent changes in the struc-
ture of the crust of the body, afford such dis-
tinctive characters to the flying insects, and
raise them so far above the creeping spiders
and centipedes. Our Leptus at first undoubtedly
breathed through the skin, as do most of the
Poduras, since we have been unable to find
tracheae 4n them, nor even in the prolarva of a
genus of minute ichneumon egg parasites, nor
in the Linguatulae and Tardigrades, and some
mites, such as the Itch insect and the Demodex,
and other Acari. In the Myriopod, Pauropus,
Lubbock was unable to find any traces of tra-
cheae. If we examine the embryo of an insect shortly before
birth, as in the young Dragon fly (figure 201, the dotted line
t crosses the rudimentary tracheae), we find it to consist of

201. Embryo of
Diplax.

172 HINTS ON THE ANCESTRY OF INSECTS. .

two simple tubes with few branches, while there are no stig-
mata, or breathing holes, to be seen in the sides of the body.
This fact sustains the view of Gegenbaur* that at first the tra-
cheae formed two simple tubes in the body-cavity, and that the
primary office of these tubes was for lightening the body, and
that their function as respiratory tubes was a secondary one.
The aquatic Protoleptus, as we may term the ancestor of Lep-
tus, may have had such 'tubes as these, which acted like the
swimming bladder of fishes for lightening the body, as suggested
by Gegenbaur. It is known that the swimming bladder of fishes
becomes developed into the lungs of air-breathing vertebrates
and man himself. As our Leptus adopted a terrestrial life and
needed more air, a connection was probably formed by a minute
branch on each side of the body with some minute pore (for
such exist, whose uses are as yet unknown) through the skin,
which finally became specialized into a stigma, or breathing
pore : an.d from the tracheal system being closed, we now have
the open tracheal system of land insects.

The next inquiry is as to the origin of the wings. Here the
question arises if wingless forms are exceptional among the
winged insects, and the loss of wings is obviously dependent
on the habits (as in the lice), and environment of the species
(as in beetles living on islands, which are apt to lose the hinder
pair of wings), why may not their acquisition in the first place
have been due to external agencies ; and, as they are suddenly
discarded, why may they not have suddenly appeared in the first
place? In aquatic larvae there are often external gill-like organs,
being simple sacs permeated by tracheae (as in Agrion, Fig. 129,
or the May flies). These organs are virtually aquatic wings,
aiding the insect in progression as well as in aerating the blood,
as in the true wings. They are very variable in position, some
being developed at the extremity of the abdomen, as in Agrion,
or along the sides, as in the May flies, or filiform and arranged
in tufts on the under side of the body, as in Perla; and the natu-
ralist is not surprised to find them absent or present in accord-
ance with the varying habits of the animal. For example, in the
larvae of the larger Dragon flies (Libellula, etc.) they are want-
ing, while in Agrion and its allies they are present.

*Vergleichende Anatomie, 2te Auflage, 1870, p. 437. I should, however, here add
that I am told by Mr. Putnam that some fishes which have no swim-bladder, are
surface-swimmers, and vice versa.

ORIGIN OP THE WINGS. 173

Now we conceive that wings formed in much the same way,
and with no more disturbance, so to speak, to the insect's organ-
ization, appeared during a certain critical period in the meta-
morphosis of some early insect. As soon as this novel mode of
locomotion became established we can easily see how surround-
ing circumstances would favor their farther development until
the presence of wings became universal. If space permitted us
to pursue this interesting subject farther, we could show how
invariably correlated in form and structure are the wings of
insects to the varied conditions by which they are surrounded,
and which we are forced to believe stand in the relation of cause
to effect. Again, why should the wings always appear on the
thorax and on the upper instead of the under side? As this is
the seat of the centre of gravity, it is evident that cosmical laws
as well as the more immediate laws of biology determine the
position and nature of the wings of an insect.

Correlated with the presence of wings is the wonderful dif-
ferentiation of the crust, especially of the thorax, whe're each
segment consists of a number of distinct pieces ; while in the
spiders and Myriopods the segments are as simple as in the
abdominal segments of the winged insect. It is not difficult
here to trace a series leading up from the Poduras, in which the
segments are like those of spiders, to the wonderful complexity
of the parts in the thoracic segments of the Lepidoptera and
Hymenoptera.

In his remarks "On the Origin of Insects,"* Sir John Lub-
bock says, "I feel great difficulty in conceiving by what natural
process an insect with a suctorial mouth like that of a gnat or
butterfly could be developed from a powerfully mandibulate type
like the Ortheptera, or even from the Neuroptera." Is it not
more difficult to account for the origin of the mouth-parts at
all? They are developed as tubercles or folds in the tegument,
and are homologous with the legs. Figure 186 shows that the
two sorts of limbs are at one time identical in form and relative
position. The thought suggests itself that these long, soft, fin-
ger-like appendages may have been derived from the tentacles
of the higher worms, but the grounds for this opinion are uncer-
tain. At any rate, the earliest form of limb must have been
that of a soft tubercle armed with one, or two, or many terminal

• Reported In u Nature " for Nov. 9, 1871.

174

HINTS ON THE ANCESTRY OF INSECTS.

202. FootofChiro-
nomus.

claws, as seen in aquatic larvae, such as Chironomus (Fig. 202),
Ephydra (Fig. 203 a, 6, c, pupa) and many others. As the Proto-
leptus assumed a terrestrial life and needed to walk, the rudi-
mentary feet would tend to elongate, and in consequence need
the presence of chitine to harden the integument, until the habit
of walking becoming fixed, the necessity of a jointed structure
arose. After this the different needs of the offspring of such an
insect, with their different modes of taking
food, vegetable or animal, would induce the
diverse forms of simple, or raptorial, or leaping
or digging limbs. A peculiar use of the anterior
members, as seen in grasping the food and con-
veying it to the mouth (perhaps originally a
simple orifice with soft lips, as in Peripatus),
would tend to cause such limbs to be grouped
together, to concentrate around the mouth-opening, and to be
directed constantly forwards. With use, as in the case of legs,
these originally soft mouth-feet would gradually harden at the
extremities, until serviceable in biting, when they would become
jaws and palpi. Given a mouth and limbs surrounding it, and
we at once have a rude head set off from the rest of the body.
And in fact such is the * history of the development of these
parts in the embryo. At first the head is indicated by the buds
forming the rudiments of limbs; the
segments to which they are attached
do not form a true head until after
the mouth-parts have attained their
jaw-like characters, and it is not un-
til the insect is about to be hatched,
that the head is definitely walled in.
We have arrived, then, at our*Lep-
tus, with a head bearing two pairs
of jaws. The spiders and mites do
not advance beyond this stage. But 203' Ephydra.

in the true insects and Myriopods, we have the addition of
special sense organs, the antennas, and another pair of appen-
dages, the labial palpi. It is evident that in the ancestor of
these two groups the first pair of appendages became early
adapted for purely sensory purposes, and were naturally pro-
jected far in advance of the mouth, forming the antennas.

Before considering the changes from the mandibulate form

LEPTIFORM AND ERUCIFORM LARV.E. 175

of insects to those with mouth parts adapted for .piercing and
sucking, we must endeavor to learn how far it was possible for
the caterpillar or maggot to become evolved from the Leptus-
like larvae of the Neuroptera, Orthoptera, Hemiptera and most
Coleoptera. I may quote from a previous article* a few words
in relation to two kinds of larvae most prevalent among insects.
" There are two forms of insectean larva? which are pretty con-
stant. One we call leptiform, from its general resemblance to
the larva? of the mites (Leptus). The larvae of all the Neurop-
tera, except those of the Phryganeida? and Panorpida? (which
are cylindrical and resemble caterpillars), are more or less lepti-
form, i. e., have a flattened or oval body, with large thoracic legs.
Such are the larva? of the Orthoptera and Hemiptera, and the
Coleoptera (except the Curculionida? ; possibly the Cerambyciclse
and Buprestida?, which approach the maggot-like form of the
larvae of weevils). On the other hand, taking the caterpillar or
bee larva, with their cylindrical, fleshy bodies, in most respects
typical of larval forms of the Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera and
Diptera, as the type of the cruciform larva, etc. * * * The
larva? of the earliest insects were probably leptiform, and the
cruciform condition is consequently an acquired one, as sug-
gested by Fritz Miiller."t It seems that these two sorts of
larva? had also been distinguished by Dr. Brauer in the article
already referred to, with which, however, the writer was unac-
quainted at the time of writing the above quoted article. The
similar views presented may seem to indicate that they are
founded in nature. Dr. Brauer, after remarking that the Podu-
rids seemed to fulfil Haeckel's. idea of what were the most prim-
itive insects, and noticing how closely they resemble the larva?
of Myriopods, says, " specially interesting are those forms
among the Podurida? which are described as Campodea and
Japyx, since the larvae of a great number of insects may be
traced back to them"; but he adds, and with this view we are
unable to agree, "while others, the caterpillar-like fqrms (Rau-
penform), resulted from them by a retrograde process, and also

*The Embryology of Chrysopa, and Its bearings on the Classification of the
Neuroptera, "American Naturalist," vol. v. Sept., 1871.

t " It is my opinion that the 'incomplete metamorphosis' of the Orthoptera is
the primitive one, inherited from the original parents of all insects, and the 'com-
plete metamorphosis' of the Coleoptera, Diptera, etc., a subsequently acquired
one." Fuer Darwin, English Trans., p. 121.

PI. 2.

EXAMPLES OP LEPTIFORM LARV.'E.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE 2. Figure 1, different forms of Leptus; 2, Piplax; 3,
Coccim-lla larva; 4, Cicada larva; 5, Cicindela larva; 6, Ant Lion; 7, Calligrapha
larva; 8, Aphis larva; 9, Hemerobius larva; 10, Gyrinus larva; 11, Carabid larva;
12, Meloe larva.

176

PI. 3.

EXAMPLES OF ERUCIFORM LARV2E.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE 3. Figure 1. Panorpa larva; 2, Phrypanea larva; 3,
Weevil larva; 4, third larva of Meloe; 5, Cliionea larva; 6, Camel Woim; 7, Phora
larva; 8, Wheat Caterpillar; 9, Sphinx Caterpillar; 10, Acronycta? larva; 11, Saw
Fly larva; 12, Abia Saw Fly larva; 13, Halictus larva; 14, Andreua larva.

177

178 HINTS ON THE .ANCESTRY OF INSECTS.

the still lower maggot-like forms. "While oh the one hand Cam-
podea, with its abdominal feet, and the larva of Lithobius are
related, so on the other the Lepismatidae, which are very near
the Blattarise, are nearly related to the Myriopods, since their
abdominal segments often bear appendages (Machilis). The
Campodea-form appears in most of the Pseudoneuroptera [Libel-
lulids, Ephemerids, Perlids, Psocids and Termes], Orthoptera,
Coleoptera, Neuroptera, perhaps modified in the Strepsiptera
[Stylops and Xenos] and Coccidse in their first stage of devel-
opment, and indeed in many of these at their first moult."
Farther on he says, "A larger part of the most highly developed
insects assume another larva-form, which appears not only as a
later acquisition, through accommodation with certain definite
relations, but "also arises as such before our eyes. The Iarya3 of
butterflies and moths, of saw flies and Panorpa},show
the form most distinctly, and I call this the caterpillar
form (Raupenform). That this is not the primitive
form, but one later acquired, we see in the beetles.
The larvae of Meloe and Sitaris in their fully grown
condition possess the caterpillar form, but the new-
born larvae of these genera show the Campodea form.
The last form is lost as soon as the larva begins its
parasitic mode of life. * * * The larger part of the
beetles, the Neuroptera in part, the bees and flies
(the last with the most degraded maggot form) pos-
sess larvae of this second form." He considers that
204. Tipula the caterpillar form is a degraded Campodea form, the
Larva. resuit of its stationary life in plants or in wood.
3Tor reasons which we will not pause here to discuss, we have
always regarded the cruciform type of larva as the highest.
That it is the result of degradation from the Leptus or Cam-
podea form, we should be unwilling to admit, though the mag-
gots of flies have perhaps retrograded from such forms as the
larvae of the mosquitoes and crane flies (Tipulids, Fig. 204).

