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THE ROYAL 
VeerunAaAL HISTORY 


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Se ATES, M.A 


“Te ek 


SYCRETARY OF 


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RE DEL a 


Ae ly 


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A. Orange Scallop Wing, Cethosia btblis (male). B. Royal Swallow Tail, Tinopalpus imperialis (male). C. Black-tipped Sulphur, 
Dercas verhuelli, D. Swinhoe’s Tortoiseshell, Junonia swinhoet. E. Common Blue, Lycena alexis (male). F. Mango Admiral, 
Euthalia lubentina, G. Silver-studded Skipper, Hesperia comma. H. Sooty-veined Porcelain, Cyrestis thyodamas. I. Duke of 
Burgundy, Nemeobius lucina. J. Harris’s Snowflake, Euplea harrisii (female). 


Pee Oy AL, 
Perl URAL HISTORY 


EDITED” BY 


NiGHARID EL YVDEMRER, !B-A., F.RS., Ere: 


Wilt! (PREPAGE BY 


Ee es SCEATERS MA PHD (F-R-Ss9 Ewe: 


SECRETARY OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON 


ILLUSTRATED WITH 
Seventy-two Coloured Plates and Sixteen Hundred Engravings 
BY 


W. KUHNERT, F. SPECHT, P. J. SMIT, G. MUTZEL, A. T. ELWES, J. WOLF, 
GAMBIER BOLTON, F.Z.8.; AND MANY OTHERS 


WOOL. Vi. 


ShiC eT LON Scr 


L ON DION 
FREDERICK WARNE & CO. 
AND NEW YORK 


1896 


[All Rights Reserved] 


MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. 


Comer er NTS 


INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS 


CHAPTER I.—Tue Jomntep ANtmMats,—Subkingdom Arthropoda ; THe InsEcts,—Class 


Insecta ; ANTS, Bums, Wasps, etc.,—Order Hymenoptera. 


DISTINCTION BETWEEN VERTEBRATES AND INVERTEBRATES—Special Characters of Arthropods 
—Distinctive Characteristics of Insects—Geological Age of Insects—Other Features— 
Mimicry—Characteristics of Hymenoptera—Development—Classification—The Saw- 
Fly Group (Suborder Sessiliventres)—Stem Saw-Flies (Cephidw)—Tailed Wasps 
(Siricidw)—True Saw-Flies (Tenthredinide)—Typical Group (Suborder Petiolata) — 
Gall- Wasps (Cynipide)—Proctotrypidea— Ichneumon-Wasps(Ichneumonde) 
—Braconide—Other Families—The Ants (formicidw)—Mutillide, ete.—Bembicida— 
Pompilide — Sphegide— Crabronide —Philanthide —Wasps and Bees—Solitary Wasps 
and Mud-Wasps (Masaridw and Humenide)—Social Wasps i cas Eel Bees 
(Andrenidwe)—True Bees (Apide), : ; : 


CHAPTER. Il.—Jointep ANIMALS,—continued ; INSECTS,—continued. 
THe Fiirs AND FLEAS,—Order Diptera. 


> 
Characteristics of the Order—Straight-Seamed Flies (Suborder Orthorrhapha)—Mosquitoes 
and Gnats (Culicidw)—Daddy-Long- Legs (Tipulidw)—Midges (Chironomide)—Fungus- 
Midges (Mycetophilide)—Gall-Midges (Cecidomyidw)—Sand-Flies, ete. (Simuliide and 
Bibionide)—Horse-Flies, or Breeze-Flies (Tabanidw)—Robber-Flies, ete. (Asilide and 
Empide)—Bee-Flies (Bombylitde)—Circular-Seamed Flies (Suborder Cyclorrhapha)— 
Hover-Flies (Syrphide)—Conopide—Typical Flies (Muscidw)—Gad-Fles and Bot-Flies 
(stride)—Forest-Flies (Hippoboscidw)—Fleas (Pulicide, etc.), : ° : 


CHAPTER III.—Jorntep ANIMALS,—continued ; INSEcTS,—continued. 
BurreRFLIES AND Morus,—Order Lepidoptera. 


Characters of the Order—Development—Structure of Larva—Pupa—Enemies—Mimicry— 
Imago, or Perfect Insect—Head—Thorax, and its Appendages—Abdomen—Extinct 
Forms—Butterflies (Suborder Rhopalocera)—Classification—Fritillary Group (Nymph- 
alide)—Erycinide—Blues and Coppers (Lyceenide)—Skippers (Hespertide)—The Moths 
(Suborder Heterocera)—Emperor- Moths (Saturniidw)—Silk-Spinners (Bombycide)— 
Hawk-Moths (Sphingide)—Prominents (Notodontide)—Clear-Wings (Sesizdw)—Synto- 
mide—Burnets (Zygenide)—Case-Weavers (Psychidew)—Cosside—Allied Families— 
Lasiocampide — Lymantriide — Tiger-Moths (Arctiide)— Owl-Moths (Noctuide)— 
Loopers (Geometride)—Snout-Moths (Hypenide)—Suborder Microlepidoptera, . : 


CHAPTER IV.—Jornrep ANIMALS,—-continued ; INSECTS,—continued. 
THe BeetLtes,—Order Coleoptera. 
Characteristics of the Order—Section Pentamera—Tiger-Beetles (Cicindelidw)—Carnivorous 
Ground-Beetles (Carabide)—Carnivorous Water-Beetles (Dytiscidw)—Whirligig Beetles 


PAGE 


47 


vl CONTENTS 


PAGE 
(Gyrinide)—Short-Winged Beetles (Staphylinidw)—Paussida—Pselaphide—Burying- 
Beetles (Silphide)—Hairy-Winged Beetles (Trichopteryyidw)— Histeride—Nitidulide— 
Dermestide — Hydrophilide —Stag- Beetles (Lucanidw)— Passalide—Tribe Lamelli- 
cornia—Buprestide—Click- Beetles (Hlateridw)—Lycide—Glow- Beetles (Lampyride) 
—Telephoride—Cleride—Ptinide—Section Heteromera—Tenebrionide—Rkhipidophoride 
—- Meloide — Stylopide —Section Tetramera— Weevils (Curculionide)— Scolytide — 
Brenthide—Anthribide—Longicorn Beetles (Cerambycida)-—bruchide—Chrysomelide— 
Section Trimera—Lady-Birds (Coccinella), : : 5 a ae B83 


CHAPTER V.—Jointep ANIMALS,—continued ; INsEcTS,—concluded. Orders Neuroptera, 
Orthoptera, Rhynchota, ete. 


Characters of Neuroptera—Caddis-Flies (Suborder Zirichoptera)—Phryganeide, ete.—Flat- 
Winged Group (Suborder Planipennia)—Scorpion-Flies (Panorpidw)—Snake-Flies and 
Adder-Flies (Sialidw)—Mantis-Flies (Mantispide)—Nemopteride—Ant-Lions (Myr- 
meleontide) — Lace-Wing Flies (Hemorobiide and Chrysopidw)— Order Orthoptera— 
Dragon-Flies (Odonata)—Libellulide—Aischnide—A grionide—May-F lies (Ephemeride) 
—Stone-Flies (Perlidw)—Termites, or White-Ants ( Termitide)—Book- Lice (Psocide)— 
—Bird-Lice (Mallophaga)—True Orthoptera—Crickets  (G@'ryllidw)—Long-Horned 
Grasshoppers (Locustidw)—Locust Tribe (Acridiide)—Stick- and Leaf-Insects (Phas- 
mide)—Praying Insects (Mantidw)—Cockroaches (Blattidw)—Earwigs (Forficulide) 
Order Rhynchota— Land-Bugs —(Geocorisa) — Water-Bugs — (Hydrocorisa)—Cicadas 
(Cicadide)—Lantern-Flies (Fulgoride)—Frog-Hoppers (Cercopidw)—Leaf-Flies (Psyl- 
lide)—Plant-Lice (A phidw)—Scale-Insects (Coccidw)—True Lice (Pediculina) — Order 
Thysanoptera—Order Thysanura, 5 : : : . 159 


CHAPTER VI.—Jornrep ANIMALS,—continued. CENTIPEDES, MILLIPEDES, SCORPIONS, 
and SpIpERS,—Classes Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Arachnida, ete. 


Characters of Centipedes—Subclass Anartiostigma—Subclass Artiostigma—Orders Litho- 
hiomorpha, Scolopendromorpha, and Geophilomorpha—The Millipedes (Class Diplopoda) 
—Their Subclasses and Orders—Scorpions, Spiders, Ticks, ete. (Class Ardchnidew)— 

Their Characteristics—The Scorpions (Order Scorpiones)—The Whip-Scorpion and their 
Allies (Order Pedipalpa)—Order Palpigradi—The True, or Web-Spiders (Order 
Aranew)—Segmented Group (Suborder Mesothelw)—Typical Group (Suborder Opistho- 
thele)—The various Tribes and Families of the same—'The False Spiders (Order Soli- 
fuge)—The False Scorpions (Order Pseudoscorpiones)—The Harvest-Spiders (Order 
Opiliones) — Suborder Laniatores —Suborder Palpatores— Group Ricinulei — The 
Mites and Ticks (Order Acari)—Aberrant Types, : : ; : . 204 


CHAPTER VII.—Tue Jomntep ANIMALS,—concluded. THE SEA-SpipERS, KrnG-Crass, 
CRUSTACEANS, etc.,—Classes Pantopoda, Gigantostraca, Crustacea, ete. 


Characters of Sea-Spiders—The King-Crabs (Class Gugantostraca)—Existing Forms (Order 
Xiphosura)— Order Merostomata—Order Trilobita — Crabs, Lobsters, Crayfish, ete. 
(Class Crustacea)—Characteristies of the Class—Typical Crustaceans (Subclass Malaco- 
stracw)—Order Decapoda — Short-Tailed Group (Suborder Brachywra)— Long-Tailed 
Group (Suborder Macrura)—Cleft-Footed Group (Order Schizopoda)—The Mantis- 
Shrimps (Order Stomatopoda)—Sessile-Eyed Series (Hdriophthalmata)—Order Isopoda 
—Order Amphipoda—Subclass Entomostraca—The Barnacles (Order Cirripedia) — 
divalved Group (Order Ostracoda)— Oar-Footed Group (Order Copepoda)—Order 
Cladocera—Leaf-Footed Group (Order Phyllopoda)—Class Prototracheata, : . 248 


Norr.—This Section is the first half of the Sixth Volume ; the Index to the complete Volume 
is in Section XII. 


LIS 


OF 1ELVSt RASS 


COLOURED. PEATES 


TypicaL BUTTERFLIES, 

Mimicry IN FysEcts, 

GIANT Swirt Morn, | : 
BEETLES IN A FLoop, 
ORTHOPTERA, : : 
CRUSTACEANS, 


‘ : . Frontispiece 
Facing page 10 


PAGE PLATES 


A CoLUMN oF THE ARMyY-WoRM, 
Insect LIFE IN SUMMER, 
HerRMIT CRABS, 


TEXT ENGRAVINGS 


Group of Beetles (Bruchus), 
Mouth Organs of Insects, . 
Group of Saw-Flies, 


Boring Apparatus of Giant- Tailed Wasp, 


Giant-Tailed Wasp, 


Pine Saw-F ly and Broad-Bodied Saw Fly, 


Saw-Flies, . 

Green Saw-Fly, 

Oak-Gall Wasp, ete., 

Sponge Gall-Wasp, Oak-Root Gall- Wasp, 
etc., ‘ 

Rose Gall-Wasp and Gall, : 

Egg-Wasps, 

Gouty-Legged Wasp, (Che elie Stinger, 
ete., 

Ichneumon- “Waspe, 

Various I¢éhneumon-Wasps, 

Pimpla instigator, - 

Microgaster nemorum, 

Javelin- Wasp, 

Burnished and Gold Wasps, 

Honey-Pot and Parasol Ants, 


PAGE 


fon) 


bo po bo WO bP WD b9 
Da oct & &W 


~I 


w 
— 


Mutilla and Scolia, 

Pompilus, ete., 

Mellinus, etc., : : 

Leaf-Cutter Bee, 

Inmates of a Hive,. 

Mud- Wasps, 

Life-History of the Homey 

South African Wasp and Nest, 

Group of Solitary Bees, 

Mason-Bee, 2 

Carpenter- Bee, 

Flower- Bees, ; 
Humble-Bees, j P ; 
Wing of Daddy-Long-Legs and Blow-F ly, 
Banded Gnat, 

Army-Worm Fly, . 

Development of Hessian Fly, 
Columbatsch Fly, 

St. Mark’s Fly, 

Great Horse-Fly, 

Robber- Flies, 

Black and White Bee- Fly, ; 


103 
128 
176 
256 


53 
65 
263 


PAGE 


33 


35 
36 
38 


Vill LIST OF IELOSTRATIONS 


PAGE 
Female Stratiomys, 5 . 61 
Hover-F ly, : : 62 
Group of Flies and their Gr ubs, . : 67 
Tsetse Fly, . : : . 69 
Spiny Fly, . , : ea 
Asparagus Fly, . : : ; 71 
Chlorops teniopus, . : 72 
Development of Horse Bot lvoe : 72 
Ox Warble-Fly and its Development, 73 
Life-History of Sheep Bot-Fly, . , 74 
Forest-Fly, . ‘ ao 
Common Flea and its Siructure, : 76 
Pine Hawk-Moth, with Larvee and Pape, (ors 
Wing of Noctua Moth,  . : : 82 
Peacock and Meadow-Brown Butterflies, - 86 
Resplendent Ptolemy, : : she 87 
Wall-Brown, : 2 : 88 
Group of British Butter aes : : 89 
Group of Tropical Butterflies, — . : 90 
Black-Veined White, — 91 
Hawk- Moths, . * : 93 
Spurge Hawk-Moth and Guerpilon : 96 
Oleander Hawk-Moth, with Larva and 

Pupa, . : : 97 
Puss-Moth and Teobaters Moth : = kee 
Hornet Clear-Wing and Goat-Moth, . 101 
Psyche Moth, , - 102 
Life-History of Pine- Fapeet Moth, . 105 
Procession-Moth, . ; : ee LOG 
Lackey-Moth, i ; yee OY, 
ietamaeralineee es Gipsy- “Moth, : a oy 
Development of Gipsy-Moth, : 108 
Black-Arches Moth, ; 108 
Pale Tussock-Moth, with Larva a pane 109 
Brown-Tail and Gold-Tail Moths, . 109 
Satin-Moth, : ; : 2) 210 
Tiger- Moth, Six-Spot Burnet, and 

Spangled White, : 111 
Merveil-du-Jour, Rustic Shoulder! Knot, 

and imeniveert Eight Moth, . om lle 
White-Spotted Pinion and Pine-Moth, . 113 
Red Under-Wing, with Larva, . his 
Feathered Gothic, Angle - Shades, and 

Antler-Moth, . 5 . 114 
Pepper-Moth, with Larva and isa - 115 
Group of ieee 116 
Bordered White, and Ar pent and Sable: 

Moth, . : eG 
Magpie Moth and its Derelipateny oP Realy 
Dark Spinach-Moth and Larva, . 117 
Purple-Barred Yellow, and Lime- once 

Moth, . , ee bale 
Mother-of-Pearl Moth, with ites cs 
Oak-Tortrix and its Dev elopment, Bille) 


Oak-Gall Tortrix, and Larch Tortrix, 

Pea-Moth and Larva, 

Codlin and Meal-Moth, ; 

Corn-Moth, and Larva of Clothes- Moth 
and Wax-Moth, 

Plume-Moth, etc., 

Larch Mining Mote 

Carnivorous Beetles and their Prey, 

Zabrus and Larva, . 

Tiger-Beetles, 

Elaphrus riparius, . 

Mormolyce phyllodes, 

Scarttes gigas, F 

Dytiscus and Hydrocharis, . 

Whirligig Beetle, 

British Rove- Beetles, 

Claviger testaceus, 

Stlpha atrata and Larva, 

Hister fimetarius, 

Meligethes eneus, 

Great Black Water- Beetle. 

Burrowing Beetle, . 

Scarabeus sacer, 

Aphodius fossor, 

Male of Geotrupes, . 

Polyphylla fullo, 

Summer Chafer, 

Rhinoceros-Beetle, 

Ceratorrhina smith, 

Chalcophora marvana, 

Wire-Worm, 

West Indian Fire-Fly, 

Telephorus fuscus, ; 

Clerus formicarius, with eee fl Pupa, 

Trichodes apiarius, 

Death-Watch Beetle, 

Churchyard Beetle and Larva, 

Meal-Worm Beetle and Larva, 

Oil-Beetles and Larvae, 

Male and Female of Yenos, 

Sitones lineatus, 

Pine- Weevil, with Larva Pal pape 

Apion apricans, 

Leaf-Rolling Weevils, 

Apoderus longicollis, 

Nut-Weevil and Larva, 

Pear-Blossom Weevil, 

Apple-Blossom Weevil, 

Various Weevils, 

Palm- Weevil, 

Hylotrupes bajulus, with era 

Prionus and Ergates, 

Musk-Beetle, 


Strangalia armata and Laren 


LIST OF TELLGSTRATIONS 


Toxotus meridianus, 

Rhagium, 

Necydalis major, 

Long-Horned Beetles, 

Donacra clavipes, 

Colorado Potato-Beetle, 
Life-History of Tortoise-Beetles, 
Lady-Birds, : 

Cases of Caddis-Fly lem 
Life-History of Caddis-Fly, 
Common Scorpion-Fly, 
Life-History of Alder-Fly, 
Life-History of Ant-Lion, 
Lace-Wing Flies, 

Life-History of Dragon- Flies, 
Male May-F ly, 

May-Fly Moulting, 

Common Stone- Fly, 

White Ants and their ieadlagreme 
Psocus lineatus, 

Group of Crickets, 

Mole-Cricket, with Eggs and ae 
Hetrodes and Meconema, 
Migratory Locust and Larvee, 
Tettia subulata, 

A Stick-Insect and en 
Praying Insects, : 
Egg-Case of Kitchen @ockreael : 
Cockroaches, 

Earwigs, 

Hottentot Bug, 

Shield Bugs, 

Syromastes and Neides, 

Pyrrhocoris apterus, 

Calocoris striatellus 

Tingis, Aradus, and Cimex, 
Reduvius personatus, 

Salda elegantula, 

Common British Water-Bugs, 
European Cicadas, 

Cixius nervosus, 

Pseudophana europea, 

Ledra and Aphrophore, 

Centrotus cornutus, . 

Psylla geniste, 
Life-History of Vine-Phy flexer: "ave 
Lachnus punctatus, 

Spruce-Gall hd 

Female Orthezia urtice, 

Cochineal Insects, . 

Various Lice, 

Corn-Thrips, 

Heliothrips, 

Podura villosa, 


PAGE 


154 
155 
155 
156 
156 
157 
157 
158 
160 
162 
163 
163 
164 
165 
168 
170 
170 
Theil 
173 
176 
177 
178 
179 
181 
182 
183 
184 
185 
185 
186 
188 
189 
189 
190 
190 
191 
191 
191 
192 
193 
195 
195 
196 
196 
196 
197 
198 
199 
199 
200 
201 
202 
202 
202 


Desoria glacialis, : 
Black-Banded Centipede, . 
Common English Centipede, 
Centipede devouring a Beetle Larva, 
Head of Geophilus, ‘ 
Geophilus grappling with Earth- Wom 
Sumatran Millipede, 

Bristly Millipede, . 

Sumatran Pill-Millipede, . 

English Pill-Millipedes, 

Millipede (Julus), . 

Flat Millipede, 

Celebean Millipede, 

Spanish Yellow Scorpion, . 

African Rock-Scorpion, 

Bornean Whip-Scorpion, . 

West African Tailless Whip- Scrpia 
Anatomy of Cross-Spider, 

Female Drassus, 

Female Wolf-Spider, 

Jamaica Trap-Door Spider and Mest 
Bird-Eating Spider, 

Palm Trap-Door Spider, 
Field-Spiders, 

House-Spiders, 

Water-Spiders, 

An Orb-Spinner, 

Common Cross-Spider, ‘ 
Side-Walking Spiders (Xysticus), . 
Side-Walking Spider (Pal a 
Tarantula, . 

Jumping Spiders, 

False Spider, 

Book Scorpion, . ; 
South American Harvest Snider : 
Chilian Harvest Spider, 

Velvety Mite, 


Water Mite, and Water seamen ete 


with same, 


Beetle-Mite, and Dor Beals eiested with 


same 

Mouth-Organs of Shea Ticks 

English Sheep-Tick, 

Dog- or Sheep-Tick, 

Pigeon-Tick, 

Cheese- Mite 

Itch-Mite, . 

Demodex folliculorum, 

A Spider’s Spinnerets, 

Slender Sea-Spider, 

Shore-Spider, 

Chinese King-Crab, 

A Trilobite, : 
Nauplius Larva of Barnacle, 


x LIST OF TELUSTRATIONS 


Zoxa Stage of Crab, 

Jaws of Crayfish, 

Young Edible Crab, 
Swimming Crab, . 
Indian Land-Crab, : 
Swift Land-Crab, 
Calling-Crab, 

Thornback Crab, : 
Long-Beaked Spider-Crab, 
Dromia Crab, 
Broad-Clawed Porcelain- Can 
One-Clawed Lobster, 
Larva of Crayfish, 
Slender-Clawed Crayfish, 
Common Crayfish, 
Common Prawn, . 

West Indian Prawn, 


Mussel-Prawn and Sponge-Prawn, 


Hooded Shrimp, . : 
Long-Necked Shrimp, 
Mantis-Shrimp, 

Serolis bromleyana, . 
Spheroma, « : 


Male and Female Gnathia, 
Common and Pill Wood- Lice, 
Fresh-Water Shrimp, : 
Sand-Hopper, A : 
Spiny Shrimp, 

Gigantic Andania, 
Skeleton-Shrimp, 
Whale-Louse, : 
Transparent OO eae me 
Phronima, 

Barnacles atti ee to Pamicn 
Acorn-Barnacle, 

Stalkless Barnacle, 

Parasitic Cirripedes, 

Parasitic Barnacles, 
Copepods, ; 
Fish-Lice, . : 
Spiny-Tailed Water: Flea, . 
Egg-Capsule of Water-Flea, 
Glassy Leptodora, 
Scale-Tailed Apus, 
Branchipus, and Brine Shrimp, 
Peripatus, « : : 


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Poe mOYAL NATURAL’ HISTORY, 


Z—\ 


| 


INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS. 


CHAPTER, I. 
THE JoINTED ANIMALS,—Subkingdom ARTHROPODA. 
THE InsEcts,—Class Insecta. 
Ants, Wasps, BEES, ETC..—\Order HYMENOPTERA. 


ee IN the early days of zoological science, when the value in classification 
between Verte- of the structural and embryological characters of living beings was 
bratesandIn- but little understood, the animal kingdom was divided into two 
So subkingdoms called Vertebrata and Invertebrata; the former embrac- 
ing those forms provided with a vertebral column, or backbone, and the latter those 
that were not so provided. With the addition of some few classes, whose organ- 
isation has only recently been fully comprehended, the Chordata of to-day are 
coextensive with the Vertebrata of half a century ago. But the term Invertebrata, 
as denoting a natural assemblage of animals, has long ceased to be used by every 
competent zoologist, and is nowadays merely applied as a conveniently vague title 
for all the animals that have not acquired the characters of the Chordata. This 
change of opinion has been brought about by the attainment of a far more intimate 
acquaintance with the structure and development of the lower animals than our 
predecessors, with their less refined methods of investigation, could possibly 
VOL. VI.—I 


2 INVERTEBRATES. 


possess; and it has resulted in the splitting up of the so-called invertebrates into 
a number of subkingdoms, each of which is equivalent to the entire group of 
Chordata. 

It must not, however, be supposed that no advance has been made of late 
years in chordate morphology, and that the conception of the essential characters 
of the group is the same as it was in the earlier part of the century. So far 
indeed is this from being the ease, that the zoologists of those days would certainly 
be greatly puzzled to understand the reasons for the present wide extension of the 
group to embrace such forms as the sea-squirts and the worm-like Balanoglossus, 
which have no vertebral column, and do not even present the outward semblance 
of any of the classes of the true Vertebrata. Strictly speaking, therefore, they 
are not Vertebrates at all; yet their claim to be ranked in the same great category 
of animals as the lancelet, which also has no backbone, and the fishes, is now generally 
accepted, and is based in the main upon their possession, in common with all the 
true Vertebrates, of three characteristics not found in any other group of the animal 
kingdom. These are, firstly, the presence of slits in the lateral walls of the pharynx, 
by means of which the anterior part of the alimentary canal is put into communica- 
tion either with the body-cavity or directly with the outer world; secondly, the 
existence, either as a temporary or permanent structure, of a cartilaginous rod, the 
notochord, lying lengthwise in the upper part of the body ; and, thirdly, the position 
of the principal nervous tract, also in the upper part of the body, but above the 
notochord. The fate of the notochord in the different classes of Chordates is some- 
what varied. In some of the sea-squirts, for instance, it persists only in the tail, 
which may entirely disappear when the animal settles down to its sedentary life. 
Hence these creatures are sometimes called the Urochordata, or rod-tailed. In the 
lancelet, however, this structure remains throughout life, and extends from the end 
of the tail to the extremity of the head. Hence the section containing this little 
fish-like creature is called Cephalochordata, or rod-headed. In all the higher 
members of the assemblage, however, that is to say, in fishes, amphibians, reptiles, 
birds, and mammals, the notochord falls short of the front end of the head, ter- 
minating just behind a point which in the floor of the skull eventually becomes 
the pituitary fossa. Moreover, in all the forms that acquire a bony skeleton, this 
rod is to a greater or less extent replaced by the bodies, or centra of the vertebra, 
or segments composing the backbone; these centra supporting the bony arches 
developed for the protection of the dorsal nerve-chord. No less varied is the fate 
of the pharyngeal slits, or visceral clefts. Whereas in the lower Vertebrata, such 
as fishes, these remain as the branchial slits, in the adults of the more highly 
organised forms, like mammals, they practically disappear, one only remaining as 
the eustachian tube, by means of which the back of the mouth communicates with 
the inner chamber of the ear. 

With this brief résumé of the fundamental features of Chordate morphology, 
we may turn to the remaining groups of animals, the so-called Invertebrata, which, 
as a whole, may be distinguished from Chordates merely by negative characters, 
there being no pharyngeal slits, no notochord, and no central nervous system 
running along the back. Nevertheless, some of the higher groups of invertebrated 
animals—such as the Arthropods and Molluses—resemble each other, and differ 


DSI. 


GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 3 


from the Vertebrates in the arrangement of some of the principal organs of the 
body. For instance, although as in Chordates the front end of the nervous chord 
is lodged in the head above the mouth, and constitutes the brain, the rest of it 
runs along the ventral or lower surface of the body beneath and not above the 
alimentary canal, which thus, in its anterior or cesophageal part, passes right 
through a ring or collar of the nervous system. Again, the chief centre of the 
circulation, the heart, is lodged in the back and not in the lower part of the body, so 
that the arrangement of these two structures is exactly the opposite of that which 
obtains in the Chordata. If, for example, a transverse section be cut through a 
fish a little behind the head, the nerve-chord, the alimentary canal, and the heart 
will be found to occupy the following positions—the first named being in the back, 
the second in the middle, and the third below ; while, on the contrary, a section of 
the same kind, taken in substantially the same place in a centipede, will show that 
the heart is above, and the nerve-chord below the alimentary canal. 

This arrangement of the organs in question does not, however, exist in all 
invertebrated animals. In some the nervous system is absent; in others it con- 
sists of two strands, one running along each side of the body, and neither above 
nor below the alimentary canal. In others, again, there is no circulatory system, 
and in others no alimentary canal. There is consequently an extreme divergence 
in anatomical structure between various kinds of Invertebrates, and zoologists 
have attempted to express these differences, as explained above, by the referring 
these various creatures to distinct subkingdoms. 

Eight of such subkingdoms are provisionally recognised in the present work, 
and are arranged as follows :—(1) Arthropoda, or Invertebrate animals with jointed 
legs, such as insects, spiders, and crustaceans; (2) Echinodermata, or star-fish, sea- 
urchins, stone-lilies, ete.; (3) Mollusca, or soft-bodied, unsegmented animals, often 
with a shell, but without legs, like cuttle-fish, whelks, and oysters; (4) Molluscoida, 
including the Jamp-shells and corallines; (5) Vermes, or worms and_ their 
kindred ; (6) Coelenterata, or jelly-fish, sea-anemones, and corals; (7) Porifera, or 
sponges; and (8) Protozoa, or single-celled animals, like the microscopic foramin- 
ifera. As the special characters of each of these subkingdoms are pointed out in 
the chapters devoted to them, no further reference is necessary in this place. 

Special The term Arthropoda is applied to the classes of animals com- 
Characters of posing this subkingdom in allusion to the fact that the limbs are 
Arthropods. divided by joints into a series of movable segments. The title, how- 

ever, is not in all respects satisfactory, seeing that members of other groups, 
mammals and birds for instance, also have jointed legs, and in one important 
though not typical class of Arthropoda, namely, the Prototracheata, containing the 
aberrant family Peripatide, the appendages are short and undivided. The name 
is consequently often superseded by the later but more appropriate term Gnatho- 
poda, meaning foot -jawed, which refers to a characteristic that is pertectly 
distinctive of all the species included under the heading. This is the transforma- 
tion into jaws, or gnathites, as they are sometimes called, of one or more pairs of 
the appendages that lie at the sides of the mouth, or just behind it. The number 
of pairs involved in the formation of jaws varies from one to six, the smallest being 
found in Peripatus, and the largest in crabs and their allies, while between these 


4 JOINTED ANIMALS. 


two extremes we meet with two pairs in the Millipedes, three in the Insects, and 
four in the Centipedes. 

The appendicular nature of the jaws, then, is the most distinctive feature of 
the animals now under discussion. But if two members of the Arthropoda, say for 
instance a lobster and a centipede, be compared together, they will be found to 
possess many other structural characters in common. Thus the body is bilaterally 
symmetrical, that is to say, if it be cut exactly in half lengthwise, the right and 
left portions will be precisely alike. It is, moreover, divided into a series of 
segments, placed one behind the other in a long series; each segment bearing a pair 
of limbs, which in the centipede are all alike, but in the lobster vary considerably 
in size and structure in different regions of the body. In both types, moreover, 
some of the segments at the front end of the body are modified by fusion, and in 
other ways, to form a head, which is furnished with eyes, and bears, in addition to 
the jaws, appendages that have been transformed’ into long, many-jointed feelers, 
called antennee. In the lobster, however, there are two pairs of these organs, while 
in the centipede there is but one. 

These external resemblances are correlated with others connected with the 
internal anatomy. The alimentary canal, for instance, traverses the body from 
end to end; and the nerve-chord lying beneath it consists of two adjacent strands 
united together in the separate segments, the points of union being marked by 
swellings called ganglia, from which nerve-threads radiate to the neighbouring 
parts. Above the alimentary canal comes the heart, and this organ, although 
superficially very different in the two types, is yet constructed upon the same 
general plan. In the centipede it is long, tubular, and composed of many distinct 
segmentally-arranged chambers, and furnished with arteries for the distribution of 
blood to the tissues, and with slits or ostia by which the fluid again makes its 
way back to that organ. In the lobster, on the contrary, the heart is short, thick, 
and consists of a single chamber, but is nevertheless provided with the arteries 
and slits as in the case of the centipede. 

The dissection of these two creatures would, however, reveal one fundamental 
difference between them. In the centipede it would be noticed that the body is sup- 
plied internally with a rich system of branching tubes which open on the exterior 
by means of apertures placed in the sides of the segments. These tubes are known 
as trachew, and their apertures as stigmata. They, or similar structures, are found 
in nearly all Arthropods that live upon the land and breathe the oxygen in the 
air. They are, in fact, the breathing organs, and analogous to the lungs. The 
lobster has no such system of tubes; for living in the water, and breathing 
the oxygen dissolved therein, this crustacean has need of a different type of 
respiratory organ analogous to the gills of fishes. These it possesses in the form of 
delicate plumes attached to the bases of the walking-legs and the sides of the 
body just above them; and although concealed from view and protected from 
injury by a large plate, these gills are yet freely exposed to the water in 
which the animal spends its existence. Gills resembling those of the lobster in 
function, and also substantially in structure, are found in almost all Arthropods that 
live in the sea. 


ml . . . . 
lhe characters that have been here briefly alluded to in the description of the 


GENERAL CHAKA CTEHRS DIGS. 5 
anatomy of the centipede and lobster will be found to be equally discernible, if 
other prominent types of Arthropoda be examined. Differences of course will be 
found to exist; but, on the whole, the plan of structure that has been sketched is true 
for all the classes. [or instance, in all of them, except the Centipedes and Millipedes, 
there is a tendency in the more specialised members towards an increase in size of 
the limbs in the front half of the body, accompanied by a corresponding dwindling 
of those in the hinder part. Thus a crab and a spider walk upon four pairs of 
legs placed just behind the head, and an insect upon three; and in the case of the 
insect the legs of the hinder region have entirely disappeared, while the larger 
number of them have similarly vanished in the spider and the crab. There is also 
a tendency in the higher members of each class for the ganglia of the nervous 
chord to lose their segmental arrangement, and to become concentrated together in 
one large mass, placed near the seat of the greatest muscular activity. Never- 
theless, underlying all the modifications of structure—however extensive these may 
be—there is a common plan of organisation which may be regarded as typical of 
the Arthropoda. This may be briefly sketched as follows. The long bilaterally- 
symmetrical body is divided into a series of approximately similar segments, each 
bearing a pair of similar and segmented limbs. These limbs are the organs of 
locomotion; but some of those at the front end of the body, where comes the 
mouth and the organs of vision, take on the function of jaws, and are used for seizing 
and masticating food instead of for progression. The nervous system consists of a 
double ventral chord with ganglionic enlargements in each segment, and the first 
ganglia of this ventral chain are connected by means of a chord on each side of 
the cesophagus with the brain, which is lodged in the head. The heart, lying 
above the alimentary canal—which runs from one end of the body to the other— 
consists of a series of chambers, one for each segment of the body, and is provided 
with arteries for the distribution of the blood, and with slits or ostia for receiving 
it back again. 

The Arthropoda are divided into the following classes, the chief characteristics 
of which are described further on—(1) Insects (Insecta, or Hexapoda); (2) Centi- 
pedes (Chilopoda); (3) Millipedes (Diplopoda); (4) Spiders, Scorpions, Ticks, ete. 
(Arachnida); (5) King-crabs (Gigantostraca) ; (6) Crustaceans (Crustacea) ; (7) Pro- 
totracheata (Peripatus). 

It is possible, however, to group these into larger divisions. The insects, 
centipedes, and millipedes, for example, may be placed together as Tracheata, 
characterised by the possession of tracheze and of a single pair of antennee. The 
Crustacea stand alone in having two pairs of antenne, and in breathing with 
gills By means, however, of the extinct class of the Trilobites, they are 
connected with the king-crabs; and these in possessing only six pairs of well- 
developed anterior limbs, and in having no antenne, strikingly resemble the 
Arachnida. Peripatus is very peculiar, but shows signs of a distant relationship 
with the centipedes, although in many anatomical features it is not very far 
removed from the worms. 

Distinctive The term insect, although originally and, according to the mean- 
Characteristics ing of the word, correctly employed in a wide sense to embrace 
of Insects. 41] those animals in which the body is externally divided into a 


6 INSECTS. 


number of segments, including, of course, butterflies, beetles, bugs, spiders, 
scorpions, centipedes, millipedes, not to mention crabs and shrimps, is now, by 
common consent, used in a much more restricted sense to apply solely to such 
members of the Arthropoda as have only six walking-legs. In allusion to this 
feature the class is nowadays often called the Hexapoda, the term being much 
more precise and applicable than that of Insecta. In addition, however, to the 
possession of six legs, insects are characterised by certain other well-marked 
features, serving to distinguish them from all other arthropods. The body is 
divided into three distinct regions, arranged in a longitudinal series, and named 
respectively, from before backwards, the head, thorax, and abdomen. 

The head, which varies much in size and shape in different groups, bears the 
eyes, the antennee, and the jaws. The eyes are of two kinds, simple and compound. 
The latter, of which there is a single pair, situated one on each side of the head, 
and often so large as to occupy the greater part of its right and left half, consist 
externally of a multitude of lenses, often exceeding many thousands in number. 
The simple eyes, or ocelli, on the other hand, are fewer in number—usually only 
two or three—and placed upon the forepart of the head. The antenne are movably 
articulated by means of a special socket to the front of the head, usually below or 
near the inner edge of the compound eyes. They vary much in structure and 
length, being sometimes long and pliable, and composed of a large number of 
segments, as in the cockroach, and at other times short, like those of the house-fly, 


and consisting of a few segments only. There is no doubt that the antennz 
contain highly important organs of sense, the bristles with which they are studded 
being probably tactile, and some of the other organs possibly olfactory in function. 

The front edge of the head, or its lower edge when carried vertically, is often 
movably jointed to the rest of it, and constitutes an upper lip, or labrum. In the 
formation of the jaws, which are attached to the lower surface of the head, three 
pairs of appendages, respectively named the mandibles, the maxille, and the 
labium, are involved. But these parts are susceptible of an extreme amount of 
variation in structure and function, being sometimes formed for mastication, as in 
the mandibulate forms, such as the cockroaches and beetles, and sometimes for 
piercing or sucking, or both combined, as in the so-called sucking forms like 
the flies, butterflies, and bugs. There is no doubt that the mandibulate type of 
mouth in which the gnathites, or jaws, are more foot-like in structure, is the most 
primitive of all. In this case the mandibles usually consist of a stout pair of one- 
jointed skeletal pieces, the inner edge of which is furnished with biting teeth. 
Sometimes, as in the males of stag-beetles, the mandibles are enormously large, 
and simulate horns. The maxillee are much more complicated in structure; each 
- consists of a basal piece, composed of two segments—the cardo and stipes—from 
which spring two branches, an outer or palp, whieh has the appearance of a 
dwarfed limb, and an inner, which is in its turn double, the inner blade being called 
the lacinia, and the outer the galea. The jaws of the third pair, constituting the 
so called labium, or lower lip, are constructed upon the same principle as the 
maxille, but the parts usually considered to correspond to the cardo are united 
to form a plate—the mentum—which is articulated by its hinder part to a sternal 
plate of the head, called the submentum. In front of the mentum there are 


GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 7 


externally the Jointed palpi, resembling those of the maxille, and between these 
there is a median, sometimes bilobed, piece, called the ligula, and a pair of pieces 
termed the paraglosse. The degree of development of the several parts varies 
greatly in different orders, and it is often a matter of considerable difficulty to 
determine the exact correspondence that exists between them in two insects 
belonging to different orders. This is especially the case when the jaws have 
been modified to form the different organs of suction that are met with. The 
structure of these will be described in detail when the species that possess them 
are discussed. Another organ to be mentioned in connection with the jaws isa 


MOUTH-ORGANS OF INSECTS. 


1, Head of honey-bee, from the front; 2, Head of humble-bee, from below; 8, Maxille and labrum of a bee 
(Andrena); 4, Maxille and labium of saw-fly (Cimbex); 5, Lower view of head of carnivorous beetle 
(Procrustes) ; 6, Maxilla of carnivorous beetle (Cicindela); 7, Maxilla of cock-tail beetle (Staphylinus); 8, 
Maxilla of locust; 9, Head of bug (Cicada) from the front; 10, Head of butterfly; 11, Head of horse-fly 
(Tachina). 

Labium—a, mentum ; 6, ligula; 6’, paraglosse ; c, palp; d, mandible. Mazilla (e), with f cardo ; g, stipes ; 
h, lacinia; h’, galea; 7, palp ; &, head-plate ; n, teeth on lacinia. 


membranous lobe, called the hypopharynx, or tongue, projecting into the interior 
of the mouth from the floor of the labium. 

The thorax, or median part of the insect’s body, is formed of three segments 
ealled the pro- meso- and metathorax, each of which is composed of several distinct 
pieces. The dorsal areas of the three segments are termed the pronotum, meso- 
notum, and metanotum; the lateral regions the pleurze; and the inferior regions 
the sterna. To the pleure are articulated the three pairs of legs, each of which 
consists primarily of five segments, named respectively, from the base to the apex, 
coxa, trochanter, femur, tibia, and tarsus; the last, which constitutes the foot, being 
generally tipped with two claws, and subdivided into several—often as many as 
five—smaller segments. To the sides of the upper surface of both the meso- 


8 IN SE CLS: 


and metathorax are usually attached a pair of wings, which are very characteristic 
organs of all the higher insects, although absent in the lowest forms, and in many 
species degenerate through parasitic habits. The wings differ much in structure, 
thickness, clothing, ete., in different orders of insects, but in all cases they seem 
to consist of an upper and a lower membranous layer, traversed by narrow bands 
of thicker material, the nervures. 

The abdomen in insects is marked off from the thorax by the absence of true 
appendages. It may consist of as many as ten distinct segments, but never of 
more, and generally of fewer. Each segment is protected above by a dorsal plate, 
or tergum, and below by a ventral plate, or sternum, the two being connected 
laterally by membrane. The last segment is often provided with a pair of 
appendicular structures, which may be long, many-joimted, and antenniform, or 
short and one-jointed, like the pincers of an earwig. And, in addition to these, 
certain other structures, such as the stings of bees and wasps, and the ovipositors 
of locusts and ichneumon flies, are frequently connected with the hinder segments 
of the abdomen. The only other external structures that need be mentioned here 
are the stigmata, or apertures, of the respiratory organs. These pierce the lateral 
surfaces of the thoracic and abdominal segments, and vary much in number, size, 
and form, being generally far more plainly seen in the larve than in the adults. 
There may be as many as eleven pairs, but usually the number falls short of this. 

In exceptional cases, as in the plant-lice (Aphidw) belonging to the order 
Hemiptera, and in certain parasitic flies of the group Pupipara, the young are born 
in an advanced stage of development, the eggs developing within the body of the 
parent without being first deposited. But in the vast majority of species the 
young make their first appearance in the world in the egg-stage. 

Between the time of its escape from the egg-shell and the attainment of 
maturity, the young undergoes a succession of moults, or castings of the skin. In 
some cases the change of structure that an insect presents during the course of its 
growth is, comparatively speaking, trifling, the young being hatched in a condition 
in which in outward form it substantially resembles the parent in everything but 
size, and, in the case of species that bear wings in the adult, in the entire absence 
of these organs. A familiar instance of this method of growth is found in the 
cockroaches and grasshoppers, in which the young emerge from the egg as 
miniature and wingless copies of their parents. 

In other cases, however, as in the flies (Diptera) and butterflies (Lepidoptera), 
an extraordinary change of form takes place during growth, the young upon 
hatching being so totally unlike the adult that no one unacquainted with the facts 
of insect development would suppose the two to belong to the same category of 
animals. In these two orders, as well as in some others, the new-born young 
has the appearance of a fleshy grub; and the grub-like condition is retained 
unchanged, except in size, until the time for the last moult approaches. It then 
undergoes a startling change of condition, and, losing its organs of sense and 
ceasing to feed, passes into a state of quiescence, during which the final changes 
in its organisation are more or less rapidly passed through, and the final moult 
sets free the mature insect, perfect in all its structural details. 

The immature stages of insects that present a complicated development of 


GEOLCGICAL AGE. 9 


this kind are variously spoken of as grubs, maggots, caterpillars, or, more com- 
prehensively, larvee; while the quiescent stage is termed the chrysalis or pupa, 
and the final sexually mature stage the imago or perfect insect. Moreover, such 
species are said to undergo a complete metamorphosis, or to be holometabolous, as 
opposed to those like the cockroach, whose growth is accompanied by but little 
change of form, and are said to present an incomplete metamorphosis or to be 
ametabolous. It must not, however, be supposed that all insects are either com- 
pletely or incompletely metamorphic in their development. The familiar types 
that we have mentioned exhibit almost, although not quite, the extremes of change 
that are offered in the class; but between these occur other types which show 
developmental phenomena more or less intermediate in their nature, being less 
complicated than those of the blow-fly and more complicated than those of the 
cockroach. An account of these various methods of development will be given 
under each order as it is described. 

Like the Crustacea, Arachnida, Millipedes, and all the main 
divisions of the Arthropoda, with the exception of the Proto- 
tracheata (Peripatus), and possibly the Centipedes, Insects are an exceedingly 
ancient group, having left their remains in strata of Silurian age. The exact 


Geological Age. 


nature and affinities of these primeval remains has not, however, yet been satis- 
factorily determined, and some authors indeed seem to doubt whether they are 
rightly referred to insects. Still there is no question that species of this 
group flourished in abundance during the Carboniferous period; but the con- 
clusion that all the known fossil insects from these strata form a natural order, 
distinct from all the existing groups of this rank can hardly be regarded as finally 
established, seeing that, in the opinion of some authors, they are assignable to 
places in our classification of existing species, and are nearly related to the orders 
Orthoptera (cockroaches, grasshoppers, and dragon-flies), and Hemiptera (bugs and 
plant-lice). In the Secondary rocks insect remains, considering the small chances 
of the preservation of such creatures in stratified deposits are fairly abundant ; 
and none of the species present ordinal differences from those which now exist. 
So, too, the hosts of species that have been discovered in Tertiary deposits, in the 
amber-beds and elsewhere, are referable to existing orders. 

It has been estimated that in numbers of species insects excel 
all other land animals of the world taken together, and a recent 
computation has put the total of described forms at 250,000, and yet, according to 
Lord Walsingham, only about ten per cent. of existing species have hitherto been 
discovered. But this is not the only respect in which the animals of this class 
are in advance of all other groups. In brightness of colour, beauty of pattern, 
and gracefulness of form some of the species can hardly be equalled even by the most 
gorgeous birds, while in mechanical perfection of structure, as testified by activity 
and strength, others of the group are unsurpassed in the animal kingdom. It has 
been stated that if a man could leap in proportion to his stature as far as a flea can 
hop, he could clear at a bound a wall over one hundred feet high, and if he could sing 
as loudly as the cicada, his voice could be heard for a distance of many miles. 
Indeed, even in matters about which man is wont to especially pride himself, 
such as those touching social organisation, he might with advantage go to the ant 


Other Features. 


10 TIN SE CUS. 


to learn wisdom, since many of the problems of modern civilisation, involved in 
the questions concerned in the regulation of increase of population, the proper 
division of labour, and the support of useless individuals, have been satisfactorily 
solved by many of the species of insects that live habitually in communities. 

Speaking in a general way, insects may be said to be terrestrial animals, since 
all the species are fitted more or less completely for atmospheric respiration and for 
progression on the land; many of them in addition are furnished with wings, which 
propel them through the air with amazing velocity. Im many of the orders, how- 
ever, as, for instance, in the beetles and bugs, there are species that have adopted 
an aquatic mode of life and spend their days in fresh-water ponds and streams in 
various quarters of the globe. Others again, like some of the gnats and dragon- 
flies, live in fresh-water during the larval stages of their existence, but quit it on 
attaining maturity. Insects, too, are sometimes found on the coast beneath stones 
and seaweed at low water, but there is only one species of insect that can strictly 
be called marine; this is a bug (Halobates) sometimes met with in numbers on 
the surface of the ocean thousands of miles from land. 

The phenomena known as mimicry and protective resemblance 
are strikingly exemplified in insect life. The term mimicry is usually 
applied to cases where a species, otherwise unprotected, lives unmolested owing to 


Mimicry. 


its resemblance to another which is gifted with defensive weapons in the form of 
poison-glands, or with a nauseating flavour that renders it distasteful. Such species 
as these are usually rendered conspicuous by contrasting patches of bright colour. 
It is noticeable, for instance, that the patterns of bees and wasps are strikingly 
diversified, in order that the insects may be readily recognised and not slain by 
mistake for other species. Bees and wasps, then, being species that enjoy 
immunity from attack, are often imitated or mimicked by perfectly harmless flies 
and moths, and some beetles and animals allied to crickets similarly mimic ants. 
But the phenomenon of protective resemblance —or the mimicry of inanimate 
objects—by which a species is rendered practically invisible amongst its surround- 
ings on account of its resemblance to a leaf, stone, twig, or bird-dropping, is of far 
commoner occurrence. On the accompanying Plate a few instances of this kind 
of adaptation to surroundings are portrayed. Figs. 12, 13, and 18 are the 
larvee or caterpillars of different species of Lepidoptera, the first two in colour and 
shape simulating branches, and the last a snail-shell; Figs. 1, 2, 9 and 14 are 
leat-like pupee or chrysalids of other kinds of Lepidoptera; while Figs. 3, 5, 7, 11, 
15, 23, and 24 are the adult stages of members of the same order under different 
disguises. The most noticeable of these is Fig. 11, representing a large and 
handsome butterfly, which, when at rest with its wings folded back, exactly 
resembles a dead leaf, even to the midrib and stem; while Figs. 23 and 24, exhibit 
two small moths, which might be readily mistaken for bird-dung. In the 
Orthoptera, as the insects allied to the cockroaches and grasshoppers are called, 
the phenomenon is carried to an extent elsewhere unsurpassed in the animal 
kingdom. This is well shown in the case of the leaf-insect (Fig. 4), the stick- 
insect (Fig. 8), and the leaf-like locust (Fig. 10). Most of the other figures on 
the Plate are of less importance. Attention, however, may be drawn to the water- 
bug (Fig. 16), the young dragon-fly (Fig. 6), the beetle (Fig. 19), the curious bugs 


et. Chrysalis of apaturailia. 2. Chrysalis of Rhodocera rhamni. 3. Gr i 
r is of a pe a ee } 1 . 938. Green Hairstreak Butterfly. Z, 
pin ste foleum: pe aren a Lines oe H alias prasinana, 6. Young Decne, 7 Toca Marea Peace 
. 8. Stick Insect, Bacillus rossii. 9. Chrysalis of Papilio podalirius. 10, Leaf-like L z ; 
11. Dead-leaf Butterfly, Kallima philarchus. 12. Caterpillar of Avapteryx sambucaria. 18. Gaiarpliee ae ne ee 


ae oe 


14. Chrysalis of Papilio evander. 15. Buff-tip Moth, Phalera ‘bucephala. 16. Water-Bug, Ranatra linearis. 17. Dead-leaf May-Fly, 
Drepanopteryx phalenoides. 18. Larva of Cimbex betula. 19. Mesosa cercutionoides. 20. Phlea corticata. 21. Pemphigus xyloste.. 
92. Psychid caterpillar. 23. Tortrix ocellaria. 24. Clouded Border Moth, Abraxas marginata 25. Histerid Beetle. 26. Byrrhid 


Beetle. 27. Cocoon of Aides amanda. 


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HYMENOPTERA. II 


(Fig. 20) which in attitude and colour closely approximate to the stems or bark 
to which they cling. Figs. 25 and 26 show two beetles resembling sheep’s droppings. 
Fig. 17 exhibits one of the May-flies like a dead leaf, and F ig. 21 two plant-bugs 
which secrete threads of white wax and appear as tufts of woollen matter. 
CHa cteratios The general characters of the Hymenoptera will be more or less 
of the familar to most readers from their acquaintance with the well- 
Hymenoptera. |} yown members of the wasp, bee, and ant tribes. The scientific 
name by which the order is known is derived from the fact that the upper and 
under wings on either side are linked to each other by a series of minute hooks on 
the one which cling to a fold in the membrane of the adjacent margin of the other. 
The group includes the saw-flies, wood-borers, gall and parasitic wasps, ichneumons, 
ants, spider-killing wasps, solitary and social wasps, and solitary and social bees. 
The number of species known is from 30,000 to 40,000, though from our know- 
ledge of the proportion which they bear to other orders, it is computed that there 
may be upwards of 150,000 species yet to be discovered. In specialisation of 
structure they undoubtedly rank amongst the most highly developed of the 
Insecta. The neat, agile frame, hard shining integuments, stout mandibles, strong, 
hight wings, and movable abdomen, bearing, in the case of the female, at its apex 
an ovipositor of great power and precision of application, or modified into an instru- 
ment for sawing and boring in some species, and in several families becoming a sting. 
All these features combine with a temperament of extreme nervous energy to give 
them a character for general intelligence, and a power of adapting means to ends 
such as are manifested in no other allied order. The web-making spiders alone 
resemble them in this respect, and we are able to find few analogies nearer than 
the intelligent action, individual or concerted, of man himself. The social 
Hymenoptera, such as ants, bees, and wasps have solved, on their own life-plane, 
industrial difficulties and social problems, pressing for soluticn in the various 
societies of men. Doubtless this has been accomplished to a certain extent 
only at the cost of a loss of individuality such as civilised man would not 
tolerate for a moment. When we find that the worker-ants, bees, and wasps 
have, during their specialisation as workers pure and simple, lost their sexual 
faculties, that the members of a species of Amazon ant during their specialisation 
as warriors have lost the power of even feeding themselves, being entirely depend- 
ent on slaves for their food, we may well pause before concluding that such 
solutions of important problems are in the end for the best, at any rate so far 
as concerns the human race. 

