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AN

INTRODUCTION

TO

ENTOMOLOGY:

OR

ELEMENTS

OF THE

NATURAL HISTORY OF INSECTS.

WITH PLATES.

By WILLIAM KIRBY, M.A. F.R. and L.S.

RECTOR OF BARHAM,
AND

WILLIAM SPENCE, Esq. F.L.S.

THIRD EDITION. '

VOL. I.

I,
LONDON:

nUNTEU FOR LONGMAN, HUUST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN,
PATERNOSTER ROW.

1818.

Richard and Arthur Taylor,
Printers, London.

TO
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

SIR JOSEPH BANKS, BARONET,

ONE OF HIS majesty's MOST HONOURABLE PRIVY

COUNCIL,

KNIGHT GRAND CROSS OF THE ORDER OF THE BATH.

PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY, ETC.

WHOSE UNRIVALLED LIBRARY AND

PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS

HAVE FURNISHED MUCH OF THE MOST INTERESTING

MATTER THAT IT CONTAINS,

THE FOLLOWING WORK,

IN WHICH AN ATTEMPT IS MADE TO COPY

HIS ILLUSTRIOUS EXAMPLE,

BY POINTING OUT THE CONNECTION THAT EXISTS

BETWEEN NATURAL SCIENCE, AND AGRICULTURE,

AND THE ARTS,

IS, WITH HIS PERMISSION,

MOST GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED

BY HIS MOST OBLIGED

AND OBEDIENT SERVANTS,

THE AUTHORS.

PREFACE.

One principal cause of the little attention paid
to Entomology in this country, has doubtless been
the ridicule so often thrown upon the science.
The botanist, sheltered now by the sanction of
fashion, as formerly by the prescriptive union of
his study with medicine, may dedicate his hours
to masses and lichens without reproach ; but in
the minds of most men, the learned as well as
the vulgar, the idea of the trifling nature of his
pursuit is so strongly associated with that of the
diminutive size of its objects, that an entomo-
logist is synonymous with every thing futile and
childish. Now, when so many other roads to
fame and distinction are open, when a man has
merely to avow himself a botanist, a mineralogist,
or a chemist — a student of classical literature or
of political economy — to ensure attention and re-
spect, there are evidently no great attractions to
lead him to a science which in nine companies
Out of ten with which he may associate promises

VI PREFACE.

to signalize him only as an object of pity or
contempt. Even if he have no other aim than
self-gratification, jei " the sternest stoic of us
all Nvishes at least for some one to enter into his
views and feelings, and confirm him in the opi-
nion which he entertains of himself:" but how
can he look for sympathy in a pursuit unknown
to the world, except as indicative of littleness of
mind ?

Yet such are the genuine charms of this branch
of the study of nature, that here as well as on the
continent, where, from being' equally slighted.
Entomology now divides the empire with her
sister Botany, this obstacle would not have been
sufficient to deter numbers from the study, had
not another more powerful impediment existed —
the want of a popular and comprehensive Intro-
duction to the science. While elementary books
on Botany have been multiplied amongst us with-
out end and in every shape, Curtis's translation of
the Fundamenia Entomologice, published in 1772 ;
Yeats's Institutions; of Entomologij, which ap-
peared the year after ; and Barbut's Genera Insec-
torum, which came out in 1781 — the two former
in too unattractive, and the latter in too expen-
sive a form for general readers — are the only
works professedly devoted to this object, which
the English language can boast.

PREFACE. VU

Convinced that this was the chief obstacle to
the spread of Entomology in Britain, the authors
of the present work resolved to do what was in
their power to remove it, and to introduce their
countrymen to a mine of pleasure, new, bound-
less, and inexhaustible, and which, to judge from
their own experience — formed in no contracted
field of comparison — they can recommend as pos-
sessing advantages and attractions equal to those
held forth by most other branches of human
learning.

The next question wasjin what way they should
attempt to accomplish this intention. If they had
contented themselves with the first suggestion that
presented itself, and merely given a translation
of one of the many Introductions to Entomology
extant in Latin, German, and French, adding
only a few obvious improvements, their task would
have been very easy ; but the slightest examina-
tion showed that, in thus proceeding, they would
have stopped far short of the goal which they
were desirous of reaching. — In the technical de-
partment of the science they found much confu-
sion, and numerous errors and imperfections —
the same name sometimes applied to parts anato-
mically quite different, and different names to
parts essentially the same, while others of primary
importance were without any name at all. And

Vlll PREFACE.

with reference to the anatomy and physiology of
insects^ they could no where meet with a full
and accurate generalization of the various facts
connected with these subjects, scattered here and
there in the pages of the authors who have studied
them.

They therefore resolved to begin, in some mea.
sure, de novo — to institute a rigorous revision of
the terms employed, making such additions and
improvements as might seem to be called for ;
and to attempt a more complete and connected
account of the existing discoveries respecting the
anatomical and physiological departments of the
science than has yet been given to the world : —
and to these two points their plan at the outset
was limited.

It soon, however, occurred to them, that it
would be of little use to write a book which no
one would peruse ; and that in the present age of
love for light reading, there could not be much
hope of leading students to the dry abstractions
of the science, unless they were conducted through
the attractive portal of the economy and natural
history of its objects. To this department, there-
fore, they resolved to devote the first and most con-
siderable portion of their intended work, bringing
into one point of view, under distinct heads, the
most interesting discoveries of Reaumur, De Geer,

PREFACE. IX

Bonnet, Lyonet, the Hubcrs, &c,, as well as their
own individual observations^ relative to the noxious
and beneficial properties of insects; their affection
for their young-; their food, and modes of obtain-
ing it; their habitations; societies; &c. &c.: and
they were the more induced to adopt this plan^
from the consideration, that, though many of the
most striking- of these facts have before been pre-
sented to the English reader, a great proportion
are unknown to him ; and that no similar gene-
ralization (if a slight attempt towards it in Smel-
lie's Philosophy of Natural Hisiorij , and a confes-
sedly imperfect one in Latreille's Histoirc Natu-
rclle des CrusiacSs et des Insectes be excepted) has
ever been attempted in any language. — Thus the
entire work would be strictly on the plan of the
Philosophia Eniomologica of Fabricius, only giv-
ing a much greater extent to the (Econotnia and
Usus, and adverting to these in the first place in-
stead of in the last.

The epistolary form was adopted, not certainly
from any idea of their style being particularly
suited to a mode of writing so difficult to keep
from running into incongruities; but simply be-
cause this form admitted of digressions and allu-
sions called for in a popular work, but which
might have seemed misplaced in a stricter kind
of composition ; — because it is better suited to

X PREFACE.

convey those practical directions, which in some
branches of the pursuit the student requires; —
and lastly, because by this form, the objection
against speaking of the manners and economy of
insects before entering upon the definition of
them, and explaining the terms of the science — a
retrograde course, which they have chosen from
their desire to present the most alluring side of the
science first — is in great measure, if not wholly,
obviated.

Such is the plan which the authors chalked out
for themselves — a plan which in the execution
they have found so much more extensive than they
calculated upon, that, could they have foreseen
the piles of volumes through which it has entailed
upon them the labour of wading, often to glean
scarcely more than a single fact — the numerous
anatomical and technological investigations which
it has called for — and the long correspondence,
almost as bulky as the entire work, unavoidably
rendered necessary by the distant residence of the
parties — they would have shrunk from an under-
taking, of which the profit, if by great chance
there should be any, could not be expected to
repay even the cost of books required in it, and
from which any fame must necessarily be confined
to a very limited circle. But having entered upon
it, they have persevered ; and if they succeed ia

PREFACE. XI

their grand aim, that of making' converts amongst
tlieircountrvmen to a study equally calculated for
promoting the glory of God and the delight and
profit of man, they will not deem the labour of
the leisure hours of six years ill bestowed.

And here it may be proper to observe, that one
of their first and favourite objects has been to di-
rect the attention of their readers " from nature
up to nature's God," For, when they reflected
upon the fatal use which has too often been made
of Natural History, and that from the very works
and wonders of God, some philosophists, by an
unaccountable perversion of intellect, have at-
tempted to derive arguments either against his
being and providence, or against the Religion
revealed in the Holy Scriptures, they conceived
they might render some service to the most im-
portant interests of mankind, by showing how
every department of the science they recommend
illustrates the great truths of Religion, and proves
that the doctrines of the Word of God, instead of
being contradicted, are triumphantly confirmed
by his Works.

" To see all things in God" has been accounted
one of the peculiar privileges of a future state;
and in this present life, " to see God in all things/'
in the mirror of the creation to behold and adore
the reflected glory of the Creator^ is no mean at-

XU PREFACE.

tainment ; and it possesses this advantage^ that thus
we sanctify our pursuits, and, instead of loving
the creatures for themselves, are led by the survey
of them and their instincts to the love of Him
who made and endowed them.

Of their performance of the first part of their
plan, in which there is the least room for origi-
nality, it is only necessary for the authors to say
that they have done their best to make it as com-
prehensive, as interesting, and as useful as pos-
sible : but it is requisite to enter somewhat more
fully into what has been attempted in the anato-
mical, physiological, and technical parts of the
work.

As far as respects the general physiology and
interior anatomy of insects, they have done little
more than bring together and combine the obser-
vations of the naturalists who have attended to
these branches of the science : but the exterHor
anatomy they have examined for themselves
through the whole class, and, they trust, not with-
out some new light being thrown upon the sub-
ject; particularly by pointing out and giving
names to many parts never before noticed.

In the Terminology, or what, to avoid the bar-
barism of a word compounded of Latin and Greek,
they would beg to call the Orismology o^ \he sci-
ence, they have endeavoured to introduce through-

PREFACE. Xiii

oulagreater degree of precision and concinnitj —
dividing it into general and partial Orismology ;
— under the former head defining such terms as
relate to Substance, Resistance, Density, Propor-
tion, Figure, Form, Superjicies, ( under which are
introduced Scw/p/wre, Clothing, Colour, &c.) Mar-
gin, Termination, Incision, Ramification, Division,
Direction, Situation, Connection, Arms, &c. ; and
under the latter those that relate to the body and
its parts and members, considered in its great sub-
divisions of Head, Trunk and Abdomen. In short,
they may rest their claim of at least aiming at con-
siderable improvement in this department upon
the great number of new terms, and alterations
of old ones, which they have introduced — in ex-
ternal Anatomy alone falling little short of 150.
If it should be thought by any one that they have
made too many changes, they would remind him
of the advice of Bergman to Morveau, when re-
forming the nomenclature of Chemistry, the sound-
ness of which Dugald Steward has recognised —
" Nefaites grace ci aucunc denomination impropre,
Ceu.v qui savent (lejci, entendront toiijours ; ceux qiii
ne savent pas encore, entendront plutot."

Throughout the whole publication, wherever
any fact of importance not depending on their
own authority is mentioned, a reference to the
source whence it has been derived is generally

XIV PREFACE.

given ; so that;, if the work should have no other
value^ it will possess that of saving- much trouble
to future inquirers, by serving as an index to di-
rect them in their researches.

The authors are perfectly sensible that, not-
withstanding all their care and pains, many im-
perfections will unavoidably remain in their work.
There is no science to which the adage, Dies diem
clocei, is more strikingly applicable than to Natu-
ral History. New discoveries are daily made, and
will be made, it is probable, to the end of time :
so that whoever flatters himself that he can pro-
duce a perfect work in this department will be
miserably disappointed. The utmost that can
reasonably be expected from naturalists is to keep
pace with the progress of knov^ledge, and this the
authors have used their best diligence to accom-
plish. Every new year since they took the sub-
ject in hand up to the very time when the first
sheets were sent to the press, numerous correc-
tions and alterations have suggested themselves ;
and thus they are persuaded it would be were tlioy
to double the period of delay prescribed by Ho-
race. But Poetry and Natural History are on a
different footing; and though an author can plead
little excuse for giving his verses to the world
while he sees it possible to polish them to higher
excellence, the naturalist, if he wishes to promote

PREFACE. \X

the extension of his science, must be content to
submit his performances to the public disfigured
bj numerous imperfections.

In the introductory letter several of the advan-
tages to be derived from the studj of Entomology
are pointed out ; but there is one, which^ though
it could not well have been insisted upon in that
place, is too important to be passed over without
notice — its value in the education of youth.

AH modern writers on this momentous subject
unite in recommending in this view. Natural His-
tory; and if *'the quality of accurate discrimi-
nation— the ready perception of resemblances
amongst diversities, and still more the quick and
accurate perception of diversity in the midst of
resemblances— constitutes one of the most im-
portant operations of the understanding ; if it be
indeed the foundation of clear ideas, and the
acquisition of whatever can be truly called know-
ledge depends most materially on the possession
of it: — if ^'^ the best logic be that which teaches
us to suspend our judgements;" and " the art of
seeing, so useful, so universal, and yet so uncom-
mon, be one of the most valuable a man canpos-
sess," — there can be no doubt of the judiciousness
-of their advice. Now of all the branches of Na-
tural History, Entomology is unquestionably the
best fitted for thus disciplining the mind of youth;

Xyi PREFACE,

and simply from this circumstance, that its objects
have life, are gifted with surprising instincts ad-
mirably calculated to attract youthful attention,
and are to be met with every where. It is not
meant to undervalue the good effects of the study
of Botany or Mineralogy: but it is self-evident '
that nothing inanimate can excite such interest in
the mind of a young person as beings endowed
with vitality, exercising their powers and facul-
ties in so singular a way; which, as Reaumur
observes, are not only alive themselves, but confer
animation upon the leaves, fruits, and flowers
that they inhabit; which every walk offers to
view; and on which new observations may be
made without end.

Besides these advantages, no study affords a
fairer opportunity of leading the young mind by
a natural and pleasing path to the great truths of
Religion, and of impressing it with the most
lively ideas of the power, wisdom, and goodness
of the Creator.

Not that it is recommended to make children
collectors of insects, nor that young people, to
ihe neglect of more important duties and pursuits,
should generally become professed Entomolo-
oists; but, if the former be familiarized with
their names, manners, and economy, and the lat-
ter initiated into their classification, it will be an

PREFACE. XVll

excellent nietliod of strengthening their habits of
observation, attention, and niemorj', equal per-
haps, in this respect, to any other mental exercise:
and then, like Major Gyllenhal, Mho studied En-
tomology under Thunberg about 1770, and after
an interval of twenty years devoted to the service
of his country^ resumed his favourite pursuit vv^ith
all the ardour of youth, and is at this time giving
to the world a description of the insects of Sweden
invaluable for its accuracy and completeness —
they would be provided in their old age with an
object capable not merely of keeping off that
icedinm vit{S so often inseparable from the relin-
quishment of active life, but of supplying an un-
failing fund of innocent amusement, an incentive
to exercise, and consequently no mean degree of
health and enjoyment*

Some, who, with an ingenious author*, regard
as superfluous all pains to show the utility of Na-
tural History in reference to the common pur-
poses of life, asking '' if it be not enough to open
a source of copious and cheap amusement, which
tends to harmonize the mind, and elevatcjjt to
worthy conceptions of nature and its Author?
if a greater blessing to a man can be offered than
happiness at an easy rate unalloyed by any dc-

* Dr. Aikin.
VOL. 1. b

XVIU PREFACE.

basing mixture ? " — may think the earnestness dis-
played on this head^ and the length which has
been gone in refuting objections, needless. But
Entomology is so peculiarly circumstanced^ that
without removing these obstacles, there could be
no hope of winning votaries to the pursuit. Pliny
felt the necessity of following this course in the
outset of his book which treats on insects, and a
similar one has been originally called for in intro-
ducing the study even to those countries where
the science is now most honoured. In France,
Reaumur, in each of the successive volumes of his
immortal work, found it essential to seize every
opportunity of showing that the study of insects
is not a frivolous amusement, nor devoid of uti-
lity, as his countrymen conceived it; and in Ger-
many Sulzer had to traverse the same road, telling
us, in proof of the necessity of this procedure,
that on showing his works on insects with their
plates to two very sensible men, one commended
him for employing his leisure hours in preparing
prints that would amuse children and keep them
out of mischief, and the other admitted that they
might furnish very pretty patterns for ladies'
aprons ! And though in this country things are
not now quite so bad as they were when Lady
Glanville's will was attempted to be set aside on
the ground of lunacy, evinced by no other act

PREFACE. XIX

than her fondness for collecting insects, and Ray
had to appear at Exeter on the trial as a witness
of her sanity*, yet nothing less than line upon
line can be expected to eradicate the deep-rooted
prejudices which prevail on this subject. " Old
impressions," as Reaumur has well observed, '•^are
with difficulty effaced. They arc weakened, they
appear unjust even to those who feel them, at the
moment they are attacked by arguments which
are unanswerable; but the next instant the proofs
are forgotten, and the perverse association resumes
its empire."

The authors do /not know that any curiosity
will be excited to ascertain what share has been
contributed to the work by each of them ; but if
there should, it is a curiosity they must be ex-
cused from gratifying. United in the bonds of a
friendship, which, though they have to thank
Entomology for giving birth to it, is founded
upon a more solid basis than mere community of
scientific pursuits, they wish that, whether blame
or praise is the fate of their labours, it may be
jointly awarded. All that they think necessary to
state is, that the oomposition of each of the dif-
ferent departments of the work has been, as

* See Harris's Aurelian under Papilio Cinxiq.

XX PREFACE.

nearly as possible, divided between them ;— -that
though the letter, or series of letters, on any par-
ticular subject, has been usually undertaken by
one, some of the facts and illustrations have ge-
nerally been supplied by the other, and there are
a few to which thev have iointlv contributed : —
and that, throughout, the facts for which no
other authority is quoted, are to be considered as
resting upon that of one or other of the authors,
but not always of him who, from local allusions^
may be conceived the writer of the letter in which
they are introduced, as the matter furnished by
each to the letters of the other must necessarily
be given in the person of the supposed writer.

In acknowledging their obligations to their
friends, the first place is due to Simon Wilkin,
Esq. of Costessey near Norv^'ich, to whose libe-
rality they are indebted for the numerous plates
which illustrate and adorn the work ; the whole
of which have been drawn and engraved by
liis artist Mr. John Curtis, whose intimate ac-
quaintance with the subject has enabled him to
give to the figures an accuracy which they could
not have received from one less conversant with
the science. Nor is the reader less under obliga-
tion to Mr. Wilkin's liberality than the authors;^

PREFACE, XXI

who, if the drawings &c. had been to be paid
for, must necessarily have contented themselves
with 2,'iving; a much smaller number.

To Alexander MacLeay, Esq. they are un-
der particular obligations, both for the warm in-
terest he has all along taken in the work, the ju-
dicious advice he has on many occasions given,
the free access in which he has indulged the
authors to his unrivalled cabinet and well-stored
library, and the numerous other attentions and
acconmiodations by which he has materially as-
sisted them in its progress.

To the other friends who have kindly aided
them in this undertaking in any way, they beg
here to offer their best thanks.

It now only remains that they should assign
their reasons for sending the work into the world,
contrary to their original intentions, in an imper-
fect state, by the publication of the first volume
only. One inducement to this course has been the
occurrence of unexpected interruptions, which,
though the bulk of the work has been long writ-
ten, have hitherto precluded the completion of the
entire plan ; but their principal reason has been
the wish to render the physiological and anatomi-
cal departments more perfect by the consultation
of various continental works published within the
last six or eight years, navy for the first tinie ac-

XXU PREFACE.

cessible ; and to ascertain, by the public recep-
tion of this first part, whether it will be expedient
to give the remainder that extension which was at
one time contemplated, or to contract it within
narrower limits. A history of Entomology, and a
complete list of entomological works, (for which
last Mr. Dryander*s admirable catalogue of Sir
Joseph Banks's library affords the fullest mate-
rials,) entered into the original plan, and the
rough draught of both is completed ; but whether
these (which are not essential to a work of this
nature) will be published, must depend upon the
judgement of the public as to the value of that
portion now submitted to them.

The contents of the remaining volumes will be
nearly as follows. Societies of Insects, including
the History of Ants, Wasps, Bees, &c. Motions
of insects. Noises of insects. Means of defence
from their enemies. Luminous insects. Hyber-
nation of insects. Instinct of insects. Definition
of theterm Jwsfc^. States of insects — Egg; Larva;
Pupa ; Imago. Their general exterior Anatomy
— Head ; Trunk ; Abdomen. Their interior Ana-
tomy and Physiology — Sensation ; Respiration ;
Circulation ; Digestion ; Secretion ; Generation,
Diseases, &c. Senses of insects. Orismology and
Definitions of terms. Characters of insects — ^
Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species, Variety,

PREFACE. XXni

Investigation of insects. Seasons in which they
appear. Instruments and mode of taking and
preserving them, — with other particulars which it
is not necessary here to enumerate.

The List of Authors quoted in this work will
be found in the last volume. It was intended to
have given with this all the plates illustrative of
the orders, but only three could be finished in
time : the remainder will appear in the second
volume, and those which relate to the anatomy
and definitions in the third and fourth.

CONTENTS OF VOL. 1.

Letter Page'

I. Introductory,.. 1 — 20

II. Objections ans\yerecl5. ... i 21^--59

III. Metamorphoses of Insects,. 60 — 80

IV. Direct Injuries caused by Insects, 81—144

V. Indirect Injuries caused by Insects.

1. Injuries to our living aninaal Property, 145—167
VI. Indirect Injuries continued.

2. Injuries to our living vegetable Pro-

perty, 168—214

VII. The same subject continued. — The Ra-
vages of Locusts, 215 — 226

VIII. Indirect Injuries concluded.

3. Injuries to our dead Property, whe-

ther animal or vegetable, 227 — 249

IX. Indirect Benefits derived from Insects, .. 250—300

X. Direct Benefits derived from Insects, .... 301 — 339

XL Affection of Insects for their Young, 340—383

XII. Food of Insects, * 384—404

XIII. The same subject continued, 405—^435

XIV. Habitations of Insects.

1. Of Solitary Insects, ** 436^477

XV. Habitations of Insects continued.

2. Of Insects in Society,. 478—519

ERRATA.

Pao;e 104, note * line uU. after " had" insert " them."
Page 841, line 27, insert as a note to " Comegen." " We learn from Hum-
boldt {Travels, iii. p. 253, note*. Miss Williams's translation), that
the insects called by this name in S. America are White Ants."
Pa^e 421, note a line 1, for 405 read 407.

AN

INTRODUCTION

TO

ENTOMOLOGY.

LETTER I.

Dear Sir, '■

I CANNOT wonder that ah active mind like yours should
experience no small degree of tedium in a situation so
far removed, as you represent your new residence to
be, from " the busy hum of men." Nothing certainly
can compensate for the want of agreeable society ; but
since your case in this respect admits of no remedy but
patience, I ani glad you are desirous of turning your
attention to some pursuit which may amuse you in the
intervals of severer study, and in part supply the void
of which you complain. I am not a little flattered that
you wish to be informed which class in the three king-
doms of nature is, in my opinion, most likely to answer
your purpose ; at the same time intimating that you
feel inclined to give the preference to Entomology,
provided some objections can be satisfactorily obvi-
ated, which you have been accustomed to regard as
urged with a considerable semblance of reason against
the cultivation of that science.

VOL. I, B

2 INTRODUCTORY LETTER.

Mankind in general, not excepting even philoso'
phers, are prone to magnify, often beyond its just me-
rit, the science or pursuit to which they have addicted
themselves, and to depreciate any that seems to stand
in competition with their favourite : like the redoubted
champions of romance, each thinks himself bound to
take the field against every one that will not subscribe
to the peerless beauty and accomplishments of his own
Dulcinea. In such conflict for pre-eminence I know
no science that, in this country, has come off worse than
Entomology : her champions hitherto have been so
few, and their effbrts so unavailing, that all her rival
sisters have been exalted above her ; and I believe
there is scarcely any branch of Natural Histoi-y that has
had fewer British admirers. While Botany boasts of
myriads, she, though not her inferior either in beauty,
symmetry, or grace, has received the homage of a very
slender train indeed. Since therefore the merits of
Entomology have been so little acknowledged, you will
not deem it invidious if I advocate the cause of this di-
stressed damsel, and endeavour to effect her restoration
to her just rights, privileges, and rank.

Things that are universally obvious and easy of exa-
mination, as they are the first that fall under our no-
tice, so are they also most commonly those which we
first feel an inclination to study ; while, on the con-
trary, things that must be sought for in order to be
seen, and which when sought for avoid the approach
and inquiring eye of man, are often the last to which he
directs his attention. The vegetable kingdom stands
in the former predicament. Flora with a liberal hand
has scattered around u§ her charming productions j

INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 3

they every where meet and allure us, enchanting usby>
their beauty, regaling- us by their fragrance, and in-
teresting us as much by their subservience to our luxu-
ries and comfort, as to tlie necessary support and well-
being of our life. Beasts, birds, and fishes also, in
some one or other of these respects, attract our notice ;
but insects, unfortunate insects, are so far from attract-
ing us, that we are accustomed to abhor them from our
childhood. The first knowledge that we get of them is
as tormentors ; they are usually pointed out to us by
those about us as ugly, filthy, ajid noxious creatures ;
and the whole insect world, butterflies perhaps and
some few others excepted, are devoted by one universal
ban to proscription and execration, as fit only to be
trodden under our feet and crushed : so that often, be-
fore we can persuade ourselves to study them, we have
to remove from our minds prejudices deeply rooted and
of long standing.

Another principal renson which has contributed to
keep Entomology in the back ground arises from tlie
diminutive size of the objects of Avhich it treats. Being
amongst the most minute of nature's productions, they
do not so readily catcli the eye of the observer ; and
when they do, mankind in general are so apt to estimate
the worth and importance of things by their bulk, that
because we usually measure them by the duodecimals
of an inch instead of by the foot or by the yard, insects
are deemed too insignificant parts of the creation, and
of too little consequence to its general welfare, to ren-
der them worthy of any serious attention or study.
What small foundation there is for such prejudices and
misconception, I shall endeavour to show in the course

b2

4. INTRODUCTORY LETTER.

of our future correspondence ; my object now, as the
champion and advocate of Entomology, is to point out
to you her comparative advantages, and to remove the
veil which has hitherto concealed those attractions, and
that grace and beauty, which entitle her to equal ad-
miration at least with her sister branches of Natural
History.

In estimating the comparative value of the study of
any department in this branch of science, we ought to
contrast it with others, as to the rank its objects hold in
the scale of being ; the amusement and instruction which
the student may derive from it ; and its utility to soci-
ety at large. With respect to public utility, the study
of each of the three kingdoms may perhaps be allowetl
to stand upon nearly an equal footing ; I shall not,
therefore, enter upon that subject till I come to con-
sider the question Cui bono? and to point out the uses
of Entomology, but confine myself now to the two first
of these circumstances.

As to rank, I must claim for the entomologist some
degree of precedence before the mineralogist and the
botanist. The mineral kingdom, whose objects are nei-
ther organized nor sentient, stands certainly at the foot
of the scale. Next above this is the vegetable, whose
lovely tribes, though not endued with sensation, are or-
ganized. In the last and highest place ranks the animal
World, consisting of beings that are both organized and
sentient. To this scale of precedence the great modern
luminary of Natural History, notwithstanding that Bo-
tany was always his favourite pursuit, has given hi«
sanction, acknowledging in the preface to his Fauna
Suecica, that although the vegetable kingdom isnobler

INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 5

than the mineral, yet the animal is more excellent than
the vegetable. Now it is an indisputable axiom, I
should think, that the more exalted the object the more
excellent the study. By this observation, however, I
would by no means be thought to depreciate or dis-
countenance the study either of plants or minerals. All
the works of our Creator are great, and worthy of our
attention and investigation, the lowest in the scale as
well as the highest, the most minute and feeble, as
well as those that exceed in magnitude and might. Nor
ought those whose inclination or genius leads them to
one department, to say to those who prefer another—
*' we have no need of you" — for each in his place, by
diffusing the knowledge of his works and adding to the
stock of previous discoveries, contributes to promote
the glory of the Great Architect of the universe and
the good of his creatures.

It is not my wish to claim for my favourite science
more than of right belongs to her; therefore, when the
question is concerning rank, I must concede to the
higher orders of animals, I mean Fishes, Amphibia,
Birds, and Quadrupeds, their due priority and prece-
dence. I shall only observe here, that there may exist
circumstances which countervail rank, and tend to ren-
der the study of a lower order of beings more desirable
than that of a higher : when, for instance, the objects
of the higher study are not to be come at or preserved
without great difficulty and expense ; when they are
few in number ; or, when they are already well ascer-
tained and known : circumstances which attach to the
study of those animals that precede insects, while they
do not attach to the study of insects themselves.

O INTRODUCTORY LETTER.

With regard to the amusement and instruction of the
student, much doubtless may be derived from any one
of the sciences alluded to : but Entomology certainly is
not behind any of her sisters in these respects ; and if you
are fond of novelty, and anxious to make new discove-
ries, she will open to you a more ample field for these
than either Botany or the higher branches of Zoology.

A new animal or plant is seldom to be met with even
by those who have leisure and opportunity for exten-
sive researches ; but if you collect insects you will find,
however limited the manor upon which you can pursue
your game, that your efforts are often rewarded by the
capture of some non-descript or rarity at present not
possessed by other entomologists, for I have seldom seen
a cabinet so meager as not to possess some unique spe-
cimen. Nay, though you may have searched every spot
in your neighbourhood this year, turned over every
stone, shaken every bush or tree, and fished every pool,
you will not have exhausted its insect productions. Do
the same another and another, and new treasures will
still continue to enrich your cabinet. If you leave your
own vicinity for an entomological excursion, your pro-
spects of success are still further increased ; and even
if confined in bad weather to your inn, the windows of
your apartment, as I have often experienced, will add
to your stock. If a sudden shower obliges you at any
time to seek shelter under a tree, your attention will
bd attracted, and the tedium of your station relieved,
■where the botanist could not hope to find even a new '
lichen or moss, by the appearance of several insects,
(driven there perhaps by the same cause as yourself,
th3,t you have not observed before. Should you, as X

INTRODUCTORY LETTRR, 7

trust you will, feel a desire to attend to the manners
and economy of insects,and become ambitious of making
discoveries in this part of entomological science, I can
assure you, from long experience, that you will here
find an inexhaustible fund of novelty. For more than
twenty years my attention has been directed to them,
and during most of my summer walks my eyes have
been employed in observing- their ways ; yet I can say
with truth, that so far from having exhausted the sub-
ject, within the last six months I have witnessed more
interesting facts respecting their history than in many
preceding y^ars. To follow only the insects that fre-
quent your own garden, from their first to their last
state, and to trace all their proceedings, would supply
an interesting amusement for the remainder of your
life, and at its close you would leave much to be done
by your successor ; for where we know thoroughly the
history of one insect, there are hundreds concerning
which we have ascertained little besides the bare fact
of their existence.

But numerous other sources of pleasure and informa-
tion will open themselves to you, not inferior to what
any other science can furnish, when you enter more
deeply into the study. Insects, indeed, appear to have
been nature's favourite productions, in which, to mani-
fest her power and skill, she has combined and concen-
trated almost all that is either beautiful and graceful,
interesting and alluring, or curious and singular, in
every other class and order of her children. To these,
her valued miniatures, she has given the most delicate
touch and highest finish of her pencil. Numbers she has
armed with glittering mail, which reflects a livstre like

8 INTRODUCTORY LETTER.

that of burnished metals '^; in others she lights up the
dazzling radiance of polished gems'". Some she has
decked with what looks like liquid drops, or plates of
gold and silver*^; or with scales or pile, which mimic
the colour and emit the ray of the same precious me-
tals^. Some exhibit a rude exterior, like stones in their
native state ^, while others represent their smooth and
shining face after they have been submitted to the tool
of the polisher : others, again, like so many pygmy At-
lases bearing on their backs a microcosm, by the rug-
ged and various elevations and depressions of their tu-
berculated crust, present to the eye of the beholder no
unapt imitation of the unequal surface of the earth, now
horrid with mis-shapen rocks, ridges, and precipices —
now swelling into hills and mountains, and now sinking
into valleys, glens, and caves ^; while not a few are co-
vered with branching spines, which fancy may form
into a forest of trees ^,

What numbers vie with the charming offspring of
Flora in various beauties ! some in the delicacy and
variety of their colours, colours not like those of flowers
evanescent and fugitive, but fixed and durable, survi-
ving their subject, and adorning it as much after death
as they did when it was alive ; others, again, in the
veining and texture of their wings; and others in the
rich cottony down that clothes them. To such perfec-
tion, indeed, has nature in them carried her mimetic art,

a The Genera Eumolpus, F. Lamprima, Latr. Rynchites, Herbst.

b A non-descript RynchcEnus, F. from Brazil.

e Haperia Cipido, F. PapUio Passijlorcp, Lathonia, L. &c.

A Pepsis /w<i-ipetinii, argentata, F, &C. « The species of the genus Trox, P,

f Many of the ScaralxeidcB, g Roaiua. v. t, 12,/. 7, 8^14,

INTRODtJCTORY LETTER. 9

that you would declare, upon beholding some insects,
that they had robbed the trees of their leaves to form
for themselves artificial wings, so exactly do they re->
semble tliem in their form, substance, and vascular
structure ; some representing green leaves, and others
those that are dry and withered*. Nay, sometimes
this mimicry is so exquisite, that you would mistake the
whole insect for a portion of the branching spray of a
tree''. No mean beauty in some plants arises from the
fluting and punctation of their stems and leaves, and
a similar ornament conspicuously distinguishes nume"
rous insects, which also imitate with multiform variety,
as may particularly be seen in the caterpillars of many
>^pecies of the butterfly tribe {Papilionidce)^ the spines
and prickles which are given as a Noli me tarigere ar-»
mour to several vegetable productions.

In fishes the lucid scales of varied hue that cover
and defend them are universally admired, and esteemed
their peculiar ornament; but place a butterfly's wing
under a microscope, that avenue to unseen glories in
new worlds, and you will discover that nature has en-
dowed the most numerous of the insect tribes with the
same privilege, multiplying in them the forms'^, and
diversifying the colouring of this kind of clothing be-
yond all parallel. The rich and velvet tints of the
plumage of birds are not superior to what the curious
observer may discover in a variety o^ Lepidoptera ; and
those many-coloured eyes which deck so gloriously the
peacock's tail are imitated with success by one of our

a Various species of the genera Locusta and Mantis, F.

b Many species of Phasma, c De Geer, I, t. 3. /. 1—34, &c.

10 INTRODUCTORY LETTER,

most common butterflies*. Feathers are thou.'jht to
be peculiar to birds ; but insects often imitate them
in their antennae'', win^*^, and even sometimes in the
covering of their bodies '\ — We admire with reason the
coats of quadrupeds, whether their skins ]>e covered
with pile^ or wool, or fur, yet are not perhaps aware
that a vast variety of insects are clotlied with ail these
kinds of hair, but infinitely finer and more silky in tex-
ture, more brilliant and delicate in colour, and more
vanously shaded than what any other animals can pre-
tend to.

In variegation insects certainly exceed every other
class of animated beings. Nature, in her sportive mood,
when painting them, sometimes imitates the clouds of
heaven ; at others, the meandring course of the rivers
of the earth, or the undulations of their waters : many
ere veined like beautiful marbles; others have the
semblance of a robe of the finest net- work thrown over
them ; some she blazons with heraldic insignia, giving
tliem to bear in fields sable — azure — vert — gules — ar-
gent and or, fesses — bars — bends — crosses — crescents
— stars, and even animals'". On many, taking her rule
and compasses, she draws with precision mathematical
figures; points, lines, angles, triangles'^, squares, and
circles. On others she pourtrays, with mystic hand,
what seem like hieroglyphic symbols, or inscribes them
with the characters and letters of various languages,
often very correctly formed^; and what is more extra^

a Papilio lo, L. t> Culex, L. Chironomxts, Meig. and

other TipulidtE. c PterophoniSy F.

d Hairs of many of the Jpidce. Mon.Ap.Ang. I. /. 10, **cl. l./.l. b.

« Plinus imperialis, L. f Tnchius delta, F.

E PrioHUS iongimanus, F. Papilio C. album, L. Bjmbyx 4') Nodua y, F,

INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 11

ordinary, she has registered in others figures which
correspond with several dates of the Christian era^.

Nor has nature been lavish only in the apparel and
ornament of these privileged tribes ; in other respects
she has been equally unsparing of her favours. To
some she has given fins liiie those of fish, or a beak
resembling that of birds'' ; to others horns, nearly the
counterparts of those of various quadrupeds. The
bull% the stag'\ the rhinoceros'", and even the hitherto
vainly sought for unicorn *^, have in this respect many re-
presentatives amongst insects. One is armed with tusks
not unlike those of the elephant'; another is bristled
with spines, as the porcupine and hedge-hog with
quills'"; a third is an armadillo in miniature; the dis-
proportioned hind legs of the kangaroo give a most
grotesque appearance to a fourth'; and the threaten-
ing head of* the snake is found in a fifth''. It would,
however, be endless to protluce all the instances which
occur of such imitations ; and I shall only remark that,
generally speaking, these arms and instruments in
structure and finishing far exceed those which they^
resemble.

But further, insects not only mimic, in a manner in-
finitely various, every thing in nature, they may also
with very little violence be regarded as symbolical of
beings out of and above nature. The butterfly, adorned

a On the underside of the primary wings near the margin in Papili«
Iglaia, Lathonia, Silene, &c. b Empis, f . Asilm, L.

c Copris Taurus, F. d Lucanus Cervut, L.

e Oryctes, Latr, f Geuirupcs Htrcules,F.

S Melitta spinigera, Kirby. h Hispa, L,

f Cclonia macropw^, Mus. Francil!. t Raphidia ophiopsis, h.

12 INTllODUCTORY LETTER.

with every beauty and every g^race, borne by radiant
wings through the fields of fether, and extracting nec-
tar from every flower, gives us some idea of the bless-
ed inhabitants of happier worlds, of angels, and of the
spirits of the just arrived at their state of perfection.
Again, other insects seem emblematical of a different
class of unearthly beings : when we behold some tre-
mendous for the numerous horns and spines projecting
in horrid array from their head or shoulders ; — others
for their threatening jaws of fearful length, and armed
with cruel fangs : when we survey the dismal hue and
demoniac air that distinguish others, the dens of dark-
ness in which they live, the impurity of their food,
their predatory habits and cruelty, the nets which
they spread, and the pits which they sink to entrap the
unwary, we can scarcely help regarding them as aptly
symbolizing evil demons, the enemies of man, or of im-
pure spirits for their vices and crimes driven from the
regions of light into darkness and punishment^.

The sight indeed of a well-stored cabinet of insects
will bring before every beholder not conversant with
them, forms in endless variety, which before he would
not have thought it possible could exist in nature, re-
sembling nothing that the other departments of the
animal kingdom exhibit, and exceeding even the wild-
est fictions of the most fertile imaginations. Besides
prototypes of beauty and symmetry, there in miniature
he will be amused to survey (for the most horrible
creatures when deprived of the power of injury become

a This idea seems to have been present to the mind of Linne and Fa-
bricius, when they gave to insects such names as Beliebub, Belial^ Titans
Tijpkon, Ninuod, Geryon, and tlie like.

INTKODTJCTORY LETTERii 13

Rources of interest and objects of curiosity), to use the
words of our great poet,

all prodigious things

Abominable, unutterable, and worse

Than fables yet have feign'd, or fear conceiv'd,

Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chiraaeras dire.

But the pleasures of a student of the science to which
I am desirous of introducing you, are far from being
confined to such as result from an examination of the
exterior form and decorations of insects; for could
these, endless as they seem, be exhausted, or, wonder-
ful as they are, lose their interest, yet new sourcesj
exuberant in amusement and instruction, may be open-
ed, which will furnish an almost infinite fund for his
curiosity to draw upon. The striking peculiarity and
variety of structure which they exhibit in their instru»
ments of nutrition, motion, and oviposition, in their
organs of sensation, generation, and the great fountains
of vitality, indeed their whole system, anatomically
considered, will open a world of wonders to you with
which you will not soon be satiated, and during ycuir
survey of which you will at every step feel disposed t6
exclaim with the Roman naturalist — '" In these being^
so minute, and as it were such non-entities, what wis;,
dom is dis-played, what power, what unfathomable per-
fection^!" But even this will not bring you to thfe
end of your pleasures : you must leave the dead to visit
the living ; you must behold insects when full of lif&
and activity, engaged in their several employment?,

• Plin. ffisf. »r.(f.l. ll.c.g.

14r INTRObUCiaRY LETTEIT.

practising their various arts, pursuing their artioar^*
and preparing habitations for their progeny : you must
notice the laying and kind of their eggii, their wonder-
ful metamorphoses ; their instincts, whether tKey be
solitary or gregarious, and the other miracles of their
history — all of which w ill open to you a richer mine of
amusement and instruction, I speak it without hesita-
tion, than any other departuient of Natural History can
furnish. A minute enumeration of these particulars
would be here misplaced, and only forestall what will
be detailed more at large hereafter : but a rapid glance
at a very few of the most remarkable of them, may serve
as a stimulus to excite your curiosity, and induce you
to enter with greater eagerness into the wide field to
which I shall conduct you.

The lord of the creation plumes himself upon his
powers of invention, and is proud to enumerate the vari-
ous useful arts and machines to which they have given
birth, not aware that " He who teacheth man know-
ledge"has instructed these despised insects to anticipate
him in many of them. The builders of Babel doubtless?
thought their invention of turning earth into artificial
stone, a very happy discovery^; yet a little bee*' had
practised this art, using indeed a different process, on
a small scale, and the white ants on a large one, ever
since the world began. Man thinks that he stands un-
rivalled as an architect, and that his buildings are with-
out a parallel among the w orks of the inferior orders
of animals. He would be of a different opinion did
he attend to the history of insects : he would find that

a. Gen. xi. 3. b Slegachile wuraria, Latr.

INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 15

many of them have been architects from time imme-
morial ; tliat they have had their ho'L;.ses divided into
various apartments, and containing staircases, gigan-
tic arches, domes, colonnades, and the like; nay, that
even tunnels are excavated by them so immense, com-
pared with their own size, as to be t\^ elve times big£;er
than that projected by Mr. Dodd to be carried under
the Tiiames at Gravesend^. The modern fine lady,
who prides herself on the Ir.stre and beauty of the scar-
let hangings winch adorn the stately walls of her draw-
ing-r^om, or the carpets tlmt cover its floor, fancying
that nothing so riclj and splendid was ever seen before,
and pitying her vulgar ancestors, who v.'ere doomed to
unsightly white-wash and rushes, is ignorant all the
while, that before she or her ancestors were in exist-
ence, and even before the boasted Tyrian dye was dis-
covered, a little insect had known how to hang the m alls
of its cell with tapestry of a scarlet more brilliant than
any her rooms can exhibit*', and that others daily
weave silken carpets, both in tissue and texture infi-
nitely superior to those she so much admires. Other
arts have been equally forestalled by these creatures.
What vast importance is attached to the invention of
paper! For near six thousand years one of our com-
monest insects has known how to make and apply it to
its purposes'^; and even pasteboard, superior in sub-
stance and polish to any we can produce, is manufiic-
tured by another''. We imagine that nothing short of
human intelkct can be equal to the construction of a

a The while aiits. b Megachile Papaveris, I.a'r,

c Tlie tomraoi) wusp. d Polisiei mdulans, Latr.

16 INTRODtrCTORY tETTER*

diving-bell or an air-pump — yet a spider is in the daily
habit of using the one, and, what is more, one exactly
similar in principle to ours, but more ingeniously con-
trived ; by means of which she resides unwetted in the
bosom of the v/ater, and procures the necessary sup-
plies of air by a much more simple process than our
alternating buckets^ — and the caterpillar of a little
moth knows how to imitate the other, producing a va-
cuum, when necessary for its purposes, without any
piston besides its own body*". If we think with won-
der of the populous cities which have employed the
united labours of man for many ages to bring them to
their full extent, what shall we say to the white ants,
which require only a few months to build a metropolis
capable of containing an infinitely greater number of
inhabitants than even imperial Nineveh, Babylon,
Rome, or Pekin, in all their glory ?

That insects should thus have forestalled us in our
inventions, ought to urge us to pay a closer attention
to them and their ways than we have hitherto done,
since it is not at all improbable that the result Would
be many useful hints for the improvement of our arts
and manufactures, and perhaps for some beneficial dis-
coveries. The painter might thus probably be fur-
nished with more brilliant pigments, the dyer with
more delicate tints, and the artisan with a new and
improved set of tools. In this last respect insects de-
sei've particular notice. All their operations are per-
formed with admirable precision and dexterity ; and
though they do not usually vary the mode, yet that

' a Aranea aquatica, L. b Phalcena Tinea serratella,h.

INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 17

mode is always the best that can be conceived for at-
taining the end in view. The instruments also with
which they are provided are no less wonderful and va-
rious than the operations themselves. They have their
saws, and files, and augers, and gimlets, and knives,
and lancets, and scissors, and forceps, with many other
similar implements ; several of which act in more than
one capacity, and with a complex and alternate mo-
tion to which we have not yet attained in the use of our
tools. Nor is the fact so extraordinary as it may seem
at first, since "He who is wise in heart and wonderful
in working" is the inventor and fabricator of the ap-
paratus of insects ; which may be considered as a set
of miniature patterns drawn for our use by a Divine
hand. I shall hereafter give you a more detailed ac-
count of some of the most striking of these instruments ;
and if you study insects in this view, you will be well
repaid for all the labour and attention you bestow upon
them.

But a more important species of instruction than any
hitherto enumerated may be derived from entomologi-
cal pursuits. If we attend to the history and manners
of insects, they will furnish us with many useful les-
sons in Ethics, and from tliem we may learn to improve
ourselves in various virtues. We have indeed the in-
spired authority of the w'sest of mankind for studying
them in this view, since he himself wrote a treatise upon
them, and sends his sluggard to one for a lesson of wis-
dom ^. And if we value diligence and indefatigable in-
dustry; judgement, prudence, and foresight; economy
and frugality; if we look upon modesty and diffidence

a 1 Kings iv. 33. Prov. vi. 6— 8.
VOL. I. C

]8 INTRODUCtOllY tETTEK«

as female ornaments; if we revere parental affection—
of all these, and many more virtues, insects in their va-
rious instincts exhibit several striking examples, as you
will see in the course of our Correspondence.

With respect to religious instruction insects are far
from unprofitable! indeed in if his view Entomology
seems to possess peculiar advantlages above every other
branch of Natural History. In the larger animals,
though we admire the consummate art and wisdom
manifested in their structure, and adore that Almighty
power and goodness which by a wonderful machinery,
kept in motion by the constant action and re-action of
the great positive and negative powers of Nature, main-
tains in full force the circulations necessary to life, per-
ception, and enjoyment ; yet as there seems no dispro-
portion between the objects and the different operations
that are going on in them, and we see that they afford
•sufficient space for the play of their systems, we do not
experience the same sensations of wonder and astonish-
ment that strike us when we behold similar operations
carried on without interruption in animals scarcely vi-
sible to the naked eye. That creatures, which in the
scale of being are next to non-entities, should be ela-
borated with so much art and contrivance, have such a
number of parts botli internal and external, all so highly
finished and each so nicely calculated to answer its end ;
that they should include in this evanescent form such a
variety of organs of perception and instruments of mo-
tion, exceeding in number and peculiarity of structure
those of other animals ; that their nervous and respi-
ratory systems should be so complex, their secretory
and digestive vessels so various and singular, their parts

iNTRODlTCTOUY LETTERi 19

bf generation so clearly developed, and that these
minims of nature should be endowed with instincts in
many cases superior to all our boasted powers of in-
tellect— truly these wonders and miracles declare to
every one who attends to the subject, " The hand that
made us is divine." We are the work of a Being infi-
nite in power, in wisdom, and in goodness.

But no religious doctrine is more strongly establshedi
by the history of insects than that of a superintending
Providence. That of the innumerable species of these
beings, many of them beyond conception fragile and
exposed to dangers and enemies without end, no link
should be lost from the chain, but all be maintained
in those relative proportions necessary for the general
good of the system ; that if one species for a while pre-
ponderate, and instead of preserving seem to destroy,
yet counterchecks should at the same time be provided
to reduce it within its due limits ; and further, that the
operations of insects should be so directed and over-
ruled as to effect the purposes for which they were
created and never exceed their commission : nothing
can furnish a stronger proof than this, that an unseen
hand holds the reins, now permitting one to prevail and
now another, as shall best promote certain wise ends;
and saying to each, " Hitherto shalt thou come and no
further."

So complex is this mundane system, and so incessant
the conflict between its component parts, an observa-
tion which holds good particularly with regard to in-
sects, that if instead of being under such control it were
left to the agency of blind chance, the whole must in-
evitably soon be deranged and go to ruin. Insects, i^

20 INTROOUCTORY LETTER. ,

truth, are a book in which whoever reads under proper
impressions cannot avoid looking from the cause to the
effect, and acknowledging- his eternal power and god-
head thus wonderfully displayed and irrefragably de-
monstrated : and whoever beholds these works with the
eyes of the body, must be blind indeed if he cannot, and
perverse indeed if he will not, with the eye of the soul
behold in all hss glory the Almighty Workman, and
feel disposed, with every power of his nature, to praise
and magnify

*'Hini first, llimlast. Him midst. Him without end."

And now having led you to the vestibule of an august
temple, which in its inmost sanctuary exhibits enshrined
in glory the symbols of the Divine Presence, I should
invite you to enter and give a tongue to the Hallelu-
jahs, which every creature in its place, by working his
will with all its faculties, pours forth to its great Crea-
tor ; but I must first endeavour to remove, as I trust I
shall effectually, those objections to the study of these
interesting beings which I alluded to in the outset
of this letter, and this shall be the aim of my next
address.

I am, &c.

LETTER II.

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

In my last I gave you a general view of the science
of Entomology, and endeavoured to prove to you
that it possesses attractions and beauty sufficient to
reward any student who may profess himself its vo-
tary. I am now to consider it in a less alluring light,
as a pursuit attended by no small degree of obloq^iiy,
in consequence of certain objections thought to be
urged with great force against it. To obviate these,
and remove every scruple from your mind, shall be the
business of the present letter.

Two principal objections are usually alleged with
great confidence against the study and pursuit of in-
sects. By some they are derided as trifling and un-
important, and deemed an egregious waste of time
and talents ; by others they are reprobated as unfeel-
ing and cruel, and as tending to harden the heart.

I. I shall begin with the first of these objections
— that the entomologist is a mere trifler. As for the
silly outcry and abuse of the ignorant vulgar, who
are always ready to laugh at what they do not un-
derstand, and because insects are minute objects con-
clude that the study of them must be a childish pur-
suit, I shall not waste words upon what I so cor-
dially despise. But since even learned men and phi-

22^ OBJECTIONS ANSWERED,

losophers, from a partial and prejudiced view of tlie
subject, having recourse to this common-place logic,
are sometimes disposed to regard all inquiry into these
minutisB of nature as useless and idle, and the mark
of a little mind; to remove such prejudice and mis-;
conceptions I shall now dilate somew hat upon the subr
ject of Cui bono ?

When we see many wise and learned men pay at-
tention to any particular department of science, we
piay naturally conclude that it is on account of some
profit and instruction which they foresee may be de-
rived from it; and therefore in defending Entomology
I shall first have recourse to the Argumentum ad ve^
recundiam, and mention the great names that have
cultivated or recommended it.

We may begin the list v/ith the first man that ever
lived upon tile earth, for we are told that he gave a,
name to every living creature *, amongst which insects
must be included ; and to give an appvopriate name ta
an object necessarily requires some knowledge of its
distinguishing properties. Indeed one of the principal
pleasures and employments of the paradisiacal state
was probably the study of the various works of crea--
lion ''. Before the fall the book of nature was the Bible
of man, in which he could read the perfections and at-?
tributes of the invisible Godhead'', and in it, as in a
mirror, behold an image of the things of the spiritual
world. Moses also appears to have been conversant
with our little animals, and to have studied them with
some attention. This he has shown, not only by being
aware of the distinctions which separate the Gr^/lidce

a Gen. ii> 19, b Linn. Fn. Succ. Prjpf. c Rotus i. 19, 20.

OftJlCTtONS ANSWEttEO. 83

(Giyllits L.) into different genera% hiit also by no-
ticing the different direction of the two anterior from
the four posterior legs of insects; for, as he speaks of
them as going upon four legs'", it is evident that he
considered the two anterior as arms. Solomon, the
wisest of mankind, made Natural History a peculiar
object of study, and left treatises behind him upon its
various branches, in which creeping things or insects
were not overlooked*^; and a wiser than Solomon di-
rects our attention to natural productions, when he
bids us consider the lilies of the field "^j teaching us that
they are more worthy of our notice than the most glo-
rious works of man : he also not obscurely intimates
that insects are symbolical beings, when he speaks of
scorpions as synonymous with evil spirits'^; thus giving
into our liands a clue for a more profitable mode of
studying them, as furnishing moral and spiritual in-
struction.

If to these scriptural authorities we add those of
uninspired writers, ancient and modern, the names of
many worthies, celebrated both for wisdom and virtue,
may be produced. Aristotle among the Greeks, and
Pliny the elder among the Romans, may be denomi-
nated the fathers of Natural History, as well as the
greatest philosophers of their day ; yet both these made
insects a principal object of their attention : and in
more recent times, if we look abroad, what names
greater than those of Hedi, Malpighi, Vailisnieri,
Swammerdam, Leeuwenhoek, Reaumur, Linnc, De

a Levit. ,\i.21,22. Lichtenstein in Linn. Trans, iv. 51,5?.
b Levit. xi. 20. conf. Bochart. Ilicrozoic, it. 1. 4. c. 9. 497'«8.
c 1 Kings iv. S3, d LuHe xii. 27. e ibid. x. 19, 20,

24 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

Geer, Bonnet, and the Hubers ? and at home, what
pliilosophers have done more honour to their country
and to human nature than Ray, Willughby, Lister,
and Derham ? Yet all these made the study of insects
one of their most favourite pursuits ; and, as if to prove
that this study is not incompatible with the highest
flights of genius, we can add to the list the name of one
of the most sublime of our poets, Gray, who was very
zealously devoted to Entomology. As far therefore
as names have weight, the above enumeration seems
sufficient to shelter the votaries of this pleasing science
from the charge of folly.

But we do not wish to rest our defence upon autho-
rities alone ; let the voice of reason be heard, and our
justification will be complete. The entomologist, or,
to speak more generally, the naturalist (for on this
question of Cui bono? every student in all departments
of Natural History is concerned), if the following con-
siderations be allowed their due weight, may claim a
much higher station amongst the learned than has hi-
therto been conceded to him.

There are two principal avenues to knowledge —
the study of words and the study of things. Skill in
the learned languages being often necessary to enable
us to acquire knowledge in the former way, is usually
considered as knowledge itself; so that no one asks
Cui bono ? when a person devotes himself to the study
of verbal criticism, and employs his time in correcting
the errors that have crept into the text of an ancient
writer. Indeed it must be owned, though perhaps too
much stress is sometimes laid upon it, that this is very
useful to enable us to ascertain his true meaning. But

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 25

after all, words are but the arbitrary signs of ideas, and
have no value independent of tJiosc ideas, further than
what arises from congruity and l»arniony,the mind be-
ing dissatisfied when an idea is expressed by inade-
<|uate words, and the ear offended when their colloca-
tion is inharmonious. To account the mere knowledge
of words, therefore, as wisdom, is to mistake the cask
for the wine, and the casket for the gem. I say all this
because knowledge in words is often extolled beyond
its just merits, and put for all Avisdom, while kno-n -
ledge of things, especially of the productions of na-
ture, is derided as if it were mere folly. We should
recollect that God hath condescended to instruct us by
both these ways, and therefore neither of them should
be depreciated. He hath set before us his word and
his world. The former is the great avenue to truth
and knowledge by the study of words, and, as being the
immediate and authoritative revelation of his will, is
entitled to our principal attention ; the latter leads us
to the same conclusions, though less directly, by the
study of things, which stands next in rank to that of
God's word, and before that of any work of man. And
whether we direct our eyes to the planets rolling in
their orbits, and endeavour to trace the laws by which
they are guided through the vast of space, whether we
analyse those powers and agents by which all the ope-
rations of nature are performed, or whether we con-
sider the various productions of this our globe, from
the mighty cedar to the microscopic mucor — from the
giant elephant to the invisible mite, still we are study-
ing the works and wonders of our God. The book, to
wliatever page we turn, is written by the finger of hira

26 OtiJECTIONS ANSWERED.

who created us ; and in it, provided our minds be rightly
disposed, we may read his eternal verities. And the
more accurate and enlarged our knowledge of his
works, the better shall we be able to understand his
word ; and the more practised we are in his word, the
more readily shall we discern his truth in his works;
for, proceeding from the same great Author, they
must, when rightly interpreted, mutually explain and
illustrate each other.

Who then shall dare maintain, unless he has the har-
dihood to deny that God created them, that the study of
insects and their ways is trifling or unprofitable ? Were
they not arrayed in all their beauty, and surrounded
with all their wonders, and made so instrumental (as
I shall hereafter prove them to be) to our welfare, that
we might glorify and praise him for them ? Why were
insects made attractive, if not, as Ray well expresses
it, that they might ornament the universe and be de-
lightful objects of contemplation to man^? And is it
not clear, as Dr. Paley has observed, that the produce
tion of beauty Avas as much in the Creator's mind in
painting a butterfly or in studding a beetle, as in giv-
ing symmetry to the human frame, or graceful curves
to its muscular covering T And shall we think it be^
peath us to study what he hath not thought it beneath

a " Quaeri fortassc a nonmiUis potest, Quis Papilioiium iisus sit ? Re-e
si>ondeo, Ad ornatuin Universi, et lit liominibus spectaciilo sint : ad riira,
illustranda velut totbracteae iiiservientes. Quisenim eximiani eariim pul-
chrkiidinem et varietatcm contemplans inira voliiptafe non afficiatiir ?
Qiiis tot colornm et sehematum elegantias naturae ipsiiis ingenio excogi-
^tas et artifici jK'nicillo depictas curiosis oculis intuens,diviiia3 artis ves-
tigia (iis iraprcssa non agnoscat et mirctur? " Rui. HijC^Ins. 109,

b Na(. Tlicol. 213.

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 27

him to adorn and place on this great theatre of crea-
tion ? Nay, shall we extol those to tlie skies who bring
together at a vast expense the most valuable specimens
of the arts, the paintings and statues of Italy and
Greece, all of which, however beautiful, as works of
man, fall short of perfection ; and deride and upbraid
those who collect, for the purpose of admiring their
beauty, the finished and perfect chef-d'oeuvres of a
Divine artist? May we gaze with rapture unblamed
upon an Apollo of Belvedere, or Venus de Medicis, or
upon the exquisite paintings of a Raphael or a Titian,
and yet when we behold with ecstasy sculptures that
are produced by the chisel of the Almighty, and the
inimitable tints laid on by his pe^icil, because an in-
sect is the subject, be exposed to jeers and ridicule?

But there is another reason, which in the present
age renders the study of Natural History an object of
importance to every well-wisher to the cause of Reli-
gion, who is desirous of exerting his faculties in its de-
fence. For as enthusiasm and false religion have en-
deavoured to maintain their ground by a perversion of
the text of scripture, so also the patrons of infidelity
and atheism have laboured hard to establish their im-
piety by a perversion of the text of nature. To refiiter
the first of these adversaries of truth and sound reli-
gion, it is necessary to be well acquainted with the
zoord of God; to refute the second requires an inti-
mate knowledge of his works ; and no department can
furnish him with more powerful arguments of every
kind than the world of insects — every one of which
ci'ics out in an audible voice, There is a God — lie isf

28 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

Almighty, all-wise, all-good — his watchful providence
is ever, and every where, at work for the preservation
of all things.

But since mankind in general are too apt to look
chiefly at this world, and to regard things as impor-
tant or otherwise in proportion as they are connected
with sublunary interests, and promote our present
welfare, I shall proceed further to prove that the study
of insects may be productive of considerable utility,
even in this view, and may be regarded in some sort
as a necessary or at least a very useful concomitant of
many arts and sciences.

The importance of insects to us both as sources of
good or evil, I shall endeavour to prove at large here-
after; but for the present, taking this for granted, it
necessarily follows that the study of them must also be
important. For when we suffer from them, if we do
not knoAv the cause, how are we to apply a remedy
that may diminish or prevent their ravages ? Igno-
rance in this respect often occasions us to mistake our
enemies for our friends, and our friends for our ene-
mies ; so that when we think to do good we only do
harm, destroying the innocent and letting the guilty
escape. Many such instances have occurred. You
know the orange-coloured fly of the wheat (Tipula
Tritici, Kirby in Linn. Trans. Cecidotni/ia, Latr.), and
have read the account of the damage done by this little
insect to that important grain ; you are aware also that
it is given in charge to three little parasites to keep it
within due limits; yet at first it was the general opi-
nion of unscientific men, that these destroyers of our

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. S^

«»nemy were its parents, and the original source of all
<he mischiefs. Middleton, in his ^^Agriculture of Mid-
dlesex,'"' speaking- of the Aphis that is so injurious to
the bean, tells us that the lady-birds are supposed either
to generate or to feed upon them''. Had he been an
entomologist he would have been in no doubt whether
they were beneficial or injurious: on the contrary, he
would have recommended that they should be encou-
raged as friends to man, since no insects are greater
devourers of the Aplsides. The confounding of the
apple Aphis, that has done such extensive injury to
our orchards, with others, has led to proceedings still
more injurious. This is one of those species from the
skin of which transpires a white cottony secretion.
Some of the proprietors of orchards about Evesham,
observing an insect which secreted a similar substance
upon the poplar, imagined that from this tree the crea-
ture which they had found so noxious Avas generated ;
and in consequence of this mistaken notion cut down
all their poplars'^. The same indistinct ideas might
have induced them to fell all their larches and beeches,
since they also are infested by Aphides whicli transpire
a similar substance. Had these persons possessed any
entomological knowledge, they would liave examined
and compared tlie insects before they had formed their
opinions, and being convinced that the poplar and
apple Aphis are distinct species, would have saved
their trees.

But could an entomological observer even ascertain

a Kirby, in Liitn. Trans, iv. 232. 235. See also a letter signed C. ift
the Gent.yi^g. for August 1795. b P. 19?.

V Collet, in Mont/i. Mits. xx\ii. .320.

so OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

the species of any noxious insect, still in many cases,
without further information, he may fall short of his
purpose of prevention. Thus we are told that in Ger-
many the gardeners and country people, with great
industry, gather whole baskets full of the caterpillar
of the destructive cabbage moth (Nocfua Brassicce^
Fab.) and then bury them, which, as Roesel well ob-
serves % is just as if we should endeavour to kill a crab
by covering it with water ; for, many of them being full
grown and ready to pass into their next state, which
they do underground, instead of destroying them by
this manoeuvre, their appearing again the following
year in greater numbers is actually facilitated. Yet
this plan applied to our common cabbage caterpillar,
which does not go underground, w ould succeed. So
that some knowledge of the manners of an insect is
often requisite to enable us to check its ravages effec-
tually. With respect to noxious caterpillars in gene-
ral, agriculturists and gardeners are not usually aware
that the best mode of preventing tlieir attacks is to de-
stroy the female fly before she has laid her eggs, to do
which the moth proceeding from each must be first
ascertained. But if their research were carried still
further, so as to enable them to distinguish the pupa
and discover its haunts, and it would not be at all diffi-
cult to detect that of the greatest pest of our gardens,
the cabbage butterfly, the work might be still more ef-
fectually accomplished. Some larvae are polyphagous,
or feed upon a variety of plants ; amongst others that
of the yellow-tail moth {Bomht/x chrysorlioea^ F.) ; yet
gardeners think they have done enough if they destroy

a Roesel I. iv. 170.

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. Si

the Web'like nests which so often deform our fruit
trees, without suspecting- that new armies of assailants
will wander from those on other plants which they
have suffered to remain. Thus will thousands be pro-»
duced in the following season, which, had they known
how to distinguish them, might have been extirpated.
Another instance occurred to me last year, when walk-
ing with a gentleman in his estate at a village in York-
shire. Our attention was attracted by several circu-
lar patches of dead grass, each having a stick with rags
suspended to it, placed in the centre. I at once dis-
cerned that the larva of the cock-chafer had eaten the
roots of the grass, which being pulled up by the rooks
that devour this mischievous grub, these birds had
been mistaken by the tenant for the cause of the evil,
and the rags were placed to frighten away his best
friends. On inquiry why he had set up these sticks, he
replied, "He could n't beer to see'd nasty craws pull
up aird gess, and sae he'd set'd bairns to hing up some
aud clouts to day 'em away. Gin he'd letten 'em alean
they'd sean hev reated up all'd close." Nor could I
convince him by all that I could say, that the rooks
were not the cause of the evil. Even philosophers
sometimes fall into gross mistakes from this species of
ignorance. Dr. Darwin has observed, that destroying
the beautiful but injurious wood-peckers is the only
alternative for preventing the injury they do to our
forest-trees by boring into them ^ ; not being aware
tliat they bore only those trees which insects have prer
viously attacked, and that they diminish very considera-
bly the number of such as are prejudicial to our forests^

a riiyl gloria, b\S.

32 OBJECTIONS AXSWERED.

From these facts it is sufficiently evident that ento-*
mological knowledge is necessary both to prevent fatal
mistakes, and to enable us to check with effect the ra-
vages of insects. But ignorance in this respect is not
only unfit to remedy the evil; on the contrary, it may
often be regarded as its cause. A large proportion of
the most noxious insects in every country are not indi-
genous, but have been imported. It was thus that the
moth {Tinea MelloneUa) so destructive in bee-hives,
and the asparagus beetle {Taenia As'paragi^ F.) were
made denizens of Sweden'*. The insect that has de-
stroyed all the peach-trees in St. Helena was imported
from the Cape : and at home (not to mention bugs and
cock-roaches) the great pest of our orchards, before
mentioned, the apple Aphis, there is good reason to
believe, was introduced with some foreign apple-trees.
Now, extensive as is our commerce, it is next to im-
possible, by any precautions, to prevent the importa-
tion of these noxious agents. A cargo, or even a sam-
ple, of peas from North America might present us with
that ravager of pulse, the pea-beetle (BruchusPisi, L.);
or the famed Hessian fly, which some years ago caused
such trepidation inour cabinet, might be conveyed here
in a ship-load of wheat. Leeuwenhoek's wolf ( Tinea
granella, F.) might visit us, in a similar conveyance,
from Holland or France, But though introduced, were
Entomology a more general pursuit, their presence
would-'soon be detected, and the evil at once nipt in
the bud ; whereas in a country where this science was
not at all or little cultivated, they would most proba-
bly have increased to such an extent before they at-

&Fn. Suec. 567, 1383.

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 33,

Irafcted notice, that every effort to extirpate them would
be ineffectual.

It is needless to insist upon the importance of the
study of insects, as calculated to throw light upon some
of the obscurest points of general physiology ; nor
would it be difficult, though the task might be invi-
dious, to point out how grossly incorrect and deficient
are many of the speculations of our most eminent phi-
losophers, solely from their ignorance of this import-
ant branch of Natural History. How little qualified
would that physiologist be to reason conclusively up-
on the mysterious subject of generation, who should
be ignorant of the wonderful and unlooked-for fact,
brought to light by the investigations of an entomolo-
gistj that one sexual intercourse is sufficient to fertilize
the eggs of numerous generations of Aphides ! And
how defective would be all our reasonings on the pow-
ers of nutrition and secretion, had we yet to learn that
in insects both are in action unaccompanied by the cir-
culating system and glands of larger animals!

In another point of view entomological information
is very useful. A great deal of unnecessary mischief
is produced, and unnecessary uneasiness occasioned, by
what are called vulgar errors, and that superstitious
reliance upon charms, which prevents us from having
recourse to remedies that are really efficacious. Thus,
for instance, eating figs and sweet things has been si>p-
posed to generate lice^. Nine larvae of the moth of
the wild teasel inclosed in a reed or goose quill have .
been reckoned a remedy for ague *•. Matthiolus grave^
ly affirms that every oak-gall contains either a fly, a

a Amoreuxi 276. b Rai. Cut. i^nt. 45. llht, Ins, Sih

VOL. I, D

34 OBJECTIOWS ANSWERED.

spider, or a worm, and that the first foretells war, th«
second pestilence, and the third famine ^ In Sweden
the peasants look upon the grub of the cock-chafer iis
furnishing an unfailing prognostic whether the ensuing
winter will be mild or severe : if the animal have a
blueish hue (a circumstance which arises from its being
replete with food) they affirm it will be mild, but on
the contrary if it be white the weather will be severe :
and they carry this so far as to foretell, that if the an-
terior part be white and the posterior blue, the cold
will be most severe at the beginning of the winter.
Hence they call this grub Bemcirkelse-mask, or pro-
gnostic worm**. A similar augury as to the harvest is
drawn by the Danish peasants from the Acari which
infest the common dung beetle (Scarahceus stercorarms,
Ij.)j called in Danish Skarnbosse or Torbist. If there
are many of these mites between the fore feet, they be-
lieve that there will be an early harvest, but a late one
if they abound between the hind feet*^. The appear-
ance of the death's head moth {Sphinx Atropos, L.)
has in some countries produced the most violent alarm
and trepidation amongst the people, who, because it
emits a plaintive sound, and is marked with what looks
like a death's head upon its back, regarded it as the
messenger of pestilence and death *^. We learn from
Linne that a similar superstition, built upon the black
hue and strange aspect of that beetle, prevails in Swe-
den with respect to Blaps mortisaga, L.®; and in Bar-

a. Comment, in Dioscor. 1. 1. c.23. 214- Lesser, i. ii. 280.

to De Geer, iv. 275-6.

c Detharding de Insectis Coleopteris Danicis, 9.

d Reaum. ii. 289-90. e Faun, Suec 822.

OBJECTIONS ANS^rERED. S5

1)ac!oes, according to Hughes, the ignorant deem the
appearance of a certain grasshopper in their houses
as a sure presage of illness to some of the family '^.

One would not think that the excrements of insects
could be objects of terror, yet so it has ])een. Many
species of Lepidoptera, when they emerge from the
pupa state, discharge from their anus a reddish fluid,
which, in some instances, where their nvmibers have
been considerable, has produced the appearance of a
shower of blood ; and by this natural fact, all those
bloody showers, recorded by historians as preterna-
tural, and regarded where they happened as fearful
prognostics of impending evils, are stripped of their
terrors, and reduced to the class of events that happen
in the common course of nature. That insects are the
cause of these showers is no recent discovery ; for
Sleidan relates that in the year 1553 a vast multitude
of butterflies swarmed through a great part of Ger-
many, and sprinkled plants, leaves, buildings, clothes,
and men, with bloody drops, as if it had rained blood''.
But the most interesting account of an event of this
kind is given by Reaumur, from whom we learn that
in the beginning of July 1608 the suburbs of Aix, and
a considerable extent of country round it, were cover-
ed with what appeared to be a shower of blood. We
ni^y conceive the amazement and stupor of the popu-
lace upon such a discovery, the alarm of the citizens,
the grave reasonings of the learned. All agreed how-
ever in attributing this appearance to the powers of
darkness, and in regarding it as the prognostic and
precursor of some direful misfortune about to befal

a Nat, Hist, of Barbad. 85. b Quoted in Mouffet, 107.

d2

30 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

them. Pear and prejudice Avould have taken deep
root upon this occasion, and might have produced fatal
effects upon some weak minds, had not M. Peiresc, a
celebrated philosopher of that place, paid attention to
insects. A chrysalis, which he preserved in his cabi-
net, let him into the secret of this mysterious shower.
Hearing a fluttering, which informed him his insect
was arrived at its perfect state, he opened the box in
which he kept it. The animal flew out and left behind
it a red spot* He compared this with the spots of the
bloody shower, and found they were alike. At the
same time he observed there was a prodigious quan-
tity of butterflies flying about, and that the drops of
the miraculous rain were not to be found upon the
tiles, nor even upon the upper surface of the stones,
but chiefly in cavities and places where rain could not
easily come. Thus did this judicious observer dispel
the ignorant fears and terror which a natural pheno-
menon had caused*.

The same author relates an instance of the gardener
of a gentleman being thrown into a horrible fright by-
digging some of the curious cases, which I shall here-
after describe to you, of the leaf-cutter bees, and which
he conceived to be the effect of witchcraft portending
some terrible misfortune. By the advice of the priest
of the parish he even took a journey from Rouen to
Paris, to show them to his master : but he, happily
having more sense than the man, carried them to M.
Nollet, an eminent naturalist, who having seen simi-
lar productions was aware of the cause, and opening
one of the cases, m hile the gardener stood aghast at his

a Reaam. i. 667 .

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 37

temerity, pointed out the grub that it contained, and
thus sent him back with a light heart, relieved from
all his apprehensions ''.

Every one has heard of the death-watch, and knows
of the superstitious notion of the vulgar, that in what-
ever house its drum is heard one of the family will
die before the end of the year. These terrors, in par-
ticular instances, where they lay hold of weak minds,
especially of sick or hypochondriac persons, may cause
the event that is supposed to be prognosticated. A
small degree of entomological knowledge would re-
lieve them from all their fears, and teach them that
this heart-sickening tick is caused by a small beetle
(Anobium tessellatMm, F.) which lives in timber, and
is merely a call to its companion. Attention to Ento-
mology may therefore be rendered very useful in this
view, since nothing certainly is more desirable than to
deliver the human mind from the dominion of super-
stitious fears, and false notions, which having con-
siderable influence on the conduct of mankind are the
cause of no small portion of evil.

But as Ave cannot well guard against the injuries
produced by insects, or remove the evil, whether real
or arising from misconceptions respecting them, which
they occasion, unless we have some knowledge of
tliem ; so neither without such knowledge can we ap-
ply them, when beneficial, to our use. Now it is ex-
tremely probable that they might be made vastly more
subservient to our advantage and profit than at pre-
sent, if we were better acquainted with them. It is
the remark of an author, who himself is no eritomolo-

s Reauui, vj. 99-100, Kirby 3Ion. Jj}. Jng. i. 157-8.

^ OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

gist : " We have not taken animals enough into alli-
ance with us. The more spiders there were in the
stable, the less would the horses sufi'er from the flies.
The great American fire-fly should be imported into
Spain to catch mosquitos. In hot countries a reward
should be offered to the man who could discover what
insects feed upon fleas ^." It would be worth our
while to act upon this hint, and a similar one of Dr.
Darwin. Those insects might be collected and pre--
served that are known to destroy the Aphides and
other injurious tribes; and we should thus be enabled
to direct their operations to any quarter where they
would be most serviceable : but this can never be done
till experimental agriculturists and gardeners are con-
versant with insects, and acquainted with their pro-
perties and economy. How is it that the great Being
of beings preserves the system which he has created
from permanent injury, in consequence of the too great
redundancy of any individual species, but by employing
one creature to prey upon another, and so overruling
and directing the instincts of all, that they may ope-
rate most where they are most wanted ! We cannot
better employ the reasoning powers and faculties Avith
which he has endowed us, than by copying his exam-
ple. We often employ the larger animals to destroy
each other, but the smaller, especially insects, we have
totally neglected. Some may think, perhaps, that in
aiming to do this we should be guilty of presumption,
and of attempting to take the government and direc-
tion of things out of the hands of Providence : but this
js a very weak argument, which might with equal rea^

a Southey's J|a(?oc, Ito, Notes, 519,

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 59

son be adduced to prove that when rats and mice be-
come troublesome to us, we ought not to have recourse
to dogs, ferrets, and cats to exterminate them. When
any species multiplies upon us, so as to become nox-
ious, we certainly have a just right to destroy it, and
what means can be more proper than those which Pro-
vidence itself has furnished ? We can none of us go
further or do more than the Divine Will permits ; and
he will take care that our efforts shall not be injurious
to the general welfare, or effect the annihilation of any
individual species.

Again, with regard to insects that are employed in
medicine or the arts, if the apothecary cannot distin-
guish a Liytta from a Carabus or Cetonia, both of which
I have found mixed with the former, how can he know
whether his druggist furnishes him with a good or bad
article? And the same observation may with still greater
force apply to the dyer in his purchase of cochineal,
since it is still more difficult to distinguish the wild
sort from the cultivated. There are, it is probable,
many insects that might be employed with advantage
in both these departments : but unless Entomology be
more generally studied by scientific men, who are the
only persons likely to make discoveries of this kind,
than it has hitherto been, we must not hope to derive
further profit from them. It seems more particularly
incumbent upon the professors of the divine art ot
healing to become conversant with this as well as the
other branches of Natural History ; for not only do they
derive some of their most useful drugs from insects,
but many also of the diseases upon which they aro
consulted, as we shall see hereafter, are occasioned by

40 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

them. For want of this kind of information medical
men run the risk of confounding diseases perfectly
distinct, at least as to the animal that causes them.
It would be a most desirable thing to have professors
in each branch of Natural History in our universities,
and to make it indispensable, in order to the obtain^
ing of any degree in Physic, that the candidate should
have attended these lectures. We may judge from
the good effects that the arts have derived from the
present very general attention to Chemistry, how bene-?
■ficial would be the consequence if Entomology were
equally cultivated : and I shall conclude this paragraph
with what I think may be laid down as an incontrOf
vertible axiom : — That the profit we derive from the
works of creation will be in proportion to the accuracy
of our knowledge of them and their properties.

I trust I have now said enough to convince you aiid
every thinking man that the study of insects, so far
from being vain, idle, trifling, or unprofitable, may be
attended with very important advantages to manliind,
and ought at least to be placed upon a level with many
other branches of science, against which such accusa-
tions are never alleged.

o'

But I must not conceal from you that there are ob^
jectors who will still return to the charge. They will
say, "We admit that the pursuits of the entomologist
are important when ho directs his views to the destruc-
tion of noxious insects; the discovery of new ones
likely to prove beneficial to man ; and to practical ex-
periments upon their medical and economical proper-
jties. But where {ire the entomologists that in fact pur*.

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 41

sue this course ? Do they not in reality wholly disre-
gard the economical department of their science, and
content themselves with making as large a collection
of species as possible; ascertaining tlie names of such
as are already described; describing new ones; and
arranging the whole in their cabinets under certain fa-
milies and genera? And can a study with those sole ends
in view deserve a better epithet than trifling ? Even if
the entomologist adyance a step further, and invent a
new system for the distribution of all known insects,
can his laborious undertaking be deemed any other
tlian busy idleness ? What advantage does the world
derive from having names given to ten or twenty
thousand insects, of whicli numbers are not bigger
than a pin's head, and of which probably not a hun-
dredth part will ever be of any use to mankind? "

Now in answer to this supposed objection, which I
have stated as forcibly as I am able, and which, as it
may be, and often is, urged against every branch of
Natural History as at present studied, well deserves a
full consideration, I might in the first place deny that
those who have the highest claim to rank as entomolo-
gists do confine their views to the systematic depart-
ment of the science to the neglect of economical ob-
servations ; and in proof of my assertion, I might refer
abroad to a Linne, a Reaumur, a De Geer, a Huber,
and various other names of the highest reputation ; and
At home to a Hay, a Lister, a Derham, a Marsham, a
Curtis, a Clark, a Roxburgh, &c. But I do not wish
to conceal that though a large proportion of entomolo-
gists direct their views much further than to the mere
nomenclature of their scienccj there exists a great nuoi-

4rZ OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

ber, probably the majority, to whom the objection wiii
strictly apply. INow I contend, and shall next endea-
vour to prove, that entomologists of this description
are devoting their time to a most valuable end ; and are
conferring- upon society a lienefit incalculably greater
than that derived from the labours of many of those
who assume the privilege of despising their pursuit.

Even in favour of the mere butterfly-hunter — he who
has no higher aim than that of collecting ?i picture of
Lepidoptera^ and is attached to insects solely by their
beauty or singularity, it would not be difficult to say
much. Can it be necessary to declaim on the superi-
ority of a people amongst whom intellectual pleasures,
however trifling, are preferred to mere animal gratifi-
cations ? Is it a thing to be lamented that some of the
Spitallields weavers occu})y their leisure hours in
searching for the Adonis butterflv, and others of the
more splendid Lepidoptera^, instead of spending them
in playing at skittles or in an alehouse ? Or is there in
truth any thing more to be wished than that the cutlers
of Sheffield were accustomed thus to employ their Saint
Mondoj/s; and to recreate themselves after a hard day's
work, by breathing the pure air of their surrounding
hills, while in search of this "untaxed and undisputed
game^;" and that more of the Norwich weavers were

a Haivor!)! £f^;rf. Brit. 44. 57.

b Oft h-xve 1 smiled the happy pride to see
Of htmihle tradesmen in their evening glee.
When of some pleasing fancied good possest.
Each grew alert, was busy and was blest :
Whether (he call-bird yield tbe hour's delight.
Or magnified in microscope the mite ;
Or whether tumblers, croppers, carriers seize
The gentle mind ; they rule it and thifj please.

OBJECtlONS ANSWERED. 4S

fond of devoting their vacant time to plant-hunting,
like Joseph Fox recorded by Sir James Smith as the
first raiser of a Lycopodium from seed^?"

Still more easy is it to advocate the cause of another
description of entomologists — the general collectors.
These, though not concerning themselves with the
system, contribute most essentially to its advancement.
We cannot expect that princes, noblemen, and others
of high rank or large fortune, who collect insects,
should be able or willing to give up the tinie necessary
for studying them systematically: but their museums
being accessible to the learned entomologist afford
him the use of treasures which his own limited funds
or opportunities could never have brought together.
As to others of less consequence that content them-
selves witli the title of collectors, they also have their
use. Having devoted themselves to this one depart-
ment, they become more expert at it, than the philo-
sopher who combines deep researches with the collec-
tion of objects ; and thus are many species brought
together for the use of the systematist, that would
otherwise remain unknown.

There is my friend the weavei* ; strong desires

Reign in liis breast ; 'tis beauty he admires :

See to the shady grove he wings his way,

And feels in hope the rapture of the day —

Eager he looks, and soon to glad his eyes, *

From the sweet bower by nature form'd arise

Bright troops of virgin moths, and fresh horn butterflies.

He fears no bailiiT's wralh, no baron's blame,
His is untax'd and undisputed game.

Crabbe's Z?oroi/^^, p, 110.
ft Linn, Trans, ii. 315.

44 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

But to proceed to the defence of systematic entomo-
logists.— These may be divided into two g^reat classes :
the first comprising- those who confine themselves to
ascertaining the names of the insects they collect; the
second, those who, in addition, publish descriptions
of new species ; new arrangements of intricate genera ;
or extrications of entangled synonyms ; and who, in
other respects, actively contribute to the perfection of
the system.

Now with regard to the first class, setting aside what
may be urged in behalf of the study of insects consi-
dered as the w ork of the Creator, it is easy to show
that, even with such restricted views, their pursuit is
as commendable, and as useful both to themselves a^d
the community, as many of those on which Ave look
with the greatest respect. To say the least in their fa-
vour, they amuse themselves innocently, which is quite
as much as can be urged for persons who recreate their
leisure hours with music, painting, or desultory read-
ing. They furnish themselves with an unfailing pro-
vision of that " grand panacea for the tcedium vitce^^ —
employment — no unimportant acquisition when even
Gray was forced to exclaim, with reference to the ne-
cessity of "always having something going forward"
towards the enjoyment of life, " Happy they who can
create a rose-tree or erect a honey-suckle ; that can
watch the brood of a hen, or see a fleet of their own
ducklings launch into the water ^! " and like the pre-
ceding class, they collect valuable materials for the use
of more active labourers, being thus at least upon a par
witl^ the majority of book-collectors and antiquaries,

a Letter to Dr. Wharton. Mason's Li/e of Gray, y. 28,

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 45

But this is the smallest half of the value of their
pursuit. With what view is the study of the mathema-
tics so generally recommended ? Not certainly for any
practical purpose — not to make the bulk of those who
attend to them, astronomers or engineers. But simply
to exercise and strengthen the intellect — to give the
mind a habit of attention and of investigation. Now
for all these purposes, if I do not go so far as to assert
that the mere ascertaining of the names of insects is
equal to the study of the mathematics, I have no he-
sitation in affirming that it is nearly as effectual ; and
with respect to giving a habit of minute attention, su-
perior. Such is the intricacy of nature, such the imper-
fection of our present arrangements, that the discovery
of the name of almost any insect is a problem, calling
in all cases for acuteness and attention, and in some for
a balancing of evidence, a calculation of the chances
of error, as arduous as are required in a perplexed law-
case ; and a process of ratiocination not less strict than
that which satisfies the mathematician. In proof of
which assertion I need only refer any competent judge
to the elaborate disquisitions of Laspeyres, called for
by one work alone on the lepidopterous insects of a
single district — the Wiener Verzcichniss, which occupy
above two hundred octavo pages ^, and must have cost
the learned author nearly as much labour of mind as
the Ductor Duhitantium did Bishop Taylor.

Do not apprehend that this occasional perplexity is
any deduction from the attractions of the science :
though in itself, in some respects, an evil, it forms in
fact to many minds one of the chief of them. The pur-

a Illig. Mag' ii. 33. iv. 3.

4(5 OBJECTIONS ANSWEHESD.

suit of truth, in whatever path, affords pleasure t but
the interest would cease if she never gave us trouble
in the chase. Horace Walpole used to say that from
a child he could never bring himself to attend to any
book that w as not full of proper names ; and the satis-
faction which he felt in dry investigations concerning
noble authors and obscure painters, is experienced by
many an entomologist who spends hours in disentan-
gling the synonymy of a doubtful species. Nor would
it be easy to prove that the wordy researches of the
one are not to every practical purpose as valuable as
those of the other. We smile at the Frenchman told
of by Manege, that was so enraptured with the stud>-
of heraldry and genealogy, as to lament the hard case
of our forefather Adam, who could not possibly amuse
himself with such investigations'". But many an ento-
mologist who has felt the delicious sensation attendant
upon the indisputable ascertainment of an insect's
name after a long search, Avill feel inclined to indulge
in similar grief for the unhappy lot of his successor^,
when all shall be smooth sailing in the science.

But in behalf of those who are more eminently en-
titled to be called entomologists — those who, not con*
tent with collecting and investigating insects, occupy
themselves in naming and describing such as have been
before unobserved ; in instituting new genera or re-
forming tlie old ; and, to say all in one word, in per-
fecting the system of the science, still higher claims
can be urged. Suppose that at this moment our dic-
tionaries of the French and German languages were so
very defective, that we were unable by the use of them

a Andrews's Anecdotes, 152,

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED; 47

to profit from the discoveries of their philosophers ;
the labours of a Michaelis being- a sealed book to our
theologists, and those of La Place to our astronomers.
On this supposition, would not one of the most import-
tant literary undertakings l)e the compilation of more
perfect dictionaries, and would not the huni])lct5t con-
tributor to such an end be deemed most meritoriously
engaged ? Now precisely what an accurate dictionary
of a particular language is towards enabling the world
to participate in the discoveries published in that lan-
guage, is a system of Entomology towards enabling
mankind to derive advantage from any discoveries re-
lative to insects. A good system of insects containing
all the known species, arranged in appropriate genera,
families, orders, and classes, is in fact a dictionary,
putting it within our power to ascertain the name of
any given insect, and thus to learn what has been ob-
served respecting its properties and history as readily
as we determine the meaning of a new word in a lexi-
con. In order to impress upon you more forcibly the
absolute need of such a system, I must enter into still
further detail.

Tliere is scarcely a country in which several thou-
sand insects may not be found. Now, without some
scientific arrangement, how is the observer of a new
fact respecting any one of them, to point out to distant
countries and to posterity the particular insect he had
in view ? Suppose an observer in England were to find
a certain beetle Avhich he had demonstrated to be a
specific for consumption ; and that it was necessary
that this insect, which there was reason to believe was
common in every part of the world, should be admi-

48 OBJECTIONS ANSWEREIJ.

Xiiatered in a recent state. Would he not be anxioas to>
proclaim the happy discovery to sufferers in all quar-
ters of the globe ? As his remedy would not admit of
transportation, he would have no other means than by
describing it. Now the question is^^ whether, on the
supposition that no system of Entom&logy existed, he
would be able to do this, so as to be intelligible to a
physician in North America, for instance, eager to ad-
minister so precious a medicine to his expiring pa-
tient? It would evidently be of no use to say that the
specific was a beetle : there are thousands of difterent
beetles in North America. Nor would size or colour
be any better guide : there are hundreds of beetles of
the same size and the same colour. Even the plant on
which it fed would be no sufficient clue ; for many in-
sects, resembling each other to an unpractised eye,
feed on the same plant ; and the same insect in differ-
ent countries feeds upon different plants. His only re-
source, then, would be a coloured figure and full de-
scription of it. But every entomologist knows that
there exist insects perfectly distinct, yet so nearly re-
sembling each other, that no engraving, nor any lan-
guage other than that strictly scientific, can possibly
discriminate them. After all, therefore, the chances
are, that our discoverer's remedy, invaluable as it might
be, must be confined to his own immediate neighbour-
hood, or to those who came to receive personal infor-
mation from him. But with what ease is it made knowrt
when a system of the science exists ! If the insect be
already described, he has but to mention its generic
and trivial names, and by aid of two words alone,
every entomologist, though in the most distant region

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 49

^^whether a Swed^, a German, or a Frenchman ;
whether a native of Europe, of Asia, of America, or of
Africa, knows instantly the very species that is meant,
and can that moment ascertain whether it be within
his reach. If the species be new dnd undescribed, it
is only necessary to indicate the genus to which it be-
longs, the species to which it is most nearly allied,
and to describe it in scientific terms, which may be
done in few words, and it can at once be recognised
by every one acquainted with the science.

You will think it hardly credible that there should
be so much difficulty in describing an insect intelligi-
bly without the aid of system ; but an argumentum ad
homirtem^ supported by some other facts, will, I con-
jecture, render this matter more comprehensible. YoU
have doubtless, like every one else, in the showery
days of summer, felt no little rage at thej^ze^, which
at such times take the liberty of biting our legs, and
contrive to make a comfortable meal through the in-
terstices of their silken or cotton coverings. Did it, I
pray, ever enter into your conception, that these blood-
thirsty tormentors are a different species from those
flies which you are wont to see extending the lips of
their little proboscis to a piece of sugar or a drop of
wine ? I dare say not. But the next time you have
sacrificed one of the former to your just vengeance,
catch one of the latter and compare them. I question
if, after the narrowest comparison, you will not still
venture a wager that they are the very same species.
Yet you would most certainly lose your bet. They
are not even of the same genus — one belonging to the
genus Musca {M. domestica^ L.), and the other to the

VOL. I. E

50 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

genus Stomoxys (S. calciirans, F;); and on a second
examination you will find that, however alike in most
respects, they diifer widely in the shape of their
proboscis ; that of the Stomoxys being a horny sharp-
pointed Aveapon, capable of piercing the flesh, Avhile
the soft blunt organ of the Musca is j-erfectly incom-
petent to any such operation. In future, while you
no longer load the whole race of the house-fly with
the execrations which properly belong to a quite
diff*erent tri}>e, you will cease being surprised that an
ordinary description should be insufficient to discri-
minate an insect. It is to this insufficiency that we
must attribute our ignorance of so many of the insects
mentioned by the older naturalists, previously to the
^systematic improvements of the immortal Linne : and
to the same cause we must refer the impossibility of
determining what species are alluded to in the ac-
counts of many modern travellers and agriculturists
who have been ignorant of Entomology as a science.
Instances without number of this impossibility might
be adduced, but I shall confine myself to two.

One of the greatest pests of Surinam and other low
regions in South America, is the insect called in the
West Indies, where it is also troublesome, the chigoe
(Pulex penetrans, L,), a minute species, to the attacks
of which I shall again have occasion to advert. This
insect is mentioned by almost all the writers on the
countries where it is found. Not less than eight or
ten of them have endeavoured to give a full descrip-
tion of it, and some of them have even figured it ; and
yet, strange to say, it was not certainly known whether
it was a flea (Pulex) or a mite (Acarus), till a com-

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 51

petent naturalist undertook to investigate its history,
■ and in a short paper in the Szoedish Transactions'^
proved that Linne was not mistaken in referring it to
the former genus.

The second instance of the insufficiency of popular
description is even more extraordinary. In 1788 an
alarm was excited in this country by the probability of
importing, in cargoes of wheat from North America,
the insect known by the name of the Hessian fly, whose
dreadful ravages will be adverted to hereafter. How-
ever the insect tribes are in general despised, they had
on that occasion ample revenge. The privy council
sat day after day anxiously debating what measures
should be adopted to ward oft' the danger of a cala-
mity, more to be dreaded, as they well knew, than the
plague or pestilence. Expresses were sent off" in all
directions to the officers of the customs at the different
outports respecting the examination of cargoes — di-
spatches written to the ambassadors in France, Au-
stria, Prussia, and America, to gain that information
of the want of which they were now so sensible : and
so important was the business deemed, that the minutes
of council and the documents collected from all quarters
fill upwards of two hundred octavo pages'". Fortu-
nately England contained one illustrious naturalist,
the most authentic source of information on all sub-
jects which connect Natural History with Agriculture
and the Arts, to whom the privy council had the wis-
dom to apply ; and it was by Sir Joseph Banks's ento-
mological knowledge, and through his suggestions,

a Swartzin KongL Vet. Ac. Njci. band. ix.40. Plate XXIII. Fig. 10.
b Young's Annals of As^rkuUure, xi. 406.

e2

52 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

that they were at length enabled to form some kind of
judgement on the subject. This judgement was after
all, however, very imperfect. As Sir Joseph Banks had
never seen the Hessian fly, nor was it described in any
entomological system, he called for facts respecting its
nature, propagation, and economy, which could be had
only from America. These were obtained as speedily
as possible, and consi&t of numerous letters from indi-
viduals; essays from magazines; the reports of the
British minister there, &c. &c. One would have sup-
posed that from these statements, many of them drawn
up by farmers who had lost entire crops by the insect,
which they profess to have examined in every stage,
the requisite information might have been acquired.
So far however was this from being the case, that many
of the writers seem ignorant whether the insect be
a moth, a fly, or what they term a bug. And though
from the concurrent testimony of several its being a
two-winged fly seemed pretty accurately ascertained,
no intelligible description is given, from which any
naturalist can infer to what genus it belongs, or
w hether it is a known species. With regard to the
history of its propagation and economy the statements
w ere so various and contradictory, that though he had
such a mass of materials before him. Sir Joseph Banks
was unable to reach any satisfactory conclusion.

Nothing can more incontrovertibly demonstrate the
importance of studying Entomology as a science than
this feet. Those observations, to which thousands of
unscientific sufferers proved themselves incompetent,
would have been readily made by one entomologist
well versed in his science. He would at once have

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 53

determined the order and genus of the insect, and
whether it was a known or new species ; and in a
twelvemonth at furthest he would liave ascertained in
what manner it made its attacks, and whether it were
possible that it might be transmitted along with grain
into a foreign country : and on these solid data he
could have satisfactorily pointed out the best mode of
eradicating the pest, or preventing the extension of its
ravages.

But it is not merely in travellers and popular ob-
servers that the want of a systematic knowledge of
Entomology is so deplorable. A great portion of the
labours of the profoundest naturalists have been from
a similar cause lost to the world. Many of the insects
concerning which Reaumur and Bonnet have recorded
the most interesting circumstances, cannot, from their
neglect of system, be at this day ascertained^. The
former, as Beckmann '' states on the authority of his
letters, was before his death sensible of his great error
in this respect : but Bonnet, with singular inconsist-
ency, constantly maintained the inutility of system,
even on an occasion when, from his ignorance of it,
Sir James Smith, speaking of his experiments on the
barberry, found it quite impossible to make him com-
prehend what plant he referred to''.

So great is the importance of a systematic arrange-
ment of insects. Yet no such arrangement has hither-
to been completed. Various fragments towards it in-

a No one knew Reaumur's AheiUe. Tapissiere until Latreille, happily -
combining system with attention to the economy of insects, proved it to
be a new species — his Mcgachile Piqmveris. — IJisl. de Fourmfs, 29T.

b Bibliothek. vii. 310. c 'four on the Continent, ili. 150.

54 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

deed exist. But the work itself is in the state of a
dictionary wanting- a considerable proportion of the
words of the language it professes to explain ; and
placing those, which it does contain, in an order often
so arbitrary and defective, that it is difficult to discover
even the page containing the word you are in search
of. Can it be denied, then, that they are most meri-
toriously employed who devote themselves to the re-
moval of these defects — to the perfecting of the system
— and to clearing the path of future economical or
physiological observers from the obstructions which
now beset it ? And who that knows the vast extent of
the science, and how impossible it is that a divided at-
tention can embrace the whole, will contend that it is
not desirable that some labourers in the field of lite-
rature should devote themselves entirely and exclu-
sively to this object ? Who that is aware of the im-
portance of the comprehensive views of a Fabricius,
an Illiger, or a Latreille, and the infinite saving of
time of which their inquiries will be productive to
their followers, will dispute their claim to rank
amongst the most honourable in science ?

II. No objection, I think, now remains against ad-
dicting ourselves to entomological pursuits, but that
which seems to have the most weight with you, and
which indeed is calculated to make the deepest impres-
sion upon the best minds — I mean the charge of inhu-
manity and cruelty. That the science of Entomology
cannot be properly cultivated without the death of its
objects, and that this is not to be effected without put-
ting- them to some pain, must be allowed ; but that this

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 55

substantiates the charge of cruelty against US I alto-
gether deny. Cruelty is an unnecessary infliction of
suffering, when a person is fond of torturing or de-
stroying God's creatures from mere wantonness, with
no useful end in view ; or when, if their death be use-
ful and lawful, he has recourse to circuitous modes of
killing them, Avhere direct ones would answer equally
well. This is cruelty, and this with you I abominate ;
but not the infliction of death when a just occasion
calls for it.

They who see no cruelty in the sports of the field,
as they are called, can never, of course, consistently
allege such a charge against the entomologist; the
tortures of wounded birds, of fish that swallow the
hook and break the line, or of the hunted hare, being,
beyond comparison, greater than those of insects de-
stroyed in the usual mode. With respect to utility,
the sportsman, who, though he adds indeed to the ge-
neral stock of food, makes amusement his primary ob-
ject, must surely yield the palm to the entomologist,
who adds to the general stock of mental food, often
supplies hints for useful improvements in the arts
and sciences, and the objects of whose pursuit, unlike
those of the former, are preserved and maybe applied
to use for many years.