That the cylindrical form of the bee grub and caterpillar is
the result of modification through descent is evident in the cat-
erpillar-like form of the immature Caddis fly (PI. 3, fig. 2). Here
the fundamental characters of the larva are those of the Cory-
dalus and Sialis and Panorpa, types of closely allied groups.
The features that remind us of caterpillars are superadded,
evidently the result of the peculiar tube- inhabiting habits of

ORIGIN OF THE KRUCIFORM TYPE. 179

the young Caddis fly. In like manner the caterpillar-form is
probably the result of the leaf-eating life of a primitive Lepti-
form larva. In like manner the soft-bodied maggot of the
weevil is evidently the result of its living habitually in cavities
in nuts and fruits. Did the soft, baggy female Stylops live
exposed, like its allies in other families, to an out-of-doors life,
its skin would inevitably become hard and chitinous. In these
and multitudes of other cases the adaptation of the form of the
insect to its mode of life is one of cause and effect, and not a
bit less wonderful after we know what induced the change of
form.

Having endeavored to show that the caterpillar is a later
production than the young, wingless cockroach, with which
geological facts harmonize, we have next to account for the
origin of a metamorphosis in insects. Here it is necessary to
disabuse the reader's mind of the prevalent belief that the
terms larva, pupa and imago are fixed and absolute. If we
examine at a certain season the nest of a humble bee, we shall
find the occupants in every stage of growth from the egg to the
pupa, and even to the perfectly formed bee ready to break out of
its larval cell. So slight are the differences between the differ-
ent stages that it is difficult to say where the larval stage ends
and the pupa begins, so also where the pupal state ends and the
imago begins. The following figures (205-208) will show four
of the most characteristic stages of growth, but it should be
remembered that there are intermediate stages between. Now
we have noticed similar stages in the growth of a moth, though
a portion of them are concealed beneath the hard, dense chrys-
alis skin. The external differences between the larval and pupal
states are fixed for a large part of the year in most butterflies
and moths, though even in this respect there is every possible
variation, some moths or butterflies passing through their trans-
formations in a few weeks, others requiring several months,
while still others take a year, the majority of the moths living
under ground in the pupa state for eight or nine months. The
stages of metamorphosis in the Diptera are no more suddenly
acquired than in the bee or butterfly. In all these insects the
rudiments of the wings, legs, and even of the ovipositor of the
adult exist in the young larva. We have found somewhat simi-
lar intermediate stages in the metamorphoses of the beetles.
The insects we have mentioned are those with a "complete

180

HINTS ON THE ANCESTRY OF INSECTS.

metamorphosis." We have seen that even in them the term
"complete" is a relative and not absolute expression, and that
the terms larva and pupa are convenient designations for states
varying in duration, and assumed to fulfil certain ends of exis-
tence, and even then dependent on length of seasons, variation
in climate, and even on the locality. When we descend to the
insects with an "incomplete" metamorphosis, as in the May fly,

206. Semi-pupa.

207. Advanced Semi-pupa. 208. Pupa.

EARLY STAGES OF THE HUMBLE BEE.

we find that, as in the case of Chloeon, Sir John Lubbock has
described twenty-one stages of existence, and let him who can
say where the larval ends and the pupal or imaginal stages
begin. So in a stronger sense with the grasshopper and cock-
roach. The adult state in these insects is attained after a
number of moults of the skin, during each of which the insect
gradually draws nearer to the final winged form. But even the

ORIGIN OF A METAMORPHOSIS. 181

so-called pupae, or half winged individuals known not to be
adult, in some cases feel the sexual impulse, while a number of
species in each of the families represented by these two insects
never acquire wings.

Still how did the perfect metamorphosis arise? We can only
answer this indirectly by pointing to the Panorpa and Caddis
flies, with their nearly perfect metamorphosis, though more
nearly allied otherwise to those Neuroptera with an incomplete
metamorphosis, as the lace-winged fly, than the insects of any
other suborder. If, among a group of insects such as the Neu-
roptera, we find different families with all grades of perfection
in metamorphosis, it is possible that larger and higher groups
may exist in which these modes of metamorphosis may be fixed
and characteristic of each. Had we more space for the exposi-
tion of many known facts, the sceptic might perceive that by
observing how arbitrary and dependent on the habits of the
insects are the metamorphoses of some groups, the fixed modes
of other and more general groups may be seen to be probably
due to biological causes, or in other words have been acquired
through changes of habits or of the temperature of the seasons
and of climates. Many facts crowd upon us, which might serve
as illustrations and proofs of the position we have taken. For
instance, though we have in tropics rainy and dry seasons when,
in the latter, insects remain quiescent in the chrysalis state as in
the temperate and frigid zones, yet did not the change from the
earlier ages of the globe, when the temperature of the earth
was nearly the same the world over, to the times of the present
distribution of heat and cold in zones, possibly have its influence
on the metamorphoses of insects and other animals? It is a
fact that the remains of those insects with a complete meta-
morphosis (the bees, butterflies and moths, flies and beetles)
abound most in the later deposits, while those with an incom-
plete metamorphosis are fewer in number and the earliest to
appear. Again, certain groups of insects are not found in the
polar regions. Their absence is evidently due to the adverse
climatic conditions of those regions. The development of the
same groups is striking in the tropics, where the sum of envi-
roning conditions all tend to favor the multiplication of insect
forms.

It should be observed that some insects, as the grasshopper,
for example, as Miiller says, "quit the egg in a form which is dis-
16

182 HINTS ON THE ANCESTRY OF INSECTS.

tinguished from that of the adult insect almost solely by the want
of wings," while the freshly hatched young of the bee, we may
add, is farthest from the form of the adult. It is evident that in
the young grasshoppers, the metamorphoses have been passed
through, so to speak, in the egg, while the bee larva is almost
embryonic in its build. The helpless young maggot of the
wasp, which is fed solely by the parent, may be compared to
the human infant, while the lusty young grasshopper, which
immediately on hatching takes to the grass or clover field with
all the enthusiasm of~a duckling to its~~native ^oud, may be
likened to that young feathered mariner. The lowest animals,
as a rule, are at birth most like the adult. So with the earliest
known Crustacea. The king crabs, and in all probability the
primeval trilobites, passed through their metamorphoses chiefly
in the egg. So in the ancient Nebaliads (Peltocaris, Discino-
caris and Ceratiocaris), if we may follow the analogy of the
recent Nebalia, the young probably closely resembled the adult,
while the living crabs and shrimps usually
pass through the most marked metamor-,
phoses. Among the worms, the highest,
and perhaps the most recent forms, pass
through the most remarkable metamor-
phoses.
Jaws of Ant Lion. ;

Another puzzle for the evolutionist to

solve is how to account for the change from the caterpillar
with its powerful jaws, to the butterfly with its sucking or
haustellate mouth-parts. We shall best approach the solution
of this difficult problem by a study of a wide range of facts, but
a few of which can be here noticed. The older entomologists
divided insects into haustellate or suctorial, and mandibulate or
biting insects, the butterfly being an example of one, and the
beetle serving to illustrate the other category. But we shall
find in studying the different groups that these are relative and
not absolute terms. We find mandibulate insects with enor-
mous jaws, like the Dytiscus, or Chrysopa larva or ant lion,
perforated, as in the former, or enclosing, as in the latter two in-
sects, the maxillae (7>), which slide backward and forward within
the hollowed mandibles (a, Fig. 209, jaws of the ant lion), along
which the blood of their victims flows. They suck the blood, and
do not tear the flesh of their prey. The enormous mandibles of
the adult Corydalus are too large for use and, as Walsh observed,

ORIGIN OP SUCKING MOUTH-PARTS.

183

210. Mouth-parts of the
House fly.

are converted in the male into simple clasping organs. And to
omit a number of instances, in the suctorial Hemiptera or bugs
we have different grades of structure in the mouth-parts. In
the biting lice (Mallophaga) the mouth is mandibulate, in the
Thrips it is mandibulate, the jaws being free, and the maxillae
bearing palpi, while the Pediculi are
suctorial, and the true bugs are emi-
nently so. But in the bed bug it is
easy to see that the beak is made up of
the two pairs of jaws, which are sim-
ply elongated and adapted for piercing
and sucking. Among the so-called
haustellate insects the mouth-parts
vary so much in different groups, and
such different organs separately or
combined perform the function of
sucking, that the term haustellate
loses its significance and even mis-
leads the student. For example, in
the house fly the tongue (Fig. 210 I,
the mandibles, m, and maxillae, mp, are useless), a fleshy pro-
longation of the labium or second maxillae, is the sucker, while
the mandibles and maxillae are used as lancets by the horse fly
(Fig. 211, m, mandibles, mx, maxillae). The maxillae in the but-
terfly are united to form the sucking tube, while in the bee the
end of the labium (Fig. 212) is specially
adapted for lapping, not sucking, the nectar
of flowers. But even in the butterfly, or
more especially the moth, there is a good
deal of misapprehension about the structure
of the so-called "tongue." The mouth-parts
of the caterpillar exist in the moth. The
mandibles of the caterpillar occur in the
head of the moth as two small tubercles
(Fig. 213, w). They are aborted in the
adult. While the maxillae are as a rule
greatly developed in the moth, in the cater-
pillar they are minute and almost useless. The labium or sec-
ond maxillae, so large in the moth, serves simply as a spinneret
in the caterpillar. But we find a great amount of variation in the
tongue or sucker of moths, and in the silk moths the maxillae

211. Mouth-parts of
Horse fly.

184

HINTS ON THE ANCESTRY OF INSECTS.

are rudimentary, and there is no tongue, these organs being but
little more developed than in the caterpillar. Figure 213, B,

shows the minute
blade-like maxilla
of the magnificent
Luna moth, an ap-
proximation to the
originally blade-
like form in beetles
and Neuroptera.
The maxillae i n
this insect are
minute, rudimen-
tary, and of no

•X^S&b, A service to the crea-

ture, which does
not take food. In
other moths of the
same family we
have found the
maxilla longer,
and touching at
212. Head of Humble bee. tiieir tipSj though

too widely separate at base to form a sucking tube, while in
others the maxillae are curved, and meet to form a true tube.

In the Ce-

cropia moth it x<^--':=~"\"\ A

is difficult to
trace the rudi-
ments of the
maxillae at all,
and thus we
have in the
whole range
of the moths,
every grada-
tion from the
wholly aborted

maxillae of the Platysamia Cecropia, to those of Macrosila clu-
entius of Madagascar, which form a tongue, according to Mr.
Wallace, nine and a quarter inches in length, probably to enable

213. Mouth-parts of Moths.

ORIGIN OP THE STING. 185

their owner to probe the deep nectaries of certain orchids.
These changes in form and size are certainly correlated with
important differences in habits, and the evolutionist can as
rightly say that the structural changes were induced by use and
disuse and change of habits and the environment of the animal,
as on the other hand the advocate of special creation claims
that the two are simply correlated, and that' is all we know
about it.

Another set of organs, placed on quite another region of the
body, unite to form the sting of the bee, or its equivalent the
ovipositor of other hymenopterous insects, such as the Ichneu-
mon fly (Fig. 214), the "saw" of the saw fly, and the augur of
the Cicada. These are all formed on the same plan, arising
early in the larval stage as three pairs of little tubercles, which
ultimately form long blades, the inner-
most constituting the true ovipositor.
We have found that one pair of these
organs forms the "spring" of the Po-
dura, and that in these insects it is
three jointed, and thus is morphologi-
cally a pair of legs soldered together
at their base. We would venture to
regard the ovipositor of insects as
probably representing three pairs of
abdominal legs, comparable with
those of the Myriopods, and even, as

we have suggested in another place, the three pairs of jointed
spinnerets of spiders. Thus the ovipositor of the bee has a his-
tory, and is not apparently a special creation, but a structure
gradually developed to subserve the use of a defensive organ.

So the organs of special sense in insects are in most cases
simply altered hairs. The hairs themselves are modified epithe-
lial cells. The eyes of insects, simple and compound, are at
first simply epithelial cells, modified for a special purpose, and
even the egg is but a modified epithelial cell attached to the
walls of the .ovary, which in turn is morphologically but a gland.
Thus Nature deals in simples, and with her units of structure
elaborates as her crowning work a temple in which the mind of
man, formed in the image of God, may dwell. Her results are
not the less marvellous because we are beginning to dimly trace
the process by which they arise. It should not lessen our awe

186 HINTS ON THE ANCESTRY OF INSECTS.

and reverence for Deity, if with minds made to adore, we also
essay to trace the movements of His hand in the origin of the
forms of life.