Without entering into the more minute details of structure, the general 
characters by which the order may be distinguished are as follows. The posses- 
sion of four transparent wings, a head, thorax, and abdomen distinct from each 
other, the latter joined to the thorax by a narrow stalk, or, in the case of the 
Tenthredinide by a broad uniting joint. The integuments are strong, hard, 
shiny, and often hairy. The mandibles are well developed for biting purposes, 
while the subordinate mouth-parts are, in the case of the honey-bees, modified to 
form a long tongue-like proboscis for extracting nectar from flowers. The head 
is more or less globular, bearing compound eyes and several ocelli on the crown 
between and just behind the antenne. The mandibles are used, besides the 


ae INSEGES: 


mastication of food, for digging holes in the ground or for gnawing timber and 
various other purposes. In some ants the soldiers have the head enormously 
developed, as are also the mandibles; their function being to protect the society 
from enemies, and also to carry on war against neighbouring communities. The 
antenn are in most cases long, jointed, and filiform, constituting sensitive organs of 
touch and recognition. The thorax is composed of the usual three pieces, 
prothorax, mesothorax, and metathorax. It bears the wings, four in number, 
above, and the legs, six in number, beneath, the latter being modified in many 
species for special purposes, such as, in the bees, for gathering pollen from the 
blossoms of the plants visited for the sake of honey. Often the legs are armed with 
long spines, which in the sand-wasps materially assist in the excavation of the 
pits in which these insects bury their victims and deposit their eggs. The wings 
are ample, strong, and light, formed of a transparent membrane strengthened 
with fine nervures or veins. The arrangement of these nervures varies much 
in different groups, and is of importance in the classification of members of the 
order, The relative importance of this character is, however, not the same in 
every family, being in the saw-flies, perhaps, of the greatest value. Species which 
are wingless in one or both sexes are found in many of the families ; while in the 
genus Oxyura of the family Proctotrypidw the wings consist merely of a fine 
central stalk with a battledore-shaped plumose tip. The abdomen is united to the 
metathorax either throughout its whole width, as in the Tenthredinide, or, as in 
most of the other families, by a narrow stalk or petiole. These two characters 
serve for the division of the order into the groups of Sessiliventres and Petiolata. 
The organs of reproduction are situated at the apex of the abdomen; while in the 
female the instrument for depositing the eggs has become in the section Aculeata 
developed into a sting; in the Zehnewmonide it is sometimes enormously long, and 
used for piercing the larvee in which they lay their eggs. In the case of the large 
wood-borers (Sivex) it is used as a boring instrument, while in the saw-flies it 1s 
serrated on the edges and employed to wound the tender shoots on which the 
eges are deposited. Amongst the Pompilidw and some other families, the sting 
is used to paralyse the victim in which the insects lay their eggs, or leave in the 
cell to feed the larvee as they hatch. Probably no pain is given to the victim, 
and even in the ease of those grubs that feed internally upon the tissues of 
caterpillars in all probability less inconvenience is caused than we suppose. 

In all cases the metamorphosis is complete. The egg may be laid in a cell 
prepared either by the female or the workers for the purpose, and the grub is fed 
by the attendants on a preparation of pollen or other foods specially prepared. 
In other cases the eggs may be laid on the foliage of trees and plants on which 
the larve feed, or they may be deposited upon or in the bodies of living or 
paralysed caterpillars, grubs of other species, or spiders, locusts, and the like. 
The Cynipide with the poison from their sting, and other causes combined, 
produce a large gall upon the leaves of trees, especially oaks; and on the fleshy 
cell-structure of these galls the grubs feed when they emerge. Larve of two 
different kinds are met with in the order. Thus, whereas those of the saw-flies 
have legs, sometimes even more in number than those of the Lepidoptera, the 
grubs of the majority lack functional legs. The former live a life of greater 


HYMENOPTERA. 13 


o 


liberty, feeding on the foliage of trees; the latter are free, so far as they are not 
confined within an egg-membrane, but being internal feeders, whether in foliage 
larvee, wood, or shut up as solitary hermits, each in its several cell passes a larval 
period of limited freedom. It is a curious fact that the legs of some larvee are 
more evident in an early than in the latter stages, thus proving that the habit of 
ceell-life is a comparatively recent departure from a former habit, when in all 
probability the larval life was passed in greater freedom. 

The phenomenon of parthenogenesis is one which crops up in 
various orders of insects, being simply the production by the female 
of eggs or young without the fertilisation of the egg-germs within the female, by 
the stimulative elements necessary to the production of young in the higher 


Development. 


animals. It is not, however, a chance phenomenon, appearing as a race-preserving 
expedient, on the sudden failure of male forms, but one of nature’s resources for 
preserving the continuity of species. It is constant in many species of the 
Hymenoptera, in the form of what is known as the alternation of generations; in 
some species, however, it is supposed to be the sole form of reproduction, for the 
males of these species have never yet been discovered. Whether we regard 
the fertilisation of the female ege-verms by the male elements as dynamic or 
stimulative, or as merely a matter of the interchange of character determinants 
between the two sexes, it appears to be beyond a doubt that a continuous 
succession of virgin-reproductions must inevitably tend to the degeneration and 
ultimate extinction of the race. Parthenogenesis or virgin-reproduction may 
be of three kinds. First, resulting in the production of the male sex only ; 
second, of the female alone; and thirdly, in cases when the young are produced 
not as egos in the first instance, but alive, as in the case of the plant-lice or 
Aphide. It seems that parthenogenesis does not favour the production of one 
sex more than another. We should, therefore, be cautious how we accept too 
hastily the commonly received belief that male bees are necessarily the offspring 
of non-fertilised eggs. It by no means follows that because an egg was not 
fertilised that therefore the sex produced in it is the direct result of non- 
fertilisation. The question, however, is still a matter of controversy, and more 
evidence is needed before final conclusions can be reached. 

That the members of this order are on the whole useful to man cannot be 
doubted,—more useful perhaps than the majority of insect forms,—whether as bees, 
with their honey-storing instincts, or as the ichneumon tribes dealing destruction 
to thousands of the larvee—those insect pests which would otherwise work terrible 
havoe with our corn crops and garden produce. On the other hand, it must be 
confessed that the larvee of the saw-flies often work damage to the foliage of 
forest-trees, while in many tropical climates ants are a devouring scourge to all 
that belongs to man. 

We must now leave these introductory lines, but before passing 
on to a more or less detailed description of certain species and their 
peculiar characteristics of structure and of habit, the subjoimed outline of classifica- 
tion of the various families of the order will give a general idea of the ditterent 
groups, which are more obviously separated by certain broad distinguishing 


Classification. 


characters. 


14 INSECTS. 


Order HYMENOPTERA. 


Suborder SESSILIVENTRES. 
1. Family TENTHREDINIDE—Saw-Fhes. 
De = Srricip.z— W ood- Borers. 
Suborder PETIOLATA. 
Section PARASITICA. 
1. Family Cyniprp#—Gall- Wasps. 


2: r PROCTOTRY PIDZ—Ege- Wasps. 

3: ,  CHALCIDIDA—Parasitie Gall-Wasps. 

4. »  ICHNEUMONIDZ—Large Larvee- Wasps. 
S »  BRACONID£—Small Larvee- Wasps. 

6. »  Evanipa—Hymenoptera Parasites. 
is s CurysibID#—Burnished Wasps. 


Section ACULEATA. 
1. Family Formicipa#—Social Ants. 


Da “ MUTILLIDZ—Parasitie Ants. 
a: - THYNNIDE— __,, rr 
4,, . ScoLiIbDA— fe cs 
5, a OSAPYGID A — ee - 
6. * BEMBICIDE— _,, iy 
he ,  POMPILIDAZ—Spider-Wasps. 
8. 5 SPHEGIDA:—Locust- Wasps. 
9, i LARRID#. 
10. »  NYSSONIDA. 
IE » CRABRONIDA—F ly and Aphid-Wasps. 
2: uy PHILANTHIDA—Andrena Parasites. 
13. »  Masarip#—Solitary Wasps. 
14. : EUMENIDA—Mud- Wasps. 
BS 53 VESPIDA— Paper- Wasps. 
16. , ANDRENID£Z—Solitary Bees. 


iL » APIDA 


Honey and Humble-Bees. 


THE Saw-FLy Group,—Suborder Sessiliventres. 


This group contains the various species of saw-flies,and may be subdivided 
into the saw-flies proper (Tenthredinidw) and the wood-borers, or tailed-wasps 
(Siricida), although it also comprises the little pith-boring Cephidw and the rare 
and little known species of Oryssidw. The food of the larvee of these insects 
consists entirely of vegetable matter. In the case of the first-named family, the 
leaves of trees and shrubs; in that of the second, the solid wood of various trees ; 
and in the case of the third, the tender pith of the stalks of rye and also the 
shoots of pear and other trees. Such grubs as are internal feeders are either 
limbless, or have at most six more or less rudimental thoracic legs. These, on the 
other hand, which live a free life and feed on foliage, are very similar in general 
appearance to lepidopterous larvee, from which they may be distinguished by the 


HYMENOPTERA. 15 


greater number of their legs; these varying from twenty to twenty-two, whereas 
those of the Lepidoptera have but sixteen at most. They also differ by the shining 
and almost naked skin, and the curious habit possessed by many of curling in the 
posterior segments, raising them at the same time and depressing them with a 
rhythmic movement. This action, which may be for the purpose of frightening 
away foes, coupled with the melancholy-looking eyes, gives them a grotesque 
appearance, not observable in the caterpillars of the Lepidoptera, save in a few 
instances. When full grown, the majority of the larvee leave the food-plant and 
spin in or on the surface of the ground, or under dry leaves and moss, a barrel- 
shaped cocoon in which they pass the winter, turning to a chrysalis only a short 


— = fT 
SN.) 


ull 
pm 


1, Sirex juvencus, female larva, pupa (all of nat. size) ; 2, CORN SAW-FLY and larve in the rye stalks ; 
3, Pachymerus calcitrator, a wasp parasitic on the above ; 4, Larva and pupa of Cephus (enlarged). 


time before the perfect insect emerges. At least a thousand species are known, 
though this is probably but a small moiety of those that exist. 


STEM Saw-F.iEs,—Family CEPHIDZ. 


The larve of these slender, delicate, armoured insects pass their lives in the 
stems of plants or young shoots of trees ; and the adults are characterised by the saw 
of the female being partially concealed by two integumental flaps. As an example 
of the typical genus, we may take the corn saw-fly (Cephus pygmeus), of which 
the perfect insect flies actively in the sunshine, flitting from blossom to blossom 
among buttercups in May, and thence onwards through the summer. The larvee 
cause serious damage on the Continent to rye crops, and more rarely in wheat fields, 
where they crawl up and down within the stems, feeding on the delicate tissues. 
When full fed, they construct a transparent cocoon in which to pass the winter, 


16 INSEGLS, 


becoming pup, and a little later in May emerging as full-grown saw-flies. The 
parasitic insect (Puchymerus calcitrator) figured in the illustration on p. 15 is one of 
the Petiolate Hymenoptera which seems to be exclusively parasitic on the present 
species. 


TAILED Wasps,—Family S7RIClDz. 


In this family the female is furnished with a long, boring ovipositor for 
piercing the bark of trees; the eggs being laid in the orifice thus formed, and the 
larvee feeding on the wood. In the accompanying illustration of the boring 
apparatus of one species c, ¢, @, shows the whole of the muscular structure with 
which the boring is carried out. The perfect insects are 
usually of large size and conspicuously coloured. Among 
the typical forms the common tailed-wasp (Sirex guvencus) 
is a very rare species in England, although more plentiful 
on the Continent. The females, which are sometimes 
surprised in the act of depositing their eges on pine-trees, 
may be easily caught, as the ovipositor can only be with- 
drawn with considerable difficulty. Indeed, the abdomen 
breaks in half, if the insect be roughly grasped. The much 
larger giant tailed-wasp (S. gigas) is far commoner among 
pine-trees, and is distinguished by its bands of black and 
yellow. Although it does considerable damage, it does not 
attack a perfectly healthy tree, unless recently felled. How 
long the larvee may live in the interior of the tree, and 
how long it is before the perfect insect appears, is not 
known, but cases are often quoted of this insect appearing 
in houses soon after their completion, having evidently 
emerged from the wood of the joists and beams. Another 
genus is well represented by the broad - bodied saw - fly 
(Lyda campestris). In this species the grubs feed on the 
BORING APPARATUS OF GIANT- young shoots of the Scotch fir, in which the eggs are laid. 

jarged). wasp (much et When hatched, the larvae spin a shght web in which they 
remain concealed, protruding the forepart of the body 
when feeding on the pine needles. When all the needles in the neighbourhood 


have been devoured, the web is extended, so that a great number of young shoots 
may be embraced and destroyed. The perfect insect is shining blue-black, with 
some of the abdominal segments reddish yellow. 


TRUE Saw-F iiEes,—Family TENTHREDINIDZ. 


In this exceedingly numerous and widely distributed group, a well known 
example is the pine saw-fly (Lophyrus pini), of which the larve are sometimes 
found in such numbers in pine-woods, where they feed upon the needles, that the 
trunks are often coloured yellow and the branches weighed down. Towards 
the end of July, the perfect insect emerges by gnawing off the cap of the barrel- 
Shaped pupa-case. The eggs are laid in incisions made in the needles, these 


HYMENOPTERA. 17 


wounds being subsequently closed with a viscid secretion which protects the egos, 
As many as twenty eggs may thus be deposited in a single needle. When young, 
and also just before turning into pupwx, the grubs are very susceptible to sudden 


FEMALE AND MALE OF GIANT-TAILED WASP (nat. size). 


cold or heavy rain, which will kill off thousands. In addition to these destructive 
agencies, nearly forty different kinds of parasites infest the grubs, while mice 
devour numbers of the pup. The illustration below shows all the stages of de- 


e cases s en; 2, BROAD-BODIED SAW-FLY, 
1, PINE SAW-FLY, larve on pine needles, and also pupx cases shut and open; 2, BROAD-BODIED SAW-FLY 


with larve and nest. (All nat. size.) 


velopment, one of the grubs being drawn in the act of endeavouring to ward off the 
attacks of a parasite by the ejection from its mouth of an offensive fluid. To the 
same family belongs the turnip saw-fly (Athalia spinarum), which is one of the 


VOLS Vis —— 2 


13 INSECTS. 


most destructive species. The perfect insect appears in May from larvee which 
have passed the winter in their pupz cases, and lays its eggs upon the leaves of 
rape and turnips; as many as two hundred or three hundred eggs being often 
deposited by a single female; and in September and October the ravages of the 
ereen and black larvee become only too evident. The grub is full grown in October, 
hea it descends to the surface of the earth, and forms a cell of earth grains, in 
which it passes the winter. The majority of the members of the family belong to 
the typical genus Tenthredo, and are elegant, active insects, which alone of all the 
saw-flies exhibit a carnivorous habit. It is not easy to distinguish the males from 
the females, though the difference in the colour is of some assistance. It has been 
noticed, for instance, that in cases where the abdomen of the female is entirely 
black, that of the male is black and red. Of the green saw-fly (7. scalaris), the 
larva is common on the willow, and is pale green with black spots on the back, 
sometimes blending to form a central band. The pretty brush-horned rose saw- 


1, TURNIP SAW-FLY AND LARVH; 2, ROSE SAW-FLY, male; 3, SAW-FLY, female, and with larve. (Nat. size.) 


fly (Hylotoma ros), which in size and colour closely resembles the turnip saw-fly, 
extends throughout Europe, where it is common wherever rose-trees occur; the 
larva being found from July to October on both the wild and cultivated roses. 
When turning to a pupa, it spins an outer meshed envelope, and a more densely 
Woven inner one; early larve pupating at once, and emerging as perfect insects 
early in August. The later broods, however, pass the winter in the pupa case, and 
appear in the following spring. The female makes an incision on the twigs of rose 
bushes, in which she lays her eggs, after which the twig withers away. 


TypicaL Group—Suborder Petiolata. 


The insects belonging to this second subdivision of the order are distinguish- 
able from the last by the petiole, or short stalk joining the abdomen to the thorax. 
Sometimes this stalk is so short that the abdomen and thorax are closely united, 
while in others it is longer, and thus these characters form a fairly natural sub- 
division of the Petiolata into the pseudosessile and pedicellate forms. For general 


HYMENOPTERA. 19 


purposes they may, however, be divided into Parasitiea, or those in which the 
females are furnished with an ovipositor, and Aculeata, or those in which the 
ovipositor has become modified into a retractile sting. 


GALL-Wasps,—Family CYNIPID#. 


Of the former, or parasitic section of the suborder, our first representatives are 
the gall-wasps (Cynipide), all of which aré small and inconspicuous insects, vary- 
ing in colour from black to brown and brownish red. The wings are furnished 
with few nervures, and the dark stigma on the anterior margin is absent; while 
in some species the females have the wings either rudimentary or altogether want- 
ing. Of the galls so common on the foliage of trees and other plants, some are 
produced by beetles, aphides, flies (gall-midges), and others by the members of 
the present family and some of the Tenthredinidw. In the gall-wasps each 
species selects some special portion of the plant for its attack, which it pierces with 


GREEN SAW-FLY, Tenthredo scalaris (nat. size). 


its ovipositor, and lays an egg in the wound. As to what exactly gives rise to the 
resultant gall, which follows sooner or later upon the wounded plant, is not known 
with any certainty. It has hitherto been supposed that the fly injects an irritat- 
ing fluid into the wound, but recent researches tend to show that this serves rather 
as an adhesive security to retain the egg on the selected spot. It is probable that 
the different stimulative irritants offered, first by the inflicted wound, next by the 
presence of the eggs, and thirdly by the movements of the larva after it 1s hatched, 
together with the action of a fluid exuded by the grub itself, all tend to produce 
the strange modifications of cell structure which manifest themselves in the forms 
of the various kinds of galls. The larvee of the Cynipide almost entirely feed 
internally upon galls produced on oak-leaves and the oak-blossoms. These galls 
are entirely closed, and the grub dwells within a hard cell, called the larval 
chamber. In some cases there may be several such chambers, as, for instance, in 
the Bedeguar-gall on the wild rose-tree formed by Rhodites rose. We have said 
that each species confines itself to one portion of the plant, and the form of the 
gallis the same; but an exception is furnished by the galls of Spathegaster bac- 
carum, which occur upon the leaves as well as on the flower-tassels of the oak. 


me INSECTS. 


The phenomenon known as the alternation of generations,—that is to say, 
where produced generations alternate with each other in consecutive succession,— 


1, COMMON OAK-GALL WASP; 2, Vorynus resius, a parasite on the same; 3, Gall of Cynips gemme ; 4, Larval 
chamber, shut and open; 5, The same enlarged, above on the left is figured the purple hairstreak and its 
larva; 6, The same enlarged ; 7, A gall cut through, showing the grub. 

1 5 5 a 
: WW 


a= = SS \ 


S Me: | aN 
A A 
We 

gag 
) 


| 
= 


A 
WY \\ aS 
\ ANY AS 
QIN: 
4 


1, THE SPONGE GALL-WASP, with an old sponge-gall ; beneath is a new gall, whence the wasps have not yet made their 
exit ; 2, OAK-ROOT GALL-WASP, with its gall ; 3, BRAMBLE GALL-WASP (Diastrophus rubi), with its gall ; 4, A gall of 
the same slit in half; 5, Synergus facialis ; 6, Figites scutellaris, parasites ; 7, Ibalia cultellator, parasitic on 
Sirex juvencus. (All the galls and Fig. 7 nat. size; Fig. 6 enlarged.) 


HYMENOPTERA. 21 


has been clearly shown to exist amongst the Cynipide. It is a remarkable fact, 
too, that the galls produced by a parthenogenetic female are different in form from 
those produced by a female originating from the normal sexual process. The 
insects produced by these different galls were for many years looked upon as 
distinct species. It is, of course, on the cell-tissues of the gall that the larve of 
the Cynipide feed and thrive; they themselves, however, in their turn being 
subject to the attacks of numerous hymenopterous parasites of various kinds. 

Of the typical genus, we may take the common oak-gall wasp (Cynips folii) 
as a familiar example. It is a glistening black insect, which forms an oak-gall on 
the under side of oak-leaves. A parasite (Torymus 
regius) lays its own egg upon the larva of the 
Cynips lying within the gall, when the latter is 
about half grown. Another species (Cynips gemme) 
is produced from conical scale-covered galls, sprout- 
ing fromthe young shoots of the oak, in the interior 
of which the grubs feed. The illustration on p. 26 
shows the gall produced by insects of this species. 
To the same family belongs the sponge gall-wasp 
(Teras terminalis), which emerges from many- 
chambered spongy galls. In spring these galls are 
light coloured; but later on, when the insect has 
made its escape, become brown. ‘The female insects 
may be either winged or wingless, whereas the males 
are always provided with these appendages. Up- 
wards of forty parasites have been reared from the 
galls of this species. Yet another familiar type is 
the bramble gall-wasp (Diastrophus rubv), which in 
spring produces hard and often twisted swellings on 
bramble-stems, from which in due course emerge 
the perfect insects. In the same illustration is 
shown the oak-root gall- wasp (Bioriza aptera). 
In this form the female is wingless, but the male is 
unknown. The galls are formed on the rootlets of 
the oak-trees beneath the surface of the ground. 

In the common rose-gall wasp (Rhodites rose), which produces the so-called 
bedeguan gall on roses, the larve are full-fed in autumn, although the perfect insect 
does not appear till the following spring. Their beautiful, mossy, pink-tinted galls 
furnish a home for many other insects, such as various species of Synergus, but 
especially parasites belonging to the families Pteromalidw and Braconide. 
Synergus facialis, of which a figure is given in the lower illustration on p. 20, 1s 
parasitic on the gall-wasps. So too is Figites scutellaris, shown in Fig. 6 of the 
same illustration. These are gall-wasps, so far as structure is concerned; but as 
regards their habits they are in no way different from ichneumons, living in the 
larval state in the bodies of various insects. Figites scutellaris, as well as most 
other members of the group, are parasitic on the larve of the flies; while Jbalia 
cultellator is parasitic in the larve of the giant saw-flies. 


ROSE GALL-WASP AND ITS GALL, 


22 JINISTE (CIES: 


Family PROCTOTRYPIDZ. 


The members of this obscure family are minute insects, with scarcely a trace of 
nervures in the wings in some species; and the ovipositor can be protruded and 
withdrawn at pleasure. Though some of the 
species are wholly unlike the Aculeata, yet others 
approach them so nearly in general characters that 
the present classification must be regarded as 
tentative. The habits of these minute insects are 
imperfectly known, though some are parasitic in 
the eggs of insects and spiders. The perfect insects, 
small and black, with variously-shaped plumose 
wings, seem to prefer damp, dark localities, such as 
furnished beneath fallen leaves and débris of 
hedges. Here also may be placed the two species 
of cgg-wasps (Teleas leviusculus and T. terebrans), 
which are both shining black and very minute 
insects, shown in the accompanying illustration, 
where they are buzzing round the eggs of a moth, 
ready to insert their own. The females usually 
deposit their eggs in those of the family Bombycida, 
as, for instance, those of the common lackey. 


Family CHALCIDID. 


EGG-WASPS. 


TRI enti toe Tite. This group includes a large number of small 


brans ; 8, Eggs ofa moth witha Teleus brightly -coloured insects with metallic lustre ; 
upon them about to pierce and lay its : 
eggs within ; 4, Eggs. (All but No. . ; 3 ; 
4 much enlarged.) known, while the tropics have not yet furnished 


their contingent of species. The antennz are 
always elbowed, and the wings broad with few nervures. Some of the larve 
live in galls, devouring the grub of the gall-wasp or those of the other inhabitants 
of the galls. The members of the present order, scale-insects and plant-lice, are 
alike subject to the attacks of the species of this family. One species (Leucopsis 
gigas) found in Southern Europe lays its eggs in the larvee of a mason-bee, which 
makes a cell of hard cement to protect its grub. Now the attacker has a boring 
apparatus, and the problem is how to ascertain the whereabouts of a grub, bore 
through the hard masonry, and lay eggs in the inmate. The cells are not distinct ; 
but the whole number, which are made in a sort of colony, are covered with 
cement, so that the task is doubly difficult. With the divining powers apparently 
situate in the antenne, a suitable spot is chosen, and after, it may be, an hour or so 


nearly three thousand European species being 
fa) 


of continuous boring, the succulent morsel is reached and the egg laid. How the 
wasp knows where the grub lies is not known. It seems to have the power—if not 
of seeing—at any rate of feeling literally through a brick wall. One of the largest 
members of the family is the gouty-legged wasp (Smicra clavipes), the egg 
of which is laid in the larve of certain water-insects. The wasp IS glistening 


HYMENOPTERA. 23 
biack, with reddish legs, the wings being better furnished with nervures than in other 
members of the family. In the chrysalis-stinger (Pteromalus puparum) the egg 
is laid in the chrysalis of several common butterflies during summer, while the 
larve remain in their host all through the winter, sometimes to the number of fifty. 


1,,GOUTY-LEGGED WASP ; 2, CHRYSALIS-STINGER ; 3, Sketches of various Chalcidide (enlarged). 


THE IcHNEUMON-Wasps,—Family [CHNEUMONIDZ. 


The species included in this vast family number upwards of six thousand, and 
doubtless more remain to be discovered. The majority are parasitic on the larvee 
of Lepidoptera, rendering good service to the agriculturist and gardener by holding 
in check the enormous quantities of larvee hatched every year. Some, however, 
attack other insects as well as spiders. The family is distinguished by the 
variation of the wings, though these characters vary too slightly to be of much 
value for generic or specific purposes. The antennz are of uniform thickness, 
many-jointed, and, as a rule, filiform, though in some exceptional cases club-shaped. 
The ichneumon-wasps do not hum, either when quiescent or on the wing, and are 
thus enabled to approach the victim within whose body they wish to lay their 
egos with a greater chance of success. Having selected a suitable caterpillar, 
the female deposits an ege with her ovipositor either on or beneath its skin. The 
egg soon hatches, and the grubs feed upon the tissues of the larve until full fed, 
when they pupate in or around the now almost empty skin of the caterpillar. The 
family has been divided into five groups, sufficiently distinguished from each other 
in their typical forms, but merging into one another through transitional species. 
Our first example is the ichneumon (Zxenterus marginatorius) figured in the 
illustration on p. 24, which belongs to the subfamily Tryphoninw, and is 
found chiefly in pine-woods, where it is parasitic on Lophyrus pini, described on 
p-16. The female attaches an egg by means of a hooklet to the skin of the green 
larvee, when nearly full grown. When the insect forms its barrel-shaped pupa, in 
which to pass the winter, the parasite remains attached to the skin of the larva, 
whose tissues it gradually absorbs. The perfect insect makes a small hole in the 
pupa-case when it emerges, and does not, as does L. pini, bite off a little cap at 
the top. Another type is Bassus albosignatus, which frequents the honey-dew 
dropped by aphid colonies. It lays its eggs on various larvee which feed upon the 


on INSECTS. 


aphides. In the allied genus Banchus, the species are parasitic on caterpillars, 
especially those of the hawk-moths. The affected larvee do not even reach the 
pupal state, but shrivel away, while the parasites form pup within the empty 
skin. The members of the typical genus and subfamily, such as Jcehnewnon 
pisorius, are among the largest and most brightly coloured of the group; their 
colours, which are white, black, red, and yellow, occurring in great variety of 
combination. The females are usually more brightly coloured than the males. 
The former sex is easily distinguished by the filiform antenne, which are some- 
times knotted, and may be observed to coil after the insect is dead. Many fine 
species may be taken from moss in the spring, where they hibernate, though the 
great majority appear in the summer and do not live through the winter. The 
European species named is one of the largest, and may be regarded as typical of 
the general appearance of members of the family. It is found from June onwards 


1, Exenterus marginatorius, about to sting the larva of Lophyrus pini; 2, Pupa-case of the latter with the 
parasite emerged ; 3, With the proper saw-fly emerged ; 4, Bassus albosignatus, about to attack a Syrphus- 
larva ; 6, Banchus falcator ; 7, Pupa of the ichneumon, (Nat, size.) 


in pine-woods, where it attacks the larvee of the pine hawk-moth, depositing a 
single egg in each victim. The caterpillar maintains its general health, and passes 
into the chrysalis state as though nothing were amiss; the only difference being that 
a large ichneumon-fly emerges instead of the expected moth. An illustration of 
the parasite is given in the illustration on p. 25, together with a pupa-case, 
with the cap removed, whence the fly has escaped. Of the other forms here figured, 
the male of Cryptus tarsoleucus gives a good idea of the general appearance of the 
males of the ichneumons, with their narrow elongate abdomen. All the species of 
Cryptus are parasitic on the larvee of the saw-flies, and the Bombycide ; the female 
laying several egos in each larva. A fine handsome form is the one known as Mesos- 
tenus gladiator, on account of its long needle-like ovipositor. It flies in June, and 
may be found in the vicinity of old crumbling walls, where bees of various kinds make 
their nest in the holes and crevices. In the same illustration is figured Hphialtes 
manifestator, representing the subfamily Pimplariine. In some members of this 
group the ovipositor issues from a ventral cleft in the abdomen, and in others from 


HVMENOPTERA. 25 


the tip itself; the instrument being sometimes three times the length of the entire 
body. All the species of the genus are much alike in general appearance, the 
smaller kinds being parasitic on small Jarvee, and the larger on those of superior 
size. They may be seen flying about in woods in summer, in search of the wood- 


1, Ichneumon pisorius, male, and empty pupa of pine hawk-moth, whence the parasite has emerged ; 2, Cryptus 
tarsoleucus, male; 3, Mesostenus gladiator, female; 4, Ephialtes manifestator, male and female, the latter 
laying her eggs. (Nat. size.) 


boring larve in whose bodies they lay their eggs. With intelligent agility the 
female hurries over the trunk, but by what sense she ultimately detects the 
presence of a larva within, and directs the ovipositor straight down to the spot, it 
is impossible to say; sight can be of 
no assistance, nor, one would judge, 
ean touch. Can the antenne be used, 
as the divining rod is supposed to be 
used in the search for water, when 
commonsense methods have failed ? 
Possibly, however, the sense of smell 
assists, and thus the seemingly 
miraculous becomes once more a 
common-place. The females appar- 
ently follow the borings of the larvee, 
for it would be next to impossible ee 7 
for them to penetrate the hard fibres Pimpla instigator, eG to the left, stinging the larva Chilis 


of the timber in which their victims satin-moth. To the right is the moth, beneath it the 
] pupa, from which emerges the adult, while the male of 
yarrow. One of the commonest the parasite is seen below. 


members of the family, and one of 

the largest English forms, is Pimpla instigator, which preys upon many species of 
larvee, especially those so destructive both in gardens and the forests. The perfect 
insect may be seen on tree-trunks, in woods and hedgerows, searching for larve, 
with its wings raised, ready for instant action. The illustration represents this 
species attacking the larve of the satin moth. 


26 J INES VOI OS 


Family BRACONIDE. 


The members of this family are very similar in general appearance to those 
of the last, though the differences in the number and form of the cells enclosed 
by the wing-nervures forms an easy distinction. In 
habits the Braconide are similar to the Jchnewnonidea, 
attacking as a rule the larve of Lepidoptera, although 
they are found as well in those of other insects. Up- 
wards of a thousand parasitic grubs of the genus 
Microgaster have been taken from a single caterpillar. 
It must be remembered that the grubs are not in reality 
gnawing at the vitals, but are nourished by the fluids 
circulating through the system. As an example of the 
family, we may take the genus J/icrogaster, which 
comprises many of the commonest species. The females 
of all, except two which are parasitic on Aphides and 
the eggs of spiders, attack the larvee of Lepidoptera, 
especially those clothed with hair. They are themselves 
the victims of the attacks of a species of Pteromalus— 
a genus of Hymenoptera briefly noted above. 


OTHER FAMILIES. 


In the family Hvaniide the abdomen is attached 
above the middle of the metanotum, not to its lower 
Microgaster nemorum, female (en- Margin. Among these is the Javelin- wasp (Fanus 

larged); its larve are feeding yaculator), a species parasitical on Hymenoptera which 


upon a large caterpillar (these eines : ale sais ys 1 Wn 4, " 
ape mat cial breed in old walls. In the typical genus Hvania the 


species are believed to be parasitic on the cockroach, 
depositing their eggs in the egg-capsules, and this habit will account for the presence 
of a certain species on board ships, where cockroaches abound. The members of the 
family Chrysidide are not easily mistaken for those of any other, being of moderate 
size, and distinguished by the brillianey of their colour, not only in the tropics but 
even in temperate climates. The integuments are more or 
less coarsely punctured, and the whole body glistens with 
metallic lustre, golden-yellow, tiery-red, blue, and green, all 
these being as a rule in combination. The perfect insects 


are most numerous in the summer months, and may be n.7 a0 4 
Fe A JAVELIN-WASP, Fenus jacula- 

observed amongst flowers, on decaying timber, old walls, tor (nat. size). 

and other suitable hunting-grounds. The females lay their 

eggs in the nest of the various burrowing Hymenoptera. It is probable that the 

grub devours the store of food garnered for its own progeny by the careful 

mother. Possibly it makes little distinction between the food supply and the 

tissues of the organism nourished by them. The common ruby-tailed wasps belong 

to this family. 


ia al . rC . . . . 
The golden burnished wasp (Stilbwm splendidum) is entirely steel-blue or 


HIVYMENOPTERA. 27 


golden-green. It occurs on the shores of the Mediterranean, and is also found 
in Asia. It is one of the largest of the European forms. Among these, the 
burnished blue wasp (Chrysis cyanea) is universally distributed throughout the 
whole of Europe. The females lay their eggs in the larvee of those species of 
Hymenoptera which make their nests in bramble-stems. The common golden 
wasp (C. ignita) may be seen flying in search for the larvee of Hymenoptera, 
whose burrows are made in old posts, walls, sand-pits, and other such places. Of 
the royal gold-wasp (Hedychrum lucidulum), another of the commoner and more 
beautiful species, a figure appears in the accompanying illustration. In the same 


iil Mik 


IN A i \\ NG Wit Wt 


| 


MW i li 
4 ‘ 
BURNISHED AND GOLD WASPS. 


1, Golden burnished wasp ; 2, Burnished blue wasp ; 3, Common gold wasp ; 4, Royal gold wasp, female ; 
5, Brazen-tailed wasp. 


illustration is also shown the brazen-tailed wasp (Elampus ceneus), of which the 
female deposits her eggs in the grub of a small species of the Sphegide. 


THe ANtTS—Family FormiciDz. 


The ants bring us to the section Aculeata, the members of which differ from 
the preceding section in that the females are furnished with a retractile sting in 
place of an ovipositor. As a family, ants are characterised by having the first 
segment of the abdomen and sometimes also the second reduced in size to form a 
stalk for the rest of the abdomen. The workers, moreover, are without wings. 
On account of their remarkable habits and intelligence, these insects demand a 
fuller notice than is accorded to other groups. As regards their visual powers, 
ants are very sensitive. While disliking any strong light suddenly thrown into 
their nests, they prefer rays transmitted through a red medium, but object more 
to those coming through green and yellow, while those through a violet medium 
they abhor. Though sight is well developed, hearing seems much less so; vibra- 
tions of the air produced by tuning-forks, violin strings, or whistling, being little 
heeded. Neither has any sound emitted by the ants themselves been detected, 
even with the most sensitive instruments. The sense of smell is evidently keen, 
for brushes dipped in scent arouse distinct curiosity. When the scent left in its 
tract by an ant is obliterated, the ants next following are bafiled, like hounds at 
fault, until, after a little casting about, they pick it up on the other side. In 
seeking for an object of whose existence and position they are aware, ants make 


28 INSECTS 


use of both sight and smell; but it is in the latter that they place most confidence, 
for if the object be removed only the space of an inch from its position, the ant in 
search of it will make a number of cross journeys over the old resting-place before 
it is successful. The scent, too, seems to be- rather that left by former footsteps 
than proceeding from the object itself. This sense of smell, and perhaps touch 
combined, is obviously manifested in the caressing or recognition of friends with 
the delicate antenne. The mysterious sense of direction is, after all, but sensitive- 
ness to the direction in which the rays of light fall from a luminous object, and, 
as such, is but a form of sight. This is proved as follows:—Ants made to cross 
a wooden bridge would, in most cases, instantly turn round, if their heads were 
turned in an opposite direction, by the bridge being made to rotate on a point. 
And they would at once lose the sense of direction if light was shut out from the 
artificial tract prepared for them, while if the candle were moved round in the 
same direction as the bridge over which they travelled, though the direction be 
changed, the ant does not become aware of it, because the rays of light fall from 
the same point. Nevertheless, the sense of smell is evidently the stronger, for 
ants carrying larve from a cup to the nest still continue their course, although the 
board on which they are travelling be turned right round. They follow the scent 
of former tracks rather than take notice of the direction in which the light falls. 

It is obvious that without some faculty representing, at anyrate, the rudi- 
ments of memory, ants would not be able to recognise even the scent left by 
comrades on the ground, nor would they persistently seek for an object which 
had been removed. They exhibit, however, all the phenomena of true memory. 
A fact, by repetition, becomes more firmly fixed as a sense-impression on their 
brains. It fades away if not refreshed. Evidence in favour of a highly-developed 
sense of memory is furnished by the fact that ants from a certain nest were in 
the habit of journeying year by year, during the season of activity, to a chemist’s 
shop, six hundred yards distant, to a syrup-jar. It is scarcely likely that the jar 
was found every year by fresh ants, so that memory alone will account for the 
circumstance. It is perhaps in the recognition of friends, however, that ants 
manifest the most extraordinary powers of memory. They invariably recognise a 
friend, while a stranger is almost instantly slain. Ants held captive for months, 
and returned to the nest, are recognised as lost friends, and caressed with the 
antenne. This recognition might be merely a matter of the well-known odour of 
a friend; but even then it must be a national smell, for it is scarcely possible 
that each can recognise the personal scent of every individual. Not only do they 
recognise the perfect ants, but even the offspring, or eggs, removed and hatched in 
other nests, and returned home full grown, are recognised as kith and kin, while 
their foster-mothers are slain. One can hardly suppose that the scent, unless 
such be inherited, would account for such recognition. 

Whereas ants show evidence of such feelings as rage and combativeness, the 
emotion of sympathy is by no means as constant or intense as might be supposed 
from their general intelligence and power of recognising friends. Mutilated ants, 
and those in difficulties, are passed by on the other side; but an intoxicated ant 
staggering in its tracks does not fail to excite astonishment, and is carried off as 
a sort of curiosity to the nest. Chloroformed ants, however, are dropped into the 


HI VMENOPTERA. 29 


water, where they were, of course, motionless. That ants have the power of com- 
municating intelligence admits of no doubt. Two ants were introduced, the one 
to three hundred or six hundred larve in one glass, the other to two or three in 
another glass, each took a larva and returned to the nest. A larva was added to 
the second glass every time one was taken. In forty-seven and a half hours the 
ant which was introduced to the six hundred larvee had brought two hundred and 
fifty-seven friends to help, while the other in fifty-three hours had brought but 
eighty-two. 

The swarms of ants which in spring rise in clouds are males and females. 
This is their nuptial dance, and for hours they circle and sport in the sunshine. 
The males fall and die, or are destroyed by numerous foes. Nor is any assistance 
offered them by the workers, who well know that their vocation in life has been 
fulfilled, and they themselves are no longer of any use. The females having 
divested themselves of their wings, with claws and legs, set about founding new 
colonies. The eggs, however, must be nursed if they are to hatch, and are 
subjected to much licking by the nurses. Then the larvee must be fed; next, they 
are carefully cleansed and carried for their daily walk through the lanes of the 
nest. Not even after the grub has become a pupa is the ant allowed to emerge 
without assistance. Biichner writes that “the little creature when freed from 
its chrysalis is still covered with a thin skin, like a little shirt, which has to be 
pulled off When we see how neatly and gently this is done, and how the tiny 
creature is then washed, brushed, and fed, we are involuntarily reminded of the 
nursing of human babies.” Next, they are taught their domestic duties, and to 
distinguish between friend and foe. If the nest is attacked, the older and more 
experienced fight, while the younger members remove the pupz to a place of safety. 

Ants not only feed upon the honey-dew dropped by plant-lice upon leaves, 
but also rear aphide eggs, and feed the insects for the sake of their secretion. 
Tunnels, or covered ways, are made by some ants up the branches of the trees 
where the aphides live, so that the insects are enclosed and kept prisoners. 
Certain portions of the tunnels are enlarged to form stables, where the aphides are 
penned, the doors being large enough for the narrow ants to enter and leave, but 
not for the rotund plant-lice to escape. The ‘cows’ are induced to part with a 
drop of honey-dew by a gentle stroking with the antennx, and general encourage- 
ment of other kinds. Ants are far in advance of human dairymaids in the matter 
of tact in dealing with their cows. Colonies of aphides have been carried by ants 
to fresh pastures. 

It is no long step from cow-keeping to slave-making. At least three species 
of ants indulge in this reprehensible practice. A raid is organised against a 
neighbouring nest—warriors. and workers are slain, and the pup carried off, 
hatched, and reared, soon to work and fight for their masters in the land of their 
captivity. In some cases the slaves are kept for indoor occupation, and are carried 
off, as part of their goods and chattels, by their masters, when they migrate into 
new quarters. Another species does not work at all, neither males nor females ; 
capture slaves, but dono more. They neither feed 
a city-state entirely dependent on slave- 


the workers—sterile females 
their young, nor make their nests, 
labour. Not only, however, do slave-making ants engage in expeditions against 


30 LNSECLS: 
other communities for the purpose of securing servants; but even many ants, 
whose energies are confined to agriculture, not infrequently wage war for the sake 
of plunder on others whose habits of life are similar. An expedition of the former 
tribes usually consists of a general attack upon the nest of a species which they 
are in the habit of enslaving. Single scouts are sent out to reconnoitre, whose 
business it is to investigate the position of the nest and the whereabouts of the 
entrances. Having satisfied themselves of the feasibility of an attack, they return 
to their own nest, and summon forth the hosts of ferocious warriors. These 
encouraging one another with taps of the antenne, march on the unhappy colony, 
whose baby inhabitants they propose to enslave. Of all the warriors the most 
warlike are the amazons (Formica rufescens), robber-ants of great size, strength, 
and courage. A column is formed, and, guided by the scent of their prey, as they 
come within the radius of thei victims’ pathways to and from their city, in 
hundreds they rush onwards. An hour, it may be, after the start, the nest is 
reached and entered, and soon the struggle becomes a furious battle, on the one 
hand to save, on the other to carry off the larve. Up the neighbouring trees the 
owners fly with their precicus burdens, a harbour of refuge, secure from danger, 
for here the Amazons cannot follow—specialised to kill but not to chmb. Others 
hang on the flanks of the retreating columns and harass the thieves bearing off 
the tender pupxe. A nurse seizes one end of her nursling, the Amazon has the 
other, imperceptibly the jaws of the latter steal up, still holding on, towards the 
far end, till the nurse’s head is pierced. Sometimes the Amazon lets go, and the 
nurse is gone in a trice, and the pupa with her, while the warrior contents itself 
with a vicious grin as the embryo slave vanishes into the tree-tops. The slaves 
left behind in the city are ready to receive the plunder; and soon more slaves are 
hatched, whose prison is now their home, for they have never been conscious of 
another. But success does not always smile upon their expeditions ; an entire army 
may lose the way, courage may fail the leaders, disputes may arise, and general 
unaccountable want of esprit de corps breaks their resolution, and the attack is 
abandoned. Many a warrior loses its way emerging from the ravaged nest by 
passages which open to the thicket far from those they entered by. The sense of 
smell is of no avail, that of direction does not rise to the occasion. 

Another robber-ant (Formica sanguinea), not so well furnished with offensive 
weapons, but larger and more intelligent than the former, also sallies forth in 
search of slaves. Both may meet in combat on the march, and the dead and 
dying mangled remains, and heads and legs nipped off, bear witness to the 
consequences. These robber-ants do not attack a nest with a rush, as do the 
Amazons. They lay deliberate siege to it, surround it, securing the entrances and 
exits. None of the inhabitants are allowed to pass if they carry pupz. 

Of the other inmates of ants’ nests such as beetles, crickets, spiders, wood-lice, 
and the like, want of space forbids mention, and, indeed, the reason of their 
presence is not obvious. The supposition that they are kept as pets possibly 
derives support merely from the analogy drawn from similar whims amongst 
human beings. That ants sleep is an undoubted fact, and so too that they bestow 
much care upon their toilet, assisting each other in this respect. Bates writes 
that “here and there an ant was seen stretching forth first one leg and then 


HYMENOPTERA. 31 


J 


another, to be brushed and washed by one or more of its comrades, who performed 
the task by passing the limb between the jaws and tongue, finishing off by giving 
] ee ie mee) z By) > 
the antenne a friendly wipe.” Recreations, too, are not unknown to them: 
‘ . Ona 2 Baa iie . ne 7 ae a 2 5 g 
running after each other in hide-and-seek, followed often by a rough-and-tumble 
T je . a ° e a 
game. Stranger still, they hide away the dead bodies of their friends i inks 
1eir friends in chinks 
and erevices far from the nest, and thus perform a sort of burial. That the 
habit is more than the desire to be rid of what is useless, or may be injurious 
seems doubtful; unless, indeed, such device lics at. the root of all funeral customs 
a3 is not improbable. 

Of the British species, the largest is the red wood-ant (F. rufu). It 

7 C . be . . = . 
abounds in fir-plantations in the southern counties of Eneland, and the huge 
. . . + . * = . ; = 
heaps of pine-needles it gathers over its nest are familiar objects to frequenters 


> 


? 


1, HONEY-POT ANT; 2, PARASOL-ANTS on the march ; 3, Dwellings of husbandmen ants. (Nat. size.) 


of the forests; while the size, ferocity, and numbers of the ants themselves 
become a nuisance even before their ways have ceased to be amusing. If the 
nest be disturbed, the fumes of formic acid burst out full in the face of the 
intruder, while the jaws of the enraged inhabitants render further operations 
impossible. Numbers of nests, however, are annually ransacked of their pup 
for young pheasants, which often seem surprised by the flavour cf the ants, which 
they pick up with the pups. Highways cross the paths in every direction 
azound the nest, and the ants may be seen coming and going continuously 
{hroughout the day, bringing in twigs, caterpillars, and fragments of all kinds of 
insects, to be safely stored away in the nest. Still larger is the Hercules ant 
(Camponotus herculeanus), which inhabits wooded highlands in continental Europe, 
and constructs its nest in decayed tree-trunks. The female measures more than 
half an inch in length; and the insects, when swarming, gather in a cloud around 
the base of some tree. In colour the body is glistening grey, while the tips of the 
wings are yellow. The honey-pot ant (Myrmecocystus mexicanus), of which the 


32 INSECTS. 


habits are alluded to above, inhabits the highlands of Mexico and South Colorado. 
The nest is constructed in the ground, usually beneath hillocks, in a gravelly soil, 
and contains passages and chambers arranged in different storeys, some for food, 
others for the larve, and the third for the honey-pots. The inhabitants condemned 
to servitude in the honey-secreting department of this community are never 
allowed out. An allied species is found in Australia. Still more curious is the 
South American saiiba, or parasol-ant (Gcodoma cephalotes), dreaded on account 
of the havoc it works amongst the foliage of plantations. Agriculture, too, becomes 
next to impossible where these destructive insects abound. They are not without 
their uses, however, for the Indians regard the females when full of eggs as a 
delicacy. Seizing the insects by the thorax, they nip off the luscious morsel with 
their teeth, much as we may see monkeys behave towards a fly. The nests of this 
species are prodigious. Bates speaks of hills forty yards in circumference, or about 
twelve yards across, while others are of even larger size. This hill, huge as it 1s, 
is merely the outer covering of a network of galleries extending deep and far into 
the ground, with many outlets into the surrounding country, usually carefully 
secured. The workers, of which there are two forms, look after the progeny and 
gather food; while the soldiers, with broad heads and terrible jaws, sally forth if 
danger threatens their citadel. The stronger workers march in daily procession 
to the plantations in search of leaves, and return, each with a piece securely held 
in its jaws. The more slightly built remain at home, engaged in the less arduous 
operations of domestic economy, and rarely venture far from their nest. These 
leaf-cutting expeditions are directed chiefly against coffee- and orange-plantations, 
and the ants, accompanied by a detachment of soldiers, partly no doubt to keep 
order, and more especially to guard the caravan against freebooters, march in 
large columns to the groves, climb the trees, and begin to reap their daily harvest. 
Kach ant having cut with its toothed mandibles a piece of leaf half an inch in 
diameter, descends the tree, holds its booty high in the air, edge upwards, and so 
homewards. The leaf-dises thus held above their heads have earned for these 
insects the name of “ parasol-ants.” The path they travel on is soon beaten down 
with footsteps, and worn till it becomes a deep groove; but even height does 
not end their activity and mischief, for they make raids on the houses of the 
planters in search of groceries and sweetstufls, appearing often in swarms. There 
are several species of this genus with similar habits, and all are known by the 
natives of Brazil under the single name saiiba. An illustration of one of the leaf- 
cutting expeditions returning homewards is given in the illustration on p. 31. 


Family MUTILLIDZ, cic. 


The species included in the families Mutillide, Thynnide, and Scoliide, 
number from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred. The females of members of the 
first two are wingless, while those of all three families possess a formidable poison- 
sting. Of the European Mutilla ewropea, the males may be seen, though not 
commonly, amongst flowers, and frequenting foliage infested with aphides. The 
wingless female may, however, often be met with on sandy commons in summer. 
The larvee are found in the nests of humble-bees, where they feed upon the grubs. 


HYMENOPTERA. 39 
All species of the family, however, are not parasitic on humble-bees, for in South 
America, where the tribes of the former are scantily represented, those of the latter 
are numerous. Of the third family, we take as example the formidable Scolia 
nemorrhoidalis, which is found in Turkey, Hungary, Greece, and Southern 

ct = i ean So on : : 
Russia. Not very much is known of its habits and life-history, but such as is 
points to a larval life parasitic on various beetles; while other members of the 


Mutilla ewropewa—1, Female ; 2, Male ; and Scolia nemorrhoidalis—3, Male ; 4, Female. 


family have been taken from nests of the parasol-ant. In the Scolide the wings 
are present in both sexes. Figures of the male and female are 
illustration above. 


given in the 


Family BEMBICIDZ. 


The members of this family are distinguished from the under-mentioned 
Sphegide by the formation of the labrum, which is much produced. In general 
appearance they resemble the hornets and larger wasps. Bembewx rostrata, figured 
on p. 35, is found not uncommonly throughout Europe, but becomes more local in 
the northern countries. The insects fly in circles, with a loud hum of their power- 
ful wings round and round the burrows which the female makes in the loose sand 
or earth. Here are stowed away the bodies of large flies, reduced by an application 
of the sting to a state of unconsciousness; and in each nest a single egg is laid, the 
grub when hatched feeding upon the food which it finds placed within its reach. 


Family POMPILID&. 


In this group the males are characterised by their slender form and small 
size; and both sexes may be recognised by their energetic hurrying to and fro 
with quivering wings and antenne, moving rapidly on all sides, as they search 
sandy commons for a suitable spot to burrow in, as well as for the spiders which 
they numb with a sting and store up for the larve. The members of the family 
are universally distributed, being larger and more brilliant in tropical countries. 

VOL. VI.—3 


aA INSECTS. 