But in the view even of those few who think inhu-
manity chargeable upon the sportsman, it will be easy
to place considerations which may rescue the entomo-
logist from such reproof. It is well known that, in
proportion as we descend in the scale of being, the
sensibility of the objects that constitute it diminishes.
The tortoise walks about after losing- its head ; and the

56 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

Polypus, SO far from being injured by the application
of the knife, thereby acquires an extension of exist-
ence. Insensibility almost equally great may be found
in the insect world. This, indeed, might be inferred
d priori, since Providence seems to have been more
prodigal of insect life than of that of any other order
of creatures, animalcula perhaps alone excepted. No
part of the creation is exposed to the attack of so
many enemies, or subject to so many disasters ; so
that the few individuals of each kind which enrich the
valued museum of the entomologist, many of w hich
are dearer to him than gold or gems, are snatched
from the ravenous maw of some bird or fish or rapa-
cious insect ; would have been driven by the winds
into the waters and drowned ; or trodden underfoot
by man or beasts, — for it is not easy, in some parts of
the year, to set foot to the ground without crushing
these minute animals ; and thus also, instead of being
buried in oblivion, they have a kind of immortality
conferred upon them. Can it be believed that the
beneficent Creator, whose tender mercies are over all
his works, would expose these helpless beings to such
innumerable enemies and injuries, w ere they endued
with the same sense of pain and irritability of nerve
with the higher orders of animals ?

But this inference is reduced to certainty, when we
attend to the facts which insects every day present to
us, proving that the very converse of our great poet's
conclusion,

" fhe poor beetle that we tread upon,

In corporal sutiVrance finds a pang as gre^^t
As when a giant dies,"

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 57

must be regarded as nearer the truth. Not to mention
the peculiar organization of insects, which strongly
favours the idea I am inculcating, but which will be
considered more properly in another place, their sang
froid upon the loss of their limbs, even those that we
account most necessary to life, irrefragably proves that
the pain they suffer caiuiot be very acute. Had a giant
lost an arm or a leg, or were a sword or spear run through
liis body, he would feel no great inclination for runninj^
about, dancing, or eating. Yet a crane-fly (T/pz/Za)
will leave half its legs in the hands of an unlucky boy
who has endeavoured to catch it, and Avill fly here and
there with as much agility and unconcern as if nothing-
had happened to it; and an 'liricct impaled upon a pin
will often devour its prey with as much avidity as when
at liberty. Were a giant eviscerated, his body divided
in the middle, or his head cut off, it would be all over
with him ; he would move no more ; he would be dead
to the calls of hunger; or the emotions of fear, anger,
or love. Not so our insects. I have seen the com-
mon cockchafer walk about with apparent indifference
after some bird had nearly emptied its body of its
viscera : a humble-bee v/iii eat honey with greediness
though deprived of its a])don:en; and I myself lately
saw an ant, which had been brought out of the nest
by its comrades, walk when deprived of its head. The
head of a wasp will attempt to bite after it is separated
from the rest of the body ; and the abdomen under si-
milar circumstances, if the finger be moved to it, will
attempt to sting. And what is more extraordinary,
the headless trunk of a male Mantis has been known to

58 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

unite itielf to the other sex^ These facts, out of hun-
dreds that might be adduced, are surely sufficient to
prove that insects do not experience the same acute
sensations of pain with the higher orders of animals,
which Providence has endowed with more ample mean^
of avoiding them ; and since they were to be exposed
so universally to attack and injury, this is a most mer-
ciful provision in their favour ; for, were it otherwise,
considering the wounds, and dismemberments, and lin-
gering" deaths that insects often suffer, what a vast in-
crease v/ould there be of the general sum of pain and
misery ! You will now, I think, allow that the most
humane person need not hesitate a moment, whether
he shall devote himself to the study of Entomology, on
account of any cruelty attached to the pursuit.

But if some morbid sentimentalist should still ex-
claim, "Oh! but I cannot persuade myself even for
scientific purposes to inflict the slightest degree of
pain upon the most insensible of creatures — " Pray,
sir or madam, I would ask, should your green-house be
infested by Aphides, or your grapery by the semiani-
mate Coccus, would this extreme of tenderness induce
you to restrict your gardener from destroying them ?
Are you willing to deny yourself these unnecessary
gTatifications, and to resign your favourite flowers
and fruit at the call of your fine feelings ? Or will
you give up the shrimps, which by their relish enable
you to play a better part with your bread and butter
at breakfast, and thus, instead of adding to it, contri-
bute to diminish the quantity of food? If not, I shall

a Dr. Smith's Tour, i. 162. Journ. de Phys. x\v. 336.

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 5t)

only desire you to recollect that, for a mere personal
indulgence, you cause the death of an infinitely greater
number of animals, than all tlie entomologists in the
world destroy for the promotion of science.

To these considerations, which I have no doubt you
will think conclusive as to the unreasonableness and
inconsistency of the objections made against the study
of Entomology on the score of cruelty, I shall only add
that I do not intend them as any apology for other
than the most speedy and least painful modes of de-
stroying insects ; and these will be pointed out to you
in a'subsequent letter. Every degree of unnecessary
pain becomes cruelty, which I need not assure you I
abhor ; and from my own observations, however ruth-
lessly the entomologist may seem to devote the few
specimens wanted for scientific purposes to destruc-
tion, no one in ordinary circumstances is less prodigal
of insect life. For my own part, I question whether
the drowning individuals, which I have saved from
destruction, would not far out-number all that I ever
sacrificed to science.

My next letter will be devoted to the metamorphoses
of insects, a subject on which some previous explana-
tion is necessary to enable you to understand those
distinctions between their different states, which will
be perpetually alluded to in the course of our corre-
spondence : and having thus cleared the way, I shall
afterwards proceed to the consideration of the injuries
and bcnejils of which insects are the cause.

1 am, &c.

LETTER III.

METAMORPHOSES OF INSECTS.

VYere a naturalist to ajinoimoo to the world the
discovery of an animal which for the first five years of
its life existed in the form of a serpent ; which then
penetrating into tlie earth, aud Aveaving a shroud of
pure silk of the finest texture, contracted itself within
this covering into a body without external mouth or
limbs, and resembling more than any thing else an
Egyptian mummy ; and which, lastly, after remaining
in this state without food and without motion for three
years longer, should at the end of that period burst
its silken cerements, struggle through its earthy co-
vering, and start into day a winged bird, — what think
you would be the sensation excited by this strange
piece of intelligence ? After the first doubts of its
truth were dispelled, what astonishment would suc-
ceed ! Amongst the learned, what surmises ! — what
investigations ! Amongst the vulgar, what eager cu-
riosity and amazement ! All would be interested in
the history of such an unheard-of phenomenon ; even
the most torpid would flock to the sight of such a
prodigy.

But you ask, " To what do all these improbable
suppositions tend ? " Simply to rouse your attention
to the metamorphoses of the insect world, almost as

METAMOUPIIOSES. 61

Strange and surprising, to which I am now about to

direct your view, miracles, which, though scarcely

surpassed in singularity by all that poets have feigned,
and though actually wrought every day beneath our
eyes, are, because of their commonness, and the mi-
nuteness of the objects, unheeded alike by the ignor
rant and the learned.

That butterfly w hich amuses you with its aerial ex-
cursions, one while extracting nectar from the tube of
the honeysuckle, and then, the very image of fickle-
ness, flying to a rose as if to contrast the hue of its
wings with that of the flower on which it reposes — did
not come into the world as you now behold it. At its
first exclusion from the egg^ and for some months of its
existence afterwards, it was a worm-like caterpillar,
crawling upon sixteen short legs, greedily devouring
leaves with two jaws, and seeing by means of twelve
eyes so minute as to be nearly imperceptible without
the aid of a microscope. You now view it furnished
with wings capable of rapid and extensive flights: of
its sixteen feet ten have disappeared, and the remain-
ing six are in most respects wholly unlike those to
which they have succeeded ; its jaws have vanished, and
are replaced by a curled-up proboscis suited only for
sipping liquid sweets; the form of its head is entirely
changed, — two long horns project from its upper sur-
face ; and, instead of twelve invisible eyes, you behold
two, very large, and composed of at least twenty thou-
sand convex lenses, each supposed to be a distinct and
effective eye !

Were you to push your examination further, and
by dissection to compare the internal conformation of

6g METAMORPHOSES.

the caterpillar with that of the butterfly, you would
witness changes even more extraordinary. In the
former you would find some thousands of muscles^
which in the latter are replaced by others of a form
and structure entirely different. Nearly the whole
body of the caterpillar is occupied by a capacious sto-
mach. In the butterfly this has become converted into
an almost imperceptible thread-like viscus ; and the
abdomen is now filled by two large packets of eggs,
or other organs not visible in the first state. In the
former, two spirally-convoluted tubes v/ere filled with
a silky gum ; in the latter, both tubes and silk have
almost totally vanished ; and changes equally great
have taken place in the economy and structure of the
nerves and other organs.

What a surprising transformation ! Nor was this
all. The change from one form to the other was not
direct. An intermediate state not less singular inter-
vened. After casting its skin even to its very jaws
several times, and attaining its full growth, the cater-
pillar attached itself to a leaf by a silken girth. Its
body greatly contracted : its skin once more split
asunder, and disclosed an oviform mass, without ex-
terior mouth, eyes, or limbs, and exhibiting no other
symptom of life than a slight motion when touched.
In this state of death-like torpor, and without tasting
food, the insect existed for several months, until at
length the tomb burst, and out of a case not more than
an inch long, and a quarter of an inch in diameter,
proceeded the butterfly before you, which covers a sur-
face of nearly four inches square.

Almost every insect which you see has undergone a

METAMORPHOSES. 6S

transformation as singular and surprising, though va-
ried in many of its circumstances. That active little
fly, now an unbidden guest at your table", whose deli-
cate palate selects your choicest viands, one while ex-
tending his proboscis to the margin of a drop of wine,
and then gaily flying to take a more solid repast from
a pear or a peach ; now gamboling with his comrades
in the air, now gracefully currying his furlfed wings
with his taper feet, — was but the other day a disgust-
ing grub, without wings, without legs, without eyes,
wallowing, well pleased, in the midst of a mass of ex-
crement.

The " grey-coated gnat," whose humming saluta-
tion, while she makes her airy circles about your bed,
gives terrific warning of the sanguinary operation in
which she is ready to engage, was a few hours ago the
inhabitant of a stagnant pool, more in shape like a fish
than an insect. Then to have been taken out of the
w ater would have been speedily fatal ; now it could as
little exist in any other element than air. Then it
breathed through its tail; now through openings in its
sides. Its shapeless head, in that period of its exist-
ence, is now exchanged for one adorned with elegantly
tufted antennae, and furnished, instead of jaws, with
an apparatus more artfully constructed than the cup-
ping glasses of the phlebotomist — an apparatus which,
at the same time that it strikes in the lancets, compo-
ses a tube for piunping up the flowing blood.

The " shard-born beetle," whose " sullen horn,"
as he directs his " droning flight" close past your ears

" " Ccenis etiam non vocatus nt Musca advo'.o." Aristophoii in Pi;-
flia^orista apvA AtheniPiim. (Mouffel, 56.)

64 METAMORPHOSES.

in your evening- walk, calling- up in poetic association
the lines in Avliich he has been alluded to by Shake-
speare, Collins, and Gray, was not in his infancy an in-
habitant of air; the first period of his life being spent
in gloomy solitude, as a grub, under the surface of the
earth. — The shapeless maggot, which you scarcely fail
to meet with in some one of every handful of nuts you
crack, would not always have grovelled in that hum-
ble state. If your unlucky intrusion upon its vaulted
dwelling had not left it to perish in the wide world, it
would have continued to reside there until its full
growth had been attained. Then it would have gnawed
itself an opening, and having entered the earth, and
passed a few months in a state of inaction, would at
length have emerged an elegant beetle furnished with
a slender and very long ebony beak ; two wings, and
two wing-cases, ornamented with yellow bands ; six
feet; and in every respect unlike the worm from which
it proceeded.

That bee but it is needless to multiply instances.

A sufficient number has been adduced to show, that
the apparently extravagant supposition with which I
set out may be paralleled in the insect world ; and that
the metamorphoses of its inhabitants are scarcely less
astonishing than would be the transformation ')f a ser-
pent into an eagle. •*

These changes I do not purpose explaining minutely
in this place : they will be adverted to more fully in
subsequent letters. Here I mean merely to give you
such a general view of the subject as shall impress you
w ith its claims to attention, and such an explanation of
the states through which iusecty pass, and of the diffe-

'metamorphoses. 65

iceht terms made use of to designate them In each, as
shall enable you to comprehend the frequent allusions
which must be made to them in our future correspond-
ence.

The states throuiifh which insects pass are four : the
€gg; the larva; the pupa; and the imago.

The first of these need not be here adverted to. In
the second, or immediately after the exclusion from tliQ
egg, they are soft, without wings, and in shape usually
somewhat like worms. This Linne called the larva
state, and an insect when in it a larva, adopting a Latin
word signifying a mash, because he considered the real
insect while under this form to be as it were masked.
In the English language we have no common term that
applies to the second state of all insects, though we
have several for that of different tribes. Thus we call
the coloured and often hairy larvae of butterflies and
moths caterpillars ; the white and more compact larvae
of flies, many beetles, Sec. grubs or maggots^; and the
depressed larvae of many other insects noorms. The
two former terms I shall sometimes use in a similar
sense, rejecting the last, which ought to be confined to
true vermes; but I shall more commonly adopt Linnq's
term, and call insects in their second state, larvce^.

In this period of their life, during which they eat
voraciously and cast their skin several times, insects

a Gentils, or gentles, is a synonymous word employed by our old au-
thors, but is now obsolete, except with anglers. Thus Tusser, in a pas-
»age pointed out to me by Sir Joseph Banks : —

" Rewerd not thy sheep when ye take off his cote
With twitches and patches as brode as a grote ;
Let not such ungentlenesse happen to thine
Least flie with her gentils do make it to pine."
b For the different kinds of larvae, sec Plates XYII. XVIII. XIX.
TOL. I. r

66 METAMORPHOSES.

live a shorter or longer period, some only a few da^s
or weeks, others several months or years. They then
eease eating; fix themselves in a secure place ; their
skin separates once more and discloses an oblong body,
and they have now attained the third state of their
existence.

From the swathed appearance of most insects in this
state, in which they do not badly resemble in miniature
a child trussed up like a mummy in swaddling clothes,
according to the bartjarous fashion once prevalent
here, and still retained in many parts of the continent ;
Linne has called it the p?/j9a state, and an insect when
under this form a pupa; — terms Avhich will be here
adopted in the same sense. In this state most insects
eat no food ; are incapable of locomotion ; and if open-
ed seem filled with a watery fluid, in which no distinct
oi^ns can be traced. Externally, however, the shape
of the pupsB of different tribes varies considerably, and
different names have been applied to them.

Those of the beetle and bee tribes are covered with
a membranous skin, inclosing in separate and distinct
sheaths the external organs, as the antennae, legs, and
wings, which are consequently not closely applied to
the body, but have their form for the most part clearly
distinguishable. To these Aristotle originally gave
the name of «ymp/iCB% which was continued by Swam-
merdam and other authors prior to Linne, who calls
them incomplete pupa?, and has been adopted by many
English writers on insects'*.

Butterflies, moths, and some of the tWo-winged tribe,
are in their pupa state also inclosed in a similar mem-
branous envelope ; but their legs, antennae,. and wings,

KUitL Ahim. 1. 5. c. 10. b Plate XVI. Fic. 6—9.

METAMORPHOSESi 6t^

iare closely folded over the brecist and sides ; and the
whole body inclosed in a common case or covering of
a horny consistence, which admits a much less distinct
view of the organs beneath it. As these pupae are often
tinged of a golden colour, they were called from thi»
circumstance chrt/salides by the Greeks, and aurelice
by the Romans, both which terms are in some measure
become anglicized; and though not strictly applicable
t,o ungilded pupae, are now often given to those of all
lepidopterous insects^. These by Linne are denomi*
nated o6/ec?eff pupae''.

a In explanation of the terms Lepidoptcra, Lepidopterous, Cokopteroi
$cc. which will frequently or.cur in the following pages before coming
regularly to definitions, it is necessary here to state that they have re-
ference to the names given by entomologists to the different orders oF
tribes of insects, as under:

1 Coleoptera consisting of Beetles. Plate I. Fig. 1 — 6.

2 Strepsiptera of the genera Aie>iosandS/yo|7S. Platell. Fig.l.

3 Dermaptcra of the Earwigs. Plate I. Fig. 7.

4 Orthoplera — of Cockroaches, Locusts, Grasshoppers, Crickets,

Spectres, Mantes, S^'c. Platell. Fig. 2. 3.

5 He7niptern consisting of Uugsj, CicadcE, Water' scorpions^ Water-boat-

men, Plant-lice, Cochineal Insects, &c. Plate II, Fig. 4. 5.

6 Trichoptera consisting of the flies produced by the various species o^

Case-worms, Phryganea, L. Plate III. Fig. 4.

7 Lepidoptera consisting oi Butterflies^ Hawkmotks,a.ad Moths, Plate III*

Fig. 1-3.

8 Neuroptera consisting of Dragon-flies, ^nt-lions, Ephemeree, Sfc.

Plate III. Fig. 5. 6.

9 Hymenoptera consisting of Bees, Wasps, and other insects armed with

n sting ov ovipositor, av\A Ms valves. Plate IV. Fig. 1-^3.

10 Diptera consisting of Flies, Gnats, and other two-iei7iged insects,

Plate IV. Fig. 4.5. Plate V. Fig. 1.

11 ^p^n»pierfl consisting of the FZea genus. Plate V. Fig. 2.

12 ^ptera of Mites, Lice, See. Plate V. Fig. 3*-6.

b Plate XVI. Fig. 10—13,

f2

68 METAMORPHOSES.

I have said that most insects eat no food in the pupa
state. This qualification is necessary, because in the
metamorphoses of insects, as in all her other opera-
tions, nature proceeds by measured steps, and a very
considerable number (the tribe of locusts, cockroaches,
bugs, spiders, &c.) not only greatly resemble the per-
fect insect in form, but are equally capable with it of
eating and moving. As these insects, however, cast
their skins at stated periods, and undergo changes,
though slight, in their external and internal conforma-
tion, they are regarded also as being subject to meta-
morphoses. These pupae may be subdivided into two
classes : first, those comprised, with some exceptions,
under the Linnean Aptera, which in almost every re-
spect resemble the perfect insect, and were called by
Linnc complete pupae ; and secondly, those of the Lin-
nean order Hemiptera^ which resemble the perfect in-
sect, except in having only the rudiments of wings, and
to which the name o^ semi-complete pupae was applied
by Linne, and that of semi-nymphs by some other au-
thors^. There is still a fifth kind of pupae, which are
not, as in other instances, excluded from the skin of
the larva, but remain concealed under it, and were
hence called by Linne coarctate pupae. These, which
are peculiar to flies and some other dipterous genera,
may be termed cased-nymphs^ .

When, therefore, we employ the term pupa, we may
refer indifferently to the third state of any insect, the
particular order being indicated by the context, or an
explanatory epithet. The terms chrz/salisj (dropping
aurelia, which is superfluous), nr/mph, semi-nymph,
» Plate XYI. Fig. 4. 5. b Plate XVII. Fig. 1—4.

METAMORPHOSES. 69

and cased-ni/mphy on the other hand definitely pointing
out the particular sort of pupa meant : just as in Bo-
tany, the connnon term pericarp applies to all seed-
vessels, the several kinds being designated by the names
of capsule, silicle, &c.

The envelope of cased-ni/mphs^ which is formed of
the skin of the larva, considerably altered in form and
texture, maybe conveniently called the /JWjsanMm'^.-
but to the artifical coverings of difterent kinds, whe-
ther of silk, wood, or earth, &c. which many insects
of the other orders fabricate for themselves previously
to assuming the pupa state, and which have been
called by difterent writers, j^oc?*, cods^ husks, and beans,
I shall continue the more definite French term cocon,
anglicized into cocoon^.

After remaining a shorter or longer period, some
species only a few hours, others months, others one or
more years, in the pupa state, the inclosed insect, now
become mature in all its parts, bursts the case which
inclosed it, quits the pupa, and enters upon the fourth
and last state.

We now see it (unless it be an apterous species)
furnished with wings, capable of propagation, and
often under a form altogether different from those
wliich it has previously borne — a perfect beetle, but-
terfly, or other insect. This Linne termed the imago
Htate, and the animal that had attained to it the imago/
because, having laid aside its mask, and cast off its
swaddling bands, being no longer disguised or confined,
or in any respect imperfect, it is now become a true
representative or image of its species. This state is in

arLATEXVII. Fig. 2. b Plate XVII. Fig, 5— 10.

70 METAMOHPHOSliS.

geiiferal referred to when an insect is spoken of with*
out the restricting terms larva or pupa.

Such being the singularity of the transformations of
insects, you will not think the ancients were so wholly
unprovided with a show of argument as we are accus-
tomed to consider them, for their belief in the possi-
bility of many of the marvellous metamorphoses which
their poets recount. Utterly ignorant as they were of
modern physiological discoveries, the conversion of a
caterpillar into a butterfly, must have been a fact suffi-
cient to put to a nonplus all the sceptical oppugners of
such transformations. And, however we may smile
in this enlightened age at the inference drawn not two
centuries ago by Sir Theodore Mayerne, the editor of
MoufFet's work on insects, ^' that if animals are trans-
muted so may metals'*," it was not, in fact, with his
limited knowledge on these subjects, so very preposte-
rous. It is even possible that some of the wonderful
tales of the ancients were grafted on the changes which
they observed to take place in insects. The death and
revivification of the phcenix, from the ashes of which,
before attaining its perfect state, arose first a worTn
(arxooXYj^), in many of its particulars resembles what oc-
curs in the metamorphoses of insects. Nor is it very
unlikely th?.t the doctrine of the metempsychosis took
its rise from the same source. What argument would
be thought by those who maintained this doctrine more
plausible in favour of the transmigration of souls, than
the seeming revivification of the dead chri/salis? What
more probable, than that its apparent reassumption of
life should be owing to its receiving for tenant the soul

a Epis-t. Dedicat, .

METAMQRPIiaSES. "71

of some criminal doomed to animate an insect of
similar habits with those which had defiled his human
tenement * ?

At the present day, however, the transformations of
insects have lost that excess of the marvellous, which
might once have furnished arguments for the fictioiis
of the ancients, and the di'eams of Paracelsus. We
call them metamorphoses and transformations, because
these terms are in common use, and are more expres-
sive of the sudden changes that ensue than any new
ones. But, strictly, they ought rather to be termed a
series of developments. A caterpillar is not, in fact,
a simple but a compound animal, containing within it
the germ of the future butterfly, inclosed in what will
be the case of the pupa, which is itself included in the
three or more skins, one over the other, that will suc-
cessively cover the larva. As this increases in size
these parts expand, present themselves, and are in
turn thrown off, until at length the perfect insect,
which had been concealed in this succession of masks,
is displayed in its genuine form. That this is the pro-
per explanation of the phenomenon has been satisfac-
torily proved by Swammerdam, Malpighi, and other
anatomists. The first-mentioned illustrious natura-
list discovered, by accurate dissections, not only the
skins of the larva and of the pupa incased in each
other, bnt within them the very butterfly itself, with

a " A priest who has drunk wine shall migrate into a moth or fly, feed-
ing on ordure. He who steals the gold of a priest shall pass a thousand
times into the bodies of spiders. If a man shall steal honey, he shall be
born a great stinging gnat; if oil, an oil-drinking beetle; if salt, a
<icada; if a household utensil, an ichneumon Uy." Jnditutes of MenUy
353.

72 . ItfETAMORPHOSES.

its organs indeed in an almost fluid state, but still per-
fect in all its parts ^ . Of this fact you may convince
yourself without Swammerdam's skill, by plunging
into vinegar or spirit of wine a caterpillar about to
assume the pupa state, and letting it remain there a
few days for the purpose of giving consistency to its
parts; or by boiling it in water for a few minutes. A
very rough dissection will then enable you to detect
the future butterfly ; and you will find that the wings,
rolled up into a sort of cord, are lodged between the
first and second segment of the caterpillar : that the
antennae and trunk are coiled up in front of the head;
and that the legs, however difflerent their form, are
actually sheathed in its legs. Malpighi discovered the
eggs of the future moth, in the chrysalis of a silkworm
only a few days old**, and Reaumur those of Bom^
hyx dispar even in the caterpillar, and that seven or
eight days before its change into the pupa*^. A cater-
pillar, then, may be regarded as a locomotive e^^^
having for its embryo the included butterfly, which
after a certain period assimilates to itself the animal
substances by which it is surrounded ; has its organs
gradually developed ; and at length breaks through
the shell which incloses it.

This explanation strips the subject of every tiling
miraculous, yet by no means reduces it to a simple or
uninteresting operation. Our reason is confounded
at the reflection that a larva, at first not thicker than a
thread, includes its own triple, or sometimes octuple,
teguments; the case of a chrysalis, and a butterfly, all
curiously folded in each other; with an apparatus of

a Hill's Sioamm. ii. 24. t. 37. f. 2. 4. b Dc Bombyce, 29. c Reaum. i. 359^

METAMORPHOSES. 73

vessels for breathin*^ and digesting, of nerves for sen-
sation, and of muscles for moving ; and that these va-
rious forms of existence will undergo their successive
evolutions, by aid of a few leaves received into its sto-
mach. And still less able are we to comprehend how
this organ should at one time be capable of digesting
leaves, at another only honey ; how one while a silky
fluid should be secreted, at another none; or how or-
gans at one period essential to the existence of the
insect, should at another be cast off, and the whole sy-
stem which supported them vanish.

Nor does this explanation, though it precludes the
idea of that resemblance, in every particular, which, at
one time, was thought to obtain between the metamor-
phosis of insects, especially of the Lepid&ptera order,
and the resurrection of the body, do away that general
analogy, which cannot fail to strike every one who at
all considers the subject. Even Swammerdam, whose
observations have proved that the analogy is not so
complete as had been imagined, speaking of the meta-
morphosis of insects, uses these strong words: "This
process is formed in so remarkable a manner in butter-
flies, that we see therein the resurrection painted be-
fore our eyes, and exemplified so as to be examined by
our hands*." To see, indeed, a caterpillar crawling
upon the earth, sustained by the most ordinary kinds
of food, which, when it has existed a few weeks or
months under this humble form, its appointed work
being finished, passes into an intermediate state of
seeming death, when it is Avound up in a kind of
jihroud and encased in a coffin, and is most commonly

a Hill's Suamm. i, IT, a.

74 METAMORPHOSES.

buried under the earth, (though sometimes its sepul-
chre is in the water, and at others in various substances
in the air,) and after this creature and others of its
tribe have remained their destined time in this death-
like state, to behold earth, air, and water, give up their
several prisoners : to survey them, when, called by the
warmth of the solar beam, they burst from their sepul-
chres, cast off their cerements, from this state of torpid
inactivity, come forth, as a bride out of her chamber, —
to survey them, I say, arrayed in their nuptial glory,
prepared to enjoy a new and more exalted condition of
life, in which all their powers are developed, and they
are arrived at the perfection of their nature ; Avhenno
long^er confined to the earth they can traverse the fields
of air, their food is the nectar of flowers, and love be-
gins his blissful reign ; — who that witnesses this inter-
esting scene can help seeing in it a lively representa-
tion of man in his threefold state of existence, and more
especially of that happy day, when at the call of the
great Sun of Righteousness, all that are in the graves
shall come forth, the sea shall give up her dead, and
death being swallowed up of life, the nations of the
blessed shall live and love to the ages of eternity ?

But although the analogy between the dilFerent
states of insects and those of the body of man is only
general, yet it is much more complete with respect to
his soul. He first appears in this frail body — a child of
the earth, a crawling worm, his soul being in a course
of training and preparation for a more perfect and glo-
rious existence. Its course being finished, it casts off
tlie earthy body, and goes into a hidden state of being
in Hades, where it rests froui its works, and is pre-

METAMORPHOSED. 73

pared for its final consummation. The time for this
being arrived, it comes forth clothed with a glorious
body, not like its former, though germinating from it,
for though " it was sown an animal body, it shall be
raised a spiritual body," endowed with augmented
powers, faculties and privileges commensurate to its
new and happy state. And here the parallel holds
perfectly between the insect and the man. The butter-
fly, the representative of the soul, is prepared in the
larva for its future state of glory ; and if it be not de-
stroyed by the ichneumons and other enemies to which
it is exposed, symbolical of the vices that destroy the
spiritual life of the soul, it will come to its state of re-
pose in the pupa, which is its Hades ; and at length,
when it assumes the imago, break forth with new
powers and beauty to its final glory and the reign of
love. So that in this view of the subject well might
tlie Italian poet exclaim :

Noil v' accorgete vol, che noi siam' vermi

Nali a formar 1' angelica faifalla^ ?

The Egyptian fable, as it is supposed to be, of Cu-
pid and Psyche, seems built upon this foundation.
" Psyche," says an ingenious and learned writer,
"' means in Greek the human soul ; and it means also
a butterfly'', of wliich apparently strange double sense
the undoubted reason is, that a butterfly was a very

a Po \(3ii not perceive thai we are caterpillars, born to form the an-
gelic hiilterfl^ ?

Ij It is worthy of remark, that in the north and west of England the
uioth-: that fly into candles are called saules {souls), perhaps from the old
notion that the souls of the dead fly al)out at night in search of light.
for the same reason, probably, tlie common people in Germany call then^
ghouls (geistchen).

76 METAMORPHOSES.

ancient symbol of the soul — from the prevalence of
this symbol, and the consequent coincidence of the
names, it happened that the Greek sculptors frequently
represented Psyche as subject to Cupid in the shape of
a butterfly ; and that even when she appears in their
works under the human form, we find her decorated
with the light and filmy wings of that gay insect^"

The following beautiful little poem falls in so ex-
actly with the subject I have been discussing, that I
cannot resist the temptation I feel to copy it for you,
especially as I am not aware that it has appeared any
V'here but in a newspaper.

THE BUTTERFLY'S BIRTH-DAY,

BY THE AUTHOR OF " THE BUTTERFLy's BALL,"

The shades of night were scarcely fled ;

The air was mild, the winds were still ;
And slow the slanting sun-beams spread

O'er wood and lawn, o'er heath and hill :

From fleecy clouds of pearly hue

Had dropt a short but balmy shower,

That hung like gems of morning dew
On every tree and every flower :

And from the Blackbird's mellow throat
Was pour'd so loud and long a swell.

As echoed with responsive note

From mountain side and shadowy dell :

When bursting forth to life and light,

The offspring of enraptur'd May,
The Butterfly, on pinions bright,

Launch'd in full splendour on the day.

a Nares's Essaysy'i. lOJ-'i.

METAMORPHOSES* 77

Unconscious of a mother's care,
No infant wretchedness she knew;

But as she felt the vernal air,
At once to full perfection grew.

Her slender fornj, ethereal light,
Her velvet-textur'd wings enfold ;

With all the rainbow's colours bright,
And dropt with spots of burnish'd gold.

Trembling with joy awhile she stood,
And felt the sun's enlivening ray;

Drank from the skies the vital flood,
And wonder'd at her plumage gay !

And balanc'd oft her broider'd wings,

Thro' fields of air prepar'd to sail :
Then on her vent'rous journey springs.

And floats along the rising gale.
Go, child of pleasure, range the fields,

Taste all the joys that spring can give,
Partake what bounteous summer yields,

And live whilst yet 'tis thine to live.

Go sip the rose's fragrant dew,

The lily's honeyed cup explore.
From flower to flower the search renew,

And rifle all the woodbine's store :
And let me trace thy vagrant flight,

Thy moments too of short repose.
And mark thee then with fresh delight

Thy golden pinions ope and close.
But hark ! whilst thus I musing stand,

Pours on the gale an airy note.
And breathing from a viewless band,

Soft silyerjr tones around me float !

78 META]MWR,PH6g'Eff«

— They cease^-but still a voice I hear,
A whisper'd voice of hope and joy,

*' Thy hour of rest approaches near,

" Prepare thee, mortal !- — thou must die t

*' Yet start not I — on thy closing eyes
" Another day shall still unfold,

" A sun of milder radiance rise,
*' A happier age of joys untold^

" Shall the poor worm that shocks thy sighf^
*' The humblest form in nature's train,

" Thus rise in new-born lustre bright,
" And yet the emblem teach in vain ?

" Ah ! where were once her golden eyes,
" Her glittering wings of purple pride ?

*' Conceal'd beneath a rude disguise,
" A shapeless mass to earth allied.

*' Like thee the hapless reptile liv'd,
'* Like thee he toil'd, like Ihee he spun,

** Like thine his closing hour arriv'd,
" His labour ceas'd, his web was done,

*' And shalt thou, number'd with the dead,
*' No happier state of being know ?

** And shall no future morrow shed
*' On thee a beam of brighter glow ?

*' Is this the bound of power divine,

" To animate an insect frame ?
^' Or shall not he who moulded thine

*' Wake at his will the vital flame ?

" Go, mortal ! in thy reptile state,
" Enough to know to thee is given |

" Go, and the joyful truth relate ;

*' Frail child of earth ! high heir of heaven I'.^

METAMORPHOSEff. 79

A question here natui'ally presents itself — Why are
insects subject to these changes ? For what end is it
that, instead of preserving- like other animals ^ the same
general form from infancy to old age, they appear at
one period under a shape so difl'erent from that which
they finally assume ; and why should they pass through
an intermediate state of torpidity so extraordinary ? I
can only answer that such is the will of the Creator,
who doubtless had the wisest ends in view, although
we are incompetent satisfactorily to discover them. Yet
one reason for this conformation may be hazarded. A
very important part assigned to insects in the economy
of nature, as I shall hereafter show, is that of speedily
removing- superabundant and decaying- animal and ve-
getable matter. For such agents an insatiable voracity
is an indispensable qualification, and not less so unusual
powers of multiplication. But these faculties are in a
great degree incompatible. An insect occupied in the
work of reproduction could not continue its voracious
feeding. Its life, therefore, after leaving the egg, is
divided into three stages. In the first, as Icn^a, it is in
a state of sterility; its sole object is the satisfying its
insatiable hunger ; and, for digesting- the masses of food
which it consumes, its intestines are almost all stomach.
This is usually by much the longest period of its ex-
istence. Having now laid up a store of materials
for the development of the future perfect insect, it
hecomes a. pupa ; and during this inactive period the

a A few vertebrate animals, viz. frogs, toads, and newts, undergo me-
tamorphoses in some respects analogous to those of insects ; their first
form as tadpoles being very different from that which they afterwards
assume. These reptiles too, as well as snakes, cast tlieir skin by an ope-
ration somewhat similar to that, in iaru^. There is nothing, however,
in ti»eirnjctamorphoses at all resembling the pupa state in insects.

80 METAMORPHOSES*

important process slowly proceeds, uninterriiptecl hy
the calls of appetite. At leng^th the perfect insect is
disclosed. It noAV often requires no food at all; and
scarcely ever more than a very small quantity ; for the
reception of which its stomach has been contracted, in
some instances, to a tenth of its former bulk. Its almost
sole object is now the multiplication of its kind, from
which it is diverted by no other propensity ; and this
important duty being- performed, the end of its exist-
ence has been answered, and it expires.

It must be confessed that some objections might be
thrown out against this hypothesis, yet I tliink none that
would not admit of a plausible answer. To these it is
foreign to my purpose now to attend, and I shall con-
clude this letter by pointing out to you the variety of
new relations which this arrangement introduces into
nature. One individual unites in itself, in fact, three
species, whose modes of existence are often as different
as those of the most distantly related animals of other
tribes. The same insect often lives successively in three
or four worlds. It is an inhabitant of the water during
one period ; of the earth during another ; and of the air
during a third : and fitted for its various abodes by new
organs and instruments, and a neM^ form in each. Think
(to use an illustration of Bonnet) but of the cocoon of
the silk-worm ! How many hands, how many machines
does not this little ball put into motion ! Of what riches
should we not have been deprived, if the moth of the
silk-worm had been born a moth, w ithout having been
previously a caterpillar ! The domestic economy of a
large portion of mankind would have been formed on a
plan altogether different from that which now prevails.

I ajBj &c.

LETTER IV.

INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

DIRECT INJURIES.

In the letter which I devoted to the defence of Ento-
mology, I gave you reason to expect, more effectually
to obviate the objection drawn from the supposed in-
significance of insects, that I should enter largely into
the question of their importance to us both as instru-
ments of good and evil. This I shall now attempt ;
and, as I wish to leave upon your mind a pleasant im-
pression with respect to my favourites, I shall begin
with the last of these subjects — the injury which they
do to us.

The Almighty ordains various instruments for the
punishment of offending nations : sometimes he breaks
them to pieces with the iron rod of war ; at others the
elements are let loose against them ; earthquakes and
floods of fire, at his word, bring sudden destruction
upon them ; seasons unfriendly to vegetation threaten
them with famine ; the blight and mildew realize these
threats ; and often, the more to manifest and glorify
his power, he employs means, at first sight, apparently
the most insignificant and inadequate to effect their
ruin; the numerous tribes of insects are his armies %
marshalled by him, and by his irresistible command

a J»cl ir. 25.
TOJL. I. «

82 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED RY INSECT?.

impelled to the work of destruction : where he directs
them they lay waste the earth, and famine and the pes-'
tilence often follow in their train/

The generality of mankind overlook or disregard
these powerful, because minute, dispensers of punish-
ment ; seldom considering in how many ways their
welfare is affected by them : but the fact is certain, that
should it please God to give them a general commis-
sion against us, and should he excite them to attack, at
the same time, our bodies, our clothings our bouses,
our cattle, and the produce of our fields and gardens,
we should soon be reduced, in every possible respect,
to a state of extreme wretchedness ; the prey of the
most filthy and disgusting diseases, divested of a co-
vering, unsheltered, except by caves and dungeons,
from the inclemency of the seasons, exposed to all the
extremities of want and famine, and in the end, as Sir
Joseph Banks, speaking on this subject, has well ob-
served % driven with all the larger animals from the
face of the earth. You may smile, perhaps, and think
this a high-coloured picture, but you will recollect — I
am not stating the mischiefs that insects commonly do,
but what they would do according to all probability, if
certain counter-checks restraining them within due
limits had not been put in action ; and which they
actually do, as you will see, in particular cases, when
those counter-checks are diminished or removed.
, Insects may be said, without hyperbole, to have es-
tablished a kind of universal empire over the earth
and its inhabitants. This is principally conspicuous in
the injuries which they occasion, for nothing in nature

a On the Blight in Corn, p. 9,

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 83

t-liat possesses or has possessed animal or vegetable life,
is safe from their inroads. Neither the cunning of tlie
fox, nor the swiftness of the horse or deer, nor the
strengtli of the buffalo, nor the ferocity of the lion or
tiger, nor the armour of the rhinoceros, nor the giant
bulk or sagacity of the elephant, nor even the autho-
rity of imperial man, who boasts himself to be the lord
of all, can secure them from becoming a prey to these
despised beings. The air affords no protection to the
birds, nor the water to the fish ; insects pursue them all
to their most secret conclaves and strongest citadels,
and compel them to submit to their sway. Flora's em-
pire is still more exposed to their cruel domination and
ravages ; and there is scarcely one of her innumerable
subjects, from the oak, tlie glory of the forest, to the
most minute lichen that grows upon its trunk, that is
not destined to be the food of these next to nonentities
in our estimation. And when life departs from man,
the inferior animals, or vegetables, they become uni-
versally, sooner or later, the inheritance of insects.

I shall principally bespeak your attention to the in-
juries in question as they affect ourselves. These may
be divided into direct and indirect. By direct injuries
I mean every species of attack upon our own persons,
and by indirect^ such as are made upon our property^
To the former of these I shall confine myself in the
present letter.

Insects, as to their direct attacks upon us, may be
arranged in three principal classes. Those, namely,
which seek to make us their food; those Avhose object

G 2

§4 DiBECT iyOvniEi caused by insects.

i« to prevent or revenge an injury which they either
fear, or haVe received from us ; and those which in-
deed offer us no violence, but yet incommode us ex-
tremely in other ways.

I hope I shall not too much offend your delicacy if
I begin the first class of our insect assailants with a
very disgusting genus, which Providence seems to have
created to punish inattention to personal cleanliness.
But though this pest of man must not be wholly passed
over, yet, since it is unfortunately too well known, it
will not be at all necessary for me to enlarge upon its
history. I shall only mention one fact which shows the
Astonishingly rapid increase of these animals, where
they have once gotten possession. It is a vulgar no-
tion, that a louse in twenty-four hours may see two
generations ; but this is rather overshooting the mark*
Lieeuwenhoek, whose love for science overcame th?
nausea that such creatures are apt to excite, proves
that their nits or eggs are not hatched till the eighth
day after they are laid, and that they do not themselves
commence laying before they are a month old. He as-
certained, however, that a single female louse may, in
eight weeks, witness the birth of five thousand descen-
dants *. You remember how wolves were extirpated
from this country, but perhaps never suspected any
monarch of imposing a tribute of lice upon his subjects.
Yet we are gravely told that in Mexico and Peru such
a^o//-tax was exacted, and that bags full oi' these trea-
sures were found in the palace of Montezuma^ I H

a Leeuw. Epist. 98. 1696.

b BiDgley, jinim. Biogr. first edition^ iii.4S7. 8t, Pierre'i StudUsj
Sic. i. 313.

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 83

Were our own taxes paid in such coin, what little
grumbling would there be!

Two other species of this genus, besides the common
louse, are, in this country, parasites upon the human

body But already I seem to hear you exclaim,

" Why dwell so long on creatures so odious and nau-
seating, whose injuries are confined to the profanum
valgus? Leave them therefore to the canaille — they
are nothing to us." Not so fast, my friend — recollect
what historians and other writers have recorded con-
trerning the Pldhiriasis or pedicular disease, and you
must own that, for the quelling of human pride, and t6
pull down the high conceits of mortal man, this most
loathsome of all maladies, or one equally disgusting,
has been the inheritance of the rich, the wise, the
noble, and the mighty ; and in the list of those that have
fallen victims to it, you will find poets, philosophers,
prelates, princes, kings, and emperors. It seems more
particularly to have been a judgement of God upon
oppression and tyranny, whether civil or religious.
Thus the inhuman Pherettma mentioned by Herodo-
tas, Antiochus Epiphanes, the Dictator Sylla, the two
Herods, the Emperor Maximian, and, not to mention
more, the great persecutor of the Protestants, Philip
the Second, were carried off by it.

I say by this malady, or ane equally disgusting^ be-
cause it is not by ar.y means certain, though some
learned men have so supposed, that all these instances^
and others of a similar nature, standing also upon re-
cord, are to be referred to the same specific cause;
since there is very sufficient reason for thinking that
?it least three different descriptions of insects are con-

86 DIRECT INJUlllES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

cerned in the various cases that have been handed
down to us under the common name of Phthiriasis,
As the subject of maladies connected with insects, or
produced by them, is both curious and interesting-, al--
though no writer, that I am aware of, has given it
full consideration, and at the same time falls in with
my general design, I hope you will not regard me as
guilty of presumption, and of intruding into the pro-
vince of medical men, if I enter rather largely into it,
and state to you the reasons that have induced me to
embrace the above hypothesis, leaving you full liberty
to reject it if you do not find it consonant to reason and
fact. The three kinds of insects to which I allude, as
concerned in ca^es that have been deemed Phthiriasis,
are lice (Pediculi, L.), mites (Acari, L.), and Larvce
in general.

As far as the habits of the genus Pediculns, whether
inhabiting man or the inferior animals, are at present
known, it does not appear, from any well ascertained
fact, that the species belonging to it are ever suhcutdi-
neous. For this observation, as far as it relates to
man, I can produce the highest medical authority.
*' The louse feeds on the surface of the skin," says the
learned Dr. Mead in his Medica Sacra; and Dr. Wil-
lan, in his palmary work on Cutaneous Diseases, rer
marks with respect to the body-louse, " that the nits,
or eggs, are deposited on the small hairs of the skin,"
and that " the aniniak are found on the skin, or on the
linen, and not under the cuticle, as some authors have
represented." And he further observes, that " many
marvellous stories are related by Forestus, Schenkius
and others respecting lice bred under the skin, and

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 87

discharged in swarms from abscesses, strumous ulcers,
and vesications. The mode in which Pediculi are ge-
nerated being" now so well ascertained, no credit can
be given to these accounts." Thus far this great man,
who however supposes (in which opinion Dr. Bateman
concurs with him) that the authors to whom he alludes
had mistaken for lice eonie other species of insects,
which are not un frequently found in putrefactive sores.
If these observations be allowed their due weight, it
will follow, that a disease produced by animals residing
under the cuticle cannot be a true Phthiriasis, and
therefore the death of the poet Alcman, and of Phere-
cydes Syrius the philosopher, mentioned by Aristotle,
must have been occasioned by some other kind of in-
sect. For, speaking of the lice to which he attributes
tliese catastrophes, he says that " they are produced in
the flesh in small pustule-like tumours, which have no
pus, and from which, when punctured, they issue ^."
For the same reason, the disorder which Dr. Heber-
den has described in his Commeniaries^ from the com-
munications of Sir E. Wilniot, under the name of
Morbus pedicularis, must also be a difEsrent disease,
since, Avith Aristotle, he likewise represents the insects
as inhabiting tumours, from which they may be ex-
tracted when opened by a needle. He says, indeed,
that in every respect they resemble the common lice,
except in being whiter ; but medical men, who were
not at the same time entomologists, might easily mis-
take an Acarus for a Pediculus''.

a Hist, j4nimal.l. 5. c, 3\.

b From the terms einplpyed by Arislotlf. and Dr. Mead in their At -
count of these cases, it appears that the animal tliey meant could not
be maggots, but something bearing a more general resemblance to lice.

88 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

Dr. Willan, in one case of Prurigo senilis, observe^
a number of small insects on the patient's skin and
linen, They were quick in their motion, and so mi-
nute that it required some attention to discover them.
He took them at first for small Pediculi ; but under a
lens they appeared to him rather to be a nondescript
species of Pulex" ; yet the figure he gives has not the
slightest likeness to the latter genus, while it bears a
striking resemblance to the former. It is not clear
whether his draughtsman meant to represent the insect
with six or with eight legs : if it had only six, it was
probably a Pediculus ; but if it had eight, it would
form a new genus between the Acaridce and the hexa-^
pod Aptera, Dr. Bateman, in reply to some queries put
to him, at my request, by our common and lamented
friend Dr. Reeve, relates that he understood from Dr.
Willan, in conversation, that the insect in question
jumped in its motion. This circumstance he regards
as conclusive against its being a Pediculus ; but such
a consequence does not necessarily follow, since it not
seldom happens that insects of the same genus either
have or have not this faculty ; for instance, Ci/phon
hemisphcericus, Acarus Scabiei, &c.

Dr. Willan has quoted with approbation two causes
from Amatus Lusitanus, which he seems to think cor-
rectly described as Phthiriasis. In one of them, how-
ever, which terminated fatally, the circumstances seem
rather hyperbolically stated — I mean, where it is said
that two black servants had no other employment tlian
carrying baskets full of these insects to the sea ! ! Per-
haps you will think I draw largely upon your credulity
if I call upon you to believe this ; I shall therefore leave

? On Cutaneous Diseases, 87, 88 ; and /, 7. /. 4.

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 89

you to act as you please. — Thus much for pure PhthU
riasis, which term ought to be conlined to maladies
produced by lice. I shall only further observe, that as
many species as exist of these, which are the causes of
disease, so many kinds of Phthiriasis will there be.

Acari, or mites, are the next insect sources of disease
in the human species, and that not of one, but probably
of many kinds both local and general. They are distin-
guished from Pediculi not only by their form, but also
often by their situation, since they frequently establish
themselves under the cuticle. With respect to local dis*
orders. Dr. Adams conjectures that Acari may be the
cause of certain cases of Ophlhalmia. Sir J. Banks, in
a letter to that gentleman, relates that some seamen
belonging to the Endeavour brig, being tormented with
a severe itching round the extremities of the eyelids,
Que of them was cured by an Otaheitan woman, who
w ith two small splinters of bamboo extracted from be-
tween the cilia abundance of very minute lice, which
were scarcely visible without a lens, though their mo-
tion, when laid on the thumb, was distinctly perceived.
These insects were probably synonymous with the
Ciron despaupieres of Sauvages ^ .— Le Jeune, a French
physician quoted in Mouffet, describes a case, in which
wliat seems a different species, since he calls them
rather large, infested the white of the eye, exciting
an intolerable itching''. — Dr. Mead, from the German
Ephemerides, gives an account of a woman suckling her
child, from whose breast proceeded very minute ver-
^licles " . These were probably Acari. and perhaps that

a On Morhid PoLnns, 20G, 307. b I\I.}i!|i"hf, 2(57.

t Medica Sacra, 104, 105,

90 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

species, which, from its feeding upon milk, Linne
denominates A. Lactis. The great author last men-
tioned describes an insect, a native of America, under
the iiairie of Pediculus Ricinoides, which, upon the
authority of Rolander, he informs us, gets into the
feet of people as they walk, sucks their blood, oviposits''
in them, and so occasions very dangerous ulcers. It
would be an Acarus, he observes, but it luis only six
legs. Now Herman affirms, that some species of
Tromhidium (a genus separated by Fabricius from
Acarus) have in no state more than six legs'' . Others
of the tribe of Acarida.', and the insect in question
amongst the rest, may be similarly circumstanced ; or
those that Rolander examined might have been larvae,
which in this tribe are usually hexapods.

Liiiinc appears to have been of opinion that many
contagious diseases are caused by Acari*^ . How far he
was justified in this opinion I shall not here inquire j
facts alone can decide the question, and observations
made by men acquainted with Entomology as well as
the science of diseases. Considerable deference and
attention, however, are certainly due to the sentiments
of so great a naturalist, in whom these necessary qua-
lifications were united in no common degree. With
respect to the dysentery and the itch, he affirms that
this had been manifested to his eyes. You will wish

a It is to be hopfd tliia new word may be admitted, as the laying of
eggs cannot otherwise be expressed without a peripiirasis. For elit
same reason its substantive Otiposiliuti will be craployed.

b Man. Apterologique, 19.

c Insecta cjusmodi minutissima, forte y/caros dlversae specie! causas
(Csse diversoruHi morborura contagiosorum,ab analogia et expericntiii
hactenus acquisita, facili credimus ncgotto. Aincan. Ac. v. 94.

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 91

probably to know the arguments that may be adduced
ill confirmation of this opinion ; I will therefore en-
deavour to satisfy you as well as I am able. The fol-
lowing- history given by Linne seems to prove the
dysentery connected with Acari.

Rolander, a student in Entomology, while he re-
sided in the house of the illustrious Swede, v/as at-
tacked by the disease in question, which quickly gave
way to the usual remedies. Eight days after, it re-
turned again, and was as before soon removed. A third
time, at the end of the same period, he was seized with
it. All the wliile he had been living- like the rest of the
family, who had nevertheless escaped. This, of course,
occasioned no little inquiry into tlie cause of what had
happened. Linne, aware that Bartholinus had attri-
buted the dysentery to iiisecls, which he professed to
have seen, recommended it to his pupil to examine his
feces. Rolander, following this advice, discovered in
them innumerable animalcules, which tipon a close ex-
amination proved to be Acari. It was next a question
how he alone came to be singled out by them ; and thus
he accounts for it. It was his habit not to drink at his
meals; but in the night, growing- thirsty, he often sip-
ped some liquid out of a vessel made of juniper wood.
Inspecting this very narrowly, he observed, in the
chinks between the ribs, a white line, which, when
viewed under a lens, he found to consiist of innumerable
Acari, precisely the same with those that he had voided.
V^arious experiments were tried with them, and a pre-i
paration of rhubarb was found to destroy them most ef-
fectually. He afterwards discovered them in vessels
containing acids, and often under the bung of casks*,

a Jmoen. Ac. v. 94-98.

92 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INJsECTS.

In the instance here recorded, the dysentery, or diar-
rhcea, was evidently produced by these Acari ; but it
would be going too far, I apprehend, to assert that
they are invariably the cause of that disease.

That Scabies, or the itch, is occasioned by an Acarus
is not a doctrine peculiar to the moderns. Mouffet
mentions Abinzoar, called also Avenzoar, a celebrated
Hispano-Arabian physician of Seville, who flourished
in the twelfth century, as the most ancient author that
notices it. He calls these Acari little lice that creep
under the skin of the hands, legs, and feet, exciting
pustules full of fluid ^. Joubert, quoted by the same
author, describes them under the name of Sirones or
mites, as always being cpncealed beneath the epidermis,
under which they creep like moles, gnawing it, and
causing a most troublesome itching. It appears that
Mouffet, or whoever was the author of that part of the
Theatrum Insectorum^ was himself also well acquainted
with these animals, since he remarks that their habita-
tion is not in the pustule but near it; a remark after-
wards confirmed by Linne'', and more recently by Dr,
Adams •=. In common with the former of these au-
thors, Mouffet further notices the effect of warmth
upon them in exciting motion*^. Our intelligent coun^
tiyman also observes that they cannot be Pediculi,
since they live under the cuticle, which lice never do*,

a Mouff.^t, 26G.

1) Acarus sub ipsa pustula minime quaerendus est, scd longius recessit-,
jequendo rugam cuticulae observatur. Amosn. Ac. v. 95. not.**.

c Observations, &c. 298.

d Extractus acu et su])er ungue positus, movet se si solis eliam calore
adjuvetur. uhi supr. Ungui impositus vix niovetur : si vcro oris calido ha^
litu affletur, agilis in ungue cursitat. Fn. Suec. 1973.

P Neque Syrones isti sunt de pedicuiorum gencre, nt Johannes Langius

ninF.CT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 9B

In the epistle dedicatory, the editor speaks also of these
Acari as living in burrows which they have excavated
in the skin near a lake of water; from which if they
be extracted with a needle and put upon the nail, they
show in the sun their red head and the feet with which
they walk". And to close my veteran authorities, Ju-
nius thus explains the word Acarus, as I find him
quoted in Gouldman's useful dictionary, " A small
worm, which eats under the skin, and makes burrows
in itching hands'*."

In more modern times, microscopical figures have
been added to descriptions of the insect. Bonomo first
furbished this valuable species of elucidation. His
figures, however, which are copied by Baker in his
work on the microscope, are far from accurate '^. Those
of De Geer and Dr. Adams are much more satisfactory,
and mutually confirm each other''. From them it is
evident that the same insect inhabits the scabies of
Sweden and Madeira. Dr. Bateman, in the letter be-
fore alluded to, informs his correspondent, that he had
seen that from Madeira, and gives it as his opinion,
that there cannot be a doubt of the existence of an

ex Aristotele videtitr asserere : nam illi extra cutem vivunt, hi vero non.
ubi swpr.

a Imo ipsi Acari prs exigiiitate indJvisibiles, ex cuniculis prope aquae
lacun quo» foderunt in cute, acu extracti et ungue impositi, caput la-
brcm, et pedes quibus gradiuntur ad solem produnt. p. vi.

b Teredo sive exiguus venr.iculus, qui subter cutim erodit agitque cu~
niculos in pnifiginosis manibus. Gouldman tells us these Acari were alsa
called Hand'worms. Another English name is given in Mouffet, viz.
fVheale -worms.

f Osservazioni intorno a pellicelli del corpo umano fatte dal Holier Gio
Cosimo Bonomo, &c./, 1-3. Baker On MicrcK. i. I. 13. /. 2.

d D« Cicer, vi J. l. 5- f. 12- ii.

94 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED CY IxNSECTS.

Acarus Scahiei; an opinion \yhich he repeats in his late
work on Cutaneous Diseases; and which, according to
Herman^, has been also rendered uiu[uestionable b,v
Wichmann in his Etiologie de la Gale (Hanovre 1786),
a work I have not had an opportunity of consulting.
From all this we may regard the point as so far settled,
that such an animal exists at least as an occasional
concomitant of scabies'.

This fact being ascertained, a more complex inquiry
remains, which branches out into two distinct ques-
tions. Is scabies always produced by these insects ?
Or, if this be not the case, Is the animate scabies a
distinct disease from the inanimate?

It is very remarkable that Linne, a physician as well
as a naturalist; and De Geer, one of the most accurate
observers that ever existed ; should both assign the in-
sect in question as the undoubted cause of the eommmi
scabies of their country ; the one applying to the dis-
ease he was speaking of the epithet o^ communissima^
and observing the fact to be notorious, {cuique liquet^)
and the other designating it by its well known French
name " La Gale^'.'''' And is it not equally remarkable
that such men as John Hunter, Dr. Heberden, Dr.
Bateman, Dr. Adams, and Mr. Baker should never,
in this country, have been able to meet with it ? Did
it indeed exist in our common scabies, it seems impos-
sible that it could have escaped the observation of the
two last of these gentlemen; Dr. Adams being so well

a Mem. ^pterologkpie, 79.
' b I am informed by my learned friend Alexander MacLeay, Esq. Se-
cretary to the Linnean Society, that, in the north of Scotland, the insect
of the Itch is well known, and easily discovered and extracted.

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 95

qualified to detect it from his observations in Madeira,
and Mr. Baker from his expertncss in microscopical
researches. Dr. Bateman, in the letter above quoted,
says, " I have hunted it with a good magnifier, in
many cases of itch, both in and near tlje pustules, and
in the red streaks or furrows, but always without suc-
cess." In his M'ork on Cutaneous IJiseases he tells us,
however, that he has seen it, m one instance, when it
had been taken from the diseased surface by another
practitioner. And though Dr. Willan in his book
speaks of the Acarus as the concomitant of this disease,
yet his learned friend just mentioned observes, that he
admitted that the insect was not to be found in ordi-
nary cases, and indeed never seemed to have made up
his mind upon the subject. When I was at Norwich
in 1812, Dr. Reeve very kindly accompanied me to the
House of Industry there, to examine a patient whose
body was very full of the pustules of this disorder; but
though we used a good magnifier, we could discover
nothing like an insect. I must observe, however, that
our examination v. as made in December, in severe
weather, when the cold might, perhaps, render the ani-
mal torpid, and less easy to be discovered.

From the above facts it seems fair to infer that this
animal is not invariably the cause of scabies, but that
there are cases with which it has no connexion. Now,
from this inference, would not another also follow, that
the disease produced by the insect is specifically distinct
from tUai in which it cannot be^found ? Sauvages and
Dr. Adams are both of this opinion^, the former assign-

* TWii opinion Dr. L.itcsna^i thinks, probably the Iruo nnr. Culav.Vi;;.

96 DIHECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

irtg to it the trivial name of vermicularis ; and the lat-
ter proving^, by very satisfactory arguments, that it is
(liiTerent from the other. If they were both animate
diseases, but derived from two distinct species of ani-
mals, (for it seems not impossible that even our com-
mon itch may be caused by an Acarus more minute than
the other, and so more difficult to find,) they would
properly be considered as distinct species ; much more,
therefore, if one be animate and the other inanimate.
Nay this, I should think, would lead to a doubt whe-
ther even their genus were the same. I shall dismiss
this part of my subject with the mention of a disco-
very of Dr. Adams, which seems to have escaped botli
Linne and De Geer — that the Acarus Scabiei is en-
dowed with the faculty of leaping ; (in this respect re-
sembling the insect found by Willan in Prurigo senilii
mentioned above,) for which purpose its four posterior
thighs are incrassated^

But besides these Acarine diseases, there seems to be
one (unless with Linne we regard the plague as of this
class'') more fearful and fatal than them all. You will,
perhaps, conjecture I am speaking of that described by
Aristotle and Sir E. Wilmot as the Phthiriasis, and
your conjecture will be right. But some think, and
those men of merited celebrity, that^caW have nothing
to do in these and similar cases, for that maggots were
the parasites mistaken for lice. This, from the passage
above quoted, appears to have been Dr. Willan's opi-
nion, to which, in the letter so often referred to, Dr,

a Probably this Acarus in (he modern system would form a distinct g?-
nus. Lafreille places it in his Sarcoptes with the Ac, passe, inus, L. Latr,
GenA, 152.2. b Jmcen. Ac. ubi supr. 101.

DIRECT INJURIES CAFSED BY INSECTS. 97

Bateman subscribes; adding as a reason for excluding
Acari from being concerned, that " they are too mi-
nute, and never have ])een seen in such numbers as to
be mistaken for lice." But both Acari and Pediculi
vary in size, some of the former being larger than some
of the latter. And allowing them to be ever so minute,
yet when they issue in swarms, as mites from a cheese,
they would be very visible, were it only from their mo-
tion. Besides, as they are furnished with legs, their
motions resemble those of lice infinitely more than do
the contortions of maggots. So that an Acarus would
be deemed a louse much sooner by an unentomological
observer than would a maggot. Whether Acari have
ever been seen in such numbers as to be mistaken for
lice, is the point in question ; and therefore, by itself,
cannot be admitted for a^ valid argument. Though
Acanis Scabiei does not appear to s>varm in ordinary
cases, yet this is certainly no reason why other species
may not do so. Where it has once made a settlement,
how^ incredibly, and in how short a space of time, doeS
the iS/ro or cheese-mite multiply ! Acarus Destructor
and many other species are equally rapid in their in-
crease.— Millions of lice are said by Lafontaine, whom
Hermann calls a very exact describer, to show them-
selves in Plica polonica, on the third day of the dis-
ease '^ ; but whether the last-mentioned author be cor-
rect in thinking it more probable that they are Acari '',
I have not the means of judging.

I shall now produce two instances where Acari were
evidently concerned. Dr. Mead, from the German
Ephemerides, relates ,the miserable case of a French

a Tiaith de. Chlnir^Se, &c. Lcipsig". 1792. b Mttn. Jptcrolog.lS.
VOL. I. II

98 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

nobleman, from whose eyes, nostrils, mouth, and uri-
nary passage animalcules of a red colour, and exces-
sively minute, broke forth day and night, attended "by
the most horrible and excruciating pains, and at length
occasioned his death. The account further says, that
they were produced from his corrupted blood. This
was probably a fancy originating- in their red colour :
but the whole history, whether we consider the size
and colour of the animals, or the places from which
they issue, is inapplicable to larzce or maggots, and
agrees very well with Acari, some of which, particu-
larly A. autumnalis, are of a bright red colour. The
other case, and a very similar one, is that recorded by
MoufFet of Lady Penruddock; concerning whom he
expressly tells us, that Acari swarmed in every part of
her body — her head, eyes, nose, lips, gums, the soles of
her feet, &c., tormenting her day and night, till, in
«pite of every remedy, all the flesh of hgr body being
consumed, she was at length relieved by death from
this terrible state of suffering. Mouffet attributes her
disease to the Acarus Scabiei; but from the symptoms
and fatal result it seems to have been a different and
much more terrific animal. He supposes, in this in-
stance, the insect to have been generated by drinking
goaf^s milk too copiously. This, if correct, would lead
to a conjecture that it might have been the^. Lactis, L,
These cases I hope will satisfy you that Acari, as
well as Pediculi, are the cause of diseases in the hu-
man frame. This, indeed, as has been before observed,
is allowed on all hands with respect to that of the itch ;
and it is, certainly, not more improbable that man
should be exposed to the attack of several species of

blRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 99

this g;enus, than that tliree or four kinds of Pediculus
should infost him. If you are convinced by what I
have written, you will concur with me in thinking- that
the one are as much entitled to give their name to the
disease which they produce as the other ; and the term
Acariasis, by which, with due deference to medical
men, I propose to distinguish generically all acarine
diseases, will not be refused its place amongst your
ijfcnera Morhornm.

I shall now proceed to the remaining class of dis-
eases mistaken for Phthiriasis ; those, namely, which
are produced by larvce. There are two terms employed
by ancient authors, Euhe (EvXai) and Scolex (JTxojAvj^),
which seem properly to denote larvae ; but there is
often such a want of precision in the language of wri-
ters unacquainted with Natural History, that it is very
difficult to make out what objects they mean ; and ex-
pressions which, strictly taken, should be understood
of larvag, may probably sometimes have been used to
denote the cause of either the pedicular or acarine dis-
ease. Eulce, which term, though given by liesychius
as synonymous with Scolex, is by Plutarch used as of
different import % seems properly to mean those larvae
which are generated in dead carcases, at least so Ho-
mer has more than once applied it '' : it is therefore a
word of a much more restricted sense than Scolex,
which probably belongs to the larvae of eVery order of
insects; for so Aristotle employs it, when he says that
all insects produce a Scolex, or are larviparous ^. Yet
when Homer compares Harpalion stretched ^i^ad upon

;i In Artaxerx. b II. x- 1-599. w, 1. 414.

c T« tfs uTOftu, ■jrxvTx ffKuXriKornKiu Be Ccntrat.- Anbnal, 1. 2, c. !•

u 2

100 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSr.CTS.

the ground to a Scolex^, it should seem as if lie used
the word for an earth-worm, which Aristotle common-
ly calls by a figurative periphrasis, " Entrails of the
earth''." In the Holy Scriptures this word is used to
signify larvae which prey upon and are the torment of
living bodies ''. It may on this account, perhaps, be re-
garded as generally meaning such larvse, to v* hatever
order or genus they belong.

Dr. Mead, therefore, is most probably right vvhcn
he considers the disease stated by the ancients to be
caused by EuI{b or Scoleches, commonly translated
worms, as distinct from Plithiriasis; and if so, the in-
human Pheretirna, who swarmed with EuJce, and He-
rod Agiippa, who was eaten of Scoleches^^ were pro-
bably neither of them destroyed either by Pediculi or
Acari, but by larvae or maggots. And when Galen
prescribed a remedy for ulcers inhabited by Scoleches,
observing that animals similar to those generated by
putrid substances are often found in abscesses, he pro-
bably meant the same thing. The proper appellation
of this genus of diseases would be Scolechiasis.

This dissertation may perhaps appear to you rather
prolix and tedious : yet to settle the meaning of terms
is of the first importance. To inquire what ancient
writers intended by the w ords which they employ, and
whether such as have been usually regarded as syno-
nymous are really so, may often furnish us with a clue
to some useful or interesting truth; and not seldom
enable us to rescue their reputation fr6m much of the

a/^ V. 1.654-:.

b rn; ivrt^a. Dc Animal. Incessii, ( . 9. I)c General, minimal. 1. 3. «. 11.
c Mark ix .41. 46. it. <i '^xu', «»sogiiT«. Acta xif, ?ii

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 101

censure which has been inconsiderately cast upon it.
Because they did not know every thing, or so much as
we do, we are too apt to think that they knew nothing.
That tliey fell into very considerable errors, especially
in subjects connected with Natural History, cannot be
denied; but then it ought to be considered that they
possessed scarcely any of those advantages by which
we are enabled to penetrate into nature's secrets. The
want of the microscope alone was an ellectual bar to
tlieir progress in this branch of science. Yet, in some
instances, Avhen they took a general view of a subject,
they appear to have hud very correct ideas. This ob-
servation particularly applies to the philosopher of
Stagyra, whose mighty mind and lyncean eye, in spite
of those mists of prejiiJice and fable that enveloped
the age in which he lived, enabled him in part to pierce
through the gloom, and comprehend and behold the
fair outline that gives symmetry, grace and beauty to
the whole of nature's form, though he mistook, or was
not able to trace out, her less prominent features and
minor lineaments.

It is now time to return from this long digression,
which however is closely connected with the subject of
this letter, to the point from which I deviated. Taking
my leave of the disgusting animals which gave rise to
it, I proceed to call your attention to another of our
pygmy tormentors, which, in the opinion of some, seems
to have been regarded as an agreeable rather than a
repulsive object. " Dear Miss," said a lively old Lady
to a friend of mine, (who had the misfortune to be con-
fined to her bed by a broken limb, and was complain-

102 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

ing that the fleas tormented her,) " don't you like
jieas? Well, I think they are the prettiest little merry
things in the world. — I never saw a dull flea in all my
life." The celebrated Willughby kept a favcurite flea,
which used at stated times to be admitted to suck the
palm of his hand; and enjoyed this privilege for three
months, when the cold killed it. And Dr. Townson,
from the encomium which he bestows upon these vigi-^
lant little vauiters, as supplying the place of an alarum
and driving us from the bed of sloth, should seem to
have regarded them with feelings much more compla-
cent than those of Dr. Clarke and his friends, when
^heir hopes of passing " one night free from the attacks
of vermin" were changed into despair by the informa-
tion of the laughing Sheik, that " the king of the fleas
held his court at Tiberias :" or than those of MM.
Lewis and Clarke, who found them mere tormenting"
than all the other plagues of the Misi-ouri country,
where they sometimes compel even the natives to shift
their quarters. If you unhappily view them in this un-
favourable light, and have found ordinary methods un-
availing for bidding yourself of these unbidden guests ;
I can furnish'you with B.prohatmn est recipe, which the
first-mentioned traveller tells us the Hungarian shep-
herds (who seem to have been stupidly insensible to
their value as alarums) find completely effectual to put
to flight these insects and their neighbours the lice.
This is not, as you may be tempted to think, by a re-;
markable attention to cleanliness. — Quite the reverse.
— They grease their linen with hog's lard, and thus
render themselves disgusting: even to fleas ! If this does
not satisfy, I have another recipe in store for you. You

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. lOS

may shoot at them with a cannon, as report says did
Christina Queen of Sweden, whose piece of artillery,
of Liliputian calibre, Avhich was employed in this war-
fare, is still exhibited in the arsenal of Stockholm^.
But,, seriously, if you wish for an effectual remedy,
that prescribed by old Tusser, in the following- lines,
will answer your purpose :

" While wormwood hath seed, get a handfull or twaine,
To save against March, to make flea to rcfraine :
Where chamber is sweepcd, and wormwood is strown,
No flea for his life dare abide to be knowne."

To this genus belongs an insect, a])undant in the
West Indies and South America, the attacks of which
are infinitely more serious than those of the Common
flea. You will readily conjecture that I am speaking of
the celebrated Chigoe or Jiggers^ called also Nigua^
Tungua, and Pique^^ {Pulex penetrans^ L.,) one of
the direst personal pests with which the sins of man
have been visited. All disputes concerning the genus
of this insect would have been settled long before
Swartz'stime, (who first gave a satisfactory description
and figure of it, proving it to be a Pulex ^ as has been
observed above *^,) had success attended the patriotic
attempt of the Capuchin friar recorded by Walton in
his History of St. Do7ningo, who brought away with
him from that island a colony of these animals, which
he permitted to establish themselves in one of his feet ;

a Linn. Lack. Lapp, ii. 32, note *,

b Latreille supposes the Pique and Nigiia to be synonymous Avith Jat-
rus americanus, L. Hist*. Nat. vii. 331. — The Ck'gou also he calls an Aca-^
fus. Ibid. 390. i: See ubave, p, 50.

104: DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS, '

but unfortunately for himself, and for science, the foot
intrusted with the precious deposit mortified, was
obliged to be amputated, and with all its inhabitants
committed to the waves. According to Ulloa, and his
opinion is confirmed by Jussieu, there are two South
American species of this mischievous insect. It is de--
scribed as generally attacking the feet and legs ^, get*
ting, without being felt, between the skin and the flesh,
usually under the nails of the toes, where it nidificates
and lays its eggs; and if timely attention be not paid
to it, which, as it occasions no other uneasiness than
itching, (the sensation at first, I am assured, is rather
pleasing than otherwise,) is sometimes neglected, it
multiplies to such a degree, as to be attended by the
most fatal consequences, often, as in the above in*
stance, rendering amputation necessary, and sometimes
causing death''. The female slaves in the West Iiir
dies are frequently employed to extract these pests,
which they do with uncommon dexterity. Yarico, so
celebrated in prose and verse, performed this kind
office for honest Ligon, Avho says, in his History of
Harbadoes, " I have had ten (Chegoes) taken out of
my feet in a morning, by the most unfortunate Yarico,
an Indian woman '^. "

You have already, perhaps, been satiated with the
account before given of our enemies of the -^corw^ tribe ;
there are a few, however, which I could not with pro-

a Captain Hancock, hite commander of His Majesty's ship the Fou-
droyant. to whose friendly exertions I am indebted for one of the finest
coliections of I^razii insects ever brought to England, informs me that
ibey will attack any exposed part of the body, lie had once in his hau(4.

b Piso and Ma:gn Lid. 28a ' c p. 65.

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BA' INSECTS. \0~)

priety introduce there, as they do not take up tlieir
abode and breed in us, i\ hich nevertheless annoy ns
considerably. One of these is a hexapod so minute,
that, were it not for the uncommonbrilliancy of its co-
lour, which is the most vivid crimson that can be con-
ceived, it would be quite invisible. It is known by the
name of the harvest-bug, (Aanus autiimnalis^ Shaw,)
and is so called, 1 imagine, from its attacking the legs
of the labourers employed in the harvest, in the flesh
of which it buries itself at the root of the hairs, pro-
ducing intolerable itching, attended by inflammation
and considerable tumours, and sometimes even occa-
sioning fevers'*. — A similar insect is found in Brazil,
abounding in the rainy season, parlicularly during the
gleams of sunshine, or fine days that intervene ; as
small as a point, and moving very fast. These animals
get upon the linen and cover it in a moment ; after-
wards they insinuate themselves into the skin and ocr
casion a most intolerable itching. They are with dif-
ficulty extracted, and leave behind them large livid
tumours, which subside in a day or two. An insect
very tormenting to the wood-cutters and the settlers
on the Mosquito shore and the bay of Honduras, and
<:alled by them the doctor, is thought to be synonymous
with this''. — More serious consequences have been
known to follow the bite of another Acarus related to
the above, if not the same species, common in Marti-
nique, and called there the Bete rouge. When our
soldiers in camp were attacked by this animal, dan-
gerous ulcers succeeded the symptoms just mentioned,

a Natural Miscel', ii. t. 1'3. b Liiidley in flic Jtoyul Miliiury

Chronicle for March 1813, p. 451).

106 DIRECT INJCUIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

which, in several cases, became so bad, that the limb
affected was obliged to be taken ofF*^.

I was once collecting insects in Norwood, near Lon-
don, when my hands were covered by a number of
small hungry ticks, which were so greedy after blood,
that they penetrated deep into my llesh, giving me no
little pain ; and it was not without difficulty that I ex-
tracted them. I suspect that this was the dog-tick
(A. Ricinus, L.) which is often found on plants ; but I
am not certain, as I neglected to examine it, my atten-
tion at that time being almost wholly given to Cole-
optefa. Lyonnet seems to have been attacked, in one of
his entomological excursions, by the same or a similar
insect, which he broke, so firmly had it fixed itself, in
endeavouring to extract it ; and he was obliged to lay
open the place lest an abscess should be formed ^. But
the worst of all the tick tribe is the American (Acarus
americanus, L.) described by Professor Kalm. This
insect, which is related to the preceding, is found in
the woods of North America, and is equally an enemy
to man and beast. They are there so infinitely nu-
merous, that if you sit down upon the ground, or upon
the trunk of a tree, or walk with naked feet or legs^
they wiil cover you, and, plunging their serrated ro-
strum into the bare places of the body, begin to suck
your blood, going deeper and deeper till they are half
buried in the flesh. Though at first they occasion no
uneasiness, v/hen they have thus made good their set-
tlement, they produce an intolerable itching, followed
by acute pain and large tumours. It is now extremely

a I owe this information to Robinson Kittoe, Esq. formerly Clerk of
the Cheque in the King's Yard, Woolwich, b Leaser L. ii.222, note*.

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 107

«lifficult to extract them, the animal rather sufFering itr
self to bo pulled to pieces than let ^o its hold ; so that
the rostrum and head being- often left in the wound,
produce an inflannnalion and suppuration which render
it deep and dano-erous. These ticks are at first very
small, sometimes scarcely visible, but by suction will
swell themselves out till they are as big as the end of
one's finger, when they often fail to the ground of
themselves*. The serrated liaustellum of the ticks,
which, like the barbed sting- of a bee, cannot be ex-
tracted unless the animal cooperates, is well worth
your inspection ; and the species which infests our dogs
is so common that you will have no difficulty in pro-
curing one for examination.

I have now introduced you to the principal insects of
the Aptera order of Linne, which, in spite of all his
care and all his power, assail the lord of the creation,
and make him their food. You will here, however,
perhaps accuse me of omitting one very prominent an-
noyer of our comfort and repose, which you think be-
longs to this tribe — the bed-bug (C/;« ex lectularius^ L.).
When you are a more practised entomologist, you w ill
see clearly that this, though it has no wings, appertains
to another order: nevertheless li may be introduced here
without impropriety. Though now too common and
well known, in this country it was formerly a rare in-
sect. Had it not, two noble ladies, mentioned by Mouf-
fet, would scarcely have been thrown into such an alarm
by the appearance of bug-bites upon them ; which, until
their fears were dispelled by their physician, who hap-
pened also to be a naturalist, they considered as nothing

a De GccFj vii. 1 3 '-60.

108

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

less than symptoms of the plague. Being shown the
living cause of their fright, their fears gave place to
mirth and laughter^. Commerce, with many good
things, has also introduced amongst us many great
evils, of which noxious insects form no small part; and
one of her worst presents w ere doubtless the disgust-
ing animals now before us. They seem, indeed, as the
above fact proves, to have been productive of greater
alarm at first than mischief, at least if we may judge
from the change of name which took place upon their
becoming common. Their original English name was
Chinche or Wall-louse^ ; and the term Bug^ Avhich is
a Celtic word, signifying a ghost or goblin, was ap-
plied to them after Ray's time, most probably because
they were considered as " terrors by night *^." But
however horrible bugs may have been in the estiraa-f
tion of some, or nauseating in that of others, many of
the good people of London seem to regard them with
the greatest apathy, and take very little pains to ^eX
rid of them; not generally, however, it is to be hoped,
to such an extent as the predecessor of a correspon-
dent in Nicholson's Journal, who found his house so
dreadfully infested by them, that it resembled the Ba^r
iiiaii hospital at Surat ''j all his endeavours to destroy

a Thcutr. Jns. 270. This liappeucti in 1503; wliii'!> circumstance re-
futfs SoutliaU'sojiiniDn tli-'Jt l>ngs were not known in Enjriand before 16T0»

b R;ii. lli^t. Ins. 7. M<)iiffet,269. They were called also punez, from
the French ijuiudse. c Hence our Englisli word Biig-lrar.

' In Matthews's Bible, Ps. xci. 5. is rendered, " Thou shaJt notnede to be
afraid of any bugs by night," The word in this sense often occurs ip
fehakespear. IVinUrs Tale, act iii. sc. 2. 3 //en. VI. act v. so. 2. Hamlet,
uct V. sc. 2. Sec Donee's Illustrations of Skalcesptar, i. 329.

*J Tlie Canian hospital at Surat is a most remarkable institution. At

DIRECT INJUniES CAtTSED TIY INSECTS. 109

them being at first in vain. And no wonder; for, as
he learned from a neigliboitr, liis predecessor would
never suffer them to he dislurl)ed or his bedsteads to
be removed, till, in the end, they swarmed to an incre-
dible degree, crawling up even the walls of his draw-
ing-roora; and after his death millions were found in
his bed and chamber furniture^.

The winged insects of the order to which the bed-
bug belongs, often inflict very painful wounds. — I was
once attacked by a small species, Cimex Nemorum^ L.
I believe, which put me nearly to as much torture as
the sting of a wasp. The water boatman, {Notonecta
glaiica, L.,) an insect related to the Cimicidce, which
always swims upon its back, made me suffer still more
severely, as if I had been burned, by the insertion of
its rostrum ; but the wound was not followed by any
inflammation ; and long before me Willughby had
made the same discovery and observation''. St. Pierre,
in his Voj/age to Mauritius, mentions a species of bug
found in that island, the bite of which is more venom-
ous than the sting of a scorpion, and is succeeded by
a tumour as big as the e^^ of a pigeon, which conti-
nues for four or five days. You are well acquainted
with the history and properties of the Raia Torpedo

my visit, llie hospital contained horses, mules, oxen, sheep, goats, mon-
keys, poultry, pi2;eons, and a variety of birds. The most extraordinary
ward was that appropriated to rats and mice, bu^s, and other noxioos
vermin. The overseers of the !iospita! frequently hire beggars from the.
streets, for a stipulated sum, to pass a night .imongst the fleas, Ike, and
bugs, on the express condition of suirering them to enjoy their feast with-
out molestation. Forbes's On'eut'il Mfmoirs.

a Nicholson's Jof.Tidv/, wii. 40. b Proboscis in cufem intrtisa

acerrimum dolorem c.\vi(at, qui tamen l;revi iessaf. Kai. Hist. Ins. 3S.,

no DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY I^7SECT».

and Gymnotus elcctricus; but, I dare aver, have no idea
that any insect possesses their extraordinary powers^
— Yet I can assure you, upon good authority, that
Jledutius serratus, F., commonly known in the West
Indies by the name of the wheel-bug, can, like them^
communicate an electric shock to the person whose
flesh it touclies. The late Major-general Davies, of
the Royal Artillery, well known as a most accurate
observer of nature and an indefatigable collector of
her treasures, as well as a most admirable painter of
them, once informed me, that when abroad, having
taken up this animal and placed it upon his hand, it
gave him a considerable shock, as if from an electric
jar, with its legs, which he felt as high as his shoul-
ders ; and, dropping the creature, he observed six
marks upon his hand where the six feet had stood.

You may now possibly think that I have nearly gone
through the catalogue of our personal assailants of the
insect tribes. If such, however, is your expectation, I
fear you will be disappointed, since I have many more,
and some tremendous ones, to enumerate : but as a
small compensation for such a detail of evils and in-
juries to which our species is exposed from foes seem^
ingly so insignificant, and of acts of rebellion of the
vilest and most despised of our subjects against our
boasted supremacy, the objects to which I shall next
call your attention are riot, like most of our apterous
enemies, calculated to excite disgust and nausea when
we see them or speak of them ; nor do they usually
steal upon us during the silent hours of repose, (though
I must except here the gnat or mosquito,) but are many
of them very beautiful^ and boldly make their attack

Djnr.CT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. Ill

upon us ill open day, Avhen we are best able to defend
ourselves. Borne on rapid wings, wherever they find
lis, they endeavour to lay us under contribution, and
the tribute they exact is our blood. Wonderful and
various are the weapons tliat enable them to enforce
their demand. What would you think of any large
animal that should come to attack you with a tremen-
dous apparatus of knives and lancets issuing from its
mouth ? Yet such are the instruments by means of
which the fire-eyed and blood-thirsty horse-ily {Ta-
hanus^ L.) makes an incision in your flesh ; and tiien,
forming a siphon of them, often carries off many drops
of your blood ^. The pain they inflict, when tliey open
a vein, is usually very acute. A fly of this kind not
only occasioned Mr. Sheppard considerable pain by its
bite, but also produced swelling and blackness round
one eye ; and the flesh of his clieek and chin was so
enlarged from it as to iiang down. In this country,
however, their attacks arc not frequent enough to make
them more than a minor " misery of human life ;" but
the burning-fly (brulot) or sand-fly of America'' and
the West Indies, which seem to be the same insect,
causes a much more intolerable anguisli, which has
been compared to what a red-hot needle or a spark of
fire v.ould occasion us to endure. Lambert, in his^
Travels through Canada, &c. says " They are so very
small as to be hardly perceptible in their attacks ; and
your forehead will be streaming with blood before you
are sensible of being amongst them*^." — Yet we have

a One took eight drops from Reaumur, iv. 230. Plate VII. Fig, j.
b Bartram's Travels, 383.

c i. 197. The West India sand-fly was noticed by Robinson Kit^f*!*,
Esq. who lioncver does rot re* oHe:t their fetching blood.

11^ DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTSv

one species {Stomoxys calcUrans^ F.), alluded to in A
former letter as so nearly resembling- th? common
house-fly% which, though its oral instruments are to
appearance not near so tremendous, is a much greater
torment than the Taban?/s. This little pest, I speak
feelingly, incessantly interrupts our studies and com-
fort in showery weather, making us even stamp like
the cattle by its attacks on our legs ; and, if we drive
it away ever so often, returning- again and again to
the charge. In Canada they are infinitely worse. " I
have sat down to write," says Lambert, (who though
he calls it the house-fly is evidently speaking- of the
Stomoxys), " and have been obliged to throw away
my pen in consequence of their irritating bite, which
has obliged fine every moment to raise my hand to my
eyes, nose, mouth, and ears in constant succession.
When I could no longer write, I began to read, and
was always obliged to keep one hand constantly on
the move towards ray head. Sometimes in the course
of a few minutes I would take half a dozen of my tor-
mentors from my lips, between which I caught them
just as they perched ''."

The swallow-fly {OrnithomTjia Hirundinis, Latr.
Jlippobosca, L.), whose natural food is the bird after
which it is named, has been known to make its repast
on the human species. One found its way into a bed
of the Rev. R. Shcppard, where it first, for several
nights, sorely annoyed a friend of his, and afterwards
himself, without their suspecting the culprit. After a
close search, however, it was discovered in the form of
tltis fly, which, forsaking the nest of the swallow, had
by some chance taken its station between the sheets^

a Seeahovf, p. 49-50> ib Travels, &C.i. 12.6.

DITIKCT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 113

and thus glutted itself with the blood of man. — In tra-
velling- between Edam and Purmerend in North Hol-
land (July 21, 1815), in an open vehicle, I was much
teased by anotlier bird-lly {Ornithomi/ia avicularia,
Latr.) (tAvo individuals of which 1 caught) alighting
upon my lioad, and inserting its rostrum into my flesh.
— Mr. fehe])pard remarks, as a reason for this derelic-
tion of their appropriate food, that no sooner does life
depart from the bird that these flies infest, than they
immediately desert it and take flight, alighting upon
the first living creature that they meet with ; which if
it be not a bird they soon quit, but, as it should seem
from the a1)ove facts, not before they have made a trial
how it will suit them as food.

But of all tlie insect-tormentors of man, none are so
loudly and universally complained of as the species of
the genus Culex^ L., whether known by the name of
gnats or mosquitos. Pliny, after Aristotle, distin-
guishes well between Hi/menoptera and Diptera, when
he says the former have tlieir sting in their tail, and the
latter in their mouth; and that to the one this weapon
is given as the instrument of vengeance, and to the
other of avidity*. But the instrument of avidity in the
genus of which I am speaking, is even more terrible
than that of vengeance in most insects that are armed
with it : like the latter also, as appears from the con-
sequent inflammation and tumour, it instills into its
wound a poison ; the principal use of which, however,
is to render the blood more fluid and fitter for suction.
This weapon, which is more complex than the sting of
hymenopterous insects, consisting of five pieces besides
the exterior sheath, some of which seem simply lan-

a Plin. Hisl. Nat. 1. xi. r. 28, Aristot. HUt. Animnh I. i. c. 5.
AOL. I. I

114 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

cets, while others are barbed like the spicula of a bee's
stingy, is at once calculated for piercing the flesh and
farming a siphon adapted to imbibe the blood ^. There
are several species of this genus Avhose bite is severe,
but none is to be compared to the common gnat {Culex
pipiens, L.), if, as has been generally affirmed, it be sy-
nonymous with the mosquito (though perhaps several
species are confounded under both names) ; and to this,
themost insatiable of blood-suckers, I shall principally
direct your attention.

In this country they are justly regarded as no trifling
evil ; for they foUoAV us to all our haunts, intrude into
our most secret retirements, assail us in the city and
in the country, in our houses and in our fields, in the
sun and in the shade : nay, they pursue us to our pil-
lows, and either keep us awake by the ceaseless hum of
their droning pipe, and their incessant endeavours to
fix themselves upon our face, or some uncovered part
of our body ; or, if in spite of them we fall asleep,
awaken us by the acute pain which attends the inser-
tion of their oral stings ; attacking with most avidity
the softer sex, and trying their temper by disfiguring
their beauty. But although with us they are usually
rather teasing than injurious ; yet upon some occa-
sions they have approached nearer to the character of
a plague, and emulated with success the mosquitos of
other climates. Thus, we are told that in the year 1736
they were so numerous, that vast columns of them

a Pliny was av.are of this double ofSce of the proboscis of a gnat, and

bas well described it. " Teliim vero perfodiendo tergori quo spiculavit

ingenio? Atque ut in tapaci, cum cerni non possit exilitas, ita reci-

proca geminavit arte, ut fodiendo acuininalum pariter sorbendoque fistu-

{ . 1 1 e3set." Uist. Nat. I. xi. c. 2.

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 113

were seen to rise in the air from Salisbury cathedral,
which at a distance resembled columns of smoke, and
occasioned many people to think that the cathedral
Avas on fire. A similar occurrence, in like manner
giving rise to an alarm of the church being on fire,
took place in July 1812 at Sagan in Silesia^. In the
following year at Norwich, in May, at about six o'clock
in the evening, the inhabitants of that city were alarm-
ed by the appearance of smoke issuing from the upper
window of the spire of the cathedral, for which at the
time no satisfactory account could be given, but which
was most probably produced by the same case. And
in the year 1766, in the month of August, they ap-
peared in such incredible numbers at Oxford as to re-
semble a black cloud, darkening the air and almost
totally intercepting the beams of the sun. One day, a
little before sun-set, six columns of them were observed
to ascend from the boughs of an apple-tree, some in a
perpendicular and others in an oblique direction, to
the height of fifty or sixty feet. Their bite was so en-
venomed, that it was attended by violent and alarm-
ing inflammation ; and one when killed usually con-
tained as much blood as would cover three or four
square inches of wall''. Our great poet Spenser seems
to have witnessed a similar appearance of them, which
furnished him with the following beautiful simile :

As when a swarme of gnats at eventide

Out of the felines of Allan doe arise,

Their murmuring small trumpets sownden wide,

Whiles in the air their clustring army fiies.

That as a cloud doth seem to dim the skies ;

» Germar's Magazin der Entomologie, i. 137 .
b P kilos. Trans. 1767, 111-13.
1 2

116 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

Ne man nor beast may rest or take rejiast
For their sharp wounds and no}oiis injuries.
Till th& fierce northern wind with blustering blast
Doth blow them quite away, and in the ocean cast.

In Marshland in Norfolk, as I learn from a lady
who had an opportunity of personal inspection, the in-
habitants are so annoyed by the gnats, that the better
sort of them, as in many hot climates, have recourse to
a gauze covering for their beds, to keep them off du-
ring the night. Whether this practice obtains in other
fen districts I do not know.

But these evils are of small account compared Avith
what other countries, especially when we approach
the poles or the line, are destined to suffer from them ;
for there they interfere so much with ease and com-
fort, as to become one of the worst of pests and a real
misery of human life. We may be disposed to smile
perhaps at the story Mr. Weld relates from General
Washington, that in one place the mosquitos were so
powerful as to pierce through his boots* (probably they
crept within the boots) : but in various regions scarcely
anything less impenetrable than leather can withstand
their insinuating weapons and unwearied attacks. One
would at first imagine that regions where the polar
winter extends its icy reign would not be much an-
noyed by insects : but however probable the supposi-
tion, it is the reverse of fact, for nowhere are gnats
more numerous. These animals, as well as the TipU'
lidce, seem endowed with the privilege of resisting any
degree of cold, and of bearing any degree of heat. In
Lapland their numbers are so prodigious as to be com-

a Weld's Travels, Svoedit. 205. Yet Mouffet affirms the same : " Morsu
crudeleb et veiienati, triplices caligas, imo ocreas, item perforantes." 81.

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 117

pared to a flight of snow when the flakes fall thickest,
or to the dust of the earth. The natives cannot take a
mouthful of food, or lie down to sleep in their cabins,
unless they be fumigated almost to suflbcation. In the
air you cannot draw your breath without having your
mouth and nostrils tilled with them ; and unguents of
tar, fish-grease, or cream ; or nets steeped in fetid
birch-oil. are scarcely suflicient to protect even the
case-hardened cuticle of the I^aplander from their bite'*.
In certain districts of France, the accurate Reaumur
informs us that he has seen people whose arms and legs
have become quite monstrous from wounds inflicted by
gnats ; and in some cases in such a state as to render
it doubtful whether amputation would not be neces-
sary''. In the neighbourhood of the Crimea the Rus-
sian soldiers are obliged to sleep in sacks to defend
themselves from the mosquitos ; and even this is not
a sufficient security, for several of them die in conse-
quence of mortification produced by the bites of these
furious blood-suckers. This fact is related by Dr.
Clarke, and to its probability his own painful expe-
rience enabled him to speak. He informs us that the
bodies of himself and his companions, in spite of gloves,
clothes, and handkerchiefs, were redered one entire
wound, and the consequent excessive irritation and
swelling excited a considerable degree of fever. In a
most sultry night, when not a breath of air was stirring,
exhaused by fatigue, pain, and heat, he sought shelter
in his carriage ; and, though almost suffbcated, could
not venture to open a window for fear of the mosquitos.

a Acerbi's Travels, U. 5. 34-5. 51. Linn. Fhr. Lapp. 3S0-\. Lack.
Lapp. ii. 108. De Geer, vi. 303-4. b Pvtaiun. iv, 573.

] 18 DIRECT INJI'RIRS CAUSED BY INSECTS.

Swarms nevertheless found their aa ay into his hiding-
place ; and, in spite of the handkerchiefs with which
he had bound up his head, filled his mouth, nostrils,
and ears. In the midst of his torment he succeeded in
lighting a lamp, which was extinguished in a moment
by such a prodigious number of these insects, that their
carcases actually filled the glass chimney, and formed
a large conical heap over the burner. The noise they
make in flying- cannot be conceived by persons who
have only heard gnats in England. It is to all that
hear it a most fearful sound ^. Travellers and marinerf;
who have visited warmer climates give a similar ac-
count of the torments there inflicted by these little
demons. One traveller in Africa complains that after
a fifty miles journey they would not suffer him to rest,
and that his face and hands appeared, from their bites,
as if he was infected with the small-pox in its worst
stage''. In the East, at Batavia, Dr. Arnold, a most
attentive and accurate observer, relates that their bite
is the most venomous he ever felt, occasioning a most
intolerable itching, which lasts several days. The sight
or sound of a single one either prevented him from
going to bed for a whole night, or obliged him to rise
many tinses. This species, which I have examined, is
distinct from the common gnat, and appears to be non-
descript. It approaches nearest to C. anm/lata, but
the wiiigs are black and not spotted. And Captain
Stedmaii in Aiiierica, as a proof of the dreadful state
to which he and his soldiers v» ere reduced by them,
mentioiis that tjiey were forced to sleep with their
heads thrust into holes made in the earth with their

a Dr. Clarke's Travels, i. 38S. b Jackson's Marccco, 57.

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 119

bayonets, and their necks wrapped round with their
hammocks*.

It is not therefore incredll)le tliat Sapor, king of
Persia, as is related, should have been compelled to
raise the siege of Nisibis by a plague of gnats, w hich at-
tacking his elephants and l)easts of burthen, so caused
the rout of his army, whatever Ave may think of the
miracle to which it was attributed''; nor that the in-
habitants of various cities, as Mouffet has collected
from different autliors*", should, by an extraordinary
multiplication of this plague, have been compelled to
desert them ; or that by their power to do mischief,
like other conquerors Avho have been the torment of
the human race, they should have attained to fame,
and have given their name to bays, towns, and even
to considerable territories'*.

And now, which seems to you the greater terror,
that the forest should resound w ith the roar of the lion
or the tiger, or with the hum of the gnat ? Which
evil is most to be deprecated, the neighbourhood of
these ferocious animals, terrible as they are for their
cruelty and strength, or to live aniidst the polar or
tropical myriads of mosquitos, and be subject to the
torture of their incessant attacks ? When you con-
sider that from the one prudence and courage may
secure or defend us without any material sacrifice of
our daily comforts ; while to be at rest from the other
we must either render ourselves disgusting by filthy

a Travels, ii. 93. b Thfodorit. fJist. Ecd. 1. ii. c. 30.

c Mouffet, 85. Amore.ux, M"^.

<1 Viz. Mosquito Bay in St. Cliriiiopiier's; Mosquilos, a town in the
Island of Cuba; and the Mcsj;ilG country in North America.

120 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

niigueiits, or be suffocated l)y fumigations, or be con-
tent to be bound, head, hand and loot, shut out from
the respiration of the common air, and even thus
scarcely escape from their annoyance ; you will feel
convinced that the former is the more tolerable evil of
the two, and be inclined to think that those cities, from
which the lions were driven away by the more powerful
gnats, were no great.gainers by the exchange''. With
what grateful hearts ought the privileged inhabitants
of these happy islands to acknowledge and glorify the
goodness of that kind Providence which has distin-
guished us from the less favomed nations of the globe,
by what may be deemed an immunity from this tor-
menting pest ! for the inroads which they make on our
comfort, when contrasted with what so many other
people of every climate suffer from them, are mere no-
things. When we behold on one side of us the ravages
of the wide-wasting sword, on another those of lii-
fectious disease or pestilence, on a third famine de-
stroying its myriads, and on a fourth life rendered un-
comfortable by the terror of" noisome beasts " and the
attack of noxious insects: and when we look at home
and see every one eating his bread in peace, protected
in his enjoyments by equal laws executed by a mild
government under a paternal king, without fearing
the sword of the oppressor ; not scourged by pestilence
or famine, exposed to the attack of no ferocious ani-
mal, and comparatively speaking but slightly visited
by the annoyance of insect tormentors; and especially
when we further reflect that it is his mercy and nut
our merits which has induced him thus to overwhelm

a Mouffet, 85.

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 121

US with blessings, while other countries have been
luade to drink deep of the cup of his fury, we shall see
reason for an increased degree of thankfulness and
gratitude, and, instead of repining, be well content
with cur lot, though our otfences have not wholly
been passed over, and we have been " beaten with
few stripes."

