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LIBRARY OF
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PLaze W.
FuilitJted bi/longrnan,,IfursTjiees, Ornu Ic Brown, London, Jan j. i8jy.
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 BAllHAM,
AND
WILLIAM SPENCE, Esq. F.L.S.
J
SECOND EDITION.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR XONGMAX, HURST, BEES, ORME, AND BROWNj
PATERNOSTER ROW. >
i
t
1818. ^
%
Ricliard utid Arthur luylur,
Prinlers, London.
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
Letter
XVI. Societies of Insects. f*^?^
1. Imperfect Societies, ^ ^^
XVII. Societies of Insects continued.
2. Perfect Societies.
While Ants. Ants, 26—106
XVIII. Perfect Societies of Insects continued.
m$ps. Humlle-lees, 107—120
XIX. Perfect Societies of Insects continued.
Hive-lee, 121—170
XX. Perfect Societies of Insects concluded.
Hive^hee, 171-217
XXI. Means by which Insectsdefend themselves, 218—269
XXII. Motions of Insects.
Larva and Pupa, 270—303
XXIII. Motions of Insects continued.
Imago, 304-374
XXIV. Noises produced by Insects 375 — 408
XXV. Luminous Insects 409—429
XXVI. Hybernation and Torpidity of Insects . . 430—465
XXVII. Instinct of Insects 466—530
ERRATA.
Page. Line.
54 17 after " whence" insert " in the first instance here related."
121 note, 1. ult. dele the comma after "vagina," and insert one after
" spicula."
for " was" read " were."
for " their sensorium" read " the sensorium of these insects."
for" common" read" carrion."
insert as a note to " H. ceneus." — " The insect alluded to under
this name, answers Fabricius's description of H. eeneuSj but
from Olivier's figure appears distinct from it."
416 29 after "ivory" insert "or rather ebony."
214
23
215
8
233
4
322
17
AN
INTRODUCTION
TO
ENTOMOLOGY,
LETTER XVL
SOCIETIES OF INSECTS,
IMPERFECT SOCIETIES.
1 SEE already) and I see it with pleasure, that you will
not content yourself with being a mere collector of in-
sects. To possess a cabinet w ell stored, and to know by
what name each described individual which it contains
should be distinguished, will not satisfy the loye that is
already grown strong in you for my favourite pursuit;
and you now anticipate with a laudable eagerness, the
discoveries that you may make respecting the history
and economy of this most interesting department of the
works of our Creator. I hail with joy this intention to
emulate the bright example, and to tread in the hal-
lowed steps of Swammerdam, JLeeuwenhoek, Redi,
Malpighi, Vallisnieri, Ray, Lister, Reaumur, De Geer,
Lyonet, Bonnet, the Hubers, &c. ; and 1 am confident
that a man of your abilities, discernment, and obser-
vation will contribute, in no small degree, to the trea-
VOI-. II f B
2 IMPERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
sures already poured into the general fund by these
your illustrious predecessors.
I feel not a little flattered when you inform me that
the details contained in my late letters relative to this
subject, have stimulated you to this noble re'^olution. —
Assure yourself, I shall think no labour lost, that has
been the means of winning- over to the science I love,
the exertions of a mind like yours.
But if the facts already related, however extraordi-
nary, have had power to produce such an effect upon
you, what Avill be the momentum, when I lay before
you more at large, as I next purpose, the most striking
particulars of the proceedings of insects in society, and
shovv the almost incredibly wonderful results of the
combined instii^ts and labours of these minute beings?
li^ comparison with these, all that is the fruit of soli-
tary efforts, though some of them sufliciently marvel-
lous, appear trilling and insignificant: as the works of
man himself, when they are the produce of the industry
and genius of only one, or a few individuals, though
they might be regarded with admiration by a being who
had seen nothing similar before, yet when contrasted
with those to which the union of these qualities in large
bodies has given birth, sink into nothing, and seem
unworthy of attention. Who would think a hut ex-
traordinary by the side of a stately palace, or a small
"village when in the vicinity of a populous and magni-
'ficent city ?
* Insects in society may be viewed under several lights,
and their associations are for various purposes and of
'different durations.
There are societies the objectof which is mutual de-
rMPEBFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS'. O
fence ; while that of others is the propagation of the
snccies. Some form marauding parties, and associate
for prey and plunder ; — others meet, as it should seem,
under certain circumstances, merely for the sake of
company ; — again, olliers are brought together by ac-
cidental causes, and disperse when these cease to ope-
rate ; — and finally, others, which may be said to form
proper societies, are associated for the nurture of their
voung, and, by the union of their labours and instincts,
for mutual society, help, and comfort, in erecting or
repairing their common habitation, in collecting provi-
sions, and in defending their fortress when attacked.
With respect to the duration of the societies of in-
sects, some last only during their first or larva state ;
and are occasionally even restricted to its earliest pe-
riod ; — some again only associate in their perfect or
imago state ; while w ith others, the proper societies
for instance, the association is for life. But if I divide
societies of insects into perfect and imperiect, it will,
I think, enable me to give you a clearer and better
view of the subject. By perfect societies I mean those
that are associated in all their states, live in a common
habitation, and unite their labours to promote a com-
mon olyject; — and hy iinperfeetf^oc\ei\G9, those that are
either associated during part of their existence only, or
else do not dwell in a common habitation, nor unite
their labours to promote a common object. In the pre-
sent letter I shall confine myself to giving you some
account o'l iniperfect societies. I
Imperfect societies may be considered as of five de-
scriptions : — associations for the sake of company only
—associations of males during the season for pairing —
B ^2
4 IMPERFECT SOCIETIES OV INSECTS.
associations formed for the purpose of travelling of
emigratins: together — associations for feeding together
—and associations that undertake some common work.
The first of these associations consists chiefly of in-
sects in their perfect state. The little beetles called
whirlwigs (Gi/rinus, L.), — which may be seen cluster-
ing in groups under warm banks in every river and
every pool, and wheeling round and round with great
velocity ; at your approach dispersing and diving under
Water, but as soon as j'ou retire resuming their accus-
tomed movements, — seem to be under the influence of
the social principle, and to form their assemblies for
no other purpose but to enjoy together, in the sun-
beam, the mazy dance. Impelled by the same feeling,
in the very depth of winter, even when the earth is co-
vered with snow, the tribes of TipiiUdce (usually, but
improperly, called gnats) assemble in sheltered situa-
tions at midday, when the sun shines, and form them-
selves into choirs, that alternately rise and fall with
rapid evolutions^. To see these little aery beings ap-
parently so full of joy and life, and feeling the entire
force of the social principle in that dreary season, w hen
the whole animal creation appears to suffer, and the
rest of the insect tribes are torpid, always conveys to
my mind the most agreeable sensations. These little
creatures may always be seen at all seasons amusing
themselves with these choral dances ; which Mr. Words-
worth, in a late poem% has alluded to in the following
beautiful lines :
" Nor wanting here to entertain the thought,
Creatures that in communities exist,
' See also Markn'ick in White's NaU Hist, it, 23G. * The pxcunion.
IMPERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 5
Less, as might seem, for general guardianship
Or through dependance upon mutual aid,
Than by participation of delight,
And a strict lovi- of fellowship combined.
What other s[)irit can it ha that prompts
The gilded summer flics to mix and weave
Their sports toge(her in the solar beam.
Or in the gloom and twilight hum their joy?"
Another association is that of males during the sea-
son of pairing'. Of this nature seems to be that of the
cockchafer and fernchafer (MeIolot?tha vulgaris and
solstitialis, F.), which, at certain periods of tlie year
and hours of the day, hover over the summits of the
trees and hedges like swarms of bees, affording, when
they alight on tlie ground, a grateful food to cats, pigs,
and poultry. The males of another root-devouring
beetle {HopUa nrgenfea, F.) assemble by myriads be-
fore noon in the meadows, when in these infinite hosts
you will not find even one female^. After noon the con-
gregation is dissolved, and not a single individual is to
be seen in the air'' : while those of Melolontha vulgaris
and solsiilialis are on the wing only in the evening.
At the same time of the day some of the short-lived
Ephemera; assemble in numerous troops, and keep
rising and failing alternately in the air, so as to exhi-
bit a very amusing scene. Many of these also are
males. They continue this dance from about an hour
before sun-set, till the dew becomes too heavy or too
cold for them, in the beginning of September, for two
successive years, I was so fortunate as to witness a
a The females {Scaraheeus argcnleiis, Marsh.) have red legs, and the
males (Scnrabo'us puluerulenliis, Marsh.) black,
'' Kirby in Linn. Trans, v. 250,
&' IJUPERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
spectacle of this kind, which afforded me a more sub-
lime gratification than any work or exhibition of art
has power to communicate. — The first was in 1811 : —
taking an evening walk by a river near my house, Avhen
the sun declining fast towards the horizon shone fortii
without a cloud, the whole atmosphere over and near
the stream swarmed with infinite myriads of EphemercB
and little gnats of the genus Chiron omi4s, Latr., which
in the sun-beam appeared as numerous and more lucid
than the drops of rain, as if the heavens were shower-i
ing down brilliant gems. — Afterwards, in the following
year, one Sunday, a little before sun-set, I was enjoy-
ing a stroll with a friend at a greater distance from the
river, when in a field by the road-side the same pleas-
ing scene was renewed, but in a style of still greater
magnificence; for, from some cause in the atmosphere,
the insects at a distance looked much larger than they
really were. The choral dances consisted principally
of Ephemerae, but there were also some of Chironomi :
the former, however, being most conspicuous, attracted
our chief attention — alternately rising and falling, in
the full beam they appeared so transparent and glori-
ous, that they scarcely resembled any thing material—^
they reminded us of angels and glorified spirits drinlc-
Ing life and joy in the effulgence of the Divine favour'"-.
The bard of Twickenham, from the terms in which his
beautiful description of his sylphs is conceived in The
Rape of the Loch^ seems to have witnessed the pleasing-
scene here described :
a The authors of this work iiere the wifnosses of the m;i«>,nifi(ent
scene here described. It was on the second of September. The first was
on the ninth of thr.l month.
IMPERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 7
• *' Some to the sun their insect wings unfold,
Waft on the breeze, or sink in ciuuds of gold ;
Transparent forms, too fine for mortal sight,
Their fluid bodies half dissolv'd in light;
JiOose to the wind their airy garments ilawj
Thin glittering textures of the filmy dew,
Dipt in the richest tincture of the skies,
Where light disports in ever miugiing dyes,
While every beam new transient colours flings,
Colours that change whene'er (hey wave their wings."
I wish you. may have the good fortune next year to
be a spectator of this all but celestial dance. In the
mean time, in May and June, their season of love, you
may often receive much gratification from observing
the motions of a countless host of little black flies of
the genus Empis, ( E. jjiaura, F.) which at this period
of the year assemble to wheel in aery circles over stag-
nant waters, with a rush resembling that of a hasty
shower driven by the wind.
The next description of insect associations is of those
that congregate for the purpose of travelling or emi-
grating together. De Geer lias given an account of
the larvae of certain gnats (Tipu/cc, L.) which assemble
in considerable numbers for this purpose, so as to form
a band of a finger's breadth, and of from one to two
yards in length. And, what is remarkable, while upon
their march, which is very slow, they adhere to each
other by a kind of glutinous secretion ; but when dis-
turbed they separate without difficulty^. Kuhn men-
tions another of the Tipulidce (from the antennae in his
figure, which is very indifferent, it should seem a spe-
cies of agaric-gnat (Mycetophila) ), the larvae of whicfi
. a De Geer, vi. 338.
B iMPERfECT SOCIETIES OE INSECTS.
live in society and emigrate in files, like the caterpiliaf
of the procession-moth. Fir^^t g^oes one, next follow
two, then three, &c., so as to exliibit a serpentine ap-
pearance, probably from their simultaneous undulating
motion and the continuity of the files ; whence the com-
mon people in Germany call them (or rather the file
"when on march) heerzourm, and view them with great
dread, regarding" them as ominous of war. These larvag
are apodes, white, subtransparent, with black heads'.
-^ — But of insect emigrants none are more celebrated
than the locusts, which, when arrived at their perfect
state, assemble as before related, in such numbers, as
in their flight to intercept the sun-beams, and to darken
whole countries; passing from one region to another,
and laying waste kingdom after kingdom :, — but upon
these I have already said much, and shall have occa-
sion again to enlarge. — The same tendency to shift
their quarters has been observed in our little indige^
nous devourers, the Aphides. Mr. White tells us,
that about three o'clock in the afternoon of the first
of August 1785, the people of the village of Selborne
were surprised by a shower of Aphides orsmother-flies,
which fell in those parts. Those that VTalked in the
street at tliat juncture found themselves covered with
these insects, which settledalso upon the hedges and in
the gardens, blackening ail the vegetables where they
alighted. His annuals were discoloured by them, and
the stalks of a bed of onions quite coated over for six
days after. These armies, he observes, were then, no
doubt, in a ^tate of emigration, and shifting their quar-?
ters i and might have come from the great hop-pianta-s
s Nalvrforsch. xvii. 2i6.
IMPERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 9
tions of Kent or Sussex, the wind being- all that day
in the east. Tho) were observed at the same time in
great clouds about Farnham, and all along- the vale
from Farnham to Alton". A sisniiar emigration of
these flies I once witnessed, to my great annoyance,
ivhen travelling later in the year, in the Isle of Ely.
The air was so full of them, that they were incessantly
flying- into my eyes, nostrils, &c. ; and my clothes were
covered by them. And in 1814, in the autumn, the
Aphides were so abundant for a few days in the vici-
nity of Ipswich, as to be noticed with surprise by the
most incurious observers.
As the locust-eating- thrush (Turdus grj/llivorus,J^.)
accompanies the locusts, so the Coccinellra seem to pur-
sue the Aphides ; for I know no other reason to as-
sign for the vast number tliat are sometimes, especially
in the autumn, to be met w ith on the sea-coast or the
banks of large rivers. Many years ago, those of the
Jiumber v/ere so thickly strewed with the common
Lady-bird {C. septempmictata, L.), that it was difficult
to avoid treading upon them. Some years afterwards
I noticed a mixture of species, collected in vast num-
bers, on the sand-hills on the sea-shore, at the north-
Tvest extremity of Norfolk. My friend the Uev. Peter
L*athbury made long since a similar observation at
Orford, on the SutFoik coast ; and about five or six
years ago they covered the cliffs, as I have before rc^
marked'', of ail the watering-places on the Kentish and
Sussex coasts, to the no small alarm of the superstir
lious, who thought them forerunners of some direful
levil. These last probably emigrated with the Aphides
fioin the hop-grounds. Whether the latter and tlicir
? Nat, Ilht. ii. 101. ? Vo:.. I. 2d Ed. 2G1,
10 IMPERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS*
devoiirers cross the sea has not been ascertainecl j
that the Coccinella? attempt it, is evidejjt from their
alighting upon ships at sea, as 1 have witiiessed myself.
— This appears clearly to have been the case with an-
other emigrating insect, the sau-lly (Tenthredo) ofthe
turnip (which, though so njischievous, appears n?ver
to have been described ; it is nearly related to T. Cen-
iifoliw, Panz.)^. It is the general opinion in Norfolk,
Mr. Marshall informs us^, that Ihese insects come from
over sea. A farmer declared he saw them arrive in
clouds so as to darken the air ; the fishermen asserted
that they had repeatedly seen flights of them pass over
their heads when they were at a distance from land ;
and on the beach and cliffs they were in such quanti-
ties, that they might have been taken up by shovels-
full. Three miles in-land they were described as re-
sembling swarms of bees. This was in August 1782.
Unentomological observers, such as farmers and fisher-
men, might easily mistake one kind of insect for another ;
but snpposinj^ them correct, the swarms in question
might perhaps have passed from Lincolnshire to Nor-
folk.— Meinecken toils us, that he once saw in a village
in Anhah, on a clear day, about four in the afternoon,
such a cloud of dragon-flies (Libe/hdce, L.) as almost
concealed the sun, and not a little alarmed the villagers,
under the idea that they were locusts" ; several in-
stances are given by Rosel of similar clouds of these
insects having been seen in Silesia and other districts' ;
and Mr. Woolnough of HoUesley in Suffolk, a most
attentive observer of nature, once witnessed such an
army of the smaller dragon-flies {Agricriy F.) flying*
■ Fn. Germ. Inii. xli\. IS. " PMlos. T> am. Ixxiii. 217.
^ Nainrjonch. vi. 110. ^ ii. \6o.
IMPERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. II
in-land from the sea, as to cast a slight shadow over a
field of four acres as they passed. — Professor Walch
states, that one night about eleven o'clock, sitting in
his study, his attention was attracted by what seemed
the pelting of hail against his window, which surpris-
ing him by its long continuance, he opened the window,
and found the noise was occasioned by a flight of the
froth frog'-hopper {Cicada sjmmar'ia^ L.), v»hich en-
tered the room in such numbers as to cover the table;
From this circumstance and the continuance of the
pelting, which lasted at least half an hour, an idea
may be formed of the vast host of this insect passing
over. It passed from east to west ; and as his window
faced the south, they only glanced against it oblique-
ly*. He afterwards witnessed, in August, a similar
emigration of myriads of a kind of beetle (Carabu^
vulgaris, L.)''. — Another writer in the same work,
H. Kapp, observed on a calm sunny day a prodigious
flight of the noxious cabbage-butterfly (Papilio Bras-^
sicce, Li.), which passed from north-east to south-west,
and lasted twer hours'". Kalm saw these last insects
midway in the British Channel"^. Liiidley, a writer
in the Royal MiUlari/ Chronicle, tells us, that in Bra-
zil, in the beginning of March 1803, for many days
successively there was an immense flight of white and
yellow butterflies, probably of the same tribe as the
cabbage-butterfly. They were observed never to set-
tle, but proceeded in a direction from north-west to
svuth-east. No buildings seemed to stop them from
steadily pursuing their course ; which being to the
* 'Naturforsch.v .111. " Ibid, xi. 95.
'' Ibid. 94. "* Truvds, i. 13.
12 IMPERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS,
ocean, at only a small distance, they must consequently
perish. It is remarked that at this time no other kind
of butterfly is to be seen, though the country usually
abounds in such a variety*. — Major Moor, while sta-
tioned at Bombay, as he was playing at chess one even-
ing" with a friend in Old Woman's Island, near that
place, witnessed an immense flight of bugs (Cimices),
which were going westward. They Avere so numerous
as to cover every thing in the apartment in which he was
sitting. — When staying at Aldeburgh, on the eastern
coast, I have, at certain times, seen innumerable in-
sects upon the beach close to the waves, and appa-
vcntly washed up by them. Though wetted, they were
quite alive. It is remarkable, that of the emigrating
insects here enumerated, the majority — for instance
the Libellulae, Coccinellae, Carabi, Cicadae, &c.— are
not usually social insects, but seem to congregate, like
swallows, merely for the purpose of emigration. What
incites them to this is one of those mysteries of nature,
which at present we cannot penetrate. A scarcity of
food urges the locusts to shift their quarters ; and too
confined a space to accommodate their numbers occa-
sions the bees to swarm : but neither of these motives
can operate in causing unsocial insects to congregate.
It is still more difficult to account for the impulse that
urges these creatures, with their fiimy wings and fra-
gile form, to attempt to cross the ocean, and expose
themselves, one would think, to inevitable destruction.
Yet, though we are unable to assign the cause of this
lingular instinct, some of the reasons which induced
the Creator to endow them with it maybe conjectured.
» B, Milil. Chron. for March 1815, p. 452.
IMPERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 13
This is clearly one of the modes by which their num-
bers are kept within due limits, as, doubtless, the great
majority of these adventurers perish in the waters.
Thus, also, a greatsupply of food is furnished to those
fish in the sea itself, which at other seasons ascend the
rivers in search of them ; and jthis probably is one of
the means, if not the only one, to which the numerous
islands of this globe arc indebted for their insect po-
pulation. Whether the insects I observed upon the
beach wetted by the waves, had flown from our own.
shores, and falling- into the water had been brought
back by the tide ; or whether they had succeeded in
the attempt to pass from the continent to us, by flyin^^
as far as they could, and then falling had been brought
by the waves, cannot certainly be ascertained ; but
Kalm's observation inclines me to the latter opinion.
The next order of imperfect associations is that cf
those insects which feed together : — these are of two de-
•scriptions — those that associate in their^r^^or last state
only, and those that associate in all their states. The
first of these associations is often very short-lived : a
patch of eggs is glued to a leaf; when hatched, the
little larvae feed side by side very amicably, and a plea-
sant sight it is to see the regularity with which thf.^
■work is often done, as if by word of command ; but
when the leaf that served lor their cradle is consumed,
their society is dissolved, and each goes where he can
lo seek his own fortune, regardless of the fate or lot of
his brethren. Of this kind are the larvae of the saw-
i\\ of the gooseberry, whose ravages I have recorded
before*;, and that of the cabbage-butter fiy ; the latter,
• Voi. l.SdF.d. I'JT.
'14 IMr-ERFECT SOCIEtlES OF INSECT?.
however, keep longer together, and seldom wholly se*-
parate. In their final state, 1 have noticed that the in-
dividuals of Thrips JP/ij/sapus, the fly that causes us'in
hot weather such intolerable titillation, are very fond
of each other's company when they feed. Towards the
latter end of last July, walking through a wheat-field,
I observed that all the blossoms o? Convohulus arvensis,
though very numerous, were interiorly turned quite
black by the infinite number of these insects, which
were coursing about within them.
But the most interesting insects of this order are
those which associate in all their states. — Two popu-
lous tribes, the great devastators of the vegetable
world, the one in warm and the other in cold climates,
to which I have already alluded under the head of emi-
grations— you perceive I am speaking of Aphides and
Locusts — are the best examples of this order : although,
concerning the societies of the first, at present we can
only say that they are merely the result of a common
origin and station : but those of the latter, the locusts,
wear more the appearance of design, and of being pro-
duced by the social principle.
- So much as the world has sufit;red from these ani-
mals % it is extraordinary that so few observations have
been made upon their history, economy, and mode of
'proceeding. One of the best accounts seems to be
that of Profci^sor Pallas, in his Travels into the South-
em Provinces of the Hussian Empire. The species to
which his principal attention was paid appears to have
been the Gri/Uus ilalicus, in its larva and pupa states.
" In sei*eiie warm weather," says he, " the loc\ists ace
•See Vol. I. 2d Ed. 214.
IMPERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS! 15
in full motion in the morning immediately after the
evaporation of the dew ; and if no dew has fallen, they
appear as soon as the sun imparts his genial warmth.
At first some are seen running about like messengers
among the reposing- swarms, which arc lying partly
compressed upon the ground, at the side of small emi-
nences, and partly attached to tali plants and shrubs.
Shortly after the whole body begins to move forward
in one direction and with little deviation. They re-
semble a swarm of ants, all taking the same course, at
small distances, but without touching each other : they
uniformly travel towards a certain region as fast as a
fly can run, and without leaping, unless pursued ; in
which case, indeed, they disperse, but soon collect
again and follow their former route. In this manner
they advance from morning to evening without halting,
frequently at the rate of a hundred fathoms and up-
%vards in the course of a day. Although they prefer
marching along high roads, footpaths, or open tracts;
yet when their progress is opposed by bushes, hedges,
and ditches, they penetrate through them : their way
can only be impeded by the waters of brooks or canals,
as they are apparently terrified at every kind of mois-
ture. Often, however, they endeavour to gain the op-
posite bank v,ith the aid of overhanging boughs ; and
if the stalks of plants or shrubs be laid across the wa-
ter, they pass in close columns over these temporary
bridges ; on which they even seem to rest and enjoy
the refreshing coolness. Towards sun-set the whole
swarm gradually collect in parties, and creep up the
plants^ or encamp on slight eminences. On cold,
cloudy, or rainy days they do not travel. — As soon as
16 IMPERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS*
they acquire wings they prof^ressively disperse, but stilt
fly about in large swarms^."
" In the month of May, when the ovaries of thest?
insects were ripe and turgid," says Dr. Shaw'', "each
of these swarms began gradually to disappear, and re-
tired into the Mettijiah, and other adjacent plains,
where they deposited their eggs. These were no sooner
hatched in June, than each of the broods collected it-
self into a compact body, of a furlong or more in square 5
and marching afterwards directly forwards toward the
sea, they let nothing escape them^ — thei/ Jcept their
ranks, like men of war; climbing over, as they advanced,
every tree or wall that was in their way; nay, they en-
tered into our very houses and bed-chambers, like sa
man?/ thieves. A day or two after one of these hordes
was in motion, others were already hatched to march
and glean after them. Having lived near a month
in this manner they arrived at their full growth,
and threw off their ni/mpha-state by casting their out-
ward skin. To prepare themselves for this change,
they clung by their hinder feet to some bush, twig, or
corner of a stone ; and immediately, by using an undl^-
lating motion, their heads would first break out, and
then the rest of their bodies. The whole transforma'-
tion was performed in seven or eight minutes; after
which they lay for a small time in a torpid and seem-
ingly in a languishing condition ; but as soon as the
sun and the air had hardened their wings, by drying
up the moisture that remained upon them after cast-
ing their sloughs, they reassumed their former vora;-
city, with an addition of strength and agility. Yet
" Tallaa,. ii. 422-6, " Travels^ 1S7.
IMPERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 17
they ccntimiod not long in this state before they were
entirely dispersed." The species Dr. Shaw here speaks
of is probably not the Grj/llus migratorius, L.
The old Arabian fable, that they are directed in
their flio-hts by a leader or king% has been adopted,
but I think without sufficient reason, by several travel-
lers. Thus Benjamin Bullivant, in his observations
on the Natural History of New England'', says that
" the locusts have a kind of regimental discipline, and
as it were some commanders, which show greater and
more splendid wings than the common ones, and arise
first when pursued by the fowls or the feet of the tra-
veller, as I have often seriously remarked." And in
like terms Jackson observes, that " they have a govern-
ment amongst themselves simihir to that of the bees
and ants ; and when the {Sultan Jerraad) king of the
locusts rises, the whole body follow him, not one soli-
tary straggler being left behind*"." But that locusts
have leaders, like the bees or ants, distinguished from
the rest by the size and splendour of their wings, is a
circumstance that has not yet been established by any
satisfactory evidence ; indeed, very strong reasons may
be urged against it. The nations of bees and ants, it
must be observed, are housed together in one nest or
hive, the whole population of which is originally de-
rived from one common mother, and the leaders of the
swarms in each are the females. But the armies of
locusts, though they herd together, travel together,
and feed together, consist of an infinity of separate fa-
milies, all derived from different mothers, who have
a Bocliart, Hierozoic. ii. 1. 4. c. 2. 460. b In Phi!i>^. Tranit. for 1G98,
<• Jackson's Maroeco, 51.
VOL. It. c
18 IMPERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
laid their eggs in separate cells or houses in the earth t.
so that there is little or no analogy between the socie-
ties of locusts and those of bees and ants ; and this
pretended sultan is something quite different from the
queen-bee or the female ants. It follows, therefore, that
as the locusts have no common mother, like the bees,
to lead their swarms, there is no one that nature, by a
different organization and ampler dimensions, and a
more august form, has destined to this high office. The
only question remaining is, whether one be elected
from the rest by common consent as their leader, or
whether their instinct impels them to follow the first
that takes flight or alights. This last is the learned
Bochart's opinion, and seems much the most reason-
able *. The absurdity of the other supposition, that an
election is made, will appear from such queries as these,
at which you may smile — Who are the electors ? Are
the myriads of millions all consulted, or is the elective
franchise confined to a few .' Who holds the courts
and takes the votes? Who casts them up and declares
the result? When is the election made.? — The larvae
appear to be as much under government as the perfect
insect. — Is the monarch then chosen by his peers Avhen
they first leave the egg and emerge from their subter-
ranean caverns ? or have larva, pupa, and imago each
their separate king? The account given us in Scrip-
ture is certainly much the most probable, that the lo-
custs have no king, though they observe as much order
and regularity in their movements as if they were
under military discipline, and had a ruler over them''.
Some species of ants, as we learn from the admirable
a Bochart, Ilitrozoic. ubi supra. '^ Proverbs xxx. 27.
iMPEBFECt SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 19
history of them by M. P. Huber, though they go forth
by common consent upon their military expeditions,
yet the order of their columns keeps perpetually chan-
ging ; so that those who lead the van at the first setting
out, soon fall into the rear, and others take their place;
their successors do the same ; and such is the constant
order of their march. It seems probable, as these co-
lumns are extended to a considerable length, that the
object of this successive change of leaders is to convey
constant intelligence to those in the rear, of what is
going forward in the van. Whether any thing like
this takes place for the regulation of their motions in
the innumerable locust-armies, which are sometimes
co-extensive with vast kingdoms; or whether their in-
stinct simply directs them to follow the first that moves
or flies, and to keep their measured distance, so that,
as the prophet speaks, " one does not thrust another,
and they walk every one in his path%" must be left
to future naturalists to ascertain. And I think that
you will join with me in the wish that travellers, who
have a taste for Natural History, and some knowledge
of insects, would devote a share of attention to the
proceedings of these celebrated animals, so that we
might have facts instead of fables.
The last order of imperfect associations approaches
nearer to perfect societies, and is that of those insects
which the social principle urges to unite in some com-
mon work for the benefit of the community.
Amongst the Coleoptera^ Ateiichus pilularius^ a beetle
before mentioned, acts under the influence of this prin-
ciple. " I have attentively admired their industry and
a Joel ii. 8.
C 2
20 IMPERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
mutual assisting of each other," says Catesby, " hi
rolling- those globular balls from the place where they
made them, to that of their interment, which is usually
the distance of some yards, more or less. This they
perform breech foremost, by raising their hind parts,
forcing along the ball with their hind feet. Two or
three of them are sometimes eftaaffed in trundlinff one
ball, which, from meeting with impediments from the
unevenness of the ground, is sometimes deserted by
them : it is however attempted by others with success,
unless it happens to roll into some deep hollow chink,
%vhere they are constrained to leave it ; but they con-
tinue their work by rolling off the next ball that comes
in their way. None of them seem to know their own
balls, but an equal care for the whole appears to affect
all the community''."
Many larvas also of Lepkloptera associate with this
view, some of which are social only during part of theii
existence, and others during the whole of it. The
first of these continue together while their united la-
bours are beneficial to them ; but wlien they reach a
certain period of their life, they disperse and become
solitary. Of this kind are the caterpillars of a little
butterfly (Papilio Cinxia) which devour the narrow-
leaved plantain. The families of these, usually amount-
ing to about a hundred, unite to form a pyramidal
silken tent, containing several apartments, which is
pitched over some of the plants that constitute their
food, and shelters them both from the sun and tlse rain.
When they have consumed the provi?ion which it co^
vers, they construct a new one over other roots of thi*
aCatesbj's Carolirta^W. 111. See above, Vol.. I. 2d i.d. ^'50.
IMPERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 21
plant ; and sometimes four or five of these encamp-
ments may be seen within a foot or two of each other.
Against winter they weave and erect a strongc r habi-
tation of a rounder form, not divided by any partitions,
in which they lie heaped one upon another, each being
rolled up. About April they separate, and continue
solitary till they assume the pupa.
Reaumur, to \vhom I am indebted for this account,
has also given us an interesting history of another in-
sect, the gold-tail-moth before mentioned, whose cater-
pillars are of this description. They belong to that
family of Bombyces, which envelop their eggs in hair
plucked from their own body. As soon as one of these
young caterpillars is disclosed from the egg, it begins to
feed; another quickly joins it, placing itself by its side;
thus they proceed in succession till a file is formed
across the leaf: — a second is then begun; aiul after
this is completed, a third— and so they proceed till the
whole upper surface of the leaf is covered: — i)ut as a
single leaf will not contain the whole family, the re-
mainder take their station upon the adjoining ones. No
sooner have they satisfied the cravings of hunger, than
they begin to think of erecting a common habitation,
which at first is only a vaulted web, that covers the
leaf they inhabit, but by their united labours in due
time grows into a magnificent tent of silk, containing
various apartments sufficient to defend and shelter
them ail from the attack of enemies and the inclemency
of the seasons. As our caterpillars, like eastern raon-
archs, are too delicate to adventure their feet upon
the rough bark of the tree upon which they feedj they
22 1MPER,F£CT SOCIETIES Of INSECTS.
lay a silken carpet over every road and pathway lead-
ing to their palace, which extends as far as they have
occasion to go for food. To the habitation just de-
scribed they retreat during heavy rains, and when
the sun is too hot : — they liiiewise pass part of the
night in them ; — and, indeed, at all times some may
usually be found at home. Upon any sudden alarm
they retreat to them for safety, and also when they cast
their skins : — in the winter they are wholly confined
to them, emerging again in the spring : but in May and
June they entirely desert them ; and, losing all their
love for society, live in solitude till they become pupae,
which takes place in about a month. When they de-
sert their nests, the spiders take possession of them ;
which has given rise to a prevalent though most absurd
opinion, that they are the parents of these caterpillars*.
, With other caterpillars the association continues
during the whole of the larva state. De Geer mentions
one of the TefithredimdcE of this description which form
a common nidus by connecting leaves together with
silken threads, each larva moreover spinning a tube of
the same material for its own private apartment, in
which it glides backwards and forwards upon its back''.
I have observed similar nidi in this country; the insects
that form them belong to the Fabrician genus Li/da.
The most remarkable insects, however, that arrange
under this class of imperfect associates, are those that
observe a particular order of march. Though they
move without beat of drum, they maintain as much
regularity in their step as a file of soldiers. It is a most
a Vol. I. 2d Ed. 476. Reaumur, ii. 125. > De Geer, ii. 1029.
IMPERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 23
agreeable sig'lit, says one of Nature's most favoured
admirers, Bonnet, to see several hundreds of the larvae
of P.B. Neustria marching- after each other, some in
straight lines, others in curves of various inflection, re-
sembling, from their fiery colour, a moving cord of gold
stretched upon a silken ribband of the purest white;
this ribband is the carpeted causeway that leads to
their leafy pasture from their nest. Equally amusing
is the progress of another moth, the Pittjocampa^ be-
fore noticed ; they march together from their common
citadel, consisting of pine-leaves united and inwoven
with tlie silk which they spin, in a single line : in fol-
lowing each other they describe a multitude of grace-
ful curves of varying figure, thus forming a series of
living wreaths, which change their shape every mo-
ment : — all move with a uniform pace, no one pressing
too forward or loitering behind ; when the first stops,
all stop, each defiling in ex&ct military order*.
A still more singular and pleasing spectacle, when
their regiments march out to forage, is exhibited by
the Processionary Bomhyx. This moth, which is a
native of France, and has not yet been found in this
country, inhabits the oak. Each family consists of
from 600 to 800 individuals. When young, they have
no fixed habitation, but encamp sometimes in one place
and sometimes in another, under the shelter of their
web: but when they have attained two-thirds of their
growth, they weave for themselves a common tent, be-
fore described''. About sun-set the regiment leaves
its quarters; or, to make the metaphor harmonize with
" Bonnet, ii. 57, " Vol. I. 2d Ed. 418.
24 IMPERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
the trivial name of the animal, the monks their cosno-
bium. At their head is a chief, by whose movements
their procession is regulated. When he stops, all stop,
and proceed when he proceeds ; three or four of his
immediate followers succeed in the same line, the head
of the second touching the tail of the first : then comes
an equal series of pairs, next of threes, a>w{ -o on as
far as fifteen or twenty. The whole procession uioves
regularl} on with an even pace, each file treating upon
the steps of those that precede it. If the leader, ar-
riving at a particular point, pursues a different direc-
tion, all march to that point before they turn. Pro-
bably in this they are guided by some scent imparted
to the tracks by those that pass over them. Sometimes
the order of procession is different : the leader, who
moves singly, is followed by two, these are succeeded
by three, then come four, and so on. When the leader,
— who in nothing differs from the rest, and is probably
the caterpillar nearest the entrance to the nest, fol-
lowed, as I have described, — has proceeded to the
distance of about two feet, more or less, he makes a
halt ; during which those which remain come forth,
take their places, the company forms into files, the
inarch is resumed, and all follow as regularly as if they
kept time to music. These larvae may be occasionally
found at mid-day out of their nests, packed close one
to another without making any movement ; so that, al-
though they occupy a space sufficiently ample, it is not
easy to discover them. At otiier times, instead <)f being
simply laid side by side, they are formed into singular
masses, in which they are heaped one upon anothcrj
IMPERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 25
and as it were interwoven together. Thus also they
are disposed in their nests. Sometimes their families
divide into two bands, which never afterwards unite \
I have nothing further of importance to commnni*
rate to vou on imperfect societies : in my next I shall
begin the most interesting subject that Entomology
offers; a subject, to say the least, including as great
a portion b »th of instruction and amusement as any
branch of Natural History affords ; — I mean those
perfect associations which have for their great object
the multiplication of the species, and the education, if
such a term may be here employed, of the young. This
is too fei'tile a theme to be confined to a single letter,
but must occupy several.
I am, c^e.
» Rt'fii'.iDur, ij. 180.
LETTER XVIL
SOCIETIES OF INSECTS CONTINUED.
PERFECT SOCIETIES. {White Auts and Aiits.)
The associations of insects of which my last letter gave
you a detail, were of a very imperfect kind, both as to
their object and duration : but those which I am now
to lay before you exhibit the semblance of a nearer
approach, both in their principle and its results, to
the societies of man himself, There are two kindred
sentiments, that in these last act with most powerful
energy — desire and affection. — From tlie first proceed
many wants that cannot be satisfied without the inter-
course, aid, and cooperation of others ; and by the last
we are impelled to seek the good of certain objects,
and to delight in their society. Thus self-love com-
bines with philanthropy to produce the social principle,
both desire and love alternately urging us to an inter-
course with each other; and from these in union ori-
ginate the multiplication and preservation of the spe-
cies. These two passions are the master-movers in
this business ; but there is a third subsidiary to them,
Avhich, though it trenches upon the social principle,
considered abstractedly, is often a powerful bond of
union in separate societies — you will readily perceive
that I am speaking of fear; — under the influence of this
passion these are drawn closer together, and unite more
intimately for defence against some comraonenemy,
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 27
and to raise works of munition that may resist his at-
tack. A
The main instrument of association is language, and
no association can be perfect where there is not a com-
mon tongue. The origin of nationality was diiTorence
of speech : — at Babel, when tongues were divided, na-
tions separated. Language may be understood in a
larger sense than to signify inllectionsof the voice, — it
may well include all the meansof making yourself un-
derstood by another, whether by sounds, gestures, signs,
or words : the two first of these kinds may be called na-
tural language, and the two last arbitrary or artificial.
I have said tliat perfect societies of insects exhibit
the semblance of a nearer approach, both in their prin-
ciple and its results, to the societies of man himself,
because, unless we could perfectly understand what in-
stinct is, and how it acts, we cannot, without exposing
ourselves to the charge of temerity, assert that these
are precisely the same.
But when we consider the object of these societies,
the preservation and multiplication of the species ; and
the means by winch that object is attained, the united
labours and cooperation of perhaps millions of indivi-
duals, it seems as if they were impelled by passions
very similar to those main-springs of human associa-
tions, which I have just enumerated. Desire appears
to stimulate them — love to allure them — fear to alarm
them. They want a habitation to reside in, and food
for their subsistence. Does not this look as if desire
were the operating cause, which induces them to unite
their labours to construct the one and provide the
other? Tiieir nests contain a numerous family of help-
SIS PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
less brood. Does not love here seem to urge them to
that exemplary and fond attention, and those unre-
mitted and indefatigable exertions manifested by the
whole community for the benefit of these dear objects?
Is it not also evidenced by their general and singular
attachment to their females, by their mutual caresses,
by their feeding each other, by tlieir apparent sympa-
tliy with suffering individuals and endeavours to re-
lieve them, by their readiness to help those that are in
difficulty, and finally by their sports and assemblies
for relaxation ? That fear produces its influence upon
them seepjs no less evident, when we see them, agi-
tated by the approachof enemies, endeavour to remove
Avhat is inost dear to them beyond their reach, unite
their efforts to repel their attacks, and to construct
Avorks of defence. They appear to have besides a com-
mon language ; for they possess the faculty, by signi-
ficative gestures and sounds, of communicating their
wants and ideas to each other»
There are, however, the following great differences
between human societies and those of insects. Man is
susceptible of individual attachment, which forms the
basis of his happiness, and the source of his purest and
dearest enjoyments : — whereas the love of insects seems
to be a kind of patriotism that is extended to the whole
community, never distinguishing individuals, unless,
as in the instance of the female bee, connected with
that great object.
Man also, endowed with reason, forms a judgement
from circumstances, and by a variety of means can at-
tain the same end. Besides the language of nature, ges-
tures, and exclamations, which the passions produce.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 29
Ire i» gifted with the divine faculty of speech, and cart
express his thoughts 'oy articulate sounds or artificial
language. — Not so our social insects. Every species
has its peculiar mode of proceeding, to which it adheres
as to the law of its nature, never deviating but under
the control of imperious circumstances ; for in parti-
cular instances, as you will see when I come to treat
of their instincts, tiicy know how to vary, though not
very materially, from the usual mode^. But they ne-
ver depart, like man, from the general system ; and,
in common with the rest of the animal kingdom, they
have no articulate language.
Human associations, under the direction of reason
and revelation, are also formed with higher views, — I
mean as to government, morals, and religion : — with
respect to the last of these, the social insects of course
can have nothing to do, except that by their vvonderful
proceedings they give man an occasion of glorifying his
great Creator; but in their instincts, extraordinary
as it may seem, they exhibit a semblance of the two
former, as will abundantly appear in the course of our
correspondence.
I shall not detain you longer by prefatory remarks
from the amusing scene to which I am eager to intro-
duce you ; but the following- observations of M. P. Hu-
ber on tliis subject are so just and striking, that I can-
not refrain from copying them.
a Plusieurs d'entre eux ( Jnserfex) savent uscrde ressources in£;e.nieii?es
dans les circonstances duficiles: ils sortcnt alors de leur routine accou-
tmnee et semblenl a2;ir d'apres la position dans laqijelle ils se trouvenf ;
«'>st la sans doiite I'liu des phenomi^nps les plus ciirieux de I'histoire na-
liirelle. Huber, Nouvelles Obsen'ntions sur la jibeiUts, ii. 198. — Com^
pare also ibid. 250, note N . R.
so PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
" The history of insects that live in solitude con-
sists of their generation, their peculiar habits, the
metamorphoses they undergo ; their manner of life
under each successive form ; the stratagems for the
attack of their enemies, and the skill with which they
construct their habitation : but that of insects which
fdlm numerous societies, is not confined to some re-
markable proceedings, to some peculiar talent : it offers
new relations, which arise from common interest; from
the equality or superiority of rank ; from the part which
each member supports in the society ; — and all i;hese
relations suppose a connexion between the different in-
dividuals of which it consists, that can scarcely exist
but by the intervention of language : for such may be
called every mode of expressing their wishes, their
wants, andeven their ideas, if that name may be given
to the impulses of instinct. It would be difficult to
explain in any other way that concurrence of all wills
to one end, and that species of harmony which the whole
of their institution exhibits."
The great end of the societies of insects being the
rapid multiplication of the species. Providence has
employed extraordinary means to secure the fulfilment
of this object, by creating a particular order of indivi-
duals in eacli society, which, freed from sexual pur-
suits, may give themselves wholly to labour, and thus
absolve the females from every employment but that of
furnishing the society from time to time with a sufficient
supply of eggs to keep up the population to its proper
standard. In the case of the Termites, the office of work-
ing for the society, as these insects belong to an order
whose metamorphosis is semi-complete^ devolves upon
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 31
the larvae ; the neuters, unless these should prove to be
the larvae of males, being the soldiers of the community.
From this circumstance perfect societies may be di-
vided into two classes ; the first including those whose
workers are larvce, and the second those whose workers
are neuters''. The white ants belong to the former of
these classes, and the social Ilj/menoptera to the latftr.
Before I begin with the history of the societies of
white ants, I must notice a remark that has been made
applying to societies in general — that numbers are es™
sential to the full development of the instinct of social
animals. This has been observed by Bonnet with re-
spect to the beaver'' ; by Reaumur of the hive-bee ; and
by M. P, Huber of the humble-bee *=. Amongst hymeno-
pterous social insects, however, the observation seems
not universally applicable, but only under particular
circumstances ; for in incipient societies of ants, humble-
bees, and wasps, one female lays the foundations of
them at first by herself; and the first brood of neuters
that is hatched is very small.
I have on a former occasion given you some account
of the devastation produced by the white ants, or Ter-
miles, the species of which constitute the first class
of perfect societies '^ ; I shall now relate to you some
a I employ ocrasionall y the teiiti neuters, though it is not perfectly pro-
per, for the sake of convenience; — strictly speaking, they may rather be
regarded as imperfect or sterile females. Yet certainly, as the imperfec-
tion of their organization unfits them for sexual purposes, the term nculer
is not absolutely improper. b (F.tiv. ix. 163.
c M. P. Huber in I,inn. Trans, vi. 256. Reaum. v.
J Vol I. 2d lid. i?4^^.
3:t PERFECT SOCIETIES OF IXSEGTS*
further particulars of their history, Avhich will, Ihope^
give you a better opinion of them.
The majority of these animals are natives of tropical
countries, though two species are indigenous to Eu-
rope; one of which, thought to have been imported, is
come so near to us as Bourdeaux. The fullest ac-
count hitherto given of their history is that of Mr.
Smeathmau, in the Philosophical Transactions ^or 1781 ;
which, since it has in many particulars been confirmed
by the observations of succeeding naturalists, though
in some things he was evidently mistaken, I shall
abridge for you, correcting him where he appears to
be in error, and adding from Latreiile, and the MS.
of a French naturalist resident on the spot, kindly fur-
nished by W. J. Hooker, esq.'^ what they have ob-
served with respect to those of Bourdeaux and Ceylon.
The white ants, though they belong to the Neuroptera
order, borrow their instinct from the hymenopterous
social tribes, and in conjunction with the ants(/brw2?"crt)
connect the two orders. Their societies consist of five
different descriptions of individuals — workers or larvaB
— nymphs or pupaa — neuters or soldiers — males, and
females.
1. The workers or larvse, answering to the hymeno-
pterous neuters, are the most numerous and at the
same time most active part of the communits : upon
whom devolves the office of erecting and repairing the
buildings, collecting provision, attending upon the fe-
male, conveying the eggs when laid to what Smeath-
a Author of a very interestini; Tour in Icelaiid,]a splendid Mqnograpij
«H (he Genus Jungerniamda, &c.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. S3
itian calls the nurseries, and feeding the young larvae
till they are old enough to take care of themselves.
They are distinguished from the soldiers by their di-
minutive size, by their round heads and shorter man-
dibles.
2. The nymphs or pupae. These were not noticed by
Smeathman, who mistook the neuters for them : — they
differ in nothing from the larvae, and probably are
equally active, except that they have rudiments of
wings, or rather the wings folded up in cases (Ptero-
thecce). They were first observed by Ivatreille ; nor
did they escape the author of the MS. above ailuded
tOj who mistook them for a different kind of larvae.
3. The neuters^ erroneously called by Smeathman
pupae. These are much less numerous than the work-
ers, bearing the proportion of one to one hundred, and
exceeding them greatly in bulk. They are also di-
stinguishable by their long and large head, armed with
very long subulate mandibles. Their office is that of
sentinels: and when the nest is attacked, to them is
committed the task of defending it. These neuters are
quite unlike those in the Hi/menoptera perfect socie-
ties, Avhich seem to be a kind of abortive females, and
there is nothing analogous to them in any other depart-
ment of Entomology.
4. and 5. Males and females, or the insects arrived
at their state of perfection, and <;apable of continuing
the species. There is only one of each in every sepa
ecoming mothprs ; that, at the
lime of their swarms, large numbers of both sexes become the prey of
birds and fishes i that the surviving females, sometimes in numbers, go
yjder ground, particulaily in mole-hills, and lav eggs; but he had not
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 49
Itislory of Ants is likewise extremely valuable, not only
as giving a systematic arrangement and descriptions of
the species, but as concentrating tlie accounts of pre-
ceding authors, and adding several interesting facts e^
propria penu. The great historiographer of ants, how-
ever, is M. P. Huber ; vvlio has lately published a most
admirable and interesting work upon them, in which
discovered that tliey then act the part of neuters in the care of their
progeny. He knew also, that when there was more than one queen in
A nest, the rivals lived in perfect harmony.
With respect ro the neuters, he had witnessed the homage they pay
their queens or fertile females, continued even after their death; — this
homage, he however observes, which is noticed by no other author, ap-
pears often to be temporary and local— ceasing at certain times, and
being renewed upon a change ot residence. He enlarges upon their ex-
emplary Care of the eggs, larvae, and pupae. He tells us that the eggs, as
soon as laid, are taken by the neuters and deposited in heaps, and that
the neuters brood them. He particularly notices their carrying them,
with the larvaj and pupae, daily from the interior to the surface of the
■nest and back again, according to tlie temperature; and that they feed
the larvae by disgorging the food from their own stomach. He speaks
also of their opening the cocoons when the pupae are ready to assume the
imago, and disengaging them from them. With regard to their labours,
he found that they work all night, except during violent rains: — that their
instinct varies as to the station of their nest: — that their masonry is con-
solidated by no cement, but consists merely of mould ; — that they form
roads and trackways to and from their nests: — that they carry each other
in sport, and sometimes lie heaped one on another in the sun. — He su-
spects that they occasionally emigrate ; — he proves by a variety of ex-
periments that they do not hoard up provisions. He found they were
often infested by a particular kind of Gordius : — he had noticed also that
the neuters of F. rufa and Jlav a (which escaped M. Hnber, though he
observed it in F. rufescens, Latr.^ are of two sizes, which the writer of
this note can confirm by producing specimens: — and lastly, with Swan\-
merdam, he had recourse to artificial colonies, the better to enable him
to examine their proceedings, but not comparable to the ingenious^p-
paratus of M. Huber. \
VOL. II. E
50 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
Iicflias far outstripped all his predecessors. — Such are
the sources from which the following account of ants
is'principally drawn, intermixed with which you will
■find some occasional observations, — which your par-
tiality to your friend may, perhaps, induce you to
think not wholly devoid of interest, — that it has been
my fortune to make.
The societies of ants, as also of other Hi/menoptera,
differ from those of the Termites in having inactive
larvEe and pupae, the neuters or w^orkers cohibining in
themselves both the military and civil functions. Be-
sides the helpless larvae and pupae, which have no lo-
comotive powers, these societies consist of females,
males, and workers. The office o^ihe females, at their
first exclusion distinguished by a pair of ample wings,
(which however, as you have heard, they soon cast,)
is the foundation of new colonies, and the furnishing of
a constant supply of eggs for the maintenance of the
population in the old nests as well as in the new. These
are usually the least numerous part of the community'.
The office of the males, which are also winged, and at
the tiiPiO of swarming are extremely numerous, is
merely the impregnation of the females : after the sea-
son for this is passed, they die. Upon the workers^ de-
a Could says that the males anti females are nearly equal in number,
p. 62 ; but from liuber's observations it seems to follow that the former
are most numerous, p. 96.
b That the neuter ants, like those of the hive-bee, are imperfectly or-
jjanizcd females, appears from the following observation of iM. Huber
(Nouv- Ohserv. S^r. ii. 443.) — " F^es fourmis nous ont encore otl'ert a cet
egard une analogic tres frappante : a la verite, nous n'avohs jamais vu
pondre les ouvrieres, raais nous avons ete temoins de leur accouplcraent.
Ce fait pourroit etre atteste pur plusieurs mcmbres de la Socicte d'ilis-
J>ERFECT SOCIETIES OP INSECTS. 51
volves, except in nascent colonies, all the work, as well
as the defence of the community, of which they are the
most numerous portion. In some societies of ants the
workers are of two dimensions. — In the nests of F.rufa
and Jfava such were observed by Gould, the size of one
exceeding^ that of the other about one-third*. (In my
specimens, the large workers of F. rufa are nearly
three times, and of F.flava twice, the size of the small
ones.) All were equally engaged in the labours of the
colony. Large workers were also noticed by M. P.
Huber in the nests of F. rufescens^, but he could not
ascertain their office.
Having introduced you to the individuals of which
the associations of ants consist, I shall now advert to
the principal events of their history, relating first the
fates of the males and females. In the warm days that
occur from the end of July to the beginning of Septem-
ber, and sometimes later, the habitations of the various
species of ants may be seen to swarm with winged in-
sects, which are the males and females, preparing to
quit for ever the scene of their nativity and education.
Every thing is in motion — and the silver wings con-
trasted with the jet bodies which compose the animated
mass, add a degree of splendour to the interesting scene.
The bustle increases, till at length the males rise, as it
toire Natiirelle de Geneve, a qui nous I'avons fait voir; I'approche du
mile etoit toujours suivie de la inort de I'ouvriere; leur conformation
ne permet done pas (ju'elles dcvit nnent meres, mais Tinstinct du mMe
prouve da nioiiis que ce sont des femellcs." a Gould, 103.
b M. Huber calls this an apterous female; yet he could not discover
that they laid eggs: and he owns that they more nearly resembled the
workers than the females; and that he should have considered them as
such, had he seen (hesn mix with them in their excursions. //«6er, p. 351.
E 2
62 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
were by a generaliinpulse, into the air, and the females
accompany them. The whole swarm alternately rises
and falls with a slow movement to the height of about
ten feet, the males flying obliquely with a rapid zig-
zag motion, and the females, though they follow the
general movement of the column, appearing suspended
in the air, like balloons, seemingly with no individual
motion, and having their heads turned towards the
Avind.
Sometimes the swarms of a whole district unite their
infinite myriads, and, seen at a distance, produce an
effect resembling the flashing of an aurora borealis.
Rising with incredible velocity in distinct columns, they
soar above the clouds. Each column looks like a kind
of slender net-work, and has a tremulous undulating
motion, which has been observed to be produced by
the regular alternate rising and falling just alluded
to. The noise emitted by myriads and myriads of these
creatures does not exceed the hum of a single wasp.
The slightest zephyr disperses them ; and if in their
progress they chance to be over your head, if you
walk slowly on, they will accompany you, and regulate
their motions by yours. The females continue sailing
majestically in the centre of these numberless males,
who are all candidates for their favour, each till some
fortunate lover darts upon her, and, as the Roman
youth did the Sabine virgins, drags hi§ bride from the
sportive crowd, and the nuptials are consummated in
mid-air; though sometimes the union takes place on
the summit of plants, but rarely in the nests*. After
this danse de Vamour is celebrated, the males disap-
aDe Gecr, ii. 1104.
PEHFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 53
pear, probably dying, or becoming-, with many of the
females, the prey of birds or fish"; for, since they do
not return to the nest, they cannot be destroyed, as
some have supposed, like the drone bees, by the neu-
ters. That many, both males and females, become
the prey of fish, I am enabled to assert from my own
observation. — In the beginning of August IS 12, I was
going up the Orford river, in Suffolk, in a row-boat,
in the evening, when my attention was caught by an
infinite number of winged ants, both males and females,
at which the fish were every where darting, floating
alive upon the surface of the water. While passing
the river, these had probably been precipitated into it,
either by the wind, or by a heavy shower wliich had
just fallen. And M. Huber after the same event ob-
served the earth strewed with females that had lost
their wings, all of which could not form colonies'*.
Captain Haverfield, R.N. gave me an account of an
extraordinary appearance of ants observed by him in
the Medway, in the autumn of 1814, when he was first-
lieutenant of the Ciorinde — which is confirmed by the
following letter addressed by the surgeon of that ship,
now Dr. Bromley, to Mr. MacLeay :
"In September 1814, being on the deck of the hulk
to the Ciorinde, ray attention was drawn to the water
by ii. lOTl.
56 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
wliere the temperature is suitable to them, but never
quitting- them a single moment. By degrees these fe-
males become reconciled to their fate, and lose all de-«
sire of making their escape ; — their abdomen enlarges,
and they are no longer detained as prisoners, yet each
is still attended by a body-guard — a single ant, which
always accompanies her, and prevents her wants. — Its
station is remarkable, it being mounted upon her ab-
domen, with its posterior legs upon the ground. These
sentinels are constantly relieved ; and to watch the mo-
ment when the female begins the important work of
oviposition, and carry oif the eggs, of which she lays
four or five thousand or more in the course of the year^
seems to be their principal office.
When the female is acknowledged as a mother, the
workers begin to pay her a homage very similar to that
which the bees render to their queen. All press round
her, offer her food, conduct her by her mandibles thi'ougli
the difficult or steep passages of the formicary ; nay,
they sometimes even carry her about their city ; — she is
then suspended upon their jaws, the ends of which are
crossed; and, being coiled up like the tongue of a but-
terfly, she is packed so close as to incommode the carrier
but little. When she sets her down, others surround
and caress her, one after another tapping- her on the
head with their antennae. " In whatever apartment,"
says Gould^ '<' a queen condescends to be present,
she commands obedience and respect. An universal
gladness spreads itself through the whole cell, which
is expressed by particular acts of joy and exultation.
They have a particular way of skipping, leaping, and
standing upon their hitid-legs, and pvancing with tfe©
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 57
others. These frolics they make use of, both to congra-
tulate each other when they meet, and to show their re-
gard for the queen ; some of them gently walk over her,
others dance round her ; — she is generally encircled
with a cluster of attendants, who, if you separate them
from her, soon collect themselves into a body, and in-
close her in the midst \" Nay, even if she dies, as if
they were unwilling to believe it, they continue some-
times for months the same attentions to her, and treat
her with the same courtly formality as if she were alive,
and they will brush her and lick her incessantly''.
This homage paid by the Avorkers to their queens,
according to Gould, is temporary and local ; — when
!?he has laid eggs in any cell, their attentions, he ob-
served, seemed to relax, and she became unsettled and
uneasy. In the summer months she is to be met with
in various apartments in the colony ; and eggs also are
to be seen in several places, which induced him to be-
lieve that, having deposited a parcel in one, she re-
tires to another for the same purpose, tlius frequently
changing her situation and attendants. As there are
always a number of lodgements void of eggs but full
of ants, she is never at a loss for an agreeable station
and submissive retinue ; and by the time she has gone
her rounds in this manner, the eggs first laid are
brought to perfection, and her old attendants are glad
to receive her again. Yet this inattention after ovipo-
sition is not invariable ; the female and neuters some-
times unite together in the same cell after the eggs are
laid. On this occasion the workers divide their atten-
tion; and if you disturb them, some will run to thede-
u Gculd, p. 24— b Couipaie Gould p. 25, with Huber \';io, note (1.)
58 PERFECT SOCIETTES OF INSECTS.
fence of their queen, as well as of the eggs, which last,
however, are the great objects of their solicitude. This
statement diffeis somewhat from M. Ruber's ; but dif-
ferent S5)ecies vary in their instincts, wliich will account
for this and similar dissonances in authors who have
observed their proceedings. Mr. Gould also noticed
but very few females in ant-nes(s, sometimes only one ;
but M. Huber, who had better opportunities, found se-
veral, which he says live very peaceai>ly together,
showing- none of that spirit of rivalry sorenusrkabie in
the queen bee.
And here I must close my narrative of the life and
adventures of male and female ants ; but, as it will be
followed by a history of the stiil more interesting pro-
ceedings of the zeorkcrs, I think you will not regret the
exchange. I shall show these to you in many diiferent
views, under each'^of which you will find fresh reason to
admire them. My only fear will be lest you should think
the picture too highly coloured, and deem it incredible
that creatures so minute should so far exceed the largef
animals in wisdom, foresight, and sagacity, and make so
near an appi'oacli in these respects to man liimself. —
]My facts, however, are derived from authorities so re-
spectable, that I think they will do away any bias of
this kind that you may feel in your mind''.
I need not here repeat wliat i have said in a former
letter concerning the ex2mplary attention paid by these
a It mny be thought that many of the anecdotes related in the folloTV-
ing history of the. proceedings of neuter ants could not have been ob-
served by any one, unless he had been admitted into ananl-hill; but it
must be recollected thn( M. P. Ilubrr, from v/hose work the nn st extra-
ordinary facts are copiel, invented a kind of ant-hive, to constructed us
to enable him to observe their proceedings fiithoai disturbing them.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 59
kind foster-mothers to the youOjO^ brood of thoir colo-
nies ; nor shall 1 enlarge upon the buildiiis^and nature
of their habitations, which have been already noticed* ;
— but, without any of these, 1 have matter cnoiio-h to
fill the rest of this letter with interesting;- traits, while I
endeavour to teach you their language, to develojD their
affections and passions, and to delineate their virtues ; —
while I show them to you wlien engaged in war, and en-
able you to accompany them both in their military ex-
peditions in and their emigrations, — while 1 make you
a witness of their indefatigable industry and incessant
labours,— or invite you to be present, during- their
hours of relaxation, at tiieir sports and amusements.
That ants, though they are mute ani-nals. have the
means of communicating- to each other information of
various occurrences, and use a kind of language which
is mutually understood, will appear evident from the
following facts.
If those at the surface of a nest are alarmed, it is
wonderful in how short a time the alarm spreads
through the whole nest. It runs from quarter to quar-
ter ; the greatest inquietude seems to possess the com-
munity; and they carry with all possiUe dispatch their
treasures, the larvae and pupee, down to the lowest
apartments. Amongst those species of ants that do not
go much from home, sentinels seem to be stationed at
the avenues of their city. Disturbing- once the little
heaps of earth thrown up at the entrances into the nest
of F.Jlava^ which is of this description, I was struck by
observing a single ant immediately come out, as if to see
what was the matter, and this three separate times.
a Vol. I, 2d Ed. 479.
60 rERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
The F. herculaneay L. inhabits the trunks of hollow
trees on the continent, for it has not yet been found in
England, upon which tliey are often passing to and fro.
M. Huber observed that when he disturbed those that
were at the greatest distance from the rest, they ran to-
wards tliem, and, striking their head against them, com-
municated their cause of fear or anger, — that these, in
their turn, conveyed in the same way the intelligence to
others, till the whole colony was in a ferment, those neu-
ters which were within the tree running out in crowds
to join their companions in the defence of their habita-
tion. The same signals that excited the courage of the
neuters produced fear in the males and females, which,
as soon as the news of the danger was thus communi-
cated to them, retreated into the tree as to an asylum.
The legs of one of this gentleman's artificial formi-
caries were plunged into pans of water, to prevent the
escape of the ants ; — this proved a source of great en-
joyment to these little beings, for they are a very thirsty
race, and lap water like dogs^. One day, when he ob-
served many of them tippling very merrily, he was so
cruel as to disturb them, which sent most of the ants
in a fright to the nest; but some more thirsty than the
rest continued their potations. Upon this, one of those
that had retreated returns to inform his thoughtless
companions of their danger ; one he pushes v.'ith his
jaws ; another he strikes first upon the belly, and then
upon the breast; and so obliges three of them to leave
off their carousing, and march homewards ; but the
fourth, more resolute to drink it out, is not to be discom-
fited, and pays not the least regard to the kind blows.
a Gould, 92. De Geer, Li. 1067. Huber, 5. 132,
PEHFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS- Gl
with which his compeer, solicitous for his safety, re-
peatedly belabours him : — atlength, determined to have
his way, he seizes biin by one of his hind-legs, and gives
him a violent pull : — upon this, leaving his liquor, the
loiterer turns round, and opening his threatening- jaws
with every appearance of anger, goes very coolly to
drinking again; but his monitor, without further cere-
mony, rushing before him, seizes him by his jaws, and
at last drags him otf in triumph to the formicary^.
The langu age of ants, however, is not conlined mere-
ly to giving intelligence of the approach or presence of
danger; it is also co-extensive with all their other oc-
casions for communicating their ideas to each other.
Some, whose extraordinary history I shall soon re-
late to you, engage in military expeditions, and often
previouslysend out spies to collect information. These,
as soon as they return from exploring the vicinity, enter
the nest ; upon which, as if they liad communicated their
intelligence, tlie army immediately assembles in the
suburbs of their city, and begins its march towards that
quarter whence the spies had arrived. Upon the march,
communications are perpetually making between the
van and the rear ; and when arrived at the camp of
the enemy, and the battle begins, if necessary, couriers
are dispatched to the formicary for reinforcements'".
If you scatter the ruinsof an ant's nest in your apart-
ment, you will be furnished with anotherproof of their
language. The ants will take a thousand different
paths, each going by itself, to increase the chance of dis-
covery; they will meet and cross each other in all di-
rections, and perhaps will wander long before they can
a Huber, 13J. b Tbid. 237, 21 7, IGT.
62 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
find a spot convenient for their reunion. No sooner
does any one discover a little chink in the floor, through
which it can pass below, than it returns to its compa-
nions, and, by means of certain motions of its antennae,
makes some of them comprehend wliat route they are
to pursue to find it, sometimes even accompanying- them
to the spot; these, in their turn, become the guides of
others, till all know which way to direct their steps'^.
It is well known also, that ants give each other in-
formation when they have discovered any store of pro-
vision. Bradley relates a striking instance of this.
A nest of ants in a nobleman's garden discovered a
closet, many yards within the house, in whicli conserves
were kept, which they constantly attended till the nest
was destroyed. Some in their rambles must have first
discovered this depot of sweets, and informed the rest
of it. It is remarkable that they always went to it by
the same track, scarcely varying an inch from it, though
they had to pass through two apartments; nor could
the sweeping and c>eaning of the rooms discomfit them,
or cause them to pursue a different route'\
Here may be related a very amusing experiment of
Gould's. Having deposited several colonies of ants
(i^.^^^Ci^O if flower-pots, he placed them in some earthen
pans full of water, which prevented them from making
excursions from their nest. When they had been ac-
customed some days to this imprisonment, he fastened
small threads to the upper part of the pots, and ex-
tending them over the water pans fixed them in the
ground. The sagacious ants soon found out that by
these bridges they could escape from their moated
a Huber, 137. b Bradley, 134.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 63
castle. The discovery was communicated to the whole
society, and in a short time the threads were filled with
trains of busy workers passiniif to and fro*.
Ligon's account of the ants in Barbadoes affords an-
other most convincini^ proof of this : — as he has told
his tale in a very lively and interesting manner, I shall
give it nearly in his own words.
" The next of these moving little animals are ants or
pismires; and these are but of a small size, but great in
industry; and that which gives them means to attain to
this end is, they have all one soul. If I should say they
are here or there, I should do them wrong, for they are
every where ; under ground, where any hollow or loose
earth is ; asnongst the roots of trees ; upon the bodies,
branches, leaves and fruit of all trees; in all places with-
out the houses and within ; upon the sides, walls, win-
dows, and roofs without; and on the floors, side walls,
ceilings, and windows within; tables, cupboards, beds?
stools, all are covered with them, so that thoy are a kind
of ubiquitaries. We sometimes kill a cockroach,
and throw hsm on the ground ; and mark what they will
do with him : his body is bigger than a hundred of them,
and yet they will find the means to take hold of him, and
lift him up; and having him above ground, away they
carry him, and some go by as ready assistant?, if any be
weary ; and some are the officers that lead and show
the way to the hole into which he must pass; and if the
vancurriers perceive that the body of the cockroach
lies across, and will not pass through the hole or arch
through which they mean to carry him, order is given,
•I CiOiild, S,)..
64 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
and the body turned endwise, and this is done a foot be-
fore tliey come to the hole, and that without any stop
or stay ; and this is observable, that they never pull
contrary ways. A table being- cleared with great
care, by way of experiment, of all the ants that were
upon it, and some sugar being put upon it, some, after
a circuitous route, were observed to arrive at it, when
again departing without tasting the treasure, they
hastened away to inform their friends of their disco-
Tery, who upon this came by myriads ; — " and when
they are thickest upon the table," says he, " clap a
large book (or any thing fit for that purpose) upon
them, so hard as to kill all that are under it ; and when
you have done so, take away the book, and leave then^
to themselves but a quarter of an hour, and when you
come again, you shall find all those bodies carried away.
Other trials we make of their ingenuity, as this : —
Take a pewter dish, and fill it half full of water, into
which put a little gally-pot filled with sugar, and the
ants will presently find it and come upon the table ; but
when they perceive it environed with water, they try
about the brims of the dish where the gally-pot is near-
est ; and there the most venturous amongst them com-
mits himself to the water, though he be conscious how
ill a swimmer he is, and is drowned in the adventure ;
the next is not warned by his example, but ventures
too, and is alike drowned ; and many more, so that
there is a small foundation of their bodies to venture ;
and then they come faster than ever, and so make a
bridge of their own bodies ='."
a Hist, of Barbadocs, p. G3.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 65
The fact being- certain, that ants impart their ideas
to each other, we are next led to inquire by what
means this is accomplished. It does not appear that,
like the bees, they emit any significative sounds ; their
language, therefore, must consist of signs or gestures,
some of which I shall now detail. In communicating
their fear or expressing their anger, they run from one
to another in a semicircle, and strike with their head
or jaws the trunk or abdomen of the ant to which they
mean to give information of any subject of alarm. But
those remarkable organs, their antennae, are the prin-
cipal instruments of their speech, if I may so call it,
supplying- the place both of voice and words. When
the military ants before alluded to go upon their ex-
peditions, and are out of the formicary, previously to
setting- off, they touch each other on the trunk with
their antennae and forehead ; — this is the signal for
marching ; for, as soon as any one has received it, he
is immediately in motion. When they have any disco-
very to communicate, they strike with them those that
they meet in a particularly impressive manner. — If a
hungry ant wants to be fed, it touches with its two an-
tennae, moving- them very rapidly, tliose of the indivi-
dual from which it expects its meal : — and not only ants
understand this language, but even Aphides and Cocci,
which are the milch kine of our little pismires, do the
same, and will yield them their saccharine fluid at the
touch of these imperative organs. The helpless larvs
also of the ants are informed by the same means when
they may open their mouths to receive their food.
Next to their language, and scarcely different from
it, are the modes by wliich they express their affections
VOL. n. ' 1-
66 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSrrT«:.
and aversions. Whether ants, with man and some of
the larger animals, experience any thing like attach-
ment to individuals, is not easily ascertained ; but that
they feel the full force of tlie sentiment which we term
patriotism, or the love of the community to w hich they
belong, is evident from the whole series of tlieir pro-
ceedings, which all tend to promote the general good.
Distress or difficulty falling upon any member of their
society, generally excites their sympathy, and they do
their utmost to relieve it. M. Latreille once cut off the
antennae of an ant ; and its companions, evidently pity-
ing its sufferings, anointed the wounded part with a
drop of transparent fluid from their mouth : and who-
ever attends to what is going forward in the neighbour-
hood of one of their nests, will be pleased to observe
the readiness with which they seem disposed to assist
each other in difficulties. When a burthen is too heavy
for one, another will soon come to ease it of part of the
weight; and if one is threatened with an attack, all
hasten to the spot, to join in repelling it.
The satisfaction they express at meeting after ab-
sence is very striking, and gives some degree of indi-
viduality to their attachment. M. Huber witnessed
the gesticulations of some ants, originally belonging to
the same nest, that, having been entirely separated from
each other four months, were afterwards brought to-
gether. Though this was equal to one-fourth of their
existence as perfect insects, they immediately recog-
nised each other, saluted mutually with their antennae,
and united once more to form one family.
They are also ever intent to promote each other's
welfare, and ready to share with their absent compa-
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. C7
nions any good thing they may meet with. Those that
go abroad feed those which remain in the nest; and if
they discover any stock of favourite food, they inform
the whole community, as we have seen above, and
teach them the way to it. M. Huber, for a particular
reason, having produced heat, by means of a flambeau,
in a certain part of an artificial formicary, the ants
that happened to be in that quarter, after enjoying it
for a time, hastened to convey the welcome intelligence
to their compatriots, whom they even carried suspend-
ed upon their jaws (their usual mode of transporting
each other) to the spot, till hundreds might be seen
thus laden with their friends.