0 


Some make their nests in the beetle-borings of old trees and posts, and prey upon 
all kinds of insects and their larvee; others prey exclusively on spiders, and confine 
their burrowing operations to sandy soils. Not only do spiders of the family 
Lycoside, which run freely on the surface of the ground but make no nest, fall 
victims to the Pompilus, but the Epevride are snatched from the very centre of 
their maze and earried off, their powers of resistance rendered futile by one 
paralysing stroke of the poisonous sting. Well are these spiders aware of the 
danger, for they drop instantly from their webs into the herbage when the hum of 
wings warns them of the near presence of a wasp. Others, however, whose staple 
food consists of bees and wasps, are not so easily alarmed, and learn to distinguish 
between friends and foes. The figured Pompilus natalensis is of considerable 
service in Natal, since its habit is to search every nook and cranny for house- 
frequenting spiders. Up and down the windows, in and out amongst the rafters, 


5 2 


\\ 


ey 
AN 
LAZ/W“\\\«<\\\\\ 


A 
Se 


1, Pompilus natalensis ; 2, Pompilus trivialis ; 3, Larva of latter on garden spider ; 4, Priocnemis variegatus ; 
5, Agenia punctum, with its two cells. 


the female passes to and fro in search of the large spiders which lodge in their 
webs hung up amongst the woodwork. The victims when captured are buried 
with the egg in a hole in some suitable corner within or without the house. A 
large species of this genus attacks spiders of the genus Lycosa on English commons, 
and buries them in a somewhat similar fashion. The second species figured in the 
illustration (P. trivialis) also attacks spiders, especially Lycosa inquilina. 


Family SPHEGID&. 


Many of the handsome insects belonging to this family are uniformly black, 
black and red, or yellow and black. The majority, however, are black with brilliant 
yellow or white markings, and shine with the lustre of burnished metal. These 
markings are very variable even in the same species, rendering their identification 
difficult for the student, though on account of that contrast of colour, and the 


H{1YMENOPTERA. 35 


o 


activity of their movements, the members of this family are amongst the most 
attractive of all hymenopterous insects. Some species prey upon lepidopterous 
larvee, others on grasshoppers, while another provisions its nest with three or four 
crickets. These latter, however, are not captured without a severe tussle. The 
Sphex leaps upon the cricket's back, delivers a couple of stings, and all is over. 


Family CRABRONIDE. 
yy 


The numerous members of this family are usually black with yellow markings. 
Their nests are formed either in the ground or in decaying timber; the tunnels of 
wood-boring beetles being utilised in the latter case. While the smaller species 
feed chiefly on aphides, the larger kinds are more partial to flies. Figures of three 
species, viz., Crossocerus scutatus, C. elongatulus, and Crabro patellatus, are given 


| 5 


Ci sf 


AN =} 
R\< f ( 
SAV SEY 


SSE SS Saf 
WN SSSA 


On 
_ 
eo 
fw 
— 
i) 


3 

Mellinus arvensis—1, Male ; 2, Female ; 3, M. sabulosus ; 4, Bembex rostrata ; 5, Philanthus triangulum, Cerceris 

arcuaria ; 6, Male; 7, Female ; 8, Trypoxylon figulus ; 9, Crabro patellatus—Female ; 10, Male ; 11, Crossocerus 
scutatus—Male ; 12, C. elongatulus ; 13, Oxybelus uniglumis. (1, 10-13 enlarged, the rest nat. size.) 


in the annexed illustration. Another form is Mellinus arvensis, usually met with in 
pine-woods, where it may be seen searching about on the sandy soil, and is particu- 
larly fond of the honey-dew deposited by aphides. A smaller form (J. sabulosus) 
is likewise shown in the illustration. The same illustration also shows Trypoxylon 
figulus, a black insect, which may be observed throughout the ‘summer flying 
busily to and fro among posts and decaying trees. A variation in the mode of 
making its cell will be noticeable. Selecting a long tunnel, the female brings in 
aphides or small spiders, lays an egg, deposits a suitable supply of food, and fits on 
the top a wad of mud, above this again another cell is constructed, similarly 
capped with mud, and so on till the tunnel is full. 


36 INSECTS. 


Family PHILANTHIDE. 


Asan example of this family may be taken Philanthus triangulum, the larva 
of which feeds upon the honey-bee, and other members of the same group. In 
the illustration on p. 35 a figure of this species is given. Since, at least, five 
bees are provided for each larva, the havoe caused in hives where these insects 
abound must be considerable. A separated nest, in some warm sunny slope, is 
made for each egg. Another form is Oxybelus wniglums, figured in the illustra- 
tion on p. 35. In this species the female excavates tunnels in sandy ground, 
to which the sunshine has free access, and flies are mainly used to provision the 
nest, as a rule one only to each cell. The fly is attacked from above, knocked 


down, stung in the neck, and carried off to the nest. A third form (Cerceris 


COMMON LEAF-CUTTER BEE. @, 6, Female and male (enlarged), c, Rose-leaves with several pieces clipped out and a bee 
at work ; d, Nest in a willow stem ; e, A single cell ; f, The lid of same ; g-h, Pieces of leaf ; i-/, Side pieces. 


arcuaria), Shown in the same illustration, is a black insect with yellow bands 
on the abdomen, as are most of its kindred. 


WASPS AND BEES. 


Before taking into consideration the families into which these groups are 
divided, it is advisable to give an account of some points connected with their 
habits, as well as a notice of their special senses. As regards sight, the large size 
of their compound eyes, in addition to the presence of ocelli, indicates their high 
degree of visual power. In respect of perception of colour, experiments have 
shown that if honey be placed on cards of different colour, bees show a decided 
preference for special tints; orange and yellow being the prime favourites. 


HYMENOPTERA. Bir 


Similarly, no doubt, the colours of flowers have a greater or smaller degree of 
attraction for these insects. Indeed, it is beyond question that the fertilisation of 
flowers by the visitation of bees has tended to the development of the special 
colours patronised by the insects, while blossoms which were of less favourite hues 
have gradually disappeared. Black, white, and green flowers are not so common as 
yellow, orange, blue, or red; and black is less prevalent than either of the others. 
Although experiments to prove or disprove the sensibility of bees to sound have so 
far been negative, yet from the fact that they are exceedingly sensitive to a certain 
peculiar cry occasionally emitted by the queen, which acts like an electric shock, it 
would appear that hearing is likewise well developed. That bees and wasps are 
able to find their way, and to fly off apparently without hesitation straight for 
home, needs no proof. But this power does not necessarily indicate some mysterious 
sense of direction, enabling them to perceive their bearings by occult means. 
Rather may it be looked upon as due to the ordinary observance of conspicuous 
landmarks, such as are utilised for guidance even by man himself. Bees, for 
instance, have been taught the way to a store of honey by the repetition of single 
experiences, proving that they pass from the unaccustomed to the well-known, 
little by little. Naturally, the direction of a point to which whithersoever they 
may wander out, they must invariably return many times a day, soon passes from 
the sphere of calculation and enters the region of simple intuition; so rapid and 
unconscious are the various acts of perception involved. That these insects do 
thus take note of landmarks has been shown by Bates, who describes how a sand- 
wasp carefully marked the spot where half of a larva had been left by circling 
round and alighting in the vicinity. And even then, when it returned, though it 
flew many times straight to a certain conspicuous leaf close above the booty, 
doubtless a landmark yet it could not for a long while—and after repeated pounces 
in the wrong direction, and more it seemed by good luck at last—succeed in finding 
it. Noone who has heard the ery of an angry wasp, and experienced the pain 
which has followed, will doubt that anger and malice have their places in the 
wasp’s nature. Often do these insects seem to make straight for an innocent 
bystander, and sting from pure spitefulness. Sympathy for the ailing and 
wounded, as amongst the ants, so amongst the bees, seems to be more noticeable 
than it is towards those actually in distress,—though uninjured. It has been 
doubted, indeed, whether bees show any affection for one another ; the caressing 
antenne, as well as the personal attentions to each other so noticeable in the case of 
ants, are certainly lacking. As in ants, however, the antennz seem to be the chief 
organs of communication. . 

As regards habits, there are two chief operations in which bees and wasps 
engage, namely, the procuring of food and the rearing of a progeny. This food is 
of two kinds,—honey gathered from the nectaries of flowers, and bee-bread, or 
flower-pollen moistened with honey, kneaded by the workers, and stored away, for 
feeding the larve. The workers, or honey-gatherers, do not bring in more than 
one sort of pollen at the same time; and when the nurses, or domestic Uses receive 
the pollen from the honey-gatherers they keep it carefully separate. The sort of 
pollen is more nutritious than another, and a female larva fed on the more nutri- 
tious bee-bread will become a queen or fertile female, and one hive cannot afford 


38 INSE CLS, 


ro) 


more than a few of such luxuries. Those fed on the less nutritious bread turn out 
workers, or non-fertile females. For the males special conditions are arranged by 
the queen when laying the eggs. Royal cells, framed for the feeding of queens, 
are much larger than those for workers. In secreting wax for the cells, bees 
having eaten as much honey as they can conveniently carry, hang in a cluster from 
the top of the hive. Soon the wax begins to burst from glands beneath the edges 
of the segments of the body, and is rubbed off with the legs. Cell-construction 
now begins, and in addition to the wax, a sort of resinous cement, drawn from the 
sap of conifers, is used to strengthen the walls at their angles, and also to cover the 
inside of the hive. The six-sided form of the cells of the honey-bee 
appears to have been evolved after ages of gradual modification from 
the simple cylinder which would be formed by a cylindrical body—as that of a 
bee—moulding wax around itself; this form alone admitting of the greatest 
number of cells being placed side by side, and tier by tier, without leaving waste 


Honey-Bee. 


fi 5 
“din) 


Mi 
i! (dn 


UCC 
Nu th !) 
Nyy y 


INMATES OF A HIVE. 


A—1, Queen ; 2, Worker (non-fertile female) ; 3, Drone or male ; 4, Mandible from outside. (All slightly enlarged.) 
B, Hind-leg of worker ; c, Thigh (femur); 6, Shank (tibia); a, First tarsal joint. C, Egg (much enlarged). D, 
Larva and pupa (nat. size). E, Longitudinal section of the abdomen of a worker ; 1, Honey-crop ; 2, Egg-sac ; 
3, Poison-sac ; 4, Oil-gland ; 5, Semen-sac or spermatheca ; 6, Sting ; c¢, Segmental interstices, whence the wax 
issues. F, Mouth-parts; a, Maxille ; ¢d, Basal joint of same; 6, Labial palpi; c, Tongue. G, Bee-louse and 
its pupa (much enlarged). H, Brush (much enlarged). J, Poison-apparatus ; @, Poison-gland ; 6, Poison- 
vesicle ; c, Sting-groove ; a, Sting; e, Sting-sheath. (AJl much enlarged.) 


vacant spaces between. The greater the number of the cells the stronger the 
colour, the stronger the colour the more numerous the swarms and the greater the 
chance of the perpetuation of the race. The intermediate form between the cylinder 
and the regular hexagon is found in the comb of the Melipona bee, which forms 
cylindrical cells, but so close together that the partition-wall becomes a flat-plate, 
since it is impossible for a thin sheet to be concave on both sides at once; modifi- 
cations from this form combined with modified instincts would eventually produce 
a regular hexagon. It is to be borne in mind, however, that this form arises not 
because the bees are aware that a regular hexagon is the most economic form of 
cell they can adopt, but simply because, when a group of bees stand close to each 
other, and form cells of pliant wax,—whose walls break through at all points on 
account of their proximity, rendering it necessary to build up a flat wall between,— 
they cannot fashion it in any other way. For at all points of a single cell, six bees 


HYMENOPTERA. 39 


oO 


at the sides, and six bees below are constantly encroaching and fitting in the sides 
and corners of their own cells, around that of each single bee. Bees have proved 
in practice what to the matheiaticians is inevitable in theory. Nevertheless, bees 
are not compelled to form their combs in this or that way without any power of 
adaptation to special circumstances. They construct their comb and hang their 
connections wherever the holding seems likely to be most secure, and thus, on a less 
complicated plane of intelligence, carry out precisely what human beings accom- 
plish under more complex conditions, namely, they adapt means to ends. The 
difference is one of degree, not of kind. 

The fact that eggs are laid by a single female of unusual size is note- 
worthy. Bee-colonies, however, unlike those of the social wasps, are permanent, 
hibernating during the winter. Each wasp-colony or nest originates from a single 
female, which survives through the winter and by herself lays the foundation of 
a new colony. Among bees a certain number of workers, or non-fertile females, 
are set apart as maids-in-waiting, who attend to the queen’s wants in the matter of 
food, which are considerable during the period of laying. <A single egg is laid in 
each cell, and, as mentioned above, larger cells are set apart for the queens; the 
difference between these and the non-fertile females being entirely brought about 
by the difference in food. This, however, isnot the case with the males, and it is a 
disputed point whether the queen can control the sex of any particular egg, or 
whether she can select a male egg as she proceeds with the laying. Certain it is, 
at any rate, that when she reaches a drone or male-cell, which is larger, she 
deposits an egg which will become a male. It has usually been asserted that 
unfertilised eggs become males, while those which are fertilised turn out females. 
This may be the case, and certainly would tend to bear out the general truth that 
absence of nutrition tends to give the male element greater preponderance in the 
progeny, though the immediate physical conditions on which the sex of the offspring 
depends are imperfectly known. A superabundance of males is, as a rule, 
associated with failing provisions and loss of bodily energy, and this is borne out 
by the fact that when the queen is old she is apt to lay too many drone-eggs. 
This, however, is a failing which the community cannot put up with, and if the 
queen be unable to produce profitable offspring she is put to death. Still both 
bees and queens well know that the one supreme calamity which can befall the 
bee-community is to be left without a queen, not because they need her rule, 
but because on her alone rests the future of the colony. And it has been 
asserted that if two queens only remain, and are contesting for the mastery, 
and each should simultaneously have the chance to deliver a sting which might 
prove fatal to both, each releases the other, dreading to leave the hive queenless. 

: Inseparable from these phenomena is that of swarming or the 
care budding off of new colonies from the mother-hive. Owing to the 
instinct of the workers, who can arrest or accelerate development by regulating 
the food-supply, a new queen is always ready when a swarm of bees is prepared 
to leave the overcrowded hive. This queen is, however, not permitted to leave 
her cell till the actual moment of flight; and all along has to be protected from 
the reigning queen, by whom, if opportunity were afforded she would be killed. 
Indeed, when the swarming season is over, the actual sovereign 1s permitted to 


40 INSE CHS. 


make short work of all her rivals. The function of the nurses, as their name 
implies, is to rear the young, and, if necessary, preserve the queens. After the 
males, or drones, have fulfilled their duties, they are massacred in thousands by 
the workers; even the young grubs and pupe being dragged from their cells and 
killed. In many wasp- societies, these matters are, ltowever, more leniently 
arranged, since the males usually assist in the general duties of the colony. Still 
even these exhibit an unaccountable habit, all the grubs and pupz being dragged 
out and slain as winter approaches. Whether the wasps themselves begin to experi- 
ence the pinch of hunger, and wish to close mouths which must otherwise starve, 
or what may be the motive for such action, is beyond our ability to guess. Since 
every wasp, save here and there a large female, or queen, perishes at the approach 
of winter, the massacre cannot be justified on the score of prudential social policy. 


SoLiraARY WASPS AND Mup-Wasps,—Families W4SARID4 and HUMENIDA. 


The true wasps may be conveniently divided into solitary and social wasps, 
although there is a more or less complete transition between the two. Of the typical 


MUD-WASPS. 
1, Odynerus parietum, female, with nest ; 2, Chrysis ignita ; 3, Polistes gallica, female and nest. 


solitary wasps (Masaride), which are mostly tropical forms, and constitute a link 
between the parasitic wasps described above and the Vespide, but little is known. 
Some kinds are, however, parasitic, and possibly many may be so. On the other 
hand, the Humenide are solitary wasps, which make their nests chiefly in mud- 
walls or sandstone cliffs; some constructing a series of mud-cells in the hollow 
stems of plants, and supplying their grubs with caterpillars for food. A well- 
known European example is the figured Odynerus parietum, a variable insect, 
making its appearance in May and June. The nests are made in holes of old 
mud-walls, or the banks of clay-pits, and are filled with grubs of beetles belonging 
to the family Chrysomelide, or with the caterpillars of small moths. 


SociaL Wasps,—Family VzusPrp#. 


The members of this group form a link between the foregoing and the true 
bees, since each species includes a fertile female or queen, unfertile females or 


HYMENOPTERA. 4I 


workers, and males or drones. The nests are formed of a kind of paper manu- 
factured from the dry parings of old posts and trees. Since we have already dealt 
briefly with the general habits of the Vespide, further reference to them, save as 
occasion for their mention arises in the course of subsequent description of species 
will be unnecessary. The members of the family may themselves be shy Gueaicned 
at once from all other Hymenoptera by the peculiar arrangement of ae es 
when folded at rest. The fore-wings partly enclose the hind ee both opine 
lying along the sides of the abdomen, not concealing it from phoed “The food of 
wasps consists of the saccharine matter derived from various vegetable products 
and also from animal matter. As regards the distribution of eaadls rants from 
the usual increase in size and beauty of colouring—it may be remarked that the 
closer the equatorial regions are approached, the more numerous do members of 


LIFE-HISTORY OF THE HORNET. 


a, b, Adult; c, Portion of brood-cells ; d, Larva; e, Pupa. (d and e somewhat enlarged.) 


this group become. Of the better-known forms the common hornet (Vespa erabro) 
is readily distinguished from other species of wasps by its large size and the 
prevailing red tint on the anterior portions of the body. It is universally dis- 
tributed throughout Europe, and occurs as far north as Lapland. The solitary 
female, after her hibernation, commences to build the first foundation of her nest 
in May on some convenient beam in a loft or outhouse, or frequently in the 
holes made in the eaves of thatched cottages by sparrows. The food of the grubs 
consists of the bodies of insects, bees, etc., which the workers chew up for their 
benefit. On the approach of autumn the remaining larve, which have not yet 
been hatched out, are torn from their cells and left to perish. Under the title of 


common wasps no less than five species may be included, although V. vulgaris is 


the common wasp par excellence. V. germanica may be recognised by the three 


42 INSECTS, 


black spots on a yellow eclypeus. V. vulgaris presents a longitudinal black line 
dilated at the extremity. V. rufa is rare in Northern Europe. V. media has the 
yellow markings of the abdomen darker than in the other species. The wood- 
wasp, V. silvestris, hangs its nest on the bough of a tree or shrub. Such brief 
notices are, of course, wholly inadequate 
for a student of the group; and reference 
must be made to writings devoted to the 
special points of difference between these 
closely allied species. Among other forms 
space only admits mention of the South 
African wasp (Belonogaster), of which 
the comb is shown in the annexed figure. 
Common in houses at the Cape, this 
insect is much dreaded on account of the 
severity of its sting. 


SOLITARY BreEs,—Family A NVDRENIDA. 


These insects may be recognised by 
the fact that the pollen-collecting organs 


are situated on the femora and cox of 
the hind-legs, and the neighbouring sides 
of the thorax. The genera Andrena and Hyleus comprise the greater part of all 
the wild bees of Central and Northern Europe. The perfect insects appear in 
the early spring, making their nests in sandy soil. In the first genus figures of 
three species (A. schenchi, A. cineraria and A. fulvicrus) are given in the accom- 
panying illustration. H. grandis, figured on the same illustration, flies in July 
and August, and forms a large number of holes—a kind of colony—in some sunny 
slope. The species of both Andrena and the allied Halictus are parasitic, and 
display a very curious habit. When retiring to rest they fasten upon a twig or 
the edge of a leaf with their mandibles, fold their wings, draw up their legs, lay 
the antennze neatly along their backs, and, having induced a temporary lock-jaw, 
hang securely until the morning, when they loose their hold and hurry off once 
again to play the parasite on their relatives. Another species figured in the same 


SOUTH AFRICAN WASP AND ITS NEST (nat, size). 


illustration is the hairy-legged bee (Dasypoda hirtipes), which appears on the wing 
in July, and constructs a nest of about six cells in sandy ground. The burrow 
runs obliquely at first, afterwards descending perpendicularly. Another well- 
known type of the family is exemplified by the mason-bees, of which one 
species (Chalicodoma muraria) is represented in the annexed illustration. These 
insects ake their appearance in Europe during May, when the female forthwith 
sets about constructing her nest. This includes not more than ten simple cells, 
and is attached to old walls or houses; the cells being formed of grains of sand 
glued together with the saliva of the builder. In 1886 some bees of an allied 
genus (Osmia) constructed their nests in the locks of a door at Deptford. The 
cells had completely choked the works of the locks, and in one ease a portion of 
the nest was forced out by the insertion of the key without driving away the bees. 


HIYMENOPTERA. 43 


) 


As the locks were in pretty constant use, it would appear that all the nests must 
have been built within a few days. 

The leaf-cutter bees, of which an example (Megachile centuncularis) is figured 
on the illustration on p. 36, take their name from lining their nests with cells 


GROUP OF SOLITARY BEES. 


1, 2, Hairy-legged bee (Dasypoda hirtipes); 3, 4, Shenck’s earth-bee (Andrena schenckt) ; 5, 6, Grey-haired 
eurth-bee (Andrena cineraria); 7, 8, Brown earth-bee.(A. fulvicrus); 9, 10, Large burrowing bee (Hylwus 
grandis). A male and female of each is figured. (All of nat. size.) 


made from fragments of leaves nipped out by the strong jaws of the insects. 
These cells may be placed either in the holes of trees, in clefts and crannies of old 


walls, or in specially con- 
structed burrows in the 
ground, Among the leaves 
most generally employed 
are those of the poplar, 
hornbeam, privet, poppy, 
and rose. The mode in 
which these insects work, 
and the structure of their 
cells and burrows are 
exhibited in the illustra- 
tion. Yet another type 
of building is exemplified 
by the carpenter - bees 
(Xylocopa), which are 
amongst the finest mem- 
bers of the entire family. 


if 


——— 


MASON-BEE, 


1, Nest with bee emerging and larva in an open cell; 2, Male; 3, Females 
fighting. (Nat. size.) 


a4 INSECTS. 


Their cells are built in rows in the solid wood of trees, and the method of procedure 
will be observed in the illustration exhibiting the violet carpenter-bee (XY. violacea). 
This species, which is rare in Northern Europe, forms a series of cells in each of 
which hes a larva, and since the lower 
ones are obviously the oldest, it 1s some- 
what difficult to understand how the newly- 
-emerged perfect bee escapes into the upper 
air from the lower cell. At present it is 
not altogether clear what course it takes; 
whether it gnaws its way through the 
chambers where brothers and sisters are 
peacefully awaiting future developments— 
at the imminent risk of arresting all 
chances of such by thus breaking into their 
bedrooms, to the detriment of nervous 
systems not yet hardened to bear the strain 
—or whether it gnaws its way straight 
out at the side, seems a matter of doubt. 
Some authorities state that the female has 
already foreseen and guarded against such 
undesirable contingencies, by preparing a 
door of escape at the bottom of the lower 
cell, And they record as a remarkable fact that the bees, each in turn, gnaw 
through the floor of its cell, and of course find their elder brother or sister already 
flown from the cell next below. They never go in the opposite direction through 


VIOLET-WINGED CARPENTER-BEE, WITH CELLS CUT OUT 
IN A TREE-STEM. 


\ - 
\ My 


- 
Me 
Garis 


HES it | ! tf 
Vit i } \) Vy f = \ 
ISM CAN ae TN 
3 6 
1, 2, HAIRY-LEGGED FLOWER-BEE (Anthophora hirsuta), female and male, 3, 4, TUFTED FLOWER-BEE (A, 
retusa), female and male ; 5, WALL-NESTING FLOWER-BEE (A. parietina), female; 6, 7, LONG-HORNED BEE (Hucera 
longicornis), female and male, (All of nat. size.) 


the roof. Our next examples of this family are the flower-bees (Anthophora), of 
which three species are shown in the annexed illustration. In genera! appearance 
these imsects closely approximate to humble-bees. They build their nests in 


HYMENOPTERA. 45 


burrows in the ground, in holes of trees, or clefts and cracks in walls; the cells 
being separated by partitions, and made of the ruins of the burrow or cleft. 
Generally the whole nest has the form of a twisted tube. Like their allies, these 
bees are solitary, and, like humble-bees, are much infested by parasites. Finally, 
we have the long-horned bees, of which one species (Hucera longicornis) is shown 
in the same illustration. These bees construct smooth tunnels in the earth, divided 
as usual into sections, each of which contains one egg, together with a supply of 
pollen and honey for the future larva. 


TRUE BrEES—Family A PID”. 


In this group are included not only the various kinds of honey-bees, but 
likewise their more clumsy cousins the humble-bees. Such a well-known insect 
as the common honey-bee (Apis melifica), of which the habits have been already 
referred to, requires no special notice; but it is important to observe that the 


1, COMMON HUMBLE-BEE WITH NEST ; 2, STONE HUMBLE-BEE. (Nat. size.) 


honey-bees of the equatorial zone differ somewhat from those inhabiting more 
temperate regions, in consequence of which they are assigned to distinct genera, 
such as Melipoma, Trigona, and Tetrasoma. All these are rather small and sting- 
less bees, making up for the absence of a special weapon of offence by a free use 
of their jaws. Their brood-cells and combs resemble those of the common wasp, 
each forming but a single layer; and clay and resinous substances being ay 
used for closing the entrance of the cavities in which the nest are placed. The 
characteristic transitional features in the shape of the cells, intermediate between 
the simple cylindrical and the perfect hexagonal forms, have already been noticed 
in the short introductory remarks. Melipome and its allies form the connecting 
link between the solitary and the hive-bees. As in the wasps, each family in the 


. ee snole female which has hibernated—usually in 
humble-bees owes its origin to a single female which has hibe J 


KG INSECTS. 


some hole in the ground which it excavates for the purpose. The hive-bees, on 
the contrary, swarm, that is, they send off a full-grown population under a queen 
ready to enter upon the organised life of an industrial community at once. The 
different forms of humble-bees are much the same as those of the hive-bees, 
namely, large females; workers or undeveloped females; small females which are 
similar to the large (or queens) in structure; and males. One very strange habit 
has been recorded and confirmed by subsequent observations. A small female is 
set apart for the duty of awakening the nest every morning with her piercing 
note, and has been called the “trumpeter.” It seems that only those nests which 
are large and have plenty of spare hands can afford this luxury. 

Humble-bees, both as regards appearance and habits, are too well known to 
need description. Of the two species figured in the annexed illustration, the 
common humble-bee (Bombus terrestris) forms small rounded nests of carded 
moss. On the other hand, the stone humble-bee (B. lapidarius) makes its 
habitation in cavities among stones, where it forms an oval nest, of which only 
the sides are covered with moss and grass. 

F. O. PICKARD-CAMBRIDGE. 


[NoTE.—The first ten pages of this chapter are by Mr. Pocock. | 


GE AIP TER: 1 I, 
JOINTED ANIMALS,—continued. 
INSECTS,—continued. 
THE FLIES AND FLEAS,—Order DIPTERA, 


As implied by their scientific name, the typical members of the order now claiming 
attention are distinguished from all other insects by the possession of but a single 
pair of wings. In this case one pair of these organs has disappeared, and examina- 
tion will reveal the fact that it is the front pair that is retained in full functional 
importance, while the hinder pair has become reduced to a couple of short slender 
club-like organs, known as /halteres or balancers. From their small size it might 
be supposed that these balancers were organs of but little physiological importance, 
but the experiment of removing them will show that this is not the case; for an 
insect thus mutilated is thereby entirely deprived of the power of maintaining its 
equilibrium and of directing its course in the air, Hence the name balancers that has 
been assigned to these rudimentary wings. The mouth-parts, instead of being of 
the primitive mandibulate type, are formed for purposes of piercing or sucking. In 
the former kind of structure, as represented for instance in Pangonia longirostris, 
one of the horse-flies (Tabanidw), these organs are composed of seven pieces, which 
have been interpreted by Mr. Waterhouse as follows. The uppermost is a long 
pointed instrument, the labrum. Immediately below this, and more or less 
concealed by it, is an almost equally long and slender piece, which is probably the 
hypopharynx. The mandibles are modified into a pair of sharp lancets, and below 
them are two extremely slender instruments, which, from the presence of palpi, are 
recognisable as parts of the maxilla. All these pieces he concealed in the basal half 
of the proboscis, which, for part of its length, is gutter-shaped, but afterwards 
assumes the form of a tube, and is believed to be comparable to the labium. In 
the gnats the mouth is formed upon the same plan, but the lancets are all more 


slender. In piercing the skin the lancets only are used, the labium or proboscis 
as for 


serving merely as a guide. In the flies that use the mouth for sucking 
instance in the blow-flies and drone-flies—the jaws are still more modified, so that 
the identity of the separate pieces is difficult to establish. The most prominent part 
is the proboscis, the expanding terminal lobes of which are the paraglosse of the 
labium. The maxillze are represented by two scales or short stylets closely 
adherent to the sides of the proboscis, and of two club-like palpi; but the 
mandibles seem to have disappeared. 

The only character that need be specially noticed in the wings is that they are 
usually naked,—being but rarely furnished with short hairs, and that the veins 


48 INSECTS. 


are almost all longitudinal, that is, they run from the base or point of attachment 
of the wing to its free margin. These veins are represented in the accompanying 
figures by the letters a, 0, c, d, ¢, f,g. The transverse veins x, y, on the contrary, 
are always few in number. The shape and size of the spaces (indicated by the 
numbers 1, 2, 3, ete.) circumscribed by these veins form valuable systematic 
characters for distinguishing the species and genera of this order. The balancers 
may be entirely exposed, as in the common daddy-longlegs, but are sometimes 
concealed by a scale-like membrane as in the blue-bottle fly. In connection with 
the wings may be noticed the buzzing of flies. This appears to be the result of 
two distinct sounds, one produced by the rapid vibration of the wings, and the 
other by the vibration of the thorax. The latter movement is the more rapid of 
the two, and gives rise to the shrill note heard the moment a blow-fly is seized ; 
while the former is the ordinary buzzing produced when the insect is in flight. 
According to recent calculations, the thoracic vibrations in the case of one of the 
humble-bee flies (Volucella) amounted to thirteen hundred per second, while those 
of the wings were just one-half this number, namely, six hundred and fifty per 
second. The legs possess the normal five segments; the tarsi or feet, which are 


b 


epee ia oO tO LEA AE 


WING OF DADDY-LONGLEGS AND OF BLOW-FLY. 


also divided into tive segments, being armed with two claws, and in addition, often 
supplied with adhesive pads, by means of which the insects are enabled to ascend 
perfectly smooth surfaces. These pads are composed of a multitude of funnel-shaped 
hairs, each supposed to act as a minute sucker. Some authors assert, however, 
that they secrete a sticky fluid, and that the insect maintains its hold by this 
means. The antenne vary considerably in structure. In their least modified 
form, as presented by the gnats and their allies, they are simple and thread-like 
organs, consisting of a series of subequal segments, often modified by the presence 
of long symmetrically arranged bristles, which impart to them a feather-like 
aspect. In most of the members of the order the antennze are, however, curiously 
constructed. The three basal segments are stout, the third being especially large 
and produced into a great lobe-like plate, sometimes projecting as far as the extre- 
mity of the terminal part of the organ, which frequently has the form of a plume- 
like whip, the flagellum, although sometimes reduced to a bristle. Not unfrequently 
the antennze differ greatly in structure according to sex. In the males of gnats, for 
example, they are large and feathery, while in the females they are only furnished 
with short hairs. The males and females of most of the common flies, on the 
contrary, may be recognised by the development of the compound eyes. In the 
former sex these organs are almost in contact on the summit of the head, while in 
the latter there is a widish space between them. Rarely the sexual characters are 


PYEPTIERA: 49 


much more pronounced, as for instance in the stag-horned flies, in which the head 
of the male is furnished with large branching processes, and the stalk-eyed flies. in 
which the eyes in this sex are supported upon long, horizontal, orbs afalics: 
Like the other higher orders of insects, flies, in the course of their development, 
go through a complete metamorphosis ; the larvee—of which perhaps the commonest 
are maggots and cheese-hoppers—being worm-like, and passing into a partially or 
wholly quiescent pupal stage before attaining maturity. These larvee differ much 
in structure in some of the families; those of the gnats having a well-developed 
head, with the antenne, mandibles, maxille, and labium always recognisable ; 
whereas in the maggots of the blow-fly the head is narrow and pointed, without 
antenne, and with the mouth-parts reduced to a pair of retractile hooks, the 
opposite extremity of the body being broad and square-cut. It must not be supposed, 
however, that the larve of all the members of this order are of one or other of 
these two types. On the contrary, the structure varies according to habitat, and 
almost every gradation is found linking the two together. Some species live in 


fresh-water ponds and streams, others in the earth amongst roots of grass, others 
again in rotting animal or vegetable matter, and others, like the maggots of the 
warble-fly, in the stomachs of the hosts they infest. Thus the nature of their food 
and surroundings is extremely varied, and that the larvee are likewise so, may be 
seen by a glance at the figures in the following pages. 

Upon reaching its full size the larva passes into the pupal stage. The pupa, 
however, exists under two conditions. In one case, as in the gnats, it emerges from 
the skin of the larva and leads an independent life of longer or shorter duration, 
until the attainment of maturity; in the others, as in the fly called Stratiomys, it 
remains within the larval skin, which becomes thickened and constitutes a 
protective covering for it. Again, the rupture of the larval skin for setting free 
the pupa is effected in one of two ways. In the first case the opening is T-shaped, 
consisting of a longitudinal split on the back behind the head, or rarely of a transverse 
split between the seventh and eighth segments of the body; in the second ease a 
circular split occurs behind the head, which is pushed off like a kind of cap. These 
two methods of splitting of the larval skin have been used as characters for 
dividing the Diptera into two suborders, those in which the pupa escapes in the 
former way being termed straight-seamed flies, or Orthorrhapha, and those in which 
the pupa escapes in the latter way circular-seamed flies, or Cyclorrhapha. For the 
rupture of the larval skin, the pupz of the Cyclorrhapha are furnished with a bladder- 
shaped excrescence on the front of the head. In the vast majority of flies the 
young make their first appearance in the form of eggs. In some few cases, 
however, as in the genera Sarcophaga and Mesembrina, belonging to the family 
Muscide, the young are born as active maggots; while in the forest-flies and their 
allies only one young one matures at a time, and this is retained by the mother and 
nourished at her expense until it has passed into the pupal stage. The most 
anomalous method of reproduction occurs in one of the gall-midges, where the 
larvee themselves produce other grubs by a process of internal budding. 

That flies were abundant in early Tertiary times, when they were not very 
different from those that now exist, is shown by the abundance of their remains 
preserved in the amber beds of the Baltic. Strata of the same age at Florissant, 


VOL. VI.—4 


3° TRUEST ICT ESS 


Colorado, have also yielded fossil flies. A few have been obtained from Secondary 
rocks. 


THE STRATGHT-SEAMED FLIES ——Suborder Orthorrhapha. 


The first section of this suborder contains the enats and mosquitoes (Culicida), 
o / 

daddy-longlegs (Lipulide), true midges (Chironomid), and fungus - midges 
(Mycetophilide). These families are sometimes spoken of collectively as the 
Nematocera, or flies with thread-lke antennze, on account of the length and thin- 
ness of those organs, which usually consist of as many as ten or more segments. 
The maxillary palpi also are elongate, and the body and limbs present, as a rule, 
the type with which we are familiar in the gnats and daddy-longlegs. 


Mosquitoes and The mosquitoes and gnats (Culicide), although often regarded as 
Gnats. distinct, are in reality identical. They abound in all lands, and may 


be met with in cold barren countries like Iceland and Lapland as well as in the 
dense forests of tropical climes, everywhere being the plague of travellers on 
account of their insatiable thirst for blood and the intense irritation caused by their 
bite. It is, however, only the females that bite and suck blood, and in this 
connection it may be pointed out that 
no members of the Diptera sting in 
the sense in which the word is used 
with regard to ants and wasps; that 
is to say, the wound, although giving 
rise to a sharp stinging sensation, is 
inflicted by jaws, and not, as in the 
case of the ants, by an organ especially 
designed for the purpose placed at the 
hinder extremity of the abdomen. 
The annexed figure representing the 
banded gnat (Culex annulatus), a 
species sometimes found in houses, and 
noticeable for being the largest British 
form, is selected to illustrate the mode of life characteristic of the members of 
this family. The long slender eggs, amounting to some three hundred or more, 
laid by the mother in batches on the surface of a pond or ditch, give rise to worm- 
like larvee furnished with a distinct head, a large somewhat squared thorax, and a 
tapering jointed abdomen. Along each side of the body there is a row of bristle- 
tufts, one for each segment, and the last segment is in addition produced into a 
couple of tubular tails, at the extremity of which open the trachez or breathing- 
tubes. Thus equipped, the young gnat hangs suspended in the water, its heavy head 
directed downwards, and the tip of its forked tail just projecting above the surface, 
so that the apertures of its breathing-apparatus are in communication with the air. 
Occasionally when the surface of the water is disturbed, or from any other reason 
causing alarm, the larva wriggles to the bottom of the pond, soon, however, to return 
to its accustomed place at the surface. During growth, the larva undergoes a series 
of three moults before reaching its full size, the newly - clothed insect escaping 


BANDED GNAT. 
a, Female; b, Larva; c, Pupa. (AII enlarged.) 


DIPTERA. 5 


51 


from the old skin through a longitudinal slit behind the head. At the fourth 
moult emerges the pupa, which is a very different looking creature from the 
larva, showing the cases for the antenne, wings, and legs of the adult, while from 
the sides of its thorax project a pair of tubes, analogous to those of the larval tail, 
and like these carrying the apertures of the trachee. By means of its jointed 
abdomen the pupa jerks itself about in the water in company with others of its 
kind. At the appointed time a longitudinal split occurs on the back behind the 
head, and, extricating itself from its pupal-case, the adult gnat appears on the 
surface of the water, where under favourable conditions its skin hardens and its 
wings unfold, while it floats upon the water using its discarded clothing as a raft. 
If this time of danger be successfully overcome, the insect takes wing and joins its 
companions in their mazy dance; but, before acquiring strength to do so, it is at 
the mercy of every wave or gust of wind, and if once swept back into the water, 
its chances of survival are small. The above-mentioned banded gnat may be 
distinguished from other British species by its large size, its spotted wings, and 
striped legs and abdomen. The common gnat (C. pipiens), which is often abundant 
in houses in the autumn, is much smaller and without the ornaments characteristic 
of its larger ally. 

Travellers in the tropics are so familiar with mosquitoes that nothing we 
can say can add to their knowledge of the subject. But to give those who 
have been fortunate enough to avoid a practical acquaintance with them some 
idea of the torments caused by these little pests, we quote the following passages 
from the works of two well-known naturalists. Speaking of his sojourn at a 
place on the Amazons, Bates says “at night it was quite impossible to sleep 
for mosquitoes; they fell upon us by myriads, and without much piping came 
straight at our faces as thick as rain-drops in a shower. The men crowded 
into the cabins and then tried to expel the pests by the smoke from burnt 
rags, but it was of little avail, although we were half suffocated by the operation.” 
Again, Emerson Tennent writes that “of all the insect pests that beset an 
unseasoned European, the most provoking by far are the truculent mosquitoes. 
Even in the midst of endurance of their onslaughts one cannot but be amused by 
the ingenuity of their movements; as if aware of the risk incident to an open 
assault a favourite mode of attack is, when concealed by a table, to assault the ankles 
through the meshes of the stocking, or the knees which are ineffectually protected 
by a fold of Russian duck. When you are reading, a mosquito will rarely settle 
upon that portion of your hand which is within range of your eyes, but cunningly 
stealing by the under side of the book, fastens on the wrist or little finger and 
noiselessly inserts his proboscis there. I have tested the classical expedient 
recorded by Herodotus, who states that the fishermen inhabiting the fens of Egypt 
cover their beds with their nets, knowing that the mosquitoes, although they bite 
through linen robes, will not venture through a net. But notwithstanding the 
opinion of Spence, that nets with meshes an inch square will effectually exclude 
them, I have been satisfied by painful experience that, if the theory is not altogether 
fallacious, at least the modern mosquitoes of Ceylon are uninfluenced by the same 
considerations which restrained those of the Nile under the successors of Cambyses.” 
An interesting question arises in connection with mosquitoes as to the nature of 


Be LNSECHS: 


the food of the vast hordes of them that frequent the tropics. It is true that the 
females alone bite; but the proboscis is a highly perfected organ for piercing and 
sucking, and it might be supposed that it is extensively used for the purpose. Yet 
it has been pointed out that the vast majority of mosquitoes can never taste 
mammalian blood. In various places, such as parts of India for example, 
mosquitoes are found in swarms in spots never visited by human beings, and in 
which there are no large mammals. It has been suggested that, failing to obtain 
blood, mosquitoes support themselves on the juices of plants, but no observations 
in support of this have been recorded. 

The daddy long-legs (Tipulidae) contain the finest species of this 
Daddy Long-Legs.,. .. : : : 
division of the order; the largest European form being the giant 
daddy long-legs (Tipula gigantea), which has its wings clouded with brown, and 
measures about 14 inches in length. Much larger kinds are, however, met with in 

Burma and China. The short and fleshy proboscis is not adapted for piercing, but 
merely for absorbing fluids ; and the antenne are not feathery, as is so often the case 
in the gnats and midges, although in the species of the genus Ctenophora—which are 
of stouter build, and often brightly coloured black and yellow, thereby resembling 
some of the saw-flies—the antenne are pectinated in the male. In this family the 
eggs are laid and the larvee undergo their growth and change of form either in 
water or earth. The females of two of the commonest British species (7. 
oleracea and T. paludosa) may be seen in summer and autumn flying about 
meadows and depositing their eggs here and there in the soil. When hatched, the 
larvee start feeding upon the roots of grass and corn, thereby doing considerable 
damage to farmers and gardeners, to whom they are known by the name, “ leather- 
jackets.” 
ee The true midges belonging to the family Chironomide are 
nearly allied to the gnats, with which they are often confounded ; but 
the mouth-parts are rarely adapted for piercing, the proboscis being short and soft. 
In the genus Ceratopogon the jaws of the females are, however, lancet-shaped, and 
capable of drawing blood. The little black midge that in the summer settles upon 
the hands and face and inflicts a sharp prick belongs to this genus. But the best 
known member of the family is the plumed midge (Chironomus plwmosus), which 
on summer evenings may be seen dancing in swarms along roads and lanes. Its 
name has been given to this species on account of the beautiful feathery-like 
antenne of the male. In connection with this species a case of luminosity has 
recently been recorded. An observer in Russian Asia found on the shores of Lake 
Issykkul a number of examples of this midge, and of an ailied form belonging to 
the genus Corethra emitting a phosphorescent light. Failing to discover any 
luminous organ he came to the conclusion that the ight was due to the presence 
in the insect of multitudes of parasitic bacteria, an opinion strengthened by 
the observation that the shining individuals were sluggish and never seen on the 
wing. 

Sterna thrice! The fungus-midges (Mycetophilide) take their name from the 
fact that the larvee of most species feed upon fungi of various kinds. 
The perfect insects, which frequent damp situations, are all of small size, and mostly 
pale in colour. To this family belongs the so-called yellow-fever fly, a species of the 


ml) 


a 


iMY-WOR 


THE Al 


OF 


A COLUMN 


pie 


= dine <a 


+ 


ve eee Fe Pe 


DIPTERA. BG 
genus Sciarad, which in North America is said to appear when yellow fever is 
prevalent. But perhaps the most notorious species is the so-called army-worm fly 
(Sciara militaris), which has long attracted attention on account of the peculiar 
habits of the larve. This fly is completely black, with the exception of its legs, 
which are brownish. The female, which is represented of the natural size at d, in 
the accompanying illustration, and enlarged at c, is larger than the male, and has 
the abdomen terminating in a pointed stylet. In the male, on the contrary, there 
is at the apex of the abdomen a pair of thick two-jointed claspers, and between 
these a couple of small adjacent processes, as shown at e. The extremely small 
eggs are laid by the mother, to the number of about one hundred, upon soil amongst 
fallen leaves on which the larvee feed. On attaining maturity, these larvee measure 
nearly a quarter of an inch long, and have the form represented at a. The 
black head is distinct, and furnished with eyes, and the semi-transparent body 
consists of thirteen segments, some of which are furnished with lateral black 
stigmata. In many countries of Europe where this insect is met with, vast hosts 
of these maggots, forming a compact mass, sometimes several feet long and an inch 


a 


ARMY-WORM FLY (Sciara militaris). 


a, Larva; b, Pupa; c, Female midge ; d, The same (nat. size); e, End of abdomen of male ; 7, A portion 
° of the antenne. (Magnified, except d.) 


or two broad, have been seen at times creeping along at a slow pace through the 
woods like a greyish serpent. The maggots crawl along, not only side by side, 
but also one over the other, all adhering together by their sticky surfaces, and con- 
tinually changing their position in the column, At the close of their march, when 
fatigue or want of nourishment causes them to rest fora time, the larvee composing 
a single train collect into a ball, which eradually diminishes in size, and finally 
disappears by the burrowing into the mould of those that are lowest in the mass 
For a long while the reason for this peculiar habit remained wrapt in obscurity, 
and perhaps even yet we do not understand its full significance. It has been 
suggested, however, that when the supply of food for the multitude runs short, the 
whole army is moved by a sudden impulse to start in search of fresh supplies. It 
is almost superfluous to add that the peasantry of the countries where this strange 
phenomenon is observable, failing to understand its true significance, have from 
time immemorial regarded it as something supernatural, and as foretelling various 
events in the future, some looking upon it as a sign of the imiminence of war, others 
of the destruction of their crops, and so forth. The pupa of the army-worm is 


56 INSECTS. 


shown at) in the figure on p. 55. This stage lasts from eight to twelve days; 
but the perfect insect is shortlived, the female surviving apparently only long 
enough to pair with the male and lay her eggs. 

When speaking of one of the true midges reference was made to a pathological 
case of phosphorescence, but in the present family there are two instances known 
of the normal occurrence of this phenomenon—not, however, in the adult insect, but 
in the larval or pupal stages. The first instance is furnished by Ceroplatus sesioides, 
a midge, which although not yet known to occur in England, has been met with in 
several of the countries of Kurope. Here the luminosity is said to resemble that of 
the glow-worm, but proceeds from the entire animal, and from members of both 
sexes, The larve, which are found in small colonies on the under side of a fungus, 
exhibit, when crawling in the dark, a moving streak of light, less bright than that 
emitted by the pups. The insect also shines when lying in the cocoon, so long as 
its abdominal rings are still transparent and have not attained their complete 
colouring. The cocoons themselves are not luminous, but allow the lhght to be 
transmitted as through a paper lantern; and since as a rule several of them are 
situated together a more extensive glow is displayed, whereby both the cocoons 
themselves and the surrounding objects are illuminated. When the insect is about 
to emerge from the cocoon, the luminosity gradually diminishes, and ultimately 
ceases altogether. The second instance is presented by a New Zealand midge 
called Boletophila lwminosa, the larva of which is known as the “ glow-worm.” 
Here the female is luminous in all three stages of its existence, but in the male 
the luminosity disappears two or three days before the emergence of the perfect 
insect. ‘The luminous organ, which is situated in the posterior part of the body of 
the larva, consists of a gelatinous, semi-transparent structure, capable of extension, 
contraction, and other changes of form, and, like its luminosity, is completely under 
the animal’s control. As to the part played by this organ in the midge’s economy, 
authors are at variance; one believing that the light serves to attract small 
creatures, so that they become entangled in a web of mucus, which the larva 
suspends in some niche in the soil. 

The gall-midges (Cecidomyidw) are minute, fragile insects, in 
which the wings are furnished with few veins, are often hairy, and 
always fringed on the edges. From an agricultural point of view, these insects are 
the most important of all the gnat-like flies, since much damage is at times done to 
crops by their larve. The most notorious is the Hessian fly (Cecidonvyia destructor), 
represented in its various stages in the accompanying illustration. This insect was 
believed to have been introduced into North America by the Hessian troops at the 
time of the War of Independence, whence the inhabitants of the United States 
gave it the name by which it is now commonly known. The adult female, which 


Gall-Midges. 


measures rather less than a tenth of an inch, is mostly of a velvety black colour, 
varied with blood-red, especially on the abdomen; while the rather larger male is 
browner, with the red clearer. These flies may be observed on the wing during 
the second half of April. They live, however, only for a few days, and perish soon 
after laying their eggs, which amount to about eighty or a hundred. These are 
placed separately or in pairs upon the leaves of the wheat-plant, and in a short time 
hatch, when the larvee crawl down the leaf, reach the stalk, and burrow in it to take 


DLP TERA. 


7 


uo 


up their abode and feed upon its tissues. This does not immediately, nor in a direct 
manner, cause the death of the plant, but, weakening its stem, renders it liable to 
be beaten down by wind or rain, and causes it to bear inferior corn if it reach 
maturity, ‘Towards the end of July the larve are full grown, and pass into 
the pupal stage; while at the end of August or the beginning of September the 
adults again appear and lay their eggs on winter wheat, the larvee that are hatched 
from these passing the winter in the pupal state and completing their development 
in the spring. Nearly allied is the wheat-midge (C. tritict), which, as its name 
indicates, also attacks the wheat-plant, to which it at times does great damage. 
The female lays her eggs—often in numbers—not on the leaves or stems, but in 
the heart of the blossom, and their presence either entirely prevents the formation 
of any seed, or renders that produced of a poor kind. 

There are many other species of gall-midges which attack different kinds of 
plants, such as the willow, hawthorn, ete., but lack of space forbids further refer- 


——— 
aq 


DEVELOPMENT OF HESSIAN FLY. 


a, Female enlarged and of natural size ; 6, Abdomen of male ; c, Pupa; d, Skin of larva forming pupa-case ; e, Larva 
seen in profile (the line representing its nat. size) ; J, Larva from above (enlarged) ; y, Wheat-stalks infested with 
larvie. 


ence to them. One only (Miastor metroloas) demands attention on account of the 
remarkable powers of reproduction of its larve. In the majority of cases insects 
are only able to reproduce their kind after attaining the adult state, the larvae 
being merely the young modified for a free and active existence; but the larve 
of this midge, which are found under the bark of trees, possess the remarkable 
power of producing within their bodies living young. These grow to a certain size 
at the expense of their parent, whose vitals they devour, then rupture the empty 
skin and start life on their own account. The second larve repeat the same 
process of reproduction, and so the phenomenon continues through the cold months 
of the year. At the beginning of the summer the process comes to an end, and 
the larve fulfil their destiny and give rise to mature insects in the ordinary 


Manner. 


58 INSECTS 


The two families now to be mentioned have been termed the 
wre anomalous, or fly-like Nematocera, since although their antenne are 
many-jointed, they are shorter than im the foregoing famihes, and their limbs and 
bodies instead of presenting the aspect of those of the gnats and midges, are shorter, 
thicker, and closely approach in this respect those of ordinary flies. To the family 
Simuliide belong the minute “sand-flies” of the tropics, which surpass even the 
mosquitoes in their venomous bite, and on account of thei minute size are far more 
difficult to cope with. In these insects the mouth-parts are adapted 
for piercing ; and the early stages of life are passed in water. The 
best known European example is the Columbatsch fly (Simulia 
columbatzensis), taking its name from a village in Servia, where 
it is a great pest. In fact, in all the countries irrigated by the 


lower waters of the Danube, this fly, hardly larger than a flea, 

Cae cae © abounds; and it is said that in Hungary cattle and sheep have 

(enlarged). been destroyed by hundreds owing to the tortures they have 

suffered from these insects. The little flies creep into the eyes, 

nose, and ears of their victims, and there gorge themselves with blood, driving the 
poor beasts to the verge of madness by the intolerable irritation of their bites. 