Besides the insects that seek to make us their food,
there are others, which, although we are apt to regard
them with the greatest horror, do not attack us with
this view, but usually to revenge some injury which
they have received, or apprehend from us. Foremost
in the list of these are those with four wings, which,
according to the observation of Pliny before quoted,
carry their vreapon, an instrument of revenge, in their
tail. These all belong to the Linnean order Hymen-
optera; and the tremendous arms with which they an-
noy us, are two darts iiuer than a hair, furnished on their
outer side at the end with several barbs not visible to
the naked eye, and each moving in the groove of a strong
and often curved sheath, frequently mistaken for the
sting, which, when the darts enter the flesh, usually in-
jects a drop of subtle venom, furnished from a peculiar
vessel in which it is secreted, into the wound, occasion-
ing, especially if the darts be not extracted, a consider-^
able tumour, accompanied by very acute pain. Many
insects are thus armed and have this power. Twice I
•have been stung by an Ichneumon ; first by one with
a concealed sting, and afterwards by another of the
family of/. Mamfestator {Pimpla, F.), with a very long

122 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

exerted sting. I had held the insect by its sting, which
it withdrew from between my fingers with surprising
force, and then, as if in revenge, stung me. Pompilus
xiaticus^ a vespoid insect that deposits its eggs in spiders,
once, in this way, gave me acute pain. But the insects
which in this respect principally attract our notice by
exciting our fears, are the hive-bee, the wasp, and the
hornet. The first of these, the bee, sometimes maiii-
fests an antipathy to particular individuals, whom it
attacks and wounds without provocation ; but the tv»o
last, thougli apparently the most formidable, are not so
ill-tempered as they are conceived to'be, seldom mo-
lesting those who do not first interfere with or disturb
them. We learn from Scripture that the hornet (but
whether it was the common species is uncertain) was
emplo}:ed by Providence to drive out the impious* in-
habitants of Canaan, or subdue them under the hand
of the Israelites*. — The effect produced by the sting
of these animals is different in different persons. To
some they occasion only a very slight inconvenience
or a momentary pain ; others feel the smart of the
w ounds which they inflict for several days, and are
thrown into fevers by them ; and to some they have
even proved fataP. Yet these insects are certainly,
in general, but a trifling evil. They become, however,
especially wasps, a very serious one to many, from the
mere dread of being stung by them, even though they
should not carry their fears to the same length with the
lady mentioned by Dr. Fairfax*^, in the Philosophical

a Deut. vii. 20. Josli. xxiv. 12. b Amoreux,242.

c Philos. Trans, i. 201.

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 193

Transaction'^^ who had i^uch a horror of them, that du-
ring* the sea'ion ipi v\ hich they abound in houses, she
always confined h«'rseif to her apartment.

Anis are insects of this order, w iiich, though our in-
digenous species may be regarded as harmless, in some
countries are gifted with double means of annoyance,
both irom their sting and their bite. A green kind in
New South Wales was observed by Sir Joseph Banks
to inflict a wound scarcely less painful than the sting of
a bee*. Another, from the intolerable anguish occa-
sioned by its bite, which resembles that produced by a
spark of fire, and seems attended by venom, is called
the fire-ant. Captain Stedman relates that this caused
a whole company ofsoidiers to start and jump about as
if scalded with boiling water ; and its nests were so
numerous that it was not easy to avoid them''. We
are told of a third species, which emulates the scorpion
in the malignity of its sting or bite*". Knox, in his ac-
count of Ceylon, mentions a black ant, called by the
natives Coddia, which he says " bites desperately, as
bad as if a man were burnt by a coal of fire ; but they
are of a noble nature, and will not begin unless you
disturb them." The reason the Cinghalese assign for
the horrible pain occasioned by their bite is curious,
and will serve to amuse you. " Formerly these ants
went to ask a wife of the JVoi/a, a venomous and noble
kind of snake ; and because they had such a high spirit
to dare to offer to be related to such a generous creature,
they had this virtue bestowed upon them, that they
should sting after this manner. And if they had ob-

a Hawkeswortli's Coo/,-, iii. 223. b Stcdsnan, ii. 91.

c Bipgley, iii. 3S5, first edit.

124; IJlllECT IJSJUKIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

tained a wife of the Noya, they should have had the
privilege to sting full as bad as he^." Stednian's story
of a large ant that stripped the trees of their leaves, to
feed, as was supposed, a blind serpent under ground*',
is somewhat akin to this : as is also another, related to
me by a friend of mine, of a species of Mantis, now in
my cabinet, taken in one of the Indian islands, which,
according to the received opinion amongst the natives,
was the parent of all their serpents. Whence, ur«less
perhaps from their noxious qualities, could this idea of
a connexion between insects and these reptiles be de-
rived ? But to return from this digression ^Madame

Merian's Ant of Visitation will be considered in a sub-
sequent letter : but I cannot here omit a circumstance
mentioned by Don Felix de Azara, a late Spanish tra-
veller, who confirms her account, — that these animals
are so alarming and tremendous in their attacks, that
if they enter a house in the night, the inhabitants are
obliged to rise with all speed and run ofl'in their shirts.
I must next direct your attention to an insect, which
perhaps more than any other has in every age been an
object of terror and abhorrence— I mean the redoubted
scorpion. And though I shall not, with Aristotle, tell
you of Persian kings employing armies for several days
in destroying them; or, with Pliny, of countries that
they have depopulated ; yet my account will not be
devoid of that species of interest which the dread of its
power to do us injury imparts to any object. Could
you see one of these ferocious animals, perhaps a foot
in length, a size to which they sometimes attain, ad-
vancing towards you in their usual menacing attitude,

a Knot's Ceijlon, 24. b Stcdman, ii. 142.

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED DY INSECTS. 125

with its claws expanded, and its many-jointed tail
turned over its licad; were your heart ever so stout, I
think you would start back and feel a horror come
across you ; and, though you knew not the animal, you
would conclude that sucli an aspect of maiigiiity must
be the precursor of malignant effects. Nor would you
be mistaken, as you will presently see. This alarming-
^animal, though like hymenopterous insects it is armed
with a sting, is in no respect related to that order, and
forms the only genus, at present known, of the others
that is so armed. Even its sting is totally different
from that of bees, wasps, and other Hymenoptera, be-
ing more analogous to the venomous tooth of serpents ;
it wounds us with no barbed darts concealed in a sheath,
but only with a simple incurved mucro terminating an
ampullaceous joint. Two orifices, or according to
some three, are said to instill the poison, which, we
are informed, is sometimes as white as milk. This ve-
nom in our European species is seldom attended, ex-
cept to minor animals, by any very serious conse-
quences ; yet when it is communicated by the scorpion
of warmer climates it produces more baneful effects.
The sting of certain kinds common in South America
causes fevers, numbness in various parts of the body,
tumours in the tongue, and dimness of sight, which
symptoms last from twenty- four to forty-eight hours.
The only means of saving the lives of our soldiers who
were stung by them in Egypt, was amputation. One
species is said to occasion madness ; and the black scor-
pion, both of South America and Ceylon, frequently
inflicts a mortal wound ^. No known animal is more

a Ulloa's Vuy. i. 61, 69. Dr. Clarki's Travch, i. 486. Amoreux, 197.

126 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

cruel and ferocious in its manners ; they kill and de-
vour their own young without pity as soon as they are
born, and they are equally savage to their fellows when
grown up. Terrible however and revolting as these
creatures appear, we are gravely told by Naude, that
there is a species of scorpion in Italy which is domes-
ticated and put between the sheets to cool the beds
during the heats of summer^! !

I must next say something of insects that annoy us
solely by their jaws. Of this description is Solpuga
araneoides, F. (Galeodes, Oliv.) which is related to the
scorpion, although devoid of a sting. The bite of this
animal, which is a native of the Cape of Good Hope
and of Russia^, is represented to be often fatal both to
man and beast. Another species of Solpuga is described
by Professor Lichtenstein, which, from the trivial name
that he has given it (fatale), may be supposed to be as
venomous as the former*^.

The bite of one of the centipedes (Scolopendra mor-
sitans, L.) — the under-jaws of which are armed with
a strong claw, furnished like the sting of the scorpion
with an orifice, visible under a common lens*^, from
which poison issues — is less tremendous than that of
the Solpuga: but though not mortal, its wounds are
more painful than those produced by the sting of the
scorpion; and as these animals creep every where,
even into beds, they must be very annoying in warm
climates where they abound. Dr. Martin Lister, in

a Andrews's Anecdotes, 427. Sec on tiie subject of Scorpions Amoreux,
41-34. 176-205. h YaV. Supi>U2M.-2. c Ca/a/. //am. 1797. 151-195.
4 PLAaK Vll. Fig. 13. /. d.

muECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 127

to tliis genus, that he saw in Pluniier's collection,
which appears to have been eighteen inches in length,
and thre^ quarters of an inch in width, having ninety-
five legs on each side, the first eight of which are
armed with double claws, and two inches of the tail
being without legs. It may form a distinct genus, and
is probably a native of South America. Yet even this
monstrous insect is nothing to those at Carthagena,
mentioned by Ulloa, (if indeed we may credit his ac-
count, or if his translator has not mistaken his mean-
ing,) which sometimes exceeded a yard in length and
five inches in breadth ! The bite of this gigantic ser-
pent-like creature, he tells us^ is mortal, as well it may,
if a timely remedy be not applied. From its cylindri-
cal form it should be a Julus^.

In this catalogue of noxious insects I must not omit
those which every where force themselves upon our no-
tice, and are viewed with general disgust. I mean the
numerous family of Arachne, the insidious spiders.
Few of these, however, are really personal assailants
of man. The principal is that which has given rise
to so much discussion, and has so much employed
the pens of naturalists and physicians — the famous
Tarantula. {Lycosia Tarantula^ Walck.) The effects
ascribed to its wounds, and their wonderful cure sup-
posed to be wrought by music and dancing, have long
been celebrated: but after all there seems to have
been more of fraud than of truth in the business ; and
the whole evil appears to consist in swelling and in-
flammation. Dr. Clavitio submitted to be bitten by
this animal, and no bad effects ensued; and the Count
de Borch, a Polish nobleman, bribed a man to undergo

" U!Ioa"si Voyage, i. 61.

128 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

the same experiment, in whom the only result was a
swelling in the hand, attended by intolerable itching-.
The fellow's sole remedy was a bottle of wine, which
charmed away all his pain without the aid of pipe and
tabor ''.

There is however a spider (^rariea \o-guttata Rossi)
the bite of which is said to be very dangerous, and even
mortal. ThicbautdeBerneaud, in his Voj/ageio Elba^^
affirms that in the Volterrano he knew that several
country people and domestic animals died in conse-
quence of it. And according to Mr. Jackson, a spi-
der, called there the 2\ndaraman, is found in Marocco
which has venomous powers equally formidable. The
bite of this insect, Avhich is about the size and colour of
a hornet but rounder, and spins a web so fine as to be
almost invisible, is said to be so poisonous that the
person bitten survives but a few hours. In the cork
forests the sportsman, eager in his pursuit of game,
frequently carries away on his garments this fatal in-
sect, which is asserted always to make towards the
head before inflicting its deadly wound •^.

I suspect you will think this list long enough ; and I
believe it includes the most remarkable insects that as-
sail the surface of our bodies, to answer either the dei-
mands of hunger or the stimulus of revenge. There is
however a third class of insect annoyers, as I observed
at the beginning of this letter, which, though they
neither make us their food, nor attack us under the
impulse of fear or revenge, incommode us extremely in
other ways. These must now be detailed to you.

a Amorcux, 217-220. See also 67-70. b p. 31.

c Jackson's Marocco, second edit.

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 129

How extremely unpleasant is the sensation which
that very minute creature, Thrips physapus^ L., ex-
cites in sultry weather, merely by creeping over our
skin ! I have sometimes found this almost intolerable.
A similar torment, reckoned by Ulloa a kind of Mos'
quito, infests the inhabitants of Carthagena in South
America. They are there called Manias blancas, and
creeping- between the threads of the gauze curtains
that keep off the former pest, though they do not bite,
occasion an itching that is dreadfully tormenting^.
But these ar3 nothing compared with the teasing at-
tacks of the SimuUum reptans, Latr., which, as Linne
informs us, who misnamed it a Culex, is so incredibly
numerous in Lapland, as entirely to cover a man's
body, turning a white dress into a black one, occupy ••
ing the whole atmosphere, filling the mouth, nostrils,
eyes, and ears of travellers, and thus preventing re-
spiration, and almost choking them. These little ani-
mals do not bite, but torture incessantly by their titil-
lation*". — In New South Wales a small ant was ob-
served by Sir Joseph Banks, inhabiting the roots of a
plant, which Avaen disturbed rushed out by myriads,
and running over the uncovered parts of the body pro-
duced a sensation of this kind that was worse than pain.

The common house-fly is with us often sufficiently
annoying at the close of summer ; but we know nothing
of it as a tormentor compared with the inhabitants of

a Ulloa, i. 64. These insects probably beloii--^ to Latreille's genus Simu-
Uum^ and may be what are distinguished by French travellers from the
Mosq-.iitos, (which they call Maringomns or Maragoins,) under the name of
Mousliiiuea, of which he had examined specimens, having all the charac-
ters of that genus, brought from Amerira by Michaux. Hisf. Nat. xi\.
272. 283.

b Lack. Lapp. i. 208,209. FL Lapp. 382, 383.
VOL. I. K

130 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED CY INSECTJ3.

southern Europe. — " I met (says Arthur Young in his
interesting Travels through France) between Pradelles
and Thuytz, mulberries and flies at the same time ; by
the term flies I mean those myriads of them which form
the most disagreeable circumstance of the southern cli-
mates. They are the first torments in Spain, Italy, and
the Olive district of France : it is not that they bite,
sting, or hurt, but they buzz, tease, and worry: your
mouth, eyes, ears, and nose, are full of them : they
swarm on every eatable, fruit, sugar, milk, every
thing is attacked by them in such myriads, that if they
are not incessantly driven away by a person who ha*<
nothing else to do, to eat a meal is impossible. They
are however caught on prepared paper and other
contrivances with so much ease and in such quantities,
that were it not from negligence, they could not
abound in such incredible quantities. If I farmed in
these countries, I think I should manure four or five
acres every year with dead flies. — I have been much
surprised that the late learned Mr. Harmer should
think it odd to find, by writers who treated of
southern climates, that driving away flies was an ob-
ject of importance. Had he been Avith me in Spain and
in Languedoc in July and August, he would have been
very far from thinking there was any thing odd in it^."
Our friend Captain Green, of the sixth regiment of
the East India Company's native troops, relates to
me, that in India, when the mangoes are ripe, which
is the hottest part of the summer, a very minute black
fly makes its appearance, which, because it flies in
swarms into the eyes, is v ery troublesome, and causes

a Young's TravelsinFrance,i.'i9S. Thcic flies are equally trouble-
some and tormeadng in Sweder. See Jmtrn : AcaH. iii. 343.

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS* 131

much pain, is called there the ^ye-jly. At this season
the eyes are attacked by a disease, supposed to be occa-
sioned by eating- the mangoes, but more probably the
result of the irritation produced by the fly in question,
which, however, they admit, carries the infection
from one person to another.

You know that the hairs taken from the pods of Z)o/i-
chos pruriens and ttrens, L., commonly called Cowhage
and Cow-itch^, occasion a most violent itching-, but
perhaps are not aware that those of the caterpillars of
several Bombj/ces, a family of Moths, will produce the
same disagreeable effect. One of these is the proces-
sion moth, {B.processionea^ L.) of which Reaumur has
given so interesting an account. In consequence of
their short stiff hairs sticking in his skin, after handling
them, he suffered extremely for several days ; and be-
ing ignorant at first of the cause of the itching, and rub-
bing his eyes with his hands, he brought on a swelling
of the eye-lids, so that he could scarcely open them.
Ladies were affected even by going too near the nest of
the animal, and found their necks full of troublesome
tumours, occasioned by short hairs, or fragments of hair^
brought by the wind''. Of this nature also is the fa-
mous Pityocampa of the ancients, the moth of the fir
{B. pityocampa, F.), the hairs of which are said to oc-
casion a very intense degree of pain, heat, fever, itch-
ing and restlessness. It was accounted by the Romans
a very deleterious poison, as is evident from the cir-

a Cowliagc has been administered with success as an nnthelmintJiic, as
has likewise spun -glass pounded ; the spicula of these substances destroy-
ing the worms. The hair of the caterpillars here alluded to, and perhaps
also of the larva of Bomhyx Caja, (tho Tiger-Moth,) might probably be
equally efficacious. h Reaum. ii, 191-5.

K 2

132 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTi5.

cumstance of the Cornelian law " De sicariis " being
extended to persons who administered Piti/ocampa^.
In these cases the injury is the consequence of irri-
tation produced by the hair of the animal; but there
are facts on record, which prove that the juices of
many insects are equally deleterious. Am jreux, from
a work of Turner, an English writer on cutaneous A\s-
eases, has given the following remarkable history of the
ill effects produced by those of spiders. When Turner
was a young practitioner, he was called to visit a wo-
man, whose custom it was, every time she went into the
cellar with a candle, to burn the spiders and their webs.
She had often observed, when she thus cruelly amused
herself, that the odour of the burning spiders had so
much affected her head, that all objects seemed to turn
round, which was occasionally succeeded by faintings,
cold sweats, and slight vosnitings : but, notwithstand-
ing this, she found so much pleasure in tormenting these
poor animals, that nothing could cure her of this mad-
ness, till she met with the following accident : The legs
of one of these unhappy spiders happened to stick in
the candle, so that it could not disengage itself; and,
the body at length bursting, the venom was ejaculated
into the eyes and upon the lips of its persecutrix. In
consequence of this, one ofthe former became inflamed,
the latter swelled excessively, even the tongue and
gums were slightly affected, and a continual vomiting
attended these symptoms. In spite of every remedy the
swelling ofthe lips continued to increase, till at length
an old woman, by the simple application for fifteen
days of the leaves and juice of plantain, together with

a Moiiffet, 185. Pliii. llisl. Nat. 1. xxxviii. c. 9. Amoreux, 158.

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 133

some spider's web, ran away with all the glory of the
cure *. — Ulloa gives us a remarkable account of a spe-
cies of Acarus, of a fiery red colour, common in Po-
payan, called Coya or Coi/ba^ and usually found in the
corners of walls and among- the herbage, the venom of
which is of such malignity, that on crushing the insect,
if any fall on the skin of either man or beast, it imme-
diately penetrates into the flesh, and causes large tu-
mours, which are soon succeeded by death. Yet, he
further observes, if it be crushed between the palms of
the hands, which are usually callous, no bad conse-
quence ensues. People who travel &.long the valleys
of the Neyba, where these insects abound, are Avarned
by their Indian attendants, if they feel any thing sting-
ing them, or crawling on their neck or face, not so
much as to lift up their hand to the place, the texture
of the Coya being so delicate that the least force causes
them to burst, without which there is no danger, as
they seem otherwise harmless animals. The traveller
points out the spot where he feels the creature to one
of his companions, wlio, if it be a Coya, blows it away.
If this account does not exaggerate the deleterious qua-
lity of the juices of this insect, it is the most venomous
animal that is known ; for he describes it as much smaller
than a bug. The only remedy to which the natives have
recourse for preventing the ill effects arising from its
venom is, on the first appearance of the swelling, to
swing the patient over the flame of straw or long grass,
whichthey do with great dexterity : after this operation
he is reckoned to be out of danger. — The poisoned
arrows which Indians employ against their enenues

a Amoreux, 210-212.

134: DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

have been long celebrated. The Coya may, in the
western world, have furnished the poison for this pur-
pose. An author quoted in Lesser tells us that an ant
as big- as a bee is sometimes used, and that the wound
inflicted by weapons tinctured with their venom is in-
curable. Patterson also gives a recipe by which the
natives of the southern extremity of Africa prepare
what they reckon the most effectual poison for the
point of their arrows. They mix the juice of a sper
cies of Euphorbia, and a caterpillar that feeds on a
kind of sumach, (Rhus, L.) and when the mixture is
dried it is fit for use.

And now I think you will allow that I have made out
a tolerable list of insects that attack or annoy man's
body externally, and a sufficiently doleful history of
them. That the subject, however, may be complete,
I shall next enumerate those that, not content with
afflicting him with exterior pain or evil, whether on
the surface or under the skin, bore into his fiesh, de-
scend even into his stomach and viscera, derange his
whole system, and thus often occasion his death. The
punitive insects here employed are usually larvae of
the various orders, and they are the cause of that ge-
nus of diseases I before noticed, and proposed to call
Scolechiasis.

I shall begin my account with the first order of
Linne, because people in general seem not aware that
any beetles make their way into the human stomach.
Yet there is abundant evidence, which proves beyond
pontroversy that the meal-worm, ( Tenehrio Molitor, Lo)
although its usual food is flour, has often been voided

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 135

both by male and female patients ; and in one instance
is stated to have occasioned death''. How these grubs
sJiould get into the stomach it is difficult to say — per-
haps the eggs may liave been swallowed in some pre-
paration of flour. But that the animal should be able
to sustain the heat of this organ, so far exceeding the
temperature to which it is usually accustomed, is the
most extraordinary circumstance of all. — Dr. Martin
Lister, who to the skill of the physician added the most
profound knowledge of nature, mentions an instance,
communicated to him ])y Mr^ Jessop, of a girl who
voided three hexapod larva? similar to what are found
in the carcases of birds '', probably belonging either to
the genus Dermesles, F., or B^rrhtis, L. : and in the
German Ephemerides the case also of a girl is recorded,
from an abscess in the calf of wlK)se leg crept black
worms resembling beetles''.

The larva; of some beetle, as appears from the de-
scription, seem to have been ejected even from the
lungs. Four of these, of which the largest was nearly
three quarters of an inch long, were discovered in the
mucus expelled after a severe fit of coughing by a lady
afflicted with a pulmonary disease: and similar larvae
of a smaller size were once afterwards discharged in
the same way''.

No one would suppose that caterpillars, which feed
upon vegetable substances, could be met with alive in
the stomach ; yet Dr. Lister gives an account of a boy

a Tulpius, Obs, Med. 1. ii. c 51 . t. 7. f. 3. Edinb. Med. and Surg Journ
n. 35. 42-48. Derliam, P,'n/.s;r. Theol. 378. note b. Lowth, Philos.
Trans, iii. 135. b P/iilos- Trans. 1665.x. 391. Shaw's Abridg. ii.224

c Mead, Med. Sticr. 105. d London Medical Revkva, v. 340.

136 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

who vomited up several, which, he observes, had six-
teen legs"^. The eggs perhaps might have been swal-
lowed in salad ; and, as vegetables make a part of most
people's daily diet, enough might have passed into the
stomach to support them when hatched. — Linne tells
us that the caterpillar of a moth, (Crambus pingui-
nalis, F.) common in houses, has also been found in a
similar situation, and is one of the worst of our insect
infesters. — In a very old tract, which gives a figure of
the insect, a caterpillar of the almost incredible length
of the middle finger is said to have been voided from
the nostrils of a youg man long afflicted with dreadful
pains in his head**. — But the most extraordinary ac-
count with respect to lepidopterous larvae (unless he
has mistaken his insects) is given by Azara, the Spa-
nish traveller before quoted ; who says that in South
America there is a large brown tnoih, which depos^^its
its young in a kind of saliva upon the flesh of persons
who sleep naked ; these introduce themselves under
the skin without being perceived, where they occasion
swelling attended by inflammation and violent pain.
When the natives discover it, they squeeze out the
larvaB, which usually amount to five or six*".

But amongst all the orders, none is more fruitful
in devo';rers of man than the Diptera ; and these are
chiefly to be found in the numerous tribe of the Mus-
cidcB. The Gad-fly (OEstrus, L.) you have, doubtless,
often heard of, and how sorely it annoys our cattle and

a Philc^. Trans, iibi siipr.

b Fulvius Angeliniis et Vincer.tius Alsarias de vsrme admirando per
nares egressu. Ravennae IfilO.

c Azara, 217. I cannot help suspecting tliis to be synonymous with
the CEstriis Hominis next mentioned.

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 137

other quadrupeds; but I suspect have no notion that
there is a species appropriated to man. The existence,
indeed, of this species seems to have been overlooked
by entomologists (though it stands in Gmelin's edition
of the Syatema Natt/rce", upon the authority of the
younger Linne,) till Humboldt and Bonpland men-
tioned it again. Speaking of the low regions of the
torrid zone, where the air is filled with those myriads
of mosquitos which render uninhabitable a great and
beautiful portion of the globe, they observe that to
these may be joined the Qilsirus Jlomims, which de-
posits its eggs in the skin of man, causing there painful
tumours*'. Gmelin says that it remains beneath the
skin of the abdomen six months, penetrating deeper,
if it be disturbed, and becoming so dangerous as some-
times to occasion death. The imago he describes as
being of a brown colour, and about the size of the com-
mon house-fly: so that it is a small species compared
with the rest of the genus. Even the gad-fly of the
ox, leaving its proper food, has been known to ovi-
posit in the jaw of a woman, and the bots produced
from the eggs finally caused her death '^. — Other flies
also of various kinds thus penetrate into us, either
preying upon our flesh, or getting into our intestines.
Ijeeuwenlioek mentions the case of a woman whoFe
leg had been enlarging with glandular bodies for soiik)
years. Her surgeon gave him one that he had cut
from it, in which were many small nsaggots : these he
fed with flesh till they assumed the pupa, when they

a From Pallas N. Nord. Beijir. i. 157.
b Essai sur la Geography dcs Planter, 136.
c Clark in Linn, Trans, iii.3^3, note.

138 DIRECT INJUIllES CAUSED BY INSECTS,

produced a fly as large as the flesh-fly^. — A patient of
Dr. Reeve of Norwich, after suffering for some time
great pain, was at last relieved by voiding a consider-
able number of maggots, which agree precisely with
those described by De Geer as the larva of his Musca
domestica minor, a fly which he speaks of as very com-
.raon in apartments^. — In Paraguay the flesh-flies are
said to be uncommonly numerous and noxious. Azara
relates*^ that, after a storm, when the heat was exces-
sive, he was assailed by such an army of them, that in
less than half an hour his clothes were quite white
with their eggs, so that he was forced to scrape them
off with a knife ; adding, that he has known instances
of persons, who, after having bled at the nose in their
sleep, were attacked by the most violent head-aches ;
when at length several great maggots, the offspring of
these flieS; issuing from their nostrils, gave theni re-
lief.— In Jamaica a large blue fly buzzes about the sick
in the last stages of fever ; and when they sleep or doze
with their mouths open, the nurses find it very difficult
to prevent these flies from laying their eggs in the nose,
mouth, or gums. An instance is recorded of a lady
who, after recovering from a fever, fell a victim to the
maggots of this fly, which from the nose found their
way through the os crihriforme into the cavity of the
skull, and afterwards into the brain''. One of the
most shocking cases of Sco/cc/»'rt5/5 I ever met with is
related in Bell's WeeMi/ Messenger in the following-
words : " On Thursday, June 25, died at Asbornby,

a Leeiiw. Epist. Oct. 17,1687. b Edinh. Bled, and Surg. Journ.

ubisupr. De Gecr, vi.26, 27. c 216.

d Lerapiiere On the Diseases of the Army in Jamaica^ ii. 182.

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 1S9

(LincobisMre,) John Page, a pauper belonging to
Siik-Willoughby, under circumstances truly singular.
He being of a restless disposition, and not choosing to
stay in the parish workhouse, Avas in the habit of stroll-
ing about the neighbouring villages, subsisting on the
pittance obtained from door to door : the support he
usually received from the benevolent was bread and
meat; and after satisfying the cravings of nature, it
was his custom to deposit the surplus provision, parti-
cularly the meat, betwixt his shirt and skin. Having
a considerable portion of this provision in store, so
deposited, he was taken rather unwell, and laid him-
self down in a field in the parish of Scrediugton — when
from the heat of the season at that time, the meat
speedily became putrid, and was of course struck by
the flies: these not only proceeded to devour the in-
animate pieces of flesh, but also literally to prey upon
the living substance ; and when the wretched man was
accidentally found by some of the inhabitants, he was
so eaten by the maggots that his death seemed inevi-
table. After clearing away as well as they Avere able
these shocking vermin, those who found Page con-
veyed him to Asborn])y5 and a surgeon was immediately
procured, who declared that his body was in such a
state that dressing it must be little short of instanta-
neous death ; and in fact the man did survive the ope-
ration but a feAv hours. When first found, and again
when examined by the surgeon, he presented a sight
loathsome in the extreme; white maggots of enormous
size were crawling in and upon his body, which they
had most shockingly mangled, and the removing of the
external ones served only to render the sight more

140 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

horrid ^"— A medical friend of mine, at Ipswich, gave
me this v.'inter an apode larva voided by a person of
that place with his urine, which I now preserve in spi-
rits and can show you when you visit me. It appears
to me to belong to the Diptera order, yet not to the
fly tribe (Bluscidce), but rather to the Tipulidce, with
which however it does not seem to agree so entirely as
to take away all doubt. It is a very singular larva, and
I can find none in any author that I have had an oppor-
tunity of consulting- which at all resembles it. That
you may know it, should you chance to meet with it,
I shall here describe it. Bodt/, three fourths of an
inch in length, and about a line in breadth; opaque,
of a pale yellow colour; cylindrical, tapering some-
what at each extremity ; consisting of twenty articula-
tions without the head : Head reddish brown, heart-
shaped, much smaller than the following joint; armed
with two unguiform mandibles; with a biarticulate
palpus attached exteriorly to the base of each. These
majidibles appear to be moved by a narrow black cen-
tral tendon under the dorsal skin terminating a little
beyond the base of the first segment ; besides this,
there are foii.r others, two on each side of it, the outer
ones diverging, much slenderer, and very short. The
last or anal joint of the body very minute; exerting
two short, filiform horns, or rather respiratory organs.
I could discover, in this animal, no respiratory plates,
such as are found in the larvae of Muscidae, nor were
the tracheae visible. AVhen given to me, it was alive

a In passing through this parish last spring, 1 inquired of the mail-
coachman whether he bad heard of this story ; and he said the fact was
well known.

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 141

and extremely active, writhing itself into various con-
tortions M'ith great agility. It moved, like other di-
pterous larvae, by means of its mandibles. Upon wet-
ting my fingers n.ore than once, to take it up when it
liad fallen from a table upon which it was placed, the
saline taste with which it was imbued was ho power-
ful that it was some time before it was dissipated from
my mouth. — I shall only mention one more instan<'e,
because it is a singular one. The larva of Elophilus
pendulus, F., a fly peculiarly formed by nature for in-
habiting fluids, has been found in the stomach of a
woman''.

You will smile when I tell you that I have met with
the prescription of a famous urine-doctor, in which he
recommends to his credulous patient to take a certain
number of sozo-bugs per diem, by this name distin-
guishing, as I suppose, Oniscus Armadillo^ L., once a
very favourite remedy. What effect they produced in
this case I was not informed ; but the learned Bonnet
relates that he had seen a certificate of an English
physician, dated July 1763, stating that, some time
before, a young woman who had swallowed these ani-
mals alive, as is usually done, threw up a prodigious
number of them of all sizes, which must have bred in
her stomach''. — Another apterous species appears to
have been detected in a still more remarkable situa-
tion. Hermann, tlie author of the admirable Memoire
AplerologiqKC, whose untimely death is so much to be
lamented, informs us that an Acarus figured and de-
scribed in his work (A. margimdits^ H.) was observed

a Philos. Mag. ix, 366. b Bonnpt, v. 144,

43 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

by his artist running on the corpus callosum of the
brain of a patient in the military hospital at Stras-
bourg, wliich had been opened but u minute before
and the two hemispheres and the pia wia^er j ust sepa-
rated. He adds tliat this is not the first time that in-
sects have been found in the brain. Cornelius Gemma,
in his Cosmocritka, p. 241, says that on dissecting the
brain of a woman there were found in it abundance of
vermicles and pi^naises^.

It was customary in many countries in ancient times
to punish certain malefactors by exposing them to be
devoured by wild beasts : but to expose them to insects
for the same purpose was a refinement in cruelty, which
seems to have been peculiar to the despots of Persia.
We are informed that the most severe punishment
amongst the Persians v/as that of shutting up the of-
fender between two boats of equal size ; they laid him
in one of them upon his back, and covered him with
the other, his hands, feet, and head being left bare.
His, face, which was placed full in the sun, thej moist-
ened with honey, thus inviting the flies and wasps,
which tormented him no less than the swarms of mag-
gots that were bred in his excrements and body, and
devoured him to the very entrails. He was compelled
to take as much food as was necessary to support life,
and thus existed sometimes for several days. Plutarch
informs us that Mithridates, whom Artaxerxes Lon-
gimanus condemned to this punishment, lived seven-
teen days in the utmost agony; and that, the upper-
most boat being taken off at his death, they found hi&

■AMcm.Aplcrolog.l'd.

DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 113

flesh all consumed, and myriads of worms gnawing his
boAvels ^. Could any natural objects be made more hor-
rible and effectual instruments of torture than insects
were in this most diabolical invention of tyranny?

In this enumeration of evils derived from insects, T
must not V, holly pass over the serious and sometimes
fatal effects produced upon some persons by eating
honey, or even by drinking mead. I once knew a lady
upon whom these acted like poison, and have heard of
instances in which death was the consequence. Some-
times, when bees extract their honey from poisonous
plants, such results have not been confined to indivi-
duals of a particular habit or constitution. A remark-
able proof of this is given by Dr. Barton in the fifth
volume of The American Philosophical Transactions. In'
the autumn and winter of the year 1790, an extensive
mortality was produced amongst those who had par-
taken of the honey collected in the neighbourhood of
Philadelphia. The attention of the American Govern-
ment was excited by the general distress, a minute in-
quiry into the cause of the mortality ensued, and it was
satisfactorily ascertained that the honey had been chief-
ly extracted from the flowers o^ Kalmia latifoUa.

Amongst other direct injuries occasioned by these
creatures, perhaps, out of regard for the ladies, I ought
to notice the alarm which many of them occasion to the
loveliest part of the creation. When some females re-
tire from society to avoid a wasp; others faint at the
sight of a spider; and othersi, again, die with terror
if they hear a death-watch: these groundless appre-
hensions and superstitious alarms are as much real

a Universal History, iv. 70. Ed. 1779.

144 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

evils to those who feel them, as if they were well
founded. But having- already adverted to this subject,
I shall here only quote the observation of a wise man,
that " Fear is a betraying of the succours that reason
ofFereth^." The best remedy, therefore, in such cases
is going to reason for succour. In a few instances, in-
deed, the evil may take root in a constitutional defect,
for there seems to be some foundation for the doctrine
of natural antipathies : but, generally speaking, in
consequence of the increased attention to Natural His-
tory, the reign of imaginary evils is ceasing amongst
U5, and what used to shake tlie stout hearts of our su-
perstitious ancestors with anile terrors, is become a
subject of interesting inquiry to their better informed
<Iescendants, even of the weaker sex.

And now, my friend, I flatter myself you feel dis-
posed to own the truth of my position, however it might
startle you at first, and will candidly acknowledge tlmt
I have proved the empire ofthese despised insects over
man's person : and that, instead of being a race of in-
significant creatures, which we may safely overlook,
as having no concern with, they may, in the hands of
Divine Providence, and even of man, become to us
fearful instruments of evil and of punishment. I shall
next endeavour to give you some idea of the indirect
injuries which they occasion us by attackiiig our pro-
perty, or interfering with our pleasure or comfort — but
this must be the subject of another letter.

I am, &c.

a Wisd. wii. 12,

LETTER T.

INJURIES CA USED B Y INSECTS.

INDIRECT INJURIES*

Having detailed to you the direct injuries whicli we
suffer from insects, 1 am now to call your attention
to their indirect attacks upon us, or the injury which
they do our property ; and under this view also you
will own, with the fullest conviction, that they are not
beings that can with prudence or safety be disregarded
or despised. Our property, at least that part exposed
to the annoyance of these creatures, may be regarded
as consisting of animal and vegetable productions, and
that in two states ; when they are living, namely, and
after they are dead. I shall therefore endeavour to
give you a sketch of the mischief which they occasion,
first to our living animal property, then to our living
vegetable property ; and lastly to our dead stock, whe-
ther animal or vegetable.

Next to our own persons, the animals which we em-
ploy in our business or pleasures, or fatten for food,
individually considered, are the most valuable part of
our possessions— and at certain seasons, hosts of in-
sects of various kinds are incessant in their assaults
upon most of them. — To begin with that noble animal
the horse. — See him, when turned out io his pasture;^

VOL. I, L

146 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

unable to touch a morsel of the food he has earned by
his labours. He flies to the shade, evidently in great
uneasiness, where he stands continually stamping from
the pain produced by the insertion of the weapons
sheathed in the proboscis of a little fly (StoDioxi/s caU
citrans) before noticed as attacking ourselves^. This
alights upon him sometimes in one place and sometimes
in another, and never lets him rest while the day lasts.
— See him again when in harness and travelling. He
is bathed in blood flowing from innumerable wounds
made by the knives and lancets of various horse-flies
(TabatiuSy L.)? which assail him as he goes, and allow
him no respite'^; and consider that even this is nothing
to what he suffers in other climates from the same pest.
In North America, vast clouds of different species — so
abundant as to obscure every distant object, and so
severe in their bite as to merit the appellation of burn-
ing flies — cover and torment the horses to such a de-
gree as to excite compassion even in the hearts of the
pack-horsemen. Some of them are nearly as big as
humble-bees ; and, when they pierce the skin and veins
of the unhappy beast, make so large an orifice that, be-
sides what they suck, the blood flows down its neck,
sides, and shoulders in large drops like tears, till, to
use Bartram's expression, " they are all in a gore of
blood." Acari also, both the dog-tick and the Ameri-
can tick before mentioned, especially the latter, infest
the horse. Kalm affirms, that he has seen the under
parts of the belly, and other places of the body, «o

a See above, p. 112. b Once travelling through Cambridge-

shire with a brother entomologist in a gig, our horse was in the con-
dition here described, from the attack of I'aianus i-usUcus, L.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 147

tovered by them, that he could not introduce the point
of a knife between thein. They were deeply buried in
the flesh; and in one instance that he witnessed, the
miserable creature was so exhausted by continual suc-
tion, that it fell, and afterwards died in great agonies^.
No quadruped is more infested by the Oestrus, or
gad-fly, sometimes also called the breese, than the
horse. In this country no fewer than three species at-
tack it. The most common sort, known by the name
of the horse-bee ((E. Equi, Clark), deposits its eggs
(which being covered w ith a slimy substance adhere to
the hairs) on such parts of the body as the animal can
reach with its tongue; and thus, vinconscious of what
it is doing, it unwarily introduces into its own citadel
the troops of its enemy. — Another species {CE. hce-
morrhoidalis^ L.) is still more troublesome to it, ovi-
positing upon the lips ; and in its endeavours to effect
this, from the excessive titillation it occasions, giving
the poor beast the most distressing uneasiness. At the
sight of this fly horses are always much agitated, toss-
ing their heads about in the air to drive it away ; and,
if this does not answer, galloping off to a distant part
of their pasture, and, as their last resource, taking-
refuge in the water, where the gad-flies never follow
them. We learn from Reaumur, that in France the
grooms, when they observe any bots (which is the vul-
gar name for the larvae and pupae of (Estri) about the
anus of a horse or in its dung, thrust their hand into
the passage to search for more ; but this seems a use-
less precaution, which must occcasion the animal great
pain to answer no good end ; for when the bots are

a De Geer, vii. 158.

l2

148 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS,

passing through the body, having ceased feeding, they
can do no further injury. In Sweden, as De Geer
informs us, they act much more sensibly : those that
liave the care of horses are accustomed to clean their
mouths and throats with a particular kind of brush,
by which method they free them from these disagree-
able inmates before they have got into the stomach,
or can be at all prejudicial to them*.

Providence has doubtless created these animals to
answer some beneficial purpose; and Mr. Clark's ju-
dicious conjectures are an index which points to the
very kind of good our cattle may derive from them,
as acting the part of perpetual stimuli or blisters :
vet when they exceed certain limits, as is often the
case with similar animals employed for purposes
equally beneficial, they become certainly the causes
of disease, and sometimes of death.

How troublesome and teasing is that cloud of flies
(^Musca meteorica, L.) which you must often have no-
ticed in your summer rides, hovering round the head
and neck of your horse, accompanying him as he goes,
and causing a perpetual tossing of the former ^ ! — And
still more annoying in Lapland, as we learn from
Liinne % is the furious assault of the minute horse-gnat,
{Culex equinus, L.,) which infests these beasts in infi-
nite numbers, running uijder the mane and amongst
the hair, and piercing the skin to suck their blood. —
An insect of the same genus is related to attack them
in a particular district in India in so tremendous a
manner as to cause incurable cancers, which finally

a De Geer, vi.295. h uiman. ytcad, iW. 35S.

c Linn. Flor. Lapp, 376. Lwh , Lapp. i. 233, 234.

IJfDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. ]49

destroy them ^. — But of all the insect tormentors of
these useful creatures, there is none more trying to
them than the forest-fly {Ilippobosca equina^ L.). At-
taching themselves to the parts least covered with hair^
particularly under the belly between the hind legs,
they irritate the quietest horse, and make him kick so
as often to hazard the safety of his rider or driver.
This singular animal runs sideways or backwards like
a crab ; and, being furnished with an unusual number
of claws, it adheres so firmly that it is not easy to
take it off; and even if you succeed in this, its sub-
stance is so hard, that by the utmost pressure of your
finger and thumb it is difficult to kill it ; and if you let
it go with life, it will immediately return to the charge.
— Amongst the insect plagues of horses, I should also
have enumerated the larva of Curculio paraplecticus^
L., w hich Linne considers as the cause of the equine
disease, called in Sweden, after the Phellandrium
aqtiaticioii, " Stakra,''^ had not the observations of the
accurate De Geer rendered it doubtful whether the
insect be at all connected with this malady''.

Another quadruped contributing greatly to our do-
mestic comfort, from which we derive a considerable
portion of our animal food, and which, on account of
its patient and laborious character when employed in
agriculture, is an excellent substitute for the horse,
(you will directly perceive I am speaking of the ox,
whether male or female,) is also not exempt from in-
sect domination. At certain seasons the whole terri-
fied herd, with their tails in the air, or turned upon

a Life of General I'homas, 186.

b Linn. It. Scqnd, 1S2. De Geer, v. 227- JO.

150 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

their backs, or stiffly stretched out in the direction of
the spine, gallop about their pastures, making the
country re-echo with their lowings, and finding no rest
till they get into the water. Their appearance and
motions are at this time so grotpsque, clumsy, and
seemingly unnatural, that we are tempted rather to
laugh at the poor beasts than to pity them, though
evidently in a situation of great terror and distress.
The cause of all this agitation and restlessness is a
small gad-fly, (CE. Bovis, L.,) less than the horse-bee,
the object of which, though it be not to bite them, but
merely to oviposit in their hides, is not put into exe-
cution without giving them considerable prin. Virgil,
in his Georgics, has beautifully and accurately de-
scribed the effects of the approach and assault of the
CEstrus upon the cattle. As the passage has not been
very correctly translated, I shall turn poet on the 0C"»
casion, and attempt to give it you in a nev/ dress.

■ Through waving groves' where Selo's torrent flows,
And where, Alborno, thy green Ilex grows,
Myriads of insects flutter in the gloom
(QEstrus in Greece, Asilus nam'd at Rome)
Tierce and of cruel hum. By the dire sound
Driven from the woods and shady glens around
The universal herds in terror fly ;
Their lowings shake the woods and shake the sky,
And Negro's arid shore

When oxen are employed in agriculture, the attack
pf this lly is often attended with great danger, since

a Reaumur observes that the CEstri infest cattle principally in wood-
land countries, and not in the plains, iv. 506,

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 15l

they then become perfectly unmanageable ; and, whe-
ther in harness or yoked to the plough, will run di-
rectly forward. At the season when the CEstrus infests
them, close attention should be paid, and their harness
so constructed that they may easily be let loose.

Reaumur has minutely described the ovipositor, or
singular organ by which these insects are enabled to
bore a round hole in the skin of the animal and deposit
their eaffs in the wound. The anus of the female is
furnished with a tube of a corneous substance, consist*
ing of four pieces, which, like the pieces of a telescope,
are retractile within each other. The last of these ter-
minates in five points, three ofwhich are longer than the
others, and hooked : when united together they form an
instrument very much like an auger or gimlet; only,
having these points, it can bite with more effect^. He
thinks the infliction of the wound is not attended by
much pain, except where very sensible nerves are in-
jured, wlien the animal, appearing to be seized with a
kind of phrensy, begins to gambol, and run with sucli
swiftness that nothing can stop it. From this semblance
of temporary madness in oxen when pursued and bored
by the CEstrus, the Greeks applied the term to any sud-
den fit of fury or violent impulse in the human species,
calling such ebullitions an CEstrus. The female fly is
observed to be very expeditious in oviposition, not
more than a few seconds ; and while she is performing
the operation, the animal attempts to lash her off", as it
does other flies, with its tail. The circular hole, made

a Plate XVI. Fig. 3. Mr. Clark, however, is of opinion that the
•CEstrus does not pierce the skin of the animal, but only glues its eggs to
it. Essay on the liols of Horses and other Animals, p. 47.

152 INDIRECT INJUHIES CAUSEP BY INSECTS.

by the auger just described, always continues open, and
increases in diameter as the larva increases in size ;
thus enabling' it to receive a sufficient supply of air by
means of its anal respiratory plates, which are usually
near the orifice. — But though these insects thus torment
and terrify our cattle, they do them no material injury.
Indeed they occasion considerable tumovus under the
skin, where the bots reside, varying in number from
three or four to thirty or forty ; but these seem unat-
tended by any pain, and are so far from being injurious,
that they are rather regarded as proofs of the good-
ness of the animal, since these flies only attack young
and healthy subjects. The tanners also prefer those
hides that have the greatest number of bot-holes in
them, which are always the best and strongest^.

The Stomoxys, and several of the other flies before
^numerated, as well as the dog and American ticks,
are as prejudicial to the ox as to the horse. One spe-
cies of Hippobosca I have reason to believe is appro-
priated to them • yet, since a single specimen oniy has
hitherto been taken'', little can be said with respect tp
it. — A worse pest than any hitherto enumerated, is a
minute fly concerning the genus of which there is some
^oubt, Fabricius considering it as a Rhagio, {R.colunu
l)aschmsis,) ?ind Latreille as a Simulium'', Perhaps

a Much of the information here collected is taken from Reaum. iv.
Mem. 12; and Clark in Linn. Trans; \i\. 289.

b The writer of the present letter is possessor of this specimen, which
he took on himself in a field where oxen \yere feeding. Plate V. Fig. 1.

c In the Si/slei)ia ytntUatoium (p. 56) Fabricius most strangely con-i
siders thi§ insect as synonymous with Gulex reptans, L. calling it Scatopsa.
reptans, and dropping his former reference ^o. Pallas, and account of Hi.
injurious properties.

INDIRECT IXJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 153

neither of these authors may be right; for, from the
mischief it does to cattle in particular districts, it must
be furnished with the means of penetrating the skin of
certain parts of the animal; (Latreille relates that he
suffered great pain from the bite of this insect himself;)
yet it is evident from the accounts of Linne and Ulloa
before quoted, that the Simulium does not bite, but is
only troublesome on account of the itching it occasions.
It does not appear, indeed, from Latreille's characters,
to have oral instruments proper for piercing. Similar
reasons prove that it can scarcely be a Rhagic — but
to whatever genus it may belong, it is certainly a most
destructive little creature. In Servia and the Bannut
it attacks the cattle in infinite numbers, penetrates, ac-
cording to Fabricius, their generative organs, but ac-
cording to other accounts their nose and ears, and by
its poisonous bite destroys them in the short space of
four or five hours. Much injury was sustained in 1813
from this insect in the palatinate of Arad in Hungary
and in the Bannat; in Banlack not fewer than two
hundred horned cattle perishing from its attacks, and
in Versetz, five hundred. It appears towards the latter
end of April or beginning of May in such indescribable
swarms as to resemble clouds, proceeding as some think
from the region of Mehadia, but according to others
from Turkey. Its approach is the signal for universal
alarm. The cattle fly from their pastures ; and the
herdsman hastens to shut up his cows in the house, or,
when at a distance from home, to kindle fires, the
smoke of which is found to drive off this terrible as-
sailant. Of this the cattle are sensible, and as soon as

154 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

attacked run toAvards the smoke, and are generally
preserved by if^.

Tabani in this country do not seem to annoy our
oxeii so much as they do our horses : perhaps for this
immunity they maybe indebted to the thickness of their
hides; but in some parts of Africa insects of this tribe
do incredible mischief. What would you think, should
you be told that one species of fly drives both inhabi-
tants and their cattle from a whole district ? Yet the
terrible Tsall-salya or Zimh of Bruce (and the w orld
seems now disposed to give more credit to the accounts
of that traveller) has power to produce such an effect.
This fly, which is a native of Abyssinia, both from its
habits and the figure, appears to belong to Latreille's
genus Pangonia^ taken from Tahanus, L., and perhaps
is congenerous with the Q^lslrus of the Greeks'*.

a Fabr. Ent. Syst. Em. iv. 276. 22. Latr. Hist. Ned. &c. xiv. 283.
Laipz. Zeit. Jul. 5, 1813, quoted in Germai's Mag. dcr Ent. ii. 1S5.

b It is by no means clear that the QLstrus of modern entomologists is
synonymous with the insects which the Greeks distinsjuish by that name.
Aristotle not only describes these as blood-suckers (Hist, minimal. 1. viii.
c. 11.) but also as furnished with a strong proboscis (1. 4. c. 7.). He ob-
serves likewise that they are produced from an animal inhabiting the
waters, in the vicinity of which they most abound (1. viii. c. 7.). And
iElian (Jlist. 1 . vi. c. 38.) gives nearly the same account. Comparing the
Oestrus with the Myops (synonymous perhaps with Tnbamis, Latr., ex-
cept that Aristotle affirms tliat its larvEe live in wood, 1. v. c. 19.) he
says, the CEstrus for a fly is one of the largest ; it has a stiff and large
sting, (meaning a proboscis,) and emits a certain humming and harsh
sound — but the Myops is like the Cynomyia — it hums more loudly than
the CEstrus, though it has a smaller sting.

These characters and circumstances do not at all agree with the mo-
dern CEstrus, which, so far from being a blood-sucker furnished with a
strong prolioscis, has scarcely any mouth. It shuns also the viciaity of

INDIRECT INJT7RIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 155

Small as this insect is, we must acknowledire the
elephant, rhinoceros, ]iou and tiger vastly his infcrior.
The appearance, nay the very -ound of it occasions
more trepidation, inoveir.ents and disorder l)oth in the
human and l)rute creation, than whole herds of the
most ferocious wild beasts in tenfold greater numbers
than they ever are would produce. As soon as this
plague appears, and their buzzing is heard, all Use cat-
tle forsake their food, and run Avildly about the plain
till they die Avorn out with fatigue, fright, and hunger.
No remedy remains for the residents on such spots but
to leave the black earth and hasten down to the sands
of Atbara, and there they remain while the rains last.
Camels, and even elephants and rhinoceroses, tliougli
the two last coat themselves with an armour of mud,
are attacked by this winged assassin and afflicted with
numerous tumours. All the inhabitants of the sea-coast
of Melinda down to Cape Gardefan, to Saba and the
south of the Red Sea, are obliged in the beginning of
the rainy season to remove to the next sand to prevent
all their stock of cattle from being destroyed. This
is no partial emigration — the inhabitants of all the
countries from the mountains of Abyssinia northward,
to the confluence of the Nile and Astaboras, are once

water, to which our cattle generally fly as a refug" from it. It seems
more probable that the CEstrus of Greece was related to IJruce's Zimb,
represented in his figure with a lona; proboscis, which makes its appear-
ance in the n'i^jlibourhood of rivers, and belnn,^s, ])orhaps, to I aireille's
genus Pangorda, as observed above, ( /V/n/^fossa, Meis;. ■! or to hi^ S^cmes-
trina. Olivier, indeed, speaks of the form-p genus asfreqirntins; ilowers
like the Bombylii: but t!iis the male Tabani do, while the females are
furious blood-suckers. See Latr. Ilist.Nal. xiv, 318: and Gen. CruH. Sf
M.iv, 281,307.

156 INDIREGT IxXJURlES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

a year obliged to change their abode and seek protec-
tion in the sands of Beja ; nor is there any alternative
or means of avoiding this, though a hostile band were
in the way capable of spoiling them of half their sub-
stance''. This fly is truly a Beelzebub''; and perhaps
it was this, or some species related to it, that was the
prototype of the Philistine idol worshipped under that
name and in the form of a fly.

I must not conclude this subject of insects hurtful to
our cattle without noticing a beetle much talked of by
the ancients for its mischievous properties in this re-
spect. You will soon and rightly conjecture that I am
speaking of the Buprestis '^, so called from the inj ury
which it has been supposed to occasion to oxen or kine.

Modern writers have been much divided in their opi-
nion to what genus this celebrated insect belongs. All
indeed have regarded it as of the Coleoptera order ; but
here their agreement ceases. Linne should seem to
have looked upon it as a species of the genus to which
he has given its name: but these, being timber insects,
are not very likely to be swallowed by cattle with their
food. Geoffi'oy thinks it to be a Carahiis or Cicindela,
but with as little reason, since the species of these
genera do not feed among'st the herbage ; and though
they are sometimes found running there, yet their mo-
tions are so rapid, that it is not very likely that cattle
would often swallow them while feeding.

a Brute's Travels, 8vo. ii. 315.

h Ilfb. nnf ^)?Hiterally " Lord-Fly." See 2 Kings, i. 2; and Bo-
chnrt. Jlierozoic. ps . ii. 1.4. c- 9. p. 490.

c Dum-Cow or Ox, from ^»us and a-gji^a inflamino. M.Latreillc truui-
lale« it Ciivebxufy but impropciiy.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 157

M. Latreille, in an ingenious essay on this inject %
suspects it to belong to the genus Mel'de, F. ; and as this
feeds upon herbs, (M. Proscarabceus, L. and M. viola-
ceus,TS>. B. upon the Ranunculi, so widely disseminated
in our pastures,) his opinion seems to rest upon more
solid grounds than that of his predecessors : but yet I
think the insect in question rather belongs to Mi/la-
bris, F. and for the following reason.

In order rightly to ascertain what insect this really
was, we must endeavour to trace it in the country in
which it received its name and character. This coun-
try was certainly Greece ; and there such an animal,
retiiining nearly its old name, and accused of being
the cause of the same injury to cattle, still exists. For
Belon informs us that on Mount Athos there is found
a winged insect like the blister-beetle, but yellow,
larger, and of a very offensive smell, which feeds upon
various plants, and is called Voupristi by the Caloyers
or Monks, who assert that when horses or other cattle
even feed upon the herbs which the animals have
touched, they die from inflammation, and that it is an
immediate poison to oxen''. This therefore most pro-
bably was the Buprestis of the Greek writers ; and as
Pliny usually compiled from them, it may be regarded
as his also, which he tells us was a caustic insect and
prepared in the same manner as the blister-beetle*^.
He further observes that it was scarce in Italy. The
Greek insect of Mount Athos M. Latreille supposes to
be a Mylabris, and in this I agree with him ; and there-

a Annales du Muieum. — X* Ann. N" xi. y\. 129.

b Obacrvations deplusieurs Singulftrites, ^c. I. i. c.45, p. 7?, of the Edi-
tion in Sir Joseph Baiiks's Library. c ifisf, Nal. 1, xxii. c. 1.

158 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS,

fore this is the proper genus to which the original
Greek Buprestis, the true type of the insect in ques*
tion, ought to be referred, and not Meliie.

Whether this animal be really guilty to the extent
of which it is accused admits of considerable doubt ;
but as I have not the means of ascertaining this, I
ghall leave the question for others who are better in-
formed to decide.

But, of all our cattle none are more valuable and
important to us than our flocks / to them we look not
only for a principal part of our food, but also for cloth-
ing and even light. Thick as is their coat of wool, it
does not shield them from the attack of all-subduing
insects : on the contrary it affords a comfortable shel-
ter to one of their enemies of this class, regarded by
JL/inne as a species of Hippobosca, but properly sepa-
rated from that genus by Latreille under the name of
JSfelophagifs. This is commonly called the sheep-louse,
and is so tenacious of life that we are told by Ray it will
exist in a fleece twelve months after it is shorn, and its
excrements are said to give a green tinge to the wool
very difficult to be discharged. — You have doubtless
often observed in the heat of the day the sheep shaking
their heads and striking the ground violently with their
fore feet ; or running away and getting into ruts, dry
dusty spots or gravel pits, where crowding together
they hold their noses close to the ground. The object
of all these actions and movements is to keep the gad-
fly appropriated to them {CE. Ovis, L.) from getting at
their nostrils, on the inner margin of which they lay
their eggs, from whence the maggots make their way
into the headj feeding in the maxillary and frontal

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 159

sinuses on the mucilage there produced. When full-
grown, they fall through the nostrils to the ground and
assume the pupa. Whether the animal suffers much
pain from these troublesome assailants is not ascertain-
ed. Sometimes the maggots make their way even into
the brain. 1 have been informed by a very accurate
and intelligent friend, that, on opening the head of one
of his sheep which died in consequence of a vertigo,
three maggots were found in it in a line just above the
eyes, and that behind them there was a bladder of wa^
ter. — Perhaps you are not aware that the bots we are
speaking of, or rather those in the head of goats, have
been prescribed as a remedy for the epilepsy, and that
from the tripod of Delphos. Yet so we are told on the
authority of Alexander Trallien. Whether Demo-
crates, who consulted the oracle, was cured by this
remedy does not appear ; the story shows however that
the ancients were aware of the station of these larvas.
— The common saying that a whimsical person is ma^-'
ii'ott2/, or has got maggots in his head, perhaps arose
from the freaks the sheep have been observed to exhi-
bit when infested by their bots. — The flesh-fly is also a
great annoyance to the fleecy tribe, especially in fenny
countries ; and if constant attention be not paid them,
they are soon devoured by its insatiable larvae. In
Lincolnshire, the principal profit of the druggists is
derived from the sale of a mercurial ointment used to
destroy them. — In tropical countries the sheep fre-
quently sufffer from the ants. Bosman relates that when
in Guinea, if one of his was attacked by them in the
niglit, which often happened, it was invariably de-
stroyed, and was so expeditiously devoured that in the
morning only the skeleton would be left.

160 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

Of our domestic animals the least infested by insects^
I mean as to the number of species that attack it, is the
swine. With the exception of its louse, which seems to^
annoy it principally by exciting a violent itching, it is
exposed to scarcely any other plague of this class, un-
less we may suppose that it is the biting of flies, which
in hot weather drives it to " its wallowing in the mire.'*

Under this head we may iviclude the deer tribe, for,
though often wild, those kept in parks may strictly be
deemed domestic ; and the rein-deer is quite as much
so to the Laplander, as our oxen and kine are to ug.
We learn from Reaumur that the fallow-deer is sub-
ject to the attack of two species of gad-fly : one, which,
like that of the ox, deposits its eggs in an orifice it
makes in the skin of the animal, and so produces tu-
mours ; and another in imitation of that of the sheep,
ovipositing in such a manner that its larvae when hatch-
ed can make their way into the head, where they take
their station in a cavity near the pharynx. He relates
^ carious notion of the hunters with respect to these
two species. Conceiving them both to be the same,
they imagine that they mine for themselves a painful
path under the skin to the root of the horns ; which is
their common rendezvous from all parts of the body :
where by uniting their labours and gnawing indefati-
gably, they occasion the annual casting of these orna-
mental as well as powerful arms. This fable, impro-
bable aiid ridiculous as it is, has had the sanction of
grave authorities'^. — The CEstri last mentioned inhabit,
in considerable numbers, two fleshy bags as big as a
hen's egg, and of a similar shape, near the root of the
tongue. Reaumur took between sixty and seventy bots
a Return, v. 69. Dictionnairc de Trevoux, article Cerf,

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 161

from one of them, and even then some had escaped.
What other purpose these two remarkable purses are
intended to answer it is Hot easy to conjecture. He sup-
poses that the parent fly must enter the nostrils of the
deer, and pass down the air passages to oviposit in them :
but probably sucli a manoeuvre is unnecessary, since
there seems no reason, supposing- the eggs to be laid in
the nostrils, why the larva when hatched cannot itself
make its way down to the above station, as easily as that
of the sheep into the maxillary sinuses. Or, which per-
haps is more likely, when the animal draws in the air,
the eggs or larvae may be carried down with it, in both
cases, to the place assigned to them by Providence*.

No animal, however, is so cruelly tormented by
ffistri as the rein-deer; for besides one synonymous
apparently with this of the deer (CE. nasalis, L.) from
which they endeavour to relieve themselves by snort-
ing and blowing '', they have a second which produces
bots under their skin ; not improbably the same species
that in a similar way attacks the latter, as I have stated
above. We have heard that the vaccine disease is de-
rived from the cow and the horse, and the small-pox is
said to have originated in the heels of the camel : but
neither the ingenious Dr. Jenner norvany other writer
on this subject has informed us that the rein-deer is sub-

a For the account of the OSstnis, of the cleer,see Reaum. v. 67-77.

b Linn. Lack. Lapp. ii. 45. In the passage here referred to, Linne
speaks of two species of (Estriis, though the mode of expression indicates
that he considered them as the same. One was (P.. nasalis from which
they freed themselves by snorting, &c., the other QL. Tar audi '<,\\\\c\\ formed
the pustules in their backs. In Syst. Nat. 969. 3. he strangely observes
under the former species," Habitat inequorum fauce, per nares intrans ! "
confounding probably (E, i^eterinus of Mr. Clark with the true (E. nasalis.
VOL. I. M

162 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

ject to the distemper last named ; yet Linne quotes the
learned work of a^Swedish physician on Syphilis, who
gravely gives this as a fact ^ ! ! The inoculator, in truth,
is the gad-fly, the tumours it causes are the pustules,
and its larvae are the pus. — It is astonishing how dread-
fully these poor animals in hot weather are terrified and
injured by them : ten of these flies will put a herd of
five hundred into the greatest agitation. They cannot
stand still a minute, no not a moment, without chan-
ging their posture, puflSng and blowing, sneezing and
snorting, stamping and tossing continually; every in-
dividual trembling and pushing its neighbour about.
The ovipositor of this fly is similar to that of the ox-
breese, consisting of several tubular joints which slip
into each other ; and therefore Linne was probably mis-
taken in supposing that it lays its eggs upon the skin of
the animal, and that the bot, when it appears, eats its
way through it*": there can be little doubt (or else what
is the use of such an apparatus ?) that it bores a hole in
the skin and there deposits the eggs. About the be-
ginning of July the rein-deer sheds its hair, which then
stands erect — at this time the fly is always fluttering
about it, and takes its opportunity to oviposit. The
bots remain under the skin through the whole winter,
and grow to the size of an acorn. Six or eight of these
are often to be found in a single rein-deer that has only
seen one winter ; and these so emaciate them, that fre-
quently one third of their number perish in consequence.
Even those that are full grown suffer greatly from this
insect. The fly follows the animals over precipices,
valleys, the snow-covered mountains, and even the

Lach. Lapp, 1.280. h Flor.Lapp. 79.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED EY INSECT^. 163

highest alps ; to which in order to avoid it they oftert
fly with great swiftness in a direction contrary to thfe
wind. By this constant agitation and endeavour to
escape from the attack of their enemy they are kept
from eating during the day, standing always upon the
watch, with erect ears and attentive eyes, that they
may observe whether it comes near them ^. The rein-
deer are teased also by a peculiar species of Tabanus
(T. torandinus, L.) which, by a singular instinct, in-
stead of their skin, makes its incision in their horns
when tender.

Our dogs, the faithful guardians of our other domes-
tic animals and possessions, the attached companions
of our walks, and instruments of many of our plea-
sures and amusements, cannot defend themselves from
insect annoyance. They have their peculiar louse, and
the flea sucks their blood in common with that of their
master: you must also often have noticed how much
they suffer from the dog-tick, which, when once it has
fixed itself in their flesh, will in a short time, from the
size of a pin's head, so swell itself out by gorging their
blood, that it will equal in dimensions what is called
the tick-bean. In the West Indies these ticks, or one
like them, get into the ears and head of the dogs, and
so annoy them and wear them out that they either die
or are obliged to be killed ''.

Some of the most esteemed dainties of our tables are
supplied from such of the winged part of the creation
^s we have domesticated. These also have a louse (JRici-
nusy De Geer) appropriated to them, and the gorgeous
peacock is infested by one of extraordinary dimen-

a Linn. Fhr. Lapp, 379. b Mr. Kittoe.

M 2

164 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECT?.

sions and singular form''. Pigeons, in addition, often
swarm with the bed-bug, which makes it advisable
never to have their lockers fixed to a dwelling-house.
In their young, if your curiosity urges you to examine
then), you may find the larva of the flea, which in its
perfect state often swarms in poulti^.

Amongst our most valuable domestic animals I shall
be very unjust and ungrateful, if I do not eniunerate
those industrious little creatures the bees, from whose
incessant labours and heaven-taught art we derive the
two precious productions of honey and wax. They
also are infested by numerous insect-enemies, some of
which attack the bees themselves, while others despoil
them of their treasures. — They have parasites of a pe-
culiar genus, although at present regarded as belong-
ing to Pediculus ^, and mites {Acarus gj/mnoptet'orum,
L.) are frequently injurious to them. That universal
plunderer the wasp, and his formidable congener the
hornet, often seize and devour them, sometimes ripping
open their body to come at the honey, and at others
carrying oft that part in which it is situated. The former

a Plate V. Fig. 3.

b Meliliop/tagi(s,Mm. Kirby. Sec Mon. Ap.Angl. ii. I6S. I copy the
following memoraiidum respecting ilf. MeWt<£ fi'om my coimiion-place-
book, May T, 1812. On the flowers of Ficaria, Taraxacum and Bellis, I
found a great number of this insect, which seemed extremely restless, run-
ning here and there over the flowers, and over each other, with great swift-
ness, mounting the anthers, and sometimes lifting themselves up above
them, as if looking for sometiiing. One or two of them leaped upon my
hand. Near one of these flowers I found a small Melitta,upon which some
of these creatures were busy sucking the poor animal, so that it seemed
luiabie to fly away. When disclosed from the egg, I imagine they get on
the top of these flowers to attach themselves to any Melitta that may alight
ou tbeju, or come t>uflicieully near for them to leap on it. K.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 165

frequently take possession of a hive, having either
destroyed or driven away its inhabitants, and consume
all the honey it contains. Nay there are certain idlers
of their own species, called by apiarists corsair-bees,
which plunder the hives of the industrious. — From the
curious accovuit which Latreille has given us of Phi-
lanthus npivoruSy a wasp-like insect, it appears that great
havoc is made by it of the unsuspecting workers, which
it seizes while intent upon their daily labours, and car-
ries off to feed its young '^. Another insect, which one
would not have suspected of marauding propensities,
must here be introduced. Kuhn informs us, that long-
ago (in 1799) some monks who kept bees, observing
that they made an unusual noise, lifted up the hive,
when an animal flew out, which to their great surprise
no doubt, for they at first took it for a bat, proved to be
the death's-head hawk-moth (Sphinx Atrnpos^ L.), al-
ready celebrated as the innocent cause of alarm''; and
he remembers that several, some years before, had been
found dead in the bee-houses '^. M. Huber, also, in
1804 discovered that it had made its way into his hives
and those of his vicinity, and had robbed them of their
honey. In Africa we are told it has the same propen-
sity ; which the Hottentots obfeerving^ in order to mo-
nopolize the honey of the wild bees, have persuaded the
colonists that it inflicts a mortal wound '^. This moth
has the faculty of emitting a remarkable sound, which
he supposes may produce an effect upon the bees of a
hive somewhat similar to that caused by the voice of

a Latreille, Hist, des Fourmis, SOT -20. b See above, p. 34.

c Naiurforscher Stk. xvi. 74.

•I Quoted from Campbell's Traocls In South /tfrica, mihe Quarterly
Hevitw for July \S\b. 315.

166 INDIRECT INJURIES CAU&ED BY INSECTS.

their queen, which as soon as uttered strikes them mo-
tionless, and thus it may be enabled to commit with
impunity such devastation in the midst of myriads of
armed bands". The larvae of three species of moth
(Tortrix Cereana,¥. Tinea Mellonella, F. and Tinea
sociella, F. exhibite qual hardihood vf ith equal impu-
nity. They indeed pass the whole of their initiatory
state in the midst of the combs. Yet in spite of the
stings of the bees of a whole republic, they continue
their depredations unmolested, sheltering themselves
in tubes made of grains of wax, and lined with silken
tapestry, spun and wove by themselves, which the bees
(however disposed they may be to revenge the mis-
chief which they do them, by devouring, what to all
other animals would be indigestible, their wax,) are
unable to penetrate. These larvae are sometimes so
numerous in a hive, and commit such extensive ra-
vages, as to force the poor bees to desert it and seek
another habitation.

I shall not delay you longer upon this subject by de-
tailing what wild animals suffer from insects, further
than by observing that the two creatures of this descrip-
tion in which we are rather interested, the hare and the
rabbit, do iiot escape their attack. The hare in Lap-
land is more tormented by the gnats that any other qua-
druped. To avoid this pest it is obliged to leave the
cover of the woods in full day, and seek the plains :
hence the hunters say, that of three litters which a hare
produces in a year, the first dies by the cold, the second
by gnats, and only the third escapes and comes to ma-
turity''.— We learn from the ingenious Mr. Clark, that
a Huber. Pre/, xi-xiii. b De Geer, ii. 83.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 167

the American rabbit and hare are infested by the
largest species of QEstrus'' yet discovered; and our do-
mestic rabbits sometimes swarm with the bed-bug. This
was the case with some kept by two young gentlemen
at my house last summer to such a degree, that I found
it necessary to have them killed.

Nor are the inhabilants of the waters sheltered by their
peculiar element from these universal assailants. The
larvffi of Dytisci fixing themselves by their suctorious
mandibles to the body o^Jishy doubtless destroy an in-
finite number of the young fry of our ponds. Some
species of salmon (Salmo Fario, L.) are the food of an
animal which Linne has arranged under Pediculus;
and probably many others of the finny tribes may, like
the birds, have their peculiar parasites. Even shellfish
do not escape, for the Nj/mphongrossipes, Latr. enters
the shell of the muscle and devours its inhabitant.

I am, &c.

a Considered by Mr. Clark''as a new genus, which he has named Cu-
terebra, and of which he has described three species. Essay on the Bots of
Horses, f^c. ]}. 63. t. 2. f. 24-29.

LETTER VI.
INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

INDIRECT INJURIES CONTINUED.

JlIaving endeavoured to give you some idea of the
mode in which insects establish and maintain their em-
pire over man and his train of dependent animals, I
shall next call your attention to his living vegetable
possessions, whether the produce of the forest, the
field, or the garden ; whether necessary to him for
his sujjport, convenient for his use, or ministering to
his comfoi't, pleasure and delight: — and here you will
find these little creatures as busily engaged in the
work of mischief as ever, destroying Avhat is necessary,
deranging whatis convenient, marring Avhat is beauti-
ful, and turning what should give us pleasure in^o an
object of disgust.

Let us begin with the produce of our Jields. — Bread
is called "the staff of life:" yet should divine Provi-
dence in anger be pleased to give the rein to the various
insects which, in the different stages of its growth, at-
tack the plant producing it, how quickly would this staff
be broken ! From the moment that wheat begins to
emerge from the soil, to the time when it is carried into
the barn, it is exposed to their ravages. One of its ear-
liest assailants in this country is that of which P^Ir. Wal-
ford has given an account in the Linnean Transactions,
taking it for the wire-worm ; but, as Mr. M^.rsham ob-

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 169

served, not correctly; it being- probably the larva of
some coleopterous insect, perhaps of one of the nume-
rous tribe of SlaphijUnidco which are not universally
carnivorous. This animal was discovered to infest the
wheat in its earliest stage of growth after vegetation
had commenced: and there was reason to believe that
it began even with the grain itself It eats into the
young plant about an inch below the surface, devour-
ing the central part ; and thus, vegetation being- stop-
ped, it dies. Out of fifty acres sown with this grain in
1802, ten had been destroyed by the grub in question so
early as October ^. — Other predaceous Coleopiera will
also attack young corn. This is done by the larva of
Carahusgibhus^ F. (C.gibbosus, E.B. Harpalus^ Latr.),
particularly with respect to wheat. In the spring of
1813 not less than twelve German hides (//?(/fw), equal
to two hundred and thirty English acres, were destroyed
by it in the canton of Sceburg, near Halle in Germany ;
andGermar (who with other members of the Society of
Natural History, at that place, ascertained the fact,)
suspects that it Avas the same insect, described by Cooti,
an Italian author, whicli caused great destruction in
Upper Italy in 177 G. — Not only is the larva, which
proba])ly lives in that state three years, thus injurious ;
but, what one would not have expected, the perfect
beetle itself attacks the grain when in the ear, clamber-
ing up the stems at night in vast numbers to get at it.
— Along with the larva; of this insect were found, in the
proportion of about one-fourth, those of another beetle
(Melolontha ruficornis^ F.), which seemed to contribute
to the mischief''.

■1 Linn. Trans, ix." 150-01. b Gcimar's Mag.dur Knt, i. 1*10,

170 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

Mr. Markwick has given us the history or a fly that
attacks wheat in a later period of its growth, which, if
it be not indeed the same, appears to be nearly related
to the Musca Pumilionis of Bierkander^, accused by
him of being extremely injurious to rye in the spring.
Our insect was discovered on the first sown wheats early
in that season, making its lodgement in the very heart
of the principal stem just above the root, which stem it
invariably destroyed, giving the crop at first a most un-
promising appearance, so that there seemed scarcely a
hope of any produce. But it proved in this and other
instances that year (1791) that the plant, instead of
being injured, derived great benefit from this circum-
stance ; for, the main stem perishing, the root (which
was not hurt) threw out fresh shoots on every side, so
as to yield a more abundant crop than in other fields
where the insect had not been busy. These flies there-
fore seem to belong to our insect benefactors ; and I
should not have introduced them here, had it not been
probable that in some instances later in the spring they
may attack the lateral shoots of the wheat, and so be
injurious. It is also not unlikely that the new progeny,
which is disclosed in May, may oviposit in barley or
some other spring corn, which would bring the next
generation out in time for the wheat sown in the au-
tumn.— These flies are amongst the last, and, in some
seasons, the most numerous, that take shelter in the
windows of our apartments when the first frosts indi-
cate the approach of winter, previous to their becoming

a Act. Stockh. 17T8. 3. n. 11. and 4. n. 4. Marsham in Linn. Trans.
ii. 79. This insect probably belonj:? to Latreille's genus MosilluSf and
seems related to Mosillus arcuatus, Gen. Crust, S^ Ins. iv. 351.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 171

torpid during that season. When this little animal
was first observed in England, it created no small
alarm amongst agriculturists lest it should prove to be
the Hessian Jlt/^ so notorious for its depredations in
North America; but Mr. Mar sham, by tracing out the
species, proved the alarm to be unfounded'*. That
there was sufficient cause for apprehension, should it
have so turned out, what I have formerly stated con-
cerning the latter insect, and the additional facts which
I shall now adduce, will amply show.

The ravages of the animal just alluded to, which
was first noticed in 1776, and received its name from
an erroneous idea that it was carried by the Hessian
troops in their straw from Germany, were at one time
so universal as to threaten, where it appeared, the total
abolition of the culture of wheat ; though, by recent
accounts, the injury which it now occasions is much less
than at first. It commences its depredations in autumn,
as soon as the plant begins to appear above ground,
when it devours the leaf and stem with equal voracity
until stopped by the frost. When the return of spring
brings a milder temperature the fly appears again, and
deposits its eggs in the heart of the main stems, which
it perforates and so weakens, that when the ear begins
to grow heavy, and is about to go into the milky state,
they break down and perish. All the crops, as far as
it extended its flight, fell before this ravager. It first
showed itself in Long Island, from whence it proceeded
inland at about the rate of fifteen or twenty miles
annually, and by the year 1789 had reached 200 miles
from its original station. I must observe, however,

a Linn, Trans, ii, 76-80.

172 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

that some accounts state its progress at first to hjive
been very slow, at the rate only of seven miles per
annum, and the damage inconsiderable ; and that the
wheat crops were not materially injured by it before
the year 1788. Though these insect hordes traverse
such a tract of country in the course of the year, their
fliehts are not more than five or six feet at a time.
Nothing intercepts them in their destructive career,
neither mountains nor the broadest rivers. They were
seen to cross the Delaware like a cloud. The numbers
of this fly were so great, that in wheat-harvest the
houses swarmed with them to the extreme annoyance
of the inhabitants. They filled every plate or vessel
that was in use ; and five hundred were counted in a
single glass tumbler exposed to them a few minutes
with a little beer in it ^.

America suffers also in its wheat and maize from the
attack of an insect of a diiferent order ; which, for
what reason I know not, is called the chintz-bug-fly.
It appears to be apterous, and is said in scent and co-
lour to resemble the bed-bug. They travel in immense
columns from field to field, like locusts destroying
every thing as they proceed; but their injuries are
confined to the states south of the 40th degree of north
latitude''. From this account the depredator here
noticed should belong to the tribe of Cimicidce; but it
seems very difficult to conceive how an insect that lives
by suction, and has no mandibles, could destroy these
plants so totally.

When the wheat blossoms, another marauder, to

a EncyclopeciL Biilann. viii. 489-95.

^ Young's Annals of AgricuUurs, xi. 471.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 173

which Mr. Marsham first called the attention of the
public, takes its turn to make an attack upon it, under
the form of an orange-coloured gnat, which, introdu-
cing^ its loru^ retractile ovipositor into the centre of the
corolla, there deposits its eggs. These being hatched,
the larvae, perhaps by eating- the pollen, prevent the
impregnation of the grain, and so in some seasons de-
stroy the twentieth part of the crop '^.

One would think, when laid up in the barn or in the
granary, that wheat would be secure from injury; but
even there the weevil (C«/a«f/?'a "•rfl/2am, F.), in its
imago as well as in its larva state, devours it ; and
sometimes this pest becomes so infinitely numerous,
that a sensible man, engaged in the brewing trade, once
told me, speaking perhaps rather hyperbolically, that
they collected and destroyed them by bushels; and no
w onder, for a single pair of these destroyers may pro-
duce in one year above COOO descendants. — There are
three other insects that attack the stored wheat, which
are more injurious to it than even the weevil. One is
a minute species of moth, (Tinea granella, F.,) happily
not much if at all known in this country ; of which
Leeuwenhoek has given us a full history under the
name of the wolf. Another is a species of the same
genus, at present not named, which, as we are informed
by Du Hamel, at one time committed dreadful ravages
in the province of Angoumois in France. The third is
Trogosita caraboides, F., a kind of beetle, the grub of
which called Cadelle, Olivier tells us, did more da-
mage to the housed grain in the southern provinces of

a Tipula Trilici, K. belonging to Latreille's genus Cecidomyia. Mar-
sham and Kirby in Linn. Trans, iii. 242-5. iv. 224-39. v. 96-110.

174 I.VDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

France than either the weevil or the wolf*. — Here I
may just mention a few other insects which devour
grains that are the food of man, concerning which I
have collected no other facts. The rice-weevil ( Calan-
dra OryzcE^ F.) is very injurious to the useful grain
after which it is named, as is likewise another small
beetle, Lucius dentntus, F. ; and an Indian grain,
called in the country Joharre, which appears to be a
species of Hoicus or Milium, is the appropriate food
of another species of Calandra'', which I found abun-
dant in it.

Hj/e, in this island, is an article of less importance
than wheat; but in some parts of the continent it forms
a principal portion of the bread-corn. Providence has
also appointed the insect means of causing a scarcity
of this species of food. The fly before noticed {Musca
Pumilionis) introduces its eggs into the heart of the
shoots of rye, and occasions so many to perish, that
from eight to fourteen are lost in a square of two feet.
— A small moth also {Pyralis Secalis, F.) which eats
the culm of this plant within the vagina, thus destroys
many ears ". In common with wheat and barley it also
sufl*ers from Leeuwenhoek's wolf and the weevil.

Barce?/ likewise, another of our most valuable grains,
has several insect foes. The gelatinous larva of a saw-
fly (Tenthredo, L.) preys upon the upper surface of the
leaves, and so occasions them to wither. Musca Hor-
dci of Bierkander also assails the plant. A tenth part

a Ollv. ii. n. 19. 3-4. b Cttrculio testaceus, Enl. Brit.

c Mataham in Linn. Trans, ii. 80. De Geer notices the injury done by
this fly to rye, and ofceerves that before it had been attributed to frost.
ii.08.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 175

of the produce of this grain, Linne affirms, is annually
destroyed in Sweden by another fly, not yet discovered
in Britain, {Musca Frit, L/.,) which does the mischief
by getting into the ear. — A small species of moth de-
scribed by Reaumur, though not named by Linne,
which may be called Tinea Jlordei, devours the grain
when laid up in the granary. This fly deposits seve-
ral eggs, perhaps twenty or thirty, on a single grain ;
but as one grain only is to be the portion of one larva,
they disperse when hatched, each selecting one for
itself, which it enters from without at a place more
tender than the rest ; — and this single grain furnishes
a sufficient supply of food to support the caterpillar till
it is ready to assume the pupa. Concealed within this
contracted habitation, the little animal does nothing
that may betray it to the watchful eye of man, not even
ejecting its excrements from its habitation ; so that
there may be millions within a heap of corn, where you
would not suspect there was one'^.

I have not observed that oats suff'er from insects, ex-
cept from the universal subterranean destroyer of the
grasses, the wire-worm, of which I shall give you a
more full account hereafter ; and occasionally from an
Aphis. The only important grain that now remains
unnoticed is the maize or Indian corn. Besides the
chintz-bug-fly, a little beetle (Phaleria cornuta, Latr.)
appears to devour it; and it has probably other unre-
corded enemies'*. The Guinea corn of America (Uol-
cus hicolor), as well as other kinds of grain, is, accord-
ing to Abbott, often much injured by the larva of a

a Act. Stockh. 1750. 128. Reaumur, ii. 480, &c.

b This insect was taken in maize by Mr. Sparshall of Norwich,

17o INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

moth (Nocti/a frugiperda, Smith), Avhich feeds upon
the main shoot **.

Next to grain pulse is useful to us both when culti-
vated in our gardens and in our fields. Peas and beanSy
which form so material a part of the produce of the
farm, are exposed to the attack of a numerous host of
insect depredators ; indeed the former, on account of
their ravages, is one of the most uncertain of our crops.
The animals from which in this country both these
plants sutfer most are the ylphides, commonly called
leaf-lice, but which properly should be denominated
plant-lice. — As almost every animal has its peculiar
louse, so has almost every plant its peculiar p/r/Jz^-ZoM^e/
and, next to locusts, these are the greatest enemies of
the vegetable world, and like them ai^e sometimes so
numerous as to darken the air''. The multiplication of
these little creatures is infinite and almost incredible.
Providence has endued them with privileges promo-
ting fecundity, which no other insects possess : at one
time of the year they are viviparous, at another ovipa-
rous ; and, what is most remarkable and without paral-
lel, the sexual intercourse of one original pair serves
for all the generations which proceed from the female
for a whole succeeding year. Reaumur has proved that
in five generations one Aphis may be the progenitor of
5,904,900,000 descendants : and it is supposed that in
one year there may be twenty generations'^. This
astonishing fecundity exceeds that of any known ani-

a Smith's Abbott's Insects of Georgia, 191.

b I say this upon' tl^ authority of Mr. Wolnough of Alderton (late of
Boyion) iu Suffolk, an intelligent a;;riculturist, and a most acute and
accurate observer of ^nature. c lieamn. vi. 566.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 177

mal; and we cannot wonder that a creature so prolific
should be proportionably injurious : some species, how-
ever, seem more so than others. Those that attack
wheat, oats, and barley, of which there are more kinds
than one, seldom multiply so fast as to be very noxious
to those plants ; while those which attack pulse spread
so rapidly, and take such entire possession, that the
crop is greatly injured, and sometimes destroyed by
them. This was the case with respect to peas in the
year 1810, when the produce was not much more than
the seed sown ; and many farmers turned their swine
into their pea-fields, not thinking- them worth harvest-
ing. The damage in this instance was caused solely by
the Aphis, and was universal throughout the kingdom,
so that a sufficient supply for the navy could not be ob-
tained. The earlier peas are sown, the better chance
they stand of escaping, at least in part, the effects of
this vegetable Phthiriasis. — Beans are also often great
sufierers from another species of plant-louse, in some
districts from its black colour called the Collier^ which
begins at the top of the plant, and so keeps multiply-
ing downwards. The best remedy in this case, which
also tends to set the beans well, and improves both
their quality and quantity, is to top them as soon as the
Aphides begin to appear, and carrying away the tops
to burn or bury them. — In a late stage of growth great
havoc is often made in peas by the grub of a small
beetle, (Bruchus granarius, L.,) which will sometimes
lay an egg in every pea of a pod, and thus destroy it.
— Something similar I have been told (I suspect it is a
short-snouted weevil) occasionally injures beans. In
this country, however, the mischief caused by the
Bruchus is seldom very serious ; biit iir North Ame-
VOL. I, >-

178 INDIRECT INJURIES CAtJsfiD BY iNsttCf-!.'

rica another species (B. Pisi, L.) is most alarming;])*
destructive, its ravages being at one time so univer*
sal as to put an end in some places to the cultivation
of that favourite pulse. No wonder then that Kalm
should have been thrown into such a trepidation upon
discovering some of these pestilent insects just dis-
closed in a parcel of peas he had brought from that
country, lest he should be the instrument of introdu-
cing so fatal an evil into his beloved Sweden* . In the
year 1780 an alarm was spread in some parts of France,
that people had been poisoned by eating worm-eaten
peas ; and they were forbidden by authority to be ex-
jwsed for sale in the market : but the fears of the pub-
lic were soon removed by the examination of some
scientific men, who found the cause of the j^ijury to be
the insect of which I am now speaking''. Another spe-
cies of Bruchus (B. pectinicornis, L.) devours the peas
in China and Barbary. A leguminous seed, much used
when boiled as food for horses in India, known to Eu-
ropeans by the name of Gram, but in the Tamul dia-
lect called Koloo, and by the Moors Cooltee, is the
appropriate food of a fourth kind of Bruchus, related
to the last, but having the antennae, which in the male
are pectinated, much shorter than the body. It is, per-
haps, B. scutellarisy F. A parcel of this seed*^ given
me by Captain Green was full of this insect, several
grains containing two. Molina, in his History of Chili,
tells us of a beetle, which he names Lucanus Pilmus^
that infests the beans in that country ; — a circumstance
quite at variance with the habits of the Lucanidce,

f* Kalui's yrofc^s, i. 173. b Amoreux, 288.

c I have raised plants from this seed, which appear from the foliagfe lo
*be!oii2 either iof P/ucseolus or Dolichos.

tndthect injuries caured by insects. 179

which all prey upon timber. This insect was probably
a Phaleria, Latr., in which genus the mandibles are
protruded from the head like those of Lucanus ; and
one species, as we have seen above, feeds upon maize.

Great profits are sometimes derived by farmers from
their cro^s o^ clover-seed : but this does not happen
very often : i'or a small weevil, {Apionjlavifemoratum,)
which. abounds every where at almost all times of the
year, feeds upon the seed of the purple clover, and in
most seasons does the crop considerable damage ; so
that a plant of the fairest appearance will, in conse-
quence of the voracity of this little enemy, produce
scarcely any thing. Another species (Apionjlavipes)
infests the Dutch or white clover''. The young plants
of purple clover, when just sprung, are often,- as Mr.
Joseph Stickney pointed out to me, much injured by
the same little jumping beetles (JIaltica, F.) that at-
tack the turnips; ,'

But not only, if let loose to the work of destruction^
might insects annihilate our grain and pulse ; they
would also deprive the earth of that beautiful green
carpet which now covers it, and is so agreeable and so
refreshing to the sight. When you see a large tract
of land lying fallow, as is sometimes the case in open
districts, with no intervening patches of verdure, how
unpleasant and uncomfortable is it to your eye ! What
then would be your sensations, were the whole face
of the earth bare, and not dressed by Flora ? But such
a state of things would soon take place, if to punish us,
or to teach us thankfulness to the great Arbiter of our

a Mark wick, Marshatn and Lehmann in Linn. T/vi/is. vi. 142. — and
Kirby in diUo, ix. 37,42. n. 19,23.

N 2

180 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

fate, the insects that feed upon the grass of our pas*
lures were to become as generally numerous as they
are occasionally permitted to do. One of the worst of
these ravagers is the grub of the common cockchafer
{Melolontha vulgaris, F.^) This insect, which is found
to remain in the larva state four years, sometimes de-
stroys whole acres of grass, as I can aver from my own
observation. It undermines the richest meadows, and
so loosens the turf that it will roll up as if cut with a
turfing-spade. These grubs did so much injury about
seventy years ago to a poor farmer near Norwich, that
the court of that city, out of compassion, allowed hira
25/., and the man and his servant declared that he
had gathered eighty bushels of the beetle"". In the year
1785 many provinces of France were so ravaged by
them, that a premium was offered by the government
for the best mode of destroying them. They do not
confine themselves to grass, but eat also the roots of
corn ; and it is to feast upon this grub more particu-
larly that the rooks follow the plough.

The larva also of another species of this genus {Me-
lolontha pulverulenta, F.) is extremely destructive in
moist meadows, rooting under the herbage, so that,
the soil becoming loose, the grass soon withers and
dies. Swine are very fond of these grubs, and will de-
vour vast numbers of them, and the rooks lend then-
assistance.

Amongst the Lepidoptera, the greatest enemy of our
pastures is the Bomh7/x Graminis, F. which, however,
is said not to touch the foxtail grass. In the years
1740, 1741, 1742, 1748, 1749, they multiplied so pro-

* Plate XVII. Fio. 12. b Philos. Trans. 1741. 681.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 181

digiously and committed such ravages in many pro-
vinces of Sweden, that the meadows became quite
white and dry as if a fire had passed over them ^ This
destructive insect, though found in this country, is
luckily scarce amongst us ; but our northern neigh-
bours appear occasionally to have suffered greatly
from it. In 1759, and again in 1802, the high sheep
f&rms in Tweedale were dreadfully infested by a
caterpillar, which was probably the larva of this moth;
spots of a mile square were totally covered by them,
and the grass devoured to the root**.

Most of the insects I have hitherto mentioned at-
tack our crops partially, confining themselves to one
or two kinds only ; but there are some species which
extend their ravages indifferently to all. Of this de-
scription is the PhalcEnafnimentalis^ L., which moth,
Pallas tells us, is an almost universal pest in the go-
vernment of Kasan in Russia, often eating the greater
part of the spring corn to the root*^. To this we are
fortunately strangers ; but another, well knoAvn by the
name of the wire-worm, causes annually a large dimi-
nution of the produce of our fields, destroying indiscri-
minately wheat, rye, oats, and grass '^. This insect,
which has its name apparently from its slender form
and uncommon hardness an J toughness, is the grub of
a beetle termed by Linne Elater lineatus, but by Bier-
kander, to whom we are indebted for its history, E. Se-
getis^y which name is now generally adopted. The in-
genious Mr. Paul of Starston in Norfolk, (well known

a De Geer, ii. 341. Amcsn. Jcad. iii. 355, t> Farmer's Mag. iii. 487.
e Pallas"s Travels in South Riisda, i. 30. d Plate XVII7. Fig. 4.

e Marshall! in Communicalions to the Board of JgrkuUurty iv. 412.
Plate xviii. fg. 4. and JJim. Trans, ix, 60.

182 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

as the inventor of a machine to entrap the turnip-r
beetle, which may be applied by collectors with great
advantage to general purposes,) has also succeeded in
tracing this insect from the larva to the imago state.
His grubs produced Elater obscurus of Mr. Marsham,
which however comes so near to E. Segetis that it is
doubtful whether it be more than a variety. The other
species, however, of the genus have similar grubs,
many of which probably contribute to the mischief.
When told that it lives in its first (or feeding) state
not less than five years, during the greatest part of
which time it is supported by devouring the roots of
grain, you will not wonder that its ravages should be
so extensive, and that whole crops should sometimes
be cut off by it. As it abounds chiefly in newly broken-
up land, though the roots of the grasses supply it with
food, it probably does not do any great injury to our
meadows and pastures ^

a The wire-worm is particularly destructive for a few years in gar-
dens recently converted from pasture groiind. In the Botanic Garden
at Hull thus circunistanced a great proportion of the annuals sown in
1813 were destroyed by it. A very simple and elfcctual remedy in suc^^
cases was mentioned to me by Sir Joseph Banks. He recommended
that slices of potato stuck upon skewers should be buried near the seeds
sown, examined every day, and the wire-worms which collect upon them
in great numbers destroyed.

This plan of decoying destructive animals from our crops by offering
them more tempting food, is excellent, and deserves to be pursued in
other instances. It was very successfully employed in 1S13 by J. M.
Kodwell, Esq. of Barham Hall near Ipswich, one of (he most skilful
Hud best informed agriculturists in the county of Suflblk, to preserve
some of his w.heat-fie!ds fron> the ravages of a small gray s-lug, which
threatened to dcmoliah (he plant. Having heard that turnips had been
ijsed with success to entice the s-lugs from wheat, he caused a suflicient
quantity to dress eight acres to be got (ogether j and (hen, the tops beiug

I^VDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. _ 183

Here also may be included the larva of the long-
]«gged gnat ( Tipula oleracea, L.)? known in many parts
by the name of the grub, which is sometimes very pre-
judicial to the grass in marshy lands, and at others not
less so to corn. Reaumur informs us, that in Poitou,
in certain years, the grass of whole districts has been so
destroyed by it, as not to produce the food necessary
for the sustenance of the cattle^. In many parts of
England, in Holderness particiilarly, it cuts off a large
proportion of the wheat crops, especially if sown upon
clover-lq^ys''. Reaumur concludes from the observa-
tions he made that it lives solely upon earth, and conse-
quently that the injury which it occasions, arises from

diviHctl and the apples sliced, he directed the pieces to be laid separate-
ly, drcssini; two stetches with them and omitting two alternately, till the
whole field of eight acres was o;one over. On the following morning he
employed two women to examine and free from the slugs, which they did
into a measure, the tops and slices ; and when cleared they were laid
upon thos? stetches that had been omitted the day before. It was ob
served invariably, that in the stetches dressed with (he turnips no slugs
were to he found upon the wheat or crawling upon the land, though they
abounded upon the turnips; while on the undressed stetches they were
to be seen in great numbers both on the wheat and on the land. The
quantity of slugs thus collected was near a bushel. — Mr. Rod'well is per-
suaded that by this plan he saved his wheat from essential injury.

a Reaum. v. II.

b Two species are confounded under the appellation of the grub, the
larvae namely of Tipula oleracea and cornicina, which last is very inju-
rious, though not equally with the first. In the rich district of Sunk
Island in Holderness, in the spring of 1813, hundreds of acres of pasture
have been entirely destroyed by them, being rendered as completely
brown as if they had suffered a three months drought, and destitute of
all vegetation except that of a few thistles. A square foot of the dead
turf being dug up, 210 grubs were counted in it ! and what furnishes a
striking proof of the prolific powers of these iBsects, the next year it
was difficult to find asinele one.

ISi INDIRECT INJUalES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

its loosening the roots of corn and grass by burrowing-
amongst them : but my friend Mr. Stickney, the intel-
ligent author of a treatise upon this insect, is inclined
to think from his experiments that it feeds on the
roots themselves. However this may be, the evil pro-
duced is evident ; and it appears too from the obser-
vations of the gentleman last mentioned, that this
animal is not killed by lime applied in much larger
doses than usual '^.

Our national beverage ale, so valuable and hearten-
ing to the lower orders, and so infinitely preferable to
ardent spirits, is indebted to another vegetable, the
hop, for its agreeable conservative bitter. This plant
so precious has numberless enemies in the Lilliputian
world to which I am introducing you. Its roots are
subject to the attack of the caterpillar of a singular
species of moth {Hepialus HumuU, F.), known to col-
lectors by the name of the ghost, that sometimes does
them considerable injury ''. — A small beetle also (Hal-.
tica concinna) is particularly destructive to the tender
shoots early in the year ; and upon the presence or ab-
sence of Aphides, known by the name of the fy, as
in the case of peas, the crop of every year depends ; so
that the hop-grower is wholly at the mercy of insects.
They are the barometer that indicates the rise and fall
of his wealth.

If the besr-drinker be thus interested in the history
of these animals, equally so is the drinker of tea. In-,
deed sugar is an article so universally useful and agree-
able, that what concerns the cane that produces it seems,
to concern every one. This also affords a tempting

8 Sticl^nej's Observations on the Grub- b Dc Gecr, i. 4S7.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY iNSfiCTS'. 185

food to insects. The caterpillar of a white moth, called
the borer, for destroyinj^ which a reward of fifty guineas
is offered by the Society of Arts, is in this respect a
great nuisance, as is an unknown species of horned
beetle^. An ant also (Formica analis, Latr.) makes a
lodgement in the interior of the sugar-cane in Guinea,
and destroys it. — But the creature of this class most de-
structive to the sugar-cane, is one of the latter genus
that does not devour it, and is therefore improperly
called Formica saccharivora by Linne ; but, by making
its nest for shelter under the roots, so injures the plants
that they become unhealthy and unproductive. These
insects about seventy years ago appeared in such infi-
nite hosts in the island of Granada, as to put a stop to
the cultivation of this plant ; and a reward of 20,000/.
wasoffered-to any one Avho should discover an effectual
mode of destroying them. Their numbers were incre-
dible. They descended from the hills like torrents, and
the plantations, as well as every path and road for miles
were filled with them. Many domestic quadrupeds pe-
rished in consequence of this plague. Rats, mice, and
reptiles of every kind became an easy prey to them ;
and even the birds, which they attacked whenever they
alighted on the ground in search of food, were so ha-
rassed as to be at length unable to resist them. Streams
of water opposed only a temporary obstacle to their
progress, the foremost rushing blindly on to certain
death, and fresh armies instantly following, till a bank
was formed of the carcases of those that were drowned
sufficient to dam up the waters, and allow the main body
to pass over in safety below. Even the all-devouring
ft \ o^ye this infcm^tion to Robinson Kittoc, Esq.