Some writers of the evolution school are strenuous in the
belief that the evolution hypothesis overthrows the idea of
archetypes, and plans of structure. But a true 'genealogy of ani-
mals and plants represents a natural system, and the types of
animals, be they four, as Cuvier taught, or five, or more, are
recognized by naturalists through the study of dry, hard, ana-
tomical facts. Accepting, then, the type of articulates as
founded in nature from the similar modes of development and
points of structure perceived between the worms and the crus-
tacea on the one hand, and the worms and insects on the other,
have we not a strong genetic bond uniting these three great
groups into one grand subkingdom, ami can we not in imagina-
tion perceive the successive steps by which the Creator, acting
through the laws of evolution, has built up the great articulate
division of the animal kingdom?

CHAPTER XIV.

INSECT CALENDAR.

IN this calendar I propose to especially notice the injurious
insects. References to the times of their appearance must be
necessarily vague, and apply only, in a very general way, to the
Northern States. Insects appear in Texas about six weeks
earlier than in Virginia, in the Middle States six weeks earlier
than in northern New England and the North-western States,
and in New England about six weeks earlier than in Labrador.
The time of the appearance of insects corresponds to the time
of the fl5wering or leafing out of certain trees and herbs ; for
instance, the larvae of the American Tent caterpillar and of the
Canker worm hatch just as the apple tree "begins to leaf out; a
little later the Plant lice appear, to feast on the tender leaves ;
and when, during the first week in June, our forests and or-
chards are fully leafed out, hosts of insects are marshalled to
ravage and devour their foliage.

The Insects of Early Spring. «

In April the gardener should scrape and wash thoroughly all
his fruit trees, so as to rub off the eggs of the bark lice which
hatch out early in May. Many injurious caterpillars and insects
of all kinds winter under loose pieces of bark, or under matting
and straw at the base of the trees. Search should also be made
for the eggs of the Canker worm and the American Tent cater-
pillar, which last are laid in bunches half an inch long on the
terminal shoots of many of our fruit trees. A little labor spent
in this way will save many dollars' worth of fruit. The "cast-
ings" of the Apple Tree Borer (Saperda bivittata) should be
looked for at the base of the tree, and its ravages be promptly

(187)

188

INSECT CALENDAR.

215. Pea Weevil and Maggot.

arrested. Its presence can also be detected, it is said, by the
dark appearance of the bark, where the grub is at work : cut in
and pull out the young grub. It is the best time of the year to
catch and kill this pest. Cylindrical bark borers, which are lit-
tle round, black, weevil-like beetles, often causing "fire-blight"
in pears, etc., are now flying about fruit trees to lay their eggs;

and many other weevils
and boring beetles, espe-
cially the Pea weevil (Bru-
chus pisi, Fig. 215), the
Pine weevil (Pissodes stro-
bi, Fig. 216), and Hylobius
pales and Hylurgus tere-
brans, also infesting the
pine, now abound, and the
collector can obtain many
specimens not met with at
other times.

The housewife must now guard against the intrusion of
Clothes moths (Tinea), white many other species of minute
moths (Tineids) and of Leaf-rollers (Tortricida?) will be flying
about orchards and gardens just as the buds are beginning to
unfold; especially the Coddling moth (Carpocapsa pomonella).
On warm days myriads of these and other insects may be seen
filling the air; it is the busiest time of their lives, as all are on
errands of love to their
kind, but of mischief to
the agriculturist.

When the May Flower
— "O commendable flowre
and most in minde" —
blooms, and the willows
hang out their golden cat-
kins, we shall hear the '6
hum of the wild bee, and 21G- pi»e WeevU and Young,
the insect hunter will reap a rich harvest of rarities. Seek now
on the abdomen of various wild bees, such as Andrena, for that
most eccentric of all our insects, the Stylops Children!. The
curious larva? of the Oil beetle may be found abundantly on the
bodies of various species of Bombus, Andrena and Halictus, with
their heads plunged in between the segments of the bee's body.

THE INSECTS OF EARLY SPRING.

189

The beautiful moth, Adela, with its immensely long antennas,
may be seen, with other smaller moths, feeding on the blossoms
of the willow. The
Ants wake from
their winter's sleep
and throw up their
hillocks, and the
"thriving pismire"
issues from his
vaulted galleries
constructed in some
decaying log or
stump, while the
Angle worms emu- 217. The Comma Butterfly.

late their six- footed neighbors. During the mild days of
March, ere the snow has melted away —

"The dandy Butterfly,
All exquisitely drest," •

will visit our gardens. Such are various kinds of Vanessa and
Grapta (Fig. 217, G. c-argenteum*). The beautiful Brephos in-
faiis flies before the snow disappears.

"The Gnat, old back-bent fellow,
In frugal frieze coat drest,"

will, celebrate the coming of Spring, with his choral dance.

Such is Trichocera hyemalis, which may be seen in multitudes

towards twilight on mild even-
ings. Many flies are now on the
wing, such as Tachina (Fig. 218)
and its allies ; the four spotted
Mosquito, Anopheles quadri-
macuhitus, and the delicate spe-
cies of Chironomus, whose
males have such beautifully
feathered antennae, assemble in
swarms. Now is the time for
the collector to turn up stones
and sticks by the river's side

and in grassy damp pastures, for Ground beetles (Carabidae),

and to frequent sunny paths for the gay Cicindela and the Bom-

218. Tachina.

'The right side represents the under side of the wings.

190

INSECT CALENDAR.

bylius fly, or fish in brooks and pools for water beetles and
various larvae of Neuroptera and Diptera; while many flies
and beetles are attracted to freshly cut maples or birches run-
ning with sap; indeed, many insects, rarely found elsewhere,
assemble in quantities about the stumps of these trees, from
which the sap oozes in March and April.

In April the injurious insects in the Northern States have
scarcely begun their work of destruction, as the buds do not
unfold before the first of'May. We give an account, however,
of some of the beneficial insects which are now to be found in
grass-lands and in gardens. The farmer should know his true
insect friends as well as his insect foes. Wo introduce to our
readers a large family of ground-beetles (Carabidae, from Cara-

319. Calosoma scrutator.

220. Calosoma calidum and Larva.

bus, the name of the typical genus) which prey on those insects
largely injurious to crops. A study of the figures will famil-
iarize our readers with the principal forms. They are dark-
colored, brown or black, with metallic hues, and are seen in
spring and throughout the summer, running in grass, or lurking
under stones and sticks in damp places, whence they sally forth
to hunt by night, when many vegetable-eating insects are most
active.

The larvae are found in much the same situations as the
mature beetles. They are elongate, oblong, and rather broad,
the terminal ring of the body being armed with two horny
hooks, and having a single fleshy leg beneath ; and are usually
black in color. The larva of Calosoma (C. calidum, Fig. 220 ; a,

THE INSECTS OF EARLY SPRING.

191

the beetle ; and Fig. 219, C. scrutator) ascends trees to feed on
caterpillars, such as the Canker worm. When about to trans-
form to the pupa state, it forms a rude cocoon in the earth.
The beetle lies in wait for its prey in shallow pits excavated in
pastures. We once saw it fiercely
attack a May beetle (Lachnosterna
fusca) nearly twice its size ; it tore
open the hard sides of its clumsy
and helpless victim with tiger-like
ferocity. Carabus (Fig. 221, C.
serratus Say, and pupa of Carabus
auronitens of Europe, after West-
wood) is a closely allied form, with
very similar habits.

A much smaller form is the curi-
ous Bombardier beetle, Brachinus «
(Fig. 222, B. fumans), with its nar- 221< Carabus and Pupa,
row head and heart-shaped prothorax. It is remarkable for
discharging wi£h quite an explosion from the end of its body
a pungent fluid, probably as a protection against its enemies.
An allied genus is Casnonia (Fig. 223, C. Pensylvanica), which

has a long neck and spotted wing covers. Figure 224, Pangus
caliginosus, and figure 225, Agonum cupripenne, represent two
common forms. The former is black, while the latter is a pretty
insect, greenish, with purplish-red wing-covers, and black legs.

192 INSECT CALENDAR.

Figure 226, enlarged about three times, represents a singular
larva found by Mr. J. H. Emerton under a stone early in spring.
Dr. LeConte, to whom we sent a figure, supposes that it may
possibly be a larva of Harpalus, or Pangus caliginosus. It is
evidently a young Carabid. The under side is represented.

The Insects of May.

During this month there is great activity among the insects.
As the flowers bloom and the leaves appear, multitudes wake
from their long winter sleep, and during this month pass through
the remainder of their transformations, and prepare for the sum-
mer campaign. Most insects hibernate in the chrysalis or pupa
state, while many winter in the caterpillar or larva state, such
as the larva? of several Noctuidae and the "yellow-bear," and
other caterpillars of Arctia and its allies. Other insects hiber-
nate in the adult or imago form, either as beetles, butterflies or
certain species of bees.

It is well known that the Queen Humble bee winters under
the moss, or in her old nest. During the present month her
rovings seem to have a more definite object, and she seeks some
deserted mouse's nest, or hollow in a tree or stump, and there
stows away her pellets of pollen, containing two or three eggs
apiece, which, late in the summer, are to form the nucleus of a
well-appointed colony. The Carpenter bees (Ceratina and Xylo-
copa, the latter of which is found in abundance south of New
England) are busy in refitting and tunnelling the hollows of the
grape; while the Ceratina hollows out the stem of the elder,
or blackberry. This little upholsterer bee carpets her honey-
tight apartment, storing it with food for her young, and later in
the season, in June, several of these cartridge-like cells, whose
silken walls resemble the finest and most delicate parchment,
may be found in the hollow stems of these plants. The Mason
bee (Osmia) places her nest in a more exposed site, building
her earthen cells of pellets of moistened mud, either situated
under a stone, or in some more sheltered place ; for instance, in
a deserted oak-gall, ranging half a dozen of them side by side
along the vault of this strange domicile. Meanwhile their more
lowly relatives, the Andrena and Halictus bees, are engaged in
tunnelling the side of some sunny bank or path, running long
galleries underground, sometimes for a foot or more, at the
farthest end of which are to be found, in summer, little earthen

THE INSECTS OF MAY.

193

urn-like cells, in which the grubs live upon the pollen stored

up for them in little balls of the size of a pea. Later in the

month, the Gall flies (Cynips),

those physiological puzzles,

sting the leaves o/ our oaks

of different species, giving rise

to the strange excrescences and

manifold deformities which

deface the stems and leaves

of our most beautiful forest

trees 227. Chrysophanus Thoe.*

When the Kalmia, Khodora, and wild cherries are in bloom,
many of our most beautiful butterflies appear; such are the

228. Argynnis Aphrodite.

different species of Chrysophanus (Fig. 227), Lycasna, Thecla and
Argynnis (Fig. 228). At this time we have found the rare larva

of Melitaea Phaeton
(Fig. 229) clothed in
the richest red and
velvety black, feed-
ing daintily upon
the hazel nut, and
tender leaves of the
golden rod. In June,
it changes to the
229. Melitaea Phaeton. chrysalis state, and

early in July the butterfly rises from the cold, damp bogs, where

*The lower side of the wings is figured on the right side of this and Figs. 2*28 and 229.
• 17

194

INSECT CALENDAR.

we have oftenest found it, clad in its rich dress of velvety black
and red.

Later still, when the lilac blooms, and farther south the broad-
^ leaved Kalmia, the gaily-colored Hum-
ming Bird moth (Sesia) visits the flowers
in company with the Swallow-tail butter-
fly (Papilio Turiius). At twilight, the
Hawk moth (Sphinx) darts noiselessly
through our gardens, as soon as the hon-
eysuckles, pinks and lilies are in blossom.
Among the flies, mosquitoes now appear, though they have
not yet, perhaps, strayed far from their native swamps and fens ;
and their mammoth allies, the
Daddy-long-legs (Tipula), rise
from the fields and mould of
our gardens in great num-
bers.