The second family of the group (Bibionidw) contains the well-known St. 
Mark’s fly (Bibio marcz), a large, black, hairy, slow-flying insect, common in spring, 
and taking its name from its being frequently seen in numbers on or about St. 
Mark’s Day. The two sexes differ greatly in many respects, the male having the 
wings clear, whereas those of the female 
are dusky ; again the eyes in the male are 
so large that the entire head seems to be 
composed of them, but in the female these 
organs are small and wide apart. This 
distinction, however, although not usually 
in so pronounced a form, is observed 
between the two sexes of many flies. The 
eges—in number amounting to about one 
hundred and fifty—are laid on the ground 
among vegetable or animal débris, on which 
the larvee subsequently feed. In the grub 
the head has neither eyes nor recognisable 


ee ST, MARK’S FLY (nat. size, with enlarged figure of 
antennee, but the mouth-parts are distinct ; larva and pupa), 


the body consisting of twelve segments, 
each of which is surmounted by a row of bristles. After passing the winter in the 
soil in an immature state, the larve ascend to the surface in the spring, and take 
on the pupal stage, from which, after about a fortnight’s time, the perfect insects 
emerge, 

Horse-Flies, or Although related to the gnats and midges by the nature of the 

Breeze-Flies. slit through which the pupa makes its escape from the larval skin, 
and consequently referred to the section Orthorrhapha, the flies of this family 
approach those of the second section in the shortness of their antenne, and since 
all the Diptera with short antennse were formerly termed the Brachycera, 


as 


DIPTERA, 59 


opposed to Nematocera,—these and the remaining families of the suborder are 
often grouped together as Orthorrhapha Brachycera. Although the horse-flies 
(Tabanide) are often termed gad-flies, the latter name is proved by Anglo-Saxon 
literature to have been originally applied to the Estrus-group of the M uscide, 
Horse-flies are distributed all over the world, and vary but little in outward form, 
usually having large, fat bodies, and being generally of a dull reddish brown 
colour. They are all bloodsuckers, and the mouth-parts—which have been 
described at the commencement of the chapter—attain a high degree of perfection 
as piercing instruments. A common representative of the family in England is 
the so-called clegg (Hwmatopota pluvialis), a greyish insect which has a’ habit of 
pitching quietly upon the hands or face, and inflicting a sharp prick almost before 
the victim is aware of its presence. Fortunately, however, it is easily killed, for, 
instead of taking flight, it generally stays where it has settled, and allows itself to 
be crushed. <A larger, though scarcer British species is the great horse-fly 
(Tabanus bovinus), the female of which sucks the blood of ; 
large mammals, such as horses, asses, and cattle. The males 
always frequent flowers; and the larvee in form and habits 
show considerable resemblance to those of the daddy-long- 
legs, living in the soil and feeding upon the roots of grasses. 
In this way they spend the winter, reaching maturity in 
May, when they pass into the pupa-stage, the fully-formed 


insect appearing in June. In India these insects are known 
as elephant-flies, for even the thick hide of an elephant GREAT HORSE-FLY, WITH 
affords no protection against their sharp needle-lke jaws. ae Ps He on ge 
Judging from the account of a resident, horse-flies are a 
terrible plague in Florida. “Cows, horses, and mules have a wretched time 
in the summer, when they are eaten alive, and come home with the blood running 
down them. When driving, we used to spend all our time killmg these soft, 
fat-bodied insects, which die at the least touech—in fact, the commonest kind 
never seem in any case to live more than twenty-four hours, and those which 
come into the houses are always dead the next morning. Their sting is really 
painful. I remember one day, when walking through the flat woods, suddenly 
feeling something like a pin running into my arm, and, on looking down, found it 
to be an extra big horse-fly. The arm was most tender for days after, feeling as 
though badly bruised, and was so much swollen as to make it quite a difficult 
matter drawing any sleeve over it. The ‘coachman-fly’ [doubtless one of the 
family Asilid] is said to feed on the horse-flies; and will sit through a whole 
drive on the collar, or some other part of the harness, or even on the steed itself, 
in order to pounce on the insects as they settle. The curious thing is that the 
horses seem to know the difference, for directly a horse-fly comes, even if it 
does not sting, they become restless, tossing their heads, and lashing with their 
tails, but the ‘coachman’ may rest on any part of them for any length of time, 
and never be interfered with, or driven off.” 

The flies of the family Asilide are generally of a somewhat 
slender build, the body being long and parallel-sided, while the legs 
All are provided with a short, powerrul, piercing 


Robber-Flies, etc. 


and wings are long and strong. 


60 IN SE CLS: 


proboscis, and prey upon insects of various kinds, often seizing and carrying off 
butterflies, much larger than themselves. The general form of the members of 
this family is shown in Fig. 1 of the annexed illustration, representing Dioctria 
oelandica, a species from the island of Oeland, off the coast of Sweden, with 
a shining black body, and wings of the same colour. Many species of the genus 
Asilus are found in Britain, but the largest and handsomest of all is the hornet 
robber-fly (A. craubroniformis), measuring upwards of an inch in length, and of a 
yellowish colour variegated with black, there being four stripes of the latter colour 
upon the thorax, and a broad transverse band across the base of the abdomen. 
Some of the tropical members of the family are far larger, those belonging to the 
genus Mydas, from South America, being scarcely surpassed in dimensions by any 
member of the order, The fly represented in 2 of the illustration is the tesselated 
empis (Lnvpis tessellata), belonging to the family HLmpide, the species of which 
are predaceous like the Aside, 
and resemble them in form, but 
differ in certain structural details 
which need not be dwelt upon. 
The  tesselated empis — the 
largest member of the group 
found in Britain—is ashy grey 
in colour, and has its abdomen 


ornamented with a chess-board 


ROBBER-FLIES. 
1, Dioctria celandica ; 2, Empis tessellata (nat. size), 


pattern. As Dallas expressed 
it, “when paired, the females of 
this and of many other of the larger species of the family are always found to 
be busily engaged in sucking out the juices of some other insect. It seems 
probable that the male seizes the opportunity of his intended partner being thus 
occupied to make his advances; if her mouth were free he would in all likelihood 
himself fall a sacrifice to her voracity.” 

The families of short-horned, straight-seamed flies hitherto 
considered resemble each other in the fact that the larvee live in the 
earth, and feed upon the roots of grass or other vegetable matter, while the adults 
prey upon other animals, whose blood they suck. But in the bee-flies (Bomby- 
liidee)—so called from the likeness in hairiness and shape they present to humble- 
bees—the larvee, so far as known, live parasitically on other insects, attacking 
grasshoppers, caterpillars, ete. while the adults suck the juices of flowers. The 
genus Bombylius is represented in England by a small number of species, although 
in the tropics there are large numbers of forms. In all the thick, fat body is 
covered with long yellow hairs. The wings are powerful; and the head is furnished 
with a long proboscis, which is thrust into blossoms while the insect (No. 8 on p. 65) 
stays poised in mid-air, like a hawk-moth when similarly occupied. The black-and- 
white bee-fly (Anthrax semiatra) is mostly of a black tint, and clothed with hair 
of the same colour; but the hairs on the front part of the thorax and abdomen take 
a yellowish tinge, the wings, as shown in the illustration, being black in the basal 
half but clear elsewhere. These insects may be seen on the wing in dry, sunny 
spots, stopping from time to time to suck a flower, or rest upon a stone, and seeking 


Bee-Flies. 


DIPTERA. a 


for the cells of solitary bees wherein to deposit their eggs. The left-hand figure 
shows the cocoon of one of these bees, with the pupa-case, from which the fly on 
the right has just emerged, protruding 
from it. For the last family of this section 
(Stratiomyide) the common Stratiomys 
chameleon may be taken as the type. 
This is a rather large insect, with a short 
broad abdomen, variegated at the sides 
with pale spots; the sides of the face and 
the posterior part of the upper surface of 
the thorax being also yellow. The antennze 
are longish, and the hinder part of the 


thorax is armed with a pair of spines. 


g BLACK’ AND WHITE BEE-FLY, WITH PUPA-SKIN 
The females, which may be seen on the PROTRUDING FROM COCOON OF BEE, 


wing in the neighbourhood of marshes, 
ponds, and ditches, lay their eggs on the leaves of water-plants, and the larvee spend 
their time wriggling about in a helpless way. In these larvee the body consists of 


twelve segments, 1s somewhat depressed, pointed at each end—though more so 
towards the tail than the head 
The head is small and pointed, and the retractile tail-segments are furnished at the 
tip with a breathing-orifice surrounded by a circlet of barbed hairs. By means 
of these the larva is enabled to suspend itself from the surface 
of the water, hanging vertically downwards with the orifice 
just above the water’s level, and is also able by the folding 
in of the hairs to take a bubble of air below the surface when 
it sinks to the bottom. The larvee feed on such particles of 
matter as they find in the water; and when ready to pass into 
the pupal stage creep to the land, and take refuge beneath a 
stone, or in some other place of safety. The development of 
the pupa and perfect insect takes place only in the front part of the larval skin. 
A curious choice of habitat for her young on the part of some flies belonging to 
this family has been recorded from Wyoming. These larvee were found in a cup- 
shaped depression at the top of a cone about twenty inches high situated a few 
feet from a large sulphur mound, under which the boiling water could be heard. 
Through small apertures in the bottom the hot water rose and filled the eup. 
It was in this that the larvee were found; and it is estimated that the tem- 
perature of the water was only twenty or thirty degrees below boiling point. 


and covered with a tough blackish brown skin. 


FEMALE OF Stratiomys 
chameeleon. 


CIRCULAR-SEAMED FLIES—Suborder Cyclorrhapha. 


This suborder, which is characterised by the circumstance that the pupa escapes 
from the larval skin through a circular aperture formed by the pushing off of the 
head-end, contains the majority of ordinary flies. It is divisible into two sections, 
the first of which includes those that present the normal method of development, 
the young being hatched from eggs laid by the mother, although very rarely the 


egos hatch immediately before being laid. The second embraces those in which 


62 INSECTS. 


the young are retained within the parent's body, and nourished at its expense until 
the pupa stage is reached. The flies of the last category are for this reason 
generally called Pupipara. 

The family Syrphide includes a number of species which, 
although differing considerably in external form, may be distinguished 
from other members of the suborder by the presence of the so-called spurious vein 


Hover-Flies. 


in the wing—a vein lying between the third and fourth longitudmal veins, and 
crossing the short transverse vein (marked in 
the figure on p. 48) which unites them. They 
also bear considerable superficial resemblance, 
both in colour and shape, to various bees and 
wasps. The best known types are the hover- 
flies (Syrphus), drone -flies (Hristalis), and 
humble-bee flies (Volucella). The hover-flies 
of the genus Syrphus, which with their black 
and yellow bands mimic wasps, are so named on 
account of their habit of hovering in flower- 
gardens in summer, darting from blossom to 
blossom, and often sustaining themselves poised 
in mid-air, after the manner of a hawk. The 
females lay their eggs singly on leaves and 
stems infested with plant-lice; and the larvee 
=. devour numbers of these pests, seizing them in 
AMwx~ ¥ \ a most voracious manner, sucking them dry, and 


rejecting the empty skins. 
Like the hover - flies, drone- 
flies (Hristalis) frequent flower- 
gardens, where they may be seen in numbers on 


Drone-Flies. 


various blossoms. As their name indicates, these 
flies resemble honey-bees, the likeness being so 
close that it is difficult to persuade an uninitiated 
person that they may be handled with impunity. 


HOVER-FLY (Syrphus seleniticus). 


1, Fly; 2, Fly hovering; 3, Larve devouring 
plant-lice on leaf; 4, Larva; 5, 6, Differ: The resemblance, which is enhanced by the 
ent views of pupa. (4, 5, 6, enlarged ; 


He eee Se | ceaseless twitching of the abdomen, appears 


indeed to be more deeply seated than might at 
first be supposed, for spiders, which recognise their prey by touch and not by sight, 
treat the drone-flies with caution. Thus a blue-bottle fly placed in a web of the 
field-spider was immediately and without hesitation seized and devoured, although 
evidently fearing to come to close 


a humble-bee was avoided by the spider, which 
quarters—let out a thread, and rushing round and round its victim at a distance, 
succeeded in winding it up, and then approaching, inflicted a bite which soon put 
an end to the insect’s struggles. When a drone-fly was thrown into the web, the 
spider darted at it as before, but as soon as it touched the fly with its fore-legs, 
recoiled, as if in alarm, then returning to the attack dealt with the harmless 
victim just as it had previously acted with the humble-bee. The larvee of the 
drone-flies live mainly in ditches and feed upon decaying organic matter, and are 


DIPTERA. 6 


oO 


commonly known as rat-tailed maggots, on account of the long tail-like appendages 
at the hinder end of the body. With this flexible and telescopic tail, traversed by 
tracheal tubes opening at its tip, the maggot is able to breathe while below the 
water, by keeping the tip of its tail above the surface, where it is supported by 
the rosette of hairs round the extremity. The eggs of drone-flies are also laid in 
dead careases and other refuse, and it is now believed that the legend of the ox- 
born bees of the ancients is traceable to this habit of the fly, in conjunction 
with its striking resemblance to the honey-bee. The belief that honey-bees are 
produced by spontaneous generation from carcases of dead animals has pre- 
vailed for more than two thousand years, but according to Osten Sacken, “the 
original cause of this delusion les in the fact that a drone-fly (ristalis tenax) lays 
its egos upon the carcases of animals, that its larvee develop within the putrescent 
mass, and finally change into a swarm of flies, which in their shape, hairy clothing, 
and colour look exactly like bees, although they belong to a totally different order 
of insects.” Scarcely less interesting than the drone-flies are the species of 
Volucella. These large flies (p. 65, No. 9) mimic humble-bees in colour and form ; 
and it was long supposed that the females were thus enabled with impunity to 
enter the nests of humble-bees and lay their eggs amongst those of the proper 
owners. But although it is true that the eggs of the Volucella are laid and the 
larvee reared inside the nests of various Hymenoptera, it has been ascertained that 
the species which resemble humble-bees visit for the same purpose the nests of 
wasps, to which the flies bear no particular resemblance. And it is hardly credible 
that the wasps give access to the flies under the delusion that they are members 
of the community, as was conceivable in the case of the bees. We are compelled 
therefore to conclude that the flies are allowed by the bees and wasps to come and go 
without interference for some reason apart from the resemblance that exists between 
the two sets of insects. It is, of course, possible that the similarity offered by the 
flies to bees and wasps is more deeply seated than was supposed, and affects such 
senses as touch or smell, or some other unknown sense, but there seems no evidence 
to justify this supposition ; and if the maggots of the flies feed on the larvee of the 
bees or wasps, we are not yet in a position to offer an explanation of the pheno- 
menon. If they play the part of scavengers, clearing the hive of waste matter, the 
reason for the admittance of the flies becomes clear. 

Closely resembling many of the Syrphidw in their banded coloration, 
which imparts to them a wasp-like aspect, the members of the family Conopide 
may be recognised by the absence of the spurious vein in the wings, and also by 
their broad heads, of which the fore-part is produced into a conspicuous promin- 
ence bearing the long antenne. Like the horse-flies, the Conopide in the adult 
stage frequent flowers, but they lay their eggs in the bodies of various Hymen- 
optera, like bees and wasps, and also in erickets and other Orthoptera. Here 
the eggs hatch and the larvee feed upon the living tissues of their prey, and 
here they undergo their metamorphosis, although they do not invariably 
quit the place of their development upon the death of the victimised host. 
Taschenberg, for example, found the pupa of Conops vittatus emerging from 
the abdomen of a humble-bee which had been for six months in his collection. 
The Conopide are widely distributed, and especially abundant in the tropics. 


64 INSECTS. 


Bates gives an account of the habits of a species which he noticed hovering over 
the armies of foraging ants. These ants, he says, “are accompanied by small 
swarms of a kind of two-winged fly, the females of which have a very long 
ovipositor, and which belongs to the genus Stylogaster. These swarms hover with 
rapidly vibrating wings, at a height of a foot or less from the soil over which the 
ants are moving, and occasionally one of the flies darts with great quickness 
towards the ground. I found that they were not occupied in transfixing ants .. . 
but most probably in depositing their eggs in the soft bodies of insects which the 
ants were driving away from their hiding-places. These eggs would hatch after 
the ants had placed their booty in their hive as food for their young.” 

; The family Muscidw embraces a large and varied assortment 
Typical Flies. a : : : é 
of species, of which house-flies and blow- flies are well-known 
examples. The characteristic structure of the wings may be seen by referring to 
the figure on p. 48. The proboscis is adapted for sucking, and usually ends with 
two fleshy lobes. The flagellum of the antennz is generally plumed with hairs on 
both sides, though sometimes, as in the tsetse, the hairs are restricted to one side, 
while in the spiny-flies it may be naked. The relative size of the three basal 
seements of the antennz varies in different genera, but usually, as in the blow-flies, 
the house-flies, and the tsetse, the third segment is at least three times the length 
of the second (see b in figure on p. 69, and 10 in that on p. 65). It may also be 
mentioned that the upper surface of the thorax is marked with a transverse suture, 
and that the feet are furnished with a pair of adhesive pads (11 in the figure on p. 
65). The family is divided into several subfamilies, and these may be grouped in 
two sections, based upon the presence or absence behind the wings of a membranous 
scale which, when present, covers the halteres or balancers. The subfamilies that 
possess this scale are termed the calypterate Muscide; while those that are with- 
out it are in contrast called the acalypterate Muscide. Taking the calypterate 
Muscide, we begin with the subfamily Muscine, of which the house-fly (Musca 
domestica) is the typical representative. This species may be found during 
summer in numbers in every house, crawling up the window-panes, flying in 
companies about the middle of the room, or creeping about the table in search of 
food. It is the unwelcome companion of man in every country, following him in 
his travels, taking up its residence with him wherever he may choose to settle, and 
resisting equally well the cold of northern latitudes and the heat of tropical climes. 
For the most part, the eggs are laid and the larvee undergo their development in 
excrement; but the choice of the female does not seem to be always restricted to 
matter of this sort, since she sometimes selects meal, bread, or fruit, for the 
purpose. These flies are lable to the attacks of a parasitic fungus (Zmpusa 
mvusce) Which causes their death, and in autumn it is not uncommon to find their 
bodies killed by this means, with the abdomen much distended, and showing the 
soft membrane between the segments. The common blue-bottle or blow-fly 
(Calliphora erythrocephala) is too well known to need description. One of the 
most noteworthy features connected with this fly is the extraordinary keenness of 
the sense 


perhaps smell, which enables it to discover the whereabouts of carcases, 
however small, or of particles of meat. In these it hastens to lay its eggs; and in a 
longer or shorter time, according to temperature, the eggs hatch, and the larve, 


=> 


INSECT LIFE IN SUMMER. 


1, Common Wasp; 2, 3, Honey-bees ; 4, Hairy-legged Bee (Dasypoda); 5, Wasp (Pompilus) ; 6, Stone Humble- 
9, Humble-bee Fly (Volucella) ; 10, Spiny Fly 


bee; 7, Common Humble-bee; 8, Bee-fly (Bombylius); 9, 
(Tachina) ; 11, Noctuid Moth(Anarta) ; 12, 13, Field Tiger-Beetle, crawling and flying ; 14, Wood Tiger-Beetle ; 
15, Rose Beetle (Cetonia) ; 16, Dung-Beetle (Typha us); 17, Field-Cricket ; 18, Grasshopper (Stenobothrus). 


VOL. VI.—5 


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DIPTERA. ee 


feeding upon the meat, rapidly grow until they reach maturity and pass into the 
pupa stage. Many persons believe that blue-bottles are full-grown examples 
of the house-fly, and when informed that such is not the ease, and that these 
insects after reaching the winged stage are incapable of growth, point out that 
blue-bottles vary greatly in size, and ask what may be the explanation of the 
difference. The answer is, that the size of the blue-bottle in its final stage depends 
upon the size of the maggot before pupating, and the size of the maggot upon 
the amount of nourishment it is able to obtain before its supply of food was 
exhausted. In any given case, when the supply is limited, the maggots that 
are the first to hatch will get more food than those that appear later, and 
in consequence, when the whole of it is exhausted, will have attained a greater 
length and fatness than the others, and thus become converted into larger flies, Or, 


GROUP OF FLIES AND THEIR GRUBS, 


1, Blow-fly ; 2, Eggs ; 3, Larve ; 4, Pupa; 5, Newly-born larva of grey flesh-fly ; 6, Grey flesh-fly : 7, Adult-larva 
of the same; 8, House-fly and larva; 9, Sharp-mouthed fly ; 10, Head of house-fly ; 11, Foot of grey flesh- 
fly ; 12, Carcase of house-fly killed by fungus growth. (10, 11, enlarged ; the other nat. size.) 


again, if three or four hundred eggs be laid in a dead mouse and the same number 
in a dead rabbit, it is clear that in the former case the supply of food will be 
smaller for each larva, and will sooner come to an end than in the latter. 

The grey flesh-fly (Sarcophaga carnaria) is a handsome species, measuring in 
the female half an inch in length. Seldom entering houses, it is not uncommon 
in the open country, where it may be seen basking in the hot sun upon stones 
or walls. Its prevailing colour is pale slate-grey, variegated on the thorax with 
black bands, and the abdomen with square black spots, set corner to corner like 
the squares of a chess-board. A noteworthy fact connected with this species is 
that the eggs hatch within the parent before being laid, so that the young are 
born alive; they feed upon decaying animal and vegetable matter. The blow- 
flies belonging to the genera Calliphora and Luezlia, respectively known as 
the blue-bottle and green-bottle flies, as a general rule deposit their eggs upon 
dead animal matter. This, however, is by no means always the case, there being 
many instances on record of the laying and hatching of the eggs upon living 


68 DN SECTS: 


animals. Thus it is by no means uncommon for sheep to be attacked in this 
way by a green-bottle fly (LZ. silvarum). On this subject, Mr. Reeks writes that 
“these flies deposit their eggs in the wool of sheep, generally about the root of 
the tail or behind the shoulders, anywhere, in fact, where the wool is most greasy. 
The larvee of these flies are most troublesome to shepherds in the latter part of 
May and June, until the sheep are sheared, and much later in the summer with 
lambs, when they should be dipped in a preparation of arsenic and soft soap.” 
Toads and frogs also seem to be frequently selected as objects of attack on the part 
of these flies. In one case the eggs of a green-bottle fly were laid on a toad’s back, 
and the larve upon hatching migrated into its eyes. In other cases the laying of 
the eggs and migration of the larvee have not been actually observed, but toads 
have been found with their nostrils infested with maggots; and it is possible that 
the latter may have effected an entry from the outside, as described above. Mr. 
Guthrie, who noticed the occurrence of the larvae of a blue-bottle (Calliphora) in 
the nostrils of toads, writes that “it is probable that the number of toads is largely 
kept under by those means. In 1872 toads were remarkably plentiful in the 
neighbourhood of Tenby, South Wales, and I noticed that the disease was very 
prevalent amongst them. In the following year scarcely any could be found, and 
I saw none diseased.” Cases are also on record of the death of lizards from 
maggots of blow-flies, which testify to the extraordinary vitality of the latter. 
In one instance a gecko fed on blue-bottles was found to have the whole 
abdominal region greatly distended. It soon afterwards died, and on dissection its 
intestines, lungs, and liver were found to be almost entirely destroyed by maggots, 
whose presence was naturally attributed to eggs from gravid female blue-bottles, 
which had been swallowed as food. In another case, some lizards fed on the living 
maggots of the blue-bottle died in consequence of the attacks on their internal 
organs by their intended food. Far more important are the cases of infection of 
human beings; the resulting sickness, which often entails great suffering, and may 
end in death, being known as myiasis. 

The sharp-mouthed fly (Stomoxys calcitrans), represented in 9 of the figure 
on p. 65, closely resembles the house-fly in size, shape, and colouring, but may be 
recognised by its sharp, horizontally projecting proboscis, and also by the flayellum 
of the antenne being hairy upon one side only. It is less often seen in houses 
than the house-fly, although occasionally paying them a visit, especially if there 
be stables in the vicinity. By means of its proboscis this fly pierces the skin 
of cattle and horses, or even of man, and gorges itself on the blood. Its eggs are 
laid in the excrement of the cattle on which it feeds. Resembling Stomoxys in 
habits and in the structure of its antennze and mouth-parts, the tsetse fly (Glossina 
morsitans) of Equatorial Africa, although barely equalling a blow-fly in size, is 
one of the greatest pests to domestic cattle, as the followimg accounts amply testify. 
As shown in the annexed illustration, the proboscis of this fly is long and 
prominent, and the antennz (>) are peculiar in that the third segment is very 
long and produced almost as far as the apex of the flagellum, which is furnished 
with barbed hairs along its outer surface only. Writing of the tsetse, Livingstone 
says that “we had come through another tsetse district by night, and at once 
passed our cattle over to the northern bank, which, though only fifty yards 


DIPTERA. 66 


distant, was entirely free from the pests. This was the more singular that we 
often saw natives carrying over raw meat with many tsetse upon it. This insect 
is not much larger than the common house-fly, and is nearly of the same brown 
colour as the honey-bee. The after part of the body has three or four yellow 
bars across it. It is remarkably alert, and evades dexterously all attempts to 
capture it with the hand at common temperatures. In the cool of the morning's 
and evenings it 1s less agile. Its peculiar buzz when once heard ean never be 
forgotten by the travellers whose means of locomotion are domestic animals, for 
its bite is death to the ox, horse, and dog. In this journey, though we watched the 
animals carefully, and believe that not a score of flies were ever upon them, they 
destroyed forty-three fine oxen. A most remarkable feature is the perfect harmless- 
ness of the bite to man and wild animals, and even calves so long as they con- 
tinue to suck the cows, though it is no protection to the dog to feed him on milk. 
The poison does not seem to be injected by a sting, or by ova placed beneath the 


> SKK 
SSS 
GLU YIEL (MILL TA 


TSETSE FLY (enlarged), 


a, Side view of head ; 4, Antenna. 


skin, for, when the insect is allowed to feed freely on the hand, it inserts the 
middle prong of the three portions into which the proboscis divides somewhat deeply 
into the true skin. It then draws the prong out a little way, and it assumes a 
crimson colour as the mandibles come into brisk operation. The previously 
shrunken belly swells out, and, if left undisturbed, the fly quietly departs when it 
is full. A slight itching irritation follows the bite. In the ox the immediate 
effects are no greater than in man; but a few days afterwards the eyes and nose 
begin to run, the coat stares, a swelling appears under the jaw, and sometimes at 
the navel; and though the poor creature continues to graze, emaciation commences, 
accompanied with a peculiar flaccidity of the muscles. This proceeds unchecked 
until, perhaps months afterwards, purging comes on, and the victim dies in a state 
of extreme exhaustion. The animals which are in good condition often perish 
soon after the bite is inflicted with staggering and blindness, as if the brain were 
affected. Sudden changes of temperature produced by falls of rain seem to hasten 
the progress of the complaint, but, in general, the wasting goes on for months. 
When the earcase is opened, the cellular tissue beneath the skin is found injected 
with air, as if a quantity of soap-bubbles were scattered over it. The blood is 
small in quantity, and scarcely stains the hands in dissection. The fat is of a 


70 INSECTS. 


greenish yellow colour, and of an oily consistence. All the muscles are flabby, 
and the heart is often so soft that the fingers may be made to meet through it. 
The lungs and liver partake of the disease. The stomach and bowels are pale 
and empty, and the gall-bladder is distended with bile. These symptoms seem 
to indicate poison in the blood, the germ of which enters when the proboscis is 
inserted. The mule, ass, and goat enjoy the same immunity from the tsetse as 
man and the game. Many large tribes on the Zambesi can keep no domestic 
animals except the goat, in consequence of the scourge existing in their country. 
Our children were frequently bitten, yet suffered no harm; and we saw around 
us numbers of zebras, buffaloes, pigs, palas, and other antelopes feeding quietly 
in the very habitat of the fly. There is not so much difference in the natures 
of the horse and zebra, the buffalo and ox, the sheep and the antelope, as to 
afford any satisfactory explanation of the phenomenon.” With the gradual spread of 
civilisation, it might be supposed that the ravages of this pest would become lessened, 
but this does not appear by any means to be the case. Writing in 1881, Mr. 
Selous remarks that “nowhere does this virulent insect exist in such numbers as to 
the westward of the Victoria Falls, along the southern bank of the Zambesi and 
Chobi. It is usually found in great numbers near the rivers, becoming scarcer 
and scarcer as one advances inland, till at a distance of a few miles it disappears, 
except in some particular patches of forest. Along the water’s edge they are an 
incredible pest, attacking one in a perfect swarm, from daylight till sunset; and 
without a buffalo or giraffe tail to swish him off, life would be unendurable. .. . 
About one in every ten bites (that perhaps touches a nerve) closely resembles the 
sting of a wasp or bee, as it will cause one, when seated to spring up as if pricked 
with a needle... . [think that this plague of the tsetse flies along the Chobi 
and Zambesi is due to the enormous numbers of buffaloes that frequent their 
banks, as they always seem very partial to these animals. The bite of this 
remarkable insect, as is well known, though fatal to all kinds of domestic 
animals, is innocuous to every species of game and to man. A general belief 
exists that among domestic animals, the donkey, dog, and goat are exceptions 
to this rule; but this is a mistake, for I have seen all three die from the effect 
of its bites.” The genus to which the common tsetse belongs is represented in 
South Africa by several species, all of which seem to be similar in habits. It 
ranges from Somaliland in the east and the Congo in the west, southwards as far 
as the Limpopo. Fortunately it is not universally distributed throughout the 
country, being somewhat local in its distribution, and inhabiting definite tracts of 
land, corresponding with the beds of rivers, from which it does not appear to spread 
to any great distance. 

Another group of flies constitutes the subfamily Tachinine, of which the 
best known examples are the spiny-flies (Tachina), so called on account of the 
thickness of the bristles with which their bodies are clothed. Of stout and robust 
build, these flies present a great resemblance to blow-flies and their allies, but have 
the bristles of the antennsx naked, or feathery only at the base, and the scales cover- 
ing the balancers of larger size. The larve, like those of the Conopide, live 
parasitically upon other insects, such as_ beetles, grasshoppers, and caterpillars. 
The great spiny-fly (Lchinomyia grossa), rather a local species, is the largest 


DIPTERA. a1 


representative of the family found in Britain. It is about two-thirds of an inch 
long, with a short, broad, oval abdomen; the shining black of its body being 
relieved by the reddish yellow colour of the head and the base of the wings, The 
allied species (#. jerox) represented in the illustration is brownish, with the 
abdomen tinted with red at the sides. Belonging to the same subfamily is 
the Australian fly Rutilia, remarkable among the order for 
being ornamented with bright metallic green spots. By rea- 
son of their external form and general colouring the flies of 
the subfamily Anthomyine appear to the casual observer 
to be nothing but ordinary house-flies; but they may be 
distinguished from the latter by the absence of the apical 
transverse vein on the wing (marked d on the figure of the 
fly’s wing on p. 48). The scales, moreover, which cover the TO ae Pes aa 
halteres are very small, and lead up to the condition found AND PUPA (nat. size). 
in those flies in which they are absent. The larve, which 
differ from those of the house and blow-flies in being covered with spines, live on 
plants of various kinds, those that have attracted the most attention being the 
species that attack cultivated vegetables, such as onions, cabbages, lettuces, radishes, 
and the like. Those members of the family having no scales covering the balancers 
and assigned to the subfamily 7rypetinw are generally of small size, many 
being very obnoxious on account of the damage inflicted by their larve on 
various marketable vegetables. Of the numerous species it is only possible to 
a notice a few. The first is the painted-winged as- 
paragus-fly (Platyparea peciloptera), which, as its 
name indicates, has variegated wings, and attacks 
asparagus. The male is smaller than the female, as 
shown by the length of the lines in the figure, and 
the latter sex may be recognised by the possession 
of a long ovipositor, by means of which she deposits 
her eggs between the scales of the head of the 
asparagus. The laying takes place about the begin- 
ning of May, and in two or three weeks, according 


ASPARAGUS FLY,¢ male; 9, female. 
(a) Front view of head. to the season, the eggs hatch, and the larvee burrow 


into the stalk of the plant. In a fortnight or so 
the latter reach maturity, and, after passing through the pupa stage, develop 
into flies towards the end of June. Many more or less nearly allied species are 
found in England and other countries, but it will suffice to indicate a few of the 
more important. Of these the cherry-fly (Spilographia cerasi) and the olive-fly 
(Dacus ole) devour in their larval stages the fruits after which they are named ; 
while the various species of the genus Ceratitis similarly attack the orange. 
Recently C. capitata was very destructive to the mandarin oranges in Malta, and 
seems to have been first introduced into the island about twenty yearsago. This 
fly is lively and hardy, as shown by the fact that a specimen kept under a glass 
shade without food maintained its activity for twelve days. When ego-laying, the 
female chooses the side of the fruit exposed to the sun, where it perforates the rind 
so that the larvee upon hatching start at once to devour the nutritious food. The 


72 INSECTS. 


infected fruit drops to the ground, and the larvee when mature pass out to become 
pupe beneath the earth. Besides oranges and other acid fruits, peaches and 
melons are attacked by this fly. The annexed figure represents another of these 
injurious little insects (Chlorops teniopus), a shining yellow fly variegated with 
black bands. This species and its allies, which are most 
destructive in the larval stage to cereals and grass, 
much resemble in the cycle of their development the 
above-mentioned Hessian fly. Allied to the preceding in 
structure and habits are the members of the sub-family 
Ortaline, containing the genus Ortalis and others. A 
Chlorops teeniopus, with figure curious representative from the Malay Archipelago, 
showing side view of head inownas the staghorn-fly (Hlaphomyia), takes its name 
(much enlarged). fa) d 
from the development of the sides of the head into 
large branching horns. This, however, is only a sexual character, and confined to 
the male. Finally, the small black fly (Piophila casei), known in the grub-stage 
as the cheese-hopper, belongs to that group of Muscide in which there are no 
scales to cover the balancers. 


GaApb-Fires AND Bot-Fires,—Family @s7ripZ. 


The flies of this family are mostly of large size, and many present superficial 
resemblance to various kinds of bees. In structural characters they are nearly 
allied to house-flies, but the head is larger and broader and the mouth-parts are 
reduced. In the larval stage gad-flies infest, either 
as internal or external parasites, various mammals, 
but since those that attack domestic cattle have 
been more thoroughly studied than the others, 
attention will mainly be directed to three of the 
best known forms, namely, those that infest respect- 
ively horses, oxen, and sheep. The horse bot-fly 
(Gastrophilus equr), which resembles the honey- 
bee in size, colour, and form, lays its eggs on the 
skin of horses, asses, and mules, which seem to 
have an instinctive dread of the insect. It has 
been noticed, moreover, that the gad-fly instinctively 
selects for the purpose a spot that is well within 
reach of the quadruped’s mouth. The reason for 
this, although not at first very obvious, becomes 
clear when it is understood that the larval fly can 
only obtain its proper nourishment in the alimentary 
canal of its host. As soon as the maggot emerges 
from the egg it starts to irritate the horse’s skin. 
Thereupon the horse, to remove the irritation, licks 
the infested spot and swallows the magyots, which 
then attach themselves by means of their hook-like “ sane ae pete cars 
mandibles to the inner wall of the stomach or larva; e, Pupa. (All enlarged.) 


DEVELOPMENT OF HORSE BOT-FLY. 


DIPTERA. 73 
cesophagus, making lttle excavations, and nourishing themselves by sucking up 
the secreted mucus. Here in perfect security they live and row for about 
a year; after which, when nearly full grown, they enter the intestine and pass 
out of the body with the excrement. Falling to the ground, the maggots bury 
themselves in the soil and enter upon the pupal stage. In favourable weather 
the perfect insect is produced from the pupa in about six weeks. The ox-bot, 
or ox-warble (Hypoderma bovis) deposits its eggs in the hair of the skin of 
eattle, and the mag- j 
gots after hatching 
burrow through the 
skin and take up their 
lodging in the tissues 
beneath, where in 
course of development 
they give rise to the 
large tumours known 
as warbles, each of 
which opens to the 
exterior by means of 


a small aperture. In OX WARBLE-FLY AND ITS DEVELOPMENT, 

these tumours the a, Fly; 6, Larva; c, Pupa—the latter from the lower side. (All enlarged.) 
maggots remain for 

ten or eleven months until practically full grown, when, quitting their host, they 
fall to the ground, bury themselves, and in the course of a month or six weeks 
emerge from the pupa stage as fully developed flies. The species most commonly 
met with in England is not H. bovis but H. lineatum. It can be easily under- 
stood from the fact that since no fewer than four hundred maggots, each grow- 
ing to an inch in length, have been known to infest a single beast, the loss 
occasioned by the attacks of this fly is considerable. It has been estimated, 
indeed by Stratton, that in the United Kingdom alone a loss of something lke 
£8,000,000 per annum is sustained. The mischief begins in the summer, when 
the cattle gallop about in terror in their vain efforts to escape the fles seeking 
to deposit their eggs upon them. This causes waste of milk and damage to 
health. Then there is the damage to the meat by the destruction of the tissue 
just under the hide, resulting in what butcher's call licked meat or jelly. And 
lastly, there is the evidence of tanners as to the damage to hides; one estimate 
given by a firm putting the loss on hides sold at two markets in Birmingham 
during seven weeks at £545; while a Nottingham authority reckons the loss in that 
town at £1500 to £2000 per annum. The sheep bot-fly (Zstrus ovis) lays its eggs 
in the nostrils of sheep, and the maggots after being hatched pass up the nasal 
passages and enter the chamber in the bones of the forehead, where they nourish 
themselves on the mucus to which the irritation of their presence gives rise. 
The presence of these parasites, which are seldom fewer than seven or eight ata 
time, is most injurious to the infested animal, and gives rise to a sickness of a very 
serious nature. At the end of about nine months the larve reach maturity, and 
making their way again into the nostrils are expelled by the sneezing of their 


74 TIN STACLS, 


host, and reaching the ground bury themselves, and remain concealed until 
they emerge as perfect insects from the pupal stage. The three species above 
mentioned serve as types of the life-histories of the entire family, which contains 
in addition a large number of genera and species infesting various kinds of 
animals. Even man himself is not exempt from their attacks, and all kinds of 
domestie cattle and beasts of burden, such as reindeer, camels, and elephants, are 
hable to be infested with them. 
Two notices of the occurrence of 
larvee in human beings were pub- 
lished by John Howship in 1833. 
In both cases the larve, named 
(Hstrus humanus, were extracted 
from tumours, the sufferer in 
one case being a soldier in 
Surinam, and in the other a 
carpenter in Columbia. In 
addition to the mammals men- 
tioned, others, such as_ hares, 
rabbits, mice, and voles, often 
a, Adult fly ; 6; Larva from upper side; c, Pupa from under suffer from these parasites. Their 
: side (all enlarged). larve have also been met with 
in birds and frogs. Schneider, 
for instance, states that two larvee much resembling those of Hypoderma were 
obtained from under the skin of the head of a young sparrow, where they had 
produced two large hard tumours, and Krefft has given descriptions of specimens 
belonging to the genus Batrachomyia that were found living parasitically upon 
Australian frogs. The larvee were situated between the skin and the flesh behind 
the drum of the ear, and could be squeezed out through apertures in the skin. 


LIFE-HISTORY OF SHEEP BOT-FLY, 


ForEst-FLiEs,—F amily HiZPPOBOSCID. 


This family brings us to the second section (Pupipara) of the Cyclorrohapha, 
all the members of which are no less remarkable amongst flies for the strangeness 
of their appearance than for their method of development. They are all short and 
flat, with longish and powerful legs which enable them to run with great speed: 
some of them being entirely wingless, with the mouth-parts much reduced; but in 
the mode of their development they are absolutely unique in the entire order. In 
the first place only a single young one at a time is produced, and this, instead of 
being laid in the ege-stage, remains within the mother, nourished at her 
expense by means analogous to those which obtain in the higher mammals. When 
born, the young is either actually a pupa, or immediately assumes the pupa-state, 
being motionless, without segmentation, and entirely protected by a horny shell, 
which imparts to it the appearance of the seed of a vetch. The members of this 
section, which are mostly parasitic on birds or mammals, are referable to three 
families. Of these, the forest-flies are represented by several genera, all the members 
of which are parasitic upon mammals or birds, and are frequently spoken of as 


DIPTERA. 75 


/ 


ticks. The species known from its abundance in the New Forest as the forest-fly 
(Hippobosea, equina) has the wings well developed. It infests horses and oxen, 
usually attaching itself to those parts of the body where the covering of hair 
is scanty. A second kind, known as Ornithomyia avicularia, occurring, as its name 
indicates, on birds of almost all kinds, also possesses a pair of fully developed 
wings; but in another species, Stenopteryx hirundinis, which is found on swallows 
and about their nests, the wings are narrow and sickle-like and scarcely fitted for 
flight. A fourth species, the so-called deer - tick 
(Lipoptena cervi), is provided with wings upon issuing 
from the pupa-case; but after flying about for a time 
the insects settle upon deer, and drop their wings by 
fracturing them at the base. The last member of the 
family to be mentioned, the so-called sheep-tick—which 
must not be confounded with the mite of that name 
—is entirely wingless from its birth. We thus get in 
this family a series of forms starting with the fully- 
winged forest-fly and leading through the swallow-tick 
with its wings reduced in size, and the deer-tick which 
can cast its wings, to the sheep-tick which has entirely 
lost these organs. The second family of the group, 
Nycteribiide, contains the single genus Vycterbia, the 
species of which live parasitically upon bats. All are wingless and have lost 
their compound eyes, but possess the balancers. The legs are long, powerful, 
and furnished with strong hooked claws, by means of which they cling to the 
hosts they infest. The bee-louse (Braula ceca; G. on p. 38), the type of the 
family Braulide, is a minute, blind, and wingless insect infesting honey-bees ; 
being found upon the workers, as well as upon the drones and queen, but seeming 
to have a preference for the two latter as hosts. 


COMMON FOREST-FLY (enlarged). 


THE FLEAS—Family PULICIDZ, ete. 


The fleas, which by some are regarded as an order (Aphaniptera), may be 
considered to be aberrant flies; their mouth-organs, which are adapted for piercing 
and sucking, being modified upon the same principles as obtain in the flies. They 
further resemble that group in undergoing a complete metamorphosis, but differ 
from the majority of flies in being destitute of wings. The group is divisible into 
two families. In the true fleas or Pulicide the body of the adult is strongly flat- 
tened from side to side, and thus, in conjunction with the smooth, hard, and nearly 
naked integument, enables the insect to swiftly traverse the hairy coating of its host. 
Some of the segments, however, are usually armed with strong backwardly-projecting 
spines. There are no compound eyes, but each side of the head is furnished with a 
simple eye; the legs being long, strong, and fitted for leaping. The eggs are laid 
about the floors of houses, kennels, ete.; and the larvee, which are slender, worm- 
like creatures, devoid of legs, but furnished with a biting mouth, live on particles of 
decaying organic matter found in the dust of the places they infest. When adult, 
the larva, or maggot, is said to spin a cocoon within which the pupa state is passed. 


76 INSECTS. 


In addition to mankind, fleas (Pulex) live parasitically upon other animals such 
as dogs, cats, badgers, pigeons, fowls, moles, hedgehogs, squirrels, ete. They are, 
moreover, even more abundant in tropical than in temperate countries. Tennent, 
for instance, says that in Ceylon “they may be seen in myriads in the dust of the 
streets, or skipping in the sunbeams which fall on the clay floors of the cottages. 
The dogs to escape them select as their sleeping-places spots where a wood fire has 
been kindled; and here, prone on the white ashes, their stomachs close to the 
earth, and their hind-legs extended behind, they repose in comparative coolness, 
and bid defiance to their persecutors.” 

To the family Sarcopsyllide 
belongs the dreaded chigoe or jigger 
(Sarcopsyllus penetrans) of tropical 
countries. The adult female burrows 
beneath the skin of the foot, and 
shortly after effecting an entrance 
her body becomes swollen up with 
egos, and grows to the size of a pea. 
At this stage she may be easily 
extracted, and as the young are not 
parasitic it 1s seldom that serious 
results ensue. According to Mr. 

COMMON FLEA AND ITS STRUCTURE. W. H. Blandford, “the recorded dis- 
1, Fgg; 2, Larve; 3, Pupa; 4, Perfect insect; a, Labrum; tribution of the chigoe extends over 
ae c, Labial palpi; d, Mandible; e, Maxillary Tropical Aanericamencianhie Antilles, 
from 30° N. to 30° S., and in late 
years it has been exported in ballast to Africa, and has established itself in Angola, 
Loango, and the Congo.” It also occurs in British Central Africa, where quite 
recently it occasioned much suffering among the natives, and, by laming the native 
postmen, caused delay in the transmission of mails. As in the case of the Pulicide, 
the fleas of this family do not confine their attentions to mankind. There is, for 
example, a genus known as Vermipsylla, which occurs in Turkestan, and is said to 
be very injurious to cattle; and Mr. Blandford has recently recorded a species from 
Ningpo in China, found buried in the ears of sewer-rats. Speaking of the occurrence 
of the jigger in Florida, a correspondent writes that “the wooden houses are built on 
piles, and under them the sand is infested with jigger-fleas. All dogs are attacked 
by them, and fowls and puppies frequently killed; in fact, sitting hens must 
regularly have their combs covered with lard and brimstone, and inseet powder 
dusted over their wings, to keep them alive. These jiggers are very tiny 
and black, and do not hop like Old World fleas, but, fixing themselves into the 
flesh, stick there, and are most difficult to remove. An English visitor who has 
once collected eggs in a Florida hen-house, on a hot June day, will for ever 
remember the result.” 


R. I ROCOCK 


CALACP Tai lel 
JOINTED ANIMALS,—continued. 
INsECTS,—continued. 


BUTTERFLIES AND MotTus,—Order LEPIDOPTERA. 


——— 


= SSS 
— SSS 


PINE HAWK-MOTH WITH LARV AND PUPA. 


THE beautiful insects comprehended in the order to which the name Lepidoptera 
or scale-wings has been given are familiar to the majority of readers without any 
lengthened introductory description. The butterflies, or Rhopalocera, and the 
moths, or Heterocera, though they form two distinct sections of the order, cannot 
be divided by any hard-and-fast lines. They may generally be distinguished from 
one another by the manner of the folding of the wings at rest, or more precisely by 
the different character of the antenne. The wings of the moths, too, are locked 
together by a tiny hook on the inner margin of one wing fitting into an eye on 
the inner margin of the other. The butterflies never possess this curious structure. 
The Lepidoptera are easily distinguishable from other orders of insects by the 
four ample wings, with more or less regular veins or nervures, clothed with the 
minutest, exquisitely-chiseled scales, of many shapes, and great variety of external 
chasing. These scales are but modified forms of hairs, broadened out, flattened 
and fashioned to cover the delicate membrane of the wing with an overlapping 
armament of beauty. And it is to this wondrous sculptured dust, breaking up the 


78 INSECTS. 


rays of sunlight as it plays upon the surface of their wings, that butterflies and 
moths owe their tender shades, brilliant colours, and metallic lustres. A few 
butterflies are clear-winged, with scarcely any scales, such as the Jthomia of 
Brazil, while the Sesiidw represent the clear-wings amongst the moths. Some 
orders of insects, such as the Hymenoptera, have four membranous wings like the 
Lepidoptera, but these are transparent and not clothed with scales. Others, such 
as the beetles, have the upper pair horny and useless for purposes of flight, the 
second pair being membranous but not scaly. The mandibles, or jaws, found in 
most other four-winged insects except the Hemiptera or bugs, are replaced in the 
Lepidoptera by a long tubular proboscis or suctorial apparatus, used for exhausting 
the contents of honey-bearing flowers, or drawing in nutriment from less taste- 
ful sources. In common with all other insects, the Lepidoptera have the body 
divided into three separate sections. The head, bearing the eyes, proboscis, and 
antenne ; the thorax, whence originate the legs below and the wings above; and 
lastly the abdomen, bearing along the sides the spiracles for breathing, and the 
generative organs at the apex. The abdomen is never attached by a narrow stalk 
or pedicle as in the Hymenoptera. So close may their general resemblance be 
to other insects, that, as is the case with the hornet clear-wing moth, none but a 
naturalist could distinguish it from the common hornet. A general resemblance of 
body-plan may coexist in individuals of two widely separate orders, together with 
a habit of life and temperament, and lkewise essential characters, wholly distinct 
and different. 

The Lepidoptera also resemble the insects of most other orders in 
passing through several sharply defined phases before the last and 
perfect stage is attained. All first appear in the form of an egg laid by the mother 
on some food-plant or tree. On hatching, the eggs give rise to a free- 
walking, feeding, sleeping, and breathing larva or caterpillar; thence, after sue- 


Development. 


cessive changes of the skin, this passes into the quiescent, trance-like state, called the 
pupa or chrysalis stage ; from this it at last emerges, at a suitable season of the year, 
as the fully formed butterfly or moth. At the commencement of hfe the butterfly 
or moth is a thing of beauty even in the egg state. Butterflies’ eggs, though falling 
into distinct groups of resemblance, on which even systems of classification have 
been based, are as various as they are beautiful. Globular, oval, flat, barrel-shaped, 
bottle-shaped, green, white, or brown, the egg is usually of a hue which renders it 
not easily visible on the leaf where it has been deposited. After a time the shell 
bursts, the tiny larva creeps forth, and commences feeding either on the egg-shell 
or on the food lying in abundance near at hand. The larvee are long, cylindrical, 
creeping, worm-like objects, with short legs, and a more or less hairy or quite 
naked body. The greater number feed upon the leaves of trees, shrubs, plants, and 
grasses ; while many are internal feeders, burrowing deep into the decaying hearts 
of various trees. Others mine in the pith of thistles; while many more burrow 
at the roots of grass, or devour turnip-roots, to the detriment of the crops. The 
larvee of the mining moths (7inew) make sinuous channels between the upper and 
lower skin of various leaves. These in the perfect form are amongst the smallest 
and most lovely of all the Lepidoptera. Others, again, feed on clothing and other 
woollen stuffs, gnawing ragged holes, and when the imago or perfect insect appears 


LEPIDOPTERA, 79 


the mischief has been done. So voracious are larve that huge oak forests may be 
in a few days swept bare of almost every vestige of foliage. } 
Ren CtaTelor The body consists of a head bearing biting mandibles for nipping 

Larva. off the edges of leaves, or gnawing amongst decaying timber; a pair 
of small, short antenne form appendages on either side; and just behind three 
simple eyes, or ocelli, on either side, very different from the large compound eyes 
of the perfect insect. Behind the head lie eleven segments or movable rings. 
Three of these, close behind the head, correspond to the thorax of the adult, 
and bear the three pairs of thoracic legs, short and horny, exactly corresponding to 
the three pair of legs of the butterfly or moth. The other segments bear the pro- 
legs, or elaspers—varying in number from one to five pairs—used for clinging to 
leaves and other surfaces. In some of the moths the last pair are obsolete as legs, 
and are developed into a pair of horns, supposed to be for protective purposes, as 
for mstance in the puss-moth. A caterpillar may thus possess sixteen legs, though 
often there is not the full number. 

A very curious form of larva is that producing the insects known as the 
geometers, so called because of the peculiar gait of the caterpillar, which measures 
out the surface over which it passes with a regular series of equal strides or loops. 
Their body is long, but since there are but four pro-legs, they cannot crawl, but by 
bringing up the hinder-legs advancing the head, and again bringing forward the 
tail, the caterpillar spans the space to be traversed by a series of looping strides. 
Hence the Americans call them “span-worms.” These larvee, too, are remarkable 
for their resemblance—when the head is stretched outwards—to a broken twig, a 
likeness which undoubtedly secures them from many dangerous foes. Many larvae 
are protected by their similarity in colour to the surrounding foliage, and it 
has been supposed that the pigment from the leaves which the caterpillar eats 
lends its characteristic hue to its devourer. From the moment of hatching until 
the final moult, when the caterpillar enters the pupa state, it undergoes a series of 
from eight to ten changes of the skin. These changes form crises in the lives of 
larvee, which, at any rate in captivity, sometimes die during the process. 

The stage immediately preceding that of the perfect form is 
usually called, when reference is made to the butterflies, the chrysalis 
state ; but in the case of the moths, the pupa state, though there is no essential differ- 
ence between the two. In this strange quiescent state the wings, legs, antenne, 
and proboscis of the future insect can be seen fully formed and folded tightly 
within the outer covering. The only signs of vitality are given by wriggling 
movements of the segmented abdomen, when the pupa is irritated. The hard 
external covering is useful for resisting the attacks of predaceous insects, though 
of course not securing them immunity from mice, birds, or moles, which devour 
them with avidity. The chrysalis of a butterfly is usually angular and gilded. 
Some are suspended simply by the tail, others have a silken girdle round the 
middle to keep them fast, while some spin a very slight cocoon. The pup of the 
moths, on the other hand, are dull red, usually smooth mummy-like objects, to 
which likeness the word pupa or “ puppet” doubtless refers. The greater part of 
these lie simply in the earth, beneath moss or bark, wherever the larva has crawled 
to effect the change, without any additional covering. Others form a hard cocoon 


Pupa. 