If ants feel the force of love, they are equally suscep-
tible of the emotions of anger ; and when they are me-
naced or attacked, no insects show a greater degree of
it. Providence, moreover, has furnished them with
weapons and faculties which render it extremely for-
midable to their insect enemies, and sometimes, as I
have related on a former occasion, a great annoyance
to man himself'^. Two strong mandibles arm their
mouth, with which they sometimes fix themselves so
obstinately to the object of their attack, that they will
sooner be torn limb from limb than let go their hold ;
— and after their battles, the headof a conquered enemy
may often be seen suspended to the antennae or legs of
the victor, — a trophy of his valour, which, however
troublesome, he will be compelled to carry about with
him to the day of his death. Their abdomen is also
furnished with a poison-bag (loterium). in which is se-
creted a powerful and venomous fluid, long celebrated
a Vol. I. 2d Ed. p, 123,
F 2
6S PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
in chemical researches, and once caWed formic acid,
though now considered a modification of the acetic and
mafic''; which, when their enemy is beyond the reach
of their mandibles (I speak here particularly of the
hil!-ant, or F. rufa), standing erect on their hind-legs,
they ejaculate from their anus with considerable force,
so that from the surface of the nest ascends a shower of
poison, exhaling a strong sulphureous odour, sufficient
to overpower or repel any insect or small animal. Such
is the fury of some species, that with the acid, accord-
ing to Gould'', they sometimes partly eject, drawing it
back however directly, the poison-bag itself. If a stick
be stuck into one of the nests of the hill-ant, it is so sa-
turated with the acid as to retain the scent for many
hours. A more formidable weapon arms the species
of the genus Mi/rmica, Latr. ; for, besides the poison-
bag, they are furnished with a sting ; and their aspect
is also often rendered peculiarly revolting, by the ex-
traordinary length of their jaws, and by the spineswhich
defend their head and trunk.
But weapons without valour are of but little use :
and this is one distinguishing feature of our pygmy
race. Their courage and pertinacity are unconquer-
able, and often sublimed into the most inconceivable
rage and fury. It makes no difference to them whethei'
they attack a raite or an elephant; and man himself
instills no terror into their warlike breasts. Point your
finger towards any individual of F. rufa^ — instead of
running away, it instantly faces about, and, that it may
make the most of itself, stiffening its legs into a nearly
a See Fourcroy, Annates du Mmeum, no. 5. p. 338, 342. Some, how •
ever, still regard it as a distinct acid. b p. 34.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 69
straight line, it gives its body the utmost elevation it
is capable of; and thus
"Collecting all its might dilated stands"
prepared to repel your attack. Put your finger a little
nearer, it immediately opens its jaws to bite you, and
rearing upon its hind-legs bends its abdomen between
them, to ejaculate its venom into the wound ^.
This angry people, so well armed and so courageous,
we may readily imagine are not always at peace with
their neighbours; causes of dissension may arise to
light the flame of war between the inhabitants of nests
not far distant faom each other. To these little bus-
tling creatures a square foot of earth is a territory worth
contending for; — their droves of Aphides equally valu-
able with the flocks and herds that cover our plains ;
and the body of a fly or a beetle, or a cargo of straws
and bits of stick, an acquisition as important as the
treasures of a Lima fleet to our seamen. Their wars
are usually between nests of different species ; some-
times, however, those of the same, when so near as to
interfere with and incommode each other, have their
battles; and with respect to ants of one species, Mi/r-
micn rubra^ combats occasionally take place, contrary
to the o-eneral habits of the tribe of ants, between those
of the same nest. 1 shall give yon some account of all
these conflicts, beginning with the last. But I must
first observe, that the only warriors amongst our ants
are the neuters or workers; the males and females be-
ing very peaceable creatures, and always glad to get
out of harm's way.
The wars of the red ant {M. rubra) are usually be-
a See Fourcroy, Annalcs du Mmeum, no. 5. 343,
70 PERFECT SOCIETIES Of INSECTS.
tween a small number of the citizens ; and the object,
according to Gould, is to get rid of a useless member
of the community (it does not argue much in favour of
the humanity of this species if it be by sickness that
this member is disabled), rather than any real civil con-
test. " The red colonies," says this author, " are the
only ones I could ever observe to feed upon their own
species. You may fi'equently discern a party of from
five or six to twenty surrounding one of tlieir own kind,
or even fraternity, and pulling it to pieces. The ant
they attack is generally feeble, and of a languid com-
plexion, occasioned perhaps by some disorder or other
accident""." I once saw one of these ants dragged out
of the nest by another, without its head; it was still
alive, and could crawl about. A lively imagination
might have fancied that this poor ant was a criminal,
condemned by a court of justice to suffer the extreme
sentence of the law. It was more probably, however,
a champion that had been decapitated in an unequal
combat, unless v.e admit Gould's idea, and suppose
it to have suffered because it was an unprofitable
member of the community''. At another time I found
three individuals that were fighting with great fury,
chained together by their mandibles ; one of these
had lost two of the legs of one side, yet it appeared to
walk well, and was as eager to attack and seize its op-
a Gould, 104.
- b One would think the writer of the areoitnt of ants in Moaffet had
been witness to something similar. " If they see any one idle," says he,
■■' they not only drive him as spurious, witliout food, from the nest ; but
likewise, a circle of all ranks being assembled, cut off his head before the
gates, that he may be a warning to their children not to give themselves
up for the future to idleness and effeminacy." — 'Thcatr. Ins. 241.
PEHFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 71
ponents, as if it was unhurt. This did not look like
languor or sickness.
The v/ars of ants that are not of the same species
take place usually between those that differ in size ; and
the great endeavouring- to oppress tlie small are never-
theless often outnumbered by them, and defeated. Their
])attles have long been celebrated, and the date of them,
as if it were an event of the first importance, has been
formally recorded, ^neas Sylvius, after giving a very
circumstantial account of one contested with great ob-
stinacy by a great and small species on the trunk of a
pear-tree, gravely states, "This action was fought in
the pontificate of Eugenius the Fourth, in the presence
of Nicholas Pistoricnsis, an eminent lawyer, who re-
lated the whole history of the battle with the greatest
fidelity!" A similar engagement between great and
small ants is recorded by Olaus Magnus, in which the
small ones being victorious are said to have buried the
bodiesof their own soldiers, but left those of their giant
enemies a prey to the birds. This event happened
previous to the expulsion of the tyrant Christiern the
Second from Sweden ^.
M.P. Huber is the only modern author that appears
to have been witness to these combats. He tells us
that, when the great attack the small, they seek to take
them by surprise, (probably to avoid their fastening
themselves to their legs.) and, seizing them by the
upper part of the body, they strangle them with their
mandibles; but when the s'.nall have time to foresee
the attack, they give notice to their companions, who
rush in crowds to their succour. Sometimes, however,
aMoiiflct, Tlieatr. Ins. 242.
72 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
after suffering a signal defeat, the smaller species arfe
obliged to shift their quarters, and to seek an establish-
ment more out of the way of danger. Irl order to cover
their march, many small bodies are then posted at a
little distance from the nest. As soon as the large
ants approach the camp, the foremost sentinels instantly
fly at them with the greatest rage, a violent struggle
ensues, multitudes of their friends come to their assist-
ance, and, though no match for their enemies singly,
by dint of numbers they prevail, and the giant is either
slain or led captive to the hostile camp. The species
whose proceedings M. Huber observed were F. hercv.-
lanea, L. and F. sartguinea, Latr. neither of which have
yet been discovered in Britain^.
But if you would see more numerous armies engaged,
and survey war in all its forms, you must witness the
combats of ants of the same species, you must go into
the woods where the hill-ant of Gould (F. rt/fa, L.)
erects its habitations. There you will sometimes be-
hold populous and rival cities, like Rome and Carthage,
as if they had vowed each other's destruction, pouring
forth their myriads by the various roads that, like rays,
diverge on all sides from their respective metropolises,
to decide by an appeal to arms the fate of their little
world. As tlie exploits of frogs and mice were the
theme of Homer's muse, so, were I gifted like him,
might I celebrate on this occasion the exhibition of
Myrmidonian valour ; but, alas ! I am Davus, not
CEdipus ; you must therefore rest contented, if 1 do
my best in plain prose ; and I trust you will not com*
plain if, being unable to ascertain the name of any one
» Huber, 160.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 73
of my heroes, my Mi/rmidonomacJiia be perfectly ano-
nymous.
Figure to yourself two of tliese cities equal in sizf^
and population, and situated about a hundred paces
from each other ; observe their countless numbers,
equal to the population of two mighty empires. The
whole space which separates them for the breadth of
twenty-four inches appears alive with prodigious crowds
of their inhabitants. The armies meet midway be-
tween their respective habitations, and there join bat-
tle. Thousands of champions, mounted on more ele-
vated spots, engage in single combat, and seize each
other with their powerful jaws ; a still greater num-
ber are engaged on both sides in taking prisoners,
which make vain efforts to escape, conscious of the
cruel fate which awaits them when arrived at tlie hostile
formicary. The spot where the battle most rages is
about two or three square feet in dimensions : a pene-
trating odour exhales on all sides, — numbers of ants
are here lying dead covered with venom, — others, corn-
loosing groups and chains, are hooked together by their
legs or jaws, and drag each other alternately in con-
trary directions. These groups are formed gradually.
At first a pair of combatants seize each other, and rear-
ing upon their hind-legs mutually spirt their acid, then
closing they fall and wrestle in the dust. Again re-
covering their feet, each endeavours to drag off his an-
tagonist. If their strength be equal, they remain im-
moveable, till the arrival of a third gives one the ad-
vantage. Both, however, are often succoured at the
same time, and the battle still continues undecided —
others take part on each side, till chains are formed of
74 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
six, eight, or sometimes ten, all hooked together and
struggling pertinaciously for the mastery : the equili-
brium remains unbroken, till a number of champions
from the same nest arriving at once, compel them to let
go their hold, and the single combats recommence. At
the approach of night, each party gradually retreats
to its own city : but before the foliov/ing dawn the
combat is renewed with redoubled fury, and occupies
a greater extent of ground. These daily figiits con-
tinue till, violent rains separating the combatants, they
forget their quarrel, and peace is restored.
Such is the account given by M. Huber of a battle he
witnessed. In these engagements, he observes, their
fury is so wrought up, that nothing can divert them from
their purpose. Though he was close to them examin-
jno- their proceedings, they paid not the least attention
to him, being absorbed by one sole object, that of find-
ing an enemy to attack. What is most wonderful in
this history, though all are of the same make, colour,
and scent, every ant seemed to know those of his own
party; and if by mistake one was attacked, it was im-
mediately discovered by the assailant, and caresses suc-
ceeded to blows. Though all was fury and carnage in
the space between the two nests, on the other side the
paths were full of ants going to and fro on the ordi-
nary business of the society, as in a time of peace; and
the whole formicary exhibited an appearance of order
and tranquillity, except that on the quarter leading to
the field of battle crowds might always be seen, either
marching to reinforce the army of their compatriots, or
returning home with the prisoners they had taken",
a See Hiiber> chap, v.
I'ERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. iJ
which it is to be feared are the devoted victims of a
cannibal feast.
Having;, 1 apprehend, satiated you with the fury and
carnage of IMyrmidouian wars, I shall next bring for-
ward a scene still more astonishing, which at first, per-
haps, you will be disposed to regard as the mere illusion
of a lively imagination. What will you say when I tell
you that certain ants are affirmed to sally forth from
their nests on predatory expeditions, for the singular
purpose ofprocuring slaves to employ in their domestic
business; and that these ants are usually a ruddy race,
while their slaves themselves are black? I think I see
you here throw down my letter and exclaim — " What !
ants turned slave-dealers ! This is a fact so extraor-
dinary and improbable, and so out of the usual course
of nature, that nothing but the most powerful and
convincing evidence shall induce me to believe it." In
this I perfectly approve your caution ; such a solecism
in nature ought not to be believed till it has undergone
the ordeal of a most thorough investigation. Unfortu-
nately in this country we have not the means of satis-
fying ourselves by ocular demonstration, since none of
the slave-dealing ants appear to be natives of Britain.
W^e must be satisfied, therefore, with weighing the
evidence of others. Hear what M. P. Huber, the dis-
coverer of this almost incredible deviation of nature
from her general laws, has advanced to convince the
world of the accuracy of his statement, and you will, I
am sure, allow that he has thrown over his history a
colouring of verisimilitude, and that his appeal to tes-
timony is in a very high degree satisfactory.
" My readers, ' eays he, " will perhaps be tempted
76 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
to believe that I have suffered myself to be carried
away by the love of the marvellous, and ^hat, in order
to impart greater interest to my narration, I have given
M ay to an inclination to embellish the facts that I have
observed. But the more the wonders of nature have
attractions for me, the less do 1 feel inclined to alter
them by a mixture of the reveries of imagination. I
bave sought to divest myself of every illusion and pre-
judice, of the anibition of saying new things, of the
prepossessions often attached to perceptions too rapid,
the love of system, and the like. And I have endea-
voured to keep myself, if I may so say, in a disposition
of mind perfectly neuter, and ready to admit all facts,
of whatever nature they might be, that patient obser-
vation should confirm. Amongst the persons whom I
have taken as witnesses to the discovery of mixed ant-
bills, I can cite a distinguished philosopher (Prof.
Jurine) who was desirous of verifying their existence
by examining himself the two species united''."
He afterwards appeals to nature, and calls upon all
who doubt to repeat his experiments, which he is sure
will soon satisfy them: — a satisfaction which, as I have
just observed, in this country we cannot receive, for
want of the slave-making species. And now to begin
my history.
There are two species of ants which engage in these
excursions, F. rufescens and F. sanguinea, Latr. ; but
they do not, like the African kings, make slaves of
adults, their sole object being to carry off the helpless
infants of the colony which they attack, the larvae and
pupae; these they educate in their own nests, till they
a Huber, 287. Jurine, Hytnenopieren, 273.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECT3. 77
arrive at their perfect state, when they undertake all
the business of the society^. In the following account I
shall chiefly confine myself to what Huber relates of the
first of these species, and conclude ray extracts with his
history of an expedition of the latter to procure slaves.
The rufescent ants'* do not leave their nests to go
upon these expeditions, which last about ten weeks,
till the males are ready to emerge into the perfect
state; and it is very remarkable, that if any individuals
attempt to stray abroad earlier, they are detained by
their slaves, who will not suffer them to proceed. A
wonderful provision of the Creator to prevent the black
colonies from being pillaged when they contain only
male and female brood, vvliich would be tlieir total de-
struction, without being any benefit to their assailants,
to who!)) neuters alone are useful.
Their time of sallying forth is from two in the
afternoon till five, but more generally a little before
five : the weather, however, must be fine, and the
thermometer must stand at above 36° in the shade.
Previously to marching there is reason to think that
a It is not clear that our Willuj^hby bad no; some knowledge of this
extraordinary fact ; for in liis description of ants, speaking of tti ir cqrrt
of their pnpa^, he says, " tlint Ihey alao carry the aurelice ofothfrs into their
nestx, as if they ivcre their oiO!!." Rai, Ilisf. Jns. 69. — Goidd remarks con«
cerning the hill-ant, " This species is very rapacious after the vermhki
nmd nymphs of otJu'r ants. If you plare a parcel before or near their
colonies, they will, with remarkable greediness, seize and carry thenaoff,"
91, note *. Querj' — Do they this to devour them, or educate them ?
White made the same observation, Nat, Hist. ii. 278.
b This species forms a kird of link which connects Latreill/'s two ^c-
nera Formica and Mrr.nica, borrowing; t!'e .-ibilouiiiial squama from tlie
former, and the s'.ing from the latter.
78 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
they send out scouts to explore the vicinity; upon
whose return they emerge from their subterranean city,
directing their course to the quarter from which the
scouts came. They have various preparatory signals,
such as pushing each other with the mandibles or fore-
head, or playing with the antennae, the object of which
is probably to excite their martial ardour, to give the
word for marching, or to indicate the route tliey are to
take. The advanced guard usually consists of eight or
ten ants; but no sooner do these get beyond the rest,
than they move back, wheeling round in a semicircle,
and mixing with the main body, while others succeed
to their station. They have " no captain, overseer, or
ruler,'''' as Solomon observes, their army being com-
posed entirely of neuters, without a single female : thus
all in their turns take their place at the head, and then
retreating towards the rear, make room for others.
This is the usual order of their march : and the object
of it may be to communicate intelligence more readily
from one part of the column to another.
When w indjng through the grass of a meadow they
have proceeded to thirty feet or more from their own
habitation, they disperse; and, like dogs with their
noses, explore the ground with their antennas to detect
the traces of the game they are pursuing. The negro
forraicary, the object of their search, is soon disco-
vered ; some of the inhabitants are usually keeping
guard at the avenues, which dart upon the foremost of
their assailants with inconceivable fury. The alarm
increasing, crowds of its swarthy inhabitants rush forth
from every apartment; but their valour is exerted in
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 79
vain ; for the besiegers, precipitating themselves upon
them, by the ardour of their attack compel them tore-
treat within, and seek shelter in the lowest story ; great
numbers entering with them at the gates, while others
with their mandibles make a breach in the walls,
tiirough which the victorious army marches into the
besieged city. In a few minutes, by the same passages,
they as hastily evacuate it, each carrying off in its
mouth a larva or pupa which it has seized in spite of
its unhappy guardians. On their return home with
their spoil, they pursue exactly the route by which
they went to the attack. Their success on these ex-
peditions is rather the result of their impetuosity, by
which they damp the courage of the negroes, than of
their superior strength, though they are a larger ani-
mal ; for sometimes a very small body of them, not
more than 1 50, has been known to succeed in their at-
tack and to carry off their booty ^.
a Since the publication of the first edition of tliis volume I have met
w ith fresh confinTiation of the extraordinar3' history here related. Hav-
ing been induced to visit Paris this summer, and calling upon M. La-
treille (so justly celebrated as one of tlse first entomologists of the age,
and to whom I feel infinitely indebted for the friendly attentions which
he paid to me during my too short stay in that metropolis), he assured
me, that he had verified all the principal facts advanced by Hubcr. He
has also said the same in his Considerations nonvsUes et gcnerales sur les
iiiserfes vivaiU en Sncicle . (Mem. du Mus. iii. 407.) At the same time he
informed me that there was a nest of the rufescent ants in the Bois de
Boulogne, to which place he afterwards was so good as to accompany
me. We went on the 55th of June, The day was excessively Iiot and
sultry. A little before five in the afternoon we began our search. At
first we conld not discern a single ant in motion. In a minute or two>
liow ever, ray friend directed my attention to one individual — two or
three more next appeared — and soon a numerous army was to be seen
wiiidiii'; through the long gri!!« of a low ridge in which was their formi-
80 t»ERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS^
When from their proximity they are more readilytt?
be come at than those of the negroes, they sometimes
assault with the same view the nest of another species
carj'. Just at ies With their noses, evidently as if in pursuit of game.
Those in the van, as liuher also observed, kept perpetually falling bark
into the main body. When they had passed this inclosure, they appeared
for some time to be at a loss, making no progress but only coursing about :
but after a few minutes delay, as if they had received some intelligence,
they resumed (heir march and soon arrived at a negro nest, which they
entered by one or two apertures. We could not observe that any ne-
groes were expecting their attack outside the nest, but in a short time a
few came out at another opening, and seemed to be making their escape.
Perhaps some conflict might have taken place within the nest, in the in-
terval between the appearance of these negroes and the entry of their
assailants. However this migFit be, in a few minutes one of the latter
made its appearance with a pupa in its mouth ; it was followed by three
or four more ; and soon the whole army began to emerge as fast as it could,
almostevery individual carrying its burthen. IVJostthat I observed seemed
to have pupae. I then traced the expedition back to the spot from which
I first saw tliem set out, which according to my steps was about 136 feet
from the negro formicary. The whnl.i business was transacted in little
more than an hour. Though I could tiare the ants back to a certain
spot in the ridge before men(ioned,wherethey first nppeared in the long
grass, I did not succeed in finding the entrance to their nest, so that I
was deprived of the pleasure of seeing the mixed society. As we dined
at anauhergec\ose to the spot, T proposed renewing my researches after
dinner; but a violent tempest of thunder and rain, though I attempted
It, prevented my succeeding ; and afterwards I had no opportunity of
revisiting the place.
M. Latreille very justly observes that it is physically impossible for
the rw/escen^ants, on account of the form of their jaws and the accessory
parts of the mouth, cither to prepare habitations for their family, tti
procure food, or to feed them. — Consideratiotu nvuvellis^ 8fc. p. 408.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 81
of ant, which I shall call the miners (F. aimcuhnia^ L.).
This species being- more courageous than the other, on
this account the rufescent host marches to the attack
in closer order than usual, moving with astonishing ra-
pidity. As soon as they begin to enter their habita-
tion, myriads of the miners rushing out fall upon them
■with great fury ; while others, well aware of their pur-
pose, making a passage through the midst of them,
carry off in their mouth the larvae and pupse. The sur-
face of the nest thus becomes the scene of an obstinate
conflict, and the assailants are often deprived of the
prey which they had seized. The miners dart upon
them, fight them foot to foot, dispute every inch of their
territory, and defend their progeny with unexampled
courage and rage. When the rufescents, laden with
pillage, retire, they do it in close order — a precaution
highly necessary, since tlieir valiant enemies, pursuing
them, impede their progress for a considerable distance
from their residence.
During these combats the pillaged ant-hill presents
in miniature the spectacle of a besieged city; hundreds
of its inhabitants maybe seen making their escape, and
carryingofFin different directions, toaplace of security,
some the young brood, and others their females that
are newly excluded : but when the danger is wholly
passed, they bring them back to their city, the gates
of which they barricade, and remain in great numbers
near them to guard the entrance.
Formica scmguinea^ as I observed above, is another
of the slave-making ants ; and its proceedings merit
separate notice, since they differ considerably from
those of the rufescents. They construct their nests
VOL. II, G
S2 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECT*.
imder hedges of a southern aspect, and likewise attack
the hills both of the negroes and miners. On the 15th
of July, alien in the morning, Huber observed a small
band of these ants sallying forth from their formicary,
and marching rapidly to a neighbouring nest of ne-
groes, around which it dispersed. The inhabitants,
rushing out in crowds, attacked them and took several
prisoners : those that escaped advanced no further, but
appeared to wait for succours ; small brigades kept fre-
quently arriving to reinforce them, which emboldened
them to approach nearer to the city they had block-
aded; upon this their anxiety to send couriers to their
own nest seemed to increase : these spreading a gene-
ral alarm, a large reinforcement immediately set out
to join the besieging army; yet even then they did not
begin the battle. Almost all the negroes, coming out
of their fortress, formed themselves in a body about two
foet square in front of it, and there expected the enemy.
Frequent skirmishes were the prelude to the main con-
flict, which was begun by the negroes. Long before
success appeared dubious they carried off their pupae,
and heaped them up at the entrance to their nest, on the
side opposite to that on which the enemy approached.
The young females also fled to the same quarter. The
sanguine ants at length rush upon the negroes, and at-
tacking them on all sides, after a stout resistance the
latter, renouncing all defence, endeavour to make off
to a distance with the pupa; they have heaped up : — the
host of assailants pursues, and strives to force from tliem
i'hese objects of their care. Many also enter the for-
micary, and begin to carry off the young brood that are
left in it. A continued chain of ants engaged in this
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS; 83
feliiployment extends from nest to nest, and the day and
part of the night pass before all is finished. A gar-
rison being left in the captured city, On the following
morning the business of transporting the brood is re-
newed. It often happens (for this species of ant loves
to change its habitation) that the conquerors emigrate
with all their family to the acquisition which their va-
lour has gained. All the incursions of F. sanguinea
take place in the space of a month, and they make only
five or six in the year* They will sometimes travel
150 paces to attack a negro colony.
After reading this account of expeditions undertaken
by ants for so extraordinary a purpose, you will be cu-
rious to know how the slaves are treated in the nests of
these marauders — whetherthey live happily^ orlaboui*
under an oppressive yoke. You must recollect that
they are not carried otF, like our negroes, at an age
when the amor patrice 2inA. all thecharitiesof life which
bind them to their country, kindred and friends, are
in their full strength, but in wh;/t may be called the
helpless days of infancy, or in their state of repose, be-
fore they can have formed any associations or imbibed
any notions that render one place and society more
dear to them than another. Preconceived ideas, there-
fore, do not exist to influence their happiness, which
must altogether depend upon the treatment which they
experience at the hands of their new masters. Here
the goodness of Providence is conspicuous; which, al-
though it has gifted these creatures with an instinct so
extraordinary, and seemingly so unnatural, has not
made it a source of misery to the objects of it.
You will here, perhaps, imagine that I have not suf-
G 2
84 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
fieiently taken into consideration the anxiety and pri-
vations undergone by the poor neuters, in beholding
those foster-childrenj for which they have all along- ma-
nifested such tender solicitude, thus violently snatched
from them : but when you reflect that. they are the com-
mon property of the whole colony, and that, conse-
quently, there can scarcely be any separate attachment
to particular individuals, you will admit that, after the
fright and horror of the conflict are over, and their
enemies have retreated, they are not likely to expe-
rience the poignant affliction felt by parents when de-
prived of their children ; especially when you further
consider, that most probably some of their brood are
rescued from the general pillage ; or at any rate their
females are left uninjured, to restore the diminished
population of their colonies, and to supply them with
those objects of attention, the larvae, &c. so necessary
to that development of their instincts in which consists
their happiness.
But to return to the point from which I digressed —
The negro and miner ants suffer no diminution of hap-
piness, and are exposed to no unusual hardships and
oppression in consequence of being transplanted into a
foreign nest. Their life is passed in much the same
employments as would have occupied it in their native
residence. They build or repair the common dwelling ;
they make excui'sions to collect food ; they attend upon
the females ; they feed them and the larvae ; and they
pay the necessary attention to the daily sunning of the
eggs, larvae, and pupae. Besides this, they have also to
feed their masters and to carry them about the nest.
This you will say is a serious addition to the ordinary
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INi5ECTS. 83
occupations of their own colonies : but when you con-
sider the greater division of labour in these mixed so-
cieties, which sometimes unite both negroes and miners
in the same dwelling, so that three distinct races live
together, from their vast numbers so far exceeding
those of the native nest, you will not think this too
severe employment for so industrious an animal.
But you will here ask, perhaps — " Do the masters
take no part in these domestic employments? At least,
surely, they direct their slaves, and see that they keep
to their work ? " — No sucli thing, I assure you — the
sole motive for their predatory excursions seems to be
mere laziness and hatred of labour. Active and in-
trepid as they are in the field, at all other times they
are the most helpless animals that can be imagined ; —
unwilling to feed themselves, or even to walk, their
indolence exceeds that of the sloth itself. So entirely
dependent, indeed, are they upon their negroes for
every thing, that upon some occasions the latter seem
to be the masters, and exercise a kind of authority over
them. They will not suffer them, for instance, to go
out before the proper season, or alone ; and if they re-
turn from their excursions without their usual booty,
they give them a very indifferent reception, showing
their displeasure, which however soon ceases, by at-
tacking them ; and when they attempt to enter the nest,
dragging them out. To ascertain w hat they would do
when obliged to trust to their own exertions, Huber
shut up thirty of the rufescent ants in a glazed box,
supplying them with larvae and pupse of their own kind,
with the addition of several negro pupse, excluding very
carefully all their slaves, and placing some honey in a
86 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
corner of their prison. Incredible as it may seem, they
made no attempt to feed themselves : and though at
first they paid some attention to their larvae, carrying
them here and there, as if too great a charge they soon
laid them down again; most of them died of hunger in
less than two days ; and the few that remained alive
appeared extremely weak and languid. At length,
commiserating their condition, he admitted a single
negro; and this little active creature by itself re-esta-
blished order — made a cell in the earth ; collected the
larvae and placed them in it ; assisted the pupae that
were ready to be developed; and preserved the life of
the neuter rufescents that still survived. What a pic-
ture of beneficent industry, contrasted with the bale-
ful effects of sloth, does this interesting anecdote af-
ford ! Another experiment which he tried made the
contrast equally striking. He put a large portion of
one of these mixed colonies into a woollen bag, in the
mouth of which he fixed a small tube of wood, glazed
at the top, which at the other end was fitted to the en-
trance of a kind of hive. The second day the tube was
crowded with negroes going and returning : — the inde-
fatigable diligence and activity manifested by them in
transporting the young brood and their rufescent mas-
ters, whose bodies were suspended upon their man-
dibles, was astonishing. These last took no active
part in the busy scene, while their slaves showed the
greatest anxiety about them, generally carrying them
into the hive; and if they sometimes contented them-
selves with depositing them at the entrance of the tube,
it was that they might use greater dispatch in fetching
the rest, The rufescent when thus set down remained
I
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 87
for a moment coiled up without motion, and then lei-
surely unrolling itself, looked all around, as if it was
quite at a loss what direction to take ; — it next went
up to the negroes, and by the play of its antennje seem-
ed to implore their succour, till one of them attending
to it conducted it into the hive.
Beings so entirely dependent, as these masters are
upon their slaves, for every necessary, comfort, and
enjoyment of their life, can scarcely be supposed to
treat them with rigour or unkindness : — so far from this,
it is evident from the preceding details, that they rather
look up to them, and are in some degree under their
control.
The above observations, Avith respect to the indo-
lence of our slave-dealers, relate principally to the ru-
fescent species ; for the sanguine ants are not altogether
so listless and helpless ; they assist their negroes in the
construction of their nests, they collect their sweet
fluid from the Aphides; ancf one of their most usual
occupations is to lie in wait for a small species of ant,
on which they feed ; and when their nest is menaced by
an enemy, they show their value for these faithful ser-
vants by carrying them down into the lowest apart-
ments, as to a place of the greatest security. Some-
times even the rufescents rouse themselves from the
torpor that usually benumbs tliem. In one instance,
when they wished to emigrate from their own to a de-
serted nest, they reversed what usually takes place on
such occasions, and carried all their negroes themselves
to the spot they had chosen. At the first foundation
also of their societies by impregnated females, there is
good reason for thinking, that, like those of other spe-
88 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
cies% they take upon themselves the whole charge of
the nascent colony. I must not here omit a most ex-
traordinary anecdote related by M. Huber. He put
into one of his artificial formicaries pupae of both spe-
cies of the slave-collecting ants, w hich, under the care
of some negroes introduced with them, arrived at their
imago state, and lived together under the same roof in
the most perfect amity.
These facts show Avhat effects education will produce
even upon insects ; that it will impart to them a new
bias, and modify in some respects their usual instincts,
rendering them familiar with objects which, had they
been educated at home, they would have feared, and
causing them to love those whom in that case they
would have abhorred. — It occasions, however, no fur-
ther change in their character, since the master and
slave, brought up with the same care and under the
game superintendence, are associated in the mixed for-
micary under laws entirely opposite''.
Unparalleled and unique in the animal kingdom as
this history may appear, you will scarcely deem the
next I have to relate less singular and less worthy of
admiration. That ants should have their milch cattle
is as extraordinary as that they should have slaves.
Here, perhaps, you may again feel a fit of incredulity
shake you; — but the evidence for the fact I am now
stating being abundant and satisfactory, 1 flatter my-
self it will not shake you long.
The loves of the ants and the aphides (for these last
are the kine in question) have long been celebrated ;
and that there is a connection between them you may
a Vol. I, 2d Ed. 369. b See Huber, chap, vii— xi.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 89
at any time, in the proper season, convince yourself;
for you will always find the former very busy on those
trees and plants on wJ.ich the latter abound : and if
you examine more closely, you will discover that their
object in thus attending upon them is to obtain the sac-
charine fluid, which may well be denominated their
milk", that they secrete.
This fluid, which is scarcely inferior to honey in
sweetness, issues in limpid drops from the abdomen of
these insects, not only by the ordinary passage, but also
by two setiform tubes placed, one on each side, just
above it. Their sucker being inserted in the tender
bark, is without intermission employed in absorbing
the sap, which, after it has passed through the system,
they keep continually discharging by these organs.
When no ants attend them, by a certain jerk of the
body, which takes place at regular intervals, they eja-
culate it to a distance : but when the ants are at hand,
watching the moment when the aphides emit their
fluid, they seize and suck it down immediately. This,
however, is the least of their talents ; for they abso-
lutely possess the art of making them yield it at their
pleasure ; or, in other words, of milking them. On
this occasion their *antennaB are their fingers; with
these they pat the abdomen of the aphis on each side
alternately, moving them very briskly ; a little drop of
fluid immediately appears, which the ant takes into its
mouth, one species (Mj/rmica rubra) conducting it with
its antennae, which are somewhat swelled at the end.
a The ant ascends the tree, says Linnc, t/iat it may mil!; its cows, i/n
Jphides, not kill them, Spst. Nat. 962. 3.
90 rEIlFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECT!?.
When it has thus milked one, it proceeds to another,
and so on, till being satiated it returns to the nest.
Not only the aphides yield this repast to the ants,
but also the Cocci, with whom they have recourse to
similar manrouvres, and with equal success ; only in
this case the movement of the antenna? over their body
may be compared to the thrill of the finger over the
keys of a piano-forte.
But you are not arrived at the most singular part of
this history, — that ants make a ^jr/>/)cr(y of these cows,
for the possession of which they contend with great
earnestness, and use every means to keep them to
themselves. Sometimes they seem to claim a right to
the aphides that inhabit the branches of a tree or the
stalks of a plant; and if stranger-ants attempt to share
their treasure with them, they endeavour to drive them
away, and maybe seen running about in a great bustle,
andexhibitingevery symptom of inquietude and anger.
Sometimes, to rescue them from their rivals, they take
their aphides in their mouth, they generally keep guard
round them, and when the branch is conveniently si-
tuated, they have recourse to an expedient still more
effectual to keep off interlopers, — they inclose it in a
tube of earth or other materials, and thus confine them
in a kind of paddock near their nest, and often com-
municating with it.
The greatest cow- keeper of all the ants, is one to be
met with in most of our pastures, residing in hemisphe-
rical formicaries, which are sometimes of considerable
diameter. I mean the yellow ant of Gould (F./lata).
This species, which is not fond of roaming from home,
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 91
and likes to have all its conveniences within reach,
osually collects in its nest a large herd of a kind of
Aphis, that derives its nutriment from the roots of grass
and other plants {Aphis radicum) ; these it transports
from the neighbouring roots, probably by subterra-
nean galleries, excavated for the purpose, leading from
the nest in all directions^; and thus, without going
out, it has always at hand a copious supply of food.
These creatures share its care and solicitude equally
with its own offspring. To the eggs it pays particular
attention, moistening them with its tongue, carrying
them in its mouth with the utmost tenderness, and
giving them the advantage of the sun. This last fact
I state from my own observation ; for once upon open-
ing one of these ant-hills early in the spiing, on a sunny
day, I observed a parcel of these eggs, which I knew
by their black colour, very near the surface of the nest.
My attack put the ants into a great ferment, and they
immediately began to carry these interesting objects
down into the interior of the nest. It is of great con-
sequence to them to forward the hatching of these eggs
as much as possible, in order to ensure an early source
of food for their colony; and they had doubtless in this
instance brought them up to the warmest part of their
dwelling with this view. M. Iluber, in a nest of the
same ant, at the foot of an oak, once found the eggs of
Aphis Querci/Sy L.
Our yellow ants are equally careful of their Aphides
after they are hatched, when their nest is disturbed
conveying them into the interior, fighting fiercely for
a Huber, 195. I have more than once found these Aphides in the nests
pf this species of ant.
92 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
them if the inhabitants of neighbouring formicaries,
as is sometimes the case, attempt to make them their
prey ; and carrying them about in their mouths to
change their pasture, or for some other purpose. When
you consider that from them they receive almost the
whole nutriment both of themselves and larvae, you
will not wonder at their anxiety about them, since tlie
wealth and prosperity of the community is in propor-
tion to the number of their cattle. Several other spe-
cies keep Aphides in their nests, but none in such
numbers as those of which I am speaking^.
When the population exceeds the produce of a coun-
try, or its inhabitants suffer oppression, or are not
comfortable in it, emigrations frequently take place,
and colonies issue forth to settle in other parts of the
fflobe: and sometimes whole nations leave their own
country, either driven to this step by their enemies, or
excited by cupidity to take possession of what appears
to them a more desirable residence. These motives
operate strongly on some insects of the social tribes. —
Bees and ants are particularly influenced by them.
The former, confined in a narrow hive, when their so-
ciety becomes too numerous to be contained conveni-
ently in it, must necessarily send forth the redundant
part of their population to seek for neAV quarters; and
the latter — though they usually can enlarge their
dwelling to any dimensions which their numbers may
require, and therefore do not send forth colonies, unless
we may distinguish by that name the departure of the
a See Huber, chap. vi. I have found Aphides in the nest of Myrmica
rubra. Boisier de Sauvages speaks of ants keeping their own Aphides,
and gives an interesting account of them, Journ. de Physique, i. 195.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. f)5
males and females from the nest — are often disgusterA
with their present habitation, and seek to establish
themselves in a new one : — either the near neighbour-
hood of enemies of their own species; annoyance from
frequent attacks of man or other animals ; their expo-
sure to cold or wet from the removal of some species of
shelter; or the discovery of a station better circum*-
stanced or more abundant in aphides ; — all these may
operate as inducements to them to change their resi-
dence. That this is the case might be inferred from
the circumstance noticed by Gould % which I have also
partly witnessed myself, that they sometimes transport
their young brood to a considerable distance from their
home. But M. Huber, by his interesting observations,
has placed this fact beyond all controversy ; and his
history of their emigrations is enlivened by some traits
so singular, that I am impatient to relate them to you.
They concern chiefly the great hill-ant {F. rufa)y
though several other species occasionally emigrate.
Some of the neuters having found a spot which they
judge convenient for a new habitation, apparently with-
out consulting the rest of the society, determine upon
an emigi'ation, and thus they compass their intention :
The first step is to raise recruits : — with this view they
eagerly accost several fellow citizens of their own or-
der, caress them with their antennje, lead them by their
mandibles, and evidently appear to propose the journey
to them. If they seem disposed to accompany them,
the recruiting officer, for so it may be called, prepares
to carry oft' his recruit, who, suspending himself upon
hismandibles,hangs coiled up spirally under his neck;
a (uuiUi, 42.
94 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECT?.
— all this passes in an amicable manner after muhicU
salutations. Sometimes, however, the recruiter takeS
the other by surprise, and drags him from the ant-hill
without giving him time to consider or resist. When
arrived at the proposed habitation, the suspended ant
uncoils itself, and, quitting its conductor, becomes a re-
cruiter in its turn. The pair return to the old nest,
and each carries off a fresh recruit, which being arrived
at the spot joins in the undertaking : — thus the num-
ber of recruiters keeps progressively increasing, till the
path between the new and the old city is full of goers
and comers, each of the former laden with a recruit.
What a singular and amusing scene is then exhibited
of the little people thus employed ! When an emigra-
tion of a rufescent colony is going forward, the negroes
are seen carrying their masters ; and the contrast of the
red with the black renders it peculiarly striking. The
little turf-ants (jF. ccespituin, L.) upon these occasions
carry their recruits uncoiled, with their head down-
wards and their body in the air.
This extraordinary scene continues several daysj
but when all the neuters are acquainted with the road
to the new city, the recruiting ceases. As soon as a
sufficient number of apartments to contain them are
prepared, the young brood, with the males and females,
are conveyed thither, and the whole business is con-
cluded. When the spot thus selected for their resi-
dence is at a considerable distance from the old nest,
the ants construct some intermediate receptacles, re-
sembling small ant-hills, consisting of a cavity fhlled
with fragments of straw and other materials, in which
they form several cells; and here at first they deposit
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 95
tlieir recruits, males, females, and brood, which they
afterwards conduct to the final settlement. Tliese in-
termediate stations sometimes become permanent nests,
which however maintain a connexion with the capital
city\
While the recruiting is proceeding, it appears to oc-
casion no sensation in the original nest; all goes on in
it as usual, and the ants that are not yet recruited pur-
sue their ordinary occupations: whence it is evident
that the change of station is not an enterprise under-
taken by the whole community. Sometimes many
neuters set about this business at the same time, which
gives a short existence (for in the end tiiey all re-
unite into one) to many separate formicaries. If the
ants dislike their new city, they quit it for a third, and
even for a fourth : and what is remarkable, they will
sometimes return to their original one before they are
entirely settled in the new station; when the re-
cruiting goes in opposite directions, and the pairs pass
each other on the road. You may stop the emigration
for the present, if you can arrest the first recruiter,
and take away his recruit''.
I shall now relate to you some other portions of
Myrmidonian History, which, though perhaps not so
striking and wonderful as the preceding details, are not
devoid of interest, and will serve to exemplify their
incredible diligence, labour, and ingenuity.
a Walking one day caily in July,, this summer (1815) in a spot where
I used to notice a single nest o^ Formica rufa, I observed that a new co-
iaony had been formed of considerable magrritude; and between it and
the original nest were six or seven smaller seitleraents.
b See Hiiber, chap. iv. ^ 3.
96 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS,
In this country it is commonly in March, earlier or
later accordinji^ to the season, that ants first make their
appearance, and they continue their labours till the
jniddle or latter end of October. They emerge usu-
ally from their subterranean winter-quarters on some
sunny day ; when, assembling in crowds on the surface
of the formicary, they may be observed in continual
motion, walking incessantly over it and one another,
without departing- from home; as if their object, before
they resumed their employments, was to habituate
themselves to the action of the air and sun\ This
preparation requires a few days, and then the business
of the year commences. The earliest employment of
ants is most probably to repair the injuries which their
habitation has received during their state of inactivity :
this observation more particularly applies to the hill-
ant (F. ru/a), all the upper stories of whose dwellings
are generally laid flat by the winter rains and snow ;
but every species, it may well be supposed, has at this
season some deranged apartments to restore to order,
or some demolished ones to rebuild.
After their annual labours are begun, few are igno-
rant how incessantly ants are engaged in building or
repairing their habitations, in collecting provisions,
and in the care of their young brood; but scarcely any
are aware of the extent to which their activity is car-
ried, and that their labours are going on even in the
night. — Yet this is a certain fact. — Long ago Aristotle
affirmed that ants worked in the night when the moon
was at the full''; and their historian Gould observes,
" that they even exceed the painful industrious bees-
a Gould, 67. De Geer, ii. 1054. ^ Hist. Animal. I. ix. c. 38.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 97
For the ants employ each moment, by day and night,
almost without intermission, unless hindered by exces*
sive rains*." M. Iluber also, speaking- of a mason-
ant, not found with us, tells us that they work after
sun-set, and in the nighf". To these I can add some
observations of my own, which fully confirm these ac-
counts. My first were made at nine o'clock at night,
when I found the inhabitants of a nest of the red ant
{Mi/rmica rubra) very busily employed ; I repeated
the observation, which 1 could conveniently do, the nest
being in my garden, at various times from that hour till
twelve, and always found some going and coming, even
while a heavy rain was falling. Having in the day
noticed some Aphides upon a thistle, I examined it
again in the night, at about eleven o'clock, and found
my ants busy milking their cows, which did not for the
sake of repose intermit their suction. At the same
hour, another night, I observed the little negro ant
(F.fusca) engaged in the same employment upon an
elder. About two miles from my residence was a nest
of Gould's hill-ant (F. rttfa), whi(!h, according to
M. Huber, shut their gates, or rather barricade them,
every night, and remain at home*^. Being desirous of
ascertaining the accuracy of his statement, early in
October, about two o'clock one morning, I visited this
nest, in company with an intelligent friend; and to our
surprise and admiration we found our ants at work,
some being engaged in carrying their usual burden,
sticks and straws, into their habitation, others going
out from it, and several were climbing the neighbour-
ing oaks, doubtless to milk their Aphides. The num-
a Gould, 68. I) Ui\bcT, 35, 42. c Hubcr, 23.
VOL. II. H
98 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
her of comers and goers at that hour, however, was
notjiing compared with the myriads that may always
be seen on these nests during- the day. It so happened
that oilr visit was paid while the moon was near the
full; so that wliether this species is equally vigilant
and active in the absence of that luminary yet remains
uncertain. Perhaps this circumstance might reconcile
Huber's observation with ours, and confirm the accu-
racy of Aristotle's statement before quoted. To the
red ant, indeed, it is perfectly indifferent whether the
moon shine or not ; they are always busy, though not
in such numbers as during the day. It is probable
that these creatures take their repose at all hours in-
differently ; for it cannot be supposed that they are
employed day and night without rest.
I have related to you in this and former letters most
of the works and employments of ants, but as yet I have
given you no account of their roads and track- ways. —
Don't be alarmed, and imagine I am going to repeat
to you the fable of the ancients, that they wear a path
in the stones*; for I suppose you will scarcely be
brought to believe that, as Hannibal cut a way for the
passage of his army over the Alps by means of vinegar,
so the ants may with equal effect employ the formic
acid : but more species than one do really form roads
which lead from their formicaries into the adjoining
country. Gould, speaking of his jet-ant (F.fuliginosa),
says that they make several main track-ways, (streets
he calls them,) with smaller paths striking off from
them, extending sometimes to the distance of forty feet
from their nest, and leading to those spots in which they
a Plic. IIL:. Nat. Ixi. c. 29.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 99
collect their provisions ; that upon these roads they
always travel, and are very careful to remove from them
bits of sticks, straw, or any thing that may impede their
progress ; nay, that they even keep low the herbs and
grass which grow in them, by constantly biting them
ofF% so that they may be said to mow their walks. But
the best constructors of roads are the hill-ants {F.riifa).
Of these De Geer says, " When you keep yourself
still, without making any noise in the woods peopled
with these ants, you may hear them very distinctly
walking over the dry leaves which are dispersed upon
the soil, the claws of their feet producing a slight sound
when they lay hold of them. They make in the ground
broad paths, well beaten, which may be readily distin-
guished, and which are formed by the going and coming
of innumerable ants, whose custom it is always to tra-
vel in the same route^." From Huber we further
learn, that these roads of the hill-ants aie sometimes a
hundred feet in length, and several inches wide; and
that they are not formed merely by the tread of these
creatures, but hollowed out by their labour '^. Virgil
alludes to their tracks in the following animated lines,
which, though not altogether correct, are very beau-
tiful :
'' So when the pismires, an industrious train,
Embodied rob some golden heap of grain,
Studious ere stormy winter frowns to lay
Safe in their darksome cells the treasured prey ;
In one long track the dusky legions lead
Their prize in triumph through the rerdant mead ;
a Gould, S7. b Dc Geer, ii. 1067. c Ilubcr, 146.
U 2
100 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
Here bending with the load, a ])anting throng
With force conjoin'd heave some huge grain along 5
Some lash the stragglers to the task assigned,
Some to their ranks the bands that lag behind :
They crowd the peopled path in thick array,
Glow at the work, and darken ail the way."
Bonnet^ observing that ants always keep the same
track both in going from and returning to their nest,
imagines that their paths are imbued with the strong
scent of the formic acid, which serves to direct them ;
but, as Huber remarks, though this may be of some use
to them, their other senses must be equally employed,
since it is evident, when they have made any discovery
of agreeable food, that they possess the means of di-
recting their companions to it, though it is scarcely
possible that the path can have been sufficiently impreg-
nated with the acid for them to trace their way to it by
scent. Indeed the recruiting system described above,
proves that it requires some pains to instruct ants in
the way from an old to a new nest ; whereas, were they
directed by scent, after a sufficient number had passed
to and fro to imbue the path with the acid, there would
be no occasion for further deportations ''.
Though ants have no mechanical inventions to di-
minish the quantum of labour, yet by numbers, strength,
and perseverance they effect what at first sight seems
quite beyond their powers. Their strength is wonder-
ful : I once, as I formerly observed, saw two or three of
them haling along a young snake not dead, which was of
the thickness of a goose-quill ''. St. Pierre relates, that
he was highly amused with seeing a number of ants car-
a-(Euv.dc Bonnet, i. 535. Huber, 191. 1* Vol. 1. 2d Ed. !e57.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 101
rying oft' a Patagonian centipede. They had seized it
by all its legs, and bore it along as workmen do a large
piece of timber*. The Mahometans hold, as Thevenot
relates, that one of the animals in Paradise is Solomon's
ant, which, when all creatures in obedience to him
brought him presents, dragged before him a locust, and
was therefore preferred before all others, because it
had brought a creature so much bigger than itself.
They sometimes, indeed, aim at things beyond their
strength ; but if they make their attack, they perti-
naciously persist in it though at the expense of their
lives. I have in my cabinet a specimen of Colliuris
/ongico/lis, Latr., to one of the legs of which a small
ant, scarcely a thirtieth part of its bulk, is fixed by its
jaws. It had probably the audacity to attack this giant,
compared with itself, and obstinately refusing to let
go its hold was starved to death ^. Professor Afzelius
once related to me some particulars with respect to a
species of ant in Sierra Leone, which proves the same
point. He says that they march in columns that ex-
ceed all powers of numeration, and always pursue a
straight course, from which nothing can cause them to
deviate: if they come to a house or other building,
they storm or undermine it ; if a river comes across
them, though millions perish in the attempt, they en-
deavour to swim over it.
This quality of perseverance in ants on one occar
a Voy. to Maurit. 7 1 .
b I was much amused, when dining in the forest of Fontainebleau this
summer, by the pertinacity with which the hill-ant {F. riifa) attacked
«iur food, haling from our very plates, while we were eating, long strips
;of meat many times their own size.
lOa PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
sion led to very important results, which affected a large
portion of this habitable globe ; for the celebrated con-
queror Tiniour, being once forced to take shelter from
his enemies in a ruined building, where he sat alone
many hours, desirous of diverting his mind from his
hopeless condition, he fixed his observation upon an
ant that was carrying a grain of corn (probably a pupa)
larger than itself up a high wall. Numbering the ef-
forts that it made to accomplish this object, he found
that the grain fell sixty-nine times to the ground, but
the seventieth time it reached the top of the wall.
" This sight (said Timour) gave me courage at the
moment ; and I have never forgotten the lesson it con-
veyed ^."
Madame Merian, in her Surinam Insects, speaking
of the large-headed ant {Formica megacephala, L.),
affirms that, if they wish to emigrate, they will construct
a living bridge in this manner : — One individual first
fixes itself to a piece of wood by means of its jaws, and
remains stationary ; with this a second connects itself;
a third takes hold of the second, and a fourth of the
third, and so on, till a long connected line is formed
fastened at one extremity, which floats exposed to the
wind, till the other end is blown over so as to fix itself
to tne opposite side of the stream, when the rest of the
colony pass over upon it, as a bridge ^. This is the
process, as far as I can collect it from her imperfect
account : — as she is not always very correct in her state-
ments, I regarded this as altogether fabulous, till I
a Related in the Quarterly Review for August 1816, p. 259,
b Insect. Surinam, p. 18. In her plate the ants are represented so
counected.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 103
met with the following history of a similar proceeding
in De Azara, which induces me to give more credit
to it.
He tells us, that in low districts in South America,
that are exposed to inundations, conical hills of earth
may be observed, about three feet high, and very near
to each other, which are inhabited by a little black ant.
When an inundation takes place, they are heaped to-
gether out of the nest into a circular mass, aboiit a foot
in diapoeter and four fingers in depth. Thus they rer
main floating upon the water while the inundation
continues. One of the sides of the mass which they
form is attached to some sprig of grass, or piece of
wood; and when the waters are retired, they return to
their habitation. When they wish to pass from one
plant to another, they may often be seen formed into
a bridge, of two palms length, and of the breadth of a
finger, which has no other support than that of its two
extremities. One would suppose that their own weight
would sink them ; but it is certain that the masses re-
main floating during the inundation, which lasts some
days'^.
You must now be fully satiated with this account of
the constant fatigue and labour to which our little pis-
mires are doomed by the law of their nature ; I shall
therefore endeavour to relieve your mind by introdu-
cing you to a more quiet scene, and exhibit them to you
during their intervals of repose and relaxation.
Gould tells us that the hill-ant is very fond of bask-
ing in the sun, and that on a fine serene morning you
a Voyages dam V^mriiqm Mtrid. i. 1ST.
104 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
may see them conglomerated like bees on the surface
of their nest, from whence, on the least disturbance,
they will disappear in an instant ''. M. Huber also
observes, after their labours are finished, that they
stretch themselves in the sun, where they lie heaped
one upon another, and seem to enjoy a short interval
of repose : and in the interior of an artificial nest, in
which he had confined some of this species, where he
saw many employed in various ways, he noticed some
reposing which appeared to be asleep ^.
But they have not only their time for repose ; they
also devote some to relaxation, during which they
amuse themselves with sports and games. " You may
frequently perceive one of these ants (F. rufa) (says
our Gould) run to and fro with a fellow-labourer in
his forceps, of the same species and colony. It appear-
ed first in the light of provisions; but I was soon un-
deceived by observing, that after being carried for some
time, it was let go in a friendly maiyier, and received
no personal injury. This amusement, or whatever title
you please to give it, is often repeated, particularly
amongst the hill-ants, who are very fond of this sportive
exercise '^." A nest of ants which Bonnet found in the
head of a teazle, when enjoying the full sun, which
seems the acme of formic felicity, amused themselves
with carrying each other on their backs, the rider hold-
ing with his mandibles the neck of his horse, and em-
bracing it closely with his legs ''. But the most circum-
stantial account of their sports is given by Huber. " I
approached one day," says he, '' one of their formicaries
a Gould, 69. b Huber, 73. c Gould, 103— d Bonnet, ii. 407.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 105
vas walking on the Plumstead road near Norwich,
•-• Hiiber, 170,—
106 PLRFECT SOCIETIES Of INSECTS.
on a sunny bank I observed a large number of ants
(Formica fusca, L,) agglomerated in crowds near the
entrances of their nest. They seemed to make no long
excursions, as if intent upon enjoying the sun-shine at
home; but all the while they were coursing about, and
appeared to accost each other with their antennae. Exa-
mining them very attentively, I at length saw one drag-
ging another, which it absolutely lifted up by its an-
tennae, and carrying it in the air. I followed it with my
eye, till it concealed itself and its antagonist in the nest.
I soon noticed another that had recourse to the same
manoeuvres ; but in this instance the ant that was at-
tacked resisted manfully, a third sometimes appearing
inclined to interfere : the result was, that this also was
dragged in. A third was haled in by its legs, and a fourth
by its mandibleo. What was the precise object of these
proceedings, whether sport or violence, I could not as-
certain. I walked the same way on the following morn-
ing, but at an earlier hour, when only a few comers and
goers were to be seen near the nest :" And soon leav-
ing the place, I had no further opportunity to attend
to them.
And now having conducted you through every apart-
ment of the formicary, and shown you its inhabitants
in every light, I shall leave you to meditate on the ex-
traordinary instincts with which their Creator has gift-
ed them, reserving what I have to say on the other so-
cial insects for a future occasion.
I am, &c.
LETTER XVIII.
SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
PERFECT SOCIETIES CONTINUED. (JFasfs and Hum-
ble-Bees.)
I SHALT, now call your attention to such parts of the
history of two other descriptions of social insects, wasps,
namely, and humble-bees^ as have not been related to
you in my letters on the affection of insects for their
young, and on their habitations. What I have to com-
municate, though not devoid of interest, is not to be
compared with the preceding account of the ants, nor
with that which w ill follow of the hive-bee. This, how-
ever, may ansa more from the deficiency of observa-
tions than the barrenness of the subject.
The first of these animals, zcasps, — with whose pro-
ceedings I shall begin, — we are apt to regard in a very
unfavourable light. They are the most impertinent
of intruders. If a door or window be open at the sea-
son of the year in which they appear, they are sure to
enter. When they visit us, they stand upon no cere-
mony, but make free with every thing that they can
come at. Sugar, meat, fruit, wine, are equally to their
taste ; and if we attempt to drive them away, and are
not very cautious, they will often make us sensible that
tliey are not to be provoked with impunity. Compared
with the bees, they may be considered as a horde of
thieves and brigands ; and the latter as peaceful, honest,
108 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS,
and industrious subjects, whose persons are attacked
and property plundered by them. Yet, with all this
love of pillag^e and other bad propensities, they are not
altogether disagreeable or unamiable ; they are brisk
and lively; they do not usually attack unprovoked;
and their object in plundering us is not purely selfish,
but is principally to provide for the support of the
young brood of their colonies.
The societies of wasps, like those of ants and other
social Hymenoptera^ consist of females, males, and
workers. The females may be considered as of two
sorts : first, the females by way of eminence, much
larger than any other individuals of the community,
equalling six of the workers (from which in other re-
spects they do not materially differ) in weight, and lay-
ing both male and female eggs. Then the small fe-
males, not bigger than the workers, and laying only
male eggs. This last description of females, which are
found also both amongst the humble-bees and hive-bees,
were first observed amongst the wasps by M. Perrot,
a friend of Ruber's^. The large females are produced
later than the workers, and make their appearance in
the following spring ; and whoever destroys one of them
at that time, destroys an entire colony, of which she
would be the founder. They are more worthy of praise
than the queen-bee ; since upon the latter, from her
very first appearance in the perfect state, no labour
devolves, — all her wants being prevented by a host of
workers, some of which are constantly attending upon
her, feeding her, and permitting her to suffer no fa-
tigue ; while others take every step that is necessary
a Huber, Nouv. Observ. ii. 443.
PEtlf ECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 109
fof the safety and subsistence of the colony. Not so
our female wasp ; — she is at first an insulated being
that has had the fortune to survive tlie rigours of win-
ter. When in the spring- she lays the foundation of her
future empire, she has not a single worker at her dis-
posal ; with her own hands and teeth she often hollows
out a cave w herein she may lay the first foundations of
her paper metropolis ; she must herself build the first
liouses, and produce from her own womb their first in-
habitants ; which in their infant state she must feed and
educate, before they can assist her in her great design.
At length she receives the reward of her perseverance
and labour ; and from being a solitary unconnected in-
dividual, in the autumn is enabled to rival the queen
of the hive in the number of her children and subjects;
and in the edifices which they inhabit — the number of
cells in a vespiary sometimes amounting to more than
16,000, almost all of which contain either an egg, a
grub, or a pupa; and each cell serving for three gene-
rations in a year ; which, after making every allowance
for failures and other casualties, will give a population
of at least 30,000. Even at this time, when she has so
numerous an army of coadjutors, the industry of this
creature does not cease, but she continues to set an
example of diligence to the rest of the community. — If
by any accident, before the other females are hatched,
the queen mother perishes, the neuters cease their la-
bours, lose their instincts, and die.
The number of females in a populous vespiary is con-
siderable, amounting to several hundred; they emerge
from the pupa about the latter end of August, at the
same time with the males, and fly in September and
110 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
October, when they pair. Of this large number of fe-
males, very few survive the winter. Those that are
so fortunate remain torpid till the vernal sun recalls
them to life and action. They then fly forth, collect
provision for their young brood, and are engaged in the
other labours necessary for laying the foundation of
their empire: but in the summer months they are
never seen out of the nest.
The male wasps are much smaller than the female,
but they weigh as much as two workers. Their an-
tennffi are longer than those of either, not, like theirs,
thicker at the end, but perfectly filiform ; and their
abdomen is distinguished by an additional segment.
Their numbers about equal those of the females, and
they are produced at the same time. They are not so
wholly given to pleasure and idleness as the drones of
the hive. They do not, indeed, assist in building the
nest, and in the care of the young brood ; but they are
the scavengers of the community ; for they sweep the
passages and streets, and carry off all the filth. They
also remove the bodies of the dead, which are some-
times heavy burthens for them ; in which case two unite
their strength to accomplish the work ; or, if a partner
be not at hand, the wasp thus employed cuts off the
head of the defunct, and so effects its purpose. As they
make themselves so useful, they are not, like the male
bees, devoted by the workers to an universal massacre
when the impregnation of the females, the great end of
their creation, is answered; but they share the general
lot of the community, and are suffered to survive till
the cold cuts off them and the workers together.
The toorkeis are the most numerous, and to us the
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. Ill
only troublesome part of the community ; upon whom
devolves the nuiin business of the nest. In the sum-
mer and autumnal months, they go forth by myriads
into the neighbouring country to collect provisions;
and on their return to the common den, after reserving
a sufficiency for the nutriment of the young brood, they
divide the spoil with great impartiality; — part being
given to the females, part to the males, and part to those
workers that have been engaged in extending and for-
tifying the vespiary. This division is voluntarily made,
without the slightest symptom of compulsion. Several
wasps assemble round each of the returning workers,
and receive tijcir rcs^pective portions. It is curious and
interesting to observe their motions upon this occasion.
As soon as a wasp, that has been filling itself with the
juice of fruits, arrives at the nest, it perches upon the
top, and disgorging a drop of its saccharine fluid, is
attended sometimes by two at once, who share the
treasure : this being thus distributed, a second and
sometimes a third drop is produced, which falls to the
lot of others.
Another principal employment of the workers is the
enlarging and repairing of the nest. It is extremely
amusing to see them engaged upon this foliaceous co-
vering. They work with great celerity; and though
a large number are occupied at the same time, there is
not the least confusion. Each individual has its por-
tion of work assigned to it, extending from an inch to
an inch and a half, and is furnished with a ball of ligne-
ous fibre, scraped or rather plucked by its powerfuf
jaws from posts, rails, and the like. This is carried in its
moutli, and is thus ready for immediate use : — but upon
112 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
this subject I have enlarged in a former letter''. The
workers also clean the cells, and prepare them to
receive another egg, after the imago is disclosed and
has left it.
There is good reason for thinking, and the opinion
has the sanction of Sir Joseph Banks, that wasps have
sentinels placed at the entrances of their nests, which
if you can once seize and destroy, the remainder will
not attack you. This is confirmed by an observation
of Mr. Knight's in i\\e Philosophical Transactions^, that
if a nest of wasps be approached without alarming the
inhabitants, and all communication be suddenly cutotf
between those out of the nest and those within it, no
provocation w ill induce the former to defend it and
themselves. But if one escapes from within, it comes
with a very different temper, and appears commissioned
to avenge public wrongs, and prepared to sacrifice its
life in the execution of its orders. He discovered this
when quite a boy.
It sometimes happens, that when a large number of
female wasps have been o])served in the spring, and an
abundance of workers has in consequence been ex-
pected to make their attack upon us in the summer and
autumn, but few have appeared. Mr. Knight observed
this in 1806, and supposes it to be caused by a failure
of males ''. I have since more than once made the same
observation, and Major Moor, as well as myself, no-
ticed it last year (1815). What took place here in the
present year (181G) may in some degree account for
it. Though the summer has been so wet, and one may
almost say winterly, there were in the neighbour-
a Vol. I. 2d Ed. p. 505. b For 180T, 242— c Ibid. 243.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 113
hood in which I reside abundance of wasps at the usual
time ; but, except on some few warm days, in which
they were very active, benumbed by the cold they were
crawling about upon the floors of ray house, and seemed
unable to fly. In this vicinity numbers make their
nests in the banks of the river. In the beginning of
October there was a very considerable inundation, after
which not a single wasp was to be seen. The conti-
nued wet that produces an inundation may also destroy
those nests that are out of the reach of the waters ; —
and perhaps this cause may have operated in those
years above alluded to, in which the appearance of the
workers in the summer and autumn did not correspond
with the large numbers of females observed in the
spring.
In ordinary seasons, in the month lately mentioned,
October, wasps seem to become less savage and san-
guinary ; for even flies, of which earlier in the sum-
mer they are the pitiless destroyers, may be seen to
enter their nests with impunity. It is then, probably,
that they begin to be first affected by the approach of
the cold season, when nature teaches them it is useless
longer to attend to their young. They themselves all
perish, except a few of the females, upon the first
attack of frost.
Reaumur, from whom (see the sixth Memoir of his
last volume) most of these observations are taken, put
the nests of wasps under glass hives, and succeeded so
effectually in reconciling these little restless creatures
to them, that they carried on their various works under
his eye : and if you feel disposed to follow his example,
I have no doubt you will throw light upon many parts
VOL. II. I
114 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
of their history, concerning which we are now in
darkness.
Having given you soine idea, imperfect indeed from
the want of materials, of the societies of wasps, I must
next draw up for you the best account I can of those of
the humble-bees. These form a kind of intermediate link
between the wasps and the hive-bees, collecting honey
indeed and making wax, but constructing their combs
and cells without the geometric precision of the latter,
and of a more rude and rustic kind of architecture;
and distinguished from both, though they approach
nearer to the bees, by the extreme hairiness of their
bodies.
The population of a humble-bees nest may be di-
vided into four orders of individuals : the large females ;
the small females ; the males ; and the workers.
The large j^wa/c^, like the female wasps, are the
original founders of their republics. They are often
so large, that by the side of the small ones or the work-
ers, which in every other respect they exactly resemble,
they look like giants opposed to pygmies. They are
excluded from the pupa in the autumn ; and pair in that
season, with males produced from the eggs of the small
females. They pass the winter under ground, and, as
appears from an observation of M. P. Huber, in a par-
ticular apartment, separate from the nest, and ren-
dered warm by a carpeting of moss and grass, but with-^
out any supply of food. Early in the spring, (for they
make their first appearance as soon as the catkins of
the sallows and v^'illows are^in flower,) like the female
wasps, they lay the foundations of a new colony with-
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 115
out the assistance of any neuters, which all perish before
the winter. In some instances however, if a conjec-
ture of M. de la Billardiere be correct, these creatures
have an assistant assigned to them. He says, at this
season (the approach of winter) he found in the nest of
Apis St/lvarutn (Kirby) some old females and workers,
whose wings were fastened together to retain them in
the nest by hindering them from flying ; these wings
in each individual were fastened together at the ex-
tremity, by means of some very brown wax applied
above and below*. This he conceives to be a precau-
tion taken by the other bees to oblige these indivi-
duals to remain in the nest and take care of the brood
that was next year to renew the population of the co-
lony. I feel, however, great hesitation in admitting
this conjecture, founded upon an insulated and per-
haps an accidental fact. For, in the first place, the
young females that come forth in the autumn, and not '
the old ones, are the founders of new colonies ; and
their instinct directs them to fulfil the great laws of
their nature without such compulsion ; and in the next,
the workers are never known to survive the cold of
winter.
The employment of a large female, besides the
care of the young brood before described, and the col-
lecting of honey and pollen, is principally the construc-
tion of the cells in which her eggs are to be laid ;
which M. P. Huber seems to think, though they oflen
assist in it, the workers are not able to complete by
themselves. So rapid is the female in this work, that
to make a cell, fill it with pollen, commit one or two
a Mriiiohrs du Muaeum, &,<:. «. 35.
1 2
116 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
eo-o-s to it, and cover them in, requires only the short
space of half an hour. Her family at first consists only
of workers, which are necessary to assist her in her la-
bours; these appear in May and June : but the males
and females are later, and sometimes are not produced
before August and September^. As in the case of
the hive -bee, the food of these several individuals dif-
fers; for the grubs that will turn to workers are fed
with honey and pollen mixed, while those that are
destined to be males and females are supplied with
pure honey.
. The instinct of these larger females does not de-
velop itself all at once : for it is a remarkable fact, that
when they are first hatched in the autumn, not being in
a condition to become mothers, they are no object of
jealousy to the small queens, (as we shall soon see they
are when engaged in oviposition,) and are employed in
the ordinary labours of the parent nest — that is, they
collect honey and pollen, and make wax ; but they do
not construct cells. The building instinct seems as it
were in suspense, and does not manifest itself till the
spring; when the maternal sentiment impels them at
the same time to lay eggs and to construct the cells in
which they are to be deposited.
I have told you above, that amongst the wasps a
&»naU kind of female has been discovered : this is the
oase also amongst the humble-bees, in whose societies
aP. Huber, ill Linn. Trans, vi. 264;. — This author says however, in
a,n(>(.ht r place (ibid. 285), tliat the male eggs are laid in the spring, at thf
same time with those that are to produce workers. Perhaps by the former
he means the male offspring of the small females, and by the latter tho^^e
of Ihe large ?
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 117
they are more readily detected: not indeed by any
observable difference between them and the workers,
but chiefly by the difference of their instincts : — from
the other females tliey are distinguished solely by their
diminutive size. Like those of the wasps and hive-
bees, these minor queens produce only male eggs,
which come out in time to fertilize the young females
that found the vernal colonies. M. P. Huber suspects
that, as in the case of the female bee, it is a different
kind of food that develops their ovaries, and so distin*
guishes them from the workers. They are generally
attended by a small number of males, who form their
court.
M. Huber, watching- at midnight the proceedings of
a nest which he kept under a glass, observed the inha-
bitants to be in a state of great agitation : many of these
bees were engaged in making a cell ; the queen-mother
of the colony, as she may be called, who is always ex-
tremely jealous of her pygmy rivals, came and drove
them away from the cell; — siie in her turn was driven
away by the others, which pursued her, beating their
wings with the utmost fury, to the bottom of the nest.
The cell was then constructed, and two of them at the
same time oviposited in it. The queen returned to
the charge, exhibiting similar signs of anger ; and,
chasing thejii away again, put her head into the cell,
when seizing the eggs that had been laid, she was ob-
served to eat them with great avidity. The same scene
was again renewed, with the same issue. After this, one
of the small females returned and covered the empty
cells with wax. When the mother-queen was removed,
118 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
several ofthe small females contended for the cell with
indescribable rage, all endeavouring to lay their eggs
in it at the same time. These small females perish in
the autumn.
The males are usually smaller than the large females,
and larger than the small ones and workers. They may
be known by their longer, more filiform, and slenderer
antennae ; by the different shape and by the beard of
their mandibles. Their posterior tibiae also want the
corhicula ^xxApecten that distinguish the individuals of
the other sex, and their posterior plantae have no au-
ricle. We learn from Reaumur that the male humble-
bees are not an idle race, but work in concert with the
rest to repair any damage or derangement that may
befall the common habitation.
The workers, which are the first fruits of the queen-
mother's vernal parturition, assist her, as soon as they
are excluded from the pupa, in her various labours.
To them also is committed the construction of the
waxen vault that covers and defends the nest. When
any individual larva has spun its cocoon and assumed
the pupa, the workers remove all the wax from it; and
as soon as it has attained to its perfect state, which takes
place in about five days, the cocoons are used to hold
honey or pollen. When the bees discharge the honey
into them upon their return from their excursions, they
open their mouths and contract their bodies, which
occasions the honey to fall into the I'eservoir. Sixty of
these honey-pots are occasionally found in a single
nest, and more than forty are sometimes filled in a day.
In collecting honey, humble-bees, if they cannot get
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 119
at that contained in any flower by its natural open-
ina^, will often make an aperture at the base of the co-
rolla, or even in the calyx, that they may insert their
proboscis in the very place where nature has stored up
her nectar '^. M. Huber relates a singular anecdote of
some hive-bees paying a visit to a nesl of humble-bees
placed under a box not far from their hive, in order to
steal or beg their honey ; which places in a strong light
the good temper of the latter. This happened in a time
of scarcity. The hive-bees, after pillaging, had taken
almost entire possession of the nest. Some humble-bees
which remained in spite of this disaster, went out to
collect provisions ; and bringing home the surplus after
they had supplied their own immediate wants, the hive-
bees followed them, and did not quit them till they had
obtained the fruit of their labours. They licked them,
presented to them their proboscis, surrounded them,
and thus at last persuaded them to part with the con-
tents of their honey-bags. The humble-bees after this
flew away to collect a fresh supply. The hive-bees did
them no harm, and never once showed their stings; —
so that it seems to have been persuasion rather than
force that produced this singular instance of self- denial.
This remarkable manoeuvre was practised for more
than three weeks; when the wasps being attracted by
the same cause, the humble-bees entirely forsook the
nest*".
The workers are the most numerous part of the com-
munity, but are nothing when compared with the num-
bers to be found in a vespiary or a beehive : — two or
a Hub. Nouv. Observ. ii. 375. b Ibid. 373—
120 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
three hundred is a large population for a humble-bees
nest ; in some species it not being more than fifty or
sixty. — They may more easily be studied than either
wasps or hive-bees, as they seem not to be disturbed
or interrupted in their works by the eye of an ob-
server^.
I am, &c.
a This account of the proceedings of hurabU -bees is chieflj' taken from
Reaumur, vi. 3Iem. I.; and M. P. Huber in Linn. Trans, vi, 214 —
LETTER XIX.
SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
PERFECT SOCIETIES CONTINUED. (The Hite-hce.)
1 HE glory of an all- wise and omnipotent Creator, you
will acknowledge, is wonderfully manifested by the va-
ried proceedings of those social tribes of which I have
lately treated : but it shines forth with a brightness
still more intense in the instincts that actuate the Jiive-
hee, and which I am next to lay before you. Indeed,
of all the insect associations, there are none that have
more excited the attention and admiration of mankind
in every age, or been more universally interesting, than
the colonies of these little useful creatures. Both Greek
and Roman writers are loud in their praise ; — nay,
some philosophers were so enamoured of them, that, as
I observed before % they devoted a large portion of
their time to the study of their history. Whether the
knowledge they acquired was at all equivalent to the
years that were spent in the attainment of it, may be
doubted : for, were it so, it is probable that Aristotle
and Pliny would have given a clearer and more con-
sistent account of the inhabitants of the hive than they
have done. Indeed, had their discoveries borne any
proportion to the long tract of time asserted to have
been employed by some in the study of these insect?,
" Vol. I. 2d Ed. 485.