Of the beetles, those which
feed on leaves now become
specially active. The Squash
beetle (Diabrotica viltata, Fig.
231, and Fig. 230, D. 12-punc-
tata) now attacks the squash
plants before they are fairly
up ; and the Plum weevil (Con-
otrachelus nenuphar, Fig. 232) will sting the newly formed
fruit, late in the mouth, or early in June. Many other weevils
now abound, stinging the seeds and
fruit, and depositing their eggs just
under the skin. So immense are the
numbers of insects which fill the air
and enliven the fields and woodlands
just as summer comes in, that a bare
enumeration of them would overcrowd
our pages, and tire the reader.

A word, however, about our water
insects. Late in the month the May fly
(Ephemera, Fig. 233) appears, often
rising in immense numbers, from the
surface of pools and sluggish brooks. In Europe, whole clouds
of these delicate forms, with their thin white wings, have been

&

Fig. 232. Plum .Weevil and Young.

233. May Fly.

THE INSECTS OF MAY. 195

known to fall like snow upon the ground, when the peasants
gather them up in heaps to enrich their gardens and farms.

The Case worms, or Caddis flies (Fig. 234), begin now to leave
their portable houses, formed of pieces of leaves, or sticks and
fine gravel, or even of shells, as in an European species, and fly
over the water, resting on the overhanging trees.

A few busy Mosquito Hawks, or Dragon flies (Libellula),
herald the coming of the summer brood of these indefatigable
friends of the agriculturist. During their whole life below the
waters, these entomological Herods have slain and sucked the
blood of myriads of infant mosquitoes and other insects ; and
now in their new world above the waters, with still more in-
tensified powers of doing mischief, happily, however, to flies
mostly obnoxious to man, they riot in bloodshed and carnage.

234. Different Forms of Case Worms.

This is the season to stock the fresh- water aquarium. Go to
the nearest brook, gather a sprig or two of the water cress,
which spreads so rapidly, a root of the eel grass, and plant
them in a glass dish or deep jar. Pour in your water, let the
sand and sediment settle, and then put in a few Tadpoles, a
Newt (Salamander), Snails (Limnsea, Planorbis and Valvata),
Caddis flies and Water beetles, together with the gatherings
from a thicket of eel' grass, or other submerged plants, being
rich in the young of various flies, Ephemeras, Dragon flies and
Water fleas (Entomostraca, Fig. 235), which last are beautiful
objects for the microscope, and in a few days the occupants will
feel at home, and the aquarium will be swarming with life,
affording amusement and occupation for many a dull hour, by
day or at night, in watching the marvels of insect transforma-
tions, and plant-growth.

Among the injurious hymenoptera, which abound late in this

196

INSECT CALENDAR.

month, is the Rose Saw fly (Selandria rosae, Fig. 236) and S.

cerasi. The eggs are then laid, and the last of June, or early in
July, the slug-like larva? mature, and
the perfect insects fly in July. Various
Gall flies now lay their eggs in the
buds, leaves and stems of various kinds
of oaks, blackberries, blueberries and
other plants.

Dipterous Gall flies are now laying
their eggs in cereals. The Hessian
fly (Cecidomyia destructor) has two
broods, the fly appearing both in
spring and autumn. The fly lays
twenty or thirty eggs in a crease in
the leaf of the young plant. In about
four days, in warm weather, they
hatch, and the pale-red larvae "crawl
down the leaf, work-
ing their way in be-
tween it and the main
stalk, passing down-
ward till they come
to a joint, just above
which they remain, a
little below the sur-
face of the ground,
with the head tow-
ards the root of the

plant. Here they imbibe the sap by suction

alone, and, by the simple pressure of their

bodies become imbedded in the side of the

stem. Two or three larvae thus imbedded

serve to weaken the plant and cause it to wither

arid die. The second brood of larvae remains

through the winter in the flax-seed, or pupa-

rium. By turning the stubble with the plough

in the autumn and early spring, its imago may

be destroyed, and thus its ravages may be

checked. (Figure 237 represents the female,

which is about one-third as large as a mosquito: a, the larva;

&, the pupa ; and c represents the joint near the ground where

235. Water Flea.

Selandria rosae.

THE INSECTS OF MAY.

197

237. Hessian Fly.

the maggots live.) The same may be said of the Wheat midge
(Cecidomyfa tritici), which attacks the wheat in the ear, and
which transforms an inch deep beneath the surface.

Among the butterflies which appear this month are the Tur-
nip-butterfly (Pontia oleracea, Fig. 238,) which lays its eggs the
last of the month. The
eggs hatch in a week or
ten days, and in about two
weeks the larva changes
to a chrysalis. Thanaos
junevalis and T. Brizo fly
late in May. The cater-
pillars live on the pea
and other papilionaceous
plants. Thecla Auburni-
ana, T. Niphon, and other
species fly in dry, sunny
fields, some in April. Ar-
gynnis Myrina flies from the last of May through June, and a
second brood appears hi August and September. Vanessa
J-album and V. interrogations appear in May, and again in
August and September. The caterpillars of the latter species
live on the elm, lime and hop-vine. Grapta comma also feeds

on the hop. Alypia 8-mac-
ulata (Fig. 49) flies at this
time, and in August its
larva feods on the grape.
Sphinx gordius, S. 5-macu-
lata (Fig. 239) and other
Sphinges and Sesia (the
Clear-winged moth),
appear the last of May.
Arctia Arge, A. virgo, A.
phalerata and other spe-
cies fly from the last of
238. Turnip Butterfly. May through the summer.

Hyphantria textor, the Fall-weaver, is found in May or June.
The moth of the Salt-marsh caterpillar appears at this time,
and various Cut worms (Agrotis, Fig. 240) abound, hiding in
the daytime under stones and sticks, etc., while various Tineids
and Tortrices, or Leaf-rolling caterpillars, begin to devour ten-

198

INSECT CALENDAR.

239. Sphinx 5-maculata, Larva and Pupa.

THE INSECTS OF MAY.

199

der leaves and burls and opening blossoms of flowers and fruit

trees.
The White-pine weevil flies about in warm days. We have

found its burrows winding irregularly over the inner surface

of the bark and leading into the sap-wood. Each cell, in which

it hibernates, in the middle of
March, contains the yellowish
white footless grub. Early in
April it changes to a pupa, and a
month after the beetle appears,
|and in a few days deposits its
egg under the bark of old pine
trees. It also oviposits in the
terminal shoots of pine saplings,
dwarfing and permanently .de-
forming the tre'e. Associated
with this weevil we have found
the smaller, rounder, more cylin-
240. Cut Worm and Moth. dricalj whitish grubs of the

Hylurgus terebrans, which mines the inner layers of the bark,
slightly grooving the sap-wood. Later in April it pupates,
and its habits accord in general with those of Pissodes strobi.
Another Pine weevil also abounds at this time, as well as Otio-
rhynchus picipes (Fig. 241), which injures
beans, etc.

Cylindrical bark-borers, which are little,
round, weevil-like beetles, are now flying
about fruit trees, to lay their eggs in the
bark. Associated with the Pissodes, we . jnBBt m
may find in April the galleries of Tomicus JrKfmmtifc \. 1
piui, branching out from a common centre.
They are filled up with fine sawdust, and,
according to Dr. Fitch, are notched in the
sides "in which the eggs have been placed,
where they would remain undisturbed by
the beetle as it crawled backwards and forth 241> G*rden Weevil,
through the gallery." These little beetles have not the long
snouts of the weevils, hence they cannot bore through the
outer bark, but enter into the burrows made the preceding
year, and distribute the eggs along the sides (Fitch). Another
Tomicus, more dangerous than the preceding, feeds exclusively

200

INSECT CALENDAR.

in the sap-wood, running solitary galleries for a distance of two
inches towards the centre of the tree. We figure Tomicus
xylographus Say (Fig. 242, enlarged). It is the most formi-
dable enemy to the white pine in the North, and the yellow pine
in the South that we have. It also flies in May. Ptinus fur

242. Pine Weevil.

243. Ptinus and Larva.

(Fig. 243, much enlarged) is now found in out-houses, and is
destructive to cloth, furs, etc., resembling the Larder-beetle
(Dermestes) in its habits. It is fourteen hundredths of an inch
in length.

The Insects of June.

Early in the month the Parsnip butterfly (Papilio Asterias)
may be seen flying about, preparatory to laying its eggs for the
brood of caterpillars which appear in August. At the time of
the flowering of the raspberry and blackberry, the young larva
of Vanessa Antiopa, one of our most abundant butterflies, may
be found living socially on the leaves of the willow ; while the
mature larva of another much smaller butterfly, the little Coppe;*
skipper (Chrysophanus Americanus), so abundant at this time,
may sometimes be found on the clover. It is a short, oval,
greenish worm, with very short legs. The dun-colored skippers
(Hesperia) abound towards the middle of the month, darting
over the flowers of the blueberry and blackberry, in sunny
openings in the forests.

The family of Hawk moths (Sphinges) now appear in greater
abundance, hovering at twilight over flower-beds, and, during
this time, deposit their eggs on the leaves of various fruit-trees.
The American Tent caterpillar makes its cocoon, and assumes
the pupa state. Th'e caterpillar passes several days within the

THE INSECTS OF JUNE. 201

cocoon, in what may be called the semi-pupa state, during which
period the chrysalis skin is forming beneath the contracted and
loosened larva skin. We once experimented on a larva which
had just completed its cocoon, to learn how much silk it could
produce. On removing its cocoon it made another of the same
thickness; but on destroying this second one it spun a third
but frail web, scarcely concealing its form. A minute Ichneu-
mon parasite, allied to Platygaster, lays its eggs within those
of this moth, as we once detected one under a bunch of eggs,
and afterwards' reared a few from the same lot of eggs. A still
more minute egg-parasite (Fig. 244) we' have seen ovipositing
in the early spring, in the eggs of the Canker-worm.

Among that beautiful family of moths, the Phala3nidaB, com-
prising the Geometers, Loopers, or Span-worms, are two for-
midable foes to fruit growers. The habits of the Canker worm
should be well known. With proper care and well-directed
energy, we believe their attacks can be in a great measure pre-
vented. The English sparrow, doves and other insectivorous
birds, if there are any others that eat them,
should be domesticated in order to reduce the
number of these pests. More care than has yet
been taken should be devoted to destroying the
eggs laid in the autumn, and also the wingless
females, AS they crawl up the trees in the spring2^- Canker worm
and autumn to lay their eggs. The evil is usually ESg-parasite.
done before the«farmer is well aware that the calamity has fallen
upon him. As soon as, and even before the trees have fairly
leafed out, they should be visited morning, noon and night,
shaken and thoroughly examined and cleared of the caterpillars.
By well-concerted action among agriculturists, who should form
a Board of Destruction*, numbering every man, woman and child
on the farm, this fearful scourge may be abated by the simplest
means, as the cholera or any epidemic disease can in a great
measure be averted by taking proper sanitary precautions. The
Canker worms hatch out during the early part of May, from
eggs laid in the fall and spring, on the branches of various fruit-
trees. Just as the buds unfold, the young caterpillars make
little holes through the tender leaves, eating the pulpy portions,
not touching the veins and midribs. When four weeks old they
creep to the ground, or let themselves down by spinning a silken
thread, and burrow from two to six inches in the soil, where

202

INSECT CALENDAR.

they change to chrysalids in a day or two, and in this state live
till late in the fall, or until the early spring, when they assume
the imago or moth form. The sexes then unite, and the eggs
are deposited for the next generation.

The Canker worm is widely distributed, though its ravages
used to be confined mostly to the im-
mediate vicinity of Boston. We have
seen specimens of the moth from Illi-
nois. Ililey has found, it in Missouri.
The Abraxas ribearia of Fitch
(Fig. 245, moth), the well-known
Currant worm, defoliates whole rows
of currant bushes. This pretty cater-
pillar may be easily known by its body being of a deep golden
color, spotted with black. The bushes should be visited morn-
ing, noon and night, and thoroughly shaken (killing the cater-
pillars) and sprinkled with ashes.
Among multitudes of beetles (Coleoptera) injurious to the

245. Abraxas ribearia.

246. May Beetle and Young.

crops, are the May beetle (Lachnosterna fusca, Fig. 246), whose
larva, a large white grub, is injurious to the roots of grass and
to strawberry vines. The Rose beetle appears about the time
of the blossoming of the rose. The Fire-flies now show their

THE INSECTS OF JUNE.