J86 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

element of fire was tried in vain. When lighted to ar-
rest their route, they rushed into the blaze in such my-
riads of millions as to extinguish it. Those that thus
patriotically devoted themselves to certain death for
the common good, were but as the pioneers or advanced
guard of a countless army, which by their self-sacri^
fice was enabled to pass unimpeded and unhurt. The
entire crops of standing canes were burnt down, and
the earth dug up in every part of the plantations.
But vain was every attempt of man t6 eftect their de-
struction, till in 1780 it pleased Providence at length
to annihilate them by the torrents of rain which ac-;
companied a hurricane most fatal to the other West
India Islands. This dreadful pest was thought to
have been imported^. Besides these enemies, the
sugar-cane ha^s also its Aphis, which sometimes de-
stroys the whole crop ^ ; and according to Hvunboldt and
Bonplandthe larva of Eloier noctilucus feeds in if^.

Two other vegetable productions of the New World,
cotton and tobacco, which are also valuable articles of
commerce, receive great injury from the depredations
of insects. M'Kinnen, in his Tour through the West
Indies, states that in 1788 and 1794 two-thirds of tlie
crop of cotton in Crooked Island, one of the Bahamas,
was destroyed by the chenille (probably a lepidopterous.
larva) ; and the red bug, an insect equally noxious^
stained it so much in some places as to render it of lit-i
tie or no value. Browne relates that in Jamaica a bug
destroys whole fields of this plant, and the caterpillar of

a Castle in Philos. Trims, xxx. 346,

li Browne's Civil and Nat. Hist, of Jamaica, 430,

f Esiai sur la Geogiaptiie des Plantts, 136,

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 187

Ihe beautiful Papilio Cupicfo, L. also feeds upon it *.
That of the Sphinj: Carolina, L. is the great pest of
Tobacco; and it is attacked likewise by the larva of
PhalcBna Rhexice, Smith ""j and by other insects of the
names and kind of which I am ignorant.

Roots are another important object of agriculture,
which, however, as to many of them, they may seem
to be defended by the earth that covers them, do not
escape the attack of insect enemies.! — The carrot, which
forms a valuable part of the crop of the sandrland
farms in Suffolk, is often very much injured, as is also
the parsnip, by a small centipede (S. electrica, L.), and
another polypod {Polydesmus complanatus^ Latr.),
which eat into various labyrinths the upper part of their
roots ; and they are both sometimes totally destroyed
by the maggot of some dipterous insect, probably a
Musca. I had an opportunity of noticing this in the
^nonth of July, in the year 1812, in the garden of our
valued friend the Rev. Revett Sheppard of OfFton in
Suffolk. The plants appeared many of them in a dying
state ; and upon drawing them out of the ground to as-
certain the cause, these larvae were found with their
head and half of their body immersed in the root in an
oblique direction, and in many instances they had eaten
off the end of it.

America has made us no present more extensively
beneficial, compared with which the mines of Potosi are
worthless, than the potato. This invaluable root, which
is now so universally cultivated, is often, in this coun-
try, considerably injured by the two insects first men-

aM'Kinnen, 171. Browne «ii mpr. Merian, /h5. Sur. 10.
b Smith's Abbott's Insects of Georgia, 199.

188 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

tioned as attacking the carrot. In America it is said
to suffer much from two beetles {Lytta cinerea and tit-
iata, F,), of the same genus with the blister-beetle^;
and in the island of Barbadoes some hemipterous in-
sect, supposed to be a Tettigonia, occasionally attacks
them. In 1734 and 1735 vast swarms of them devoured
almost every vegetable production of that island, par-
ticularly the potato, and thus occasioned such a failure
of this excellent esculent, particularly in one parish,
that a collection was made throughout the island for
the relief of the poor, whose pricipal food it forms.

The chief dependance of our farmers for the suste-
nance of their cattle in thewiuter is another most useful
root, the turnip. And they have often to lament the
distress occasioned by a failure in this crop, of which
these minor animals are the cause. On its first comina:
up, as soon as the cotyledon leaves are unfolded, a whole
host of little jumping beetles, composed chiefly of i/a/-
iica Nemorum, called by farmers the Jli/ and black jack^
attack and devour them ; so that on account of their ra-
vages the land is often obliged to be resown, and fre-
quently with no better success. It has been calcidated
by an eminent agriculturist, that from this cause alone
the loss sustained in the turnip crops in Devonshire in
1786 was not less than 100,000/.'' Almost as much da-
mage is sometimes occasioned by a little weevil (Curcu-
lio co7itractus., E. B.) Avhich in the same manner pierces
a hole in the cuticle. When the plant is more advanced,
and out of danger from these pygmy foes, the black larva
of a saw-fly (Tentkredo, L.) takes their place, and oc-
casionally does no little mischief, whole districts being

a lUiger, Jfff^. i. 256. b Young's Annals of J gricuHureyVu. 102^

INDIRECT INJTTBTP-S CAUSED BY INSECTS. 189

sometimes nearly stripped by them; so that in 1783
many thousand acres were on this account ploughed
up*. — The caterpillar of the cabbage-butterfly {Papi-
iio Brassica, L.) is also sometimes found upon the tur-
nip in great numbers ; and Sir Jo?epIi Banks informs
me tliat forty or fifty of the insects before mentioned'',
called by Mr. Walford the wire-worm, have been dis-
covered in October ji^st below the leaves in a single
bulb of this plant. — The small knob or tubercle often
observable on these roots is inhabited by a gntb,wl\}ch,
from its resemblance to one found in similar knobs on
the roots of Sinapis arvensis^ from which I have bred
Curculio contractus^ E. B., and Ri/nchcenus assimilis^Y.,
is probably one of the same or an allied species *=. This^
however, does not seem to affect their growth. Great
mischief is occasionally done to the young plants by the
wire-worm. I last summer was shown a field in which
they had destroyed one-fourth of the crop, and the gen-
tleman who showed them to me calculated that his loss
by them would be 100/. One year he sowed a field
thrice with turnips, which were twice wholly, and the
third time in great part, cut off by this insect. — Whe-
ther the disease to which turnips are subject, in some
parts of the kingdom, from the form of the excrescences

a Marshall in Philos. Trans. Ixxlii. 17S3. b See above, p. 168-169.

c Swamm. ii. 81. col. b. — Gyllcnhal, in descriliing Ihc last-named spe-
cies, so commDn on tbe flowers of siliquose plants {Jnsecta .S«edca,iii.l42-),
a^ks if his R. sulcicolHs (C Pleurostigma, E. B.}, which agrees with it in
most respects, except in having toothed thighs, be not the other sex ? This
query I can solve in the negative, having taken t'.ic sexes of jR. assimilis
in coitu, which do not difter, save that the male hus a somewhat shorter

wo INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECT?.

into which the bulb shoots, called fingers and toes, b?
Occasioned by insects, is not certainly known ^.

We have wandered long enough about the fields to
observe the progress of insect devastation ; let us now
return home to visit the domains of Flora and Pomona,
that we may see whether their subjects are exposed to
ecjual maltreatment. If we begin with the kitchen-gar-
den, Ave shall find that its various productions, mini-
stering so materially to our daily comfort and enjoy-
ment, almost all suffer more or less from the attack of
the animals we are considering. — Thus, the earliest of
our table dainties, radishes, are devoured by the mag-
got of a fly (Musca Radicum, L.), and our lettuces by
the caterpillars of several species of moth ; one of which
is the beautiful tiger-moth {Bomhi/x Caja, F.), another
the pot-herb-moth (Noctua oleracea, F.), a third ano-
nymous, described by Reaumur as beginning at the root,
eating itself a mansion in the stem, and so destroying
the plant before it cabbages''. And when they are come
to their perfection and appear fit for the table, their
beauty and delicacy are often marred by the trouble-
some earwig, which, insinuating itself into them, de^*
files them with its excrements. — What more accep-*
table vegetable iji the spring than brocoli ? Yet how
dreadfully is its foliage often ravaged in the autumn
by numerous hordes of the cabbage-butterfly ! so that,
in an extensive garden, you will sometimes see nothing
left of the leaves except the veins and stalks. — What

a Sppncp's Ol/!ifrv::ii:,n< on iJ:: Dhease in Turnips called ringers and Toes.
IIhH 1312. 8v;.. b Reaum.ii.471.

Indirect injuries caused by insects. 191

more Useful, again, than the cabbage ? Besides the same
insect, which injures them in a similar way, in some
countries they are infested by the caterpillar of a most
destructive moth {Noctua BrassiccB^ F.), to which in-
deed I have before alluded^; which, not content with
the leaves, penetrates into the very heart of the plant ^.
— One of the most delicate and admired of all table ve*
getables, concerning which gardeners are most apt to
pride themselves, andljestow much pains to produce in
perfection, I mean the cauliflower, is often attacked by
a fly, which ovipositing in that part of the stalk covered
by the earth, the maggots when hatched occasion the
plant to w ither and die, or to produce a worthless head ".
Even when the head is good and handsome, if not care-
fully examined previous to being cooked, it is often
rendered disgusting by earw igs that have crept into it,
or the green caterpillar of Papilio Rapce^ L.

Our peas, beans, carrots, parsnips, turnips, and pota-
tos are attacked in the garden by the same enemies that
injure them in the fields ^ ; I shall therefore dismiss them

a See above, p. 30. b Dc Geer, ii. 440.

c Perhaps this fly is the same which Linntj confounded with MuscaLar'
tvir«7w,,L., which he says lie had found in the roots of the cabbage (Sysl.
}^at. 992. 78.). I say " confounded,'" because it is not likely that the same
species should be i)arasitic in an insect, and also inhabit a vegetable.

d In lately exaaiining, however, some young garden peas and beans
about four inches high, I observed the margins of the leaves to be gnawed
into deep scollops !)y a little beetle {CurcuUo linentus,L.), of which I
found from two to eight on each pea and bean, and many in the act of
eating. Not only were the larger leaves of every plant thus eroded, but
in many cases the terminal young shoots and leaves were apparently ir-
reparably injured. I liave often noticed this and another of the short-
snouted Curculios (C. tibialis, Herbst) in great abundance in pea and
bean fields, but was not aware till now that either of them was injurious
to these plants. Probably both are so, but whether the crop is materi-
ally aflected by them must be left to further inqtiiry.

192 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

without further notice, and point out those which in«
fast another of our most esteemed kinds of pulse, kid-
ney beans. These are principally Aphides, which in
dry seasons are extremely injurious to them. The fluid
which they secrete, falling upon the leaves, causes them
to turn black as if sprinkled with soot ; and the nutri-
ment being subtracted from the pods by their constant
suction, they are prevented from coming to their pro^
per size or perfection. The beans also which they con-
tain are sometimes devoured by the caterpillar of a small
moth^. — Onions, which add a relish to the poor man's
crusts and cheese, and form so material an ingredient
in the most savoury dishes of the rich, are also the fa-
vourite food of the maggot of a fly, that often does con-
siderable damage to the crop. — From this maggot (for
a supply of onions containing which I have to thank my
friend Mr. Campbell, surgeon, of Hedon near Hull,
where it is very injurious, particularly in light soils,) I
have succeeded in breeding the fly, which proves of that
tribe of the Linnean genus Musca, now called Scato'
pkaga. Being apparently undescribed, and new to my
valued correspondent Count HolFmansegg to whom I
sent it, I call it S. Ceparum^. — The diuretic AsparaguS|
towards the close of the season, is sometimes rendered
unpalatable by the numerous eggs of Lema Asparagi,
F., and its larvae feed upon the foliage after the heads
branch out. — Cucumbers with us enjoy an immunity
from insect assailants; but in America they are de-

a Reaum. ii. 479.

b Description of S. Cepnrum. — Cinereous, clothed with distant, black
huirc, proreeding, particularly on the thorax, fnini a black point. Legs
nigrescent. IJack of the abdomen of the male with an interrupted black
vjtta down the middle. Wings immaculate. Poisers and alulae pale
yellow. Length 3§ lines.

INDIRECT INJURIKft CAUSED BY INSECTS. 193

prived of this privilege, an unascertained species, called
there the cucumber-ily, doing- them great injury'*. —
And, to name no more, mushrooms, which are fre-
quently cultivated and much in request, often swarm
with the maggots of various Diplera and Coleoptera.

The insects just enumerated are partial in their at-
tacks, confining themselves to one or two kinds of ouF
pulse or other vegetables. But there are others that
devour more indiscriminately the produce of our gar-
dens: and of these in certain seasons and countries we
have no greater and more universal enemy than the
caterpillar of a moth called by entomologists Noctua
Gamma^ from its having a character inscribed in gold
on its primary wings, which resembles that Greek letter.
This creature aftords a pregnant instance of the power
of Providence to let loose an animal to the work of de-
struction and punishment. Though common with us,
it is seldom the cause of more than trivial injury; but
in the year 1735 it was so incredibly multiplied in
France as to infest the whole country. On the great
roads, wherever you cast your eyes, you might see vast
numbers traversing them in all directions to pass from
field to field ; but their ravages were particularly felt
in the kitchen-gardens, where they devoured every
thing, whether pulse or pot-herbs, so that nothing was
left besides the stalks and veins of the leaves. The
Credulous multitude thought they were poisonous, re-
Jjort affirming that in some instances the eating of them
had been followed by fatal effects. In consequence of
this alarming idea, herbs were banished for several
weeks from the soups of Paris. Fortunately these de»

.a Barton in PIitlos^Magdz. ix. 62.
VOL. I. O

194 INDIRECT INJimiES CAUSED BY INSFXTS.

stroyers did not meddle with the corn, or famine would
have followed in their train. Reaumur lias proved that
a single pair of these insects might in one season pro-
duce 80,000; so that, were the friendly Ichneumons
removed, to which the mercy of Heaven has given it in
charge to keep their numbers within due limits, Ave
should no longer enjoy the comfort of vegetables with
our animal food, and probably soon become the prey of
scorbutic diseases ^. — I must not overlook that singu-
lar animal the mole-cricket, (Acheta Gr?/llota/pa, F.)
which is a terrible devastator of the produce of the
kitchen-garden. It burrows under ground, and de-
vouring the roots of plants thus occasions them to
wither, and even gets into hot-beds. It does so much
mischief in Germany, that the author of an old book
of gardening, after giving a figure of it, exclaims,
" Happy are the places where this pest is unknown ! "
The^owet's and shr'ubs, that form the ornament of
our parterres and pleasure-grounds, seem less exposed
to insect depredation than the produce of the kitchen-
garden ; yet still there are not a few that suffer from
it. The foliage of one of our greatest favourites, the
rose, often loses all its loveliness and lustre from the
excrements of the Aphides that prey upon it. The leaf-
cutter bee also {Apis centuncularis, L.) by cutting-
pieces out to form for its young its cells of curious con-
struction, disfigures it considerably; and the froth Ci-
cada (C. spumaria, L.) aided by the saw-fly of the rose
(Tenthredo Rosce, L.) contributes to check the luxuri-
ance of its growth, and to diminish the splendour of its
beauty. — Reaumur has given the history of a fly (Eris-
a Reaum. ii, 337.

INDIRECT IXJLRIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 195

talis Najxissi) whose larva feeds in safety within the
bulbs of the ><arci -us, and destroys them ; and also of
another, thougii lie neglects to describe the species,
which tarnishes the gay parterre of the florist, whose
delight is lo observe the freaks of nature exhibilod in
the varioiis many-coloured streaks which diversify the
blossom of the tulip, by devouring its bulbs ^. — Ray no-
tices another mentioned by Swammerdam, probably Bi-
bio hortufana, Latr., which he calls the deadliest enemy
of the flowers of the spring-. He accuses it of despoil-
ing the gardens and fields of every blossom, and so ex-
tinguishing the hope of the year'^. But you must not
take up a prejudice against an innocent creature, even
under the warrant of such weighty authority; for the
insect which our great^naturalist has arraigned as the
author of such devastation is scarcely guilty, if it be at
all a culprit, in the degree here alleged against it. As
it is very numerous early in the year, it may perhaps
discolour the vernal blossoms, but its mouth is furnished
with no instrument to enable it to devour them.

In our stoves and green-houses the Aphides often reign
triumphant ; for, if they be not discovered and destroyed
when their numbers are small, their increase becomes
so rapid and their attack so indiscriminate, that every
plant is covered and contaminated by them, beauty be-
ing converted into deformity, and objects before the
most attractive now exciting only nausea and disgust.
The Coccus {C. Hesperidum^ L.)also, which looks like
an inanimate scale upon the bark, does considerable
injury to the two prime ornaments of our conser-
vatories, the orange and the myrtle; drawing off" the

a Reaum. iv, 499. b Rai. Hist. /«{■. Prolegom. ^i.

o2

196 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY TNRECTS.

sap by its pectoral rostrum, and thus depriving the
plant of a portion of its nutriment, at the same time
that it causes unpleasant sensations in the beholder
from its resemblance to the pustule of some cutaneous
disease.

I must next conduct you from the garden into the
orchard and fruiter^ ; and here you will find the same
enemies still more busy and successful in their attempts
to do us hurt. — The strawberry, which is the earliest
and at the same time most grateful of our fruits, enjoys
also the privilege of being almost exempt from insect
injury. A jumping weevil {Ciirculio Fragarioi^ F.) is
said by Fabricius to inhabit this plant ; but as the same
species is abundant in this country upon the beech, the
beauty of which it materially injures by the numberless
holes with which it pierces the leaves, and has I believe
never been taken upon the strawberry, it seems proba-
ble that Smidt's specimens might have fallen upon the
latter from that tree ^. The only insect I have ob-
served feeding upon this fruit is the ant, and the in-
jury that it does is not material — The raspberry, the
fruit of which arrives later at maturity, has more than
one species of these animals for its foes. Its foliage
sometimes suffers much from the attack of MelolontJiu
horticola, F., a little beetle related to the cockchafer :
when in flower the footstalks of the blossom are occa-
sionally eaten through by a more minute animal of the

a This kind of misnomer frequently occurs in entomological authors. —
Thus, fov insitincc , ibc Curculio yl lliaricE of Linne feeds upon the haw-
thorn, and Curculio Lapalhi upon the willow (Curtis in Linn. Trans.
i. S6.) ; but as Alliaria is common in hawthorn hedges, and docks often
grow under willows, the mistake in question easily happened : when,
however, such mistakes are discovered, the Trivial Name ought certainly
to be altered.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 197

same order, Dermestes tojnentosus, which I once saw
prove fatal to a whole crop ; and bees frequently anti-
cipate us, and by sucking the fruit with their proboscis
spoil it for the table. — Gooseberries and currants, those
agreeable and useful fruits, a common object of culti-
vation both to poor and rich, have their share of ene-
mies in this class. The all-attacking Aphides do not
pass over them, and the former especially are some-
times greatly injured by them ; their excrement falling
upon the berries renders them clammy and disgusting,
and they soon turn quite black from it. In July 1812 1
saw a currant-bush miserably ravaged by a species of
Coccus, very much resendiling the Coccus of the vine.
The eggs were of a beautiful pink, and enveloped in a
large mass of cotton-like web, which could be drawn
out to a considerable length. Sir Joseph Banks lately
showed me a branch of the same shrub perforated down
to the pith by the caterpillar of Sesia tipuliformis, F. :
the diminished size of the fruit points out, he observes,
where this enemy has been at work. In Germany,
where perhaps this insect is more numerous, it is said
to destroy not seldom the larger bushes of the red cur-
rant*. The foliage of these fruits often suffers much
from the black and white caterpillar of Phalcena gros-
sulariata, L. ; (this was the case last spring at Hull;)
but their worst and most destructive enemy, particu-
larly of the gooseberry, is that of a small saw-fly. This
larva is of a green colour, shagreened as it were with
minute black tubercles, which it loses at its last moult.
The fly attaches its eggs in rows to the underside of
the leaves. When first hatched, the little animals feed

a Wiener Ferzskk. Svo. 29.

198 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

in society ; but having- consumed the leaf on which
they were born, they separate from each other, and
the work of devastation proceeds witli such rapidity,
that frequently, where many families are produced on
the same bush, nothing- of the leaves is left but the
veins, and all the fruit for that year is spoiled''.

Upon the leaves of the cherry, which usually succeeds
the gooseberry, in common with those of the pear and
several other fruit-trees, the slimy larva of another saw-
fly {T. Cerasi, L.) makes its repast, yet without being
the cause of any very material injury. But in North
America a second species nearly related to it, known
there by tho name of the slug-worm^ has become preva-
lent to such a degree as to threaten the destruction not
only of the cherry, but also of the pear, quince, and plum.
In 1797 they were so numerous that the smaller trees
were covered by them ; and a breeze of air passing
through those on which they abounded became charged
with a very disagreeable and sickening odour. Twenty
or thirty were to be seen on a single leaf; and many
trees, being- quite stripped, were obliged to put forth

a Fabricius seems to have regarded the saw-fly that feeds upon the sal-
low {Ttnthredo Caprete), not only as synonymous with that which feeds
upon the osier, but also witli our little assailant of the gooseberry and cur-
rant. Yet it is very evident from Reaumur's account, whose accuracy
may be depended upon, that they are all distinct species. Fabricius's
description of the Jly agrees with the insect of the gooseberry, but that
which he has given of the larvn belongs to the animal inhabiting the sal-
low. Probably, confounding the two species, he described the imago
from the insect of the former, and the larva (if he did not copy from
Reaumur or Linne) from that of the latter. Linne was correct in regard-
ing Reaumur's three insects as distinct species, though he appears to be
mistaken in referring to him under Z'.^(iua,as the saw-fly of the currant
and gooseberry is not wholly yellow .

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 199

fresh foliage, thus anticipating the supply of the suc-
ceeding year and cutting off the prospect of fruit ^. — In
some parts of Germany the cherry-tree has an enemy
equally injurious. A splendid beetle of the weevil tribe
(Rj/ncliifes Bacchus^ Herbst,) bores with its rostrum
through the half-grown fruit into the soft stone, and
there deposits an egg. The grub produced from it feeds
upon the kernel, and, when about to become a pupa,
gnaws its way through the cherry, and sometimes not
one in a thousand escapes''. This insect is fortunately
rare with us, and has usually been found upon the
black-thorn. The cherry-fly also (Tephrites Cerasi,
Latr.) provides a habitation for its maggot in the same
fruit, which it invariably spoils •".

The different varieties of the plum are every year
more or less injured by Aphides ; and a Coccus (C. _Per-
siccB, F?) sometimes so abounds upon them that every
twig is thickly beaded with the red semiglobose bodies
of the gravid females, whose progeny in spring ex-
haust tlie trees by pumping out the sap.

The blossoms of our pear-trees, as we learn from
Mr. Knight, are often rendered abortive by the grub of
a brown beetle : and a considerable quantity of its fruit
is destroyed by that of a small four-winged fly, which
occasions it to drop off prematurely '\ This would seem

a Peck's Nal. Hist, af the Slug-worm, 9.

b Trost Kleiner Beytrag. 38. c Reauin. ii. 477.

d On the Apple and Pear, 158. The beetle Mr. Knight alludes to is
probably the Curculio oblongus, L., which answers his description, and n,
coQimonon pear-trees. — In Holland, it is ftatcd in a little tract on this
subject {Verhandeling ten beivijze S)C. duar F. H. van Berck. 8vo. Hair •
lem 1807) that the great destroyer of the blossoms of their apple and
pear-trees is the larva of another beetle, Curculio Pumorum, L., which

200 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

to be a saw-fly, and is probably the species which
Reaumur saw enter the blossom of a pear before it was
quite open, doubtless to deposit its eggs in the em-
bryo fruit. He often found in young pears, on opening
them, a larva of this genus'', — A little moth likewise
is mentioned by Mr. Forsyth as very injurious to this
tree".

But of all our fruits none is so useful and important
as the apple, and none suffers more from insects, which
according to Mr. Knight*^ are a more frequent cause of
the crops failing than frost. The figure-of-eight moth
{BomhT/x cceruleocephala, F.) Linne denominates the
pest of Pomona and the destroyer of the blossoms of
the apple, pear, and cherry. — He also mentions an-
other (Tmefl Corticella, F.) as inhabiting apple-bearing
trees under the bark. — And Reaumur has given us the
history of a species common in this country, and pro-
ducing the same effect, often to the destruction of the
crop, the caterpillar of which feeds in the centre of our
apples, thus occasioning them to falP. Even the young
grafts, I am informed by an intelligent friend^, are fre-
quently destroyed, sometimes many hundreds in one
uight, in the nurseries about London, by Cm'cidio Vas-
tator, Marsh., (C.picipes, F.) one of the short-snouted
weevils — and the foundation of canker in full grown
trees is often laid by the larvas of Torlrix fVceberana^.

from the name and Gylletihal's ad.lition to the habitat given by Linne
— "quas destruit"" — should seem to be injurious in Swrden also.

a Reaum. itii nipr. Alb. b On Fruit Trees, 27 1.

c On the Jpple and Pau; •IS. A Rcaiim. ii. 499.

e Mr. Scales.

f See Observations on this Insect in the 2d volume of the Horticultural
Society''s Transactions, p. 25. By W. Spence.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 201

The sap too is often injuriously drawn off by a minute
Coccus, of which the female has the exact shape of a
muscle-shell (C. arborum linearis, Geoffr.), and which
Reaumur has accurately described and figured "". This
species so abounded in I8IG on an apple-tree in my
Sfarden that the whole bark was covered with it in
every part; and 1 have since been informed by Joshua
Haworth, jun. Esq. of Hull, that it equally infests
other trees in the neighbourhood. Even the fruit of
a golden pippin which lie sent me were thickly beset
with it. — But the greatest enemy of this tree, and which
has been known in this country only since the year
1787, is the apple-aphis, called by some the Coccus,
and by others the American blight. This is a minute
insect, covered with a long cotton-like wool transpi-
ring from the pores of its body, which takes its station
in the chinks and rugosities of the bark, where it in-
creases abundantly, and by constantly drawing off
the sap causes ultimately the destruction of the tree.
Whence this pest was first introduced is not certainly
known. Sir Joseph Banks traced its origin to a nur-
sery in Sloane Street; and at first he was led to con-
clude that it had been imported with some apple-trees
from France. On writing, however, to gardeners in
that country, he found it to be wholly unknown there.
It was therefore, if not a native insect, most probably
derived from North America, from whence apple-trees
had also been imported by the proprietor of that nur-
sery. Whatever its origin, it spread rapidly. At first
it was confined to the vicinity of the metropolis, where
it destroyed thousands of trees. But it has now found
:i Rcaum. iv. 69. Lb. f. 6.T.

202 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

its way into other parts of the kingdom, particularly
into the cyder counties ; and in 1810 so many perished
from it in Gloucestershire, that, if some mode of de-
stroying it were not discovered, it was feared the ma-
king of cyder must be abandoned. This valuable dis-
covery, it is said, has since been made ; the application
of the spirit of tar to the bark being recommended as
effectual*. Sir Joseph Banks long ago extirpated it
from his own apple-trees, by the simple method of
taking off all the rugged and dead old bark, and then
scrubbing the trunk and branches with a hard brush.

Our more dainty and delicate fruits, at least such as
are usually so accounted, the apricot, the peach, and the
nectarine, originally of Asiatic origin, are not less sub-
ject to the empire of insects than the homelier natives
of Europe. Certain Aphides form a convenient and
sheltered habitation for themselves, by causing por-
tions of the leaves to rise into hollow red convexities ;
in these they reside, and, with their rostrum pumping
out the sap, in time occasion them to curl up, and thus
deform the tree and injure the produce. The fruit is
attacked by various other enemies of this class, against
w hich we find it not easy to secure it : wasps, earwigs,
flies, woodlice, and ants, which last communicate to it a
disagreeable flavour, all share with us these ambrosial

a This ApIiU is evidently the inspct described in Tlliger's Magazin,
i. 450. under the name of jf. lanigera, as having done great injury to the
apple-trees in the neighbourhood of Bremen in 1801. That it is an
Aphis and no Coccus is clear from its oral rostrum and the wings of the
m^-le, of which Sir Joseph Banks ])ossPSses an admirable drawing by Mr,
Bauer. On this Aphis see Forsyth, 265; 3Iontkli/ Mag. xxsu. 320; and
also for August 1811; and Sir Joseph Banks in the Horlicuhural Society^ s
Tranoaclions.'\i. 1&2.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BV INSECTS. 203

treasures ; the first of them as it were opening the door,
by making an incision in the rind, and letting in all the
rest. — The nucleus of the apricot is also sometimes in-
habited by the caterpillar of a moth, which devouring
the kernel causes the fruit to fall prematurely ^. — In this
country, however, these fruits may be regarded as mere
luxuries, and therefore are of less consequence ; but in
North America they constitute an important part of the
general produce, at least the peach, serving both as
food for swine, and furnisliing by distillation a useful
spirit. The ravages committed upon them there by in-
sects are so serious, that premiums have been offered
for extirpating them. A species of weevil, perhaps a
Ri/nchites of Herbst, enters the fruit when unripe, pro-
bably laying its eggs within the stone, and so destroys
them. And two kinds oiZygmna^ F., by attacking the
roots do a still greater injury to the trees "'.-^A CoccuSj
as it should seem from the description, imported about
thirty years ago from the Mauritius, or else with the
Constantia vine from the Cape of Good Hope, has de-
stroyed nearly nine-tenths of the peach trees in the
Island of St. Helena, where formerly they were so
abundant, that, as in North America, the swine were
fed with them. Various means have been employed to
destroy this plague, but hitherto without success*^. —

a M. de la Hire in Reauin. ii.47S.

b Dr. Smith Barton's Letter in Fhilos. Magaz. x.\ii.210. William Davy,
Ef-q. American Consul »if the Port of Hull, long resident in the United
States, informed me that though he had abundance of peaches at his
country-house, German Town near Philadelphia, he could never succeed
with the nectarine, the fruit constantly falling off perforated by the grub
of some insect,

c Descr. oj Ihi I. of St, Htlena, 14T.

204 INBIBECT INJUniES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

The imperial pine-apple, the glory of our stoves, and
the most esteemed of the gifts of Pomona, cannot, how-
ever precious, be defended from the injuries of a sin-
gular species of mite, the red Spider of gardeners, {Aca^
rus telarius, L.,) which covers them, and other stove
plants, with a most delicate but at the same time very
pernicious web. — The olive tree, so valuable to the in-
habitants of the warmer regions of Europe, often nou-
rishes in its berries the destructive maggot of a i\y(Os-
cinis Olece, Latr.) ; and the caterpillar of a little moth
{Tinea Oleella, F.), which preys upon the kernel of the
nucleus, occasions them to fall before they are ripe. —
Every one who eats nuts knows that they are very often
inhabited by a small white grub ; this is the oft'spring of
a weevil (Curculio iVMc«m,Li.) remarkable for its long
and slender rostrum, with w liich it perforates the shell
when young and soft, and deposits an egg in the orifice.
— In France it sometimes happens, when the chestnuts
promise an abundant crop, that the fruit falls before it
comes to maturity, scarcely any remaining upon the
trees. The caterpillar of a moth which eats into its in-
terior is the cause of this disappointment ''. — Of fruits
the date has the hardest nucleus ; yet an insect of the
same tribe with the above, tiiat feeds upon its li^ernel,
is armed with jaws sufficiently strong to perforate ft,
that it may make its escape when the time of its changie
is arrived, and assume the pupa between the stone and
the flesh. The date is eaten also by a beetle which
liasselquist calls a Dermestes •*.

One of the most delicious, and at the same time most

a Reaum. ii. 305.

I' Ibid, ii. 507. and IIa;5clqViist's Travels in the Levant, \'IH.

INDinrCT INJURIKS CAUSED BY INSECTS. 205

useful, of all our fruits is the grape : to this, as you know,
we are indebted for our raisins, for our currants, for our
wine, and for our brandy ; you cannot therefore but
feel interested in its history, and desire to be informed,
whether, like those befDre enumerated, this choice g^ift
of heaven, whose produce " cheereth Cod and man ^,"
must also be the prey of insects. There is a singular
beetle, common in Hungary, (Lethrus cepkalotes, F.)
which gnaws off the young shoots of the vine, and drags
them backward into its burrow, where it feeds upon
them : on this account the country people wage conti-
nual war with it, destroying vast numbers'*. — Three
other beetles also attack this noble plant: two of them,
mentionedby French authors, (Ri/nckites Bacchus and
Eumolpiis Vitis,) devour the young shoots, the foliage,
and the footstalks of the fruit, so that the latter is pre-
vented from coming to maturity*^ ; and a third (C. Cor-
ruptor, Host,) by a German, which seems closely allied
to Curculio Vastator, E.B., (C.picipes, F.) if it be not
the same insect. This destroys the young vines, often
killing them the first year; and is accounted so terrible
an enemy to them, that not only the animals but even
their eggs are searched for and destroyed, and to for-
ward this work people often call in the assistance of
their neighbours ''. — In the Crimea the small caterpillar
of a Procris or Zygaena, (lepidopterous genera sepa-
rated from Sphinx^ L.) related to P. Statices^ F., is a
still more destructive enemy. As soon as the buds open
in the spring, it eats its way into them, especially the

a That is " Iligli and Low," Judges ix. 13.

b Sturm Deutschland's Fauna, i. 5. c Latrcillc, Hist. Nul. \i. 66. 331.

d llosl'mJacquin.Colhct.ui. ^dl.

§06 INBtRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

fruit buds, and devours theg-erm of the ^rape. Two oi*
three of these caterpillars willsoinjurea vine, by creep-
ing from one germ to another, that it will bear no fruit
nor prod uce a single regular shoot the succeeding year *.
— Vine leaves in France are also frequently destroyed
by the larva of a moth (P?/ralis vitana, F.) ; in Germany
another species does great injury to the young bunches,
preventing their expansion by the webs in which it in-
volves them''; and a third ( Pt/ralis fasciana^ F.) makes
the grapes themselves its food : a similar insect is al-
luded to in the threat contained in Deuteronomy '^. —
The worst pest of the vine in this country is its Coccus
(C Vitis, 1j.). Tliis animal, which fortunately is not
suihciently hardy to endure the common temperature
of our atmosphere, sometimes so abounds upon those
that are cultivated in stoves and greenhouses, thattheir
stems seem quite covered with little locks of white cot-
ton ; which appearance is ca vised by a filamentous se-
cretion transpiring through the skin of the animal, in
which they envelop their eggs. Where they prevail
they do great injury to the plant by subtracting the sap
from its foliage and fruit, and causing it to bleed. — And
to close the list, you are perfectly aware of the eager-
ness with which wasps, flies, and other insects attack
the grapes when ripe, often leaving nothing but the
mere skin for their lordly proprietor.

There are some of these creatures that attack indis-
criminately all fruit-trees. One of these is the TetLi-
gonia septendecini,'F., (so called because, according to
Kalm, it appears only once in seventeen years ''.) The

a Pallas's Travels in S. Jhfisia, ii.241. b Jacquin. Colled, ii. 9T.

c Deut. xxviii. 39. d Travels, n. 6.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 207

female oviposits in thepith of the twigs of trees, where
the grubs are hatched, and do infinite damage both to
fruit- and forest-trees''. — Another, the caterpillar of
the butterfly of the hawthorn, {Papilio Cratcngi, L.)
which in 1791, in some parts of Germany, stripped the
fruit-trees in general of their foliage"^. — In France
also in 1731 and 1732 that of a moth which seems re-
lated to the brown-tail moth {Bombi/xphceorhcea^ F.),
whose history has been given by the late Mr. Curtis,
was so numerous as to occasion a general alarm. The
oaks, elms, and wliite-tliorn hedges looked as if some
burning wind had passed over them and dried up their
leaves ; for, the insect devouring only one surface of
them, that w hich is left becomes brown and dry. They
also laid waste the fruit-trees, and even devoured the
fruit ; so that the parliament published an edict to
compel people to collect and destroy them : but this
would in a great measure have been ineffectual, had
not some cold rains fallen, which so completely anni-
hilated them, that it was difficult to meet with a single
individual*^.

If we quit the orchard and fruit-garden for a walk in
owe plantations and ^rores, we shall still be forced to
witness the sad effects of insect devastation ; and when
we see, as sometimes happens, the hedges and trees en-
'tirely deprived of their foliage, and ourselves of the
shade we love from the fervid beam of the noon-day
sun; when the singing birds have deserted them; and
all their music, wliich has so often enchanted us by its

a Collinson in P/;?7(j«. Tram. liv. x, 65. b Roscl, I. ii. 15.

c Rcaum. ii. 122.

90S INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

melody, variety, and sweetness, has ceased — we shall
be tempted in our hearts to wish the w hole insect race
was blotted from the page of creation. Numerous
are the agents employed in this work of destruction.
Amongst the beetles, various cockchafers ( Mehlontha
xidgaris^ solstitialis^ and horticola, F.) in their perfect
state act as conspicuous a part in injuring the trees, as
their grubs do in destroying the herbage. Besides the
leaves offruit -trees, they devour tliose of the sycamore,
the lime, the beech, the w illow, and the elm. They are
sometimes, especially the common one, astonishingly
numerous. MouiFet relates (but one would think that
there must be some mistake in the date, since they are
never so early in their appearance,) that on the 24th of
February 1574 such a number of them fell into the river
Severn as to stop the w heels of the water-mills ^. It
is also recorded in the Philosophical Transactions, that
in 1688 they filled tlje hedges and trees of part of the
county of Galway in such infinite numbers, as to cling
to each other in clusters like bees when they swarm;
on the wing they darkened the air, and produced a
sotind like that of distant drums. When they were
feeding, the noise of their jaws might be mistaken for
the sawing of timber. Travellers and people abroad
were very much annoyed by their continual flying in
their faces ; and in a short time the leaves of all the
trees for some miles round were so totally consumed
by them, that at Midsummer the country wore the
aspect of the depth of winter*'.

But the criminals to whom it is principally owing
that our groves are sometimes stripped of the green

a. Mouffet, 160. t> Pkilos. Trans. \\x. 741.

INDIRECT INJUniES CAUSED BY INSECTS; 209

robe of summer, are the various tribes of LepidGptenr,
myriads of v/hose caterpillars, in certain seasons, de-
spoil whole districts of their beauty, and our walks
of all their pleasure. In 1731 the oaks in France were
terribly devastated by the larva of Bombj/x dispar,
F.% and in 1797 many of the pine forests about Bay-
reuth suffered a similar injury from that of B. Mo-
nacha, F, '' Noctita bnimata, F. is also a fearful ene-
my to the foliage of almost every kind of tree '^. The
woods in certain provinces of North America are
in some years entirely stripped by that of another
moth, which eats all kinds of leaves. This happen-
ing at a time of the year when the heat is most exces-
sive is attended by fatal consequences. For, being
deprived of the shelter of their foliage, whole forests
are sometimes entirely dried up and ruined*^. — The
brown-tail-moth, before alluded to, which occasion-
ally bares our hawthorn hedges, has been rendered
famous by the alarm it caused to the inhabitants of the
vicinity of the metropolis in 1782, when rewards were
offered for collecting the caterpillars, and the church-
wardens and overseers of the parishes attended to see
them burnt by bushels. — You may have observed per-
haps in some cabinets of foreign insects an ant, the head
of which is very large in proportion to the size of its
body, with a piece of leaf in its mouth many times bigger
than itself These ants, called in Tobago parasol ants
{Formica cephalotes^lt.), cut circular pieces out of the
leaves of various trees and plants, which they carry in
their jaws to their nests, and they will strip a tree of

a Reaum.i. 387. b Wiener Verseich. 8vo. 75.

c De Geer, ii. 452. d Kalm's Travels^ iij.

VOL. I. P

210 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

its leaves in a night, a circumstance which has been
confirmed to me by Captain Hancock''. Stedman men-
tions another very larg^e ant, being at least an inch in
length, which has the same instinct. It was a pleasant
spectacle, he observes, to behold this army of ant«
marching constantly in the same direction, and each
individual with its bit of green leaf in its month ^. The
injury thus caused to trees by insects is not confined
to the mere loss of their leaves for one season ; for it
occasions them to draw upon the funds of another, by
sending forth premature shoots and making gems un-
fold, that, in the ordinary course, would not have put
forth their foliage till the following year.

Other insects, though they do not entirely devour
the leaves of trees and plants, yet considerably dimi-
nish their beauty. Thus, for instance, sometimes the
subcutaneous larvae undermine them, w hen the leaf
exhibits the whole course of their labyrinth in a pallid,
tortuous, gradually dilating line — at others the Tor-
trices disfigure them by rolling them up, or the leaf-
cutter bees by taking a piece out of them, or certain
Tineae again by eating their under surface, and so
causing them to wither either partially or totally.
You have doubtless observed what is called the honey-
dew upon the maple and other trees, concerning which
the learned Roman naturalist Pliny gravely hesitates

a The same iiiteHigent gentleman related to me, that a person having
taken some land at Ba'iia in the Brazili, he was compelled by these ants,
which were so numerous as to render every effort to destroy them ineffec-
tual, to relinquish the occupation of it. Their nests were excavated to
the astonishing depth of fourteen feet. Merian Insect. Sur. 18. Smeath-
man on Termites, Philos. Trans. Ixxi. 39. note 35.

b Stedman, ii. 142.

INDIttECT INJURIKS CAUSED BY INSECTS. 211

whether he shall call it the sweat of the heavens, the
saliva of the stars, or a liquid produced by the purga-
tion of the air ^ ! ! Perhaps you may not be aware that
it is a secretion of Aphides, whose excrement has the
privilege of emulating sugar and honey in sweetness
and purity. It how ever often tarnishes the lustre of
those trees in which these insects are numerous, and is
the lure that attracts the swarms of ants which you
may often see travelling up and down the trunk of the
oak and other trees. The larch in particular is inha-
bited by an Aphis transpiring a waxy substance like
filaments of cotton : this is sometimes so infinitely mul-
tiplied upon it as to whiten the whole tree, which often
perishes in consequence of its attack. The beech is
infested by a similar one. Some animals also of this
genus inhabiting the poplar, elm, lime, and willow, re-
side in galls they have produced, that disfigure the
leaves or their footstalks. Perhaps those resembling
fruit, or flowers, or moss, produced by the Aphis of the
fir (Aphis Abietis, L.), the diff*erent species of gall-gnats
{Cecidom^ia^ Latr.), or occasioned by the puncture and
oviposition of the various kinds of gall-flies (C^nips,
L.), may be regarded rather as an ornament than as
an injury to a tree or shrub; yet Avhen too numerous
they must deprive it of its proper nutriment, and so oc-
casion some defect. And probably the enormous wens,
and other monstrosities and deformities observable in
trees, may have been originally produced by the bite
or incision of insects.

Besides exterior insect enemies, living trees are liable
to the ravages of many that are interior. The cater-

a- Hist. Nat. 1. xi. c. 12.

p2

21^ INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSEC^TS.

jiillar of the great goat-nioth {Bomhi/x Cossus, F.), of
the hornet-hawk-moth (Sesia crabroniformis ^ F.), and
of two beetles {Nitiditla grisea, F., and Curadio La^
pathi, L.), devour the wood of the willow and sallow-,
which thus in time often become so hollow as to he
easily blown down. The bee-hawk-moth (Sesia fipi-
Jbrniis, F.^), and probably Rijnchites Populi, a bril-
liant i^reen weevil, feeds upon the poplar — Prionus
coriarius is sometimes found in the oak and sometimes
in the elm, and Bostridius Pint, F. in the Scotch fir.
Mr. Stephens informs me that the fir-trees in a planta-
tion of Mr. Foljambe's in Yorkshire were destroyed
by a hymenopterous insect (Sirex Gigas, L.), while
those of another belonging- to the same gentleman in
Wiltshire met with a similar fate from the attack of
Sirex Juvencus^ L. — When the sap flows from wounds
in a tree it is attended by various other beetles, (I have
observed Cetonia aurata^ F., and several Niiididce, and
Staphi/linidce busy in this way,) which prevent it from
healing so soon as it would otherwise do; and if tlie
bark be any where separated from the wood, a nu-
inerous army of wood-lice, earwigs, spiders, field-bugs,
and similar subcortical insects take their station there
and prevent a re-union.

The mischief however produced by any or all of
these, is not to be compared with that sometimes sus-
tained in Germany from the attacks of a small beetle,
(Boslrichus Tj/pographns, F.,) so called on account of
a fancied resemblance between the paths it erodes and
letters, which bores into the fir. This insect, in its pre-
paratory state, feeds upon the soft inner bark only :
a Levvin in Linn. Trans, iii. 1 . — Cuftis in do. i. 86.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 213

but it attacks this important part in such vast numbers,
80,000 being- sometimes found in a single tree, that it
is infinitely more noxious than any of those that bore
into the wood: and such is its vitality, that though the
bark be battered and the tree plunged into water, or
laid upon the ice or snow, it remains alive and unhurt.
The leaves of the trees infested by these insects first
become yellow, the trees themselves then die at the
top, and soon entirely perish. Their ravages have
long been known in Germany under tlie name of
TVurm trokniss (decay caused by worms) ; and in the
old liturgies of that country the animal itself is for-
mally mentioned under its vulgar appellation, " The
Turk." This pest was particularly prevalent and
jcaused incalculable mischief about the year 1665. In
the beginning of the last century it again showed it-
self in the Hartz forests — it reappeared in 1757, re-
doubled its injuries in 1769, and arrived at its height
in 1783, when the number of trees destroyed by it in
the above forests alone, was calculated at a million and
a half, and the inhabitants were threatened with a total
suspension of the working of their mines, and conse-
quent ruin. At this period tliese Bostrichi, when ar-
rived at their perfect state, migrated in swarms like
bees into Suabia and Franconia. At length, between
the years 1784 and 1789, in consequence of a succes-
sion of cold and moist seasons, the numbers of this
scourge were sensibly diminished. It appeared again
however in 1790, and so late as 1796 there was great
reason to fear for the few fir-trees that were left*.

a Wilhelm's Recrealiom from Nn(. Hist. qMO(e(l by LfUreille 7/«\f.
iV«/. xi. 194.

214 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

The seeds of forest- as well as of fruit-trees are doubt-
less subject to injuries from the same quarter, but these
being more out of the reach of observation, have not
been much noticed. Acorns, however, a considerable
article with nurserymen, are said to have both a moth
and a beetle that prey upon them ; and what is remark-
able, though sometimes one larva of each is found in
the same acorn, yet two of either kind are never to be
met with together "^. The beetle is probably the Cur-
culio Glandium of Mr. Marsham, and is nearly related
to the species whose grub inhabits the nut.

Having now conducted you round and exhibited to
you the melancholy proofs of the universal dominion
of insects over our vegetable treasures, while growing
or endued with the principle of vitality, in their se-
parate departments, — I must next introduce you to a
pest worse than all put together, which indiscriminate-
ly attacks and destroys every vegetable substance that
the earth produces, and which, wherever it prevails,
carries famine, pestilence ai d death in its train. Hap-
pily for this country, and we cannot be too thankful
for the privilege, we know this scourge of nations
only by report. The name of Locust, which has been
such a sound of horror in other countries, here only
suggests an object of interesting inquiry. But the
ravages o: locusts are so co; ious a theme that they
merit to be considered in a se ■. ate letter.

I am, &c.

a Reau!ii.ii.502.

LETTER VII.

INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

INDIRECT INJURIES CONTINUED.

A o look at a locust in a cabinet of insects, you would
not, at first sight, deem it capable of being the source
of so much evil to mankind as stands on record against
it. " This is but a small creature," you would say,
"and the mischief which it causes cannot be far be-
yond the proportion of its bulk. The locusts so cele-
brated in history must surely be of the Indian kind
mentioned by Pliny, which were three feet in length,
with legs so strong that the women used them as saws.
I see indeed some resemblance to the horse's head, but
where are the eyes of the elephant, the neck of the
bull, the horns of the stag, the chest of the lion, the
belly of the scorpion, the wings of the eagle, the thighs
of the camel, the legs of the ostrich, and the tail of the
serpent, all of which the Arabians mention as attri-
butes of this widely dreaded insect destroyer^; but
of which in the insect before me I discern little or no
likeness ? " Yet, although this animal be not very tre-
inendous for its size, nor very terrific in its appearance,
it is the very same Avhose ravages have been the theme
of naturalists and historians in all ages, and upon a close
examination you will find it to be peculiarly fitted and

a Bocliari > Tlierosoic. P. ii. 1. iv. c. 5. 475.

216 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY I>iSECT5.

furnished for the execution of its office. It is armed
with two pair of very strong jaws, the upper termina-
ting in short and the lower in long teeth, by which it
can both lacerate and grind its food — its stomach is of
extraordinary capacity and powers — its hind legs en-
able it to leap to a considerable distance, and its ample
vans are calculated to catch the wind as sails, and so to
carry it sometimes over the sea; and although a single
individual can effect but little evil, yet when the entire
surface of a country is covered by them, and everyone
makes bare the spot on which it stands, the mischief
produced may be as infinite as their numbers. So well
do the Arabians know their power, that they make a
locust say to Mahomet — " We are the army of the
Great God ; we produce ninety-nine eggs ; if the hun-
dred were completed, we should consume the whole
earth and all that is in it^."

Since it is possible you may not have paid particular
attention to the accounts given by various authors both
ancient and modern, of the almost incredible injury
done to the human race by these creatures, I shall now
lay before you some of the most striking particulars of
their devastations that I have been able to collect.

The earliest plague of this kind which has been re-
corded, appears also to have been the most direful in
its immediate effects that ever was inflicted upon any
nation. I am speaking, as you may well suppose, of the
locusts with which the Egyptian tyrant and his people
were vi«;ited for their oppression of the Israelites. Only
conceive to yourself a country so covered by them that
no one can see the face of the ground — a whole land

a Bociiart, ubi supr. c. 6. 485.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 217

darkened, and all its produce, whether herb or tree, so
devoured that not the least vestige of green is left in
either^. — But it is not necessary for nie to enlarge
further upon a history the circumstances of which are
so well known to you.

To this species of devastation Africa in general
seems always to have been peculiarly subject. This
may be gathered from the law in Cyrenaica mentioned
by Pliny, by which the inhabitants were enjoined to
destroy the locusts in three different states, three times
in the year — first their eggs, then their young, and
lastly the perfect insect''. And not without reason was
such a law enacted ; for Orosius tells us that in the year
of the world 3,800 Africa was infested by such infi-
nite myriads of these animals, that, having devoured
every green thing, after flying off to sea they were
drowned, and being cast upon the shor^ they emitted
a stench greater than could have been produced by the
carcases of 100,000 men''. St. Augustine also men-
tions a plague to have arisen in that country from the
same cause, v.hich destroyed no less than 800,000
persons (ociingerita hominum millia) in the kingdom of
Masanissa alone, and many more in the territories
bordering upon the sea''.

From Africa this plague w as occasionally imported
into Italy and Spain ; and a historian quoted in Mouftet
relates that in the year 591 an infinite army of locusts,
of a size unusually large, grievously ravaged part of

a Exod. X. 5. > !, 15. b Hisl, Nat. 1. xi. c. 29. A similar

law was enacted in Lemnos, by which every one was compelled to brinsf
^ certain measure of locusts annually to the magistrates. Plin. ibid.

f Oros, contra Pag. 1. v. c. 2. d Lesser, Z.24T. note 46=

218 INDUIECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

Italy ; and being at last cast into the sea, from their
stench arose a pestilence which carried off near a mil-
lion of men and beasts. In the Venetian territory, also,
in 1478 more than 30,000 persons are said to have pe-
rished in a famine occasioned by these terrific scourges.
Many other instances of their devastations in Europe,
in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, &c. *, are recorded
by the same author. In 1650 a cloud of them was seen
to enter Russia in three different places, which from
thence passed over into Poland and Lithuania, where
the air was darkened by their numbers. In some places
they were seen lying dead heaped one upon another
to the depth of four feet ; in others they covered the
surface like a black cloth, the trees bent with their
w eight, and the damage they did exceeded all compu-
tation**. At a later period in Languedoc when the sun
became hot they took Aving and fell upon the corn, de-
vouring both leaf and ear, and that with such expedi-
tion that in three hours they would consume a whole
field. After having eaten up the corn they attacked
the vines, the pulse, the willows, and lastly the hemp
notwithstanding its bitterness*'. Sir H. Davy informs
us*^ that the French government in 1813 issued a de-
cree with a view to occasion the destruction of orass-
hoppers.

Even this happy i&land, so remarkably distinguished
by its exemption from most of those scourges to w hich
other nations are exposed, was once alarmed by the ap-
pearance of locusts. In 1748 they were observed here
in considerable numbers, but providentially they soon

a Mouflfet, 123. b Bingley, iii.SaS. c PhilQ$ Trans. !6S6.

rf Elements of Agricidlural Chemistry, 2§3.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 919

perished without propagating-. These were evidently
stragglers from the vast swarms which in the precede
ing year did such infinite damage in Wallachia, Mol-
davia, Transylvania, Hungary, and Poland. One of
these swarms, which entered Transylvania in August,
was several hundred fathoms in width, (at Vienna the
breadth of one of them was three miles,) and extended
to so great a length as to be four hours in passing over
the Red Tower ; and such was its density that it totally
intercepted the solar light, so that when they flew low
one person could not see another at the distance of
twenty paces'^. A similar account has been given me
by a friend of mine** long resident in India. He re-
lates that when at Poonah he was witness to an im-
mense army of locusts which ravaged the Mahratta
country, and Avas supposed to come from Arabia (this,
if correct, is a strong proof of their power to pass the
sea under favourable circumstances). The column
they composed, my friend was informed, extended five
hundred miles ; and so compact was it, when on the
wing, that like an eclipse it completely hid the sun, so
that no shadoAV was cast by any object, and some lofty
tombs, distant from his residence not more than two
hundred yards, were rendered quite invisible. This
was not the Gryllus migratorius^ L., but a red spe-
cies ; which circumstance much increased the horror
of the scene; for, clustering upon the trees after they
had stripped them of their foliage, they imparted to
them a sanguine hue. The peach was the last tree
that they touched.

a Philos. Trans. x\\\ 30. b Major Moor, autlior of The Nar-

rative of CiipUiin LiUIii's Jjelachmen!, The Hindu Pantheon, &c.

220 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

Dr. Clarke, to give some idea of the infinite num-
bers of these animals, compares them to a flight of snow
when the flakes are carried obliquely by the wind.
They covered his carriage and horses, and the Tartars
assert that people are sometimes suffocated by them.
The whole face of nature might have been described
as covered by a living veil. They consisted of two
species, G. iataricus and migratoriiis, L. ; the first is
almost twice the size of the second, and, because it
precedes it, is called by the Tartars the herald or mes-
senger*.— The account of another traveller, Mr. Bar-
row, of their ravages in the southern parts of Africa
(in 1784 and 1797), is still more striking : an area of
nearly two thousand square miles might be said lite-
rally to be covered by them. When driven into the
sea by a N. W. wind, they formed upon the shore for
fifty miles a bank three or four feet high, and when the
wind was S. E. the stench was so powerful as to be
smelt at the distance of 150 miles''.

From 1778 to 1780 the empire of IMorocco was ter-
ribly devastated by them, every green thing was eaten
up, not even the bitter bark of the orange and pome-
granate escaping — a most dreadful famine ensued. —
The poor were seen to wander over the country deriv-
ing a miserable subsistence from the roots of plants ;
and women and children followed the camels,- from
whose dung they picked the indigested grains of barley,
which they devoured with avidity : in consequence of
this, vast numbers perished, and the roads and streets
exhibited the unburied carcases of the dead. On this

a TriivelSt\.Si2, b Traoels, &c, 2aT.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSEt) BY INSECTS. 221

sad occasion, fathers sold their children, and husbands
their wives ^ When they visit a country, says Mr»
Jackson, speakinj; of the same empire, it behoves
every one to lay in provision for a famine, for they stay
from three to seven years. When they have devoured
all other vegetables, they attack the trees, consuming
first the leaves and then the bark. From Mogador to
Tangier, before the plague in 1799, the face of the
earth was covered by them — at that time a singular
incident occurred at El Araiche. The whole region
from the confines of Sahara was ravaged by them : but
on the other side of the river El Kos not one of them
was to be seen, though there was nothing to prevent
their flying over it. Till then they had proceeded north-
ward ; but upon arriving at its banks they turned to
the east, so that all the country north of El Araiche
was full of pulse, fruits and grain, — exhibiting a most
striking contrast to the desolation of the adjoining
district. At length they were all carried by a violent
hurricane into the Western Ocean ; the shore, as in
former instances, was covered by their carcases, and a
pestilence was caused by the horrid stench which they
emitted : — but when this evil ceased, their devastations
were followed by a most abundant crop. The Arabs
of the Desert, " whose hands are against every man'',"
and who rejoice in the evil that befalls other nations,
when they behold the clouds of locusts proceeding from
the north are filled with gladness, anticipating a gene-
ral mortality, which they call El-Khere (the benedic-
tion): for, when a country is thus laid waste, they

a Southe>'f ThahiJxi.i. 171. b G^ncs. xvi, 12.

222 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

emerge from their arid deserts and pitch their tents in
the desolated plains^.

The noise the locusts make when engaged in the
work of destruction has been compared to the sound of
a flame of fire driven by the wind, and the effect of
their bite to that of fire''. A wild poet of our day has*
very strikingly described the noise produced by their
flight and approach :

" Onward they came a dark continuous cloud
Of congregated rayriads numberless,
The rushing of whose wings was as the sound
Of abroad river headlong in its course
Plung'd froru a mountain summit, or the roar
Of a wild ocean in the autumn storm
Shattering its billows on a shore of rocks ^ ! "
But no account of the appearance and ravages of these
terrific insects, for correctness and sublimity, comes
near that of the prophet Joel, "A day of darkness
and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick dark-
ness, as the morning spread upon the mountains : a
great people and a strong : there hath not been ever
the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the
years of many generations. A fire devoureth before
them; and behind them a flame burneth : the land is
as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them
a desolate wilderness ; yea, and nothing shall escape
them. Like the noise of chariots "^ on the tops of
mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of

a Jackson's travels in 3Iarocco, 54. b See Bochart, Hierozoic. P. ii.
.1. iv. c. 5. 474-5. c Soutliey's Thalaba,\. 169.

d Of the symbolical locusts in the Apocalypse it is said — "And the
leund of their wings was a* tlic sound of chariots, of many horses runningL
to battle." ir. 9,

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 293

\^ro that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set
in battle array. Before their faces the people shall
be much pained : all faces shall gather blackness. They
shall run like mighty men ; they shall cliuib the wall
like men of war ; and they shall march every one on his
ways, and they shall not break their ranks ; neither shall
one thrust another, they shall walk every one in his
path : and when they fall upon the sword they shall not
be wounded. They shall run to and fro in the city;
they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon
the houses ; they shall enter in at the windows like a
thief. The earth shall quake before them, the heavens
shall tremble : the sun and the moon shall be dark, and
the stars shall withdraw their shining!" The usual
w ay in which they are destroyed is also noticed by the
prophet. " 1 will remove far off from you the northern
army, and will drive him into a land barren and deso-
late, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder
part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come
up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath
done great things'^ ! "

I think, after a serious consideration of all these well
attested facts, wiien locusts contend with the two-legged
destroyers of the human race for proud pre-eminence
in mischief, you will find it difficult to determine to
which the palm should be decreed ; and you will ad-
mire the propriety with which, in the above and other
passages of Holy Writ, they are selected as symbols of
the great ravagers of the earth of our own species.

In many of the above instances these devastators ap-
pear to have crossed the seas, but Hasselquist asserts

a Joel ii. 2-10. 20.

224 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

that they are not formed for such extensive flights.
" The grasshopper or locust," says he, " is not formjed
for travelling over the sea, — it cannot fly far, but must
alight as soon as it rises ;— for one that came on board
us a hundred certainly were drowned. We observe in
the months of May and June a number of these insects
coming from the south, and directing their course lo the*
northern shore ; they darken the sky like a thick cloud :
but scarcely have they quitted the shore, when they,
who a moment before ravaged and ruined the country,
cover the surface of the sea with their dead bodies. —
By Avhat instinct do these creatures undertake this dan-
gerous flight? Is it not the wise institution of the Cre-
ator to destroy a dreadful plague to the country^?"
Locusts however, as we have seen, take much longer
flights than this author supposes them able to do. It
is probable that their ability in this respect may depend
a good deal upon their species, their age, and the state
and direction of the wind ; for, as was the case with
the Egyptian plague,

" a pitchy cloud

Of locusts warping oil the eastern wind "

may by a powerful blast be carried over a broad river^
or even the sea, from one country to another. This
idea is strongly confirmed by an account, exhibiting in-
ternal marks of authenticity, which appeared in the
Alexandria Herald^ an American newspaper : n; which
it is stated, that at the distance of 200 miles im .n the
Canary Islands, the nearest land, the ship Georgia,
Capt. Stokes, from Lisbon to Savannah, while sailing

a VoyoQf to tilt Levant iW\.

INDIRECT INJUniES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 225

with a fine breeze from the south-east, was, on the 21st
of Nov. 181 ], all at once becalmed. " A light air after-
wards sprang- up from the north-east, at which time
there fell from the cloud an innumerable quantity of
large grasshoj ;>ers, so as to cover the deck, the tops,
and every part v)f the ship they could alight upon. They
did not appear in the least exhausted ; on the contrary,
when an auempt was made to take hold of them, they
instantly jumped, and endeavoured to elude being
taken. The calm, or a very light air, lasted fully an hour,
and during the whole of the time these insects conti-
nued to fall upon the ship and surround her : such as
were within reach of the vessel alighted upon her ; but
immense numbers fell into the sea, and were seen float-
ing in masses by the sides." Two bottles of them were
preserved for inspection ; the insects were of a reddish
hue, with red and gray speckled wings. It is clear from
this account, if it be admitted as authentic, that locusts
can go far from land when the wind is strong, and like-
wise it seems equally clear that in a calm they cannot
support themselves in the air. The principal difficulty
is, how these locusts could make their way against
the wind, which they must have done if they came
with the black cloud, as the words seem to intimate.
Perhaps this cloud was brought by a different current
of air from that which impelled the ship.

With respect to the course which the locusts pursue,
Hasselquist has observed that they migrate in a direct
meridian line from south to north, passing from the de-
serts of Arabia, which is the great cradle of them, to
Palestine, Syria, Carmania, Natolia, Bithynia, Con-
stantinople, Poland, &c. — they never turn either to the

VOL. I. Q

226 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED V.Y INSECTS.

igast or to the west^. But this must be a mistaken no-
tion; for those which Major Moor saw at Poonah, of
which I have given an account above '', must have come
due east. Mr. Jackson also noticed their course north
of the line to be towards the south '^ ; and Sparrman tells
us, that those south of the line migrate in the same di-
rection**.

I fear that Hasselquist's question, Could they not by
frig^ht, or some other method, be turned from their
dreadful course, to steer for some river, and by that
means be obliged to destroy themselves*? must be an-
swered in the negative. All such experiments, it is to
be apprehended, would be about as effectual as send-
ing an army, with all the apparatus of war, to take the
field against them, as this author says is done in Syria,
where the Bashaw of Tripoli once raised a force of
4000 soldiers to fight the locusts, and very summarily
ordered all to be hanged who, thinking it beneath them
to waste their valour upon such pygmy foesj refused to

join the party ^.

I am, &c.

a Voyage to the Levant, p. 446-7. b See p. 219.

c Travels, 54. d Travela, i. 366.

t: Travels, 495. f Travels, 447.

LETTER VIII.
INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

INDIRECT INJURIES CONCLUDED.

I HAVE not yet arrived at the end of my catalogue of
noxious insects. I have introduced you, indeed, to
those that annoy man in his own person, in his domestic
animals, in the produce of his fiolds, gardens, orchards,
and forests ; in a word, in every thing- that is endued
with the vital principle : but 1 have as yet said nothing
of the injuries which he receives from them in that part
of his property, consisting either of animal or vegetable
matter,/row? which that principle is departed. And with
these I shall conclude this melancholy detail of evil in-
flicted upon us by the very animals I am enticing you
to study. The rest of my correspondence, I flatter my-
self, will paint them in more inviting colours.

The insects to which I now allude may be divided
into those that attack and injure our food, our drugs
and medicines, our clothes, our houses and furniture,
our timber, and even the objects of our studies and
amusements.

Various are those that attempt to share our^o^ with
us. Flour and meal are eaten by the grub of Tcnehrio
Molitor^ L., best know n by the name of the meal-worm,
Avhich will remain in it tw o years before it goes into its
state of inactivity : — its ravages however are not con-
fined to flour alone, for it will eat any thing made of that

q2

228 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BV INSECTS,

article, such as bread, cakes, and the like. Old flour is
also very apt to be infested by a mite, {Acarus Farince,
L.) '^. In long- voyages the bis<iuit sometimes so swarms
with the weevil and another beetle (Dermeslcs pani-
ceus, L.) that they are swallowed with every mouth-
ful; and even the ground peas so abound with these
little vermin, that a spoonful of soup cannot be taken
free from them''. Bread is also devoured by Trogosita
caraboides, a larger beetle before alluded to '^.

Every one is aware that our animal food suffers still
more than our farinaceous from insects; but perhaps
you would not expect that our hams, bacon, and dried
meats should have their peculiar beetle. Yet so it is;
and this beetle, (Dcrmesies lardarius, L.,) when a grub,
sometimes commits great devastation in them ; as does
that of another described by De Geer under the name
of Tenebrio lardarius'^. How much our fresh meat of
all kinds, our poultry and fish, are exposed to the flesh-
fly, whose maggots will turn us disgusted from our
tables, if we do not carefully guard these articles from
being blown by them, you well know ; — and assailants
more violent, hornets, wasps, and the great rove-beetle,
{Staphi/linus maxillosusyl^.) if butchers do not protect

a Amoen.Acad, Hi. 345.

b Sparrman, i. 103. This insect, by Swedish entomologists, is supposed
to be a species of Anubium, F., {Ptinus, L.,) but the specimen preserved
in the Linnean cabinet is Silpha rosea of Mr. Marsham, (Chrysomcin
pectoralis, F.) A binail beellc of the first family of Cryptophagus of Ma-
jor Gyllenbal swarms often in the ship biscuit, and may probably be the
insect Sparrman here complains of under the name of Dermestespaniceus.

c See above, p. 173.

A De Geer, v. 46. This insect appears nearly related to Mr. Marsham's
Corlkuriu pulla {E, B. i. 1 1. 1'!,), if it be not the same insect.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 229

their shambles, will carry off no inconsiderable portion
oftheirmeat. A small cock-roach (Blatta lapponicayl^.)
which I have taken upon our eastern coast, swarms in
the huts of the Laplanders, and will sometimes anni-
hilate in a single day, a work in which a carrion-beetle
(Silpha lapponicn, L.) joins, their whole stock of dried
fish\ The quantity of sugar that flies and wasps will
devour, if they can come at it, especially the latter,
the diminutive size of the creatures considered, is asto-
nishing : — in one year long ago, when sugar was much
cheaper than it is now, a tradesman told me he calcu-
lated his loss, by the wasps alone, at twenty pounds.
A singular spectacle is exhibited in India (so Captain
Green relates) by a small red ant with a black head.
They march in long files, about three abreast, to any
place where sugar is kept ; and when they are satu-
rated, return in the same order, but by a different route.
If the sugar, upon which they are busy, be carried into
the sun, they immediately desert it. What is very ex-
traordinary, these ants are also fond of oil. Sweet-
meats and preserves are very subject to be attacked
by a minute oblong transparent mite with very short
legs and without any hair upon its body. Our butter
and lard are stated to be eaten by the caterpillar of a
moth {Cramhus pinguinalis, F.). Muscaputris, L., the
parent fly of the jumping cheese-maggot, loses no op-
portunity, we know, of laying its eggs in our fresh
cheeses, and when they get dry and old the mite (Aca-
rus Siro, L.) settles her colonies in them, which mul-
tiply incredibly. Other suljstances, more unlikely, do
not escape from our pygmy depredators. Thus Reati?

a Amccn. .-lend, iii. 345.

230 INDIRECT INJUllIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

mur tells US of a little moth whose larva feeds upon cho-
colate, observing very justly that this could not have
l^een its original food^ Both a moth and a beetle
{Dermestes surinamensis^ L.) were detected by Leeu-
Wenhoek preying upon two of our spices, the mace and
the nutmeg''. The maggots of a fly {Musca cellaris,
L., oinopota, R.) are found in vinegar, in the manu-
factories of which the perfect insects swarm in incre-
dible numbers ; and sometimes even water in the
casks of ships, in long voyages, so abounds with
JarvaB of this tribe as to render it extremely disgust-
ing. Browne, in his History of Jamaica, mentions
an ant (Formica o?nmvora,lj.) that consumes or spoils
all kinds of food ; which perhaps may l)e the same
species that has been observed in Ceylon by Percival,
and is described by him as inhabiting dwelling-
houses, and speedily devouring every thing it can meet
with. If at table any one drops a piece of bread, or
of other food, it instantly appears in motion as if aiii-.
mated, from the vast number of these creatures that
fasten upon it in order to carry it off. They can be
kept, he tells us, by no contrivance from invading the
table, and settling in swarms on the bread, sugar, and
such things as they like. It is not uncommon to see
a cup of tea, upon being poured out, completely co-
vered with these creatures, and floating dead upon it
like a scum*^.

In some countries the number of flies and other in-
sects that enter the house in search of food, or allured
by the light, is so great as to spoil the comfort of almost
every meal. We are told that during the rainy season

a Reaum. ill. 276. b Leeuwenb, £|;ii,7. 99. c Ceylon,3Ql.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 231

ill India, insects of all descriptions are so incredibly nu-
merous, and so busy every where, that it is often abso-
lutely necessary to remove the lights from the supper-
table : — were this not done, moths, flies, bugs, beetles,
jind the like w ould be attracted in such numbers as to
extinguish them entirely. When the lights are re-
tained on the table, in some places they are put into
glass cylinders, which St. Pierre tells us is the custom
in the Island of Mauritius''; in others the candlesticks
jire placed in soup-plates, into which the insects are
precipitated and drowned. Notiiing can exceed the
irritation caused by the stinking bugs when they get
into the hair or between the linen and the body; and
if they be bruised upon it the skin comes off''. To use
the language of a poet of the Indies, from whom some
of the above facts are selected,

*' On every dish the booming beetle falls,
The cock-roach plays, or caterpillar crawls :
A thousand shapes of variegated hues
Parade the table and inspect the stews.
To living walls the swarming hundreds stick.
Or court, a dainty meal, the oily wick;
Heaps over heaps their slimy bodies drench,
Out go the lamps with suffocating stench.
When hideous insects every plate defile,
The laugh how empty, and how forced the smile *= !"

Drugs and medicines also, though often so nauseous
to us, form occasionally part of the food of insects. A
small beetle (Sinodendrum pusilhtm^ F. '') eats the roots
of rhubarb, in which I detected it in the East India

a Voyage, &c. 72. b Williamson's East India Fade Mecwn.

c Calcutta, a Poem, Bb. d Ptinuipiceits, Marsh.

232 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

Company's warehouses. Opium is a dainty morceau to
the white ants^; — and, what is more extraordinary,
Anohium paniceum, F. '' (a coleopterous insect that
preys naturally upon wood) has been known to devour
the blister-beetle. — Swammerdam amongst his trea-
sures mentions " a detestable beetle," produced from
a worm that eats the roots of ginseng ; and he likewise
notices another, the larva of which devours the bag of
the musk*". — The cochineal at Rio de Janeiro is the
prey of an insect resembling an Ichneumon, but fur-?
nished with only two wings ; its station is in the cotton
that envelops the Coccus. Previous to its assumption
of the pupa it ejects a large globule of pure red co-
louring matter •*. And lastly, the Coccus that produces
the lac (C.Lacca, F.) is, Ave are told, devoured by va-
rious insects".

Perhaps you imagine that these universal destroyers
spare at least our garments, in which you may at first
conceive there can be nothing very tempting to excite
even the appetite of an insect. Your housekeeper,
however, would probably tell you a different story,
and enlarge upon the trouble and pains it costs her to
guard those under her care against the ravages of the
moths. Upon further inquiry you Avould find that
nothing made of wool, whether cloth or stuff, comes
amiss to them. There are five species described by

a On examining ninpt\-t^'o cliests of o/j/u.i, part of the cargo saved
from the Charlton, ptoviously to reshi|)pins; them from ChiUagong for
China, thirtoen were found to he full of white ants, which had almost
wholly devoured the opium. Artiele from Chiitiigong,Nov. 1812, inona
oftheNcw><papers,Ju'i)3\,\ti\':i. b Ptiniis rubellun. Marsh,

c Bibl. Nat. i. 125. b. 126. a. d Sir Geo. Staunton's Voy. 8vo. 189,

e Kerr in Philos. Trans. 1781

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 233

Linne, >yhicli are more or less engaged in this work:
Tinea rrstianella, tapetzel/a, pellionefla, sarciteila, and
Mellonella. Of the iirst we have no particular history,
fexcept that it destroys garments in the summer; but
of the others Reaumur has given a complete one. T. ta~
petzella, or the tapestry motli, not uncommon in our
houses, is most injurious to the lining of carriages,
which are more exposed to the air than the furniture
of our apartments. These do not construct a move-
able habitation like the common species, but, eating
their way in the thickness of the cloth, weave them-
selves silken galleries in which they reside, and whiciv
they render close and warm by covering them with
some of the eroded wool^. T. pellionella is a most
destructive insect, and ladies have often to deplore
the ravages which it commits in their valuable furs,
whether made up into muffs or tippets — it pays no
more resoect to the regal ermine than to the woollen
habiliments of the poor ; its proper food, indeed, be-
ing hair, though it devours both wool and fur. This
species, if hard pressed by hunger, will even eat
horse-hair, and make its habitation, a moveable house
or case, in which it travels from place to place, of this
untractable material. These little creatures will shave
the hair from a skin as neatly and closely as if a razor
had been employed''. — The most natural food of the
next species, T. sarcitella, is wool ; but in case of ne-
cessity it will eat fur and hair. To woollen cloths or
stuffs it often does incredible injury, especially if they
are not kept dry and well aired*'. Of the devastation
ppmmitted by T. JSIellonella in our bee-hives I have

* Rcai.in. iii, 26G. b Tbid. 59. c Ibid, 42.

234 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSEIi BY INSECTS.

before given you an account ; to this I must here add,
that if it cannot come at wax, it will content itself
with woollen cloth, leather, or even paper*. Mr. Cur-
tis found the grub of a beetle {Ptinus Fur, L.) in an
old coat, which it devoured, making holes and chan-
nels in it; and another insect of the same order (X)er-
mestes Pellio, L.) Linne tells us, will sometimes en-
tirely strip a fur garment of its hair^. A small beetle
of the Capricorn tribe (Callidium pj/giucri/m, F.) I
have good reason to believe devours leather, since I
have found it abundant in old shoes.

Next to our garments our houses and building's,
which shelter us and our property from tlie inclemency
and injuries of the atmosphere, are of consequence to
us : yet these, solid and substantial as they appear, are
not secure from the attack of insects ; and even our
furniture often suffers from them. A great part of our
comfort within doors depends upon our apartments
being kept clean and neat. Spiders by their webs,
which they suspend in every angle, and flies by their
excrements, which they scatter indiscriminately upon
every thing, interfere with this comfort, and add much
to the business of our servants. Even aiits will some-
times plant their colonies in our kitchens, (I have
known the horse-ant, Formica rufa, L., do this,) and
are not easily expelled. Those of Sierra Leone, as I
was once informed by the learned Professor Afzelius,
make their way ])y millions through the houses. They
resolutely pursue a straight course : and neither build-
ings nor rivers, even thougli myriads perish in the
attempt, can divert them .from it. Numerous are the

a Reaum. iii. 257. b Amozn. Acad. iii. 316.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY IN'SECTS. 235

iribes of insects that seek their food in our timber,
whether laid up in store for our future use, employed
in our houses, buildings, gates or fences, or made up
into furniture. The several species of Mr. Marsham's
genus Jps (which includes the coleopterous genera
^pate, Boslrichns, Hj/lessinus, Ilj/lurgus, TomicuSy
Platypus^ Scoli/tus^ and Phloiotrihus of modern sy-
stematists) all prey upontiml)er, feeding between the
bark and the wood, and many of them excavating cu-
rious piuijated labyrinths. Almost every kind of tree
has a species of this genus appropriated to it, and
some have more than one''. The Stag-beetle tribe,
or L,ucamdce^ and several of the weevils'*, have a si-
milar appetite, but penetrate deeper into the wood.
The most extensive family, however, of timber-f
borers are the Capricorn beetles, including the Fabri-
cian genera of Prionus, Cerambyx, Lamia'^, Stenoco-
rus, Calopus, Rhagium, Gnoma, Saperda, Callidium,
and Cli/tus. The larva of these, as soon as hatched,
leaves its first station between the bark and wood,
and begins to make its way into the solid timber,
(some of them plunging even into the iron heart of the
oak, and one even perforating lead'',) where it eats for

a Kirby in Linn. Trans, v. 250.

b Curcu'Mi Ugnaiius, Marsh. Rhinonimus rvfcoUis, Latr.

c M.'iny spocies of the genus Lamia are now discovered to live upon
the roots of grass.

'1 The larva of a Ccrambyx (wiiicli Dr. Leach has discovered to be
C. Eajulus, L.) sometimes does materiAl injury to the wood-work of the
roofs of houses in London, piercing in every direction the rir-rafters, and,
when arrived at the perfect state, making its way out even through sheets
of lead one sixth of an inch (hick, when they happen to have been nailed
upon the rafter in which it has assumed its final metamorphosis. I am

236 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

itself tortuous paths, at its first starting perhaps not
bigger than a pin's head, but gradually increasing in
dimensions as the animal increases in magnitude, till
it attains in some instances to a diameter of one or two
inches. Only conceive what havoc the grub of the vast
Prionus giganteus must make in a beam ! Percival is
probably speaking of this beetle, when, in his account
of Ceylon, he tells us, " There is an insect found here
which resembles an immense overgrown beetle. It is
called by us a carpenter, from its boring large holes in
timber, of a regular form, and to the depth of several
feet, in which, when finished, it takes up its habita-
tion^." Seeing the perfect insect come out of these
holes, an unentomological observer would naturally
conclude that the beetle he saw had formed it, and
lived in it ; but, doubtless, the whole was the work
of the grub''. — Of all the coleopterous genera there is
none the species of which are generally so rich, re-
splendent and beautiful as those of Buprestis : these
likewise, in their first state, there is abundant reason
to believe, derive their nutriment from the produce of
the forest, in which they sometimes remain for many
years. before they assume their perfect state, and ap-
pear in their full splendour, as if nature required more

indebted to the kindness of Sir Joseph Banks for a specimen of such a
sheet of lead, which, thouj^h only eight inches lon^and four broad, is thus
pierced with twelve oval holes, of some of which the longest diameter is
a quarter of an inch ! Mr. Charles Miller first discovered lead in the
stomach of the larva of this insect.

a P. 310.

b See Kirby, wji SMpr. 253. — More than a hundred species of the Ca-
pricorn tribe, many of them nondescripts, were collected in the neigh-
feourhood of Rio de Janeiro by Captain Hancock, of the Foudroyant.

^INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. T37

time than usual to decorate these lovely insects. We
learn from Mr. Marshani, that the grub of B. splen-
dida was ascertained to have existed in the wood of a
deal table more than twenty years*. — In this enume-
ration of timber-eating- beetles, I must not forget the
Fabrician genera, Anobium and Ptilinus, because of
one of them {Anobium pert'max) Linne complains
" terebravit et destruxit sedilia mea^;^^ and I can renew
the same complaint against ^A. striatum^ which not only
has destioyed my chairs, but also picture-frames, and
has perforated in every direction the deal floor of ray
chamber, from which it annually emerges through
little round apertures in great numbers. — The utility
of entomological knowledge in economics was strik-
ingly exemplified, when the great naturalist just men-
tioned, at the desire of the king of Sweden, traced
out the cause of the destruction of the oak-timber in
the royal dock-yards ; and, having detected the lurking
culprit under the form of a beetle, {JLymexylon na-
vale, F.), by directing the timber to be immersed du-
ring the time of the metamorphosis of that insect and
its season of oviposition, furnished a remedy which
effectually secured it from its future attacks*^. — No
coleopterous insects are more singular than those that
belong to the genus Pausus, L. ; and one of them at
least, remarkable for emitting a phosphoric light from
the globes of its antennas, is also a timber-feeder '^-^
Amongst the Hymenoptera there are many insects that
injure us in this department. The species of the genus

a In Linn. Trans, x. 399. b Syst. Nat. 565. 2.

c Smith's Introduction to Botany, Pref. \v,
^ Afzeliusin Linn. Trann.'^v. 261.

238 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

Sir ex ^ probably all of them in their larva state have
no appetite but for ligneous food. Linne has observed
this with respect to S. Spectrum and Camtlus ; and
Mr. Marsham, on the authority of Sir Joseph Banks,
telates that several specimens of S. Gigas were seen
to come out of the floor of a nursery in a gentleman's
house, to the no small alarm and discomfiture of both
nurse and children''. — The genus Trypoxylon, F.,
many species of Crabro, F., Vespa Pariettfm, L., La- ,
treiile's genera Xylocopa, Chelostoina, Heriades, Me-
gackile and Anthophora, (ail separated from Apis, L.,)
perforate posts and rails and other timber, to form
cells for their young ''.

The Linnean order ^/?^em furnishes another timber-
eating insect, a kind of wood-louse, though scarcely an
eighth of the size of the common one, (Limnoria tere-
brans of Dr. Leach,) which in point of rapidity of exe^
cution seems to surpass all its European brethren, and
in many cases may be productive of more serious injury
than any of them, since it attacks the wood-work of
piers and jetties constructed in salt-water, and so elFec-
tualiy, as to threaten the rapid destruction of those in
which it has established itself. In December 1815 I
tvas favoured by Charles Lutwidge, esq. of Hull, with
specimens of AVood from the piers at Bridlington
Quay which wofully confirm the fears entertained of
their total ruin by the hosts of these pygmy assailants
that have made good a lodgement in them, and which,
though not so big as a grain of rice, ply their mastica-
tory organs with such assiduity as to have reduced

a Lhi:-, Trans, x. 403.

b Rilby, Mon. Jp. An^. i. 152-194. Latreille, Gen. ir. 161—.

iNmRECT Injuries caused by insects. 239

ghsat part of the wood-M'ork into a state resembling
honey-comb. One specimen was a portion of a three-
inch fir plank nailed to the North Pier about three
years since, which is now crumbled away to less than
an inch in thickness — in fact, deducting the space oc-
cupied by the cells which cover both surfaces as closely
as possible, barely half an inch of solid wood is left;
and though its progress is slower in oak, that wood is
equally liable to be attacked by it. — If this insect were
easily introduced to new stations, it might soon prove
as destructive to our jetties as the Teredo navalis to
those of Holland, and induce the necessity of substi-
tuting stone for wood universally, whatever the ex-
pense : but happily it seems endowed with very limited
Jjowers of migration ; for, though it has spread along
both the South and East Piers of Bridlington har-
bour, it has not yet, as Mr. Lutwidge informs me,
reached the Dolphin nor an insulated jetty within the
harbour. — No other remedy against its attacks is
known than that of keeping the wood free from salt-
water for three or four days, in which case it dies;
but this method it is obvious can be rarely applicable*.

a In order to ascertain how far ptn-e sea vater is essential to this insect,
and consequently what danger exists of its being introduced into the
wood-work of our docks and piers communicating with our salt-water
rivers, as at Hull, Liverpool, Bristol, Ipswicli, Sec, where it might be far
more injurious than even on the coast, I have, since December 15th 1815,
Vvhen Mr. Lutwidge was so kind as to furnish me with a piece of oak
full of the insects in a living state, poured a not very strong solution of
common salt over the wood, every other day, so as to keep the insects
constantly wet. On examining it this day (Feb. 5lh 1816) I found them
alive; and, what seems to prove them in as good health as in their na-
tural habitat, numbers have established themselves in a piece of fir-wood
which I nailed to the oak, and have in this short interval, and in winter
too, bored many cells in i!.

240 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED B^ INSECTS.

How dear are their books, their cabinets of the va-
rious productions of nature, and their collections of
prints and other works of art and science, to the learned,
the scientific, and the virtuosi ! Even these precious
treasures have their insect enemies. The larva of Cram-
bus pmginnalis, whose ravages in another quarter I
have noticed before % will establish itself upon the bind-
ing-of a book, and spinning a robe, which it covers with
its own excrement ^, will do it no little injury. A mite,
{Acarus eruditus, Schrank) eats the paste that fastens
the paper over the edges of tlie binding, and so loosens
it *". I have also often observed the caterpillar of an-
other little moth, of which I have not ascertained the
species, that takes its station in damp old books, between
the leaves, and there commit;- great ravages ; and many
a black-letter rarity, which in these days of Bibliomania
would liave been valued at its weight in gold, has been
snatched by these destroyers from the hands of book-
collectors. The little wood-boring beetles before men-
tioned (Anobium perlinax and striatum) also attack
books, and will even bore through several volumes.
M. Peignot mentions an instance where, in a public li-
brary but little frequented, iwenti/seven folio volumes
were perforated in a straight line by the same insect^
(probably one of these species,) in such a manner that
on passing a cord through the perfectly round hole
made by it, these twenty-seven volumes could be raised
at once''. The animals last mentioned also destroy
prints and drawings, whether framed, or preserved in

a See p. 229. b Reaiim. iii. 270.

c Schrank Eniim, Ins, yiuslr. 513. 1058.
d Home's InlrocU lo BihUographijy i. 311.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 241

a porte-feiiille. Our collections of quadrupeds, birds,
insects and plants have likewise several terrible insect
enemies, which without pity or remorse often destroy
or mutilate our most highly prized specimens. Ptinus
Fur, L. and Bi/rrhus Musceorum, L., two minute bee-
tles, are amongst the worst, especially the latter, whose
singular gliding larva, when once it gets amongst them,
makes astonishing havoc, the birds soon shedding their
feathers, and the insects falling to pieces. — One of the
worst plagues of the entomologist are the mites (Aca-
rus Destructor, Schrank) : these, if his specimens be at
all damp, eat up all the muscular parts, {Lytta vesica*
ioria being almost the only insect that is not to their
taste,) and thus entirely destroy them. — If spiders by
any means get amongst them, they will do no little mis-
chief.— Some I have observed to be devoured by a mi-
nute moth, perhaps Tinea InsecteUa, F. ; and in the
posterior thighs of a species o^Grz/llus, F., from China,
I once found, one in each thigh, a small beetle conge-
nerous with Tenehrio pallens, L. that had devoured the
interior. It is, I believe, either Acariis Destructor or
eruditus that eats the gum employed to fasten doAvn
dried plants.

There are other insects which do not confine them-
selves to one or two articles, but make a general and
indiscriminate attack upon our dead stock. UUoa men-
tions one peculiar to Carthagena, called there the co'
megen, which he describes as a kind of moth or maggot
so minute as to be scarcely visible to the naked eye.
This destroys, says he, the furniture of houses, parti-
cularly all kinds of hangings, whether of cloth, linen,
or silk, gold or silver stuffs or lace ; in short, every

VOL. I. Jl

242 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

thing except solid metal. It will ruin all the goods of
a warehouse in which it has got footing in a single
night, reducing- bales of merchandize to dust without
altering their appearance, so that the mischief is not
perceived till they come to be handled ^. If we make
some deduction from this account for exaggeration,
still the amount of damage will be very considerable.

There are three kinds of insects better known, to
whose ravages, as most prominent and celebrated, I
shall last call your attention. The insects I mean are
the cock-roach (Blatla orientolis, L.), the house-cricket
(Achela domestica, F.), and the various species of white
ants ( TermeSj L.). The last of these, most fortunately
for us, are not yet naturalized.

The cock-roaches hate the light, at least the kind
that is most abundant in Britain, (for B. germanica^
which abounds in some houses, is bolder, making its
appearance in the day, and running up the walls and
over the tables, to the great annoyance of the inhabi-
tants,) and never come forth from their hiding-places
till the lights are removed or extinguished. In the
London houses, especially in the ground-floor, they
are most abundant, and consume every thing they can
find, flour, bread, meat, clothes, and even shoes*. As
soon as light, natural or artificial, reappears, they all
scamper off as fast as they can, ajid vanish in an instant.
These pests are not indigenous here, and perhaps no
where in Europe, but are one of the evils which com-
merce has imported ; and we may think ourselves well
off that others of the larger species of the genus have
not been introduced in the same way — as, foi' instance,

a Ulloa, i. 67. b Ammn. Acad. iii. 343.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 243

Blaita gignntca, a native of Asia, Africa, and America,
many times the size of the common one, — which, not
content with devouring meat, clothes and books, even
attacks persons in their sleep, and the extremities of
the dead and dying''.

The liouse-cricket may perhaps be deemed a still
more annoying- insect than the common cock-roach,
adding an incessant noise to its ravages; since, although,
for a short time, it may not be unpleasant to hear
"The cricket chirrup in the hearth,"

so constant a din every evening must very much inter-
rupt comfort and conversation. These garrulous ani-
mals, which live in a kind of artificial torrid zone, are
very thirsty souls, and are frequently found drowned
in pans of water, milk, broth, and the like. Whatever
is moist, even stockings or linen hung out to dry, is to
them a bonne honche ; they will eat the scummings of
pots, yeast, crumbs of br^ad, and even salt, or any
thing within their reach. Sometimes they are so abun-
dant in houses as to become absolute pests, flying into
the candles and into people's faces.

At Cuddapa, in the coded districts to the northward
of Mysore, Captain Green was much annoyed by a
jumping insect, which from his description I should take
for the larva of a species of cricket (Achcta, F.). They
were of a dun colour, and from half to three fourths
of an inch in length. They abounded at night, and
were very injurious to papers and books, which they
both discoloured and devoured ; leather also was eaten
by them. Such was their boldness and avidity, that they

a Dnirv's /nsccA?, iii. Prffarc.
R 2

244 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

attacked the exposed parts of the body when you were
asleep, nibbling the ends of the fingers, particularly
the skin under the nails, which was only discoverable
by a slight soreness that succeeded. So great was their
agility that they could seldom be caught or crushed.
They were a mute insect, but probably the imago would
make noise enough.

But the white ants, wherever they prevail, are a still
worse plague than either of these insects — they are the
great calamity, as Linne terms them, of both the Indies.
When they find their way into houses or warehouses,
nothing less hard than metal or glass escapes their ra-
vages. Their favourite food, however, is wood of all
kinds, except the teak ( Tectona grandis) and iron- wood
(^Sideroxj/ion), which are the only sorts known that
they will not touch ^ ; and so infinite are the multitudes
of the assailants, and such is the excellence of their
tools, that all the timber- work of a spacious apartment
is often destroyed by them in a few nights. Exteriorly,
however, every thing appears as if untouched; for these
wary depredators, and this is what constitutes the
greatest singularity of their history, carry on all their
operations by sap and mine, destroying first the inside
of solid substances, and scarcely ever attacking their
outside, until first they have concealed it and their ope-

a It is not its hardness that protecls the teak, as the Asiatic Termites
attack Lignum Vita?, but probably some essential oil disagreeable to
them with which it is impregnated. This is the more likely, since they
will eat it when it is old and has been long exposed to the air. Tannin
has been conjectured to be the protecting substance, but erroneously, as
leather of every kind is devoured by them. Williamson's East India Fatit
Mccunif ii, 56. It is its hardness probably that protects the iron-wood
from the African Termites. Smeathman in Fhilos, Trans. 1181. 11. 47.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECT*. 245

rations with a coat of clay. A general similarity runs
through the proceedings of the whole tribe ; but the
large African species, called by Smeathman Termes
hellicosus, is the most formidable. These insects live in
large clay nests, from whence they excavate tunnels all
round, often to the extent of several hundred feet ; from
these they will descend a considerable depth below
the foundation of a house, and rise again through the
floors; or, boring through the posts and supports of the
building, enter the roof, and construct there their gal-
leries in various directions. If a post be a convenient
path to the roof, or has any weight to support, which
how they discover is not easily conjectured, they will
fill it with their mortar, leaving only a trackway for
themselves ; and thus, as it were, convert it from wood
into stone, as hard as many kinds of free-stone. In
this manner they soon destroy houses, and sometimes
even whole villages when deserted by their inhabitants,
so that in two or three years not a vestige of them
will remain.

These insidious insects are not less expeditious in
destroying the wainscoting, shelves, and other fixtures
of a house than the house itself. With the most con-
summate art and skill they eat away all the inside of
what they attack, except a few fibres here and there
which exactly suffice to keep the two sides, or top and
bottom, connected, so as to retain the appearance of so-
lidity after the reality is gone ; and all the while they
carefully avoid perforating the surface, unless a book
or any other thing that tempts them should be stand-
ing upon it, Kaempfer, speaking of the white ants of
Japan, gives a remarkable instance of the rapidity with

246 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.

>vhich these miners proceed. Upon rising one morn-
ing he observed that one of their galleries of the thick-
ness of his little finger had been formed across his
table ; and, upon a further examination, he found that
they had bored a passage of that thickness up one foot of
the table, formed a gallery across it, and then pierced
down another foot into tJie floor : all this was done
in the few hours that intervened between his retiring
to rest and his rising^. They make their way also with
the greatest ease into trunks and boxes, even though
made of mahogany, and destroy papers and every thing
they contain, constructing their galleries and some-
times taking up their abode in them. Hence, as Hum-
boldt informs us, throughout all the warmer parts of
equinoctial America, where these and other destruc-
tive insects abound, it is infinitely rare to find papers
whicli go fifty or sixty years back''. In one night they
will devour all the boots and shoes tliat are left in
their way ; cloth, linen, or books are equally to their
taste ; but they w ill not eat cotton, as Captain Green
informs me. I myself have to deplore that they en-
tirely consumed a collection of insects made for me by
a friend in India, more especially as it sickened him
of the employment. In a word, scarcely any thing, as
I said before, but metal or stone comes amiss to them.
Mr. Smeathman relates, that a party of them once took
a fancy to a pipe of fine old Madeira, not for the sake
of the wine, almost the whole of which they let out, but
of the staves, which however 1 suppose were strongly
imbued with it, and perhaps on that account were not
less to the taste of our e{)icure Termites. Having left

s Japan, ii, 127. b Polilical Essay on New Spain, iv. 135,

1J<J3S1|IECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 247

a compound microscope in a warehouse at Tobago for
a few months, on his return he found that a colony of
a small species of white ant had established themselves
in it, and had devoured most of the w ood-work, leaving-
little besides the metal and glasses *. A shorter period
sufficed for their demolition of some of Mr. Forbes's
furniture. On surveying a room which had been locked
up during an absence of a few weeks, he observed a
number of advanced Avorks in various directions to-
wards some prints and drawings in English frames ;
the glasses appeared to be uncommonly dull, and the
frames covered with dust. " On attempting," says he,
*'to wipe it off, I was astonished to find the glasses
fixed to the wall, not suspended in frames as I left
them, but completely surrounded by an incrustation
cemented by the Avhite ants, who had actually eaten
up the deal frames and back-boards, and the greater
part of the paper, and left tlie glasses upheld by the
incrustation, or covered way, which they had formed
during their depredation''." It is even asserted that
the superb residence of the Governor-General at Cal-
cutta, which cost the East India Company such im-
mense sums, is now rapidly going to decay in conse-
quence of the attacks of these insects *=. — But not con-
tent with the dominions they have acquired, and the
cities they have laid low on Terra Firma, encouraged
by success the white ants have also aimed at the so-
vereignty of the ocean, and once had the hardihood to
attack even a British ship of the line; and in spite of

a This account of the Termites is chiefly taken from Smeathman ia
Philos, Trans. 1781, and Pcrcival's Ceylon, 307 — .
b Oriental Memoirs, i. 3*32. c jlorning Herald, Dec. 3lst, 1814.

S48 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY IxVSECTS.

the efforts of her commander and his valiant crew, ha-
ving boarded they got possession of her, and handled
her so roughly, that when brought into port, being no
longer fit for service, she was obliged to be broken up^.
And here, I think, I see you throw aside my papers,
and hear you exclaim — " Will this enumeration of
scourges, plagues, and torments never be finished ?
Was the whole insect race created merely with puni-
tive views, and to mar the fair face of universal na-
ture ? Are they all, as our Saviour said figuratively of
one genus, the scorpion, the powerful agents and in-
struments of the great enemy of mankind'' ? " If you
view the subject in another light, you will soon, my
friend, be convinced that, instead of this, insects gene-
rally answer the most beneficial ends, and promote in
various ways, and in an extraordinary degree, the wel-
fare of man and animals; and that the series of evils
I have been engaged in enumerating mostly occur par-
tially, and where they exceed their natural limits ; God
permitting this occasionally to take place, not merely
with punitive views, but also to show us what mighty
effects he can produce by instruments seemingly the
most insignificant : thus calling upon us to glorify his
power, wisdom, and goodness, so evidently manifested
whether he relaxes or draws tight the reins by which

a The sl»ip here alluded to was the Albion, which was U) sn-h a con-
dition from the attack of insects, supposed to be white ants, that, had
not the ship been firmly lashed together, it was thoiia;ht sh<' would have
foundered on her voyage home. — Mr. Rittoe informs me that the Droguers
or Draguers, a kind of lighter employed in the West Indies in collecting;
the sugar, sometimes so swarm with ants, of the common kind, that they
have no other way of getting rid of these troublesome insects than by sink-
ing the vessel in shallow water. b Luke x. 19.

INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 249

he guides insects in their course, and regulates their
progress; and more particularly to acknowledge his
overruling Providence so conspicuously exhibited by
his measuring them, as it were, and weighing them,
and telling them out, so that, their numbers, forces
and powers being annually proportioned to the work
he has prescribed to them, they may neither exceed his
purpose nor fall short of it.

From the picture I have drawn, and I assure you it
is not overcharged, you will be disposed to admit, how-
ever, the empire of insects over the works of creation,
and to own that our prosperity, comfort and happiness
are intimately connected with them ; and consequently
that the knowledge and study of them maybe extremely
useful and necessary to promote these desirable ends,
since the knowledge of the cause of any evil is always
a principal, if not an indispensable, step towards a re-
medy.

I shall now bid adieu to tliis unpromising subject,
which has so long occupied my pen, and I fear wearied
your attention, and in my next bring before you a more
agreeable scene, in which you will behold the benefits
we receive by the ministry of insects.