80 TINSE CTS. 


of the grains of mould, to which consistency is given by means of a gummy secre- 
tion furnished by the larva. Many form with this secretion a hard case, the outer 
side covered with chips of the surrounding bark, which, owing to their similarity to 
the surroundings, serve as a protection from observation. Others spin a silken egg- 
shaped cocoon, sometimes flocculent and broken, sometimes formed of yards and 
yards of silken thread, emitted from the mouth and passed over and under, across 
and round, until the cell is complete. Amongst the more interesting of these 
cocoons is that of the emperor-moth, which forms a short tubular exit closed 
against the entrance of earwigs and other insects by a circular series of fine bristles 
directed outwards and converging to a point. The principle of contrivance is the 
same as that employed in the manufacture of lobster-pots; but here the process is 
reversed, for in this case it admits of a ready egress but prevents any entrance. 
Moths whose pupa stage is passed within an external cocoon have a double task 


before them when the time is ripe for an emergence. The pupa itself—as does also 
the chrysalis of butterflies—splits at the dorsal suture above the thorax, and the 
moth emerges, ferreting a way through one end of the cocoon, which seems to be 
softened by moisture from within, and thus escapes. The imago, or perfect insect, 
having now emerged, climbs to some point of vantage, where the wings, still very 
small, though completely formed, are allowed to hang downwards, expand and 
harden in the air. After a few hours they are stiff and ready for use. 
Bae At no stage in their lives are lepidopterous insects free from the 
attacks of enemies. In the egg-state they fall a prey to beetles and 
small birds, and as larvee they are extremely lable to receive a deadly thrust with 
the ovipositor (or sting) of an ichneumon. As the ichneumon-grubs grow at the 
expense of their host, scarcely a tissue in the whole body may remain, save those 
needful for the carrying out of life-supporting functions. And at last, when the 
grubs are themselves ready to pupate, and have no further need of their host, they 
finish up the rest and the larva dies—chiefly because there is nothing left to live. 
The enemies of the imago, whether butterflies or moths, are numerous. Birds, 
bats, dragon-flies, ete., pursue and harass them whenever they happen to meet with 
them. The marvel is that any remain alive to lay eggs and perpetuate the species. 
In the struggle to escape detection and capture, all unconscious 
though it may be, arises the phenomenon alluded to above, and known 
as protective mimicry. The kindred phenomenon of protective colouring, when the 


Mimicry. 


moth or butterfly merely resembles in hue the bark, leaf, or twig on which it 
rests; also protective resemblance, simply when insects take the form of objects, 
such as twigs, dead leaves, bits of decayed wood, flakes of white bird-droppings ; these 
are all well known. But protective mimicry means more, it imphes the actual 
mimicking either the form, colour, or habits of some other insect which is either 
too savage or unpleasant to make it a desirable object of food; as, for instance, 
the clear-wing moths mimic gnats, bees, wasps, ichneumons, ete. Perhaps the 
most curious instance is that of the Aallimas or dead-leaf butterflies of Northern 
India, whose upper sides are richly coloured, while the under sides are dull brown 
mottled and veined with darker colours. So conspicuous a butterfly would not 
fail to fall a ready prey to foes. If it but settle for an instant, however, the 
sharpest eye will not detect them. The secret lies in the colour and veining of the 


LEPIDOPLIERA. Sr 


under side. The fly settles, clings to a twig, presses the tails of the under-wings— 
now folded together against it—and nothing but an old withered leaf remains 
where but just now was a gaudy butterfly. A species of the genus Heliconius, an 
insect avoided by birds on account of its bitter flavour, is closely mimicked by 
another butterfly of the genus Mechanitis. Though very sweet - flavoured, it 
escapes unmolested amongst its less agreeable companions. The mimicry involved 
in the feigning of death by many species of moths is, of course, protective. It has 
even been asserted that a specimen of the magpie-moth continued to feign death 
three hours after its head had been severed from the thorax. 


Imago or Perfect If all the dangers noted above have been passed through with 
Insect. impunity, in due time, at various seasons of the year, the perfect 


insects—butterfly, or moth, as the case may be—will emerge. These vary in size from 
12 inches or more in the expanse of the upper-wings to a quarter of an inch ;—the 
latter bemg amongst the smallest moths, or Microlepidoptera. We have remarked 
that the body is divided into three distinct divisions, head, thorax, and abdomen; 
we must now shortly notice the various structures peculiar to each division. The 
first division of a lepidopterous body is itself divided into four 
main divisions. The occiput, next to the thorax; the epicranium, 
bearing the antenne ; and, in some moths, the ocelli or simple eyes; the clypeus, 
lying in front of the epicranium, just on the mouth-parts, which latter themselves 
fall into at least five or six distinct structures; the proboscis, long, and capable of 
being rolled up beneath the labrum when at rest; the labrum, lying at the base of 
the proboscis, above ; the maxillary palpi (absent or rudimentary in the butterflies) ; 
the labial palpi, and rudimentary mandibles, aborted in many cases, complete the 
mouth structures: It is in the structure of the mouth-parts, perhaps, that the butter- 
flies and moths differ most from other insects, and more especially from the fact 
that the mandibles of the insects have in the Lepidoptera become modified into a 
long, spirally curled, retractile proboscis, composed of three distinct hollow tubes, 
soldered to each other along their inner margins. Indeed, it has much the appear- 
ance of a double-barreled gun, with a third tube lying below beneath the suture of 
the upper and larger pair. But it is with this latter alone that nutrition is imbibed, 
and it is supposed that the other pair may furnish air in addition to that obtained 
through the spiracular orifices along the abdomen. The ocelli, or simple eyes, 
resembling those of the larve; the small eyes on the upper part of the head of 
bees and other Hymenoptera, as well as those of other Arthropods, such as we find 
to the number of from four to eight in the spiders, are not discoverable in the 
butterflies, but are present in the moths alone. The large compound eye, composed 
of numerous facets, is, however, present in both sections of the order, lying on 
either side of the epicranium, just below the point of insertion of the antenne. 
Whether they see nature with these “as through a veil,” or appreciate every detail 
as we do ourselves, is a matter of speculation, but not easy of solution. The pair 
of thread-like, many-jointed organs, which take their origin from the side of the 
epicranium, just above and within the compound eyes, are amongst the butterflies, 
with the exception of the family Hesperiide, thread-like, and abruptly clubbed at 
the apex. In the latter family they are gradually thickened towards the end, 
which often terminates in a hook-like point. The moths, however, as their name 
VO, Vi.——0 


Head. 


82 . INSECTS. 


Heterocera implies, furnish us with far greater variety in the form of the antenne ; 
quite apart from the fact that they differ in both sexes of the same species, thread- 
like, for instance, in the female, pectinate in the male sex, we find at least ten 
different forms of antenne amongst members of this section :—Filiform, or thread- 
like, gradually tapering to a point; fusiform, broadened from the base onwards 
to the tip, which is again narrowed; dilate, narrow from the base to about one- 
third its length, then rather suddenly enlarged, and again narrowed at the tip; 
ciliate, clothed with the finest hairs; setigerous, each joint furnished with a bristle 
on either side; setigerous and ciliate, furnished with both fine hairs and paired 
bristles ; fasciculate, each joint furnished with a group or tuft of short bristles, 
like a small brush; dentate, or toothed, each joint produced into a sharp tooth-like 
process at the side; /wmellate, where each joint is produced at the margin into a 
small plate-like prominence; serrate, sawlike, each jomt produced into a short 
sharp point at the side, giving the whole antenns the appearance of a saw, the 
teeth are not so long as in the dentate antennew; pectinate, each joint furnished 
with long plume-like hairs, or a pair of such on either side. 
mhoraxand ite The second division of the body, like that of the Hymenoptera, 
Appendages. js composed of three closely united rings, each bearing beneath a 
pair of legs, while the posterior pair carry also on their upper or outer sides, each a 
pair of well developed wings. The prothorax bears the 
fore-legs. The mesothorax the mid-legs and fore-wings. 
The metathoraw the hind-legs and hind-wings. The 
legs are not used normally for walking, but are chiefly 
serviceable for clinging to objects while settling or at 
rest. They do not call for any special mention; and 
are not of great account for purposes of classification, 
except in the butterflies, where in the case of the males 
Pree Ueda tiemcral aCe enc, wamee families Nymphalide, Erycinide, and 
position of the transverse Lycenide, the fore-pair are much reduced in size, 
mee baa ar aaa ; being in some cases alinost rudimentary. 
spot ; e, reniform spot. By far the most important structure in the eyes of 
the general naturalist, though not necessarily so in 
the opinion of the expert, are the beautiful membranous, scale - clad pinions. 
These give the distinctive character to lepidopterous insects, and render them so 
fascinating to the lover of nature. Broad and ample on the whole amongst the 
butterflies, more narrowed as arule amongst the moths—the hawk-moths for instance 
—they are formed of the finest transparent membrane stretched out between the stiff 
rib-like nervures, or, more properly speaking, veins, which carry the nutritive fluids 
from the central system to all parts of the structure. The nerves, as custom will 
persist in terming them, in the butterflies take a bow-like or ellipsoidal sweep from 
the base of the wing, forming what is called the discoidal cell, whence there branch 
off to the edges a series of horizontal, almost parallel, slightly divergent, nervures. 
On the position of these the identification of species is most securely based, though, 
in order to examine them, the insect must be spoiled as a specimen. In the moths, 
on the other hand, the discoidal cell is less conspicuous, though nervures branch off 
divergently from the base of the wing in a somewhat similar manner to those of 


LEFT FORE-WING OF A NOCTUA 
MOTH. 


LEPIDOPTERA. 83 
the butterflies. One of the most remarkable features in the wings of the 
Heterocera, as distinguishtd from those of the Rhopalocera, is the existence of the 
frenulum and retinaculum, briefly referred to above as the hook-and-eye arrange- 
ment, with which the fore-wing is locked to the hind-wing. As already said, the 
scales are modified hairs, which take a more and more perfect scale-like form 
towards the centre of the wing. They lie in regularly arranged rows, over- 
lapping each other, attached by a short stalk to a small forea or pit in the 
membrane, to the number of many hundreds of thousands on each insect. Of 
different shapes and sizes they are themselves, owing to their exquisitely sculptured 
surface, objects of extreme beauty. And it is to these alone that butterflies and 
moths owe their manifold tints, from the sombrest browns to the most resplendent 
metallic greens, golds, and purples. 

The third division of the body is composed of a series of nine 
rings or segments, sometimes, as in the case of many of the moths, 
tufted along the dorsal line, and also at the extremity. The spiracles, through 
which the air passes to the tracheal system, lie along the sides of the abdomen, 
while the organs of reproduction are placed at the extremity in both sexes. 

Butterflies and moths very rarely occur in the fossil state, owing 
no doubt to the delicacy of their integuments. Species of both, how- 
ever, have been found in Tertiary deposits and some few in nodules of amber. The 
Tertiary beds of the Florissant lake-basin of Colorado have furnished seven 
species of butterflies, a dozen of moths, and one caterpillar. Two specimens of 


Abdomen. 


Extinct Forms. 


hawk-moths are known, in one of which is well preserved the spirally-coiled proboscis. 
Galleries of the leaf-mining Tineina have been preserved in leaves from the Chalk, 
while other Lepidoptera, a few pearl-moths, owl-moths, goat-moths, silk-spinners, 
burnets, and clear-wings, together with a few species of Vanessa and blues, have 
also been recognised. 


THE BUTTERFLIES,—Suborder Rhopalocera. 


As distinguished from the moths, the butterflies may be recognised as a general 
rule by their antenne, which, as suggested by the name Rhopalocera, are slender 
and abruptly clubbed at the extremity. In some cases, however, in the family of 
the skippers, these organs are gradually enlarged towards the tip, which is itself 
often slightly hooked. Butterflies have not, in any case the hook-and-eye arrange- 
ment—the retinaculum and frenulum—by which the upper- and under-wings are 
in the moths interlocked along their inner margins. The fore-legs are not always 
well developed, and this is particularly noticeable in members of the male sex, 
forming a reliable character in the broad subdivision of the Rhopalocera into 
families. Butterflies are mostly diurnal in their habits, flying in the sunshine by 
day, although a few take wing only towards evening. Their eggs and larvee differ 
considerably in many respects from those of the moths, while the chrysalis is seldom 
enclosed in even the finest network of silk, and in no case is wrapped in a distinct 
cocoon, nor even buried beneath the earth, very rarely even close to the surface. 
Usually the chrysalis is angular and blotched and speckled, with gold and silver 
ornamentation; sometimes it is suspended to a branch or twig by the tail, and 


84 UNSECTS. 


sometimes while fastened by the tail also engirdled with a line of silk around the 
middle, thus tying in a position horizontal to the plane to which the larva has 
attached itself. These two characters also have been used for purposes of classiti- 
cation, and the suborder has been divided into Suspensi and Succincti on account 
of this difference in the attachment of the chrysalis. 
hy The following broad subdivisions of butterflies may be made :— 
eee Firstly, those which have four perfect legs only in both sexes, the 
fore-pair being rudimentary or undeveloped; while the chrysalis is suspended by 
the tail without any girdle. These include the family Nyimphalide. Secondly, 
those having four perfect legs in the male, and six in the female, while the feet of the 
former have no claws at their extremity; the chrysalis being raised, resting on a 
leaf or suspended. The Hrycinidw represent this group. Thirdly, we have the 
family of the blues (Lycenide), in which there are six perfect legs in the female, and 
the chrysalis is suspended. The fourth group is that of the swallow-tails 
(Papilionide), in which both sexes possess six perfect legs, while the chrysalis is 
attached by the tail and girdled by a silken thread. Lastly, the Hesperiide agree 
with the preceding as regards the legs, but the chrysalis is either attached by 
threads, or enclosed in a loose cocoon. As a rule, mountainous regions are those 
which abound most in butterflies, although there is a marked exception in the 
case of the valleys of Tropical America. 


The Fritillary The family Nymphalide includes an extensive assemblage of 
Group. = butterflies, among which are the fritillaries, peacocks, painted ladies, 


tortoiseshells, and admirals. Here also come the leaf-butterflies, purple emperors, 
white admirals, Camberwell beauty, and the large high-flying blue Morphos. We 
have also the subfamily Satyrinc, which includes the ringlets, marbled whites, 
meadow-browns, and graylings, besides many others too numerous to mention. 
First we may notice, as an example of the subfamily Danaine, the butterfly 
shown on the lower right-hand corner of the coloured Plate, which is known as 
Euplea harrisii. In common with several other species, it belongs to a genus of 
large blue, and brown-winged tropical butterflies, in which the upper surface of the 
wings is usually spotted with white. At the top left-hand corner of the same Plate 
is figured the male of the orange scallop-wing (Cethosia biblis), which may be taken 
as a representative of the subfamily Vymphaline. It is an inhabitant of North- 
Eastern India. Its black and spiny larve have the body banded with red and 
yellow, and the head surmounted with a pair of horn-like processes. 

A better-known group are the fritillaries (Argynnis), which are mostly 
confined to the temperate districts of the Northern Hemisphere. In this genus, 
the British silver-washed fritillary (A. paphic) is amongst the finest representatives 
of a large number of orange-red or fulvous insects whose hind-wings on the under 
side are spotted, spangled, or slashed with silver upon a dusted green ground. 
Not uncommon throughout England, it occurs in abundance in the glades of the 
New Forest, where the larva feeds on the dog-violet or wild raspberry. The dark 
green fritillary (A. aglaia), anear relative, frequents the southern grassy downs along 
the margins of the cliffs, or sports in the fern-embroidered dells of the lake-district 
valleys. The high brown fritillary (A. adippe), a rather smaller form, whose hind- 
wings, as are those of the last-named species, are spotted with silver dises, while 


LEPIDOPTERA. 85 


those of the silver-washed are slashed obliquely towards the lower angle. The 
Queen of Spain (A. lathonia), a much rarer insect, and the two elegant little pearl- 
bordered fritillaries (4. euphrosyne and A. selene) are also British. The greasy 
fritillary (Melitea aurinia) brings us to another genus, the members of which 
closely resemble those of the former, but are as a rule smaller. So many figures of 
all the British species have been published, that detailed description is superfluous. 
The greasy fritillary inhabits low-lymg marshy meadows in various localities in 
England, where the larve feed on the plantain. The heath fritillary (J/. athalia) 
is a very similar though very local species; while the glanville (JL. cinwia) is rare 
in Britain, where it is confined to the Isle of Wight. Many handsome species of 
this genus are found in all the more northern regions of the world, but undoubtedly 
the most numerous occur in the South-Western United States. The magnificent 
fritillary A. childreni, which measures nearly 5 inches from wing-tip to wing-tip, 
is indigenous to the Himalaya. Closely allied to the fritillaries is the map-butter- 
fly (Araschnia levana) of Central Europe. It presents two very distinct forms, 
one of which (A. levana) appears in the spring, the other (A. prorsa) later on in 
the summer, while an intermediate form (A. porima) is also recognised. The form 
known as the spring brood, figured on p. 90, is fulvous red with scattered black 
spots, presenting also three white spots near the tip of the wing. The summer 
brood (Fig. 4) has black wings with a red marginal line, having besides a broad 
broken white bar across the wings and some white spots near the margin. The 
larvee feed on the nettle in June and September. The insect, though common on 
the Continent, has not been taken in England. The curiously-shaped butterfly 
known as the common (Polygonia c-album), was formerly much more common in 
England than it is at present. The wings are rufous with black spots, and very 
strongly emarginate along the edges, and angular. The white c-shaped spots on 
either hind-wing beneath render it not easily mistaken for any other British 
species. 

The handsome butterflies known as tortoiseshells (Vanessa) are amongst the 
most widely distributed of the family, though confined to the Northern Hemisphere. 
Most inhabit the more temperate regions of Europe, Asia, and America, although a 
few occur in India, Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula, and Mexico, The caterpillars 
feed on plants and trees, and are usually dark and spinous. The chrysalis, angular 
and distinguished by its brilliant lustre, is suspended by the tail,and forms a beautiful 
object. The large tortoiseshell (V. polychloros), so common in woods in England, 
is usually found settling upon the trunks of trees, in summer and autumn. The 
wings are rich fulvous-red, blotched and margined with black, and having a 
narrow broken vein of blue just before the outer fringe. The larvee feed on the 
leaves of various trees, and the chrysalis is pale pink relieved with golden 
blotches. The small tortoiseshell (V. wrticw), whose jet-black spiny larva feeds 
on the nettle, is amongst the commonest British butterflies. The peacock 
butterfly (V. io), well ‘known on account of the large eye-like blotches 
on the upper and under - wings, 1s figured in all its stages in the illustration 
on p. 86. The larve also feed upon the nettle; and the insect is found 
throughout Europe and Northern Asia as far as Japan, but not in Northern Africa. 
One of the handsomest, and at the same time of the rarest, of British butterflies, 


86 TSE CLS. 


is the Camberwell beauty (V. antiopa). Its large angular wings are rich brown above, 
with a broad yellow border, enclosing on its inner margin a row of blue spots. 

In the tropics the place of the preceding genus is taken by Junonia, the 
members of which are not perhaps so richly coloured as the tortoiseshells. They 
occur all over Eastern and Southern Asia, and are also found in North and South 
America, the Oriental countries, and Africa. The caterpillars are spinous, as are 
those of the two tortoiseshells. A figure of the beautiful, although dark- 
coloured, Swinhoe’s tortoiseshell (J. 
swinhoer), is given at the lower left- 
hand corner of the coloured Plate. 
As an example of the genus Pyra- 
meis, we may take the red admiral 
(P. atalanta), which is a well-known 
and richly-coloured British butterfly, 
appearing in the autumn in woods, 
and also in orchards where it feeds 
upon the juices of decaying apples. 
The large black wings with a scarlet 
band across the upper, and a margin 
\Ss of the same colour around the lower, 
* together with the group of pure 
white blotches towards the tip of the 
former, render it a very conspicuous 
insect. When, however, the wings 
are closed, the mottled black and 
brown render it almost invisible. 
The larve are black and spinous, 
and feed upon the common nettle ; 
and the species is found all over 
Europe and North Africa, North and 
West Asia, and North and Central 
America. In many other regions its 
place is taken by some very closely 


: allied forms. In the painted lady 

1, Hew biter: 2 Mie sie st enesels & Te CP. eardi), of which the eaterpillars 
caterpillar (nat. size). feed upon the thistle, the wings 
are orange-red, black-spotted, and 
black-tipped, the latter area bearing a group of white spots. It is abundant in 
almost every country of the world, except the Arctic regions and South America. 
Nearly allied are the porcelains (Cyrestis), which measure from 2 to 3 inches across 
the wings, and are found in India, the Malay Archipelago, and a few in West 
Africa and Madagascar. The sooty-veined porcelain (C. thyodamas) represented on 
the coloured Plate, No. 3 from the lower right corner, is an inhabitant of 
Madagascar. Of the genus Limenitis, the large white admiral (L. populi) occurs 
in Central Europe, South Scandinavia, and Finland, but has not been met with in 
the British Islands or in Holland. It is nearly twice the size of the English white 


i 


GROUP OF BUTTERFLIES. 


LEPIDOPERERA. 87 


admiral (L. canvlla), its wings being brown with a row of lunate orange marks 
near the hinder margin of the lower wings. The arrangement of the white bars 
on the upper wings is the same as that of the British form, but these are almost 
obliterated in the male sex. The under side is of a beautiful orange-yellow colour, 
broken with white, and elsewhere suffused with various shades of purplish and 
bluish grey. 

Closely allied to the admirals are the mango-butterflies (Luthal ia), Which are 
almost entirely confined to India, the Malay Peninsula, and the adjacent islands. 
They measure from 2 to 4 inches across the wings, and the larvee feed on the 
leaves of the mango. An illustration of the black mango-butterfly (Zu. lubentina) 
will be found on the coloured Plate, No. 2 from the top right corner. The 
emperors (A patura) are widely distributed over the world, except in Africa. Two 
species alone are found in Europe, and these are much more brilliant insects than 
the majority of the temperate species, The caterpillars are not hairy, but smooth, 
and bear a pair of horns on the 
head, as also does the chrysalis. 
In Britain the purple emperor 
(A. writs) is confined to the 
southern counties of England. 
Its strong purple-shot, white- 
banded wings, 3inches in expanse, 


carry it with a grand sweeping 
flight far above the highest oak- 
trees, whence it descends, alas 
for imperial predilection, to a 
savoury banquet of putrid flesh, 
set out in some suitable locality. 
The caterpillar feeds upon the 
sallow, and the perfect insect 
appears in July. 

Passing over many genera, 
containing some of the loveliest 
foreign forms, we reach the sub- 
family Morphine, in which the 
caterpillars are remarkable for 
their bifureate tail and notched 
or bifid head. The species of the 
typical genus are giant butter- 
flies of- almost every hue, the RESPLENDENT PTOLEMY (nat. size). 
most conspicuous being of a 
dazzling metallic sky-blue. Their long, satiny wings bear them aloft far out of 
the reach of the collector’s net. In the annexed illustration is figured, from the 
under side, the resplendent. ptolemy (Morpho neoptolenwus). The upper side is 
rich black brown, with broad transverse blue bands, shot with delicate lilac across 
both wings. A pair of white spots are conspicuous on the tip of the fore-wing. 

We have now to briefly notice a number of much less brightly coloured 


88 MN SECTS: 


butterflies, many of which will be familar to most readers forming the subfamily 
Satyrine. They include the ringlets (Lrebia), speckled-woods (Pararge), marbled 
whites (Melanargia), meadow-browns and heaths (Z’pinephele and Cenonympha), 
wall-browns (Satyrws), graylings and common wood-ringlet (Hipparchia), and many 
others. The caterpillars are mostly smooth, fusiform, and green, having two 
horns on the head and a bifureate tail. They feed on grasses. These butterflies fly 
somewhat feebly over meadows, downs, highlands, and heath districts. As an 
example of the typical genus Satyrus may be taken the common British wall-brown 
(S. megera). Here the wings are rufous 
brown, spotted, speckled, and streaked 
with black, having also a single eye-like 
spot on the upper-wing at the tip, and 
three on each lower-wing, near the 
margin. As a rarity, collectors prize a 
specimen in which the fore-wing spots 
are bipupilled, or having twin pale 
centres. Of the graylings (Hipparchia), 
the British H. semele is abundant in 
the heath and mountainous districts of 
England. Owing to its beautifully 
erey-mottled under-side, it is absolutely 
invisible when settled upon rocks or 
amongst the grey stones of the moorlands. The nearly allied meadow-browns 
and heaths (Hpinephele), which do not present a very great number of species, 
are most abundant in the Mediterranean region and Western Asia. They fall 
into two groups, of which &. janira is a good example of the one, while £. 
tithonus, the large heath or gatekeeper, illustrates the other. The former, which 
is the commonest of British butterflies, abounds in fields and meadows in the 
summer, ceasing to fly the moment the sunbeams are obscured by a passing 
cloud. Specimens with pale patches on the wings are valued by lovers of varieties. 
The upper figures on p. 86 represent the adult and caterpillar. 


WALL-BROWN (nat. size). 


Family #RYCINIDZ. 


This small family, of which the characters are given on p. 86, includes species 
chiefly found in the tropics. Hrycina aulestes of Brazil is peculiar in having the 
mid-wings produced into a tail-like projection. As an example of the family we 
may take the Duke of Burgundy butterfly (Wemeobius lucina), an illustration of 
which is given in the coloured Plate, No. 2 from the lower right corner. Its 
brown, yellow-spangled wings once earned for it a place amongst the fritillaries. 
It is, however, the sole British representative of a family whose members are so 
abundant in Brazil. 


THE BLUES AND CoppEers,—Family LYC4ZNIDZ. 


This large family, represented by many small brightly - coloured insects, 
includes the blues, coppers, hairstreaks, and many others. Of the hairstreaks 


LEPIDOPTERA. 89 


(Thecla) the purple hairstreak (7. quercus) is a familiar example. This butterfly 
has the wings brown black, shot with purple, and abounds all iBvoush ure : 
wherever oak forests exist. It flits round the foliage, laying its eggs ail cae 
on the leaves, and is a common British butterfly. The sreen esa aie (Th. Eat 
is a smaller species than the rest, with a bright green under side, and is not 
uncommon in some districts flying around bramble-bushes in summer. In the allied 
genus Polyommatus, we mention the large copper (P. dispar) as one would speak 


7 
“y ~ 
MMAR 


<—S 


GROUP OF BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 
1, Large white admiral ; 2, Golden rod copper, female ; 3, Male of same ; 4, Small copper ; 5, Azure or 
Clifden blue ; 6, Silver studded skipper ; 7, Duke of Burgundy. 


of a departed friend, for, although formerly abundant in the fens of Cambridge- 
shire and other counties, it has not been seen alive for over half a century in 
Britain. The small copper (P. phleas) is, however, very abundant both in England 
and on the Continent. It is shown in No. 4 of the above illustration. Of the 
golden-rod copper (P. virgawrew) figures are given in Nos. 2 and 3 oF the ae 
illustration. This species is abundant on the Continent, though unknown in 
Britain. It flies in July and August, and the larva feeds on the g iden-rod. The 
elegant little butterflies known as blues (Lyceena) have the upper side of the 


wings in the male sex of various shades of blue; those of the female, on the other 
hand, being usually brown, shot with a bluish or purple tinge. The larve are 
wood-louse-shaped, and feed mainly on grasses of various kinds. The common 
blue (LZ. alexis) is one of the most abundant of British butterflies, whose white- 
fringed, pale blue upper side and speckled under side, in the male, are familiar to 


pS 


GROUP OF TROPICAL BUTTERFLIES. 


1, Scarce swallow-tail, with larva and chrysalis ; 2, Map-butterfly, spring brood ; 3, Larve ; 4, Summer 
brood ; 5, Chrysalis of same. 


everyone. The male is figured on the top right corner of the coloured Plate. 
Of the many blues found in England, such as the silver-stud, the chalk-hill, the 
holly blue, and the little or Bedford blue, the Clifden blue (Z. adonis)—the azure 
blue of many authors—is the most beautiful. It occurs not infrequently, though 
locally, upon the Chalk downs of the southern coasts, and in some other localities. 
A figure of the male is given in the illustration on p. 89. The wings are of a 
much brighter blue than those of ZL. alewis. 


LEPIDOPTERA: gl 


THE SWALLOW-TAILED Group,—Family PAPMLIONIDZ. 


This immense family includes the giant Ornithoptera, or bird-winged butter- 
flies of the tropics, the swallow-tails, Apollo butterflies, whites, brimstones, and 
many others. As mentioned above, this family and the next are characterised by 
the possession of six perfect legs in both sexes. The chrysalids of the present 
family are suspended by the tail and girdled with a thread of silk. The largest of 
the butterflies (Ornithoptera) belonging to this family measure nearly a foot across 
the expanded wings. The typical members of the family are the swallow-tails 
(Papilionine), which are large butterflies characterised generally by the presence of 
a long tail-lke process to the hind- 
wings. Occasionally, however, as 
in the female of Papiliomerope, 
these appendages are wanting. 
The two uppermost figures of the 
illustration on p. 90 exhibit the 
scarce swallow-tail (P. podalirius), 
which is a large, strong insect with 
triangular front wings, and a long 
tail at the lower angle of the 
hinder pair. In colour the wings 
are pale yellow, with oblique trans- 
verse black bars. This splendid 
butterfly, although common in 
Southern Europe, North Africa, 
West Asia, and Persia, is only very 
rarely taken in England. The larvee 
feed on leaves of the sloe, apple, 
plum, and other orchard trees. The 
common swallow-tail (P. machaon) 
was formerly very abundant in the 
fen districts of England, but since 
these have been drained it has 
become scarcer. The four wings 
are sulphur-yellow, black at their 
base, with black veins, and hinder 6 Wess 
pair of the same colour, with a band BLACK-VEINED WHITE, WITH LARVA AND CHRYSALIS. 
of blue towards the margin, and a 
red spot on the inner angle, close to where the tail springs. The larva feeds on the 
common carrot. This species has a very wide range, occurring in the Kashmir 
Himalaya. Of the royal swallow-tail (7inopalpus imperialis), from Sikhim, a 
figure is given in No. 2 from the top left-hand corner of the coloured Plate. The 
females are less brilliantly coloured than the males, and have a pair of tails to each 
hind-wing. 

The whites, clouded yellows, orange-tips, brimstones, etc., represent the second 
subfamily (Pierine) of this assemblage, in which there are no tails to the hind- 


92 TIN, SH CTS: 


wings. One of the rarest British butterflies is the black-veined white (Aporia 
crateg?i), Shown in all stages of development in the illustration on the preceding 
page. Its caterpillar feeds on the leaves of the blackthorn and other bushes. Of a 
foreign representative of the group, the black-tailed sulphur (Dercas verhuellz), an 
illustration is given in the coloured Plate, No. 2 from the left lower corner. It 
is nearly allied to the common brimstone butterfly (Rhodocera rhanni), so 
abundant in spring in English lanes and hedgerows. 


THE SKIPPERS,—Family HESPERIID-Z. 


This family differs from all the others in the broad, thick head; the hind tibia 
(with some few exceptions) being armed with two pair of spurs. There are 
hundreds of species belonging to this interesting family, the majority being 
indigenous to South America. Many are distinguished by their powerful build, 
brilliant colours, and long-tailed hind-wings. The European species are all small, 
and more or less sombre coloured, averaging about an inch across the wings. In 
the puss-tailed skipper (Goniwrus catillus) of Brazil, the front-wings are brown 
ou the upper side, with five or six pale yellow spots; and the hind-wing also 
brown, and ending in long, broad flat tails, quite as long as the hind-wing itself. 
The antennze are strongly hooked at their apex. Telegonus alardus, from 
Venezuela, has large wings, 2 inches across, brown, shot at their base with blue 
and green, but only very slight tail-like prominences on the hinder-wings. To 
Pamphila and the following genera belong all the small, quick-flying butterflies, 
known as the skippers, properly so called. When at rest many of these insects 
raise the upper-wings, leaving the lower ones horizontal, a habit not unknown 
among butterflies of other families. The Lulworth skipper (P. actwon) is a rare, 
or rather local, small brown skipper, confined in England to a few spots along the 
south coast. Amongst others are P. silvanus, the large skipper, P. linea, the small 
skipper, and P. lineola, the scarce small skipper lately added to the British list. 
The dingy skipper belongs to another genus (Visoniades), as does the chequered 
skipper (Cyclopides). The grizzled skipper (Hesperia malver) is a black or brown 
butterfly, with white spots on the upper side, common in England in summer. The 
silver-studded skipper (H. comma) is confined to some of the midland and southern 
counties of England, though abundant on the Continent. Figures of this butterfly 
will be found in the illustration on p. 89, and on the coloured Plate, No. 3 from 
the top right corner. 


THE Motus,—Suborder Heterocera. 


Since limitations of space will only admit mention of a few of the genera and 
species of butterflies, we pass on to the moths, in which the antennz are of many 
different forms, but never distinctly clubbed. Moths are vastly more numerous— 
both in genera and species—than butterflies; and, as already observed, are for the 
most part nocturnal insects. The other distinctive features having been already 


mentioned, we proceed to the first family of the group. 


LEPIDOPTERA. ae 


Emprror-Motus,—Family Sa47vrRNUDZ. 


The splendid moths included in this family are probably amongst the most 
beautiful, as they certainly are amongst the largest, of all known eden 
ranging in size from the atlas moth (Attacus atlas), which measures a foot at 
least in expanse of wing, down to the English emperor-moth, of 2 or at most 
3 inches in diameter. They do not, however, vary so very much in the com- 
parative beauty of their richly coloured ocellated wings. The larvee, too, are 
not only of remarkable beauty, but have great commercial value; for it is from 
members of this family that China and Japan obtain vast quantities of a strong 
though less expensive silk than that produced by the ordinary silk-worm. The 
former are the oak silk-moth of China (Saturnia perny?), and its near relative 
Antherea yama-mai of Japan. In all their stages these lovely insects are 
remarkable, differing widely in their general characters from the majority of 


SeaneaSee 


Sess 


WH) 
POM nhenel nee PME otlh 


Mn Poy 
Mugeananeit typ Pip, 
ba \ ning Normans 


HAWK-MOTHS. 


1, Eyed hawk-moth and larva; 2, Humming-bird hawk-moth and larva, (Nat. size.) 


moths. The larve, with their clear rich green velvet bodies, deeply cleft into 
separate, well-marked segments; their rounded warts, golden, rose-coloured, and 
sky-blue, emitting long sinuous hairs, the latter, sometimes enlarged at the 
extremity, cannot fail to attract attention both for their unusual aspect and their 
beauty. When this stage is past, and the insect reposes in the large, leathery, 
sombre-brown cocoon, there is no lack of interest. The mouths of these cocoons, as 
noted at the commencement of the chapter, are fashioned for the better security of the 
slumbering pupa. No earwigs, beetles, or other prowling enemy can find its way 
into the cocoon to destroy the inmate, though the moth can readily emerge as 
soon ag the outer shell of the enclosed pupa has been burst. For with a subtle 
ingenuity, no less wonderful because instinctive, the larva has carefully provided 


94 INSECTS. 


against these contingencies. It has arranged stiff, springy bristles round the 
orifice, each pointing outwards, gathered in at their tips, so that unwelcome visitors 
cannot gain an entrance. But beyond all these interesting features, the perfect 
insects are themselves sufficient to enlist our admiration. The enormous, strong 
fore-wings with prominent anterior angles; the rich browns, purples, and greys 
in every shade and gradation; the large crescent-shaped or eye-like blotch on 
both fore and hind-wing render the members of this family not easily to be 
mistaken for any other lepidopterous insects. True, the eye-like blotches recall 
to mind those of the peacock-butterfly, but the stout, woolly bodies, the plumose 
antenne, and the feathered legs of the emperor-moths will show clearly enough 
that the resemblance is but superficial, and that there is no close relationship 
between them. The males fly swiftly, with a somewhat erratic flight in the 
broad daylight; and if the female, held captive in some receptacle, be placed in 
the open woods, many of the former sex will eagerly gather round the cage, 
and thus themselves fall victims to the net of the naturalist. There are many 
varieties included in the family Satwrniide, though mention can be made of only 
a few. The common emperor- moth (Saturnia carpini), one of the dwarfs of 
the family, is abundant in England, where, in the heather-districts, the beautiful 
emerald larva, studded with rose or golden-yellow warts, may often be discovered 
wandering over some open sandy space or footpath. It is, however, at times 
scarcely distinguishable as it nestles amongst the heather-stems, since the rosy 
warts on the back and sides assimilating closely with the pink heather-blossoms 
secure it from observation. The moth itself—smaller and darker in the male sex 
—is of a deep purple brown. The fore-wings, richly variegated with greys, are 
bordered with a snow-white fringe, while the hind-pair are orange margined with 
brown. Both fore and hind-wings bear a black eye-like blotch, ringed with a 
narrow line of blue in the centre. The tough and dry empty cocoon may often 
be seen spun up amongst the heather-stems. The common emperor is found all 
through Europe and in Northern and Western Asia, while a much larger form, 
the peacock-moth (S. py77), is not uncommon in Southern Europe, and has been 
caught as far north as Paris. Passing on to the Chinese oak silk-moth (S. perny?), 
we find that its chief interest lies in the fact of the commercial value of its cocoon ; 
a value which has not been fully recognised for more than thirty or forty years. 
The Abbé Perny, from whom it derives its scientific name, was the first to 
introduce it to the notice of European silk-merchants, and from him we have 
a description of the method adopted by the Chinese in breeding and rearing 
the larvee and winding off the silken treasure. Coppices of dwarf oak-trees are 
cultivated, the earth is smoothed and cleansed with great care beneath the trees, 
while attendants are always at hand to shift the larve from one bush to another, 
or restore them to the foliage when they have fallen to ground. The best of the 
cocoons from last year’s cultivation are placed in a carefully regulated temperature, 
and the moths are hatched off exactly at the season when the oak-leaves are 
beginning to be ready for the larve. This will be about the month of April, 
when the females are laid in wicker trays where they may deposit their eggs. 
Soon, within ten days, the tiny larvee creep forth and mount the oak-twigs laid 
in the trays for their reception. Carried forth to the tender oak-foliage, they 


LEPIDOPTERA. 95 


quickly commence to feed, while the keepers are always on the watch to protect 
them from insect-vermin, birds, ete., which, if permitted, would soon clear off 
the whole plantation. Forty-five days at the outside, and the larvee are full-fed ; 
they then spin their cocoons, pass into the pupa state, and the winding off of the 
silken harvest begins. The largest cocoons are selected and set aside for the 
breeding of larvee for another year. The rest are exposed to a high temperature 
which destroys the pupe within. Boiling water—in which the earthy salts of 
buckwheat ashes cleaned for this purpose have been dissolved—renders the cocoon 
fit for being unwound. The silk is wound off in strands,—five, six, or eight in 
number,—a single strand from each cocoon, according to the strength of thread 
required. The silk thus prepared is much stronger than that from the silk-worm 
moth, though it is neither so fine in texture nor so valuable. The Japanese oak 
silk-moth (S. yama-maz) is closely allied to the above, and the process of culti- 
vation of the insect much the same. 


THE SILK-SPINNERS,—Family BowBYCIDZ. 


The only species belonging to this family known in Europe is the one 
mentioned above as the true silk-worm moth (Bombyx mori). This insect has 
become acclimatised in many parts of Southern Europe, where, as in China, it 
is cultivated for its silken produce. The larva is itself not remarkable, save 
perhaps for its resemblance to the caterpillars of the hawk-moths, with its smooth 
naked skin, and short erect tail. It is, however, by far the most valuable 
caterpillar yet discovered. Ages ago, from two to three thousand years before 
the Christian era,—if Chinese records be reliable,—this larva was well known in 
the far East, and already silk-culture was a well-established element in the 
national industry. History relates how the eggs were first brought to Europe, 
in the reign of the Emperor Justimian, by Persian monks, concealed in their 
hollow bamboo staves; and from these silk-culture in Europe took its origin. It 
was, at any rate, carried on at Constantinople in A.D. 520. The Arabs introduced 
the industry into Spain, whence it spread in the twelfth century to Sicily, and 
thence to Italy and all the south of Europe. So far as England is concerned, 
both James I. and George I. endeavoured to introduce the cultivation of the silk- 
worm for commercial purposes, but without success. The actual mode of cultiva- 
tion and preparation of the cocoon differs in no very essential feature from that 
of the oak silk-moth, save that it is usually conducted under cover in well- 
ventilated rooms; the wicker trays of silk-worms being arranged in rows one 
above the other on light bamboo racks. 


THe Hawk-Mortus,—Family SPHINGIDA. 


The large moths included in this family are either diurnal or subnocturnal 
in their habits, flying powerfully both in the daytime or just before mightfall. 
Amongst other characteristics, the antenn are gradually thickened towards the 
tip, which terminates in a hook. The fore-wings are elongate, narrow, and usually 
pointed towards the apex; while the hind-wings are comparatively of small size. 


ae INSECTS: 


The larvee are smooth, generally with a horn on the last segment of the abdomen. 
They make no cocoon, but the pupa lies in the earth, into which the larva burrows 
before the transformation takes place. As is the case with almost all, they are 
protected by their colouring, which assimilates to that of the food-plant. These 
fine insects are divided into several subfamilies and many genera. 

As the type of the subfamily Acherontine, may be taken the well-known 
death’s-head moth (Acherontia atropos), which is by far the largest of British 
moths. It is a very stout, bulky insect, with strong, broad wings; its thorax having 
on the upper side a pale mark, which bears some small resemblance to a human 
skull, whence it derives its scientific and trivial names. The fore-wings are dark 
plum-colour, lined and spotted with the yellow; the hind-wings yellow, with two 
sinuous transverse bars of black ; and the body dark plum-colour, with black trans- 
verse lines, and a yellow patch at the side of each segment. The most remarkable fact 
about the moth is that it is capable of producing an audible squeak. Whether this is 


vy \ \ 1%, 
RITES) SY 


ADULT AND CATERPILLAR OF SPURGE HAWK-MOTH, WITH ICHNEUMON-FLY. 


produced, as was formerly supposed, by the friction of the palpi against the 
coiled proboscis, or by the sudden passage of air—previously drawn into a cavity 
in the stomach—through the cesophageal orifice and the proboscis, acting upon a 
cleft at the extremity of the latter, is not certain. If, as has been asserted, the 
squeak does not abate even on the decapitation of the moth, the air-passage theory 
suffers a shock, and evidently does not entirely account for the noise. The 
cleft at the end of the proboscis would perform a somewhat similar function to 
that of the tongue in a penny trumpet, the reed in certain wind instruments, or 
the orifice in a whistle-pipe. The handsome larva (green, with large, pale yellow, 
swollen anterior segments, and yellow, black-speckled oblique stripes across the 
sides), with its spinous tail, may be sometimes discovered on the jasmine and in 
potato-fields. | Not unfrequently, the large pupa tumbles from its friable earthen 
ease, when the potato crop is dug, The moth flies strongly at night, feasting 
usually upon the sap oozing from the trees. It does not, however, hesitate to rob 
the hive of the honey-bee, and apparently without molestation. 


LEPIDOPTERA. 97 


To the typical genus of the second subfamily Smerinthinw belong several 
well-known british species, among which the eyed hawk -moth (Smerinthus 
ocellatus) is figured on p. 93 as an example. This moth is characterised by its 
angular, slightly scalloped fore-wings and rose-coloured hind-wings, each bearing 
an eye-like black spot, ringed with blue, near the inner angle. The larva is 
delicate green, its skin rough with minute warty points, with a series of oblique 


OLEANDER HAWK-MOTH, WITH LARVA AND PUPA (nat. size). 


white stripes across the segments at the sides, and a short, sharp tail. It feeds 
on the willow and other trees, assimilating well in colour with the leaves and their 
oblique veins; while the moth, hanging with half-closed wings, closely resembles a 
half-detached withered leaf. The insect is found thoughout Europe and Northern 
Asia. One of the largest and most beautiful of the tribe is the oleander hawk- 
moth (S. nerii). In this species the fore-wings are rich green, veined with white, 
having towards their base a triple, transverse rose-coloured bar, whose posterior 
VOL. VI.—7 


98 INSECTS. 


arm runs along the hind-margin of the wing to the thorax. The hind-wings, 
thorax, and abdomen are green. The larva is green, with a pale band and 
numerous white speckles on the sides. The first three segments are suffused 
with yellow, and the third bears a large bilobate blue spot, outlined with black, 
on either side. The moth occurs throughout Europe, Africa, and Southern Asia ; 
but neither larva nor perfect insect are often taken in England. The caterpillar 
feeds on the oleander and periwinkle in summer. Another beautiful, though small 
species, is the elephant hawk-moth (Chewrocampa elpenor), which typifies a third 
subfamily (Cherocampine). In this species the front-wings are green, margined 
and veined with delicate rose-colour; the hind-wings black, with rose-coloured 
borders; the thorax and abdomen of the same tint of green, with a central rose- 
coloured band along the back, another at the sides; while the two last segments of 
the abdomen are rose-coloured. The larva is black, with three eye-like spots at 
the sides of segments three, four, and five, which are much enlarged, having also a 
rose-coloured band along the sides. It feeds on fuchsia, bed-straw, willow-herb, ete., 
and is common in Kurope and Northern and Western Asia in June. To the same 
subfamily belong the members of the genus Deilephila, which have a world-wide 
distribution, although specially common in Southern Europe; among these, one 
of the commonest on the Continent being the spurge hawk-moth (D. ewphorbie). 
Aithough the adult is rare in England, the caterpillar has been observed in some 
numbers in Devonshire, feeding on the sea-spurge. The fore-wings are grey and 
rose-colour in blended tints, with a large dull-green spot at their base, and an 
oblique submarginal band of the same colour, besides two smaller crescent-shaped 
spots towards the tip; the hind-wings delicate rose, with black base, a deep crimson 
transverse bar, followed by a narrower black one a little beyond the middle; and 
the thorax and abdomen green, the latter with white sides. The caterpillar is black, 
speckled with yellow, having a dorsal rose-coloured central line, a row of yellow 
spots along either side, and another below of red and yellow spots blended. — It 
feeds on the sea-spurge from July to September. In the figure on p. 96 the larva is 
repelling the attack of an ichneumon, by ejecting noxious fluid into its face. 

The pine hawk-moth (Sphinx pinastri) belongs to the typical subfamily 
(Sphingine), and is a dull grey species, scarcely to be discerned as it rests on 
the similarly tinted bark of the pine-trees on which the larva feeds. The moth 
lays her pale green eggs upon the pine-needles, and in about a fortnight the larvee 
emerge, and at once attack the needles. They have occurred in such abundance 
on the Continent as to ruin whole forests of pine-trees, to the extent of many 
thousand acres. Although the moth is common throughout Europe, and several 
specimens have been taken in England, it is very doubtful whether a genuine 
British-bred specimen has ever occurred. The larva, which changes to a pupa 
beneath the earth, is green, with narrow longitudinal bands of red and white ; 
these lines being naturally a great protection amidst the longitudinal lights and 
shades of the pine-needles. The species is figured on p. 77. 

Yet another subfamily (Macroglossinw) is represented by the humming-bird 
hawk-moth (Macroglossa stellatarwm), shown in the figure on p. 93. This small 
and swift species, which hovers with a darting, fluttering course over flower-beds 
in the sunshine, is double-brooded, and occurs almost all the year round. It has 


LEPIDOPTERA. 99 


cften been mistaken for a humming-bird, whose flight it closely resembles, while 
travellers familiar with the latter mistake the long proboscis from which the moth 
derives its generic name for the slender bill of the humming-bird. The fore- 
wings are dark black-brown, and the hind-wings pale copper-red. The sides cof 
the abdomen are blotched with white, its extremity being thickly tufted. The 
larva is green or pinkish brown, with a pale stripe along the sides; and feeds on 
the lady’s bed-straw. The autumn brood of larve hibernate in the pupa state, the 
perfect insects emerging in the spring. 


THE PROMINENTS,—Family NO7ODONTID. 


These moths—which are of moderate size, with stout, liairy bodies, long, ample 
wings, sometimes with a tooth-like tuft of scales on the inner margin—are very 
similar in general appearance to members of the family of owl-moths (Noctwida). 
The antenne are usually pectinate in the male, and simple in the female, but in some 
genera comb-like in both sexes. The larve, which in many species assume strange 
abnormal shapes and attitudes, are smooth and shiny, and without the last pair of 
claspers. In some cases the terminal segment bears a pair of tail-like processes, 
which can be raised or depressed, spread widely apart, or closed at pleasure. When 
full-fed, the larva forms a tough cocoon, covered with chips of wood or other débris, 


in which it turns toa pupa. The perfect insects fly at night, and may sometimes 
be found during the day resting on the trunks of trees, palings, or other suitably 
coloured objects. A common british representative is the buff-tip (Phalera buceph- 
ala), although it is more often met with in the larval state than adult. Yellow- 
and-black-spotted, the young larvee may be found together, feeding gregariously 
upon elms and other trees. The silver-grey wings, streaked and barred with rich 
browns, their tips painted with a patch of pale yellow, appear when closed, as the 
moth rests on the grey bark of a tree, exactly like a short grey stick with the 
top bevelled off on either side, and partially decayed. The puss-moth (Dicranura 
vinula), is another common British species often found on poplar trees in the larval 
state, though the perfect insect is seldom met with. The latter has white fore- 
wings, tinged and marked with grey; the thorax being spotted with black. The 
compressed, globular, dull red egg is laid in the summer months on the leaves of 
the poplar or sallow, and the tiny caterpillars are at first quite black, but become 
greener as they grow older. When full grown, they assume, at rest, the character- 
istic position represented in the accompanying illustration, whence they derive 
their name of puss-moths, from some fancied resemblance to a cat. The bifurcate 
tail emits thin red filaments from the apex of each branch when the larva is 
irritated ; the colour being then bright green, with a red-brown or chocolate-pink 
patch margined with white behind the head, narrowed and then broadened at the 
sixth segment, and narrowing again to the tail. The cocoon is very tough, formed 
in some crevice of the bark gnawed into a convenient cup by the strong jaws of 
the larva. On the top are glued the chips thus obtained, and, with bits of lichen 
added, it almost defies detection amongst the surrounding knobs and rounded bits 
of bark. The species is common throughout Europe and Asia. The caterpillar of 
the lobster-moth (Stawropus fag?) resembles nothing to be found in nature save 


100 TENS TRGLES: 


those of the closely allied species, as may be seen from the illustration. The moth 
is found, but not commonly, throughout Europe, and the larva feeds in July upon 
the oak, birch, and other trees. It is supposed that the extraordinary attitude, 
with head and tail erect, has proved beneficial in warning off noxious enemies. 
Another type is represented by the figure-of-eight moth (Diloba ceruleocephala), 
in which the fore-wings are lead-colour, with a pair of white spots which sometimes 
bear a very close resemblance to figures of eight. The larva is blue-green, with 
a central yellow stripe along the back, another below the spinners, while each 
segment bears a number of black warts, each with a black hair springing from the 
top. Illustrations of the moth and larva will be found on p. 112. Of other forms, 
the dromedary prominent (NVotodonta dromedarius), the zigzag (VN. ziczac), the 


WN \\ \— py 
N= Uz —— 
PUSS-MOTH (1) WITH CATERPILLAR (2) in two stages of development, and (3) COCOON ; (4) CATERPILLAR OF 
THE LOBSTER-MOTH. 


kitten-moth (Cerura bifida), and the swallow prominent (Pheosia dictea), are 
amongst the more remarkable of the Notodontidw indigenous to England. But 
we must leave this interesting group, and passing over the family Cymatophoride, 
including the peach-blossom (Thyatira batts), frosted green (Polyphloca ridens), 
buft-arches (Habrosyne derasa), and others, we reach 


THE CLEAR-WINGS,— Family SZS7/DZ. 