203

—I—

247. Pemphigus.

light during mild evenings, and on hot sultry days the shrill
rasping song of the male Cicada, for "they all have voiceless
wives," cuts the air. The Chinch-bug, that fell destroyer of our
wheat crops, appears, according to Harris, in the middle of the
mouth, and "may be seen in their various stages of growth on
all kinds of grain, on corn
and herds-grass during
the whole summer." So
widely spread is this in-
sect at present, that we
have even detected it in
August on the summit of
Mount Washington.

The Diptera, or two-winged flies, contain hosts of noxious
insects, such as the various Cecidomyians, or two-winged Gall
flies, which now sting the culms of the wheat and grasses, and
various grains, and leaves of trees, producing gall-like excres-
cences of varying form. Legions of these delicate minute flies
fill the air at twilight, hovering over wheat fields and
shrubbery. A strong north west wind, at such times,
is of incalculable value to the farmer. Moreover,
minute flies, allied to the house fly, such as Tephritis,
Oscinis, etc., now attack the young cereals, doing
immense injury to grain.

Millions of Aphides, or Plant lice, now infest our
shade and fruit trees, crowding every green leaf,
into which they insert their tiny oeaks, sucking in
the sap, causing the leaves to curl up and wither.
They also attack the stems and even the roots of
plants, though these latter (Pemphigus, Fig. 247)
differ generically from the true Plant lice. Fruit
trees should be again washed and rubbed to kill off
the young Bark lice, of which the common apple
Bark louse (Aspidiotus conchiformis, Fig. 248),
whose oyster-shaped scales may be found in myriads

248. Apple neglected trees, is a too familiar example. An-
15'irk Louse.

other pest of apple trees is the woolly Blight (Eri-

.osoma lanigera). These insects secrete from the surface of the
body a downy, cottony substance which conceals the animal, and
when they are, as usual, grouped together on the trees, makes
them look like patches of mould. The natural insect enemies

204 INSECT CALENDAR.

of the Plant lice now abound ; such are the Lady bugs (Cocci-
nella, Fig. 249); the larva of the Syrphus fly (Fig. 76), which
devours immense quantities, and the larva of the Golden-eyed,
Lace-winged fly (Chrysopa, Fig. 256).

The last days of June are literally the heyday and jubilee of
insect life. The entomological world holds high carnival, though
in this country they are, perhaps, more given to mass-meetings
and caucuses. The earth, the air, and the
water teem with insect life. The insects
of mid-summer now appear. Among the
butterflies, the Wood Satyrus (Neonympha
Eurythris) skips in its low flight through
the pines. The larva of Grapta Progne
249. Coccinella and appears on the currants, and feeds beneath
the leaves on hot sunny days. The larva
of Cynthia cardui may be found on the hollyhocks ; the pupa
state lasts twelve days, the butterfly appearing in- the middle
or last of July. The Hyphantria textor now lays its smooth,
spherical eggs in broad patches on the under side of the leaves
of the apple, which the caterpillar will ravage in August ; and
its ally, the Halesidota caryse, we have found ovipositing the
last week in the month on the leaves of the butternut. The
Squash bug, Coreus (Gonocerus) tristis (Fig. 250) is now very
abundant, gathering about the roots of the squash vines, often
in immense numbers, blackening the stems with
their dark, blackish-brown bodies. This insect
is easily distinguished from the yellow striped
Squash beetle previously mentioned, by its much
greater size, and its entirely different structure
and habits. It is a true bug (Hemipter, of which
the bed-bug is an example), piercing the leaves
and stalks, and drawing out the sap with its long

250. Squash Bug.

sucker.

In June, also, we have found that beautiful butterfly, Militaja
Phaeton rising from the low, cold swamps. Its larva transforms
early in June or the last week in May, into a beautiful chrysalis.
The larva hibernates through the winter, and may be found
early in spring feeding on the leaves of the aster, the Viburnum^
dentatum and hazel. It is black and deep orange-red, with
long, thick-set, black spines.

The Currant borer, Trochilium tipuliforme (Fig. 251), a beau-

THE INSECTS OF JUNE. 205

tiful, slender, agile, deep blue moth, with transparent wings,
flies the last of the month about currant bushes, and its chrysa-
lids may be found in May in the stems. Among moths, that of
the American Tent caterpillar flies during the last of June and
July, and its white cocoons can be detected under bark, and in
sheltered parts of fences and out-houses.

Among others of the interesting group of Silk worms (Bomby-
cida3) are Lithosa, Crocota and allies, which fly in the day-time,
and the different species of Arctia, and the white Arctians, Spilo-
soma, and Leucarctia, the parent of the Salt-marsh Caterpillar.

Many Leaf rollers, Tortrices, are rolling up leaves in various
ways for their habitations, and to conceal them from too prying
birds ; and hosts of young Tineans are now mining leaves, and
excavating the interior of seeds and various fruits. Grape-
growers should guard against the attacks of a species of Tor-
trix (Penthina vitivorana) which rolls the leaves of the grape,
and, according to Mr. M. C. Reed, of Hudson,
Ohio, "in mid-summer deposits its eggs in the
grape ; a single egg in a grape. Its presence is
soon indicated by a reddish color on that side
of the yet green grape, and on opening it, the
winding channel opened by the larva in the pulp
is seen, and the minute worm, which is white,
with a dark head, is found at the end of th'e
channel. It continues to feed upon the pulp of the fruit, and
when it reaches the seeds, eats out their interior; and if the
supply from one grape is extinguished before its growth is com-
pleted, it fastens this to an adjoining grape with a web, and
burrows into it. It finally grows to about one-half of an inch
in length, becomes brown, almost black, the head retaining its
cinnamon color. When it leaves the grape it is very active, and
has the power of letting itself down by a thread of silk. All my
efforts to obtain the cocoons failed until I placed fresh grape
leaves in the jar containing the grapes. The larvaa immedi-
ately betook themselves to these, and, cutting a curved line
through the leaf thus ), sometimes two lines thus ( ), folded
the edge or edges over, and in the fold assumed the chrysalis
form. From specimens saved, I shall hope to obtain the perfect
insect this season, and perhaps obtain information which will
aid in checking its increase. Already it is so abundant that
it is necessary to examine every branch of rioe grapes, and clip
18

206 INSECT CALENDAR.

out the infested berries before sending them to the table. A
rapid increase in its numbers would interfere seriously with the
cultivation of the grape in this locality."

The Rose beetle (Macrodactyla subspinosa) appears in great
abundance. The various species of Buprestis are abundant;
among them are the Peach-borer (Dicerca divaricata), which
may be now found flying about peach and cherry trees ; and
Chrysobothris fulvogutta, and C. Harrisii, about white pines.
A large weevil (Arrheoodes septentrionalis), which lives under
•the bark of the white oak, appears in June and July. The
Chinch bug begins its terrible ravages in the wheat fields.
The various species of Chrysopa or Lace-winged flies, appear
during this month.

The Insects of July.

During mid-summer the bees and wasps are very busy building
their nests and rearing their young. The Humble bees, late in
June and the first of this month, send out their first broods of

workers, and about the middle
of the month the second lot of
eggs are laid, which produce
the smaller-sized females and
males, while eggs laid late in
the month and early in August,
produce the larger-sized
queens, which soon hatch.
These hibernate. The habits
252. White-faced Wasp. of their peculiar parasite, Apa-

thus, an insect which closely resembles the Humble bee, are
still unknown.

The Leaf-cutter bee fMegachile) may be seen flying about
with pieces of rose-leaf, with which she builds, for a period of
twenty days, her cells, often thirty in number, using for this
purpose, according to Mr. F. W. Putnam's estimate,* at least
one thousand pieces ! The bees referred to "worked so dili-
gently that they ruined five or six rose-bushes, not leaving a
single unblighted leaf uncut, and were then forced to take the
leaves of a locust tree as a substitute."

The Paper-making wasps, of which Vespa maculata (Fig. 252),

*See "Proceedings of the Essex Institute," vol. iv, p. 105.

THE INSECTS OF JULY. • 207

the "White-faced wasp," is our largest species, are now com-
pleting their nests, and feeding their young with flies. The
Solitary wasp (Odynerus albophaleratus) fills its' earthen cells*
* with minute caterpillars, which it paralyzes with its poisonous
sting. A group of mud-cells, each stored with food for the
single larva within, wre once, found concealed in a deserted nest
of the American Tent caterpillar. Numerous species of Wood
wasps (Crabronidae) are engaged in tunnelling the stems of the
blackbeny, the elder, and syringa, and enlarging and refitting
old nail holes, and burrowing in rotten wood, storing their cells
with flies, caterpillars, aphides and spiders, according to the
habit of each species. Eumenes fraterna, which attaches its
single, large, thin-walled cell of mud to the stems of plants, is,
according to Dr. T. W. Harris, known to store it with Canker
worms. Pelopreus, the Mud-dauber, is now building its earthen
cells, plastering them on
old rafters and stone walls.

The Saw flies (Ten-
thrcdo), etc., abound in our
gardens this month. The
Selandria vitis attacks the
vine, while Selandria rosa3,
the Rose slug, injures the
rose. The disgusting Pear
slug- worm (S. cerasi), often 253< Imported Cabbage Butterfly,
live twenty to thirty on a leaf, eating the parenchyma, or softer
tissues, leaving the blighted leaf. The leaves should be sprin-
kled with a mixture of whale-oil soap and water, in the propor-
tion of two pounds of soap to fifteen gallons of water.

Among the butterflies, Melitaea Ismeria, in the south, and M.
Harris!!, in the north, are sometimes seen. A second brood of
Colias Philodice, the common sulphur-yellow butterfly, appears,
and Pieris oleracea visits turnip-patches. It lays its eggs in
June on the leaves, and the full-grown, dark-green, hairy larva
may be found in August. The Pieris rapa3, or imported cabbage
butterfly (Fig. 253, male) is now also abundant. Its green
hairy larva is fearfully prevalent about Boston and New York.
The last of the month a new brood of Grapta comma appears,
and a second brood of the larva of Chrysophauus Americanus
may be found on the sorrel.

The larvae of Pyrrarctia Isabella hatch out the first week in

208

INSECT CALENDAR.

July, and the snuff- colored an oth enters our windows -at night,
in company with a host of night-flying moths. These large

255. Lady Bug
and Pupa.

254. Apple Borer, Larva and Pupa.

moths, many of which are injurious to crops, are commonly
thought to feed on clothes and carpets. The true carpet and
clothes moths are minute species, which flutter
noiselessly about our apartments. Their nar-
row, feathery wings are edged with long silken
fringes, and almost the slightest touch kills
them.

Among beetles, the various borers, such as
the Saperda, or apple tree borer (Fig. 254) are
now pairing, and fly in the hot sun about trees.
Nearly each tree has its peculiar, enemy, which
drives its galleries into the
trunk and branches of the
tree. Among the Tiger
beetles, frequenting sandy
places, the large Cicindela
geuerosa and the Cicindela hirticollis are most common. The
grotesque larvae live in deep holes
in sand-banks.

The nine-spotted Lady Bug, Coc-
cinella novemnotata (Fig. 255, with
pupa) is one of a large group of
_* beetles, most beneficial from their

*** habit of feeding on the plant lice.

257. Forceps-tail. We figUre another enemy of the

Aphides, Chrysopa, and its eggs (Fig. 256), mounted each on a
long silken stalk, thus placed above the reach of harm.

250. Lace-winged Fly and Eggs.

THE INSECTS OF AUGUST. 209

Among other beneficial insects belonging to the Neuroptera,
is the immense family of Libellulidse, or Dragon flies. The
Forceps-tail, or Panorpa, P. rufescens (Fig. 257), is found in
bushy fields and shrubbery. They prey on smaller insects, and
the males are armed at the extremity of the body with an enor-
mous forceps-like apparatus.

The Insects of August.

During this month great multitudes of bugs (Hemiptera) are
found in our fields and gardens ; and to this group of insects
the present chapter will be devoted. They are nearly all inju-
rious to crops, as they live on the sap of plants, stinging them
with their long suckers. Their continued attacks cause the
leaves to wither and blight.