I am, &c.

LETTER IX.

BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

INDIRECT BENEFITS.

i>JY last letters contained, I must own, a most melan-
choly though not an overcharged picture of the injuries
and devastation which man, in various ways, expe-
riences through the instrumentality of the insect world.
In this and the following I hope to place before you a
more agreeable scene, since in them I shall endeavour
to point out in what respects these minute animals are
made to benefit us, and what advantages we reap from
their extensive agency.

God, in all the evil which he permits to take place,
whether spiritual, moral, or natural, has tlie ultimate
good of his creatures in view. Tlie evil that we suffer
is often a countercheck which restrains us from greater
evil, or a spur to stimulate us to good : we should
therefore consider every thing, not according to the
present sensations of pain, or the present loss or injury
that it occasions, but according to its more general, re-
mote, and permanent effects and bearings; — whether
by it we are not impelled to the practice of many
virtues which otherwise might lie dormant in us —
whether our moral habits are not improved — whether
we are not rendered by it more prudent, cautious, and
wary, more watchful to prevent evil, more ingenious

INDIRECT BLXEFITS DEUIVED FRO.AI INSECTS. 251

and skilful to remedy it — and whether our higher fa-
culties are not brought more into play, and our mental
powers more invigorated, by the meditation and ex-
periments necessary to secure ourselves. Viewed in
ihese lights, what was at first regarded as wholly made
np of evil, may be discovered to contain a consider-
able proportion of good.

This reasoning is here particularly applicable : and if
the ultimate benefit to man seenjs in any case proble-
matical, it is merely because todiscoverit requiresmore
extended and remote views than we are enabled by our
limited faculties to take, and a knowledge of distant or
concealed results whicli we are incompetent to calcu-
late or discover. The common good of this terraqueous
globe requires thiit all things endoAved with vegetable
or animal life should bear certain proportions to each
other; and if any individual species exceeds that pro-
portion, from beneficial it becomes noxious, and inter-
feres with the general welfare. It was requisite.there-
fore for the benefit of the whole system that certain
means should be provided, ])y which this hurtful luxu-
riance might be checked, and all things taught to keep
w ithin their proper limits : hence it became necessary
that some should prey upon others, and a part be sacri-
ficed for the good of the whole.

Of the counterchecks thus provided, none acta more
important part than insects, particularly intheveget^ble
kingdom, every plant having its insect enemies. Man,
when he takes any plant from its natural state and
makes it an object of cultivation, must expect that these
agents will follow it into the artificial state in which he
has placed it, and still prey upon it ; and it is his busi-

252 INDIUECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

ness to exert his faculties in inventins: means to guard
against their attacks. It is a wise provision that there
should exist a race of beings empowered to remove all
her superfluous productions from the face of nature ;
and in effecting this, whatever individual injui*y may
arise, insects must be deemed general benefactors. Even
the locusts Avhich lay \^ aste whole countries clear the
way for the renovation of their vegetable productions,
which were in danger of being destroyed by the exu-
berance of some individual species, and thus are ful-
filling the great law of the Creator, that of all which
he has made nothing should be lost. A region, Sparr-
man tells us, which had been choked up by shrubs, per-
ennial plants, and hard half-withered and unpalatable
grasses, after being made bare by tlicso scourges, soon
appears in a far more beautiful dress, clothed with new
herbs, superb lilies, and fresh annual grasses, and young
andjuicy shoots of the perennial kinds, affording deli-
cious herbage for the wild cattle and game *. And though
the interest of individual man is often sacrificed to the
general good, in many cases the insect pest:^ which he
most execrates, will be found to be positively beneficial
to him, unless when suffered to increase beyond their
due bounds. Thus the insects that attack the roots of
the grasses, and, as has been before observed, so mate-
rially injure our herbage, the wire-worm, the larvae of
Melplontha vulgaris^ Tipula oleracea^ &c., in ordinary
seasons only devour so much as is necessary to make
room for fresh shoots, and the production of new herb-
age ; in this manner maintaining a constant succession
of young plants, and causing an annual though partial

a Sparnnaa's Voyage, i. 367.

INDIRECT BENEPITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 953

renovation of our meadows and pastures. In the rich
fields near Rye in Sussex 1 particularly observed this
effect ; and I have since at home remarked, that at cer-
tain times of the year dead plants may be every where
observed, pulled up by the cattle as they feed, whose
place is supplied by new offsets. So that, when in mo-
derate numbers, these insects do no more harm to the
grass than Avoukl the sharp-toothed harrows which it
has been sometimes advised to apply to hide-bound
pastures,and the beneficial operation of which in loosen-
ing the sub-soil these insect borers closely imitate.

Nor would it be difficult to show that the ordinary
good effects of some of those insects, which torment
ourselves and our cattle, preponderate over their evil
ones. Mr. Clark is inclined to think that the gentle
irritation of CEstrus Equi is advantageous to the sto-
mach of the horse rather than the contrary. On the
same principle it is not improbable that the Tabani
often act as useful phlebotomists to our full-fed animals ;
and that the constant motion in which they are kept in
summer by the attacks of the Stomoxys and other flies,
^may prevent diseases that would be brought on by in-
dolence and repletion. And in the case of man himself,
K I do not go so far as with Linne to give the louse
the credit of preserving full-fed boys from coughs,
epilepsy, &c., we may safely regard as no small good,
the stimulus which these, and others of the insect as-
sailants of the persons of the dirty and the vicious,
afford to personal cleanliness and purity.

I might enlarge greatly upon the foregoing view of
the subject: but this is unnecessary, as numerous fact's
will occur in subsequent letters which you will readily

234 INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECT?.

perceive have an intimate bearing upon it ; and I shall
therefore proceed to point out the more evident bene-
fits which we derive from insects, arranging them un-
der the two great heads of direct benefits, and those
which are indirect ; beginning with the latter.

The insects which are indirectly/ beneficial to us, may
be considered under three points of view: First, as
removing various nuisances and deformities from tlie
face of nature: Secondly, as destroying other insects,
that but for their agency would multiply so as greatly
to injure and annoy us : and Thirdly, as supplying
food to useful animals, particularly to fish and birds.

To advert in the^r^i place to the former. All sub-
stances must be regarded as nuisances and deformities,
when considered with relation to the whole, which are
deprived of i\ie principle of animation. In this rela-
tion stand a dead carcase, a dead tree, or a mass of
excrement, which are clearly incumbrances that it is
desirable to have removed; and the office of effecting
this removal is chiefly assigned to insects, which have
been justly called the great scavengers of nature. Let
us consider their little but effective operations in each
of their vocations.

How disgusting to the eye, how offensive to the smell,
would be the whole face of nature, were the vast quan-
tity of excrement daily falling to the earth from the va-
rious animals which inhabit it, suffered to remain until
gradually dissolved by the rain or decomposed by the
elements i That it docs not thus offend us, we are in-
debted to an inconceivable host of insects which attack
it the moment it fally; liome immediately beginning to

INDinECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 255

devour it, others depositing- in it eggs from which are
soon hatched larvae that concur in the same office with
tenfold voracity : and thus every particle of dung, at
least of the most offensive kinds, speedily swarms with
inhabitants which consume all the liquid and noisome
particles, leaving- nothing- l)ut tlie undigested remains,
that soon dry and are scattered by the winds, while the
grass upon which it rested, no longer smothered by an
impenetrable mass, springs up with increased vigour.
Numerous are the tribes of insects to which this of-
fice is assigned, though chiefly if not entirely selected
from the two orders Colcopiera and Diptera. A large
proportion of the genera formed, by diff*erent authors,
from Scarabceus o^I^iwnc, viz. Scarabceus, Copris,Aleu-
chus, Sis?/phus, Onitis, OnthopJiaguSy Aphodius^ and
Psammodius- also Ilister^ Sphccridium^ F. and amongst
the Stophylinid(E, the majority o£ Staph^lini, many^/e-
ocharce, especially of Gravenhorst's third family, many
Oxi/teli and some Omalia, Tachini and Tachypori^ of
that author, including- in the whole many hundred spe-
cies of beetles — unite their labours to effect this useful
purpose : and what is remarkable, though they all work
their way in these filthy n;asses, and at first can have no
paths, yet their bodies are never soiled by the ordure
they inhabit. Many of these insects content themselves
with burrowing in the dung alone; but Ateuchus pilit-
lurius"^, a species called in America the Tumble-dung-^

a The Cnpnon, Cantharus, and Ileliocantharus of the ancien(s was evi-
dently <his beetle, or one nearly related to it, which is described as rolling;
backwar-Js large masses of dun;^, and attracted such general attention as
to give rise to the proverb Canlharus pilidam. It should seem from the
name, derived froma wordsignifyinj^an ass, that tiie Grecian beetle made
its j)illi of asaes' dung ; and this is confirmed ''v a passage in one of the

256 INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

whose singular manoeuvres I shall subsequently have
to advert to, Copris lunaris, Scarahceus stercorarius and
many others of the Scm'abceidce, make large cylindrical
holes, often of great depth, under the heap, and there
deposit their eggs surrounded by a mass of dung in
which they have previously enveloped them; thus not
only dispersing the dung, but actually burying it at the
roots of the acijoining plants, and by these means con-
tributing considerably to the fertility of our pastures,
supplying^ the constant waste by an annual conveyance
of fresh dung laid at the very root; by these canals,
also, affording a convenient passage for a portion of
it when dissolved to be carried thither by the rain.

The coleopterous insects found in dung inhabit it in
their perfect as well as imperfect states : but this is not
the case with those of the order Diptera, whose larvap
alone find their nutriment in it; the imago, which
would be suffocated did it attempt to burrow into a
material so soft, only laying its eggs in the mass.
These also are more select in their choice than the
Coleopfera — not indeed as to delicacy, — but they do not
indiscriminately oviposit in all kinds, some preferring
horse-dung, others swine's-dung, others cow-dung,
which seems the most favourite pabulum of all the
dung-loving insects, and others that of birds. The
most disgusting of all is the rat-tailed larva that in-
habits our privies, which changes to a fly (Elophilus
tenaXy Latr.) somewhat resembling a bee.

plays of Aristophanes, the Irene, where a beetle of this kind is introduced,
on which one of the characters rides to heaven to petition Jupiter for
peace. The play begins with one domestic desiring another to feed the
Cantharus with some bread, who afterwards orders his companion t*
give him another kind of bread made of asses' dung.

iXDtilECT BfiNEFTTS bfeRIVtib FROM'iNSECTS. 25/

Still more would our olfactory nerves be offended,
and our health liable to fatal injuries, if the wisdom and
goodness of Providence had not provided for the re-
moval of another nuisanc^e from our globe — the dead
carcases of animals^ When these begin to grow putrid,
every one knows what dreadful miasmata exhale from
them, and taint the air we breathe. But no sooner
does life depart from the body of any creature, at least
of any which from its size is likely to become a nui-
sance, than myriads of different sorts of insects attack
it, and in various ways. First come the Histers and
pierce the skin. Next follow the flesh-flies, some, that
no time may be lost, (as Musca carnaria, &c.) depo-
siting upon it their young already haiclied*; others
(M. Ccesar, &c.) covering it with millions of eggs,
whence in a day or two proceed innumerable devourers.
An idea of the dispatch made by tliese gourmands may
be gained from the Combined consideration of theii*
lumbers, voracity, and rapid development. One fe-
Inaie o^ AT. cornnria will give birth to 20,000 young ;
and the larva; of many flesh-flies, as liedi ascertained,
%vill in twenty-four hours devour so much food, and
grow so quickly, as to increase their weight two hun-
dred fold ! In five days after being liatclied they arrive
at their full growth and size ; which is a remarkable
instance of the care of Providence in fitting them for
the part they are destined to act : for if a longer time
was required for their growth their food would not be
a fit aliment for them, or they would be too long in
removing the nuisance it is given in charge to them to
dissipate. Thus we see there was some ground for

a PiATF XXII. Fjg. 4. 5.
VOL. 1. S

258 INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

Lirine's assertion under M. vomitoria, that three of
these flies will devour a dead horse as quickly as
would a lion.

As soon as the various tribes of Muscae have opened
the way, and devoured the softer parts, a whole host
of beetles, Necrophori, Silphcc, Dermestesy Cholevce, and
Stapk?/limdcp, actively second their labours. Wasps
and hornets also come in for their portion of the spoil ;
and even ants, which prowl every where, rival their
giant competitors in the quantity consumed by them ;
so that in no very long- time, especially in warm cli-
mates, the muscular covering- is removed from the ske-
leton, which is then cleansed from all remains of it by
the little Coiynetes cceruleus and rujicollis, (which last
is so interesting, as having been the means of saving
the life of Latreille%) and several NitidulcE^. Even
the horns of animals have an appropriate genus (Trox)
which inhabits them, and feeds upon their contents.
And not only are large animals thus disposed of, even
the smallest are not suffered long to annoy us. The
burying beetle (Necrophorus Vespillo, F.) inters the
bodies of small animals, such as mice, several assisting
each other in the work ; and those to which they com-
mit their eggs afford an ample supply of food to their
larvae '^^ Ants also in some degree emulate these bu-
rying insects, at least they will carry off the carcases

a See Latr. Gen- \. 275.

b This property in tlie carrion insects may be turned to a good account
by the comparalive auatomist, who has only to flay the body of one of
the smaller animals, anoint it with honey, and bury it in an ant-hill ; and
in a short time he will obtain a perfect skeleton, denudated of every
fibril of muscle, though with the ligaments and cartilages untouched.

e Gleditjicb, Abhandlungtn, iii. 200.

INDIRECT BENEFITS nERIVED FROM INSECTS. 259

of insects into their nests; and I once saw some of the
horse-ants draogiiig- away a half-dead snake of about
the size of a goose-quill 'S Some insects will even
attack living- animals and make them their'prey, thus
contributing to keep them within due limits. The
common earth-worm is attacked and devoured by a
centipede {Scolnpcndra elcctrica, L.). Mr. Sheppard
saAV one attack a worm ten times its own size, round
which it twisted itself like a serpent, and which it
finally mastered and devoured.

But insects are not only useful in removing and
dissipating- dead animal matter, they are also intrusted
with a similar office with respect to the vegetable king-
dom. The interior of rotten trees is inhabited by the
larvae of Tipidce and other insects, which there find an
appropriate nutriment ; and a similar diet is furnished
to the grubs of the rose-beetle {Cetonia aurata) by the
dead leaves and stalks usually to be found in an ant's
liest. Staphi/linidoi, Sphceridia, and other Coleoptera
are always found under heaps of putrescentvegetables ;
and an infinite number are to be met with in decom-
posing fungi, Avhich seem to be a kind of substance in-
termediate between animal and vegetable. The Bo-
leti in particular have a genus of coleopterous insects
appropriated to them**, and the Lycoperdons another.
—Stagnant waters, which would otherwise exhale pu-
trid miasmata and be often the cause of fatal disorders,

a It is to be observed that in our cold climates, during the vvJntcr
months, -nhen excrement and putrescent animal matter are not so offen-
sive, they are left to the action of the elements, insects being then torpid*

b Sureljr Mr. Marsham's name for this genus, Boleiana, is much more
proper than that of Fabricius, Mijcctophagus (AgHric-eatcr ), since these
insects seldom eat agarics.

s 2

H60 INDIREC TBENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

are purified by the innumerable larvae of gnats, Eplie-
merffi, and other insects which live in them and abstract
from them all the unwholesome part of their contents.
This, Linnc says, will easily appear if any one will
make the experiment by filling- tw o vessels w ith putrid
tvater^ leaving the larvae in one and taking them out
of the other. For then he will soon find the water that
is full of larvae pure and without any stench, while
that which is deDrivcd of them will continue stinking;^.
Benefits equally great are rendered by the wood-
destroying insects. We indeed, in this country, who
find use for ten times more timber than we produce,
could dispense with their services ; but to estimate them
at their proper value, as affecting the great system of
nature,we should transport ourselves to tropical climes,
or to those under the temperate zones, where millions
of acres are covered by one interminable forest. How
is it that these untrodden regions, where thousands of
their giant inhabitants fall victims to the slow ravages
of time, or the more sudden operations of lightning and
hurricanes, should yet exhibit none of those scenes of
ruin and desolation that might have been expected,
but are always found with the verdant characters of
youth and beauty ? It is to the insect world that this
great charge of keeping the habitations of the Dryads
in perpetual freshness has been committed. A century
almost would elapse before the removal from the face
of nature of the mighty ruins of one of the hard-
wooded tropical trees, by the mere influence of the
elements. But how speedy its decomposition when
their operations are assisted by insects ! As soon as a

a CEcon. Nat, Amaen, Ac, ii, 50. Stillingfleet's Tracts, 112.

INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 261

tree is fallen, one tribe attack its bark % which is often
the most indestructible part of it; and thousands of
orifices into the solid trunk are bored by others. The
rain thus insinuates itself into every part, and the ac-
tion of heat promotes the decomposition. Various fun-
«^i now take possession and assist in the process, which
is followed up by the incessant attacks of other insects,
that feed only upon wood in an incipient state of de-
cay. And thus in a few months a mij^hty mass, which
seemed inferior in hardness only to iron, is mouldered
into dust, and its place occupied by younger trees full
of life and vigour. The insects to which this duty is
ititrusted have been already mentioned in a former
letter (p. 234-5) ; but none of them do their business
so expeditiously or effectually as the Termites, which
ply themselves in such numbers and so unremittingly,
that Mr, Smeathman assures us they will in a few
weeks destroy and carry away the trunks of large trees,
without leaving- a particle behind ; and in places where,
two or three years before, there has been a populous
town, if the inhabitants, as is frequently the case,
have chosen to abandon it, there shall be a very thick
wood, and not the vestige of a post to be seen.

I observed in a former letter, that the devastations
of insects are not the same in every season, their power
of mischief being evident only at certain times, when
Providence, by permitting an unusual increase of their

a Mauperttlis observes, that in Lapland he saw many birrh-trees lyinj;
on the ground, which had probably been there for a very long (i:ne,
with the bark entire, though the wood was decayed. IJenre we may
prob.ahly infer, that in that country there are few or none of J.Jie bark-
boring insects.

262 INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FKOM INSECTS,

numbers, gives them a commission to lay waste any
particular country or district. The great agents in
preventing this increase, and keeping the noxious spe-
cies within proper limits, are other insects ; and to
these I shall now call your attention.

Numerous are the tribes upon which this important
task devolves, and incalculable are the benefits \yhich
they are the means of bestowing upon us; for to them
we are indebted, or rather to Providence who created
them for this purpose, that our crops and grain, our
cattle, our fruit- and forest-trees, our pulse and flow-
ers, and even the verdant covering of the earth, are
not totally destroyed. Of these insects, so friendly to
man, some exercise their destructive agency solely
while in the larva state; others in the perfect state
only: others in both these states ; and lastly, others
again, in all the three states of larva, pupa, and imago.
For order's sake, and to give you a more distinct view
of the subject, I shall say something on each separately.

The first, those which are insectivorous only in their
larva state, may be further subdivided into parasites
and hnparasites^ meaning by the former term those that
feed upon a living insect, and only destroy it when they
have attained their full growth ; and by the latter,
those that prey upon insects already dead, or that kill
them in the act of devouring them.

The imparasitic insect devourers chiefly belong to
the Hymtnopitra order; and though it is in the larva
state that their proAvess is exhibited, the task of pro-
viding the prey is usually left to the female, of which
each species for the most part selects a particular kind
of insect. Thus many species of Ccrceris and the

INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 263

splendid Chrysidcc feed upon insects of their own or-
der. One of the latter {Panorpes incaiiiata, Latr.)
commits her eggs to the progeny of Bembex rostrata :
another (Chrr/sis bidentata) attacks the young of Vespa
spinipes.

Bembex and MeJlimis confine themselves to Dipte-
ra, the former preying upon Elophilus tenax, Bombj/lii,
and the like''; the latter amongst others ridding us of
the troublesome Stonwxj/s calcitrans. One of these last
I have observed stationed on dung watching for flies,
Avhich, when seized, she carried to her burrow.

Vespa spinipes feeds upon certain green apod larvBB,
of which the female deposits ten or twelve with each
es,^. Ammophila vulgaris destroys caterpillars of a
larger size ; and it is probable that most of the other
Vespoid and Sphecoid Hymenoptcra^ viz. Trypoxy-
lon, Phi/ant/iKs, Larra, Crabro, &c. assist in this great
work.

Pompilus, to which genus probably several species
mentioned by Reaumur as preying on these insects
should be referred, has it in charge to keep the num-
ber of spiders within due bounds : and some Ammo-
philce lend their aid. One of these last, mentioned by
Catesby (Sphex ccerulea, Linn.), has been known to
seize a spider eight times its own weight''. Another
species of this genus, which is common in the Isle of
France, attacks an insect still more difficult, one would
think, to turn to its purpose, the all-devouring Blatta,
and is therefore one of the great benefactors to man-
kind. When this insect perceives a Blatta (called there

a Latreille, Observations nouvdles siir les Hymenopteres, Annal. de
3Ius, 11. b Nat. Hist, of Carolina, ii. 105.

264 INDIRECT BENEFITS DEHIVED FROM INSECTS.

Kakerlac and Cancrelas) it stops immediately : both
animals eye each other; but isi an instant the sand-
wasp darts upon its prey, seizes it by the muzzle with
its strong jaws, and bending its abdomen underneath
it, pierces it with its fatal sting. Sure of its victim,
it now walks or flies away, leaving the poison to work
its effect; but in a short time returns, and, finding it
deprived of power to make resistance, seizes it again
by the head, and drags it avay, walking backwards,
to deposit it in a hole or chink of a wall^.

Grasshoppers are the prey of another Ammophila,
supposed to be the Sphex pensi/hanka of Linne, a
native of North America, each of which in its larva
state devours three of a large green species with which
its mother has provided it''.

From none of the imparasitic insectivorous larvas
do >ye derive more advantage than from those which
devour the destructive Aphides, whose ravages, as we
have seen above, are more detrimental to us in this
island than those of any other insect. A great variety
of species, of different orders and genera, are em-
ployed to keep them within due limits. There is a
beautiful genus of four-winged flies, whose wings re-
semble the finest lace, and whose eyes are often as
brilliant as burnished metals {IlcmerobiuSy L.), the
larvae of which, Reaumur, from their being insatiable
devourers of them, has named the lions of the Aphides.
The singular pedunculated eggs from which these
larvae proceed 1 shall describe when we come to treat
ppon the eggs of insects ; the larvse themselves aie

a Reaiiin. vi. 282. St. Pierre's Voyage, 12.
\i Bertram in Pliilos. Trans, xlvi. 126,

INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 265

furnished with a pair of lons^ crooked mandibles re-
sembling horns, which tcrvninate in a sliarp point, and
like those of the ant-lion are perforated, serving the
insect instead of a month : for through this orifico
the nutriment passes doAvn into the stomach. When
amono'st tiie Aphides, like wolves in a sheep-fold, they
mak(^ dreadful havoc: half a minute suffices them to
suck the largest; and the individuals of one species
clothe themselves, like Hercules, with the spoils of
their hapless victims.

Next in importance to these come the aphidivorous
flies (many species of Si/rphus^ F.), whose grubs arc
armed witli a singular mandible, furnished like a tri-
dent with three points, with which they^ransfix their
prey. They may often be seen laid at their ease under
a leaf or upon a twig, environed by such hosts of Aphi-
des, that tliey can devour hundreds without changing^
their station ; and their silly helpless prey, who are pro-
vided with no means of defence, so far from thinking of
escaping, frequently walk over the back of their enemy,
and put themselves in his way. When disposed to feed,
he fixes himself by his tail, and, being blind, gropes
about on every side, as the Cyclops did for Ulysses and
his companions, till he touches one, which he immedi-
ately transfixes with his trident, elevates into the air,
that he may not be disturbed by its struggles, and soon
devours. The havoc which these grubs make amongst
the Aphides is astonishing. It was but last week that
I observed the top of every young shoot of the currant-
trees in my garden curled up by myriads of these in-
sects. On examining them this day, not an individual
remained ; but bene.ith each leaf are three cr four full-

966 INDIRECT BENEFITS DERlViED FROM INSECT^.'

fed larvaB of aphidivorous flies, surrounded with heaps
of the skins of the slain, the trophies of their successful
warfare ; and the young shoots, whose progress had
been entirely checked by the abstraction of sap, are
again expanding vigorously.

But even these serviceable insects must yield the
palm to the lady-bird or lady-cow (Coccinella, L.), the
favourite of our childhood, which, as well as most of its
congeners, in the larva state feeds entirely on Aphi-
des^: and the havoc made amongst them may be con-
ceived from the myriads upon myriads of these little
interesting animals, which are often to be seen in years
when the plant-louse abounds. In 1807 the shore at
Brighton and all the watering-places on the south coast
was literally covered with them, to the gieat surprise
and even alarm of the inhabitants, who were ignorknt
that their little visitors were emigrants from the neigh-
bouring hop-grounds, Avhere in their larva state each
had slain his thousands and tens of thousands of the
Aphis, which under the name of the F/t/ so frequently
blasts the hopes of the hop-grower. It is fortunate that
in most countries the children have taken these friendly
Coccinellse under their protection. In France they re-
gard them as sacred to the Virgin, and call them Vaches
a Dien, Betes de la Vierge, &c. ; and with us, commi-
seration for the hard fate of a mother, whose " house
is on fire and children at home," ensures them kind

a The larvae ofsomc species of Coccincllae feetl, according; to Prof. D.
Reich, solely on the leaves of planls; as that of C hieroglyphica, which
eats the leaves of common heath {Erica vulgaris) after the manner of the
larvre of Lepidoptcra. Der Gescllsc/iaft nalurf. Fr. in Berlin Mag. &c.
ill. 294.

INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FRtJM INSECTS. 267

treatment and liberty. Even the hop-growers are be-
coming- sensible of their services, and, as I am informed,
hire boys to prevent birds from destroying- them. — If
we could but discover a mode of increasing; these in-
%cts at v/ill, we might not only, as Dr. Darwin has
suggested, clear our hot-houses of Aplddes by their
means, but render our crops of hops much more cer-
tain than they now are. Even without this know-
ledge, nothing is more easy, as I have experienced,
than to clear a plant or small tree by placing upon it
several larvae of Coccinellae or of aphidivorous flies
collected from less valuable vegetables.

Lastly, to close this list of imparasitic insectivorous
larvae, I may mention those of Latreille's genus Volti-
cclld (Sj/rphus,F.), so remarkable for their radiated
anus, which live in toe nests of humble-bees, braving
the fury of their stings and devouring their young;
and the ant-lion (3Jj/rmeleon) and Reaumur's impro-
perly named worm-lion (Rhagio, F.), whose singular
stratagems will be detailed in a subsequent letter,
both of which destroy great numbers of insects that
are so unfortunate as to fall into their toils.

The parasitic larvae, an extremely numerous tribe
must next be considered. These, with the exception
of a very few individuals, belong to the order Il7/me-
noptera, and were included by Linne under his vast
genus Ichneumon^ so named from the analogy between
their services and those of the Egyptian Ichneumons
( Viverra IcJme?nnon, L.), the former being equally im-
portant as destroyers of insects, with the latter as de-»
yourers of serpents, the eggs of crocodiles, &c.

The habits of the whole of this tribe, which properly

268 INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

includes a great number of distinct genera, are similar.
They all oviposit in living- insects, chiefly while in the
larva state, sometimes while pupje {Ich. Puparum^ L.);
and even while in the egg state {Ich. Ovulormn, L.) ;
but not, as far as is known, in perfect insects. The
eggs thus deposited soon hatch into grubs, which im-
mediately attack their victim, and in the end insure its
destruction. The number of eggs committed to each
individual varies according to its size, and that of tlie
grubs which are to spring from them ; being in most
cases one only, but in othevs amounting to some hun-
dreds.

From the observations hitherto made by entomolo-
gists, the great body of the Ichneumon tribe is princi-
pally employed in keeping within their proper limits
the infinite host of lepidopterous larvae, destroying,
however, many insects of other orders; and perhaps if
the larvae of these last fell equally under our observa-
tion with those of the former, we might discover that
fewexistuninfested by their appropriate parasite. Such
is the activity and address of the Ichneumonidctt^ that
fecarcely any concealment, except perhaps the waters,
can secure their prey from them ; and neither bulk,
courage, nor ferocity avail to terrify them from effecting
their purpose. They attack the ruthless spider in his
toils : they discover the retreat of the little bee, that for
safety bores deep into timber; and though its enemy
Ichneumon cannot enter its cell, by means of her long
ovipositor^ she reaches the helpless grub, which its
parent vainly thought secured from every foe, and de-
posits in it an e^^^ which produces a larva that destroys
a Plate XVI. Fig. L

INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 269

it*. Ill vain does the destructive Cecidomi/ia of the
wheat conceal its larvae within the glumes that so closely
cover the «>raiii ; three species of these minute benefac-
tors of our race, sent in mercy by Heaven, know how
to introduce their eggs into them, thus preventing the
mischief tliey would otherwise occasion, and saving
mankind from the horrors of famine''. In vain also
the Cynips by its magic touch produces the curious
excrescences on various trees and plants, called galls,
for the nutriment and defence of its progeny: the pa-
rasite species attached to it discovers its secret cham-
ber, pierces its wall however thick, and commits the
destroying egg to its oifspring. Even the clover-wee-
vil is not secure within the legumen of that plant; nor
the wire-Avorm in the earth, from their ichneumonidan
foes. I have received from the late Mr. Markwick that
of the former, and Mr. Paul has shown me the destroyer
of the latter, which belongs to Latreille's genus Proc-
totrupes. Others are not more secured by the repulsive
nature of the substance they inhabit ; for two species
at least of Ichneumon'^ know how to oviposit it in ster-
corarious larvae without soiling their wings or bodies.
The ichneumonidan parasites are either external or
internal. Thus the species above alluded to, which at-
tacks spiders, does not live within their bodies, but re-
mains on the outside"*; and the larva o^ Ichncirmon lu-
tens, which adheres by one end to the shell of the bulbi-
ferous egg that produced it, does not enter the cater-
pillar of Bombi/.v villica, the moth upon which it feeds *.

a Mareham in Linn. Trans, iii. 26. b See above, p. 1T2-173.

c /. Manducator, Panz. Fn, Germ. 72. 4. ; and another sp?cios allied to
J, DelietUttor, F., which [ have lijuard 1. Stcrcorator.

d Dff Get-r. ii. S63. e llji;!. S51-5.

270 INDIRECT BEiNEFlTS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

But the great majority of these animals oviposit within
the body of the insect to which they are assigned, frosn
whence, after having consumed the interior andbecome
pupae, they emerge in their perfect state. An idea of
the services rendered to us by those Ichneumons which
prey upon noxious larvae may be formed from the fact,
that out of thirty individuals of the common cabbage
caterpillar (the larva ofJPapilioBrassicce) which Reau-
mur put into a glass to feed, twenty-five were fatally
pierced by an Ichneumon (/. globotits ^). And if we com-
pare the myriads of caterpillars that often attack our
cabbages and brocoli with the small number of butter-
flies of this species which usually appear, we may con-
jecture that they are commonly destroyed in some such
proportion — a circumstance that will lead us thankfully
to acknowledge the goodness of Providence, which by
providing such a check has prevented the utter destruc-
tion of the Brassica genus, including some of our most
esteemed and useful vegetables.

The parasites are not wholly confined to the order
Hymeno'ptera : some insects of other orders, though
comparatively very few, destroy our little enemies in
the same way. Musca Larvarinn^ and another like it
described by De Geer, lay their eggs in caterpillars and
other larvae''; and Reaumur describes several other
flies of similar habits'^. The order also of Sirepsi-
ptera, lately established '\ appears to be altogether pa-
rasitic ; but with this difference from the IchtieumonidcB,
that these extraordinary animals are found only upon
Hymeno'ptera in their perfect state, and do not appear

a Reaum. ii.41!). b Dc Geer,i. 196, vi. U. 24.

c Reaum, ii, 440-4. A Linn. Trans. x\. 86,

I\i)IRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 271

to destroy the insects upon which they prey, but pro-
bably prevent their breeding. The species at present
known are formed into two genera, Xenos and Sfj/lops,
which are confined to Mel'Uta-^ and Vespa^.

The next description of insect destroyers are those
which devour tlieni in their^r*^ and last states. — No
beetles are more common after the summer is confirmed,
than the species of the genus Canl harts. Preysler in-
forms us that the grub o^C.fusca destroys a great many
other larvae', and I have observed the imago devour
these and also Diptera. — Linne has Avith justice deno-
minated the Cicindclce the tigers of insects. Though de-
corated w ith brilliant colours, they prey upon the whole
insect race; their formidable jaws which cross each other
are armed with fearful fangs, showing to what use they
are applicable ; and the extreme velocity with which
they can either run or fly, renders hopeless any attempt
to elude their pursuit. Their larvae are also equally
tremendous with the imago, having six eyes, three on
each side, seated on a lateral elevation of the head,
which look like those of spiders, and besidestheir threat-
ening jaws armed with a strong internal tooth, being
furnished with a pair of spines resembling somewhat
the sting of a scorpion, which stand erect upon the back
of the abdomen, and give them a most ferocious aspect''.
This last apparatus, according to Clairville, serves the
purpose of an anchor for retaining them at any height
iji their deep cells '^. Most of the aquatic beetles, at
least the Gyrini and Dytisci, prey upon other insects

a Kirby's Mon. Ap. Ang. ii. 110-113. b Rossi Fn. Etrusc. Mnnf.
e Preys. Bomisch. Insekt.b9. 61. d P^ate XVII. Flo. l-i-

e Entom. UclveHque, ii. 158.

97:2 INDIRECT BENEl'iTS DERIVED FJlOM INSECTS^

both in their first and final state. The larrte of the lat-
ter have long been observed and described under the
uame of Squillce, and are remarkable for having their
mandibles adapted for suction like those of He!i>erobius
and Myrmeleon : but they are not like them deprived
of a mouth, being- able to devour ])y mastication as
well as by suction. — Another tribe of tins order which
abounds in species, the Carabidce, is Universally insec-
tivorous. One of the most destructive is the grub of a
very beautiful species, an English specimen of which
Avould be a great acquisition to yovir cabinet, it being
one of our rarest insects*, I mean Ccdosoma Si/cophcmUu
This animal takes up its station in the nests o? Bo7nbi/x
processionea and other moths, and sometimes fills itself
so full with these caterpillars, which we cannot handle
or even approach w ithout injury, as to be rendered in-
capable of motion and appear ready to burst. Another
beautiful insect of this tribe, Carabus auroius, known
in France by the name of Virudgrier^ is supposed to de-
stroy more cockchafers than all their other enemies,
attacking and killing the females at the moment of ovi-
position, and thus preventing the birth of thousands of
young grubs ^. Lastly come the Staph^linidcEy many of
which prey upon insects as well as on putrescent sub-
stances. Mr. Lehmann tells us that some of them are
very useful in destroying the great enemy of our crops
of clover seed, Apionjlaxifemoraitim'^.

a One was taken at Al(!cbur£;h in Suffolk by Dr. Crabbe, the cele-
brated poet ; another by a young lady at Southwold, whicii is now intbc-
cabinet of W. J. Hooker, esq. ; and a third by a boy at ISorwich, craw l-
ing up a wall, which was purchased of him by S. Wilkin, esq.

b Latr, Hist. Nat. x. ISl.

e Linn. Trans, vi. 149, Kirhy, Ibid.'w, 42. 23.

INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 273

Amongst the devourersofinsects in their jper/ecf state
only, must be ranked a few of the social tribes, ants,
wasps, and hornets. The first-mentioned indefatigable
and industrious creatures kill and carry off great num-
bers of insects of every description to their nests, and
prodigious are their efforts in this work. I have seen
an ant dragging a wild bee many times bigger than it-
self; and there was brought to me this very morning
while writing this letter, an Elater quite alive and ac-
tive, which three or four ants in spite of its struggles
were carrying off. An observing friend of mine% who
was some time in Antigua, informed me that in that
island, a kind of ant which construct their nests in the
roofs of houses, when they meet with any animal larger
than they can carry off alive, such as a cockroach, &c.,
will hold it by the legs so that it cannot move, till some
of them get upon it and dispatch it, and then with in-
credible labour carry it up to their nest. Madam Me-
rian, in her account of the periodical ants mentioned to
you before'', and which is confirmed by Azara% notices
their clearing the houses of cockroaches and similar
animals ; and the Formica omnivora is very useful in
Ceylon in destroying the larger ant, the white ant and
the cockroach''.

You are not perhaps accustomed to regard wasps and
hornets as of any use to us ; but they certainly destroy
an infinite number of flies and other annoying insects.
The year 1811 was remarkable for the small number of
wasps, though many females appeared in the spring,

a R. Kittop, Esq. b p. 124.

e Voyages, \.\Sb. d Porciva.rs C'f]//crt, 307.

VOL. I. T

274 INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

scarcely any neuters being to be seen in the autumn*;
and probably in consequence of this circumstance, flies
in many places were so extremely numerous as to be
quite a nuisance. Reaumur has observed that in France
the butchers are very glad to have wasps attend their
stalls, for the sake of their services in driving away the
flesh-fly ; and if we may believe the author of Hector
St. John's American Letters, the farmers in some parts
of the United States are so well aware of their utility
in this respect, as to suspend in their sitting-rooms a
hornet's nest, the occupants of which prey upon the
flies vnthout molesting the family.

There are other devourers of insects in their perfect
state, the manners and food of whose larvae we are un-
acquainted with. St, Pierre speaks of a lady-bird, but
it probably belonged to some other genus, of a fine vio-
let colour, with a head like a ruby, which he saw carry
off" a butterfly''. Linne informs us that Clerus formica-
rius devours Anohium pertinax. A fly related to the
Panorpa communis appears created to instill terror into
the pitiless hearts of the tyrants of our lakes and pools,
— tlie all-devouring Libellulidcc •=. The Asili also, which
are always upon the chase, seize insects with their an-
terior legs and suck them with theif haustellum. The
cognate genus Dioctria, particularly!), celandica, prey
upon H^/menoptera, by some unknown means instan-
taneously killing the insect they seize. Many species
also of Empis, whose haustellum resembles the beak of

a Mr. Knight made the same observation in 1806, and supposes the
scarcity of neuters arose from the wa.'it of males to impregnate the fe-
males. Philos. Trans. 1807, p. 243.

b St. Pierre, Voy. 72. c Lesser, L. i. 263, note.

indihect benefits dehived from iNSECTi. 275

a bird, carry ofFin it Tipulidce and other smal] JDiptera;
and what is remarkable, yon can seldom take these in-
sects in coitu, but the female has a Tipula, some fly, or
sometimes beetle, in her mouth. Can this be to depo-
sit her eggs in, as soon as they are impregnated by the
male? or is it designed for the nuptial feast ? Even
Scatophaga stercoraria (Musca,li.) and sc?/balaria,Rnd
probably many others of the same tribe, feed upon small
flies, though their proboscis does not seem so well
adapted for animal as for vegetable food.

The most unrelenting devourers of insects appear to
be those belonging to my fourth division, which attack
them under everj/ form. These begin the work of de-
struction when they are larvae, and continue it during
the whole of their existence. — The earwig that haunts
every close place in our gardens, and defiles whatever
it enters, probably in some degree makes up for its ra-
vages by diminishing the number of other insects. The
cowardly and cruel Mantis, which runs away from an
ant, Avill destroy in abundance helpless flies, using its
anterior tibia", which with the thigh form a kind of for-
ceps, to seize its prey. The water-scorpions (Nepa,
JRanatra, and Naucoris)^ whose fore legs are made like
those of the Mantis, the water-boatman (Notonecta),
which always swims upon its back, and the Sigara, all
live by rapine, and prey upon aquatic insects. Some
of this tribe are so savage that they seem to love de-
struction for its own sake. One (Nepa cinerea) which
was put into a basin of water with several young tad-
poles, killed them all without attempting to eat one.

Those remarkable genera of the extensive tribe of
bugs (Cimicidce), which glide over the surface of every

276 INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

pool with such rapidity, being gifted with the faculty
of walking upon the water, the Hi/drometra, Velia, and
Gerris of Latreille, subsist also upon aquatic insects..
A large number of the same tribe plunge their rostrum
into the larvae of Lepidoptera, and suck the contents
of their bodies ; and Redwoius personatus, which ought
on that account to be encouraged, is particularly fond
of the bed-bug.

But of all the insects that are locomotive and pursue
their prey in every state, none are greater enemies of
their fellow tribes than the LihellulidoBy and none are
provided with more powerful and singular instruments
of assault. In the larva and pupa states, during which
they live in the water and prey upon aquatic insects,
they are furnished with two pair of strong jaws, covered
by a kind of mask armed with a pair of forceps or
claws, which the animal has the power of pushing from
it to catch any thing at a distance^. When an aquatic
insect passes within its reach, it suddenly darts forth
the mask, opens the forceps, seizes the unfortunate
victim, and brings it within the action of its jaws.

When they assume the imago state, their habits do
not, like those of the white ants, become more mild and
gentle, but on the contrary are more sanguinary and
rapacious than ever ; so that the name given to them
in England, "Dragon-flies," seems much more appli-
cable than " Demoiselles, " by which the French distin-
guish them. Their motions it is true are light and airy ;
their dress is silky, brilliant and variegated, and trim-
med with the finest lace : — so far the resemblance holds ;
but their purpose, except at the time of love, is always

a Reaum. vi. 400. t. SO— 38. Plate XVI. Fig. 5. a.

INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED TROM INSECTS. 27'7

destruction, in which surely they have no resemblance
to the ladies. I have been much amused by observing
the proceedings of a species not uncommon here, which
however is nondescript. It keeps wheeling round and
round, and backwards and forwards, over a consider-
able portion of the pool it frequents. If one of the same
species comes in its way, a battle ensues ; if other spe-
cies oi Lihellulidce presume to approach, it drives them
away, and it is continually engaged in catching Phry-
ganeffi and other insects (for the species of this tribe
all catch their prey when on the wing, and their large
eyes seem given them to enable them the more readily
to do this,) that fly over the water, pulling off their
wings with great adroitness and devouring in an instant
the contents of the body. From the number of insects
of this tribe which are every where to be observed, we
may conjecture how useful they must be in preventing
too great a multiplication of the other species of the
class to which they belong.

Lastly, under this head, not to dwell upon some other
apterous genera, devourers of insects, as the scorpion
and centipede, Phalangium and Solpuga, must be enu-
merated the whole world of Spiders, extremely nu-
merous both in species and individuals, which subsist
entirely upon insects, spreading with infinite art and
skill their nets and webs to arrest the flight of the heed-
less and unwary summer tribes that fill the air, which
are hourly caught by thousands in their toils ; one of
them {Aranea l3-guttafa Rossi), we are told, even at-
tacking the redoubted Scorpion^.

So much for the insect benefactors to whom it is given

aTbicbaut de Bcrneaud's Voyage to Elba, p. 31.

278 INDIRECT BENEFITS UEKIVED FROM INSECTS.

in charge to keep the animals of their own class within
their proper limits ; and I cannot doubt that you will
recognise the goodness of the Great Parent in provid-
ing such an army of counterchecks to the natural ten-
dency of almost all insects to incalculable increase. But
before I quit this subject I must call your attention to
what may be denominated cannibal insects^ since in spite
of those declaimers who would persuade us that man is
the only animal that preys upon his own species ^, a
large number of insects are guilty of the same offence.
Reaumur tells us, that having put into a glass vessel
twenty caterpillars of the same species which he was
careful to supply with their appropriate food, they ne-
vertheless devoured each other until one only survi-
ved**; and De Geer relates several similar instances'^.
The younger larvae of Calosoma S^cophanta often take
advantage of the helpless inactivity into which the glut-
tony of their maturer comrades has thrown them, and
from mere wantonness it should seem, when in no need
of other food, pierce and devour them. A ferocity not
less savage exists amongst the Mantes. These insects
have their fore legs of a construction not unlike that
of a sabre ; and they can as dexterously cleave their
antagonist in two, or cut off his head at a stroke, as the
most expert hussar. In this way they often treat each
other, even the sexes fighting with the most savage ani-
mosity. Rosel endeavoured to rear several specimens

a " Even Tyger fell and snllen Bear

Their likeness and their lineage spare.
Man only mars kind nature's plan,
And turns the fierce pursuit on Man !"

Scott's iJofcei^, canto iii. 1.
b Reaumur, ii. 413. c De Gear, i. 533. iii. 361. v. 400. vi.91.

INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 279

of M. religiosa, but always failed, the stronger con-
stantly devouring the weaker". This ferocious propen-
sity the Chinese children have, according to Mr. Bar-
row, employed as a source of barbarous amusement,
selling to their comrades bamboo cages containing
each a Mantis, which are put together to fight. You
will think it singular that both in Europe and Africa
these cruel insects have obtained a character for gen-
tleness of disposition, and even sanctity. This has
arisen from the upright or sitting position, with the
fore legs bent, assumed in watching for their prey,
which the vulgar have supposed to be a praying pos-
ture, and hence adopted the belief that a child or tra-
veller that had lost his road would be guided by taking
one of these pious insects in his hands and observing
what way it pointed. Mantis fausla, though not as
some suppose worshipped by the Hottentots, is yet
greatly esteemed by them, and they regard the person
upon whom it alights as highly fortunate''. A similar
unnatural ferocity is exhibited by Achela campestris^
of which having put the sexes into a box, I found on
examining them that the female had begun to make
her meal off her companion. — The malign aspect of
the scorpion leads us to expect from it unnatural
cruelty, and its manners fulfil this expectation. Mau-
pertuis put a hundred scorpions together, and a gene-
ral and murderous battle immediately began. Almost
all were massacred in the space of :. iew days without
distinction of age or sex, and devoured by the survi-
vors. He informs us also that they often devour their
own offspring as soon as they are born'^. Spiders are

a Rosel, iv. 96. b Thuuberg's Travels^ ii. 66.

c De Geer,vii. 335.

280 IxVDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

equally ferocious in their habits, fighting sanguinary
battles, which sometimes end in the death of both com-
batants ; and the females do not yield to the Mantes in
their unnatural cruelty to their mates. Woe be to the
male spider that after an union does not with all speed
make his escape from the fangs of his partner ! Nay,
De Geer saw one that, in the midst of his preparatory
caresses, was seized by the object of his attentions, en-
veloped by her in a web, and then devoured — a sight
which, he observes, filled him with horror and indig-
nation ^.

Such are the benefits which we derive from the in^
sects that keep each other in check. Here they are the
destroyers to which we are chiefly indebted : but we are
in another point of view under nearly equal obligations
to the destroyed; for they are insects, either wholly or
in part, that form the food of some of our most esteemed
fishes, and of birds that are not more valuable to us as
articles for the table, than as the songsters that enliven
our groves. But before proceeding to the details which
this view of the subject involves, I ought not to omit
pointing out to you that many quadrupeds, which
though not all of direct utility to us are doubtless of
importance in the scale of being, derive a considerable
part of their subsistence from insects.

The harmless hedgehog and the mole, to begin at
the lower end of the series, are both said to be insec-
tivorous''; the latter devouring large quantities of the
wire-worms. The greedy swine will root up whole
acres in search of the grubs of cockchafers, of which

a Dc Geer, vii. 180. b Bingley, ii. 374 .

INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 281

they are very fond ; and perhaps the good they do is
greater than the harm, if their attack be confined to
grass that having been undermined by these grubs
would soon die : they also dig up the larvae of the de-
structive Tettigonia septendechn, called the American
locust % on Avhich, when in their perfect state, the
squirrels are said to grow fat**. The badger, Lesser
informs us, will eat beetles ; and its kinsman the bear
has the character of being very fond of ants and of
honey ; which last is also said to be a favourite article
with the fox, who has sometimes the audacity to over-
turn bee-hives, and even to attack wasps' nests in
search of it. He will also eat beetles.

Sparrman has given an amusing account of the ho-
ney-ratel, ( Viverra mellivora,) which has a particular
instinct enabling it to discover bees, and attack them
in their entrenchments. Near sun-set the ratel will
sit and hold one of his paws before his eyes, in order
to get a distinct view of the object of his pursuit ; and
when, in consequence of his peering about in this
manner, he sees any bees flying, he knows that at this
time of the day they are making for their habitations,
whither he follows them, and so attains his end'.
Another species of Viverra ( V. prehensilis) is also re-
puted to be an eager insect-hunter. The young ar-
madillos feed on a species of locust ; but no quadruped
can with more propriety be called insectivorous than
the ant-eaters (Mj/rmecophaga), which, as their name
imports, live upon ants. The great ant-eater, when
he comes to an ant-hill, scratches it up with his long

a Biiigley, iii.27. b CoUinson in Philot. Titns: 17fi,'?.

t Spanman, ii. ISO.

282 iNDinr.CT benefits derived from insects.

claws, and then unfolds his slender worm-like tongue,
(which is more than two feet long-, and wet with sa-
liva,) and when covered with ants draws it back into
his mouth and swallows thousands of them alive, re-
newing the operation till no more are to be found.
He also climbs trees in search of wood-lice and wild
honey. Bats, as every one knows, are always flitting
about in summer evenings, hawking for insects : and
the Lemur and monkeys will also eat them.

Insects likewise afford a favourite kind of food to
many reptiles : the tortoise ; frogs and toads ; and li-
zards too of different kinds. St. Pierre mentions a
small and very handsome species in the island of Mau-
ritius, that pursues them into the houses, climbs up
the walls, and even walks over glass, watching with
great patience for an opportunity of catching them^
The common snake also is said to receive part of its
nutriment from them.

But to revert to insects as indirectly advantageous
to us, by furnishing food to fishes and birds, beginning
with the former.

Our rivers abound with Jish of various kinds, w hich
at particular seasons derive a principal part of their
food from insects, as the numerous species of the sal-
mon and carp genus. These chiefly prey upon the va-
rious kinds of Phryganeae, in their larva state called
case- or caddis-worms ; and in their imago may-fiies
(though this last denomination properly belongs only
to the Sialis lutaria, which generally appears in that
month,) and Ephemerae. Besides these, the waters
swarm with insects of every order, as numerous in

a St. Pierre, Foy. IS.

INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 283

proportion to the space they inhabit, as those that fill
the air, which form the sole nutriment of multitudes
of our fish, and the partial support of almost all.

Reaumur has given us a very entertaining account
of the infinite hosts of EpIitemerEe that by myriads of
millions emerge at a certain season of the year from
some of the rivers in France, which, as it is well worth
your attention, I shall abridge for you.

These insects in their first and intermediate state
are aquatic : they either live in holes in the banks of
rivers or brooks below the water, so that it enters into
their habitations, which they seldom quit; or they
swim about and walk upon the bed of the stream, or
conceal themselves under stones or upon pieces of
stick. Though their life, when they assume the per-
fect state, is usually extremely short, some being dis-
closed after sun-set, laying their eggs and dying before
sun-rise ; and many not living more than three hours ;
yet in their preparatory state their existence is much
longer, in some one, in others two, in others even
three years.

The different species assume the imago at different
times of the year; but the same species appear regu-
larly at nearly the same period annually, and for a cer-
tain number of days fill the air in the neighbourhood
of the rivers, emerging also from the water at a cer-
tain hour of the day. Those which Swammerdam ob-
served, began to fly about six o'clock in the evening,
or about two hours before sun-set ; but the great body
of those noticed by Reaumur did not appear till after
that time ; so that the season of different harvests is not
better known to the farmer, than that in which the

284 INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECT'S.

EphemeraB of a particular river are to emerge, is to
the fishermen. Yet a greater degree of heat or cold,
the rise or fall of the water, and other circumstances
we are not aware of, may accelerate or retard theii*
appearance. Between the 10th and 15th of August is
the time when those of the Seine and Marne, which
Reaumur described, are expected by the fishermen,
who call them manna : and when their season is come,
they say " the manna begins to appear, the manna fell
abundantly such a night;" — alluding, by this expres-
sion, either to the astonishing quantity of food which
the EphemeraB afford the fish, "or to the large quantity
offish wliich they then take.

Reaumur first observed these insects intlieyear 17S8,
when they did not begin to show themselves in numbers
till the 18th of August. On the 19th, having received
notice from his fisherman that the flies had appeared,
he got into his boat about three hours before sun-set,
and detached from the banks of the river several masses
of earth filled with pupsB, which he put into a large tub
full of water. This tub, after staying in the boat till
about eight o'clock, without seeing any remarkable
number of the flies, and being threatened with a storm,
he caused to be landed and placed in his garden, at the
foot of which ran the Marne. Before the people had
landed it, an astonishing number of Ephemerae emerged
from it. Every piece of earth that was above the sur-
face of the water was covered by them, some beginning
to quit their slough, others prepared to fly, and others
already on the wing ; and every where under the water
they were to be seen in a greater or less degree of for-
wardness. The storm coming on, he was obliged to

INDIIIECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 285

quit the amusing scene ; but when the rain ceased to
fall he returned to it. As soon as the cloth with which
he had ordered the tub to be covered was removed,
the number of flies appeared to be greatly augmented,
and kept continually increasing: many flew away, but
more were drowned. Those already transformed, and
continually transforming, would have been sufficient
of themselves to have made the tub seem full; but their
number was soon very much enlarged by others at-
tracted by the light. To prevent their being drowned,
he caused the tub to be again covered with the cloth,
and over it he held the light, which was soon conceal-
ed by a layer of these flies, that might have been taken
by handfulls from the candlestick.

But the scene round the tub was nothing to be com-
pared w ith the wonderful spectacle exhibited on the
banks of the river. The exclamations of his gardener
drew the illustrious naturalist thither : and such a sight
he had never witnessed, and could scarcely find words
to describe. " The myriads of Ephemerse," says he.
" which filled the air over the current of the river, and
over the bank on which I stood, are neither to be ex-
pressed nor conceived. When the snow falls with the
largest flakes, and with the Iteast interval between
them, the air is not so full of them as that which sur-
rounded us was of EphemeraB. Scarcely had I re-
mained in one place a few minutes, when the step on
which I stood was quite concealed with a layer of them
from two to four inches in depth. Near the lowest
step a surface of water of five or six feet dimensions
every way was entirely and thickly covered by them :
and what the current carried oflT was continually re-

286 INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

placed. Many times I was obliged to abandon my sta-
tion, not being able to bear the shower of Ephemerae,
which, falling Avith an obliquity less constant than that
of an ordinary shower, struck continually, and in a
manner extremely uncomfortable, every part of my
face : — eyes, mouth and nostrils were filled with them."
To hold the flambeau on this occasion was no plea-
sant office. The person who filled it had his clothes
covered in a few moments with these flies, which came
from all parts to overwhelm him. — Before ten o'clock
this interesting spectacle had vanished. It was re-
newed for some nights afterwards, but the flies were
never in such prodigious numbers. The fishermen allow
only three successive days for the great fall of the man-
na : but a few flies appear both before and after, their
number increasing in one case, in the other diminish-
ing. Whatever be the temperature of the atmosphere,
Avhether it be cold or hot, these flies invariably appear
at the same hour in the evening, that is, between a
quarter and half-past eight : towards nine they begin
to fill the air ; in the following half-hour they are in
the greatest numbers ; and at ten there are scarcely
any to be seen. So that in less than two hours this in-
finite host of flies emerge from their parent stream, fill
the air, perform their appointed work, and vanish. A
very large proportion of them falls into the river, when
the fish have their grand festival and the fishermen a
good harvest '^.

Under this head I may observe how much the patient
angler is indebted to insects for some of his choicest
baits, for the best opportunities of showing his skill, and

a Ileuum.vi. 479-487.

INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 287

for the most gratifying part of his diversion. The case-
worm and several other larvae are the best standing bait
for many fish. The larva of the Ephemera, there called
bait and bank-bait'', is much used in some parts of Hol-
land. The case-worms, and grubs (I suppose of flies)
from the tallow-chandlers are in request with us for
roach and dace ; and I am told by an acute observer of
these things, the Rev. R. Sheppard, that the larger
Scaraba}i and Melolontha? are good baits for chub ''. But
to be an adept in fly-fishing, which requires the most
skill and furnishes the best diversion, the angler ought
to be conversant in Entomology, at least sufficiently so
to distinguish the different species of Phryganea, and to
know the time of their appearance. — The angler is not
only indebted to insects for some of his best baits, but
also for the best material to fasten his hooks to, and
even for making his lines for smaller fish — the Indian
grass or gut as it is called, (termed in France Cheveux
de Florence,) which is said to be prepared in China from
the matter contained in the silk reservoirs of the silk-
worm, but according to Latreille is the silk vessel it-
self when dried''.

One of the most important ends for which insects

a Swamra. Bib. Nat. i. c. 4. lOfj. b.

b In Col. Venable's Experienced Angler, avast number of insects are
enumerated as good baits for fish, under the names of Bob, Cadbait, Can-
kers, Caterpillars, Palmers, Gentles, Bark-worms, Oak-worms, Cohworl-
ivorms. Flag-worms, Greenflies, Ant-Jlies, Butterflies, Wasps, Hornets, Bees,
lliimhle-bees. Grasshoppers, Dors, Beetles, a great brown fly that lives
upon the oak like a Scarabee — {Melolonlha vulgaris or solsfitialis?) and
Jlies {i. e. may-flies) of various sorts.

c Anderson's Recreations in Jgriculi. S^c., iv. 418. Latr. JJisi. Nat.
xiv. 154.

288 INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

were gifted with such powers of multiplication, giving
birth to myriads of myriads of individuals, was to fur-
nish the feathered part of the creation with a sufficient
supply of food. The number of birds that derive the
whole or a principal part of their subsistence from in-
sects is, as is universally known, very great, and in-
cludes species of almost every order.

Amongst the Accipitres the kestril (Falco Tinnuncii-
lus, L.) devours abundance of insects. A friend of
i^ine, upon opening one found its stomach full of the
remains of grasshoppers and beetles, particularly the
former, which he suspects constitute great part of the
food of this species. One of the shrikes, also, or
butcher-birds (Lanius Collurio) — and it is probable that
other species of this numerous genus may have the same
habits — is known to feed upon insects, which it first
impales alive on the thorns of the sloe and other spi-
nous plants, and then devours. If meat be given it,
when kept in a cage, it will fix it upon the wires before
it eats it. Lcwius Excnhitor also impales insects, but
Heckewelder denies that it feeds upon them. If he be
correct, the object of this singular procedure with that
species, maybe to allure the birds, which it preys upon,
to a particular spot^.

» According to Mr. Heckewelder ( TVans. Am. Phil. Soc.'w. 124.) 7>. Ex-
ctilritor, called in America the nine-killer, from an idea that it transfixes
nine individuals daily, treats in this manner Grasshoppers only; while
L. Collurio would scera to restrict isself chiefly to Scarabtei, two of which
S/Tr. Sheppard once observed transfixed in a hedge that he knew to be the
residence of this bird. Kugcllan even thinks that it impales only S. ver-
nalis, which he has often found transfixed, but never S. stercorarius.
(Schneid. Mag. 259.) I must remark, however, that I last summer ob-
served two humbU-hees quite alive, impaled on the thorns of a hedge near
mv house, which had most probably been so placed by this species, L, Ex'

INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 289

Amongst the Piece or Pies the Crotopkaga, called
the Ani, which is a native of Africa and America, lives
upon the locust and Icarus ricimis, which it picks in
great numbers from the backs of cattle; but none are
greater devourers of insects in this order than rooks.
It is for the grubs of Melolontha, Tipula, &c., that they
follow the plough ; and they always frequent the mea-
dows in which these larvae abound, destroying them in
vast numbers. Kalm tells us, that when the little crow
was extirpated from Virginia at an enormous expense,
the inhabitants would willingly have brought them
back again at double the price \ The icteric oriole is
kept by the Americans in their houses for the sake of
clearing them of insects; and the purple grackle is so
useful in this respect, that when, on account of their
consuming grain, the American farmers in New En-
gland offered a reward of threepence a head for them,
and they were in consequence nearly extirpated, in-
sects increased to such a degree as to cause a total loss
of the herbage, and the inhabitants were obliged to ob-
tain hay for their cattle not only from Pennsylvania but
even from Great Britain''. Of this order also is the
bee-cuckoo (Cuculus Indicator) so celebrated for its in-
stinct, by which it serves as a guide to the wild bees'
nests in Africa. Sparrman describes this bird, which
is somewhat larger than a common sparrow, as giving
this information in a singular manner. In the evening

cubitor hein^ r<arely found except in mountainous wilds. (Bewick's
Birds, i. 61.) And Prof. Sander states that on opening this bird (L. Coh-
lurio) he has sometimes found in its stomach nothing but grasshoppers, and
at others small beetles and other insects. N"tiirforscher Stk. xviii.234.
a Stillingfl. Tracts, 175. Linn. Tram. v. 105. note b.
b Bingley, ii. 287-230.
VOL. I. U

^90 INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

and morning-, which are its meal-times, it excites the
attention of th^ Hottentots, colonists, and honey-ratel,
by the cry oi cherr, cherr, dierr, and conducts them to
the tree or spot in which the bees' nest is concealed,
continually repeating- this cry. When arrived at the
spot, it hovers over it, and then alighting on some
neighbouring tree or bush, sits in silence, expecting to
come in for its share of the sjjoil, which is that part of
the comb containing the brood '*.— The wryneck and the
woodpeckers, the nut-hatch and tree-creeper, live en-
tirely upon insects Avhich they pick out of decayed trees
and out of the bark of living ones. The former also
frequents grass-plats and ant-hills, into which it darts
its long flexible tongue and so draws out its prey. The
woodpecker also draws insects out of their holes by
means of the same organ, which for this purpose is bony
at the end and barbed, and furnished w ith a curious
apparatus of muscles to enable them to throw it for-
wards with great force. Some species spit the insects
on their tongue, and thus bring them into their mouth.
In America, the tree-creeper is furnished with a box
at the end of a long pole to entice it to build in gar-
dens, which it is found to be particularly useful in
clearing from noxious insects.

Amongst tJie Grallw or Waders, many of the long-
billed birds eat the larvae of insects as well as worms :
and they form also no inconsiderable part of the food of
our domestic poultry, especially turkeys, which may be
daily seen busily engaged in hunting- for tliem, and, as
well as ducks, will greedily devour the larger insects,
as Melolonthae, and in North America Tettigoniae,

Sparrmr.n, ii. IS6.

INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 291

Mr. Shejjpard was much amused one day in July last
year with observing a cow which had taken refuge in a
pond, probably from the gad-fly, and was standing
nearly up to its belly in water. A fleet of ducks sur-
rounded it, which kept continually jumping at the flies
that alighted upon it. The cow, as if sensible of the
service they were rendering her, stood perfectly still
though assailed and pecked on all sides by them. The
partridge takes her young brood to an ant-hill, where
they feast upon the larvae and pupae, which Swammer-
dam informs us were sold at market in his time to feed
various kinds of birds ^. Dr. Clarke also mentions
having seen them, as well as the ants themselves, ex-
posed to sale in the market at Moscow as a food for
nightingales'*. Latreille tells us that singing birds are
fed in France with the larvae of Formica rnfa.

But the Linnean order oiPasseres affords the greatest
number of insectivorus birds; indeed almost all the
species of this order, except perhaps the Columbae and
the crossbill, and other Loxiae, more or less eat insects.
Amongst the thrush tribe, the blackbird, though he will
have his share of our gooseberries and currants, assists
greatly in clearing our gardens of caterpillars ; and the
locust-eating thrush is still more useful in the covmtries
subject to that dreadful pest : these birds never appear
but with the locusts, and then accompany them in asto-
nishing numbers, preying upon them in their larva
state. The common sparrow, though proscribed as a
most mischievous bird, destroys a vast number of in-t
sects. Bradley has calculated that a single pair having
young to maintain, will destroy 3360 caterpillars in a

a Bib. Nat. i. I^IG. b. Travels, i. 110.

u 2

292 INDlRECr BENtFlTS DERIVED IKUM IxNSECTS.

week*. They also prey upon butterflies and other
winged insects. The fly-catchers (Muscicapa) and the
warblers (Motacilla), which include our sweetest song-
sters, are almost entirely supported by insects ; so that
were it not for these despised creatures we should be
deprived of some of our greatest pleasures, and half
the interest and delight of our vernal walks would be
done away. Our groves would no longer be vocal ; our
little domestic favourites the red-breast and the wren
would desert us ; and the heavens would be depopu-
lated.— We should lose too some of the most esteemed
dainties of our tables, one of which, the wheat-ear, is
said to be attracted to our downs by a particular insect ''.
Lastly, insects are the sole food of swallows, which are
always on the wing hawking for them, and their flight
is regulated by that of their prey. When the atmo-
sphere is dry and clear and their small game flies high,
they seek the skies ; when moist and the insects are low
or upon the ground, they descend and just skim the
surface of the earth and waters ; and thus by their flight
are regarded as prognosticating fair or wet weather.
I was last summer much interested and amused by obr
serving the tender care and assiduity with which an old
s>v;allow supplied her young with this kind of food.
My attention was called to a young brood, that having
left their nest before they were strong enough to take
wing, were stationed on the lead which covers a bow
window in my house. The mother was perpetually
going and returning, putting an insect into the mouth
first of one and then of the others in succession, all
flutteringand opening their mouths to receive her gift.

a Reaura. ii. 4(lS. b Bingley, ii. 374.

INDIRECT BENEFITS DJERIVED FROM INSECTS. 293

She was scarcely ever more than a minute away, and
continued her excursions as long as we had time to
observe her. When the little ones were satisfied they
put their head under their wing and went to sleep.
The number of insects caught by this tribe is incon-
ceivable. But it is not in summer only that birds de-
rive their food from the insect tribes : even in winter
the pupae o^ Lepidoptera, as Mr, White tells us, are
the grand support of those that have a soft bill *.

I shall close my list of the indirect benefits derived
from insects, by adverting to the very singular apparent
subserviency of some of them to the functions of certain
vegetables.

You well know that some plants are gifted with the
faculty of catching flies. These vegetable Muscicapte,
which have been enumerated by Dr. Barton of Phila^
delphia, who has lately published an ingenious paper
on the subject'', may be divided into three classes:
First, those that entrap insects by the irritability of
their stamina, which close upon them when touched.
Under this head come Apocynum androsaeimfol'mm^
Asclepias syriaca and curassavica, Neriiim Oleander^
and a grass described by Michaux under the name of
JLeersia lenticularis. The second class includes those
which entrap them by some viscosity of the plant, as
many species of Rhododendi'on, Kaimia, liobinia, Silene,
Lt/thrwn, Populus halsamifera^ &c.*^ And under the

a White's Selborne, 106. b Philosoph. Mag xxxix. 107.

c Small flies are sometimes found sticking to the glutinous stigma of
some of the Orchideae like birds on a limed twig: (Sprcngel Entdecktes
Geheimniss, 21 — ) and art; are not iinfrequently detained in the milky
juice which the touch of even their light feet causes to exude from the
calyxes of the common garden lettu e. Ann. of Dot. ii. 590.

S94 INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

third class will arrange those which ensnare by their
leaves, whether from some irritability in them, as in
Dioncea, Drosera, &c., or merely from their forming
hollow vessels containing water, into which the flies are
enticed either by their carrion-like odour, or the sweet
fluid which many of them secrete near the faux, as in
Sarracenia, Nepenthes, Aquarium, &c., the tubular
leaves of which are usually found stored with putre-
fying insects. In this last class may be placed the com-
mon Dipsacus of this country, the connate leaves of
which form a kind of basin round the stem, that retains
rain-water in which many insects are drowned. To
these a fourth class might be added, consisting of those
plants whose flowers smelling- like carrion (Stapelia
hirsuta, &c.) entice flies to lay their eggs upon them,
which thus perish.

The number of insects thus destroyed is prodigious.
It is scarcely possible to find a flower of the Musci'
capcB AsclepiadecB that has not entrapped its victim,
and some of them in the United States closely cover
hundreds of acres together.

What may be the precise use of this faculty is not
so apparent. Dr. Barton doubts whether the flowers
that catch insects, l)eing only temporary organs, can
derive any nutriment from them ; and he does not
think it probable that the leaves of Dionaea, &c,, which
are usually found in rich boggy soil, can have any need
of additional stimulus. As nothing however is made
in vain, there can be little doubt that these ensnared
insects are subservient to some important purpose in
the economy of the plants which are endoAved with the
faculty of taking them, though we may be ignorant

INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 295

what that purpose is; and an experiment of Mr.
Knight's, nurseryman in King's Road, London, seems
to prove that in the case of Dionffia, at least, the very
end in view, contrary to Dr. Barton's supposition, is
the supplying tlie leaves with animal manure; for he
found that a plant upon whose lea\eshe laid fine fila-
ments of raw beef, was mucli more luxuriant in its
growth than otliers not so treated". Possibly the air
evolved from the putrefying insects with which Sarra*
cenia purpi'.rea is sometimes so filled as to scent the at-
mosphere round it, may be in a similar manner favour-
able to its vegetatjon.

Most of the insects which are found in the tubular
leaves of this and similar plants enter into them vo-
luntarily ; but Sir James Smith mentions a curious fact,
from which it appears that in some cases they are de-
posited l»y other species. One of the gardeners of the
Liverpool Botanic Garden observed an insect, from
the descnption one of the Sphegiadce (Sph€X, L.),
which dragged several large flies to the Sarracenia
adunca, and, having with some difficulty forced them
under the lid or cover of its leaf, deposited them in its
tubular part which was half filled with water: and on
examination all the leaves Avere found crowded with
■dead or drowning flies''. What was the object of this
singular manrouvre does not seem very obvious. At
the first glance one might suppose that, having depo-
sited 1:5 egg in the fly, it intended to avail itself of the
^ube of the leaf instead of a burrow. Yet we know of
^lo such strange deviation from natural instinct, which

a Elements of the Science of Botany, 62.
p Smith's Jntroiludion to Botany, 195.

296 INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

would be the more remarkable because the insect was
European, while the plant was American and growing
in a hot-house. And at any rate it does not seem very
likely that the insect would commit her egg to the tube
without having previously examined it ; in which case
she must have discovered it to be half full of w ater,
and consequently unfit for her purpose. — It is not so
wonderful that many large flies should, as Professor
Barton informs us, drop their eggs into the Ascidia
furnished with dead carcases : and it seems very pro-
bable that Dytisci oviposit in them ; for the Squilla
which Ruraphius found there was probably one of their
larvae, this being the old name for them*.

However problematical the agency of insects caught
by plants as to their nutriment, there can be no doubt
that many species perform an important function with
regard to their impregnation, which indeed without
their aid would in some cases never take place at all.
Thus, for the due fertilization of the common Barberry
(Berberis vulgaris) it is necessary that the irritable sta-
mens should be brought into contact with the pistil by
the application of some stimulus to the base of the fila-
ment ; but this would never take place were not insects
attracted by the melliferous glands of the flower to in-
sinuate themselves amongst the filaments, and thus,
while seeking their own food, unknowingly fulfil the
intentions of nature in another department''.

The agency of these little operators is not less in-
dispensable in the beautiful tribe of Iris. In these, as
appears from the observations of Kolreuter, the true

a Mouffet, 319.

h Smith's Tracts, 165. Kolreuter Ann. of Bol. ii. 9.

INDIRECT nENKFTTS DERIVED FROM I>fSE>CTS. 2^T

stigma is situated on the upper side of a transtierse
membrane {arcus eminens of Haller) which is stretched
across the middle of the under surface of the petal-like
expansion or style-flag, the whole of which has been
often improperly regarded as fulfilling the office of a
stigma. Now as the anther is situated at tlie base of the
style-flag which covers it, at a considerable distance
from the stigma, and at the same time cut off from all
access to it, by the intervening barrier formed by the
arcus eminens, it is clear that but for some extraneous
agency the pollen could never possibly arrive at the
place of its destination. In this case the humble'bee
is the operator. Led J^y instinct, or, as the ingenious
Sprengel supposes, by one of those honey-marks (Sa/i-
maal) or spots of a different colour from the rest of the
corolla, Avliich, according to him, are placed in many
flowers expressly to guide insects to the nectaries, she
pushes herself between the stiff style-flag and elastic
petal, which last, while she is in the interior, presses
her close to the anther, and thus causes her to brush
off the pollen with her hairy back, which ultimatelyj
though not at once, conveys it to the stigma. Having
exhausted the nectar she retreats backwards ; and in
doing this, is indeed pressed by the petal to the arcus
eminens ; but it is only to its lower or negative surface,
which cannot influence impregnation. She now takes
her way to the second petal, and insinuating herself
under its style-flag, her back comes into close contact
with the true stigma, which is thus impregnated with
the pollen of the first visited anther : and in this man-
ner migrating from one part of the corolla to another,
and from flower to flower, she fructifies one with pollen

2{JS INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED PROM INSECTS.

gathered in her search after honey in another. — Mr.
Sprengel found, that not only are insects indispensable
in fructifying the different species of Iris, but that
some of them, as 1. Xiphium. require the agency of
the larger humble-bees, Avhich alone are strong enough
to force their way beneath the style-flag : and lience,
as these insects are not so common as many others, this
Iris is often barren, or bears imperfect seeds =^.

Aristolochia Clematids, according to Professor Will-
denow, is so formed, that the anthers of themselves
cannot impregnate the stigma; but this important
affair is devolved upon a particular species of Tipula
{T.penmcornis). The throat of the flower is lined with
dense hair, pointing downward so as to form a kind
of funnel or entrance like that of some kinds of mouse-
traps, through which the insects may easily enter but
not return : several creep in, and, uneasy at their con-
finement, are constantly moving to and fro, and so
deposit the pollen upon the stigma : but Avhen the
work intrusted to them is completed, and impregna-
tion has taken place, the hair which prevented their
escape shrinks, and adheres closely to the sides of the
flower, and these little go-betweens of Flora at length
leave their prison''. Sir James Smith supposes that it
is for want of some insect of this kind that Aristolo-
chia Sipho never forms fruit in this country.

Equally important is the agency of insects in fructi-

a Clir. Conr. Sprengel Entdecktes Gehciinniss, S^c. Berlin 1793, 4(o.
qvioted iri Ann, of Bot. i.414.

b Gmndrissder Krdutcrkunde, 353. A writer, however, in the ylnnuat
Medical Review (ii. 400.) doubts the accuracy of this fact, on the ground
ll at he could never find T. penniconus, though A. Ckmatiiis has produced
fruit two years at Bromptou.

INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 299

%ing the plants of the Linnean classes Monoecia, Di-
oeciaand Polyganiia, in which the stamens are in one
^jlossoni and the pistil in another. In exploring- these
for honey and pollen, wliich last is the food of several
insects besides bees", it becomes involved in the hair,
with which in many cases their bodies seem provided
for this express purpose, and is conveyed to the ger-
men requiring- its fertilizing- influence. Sprengel sup-
poses that with this view some plants have particular
insects appropriated to them, as to the dioecious nettle
Catheretes Urticce, to the toad-flax Cathereles gravidas,
both minute beetles, &c. Whether the operations of
Cj/iiips Psenes be of that advantage in fertilizing the
iig-, which the cultivators of that fruit in the East have
long supposed, is doubted by Hasselquist and Olivier ''j
both competent observers, who have been on the spot.
Our own gardeners, however, will admit their obliga-
tions to bees in seUingihe'iY cucumbers and melons, to
which they find the necessity of themselves conveying
pollen from a male flower, when the early season of
the year precludes the assistance of insects. Sprengel
asserts, that apparently with a view to prevent hybrid
mixtures, insects which derive their honey or pollen
from different plants indiscriminately, will during- a
whole day confine their visits to that species on which
they first fixed in the morning, provided there be a
sufficient supply of it '^ ; and the same observation was

a I have fre<iuently observed Dermestesflavescens, Ent. Brit, eat both
the petals and stamens of Sicllaria Holosteum; and 3Ionlcl!tr will open the
Siiithers with the securiform joints of their palpi to get at the pollen,

b Hasselquist's Travels, 253. Latr. Hist. Nat. xiij. 204.
*^\\iM.Gnnidriss, 352.

300 INDIRECT BENEllTS DEHIVED FROM INSECTS.

long since made with respect to bees by our country-
man Dobbs^

Thus we see that the flowers which we vainly thirxk

are

" born to blush unseen,

And waste their fragrance on the desert air,"

though un visited by the lord of the creation, who boasts
that they were made for him, have nevertheless my-
riads of insect visitants and admirers, which, though
they pilfer their sweets, contribute to their fertility.

I am, &c.

a P/iil, Truns, xhi. 536.

LETTER X.
BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

DIRECT BENEFITS.

My last letter was devoted to the indirect advantag-es
which we derive from insects; in the present I shall
enumerate those of a more direct nature for which we
are indebted to them, beginning with their ase as the
food of man, in which respect they are of more im-
portance than you may have conceived.

One class of animals which, till very lately, have
been regarded as belonging to the entomological world,
I mean the Crustacea, consisting principally of the ge-
nus Cancer of Linne, are universally reckoned amongst
our greatest dainties ; and they who would turn with
disgust fi'om a locust or the grub of a beetle, feel no
symptoms of nausea when a lobster, crab, or shrimp is
set before them. The fact is, that habit has reconciled us
to the eating of these last, which, viewed in themselves
with their threatening claws and many feet, are really
more disgusting than the former. Had the habit been
reversed, we should have viewed the former with ap-
petite and the latter with abhorrence, as do the Arabs,
" who are as much astonished at our eatins' crabs, lob-
sters, and oysters, as we are at their eating locusts'^."

a Walpole in Clarke's Travels, Li. 187. Even Mr. Bojic speaks with
abhorrence of eating raw oysteib. WuHoni yingkr. Life, p. Ii2.

SOS* DIRECT BENEFITS DEllIVED FROM INSECTS.

That this would have been the case is clear, at least a^
far as regards the former position, from the practice in
other parts of the world, both in ancient and modern
times, to which, begging you to lay aside your English
prejudices, I shall now call your attention ; first ob-
serving by the way, that the insects used as food, ge-
nerally speaking, live on vegetable substances, and are
consequently much more select and cleanly in their
diet than the swine or the duck, which form a favourite
part of ours.

Many larvar that belong to the order Coleoptera are
eaten in different parts of the world. The grub of the
palm-weevil {Calandra Palmar U7n), which is the size of
the thumb, has been long in request in both the Indies,
^lian speaks of an Indian king, who, for a dessert,
instead of fruit set before his Grecian guests a roasted
worm taken from a plant, probably the larva of this in-
sect, which he says the Indians esteem very delicious
— a character that was con/'irmed by some of the Greeks
who tasted it ^. Madam Merianhas figured one of these
larvsB, and says that the natives of Surinam roast and
eat them as something very exquisite^. A friend of
mine, who has resided a good deal in the West Indies,
where the palm-grub is called Grw^rif, informs me that
the late Sir John La Forey, who was somewhat of an
epicure, was extremely fond of it when properly cooked.
The larvas also of the larger species of the Capricorn
tribe {Ceramhycidoi) are accounted very great delica-
cies in many countries ; and the Cossus of Pliny, which
he tells us the Roman epicures fattened with flour "^j

a ^lian. llhl. 1. xiv. c 13. quoted in Reaura. ii.343.
l> Ins. Sur. 48. c Hist. Nat. 1. xvii. c. 24.

DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INS^ECTS. 305

most probably beloiif^ed to this tribe. Linne indeed^
following; the opinion of Hay'', supposes the caterpillar
of the great goat-niolh, the anatomy of which has been
so wonderfully traced by the eye and pencil of the in-
comparable Lyonet, to be the Cossus. But there seems
a strong reason against this opinion ; for Linne's Cos-
sus lives most commonly in the willow, Pliny's in the
oak ; and the former is a very disagreeable, ugly and
fetid larva, not very likely to attract the Roman epi-
cures. Probably they w ere the larva; of Prionus cori'
arius, which I have myself extracted from the oak, or
of one of its congeners''. The grub of Cerambj/x da-
micornis, which is the thickness of a man's finger, is
eaten at Surinam, in America, and in the West Indies,
both by whites and blacks, who empty, wash, and roast
them, and find them delicious*^. Mr. Hall informs me,
that in Jamaica this grub is called Macauco, and is in
request at the principal tables. A similar insect h
dressed at Mauritius under the name of Mozdac, which

a Wisdom of God, 9th ed. SOT. Ray first adopted the (Ijjiiiion here
maintained, that the Cossi were the larvae of some beetle; but afterwards,
from observing in the caterpillar of Bombyx Cossus a power of retractins;
its prolegs within the body, he conjectured that the hexapod larva from
Jamaica, ( Prionus daniicornts?) given him by Sir Hans Sloane, might have
the same faculty, and so be the caterpillar of a Bombyx.

') Amoreux has collected the different opinions of entomologists on the
subject of Pliny's Cossus, which has been supposed the larva of Calandra
Palmarum by Geoffrey ; of Lueanus Cervus by Scopoli ;. and of Prionus
damicornis hy Drury. The first and last, being neither natives of Italy
nor nliabiting the oak, are out of the question. The larvae of Lueanus
CercHs avid Prionus coriarius, which are found in the oak as well as in other
tre€s, may each have been eaten under this name, as their difference
would not be discernible eitlicr to collectors or cooks. Amoreux, 154.

« Merian Ins>Sur.24,

304 DiHECM BENEFITS DliBrlVED FROM INSECTS.

the whites as well as Negroes eat greedily *. The larva
of C. cervicornis is, according to Linne, held in equal
estimation, and that of Lamia Tribulus when roasted
forms an article of food in Africa''. It is probable that
all the species of this genus might be safely eaten, as
well as many other grubs of Coleoptera ; and although
I do not feel disposed to recommend with Reaumur*^,
that the larvae of Oryctes nasicornis should be sought
for " dans les couches defiimier,'''' yet I think with Dr.
Darwin*^, that those of the cockchafer which feed upon
the roots of grass, or the perfect insects themselves,
which, if we may judge from the eagerness M'ith which
cats, and turkeys and other birds devour them, are no
despicable bonne bouche, might be added to our entrC'
mets. This would be one means of keeping down the
numbers of these occasionally destructive animals.

In the next order of insects, the Orthoptera, the gryl-
lus, or locust tribe, as tliey are the greatest destroyers
of food, so as some recompense they furnish a consi-
derable supply of it to numerous nations. They are
recorded to have done this from the most remote anti-
quity, some Ethiopian tribes having been named from
this circumstance Acridopkagi (locust-eaters) ^. Pliny
also relates tJiat they were in high esteem as meat
amongst the PS*thians^, Hasselquist, in reply to some
inquiries which he made on this subject with respect to
the Arabs, was informed that at Mecca, when there was
a scarcity of corn, as a substitute for flour they would
grind locusts in their hand-mills, or pound them in

a St. Pierre, Voy. 72. b Smeathman, 32. c Reaum. it. 344.

A Phyiol. 364. e Diod. Sic. 1. iii. c. 29. Strabonis Geog. 1. xvi. &c.
f Hist. Nat, I, xi.c. 29.

DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSf^CTS. 305

stone mortars ; that they mixed this flour with water
into a dough, and made their cakes of it, which they
baked like their other bread. He adds, that it is not
unusual for them to eat locusts when there is no fa-
mine ; but then tliey boil them first a good while in wa-
ter, and afterwaids stew them with butter into a kind
of fricassee of no bad flavour''. Leo Africanus, as
quoted by Bochart, gives a similar account"'. Sparr-
man informs us thattlio Hottentots are highly rejoiced
at the arrival of the locusts in their country, although
they destroy all its verdure, eating tliem in such quan-
tities as to get visibly fatter than before, and making of
their eggs a brown or coffee-coloured soup. He also
relates a curious notion which they have with respect
to the origin of the locusts — that they proceed from the
good will of a great master-conjuror a long way to the
north, who, having removed the stone from the mouth
of a certain deep pit, lets loose these animals to be food
for them'^. This is not unlike the account given by
the author of the Apocalypse, of the origin of the
symbolical locusts, ^vhich are said to ascend upon an
angel's opening the pit of the abyss''. Clenard, in his
letters quoted by Bochart, says that they bring waggon-
loads of locusts to Fez, as a usual article of food". Ma-
jor Moor informs me, that when the cloud of locusts
noticed in a former letter visited the Mahratta country,
the common people salted and ate them. This was an-
ciently the custom with many of the African nations,
some of whom also smoked them*^. They appear even

a Travels, 232. b Ilieroz. ii. 1. 14. c. 7. c Sparrtnan, i. 3G7.

•1 Rev. ix. 2, 3. e Hieroz. ii. 1. 4. c. 7. 492.

f Pliny, Hist. Nat. I. vi. c. 30.
VOL. I. X

306 DIRECT BENErlTS DERIVED FIlOM INSECTS.

to have been an article of food oiFered for sale in the
markets of Greece*; and on a subject so well known,
to quote no other writers, Jackson observes that, when
he was in Barbary in 1799, dishes of locusts were gene-
rally served up at the principal tables and esteemed a
great delicacy. They are preferred by the Moors to
pigeons; and a person may eat a platefull of two oi*
three hundred without feeling any ill effects. They
usually boil them in water half an hour, (having thrown
away the head, wings and legs,) then sprinkle them with
salt and pepper, and fry them, adding a little vinegar^.
—From this string of authorities you will readily see
how idle was the controversy concerning the locusts
which formed part of the sustenance of John the Bap-
tist, agreeing with Hasselquisf, that they could be
nothing but the animal locust, so common a food in the
East; and how apt even learned men are to perplex a
plain question, from ignorance of the customs of other
countries.

In the hemipterous order of insects, none are more
widely dispersed, or (if you will forgive me a pun) have
made oiore noise in the world than the Tetiigonia tribe.
From the time of Homer, who compares the garrulity
of age to the chirping of these insects'^, they have been
celebrated by the poets ; and Anacreon, as you well
know, has inscribed a very beautiful little ode to thera.
We learn from Aristotle, that these insects were eaten
by the polished Greeks, and accounted very delicious.

a Pliny, Hist. Nat. 1. vi. c. 30.

b Jackson's Travels in MarGcco,53. Tlie Rev. R. Sheppard caused soin<?
of the Locusta viridissima,F. to be cooked in the way here recommended,
only substituting butter for vinegar, and found them excellent,

c Traveli, 230. d Horn. Jl. y. 150-'J.

DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 3b7

The worm {lai^ca)^ he says, lives in the earth where it
takes its grov/th ; that it then becomes a Tetligometrd
{pupa), when he observes they are most delicious, just
before they burst from their covering. From this state
they change to the Tcttlx or Cicada, when the males at
first have the best flavour; but after impregnation the
females are preferred on account of their white eggs*.
Athenaeus also and Aristophanes mention their being
eaten ; and ^lian is extremely angry with tlie men of
his age that an animal sacred to the Muses should be
etrungj sold, and greedily devoured''. Pliny tells us
that the nations ofthe East, even the Parthians, whose
Wealth v/as abundant, use them as food*". The imago
ofthe Tetli^xonia septendccbn is still eaten by the In-
dians in America, who pluck off the wings and boil
them''. This ancient Greek taste for Tettigoniffi seems
now gone out of fashion, at least travellers do not no-
tice it : but perhaps if it were revived in those countries
where the insects are to be foundj for they inhabit only
warm climates, it would be ascertained that so polished
a people did not relish them without reason.

No insects are more numerous in this island than the
caterpillars o^ Lepidoptera : if these could be used in
aid ofthe stock of food in times ofscarcity, it might sub-
serve the double purpose of i'idding us of a nuisance,
and relieving the public pressure. Reaumur suggests
this mode of diminishing the numbers of destructive
caterpillars, speaking of that o^Nociua Gamma, which
did such infinite mischief in France in the year 1735 ^

a Arist. Hht. An. \. v. c. 30. b Vide Bochart, Hleroz. ii. 1. 4. c. 7- 49 1 .
c Hist. :-:,it. 1. xi. L.'IQ. »i P. O.llinsoa in Phil. Trans. 1763. n. je.

Renuui. if. \}'. 1.

X 2

308 DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

If however we were to take to eating caterpillars, I
should, for my own part, be of the mind of the red-
breasts, and eat only the naked ones^. But you will
see that there is some encouragement from precedent
to make a meal of the caterpillars which infest our cab-
bages and cauliflowers. Amongst the delicacies of a
Boshies-man's table, Sparrman reckons those caterpil-
lars from which butterflies proceed ''. The Chinese,
who waste nothing, after they have unwound the silk
from the cocoons of the silk-worm, send the chrysalis to
table : they also eat the larvae of a hawk-moth {Sphinx'^),
some of which tribe. Dr. Darwin tells us, are, in his
opinion, very delicious'' : and lastly, the natives of New
Holland eat the caterpillars of a species of moth of a
singular new genus, to which my friend Alexander
MacLeay, Esq., has assigned characters, and, from the
circumstance of its larva coming out only in the night
to feed, has called it Nj/cterobius.

The next order, the Neuroptera, will make us some
amends for the meagerness of the last, as it contains the
white ant tribe (Termes), which, in return for the mis-
chief it does at certain times, affbrds an abundant sup-
ply of food to some of the African nations. The Hot-
tentots eat them boiled and raw, and soon get into good
condition upon this food*". Konig, quoted by Smeath-
nian, says that in some parts of the East Indies the na-
tives make two holes in the nests of the white ants, one
to the windward and the other to the leeward, placing
at the latter opening a pot rubbed with an aromatic
herb, to receive the insects driven out of their nest by

a Ray's Letters, 135. b Sparrman, i.201,

«; Sir G. Staunton's Voy. iii. 246. d Pkytol. 364. e Sparrman, i. 3G3.

DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 309

a fire of stinking materials made at the former''. Tliiis
they catch great quantities, of which they make with
flour a variety of pastry, that they can afford to sell
cheap to the poorer people. Mr. Smeathman says he
has not found the Africans so ingenious in procuring
or dressing them. They are content with a very small
part of those that fall into tlie waters at the time of
swarming, which they skim off with calabashes, bring
large kettles full of them to their habitations, and parch
them in iron pots over a gentle fire, stirring them about
as is done in roasting coffee. In that state without sauce
or other addition they serve them up as delicious food,
and eat them by handfulls as we do comfits. He has
eaten them dressed in this way several times, and
thought them delicate, nourishing and wholesome,
being sweeter than the grub of the weevil of the palms,
{Calandra Palmarum,) and resembling in taste sugared
cream or sweet almond paste''. The female ant, in
particular, is supposed by the Hindoos to be endowed
with highly nutritive properties, and, we are told by
Mr. Broughton, was carefully sought after and pre-
served for the use of the debilitated Surjee Rao, prime
minister of Scindia chief of the Mahrattas*^.

The Hz/menoptera order also furnishes a fevi^ articles
to add to this head. I do not allude to the nectar which
•the bees collect for us. But perhaps you do not suspect
that bees themselves in some places serve for food, yet

a Captain Green relates that, in the ceded districts in India, tliey pl.-ice
the l)ranches of trees over the nests, and (hen by nieaus of smoke drive
out the insects; which attempting to fly, their vvin^s are broken oft' by the
mere touch of the branches.

b Smeathman, ,'?1, r Letters tvritlen in a Mahrattn Camp in 1800.

310 DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

Knox tells us that they are eaten in Ceylon*: — an un-
grateful return for their honey and wax which I would
on no account recommend. Piso speaks of yellow ants
called Cupid inhabiting- Brazil, the abdomen of which
many used for food, as well as a larger species under the
name of Tama-joura ^ ; which account is confirmed by
Humboldt, who informs us that ants are eaten by the
Marivatanos and Margueritares^ mixed with resin for
sauce. Ants, I speak from experience, have no unplea-
sant flavour ; they are very agreeably acid, and the taste
of the trunk and abdomen is different ; so that I am not
so much surprised as Mr. Consett seems to have been at
the avidity with which the young Swede mentioned by
hira sat down to the siege of an ants' nest*^. This author
states, that in some parts of Sweden ants are distilled
along with rye, to give a flavour to the inferior kinds
of brandy^. — Under this head may not improperly be
mentioned several galls the product of different species
of Cynips, particularly those found on some kinds of
Sage, viz. Salvia pomifera, S. triloba, and S. officinaliSy
which are very juicy like apples, and crowned with rudi-
ments of leaves resembling the calyx of that fruit. They
are esteemed in the Levant for their aromatic and acid
flavour, especially when prepared with sugar, and form
a considerable article of commerce from Scio to Con^
stantinople, where they are regularly exposed in the
markets The galls of ground-ivy have also been eaten
in France ; but Reaumur, who tasted them, is doubtful
whether they will ever rank with good fruits ^

a Knox's Ceylon, 25. b Piso, Ind. 1. v. c. 13. 291 .

c Travels in Sweden, 11 8. d Ibid.

e Smith's IntrocJ. to Bot. 316. Olivier's Travels,]. 139.

f Reautn. iii. 416.

DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 311

To the Diptera order, as a source of food, man can
scarely be said to be under any obligation ; the larva
o^Muscaputris, which is so commonly found in cheese,
being the only one ever eaten — a dainty as some think
it, of whom you will perhaps say with Scopoli, " qui-
bus has delicias non invideo^.^''

The order Aptera^ now that the Crustacea are ex-
cluded, does not much more abound in esculent insects
than the Diptera. The only species which have tempted
the appetite of man in this order are the cheeserniite
(Acarus Siro) — lice, which are eaten by the Hottentots
and natives of the western coast of Africa, who from
their love of this game, which they not only collect
themselves from their well stored capital pasture, but
employ their wives in the chase, have been sometimes
called Phthirophagi '' — and another tribe which you
will think even more repulsive than the last, I mean
spiders. These form an article in Sparrman's list of
the Boshies-man's dainties'^; and Labillardiere tells
us that the inhabitants of New Caledonia seek for and
eat with avidity large quantities of a spider nearly an
inch long (which he calls Aranea edulis), and which
they roast over the fire^. Even individuals amongst
the more polished nations of Europe are recorded as
having a similar taste; so that, if you could rise above
vulgar prejudices, you would in all probability find
them a most delicious morsel. If you require prece-
dents, Reaumur tells us of a young lady who when she
walked in her grounds never saw a spider that she did

a Scop. Camiol. 337. b Lat. Hist. Nat, viii. 93.

c Sparrinan, i. 201. A Voyage a la recheiche dela Peroust^ Ji. 240.

812 DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

not take and crack upon the spot ". Another female,
the celebrated Anna Maria Schurman, used to eat them
like nuts, which she affirmed they much resembled in
taste, exTcusing her propensity by saying that she was
born under the sign Scorpio''. If you wish for tlie au-
thority of the learned, Lalande the celebrated French
astronomer was, as Latreille witnessed*^, equally fond
of these delicacies. And lastly, if not content with
taking- them seriatim you should feel desirous of eating
them by handfuUs, you may shelter yourself under the
authority of the German immortalized by Tiosel'', who
used to spread them upon his bread like butter, observ-
ing that he found them very useful, " um sich auszul'
axireny — These edible Aptera are all sufficiently dis-
gusting : but we feel our nausea quite turned into hor-
ror when we read in Humboldt, that he has seen the
Indian children drag out of the earth centipedes eigh-
teen inches long and more than half an inch broad, and
devour them®.

After all I have said, you may perhaps still feel a
prejudice against insects as food; but I think, when
you recollect that Oberon and his queen Titania, that
renowned personage Robin Goodfellow, " with all the
fairy elves that be," number insects amongst their
choicest cates, you will no longer be heretical in this
article, but yield with a good grace ; and as a reward I
will copy out for you a beautiful poetical description
of Oberon's feast, which was lately pointed out to me

a Reaurri.ii. 34?. b Shaw, Nal. Misc. c Hist. Nat. \\\, '327.

d Rijsel, iv, 257. ^ Personal Travels^ \i. 20h»

DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 513

by a learned biblioo-raphical friend, John Crosse, Esq.
of Hull, in Herrick's Hesperides, 1658.

Sliapcot, to tliec the fairy state
I with discretion dedicate ;
Because thou prizest things tliat are
Curious and unfamiliar.
Take first the feast : these dishes gone,
We'll see the fairy court anon.
A little mushroom table spread ;
After short prayers, they set on bread,
A luoon-parch'd grain of purest wheat,
With some small glitt'ring grit to eat
His choicest bits with : then in a trice
They make a feast less great than nice.

But, all this while his eye is serv'd,

We nmst not think his ear was starv'd ;

But that there was in place to stir

His spleen, the chirring grasshopper,.

The merry cricket, puling fly,

The piping gnat for minstrelsy :

And now we must imagine first

The elves present, to quench his thirst,

A pure seed pearl of infant dew,

Brought and besweeten'd in a blue

And pregnant violet ; which done,

His kitling eyes begin to run

Quite through the table, where he spies

The horns of papery butterflies,

Of which he eats, and tastes a little

Of what we call the cuckoo's spittle :

A little furze-ball pudding stands

By> yet not blessed by his handg,

314 DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

That was foo coarse : bu^ ihen forthwith

lie ventures boldly on the pith

Of sugar'd rush, and eats the sag

And well-bestriitted bee's sweet bag ;

Gladding his palate with some store

Of emmets' eggs : what would he more ?

But beards of mice, a newt's stew'd thigh,

A bloated earwig and a fly ;

With the red-capp'd worm that's shut

Within the concave of a nut.