122 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
they ought to have rivalled, and even exceeded, those
of the Reaumurs and Hubers of our own age.
Numerous, and wonderful for their absurdity, were
the errors and fables which many of the ancients adopt-
ed and circulated with respect to the generation and
propagation of these busy insects. For instance, — that
they were sometimes produced from the putrid bodies
of oxen and lions ; the kings and leaders from the
brain, and the vulgar herd from the flesh — a fable de-
rived probably from swarms of bees having been ob-
sei'ved, as in the case of Samson', to take possession of
tlie dried carcases of these animals, or perhaps from
the myriads of flies (for the vulgar do not readily di-
stinguish flies from bees) often generated in their pu-
trescent flesh. They adopted another notion equally
absurd; that these insects collect their young progeny
from the blossoms and foliage of certain plants. Amongst
others, the Cerinthus, the reed, and the olive-tree, had
this virtue of generating infant bees attributed to them**.
These specimens of ancient credulity will sufl[ice.
But do not think that all the ancients imbibed such
monstrous opinions. Aristotle's sentiments seem to
have been much more correct, and not very wide of
>vhat some of our best modern apiarists have advanced.
According to him, the kings (so he denominates the
queen-bee) generate both kings and Avorkers; and the
latter the drones. This he seems to have learned from
keepers of bees. The kings, says he in another place,
are the parents of the bees, and the drones their chil-
dren. It is right, he observes again, that the kings
a Judges xiv. 8, 9. b See Aristot. Hhl. Animal, 1. v. c. 22.
Virgil. Georgic. 1. iv.; and Mouict, 12 —
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 12S
(which by some were called mothers) should remain
within the hive unfettered by any employment, because
they aie made for the multiplication of the species*.
To tiie same purpose Riem of Lauten of the Palatinale
Apiarian Sociefj/, and Wilhelmi of the Lusatian, af-
firm that the queen lays the eggs which produce the
queens and workers ; and the workers those that pro-
duce the drones or males *•. Aristotle also tells us, that
gome in his time affirmed that the bees (the workers)
were the females, and the drones the males ; an opi-
nion which he combats from an analogy pushed rather
too far, that nature would never give offensive armour
to females '^. In another place he appears to think
that the workers are hermaphrodites : — his words are
remarkable, and seem to indicate that he was aware of
the sexes of plants : " having in themselves," says he,
'' like plants, the male and the female''."
Fables and absurdities, however, are not confined to
the ancients, nor even to those moderns who lived be^
fore Swammerdam, Maraldi, Reaumur, Bonnet, Schi-
rach, John Hunter, Huber, and their followers, by their
observations and discoveries had thrown so much light
upon this interesting subject. Even in our own times,
a Neapolitan professor, Monticelli, asserts, on the au-
thority of a certain father Tanoya, that in every hive
there are three sorts of bees independent of each other ;
viz. male and female drones — male and female, I mu&t
not say queens — call them what }ou will; and male
and female workers ; and that eacli construct their own
d Aristot, uM supr. c. 21. De General. JnimaK 1. iii. c. 10, where there
is some curious reasoning upon this subject. l> Bonnet, x. 199 — . 236 —
c Jliil. Animal. 1. v. c. t2. d De General. Animal, l.iii. c 10.'
124 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
cells ! ! ! Another writer, Mr. Huish, whose work has
just made its appearance, and whose presumption can
only be equalled by his ignorance % denies most of the
modern discoveries, and asserts that the queen always
remains a virgin ! ! Enough, liovvever, upon this sub-
ject. I shall now endeavour to lay before you the best
authenticated facts in the history of these animals; but
you must not expect an account of them complete i?5
all its parts; for, much as wc know, Bonnet's observa-
tion will still hold good : ''• The more I am engaged in
making fresh observations upon bees, the more stead-
fast is my conviction, that the time is not yet arrived
in which we can draw satisfactory conclusions with re-
spect to their policy. It is only by varying and com-
bining experiments in a thousand ways, and J)y placing
these industrious flies in circumstances more or less re-
moved from their ordinary state, that we can hope to
ascertain the right direction of their instinct, and the
true principles of their government''.
What I have further to say concerning these admi-
rable creatures, will be principally taken from the two
authors who have given the clearest and most satisfac-
tory account of them, Reaumur and the elder Huber ;
though I shall add from other sources such additional
observations as may serve better to elucidate their
history.
The society of a hive of bees, besides the young
a The following passage, in which he speaks of the Sphinx Atropos as
belonging to Linne's !ree lepidopterous genera, will sufBciently justify
this assertion. The Death-headed Sphinx {Sphinx Atropos) is a gre^t
butterfly, and belongs also to the genus Phalcna, p. 126 ! ! !
b (Euvr. X. 191—
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 125
brood, consists of one female or queen ; several hun-
dreds of males or drones; and many thousand workers.
The female^ or queen, first demands our attention.
Two sorts of females have been observed amongst the
bees, a large one and a small. Mr. Needham was the
first that observed the latter ; and their existence,
M. P. Iluber tells us, has been confirmed by several
observations of his father. They are bred in cells as
large as those of the common queens, from which they
differ only in size. Though they have ovaries, they
have never been observed to lay eggs^. Having never
seen one of these, for they are of very rare occurrence,
my description must be confined to the common femalej
the genuine monarch of the hive''.
a Bonnet, x. P. Huber in hinn. Trans, vi. 283, Reaumur (v. 373)
observes that some queens are much larger than others; but he attributes
this difference of their size to the state of the eggs in their body.
b As every reader is not aware of the differences of form, &c. that di-
stinguish the females, males, and workers from each other (I have seen
the male mistaken for a distinct species, and placed in a cabinet as Apis
lagopcda, L.), I shall here subjoin a description of each. — The body of
the female bee is considerably longer than that of either the drone or
the worker. The prevailing colour in all three is the same, black or
black-brown ; but with respect to the female this does not appear to be
invariably the case; for — uot to insist upon Virgil's royal bees glittering
with ruddy or golden spots and scales, where allowance must be made
for poetic license — Reaumur affirms, after describing some differences of
colour in different individuals of this sex, that a queen may always be di-
stinguished, both from the workers and males, by the colour of her body *.
If this observation be restricted to the colour of some parts of her body,
it is correct ; but it will not apply to all generally (unless, as I suspect
may be the case, by the term body he means the abdomen), for, in all that
I have had an opportunity of examining, the prevailing colour, as I hiive
stated it, is the same.
The //eflrf is not larger than thatof the workers; but the perceived ;— the remaining ones are
hairy, the three last being infl?xed. Tlie ventral segments are very nar-
row, hairy, and fulvous.
The body of the workers is oblong.
The head triangular. The mandibles are prominent, so as to terminate
the head in an angle, toothless and forcipate. The tongue and rnaxillte ar«
long and incurved : the labrum and antennee black.
In the trunk the tegulce are black. The wings extend only to the
apex of the fourth segment of the abdomen. The legsnre all black, with
the digits only rather piceous. The posierior tibitB are naked above,
evteriorly longitudinally concave, and interiorly longitudinally convex;
furnished with lateral and recumbent hairs to form the corbicula, and
arraed at the end with the pecten. The upper surface of the posterior
piantte resembles that of the tibiee ; underneath they are furnished with,
a scapula or brush of stiff hairs set in rows : at the base they are armed
with stiff" bristles, and exteriorly with an acute appendage or auricle.
^he abdomen is a little longer than the head and trunk together; ob-
long,and rather heart-shaped — a transverse section of it is triangular.
It is covered with longisli flavo-pallid hairs: the first segment is short
with longer hair<; the base of the tiiree intermediate segments is covered,
anJas it were banded, with pale hairs. The apex of the three inter-
mediate ventral segments is rather fulvescent, and their base is distin-
guished on e«icli side by a trapeziform wax -pocket covered by a thin
i^emhr^ne. Thchtitig, or ratlier rngina, of the mpicula is straigtit.
128 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
sorts of workers, the wax-makers and nurses*. They
may also be further divided into fertile and sterile ^ :
for some of them, which in their infancy are supposed
to have partaken of some portion of the royaljelly, lay
male eggs. There is found in some hives, according-
to Huber, a kind of bees, which from having less doAvn
upon the head and thorax appear blacker than the
others, by whom they are always expelled from the
hive, and often killed. Perfect ovaries, upon dissec-
tion, were discovered in these bees, though not fur-
nished with eggs. This discovery induced M"^ Ju-
rine, the lady who dissected them, to examine the
common workers in the same way ; and she found in
all that she examined, what had escaped Swammerdam,
perfect though sterile ovaries ". It is worth inquiry,
though Mr. Huber gives no hint of this kind, whether
these were not in fact superannuated bees, that could
no longer take part in the labours of the hive. Thor-
ley remarks, which confirms this idea, that, if you
closely observe a hive of bees in July, you may per-
ceive many amongst them of a dark colour, with wings
rent and torn ; but that in September not one of them
is to be seen '^. Huber does not say whether the wings
of the bees in question were lacerated; but in super-
annuated insects the hair is often rubbed off the body,
which gives them a darker hue than that of more recent
a See Vol, I. 2d. Ed. p. 490.
b In liives where a queen laying male ca;gs has been killed, the workers
continue to make only male cells, though supplied with a fertile queen,
atit. the fertile workers lay eggs in them. Schirach, 238.
c Fubcr, ii. 425— «I Thorley, On Bees, 179.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 129
individuals of the same species. Should this conjec-
ture turn out true, tlieir banishment and destruction of
the seniors of the hive would certainly not show our
little creatures in a very amiable point of view. Yet
it seems the law of their nature to rid their community
of all supernumerary and useless members, as is evi-
dent from their destruction of the drones after their
M'ork is done.
It is not often that insects have been weighed ; but
Reaumur's curiosity was excited to know the weight
of bees; and he found that 3:j6 weighed an ounce, and
6376 a pound. According to John Hunter, an ale-house
pint contains 2160 Workers.
I have described to you the persons of the different
individuals that compose the society of the bee-hive
more in detail than 1 should otherwise have done, in
order that you may be the better able to form a judge-
ment upon a most extraordinary circumstance in their
history, which is supported by evidence that seems
almost incontrovertible. The fact to which I allude
is this — that if the bees are deprived of their queen,
and are supplied with comb containing young worker
brood only, they will select one or more to be edu-
cated as queens ; which, by having a royal cell erected
for their habitation, and being fed with royal jelly for
Hot more than two days, when they emerge from the
pupa state (though, if they had remained in the cells
which they originally inhabited, they would have turned
outworkers) will come forth complete queens, with their
form, instincts, and powers of generation entirely dif-
ferent. In order to produce this effect, the grub must
not be more than three days old ; and this is the age at
VOL, II. K
130 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF l\SECT8.
which, according to Schirach, (the first apiarist tvhrt
called the public attention to this miracle of nature,)
the bees usually elect the larvae to be royally educated ;
though it appears from Ruber's observations, that a
larva two days or even twenty-four hours old Avilldo'.
Their mode of proceeding is described to be as follows :
— Having chosen a grub, they remove the inhabitants
and their food from two of the cells which join that in
which it resides ; they next take dow n the partitions
which separate these three cells ; and, leaving the bot-
toms untouched, raise round tlve selected worm a cylin-
drical tube, which follows the horizontal direction of
the other cells : but since at the close of the third day
of its life its habitation must assume a different form
and direction, they gnaw away the cells below it, and
sacrifice without pity the grubs they contain, using the
wax of which they were formed to construct a new py-
ramidal tube, which they join at right angles to the
horizontal one, the diameter of the former diminish-
ing insensibly from its base to its mouth. During the
two days which the grub inhabits this cell, like the
common royal cells now become vertical'', a bee may
always be observed with its head plunged into it; and
when one quits it another takes its place. These bees
keep lengthening the cell as the worm grows older, and
duly supply it with food, which they place before its
mouth, and round its body. The animal, which can
only move in a spiral direction, keeps incessantly turn-
ing to take the jelly deposited before it; and thus
aHul)er, i. 137.
b Reaumur, wlio was however unacquainteil with this exiraordinary
Tait, has figured one of these cells, v. /. 32./. 3. h.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OP INSECTS. iSV
slowly Working downwards, arrives insensibly near the
orifice ofthe cell, just at the time that it is ready to as-
sume the pupa ; when, as before described, the workers,
shut up its cradle with an appropriate covering^.
When you have read this account, I fear, with the
celebrated John Hunter, you will not be very ready
to believe it, at least you will call upon me to bring
forth my " strong reasons" in support of it. What ! —
you will exclaim — can a larger and warmer house (for
the royal cells are affirmed to enjoy a higher tempera-
ture than those of the other bees''), a different and
more pungent kind of food, and a vertical instead of
a horizontal posture, in the first place, give a bee a
differently shaped tongue and mandibles ; render the
surface of its posterior tibiae fiat instead of concave ;
deprive them ofthe fringe of hairs that forms the basket
for carrying the masses of pollen ; of the auricle and
pecten which enable the workers to use these tibiae as
pincers'^; ofthe brush that lines the inside of their
plantaB ? Can they lengthen its abdomen ; alter its
colour and clothing ; give a curve to its sting ; de-
prive it of its wax-pockets, and of the vessels for se-
creting that substance ; and render its ovaries more
conspicuous, and capable of yielding female as well
as male eggs ? Can, in the next place, the seeming-
ly,, trivial circumstances just enumerated altogether
alter the instinct of these creatures ? Can they give
to one description of animals address and industry;
arid to the other astonishing fecundity? Can we con-
ceive them to change the very passions, tempers, and
a Compai*. Bonnet, x. 156, with Hiibcr, i. 134— b Schirach, 69.
c ]fubcr,t. 4, f. J— 3.
K2
1S2 PfiRF'ECT SOClfitlES OF INSECTS.
manners ? That the very same fetus, if fed with more
pungent food, in a higher temperature and in a verti-^
cal position, shall become a female destined to enjoy
love, to burn with jealousy and anger, to be incited
to vengeance, and to pass her time without labour —
that this very same foetus, if fed with more simple food,
in a lower temperature, in a more confined and hori-
zontal habitation, shall come forth a worker zealous
for the good of the community, a defender of the public
rights, enjoying an immunity from the stimulus of
sexual appetite and the pains of parturition — labo-
rious, industrious, patient, ingenious, skilful — inces-
santly engaged in the nurture of the young; in col-
lecting honey and pollen ; in elaborating wax ; in con-
structing cells, and the like ! — paying the most respect-
ful and assiduous attention to objects which, had its
ovaries been developed, it would have hated, and pur-
sued with the most vindictive fury till it had destroyed
them ! Further, that these factitious queens (I mean
those that the bees elect from amongst worker
brood, and educate to supply the place of a lost one
in the manner just described) shall differ remarkably
from the natural queens, (or those that have been
wholly educated in a royal cell,) in being altogether
mute* — All this, you will think, at first sight, so im-
probable, and next to impossible, that you will require
the strongest and most irrefragable evidence before
you will believe it.
In spite of all these powerful probabilities to the
contrary, this astonishing and seemingly incredible
fact rests upon strong foundations, and is estalblished
aHuber, L 292.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 133
by experiments made at different times, by different
persons of the highest credit, in different parts of Eu-
rope. The first who brought it before the public (as
I lately observed) was M. Schirach, secretary of an
Apiarian Society established at Little Bautzen in
Upper Lusatia. He observed, that bees when shut up
with a portion of comb, containing only worker brood,
would soon erect royal cells, and thus obtain queens :
— the experiment was frequently repeated, and there-
suit was almost uniformly the same. In one instance
he tried it with a single cell, and it succeeded'^. This
curious fact was communicated to the celebrated Bon-
net, who, though he hesitated long before he admitted
it, was at length fully convinced. M. Wilhelmi (Schi-
rach's brother-in-law), though at first he accounted for
the fact upon other principles, and objected strongly
to the doctrine in question, induced by the powerful
evidence in favour of it, at last gave up his former
opinion, and embraced it. And, to mention no more,
the great Aristomachus of modern times, M. Huber,
by experiments repeated for ten years, was fully con-
vinced of the truth of Schirach's position''.
The fact in question, though the public attention
was first called to it by the latter gentleman, had in-
deed been practically known long before he wrote.
M. Vogel, in a letter to Wilhelmi, asserts that nume-
rous experiments confirming this extraordinary fact
had been made by more than a hundred different per-
sons, in the course of more than a hundred years; and
that he himself had known old cultivators of bees who
ji4d unanimously declared to him, that, when proper
n Bouiiet, X. b Uuber, i, 132«
134 PERFECT SOCIETIES OE IMSECTS.
precautions were taken, in a practice of more than fifty
years, the experiment had never failed^. Signer Mon-
ticelli, the Neapolitan professor before mentioned,
informs us that the Greeks and Turks of the Ionian
Islands know how to make artificial swarms; and that
the art of producing queens at will has been practised
by the inhabitants of a little Sicilian island called
Favignana, from very remote antiquity ; and he even
brings arguments to prove that it was no secret to the
Greeks and Romans'', though had the practice been
common it would surely have been noticed by Ari-
stotle and Pliny.
Bonner, a British apiarist, asserts that he has had
successful recourse to the Lusatian experiment*^; and
Mr. Payne of Shipdam in Norfolk (who for many
years has been engaged in the culture of bees, and has
paid particular attention to their proceedings) relates
that he well remembers that the bees of one of his
hives, which he discovered had lost their queen, were
engaged in erecting some royal cells upon the ruins of
some of the common ones. He also informs me that
he has found Huber's statements, as far as he has had
an opportunity of verifying them, perfectly accurate.
As I think you will allow that the evidence just de-
tailed to you is abundantly sufficient to establish the
fact in question, we will now see whether any satisfac-
tory account can be given for such changes being pro-
duced by such causes. " It does not appear to me impro-
bable," says Bonnet, " that a certain kind of nutriment,
and in more than usual abundance, may cause a de-
velopment in the grubs of bees, of organs which would
aSchirach, 121-. b Iluber, ii. 453. c Bonner yn iices, 56.
PEUFECt SOGIETIES OF INSECTS. 1^5
never be developed without it. I can readily conceive
also, that a habitation considerably more spacious, and
differently placed, is absolutely necessary to the com-
plete development of organs which the new nutri-
ment may cause to grow in all directions*." And
again, with respect to the wings of the queen bee,
which do not exceed those of the workers in length,
he thinks that this may arise from their being- of a
substance too stiff to admit of their extension. Those
parts and points that were in a state to yield most easily
to the action which this kind of nutriment produced,
would be most prominent ; and the vertical position
of the grub and pupa, since nature does nothing in
vain, may probably assist this action, and render the
parts of the animal more capable of such extension
than if it continued in a horizontal position.
We know, with respect to the human species and
the larger animals, that numerous differences, both as
to the form and relative proportion of parts, occur
continually. The cause of these differences we can-
not always ascertain ; yet in many instances they may
either be derived from the nutriment which the embryo
receives in the womb, or from the greater or less di-
mensions or higher or lower temperature of that or-
gan— a case that analogically would not be very wide
of that of the grub or embryo of a bee inclosed in a cell.
Some of the differences in man I now allude to, may
often be caused by a particular diet in childhood ; a
warmer or a colder, a looser or a tighter dress, or the
like. Thus, for instance, the Egyptians, who went
bare-headed, had their skulls remarkably thick; while
aHuber, ii. ■445.
136 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF IXSECTS.
the Persians, who covered the head with a turban or
mitre, were distinguished by the tenuity of theirs.
Again, the inhabitants of certain districts are often re-
markable for peculiarities of form, which are evidently
produced by local circumstances.
The following reasoning may not be inapplicable to
the development or non-development, according to
their food and habitation, of the ovaries of these insects.
An infant tightly swathed, as was formerly the custom,
^n swaddling bands, without being allowed the free play
of its little limbs, fed with unwholesome food, or un-
cherished by genial warmth, may from these circum-
stances have so imperfect a development of its organs
as to be in consequence devoted to sterility. When a
cow brings forth two calves, and one of them is a female,
it is always barren, and partakes in part of the charac-
ters of the other sex*. In this instance, the space and
food that in ordinary cases are appropriated to one, are
divided between two; so that a more contracted dwell-
ing and a smaller share of nutriment seem to prevent
the development of the ovaries.
The following observations, mostly taken from an
essay of the celebrated anatomist John Hunter, in the
Philosophical Transactions, since they are intimately
connected with the subject that we are now consider-
ing, will not be here misplaced. In animals just born,
or very young, there are no peculiarities of shape, ex-
clusive of the primary distinctions, by which one sex
maybe known from the other. Thus secondary distinc-
tive characters, such as the beard in men, and the
breasts in women, are produced at a certain period c^f
W See J. Jlynter's Treatise o^ certain Parts of the Animal (Econoiuii^
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 137
life; and these secondary characters, in some instances,
are changed for those of the other sex ; which does not
arise from any action at the first formation, but takes
place when the great command " Increase and multi-
ply" ceases to operate. Thus women in advanced
]ife are sometimes distinguished by beards; and after
they have done laying, hen-birds occasionally assume
the plumage of the cock : this has been observed more
than once by ornitliologists, more particularly with re-
spect to the pheasant and the pea-hen^. — For females to
assume the secondary characters of males, seems cer-
tainly a more violent change, than for a worker bee,
which may be regarded as a sterile female, in conse-
quence of a certain process, to assume the secondary-
characters of a fertile female.
With respect to the variations of instinct and cha-
racter which result from the dift'erent modes of rear-
ing the young- bees that we are now considering ; it
would not, I think, be difficult to prove, that causes
at first sight equally inadequate have produced effects
full as important on the habits, tempers, and characters
of men and other animals : but as these will readily
occur to you, I shall not now enlarge upon them.
Did we know the causes of the various deviations,
as to form and the like, observable in the three king-
doms of nature, and could apply them, we should be
able to produce these deviations at our pleasure. This
is exactly what the bees do. Their instinct teaches
them that a certain kind of food, supplied to a grub iu'
habiting a certain dwelling, in a certain position, will
a Philas. Trans, 179:2. viii. 167. Hunter on certain Parts ofihe Animai
CEconomy, p. 65. Latliani, Synops. ii. 672. t. 80,
1S8 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
produce certain effects upon it, rendering- it different
from what it would have been under ordinary circum-
stances, and fitted to answer their peculiar wants.
I trust that these arguments and probabilities wil!
in some degree reconcile you to what at first sight seems
so extraordinary and extravagant a doctrine. If not
yet fully satisfied, I can only recommend your having
recourse to experiments yourself. Leaving you there-
fore to this best mode of proof, I shall proceed to an-
other part of my history : — but first I must mention an
experiment of Reaumur's, which seems to come well in
here. To ascertain whether the expectation of a queen
was sufncient to keep alive the instinct and industry of
the worker-bees, he placed in a glazed hive some royal
cells containing both grubs and pupae, and then intro-
duced about 1000 or 1500 workers and some drones.
These workers, which had been deprived of their
queen, at first destroyed some of the grubs in these
cells; but they clustered around two that were covered
in, as if to impart warnith to the pupae they contained;
and on the following day they began to work upon the
portions of comb with which he had supplied thV0L. IT. L
146 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
her sting dispatched her. If ever-so-many queens are
introduced into a hive, all but one will perish, and that
one will have won the throne by her own unassisted
valour and strength. Sometimes a strange queen at-
tempts of herself to enter a hive : in this case the
workers, who are upon the watch and who examine
every thing that presents itself, immediately seize her
with their jaws by the legs or wings, and hem her in
so straitly with a clustered circle of guards, turning
their heads on all sides towards her, that it is impos-
sible for her to penetrate within. If they retain her
prisoner too long, she dies either from the want of food
or air, but never from their stings^.
Here you may perhaps feel curious to know, sup-
posing the reigning queen to die or be killed, and the
bees to have discovered their loss, whether they would
then receive a foreigner that offers herself to them or
is introduced amongst them. Reaumur says they would
do this immediately^; but Huber, who had better means
of observing them, and studied them with more undi-
vided attention, affirms that this will not be the case,
unless twenty-four hours have elapsed since the death
of the old queen. Previously to this period, as if they
were absorbed by grief at their calamity, or indulged
a fond hope of her revival, an intruder would be treated
exactly as I have described. But when the period just
mentioned is passed, they will receive any queen that
is presented to them with the customary homage, and
she may occupy the vacant throned
I must now beg you to attend to what takes place in
the second case that I mentioned, where queens are
a Uuhetj i. 186. b Reaum. v. 268. c Huber, i. 190.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 147
tranted to lead forth swarms. Here you will, with
reason, suppose that nature has instilled some instinct
into the bees, by which these necessary individuals are
rescued from the fury of the reigning sovereign.
Did the old queen of the hive remain in it till the
young ones were ready to come forth, her instinctive
jealousy would lead her to attack them all as succes-
sively produced ; and being so much older and stronger,
the probability is that she would destroy them; in
which case there could be no swarms, and the race
would perish. But this is wisely prevented by a cir-
cumstance which invariably takes place — that the first
sWarm is conducted by this queen, and not by a newly
disclosed one, as Reaumur and others have supposed.
Previously to her departure, after her great laying of
male eggs in the month of May, she oviposits in the
royal cells when about three or four lines in length,
which the workers have in the mean time constructed.
These however are not all furnished in one day, — a
most essential provision, in consequence of which the
queens come forth successively, in order to lead suc-
cessive swarms. There is something singular in the
manner in which the workers treat the young queens
that are to lead the swarms. After the cells are co-
vered in, one of their first employments is to remove
here and there a portion of the wax from their surface,
so as to render it unequal; and immediately before the
last metamorphosis takes place, the walls are so thin
that all the motions of the inclosed pupa are perceptible
through them. On the seventh day the part covering the
head and trunk of the young female, if I may so speak>
is almost entirely unwaxed. Tbia operation of the bees
L 2
148 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
facilitates her exit, and probably Fenders the evapora*
tion of the superabundant fluids of the body of the pupa
more easy.
You will conclude, perhaps, when all things are thus
prepared for the coining forth of the inclosed female,
that she will quit her cell at the regular period, which
is seven days : — but you would be mistaken. Were
she indeed permitted to pursue her own inclinations,
this would be the case : but here the bees show how
much they are guided in their instinct by circumstances
and the wants of their society ; for did the new queen
leave her cell, she would immediately attack and destroy
thdse in the other cells ; a proceeding which they per-
mit, as I have before stated, when they only want a
successor to a defunct or a lost sovereign. As soon
therefore as the workers perceive — which the transpa-
rency of the cell permits them to do — that the young
queen has cut circularly through her cocoon, they
immediately solder the cleft up with some particles
of wax, and so keep her a prisoner against her will.
Upon this, as if to complain of such treatment, she
emits a distinct sound, which excites no pity in the
breasts of her subjects, who detain her a prisoner two
days longer than nature has assigned for her confine-
ment. In the interim, she sometimes thrusts her tongue
through the cleft she has made, drawing it in and out
till she is noticed by the workers, to make them un-
derstand that she is in want of food. Upon perceiving
this they give her honey, till her hunger being satis-
fied she draws her tongue back — upon which they stop
the orifice with wax^.
a llubrcr, i. ^30.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 149
You may think it perhaps extraordinary that the
workers should thus endeavour to retard the appear-
ance of their youn^ females beyond its natural limit :
but when I explain to you the reason for this seeming-
incongruity of instinct, you will adore the wisdom that
implanted it. Were a queen permitted;) to leave her
cell as soon as the natural term for it arrived, it would
require some time to fit her for flii^ht, and to lead forth a
fiwarm ; during- which interval a troublesome task would
be imposed upon the workers, who must constantly de-
tail her a prisoner to prevent lier from destroying her
rivals, which would require the labours and attention
of a much larger number than are necessary to keep Iter
confined to her cell. On this account they never suf-
fer her to come forth till she is perfectly fit to take her
flight. When at length she is permitted to do this, if
she approaches the other royal cells, the workers on
guard seem greatly irritated against her, and pull and
bite and chase her away ; and she enjoys tranquillity
only while she keeps at a distance from them. As her
instinct is constantly urging her to attack them, this
proceeding is frequently repeated. Sometimes stand-
ing in a particular and commandinj^ attitude, she utters
that authoritative sound which so much affects tlic
bees ; they then all hang down their heads and remain
motionless; but as soon as it ceases, they resume their
opposition. At last she becomes violently agitated,
and, communicating her agitation to others, the confu-r
sion more and more increases, till a swarm leaves the
hive, which she either precedes or follows. In the
same manner the other young queens are treated while
there are swarms to go forth ; but when the hive is suf-
150 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSEC^TS.
ficiently thinned, and it becomes troublesome to guard
them in the manner here described, they come forth
unnoticed, and fight unimpeded till one alone remains
to fill the deserted throne of the parent hive. — You see
here the reason why the eggs that produce these queens
are not laid at the same time, but after some interval,
that they may come forth successively. For did they
all make their appearance together, it would be a
much more laborious and difiicult task to keep them
from destroying each other.
When the bees thus delay the entrance of the young
queens into their world, they invariably let out the
oldest first ; and they probably know their progress to
maturity by the emission of the sound lately mentioned.
The accurate Huber took the trouble to mark all the
royal cells in a hive as soon as the workers had co-
vered them In, and he found that they were all libe-^
rated according to seniority. Those first covered first
emit the sound, and so on successively; whence he con-
jectures that this is the sign by which the workers dis-
cover their age. As their captivity, however, is some-
times prolonged to eight or ten days, this circumstance
in that time may be forgotten. In this case he supposes
that their tones grow stronger as they grow older,
by which the workers may be enabled to distinguish
them. It is remarkable that no guard is placed roun^
the mute queens bred according to the Lusatian me-
thod, which, when the time for their appearance is
come, are not detained in captivity a single moment ;
but, as you have heard, are left to fight, conquer^ ov
die^,
a Iluber, i. 286.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 151
You must not think, however, from what I have been
saying", that tlie old queen never destroys the young
onespreviously to her leading; forth the earliest swarm.
She is allowed the most uncontrolled liberty of action;
and if she chooses to approach and destroy the royal
cells, her subjects do not oppose her. It sometimes
happens, when unfavourable weather retards the first
swarm, that all the royal progeny perishes by the sting
of their mother, and then no swarm takes place. It is
to be observed that she never attacks a royal cell till its
inhabitant is ready to assume the pupa, therefore much
will depend upon their age. When they arrive at this
state, her horror of these cells, and aversion to them,
are extreme : she attacks, perhaps, and destroys seve-
ral; but finding it too laborious, for they are often nu-
merous, to destroy the whole, the same agitation is
caused in her as if she were forcibly prevented, and she
becomes disposed to depart, rather than remain in the
midst of her rivals, though her own ofl'spring.
But though the bees, in one of these cases, appear
such unconcerned spectators of the destruction of royal
personages, or rather, the applauders and inciters of
the bloody fact; and in the other show little respect to
them, put such a restraint upon their persons, and ma-
nifest such disregard to their wishes ; yet when they
are once acknowledged as governors of the hive, and
leaders of the colony, their instinct assumes a new and
wonderful direction. From this moment they become
the '''"'publka cura^'' the objects of constant and univer-
sal attention ; and wherever they go, are greeted by a
homage which evinces the entire devotion of their sub-
jects. You seemed amused and interested in no slight
;152 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
degree by what I related in a former letter of the
marked respect paid by the ants to their fentales'*; but
this will bear no comparison with that shown by the in-
}iabitant«! of the hive to their cr een. She appears to
be the very soul of all their actions, and the centre of
their instincts. When they are deprived of her, or of
the means of replacing her, they lose all their activity,
and pursue no longer their daily labours. In vain the
flowers tempt them with their npctar and ambrosial
dust: they collect neither ; they elaborate no wax, and
build no cells ; they scarcely seem to exist ; and, in-
deed, would soon perish, were not the means of restoring
their monarch put within their reach. But, if a small
piece of comb containing the brood grubs of workers be
given to them, all seem endued with new life : their
instincts revive; they immediately set about building
royal cells ; they feed with their appropriate food the
grubs they have selected, and every thing proceeds in
the usual routine. Virgil has described this attach-
ment of the bees to their sovereign with great truth and
spirit in the following lines;
*' Lydiiii nur Mede so much his king adores,
Nor tiiose on iNilus' or Hydaspes' shores:
The state united stands whUe ho remains.
But should he full, what dire confusion reigns !
Their waxen combs and honey, late their joy, '
With grief and rage distracted, they destroy :
lie guards the works, with avye they him surround,
And crowd about him with triumphant sound ;
Him frequent on their duteous shoulders bear,
Bleed, fall, and die for him in glorious war,"
See above, p. 56.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INsSECTS. 153
r M. Huber tlius describes the consequences of the loss
lofa queen. — When the queen is removed from a hive,
at first the bees seem not to perceive it, their order and
tranquillity not being disturbed, and their labours pro-
ceeding- as usual. About an hour after her departure,
inquietude begins to manifest itself amongst theni; the
. care of the young brood no longer engages their atten-
tion, and they run here and there, as if in great agita-
tion. This agitation, however, is at fust confined to a
small portion of the community. The bees that are
.first sensible of their loss meet with others, they mu-
tually cross their antenucB, and strike them lightly.
By this action they appear to communicate the sad in-
telligence to those who receive the blow, who in their
turn impart it in the same way to others. Disorder
and confusion increase rapidly, till the whole popula-
tion is in a tumult. Then the workers may be seen
running over the combs, and against each other; im-
petuously rushing to the entrance and quitting the
hive; from thence they spread themselves all around,
.they re-enter, and go out again and again. The hum
in the hive becomes very loud, and increases the tu-
mult, which lasts two or three hours, rarely four or
rive: they then return and resume their wonted care
;of the young; and if the hive be visited twenty-four
hours after the departure of the queen, it will be seen
that they have taken steps to repair their loss by fillinii
some of the cells with a larger quantity of jelly than is
the usual portion of common larvae; which however is
mtended, it seems, not for the food of the inhabitant,
I)ut for a eiishicn to elevate it, since it is found uncon-
154 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS*
sumed in the cell when the grub is descended into the
pyramidal habitation afterwards prepared for it*.
If, after being removed, their old queen is restored
to the hive, they instantly recognise her, and pay her
the usual attentions : but if a strange one be introduced
within the first twelve hours after the old one is lost,
she is kept a close prisoner till she perishes : if twenty-
four hours, as I have before hinted, have expired since
they lost their queen, and you introduce a new one, at
the moment you set this stranger upon a comb, the
workers that are near her first touch her with their an-
tennae, and then pass their proboscis over all parts of
her body : place is next given to others, who salute
her in the same manner : — all then beat their wings at
the same time, and range themselves in a circle round
their new sovereign. A kind of agitation is now com-
municated to the whole surface of the comb, which
brings all the bees upon it to see what is going forward.
This may be called the first shout of the applauding
multitude to welcome the arrival of their new sove-
reign. The circle of courtiers increases, they vibrate
their wings and bodies, but without tumult, as if their
sensations were very agreeable. When she begins to
move, the circle opens to let her pass, and all follow
her steps. She is received with similar demonstrations
of loyalty in the other parts of the hive, is soon ac-
knowledged queen by all, and begins to lay eggs. —
Reaumur put some bees into a hive without their
queen, and then introduced to them one that he had
taken when half perished with cold, and kept inabox^, in
aHuber, ii. 396 —
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. IS.'j
which she had covered herself with powder. The bees
immediately owned her for tlieir queen, employed them-
selves very anxiously in cleaning her and warming her,
sometimes turning- her upon her back for this purpose
•—and then began to construct cells in their new habi-
tation^. Even when'the bees have got young brood,
have built or are building royal cells, and are engaged
in feeding these hopes of their hive, knowing that their
great aim is already accomplished, they cease all these
employments when this intruder comes amongst them.
With regard to the ordinary attention and homage
that they pay to their sovereigns — the bees do more
than respect their queen, says Reaumur, they are con-
stantly on the watch to make themselves useful to her,
and to render her every kind office ; they are for ever
offering her honey; they lick her with their proboscis,
and wherever she goes she has a court to attend upon
her''. It may here be observed, that the stimulant
which excites the bees to these acts of homage is the
pregnant state of their queen, and her fitness to main-
tain the population of the hive; all they do being with
9. view to the public good : for while she remains a
virgin she is treated with the utmost indifference,
which is exchanged, as soon as impregnation has taken
place, for the above marks of attachment''.
The instinct of the bees, however, does not always
enable them to distinguish a partially fertile queen
from one that is universally so. What I mean is this
— A queen, whose impregnation is retarded beyond the
twenty-eighth day of her whole existence, lays only
male eggs, which are of no use whatever to the com-
"Reaura. v, 262, b Reauia. v. Pref. xv. clluber, i. 269,
156 FEliriiCT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS,
munity, unless they are at the same time provided wiih
a sufficient supply of workers. Yet even a queen of
this description, and sometimes one that is entirely
sterile, is treated by them with the same respect and
homage as a fertile one. This seems to evince an ami'
able feeling- in these creatures, attachment to the per-
son as well as to the functions of the sovereigu: vvhich
is further manifested by their unwillingness at first to
receive a new sovereign upon the loss ordeath of their
old one. Nay, this respect is sometimes shown to the
carcase of a defunct queen, which Iluber assures us he
has seen bees treat with the same attention that tliey
had shown her when alive; for a long time preferring
her inanimate corpse to the fertile queens that he
offered to them^. He attributes this to some agreeable
sensation which they e?iperience from their queens, in--
dependent of their fecundity. But since virgin queens,
as we have seen, do not excite it, more probably it is
a remnant of their former attachment, first excited by
Iier fecundity, and afterwards t^trengthened and conti-
nued by habit.
I may here introduce an interesting anecdote re-
lated by Reaumur, which strongly marks the attach-
ment of bees to their queen when apparently lifeless, lie
took one out of the water quite motionless, and seem-
ingly dead, which had lost part of one of its legs. Bring-
ing it home, he placed it amongst some workers that he
had found in the same situation, most of which he haci
revived by means of warmth ; some however still being
in as bad a state as the poor queen. No sooner dici
these revised workers perceive the latter in this wretgh-?
a Huber, i, 322,
PERFECT SOCIBTIES OF INSECtS. 157
ril condition, than they appeared to compassionate I>er
case, and did not cease to lick her with their tongues
till she showed signs of returning animation ; which the
bees no sooner perceived, than they set up a general
hum, as if for joy at the happy event. All this time
they paid no attention to the workers who w ere in the
same miserable state ^.
On a former occasion I have mentioned the laying of
the eggs by the queen'' ; but as I did not then at all en-,
large upon it, I shall now explain the process more in
detail. In a subsequent letter I shall notice, what has
so much puzzled learned apiarists — her fecundation ;
which is now ascertained beyond contradiction, from
the observations of M. Huber, to take place in the open
air, and to be followed by the death of the unfortunate
male''. It is to be recollected that, from September to
April, generally speaking, there are no males in the
hives ; yet during this period the queen often ovipo-
sits: a former fecundation, therefore, must fertilize all
the eggs laid in tliis interval. The impregnation, in
order to ensure complete fertility, must not be too long
retarded; for, as I before observed, if this be delayed
beyond the twenty-eighth day of her existence, her
oraries become so vitiated, that she can no longer lay
eggs that will produce workers, but can only furnish
the hive with a male population ; which, however high
a privilege it may be accounted amongst men, is the
reverse of it amongst the bees. When this is the case,
the abdomen of the queen becomes so enlarged that
she is no longer able to fly '^; and, what is remarkable,
a Rtaum. V. 266. b Vol. I. 2d Ed. 376.
e HubrT, i. G3 — d Schiracli, 257.
158 PERFECT SOCIETIES OP INSECTS.
she loses that instinctive animosity which stimulates
the fertile ones to attack their rivals^. Thus she seems
to own that she is not equal to the duties of her station,
and can tolerate another to discharge them in her room.
When we consider how much virgin queens are slighted
by their subjects, we may suppose that nature urges?
them to take the opportunity of the first warm day,
when the males fly forth, to pair with one of them.
When fecundation has not been retarded, forty-six
hours after it has taken place, the queen begins to lay-
eggs that will produce workers, and continues for the
subsequent eleven months, more or less, to lay thera
solely; and it is only after this period that an uninter-
rupted laying of male eggs commences. — But when it
has been retarded, after the same number of hours she
begins laying male eggs, and continues to produce these
alone during her whole life. From hence it should
seem to follow, that the former kind of eggs are first
in the oviducts, and, if impregnation be not effected
within a given time, that all the worker embryos perish.
Yet how this can take place with respect to those that
in a fertile queen should succeed the laying of male
eggs, or be produced in the second year of her life,
seems difficult to conceive ; — or how the male embryos
escape this fate, which destroys all the females, both
those that are to precede them and those that are to
follow them. Is it impossible that the sex of the em-
bryo may be determined by the period at which the
aura seminalis vivifies it, and by the state of the ovary
at that time ? In one state of the ovary this principle
may cause the embryos to become workers, iij another
a Uuber, i. 319—
"PERFECT SOCIETIES OP INSECTS. 159
males. And something of this kind perhaps may be
the cause of hermaphrodites in other animals. But
this I give merely as conjecture*: the truth seems
enveloped in mystery that we cannot yet penetrate.
Huber is of opinion that a single impregnation ferti-
lizes all the eggs that a queen will produce during 1 or
whole life, which is sometimes more than two years''.
But of this enough.
I said that forty-six hours after impregnation the
queen begins laying worker eggs ; — this is not, how-
ever, invariable. When her impregnation takes place
late in the year, she does not begin laying till the fol-
lowing spring. Schirach asserts, that in one season a
single female will lay from 70,000 to 100,000 eggs'".
Reaumur says, that upon an average she lays about
two hundred in a day, a moderate swarm consisting of
12,000, which are laid in two months ; and Huber,
that she lays above a hundred. All these statements,
the observations being made in different climates, and
perhaps under different circumstances, may be true.
The laying of worker eggs begins in February, some-
times so early as January**. After this, in the spring,
the great laying of male eggs commences, lasting
thirty days ; in which time about 2,000 of these eggs
are laid. Another laying of them, but less consider-
a This conjecture receives strong confirination from the following ob»
serrations of Sir E. Home, which I met with since it came into my mind.
From the nipples present in man, which sometimes even aiTord milk,
and from the general analogy between the male and female organs of
generation, he supposes the germ is originally fitted to become either
sex ; and that which it shall be is determined at the time of impregna-
tion by some unknown cause- Philos. Trans. 1799. 157.
b i. 106— c Schirach, 7. 13. <> Ibid. 13, Tharley, 105.
160 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
able, takes place in autumn. In the sea^^on of ovipo-^
sition, the queen may be discerned traversing the
combs in all directions with a slow step, and seeking
tor cells proper to receive her eggs. As she walks, she
keeps her head inclined, and seems to examine, one by
Oi!e, all the cells she meets with. When she finds one
to her purpose, she immediately gives to her abdomen
the curve necessary to enable it to reach the orifice of
the cell, and to introduce it within it. The eggs are
set in the angle of the pyramidal bottom of the cell, or
in one of the hollows formed by the conflux of the sides
of the rhombs, and, being besmeared with a kind of
gluten, stand upright. If, however, it be a female that
lays only male eggs, they are deposited upon the lowest
of the sides of the cell, as she is unable to reach the
bottom*.
While our prolific lady is engaged in this employ*
ment, her court consists of from four to twelve at-
tendants, which are disposed nearly in a circle, with
their heads turned towards her. After laying from
two to six eggs, she remains still, reposing for eight
or nine minutes. During this interval the bees in her
train redouble their attentions, licking her fondly with
their tongues. Generally speaking, she lays only one
egg in a cell ; but when she is pressed, and there are
not cells enough, from two to four have been found in
one. In this case, as if they were aware of the conse-
quences, the provident workers remove all but one.
From an experiment of Huber's it appears that the
instinct of the queen invariably directs her to deposit
worker eggs in worker cells; for When he confined one-
a. Bonnet, s. 958, Svo Kd.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 161
■Juring her course of laying- worker eggs, where she
«ould only come at male cells, she refused to oviposit
in them ; and trying in vain to make her escape, they
at length dropped from her; upon which the workers
devoured them. Retarded queens, however, lose this
instinct, and often, though they lay only male eggs,
oviposit in worker cells, and even in royal ones. In
this latter case the workers themselves act as if they
suffered in their instinct from the imperfect state of
their queen ; for they feed these male larvcB with royal
jelly, and treat them as they would a real queen.
Though male eggs deposited in worker cells produce
«mall males, their education in a royal cell with "royal
" a Keys On Bees, 16,
TPCUFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 163
Wo much activity, cease their labours in a habitation
Which they are to quit at noon, were they not aware
that they should soon abandon it^? The appearance
of the males, and the clustering of the population at
the mouth of the hive, (though this last is less to be
relied upon, being often occasioned by extreme heat,)
are also indications of the approach of this event. A
good deal depends, however, on the warmth of the at-
mosphere and the state of the weather either to acce-
lerate or retard it. Another sign is a general hum in
the evening, which is continued even during the night,
— all seems to be in a bustle, the greatest restlessness
agitates the bees. Sometimes to hear this hum the
ear must be placed close to the hive, when clear and
"sharp sounds may be distinguished, which appear to be
produced by the vibration of the wings of a single bee.
This hum by some has been gravely construed into an
harangue of the queen to animate her subjects to the
great undertaking which she now meditates — the found-
ing of a new empire. There sometimes seem to hap-
pen suddenly amongst them, says Reaumur, events
which put all the bees in motion^ for which no account
can be given. If you observe a hive with attention,
you may often remain a long time and hear only a slight
murmur, and then, all in a moment, a sonorous hum
will be excited, and the workers, as if seized with a
^anic terror, may be seen quitting their various la-
bours, and running off in different directions. At these
hioments if a youiig queen goes out, she will be fol-
lowed by a numerous troop.
Iluber has given a very lively and interesting ac-
a ReJiuoi. v. 61 1.
M 2
164 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
count of the interior proceedings of the hive on this
occasion. The queen, as soon as she began to exhi-
bit signsof agitation, no longer laid her eggs with order
as before, but irregularly, as if she did not know what
she was about. She ran over the bees in her way :
they in their turn struck her with their antennae, and
mounted upon her back ; none offered her honey, but
she helped herself to it from the cells in her path. The
Usual homage of a court attending round her was no
longer paid. Those however that were excited by her
motions followed her, rousing such as were still tran-
quil upon the combs. She soon had traversed the whole
hive, when the agitation became general. The workers,
now no longer attentive to the young brood, ran about
in all directions ; even those that returned from foraging,
before the agitation was at its height, no sooner entered
the hive than they participated in these tumultuous
movements, and neglecting to free themselves from
the masses of pollen on their hind legs, ran wildly
about. At length there was a general rush to the out-
lets of the hive, which the queen accompanied, and the
swarm took place ^.
It is to be observed that this agitation, excited by
the queen, increases the customary heat of the hive to
a very high temperature, which the action of the sun
augments till it becomes intolerable, and which often
causes the bees accumulated near the mouth of the hive
to perspire so copiously, that those near the bottom,
who support the weight of the rest, appear drenched
with the moisture. This intolerable heat determines
the most irresolute to leave the hive. Immediately
a Huber, i. 251.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OP INSECTS. 165
before the swarming, a louder hum than usual is heard,
many bees take flight, and, if the queen be at their
head, or soon follows them, in a moment the rest rise in
crowds after her into the air, and the element is filled
with bees as thick as the falling snow. The queen at
first does not alight upon the branch on which the
swarm fixes ; but as soon as a group is formed and clus-
tered, she joins it : after this it thickens more and more,
all the bees that are in the air hastening to their com-
panions and their queen, so as to form a living mass of
animals supporting themselves upon each other by the
claws of their feet. Thus they sometimes are so con-
catenated, each bee suspending its legs to those of an-
other, as to form living chaplets*. After this they soon
become tranquil, and none are seen in the air. Before
they are housed they often begin to construct a little
comb on the branch on which they alight''. Sometimes
it happens that two queens go out with the same swarm ;
and the result is, that the swarm at first divides into
two bodies, one under each leader ; but as one of
these groups is generally much less numerous than the
other, the smallest at last joins the largest, accompa-
nied by the queen to whom they had attached them-
selves; and, when they are hived, this unfortunate
candidate for empire falls sooner or later a victim to
a Some critics have found fault with Mr. Southey for ascribing, in his
Curse of Ke/iama, to Camdeo, the Cupid of Indian inytholo^iy, a how
strung with bees. The idea is not so absurd as they imagine ; and the
poet doubtless was led to it by his knowledge of the natural history of
these animals, and that they form themselves info strings oi chaplcts.—
See Reaum. v. /. x.xii. /". 3. b Reaumur, 615-641.
166 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
the jealousy of her rival. Till this great question is
decided the bees do not settle to their usual labours*.
If no queen goes out with a swarm, they return to the
hive from whence they came.
As in regular monarcliies, so in this of the bees, the
first-born is probably the fortunate candidate for the
throne. She is usually the most active and vigorous;
the most able to take flight; and in the best condition
to lay eggs. Though the queen that is victorious, and
mounts the throne, is not, as Virgil asserts, resplen-
dent with gold and purple, and her rival hideous, sloth-
ful and unwieldy '', yet some differences are observ-
'able ; the successful candidate is usually redder and
larger than the others : these last, upon dissection, ap-
pear to have no eggs ready for laying, while the formerj
which is a powerful recommendation, is usually full of
them. Eggs are commonly found in the cejls twenty-
four hours after swarming, or at the latest two or three
days.
You may think, perhaps, that the bees which emi-
grate from the parent hive are the youth of the colony;
but this is not the case, for bees of all ages unite to
form the swarms. The numbers of which they consist
vary much, Reaumur calls 12,000 a moderate swarm ;
and he mentions one which amounted to more thai;!
three timer; that number (40^000), A swarm seldom.
a Reaumur, 615-644.
b " Alter erit maculis auro squalentibus ardens,
(Nam duo sunt genera) hie melior, insignis et ore,
Et rutilis clarus squarais: ille horrjdus alter
Pesidi^i lataraque trahens inglorius alvum."
Qeorg. iv. 91— :
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 167
or never takes place except when the sun shines and
the air is calm. Sometimes, when every thing seems
to prognosticate swarming, a cloud passing over the
sun calms the agitation; and afterwards, upon his
shining forth again, the tumult is renewed, keeps aug-
menting, and the swarm departs". On this account the
confinement of the queens, before related, is observed
to be more protracted in bad weather.
The longest interval between the swarms is from
seven to nine days, which usually is the space that in-
tervenes between the first and the second. The next
flies sooner, and the last sometimes departs the day after
that which preceded it. Fifteen or eighteen days, in
favourable weather, are usually sufficient for throwing
the four swarms. The old queen, when she takes flight
with the first swarm, leaves plenty of brood in the cells,
which soon renew the population*'.
It is not without example, though it rarely happens,
that a swarm conducted by the old queen increases so
much in the space of three weeks as to send forth a
new colony. Being already impregnated, she is in a
condition to oviposit as soon as there are cells ready to
receive her eggs : and an all-wise Providence has so
ordered it, that at this time she lays only suck as pro-
duce workers. And it is the first employment of her
subjects to construct cells for this purpose ". The young
a Bees are generally thought to foresee the state of the weather: but
they are not always right in their prognostics; for Reaumur witnessed a
swarm, which after leaving the hive at half-past one o'clock were over,
taken by a very heavy shower at three.
b Huber, i.27I. c Ibid.^SO,
168 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
queens that conduct the secondary swarms usually paip
the day after they are settled in their new abode ; when
the indifference with which their subjects have hitherto
treated them is exchanged for the usual respect and ho-
mage.
We may suppose that one motive with the bees for
following the old queen, is their respect for her ; but
the reasons that induce them to follow the virgin queens,
to whom they not only appear to manifest no attach-
ment, but rather the reverse, seem less easy to be as-
signed. Probably the high temperature of the hive
during these times of tumultuous agitation may be the
principal cause that operates upon them. In a popu-
lous hive the thermometer commonly stands between
92° and 97"; but during the tumult that precedes swarm-
ing it rises above 104", a heat intolerable to these ani-
mals^. This is M. Huber's opinion. Yet still, though
a high temperature will well account for the departure
of the swarm from the hive with a virgin queen, if
there were really no attachment, (as he appears to
think,) is it not extraordinary, that Avhen this cause no
longer operates upon them, they should agglomerate
about her, as they always do, be unsettled and agi-
tated without her, and quiet when she is with them ?
Is it not reasonable to suppose that the instijict which
teaches them what is necessary for the preservation of
their society, — at the same time that it shows them that
witliout a queen that society cannot be preserved, — im-
pells them in every case to the mode of treating her
which will most effectually influence her conduct, and
a Hiiber, i. 305.
PEUFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 169
ivive it that direction which is most beneficial to the
community ?
Yet, with respect to the treatment of queens, instinct
does not invariably direct the bees to this end. There
are certain exceptions, produced perhaps by artificial
or casual occurrences, in which it seems to deviate,
yet as we should call it amiably, from the rule of the
public advantage. Retarded queens, which, as I have
observed, lay male e^^s only, deposit them in all cells
indiiForently, even in royal ones. These last are treated
by the workers as if they were actually to become
queens. Here their instinct seems defective : — it ap-
pears unaccountable that tliey should know these eggs,
as they do, wlien deposited in workers cells, and give
Ihem a convex covering when about to assume the
])upa ; unless, perhaps, the size of the larva directs
them in this case.
The amputation of one of the antennas of a queen
bee appears not to affect her perceptibly ; but cutting
off both these important organs produces a very striking
derangement of all her proceedings — She seems in a
species of delirium, and deprived of all her instincts;
every thing is done at random ; yet the respect and ho-
mage of the workers towards her, though they are re-
ceived by her with indifference, continue undiminished.
If another in the same condition be put in the hive, the
bees do not appear to discover the difference, and treat
them both alike : but if a perfect one be introduced,
even though fertile, they seize her, keep her in con-
finement, and treat her very unhandsomely. One
may conjecture from this circumstance, that it is by
170 PERFECT SOCIETIES OP INSECTS.
those wonderful organs, the antennae, that the bees
know their own queen. If two mutilated queens meet,
they show not the slightest symptom of resentment.
While one of these continues in the hive, the workers
never think of choosing another ; but if she leaves it,
they do not accompany her, probably because the heat
is not increased by her putting them into the prepa-
ratory agitation*.
I am, &c.
a Hiiber, i. 316.
LETTER XX.
SOCIETIES OF INSECTS,
PERFECT SOCIETIES CONCLUDED.
JriAViNG given you a history sufficiently ample of the
queen or female bee, I shall next add some account of
the drone or male lee; but this will not detain you
long-, since " to be born and die" is nearly the sura
total of their story. Much abuse, from the earliest
times, has been lavished upon this description of the
inhabitants of the hive, and their indolence and glut-s-
tony have become proverbial. — Indeed, at first sight, it
seems extraordinary that seven or eight hundred indi-
viduals should be supported at the public expense,
and to common appearance do nothing all the while
that may be thought to earn their living. But the
more we look into nature, the more we discover the
truth of that common axiom, — that nothing is made in
vain. — Creative Wisdom cannot be caught at fault.
Therefore, where we do not at present perceive the
reasons of things, instead of cavilling at what we do
not understand, we ought to adore in silence, and
wait patiently till the veil is removed which, in any par-
ticular instance, conceals its final cause from our sight.
The mysteries of nature are gradually opened to us,
one truth making way for the discovery of another :
but still there will always be in nature, as well as in
173 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
revelation, even in those things that fall under our daily
observation, mysteries to exercise our faith and hu-
mility ; so that we may always reply to the caviller, —
*' Thine own things and those that are grown up with
thee hast thou not known; how then shall thy vessel
comprehend the way of the Highest?"
V^arious have been the conjectures of naturalists,
even in very recent times, with respect to the fertiliza-
tion of the eggs of the bee. Some have supposed, — and
the number of males seemed to countenance the sup-
position,— that this was effected after they were depo-
Eited in the cells. Of this opinion Maraldi seems to
have been the author, and it was adopted by Mr. De-
braw of Cambridge, who asserts that he has seen the
f^maller males (those that are occasionally produced in
cells usually appropriated to workers) introduce their
abdomen into cells containing eggs, and fertilize them ;
and that the eggs so treated proved fertile, while others
that were not remained sterile. The common or large
drones, which form the bulk of the male population
of the hive, could not be generally destined to this
office, since their abdomen, on account of its size, could
only be introduced into male and royal cells. Bonnet,
however, saw some motions of one of these drones,
^vhich, while it passed by those that were empty, ap-
peared to strike with its abdomen the mouth of the cells
containing eggs^. Swammerdam thought that the fe-
male was impregnated by efiiuvia which issued from
the male**. Reaumur, from some proceedings that he
witnessed, was convinced that impregnation took place
according to the usual law of nature, and, as he sup-
a Bonnet, x. 25P. b jiibl. Nd. i. i2I. h. ed. Hill.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 173
posed, within the hiv^e'. This opinion Huber has con-
firmed by indubital)le proofs; but he further discovered
that these aniuials pair abroad, in the air, during the
flight of the queen : a fact which renders a large num-
ber of inaies necessary, to ensure lier impregnation in
due time to lay eggs that vviil produce workers'*. Iluber
also observed those appearances which induced Debraw
to adopt the opinion I mentioned just now, and was at
first disposed to think them real : but afterwards, upoii
a nearer inspection, he discovered that it was an illu-
sion caused by the reflection of the rays of light '^.
In.fine weather the drones, during the warmest part
of the day, take their flights ; and it is then that they
pair with the queen in mid air, the result being inva-
riably the death of the drone. No one has yet disco-
vered, unless the proceedings observed by Debraw and
Bonnet may be so interpreted, that when in the hive
they take any share in the business of it, their great
employment within doors being to eat. Their life how-
ever is of very short duration, the eggs that produce
drones being laid in the course of April and May, and
their destruction being usually accomplished in the
months of July and August. The bees then, as M.
Huber observes, chase them about, and pursue them
to the bottom of the hives, where they assemble in
crowds. At the same time numerous carcases of drones
may be seen on the ground before the hives. Hence he
conjectured, though he never could detect them en-
gaged in this work upon the combs, that they were
stung to death by the workers. To ascertain how their
death was occasioned, he caused a table to be glazed,
on which he placed six hives, and under this table he
a Rcaum. v. 503— i> Huber, i. 24— o i!>id, 37 —
174: PJ^RFECf SOClEttES OF INSECTS^
employed the patient and indefatigable Biirnens, whd
■was to him instead of eyes, to watch their proceedingSc
On the fourth of July this accurate observer saw the
massacre going on in all the hives at the same time,
and attended by the same circumstances. The table!
was crowded with workerSj wliO, apparently in great
fage, darted upon the drones as soon as they arrived
at the bottom of the hive, seizing them by their an-
tennae, their legs, and their wings ; and killing- them
by violent strokes of their sting, which they generally
inserted between the segments of the abdomen. The
tnoment this fearful weapon entered their body, the
poor helpless creatures expanded their wings and ex-
pired. After this, as if fearful that they were not suffi-
ciently dispatched, the bees repeated their strokes, so
that they often found it difficult to extricate their sting.
On the following day they were equally busy in the
work of slaughter ; but their fury, their own having
perished, was chiefly vented upon those drones, which,
after having escaped from the neighbouring hives, had
sought refuge with them. Not content with destroy-
ing those that were in the perfect state, they attacked
also such male pupae as were left in their cells ; and
then dragging them forth, sucked the fluid from their
bodies and cast them out of the hive ^.
But though in hives containing a queen perfectly
fertile (that is, which lay both worker and male eggs,>
this is the unhappy fate of the drones ; yet in those
where the queen only lays male eggs, they are suffered
to remain unmolested ; and in hives deprived of their
queen, they also find a .secure asylum *'.
What it is that, in the former instanpe^ excite? the
a liubcr, i. 195. b Ibid, i99.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS* 175
fury of the bees against the males, is not easy to dis-
cover ; but some conjecture may perhaps be formed
from the circumstances last related. When only males
are produced by the queen, the bees seem aware that
something more is wanted, and retain the males ; the
same is the case when they have no queen ; and when
one is procured, they appear to know that she would not
profit them without the males. Their fury then is con-
nected with their utility : when the queen is impreg-
nated, which lasts for her whole life, as if they knew
that the drones could be of no further use, and would
only consume their winter stores of provision, they de*
stroy them ; which surely is more merciful than expel-
lingthem, in which case they must inevitably perish from
hunger. But when the queen only produces males,
their numbers are not sufficient to cause alarm ; and
the same reasoning applies to the case when there is
no queen.
Having brought the males from their cradle to their
untimely grave, and amused you with the little that is
known of their uilei^enfful history, I shall now, at last,
call you to attend to^ the proceedings of the workers
themselves ; and here I am afraid, long as I have de-
tained you, I must still press you to expatiate with me
in a more ample field; but the spectacles you will be-
hold during our excursion will repay, I promise you,
any delay or trouble it may occasion.
When I consider the proceedings of these little crea-
tures, both in the hive and out of it, they are so nume-
rous and multifarious, that I scarcely know where to
begin. You have already, however, heard much of
176 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
their internal labours, in the care and nurture of the
young; the construction of their combs*; and their
proceedings with respect to their queens and their
paramours. It vvilltherefoi^ change the scene a little,
if we accompany them in their excursions to collect the
various substances of which they have need**. On these
occasions the principal object of the bees is to furnish
themselves with three different materials : — the nectar
of flowers, from which they elaborate honey and wax;
a. Vol. I. 2d. Ed. 3T5— and 481—
b The following beautiful lines by Professor Smjth are extremely ap-
plicable to tliis part of a bee's labours:
" Thou cheerful Eee ! crme, freely come.
And travel round my woodbine bower I
Delight me with thy wandering hum,
' And rouse me from my musing hour;
Oh ! try no more those tedious fields.
Come tabte the sweets my garden yields:
The treasures of each blooming mine.
The bud, the blossom, — all are thine.
" And careless of this nooD-tide heat,
I'll follow as thy ramble guides ;
To watch thee pause and chafe thy feet.
And sweep them o'er thy downy sides:
Then in a flower's bell nestling lie.
And all thy envied ardor ply !
Then o'er the stem, fho' fair it grow,
With touch rejecting, glance, and go.
" O Nature kind ! O labourer wise !
That roam'st along the summer's ra) ,
Clean'st every bliss thy life supplies,
And meet'st prepared thy wintry day !
Go, envied go — with crowded gates
The hive thy rich return awaits ;
Bear home thy store, in triumph gay,
Aj}d shame each idler of the day,"
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 177
Jhe pollen or fertilizinn; dust of the anthers, of which
they make what is called boe-bread, serving as food
both to old and youni>; ; and the resinous substance
called by the ancients Propolis, Pissoceros, &c. used
in various ways in rendering the hive secure and giv-
ing the finish to the combs. The first of these sub-
stances is the pure fluid secreted in the nectaries of
flowers, w hich the length of their tongue enables them
to reach in most blossoms. The tongue of a bee, you
are to observe, though so long and sometimes so in-
flated *, is not a tube through which the honey passes,
nor a pump acting by suction, but a real tongue which
laps or licks the honey, and passes it down on its upper
surface, as we do, to the mouth, which is at its base
concealed by the mandibles^. It is conveyed by this
orifice through the cesophagus into the first stomach,
which we call the honey-bag, and which, from being
very small, is swelled when full of it to a considerable
size. Honey is never found in the second stomach,
(which is surrounded with muscular rings, and resem-
bles a cask covered with hoops from one end to the
other,) but only in the first : in the latter and the intes-
tines the bee-bread only is discovered. How the wax
is secreted, or what vessels are appropriated to that
purpose, is not yet ascertained. Huber suspects that a
cellular substance, consisting of hexagons, which lines
the membrane of the wax-pockets, may be concerned
in this operation. This substance he also discovered
in humble-bees (which though they make wax have no
wax-pockets), occupying all the anterior part or base
of the segments •=. • If you wish to see the wax-pockets
a Reaum, v. f. xxviii./. 1, 2. b Ihid./. 7. o. t ltubei;ii.3--.f. h.f.8.
TOL. II. JS
178 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
in the hive-bee, you must press the abdomen so as to
cause it to extend itself; you will then find on each of
the four intermediate ventral segments, separated by
the carina or elevated central part, two trapeziform
whitish pockets, of a soft membranaceous texture : on
these the laminaB of wax are formed, and they are found
upon them in different states, so as to be more or less
perceptible. I must here observe that, besides Thor-
ley, who seems to have been the first apiarist that ob-
served these laminae, Wildman was not ignorant of
them, nor of the wax being formed from honey ^ : we
must not therefore permit foreigners to appropriate to
themselves the whole credit of discoveries that have
been made, or at least partially made, by our own
countrymen.
Long before Linne had discovered the nectary of
flowers, our industrious creatures had made themselves
intimate with every form and variety of them ; and no
botanist, even in this enlightened era of botanical sci-
ence, can compare with a bee in this respect. The
station of these reservoirs, even where the armed sight
of science cannot discover it, is in a moment detected
by the microscopic eye of this animal.
She has to attend to a double task — to collect mate-
rials for bee-bread as well as for honey and wax. Ob-
serve a bee that has alighted upon an open flower.
The hum produced by the motion of her wings ceases,
and her employment begins. In an instant she unfold^s
her tongue, which before w as rolled up under her head.
With what rapidity does she dart this organ between
the petals and the stamina ! Atone time she extends it
* a Wildman, 43,
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 179
to its full length, then she contracts it ; she moves it
about in all directions, so that it may be applied both
to the concave and cx>nvex surface of a petal, and wipe
them both ; and thus by a virtuous theft robs it of all
its nectar. All the while this is going- on, she keeps
herself in a constant vibratory motion. The object of
the industrious animal is not, like the more selfish but-
terfly, to appropriate this treasure to herself. It goes
into the honey-bag as into a laboratory, where it is
transformed into pure honey ; and when she returns
to the hive, she regurgitates it in this form into one of
the cells appropriated to that purpose ; in order that,
after tribute is paid from it to the queen, it may consti-
tute a supply of food for the rest of the community.
In collecting honey, bees do not solely confine them-
selves to flowers, they will sometimes very greedily
absorb the sweet juices of fruits : this I have frequently
observed with respect to the raspberries in my garden,
and have noticed it, as you may recollect, in a former
letter-^. They will also eat sugar, and produce wax
from it ; but from Huber's observations, it appears not
calculated to supply the place of honey in the jelly
with which the larvae are fed'\ Though the great mass
of the food of bees is collected from flowers, they do
not wholly confine themselves to a vegetable diet; for,
besides the honeyed secretion of the Aphides, the pos-
session of which they will sometimes dispute with the
ants% upon particular occasions they will eat the eggs
of the queen. They are very fond also of the fluid that
oozes from the cells of the pupae, and will suck eagerly
a Vol, 1. 2d Rd. 197. b Hiibrr, li. 82.
c Abbe Boisicr, quoted in Mills on Bees, 24.
N 2
180 PERFECT SOCIETIES Ojp INSECTS^
all that is fluid in their abdomen after they are destroy-*
ed by their rivals '^. — Several flowers that produce much
honey they pass by ; in some instances from inability ta
get at it. Thus, for this reason probably, they do not
attempt those of the trumpet-honeysuckle, (L&nicera
sempervirens^ L.) which, if separated from thegermen
after they are open, will yield two or three drops of the
purest nectar. So that were this shrub cultivated with
that view, much honey in its original state might be ob-
tained from a small number of plants. In other cases,
it appears to be the poisonous quality of their honey
that induces bees to neglect certain flowers. You have
doubtless observed the conspicuous white nectaries of
the crown imperial, (Fritillaria imperialism L.) and
that they secrete abundance of this fluid. It tempts in
vain the passing bee, probably aware of some noxious
quality that it possesses. The oleander (Nerium Olemi'
der, L.) yields a honey that proves fatal to thousands of
imprudent flies ; but our bees, more wise and cautious^
avoid it. Occasionally, perhaps, in particular seasons,
wlien flowers are less numerous than common, this in-
stinct of the bees appears to fail them, or to be over-
powered by their desire to collect a sufficient store of
honey for their purposes, and they suffer for their want
of self-denial. Sometimes whole swarms have been de-
stroyed by merely alighting upon poisonous trees. This
happened to one in the county of West Chester in the
province of New York, which settled upon the branches
of the poison-ash (Rhus Vernix, L.). In the following
morning the imprudent animals were all found dead, and
swelled to more than double their usual size"'. Whether
a Scbirach,45. Huber, i. 179. t> Nicholson's Journal) xxiii. ^Sl,
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 181
the honey extracted from the species of the genus Kal-
mia, Andromeda, Rhododendron, &c. be hurtful to the
bees themselves, is not ascertained ; but, as has been
before observed, it is often poisonous to man ^. The
Greeks, as you probably recollect, in their celebrated
retreat after the death of the younger Cyrus, found a
kind of honey at Trebisond on the Euxine coast, which,
though it produced no fatal eftects upon them, rendered
those who ate but little like men very drunk, and those
who ate much like mad men or dying persons; and
numbers lay upon the ground as if there had been a
defeat. Pliny, who mentions this honey, calls it mce-
nomenon, and observes that it is said to be collected
from a kind of Rhododendron, of which Tournefort
noticed two species there ^.
When the stomach of a bee is filled with nectar, it
next, by means of the feathered hairs '^ with which its
body is covered, pilfers from the flowers the fertilizing
dust of the anthers, the pollen ; which is equally ne-
cessary to the society with the honey, and may be named
the ambrosia of the hive, since from it the bee-bread is
made. Sometimes a bee is so discoloured with this
powder as to look like a different insect, becoming
white, yellow, or orange, according to the flowers in
which it has been busy. Reaumur was urged to visit
the hives of a gentleman, Avho on this account thought
his bees were different from the common kind"^. He
suspected, and it proved, that the circumstance just
jnentioned occasioned the mistaken notion. When the
a VoL.T. 2d Ed, 143.
bXenoph. Jnuhas. 1. iv. Plin. Hist. Nat. 1. xxi. c. 13.
c Reauin, v. t. xxvi, /. 1. d Ibid. 285.
182 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
body of the bee is covered with farina, with the brushes
of its legs, especially of the hind ones, it wipes it off:
not, as we do with our dusty clothes, to dissipate and
disperse it in the air, but to collect every particle of
it, and then to knead it and form it into two little
masses, which she places, one in each, in the baskets
formed by hairs'* on her hind legs.
Aristotle says that in each journey from the hive,
bees attend only one species of flower*"; Reaumur,
however, seems to think that they fly indiscriminately
from one to another : but Mr. Dobbs in the Philoso-
phical Transactions '^.f and Butler before him, asserts
that he has frequently followed a bee engaged in col-
lecting pollen, &c. and invariably observed that it con-
tinned collecting from the same kind of flowers with
which it first began ; passing over other species, how-
ever numerous, even though the flower it first selected
was scarcer than others. His observations, he thinks,
are confirmed — and the idea seems not unreasonable —
by the uniform colour of the pellets of pollen, and their
different size. Reaumur himself tells us that the bees
enter the hive, some with yellow pellets, others with
red ones, others again with whitish ones, and that some-
times they are even green : upon which he observes,
that this arises from their being collected from parti-
cular flowers, the pollen of whose anthers is of those
colours'*. Sprengel, as before intimated'', has made an
observation similar to that of Dobbs. It seems not im^
probable that the reason why the bee visits the same
aKirby, Monogr. jip. Angl. i. t.\2. **. e. 1. neut. f. 19. a. b.
b Hist. Anim. 1. Lx. c. 40. c xlvi. 536.
d uhi supra, 301 . e y ol. I. 2d Ed, 295.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 18S
Species of plants during one excursion may be this: —
Her instinct teaches her that the grains of pollen which
enter into the same mass should be homogeneous, in
order perhaps for their more effectual cohesion; and
thus Providence also secures two important ends, — the
impregnation of those flowers that require such aid,
by tiie bees passing from one to another; and the
avoiding the production of hybrid plants, from the ap-
plication of the pollen of one kind of plant to the stigma
of another. When the anthers are not yet burst, the
bee opens them with her mandibles, takes a parcel of
pollen, which one of the first pair of legs receives and
delivers to the middle pair, from which it passes to one
of the hind legs.
If the contents of one of the little pellets be examined
under a lens, it will be found that the grains have all
retained their original shape. A botanist practised in
the figure of the pollen of the different species of com-
mon plants might easily ascertain, by such an exami^
nation, whether a bee had collected its ambrosia from
one or more, and also from what species of flowers.