The grain Aphis, in certain years, desolates our wheat fields.
We have seen the heads black with these terrible pests. They

258. Leaf-hopper of the Vine.

pierce the grain, extract the sap, causing it to shrink and lose
the greater part of its bulk. It is a most insidious and diflicult
foe to overcome.

The various leaf-hoppers, Tettigonia (Fig. 258) and Ceresa,
abound on the leaves of plants, sadly blighting them ; and the
Tettigonias frequent damp, wet, swampy places. A very abun-
dant species on grass produces what is called "frog's spittle."
It can easily be traced through all its changes by frequently
examining the mass of froth which surrounds it. TettLgonia
vitis blights the leaf of the grape-vine. It is a tenth of an inch
long, and is straw-yellow, striped with red. Tettigonia rosae,
a still smaller species, infests the rose, often to an alarming
extent.

The Notonecta, or water boatman, is much like a Tettigonia,
but its wings are transparent on the outer half, and its legs are

210

INSECT CALENDAR.

fringed with long hairs, being formed for swimming. It rows
over the surface in pursuit of insects. Nofonecta undulata Say
(Fig. 259) is a common form in New England.

Another insect hunter is the singular Ranatra fusca (Fig. 260).
It is light brown in color, with a long respiratory tube which it
raises above the surface of the water when it wishes to breathe.
This 'species connects the Water-boatman with the Water-

259. Notonecta.

200. Ranatra.

2G2. Pirates.

skaters, or Gerris, a familiar insect, of which Gerris paludum
(Fig. 261) is commonly seen running over the surface of streams
and pools.

Reduvius and its allies belong to a large family of very useful
insects, as they prey largely on caterpillars and noxious insects.
Such is Pirates picipes (Fig. 262), a common species. It is an

INSECTS OF AUGUST. 211

ally of Reduvius personatus, a valued friend to man, as in Europe
it destroys the bed-bug. ' Its specific name is derived from its
habit while immature, of concealing itself in a case of dust, the
better to approach its prey.

Another friend of the agriculturist is the Phymata erosa (Fig.
2G3). Mr. F. G. Sanborn states that "these insects have been
taken in great numbers upon the linden trees in the city of
Boston, and were seen in the act of devouring the
Aphides, which have infested the shade trees of that
city for several years past. • They are described by a
gentleman who watched their operations with great
interest, as * stealing up to a louse, coolly seizing and
tucking it under the arm, then inserting the beak 263. Thy-
and sucking it dry.' They are supposed to feed also mata-
on other vegetable-eating insects as well as the plant louse."

Phytocoris lineolaris swarms in our gardens during this
month. It is described and figured in "Harris's Treatise on In-
sects." Closely allied, though generally wingless, is that enemy
of our peace, the bed-bug. It has a small, somewhat triangular
head, orbicular thorax, and large, round, flattened *abdomen.
It is generally wingless, having only two small wing-pads in-
stead. The eggs are oval, white ; the young escape by pushing
off a lid at one end of the shell. They are white, transparent,
differing from the perfect insect in having a broad, triangular
head, and short, thick antennae. Indeed, this is the general
form of lice (Pediculus vestimenti, and P. capitis), to which the
larva of Cimex has the closest affinity. Some Cimices are para-
sites, infesting pigeons, swallows, etc., in this way also showing
their near relation to lice. Besides the Reduvius, the cockroach
is the natural enemy of the bed-bug, and destroys large num-
bers. Houses have been cleared of bugs after being thoroughly
fumigated with brimstone.

During this month the ravages of grasshoppers* are, in the
West, very wide-spread. We have received from Major F.
Havvn, of Leaven worth, Kansas, a most interesting account of
the Red-legged locust (Caloptenus femur-rubrum). "They com-
mence depositing their eggs in the latter part of' August. They
are fusiform, slightly gibbous, and of a buff-color. They are
placed about three-fourths of an inch beneath the surface, in a
compact mass around a vertical axis, pointing obliquely up and
outwards, and are partially cemented together, the whole pre-

212

INSECT CALENDAR.

senting a cylindrical structure, not unlike a small cartridge.
They commence hatching in March, but it requires a range of
temperature above 60° F. to bring them to maturity, and under
such conditions they become fledged in thirty-three days, and in
from three to five days after they enter upon their migratory
flight.

"Their instincts are very strong. When food becomes scarce
at one point, a portion of them migrate to new localities, and
this movement takes place simultaneously over large areas. In

264. Seventeen Year Locust, Eggs and Pupa.

their progress they 'stop at no obstacle they can surmount. In
these excursions they often meet with other trains from an
opposite direction, when both join in one.

"The insects are voracious, but discriminating in their choice
of food, yet I know of no plant they reject if presses by hunger;
not even the foliage of shrubs and trees, including pine and
cedar."

During this month the Seventeen-year locust (Cicada septen-
decim of Linnaeus, Fig. 264) has disappeared, and only a few
Harvest flies, as the two other species we have are called, raise
their shrill cry during the dog-days. But as certain years are

THE INSECTS OF AUGUST. 213

marked by the appearance of vast swarms in the Middle States,
we cannot do better than to give a brief summary of its history,
which we condense in part from Dr. Harris' work.

The Seventeen-year locust ranges from South-eastern and
Western Massachusetts to Louisiana. Of its distribution west
of the Mississippi Valley, we have no accurate knowledge. In
Southern Massachusetts, they appear in oak forests about the
middle of June. After pairing, the female, by means of her
powerful ovipositor, bores a hole obliquely to the pith, and lays
therein from ten to twenty slender white eggs, which are ar-
ranged in pairs, somewhat like the grains on an ear of wheat,
and implanted in the limb. She thus oviposits several times in
a twig, and passes from one to another, until she has laid four
or five hundred eggs. After this she soon dies. The eggs
hatch in about two weeks, though some observers state that
they do not hatch for from forty to over fifty days after being
laid. The active grubs are provided with three pairs of legs.
After leaving the egg they fall to the ground, burrow'into it,
and seek the roots of plants whose juices they suck by means of
their long beaks. They sometimes attack the roots of fruit
trees, such as the pear and apple. They live nearly seventeen
years in the larva state, and then in the spring change to the
pupa, which chiefly differs from the larva by having rudimentary
wings. The damage done by the Iarva3 and pupa?, then, consists
in their sucking the sap from the roots of forest, and occasion-
ally fruit trees.

Regarding its appearance, Mr. L. B. Case writes us (June 15)
from Richmond, Indiana: "Just now we are having a tremen-
dous quantity of locusts in our forests and adjoining fields,
and people are greatly alarmed about them ; some say they are
Egyptian locusts, etc. This morning they made a noise, in the
woods about half a mile east of us, very much like the con-
tinuous sound of frogs in the early spring, or just before a
storm at evening. It lasted from early in the morning until
evening." Mr. V. T. Chambers writes us that it is abounding
in the vicinity of Covington, Kentucky, "in common with a
large portion of the Western country." He points out some
variations in color from those described by Dr. Fitch, from New
York, and states that those occurring in Kentucky are smaller
than those of which the measurements are given by Dr. Fitch,
and states that "these differences indicate that the groups,

214 INSECT CALENDAR.

appearing in different parts of the country at intervals of seven-
teen years, are of different varieties." A careful comparison of
large numbers collected from different broods, in different local-
ities, and different years, would alone give the facts to decide
this interesting point. Mr. Riley has shown that in the South-
ern States a variety appears every thirteen years.

Regarding the question raised by Mr. Chambers, whether the
sting of this insect is poisonous, and which he is inclined to
believe to be in part true, we might say that naturalists gener-
ally believe it to be harmless. No hemiptera are known to be
poisonous, that is, to have a poison-gland connected with the
sting, like that of the bee, and careful dissections by the eminent
French naturalist, Lacaze-Duthiers, of three European species
of Cicada, have not revealed any .poison apparatus at the base of
the sting. Another proof that it does not pour poison, into the
wound made by the ovipositor is, that the twig thus pierced and
wounded does not swell, as in the case of plants wounded by
Gall flic's, which, perhaps, secrete an irritating poison, giving rise
to tumors of various shapes. Many insects sting without poi-
soning the wound ; the bite of the mosquito, black fly, flea, the
bed bug, and other hemipterous insects, are simply punctured
wounds, the saliva introduced being slightly irritant, and to a
perfectly healthy constitution they are not poisonous, though
they may grievously afflict some persons, causing the adjacent
parts to swell, and in some weak constitutions induce severe
sickness. Regarding this point, Mr. Chambers writes : "I have
heard — not through the papers— within a few days past of a
child, within some twenty miles of this place, dying from the
sting of a Cicada, but have not had an opportunity to inquire
into the truth of the story, but the following you may rely on.
A negro woman in the employment of A. V. Winston, Esq., at
Burlington, Boone County, Ky., fifteen miles distant from here,
went barefooted into his garden a few days since, and while
there was stung or bitten in the foot by a Cicada. The foot
immediately swelled to huge proportions, but by various appli-
cations the inflammation was allayed, and the woman recovered.
Mr. Winston, who relates this, stands as high for intelligence
and veracity as any one in this vicinity. I thought, on first
hearing the story, that probably the sting was by some other
insect, but Mr. Winston says that he saw the Cicada. But per-
haps this proves that the sting is not fatal ; that depends on the

THE INSECTS OF AUGUST.

215

subject. Some persons suffer terribly from the bite of a mos-
quito, while others scarcely feel them. The cuticle of a negro's
foot is nearly impenetrable, and perhaps the sting would have
been more dangerous in a more tender part." It is not improb-
able that the sting was made by a wasp (Stizus) which preys on
the Cicada. Dr. Le Baron and Mr Riley believe the wound to
be made by the beak, which is the more probable solution of the
problem.

A word more about the Seventeen-year Cicada. Professor
Orton writes us from Yellow Springs, Ohio, that this insect

265. Hop Vine Moth and Young.

has done* great damage to the apple, peach, and quince trees,
and is shortening the fruit crop very materially. By boring
into twigs bearing fruit, the branches break and the fruit goes
with them. "Many orchards have lost full two years' growth.
Though the plum and
cherry trees seemed ex-
empt, they attacked the
grape, blackberry, rasp-
be rr3r, elm (white and
slippery), maple, wliite
ash, willow, cat alp a,

honey-locust and wild 266. Humble Bee Parasite,

rose. We have traces

of the Cicada this year from Columbus, Ohio^to St. Louis.
Washington and Philadelphia have also had a visitation."

We figure the Hop-vine moth and the larva (Fig. 2G5)
which abound on hops the last of summer. Also, the Ilythia
colonella (Fig. 2G6, a, pupa), known in England to be a para-
site of the Humble bee. We have frequently met with it here,
though not in Humble bees' nests. The larvae feed directly upon
the young bees, according to Curtis (Farm Insects). The
Spindle- worm moth (Gortyna zese), whose caterpillar lives in
the stalks of Indian corn, and also in dahlias, flies this month.

216

INSECT CALENDAR.

267. Tree Cricket.

The withering of the leaves when the corn is young, shows the

presence of this pest. The beetles of various cylindrical Bark

borers and Blight beetles (Tomicus and Scolytus) appear again

this month. During this
month the Tree cricket
(CEcanthus niveus, Fig. 267)
lays its eggs in the branches
of peach trees. It will also
eat tobacco leaves.

We figure (268) the moth
of Ennomos subsignaria, the
larva of which is so injurious to
shade trees in New York City.
It is a widely diffused species,
occurring probably through-
out the Northern States. We
have taken the moth in

Northern Maine. We have received from Mr. W. V.Andrews

the supposed larvae of this ,

moth. They are "loopers,'

that is, they walk with a|

looping gait, as if meas*ur-

ing off the ground they walk

over, whence the name

"Geometers," more usually

applied to them. They are

rather stout, brown, and

roughened like a twig of the

tree they inhabit, with an

unusually large rust-red head, **• Ennomos subsignariar.

and red prop-legs, while the tip of the body is also red. They

are a little ov»r an inch long.

The Insects of September.