Brown as his tooth : a little moth

I^ate fatten'd in a piece of cloth ;

With wither'd cherries ; mandrakes' e^rs ;

Moles' eyes ; to these the slain stag's tears ;

The unctuous dewlaps of a snail ;

The broke heart of a nightingale

O'ercome in music ;—————

• This done, commended

Grace by his priest, the feast is ended. —

Having considered insects as adding to the general
stock of food, I shall next request your attention while
I detail to you how far the medical science is indebted
to them. Had I addressed you a century ago, I could
have made this an ample history. Amongst scores of
infallible panaceas, I should have recommended the
woodlouse as a solvent and aperient ; powder of silk-
worm for vertigo and convulsions ; millepedes against
the jaundice; earwigs to strengthen the nerves ; pow-
dered scorpion for the stone and gravel ; fly- water
for disorders in the eyes ; and the tick for erysipelas.
I should have prescribed five gnats as an excellent

DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 315

purge ; wasps as diuretics ; lady-birds for the colic and
measles ; the cockchafer for the bite of a mad dog- and
the plague; and ants and their acid I should hav«
loudly praised as incomparable against leprosy and
deafness, as strengthening the memory, and giving-
vigour and animation to the whole bodily frame*. In
short, I could have easily added to the miserably mea-
ger list of modern pharmacopoeias, a catalogue of ap-
praved insect-remedies for every disease and evil

" that flesh is heir to ! "

But these good times are long gone by. You would,
I fear, laugh at my prescriptions notwithstanding the
great authorities I could cite in their favour; and even
doubt the efficacy of a more modern specific for tooth-
ache, promulgated by a learned Italian professor'', who
assmes us that a finger once imbued with the juices of
Curculio antiodontalgicus (a name enough to give one
the tooth-ache to pronounce it) will retain its power of
curing this disease for a twelvemonth ! I must content
myself, therefore, with expatiaiing on the virtues of the
very few insects to which the sons of Hippocrates and
Galen now deign to have recourse. At the same time
I cannot help observing that their proscription of the
remainder may have been too indiscriminate. Man-
kind are apt to run from one extreme to the other.
From having ascribed too much efficacy to insect-re-
medies, we may now ascribe too little. Many insects
emit very powerful odours, and some produce extra-

a For this list of remedies, see Lesser, L. ii. 171-3.
b Gerbi. The eame virt?jes have been ascribed ict Cocdncllu scplan-
puncfafa, L.

316 DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

ordinary effects upon the human frame ; and it is an
idea not altogether to be rejected, that they may con-
centrate into a smaller compass the properties and
virtues of the plants upon which they feed, and thus
afford medicines more powerful in operation than the
plants themselves. It is at least worth while to insti-
tute a set of experiments with this view.

Medicine at the present day is indebted to an ant
(Formica bispinosa, 0\i\ . fungosa, F.) for a kind of lint
collected by that insect from the Bombax and silk cot-
ton-tree, which as a styptic is preferable to the puff-
ball, and at Cayenne is successfully used to stop the
blood in the most violent hasmorrhages* ; and gum am-
moniac, according to Mr. Jackson'', oozes out of a plant
like fennel, from incisions made in the bark by a beetle
with a large horn. But with these exceptions, (in
which the remedy is rather collected than produced by
insects,) and that of spiders' webs, which are said to
have been recently administered with success in ague,
the only insects which directly supply us with medicine
are some species of Lytta and Mylabris. These beetles
however amply make up in efficacy for their numerical
insignificance ; and almost any article could be better
spared from the Materia Medica than one of the for-
mer usually knoAvn under the name of Cantharides,
which is not only of incalculable importance as a ve-
sicatory, but is nov*' administered internally in many
cases with very good effect. In Europe, the only insect

a Latr. Hist. Nat. des Fourmis, 48. 134.

b Jackson's Marocco, 83. Some doubt however attaches to this state-
ment, from the circumstance of the figure which Mr. Jackson gives of
his beetle {Dibben Fashock) being cleaiJy a mere copy of that of Mr.
Bruce's Ziinbl

mnECT BENEFTlS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 317

used with this view is the Li/lta vesicatoria ; but in
America the L. cinerea ivndvittata (which are extremely
common and noxious insects, while the L. vesicatoria
is sold there at sixteen dollars the pound,) have been
substituted with great success, and are said to vesicate
more speedily and Avith less pain, at the same time
that they cause no strangury ^ : and in China they have
long employed the Mj/lahris Cichorei^ which seems to
have been considered the most powerful vesicatory
amongst the ancients, who however appear to have
been acquainted with the common Litta vesicatoria
also, and to have made use of it, as well as of Celonic^
aurala and some other insects mentioned by Pliny''.
Another species of Mylabris has been described by
Colonel Hardwickein i\\e Asiatic Transactions", plen-
tiful in all parts of Bengal, Bahar, and Oude, which
is fully as efficacious as the common Spanish fly.

But it is as supplying products valualde in the arts
and manufactures, that we are chiefly indebted to in-
sects. In adverting- to them in this view, I shall not
dwell upon the articles derived from a few species in
particular districts, and confined to these alone, such as
the soap which in some parts of Africa is manufactured
from a species of Carabus (C saponarius, Oliv.'') ; the
oil which Molina tells us is obtained in Chili from large
globular cellules found upon the wild rosemary, and
supposed to be produced by a kind ofCynips''; and the
manure for which Scopoli informs us the hosts of Ephe-

a Illiger i»/«^. i. 256. ^ Hist. Nul. \. xh. c. 4. cVol. v. 21,?.

d Oliv. Entom. iii. C9. t.in.f. 26. Coinparc PhilanihiopisI, ii, 2IU,
e Molina's Chili, i. 174.

3t^ DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FftOM INSECTS.

nierse that annually emerge in the month of June (torn
the Laz, a river in Carniola, are employed by the hus-
bandmen, who think they have had a bad liarvest un-
less every one has collected at least twenty loads*.

Still less is it my intention to detain you in consider-
in" the purpose to which in the West Indies and South
America the fire-flies are put by the natives, who em-
ploy them as lanterns in their journeys, and lamps in
their houses'* ; — or the use as ornaments to which some
insects are ingeniously applied by the ladies, who in
China embroider their dresses with the elytra and crust
of a brilliant species of beetle (Bupreslis vittata); in
Chili and the Brazils form splendid necklaces of the
golden Chrysomeles and Curculiones''; in some parts
of the continent string together for the same purpose
the burnished violet-coloured thighs of Scarabceus ster^
corarius, &c. "^ ; and in India, as I am informed by Major
Moor and Captain Green, even have recourse to fire*
flies, which they inclose in gauze and use as ornaments
for their hair when they take their evening walks. I
shall confine my details to the more important and ge-
neral products which they supply to the arts, begin-
ning with one indispensable to our present correspond-^
ence, and adverting in succession to the insects affbrd*
ing dj/es, lac, wax, honey, and silk.

No present that insects have made to the arts is equal
in utility and universal interest, comes more home to

a Eni. Carniol. 2C4.

b Captain Green was accustomed to put a (ire -fly under the glass ot
his vvaldi, when he had occasion to rise very early for a march, which
enabled him, without difficulty, to distinguish the hour.

c Molina, i. ITl. 285. «» Latr. Hist Nat. a, 143.

mRECT BENEFITS DERIVED fllOM INSECTS. 319

t)ar best affections, or is the instrument of producing
more valuable fruits of human wisdom and genius, than
the product of the animal to which I have just alluded.
You will readily conjecture I mean the fly that gives
liirth to the gall-tmt^ from which ink is made. — How
infinitely are we indebted to this little creature, which
at once enables us to converse with our absent friends
and connexions be their distance from us ever so great,
and supplies the means by which, to use the poet's Ian*
guage, we can

*' — give to airy nothing

A local habitation and a name I "

enabling the poet, the philosopher, the politician, the
moralist, and the divine, to embody their thoughts for
the amusement, instruction, direction and reformation
of mankind. — The insect which produces the gall-nut
is of the genus Ci/nips of Linne, but was not known to
bim or to Fabricius. Olivier first described it under
the name of Diplokpis gullce tinclorim^. The galls ori-
ginate on the leaves of a species of oak {Querciis infeC'
toria, Oliv.) very common throughout Asia Minor, in
many parts of which they are collected by the pom'er
inhabitants and exported from Smyrna, Aleppo, and
other ports in the Levant, as well as from the East In-
dies, whither a part of those collected are now carried*
The galls most esteemed are those known in commerce
under the name of blue galls, being the produce of the
first gathering before the fly has issued from the gall.
It will not be uninteresting to you to knov/, that from
these when bruised may occasionally be obtained per-

a Enc^clop, Insect, vi. 281. It isad better, perhap'i, a? compotiiid 'J'ri-
via! Nanies are bai.!. be called C(jnip-; Scriploruiii.

S20 DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED PROM INSECTS,

feet specimens of the insect, one of which I lately
procured in this way. The galls which have escaped
the first searches, and from most of which the fly has
emerged, are called white galls, and are of a very infe-
rior quality, containing less of the astringent principle
than the blue galls in the proportion of two to three "*.
The white and blue galls are usually imported mixed
in about equal proportions, and are then called galls in
sorts. If no substitute equal to galls as a constituent
part of ink has been discovered, the same may be said
of these productions as one of the most important of
our dyeing materials constantly employed in dyeing
black. It is true that this colour may be communicated
without galls, but not at once so cheaply and effectu-
ally, as is found ])y their continued large consumption
notwithstanding all the improvements in the art of dye-
ing. Other dyeing drugs are afforded by insects, the
principal of whicli are Kernies, the Scarlet Grain of Po-
land., Cochineal, Lac-lake, and Lac-dije, all of which
are furnished by different species of Coccus.

The first of these, the Coccus Ilicis, L., found abun-
dantly upon a small species of evergreen oak ( Quercus
coccifera,!^.) common in the south of France, and many
other parts of the world, has been employed to impart
a blood red or crimson dye to cloth from the earliest
ages, and was known to the Plicenicians before tlie time
of Moses under the name of Tola or Thola ()?^in,) to
the Greeks under that of Coccus (Koxkos), and to the
Arabians and Persians under that ofJier'mes or Alher-
mes ; whence, as Beckmann has shown, and from the
epithet vermiculatum given to it in the middle age?,

a Olivicr's Travels in E^iiyt, &c. ii. 64.

DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 321

when it was ascertained to be the produce of a worm,
have sprung the Latin coccinCus, the French cramoisi
and vermeil^ and our crimson and vermilion. It was
most probably with this substance that the curtains of
the tabernacle (Exodus xxvi. &c.) were dyed deep red
(which the word scarlet, as our translators have ren-
dered '•ity nj^bin, then implied, not the colour now so
called, Avhich was not known in James the First's reign
when the Bible was translated) — it was with this that
the Grecians and Romans produced their crimson ; and
from the same source were derived the imperishable
reds of the Brussels and other Flemish tapestries. In
short, previous to the discovery of cochineal, this was
the material universally used for dyeing the most bril-
liant red then known ; and though that pi-oduction of
the New World has, in some respects undeservedly %
supplanted it in Europe, where it is little attended to
except by the peasantry of the provinces in which it
is found, it still continues to be employed in a great
part of India and Persia''.

The scarlet grain of Poland {Coccus polonicus^ L.)
is found on the roots of the perennial knawel (Scleran-
thus perennis^ L. a scarce plant in this country, but

a The colour communicated by Kermes with alum, the only mordant
formerly employed, is blood red : but Dr. Bancroft found (i. 404.) that
t^ith the solution of tin used with cochineal it is capable of imparting a
starlet quite as brilliant as that dye, and perhaps more permanent. At
the same time, however, as ten or twelve pounds contain only as much
colouring matter as one of cochineal, the latter at its ordinary price is
the cheapest.

ij Bochart, Hierozoic. ii. 1. iv. c. 27. Beckmann's History of Inventions,
Engl. Traus. ii. lTl-205. Bancroft on permanent Colours, i. 393. See
salso Parkhurst's Heb, Lexicon under v^n and tob'.

VOL. I. y

32^ DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECtS.

abundant in the neighbourhood of Elvedon in Suffolk),
and was at one time collected in large quantities for
dyeing red in the Ukraine, Lithuania, &c. But though
still employed by the Turks and Armenians for dyeing
wool, silk and hair, as well as for staining the nails of
women's fingers, it is now rarely used in Europe ex-
cept by the Polish peasanti-y. A similar neglect has
atic-nded the Coccus found on the roots of Poterium
Sanguisorba, L.', which was used by the Moors for
dyeing silk and wool a rose colour : and the Cocctts
Uva-ursi, which with alum affords a crimson dye**.

Cochineal, the Coccus Cacti, L., is doubtless the most
valuable product for which the dyer is indebted to in-
sects, and with the exception perhaps of indigo the most
important of dyeing materials. Though the Spaniards
found it employed by the natives of Mexico, where
alone it is cultivated, on their arrival in that country
in 1518, its true nature was not accurately ascertained
for nearly two centuries afterwards. Acosta indeed as
early as 1530, and Herrara and Hernandez subsequent-
ly, had stated it to be an insect. But led apparently
by its external appearance, notwithstanding the con-
jectures of Lister and assertions of Pere Plumier to
the contrary, it was believed by Europeans in general
to be the seed of a plant, until Hartsoeker in 1694,
Leeuwenhoek and De la Hire in 1704, and Geoffroy,
ten years later, by dissections and microscopical ob-
servations incontrovertibly proved its real origin*^.

This insect, which comes to us in the form of a red-
dish shrivelled grain covered with a white powder or

a liai. Hht. Plant, i, 401. b Bancroft, t. 401.

c Bancroft, i. 413. Keauin. iv. 88.

DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 393

bloom, feeds on a particular kind of Indian fig, called
in Mexico, where alone cochineal is produced in any
quantity. Nopal, which has always been supposed to
be the Cactus cochmilifer, L., but according to Hum-
boldt is unquestionably a distinct species, which bears
fruit internally wliite.

Cochineal is chiefly cultivated in the intendency of
Oaxaca ; and some plantations contain 50 or 60,000
nopals in lines, each being kept about four feet high
for more easy access in collecting the dye. The culti-
vators prefer the most prickly varieties of the plant,
as affording protection to the cochineal from insects; to
prevent which from depositing their eggs in the flower
or fruit, both are carefully cut off. The greatest quan-
tity, however, of cochineal employed in commerce, is
produced in small nopaleries belonging to Indians of
extreme poverty, called Nopaleros. They plant their
nopaleries in cleared ground on the slopes of mountains
or ravines two or three leagues distant from their vil"
lages ; and when properly cleaned, the plants are in
a condition to maintain the cochineal in the third year.
As a stock, the proprietor in Aptil or May purchases
branches or joints of the Tuna de Castilla, laden with
small cochineal insects recently hatched (Semilla).
These branches, which may be bought in the market of
Oaxaca for about three francs (2s. 6d.) the hundred,
are kept for twenty days in the interior of their huts,
and then exposed to the open air under a shed, where
from their succulency they continue to live for several
months. In August and September the mother cochi-
neal insects, now big with young, are placed in nests

Y 2

324 DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS'.

made of a species of Tillandsia called Pa^r/^e, which ar^
distributed upon the nopals. In about four months the
first gathering, yielding twelve for one, may be made,
which in the course of the year is succeeded by two
more profitable harvests. This period of sowing and
harvest refers chiefly to the districts of Sola and Zi-
matlan. In colder climates the semilla is not placed
upon the nopals until October or even December, when
it is necessary to shelter the young insects by covering
the nopals with rush mats, and the harvests are pro-
portionably later and unproductive. In the immediate
vicinity of the town of Oaxaca the Nopaleros feed their
cochineal insects in the plains from October to April,
and at the beginning of the remaining months, during
which it rains in the plains, transport them to their
plantations of nopals in the neighbouring mountains,
where the weather is more favourable.

Much care is necessary in the tedious operation of
gathering the cochineal from the nopals, which is per-
formed with a squirrel or stag's tail by the Indian wo-
men, who for this purpose squat down for hours toge-
ther beside one plant ; and notwithstanding the high
price of the cochineal, it is to be doubted if the culti-
vation would be profitable were the value of labour
more considerable.

The cochineal insects are killed either by throwing
them into boiling water ; by exposing them in heaps to
the sun; or by placing them in the ovens (Temazealli}
used for vapour-baths. The last of these methods,,
which is least in use, preserves the whitish powder on
the body of the cochineal, which being thus less subject

DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 325

to the adulterations so often practised by the Indians,
bears a higher price both in America and Europe'^.

The quantity at present annually exported from
South America is said by Humboldt to be 32,000 arro-
bas, there worth 500,040/. sterling'' — a vast amount to
arise from so small an insect, and well calculated to
show us the absurdity of despising any animals on ac-
count of their minuteness. So important is the acqui-
sition of this insect (of which the Spanish got^ernment
is extremely jealous) regarded, that the Court of Di-
rectors of the East India Company have offered a re-
ward of 6000/. to any one who shall introduce it into
India, where hitherto the Company have only succeeded
in procuring from Brazil the wild kind producing the
sylvestre cochineal, which is of very inferior value.

Lac is the produce of an insect formerly supposed to
be a kind of ant or bee*^, but now ascertained to be a
species of Coccus, whose history will be adverted to
when I come to speak of the secretions of insects; and
it is collected from various trees in India, where it is
found so abundantly, that, were the consumption ten
times greater than it is, it could be readily supplied.
This substance is made use of in that country in the
manufacture of beads, rings, and other female orna-
ments. Mixed with sand it forms grind-stones ; and
added to lamp- or ivory-black, being first dissolved in
water with the addition of a little borax, it composes
an ink not easily acted upon when dry by damp or

a Humboldt's Political Essay on New Spain, iit. 72-9.

b Ibid. iii. 64. — Dr. Bancroft estimates the present annual consump-
tion of cochineal iu Great Britain at about 751) ba^s, or 150,0001bs.— .
^orth at the present price 375,000?. c Lesser, L. ii. J 65,

326 DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FllOM INSECTS.

water. In this country, where it is distinguished by the
names slick-lac when in its native state un separated
fi'om the twigs to which it adheres; seed-lac when se-
parated, pounded, and the greater part of the colour-
ing matter extracted hy water ; lump-lac when melted
and made into cakes ; and shell-lac when strained and
formed into transparent laminae ; — it has hitherto been
chiefly employed in the composition of varnishes, ja-
panned ware and sealing-wax ; but within these few
years it has been applied to a still more important pur-
pose, originally suggested by Dr. Roxburgh — that of a
substitute for cochineal in dyeing scarlet. The first
preparations from it with this view were made in con-
sequence of a hint from Dr. Bancroft, and large quan-
tities of a substance termed lac-lake, consisting of the
colouring matter of stick-lac precipitated from an al-
kaline lixivium by alum, were manufactured at Cal-
cutta and sent to this country, where at first the con-
sumption was so considerable, that in the three years
previous to 1810 Dr. Bancroft states that the sales of
it at the India House equalled in point of colouring
matter half a million of pounds w eight of cochineal.
More recently, however, a new preparation of lac co-
lour, under the name of lac-dye, has been imported
from India, which has been substituted for the lac-lake,
and with such advantage, that the East India Company
are said to have saved in a few jnonths 14,000/. in the
purchase of scarlet cloths dyed with this colour and co-
chineal conjointly, and without any inferiority in the
colour obtained^.

Some other insects besides the Cocci afford dyes.

a Bancroft on pciniaiu.nl Colours, ii. 20. 49.

DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. S27

Reaumur tells us, that in the Levant, Persia, and China,
they use the galls of a particular species of Aphis for
dyeing silk crimson, which he thinks might lead us to
try experiments with those of our own country ^. That
dyes might be thus obtained seems probable from an
observation of Linne's, in his Lapland Tour, upon the
galls produced by ^/?/z«,y Pint on the extremities of the
leaves of the spruce-fir, whicli, he informs us, when
arrived at maturity burst asunder, and discharge an
orange-coloured powder which stains the clothes'* ; and
Mr. Sheppard confirms this observation, the galls of
this Aphis abounding upon fir-trees in his garden. In
fact, we are told that Terminalia citrina, a tree common
in India, yields a species of galls, the product of an in-
sect, which are sold in every market, being one of the
most useful dyeing drugs known to the natives, who dye
their best and most durable yellow with them''. A species
of mite {Trombidium tinctorium — Acarus^ L.), a native
of Guinea and Surinam, is also employed as a dye ; and
it would be worth while to try whether our T. holose-
riceum, so remarkable for the dazzling brilliancy of its
crimson and the beautiful velvet texture of its down,
which seems nearly related to T. tinctorium, would not
also afford a valuable tincture. It is not likely, per-
haps, that many better and cheaper dyes than we now
possess can be obtained from insects ; but Reaumur has
suggested that water-colours of beautiful tints, not
otherwise easily obtainable, might be procured from
the excrements of the larvaB of the common clothes-
moth, which retain the colour of the wool they have

a Reaum. iii. Preface, \xx\. b Lack. Lapp. i. 258.

c Trans, of the Hoc. of Jrl", xxiii. 411.

328 DIRECT BENEFITS DBIIIVED FROM INSECTS.

eaten unimpaired in its lustre, and mix very well with
water. To get a fine red, yellow, blue, green, or any
other colour or shade of colom, we should merely have
to feed our larvae with cloth of that tint^.

Wax, so valuable for many minor purposes, and
deemed with us so indispensable to the comfort of the
great, is of still more importance in those parts of Eu-
rope and America in which it forms a considerable
branch of trade and manufacture, as an article of ex-
tensive use in the religious ceremonies of the inhabi-
tants. Humboldt informs us, that not fewer than 25,000
arrobas, value upwards of 83,000/., are annually exr
ported from Cuba to New Spain, where the quantity
consumed in the festivals of the Church is immense
even in the smallest villages ; and that the total export
of the same island in 1803 was not less than 42,670 ar-
robas, worth upwards of 130,000/. ^ Nearly tlie whole
of the wax employed in Europe, and by far the greater
part of that consumed in America, is the produce of
the common hive-bee; but in the latter quarter of the
globe a quantity by no means trifling is obtained from,
various wild species. According to Don F. de Azara,
the inhabitants of Santiago del Estero gather every
year not less than 14,000 pounds of a whitish w ax from
the trees of Chaco*^.

In China wax is also produced by another insect,
which from the description of it by the Abbe Grosier
seems to be a species of Coccus. With this insect the
Chinese stock the two kinds of tree {Kun-la-chu and
Choni-la-chu) on which alone it is found, and which

a Reaum. iii. 95. b Foliiical Esi.ay, iii. 62.

c Voyage danf VAniir. Mcrid. i. 162.

DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 329

always afterwards retain it. Towards the beginning of
winter small tumours are perceived, which increase
until as big as a walnut. These are the nests (abdor
mens of the females) filled with the eggs that are to
give birth to the Cocci, which when hatched disperse
themselves over the leaves, and perforate the bark un-:
der which they retire. The wax (called Pe-la, white
wax, because so by nature,) begins to appear about the
middle of June. At first a few filaments like fine soft wool
are perceived, rising from the bark round the body of
the insect, and these increase more and more until the
gathering, which takes place before the first hoar frosts
in September. The wax is carried to court, and re-
served for the emperor, the princes, and c|uef manda-
rins. If an ounce of it be added to a pound of oil, it
forms a wax little inferior to that made by bees. The
physicians employ it in several diseases; and the Chi-
nese, when about to speak in public and assurance is
necessary, previously eat an ounce of it to prevent
swoonings^; a use of it for which happily our less difl[i-
dent orators have no call. This account is in the main
confirmed by Geomelli Careri, except that he calls the
wax-insect a worm which bores to the pith of certain
trees ; and says that it produces a sufficient supply for
the whole empire, the different provinces of which arc
furnished from Xantung, where it is bred in the great-
est perfection, with a stock of eggs'". A very different
origin, however, is assigned to the Pe-la by Sir George
Staunton, who informs us that it is produced by a spe-
cies of Cicada (C. limbala^, which in its larva state
feeds upon a plant like the privet, strewing upon the

'I Groiier's Chinuy i. 439. b Qi;):od in Southey's Thalaba, ii. 166.

330 DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

stem a powder, which when collected forms the wax '.
But as he merely states that this powder was " sup-
posed^'' to form it, and does not himself appear to have
made the experiment of dissolving it in oil; and as no
Cicada yet known produces any similar secretion ; it
ivS most probable that his information was incorrect,
and that Grosier's statement is the true one.

This probability is nearly converted into certainty by
the fact that many Aphides and Cocci secrete a wax-
like substance, and that a kind of wax very analogous
to the Pe-la, and of the same class with bees-wax, only
containing more carbon, is actually produced in India
by a nondescript species of Coccus remarkable for pro-
viding itself with a small quantity of honey like our
bees. This substance, for specimens of which I am in-
debted to the kindness of Sir Joseph Banks, was first
noticed by Dr. Anderson, and called by him white-lac.
It could be obtained in any quantity from the neigh-
bourhood of Madras, and at a much cheaper rate than
bees-wax; but the experiments of Dr. Pearson do not
afford much ground for supposing that it can be advan-
tageously employed in making candles''. De Azara
speaks of a firm white wax apparently similar, and tlie
produce of an insect of the same tribe, which is collect-
ed in South America in the form of pearl-like globules
from the small braaclies of the Quubiram?/\ a small
shrub two or three feet high '".

Insects in some countries not only furnish the natives
with wax but with resin, which is used instead of tar
for their ships. Molina informs us that, at Coquimbo

a Emhttfsy lioCkina, i. 40(>. b Phil. Trans. H9!,xxi.

c Voyage dans VAmtr Mcriil. i. 165.

DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 331

in Chili, resin, either the product of an insect or the
consequence of an insect's biting off the buds of a par-
ticular species of Origanum, is collected in large quan-
tities. The insect in question is a small smooth red
caterpillar about half an inch long, which changes into
a yellowish moth with black stripes upon the wings
{JPhal. cerrtnV/, Molina). Early in the spring vast
numbers of these caterpillars collect on the branches
of the Chila^ where they form their cells of a kind of soft
white wax or resin, in which they undergo their trans-
formations. This wax, which is at first very white,
but by degrees becomes yellow and finally brown, is
collected in autumn by the inhabitants, who boil it in
water, and make it up into little cakes for market*.

^owf J/, another well-known product of insects, has
lost much of its importance since the discovery of sugar;
yet at the present day, whether considered as a delicious
article of food, or the base of a wholesome vinous beve-
rage of home manufacture, it is of no mean value even
in this country ; and in many inland parts of Europe,
where its saccharine substitute is much dearer than with
us, few articles ofrural economy, not of primary impor-
tance, would be dispensed with more reluctantly. In
the Ukraine some of the peasants have 4 or 500 bee-
hives, and makemoreprofitof their bees than of corn'';
and in Spain the number of bee-lilves is said to be incre-
dible ; a single parish priest was known to possess 5000'^.

The domesticated or hive-bee, to which we are in-
debted for this article, is the same according to Latreille

a Molina's Chili, i. ITl.

I) Communications io the Board of JgriouU. vii. 286,

c Mills on Bees, 11.

332 DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

in every part of Europe, except in some districts of
Italy, where a different species (Apis ligustica of Spi-.
uola) is kept — the same probably that is cultivated in
the Morea and the isles of the Archipelago ^. Honey is
obtained, however, from many other species both wild
and domestic. What is called rock honey in some parts
of America, which is as clear as water and very thin,
is the produce of wild bees, which suspend their clus-
ters of thirty or forty waxen cells, resembling a bunch
of grapes, to a rock '' : and in South America large quan^
tities are collected from the nests built in trees by Tri-
gona ylmalthea, and other species of this genus recently
separated from Apis'' ; under which probably should be
included the Bamburos, whose honey, honest Robert
Knox informs us, whole towns in Ceylon go into the
Avoods to gather''. According to Azara, one of the
chief articles of food of the Indians who live in the
woods of Paraguay is wild honey ^. Captain Green
observes that, in the island of Bourbon, where he was
stationed for some time, there is a bee which produces
a kind of honey much esteemed there. It is quite of a
green colour, of the consistency of oil, and to the usual
sweetness of honey superadds a certain fragrance. It
is called green honey, and is exported to India, where
it bears a high price. One of the species that has pro-
bably been attended to ages before our hive-bee, is
Apis fasciala of Latreille, a kind so extensively culti-
vated in Egypt, that Niebuhr states he fell in upon the

a Latr. in Humboldt and Bonpland, Recueil (V Observations dc Zoologie^
&.C. (Paris, 1805 J 300.

b Hill in Sieammerdam, i. 181 , note. ♦= Latr. ubi supr. 3Q3.

d Knox's Ceylon, 25. e Votj. dans rjmer. Merid. i, 162.

BlRECt BENEFITS DERIVED FROM iJfSECtS. 3SB

Kile, between Cairo and Damietta, with a convoy of
4000 hives, which were transporting- from a region
where the season for flowers had passed, to one where
the spring- was later''. Columella says that the Greeks
in like manner sent their bee-hives every year from
Achaia into Attica; and a similar custom is not Un*
known in Italy, and even in this country in the neigh-
bourhood of heaths. In Madagascar, according to La-
treille, the inhabitants have domesticated ylpis unicolor;
A. indica is cultivated in India at Pondicherry and in
Bengal; A. Adansoniij Latr. at Senegal; and Fabri-
cius thinks that A. acraensis {Centris^ Syst. Piez.) ht'
boriosa, and others in the East and West Indies, might
be domesticated with greater advantage than even
A. mellifica".

The last, and doubtless the most valuable, product of
insects to which I have to advert is Silk. To estimate
justly the importance of this article, it is not sufficient
to view it as an appendage of luxury unrivalled foir
richness, lustre, and beauty ; and without wliich courts
would lose half their splendour. We must considiCr it^
what it actually is, as the staple article of cultivation in
many large provinces in the South of Europe, amongst
the inhabitants of which the prospect of a deficient crop
causes as great alarm as a scanty harvest of grain with
us; and after giving employment to tens of thousands
in its first production and transportation, as furnishing
subsistence to hundreds of thousands more in its final
manufacture ; and thus becoming one of the most im-
portant wheels that give circuliation to national wealth,

a Latr. Hist. Nat. xiv. 20.

b Latr. in Humboldt and Uonplaiid, litctail, &c. SQ^.

c Forlesungeii,32i.

334 DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

But Ave must not confine our view to Europe. When
silk was so scarce in this country, that James the First,
while king- of Scotland, was forced to beg of the Earl of
Mar the loan of a pair of silk stockings to appear in
before the English ambassador, enforcing his request
with the cogent appeal, " For ye would not, sure, that
your king- should appear as a scrub before strangers — "
Nay, long before this period, even prior to the time
that silk was valued at its weight of gold at Rome, and
the Emperor Aurelian refused his empress a robe of
silk because of its dearness — the Chinese peasantry in
some of the provinces, millions in number, were clothed-
with this material: and for some thousand years to the
present time, it has been both there and in India, (where
a class whose occupation wss to attend silk- worms ap-
pears to have existed from time immemorial, being men-
tioned in the oldest Sanscrit books %) one of the chief
objects of cultivation and manufacture. You will ad-
mit, therefore, that when nature

" — set to work millions of spinning Morms,
That in their grcon shops weave the smooth-hair'd silk
To deck her sons •>,"

she was conferring upon them a benefit scarcely inferior
to that consequent upon the gift of wool to the fleecy
race, or a fibrous rind to the flax or hemp plants ; and
that mankind is not under much less obligation to Pam-
phila, who, according to Aristotle, was the discoverer
of the art of unvv'inding and weaving silk, than to the
inventors of the spinning of those products'^.

a Colebrook in Asiatic Researches, v. 61. b Milton's Comus.

c flisl. Animal. 1. v. c. 19. A French gentleman, M. Vaucanson, has
invented a mill for unwinding the tocoojis of the silk-worm. Scott's
Viiii to Paris, Alh. cd. 304.

DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 333

It seems to have been in Asia that silk was fii'st ma-
nufactured ; and it was from thence that the ancients
obtained it, calling it, from the name of the country
whence it was supposed to be brought, Sericum. Of
its origin they were in a great measure ignorant, some
supposing it to be the entrails of a spider-like insect with
eight legs, which was fed for four years upon a kind of
paste, and then with the leaves of the green willow,
until it burst with fat^; others, that it was the produce
of a worm which built clay nests and collected wax'';
Aristotle, with more truth, that it was unwound from
the pupa of a large horned caterpillar*^. Nor was the
mode of producing and manufacturing this precious
material know n to Europe until long after the Christian
aera, being first learnt about the year 550 by two monks,
who procured in India the eggs of the silk-worm moth,
with which, concealing them in hollow canes, they
hastened to Constantinople, where they speedily mul-
tiplied, and were subsequently introduced into Italy,
of which country silk was long a peculiar and staple
commodity. It w as not cultivated in France until the
time of Henry the Fourth, who, considering that n)ul-
berries grew in his kingdom as well as in Italy, re-
solved, in opposition to the opinion of Sully, to attempt
introducing it, and fully succeeded.

The whole of the silk produced in Europe, and the
greater proportion of that manufactured in China, is oh-

a Pa'jsar.ias, fjuoted by Goldsmitli, vi. SO,

b Pliny Hist. Nat. 1. xi. c. 22.

c Aristot. m6« S7tprn. He does not expressly iviy the pupa, but this wt*
must suppose. The larva he means could not be the common silk-vvoi!!),
since he describes it as large, and havinjr a? it vrcrc horns.

336 DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS;

tained from the common silk-worm ; but in India consi-
derable quantities are procured from the cocoons of the?
larvae of othei* moths. Of these the most important ^pe^
cies knov» n are the Tusseh and Arindy silk-worms, of
which an interesting history is given by Dr. Roxburgh
in the Linnean Transactiofis^. These insects are both
natives of Bengal. The first (Phal.AltacusPaphia,!^.)
feeds upon the leaves of the Jtiguhe tree or Bt/er of the
Hindoos, and of the Terminalia (data glabra^ Roxburgh j
the Asseen of the Hindoos, and is found in such abun-
dance as from time immemorial to have afforded a con-
stant supply of a very durable, coarse, dark-coloured
silk, which is woven into a cloth called Tusseh-doothies,
much worn by the Brahmins and other sects ; and would
doubtless be highly useful to the inhabitants of many
parts, of America and of the South of Europe, where a
light and cool, and at the same time cheap and durable
dress, siich as this silk furnishes, is much wanted. The
durability of tins silk is indeed astonishing. After con-
stant use for nine or ten years it does not show any signs
of decay. These insects are thought by the natives of
so much consequence, that they guard them by day to
preserve them from crows and other birds, and by night
from the bats. — The Arindy silk-worm (Phal. Cj/nthi-a,
Drury), which feeds solely on the leaves of the Palma
Christi, produces remarkably soft cocoons, the silk of
which is so delicate and flossy, that it is impracticable
to wind it off: it is therefore spun like cotton ; and the
thread thus manufactured is woven into a coarse kind
of white cloth of a loose texture, but of still more in-
credible durability than the last, the life of one persoiv

a vii. 33-i8. Compare Lord Vulctitia's Truvcb, i. TS.

DIRECT BENEFITS DEIIIVED FROM INSECTS. 337

ijeino- seldom sufficient to wear out a garment made of
it. It is used not only for clothing-, but for packing fine
cloths,&c. Some manufacturers in England to whom the
silk was shown, seemed to thing that it could be made
here into shawls equal to any received from India.

Other species, as may be inferred from an extract of
a letter given in Young's Annals of Agriculture^, are
known in China, and have been recently introduced
into India. " We have obtained," says the writer, "a
monthly silk-worm from China, which I have reared
with my own hands, and in twenty-five days have had
the cocoons in my basins, and by the twenty-ninth or
thirty-first day a new progeny feeding in my trays.
This makes it a mine to whoever would undertake the
cultivation of it.^'

Whether it will ev6r be expedient to attempt the
breeding of the larvae of any European moths, as Noctua
pacta, Sponsa, &c. proposed with this view by Fabri-
cius**, seems doubtful, though certainly many of them
afford a very strong silk, and might be readily propa-
gated ; and I have now in my possession some thread
more like cotton than silk spun by the larva of a moth,
which when I v^ as a very young entomologist I observed
(if my memory does not deceive me) upon the Euony-
mus, and from the twigs of which (not the cocoon) I
unwound it. It is even asserted that in Germany a ma-
nufacture of silk from the cocoons of the emperor moth
{Bombyx Pavonia) has been established ''. There
seems no question, however, that silk might be advan-
tageously derived from many native silk-worms in
America. An account is given in the Philosophical

a xxiii. 235. b Vvrltmngen, 325. c Latr. ^list. Nat. xiv, 150.

VOL. I. Z

SSS BIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS.

Transactions of one found there, whose cocoon is not
only heavier and more productive of silk than that of
the common kind, Init is so much stronger that twenty
threads will carry an ounce more^. Don Luis Nee
observed on PsT/d'ntm ponnfermm.\idi pi/riferum ovate
nests of caterpillars eight inches long, of gray silk,
which the inhabitants of Chilpancingo, Tixtala, &c.
in America, manufacture into stockings and handker-
chiefs'". Great numbers of similar nests of a dense tis-
sue, resembling Chinese paper, of a brilliant whiteness,
and formed of distinct and separable layers, the
interior being the thinnest and extraordinarily trans-
parent, were observed by Humboldt in the" provinces
of Mechoacan and the mountains of Santarosa at a
height of 10,500 feet above the level of the sea, upon
the Arbutus Madrono and other trees. The silk of these
nests, which are the work of the social caterpillars of
a Bombyx {B. Madrono^ H.), was an object of com-
merce even in the time of Montezuma, and the ancient
Mexicans pasted together the interior layers, which
may be written upon without preparation, to form a
white glossy pasteboard. Handkerchiefs are still manu-
factured of it in the intendency of Oaxaca*^. De Azara
states that in Paraguay a spider, which is found to
near the thirtieth degree of latitude, forms a spherical
cocoon (for its eggs) an inch in diameter, of a yellow
silk, which the inhabitants spin on account of the per-
manency of the colour '\ And according to M. B. de
Lozieres, large quantities of a very beautiful silk, of

apullein in Phil. Trans. 1739. 34. b Annals of Botany^ ii. 104.

c Political Essay on N. Spain, iii- 59.
d Voyage dans VAiner. Merid. i. 212.

DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 339

dazzling whiteness, may be collected from the cocoons
even of the Ichneumons that destroy the larvaB of some
moth in the West Indies which feed upon the indigo
and cassada^.

It is probable, too, that other articles besides silk
might be obtained from the larvae which usually pro-
duce it, particularly cements and varnishes of different
kinds, some hard, others elastic, from their gum and
silk reservoirs, from which it is said the Chinese pro-
cure a fine varnish, and fabricate what is called by
anglers Indian grass ''. The diminutive size of the ani-
mal will be thought no objection, wlien we recollect
that the very small quantity of purple dye afforded by
the Purpura of the ancients did not prevent them fro^n
collecting it.

1 now conclude this long series of letters on the in-
juries caused by insects to man, and the benefits which
he derives from them; and I think you will readily
admit that I have sufficiently made good my position,
that the study of agents which perform such important
functions in the economy of nature must be worthy of
attention. Our subsequent correspondence will be
devoted to the most interesting traits in their history,
as their affection to their young, their food and modes
of procuring it, habitations, societies, &c.

I am, &c,

a American Phil. Trans, v. 325.

b Anderson's Recreations in Jgricidlure, &c. iv. 399.

z )d

LETTER XL

ON THE AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR
THEIR YOUNG.

Amongst the larger animals, every observer of nature
has witnessed, with admiration, that love of their off-
spring which the beneficent Creator, with equal regard
to the happiness of the parent and the progeny, has
mterwoven in the constitution of his creatures. Who
that has any sensibility, has not felt his heart dilate
with gratitude to the giver of all good, in observing
amongst the domestic animals which surround him,
the effects of this divine storge, so fruitful of the most
. delightful sensations ? Who that is not a stock or a stone
has read unmoved the anecdote recorded in books of
Natural History, of the poor bitch, which in the
agonies of a cruel dissection licked with parental fond-
ness her new-born offspring; or the affecting account
of the she-bear related in Phipps's Voyage to the North
Pole, which, herself severely wounded by the same
shot that killed her cubs, spent her last moments in
tearing and laying before them the food she had col-
lected, and died licking their wounds ?

These feelings you must have experienced, but it has
scarcely occurred to you that you would have any room
for exercising them in your new pursuit. You have
not, I dare say, suspected that any similar example
could have been adduced amongst insects^ to which at

AFFECXrON OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. S4l

tlie first glance there seems even sometliing- absurd iir
attributing any thing like parental affection. An ani-
mal not so big perhaps as a grain of wheat, feel love for
its offspring — how preposterous ! we are ready to ex-
claim. Yet the exclamation would be very much mis-
placed. Nothing is more certain than that insects are
capable of feeling quite as much attachment to theif
offspring as the largest quadrupeds. They undergo as
severe privations in nourishing them; expose them-
selves to as great risk in defending them ; and in the
very article of death exhibit as much anxiety for their
preservation. Not that this can be said of all insects-
A very large proportion of them are doomed to die be*
fore their young come into existence. But in these the
passion is not extinguished. It is merely modified, and
its direction changed. And when you witness the so-
licitude with which they provide for the security and
sustenance of their future young, you can scarcely deny
to them love for a progeny they are never destined to
behold. Like affectionate parents in similar circum-
stances, their last efforts are employed in providing fof
the children that are to succeed them.

I. Observe the motions of that common white butter-
fly which you see flying from, herb to herb. You per-
ceive that it is not food she is in pursuit of; for flowers
have no attraction for her. Her object is the discovery
of a plant that will supply the sustenance appropriated
by Providence to her young, upon which to deposit her
eggs. Her own food has been honey drawn from the
nectary of a flower. This, therefore, or its neighbour-'
hood, we might expect would be the situation she would

342 ap'fection of insects for their young.

select for them. But no : as if aware that this food
would be to them poison, she is in search of some
plant of the cabbage tribe. But how is she to distin-
guish it from the surrounding vegetables ? She is
taught of God ! Led by an instinct far more unerring^
than the practised eye of the botanist, she recognises
the desired plant the moment she approaches it, and
upon this she places her precious burthen ; yet not
without the further precaution of ascertaining that it is
not preoccupied by the eggs of some other butterfly !
Having fulfilled this duty, from which no obstacle short
of absolute impossibility, no danger however threaten-
ing, can divert her, the affectionate mother dies.

This may serve as one instance of the solicitude of
insects for their future progeny. But almost every
species will supply examples similar in principle, and
in their particular circumstances even more extraordi-
nary. In every case (except in some remarkable in-
stances of mistakes of instinct, as they may be termed,
which will be subsequently adverted to) the parent un-
erringly distinguishes the food suitable for her offspring,
however dissimilar to her own ; or at least invariably
places her eggs, often defended from external injury by
a variety of admirable contrivances, in the exact spot
where, when hatched, the larvae can have access to it.
' — The dragon-fly is an inhabitant of the air, and could
not exist in water : yet in this element, which is alone
adapted for her young, she ever carefully drops her
eggs. The larvae of the gad-fly (^OEstrus Equi), whose
history has been before described to you^, are destined
to live in the stomach of the horse. Hoav shall the pa-
3 P. H7 &c.

AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 343

rent, a two- winged fly, convey them thither ? By a
mode truly extraordinary. Flying round the animal,
she curiously poises her body for an instant while she
glues a single egg to one of tlie hairs of his skin, and
repeats this process until she has iixetl in a similar way
many hundred eggs. These, after a few^ days, on the apr
plication of tho slightest moisture attended by waimth,
hatch into little grubs. Whenever, therefore, the horse
chances to lick any part of his body to which they are
attached, the moisture .of the tongue discloses one or
more grubs, whicli adhering to it by means of the sa-
liva are conveyed into the mouth, and thence find their
way into the stomach. But here a question occurs to
you. It is but a small portion of the horse's body which
he can reach with his tongue : what, you ask, becomes
of the eggs deposited on other parts ? I will tell you
how the gad-fly avoids this dilemma ; and I will then
ask you if she does not discover a provident forethought,
a depth of instinct, w hich almost casts into shade the
boasted reason of man ? Blie places her eggs only on
those parts of the skin w hich the horse is able to reach
with his tongue; nay, she confines them almost exclu-
sively to the knee or the shoulder, which he is sure to
lick. What could the most refined reason, the most
precise adaptation of means to an end, do mor.e^?

Not less admirable is the parental instinct of that
vast tribe of insects already introduced to you by the
name of Ichneumons, whose young are destined to feed
\ipon the living bodies of other insects. These, as you
know, are so numerous, that scarcely an insect exists,
which in its larva state is not exposed to the attacks pl;'

a Clark in Linn. Tratis.. Hi. 304,

344 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG.

one or other of them ; and even the pupae, nay the very
eggs of these animals, are not safe from their insidious,
manoBuvres. The size of the different species varies in
proportion to that of the bodies which are to be their
food ; some being so inconceivably small, that the egg'
of a butterfly not bigger than a pin's head is of suffi-
cient magnitude to nourish two of them to maturity^;
others so large, that the body of a full-grown cater-
pillar is not more than enough for one. They are the
larvae of these Ichneumons which make such havoc of
our pygmy tribes: the perfect insect is a four-winged
fly, w hich takes no other food than a little honey ; and
the great object of the female is to discover a proper
nidus for her eggs. In search of this she is in constant
motion. Is the caterpillar of a butterfly or moth the
appropriate food for her young ? You see her alight
upon the plants where they are most usually to be met
with, run quickly over them, carefully examining every
leaf, and, having found the unfortunate object of her
search, insert her sting into its flesh and there deposit
an egg. In vain her victim, as if conscious of its fate,
writhes its body, spits out an acid fluid, menaces Vvith
its tentacula, or brings into action the other organs of
defence with which it is provided. The active Ich-,
neumon braves every danger, and does not desist until
her courage and address have ensured subsistence
for one of her future progeny. Perhaps, however, she
discovers, by a sense the existence of which we per-
ceive, though we have no conception of its nature, that
she has been forestalled by some precursor of her own
tribe, that has already buried an egg in the caterpillar

Bonuct, ii. 344.

AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIU YOUNG. 345

she is examining. In this case she leaves it, aware
that it would not suffice for the support of two, and
proceeds in search of some other yet unoccupied. —
The process is of course varied in the case of those
minute species of w hich several, sometimes as many
as 150, can subsist in a single caterpillar. The little
Ichneumon then repeats her operations until she has
darted into her victim the requisite number of eggs.

The larvffi hatched from the eggs thus ingeniously
deposited, find a delicious banquet in the body of the
caterpillar, which is sure eventually to fall a victim to
their ravages. So accurately, however, is the supply
of food proportioned to the demand, that this event
does not take place until the young Ichneumons have
attained their full growth ; when the caterpillar either
dies, or, retaining just vitality enough to assume the
pupa state, then finishes its existence ; the pupa dis-
closing not a moth or a butterfly, but one or more full-
grown Ichneumons.

In this strange and apparently cruel operation one
circumstance is truly remarkable. The larva of the
Ichneumon, though every day, perhaps for months, it
gnaws the inside of the caterpillar, and though at last
it has devoured almost every part of it except the skin
and intestines, carefully all this time avoids injuring the
vital organs^ as if aware that its own existence depends
on that of the insect on which it preys ! Thus the ca-
terpillar continues to eat, to digest, and to move, ap-
parently little injured, to the last, and only perishes
when the parasitic grub within it no longer requires its
aid. What would be the impression which a similar
instance amongst the race of quadrupeds would make

346 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG.

apon us ? — If, for example, an animal — such as some
impostors liave pretended to cp.rry within them — sliould
be found to feed upon the inside of a dog; devouring
only those parts not essential to life, while it cautiously
left uninjured the heart, arteries, lungs, and intestines,
■ — should we not regard such an instance as a perfect
prodigy, as an example of instinctive forbearance al-
most miraculous?

Home Ichneumons, instead of burying their egg» in
the body of the larva} that are to serve their young for
food, content themselves with gluing them to the skin
of their prey, which the young gruijs pierce as soon a*
hatched. Another tribe, wlfosc activity and perseve-
rance are equally conspicuous, which includes the beau-
tiful genus Chrysis and many other hymenopterous in-
sects, imitating the insidious cuckoo, contrive to intro-
duce their Gg^s into the nests in which bees and other
insects have deposited theirs. With this view they are
constantly on the watch, and, the moment the unsus-
pecting mother has quitted her ceil for the purpose of
collecting a store of food or materials, glide into it and
leave an egg^ the germe of a future assassin of the larva
that is to spring from that deposited by its side.

The females of the insects of which we have ijeen
speaking, in providing for their orfspring, are saved the
trouble of furnishing them with any habitation. Either
tiiey occupy that of another insect, or find aconvenient
abode within the body of that on which they feed. But
upon the maternal affection of another large hymeno-
pterous tribe, chiefly belonging to the Linnean genus
S2)hc\r, wiiose young in like manner feed on other iii'-
sects, is imposed the arduous task not merely of collect-

AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 347

ing a supply of food, but of inclosing it along with their
eggs in cells or burrows often of considerable depth,
and dug with great labour in sand or the solid earth.

The general economy of these insects is similar.
Having- first dug a cylindrical cavity of the requisite
dimensions, and deposited an egg at the !)ottom, they
inclose along with it one or more caterpillars^ spiders,
or other insects, each particular species for the most
part selecting a distinct Icind, as a provision for the
young one when hatched, and sufficiently abundant to
nourish it until it becomes a pupa. Many thus fur-
nish several cells. This process, however, is varied
by different species, some of whose operations are
worthy of a more detailed description.

One oftlie most early histories ofthe procedure of an
insect of this kind (-pvobnhly Amrnophila vulgaris, Kirby )
is left us by the excellent Hay, who observed it along
with his friend Willughby. On the 22d of June 1607,
he tells us, they noticed this insect dragging a green
caterpillar thrice as big as itself^ which after thus con-
veying about fifteen feet, it deposited at the entrance of
a bole previously dug in the sand. Then removing a
pellet of earth from its mouth, it descended into the ca-
vity, and, presently returning, dragged along with it
the caterpillar. After staying awhile it again ascended,
then rolled pieces of earth into the hole, at intervals
scratching the dust into it like a dog w ith its fore feet,
and entering it as if to press down and consolidate the
mass ; flying also once or twice to an adjoining fir-tree,
■possibly to procure resin for agglutinating the whole.
Having filled the burrow to a level with the surround-
ing earth so as to conceal the entrance, it took two fir-

348 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG.

leaves lying at hand, and placed them near the orifice
as if to mark the place. — Such is the anecdote left on
record by our illustrious countryman, of whose accu-
racy of observation there can be no doubt. Who that
reads it can refrain from joining in the reflection which
it calls from him, " Quis hcec non mihi miretur et stupeat ?
Quis hiijusmodi opera merm machines pos sit attribuere^ ?^^
I myself, when walking with a friend some month*
ago, observed nearly similar raancpuvres performed by
a species of Pompilus (Sphex, L.), which attracted our
attention as it Avas dragging a spider to its cell. The
attitude in which it carried its prey, namely with its
feet constantly upwards ; its singular mode of walking,
w hich v,p.s backwards, except for a foot or two when it
went forwards, moving by jerks and making a sort of
pause every few steps ; and the astonishing agility with
which, notwithstanding its heavy burthen, it glided over
or between the grass, weeds, and other numerous im-
pediments in the rough path along which itpassed — to-
gether formed a spectacle which we contemplated with
admiration. The distance which we thus observed it to
traverse was not less than twenty-seven feet, and great
part of its journey had probaldy been performed before
we saw it. Once or twice, when we first noticed it, it laid
down the spider, and making a small circuit returned
and took it up again. But for the ensuing twenty or
twenty-five feet it never stopped, but proceeded in
a direct line for ils burrow with the utmost speed.
When opposite the hole, which was in a sand bank by
the way side, it made a sharp turn, as evidently aware
of being in the neighbourhood of its abode, but when

Ila i . Hiit. Ins. 554.

AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 349

advanced a little further laid down its burthen and went
to reconnoitre. At first it climbed up the bank, but, as
if discovering that this was not the direction, soon re-
turned, and, after another survey perceiving- the hole,
took up the spider and dragged it in after it.

In the two instances above given, one dead caterpil-
lar or spider only was deposited in each hole. But an
insect described by Reaumur under the name of the
mason-wasp (Epipane spim'pes, Latr.), very common in
some parts of England, after having- excavated a bur-
it>w, with an ingenuity to which on a future occasion I
shall draw your attention, {)laces along- with its egg- as
food for the future young, about twelve little green
^rubs without feet, which it has carefully selected full
grown and conveyed without injuring them. You will
inquire. Why this difference of procedure ? With i-e-
gard to the choice of a number of small grubs rather
than of one large caterpillar, what I have said in a
former letter on the subject of dilFerent species of this
tribe being- appointed to prey upon andthuskeep withia
due limits the larvs of different kinds of insects, will
be a sufficient answer. But one circumstance credi-
table to the talents of the mason-wasp as a skilful pur-
veyor should not be omitted, namely, that the number
of grubs laid up is not always the same, but is exactly
proportioned to their size, eleven or twelve being-
stored when they are small, but only eight or nine
when larger. With respect however to the caution of
the w asp in selecting full grown grubs and conveying
them uninjured to her hole, a satisfactory explanation
may be given. If those that are but partly grown were
chosen, they would die in a short time for want of food,
and putrefying- would destroy the inclosed egg, or the

350 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG,

young one which springs from it. But when larvse of
any kind have attained their full size, and are about
to pass into the pupa state, they can exist for a long
period without any further supply. By selecting these,
therefore, and placing them uninjured in the hole,
however long the interval before the egg hatches, the
disclosed larva is sure of a sufficiency of fresh and
wholesome nutriment. — To prevent the possibility of
any injury to its egg from the motions or voracity of
this living prey, the wasp is careful to pack the whole
so closely, each grub being coiled above the other in a
series of rings, and to consolidate the earth so firmly
above them, that they have not the slightest power of
motion "". — Those which select more powerful cater-
pillars, or revenge the injuries of their insect brethren
by devoting spiders to the destruction they have so
often caused, take cai'e to sting them in such a manner
as, without killing them outright, will incapacitate
them from doing any injury.

Zeal and activity in providing for the well-being of
their future progeny, not inferior to what are exhibited
by the tribe of Ichneumons, Spheges, and mason-wasps,
though less cruelly exerted, is also shown by the vari-
ous species of wild-bee, of which we have in this coun-
try above two hundred. Having first excavated a pro-
per cell with a dexterity and persevering labour never
enough to be admired, they next deposit in it an egg^
which they cover with a mass of pollen or honey col-
lected with unwearied assiduity from a thousand flow-
ers. As soon as the grub is hatched, it finds itself en--
veloped in this delicious banquet provided foy it by the
cares of a mother it is doomed never to behold , auid

a Reauiii. vi. 252.

AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG'. 351

SO accurately is the repast proportioned to its appetite
nnd its wants, that as soon as the whole is consumed it
has no longer need of food : it clothes itself in a sillLen
cocoon, becomes a pupa, and after a deep sleep of a
few days bursts from its cell an active bee.

No circumstance connected with the slorgc of in-
sects, is more striking than the herculean and incessant
labour which it leads them cheerfully to midergo. Some
of these exertions are so disproportionate to the size of
the insect, that nothing- short of ocular conviction could
attribute them to such an agent. A wild bee or aSphex,
for instance, will dig a hole in a hard bank of earth
some inches deep and five or six times its own size,
and labour unremittingly at this arduous undertaking
for several days, scarcely allowing itself a moment for
eating or repose. It will then occupy as much time in
searching for a store of food ; and no sooner is this
task finished, than it will set about repeating the pro-
cess, and before it dies will have completed five or six
similar cells or even more. If you would estimate this
industry at its proper value, you should reflect what
kind of exertion it would require in a man to dig in a
few days out of hard clay or sand, with no other tools
than his nails and teeth, five or six caverns twenty
feet deep and four or five wide — for such an under-
taking would not be comparatively greater than that
of the insects in question.

Similar laborious exertions are not confined to the
bee or Sphex tribe. Several beetles in depositing their
€ggs exhibit examples of industry equally extraordi-
nary. The common dor or clock, {Scarahmiis sterco-
rurius^ L.) which may be found beneath every heap
of dung, digs a deep cylindrical hole, and, carrying

Sj2 affection of insects roil tueir young.

down a mass of the dung to the bottom, in it deposits
its eggs. And many of the species of the genus Ateu-
ckus roll together wet dung into round pellets, depo-
sit an egg in the midst of each, and when dry push
them backwards by their hind feet to holes of the
surprising depth of three feet, which they have pre-
viously dug for their reception, and which are often
several yards distant. Frequently the road lies across
a depression in the surface, and the pellet when nearly
pushed to the summit rolls back again. But our pa-
tient Sisyphi are not easily discouraged. They repeat
their efforts again and again, and in the end their per-
severance is rewarded by success. The attention of
these insects to their eggs is so remarkable, that it
was observed in the earliest ages, and is mentioned by
ancient writers, but w ith the addition of many fables,
as that they were all of the male sex, that they became
young again every year, that they rolled the pellets
containing their eggs from sun-rise to sun-set every
day, for twenty-eight days without intermission % &c.
It is one of this tribe of beetles (A. sacer) whose
image is so often met with amongst the hieroglyphics
of the Egyptians, with whom it was a symbol of the
world, of the sun, and of a courageous warrior. Of
the world, as P. Valerianus supposes, on account of
the orbicular form of its pellets of dung, and the
notion of their being rolled from sun-rise to sun-set;
of the sun, because of the angular projections from
its head resembling rays, and the thirty joints of the
six tarsi of its feet answering to the days of the
month ; and of a warrior, from the idea of manly
courage being connected with its supposed birth from

a Mouffct, 153.

AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 353

a male only ^. It was as symbolical of this last that its
image was worn upon the signets of the Roman sol-
diers ; and as typical of the sun, the source of fertility,
it is yet, as Dr. Clarke informs us, eaten by the women
to render them prolific''.

These beetles, however, in point of industry must
yield the palm to one {Nca^ophorvs Vespillo, F.) whose
singular history was first detailed by M. Gleditsch in
the Acts of the Berlin Sbcieii/ for 1752. He begins by
informino- us that he had often remarked that dead
moles when laid upon the ground, epecially if upon
loose earth, were almost sure to disappear in tiie course
t)f two or three days, often of twelve hours. To ascer-
tain the cause, he placed a mole upon one of the beds
in his garden. It had vanished by the tnii-d morning;
and on digging Avhere it had been laid, he found it bu-
ried to the depth of three inches, and under it four
beetles which seemed to have been the agents in this
singular inhumation. Not perceiving anything parti-
cular in the mole, he buried it again; and on examin-
ing it at the end of six days he found it swarming with
maggots apparently the issue of the beetles, which
M. Gleditsch now naturally concluded had buried the
carcase for the food of their future young. To deter-
mine these points more clearly, he put four of these
insects into a glass vessel half filled with earth and
properly secured, and upon the surface of the earth
two frogs. In less than twelve hours one of the frogs
was interred by two of the beetles: the other two ran
about the whole day as if busied in measuring the di-

a J. Pierii Valeriani IJierogJyp/iica,93-5, MoiiU'et, 156.
b Travels, ii. 306.
VOL. I. 2 A

354 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG.

mensioiis of the remaining corpse, which on the third
day was also found buried. He then introduced a dead
linnet. A pair of the beetles were soon engaged upon
the bird. They began their operations by pushing out
the eartli from under the body so as to form a cavity
for its reception ; and it was curious to see the efforts
which the beetles made by dragging at the feathers of
the bird from below to pull it into its grave. The male
having driven the female away continued the work
alone for five bourse. He lifted up the bird, changed
its place, turned it and arranged it in the grave, and
from time to time came out of the hole, mounted upon
it and trod it under foot, and then retired below and
pulled it down. At length, apparently wearied with
this uninterrupted labour, it came forth and leaned its
head upon the earth beside the bird without the small-
est motion as if to rest itself, for a full hour, when it
again crept under the earth. The next day in the
morning the bird was an inch and a half under ground,
and the trench remained open the whole day, the
corpse seeming as if laid out upon a bier, surrounded
with a rampart of mould. In the evening it had sunk
half an inch lower, and in another day the work was
completed and the bird covered. — M. Gleditsch con-
tinued to add other small dead animals, which were
all sooner or later buried ; and the result of his expe-
riment was, that in fifty days four beetles had interred
in the very small space of earth allotted to them, twelve
carcases : viz. four frogs, three small birds, two fishes,
one mole, and two grasshoppers, besides the entrails
of a fish, and two morsels of the lungs of an ox. In
another experiment a single beetle buried a mole forty

AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 355

times its own bulk and weight in two days^ It is plain
that all this labour is incurred for the sake of placing;
in security the future young of these industrious insects
along with a necessary provision of food. One mole
would have sufficed a long time for the repast of the
beetles themselves, and they could have more conve-
niently fed upon it above ground than below. But if
they had left thus exposed the carcase in which their
eggs were deposited, both would have been exposed
to the imminent risk of being destroyed at a mouthful
by the first fox or kite that chanced to espy them.

At the first view I dare say you feci almost inclined
to pity the little animals doomed to exertions appa-
rently so disproportioned to their size. You are ready
to exclaim that the pains of so short an existence, en-
grossed with such arduous and incessant toil, must far
outweigh the pleasures. Yet the inference would be
altogether erroneous. What strikes us as wearisome
toil, is to the little agents delightful occupation. The
kind Author of their being has associated the perform-
ance of an essential duty with feelings evidently of the
most pleasurable description ; and like the affectionate
father whose love for his children sweetens the most
painful labourSjthese little insects are never morehappy
than when thus actively engaged. " A bee," as Dr. Pa-
ley has well observed, " amongst the flowers in spring,
(when it is occupied without intermission in collecting
farina for its young or honey for its associates,) is one f
the cheerfuUest objects that can be looked upon. Its life
appears to be all enjoyment : so busy and so pleased**."

a Cilcditsrh Physic. Bot. Oecon. AbhamU. iii. 200-227.

b Natwul Theology, 491 .

2 A 2

356 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG.

Of the sources of exquisite gratification which every
rural walk will open to you, while witnessing in the
animals themselves those marks of affection for their
unseen progeny of which I have endeavoured to give
you a slight sketch, it will be none of the least fertile
to examine the various and appropriate instruments
with which insects have been furnished for the effective
execution of their labours. The young of the saw-fly
tribe (Tenthredo, L.) are destined to feed upon the
leaves of rose-trees and various other plants. Upon
the branches of these the parent fly deposits her eggs
in cells symmetrically arranged ; and the instrument
with which she forms them is a saw, somewhat like our&
but far more ingenious and perfect, being toothed on
each side, or rather consisting of two distinct saws,
with their backs (the teeth or serratures of which are
themselves often serrated, and the exterior flat sides
scored and toothed), which play alternately; and, while
their vertical effect rs that of a saw, act laterally as a
rasp. When by this alternate motion the incision, or
cell, is made, the two saws, receding from each other,
conduct the egg between them into it^. The Cicada^
so celebrated by the poets of antiquity, which lays its
eggs in dry wood, requires a stronger instrument of a
diff*erent construction. Accordingly it is provided with
an excellent double auger, the sides of which play
alternately and parallel to each other, and bore a hole
of the requisite depth in very hard substances without
ever being displaced.

The construction of the sting or ovipositor with

a Prof. Peck's N'at. Hist, of the Slug-Korm, 12. t. f. 12-14. Pl.\te X V.
Fig. 21.

AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOIl THEIR YOUNG. 357

which the different species of Ichneumon are provided,
is not less nicely adapted to its various purposes. In
those vk^hich lay their eggs in the bodies of caterpillars
that feed exposed on the leaves of plants it is short,
often in very large species not the eighth of an inch
long : having free access to their victims, a longer
sting would have been useless. But a considerable
number oviposit in larvae which lie concealed where so
short an instrument could not possibly approach them.
In these, therefore, the sting is proportionably elon-
^ted, so much so that in some small species it is three
or four times the length of the body. Thus in Ich-
neumon manifestator^ whose economy has been so pleas-
ingly illustrated by Mr. Marsham% and which attacks
the larva of a wild bee {Apis maxillosa) lying at the
bottom of deep holes in old wood, the sting is nearly
two inches long ^'. and it is not much shorter in the more
minute 1. Strobilellce, which lays its eggs in larvas con-
cealed in the interior of fir cones, which without such
an apparatus it would never be able to reach.

The tail of the females of many moths whose eggs
require to be protected from too severe a^old and too
strong a light, is furnished, evidently for application to
this very purpose, with a thick tuft of hair. But how
shall the moth detach this non-conducting material and
arrange it upon her eggs ? Her ovipositor is provided
at the end with an instrument resembling a pair of pin-
cers, which for this purpose are as good as hands. With
these, having previously deposited her eggs upon a leaf,
she pulls off her tuft of hairs, with which she so closely
^envelops them as effectually to preserve them of the re-

a Linn, Trans, iii. 23. b Plate XVI. Fig. 1.

358 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG.

quired temperature : and having performed this last
duty to her progeny she expires.

The ovipositor of the Capricorn beetles {Cerambyx,
L.), an infinite host, is a flattened retractile tube, of a
hard substance, by means of which it can introduce its,
eggs under the bark of timber, and so place them where
its progeny w^ill find their appropriate food''. The au-
ger used by certain species of CEstrus, to enable them
to penetrate the hides of oxen or deer and form a nidus
for their eggs, has been before described'', — But to enu-
merate all the varieties of these instrunients would be
endless.

The purpose which in the insects above mentioned
is answered by their anal apparatus, is fulfilled in the
numerous tribes of weevils {Curculio, L.) by the long
slender snout with which their head is provided. It is
with this that C. nucum pierces the shell of the nut, and
the weevil (Calandra granaria, F.) the skin of the grains
of wheat, in which they respectively deposit their eggs,
prudently introducing one only into each nut or grain,
which is sufficient, but not more than sufficient, for the
nourishment of the grub that will inhabit it.

IT. Hitherto I have adverted to those insects only
which perish before their young come into existence,
and can therefore evince their affection for them in no
other way than by placing the eggs whence they are to
spring in secure situations stored with food ; and these
include by far the largest portion of the race. A very
considerable number, however, extend their cares much
further : they not only watch over their eggs after den

^ See Kirby in Linn. Trans, v. 234. 1. 12. /. 13. b See above, 151.

AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 359

positing them, but attend upon their young, when ex-
cluded, with an aftectionate assiduity equal to any thing
exhibited amongst the larger animals, and in the highest
degree interesting. Of this description are some soli-
tary insects, as several species of the Linnean genus
Sphex, earwigs, field-bugs, and spiders : and those in-
sects which live in societies, namely, ants, bees, wasps,
and Termites : the most striking traits of whose history
in these respects I shall endeavour to lay before you.

You have seen that the greater number of the Linnean
Spheges, (Sphex, Bembcx, F.) after depositing their
eggs in cells stored with a supply of food, take no fur-
ther care of them. Some, however, adopt a different
procedure. One of these, called by Bonnet the 3Iason-
wasp, but different from Reaumur's, not only incloses
a living caterpillar along with its egg in the cell, which
it carefully closes, but at the expiration of a few days,
when the young grub has appeared and has consumed
its provision, re-opens the nest, incloses a second ca-
terpillar, and again shuts the mouth : and this opera-
tion it repeats until the young one has attained its full
growth'^. A similar mode, according to Rolander, is
followed by Ammophila vulgaris as well as by the yel-
lowish wasp of Pennsylvania, described by Bartram in
the Philosophical Transactions^, and by a Sphex? ob-
served by Duhamel*; both of which, however, instead
of caterpillars, supply their larvas with a periodical
provision of living flies.

What a crowd of interesting reflections are these
most singular facts calculated to excite ! With what
foresight must the parent insect be endowed, thus to be
-a Bonnet, ix. 398. bliii, 37. c Reaum. vi. 269.

360 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG.

aware at what period her eggs will be hatched intft
grubs, and how long the provision she has laid up will
suffice for their support ! What an extent of judgement,
thus in the midst of various other occupations to know
the precise day when a repetition of her cares will be
required ! What an accuracy of memory, to recollect
with such precision the entrance to her cell, which the
most acute eye could not discover; and without com-
pass or direction unerringly to fly to it, often from a
great distance and after the most intricate and varied
wanderings ! If we refer the whole to instinct, and to.
instinct doubtless it must in the main if not wholly be
referred, our admiration is not lessened. Instinct, when
simple and directed to one object, is less astonishing;
||ut such a complication of instincts, applied to actions
so varied and dissimilar, is beyond our conception.
We can but wonder and adore !

We are indebted to De Geer for the history of a
field-bug (Cj/7nex griseus), a species found in this coun-
try, which shows marks of affection for her young such
as I trust will lead you, notwithstanding any repug-
nant association that the name may call up, to search
upon the birch tree, which it inhabits, for so interest-
ing an insect. The family of this field-bug coiisists of
thirty or forty young ones, which she conducts as a hen
does her chickens. She never leaves them ; and as soon
as she begins to move all the little ones closely follow,
and whenever she stops assemble in a cluster round
her. De Geer having had occasion to cut a branch of
birch peopled with one of those families, the mother
showed every symptom of excessive uneasiness. In
other circumstances such an alarm would have caused

AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 361

lier immediate flight; but now she never stirred from
her young, but kept beating- her wings incessantly with
a very rapid motion, evidently for the purpose of pro-
tecting them from the apprehended danger'*. — As far
as our knowledge of the economy of this tribe of in-
sects extends, there is no other species that manifests
a similar attachment to its progeny ; but such may
probably be discovered by future observers.

It is De Geer also that we have to thank for a series
of interesting observations on the maternal affection
exhibited by the common earwig. This curious insect
so unjustly traduced by a vulgar prejudice, — as if the
Creator had willed that the insect world should com-
bine within itself examples of all that is most remark-
able in every other department of nature, — still more
nearly approaches the habits of the hen in her care of
her family. She absolutely sits upon her eggs as if to
hatch them — a fact which Frisch appears first to have
noticed — and guards them with the greatest care. De
Geer, having found an earwig thus occupied, removed
her into a box where was some earth, and scattered the
eggs in all directions. She soon, however, collected
them one by one with her ja\vs into a heap, and assidu-
ously sat upon them as before. The young ones, which
resemble the parent except in wanting elytra and wings,
and, strange to say, are as soon as born larger than the
eggs which contained them, immediately upon bein»
hatched creep like a brood of chickens under the belly
of the mother, who very quietly suffers them to push
between her feet, and will ofter., as De Geer found, sit
over them in this posture for some hours'*. This re-
ft De Geer, iii. 262. b Ibid. iii. 548.

362 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG.

raarkable fact I have myself witnessed, having found
an earwig under a stone Avhich I accidentally turned
over, sitting upon a cluster of young ones just as this
celebrated naturalist has described.

We are so accustomed to associate the ideas of cruelty
and ferocity with the name of spider, that to attribute
parental affection to any of the tribe seems at first view
almost preposterous. Who indeed could suspect that
animals which greedily devour their own species when-
ever they have opportunity, should be susceptible of
the finer feelings ? Yet such is the fact. There is a
spider common under clods of earth (Araneasaccata, L.)
which may at once be distinguished by a white globular
silken bag about the size of a pea, in which she has de-
posited her eggs, attaclicd to the extremity of her body.
Never miser clung to his treasure with more tenacious
solicitude than this spider to her bag. Though ap:m-
rently a considerable incumbrance, she carries it with
her every where. If you deprive her of it, she makes
the most strenuous efforts for its recovery ; and no
personal danger can force her to quit the precious load.
Are her efforts ineffectual? A stupefying melancholy
seemls to seize lier, and wh&ii deprived of this first ob-
ject of her cares, cxisteiicc itself appears to have lost
its charms. If she succeeds in regaining her bag, or
you restore it to her, her actions demonstrate the ex-
cess of her joy. She eagerly seizes it, and with the
utmost agility runs ofl' with it lo a place of security.
Bonnet put this wonderful attachment to an affecting
and decisive test. He threw a spider w ith her bag into
the cavern of a large ant-lion, a ferocious insect which
conceals itself at the bottom of a conical hole con-

AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 363

structed in the sand for the purpose of catching any un-
fortunate victim that may chance to fall in. The spider
endeavoured to run aw^ay, but was not sufficiently ac-
tive to prevent the ant-lion from seizing her bag of
eggs, which it attempted to pull under the sand. She
made the most violent effofts to defeat the aim of her
invisible foe, and on hqr part struggled with all her
might. The gluten, however, which fastened her bag,
9,t length gave way, and it separated : but the spider
instantly regained it with her jaws, and redoubled her
efforts to rescue the prize from her opponent. It was
in vain : the ant-lion was the stronger of the two, and
in spite of all her struggles dragged the object of con-
testation under the sand. The unfortunate mother
might have preserved her own life from the enemy :
she had but to relinquish the bag, and escape out of
the pit. But, wonderful example of maternal affec-
tion ! she preferred allowing herself to be buried alive
along with the treasure dearer to her than her exist-
ence ; and it was only by force that Bonnet at length
withdrew her from the unequal conflict. But the bag
of eggs remained with the assassin ; and though he
pushed her repeatedly with a twig of wood, she still
persisted in continuing on the spot. Life seemed to
have become a burthen to her, and all her pleasures to
have been buried in the grave which contained the
germe of her progeny ^ ! The attachment of this affec-
tionate mother is not confined to her eggs. After the
young spiders are hatched, they make their way out of
the ba^ by an orifice, which she is careful to open for
them, and without which they could never escape'';

a Bonnet, ii. 435. h De Geer, vii. 194.

364 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOll THEIR YOUNG.

and then, like the young* of the Surinam toad (Rana
^//;G').tbey attach themselves in clusters upon her back,
belly, head, and even legs ; and in this situation, where
they present a very singular appearance, she carries
them about with her and feeds them until their first
moult, when they are big enough to provide their own
subsistence. I have more than once been gratified by
a sight of this interesting spectacle; and when I nearly
touched the mother, thus covered by hundreds of her
progeny, it was most amusing to see them all leap from
her back and run away in every direction.

A similar attachment to their eggs and young is ma»
nifested by many other species of the same tribe, parti-
cularly of Uic genera Li/cosia and Dolomeda, Walck.
Aranea holosericea, L. {Clubiona, Walck.) was found
by De Geer in her nest with fifty or sixty young ones,
when manifesting nothing of her usual timidity, so
obstinately did she persist in remaining with them, that
to drive her away it was necessary to cut her whole
nest in pieces %

I must now conduct you to a hasty survey of those
insects which live together in societies and fabricate
dwellings for the community, such as ants, wasps, bees,
hwnhlc-hees, and termites, Avhose great object (some-
times combined indeed Avith the storing up of a stock
of Avinter provisions for themselves) is the nutrition
and education of their young. Of the proceedings of
many of these insects we know comparatively nothing.
There arc, it is likely, some hundreds of distinct spe-t
cies of bees v/liich live in societies, and form nests of a

o a De Gcci, vii.268.

AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOU THEIR YOUNG. 365

different and peculiar construction. The constitution
of these societies is probably as various as the exterior
forms of their nests, and their habits possibly curious
in the highest degree ; yet our knowledge is almost
confined to the economy of the hive-bee and of some
species of humble-bees. The same may be said of
wasps, ants, and termites, of which, though there is a
vast variety of diiferent kinds, we are acquainted with
the history of but a very few. You will not therefore
expect more than a sketch of the most interesting^
traits of affection for their young, manifested by the
common species of each genus.

One circumstance must be premised with regard to
the education of the young of most of those insects
which live in society, truly extraordinary, and without
parallel in any other department of nature : namely,
that this office, except under particular circumstances^
is not undertaken by the female which has given birth
to them, but by the workers, or neuters as they are
sometimes called, which, though bound to the offspring
of the common mother of the society by no other than
fraternal ties, exhibit towards them all the marks of
the most ardent parental affection, building habitations
for their use, feeding them and tending them with in-
cessant solicitude, and willingly sacrificing their lives
in defence of the precious charge. Thus sterility itself
is made an instrument of the preservation and multi-
plication of species ; and females too fruitful to educate
all their young, are indulged by Providence with a
privilege without whicli nine tenths of tlieir progeny
must perish.

The most determined despiser of insects and their

S66 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR TIIElR YOVNGi

concerns — ^he who never deigned to open his eyes ta
any other part of their economy — must yet have ob-
served, even in spite of himself, the remarkable attach-
ment which the inhabitants of a disturbed nest of ants
manifest towards certain small white oblong bodies
with which it is usually stored. He must have per-
ceived that the ants are much less intently occupied
with providing for their own safety, than in conveying
off these little bodies to a place of security. To effect
this purpose the whole community is in motion, and
no danger can divert them from attempting its accom-
plishment. An observer having cut an ant in two, the
poor mutilated animal did not relax in its affectionate
exertions. With that half of the body to which the
head remained attached, it contrived previously to ex-
piring to carry off ten of these white masses into the
interior of the nest ! You will readily divine that these
attractive objects are the young of the ants in one of
the first or imperfect states. They are in fact not the
eggs, as they are vulgarly called, but the pupse, which
the working ants tend with the most patient assiduity.
But I must give you a more detailed account of their
operations, beginning with the actual eggs.

These, which are so small as to be scarcely visible
to the naked eye, as soon as deposited by the queen
ant, who drops them at random in her progress through
the nest, are taken charge of by the workers, who im-
mediately seize them and carry them in their mouths,
in small parcels, incessantly turning them backwards
and forwards with their tongue for the purpose of
moistening them, without which they would come to
nothing. They then lay them in heaps, which they

AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 367

place in separate apartments % and constantly tend un-
til hatched into larva; ; frequently in the course of the
day removing them from one quarter of the nest to an-
other, as they require a warmer or cooler, a moister
or drier atmosphere ; and at intervals brooding over
them as if to impart a genial vi'armth''. Experiments
have been made to ascertain whether these assiduous
nurses could distinguisli their eggs if intermixed with
particles of salt and sugar, which to an ordinary ob-
server they very much resemble ; but tlie result was
constantly in favour of the sagacity of the ants. They
invariably selected the eggs from whatever materials
they were mixed with, and re-arranged them as before '^.
New and more severe labours succeed the birth of
the young grubs which are disclosed from the eggs after
a few days. The working ants are noAV almost without
remission engaged in supplying their wants and for-
warding their growth. Every evening an hour before
sunset they regularly remove the whole brood, as well
as the eggs and pupae, which in an old nest all require
attention at the same time, to cells situated lower down
in the earth, where they will be safe from the cold; and
in the morning they as constantly remove them again
towards the surface of the nest. If, however, there is
a prospect of cold or wet weather, the provident ants
forbear on that day transporting their young from the
inner cells, aware that their tender frames are unable
to withstand an inclement sky. What is particularly
worthy of notice in this herculean task, the ants con-
stantly regulate their proceedings by the sun, removing
their young according to the earlier or later rising and

" Huher, 69. b Dt- Gccr, it. 10!>9. ^ GoniJ. 'm .

368 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG.

setting of that luminary. As soon as his first rays begin
to shine on the exterior of the nest, the ants that are
at the top go below in great haste to rouse their com-
panions, whom they strike with their antennae, 6r,
when they do not seem to comprehend them, drag with
their jaws to the summit till a swarm of busy labourers
fill every passage. These take up the larvae and pupae,
which they hastily transport to the upper part of their
habitation, where they leave them a quarter of an hour,
and then carry them into apartments where they are
sheltered from the sun's direct rays^

Severe as this constant and unremitted daily labour
seems, it is but a small part of what the affection of the
working ants leads them readily to undertake. The
feeding of the young brood, which rests solely upon
them, is a more serious charge. The nest is constantly
stored with larvae the year round, during all which
time, except in winter when the whole society is torpid,
they require feeding several times a day with a viscid
half-digested fluid that the workers disgorge into their
mouths, which when hungry they stretch out to meet
those of their nurses. Add to which, that in an old
nest there are generally two distinct broods of different
ages requiring separate attention ; and that the obser-
vations of Huber make it probable that at one period
they require a more substantial food than at another.
It is true that the youngest brood at first want but little
nutriment : but still, when we consider that they must
not be neglected, that the older brood demand inces-
sant supplies, and in a well stocked nest amount to 7 or
8000 ; and thatthe task of satisfying all these cravings,

a Huber, 74.

AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 360

as well as providing for their own subsistence, falls to
the lot of the working ants, we are almost ready to re-
gard the burthen as greater than can be borne by such
minute agents ; and we shall not wonder at the inces-
sant activity with which we see them foraging on every
side.

Theirlabour does not end here. It is necessary that
the larvae should be kept extremely clean ; and for this
purpose the ants are perpetually passing their tongue
and mandibles over their body, rendering them by this
means perfectly white ^. After the young grubs have
attained their full growth, they surround themselves
with a silken cocoon and become pupae, which, food ex-
cepted, require as much attention as in the larva state.
Every morning they are transported from the bottom
of the nest to the surface, and every evening returned
to their former quarters. And if, as is often the case,
the nest be thrown into ruins by the unlucky foot of a
passing animal, in addition to all these daily and hourly
avocations, is superadded the immediate necessity of
collecting the pupae from the earth with which they
have been mixed, and of restoring the nest to its pris-
tine state''.

Huber, 78.
b The Russian shepherds ingeniously avail themselves of the attach-
ment of ants to their yo^ng, for obtaining with little trouble a collection
of the pupae, which they sell as a dainty food for nightingales. They
scatter an ant's nest upon a dry plot of ground, surrounded with a shal-
low trench of water, and place on one side of it a few fir branches.
Under these the ants, having no other alternative, carefully arrange all
their pupae, and in an hour or two the shepherd finds a large heap
clean and ready for market, Anderson's Recreations in JgrkuUure, S)C,
iv. 158.

VOL. I. 2b

Nothing: can be more curious than the view of the
interior of a fully peopled ant's nest in summer. In
one part are stored the eggs ; in another the pupae are
heaped up by hundreds in spacious apartments ; and
in a third we see the larvee surrounded by the workers,
some of which feed them, while others keep guard,
standing erect upon their hind legs with their abdomen
elevated in the position for ejaculating their acid, than
which, gunpowder would not be more formidable to
the majority of their foes. Some again are occupied in
cleaning the alleys from obstructions of various kinds :
and others rest in perfect repose recruiting their
strength for new labours.

Contrary to what is observed amongst other insects,
even the extrication of the young ants from the silken co-
coon which incloses them is imposed upon the workers,
who are taught by some sensation to us incomprehen-
sible, that the perfect insect is now ready to burst from
the shroud, but too weak to effect its purpose unaided.
When the workers discover that this period has ar-
rived, a great bustle prevails in their apartment.
Three or four mount upon one cocoon, and with their
mandibles begin to open it v, here the head lies. First
they pull off a few threads to render the place thinner ;
they then make several small openings, and with great
patience cut the threads which separate them one by
one, till an orifice is formed sufficiently large for ex-
tracting the prisoner ; which operation they perform
with the utmost gentleness. The ant is still enveloped
in its pellicle : this the workers also pull off, carefully
disengaging every member from its case, and nicelv
expanding the wings of such as are furnished with

AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR VOUNG. 371

tliem. After thus liberating and afterwards feeding the
new-born insects, they still for several days watch and
follow them everywhere, teaching them to unravel the
paths and winding labyrinths of the common habita-
tion*; and Avhen the males and females at length take
flight, these aftectionate stepmothers accompany them,
mounting Avith them to the summit of the higliest herbs,
showing the most tender solicitude for them, (some
even endeavour to retain them,) feeding them for the
last time, caressing them; and at lengtli, when they
rise into the air and disappear, seeming to linger for
some seconds over the footsteps of these favoured
beings, of whom they have taken such exemplary care,
and Avhom they will never behold again''.

In the above account, exclusive of the bare fact of
their laying the eggs, no mention is made of the female
ants, the real parents of the republic. You are not from
this to suppose that they never feel the influence of this
divine principle of love for their offspring. When, in-
deed, a colony is established and peopled, they have
enough to do to furnisli it witli eggs to produce its ne-
cessary supply of future females, males and workers ;
which, according to Gould, are laid at three different
seasons'^. This is the ordinary duty assigned to them
by Providence. Yet at the first formation of a nest, the
female acts the kind part, and porforms all the mater-
nal offices which I have just described as peculiar to the
workers; and it is only when these become sufficiently
numerous to relieve her that she resigns tliis charge
and devotes herself exclusively to oviposition*^.

There is one circumstance occurring at this period

a Ilubpr, 83. b Ihid. 93. c p, 35 d Hubor, 1 10

g E 9

372 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG.

of their history which affords a very affecting example
of the self-denial and self-devotion of these admirable
creatures. If you have paid any attention to what is
going forward in an ant-hill, you will have observed
some larger than the rest, which at first sight appear,
as well as the workers, to have no wings, but which
upon a closer examination exhibit a small portion of
their base, or the sockets in which they were inserted.
These are females that have cast their wings, not acci-
dentally but by a xoluntary act. When an ant of this
sex first emerges from the pupa, she is adorned with
two pair of wings, the upper or outer pair being larger
than her body. With these, when a virgin, she is en-
abled to traverse the fields of ether, surrounded by my-
riads of the other sex, who are candidates for her favour.
But when once connubial rites are celebrated the un-
kappy husband dies, and the widowed bride seeks only-
how she may provide for their mutual offspring. Pant-
ing no more tojoin the choir of aerial dancers, her only
thought is to construct a subterranean abode in which
she may deposit and attend to her eggs, and cherish her
embryo young, till, having passed through their various
changes, they arrive at their perfect state, and she can
devolve upon them a portion of her maternal cares.
Her ample wings, which before were her chief orna-
ment and the instruments of her pleasure, are now an
incumbrance which incommode her in the fulfilment of
the great duty uppermost in her mind ; she therefore,
without a moment's hesitation, plucks them from her
shoulders^. Might we not then address females who
have families, in words like those of Solomon, " Go to
the aiit, ye mothers^ consider her ways and be wise ? "

AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 373

M. P. Huber was more than once witness to this
proceeding-. He saw one female stretch her wings with
a strong effort so as to bring them before her head — she
then crossed them in all directions — next she reversed
them alternately on each side — at last, in consequence
of some violent contortions, the four wings fell at the
same moment in his presence. Another, in addition to
these motions, used her legs to assist in the work*.

Thus, from the very moment of the extrusion of the
egg to the maturity of the perfect insect, are the ants
unremittingly occupied in the care of the young of the
society, and that with an ardour of affectionate attach-
ment to which, when its intensity and duration are taken
into the account, we may fairly say there is nothing pa-
rallel in the whole animal world''. Amongst birds and
quadrupeds we have instances of affection as strong *
perhaps while it lasts, but how much shorter the period
during which it is exerted ! In a month or two the
young of the former require no further attention ; and
if in a state of nature some of the latter give suck to
their offspring for a longer period, it is on their parts
without effort or labour : and in both cases the time
given up to their young forms a very small part of the
life of the animal. But the little insects in question
not only spend a greater portion of time in the educa-
tion of their progeny, but devote even the whole of

a Huber, 109. — Gould had long before Huber observed that female
ants cast their wings, pp. 59, 62, 64. I have frequently observed them,
sometimes with only one wing, at others with only fr.igmentsof the wings
and again, at others they were so completely pulled off, that it could no'
be known that they formerly had them, only by the sockets in which they
Avere inserted. b Huber, 93.

S74 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG

their existence, from their birth to their death, to this
one occupation !

The common hive-bee and the wasp in their atten-
tion to their young exhibit the same general features.
Both build for their reception hexagonal cells, differ-
ing- in size according to the future sex of the included
grubs, which as soon as hatched they both feed and
assiduously tend until their transformation into pupae.
There are peculiarities, however, in their modes of
procedure, which require a distinct notice.

The economy of a nest of zcasps differs from that of
bees, in that the eggs are laid not by a single mother
or queen, but by several ; and that these mothers take
the same care as the workers in feeding the young
grubs : indeed those first hatched are fed entirely by
the female which produced them, the solitary founder
of the colony. The sole survivor probably of a last
year's swarm of many thousands, this female, as soon
as revived by the warmth of spring, proceeds to con-
struct a few cells, and deposits in them the egg's of
working wasps. The eggs are covered with a gluten,
which fixes them so strongly against the sides of the
cells, that it is not easy to separate them unbroken.
These eggs seem to require care from the time they
are laid, for the wasps many times in a day put their
heads into the cells which contain them. When they
are hatched, it is amusing to witness the activity with
which the female runs from cell to cell, putting her
head into those in which the grubs are very young,
while those that are more advanced in ao:e thrust their
heads out of their cells, and by little movements seem

AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 375

to be asking for their food. As soon as they receive
their portion, they draw them back and remain quiet.
These she feeds until they become pupae; and within
twelve hours after being excluded in their perfect state,
they eagerly set tO work in constructing fresh cells, and
in lightening the burthen of their parent by assisting
her in feeding the grubs of other workers and females
which are by this time born. In a few weeks the so-
ciety will have received an accession of several hun-
dred workers and many females, which without distinc-
tion apply themselves to provide food for the growing
grubs, now become exceedingly numerous. With this
object in view, as they collect little or no honey from
flowers, they are constantly engaged in predatory ex-
peditions. One party will attack a hive of bees, a
grocer's sugar hogshead, or other saccharine reposi-
tory; or, if these fail, the juice of a ripe peach or pear.
You will be less indignant than formerly at these au-
dacious robbers now you know that self is little consi-
dered in their attacks, and that your ravaged fruit has
supplied an exquisite banquet to the most tender grubs
of the nest, into whose extended mouths the successful
marauders, running with astonishing agility from one
cell to another, disgorge successively a small portion
of their booty in the same way that a bird supplies her
young ^. Another party is charged with providing more
substantial aliment for the grubs of maturer growth.
These wage war upon bees, flies, and even the meat of
a butcher's stall, and joyfully return to the nest laden
with the well-filled bodies of the former, or pieces of
the latter as large as they can carry. This solid food
3 See Willughby in Rai. flisl, Ins. 251. and Ileautn.

376 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG.

they distribute in like manner to the larger grubs,
which may be seen eagerly protruding their heads out
of the cells to receive the welcome meal. As wasps
lay up no store of food, these exertions are the task of
every day during the suminer, fresh broods of grubs
constantly succeeding to those which have become
pupaB or perfect insects; and in autumn, when the
colony is augmented to 20 or 30,000, and the grubs in
proportion, the scene of bustle which it presents may
be readily conceived.

Though such is the love of wasps for their young,
that if their nest be broken almost entirely in pieces
they will not abandon it^, yet when the cold weather
approaches, a melancholy change ensues, followed by a
cruel catastrophe, which at first you will be apt to re-
gard as ill comporting with this affectionate character.
As soon as the first sharp frost of October has been felt,
the exterior of a wasp's nest becomes a perfect scene
of horror. The old wasps drag out of the cells all the
grubs and unrelentingly destroy them, strewing their
dead carcases around the door of their now desolate
habitation. '' What monsters of cruelty !" I hear you
exclaim, " What detestable barbarians !" But be not
too hasty. When you have coolly considered the cir-
cumstances of the case, you will view this seemingly
cruel sacrifice in a different light. The old wasps have
no stock of provisions : the benumbing hand of winter
is about to incapacitate them from exertion ; while the
season itself affords no supply. What resource then is
left? Their young must linger on a short period, suf-
fering all the agonies of hunger, and at length expire.

a Reaum. vi. 174.

AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 377

They have it in their power at least to shorten the
term of this misery — to cut off its bitterest moments.
A sudden death by their own hands is comparatively a
merciful stroke. This is the only alternative ; and thus,
in fact, this apparent ferocity is the last effort of tender
affection, active even to the end of life. I do not mean
to say that this train of reasoning- actually passes
through the mind of the wasps. It is more correct to
regard it as having actuated the benevolent Author of
the instinct so singularly, and without doubt so wisely,
excited. Were a nest of wasps to survive the winter,
they would increase so rapidly, that not only would all
the bees, flies, and other animals on which they prey,
be extirpated, but man himself find them a grievous
pest. It is necessary, therefore, that the great mass
should annually perish ; but that they may suffer as lit-
tle as possible, the Creator, mindful of the happiness
of the smallest of his creatures, has endowed a part of
the society, at the destined time, with the wonderful
instinct which, previously to their own death, makes
them the executioners of the rest.

Wasps in the construction of their nests have solely
in view the accommodation of their young ones; and
to these their cells are exclusively devoted. Bees, on
the contrary, (I am speaking of the common hive-bee,)
appropriate a considerable number of their cells to the
reception of honey intended for the use of the society.
Yet the education of the young brood is their chief
object, and to this they constantly sacrifice ail personal
and selfish considerations. In a new sv/arm the first
care is to build a series of cells to serve as cradles ; and
little or no honey is collected until an ample store of

o78 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG.

bee-bread^ as it is called, has been laid up for their food.
This bee-bread is composed of the pollen of flowers,
which the workers are incessantly employed in gather-
ing, flying from flower to flower, brushing from the
stamens their yellow treasure, and collecting it in the
little baskets with which their hind legs are so admi-
rably provided ; then hastening to the hive, and having
deposited their booty, returning for a new load. The
provision thus furnished by one set of labourers is care-
fully stored up by another, until the ^^^^ which the
queen-bee has laid, and which adhering by a glutinous
covering she places nearly upright in the bottom of the
cell, are hatched. With this bee-bread after it has
undergone a conversion into a sort of whitish jelly by
being received into the bee's stomach, where it is pro-
bably mixed with honey '^ and regurgitated, the young
brood immediately upon their exclusion, and until their
change into nymphs, are diligently fed by other bees,
which anxiously attend upon them and several times
a day afibrd a fresh supply. Difterent bees are seen
successively to introduce their heads into the cells con-
taining them, and after remaining in that position some
moments, during which they replace the expended pro-
vision, pass on to those in the neighbourhood. Others
often immediately succeed, and in like manner put in
their heads as if to see that the young ones have every
thing necessary ; which being ascertained by a glance,
they immediately proceed, and stop only when they find
a cell almost exhausted of food. That the ofiice of these

a It is not unlikely that it may undergo some other alteration in the
l)?e's stomach, which may possibly secrete some peculiar substa,nce, as
John Hunter discovered tbat the crop of the pigeon does.

AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEin YOUNG. 5/9

purveyors is no very simple affair will be admitted,
when it is understood that the food of all the grubs is
not the same, but that it varies according- to their age,
being- insipid when they are young, and, when they
have nearly attained maturity, more sugary and some-
what acid. The larvae destined for queen-bees, too,
require a food altogether different from that appro-
priated to those of drones and workers. It may be re-
cognised by its sharp and pungent taste.

So accurately is the supply of food proportioned to
the wants of the larva^, that when they have attained
their full growth and are ready to become nymphs, not
an atom is left unconsumed. At this period, intuitively
known to their assiduous foster-parents, they terminate
their cares by sealing- up each cell Avilh a lid of wax,
convex in those containing the larva of drones, and
nearly flat in those containing- the larvae of workers,
beneath which the inclosed tenants spin in security
their cocoon. — In all these labours neither the queen
nor the drones take the slightest share. They fall
exclusively upon the workers, who, constantly called
upon to tend fresh broods, as those l^rought to matu-
rity are disposed of, devote nearly the whole of their
existence to these maternal offices.

Ilurrible-hees^, which in respect of their general po-
licy must, when compared with bees ajid wasps, be re-
garded as rude and untutored viil^.^ers, exhibit never-
theless marks of affection to their young quite as s{ron«-

a Dr. Johnson was ignorant of the etymology of this word. It is
dearly derived from the German Hummel or Humr.id liicne, a name pro-
bably given it from its sound. Our E.'io;JisJi name wnuld be more ?igrj-
ijcant were it altered to Uunnnins'hoc or l]t'on:in!r-!>cr.

S80 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG.

as their more polished neighbours. The females, like
those of wasps, take a considerable share in their edu-
cation. When one of them has with great labour con-
structed a commodious waxen cell, she next furnishes
it with a store of pollen moistened with honey ; and
then having deposited six or seven eggs, carefully closes
the orifice and minutest interstices with wax. But this
is not the whole of her task. By a strange instinct,
which, however, may be necessary to keep the popula-
tion within due bounds, the workers, while she is oc-
cupied in laying her eggs, endeavour to seize them from
her, and, if they succeed, greedily devour them. To
prevent this violence, her utmost activity is scarcely
adequate; and it is only after she has again and again
beat off the murderous intruders and pursued them to
the furthest verge of the nest, that she succeeds in her
operation. When finished, she is still under the ne-
cessity of closely guarding the cell, which the glutton-
ous workers would otherwise tear open, and devour
the eggs. This duty she performs for six or eight hours
with the vigilance of an Argus, at the end of which
time they lose their taste for this food, and will not
touch it even when presented to them. Here the la-
bours of the mother cease, and are succeeded by those
of the workers. These know the precise hour when
the grubs have consumed their stock of food, and from
that time to their -nniaturity regularly feed them with
either honey or pollen, introduced in their proboscis
through a small hole in the cover of the cell opened
for the occasion and then carefully closed.

They are equally assiduous in another operation.
As the grubs increase in size the cell which contained

AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR TIIETR YOUNG.

them becomes too small, and in their exertions to be
more at ease they split its thin sides. To fill up these
breaches as fast as they occur with a patch of wax, is the
office of the workers, who are constantly on the watch
to discover when their services are wanted ; and thus
the cells daily increase in size, in a way which to an ob-
server ignorant of the process seems very extraordinary.

The last duty of these affectionate foster-parents is
to assist the young bees in cutting open the cocoons
which have inclosed them in the state of pupw. A
previous labour however must not be omitted. The
workers adopt similar measures with the hive-bee for
maintaining- the young pupae concealed in these cocoons
in a genial temperature. In cold weather and at night
they get upon them and impart the necessary warmth
by brooding over them in clusters. Connected with
this part of their domestic economy, M. P. Huber, a
worthy scion of a celebrated stock, and an inheritor of
the science and merits of the great Huber as well as of
his name, in his excellent paper on these insects in the
sixth volume of the Linnean Transactions, from which
most of these facts are drawn, relates a singularly cu-
rious anecdote.

In the course of his ingenious and numerous expe-
riments, M. Huber put under a bell-glass about a dozen
humble-bees without any store of wax, along with a
comb of about ten silken cocoons so unequal in height
that it was impossible the mass should stand firmly. Its
unsteadiness disquieted the humble-bees extremely.
Their affection for their young led them to mount upon
the cocoons for the sake of imparting warmth to the in-
closed little ones, but in attempting this the comb tot-

382 AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOJl THEIR YOUNG.

tered so violently that the scheme was almost imprac-
ticable. To remedy this inconvenience, and to make
the comb steady, they had recourse to a most ingenious
expedient. Two or three bees got upon the comb,
stretched themselves over its edge, and with their heads
downwards hxed their fore feet on the table upon which
it stood, wliilst with their hind feet they kept it from
falling". In this constrained and painful posture, fresh
bees relieving- their comrades when weary, did these
affectionate little insects support the comb for nearly
three days ! At the end of this period they had pre-
pared a sufficiency of wax with which they built pillars
that kept it in a firm position: but by some accident
afterwards these got displaced, when they had again
recourse to their former manoeuvre for supplying their
place, and this operation they perseveringly continued
until M. I iu])er, pitying their hard case, relieved them by
fixing- the object of their attention firmly on the table ^.
It is impossible not to be struck with the reflection
that this most singular fact is inexplicable on the sup-
position that insects are impelled to their operations by
a blind instinct alone. How could mere machines have
thus provided for a case whicli in a state of nature has
probably never occurred to ten nests of humble-bees
since the.creation ? If in this instance tliese little ani-
mals were not guided by a process of reasoning, what
is the distinction between reason and instinct? How
coultl the most profound architect have better adapted
the means to the end — how more dexterously shored up
a tottering- edifice, until his beams and his props were
in readiness?

a l.inn. Tram. vi. 'iil &c..