These elegant insects—whose transparent wings, attenuated bodies banded with 
yellow and red, dilate and hooked antennz, give them no small resemblance to 
members of the Hymenoptera—are diurnal in their habits, flying swiftly to and 
fro in the bright sunshine. The larvee are what is called internal feeders, burrow- 
ing in the trunks of various trees, or in the pith of shrubs. The pupz are armed 
with little hooks, which enable them to move up and down their tunnelled 
galleries. There are many species even in England, one of the largest being the 
hornet clear-wing; and so closely do this moth (Trochilium apiforme) and its near 
relative (7. bembiciforme) resemble the common hornet, or perhaps more nearly 
the female of one of the smaller wasps, that only a practised naturalist would be 


LEM AID ORICA IOI 


able to tell the difference, and then only on a close examination. The wings are 
transparent, and the body is black, striped and spotted with yellow. The moth 
has a curious habit, which increases the deception, and renders its likeness to some 
hostile wasp still more striking. If surprised sitting in the sunshine upon a poplar 
trunk, the abdomen will be arched upwards, and the tail tapped against the bark 
with a veritable—to all appearances—stinging movement. The larva burrows in 


the wood of the poplar, and the pupa-skin may be found half out of one of the 
galleries when the moth has emerged. The insect is common all through Europe 
and Northern and Western Asia. 


Family SYNTOMIDZ. 


The next family, the Tiniageriide, must be passed over, and a brief reference 
made to the moths of the family Syntomide, which introduces us to the well-known 
burnets. The Syntomide include small moths with broad, triangular, spotted wings, 
and body extended beyond the hind-wings. The members of this family are very 
similar in general appearance to the burnets, but differ in the absence of the ocelli. 
They are widely extended, and take the place of the burnets in the tropics of the 
Eastern Hemisphere. Among them, the spangled white (Syntomis phegea) is a 
common moth in some localities on the continent of Europe, with blue-black wings 
spotted with white, as represented in the illustration on p. 111. The larva is 
black, thickly clothed with hair, and feeds on the dandelion, while the perfect 
insect flies, somewhat like the burnets, in the sunshine, and settles upon flower- 
heads., It is not found in England, though extending through Europe to Northern 
and Western Asia. 

We may also notice the handmaid moth (Naclia ancilla), a very rare 
species in England, but not uncommon in the woods of Southern and Central 
Europe in June and July. Its larva is black, with yellow lines on the back and 
sides, and it feeds on tree and rock lichens in spring. 


102 JEM STE(CTES: 


THE BurRNETS,—Family ZYGANIDZ. 


The burnets are for the most part small moths, with long, rather narrow fore- 
wings, and stout bodies extending beyond the hind-wings. Their usual colour is 
black, green, or dark blue, spotted with red, white, or yellow. ‘The hind-wings are 
ervey, red, or similar in colour to the fore-wings, with a narrow black margin; and 
the antennz are somewhat abruptly narrowed towards the extremity. The burnets 
are local, though, from their gregarious habits, abundant where they occur. ‘The 
larvee are rather compressed, tapering at both ends; and the cocoon is long, spindle- 
shaped, yellow or white, of fine shiny silk, and attached longitudinally to grass- 
stems. Of the six-spotted burnet (Zygena filipendule) the caterpillar feeds late 
in the autumn, and hibernates until the following spring. It is short, stout, 
slightly hairy, dull yellow, with two rows of black spots along the back, and feeds 
on grasses of various kinds. The moth flies heavily in broad daylight, and may 
often be seen, two or three together, hanging upon flower-heads in chalk-pits and 
on downs by the sea. Its fore-wings are black, with metallic green lustre, having 
six bright red spots placed in three pairs; and the hind-wings are bright crimson, 
with a narrow black border. The species, which is abundant in certain parts of 
England, as well as on the Continent, is shown in various stages of development in 
the illustration on p. 111. 


THE CAsE-WEAVERS,—Family PsYCHIDZ. 


An interesting group of moths, although not noticeable either for size or 
coloration, is that of the case-weavers. Their chief claim to notice is from the 
; curious habits of the larve, which form from vegetable 
debris, twigs, chips, etc., a case in which they dwell, 
protruding merely the thoracic segments, with the three 
pairs of legs belonging to them. Some other moths, 
as for instance the genus Coleophora, also construct a 
tough case of a somewhat similar nature but manu- 
factured entirely of silk. Amongst other insects the 
same habit of the larvee is found amongst the caddis- 
flies, which creep on river-beds protected by a case of 
encrusted shells, pebbles, twigs, etc. In the moths of the 
present family the males alone possess well-developed 
wings, the females being wormlike, and often without 
antenne, legs, or wings. The phenomenon known as 
parthenogenesis has been observed amongst members 
of this family. The moths are mostly dull brown 
insects, and the various species are better distinguished 


by a comparison of the larval-cases than of the insects 
PSYCHE MOTH, themselves. Of the many species embraced in this 

a; ae ae in case; family, one only can be deseribed, and this but briefly. 
ae aaa This species (Psyche wnicolor) is a dull-brown little 


] 
moth ; e, Male, larva in case; 
J, Male pupa. (Allofnat.size.) moth, common in Central and Eastern Europe, but 


Bee. ot 
Shy hee 


Pie 


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hy 7 et th 4 SY AG 
hae that 24 oY SOON 
ii taee Dy a> Sie ‘ 
a aN 
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Me) 


yy if aed ‘ 


Ty eT 
eC Me os, 
i, at. 


ape 


GIANT SWEET MOT A 


LEPIDOPREERA 103 


a 


not found in England. The larva of the male moth makes a larger and more con- 
spicuous case, than does the grub which will produce the wingless female. The 
larvee hibernate securely enclosed in their cases, which are spun on a tree-trunk or 
other convenient object. In the spring the silken attachments are severed, and the 
larva continues to feed until the time of pupation has arrived, when it again spins 
up the mouth of the case to a tree or post, and changes within it to the pupa. 
The male then emerges as a perfect moth, but the female, which is devoid of eyes, 
ovipositor, or any appendages worthy of being styled antenne or legs, remains in 
the larval-case even after it has emerged from the pupa. The organs for the 
production of eggs are, however, complete, and parthenogenesis must, as in many 
other cases, be looked upon as exceptional. 


Family Coss1p£. 


The moths belonging to this family, like those of several others, do not possess 
any proboscis; the antennz being pectinate in both sexes. The larvee are smooth, 
and feed sometimes for several years before pupating in the centre of tree-trunks of 
various kinds ; a cocoon being formed of chips of wood within which the pupa awaits 
its final development. The family is typified by the goat-moth (Cossus ligniperda), 
in which the front-wings are of a rich brown, streaked and mottled with darker 
tints, while the hind-pair are dull brown. The larva—often known as the auger- 
worm—is exceedingly destructive to forest trees, the holes which it bores in its 
ravages being often half an inch, and even more, across. Its odour recalls that of 
a goat, hence the name given to the moth. A large, long, flat, broad larva, flesh- 
coloured, with short hairs scattered over the body, it is seldom met with, though it 
sometimes may be found as it crosses a road or footpath when seeking for a suitable 
place in which to spin its cocoon. It lives for over three years in the larval state, 
and makes a very tough cocoon from wood chips, glued together with a gum which it 
secretes. It is a native of Europe and Western Asia, generally appearing in June and 
July. It is figured on p. 101. 


ALLIED FAMILIES. 


The next family (Arbelidw) must be dismissed without further remark. The 
Hepialide include the insects known as ghost-moths, one of which, the largest 
British species (Hepialus lupulinus) has the wings white above and brown below, 
so that when it flies in the dusk of the evening it appears and disappears in rapid 
sequence owing to the practical invisibility of the dull colour of the under side, in 
sharp contrast to the vivid white of the upper side. A near ally of the ghost-moth, 
likewise referable to the family Hepialidew, is the splendid giant-swift moth 
(Zelotypia stacyi) of Australia, which has been selected for illustration in our 
coloured Plate, as being one of the finest of all moths. As the coloration and 
characters of this magnificent insect are sufficiently indicated in the illustration, it 
will only be necessary to give some account of its habits. Originally described 
from imperfect specimens found at the Manning River and in the neighbourhood 
of Neweastle, this moth was subsequently obtained in some numbers by the miners 
of the latter district. Mr. A. 8S. Oliff writes that “as the insect is rarely found in 


104 INSECTS. 


the perfect, or imago condition, the larva has to be sought for and reared,—a 
matter of no little difficulty, as it lives, like those of the allied genus Charagia, in 
eylindrical burrows, which it makes in the interior of the stems or branches of 
trees, sometimes near the surface of the ground, and sometimes at a height of fifty 
or a hundred feet. By searching for these burrows, and rearing the larve, or 
pupe, when found, a considerable number of specimens have been obtained by the 
miners; but I am informed that the supply is by no means equal to the demand.” 

The caterpillar is long, cylindrical, and fleshy. Above its general colour is 
pale yellow, with the divisions between the segments inclining to reddish brown. 
The first three segments are rather bright red; and the following segments, with 
the exception of the two last, are marked with three pale spots in the middle, and 
two on each side. The finely rugose head is black, as are the claws of the short 
legs. In the long and cylindrical pupa each of the abdominal segments beyond 
the extremities of the wing-covers is provided with a transverse serrated horny 
ridge near the front margin; the seventh to the tenth segments bearing similar but 
less prominent ridges; while the hinder extremity is armed with small sharp spines. 

Usually the caterpillar makes its burrows in the wood of the grey gum tree ; 
but there is some doubt as to whether it does not occasionally resort to another 
species of gum. Regarding the habits of the larva and pupa, Mr. Froggart writes 
that the former “changes into the chrysalis in December, after having eaten off 
the web in front of the bore, and placed a thick felty wad, or button, just inside 
the opening of the bore; but as soon as the chrysalis skin has become hard and 
firm, it pushes the wad away, and moves freely up and down the bore, which varies 
in depth from ten to twelve inches. It can move up and down the passage very 
rapidly, the curious file-like rings on the lower edge of the abdominal segments 
being evidently adapted to helping its locomotion. When nearly mature it has the 
habit, particularly in the afternoons, of resting in the bore, with the top of its head 
just level with the floor of the cross-bore, and plainly visible from the outside. The 
moths appear early in March. It has been found that they never come out after 
three o'clock in the afternoon; and chrysalids under observation, if not out at that 
hour, can be safely left until the next day.” The next family (Callidulide) must also 
be omitted; while the Drepanulide may be referred to as containing the British 
species Cilia spinula, and the common hooktip (Drepana falcataria), and allied 
forms. Of the Thyridide there is but one European genus (7hyris) and no British 
species of this; while the next family (the Limacodide) is not of sufficient import- 
ance to detain us. 


Family LASIOCAMPIDA. 


The lappets, drinkers, and eggars, are well-known species included in this 
large family. These moths are large, for the most part, 2 inches to 24 across the 
expanded fore-wings, others being smaller, about 1 inch only in expanse of wing, 
with stout hairy bodies and strong wings. They fly rapidly in broad daylight or 
at night. The larve are clothed with soft hair, that on the sides being often 
directed downwards in a tufted form. To the genus Gastropacha belong the 
lappet (G. quercifolia) and the oak-eggar (G. quercus); the common drinker per- 
taining to another genus (Odonestis), with the specific name potatoria. As examples 


LEPIDOPTERA. 105 


of the former genus we select for description the pine-lappet and the procession- 
moth, both abundant on the Continent, but not occurring in England. The larve 
of both these moths spin silken cocoons. Having the front-wings grey, tinted 
with different shades of brown, the pine-lappet (Gastropacha pin?) is a large moth 


LIFE-HISTORY OF PINE-LAPPET MOTH. 


a, Male; b, Female; c, Eggs; d, Larva; e, Cocoon; f, A beetle (Calosoma) attacking larva; g, Larva of Calo- 
soma; h, An ichneumon laying its eggs in the pupa; 7, Small parasites emerging from their cocoons on the 
remains of the larva which they have devoured. 


measuring from 24 inches across the wings. The larve are ashen grey, with a 


dorsal row of dark blotches, a lateral brown stripe, and a pair of blue transverse 
bands on the third and fourth segments. This handsome larva is often very destructive 


106 JOM STEICIESS 


to the pine-forests, where it feeds upon the needles of the trees, and sometimes 
appears in overwhelming numbers. In coping with the enormous quantity of 
caterpillars of this moth which devastate the district cn these occasions, man is 
materially assisted by other creatures. Thus, a tree-frog ascends and feeds upon 
the larvee; ichneumons of different species sting, and thus destroy, thousands; an 
internal fungus establishes itself in the caterpillar, with the same result; and, 
lastly, a beetle and its larvee, which are represented in the illustration, render no 
small assistance in clearing off the pest. The caterpillars are hatched in the autumn 
and hibernate, remaining throughout the winter in the moss at the foot of the trees. 


PROCESSION-MOTH (Gastropacha processionea). 1, Male; 2, Single hair of the larva ; 3, Segment of larva ; 


5, The cocoons of several larvie spun up together. (Nos. 2 and 3 enlarged.) 


4, The pupa; 


The main illustration represents the migration of the larvee in orderly procession. 


In this state, coiled round in a spiral form, they may be frozen quite stiff, yet 
on the return of spring they regain vitality, and climb the trees in search of their 
usual provender. The red-brown cocoon is spun sometimes between the needles 
of the tree, as represented in the illustration, or else beneath some semi-detached 
piece of bark. In the procession-moth (Gastropacha processionea) the fore-wings 
are yellow-grey, with a glossy sheen, and dark indistinct oblique transverse bars. 
The larvee are hairy with a blue-black back, pale sides, and red or grey warts on 
each segment. At night the caterpillars march out to feed ina regular orderly 


LEPIDOPTERA. 107 


procession, as represented in the illustration. One, the leader, marches at the 
head, followed by two, three, and so on, forming a wedge-shaped column. They 
ascend the oak-trees and return again in the same manner to their resting-place, 
They also spin their cocoons together as in Fig. 5 of the illustration. The species is 
common throughout Central and Southern Europe in August and September. As 
our last representative 
of the family we take 
the lackey-moth (Clis- 
Locanupa neustria), 
which is common in 
Englandandall through 
Europe and North and 
Western Asia during 
July and August. The 
fore-wings are dull 
ochre-brown, with two 
oblique transverse 
brown bars. The eggs 
are laid by the female 
in the late summer in 


: LACKEY-MOTH. 
e firmly attached jae Perfect insect, eggs, larve, and cocoon. 
round some small twigs, 


as shown in the illustration. The larve hatch in the spring following, and are 
brown with blue, white, red, and yellow longitudinal stripes; all feed on the leaves 
of the pear and other fruit trees, and spin a long sulphurous yellow cocoon amongst 
the leaves. 


Family LYMANTRUDZ. 


This group includes a number of moths in which the males have the antenne 
strongly pectinated, while in the case of the genus Orgyia the female is wingless. 
None possess a proboscis. The larve are hairy, and clothed with long thick tufts, 
springing in some places from wart-like prominences. The hairs of the larve are 
woven into the cocoon, and if they come in contact with the skin cause great 
irritation. In this family are included some well-known British moths, such as the 
vapourer (Orgyia antigua), the pale tussock (Dasychira pudibunda), the black 
arches (Lymantria monacha), the gold-tail and brown-tail, the satin-moth, and 
many others. In the gipsy-moth (Ocneria 
dispar) the wings of the male are smoky 
black, while those of the female are grey; 
the appearance of the two sexes being very 
different indeed. The larvee feed on various 
trees, and though very rare in England are 
sometimes so abundant on the Continent as 
to prove very destructive to all kinds of 
trees and herbage; stripping even maize and 


HERMAPHRODITE GIPSY-MOTH. millet-fields, orchard, and vegetable produce. 


INSECTS. 


108 


The cocoon is formed in a few folded leaves spun together with silk or in 
a crevice in the bark. The single figure represents an hermaphrodite specimen 


ic 

WN ie 
i 
iy 

HN 


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Uy i Mii), 4 SH: } : 
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Yi yA MYYYYUy yy => = 
GVM MMMMAMUMA PINES NM LYE ed YY MUM LM j= = —— = = ——— 
4 


DEVELOPMENT OF GIPSY-MOTH. 
1, Male; 2, Female; 3, Pupa; 4, Larve in different stages. 


Fila SORA CAN 
si ia i ‘Nth ty 
‘ 


NCTA ACSA ANNE 
pe nk ati ; 


i =i May, la 
att! . S ‘ Siti 
WV SSS! > SS) 


fy 


BLACK-ARCHES MOTH. 
, 4 and 5, Females ; 6, Young larve ; 7, Full-grown larve ; 8, Pupa. (Nat. size.) 


= 


1 and 2, Males ; 3 


LELIDOPTERA. 109 


of this insect. Its wings, antenne, and the dark half of the thorax and abdomen 
on the left side are of the colouring and form peculiar to the male, while those 
on the right resemble the form peculiar to the female. The illustration on 
p. 108 illustrates the stages in the development of the black -arches moth, 


PALE TUSSOCK MOTH, WITH ITS CATERPILLAR AND PUPA (nat. size). 


which is not altogether abundant in England but much more commonly met 
with on the Continent. Indeed, so abundant is it at times that it causes 
great injury to forest trees. In Prussia, Lithuania, and Poland, the havoc has 


BROWN-TAIL MoTH. 1, Male; 2, Female laying eggs; 3, Larve; 4, Pupa; 5, Antenne of male; 6, Wing-scales ; 
7, GOLD-TaIL MOTH (Porthesia auriflua) larve ; 8, Separate plumose hairs; 9, Segments of larve. (5, 6, 8, 9, 
enlarged. ) 


been particularly severe. In 1863 the moth appeared in countless thousands, 
driven up as a regular insect storm by the south wind. Within a few hours the 
moths spread over the whole country side, buildings were completely covered 


IIO VIM, SIE CIOS. 


by them, and the very surf of the lake assumed a more snowy whiteness, due to the 
colour of the hosts of moths drowned in the waters. The woods seemed as 
though visited by a violent snowstorm, so thickly were the insects massed in the 
foliage. In 1852 whole forests were felled, in order if possible to be rid of the 
pest. The trunks were searched for eggs, and every tree-trunk in an area of 
fourteen thousand acres was examined. Often an ounce of eggs would be taken 
from a single tree, and, at the computation of thirty thousand to the ounce, we 
get, at one hundred trees per acre, upwards of thirty hundred million larve at 
work upon the trees in that area when the eggs hatched. Spotted woodpeckers, 
finches of all kinds, the larva of a longicorn beetle, Clerus, all assisted in the work 
of destruction. Yet, in spite of all this, it needed a hundred labourers with twenty 
foremen to carry out the destruction 
of the young larve hatched from 
eggs which were overlooked in a 
single acre of forest. The ground 
too, after the season was over, was 
white with the cocoons of countless 
thousands of [chneumonide, so that 
millions of the larve can never, from 
the attacks of these alone, have 
reached maturity. The pale tussock- 
moth (Dasychira pudibunda) derives 
its trivial name from the tufts or 
tussocks of hair so noticeable a 
feature in the hairy clothing of the 
larve. The fore-wings are grey with 


SATIN MOTH (Porthesia salicis), WITH LARVE AND PUPA. 


An ichneumon is depositing its eggs in one of the larve, while 
another is just emerging from the pupa. 

a smoky transverse bar. The larva is 
green with a transverse bar of velvet black between the segments from five to eight. 
Each of these segments bears a thick squarely truncated tuft of upright yellow 
hairs, and the last carries a long tail or brush of hair. The species is abundant in 
England and all Europe. In the brown-tail moth (Porthesia chrysorrhea) the 
wings are snowy white, while the body is white with a brown tufted tail in the 
male, which in the female is much larger. The hairs of the tuft are deposited upon 
the eggs as a covering when laid by the female. The larva is short, thick, and 
black, with four rows of spiny tubercles along the sides. It is common in Great 
Britain and also on the Continent. Very similar to the last is the gold-tail 
(Porthesia auriflua), but the front-wings are dotted with three or more black 
spots, while the tuft at the extremity of the abdomen is formed of golden hairs 
instead of brown. The larva has rows of tubercles along the sides, whence issue 
numerous hair-like bristles. Each of the tubercles of the second row bears tufts of 
white hair. The third row is bright red. A bright vermilion double stripe runs 
along the back, while between the tenth and eleventh segments is a cup-like scarlet 
protuberance. The satin-moth (Porthesia salicis) is another well-known member 
of the family, taking its name from the white satiny wings; the antenne and 
thorax being also white, and the body black, clothed with white hairs. The larva 
feeds on the poplar, and is abundant in England and throughout Europe. 


IL IBSEN ID OMT BISA. Thea 


THE TiGER-Motus,—Family ArceripZ. 


Two families, including many tropical species, come between the L ymantriide 
and the Arctiide, namely, the Pterothysanide and the Hypsidw. The forms 
included under the name Arctiidae, embracing a number of beautiful moths, 
such as the tigers, ermines, ete. are usually divided into four subfamilies, the 
Arctine, represented by the tigers, properly so called, the Lithosiine including 
the footmen, the Nolinw, and the Nycteoline. Of the first subfamily, the most 
familiar member is the common tiger-moth (Arctia caja), which in summer comes 
freely to light. The fore-wings are rich chocolate-brown with cream-coloured 
markings; and the hind-wings crimson with black blotches. Two very beautiful 


1, COMMON TIGER-MOTH ; 2 and 3, Varieties of same ; 4, Larva of same ; 5, SIX-SPOT BURNET; 6, Its larva; 
7. THE SPANGLED WHITE. (Nat. size.) 


varieties of this exceedingly variable moth are figured in the accompanying 
illustration. The larva is the well-known woolly bear, a large swiftly moving 
caterpillar, clothed with long bristling black hairs, red at their base, which spins a 
loose web, thickly covered with the hairs with which it is clothed, and turns to a 


naked pupa. 
THE Ow.-Morus,—Family NocTvmIpz. 


Passing over the family Agaristide, we reach the true night-flying moths, 
now included in the family Noctuide. This enormous group has been subdivided 
into no less than ten subfamilies. Of the first subfamily (7rifeinw) the rustic 
shoulder-knot (Hadena basilinea) is a well-known example. In this moth the 
fore-wings are grey-brown, with a central transverse darker band, and a distinet 
dark streak at the base of the wing. The larva is grey-brown, with three white 
lines along the back. It feeds on various kinds of grass, and often on the ears of 


12 INSECTS. 


wheat devouring the corn grains. As its scientific name implies, the pine-moth 
(Trachea piniperda) is in the larval state very destructive to pine-trees in seasons 
favourable to a great increase in their number. When young, they spin together 
the needles of the pines, and often drop themselves by a thread to various points, 
whither they may feel inclined to descend. The pupa may be found in plenty 
amongst the moss which so often carpets the ground in pine-woods. The moth 
itself is cinnamon-red, with white blotches and spots. It is common in England 
and on the Continent. <A figure of the moth and larva is given on p. 105. The 
merveil du jour (Dipthera orion), figured in the illustration below, indicates 
another subfamily (Acontine). It has the fore-wings of a pale green, with 
longitudinal white stripes, and three broken transverse black bars, the fringe 
being spotted with black and white. The egg is described as resembling a sea- 
urchin, having twenty sinuous ribs. The larva is black, with large primrose 
yellow spots on the back of the third, fifth, and eighth segments. It feeds in 


1, 


md 


TERVEIL DU JOUR, WITH LARVA; 2, RUSTIC SHOULDER-KNOT, WITH LARVA 5 3, FIGURE-OF-EIGHT 
MOTH, WITH LARVA. 


September upon the oak and birch, and the pupa is enclosed in a cocoon of bark 
chips, or fragments of decayed wood. This insect is very rare in England, but 
common on the Continent. In the same group, the caterpillar of the white- 
spotted pinion (Cosmia diffinis), as well as that of the closely-allied C. trapezina, 
are remarkable for their habit of preying upon their fellow-caterpillars if confined 
together, otherwise their food consists of the leaves of various trees. The moth of 
the species figured in the illustration is very beautiful, being of a satiny chestnut, 
suffused with reddish grey, and having two somewhat transverse slashes from the 
margin of the wing. Not uncommon in England, it is even more abundant on the 
Continent. The crimson under-wings (Catocala), which indicate another subfamily 
(Guadrifine), and are known in the New Forest as the crimsons, are rich 
chocolate-brown of various hues, with deep crimson under-wings, marked with a 
pair of transverse black bands. They come to sugar freely in July, and are 
common in some parts of England. The finest and rarest of these beautiful 
insects is the Clifden nonpareil (Catocala frawint), very rare in England, but more 


LEPIDOPTERA. 112 


o 


abundant on the Continent. Scarcely less striking is the red under-wing (C. 
nupta),in which the grey wings are mottled with darker shades, rendering it difficult 
to detect when resting on the grey bark of some forest-tree. The hind-wings are 
pale crimson, with a central curving transverse black bar, and another broad black 
band along the margin. The caterpillar is grey, with darker brown markings, 


1, WHITE-SPOTTED PINION MOTH, WITH LARVA ; 2, PINE MOTH, WITH LARVA. (Nat. size.) 


bearing a pale yellow prominence on the ninth segment. It feeds on a species of 
willow, Salix fragilis, and the adult appears on the wing in August and September ; 
being not uncommon in England, but found more abundantly on the Continent. 
In the angle-shades (Brotolomia meticulosa), which is one of the most beautiful, as 
it is one of the commonest of British moths, the larva is delicate green, smooth, 


RED UNDER-WING, WITH LARVA (nat. size). 


and velvety, thickly speckled with minute white spots. It feeds on groundsel. 

The perfect insect, which appears on the wing in May and June, and a second 

brood in September, is common throughout Europe. In the prettily-marked 

species known as the feathered gothic (Neuronia popularis) the: fore-wings are 

dark brown, with white nervures. The orbicular and vermiform spots are of the 
VOL vi—6 


114 INSECTS. 


same colour. The antenne are pectinate in the males, and simple in the female; 
while the hind-wings are dull white, with darker margin. The larva is brown, 
streaked and spotted with black and rosy brown, with a pale stripe along the 
sides, and four others, more interrupted, along the back. It feeds on the various 
kinds of grasses in April and May, while the perfect insect appears on the wing in 
the early part of September. Figures of this European species are given below. 
The next form for notice is the so-called antler-moth (Charcas graminis), which 


S *. 
ee 


=. I Joy 
Pini ud 


1, THE FEATHERED GOTHIC, WITH LARVA ; 2, ANGLE-SHADES ; 3, THE ANTLER MOTH. 


is probably one of the most destructive species in Britain, when, under the 
influence of a favourable season, the larvae appear in very great numbers. The 
larvee feed upon the roots of grasses, and it is no uncommon thing for whole 
districts of pasture-land to become brown and withered, owing to their attacks. 
The perfect insect appears on the wing in August and September. <A figure’ 
of this moth is given above. 


THE Loopers,—Family GEOMETRIDZ. 


The moths belonging to this group resemble in many respects the butterflies, 
having large, ample wings, a small head, and a narrow elongate body. The antenne 
are not, however, clubbed; those of many of the males being pectinated. The palpi 
protrude only slightly, the proboscis is present in different degrees of development, 
while the head bears no ocelli on the top. When at rest, the majority of these 
moths carry their delicate wings slightly expanded, or closed over their bodies, 
hike the roof of a house, sloping from the centre on either side. They are semi- 
nocturnal in their habits, appearing at dusk, and lying concealed during the day 
in bushes, trees, and herbage, whence they may be easily driven by beating the 
follage. The larvee differ very decidedly from those of the other families, several 
pairs of the pro-legs being wanting, so that locomotion is possible only by alternately 
advancing the front and hinder segments, the central portion of the body being 
thus raised in the form of a loop. The pupze are sometimes, as in the butterflies, 
encircled with a silken thread, but the majority spin together a few leaves, 
and change within the receptacle thus formed, or burrow into the earth amongst 
dead leaves and moss. Of the first subfamily (Boarmiine) we select as a 
representative the handsome pepper-moth (Biston betularia), which is one of the 
largest of the European geometers, and resembles members of the family Bombycide 
in the possession of a stout abdomen. The form of the larva, however, is 


LEPIDOPTERA. II5 


quite distinct, and closely resembles that of a dead twig. Doubtless such a likeness 
saves 1t somewhat from the attacks of birds and ichneumon-wasps. When fully 
extended, and clinging only by its 
hindmost claspers, the caterpillar 
assimilates so marvellously with the 
brown and olive tints of the boughs 
among which it takes up its station, 
that it is almost indistinguishable 
from its surroundings. Another 
handsome member of the same group 
is the mottled umber (Hibernia ¥¢ 
defoliaria), which appears very late 
in the season, long after the majority 
of the members of the order have 
completed the term of their exist- 
ence. By night the male circles 
around the trunks of trees in search 
of his wingless partner. In the 
former sex the large wings are pale 
ochre in colour, with a darker wavy 


transverse bar. The female, on the 
other hand, is variegated black and 
ochreous yellow, and bears no small 
resemblance to some species of spider. 
The larve feed on the buds of various 
trees, and descend into the earth to 
change into the pupa; the latter 
being dark mahogany, with a sharp 
spine at the tail. The species is 
not rare in England and on the 
Continent. The scarce umber (H. PEPPER MOTH, WITH LARVA AND PUPA (nat. size). 
aurantiaria), which is figured in the 

same illustration, is less common than the last, but appears at the same season. 
Nearly allied is the winter-moth (Cheimatobia brumata), which in mode of life is 
somewhat similar to the mottled umber, but, as indicated by its scientific name, 
flies still later in the year. The larva lives partially secluded amongst the leaves 
which it draws together with silk. When occurring in great numbers, these cater- 
pillars do serious damage to forest-trees and orchards. The male is of a dusky 
grey colour, with three darker bands across the upper-wings; while the female is 
wingless. In order to prevent the females from ascending the trees and laying their 
egos on the foliage, it is the custom in Sweden to ring the trunk with a narrow 
band of some sticky substance. The bordered white (Bupalus piniarius) is another 
well-known member of the group. In this species the males are very abundant, 
flying amongst fir-plantations in England and on the Continent. The females are 
no less common, but do not take wing so readily. The larva is pale green, with 
whitish stripes, and pale yellow spiracles, and feeds during the months of August 


116 INSECTS. 


and September on the spines of the Scotch fir. One of the most familiar of the 
British loopers is the magpie-moth (Abraxas grossulariata), which at times makes 


} i | yy HD y Hy 


ASS 
NR 


5 3 GROUP OF LoopERs. 1 2 i 


MOTTLED UMBER—1, Male; 2, Female; 3, Larva. SCARCE UMBER—4, Male; 5, Female. WINTER MOTH—6, Male ; 
7, Female; 8, Larva. (Nat. size.) 


its appearance in great numbers. The perfect insect is prettily mottled with white 
and black, and on this account is called in Germany the harlequin-moth. Another 
species, the scarce or clouded magpie (A. wlmata), is more abundant in the Midland 


— 


BORDERED WHITE—1, Male; 2, Female, with larva; 3, ARGENT AND SABLE, with larva. 


Nat. size.) 
counties of England than the common magpie, though less so in the south. Of the 


common species the larva feeds on the gooseberry and black-currant, doing consider- 
able damage at times. It is one of the most strikingly marked of the geometric 


LE TDD O PARE TA. 1a] 


larvee, and turns to a yellow-banded pupa within a slightly woven web. The 
little moth shown in the annexed illustration, and commonly known as the dark 
spinach (Larentia chenopodiata), may 

be taken to represent the subfamily 9 -=—======== Ss 
Larentiine. Appearing in July and ~ = 
August, it is a common species on the 


Continent, and is specially abundant 
in gardens and shrubberies, where it 
may be found resting either on the 


bark of trees or the walls of buildings. 
The caterpillar is greyish brown in 
colour, and feeds on the goose-foot. 
The group to which this species belongs 
are often termed carpet-moths. Of 


another genus, known as pugs (Hupi- 
thecia), the lime-speck moth (Lu. MAGPIE MOTH IN ALL STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT. 
signata) may be mentioned. The 

ground - colour of the wings is milk - white, 
with grey blotches and specks, and a broad 
red grey band on the margin. These moths 
fly commonly at night in England and on 
the Continent, while the larva, which is very 
variable in colour—bluish green, yellow-green, 
or pinkish white—feeds in August and Sep- 
tember on various annuals, such as golden- 
rod, rag-wort, ete. Figures of the moth and 
larva are given in the illustration below. By 
no means a common species in England, 
although found occasionally in districts where 
birch - trees abound, the argent - and - sable 


DARK SPINACH MOTH AND LARVA (nat. size). 


(Melanippe hastata) appears in May, 
flying actively round trees. The 
larva may be found later in the year 
amongst the birch foliage, in a recep- 
tacle formed of several leaves drawn 
together with silken threads. The 
pupal-state is passed in the ground. 
Figures of this moth and its larve 
are given on p. 116. The purple- 
barred yellow (Lythria purpuraria), 
figured in the annexed illustration, is 
a not uncommon species on commons, “s cp 
pasture-lands, and stubble-fields in at eT /\" 
England and the Continent. The Bi i Wan Fol= y/ 
ground-colour of the wings 18 pale a il. EN es weLOW LIME-SPECK. 
olive-yellow, the upper pair banded (Nat. size.) 


118 INSECTS. 


with two or three pale vinous-purple bars. The larva, which is brownish yellow 
with a pale longitudinal dorsal stripe, feeds on sorrel and docks. 


Snout-Morus,—Family HYPENIDZ. 


The snout-moths (Hypena) are intermediate between the Geometridew and 
Pyralide, bearing characters which ally them to both families and yet exclude 
them from either. The common snout (H. proboscidalis) is.a pale brownish 
yellow moth, transversely marked with rusty brown; and is abundant throughout 
England and the Continent from June to September. H. obsitalis has only once 
been taken in England. 


Suborder Microlepidoptera. 


The whole of the remaining members of the order are of minute size, and 
are hence generally indicated by the above name, although it must be understood 
that many of them are closely allied to some of the foregoing. They are divided 
into a large number of families—with their subfamilies and genera—of which only 
a very few can be even mentioned here. Among these the pearls (Pyralide) are 
represented by the mother-of-pearl moth (Botys margaritalis), which in June or 
July may be seen in Britain hovering 
over the fields in the dusk of the 
evening, where the female lays her 


eggs on the seed pods of the flax 
and other plants. When the cater- 
pillar emerges it spins a few threads 
between the pods, and bores through 
their outer shell in order to feed upon 
the seeds. The moth itself is of a 
dull sulphur-yellow, with two trans- 
verse rusty yellow bands, intersected 


MOTHER-OF-PEARL MOTH, WITH LARVA (nat. size). 


by a rusty brown stripe running obliquely from the tip of the wing. It is common 
in June and July on the Continent. To the same family belongs the meal-moth 
(Asopia farinalis), found in abundance in summer wherever corn, meal, or grains 
are stored in quantities. It rests on the rafters and walls in the daytime, flying at 
nightfall. The larva feeds on corn, meal, grain bran, etc, and passes its life in 
concealment in a silken tube, of which the outer side is encrusted with particles of 
the food-stuffs on which the larva feeds. The larval-state lasts for nearly two 
years. <A figure of this species is given on p. 120. 

The wax-moth (Galleria mellonellw) may be taken to illustrate another family 
—the Tortricide. This remarkable moth is double-brooded, appearing on the 
wing in the springtime, and again in July and onwards. The larva feeds in 
the hives of honey-bees, and, according to some, in the nests of wild-bees as 
well. The wax, however—not the honey—forms its food-stuff, and through 
the combs it eats long tunnels which it lines with silk as it goes. It does not 
seem particularly choice in the matter of diet, and has been successfully reared on 
heather, woollen-stuffs, dry leaves, paper, ete. In the case of the wax-eaters, the 


LE TADO RIDA. 119 


second brood nourishes itself upon the excrement of the first brood, which seems 
to differ in no way from the original wax itself. The moth appears on the wing 
in May. An illustration of this insect, together with the larva, pupe, and the 
waxen honeycomb on which it feeds, may be seen on p. 121. Another member 
of the same family is the oak-tortrix (Tortrix viridanw), figured in the annexed 
illustration. This beautiful little moth, 
bright green with shining grey hind- 
wings, may be found flying about in June 
in swarms in woods where oak - trees 
abound. The larve which feed on the 
leaves, and roll themselves carefully within 
the folded leaves, are sometimes so numer- 
ous as to become a perfect pest. Acres 
and acres of oak-plantation may be seen 
completely stripped of the foliage, while 

the green moths flutter about in countless |. sopeprx In er a ee at eee 
thousands. The pupal-state is passed in (nat. size). 

a folded leaf or in the chinks of the bark 

or other suitable crevice. The larch-tortrix (Retina buolinana) is a bright, foxy 
red moth with habits very similar to those of the last-named species. The moth 
may be seen in July flying amongst the trees in young plantations, and laying 


1, OAK-GALL TORTRIX ; 2, Pupa appearing from the resin-gall; 3, Glypta resinane, ichneumon ; 4, THE LARCH 
TORTRIX ; 4@, Pupa; 5, Larva in a larch-bud ; 6, Pupa appearing from gall. (1 and 4a much enlarged.) 


its eggs amongst the buds at the tip of the shoots. The larve are hatched in the 
autumn, and commence to gnaw the buds, giving rise to the exudation of resin. 
A figure of this moth, with its larva and pupa, will be found in the illustration 


120 TIN ISTAGIES: 


on p. 119. In the allied pine-gall tortrix (R. resinella) the adult has dark 
fore-wings, streaked and mottled with transverse silvery bars and_ blotches. 
The larva feeds within the stem of the buds of the pine-needles, their ravages 
causing a drop of resin to exude from the twig which grows larger as the 
activities of the internal burrower increase. If the drop of resin be examined 
a small passage at the base will be found passing into the pith of the pine- 
twig, and here the larva may be found. This lump of sticky gum, which attains 
the size of a filbert, and in which the larva passes the pupal-state, has been 
misnamed a gall; but a gall is not an exuding juice or gum—it is a distinet 
outgrowth of the cellular structure of the plant. The woodeut on p. 119 
gives illustrations of the moth, the resin-drop, and the pupa. A figure is also 
given of the ichneumon-fly, which seeks the larva with its long needle-like 
ovipositor; and from its eggs emerge the grubs which will in due course devour 
their nest. An especial interest attaches 
to the pea-moth (Grapholitha dorsana), 
whose larva is the so-called maggot 
which attacks green peas. When full 
fed it seeks the earth, and constructs a 
PEA-MOTH AND LARVA. cell in which to pass the pupal-stage. 

These larvee also are not averse to a pro- 

vender of dry peas, to which it often causes considerable destruction. The moth 
appears on the wing in May. The well-known codlin-moth (G. pomonella) takes 
its name from the circumstance that the larva feeds within apple-trees, eating, 
however, not so much the flesh as boring 
into the heart and feasting upon the pips. 
It is rosy red, paler beneath, with grey 
tubercles, each bearing a long bristle. 
This moth flies in June and _ conceals 
itself in the daytime in a crevice in the 
bark, with whose tints its grey mottled 
wings readily assimilate. ‘The family of 
the clothes-moths (7ineid@) is typically 
represented by the lesser clothes - moth 
(Tinea pellionella), although it must be 
borne in mind that there is not one 


particular moth which destroys clothing, 1, CODLIN-MOTH; 2, Its caterpillar ; 
> > , } 
but that the larvee of several species are 3, MEAL-MOTH. (Nat. size.) 


equally destructive. TJ. pellionella is one 

of the smaller of these, whose larve, of a silky yellow colour, attack all kinds 
of clothing, as well as the upholstery of our furniture. 7. tapetzella, a larger 
species, attacks more exclusively furs, skin-rugs, ete. A figure of the larvee of one 
species will be found on p. 121. In the allied corn-moth (7. granella) the cater- 
pillar is very destructive to corn in granaries, feeding indiscriminately upon 
various kinds of grain. The female lays one or two egos on a single corn-grain ; 
and after the deposition of all the eggs, the bodies of the adults may be found in 
numbers in spider-webs in places which they frequent. The presence of the 


LEPIDOPTERA. 121 


caterpillar may be known by the “pass” or excrement on the grains. Several 
grains may be spun together, the larva feeding within the shelter of the receptacle 
thus formed. Figures of both moth and larva are given in the accompanying 


\)' HN 
\ a Ni 


1, CORN MOTH, WITH LARVA. 2, LARVA OF CLOTHES MOTH. 3, HONEYCOMB, With 4, LARVA OF 
WAX MOTH; 5, Pupa; 6, WAX MOTH. 


illustration. Of certain allied species there are no English names, so that they 


must be mentioned by their scientific titles. Among these, Depressaria nervosa, 
3 2 q 


1, NEST WITH LARV#& of Hyponomeuta malinella, and 2, The moth. 3, Depressaria nervosa (enlarged); 4, The 
moth (nat. size) ; 5, Larva (enlarged); 6, Pupa. 7, COMMON PLUME-MOTH (Pterophorus pentadactylus). 


figured in the illustration above, appears on the wing from June to September, 
and has reddish grey fore-wings mottled and streaked with black dots. The female 
lays her eggs upon cumin, and the larve soon after they emerge spin together 


122 JONSIGI GIES: 


the flower-heads, feeding on the seeds and blossoms. When about to enter the 
pupal state, the larva bores its way into the centre of the food-plant, gnaws out 
a suitable chamber, closes the entrance with a little door of silk, and remains 
safe from the attacks of insidious insect foes. In the same illustration is figured 
Hyponomeuta malinella, a familiar moth during June and July in English apple- 
orchards. The satiny white fore-wings, with three longitudinal rows of black dots, 
render it a beautiful and conspicuous object as it rests on the apple-tree by day, or 
flies to and fro beneath the trees as the evening draws on. ‘The female lays her 
egos in an elongated cluster on an apple-twig, and the presence of the larvee first 
becomes apparent owing to the silky gauze net with which the tiny larvee spin the 
leaves together, enlarging their domicile as occasion requires. When full fed, 
they pupate also in the web, so that numbers of tiny pupe nestle side by side 
where the larvee were wont to feed. When alarmed, the caterpillars drop to the 
ground suspended by a thread, crawling actively away amongst the grass. 

Another family is typified by the genus Coleophora, which embraces about 
seventy species of small moths, characterised by their long narrow wings, margined 
with long delicate fringes, the first joint of the 
antenne often bearing a tuft of hair. The larve 
live in little cases, in which they pass the winter, 
turning to the pupa in the spring. As an example 
of the genus, we figure the larch-mining moth (C. 
larcinella), which is a dull-coloured moth, whose 
larvee eat their way into the needles at the tip of 
young larch-trees, the needles attacked, and indeed 
often the whole bunch, turning yellow and wither- 
ing. The caterpillar is full fed towards the end 
of May, when it spins its little case fast to a 
larch-needle, and turns to a pupa within. A few 
weeks later the moth emerges at the hinder end 
of the case. Finally, we have the beautiful plume- 
moths (Pterophoride), of which the common 
species (Pterophorus pentadactylus) is figured 

LARCH MINING-MOTH. in the illustration on p. 121. Throughout the 

family the larve are hairy, and when full fed 

suspend themselves by their anal claspers, turning to pupze without any covering. 

The pup themselves are often hairy also, though many of them are quite smooth. 

The plume-moths, as a family, may be recognised by their feathery wings, slender 
bodies, and long spinous legs. 


F, O. PICKARD-CAMBRIDGE. 


CHAP THR. 1V. 
JOINTED ANIMALS,—continued. 
INSECTS,— continued. 

THE BEETLES,—Order COLEOPTERA. 


THE beetles are in general easily distinguished from all other insects, and though 
they seem almost endless in their variety, and comprise an immense number of 
distinct specific forms, constitute a very well defined order. The chief characters 
that serve to distinguish them are briefly as follows. They undergo a complete 
metamorphosis. Their mouth—which is fitted for taking in solid food—is furnished 
with biting jaws (mandibles), a pair of maxille with palpi, and an undivided, or 
very slightly divided lower lip (labium), which also bears palpi. The antenne are 
extremely variable in form, but seldom possess more than eleven joints. The 
prothorax is usually large and is freely articulated with the following segment 
(mesothorax), over which it fits behind in such a manner as almost to completely 
cover it on the upper side. The fore-wings are converted into a pair of stiff horny 
structures called elytra, which, in a state of rest, usually meet by their edges in a 
straight line along the middle of the back, and serve to protect the hind-wings and 
the soft hind-parts of the body. The hind-wings are in beetles the only true 
organs of flight; these are membranous and transparent, provided with few 
nervures, and when not in active use are generally folded transversely beneath 
the elytra. Many beetles are without hind-wings and are said to be apterous; but 
it is to be remembered that very few beetles, except in the larval state, are com- 
pletely apterous in the sense of being without both hind-wings and elytra. In the 
wingless species the elytra are generally well developed, and frequently fastened 
together along the suture where they meet. The presence of elytra, though not 
exclusively peculiar to beetles, is still one of their most characteristic features, and 


affords in most cases a ready means of recognising them. Elytra very similar to 
those of some Coleoptera are, however, met with among the ear-wigs; and the 
elytra of beetles do not invariably meet in a straight suture. Thus in the oil- 
beetles (Meloe) one elytron folds partly over the other; while in certain other 
groups, the Rhipiphoride for example, the elytra are of such a form that they 
either do not meet at all, or only just touch at the base, and are sometimes so small 
and so little like the ordinary elytra of beetles that their true nature is not at first 
sight very apparent. 

We have alluded above to the great variety that is to be met with among 
beetles. No insects exhibit greater extremes of size; and we find on the one 


hand beetles so small that a pin’s head is large in comparison, while on the other 


124 INSECTS. 


we get those giants of their race, the elephant and goliath beetles, which are 
nearly as big as a man’s fist, and the still larger titan from South America, 
which is sometimes quite half a foot long, and scarcely less broad in proportion. 
Even within the limits of a single species beetles are not always of a nearly 
uniform size; and it is not uncommon to find that in certain species some 
individuals may be very much larger than others, frequently two or three times 
as large, and occasionally even as much as five times. In their external form 
beetles also afford the most striking contrasts; and the differences of form are not 
confined to the general shape but extend to nearly all parts of the body. The 
head especially varies to a great extent both in its shape and im the direction 
which it takes. It is somewhat ring-like behind, where it fits more or less deeply 
into the cavity of the prothorax. The part between the eyes and the prothorax 
may be as wide as or even wider than the rest of the head, or may be abruptly or 


24ON oS \\ 
cp SAN 


NS 


CARNIVOROUS BEETLES AND THEIR PREY, 


1, Curabus nemoralis ; 2, Calosoma sycophanta: 3, Carabus auratus, and larva. (All nat. size.) 


gradually narrowed behind to form a sort of neck. In most beetles this part of 
the head is rather short, but its length varies; and there is one remarkable species 
from the Philippines which presents a most comical appearance owing to the 
extraordinary length of its neck. This species belongs to a group of leaf-rolling 
beetles, and doubtless finds its long neck extremely useful. The fore-part of the 
head is most variable in shape, and though generally short is in some beetles quite 
out of all proportion in its length. In the weevils it is prolonged in the form of a 
rostrum or snout, which is sometimes much longer than all the rest of the body. 
What is called the “front” of the head frequently faces upwards, being on the 
same plane, or nearly so with the occiput or posterior part of the upper surface. 
But in many beetles the fore-part of the head is bent down, so that the front looks 
forwards; and sometimes even to such an extent that the mouth is drawn back 
against the prothorax, and the front of the head looks downwards. The lower or 
anterior part of the front of the head is called the clypeus, and to this—usually by 


COLEOPTERA. 125 


the intervention of a short flexible piece known as the epistome—the upper lip 
(labrum) is attached. Running along the middle of the under side of the head 
there is a piece, generally marked off by a line on each side, which in its posterior 
part is named the gula, and in front the submentum. The submentum—sometimes 
prolonged beyond the margin of the head in the form of a peduncle—gives attach- 
ment to the lower hp (labium), which consists of a basal piece of variable size and 
form called the mentum, and a terminal part, the ligula. The latter usually bears 
two lobes (the paraglosse) at its extremity, while from its base, known as the 
hypoglottis, the labial palpi arise. Between the labrum and labium lie the 


mandibles and maxillz. The mandibles are strong biting jaws, and are attached 
to the sides of the head by pivot-like joints, which permit only of lateral move- 
ments. They are often much larger in the males than in the females, and in the 
males of some forms such as the stag-beetles, attain monstrous proportions. Each 
of the maxille consists typically of a stem, composed of two pieces—cardo and stipes 
—with a four-jointed palp attached to the outer and two lobes to the inner side of 
the free end of the stipes. Except in the larval state, beetles rarely possess those 
eyes with a single lens which are known as ocelli. The compound eyes, on the 
other hand, are generally large and well-developed, but vary considerably in form, 
and in the size and number of their facets. They are often simple in outline, 
sometimes slightly notched in front and reniform, or the notch may extend more 
deeply and divide the eye into two distinct lobes. Each eye may even be 
completely divided into two parts, more or less widely separated from one another ; 
so that some beetles appear to have four eyes instead of two. This appearance is 
very strongly marked in certain water-beetles, in which one part of each eye is on 
the upper, and the other on the under side of the head. The eyes of some beetles 
look coarse and granular, while in others they appear quite smooth and glassy- 
looking, owing to the small size and slight convexity of their facets. Among the 
longicorn beetles, it is generally found that in the nocturnal species the eyes are 
coarser and more granular than in those species which fly during the day; so that 
the size of the facets seems to have some relation with the conditions of light 
depending on the habits of the insects. But this curious fact does not, so far as we 
know, apply to any other family of beetles. Exceptionally also it is found among 
beetles that the facets in the upper part of the eye are different in size to those on 
the lower part. The antenne of beetles are scarcely less important in their 
functions than the eyes. They are in most cases sensitive to touch, and there is 
reason to believe that these organs are also the chief seat of the senses of smell 
and hearing. They appear under a variety of different forms, some of which, 
while subject to minor modification, are pretty constant throughout certain large 
groups of beetles, and thus account for the names, Clavicornia, Lamellicornia, ete., 
given these groups. Asa rule the antenne, no matter what their length, are made 
up of eleven joints or segments; but this number may be increased, in some cases 
to thirty or forty (Rhipicera), and even to as many as fifty (in the Longicorn genus 
Polyarthron), or it may be reduced even to so low a number as two Gn Platy- 
rhopalus). When the joints are more or less cylindrical in form, the antenne may 
be either filiform, if of nearly uniform thickness throughout, setaceous if they taper 
towards the extremity, or moniliform if each of the joints is short and bead-like. 