In the months of April and May, as Reaumur tells
us, the bees collect pollen from morning to evening ;
but in the warmer months the great gathering of it is
from the time of their first leaving the hive (which is
sometimes so early as four in the morning) to about
10 o'clock A. M. About that hour all that enter the
hive may be seen with their pellets in their baskets ;
but during the rest of the day the number of those so
furnished is small in comparison of those that are not.
In a hive, however, in which a swarm is recently esta-
blished, it is generally brought in at all parts of the day.
184 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
He supposes, in order for its being formed into pellets,
that it requires some moisture, which the heat evapo-
rates after the above hour ; but in the case of recently
colonized hives, that the bees go a great >vay to seek
it in moist and shady places ^.
When a bee has completed her lading, she returns
to the hive to dispose of it. The honey is disgorged
into the honey-pots or cells destined to receive it, and
is discharged from the honey-bag by its alternate con-
traction and dilatation. A cell will contain the con-
tents of many honey-bags. When a bee comes to dis-
gorge the honey, witli its fore legs it breaks the thick
cream that is always on the top, and the honey which
it yields passes under it. This cream is honey of a
thicker consistence than the rest, which rises to the top
in the cells like cream on milk : it is not level, but forms
an oblique surface over the honey. The cells, as you
know, are usually horizontal, yet the honey does not
run out. The cream, aided probably by the general
thickness of the honey and the attraction of the sides
of the cell, prevents this. Bees, when they bring home
the honey, do not always disgorge it; they sometimes
give it to such of their companions as have been at work
within the hive*". Some of the cells are filled with honey
for daily use, and some with what is intended for a re-
serve, and stored up against bad weather or a bad sea-
son : these are covered with a waxen lid*^.
The pollen is employed as circumstances direct.
a Reaum. v. 302. — comp. 433. I have seen bees out before it was lis^ht,
Ilube r observes that the honey for store is collected hy the wa.i-
niaking bees only {abeilles cirieres), and that the nurses {abeillen nourrko)
gather no more than what is wanted for themselves and companloni ^=it^
work ill the hive, ii, 66. c Reauui. v. 448,
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 185
When the bee laden with it arrives at the hive, she
sometimes stops at the entrance, and very leisurely de-
tacliing- it by piecemeal, devours one or both the pel-
lets on her legs, chewing them with her jaws, and pass-
ing- them then down the little orifice before noticed.
Sometimes she enters the hive, and walks upon the
combs ; and whether she walks or stands, still keeps
beating her wings. By the noise thus produced, which
seems a call to some of her fellow-citizens, three or
four go to her, and placing themselves around her, be-
gin to lighten her of her load, each taking and devour-
ing- a small portion of her ambrosia : this they repeat,
if more do not arrive to assist them, three or four
times, till the whole is disposed of*". Wiklman ob-
served them on this occasion supporting themselves
upon their two fore feet ; and making several motions
with their wings and body to the right and left, which
produced the sound that summoned ther assistants •".
This bee^bread, as I said before, is generally found in
the second stomach and intestines, but the honey never;
which induced Reaumur to think (but he was mistaken)
that the bees elaborated wax from it : and he observes,
that the bees devour this when they are busily en-
gaged in constructing combs *". When more pollen is
collected than the bees have immediate occasion for,
they store it up in some of the empty cells. The laden
bee puts her two hind legs into the cell, and with the
intermediate pair pushes off the pellets. W^hen this is
done, she, or another bee if she is too much fatigued
with her day's labour, enters the cell with her head
firstj and remains there some time; she is engaged in
a Re.ium, V. 418— '' p, 33. t uhi supr. i\9.
186 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
diluting- the pellets, kneading them, and packing them
close: and so they proceed till the cell is filled*. A
large portion of the cells of some combs are filled with
this bread, which one while is found in insulated cells,
at another in cells amongst those that are filled with
honey or brood. — Thus it is everywhere at hand for use.
You have seen how the bees collect and employ two
of the materials that I mentioned ; 1 must now advert
to the third — the Propolis. Huber was a long time un-
certain from whence the bees procured this gummy re-
sin; but it at last occurred to him to plant some cut-
tings of a species of poplar (before their leaves were
developed, when their leaf-buds were swelling, and
besiiieared and filled with a viscid juice,) in some pots,
whicli he placed in the way of the bees that went from
his hives. Almost immediately a bee alighted upon a
twig, and soon Avith its mandibles opened a bud, and
drew from it a thread of the viscid matter which it
contained ; with one of its second pair of legs it took
it from the mouth, and placed it in the basket: thus it
proceeded till it had given them both their load*^. I
have myself seen bees very busy collecting it from the
Tacamahaca {Populus halsamifera, L.). But this is an
old discovery, confirmed by recent observation ; for
MoufFet tells us from Cordus, that it is collected from
the gems of trees, instancing the poplar and the birch '^.
Riem observes that it is also collected from the pine and
fir. The propolis is soft, red, will pull out in a thread,
is aromatic, and imparts a gold colour to white po-
lished metals. It is employed in the hive not only in
a Compare Reaum. 420, and Huber, ii.2J, with "VVildman, 40.
b Iluber, ii. 2G0. c Jnscct.TheatT.2Q. Schirach,241.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 18T
finishing- the combs, as I related in my letter on Habi-
tations^; but also in stopping every chink or orifice
by which cold, wet, or any enemy can enter. They
cover likewise with it the sticks which support the
combs, and often spread it over a considerable portion
of the interior of the hive. Like the pellets of pollen,
it is carried on the posterior tibiae, but the masses are
lenticular*^.
Mr. Knight mentions an instance of bees using an
artificial kind of propolis. He had caused the decor-
ticated part of some tree to be covered with a cement
composed of bees-wax and turpentine : finding this to
their purpose, they attacked it, detaching it from the
tree by their mandibles, and then, as usual, passing it
from the first leg to the second, and so to the third.
When one bee had thus collected its load, another
often came behind and despoiled it of all it had col-
lected ; a second and third load were frequently lost in
the same manner ; and yet the patient animal pursued
its labours without showing any signs of anger".
Bees in their excursions do not confine themselves to
the spot immediately contiguous to their dwelling, but,
when led by the scent of honey, will go a mile from it.
Huber even assigns to them a radius of half a league
round their hive for their ordinary excursions ; yet from
this distance they will discover honey with as much
certainty as if it was within their sight. To prove
that it is by their scent that bees find it out, he put
some behind a window-shutter, in a place where it could
not be seen, leaving the shutter just open enough for
a Vol. T. 2d Ed. 500. b Reaum. nU supr. 437—
c Philos. Trans. 1807,242,
188 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
insects, if they liked, to get at it. In less than a quar-
ter of an hour four bees, a butterfly, and some house-
flies had discovered it. At another time he put some
into boxes, with little apertures in the lid, into which
pieces of card were fitted, which he placed about two
hundred paces from his hives. In about half an hour
the bees discovered them, and traversing- them very in-
dustriously, soon found the apertures, when, pushing
in the pieces of card, they got to the honey. That
contained in the blossom of many plants is quite as
much concealed, yet the acuteness of their scent en-
ables them to detect it.
These insects, especially when laden and returning
to their nest, fly in a direct line, which saves both time
and labour. How they are enabled to do this with
such certainty as to make for their own abode without
deviation, I must leave to others to explain. Con-
nected with this circumstance, and the acuteness of
their smell, is the following curious account, given in
i\\e PJulosophical Transactions for 1721, of the method
practised in New England for discovering where the
wild hive-bees live in the woods, in order to get their
honey. The honey-hunters set a plate containing ho-
ney or sugar upon the ground in a clear day. The
hees soon discover and attack it : having secured two
or three that have filled themselves, the hunter lets one
go, which, rising into the air, flies straight to the nest:
he then strikes off at right angles with its course a few
hundred yards, and letting a second fly, observes its
course by his pocket-compass, and the point where the
two courses intersect is that where the nestis situ^ted^^
a j.xii,\. 145.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 189
Tlie natural station of bees is in the cavities of de-
cayed trees; such trees, Mr. Knight teHs us, they will
discover in the closest recesses, and at an extraordi-
nary distance from the hive ; in one instance it was a
mile: and at swarming, they sometimes are inclined to
settle in such cavities. After the discovery of one, from
twenty to fifty, who are a kind of scouts, may be found
examining- and keeping possession of it. They seem
to explore every part of it and of the tree with the
greatest attention, even surveying the dead knots and
the like*. When a hive stands unemployed, a swarm
will also sometimes send scouts to take possession of it.
How long our little active creatures repose before
they take a second excursion I cannot precisely say.
In a hive the greatest part of the inhal)itants generally
appear in repose, lying together, says Reaumur, but
this probably for a short time. Huber tells us, that
bees may always be observed in a hive with the head
and thorax inserted into cells that contain eggs, and
sometimes into empty ones ; and that they remain in
this situation fifteen or twenty minutes so motionless,
that did not the dilatation of the segments of the abdo-
men prove the contrary, they might be mistaken for
dead. He supposes their object is repose from their
labours ''. The queen, for this purpose, enters the large
a Knight in Philos. Trans, for 1807,231. Marshall, JgricuU. of Norfolk.
b It has been supposed, and the supposition was adopted originally in
this work (Voi. I. 1st Ed. p. 371), that the object in this case is brood-
ing the eggs; but upon further consideration we incline to Huber's opi-»
nion, that, it has no connexion with it, the ordinary temperature of the
liive being sufficient for this purpose: and the circumstance of their en-
tering unoccupied cells proves that this attitude has no particular con-
nexion with the eggs. Huhr,\. 2\Z — " When large pieces of comb," says
190 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
cells of the males, and continues in them without mo-
tion a very long time. Even then the workers form a
circle round her, and brush the uncovered part of her
abdomen. The drones while reposing do not enter
the cells, but cluster in the combs, and sometimes re-
main without stirring a limb for eighteen or twenty
hours ^.
Reaumur observes, that in a hive the population of
which amounts to 18,000, the number that enter the
hive in a minute is a hundred ; which, allowing four-
teen hours in the day for their labour, makes 84,000 :
thus every individual must make four excursions daily,
and some five. In hives where the population was
smaller, the numbers that entered were comparatively
greater, so as to give six excursions or more to each
bee**. But in this calculation Reaumur does not seem
to take into the account those that are employed within
the hive in building or feeding the young brood; which
must render the excursions of each bee still more nu-
merous. He proceeds further to ground upon this
statement a calculation of the quantity of bee-bread
that may be collected in one day by such a hive ; and
he found, supposing only half the number to collect it,
that it would amount to more than a pound ; so that in
one season, one such hive might collect a hundred
Wildnian (p. 45), " were broken off and left at the bottom of the hive,
a great number of bees have gone and placed themselves upon them."
This looks like incubation. Reaumur however affirms (p. 591) that if
part of a comb falls and loses its perpendicular direction, the bees, as if
conscious that they would come to nothing, pull out and destroy all the
larvae. They might perhaps remain perpendicular in the case observed
by Wildman.
a Reaum. v, 431. Huber, ii. 212. b Reaum. v. 432 —
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 191
pounds". What a wonderful idea does this give of the
industry and activity of these little useful creatures !
And what a lesson do they read to the members of so-
cieties that have both reason and religion to guide their
exertions for the common good ! Adorable is that
Great Being who has gifted them with instincts, which
render them as instructive to us, if we wi-ll condescend
to listen to them, as they are profitable.
While I am upon this part of the story of bees, I
cannot pass over the account Reaumur has given from
Maillet of the transportation of hives in Egypt from
one place to another, before alluded to**, to enable
them to make in greater abundance their collections
of honey, &c. Towards the end of October, when the
inundations of the Nile have ceased, and the husband-
men can sow their land, saintfoin is one of the first
things that is sown ; and as Upper Egypt is warmer
than the Lower, the saintfoin gets there first into blos-
som. At this time, bee-hives are transported in boats
from all parts of Egypt into the upper district, and are
there heaped in pyramids upon the boats prepared to
receive them; each being numbered by the individual
to which it belongs. In this station they remain some
days ; and when they are judged to have got in the
harvest of honey and pollen that is to be collected
there, they are removed two or three leagues lower
down, where they remain the same time ; and so they
proceed till towards the middle of February, when
having traversed Egypt, they arrive at the sea, from
whence they are dispersed to their several owners.
John Hunter observes, that when the season for lay-
ii Reaum. V. 434— b Vol. I, 3tl Ed. 331. Reaumur, v. 698—
192 . PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
ing- is over, that for collecting honey comes on (he
means, probably, for making the principal collection of
it); and that when the last pupa is disclosed, the cell
it deserts, after being- cleaned, is immediately filled
with it ; and as soon as full is covered with pure wax :
but this only holds with respect to the cells containing
honey for winter use, those destined to receive that
which forms their food when bad weather prevents
tliem from going out, being left open^. Sometimes,
when the year is remarkably favourable for collecting
honey, the bees Avill destroy many of the larvas to make
room for it ; but they never meddle with the pupae^
When no more honey is to be collected, they remain
quiet in the hive for the winter. Mr. Hunter found
that a hive ffrew lighter in a cold than in a warm week ;
he found also, that in three months (from November
10th to February 9th) a single hive lost 72 oz. l|drani'*.
Water is a thing of the first necessity to these in-
sects ; but they are not very delicate as to its quality,
but rather the reverse ; often preferring what is stag-
nant and putrescent, to that of a running stream". I
have frequently observed them busy in corners moist
with urine ; perhaps this is for the sake of the saline
particles to be there collected.
A new-born bee, as soon as it is able to use its wings,
seems perfectly aware, without any previous instruc-
tion, what are to be its duties and employments forthe
rest of its life. It appears to know that it is born for
society, and not for selfish pursuits ; and tlierefore it
invariably devotes itself and its labours to the benefit
a Philos. Tiam. 1792, 160, Comp. Reaum. v, 450,
a Reaum. ibhi. 391— lliiiUei, ibid. 161 — c Reaum. ibid. 69T,
PERFfiCT SOCIETIES OP INSECTS. 193
of the community to which it belongs. Walking upon
the combs, it seeks for the door of the hive, that it may
sally forth and be useful. Full of life and activity, it
then takes its first flight ; and, unconducted but by its
instinct, visits like the rest the subjects of Flora, ab-
sorbs their nectar, covers itself with their ambrosial
dust, which it kneads into a mass and packs upon its
hind legs; and if need be, gathers propolis, and returns
unembarrassed to its own hive*.
Instances of the expedition with which our little fa-
vourites accomplish their various objects you have had
several ; but this is never more remarkable than when
they settle in a new hive. At this time, in twenty-four
hours they will sometimes construct a comb twenty
inches long by seven or eight wide ; and the hive will
be half filled in five or six days ; so that in the first
fifteen days as much wax is made as in the whole year
besides''.
In treating of the various employments of the bees,
I must not omit one of the greatest importance to
them — the ventilation of their abode. When you con-
sider the numbers contained in so confined a space ;
the high temperature to which its atmosphere is raised ;
and the small aperture at which the air principally en-
ters, you will readily conceive how soon it must be ren-
dered unfit for respiration, and be convinced that there
must be some means of constantly renewing it. If you
feel disposed to think that the ventilation takes place,
as in our apartments, by natural means, resulting from
the rarefaction of the air by the heat of the hive, and
the consequent establishment of an interior and exte-
a R Ibid- 656.
VOB. II. O
It)|; IPERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
rior current — a simple experiment will satisfy you that
this cannot be. Take a vessel of the size of a bee-hive,
with a similar or even somewhat larger aperture — in-
troduce a lighted taper, and if the temperature be
raised to more than 140°, it will go out in a short
time. We must therefore admit, as Huber observes^
that the bees possess the astonishing- faculty of attract-
ing the external air, and at the same time of expelling
tliat which has become corrupted by their respiration.
What would you say, should I tell you that the bees
upon this occasion have recourse to the same instru-
ment which ladies use to cool themselves when an
apartment is overheated ? Yet it is strictly the case.
By means of their marginal hooks, they unite each
piair of wings into one plane slightly concave, thus
acting upon the air by a surface nearly as large as pos-
sible, and forming for them a pair of very ample fans^
which in their vibrations describe an arch of 90°. Thesfr
vibrations are so rapid as to render the wings almost
invisible. When they are engaged in ventilation, the
bees by means of their feet and claws fix themselves as
firmly as possible to the place they stand upon. The-
first pair of legs is stretched out laefore ; the second
extended to the right and left; whilst the third, placed
very near each other, are perpendicular to the abdo-
men, so as to give that part considerable elevation.
Maraldi, and after him Reaumur, long ago noticed
this action of the bees; but they attributed to it an ef-
fect the reverse of that which it really produces ; the
former imagining it to occasion directly the high tem-
perature of the hive, and the latter indirectly ''. It
a ii. 339. b Reaum. v. 672.
PERFECT SOC^ETl£.Sf«F INSECTS. 195
was reserved for Huber to discover the true cause of
it ; and from him the chief of what I have to say upon
the subject will be derived*.
During the sumraera certain number of workers — for
it is to the workers solely that this office is committed
— may always be observed vibrating their wings before
the entrance of their hive ; and the observant apiarist
will find upon examination, that a still greater num-
ber are engaged within it in the same employment. All
those thus circumstanced that stand without, turn their
head to the entrance ; while those that stand within,
turn their back to it. The station of these ventilators
is upon the floor of the hive. They are usually ranged
in files, that terminate at the entrance ; and sometimes,
but not constantly, form so many diverging rays, pro-
bably to give room for comers and goers to pass. The
number of ventilators in action at the same time varies;
it seldom much exceeds twenty, and is often more cir-
cumscribed. The time also that they devote to this
function is longer or shorter according to circum-
stances : some have been observed to continue their
vibrations for nearly half an hour without resting,
suspending the action for not more than an instant, as
it should seem to take breath. When one retires,
another occupies its place ; so that in a hive well
peopled there is never any interruption of the sound
or humming occasioned by this action; by which it may
always be known whether it be going on or not.
This humming is observable not only during the
heats of summer, but at all seasons of the year. It
sometimes seems even more forcible in the depth of
a Iliiber.ii. 338— 362.
o 2
196 PERFECT sbcIETIES OF INSECTS.
winter than when the temperature of the atmosphere
is higher. An employment so constant, which always
occupies a certain number of bees, must produce as
constant an effect. The column of air once disturbed
within, must give place to that without the hive : thus
a current being established, the ventilation will be per-
petual and complete.
To be convinced that such an effect is produced, ap-
proach your hand to a ventilating bee, and you will
find that she causes a very perceptible motion in the
air. Huber tried an experiment still more satisfac-
tory. On a calm day, at the time when the bees had
returned to their habitation — having fixed a screen be-
fore the mouth of the hive to prevent his being misled
by any sudden motion of the external air — he placed
within the screen little anemometers or wind-gauges,
made of bits of paper, feather, or cotton, suspended by
a thread to a crotch. No sooner did they enter the
atmosphere of the bees than they were put in motion^
being alternately attracted and repelled to and from the
aperture of the hive with considerable rapidity. These
attractions and repulsions were proportioned to the
number of bees engaged in ventilation, and, though
sometimes less perceptible, were never entirely sus-
pended. Burnens tried a similar experiment in the
winter, when the thermometer stood in the shade at 33°.
Having selected a well-peopled hive, the inhabitants of
which appeared full of life and sufficiently active in the
interior, and luted it all around, except the aperture to
the platform on which it stood, he stuck in the top a
piece of iron wire which terminated in a hook, to which
he fastened a hair with a small square of very thin
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 197
paper at the other end ; this was exactly opposite to the
aperture, at the distance of about an inch from it. As
soon as the apparatus was fixed, the hair with its paper
pendulum began to oscillate more or less, the greatest
oscillations on both sides being an inch, by admeasure-
ment, from the perpendicular: if the paper was moved
by force to a greater distance, the vibrations did not
take place, and the apparatus remained at rest, lie
then made an opening in the top of the hive, and
poured in some liquid honey : soon after there arose a
hum, the movement in the interior increased, and
some bees came out. The oscillations of the pendu-
lum upon this became more frequent and intense, and
extended to fifteen lines or an inch and a quarter from
the perpendicular ; but when the paper was removed
to a greater distance from the aperture it remained at
rest.
Huber, at the proposal of M. de Saussure, in order
to ascertain whether artificial ventilators would pro-
duce an analogous effect, got a mechanical friend to
construct for him a little mill with eighteen sails of tin.
He also prepared a large cylindrical vase, into which
he could, at an aperture in the box upon which it was
fixed, introduce a lighted taper. In one side of this
bo^t was another aperture to represent that of a hive,
but larger. The ventilator was placed below, and
luted at the points of contact, and anemometers were
suspended before the aperture. The first experiment
was the introduction of the taper, without putting the
ventilator in motion. Though the capacity of the ves-
sel was about 3228 cubic inches, the flame soon dimi-
nished, and went out in about eight minutes, and the
198 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
anemometers continued motionless. The same expe-
riment was next repeated with the door shut, with
precisely the same result. After the air of the vessel
had been renewed, the taper was again introduced,
and the ventilator set in motion : immediately, as ap-
peared by the oscillations of the anemometers, two
currents of air were established, and the brilliancy of
the flame was not diminished during the whole course
of the experiment, which might have been prolonged
for an indefinite time. A thermometer placed in the
lower part of the apparatus rose to 112°; and the
temperature was evidently still more elevated at the
top of the rieceiver.
The Creator often has one end in view in the ac-
tions of animals, (and nothing more conspicuously dis-
plays the invisible hand that governs the universe,)
while the agents themselves have another. This pro-
bably is the case in the present instance, since we can
scarcely suppose that the bees beat the air with their
wings in order to ventilate the hive, but rather to re-
lieve themselves from some disagreeable sensation w hich
oppresses them. The following experiments prove that
one of their objects in this action, as it is with ladies
when they use their fans, is to cool themselves when
they suffer from too great heat. When Huber once
opened the shutter of a glazed hive, so that the solar
rays darted upon the combs covered with bees, a hum-
ming, the sign of ventilation, soon was heard amongst
them, while those which were in the shade remained
tranquil. The bees composing the clusters which often
are suspended from the hives in summer, when they are
incommoded by the heat of the sun, fan themselves with
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 19§
great energy. But if by any means a shadow is cast over
any portion of the group, the ventilation ceases there,
while it continues in the part which feels the heat of
the sun. The same cause produces a similar effect upon
humble-bees, wasps, and hornets.
Amongst the bees, however, it is remarkable that
ventilation goes on even in the depth of winter, when
it cannot be occasioned by excess of heat. — This there-
fore can only be regarded as a secondary cause of the
phenomenon. From other experiments, which, having
already detained you too long, I shall not here detail,
it appears that penetrating and disagreeable odours
produce the same effect''. Perhaps, though Huber
does not say this, the odour produced by the congre-
gated myriads of the hive may be amongst the princi-
pal motives that impel its inhabitants to this necessary
action.
Whatever be the proximate cause, it is I trust now
evident to you, that the Author of nature, having as-
signed to these insects a habitation into which the air
cannot easily penetrate, has gifted them with the means
of preventing the fatal effects wiiich would result from
corrupted air. An indirect effect of ventilation is the
elevated temperature which these animals maintain,
without any effort, in their hive : — but upon this 1 shall
enlarge hereafter.
Bees are extremely neat in their persons and habi-
tations, and remove all nuisances with great assiduity,
at least as far as their powers enable them. Some-
times slugs or snails will creep into a hive, which with
all their address they cannot readily expel or carry out.
a Iluber, ii. 359— ■
200 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
But here their instinct is at no loss ; for they kill them,
and afterwards embalm them with propolis, so as to
prevent any offensive odours from incommoding them.
An unhappy snail, that had travelled up the sides of a
glazed hive, and which they could not come at with
their stings, they fixed, a monument of their vengeance
and dexterity, by laying this substance all around the
mouth of its shell *. When they expel their excre-
ments, they go apart that they may not defile their
companions : and in winter, when prevented by ex-
treme cold, or the injudicious practice of wholly closing
the door of the hive, from going out for this purpose,
their bodies sometimes become so swelled from the ac-
cumulation of feces in the intestines, that when at last
able to get out they can no longer fly, so that falling
to the ground in the attempt, they perish with cold, the
sacrifice of personal neatness''. When a bee is dis-
closed from the pupa and has left its cell, a worker
comes, and taking out its envelope carries it from the
hive ; another removes the exuviae of the larva, and a
third any filth or ordure that may remain, or any pieces
of wax that may have fallen in when the nascent image
broke from its confinement. But they never attempt
to remove the internal lining of silk that covers the
walls, spun by the larva previous to its metamorphosis,
because, instead of being a nuisance, it renders the cell
more solid ".
Having now described to you the usual employments
of my little favourites both within doors and without,
I shall next enlarge a little upon their language, me-
a Reaum. v. 442. b Bonner On Bees, 10?.
c Reaum. ubi supr, 580-60Q,
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 20l
mory, tempers, manners, and some other parts of their
history.
" Brutes" (it is the remark of Mr. Knight) " have
language to express sentiments of love, of fear, of an-
ger ; but they seem unable to transmit any impression
they have received from external objects. But the lan-
guage of bees is more extensive; if not a language of
ideas, it is something very similar^." You have seen
above that the organ of the language of ants is their
antennae. Huber has proved satisfactorily, that these
parts have the same use with the bees. He wished to
ascertain whether, when they had lost a queen (intel-
ligence which traverses a whole hive in about an hour)
they discovered the sad event by their smell, their
touch, or any unknown cause. He first divided a hive
by a grate, Avhich kept the two portions about three or
four lines apart ; so that they could not come at each
other, though scent would pass. In that part in which
there vvas no queen, the bees were soon in great agi-
tation ; and as they did not discover her where she was
confined, in a short time they began to construct royal
cells, which quieted them. He next separated them
by a partition through which they could pass their an-
tennae, but not their heads. In this case the bees all
remained tranquil, neither intermitting the care of the^
brood, nor abandoning their other employments; nor
did they begin any royal cell. The means they used
to assure themselves that their queen was in their vi-
cinity and to communicate with her, was4o pass their
antennae through the openings of the grate. An infi-
nite number of these organs might be seen at onpe, as
a In Fhilos. Trans. 1807, 239.
202 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
it were, inquiring, in all directions; and the queen was
observed answering these anxious inquiries of her sub-
jects in the most marked manner ; for she was always
fastened by her feet to the grate, crossing her antennae
with those of the inquirers. Various other experiments,
which are too long to relate, prove the importance of
these organs as the instrument of communicating with
each other, as well as to direct the bee in all its pro-
ceedings^. Besides their antennae, the bees also cause
themselves to be understood by certain sounds, not in-
deed produced by the mouth, but by other parts of
their body : — but upon this subject 1 shall have occa-
sion to enlarge hereafter.
That bees can remember agreeable sensations at
least, is evident from the following anecdote related by
Huber. — One autumn some honey was placed upon a
window — the bees attended it in crowds. The honey
was taken away, and the window closed Avith a shutter
all the winter. In the spring, when it was re-opened,
the bees returned, though no fresh honey had been
placed there''.
From the earliest times our little citizens of the hive
have had the character of being an irritable race.
Their anger is without bounds, says Virgil ; and if they
are molested, this character is no exaggeration. Some
individuals, however, they will suffer to go near their
hives, and to do almost any thing : and there are others
to whom they seem to take such an antipathy, that they
will attack them unprovoked. A great deal will probably
depend upon this — whether any thing has happened to
put them out of humour. The bees usually do not attack
a Huber, ii. 407— b Ibid. 315,
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS'. 203
me ; but I remember one day last year, when the as-
paragus was in blossom, which a large number were at-
tending, I happened to go between my asparagus beds ;
which discomposed them so much, that I was obliged
to retreat with hasty steps, and some of them flew after
me; I escaped however unstung. Thorley relates an
anecdote of a gentleman, wlio desirous of securing a
swarm of bees that had settled in a hollow tree, rashly
undertook to dislodge them. He succeeded; but though
he had used the precaution of securing his head and
hands, he was so stung by the furious animals, that a
violent fever was the consequence, and his recovery
was for some time doubtful. The strength of his con-
stitution at length prevailed; and the hole of the tree
being stopped, the survivors of the battle settled upon
a branch, were hived, and became the dear-bought
property of their conqueror^.
"tn Mungo Park's last mission to Africa, he was much
annoyed by the attack of bees, probably of the same
tribe with our hive-bee. His people, in search of honey,
disturbed a large colony of them. The bees sallied
forth by myriads, and attacking men and beasts indis-
criminately, put them all to the rout. One horse and
six asses were either killed or missing in consequence
of their attack; and for half an hour the bees seemed
to have completely put an end to their journey. Isaaco
upon anotlier occasion lost one of his asses, and one of
his men was almost killed by them''.
a Thorley, 16 — The Psalmist alludes to the fury of these crratuies,
when hi says of his entmies, " They compassed me about likt bees."
Ps. cxviii. \'2.
b Park's Last Mudon, 133. 297. Corap. Journal, 331 .
204 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF IJSfSECTS.
BeeSj however, if they are not molested, are not
usually ill-tempered : if you make a captive of their
queen, they will cluster upon your head, or any other
part of your body, and never attempt to sting you. I
remember, when a boy, seeing the celebrated Wildman
exhibit many feats of this kind, to the great astonish-
ment and apprehension of the uninformed spectators.
The writer lately quoted (Thorley) was assisted once
by his maid-servant to hive a swarm. Being rather
afraid, she put a linen cloth as a defence over her head
and shoulders. When the bees were shaken from the
tree on which they had alighted, the queen probably
settled upon this cloth ; for the whole swarm covered
it, and then getting under it, spread themselves over
her face, neck, and bosom, so that when the cloth was
removed she was quite a spectacle. She was with great
difficulty kept from running off with all the bees upon
her ; but at length her master quieted her fears, and
began to search for the queen. He succeeded; and
hoped when he put her into the hive that the bees
w ould follow : but they only seemed to cluster more
closely. Upon a second search he found another queen,
(unless the same had escaped and returned,) whom
seizing, he placed in the hive. The bees soon missed
her, and crowded after her into it ; so that in the space
of two or three minutes not one was left upon the poor
terrified girl. After this escape, she became quite a
heroine, and would undertake the most hazardous em-
ployments about the hives*.
Many means have been had recourse to for the di-
spersion of mobs and the allaying of popular tumults,
a Thorley, 150—
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
205
In St. Petersburgh (so travellers say) a fire-engine
playing upon them does not always cool their choler;
but were a few hives of bees thus employed, their dis-
comfiture would be certain. The experiment has been
tried. Lesser tells us, that in 15'25, during the confu-
sion occasioned by a time of war, a mob of peasants as-
sembling in Hohnstein (in Thuringia) attempted to pil-
lage the house of the minister of Elende ; who having
in vain employed all his eloquence to dissuade thera
from their design, ordered his domestics to fetch his
bee-hives, and throw them in the middle of this furious
mob. The effect was what might be expected ; they were
immediately put to flight, and happy if they escaped un-
stung*.
The anger of bees is not confined to man ; it is not
seldom excited against their own species. From what
I have said above respecting the black bees'' and their
fate, it seems not improbable that, when the workers
become too old to be useful to the community, they are
either killed, or expelled the society Reaumur, who
observed that the inhabitants of the same hive had often
mortal combats, was of opinion that this was their ob-
ject in these battles '', which take place, he observes, in
fine or warm vi^eather. On these occasions the bees
are sometimes so eager, that examining them with a
lens does not part them : — their whole object is to pierce
each other with their sting, the stroke of which, if once
it, penetrates to the muscles, is mortal. In these en-
gagements the conqueror is not always able to extri^
cate this weapon, and then both perish. The duration
of the conflict is uncertain; sometimes it lasts an hour,
1 Lesser, L.ii. 171. 6 See above, p. 128. c Reaum. v. 360-365.
206 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
and at others is very soon determined : and occasion-
ally it happens that both parties, fatigued and despair-
ing of victory, give up the contest and fly away.
But the wars of bees are not confined to single com-
bats; general actions now and then take place between
two swarms. This happens when one takes a fancy to
a hive that another has pre-occupied. In fine warm
weather, strangers, that wish to be received amongst
them, meet with but an indifferent welcome, and a
bloody battle is the consequence. Reaumur witnessed
one tliat lasted a whole afternoon, in which many vic-
tims fell. In this case the battle is still between indi-
viduals, who at one time decide the business within the
hive, and at another at some distance without. In the
former case the victorious bee flies away, bearing her
victim under her body between her legs, sometimes
taking a longer and sometimes a shorter flight before
she deposits it upon the ground. — She then takes her
repose near the dead body, standing upon her four an-
terior legs, and rubbing the two hinder ones against
each other. If the battle is not concluded within the
hive, tJie enemy is carried to a little distance, and then
dispatched.
This strange fury however does not always show
itself on this occasion; for now and then some friendly
intercourse seems to take place. Bees, from a hive in
Mr. Knight's garden, visited those in that of a cottager,
a hundred yards distant, considerably later than their
usual time of labour, every bee as it arrived appearing
to be questioned. Oi^ the tenth morning, however, the
intercourse ceased, ending in a furious battle. On
another occasion, an intimacy took place between two
PERFCCT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 207
hives of his own, at twice the distance, which ceased
on the fifth day. Sometimes he observed that tliis com-
l^iunication terminated in the union of two swarms; as
in one instance, where a swarm had taken possession
of a hollow tree'% it is probable tJiat the reception of
one swarm by another may depend upon their num-
bers, and the fitness of their station to accommodate
them. Thorley witnessed a battle of more than two
days continuance, occasioned by a strange swarm forcing
their way into a hive''. Two swarms that rise at the
same time sometimes fight till great numbers have been
destroyed, or one of the queens slain, when both sides
cease all their enmity and unite under the survivor*^.
These apiarian battles are often fought in defence
of the property of the hive. Bees that are ill managed,
and not properly fed, instead of collecting for them-
selves, will now and then get a habit of pillaging flora
their more industrious neighbours : these are called by
Schirach corsair bees, and by English writers, robbers.
They make their attack chiefly in the latter end of Ju-
ly, and during the month of August. At first they act
with caution, endeavouring to enter by stealth ; and
then, emboldened by success, come in a body. If one
of the queens be killed, the attacked bees unite with the
assailants, take up their abode with them, and assist
in plundering their late habitation''. Schirach very
gravely recommends it to apiarists whose hives are
attacked by these depredators, to give the bees some
honey mixed with brandy or wine, to increase and
a "^Mlos. Trans. 1807, 2.S4— b 166. c Thorley, ibid. Coinp.
Mills On Bees, 63. a Corap. Schirach, 49. Mills, 62— Thorley,
1G3—
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INJECTS.
inflame their courage, that they may more resolutely
defend their property against their piratical assailants''.
It is however to be apprehended, that this method of
making- them pot-valiant might induce them to attack
their neighbours, as well as to defend themselves.
Sometimes combats take place in which three or four
bees attack a single individual, not with a design to
kill, but merely to rob : one seizes it by one leg, another
by another; till perhaps there are two on each side,
each having hold of a leg, or they bite its head or
thorax. But as soon as the poor animal that is thus
haled about and maltreated unfolds its tongue, one of
the assailants goes and sucks it with its own, and is
followed by the rest, who then let it go. These in-
sects, however, in their ordinary labours are very kind
and helpful to each other ; I have often seen two, at
the same moment, visit the same flower, and very
peaceably despoil it of its treasures, without any con-
tention for the best share.
As the poison of bees exhales a penetrating odour,
M. Huber was curious to observe the effect it might
produce upon them. Having extracted with pincers
the sting of a bee and its appendages impregnated with
poison, he presented it to some workers, which were
settled very tranquilly before the gate of their man-
sion. Instantaneously the little party was alarmed ;
none however took flight, but two or three darted upon
the poisoned instrument, and one angrily attacked the
observer. When however the poison was coagulated,
they were not in the least affected by it — A tube im-
pregnated with the odour of poison recently ejected
a 51.
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 200
bDJng presented to them, aftccted them in tlie same
manner". This circumstance may sometimes occasion
battles amongst them, that are not otherwise easy to be
accounted for.
Anger is no useless or hurtful passion in bees ; it is
necessary to them for the preservation of themselves
and their property, which, besides those of their own
species, are exposed to the ravages of numerous ene-
mies. Of these I have alreadj'^ enumerated several of
the class of insects, and also some beasts and birds that
have a taste for bees and their produce ''. The Mcrops
Apiaster (which has been taken in England), the lark
and other birds catch them as they fly. Even the frog
and the toad are said to kill great numbers of bees ;
and many that fall into the water probably become the
prey of fish. The mouse also, especially the field-
mouse, in winter often commits great ravages in a hive,
ifthe base and orifices are not well secured and stopped ^
Thorley once lost a stock by mice, which made a nest
and produced young amongst the combs'^. The tit-
mouse, according to the same author, will make a noise
at the door of the hive, and when a bee comes out to see
what is the matter, will seize and devour it. He has
known them cat a dozen at a time. The swallows will
assemble round the hives and devour them like grains
of corn ^. I need only mention spiders, in whose webs
they sometimes meet with their end, and earwigs and
ants, which creep into the hive and steal the honey ^
Upon this subject of the enemies of bees, I cannot
persuade myself to omit the account Mr. White has
given of an idiot-boy, who from a child showed a strong
a ii. 386-- b Vor,. I. 2d Ed. 164, and 280. 288.
c Schiracli, 52. '^ 170. e FJeaiira. v. 710. f Thorley, 171
VOL. II. r
210 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS.
propensity to bees. They were his food, his amusement,
his sole object. In the winter he dozed away his time
in his father's house, by the fire-side, in a torpid state,
seldom leaving the chimney-corner : but in summer he
was all alert and in quest of his game. Hive-bees,
humble-bees, and wasps were his prey wherever he
found them. He had no apprehension from their
stings, but would seize them with naked hands, and
at once disarm them of their weapons, and suck their
bodies for the sake of their honey-bags. Sometimes he
would fill his bosom between his shirt and skin with
these animals ; and sometimes he endeavoured to con-
fine them in bottles. He was very injurious to men
that kept bees ; for he would glide into their bee-
gardens, and sitting down before the stools, would rap
with his fingers, and so take the bees as they came out.
He has even been known to overturn the hives for the
sake of the honey, of which he was passionately fond.
Where metheglin was making, he would linger round
the tubs and vessels, begging a draught of wlrat he
called bee-wine. As he ran about, he used to make a
humming noise with his lips resembling the buzzing of
bees. This lad was lean and sallow, and of a cadave-
rous complexion ; and except in his favourite pursuit, in
which he was wonderfully adroit, discovered no manner
of understanding. Had his capacity been better, and
directed to the same object, he had perhaps abated
much of our wonder at the feats of a more modern ex-
hibiter of bees ; and we may justly say of him now,
" Thou,
Had thy presiding star propitious shone,
Should'st Wilduian be." =
a White's iVa<. Hist. 8vo. i. 330—
PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 211
The worker bees are annual insects, though the queen
will sometimes live more than two years; but, asevery
swarm consists of old and young-, this is no argument
for burning them. It is a saying of bee-keepers in Hol-
land, that the first swallow and the first bee .foretell
each other ^. This perhaps may be correct there ; but
with us the appearance of bees considerably precedes
that of the swallow ; for when the early crocuses open,
if the weather be warm, they may always be found busy
in the blossom.
The time that bees will inhabit the same stations is
wonderful. Reaumur mentions a countryman who pre-
served bees in the same hive for thirty years ^. Thor-
ley tells us that a swarm took possession of a spot un-
der the leads of the study of Ludovicus Vivos in Ox-
ford, where they continued a hundred and ten years,
from 1520 to 1630''. These circumstances have led
authors to ascribe to bees a greater age than they caa
claim. Thus Mouffet, because he knoAV a bees-nest
which had remained thirty years in the same quarters,
concludes that they are very long-lived, and very sapi-
ently doubts whether they even die of old age at all ^ ! ! !
Which is just as wise as if a man should contend, be-
cause London had existed from before the time of Ju-
lius Caesar, that therefore its inhabitants must be im-
mortal.
Bees are subject to many accidents, particularly, as
I have. said above, they often fall or are precipitated
a Swamm. Bib. Nat. Ed. Hill, !. 160. h uM supr. 665.
ens— «l T/(f« Reaujw. ij. 253.
238 MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS.
noticed by the author just quoted, whenever it rests
from feeding, turns its head over its back, then become
concave, at the same time elevating its tail, the extre-
mity of which remains in a horizontal position, with two
short horns like ears behind it. Thus the six anterior
legs are in the air, and the whole animal looks like a qua-
druped in miniature ; the tail being its head — the horns
its ears — and the reflexed head simulating a tail curled
over itsback^. In this seemingly unnatural attitude
it will remain without motion for a very long time.
Some lepidopterous larvs, that fix the one half of
the body and elevate the other, agitate the elevated
part, whether it be the head or the tail, as if to strike
what disturbs thera*^. The giant caterpillar of a large
North- American moth (Bombt/x regalis, F.) is armed
behind the head and at the back of the anterior se<;-
ments with seven or eight strong curved spines from
half to three-fourths of an inch in length. Mr. Abbott
tells us that this caterpillar is called in Virginia the
hickory-horned devil, and that when disturbed it draws
up its head, shaking or striking it from side to side ;
which attitude gives it so formidable an aspect, that no
one, he affirms, will venture to handle it, people in ge-
neral dreading it as much as a rattle-snake. When, to
convince the Negroes that it was harmless, he himself
took hold of this animal in their presence, they used to
reply that it could not sting him, but would them '^.
The species of a genus of beetles separated f*om Can-
tharis, L., under the name oi Malachius, F,, endeavour
to alarm their enemies and show their rage by puffing
a Reaum. ii.260. t. 20./. 10. 11. Compare Sepp IV. t. \.f. 3-7.
b Ibid.i. 100. c Smith's AbboWs Ins. of Georgia, ii. 121v
MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECT.?. 250
out and inflating four vesicles from the sides of tlieir
bodj', which are of a bright red, soft, and of an irregu-
lar shape. When the cause of alarm is removed, they
are retracted, so that only a small portion of them ap-
pears ^.
Insects often endeavour to repel or escape from as-
sailants by their motions. Mr.White, mentioning a wild
bee that makes its nest on the summit of a remarkable
hill near Lewes in Sussex, in the chalky soil, says :
*' When people approach the place these insects begin
to be alarmed, and with a sharp and hostile sound dash
and strike round the heads and faces of intruders. I
have often been interrupted myself while contemplat-
ing the grandeur of the scenery around me, and have
thought myself in danger of being stung''." — The hive-
bee will sometimes have recourse to the same expe- ^
dient, when her hive is approached too near, and thus
give you notice what you may expect if you do not
take her warning and retire. — Humble-bees when dis-
turbed, whether out of the nest or in it, assume some
very grotesque and at the same time threatening at-
titudes. If you put your finger to them, they will
either successively or simultaneously lift up the three
legs of one side ; turn themselves upon their back ;
bend up their anus and show their sting accompanied
by a drop of poison. Sometimes they will even spirt out
that liquor. When in the nest, if it be attacked, they
also beat their wings violently and emit a great hum''.
These motions menace vengeance ; those of some
other insects are merely to effect their escape. Thus I
a De Geer, iv. T4, b Nat. Hist. ii. 268.
c P. liuber in Linn, Trans, vi. 219. Kirby, Mon, Jp. Angl. i. 201.
240 MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS,
have observed that the species of the May-fly triba
Phri/ganea, L., Trichoptera^ K.*), when I have at-
tempted to take them, have often glided av/ay from un-
der my hand — v/ithout moving their limbs that I could
discover — in a remarkable manner. I once observed a
weevil (Braclnyrhinns, F.) upon a rail, which, when it
saw me, slidcd sideways, and then rolled off. To notice
the ordinary motions of insects, which are often means
by which they escape from danger, would here be pre-
mature, since they will be fully considered in a subse-
quent letter. I shall therefore only mention the zigzag
iiight of butterflies and the traverse sailing of humble-
bees, which certainly render it more difficult for the
birds to catch them while on tlie wing.
I^oises are another mean of defence to which insects*
Lave occasional recourse. I have heard the lunar
dung-beetle {Copris hoiaris, F.) when disturbed utter
a shrill sound. Gcoirupes Oro?nedon, F., another of
the ScarabceidcBy Mas observed by Dr. Arnold to make,
when alarmed, a kind of creaking noise, which it pro-
duced by rubbing its abdomen against its elytra. A
third of the same tribe, Trox sabulosus, F., emits a
small sibilant or chirping noise, as I once observed
when I found several feeding in a ram's horn. The
" drowsy hum" of beetles, humble-bees, and other in-
sects, in their flight, may tend to preserve them from
some of their aerial assailants. And the angry chidings
of the inhabitants of the hive, which are very distin-
guishable from their ordinary sounds, may be regarded
as warning voices to those from whom they apprehend
evil or an attack. 1 have before observed that the
a Kirby in Linn, Trans, xi. 87, note *.
ItfEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS. 241
death's-head hawk-moth (Sphinx Atropos, L.), when
menaced by the stings often thousand bees enraj^ed at
her depredations upon their property, possesses the
secret to disarm them of their fury ^. This insect, wlw^n
in fear or danger, is known to produce a sharp, shrill,
mournful cry, which with the superstitious has added
to the ahirm produced by the symbol of death which
signalizes its thorax''. This cry, there is reason to
believe, aft'ects and disarms the bees, so as to enable
her to proceed in her spoliations with impunity '^. One
of these insects being' once brought to a learned divine,
who w as also an entomologist, when he was unwell, he
was so much moved by its plaintive noise, that, instead
of devoting it to destruction, he gave the animal its life
and liberty. I might say more upon tliis subject of de-
fensive noises ; but I shall reserve what I have further
to communicate, to a letter which I purpose devoting to
the sounds produced or emitted by insects.
You are acquainted with the singular property of
the skunk ( Viverra putorius, L.), which repels its as-
sailants by the fetid vapour that it explodes ; but per-
haps are not aware that the Creator has endowed many
insects with the same property and for the same pur-
pose— some of which exhale powerful or disagreeable
odours at all times, and from the general surface of their
body ; while they issue from others only through par-
ticular organs, and when they are attacked.
Of the former description of defensive scents there
a Vol. I, 2d Ed. 1G5. b Ibid. 31.
c Huber appears to be of this opinion; he does not, however, lay great
stress upon it. Yet there seems no other way of accounting for the impu-
nity with which this animal commits its depredations.^ Huber, ii. 299 —
VOL. II. R
^42 MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS.
are numerous examples in almost every order ; ioi*,
next to plants and vegetable substances, insects, of any
part of the creation, afford the greatest diversity of
odours. In the Coleoptera order a very common beetle,
the whirlwig- {Gijrinus Natator^ L.)? will infect your
finger for a long time with a disagreeable rancid smell ;
while two other species, G. minutus and vil/osus, are
scentless. — Those unclean feeders, the carrion beetles
(Silphce, L.), as might be expected from the nature of
their food, are at the same time very fetid. — Pliny tells
us of a Blatta, — which, from his description, is evi-
dently the darkling-beetle (Blaps moriisaga, F.), and
which he recommends as an infallible nostrum, when
applied with oil extracted from the cedar, in otherwise
incurable ulcers, — that was an object of general dis-
gust on account of its ill scent, a character which it still
maintains *. — Numbers of the CarabidcE (a kind of black
beetles that run very fast, and are found under stones,
and m places that have not a free circulation of air,)
exhale a most disagreeable and penetrating odour,
which De Geer observes resembles that of rancid
butter, and is not soon got rid of It is produced, he
says, from an unctuous matter that transpires through
the body ^ ; but I am rather inclined to think it pro-
ceeds from the extremity. — I have noticed that some
small beetles of the Omalium genus Grav. — for in-
stance O. rivulare, and another species that I once found
in abundance on the primrose (O. Primulce, K. Ms.),
especially the latter — are abominably fetid when taken,
and that it requires more than one washing to free the
fingers from it. Every one knows that the cock-roachj
a Hist. Nat, 1. axix. c, 6. b Jv. 86.
MEANS OF DEFE^^CE OF INSECTS. 243
[Ulaita orient alls, L.), belonging to the Orthoptera or-
der, is not remarkable for a pleasant scent; — but none
are more notorious for their bad character in this re-
spect than the bug tribe (Cimicidce)., which almost uni-
versally exhale an odour that mixes with the scent of
cucumbers another extremely unpleasant and annoy-
ing. Some liowever are less disgusting, particularly
Li/gceus Hyoscyumi^ F., which yields, De Geer found,
an agreeable odour of thyme ^. — Several lepidopterous
larvae are defended by their ill smell ; but I shall only
particularize the silk- worms, which on that account are
said to be unwholesome. — Phryganea grandis^ a kind
of May-fly, is a trichopterous insect that oflfends the
nostrils in this way ; but a worse is Hemerohius Perla^
a golden-eyed and lace-winged fly, of the next order,
whose beauty is counterbalanced by a strong scent of hu-
man ordure that proceeds from it. — Numberless //y-
menoptera act upon the olfactory nerves by their ill or
powerful eflluvia. One of them, an ant ( Formica foetiday
De Geer, fa'tens, Oliv.), has the same smell with the
insect last mentioned •*. Our common black ant (F.fuli'
ginosa, Latr.), whose curious nests in trees have been
before described to you*", is an insect of a powerful and
penetrating scent, which it imparts to every thing with
which it comes in contact; andFabricius distinguishes
another (F, analis, Latr., foetens, F.) by an epithet
ifostidissima) which sufficiently declares its properties.
Many wild bees (Meliifa, K., Andrena, F.) are distin-
guished by their pungent alliaceous smell. Crahro
U-Jlavuniy Helw., a wasp-like insect, is remarkable for
the perti^trating and spirituous effluvia of ether that it
a De Geer, iii. 249. 374. b Ibid. 611. c Vol. I. 2d Ed. 483.
11 2
244 MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECT&.
exhales*. Indeed there is scarcely any species in this
order that has not a peculiar scent. — Some dipterous
insects — though these in general neither offend nor de-
light us by it — are distinguished by their smell. Thus
Musca myslacea^ L., a fly that in its grub state lives
in cow-dung, savours in this respect, when a deni-
zen of the air, of the substance in which it first drew
breath. And another {M. eijnipsea, L.) emits a fra-
grant odour of baum ''. — I have not much to tell you
with respect to apterous insects, except that lulus ter-
restris, a common millepede, leaves a strong and dis-
agreeable scent upon the fingers when handled ''. Most
of the insects I have here enumerated, probably, are
defended from some enemy or injury by the strong va-
pours that exhale from them ; and perhaps some in the
list produce it from particular organs not yet noticed.
I shall next beg your attention to those insects that
emit their smell from particular organs. Of these,
some are furnished with a kind of scent-vessels, which
I shall call osmatcria ; while in others it issues from the
intestines at the ordinary passage. In the former in-
stance the organ is usually retractile within the body,
being only exerted when it is used : it is generally a
bifid vessel, something in the shape of the letter Y.
Linne, in his generic character of the rove-beetles^
(Slap/ij/linus), mentions two oblong vesicles as proper
to this genus. These organs, — which are by no means
common to the whole genus, even as restricted by late
writers, — are its osmateria, and give forth the scent for
which some species, particularly S. brunnipes, are re-
a Kirby, Mon. Ap. Angl. i. 136. note a. b Dc Gcer, vi.^35. fi%
t Ibid. vii. 581,
MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS. 245
iTiarkable. If you press the abdomen hard, you \\i\\
find that these vesicles are only branches from a com-
mon stem ; and you may easily ascertain that the smell
of this insect, which mixes something- extremely fetid
with a spicy odour, proceeds from their extremity. — A
similar organ,, half an inch in Icngtli, and of the
eame shape, issues from the neck of the caterpillar of
the swallow-tail butterfly (Papilio jVachaon, L.) ".
When I pressed this caterpillar, says Bonnet, near
its anterior part, it darted forth its horn as if it meant
to prick me with it, directing- it towards my fingers ;
but it withdrew it as soon as I left off pressing it.
This horn smells strongly of fennel, and probably is
employed by the insect, by means of its powerful scent,
to drive away the flies and ichneumons that annoy it.
A similar horn is protruded by the slimy larva of
JP. Anchises^ L., as also P. Apollo and many other
Eqintes^. — Another insect, the larva of a species of
saw-fly (Tentliredo) described by De Geer, is furnished
with osmateria, or scent-organs, of a different kind.
They are situated between the five first pair of in-
termediate legs, which they exceed in size, and are
perforated at the end like the rose of a watering-pot.
If you touch the insect, they shoot out like the horns of
a snail, and emit a most nauseous odour, which remains
long upon the finger; but when the pressure is re-
moved they are withdrawn within the body''. — The
grub of the poplar-beetle {Chri/somehi Populi^ L.)
also is remarkable for similar organs. On each of the
nine intermediate dorsal segments of its body is a pair
a Plate XIX. Fi6. 1. a. b Mcrian Surinum. 17. Jones in Linn,
Trans, ii, 64. c De Gcer, ii. 9S9 — ■ t. xx.wii./. 0.
246 MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECT3.
of Dlack, elevated, conical tubercles, of a hard sub-*
stance; from all of these when touched the animal
emits a small drop of a white milky fluid, the smell of
which, De Geer observes, is almost insupportable, being
inexpressibly strong and penetrating. These drops
proceed at the same instant from all the eighteen scent-
organs; which forms a curious spectacle. The insect,
however, does not waste this precious fluid; each drop
instead of falling, after appearing for a moment and
dispensing its perfume, is withdrav/n again within its
receptacle, till the pressure is repeated, when it re-
appears *.
I shall now introduce you to the true counterparts of
the skunk, which explode a most fetid vapour from the
ordinary passage. I have lately hinted that the scent of
many Carabida; is thus emitted. Ilarpalus prasinus, a
beetle of this tribe, combats its enemies with repeated
discharges of smoke and noise : but the most famous
for their exploits in this way are those, which on this
account are distinguished by the name of bombardiers,
(^Bracliimts^Y.). The most common species (/J. cre-
pitans, F.), which is found occasionally in many parts
of Britain, when pursued by its great enemy, Calosonia
Inquisitor, P., seems at first to have no mode of escape ;
when suddenly a loud explosion is heard, and a blue
smoke, attended by a very disagreeable scent, is seen
to proceed from its anus, which immediately stops the
progress of its assailant ; when it has recovered from
the effect of it, and the pursuit is renewed, a second
discharge again arrests its course. The bombardier cai\
a De Geer, v. 291. Compare Ray's LellerSf 43. See Plate XVUIo
Fig. 1.
MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS. §47
fire its artillery twenty times in succession if necessary,
and so gain time to effect its escape. — Another species,
Brachinus Displosor, makes exY>\osions similar to those
of B. crepitans: when irritated it can give ten or
twelve good discharges ; but afterwards, instead of
smoke it emits a yellow or brown fluid. By bending the
joints of its abdomen it can direct its smoke to any par-
ticular point. M. Leon Dufour observes that this
smoke has a strong and pungent odour, which has a
striking analogy with that exhaled by the Nitric Acid.
It is caustic, reddening white paper, and producing on
the skin the sensation of burning, and forming red
spots, which pass into brown, and though washed re-
main several days^.
Another expedient to which insects have recourse to
rid themselves of their enemies, is the emission of dis-
agreeable JIuids. These some discharge from the
mouth ; others from the anus ; others again from the
joints of the limbs and segments of the body ; and a
few from appropriate organs.
You have doubtless often observed a black beetle
crossing pathways with a slow pace, which feeds upon
the different species of bedstraw {Galium, L.), called
by some the bloody-nose beetle {Chrysomela tenehri-
cosa,F.). This insect, when taken, usually ejects from
its mouth a clear drop or two of red fluid, which will
stain paper of an orange colour. The carrion-bettles
(Si/pha and Necrophorus, F.), as also the larger Ca-
rabi, defile us, if handled roughly, with brown fetid
saliva. Mr. Sheppard having taken one of the latter
(C. violaceus, L.) applied it in joke to his son's face,
a^inn, Jm Mus. xviii. 70.
248 MEANS OF DEFENCL OF INSECTS.
and was surprised to hear him immediately cry out as
if hurt: repeating- the experiment with another of his
boys, he complained of its making- him smart : upon this
he touched himself with it, and it caused as much pain
as if, after shaving, he had rubbed his face with spirits
of wine. This he observed was not invariably the
case with this beetle, its saliva at other times bein?
harmless. JHence he conjectures that its caustic na-
ture, in the instance here recorded, might arise from
its food ; which he had reason to think had at that time
been the electric centipede ( Scolopendra electrica, L.). —
Juesser having* once touched the anal horn of the cater-
pillar of some sphinx, suddenly turning its head round,
it vomited upon his hand a quantity of green, viscous,
and very fetid fluid, whicl), tliough he washed it fre-
quently with soap and fumed it with sulphur, infected
it for two days'*. — Lister relates that he saw a spider,
when upon being" provoked it attempted to bite,
emit several times small drops of very clear fluid''. — -
Mr. Briggs observed a caterpillar caught in the Aveb
of one of our largest spiders, by means of a fluid which
it sent forth entirely dissolve the great breadth of
threads with which the latter endeavoured to envelop
it, as fast as produced, till the spider appeared quite
exhausted'. — The caterpillars also of a particular tribe
of saw-flies, remarkable for the beautiful pennated an-^
• a Lesser L. i. 281. note 6. b De Jraneis 27.
c This S"'"'*^"!'"^" i^ of opinion that spiders possess the means ofre-r
dissolvinn their webs. He observed one, when its net was broken, run
up its thread, and gathering a considerable mass of the web into a ball,
suddenly dissolve it with fluid. He also observes, that when windwig up
3 powerful prey, a spider can form its threads into a broad sheet.
MEANS OF DEFENCE OP INSECTS. 21P
lemiaB of the males {Pleronus Jurine)'', when disturb-
ed eject a drop of fluid from their n.outh. Those of one
ypecies inhabitins^ the fir-tree {Pi. Pini) are ordina-
rily stationed on the narrow leaves of that tree — which
they devour most voraciously in the manner that we
eat radishes — with their head towards the point. Some-
times two are enga ed Osservaz. 195.
Ed. 1T26.
262 MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS.
is unbent and in the same direction with it". In some
species the excrement is not so disgusting as you may
suppose, being formed into fine branching filaments.
This is the case with C. maculata, L.**. — In the cognate
genus Imatidium, the larvae also are merdigerous ;
and that of /. Leayaman^ Latr., taken by Colonel
Hardwicke in the East Indies, also produces an as-
semblage of very long filaments, that resemble a dried
fucus or a filamentous lichen, — The clothing of the
Tinece, clothes-moths and others, and also of the case-
worms, having enlarged upon in a former letter % I
need not describe here.
Some insects, that they may^ not be discovered and
become the prey of their enemies when they are re-
posing, conceal themselves in flowers. The male of a
little bee (Apis Campanularum, K., Heriades, Latr.)? a
true Sybarite, dozes voluptuously in the bells of the dif-
ferent species of Campanula — in which, indeed, I have
often found other kinds asleep. Linne named another
Bpec'ies ^orisomn is on account of a similar propensity.
A third, a most curious and rare species {Melitta spi'
nigera, K.), shelters itself when sleeping, at least I once
found it there so circumstanced, in the nest-like umbel
of the wild carrot. You would think it a most extra-
ordinary freak of Nature, should any quadruped sleep
suspended by its jaws, (some birds however are said, I
think, to have such a habit, and Sits Bahyroussa one
something like it,) — yet insects do this occasionally.
L/inne informs us that a little bee {Apis variegatay^asses
the night thus suspended to the beak of the flowers of
a Reaiim. 233 — b Kirby in Linn. Trans, iii. !(\.
f you I. ?d Ed, 460-70,
MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS. 263
Geranium phceum : and I once found one of the vespi-
tbrm bees {Apis Goodeninna, K., Nomada, F.) hanging
by its mandibles from the edge of a hazel- leaf, apparently
asleep, with its limbs relaxed and folded. On being dis-
engaged from its situation it became perfectly lively.
There is no period of their existence in which insects
usually are less able to help themselves, than during
that intermediate state of repose which precedes their
coming forth in their perfect Ibrnvs. I formerly ex-
plained to you how large a portion of them during this
state cease to be locomotive, and assume an appear-
ance of death*. In this help'ess condition, unless Pro-
vidence had furnished them with some means of secu-
rity, they must fall an easy prey to the most insignificant
of their assailants. But even here they are taught to
conceal themselves from their enemies by various and
singular contrivances. Some seek for safety by bury-
ing themselves, previously to the assumption of the
pupa, at a considerable depth under the earth ; others
bore into the heart of trees, or into pieces of timber;
some take their residence in the hollow stalks of plants;
and many are concealed under leaves, or suspend them-
selves in dark places, where they cannot readily be
seen. But in this state they are not only defended
from harm by the situation they select, but also by the
covering in which numbers envelop themselves ; for,
besides the leathery case that defends the yet tender
and unformed imago, many of these animals know how
to weave for it a costly shroud of the finest njaterial=!,
through which few of its enemies can make their way ;
— and to this curious instinct, as 1 long since observed,
a Vot. I. 2d r.d, 66—
264' MEANS OF DEFEMCE OF INSECTS. -
we owe one of the most valuable articles of commerce,-
the silk that gives lustre to the beauty of our females.'
These shrouds are sometimes double. Thus the larvJB
of certain saw-flies spin for themselves a cocoon of a
soft, flexible, and close texture, which they surround
with an exterior one composed of a strong kind of net-
work, which withstands pressure like a racket^. Here
nature has provided that the inclosed animal shall be
protected by the interior cocoon from the injury it
might be exposed to from the harshness of the exterior,
while the latter by its strength and tension prevents it
from being hurt by any e'.ternal pressure.
But of all the contrivances by which insects in this
state are secured from their enemies, there is none more
ingenious than that to which the may-flies ( hvyganea^
L.) have recourse for this ])urp()se. You have heard
before that these insects are at first aqurtic, and inha-
bit curious cases made of a variety of materials, which
are usually open at each end''. Since they must re-
side in these cases, when they are become pupa;, till
the time of their final change approaches, if they are
left open, how are the animals, now become torpid,
to keep out their enemies ? Or, if they are wholly
closed, how is tl.e water, which is necessary to their
respiration and life, to be introduced? These saga-
cious creatures know how to compass both these ends
at once. They fix a grate or portcullis to each extre-
mity of their fortress, which at the same time keeps out
intruders and admits the water. These grates they
weave witli silk sj>un from theiranusinto strong threads,
which cross each other, and are not soluble in vv^ater.
a Reauni. v. 100. b Vol. I. 2d Ed. 467--
MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS. 265
One of them, descri!*e(l by De Geer, is very remark-
able. It consists of a small, thickish, circular lamina
of brown silk, becoming as bard as gum, which exactly
fits the aperture of the case, and is fixed a little within
the margin. It is pierced all over with holes disposed
in concentric circles, and separated by ridges which
go from the centre to the circumference, but often not
quite so regularly as the radii of a circle or the spokes
of a wheel. These radii are traversed again by other
ridges, which follow the direction of the circles of
holes ; so that the two kinds of ridges crossing each
other form compartments, in the centre of each of
which is a hole^.
Under this head I shall call your attention to another
circumstance that saves from their enemies innumera-
ble insects : — I mean their coming forth for flight or for
food only in the night, and taking tiieir repose in va-
rious places of concealment during the day. The
infinite hosts of moths {Phalcena^ L.), — amounting in
this country probably to a thousand species, — with few
exceptions, are all night-fliers. And a considerable
proportion of the other orders,— exclusive of the Hy-
menoptera and Diptera, which are mostly day-fliers, —
are of the same description. Many larvce of moths also
come out only in the night after their food, lying hid
all day in subterraneous or other retreats. Of this
kind is that of Noctua pulla and Ni/cterohhis^ whose
proceedings have been before described''. The cater-
pillar of another moth {Noctua subterranea, F.) never
ascends the stems of plants, but remains, a true Tro-
a Reaum. iii. 170. De Gcer, ii. 519. 545, Plate XVII. f ic. II.
b Vol. I. 2d Ed. 45G.
266 MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS.
glodyte, always in its cell under ground, biting the
stems at their base, which falling, bring thus their
foliage within its reach ^.
The habitations of insects are also usually places of
retreat, which secure ihem from many of their ene-
mies : — but I li^ve so fully enlarged upon this subject
on a former occasion'', that it would be superfluous to
do more than mention it here.
I am now to lay before you some examples of the
contrivances, requiring skill and ingenuity, by which
our busy animals occasionally defend themselves from
the designs and attack of their foes. Of these I have
already detailed to you many instances, which I shall
not here repeat ; my history therefore will not be very
prolix. — I observed in my account of the societies of
wasps, that they place sentinels at the mouth of their
nests. The same precaution is taken by the hive-bees,
particularly in the night, when they may expect that
the great destroyers of their combs, Tinea mellonella ^Y .
and its associates'^, will endeavour to make their way
into the hive. Observe them by moonlight, and you
will see the sentinels pacing about with their antennaB
extended, and alternately directed to the right and left.
In the mean time the moths flutter round the entrance;
and it is curious to see with what art they know how to
profit of the disadvantage that the bees, which cannot
discern objects but in a strong light, labour under at
that time. But should they touch xi moth with these
organs of nice sensation, it falls an immediate victim to
their just anger. The moth, however, seeks to glide
a Fab. Ent. SysU Em. iii, TO. 200, b Vol. I. 2d Ed, 431-^
c Ibid. 166.
MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS. 267
between the sentinels, avoiding with tlie utmost caution,
as if she were sensible that her safety depended upon
k, all contact with their antennae. These bees upon
guard in the night, are frequently heard to utter a very
short low hum ; but no sooner does any strange insect
or enemy touch their antenna?, than the guard is put
into a commotion, and the hum becomes louder, re-
sembling that of bees when they fly, and the enemy is
assailed by workers from the interior of the hive"^.
To defend themselves from the death's-head hawk-
moth, they have recourse to a ditFerent proceeding. In
seasons in which they are annoyed by this animal, they
often barricade the entrance of their hive by a thick
wall made of wax and propolis. This wall is built
immediately behind and sometimes in the gateway,
which it entirely stops up ; but it is itself pierced with
an opening or two sufficient for the passage of one or
two workers. These fortifications are occasionally
varied : sometimes there is only one wall, as just de-
scribed, the apertures of which are in arcades, and
placed in the upper part of the masonry. At others
many little bastions, one behind the other, are erected.
Gateways masked by the anterior walls ; and not cor-
responding with those in them, are made in the second
Hne of building. These casemated gates are not con-
structed by the bees without the most urgent necessity.
When their danger is present and pressing, and they are
as it were compelled to seek some preservative, they
have recourse to this mode of defence'', which places
the instinct of these animals in a wonderful light, and
shows how well they know how to adapt their proceed-.
a Jluber, Nouv, Obs. ii. 412. iJ Ihid, 294-^
268 MEANS OF DEt'ENCE Ol' INSECTS.
ings to circumstances. Can this be merely sensitive ?
When attacked by strange bees, they have recourse to
a similar manceuvre ; only in this case they make but
narrow apertures, sufficient for a single bee to pass
through. — Pliny affirms that a sick bear will provoke
a hive of bees to attack him in order to let him blood*.
What will you say, if humble-bees have recourse to a si-
milar manoeuvre ? It is related to me by Dr. Leach, from
the communications of Mr. Daniel Bydder — an inde-
fatigable and well-informed collector of insects, and ob-
server of their proceedings — that Apis terrestris, when
labouring under ^carm^i^'' from the numbers of a small
mite {Gammasus Gymnopterorum^ F.) that infest it,
will take its station in an ant-hill; where beginning to
scratch, and kick, and make a disturbance, the ants im-
mediately come out to attack it, and falling foul of the
mites, they destroy or carry them all off; when the
bee, thus delivered from its enemies, takes its flight.
In this long detail, the first idea that will, I should
hope, strike the mind of every thinking being, is the
truth of the Psalmist's observation — that the tender
mercies of God are over all his works. Not the least
and roost insignificant of his creatures is, we see, de-
prived of his paternal care and attention ; none are
exiled from his ail-directing providence. Why then
should man, the head of the visible creation, for whom
all the inferior animals were created and endowed ; for
whose well-being, in some sense, all these wonderful
creatures with their miraculous instincts, whose history
I am giving you, were put in action, — why should he
ever doubt, if he uses his powers and faculties rightly^
■A Hist. Nat. 1. viii. c. 36. b Vol. I. 2d Ed. 99—
MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS. 269
that his Creator will provide him with what is neces-
sary for his present state ? — Why should he imagine
that a Being-, whose very essence is Love, unless he
compels him by his own wilful and obdurate wicked-
ness, will ever cut him off from his care and provi-
dence ?
Another idea that upon this occasion must force it-
self into our mind is, that nothing is made in vain.
When we find that so many seemingly trivial varia-
tions in the colour, clothing, form, structure, motions,
habits, and economy of insects are of very great im-
portance to them, we may safely conclude that the pe-
culiarities in all these respects, of which we do not yet
know the use, are equally necessary : and we may al-
most say, reversing the words of our Saviour, that not
a hair is given to them without our Heavenly Fatlier.
r am, &c.
LETTER XXn.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. {Larva and Pupa.)
Amongst the means of defence to which insects have
recourse, I have noticed their motions. These shall b^
the subject of the present letter. I shall not, however^
confine myself to those by which they seek to escapd
from their enemies ; but take a larger and more com-
prehensive survey of them, including not only every
species of locomotion, but also the movements they give
to different parts of their body when in a state of re*
pose : and in order to render this survey more com-
plete, I shall add to it some account of the various or-
gans and instruments by which they move.
Whenever you go abroad in summer, wherever you
turn your eyes and attention, you will see insects in
motion. They are flying or sailing everywhere in the
air ; dancing in the sun or in the shade ; creeping
slowly, or marching soberly, or running swiftly, or
jumping upon the ground; traversing your path in all
directions ; coursing over the surface of the waters, or
swimming at every depth beneath ; emerging from a
subterranean habitation, or going into one ; climbing
up the trees, or descending from them ; glancing from
flower to flower; now alighting upon the f^arth and
waters, and now leaving them to follow the impulse of
their various instincts; sometimes travelling singly; at
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. ' 271
other times in countless swarms : these the busy chil-
dren of the day, and those of the ni Ibid. Mam. de CAcad, Roy. des Scien. de Paris, An. 1714. j , "^OS.
282
MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
the sides of ditches or the stalks of aquatic plants. If
it is placed in a glass half full of Avater, it so fixes
itself against the sides of it, that its head and tail are
in the water while the remainder of the body is out
of it; thus assuming- the form of a siphon, the tail
end being the longest. When this animal is disposed
to feed, it lifts its head and places it horizontally on
the surface of the water, so that it forms a right angle
with the rest of the body, which always remains in a
situation perpendicular to the surface. It then agi-
tates, with vivacity, a couple of brushes, formed of
hairs and fixed in the anterior part of the head, which
producing a current towards the mouth, it makes its
meal of the various species of aniraalcula, abounding
in stagnant waters, that come within the vortex thus
produced. As these animals require to be firmly fixed
to the substance on which they take their station, and
their back is the only part, when they are doubled as
just described, that can apply to it, — they are furnished
with minute legs armed with black claws, by which
they are enabled to adhere to it. They have ten of
these legs : the four anterior ones, which point towards
the head and are distant from each other, are placed
upon the fourth and fifth dorsal segments of the body ;
and the six posterior ones, which point to the anus and
are so near to each other as at first to look like one
leg, are placed on the eighth, ninth, and tenth. When
the animal moves, the body continues bent, and the
sixth segment, which is without feet and forms the
summit of the curve, goes first f. De Geer named the
a De Gf.er, vi. 380— /. xxiv,/. U9.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 283
fly it produces Tipida amphibia: it seems not clear,
from his figure, to which of the modern genera of the
Tipulida; it belongs.