AFFECTION OF INSECTS FOR THEIR YOUNG. 383

With respect to the operations of the lermilcs in
rearing their young I have not much to observe. All
that is known is, that they build commodious cells for
their reception, into which the eggs of the queen are
conveyed by the workers as soon as laid, and where
when hatclied they are assiduously fed by them until
they are able to provide for themselves.

In concluding this subject, it may not be superfluous
to advert to an objection which is sometimes thrown
out against regarding with any particular sympathy the
aifection of the lower animals to their young, on the
ground that this feeling is in them the result of corpo-
real sensation only, and wholly different from that love
w hich human parents feel for their offspring. It is true
that the latter involves moral considerations which
cannot have place in the brute creation ; but it would
puzzle such objectors to explain in what respect the
affection which a mother feels for her new-born infant
the moment it has seen the light, differs from that of an
insect for its progeny. The affection of both is purely
physical, and in each case springs from sensations in-
terwoven by the Creator in the constitution of his crea-
tures. If the parental love of the former is worthy of
our tenderest sympathies, that of the latter cannot be
uudeserving- of some portion of similar feeling.

I am, &.C.

LETTER XII.

ON THE FOOD OF INSECTS.

Insects like other animals draw their j^oc? from the
vegetable and animal kingdoms, but a very slight sur-
vey will suffice to show that they enjoy a range over
far more extensive territories.

To begin with the vegetable kingdom. — Of this vast
field the larger animals are confined to a comparatively
small portion. Of the thousands of plants which clothe
the face of the eartli, when we have separated the
grasses and a trifling number of herbs and shrubs, the
rest are disgusting to them, if not absolute poisons.
But how infinitely more plenteous is the feast to which
Flora invites the insect tribes ! From the gigantic
banyan which covers acres with its shade, to the tiny
fungus scarcely visible to the naked eye, the vegetable
creation is one vast banquet at which her insect guests
sit down. Perhaps not a single plant exists which does
not afford a delicious food to some insect, not excluding
even those most nauseous and poisonous to other ani-
mals—the acrid euphorbias, and the lurid henbane and
nightshade. Nor is it a presumptuous supposition that
a, considerable proportion of these vegetables were
created expressly for their entertainment and support.
The common nettle is of little use either to mankind
or the larger animals, but you will not doubt its im-
portance to the class of insects, when told that at least

FOOD OF INSECTS. 385

thirty distinct species feed upon it. But this is not all.
The larger herbivorous animals are confined to a Ib-
liaceous or farinaceous diet. They can subsist on no
other part of a plant than its leaves and seeds, either
in a recent or dried state, with the addition sometimes
of the tendfM' twigs or bark. Not so the insect race;
to different tribes of which every part of a plant sup-
plies appropriate food. Some attack its roots ; others
select the trunk and branches; a third class feed upon
the leaves; a fourth with yet more delicate appetite
prefer the flowers ; and a fifth the fruit or seeds. Even
still further selection takes place. Of those which feed
upon the roots, stem, and branches, of vegetables, some
larvae eat only the bark (Sphinx apiformis, &c.), others
the alburnum (Torlrix TVocberana), others the exuding
resinous or other excretions (Tinea Resinella), a third
class the pith (Noctua Ockraceago, Lep. Brit.), and a
fourth penetrate into the heart of the solid wood (Ce-
ramhi/ces). Of those which prefer the leaves, some taste
nothing but the sap Avhich fills their yeiw^ (Aphides in
all their states), others eat only the parenchyma, never
touching the cuticle (subcutaneous Tinece)^ others only
the lower surface of the leaf (many Tortrices), Avhile a
fourth description devour the whole substance of the
\ea^ (most Lepidojjtera). And of the flower-feeders,
while some eat the very petals (Noctua Verbasci, Lina-
riCE, &c.), others in their perfect state select the pollen
which swells the anthers (bees, Lepturoi, and Mordel-
Ice), and a still larger class of these the honey secreted
in the nectaries (most of the Lepidoptera, Ht/meno-
ptera, and Diptera).

Nor are insects confined to vegetables in their re-
VOL. I. 2 c

386 FOOD OF INSECTS.

cent or unmanufactured state. A beam of oak when
it has supported the roof of a castle five hundred years,
is as much to the taste of some, (Anobia,) as the same
tree was in its g^rowing state to that of others ; another
class (Ptini) would sooner feast on the herbarium of
Brunfelsius, (han on the greenest herbs that grow;
and a third (Tinece, Termites), to whom

" a river and a sea

A re a dish of tea,

And a kingdom bread and butter^"

would prefer the geographical treasures of Saxton or
Speed, in spite of their ink and alum, to the freshest
rind of the flax plant. — The larva of a little fly (Musca
cellaris? L. Oinopota cellaris, Kirby), whose econo-
my, as I can witness from my own observations, is
admirably described by Mentzelius% disdains to feed
on anything but wine or beer, which like Boniface in
the play it may be said both to eat and drink, though,
unlike its toping counterpart, indifferent to the age of
its liquor, which whether sweet or sour is equally ac-
ceptable.

A diversity of food almost as great may be boasted
by the insects which feed on animal substances. Some
(flesh-flies, carrion-beetles, &c.) devour dead carcases
only, which they will not touch until imbued with the
haul gout of putridity. Others, like Mr. Bruce *s Abys-
sinians, preferring their meat before it has passed
through the hands of the butcher, select it from living
victims, and may with justice pride themselves upon
the peculiar freshness of their diet. Of these last, dif-

1^ Ephtttw German. An, xii. Obs. 58. Rai. Hist. Ins^ 261.

FOOD OF INSECTS. 387

ferent tribes follow different procedures. The Ichneu-
mons devour the flesh of the insects into which they
have insinuated themselves. Some of the CEstri, fixed
in a spacious apartment beneath the skin of an ox or
deer, regale themselves on a purulent secretion with
which they are surrounded. Others of the same tribe,
partial to a higher temperature, attach themselves to
the interior of the stomach of a horse, and in a bath of
chyme of 102 degrees of Fahrenheit revel on its juices.
The various species of horse-flies (Tabanus and Slo-
moxi/s, F.) dart their sharp lancets into the veins of
quadrupeds, and satiate themselves in living streams ;
while the gnat, the flea, the bug, and the louse, plunge
their proboscis even into those of us lords of the crea*
tion, and banquet on " the ruddy drops which warm
our hearts." Some make their repast upon birds only,
as the fly of the swallow, and other Ornitkomi/ice, Latr.,
and the bird-louse ( Ricinus, De Geer) ; insects nearly
allied, though one is dipterous and the other apterous.
And a most singular animal belonging to the latter
tribe {Ni/cteribia Vespertiliotiis, Latr.) revenges upon
the bat its ravages of the insect world*. Another nu-
merous class kill their prey outright, either devouring
its solid parts, as the Carabidce, Staph^linidcB, &c., or
imbibing its juices only, as the infinite hordes of the
field-bug tribe. And the larvae of the gnat, Stratyomys,
and other flies aquatic in that state, the leviathans of
the world of animalcules, swallow whole hosts of these
minute inhabitants of pools and ponds at a gulp, causing
with their oral apparatus a vortex in the water, down

a T.inn. Trans, xi. l\. t. 3. /. 5 — 7.

2 c 2

388 FOOD OF INSECTS.

which myriads of victims are rncessantly hurried into
their destructive maw.

But not only animals themselves, almost every ani-
mal substance that can be named is the appropriate food
of some insect. Multitudes find a delicious nutriment
in excrements of various kinds. Matters apparently
so indigestible as hair, wool, and leather, are the sole
food of many moths in the larva state (Tinea tapetzella^
peflionella, &c.). Even feathers are not rejected by
others; and the grub of a beetle {BT/rrJms Musceo-
rwwz, L.), with povvers of stomach which the dyspeptic
sufferer may envy, will live luxuriously upon horn*.

For the most part, insects feeding upon animal sub-
stances will not touch vegetables, 2i\\A vice versa. You
must not however take tne rule without exceptions.
Many caterpillars (as those of Noctua derasa, Delphi-
mi, Sec.) thought plants are their proper food, will oc-
casionally devour other caterpillars, and sometimes
even their own species. The large green grass-hopper
(Locusta viridissima, F.), and probably others of the
order, will eat smaller insects as well as its usual ve-
getable food''; so also will the larvae of many Phry-
ganea. Tenlhredo niarginella, F., as I was last summer
amused by witnessTug, like many Scalophagce, sips the
nectar of umbelliferous plants only till a fly comes
within its reach, pouncing upon which it gladly quits
its vegetable for an animal repast. Ptiniis rubellus^
Ent. Brit., which ordinarily feeds upon wood, was, as
I before mentioned, once found by Mr. Sheppard in
great abundance living upon the dried Cantharides

a De Geer, iv. 210. b ^rii\\m,lnsekti:n Kalendcr, i. 190.

FOOD OF INSECTS. S89

{Lyita vesicatoria) of the shops. On the other handj
Necrophorus mortuorum, which subsists on carcases,
and many other carnivorous species, will make a
hearty meal of a putrid fungus; Ptinus Fur devours
indifferently dried birds or plants, not refusing even
tobacco ; and from the impossibility that one of a mil-
lion of the innumerable swarms of gnats which abound
in swampy places, particularly in regions which but
for them would be lost to sensitive existence, should
ever taste blood, it seems clear that they are usually
contented with vegetable aliment. Indeed the males,
ns well as those of Tabanus of which even the females
readily imbibed the sugared lluid offered to them by
Reaumur % never suck blood at all; so that they must
either feed on vegetable matter, which in fact I have
observed them to do, or fast during their whole exist-
ence in the perfect state.

Though insects, generally considered, have thus a
much more extensive bill of fare than the larger ani-
mals, each individual species is commonly limited to a
more restricted diet. Many both of animal and vege-
table feeders are absolutely confined to one kind of
food, and cannot exist upon any other. The larva of
(Esirus Equi can subsist no where but in the stomach
of the horse or ass, which animals therefore this insect
might boast with some show of reason to have been cre-
ated for its use rather than for ours, being to us useful
only, but to it indispensable. The larva? of Sj/rjjhiis
Pyrasiri {Musca, L.) according to De Geer cat no
other Aphis but that of the rose''. Most Ichneumons
and Spheges prey each upon a single species of insect

a Reauin. iv. 2 ;0. b i e (lerr, vi. 1 12.

390 FOOD OF INSECTS.

only, which therefore they would seem to have been
formed for the express purpose of keeping within due
limits. Reaumur mentions having- once found in a
parcel of decaying wood the nests of six different kinds
of Sphex, each of which was filled with flies of a di-
stinct species*. Cerceris aurituSyljiitr, Siud Philantli us
Icetus, Panz., in the larva state feed solely on the Cur-
culio tribe of Cokoptera, the latter being restricted
even to the short-rostrum'd family, as C. picipes, rau-
cus, &c.^y while Bemhex rostrata^ another hymeno-
pterous insect, selects flies, as Musca Ccesar, &c. '^

A very large proportion of species, however, are able
to subsist on several kinds of food. Amongst the car-
nivorovis tribes, it is indifferent to most of those which
prey upon putrid substances from what source they
have been derived : and the predaceous genera, such as
Libellula, Cantharis, Empis, Aranea, &c. will attack
most smaller insects inferior to them in strength, not
excepting in many instances their own species. The
wax-moth larva {Galkria Cereana) will for want of
wax eat paper, wafers, wool, &c. '' : another Tinea de-
scribed by Reaumur, and before adverted to, attacks
chocolate % which cannot have been its natural food,
even selecting that most highly perfumed; and the
Tineae which devour dressed wool, but happily for
the farmer and wool-stapler refuse it when unwashed,
must have existed when no manufactured wool was
accessible. — The vegetable feeders are under greater

a Reaum. vi. 271.

b Enfomologhche Demerkungen (Braunschweig 1799), p. 6. '
c Lafreille, Obs. sur les Hymenopferes, Ann. de Mus. xiv. 412.
d Reaum. iii. ?37. e Ibid. iii. 277,

FOOD OF INSECTS. 391

restrictions, yet probably the majority can subsist on
different kinds of food. This is certainly true of most
lepidopterous larvae, several of which as well as many
Coleoptera {Haltica oleracea^ &c.) are polyphagous,
eating almost every plant. It is worthy of remark,
however, that when some of these have fed for a time
on one plant they will die rather than eat another,
which would have been perfectly acceptable to them if
accustomed to it from the first ^. Here too it must be
borne in mind, that by far the greater part of insects
feed upon different substances in their different states
of existence, eating one kind of food in the larva and
another in the imago state. This is the case with the
whole order Lepidoptera^ which in the former eat plants
chiefly, in the latter nothing but honey or the sweet
juices of fruit, which they have often been observed to
imbibe ; and the same rule obtains also in regard to
most dipterous and hymenopterous insects. Those
which eat one kind of food in both states, are chiefly
of the remaining orders.

I have said that insects, like other animals, draw
their subsistence from the vegetable or animal king-
doms. But I ought not to omit noticing that some
authors have conceived that several species feed upon
mineral substances. Not to dwell upon Barchewitz's
idle tale of East Indian ants which eat iron**, or on the
stone-eating caterpillars recorded in the Memoirs of
the French Academy '^j which are now known to erode
the walls on which they are found, solely for the pur-
pose of forming their cocoons ; Reaumur and Swam-
merdam have both stated the food of the larvje of

a Reaum. ii. 324. b Lesser, L. i. 239. c x. 458.

395 roob of inslcts.

EphemercE to be earth, that being the only substance
ever founrl in their stomachs and intestines which are
filled with it. This supposition, which if correct ren-
ders invalid the definition by which Mirbel (and my
friend Dr. Alderson of Hull long before him) propo-
sed to distinguish the animal and vegetable kingdoms,
is certainly not inadmissible ; for, though we might not
be inclined to give much weight to Father Paulian's
history of a flint-eater who digested flints and stone %
the testimony of Humboldt seems to prove that the hu-
man race is capableof drawing nutriment from earth,
>vhich, if the odious Ottomaques can digest and assimi-
late, may doubtless afford support to the larvae of Ephe-
merae. Yet after all it is perhaps more probable that
these insects feed on the decaying vegetable matter in-
termixed with the earth in which they reside, from
which after being swallowed it is extracted by the ac-
tion of the stomach : like the sand that, from being-
found in a similar situation, Borelli erroneously sup-
posed to be the food of many Testacea, though in fact
a mere extraneous substance.

The majority of insects, either imbibing their food
in a liquid state, or feeding on succulent substances,
require no aqueous fluid for diluting it. Water, how-
ever, is essential to bees, ants, and some other tribes,
which drink it with avidity ; as well as in warm climates
to many Lepidoptera, which are there chiefly taken in
court yards, near the margins of drains, &c. Even
some larvze which feed upon juicy leaves have been
observed to swallow drops of dew ; and one of them
{Bmnhyx potatoria), which (according to Goedart) aftev

a Dicffionnairc Physique.

FOOD OF INSECTS. 393

drinking lifts up its head like a hen, has received its
name from this circumstance. That it is not the mere
want of succulency in the food which induces the ne-
cessity of drink, is plain from those larvae which live
entirely on substances so dry that it is almost unac-
countable whence the juices of their body are derived.
The grub of an Anobium (Ptinus, L.) will feed for
months upon a chair that has been baking before the
fire for half a century, and from which even the che-
mist's retort could scarcely extract a drop of moisture;
and will yet have its body as well filled with fluids as
that of a leaf-fed caterpillar.

By far the greater part of insects always feed them-
selves. The young however of those which liv^ in so-
cieties, as the hive- and humble-bees, wasps, ants, &c.
are fed by the older inhabitants of the community,
which also frequently feed each other. Many of these
last insects are distinguished from the majority of their
race, which live from day to day and take no thought
for the morrow, by the circumstance of storing up
food. Of those which feed themselves, the largrer
proportion have imposed upon them the task of pro-
viding for their own wants; but the tribe of Spheges,
wild bees, and some others, are furnished in the larva
state by the parent insect with a supply of food suf-
ficient for their consumption until they have attained
maturity.

As to their time of feeding, insects may be divided
into three great classes: the day-feeders, the night-
feeders, and those which feed indifferently at all times.
You have been apt to think, I dare say, that when the
sun's warmer beams have waked the insect youth, and

394 FOOD OF INSECTS.

*' Ten thousand forms, ten thousand different tribes^
People the blaze,"

you see before you the whole insect world. You are
not aware that a host as numerous shun the glare of
day, and, like the votaries of fashion, rise not from their
couch until their more vulgar brethren have retired to
rest. While the painted butterfly, the " fervent bees,"
and the quivering nations of flies, which sport
*' Thick in yon stream of light, a thousand ways,
Upward and downward thwarting and convolved,"

love to bask in the sun's brightest rays, and search for
their food amidst his noontide fervor, an immense mul-
titude stir not before the sober time of twilight, and eat
only when night has overshadowed the earth. Then
only, the vast tribe of moths quit their hiding-places;
*' the shard-born ^ beetle with his drowsy hum," accom-
panied by numerous others of his order, sallies forth ;
the airy TipulaB institute their dances ; and the solitary

a In the controversy between the commentators on Shakespeare, as to
whether shard* means wing-cases, dung, or a fragment of earthenware,
and whether born should be spelled with or without the e, it might have
thrown some weight into the scale of those who contend for the ortho-
graphy adopted above, and that the meaning of shard in this place is
dung, if they had been aware that the beetle (ScarabtEus stercorarius)
's actually 6oni amongst dung, and no where else; and that no beetle
which makes a hum in flying can with propriety be said, as Dr. Johnson
has interpreted (he epithet in his Dictionary, *' to be born amongst
broken stones or pots." That Shakespeare alluded to the Beetle, and
not to the Cockchafer (Melolontha vulgaris), seems clear from the fact
of the former being to be heard in all places almost every fine evening
in the summer, while the latter is common only in particular districts,
and at one period of the year. S^

* Sharn is the common name of cow-dung in the North: therefore
Shakespeare probably wrote skam-born. Mr. MacLeau.

FOOD OF INSECTS. S95

spider stretches his net. All these retire into conceal-
ment at the approach of light. — Some few larvae {Noc-
tua exclamationis, «&c.) have similar haibits, and those
of one singular genus before adverted to (Ni/derobius)
ai*e remarkable for providing in the night a store of
food which they consume in the day ; but to the gene-
rality of these the period of feeding is indifferent, and
most of them seem to eat with little intermission night
and day.

Insects like other animals take in their food by the
mouth (in Chermes and Coccus, indeed, the rostrum
is inserted in the breast, between the fore-legs), but
there seems one exception to this rule. The singular
Acarus vegetansy which is such a plague to some bee-
tles, derives its nutriment from them by means of a
filiform pedicle or umbilical cord attached to its anus ;
and what increases the singularity, sometimes several
of these Acari form a kind of chain, of which the first
only is fixed by its pedicle to the beetle, each of the
remainder being similarly connected with the one that
precedes it; so that the nutriment drawn from the
beetle passes to the last through the bodies and umbi-
lical cords of the individuals which are intermediate^.
Some iiave regarded these bodies as true eggs ; and
their analogy with the pedunculated eggs of Trombi-
dium aquaticicm, F., which also seem to derive nou-
rishment from the Notonectae, &c. to which they are
fixed, and still more the circumstance of their ultimately
losrng their pedicle and detaching themselves from the
infested beetles, give plausibility to the idea. Yet these
Acari are certainly furnished with feet, and have a€-

a De Geer, vii. 123.

396 FOOD OF INSECTS.

cording to De Geer* a part resembling a mouth — cha-r
racters which cannot be attributed to any egg.

In the variety of their instrdmenifi of nutrition, which
you must bear in mind are often quite diti'erent in the
larva and perfect states, insects leave all other animals
far behind. In common with them, a vast number
(the orders Coleoptera, IJ?/menoptera, and Orthoptera,
and the larvae o? Lepidoptera, some Diptera, &c.) are
furnistied with jaws, butofvery difierent constructions,
and all admirably adapted for their intended services :
some sharp, and armed with spines and branches for
tearing flesh; others hooked for seizing, and at the
same time hollow for suction; some calculated like
shears for gnawing leaves; others more resembling
grindstones, of a strength and solidity sufficient to re-
duce the hardest wood to powder : and this singularity
attends the major part of these insects, that they pos-
sess in fact two pairs of jaws, an upper and an under
pair, both placed horizontally, not vertically, the
former apparently in most cases for the seizure and
mastication of their prey ; the latter, when hooked,
for retaining and tearing, while the upper comminute
it previously to its being swallowed''.

To the remainder of the class of insects, a mighty
host, jaws would have been useless. Their refined li-
quid food requires instruments of a different construc-
tion, and with these they are profusely furnished. The
innumerable tribes of moths and butterflies eat nothing
but the honey secreted in the nectaries of flowers, Vvhich
are frequently situated at the bottom of a tube of great
length. They are accordingly provided with an or-

a De Geei, viL 126. b Plati; VI. Fig. 4, 5. 10, 11, 2-1—26.

FOOD OF INSECTS. 397

gan exquisitely fitted for its office — a slender tubular
tongue, more or less long, sometimes not shorter than
three inches, but spirally convoluted when at rest, like
the main spring of a watch, into a convenient compass.
This tongue, which they have the power of instantly
unrolling-, they dart into the bottom of a flower, and,
as through a syphon, draw up a supply of the delicious
nectar on which they feed. A letter would scarcely
suffice for describing fully the admirable structure of
this organ. I must content myself therefore with here
briefly observing that it is of a cartilaginous substance,
and apparently composed of a series of innumerable
rings, which, to be capable of such rapid convolution,
must be moved by an equal number of distinct muscles ;
and that, though seemingly simple, it is in fact com-
posed of three distinct tubes, the two lateral ones cy-
lindrical and entire, intended, as Reaumur thinks, for
the reception of air; and the intermediate one, through
which alone the honey is conveyed, nearly square, and
formed of two separate grooves projecting from the la-
teral tubes ; which grooves, by means of a most cu-
rious apparatus of hooks like those in the laminse of a
feather, inosculate into each other, and can be either
united into an air-tight canal, or be instantly sepa-
rated, at the pleasure of the insect"^.

Another numerous race, the whole of the order He-
)7iiptera, abstract the juices of plants or of animals by
means of an instrument of a construction altogethie-r
different — a hollow grooved beak, often jointed, and
containing- three bristle-formed lancets, which, at the

a For a full desniptioi! of tlii:; instrument see Reaimi, i, 1?3 Sec.
Plate VI. Fig. 29, 'jO.

FOOD OF INSECTS.

same time that they pierce the food, apply to each other
so accurately as to form one air-tight tube, through
which the little animals suck up^ their repast ; thus
forming a pump, which, more effective than ours, digs
the well from which it draws the fluid ••.

A third description of insects, those of the order Di-
ptera, comprising the whole tribe of flies, have a sucker
formed on the same general plan as that last described,
but of a much more complicated and varied structure.
It is in like manner composed of a grooved case and
several included lancets ; but the case, although horny,
I'igid and beak-like in some, is in others fleshy, flexible,
and more resembling the proboscis of an elephant, and
terminates in two turgid liplets : and the accompany-
ing lancets are themselves included in an upper hollow
case, in connexion with which they probably compose
an air-tight tube for suction. The number and form of
these instruments is extremely various. In some ge-
nera (Musca) there is but one, which resembles a
sharp lancet. Others (Empis, Asilus,) have three, the
two lateral ones needle-shaped, that in the middle like
a scymetar ; together forming so keen an apparatus,
that De Geer has seen an Asilus pierce with it the
elytra of a Coccinella ; and I have myself caught them
with not only an Elater and Curculio, but even a HiS'
ter^ in their mouths. In many Tabani we find four ;

a The mode, however, in which this is effected in all insects furnished
■with a proboscis, can scarcely be by suction, strictly so called, or the
abstraction of air, since the air-vessels of insects do not communicate
with their mouths: it is more probably performed in part by capillary
attraction; and, as Lamarck has suggested, (Sy:<t. des Anim. sans Verte-
hres, p. 193.) in part by a succession of undulations and contractions of
the sides of the ofgan. b Plate VI. Fig. 16 — 19.

rOOD OF INSECTS. 399

two precisely resembling lancets, and two, even to the
very handles, buck-hafted carving-knives^. The blood-
thirsty gnat has five, some acutely lanced at the extre-
mity, and others serrated on one side. The flea, the
spider, the scorpion have all instruments for taking-
their food of a construction altogether different *". But
it is impossible here to attempt even a sketch of the
variations in these orgaijs which take place in the
apterous genera, and in many of the dipterous larvae.
Suffice it to say that they all manifest the most con-
summate skill in their adaptation to the purposes of
the insects which are provided with them, and which
can often employ them not only as instruments for pre-
paring food, but as weapons of offence and defence, as
tools in the building of their nests, and even as fcei.

Some insects in their perfect state, though furnished
with organs of feeding, make no use of them, and con-
sume no food whatever. Of this description are the
moth which proceeds from the silk-worm, and seve-
ral others of the same order ; the different species of
(Estrus, and the Ephemerae, insects whose history is so
well known as to afford a moral or a simile to those
most ignorant of natural history. All these live so
short a time in the perfect state as to need no food.
Indeed it may be laid down as a general rule, that
almost all insects in this state eat much less than in
that of larvae. The voracious caterpillar when trans-
formed into a butterfly needs only a small quantity of
honey ; and the gluttonous maggot, when become a
fly, contents itself with a drop or two of any sweet
liquid.

a PLAit VII. I'lti 5. ij Plate VII. Fu». b. 10.

\

400 POOD OP INSECT?.

While in the state of larvae the quantity of food
consumed by insects is vastly greater in proportion
to their bulk than that required by larger animals.
Many caterpillars eat daily twice their weight of
leaves, which is as if an ox, weighing sixty stone,
were to devour every twenty-four hours three quarters
of a ton of grass — a po^^^er of stomach which our gra-
ziers may thank their stars that their oxen are not en-
dowed with. A probable proximate cause for this
voracity in the case of herbivorous larvae has been
assigned by John Hunter, who attributes it to the
circumstance of their stomach not having the power
of dissolving the vegetable matters received into it,
but merely of extracting from them a juice*. This is
proved both by their excrement, which consists of
coiled-up and hardened particles of leaf, that being-
put into water expand like tea ; and by the great pro-
portion which the excrement bears to the quantity of
food consumed. From experiments, with a detail of
which he has favoured me, made by Colonel Machell
on the caterpillars of Bombi/x Caja, he ascertained
that, though a larva weighing thirty-six grains voided
every twelve hours from fifteen to eighteen grains
weight of excrement, it did not increase in weight in
the same period more than one or two grains. On
the other hand, many carnivorous larvae increase in
weight in full proportion to the food consumed, and
that in an astonishing degree. Redi found that the
maggots of flesh-flies, of which one day, twenty-five or
thirty did not weigh above a grain, the next weighed
seven grains each ; having thus in twenty-four hours

a Obs. on the Animal OLconoiiTy, p. 221. Compare Reaum. ii. 167.

FOOD OF INSECTS. 401

become about two hundred times heavier than be-
fore *.

Some insects have the faculty of sustaining a long
abstinence from all kinds of food. This seems to de-
pend upon the nature of their habits. If the insect
feeds on a substance of a deficiency of which there is
not much probability, as on vegetables, &c., it com-
monly requires a frequent supply. If, on the contrary,
it is an insect of prey, and exposed to the danger of
being long deprived of its food, it is often endowed with
a power of fasting, which would be incredible but for
the numerous facts by which it is authenticated. The
ant-lion will exist without the smallest supply of food,
apparently uninjured, for six months ; though, when it
can get it, it will devour daily an insect of its own size.
Vaillant, whose authority may be here taken, assures
us that he kept a spider without food under a sealed
glass for ten months, at the end of which time, though
shrunk in size, it was as vigorous as ever'' . And Mr.
Baker, so well known for his microscopical discoveries,
states that he kept a beetle (Blaps mortisaga) alive for
three years without food of any kind ". Some insects,
not of a predaceous description, are gifted with a simi-
lar power of abstinence. Leeuwenhoek tells us that a
mite, which he had gummed alive to the point of a
needle and placed before his microscope, lived in that
situation eleven weeks ^.

In some cases the very want of food, however para-

a Redi de Insectis, 39, b New Travels, i. xxxix.

c Phil. Trans. 1740, p. 441. I confess, notwithstanding Mr. Baker's
geueral accuracy, that I suspect some mistake here.

d Leeuw. Op. ii, 363.
VOL. I. 2d

402 FOOD OF INSECTS.

doxical the proposition, seems actually to be a mean of
prolonging the life of insects. At least one such in-
stance has fallen under my own observation. The
aphidivorous flies, such as Si/rphus Pj/rastri, &c. live
in the larva state ten or twelve days, in the pupa state
about a fortnight, and as perfect insects sometimes
possibly as long — the whole term of their existence in
summer not exceeding at the very utmost six weeks.
But one% which I put under a glass on the 2d of June
1811, when about half grown, and, after supplying it
with Aphides once or twice, by accident forgot, I found
io my great astonishment alive three months after ; and
it actually lived until the June following without a
particle of food. It had therefore existed in the larva
state more than eight times as long as it would have
lived in all its states, if it had regularly undergone its
metamorphoses — which is as extraordinary a prolon-
gation of life as if a man were to live 5G0 years. It is
true that its existence was not worth having even to
the larva of a fly. For the last eight months it re-
mained without motion, attached by its posterior pair
of tubercles to the paper on which it was placed, mani-
festing no other symptoms of life than by moving the
fore part of the body when touched, and replacing it-

a Not having ever met with another specimen, I am unable to say of
vhat precise species of aphidivorous fly it is the larva, nor can I find a
figure of it, though it approaches near to one given by De Geer (vi. ;. 7.
/. 1-3). Its shape is oblong-oval, length about four lines, and colour
pale red speckled with black. Each of the seven or eight segments which
compose the body projects on each side into three serrated fiat aculei or
teeth; three or four similar but smaller aculei arm the head : and two,
much larger than the rest, the anus, one on each side of the usual bifid pro-
tuberance which bears the respiratory plates. A bifid tubercular ele-
vation is also placed in the middle of the back of each segment.

FOOD OF INSJ^CTS. 403

Melf on its belly if turned upon its back. But this was
quite e.ionoh to prove it still alive. — I can attribute
this singular result to no other circumstance than its
having- been deprived of a sufficient quantity of food to
bring it into the pupa state, though provided with
enough for the attainasent of nearly its full growth as
larva. Possibly the same remote cause niiglit act in
this case, as operates to prolong the term of existence
of annual plants that have been prevented from per-
fecting their seed; and it would almost seem to favour
the hypothesis of some physiologists, who contend that
every organized being has a certain portion of irrita-
bility originally imparted to it, and that its life will be
long or short as this is slowly or rapidly excited — no
great consolation this for the advocates for fast-living,
unless they are in good earnest in their affected prefe-
rence of a "short life and a merry one:" though it
must be admitted that they would have the best of the
arguiuent were the alternative such a state of torpid
insensibility as that with which our larva purchased
the prolongation of its existence.

After this general view of the food of insects, and of
circumstances connected with it, I proceed to give you
an account of some peculiarities in their modes of pro-
curing it.

The vegetable feeders have for the most part but little
difficulty in supplying their wants. Tn the larva state
they generally find themselves placed by the parent in-
sect unon the very plant or substance which is to nou-
rish them ; aiid in their perfect state their wings or feet
afford a ready conveyance to the banquet to which by
2n 2

404 FOOD OF INSECTS.

an unerring sense they are directed. All nature lifes
before them, and it is only when their numbers are ex-
traordinarily increased, or in consequence of some un-
usual destruction of their appropriate aliment, that they
perish for want. The description of their food renders
unnecessary those artifices to which many of the carni-
vorous insects are obliged to have recourse; and none
of them, if we except the Termites, whose cunning
mode of insinuating themselves into houses in tropical
climates has been detailed in a former letter, can be
said to use stratagem in obtaining their food.

Of the carnivorous species, the greater proportion
attack their prey by open violence, such as the Cicin-
delce, Carahidce and Staphi/linidce ; the IchneumonidcB^
Spheges and Vespce ; the Mantes, Cimicidce, Lihellu-
lidce, &c. ; which have been before adverted to. But
a very considerable number, chiefly, however, of one
tribe, that of spiders, provide their sustenance solely
by artifice and stratagem, the singularity of which, and
the admirable adaptation of the instruments by which
they take their prey to the end in view, afford a most
wonderful instance of the power and wisdom of the
Creator, and have attracted admiration in all ages. A
description of these, however, which will require a de-
tailed survey, I must refer to another letter.

I am,

LETTER XIII.

FOOD OF INSECTS CONTINUED.

STRATAGEMS EMPT^OYED IN PUOCURING IT.

The stratagems of insects in obtaining their food are
now to engage our attention. I shall not dwell on those
inartificial modes of surprising their prey, of which
^'xamples may be found amongst almost every order of
insects, such as watching behind a leaf or other object
affording concealment until its approach ; but shall
proceed to describe the various artifices of the race of
spiders, of which there are several hundred distinct
species differing essentially from each other both in
characters and manners.

Many of these are constantly under our eyes ; and
were it not that we are accustomed to neglect what is
the subject of daily occurrence, we should never be-
hold a spider's web without astonishment. What, if
we had not witnessed it, would seem more incredible
than that any animal should spin threads ; weave these
threads into nets more admirable than ever fowler or
fisherman fabricated; suspend them with the nicest
judgement in the place most abounding in the wished-
for prey ; and there concealed watch patiently its ap-
proach ? In this case, as in so many others, we neglect
actions in minute animals, which in the larger would

406 POOD OF INSECTS.

excite our endless admiration. How would the world
crowd to see a fox which should spin ropes, weave
tliem into an accurately-meshed net, anc exiend this
net between two trees for the purpose of e;. tangling a
flisht of birds ? Or should we think we had ever ex-
pressed sufficient wonder at seeing a fish which ob-
tained its prey by a similar contrivance? Yet there
would, in reality, be nothing more marvellous in their
procedures than in those of spiders, which, indeed, the
minuteness of the agerit renders more wonderful.

All spiders do not spin webs. A considerable num-
ber adopt other means for catching insects. Of these I
shall speak hereafter. At present 1 shall endeavour to
give you a clear idea of the operations of the weavers,
explaining successively the instruments by which they
gpin — the mode of forming their nets, together with
the various descriptions of them — and the manner in
which they entrap and secure their prey.

The thread spun by spiders is in substance similar to
the silk of the silk-worm and other caterpillars, but of
a much finer quality. As in them, it proceeds from re-
servoirs, into which it is secreted in the form of a viscid
gum ; but in the mode of its extrication is very dissi-
milar, issuing not from the mouth but the hinder part
of the abdomen. If you examine a spider, you will
perceive in this part four little teat-like protuberances
or spinners. These are the machinery through which,
by a process more singular than that of rope-spinning,
the thread is drawn. Each spinner is furnished with
a multitude of tubes, so numerous and so exquisitely
finej that a space often not much bigger than the point-

FOOD OF INSECTS. 407

ed end of a pin, is furnished, according to Reaumur*,
with a thousand of them. From each of these tubes,
consisting of two pieces, the last of which terminates in
a point infinitely fine, proceeds a thread of inconceiv-
able tenuity, which, immediately after issuing from it,
unites Avith all the other threads into one. Hence from
each spinner proceeds a compound thread; and these
four threads, at the distance of about one-tenth of an
inch from the apex of the spinners, again unite, and
form the thread we are accustomed to see, which the
spider uses in forming its web. The threads, however,
are not all of the same thickness, for Leeuwenhoek ob-
served that some of the tubes were larger than others,
and furnished a larger thread. Thus a spider's thread,
even spun by the smallest species, and when so fine that
it is almost imperceptible to our senses, is not, as we
suppose, a single line, but a rope composed of at least
four thousand strands. How astonishing ! But to feel
all the wonder of this fact we must follow Leeuwen-
hoek in one of his calculations on the subject. This
renowned microscopic observer found by an accurate
estimation that the threads of the minutest spiders,
some of which are not larger than a grain of sand, are
so fine that four millions of them woxild not exceed in
thickness one of the hairs of his beard. Now we know
that each of these threads is composed of above 4000

a Reaum. 3Iem. dc V Acad, de Paris, An. 1713. 211.— -De Geer, vii. 187.
See also Hoole's Leeuiaenhoek, i. 41. t. i?. /. 20-22. Leeuwenhoek ex-
amined a spinner that was not so big as a common grain of sand, and the
number of tubes issuing from it was more than a hundred. He affirms
that, besides the larger spinners, in the space between them there are four
smaller one?, each furnished with organs for spinning threads, but smaller
and fewer in number. See Plate XXIII. Fig. 16, 17.

408 POOD OF INSECTS.

still finer. It follows, therefore, that above sixteen
thousand millions of the finest threads which issue from
such spiders are not together thicker than a human
hair ! Of such tenuity it is utterly beyond the power
of the imagination to conceive : the very idea over-
whelms our faculties, and humbles us under a sense of
their imperfection. — Of the probable accuracy of this
calculation you may any day in summer convince your-
self, by taking one of the large field spiders (Aranea
Diadema, L.), and after pressing its abdomen against a
leaf or other substance, so as to attach the threads to
the surface — the same preliminary step which the spi-
der adopts in spinning — drawing it gradually to a small
distance. You will plainly perceive that the proper
thread of the spider is formed of four smaller threads,
and these again of threads so fine and numerous, that
there cannot be fewer than a thousand issue from each
spinner; and if you pursue your researches with the
microscope, you will find that precisely the same takes
place in the minutest species that spins. — ^You will in-
quire what can be the end of machinery so complex?
One probable reason is, that it was necessary for dry-
ing the gum sufficiently to form a tenacious line, that
an extensive surface should be exposed to the air;
which is admirably effected by dividing it at its exit
from the abdomen into such numerous threads. But
the chief cause, perhaps, is the occasion (hereafter to be
adverted to) which the spider sometimes has to employ
its threads in their finer and unconnected state before
they unite to form a single one. — The spider is gifted
by her Creator with the power of closing the orifices
of the spinners at pleasure, and can thus, in dropping

FOOD OF INSECTS. 409

from a height by her line, stop her progress at any
point of her descent: and, according to Lister% she is
also able to retract her threads within the abdomen;
but this is doubted, and with apparent reason, by De
Geer ''.

The only other instruments employed by the spider
in weaving are her feet, with the claws of which she
usually guides, or keeps separated into two or more, the
line from behind; and in many species these are admi-
rably adapted for the purpose, two of them being fur-
nished underneath with teeth like those of a comb, by
means of which the threads are kept asunder. But
another instrument was wanting. The spider in ascend-
ing the line by which she has dropped herself from an
eminence, winds up the superfluous cord into a ball.
In performing this the pectinated claws would not have
been suitable. She is therefore furnished with a third
claw between the other two % and is thus provided for
every occasion.

The situations in which spiders place their nets are
as various as their construction. Some prefer the open
air, and suspend them in the midst of shrubs or plants
most frequented by flies and other small insects, fixing
them in a horizontal, a vertical, or an oblique direc-
tion. Others select the corners of windoAvs and of
rooms, where prey always abounds ; while many esta-
blish themselves in stables and neglected out-houses,
and even in cellars and desolate places in which one
would scarcely expect a fly to be caught in a month.
It is with the operations of these last especially, that

a Hist, Anim. Ang. p. 8. b De Geer, vii. 189.

< Leeuw. Opusc. iii. 317, f. I.

410 FOOD OF INSECTS-

we are accustomed to associate the ideas of neglect and
desertion by man — associations which both in painting
and allegory have been often happily applied. Ho-
garth, when he wished to produce a speaking picture of
neglected charity, clothed the poor's box in one of his
pieces with a spider's web : and the Jews, in one of
the fables with which they have disfigured the records
of holy writ, have not less ingeniously availed them-
selves of the same idea. They relate that the reason
why Saul did not discover David and his men in the
cave of Adullani* was, that Cod had sent a spider
which had quickly woven a web across the entrance of
the cave in which they vvere concealed ; Avhich being-
observed by Saul, he thought it useless to investigate
further a spot bearing such evident proofs of the ab-
sence of any human being "*.

The most incurious observer must have remarked
the great diiference which exists in the construction of
spiders' webs. Those which we most commonly see in
houses are of a woven texture similar to fine gauze,
and are appropriately termed webs ; while those most
frequently met with in the fields are composed of a
series of concentric circles united by rac?/?" diverging
from the centre, the threads being remote from each
other. These last, which in their simple state, or still
more when studded with deAV drops, you must have a
thousand times admired, are with greater propriety
termed nets ; and the insects which form them proceed-
ing on geometrical principles may be called geometri-
cians^ while the former can aspire only to the humbler
denomination o^ weavers. I shall endeavour to describe

a 1 Sam. xxiv. 4. *> Lesser, L, ii. '391,

FOOD OF INSECTS. 411

the process folloAved in the construction of both, I)e-
ginning- with the latter.

The weaving spider whicli is found in houses, having
selected some corner tV>r the site of her web, and deter-
mined its extent, presses her spinners against one of
the walls, and thus glues to it one end of her thread.
She then walks along the wall to the opposite side,
and there in like manner fastens the other end. This
thread, which is to form the outer margin or selvage
of her web, and requires strength, she triples or qua-
druples by a repetition of the operation just described ;
and from it she draws other threads in various direc-
tions, the interstices of which she fills up by running
from one to the other, and connecting them by new
threads until the whole lias assumed the gauze-like
texture which we see. Books of natural history, all
copying from one another, have described these kinds
of web as fabricated of a regular v/arp and woof, or of
parallel longitudinal lines crossed at right angles by
transverse ones glued to them at the points of intersec-
tion. This, however, is clearly erroneous, as you will
see by the slightest examination of a web of this kind,
in which no such regularity of texture can be disco-
vered.

The webs just described present merely a simple
horizontal surface, but others more frequently seen in
out-houses and amongst bushes possess a very artificial
appen jage. Besides the main Aveb, the spider carries
up from its edges and surface a number of single threads
often to the height of rjiany feet, joining and crossing
each other in various directions. Across these lines,
wliich may be compared to the tackling of a ship, flies

4t5 FOOD OF INSECTS.

seem unable to avoid directing their flight. The certain
consequence is, that in striking against these ropes they
become slightly entangled, and, in their endeavours to
disengage themselves, rarely escape being precipitated
into the net spread underneath for their reception,
where their doom is inevitable.

But the net is still incomplete. It is necessary that
our hvrnter should conceal her grim visage from the
game for which she lies in wait. She does not there-
fore station herself upon the surface of her net, but in
a small silken apartment constructed below it, and
completely hidden from view. " In this corner," to
use the quaint translation of Pliny by Philemon Hol-
land, Doctor in Physic % " with what subtiltie doth
she retire making semblance as though she meant no-
thing less than that she doth, and as if she went about
some other business ! nay, how close lieth she, that it
is impossible to see whether any one be within or no ! "
But thus removed to a distance from her net and en-
tirely out of sight of it, how is she to know when her
prey is entrapped? For this difficulty our ingenious
weaver has provided. She has taken care to spin se-
veral threads from the edge of the net to that of her
hole, which at once inform her by their vibrations of
the capture of a fly, and serve as a bridge on which in
an instant she can run to secure it.

You v/ill readily conceive that the geometrical spi-
ders, in forming their concentric circled nets, follow
a process very different from that just described, than
which indeed it is in many respects more curious. As
the net is usually fixed in a perpendicular or somewhat

a L. xi. C. 2i.

FOOD OF INSECVrS. 413

oblique direction, in an opening- between the leaves of
some shrub or plant, it is obvious that round its whole
extent will be required lines to which can be attached
those ends of the radii that are furtliest from the centie.
Accordingly the construction of these exterior lines is
the spider's first operation. She seems careless al)out
the shape of the area which they inclose, well aware
that she can as readily inscribe a circle in a triangle as
in a square, and in this respect she is guided by the
distance or proximity of the points to which she can at-
tach them. She spares no pains, however, to strengthen
and keep them in a proper degree of tension. With
the former view she composes each line of five or six or
even nrore threads glued together ; and with the latter
she fixes to them from different points a numerous and
intricate apparatus of smaller threads. Having thus
completed the foundations of her snare ^, she proceeds
to fill up the outline. Attaching a thread to one of the
main lines, she walks along it, guiding it with one of
her hind feet that it may not touch in any part and be
prematurely glued, and crosses over to the opposite
side, where by applying her spinners she firmly fixes
it. To the middle of this diagonal thread, which is to
form the centre of her net, she fixes a second, which in
like manner she conveys and fastens to another part of
the lines encircling the area. Her work now proceeds
rapidly. During the preliminary operations she some-
times rests, as though her plan required meditation^
But no sooner are the marginal lines of her net firmly

a I ain not certain whether the garden spider does not more frequently
form one or two of the principal radii of the net, before she spins the
exterior lines.

414 FOOD OF INSECtSi

stretched, and two or three radii spun from its centre,
than she continues her labour so quickly and unremit-
tingly that the eye can scarcely follow her progress.
The radii to the number of about twenty, giving the
net the appearance of a wheel, are speedily finished.
She then proceeds to the centre, quickly turns herself
round, and pulls each thread with her feet to ascertain
its strength, breaking any one that seems defective and
replacing it by another. Next, she glues immediately
round the centre five or six small concentric circles,
distant about half a line from each other, and then four
or five larger ones, each separated by a space of half
an inch or more. These last serve as a sort of tempo-
rary scaffolding to walk over, and to keep the radii
properly stretched while she glues to them the concen-
tric circles that are to remain, which she now proceeds
to construct. Placing herself at the circumference, and
fastening her thread to the end of one of the radii, she
walks up that one, towards the centre, to such a di-
stance as to draw the thread from her body of a suf-
ficient length to reach to the next. Then stepping^
across and conducting the thread with one of her hind
feet, she glues it with her spinners to the point in the
adjoining raciius to which it is to be fixed. This pro-
cess she repeats until she has filled up nearly the whole
space from the circumference to the centre with con-
centric circles distant from each other about two lines.
She always, however, leaves a vacant interval around
the smallest first spun circles that are nearest to the
centre, but for what end I am unable to conjecture.
Lastly, she runs to the centre and bites away the small
cotton-like tuft that r.nited all the radii, which being

FOOD OF INSECTS. 415

WOW held together by the circular threads have thus
probably their elasticity increased; and in the circular
opening resulting* from this procedure she takes her
station and watches for her prey.

In tlie above description, which is from my own ob-
servations, I have supposed the spider to fix the first
and main line of her net to points from one of which she
could readily climb to the other, dragging it after her ;
and many of these nets are placed in situations where
this is very practicable. They are frequently, how-
ever, stretched in places where it is quite impossible for
the spider thus to convey her main line — betAveen the
branches of lofty trees having' no connexion with each
other; between two distinct and elevated buildings ^
and even between plants growing in water. Here then
a difficulty occurs. How does the spider contrive to ex-
tend her main line, which is often many feet in length,
across inaccessible openings of this description ?

With the view of deciding- this question, to which I
could find no very satisfactory answer in books, I
made an experiment, for the idea of which I am in-
debterl to a similar one recorded by Mr. Knight^, who
informs us that if a spider be placed upon an upright
stick having its bottom immersed in water, it will, after
trying in vain all other modes of escape, dart out nu-
merous fine threads so light as to float in the air, some
one of which attaching itself to a neighbouring object
furnishes a bridge for its escape. It was clear that if
this mode is pursued by the geometric spiders, it would
go considerably towards furnishing a solution of the
difficulty in question. I accordingly placed the large

•a Treatise on the Jpple and Pe&r, p. 97.

416 F.OOD OF INSECTS.

field spider (A. Diadema) upon a stick about a foot
long, set upright in a vessel containing water. After
fastening its thread (as all spiders do before they
move) at the top of the stick, it crept down the side
until it felt the water with its fore feet, which seem to
serve as antennae : it then immediately swung itself
from the stick (which was slightly bent) and climbed
up by the thiead to the top. This it repeated perhaps
a score times, sometimes creeping down a different
part of the stick, but more frequently down the very
side it had so often traversed in vain. Wearied with
this sameness in its operations, I left the room for some
hours. On my return I was surprised to find my pri-
soner escaped, and not a little pleased to discover, on
further examination, a thread extended from the top
of the stick to a cabinet seven or eight inches distant,
which thread had doubtless served as its bridge.
Eager to witness the process by which the line was
constructed, I replaced the spider in its foniier posi-
tion. After frequently creeping down and mouniing
up again as before, at length it let itself drop from the
top of the stick, not as before by a single thread but
by two, each distant from the other about the twelfth
of an inch, guided as usual by one of its hind feet, and
one apparently smaller than the other. When it had
suffered itself to descend nearly to the surface of
the water, it stopped short, and, by some means
which I could not distinctly see, broke off close to the
spinners the smallest thread, which still adhering by
the other end to the top of the stick floated in the
air, and was so light as to be carried about by the
slightest breath. On approaching a pencil to the loose

POOD OF INSECTS. 417

fend of this line, it did not adhere from mere contact.
I therefore twisted it once or twice round the pencil,
and then drew it tight. The spider, which had previous-
ly climbed to the top of the stick, immediately pulled
at it with one of its feet, and, finding it sufficiently
tense, crept along it, strengthening- it as it proceeded
by another thread, and thus reached the pencil^.

That this therefore is one mode by which the geo-
metric spiders convey the main line of their nets be-
tween distant objects, there can be no doubt, but that
it is the only one is not so clear. If the position of
the main line be thus determined by the accidental in-
fluence of the wind, we might expect to see these nets
arranged with great irregularity, and crossing each
other in every direction ; yet it is the fact, that however
closely crowded they may be, they constantly appear
to be placed not by accident but design, commonly
running parallel with each other at right angles with
the points of support, and never interfering. Another
objection too presents itself. From the experiment re-

a Some time after making this experiment I stumbled upon a passage
in Redi (De Imeclis, p. 119.) from which it appears that Blancanus, in
his Commentaries upon Aristotle, lias related a series of observations which
led him to precisely the same resiil;. Lebmann, too, in a paper in the
Transactions of the Society of Naturalists at Berlin (translated in the Phi-
losophical Magazine, x\. 323.) has given an explanation somewhat similar
of the operations of this very spider, but I am inclined to think errone-
ous in some particulars. He describes it as emitting numerous floating
threads at the commencement of its descent. That he is mistaken in sup-
posing these threads to be more than one, is proved by the fact which I
have observed— that even that orfe sometimes breaks by the weight of the
spider. How then could an insect almost as big as a gooseberry be sup-
ported by a line of the tenuity here attributed to it ?
VOL. I. 2 E

418 FOOD OF INSECTS.

lated, it is clear that the main line of the net can never
be longer than the lieightof the object from which the
spider dropped in forming it. But it is no uncommon
thing- to vsee nets in which these lines are a yard or two
long) fastened to twigs of grass not a foot in height,
and yet separated by obstacles eifectually precluding
the possibility of the spiders having dragged the lines
from one to the other. Here therefore some other pro-
cess must have been used.

Both these difficulties would be removed by adopting
the explanation of an anonymous author in ihe Journal
de Physique ^, founded as he asserts on actual obser-
vation. He says that he saw a small spider, Avhich he
had forced to suspend itself by its thread from the point
of a feather, shoot out obliquely in opposite directions
other smaller threads, which attached themselves in
the still air of a room, without any influence of the
wind, to the objects towards which they were directed.
He therefore infers that spiders have the power of
shooting out threads and directing them at pleasure to-
wards a determined point, judging of the distance and
position of the object by some sense of which we are
ignorant. Something like this manoeuvre I once myself
witnessed in a male of the small garden spider (Aranea
reticulata). It was standing midway on a long perpen-
dicular fixed thread, and an appearance caught my eye
of what seemed to be the emission of threads from its
projected spinners. I therefore moved my arm in the
direction in which they apparently proceeded, and, as
I suspected, a floating thread attached itself to my coat,

a An. vii. Vindemiaiie. Translated in Phil. Mag. ii. 215.

FOOD OF INSTICTS. 419

along which the spider crept. As this was connected
with the spinners of the spider, it could not have been
formed in the same way with the secondary thread of
A. Dindema above described.

Probably in this case, as in so many others, we be-
wilder ourselves by attempting- to make nature bend to
generalities to which she disdains to submit. Different
spiders may lay the foundations of their net in a dif-
ferent manner; some on the plan adopted by A. Dia-
dema ; others, as Lister long- ago conjectured *, by shoot-
ing- out threads in the mode of the flying- species as in
the instances recorded by the anonymous observer, and
Mr. Knight. Nor is it improbable that the same spe-
cies has the power of varying its procedures according
to circumstances.

How far "^hese suppositions are correct it is impossible
to determine without further experiments, which it is
somewhat strange should not before now have been in-
stituted. Pliny thought it nothing to the credit of the
philosophers of his day, that while they were disputing
about the number of heroes of the name of Hercules,
and the site of the sepulchre of Bacchus, they should
not have decided whether the queen bee had a sting or
not''; but it seems much more discreditable to the En-
tomologists of ours, that they should yet be ignorant
how the geometric spiders fix their nets. One excuse
for them is, that these insects generally begin their ope-
* rations in the night, so that, though it is very easy to
see them spinning- their concentric circles, it is seldom
that they can be caught laying the foundations of their
isnares. Yet doubtless the lucky moment might be hit

a JIhf. Anim. Ang. p. 7. ■ b Plin. Hist. Nat. 1. xi. c. 17,

2 e2

420 FOOD OF INSECTSr.-

by an attentive observer, and I shall be glad if my at- »
tempt to describe their more ordinary operations should
induce you to aim at signalizing yourself by the dis-
covery. If you failed in solving every difficulty, you
would at least be rewarded by witnessing their indus-
try, ingenuity, and patience.

For the latter virtue they have no small occasion.
Incapable of actively pursuing their prey, they are de-
pendent upon what chance conducts into their toils,
which, especially those spread in neglected buildings,
oflen remain for a long period empty. Even the geo-
metrical spiders, whi^h fix themselves in the midst of
a well-peopled district in the open air, have frequently
to sustain a protracted abstinence. A continued storm
of wind and rain will demolish their nets, and preclude
the possibility of reconstructing them for many days
or sometimes weeks, during which not a single gnat
regales their sharp-set appetites. And when at length-
formed anew or repaired, an unlucky bee or wasp, or
an overgrown fly, will perversely entangle itself in
toils not intended for insects of its bulk, and in disen-
gaging itself once more leave the net in ruin. — All
these trials move not our philosophic race. They pa-
tiently sit in their watching-place in the same posture,
scarcely ever stirring but when the expected prey ap-
pears. And however repeatedly their nets are injured
or destroyed, as long as their store of silk is unex-
hausted, they repair or reconstruct them without los&
©f time.

The web of a house spider will, with occasional re-
pairs, serve for a considerable period ; but the nets of
the geometric spiders are in favourable weather re-

FOOD OF INSECTS. 421

tievved either wholly, or at least their concentric circles,
every twenty-four hours, even when not apparently
injured. This diflference in the operations of the two
tribes depends upon a very remarkable peculiarity in
the conformation of their snares. The threads of the
house spider's web are all of the same kind of silk, and
Hies are caught in them from their claws becoming en-
tangled in the fine meshes which form the texture.
On the other hand the net of the garden spider is com-
posed of two distinct kinds of silk; that of the radii not
adhesive, that of the circles extremely viscid *. The
cause of this difference, which, when it is considered
that both sorts of silk proceed from the same instru-
ment, is truly wonderful, may be readily perceived. If
,you examine a newly formed net with a microscope,
you will find that the threads composing the outline
and the radii are simple, those of the circles closely
studded with minute dew-like globules, which from the
elasticity of the thread are easily separable from each
other. That these are in fact globules, of viscid gum,
is proved by their adhering to the finger and retaining-
dust thrown upon the net, while the unadhesive radii
and exterior threads remain unsoiled. It is these
gummed threads alone which retain the insects that fly
into the net; and as they lose their viscid properties
by the action of the air, it is necessary that they should
])e frequently renewed.

In this renewal, as above hinted, the geometrical
spiders are constantly regulated by the future proba-
ble state of the atmosphere, of which they have such a

' a May not the spinners mentioned by Leeuwenhoek (see above p. 405,
iiote) be peculiai- to the retiary spiders, and furnish this viscid thread ?

4^2 FOOD or INSSCTS.

nice perception, that M. Q. D'Isjonval, to whom we?
are indebted for the fact, has proposed them as most
accurate barometers. He asserts that if the weather be
about to be variable, wet and stormy, the main threads
which support the net will be certainly short ; but if
fine settled weather be on the point of commencing,
these threads will be as invariably very long ^. Without
going the length with M. D'Isjonval of deeming his
discoveries important enough to regulate,the march of
armies, or the sailing of fleets, or of proposing that the
first appearance of these barometrical spiders in spring
should be announced by the sound of trumpet, I have
reason to suppose from my own observations that his
statements are in the main accurate, and that a very
good idea of the weather may be formed from attend-
ing to these insects.

The spiders which form geometrical nets differ from
the weavers also with respect to the situation in which
they watch for their prey. They do not conceal them-
selves under their net, but are placed in the centre
with their head downwards, and retire to a little apart-
ment formed on one side under some leaf of a plant, only
when obliged by danger or the state of the weather.
The moment an unfortunate fly or other insect touches
the net, the spider rushes towards it, seizes it with her
fangs, and if it be a small species at once carries it to
her little cell, and, having there at leisure sucked its
juices, throws out the carcase. If the insect be larger
and struggle to escape, with surprising address she en-
velops it with threads in various directions, until both
its wings and legs being effectually fastened, she carries

a BfcZj La Flore des Jnsectophiles, 129.

FOOD OF INSECTS. 423

it off to her den. If the captured insect be a bee or a
large fly so strong that the spider is sensible it is more
than a match for her, she never attempts to seize or even
entangle it, but on the contrary assists it to disengage
itself, and often breaks off that part of the net to which
it hangs, content to be rid of such an unmanageable in-
truder at any price. — When larger booty is plentiful,
these spiders seem not to regard smaller insects. I
have observed them in autumn, when their nets were
almost covered with the Aphides which filled the air,
impatiently pulling them off and dropping them un-
touched over the sides, as though irritated that their
meshes should be occupied with such insignificant game.
— A species of spider described by Lister, (A. conica,)
more provident than its brethren, suspends its prey in
the meshes above and below the centre, and it is not
uncommon to see its larder thus stored with several
flies ^.

You must not infer that the toils of spiders are in
every part of the world formed of such fragile materials
as those which we are accustomed to see, or that they
are every where contented with small insects for their
food. An author in the Philosophical Transactions as-
serts, that the spiders of Bermudas spin webs between
trees seven and eight fathoms distant, which are strong
enough to ensnare a bird as large as a thrush^. And Sir
G. Staunton informs us, that in the forests of Java,
spiders' webs are met with of so strong a texture as to
require a sharp cutting instrument to make way through
them^.

a Lister, Hist. Anim. Ang. 32, tit. 4. b Phil Ti: 1668, p. 792.

c Embassy to China, '.313.

424; FOOD OF INSECTS.

Nor must you suppose that all the spiders of this
counti-y which catch their prey by means of snares, fol^
low the same plan in constructing them as the weavers
and geometricians whose operations I have endea-
voured to describe. The form of their snares and the
situation in which they place them are so various, that
it is impossible to enumerate more than a few of the
most remarkable. Aranealahi/rinthica, lu. extends over
the blades of grass a large white horizontal net having
at its margin a cylindrical cell, in the bottom of which,
secure from birds and defended from the rays of the
sun, the spider lies concealed, whence on the slightest
movement of her net she rushes out upon her prey.
A. latens, F., conceals itself under a small net spun
upon the upper surface of a leaf, and thence seizes upon
any insect that chances to pass over it. A. l3-guttata,
Rossi, forms under stones and in slight furrows in the
ground a net consisting of threads spun without any
regularity in all directions, but so strong as to entrap
grass-hoppers, which are said to be its principal food ;
and a similar inartificial snare of simple threads is
often spun in windows by ^. biptinctata, L. and several
other species. A. senoculata and its affinities conceal
themselves in a long cylindrical straight silken tube,
from the mouth of which they stretch out their six an-
terior feet, whose extremities rest upon as many di-
verging threads : thus, as soon as an insect walks across
any of the threads (which are eight or ten inches long)
the insect's toes give it warning of prey being at hand,
when it rushes out and seldom fails to secure its victim.

•' The spider's touch how exquisitely fine !
Feels at each thread, and lives along the line."

FOOD OF INSECTS. 42^

M. Homber^ tells us that he has seen a vigorous wasp
carried off and destroyed by one of these species.

The spiders, to whicli I have hitherto adverted, seize
their prey by means of webs or nets • but a very large
number, though, like the former, they spin silken co-
coons for containing their eggs, never employ the same
material in constructing similar snares, of which they
make no use.

These may be separated into two grand divisions ;
the first comprising those which conceal themselves
and lie in ambuscade for their prey, and sometimes run
after it to a short distance ; the second, those which are
constantly roaming about in every direction in search of
it, and seize it by open violence. The former Walcke^
naer, in his admiral)ie work on spiders, has designated
by the name of Vagrants, the latter by that of Hunters ;
terming those already mentioned which spin webs and
nets, Sedentaries : if to these you add the Swimmers,
or those species wliich catch their prey in the water,
you will have an idea of the general manners of the
whole race of spiders.

The artifices of that tribe which Walckenaer has
named vagrants are various and singular. A. holose-
ricea and many other species conceal themselves in a
little ceil formed of the rolled-up leaf of a plant, and
thence dart upon any insect which chances to pass :
while A. atrox and its affinities select for their place of
ambush a hole in a wall, or lurk behind a stone, or in
the bark of a tree. A. calycina more ingeniously places
jierself at the bottom of the calyx of a dead flower, and
pounces upon the unwary flies that come in search of

426 FOOD OF INSECTS.

honey; and A. arundinacea buries herself in the thick
panicle of a reed, and seizes the luckless visitors enticed
ixy rest upon her silvery concealment. Many of this
tribe at times quit their habitations, and by various
stratagems contrive to come within reach of their prey,
as by pretending- to be dead, hiding themselves behind
any slight projection, &c. A white species I have often
observed squatted in the blossom of the hawthorn or
on the flowers of umbelliferous plants, and is thus ef-
fectually concealed by the similarity of colour.

Foremost amongst the spiders comprehended by
Walckenaer under the general name of hunters, which
search aft«r and openly seize their prey, must be enu-
merated the monstrous^, avicidaria, at least two inches
long, which takes up its abode in the woods of Sc uth
America, and has been reputed to seize and devour
even small birds; but this is wholly denied by Langs-
dorf who declares that it eats only insects^. This spe-
cies, as well as another tropical one, A. renatoria, the
European A. cemenlarki^ and many others, construct
in the ground very singular cylindrical cavities, and
therein carry and devour their prey. These, being
rather the habitations of insects than snares, I shall
describe in a subsequent letter. A. saccata, the species
whose affection for its young I have before detailed,
and not a few others of the same family, common in
this country, in like manner seize their prey openly,
and when caught carry it to little inartificial cavities
under stones. A.Jimbriata, L. hunts along the margins
of pools; and Lycosa piralica of Walckenaer and its
congeners not only chase their prey in the same situ-

a Bemerkungen aufdner Jieise urn die Well. i. 63.

FOOD OF INSECTS. 427

ation, but, venturing to skate upon the surface of the
water itself,

" , . . . bathe unwet their oily forms, and dwell
With feet repulsive on the dimpling well."

The Rev. R, Sheppard has often noticed in the fen
ditches of Norfolk a very large spider which actually
forms a raft for the purpose of obtaining its prey with
more facility. Keeping its station upon a ball of weeds
about three inches in diameter, probably held together
by slight silken cords, it is wafted along the surface of
the water upon this floating island, which it quits the
moment it sees a drowning insect — not, as you may
conceive, for the sake of applying tolt the process of
the Humane Society, but of hastening its exit by a
more speedy engine of destruction. The booty thus
neized it devours at leisure upon its raft, under which
it retires when alarmed by any danger. ,

The last of the tribe of hunters that it is necessary to
particularize, are those which, like the tigers amongst
the larger animals, seize their victims by leaping upon
them. To this divison belongs a very pretty small
banded species, A. scenica, which in summer may be
seen running on every wall.

To Walckenaer's swhnmers, the last of his grand
tribes of spiders, including Aranea aquatica, L. &c.,
the first line of the above quotation from Dr. Darwin is
particularly applicable ; for these actually seize their
food by diving under the water, their bodies being kept
unwet by a coating of air which constantly surrounds
them. — Thus one single race of insects exem^plify in
miniature almost all the modes of obtaining food which
prevail amongst prcdaceous qitadrnpeds — the auda-

428 li-OOD OF INSECTS.

cious attack of the lion; the wily spring of the tiger;
the sedentary cunning of the lynx ; and the amphibious
dexterity of the otter.

This general view of the stratagems by which the
spider tribe obtain their food, imperfect as it is, will, I
trust, have interested you sufficiently to drive away the
associations of disgust with which you, like almost
every one else, have probably been accustomed to re-
gard these insects. Instead of considering them as re-
pulsive compounds of cruelty and ferocity, you will
henceforward see in their procedures only the inge-
nious contrivance of patient and industrious hunters,
who, v/hile obeying the great law of nature in procu-
ring their sustenance, are actively serviceable to the
human race in destroying noxious insects. You will
allow the poet to stigmatize them as-

" cunning and fierce,

Mixture abhorred!"

but yon will see that these epithets are in reality as
unjustly applied to them (at least with reference to
the mode in which they procure their necessary sub-
sistence) as to the patient sportsman who lays snares
for the birds that are to serve for the dinner of his
family ; and when you hear

" the fluttering wing

And shriller sound declare extreme distrt3ss,"

you will as little think it the part of true mercy to
stretch forth " the helping hospitable hand" to the
entrapped fly as to the captive birds. The spider re-
quires his meal as well as the Indian : and, however
to our weak capacity the great law of creation " eat

VOOi) OF INSECTS; 429*

or be eaten" may seem cruel or unnecessary, knowing
as we do that it is the ordinance of a beneficent Being,
who does all things well, and that in fact the sum of
happiness is greatly augmented by it, no man, who
does not let a morbid sensibility get the better of his
judgement, will, on account of their subjection to this*
rule, look upon prcdaceous animals with abhorrence.

One more instance of the stratagems of insects in
procuring their prey shall conclude this letter. Other
examples might be adduced, but the enumeration would
be tedious. This, from an order of insects widely dif-
fering from that which includes the race of spiders, is
perhaps more curious and interesting than any of those
hitherto recited. The insect to which I allude, an in-
habitant of the south of Europe, is the larva of a spe-
cies of ant-lion (Mt/r7ncleon, L.), so called from its
singular manners in this state. It belongs to a genus
between the dragon-fly and the Hemerobius. When
full grown its length is about half an inch : in sliape it
has a slight resemblance to a wood-louse, but the out-
line of the body is more triangular, the anterior part
being considerably wider than the posterior : it has six
legs, and the mouth is furnislied with a forceps consist-
ing of two incurved jaws, which give it a formidable
appearance^. If we looked only at its external con-
formation and habits, we should be apt to conclude it
one of the most helpless animals in tlie creation. Its
sole food is the juices of other insects, particularly ants,
but at the first view it seems impossible that it sliould
ever secure a single meal. Not only is its pace sloWj

a Plate XIX. Fig. y.

430 POOD OF IKSECTS^.

but it can walk in no othei* direction than backwards :
you may judge, therefore, what would be such a hun-
ter's chance of seizing an active ant. Nor would a
stationary posture be more favourable ; for its grim
aspect would infallibly impress upon all wanderers the
prudence of keeping at a respectful distance. What
then is to become of our poor ant-lion ? In its appetite
it is a perfect epicure, never, however great may be
its hunger, deigning to taste of a carcase unless it has
previously had the enjoyment of killing it ; and then
extracting only the finer juices. In what possible way
can it contrive to supply such a succession of delicacies,
when its ordinary habits seem to unfit it for obtaining
even the coarsest provision ? You shall hear. It ac-
complishes by artifice what all its open efforts would
have been unequal to. It digs in loose sand a conical
pit, in the bottom of which it conceals itself, and there
seizes upon the insects which, chancing to stumble over
the margin, are precipitated down the sides to the cen-
tre. " How wonderful!" you exclaim: but you will
be still more surprised when I have described the whole
process by which it excavates its trap, and the inge-
nious contrivances to which it has recourse.

Its first concern is to find a soil of loose dry sand, in
the neighbourhood of which, indeed, its provident mo-
ther has previously taken care to place it, and in a
sheltered spot near an old wall, or at the foot of a tree.
This is necessary on two accounts : the prey most ac-
ceptable to it abounds there, and no other soil would
suit for the construction of its snare. Its next step is
to trace in the sand a circle, which, like the furrow with
which Romulus marked out the limits of his new city,

FOOD OF INSECTS. 431

i« to determine the extent of its future abode. This
being done, it proceeds to excavate the cavity by throw-
ing out the sand in a mode not less singular than elTec-
tive. Placing- itself in the inside of the circle which it
has traced, it thrusts the hind part of its body under the
sand, and with one of its fore-legs, serving as a shovel,
it charges its flat and square head with a load, which
it immediately throws over the outside of the circle
with a jerk strong enough to carry it to the distance of
several inches. This little manoeuvre is executed with
surprising promptitude and address. A gardener does
not operate so quickly nor so well with his spade and
his foot, as the ant-lion with its head and leg. — Walk-
ing backwards, and constantly repeating the process,
it soon arrives at the part of the circle from which it set
out. It then traces a new one, excavates another fur-
row in a similar manner, and by a repetition of these
operations at length arrives at the centre of its cavity.
One circumstance deserves remark — that it never loads
its head with the sand lying on the outside of the circle,
though it would be as easy to do this with the outward
leg, as to remove the sand within the circle by the inner
leg. But it knows that it is the sand in the interior of
the circle only that is to be excavated, and it therefore
constantly uses the leg next the centre. It will readily
occur, however, that to use one leg as a shovel exclu-
sively throughout the whole of such a toilsome opera-
tion, would be extremely wearisome and painful. For
this difficulty our ingenious pioneer has a resource.
After finishing the excavation of one circular furrow, it
traces the next in an opposite direction ; and thus alter-
nately exercises each of its legs without tiring either.

43^ FOOD OF INSECTS.

In the course of its labours it frequently meets wittt
small stones : these it places upon its head one by one,
and jerks over the margin of the pit. But sometimes,
when near the bottom, a pebble presents itself of a size
so large that this process is impossible, its head not
being sufficiently broad and strong to bear so great a
weight, and the height being too considerable to admit
of projecting so large a body to the top. A more im-
patient labourer would despair, but not so our insect.
A new plan is adopted. By a manoeuvre, not easily-
described, it lifts the stone upon its back, keeps it in a
steadv position by an alternate motion of the segments
which compose that part ; and carefully walking up the
ascent with the burthen, deposits it on the outside of
the margin. When, as occasionally happens, the stone
is round, the labour becomes most difficult and painful.
A spectator watching the motions of the ant-lion feels
an inexpressible interest in its behalf. He sees it with
vast exertion elevate the stone, and begin its arduous
retrograde ascent : at every moment the burthen tot-
ters to one side or the other : the adroit porter lifts up
the segments of its back to balance it, and has already
nearly reached the top of the pit, when a stumble or a
jolt mocks all its efforts, and the stone tumbles head-
long to the bottom. Mortified, but not despairing, the
ant-lion returns to the charge; again replaces the stone
on its back ; again ascends the side, and artfully avails
himself, for a road, of the channel formed by the fall-
ing stone, against the sides of which he can support his
load. This time possibly he succeeds ; or it may be, as
is often the case, the stone again rolls down. When
thus unfortunate, our little Sisyphus has been seen six

rOOD OF INSECTS. 433

times patiently to renew his attempt, and was at last, a3
Jiuch heroic resolution deserved, successful. It is only
after a series of trials have demonstrated the impossi-
bility of succeeding- that our engineer yields to fate,
and, quitting his half-excavated pit, begins the forma-
tion of another.

When all obstacles are overcome, and the pit is
finished, it presents itself as a conical hole rather more
than two inches deep, gradually contracting to a point
at the bottom, and about three inches wide at the top^
The ant-lion now takes its station at the bottom of the
pit, and, that its gruff appearance may not scare the
passengers which approach its den, covers itself with
sand all except the points of its expanded forceps. It
is not long before an ant on its travels, fearing no harm,
steps upon the margin of the pit, either accidentally or
for the purpose of exploring the depth below. Alas I
its curiosity is dearly gratified. The faithless sand
slides from under its feet; its struggles but hasten its
descent; and it is precipitated headlong into the jaws
of the concealed devourer. Sometimes, however, it
chances that the ant is able to stop itself midway, and
with all haste scrambles up again. No sooner does
the ant-lion perceive this, (for, being furnished with
six eyes on each side of his head, he is sufficiently
sharp-sighted,) than, shaking off his inactivity, he has-
tily shovels loads of sand upon his head, and vigorously

a The npsts of this anin.al which ! saw at Fontainbleau were scarcely
half the dimensions here given, but they might probably be younger in-
sects. I k •[)t one in c'l box of sand srverai d.i ?, in which it regularly
formed its pit,vvhene¥er obliterated by shaking. The bottom of the box
unfortunately came out aa I was upon my return to England, and the
animal was killed.

VOL. I. ^T

4^4 - FOOD OF INSECTS.

throws them up in quick succession upon the escaping
insect, which, attacked by such a heavy shower from
above, and treading on so unstable a path, is almost in-
evitably carried to the bottom. The instant his victim
is fairly within reach, the ant-lion seizes him between
hia jaws, which are admirable instruments, at the same
time hooked for holding, and hollow, furnished with a
lateral piston, for sucking, and at his leisure extract-
ing all the juices of the body, regales upon formic acid.
The dry carcase he subsequently jerks out of his den,
that it may not encumber him in his future contests, or
betray the " horrid secrets of his prison-house : " and
if the sides of the pit have received any damage, he
leaves his concealment for awhile to repair it : which
liaving done, he resumes his station.

Tn this manner in its larva state this insect lives
nearly two years, during all which time it receives no
food but what has been caught through the artifice
above described. Though all living insects are equally
acceptafble to it, as the winged tribe can easily take
flight from its pit should tliey chance to fall into it, its
prey consists chiefly of apterous species, of which ants
form by far the largest portion, with occasionally an
unwary spider or wood-louse. When the full period of
its growth is attained it retires under the sand; spins
•w ith its anus a silken cocoon ; remains a chrysalis a few^
weeks; and then breaks forth a four-winged insect re-
sembling, as before observed, the dragon-fly both in
•appearance and manners, and preying in like manner
on moths, butterflies, and other insects".

The larva o^ Mijrmelconformicarius is not the only

a Kcaiiiii. V\. 333 78. Bonnet, ii. 3S0.

Pood of insects. 435

insect which avails itself of a trap for obtaining its prey.
A plan in most respects similar is adopted by that of a
fly (Hhagio Vermilio, F.) in form somewhat resem-
bling the common flesh maggot. This also digs a fun-
nel-shaped cavity in loose earth or sand, but deeper
in proportion to its width than that of M.forinicarms,
and excavated not by regular circles, but by throwing
out the earth obliquely on all sides. When its trap is
finished, it stretches itself near the bottom, remaining
stiff* and without motion like a piece of wood, and the
last segment bent at an angle with the rest so as to
form a strong point of support in the struggles which
it often necessarily has with vigorous prey. The mo-
ment an insect falls into the pitfall, the larva writhes
itself round it like a serpent, transfixes it with its man-
dibles, and sucks its juices at its ease. If the insect
escapes, the larva casts above it jets of sand with sur-
prising rapidity ^

I am, &c.

'■« Bonnet, ix. 414. De Gcor, vi. 168. t, 10,

F 2

LETTER XIV.

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

In forming an estimate of the civilization and intellec-
tual progress of a newly discovered people, we usually
pay attention to their buildings and other proofs of
architectural skill. If we find them, like the wretched
inhabitants of Van Diemen's Land, without other
abodes than natural caverns or miserable penthouses of
bark, we at once regard them as the most ignorant and
unhumanized of their race. If, like the natives of the
South Sea Isles, they have advanced a step further, and
enjoy houses formed of timber, thatched with leaves,
and furnished with utensils of different kinds, we are
inclined to place them considerably higher in the scale.
When, as in the case of ancient Mexico, we discover a
nation inhabiting towns containing stone houses, regu-
larly disposed into streets, we do not hesitate-without
other inquiry tq decide that it must have been civilized
in no ordinary degree. And if it were to chance that
some future Park in Africa should stumble upon the
ruins of a large city, where, in addition to these proofs
of science, every building was constructed on just geo*
metrical and architectural principles ; where the ma-
terials were so employed as to unite strength with
lightness, and a confined site so artfully occupied as
to obtain spacious symmetrical apartments, we should

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 437

eagerly inquire into the history of the inhabitants, and
sigh over the remains of a race whose intellectual ad-
vances we should infer with certainty were not inferior
to our own.

Were we by the same test to estimate the sagacity of
the different classes of animals, we should beyond all
doubt assign the highest place to insects, which in the
construction of their habitations leave all the rest far
behind. The nests of birds, from the rook's rude as-
semblage of sticks to the pensile dwellings of the tailor-
bird, wonderful as they doubtless are, are indisputably
eclipsed by the structures formed by many insects ; and
the regular villages of the beaver, by far the most sa-
gacious architect amongst quadrupeds, must yield the
palm to a wasp's nest. You will think me here guilty
of exaggeration, and that, blinded by my attachment to
a favourite pursuit, I am elevating the little objects,
which I wish to recommend to your study, to a rank
beyond their just claim. So far, however, am I from
being conscious of any such prejudice, that I do not
hesitate to go further, and assert that the pyramids of
Egypt, as the work of man, are not more wonderful
for their size and solidity than are the structures built
by some insects.

To describe the most remarkable of these is my pre-
sent object; and that some method maybe observed, I
shall in this letter describe the habitations of insects
living in a state of solitude, and built each by a single
architect; and in a subsequent one, those of insects
living in societies built by the united labours of many.
The former class may be conveniently subdivided into
habitations built by the parent insect, not for its own

438 HABITATIONS or INSECTS.

use, but for the convenience of its future young; and
those which are formed by the insect that inhabits them
for its own accommodation. To the first I shall now
call your attention.

The solitary insects which construct habitations for
their future young without any view to their own ac-
commodation, chiefly belong to the order Hymeno-
ptera, and are principally different species of wild bees.
Of these the most simple are built by M. succincta,fo-
diens, and other species of the first family of the genus
Melitta^ Kirby (Colletes^ Latr.). The situation which
the parent bee chooses, is either the di-y earth of a bank,
or the vacuities of stone walls cemented with earth in-
stead of mortar. Having excavated a cylinder about
two inches in depth, running usually in a horizontal
direction, the bee occupies it with three or four cells
about half an inch long, and one-sixth broad, shaped
like a thimble, the end of one fitting into the mouth of
another. The substance of which these cells are formed
is two or three layers of a silky membrane, composed
of a kind of glue secreted by the animal, resembling
gold-beater's leaf, but much finer, and so thin and
transparent that the colour of an included object may
be seen through them. As goon as one cell is com-
pleted, the bee deposits an egg within, and nearly fills
it with a paste composed of pollen and honey; which
having done, she proceeds to form another cell, storing
it in like manner until the whole is finished, w hen she
carefully stops up the mouth of the orifice with earth.
Our countryman Grew seems to have found a series
pf these nests in a siiigular situation — the middle of

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 439

the pith of an old elder-branch — in which they were
placed lengthwise one after another with a thin boun-
dary between each''.

Cells composed of a similar membranaceous sub-
stance, but placed in a ditferent situation, are con-
structed by Apis manicata, L. This gay insect does not
excavate holes for their reception, but places them in
the cavities of old trees, or of any other object that
suits its purpose. Sir Thomas Cullum discovered
the nest of one in the inside of the lock of a garden-
gate, in which I have also since twice found them. It
should seem, however, that such situations would be
too cold for the grubs witliout a coating of some non-
conducting substance. The parent bee, therefore, afr
ter having constructed the cells, laid an egg in each,
and filled them with a store of suitable food, plasters
them with a covering of vermiform masses, apparently
composed of honey and pollen; and having- done this,
aware, long before Count Rum ford's experiments, what
materials conduct heat most slowly, she attacks the
woolly leaves of Stachj/s lanata, A^rostemma corona-
ria, and similar plants, and with her mandibles in-
dustriously scrapes otf the wool, which with her fore
legs she rolls into a little ]>all and carries to her nest.
This wool she sticks upon the plaster tiuit covers her
cells, and thus closely envelops them with a warm coat-
ing of down impervious to every change of tempera-
ture''.

a Grew's Rarities of Gnihaiu Colicdgr, 15 J. Kirby Jlon, .ip. ^4righ
i. 13J. Mdilta. *■ a.

b Man, ^p: y^ng. i. HS. yipls **. c. 2. a. From Inter observations I
am inclined to think, that these telh may possibly, as in the case of the
humble-bee, be in fact formed by the larva previously to becoming a

440 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

The bee last described may be said to exercise the
trade of a clothier. Another numerous family would
be more properly compared to carpenters, boring with
incredible labour out of the solid wood long cylindrical
tubes, and dividing them into various cells. Amongst
these, one of the most remarkable isihe Apis violacea^lj.
(Xj//ocop«,Latr.),alarge species, a native of Southern
Europe, distinguished by beautiful wings of a deep vio-
let colour, and found commonly in gardens, in the up-
right putrescent espaliers or vine-props of which, and
occasionally in the garden seats, doors and window-
shutters, she makes her nest. In the beginning of
spring, after repeated and careful surveys, she fixes
upon a piece of wood suitable for her purpose, and
with her strong mandibles begins the process of boring.
First proceeding obliquely downwards, she soon points
her course in a direction parallel with the sides of the
wood, and at length with unwearied exertion forms a
cylindrical hole or tunnel not less than twelve or fif-
teen ijiches long and half an inch broad.' Sometimes,
where the diameter will admit of it, three or four of
these pipes, nearly parallel with each other, are bored
in the same piece. Herculean as this task, which is
the labour of several days, appears, it is but a small
part of what our industrious* bee cheerfully undertakes.
As yet she has completed but the shell of the destined
habitation of her offspring ; each of which, to the num-
ber of ten or twelve, will require a separate and di-

pupa, after having eaten the provision of pollen and honey with which
the parent bee had surrounded it. The vermicular shape, however, of
the masses with which the cases are surrounded, lioes not seem ca^'ly
vcconcilcable with this supposition, unless tlicv arc cor.ajdcrcd as the
extr rae.it of the larva.

iflABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 441

stinct apartment. How, you will ask, is she to form
these? With what materials can she construct the
floors and ceilings? Why truly Goo "doth instruct
her to discretion and doth teach her." In excavating
her tunnel she has detached a large quantity of fibres,
ivhich lie on the ground like a heap of saw-dust. This
material supplies all her wants. Having deposited au
egg at the bottom of the cylinder along with the requi-
site store of pollen and honey, she next, at the height
of about three quarters of an inch, (which is the depth
of each cell,) constructs of particles of the saw-dust
glued together, and also to the sides of the tunnel, what
may be called an annular stage or scaffolding. When
this is sufficiently hardened, its interior edge affords
support for a second ring of the same materials, and
thus the ceiling is gradually formed of these concentric
circles, till there remains only a small orifice in its cen-
tre, wiiich is also closed with a circular mass of agglu-
tinated particles of saw-dust. When this partition,
which serves as the ceiling of the first cell and the floor-
ing of the second, is finished, it is about the thickness
of a crown-piece, and exhibits the appearance of as
many concentric circles as the animal has made pauses
in her labour. One cell being finished, she proceeds
to another, which she furnishes and completes in the
same manner, and so on until she has divided her whole
tunnel into ten or twelve apartments.

Here, if you have followed me in this detail with the
interest which I wish it to inspire, a query will suggest
itself. It will strike you that such a laborious under-
taking as the constructing and furnishing these cells,
cannot be the work of one or even of two davs. Con-

442 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

sidering' that every cell requires a store of honey and
pollen, not to be collected but with long toil, and that
a considerable interval must be spent in agglutinating
the floors of each, it will be very obvious to you that
the last egg in the last cell must be laid many days
after the first. We are certain, therefore, that the first
egg will become a grub, and consequently a perfect
bee, many days before the last. What then becomes of
it ? you will ask. It is impossible that it should make
its escape through eleven superincumbent cells without
destroying the immature tenants ; and it seems equally
impossible that it should remain patiently in confine-
ment below them until they are all disclosed. This
dilemma our heaven-taught architect has provided
against. With forethought never enough to be ad-
mired she has not constructed her tunnel with one open-
ing only, but at the further end has pierced another
orifice, a kind of back-door, through which the insects
produced by the first-laid eggs successively emerge
into day. In fact, all the young bees, even the upper-
most, go out by this road ; for, by an exquisite instinct,
each grub, when about to become a pupa, places itself
in its cell with its head downwards, and thus is neces-
sitated, when arrived at its last state, to pierce its cell
in this direction \

Ceratina alhilahris of Spinola, who has given an in-
teresting account of its manners, (Prosopis, F., Mdit-
,ta *. b. Kii'by,) forms its cell upon tl,ie general plan of
the bee just described, but, more economical of labour,
chooses a branch of briar or bramble, in the pith of
which she excavates a canal about a foot long and one

,a Reaiun. vi. 39-50. Mon. Jp. Angl. i. 189. ,^pis * * a, 2. j3.

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 445

line, or sometimes more, in diameter, with from eig'it
to twelve cells separated from each other by partitions
of particles of pith glued together'^.

Such are the curious habitations of the carpetiter
bees. Next I shall introduce you to tJie not less in-
teresting structures of another fan\ily Avhich carry on
the trade of masons, building tlieir solid iiouses solely
of artificial stone. The first step of the mother bee.
Apis mur aria, 0\\s . (Anlhoj]hora,F., Megaxkile, Latr.)
is to fix upon a proper situation for the future mansion
of her oflspring. For this she usually selects an angle,
sheltered by any projection, on the south side of a stone
wall. Her next care is to provide n'fiterials for the
structure. Thechief of these is sand, which she care-
fully selects grain by grain from such as contains some
mixture of earth. These grains she glues together
with her viscid saliva into nuisses the size of small shot,
and transports by means of her jaws to the site of her
castle^. With a number of these masses, which are tiie
artificial stone of which her Iniildingis to be composed,
united by a cement preferable to ours, she first forms
the basis or foundation of the whole. Next she raises
the walls of a cell, which is about an inch in length
and half an inch broad, and before its oriilce is closed,
in form resembles a thimble. This, after depositing an
egg and a supply of honey and pollen, she covers in,
and then proceeds t5 the erection of a second, wiiich she
finishes in the same manner, uiitil the whole number,

a Ann. du j?f»v. x. 236. b Kcaumur plausibly siijjposes that it Tirs

been from observiiif^- tliis bee thus loaded, that the tale mentioned by
Aristotle and Pliny, of thejhive-bee's ballasting itself \> iih a bit of s-tonr
previously to flying hom^ in a high wind, ha? aris n.

444 HABITATIONS OS INSECTS.

which varies from four to eight, is completed. The
vacuities between the cells, which are not placed in
any regular order, some being parallel to the wall,
others perpendicular to it, and others inclined to it at
different angles, this laborious architect fills up with
the same material of w hich the cells are composed, and
then bestows upon the whole group a common cover-
ing of coarser graios of sand. The form of the whole
nest, which when finished is a' solid mass of stone so
hard as not to be easily penetrated with the blade of a
knife, is an irregular oblong of the same colour as the
sand, and to a casual observer more resembling a splash
of mud than an artificial structure. These bees some-
times are more economical of their labour, and repair
old nests, for the possession of which they have very
desperate combats. One would have supposed that the
inhabitants of a castle so fortified might defy the attacks
of every insect marauder. Yet an Ichneumon and a
beetle (Clerus apiarius, F.) both contrive to introduce
their eggs into the cells, and the larvae proceeding
from them devour their inhabitants^.

Other bees of the same family with that last descri-
''bed, use different materials in the construction of their
nests. Some employ fine earth made into a kind of
mortar with gluten. Another (A. ccerulescens^ L.), as
we learn from De Geer, forms its nest of argillaceous
earth mixed with chalk, upon stone walls, and some-
times probably nidificates in chalk-pits. Apis bicorniSy
L. selects the hollows of large stones for the site of
its dwelling; while others prefer the holes in wood.

The works thus far described require in general less

a Kciiuhi. vi. 5T-88. Mun. Jp. Angl. \. 179.

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 445

genius than labour and patience : but it is far otherwise
with the nests of the last tribe of artificers amongst wild
bees, to which I shall advert — the hangers of tapestry,
or upholsterers — those which line the holes excavated
in the earth for the reception of their yovmg, with an
elegant coating of flowers or of leaves. Amongst the
most interesting of these is Apis Papaveris, {Megachile^
Latr., Anthophora^ F.) a species whose manners have
been admirably described by Reaumur. This little bee,
as though fascinated with the colour most attractive to
our eyes, invariably chooses for the hangings of her
apartments the most brilliant scarlet, selecting for its
material the petals of the wild poppy, which she dex-
terously cuts into the proper form. Her first process
is to excavate in some pathway a burrow, cylindrical
at the entrance but swelled out below, to the depth of
about three inches. Having polished the walls of this
little apartment, she next flies to a neighbouring field,
cuts out oval portions of the flowers of poppies, seizes
them between her legs and returns with them to her
cell ; and though separated from the wrinkled petal of
a half-expanded flower, she knows how to straighten
their folds, and, if too large, to fit them for her pur-
pose by cutting off the superfluous parts. Beginning
at the bottom, she overlays the walls of her mansion
with this brilliant tapestry, extending it also on the sur-
face of the ground round the margin of the orifice. The
bottom is rendered warmby three or four coats, and the
sides have never less than two. The little upholsterer,
having completed the hangings of her apartment, next
fills it with pollen and honey to the height of about half
an inch ; then, after committing an e^^ to it, she wraps

41() HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

over the poppy lining so that even the roof may be of
this material; and lastly closes its mouth with a small
hillock of earth *. The great depth of the cell com-
pared with the space Avhich the single egg- and the ac-
companying food deposited in it occupy, deserves par-
ticular notice. This is not more than half an inch at
the bottom, the remaining two inches and a half being
subsequently filled with earth. — When you next favour
me w ith a visit, I can show you the cells of this inter-
esting insect as yet unknown to British entomologists,
for which I am indebted to the kindness of M. Latrcille,
who first scientifically described the species ''.

j^^pis centuncularis, A. Willughhiella, and other spe-
cies of the same family, like the preceding, cover the
Avails of their cells with a coating of leaves, but are
content with a more sober colour, generally selecting
for their hangings the leaves of trees, especially of the
rose, whence they have been known by the name of the
leaf-cutter bees. They differ also from A. Papaveris in
excavating longer burrows, and filling them with se-
veral thimble-shaped cells composed of portions of
leaves so curiously convoluted, that, if we were igno-
rant in what school they have been taught to construct
them, we should never credit their being the work of
an insect. Their entertaining history, so long ago as
1670, attracted the attention of our countrymen Ray,
Lister, Willughby, and Sir Edward King ; but we are
indebted for the most complete account of their pro-
cedures to Reaumur.

The mother bee first excavates a cylindrical hol€
eight or ten inches long, in a horizontal direction, either

a Riaum. vi. 139-148. b Latr. Uist, Nal. des Fourmis,291. -

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 447

in the ground or in the trunk of a rotten willow-tree,
or occasionally in other decaying wood. This cavity
she fills with six or seven cells wholly composed of por-
tions of leaf, of the shape of a thimble, the convex end
of one closely fitting into the open end of another. Her
first process is to form the exterior coatino-, v/hicli is
composed of three or four pieces of larger dimensions
than the rest, and of an oval form. The second coat-
ing is formed of portions of equal size, narrow at one
end but gradually widening towards the other, where
the width equals half the length. One side of these
pieces is the serrate margin of the leaf from which it
was taken , which, as the pieces are made to lap one
over the other, is kept on the outside, and that which
has been cut within. The little animal now forms a
third coating of similar materials, the middle of which,
as the most skilful workman would do in similar cir-
cumstances, she places over the margins of those that
form the first tube, thus covering; and gtrenfftheninsr
the junctures. Repeating the same process, she gives
a fourth and sometimes a fifth coating to her nest,
taking care, at the closed end or narrow extremity of
the cell, to bend the leaves so as to form a convex termi-
nation. Having thus finished a cell, her next business
is to fill it to within half a line of the orifice, with a
rose-coloured conserve composed of honey and pollen,
usually collected from the flowers of thistles ; and then
having deposited her egg, she closes the orifice with
three pieces of leaf so exactly circular, that a pair of
compasses could not define their margin with more
truth: and coinciding so precisely with the walls of
(he cell, as to be retained in their situation merely by

448 ilABlTATlOXS O*' IN8ECT«.

the nicety of their adaptation. After this covering is
fitted in, there remains still a concavity which receives
the convex end of the succeeding- cell ; and in this man-
ner the indefatigable little animal proceeds until she
has completed the six or seven cells which compose
her cylinder.

The process which one of these bees employs in cut-
ting the pieces of leaf that compose her nest is worthy
of attention. Nothing can be more e5cpeditious : she
is not longer about it than we should be with a pair of
scissors. After hovering for some moments over a rose-
bush, as if to reconnoitre the ground, the bee alights
upon the leaf which she has selected, usually taking
her station upon its edge so that the margin passes be-
tween her legs. With her strong mandibles she cuts
without intermission in a curve line so as to detach a
triangular portion. When this hangs by the last fibre,
lest its weight should carry her to the ground, she ba-
lances her little wings for flight, and the very moment
it parts from the leaf flies ofl^with it in triumph; the
detached portion remaining bent between her legs in
a direction perpendicular to her body. Thus without
rule or compasses do these diminutive creatures mete
out the materials of their work into portions of an el-
lipse, into ovals or circles, accurately accommodating
the dimensions of the several pieces of each figure to
each other. What other architect could carry im-
pressed upon the tablet of his memory the entire idea
of the edifice which he has to erect, and, destitute of
square or plumb-line, cut out his materials in their ex-
act dimensions without making a single mistake? \et
this is what our little bee invariably does. So far are

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 449

human art and reason excelled by the teaching of the
Almighty*.

Other insects besides bees construct habitations of
different kinds for their young, as various species of
SpheXy Scarobceus, &c., which deposit their eggs in cy-
lindrical excavations that become the abode of the fu-
ture larvae. In the procedures of most of these, no-
thing worth particularizing occurs ; but one species
called by Reaumur the mason-wasp, {Odynerus mu'
raria, Latr.) referred to in a former letter, works upon
so singular a plan, that it would be improper to pass it
over in silence, especially as these nests may be found
in this country in most sandy banks exposed to the
sun. This insect bores a cylindrical cavity from twa
to three inches deep, in hard sand which its mandibles
alone weuld be scarcely capable of penetrating, were
it not provided with a slightly glutinous liquor which
it pours out of its mouth, that, like the vinegar with
which Hannibal softened the Alps, acts upon the ce-
ment of the sand, and renders the separation of the
grains easy to the double pickaxe with which our little
pioneer is furnished. But the most remarkable cir-
cumstance is the mode in which it disposes of the ex-
cavated materials. Instead of throwing them at ran-
dom on a heap, it carefully forms them into little ob-
long pellets, and arranges them round the entrance of
the hole so as to form a tunnel, which, when the ex-
cavation is completed, is often not less than two or
three inches in length. For the greater part of its
height this tunnel is upright, but towards the top it
bends into a curve, always however retaining its cy-

a Reaum. Ti.9Tl-24. Afo)«* y/;^. ^ir^f. i. 157. Apis •«. c. ©. *.
roL. I. 2 G

450 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

lindrical form. The little masses are so attached to
each other in this cylinder, as to leave numerous va-
f^uities between them, which give it the appearance of
filagree-work. You will readily divine that the exca-
vated hole is intended for the reception of an egg, but
for what purpose the external tunnel is meant is not
so apparent. One use, and perhaps the most impor-
tant, would seem to be to prevent the incursions of the
artful Ichneumons, Chrysida, &c. which are ever on
the watch to insinuate their parasitic young into the
nests of other insects : it may render their access to
the nest more difficult ; they may dread to enter into
so long and dark a defile. I have seen, however, more
than once a Chrysis come out of these tunnels. That
its use is only temporary, is plain from the circum-
stance that the insect employs the whole fabric, when
its egg is laid and store of food procured, in filling up
the remaining vacuity of the hole ; taking down the pel-
lets, which are very conveniently at hand, and placing
them in it until the entrance is filled^. — Latreille in-
forms us, that a nearly similar tunnel, but composed of
grains of earth, is built at the entrance of its cell by a
bee of his family of pioneers^.

Under this head, too, may be most conveniently ar-
ranged the very singular habitations of the larvae of the
Linnsean genus Cynips, the gall-fly, though they can
with no propriety be said to be constructed by the mo-
ther, who, provided with an instrument as potent as
an enchanter's wand, has but to pierce the site of the
foundation, and commodious apartments, as if by magic,
spring up and surround the germe of her future de-

« Reaum. vi. 251-7. t.xx\]. /.I. b La(r. Fourmis,iiO.