Few new insects make their first appearance for the season
during this month. Most of the species which abound in the
early part of the month are the August forms, which live until
they are killed by the frosts late in the month. From this cause
there is towards the end of the mouth a very sensible diminu-
tion of the number of insects.

The early frosts warn these delicate creatures of approaching

THE INSECTS OP SEPTEMBER. 217

cold. Hence the whole insect population is busied late in the
month in looking out snug winter quarters, or providing for the
continuance of the species. Warned by the cool and frosty
nights, multitudes of caterpillars prepare to spin their dense
silken cocoons, whicji guard them against frost and cold. Such
are the "Spinners," as the Germans call them, the Silk moths,
of which the American Silk worm is a fair example. The last
of September it spins its dense cocoon, in which it hibernates
in the chrysalis state.

The larvae of those moths, such as the Sphinges, or Hawk
moths, which spin no cocoon, descend deep into the earth, where
they transform into chrysalids and lie in deep earthen cocoons.

The wild bees may now be found frequenting flowers in con-
siderable numbers. Both sexes of the Humble bee, the Leaf-
cutter bee, and other smaller genera abound during the waim
days. ^

One's attention during an unusually warm and pleasant day
in this month is attracted by clouds of insects filling the air,
especially towards sunset, when the slanting rays of the sun
shine through the winged hosts. On careful investigation these
insects will prove to be nearly all ants, and, perhaps, to belong
to a single species. Looking about on the ground, an unusual
activity will be noticed in the ant-hills. This is the swarming
of the ants. The autumnal brood of females has appeared, and
this is their marriage day.

The history of a formicarium, or ant's nest, is as follows : The
workers, only, hibernate, and are found early in the spring,
taking care of the eggs and larvae produced by the autumnal
brood of females. In the course of the summer these eggs and
larvae arrive at maturity, and swarm on a hot sultry day, usually
early in September. The females, after their marriage flight,
for the small diminutive males seek their company at this time,
descend and enter the ground to lay their eggs for new colonies,
or, as Westwood states, they are often seized by the workers
and retained in the old colonies. Having no more inclination
to fly, they pluck off their wings and may be seen running about
wingless.

Dr. C. C. Abbot gives us the following account of the swarm-
ing of a species in New Jersey : "On the afternoon of Oct. 6th,
at about 4 p. M., we were attracted to a part of the large yard
surrounding our home, by a multitude of targe sized insects

218 INSECT CALENDAR.

that filled the air, and appeared to be of some unusual form of
insect life, judging of them from a distance. On closer inspec-
tion these creatures proved to be a brood of red ants (Formica)
that had just emerged from their underground home and were
now for the first time using their delicate wings. The sky, at
the time, was wholly overcast; the wind strong, southeast;
thermometer 66° Fahr. Taking a favorable position near the
mass, as they slowly crawled from the ground, up the blades of
grass and stems of clover and small weeds, we noted, first,
that they seemed dazed, without any method in their move-
ments, save an ill-defined impression that they must go some-
where. Again, they were pushed forward, usually by those
coming after them, which seemed to add to their confusion.
As a brood or colony of insects, their every movement indicated
that they were wholly ill at ease.

"Once at the end of a blade of grass, they seemed even more
puzzled as to what to do. If not followed by a fellow ant, as
was usually the case, they would invariably fall down again to
the earth, and sometimes repeat this movement until a new
comer joined in the ascent, when the uncertain individual would
be forced to use his wings. This flight would be inaugurated
by a very rapid buzzing of the wings, as though to dry them, or
prove their owner's power over them, but which it is difficult
to say. After a short rest, the violent movement of the wings
would recommence, and finally losing fear, as it were, the ant
would let go his hold upon the blade of grass and rise slowly
upwards. It could, in fact, scarcely be called flight. The
steady vibration of the wings simply bore them upwards, ten,
twenty or thirty feet, until they were caught by a breeze, or by
the steadier wind that was moving at an elevation equal to the
height of the surrounding pine and spruce trees. So far as we
were able to discover, their wings were of the same use to them,
in transporting them from their former home, that the 'wings'
of many seeds are, in scattering them ; both are wholly at the
mercy of the winds.

"Mr. Bates, in describing the habits of the Saiiba ants (CEco-
doma cephalotes) says,* 'The successful debut of the winged
males and females depends likewise on the workers. It is
amusing to see the activity and excitement which reign in an

¥
•Naturalist on the River Amazons, vol. 1, p. 32.

THE INSECTS OF SEPTEMBER. 219

ant's nest when the exodus of the winged individuals is taking
place. The workers clear the roads of exit, and show the most
lively interest in their departure, although it is highly improb-
able that any of them will return to the same colony. The
swarming or exodus of the winged males and females of the
Saiiba ant takes place in January and February, that is, at
the commencement of the rainy season. They come out in the
evening in vast numbers, causing quite a commotion in the streets
and lanes.' We have quoted this passage from Mr. Bates' fasci-
nating book, because of the great similarity and dissimilarity in
the movements of the two species at this period of their exis-
tence. Remembering, at the time the above remarks concern-
ing the South American species, we looked carefully for the
workers, in this instance, and failed to discover above half a
dozen wingless ants above ground, and these were plodding
about, very indifferent, as it appeared to us, to the fate or wel-
fare of their winged brothers. And on digging down a few
inches, we could find but comparatively few individuals in the
nest, and could detect no movements on their parts that referred
to the exodus of winged individuals, then going on.

"On the other hand, the time of day agrees with the remarks
of Mr. Bates. When we first noticed them, about 4 p. M., they
had probably just commenced their flight. It continued until
nearly 7 p. M., or a considerable time after sundown. The next
morning, there was not an individual, winged or wingless, to
be seen above ground ; the nest itself was comparatively empty ;
and what few occupants there were seemed to be in a semi-
torpid condition. Were they simply resting after the fatigue
and excitement of yesterday ?

"It was not possible for us to calculate what proportion of
these winged ants were carried by the wind too far to return to
their old home ; but certainly a large proportion were caught
by the surrounding trees ; and we found, on search, some of
these crawling down the trunks of the trees, with their wings
in a damaged condition. How near the trees must be for them
to reach their old home, we should like to learn ; and what tells
them, 'which road to take ?' Dr. Duncan states,* « It was for-
merly supposed that the females which alighted at a great dis-
tance from their old nests returned again, but Huber, having

Transformations of Insects, p. 205.

220 INSECT CALENDAR.

great doubts upon this subject, found that some of them, after
having left the males, fell on to the ground in out-of-the-way
places, whence they could not possibly return to the original
nest!' We unfortunately did not note the sex of those indi-
viduals that we intercepted in their return ( ?) trip ; but we can
not help expressing our belief that, at least in this case, there
was scarcely an appreciable amount of 'returning' on the part of
those whose exodus we have just described ; although so many
were caught by the nearer trees and shrubbery. Is it probable
that these insects could find their way to a small underground
• nest, where there was no * travel' in the vicinity, other than the
steady departure of individuals, who, like themselves, were ter-
ribly bothered with the wings they were carrying about with
them?*' (American Naturalist.)

We have noticed that those females that do not return to the
old nest found new ones. In Maine and Massachusetts we have
for several successive years noticed the swarming of certain
species of ants during an unusually warm and sultry day early
in September.

The autumnal brood of Plant lice now occur in great numbers
on various plants. The last brood, however, .does not consist
exclusively of males and females, for of some of the wingless
individuals previously supposed to be perfect insects of both
sexes, Dr. W. I. Burnett found that many were in reality of the
ordinary gemmiparous form, such as those composing the early
summer broods.

The White Pine Plant lice (Lachnus strobi) may be seen lay-
ing their long string of black oval eggs on the needles of the
pine. They are accompanied by hosts of two-winged flies,
Ichneumons, and in the night by many moths which feed on the
Aphis-honey they secrete, and which drops upon the leaves
beneath.

INDEX.

Abraxas ribearia, 202.

Acarus, 124. t [167.

Acceleration, theory of evolution by,

Achorutes, 145.

Adela, 189.

Agrion, 109.

Agrion, egg-parasite of, 164.

Agrotis, 197.

Alternation of generations, 168.

Alypia, 57, 197.

American teut caterpillar, 187.

Amnion, 166.

Ancestral forms, 151.

Andrena, 31, 45, 192.

Angle worms, 189.

Annelida, 161, 170.

Anopheles, 189.

Ant, 217.

Antenna, origin of, 174.

Antherophagus, 49.

Ant lion, 115, 182.

Ants, 189.

Anura, 136, 145, 147.

Anurida, 146.

Apathus, 47.

Aphis, 151, 203.

Aphis eater, 75.

Aphis of grain, 209.

Apple borer, 208.

Apple insects, 83.

Apple tree borer, 187.

April, insects of, 187.

Agonum, 191.

Aquarium, 195.

Arachnida, ancestry of, 189.

Archetype, 186.

Archetypes in Insects, 150.

Arctia, 107.

Argas, 123.

Argynnis, 193, 197.

Army worm, 55.

Arrlienodes, 206.

Arthropoda, 166.

Aspidiotus, 203. [honey bee, 39.

Assnius, Edward, on parasites of

Astoma, 122, 159.

August, insects of, 209.

Band, primitive, 163, 167.

Bark borer, 188, 216.

Bark louse, 203.

Barnacle, 155.

Bed bug, 96, 183.

Bees, 17, 168, 206.

Bee louse, 41.

Beneficial insects, 190.

Billings on Eophyton, 158.

Bird tick, 84.

Black fly, 73.

Blight insect, 203.

Bombardier beetle, 191.

Borer, 187.

Bot fly, 77.

Botrytis, 47.

Brachinus, 191.

Brauer, F., on ancestry of insects,

157. On two larval forms, 175.
Braula, 41.
Breeze fly, 74.
Brephos, 189.
Bristle tail, 127.
Bruchus, 188.
Buprestis, 206.

Cabbage butterfly, 55. 207.

Caddis fly, 153.

Caddis fly larva, 178.

Caddis worm, 195.

Calendar, Insect, 187.

Caloptenus, 211.

Calosoma, 190.

Campodea, 133, 159, 170, 178.

Campodea-stage of insects, 157.

Canker worm, 187, 201.

Carabidas, 189, 190.

Carabus, 191.

Carboniferous insects, 158. Myrio-

pods, 158. Scorpion, 158.
Carpenter bee, 192.
Carpet fly, 75.
Case worms, 195.
Cabnonia, 191.

Caterpillar, origin of, 175, 179.
Cecidomyia, 168, 196, 203.
Cecidomyia tritici, 197.
Centipede, 149.
Ceratma, 24, 192.
(Jeresa, 209.

222

INDEX.

Cestodes, 162.

Cheese maggot, 83.

Cheese mite, 124.

Cheyletus, 119.

Chigoe, 86.

Chinch bug, 55, 203.

Chionea, 85.

Chironomus, 168, 189.

Chloeon, 170, 180.

Chrysobothris, 206.

Chrysopa, 171, 182, 208.

Chrysophanus, 193, 207.

Cicada, 212.

Cicindeia, 189.

Clothes moth, 64, 188.

Coccinella, 204.

Coddling moth, 188.

Coleopterous larvae, 175.

Collembola, 133, 159.

Comprehensive type, 154.

Compsidea, 90.

Conotrachelus, 194.

Copepoda, 167.

Corydalus, mandibles of, 182.

Crab, 155, 156.

Crustacea, differences of from insects,

157.

Currant borer, 204.
Currant worm, 202.
Cut worm, 197.
Cyclops-like stage, 162.
Cynips, 193.

Daddy-long-legs, 194.

Dawson's discovery of fossil myrio-

pods, 159.
Dawson on fossil land plants of

Upper Silurian, 158.
Degeeria, 143.
Demodex, 125, 148, 160.
Devil's darning-needle, 106.
Devonian formation, insects in, 158.
Diabrotica, 194.
Dicerca, 206.
Dicyrtoma, 142.
Diplax, 113, 154.
Dipterous gall fly, 196.
Dipterous larvae, 175. [169.

Dohrn, Anton, on ancestry of insects,
Dragon fly, 106, 171, 195.
Dujardinia, 170.
Dytiscus, 182.