I come now to the jumping apodes, and one of this
description will immediately occur to your recollec-
tioji, — that I mean which revels in our richest cheeses,
and produces a little black shining fly (Tephritis putris,
F.). These maggots have long been celebrated for their
saltatorious powers. They effect their tremendous leaps
— laugh not at the term, for they are truly so when
compared with what human force and agility can ac-
complish— in nearly the same manner as salmon are
stated to do when they wish to pass over a cataract,
by taking their tail in their mouth, and letting it go
suddenly. When it prepares to leap, our larva first
erects itself upon its anus, and then, bending itself into
a circle by bringing its head to its tail, it pushes forth
its unguiform mandibles, and fixes them in two cavi-
ties in its anal tubercles. All being thus prepared, it
jiext contracts its body into an oblong, so that the two
halves are parallel to each other. This done, it lets
go its hold with so violent a jerk that the sound pro-
duced by its mandibles may be readily heard, and the
leap takes place. Svvammerdam saw one, whose length
did not exceed the fourth part of an inch, jump in this
manner out of a box six inches deep; which is as if at,
man six feet high should raise himself in the air by
jumping 144 feet! He had seen others leap a great
deal higher*. The grub of a little gnat lately noticed
(Tipiila stercoraria, De Geer) has a similar faculty,
though executed in a manner rather different. These
n ; vyati.in. Bi'jl. Nat. Ed. HiU, ii, 64 b.
284 MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
larvae, which inhabit horse-dung, though deprived of
feet, cannot move by annular contraction and dilata-
tion ; but are able, by various serpentine contortions,
aided by their mandibles, to move in the substance
which constitutes their food. Should any accident re-
move them from it. Providence has enabled them to
recover their natural station by the power I am speak-
ing of When about to leaj), they do not, like tlie
cheese-fly, erect themselves so as to form an angle with
the plane of posilion ; but lying horizontally, they
bring the anus near the head, regulating the distance
by the length of the leap they mean to take; when hx-
ing it firmly, and then suddenly resuming a rectilinear
position, they are carried through the air sometimes
to the distance of two or three inches. They appear to
have the power of flattening their anal extremity, and
even of rendering it concave; by means of which it
niay probably act as a sucker, and so be more firmly
fixable ^. — The grub of a fly whose proceedings in that
state I have before noticed^ (Lrptis Vermileo^ F), will,
when removed from its habitation, endeavour to re-
cover it by leaping. Indeed this mode of motion seems
often to be given to this description of larva? by Pro-
vidence, to enable them to return to their natural sta-
tion, when by any accident they have wandered away
from it.
Many apodous larvae inhabit the water, and there-
fore must be furnished with means of locomotion proper
io that element. To this class belongs the common
gnat {Cidcx pipiens, L.), which being one of our great-
est torments, compels us to feel some curiosity about
a De Geer, vi. 389— ^ Vol. I. 2d Ed. 43':.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. I§85
its history. Its larva is a very singular creature, fur-
nished with a remarkable anal apparatus for respira-
tion, by which it usually remains suspended at the sur-
ftice of tlie water. If disposed to descend, it seenis to
sink by the weight of Its body ; but wlien it would
move upwards again, it eflects its purpose by alter-
nate contortions of the upper and lower halves of it,
and thus it moves with much celerity. The laminae or
swimmers, which terminate its anus% are doubtless of
use to it in promoting this purpose. It does not, that
I ever observed, move in a lateral direction, but only
from the surface downwards, and vice versa. — Another
dipterous larva (Corethra culiciformis, Meig-,) which
much resembles that of the gnat in form, differs from
it in its motions and station of repose. For, instead of
being suspended at the surface with its head down-
wards, it usually, like fishes, remains in a horizontal
position in the middle of the water. When it ascends
to the surface, it is always by means of a few strokes
of its tail, so that its motion is not equable, sed per
saltus. It descends again gradually by its own weight,
and regains its equilibrium by a single stroke of the
tail''. — A well known lly {Stratj/omis Chamceleon, F.),
in its first state an aquatic animal, often remains sus-
pended, by its radiated anus, at the surface of the
water, with its head downwards. But when it is dis-
posed to seek the bottom or to descend, by bending the
radii of its tail so as to form a concavity, it includes in
them a bubble of air, in brilliancy resembling silver
or pearl; and then sinks with it by its own weight.
AVhen it would return to the surface it is by means of
a Rtaiiin. iv. /. 43./. 3. nn. b De Geer, v;.375. t. xxiii./. 4,5.
286 MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
this bubble, which is, as it were, its air-balloon. If it
moves upon the surface or horizontally, it bends its
body alternately to the right and left, contracting it-
self into the form of the letter S ; and then extending
itself again into a straight line, by these alternate move-
ments it makes its way slowly in the water''.
I have dwelt longer upon the apodous larvs, or
those that are without what may be called proper legs,
analogous to those of perfect insects, because the ab-
sence of these ordinary instruments of motion is in
numbers of them supplied in a way so remarkable and
so worthy to be known ; and because in them the wis-
dom of the Creator is so conspicuously, or, I should
rather say, so strikingly manifested — since it is doubt-
less equally conspicuous in the ordinary routine of na-
ture. But aberrations from her general laws, and
modes, and instruments of action, often of rare occur-
rence, impress us more forcibly than any thing that
falls under our daily observation.
I come now to pedate larvae, or those that move by
means of proper or articulate legs. These legs (gene-
rally six in nun)ber, and attached to the underside of
the three first segments of the body) vary in larvae oi'
the different orders : but they seem in most to have
joints answering to the hip (coxa) ; trochanter ; thigh
(^ femur) ; shank (tibia) ; foot (tarsus), of perfect in-
sects, the legs of which they include. Cuvier, speaking
of Coleopterji and some Ncnroplera, mentions only three
joints. But many in these orders (amongst which he
included the Trichoptera) have the joints I have euu-
a Swamra. BiA.NaU Ed. Hill,ii. 44. b. 47. a.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 287
merated. To name no more, the Scaraba;ida^, Dj/tiscij
Silpha;, Stap/ij//hii, Ciclmklw, and Gi/rini, amongst co-
leopterous larvae ; and the PhrT/ganew, as well as the
Lib(iluUd(v and Ephemercv, amongst Cuvier's NeurO'
ptera, — have these joint-, and in many the last termi-
nates in a double claw''. In some coleopterous genera
the tarsus seems absent or obsolete. The larva of the
lady -bird (Coccinclla) affords an example of the for-
mer kind, and that o^ ChrT/somela of the latter''. These
joints are very visible in the legs of caterpillars of Z*e-
pidoptera, and their tarsus is armed with a single claw".
The larva; that have these legs walk with them some-
times very swiftly. In stepping- they set forward at the
same time the anterior and posterior legs of one side,
and the intermediate one of the other; and so alter-
nately on each side.
Pedate larvje are of two descriptions : those that to
perfect legs add spurious ones with or without claws,
and those that have only perfect legs. I begin with
the former — those that have both kinds of legs. But
first I must make a few remarks upon spurious legs.
Because their muscles, instead of the horny substance
that protects them in perfect legs, are covered only by
a soft membrane, they have been usually denominated
membranaceous legs : since, however, they are tempo-
rary, vanishing altogether when the insect arrives at
its perfect state, — are merely used, for they do not
otherwise assist in this motion, as props to hinder its
a For examples of larvae Laving these joints, sec Dc Geer, iv. 289.
i.xiii.f.W. t.xv.f.li. ii. t.xVi.f.3. /,xvi. /.5, 6, t.x\x.fA.&c.
Ibid. V. ^xi. /. il. t. ix. /. 9, o.
c Lyonet, TraiU Anatom. t. iii. /. 8.
288 MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
long body, when it walks, from trailing- on the ground;
to push agairjst the plane of position ; and, by means
of their hooks or ciaws, to fix itself firmly to its sta-
tion when it feeds or reposes, — I shall therefore call
them prolegs (propedes). These organs consist of
three or four folds, and are commonly terminated,
though not always, by a coronet or semicoronet of very
minute crooked claws or hooks. These claws, which
sometimes amount to nearly a hundred on one proleg,
are alternately longer and shorter. They are crooked
at both enus, and. are attached to the proleg by the
back by means of a membrane, which covers about
two-thirds of their length, leaving their two extremi-
ties naked. Of these the upper one is sharp, and the
lower blunt. The sole, or part of the prolegs within
the clav»'s, is capable of opening and shutting. When
the aniiiial walks, that they may not impede its mo-
tion, it is shut, and the claws are laid fiat with their^
points inwards ; but Avhen it wishes to fix itself, the
sole is opened, becoming of greater diameter than be-
fore, and the claws stand erect with their points out-
wards. Thus they can lay stronger hold of the plane
of position''.
The number of these prolegs varies in different spe-
cies and families. In the numerous tribes of saw-flies
{Tenthredo, L.), the larvae of which resenible those of
I.epidopfera, and are called by Reaumur spurious ca-
terpillars {fausses chenilles), one family {Cinibex^ F.
J^ophyrus^ Latr.) has sixteen prolegs; a second {Hy-
lotoma, Latr. &c.) fourteen: another {Tenllircdo, F.)
twelve; and a fourth {Lyda^ F.) none at all, having only
a Lyonet,8£— ^ iii./. 10-16.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 289
the six perfect legs. — The majority of larvae of Lepi-
doptera have ten prolegs, eight being attached, a pair on
each, to the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth segments
of the body, and two to the twelfth or anal segment^.
The caterpillar of the puss-moth {P. Bomhi/x Vinula^
1^.) and some others, instead of the anal prolegs, have
two tails or horns. A heniigeometer, described by De
Geer, has only six intermediate prolegs, the posterior
pair of which are longer than the rest to assist the anal
pair in supporting the body in a posture more or less
erect ''. Other hemigeometers, of which kind is the
larva of Noctua Gamma, F. '', have only six prolegs,
four intermediate and two anal. The true geometers or
surveyors {Geometi'oi) have only two intermediate and
two anal prolegs. Many grubs of Coleoptera, espe-
cially those of Staphj/lini, Silphce, &c. which are long
and narrow, are furnished with a stiff joint at the anus,
which they bend downwards and use as a prop to pre-
vent their body from trailing. This joint, though with-
out claws, may be regarded as a kind of proleg, which
supports them when they walk "^ ; and probably may
assist their motion by pushing against the plane of po-
sition.
With respect to the larvsB that have only perfect
legs, having just given you an account of these organs,
I have nothing more to state relating to their struc-
ture. I shall therefore now consider the motions of
pedate larvaa, under the several heads of walking or
running, jumping, climbing, and swimming.
a Lyonet, uhi supr. t. 1. /. 4. b De Geer, i. 379. /. xxv. /. 1-3.
c Vol. 1. 2d Ed. 193. d De Geer, i. 12. 40. t. i. /. 27. q.
t.y\.f. 11. e.
VOL. II. U
^0 MOTIONS Ol' INSECTS.
Amongst those that walk, some are remarkable for
the sloM'ness of their motion, while others are extremely
swift. The caterpillar of the hawk-moth of the Fili-
pendula {Zi/gcena Filipendulce, F,) is of the former de-
scription, moving in the most leisurely manner; while
thatof J3owiZ>y.r lejwrina, F., a moth unknown in Britain,
is named after the hare, from its great speed. The ca-
terpillar of another moth, the species of which seems
not to be ascertained, is celebrated by De Geer for the
wonderful celerity of its motions. When touched it
darts away backwards as well as forwards, giving its
body an undulating motion with such force and rapi-
dity, that it seems to fly from side to side^. — Cuvier
observes, that the grubs of some coleopterous and neu-
ropt^rous insects, which have only the six perfect legs,
by means of them lay hold of any surrounding object,
and, fixing themselves to it, drag the rest of their body
to that point ; and that those of many Capricorn beetles
and their affinities (but that of Callidium violaceum is
an apode '') have these legs excessively minute and al-
most nothing; that they move in the sinuosities which
they bore by the assistance of their mandibles, with
which they fix themselves, and also of several dorsal
and ventral tubercles, by which they are supported
against the sides of their cavity, and push themselves
along, in the same manner as a chimney-sweeper — by
the pressure of his knees, elbows, shoulder-blades,
and other prominent parts — pushes himself up a chim-
ney ^ The larva of the ant-lion {Mi/rmeleon) — with the
exception of one species, which moves in the common
a De Geer, i. 424. b Kirbj in Linn. Trans, v. 258.
c Aiiatom. Comp, i. 430.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 291
^vay — always walks backwards, even when its legs are
cut off.
The jumpers amongst pedate larvae, as far as they
are known, are not very numerous, and will not de-
tain you long. When the caterpillar of Noctua Qua-
dra, F., a moth not uncommon, would descend from
one branch or leap to another, it approaches to the
edge of the leaf on which it is stationed, bends its body
together, and retiring a little backwards, as if to take
a good situation, leaps through the air, and however
high the jump, alights on its legs like a cat. That of
enother moth (Pi/ralis rostralis, F.) will also leap to a
considerable height ^.
Another species of motion, which is peculiar to
larvae, — their mode I mean of climbing, — as it merits
particular attention, will occupy more time. I have
already related so many extraordinary facts in their
history, that I promise myself you will not disbelieve me
if I assert that insects either use ladders forthis purpose,
or a single rope. You may often have seen the cater-
pillar of the common cabbage-butterfly climbing up
the walls of your house, and even over the glass of
your windows. When next you witness this last cir-
cumstance, if you observe closely the square upon
which the animal is travelling, you will find tliat, like
a snail, it leaves a visible track behind it. Examine
this with your microscope, and you will see that it con-
sists of little silken threads, which it has spun in a
zigzag direction, forming a rope-ladder, by which it
ascends a surface it could not otherwise adhere to.
The silk as it comes from the spinners is a gummy
a Rosel, I. iv. 112. vi. 14.
u 2
292 MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
fluid, which hardens in the air; so that it has no diffi-
culty in makinjo- it stick to the glass. — Many caterpil-
lars that feed upon trees, particularly the geometers,
have often occasion to descend from branch to branch,
and sometimes, especially previously to assuming the
pupa, to the ground. Had they to descend by the
trunk, supposing them able to traverse with ease its
rugged bark, what a circuitous route must they take
before they could accomplish their purpose ! Provi-
dence, ever watchful over the welfare of the most in-
significant of its creatures, has gifted them with the
means of attaining tl.ese ends, without all this labour
and loss of time. From their own internal stores they
can let down a rope, and prolong it indefinitely, which
will enable them to travel where they please. Shake
the branches of an oak or other tree in summer, and
its inhabitants of this description, whether they were
reposing, moving, or feeding, will immediately cast
themselves from the leaves on which they were sta-
tioned; and however sudden your attack, they are ne-
vertheless still provided for it, and will all descend by
means of the silken cord just alluded to, and hang sus-
pended in the air. Their name of geometer was given
them, because they seem to measure the surface they
pass over, as they walk, with a chain. If you place one
upon your hand, you w ill find that they draw a thread
as they go ; when they move, their head is extended
as far as they can reach with it ; then fastening their
thread there, and bringing up the rest of their body,
they take another step; never moving without leaving
this clue behind them ; the object of which, however,
is neither to measure, nor to mark its path that it may
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 293
find it again : but thus, whenever the caterpillar falls
or would descend from a leaf, it has a cord always
ready to support it in the air, by lengthening- whicli it
can with ease reach the ground. Thus it can drop
itself without danger from the summit of the most
lofty trees, and ascend again by the same road. As
the silky matter is fluid when it issues from tlie spinners,
it should seem as if the weight of the insect would be
too great, and its descent too rapid, so as to cause it
to fall with violence upon the earth. The little ani-
mal knows how to prevent such an accident, by de-
scending gradually. It drops itself a foot or half a
foot, or even less, at a time ; then making a longer or
shorter pause, as best suits it, it reaches the ground
at last without a shock. From hence it appears that
these larvae have power to contract the orifice of the
spinners, so as that no more of the silky gum shall is-
sue from it; and to relax it again when they intend to
resume their motion downwards : consequently there
must be a muscular apparatus to enable them to effect
this, or at least a kind of sphincter, which, pressing the
silk, can prevent its exit. From hence also it appears,
that the gummy fluid which forms the thread must have
gained a degree of consistence even before it leaves
the spinner, since as soon as it emerges it can support
the weight of the caterpillar. — In ascending, the ani-
mal seizes the thread with its jaws as high as it can
reach it; and then elevating that part of the back that
corr:}sponds with the six perfect legs, till these legs be-
come higher than the head, with one of the last pair it
catches the thread; from this the other receives it, and
so a step is gained : and thus it proceeds till it has
294 MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
ascended to the point it wishes to reach. At this time
if taken it will be found to have a packet of thread,
from which, however, it soon disengages itself, between
the two last pairs of perfect legs''. To see hundreds of
these little animals pendent at the same time from the
boughs of a tree, suspended at different heights, some
working their way downwards and some upwards, af-
fords a very amusing spectacle. Sometimes when the
wind is high, they aie blown to the distance of several
yards from the tree, and yet maintain their threads un-
broken. I witnessed an instance of this last summer,
when numbers were driven far from the most extend-
ed branches, and looked as if they were floating in
the air.
Having related to you what is peculiar in the mo-
tions of pedate larvae upon the earth and in the air, I
must next say something with respect to their locomo-
tive powers in the water. Numbers of this description
inhabit that element. — Amongst the beetles, the genera
Dj/tiscus, Jfj/drophilus, Gyrinus, Elmis, Parnus, He-
terocerns, Elophorus, Hydrcena^ &c. amongst the bug
tribes (Cimicidce), Gerris, Velia, Uj/drometra, Noto-
necta, Sigara, Nepa, Ranatra^ Naucoris ; a ^ew Lepi-
doptera ; the majority of Trichoptera ; Libelhtla, Aeshjia,
Agrion, Sialis, Ephemera, &c. anKuigst the Neurop-
tera ; Culex and many of the Tipulidce from tiie dipte-
rous insects ; and from the Aptera, AtaXy some PodurcE,
and many of the Oniscida^, &c. — All these, in their
larva state, are aquatic animals.
The motions of these creatures in this state are
various. Some walk on the ground under water ; some
a Reaum. ii. 315 —
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 295
move in midwater, either by the same motion of the
legs as they use in walking", oi' by strokes, as in swim-
ming; others for this purpose employ certain laminae,
which terminate tlicir tails, as oars ; others again swim
like fish, with an equable motion ; sonle move by the
force of the water which they spirt from their anus ;
others again swim about in cases, or crawl over ihe
submerged bottom ; and others walk even on the sur-
face of the water. I shall not now enlarge on all these
kinds of water-motion, since many will come under
consideration hereafter.
There are two descriptions of larvas of Hydroiplnli^
one furnished with swimmers or anal appendages, by
means of which they are enabled to swim; the other
have them not, and hence are not able to rise from the
bottom *. The lar vaa o^Dijthci^ by means of these nata-
tory organs, will swim, though slowly, and every now
and then rise to the surface for the sake of respiration.
Those of Epliemerce^ when they swim, apply their legs
to the body, and swim witli the swiftness and motions
offish''. Those of the true may-fly (Semblis lufaria,
F.), on the contrary, use their legs in swimming, and
at the same time, by alternate inflexions, give to their
bodies the undulations of serpents'^. But the larvas of
certain dragon-flies {Aeshna and Libellula, F.) will af-
ford you the most amusement by their motions. These
larvae commonly swim very little, being generally found
walking at the bottom on aquatic plants; when neces-
sary, however, they can swim well, though in a sin-
gular manner. If you see one swimming, you will
find that the body is pushed forward by strokes, be-
a Miger,^nn. du Mus. aiv. -Ill . b De Geer, ii. 621. c Ibid. 72S—
296 MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
tween which an interval takes place. The legs are
not employed in producing this progressive motion, for
they are then applied close to the sides of the trunk,
in a state of perfect inaction. But it is effected by a
strong ejacula*tion of water from the anus. When I
treat upon the respiration of insects, I shall explain to
you the apparatus by which these animals separate
the air from the water for that purpose ; in the pre-
sent case it is subsidiary to their motions, since it is
by drawing in and then expelling the water that they
are enabled to swim. To see this, you have only to
put one of these larvae into a plate with a little water.
You will find that, while the animal moves forward, a
current of water is produced by this pumping, in a
contrary direction. As the larva, between every stroke
of its internal piston, has to draw in a fresh supply of
water, an interval must of course take place between
the strokes. Sometimes it will lift its anus out of the
water, when a long thread of water, if I may so speak,
issues from it^.
II. I am next to say something upon the motions
of insects in their pupa state. This is usually to our
little favourites a state of perfect repose; but, as I
long since observed"', there are several that, even when
become pupae, are as active and feed as rapaciously as
they do when they are either larvae or perfect insects.
The Dermaptera, Orthoptera, I/einiptera, many of the
Neuroptera, and the majority of the Aptera, are of this
description. With respect to their motions, we may
a De Geer, ii. 675 — Compare Ileaura. vi. 3D3 —
bVoi.. 1. 2d Ed. 68.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 297
therefore consider pupae as of two kinds — active pupae
and qidesccnl pupae.
The motions of most insects whose pu[jae are acthc,
are so similar in all their states, except where the
wings are concerned, as not to need any separate ac-
count. I shall therefore request you to wait for what
I have to say upon them, till I enter upon those of the
imago. One insect, however, of this kind, moving dif-
ferently in its preparatory states, is entitled to notice
under the present head. — In a late letter, I mentioned
to you a bug (Rcduvius personatus, F.) which usually
covers itself with a mask of dust, and fragments of
various kinds, cutting a very grotesque figure'^. Its
awkward motions add not a little to the effect of its
appearance. When so disposed, it can move as well
and as fast as its congeners ; yet this does not usually
answer its purpose, which is to assume the appearance
of an inanimate substance. It therefore hitches along
in the most leisurely manner possible, as if it was
counting its steps. Having set one foot forward (for
it moves only one leg at a time), it stops a little before
it brings up its fellow, and so on with the second and
third legs. It moves its antennae in a similar way,
striking, as it were, first with one, and then, after an
interval of repose, with the other ^. — The pupae of gnats
also, as well as those of many other aquatic Diptera,
retain their locomotive powers, not however the free
motion of their limbs. When not engaged in action,
they ascend to the surface by the natural levity of their
bodies, and are there suspended by two auriform re-
spiratory organs in the anterior part of the trunk,
a See above, p. 259. b De Geer, iii. 28^1.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
their abdomen being then folded under the breast;
when disposed to descend the animal unfolds it, and
by sudden strokes which she gives with it and her anal
swimmers to the water, she swims, to the right and
left as well as downwards, with as much ease as the
larva*.
Bonnet mentions a pupa which climbs up and down
in its cocoon, — and that of the common glow-worm
{Lampyris noctiluca, L.) will sometimes push itself
along by the alternate extension and contraction of
the segments of its body''. — Others turn round when
disturbed. That of a weevil (Curculio Arator, L.),
which spins itself a beautiful cocoon like fine gauze, and
which it fixes to the stalks of the common spurrey (Sa-
gina arvensiSf L.), upon my touching this stalk, whirled
round several times with astonishing rapidity. — The
chrysalis of a scarce moth {Bomhi/x dispar, F.) when
touched turns round with great quickness ; but, as if
fearful of breaking the thread by which it is suspended
by constantly twisting it in one direction, it performs
its I gyrations alternately from left to right, and from
right to left"^. Generally speaking, quiescent pupfe
when disturbed show that they have life, by giving
their abdomen violent contortions.
But the most extraordinary motion of pupae is jump-
ing. In the year 1810 I received an account from a
very intelligent young lady, who collected and studied
insects with more than common ardour and ability,
that a friend had brought her a chrysalis endued with
this faculty. It was scarcely a quarter of an inch in
a De Geer,vi. SOS. b Ibid. iv. 43.
c Dumcril, Trail. Element, ii. 49. n. 603.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
length ; of an oval form ; its colour was a semitrans-
parent brown, with a w! ite opake band round the
middle. It was found attached, by one end, to the leaf
of a bramble. It repeatedly jumped out oi an open
pill-box that was an inch in heioht. When put into a
drawer in which some other insects were impaled, it
skipped from side to side, jassing- over their backs for
nearly a quarter of an hour with surprising agility.
Its mode of springing seemed to be by balancing itself
upon one extremity of its case. About the end of Oc-
tober one end of the case grew black, and from that
time the motion ceased; and about the middle of April,
in the following year, a very minute ichneumon made
its appearance by a hole it had made at the opposite
end. — So(ne time after I had received this history, I
happened to have occasion to look at Reaumur's Me-
moir upon the enemies of caterpillars, where I met with
an account of a similar jumping chrysalis, if not the
same. Round the nests of the processionary Bombyx,
before noticed % he found numerous little cocoons sus-
pended by a thread three or four inches long to a twig
or a leaf, of a shortened oval form, and close texture,
but so as the meshes might be distinguished. These
cocoons were rather transparent, of a coffee-brown co-
lour, and surrounded in the middle by a whitish band.
When put into boxes or glasses, or laid on the hand,
they surprised him by leaping. Sometimes their leaps
were not more than ten lines, at others they were
extended to three or four inches, both in height and
length. When the animal leaps, it suddenly changes
its ordinary posture (in which the back is convex and
a.VcL. I. 2(! Kcl, 478; aod above, p. 23.
SOO MOTIONS OF INSECT?,
touches the upper part of the cocoon, and the head and
anus rest upon the loAver), and strikes the upper part
with the head and tail, before its belly, which then be-
comes the convex part, touches the bottom. This oc-
casions the cocoon to rise in the air to a height propor-
tioned to the force of the blow. At first sight this fa-
culty seems of no great use to an animal that is sus-
pended in the air; but the winds may probably some-
times place it in a different and unsuitable position,
and lodge it upon a leaf or tuig- : in this case it has
it in its power to recover its natural station. Reau-
mur could not ascertain the fly that should legitimately
come from this cocoon, for different cocoons gave dif-
ferent flies : whence it was evident that these ich-
neumons were infested by their own parasite ^ This
might be the case with that of the lady just mentioned.
Perhaps, properly speaking, in this last instance the
motions ought rather to be regarded as belonging to a
larva; but as it had ceased feeding, and had inclosed
itself in its cocoon, I consider it as belonging to the
present head.
You may probably here feel some curiosity to be in-
formed how the numerous larvae that are buried in their
pupa state, either in the heart of trees, under the earth,
or in the waters, effect their escape from their various
prisons and become denizens of the air, especially as
you are aware that each is shrowded in a winding sheet
and cased in a coffin. In most, however, if you exa-
mine this coffin closely, you will see resurgam writ-
ten upon it. What I mean is this. The puparimn or
case of the animal is furnished with certain acute points
a Reaum. ii. iHO.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. SQl
{admifdcuhi), generally single, but in some instances
forked, looking- towards the anus, and usually placed
upon transverse ridges on the back of the abdomen,
but sometimes arming tlie sides or the margins of the
segments. By this simple contrivance, aided by new-
born vigour, when the time for its great change is ar-
rived, the included prisoner of hope, if under ground,
pushes itself gradually upwards, till reaching the sur-
face its head and trunk emerge, when an opening in
the latter being effected by its efforts, it escapes from
its confinement, and once more tastes the sweets of li-
berty and the joys of life. Those that are inclosed in
trees and spin a cocoon, are furnished with points on
the head, with which they make an opening in the for-
mer. The pupa of the great goat-moth {Bombyx CoS'
sus, F.) thus, by divers movements, keeps disengaging
itself from this envelope, till it arrives at a hole in the
tree which it liad made when a caterpillar ; when its
anterior part having emerged, it stops short, and so
escapes a fall that might destroy it. After some re-
pose, in consequence of very violent efforts, the pu-
parium opens, and it escapes from its prison^-.
The insects of the Trichoptera order {Phryganea^ L.)
are quiescent when they first assume the pupa, but be-
come locomotive towards the close of their existence in
that state. Since they inhabit the water when they be-
come pupae, Providence has furnished them with the
means of quitting that fluid without injury, when they
are to exchange it for the air ; which in their winged
siate is their proper sphere of action. I have before
a I^one(, Trait. Anat. 15 —
302 MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
described to you the grates which shut up their cases
when they became quiescent''; if they had no means
of piercing these grates, they would perish in the wa-
ters. The head of these pupae is provided at first with
a particular instrument, which enables them to effect
this purpose. The anterior part of the head is armed
with a pair of hooks in form resembling the beak of a
bird ; and with this, previously to their last change,
they make an opening in the grate which, though it
once defended, now confines them. But at this moment,
perhaps, the insect has a considerable space of water
to rise through before she can reach the surface. This
is all wisely provided for; before she leaves the en-
velope which covers her body, she emerges from the
water, and fixes herself upon some plant or other ob-
ject, the summit of which is not overflowed. But you
will here, perhaps, ask — How can a pupa in her enve-
lope, with all her limbs set fast, do this? This affords
another instance of the wise provision of the benefi-
cent Father of the universe for the welfare of his crea-
tures. The antennae and legs of this tribe of insects,
when they are pupae, are not included, as is the case
with most that are quiescent in that state, in the gene-
ral envelope ; but each in a separate one, so as to al-
low it free motion. Thus the insect Avhen the time is
come for its last change can use them (except the hind-
legs, which being partly covered by the wing-cases re-
main without motion) with ease. It then stretches out
its antennsB, and steering with its legs makes for the
surface. De Geer saw one just escaped from it's case
a See above, p. 264.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 303
run and swir.i with surprising agility over the bottom
of a saucer, in which he had put some cases of these
flies ; and at last when he held a piece of stick to it,
it got upon it, and having emerged from the water,
prepared to cast its envelope. It is remarkable, that
the envelope of the intermediate tarsi, like the poste-
rior ones of Dytisci, is fringed on one side with hairs,
to enable the insects to use them as swimming feet%
while those neither of the larva nor imago are so cir-
cumstanced.
I am, &c.
a De Geer, ii. 518—
LETTER XXm.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. (Imago.)
III. 1 HE motions of insects in their perfect or imago
state are various, and for various purposes ; and the
provision of organs by which they are enabled to effect
them is equally diversified and wonderful. It will be
convenient to divide this multifarious subject; I shall
therefore consider their motions under two principal
heads : — motions of insects reposing — and motions of
insects in action ; — and this last head I shall further
subdivide into motions whose object is change of place,
and sportive motions.
The first of these, motions of insects reposing, will
not detain us long. The most remarkable is that of
the long-legged gnats or crane-flies (TipulcB, F.). —
When at rest upon any wall or ceiling, sometimes stand-
ing upon four legs, and sometimes upon five, you may
observe them elevate and depress their body alternately.
This oscillating movement is produced by the weight
of their body and the elasticity of their legs, and is con-
stant and uninterrupted during their repose. Unless
it be connected with the respiration of the animal, it is
not easy to say what is the object of it. — Moths, when
feeling the stimulus of desire, or under alarm, set their
whole body into a tremor*. A living specimen of the
a Peck iu Linn. Trans, xi. 92.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 305
hawk-moth of the willow being onee brought me, upon
placing it upon my hand, after ejecting a milky fluid
from its anus, it put its wings and body into a most ra-
pid vibration, ^hich continued more than a minute,
when it flew away. — A butterfly, called by Aurelians
"The large skipper," (Ilesperia Sj/lvanus, F.) when
it alights, — which it does very often, for they are never
long on the wing, — always turns half-way round ; so
that, if it settles with its head from you, it turns it to-
wards you.
Others of the motions in question are merely those
of parts. Butterflies, when standing still in the sun,
as you have doubtless often observed,
" Their goldeo pinions ope and close ;"
thus, it should seem, unless this motion be connected
with their respiration, alternately warming and cool-
ing their bodies. — ^You have probably noticed a very
common little fly, of a shining black, with a black spot
at the end of its wings {Tephritis vibrans, Latr., Seio-
ptera, K. Ms.). It has received its trivial name (vi-
brans) from the constant vibration which, when re-
posing, it imparts to its wings. This motion also, I
have reason to think, assists its respiration. — Some in-
sects when awake are very active with their antennae,
though their bodies are at rest. I remember one even-
ing attending for some time to the proceedings of one
of those may-flies {PhrT/ganea, L.) that are remark-
able, like certain moths, for their long antennae. It was
perched upon a blade of grass, and kept moving these
organs, which were twice as long as itself, in all direc-^
tions, as if by means of them it was exploring ©^very
VOL. II. X
306 MOTIONS OP INSECTS.
thing that occurred in its vicinity. — Many Tipulas, and
likewise some mites (Acarus vibrans and Gamasus tno-
iatorius, F.), distinguished by long anterior legs, from
this circumstance denominated pedes motatorii by Linne,
holding them u[) in the air impart to them a vibratory
motion, resembling that of the antennae of some in-
sects*.— I scarcely need mention, what must oO^en have
attracted your attention, the actions of flies when they
clean themselves ; how busily they rub and wipe their
head and thorax with their fore legs, and their wings
and abdomen with their hind ones. — Perhaps you are
not equally aware of tlie use to which the rove -beetles
(Stuphj/linus, L.) put their long abdomen. They turn
it over their back not only to put themselves in a tlireat-
ening attitude, as I lately related'^, but also to fold up
their wings with it, and pack them under their short
elytra.
With respect to the motions of insects in action^ they
may be subdivided, as was just observed, into motions
whose object is change of place — and sportive motions.
The locomotions of these animals are walking, run-
ning, jumping, climbing, flying, swimming, and bur-
rowing. I begin with the walkers.
The mode of their walking depends upon the num-
ber and kind of their legs. With regard to these,
insects may be divided into four natural classes ; viz.
Hexapodsy or those that have only six legs : such are
those of every order except the Aptera of Linne, of
which only three or four genera belong to this class. —
Octopods, or those that have eight legs, including the
a De Geer, vi. 335. b See above, p. 237.
MOTIONS OP 1N9ECT9. 307
tribes of mites {Acaridcn) ; spiders {Araneidce) ; long-
legged spiders {Phalangidce) ; and scorpions (Scorpi-
onidce): — Pol //pods, or those that ha\e fourteen legs,
consisting of the woodlouse tribe (Oniscidcp) ; — and
M?/riapods, or those that have more than fourteen legs
— often more than a hundred — composed of the two
tribes of centipedes {Scolopendridce) and millepedes
(JididcL'). The first of these classes may be denomi-
nated proper, and the rest improper insects. The legs
of all seem to consist of the same general parts ; the
hip, troclianter, thigh, shank, and foot ; the four first
being usually without joints (though in the Araneidce,
&c. the shank has two), and the foot having from one
to above forty*.
In walking and running, the hexapods, like the larvae
that have perfect legs, move the anterior and posterior
leg of one side and the intermediate of the other alter-
nately, as I have often witnessed. De Geer, however,
affirms, that they advance each pair of legs at the same
time^; but this is contrary to fact, and indeed would
make their ordinary motions, instead of walking and
running, a kind of canter and gallop. Whether those
a The most common number of joints in the tarsus is from two to five ;
but the PhalangidtD have sometimes more than forty. In these, under a
lens, this part looks like a Jointed antenna.
Geoftroy, and after him most modern entomolooisfs, has taken the
primary divisions of the Coleoptera order from the number of joints in the
tarsus; but this, althou2;!i perhaps in the majority of cases it may aiford
a natural division, will not universally. For — not to mention the in-
stance of Pselaplius, clearly belonging to the Slaphylinidtr — both Oxyte-
his, Grav., and another genus that I liavc separated from it {Carpali~
mifs, K. Ms,), have only two joints in their tarsi. In this tribe, therefore,
it can only be used for secondary divisions. K, •> iii. 284.
X 2
308 MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
that have more than six feet move in this way — which
is not improbable — from the difficulty of attending at
the same time to the movements of so many members,
is not easily ascertained.
The dog-tick {Ixodes Ricinus^ F.), if when young
and active it moves in the same way that it does when
swoln to an enormous size with blood, seems to afford
an exception to the mode of walking just described. It
first uses, says Ray, its two anterior legs as antennae
to feel out its way, and then fixing them, brings the
next pair beyond them, which being also fixed, it takes
a second step with the anterior, and so drags its bloated
carcase along ^. — Redi observes, that when scorpions
walk they use those remarkable comb-like processes at
the base of their posterior legs to assist them in their
motions, extending them and setting them out from
the body, as if they were wings : and his observation is
confirmed by Amoreux, who calls them ventral swim-
mers''.— I have often noticed a millepede {Julus ter-
restris, L.), frequently found under the bark of trees,
and where there is not a fi'ee circulation of air, the
motions of which are worthy of attention. Observed at
a little distance, it seems to glide over the surface, like
a serpent, without legs; but a nearer inspection shows
how its movement is accomplished. Alternate portions
of its numerous legs are extended beyond the line of
the body, so as to form an obtuse angle with it, while
those in the intervals preserve a vertical direction. So
that, as long as it keeps moving, little bunches of the
legs are alternately in and out from one end to the
other of its long body ; and an amusing sight it is to
a Hist. Ins. 10. , b Redi Optisc, i. 80. Amoreux, 44 —
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 309
see the undulating line of motion successively begin-
ning at the head and passing oft" at the tail. — The mo-
tion of centipedes (Scolopendra), as well as that of this
insect and its congeners, is retrogressive as well as pro-
gressive. Put your finger to the common one (S. mor-
sitans, L.), and it will immediately retrograde, and with
the same facility as if it was going forwards. This dif-
ference, however, is then observable — it uses its four
hind legs, which, when it moves in the usual way, are
dragged after it. — Almost all the other apterous insects,
as well as many of those in the other orders, can move
in all directions ; backwards, and towards both sides,
as well as forwards. Bonnet mentions a spider (not a
spinner) that always walked backwards when it at-
tacked a large insect of its own tribe; but when it had
succeeded in driving it from a captive fly, which how-
ever it did not eat, it walked forwards in the ordinary
way".
Insects vary much in their walking paces : some
crawling along; others walking slowly; and others
moving with a very quick step. The field-cricket
(Aclieta campestris, F.) creeps very slowly — the bloody-
nose beetle {Chri/somela tenebricosa) and the oil-beetle
(Meloe Proscarahceus) march very leisurely ; the spider-
wasps (Po»?p!Y««,F.) walk by starts, as it were, vibra-
ting their wings, at the same time, witliout expanding
them ; while flies, ichneumons, wasps, &c., and many
beetles, walk as fast as they can. One insect, a kind of
snake-fly (Raphidia Majitispa, F.), is said to walk upon
its knees. The crane-flies (Tipula oleracea, L.) and
shepherd-spiders (Phalangium, L.) have legs so dispro-
portionately long, that they seem to walk upon stilts;
a CEuvr. ii. 426,
SIO MOTIONS 01-' INSECTS.
but when we consider that they have to walk over and
amongst grass, — the former laying its eggs in meado\Ts,
— rwe shall see the reason of this conformation. In-
sects do not always walk in a right line ; for I have
often observed the little midges (Ps7/c/wda, Latr.),
when walking up glass, moving alternately from right
to left and from left to right, as humble-bees fly, so as
to describe small zig-zags.
Numerous are the insects that run. Almost all the
predaceous tribes, the black dors, clocks, or ground-
beetles {Carah idee), and their fellow destroyers the Ci-
cindelidce, — which last Linne, with much propriety, has
denominated the tigers of tlie insect world, — are gifted
with uncommon powers of motion, and run with great
rapidity. The velocity, in this respect, of ants is also
very great. — Mr. Delisie observed a fly — so minute as
to be almost invisible — which ran nearly three inches
in a demi-second, and in that space made 540 steps.
Consequently it could take a thousand steps during one
pulsation of the blood of a man in health''. Which is
as if a man, whose steps measured two feet, should run
at the incredible rate of more than twenty miles in a
minute ! How astonishing then are the powers with
which these little beings are gifted ! — The forest-fly
(Uippobosca), and its kindred genus Ornithomi/ia pa-
rasitic upon birds, are extremely difficult to take, as I
have more than once experienced, from their extreme
agility. I lost one from this circumstance two years
ago that I found upon the sea-lark {Charadrius Hiati-
cula, L.), and which appeared to be non-descript.
Another most singular insect, which though apterous
is nearly related to these — I mean the louse of the bat
a Lesser, I. i. 248, note 24.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 311
{Nt/cteribia Vespertilionis, Latr.), is still more remark-
able for its swiftness. Its legs, as appears from the ob-
servations of Colonel Montague, are fixed in an unusual
position on the upper side of the trunk. " It trans-
ports itself," to use the words of the gentleman just
mentioned, " with such celerity, from one part of the
animal it inhabits, to the opposite and most distant,
although obstructed by the extreme thickness of the
fur, that it is not readily taken." " When two or
three were put into a small phial, their agility appeared
inconceivably great; for, as their feet are incapable of
fixing upon so smooth a body, their whole exertion was
employed in laying hold of each other; and in this
most curious struggle they appeared actually flying in
circles : and when the bottle was reclined, they would
frequently pass from one end to the other w ith asto-
nishing velocity, accompanied by the same gyrations :
if by accident they escaped each other, they very soon
became motionless : and as quickly were the whole put
in motion again by the least touch of the bottle, or the
movement of an individual. — Incredibly great also is
the rapidity with which a little reddish mite, with two
black dots on the anterior part of its back (Gama'
sus Baccarum, F.), common upon strawberries, moves
along. Such is the velocity with which it runs, that it
appears rather to glide or fly than to use its legs.
When insects walk or run, their legs are not the only
members that are put in motion. They will not, or
rather cannot, stir a step till their antenna are removed
from their station of repose and set in action. When
id, t. xix. f. 1-9.
SSy MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
M'asp ( Vespa vulgaris) is by these enabled to walk up
and down our glass windows.
We learn from De Geer that several mites (Aca-
ridce), to fii^ish with the Aplera^ have something of this
kind. Among these is the cheese-mite {Acarus Siro^
F.) : its four fore feet being terminated by a vesicle
with a long neck, to which it can give every kind of
inflexion. When it sets its foot down, it enlarges and
inflates it; and when it lifts it up, it contracts it so that
the vesicle almost entirely disappears. This vesicle is
between two claws ^. — The itch acarus {A. Scabiei, L.)
is similarly circumstanced. — Ixodes Ricinus and Re-
duvius have also tJiese vesicles — which are armed with
two claws — on all their feet''.
I am next to consider those climbers that ascend and
descend, and probably maintain themselves in their
station, by the assistance of a secretion which they have
the power of producing. You will immediately per-
ceive that I am speaking of the numerous tribes of
spiders {Araneidce)^ which, most of them, are endowed
with this faculty. Every body knows that these insects
ascend and descend by means of a thread that issues'
from them ; but perhaps every one lias not remarked
— when they wish to avoid a hand held out to catch
them, or any other obstacle — that they can sway this
thread from the perpendicular. When they move up
or down, their legs are extended, sometimes gathering
in and sometimes guiding their thread"^; but when their
motion is suspended, they are bent inwards. These ani-
a De Geer, vii. 91. t. v./. 6, 7.
b IMd. 96— <.v./. 13, 14, 17, 19, ^vL/,2, 5,
c Vol. I, 2d Ed, 407,
TMOTIONS OF INSECTS^ 533
tn^h, although they have no suckers or other appa-
ratus—except the hairs of their legs and the three
claws of their biarticulate tarsi, to enable them to do it
— can also walk against gravity, both in a perpendicular
and a prone position. Dr. Hulse, in Ray's Letters,
s«eins to have furnished a clue that will very well
explain this. I give it you in his own homely phrase.
" They," spiders, " will often fasten their threads in
several places to the things they creep up; the manner
is by beating" their bums or tails against them as they
creep along^." Fixing their anus by means of a web, the
anterior part of their body, when they are resting, we
can readily conceive, would be supported by the claws
and hairs of their legs ; and their motion may be ac-
complished by alternately fixing one and then the other.
But you will remember I give you thismerely as con-
jecture, having never verified it by observation.
It may not be amiss to mention here another apte-
rous insect that reposes on perpendicular or prone sur-
faces, without either suckers or any viscous secretion
by which it can adhere to them. I mean the long-legged
or shepherd spiders {Phalangium, L.). The tarsi of
these insects are setaceous and nearly as fine as a hair,
consisting sometimes of more than forty joints, those
toward the extremity being very minute, and scarcely
discernible, and terminating in a single claw. These
tarsi, which resemble antennae rather than feet, are ca-
pable of every kind of inflexion, sometimes even of a
spiral one. These circumstances enable them to ap-
ply their feet to the inequalities of the surface on which
they repose, so that every joint may in some measure
a 63.
^4 MbtlONS OF INSECTS.
become a point of support. Their eight legs also^
which diverge from their body like the spokes from the
nave of a wheel, give them equal hold of eight almost
equidistant spaces, which, doubtless, is a great stay to
them.
The next species of locomotion exhibited by perfect
insects is Jlt/ing. I am not certain whether under this
head I ought to introduce the sailing of spiders in the
air ; but as there is no other under which it can be
more properly arranged, I shall treat of it here. I
shall therefore divide flying insects into those that fly
without wings, and those that fly with them.
I dare say you are anxious to be told how any ani-
mals can fly without wmgs, and wish me to begin with
them. As an observer of nature, you have often, with-
out doubt, been astonished by that sight occasionally
noticed in fine days in the autumn, of webs — commonly-
Called gossamer webs — covering the earth and float-
ing in the air ; and have freqviently asked yourself —
What are these gossamer webs ? Your question has
from old times much excited the attention of learned
naturalists. It was an old and strange notion that
these webs were composed of dew burned by the sun.
" The fine nets which oft we woven see
Of scorched dew,"
says Spenser. Another, fellow to it, and equally ab-
surd, was that adopted by a learned man and good na-
tural philosopher, and one of the first fellows of the
Royal Society, Robert Hooke, the author of Micro"
graphia. " Much resembling a cobweb," says he, ^' or
a confused lock of these cylinders, is a certain white
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. S55
Substance which, after a fogg, may be observed to fly
up and down the air : catching several of these, and ex-
amining- them with my microscope, I found them to be
much of the same form, looking most like to a flake of
Worsted prepared to be spun ; though by what means
they should be generated or produced is not easily ima-
gined : they were of the same weight, or very little
heavier than the air; and Uis not unlikelj/, but that
those great zshite clouds^ liiat appear all the summer limey
may he of the same substance'^.'" So liable are even the
wisest men to error when, leaving fact and experiment,
they follow the guidance of fancy. Some French na-
turalists have supposed that these Jils de la Vierge, as
they are called in France, are composed of the cot-
tony matter in which the eggs of the Coccus of the vine
(C. Viiis, I^.) are enveloped^. In a country abound-
ing in vineyards this supposition would not be absurd;
but in one like Britain, in which the vine is confined
to the fruit-garden, and the Coccus seldom seen out of
the conservatory, it will not at all account for the
phaenomenon. — What will you say, if I tell you that
these webs (at least many of them) are air-balloons —
and that the aeronauts are not
" Lovers who may bestride the gossamer
That idles in tiic wanton summer air.
And yet not fall" —
Jiut spiders, who long before Montgolfier, nay, ever since
a Ulicrogi; 202. It has been objected to an excellent primitive writer
(Clemens liomanus), that he believed the absurd fable of the phcenix.
Rut surely this may be allowed for in him, who was no naturalist, when
a scientific natural philosopher could believe that the clouds are made of
spiders web t ■> b Latrrille, Hist. Nat. xii. 3S8.
336 MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
the creation, have been in the habit of sailing througTi
the fields of ether in these air-iight chariots! This
seems to have been suspected long ago by Henry Moore j
^vho says,
" As light and thin as cobwebs that do fly
In the blew air, caiis'd by the autumnal sun,
TJiat boils the dew rha' on the earth doth lie,
May Si.'em this whitish ni^ then is tlic scnm ;
Unless that wiser men make't ihejield-spider's loom^."
Where he also alludes to the old opinion of scorched
dew. But the first naturalists who made this discovery
appear to have been Dr. Hulse and Dr. Martin Lister — •
the former first observing that spiders shoot their webs
into the air ; and the latter, besides this, that they
were carried upon them in that element''. This last
gentleman, in fine serene weather in September, had
noticed these webs falling from the heavens, and in
them discovered more than once a spider, which he
named the bird. On another occasion, whilst he was
watching the proceedings of a common spider, the ani-
mal suddenly turning upon its back and elevating its
anus, darted forth a long thread, and vaulting from
the place on which it stood, was carried upwards to a
considerable heighjt. Numerous observations after-
Wards confirmed this extraordinary fact; and he fur-
ther discovered, that while they fly in this manner, they
pull in their long thread with their fore feet, so as to
form it into a ball — or, as we may call it, air-balloon —
of flalie. The height to which spiders will thus ascend
he affirms is prodigious. One day in the autumn,
when the air was full of webs, he mounted to the top
a Quoted in the Atheneeum, v. 126. b Raj's Lftters. 69, 36-^
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 337
of the highest steeple of York minster, from whence he
could discern the floating; webs still very high above
him. Some spiders that fell and were entangled upon
the pinnacles he took. They were of a kind that
never enter houses, and therefore could not be sup-
posed to have taken their flight from the steeple'^. It
appears from his observations, that^this faculty is not
confined to one species of spider, but is common to
several, though only in their young- or half-grown
state*"; whence we may infer, that when full-grown
their bodies are too heavy to be thus conveyed. One
spider he noticed that at one time contented itself with
ejaculating- a single thread, while at others it darted
out several, like so many shining rays at the tail of a
comet. Of these, in Cambridgeshire in October, he
once saw an incredible number sailing in the air*^.
Speaking of his Ar. suhfuscus mimitissimis oculis, &c.
he says, " Certainly this is aa excellent rope-dancer,
and is wonderfully delighted with darting its threads :
nor is it only carried in the air, like the preceding ones ;
but it effects itself its ascent and sailing: for, by means
of its legs closely applied to each other, it as it were
balances itself, and promotes and directs its course
no otherwise than as if nature had furnished it with
wings or oars'*." A later, but equally gifted observer
of nature, Mr. White, confirms Dr. Lister's account.
a Ray's lexers, 37. 87. Lister De Aran. ^0. Lister illustrates the
force with which these creatuWes shoot their thread, by a homely, though
very forcible simile : " Rcsupinata (says he) aimm in ventura tledil, filum-
que ejaculata est quo plane modo robustissimus juvenis e distentissima
vesicli urinam."
b Be JraneU,6.21. 64. 75—. 79—. c Ibid. 79—. a Ibid. 85.
TOL. II. Z
558 MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
" Every clay in fine weather in autumn," says he, "do
1 see these spiders shooting out their webs, and mount-
ing- aloft: they will go otF from the finger, if you will
take them into your hand. Last summer one alighted on
my book as I was reading in the parlour; and running
to the top of the page and shooting out a web, took its
departure from thence. But what I most wondered at
was, that it went off with considerable velocity in a
place where no air was stirring; and 1 am sure that I
did not assist it with my breath. So that these little
crawlers seem to have while mounting some locomo-
tive power without the use of wings, and move faster
than the air in the air itself'^." A writer in the last
number of Thomson's Annals of PhUosophi/^, under
the signature of Carolan, has given some curious ob-
servations on the mode in which some geometric spiders
shoot and direct their threads, and fly upon them ; by
which it appears, that as they dart them out they guide
them as if by magic, emitting at the same time a stream
of air, as he supposes, or possibly some subtile electric
fluid. One which was running upon his hand, dropped
hv its thread about six inches from the point of his
finger, when it immediately emitted a pretty long line
at a right angle with that by which it was suspended.
This thread, though at first horizontal, quickly rose
upwards, carrying the spider along with it. When it
had ascended as far above his finger as it had dropped
before below it, it let out the thread by which it had
])een attached to it, and continued flying smoothly up-
wards till it nearly reached the roof of the room, when
it veered on one side and alighted on the wall. In fly-
a Nut. Hist. i. 3ST. b No. lii. 306—.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 339
ing", its motion was smoother and quicker than when a
spider runs along' its thread. He observes, that as the
line lengthens behind them, the tendency of spiders to
rise increases. — 1 have myself more than once observed
these creatures take their flight, and find the following
memorandum with respect to their mode of proceeding-.
" The spider first extends its thighs, shanks, and feet
into a right line, and then elevating its abdomen till it
becomes vertical, shoots its thread into the air, and flies
off from its station." It is not often, however, that an
observer can be gratified with this interesting sight,
since these animals are soon alarmed. I have frequently
noticed them — for at the times when these webs are float-
ing in the air they are very numerous — on the vertical
angle of a post, or pale, or one of the uprights of a gate,
with the end of their abdomen pointing upwards, as if to
shoot their thread previously to flying off': when, upon
my approaching to take n nearer view, they have low-
ered it again, and persisted in disappointing my wish
to see them mount aloft. The rapidity with which the
spider vanislies from the sight upon this occasion and
darts into the air, is a problem of no easy solution. Can
the length of web that they dart forth counterpoise the
weight of their bodies? Or have they any organ analo-
gous to the natatory vesicles of fishes % which contri-
butes at their will to render them buoyant in the air?
Or do they rapidly ascend their threads in their usual
way, and gather them up, till having collected them
into a mass of sufficient magnitude, they give themselves
to the air, and are carried here and there in these cha-
riots? I must here give you Mr. White's Very curious
* Cnyier, Annt. C<>mp. i.504.
Z 2
340 MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
account of a shower of these webs that he witnessed.
On the 21st of September 1741, intent upon field di-
versions, he rose before day-break ; but on going out,
he found the whole face of the country covered with a
thick coat of cobweb drenched with dew, as if two or
three setting-nets had been drawn one over the other.
When his dogs attempted to hunt, their eyes were so
blinded and hood-winked that they were obliged to lie
down and scrape themselves. This appearance was
followed by a most lovely day. About nine A. M. a
shower of these webs (formed not of single floating
threads, but of perfect flakes, some near an inch broad,
and five or six long,) was observed falling from very
elevated regions, which continued without interruption
during the whole of the day; — and they fell with a ve-
locity which showed that they were considerably hea-
vier than the atmosphere. When the most elevated
station in the country where this was observed was
ascended, the webs were still to be seen descending
from above, and twinkling like stars lit the sun, so as
to draw the attention of the most incurious. The flakes
of the web on this occasion hung so thick upon the
hedges and trees, that baskets-full might have been
collected. No one doubts, he observes, but that these
webs are the production of small spiders, which swarna
in the fields in fine weather in autumn, and have a
power of shooting out webs from their tails, so as to
render themselves buoyant and lighter than the air^.
In Germany these flights of gossamer appear so con-
stantly in autumn, that they are there metaphorically
called ^' Der Jlie§^ender Sommer^^ (the flying or depart-
« Nat. Hist. i. 325—^
MOTIONS OP INSECTS^ S41
ing summer) ; and authors speak of the web as often
hanging in flakes like wool on every hedge and bush
throughout extensive districts.
Here we may inquire — Why is the ground in these
serene days covered so thickly by these webs, and what
becomes of them ? What occasions the spiders to
mount into the air, and do the same species form both
the terrestrial and aerial gossamer? — And what causes
the webs at last to fall to the earth ? I fear I cannot to
all these queries return a fully satisfactory answer; but
I will do the best I can. At first one would conclude
from analogy, that the object of the gossamer which
early in the morning is spread over stubbles and fal-
lows— and sometimes so thickly as to make them appear
as if covered with a carpet, or rather overflown by a sea,
of gauze, presenting, when studded with dew-drops,
as I have often witnessed, a most enchanting spectacle
— is to entrap the flies and other insects as they rise
into the air from their nocturnal station of repose, to
take their diurnal flights. But Dr. Strack's observa-
tions render this very doubtful : for he kept many of
the spiders that produce these webs in a large glass
upon turf, where they spun as when at liberty, and he
could never observe them attempt to catch or eat — even
when entangled in their webs — the flies and gnats with
which he supplied them ; though they greedily sucked
water when sprinkled upon the turf, and remained
lively for two months without other food*. As the
single threads shot by other spiders are usually their
bridges, this perhaps may be the object of the webs in
a Neue SchrifUn der Naturfomchenden GessdUchaft zu Halle 1810. v.
Heft ,
342 MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
question ; and thus the animals may be conveyed from
furrow to furrow or straw to straw less circuitously,
and with less labour, than if they had travelled over
the ground. As these creatures seem so thirsty, may
we not conjecture that the drops of dew, with which
they are always as it were strung, are a secondary ob-
ject with them ? So prodigious are their numbers, that
sometimes every stalk of straw in the stubbles, and
every clod and stone in the fallows, swarms with them.
Dr. Sti'ack assures us that twenty or thirty often sit
upon a single straw, and that he collected about 200Q
in half an hour, and could have easily doubled the
number had he wished it : he remarks, that the cause
of their escaping the notice of other observers, is their
falling to the ground upon the least alarm.
As to what becomes of this immense carpeting of
web there are different opinions. Mr. White conjec-
tures that these threads, when first shot, might be eur
tangled in the rising dew, and so drawn up, spiders and
all, by a brisk evaporation, into the region where the
clouds are formed^. But this seems almost as inad-
missible as that of Hooke, before related. An ingeni-
ous and observant friend, thinking the numbers of the
flying spiders not sufficient to produce the whole of the
phenomenon in question, is of opinion that an equi-
noctial gale, sweeping along the fallows and stubbles
coated with the gossamer, must bring many single
threads into contact, which, adhering together, may
gradually collect into flakes; and that being at length
detached by the violence of the wind, they are carried
along with it : and as it is known that such winds oftew
a Nat. Hist. i. 326.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
convey even sand and earth to great heights, he deems it
highly probable that so light a substance may be trans-
ported to so great an elevation, as not to fall to the earth
for some days after, when the weather has become se-
rene, or to descend upon ships at sea, as has sometimes
happened. This, which is in part adopted from the
German authors, is certainly a much more reasonable
supposition than the other ; but some facts seem to
militate against it: for, in the first place, thougli gos-
samer often occurs upon the ground when there is
none in the air, yet the reverse of this has never been
observed ; for gossamer in the air, as in the instance re-
corded by Mr. White, is always preceded by gossamer
on the ground. Now, since the weather is constantly
calm and serene when these showers appear, it cannot
be the wind that carries the Aveb from the ground into
the air. Again, it is stated that these showers take place
after several calm days* : now, if the web was raised by
the wind into the air, it would begin to fall as soon as
the wind ceased. Whence I am inclined^ to think that
the cause assigned by Dr. Lister is the real source of
the whole phenomenon. Though ordinary observers
have overlooked them, he noticed these spiders in the
air in such prodigious numbers, that he deemed them
suflficient to produce the effect. I shall not, however,
decide positively; but, having stated the different opi-
nions, leave you to your own judgement.
The next query is. What occasions the spiders to
mount their chariots and seek the clouds? Is it in pur-
suit of their food ? Insects, in the fine warm days in
which this phenomenon occurs, probably take higher
a Ray's Ltlicrs, 36.
344 MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
flights than usual, and seek the upper regions of the at-
mosphere ; and that the spiders catch them there, ap-
pears by the exuviae of gnats and flies, which are often
found in the falling webs'*. Yet one would suppose
that insects would fly high at all times in the summer
in serene warm weather. Perhaps the flight of some
particular species constituting a favourite food of our
little charioteers — the gnats, for instance, which we
have seen sometimes rise in clouds into the air*" — may
at these times take place ; or the species of spiders that
are most given to these excursions, may not abound in
their young state — when only they can fly — at other
seasons of the year.
Whether the same species that cover the earth with
their webs produce those that fill the air, is to be our
next inquiry. Did the appearance of the one always
succeed that of the other, this might be reasonably con-
cluded : — but the former, as I lately observed to you,
often occurs without being followed by the latter. Yet,
since itshoul^ seem that the aerial gossamer, though it
does not always follow it, is always preceded by the
terrestrial, this warrants a conjecture that they may be
synonymous. Two German authors, Bechstein'^ and
Strack**, have described the spider that produces gossa-
mer in Germany under the name of Aranea obtextrLv^,
But it is not clear, unless they have described it at dif-
ferent ages, when spiders often greatly change their
appearance, that they mean the same species. The
former describes his as of the size of a small pin's head,
a Ray's Letleis, 42. Lister De Araneis, 8. b Vol. I. 2d Ed. 1 15.
c Lichtenber^ uiid Voight Magazhu 1789. vi. 53 — .
d Ntve Schriften der Nalurforscfi. &c. 1-810. v. Hefr. 41-56.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 345
with its eight eyes disposed in a circle, having a black-
brown body and light-yellow legs : while Dr. Strack
represents his A. ohtextrix as more than two lines in
length ; eyes four in a square, and two on each side
touching each other ; thorax deep brown with paler
streaks; abdomen below dull white, above dark cop-
per brown, with a dentated white spot running longi-
tudinally down the middle. The first of these, if di-
stinct, as I suspect they are, agrees very well with the
young of one which Lister observed as remarkable for
taking aerial flights'*; and which 1 have most usually
seen so engaged. The other may possibly be that be-
fore noticed, which he found in such infinite numbers
in Cambridgeshire ^. If this conjecture be correct, it
will prove that the same species first produce the gos-
samer that covers the ground, and then, shooting other
threads, mount upon them into the air.
My last query was. What causes these webs ulti-
mately to fall to the earth ? Mr. White's observation
will I think furnish the best answer. " If the spiders
have the power of coiling up their webs in the air, as
Dr. Lister affirms, then when they become heavier than
the air they will fall '^." The more expanded the web,
the lighter and more buoyant, and the more condensed,
the heavier it must be.
I trust you will allow from this mass of evidence,
that the English Arachnologists — may I coin this terra ?
— were correct in their account of this singular phe-
nomenon ; and think, with me, that Swammerdam (who
however admits that spiders sail on their webs), and
after him De Goer, were rather hasty when they stig-
« Dc JiantL, 66, b ibid. 79. c:Sai. Hist. i. 356.
34l6 motions of insects.
matized the discovery that these animals shoot their
webs into the air, and so take flight, as a strange and
unfounded opinion^. The fact, though so well authen-
ticated, is indeed strange and wonderful, and affords
another proof of the extraordinary powers, unparal-
leled in the higher orders of animals, with which the
Creator has gifted the insect world. Were indeed
man and the larger animals, with their present pro-
pensities, similarly endowed, the whole creation would
soon go to ruin. But these almost miraculous powers
in the hands of these little beings only tend to keep it
in order and beauty. Adorable is that Wisdom, Power,
and Goodness, that has distinguished these next to
nothings by such peculiar endowments for our preser-
vation as if given to the strong and mighty would
work our destruction.
After the foregoing marvellous detail of the aerial
excursions of our insect air-balloonists, I fear you will
think the motions of those which fly by means o[ wings
less interesting. You w ill find, however, that they are
not altogether barren of amusement. Though the
wings are the principal instruments of the flight of in-
sects, yet there are others subsidiary to them, which I
shall here enumerate, considering them more at large
under the orders to which they severally belong. These
are wing-cases (i?(^/rrt, Tegmina, and H emelytra) ',
winglets {Alidce); poisers {Halteres) ; tailets (CffZ/f/M-
loe) ; booklets {Hamuli) ; base-covers ( Tegulee)^ &c.
Besides, their tails, legs, and even antenna assist them,
in some instances, in this motion.
As wings are common to almost the whole class, I
a Swamm. Eibl. Nat. Ed. Hill. i. 24. De Geer, vii. 190.
, MOTIONS OF INSECTS. S47
sliall consider their structure here. Every wing con-
sists of two membranes, more or less transparent, ap-
plied to each other : the upper membrane being very
strongly attached to the nervures (Neurce), and the
lower adhering more loosely, so as to be separable
from them. Tlie nervures" are a kind of hollow tube,
— above elastic, horny, and convex ; and flat and
nearly membranaceous below, — which take their origin
in tb.e trunk, and keep diminishing gradually, the mar-
ginal ones excepted, to their termination. The ves-
sels contained in tRe nervures consist of a spiral thread,
whence tliey appear to be air-vessels communicating
with the tracheal in the trunk. — The expansion of the
wing at the will of the insect is a problem that can
only be solved by supposing that a subtile fluid is intro-
duced into these vessels, which seem perfectly analo^
gous to those in the wings of birds ; and that thus an
impulse is communicated to every part of the organ,
sufficient to keep it in proper tension. We see by this
that a wing is supported in its flight like a sail by its
cordage ''. It is remarkable that those insects which
keep the longest on the wing, the dragon-flies (Libel-
lulidce) for instance, have their wings most covered
with nervures. The wings of insects in flying, like
those of other flying animals, you are to observe, move
vertically or up and down.
In considering the flight of insects, I shall treat of
that of each order separately, beginning with the Co-
a French naturalists use this term (nerviire) for the veins of wings,
leaves, &c., restricting nerve inerf) to the ramifications from the brain
jvnd spinal marrow. We have adopted the term, which we express iu
l^atin by neura, from the Greek viv^a. b Juriiie Hymenopt. 19^
348 MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
leoptera or beetles. Their subsidiary instruments of
flight are their wing-cases (Eli/ira), and in one instance,
winglets (Ahtlce). The former'^ — which in some are of
a hard horny substance, and in others are softer and
more like leather, though they are kept immoveable in
flight, are probably, by their resistance to the air, not
without their use on this occasion. The winglets are
small concavo-convex scales, of a stiff membranaceous
substance, generally fringed at their extremity ''. I
know at present of only one coleopterous insect that lias
them (D^tiscits marginalis, L.)- They are placed under
the elytra at their base. Their use is unknown ; but
it may probably be connected with their flight. The
wings of beetles •= are usually very ample, often of a
substance between parchment and membrane. The
nervures that traverse and extend them, though not
numerous, are stronger and larger than those in the
wings of insects of the other orders, and are so dispersed
as to give perfect tension to the organ. When at rest
— except in Molorchus^ Artruclocerus, Necj/dalis, and
some other genera — they are folded transversely under
the elytra, generally near the middle, with a lateral
longitudinal fold, but occasionally near the extremity ''.
When they prepare for flight, their antennae being set
cut, the elytra are opened so as to form an angle with
the body and admit the free play of the wings, and they
then fly off, striking the air by the vertical motion of
these organs, the elytra all the while remaining im-
moveable. During their flight the bodies of insects of
a Plate X. Fig. 1. b Platf. XXIII. Fjg. 6. a. c Plate X. Fig. 4.
(1 In Plath XXIII. Fig. 5. the wings of Dytiscus marginaUs are re-
^)reieiUcd as they appear when folded.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 349
this order, as far as I have observed them, are always
in a position nearly vertical, which gives to the larger
sorts, tiie stag-beetle for instance, a very singular ap-
pearance. Olivier, probably having some of the larger
and heavier beetles in his eye, affirms that the wings
of insects of this order are not usually proportioned to
tire weight of their bodies, and that the muscular ap-
paratus that moves them is deficient in force. In con-
sequence of which, he observes, they take flight with
difficulty, and fly very badly. The strokes of their
wings being frequent, and their flight short, uncertain,
heavy, and laborious, they can use their wings only in
very calm weather, the least wind beating them down.
Yet he allows that others, whose body is lighter, rise
into the air and fly with a little more ease ; especially
when the weather is warm and dry, their flights how-
ever being short, though frequent. He asserts also,
that no coleopterous insect can fly against the wind'*.
These observations may hold perhaps Avith respect to
many species ; but they will by no means apply gene-
rally. The cockchafer (3 felolontha vulgaris), if thrown
into the air in the evening, its time of flight, will take
wing before it falls to the ground. The common dung-
chafer {Scarabcetis stcrcorarins) — wheeling from side to
side like the humble-bee — -flies with great rapidity and
force, and, with all its dung-devouring confederates,
directs its flight with the utmost certainty, and proba-
bly often against the wind, to its food. The root-de-
vourers or tree-chafers {Melolontha, I{oplia,&c.) sup-
port themselves, like swarming bees, in the air and over
the trees, flying round in all directions. The Staphj/li-
a Entomol. i. 1.
350 MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
nidce and Donacice^ in warm Iveather, fly off fiom theiV
station with the utmost ease ; — their wings are un-
folded, and they are in tlie air in an instant, especially
the latter, as I have often found when 1 have attempted
to take them. None are more remarkable for this than
tTie Cicindelce, which, however, takiiig- very short flights,
are as easily marked down as a partridge, and afford as
much amusement to the entomologist, as the latter to
the sportsman. — It is to be observed that many insects
in this order have no wings, and the female glow-
worms neither wings nor elytra.
Many persons are not aware that the insects of the
next order, the Dermaptera, can fly : but earw igs ( For-
Jicida), their size considered, are furnished with very
ample and curious Avings, the principal nervures of
which are so many radii, diverging from a conmion
point near the anterior margin. Between these are
others which, proceeding from the opposite margin,
terminate in the middle of the wing". These organs,
when at rest, are more than once folded both trans-
versely and longitudinally.
Wings equally ample, forming the quadrant of a
circle, and with five or six nervures diverging from
their base, distinguish the strepsipterous tribe. When
unemployed these are folded longitudinally. It is not
easy to ascertain the use of their spurious elj tra, which
are fixed at the base of their anterior legs ; but pos-
sibly tliey may be serviceable in their flight''.
Probably in the next or Aev {Orihopitro),i\\e Teg-
inina, or wing-covers — since they are usually of a much
thinner substance than elytra — assist them in flying;,
a Plate X. Fig. 5. b Plate II. I'm. I-
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 351
They are however quite covered by irregular reticu-
lations, produced by various nervures sent forth by
the longitudinal ones, and running- in all directions.
When at rest the inner part of one laps over that of
the other ^ : but in ditferent genera there is a singular
variation in this circumstance. Thus in B/allu, Pliasma^
and male Locustre, and generally speaking-, but not in-
variably, in Grj/ilus, F. and Triixalis,— the left elytrum
laps over the right : but in Mantis, F. ; Manlispa, Latr. ;
^ome female JLoc//.if^r? ; Achcla ; and Gri/Uotalpa, Latr. -
the right is laid over the left. The wings in this order,
though always ample and larger than the tegmina, do
not invariably form a quadrant of a circle, falling- often
short of it. They are extended by means of nervures,
which, like so many rays, diverge from the base of the
wing, and are intersected alternately by transverse
ones, which thus form quadrangular areas, arranged
like bricks in a waP. When at rest, they are lono-itu-
dinally folded. The flight of these insects, as far as it
has been observed, much resembles, it is said, that of
certain birds. Ray tells us that both sexes of the
house-cricket {Acheta domestica, F.) fly with an undu-
lating motion, like a woodpecker, alternately ascend-
ing with expanded wings, and descending with folded
ones ^. The field- and mole-crickets (Ac/iela cainpestris
and Gri/Uotalpa, F.), as we learn from Mr. White *=,
and, since the structure of ..their wings is similar, pro-
bal)ly the other Orthoptera — fly in the same way.
Ilemipterous insects, witli respect to their Ilemely-
tra. may be divided into two classes. Those in which
they are all of the same substance — varying from meni-
a Plate X. Fig. 2. . b Uht. Iii^. 03. civ^^ //jj.^. n, gj.
352 MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
brane to a leathery or horny crust^ — and those in whicti
the base and the apex are of different substances ; the
first being generally corneous, and the latter membra-
naceous*". The former division includes the Cicadiadm ;
Aphis-. Chermes; Thrips; ixwA Coccus ., — and the latter
the Cimicidce, comprehending besides the Linnean ge-
nus Cimex, Notonecta; Sigma; Nepa; Ranatra; and
Naucoris of Fabricius. The posterior tibiae of some of
this last division (Lj/gcens pfij/llopus,foliacem,8ic.,F.)
are furnished on each side with a foliaceous process —
which may act the part of out-riggers, and assist them in
their flights I can give you no particular information
with respect to the aerial movements of the insects of
this order: the British species that belong to it are
generally so minute that it is not easy to trace them
with the naked eye ; and unless some kind optician,
which is much to be wished, would invent a telescope
by which the proceedings of insects could be examined
at a distance, there is no other way of studying them.
The four wings of the next order, the Trichoptera
or case-worm flies, both in their shape and nervures
resemble those of many moths'^; only instead of scales
they are usually covered with hairs, and the under
win""S, which are larger than the upper, fold longitu-
dinally. Some of these flies, I have observed, move
in a direct line, with their legs set out, which makes
them look as if they were walking in the air. In fly-
in"- they often apply their antenna; to each other,
stretching them ont straight, and thus probably are
assisted in their motion.
a Plate IT. Fig. 4. b Plate X. Fig. S. II. fjc. 3.
c Plate XV. Fig. 2. d Plate 111. Fig. 4.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. SjS
The Lepidoptera vary so infinitely in the shape, com-
parative magnitude, and appendages of their wings,
that I should detain you too long did I enlarge upoii so
multifarious a subject. I shall therefore only observe,
that one species is described, both by L\onel and De
Geer* (Plmfa-na he.vaptera, F?), as having six wings;
forbesidesthefourordinary ones, ithasa vvinglet(^''///ff)
attached to the base ot the lower one, and placed, when
the wings are folded, between it and the upper. These
organs in this order you know are covered with scales
of various shape''. Their nervures are diverging rays,
which issue either from a basal area or from the base
itself, and terminate in the exterior margin''. The
wings of many male butterflies, hawk-moths, and moths,
are distinguished by a reniarkable apparatus, noticed
by De Geer, and since by many other na(uraiiits'', for
keeping them steady and underanged in their flight.