HABITATIONS OP INSECTS. 451

scendants. I allude to those vegetable excrescencies
termed ^«//^, some of which resembling" beautiful ber-
ries and others apples, you must have frequently ob-
served on the leaves of the oak, and of which one spe-
cies, the Aleppo gall, as I have before noticed, is of
such importance in the ingenious art ^^ de peindre la
parole et de purler aux i/eux^ All these tumours owe
their origin to the deposition of an eg^ in the sub-
stance out of which they grow. This egg^ too small
almost for perception, the parent insect, a little four-
winged fly, introduces into a puncture made by her cu-
rious spiral sting, and in a few hours it becomes sur-
rounded with a fleshy chamber, which not only serves
its young for shelter and defence, but also for food;
the future little hermit feeding upon its interior and
there undergoing its metamorphosis. Nothing can be
more varied than these habitations. Some are of a
globular form, a bright red colour, and smooth fleshy
consistence, resembling beautiful fruits, for which in-
deed, as you have before been told, they are eaten in
the Levant : others, beset with spines or clothed with
hair, are so much like seed-vessels, that an eminent
modern chemist has contended respecting the Aleppo
gall, that it is actually a capsule*. Some are exactly
round; others like little mushrooms; others resemble
artichokes ; while others again might be taken for
flowers : in short, they are of a hundred different forms,

a Aikin's Dictionary of Chemistry, i. 455. W'hat Iihtc probably been
taken by Mr. Aikin for " kernels," in the imperforated nuts, are the
cocoons of the inhabitants of these galls in the pupa state, which often
extremely resemble the seeds of a capsule, as Reaumur (iii. 4!i9.) ha»
remarked.

2o 2

452 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

and of all sizes from that of a pin's head to that of a
walnut. Nor is their situation on the plant less diver-
sified. Some are found upon the leaf itself ; others
upon the footstalks only ; others upon the roots ; and
others upon the buds'*. Some of them cause the
branches upon which they grow to shoot out into such
singular forms, that the plants producing them were
esteemed by the old botanists distinct specjes. Of this
kind is the Rose-xcillozc, which old Gerard figures and
describes as " not only making a gallant she\v, but also
yeelding a most cooling aire in the heat of summer,
being set up in houses for the decking of the same."
This willow is nothing more than one of the common
species, whose twigs, in consequence of the deposition
of the e^^ of a Cynips in their summits, there shoot out
into numerous leaves totally different in shape from
the other leaves of the tree, and arranged not much un-
like those composing the flower of a rose, adhering to
the stem even after the others fall off. Sir James Smith
mentions a similar lusi(s on the Provence willows, which
at first he took for a tufted lichen ^ From the same
cause the twigs of the common wild rose often shoot
out into a beautiful tuft of numerous reddish moss-like
fibres wholly dissimilar from the leaves of the plant,
deemed by the old naturalists a very valuable medical
substance, to which they erroneously gave the name of
Bedeguar. None of these variatfons is accidental or
common to several of the tribe, but each peculiar to
the galls formed by a single and distinct species of
Ci/nips.

How the mere insertion of an e^^ into the substance

a Reaum. iii. 417 &c. b Inlrod.to Botany^ 349.

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 45?

of a leaf or twig, even if accompanied, as some imagine,
by a peculiar fluid, should cause the growth of such
singular protuberances around it, philosophers are as
little able to explain, as why the insertion of a particle
of variolous matter into a child's arm should cover it
with pustules of small-pox. In both cases the effects
seem to proceed from some action of the foreign sub-
stance upon the secreting vessels of the animal or ve-
getable : but of the nature of this action we know no-
thing. Thus much is ascertained by the observations
of Reaumur and Malpighi — that the production of the
gall, which however large attains its full size in a day
or two*, is caused by the egg or some accompanying
fluid : not by the larva, wliich does not appear until the
gall is fully formed'' ; that the galls which spring from
leaves almost constantly take their origin from nerves '^ ;
and that the egg, at /he same time that it causes the
growth of the gall, itself derives nourishment from the
substance that surrounds it, becoming considerably
larger before it is hatched than it was when first depo-
sited*^.— When chemically analysed, galls are found to
contain only the same principles as the plant fror>»
which they spring, but in a more concentrated state-
No productions of nature seem to have puzzled the
ancient philosophers more than galls. The commen-
tator on Dioscorides, Mathiolus, who agreeably to the
doctrine of those days ascribed their origin to sponta-
neous generation, gvavely informs us that weighty
prognostications as to the events of the ensuing year
may be deduced from ascertaining whether they con-
tain spiders, worms, ot* flies. Other philosophers, who

a Reaum.iii. 474. b Ibid. 4'J9. e Ibid. 501. d Ibid. 479.

454 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

knew that except by rare accident no other animals are
to be found in galls, besides grubs of different kinds
which they rationally conceived to spring from eggs,
were chiefly at a loss to account for the conveyance of
these eggs into the middle of a substance in which they
could find no external orifice. They therefore inferred
that they were- the eggs of insects deposited in the
earth, which had been drawn up by the roots of trees
along with the sap, and after passing through differ-
ent vessels had stopped, some in the leaves, others in
the twigs, and had there hatched and produced galls !
Redi's solution of the difficulty was even more extra-
ordinary. This philosopher, who had so triumphautly
combated the absurdities of spontaneous generation,
fell himself into greater. Not having been able to
witness the deposition of eggs by the parent flies in the
plants that produce galls, he took it for granted that
the grubs which he found within them could not spring
from eggs : and he was equally unwilling to admit their
origin from spontaneous generation, — an admission
which would have been fatal to his own most brilliant
discoveries. He therefore cut the knot, by supposing
that to the same vegetative soul by which fruits and
plants are produced, is committed the charge of cre-
ating the larvae found in galls*! An instance truly
humiliating, how little we can infer from a man's just
ideas on one point, that he will not be guilty of the
most pitiable absurdity on another !

Though by far the greater part of the vegetable ex-
erescencies termed galls, are caused by insects of the
genus Cj/nips, they do not alwr.ys originate from this

a De Inatctii, SS3 &c.

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 455

tribe. Some are produced by beetles, as those on the
roots of kedlock (Sinapis arvensis), which I have ascer-
t ained to be inhabited by the larvae of Cwrcw/io contrac-
tus, Ent. Brit., and Rhj/nchccnus assimilis, F. From
the knob-like galls on turnips, called in some places>
the anhuri/, I have bred another weevil, {CurcuUo^
plcurosligmay Ent. Brit. Rhj/tichcenus sulcicollis, Gyll.)
and I have little doubt that the same insects, or species
allied to them, cause the clubbing of the roots of cab-
bages. It seems to be a beetle of the same family that
is figured by Reaumur", as causing the galls on the
leaves of the lime-tree. Others owe their origin to
moths, as those resembling a nutmeg which Reaumur
received from Cyprus **; and others again to two-winged
flies, as the woody galls of the thistle caused by Tephri^
lis (Muscay Li.) Cardui^y and the cottony galls found on
ground ivy, wild thyme, &c., as well as a very singular
one on the juniper resembling a flower, described by
De Geer**, all which are the work of minute gall-gnats
(^CecidotnyicEy Latr. Tipulce^ L.). Some of these last
convert even the flowers of plants into a kind of galls,
as 7'. Loti of De Geer % which inhabits the blossoms of
Lotus corniculatus ; and one which I have myself ob-
served to render the flowers of Eri/simum Barbarea
like a hop-blossom. A similar monstrous appearance
is communicated to the flowers of Teucrium supinum
by a little field-bug, Cimex (TingtSy F.) Teucrii of
Host*, and to another plant of the same genus by one of
the same tribe described by Reaumur^. In these two

« Reaum, ill. t. 38. f. », 3. »> Ibid. iii. 448. e Ibid. 455.

«» ne Occr, t1. 409. e Ibid. 421.

t Jacqain Collect, ii. 25i. s Rriiam. iii. 437.

456

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

last instances, however, the habitations do not seem
strictly entitled to the appellation of galls, as they ori-
ginate not from the egg, but from the larva, which, in
the operation of extracting the sap, in some way im-
parts a morbid action to the juices, causing the flower
to expand unnaturally : and the same remark is appli-
cable to the gall-like swellings formed by manyAphides,
as A. Pistacice, which causes the leaves of different spe-
cies oiPistacia to expand into red finger-like cavities ;
A. Pini, which converts the buds or young shoots of
tlie fir into a very beautiful gall, somewhat resembling
a fir-cone, or a pine-apple in miniature ; and A. Bur-
sariee, which with its brood inhabits angular utriculi on
the leafstalk of the black poplar, numbers of which I
observed this year on those trees by the road-side from
Hull to Cottingham. — The majority of galls are what
entomologists have denominated monothalamous, or
^consisting of only one chamber or cell ; but some are
Ipolythalamous, or consisting of several.

Having thus described the most remarkable of the
habitations constructed by the parent insects for the
accommodation of their future young, I proceed to the
second kind mentioned, namely, those which are formed
by the insect itself for its own use. These may be
again subdivided into such as are the work of the in-
sects in their larva state; and such as are formed by
perfect insects.

Many larvae of all orders need no other habitations
than the holes which they form in seeking for, or eat-
ing, the substances upon which they feed. Of this de-
scription are the majority of subterranean larvae, and

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 457

those which feed on wood, as the Boslrichi, F. or la-
byrinth beetles ; the Anobia, F. which excavate the
little circular holes frequently met with in ancient fur-
niture and the wood Avork of old houses ; and many
larvaB of other orders, particularly Lepkloplera. One
of these last, the larva of Bombijx Cossus, differs from
its congeners in fabricating for its residence during
winter a habitation of pieces of wood lined with fine
silk*. Under this division, too, come the singular ha-
bitations of the subcutaneous larvae, so called from the
circumstance of their feeding upon the parenchyma
included between the upper and under cuticles of the
leaves of plants, between which, though the whole
leaf is often not thicker than a sheet of writing-paper,
they find at once food and lodging. You must have
been at some time struck by certain white zigzag or
labyrinth-like lines on the leaves of the dandelion,
lilac, and numerous other plants : the next time you
meet with one of them, if you hold it up to the light
you will perceive that the colour of these lines is owing
to the pulpy substance of the leaf having there been
removed ; and at the further end you will probably
remark a dark-coloured speck, which, when carefully
extricated from its covering, you will find to be the
little miner of the tortuous galleries which you are
admiring. Some of these minute larv£e, to which the
parenchyma of a leaf is a vast country, requiring seve-
ral weeks to be traversed by the slow process of mining
which they adopt — that of eating the excavated mate-
rials as they proceed — are transformed into beetles
(Curculio Thapsus, &c.); others into flies ; and a still

a Lyonct, Anat. of Coss, 9.

458 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

greater number into very minute moths of the genus
Tinea, as T, Wilkella, T. Clerkella, &c. Many of
these last are little miracles of nature, which has la-
vished on them the most splendid tints tastefully com-
bined with gold, silver and pearl ; so that, were they
but formed upon a larger scale, they m ould far eclipse
all other animals in richness of decoration.

Another tribe of larvae, not very numerous, con-
tent themselves for their habitations with simple holes,
into which they retire occasionally. Many of these are
merely cylindrical burrows in the ground, as those
formed by the larvae of field-crickets, Cicindelae and
Ephemerae. But the larvae of the very remarkable
lepidopterous genus (Ni/cterobius of Mr. MacLeay)
before alluded to*, excavate for themselves dwellings
of a more artificial construction ; forming cylindrical
holes in the trees of New Holland, particularly the
diff*erent species of Banksia, to which they are very
destructive, and defending the entrance against the
attacks of the Mantes and other carnivorous insects by
a sort of trap-door composed of silk interwoven with
leaves and pieces of excrement, securely fastened at
the upper end, but left loose at the lower for the free
passage of the occupant. This abode they regularly
quit at sun-set, for the purpose of laying in a store of
the leaves on which they feed. These they drag by one
at a time into their cell until the approach of light,
when they retreat precipitately into it, and there re-
main closely secluded the whole day, enjoying the
booty which their nocturnal range has provided. One
species lifts up the loose end of its door by its tail, and

« p. 308, 395.

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 459

enters backward, dragging; after it a leaf of Banlsia
serrata^ which it holds by the footstalk'*.

A third description of larvae, chiefly of the two lepi-
dopterous genera Tortrix and Tinea, form into conve-
fiient habitations the leaves of the plants on which they
feed. Some of these merely connect together with a
few silken threads several leaves go as to form an irre-
gular packet, in the centre of which the little hermit
lives. Others confine themselves to a single leaf, of
which they simply fold one part over the other. A
third description form and inhabit a sort of roll, by
some species made cylindrical, by others conical, re-
sembling the papers into which grocers put their sugar,
and as accurately constructed, only there is an open-
ing left at the smaller extremity for the egress of the
insect in case of need. If you were to see one of these
rolls, you would immediately ask by what mechanism
it could possibly be made — how an insect without fin-
gers could contrive to bend a leaf into a roll, and to
keep it in that form until fastened with the silk Avhich
holds it together ? The following is the operation.
The little caterpillar first fixes a series of silken cables
from one side of the leaf to the other. She next pulls
at these cables with her feet ; and when she has forced
the sides to approach, she fastens them together with
shorter threads of silk. If the insect finds that one of
the larger nerves of the leaf is so strong as to resist
her efforts, she weakens it by gnawing it here and
there half through. What engineer could act more
sagaciously? — To form one of the conical or horn-
shaped rolls, which are not composed of a whole leaf,

• L?win'i Prednmui Entomology (lie !) p. 8.

460 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

but of a long- triangular portion cut out of the edge,
some other manoeuvres are requisite. Placing herself
upon the leaf, the caterpillar cuts out with her jaws
the piece which is to compose her roll. She does not
however entirely detach it : it would then want a base.
She detaches that part only which is to form the con-
tour of the horn. This portion is a triangular strap,
which she rolls as she cuts. When the body of the
horn is finished, as it is intended to be fixed upon the
leaf in nearly an upright position, it is necessary to
elevate it. To effect this she proceeds as we should
with an inclined obelisk. She attaches threads or little
cables towards the point of the pyramid, and raises it
by the weight of her body *.

A still greater degree of dexterity is manifested in
fabricating the habitations of the larvae of some other
Tineae which feed on the leaves of the rose-tree, apple,
elm, and oak, on the under-side of which they may in
summer be often found. These form an oblong cavity
in the interior of a leaf by eating the parenchyma be-
tween the two membranes composing its upper and
under side, which, after having detached them from
the surrounding portion, it joins with silk so artfully
that the seams are scarcely discoverable even with a
lens, so as to compose a case or horn, cylindrical in
the middle, its anterior orifice circular, its posterior
triangular. Were this dwelling cylindrical in every
part, the form of the two pieces that compose it would
be very simple ; but the different shape of the two
ends renders it necessary that each side should have
peculiar and dissimilar curvatures; and Reaumur as-

a Bonnet, iv. 188.

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 4^1

sures us, that these are as complex and difficult to imi-
tate as the contours of the pieces of cloth that compose
the back of a coat. Some of this tribe, whose proceed-
ings I had the pleasure of witnessing a short time since
upon the alders in the Hull Botanic Garden, more in-
genious than their brethren, and willing to save the la-
bour of sewing up two seams in their dwelling, insinuate
themselves near the edge of a leaf instead of in its mid-
dle. Here they form their excavation, mining into the
very crenatures between the two surfaces of the leaf,
which, being-joined together at the edge, there form one
seam of the case, and from their dentated figure give
it a very singular appearance, not unlike that of some
fishes which have fins upon their backs. The opposite
side they are necessarily forced to cut and sew up, but
even in this operation they show an ingenuity and con-
trivance worthy of admiration. The Tineae, which cut
outtheir suit from the middleof the leaf, wholly detach
the two surfaces that compose it before they proceed to
join them together, the serrated incisions made by their
teeth, which, if they do not cut as fast, in this respect
are more effective than any scissors, interlacing each
other so as to support the separated portions until they
are properly joined. But it is obvious that this process
cannot be followed by those Tinea? which cut outtheir
house from the edge of a leaf. If these were to detach
the inner side before they had joined the two pieces
together, the builder as well as his dwelling Avould in-
evitably fall. They therefore, before making any in-
cision, prudently run (as a sempstress would call it)
loosely together in distant points the two membranes
on that side. Then putting out their heads they cut the

462 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

intermediate portions, carefully avoiding the larger
nerves of the leaf; afterwards they sew up the detached
sides more closely, and only intersect the nerves w hen
their labour is completed '. — The habitation made by
a Tinea, which lives upon a species of Astragalus^ i^
in like manner formed of the epidermis of the leaves,
but in this several corrugated pieces project over each
other, so as to resemble the furbelows once in fashion '^.
Other larvae construct their habitations wholly of
silk. Of this description is that of a Tinea, whose
abode, except as to the materials which compose it, is
formed on the same general plan as that just described,
and the larva in like manner feeds only on the paren-
chyma of the leaf. In the beginning of spring, if you
examine the leaves of yoiir pear-trees, you will scarcely
fail to meet with some beset on the under surface with
several perpendicular downy russet-coloured projec-
tions, about a quarter of an inch high, and not much
thicker than a pin, of a cylindrical shape, with a pro-
tuberance at the base, and altogether resembling at lirst
sight somany spines growing out of the leaf. Youwould
never suspect that these could be the habitations of in-
sects; yet that they are is certain. Detach one of them,
and give it a gentle squeeze, and you will see emerge
from the lower end a minute caterpillar with a yellow-
ish body and black head. Examine the place from which
you have removed it, and you will perceive a round
excavation in the cuticle and parenchyma of the leaf,
the size of the end of the tube by which it w as concealed.
This excavation is the w ork of the above-mentioned
caterpillar, which obtains its food by moving its little
a Reaum. iii. 100-120. b Ibid. 145. .

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 4C5

tent from one part of the leaf to the other, and eating
away the space immediately under it. It touches no
other part; and when these insects abound, as they
often do to the great injury of pear trees % you will per-
ceive every leaf bristled with them, and covered with
little withered specks, the vestiges of their former meals.
The case in which the caterpillarresides,and whicKis
quite essential to its existence, is composed of silk spun
from its mouth almost as soon as it is excluded from the
egg. As it increases in size, it enlarges its habitation
by slitting it in two, and introducing a strip of new ma-
terials. But the most curious circumstance in the his-
tory of this little Arab is the mode by which it retains
its tent in a perpendicular posture. This it effects partly
by attaching silken threads from the protuberance at
the base to the surrounding surface of the leaf. But
being not merely a mechanician, but a profound natu-
ral philosopher well acquainted with the properties of
air, it has another resource when any extraordin?{rY
violence threatens to overturn its slender turret. It
forms a vacuum in the protuberance at the base, and
thus as effectually fastens it to the leaf as if an air-pump
had been employed! This vacuum is caused by the in-
sect's retreating on the least alarm up its narrow case,
which its body completely fills, and thus leaving the
space below free of air. In detaching one of these case.*
you may easily convince yourself of the fact. If you
seize it suddenly while the insect is at the bottom, you
will find that it is readily pulled off, the silken cords
giving way to a very slight force; but if, proceeding
gently, you give the insect time to retreat, the case will

a Forsyth on Fruit Trees, 4to edit. 27 1.

464 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

he held so closely to the leaf as to require a much
stronger effort to loosen it. As if aware that, should
the air get admission from below, and thus render a va-
cuum impracticable, the strongest bulwark of its for-
tress would be destroyed, our little philosopher care-
fully avoids gnawing a hole in the leaf, contenting itself
with the pasturage afforded by the parenchyma above
the lower epidermis ; and when the produce of this
area is consumed, it gnaws asunder the cords of its tent,
and pitches it at a short distance as before. Having
attained its full growth, it assumes the pupa state, and
after a while issues out of its confinement a small
brown moth, with long hind legs, the Phalcena Tinea
serratella of Linne".

Some larvae, which form their covering of pure silk,
are not content with a single coating, but actually en-
velop themselves in another, open on one side and very
much resembling a cloak; whence Reaumur called
them " Teignes a fourreau a manteauJ" What is very
striking in the construction of this cloak, is, that the
silk, insteadof being woven into one uniform close tex-
ture, is formed into numerous transparent scales over-
wrapping each other, and altogether very much resem-
bling the scales of a fish ''. These mantle-covered cases,
one of which I once had the pleasure of discovering,
are inhabited by the larva of a little moth apparently
first described by Dr. Zincken, genannt Soramer, who
calls it Tinea palliatella'.

Various substances besides silk are fabricated into

a Goeze I^alur. MenncheuhbeH und Forgehuug. Andergon's Rec^eatiomi,
ii. 409. Sec above p. Ifi.

b Reaum. iii. 206. Plate XVII. Fic. 9.
c Germar'« Mag. juf EHtomologie, i. 40.

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 465

habitations by other hirvw, though usually joined to-
gether either with silk or an analogous gummy mate-
rial. Thus Tinea Lichenum forms of pieces of lichen
adwellingresemblingone of the turrited Helices, many
of which I observed in June lSI2on an oak in Barham^
The larvae of another Tinea, which also feeds upon li-
chens, instead of employing these vegetables in form-
ing its habitation, composes it ofgrains of stone eroded
from the walls of buildings upon which its food is found,
and connected by a silken cement. These insects were
the subject of a paper in the Memoirs of the French
Academy'*, by M, de la Voye, who, from the circum-
stance of their being found in great abundance on moul-
dering walls, attributed to them the power of eating
stone, and regarded them as the authors of injuries pro-
ceeding solely from the hand of time : for the insects
themselves are so minute, and the coating of grains of
*;tone composing their cases is so trilling, that Reaumur
observes they could scarcely make any perceptible im--
pression on a wall from which they had procured ma-
terials forages^. — Another lepidopterous larva, but of
a much larger size and different genus, the case of which
is preserved in the cabinet of the President of the Lin-
iiean Society, who pointed it out to me, employs the
spines apparently of some species oi Mimosa, which are
ranged side by side so as to form a very elegant fluted
cylinder. A similar arrangement of pieces of small twigs
is observable in the habitation of the females •= of the

a X. 458. b Reaum. iii. 183-

c. ? he larvra of the males inferinix with the pieces oFtwij^s, which arc
li-ss closely and regularly arrangt-cl, bits of dried leaves and oihe-r light

VOL. I. Qn

466 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

larvae of a moth referred by Von Scheven to Bomhi/x
veslita, F. ; while Tinea Vic'iella of the Wiener Ver-
zeiclmiss covers itself with short portions of the stems
of grasses placed transversely, and united by means of
silk into a five- or six-sided case. The habitation of a
third larva of the same family, described and figured
by Reaumur {Psyche graminella^ Ochsenli.), is com-
posed of squarish pieces of the /<'«ce^ of grass fastened
ojily at one end, and over wrapping each other like the
tiles of a house ; and that of another noticed by the
same author, of portions of the smallest twigs of broom
arranged on the same plan ^. Indeed the larvee of the
whole of this tribe of moths, now separated into a di-
stinct genus {Psyche^ Schrank, Ochsenh. Fumea^ Ha-
worth), but which according to Germar needs further
subdivision, reside in cases or sacks (whence they are
called by the Germans Sacktriiger) composed of silk,
and fragments of grass, bark, &c.

The larvge of a small beetle {Cli/tra longimana) re-
side in oviform cases apparently of a calcareous or
earthy substance, joined by a gummy cement and co-
vered with red hairs, the origin of which, Hiibner,
who first discovered them, could not account for : and
from the observations of Amstein and the French trans-
lator of Fuessly's^rc/i/re^, it seems probable that the
iarvag of all the species of Clytra^ and according to
Zschorn, at least of one species of CryptocephaiuSj

materials. Seo the excellent elucidation of the history of this trihe,
•whose mode of fijeneration is so singular, by Von Scheven, in the Ntitur-
forscherSlk. xx. 61, &c.: alsoavaluable paper by Dr. Zincken,genannt
Sommer, in Germar's Mag.fiir Ent. i. 19 — 40.
a Keaum.iii. 148-9. T. 11, f. 10. U.

HABITATIONS OF INSECT?. 467

(C duodecimpunctafa, F.) differing- in this respect from
all other known Coleoptera, live in moveable cases'^.

Wax is the principal subtitance employed in the ha-
bitations of the larvae before mentioned'', occasionally
so destructive to bee-hives. Tliese insidious depre-
dators, which are mentioned by Aristotle*^, tying" toge-
ther, with silk, grains of wax (wliich, and not honey,
forms their food) construct galleries of a considerable
length, and thus concealed from the sight, and pro-
tected from the stings of the armed people whom they
have attacked, push their mines into the very heart of
the forti'ess, and pursue their robberies in perfect
safety ''.

As many of the habitations which I have been de-
scribing, fit the body of the insects as close as a coat,
they might perhaps with more propriety be called
clothes. This is certainly the most appropriate desig-
nation of the abodes of some species of Tineas (the
clothes' moths), w hich not only cover themselves with
a coat, but employ the very same material in its com-
position as we do in ours, forming- it of wool or hair
curioi^sly felted together. Like us, they are born
naked, but not like us helpless at that period, scarcely
have they breathed before they begin to clothe tliem-
selves ; thus contradicting Dr. Paley's assertion, that
"the A;/mfl« animal is the only one which is naked, and
the only one which can clothe itself*':" and Avisely in-
attentive to change of fashion, the same suit serves them
from their birth to mature age. The shape of their

a Fiiessty, Archh\ 53, /. 31. Ciermar's Mag. fur Ent. i. 136.

b See Jibovf-, p. 165. c Aiistol. //zv/. Anlm. 1. viii. c. 27.

<1 Ilcaum. iii. mem. 8. '' Nat. Tkeol. 'iSO.

2 II 2

468 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

<lress is adapted to that of their body — a cylindrical
case open at both ends. The stuff of wliich it is com-
posed is the manufacture of the larva of the Tinea,
Avhich incorporates wool or hair artfully cut from our
clothes or furniture, with silk drawn from its own
mouth, into a warm and thick tissue : and as this would
not be soft enough for its tender skin, it also lines the
inside of its coat with a layer of pure silk. Since this
suit of clothes during- the earliest age of the insect ac-
curately fits its body, you will readily conceive that it
Avill frequently require enlarging. This the little oc-
cupant accomplishes as dexterously as any tailor. If
the case merely requires lengthening, the task is easy.
All that is needful is to add a new ring of hair or wool
and silk to each end. But to enlarge it in width is not
so simple an affair. Yet it sets to work precisely as we
should, slitting the case on the two opposite sides, and
then adroitly inserting between them two pieces of the
requisite size. It does not, however, cut open the case
from one end to the other at once : the sides would se-
parate too far asunder, and the insect be left naked. It
therefore first cuts each side about halfway down, and
then after having filled up the fissure proceeds to cut
the remaining half: so that, in fact, four enlargements
are made, and four separate pieces inserted. — The co-
lour of the habit is always the same as that of the stuft'
from which it is taken. Thus, if its original colour be
blue, and the insect previously to enlarging it be put
upon red cloth, the circles at the end and two stripes
down the middle will be red. If placed alternately
upon cloths of different hues, its dress will be parti-
coloured like that of a Harlequin. — The injury occa-

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 469

sioned to us by these insects is not confined to tlie q»an-
tity of materials consumed in clothing and feeding;
themselves. In moving* from place to place they seem
to be as much incommoded by the long hairs which
surround them, as we are by walking- amongst high
grass ; and accordingly, marching scythe in hand, with
their teeth they cut out a smootli road, from time to
time reposing themselves, a;id anclioring their little
case with small silken cables.

If, as I hope, you are induced to investigate the man-
ners of these insects, you have but to leave an old coat
for a few months undisturbed in a dark closet, aiid you
may be pretty certain of meeting with an abundant
colony.

Not merely wool or hair, but another su])stance
analogous to one employed in our dress, is adopted for
their clothing by other insects. The larva of a fly which
lives on the seeds of willows, makes itself a very beau-
tiful case of their cottony down, not only impervious to
wet and cold, but serving, if accidentally blown into
the water, which from the situation of these trees fre-
quently happens, as a buoyant little barge which is
wafted safely to the shore''.

The habitations which we have hitherto been con-
sidering, are formed by larvae that live on land, but
others equally remarkable are constructed by aquatic
species, the larvae of the various Plirijgancce^ a tribe
of four-winged insects which an ordinary observer
would call moths, but which are even of a distinct
order'', not having their wings covered by the scales

a Roaum. iii. 130, b See Kirby in Linn. Trans, xi, 88,

wlicrc it is propoacd to call this order TrkhoiUcva.

470 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

which adorn the lepidopterous race. If you are de-
sirous of examining- the insects to which I am alluding,
you have only to place yourself by the side of a clear
and shallow pool of water, and you cannot fail to ob-
serve at the bottom little oblong- moving- masses resem-
bling pieces of straw, wood, or even stone. These are
the larvae in question, v, ell known to fishermen by the
title o^ Caddis-zcorins, and v/hich, if you take them out
of the water, you will observe to inhabit cases of a
very singular conformation. Of the larva itself, which
somewhat resembles the caterpillars of many I^epido-
ptero^ nothing is to be seen but the head and six legs
by means of wliich it moves itself in the water, and
drags after it the case in which the rest of the body is
inclosed, and into which on any alarm it wholly retires.
The construction of these habitations is very various.
Some select four or five pieces of the leaves of grass,
which tiiey glue together into a shapely polygonal case ;
others employ portions of the stems of rushes, placed
side by side so as to form an elegant fluted cylinder ;
some arrange round them pieces of leaves like a spi-
rally-rolletl ribband''; others inclose themselves in a
mass of the leaves of any aquatic plants united without
regularity; and others agaiu form their abode of mi-
nute pieces of wood either fresh or decayed''. One,
like the Sabeita:'^, forms a horii-shaped case composed
of grains of sand, so equal in size, and so nicely and
regularly gummed together, the sides throughout being
of the thickness of one grain only, that the first time I
viewed it I could scarcely persuade myself it could be

a Plate XVII. Fig. 10. b Reaum. iii. !o6 9.

« Sowerbj's .V«/. MhceU. Nv. ix. t. 51.

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 471

the work of an insect. The case of P. bimaculnia,
which is less artificially constructed of a mixture of
mud and sand, is pyriforni, and has its end curiously
stopped by a plate formed of grains of sand, with a cen-
tral aperture*. Other species construct houses which
may be called alive, forming them of the shells of va-
rious aquatic snails of different kinds and sizes even
while inhabited, all of which are immoveably fixed to>
it, and dragged about at its pleasure — a covering as
singular as if a savage, instead of clothing himself with
squirrels' skins, should sew together into a coat the
animals themselves. However various may be the form
of the case externally.within it is usually cylindrical and
lined with silk : and thougli seldom apparently %vider
than just to admit the body of the insect, some species
have the power of turning round in it, and of putting
out their head at either end''. Some larvae constantly
make their cases of the same materials; others employ
indifferently any that are at hand : and the new ones
which tliey construct as they increase in size (for they
have not the faculty, like the larva of the moth, of en-
larging them) have often an appearance quite dissimilar
to that of the old. Even those that are most careless
about the nature of the materials of their house, are
solicitously attentive to one circumstance respecting
them, namely, their specific gravity. Not having the
power of swimming, but only of walking at the bottom
of the water by aid of the six legs attached to the fore
part of the body which is usually protruded out of the
case, and the insect itself being heavier than water, it
is of great importance that its house should be of a

a De Cieer, ii. 5bi. b Ibid.

472 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

specific gravity so nearly that of the element in which
it resides, as while Avalking neither to incommode it
by its weight, nor by too great buoyancy; and it is as
essential that it should be so equally ballasted in every
part as to be readily moveable in any position. Under
these circumstances our Caddis-worms evince their
proficiency in hydrostatics, selecting the most suitable
substances; and, if the ceil be too heavy, glueing to it
a bit of leaf or straw; or, if too light, a shell or piece
of gravel. It is from this necessity of regulating the
specific gravity, that to the cases formed with the
greatest regularity we often see attached a seemingly
superfluous piece of wood, leaf, or the like.

A larva of one of the aquatic Tipulidce lives in cases
somewhat similar to those of some Phri/ganece. Se-
veral of these of a fusiform shape and brown colour,
composed partly of silk and partly perhaps of fragments
of leaves, and inhabited by a red larva apparently of a
Chhonomus^ were found by Reaumur upon dead leaves
in a pool of water in the Bois de Boulogne ".

In concluding this head I may observe, that h^re
miffht have been described the various abodes which
solitary larvffi prepare for themselves previously to as-
suming the pupa, and intended for their protection in
that defenceless stage of existence; but as I shall have
occasion again to refer to them in speaking of the larva
state of insects, I shall defer their description to that
letter, to which they more strictly belong.

From the vlq^A. division of the habitations of insects —
those formed by solitary perfect insects for their own

a [leaum. iii. 179.

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 473

,' accommodation — I shall select for description only two,
both the work of spiders, and alluded to in a former
letter, which indeed, with the exception of the inarti-
ficial retreats made by the Jlchelce, Cicindelce, and per-
haps a few others, are the only ones properly belong-
ing to it.

The habitation of one of these {Mi/gale ccementariaj
Latr., Aranea Sauvagesii, Dorthes,) is subterraneous,
not a mere shallow cavity, but a tube or gallery up-
Avards of two feet in length and half an inch broad.
This tunnel, so vast compared with the size of the in-
sect, it digs by means of its strong jaws in a steep bank
of bare clay, so that the rain may readily run off with-
out penetrating to its dwelling. Its next operation is
to line the whole from top to bottom with a web of fine

, silk, wliich serves the double parpose of preventing the
earth that composes the wails from falling in, and, by
its connexion with the door of the orifice, of giving in-
formation to the spider of what is passing above. You
doubtless suppose that in saying door 1 am speaking
metaphorically. It could never enter into your con-
ception that any animal, much less an insect, could
construct anything really deserving of that name — any
thing like our doors, turning upon a hinge, and accu-
rately fitted to the frame of the opening which it is in-
tended to close. Yet such a door, incredible as it may
seem, is actually framed by this spider. It does not in-
deed, like us, compose it of wood, but of several coats
of dried earth fastened to each other with silk. When
finished, its outline is as perfectly circular as if traced
with compasses ; tlie inferior surface is convex and
smooth, the superior flat and rough, and so like the ad-

474 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

joining earth as not to be distinguishable from it. This
door the ingenious artist fixes to the entrance of her
gallery by a hinge of silk, which plays with the greatest
freedon>, and allows it to be opened and shut w ith ease ;
and as if acquainted with the laws of gravity, she inva-
riably fixes the hinge at the hig/iest side of the opening,
so that the door when pushed up shuts again by its own
weight. She has not less sagaciously left a little ledge
or groove just within the entrance, upon which the
door closes, and to which it fits with such precision,
that it seems to make but one surface with it. Such is
the astonishing structure of this little animal's abode;
nor is its defence of its subterraneous cavern less sur-
prising. If an observer adroitly insinuates the point of
a pin under tlie edge of the door, and elevates it a little,
he immediately perceives a very strong resistance. —
What is its cause ? — The spider, warned by the vibra-
tions of the threads wliich extend from the door to the
bottom of her gallery, runs with all speed to the door,
fastens its legs to it on one side, and on the other to
the walls, and turning upon its back, pulls with all its
might. Thus the door is alternately shut or opened, as
the exertions of the observer or of the spider prevail.
It is easy to guess which will in the end conquer; and
the spider, when it finds all resistance ineffectual, be-
takes itself to flight, and retreats. If, to make a further
experiment, the observer fastens down the door so^
that it cannot be forced open, the next morning he will
find a new entrance, with a new door formed at a small
distance ; or, if he take the door entirely av.ay, another
w ill be constructed in less than twelve hours.

The habitation thus singularly formed and defended

HAIJITATTONS OF INSECTS. 475

is not at all used as a snare, but merely as a safe abode
tor the spider, which luiuts its prey at night only ; and,
Avhen caught, devours it in security at the bottom of its
den, which is generally strewed with the remains of
coleopterous insects^. — From some curious observa-
tions of M. Dorthes on this species in the second vo-
lume of the Linnean Transactions^ it appears that both
the male and female spider and as many as thirty young
ones occasionally inhabit one of these galleries. — Arn-
nea Sauvagesii of Rossi, Vv'hich is a distinct species
found in Corsica, forms a similar habitation''.

The galleries just described are the work of an Eu-
ropean species not uncommon in the south of France;
but similar ones are fahriaxtedhy Aranea venatoria, an
inhabitant of the West India islan-ds, as Aveli as by-
many other tropical species. I have seen one of these,
which had been dug out of the earth, in the cabinet of
Thomas Hall, Esq. F.L.S., that was nearly a foot in
length and above an inch in diameter, forming a cylin-
drical bag of dark-coloured silk, closed at the Ijottom,
and accurately fitted at the top by a door or lid.

The habitation of Aranca aqunlica, the other spider
to which I alluded, is chiefly remarkable for the ele-
ment in which it is constructed and the materials that
compose it. It is built in the midst of water, and
formed, in fact, of air ! Spiders are usually terrestrial,
but this is aquatic, or rather ampliibious; for though
she resides in the midst of water, in which she swims
with great celerity, sometimes on her belly l)ut more
frequently on her back, and is an admirable diver, she

a Sauvagcs Hist, dc l\Jcfid. des Sc, de I'arii 1758, p. 2G.
b Latr. Hist. Is'a'. vii. 165.

47G HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

not unfrequently hunts on shore, and, having caught
her prey, plunges with it to the bottom of the water.
Here it is she forms her singular and unique abode.
She would evidently have but a very uncomforta])le
time were she constantly wet, but this she is sagacious
enougli to avoid ; and by availing herself of some well-
known philosophical principles, she constructs for her-
self an apartment in which, like the mermaids and sea-
nymphs of fable, she resides in comfort and security.
The following- is her process. First she spins loose
threads in various directions attached to tlie leaves of
aquatic plants, which may be called the frame-work of
her chamber, and over them she spreads a transparent
varnish resembling liquid glass, Avhich issues from the
middle of her spinners, and w hich is so elastic that it
is capable of great expansion and contraction ; and if
a hole be made ^in it, it immediately closes again. Next
she spreads over her beliy a pellicle of the same mate-
rial, and ascends to the surface. The precise mode in
Avhich she transfers a bubble of air beneath this pellicle
is not accurately known ; but from an observation
made by the ingenious author of the little work from
which this account is abstracted, he concludes that she
draws the air into her body by the anus, which slje pre-
sents to the surface of the pool, and then pumps it out
from an opening at the base of the belly between the
pellicle and that part of the body, the hairs of which
keep it extended. Clotlied with this aerial mantle,
which to the spectator seems formed of resplendent
quicksilver, she plunges to the bottom, and, Avith as
much dexterity as a chemist transfers gas a\ ith a gas-
holder, introduces her bubble of air beneath the roof

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 477

prepared for its reception. This manoeuvre slie repeats
ten or t\yclve times, until at length in al30ut a quarter
of an hour she has transported as much air as suflices to
expand her apartment to its intended extent, and now
finds herself in possession of a little aerial edifice, I
had almost said an enchanted palace, affording her a
commodious and dry retreat in the very midst of the
water. Here she reposes unmoved l)y the storms that
agitate the surface of the pool, and devours her prey
at ease and in safety. Both sexes form these lodgings.
At a particular season of the year the male quits his
apartment, approaches that of the female, enters it, and
enlarging it by the bubble of air that he carries witli
him, it becomes a common abode for the happy pair'*.
— The spider Avhich forms these singular hai}itations is
one of the largest Euyopean species, and in some coun-
tries not uncommon in stagnant pools.

I am, &c.

a Memoire pour servir a corKmencer V Jliatoire des yfrciignces yJfjualijuss,
12mo.

LETTER XV.

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS
CONTINUED.

1 jiE habitations of insects which I shall next proceed
to describe, are those formed by the united labour of
several individuals.

The societies which thus combine their operations
may be divided into two kinds : 1st, those of which the
object is simply the conservation of the individuals
composing- them ; and 2diy, those whose object is also
the nurture and education of their young. To the last
head belong- bees, w asps, &c. : to the former the larvai
of some species of moths, wliose labours being- the most
simple I shall first describe.

You caimot fail to have observed in gardens the fruit-
trees disfigured, as you would probably think them,
with what at first view seem very strong and thick spi-
/ ders' webs. If you have bestowed upon these webs the
slightest attention, you must have likewise remarked
that they differ very materially in their construction
from those spun by spiders, inclosing on every side an
angular space, and being besides filled with caterpil-
lars. These are the larvae of Bomb7/x chrt/sorrhcea^
and the web which contains them is spun by their united
la})our for the protection of the common society. As
sooji as the cluster of eggs deposited by the parent moth

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 479

is hatched, the young catei pillarsjto the number of tJiree
or four hundred, commence their operations. At first
they content themselves by forming- a sort of hammock
of the single leaf upon which they find themselves as-
sembled, covering it with a roof composed of a number
of silken threads draAvn from one edge to the other ;
and under one or more of these temporary habitations
they reside for a few days, until they are become large
and strong enough to undertake a more solid and spa-
cious building sufficient to contain the whole society.
In constructing this new habitation, they spin a close
silken web round the end of two or three adjoining
twigs and the leaves attached to them, so as to include
the requisite space. They are- not curious in giving
any particular form to the edifice : sometimes it is flat,
often roundish, but always more or less angular. The
interior is divided by partitions of silk into several ir-
regular apartments, to each of which there is purposely
left an appropriate door. Within these the caterpillars
retire at night, or in rainy weather, quitting the nest
on fine days, and dispersing themselves ever the neigh-
l^ouring leaves, upon which they i'eed. Here too they
repose during the critical period of the change of their
skins. Ou the approach of winter the whole community
shut themselves up in the nest, which, by the addition
of repeated layers of silk, has at this time become so
thick and strong as to be impervious to the wind and
rain. They remain in a state of torpidity during the
cold months, but towards the beginning of April are
awakened to activity by the genial breath of spring,
and begin to feed witii greediness upon the young leaves
that surround their habitation, which, as they soon

480 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

greatly increase in size, they find it necessary to en-
large. One might fear that a structure formed of such
materials would at this period be sadly damaged by the
growth of the young shoots and leaves of the twigs
which it incloses ; but the inhabitants, as if to guard
against such an accident, have gnawed oft' all the buds
within their dwelling, and thus secured themselves
from this inconvenience^.

The nest of the larvae of another species of moth, the
3oml)T/x processioned^ unfortunately not a native of
this country, to which on account of their singular
manners, that Avill be detailed to you in a subsequent
letter, Reaumur has given the title of processionari/
caterpillars, is somewhat different in its construction
from that just described, though formed of the same
material. As the caterpillars which fabricate it, feed
upon the leaves of the oak, it is always found upon this
tree, attached not to the branches but the trunk, some-
times at a considerable height from the ground. In
shape it resembles an irregular knob or protuberance,
and the silk which composes it being of a gray colour,
at a distance it would be taken for a mass of lichens.
Sometimes this nest is upwards of eighteen inches long,
and six broad, rising in the middle about four inches
from the surface of the tree. Between the trunk and
the silken covering, a single hole is left which serves
for the entrance and exit of the inhabitants. These
differ in their manners from those last mentioned.
While very young they have no fixed habitation, con-
tenting themselves with a succession of different tem-
porary camps until they have attained two-thirds of

a Ileaiim. ii. 128.

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

481

their growth. Then it is they unite their labours in
spinning- the nest just described; and in this they con-
tinue to reside in harmony until they become perfect
insects, assuming- in it even the state of chrysalis^.

Habitations similar, as to their general structurCj to
the above, though differing in several minute circum-
stances, are formed by the larvae of several other moths,
as of Bomhi/x phceorrhea of Curtis, B. neustria^ &c. as
well as those of Papilio Jo, P. Cinxia, and some other
butterflies ; and even of some Tenthredinidce, which,
however, have each a separate silken covering. But
as it would be tedious to describe these particularly,
I pass on to the habitations formed by insects in their
perfect state, which have in view the education of their
youn^ as well as self-preservation, describing in suc-
cession those of ants, bees, wasps, and Termites.

Of these the most simple in their structure are tJie
nests of different kinds of ants, many of which exter-
nally present the appearance of hillocks more or less
conical, formed of earth or other substances.

The nest of the large red ants (F. rufa, L.) which
are common in w oods, at the first aspect seems a very
confused mass. Exteriorly it is a conical mount com-
posed of pieces of straw, fragments of wood, little
stones, leaves, grain; in short, of any portable mate-
rials within their reach. But however rude its out-
ward appearance, and the articles of which it consists,
interiorly it presents an arrangement admirably calcu-
lated at once for a protection against the excessive
heat of the sun, and yet to retain a due degree of ge-

a Reaum. ii. 179.
VOT^. I, 2 I

482 IIABiTATIOxXS OF INSECTS.

nial warmth. It is wholly composed of numerous small
apartments of different sizes, communicating with each
other by means of galleries and arranged in separate
stories, some very deep in the earth, others a considera-
,blt^ height above it; the former for the reception of
the y^ung in cold weather and at night, the latter
adapted to their use in the day time. In forming these,
the ants mix the earth excavated from the bottom of
the nest with the other materials of which the mount
consists, and thus give solidity to the whole. Besides
the avenues which join the apartments together, other
galleries varying in dimensions communicate with the
outside of the nest at the top of the mount. These open
doors would seem ill calculated for precluding the ad-
mission of wet or of nocturnal enemies: but the ants
alter their dimensions continually according to circum-
stances ; and they wholly close them at night, when all
gradually retire to the interior, and a few sentinels
only are left to guard the gates. On rainy days, too,
they keep them shut, and when the sky is cloudy open
them partially "^.

The habitations of these ants are much larger than
those of any other species in this country, and some-
times as big as a small haycock; but they are mere
niolehills when compared with the enormous mounds
which other species apparently of the same family, but
much larger, construct in warmer climates. Malonet
states, that in the forests of Guiana he once saw ant-
hills which, though his companion would not suffer him
to approach nearer than forty paces for fear of his be-
ing devoured, seemed to him to be fifteen or twenty

a liiiber, Rechcrches sur les Mceurs ties Fourmia, p. 21-29.

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 483

feet liigh, and thirty or forty in diameter at the base,
assuming' the form of a pyramid, trmicated at one-third
of its height '^t and Stedman, when in Surinam, once
passed ant-hilis six feet high, and at least one hundred
feet in ciixumference''.

The nest of Formica bru?mea, Latr. is composed
wholly of earth, and consists of a great number of
stories, sometimes not fewer than forty, twenty below
the level of the soil, and as many above, which last,
following- the slope of the ant-hill, are concentric. Each
story, separately examined, exhibits cavities in the
shape of saloons, narrower apartments, and long gal-
leries w hich preserve the communication between both.
The arched roofs of the most spacious rooms are sup-
ported by very thin walls, or occasionally by small pil-
larr and true buttresses; some having only one en-
trance from above, others a second communicating with
the lower story. The main galleries, of which in some
places several meet in one large saloon, communicate
with other subterranean passages which are often car-
ried to the distance of several feei from the hjll. — These
insects work chiefly after sunset. — In building their nest
they employ soft clay only, scraped from its bottom
when sufficiently moistened by a shower, which, far
from injuring, consolidates and strengtheu'S their archi-
tecture. Different labourers convey small masses of
this ductile material between their mandibles, and
with the same instruments they spread and mould it to
their will, the antennae accompanying every movement.
They render all lirm by pressing the surface lightly

a Iluber, Recherches sur les Mosnrs chs Fourmis, p. 168.
b Stcdra;in's SuiinaiUf i. 169.

2 I 2

484 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

with their fore feet : un<l however numerous tlie masses
of clay composing" these walls, and though connected
by no glutinous material, they appear when finished
one single layer well united, consolidated, and smooth-
ed. Having- traced tlie plan of tlieir structure, by
placing here and there the foundations of the pillars
and partition-walls, they add successively new por-
tions: and when the walls of a gallery or apartment
which are half a line thick are elevated about half an
inch in height, they join tliem by springing a fiattish
arch or roof from one side to the other. Nothing can
be a more interesting spectacle than one of these cities
while building. In one place vertical walls form the
outline, which commuviicate with different corridors
by openings made i-n the masonry ; in another Ave see
a true saloon w hose vaults are supported by numerous
pillars; and further on are the cross ways or squares
where several streets meet, and whose roofs, though
often more than two inches across, the ants are under
no difficulty in constructing, beginning the sides of the
arch in the angle formed by two walls, and extending
them by successive layers of clay till they meet : while
crowds of masons arrive from all parts .vith their par-
ticle of mortar, and worii with a regularity, harmony,
and activity, Avhich can never enough be admired. So
assiduous are they in their operations, that they will
complete a story with all its saloons, vaulted roofs,
partitions and galleries, in seven or eight hours. If
they begin a story, and for want of moisture are un-
able to finish it, they pull down again all the crumbling
apartments that are not covered in ^

a Huber, Recherches, &c. 30-40.

HAKITATIONS OF INSECTS. 485

Another species of ants (F.fusca,Li.) are also ma-
sons. When they wjsh to heighten their habitations,
they begin by covering the top with a thick layer of
clay which they transport from the interior. In this
layer they trace out the plan of the new story, first
hollowing out little cavities of almost equal depth at
different distances from eacli other, and of a size
adapted to their purposes. The elevations of earth
left between them serve for bases to the interior walls,
which, when they have removed all the loose earth
from the floors of the apartments, and reduced the
foundations to a due thickness, they heighten, and
lastly cover all in. M. Huber saw a single working-
ant make and cover in a gallery which was two or three
inches long-, and of M'hich the interior was rendered
perfectly concave, without assistance "*.

The societies of F. fuiiginosa, Latr. make their habi-
tations in the trunks of old oaks or willow-trees, gnaw-
ing- the wood into numberless stories more or less hori-
zontal, the ceilings and floors of which are about five
or six lines asunder, black, and as thin as card, some-
times supported l)y vertical partitions, forming an in-
finity of apartments wliich communicate by small aper-
tures; at others by small light cylindrical pillars fur-
nished with a base and capital whicli are arranged in
colonnades, leaving a communication perfectly free
throughout the whole extent of the story'*.

Two other tribes of carpenter ants (F. cethiops and
F.Jiava, Latr.) use sawdust in forming their buildings.
The former applies this material only to the building
of walls and stopping up chinkg : the latter composes

a Iluber, liec/terches, &,c. 45. 'j Ibid. 53.

486 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

whole stages or stones of it made into a sort of papier
mciche, with earth and spiders' wel)"*.

Some ants form tljeir nests of the leaves of trees.
One of these was observed by Sir Joseph Banks in
New South Wales, which was formed by glueing to-
gether several leaves as large as a hand. To keep
these leaves in a proper position, thousands of ants
united their strength, and if driven away, the leaves
spring back with great violence''.

The most profound philosopher, equally with the
most incurious of mortals, is struck M'ith astonishment
on inspecting the interior of a bee-hive. He beholds
a city in miniature. He sees this city divided into re-
gular streets, these streets composed of houses con-
structed on the most exact geometrical principles and
the most symmetrical plan, some serving for store-
houses for food, others for the habitations of the citi-
zens, and a few, much more extensive than the rest,
destined for the palaces of the sovereign. He perceives
that the substance of which the whole city is built, is
one which man, with all his skill, is unable to fabri-
cate; and that the edifices in v,hich it is employed are
such, as the most expert artist would find himself in-
competent to erect. And the whole is the work of a
society of insects ! " Quel ahime (he exclaims with
Bonnet) aux yeux da sage qii'une ruche (fAbeillex !
Quelle sagesse profondc se cache dans cet abhne! Quel
philosophe osera le fonder!'''' Nor have its mysteries
yet been fathomed. Philosophers have in all ages

a Huhcr, Rtcherches, &c. 61.

b ilu'.vkesworth's CtJoAr's Voyages, in. 223.

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 487

devoted their lives to the subject ; from Aristomachus
of Soli in Cilicia, who, we are told by Pliny, for fifty-
eight years attended solely to bees, and Philiscus the
Thracian, who spent his whole time in forests inves-
t!2,ating- their manners, to Swammerdam, Reaumur,
Htinter, and Huber of modern times. Still the con-
struction of a bee-hive is a miracle which overwhelms
our faculties.

You are probably aware that the hives with which
we provide bees are not essential to their labours, and
that they can equally form their city in the hollow of
a tree or any other cavity. In whatever situation it
is placed, the general plan which they follow is the
same. You have seen a honey-comb, and must have
observed that it is a flattish cake, composed of a vast
number of cells, for the most part hexagonal, regu-
larly applied to each other's sides, and arranged in
two strata or layers placed end to end. The interior
of a bee-hive consists of several of these combs fixed
to its upper part and sides, arranged verticaUi/ at a
ftmall distance from each other, so that the cells com-
posing them are placed in a horizontal position, and
have their openings in opposite directions — not the
best position one would have thought for retaining a
fluid like honey, yet the bees find no inconvenience on
this score. The distance of the combs from each other
is about half an inch, that is, sufficient to allow two
bees busied upon the opposite cells to pass each other
with facility. Besides these vacancies, which form the
high roads of their community, the combs are here and
there pierced with holes which serve as posterns for

488 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

easy communication from one to the other without
losing- time by going- round.

The arrangement of the combs is Avell adapted for
ilK purpose, but it is the construction of the cells which
is most admirable and astonishing. As these are formed
of wax, a substance secreted by the bees in no great
abundance, it is important that as little as possible of
such a precious material should be consumed. Bees,
therefore, in the formation of their cells have to solve
a problem w hich would puzzle some geometers, namely,
a quantity of wax being given, to form of it similar and
equal cells of a determinate capacity, but of the largest
size in proportion to the quantity of matter employed,
and disposed in such a manner as to occupy in the hive
the least possible space. Every part of this problem is
practically solved by bees. If their cells had been cy-
lindrical, which form seems best adapted to the shape
of a bee, they could not have been applied to each
other without leaving numberless superfluous vacui-
ties. If the cells were made square or triangular, this
last objection, indeed, would be removed; but besides
that a greater quantity of wax would have been re-
quired, the shape would have been inconvenient to a
cylindrical-bodied animal. All these difficulties are
obviated by the adoption of hexagonal cells, which are
admirably fitted to the form of the insect, at the same
time that their sides apply to each other without the
smallest vacant intervals. — Another important saving
in materials is gained by making a common base serve
for tVfO strata of cells. Much more wax as well as room
would have been required, had the combs consisted of

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 489

a single stratum only. But this is not all. Tlie base
of each cell is not an exact plane, but is usually com-
posed of three rhomboidal or lozenge-shaped pieces,
placed so as to form a pyramidal concavity. From this i
form it follows that the base of a cell on one side or
stratum of the comb is composed of portions of the bases
o^ three cells on the other. You will inquire, Where
is the advantage of this arrangement ? First, a greater
degree of strength; and secondly, precisely the same
as results from the hexagonal sides — a greater capacity
with less expenditure of wax. Not only has this been
indisputably ascertained, but that the angles of the base
of the cell are exactly those which require the smallest
quantity of wax. It is obvious that these angles might
vary infinitely ; but by a very accurate admeasurement
Maraldi found, that the great angles were in general
109° 28', the smaller ones 70° 32'. Reaumur ingeni-
ously suspecting that the object of choosing these an-
gles from amongst so many was to spare Avax, proposed
to M. Kosnig, a skilful geometrician, who was igno-
rant of Maraldi's experiments, to determine by calcu-
lations what ought to be the angle of a hexagonal
cell, with a pyramidal bottom formed of three similar
and equal rhomboid plates, so that the least matter
possible might enter into its construction. For the so-
lution of this problem the geometrician had recourse
to the infinitesimal calculus, and found that the great
angles of the rhombs should be 109° SG', and of the
small angles 70*^ 34'''. What a surprising agreement
between the solution of the problem and the actual
measure^!

a Reaum. v. 390,

b Fatlier Boscovich observes, that all the angles that form the planes

490 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

Besides the saving- of wax effected by the form of the
cells, the bees adopt another economical plan suited to
the same end. They compose the bottoms aiid sides of
wax of very great tenuity, not thicker than a sheet of
writing-paper. But as walls of this thinness at the
entrance would be perpetually injured by the ingress
and egress of the workers, they prudently make the
margin at the opening of each cell three or four times
thicker than the walls. Dr. Barclay has recently disco-
covered that though of such excessive tenuity, the sides
and bottom of each cell are actually dotible, or, in other
words, that each cell is a distinct, separate, and in
some measure an independent structure, agglutinated
only to the neighbouring cells, and that when the ag-
glutiimting substance is destroyed, each cell may be
entirely separated from the rest^.

Mliicli compose the coll are equal, i. e. 120° ; and lie supposes that this
equality of inclination facilitates much the construction of the cell, which
may be a motive for preferring; it, as well as economy. He shows that
the bees do not economize the wax necessary for a flat bottom in the
construction of every cell, iie;'.r so much as JMM. Kcenig and Reaumur
thought.

JNlacLaurin says, that the diflVrence of a cell with a pyramidal from
one with a flat bottom, in which is comprised the economy of the bees, is
equal to the fourth part of ^ix triangles, which it would be necessary to
add to the trapeziums, the faces of tl»e cell, in order to make them ri;;ht
ani^les.

M. L'lluillier, professor of Geneva, values the economy of the bees
at |y of the whole expense ; and he shows that it nii^ht have been one-
fifth if the bees had no other circumstances to attend to; but he con-
cludes, that if it is not very sensible in every cell, it may be considerable
in the whole of a comb, on account of the mutual setting; of the two op-
posite orders of cells. Iluber, Nouvdles Observali<ins, &c. ii. 34-

a Memoirs of the IVerneiian Society, ii. 259. This however has been
denied, and seems inconsistent with the .iccount given by Huber here-
after detailed.

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 491

You must not imagine that all the cells of a hive are
of precisely similar dimensions. As the society con-
sists of three orders of insects dilFering- in size, the cells
"which are to contain the larvae of each proportionably
differ, those built for the males being- considerably
larger than those which are intended for the woi'kers.
The abode of the larvee of the queen bee differs still
more. It is not only much larger than any of the rest,
but of a quite different form, being shaped like a pear
or Florence flask, and composed of a material much
coarser than common wax, of which above one hun-
dred times as much is used in its construction as of pure
wax in that of a common cell. The situation, too, of
these cells (for there are generally three or four, and
sometimes many more, even up to thirty or forty, in
each hive) is very different from that of the common
cells. Instead of being in a horizontal they are placed
in a vertical direction, with the mouth downwards,
and are usually fixed to the lower edge of the combs,
from which they irregularly project like stalactites
from the roof of a cavern. — The cells destined for the
reception of honey and pollen, difierfrom those which
the larvae of the males and w orkers inhabit, only by
being deeper, and thus more capacious ; in fact, the
very same cells are successively applied to both pur-
poses. When the honey is collected in great abundance,
and there is not time to construct fresh cells, the bees
lengthen the honey cells by adding a rim to them.

You Avill be anxious to learn the process which these
ingenious artificers follow in constructing their habi-
tations : and on this head I am happy that the recent
publication of anew edition of the celebrated Huber's

492 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS,

New Observations on Bees, in which this subject is for
the first time elucidated, will enable me to gratify your
curiosity.

But in the first place you must be told of an impor-
tant and unlooked-for discovery of this unrivalled de-
tector of the hidden mysteries of nature — that the
workers or neuters, as they are called, of a hive, con-
sist of two descriptions of individuals, one of whicli
he calls abeiUes nourrices or petites abeilles, the other
abeilles cirieres, — The former, or nurse-bees, are smaller
than the latter ; their stomach is not capable of such
distention ; and their ofiice is to build the combs and
cells after the foundation has been laid by the cirieres;
to collect honey ; and to feed the larvee. The abeilles
cirieres are the makers of wax, which substance Huber
has now indisputably ascertained to be secreted, as
John Hunter long ago suspected, beneath the ventral
segments, from between Avhich it is taken by the bees
when wanted, in the form of thin scales. The appa-
ratus in which the wax is secreted consists of four pair
of membranous baj>s or zccLt-yjockets situated at the
base of each intermediate segment, one on each side,
which can only be seen by pressing the abdomen so as
to lengthen it, being usually concealed by the over-
lapping of the preceding segments. It should be ob-
served that this discovery was nearly made by our coun-
tryman Thorley, who in Iiis Female Monarchi/ (1744)
says that he has taken bees with six pieces of wax
within the plaits of the abdomen, three on each side.
In these pockets the wax is secreted by some unknown
process from the food taken into the stomach, which in
the wax-making bees is much larger than in the nurse-

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 493

bees, and afterwards transpires throiigli the membrane
of the wax-pocket in thin lamina*. The nurse-bees,
however, do secrete wax, but in very small quantities.
— When wax is not Avanted in the liive, the wax-makers
disgorge tJieir honey into the cells.

The process of building the condas in a bee-hive, as
observed by Huber, is as follows :

The wax-makers having taken a due portion of ho-
ney or sugar, from either of which wax can be elabo-
rated, suspend themselves to each other, the claws of
the fore-legs of the lowermost being attached to those
of the hind pair of the uppermost, and form themselves
into a cluster, the exterior layer of which looks like a
kind of curtain. This cluster consists of a series of
festoons or garlands, which cross each other in all di-
rections, and in which most of the bees turn their back
upon the observer: the curtain has no other motion
than Avhat it receives from the interior layers, the fluc-
tuations of which are communicated to it. — All this
time the nurse-bees preserve their wonted activity and
pursue their usual employments. — The wax-makers
remain immoveable for about twenty-four hours, during
which period the formation of wax takes place, and
thin laminae of this material maybe generally perceived
under their abdomen. One of these bees is now seen
to detach itself from one of the central garlands of the
cluster, to make a way amongst its companions to the
middle of the vault or top of the hive, and by turning
itself round to form a kind of void, in which it can
move itself freely. It then suspends itself to the cen-
tre of the space Avhich it has cleared, the diameter of
which is about an inch. It next seizes one of the la-

494 HABITATIONS OF I>fSECTS.

minae of wax with a pincer formed by the posterior me-
tatarsus and tibia % and drawing- it from beneath the
abdominal segment, one of the anterior legs takes it
with its claws and carries it to the mouth. This leg
holds the lamina with its claws vertically, the tongue
rolled up serving for a support, and by elevating or
depressing it at will, causes the whole of its circumfe-
rence to be exposed to the action of the mandibles, so
that the margin is soon gnawed into pieces, which drop
as they are detached into the double cavity, bordered
with hairs, of the mandibles. These fragments, pressed
by others newly separated, fall on one side of the
mouth, and issue from it in the form of a very narrow
ribband. They are then presented to the tongue,
which impregnates them Avith a frothy liquor like a
houilUe. During this operation the tongue assumes all
sorts of forms ; sometimes it is flattened like a spatu-
la ; then like a trowel, which applies itself to the lib-
band of wax; at other times it resembles a pencil ter-
minating in a point. After having moistened the whole
of the ribband, the tongue pushes it so as to make it
re-enter the mandibles, l)ut in an opposite direction,
where it is worked up anew. The liquor mixed with
the wax communicates to it a whiteness and opacity
which it had not before ; and the object of this mixture
of bouillie, which did not escape the observation of
Reaumur'', is doubtless to give it that ductility and
tenacity which it possesses in its perfect state.

The foundress-bee, a name which this first beginner
of a comb deserves, next applies these prepared par-

a Vide Mon. Jp. Ang. t. 12. * * e. 1, neut. fig. 19.
b Ueaurn. v. 424.

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 495

eels of wax against the vault of the hive, disposing"
them Avith the point of her mandibles in the direction
which she wishes them to take : and she continues these
manoeuvres until she has employed the whole lamina
that she had separated from her body, when she takes
a second, proceeding" in the same manner. She gives
herself no care to compress the molecules of wax which
she has heaped together; she is satisfied if they adhere
to each other. At length she leaves her work, and is
lost in the crowd of her companions. Another succeeds,
and resumes the employment; then a third; all follow
the same plan of placing their little masses ; and if any
by chance gives them a contrary direction, another
coming- removes them to their proper place. The re-
sult of all these operations is a mass or little wall of
wax with uneven surfaces, five or six lines long, two
lines high, and half a line thick, which descends per-
pendicularly below the vault of tlie hive. In this first
work is no angle nor any trace of the figure of the cells.
It is a simple partition in a right line without any in-
flection.

The wax-makers having thus laid the foundation of
a comb, are succeeded by the nurse-bees, which are
alone competent to model and perfect the work. The
former are the labourers, who convey the stone and
mortar ; the latter the masons, who work them up into
the form which the intended structure requires. One
of the nurse-bees now places itself horizontally on the
vault of the hive, its headcorrespondingto the centre
of the mass or wall which the wax-makers have left,
and which is to form the partition of the comb into two
opposite assemblages of cells ; and with its mandibles,

496 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

rapidly moving" its liead, it moulds in that side of the
wall a cavity Avhich is to form the base of one of the
cells to the diameter of which it is equal. When it has
worked some minutes it departs, and another takes its
place, deepening the cavity, heightening- its lateral
margins by heaping up the wax to right and left by
means of its teeth and fore-feet, and giving them a more
upright form. More than twenty bees sviccessively
employ themselves in this work. When arrived at a
certain point, other bees begin on the yet untouched
and opposite side of the mass; and commencing the
bottom of two cells, are in turn relieved by others.
While still engaged in this labour, the wax-makers
return and add to the mass, augmenting its extent
every way, the nurse-bees again continuing their ope-
rations.— After having worked the bottoms of the cells
of the first row into their proper forms, they polish
them and give them their finish, while others begin
the outline of a new series.

The cells themselves, or prisms which result from
the re-union and meeting of the sides, are next con-
structed. These are engrafted on the borders of the
cavities hollowed in the mass. The bees begin them
by making the contour of the bottoms, which at first is
unequal, of equal height: thus all the margins of the
cells offer an uniformly level surface from their first
origin, and until they have acquired their proper length.
The sides are heightened in an order analogous to that
which the insects follow in finishing the bottoms of the
cells ; and the length of these tubes is so perfectly
proportioned that there is no observable inequality
between them. — It is to be remarked, that though the

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 497

|»'eneral form of the cells is hexagonal, that of those
first begun \% pentagonal^ the side next the top of the
hive, and by which the comb is attached, being much
broader than the rest ; whence the comb is more strongly
united to the hive than if these cells were of the ordi-
nary shape. It of course follows that the base of these
cells, instead of being formed like those of the hexa-
gonal cells of three rhomboids, consists of one rhom-
boid and two trapeziums.

The form of a new comb is lenticular, its thickness
always diminishing towards the edges. This gradation
is constantly observable while it keeps enlarging in
rircuraference ; but as soon as the bees get sufficient
-space to lengthen it, it begins to lose this form and to
assume parallel surfaces : it has then received the
•shape which it will always preserve.

. The bees appear to give the proper forms to the bot-
toms of the cells by means of their antennae, which ex-
traordinary organs they seem to employ as directors
fey which their other instruments are instructed to
execute a very complex w ork. They do not remove a
single particle of wax until the antcnnsp have explored
the surface that is to be sculptured. By the use of these
t)rgans, which are so flexible and so readily applied to
all parts, hotvever delicate, that they can perform the
functions of compasses in measuring very minute ob-
jects, they can work in the dark, and raise those won-
derful combs the first production of insects.
• Every part ofthe work appears a natural consequence
of that which precedes it, so that chance has no share
in the admirable results witnessed. The bees cannot
depart from their prescribed route, except in conse-
VOL. I, 2 k

498 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

quence of particular circumstances which alter the bads
of their labour. The original mass of wax is never augt
mented but by an uniform quantity; and what is most
astonishing, this augmentation is made by the wax-
makers, who are the depositaries of the primary matter,
and possess not the art of sculpturing the cells.

The bees never begin two masses for combs at the
same time; but scarcely are some rows of cells con-
structed in the first, when two other masses, one on each
eide of it, are established at equal distances from it and
parallel to it, and then again two more exterior to these.
The combs are always enlarged and lengthened in a
progression proportioned to the priority of their origin ;
the middle comb being constantly advanced beyond the
two adjoining ones by some rows of cells, and they be-
yond those that are exterior to them. Was it permit*
ted to these insects to lay the foundation of all their
combs at the i^ame time, they could not be placed con-
veniently nor parallel to each other. So with respect
to the cells, the first cavity determines the place of aU
that succeed it.

A large number of bees work at the same time on the
same comb ; but they are not moved to it by a simul-
taneous but by a successive impulse. A single bee be-
gins every partial operation, and many others in suc-
cession add their efforts to hers, each appearing to act
individually in a direction impressed either by the
workers who have preceded it, or by the condition in
which it finds the work. The whole population of wax-
maters is in a state of the most complete inaction till
one bee goes forth to lay the foundations of the fir^
comb. Immediately others second her intentions, add-

HABITATIONS OF TNSECfS. 499

ing to the height and length of the mass; and when
they cease to act, a bee, if the term may be used, of
another profession, one of the nurse-bees, goes to form
the draught of the first cell, in which she is succeeded
by others.

The diameters of the cells intended for the larvae of
Workers is always 2f lines, that of those meant for the
larvae of the males or drones 3^ lines. The male cells
are generally in the middle of the combs, or in their
sides ; rarely in their upper part. They are never in-
isulated, but form a corresponding group on both sides
the comb. When the bees form male cells below those-
of neuters, they construct many rows of intermediate
ones, the diameter of which augments progressively
till it attains that of a male cell ; and they observe the
same method when they revert from male cells to those
of neuters. It appears to be the ovi position of the
queen which decides the kind of cells that are to be
made : while she lays the eggs of workers, no male
cells are constructed ; but when she is about to lay the
eggs of males, the neuters appear to know it and act
accordingly. — When there is a very large harvest of
honey, the bees increase the diameter and even the
length of their cells. At this time many irregular
combs may be seen with cells of twelve, fifteen, and
even eighteen lines in length. Sometimes also they
have occasion to shorten the cells. When they wish to
lengthen an old comb, the tubes of which have acquired
their full dimensions,they gradually diminish the thick-
ness of its edges, gnawing down the sides of the cells
till it assumes the lenticular form : they then engraft a
mass of wax round it, and so proceed with new cells. '
2 S.2

500 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

Variations, as has been already hinted, sometimes
take place in the position and even form of the combs*
Occasionally the bees construct cells of the common
shape upon the wood to which the combs are fixed,
without pyramidal bottoms, and from them continue
their work as usual. These cells with a flat bottom,
or rather with the wood for their bottom, are more ir-
regular than the common ones ; some of their orifices
ara not angular, and their dimensions are not exact, but
all are more or less hexagonal. Once when disturbed,
Huber observed them to begin their combs on one of
the vertical sides of the hive instead of on the roof.
When particular circuaistances caused it, as, for in-
stance, when glass was introduced, to which they do
not like to fix their combs, he remarked that they con-
stantly varied their direction ; and by repeating the at-
tempt, he forced them to form their combs in the most
fantastic manner. Yet glass is an artificial substance,
against which instinct merely cannot have provided
them : there is nothing in hollow trees, their natural
habitation, resembling it. — When they change the di-
rection of their combs, they enlarge the cells of one
side to two or three times the diameter of those of the
other, which gives the requisite curve.

To complete the detail of these interesting disco-
veries of the elder Huber, I must lay before you the
following additional observations of his son.

The first base of the combs upon which the bees
work holds three or four cells, sometimes more. — The
comb continues of the same width for three or four
inches, and then begins to widen for three quarters of
its length. The bees engaged at the bottom lengthen

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. '501

it downwards ; those on the sides widen it to right
and left ; and those which are employed above the
thickest part extend its dimensions upwards. The
more a comb is enlarged below, the more it is neces-
sary that it should be enlarged upwards to the top of
the hive. The bees that are engaged in lengthening
the comb, work with more celerity than those which
increase its width; and those that ascend or increase
its width upwards, more slowly than the rest. Hence
it arises that it is longer than wide, and narrower to-
wards the top than towards the middle, — The first
formed cells are usually not so deep as those in the
middle; but when the comb is of a certain height, they
are in haste to lengthen these cells so essential to the
solidity of the whole, sometimes even making them
longer than the rest, — The cells are not perfectly ho-
rizontal ; they are almost always a little higher to-
wards their mouth than at their base, so that their axis
is not perpendicular tft the partition that separates the
two assemblages. They sometimes vary from the hori-
zontal line more than 20°, usually 4^ or 5°. When
the bees enlarge the diameter of the cells preparatory
to the formation of male cells, the bottoms often con-
sist of two rhomboids and two hexagons, the size and
form of which vary, and they correspond with four in-
stead of three opposite cells. — The works of bees are
symmetrical less perhaps in minute details than consi-
dered as a whole. Sometimes, indeed, their combs
have a fantastic form ; but this, if traced, will be found
to be caused by circumstances : one irregularity occa-
sions another, and both usually have their origin in
the dispositions which we make them adopt. The in-

502 HABITATIONS OV INSECTf.

Constancy of climate, too, occasions frequent interrup-
tions, and injures the symmetry of the combs ; for a
work resumed is always less perfect than one followed
up until completed.

At first the substance of the cells is of a dead white,
semitransparent, soft, and though even, not smooth :
but in a few days it loses most of these qualities, or
rather acquires new ones ; a yellow tint spreads over
the cells, particularly their interior surface ; their
edges become thicker, and they have acquired a con-
sistence, which at first they did not possess. The
combs also when finished are heavier than the unfi-.
nished ones : these last are broken by the slightest
touch, whereas the former will bend sooner than break.
Their orifices also have something adhesive, and they
melt less readily; whence it is evident that the finish^
ed combs contain something not present in the unfi-
nished ones. In examining the orifice of the yellow
cells, their contour appeared to the younger Huber to
be besmeared with a reddish varnish, unctuous, strong-
scented, and similar to, if not the same as, propolis.
Sometimes there were red threads in the interior, which
were also applied round the sides, rhombs, or trape-
ziums. This solder, as it may be called, placed at
the point of contact of the different parts, and at the
summit of the angles formed by their meeting, seemed
to give solidity to the cells, round the axis of the
longest of which there were sometimes one or two
red zones. From subsequent experiments, M. Huber
ascertained that this substance was actually propolis,
collected from the buds of the poplar. He saw them
with their mandibles draw a thread from the mass of

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 503

propolis that was most conveniently situated, and
breaking it by a sudden jerk of the head, take it with
the claAvs of their fore-legs, and then, entering the cell,
place it at the angles and sides, &c. which they had
previously planished. The yellow colour, however, is
not given by the propolis, and it is not certain to what
it is owing. — The bees sometimes mix wax and pro-
polis and make an amalgam, known to the ancients and
called by them Mitys and Pissoceros, which they use
in rebuilding cells that have been destroyed, in order
to strengthen and support the edifice^.

We know but little of the proceedings of the species
of bees not indigenous to Europe, which live in socie-
ties and construct combs like that cultivated by us. A
traveller in Brazil mentions one there which builds
a kind of natural hive : " On an excursion towards
upper Tapagippe," says he, " and skirting the dreary
woods which extend to the interior, I observed the
trees more loaded with bees' nests than even in the
neighbourhood of Porto Seguro, They consist of a
ponderous shell of clay, cemented similarly to martins*
nests, swelling from high trees about a foot thick, and
forming an oval mass full two feet in diameter. When
broken, the wax is arranged as in our hives, and the
honey abundant''."

Humble-bees are the only tribe besides the hive-bee,
that in this part of the world construct nests oy the

a Nouvelles Observations sur les Aheilles, par Francois Hnber, ii. 101-
288. I observed the bees collecting propolis this spring from the buds of
Populus balsamifera.

b Lindley in R. MiUlary Chronicle^ March 1815. 449.

504' HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

united labour of the society. The habitations coin-,
posing them are of a rude construction, and the streets,
are arranged with little architectural regularity. The
number of inhabitants, too, is small, rarely exceeding
two or three hundred, and often not more than twenty.
The nests of some species, as o^ Apis lapidaria, A. ier-
reslris, &c. are found under ground at the depth of a
foot or more below the surface; but as the internal
structure of these, does not essentially differ from that
of the more singular habitations o? A. Muscorum^ and
as some of the subterranean species occasionally adopt'
the same situation, I shall confine my description to
the latter.

These nests, which do not exceed six or eight
inches in diameter, are generally found in meadov* s.
and pastures, and sometimes in hedge-rows where the.
soil is entangled with roots. The lower half occupies
a cavity in the soil, either accidentally found ready
made, or excavated with great labour by the bees.
The upper part or dome of the nest is composed of a
thick felted covering of moss, having the interior ceil-
ing coated with a thin roof of coarse wax for the pur-
pose of keeping out the wet. The entrance is in the.
lower pavt, and is generally through a gallery or co-
vered way, sometimes more than a foot in length and
half an inch in diameter, by means of which the nest is
more effectually concealed from observation. On re-
moving the coping of moss, the interior presents to our
view a very different scene from that witnessed in a
bee-hive. Instead of numerous vertical combs of wax,
we see merely a few irregular horizontal combs placed
one above the other, the uppermost resting upon the

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 505

more elevated parts of the loAver, and connected to-
gether by small pillars of wax. Each of these combs
consists of several groups of pale-yellow oval bodies
of three different sizes, those in the middle being- the
largest, closely joined to each other, and each group
connected with those next it by slight joinings of wax.
These oval bodies are not, as you might suppose, the
work of the old bees, but the silken cocoons spun by
the young larvae. Some are closed at tlie upper ex-
tremity ; others, which chiefly occupy the lower combs,
have this part open. The former are those which yet in-
clude their immature tenants ; the latter are the empty
cases from which the young bees have escaped. On
the surface of the upper comb are seen several masses
of wax of a flattened spheroidal shape, and of very
various dimensions : some above an inch and others
not a quarter of an inch in diameter ; which on being
opened are found to include a number of larva? sur-
rounded with a supply of pollen moistened with honey.
These, which are the true cells, are chiefly the work
of the female, which after depositing her eggs in them
furnishes them with a store of pollen and honey; and,
when this is consumed, supplies the larva; with a daily
provision, as has been described in a former letter, until
they are sufficiently grown to spin the cocoons before
spoken of. Lastly, in all the corners of the combs, and
especially in the middle, we observe a considerable
number of small goblet-like vessels, filled with honey
^d pollen, which are not, as in the case of the hive-
bee, the fabrication of the workers, but are chiefly the
empty cocoons left by the larvae. It falls to the workers,
however, to cut off the fragments of silk from the pri-

505 HABITATIONS OP INSECTS.

fice of the cocoon, which, after giving it a regular cir-
cular form, they strengthen by a ring or elevated tube
of wax made in a different shape by different species;
and to coat them internally with a lining of the same
material. They even occasionally construct honey-pots
entirely of wax ^.

The most curious circumstance in the construction
of these nests, is the mode in which the bees transport
the moss employed in forming the roof. When they
have discovered a parcel of this material conveniently
situated upon the ground, five or six insects place
themselves upon it in a file, turning the hinder part of
their bodies towards the quarter to which it is meant
to be conveyed. The first takes a small portion, and
with its jaws and fore-legs as it were felts it together.
When the fibres are sufficiently entangled, it pushes
them under its body by means of the first pair of legs;
the intermediate pair receive the moss, and deliver it
to the last, which protrude it as far as possible beyond
the anus. When by this process the insect has formed
behind it a small ball of well-carded moss, the next bee
pushes it to the third, which consigns it in like manner
to that behind it; and thus the balls are conveyed to
the foot of the nest, and from thence elevated to the
summit, much in the same way that a file of labourers
transfer a parcel of cheeses from a vessel or cart to a
warehouse ''. It is easy to perceive that a vast saving
of time must ensue from this well contrived division of
labour; the structure rising much more rapidly than if •
every individual had been employed first in carding his
materials, and then in transferring them to the spot.

a Huber, Linn. Tr. vi. 2i: -J'JS, »> Rta tn. vi. 1-10,

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 507

Wasps, though ferocious and cruel towards their
Sellow-insects, are civilized and polished in their inter-
course with each other, and form a community whose
architectural labours will not suffer on comparison
even with those of the peaceful inhabitants of a bee-
hive. Like these, the great object of their industry is
the erection of a structure for their beloved progeny,
towards which they discover the greatest tenderness
and affection, and they even in like manner construct
combs consisting of hexagonal cells for their recep-
tion ; but the substance which they make use of is very
dissimilar to the wax employed by bees, and the gene-
ral plan of their city differs in many respects from that
of a bee-hive.

The common wasp's nest, usually situated in a ca-
vity under ground, is of an oval figure, about sixteen
or eighteen inches long by twelve or thirteen broad.
Externally it is surrounded by a thick coating of nu-
merous leaves of a sort of grayish paper, which do not
touch each other, but have a small interval between
each, so that, if the rain should chance to penetrate
one or two of them, its progress is speedily arrested.
On removing this external covering, we perceive that
the interior consists of from twelve to fifteen circular
combs of different sizes, not ranged vertically as in a
bee-hive, but horizontally, so as to form so many di-
stinct and parallel stories. Each comb is composed of
a numerous assemblage of hexagonal cells formed of
the same paper-like substance as the exterior covering
of the nest, and, according to a discovery of Dr. Bar-
clay, each, as in those of bees, a distinct cell, the par-

508 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

tition walls being double ^. These cells, which, as wasps
do not store up any food, serve merely as the habita-
tions of their young, are not, like those of the honey-
bee, arranged in two opposite layers, but in one only,
their entrance being always downwards : consequently
the upper part of the comb, composed of the bases of
the cells, which are not pyramidal but slightly convex,
forms a nearly level floor, on which the inhabitants can
conveniently pass and repass, spaces of about half an
inch high being left between each comb. Although the
combs are fixed to the sides of the nest, they would not
be sufficiently strong without further support. The
ingenious builders, therefore, connect each comb to
that below it by a number of strong cylindrical columns
or pillars, having according to the rules of architecture
their base and capital wider than the shaft, and com-
posed of the same paper-like material used in other
parts of the nest, but of a more compact substance.
The middle combs are connected by a rustic colonnade
of from forty to fifty of these pillars; the upper and
lower combs by a smaller number.

The cells, which in a populous nest are not fewer
than 16,000, are of different sizes, corresponding to
that of the three orders of individuals which compose
the community ; the largest for the grubs of females,
the smaliest for those of workers. The last always
occupy an entire comb, while the cells of the males
and females are often intermixed. — Besides openings
which are left between the walls of the combs to admit
of access from one to the other, there are at the bottom
of each nest two holes, by one of which the wasps uui-

a Memoirs of the. TVerncrian Socielt/i »i. 260,

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 50J^

formly enter, and througli the other issue from the nest,
and thus avoid all confusion or interruption of their
common labours. As the nest is often a foot and a half
under ground, it is requisite that a covered way should
lead to its entrance. This is excavated by the wasps,
who are excellent miners, and is often very long and
tortuous, forming a beaten road to the subterranean
city, well known to the inhabitants though its entrance
is concealed from incurious eyes. The cavity itself
which contains the nest is either the abandoned habi-
tation of moles or field-mice, or a cavern purposely dug
out by the wasps, which exert themselves with such
industry as to accomplish the arduous undertaking in
a few days.

When the cavity and entrance to it are completed,
the next part of the process is to lay the foundations of
the city to be included in it, which, contrary to the
usual custom of builders, wasps begin at the top, con-
tinuing downwards. I have already told you that the
coatings which compose the dome are a sort of rough
but thin paper, and that the rest of the nest is composed
of the same substance variously applied. " Whence,"
you will inquire, " do the wasps derive it ? " They are
manufacturers of the article, and prepare it from a
material even more singular than any of those which
have of late been proposed for this purpose ; namely,
the fibres of wood^ These they detach by means of
their jaws from window-frames, posts and rails, &c.,

a Reaumur says decaying wood, vi. 182; but White asserts (and iny
own observations confirm his opinion) that wasps obtain their paper
from sound Umber ; hornets, only from that which is dccayaU While's
J^aU Hint, by Markwick, ii. 228.

51(J HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

and, when they have amassed aheap of the filattients^^
moisten the whole with a few drops of a viscid glue
from their mouth, and, kneading it with their jaws into
a sort of paste or papier mdche, fly oif with it to theif
nest. This ductile mass they attach to that part of the
building upon which they are at work, walking back ••
wards and spreading it into laminae of the requisite
thinness by means of their jaws, tongue, and legs. This
operation is repeated several times, until at length, by
aid of fresh supplies of the material and the combined
exertions of so many \yorkmen, the proper number of
layers of paper that are to compose the roof is finished.
This paper is as thin as that of the letter which you
are reading; and you may form an idea of the labour
which even the exterior of a wasp's nest requires, on
being told that not fewer than fifteen or sixteen sheet?
of it are usually placed above each other with slight
intervening spaces, making the whole upwards of an
inch and a half in thickness. When the dome is com-
pleted, the uppermost comb is next begun, in which,
as well as all the other parts of the building, precisely
the same material and the same process, with little va-
riation, are employed. In the structure of the con-
necting pillars there seems a greater quantity of glue
made use of than in the rest of the work, doubtless
with the view of giving them a superior solidity. —
When the first comb is finished, the continuation of
the roof or walls of the building is brought down
loyer ; a new comb is erected ; and thus the work suc-
cessively proceeds until the whole is finished. As a
comparatively small proportion of the society is en-

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 51 1

gaged in constructing the nest, its entire completion is
the work of several months: yet, though the fruit of
such severe labour, it has scarcely been finished a few
weeks before winter comes on, when it merely serves
for the abode of a feAV benumbed females, and is en-
tirely abandoned at the approach of spring; wasps ne-
ver using the same nest for more than one season ^

The nests of the hornet in tlieir general construction
resemble those of the common wasp, but the paper of
which they are composed is of a much more rough tex-
ture; the columns which support the comb are higher
and more massive ; and that in the centre larger thaa
the rest.

These last, as well as wasps, conceal their nesfe, sus-
pending it in the corners of outhouses, &c. ; but there
are other species which construct their habitations in
open day-light, affixing them to the branches of shrubs
or trees.

One of these, described by Latreille, the work of
Vespa holsattca, F., a species not uncommon with up,
resembles in shape a cone of the cedar of Lebanon, arid
is composed of an envelope and the comb, the former
consisting of three partial envelopes, each of the in-
terior of which is longer than the preceding. The
comb comprises about thirty hexagonal cells circularly
arranged, those of the circumference being lower and
smaller''.

A vespiary somewhat similar to the above, but of a
depressed globular ffgure, and composed of more nur
inerous envelopes, so as to assume a considerable re-
semblance to a half-expanded Provence rose, is figured

« Reaam. vi, M«i«. 6. '> Arm^Ua du Museum dHUt, Nat. i. 9b9,

512 HABITATIONS OF INSECT?.

by Reaumur^: and for a very beautiful specimen ap-
parently of the same kind (except that it contains but
one stage of cells), which was found in the garden at
East-Dale, I am indebted to the kindness of Henry
Thompson, esq. of Hull.

Another species {Vespa Parietum^ t) atta;ches its:
small group of about twenty inverted crucible-like
cells to a piece of wood without any covering •=.

But all these yield in point of singularity of struc-
ture to the habitation oi Polistes nidulans, ( Vespa char-
taria, Oliv.) a native of Cayenne, which constructs its
nest of a beautifully polished Avhite and solid paste-
board, impenetrable by the weather. These are in
shape somewhat like a bell, often a foot and a half
long, and fixed by their upper end to the branch of a
tree from which they are securely suspended. Their
interior is composed of numerous concave horizontal
combs, with the openings of the cells turned down-
wards, fastened to the sides without any pillars, and
having a hole through each to admit of access to the
uppermost"^.

I CLOSE my account of the habitations of insects with
the description of those constructed by the Termites^
a tribe alluded to in former letters.

The different species, which are numerous, build
nests of very various forms. Some (T. atrox and mor-^
dax, Sm.) construct upon the ground a cylindrical
turret of clay about three quarters of a yard high^
surrounded by a projecting conical roof, so as in shape

avi. t. 19. f. i. 9. b RoselVesp. t. 7.f. 8.

c Rosel II. viii. 30. d Reanm. vi. 234.

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 513

tonsiderably to resemble a mushroom, and composed
interiorly of innumerable cells of various figures and
dimensions. Others, as T. Destructor, F. ( T. Arbo-
rum, Sm.) prefer a more elevated site, and build their
nests, which are of different sizes, from that of a hat to
that of a sugar-cask, and composed of pieces of wood
glued together, amongst the branches of trees often
seventy or eighty feet high. But by far the most cu-
rious habitations, and to which, therefore, I shall con-
fine a minute description, are those formed by the
Termes fatalis (7\ hcUkosus, Sm.), a species very com-
mon in Guinea and other parts of the coast of Africa,
of whose proceedings we have a very particular and in-
teresting account in the 71st volume of the Philosophy
cal Transactions, from the pen of Mr. Smeathman.

These nests are formed entirely of clay, and are ge-
nerally twelve feet high and broad in proportion, so
that when a cluster of them, as is often the case, are
placed together, they may be taken for an Indian vil-
lage, and are in fact sometimes larger than the huts
which the natives inhabit. The first process in the
erection of these singular structures, is the elevation
of two or three turret^ of clay about a foot high, and in
shape like a sugar loaf. These, which seem to be the
scaffolds of the future building, rapidly increase in
number and height, until at length being widened at
the base, joined at th« top into one dome, and consoli-
dated all round into a thick w all of clay, they form a
building of the size above mentioned, and of the shape
of a hay-cock, w hich when clothed, as it generally soon
becomes, with a coating of grass, it at a distance very
much resembles. When the building has assumed this

vof,. T. 2l

514: HABITATIONS OF INSECTS,

its final form, the inner turrets, all but the tops, which
project like pinnacles from different parts of if, are re-
moved, and the clay employed over again in other
services.

It is the lower part alone of the building that is oc-*
cupied by the inhabitants. The upper portion or dome,
which is very strong- and solid, is left empty, serving
principally as a defence from the vicissitudes of the
weather and the attacks of natural or accidental ene-
mies, and to keep up in the lower part a genial warmth
and moisture necessary to the hatching of the eggs and
cherishing of the young ones. The inhabited portion
is occupied by the roi/al chamber, or habitation of the
king and queen ; the nurseries for the young ; the store'
houses for food; and innumerable galleries, passages,
and empty rooms :^ — arranged according to the follow-
ing plan.

In the centre of the buildihg, just under the apex,
and nearly on a level with the surface of the ground, is
placed the royal chamber, an arched vault of a semi-
oval shape, or not unlike a long oven ; at first not above
an inch long, but enlarged as the queen increases in
bulk to the length of eight inches or more. In this
apartment the king and queen constantly reside ; and
from the smallness of the entrances, which are barely
large enough to admit their more diminutive subjects,
can never possibly come out; thus, like many human
potentates, purchasing tlieir sovereignty at the dear
rate of the sacrifice of liberty. Immediately adjoining
the royal chamber, and surrounding it on all sides to
the extent of a foot or more, are placed what Mr.
Smeathman calls the roi/al apartments, an inextricable

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 515

labyrinth of innumerable arched rooms of difibrent
shapes and sizes, either opening- into each other or com-
municating- by common passages, and intended for the
accommodation of the soldiers and attendants, of whom
many thousands are always in waiting- on their royal
master and mistress. Next to the royal apartments
come the nurseries and the magazines. The former are
invariably occupied by the eggs and young ones, and in
the infant state of the nest are placed close to the royal
chamber; but when the queen's augmented size re-<
quires a larger apartment, as well as additional rooms
for the increased number of attendants wanted to re-
move her eggs, the small nurseries are taken to pieces,
rebuilt at a greater distance a size bigger, and their
number increased at the same time. In substance they
differ from all the other apartments, being formed of
particles of wood apparentlyjoined together with gums.
A collection of these compact, irregular, and small
wooden chambers, not one of which is half an inch in
width, is inclosed in a common chamber of clay some-
times as big as a child's head. — Intermixed with the
nurseries lie the magazines, which are chambers ofclay
always well stored with provisions, consisting- of parti-
cles of wood, gums, andtheinspissatedjuicesof plants.
These magazines and nurseries, separated by small
empty chambers and galleries, which run round them
or communicate from one to the other, are continued
on all sides to the outer wall of the ])uilding-, and reach
up within it two-thirds or three-fourths of its height.
They do not, however, fill up the whole of the lower
part of the hill, but are confined to the sides, leaving-
an open area in the middle, under the dome, very much

2l 2

516 HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

jesembiing the nave of an old cathedral, having- its roof
supported by three or four very large Gothic arches, of
which those in the middle of the area are sometimes
two and three feet high, but as they recede on each side
rapidly diminish like the arches of aisles in perspective.
A flatfish roof, imperforated in order to keep out the
Met, if the dome should chance to be injured, covers
the top of the assejnblage of chambers, nurseries, &c. •
and the area, which is a short height above the royal
ehamberj has a flattish floor ako water-proof, and so
contrived as to let any rain that may chance to get in
run off into the subterraneous passages.

These passages or galleries, which are of an asto-
nishing size, some being above a foot in diameter and
perfectly cylindrical, lined with the same kind of clay
of uhich the hill is composed, served originally, like
the catacombs of Paris, as the quarries whence the mar
terials of the building were derived, and afterwards as
the grand outlets by which the Termites carry on their
depredations at a distance fromther habitations. They
run in a sloping direction under the bot.om of the hill
to the depth of three or four feet, and then branching-
out horizontally on every side, are carried under
ground, near to the surface, to a vast distance. At
their entrance into the interior they communicate with
other smaller galleries, which ascend the inside of the
outer shell in a spiral manner, and, winding round the
whole building to the top, intersect each other at dif'
ferent heights, opening either immediately into the
dome in various places, and into the lower half of the
building, or communicating with every part of it by
qther smaller circular or oval galleries of different dia^

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 517

meters. The necessity for the vast size of the main
underground galleries evidently arises frum the cir-
cumstance of their being the great thoroughfares for
the inhabitants, by which they fetcli their clay, wood,
Avater, or provision ; and their spiral and gradual
ascent is requisite for the easy access of the Termites,
w hich cannot but with great difficulty ascend a perpen-
dicular. To avoid this inconvenience in the interior
vertical parts of the building, a flat path-way, half an
inch wide, is often made to wind gradually, like a road
cut out of the side of a mountain, by which they travel
with great facility up ascents otherwise impracticable.
The same ingenious propensity to shorten their labour
seems to have given birth to a contrivance still more
extraordinary. This is a kind of bridge of one vast
arch, sprung from the floor of the area to the upper
apartments at the side of the building, which answers
the purpose of a flight of stairs, and must shorten the
distance exceedingly in transporting eggs from the
royal chambers to the upper nurseries, which in some
hills would be four or five feet in the straightest line,
and much more if carried through all the winding pas-
sages w hich lead through the inner chambers and apart-
ments. Mr. Smeathman measured one of these bridges,
which was half an inch broad, a quarter of an inch thick,
and ten inches long, making the side of an elliptic arch
of proportionable size, so that it is wonderful it did not
fall ov er or break by its own weight before they got it
joined to the side of the column above. It was strength-
ened by a small arch at the bottom, and had a hollow
or groove all the length of the upper surface, either
made purposely for the greater safety of the passengers.

518^ HABITATIONS OF INSECTS.

or else worn by frequent treading. It is not the least
surprising circumstance attending- this bridge, the G»^
thic arches before spoken of, and in general all the
arches of the various galleries and apartments, that,
as Mr. Smeathnian saw every reason for belie vino-,
the Termites j9rq/cc^ their arches, and do not, as one
would have supposed, excavate them.

Consider what incredible labour and diligence, ac-
companied by the most unremitting activity and the
most unwearied celerity of movement, must be necesi
sary to enable these creatures to accomplish, their size
considered, these truly gigantic works. That such di-
minutive insects, for they are scarcely the fourth of an
inch in length, however numerous, should, in the space
of three or four years, be able to erect a building twelve
feet high and of a proportionable bulk, covered by a
vast dome, adorned without by numerous pinnacles and
turrets, and sheltering under its ample arch myriads of
vaulted apartments of various dimensions, and con-
structed of different materials— that they should more-«
over excavate, in different directions and at different
depths, innumera])le subterranean roads or tunnels,
some twelve or thirteen inches in diameter, or throw
an arch of stone over other roads leading from the me-
tropolis into the adjoining country to the distance of
several hundred feet — that they should project and
finish the, for them, vast interior stair-cases or bridges
lately described— and, finally, that the millions neces-
sary to execute such Herculean labours, perpetually
passing to and fro, should never interrupt or interfere
with each other, is a miracle of nature, or rather of the
Author of nature, far exceeding the most boasted works^

HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. Sl9

and structures of man : for, did these creatures equal
him in size, retaining their usual instincts and activity,
their buildings would soar to the astonishing height of
more than half a mile, and their tunnels would expand
to a magnificent cylinder of more than three hundred
feet in diameter ; l)efore which the pyramids of Egypt
and the aqueducts of Rome would lose all their cele-
brity, and dwindle into nothings*. So that when in the
commencement of my last letter I promised to intro-
duce you to insects whose labours produced edifices
more astonishing than those of the mightiest Egyptian
monarchs, the pyramids, my promise, whatever you
then thought of it, was the reverse of hyperbolical.

I am, &c.

a The most elevated of the pyramids of Egypt Is not more than 600
feet high, which, setting the average height of man at only five feet, is
not more than 120 times the height of the workmen employed. Whereas
the nests of the Termites being at least twelve feet high, and the insects
themselves not exceeding a quarter of an inch in stature, their edifice is
Upwards of 500 times the height of the builders ; which, supposing them
of human dimensions, would be more than half a mile. The shaft of the
Roman aqueducts was lofty enough to permit a man on horseback to
travel in them.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME,

rnrNTKD by RtrnAPD and AUTma taylor, london.

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. .

^ M

I'LA.TE I.

COLEOPTERA.

Fig. 1. Calosoma Sycophanta.

2. Staphylinus cyaneus.

3. Siagonium quadricorne, Nov. Gen. K. magnified.

4. Malthinus.

5. Molorchus.

6. Meloe.

DeumapterA^

7. Forficula gigantea.

PLATE II.

Stkepsiptera.
tig. 1. Xenos Feckii. Linn. Trans,
Orittoptera.

2. Acheta Gryllotalpa.

3. Blatta gcrmanica.

Hemipteka.

4. Ledra aurita,
6. Cimex rufipes.

PLATE III.
Lepidopte a
Fig. 1. PapUio dispar mas ?

2. Sjpsia asiliformis.

3. Bombyx pukhella.

TrichopterA.

4. Pliryganea varia ?

Neuroptera.
b. Libcllula caacellata.
6. Ilaphidia notata, Fab. Mantiss.

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