126 INSECTS. 


The antennee are said to be clavate when thickened at the extremity, in the form 
of a knob or club; lamellate when three or more of the terminal joints spread out 
in broad processes which lie flat upon one another; serrate, when the joints have 
on one side short angular processes like the teeth of a saw ; pectinate or comb-like, 
when the processes are fairly long and stand out nearly at mght angles; or 
flabellate, if the processes are proportionately very long. These are some of the 
chief types of antenne met with in the Coleoptera; others of less frequent occur- 
rence will be mentioned when we come to treat of the different families. The sense 
of smell is undoubtedly very acute in a great many beetles, as anyone acquainted 
with their habits could easily testify; and it is considered probable that certain 
minute pits scattered over the surface of the antenne, or crowded together on 
special areas, are in some way connected with this sense. Though it is not so easy 
to prove that beetles can hear, it seems hardly open to doubt that in some cases at 
least they possess this faculty. Every one has heard of the death-watch beetle 
(Anobium), which lives in old furniture and wood-work of houses, and makes a 
noise like the ticking of a watch. This little beetle produces the noise by hammering 
against the wood with its head, and apparently does so for the purpose of attracting 
its mate, who replies by making a similar tapping sound. It is easy by imitating 
their sounds to get the beetles to answer back ; so that here at least there is some 
evidence that these insects are endowed with the faculty of hearing. Many other 
beetles are able to make sounds, which though not nearly so intense as the chirping 
of the crickets and grasshoppers, and not usually confined to one sex, are produced 
somewhat after the same manner by the friction of one part of the body over 
another. In beetles the sound sometimes arises from the rubbing of the hind-legs 
against the edge of the elytra, but in most cases it results from the rubbing of an 
edge over an adjacent area which is crossed like a file by a number of fine parallel 
ridges. This stridulating area is in some beetles placed on the upper side of the 
back part of the head, or on the gular surface underneath, so that when the head 
moves in its socket the upper or lower edge of the prothorax, as the case may be, 
scrapes along the file and thus gives rise to the sound. The prothorax of beetles 
is, aS we have already stated, freely articulated with the mesothorax. Its dorsal 
arch or pronotum ordinarily covers over the whole of the mesonotum, with the 
exception of the small piece known as the scutellum; but when the prothorax is 
bent down, a considerable part of the mesonotum in front of the scutellum comes 
into view. It is on this part that the stridulating area of most of the longicorns 
and of some phytophagous beetles (Megalopine) is situated. These insects make a 
sort of squeaking noise—which is sometimes fairly loud—by rapidly bending the 
prothorax up and down, and so causing its hind edge to move backwards and 
forwards over the ribbed surface of the mesonotum. In other beetles the stridu- 


lating area may be either on the upper surface of one of the hinder segments of 
the abdomen, or on the sides of one of the anterior segments; the sound being 
produced in the one case by the friction of the area against the edge of the elytra, 
in the other by that of the posterior thighs against the sides of the abdomen. 
Beetles are among the most active of insects when on the ground, and, in accord- 
ance with their running powers, we find that their legs, though generally slender, are 
strong and well developed. But in certain groups, where the habits and environ- 


COLEOPTERA. 127 


ment of the insects require it, the legs are adapted to various other purposes. 
Beetles that jump usually owe their leaping powers to the greatly thickened 
femora and straight and relatively long tibize of the hind-legs. It would, however, 
be a mistake to suppose that when a beetle has thickened and strongly developed 
hind-legs it must consequently be able to jump. Some burrowing species, and 
others that are not very active in their movements, have very thick hind-legs ; 
though, as a rule, it is the front pair of legs which is thickened and otherwise 
modified to serve as digging organs in those beetles that burrow underground. In 
aquatic beetles the swimming legs are disposed like oars, and have all their parts 
broad and flat, while their breadth is further increased by rows of bristles. Either 
the hind-legs only, which is the rule, or the middle pair also, as in the whirligig 
beetles (Gyrinide@), may be thus transformed into swimming organs. The cox, or 
basal joints of the legs, vary much in shape and in the mode in which they are 
inserted in their sockets on the under side of the thorax. Those of each pair are 
sometimes close together, sometimes widely separated from another; while a 
longer or shorter distance may intervene between the cox of the different pairs of 
legs, and especially between those of the two hinder pairs. Considerable import- 
ance attaches to the number of joints in the tarsi or feet. In classifying beetles 
this number is one of the first things to be noticed. If a beetle has five joints in 
each of its tarsi, it is placed in that section of the order which is known as the 
Pentamera; if it appears to have only four joints in each foot, it belongs to the 
Tetraimera; and if but three, to the Trimera. When there are five joints in each 
of the four anterior feet, and only four in the hind-feet, the beetle may be regarded 
as one of the Heteromera. To these general rules there are a few exceptions which 
need not be discussed here; but we must point out that although in the Tetramera 
the tarsi appear to be four-jointed, and in the Trimera three-jointed, they are really 
composed of five joints and four respectively. The fourth joint in the one case, 
and the third in the other, are, however, usually so small as not to be noticed 
except upon very close examination. The abdomen is never stalked in beetles, but 
attached to the thorax by a broad base, which is applied against the posterior 
cox; exceptionally, however, as in certain mimicking species, its base may be 
more or less narrowed. It is generally somewhat flattened in shape; and on the 
upper side eight segments are usually distinguishable, which, so far as protected by 
the elytra, have a soft and but slightly horny integument. Five or six segments 
are generally visible on the ventral side, but in certain cases the number may be 
reduced. The terminal segments are usually retracted within the abdomen, and 
completely hidden from view, but in the females of many species they can be 
exserted in the form of a tubular ovipositor, which enables the insect to lay its 
eggs deep in the crevices of bark. 

Although beetles do not always exhibit differences in external form by which 
the sexes may be distinguished, such differences frequently exist, and are some- 
times of the most pronounced character. As a rule, the male is more slenderly 
built than the female, and has longer and more fully developed antennz; his eyes 
also are often larger, and in the length and shape of the legs, and in the width 
and structure of the tarsi, differences in the two sexes are frequently to be noticed. 
When the male is fully equipped for flying, the female may be without wings, or 


128 VEN STG CASS: 


even, as in the case of the glow-worm, without elytra; and whenever there is any 
decided difference in coloration, it is almost invariably the male which displays 
the brightest and most conspicuous colours. The great projecting horns and _pro- 
cesses on the head or prothorax which give so grotesque an appearance to many 
beetles, are generally wanting or only feebly developed in, the females; and 
these and other differences are sometimes so strongly marked that it is difficult 
to recognise in the two sexes individuals of one and the same species. 

The larvee of beetles do not in outward appearance exhibit anything approach- 
ing the great diversity seen in the perfect insects. They seldom display conspicuous 
markings, and are mostly of dingy white, brownish, or black colours. The external 
structure and form vary sufficiently to make it possible 
to tell to what family of beetles, or division of a family, 
a larva belongs; but, so far as species are concerned, 
our knowledge of the larvee is extremely limited, and 
apples to a relatively very small proportion of the 
whole number of known species of Coleoptera. In 
the weevils, and some other beetles, the larvee are soft 
white grubs with scarcely any trace of legs, but in most 
of the other larve the legs are fairly well developed, 

Tee anes eee pele wen. so completely as in uio woniccy insects. 
(nat. size). The head is always horny, and furnished with jaws 

for biting and grinding solid food. Exceptionally, 

as in the carnivorous larve of some water-beetles, the mandibles are adapted 
for sucking up the juices of the animals on which these larve prey. The 
antennz are short and few-jointed, and in some cases quite inconspicuous. Eyes, 
when present, are always in the form of ocelli, which are grouped together in 
varying number on each side of the head. The head is followed by a series of 
rings or segments, of which the first three—scarcely different in form from the rest 
—constitute the thorax, and give attachment to the legs. <A pair of prolegs is 
sometimes present on the last segment, but in beetle-larvee the intermediate seg- 
ments never carry those false legs, which are so often found in the caterpillars of 
Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera. The spiracles—which are mostly hidden by the 
elytra in the perfect insects—are generally quite conspicuous in the larve, and 
appear as a row on each side of the body. Their number varies; and in those 


aquatic larvee which breathe by means of tracheal gills they are altogether want- 
ing. When about to pupate some larvee construct cocoons of earth, or, in the case 
of wood-boring species, they may make a shell out of fine chips and dust glued 
together with a sticky secretion. The pupze, whether enclosed in a cocoon or not, 
are inactive, and show all their appendages lying freely against the body, with 
each appendage wrapped round by its own special covering of integument. The 
larval existence of beetles varies from five or six weeks in some groups to almost 
as many years in others; and when conditions arise to interfere with the proper 
nourishment of the larve, the period may be unduly prolonged. Some of the 
wood-boring larvee seem to live an exceptionally long time. There is at the present 
time in the Natural History Museum in London a block of wood containing a 
living longicorn larva, which for the past five or six years has been feeding and 


COLE OLLETA. 129 


_ burrowing in the wood. The larva was brought to the museum in a boot-tree, 
which its owner previously had in constant use for over fourteen years. Other 
cases are on record in which beetles have been seen to emerge from furniture in 
houses, after having apparently passed an even more prolonged larval existence. 
Beetles, whether from the extent of their numbers or the variety of their 
shapes and instinets, are well qualified to play an important part in the economy 
of nature. Their chief function is that of universal scavengers. Not only do they 
dispose of the smaller quantities of dead and decaying animal and vegetable matter 
passed over by larger animals, but, by their own peculiar methods, they are enabled 
to attack and clear away even the carcases of quadrupeds of large size, and the 
dead trunks of the largest trees. Owing to the compactness of their shape, and 
the solidity of their outer covering, they are adapted for a much greater diversity 
in modes of life than is possible for insects of other orders. Besides groups fitted 
to act as scavengers, we find further series of forms that live in, and prey upon, 
all kinds of plant life. There are groups again, either of terrestrial, arboreal, or 
aquatic habits, which seek for, and prey upon living animals of the smaller kinds. 
Some beetles live within the depths of the darkest caverns; and in such cases, 
having no use for eyes, they are generally blind. Others are to be found dwelling 
as “guests” in the homes of the ants and termites. Although the beetles cannot 
boast of such a long line of ancestry as the cockroaches and other Orthoptera, yet 
their records go back to an early period in geological history. There is no certain 
evidence that they existed in Palseozoic times, and their first appearance has not 
been traced farther back than the beginning of the Secondary epoch. The earliest 
undoubted fossil remains of Coleoptera occur in the Swiss Trias, and from this 
period onwards fossil beetles are to be met with in greater or less abundance in 
rocks of different ages. They are especially well preserved in amber; and from 
the Tertiary amber beds on the Baltic thousands of specimens have been collected. 
Of the beetles now existing, quite one hundred and thirty thousand different 
species have been described, and, considering the rate at which new species 
are being yearly added, it is probable that before the end of the century the 
number of named species will fall little short of one hundred and fifty thousand. 


SECTION PENTAMERA. 


Beetles in which all the tarsi are five-jointed. In this section there comes first 
a great tribe of beetles, which, on account of their carnivorous tastes and predaceous 
habits, are known as the Adephaga. Their whole organisation seems well adapted 
to enable them to capture and devour their prey, and it is in the modifications 
directed to this end that some of the chief distinguishing characters of the tribe are 
to be found. Their legs are fitted for speedy locomotion, and their jaws for the 
cutting and tearing operations to which they are usually applied. The mandibles 
are acutely pointed and have sharp cutting edges; and the inner lobes of the 
maxille are hard and hooked at the end. The outer lobes of the maxillz are two- 
jointed and slender, and resemble palpi; which explains the fact that these beetles 
are often described as having three pairs of palpi. The antennz are usually 
simple, and never clubbed. “The tribe is divided into the Geodephaga and 
Hydradephaga, one subtribe containing terrestrial, the other aquatic forms. 

VOL. VI.—9 


130 TINSE GES. 


The Cicindelide consist of about one thousand known species, which are dis- 
tributed throughout the world, but are much more abundant in tropical than in 
temperate or cold countries. In Europe two genera only are represented—Tetracha, 
which comprises nocturnal and twilight-loving species, and Cicindela, whose species 
are found in the hottest and sunniest places. The tiger-beetles are extremely 
pretty insects of remarkably active habits, and exhibit the predaceous type of 
structure to perfection. Besides possessing great speed of foot, most of them make 
ready use of their wings, and they are further characterised by large and prominent 
eyes, and mouths well adapted for seizing and holding their prey, the mandibles 
being long and provided with a number of sharp teeth, while the inner lobe of the 
maxille is furnished with a movable claw or hook at the tip. The fact that this 
hook is movable and not 
firmly fixed to the blade 
of the maxille, affords a 
means of distinguishing 
the tiger-beetles from all 
the other beetles of the 
tribe Adephaga. More 
than half of all the 
known species of the 
family belong to the 
single genus Cicindela, 


and this is the only genus 
which is cosmopolitan. 
With the exception of a 
few species of an almost 
Cicindela hybrida (with larva and pupa slightly enlarged) ; Collyris anne eee ‘ eae 
longicollis (enlarged), colour, the Cicindelide 
exhibit greenish, bronzy, 
or darker metallic tints, frequently varied with white or pale yellow spots and 
bands, which in the case of a great many species run together to form more or less 
intricate and pretty patterns. While their shape is usually such as is shown in 
our figure of C. hybrida, we get, on the other hand, remarkable exotic forms, in 
which the body is narrow and elongated, and broadest towards the hinder end. 
‘ollyris and other genera of the various Oriental countries—where the species are 
found pursuing their prey on the trees in the forests—afford examples of this type. 
From its great resemblance in colour and form to Collyris, a rare and curious 
longicorn beetle, found in the same localities, has been named Collyrodes ; and it 
has been remarked by Mr. Wallace that beetles of the family Cicindelidw are 
amongst those most frequently mimicked by other beetles. 

In external structure the carnivorous ground-beetles (Carabidw) approach 
the Cicindelide, from which they may in most cases be distinguished by their 
general shape, as well by the fact that they never exhibit the coloration and 
markings characteristic of that family. Other points of difference may be seen 
in their less prominent eyes, in the absence of an articulation in the hook of 
the maxille, and in the shape cf the mandibles, which, though occasionally long, 


TIGER-BEETLES, 


COLEOPTERA. 3 


do not exhibit the slender curved form and sharp dentition met with in the tiger- 
beetles. 

The number of species of Carabidae at present known ean scarcely be less than 
eleven thousand. This family seems better represented in temperate and colder 
regions than within the tropics, though species, in more or less abundance, are to 
be found in every country and island of the world. Whilst the species are almost 
all predaceous in their habits, we find them under a variety of different forms and 
with several distinct peculiarities of structure, many of which are to be regarded as 
special adaptations to the various situations in which the insects hunt for their prey. 

The Carabidae like all other beetles have their enemies, but we never find in 
this family any of those mimetic and protective disguises that are so commonly 
met with in certain other groups; and to escape em their enemies the ground- 
beetles have mostly to rely upon their speed of foot, or the readiness with which 
they can take to flight or disappear amongst the herbage. Many species are, how- 
ever, provided with anal glands that secrete an acrid or stinking liquid which is 
sometimes ejected with considerable foree when the insect is handled. In the 
“bombardier-beetle” (Brachinus crepitans) and others of the same group, the 
secretion is volatilised on emission, and issues as a little cloud of smoke, which is 
accompanied at each discharge by a slight sound; and when the insect is irritated 
it repeats the discharge several times in succession, but each time with diminished 
force. The “bombardier” is a rusty-red species, with dull blue-black elytra, and a 
narrow head and prothorax, and is pretty common, especially on chalk, in different 
parts of the south and south-east coasts of England. Amongst those species of 
the family that in habits and general appearance most closely resemble the 
Cicindelide, are the little beetles of the genus Klaphrus. These love to run about 
in the rays of the sun, not so much in dry places, as on the muddy banks of 
rivers, on the sands of the seashore, and in other damp situations. They have 
large prominent eyes, a narrow prothorax, slender legs, and curiously marked 
elytra. This genus is confined to the Northern Hemisphere. The species which 
we figure, Hlaphrus riparius, like some other beetles of 
the family, is able to produce a stridulating noise by 
rubbing the back of its abdomen against a projecting 


. 5 : ; _af 

nervure on the under side of the elytra. Those tiny ~< < 0 ye 
e ev -7Y == 
= ; A 5 Cal “2 Shown yy 
little beetles of a glistening bronzy-black appearance, “4-7 > eS 


and with beautifully sculptured elytra, which are to be YZ AY ‘ . wD > 
seen on almost any bright day in the spring or summer, =~\ AN ee Wid Li 
running quickly over garden beds or paths, belong to Hlapiiras cipariia (enlenpedl): 
the genus Notiophilus, and are some of the smallest 

species in the whole family. The genus Carabus, after which the family is 
named, contains over three hundred species, and is somewhat remarkable in its 
distribution ; for, with the exception of a small group of species found in Southern 
Chili, it is restricted in its range to the North Temperate zone. Six or seven 
species are found in Britain; Carabus violaceus and C. nemoralis are perhaps the 
two most frequently met with, being abundant in gardens and fields in almost 
every part of the country. The first is nearly smooth, of a dull blue-black colour, 
with purplish borders to the thorax and elytra, and is of about the same size 


132 INSECTS. 


as C. nemoralis (represented in the figure on p. 124). The latter has a purplish 
thorax and bronzy elytra, marked with a few rows of conspicuous punctures. 
Another species which we figure, C. awratus, is very rare in England and doubtfully 
indigenous, but in France it is common and does much service by destroying the 
cockchafers and their grubs. The genus Calosoma approaches Carabus in many 
of its characters, but may be easily distinguished by its shorter, broader, and more 
rounded prothorax, and the greater relative width of its elytra. Calosoma 
inquisitor, though rare and found only in parts of England, may be regarded as a 
true British species; but the species figured (C. sycophanta) is only an occasional 
visitant to this country and cannot be considered indigenous. The Carabide as a 
whole, though sufficiently varied in their external structure, do not exhibit any very 
unusual or striking peculiarities of form, and the species already considered, with 
a few more presently to follow, may be taken as typical of the commoner forms 
met with throughout the family. In the genus Mormolyce we have, however, a 
remarkable exception. The species of this strange genus—three in number, and all 
very much alike—have been found in Java, Sumatra, and other East Indian Islands. 
They are of a pitchy-brown colour, and have the body much flattened, and the 
head greatly elongated, while their 
antenne are also very long; but, as 
will be seen from our figure, the chief 
peculiarity in the appearance of these 
extraordinary insects is due to the 
great lateral expansions of the borders 
of the elytra, and the curious manner 


in which these expansions are pro- 
longed behind. Jf. phyllodes, the 
best known species, occurs in Java, 
Borneo, and the Malay peninsula; 
and the people of Java, struck no 
doubt by its peculiar shape, call it “the violin.” Some of the largest individuals 
of the species are nearly three and a half inches long, and measure more than 
an inch and a half across the broadest part of the elytra. We have 


Morinolyce phyllodes (from a small specimen). 


alluded, in our introduction, to the burrowing habits of some of the 
Curabide. The Scaritine are a group that possess such habits, and 
the accompanying figure of Scarites gigas will give an idea of the 
general form characteristic of nearly all the species of the group. 
The genus Scarites comprises a large number of species, all of a 
uniform black colour, and most of them of a moderate size. They 
make their burrows in the banks of streams, the seashore, or other 
suitable places, and rarely leave them during the day, lying in wait 
for their victims at the mouth of the holes. The genus Zabrus, 
which we have next to notice, forms, so far as its habits are con- 
cerned, one of those exceptions that go to prove the rule. For, 


Scarites gigas 
(nat. size). 


while it is true that almost all the Carabide are carnivorous and predaceous 
insects, some at least of the species of Zabrus and a few others are largely, though 
probably not wholly, addicted to a vegetable diet. The species (Zabrus gibbus) 


COLEOPTERA. 133 


figured on p. 128 lives in corn-fields, and has at different times committed great 
havoe among crops—wheat, barley, rye, ete., in various parts of Germany and Italy. 

The Dytiscide or carnivorous water-beetles, resemble the Carabidw in many 
of their structural features, and differ chiefly in the modifications undergone to fit 
them to an aquatic mode of life. Thus we find, as in the latter family, the 
mentum is usually broad and deeply emarginate in front, the outer lobe of the 
maxille is two-jointed and palpiform, the antenne are moderately long and slender, 
and the trochanters of the hind-legs are prominent. On the other hand, the 
antenne are always smooth; the head is broad and fits deeply into the prothorax, 
while the latter is applied by a broad base against the elytra, so that the outline 
of the body is continuous, and the general shape more or less oval ; the hind-legs, 


Dytiscus marginalis —1, Male; 2, Female; 3, Eggs; 4, Pupa; 5, Larva attacking a tadpole; 6, Hydrocharis 
caraboides ; 7, Its larva; 8, Acilius sulcatus, Female. (All nat. size. ) 


which with their tibiz and tarsi flattened and furnished with rows of bristles, 
are adapted to serve as oars in swimming, are somewhat longer than the other 
legs, and come off from the body at a considerable distance behind them, while 
their coxxe appear as broad flat plates firmly joined to the metasternum, for parts 
of which they might at first sight be very readily mistaken. The males may 
be distinguished from the females by the shape of their fore-tarsi, in which the 
first three joints are strongly dilated, and furnished underneath with sucker-like 
hairs; while in this sex also the back is generally smooth and glossy, the elytra 
of the females frequently have a ribbed or corrugated surface. The Dytiscidce 
seem especially fond of stagnant waters, and some of the species are common 
objects in our ponds and ditches. They come to the surface when it is necessary 
to take in a fresh supply of air beneath the elytra. These organs fit very closely 
against the sides of the body, and so prevent the air from escaping while the beetle 


134 INSECTS. 


o 


is swimming about under the water; but the air meanwhile is being used up in 
breathing by means of the thoracic and abdominal spiracles. The beetles fly 
strongly, and on fine summer evenings may sometimes be seen winging their way 
to new quarters, a change which is often necessitated by the drying up of the pools 
in which they had previously been living. Dytiscus marginalis, one of the largest 
British species, is also one of the commonest and best known, Another common 
species, Acilius sulcatus, is also represented in our figure. 

The Gyrinide, or whirligig beetles, are a small but very well-defined group, and 
in many points of structure are sharply distinguished from the other families of the 
tribe Adephaga. In their oval shapes they resemble the Dytiscid@, though they are 
usually somewhat flatter below and a little more convex on the upper side. But in 

the relative proportions of the three pairs of legs they are 
entirely different. The fore-legs are long and slender, and 
when stretched out look hke arms, whereas the two hinder 
pairs are short and broad, being modified for use as paddles in 
, swimming. Another very distinctive feature is presented by 
the eyes, each of which is divided by a ridge on the side of the 
head into two widely separated portions, one lying on the upper 


COMMON = WHIRLIGIG, side of the head and the other underneath. These beetles 
BEETLE, Gyrinus 
natator (enlarged). 


appear, in consequence, to have four eyes; one pair, as it is said, 
though there is no proof of the fact, for espying objects above 
them, the other for looking at things in the water below. From the Dytiscida 
and Carabide they difter further in having their antenne shorter than the head, 
and the outer lobe of the maxille either completely atrophied or else in the form 
of a slender spine. The Gyrinide, though widely distributed and represented in 
almost all parts of the world, include altogether rather less than three hundred 
known species. The genera are few in number and two only occur in Europe. 
Some of the British species, such as Gyrinus natator, are commonly to be seen in 
ponds and canals or “holes” in reedy sluggish streams, where the shiny little 
beetles attract attention by the ease and rapidity of their movements as they skim 
about on the surface of the water, performing a variety of intricate evolutions, 
some sweeping along in graceful curves, others going round in circles or spiral 
tracks, now all collecting together in groups, and then, if startled, suddenly darting 
off with amazing speed in every direction. 

The next beetles we have to consider are those which, on account of their 
abbreviated wing-cases, are known as the Brachyelytra. This tribe to which, 
however, not all beetles with short elytra belong, contains a single very large 
family—the Staphylinide. Owing to the shortness of their elytra, and the usually 
narrow and elongated form of their bodies, the rove-beetles have an easily recognised 
and characteristic appearance. The head is generally large and flat with a narrow 
composed of eleven, 


neck behind where it fits into the prothorax. The antenne 
or occasionally twelve joints—are usually filiform, but are often shghtly thickened 
towards the extremity, and in some eases end in a distinct club. Though prominent 


and conspicuous in a few genera, the eyes are, as a rule, raised but very little above 
the general surface of the head. It is interesting to note that ocelli, which are of 
such rare occurrence in adult beetles, are to be found in certain groups of this 


COLEOPTERA. nag 


family ; two ocelli being present in Homaliun and its allies, and a single ocellus 
in the genus Phlwobium. The mandibles vary in form according to the habits of 
the species; they are usually strong, often sharply curved and pointed at the end, 
and of a distinctly carnivorous type. Attached to the base and running a little 
way alongside the inner margin of each mandible, there is to be seen in many 
species a narrow flexible plate fringed, or not, with hairs at the end. This piece, 
first made known by Kirby, who called it the prostheca, is rarely met with 
except in the Staphylinide. ‘The lgula is narrow, and bears distinct para- 
gloss ; and the outer lobe of the maxilla is never palpiform. The rove-beetles are 
for the most part carnivorous, and prey upon all kinds of larvee and other insects, 
as well as upon slugs, snails, and worms, but they feed largely on carrion, and to 
some degree on vegetable matter. Several species live in fungi, some in flowers, 
others under bark and in rotten wood, while in the case of certain genera, such as 


BRITISH ROVE-BEETLES. 


1, The devil’s coach-horse (Ocypus olens) ; 2, Staphylinus pubescens ; 3, Philonthus wneus ; 4, Oxyperus rufus ; 
5, Pederus riparius ; 6, Staphylinus cesareus. (Nos. 3, 4, and 5, slightly enlarged.) 


Lomechusa and Atemeles, the species are to be sought for in or about ants’ nests. 
Some of these latter species are welcome guests, since, like the Aphides, they 
secrete a liquid which is eagerly swallowed by the ants; others may possibly act as 
scavengers. Amongst the species of the genera Sprrachtha and Corotoca, which 
live with the Termites in South America, some are very remarkable from the fact 
that the females give birth to living young. 

Many of the British species of beetles belong to this family. Every one has 
seen the devil’s coach-horse, that long, black, ugly-looking but useful insect which 
is to be found under stones and earth, or roving about in gardens, and which when 
you attempt to stay its progress, by pointing with a stick or finger, stands with 
threatening jaws and upturned tail as if ready to accept the challenge. This species 
which, with a few others, is represented in the figure, is scientifically known as 
Ocypus olens, and is one of the largest of the rove-beetles. Its habit of turning 
up the tip of the abdomen is not peculiar to it, but is common to nearly all the 
beetles of the family, which on that account are sometimes ealled ecock-tail beetles. 

We come now to a series of small families, forming the group known as the 
Clavicornia or Necrophaga. This group, however, rests on no true scientific basis, 


136 INSECTS. 


and is more or less artificial in its character. Most of the species included in the 
group feed upon decaying animal or vegetable matter, hence the name Necrophaga. 
The antenne exhibit in general a tendency to be thickened towards the tip, and in 
many cases the last three joints form a distinct club; but in some of the families 
antennse of quite another shape are to be found. Though usually five-jointed, the 
tarsi display in the number of their joints almost every variation met with in the 
Coleoptera. 

The family of Puussidw includes probably less than two hundred known 
species, the majority of which have been discovered in the tropics of Asia and 
Africa, though one species (Paussus faviert) occurs in the south-west of Europe. 
They are mostly reddish brown insects, of rather small size, oblong form, and in 
general appearance little attractive, were it not for the extraordinary shapes of 
their antenne. These organs are generally very broad and flat, in some species 
resembling a paper-knife in shape; the number of jomts varies from ten to two, 
and the last joint frequently has a bulbous or discoidal form. So far as at present 
known, all the species live in ants’ nests, and, unless sought for in these situations, 
they are rarely seen except at night when they occasionally fly into rooms, attracted 
by the light from the lamps. 

The tiny beetles belonging to the Pselaphide resemble the Paussid@ in exhibit- 
ing certain anomalies in their structure, and their lives are passed in similar obscure 
situations. But while the Pawssid@ may possibly be related to the Carabidae, the 
very short elytra of the Pselaphide, and the entirely horny nature of the dorsal 
plates of the abdomen seem to indicate an affinity with the Staphylinide. In 
other points of structure, however, these two families are different. In the 
Pselaphide the lobes of the maxille are soft and membranous; and the abdomen, 
which in one group (the Clavigerinw) is composed of five segments, with the basal 
rings fused together, is quite incapable of the movements so characteristic of the 
rove-beetles. The joints of the antenne vary in number from eleven to six, 
or even two, and are in most cases clubbed at the end. While in one division 
of the family the palpi are usually composed of three or four joimts, and are 
long and conspicuous, in the other they are one-jointed and scarcely visible. ‘ 
The tarsi are three-jointed, the first and second joints often very short, while 
the third is long and in many eases bears only a single claw. The Pselaphide 
are distributed throughout most parts of the world. They are to be found 
under stones, moss, dead leaves, and other vegetable refuse, as well as under 
the bark of trees, and in damp marshy situations; but the most interesting 
species are those which live in ants’ nests. They are all of small size. The genus 
Claviger, comprising about eighteen European and one or two Asiatic species, has 
six-jointed antenne, and is further remarkable for the fact that the long cylindrical 
head is entirely devoid of eyes. The best known species, C. testaceus, 1s in 
Britain met with chiefly in the nests of the common yellow ant (Lasius flavus), 
though on the Continent it is found also in the nests of other species. It is 
about a tenth of an inch long, yellowish brown in colour, wingless, with the 
elytra fused together, and with a deep impression on the base of the abdomen. 
The relation between the ants and their guests is of a most interesting character. 
Whenever an ant meets one of these guests in a gallery of the nest, it gently 


COLEOPTERA. 137 


touches and caresses it with its antenne, and while the beetle responds mM a 
similar manner, the ant sucks at the tufts of hair near the end of the beetle’s 
elytra, and then licks the whole anterior surface of the back of its abdomen. 
The ants feed the beetles in very much the same way as they feed their larve. 
When the beetle is hungry it expresses its desire to be fed by licking an ant near 
the mouth, and oceasion- 
ally stroking the sides of 
its head with gentle 
movements of its 
antenne. During the 
process of feeding the 
beetle is passive ; the ant 
moves its head gently to 
and fro, while the head 
of the beetle rests almost 


motionless in its mouth. Claviger testaceus, caressed by ants (greatly enlarged), 

The attention bestowed 

by the ants on the beetles is as great as that which they give to their own larve, 
and they frequently feed the hungry ones among them, before looking after the 
wants of their own brood. 

The orange-banded burying-beetles of the genus Necrophorus are probably 
the best-known members of the Si/phid, though they are not to be considered the 
most representative, either in habits, size, or general appearance. The many geners 
of which the family is composed differ greatly in size and outward form, while the 
burying instinct is almost entirely confined to the genus Necrophorus. In nearly 
all cases, however, the antennex, consisting usually of eleven joints, are thickened 
towards the tip or furnished with a distinct club; the prothorax is usually broad 
and flat, with sharply defined lateral margins, while the elytra frequently do not 
reach to the tip of the abdomen; the cox of the four anterior legs are large, 
prominent, and conical in shape; and the tarsi are usually five-jointed, though 
oceasionally with a less number of joints. The Carrion - beetles are widely 
distributed, though chiefly characteristic of the colder and temperate zones. 
In the genus Necrophorus the antenne terminate in an almost globular, four- 
jointed mass; the body is broadest across the ends of the elytra, which are 
abruptly truncated, leaving the tip of the abdomen exposed. The species of this 
genus are black in colour, but in most of them the elytra are crossed by two 
broad orange bands. They feed upon dead animals of all kinds, and their habit of 
burying the smaller careases, such as those of mice, moles, small birds, ete., has gained 
for them the name of “sexton” or “ burying” beetles. Their mode of operation is to 
creep underneath and dig the earth away until they have made a hole big enough 
to receive the dead body; as the latter sinks, the loose soil closes over it and in 
time completely hides it from view. The females then lay their eggs in the 
carcase, which subsequently serves as food for the larve. These insects must have 
a very acute sense of smell, for in a very short time after a mole has been killed 
some of them may be seen hovering over the body, although not previously 


observed anywhere in the vicinity. Out of about a dozen species of Necrophorus 


138 INSECTS. 


.) 


occurring in Europe, seven are found in Britain, V. vespillo being perhaps the 
one which is most widely distributed. Most of the species of the genus Sil/pha— 
from which the family naine is derived—are dark, sombre-looking insects, some- 
what ovate in shape, the prothorax being broad and closely applied to the base of 
the elytra, while the elytre 


usually extend to the tip of 
the abdomen. The head is 
small, and when turned down 
is hidden under the pronotum. 
The beetles themselves | are 
generally met with in or about 
dead animals, but some of the 
species display a partiality for 
a vegetable diet; thus in 


France the adult Silpha 


reticulata has been found to 


attack wheat, while Sipha 


nigrita devours strawberries 


ee : in the Alps and Pyrenees. 
Stlphe atrata and jarva (rather less than nat, size). s 


The larve of most of the 
species are somewhat like wood-lice in shape, with the posterior angles of the 
abdominal segments sharply produced. Those of S. opaca and NS. atrata are some- 
times very destructive to the leaves of sugar-beet and mangold-wurzel. 

The Trichopterygide, or hairy-winged beetles, are exceedingly minute insects, 
the smallest, im fact, of all the beetles, many of the species being less than the 
fiftieth part of an inch in length. They are further remarkable on account of 
the structure of their wings. These 
organs are very long and narrow, 
each consisting of a strip of mem- 
brane attached to a horny stalk and 
fringed on each side with long and 
closely-set hairs. 

The Histerrde form a well- 
defined family, widely distributed, 
and numbering considerably more 


than twelve hundred species. In 
colour they offer little variety, being A 

: a 
mostly either black, dark blue, or Sen (e 


green, the elytra being occasionally Hister jimetarius and larva (at. size). 

spotted with red or yellow. They 

are compactly oval or oblong-oval in form, and nearly always present a highly 
polished appearance. The antennz are short, with a long basal joint and a very 
distinct terminal club, and as a rule are capable of being turned back into grooves 
beneath the thorax. The elytra are truncate at the tips, leaving the last two 
segments of the abdomen exposed ; they are generally marked with a series of finely 
impressed longitudinal lines, the number and disposition of which afford useful 


COLEOPTERA. 139 


characters in distinguishing between the different species of a genus. In the 
division of the family to which Hister belongs, the prosternum is produced in 
front, forming a prominent “chin-piece” which serves to protect the lower part of 
the head when the latter is retracted. In Saprinus the “ chin-piece” is wanting. 

The Nitidulide have some resemblance in external form to the Histeride, 
though they are generally of smaller size, with their integuments less hard, and 
their colours a little more varied. The elytra are 


slightly truncate behind, leaving a variable number of 
the segments of the abdomen exposed. The antennz 


are eleven-jointed or, exceptionally, ten-jointed, with 
the last two or three joints forming a knob; the maxillee 
have as a rule but a single lobe, and the tarsi are five- 
jointed, though in a few genera the males, at least, 
have only four joints in the posterior tarsi. Many of 
the species are found feeding and breeding in decaying 
vegetable or animal substances, such as rotten wood, 
bark, fungi, and in carcases or bones; some frequent 
the exuding sap of trees; while a very large number 
are to be seen on flowers, amongst which are the 
brightly-coloured little beetles of the genus Meligethes. 
The species figured (JZ. wneus) is one of the commonest, 
and met with chiefly on the flowers or leaves of cruci- 
ferous plants. In Germany these little beetles are well 
known, on account of the depredations they commit 
in crops of rape. A few days after emerging from 
their winter sleep, the beetles lay their eggs in the 
buds; in about a fortnight the larvee are hatched and 
proceed to feed on the undeveloped or full-blown 
flowers; while later on they attack the young pods, 
to which they do more damage than the beetles them- 
selves. The small family Byturidw may also be 
mentioned here. The genus Byturus contains only 
four or five known species, which are confined to 
Europe and North America, and one of which is 
familiar to gardeners and others as the “raspberry 


Meligethes eneus (nat. size and 
beetle.” This species (B. tomentosus) is somewhat greatly magnified). 


oblong in form, from an eighth to a sixth of an inch 

in length, of a dirty yellowish colour, and covered with a yellow down. Though 
found on flowers of many different kinds, it is especially common on raspberry 
blossoms, and the cylindrical brownish Jarvee sometimes do much damage to the 
flowers and fruit. 

The Dermestide have a special interest, owing to the destructive habits of 
many of the species. The beetles themselves are small in size, oblong or oval 
in shape, sometimes nearly round, and usually clothed with fine closely lying 
hairs or scales, which frequently give rise to greyish or yellowish spots or bands 
on the elytra. The front of the head, except in the genus Dermestes, bears a single 


140 INSECTS. 


ocellus; the short antenne, consisting usually of eleven joints, are clubbed at the 
end; the abdomen is entirely covered over above by the elytra; and the tarsi are 
always five-jointed. While certain species are met with only on flowers, the 
majority live in dried animal matter—furs, skins, and the like, as well as articles 
of food, such as bacon and cheese. The perfect insects do comparatively little 
damage, the real depredators bemg the larve, including those of many species 
which in the adult state frequent flowers. The larvee are little hairy creatures of 
a dark colour, looking like small caterpillars, with the hairs sticking out straight 
and arranged more or less in tuftsor bundles. The larve of Anthrenus musworum, 
the so-called museum-beetle, have to be carefully guarded against in museums, as 
they are very destructive to zoological collections and more especially to those 
of dried insects. Attagenus pellio is another very common species of this family, 
usually found in houses, and well known on account of the ravages of its larva in 
natural history collections, furs, hair-stuffed couches, ete. The larva is of a brown 
or red-brown colour above, and covered with long hairs pointing backwards; it 
is broader in front and tapers towards the hinder end, where it carries a tail-tuft of 
very long hairs. 

In the Hydrophilide the antennze are short and composed of from six to 
nine joints, of which the first is relatively long, and the last three or so thickened 
in the form of a club; the mentum is a large shield-like plate without a notch in 
front; the lobes of the maxillze are not toothed, and the palpi are long and slender, 
frequently much longer and more conspicuous than the antenne. These characters 
afford a ready means of distinguishing these herbivorous water-beetles from the 
carnivorous water-beetles, to which in general shape many of them bear a close 
resemblance. The great length of the maxillary palpi has given rise to the name 
Palpicornes by which the family was formerly known. In the perfect state, all 
the members of the family feed upon vegetable matter; but it is only those of the 
subfamily Hydrophilincee—of which the great water-beetle, Hydrophilus piceus, 
may be taken as the type—that are truly aquatic in their habits; the second sub- 


family, the Spheridiine, though including certain marsh-frequenting species, is 
composed mainly of land-insects which are found chiefly in vegetable refuse or 
in the droppings of herbivorous mammals. Of the Hydrophilinw some are 
found in stagnant, others in running water, but they are nearly all poor swimmers, 
while a large number progress by simply crawling along the surface film upside 
down; in their slow movements they present a marked contrast to the active 
predatory Dytiscide. 

Having touched upon the principal families of the Clavicorn series, we pass 
to the Pectinicornia, a small tribe containing only two families, one of which 
has no European representative, while both are somewhat limited in the 
number of their species. In the Lucanide the antenne are ten-jointed, with the 
first joint long and set at an angle with the rest of the antenne, of which from 
three to seven of the last joints are furnished with rigid tooth-like processes on 
one side. The outer lobe of the maxille ends ina pencil of hairs, while the inner 
lobe has very often the form of a claw; the ligula is membranous or leathery in 
texture, and is attached to the inner face of the mentum; the elytra cover over the 
abdomen, which on the ventral side shows five or, in the male, six segments ; 


COLEOPTERA I4l 


and the tarsi are five-jointed, with a long slender spur projecting between the 
claws of the terminal joint, and carrying at the end two long bristles. The male 
insects are remarkable for the massive development of their Jaws, which in many 
cases are forked and branched. The common stag-beetle (Lucanus cervus), one of 
the largest of European beetles, may, in the case of full-sized males, attain a 
length of over 2 inches, or, if the mandibles be included, more than 3 inches. It is 
most abundant in the neighbourhood of oak-woods, and in England is not 
uncommon in the southern counties, where the males may be often observed on 
the wing on fine summer evenings, flying with a loud hum. 

The Passalide are a small family of about two hundred known species, which 
are almost entirely restricted to the warmer parts of the world, the greater pro- 


—— == = : SS 


GREAT BLACK WATER-BEETLE (nat. size). 
1, Larva. 2, Male. 3, Female with egg-cocoon. 


portion being found in America. In the form of the antennz and in some other 
respects they show an affinity with the Lucanide, though easily distinguished by 
the character of the mouth-parts. The ligula is horny, and lies in a deep quad- 
rangular emargination in the mentum; the lobes of the maxille both resemble 
claws; and the mandibles offer a peculiarity of structure met with in no other 
family, each being provided with a movably articulated tooth placed close to the 
basal molar surface. 

The Lamellicornia—comprising the burrowing-beetles, cockchafers, and a host 
of other forms, differing both in habits and external structure—are represented in 
all parts of the world, though relatively less numerous in Australia than in the 
other great regions. We have only to mention the goliath-beetles of West Africa, 
and the elephant and hercules-beetles of Tropical America, to indicate the great 
size attained by some of the species; while as regards beauty and brillianey of 


142 INSECTS. 


coloration no beetles can rival many of those belonging to the two subfamilies 
_ Cetoniine and Rutelinw. ‘The male stag-beetles, as we haye just seen, are 

distinguished by their large heads and monstrous jaws, but in the males of the 

present family it is as a rule the prothorax which is greatly enlarged or 
otherwise modified in form, and 
often furnished, like the head, with 
processes of various kinds, some- 
times short, in others taking the 
shape of huge curved or branching 
horns. The family admits of two 
principal divisions. In the first 
division the lhgula of the lower 
lip is more or less membranous and 
distinct from the mentum, and the 


BURROWING BEETLE, Scaraberus variolosus (nat. size). spiracles of the abdomen are all 
situated in the connecting membrane 

between the dorsal and ventral plates. Among these we may mention the genus 
Scarabwus, over sixty species of which are known, most of them African, some 
occurring in Asia, and a few, including sacer, one of the 
sacred beetles of the Egyptians, found also in South Europe. 
Amongst the coprophagous species, met with in Great Britain, 
those of the genus Aphodius, which represents a second sub- 
family, are the most numerous. They are somewhat oblong 
in form, as shown in our figure of Aphodius fossor, one of 
the largest and best-known species, and are usually shining 
black, though in many the elytra are of a reddish or yellow 
colour, in some cases spotted with black. A type of another 


subfamily is found in the genus Geotrupes of which we have 
in this country several species, including the well-known — Scarabwus sacer (nat. size). 
“dumble-dor” or “shard-born” beetle (@. stercorarius). The 

species almost all exhibit dark blue or black colours, and in most cases the sexes 
differ little in external form; but in G. typhaus, the male is 
distinguished by having three horns projecting from the pro- 
thorax. The plant-feeding or phytophagous subfamilies belong 
to the second division of the Scarabwide. In these the ligula 
is consolidated with the mentum, and the abdominal spiracles 
are placed, some in the connecting membrane between the dorsal 
and ventral plates, the others on the sides of the ventral plates. 
One of our most familiar insects, the common cockchafer, gives 
a good idea of the general form and style of coloration pre- 


vailing in the subfamily Melolonthinw, while in habits also it 
ype eee resembles other species of the same group. As examples of 
larva (enlarged), Some of the other Melolonthine we figure Polyphylla fullo, 
one of the finest European species, which, though not indigenous 

to Britain, has occasionally been found on the south coast, and—on p. 144— 
Rhizotrogus solstitialis, a common British insect, commonly known as the summer- 


COLEOPTERA. 143 


o 


chafer. The Ruteline have some resemblance in external form to the Melolon- 
thine, but can in general be easily recognised owing to the difference in length 
between the two claws of each of their tarsi. The Dynastinw are mostly confined 
to the warmer parts of the world, and chiefly remarkable on account of the 
great sexual differences exhibited by the species. In the 
hercules-beetles (Dynastes hercules), of the West Indies and 
Tropical America, the male is sometimes over 5 inches long. 
The elephant-beetle is a more massive insect, though, having 
relatively much shorter horns, its total length is not so great. 
As compared with other species of the subfamily the European 
rhinoceros-beetle (Oryctes nasicornis), figured on p. 144, is 
very modest in its proportions. Our next subfamily, the 
ee sh vies Cetonwine, stands unrivalled amongst the Coleoptera for the 
typhocus (nat. size). loveliness of coloration displayed by many of its species. 
The goliath-beetles belong to this subfamily. In some of the 
genera, such as Ceratorrhina and Goliathus, the males may be recognised by 
the shape of the head, which is often excavated above, and furnished with hooks 
or horns, as shown in C. smithi on p. 145. 

The Buprestide, together with the click-beetles (Hlateride), and a few smaller 
families, constitute the tribe Serricornia. Distinguished chiefly by their serrated 
or flabellated antenne, the beetles of this tribe agree also in having the tarsi five- 
jointed, and the prosternum prolonged behind 
and fitting into a cavity of the mesosternum. 
They are generally of an elongated form, with 
the elytra narrowed from the base to the tip 
and completely covering the abdomen. The 
Buprestide have short, serrated antenne, 
composed of eleven joints, which, with the 
exception of three or four nearest the base, 


are covered on special areas with very 
minute pits supposed to be of an olfactory 
nature; these areas may be spread over 
nearly the whole of each joint, or confined 
to one side or the end of the joint, and their 
position afiords one of the most important 
characters used in the classification of the : 
family. The family is divided into three Polyghylla Fullo, male (nat. size). 
principal groups —the Julodine, Chalco- 

phorine, and Buprestine. The first group is chiefly restricted to Africa and the 
East Indies. The Chalcophorine are more widely distributed, and include many 
of the finest species of the family, such as the Huchroma gigantea of South 
America, and the species of Catorantha found in the East Indies. Chalcophora 


mariana—tigured on p. 145—occurs in many pine-forests of the Continent, and 
is one of the largest European species. The Buprestinw are more numerous than 
the other two groups, and are found in all parts of the world. 

The click-beetles are, as a rule, narrower and more elongated than the 


144 LNSIECLS: 


Buprestide, and differ also in having the posterior angles of the pronotum sharply 
produced behind, and the prosternal process laterally compressed and _ slightly 
curved, with its point resting in a deep cavity in the mesosternum. Their antennee 
—consisting of eleven, or rarely twelve, joints 


—are usually serrate, though in many eases, 
especially in the males, they are either pectinate 
or flabellate. These beetles owe their name of 
skip-jacks to the power they have, when fallen 
on the back, of springing into the air and 
alighting on their legs again. The larve of 
some species eat into soft succulent roots and 
tubers, and in this way prove destructive to 
many of our cultivated plants. These pests are 
well-known to farmers under the name of wire- 
worms. The larva of Agriotes lineatus is one 
of the worst, being destructive not only in the 
fields but also in the kitchen-garden. It is of 
a pale yellowish brown colour, differing little 
in general appearance from the larve of other 
species, and lives for probably four or five 
years, passing then into a pupa, which remains 
concealed in the ground for a few weeks before 
changing into the perfect insect. Amongst the 
exotic members of this family, the most remark- 
able are the fire-flies, found in the West Indies 
and America. There are several species of 
these beetles, all belonging to the genus 
Pyrophorus, one of which, P. noctilweus, is 
illustrated on p. 146. They have a dark brown or reddish brown colour, obscured 
by a covering of short grey hairs, and may be easily recognised by the 
two slightly raised yellow spots placed near the 
hind angles of the prothorax. In the living 
insect these spots glow with a rich yellowish green 
light. A stronger but more diffused light of 
a reddish colour is given off from the abdomen 
when the beetles are flying. 

The remaining families of the section Penta- 
mera are included in the tribe Malacodermata. 
The beetles of this tribe are distinguished by 
having the elytra less solid and compact, and the 
body in general softer and more flexible than is 
usual in other groups. The Lycid@w are deserving of notice, inasmuch as they 
form one of those groups of insects which are most frequently mimicked by species 
of other families. They have a characteristic appearance, owing to the small 
size of the head and prothorax, as compared with the greatly expanded elytra. 
To their unusual shapes these beetles generally add a conspicuous coloration ; 


SUMMER-CHAFER (nat. size). 


RHINOCEROS-BEETLE, male (nat. size). 


COLL OREE KA. 


145 


tawny yellow and red, varied in many eases with black spots and bands, being the 


predominant colours throughout the family. 
leaves of trees, and are sometimes seen in great 
abundance; and it is said that they secrete a 
nauseous liquid, which gives them immunity 
from the attacks of insectivorous aninals. 

The Lampyride are remarkable on account 
of the luminous properties possessed by nearly 
all the species. In these insects the head is 
small and, being retracted under the pronotum, 
generally invisible from above; the eyes are 
large, especially in the males, the mandibles 
small but sharply pointed, and the antenne come 
off close together from the front of the head. 
The phosphorescent organs are situated in the 
abdomen, their position being shown in most of 
the species by pale yellowish or whitish areas 


They are found on the flowers and 


Ceratorrhina smithi, male. 


Chalcophora mariana and larva 
(nat. size). 


on the ventral surface of certain of the segments. 
These beetles are found in nearly all parts of the 
world, though most numerous perhaps in Tropical 
America. In Lanpyris and certain other genera 
the females are frequently apterous. 
Lampyris noctiluca—our native glow-worm—is not 


The female of 


only without wings, but has even no trace of elytra, 
so that in appearance it is not unlike the larva 
of the same species, though it may be distinguished 
by its broad semicircular prothorax, its more fully 
developed legs, and much greater luminosity. In 
the genus Lucicola—which is represented by two 
or three species in South Europe—both sexes are 
winged, and the males are even more luminous than 


the females. 


The Telephoride are distinguished from the two preceding families in having 
the head more exposed, the bases of the antennze more widely separated from one 


another, the 
somewhat square in shape, 
the maxillary palpi ending 
in a hatchet-shaped joint, 
and the mandibles longer 
and often bifid at the end, 
or toothed on the inner 
side. Some of them are 


pronotum 


among the commonest and 

most familiar of our in- 

sects, — being known to 

schoolboys as “soldiers ” 
VOL. VI.—1I0 


! Unie 


Agriotes lineatus and its larva—the well-known wire-worm. (Both much 
enlarged, but the larva shown also nat. size.) 


Vi 


146 INSECTS, 


and “sailors,” —and few of our readers can fail to recognise the species figured, 
This species (elephorus fuscus), and a few others of the same genus,—some of 


THE WEST INDIAN FIRE-FLY, 
Pyrophorus noctilucus 


(nat. size). Telephorus fuscus (slightly enlarged). 


which are of an almost entirely yellowish red colour,—are very plentiful on 
flowers at certain times of the year. 

The Cleridw are generally brightly coloured, of cylindrical form, with 
the prothorax narrower than the elytra, the eyes notched in front, the antennze 
either serrate, pec- 
tinate, or clavate, 
and the tarsi fur- 
nished underneath 
with membranous 
lobes. Clerus for- 
micarius 18 very 


Trichodes apiarius 
(enlarged), abundant in pime- 
forests, where it 

plays a useful part in hunting for and 


Clerus formicarius, with larva and pupa 
(all enlarged). 


devouring wood- boring beetles; while 
the larva is still more active in following 
under the bark the larvee of various kinds which are there 
to be met with. The second species figured (7’richodes 
apiarius) hunts for its prey on flowers, especially those of the 
Umbellifere, and the larvee are found in beehives, where they 
devour many of the young brood. 

The Ptinide are all small insects, usually of a somewhat 
eylindrical form, rounded at each end, and with the head 
retracted under a hood-like covering, formed by the prothorax. 


They are obscurely coloured and chiefly interesting on account THE DEATH-WATCH BEETLE, 
: 5 Anobium  tessellatum 


(enlarged). 


of their mischievous propensities. In the larval state Ptinus 
fur is very destructive in herbaria, and natural history 
collections generally. The best known of the Ptinide are the death-watch 
beetles of the genus Anobium, to which we have already referred at the 
beginning of this chapter. These beetles seldom show themselves openly, so 


COLEOPTERA. 147 


that to most people they are only known by the sounds they produce, or the 
holes with which the larve riddle furniture and the woodwork of houses. The 
holes with which old books are sometimes seen to be perforated are also made 
by the larvee of a species of Anobiwm, which for this reason are known as book- 
worms. 


SECTION HETEROMERA. 


The Heteromera are those beetles in which the tarsi of the fore and middle- 
legs are five-jointed, those of the hind-legs being four-jointed. The Tenebrionide 
exceed in number of species the rest of the Heteromera together. The antennze 
are inserted under a projecting angle or ridge on each side of the head, and 
composed of eleven or, 


exceptionally, ten joints, oO Uli il 


of which the third is 
generally the longest; the 
coxee of the front-legs are 
usually rounded, with their | i “iil! f 
sockets separated by a fiiMiliag x p ; ie mall ti Wil 
fairly broad  prosternal lize [igh : \ em = I int 
process, and completely < 


closed in behind; and the 
claws of all the tarsi are 
simple. Many of the 
obscurely coloured species 
are without wings, and 
frequently have the elytra CHURCHYARD BEETLE AND LARVA (nat. size). 

fused together. hie 

churchyard beetles (Blaps) and the meal-worm (Tenebrio) are probably the best 
known members of the family. B. mucronata is the commonest species in England; 
it differs from B. mortisaga, which also occurs, though rarely, in this country, in 


having shorter points to the elytra. Of the genus Tenebrio two species occur in 
Britain, one of which (7. molitor) is almost cosmopolitan in its range, having been 
carried in flour to nearly every part of the world. The larvee, 
known as meal-worms, are long and narrow, of a lght 
yellowish red colour, with the integument hard, and the last 
segment conical in shape and ending into two slightly diverging 
processes, armed each with a small black spine. 