The upper wings, on their underside near their base,
have a minute process, bent into a hook (Ilainus), and
covered with hairs and scales. In this hook one or
more bristles ( Tendo), attached to the base of the under
^ving-, have their play. When the fly unfolds its wings,
the hook does not quit its hold of the bristle, which
moves to and fro in it as they expand or close. The
females, which seldom fly far, often have the bristles,
but never the hook. The hairy tails of some insects,
Sesia, F., belonging to the hawk-moth tribe, are ex-
panded vt^hen they fly, so as to form a kind of rudder,
a Lesser, L. i. 109, note *. De Geer, ii. 460—. t. ix. f. 9.
b Plate XXII. Fro. 1— « Plate X. Fis. 6.
«l De Geer, i. 173. t. x.f. 4. Linn. Trans, i. 135—.
VOL. II. 2 A
35i MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
which enables them to steer their course with tnore
certainty.
The insects of this, and of every other order, except
the Coleopter'a, fly with their bodies in a horizontal
position, or nearly so. As their wings are usually so
ample, we need not wonder that the Lepidoptera are
excellent fliers. Indeed they seem to flit untired from
flower to flower and from field to field; impelled at
one while by hunger, and at another by love or mater-
nal solicitude. — The distance to which some males will
fly is astonishing. That of one of the silk-worm moths
(Bombt/x Paphia^ F.) is stated to travel sometimes
more than a hundred milesin this way ^. — Our most beau-
tiful butterfly, the purple emperor (Pajnlio Iris, L.),
when he makes his first appearance fixes his throne on
the summit of some lofty oak, from whence in sunny
days, unattended by his empress, who does not fly, he
takes his excursions. Launching into the air from one
of the highest twigs, he mounts often to so great a
height as to become invisible. When the sun is at the
meridian his loftiest flights take place ; and about four
in the afternoon he resumes his station of repose ''. —
The large bodies of hawk-moths {Sphinx, F.) are car-
ried by wings remarkably strong both as to nervures
and texture, and their flight is proportionably rapid
and direct. That of butterflies is by dipping and rising
alternately, so as to form a zig-zag line with vertical
angles, which the animal often describes with a skip-
ping motion, so that each zig-zag consists of smaller
a Linn. Trans, vii. 40.
Haworth Lepidopt. Diit. i. 19.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 365
ones. This doubtless renders it more difficult for the
birds to take them as they fly; and thus the niale^
when paired, often flits away with the female.
Amongst the Neuropterous tribes the most conspi-
cuous insects are the dragon-flies (Libellulidce), which
— their metamorphosis, habits, mode of iife, and charac-
ters considered — form a distinct natural order of them-
selves. Their four wings, which are nearly equal in
size, are a complete and beautiful piece of net-work,
resembling the finest lace, the meshes of which are
usually filled by a pure, transparent, glassy membrane.
In two of the genera belonging to this tribe, the wings,
when the animal is at rest, are always expanded, so
that they can take flight in an instant, no previous un-
folding of these organs being necessary. In Agrion^
the other genus of the tribe, the wings when they re-
pose are not expanded. I have observed of these in*-
sects, and also of several others in different orders,
that without turning they can fly in all directions—^
backwards, and to the right and left, as well as for-
wards. This ability to fly all ways, without having to
turn, must be very useful to them when pursued by a
bird. Leeuwenhoek once saw a swallow chasing an
insect of this tribe, which he calls nMordello^ in a me-
nagerie about a hundred feet long. The little crea-
ture flew with such astonishing velocity — to the right
— to the left — and in all directions — that this bird of
rapid wing and ready evolution was unable to overtake
and entrap it ; the insect eluding every attempt, and
being generally six feet before it*. Indeed, such is the
power of the long wings by which the dragon-flies are
a Lcpuw. Epist. 6. Mart. 1717.
2 A 2
S56 MOTION* OF INSECTg.
distinguished, particularly in Mshna and Lihelhda^ and
such the force of the muscles that move them, that they
seem never to be wearied with flying. I have ob-
served one of the former genus sailing for hours ov?r
a piece of water — sometimes to and fro, and sometimes
wheeling from side to side ; and all the while chasing,
capturing, and devouring the various insects that came
athwart its course, or driving away its competitors —
without ever seeming tired, or inclined to alight.
Another species (jEshna variegata) very common in
Janes and along hedges, which flies like the Ortho'
ptera, in a waving line, is equally alert and active after
its prey. This, however, often alights for a moment,
and then resumes its gay excursive flights. The spe-
cies of the genns Agrion cut the air with less velocity ;
but so rapid is the motion of their wings, that they be-
come quite invisible. Hawking always about for prey,
tlie Agrions, from the variety of the colours of different
individuals, form no uninteresting object during a sum-
mer stroll. With respect to the mode of flight of the
other neuropterous tribes I have nothing to remark ;
for that of the EphemercE, which has been most noticed,
I shall consider under another head.
The next order of insects, the Hi/menoptera, attract
also general attention as fliers, and from our earliest
years. The ferocious hornet, with its trumpet of ter-
ror; the intrusive and indomitable wasp; the booming-
and pacific humble-bee, the frequent prey of merciless
school-boys; and that universal favourite, the indus-
trious inhabitant of the hive, — all belonging to it, — are
fArailiar to every one. And in summer-time there is
scarcely a flower or leaf in field or garden, which is
MOTIONS OF INSECT&rf 367
wot visited by some of its numerous tribes. The four
wings of these insects, the upper pair of which are
larger than the under, vary much in their nervures.
From the saw-flies ( 7>w?/c?fle), whose wings are;
nearly as much reticulated as those of some Neifro-
ptera, to the minute Clialcis and Psilus, in whicii these
organs are without nervures, there is every interme-
diate variety of reticulation that can bo imagined^. It
has been observed, that the nervures of the wings are
usually proportioned to the weight of the insect. Thus
the saw-flies have generally bodies thicker than thosa
of most other Hymenoptera, while those that have^
fewer nervures are iriore slender. This, however, does,
not hold good in all cases — so that the dimensions and
cut of the wings, the strength of their nervures, and
the force of their muscles, must also be taken into con-
sideration. The wings of many of these insects when,
expanded, are kept in the same plane by means of
small hooks {Hamuli) in the anterior margin of the,
under wing, wiiich lay hold of the posterior margin of
the upper''. Another peculiarity also distinguishes
them. Base-covers ( Tegulct), or small concavo-convex
shields, protect the base of the wings from injury % or
displacement.
The most powerful fliers in this order are the humble-
bees, which, like the dung-chdifierfi (Scarabceus), traverse
the air in segments of a circle, the arc of which is alter-
nately to right and left. The rapidity of their flight is
80 great, that could it be calculated, it would be found,
the size of the creature considered, far to exceed that
R Jurine Hymenopt. t. 2-5. l> Kirby Mon. Ap. Jngl. i. 96. 108
;. iiii. /. 19. c Ibid. %. 107. t.v.J. 8. M.
358 MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
of any bird. — The aerial movements of the hive-bee
are more direct and leisurely. When leaving the hive
for an excursion, I have observed that as soon as they
come out they turn about as if to survey the entrance^
and then wheeling round in a circle, fly off. When
they return to the hive, they often fly from side to side,
as if to examine before they alight. When swarming,
the heads of all are turned towards the group at the
mouth of their dwelling ; and upon rising into the
air these little creatures fly so thick in every direction,
as to appear like a kind of net-work with meshes of
every angle. The queen also, upon going forth, when
her object is to pair, after returning to reconnoitre, be-
gins her flight by describing circles of considerable di-
ameter, thus rising spirally with a rapid motion '^. The
object of these gyrations is probably to increase her
chance of meeting with a drone. — I have not much to
tell you with respect to the flight of other insects of
this order, except that a spider-wasp {Pompilus viati-
cuS) F.), whose sting is redoubtable, and which often,
when we are in the vicinity of sandy sunny banks, ac-
companies our steps, has a kind of jumping movement
when it flies.
The next order, the Diptera, consists altogether of
two-winged flies : — but to replace the under wings of
the tetrapterous insects, they are furnished with poisers,
and numbers of them also with winglets. The poisers
(Haltcres) are little membranaceous threads placed
one under the origin of each wing, near a spiracle, and
terminated by an oval, round, or triangular button,
which seems capable of dilatation and contraction.
» Huber, i. 38.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 359
The animal moves these organs with great vivacity,
often when at rest, and probably when flying. Their
winglets (^Alulce) are different from those of Dytiscus
marginalis, and the moth before noticed. Like them,
they are of rigid membrane^ and fringed ; but they con-
sist generally of two concavo-convex pieces (some-
times surrounded by a nervure), situated between the
wing and the poisers, which, when the insect reposes,
fold over each other like the valves of a bivalve shell ;
but when it flies they are extended. The use of neither
of these organs seems to have been satisfactorily as-
certained. Dr. Derham thinks they are for keeping
the body steady in flight ; and asserts, that if either a
poiser or winglet be cut off, the insect will fly as if one
side overbalanced the other, till it falls to the ground;
and that if both be cut off, they will fly awkwardly and
unsteadily, as if they had lost sovne very necessary
part^. Shelver cut off the winglets of a fly, leaving
both wings and poisers, but it could no longer fly. He
next cut off the poisers of another, leaving the wings
and winglets, and the same result followed. He found,
upon removing one of these organs, that they were not
properly compared to balancers. Observing that a -
common crane-fly (Tipula crocata) moved the knee of
the hinder tibia in connexion with the wing and poiser,
he cut it off, and it could no longer fly : this last ex-
periment, however, seems contradicted by the fact,
which has been often observed, that the insects of this
genus will fly when half their legs are gone. He after-
wards cut off both its poisers, when it could neither
fly nor walk. Hence he conjectures that the poisers
a Phys. Theol. 13th Ed. 366, note ((.)
360 MOTIONS OP INSECTS.
are connected with the feet, and are air-holders*. I
have ofien seen tiles move their poisers very briskly
when at rest, particularly Scioptera vibrans, before
inenfioned. This renders Shelver's conjecture — that
they are connected with respiration — not iinprohable.
Perliaps by tl'.eir action vSome effect may be produced
upon the spiracie in their vicinity, either as to the
opening- or closing of it.
There are three classes of fliers in this order, the
form oi whose bodies, as well as the shape and circum-
stances of their wings, is different. First are the slen-
der flies — the gnats, gnat-like flies, and crane-flies
(Tipii/id(e). The bodies of these are light, their wings
narrow, and their legs long, and they have no wing-
lets. Next are those whose bodies, though slender,
are more weighty — the Asilidce, Conopsidce, &c. ; these
have larger wings, shorter legs, and very minute and
sometimes even obsolete winglets. Lastly come the
flies, the MuscidcE^ and their affinities, whose bodies
being short, thick, and olten very heavy, are furnished
not only vvith proportionate wings and shorter legs,
but also vvith conspicuous winglets. From these com-
parative differences and distinctions, we may conjec-
ture in tlie first place — since the lightest bodies are
furnished with the longest legs, and the heaviest with
•tiie shortest — that the legs act as poisers and rudders,
that keep them steady while they fly, and assist them
in directing their course ''; and in the next — since the
a Wi'demann's Aichiv. ii. 210 — .
b To those that frpqucnt meadows and pastures ( Tipiila oleracea, L. &c.)
Ihey are also useful, as I have before obferved, as stilts, to enable them
to walk over the grass. Reautn. v. Pref. i. t. iii./. 10.
MOTIONS OP INSECTS. SGI
winglets arc largest in the heaviest bodies, and alto-
gether vvantinj:^ in the lightest— that one of their prin*
cipal uses is to assist the wings when the insect is flying.
The flight of the Tipulidan genera is very various.
Sometimes, as I have observed, they fly up and down
with a zig-zag- course; at others in vertical curves of
small diameter, like some birds; atothers, again, in hori-
zontal curves: — all these lines they describe with a kind
of skipping motion. Sometimes they would seem to flit
in every possible way — upwards, downwards, athwart,
obliquely, and sometimes almost in circles. The common'
gnat {Ciilex plpicns) seems to sail along also in various
directions. The motion of its wings, if it does not fly
like a hawk, is so rapid as not to be perceptible. When
the crane-fly (Tipula oleracea)^is upon the wing, its
fore-iegs are placed horizontally, pointing forwards,
and the lour hind ones stretched out in an opposite
direction, the one forming the prow, and the other the
•tern of the vessel, in its voyage through the ocean of
air. The legs of another insect of this tribe {Ilirtcea
Marci) all point towards the anus in flight, the long
anterior pair forming an acute angle with the body: —
thus, perhaps, it can better cut the air.
I have often been amused in my walks with the mo-
tions of the hornet-fly {Asilus crabroniformis, L), be-
longing to the second division just mentioned. This
insect is carnivorous, living upon small flies. When
you are taking your rambles, you may often observe it
alight just before you; — as soon as you come up, it flies
a little further, and will thus be your avant-courier for
the w hole length of a long field. This usually takes
place, I seem to have observed, when a path lies under
362 MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
a hedge ; and perhaps the object of this manoeuvre may
be the capture of prey. Your motions may drive a
number of insects before you, and so be instrumental
in supplying it with a meal. Other species of the ge-
nus have the same habit.
The aerial progress of the fly tribes (Muscidce), in-
cluding the gad-flies (CEstrus) ; horse-flies ( Tabimus) ;
carrion-flies (3Iitsca), and many other genera — which
constitute the heavy horse amongst our two- winged fliers
— is wonderfully rapid^ and usually in a direct line. An
anonymous observer in Nicholson's t/owrwa/^ calculates
that, in its ordinary flight, the common house-fly (Blusca
domesiica, L.) makes with its wings about 600 strokes,
which carry it five feet, every second. But if alarmed,
he states their velocity can be increased six or seven-
fold, or to thirty or thirty-five feet, in the same period.
In this space of time a race-horse could clear only ninety
feet, which is at the rate of more than a mile in a minute.
Our little fly, in her swiftest flight, will in the same space
of time go more than the third of a mile. Now com-
pare the infinite difference of the size of the two animals
(ten millions of the fly would hardly counterpoise one
racer), and how wonderful will the velocity of this mi-
nute creature appear ! Did the fly equal the race-horse
in size, and retain its present powers in the ratio of its
magnitude, it would traverse the globe with the rapi-
dity of lightning.
It seems to me, that it is not by muscular strength
alone that many insects are enabled to keep so long
upon the wing. Every one who attends to them must
have noticed that the velocity and duration of their
a 4to. iii. 36.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 363
flights depend much upon the heat or coolness of the
atmosphere; especially the appearance of the sun.
The warmer and more unclouded his beam, the more
insects are there upon the wing, and every diurnal spe-
cies seems fitted for longer or more frequent excur-
sions. As these animals have no circulating fluid ex-
cept the air in their tracheae and bronchiae, their loco-
motive powers, with few exceptions, must depend alto-
gether upon the state of that element. When the ther-
mometer descends below a certain point they become
torpid, and when it reaches a certain height they re-
vive; so that the air must be regarded, in some sense,
as their blood, or rather the caloric that it contains ;
which when conveyed by the air, it circulates quickly
in them, invigorates all their motions, enter- into the
muscles and nervures of their wings, maintaining their
tension, and by the greater or less rapidity of its pulsa-
tions accelerating or diminishing their action.
Having given you all the information that I can col-
lect with respect to the motions of perfect insects in the
air^ I must next say something concerning their modes
of locomotion in or upon the water. These are of two
kinds, swimming and walking. Obsei-ve — 1 call that
movement swimming, in which the animal pushes itself
along by strokes — while in walking, the motion of the
legs is not different from what it would be if they were
on land. Most insects that swim have their posterior
legs peculiarly fitted for it, either by a dense fringe of
hairs on the shank and foot, as in the water-beetles
(Di/tiscus)^, or the water-boatmen {Notonecla) ; or by
having their terminal joints very much dilated — as in
the whirlwig {Gyrinus) — so as to resemble the paddle
a Plate XIV. Fig. 6.
3Gi MOT JONS or INSECTS.
• of an oar^. When the Dytisci rise to the silrfacc to
take in fresh air — a silver bubble of which may often
be seen suspended at their anus — they ascend, as it
should seem, merely in consequence of their being spe-
cifically lighter than the water; but when they descend
or move horizontally, which they do with considerable
rapidity, it is by regular and successive strokes of thek
swimming' legs. While they remain suspended at the
surface, these legs are extended so as to fonn a right
angle with their body. The Notonecfce swim upon their
back, which enables them to see readily and seize the
insects that fall upon ihe water, which are their prey.
Sigarfi, however, a cognate genus separated from No-
tonecta by Fabricius, swmss in the ordinary way. As
the Gyrini are usually in motion at the surface, whirl-
ing round and round in circles, it is probable that their
legs are best adapted to this movement. They dive
down, however, with great ease and velocity when
alarmed. The common water- bug (Gem's (acusiris,
I^atr.), though it never goes under water, will some-
times swim upon the surface, which it does by strokes
of the intermediate and posterior legs''. These, how-
ever, are neither fringed nor dilated, but very long and
slender, with claws, not easily detected, situated un-
der the apex of the last joint of the foot, which covers
and conceals them. The underside of their body — as
is the case with Elophonis^ F., and many other aquatic
insects — is clothed with a thick coat of gray hairs like
satin, which in certain lights have no small degree of
lustre, and protect its body from the effects of the water-
a Mr. Briggs observes that this insect appears to move all its legs at
«ncc, with wonderful rapidity, by which motion it produces a radiating
vibration on the surface of the water, b De Grer, iii. 314.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. o(}3
Seme insects, that are not naturally aquatic, if they
fall into the water will swim very well. 1 once saw a
kind of grasshopper (yJaydium, F.), which by the pow-
erful strokes of its hind legs pushed itself across a
stream with great rjipidity.
Other insects wall:, as it were, in the water, moving
their legs much in the same way as they would do on
the land. Many smaller species of water-beetles, be-
longing- to the genera Il^drophilus, Efophorus, Ht/<-
driena, Parnus., Elmis, &c., thus win their way in the
waves. — Thus also the water-scorpion (Nepa) pursues
its prey ; and the little water-mites {Ilydrachna) may
be seen in every pool thus working their little legs with
great rapidity, and moving about in all directions. —
Some spiders also will not only traverse the surface of
the waters, but, as you have heard with respect to one %
descend into tlieir bosom. There are other insects
moving in this way that are not divers. Of this kind
are the aquatic bugs (Gerris lacustris, Hrjdromctnt
Stagno)-i(m, Velia JRhulorum, &c., Latr.). The first
can walk, run, and even leap, which it does upon its
prey, as well as swim upon the surface. The second,
remarkable for its extreme slenderness, and for its pro-
minent hemispherical eyes — which, though they are
really in the head, appear to be in the middle of the
body — rambles about in chase of other insects, in con-'
aiderable numbers, in most stagnant waters. Tho
Velia is to be met with chiefly in running- streams and
rivers, coursing very rapidly over their waves. The
two last species neither jump nor swim.
I ana next to say a few words upon the motions of
*YoB. 1. 2d Ed. ns.
.566 MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
insects that burrozo, either to conceal themselves 6t
their young. Though the latter is not always a loco-
motion, I shall consider it Under this head, to preserve
the unity of the subject. Many enter the earth by
means of fore legs particularly formed for the purpose.
The flat, dentated anterior shanks, with slender feet,
that distinguish the chakrs (Scarabceidce) — all of which
in their first states live under ground, and many occa-
sionally in their last — enable them to make their way
either into the earth or out of it. Two other genera
of beetles (Scarites and Clivina, Latr.) '^ have these
shanks palmated, or armed w ith longer teeth at their
extremity, for the same purpose. But the most re-
markable burrower amongst perfect insects is that sin-
gular animal the mole-cricket {Gryllotalpa vulgaris,
Latr.) ''. This creature is endowed with wonderful
strength, particularly in its thorax and fore legs. The
former is a very hard and solid shell or crust, covering
like a shield the trunk of the animal ; and the latter are
uncommonly fitted for burrowing, both by their strength
and construction. The shanks are very broad, and
terminate obliquely in four enormous sharp teeth "^j
like so many fingers : the foot consists of three joints
— the two first being broad and tooth-shaped, and
pointing in an opposite direction to the teeth of the
shank ; and the last small, and armed at the extremity
with two short claws. This foot is placed inside the
shank, so as to resemble a thumb and perform the of-
fice of one''. The direction and motion of these hands,
as in moles, is outwards ; thus enabling the animal
a Plate XV. Fig. 5. b Plate II. Fig. 2.
e Plate XV. Fir. 6. a. ^ Ibid. 6.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 5bv
«iost effectually to remove the earth when it burrows.
By the help of these powerful instruments, it is asto-
nishing how instantaneously it buries itself This
creature works under ground like a jfield-mouse, raising
a ridge as it goes ; but it does not throw up heaps like
its namesake the mole. They will in this manner un-
dermine whole gardens ; and thus in wet and swampy
situations, in which they delight, they excavate their
curious apartments, before described. — The field-
cricket {Achcta campestris) is also a burrower, but by
means of different instruments ; for with its strong
jaws, toothed like the claws of a lobster, but sharper,
in heaths and other dry situations it perforates and
rounds its curious and regular cells. The house-cricket
(A.domeslica), which, on account of the softness of the
mortar, delights in new-built houses, with the same
organs, to make herself a covered-way from room to
room, burrows and mines between the joints of the
bricks and stones *.
But of all the burrowing tribes, none are so nume-
rous as those of the order Hymeno'ptera. Wherever
you see a bare bank, of a sunny exposure, you always
find it full of the habitations of insects beloneins: to it :
— and besides this, evQX"^ rail and old piece of timber is
with the same view perforated by them. Bees; wasps;
bee-wasps (JBemhex) ; spider-wasps {Pompilus) ; fly-
wasps (Mellmus, Cerceris, Crabro), with many others,
excavate subterranean or ligneous habitations for their
young. None is more remarkable in this respect than
the sand- wasp {Ammophila, K.), or as it might be better
named — since it always commits its eggs to caterpillars
a WJiite Nat. Hist. ii. 80. 72, 7G.
5C8 MOTIONS or insects.
which it inhumes — the caterpillar- wasp. It digs its bur-
rows by ?cratc3)in^ with its fore legs like a clog or a rab-
bit, dispersing with its ind ones, which are particularly
constructed for that purpose, the sand socoJiected*.
Since most of these burrows are designed for the re-
ception of the eggs of the burrowers, 1 shall next de-
scribe to 30U the manner in v/hich one of the long-
legged gnats, or crane-flies (TZ/^w/a variegata, L.) — a
proceeding to which I was myself a witness — oviposits.
Choosing a south bank bare of grass, she stood with her
legs stretched out on each side, and kept turning her-
self half round backwards and forwards alternately.
Thus the ovipositor, which terminates her long cvlin-
drical pointed abdomen, made its way into the hard
soil, and deposited her eggs in a secure situation. All,
however, were not committed to the same burrow; for
she every now and then shifted her station, but not
more than an inch from where she bored last. While
she was thus engaged, I observed her male companion
suspended by one of his legs on a twig, not far from
her. The common turf-boring crane*fly (T. oleracea, 1j.)
when engaged in laying eggs, moves over the grass
with her body in a vertical position, by the help — her
four anterior legs being in the air — of her two posterior
ones, and the end of her abdomen, which performs the
office of another. Whether in boring, like T. variegata,
!«he turns half round and back, does not appear flrom
Reaumur's account''.
I now come to motions whose object seems to be
sport and amusement rather than locomotion. They
a Linn,. Trans, iv, SOO— . b t, SO —
M()TIONS Ot" INSECTS. 369
hiay be considered as of three kinds — hovering — gyrar
tions — and dancing.
You have often in the woods and other places seen
flies suspended as it were in the air, their wings all the
while moving so rapidly as to be almost invisible. This
koverinp;, which seems peculiar to the aphidivorous flies,
has been also noticed by Do Geer^. I have frequently
amused myself with watching them t, but when I have
endeavoured to entrap them with my forceps, they have
immediately shifted their qufirters, and resumed their
amusement elsewhere. The most remarkable insects
in this respect are the sphinxes, and from this they
doubtless took their name of hawk-moths. When they
unfold their long tongue, Jtnd wipe its sweets from any
nectariferous flower, they always keep upon the wing,
suspending themselves over it til! they have exhausted
them, Avhen they fly away (o another. The species
called by collectors the hununing-bird (S. Stellatnrum^
L/.), and by some persons mistaken for a real one, h
remarkablfe foi* this, and the motion of its wings is in-
conceivably rapid''.
The gt/ratlons of insects take place either when they
are reposing, or when they are flying or swimming. — ^
I was once much diverted by observing the actions of a
minute moth {Tinea) upon a leaf on which it was sta-
tioned. Making its head the centre of its revolutions^
it turned round ind round with considerable rapidity,
as if it had the vertigo, for some time. I did not, how-
ever, succeed in my attempts to take it. — Scaliger no-
ticed a similar motion in the book-crab (Chelifer can-^
croides) '^i
a vi. 104. b Ilai. Hist. Ins. 133. 1. c Lesser, L. i. 248, note 22,
VO|^. U. '2 H
SIO MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
Reaumur describes in a very interesting and lively
way the gyrations of the EpheraeraB before noticed",
round a lighted flambeau. It is singular, says he,
that moths which fly only in the night, and shun the
day, should be precisely those that come to seek the
light in our apartments. It is still more extraordinary
that these Ephemera? — which appearing after sun-set,
and dying before sun-rise, are destined never to behold
the lio-ht of that orb — should have so strong an incli-
nation for any luminous object. To hold a flambeau
when they appeared was no very pleasant office ; for
he who filled it, in a few seconds had his dress covered
with the insects, which rushed from all quarters to him.
The light of the flambeau exhibited a spectacle which
enchanted every one that beheld it. All that were pre-
sent, even the most ignorant and stupid of his domes-
tics, were never satisfied with looking at it. Never had
any armillary sphere so many zones, as there were here
circles, which had the light for their centre. There
was an infinity of them — crossing each other in all di-
rections, and of every imaginable inclination — all of
which were more or less eccentric. Each zone was
composed of an unbroken string of Ephemerae, resem-
bling a piece of silver lace formed into a circle deeply
notched, and consisting of equal triangles placed end
to end (so that one of the angles of that which followed
touched the middle of the base of that which preceded),
and moving with astonishing rapidity. The wings oi'
the flies, which was all of them that could then be di-
stinguished, formed this appearance. Each of these
creatures, after having described one or two orbits^ fell
a Vol. I. 2d I'A. 282—.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. S71
iipon the earth or into the water, but not in conse-
quence of being burned^. Reaumur was one of the
most accurate of observers ; and yet 1 suspect that
the appearance he describes was a visual deception,
and for the followini^ reason. I was once walking in
the day-time with a friend'', when our attention was
caught by myriads' of small flies, which were dancing
under every tree ; — viewed in a certain light they ap-
peared a concatenated series of insects (as Reaumur
has here described his EphemeraB) moving in a spiral
direction upwards ; — but each series, upon close exa-
mination, we found was produced by the astonishingly-
rapid movement of a single fly. Indeed when we con-
sider the space*that a fly will pass through in a second,
it is not wonderful that the eye should be unable to
trace its gradual progress, or that it should appear pre-
sent in the whole space at the same instant. The fly
We saw was a small male Ichneumon.
Other circular motions of sportive insects take place
in the waters. Linne, in his Lapland tour, noticed a
black Tipula which ran over the water, and turned
iound like a Gyrinus'^. This last insect I have often
mentioned ; — it seems the merriest and most agile of all
the inhabitants of the waves. Wonderful is the velocity
with which they turn round and round, as it were, pur-
suing each other in incessant circles, sometimes moving
in oblique, and indeed in every other direction. Now
and then they repose on the surface, as if fatigued with
their dances, and desirous of enjoying the full eiFect of
a Reauin.vi. 484. t. xW.f.l.
b The persons observing the appearance here related Were the nuUiors
of I hi* work. c Lack. Lapp. i. 194.
2 B 2
372 MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
the sun-beam : if you approach, they are instahtant^-
ously in motion again. Attempt to entrap them with
your net, and they are under the water and dispersed
in a moment. When the danger ceases they re-appear
and resume their vagaries. Covered with lucid armour,
when the sun shines they look like little dancing masses
of silver or brilliant pearls^.
But the motions of this kind to which I particularly
wish to call your attention, are the choral dances of
males in the air ; for the dancing sex amongst insects is
the masculine, the ladies generally keeping themselves
quiet at home. These dances occur at all seasons of
the year, both in winter and summer, though in the
former season they are confined to the hardy TipulidaB.
In the morning before twelve, the Hoplicc, root-beetles
before mentioned, have their dances in the air, and
the solstitial and common cockchafer appear in the
evening — the former generally coming forth at the sum-
mer solstice — and fill the air over the trees and hedges
with their myriads and their hum. Other dancing in-
sects resemble moving columns — each individual rising
and falling in a vertical line a certain space, and which
will follow the passing traveller — often intent upon
other business, and all-unconscious of his aerial com-
panions— -for a considerable distance.
Towai'ds sun-set the common Ephemerae ( E. vulgata,
L.), distinguished by their spotted wings and three long-
tails (Candulce), counnence their dances in the meadows
near the rivers. They assemble in troops, consisting
sometimes of several hundreds, and keep rising and
falling continually, usually over some high tree. They
a Compare Oliv, Entoinol. iii. Gyiinui 4.
MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 373
rise beating the air rapidly with their wings, till they
have ascended five or six feet above the tree ; then they
descend to it with their wings extended and motion-
less, sailing like hawks, and having their three tails
elevated, and the lateral ones so separated as to form
nearly a right angle with the central one. These tails
seem given them to balance their bodies when they de-
scend, which they do in a horizontal position. This
motion continues two or three hours without ceasing,
and commences in fine clear weather about an hour be-
fore sun-set, lasting till the copious falling of the dew
compels them to retire to their nocturnal station^.
Our mok common species, which 1 have usually taken
for the E. vulgata, varies from that of de Geer in its
proceedings. I found them at the end of May dancing
over the meadows, not over the trees, at a much earlier
hour — at half-past three — rising in the way just de-
scribed, about a foot, and then descending, at the di-
stance of about four or five feet from the ground. An-
other species, common here, rises seven or eight feet.
1 have also seen Ephemerae flying over the water in a
horizontal direction. The females are sometimes in
the air, when the males seize them, and they fly paired.
These insects seem to use their fore legs to break the
air; they are applied together before the head, and
look like antennas. — Empis maura^ a little beaked fly,
I have observed rushing in infinite numbers like a
shower of rain driven by the wind, as before observed ''j
over waters, and then returning back.
It is remarkable that the smaller TipuUdce will fly
unwetted in a heavy shower of rain, as I have often
a De Geer, ii. 6S8 — . b See above, p. 7.
374; MOTIONS OF INSECTS.
observed. How keen must be their sight, and how
rapid their motions, to enable them to steer between
drops bigger than their own bodies, which, if they fell
upon them, must dash them to the ground !
Amidst this infinite variety of motions, for purposes
so numerous and diversified, and performed by such a
multiplicity of instruments and organs, who does not
discern and adore the Great First Mover ? From
him all proceed, by him all are endowed, in him all
move : and it is to accomplish his ends, and to go on
his errands, that these little, but not insignificant be-
ings are thus gifted ; since it is by them that he main-j
tains this terraqueous globe in order and beauty, thus;
rendering it fit for the residence of his creature man.
I am, &c.
LETTER XXIV.
ON THE NOISES PRODUCED BY
INSECTS.
X HAT insects, though they fill the air with a variety of
sounds, have no voice, may seem to you a paradox, and
you may be tempted to exclaim with the Roman natu-
ralist. What, amidst this incessant diurnal hum of bees ;
this evening- boom of beetles; this nocturnal buz of
gnats ; this merry chirp of crickets and grasshoppers ;
this deafening- drum of Cicada, have insects no voice !
If by voice we understand sounds produced by the air
expelled from the lungs, which, passing through the
larynx, is modified by the tongue, and emitted from the
mouth, — it is even so. For no insect, like the larger
animals, uses its mouth for utterance of any kind : in
this respect they are ail perfectly mute ; and though
incessantly noisy, are everlastingly silent. Of this fact
the Stagy rite was not ignorant, since, denying them a
voice, he attributes the sounds emitted by insects to
another cause. But if we feel disposed to give a larger
extent to this word ; if we are of opinion that all sounds,
however produced, by means of which animals deter-
mine those of their own species to certain actions, me-
rit the name of voice ; then I will grant that insects
have a voice. But, decide this question as we will, we
ajl know that by some means or other, at certain sea-
sons and on various occasions, these little creatures
376 NOISES OF INSECTS.
make a great din in the world. I must therefore now
bespeak your attention to this department of their hi-
story.
In discussing this subject, I shall consider the noises
insects emit — during their motions — when they are feed-
ing, or otherwise employed — when they are calling or
commanding — or when they are under the influence of
the passions ; of fear, of anger, of sorrow, joy, or love.
The only kind o? locomotion during which these ani-
mals produce sounds, is flying : for though the hill-ants
(Formica rufa, L.)j as I formerly observed % make a
rustling noise with their feet when walking over dry
leaves, I know of no other insect the tread of which is
accompanied by sound — except indeed the flea, whose
steps, a lady assures me, she always hears when it paces
over her night-cap, and that it clicks as if it was walk-
ing in pattens ! That the flight of numbers of insects
is attended by a humming or booming is known to aU
most every one ; but that the great majority move
through the air in silence^ has not perhaps been so often
observed. Generally speaking, those that fly with the
most force ahd rapidity, and with wings seemingly mo-
tionless, make the most noise ; while those that fly
gently and leisurely, and visibly fan the air with their
wings, yield little or no sound.
Amongst the beetle tribes (Coleoptera), none is more
noticed, or more celebrated for " wheeling its droning-
flight," than the common dung-chafer (Scarabceus ster-
corarius, L*.) and its affinities. Linne affirms — but the
prognostic sometimes fails — that when these insects fly
ill numbers, it indicates a subsequent fine day**, The
a gee above, p, 97. b Si/st, NaU 550. 42.
NOISES OF INSECTS. 377
truth is, they only fly in fine weather. Mr. White has
remarked, that in the dusk of the evening beetles begin
'to buz, and that partridges begin to call exactly at the
same time*. The common cockchafer, and that which
appears at the summer solstice {Mclolontha viflgaris and
sohtitialis, F.), when they hover over the summits of
trees in numbers, produce a hum somewhat resembling
that of bees swarming. Perhaps some insect of this
kind may occasion the humming in the air mentioned
by Mr. White, and which you and I have often heard
in other places. " There is," says he, " a natural oc-
currence to be met with in the highest part of our
down on the hot summer days, which always amuses
me much, without giving me any satisfaction with re-
spect to the cause of it; — and that is a loud audible
humming of bees in the air, though not one insect is to
be seen.— — Any person would suppose that a large
vSwarm of bees was in motion, and playing about over
his head^."
'< Resounds the living surface of the ground — -
Nor undelightful is the ceaseless hum
To him who muses through the woods at noon,
Or drowsy shepherd as he lies rcclin'd."
The hotter the weather, the higher insects will soar ;
and it is not improbable that the sound produced by
numbers may be heard, when those that produce it are
out of sight. — The burying-beetle (Necropliorus Ves-
pillo, F.), whose singular history*^ so much amused you,
as well as Cicindda sylvatica of the same order, flies
likewise, as I have more than once witnessed, with a
considerable hum.
ji Nat. Hid. ii. 254. b Jbid. 236. c Vol. I, 2d Ed. 351—.
37S NOISES OF INSECTS.
Whether the innumerable locust armies, to which I
have so often called your attention, make any noise in
their flight, I have not been able to ascertain ; tlje
mere impulse of the wings of myriads and myriads of
these creatures upon the air, must, one would think,
produce some sound. In the symbolical loclists men*
tioned in the Apocalypse^, this is compared to the
sound of chariots rushing to battle : an illustration
which the inspired author of that book would scarcely
have had recourse to, if the real locusts winged their
way in silence.
Amongst the Hemiptera^ I know only a single spe-
cies that is of noisy fliglit; though doubtless, were the
attention of entomologists directed to that object, others
would be found exhibiting the same peculiarity. The
insect I allude to (Coreus marginaius^ F.) is one of the
numerous tribe of bugs; when flying, especially when
hovering together in a sunny sheltered spot, they emit
a hum as loud as that of the hive-bee.
From the magnitude and strength of their wings, it
might be supposed that many lepidopterous insects
would not be silent in their flight ; — and indeed many
of the hawk-moths {Sphinx^ F.), and some of the
larger moths {Bomhyx^ F.), are not so; B. Cossus, for
instance, is said to emulate the booming of beetles by
means of its large stiff wings; whence in Germany it
is called the humming-bird (Brumm- Vogel). — But the
great body of these numerous tribes, even those that
fan the air with "sail-broad vans," produce little or
no sound by their motion. I must therefore leave
them, as well as the Trichoptera and Neuroptera, which
a Rev. ix. 9.
NOISES OF INSECTS. o79
are equally barren of insects of sounding wing — and
proceed to an order, the Hi/menoptera^ in which the
insects that compose it are, many of them, of more fame
for this property.
The indefatigable hive-bee, as she flies from flower
to flower, amuses the dbserver with her hum, which,
though monotonous, pleases by exciting the idea of
happy industry, that wiles the toils of labour with a
song. When she alights upon a flower, and is en-
gaged in collecting its sweets, her hum ceases ; but it
is resumed again the moment that she leaves it. — The
wasp and hornet also are strenuous hummers ; and when
they enter our apartments, their hum often brings ter-
ror with it. But the most sonorous fliers of this order
are the larger humble-bees, whose bombination, boom"
iiig, or bombing, may be heard from a considerable di-
stance, gradually increasing as the animal approaches
jou, and when, in its wheeling flight, it rudely passes
close to your ear, almost stunning you by its sharp,
shrill, and deafening sound, Many genera, however,
of this order fly silently.
But the noisiest wings belong to insects of the dipte-
rous order, a majority of which, probably, give notice
of their approach by the sound of their trumpets. Most
of those, however, that have a slender bod) , — the gnat
genus (Culex) excepted, — explore the air in silence. Of
this description are the Tipulidce, the Asilidce, the ge-
nus Empis, and their affinities. The rest are more or
less insects of a humming flight; and with respect to
ma3)y of them, their hum is a sound of terror and dis-
may to those who hear it. To man, the trumpet of the
gnat or mosquito ; and to beasts, that of the gad-fly ;
S80 NOISES OF INSECTS.
the various kinds of horse flies (Tabanus, StomoX)/s,
Ilippobosca) ; and of the Ethiopian zinib, as I have
before related at large % is the signal of intolerable
annoyance. Homer, in his Balrachomi/omachia^ long
ago celebrated the first of these as a trumpeter —
" For their sonorous trumpofs far lenown'd,
Of battle the dire charge mosquitos sound."
Mr. Pope, in his translation, with his usual inaccuracy,
thinking no doubt to improve upon his author, has
turned the old bard's gnats into hornets. In Guiana
these animals are distinguished by a name still more
tremendous, being called the devil's trumpeters ''. I
have observed that early in the spring, before their
thirst for blood seizes them, gnats when flying emit no
sound. At this moment (Feb. ISth) two females are
flying about my windows in perfect silence.
After this short account of insects that give notice
when they are upon the wing by the sounds that pre-
cede them, I must inquire by what means these sounds
are produced. Ordinarily, except perhaps in the case
of the gnat, they seem perfectly independent of the will
of the animal ; and in almost every instance, the sole
instruments that cause the noise of flying insects are
their wings, or some parts near to them, wliich, by their
friction against the trunk, occasion a vibration — as the
fingers upon the strings of a guitar — yielding a sound
more or less acute in proportion to the rapidity of their
flight — the action of the air perhaps upon these organs
giving it some modifications. Whether, in the beetles
that fly with noise, the elytra contribute more or less
A Vol, I, 2d Ed. 1 13. 146— h Stedman's Surinam^ i, 34.
NOISES OF INSECTS. S81
to produce it, seems not to have been clearly ascer-
tained : yet, since they fly with force as vvell as velo-
city, the action of the air may cause sorre motion in
them, enough to occasion friction. With respect to
Diptera, Latreille contends that the noise of Hies on
the wing cannot be the result of friction, because their
wings are then expanded ; but though to us flies seem
to sail through the air without moving these organs,
yet they are doubtless all the while in motion, though
too rapid for the eye to perceive it. When the aphi-
divorous flies are hovering, the vertical play of their
wings, though very rapid, is easily seen ; but when
they fly off it is no longer visible. Repeated experi-
ments have been tried to ascertain the cause of sound
in this tribe, but it should seem with different results.
De Geer, whose observations were made upon one of
the flies just mentioned, appears to have proved that,
in the insect he examined, the sounds were produced
by the friction of the root or base of the wings against
the sides of the cavity in which they are inserted. To
be convinced of this, he afiirms, the observer has nothing
to do but to hold each wing w ith the finger and thumb,
and stretching them out, taking care not to hurt the
animal, in opposite directions, thus to prevent their
motion, — and immediately all sound will cease. For
further satisfaction he made the following experiment.
He first cut olTthe wings of one of these flies very near
the base; but finding that it still continued to buz as
before, he thought that the winglets and poisers, which
he remarked were in a constant vibration, might oc-
casion the sound. Upon this, cutting both off, he ex-
amined the mutilated fly with a microscope, and found
SS2 NOISES OF INSECT!?.
that the remaining fragments of the wings were in con-
stant motion all the time that the buzzing continued :
but that upon pulling them up by the roots all sound
ceased^. Shelver's experiments, noticed in ray last
letter, go to prove, with respect to the insects that he
examined, that the winglets are more particularly con-
cerned with the buzzing. Upon cutting otf the wings
of a lly — but he does not state that he pulled them up
by the roots — he found the sound continued. He next
cut off the poisers — the buzzing went on. This expe-
riment was repeated eighteen times with tlie same re-
sult. Lastly, when he took off the winglets, either
wholly or partially, the buzzing ceased. This, how-
ever, if correct, can only be a cause of this noise in the
insects that have winglets. Numbers have them not.
He next, therefore, cut off the poisers of a crane-fly
(Tiptdu crocata, L.), and found that it buzzed when it
moved the wing. He cut off half the latter, yet still
the sound continued ; but when he had cut off the whole
of these organs the sound entirely ceased''.
Aristophanes in his Clouds, deriding Socrates, intro-
duces Chajrephon as asking that philosopher whether
gnats made their buz with their mouth or their tail '^.
Upon which Mouffet very gravely observes, that the
Sound of one of these insects approaching is much mor^
acute than that of one retiring ; from whence he very
sapiently concludes, that not the tail but the mouth
must be their organ of sound''. But after all, the fric-
tion of the base of the wings against the thorax seems
to be the sole cause of the alarming buz of the gnat
a Dc Geer, vi. 13. h Wiedemann's Jrchiv. ii. 210, 21T.
t/tcti.Sc.'i. <» I\loi>flet, 81.
T^OlSES OF INSECTS. 383
as well as that of other Diptera. The warmer the
weather, the greater is their thirst for blood, the more
forcible their flight, the motion of their wings more
rapid, and the sound produced by that motion more
intense. In the niglit — -hut perhaps this may arise from
the universal stillness that then reigns — their hum ap-
pears louder than in tl.e day : whence its tones may
seem to be modified by the will of the animal.
Sounds also are sometimes emitted by insects when
they are feeding or otherwise emploi/cd. The action of
the jaws of a large number of cockchafers produces a
noise resembling- the sawing of timber; that of the
locusts has been compared to the crackling of a flame
of fire driven by the wind ; indeed the collision at the
same instant of myriads of millions of their powerful
jaws must be attended by a considerable sound. The
timber-borers also — the Buprestes ; the stag-horn bee-
tles (Lucani) ; and particularly the capricorn-beetles
{Ceramhi/cida') — the mandibles of whose larvae resem-
ble a pair of mill-stones " — most probably do not feed in
silence. A little v/ood-louse (Psocus pulsatorius, Latr.)
— which on that account has been confounded with the
death-watch — is said also, when so engaged, to emit a
ticking noise. — Certain two-winged flies seen in spring,
distinguished by a very long proboscis (Bombi/lius, L.),
hum all the time that they suck the honey from the
flowers ; as do also many hawk-moths, particularly that
called from this circumstance the humming-hhd (Sphinx!
Slellaiarum L.), which, while it hovers over them,
unfolding its long tongue, pilfers their sweets without
interrupting its song. — The giant cock-roach (Blaita
uLimi. Trans, v. 255. t. xii. f, 7. b.
SSi NOISES OF INSECTS.
oiga}ilea, L.), wliich abounds in old timber houses in
the warmer parts of the worldj makes a noise when
the family are asleep like a pretty smart rapping with
the knuckles — three or four sometimes appearing to
answer each other. — On this account in the West In-
dies it is called the Drummer', and they sometimes
beat such a leveille, that only good sleepers can rest
ibr thcm^. As the animals of this genus generally
come forth in the night for the purpose of feeding, this
noise is probably connected with that subject.
Insects also, at least many of the social ones, emit
peculiar noises while engaged in their various ew/?/o?/-
merits. If an ear be applied to a wasps or humble-
bees nest, or a bee-hive, a hum more or less intense
nmy alv\ ays be perceived. Were I disposed to play
upon your credulity, 1 might tell you, with Gcedart,
that in every humble-bees nest there is a trumpeter,
who early in the morning, ascending to its summit,
vibrates his wings, and sounding his trumpet for the
space of a quarter of an hour, rouses the inhabitants to
work! But since Reaumur could never witness this,
I shall not insist upon your believing it, though the
relater declares that he had heard it w ith his ears, and
seen it with his eyes, and had called many to witness
the vibrating and strepent wings of this trumpeter
humble-bee^. — The blue sand-wasp (Ammoplnla cj/a-'
nea), which at all other times is silent, when engaged
in building its cells emits a singular but pleasing sound,
which may be heard at ten or twelve yards distance '^.
Some insects also are remarkable for a peculiar mode
a Dniry's Insects, iii. Preface. b Lister's Goedart, 244—. Com-
pare Reaum. vi. 30. c Bingley, Animal Biogr. iii. 1st Ed. 335,
NOISES OF INSECTS. 385
of callings commanding^ or giving an alarm. I have
before mentioned the noise made by the neuters or sol-
diers amongst the white ants, by Avhich they keep the
labourers, who answer it by a hiss, upon the alert and
to their work". This noise, which is produced by
striking any substance with their mandibles, Smeath-
man describes as a small vibrating sound, rather shriller
and quicker than the ticking of a watch. It could be
distinguished, he says, at the distance of three or four
feet, and continued for a minute at a time with very
short intervals. When any one walks in a solitary
grove, where the covered ways of these insects abound,
they give the alarm by a loud hissing, which is heard
at every step''. — " When house-crickets are out," says
Mr. White, " and running about in a room in the
night, if surprised by a candle they give two or three
shrill notes, as it were for a signal to their followers,
that they may escape to their crannies and lurking-
holes to avoid danger*^."
Under this head I shall consider a noise before al-
luded to*^, which has been a cause of alarm and terror
to the superstitious in all ages. You will perceive that
I am speaking of the death-watch — so called, because
it emits a sound resembling the ticking of a watch, sup-
posed to predict the death of some one of the family in
the house in which it is heard. Thus sings the muse
of the witty Dean of St. Patrick on this subject :
'* A wood-worm
That lies in old wood, like a hare ia her form :
a See above, p. 41. b Philos. Trans. 1781. 48. 38.
c Nat. Hist. ii. 262. d Vol. I. 2d Ed. 37 .
VOL. II. 2 C
S86 NOISES OP INSECTS.
With teeth or with claws it will bite or will scratchy "
And chambermaids christen this worm a death-watch:
Because like a watch it always cries click;
Then woe be to those ia the house who are sirk !
For, sure as a gun, they will give up the ghost,
If the maggot cries click, when it scratches the post ;
But a kettle of scalding hot water injected.
Infallibly cures the timber affected :
The omen is broken, the danger is over.
The maggot wiJ! die, and the sick will recover,"
To add to the effect of this noise, it is said to be made
only when there is a profound silence in an apartment,
and every one is still.
Authors were formerly not agreed concerning the
insect from which this sound of terror proceeded, some
attributing it to a kind of wood-louse, as I lately ob-
served, and others to a spider; but it is a received
opinion now, adopted upon satisfactory evidence, that
it is produced by some litt^ beetles belonging- to the
timber-boring genus Anobium, F. Swammerdam ob-
serves, that a small beetle, which he had in his collec-
tion, having firmly fixed its fore legs, and put its in-
flexed head between them, makes a continual noise in
old pieces of wood, walls, and ceilings, which is some-
times so loud, that upon hearing it, people have fan-
cied that hobgoblins, ghosts, or fairies wci'e wandering
around them ^. Evidently this was one of the death-
watches. Latreille o])served Anobium striatum, F.
produce the sound in question by a stroke of its mandi-
bles upon the wood, ^vhich was answered by a similar
noise from within it. But the species whose proceed-
»mbl.Nat.Ed. lilll, i, 125.
NOISES OF INSECTS. 387
ings hkve been most noticed by British observers is
A. tcssellatum, F. When spring- is far advanced, these
insects are said to commence their ticking, which is
only a call to each other, to which if no answer be re-
turned, the animal repeats it in another place. It is
thus produced. Raising itself upon its hind legs, with
the body somewhat inclined, it beats its head with great
force and agility upon the plane of position ; and its
strokes are so powerful as to make a considerable im-
pression if they fall upon any substance softer than
wood. The general number of distinct strokes in suc-
cession is from seven to nine or eleven. They follow
each other quickly, and are repeated at uncertain in-
tervals. In old houses, where these insects abound,
they may be heard in warm weather during the whole
day. The noise exactly resembles that produced by
tapping moderately with the nail upon the table ; and
when familiarized, the insect will answer very readily
the tap of the nail^.
The queen bee has long beon celebrated for a pecu-
liar sound, producing the most extraordinary effects
upon her subjects. Sometimes, just before bees swarm,
-^—instead of the great hum usually heard, and even in
the night — if the ear be placed close to the mouth of
the hive, a sharp clear sound may be distinguished,
which appears to be produced by the vibration of the
wings of a single bee. This, it has been pretended, is
the harangue of the new queen to her subjects, to in-
spire them with courage to achieve the foundation of
a new empire. But Butler gives to it a different in-
a Shaw's Nat. Misc. iii. 104. Phil. Trans, xxxiii. 159. Compare
Uumeril Tiaite ElemenU ii. 91. n. C9-J.
2 c 2
388 NOISES OF INSECTS.
terpretation. He asserts, that the candidate for the
new throne is then with earnest entreaties, lamenta-
tions, and groans, supplicating the queen-mother of
the hive to grant her permission to lead the intended
colony ; — that this is continued, before she can obtain
her consent, for two days ; when the old queen relent-
ing gives her fiat in a fuller and stronger tone. That
should the former presume to imitate the tones of the
sovereign, this being the signal of revolt, she would be
executed on the spot, with all whom she had seduced
from their loyalty '^. — But it is time to leave fables:
I shall therefore next relate to you what really takes
place. You have heard how the bees detain their
young queens till they are fit to lead a swarm. — I then
mentioned the attitude and sound that strike the for-
mer motionless''. When she emits this authoritative
sound, reclining her thorax against a comb, the queen
stands with her wings crossed upon her back, which,
without being uncrossed or further expanded, are kept
in constant vibration. The tone thus produced is a
very distinct kind of clicking, composed of many notes
in the same key, which follow each other rapidly. This
sound the queens emit before they are permitted to
leave their cells ; but it does not then seem to affect
the bees. But when once they are liberated from con-
finement and assume the above attitude, its effects upon
them are very remarkable. As soon as the sound was
heard, Huber tells us, bees that had been employed in
plucking, biting^ and chasing a queen about, hung
do^\ n their heads and remained-'altogether motionless;
« Rcaum. v. 6!5. Butler's Female Monarchy, c. v. \ 4.
•> See above, \., !49 —
NOISES OF INSECTS. 389
and whenever she had recourse to this attitude and
sound, they operated upon them in the same manner.
The writer just mentioned observed differences both
with re£^ard to the succession and intensity of the notes
and tones of this royal song : and, as he justly remarks,
there may be still finer shades which, escaping our or-
gans, may be distinctly perceived by the bees^. He
seems however to doubt by what means this sound is
produced. Reasoning analogically, the motion of the
wings should occasion it. We have seen that they are
in constant motion when it is uttered. Probably the
intensity of the tones and their succession are regulated
])y the intensity of the vil)rations of the vvings. Reau-
mur remarks, that the different tones of the bees,
whether more or less grave or acute, are produced by
the strokes, more or less rapid, of their wings against
the air, and that perhaps their different angles of incli-
nation may vary the sound. Tlie fiiction of their
bases likewise against the sides of the cavity in which
they are inserted, as in the case of the fly lately men-
tioned, or against the base-covers (Tegidce), may pro-
duce or modulate their sounds, a bee whose wings are
eradicated being perfectly mute''. This last assertion,
however, is contradicted by John Hunter, who affirms
that bees produce a noise independent of tlieir wings,
emitting a shrill and peevish sound though they are cut
off, and the legs held fast ^. Yet it does not appear from
his experiment that the wings were eradicated. And
if they were only cut off, the friction of their base might
cause the sound. I have before noticed the reraark-
aHubcr, i. 260. ii. 292— b Rcauni.v. G17.
c Philos. Tram. 1732.
390' NOISES OF INSECTS.
able fact, that the tjueens educated according to M.
Schirach's method aie absolutely mute : on which ac-
count the bees keep no guard around their cells, nor
retain them an instant in them after their transforma-
tion ^.
The passions, also, which urge us to various excla-r
mations, elicit from insects occasionally certain sounds.
Fear, anger, sorrow, joy, or love and desire, they ex-
press in particular instances by particular noises. I
shall begin with those which they emit when under any
alarm. One larva only is recorded as uttering a cry of
alarm, and it produces a perfect insect remarkable for
the same faculty: I allude to SpMnx Atropns. Its ca-f
terpillar, if disturbed at all, draws back rapidly, making
at the same time a rather loud noise, which has been
compared to the crack of an electric spark''. — You
would scarcely think that any quiescent pupcc could
show their fears by a sound, — yet in one instance this
appears to be the case. De Geer having made a small
incision in the cocoon of a moth, which included that
of its parasite Ichneumon (/. Cantator, De G.), the in-
sect concealed within the latter uttered a little cry,
similar to the chirping of a small grasshopper, conti-
nuing it for a long time together. The sound was pro-
duced by the friction of its body against the elastic sub-
stance of its own cocoon, and was easily iniitated by
rubbing a knife against its surface '^.
But to come to/jer/ecHnsects. Many beetles when
taken show tljeir alarm by the emission of a shrill, sibi-
lant, or creaking sound — which some compare to the
chirping of young birds — produced by rubbing their
r^ Iluber, i. 292— b Fuessl.^ro^iu. 8. 10. c De Geer, vii. 534.
NOISES OF INSECTS. S91
elytra with the extremity of their abdomen. This is
the case with the dung-chafers (Scarahoius vernalis,
stercor^aritis, and Copris lunaris) ; with the carrion-
chafer ( Trox sabi(losus) ; and others of the Scarahceidce,
The burj ing-beetle {Necrophoms Vespillo), Auchenia
mdanopa, E. B., Crioccris mcrdigera, and Dytiscus
Hermanm., and many other Co/eo/;/errt produce a simi-
lar noise by the same means. When this noise is made,
the movement of the abdomen may be perceived ; and
if a pin is introduced under the elytra it ceases. Long
after many of these insects are dead the noise may be
caused by pressure. Rosel found this with respect to
the Scarabcpidce^, and I have repeated the experiment
with success upon Necrophorus VespiUo. The Capri-
corn tribes (Ccrambj/cidce) emit under alarm an acute
or creaking sound — which Lister calls querulous, and
Dumeril compares to the braying of an ass** — by the
friction of the thorax, which they alternately elevate
and depress, against the neck, and sometimes against
the base of the elytra *■, On account of tliis, Prionus
coriarius^ F. is c2i[\eA the Jldler in Germany''. Two
other coleopterous genera, Cj/chri/s and Clylns^ make
their cry of Noli me tangere by rubbing their thorax
against the base of the elytra. Pimelia, another beetle,
does the same by the friction of its legs against each
other ^. And, doubtless, many more Coleopiera, if ob-
served, would be found to express their fears by simi-
lar means.
In the other orders the examples of cries of terror are
a Ftosel, II. 208 b Rai. 77/47. Ins. 284. Dumeril, Trait. Ekment,
ii.IOO. n. 17. c Dp (iepr,v. 58.69. Ro?rl, II. iii. 5,
dRospljibid. e Latr. /7?s7. iVrif. x. 2G4,
^2 NOISES OF INSECTS.
much less numerous. Ahug(Clmex subapterus, JieG.)
when taken emits a sharp sound, probably with its ro-
strum, by moving its head up and down =*. Ray makes
a similar remark with respect to another bug (Reduvius
personatuSy F.), the cry of which he compares to the
chirping of a grasshopper ''. Mutilla europcea, a hy-
menopterous insect, makes a sibilant chirping, as I once
observed at Southwold, Avhere it abounds, but how
produced I cannot say. The most remarkable noise,
however, proceeding from insects under alarm, is that
emitted by the death's-head hawk-moth, and for which
it has long been celebrated. The Lepidoptera, though
some of them, as we have seen, produce a sound when
they fly, at other times are usually mute insects : but
this alarmist — for so it may be called, from the terrors
which it has occasioned to the superstitious •" — when it
walks, and more particularly when it is confined, or
taken into the hand, sends forth a strong and sharp cry,
resembling that of a mouse, but more plaintive, and
even lamentable, which it continues as long as it is
held. This cry does not appear to be produced by the
wings ; for when they, as well as the thorax and abdo-
men, are held down, the cries of the insect become still
louder. Schrceter says that the animal, when it utters
its cry, rubs its tongue against its head ^ ; and Rcisel,
that it produces it by the friction of the thorax and ab-
domen ^. But Reaumur found, after the most atten-
tive examination, that the cry came from the mouth,
or rather from the tongue ; and he thought that it was
produced by the friction of the palpi against that organ.
a De Geer, iii. 2S9. b Hut. Jus. 56. c Vol. I. 2d Ed. 34.
d Naturforscher Stk. xxi. TT. e III. 16.
NOISES OF INSECTS. 393
When, by means of a pin, he unfolded the s;piral tongue,
the cry ceased ; but as soon as it was rolled up again be-
tween the palpi it was renewed. Henextpreventedi;he
palpi from touching it, and the sound also ceased; and
.upoji removing- only one of them, though it continued,
it became nnich more feeble^. Huber, however, denies
that it is produced by the friction of the tongue and pal-
pi'': but, as he has not stated his reasons for this opinion,
I think his assertion that he has ascertained this cannot
be allowed to countervail Reaumur's experiments.
I must next say a few words upon the angry chidings
of our little creatures; for tlieir anger sometimes vents
itself in sounds. 1 have often been amused with hear-
ing' the indignant tones of a humble-bee while lying
upon its back. When I held my finger to it, it kicked
and scolded with all its might. Hive-bees when irri-
tated emit a shrill and peevish sound, continuing even
when they are held under water, which Joha Hunter
says vibrates at the point of contact with the air-holes
at the root of their wings *=. This sound is particularly
sharp and angry when they fly at an intruder. The
same sounds, or very similar ones, tell us when a wasp
is offended, and we may expect to be stung; — but this
passion of anger in insects is so nearly connected with
their fear, that I need not enlarge further upon it.
Concerning their shouts ofjoj/ and cries o{ sorrow I
have little to record : that pleasure or pain makes a diffe-
rence in the tones of vocal insects is not improbable ; but
our auditory organs are not fine enough to catch all their
different modulations. When Schirach had once smoked
a Reaum. ii. 500—. b Nouv. Obs. ii. 300. note *.
c In P/ii!os. Tram. 1792.
594 NOISES OF INSECTS.
a hive to oblige the bees to retire to the top of it, the
queen with some of the rest flew away. Upon this,
those that remained in the hive sent forth a most plain-
tive sound, as if they were all deploring their loss:
when their sovereign was restored to them, these lugu-
brious sounds were succeeded by an agreeable hum-
ming, which announced their joy at the event''. Hu-
ber relates, that once when all the worker-brood was
removed from a hive, and only male brood left, the
bees appeared in a state of extreme despondency.
Assembled in clusters upon the combs, they lost all their
activity. The queen dropped her eggs at random ; and
instead of the usual active hum, a dead silence reignetl
in the hive*".
But love is the soul of song with those that may be
esteemed the most musical insects, the grasshopper
irilyes (Gri/Ilidce), and the long celebrated Cicada (5 ef-
ifgonia, F.). You would suppose, perhaps, that the
ladies would bear their share in these amatory strains.
But here you would be mistaken — female insects are
too intent upon their business, too coy and reserved to
tell their love even to the winds. — The males alone
" Formosam resonare docont Amaryllida sylvas."
With respect to the Cicadcc, tliis was observed by
Aristotle ; and Pliny, as usual, has retailed it after
him*^. The observation also holds good with respect
to the Gr^UidcE and other insects, probably, whose
love is musical. Olivier however has noticed an ex-
ception to this doctrine ; for he relates, that in a spe-
a SrJiirarh, 73— b i. 226— .
P- Aristot. lUst. AnimA. v. c. 30. Plin. Ilht. Nat. 1. xi. c. 26.
NOISES OF INSECTS. S95
cles of beetle (Pimelia striata^ F.), the female has a
round granulated spot in the middle of the second seg-
ment of the abdomen, by striking- which against any
hard substance, she produces a rather loud sound, and
that the male, obedient to this call, soon attends her,
and they pair*.
As I have nothing to communicate to you with re-
spect to the love-songs of other insects, my further ob-
servations will ])e confined to the two tribes lately
mentioned, the Gryllidoc and the Cicadce.
No sound is to me more agreeable than the chirping
of most of the Gryllidie ; it gives life to solitude, and
always conveys to my mind the idea of a perfectly
happy being. As these creatures are now very pro-
perly divided into several genera, I shall say a few
words upon the song of such as are known to be vocal,
separately.
The remarliable genus Pneumora — whose pellucid
abdomen is blown up like a bladder, on which account
they are called Blaazops by the Dutch colonists at the
Cape — in the evening, for they are silent in the day,
make a tremulous and tolerably loud noise, which is
sometimes heard on every side''. How their sound is
produced is not stated.
The cricket tribe are a very noisy race, and their
chirping is caused by the friction of the bases of their
elytra against each other. For this purpose there is
sometJiing peculi^ar in their structure, which I shall
describe to you. The elytra of both sexes are divided
longitudinally into two portions ; a vertical or lateral
one, which covers the sides ; and a horizontal or dorsal
• a O'iv. Entt'inoK i. Prof. ix. b Sparrman, Voy. i, 312.
396 NOISES OP INSECTS.
one, which covers the back. In the female both these
portions resemble each other in their nervures; vvhich
running- obliquely in two directions, by their intersec-
tion form numerous small lozenge-sliaped or rhom-
boidal meshes or areolets. The elytra also of these have
no elevation at their base. In the males the vertical
portion does not materially differ from that of the fe-
males ; but in the horizontal the base of each elytrum
is elevated so as to form a cavity underneath. The
nervures also, which are stronger and more prominent,
run here and there very irregularly with various in-
flexions, describing curves, spirals, and other figures
difficult and tedious to describe, and producing a vari-
ety of areolets of different size and shape, but generally
larger than those of the female : particularly towards
the extremity of the wing you may observe a space
nearly circular, surrounded by one nervure, and di-
vided into two areolets by another^. The friction of
the nervures of the upper or convex surface of the base
of the left-hand elytrum — which is the undermost —
against those of the lower or concave surface of the base
of the right-hand — which is the uppermost one — will
communicate vibrations to the areas of membrane, more
or less intense in proportion to the rapidity of the fric-
tion, and thus produce the sound for which these crea-
tures are noted.
The merry inhabitant of our dwellings, the house-
cricket {Acheta domestica^ F.), though it is often heard
by day, is most noisy in the night. As soon as it grows
dusk, their shrill note increases till it becomes quite an
annoyance, and interrupts conversation. When the
a Compare De Gecr, iii. 612.
NOISES OF INSECTS. 397
male sins^s, he elevates the elytra so as to form an
acute angle with the body, and then rubs them against
each other by a horizontal and very brisk motion*.
The learned Scaliger is said to have been particularly
delighted with the chirping of these animals, and was
accustomed to keep them in a box for his amusement.
We are told that they have been sold in Africa at a
hig;h price, and employed to procure sleep''. If they
could 1)0 used to supply the place of laudanum, and lull
the restlessness of busy thought in this country, the
exchange would be beneficial. Like many other noisy
persons, crickets like to hear nobody louder than them-
selves. Ledelius relates that a woman, who had tried
in vain every method she could think of to banish them
from her house, at last got rid of them by the noise
made by drimis and trumpets, which she had procured
to entertain her guests at a wedding. They instantly
forsook the house, and she heard of them no more'^.
The field-cricket (Acheta campestris, F.) makes a
shrilling noise— still more sonorous than that of the
house-cricket — which may be heard at a great distance.
Mouffet tells us, that their sound may be imitated by
rubbing their elytra, after they are taken off, against
each other''. "Sounds," says Mr. White, "do not
always give us pleasure according to their sweetness
and melody ; nor do harsh sounds always displease.
Thus the shrilling of the field-cricket, though sharp
and stridulous, yet marvellously delights some hearers,
filling their minds with a train of summer ideas of every
a De Geer, iii. 517. Sec :iIso White,. Vn^ Hist, ii.76;— and Rai. Hist.
Jns. 63. b Mouftbt, 136. c Cotdniitls's Jnimat. N-it. vi 2S.
(! Ins. Tlieafr. 134.
S98 NOISES OF INSECTS.
thing- that is rural, verdurous, and joyous." One of
iiiese crickets, when confined in a paper cage and set in
the sun, and supplied with plants moistened with water
— for if they are not wetted it will die — will feed, and
thrive, and become so merry and loud, as to be irksome
in the same room where a person is sitting*.
Having never seen a female of that extraordinary
animal the mole-criclcet {GryUolulpa -culgarh^ Latr.), I
cannot say what diiFerence obtains in the reticulation
of the elytra of the two sexes. The male varies in this
respect from the other male crickets, for they have no
circular area, nor' do the nervures run so irregularly;
the areolets, however, toward their base are large,
with very tense membrane. The base itself also is
scarcely at all elevated. Circumstances these, which
demonstrate the propriety of considering them distinct
from the other crickets. This creature is not however
mute. Where they abound they may be heard about
the middle of April singing their love-ditty in a low,
dull, jarring, uninterrupted note, not unlike that of
the goat-sucker (Cflpn?wM/»7/5 enropcBus^ L.), but more
inward**. I remember once tracing one by its shrilling
to the very hole, under a stone, in the bank of my ca-^
nal, in which it was concealed.
Another tribe of grasshoppers (Locusta, F.) — the
females of which are distinguished by their long ensi-
form ovipositor- — like the crickets, make their noise by
the friction of the base of their elytra. And the chirp-
ing they thus produce is long, and seldom interrupted,
which distinguishes it from that of the common grass-
hoppers (Gri/Uus, F.). What is remarkable, the grass-
a Kat.Iiisl.W. 13. b Ibid. 81.
NOISES OF INSECTS. 399
Iwppevlark (Sj/lvia locustella), Avhich preys upon them,
makes a similar noise. Professor Lichtenstein in the
JLinnean Transactions has called the attention of na-
turalists to the eye-like area in the right wing of the
males of this genus''; but he seems not to have been
aware that De Geer had noticed it before him as a
sexual character ; who also, with good reason, sup-
poses it to assist these animals in the sounds they pro-
duce. Speaking of Lociista viridisshna-^ common with
us— he says, " In our male grasshoppers, in that part
of the right elytrum which is folded horizontally over
the trunk, there is a round plate made of very fine
transparent membrane, resembling a little mirror or
piece of talc, of the tension of a drum. This mem-
brane is surrounded by a strong and prominent ner-
vurcj and is concealed under the fold of the left ely-
trum, which has also several prominent nervures an-
swering to the margin of the membrane or ocellus.
There is," he further remarks, "every reason to be-
lieve that the brisk movement with which the grass-
hopper rubs these nervures against each other, pro-
duces a vibration in the membrane augmenting the
sound. The males in question sing continually in the
hedges and trees during the months of July and Au-
gust, especially towards sun-set and part of the night.
When any one approaches they immediately cease
their song''."
The last description of singers that 1 shall notice
amongst the Gryllidae, are those that are more com-
monly denominated grasshoppers (Giyllus, F.). To
this genus belong the little chirpers thiit we hear in
a Linn. Trans, iv. 51— b De Geer,iii. 429,
400 NOISES OF INSECTS.
every sunny bank, and which make vocal every heath.
They begin their song — which is a short chirp regularly
interrupted, in which it diifers from that o^ the Locusta
— long before sun-rise. In the heat of the day it is in-
termitted, and resumed in the evening. Tiiis sound is
thus produced : — Applying its posterior shank to the
thigh, the animal rvibs it briskly against the elytrum%
doing this alternately with the right and left legs,
which causes the regular breaks in the sound. But
this is not their whole apparatus of song — since, like
the Tettigoniffi, they have al^oa tympanum or drum."
De Geer, who examined the insects he describes with
the eye of an anatomist, seems to be ihe only entomo-
logist that has noticed this organ. " On each side of
the first segment of the abdomen," says he, " immedi-
ately above the origin of the posterior thighs, there is
a considerable and deep aperture of rather an oval
form, which is partly closed by an irregular flat plate
or operculum of a liard substance, but covered by a
wrinkled flexible membrane. The opening left by
this operculum is semi-lunar, and at the bottom of
the cavity is a white pellicle of considerable tension,
and shining like a little mirror. On that side of the
aperture which is towards tlie head, there is a little
oval hole, into which tlie point of a pin may be intro-
duced without resistance. When the pellicle is re-
moved, a large cavity appears. In my opinion this
aperture, cavity, and above all the menjbrane in ten-
sion, contribute much to produce and augment the
sound emitted by the grasshopper''." This descrip-
tion, which was taken from the migratory locust (G. mi~
a Dc Gcer, iii.470. l> Ibid. 47). t. xxiii./, 2. 3.
NOIsns OF INSECTS. 401
gratorius, L.)? answers tolerably well to the tympanum
of our common grasshoppers, only in them the aperture
s6ems to be rather semicircular, and the wrinkled
plate — which has no marginal hairs — is clearly a conti-
nuation of the substance of the segment. This appa-
ratus so much resembles the drum of the Cicadae, that
there can be little doubt as to its use. The vibrations
caused by the friction of the thighs and elytra striking
upon this drum, are reverberated by it, and so intense-
ness is given to the sound. In Spain, we are told
that people of fashion keep these animals — called there
Grillo — in cages, which they name Grilleria, for the
sake of their song^.
I shall conclude this diatribe upon the noises of in-
sects, with a tribe that have long been celebrated for
their musical powers; I mean the Cicadce, including
the two genera Fulgora, L. and Tettigonia, F. The
FulgorcB appear to be night-singers, while the Cicadm
sing usually in the day. The great lantern-fly {FuU
gora laternaria, L.)? fi'om its noise in the evening—
nearly resembling the sound of a cymbal, or razor-
grinder when at work — is called Scare-sleep by the
Dutch in Guiana. It begins regularly at sun-set''.
Perhaps an insect mentioned by Ligon as making a
great noise in the night in Barbadoes, may belong to
this tribe. " There is a kind of animal in the woods,"
says he, " that I never saw, which lie all day in holes
and hollow trees, and as soon as the sun is down begin
their tunes, which are neither singing nor crying, but
the shrillest voices I ever heard : nothing can be so
nearly resembled to it as the mouths of a pack of sroall
a Osbeck's Vuit. i. 71. b Stcdraan"? Surinam, ii. S7,
VO!.. II. i O /
409 JfOlSES OF IxNSECTS.
beagles at a distance; and so lively and chirping the
noise is, as nothing can be more delightful to the ears,
if there were not too much of it; for the music hath no
internnssion till morning, and then all is husht^."