Ear wig, 136.
Echinoderes, 169.
Egg parasites, 201. .
Egg parasite of Agrion, 164.
Eggs of canker worm, 187.
~ tree insects, 90.

mbryology, comparative, 167.
Embryology of Podura, 140.
gnnomos, 216.

ephemera, 154, 194.

Sphydra, 174.

Cruciform larva, 175.
Euphorberia, 158.
Evolution theory, 152.
Eyes of insects, 185.

Fabre on hypermetamorphosis, 43.

Fall weaver, 197.

Fire fly, 202.

Flea, 86.

Forceps Tail, 171.

Forficula, 136.

Fossil insects, 158. Myriopods, 158.

Scorpion, 158.
Foul brood, 40.

Gad fly, 74.

Galley worm, 149.

Gall flies. 193^

Gall fly, 72, 203.

Gall fly, two-winged, 196.

Gamasus, 120.

Ganin on embryology of insects, 161.

Gegenbaur on tracheae, 172.

Generalized types, 154.

Generation, alternate, 168.

Gerris, 210.

Gerris, egg-parasite of, 166.

Gills of insects, 172.

Gnat, 71, 189.

Gonocerus, 204.

Gordius, 46.

Gortyna, 215. ,

Grain Aphis, 209.

Grape insects, 57.

Grape leaf roller, 205.

Grape saw fly, 207.

Grapta, 189, 204, 207.

Grasshopper, 181, 211.

Green head, 74.

Grimm on parthenogenesis, 168.

Hseckel, Ernst, on ancestry of in-
sects, 156.

Hairs of insects, 185.

Hair worm, 46.

Halictus, 31, 192.

Haliday, A. H., on Thysanura, 133.

Hartt's discovery of fossil insects in
New Brunswick, 158.

Harvest bugs, 122.

Haustellate insects, 183.

Hawk moth, 194, 200.

Head of insects, mode of formation
of, 174.

Heart, iv.

Hemiptera, 209.

Hemipterous larvae, 175.

Hessian fly, 72, 196.

Heteropus, 126.

Hibernation of insects, 192.

Hirudo, 166.

Histolysis, 168.

Histriobdella, 166.

Histri9bdella stage of Polynema, 164.

Hop vine moth, 215.

Horse tick, 84.

House fly. 80.

Humble bee parasite, 215.

Humming bird moth, 194.

Hunt on organic life in the Lauren-
tian period, 158.

Hylobius pales, 188.

Hylurgus terebrans, 188.

INDEX.

223

Hymenopterous larvae, 175.
Hyper-metamorphosis of insects, 166.
Hyphantria, 204.
Hypodermis, 163.

Ichneumon, 161, 201.

Illinois, fossil insects of, 159.

Ilythia, 215.

Injurious insects, 190.

Insects, ancestry of, 150.

Insects, archetypes of, 150.

Insects, beneficial, 190.

Insect calendar, 187.

Insects, embryology of, 154, 155.

Insects, flight of, ix.

Insects in the Devonian formation,

158.

Insects, metamorphosis of, 166.
Insects, origin of, 156.
Insects, reason in, 30, 37.
Insects, respiration 9^, 171.
Insects, senses of, xiii.
Insects, sexes in, 52.
Insects, transformations of, xiv, 50.
Insects, wingless, 171.
Intestinal worms, 161.
Isotoma, 140, 143.
Itch mite, 125.
Ixodes, 117, 123.

Japyx, 132.

Jaws of insects, origin of, 174.

Jelly fishes, 168.

Joint worm, 55.

Julus, 149, 169.

Julus, embryology of, 164.

July, insects of, 206.

June, insects of, 200.

Kowaleusky's researches on embry-
ology of worms, 169.

Labium, vi, 165.

Lachnosterna fusca, 202.

Lachnus, 220.

Lady bird, 208.

Larva, cruciform, 175. Leptiform,
175. Two kinds of, 175.

Larval skin of Crustacea, 166.

Leaf cutter bee, 26, 206.

Leaf roller, 188, 197, 205.

Leeches, 166.

Legs of insects, 173.

Leidy, J., on internal parasites of in-
sects, 39, 46.

Lepidocyrtus, 144.

Lepidopterous larvae, 175.

Lepisma, 128.

Leptiform larva, 175.

Leptus, 120, 155, 159.

Lespes, on sense of hearing in in-
sects, xiv.

Leucania, 55.

Leuckart on embryology of Hirudo,
168. Parthenogenesis, 168.

Libellula, 107, 195.

Linden tree insects, 90.

Linguatula, 160.

Lipura, 145.

Lithobius, 178.

Locust tree insects, 93.

Louse, 96, 154.

Lubbock's discovery of Pauropus-

149.
Lubbock, Sir John, on Thysanura,

133; 'on the origin of insects, 159,

173.

Machilis, 128.

Macrodactylus, 206.

Macrosila cluentius, 184.

Magg9t, origin of, 175, 178.

Mandible, vi.

Mandibles of moths, 183.

Mandibulate insects, 183.

Mange mite, 125.

Marey on the flight of insects, ix.

Mason bee, 192.

Maxillae, vi.

Maxilla of moths, 184.

May beetle, 202.

May fly, 194.

May, insects of, 192.

Mazonia, 158.

Meat fly, 82.

Meek's discovery of fossil insects in

Illinois, 158.
Megachile, 26.
Melipona, 18.
Melitaaa, 193, 207.
Melitsea Phaeton, 204.
Meloe, 21, 42.
Metamorphosis of insects, 166, 175:

origin of, 179.
Miastor, 168.
Microgaster, 49.
Mites, 116, 149.
Mosquito, 68.
Mosquito hawk, 195.
Mouth-parts of insects, origin of, 173.
Mucor, 47.
Mud dauber, 207.
Miiller, Fritz, on ancestry of insects,

156, 169.

Miiller, J., on sight in insects, xiii.
Murray's discovery of Eophyton in

America, 158.
Musca, 80, 168.
Muscardine, 47.
Mycetobia, 73.
Myobia, 169.
Myriopoda, 149. Ancestry of, 159.

Nannophya, 114.

Nauplius, 155, 160.

Nebalia, 182.

Nephelis, 166.

Nephopteryx, 49.

Neuropterous larvae, 175.

New Brunswick, fossil insects of, 158.

Newport, on embryology of Julus,

164.

Nicoletia, 131.
Nomada, 38.
Notonecta, 209.
Nova Scotia, fossil insects of, 159.

224

INDEX.

Ocypete, 159.

Odynerus, 207.

CEcanthus, 216.

Oil beetle, 188.

Onion fly, 49.

'Ophioneurus, embryology of, 165.

Orchesella, 143.

Ornithomyia, 84.

Orthopterous larvae, 175.

Osmia, 27.

Otiorhynchus, 199.

Ovipositor of Cicada, 185.

Palpus, vi. Origin of, 174.

Pangus, 191.

Panorpa, 171, 209.

Paper wasp, 207.

Papilio Asterias, 200.

Papirius, 142.

Parasite of insect eggs, 164.

Parsnip butterfly, 200.

Parthenogenesis, 168.

Pasteur on the silk worm disease,

63.

Pauropus, 149, 154, 158, 171.
Peach borer, 206.
Pear slug, 207.
Pea weevil, 188.
Peck, W. D., on the habits of Stylops

and Xenos, 45, 46.
Pelopseus, 207.
Pentastoma, 148, 160.
Peripatus, 161.
Perla, 154.
Phora, 40.
Phymata, 211.
Phytocoris, 211.
Pickle worm, 57.
Pieris, 55, 197, 207.

Pieris brassicas, egg parasite of, 165.
Pine plant louse, 220.
Pine weevil, 188, 199.
Piophila, 83.
Pirates, 210. •
Pissodes strobi, 188.
Plan of structure, 186.
Plant louse, 220.
Platygaster, embryology of, 161.
Plum weevil, 194.
Podura, 133, 135, 144, 153, 154, 159, 170.

Catch of, 139. Spring of, 137.
Podurids, the ancestors of the true

insects, 157.
Poisonous insects, 214.
Polynema, embryology of, 164.
Poplar tree insects, 92.
Potato insects, 63.
Prelarval stage of ichneumons, 168.
Primitive band, 163, 166.
Primitive insects, 175.
Prionus, 93.
Procris, 60.
Protoleptus, 172, 174.
Pseudoneuroptera, 178.
Ptinus fur, 200.
Putnam, F. W., on habits of the bees,

19, 26.
Pyrrharctia, 207.

Ranatra, 210.
Rat-tailed fly, 76.
Reduvius, 210.
Reproduction, virgin, 168.
Respiration of insects, 171.
Retardation, theory of evolution by,

167. ,

Rose beetle, 206.
Rose saw fly, 196.
Rose slug, 207.
Rotatoria, ancestors of Crustacea, 169.

Salpa, 168.

Saperda, 91, 208.

Sarcoptes, 125.

Saw fly, 196, 207.

Saw of saw fly, 185.

Schiodte on the mouth-parts of the
louse, 96.

Scolopocryptops, 149.

Scorpion, fossil, 158.

Scudder on fossil insects of New
Brunswick and Illinois, 158.

Seira, 143.

Selandria, 207.

Selandria rosae, 196.

September, insects of, 216.

Sesia, 194.

Seventeen year locust, 212.

Sexes, origin of, 152.

Sheep tick, 85.

Shrimp, 155.

Siebold, T. von, on the ears of grass-
hoppers, xiv.

Siebold on parthenogenesis, 168.

Silk worm, 51.

Silver witches, 128.

Simulium, 73.

Sitaris, 44.

Smith, F., on stingless bees, 18. On
parasitic bees, 37.

Smynthurus, 142.

Species, origin of, 152.

Sphinx, 194, 197, 200, 207.

Spider, 155.

Spider fly, 85.

Spindle worm, 215.

Spinneret of caterpillars, 183; of spi-
ders, 185.

Spring, insects of, 187.

Spring of Podura, 185.

Spring tail, 127.

Squash beetle, 194.

Squash bug, 204.

Sting of bee, 185.

Sting, origin of, 165.

Stylops, 21, 45, 152, 179, 188.

Sucker of insects, 183.

Sugar mite, 124.

Swarming of ants, 217.

Syllis, 170.

Syrphus, 75.

Tabanus, 74.
Tachina, 39, 189.
Tailor bee, 26.
Tardigrade, 150, 160.
Teleas, embryology of, 166.

INDEX.

225

Templetonia, 143.

Tent caterpillar, 187.

Tenthredo, 207.

Tettigonia, 209.

Thanaos, 197.

Thecla, 197.

Thorax of insects, 173.

Thysanura, 127, 154.

Ticks, 116.

Tinea, 64, 188.

Tipula, 194.

Tomicus, 199.

Tomocerus, 137, 143.

TonjTi'e of insects, 183.

Torell's discovery of Eophyton in

Sweden, 158.
Tortrices, 205.
Tortrhidae, 188.
Tracnea, iv.
Tracheae, absence of in Polynema,

165.

Tracheae, origin of, 171.
Tree cricket, 216.
Trichocera hyemalis, 189.
Trichodes, 42.
Trigona, 18.

Trochilium tipuliforme, 205.
Trombidium, 120, 159.
Trouvelot, L., on amount eaten by

silk worms, vii, 60.
Turnip butterfly, 197.

Uhler, P. R., on habits of the dragon
fly, 107, 110.

Verrill, A. E., on the parasites of man

and the domestic animals, 84.
Vine dresser, 59.
Virgin reproduction, 168.

Wasp, 206.

Water bear, 150.

Water boatman, 166, 209.

Waterhouse, G. E,., on habits of
Osmia, 27.

Weevil, 179, 188, 194.

Weismann on growth of insects, 164.

West, Tuffen, on the foot of the fly,
viii.

Wheat midge, 197.

Wine fly, 83.

Wingless insects, 171.

Wings of insects as respiratory or-
gans, 165.

Wings, origin of, 172.

Worthen's discovery of fossil insects
in Illinois, 158.

Worms, the ancestors of insects, 160,
169.

Wyman, Jeffries, on the cells of the
honey bee, 17.

Xenos, 46.
Xylobius, 159.
Xylocopa, 21.

Zaddach on development of worms,

insects and crustaceans, 169.
Zoea, 156.

.8

Torell's difc

Sweden, 15-
Tortrices, 2
Tortri-' '
Trac

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