The species of the other genus, Tetiigonia, F., called
by the ancient Greeks — by whom they were often kept
in cages for the sake of their song — TettLv, seem to
have been the favourites of every Grecian bard from
Homer and Hesiod to Anacreon and Theocritus. Sup-
posed to be perfectly harmless, and to live only upon
the dew, they were addressed by the most endearing
epithets, and were regarded as ail but divine. One
bard entreats the shepherds to spare the innoxious
Tettix, that nightingale of the Nymphs, and to make
those mischievous birds the thrush and blackbird their
prey. Sweet prophet of the summer, says Anacreon,
addressing this insect, the Muses love thee, Phcebus
himself loves thee, and has given thee a shrill song;
old age does not wear thee; thou art wise, earth-born,
musical, impassive, without blood ; thou art almost
like a god"*. So attached were the Athenians to these
insects, that they were accustomed to fasten golden
images of them in their hair, implying at the same
time a boast that they themselves, as well as the Ci-
cadae, were Terrmjilii. They were regarded indeed
by all as the happiest as well as the most innocent of
animals — not, we w ill suppose, for the reason given by
the saucy Rhodian Xenarchus, when he says,
" Happy the Cicadas' lives,
Since they all have voiceless wives."
if the Grecian Tettix or Cicada had been distin-
a Ilis(, o/Barbadoes, 65, l> Epi^ramtn. Deled Ab- 234.
NdlSES OF INSECTS. 403
giiished by a harsh and deafening note, like those of
some other countries, it would hardly have been an ob-
ject of such affection. That it was not, is clearly proved
by the connexion which v» as supposed to exist between
it and music. Thus the sound of this insect and of the
harp were called by one and the same name''. A Ci-
cada sitting upon a harp was a usual emblem of the sci-
ence of music, which was thus accounted for: — When
two rival musicians, Eunomus and Ariston, were con-
tending- upon that instruuient, a Cicada flying to the
former and sitting upon his harp, supplied the place of
a broken string, and so secured to him the victory''*
To excel this animal in singing seems to have been the
highest commendation of a singer; and even the elo-
quence of Plato was not thought to suffer by a compa-
rison with it*". At Surinam the noise of the Tettigonia
Tibicen is still supposed so much to resemble the sound
of a harp or lyre, that they are called there harpers
(Lierman)^. Whether the Grecian Cicadas maintain
at present their ancient character for music, travellers
do not tell us.
Those of other countries, however, have been held
in less estimation for their powers of song ; or rather
have been execrated for the deafening din that they
produce. Virgil accuses those of ftaly of bursting the
very shrubs with their noise^; and Dr. Smith observes
that this species, which is very common, makes a most
disagreeable dull chirping ^ Another, Tetligonia sep"
lendecim — which fortunately, as its name imports, ap-
a Gr. Tt^iTifffia. b Mouffet, Theatr. 130.
c'hSu8tȣ nxaraiy, xeci TiT'Tti,ni ktoXccXcs. d Merian Surinam. 49.
« Et cantu querulae rumpent arbusta cicadic. Gcorg. iii. 828.
' Smith'!! 7bHr, iii. 95.
2 J) 2
404! NOISES OF INSECTS.
pears 6tily once in seventeen years — makes suchf a con*
tinual din from morning to evening that people cannot
hear each other speak. They appear in Pennsylvania
in incredible numbers in the middle of May*. — " In
the hotter months of summer," says Dr. Shaw, "espe-
cially from midday to the middle of the afternoon, the
Cicada, tstti^, or grasshopper, as we falsely translate
it, is perpetually stunning our ears with its most ex-
cessively shrill and ungrateful noise. It is in this re-
spect the most troublesome and impertinent of insects,
perching upon a twig and squalling sometimes two or
three hours without ceasing ; thereby too often dis-
turbing the studies, or short repose that is frequently
indulged, in these hot climates, at those hours. The
rsTTj^ of the Greeks must have had a quite different
voice, more soft surely and melodious; otherwise the
fine orators of Homer, who are compared to it, can be
looked upon no better than loud loquacious scolds''." —
An insect of this tribe, and I am told a very noisy one,
has been found by Mr. Daniel Bydder, before men-
tioned, in the New Forest, Hampshire. Previously to
this it was not thought that any of these insect musi-
cians were natives of the British Isles. — Captain Han-
cock informs me that the Brazilian Cicada sing so
loud as to be heard to the distance of a mile. This is
as if a man of ordinary stature, supposing his powers of
voice increased in the ratio of his size, could be heard
all over the world. So that Stentor himself beconaes
a mute when compared with these insects.
You feel very curious, doubtless, to know by vyhat
a Collinson in Philos. Trans. 1163. Stoll, Cigahs, 26.
b .'/Vate/i, 2d Ed. ISe.
NOISES or INSECTS. 405
)ncans these little animals are enabled to emit such
prodifl^ious sounds. I have lately mentioned to you the
drum of certain grasshoppers ; this, however, appears
to be an organ of a very simple structure : but since it
is essential to the economy of the Cicadae that their
males should so much exceed all other insects in the
loudness of their tones, they are furnished with a much
more complex, and indeed most wonderful, apparatus,
Avhich I shall now describe. If you look at the under-
side of the body of a male, the first thing- that will
strike you is a pair of large plates of an irregular form
— in some semi-oval, in others triangular, in others
again a segment of a circle of greater or less diameter
— covering the anterior part of the belly, and fixed to
the trunk between the abdomen and the hind legs*.
These are the drum-covers or opercula, from beneath
which the sound issues. At the base of the posterior
legs, just above each operculum, there is a small
pointed triangular process (pessellmn)^, the object of
which, as Reaumur supposes, is to prevent them from
being too much elevated. When an operculum is re-
moved, beneath it you will find on the exterior side a
hollow cavity, with a mouth somewhat linear, which
seems to open into the interior of the abdomen "^ : next
to this, on the inner side, is another large cavity of an
irregular shape, the bottom of which is divided into
three portions; of these theposterior is lined obliquely
with a beautiful membrane, which is very tense — in
some species semi-opake, and in others transparent—
a Plate VIII. Fig 1. 8. a a, Rpaum. v. t. xvi./. 5. u n.
b Plate VIII. Fig. 18, b b. Reaum. ubi svpra, t. svi. f. M.b.
c Reaum. ibid. /. 3. 1 1,
406 NOISES OF INSECTS).
and reflects all the colours of the rainbow. This mir-
ror is not the real origan of sound, but is supposed to
modulate it". The middle portion is occupied by a
plate of a horny substance, placed horizontally and
forming the bottom of the cavity. On its inner side this
plate terminates in a carina or elevated ridge, com-
mon to both drums''. Between the plate and the after-
breast (postpectus) another membrane, folded trans-
versely, fills an oblique, oblong, or semi-lunar cavity*^.
In some species 1 have seen this membrane in tension
— probably the insect can stretch or relax it at its plea-
sure. But even all this apparatus is insufficient to
produce the sound of these animals; — one stil more
important and curious yet remains to be described.
This organ can only be discovered by dissection. A
portion of the first and second segments being removed
from that side of the back of the abdomen which an-
swers to the drums, two bundles of muscles meeting
each other in an acute angle, attached to a place oppo-
site to the point of the mucro of the first ventral seg-
ment of the abdomen, will appear''. In Reaumur's
specimens these bundles of muscles seem to have been
cylindrical ; but in one I dissected ( Tetiigonia capensis)
they were tubiform, the end to which the true drum is
attached being dilated^. These bundles consist of a
prodigious number of muscular fibres applied to each
other, but easily separable. Whilst Reaumur was
examining one of these, pulling it from its place with a
pin, he let it go again, and immediately, though the
animal had been long dead, the usual sound was
a'Reaum.uij supra,/. 3. mm. b Ibid, q.q, c. c Ibid, wn,
4 Ibiil./. 6.//. e Ibid,/. 9. //. Plate VIII. Fig. 19. bb. "
NOISES OF INSECTS. 407
emitted. On each side of the drum-cavitios, when the
opercula are removed, another cavity of a lunulute
sluipe, opening into the interior of tlie abdomen, is ob-
servable^. In this is the true drum, the principal or-
gan of sound, and its aperture is to the Cicada what
our larynx is to us. If these creatures are unable
themselves to modulate their sounds, here are parts
enough to do it for them : for the mirrors, the mem-
branes, and the central portions, with their cavities,
all assist in it. In the cavity last described, if you re-
move the lateral part of the first dorsal segment of the
abdomen, you will discover a semi-opaque and nearly
semicircular concavo-convex membrane with trans-
verse folds — this is the drum'^. Each bundle of mus-
cles, before mentioned, is terminated by a tendinous
plate nearly circular, from which issue several little
tendons that, forming a thread, pass through an aper-
ture in the horny piece that supports the drum, and are
attached to its under or concave surface. Thus the
bundle of muscles being alternately and briskly relaxed
and contracted, will by its play draw in and let out the
drum : so that its convex surface being thus rendered
concave when pulled in, when let out a sound will be
produced by the effort to recover its convexity ; which,
striking upon the mirror and other membranes before
it escapes from under the operculum, will be ijiodulated
and augmented by them ". 1 should imagine that the
a Reaum. ubi supr.f. 3. II. b Ibid./. 6.^^/9.
c Plate VIII. Fig. 19, cc. The figure given in this plate does not
show the drums clearly ; but the principal object of it was to exhibit the
bundles of muscles, which are of a different form from those in Reaumur's
figures. In the above figure, a. is the mirror ,• bb. the bunches of mm'
cles; cc. the drums; d. the back of the abdomen; e. the belly.
408 NOISES OF INSECTS.
muscular bundles are extended and contracted by the
alternate approach and recession of the trunk and ab-
domen to and from each other.
And now, my friend, what adorable wisdom, what
consummate art and skill are displayed in the admira-
ble contrivance and complex structure of this wonder-
ful, this unparalleled apparatus ! The Great Cre-
ator has placed in these insects an organ for producing
and emitting sounds, which in the intricacy of its con-
struction seems to resemble that which he has given to
man, and the larger animals, for receiving them. Here
is a cochlea ; a meatus ; and, as it should seem, more
than one tympanum.
J am, &c.
LETTER XXV.
ON LUMINOUS INSECTS.
We boast of our candles, our wax-lights, and our
Argand-lanips, and pity our fellow-men who, ignorant
of our methods of producing artificial light, are con-
demned to pass their nights in darkness. We regard
these inventions as the results of a great exertion of
human intellect, and never conceive it possible that
other animals are able to avail themselves of modes of
illumination equally efficient; and are furnished with
the means of guiding their nocturnal evolutions by
actual lights, similar in their effect to those which we
make use of. Yet many insects are thus provided.
Some are forced to content themselves with a single
candle, not more vivid than the rush-light which glim-
mers in the peasant's cottage; others exhibit two or
ibur, which cast a stronger radiance ; and a few can
display a lamp little inferior in brilliancy to som€ of
ours. Not that these insects are actually possessed of
candles and lamps. You gre aware that I am speak-
ing figuratively. But Providence has supplied them
with an effectual substitute — a luminous preparation
or secretion, which has all the advantages of our lamps
and candles without their inconveniences ; which gives
light sufficient to direct their motions, while it is' inca-
410 LUMINOUS INSECTS.
pable of burning; and whose lustre is maintained with-
out needing fresh supplies of oil or the application of
the snuffers.
Of the insects thus singularly provided, the common
glow-worm (Lamp?/ris noctiluca) is the most familiar
instance. Who that has ever enjoyed the luxury of a
summer evening's walk in the country, in the southern
parts of our island, but has viewed with admiration
these " stars of the earth and diamonds of the night?"
And if, living like me in a district where it is rarely
met with, the first time you saw this insect, chanced
to be, as it was in my case, one of those delightful
evenings which an English summer seldom yields, when
not a breeze disturbs the balmy air, and " every sense
is joy," and hundreds of these radiant worms, studding
their mossy couch with mild effulgence, were presented
to your wondering eye in the course of a quarter of a
mile, — you could not help associating with the name
of glow-worm the most pleasing recollections. No
wonder that an insect, which chiefly exhibits itself on
occasions so interesting, and whose economy is so
remarkable, should have afforded exquisite images
and illustrations to those poets who have cultivated
Natural History.
If you take one of these glow-worms home with you
for examination, you will fjnd that in shape it some-
what resembles a caterpillar, only that it is much more
depressed; and you will observe that the liglit pro-
ceeds from a pale-coloured patch that terminates the
underside of the abdomen. It is not, liowever, the
iarva of an insect, but the perfect female of a winged
beetle, from which it is altogether so different, that
LUMINOUS INSECTS. 411
nothing but actual observation could have inferred the
fact of their being- the sexes of the same iiisect. In the
course of our inquiries you will find that sexual difte-
rences even more extraordinary exist in the insect
\vorld.
It has been supposed by many that the males of tlie
different species of JLaw7/}7/m do not possess the pro-
perty of giving out any light ; but it is now ascertained
that this supposition is inaccurate, though tlieir light
is much less vivid than that of tJic female. Ray first
pointed out this fact with respect to L. nGctiluca'' .
Geoifroy also observed that the male of this species \\zi
four small luminous points, two on each of the two last
segments of the belly'' : and his observation has been
recently confirmed by Miiiler. This last entomologist,
indeed, saw only two shining spots ; but from the in-
sect's having the power of withdrawing them out of
sight so that not the smallest trace of light remains, he
thinks it is not improbable that at times two other
points still smaller may be exhibited, as Geoifroy
has described. In the males of L. Splcndidula and of
L. hemiptera the light is very distinct, and may be seen
in the former while flying'^. — The females have the
same faculty of extinguishing or concealing their light
— a very necessary provision to guard them from the
attacks of nocturnal birds : Mr. White even thinks
that tliey regularly put it out between eleven and
twelve every night'' : and they have also the power of
rendering it for a while more vivid than ordinary.
Authors who have noticed the luminous parts of
for the first time,
"So sleeps in silence the Curculio, shut
In the dark chamber of the cavern'd nut ;
Erodes with ivory beak the vaulted shell,
And quits on filmy wings its narrow cell."
But when the music of the lines has allowed him roam
for pause, and he recollects that they are built wholly
upon an incorrect supposition, the Curculio never in-
habiting the nut in its beetle shape, nor employing its
ivory beak upon it, but undergoing its transformation
underground, he feels disappointed that the passage
has not truth as well as sound. — Mr. Southey, too, has
fallen into an error : ho confounds the fire-fly of St.
LUMINOUS INSECTS. 417
Domingo {Elater nocliliicus) with a quite difFerent in-
sect, the lantern-fly {FuJgora laternaria) of Madam Me-
rian; but happily this error does not affect his poetry.
But to return from this digression. — If we are to be-
lieve Mouffet, (and the story is not incredible,) the ap-
pearance of the tropical fire-flies on one occasion led
to a more important result than might have been ex-
pected from such a cause. He tells us, that when Sir
Thomas Cavendish and Sir Robert Dudley first landed
in the West Indies, and saw in the evening an infinite
number of moving lights in tlie woods, which were
merely these insects, they supposed that the Spaniards
were advancing upon them, and immediately betook
themselves to their ships'^: — a result as well entitling
the Elaters to a commemoration feast, as a similar good
office the land-crabs of Hispaniola, which, as the Spa-
niards tell, (and the story is confirmed by an anniver-
sary Fiesta de 16s Cangrejos,) by their clattering — mis-
taken by the enemy for the sound of Spanish cavalry
close upon their heels — in like manner scared away a
body of English invaders of the city of St. Domingo **.
An anecdote less improbable, perhaps, and certainly
more ludicrous, is related by Sir James Smith of the ef-
fect of the first sight of the Italian fire-flies upon some
Moorish ladies ignorant of such appearances. These
females had been taken prisoners at sea, and, until they
could be ransomed, lived in a house in the outskirts of
Genoa, where they were frequently visited by the re-
spectable inhabitants of the city ; a party of whom, on go-
ing one evening, were surprised to find the house closely
shut up, and their Moorish friends in the greatest grief
a 112. b Walton's Hispaniola, i. 39.
VOL. II. 2 15
418 LUMINOUS INSECTS.
and consternation. On inquiring into the cause, they
ascertained that some of the Lcwrp7/ris italicahad found
their way into the dwelling, and that the ladies within
had taken it into their heads that these brilliant guests
were no other than the troubled spirits of their rela-
tions ; of which idea it was some time before they could
be divested. — The common people in Italy have a su-
perstition respecting these insects somewhat similar,
believing that they are of a spiritual nature, and
proceed out of the graves, and hence carefully avoid
them ^.
The insects hitherto adverted to have been beetles,
or of the order Coleoptera. But besides these, a genus
in the order Hemiptera, called Fidgora, includes seve-
ral species which emit so powerful a light as to have
obtained in English the generic appellation of Lantern-'
jlies. Two of the most conspicuous of this tribe are
the F. laternaria and F. candelaria ; the former a na-
tive of South America, the latter of China. Both, as
indeed is the case with the whole genus, have the ma-
terial which diffuses their light included in a hollow
subtransparent projection of the head. In F. candelaria
this projection is of a subcylindrical shape, recurved at
the apex, above an inch in length, and the thickness of
a small quill. We may easily conceive, as travellers
assure us, that a tree studded with multitudes of these
living sparks, some at rest and others in motion, must
at night have a superlatively splendid appearance. — In
F. laternaria, which is an insect two or three inches
long, the snout is much larger and broader, and more
of an oval shape, and sheds a light the brilliancy of
a Tow on the Continent, 2d Edit. iii. 85.
LUMINOUS INSECTS. 419
which transcends that of any other luminous insect.
Madam Merian informs us, that the first discovery
which she made of this property caused her no small
alarm. The Indians had brought her several of thesei
insects, which by day-light exhibited no extraordinary
appearance, and sl)e inclosed them in a box until she
should have an opportunity of drawing them, placing
it upon a table in her lodging-room. In the middle of
the night the confined insects made such a noise as to
awake her, and slie opened the box, the inside of
which to her great astonishment appeared all in a
blaze ; and in her fright letting it fail, she was not less
surprised to see each of the insects apparently on fire.
She soon, however, divined the cause of this unex-
pected phenomenon, and re-inclosed her brilliant guests
in their place of confinement. She adds, that the light
of one of these Fulgorce is sufficiently bright to read a
newspaper by : and though the tale of her having
drawn one of these insects by its own light is without
foundation, s!ie doubtless might have done so if she
had chosen*. — Another species {F. pi/rrhorT/nchus) is
f}gured by Mr. Donovan in his Insects of India, of*
a Ins. Stir. 49. — Tlie above account of the luminous properties of
Fulgora lalcrnaria is given, because nep;ative evidence ought not hastily
to be allowed to set aside facts positively asserted by an author whose
Veracity is unimpcached ; but it is necessary to state, that not only have
several of tlic inliabitants of Cayenne, according to the French Dic-
tionnaire (Vltisloirc Nuturelle, denied that this insect shines, in which de-
nial they are joined by M. Richard, who reared the species {Encyclo-
peaie.j art. Fnlgora) ; but the learned and accurate Count HofTmansegg
informs us, that his insect collector Sieber, a practised entomologist of
thirty years standing, arid who, when in the Brazils for some years, took
many specimens, affirms, that he never saw a single one in the 1 ast lu»
luiaous. Der Gesdhchafl Naturf. Fr. zu Berlin Mag. i. 153i
2 E 2
LUMINOUS INSECTS.
which the light, though from a smaller snout than that
of F. laternaria, must assume a more splendid and stri-
king appearance, the projection being of a rich deep
purple from the base to near the apex, which is of a
fine transparent scarlet ; and these tints will of course
be imparted to the transmitted light.
In addition to the insects already mentioned, some
others have the power of diffusing light, as two species
of Scolopendra (S. electrica and phosphorea), and pro-
bably others of the same genus. In these the light is
not confined to one part, but proceeds from the whole
body. S. electrica is a common insect in this country,
residing under clods of earth, and often visible at
night in gardens. S. phosphorea, a native of Asia, is an
obscure species, described by Linne, on the authority
of C. G. Ekeberg, the captain of a Swedish East India-
man, who asserted that it dropped from the air, shining
like a glow-worm, upon his ship, when sailing in the
Indian ocean a hundred miles (Swedish) from the con-
tinent. However singular this statement, it is not in-
credible. The insect may either, as Linne suspects,
have been elevated into the atmosphere by wings with
which, according to him, one species of the genus is
provided ; or more piobably, perhaps, by a strong
wind, such as that which raised into the air the shower
of insects mentioned by De Geer as occurring in Swe-
den in the winter of 1749, after a violent storm that
had torn up trees by the roots, and carried away to a
great distance the surrounding earth, and insects which
had taken up their winter quarters amongst it ^ That
a De Geer, iv. 63. — These insects, which were chiefly Staphylini, L.,
email Scarabtei, L., spiders, caterpillars, but particularly the larvae of
LUMINOUS INSECTS. 421
the wind may convey the light body of an insect to the
above-mentioned distance from land, you will not dis-
pute when you call to mind that our friend Hooker, in
his interesting Tour in Iceland, tells us that the ashes
from the eruption of one of the Icelandic volcanos in
1755 were conveyed to Ferrol, a distance of upwards
of 300 miles*. — Lastly, to conclude my list of luminous
insects, Professor Afzelius observed " a dim phospho-
ric light" to be emitted from the singular hollow an-
tennae o{ Pmisits sphcerocerus^. A similar appearance
has been noticed in the eyes of Noctua Psi, Bom-
hyx Cossus, and other moths. Chiroscelis bifenestrata
of Lamarck, a beetle, has two red oval spots covered
with a downy membrane on the second segment of the
abdomen, which he thinks indicate some particular or-
gan perhaps luminous*^: and M. Latreille informs me
that a friend of his, who saw one living which was brought
from China to the Isle of France in wood, found that
the ocelli in the elytra of Buprestis oceUata were lu-
minous.
But besides the insects here enumerated, others may
be luminous which have not hitherto been suspected of
being so. This seems proved by the following fact.
A learned friend "^ has informed me, that when he was
Cantharisfusca, fell in such abundance that they might have been taken
from the snow by handfuls. — Other showers of insects which have been
recorded, as that in Hungary, 20th November 1672 {Ephem, Nat. Curios,
1673.80.),and one mentioned in the newspapers ofJuly 2d, 1810, to have
fallen in France the January preceding, accompanied by a shower of
red snow, may evidently be explained in the same manner.
a p. 40T. b Linn. Trans, iv. 261. c Latr. Hist. Nat. x. 262.
" And for night-tapers crop their waxen thighs,
And light them at the fiery glow-worms' eyes."
c Some experiments made by my friend the Rev. R. Sheppard on the
glow-worm are worthy of being recorded. — One of the receptacles
being extracted with a penknife continued himinous; but on being im-
mersed in camphorated spirit of wine became immediately extinct.
The animal, with one of its receptacles uninjured, being plunged into the
same spirit, became apparently lifeless in less than a minute; but the re-
ceptacle continued luminous for five minutes, the light gradually disap-
pearing.— Having extracted the luminous matter from tlic receptacles,
in two days they were healed, and filled with luminous matter as before.
He found this matter to lose its luminous property, and become dry and
glossy like gum, in about two minutes; but it recovered it again on being
moistened with saliva, and again lost it when dried. When the matter
was extracted from two or three glow-worms, and covered with liquid
gum-arabic, it continued luminous for upwards of a quarter of an hour.
LUMINOUS INSECTS. 427
existence of any ordinary combination of phosphorus
in luminous insects, there exists a contradiction in
many of the statements, which requires reconciling; be-
fore final decision can be pronounced. The diiferent
results obtained by Forster and Spallanzani, who as-
sert that glow-worms shine more brilliantly in oxygene
gas, and by Beckerheim, Dr. Ilulme, and Sir II. Davy,
who could perceive no such effect, may perhaps be ac-
counted for by the supposition tliat in tlie latter in-
stances the insects Imving- been taken more recently,
might be less sensible to the stimulus of the gas than
in the former, where possibly their irritability was, as
Brown would say, accumulated by a longer abstinence :
but it is not so easy to reconcile the experiment of Sir
H. Davy, who found the light of the glow-worm not
to be sensibly diminished in hydrogene gas^, with those
of Spallanzani and Dr. Hulme, who found it to be ex-
tinguished by the same gas, as well as by carbonic
acid, nitrous and sulphuretted hydrogene gases''. Pos-
sibly some of these contradictory, results were occa-
sioned by not adverting to the faculty vt'hich the living
insect possesses of extinguishing its lights at pleasure;
or different philosophers may have experimented on
different species of Lampyris.
The general use of this singular provision is not
much more satisfactorily ascertained than its nature.
I have before conjectured — and in an instance I then
related it seemed to be so — that it may be a means of
defence against their enemies •=. In different kinds of
jnsectSj however, it may probably have a different ob>-
a PhUos. Trans. 1810, p. 587, b Ibid. ISO!, j). 483,
F Spc above, p. 228. ,
42S LUMINOUS IJSSECrS.
ject. Thus in the lantern-flies (Fulgora), whose light
precedes them, it may act the part that their name im-
ports, enabling them to discover their prey, and to steer
themselves safely in the night. In the tire-flies (Eluier)^
if we consider the inhnite numbers that in certain cli*
mates and situations present themselves every where in
the night, it may distract the attention of tlieireneuiies
or alarm them. And in the glow-worm — since their
light is usually most brilliant in the female ; in some
species, if not all, present only in the season M'hen the
sexes are destined to meet ; and strikingly more vivid
at the very moment when the meeting takes place ^ —
besides the above uses, it is most probably intended to
conduct the sexes to each other. This seems evidently
the design in view in those species in which, as in the
common glow-worm (L. noctiluca, L.), the females are
apterous. The torch which the wingless female, doomed
to crawl upon the grass, lights up at the approach of
night, is a beacon which unerringly guides the vagrant
male to her " love-illumined form," however obscure
the place of her abode. It has been objected, how-
ever, to this explanation, that — since both larva and
pupa, as De Geer observe^]'', and the males shine as
well as the females — the meeting of the sexes can
scarcely be the object of their luminous provision.
But this difficulty appears to me easily surmounted.
As the light proceeds from a peculiarly organized sub-
stance, which probably must in part be elaborated in
the larva and pupa states, there seems nothing incon-
sistent in the fact of so}ne light being then emitted,
with the supposition of its being destined solely for
•■' ]V^ull?r in Jliig. Mag. iv. 178. •> iv. i9.
LUMINOUS INSECTS. 42^1
use in the perfect state : and the circumstance of the
male having the same luniinoiis property, no more
proves that the superior brilliancy of the female is not
intended for conducting him to her, than the existence
of nipples and sometimes of milk in man proves that
the breast of woman is not meant for the support of
her offspring. We often see, without being able to
account for the fact, except on Sir E. Home's idea,
that tlie sex of the ovum is undetermined', traces of
an organization in one sex indisputably intended for
the sole use of the other.
I am, ■Sec.
« Phil. Tram. 1199. 157.
LETTER XXVl
ON THE HYBERNATION AND TORPP
DITY OF INSECTS.
If insects can boast of enjoying- a greater variety of
food than many other tribes of animals, this advantage
seems at first siglit more than counterbalanced in our
climates, by the temporary nature of their supply. The
graminivorous quadrupeds, with few exceptions, how-
ever scanty their bill of fare, and their carnivorous
brethren, as well as the whole race of birds and fishesj
can at all seasons satisfy, in greater or less abundance,
their demand for food. But to the great majority of
insects, the earth for nearly one half of the year is A
barren desert, affording no appropriate nutriment. As
soon as winter has stripped the vegetable world of its
foliage, the vast hosts of insects that feed on the leaves
of plants must necessarily fast until the return of^
spring: and even the carnivorous tribes, such as the
CarahidcB, Ichneumonida;, Spliegiadce, &c. would at
that period of the year in vain look for their accus-
tomed prey.
How is this difficulty provided for? In what mode
has the Universal Parent secured an uninterrupted
succession of generations in a class of animals for the
most part doomed to a six months' deprivation of the
food which they ordinarily devour with such voracity ?
By a beautiful series of provisions founded on the fa-
HYBERNATION OF INSECTS. 4Sl
culty, common also to some of the larger animals, of
passing the winter in a state of torpor — hy ordaining
that t]ie insect shall live through that period, either in
an incomplete state of its existence when its organs of
nutrition are undeveloped, or, if the active epoch of its
life has commenced, that it shall seek out appropriate
hyhernacida or winter quarters, and in them fall into
a profound sleep, dming which a supply of food is
equally unnecessary.
In two of the four states of existence common to in-
sects, in which different tribes pass the winter, namely,
the egg and the pupa state, the organs for taking food
(except in some cases in the latter) are not developed,
and consequently the animal is incapable of eating.
The existence of insects in these states during the win-
ter, differs from their existence in the same form in sum-
mer only in the greater length of its term. In both
seasons food is alike unnecessary, so that their hy-»
Ijernation in these circumstances has liUle or nothing
analogous to that of larger animals. With this, how-
ever, strictly accords their hybernation in the larva
and imago states, in which their abstinence from food
is solely owing to the torpor that pervades them, and
the consequent non-expenditure of the vital powers.—
I shall attend to tiio peculiarities of their hybernation
in each of these states in the order just laid dovvn ;
premising that we have yet much to learn on this sub-
ject, no observations having been instituted respect-
ing the state in which multitudes of insects pass the
winter.
It is probable that some insects of almost every order
hybernate in the ei^g state : though that these must be
432 HYBERNATION OF INSECTS.
comparatively few in number, seems proved from two
considerations : first, That the majority of insects as-
sume the imago, and deposit their eggs in the summer
and early part of autumn, when the heat suffices to hatch
them in a short period : and secondly, That the eggs
of a very large proportion of insects require for their
due exclusion and the nutriment of the larvae spring-
ing from them, conditions only to be fulfilled in sum-
mer, as all those which are laid in young fruits and
seeds ; in the interior and galls of leaves ; in insects
that exist only in summer, &c. &c. The insects which
pass the winter in the egg state are chiefly such as
have several broods in the course of the year, the
females of the last of which lay eggs that, requiring
more heat for their development than then exists, ne-
cessarily remain dormant until the return of spring.
The situation in which the female insect places her
eggs in order to their remaining there through the
winter, is always admirably adapted to the degree of
cold which they are capable of sustaining ; and to the
ensuring a due supply of food for the nascent larvae.
Thus, with the former view, Gri/llus verrucivorus and
many other insects whose eggs are of a tender con-
sistence, deposit them deep in the earth out of the
reach of frost; and with the latter, Bombi/x Neustria,
3. castrensis, B. dispar^ and some other moths, de-
parting from the ordinary instinct of their congeners,
which teaches them to place their eggs upon the hates
of plants, fix theirs to the stem and branches only.
That this variation of procedure has reference to the
hybernation of the eggs of these particular species, is
abundantly obvious. Insects whose eggs are to be
HYBERNATION OF INSECTS. 433
hatched in summer, usually fix them slightly to the
leaves upon which the larvae are to feed. But it is
evident thtit, were this plan to be adopted by those
whose eggs remain through the Avinter, their progeny
might be blown away along with the leaf to which they
are attached, far from their destined food. These,
therefore, choose a more stable support, and carefully
fasten them, as has just been observed, either to the
trunk or branches of the tree, whose young leaves in
spring are to be the food of the excluded larvae. The
latter plan is followed by the female o^ Bomhyj^ Neus-
tria, which curiously gums her eggs in bracelets round
the twigs of the hawthorn, &c. But another provi-
sion is demanded. Were these eggs of the usual deli-
cate consistence, and to be attached with the ordinary
slight gluten, they would have a poor chance of sur-
viving the storms of rain and snow and hail to which
for six or eight months they are exposed. They are
therefore covered with a shell much more hard and
thick than common ; packed as closely as possible to
each other ; and the interstices are filled up with a te-
nacious gum, which soon hardens the whole into a
8olid mass almost capable of resisting a penknife. Thus
secured, they defy the elements, and brave the blasts
of winter uninjured. — The female of Bomhi/x dispar,
whose eggs have a more tender shell, glues them in
an oval mass to the stem of a tree (whence the German
gardeners call the larvJE Stamm-rcmpe), and then covers
them with a warm non-conducting coat of hairs pluck-
ed from her own body, equally impervious to cold aild
wet.
Another of those beautiful relations between objects
VOL. II. 2 r
434 HYBERNATION OF INSECTS.
at first sight apparently unconnected, which at every
step reward the votaries of Entomology, is afforded
by the coincidence between the period of the hatching
in spring of eggs deposited before winter, and of the
leafing of the trees upon which they have been fixed,
and on whose foliage the larvae are to feed : which two
events, requiring exactly the same temperature, are
always simultaneous. Of this fact I have had a striking
exemplification the last spring (1816). On the 20th
of E^ebruary, observing the twigs of the birches in the
Hull Botanic Garden to be thickly set, especially about
the buds, with minute oval black eggs of some insect
with which I was unacquainted, I brought home a small
branch and set it in ajar of water in my study, in which
is a fire daily, to watch their exclusion. On the 28th of
March I observed that a numerous brood of Aphides
(not A. Befulce, as the wings were without the dark
bands of that species) had been hatched from them, and
that two or three of the lower buds had expanded into
leaves, upon the sap of which they were greedily feast,
ins-. This was full a month before either a leaf of the
birch appeared, or the egg of an Aphis was disclosed
in the open air. — To view the relation of which I am
speaking with due admiration, you must bear in mind
the extremely different periods at which many trees
acquire their leaves, and the consequent difference de-
manded ir. the constitution of the eggs which hyber-
nate upon dissimilar species, to ensure their exclusion,
though acted upon by the mme temperature, earlier
or later, according to the early or late foliation of these
specie?. There is no visible difference between the
conformation of the eggs of the Aphis of the birch and
HYBERNATION OF INSECTS. 435
those of the Aphis of the ash ; yet in the same exposure
those of the former shall be hatched, simultaneously
with the expansion of the leaves, nearly a month ear-
lier than those of the latter : thus demonstrably prov-
ing that the hybernation of these eggs is not accidental,
but has been specially ordained by the Author of na-
ture, who has conferred on those of each species a pe-
culiar and appropriate organization.
A niu<^h greater number of insects pass the winter
in the pupa than in the egg state ; probably nine-tenths
of the extensive order Lepidoptera, many in Hymen-
optera, and several in other orders. In placing these
pupae in security from the too great cold of winter and
the attacks of enemies, the larvte from which they are
to be metamorphosed exhibit an anxiety and ingenuity
evidently imparted to them for this express design. A
few are suspended without any covering, though usually
in a sheltered situation. But by far the larger num-
ber are concealed under leaves, in the crevices of trees,
&c., or inclosed in cocoons of silk or other materials
wh'ch will be described to you in a subsequent letter,
and often buried deep under ground out of the reach of
frost. — ^One reason why so many lepidopterous insects
pass the winter as pupae, has been plausibly assigned
by Rosel, in remarking that this is the case with all
the numerous species which feed on annual plants. As
these have no local habitation, dying one year and
springing up from seed in another quarter the next, it
is obvious that eggs deposited upon them in autumn
would have no chance of escaping destruction ; and that
even if the larvae were to be hatched before winter,
and to hybernate in that state, they would have no eer-
^ F 2
436 HYBERNATION OF INSEGTS.
tainty of being in the neighbourhood of their appro-
priate food the next spring. By wintering in the pupa
state, these accidents are etfectually provided against.
The perfect insect is not ready to break forth until the
food of the young, which are to proceed from its eggs,
is sprung up.
To the insects which hybernate in the larva state, of
course belong, in the first place, all those which exist
under that form more than one year ; as many Melo-
lonthoe^ Elateres, Ceramb?/ces, Bupresles^ and several
species of Lihellula, Ephemera., &c. There are also
many larvaB wliich, though their term of life is not a
year, being hatched from the es,^ in autumn, neces-
sarily pass the winter in that state, as those of several
Anobia and other wood-boring insects ; o^Tortria: TVcc-
herana and others of the same family ; of the second
broods of several butterflies, &c. Many of these re-
siding in the ground or in the interior of trees need no
other hybernacula than the holes which they constantly
inhabit; some, as the aquatic larvae, merely hide them-
selves in the sides or muddy bottom of their native
pools ; while others seek for a retreat under moss, dead
leaves, stones, and the bark of decaying trees. Most
of these can boast of no better winter quarters than a
simple unfurnished hole or cavity; but a few, more
provident of comfort, prepare themselves an artificial
habitation. With this view the larva of Bomht/x Cos-
sus, L., as formerly observed in describing the habita-
tions of insects % forms a covering of pieces of wood
lined with fine silk; those of Bomhi/x Humuli, Noctua
radicca, and some other moths, excavate under a stone
ayoL. I.2d Ed.455.
HYBERNATION OF INSECTS. 437
a cavity exactly the size of their bodies, to which they
give all round a coating- of silk"; and the larvaB of jPa-
pilio Cratcegi inclose themselves in autumn in cases of
the same material'*, and thus pass the cold season in
small societies of from two to twelve, under a common
covering formed of leaves. Bonnet mentions a trait of
the cleanliness of these insects which is almost ludi-
crous. He observed in one of these nests a sort of
sack containing nothing but grains of excrement; and
a friend assured him that he had seen one of these ca-
terpillars partly protrude itself out of its case, the hind
feet first, to eject a similar grain ; so that it would seem
the society have en their establishment a scavenger,
whose business it is to sweep the streets and convey the
rejectamenta to one grand repository '^ \ This, however
singular, is rendered not improbable from the fact that
beavers dig in their habitations holes solely destined
for a like purpose''.
A very considerable number of insects hybernate in
ihe perfect state, chiefly of the orders Coleoptera, Hemi'
ptera, Hi/menoptera, and Diptera, and especially of the
first. Papilio Urficce, lo, and a few other lepidopterous
species, with a small proportion of the other orders,
a Brahm, Ins.Kal. n. 59. 118.
b I have reason to think that the larvas of some species of Hemerobius
thus protect themselves by a net-like case of silken threads; at least I
fuiind one to-day (December 3d, 1816) inclosed in a case of this de-
scription concealed under the bark of a tree ; and it is not very likely
that it could be a cocoon, both because the inhabitant was not a pupa,
which state, according to Reaumur, is assumed soon after the cocoon is
fabricated (iii. 385); and because the same author describes the cocoons
of these insects as perfectly spherical and of a very close texture (384);
while this was oblong, and the net-work with rather wide meshes.
c(£mu, ii.72, A Ibid. ix. 161.
438 HYBERNATION OF INSECTS.
occasionally survive the winter ; but the bulk of these
are rarely found to hybernate as perfect insects. Of
coleopterous insects, Schmid, to whom we are indebted
for some valuable remarks on the present subject % says
that he never found, or heard of any entomologist find-
ing, a hybernating individual of the common cockchafer
{Melolontha vulgaris)^ or of the stag-beetle {Lucanus
Cervus) ; and suggests that it is only those insects
which exist but a short period as larvae, as most of the
tribe of Curculionidce, CoccinellidcB, &c., that survive
the winter in the perfect state ; while those which live
more than one year in the larva state, as the species
just mentioned, are deprived of this privilege.
Towards the close of autumn the whole insect world,
particularly the tribe of beetles, is in motion. A ge-
neral migration takes place : the various species quit
their usual haunts, and betake themselves in search of
secure hybernacula. Different species, however, do not
select precisely the same time for making this change of
abode. Thus many CoccinellcE, Cimices, and Muscidce
are found out of their winter quarters even after the
commencement of frost; while others, as Schmid has re-
marked, make good their retreat long before any severe
cold has been felt : in fact, I am led to believe, from my
own observations, that this is the case with the majority
of coleopterous insects ; and that the days which they
select for retiring to their hybernacula, are some of the
warmest days of autumn, when they may be seen in great
numbers alighting on walls, rails, path-ways, &c,, and
running into crevices and cracks, evidently in search of
some object very different from those which ordinarily
a Ulig. M(Lg. i, 209-'i28.
HYBERNATION OF INSECTS. 439
guide their movements. I have noticed this assemblage
in different years, but more particularly in the last au-
tumn (1816). Walking on the banks of the Humber on
the 14th of October about noon, — the day bright, calm,
and deliciously mild, Fahrenheit's thermometer 58" in
the shade, — my attention was first attracted by the path-
ways swarming with numerous species of rove -beetles
(Staphi/linus, Oxj/telus, Aleochara, &c.), which kept
incessantly alighting, and hurrying about in every di-
rection. On further examination I found a similar as-
semblage, with the addition of multitudes of other bee-
tles, HalliccPy Nitidulce, Curculiones, Cri/ptophagi, &c.
on every post and rail in my walk, as well as on a wall
in the neighbourhood ; and on removing the decaying
mortar and bark, I found that some had already taken
up their abode in holes, from their situation with their
antennae folded, evidently meant for winter quarters.
I am not aware that any author has noticed this re-
markable congregation of coleopterous insects previ-
ously to hybernating, which it is so difficult to explaia
on any of the received theories of torpidity, except the
pious Lesser, who so expressly alludes to it, and with-
out quoting any other authority, that he would seem tq
have derived the fact from his own observation ^.
a Lesser, L. i. 236. — Lyoiiet inserts a note to explain that Lessei^'s re-
mark is to be understood onlj of such insects as live in societies; and adds,
that solitary species do not assemble to pass the winter together. Les-
ser, however, says nothjn"; about these insects passing the winter together,
us his translator erroneously understands him ; but merely that they as-
semble as U preparing to retire for the winter, which my oivn observa-
tions, as above, confirm. His expression in the original German is,
" gleichsam als wenn sie sich zu ihrer winter-r.ihe feitig machen wol-
ten." Edit. Frankfurt und Leipsig 1738, p. 152.
44.0 HYBERNATION OF INSECTS.
The site chosen by different perfect insects for theii^
hybernacula is very various. Some are content with
insinuating themselves under any large stone, a collec-
tion of dead leaves^ or the moss of the sheltered side of
an old wall or bank. Others prefer for a retreat the
lichen or ivy-covered interstices of the bark of old
trees, the decayed bark itself, especially that near the
roots, or bury themselves deep in the rotten trunk; and
a very great number penetrate into the earth to the
depth of several inches. The aquatic tribes, such as
Di/iisci, Ili/drophili, &c. burrow into the mud of their
pools ; but some of these are occasionally met with un-
der stones, bark, &c. In every instance the selected
dormitory is admirably adapted to the constitution,
mode of life, and wants of the occupant. Those in-
sects which can bear considerable cold without injury,
are careless of providing- other than a slight covering ;
while the more tender species either enter the earth
beyond the reach of frost, or prepare for themselvesi
artificial cavities in substances such as moss and rotten,
wood, which conduct heat with difficulty, and defend
them from an injuriously low temperature. It does not
appear that any perfect insect has the faculty of fabri-
cating for itself a winter abode similar to those formed
of silk, &c. by some larvae. Schmid, indeed, has men-
tioned finding Rhagium mordux and Inquisilor^ F. in
such abodes, constructed, as he thought, of the inner
bark of trees ; but these, as liliger has suggested, were
more probably the deserted dwellings of lepidopterous*
larvae, of which the beetles in question had taken pos-
session "". — Most ijisects place themselves ia their hy-
a lUig. Mag. I 216.
HYBETINATION OF INSECTS. 441
bernacula in the attitude which they ordinarily assume
when at rest ; but others clioose a position peculiar to
their winter abode. So most of the Carahidce adhere
by their claws to the under side of the stone, which
serves for their retreat, their backs being next to the
ground ; in which posture, probably, they are most
etfectually protected from wet. Sfaphi/Unus sanguino-
ientus, Gravenhorst, and others of the same family,
coils itself up like a snake, witli the head in the centre.
The majority of in:^ects pas ; the Avinter in perfect
solitude. Occasionally, however, several individuals
of one species, not merely of such insects as Harpalus
(Cai^abus, L.) prasinus, Chnex aptert/s, &c., which
usually in summer also live in a sort of society, but of
others which are never seen thus to associate, as IIc/l-
iica oleracea, Carabus intrfcatiis, and several Coccinellce^
&c. are found crowded together. This is perhaps often
more through accident than design, as individuals of
the same species are frequently met with singly ; yet
that it is njot wholly accidental, seems proved by the
fact that such assemblages are generally of the same
genus and even species. Sometimes, however, insects
of dissimilar genera and even orders are met with to-
gether. Schraid once in February found the rare Xo-
mechusa strumosa. Gravenhorst, {SUipli^Unus, L.) tor-
pid in an ant-hill in the mitlstofa conglomerated lump
of ants, with which it was closely interwined^.
By far the greater proportion of insects pass the
winter only in one or other of the several states of
egg, pupa, larva, or imago, but are never found to hy-
bernate in more than one. Some specieSj however,
a lllijc, Mag, i. 491.
442 HYBERNATION OF INSECTS.
depart from this rule. Thus Aphis Rosce.^ Cardui, and
probably raai)y others of the genus, hybernate both in
the egg and perfect state * ; Papilio Cardui, Rhamni^
and some other species, usually in the pupa, but often
in the perfect state also ; and Papilio lo, according to
the accurate Brahm, in the three states of egg, pupa,
and imago ^. It is probable that in these instances the
perfect insects are females, which, not having been
impregnated, have their term of life prolonged beyond
the ordinary period.
The first cold weather, after insects have entered
their winter quarters, produces effects upon them si-
milar to those which occur in the dormouse, hedgehog,
and others of the larger animals subject to torpor.
At first a partial benumbment takes place ; but the in-
sect if touched is still capable of moving its organs.
But as the cold increases all the animal finictions cease.
The insect breathes no longer, and has no need of a
supply of air '^; its nutritive secretions cease, and no
more food is required ; the muscles lose their irritabi-
lity*^; and it has all the external symptoms of death.
In this state it continues during the existence of great
cold, but the degree of its torpidity varies with the
temperature of the atmosphere. The recurrence of a
mild day, such as we sometimes have in winter, infuses
a partial animation into the stiffened animal : if dis-
turbed, its limbs and antennae resume their power of
extension, and even the faculty of spirting out their de-
fensive fluid is re-acquired by many beetles^. But
a Kyberin Gerniar Magazin der Entcmolngie, ii. 2.
l> Ins. Kcil. ii. 188. c Spallanzani, Rapports dc Vy(ir, &V. i. 'SO.
d Carlisle in Phil. Trans. 1805, p, 25. e Schmid in lllig. Mag. i. 222.
HYBERNATION OF INSECTS. 443
however mild the atmosphere in winter, the great
bulk of hybernating insects, as if conscious of the de-
ceptions nature of their pleasurable feelings, and that
no food could then be procured, never quit their quar-
ters, but quietly wait for a renewal of their insensibi-
lity by a fresh accession of cold.
On this head I have had an opportunity of making
some observations which, in the paucity of recorded
facts on the hybernation of insects, you may not be sorry
to have laid before you. The second of December 1816
was even finer than many of the preceding days of the
season, which so happily falsified the predictions that
the unprecedented dismal summer would be followed
by a severe winter. The thermometer was 46" in the
shade ; not a breath of air was stirring ; and a bright
sun imparted animation to troops of the winter gnat
(Tiichocera hiemalis^ Meig.), which frisked under every
bush; to numerous PsychodoR; and even to the flesh-
fly, of which two or three individuals buzzed past me
while digging in my garden. Yet though these insects,
Avhich I shall shortly advert to as exceptions to the ge-
neral rule, were thus active, the heat was not sufficient
to induce their hybernating brethren to quit their re-
treats. Removing some of the dead bark of an old
apple-tree, I soon discovered several insects in their
winter-quarters. Of the little beetie Lebia quadri-
notata, Duftsphmid Faun. Aastr. {Carabus puncioma'
culatus, Ent. Brit.), I found six or eight individuals,
and all so lively, that though remaining perfectly quiet
^n their abode until disturbed, they ran about with
their ordinary activity as soon as the covering of bark
was displaced. The same was the case with a colony
444 HYBERNATION OF INSECTS.
of earwigs. Two or three md'ividuals of Lehia qua'
drhnacidata showed more torpidity. When first unco-
vered their antenns were laid back ; and it was only
after the sun had shone some seconds upon them that
they exhibited symptoms of animation, and after stretch-
ing- out these organs began to walk. Close by them
lay a single Ilhynchxnus Pomonim, but in so deep a
sleep that at first I thought it dead. It gave no sign of
life when placed on my hand, quite hot with the exer-
cise of digging ; and it was only after being kept there
some seconds, and breathed upon several times, that it
first slowly unfolded its rostrum, and then its limbs.
It deserves remark, that all these insects, thus diffe-
rently affected, were on the same side of the tree, un-
der a similar covering of bark, and apparently equally
exposed to the sun, which shone full upon the cover-
ing of their retreat*.
All insects, however, do not undergo this degree of
a Since writing the above, I have had another opportunity of confirm-
ing the observations here made. The last week of January 1817, in the
neighbourhood of Hull, was most delicious weather — calm, sunny, dry,
and genial — the wind south-west, the thermometer from 47° to 52° every
"day, and at night rarely below 40°; in fact, a week much finer than we
can often boast of in May : the 27th of the month was the most delight-
ful day of the whole: the air swarmed with Trichocera hiemalis, Psychodce,
and numerous other Diplera, and the bushes were hung with the lines of
the gossamer-spider as in autumn. Yet, with the exception of Aphodius
contaminaius, I did not observe a single coleopterous insect on the wing,
nor even an individual tempted to crawl on the trunks of the trees, under
the dead bark of which I found many in a very lively state. Five or
six individuals of Haltica Nemnrum were still very lethargic; and two of
Scarabceus stercurarius, which I accidentally dug up from their hyber-
nacula in the earth at the depth of six or eight inclies, though the
yicari upon them were quite alert, exhibited every symptom of c6in|)lete
torpor.
HYBERNATION OF INSECTS. 44'5
torpidity. In fact, there are some, though but few,
which cannot, at least in our climate, strictly be said to
hybcrnate, understanding- by that term passing the win-
ter in one selected situation in a greater or less degree
of torporj without food. Not to mention Phaloina
G. hrumata, and some other moths, which are disclosed
from the pupa^ in tlie middle of winter, and can there-
fore be scarcely regarded as exceptions to the rule,
some in.iccts are torpid only in very severe weather,
and on fine mild days in winter come out to eat. This
is the case with the larva of Noclita fuUginosa^ L.^ ;
and Lyonet asserts that there are many other cater-
pillars which cat and grow even in the midst of slight
frost''. Amongst perfect insects, troops of Trichocera
Memalis^ the gnat whose choral dances have been before
described*", may be constantly seen gamboling in the air
in the depth of winter when it is mild and calm, accom-
panied by the little Psychoda, so common in w indow s,
several Muscidce, spiders, and occasionally some Apho-
dii and Staphj/linida; : and the societies of ants, as well
as their attendant Aphides, are in motion and take
more or less food during the whole of that season when
the cold is not intense. The younger Huber informs
us that ants become torpid only at 2° Reaum. below
freezing (27^ Fahrenheit), and apparently endeavour
to preserve themselves from the cold, when its ap-
proach is gradual, by clustering togetlier. When the
temperature is above this point they follow their ordi-
nary habits (he has seen them even walk upon the
snow), and can then obtain the little food which they
require in winter from their cows the Aphides, which,
a Kiaiiiu, Jns. Kal, ii. 31, ^ Lesser, L, i. 255. c Sec above, p, 4. 372.
446 HYBERNATION OF INSECT!^.
by an admirable provision, become lethargic at pre-
cisely the same degree of cold as the ants, and awake
at the same period with theni^.
Lastly, there are some few insects which do not
seem ever to be torpid, as Podura nivalis^ L., and the
singular apterous insect recently described by Dalman,
Chionea araneo'ides^, both of which run with agility on
the snow itself; and the common hive-bee ; though with
regard to the precise state in which this last passes the
winter, this part of its economy has not been made the
subject of such accurate investigation as is desirable.
Many authors have conceived that it is the most na-
tural state of bees in winter to be perfectly torpid at
a certain degree of cold, and that their partial revi-
viscency, and consequent need of food in our climate,
are owing to its variableness and often comparative
mildness in winter; whence they have advised placing
bees during this season in an ice-house, or on the north
side of a wall, where the degree of cold being more
uniform, and thus their torpidity undisturbed, they
imagine no food would be required. So far, however,
do these suppositions and conclusions seem from being
warranted, that Huber expressly affirms that, instead of
a Recherches, 20'2. — In dis^aiing in my garden on the 26tli of January
ISn, I turned up in three or four places colonies of Myrmica rubra, Lafr.
in their winter retreats, each of which comprised apparently one or two
hundred ants, with several larva; as big as a grain of mustard, closely
clustered together, occupying a cavity the size of a hen's egg, in tena-
cious clay, at the depth of six inches from the surface. They were very
lively; but though Fahrcnheil's Ihermometer stood at 47° in the shade, T
did not then, nor at any other time during tlie very mild winter, see a
single ant out of its hybernacuhun.
b Kongl. I'd. Jcad. Handling. 1816. lOi.
HYBERNATION OF INSECTS. 447
being torpid in winter, the heat in a well-peopled hive
continues + 24" or 25** of Reaumur (86** Fahrenheit)^
when it is several degrees below zero in the open air;
that they then cluster together and keep themselves iri
motion in order to preserve their heat*; and that in the
depth of winter they do not cease to ventilate the hive by
the singular process of agitating their wings before de-
scribed''. He asserts also that, like Reaumur, he has
in winter found in the combs brood of all ages; which,
too, the observant Bonner says he has witnessed''; and
which is confirmed by Swammerdam, who expressly
states that bees tend and feed their young even in the
midst of winter*^. To all these weighty authorities
may be added that of John Hunter, who, as before no-
ticed, found a hive to grow lighter in a cold than in a
warm week of winter ; and that a hive from Novem-
ber 10th to February 9th lost more than four pounds
in Aveight*^; whence the conclusion seems inevitable,
that bees do eat in winter.
On the other hand, Reaumur adopts (or rather, per-
haps, has in great measure given birth to) the more
commonly received notion, that bees in a certain degree
of cold are torpid and consume no food. These are his
words : — " It has been established with a wisdom which
we cannot but admire, — with that wisdom with which
every thing in nature has been made and ordained, —
that during the greater part of the time in whicli the
country furnishes nothing to bees, they have no longer
need to eat. The cold which arrests the vegetation of
plants, which deprives our fields and meadows of their
flowers, throws the bees into a state in which nourish-
a Huber, i. 131. b Ibid. ii. 344. 358. Sec above, p. 193—
c Conner On Bccf, 104. * Jliilx r, i. .%1. e p/,,7. Trans. h<)(). !GI .
44S HYBERNATION OF INSECTS.
ment ceases to be necessary to them : it keeps them in
a sort of torpidity (etigourdissement), in which no tran-
spiration from tl^em takes phice ; or, at least, during
which the quantity of that which transpires is so incon-
siderable, that it cannot be restored by aliment with-
out their lives being- endangered. In winter, while it
freezes, one may observe without fear the interior of
hives that are not of glass ; for we may lay them on
their sides, and even turn them bottom upwards,without
putting any bee into motion. We see the bees crowded
and closely pressed one against the other : little space
then suffices for them^"." In another place, speaking
of the custom in some countries of putting bee-hives
during winter into out-houses and cellars, he says that
in such situations the air, though more temperate than
out of doors during the greater part of winter, " is
yet sufficiently cold to keep the bees in that species
of torpidity which does away their need of eating''."
And lastly, he expressly says that the milder the
weather, the more risk there is of the bees consuming
their honey before the spring, and dying of hunger ;
and confirms his assertion by an account of a striking
experiment, in which a hive that he transferred during
winter into his study, where the temperature was usu-
ally in the day 10 or 12^ R. above freezing (^9'^ F.),
though provided with a plentiful supply of honey, that
if they had been in a garden would have served theia
past the end of April, had consumed nearly their whole
stock before the end of February*^.
■ Now, how are we to reconcile this contradiction .*
— for, if Huber be correct in asserting that in frosty-
weather bees agitate themselves to keep off the cold,
a Reaum. v. 6GT. b Ibid. 68-^. c Ibid, 6G3,
HYUERNATION OF INSECTS. 449
and ventilate their hive ; — if, as both he and Swam-
iiierdani state, they feed their young brood in the depth
of winter — it seems impossible to admit that they ever
can be in the torpid condition which Reaumur sup-
poses, ill which food, so far from being necessary, is in-
jurious to them. In fact, Reaumur himself in another
place informs us, that bees are so infinitely more sen-
sible of cold than the generality of insects, that they
perish >vhen in numbers so small as to be unable to
generate sufficient aninuil heat to counteract the ex-
ternal cold, even at 11° R. above freezing'' (57° F.) ;
which corresponds with what Huber has o!)served (as
quoted above) of the high temperature of well-peopled
hives, even in very severe weather. We are forced,
then, to conclude that this usually most accurate of ob-
servers hos in the present instance been led into error,
chiefly, it is probable, from the clustering of bees in.
the hives in cold weather; but which, instead of being,
as he conceived, an indication of torpidity, would seem
to be intended, as Huber asserts, as a preservative
against the benumbing effects of cold.
Bees, then, do not appear to pass the winter in a
state of torpidity in our climates, and probably not in
any others. Populous swarms inhabiting hives formed
of the hollow truidis of trees, used in many northern
regions, or of other materials that are bad conductors
of heat, seem able to generate and keep up a tempera-
ture sufficient to counteract the intensest cold to which
they are ordinarily exposed. At the same time, how-
ever, 1 think we may infer, that though bees are not
strictly torpid at that lowest degree of heat which they
a Ilcaiim. 67 S. Compare also 673.
VOL. II. 2 G
4i50 HYBERNATION OF INSECTS.
can sustain, yet that when exposed to that degree they
consume considerably less food than at a higher tem-
perature ; and consequently that the plan of placing
hives in a north aspect in sunny and mild winters may
be adopted by the apiarist with advantage. John Hun-
ter's experiment, indeed, cited above, in which he found
that a hive grew lighter in a cold than in a warm week,
seems opposed to this conclusfon.; but an insulated ob-
servation of this kind, which we do not know to have
been instituted with a due regard to all the circum-
stances that required attention, must not be allowed to
set aside the striking facts of a contrary description
recorded by Reaumur and corroborated by the almost
universal sentiment of writers on bees. — After all, how-
ever, on this point, as well as on many others connected
with the winter economy of these endlessly-wonderful
insects, there is evidently much yet to be observed, and
many doubts which can be satisfactorily dispelled only
by new experiments.
The degree of cold which most insects in their diffe-
rent states, while torpid, are able to endure with im-
punity, is very various ; and the habits of the different
species, as to the situation which they select to pass
the winter, are regulated by their greater or less sen-
sibility in this respect. Many insects, though able to
sustain a degree of cold sufficient to induce torpidity,
would be destroyed by the freezing temperature, to
avoid which they penetrate into the earth or hide them-
selves under non-conducting substances; and there can
be little doubt that it is with this view that so many
species while pupai are thus secured from cold by co-
HYBERNATION OF INSECT*. 45i
coons of silk or other materials. Yet a very great pro-
portion of insects in all their states are necessarily sub-
jected to an extreme degree of cold. Many eggs and
pupae are exposed to the air without any covering ;
and many,'both larva; and perfect insects, are sheltered
too slightly to be secure from the frost. This they are
either able to resist, remaining unfrozen though ex-
posed to the severest cold, or, which is still more sur-
prising, are uninjured by its intensest action, recover-
ing their vitality even after having been frozen into
lumps of ice.
The eggs of insects are filled with a fluid matter, in-
cluded in a skin infinitely thinner than that of hens'
eggs, which John Hunter found to freeze at about 15"
of Fahrenheit. Yet on exposing several of the former,
including those of the silkworm, for five hours to a
freezing mixture which made Fahrenheit's thermo-
meter fall to~38° below zero, Spallanzani found that
they were not frozen, nor their fertility in the slightest
degree impaired. Others were exposed even to 56°
below zero, without being injured*.
A less degree of cold suffices to freeze many pupas
and larvaB, in both which states the consistency of the
animal is almost as fluid as in that of the egg. Theii*
vitality enables them to resist it to a certain extent, and
it must be considerably below the freezing point to af-
fect them. The winter of 1813-14 was one of the se-
, verest we have had for many years, Fahrenheit's ther-
mometer having been more than once as low as 8° when
the ground was wholly free from snow; yet almost the
first objects which I observed in my garden, in the com-
a Tracts, 22.
2 G 2
452 HYBERNATION OF INSECTS.
niencement of spring, were numbers of the caterpillars
of the gooseberry-moth {Phalcena G. grossulariata)^
which, thougli they had passed the winter with no other
shelter than the slightly projecting^ rim of some large
garden-pots, were alive and quite uninjured; and these
and many other larvae never in my recollection were so
numerous and destructive as in that spring : whence, as
well as from the corresponding fact recorded with sur-
prise by Boerhaave, that insects abounded as much
after the intense winter of 1709, during- which Fahren-
heit's thermometer fell to 0, as after the mildest season,
we may see the fallacy of the popular notion, that hard
winters are destructive to insects^.
But though many larvae and pupae are able to resist
a great degree of cold, when it increases to a certain
extent they yield to its intensity and become solid
masses of ice. In this state we should think it impos-
sible that they should ever revive. That an animal
whose juices, muscles, and whole body have been sub-
jected to a process which splits bombshells, and con-
verted into an icy mass that may be snapped asunder
like a piece of glass, should ever recover its vital
powers, seems at first view little less than a miracle ;
and, if the reviviscency of the v^heel animal ( Vorticella
rotatoriaynnA of snails, &c. after years of desiccation,
had not made us familiar with similar prodigies, might
have been pronounced impossible ; and it is probable
that many insects when thus frozen never do revive.
Of the fact, however, as to several species, there is no
doubt. It was first noticed by Lister, who relates that
a Vid. Spciice in Transactions of the HoriicuH. Soc, of London, ii. 148.
Couipttrc lleauin. ii. 111.
HYBERNATION OF INSECTS. 455
he had found caterpilhirs so frozen, that n^hen dropped
into a glass they chinked like stones, which neverthe-
less revived =*. Reaumur, indeed, repeated this expe*-
rinient without success ; and found that when the larvae
o^ Bomhi/x Piti/ocampn, F. were frozen into ice by a
cold of 15° R. below zero (2° F. belovy zero), they
could not be made to revive''. But other trials have
fully confirmed Lister's observations. My friend Mr.
Stickney, before mentioned as the author of a valuabl(6
Essay on the Grub (larva of Tipiila olentcca) — to ascer*
tain the effect of cold in destroying this insect, exposed
some of them to a severe frost, which congealed them
into perfect masses of ice. When broken, their whole
interior was found to be frozen. Yet several of these
resumed their active powers. Bonnet had precisely
the same result with the pupae of Papilio Brassicce,
which, by exposing to a frost of 14'' R. below zero
(0^ F.), became lumps of ice, and yet produced butter-
flies'^. Indeed, thecircumstance that animals of a much
more complex organization tlian insects, namely, serv
pents and fishes, have been known to revive after being
frozen, is sufficient to dispel any doubts on this head^
John Hunter, though himself unsuccessful in his at-
tempts to reanimate carp and other animals that had
been frozen, confesses that the fact itself is so well
authenticated as to admit of no question''.
On w hat principle a faculty so extraordinary and so
contrary to our common conceptions of the nature of
animal life depends, I shall not attempt to explain.
Nor can any thing very satisfactory be advanced with
a Lister. Goedart. de Inseclts, 76. b Keaum. ii. 142.
c OEuvres, vi. 12. il Obseivuthns on the Animal Economi/^9Q,
454: HYBEBNATION OF INSECTS.
t'egard to the source of the power which many insects
in sonie states, and almost all in the egg state, have of
resisting intense degrees of cold without becoming fro-
zen. It is clear.that the usual explanation of the same
faculty to a lc!?s.ei;tid by the common
house-fly {Miisca doiutstica), the rg;;s of which will be found to h;ive been
deposited amongst th snnflT. Genii;ir jllng. dcr Eu!. 1. ii, 1S9.
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 473
After these observations on tlie nature of instinct,
generally, I pass on to contrast in several particulars
the instincts of insects with those of other animals; and
thus to bring together some remarkable instances of
the former which have not hitherto been laid before
you, as well as to deduce from some of those already
related, inferences to which it did not fall in with my
design before to direct your attention. This contrast
may be conveniently made under the three heads of— •
the exquisiteness of their instincts — their number — and
their extraordinary development.
The instincts of by far the majority of the superior
animals are of a very simple kind, only directing- them
to select suitable food; to propagate their species ; to
defend themselves and their young from harm ; to ex-
press their sensations by various vocal modulations ;
and to a few other actions which need not be particu-
larized. Others of the larger animals, in addition to
these simpler instinctive propensities, are gifted with
more extensive powers ; storing up food for their win-
ter consumption, and building nests or habitations for
their young, which they carefully feed and tend.
All these instincts are common to insects, a great
proportion of which are in like manner confined to these.
But a very considerable number of this class are en-
dowed with instincts of an exquisiieness to which the
higher animals can lay no claim. What bird or fish,
for example, catches its prey by means of nets as art-
lully woven and as admirably adapted to their pur-
poses as any that ever fisherman or fowler fabricated ?
Vet such nets are constructed by the race of spiders.
What beast of prey thinks of digging a pit-fall in the
474 INSTINCT OF INSECTS.
track of the animals which serve it for food, and at the
bottom of which it conceals itself, patiently waiting
until some unhappy victim is precipitated down the
sides of its cavern ? Yet this is done by the ant-lion
and another insect. Or, to omit the endless instances
furnished by wasps, ants, the Termites, &c., what ani-
mals can be adduced which, like the hive-bee associat-
ing in societies, build regular cities composed of ceils
formed with geometrical precision, divided into dwell-
ings adapted in capacity to different orders of the so-
ciety, and storehouses for containing a supply of provi-
sion ? Even the erections of the beaver, and the pen-
sile dwelling of the tailor-bird, must be referred to a
les? elaborate instinct than that which guides the pro^
cedures of these little insects — the complexness and yet
perfection of whose operatioiis, when contrasted with
the insignificance of the architect, have at all times
caused the reflecting observer to be lost in astonish-
ment.
It is, however, in the deviations of the instincts of in-
sects and their accommodation to circumstances that the
exquisiteness of these faculties is most decidedly mani-
fested. The instincts of the larger animals seem ca-
pable of but slight modification. They are either ex-
ercised in their full extent or not at all- A bird, when
its nest is pulled out of a bush, though it should be
laid uninjured close by, never attempts to replace it in
its situation ; it contents itself with building another.
But insects in similar contingencies often exhibit the
most ingenious resources, their instincts surprisingly
accommodating themselves to the new circumstances in
which they are placed, in a manner more wonderful
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 475
and incomprehensible than the existence of the facul-
ties themselves. Take a honey-comb, for instance. If
every comb that bees fabricate were always made 'pre-
cisely alike — with the same general form, placed in the
same position, the cells all exactly similar, or where
varying- with the variations always alike ; — this struc-
ture would perhaps in reality be not more astonishing
than many of a much simpler conformation. But when
we know that in nine instances out often the combs in
a bee-hive are thus similar in their properties, and yet
that in the tenth one shall be found of a form altoge-
ther peculiar; placed in a different positiort; with
cells of a different shape — and all these variations evi-
dently adapted to some new circumstance not present
when the other nine were constructed, — we are con-
strained to admit that^nothing in the instinct of other
animals can be adduced, exhibiting similar exquisite-
ness : just as we must confess an ordinary loom, how-
ever ingeniously contrived, far excelled by one capable
of repairing its defects when out of order.
The examples of this variation and accommodation
to circumstances among insects are very numerous ; and
as presenting many interesting facts in their history not
before related, I shall not fear wearying you with, a
pretty copious detail of them, beginning with the more
simple.
It is the m'a{\\\Q.io{ Scarahaeixsxeriudh to roll up pel-
lets of dung, in each of whicli it deposits one of its
eggs; and in places where it meets with cow- or horse-
dung only, it is constantly under the necessity of havin,^
recourse to this process. But in districts where sheep
gire kept, it wisely saves its labour, and ingeniously
476 ijrsTiNCT OF insects.
avails itself of the pellet-shaped balls ready made to its
hands which the excrement of these animals supplies*.
A caterpillar described by Bonnet, which from being
confined in a box was unable to obtain a supply of the
bark with which its ordinary instinct directs it to make
its cocoon, substituted pieces of paper that were given
to it, tied them together with silk, and constructed a
very passable cocoon with them.— In another instance
the same naturalist having opened several cocoons of a
moth (Noctua Verbasci, F.), which are composed of a
mixture of grains of earth and silk, just after being-
finished; the larvae did not repair the injury in the
same manner. Some employed both earth aiid silk ;
others contented themselves with spinning a silken veil
before the opening'*.
The larva of the cabbage-butterfly {Pdpilio Uras-
sicce, L.) when about to assume the pupa state, com-
monly fixes itself to the under-side of the coping of a
wall or some similar projection. But the ends of tiie
slender thread which serves for its girth would not
adhere firmly to stone or brick, or even wood. In
such situations, therefore, it previously covers a space
of about an inch long and half an inch broad with a
web of silk, and to this extensive base its girth can be
securely fastened. That this proceeding, however, is
not the result of a blind unaccommodating instinct,
seems proved by a fact which has come under my own
observation. Having fed some of these larvae in a box
covered by apiece of muslin, they attached themselves
to this covering; but as its texture afforded a firm hold
to their girth, they span no preparatory web.
a Sturm, Deuischland^s Fauna, i. 27. b CLluvres, ii. 238. See above, p. 260.
INSTINCT OP INSECTS. 477
Apis Muscorum^ L., and some other species of hum-
ble-bees cover their nests with a roof of moss. M. P.
Huber having placed a nest of the former under a bell
glass, he stufied the interstices between its bottom and
the irregular surface on which it rested, with a linen
cloth. This cloth, the bees, finding* themselves in a si-
tuation n here no moss was to be had, tore thread from
thread, carded it with their feet into a felted mass,
and applied it to the same purpose as moss, for which
it was nearly as well adapted. — Some other humble-
bees tore the cover of a book with which he had closed
the top of the box that contained them, and made use
of the detached morsels in covering their nest''.
The larva o^ Bombyx Cossus, L., whith feeds in the
interior of trees, previously to fabricating a cocoon and
assuming the pupa state, forms for the egress of the
future moth a cylindrical orifice, except when it finds
a suitable hole ready made. When the moth is about
to appear, the chrysalis with its anterior end forces an
opening in the cocoon. If the orifice in the tree has
been formed by itself, in which case it exactly fits its
body, it oiiirelj/ quits the cocoon, and pushes itself half
way out of the hole, where it remains secure from fall-
ing until the moth is disclosed. But if the orifice, hav-
ing been adopted, be larger than it ought to have been,
and thus not capable of supporting the pupa in this
position, the provident insect pushes itself only half
waj/ out of the cocoon, which thus serves for the sup-
port which in the former case the wood itself afibrded^'.
The variations in the procedures of the larva of a
little moth (Tinea, F.) described by Reaumur, whose
a Linn. Trans, vi. 251 — . b Ljonet, Truile anatonilquc, t^c. 16—.
478 INSTINCT OF INSECTS.
habitation has been before noticed' — one of thos^
which constantly reside in a subcylindrical case — are
still more remarkable. This little caterpillar feeds
upon the elm, the leaves of which serve it at once
for food and clothinsf. It eats the parenchyma or
inner pulp, burrowing between the upper and under
membranes, of portions of which cut out, and pro-
perly sewed together, it forms its case. Its usual plan
is, to insinuate itself between the epidermal mem-
branes of the leaf, close to one of the edges. Parallel
with this it excavates a cavity of suitable form and di-
mensions, gnawing the pulp even out of every projec-
tion of the serratures, but carefully avoiding to sepa-
rate the membranes at the very edge, which with a
wise saving of labour it intends should form one of the
seams of its coat; and as the little miner is not embar-
rassed with the removal of the excavated materials,
which it swallows as it proceeds, a cavity sufficiently
large is but the work of a few hours. It then lines it
with silk, at the same tiuje pushing it into a more cy-
lindrical shape ; and lastly, cutting it off at the two
ends and inner side, it sews up the latter with such
nicety that the suture is scarcely discoverable ; and is
now provided with a case or coat exactly titting its
body, open at the two end-^, by one of which it feeds
and by the other discharges its excrement, having on
one side a nicely-joined seam, and the other — that
which is couimonly applied to its back — composed of
the natural marginal junction of the membranes of the
leaf.
Such are the ordinary operations of this insect, which.
a Vol. I. -2d Ed. 4j8 —
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 479
when it h considered that the case is rather fusiform
than cylindrical ; that the end through which it eats
is circular, and the other curiously three-cornered like
a cocked-hat; and that consequently its cloth requires
to be very irregularly and artfully cut, to be accommo-
dated to such a figure — it must be admitted, are the re-
sult of an instinct of no very simple kind. Compli-
cated, however, as these manoeuvrts seem, our ingeni-
ous workman is not confined to them. By way of put-
ting its resources to the test, Reaumur cut off the ser-
rated edge from the nearly-finished coat of one of them,
and exposed the little occupant to the day. He ex-
pected that it would have quitted its mutilated gar-
ment and commenced another ; and so it certainly
would, had it been guided by an invariable instinct.
But he calculated erroneously. Like oiie of its bro-
ther tailors of the biped race, it knew how " to cut its
coat according to its clotis," and immediately setting
about repairing the injury sewed up the rent. Nor
was this all. The scissars having cut off one of the
projections intended to enter into the construction of
tlie triangular end of its case, it entirely changed the
original plan, and made that end the head which had
been first designed for the tail.
On another occasion Reaumur observed one of these
larvae to cut out its coat from the very centre of a leaf,
where it is obvious a series of operations wholly dilFer-
ent must be adopted, the two membranes composing it
necessarily requiring to be cut and sewed on two sides
instead of on one only. But what was most striking
in this new procedure was the alteration which the ca-
terpillar ma,dc in the period of sewing up its garment.
480
INSTINCT OF INSECTS.
When these larvae cut out their case from th6 edge of
a leaf, they seem aware that, if they were to detach it
entirely from the inner side before the process of sew-
ing, lining-, &c., is completed, having no support on the
exterior edge, it would be liable to fall down ; at the
sanie time they could not sew together tlic membranes
composing it at the inner side, without cutting thejn in
part from the leaf. While, therefore, they divide the
major part of their inner side from the leaf, they artfully
leave theni attached to it by one of the large nerves at
each end; and these supports they do not cut asunder
until the intermediate space has been sewed up, and
they are ready to step, with their house on their back,
upon the terra Jirma of the disk of the leaf In this in-
stance, therefore, the larvee do not wholly separate
their case from the leaf, until it is sewed. But when
the same larvs cut out their materials from the n^iddle
of the leaf, where, though completely cut round, they
are retained in their situation secure from ail danger of
falling by the serratures of the incisions made by the
jaws of the larvae, these little tailors vary their mode,
and entirely detach the pieces from the surrounding
leaf, before they pi'oceed to set a stitch into them''.
In the preceding instances the variation of instinct
takes place in the same individual, but Bonnet men-
tions a very curious fact in which it occurs in different
generations of the same species. There are annually,
he informs us, two generations of the Angoumois moth,
an insect which has been before mentioned'', as destruc-
tive to wheat ; the first appear in Blay and June, and
lay their eggs upon the ears of wheat in the fields; the
^ Reaum. iii. 1 12-1 19. i> Vol. 1, '2d Ed. ITS.
' INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 481
second appear at the end of the summer or in autumn,
and these lay their eggs upon wheat in the granaries.
These last pass the winter in the state of larvae, from
which proceeds the first generation of moths. But
what is extremely singular as a variation of instinct,
those motlis which are disclosed in JMoi/ and June in
the granaries, quit them with a rapid flight at sun-set,
and betake themselves to the yet unreaped fields, where
they lay their eggs ; while the moths which are dis-
closed in the granaries after harvest, stay there, and
never attempt to go out, but lay their eggs upon the
stored wheat''. — This is as extraordinary and inexpli-
cable as if a litter of rabbits produced in spring were
impelled by instinct to eat vegetables, while another
produced in autumn should be as irresistibly directed
to choose flesh.
It is, hovvever, into the history of the hive-bee that
we must look for the most striking examples of varia-
tion of instinct ; and here, as in every thing relating to
this insect, the work of the elder Huber is an unfailing
source of the most novel and interesting facts.
It is the ordinary instinct of bees to lay the founda-
tion of their combs at the top of the hive, building them
perpendicularly downwards ; and they pursue this plan
so constantly, that you might examine a thousaiKl
(probably ten thousand) hives, without finding any ma-
terial deviation from it. Yet Huber in the course of
his experiments forced them to build their combs per-
pendicularly upward"*; and, what seems even more re-
marka])le, in an horizontal direction'.
The combs of bees are always at an uniform distance
a CF.m-res, ix. 370. ^ Hiibfr, il. Itl! — . «-• Ibid. ii. iXQ.
VOL. II. * 2 I
482 INSTINCT OF INSECTS.
from each other, namely about one third of an inch,
which is just wide enough to allow them to pass easily
and have access to the youn^ brood. On the approach
of winter, when their honey-cells are not sufficient in
number to contain all the stock, they elongate them
considerably, and thus increase their capacity. By
this extension the intervals between the combs are
unavoidably contracted; but in winter well-stored ma-
gazines are essential, while from their state of compa-
rative inactivity spacious communications are less ne-
cessary. On the return of spring, however, when the
cells are wanted for the reception of eggs, the bees
contract the elongated cells to their former dimensions,
and thus re-establish the just distances between the
combs which the care of their brood requires^. But
this is not all. Not only do they elongate the cells of
the old combs when there is an extraordinary harvest
of honey, but they actually give to the new cells which
they construct on this emergency a much greater dia-
meter as well as a greater depth''.
The queen-bee in ordinary circumstances places
each egg in the centre of the pyramidal bottom of the
cell, where it remains fixed by its natural gluten : but
in an experiment of Huber, one whose fecundation had
been retarded, had the first segments of her abdomen
no swelled that she was unable to reach the bottom of
the cells. She therefore attached her eggs (which
were those of males) to their lower side, two lines
from the mouth. As the larvae always pass that state
in the place where they are deposited, those hatched
from the eggs in question remained in the situation
a Huber, i. 348. ' b Ibid. ii. 227.
INSTINCT OP INSECTS. 483
assigned them. But the working-bees, as if aware that
in these circumstances the cells would be too short to
contain the larvaB when fully grown, extended their
lengthy even before the eggs were liatched^.
Bees close up the cells of the grubs, previously to
their transformation, with a cover or lid of wax ; and
in hanging its abode with a silken tapestry before it
assumes the pupa state, the grub requires that the cell
should not be too short for its movements. Bonnet
having placed a swarm in a very flat glass hive, the
bees constructed one of the combs parallel to one of
the principal sides, where it was so straight that they
could not give to the cells their ordinary depth. The
queen, however, laid eggs in them, and the workers
daily nourished the grubs, and closed the cells at the
period of transformation. A few days afterwards he
was surprised to perceive in the lids, holes more or
less large, out of which the grubs partly projected, the
cells having been too short to admit of their usual
movements. He was curious to know how the bees
would proceed. He expected that they would pull all
the grubs out of the cells, as they commonly do when
great disorders in the combs take place. But he did
not sufficiently give credit to the resources of their
instinct. They did not displace a single grub — they
left them in their cells : but as they saw that these cells
were not deep enough, they closed them afresh with
lids much more convex than ordinary, so as to give to
them a sufficient depth ; and from that time no more
holes were made in the lids.
The working bees, inclosing up the cells containing
aHuber, i. 119.
2i 2
48i INSTINCT Of INSECTS.
larva?, invariably give a convex lid to the large celk
of drones, and one nearly flat to the smaller cells of
workers : but in an experiment instituted by Huber to
ascertain the influence of the size of the cells on that
of the included larvae, he transferred the larvae of work-
ers to the cells of drones. AYhat was the result ? Did
the bees still continue blindly to exercise their ordi-
nary instinct ? On the contrary, they now placed a near-
ly Jlat lid upon these large cells, as if well aware of
their being occupied by a different race of inhabitants ^.
On some occasions bees, in consequence of Ruber's
arrangements in the interior of their habitations, have
begun to build a comb nearer to the adjoining one than
the usual interval ; but they soon appeared to perceive
their error, and corrected it by giving to the comb a
gradual curvature, so as to resume the ordinary di-
stance''.
In another instance in which various irregularities
had taken place in the form of the combs, the bees, in
prolonging one of them, had, contrary to their usual
custom, begun two separate and distant continuations,
which in approaching instead of joining would have
interfered with each other, had not the bees, apparently
foreseeing the difliculty, gradually bent their edges so
as to make them join with such exactness that the}
could afterwards continue them conjointly".
In constructing their combs, bees, as you have been
before told, in my letter on the habitations of insect?,
form the first range of cells — that by which the comb
is attached to the top of the hive — of a different shape
from the rest. Each cell instead of being hexagonal
a Huber, j. 233. b Ibid. ii. '239. c Ibid, ii. 210.
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 485
is pentagonal, having the fifth broadest side fixed to
the top of the hive, whence the comb is mnch more se-
curely cemented to that part, than if the first range of
cells had been of the ordinary construction. For some
time after their fabrication, the combs remain in this
state ; but at a certain period the bees attack the first
range of cells as if in fury, gnaw away the sides with-
out touching the lozenge-shaped bottoms; and having
mixed the wax with propolis, they form a cement well
known to the ancients under the names of Mifj/s or Com'
jnosis and Pissoceros, which they substitute in the place
of the removed sides of the cells, forming of it thick and
massive walls and heavy and shapeless pillars, which
they introduce between the comb and the top of the
hive so as to agglutinate them firmly together. Huber,
who first in modern times Avitnessed this remarkable
modification of the architecture of bees, observed, that
not only are they careful not to touch the bottoms of
the cells, but that they do not remove at once the cells
on both sides of the comb, which in that case might
fall down; but they work alternately, first on one side
and then on the other, replacing the demolished cells
as they proceed, with mitys, which firmly fixes the comb
to its support.
The object of this substitution of mitys for wax
seems clear. While the combs are new and only par-
tially filled with honey, the first range of cells, origin-
ally established as the base and the guide for the py-
ramidal bottoms of the subsequent ones, serves as a
sufficient support for them. But when they contain a
store of several pounds, the bees seem to foresee the
danger of such a weight proving too heavy for the thin
4i36 lASlIJVCT OF INSECTS.
waxen walls by which the combs are suspended, and
providently hasten to substitute for them thicker walls,
and pillars of a more compact and viscid material.
But their foresight does not stop here. When they
have sufficient wax, they make their combs of such a
breadth as to extend to the sides of the hive, to which
they cement them by constructions approaching- more
or less to the shape of cells. But when a scarcity of
wax happens before they have been able to give to
their combs the requisite diameter, a large vacant space
is left between the edges of these combs, which are
only fixed by their upper part, and the sides of the
hive; and they might be pulled down by the weight of
the honey, did not the bees insure their stability by in-
troducing large irregular masses of wax between their
edges and the sides of the hive. — A striking instance
of, this art of securing their magazines occurred to Hu-
ber. A comb, not having been originally well fastened
to the top of his glass hive, fell down during the win-
ter amongst the other combs, preserving, however, its
parallelism with them. The bees could not fill up the
space between its upper edge and the top of the hive,
because they never construct combs of old wax, and
they had not then an opportunity of procuring new :
at a more favourable season they would not have he-
sitated to build a new comb upon the old one ; but it
being inexpedient at that period to expend their pro-
vision of honey in the elaboration of wax, they pro-
vided for the stability of the fallen comb by another
process. They furnished themselves with wax from
the other combs, by gnawing away the rims of the cells
more elongated than the rest, and then betook them-
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 487
selves in crowds, some upon the edges of the fallen
comb, others between its sides and those of the adjoin-
ing- combs; and there securely fixed it, by constructing
several ties of diflferent shapes between it and the glass
of the hive ; some were pillars, others buttresses, and
others beams artfully disposed and adapted to the lo-
calities of the surfaces joined. Nor did they content
themselves with repairing the accidents which their
masonry had experienced ; they provided against those
which might happen, and appeared to profit by the
warning given by the fall of one of the combs to conso-
lidate the others and prevent a second accident of the
same nature. These last had not been displaced, and
appeared solidly attached by their base ; whence Ru-
ber was not a little surprised to see the bees strengthen
their principal points of connexion by making them
much thicker than before with old wax, and forming
numerous ties and braces to unite them more closely
to each other and to the walls of their habitation. —
What was still more extraordinary, all this happened
in the middle of January, at a period when the bees
ordinarily cluster at the top of the hive, and do not
engage in labours of this kind**.
You will admit, I think, that these proofs of the re-
sources of the architectural instinct of bees are truly
admirable. If, in the case of the substitution of mitys
for the first range of waxen cells, this procedure in-
variably took place in evert/ bee-hive at ajixed period
— when, for example, the combs are two-thirds filled
with honey — it would be less surprising : but there is
nothing of this invariable character about it. It does
a Huber, ii. 280.
488 INSTINCT OF INSECTS.
not, as Huber expressly informs us^, occur at any marked
and regular period, but appears to depend on several
circumstances not always combined. Sometimes the
bees content themselves with bordering the sides of
the upper cells with propolis alone, without altering
their form or giving them greater thickness. And it
is not less remarkable that, from the instances last
cited, it appears that tliey are not confined to one kind
of cement for strengthening and supporting their combs,
but avail themselves of propolis, wax, or a mixture
of both, as circumstances direct.
Not to weary you with examples of the modifications
of instinct we are considering, I shall introduce but
three more : — the first, of the mode in which bees ex-
tend the dimensions of an old comb; the second, of that
which they adopt in constructing the male cells and
connecting them with the smaller cells of workers;
and the last, of the plan pursued by them Avhen it be-
comes necessary to bend their combs.
You must have observed that a comb newly made
becomes gradually thinner at its edges, the cells there,
on each side, progressively decreasing in length : but
in time these marginal cells, as they are wanted for the
purposes of the hive, are elongated to the depth of the
rest. Now suppose bees, from an augmentation of the
size of their hive, to have occasion to extend their
combs either in length or breadth, the process which
they adopt is this : They gnaw away the tops of the
marginal cells until the combs have resumed their ori-
ginal lenticular form, and then construct upon their
edges the pyramidal lozenge-shaped bottoms of cells,
' a Huber, \i. 2S4, nale *.
INSTINCT or INSECTS. 489
upon which the hexagonal sides are subsequently raised,
as in their operation of cell-buildin<^. This course of
proceeding is invariable : they never extend a comb
in any direction whatever, without having first made
its edges thinner, diminishing its thickness in a portion
sufficiently large to leave no angular projection. —
Huber observes, and with reason, in relating this sur-
prising law which obliges bees partially to demolish
the cells situated upon the edges of the combs, that it
deserves a more close examination than he found him-
self competent to give it : for, if we may to a certain
point form a conception of tlie instinct which leads
these animals to employ their art of building cells, yet
how can we conceive of that which in particular cir-
cumstances forces them to act in an opposite direction,
and determines them to detnolish what they have so la-
boriously constructed^?
Drones, or male bees, are more bulky than tl^e work-
ers ; and you have been told, in speaking of the habi-
tations of insects, that the cells which bees construct
for rearing the larvae of the former, are larger than
those destined for the education of the larvae of the
latter. The diameter of the cells of drones is always
34- lines (or twelfths of an inch); that of those of workers
2|- lines: and these dimensions are so constant in their
ordinary cells, that some authors have thonglit they
might be adopted as an universal and invariable scale
of measure, which would have the great recommenda-
tion of being every where at hand, and at all events
would be preferable to our hurley-corns. Several ranges
of male cells, sometimes from thirty to forty, are usually
a Iluber, ii. 2SS.
490 liNSTlNCT OF INSECTS.
found in each comb, generally situated about the middle.
Now as these cells are not isolated, but form a part of the
entire comb, corresponding- on its two faces — by what
art is it that the bees unite hexagonal cells of a small,
with others of a larger diameter, without leaving any
void spaces, and without destroying the uniformity and
regularity of the comb ? This problem would puzzle
an ordinary artist, but is easily solved by the resources
of the instinct of our little workmen.
When they are desirous of constructing the cells of
males below those of workers, they form several ranges
of intermediate or transition cells, of which the diame-
ter augments progressively, until they have reached
that range where the male cells commence : and in the
same manner, when they wish to revert to the model-
ling of the cells of workers, they pass by a gradually
decreasing gradation to the ordinary diameter of the
cells of this class. — We commonly meet with three or
four ranges of intermediate cells before coming to those
of males; the first ranges of which participate in some
measure in the irregularity of the former.
But it is upon the construction of the bottoms of the
intermediate ranges of cells that this variation of their
architecture chiefly hinges. The bottoms of the regu-
lar cells of bees are, as you are aware, composed of
three equal-sized rhomboidal pieces ; and the base of
a cell on one side of the comb is composed of portions
of the bases of tliree cells on the other : but the bot-
toms of the intermediate cells in question (though
their orifices are perfectly hexagonal) are composed of
four pieces, of which two are hexagonal and two rhom-
boidal; and each, instead of corresponding with three
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 491
cells on the opposite side, corresponds with Jour. The
size and the shape of the four pieces composing the
bottom, vary; and these intermediate cells, a little
larger than the third part of the three opposite eells,
comprise in their contour a portion of the bottom of a
fourth cell. Just below the last range of cells with re-
gular pyramidal bottoms, are found cells with bottoms
of four pieces, of which tliree are very large, and one
very small, and this last is a rhomb. The two rhombs
of the transition cells are separated by a considerable
interval ; but the two hexagonal pieces are adjacent
and perfectly alike. A cell lower, we perceive that
the two rhombs of the bottom are not so unequal : the
contour of the cell has included a greater portion of
the opposite fourth cell. Lastly, we find cells in pretty
considerable number, of which the bottom is composed
of four pieces perfectly regular — namely, two elon-
gated hexagons and two equal rhombs, but smaller than
those of the pyramidal bottoms. In proportion as we
remove our view from tlie cells with regular tetrahe-
dral bottoms, whether in descending or from right to
left, we see that the subsequent cells resume their or-
dinary form ; that is to say, that one of their rhombs is
gradually lessened un^il it finally disappears entirely;
and the pyramidal form re-exhibits itself, but on a
larger scale than in the cells at the top of the comb.
This regularity is maintained in a great number of
ranges, namely, those consisting of male cells ; after-
wards the ceils diminish in size, and we again remark
the tetrahedral bottoms just described, until the cells
have once more resumed the pi'oper diameter of those
of workers.
492
INSTINCT OF INSECTS.
It is, then, by encroaching in a small degree upon
the cells of the other face of the comb, that bees at
length succeed in giving greater dimensions to their
cells; and the graduation of the transition cells being
reciprocal on the two faces of the comb, it follows that
on both sides each hexagonal contour corresponds with
four cells. — When the bees have arrived at any degree
of this mode of operating, they can stop there and con-
tinue to employ it in several consecutive ranges of
cells : but it is to the intermediate degree that they ap-
pear to confine themselves for the longest period, and
we then find a great number of cells of vt'hich the bot-
toms of four pieces are perfectly regular. They niiglit,
then, construct the whole comb on this plan, if their
object were not to revert to the pyramidal form with
w hich they set out. — In building the male cells, the
bees begin their foundation with a block or mass of
wax thicker and higher than that employed for the
cells of workers, without which it would be impracti-
cable for tlsem to preserve the same order and symme-
try in working on a larger scale.
Irregularities (to use the language of Huber, from
whom the above details are abstracted,) have often been
observed in the cells of bees. Reaumur, Bonnet and
other naturalists cite them as so many examples of im-
perfections. What would have been their astonish-
ment if they had been aware that part of these ano-
malies are calculated; that there exists as it were a
moveable harmony in the mechanism by which the cells
are composed! If, in consequence of the imperfection
of their organs or of their instruments, bees occasion-
ally constructed some of their cells unequal; or of parts
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. A93
badly put together, it would still manifest some talent
to be able to repair these defects, and to compensate
one irregularity by another : but it is far more asto-
nishing that they know how to quit their ordinary rou-
tine when circumstances require that they should build
male cells ; tluit they should be instructed to vary tlie
dimensions and the shape of each piece so as to return
to a regular order ; and that, after having constructed
thirty or forty ranges of male cells, they again leave the
regular order on which these were formed, and arrive
by successive diminutions at the point from which they
set out. How should these insects be able to extricate
themselves from such a difficulty — from such a compli-
cated structure? how pass from the little to the great,
from a regular plan to an irregular one, and again re-
sume the former ? These are questions which no knowji
system can explain *.
Here again, as observed in a former instance, the
wonder would be less, i^ evert/ comb contn'ined a certain
number of transition and of male ceils, constantly si-
tuated in one and the same part of it : but this is far
from being the case. The event which alone, at w^hat-
ever period it may happen, seems to determine the bees
to construct male cells, is the oviposition of the queen.
So long as she continues to lay the eggs of workers not
a male cell is founded ; but as soon as she is about to
lay male eggs, the workers seem aware of it, and you
then see them form their cells irregularly, impart to
them by degrees a greater diameter, and at length pre-
pare suitable ranges of cradles for all the male race''.
—You must perceive how absurd it would be to refer
a Uiiber, ii. 2'^l-286. 244-2iT. b Ibid, ii, 256.
494 INSTINCT OF INSECTS.
this astonishing variation of instinct to any mere change
in the sensations of the bees ; and to what far-fetched
and gratuitous suppositions we must be reduced, if we
adopt any such explanation. We can but refer it to
an instinct of which we know nothing; and so referring
it, can we help exclaiming with Huber, " Such is the
grandeur of the views and of the means of ordaining
wisdom, that it is not by a minute exactness that she
marches to her end, but proceeds from irregularity to
irregularity, compensating one by another : the admea-
surements are made on high, the apparent errors ap-
preciated by a divine geometry ; and order often results
from partial diversity. This is not the first instance
which science has presented to us of preordained irre-
gularities which astonish our ignorance, and are the
admiration of the most enlightened minds : So true it
is, that the more we investigate the general as well as
particular Inws of this vast system, the more perfection
does it present'."
It is observed by M. P. Huber, in his appendix to
the account of his father's discoveries relative to the
architecture of bees, that in general the form of the
prisms or tubes of the cells is more essential than that
of their bottoms, since the tetrahedral-bottomed trans-
ition cells, and even those cells which being built
immediately upon wood or glass, were entirely with-
out bottoms, still preserved their usual shape of hexa-
gonal prisms. But a remarkable experiment of the
elder Huber shows that bees can alter even the form of
their cells when circumstances require it, and that in a
way which one would not have expected.
e Huber, ii. 230.
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 495
Having placed in front of a comb which the bees
wereconstructing, aslipof glass, they seemed immedi-
ately aware that it would be very difficult to attach it
to so slippery a surface : and instead of continuing the
comb in a straight line, t]u>y bent it at a rigid angle, so
as to extend beyond the slip of glass, and ullimately
fixed it to an adjoining part of the wood-work of the
hive which the glass did not cover. This deviation, if
the comb had been a mere simple and uniform mass of
Wax, would have evinced no small ingenuity; but you
will bear in mind that a comb consists on each side or
face, of cells, having between them bottoms in common :
and if you take a comb, and having softened the wax by
heat, endeavour to bend it in any part at a right angle,
you will then comprehend the difficulties which our
little architects had to encounter. The resources of
their instinct, however, were adequate to the emer-
gency. They made the cells on the convex side of the
bent part of the comb much larger, and those on the
concave side much smaller than usual; the former hav-
ing three or four times the diameter of the latter. But
this was not all. As the bottoms of the small and larffe
cells were as usual common to both, the cells were not
regular prisms, but the small ones considerably wider at
the bottom than at the top, and conversely in the large
ones ! — What conception can we form of so wonderful
a flexibility of instinct? How, as Huber asks, can we
comprehend the mods in which sxh a crowd of labour-
ers, occupied at the same time on the edge of the comb,
could agree to give to it the same curvature from one
extremity to the other ; or how they could arrange to-
gether to construct on one face cells so small, while on
496 INSTINCT OF INSECTS.
the other they imparted to them such enlarged dimen-
sions ? — And how can we feel adequate astonishment
tliat they should have the art of making cells of such
diiferent sizes correspond*?
After this long but I flatter myself not wholly unin-
teresting enumeration, yon will scarcely hesitate to ad-
mit that insects, and of these the bee pre-eminently, are
endowed with a much more exquisite and flexible in-
stinct than the larger animals. But you may be here
led to ask, Can all this be referred to instinct ? Is not
this pliability to circumstances — this surprising adap-
tation of means for accomplishing an end — rather the
result of rf<250wP
You will not doubt my allowing the appositeness of
this question, when I frankly tell you, that so strikingly
do many of the preceding facts seem at lirst view the
effect of reason, that in my original sketch of the letter
you are now reading, I had arranged them as instances
of this faculty. But mature consideration has con-
vinced me (though I confess the subject has great dif-
ficulties) that this view was fallacious ; and that though
some circumstances connected with these facts may, as
I shall hereafter show, be referable to reason, the facts
themselves can only be consistently explained by re-
garding them as I have here done, as examples of
variations of particular instincts : — and this on two ac-
counts.
In the first place, these variations, however singular,
are limited in their extent : all bees are, and have always
been, able to avail themselves of a. certain number,
-a Huher, ii.SlU— .
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 497
but not to increase that number. Bees cemented their
combs when becoming heavy, to the top of the hive, with
mitys, in the time of Aristotle and Pliny as they do now ;
and there is every reason to believe that then, as now,
they occasionally varied their procedures, by securing
them with wax or with propolis only, either added to
the upper range of cells, or disposed in braces and ties
to the adjoining combs. But if in thus proceeding they
were guided by reason, why not under certain circum-
stances adopt other modes of strengthening their combs ?
Why not, when wax and propolis are scarce, employ
mudy which they might see the martin avail herself of
so successfully ? Or why should it not come into the
head of some hoary denizen of the hive, that a little of
the mortar with which his careful master plasters the
crevices between his habitation and its stand, might
answer the end of mitys ? " Si seulement ils elevoient
une fois des cabanes quarrees," (says Bonnet when
speaking as to wha,t faculty the works of the beaver are
to be referred,) *' mais ce sont eternellement des ca-
banes rondes ou ovales * :" — and so we might say of the
phenomena in question : — Show us but one instance of
bees having substituted mud or mortar for mitys, pis-
soceros, or propolis, or wooden props for waxen ties,
and there could be no doubt of their being here guided
by reason. But since no such instance is on record ;
since they are still confined to the same limits — however
surprising the range of these limits — as they were two
thousand years ago ; and since the bees emerged from
their pupae but a few hours before, will set themselves
as adroitly to work and pursue their operations as 8ci-
a ffitd'res, ix. 159.
VOL. II. 2 K
498 INSTINCT OF INSECTS.
entifically as their brethren, who can boast 1*he experi-
ence of a long life of twelve months duration ; — we
must still regard these actions as variations of instinct.
In the second place, no degree of reason that we can
with any share of probability attribute to bees, could be
competent to the performance of labours so compli-
cated as those we have been considering, and which,
if the result of reason, would involve the most exten-
sive and varied knowledge in the agents. Suppose a
man to have attained by long practice the art of mo-
delling wax into a congeries of uniform hexagonal cells,
withpyramidal bottoms composed each of three rhombs,
resembling the cells of workers among bees. Let him
now be set to make a congeries of similar but larger
cells (answering to the male cells), and unite these
with the former by other hexagonal cells, so that there
should be no disruption in the continuity or regularity
of the whole assemblage, and no vacant intervals or
patching at the junctions either of the tubes or the bot-
toms of the cells ; — and you would have set him no
very easy task — a task, in short, which it may be
doubted if he would satisfactorily perform in a twelve-
month, though gifted with a clear head and a compe-
tent store of geometrical knowledge, and which, if de-
stitute of these requisites, it may be safely asserted that
he would never perform at all. How then can we
imagine it possible that this difficult problem, and others
of a similar kind, can be so completely and exactly
solved by animals of which some are not two days old,
others not a week, and probably none a year ? The
conclusion is irresistible — it is not reason but instinct
that is their guide.
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 4^9
The second head under which I proposed contrast-
ing- the instincts of insects with those of the lari^er ani-
mals, was that of their number in the same individual.
— In the latter this is for the most part very limited,
not exceeding- (if we omit those common to almost all
animated beings) eight or ten distinct instincts. Thus
in the common duck, one instinct leads it at its birth
from the egg- to rush to the water ; another to seek its
proper food ; a third to pair with its mate ; a fourth to
form a nest; a fifth to sit upon its eggs till hatched; a
sixth to assist the young- ducklings in extricating them-
selves from the shell ; and a seventh to defend them
when in danger until able to provide for themselves :
and it would not be easy, as far as my knowledge ex-
tends, to add many more distinct instinctive actions
to the enumeration, or to adduce many species of the
superior classes of animals, endowed with a greater
number.
But how vastly more manifold are the instincts of the
majority of insects ! It is not necessary to insist upon
those differences which take place in the same insect in
its different states, leading it to select one kind of food
in the larva, and another in the perfect state ; to defend
itself in one mode in the former, and in another in the
latter, &c. — because, however remarkable tJiese varia-
tions, they may be referred with great plausibility to
those striking- changes in the organic stniclure of the
animal, which occur at the two periods of its existence.
It is to the nundjer of instincts observable in the same
individual of many insects in their perfect state that I
now confine myself; and as the most striking- example
of the whole I shall select the hive-bee, — begging- you
2 K ^
500 INSTINCT OF INSECTS.
to bear in mind that I do not mean to include those
exhibited by the queen, the drones, or even those of
the workers, termed by Hubercmere* (wax-makers) ;
but only to enumerate those presented by that portion
of the workers, termed by Huber nourrices or petites
aheilles (nurses), upon whom, as you have been before
told '*, with the exception of making wax, laying the
foundation of the cells, and collecting honey for be-
ing stored, the principal labours of the hive devolve.
It will be these individuals alone that I shall understand
by the term bees, under the present head : and though
the other inhabitants of the hive may occasionally con-
cur in some of their actions and labours, yet it is ob-
vious that so many as are those in which they distinctly
take part, so many instincts must we regard them as
endowed with.
To begin, then, with the formation of the colony: — .
By one instinct bees are directed to send out scouts pre-
viously to their swarming in search of a suitable
abode''; and by another, to rush out of the hive after the
queen that leads forth the swarm, and follow wherever
she bends her course. Having taken possession of
their new abode, whether of their own selection or
prepared for them by the hand of man, a third instinct
teaches them to cleanse it from all impurities ' ; a fourlji
to collect propolis ; and with it to stop up every crevice
except the entrance ; a fifth to ventilate the hive for
preserving the purity of the air; and a sixth to keep a
constant guard at the door*^.
In constructing the houses and streets of their new
a Vol. I. 2d Ed. 490. b See above, p. 189.
c Ruber, n. 102. d Ibid. i. 186. ii, 41?.
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 501
city, or the cells and combs, there are probably several
distinct instincts exercised ; but not to leave room for
objection, I shall regard them as the result of one only :
yet the operations of polishing the interior of the cells,
and soldering their angles and orifices with propolis,
which are sometimes not undertaken for weeks after the
cells are built ^; and the obscure but still more curious
one of varnishing them with the yellow tinge observable
in old combs ; — seem clearly referable to at least two
distinct instincts. The varnishing process is so little
connected with that of building, that, though it takes
place in some combs in three or four days, it does not
in others for several months, though both are equally
employed for the same uses ''. Huber ascertained by
accurate experiment that this tinge is not owing to the
heat of the hives; to any vapours in the air which they
include ; to any emanations from the wax or honey ;
nor to the deposition of this last in the cells ; but he in-
clines to think it is occasioned by a yellow matter which
the bees seem to detach from their mandibles, and to
apply to the surface which they are varnishing, by re-
peated strokes of these organs and of the fore feet''.
In their out-of-door operations several distinct in-
stincts are concerned. By one they are led to extract
honey from the nectaries of flowers ; by another to col-
lect pollen after a process involving very complicated
manipulations, and requiring a singular apparatus of
brushes and baskets ; and that must surely be consi-
dered a third, which so remarkably and beneficially
restricts each gathering to the same plant '^. It is clearly
a Huber, ii. 264—. Vol. I. 2d Ed. 500. h Huber, ii. 274.
c Huber, ii. 275 — •' See above, p. 182.
502 INSTINCT OF INSECTS.
a distinct instinct which inspires bees with such dread
of rain, that even if a cloud pass before the sun, they
return to the hive in the greatest haste ^ ; and that seems
to me not less so, which teaches them to find their way
back to their home after the most distant and intricate
wanderings. When bees have found the direction in
which their hive lies, Huber says they fiy to it with an
extreme rapidity, and as straight as a ball from a mus-
ket '' : and if their hives were always in open situations,
one might suppose, as Huber seems inclined to think,
that it is by their sight they are conducted to them.
But hives are frequently found in small gardens em-
bowered in wood, and in the midst of villages sur-
rounded and interspersed with trees and buildings, so
as to make it impossible that they can be seen from a
distance. If you had been with me in 1815, in the fa-
mous Pays de Waes in Flanders — where the country
is a perfect flat, and the inhabitants so enamoured ei-
ther of the beauty or profit of trees, that their fields,
which are rarely above three acres in extent, are con-
stantli/ surrounded with a double row, making the
whole district one vast wood — you would have pitied
the poor bees if reduced to depend on their own eye-
sight for retracing the road homeward. In vain during
my stay at St. Nicholas I sallied out at every outlet to
try to gain some idea of the extent and form of the
town. Trees — trees — trees — still met me, and inter-
cepted the view in every direction ; and I def\ any in-
habitant bee of this rural metropolis, after once quit-
ting its hive, ever to gain a glimpse of it again until
nearly perpendicularly over it. The bee;-:, therefore,
a fhiber, i. 3j6. b Ibid. ii. ojT.
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 503
of the Pays de Waes, and consequently all other bees,
must be led to their abodes by instinct, as certainly as
it is instinct that directs the migrations of birds or of
fishes, or domestic quadrupeds to find out their homes
from inconceivable distances*. — When they have
reached the hive, another instinct leads them to regur-
gitate into the extended proboscis of their hungry com-
panions who have been occupied at home, a portion of
the honey collected in the fields ; and another directs
them to unload their legs of the inasses of pollen, and
to store it in the cells for future use.
Several distinct instincts, again, are called into ac-
a The following striking anecdote of this last species of instinct in an
aniiniil not famed for sagacity, was related to me bj' Lieutenant Alder-,
son, (royal engineers,) who was personally acquainted with the facts. —
In !\larch 1816 an ass, the property of Captain Dundas, R. N., then at
Malta, was shipped on board the Ister frigate, Captain Forrest, hound
from Gibraltar for that island. The vessel having struck on some sands
off the Point de Gat, at some distance from the shore, the ass was thrown
overboard to give it a chance of swimming to land — a poor one, for the
sea was running so high that a boat which left the ship was lost. A few
days afterwards, however, when the gates of Gibraltar were opened in
the morning, the ass presented himself for admittance, and proceeded to
the stable of Mr. Weeks, a merchant, which he had formerly occupied,
to the no small surprise of this gentleman, who imagined that from some
accident the animal had never been shipped on board the Ister. On the
return of this vessel to repair, the mystery was explained ; and it tuined
out that Valiante (so the ass was called) had not only swam safely to
shore, but , without guide, compass, or travelling map, had found his way
from Point de Gat to Gibraltar, a distance of more than two hundred
miles, which he had never traversed before, through a mountainous and
intricate country, intersected by streams, and in so short a period that he
could not have made one false turn. His not having been stopped on the
road was attributed to the circumstance of his having been formerly used
to whip criminals upon, which was indicated to the peasants, who have
a superstitious horror of such asses, by the holes in his ears, to which the
persons flogged were tied.
504 INSTINCT OP INSECTS.
tion in the important business of feeding the young
brood. One teaches them to swallow pollen, not to
satisfy the calls of hunger, but that it may undergo in
their stomach an elaboration fitting it for the food of
the grubs ; and another to regurgitate it when duly
concocted, and to administer it to their charge, propor-
tioning the supply to the age and condition of the reci-
pients. A third informs them when the young grubs
have attained their full growth, and directs them to
cover their cells with a waxen lid, convex in the male
cells, but nearly flat in those of workers ; and by a
fourth, as soon as the young bees have burst into day,
they are impelled to clean out the deserted tenements
and to make them ready for new occupants.
Numerous as are the instincts I have ah-^ady enu-
merated, the list must yet include those connected with
that mysterious principle which binds the working bees
of a hive to their queen : — the singular imprisonment in
which they retain the young queens that are to lead off
a swarm, until their wings be sufficiently expanded to
enable them to fly the moment they are at liberty, gradu-
ally paring away the waxen wall that confines them to
their cell to an extreme thinness, and only suffering it
to be broken down at the precise moment required ; — the
attention with which, in these circumstances, they feed
the imprisoned queen by frequently putting honey upon
her proboscis, protruded from a small orifice in the lid
of her cell ; — the watchfulness with which, when at the
period of swarmipg more queens than one are required,
they place a guard over the cells of those undisclosed,
to preserve them from the jealous fury of their excluded
rivals ; — the exquisite calculation with which they iti-s
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 505
variably release the oldest queens the first from their
confinement ; — the singular love of monarchical do-
minion, by which, when tno queens in other circum-
stances are produced, they are led to impel them to
combat until one is destroyed ; — the ardent devotion
which binds them to the fate and fortunes of the sur-
vivor;— the distraction which they manifest at her loss,
and their resolute determination not to accept of any
stranger until an interval has elapsed sufficiently long
to allow of no chance of tlie return of their rightful
sovereign ; — and (to omit a further enumeration) the
obedience which in the utmost noise and confusion they
show to her well-known hum.
1 have now instanced at least thirty distinct instincts
with which every individual of the nurses amongst the
working-bees is endowed : and if to the account be
added their care to carry from the hive the dead bo-
dies of any of the community; their pertinacity in their
battles, in directing their sting at those parts only of
the bodies of their adversaries which are penetrable by
it ; their annual autumnal murder of the drones, &c.
&c. — it is certain that this number might be very con-
siderably increased, perhaps doubled.
At the first view you will be inclined to suspect some
fallacy in this enumeration, and that this variety of ac-
tions ought to be referred rather to some general prin-
ciple, capable of accommodating itself to different cir-
cumstances, than to so many different kinds of instinct.
But to what principle ? Not to reason, the faculty to
which we assign this power of varying accommodation.
All the actions above adduced come strictly under the
description of instinctive actions, being all performed
506 INSTINCT OF INSECTS.
by every generation of bees since the creation of the
world, and as perfectly a day or two after their birth
as at any subsequent period. And as the very essence
of instinct consists in the determinate character of the
actions to which it gives birth, it is clear that every
distinctly different action must be referred to a distinct
instinct. Few will dispute that the instinct which
leads a duck to resort to the water is a different instinct
from that which leads her to sit upon her eggs; for the
hen tijough endowed with one is not with the other.
In fact, they are as distinct and unconnected as the
senses of sight and smell ; and it appears to mo that it
would be as contrary to philosophical accuracy of lan-
guage, in the former case to call the two instincts mo-
dificiilions of each other, as in the latter so to designate
the two senses ; and as we say that a deaf and blind man
has fewer senses than other men, so strictly we ought not
to speak of instinct as one faculty (though to avoid cir-
cumlocution 1 have myself often employed this common
mode of expression), or say that one insect has a greater
or less share of instinct than another, but more or fewer
instmcts. — That it is not always easy to determine what
actions are to be referred to a distinct instinct and what
to a modification of an instinct, I am very ready to ad-
mit; but this is no solid ground for regarding all in-
stincts as modifications of some one principle. It is
often equally difficult to fix the limits between instinct
aiul reason; but we are not on this account justified in
deeming them the same.
This multitude of instincts in the same individual,
becomes more wonderful when considered in another
point of view. Were they constantly to follow each
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 507
other in regular sequence, so that each bee necessarily
first began to build cells, then to collect honey, next
pollen, and so on, we might plausibly enough refer,
them to some change in the sensations of the animal,
caused by alterations in the structure and gradual de-
velopment of its organs, in the same way as on similar
principles we explain the sexual instincts of the supe-
rior tribes. But it is certain that no such consecutive
series prevails. The different instincts of tlie bee are
called into action in an order regulated solely by the
needs of the society. If combs be wanted, no bee col-
lects honey for storing until they are piovided^: and
if, when constructed, any accident injure or destroy
them, every labour is suspended until the mischief is
repaired or new ones substituted^. When the crevices
round the hive are effectually secured with propolis,
the instinct directing the collection of this substance
lies dormant : but transfer the bees to a new hive
which shall require a new luting, and it is instantly re-
excited. But these instances are superfluous. Every
one knows that at the same moment of time the citizens
of a hive are employed in the most varied and opposite
operations. Some are collecting pollen; others are in
search of honey; some busied at home in the first con-
struction of the cells ; others in giving them their last
polish; others in ventilating the hive; others again in
feeding the young brood and the like.
Now, how are we to account for this regularity of
procedure — this undeviating accuracy with which the
precise instinct wanted is excited — this total absence
of all confusion in the employment by each inhabitant
a Huber, ii. 64. b ibid. ii. 138.
508 INSTINCT OF INSECTS.
of the hive, of that particular instinct out of so many
whjch the good of the community requires ? No think-
ing man ever witnesses the complexness and yet regu-
larity and efficiency of a great establishment, such as
the Bank of England, or the Post-office, without mar-
velling that even human reason can put together with
so little friction and such slight deviations from cor-
rectness, machines whose wheels are composed not of
wood and iron, but of fickle mortals of a thousand dif-
ferent inclinations, powers, and capacities. But if such
establishments be surprising even with reason for their
prime mover, how much more so is a hive of bees whose
proceedings are guided by their instincts alone ! We
can conceive that the sensations of hunger experienced
on awaking in the morning should excite into action
their instinct of gathering honey. But all are hungry;
yet all do not rush out in search of flowers. What
sensation is it that c?e/a/w5 a portion of the hive at home,
unmindful of the gnawings of an empty stomach, busied
in domestic arrangements, until the return of their
roving companions ? Of those that fly abroad, what
conception can we form of the cause which, while one
set is gathering honey or pollen, leads another com-
pany to load their legs with pellets of propolis ? Are
we to say that the instinct of the former is excited by
one sensation, that of the latter by another ? But why
should one sensation predominate in one set of bees,
while another takes the lead in a second ? — or how is
it that these different instincts are called up precisely
in the degree which the actual and changing state of
things in the hive requires ? — Of those which remain
at home, what is it that determines in one party the
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 509
instinct of building cells to prevail; in another that of
ventilating the hive ; in a third that of feeding the
ybung brood ? For my own part, I confess that the
more I reflect on this subject, and contrast the diver-
sity of the means with the regularity and uniformity of
the end, the more I am lost in astonishment. The
effects of instinct seem even more wonderful than those
of reason, in the same manner as the consentaneous
movements of a mighty and divided army, which, though
under the command of twenty generals and from the
most distant quarters, should meet at the assigned spot
at the very hour fixed upon, would be more surprising
than the steam-moved operations, however complex, of
one of Boulton's mints.
For the sake of distinctness and compression, I have
confined myself in considering the number of the in-
stincts of individual insects to a single species, the bee;
but if the history of other societies of these animals-
wasps, ants, &c. detailed in my former letters, be duly
weighed, it will be seen that they furnish examples of
the variety in question fully as striking. These coi -
roborating proofs I shall leave to yo\ir own inference,
and proceed to the third head, under which I proposed
to consider the instincts of insects — that of their ex-
traordinary development.
The development of some of the instincts of the
larger animals, such as those of sex, is well known to
depend upon their age and the peculiar state of the
bodily organs ; and to this, as before observed, the suc-
cession of different instincts in the same insect, in its
larva and perfect state, is closely analogous. But
510 INSTliNCT OF INSECTS.
what I have now in view is that extraordinary deve-
lopment of instinct, which is dependent not upon the age
or any change in the organization of the animal, but upon
external events — wiiicli in individuals of the same spe-
cies, age, and structure, in some circumstances slum-
bers unmoved, but may in others be excited to the most
singular and unlooked-for action. In illustratino- this
property of instinct, which, as far as I am aware, is not
known to occur in any of the larger animals, I shall
confine myself as before to the hive-bee ; the only insect,
indeed, in which its existence has been satisfactorily as-
certained, though it is highly probable that other species
living in societies may exhioit the same phenomenon.
Several of the facts occurring in the history of bees
might be referred to this head ; but I shall here advert
only to the treatment of the drones by the workers
under different circumstances, and to the operations of
the latter consequent upon the irretrievable loss of the
queen — facts which have been before stated to you, but
to the principal features of which my present argument
makes it necessary that I should again direct your at-
tention.
If a hive of bees be this year in possession of a queen
duly fertilized, and consequently sure the next season
of a succession of males, all the drones, as I have be-
fore stated", towards the approach of winter are mas-
sacred by the workers with the most unrelenting fero-
city- To this seemingly cruel course they are doubt-
less impelled by an imperious instinct; and as it is re-
gularly followed in every hive thus circumstanced, it
would seem at the first view to be an impulse as inti-
a Stc above, p. 173—.
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 511
I
niately connected with tlie organization and very ex-
istence of tlie workers, and as incapable of change, as
that which leads theiii to build cells or to store up ho-
ney. But this is far from being the case. However
certain the doom of the drones this autumn, if the hive
be furnished with a duly-fertilized queen, their undis-
turbed existence over the winter is equally sure if the
hive have lost its sovereign, or her impregnation have
been so retarded as to make a succession of males in
the spring doubtful. In such a hive the workers do not
destroy a single drone, though the hottest persecution
rages in all the hives around them.
Now, how are we to explain this diiference of con-
duct? Are we to suppose that the bees know and rea-
son upon this alteration in the circunistances of their
community — that they infer the possibility of their en-
tire extinction if the whole male stock were destroyed
when without a queen — and that thus influenced by a
wise policy they restrain the fury they would other-
wise have exercised ? This would be at once to make
them not only gifted with reason, but endowed with a
power of looking before and after, and a command over
the strongest natural propensities, superior to what
could be expected in a similar case even from a soci-
ety of men ; and is obviously unwarrantable. The
only probable supposition is, clearly, that a new instinct
is developed suited to the extraordinary situation in
which the community stands, leading them now to re-
gard with kindness the drones, for whom otherwise
they would have felt the most violent aversion.
In this instance, indeed, it would perhaps be more
strictly correct to say (which, however, is eqiraiJy won-
51^ INSTINCT OF INSECTS.
derful,) that the old instinct M'as extinguished; but in
the case of the loss of a queen, to which I am next to
advert, which is followed by positive operations, the
extraordinary development of a new and peculiar in-
stinct is indisputable.
In a hive which no untoward event has deprived of
its queen, the workers take no other active steps in the
education of her successors — those of which one is to
occupy her place when she has flown off at the head
of a new swarm in spring — than to prepare a certain
number of cells of extraordinary capacity for their re-
ception while in the egg, and to feed them when be-
come grubs with a peculiar food until they have at-
tained maturity. This, therefore, is their ordinary in-
stinct ; and it may happen that the workers of a hive
may have no necessity for a long series of successive
generations to exercise any other. But suppose them
to lose their queen. Far from sinking into that inac-
tive despair which was formerly attributed to them, af-
ter the commotion which the rapidly-circulated news
of their calamity gave birth to has subsided, they be-
take themselves with an alacrity from which man when
under misfortune might deign to take a lesson, to the
active reparation of their loss. Several ordinary cells,
as was before related at large % are without delay
pulled down, and converted into a variable number of
royal cells capacious enough for the education of one
or more queen-grubs selected out of the unhoused
working grubs — which in this pressing emergency are
mercilessly sacrificed — and fed with the appropriate
royal food to maturity. Thus sure of once more ac-
a Sec above, p. 130 — .
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 513
Xjuiring- a head, the hive return to their ordinary la-
bours, and in about sixteen days one or more queens
are produced; one of which, after being indebted to
fortune for an elevation as singular as that of Cathe-
rine the First of Russia, steps into day and assumes
the reins of state.
To this remarkable deviation from the usual pro-
tedures of the community, the observations above made
in the case of the drones must be applied. We can-
not account for it by conceiving- the working bees to
be acquainted with the end which their operations have
in view. If we suppose them to JmoxD that the queen
and working-grubs are originally the same, and that to
convert one of the latter into the former it is only ne-
cessary to transfer it to an apartment sufficiently spa-
cious and to feed it with a peculiar food, we confer
upon them a depth of reason to which Prometheus,
when' he made his clay man, had no pretensions — an
original discovery, in short, to which man has but just
attained after some thousand years of painful research,
having escaped all the observers of bees from Aristo-
machus to Swammerdam and Reaumur of modern
times. We have no other alternative, then, but to
refer this phenomenon to the extraordinary develop-
ment of a new instinct suited for the exigency, how-
ever incomprehensible to us the manner of its excite-
ment may appear.
II. Such, then, are the exquisiteness, the number,
and the extraordinary development of the instincts of
insects. But is instinct the sole guide of tl^eir actions ?
Are they in every case the blind agents of irresistible
VOL. II. 2 L
514 INSTINCT OF INSECTS.
impulse? These queries, I have already hinted, can-
not in my opinion be replied to in the affirmative ; and
I now proceed to show, that though instinct is the chief
guide of insects, they are endowed also with no incon-
siderable portion o^ reason.
Some share of reason is denied by few philosophers
of the present day to the larger animals. But its ex-
istence has not generally (except by those who reject
instinct altogether) been recognised in insects; proba-
bly on the ground that, as the proportions of reason and
of instinct seem to coexist in an inverse ratio, the for-
mer might be expected to be extinct in a class in which
the latter is found in such perfection. This rule, how-
ever, though it may hold good in man, whose instincts
are so few and imperfect, and whose reason is so pre-
eminent, is far from being confirmed by an extended
survey of the classes of animals generally. Many qua-
drupeds, birds, and fishes, with instincts apparently
not very acute, do not seem to have their place sup-
plied by a proportionably superior share of reason :
and insects, as I think the facts I have to adduce will
prove, though ranking so low in the scale of creation,
seem to enjoy as great a degree of reason as many ani-
mals of the superior classes, yet in combination with
instincts much more numerous and exquisite.
I must premise, however, that in so perplexed and
intricate a field, I am sensible how necessary it is to
tread with caution. A far greater collection of facts
must be made, and the science of metaphysics generally
be placed on a more solid foundation than it now can
boast, before we can pretend to decide, in numerous
cases, which of the actions of insects are to be deemed
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 51i5
)|^urely instinctive, and which the result of reason.
What I advance, therefore, on this head, I wish to be
regarded rather as conjectures, that, after the best con-
sideration I am able to give to a subject so much beyond
my depth, seem to me plausible, than as certainties
to which I require your implicit assent.
That reason has nothing to do with the major part
of the actions of insects is clear, as I have before ob-
served, from the determinateness and perfection of
these actions, and from their being performed inde-
pendently of instruction and experience. A young bee
(I must once more repeat) betakes itself to the complex
operation of building cells, with as much skill as the
oldest of its compatriots. We cannot suppose that it
has any knowledge of the purposes for which the cells
are destined ; or of the effects that will result from its
feeding the young larvae, and the like. And if an in-
dividual bee be thus destitute of the very materials of
reasoning as to its main operations, so must the society
iijr general.
Nor in those remarkable deviations and accommo-
dations to circumstances, instanced under a former head,
can we, for considerations there assigned, suppose in-
sects to be influenced by reason. These deviations are
still limited in number, and involve acts far too com-
plex and recondite to spring from any process of ratio-
eination in an animal whose term of life does not ex-
ceed two years.
It does not follow, however, that reason may not
have a part in inducing some of these last-mentioned
actions, though the actions themselves are purely in-
stinctive. I do not pretend to explain in what way or
2 12
51b INSTINCT OF INSECTS.
degree they are combined ; but certainly some of the
facts do"not seem to admit of explanation, exception
this supposition . Thus, in the instance above cited from
Huber, in which the bees bent a comb at right angles
in order to avoid a slip of glass, the remarkable varia-
tions in the form of the cells can only, as I have there
said, be referred to instinct. Yet the original deter-
mination to avoid the glass seems, as Huber himself ob-
serves, to indicate something more than instinct, since
glass is not a substance against which Nature can be sup-
posed to have forewarned bees, there being nothing in
hollow trees (their natural abodes) resembling it either
in polish or substance : and what was most striking in
their operations was, that they did not wait until they
had reached the surface of the glass before changing
the direction of the comb, but adopted this variation
at a considerable distance, as though they foresaw the
inconveniences which might result from another mode
of construction ^. — However difficult it may be to form
a clear conception of this union of instinct and reason
rn the same operation, or to define precisely the limits
of each, instances of these »^^.rec? actions are sufficiently
common among animals to leave little doubt of the
feet. It is instinct which leads a greyhound, to pursue
a hare ; but it must be reason that directs " an old
greyhound to trust the more fatiguing part of the chase
to the younger, and to place himself so as to meet the
hare in her doubles''."
As another instance of these mixed actions in which
both reason and instinct seem concerned, but the for-
mer more decidedly, may be cited the account which
a Huber, ii. 219. b Hiune's Essay on the Reason of Animals.
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 51T
Huber gives of the manner in which the bees of some
of his neighbours protected themselves against the at-
tacks of the death's-head moth (Sphinx Atropos), laid
before you in a former letter % by so closing the en-
trance of the hive with walls, arcades, casements, and
bastions, built of a mixture of wax and propolis, that
these insidious marauders could no longer intrude them-
selves.
We can scarcely attribute these elaborate fortifica-
tions to reason simply ; for it appears that bees have
recourse to a similar defensive expedient when attacked
even by other bees ; and the means employed seem too
subtle and too well adapted to the end to be the result
of this faculty in a bee.
But on the other hand, if it be most probable that in
this instance instinct was chiefly concerned, if we im-
partially consider the facts, it seems impossible to deny
that reason had some share in the operations. Pure
instinct would have taught the bees to fortify them-
selves on the Jirst attack. If the occupants of a hive
had been taken unawares by these gigantic aggressors
one night, on the second, at least, the entrance should
have been barricadoed. But it appears clear from the
statement of Huber, that it was not until the hives had
been repeatedly attacked and robbed of nearly their
whole stock of honey, that the bees betook themselves
to the plan so successfully adopted for the security of
their remaining treasures ; so that reason taught by
experience, seems to have called into action their dor-
mant instinct''.
If it be thus probable that reason has some influence
a See above, p. 26T. b Huber, ii. 289—
518 INSTINCT OF^NSECTS.
upon the actions of insects, which must be mainly re-
garded as instinctive, the existence of this faculty is?
still more evident in numerous traits of their history
where ins-tinct is little if at all concerned. An insect
is taught by its instincts the most unerring means to
the attainment of certain ends; but these ends, as I
have already had occasion more than once to remark,
are limited in number, and such only as are called for
by its wants in a state of nature. We cannot reason-
ably suppose insects to be gifted with instincts adapte4
for occasions that are never likely 1o happen. If there-
fore we find them, in these extraordinary and improba-
ble emergencies, still availing themselves of the means
apparently best calculated for ensuring their object ;
— and if in addition they seem in some cases to gain
knowledge by experience ; if they can communicate
information to each other ; and if they are endowed
with memory — it appears impossible to deny that they
are possessed of )'eason. — I shall now produce facts
in proof of each of these positions; not by any means
all that might be adduced, but a few of the most stri-
king that occur to me.
First, then, insects often in cases not likely to be
provided for by instinct, adopt means evidently designed
for effecting their object.
A certain degree of warmth is necessary to hatch a
hen's eggs, and we give her little credit for reason in
sitting upon them for this purpose. But if any one
had ever seen a hen make her nest in a heap of fer-
menting dung, among the bark of a hot-bed, or in the
vicinity of a baker's oven, where, the heat being as well
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 519
adapted as the stoves of the Egyptians to bring her
chickens into life, she left off the habit of her race, and
saved herself the trouble of sitting upon them, — we
should certainly pronounce her a reasoning hen : and
if this hen had chanced to be that very one figured and
so elaborately described by Professor Fischer, with
the profile of mi old zGoman^y a Hindoo metaphysician at
least could not doubt of her body, however hen-like,
being in truth directed in its operations by the soul of
some quondam amateur of poultry-breeding. Now
societies of ants have more than once exhibited a de-
viation from their usual instinct, which to me seems
quite as extraordinary and as indicative of reason as
would be that supposed in a hen. A certain degree
of warmth is required for the exclusion and rearing of
their eggs, larvae and pupge ; and in their ordinary
abodes, as you have been already told"^, they undergo
great daily labour in removing their charge to different
parts of the nest, as its temperature is affected by the
presence or absence of the sun. But Reaumur, in re-
futing the common notion of ants being injurious to
bees, tells us that societies of the former often saved
themselves all this trouble, by establishing their colo-
nies between the exterior wooden shutters and panes
of his glass hives, where, owing to the latter substance
being a tolerably good conductor of heat, their progeny
was at all times, and without any necessity of changing
their situation, in a constant, equable, and sufficitint
a See Fischer's Beschreibung eines Huhns mit nienschenahnlkhern Pro-
file, 8vo, St. Petersburg 1816, and a translation in Thomson's .^nnafa of
Phil, viii, 241.
b Vol. I. 2d Ed, 364.
520 INSTINCT OF INSECTS.
temperature ^. Bonnet observed the same fact. He.
found that a society of ants had piled up their young
to the height of several inches, between the flannel-
lined case of his glass hives and the glass. When dis-
turbed they ran away with them, but always replaced
them ^
I am persuaded that after duly considering these
facts, you will agree with me that it is impossible con-
sistently to refer them to instinct, or to account for
them without supposing some stray ant, that had in-
sinuated herself into this tropical crevice, first to have
been struck with the thought ot^ what a prodigious sav-
ing of labour and anxiety would occur to her compa-
triots by establishing their society here ; — that she had
communicated her ideas to them; — and that they had
resolved upon an emigration to this new-discovered
country — this Madeira of ants— whose genial clime
presented advantages which no other situation could
offer. Neither instinct, nor any conceivable modifi-
cation of instinct, could have taught the ants to avail
themselves of a good fortune which but for the inven-
tion of glass hives would never have offered itself to a
generation of these insects since the creation ; for there
is nothing analogous in nature to the constant and
equable warmth of such a situation, the heat of any ac-
cidental mass of fermenting materials soon ceasing, and
no heat being given out from a society of bees when
lodged in a hollow tree, their natural residence. The
conclusion, then, seems irresistible, that reason must
have been their guide, inducing a departure from their
natural instinct as extraordinary as would be that of a
a Rcaum. V. 709. V> (Euvres,n. ilQ,
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 521
lien which should lay her eggs in a hot-bed, and cease
to sit upon them.
The adaptation of means to an end not likely to
have been provided for by instinct, is equally obvious
in the ingenious mode by which a nest of humble-bees
propped up their tottering comb, the particulars of
which having before mentioned to you % I need not
here repeat.
There is perhaps no surer criterion of reason than,
after having tried one mode of accomplishing a pur-
pose, adopting another more likely to succeed. Insects
are able to stand this test. A bee which Huber watched
while soldering the angles of a cell with propolis, de-
tached a thread of this material with which she entered
the cell. Instinct would have taught her to separate
it of the exact length required ; but after applying it
to the angle of the cell, she found it too long, and cut
off a portion so as to fit it to her purpose ''.
This is a very simple instance ; but one such fact is
as decisive in proof of reason as a thousand more com-
plex, and of such there is no lack. Dr. Darwin (whose
authority in the present case depending not on hearsay,
but his own observation, may be here taken,) informs
us, that walking one day in his garden he perceived
a wasp upon the gravel walk with a large fly nearly a?
big as itself which it had caught. Kneeling down he
distinctly saw it cut off the head and abdomen, and then
taking up with its feet the trunk or middle portion of
the body to which the wings remained attached, fly
away. But a breeze of wind acting upon the wings
pf the fly turned round the wasp with its burthen, and
a Vol. I. 2d Ed. 360. b Huber, ii. 268.
522 INSTINCT OF INSECTS.
impeded its progress. Upon this it alighted again on
the gravel walk, deliberately sawed off first one wing
and then the other; and having thus removed the cause
of its embarrassment, flew off with its booty^. Could
any process of ratiocination be more perfect? " Some-
thing acts upon the wings of this fly and impedes my
flight. If I wish to reach my nest quickly, I must get
rid of them — to effect which, the shortest way will be
to alight again and cut them off." These reflections,
or others of similar import, must be supposed to have
passed through the mind of the wasp, or its actions are
altogether inexplicable. Instinct might have taught
it to cut off the wings of all flies, previously to flying
away with them. But here it first attempted to fly with
the wings on, — was impeded by a certain cause, — dis-
covered what this cause was, — and alighted to remove
it. The chain of evidence seems perfect in proof that
nothing but reason could have been its prompter.
An analogous though less striking fact is mentioned
by Reaumur on the authority of M. Cossigny, who
witnessed it in the Isle of France where the Spheges
are accustomed to bury the bodies of cockroaches
along with their eggs for provision for their young.
He sometimes saw one of these Spheges attempt to
drag after it into its hole a dead cockroach, which was
too big to be made to enter by all its efforts. After
several ineffectual trials the Sphex came out, cut off its
elytra and some of its legs, and thus reduced in com-
pass drew in its prey without difficulty''.
Under this head I shall mention but one fact more. —
A friend of Gleditsch the observer of the singular eco-
a Zoonomia, i. 183. b Reaum. vi. 283.
INSTINCT OP INSECTS. 523
nomy of the burying beetle {Necrophorus Vespillo) re-
lated in a former letter % being desirous of drying a
dead toad, fixed it to the top of a piece of wood which
he stuck into the ground. Rut a short time after-
wards, he found that a body of these indefatigable lit-
tle sextons had circumvented him in spite of his pre-
cautions. Not being able to reach the toad, they had
undermined the base of the stick until it fell, and then
buried both stick and toad''.
In the second place, insects gain knowledge front eX'
perience, which would be impossible if they were not
gifted with some portion of reason. In proof of their
thus profiting, I shall select from the numerous facts
that might be brought forward, two only, one of which
has been already slightly adverted to''.
M. P. Huber, in his valuable paper in the sixth
volume of the Linnean Transactions'^, states that he has
seen large humble-bees, when unable from the size of
their head and thorax to reach to the bottom of the
long tubes of the flowers of beans, go directly to the
calyx, pierce it as well as the tube w ith the exterior
horny parts of their proboscis, and then insert their
proboscis itself into the orifice and abstract the honey.
They thus flew from flower to flower, piercing the tubes
from without, and sucking the nectar, while smaller
humble-bees or those with a longer proboscis entered
in at the top of the corolla. Now from this statement
it seems evident, that the larger bees did not pierce the
^ottoms of the flowers until they had ascertained by
a Vol. 1. 2d Ed. 351 . b Gleditsch Physic. Bot. (Econ. Jbhandl. iii. SSOw
e See above, p. 1 18. «1 p. 222.
524 INSTINCT OF INSECTS.
trial that tliey could not reach the nectar from the top ;
but that having- once ascertained by experience that
the flowers of beans are too strait to admit them, they
then, without further attempts in the ordinary way,
pierced the bottoms of all the flowers which they
wished to rifle of their sweets. — M. Aubert du Petit-
Thouars observed that humble-bees and X?/locopa
%iiolacea gained access in a similar manner to the
nectar of Antirrhinum Linariu and majus, and Mira-
hilis Jalappa ; as do the common bees of the Isle of
France to that of Canna indica^; and I have myself
more than once noticed holes at the base of the long"
nectaries of Aquilcgia vulgaris, which I attribute to
the same agency.
My second fact is supplied by the same ants, whose
sagacious choice of the vicinity of Reaumur's glass
hives for their colony has been just related to you.
He tells us that of these ants, of which there were such
swarms on the outside of the hive, not a single one was
ever perceived within ; and infers that, as they are
such lovers of honey, and there was no difliculty in
finding crevices to enter in at, they were kept Avithout,
solely from fear of the consequences''. Whence arose
this fear ? We have no ground for supposing ants en-
dowed with any instinctive dread of bees; and Reau-
mur tells us, that when he happened to leave in his
garden, hives of which the bees had died, the ants then
never failed to enter them and regale themselves with
the honey. It seems reasonable, therefore, to attri-
bute it to experience. Some of the ants no doubt had
tried to enter the peopled as they did the empty hive,
a Nouvcau BiiUclln des Sciences- i. 4.>. W Rcanm. v. 709.
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 555
hnt had been punished for their presumption, and the
dear-bo
munity.
dear-bought lesson was not lost on the rest of the com
Insects, in the third place, are able mutually to com-'
mitnicate and receive information, which, in whatever
way effected, would be impracticable if they were devoid
of reason. Under this head it is only necessary to re-
fer you to the endless facts in proof, furnished by almost
every page of my letters on the history of ants and of
the hive-bee. I shall therefore but detain you for a
moment with an additional anecdote or two, especially
with one respecting the former tribe, which is valuable
from the celebrity of the relater.
Dr. Franklin was of opinion that ants could commu-
nicate their ideas to each other ; in proof of which he
related to Kalm, the Swedish traveller, the following
fact. Having placed a pot containing treacle in a closet
infested with ants, these insects found their way into
it, and were feasting very heartily when he discovered
them. He then shook them out and suspended the pot
by a string from the ceiling. By chance one ant re-
mained, which, after eating its fill, with some difficulty
found its way up the string, and thence reaching the
ceiling, escaped by the wall to its nest. In less than
half an hour a great company of ants sallied out of
their hole, climbed the ceiling-, crept along the string
into the pot, and began to eat again. This they con-
tinued until the treacle was all consumed, ona swarm
running up the string while another passed down '. If
a Kalin's Travtls in North .Iiitcrtia, s. 239.
5/26 INSTINCT OF INSECTS.
seems indisputable that the one ant had in this instance
conveyed news of the booty to his comrades, who would
not otherwise have at once directed their steps in a body
to the only accessible route.
A German artist, a man of strict veracity, states that
in his journey through Italy he was an eye-witness to
the following occurrence. He observed a species of
Scarabceus busily engaged in making, for the reception
of its egg, a pellet of dung, v/hich when finished it
rolled to the summit of a small hillock, and repeatedly
suffered to tumble down its side, apparently for the sake
of consolidating- it by the earth which each time ad-
hered to it. During this process the pellet unluckily fell
into an adjoining hole, out of which all the efforts of
the beetle to extricate it were in vain. After several
ineffectual trials, the insect repaired to an adjoining
heap of dung, and soon returned with three of his com-
panions. All four now applied their united strength
to the pellet, and at length succeeded in pushing it
out; which being done, the three assistant beetles left
the spot and returned to their own quarters^.
Lastly, insects are endowed with memo7y, which
(at least in connexion with the purposes to which it is
subservient) implies some degree of reason also ; and
their historian may exclaim with the poet who has so
well sung the pleasures of this faculty.
Hail, Memory, hail ! thy unirersal reign
Guards the least link of Being's glorious chftln.
a lUiger Mag. i. 488»
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 527
In the elegant lines in which tliis couplet occurs %
ivhich were pointed out to me by my friend Dr. Alder-
son of Hull, Mr. Rogers supposes the bee to be con-
ducted to its hive by retracing the scents of the various
flowers which it has visited : but this idea is more po-
etical than accurate, bees, as before observed'', flying
straight to their hives from great distances. Here, as
I have more than once had occasion to remark in si-
milar instances, we have to regret the want of more
correct entomological information in the poet, who
might have employed with as much effect, the real fact
of bees distinguishing their own hives out of numbers
near them, when conducted to the spot by instinct.
This recognition of home seems clearly the result of
memory ; and it is remarkable that bees appear to re-
collect their own hive rather from its situation, than
from any observations on the hive itself"; just as a man
a " Hark ! the bee winds her small but mellow horn,
Blithe to salute the sunny smile of morn.
O'er thymy downs she bends her bus^ course.
And many a stream allures her to its source.
'Tis noon, 'tis night. That eye so finely wrought,
Beyond the search of sense, the soar of thought,
^fow vainly asks the scenes she left behind;
Its orb so full, its vision so confin'd !
Who guides the patient pilgrim to her cell ?
"Who bids her soul with conscious triumph swell ?
With conscious truth retrace the mazy clue
Of varied scents that charm'd her as she flew ?
Hail, Memory, hail ! thy universal reign
Guards the least link of Being's glorious chain."
tj See above, p. 188 and 502.
If a hive be removed out of its ordinary position, the first day after
this removal, the bees do not fly to a distance without having visited ail
528 INSTINCT OF INSECTS.
is guided to his house from his memory of its position
relative to other buildings or objects, without its being
necessary for him even to cast a look at it. If, after
quitting- my house in a morning, it were to be lifted
out of its site in the street by enchantment, and re-
placed by another with a similar entrance, I should
probably, even in the day time, enter it, Avithout being
struck by the change ; and bees, if during their absence
their old hive be taken away, and a similar one set in
its place, enter this last, and if it be provided with
brood comb contentedly take up their abode in it, never
troubling themselves to inquire what has become of
the identical habitation which they left in the morning,
and with the inhabitants of which, if it be removed
to fifty paces distance, they never resume their con-
nexion'^.
If, pursuing my illlustration, you should object that
no man would thus contentedly sit down in a new
house without searching after the old one, you must
bear in miiid that I am not aiming to show that bees
have as precise a memory as ours, but only that they
are endowed with some portion of this faculty, which I
think the above fact proves. Should you view it in a
different light, you will not deny the force of others
that have already been stated in the course of our cor-
respondence ; such as the mutual greetings of ants of
the same society when brought together after a separa-
tion of four months''; and the return of a party of bees
tlie nei'^hbouring objects. The queen does the same thing when flying
into the air for fecundation. Huber, Rechercltes sur les Fourmis, 100.
a See the account of the mode in which the Favignanais increase the
number of their hives by thus dividing them. Huber, ii. 459.
b See above, p. 66.
INSTINCT OF INSECTS. 529
in spring to a window, where in the preceding autumn
they had regaled on honey, though none of this sub-
stance had been again placed there ^.
But the most striking fact evincing the memory of
these last-mentioned insects has been communicated to
me by my intelligent friend Mr. William Stickney, of
Ridgemont, Holderness. About twenty years ago, a
swarm from one of this gentleman's hives took posses-
sion of an opening beneath the tiles of his house,
whence, after remaining a few hours, they were dis-
lodged and hived. For many subsequent years, when
the hives descended from this stock were about to swarm,
a considerable party of scouts were observed for a few
days before to be reconnoitring about the old hole
under the tiles ; and Mr. Stickney is persuaded, that
if suffered they would have established themselves
there. He is certain that for eight years successively
the descendants of the very stock that first took posses-
sion of the hole frequented it as above stated, and not
those of any other swarms ; having constantly noticed
them, and ascertained that tiiey were bees from the
original hive by powdering them while about the tiles
with yellow ochre, and watching their return. And
even at the present time there are still seen every
swarming season about the tiles, bees, which Mr. Stick-
ney has no doubt are descendants from the original
stock.
Had Dr. Darwin been acquainted with this fact, he
would have adduced it as proving that insects can con-
vey traditionary information from one generation to
another ; and at the first glance the circumstance of
a See above, p. 202.
VOL. II. 2 M
530
'INSTINCT OP INSECTS.
the descendants of the same stock retaining a know-
ledge of the same fact for twenty years, during which
period there must have been as many generations of
bees, would seem to warrant the inference. But as it is
more probable that th^ party of surveying scouts of the
first generation was the next yekr accompanied by
others of a second, who in like manner conducted their
bre^ren of the third, and these last again others of the
fourth generation, and so on, — I draw no other con-
clusion from it than that bees are endowed with me-
mory, which I think it proves most satisfactorily.
I am, &c.
END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
PRINTED BY RICHARD AND ARTHUR TAYLOR, LONDON,
V
ALESE i FLAMlHAJIt.
FUfe.T
"^ fAuxJca cUU^ «A ,a.cMi/r^
Abluihid lii/Zon/)man. Mirst R^ef, Orme artdSr^ vn .LoTuLin, , Jan. j. 1S17.
EXPLANATION OF THE ^LATES.
PLATE IV.
HyMENOPTERA.
Fig. 1. Sirex Gigas.
2. Evania appcndigaster magnified.
3. Nomada Marshauiella.
DiPTERA.
4. Pedicia rivosa.
5. Scricomyia Lapponum.
PLATE V.
Fig. 1. Oxypterum Kirbyanum. Leach, magnified.
Aphaniptera.
2. Pulex irritans magnified.
Aptera.
3. Ricinus Pavonis magnified.
4. Aranca marginata. Donovan,
5. Chelifer cancroides magnified.
6. Scolopendra forficata.
An INTRODUCTION io ENTOMOLOGY;
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