The Rhipidophoridw are a small but interesting family 


of beetles in which the wings are always more or less exposed, 


THE COMMON MEAL-WORM and not folded transversely as in most other groups, while the 
AND ITS LARVA 


tra area el 1r verv « +t (sa j ‘hea canars DE ani a 
(entereed). elytra are either very short (as in the genera Rhipidophorus 


and Rhipidius), or else triangular in form, meeting only at the 

base and diverging from one another behind. 
The Meloide are chiefly distinguished from the other Heteromera by having 
the head abruptly constricted behind in the form of a short neck, the coxes of the 
anterior and middle legs long and prominent, and placed close to one another in 


148 TIN SEC TES. 


the middle line, and the claws of the tarsi accompanied each by a slender hook, so 
that they appear double. Many of the species possess vesicating or blistering 
properties, and the family is for this reason sometimes known as the Vesicantva. 
The larvee are interesting on account of their habits and the changes of form 
they undergo in the course of their development. ‘These changes are well illus- 
trated in the case of the oil-beetles (J/elée). The larvee of these when first 
hatched from the egg are active little creatures furnished with six legs. They 
climb on to flowers, and wait in readiness to fasten themselves to the hairs of bees 
coming to gather the honey. In this way they get carried to the nest, where they 
devour the eggs of the bee. They now cast their skin, appear as little, maggot-like 


OIL-BEETLES AND LARV (nat size), 


grubs, with much reduced legs, and feed on the honey intended by the bee for its 
own young. After a time they change to the form of a pupa, from which, instead 
of the perfect insect, a third form of larva, somewhat similar to the second, 
emerges, while a further change is still required before the true pupal stage is 
reached. Seven species of Melde occur in Great Britain, but, with the exception 
of one or two, are very rare. When handled or irritated they exude an oily- 
looking liquid of a yellow colour from certain of their joints. This secretion, 
to which they owe their name of oil-beetles, has a burning, acrid taste. 

The Stylopide are remarkable little insects, which live parasitically in the 
bodies of wasps, bees, and bugs, and present a type of structure distinct from 
that of all other beetles. The male is a 
winged insect, with coarsely - faceted 
prominent eyes, large fan-shaped wings, 
and extremely small inconspicuous elytra ; 
| the first two thoracic rings are very 
short, while the metathorax is greatly 


elongated and covers over the base of the 
abdomen ; the hind-legs are placed a long 
way behind the middle pair, and the tarsi 
1, Xenos peckii—male ; 2, female. (Both enlarged.) of all the legs are membranous under- 


COLEOPTERA. 149 


neath, and without claws at the end. The female, on the other hand, is a erub-like 
creature, without legs, wings, or eyes. She never leaves the body of her host, and 
from her eggs active little six-legged larvee develop, which make their way out 
and get carried into the nests of bees and wasps, where they bore into the bodies 
of the grubs. The Stylopidw are very rarely seen, and the number of species 
known is small. They have been arranged in four or five genera, based upon 
slight differences in the structure of the males, all of which have the general 
appearance shown in our figure of Xenos peckii. 


SECTION TETRAMERA, 


The Cureulionide or weevils are distinguished from all other beetles by a 
few well-marked characters. The head is always produced in front in the form 
either of a short muzzle or a more or less elongated and 
narrow beak, which carries the mouth at its extremity; the 
prothorax rarely has sharp lateral edges, and the coxal cavities 
on the under side of that segment are always closed in behind 
by the extension inwards of the epimera to meet in the middle 
line; and the antennz are elbowed, with the first joint as a rule 
long, and some of the joints at the end forming a club. Though 
agreeing in a few essential characters, the weevils present 
considerable variety, not only in the form and structure of 
different parts, but also in the general shape of the body. 
They have been arranged in a number of subfamilies, but it 


1s impossible in a limited space to describe the various modifi- 
I I 


: i STR Sitones lineatus and 
cations of structure on which these divisions are based, and we allied species. 


must content ourselves kere with a brief reference to some of 

the typical and more interesting forms. In the genus 
Sitones, we have examples of those weevils in which the 
snout is short and comparatively broad. 8S. lineatus is 
a well-known species which lives on papilionaceous 
plants, and frequently does much mischief by devouring 
the young leaves of peas and beans. It is a little 
yellowish grey or drab-coloured beetle with three pale 
lines along the thorax, and a number of rows of 
punctures along the elytra. Its colour is due to a thick 
covering of scales, some of which, when looked at closely, 
are seen to have a golden tint. 

Weevils are, as a rule, most destructive during the 
larval state, the adult insects doing a comparatively 
small amount of injury to vegetation; but as regards 
Hylobius abietis, known as “the large pine-weevil,’ one 
of the worst enemies of young conifers, the injury done 
to the trees is altogether the work of the beetles, while 
the grubs are quite harmless. The genus Apion com- 


PINE-WEEVIL, WITH LARVA AND ; ; : 
PUPA. prises a large number of little, long-snouted weevils, 


150 INSECTS. 


having in general the form shown in our figure of A. apricans. Though the 
British species are numerous and some of them common everywhere on clover, 
trefoil, and other leguminous plants, they are 
seldom noticed owing to their small size. In 
Apoderus, Attelabus, and Rhynchites we have a 
group of genera which are interesting on account 
of the leaf-rolling habits of the females, and 
remarkable also, in the case of the first genus, for 
the great length of neck displayed by some of 
the species. The females deposit a single egg, or 
in some cases two or even three eges in each of 
the little rolled-up leaf packages, which serve 
afterwards both as a shelter and food-supply for the larve. Three or four species 
of these leaf-rolling weevils are found in Britain. Our figure of A. longicollis, 


Apion apricans (nat. size and much 
enlarged), 


LEAF-ROLLING WEEVILS. 
1, Attelabus curculionotdes ; 2, Apoderus coryli; 3, Rhynchites betuleti ; 4, R. populi; 5, R. betule. (Nat. size.) 


a Javan species, shows what an extraordinary length the neck may attain in 
the males of some of the tropical representatives of the genus, although in this 
species it is not nearly so long in proportion as in an allied form (A. tenuissimus) 
found in the Philippine Islands. The nut-weevil (Balaninus 
nucum) affords a strong contrast in the shape of its head to the 
species just mentioned. It will be noticed that in this weevil 
the head is very short behind the eyes, whereas the beak is 
greatly elongated, with the antennz inserted near the middle of 
its length. The female lays her eggs in hazel-nuts while the 
latter are still in a half-developed condition; she first pierces a 
hole in the soft shell of the nut, and then depositing an egg in 
the opening pushes it in with her beak. The grub feeds inside 
the nut, remaining in it until autumn, when it bores a round 


aperture in the shell, and, escaping from the nut, makes its way 


Apoderus longicollis 
into the soil, where it surrounds itself with a cocoon formed of (enlarged). 


COLEOPTERA. 151 


fragments of earth. The “apple-blossom weevil” (Anthonomus pomorum) is 
another species which, on account of its injurious habits, deserves some notice. It 


" 
wg 
ij CAA 
Sy 


PEAR-BLOSSOM WEEVIL, WITH LARVA AND 
PUPA (enlarged). 


is about a quarter of an inch long, of a 
greyish brown colour, with an oblique 
white band on the elytra, and three 
whitish lines on the thorax. The female 
| ) a S\ deposits her eggs in the unopened flower- 
Morin cay Vi | buds of the apple, and the larva by feeding 
EEE NS LARVA, on the stamens and pistil causes the bud 
to wither and die. In about fifteen days, 

the larva attains its full size, changing then to a pupa within the bud, and the 
beetle appears about eight days later and escapes through an opening which it 
makes in the side. <A closely allied species 
(A. pyri) proves injurious in the same way 
to pear blossoms. The cabbage-gall weevil 
(Ceuthorrhynchus sulcicollis) and certain species 
of Baridius attack cruciferous plants; the 
larvee of the former live inside galls which 


A 


they raise on the roots of cabbages and turnips, 
while those of Baridius may be found living in 

: See APPLE-BLOSSOM WEEVIL (nat, size 
the lower part of the stem. The grain-weevils, antenlareean 
which are most numerous in tropical countries, 
are represented in Britain by two almost cosmopolitan species, the corn-weevil 
(Sitophilus granarius), and the rice-weevil (S. oryze). These are both small 


1. Ceuthorrhynchus sulcicollis ; 2, C. assimilis ; 3, Baridius chloris ; 4, B. cuprirostris. 
(The beetles all enlarged.) 


152 INSECTS. 


species, but belong to a subfamily (the Calandrinw), which includes a number of 
the largest tropical weevils, such as the palm-weevil (Rhynchophorus palmarwm). 

The Scolytide and two other small families, the 
Brenthide and Anthribide, are associated with the 
weevils in the tribe Rhynchophora. The Scolytide 
are little beetles which live under bark, and often 
prove very injurious to trees. They have four 
jointed tarsi, clubbed antenne, and the head _pro- 
duced in front into a short muzzle. The females 
lay their eggs along the sides of galleries which 
they burrow out under the bark; the larve when 
hatched make tracks at right angles to the mother- 
galleries, and thus form curious and _ characteristic 
patterns. 

The Cerambycide, or Longicorns have in most 
cases a characteristic appearance by which they may 
be easily recognised, though, owing to a great variety 
in their form and structure, the family as a whole 
is not easily defined. Thus the great length of the 
antennze to which these beetles owe their name is not always a distin- 


PALM-WEEVIL (nat. size.) 


guishing feature, for in many genera the antenne are much shorter than 
the body. The Longicorns resemble the Rhynchophora in having the first 
three joints of the tarsi furnished underneath with a brush-like covering of 
hairs, and the fourth joint very small and hidden between the lobes of the 
third; but they are distinguished from that tribe by the fact that the epimera 
of the prothorax do not meet, 
while the head, though some- 
times produced into a short 
muzzle, is never prolonged in 
the form of a beak. The larvee 
all have a strong family like- 
ness, and are quite unlike those 
of the Chrysomelide. They 
are of a dirty-white or pale 
yellow colour, with a rather 
soft skin, and in general form 


most resemble the larve of 


Buprestide. These larvee all 
live in the interior of plants; 
some feeding just under the 


, Hylotrupes bajulus, with larva (nat. size). 
bark, while the great majority 


bore tunnels in the woody tissue, or live exclusively in the pith. The males have as 
a rule longer antenne than the females, and may often be distinguished by the 
larger size of the eyes, jaws, or prothorax, or the greater length of the legs. The 
females are provided with a flexible ovipositor, which can be protruded some distance 
beyond the end of the body. In the subfamily Prionine the anterior coxe are 


COLEOPTERA. 153 
strongly transverse, and their sockets widely open behind, the sides of the prothorax 
are sharply edged, the palpi are never pointed at the end, and the front tibiz are 
without a groove underneath. This subfamily is the least numerous in species, 
though many of these are distinguished for their great size. Titanus giganieus, a 
Brazilian species, sometimes measures over half a foot long, and is the largest of all 
known beetles, while the sawyer-beetle (Macrodontia cervicornis) and other species 
occurring in Tropical America, are not much smaller. Most of the Prionine are 
found in the warmer parts of the world. They are represented in Europe by 
Prionus coriarius, Ergates faber, and a few other forms. P. coriarius is the only 
species which occurs in England, and is not very common, being met with chiefly 
in oak-woods, where the larve live in the rotten trunks of trees. The Ceram- 


WO SE FF, 
MEL =H, 


/ 
tf iy 


UL pc 
ESS 
SSS 


cf. 


Sh Wa ee NNN 
eas 


Prionus coriarius, female ; and “rgates faber, male (nat. size). 


bycine are widely distributed and include a very large number of species. They 
are as a rule narrower than the Prioninw, and without sharp lateral edges to the 
prothorax, while the sockets of their front-legs are seldom strongly transverse and 
are often rounded and completely closed behind. Most of the species have a 
stridulating area on the mesonotum, and by this means are enabled to produce 
sounds. This subfamily includes a number of very remarkable mimetic forms, 
some with broadly expanded elytra, and black and tawny colours resembling 
Lycide, others with the elytra greatly reduced in size, and the shape of the body 
modified in imitation of various Hymenoptera. The metallic-coloured beetles of 
the group Callichromides, most of which are found in tropical countries, exhale a 
scent resembling otto of roses. In England this group is represented by the musk- 
beetle (Aromia moschata), figured on p. 154, a handsome insect of a golden-green 
or bronzy colour, which is met with on willow-trees. Amongst the European species of 
Cerambycine, the groups Lepturides, Molorchides, and Clytides are best represented. 
Some of the Leptwrides, such as Strangalia and Toxotus are flower-frequenting 


154 NSECLS. 


insects, others like Rhagiwm are found on the trunks of pine-trees. In the 
Molorchides the elytra are usually short or very narrow, and the abdomen slender 
and constricted at the 
base, so that many of 
the species have a re- 
semblance to Hymen- 
optera. The European 
Necydalis major looks 
like a hornet, but in 
many of the tropical 
forms these  resem- 
blances are more pro- 
nounced. The Clytices 
are found on flowers, 
chiefly of the umbell- 
iferous kind, and two or 


Strangalia armata and larva 
(nat. size). 
three species are among 


the prettiest of British beetles. Some of the 
Clytides and species of Hylotrupes and Callidium 
are occasionally met with in houses, being intro- 
duced in the wood in which the larvee feed. The 
Lamiine are more numerous than the other 
Longicorns, and distinguished by having an 
lo unestsneente ©) Spomiaies Ppreiiie oblique groove on the, lower side of the front 
(nat. size). tibiz, the last joint of the palpi usually pointed 

at the end, and the front of the head in most 

cases turned down vertically, or sometimes even inclined backwards, bringing the 
mouth close to the prosternum. The species of the genus Lamia are few in 
number and by no means typical of the subfamily; they are clumsy-looking, dull 
black insects, one of which (Lamia 
textor) is found on willow-trees and in 
osier-beds in soine parts of Britain. In 
the genus Acanthocinus the antenne 


is at =e 


attain their greatest length, being four 
times as long as the body in the male. 
A. edilis is found in pine-woods in 
Scotland, and is met with occasionally 
in other parts of Great Britain and 
even in London, where it is sometimes 
introduced in timber. Amongst the 
exotic species of this subfamily, the 
harlequin - beetle (Acrocinus  longi- 


Toxotus meridianus, male and female (nat. size). 


manus) is one of the most remarkable, 
being distinguished, not only by its curiously variegated colours, but also by the 
extraordinary length of the front legs in the male. 

The Bruchide are a small but widely spread family of little beetles which are 


COLEOPTERA. 


r55 


found chiefly on leguminous plants. The larve live in the seeds, eating up all the 
These beetles were at 


internal parts and changing to pup within the outer shell. 


one time classed with the weevils, 
but are now generally recognised 
as being more nearly allied to the 
next family. They are illustrated 
on p. 1, where Fig. 1 is the pea- 
bruchus (Bruchus pisi); Fig. 2, 
the bean-bruchus (Bb. rufimanus) ; 
and Fig. 3, B. granarius, and 
larva; all of them being enlarged. 

The Chrysomelidw, more com- 
monly known as the Phytophaga 
—though this name is equally 
applicable to many other beetles 
—all live upon plants, feeding 
chiefly upon the foliage, while some 
also attack the flowers. They are 
almost as numerous as the weevils, 
and in their own way quite as 
destructive to vegetation. The 
family is divided into four sections. 
The Eupoda include those forms 
which most resemble the Longi- 
corns. Many of the beetles belong- 


= 


Necydalis major (nat. size). 


{ 


1, Rhagium indagator, with larva and pupa-case ; 


2, Rhagium bifasciatum. (Nat. size.) 


ing to this section have 
thickened hind-legs, but 
instead of being active 
jumpers, as might be 
suspected, they are really 
very slow and awkward 
in their movements. In 
the males of the genus 
Sagra, the hind-legs are 
enormously developed, 
the species of this genus 
being for that reason 


sometimes known as 
kangaroo-beetles. |The 
Donacine live upon 


aquatic plants of various 
kinds; they have a 
bright metallic colora- 
tion, which in many 
species is veiled by a 
of 


delicate covering 


150 


silky hairs, and their elytra are marked with rows of deep punctures. 


JUNI SIB( GIES 


The larvae 


feed under water upon the roots of the plants, and change to pupe which are 


1, Lamia textor+ 2, Female of A. edilis ; 3, Male of Acathocinus edilis ; 4, Saperda carcharias ; 


5, S. populnea. 


enclosed in oval cocoons. 


(All nat. size. ) 


In the beetles of the section Camptosomata, the body is 


short, the head vertical and deeply sunk in the prothorax, and the abdomen slightly 


tll ) avinean SUNT & NN i 


‘) 

fi 
st ] 

Fee UL Ute 


| | {\ 
Pal PHU 


Donacia clavipes, with larva and pupa case 
(nat. size). 


curved, with its middle segments con- 
tracted; the antennz are short and serrate 
or pectinate in the first subfamily, while 
in the second they are rather long and 
filiform. The larvee move about 
rounded by a sack-like case, from which 
the head and anterior part of the body are 
free. They retract themselves completely 
within the case and close up the opening 


sur- 


When about to undergo their metamor- 
phosis. The Cyclea comprise four sub- 
families, of which the first, the Humolpine, 
is almost entirely composed of exotic 
species, though one of the few species 
found in Europe (Bromius vitis) is only 
too well-known on account of the damage 
With 


the Chrysomelinw we come to the most 


it inflicts on the leaves of the vine. 


typical forms belonging to the family. 


These beetles are distinguished by their oval and convex shapes, having in many 
cases a great resemblance to lady - birds (Coccinellide), while their colours are 


COLEOPLERA. 


nb 


nearly always brightly metallic or otherwise conspicuous. Some of the species 
are very gregarious in their habits. Lina tremule is often found in large numbers 


in all its stages on the leaves of aspen; the larvee are 
somewhat like those of lady-birds, and have the habit 
of exuding a strong-smelling yellow liquid from the 
mouth and other parts of the body. The Colorado 
potato-beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) is very 
destructive to the potato crops in North America. The 
Galerucine are poorly represented in Great Britain, 
while of the flea-beetles (Halticinw) we have a large 
number of species, of which the best known are the 
turnip-flea (Phyllotreta nemorum), and other little 
jumping beetles which attack cruciferous plants. The 
larve of the Halticine usually mine in the tissues of 
the leaf underneath the epidermis; in this respect 
differing from the larve of most of the other 
Chrysomelide. The Cryptostomata are distinguished 
by having the front of the head inclined backwards 
so that the mouth is almost completely hidden. Two 
subfamilies are included in this section. The Hispine 
are remarkable for the sharp projecting spines with 
which many of the species are armed, while the 
Cassidine have the characteristic form to which they 
owe their name of tortoise-beetles. In Great Britain, 


the tortoise-beetles.are represented by half a dozen or 


Qi Z 


Y 


NY NY 


Nie 


DONS 
SAM SL 


A 
SAN 


COLORADO POTATO-BEETLE IN ALL 
ITS STAGES (nat. size). 


; AW 
A \ \ 


\ 
\ AN Wii 


more species of the genus 


Cassida, one of which (C. nebulosa) in its different stages is illustrated in our figure. 


aT 
\ ANS 


ACRAS 


> 
\ 


LIFE-HISTORY OF THE TORTOISE-BEETLES (Cassidinw). 


1, Cassida nebulosa ; 2, The beetle (enlarged) ; 3, The larva (nat. size) ; 4, The pupa, and 5, the larva (both 
enlarged) ; 6, Desmonota variolosa, with leg and portion of elytron enlarged. 


A Brazilian species (Desmonota variolosa), remarkable for its deeply sculptured 
elytra and bright golden-green colour, is also shown in the same figure. 


158 INSECTS. 


SECTION TRIMERA. 


Two families, of which one only need be noticed here, are included in this 
section. The Coccinellide, or lady-birds are so familiar to everyone that it is quite 
unnecessary to describe their general appearance. They are resembled in shape 
by some other beetles, but in such cases the lady-birds may be distinguished by their 
three-jointed tarsi, clubbed antenn, and the hatchet-shaped terminal joint of their 
palpi. These charming little insects have always been held in much respect, as the 
different names given to them testify, and it is well that it should be so. For 
while the species of a few genera (H’pilachna, Lasia) are herbivorous in their 
habits, the great majority live—especially in the larval state—upon green-fly and 
plant-lice, and, by keeping these noxious insects in check, perform a useful service 
to man. The lady-birds are found in nearly all parts of the world, and over a 


LADY-BIRDS. 


1, Micraspis duodecimpunctata (nat. size and enlarged) ; 2, Coccinella septempunctata ; 8, Larva (enlarged) ; 4, 
C. impustulata ; 5, C. bipunctata and dark variety ; 6, Chilocorus bipustulatus. 


thousand different species are known. Among several species occurring in Britain 
the two commonest are, perhaps, the large seven-spotted Coccinella septempuncta 
and the small two-spotted C. bipunctata. The latter varies in colour to a 
great extent, so that between the typical form with red elytra marked with two 
black spots, and others in which the elytra are entirely black, one meets with 
almost every intermediate condition. The larvee of these species may often be 
seen walking about on leaves that are infested with green-fly. They may be 
recognised by their slate-blue colour, marked with some yellow dots, and by the 
greed with which they devour the aphides. The larvae, when about five or six 
weeks old, are ready to pupate. Fixing themselves by the tail-end to a leaf, they 
cast their skin, and the pupz, resting upon the cast-off larval skin, remain attached 
to the leaf. The beetles emerge about eight days later, so that the whole course of 
development from the egg to the perfect insect is completed in less than a couple 
of months. 
C. J. GAHAN. 


Oo A Ppa Ve. 
JOINTED ANIMALS,—continued. 
INSEcTS,—concluded. 
Orders NEUROPTERA, ORTHOPTERA, RHYNCHOTA, ete. 


Characters of THE Neuroptera form the last order of insects which undergo a 
the Neuroptera. complete metamorphosis in the course of their development. In this 
order it was formerly usual to include certain groups of insects, such as the dragon- 
flies, May-flies, white ants, ete., none of which pass through a period of prolonged 
inactivity, or pupal-stage, before reaching the perfect condition. But although it 
is largely a matter of convenience whether these groups be placed, as they are in 
this work, in the order Orthoptera, or arranged in a series of separate orders, no 
one, taking into consideration the great difference in their mode of development, 
would now think of associating them in the same order with the true Neuroptera. 
The adult insects of the present order have their mouth-organs, when fully 
developed, adapted to biting and grinding, and never formed for piercing or suck- 
ing; in which respect they differ from three of the other orders of the metabolous 
insects, namely, the Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Lepidoptera. From the Coleoptera 
they are easily distinguished by the structure of their fore-wings, which are never 
hard and horny like the wing-cases or elytra of the latter. Both pairs of wings 
are membranous, and usually traversed by numerous, more or less closely reticu- 
lating, veins; whence the name of Neuroptera given to the order. The hind-wings 
are often very similar to the fore-wings, but sometimes differ considerably in size 
and shape. In one section—the caddis-flies—they are capable of being folded lke 
a fan, but in the other section (Planipennia) they always remain flat, and are 
spread horizontally or obliquely in repose. 


Cappis-FLIES,—Suborder Trichoptera. 


The caddis-flies, forming the first of the two great divisions of the order, are in 
general appearance rather like some of the smaller kinds of moths; and since they 
differ a good deal from the typical Neuroptera, they are often treated as a distinct 
order. In their adult state they have two pairs of wings, in which the neuration 
is comparatively simple, with few transverse nervures. The wings are generaily 
clothed with hairs, and the hind-wings usually shorter, broader, and less hairy than 
the front pair. When at rest, the hind-wings are folded fan-wise, with the fore- 
wings covering them over like a roof. The caddis-flies have a rather small head, 
which bears two long, tapering, and many-jointed antennz. They have round and 


160 TIN STG Celis. 


prominent eyes, and usually also three ocelli, placed on the forehead. With the 
exception of the palpi, their mouth-organs are feebly developed. Their legs are 
long, and possess five-jointed tarsi; and the tibize are generally furnished with 
spurs, whose number and disposition are of considerable value in distinguishing 
the genera. These insects fly chiefly m the evening or at night, and, attracted by 
the light, frequently enter houses; some of the smaller species flying m swarms 
over water. The larvee, with few exceptions, are aquatic in their habits; some 
being carnivorous, although most feed on vegetable matter. Found in streams, 
lakes, and ponds, or any piece of water in which plants grow, caddis-worms, as the 


VARIOUS FORMS OF CASES MADE BY CADDIS-FLY LARVA. 


1-5, Cases composed of sand and pebbles ; 6, A case made of small snail-shells ; 7-10, Cases made of 
different parts of plants. 


larvee are called, are well known to anglers, by whom they are frequently used as 
bait. The eggs from which they are hatched are laid sometimes in the water, or 
on aquatic plants or trees overhanging water. Females have occasionally been 
captured with a coating of dry mud on their abdomen, showing that they had gone 
to some muddy pool to lay their eggs. The cases, made out of all sorts of materials, 
with which many of the larve surround their bodies, have long been objects of 
interest to the naturalist. Some larve pick up bits of sticks and leaves, grains of 
sand, and fragments of shells, or whatever else comes handiest, and fasten them 
together in a rough sort of fashion; but many exercise a choice in the selection of 
materials, and exhibit great dexterity and neatness in piecing them together. The 


NEUROPTERA. 161 


shape of its dwelling, and the nature of the materials used, are often characteristic 
of the family, sometimes of the genus or species, to which a larva belongs. In the 
family Phryganeide, for example, the larve construct their cases with bits of 
leaves or twigs, cut into suitable lengths, and arranged side by side in such a 
manner as to form a spiral band passing many times around the case (see No. 7 in 
figure). The species of Limnophilus fashion their cases in various styles; the 
larvee of L. pellucidus using entire leaves, so that the case may have a flattened 
form, wide in proportion to its depth. The cases made by L. rhombicus consist of 
bits of sticks or fibres placed transversely, with shells sometimes added; while 
those of L. flavicornis are often built almost entirely of the shells of different small 
molluses, more especially those of Planorbis. What is still more remarkable about 
these cases is the fact that the case-worms do not necessarily select empty shells, 
but take those with living occupants as well, and fasten them all together around 
their backs. Grains of sand, of finer or coarser kind, are used by many larvee in 
the construction of their cases; and the latter may be either cylindrical in form or 
slightly curved, or, as in the exotic genus Helicopsyche, they may, like snail-shells, 
have a distinct spiral curvature. The grubs of other species arrange bits of sticks 
transversely in four different directions, using longer pieces as they progress, so 
that the complete case is four-sided, with the sides gradually widening from one 
end to the other; and there is a type in which the four sides, instead of being 
straight, are carried round in a gentle spiral curve. The interior of each larval 
case is a tubular chamber, lined with silk, open at each end, and about wide enough 
to enable the larva to turn inside. At the fore-end, which is generally a little 
wider, the head, thorax, and the six legs of the larva may be seen projecting ; 
whereas the hinder end is usually closed by a silken partition pierced with holes. 
The body of the naked larva is made up of a number of segments, of which the 
first three—carrying the legs—are, like the head, hard and of a brownish colour ; 
while those that follow, about nine in number, are soft, white, and partly trans- 
parent. On the last segment are a pair of horny hooks, which enable the 
larva to grip tightly to its case. On the first abdominal segment three fleshy 
a longer one above and a shorter one on each 


protuberances are often seen, 
side—which appear to be used in enabling the larva to steady its body in the 
case, and to regulate its position with regard to the sides, so that the water 
necessary for breathing may pass freely in and out. The larva breathes by 
means of rows or tufts of soft white filaments—the tracheal gills—attached to 
the sides of all the abdominal segments except the first and last, and differing 
in arrangement in different species. Previously to entering the pupal stage, the 
larvee of many species provide for their protection during that inactive and help- 
less period of their existence. They shut themselves up in their cases, some by 
closing the openings at each end with sieve-like plates of silk, which, while allowing 
free access to the water necessary for breathing, may serve to keep out their enemies ; 
others by placing stones loosely over the openings, and so accomplishing the same 
purpose. There are a few larvee, moreover, which, in their earlier days, make cases 
out of leaves, but add stones as they grow older, until just before pupation begins 
the case is entirely made of stones. Before the pupa is transformed into the 
perfect insect, it extricates itself from its case, and leads an active life, swimming 
VOL. VI.—II 


162 TINSTAC Das. 


and running with agility. It then climbs up the stem of a plant to undergo 
its transformation. In some of the smaller species the pupa does not leave the 
water, but rises to the surface, and the fly emerges from the floating pupal skin. 
Caddis-flies are divided into seven families, arranged in two groups chiefly 
distinguished by the number of joints in the maxillary palpi of the male insect. 
In the first section—Inequipalpia—the maxillary palpi of the male are composed 
of two, three, or four joints, never five; thus differing from those of the female, in 
which the number of joints is always five. This section contains four families— 
the Phryganeide, Limnophilide, Sericostomatide, and Hydroptilide ; the life- 


\ Wh / , \ 
[' I | \ \ yi) fy) \ 
\\ \ | AM / \ 
¢ / iy 


LIFE-HISTORY OF THE CADDIS-FLY. 


1, Larva; 2, Pupa; 3, Larva in its case; 4, Perfect insect. 


history of a species of the typical genus (Limnophilus) being depicted in our illus- 
tration. The second section—Aquipalpa—is characterised by the fact that the 
maxillary palpi of the male are five-jointed like those of the female; it includes 
the families Leptoceride, Hydropsychide, and Rhyacophilide. 


FLAT-WINGED Group,—Suborder Planipennia. 


The members of this group are distinguished from the last by having both 
pars of wings formed nearly alike, and usually provided with a closely reticulated 
system of nervures, with numerous transverse branches. The wings—which are 
incapable of being folded up 


are for the most part naked; and, when at rest, are 
turned back in a slanting position against the sides of the body. The mouth-organs 
are well-developed, the mandibles in some cases attaining extraordinary proportions. 
The first family is that of the scorpion-flies (Panorpide), which have a slender 
body, and the head turned downwards and prolonged in the form of a_ beak, 
resulting from the elongation of the clypeus in front, and of the lower lip 
and maxille behind. The mandibles are rather short and narrow; the maxilla, 
which are fused with the mentum, have five-jointed palpi; and the narrow lower 
lip is bifid at the extremity, with three-jointed palpi. The antenne are setiform, 
and inserted between the rather prominent eyes, and below the ocelli, which are 
usually distinct. The prothorax is short and collar-like; and the wings of these 


NEUROPTERA. 163 


insects are less closely reticulated, and have fewer transverse nervures than those 
of the other groups. The common scorpion-fly (Panorpa communis), which may 
be taken as the type of the family, is a shiny black insect about half an inch or more 
in length, with long, transparent, spotted wings, and a yellow beak and legs. The 
three last body-segments of the male are narrow, and can be curved like a tail, and 


= AK RK r 
Wak \) p 
\ KAS " 


COMMON SCORPION-FLY, 


a, Female depositing her eggs ; 6, Male; c, Larva; d, Pupa. 


have a reddish colour; and the last carries a pair of pincer-like claws. It is from 
this circumstance that the insect has received its name, though it does not possess 
a sting like a scorpion. 

In the snake-flies and alder-flies (Stalidw), forming the second family, the 
head is comparatively large, and often 
inclined in front, but never elongated in 
the form of a beak. The antenne are 
bristle-like, and not so long as the body; 
the prothorax being strongly developed. 
The camel or snake-flies (Rhaphidia) have 
the head long and narrow behind, and freely 
articulated with the long and narrow pro- 
thorax. The latter can also move freely 
at its articulation with the segment 
which follows; and this explains how the 
prothorax is raised, and the head _ bent 
forward in the characteristic attitude which 
these insects adopt when about to seize 
their prey, which consists usually of various 
small insects. 

The alder-fly, or May-fly (Siulis 
lutaria), is at first sight rather like a 
eaddis-fly, but has a stouter body, and may 
be distinguished by its more completely 
developed mouth-organs, as well as by the 
different structure of its wings. It emerges 
from the pupa about May or June. The 
winged insects fly slowly and heavily, and 
are to be met with about trees and shrubs, 
or walls and palings, at no great distance 


LIFE-HISTORY OF THE ALDER-FLY. 


1, Eggs ; 2, Larva; 3, Pupa; 4, Imago. 


from water. The female, which is somewhat larger than the male, lays her eggs 
in patches on a plant or other object in the vicinity of water. There may be 


164 TIN SF). CLS. 


several hundred eggs packed closely together in a single cluster; they stand 
upright, being cylindrical in form, with rounded ends, and each terminating above 
in a little white projection. The larvee hatch in a few weeks, and then find their 
way into water, where they creep on the mud in search of the aquatic creatures on 
which they feed. When full-grown, they are about an inch long, with a body 
tapering slightly towards the head, and, more gradually, towards the long and 
narrow tail. The head and three thoracic rings are horny, the rest of the body 
having a softer integument. The larva, which has strong legs and can walk well, 
breathes by means of tracheal gills, having the form of jointed appendages attached 
in pairs to the sides of the first seven abdominal segments. When the time for 
pupation arrives, generally about May or June, the larva leaves the water and 
seeks a place to bury itself in the earth. Having excavated a little cell, it throws 
off the larval skin and becomes a pupa, which has the legs and wings free from 


TAZA 
: ABS 
cosfa? 
Bete 


7) ie 


yn ae, ONE 


LIFE-HISTORY OF THE COMMON ANT-LION. 
a, Imago; 6, Larva; c, Pupa (nat. size). 


the body, but enclosed in special sheaths. After a few weeks longer it is trans- 
formed into the perfect insect. 

The lace-wing flies, ant-lions, mantis-flies, and some other families, have been 
associated in a third group of Planipennia, to which the name Megaloptera is 
given. In all, the wings are relatively large and closely reticulated; the prothorax 
being variable in size and form, and the joints of the tarsi not dilated. The mantis- 
fles (Mantispide) take their name from the shape of the fore-legs, and their 
position near the front end of the long prothorax; in which respect they resemble 
the mantis or praying insect. One species is common in South Europe. The larvee 
live parasitically in the nests of spiders and tree-wasps; and while they are at first 
free and active, they afterwards become almost legless, like those of certain beetles. 
The allied family Nemopteride is mainly characteristic of the countries around 


NEUROPTERA. 105 


the Mediterranean Sea. These insects have elongated and narrow, or almost linear, 
hind-wings, often widened out a little before the tip. The ant-lions (Myrmeleontide) 
may be recognised by their clubbed antennz, and their long and closely reticulated 
wings, rounded off to an obtuse point at the extremity. 

Of the European species the common ant-lion (J/yrmeleon formicarius) is one 
of the best known. It lives in pine-woods. The winged insect, which may be 
seen in July and September, rests during the day clinging to a plant, with its 
wings spread like a roof over the hind-part of its body. At sunset it becomes 
active, and executes a slow flight in its search after food or a mate. The larva, 
to which the name ant-lion properly belongs, has the habit of making pitfalls 
to entrap its prey. It is somewhat oval in the shape of its hind-body, and has 
a narrow prothorax resembling a neck, and a rather big head, provided with a 
pair of long, curved, and sharply pointed mandibles, each of which has three teeth 
on the inner side. Its body is arched up in the middle, and has wart-like pro- 
tuberances, thickly covered with hairs, at the sides. When about to make a pit, 


LACE-WING FLIES, 
1, Chrysopa vulgaris; 2, The tip of its wing; 3, Larva; 4, Pupa; 5, 6, Cocoon; 7, Egg; 8, Hemerobius hirtus. 


it selects a dry and sandy spot, and begins by tracing out a circular furrow to 
mark its outer limit. Placing itself inside the circle, it buries its abdomen in the 
sand, and then proceeds with the work of excavation. With one of its fore-legs it 
shovels the sand on to its large flat head, to which it then gives a sudden jerk, and 
sends the sand out over the border. It repeats this process, walking backwards 
and maintaining a spiral course all the while, until finally it reaches the centre of 
the cavity. Sometimes, however, instead of continuing to work altogether in one 
direction, it turns round and works the opposite way, thus giving relief to the 
leg which had previously been employed. And, as the sand is always taken from 
the inner side, it is the leg on that side which is always used as a shovel. The pit, 
when completed, is shaped like the mouth of a funnel, being wide above and 
gradually narrowed to the bottom. Its size is adapted to the size of the larva, 
which when full grown makes a pit about two inches deep, and three inches wide 
at the top. Buried in the sand at the bottom, with only its antennz and the tips of 
its mandibles projecting, the ant-lion waits until an ant or some other creature falls 
down the loose sides of the pit, when it is immediately seized with the pincer-like 
jaws, and retained until all the juices of its body have been sucked out, and nothing 
left but the dry and shrivelled skin. The latter is cast outside the pit, and the 


166 LINSECT S. 


larva again lies in wait. If by chance the victim should escape the first onslaught, 
and endeavour to scramble up the sides of the pit, its attempt is soon frustrated, for 
the ant-lion throws up sand with its head, causing the victim to tumble once more to 
the bottom. 

The lace-wings flies (Hemerobiide and Chrysopide), are smaller and more 
delicate insects than the ant-lions, and have setiform antenne. The golden- 
eyed fly (Chrysopa vulgaris), figured on p. 165, may be taken as a typical species. 
It is slender, with long and richly-veined wings of a tender green colour, as 
is also the body. Its antennz are long and tapering, and its prominent eyes 
shine like hemispheres of gold. The larve of the lace-wings are not unlike the 
ant-lion, although somewhat longer and narrower in proportion to the size of 
their bodies, and less hairy. Their mandibles, moreover, have no teeth on the 
inner side. In their carnivorous habits they resemble ant-lions, but instead of 
making pits and remaining stationary they rove about in search of their prey, 
which consists of the different kinds of green-fly and plant-lice. 


Order ORTHOPTERA. 


This order being taken to include, not only the true Orthoptera, but various 
other groups formerly placed in the Neuroptera, and hence known as Pseudoneurop- 
tera, it is necessary in defining the group to mention only such characters as are 
common to the whole of these insects. None of the members of the group undergo 
a distinct metamorphosis; the development from the larval to the adult condition 
taking place by a succession of changes, and the perfect insects being distinguishable 
from advanced larvee by little more than the possession of complete wings. The 
wings are, however, in some cases confined to one sex, while in others they are 
altogether wanting in both sexes. The mouth-organs, when not reduced to 
a functionless condition, are adapted to biting; the lower lip (labium) is nearly 
always divided in the middle at its free end, and each of the two halves often sub- 
divided into a pair of lobes. On the floor of the mouth, concealed by the labium, 
there is, as a rule, a membranous or more or less horny structure, known as the 
tongue (lingua), or hypopharynx, which is free from the labium in its anterior part. 
Though poor in the number of species, as compared with some other orders, the 
Orthoptera contain many of the most interesting forms of insect life ; some, like the 
leaf and stick-insects, remarkable for their size and the variety of their protective 
disguises, others, as the white-ants, for the wonderful development of their social 
habits. The day-flies are noted for the shortness of their lives, the dragon-flies for 
their beauty; while many other forms are well known from some particular feature 
or habit. In past epochs of the earth’s history Orthoptera were well represented, 
their remains being found in rocks of various ages extending back to Paleozoic 
times. The oldest reputed insect is known by the impression of an orthopterous 
wing (Palwoblattina), from the Silurian sandstone of Calvados in France. There 
is some doubt as to which group of the order the insect belonged, and even as to 
whether the impression owed its origin to an insect at all. However this may 
be, traces of undoubted Orthoptera, as well as of Neuroptera, are met with in rocks 
of Devonian and Carboniferous ages. The Orthoptera of the latter period included 


ORTHOPTERA. 167 


numerous cockroaches (Blattidw), together with stick -insects, ephemerids, and 
dragon-flies, some of which greatly exceed in size any existing form. One of the 
dragon-flies (Meganeura mony?), was 13 inches in the length of its body, and each 
of its wings was quite a foot long. 

The Pseudoneuroptera are distinguished from the Neuroptera by the absence 
of a pupal stage. While agreeing in this respect with the typical Orthoptera, 
these insects differ by certain characters not generally considered of the first im- 
portance. Both pairs of wings in this group are thin and membranous, resembling 
one another in structure, and the hind-wings do not fold up; whereas in the true 
Orthoptera the fore-wings are usually thicker and harder than the hind-wings, 
and the latter are capable of being folded like a fan. 

The first group is that of the dragon-flies (Odonata), the general 
appearance of which is too well known to need description. All have 
a large head, the sides of which are covered almost entirely by the two big, glassy- 
looking, compound eyes, while on its crown are two or three small simple ocelli. 
Each of the short and bristle-like antennz has a stouter basal portion by which it 
is inserted on the forehead. The mouth faces downwards, and has a large semi- 
circular lip (labrum) in front; the jaws being strong, horny, and well provided 
with teeth. The maxillee are without palpi, but their narrow and palp-like outer 
lobe is often regarded as the real palp. Succeeding the jaws behind is the lower 
lip (abium), which at its free end is usually slightly cleft in the middle, while its 
palpi take the form of two dilated and often two-jointed lateral lobes; these lobes 
sometimes overlapping one another in front to hide the free end of the lip. The 
thick and cylindrical thorax is followed by a long slender abdomen, which usually 
carries at the end two leaf-like or pincer-like appendages. When looked at from 
the side, the two hinder segments of the thorax appear oblique, with the wings set 
rather far back above, and the legs pushed forward below. The wings are long, 
transparent, and traversed by a rich network of veins. The legs are often spiny, 
and their tarsi are always three-jointed. The position of the accessory organs of 
the male on the under side of the second abdominal ring isa feature distinguishing 
dragon-flies from other insects. 

The female dragon-fly deposits her eggs in such a position that the larvee, when 
hatched, find themselves either in their natural element, the water, or very close 


Dragon-Flies. 


to it. In some species the female, accompanied by the male, goes under the water 
to lay her eggs; others drop them into the water; while in many species the 
female makes incisions in some aquatic plant and there deposits her eggs. The 
larvee are even more fiercely carnivorous than the adult, and are distinguished 
from all other aquatic larvee by the possession of a peculiar structure fixed under 
the head, known as the mask. In their mode of respiration dragon-fly larvee are 
also peculiar, some being provided with external tracheal gills—in the form of 
three leaflets placed near the tail-end—which serve also to assist in locomo- 
tion, while others breathe by means of gills of an exceptional character. 
The latter are situated in the hinder part of the intestine and consist of six 
longitudinal bands in its walls, crossed by several transverse folds, supplied 
with numerous fine branches from the tracheal trunks. Water can be sucked 
in at the opening, guarded by five valves at the hind end of the body, and 


168 INSEELS. 


when it becomes vitiated can be squirted out again either gently or with con- 
siderable force. When it is suddenly and violently expelled, it serves to propel 
the insect forwards at a rapid rate. The larve live about ten or twelve 
months, during which time they undergo several moults; rudiments of wings 
appearing some time before the final transformation. When this is about to 
take place, the larva leaves the water by climbing the stem of a plant, or to 
some other dry spot. As the time approaches, its eyes, which were before dull 
and opaque, become bright and transparent. Its skin dries up, and soon begins 
to erack along the middle of the thorax; the thorax appears through the cleft, 
and swelling up causes it to extend; the head is next disengaged, and the legs 
are then drawn out of their sheath. The insect now throws its head farther 
and farther back, and by this means gradually frees the hinder part of its 
body, with the exception of the last few segments which still remain enclosed in 
the larval skin. After a while, it suddenly bends its body forwards, grasps the 


WHA 


LIFE-HISTORY OF DRAGON-FLIES. 


1, Larval skin of a dragon-fly ; 2, Larva with its mask exserted ; 3, Libellula depressa ; 4, Advanced larva 
of a libellula; 5, The same about to undergo its final transformation. 


sides of the sheath with its legs, and, doubling up its abdomen, finally extricates the 
rest of its body. 

Dragon-flies are divided into three families, of which the first two have more 
in common with one another than with the third. The Libellulide are dis- 
tinguished by their comparatively stout bodies; by the size of their eyes, which 
cover almost all the sides of the head, and very nearly meet on its crown; and 
by the structure of their lower lip, in which the median terminal piece is short 
and slightly divided at the end, while the very broad palps spread out and overlap 
it in front. The last character is useful in distinguishing the Libellulidw from the 
next family, which in many respects they resemble. Their larvee breathe by 
means of internal gills, and have a mask which is hollowed out on the inner side, 
and somewhat resembles a helmet. Members of this family are found in most 
parts of the world, and about twenty species occur in Europe. The dischnidee 
have eyes even larger than those of the Libellulidw. The end piece (ligula) 


ORTHOPTERA. 169 


of their lower lip is not divided in front, and not exceeded in length by the 
palpi; while each of the latter is armed with a strong tooth or spine. The 
abdomen is long, narrow, and cylindrical. Their larve are more elongate, and 
have bigger eyes than those of the last family. The flat mask has the palpi narrow, 
and armed with a movable hook at the tip. Like the larve of the Libellulide 
they are provided with intestinal gills. Some of the largest dragon-flies belong to 
this family. 

The Agrionide form a family of slender - bodied dragon - flies, which have 
both pairs of wings shaped nearly alike. They are further distinguished from the 
other two families by the shape of the head, the smaller size of the eyes, and 
the structure of the lower lip. The head has a projection at each side, at the 
end of which is placed one of the two hemispherical eyes; and on the wide space, 
lying between the compound eyes, there are three ocelli arranged in a triangle. 
The lower lip consists at its free end of three parts of nearly equal length; the 
median piece (ligula) being notched in the middle, while the two palpi consist of 
two joints, of which the first is large and terminates in an inwardly curved spine, 
whereas the second is small and articulated with the first, outside the base of its 
spine. The larvee may be known by the three leaf-like tracheal gills at the end of 
their body, which are wanting or inconspicuous in those of the other families. This 
family contains many of the most brilliantly and variously coloured dragon-flies ; 
the sexes of the same species often differing in coloration. Some of the exotic 
species attain a great length, but this is brought about by the elongation of their 
slender abdomen without a corresponding increase in the proportions of the other 
parts of the body. 

The day-flies, or May-flies (Hphemeride), constituting the second 
group of the Pseudoneuroptera, are comprised in a single family. 
They have soft and fragile bodies, with a long ten-jointed abdomen, bearing at the 
extremity two or three long, bristle-like, and many-jointed tails. The hind-wings 
are sometimes wanting, and, when present, are always much smaller than the front 
pair, the latter being usually three-sided, with the corners rounded off. Three 
ocelli, in addition to the two large compound eyes, are borne upon the head; and 
the antenne are short, and composed of two stout basal joints, followed by a slender, 
many-jointed bristle. In the adult the mouth-organs are never well developed, 
but remain small and soft. The jaws have no function to perform, as the perfect 
insects do not eat, but devote entirely to other pursuits the short span of life 
remaining to them. The common notion that the life of the May-flies in the winged 
state lasts but a single day is sometimes, but not generally, true, many being able 
to live several days, provided the atmosphere be not too dry. There are some, 


May-Flies. 


however, which do not live for even the proverbial day, but emerge one evening, 
only to perish before the sun again appears. There is less truth in the supposition 
that these insects appear only in May; May-flies of one species or another being 
seen on fine days throughout the summer and autumn. They are to be found in 
the neighbourhood of rivers and lakes, some flying only by night, and others during 
the cooler hours of sunlight, or on favourable evenings until a little after sunset. 
During the heat of the day they seek repose, with their wings raised vertically. 
If the day be cold and raw, they seldom fly, but remain under shelter. In fine 


170 INSECTS. 


weather, however, they may sometimes be seen assembled together in swarms 
about sundown, and engaged in their pastimes, which are continued till some time 
after sunset. The peculiar up-and-down movement, which marks the flight of 
some species, has been often observed; and the mazy dance of the May-flies has 
been described by more than one author. In these 
dancing assemblies the male insects always greatly 
outnumber those of the other sex. The larve of 
the Ephemeridw live in water; a few kinds are 
carnivorous, but most feed upon the minute vegeta- 
tion scattered through the mud or covering stones, 
and the larger aquatic plants. Many remain con- 
cealed in the banks or under stones, while others 
rove among water-weeds, and swim with celerity. 
The larvee of some genera are found only in large 
rivers. The eggs are, in some eases, deposited at the 
surface of the water, and then sink to the bottom; 
but in others the female creeps into the water to 
lay her eggs in patches on the under side of stones. 
The eggs are exceedingly numerous, and vary in 
shape according to the genus. The larvee cast their 
skin several times; they are at tirst without special 
organs of respiration, but when they are about eight or ten days old tracheal gills 
begin to appear and ultimately develop into forms, which vary somewhat in the 
different genera. The gills are attached in pairs to the sides of some, or all, of the 
first seven segments of the abdomen, in 
some species standing out straight from 
the sides, and in others turned over the 
back. The mouth-organs of the larve are 
better developed than in the adult, the 
mandibles being nearly always strong and 
toothed, and sometimes giving off a tusk- 
like process in front of the head. At their 
transformation most May - flies do not 
change directly from the larval form into 
the imago, but first pass through a stage, 
known as the subimago, in which they 


MALE OF COMMON MAY-FLY, 
Ephemera vulgata (nat. size). 


have their wings expanded, and breathe 
through the spiracles like the perfect 
insect. In this form they are distin- 
guished by the dulness of their integu- 
ment, the shortness of the fore-legs and 


tail-bristles, and the less prominent and 4 MAY-FLY AT ITS FINAL MOULT, WITH THE IMAGO 
ESCAPING FROM THE SKIN OF THE SUBIMAGO, 
THE LARVA BELOW. 


duller eyes. The subimago emerges from 
the larval skin at the surface of the 
water, and, after standing awhile upon the water, flies to a more convenient 
resting-place. At the next moult, which soon follows, the perfect insect makes 


ORTHOPTERA. 17H 


its appearance. The emergence of May-flies takes place at different periods during 
summer and autumn, and that of any one species may last for several days in 
succession. At this time they sometimes appear in countless numbers, as thick 
in the air as snowflakes, and at the end of their brief existence leave their dead 
bodies to cover the ground, or float in masses down the stream. 

Nearly fifty species of Kphemeride are found in the British Islands. Two of 
the commonest (Ephemera vulgata and EL. danica) are, in the subimago stage, 
known to anglers as “green drake,” and “grey drake.” They are four-winged 
species, with a body from one-half to three-quarters of an inch in length, and 
furnished at the end with three very long tails. The fore-legs are extremely long, 
especially in the males, which sex is distinguished also by the much larger size of 
its eyes. The larve of &. vulgata burrow in the mud, or hide under stones, in 
ponds and sluggish streams. They have rather long antenne, and the tusks of 
their mandibles project a good way, and cross one another in front of the head. 
They have six pairs of tracheal gills, which are turned up over the back, each gill 
consisting of two narrow blades, united at the base, and fringed with hairs along 
each side. The final transformations of the larvee occur about the end of May, or 
early in June, at which time, on a fine evening, the winged insects may sometimes 
be seen in hundreds, dancing in the air. 

The stone-flies (Perlide), forming the last group of Pseudoneur- 
optera with aquatic larvee, are narrow, elongated insects of a flattened 
form, with a good-sized head, rather 
long, many-jointed antennee, and four 
not very closely reticulated wings, 
which shut horizontally over the body 
when at rest. The abdomen usually 
carries two long, multiarticulated 
styles at the extremity. The mouth- 
organs are weakly developed in the 
adult insects; the mandibles and 
maxille are membranous; the maxil- 
lary palpi long, with slender terminal 
joints, and the labial palpi three- 
jointed. The thorax is square or 
oblong, with its three segments 
almost equally developed. The tarsi 
ore three-jointed, and have their claws 1, Larva; 2, The fly escaping from the larval skin ; 3, The 
separated by a bilobed pad. The perfect insect, 
species of this family are not numer- 
ous, though some are almost worldwide in their distribution. The adults appear 
about the same time as dragon-flies and alder-flies, and frequent nearly the same 
places. Though they have large enough wings, they fly heavily, and not for any 
considerable distance at a stretch, and are generally most active in the evening. 
The female fastens her eggs loosely together, and drops them in masses as she flies 
over water. The larvee are mostly found in rapid streams, where they keep under 


Stone-Flies. 


COMMON STONE-FLY (Perla bicaudata). 


stones, or among broken pieces of wood, and live by preying actively upon the 


172 INSECTS, 


weaker creatures inhabiting the same waters. They have strongly developed jaws, 
and rather long palpi. They breathe by means of tracheal gills, in the form of 
tufts of filaments, attached to the bases of the legs and the sides of the integument 
which joins the three thoracic and the first abdominal rings to one another. The 
two filamentous tails may have a pair of tracheal tufts at their base. In later 
stages of their life the larvee exhibit rudiments of wings. When the time for its 
transformation arrives, the full-grown larva, or nymph, leaves the water by 
climbing the stem of a plant, or crawling some distance up the bank until it finds 
a dry stone on which to stand, when the emergence of the imago takes place in the 
usual way, preceded first by a splitting of the larval skin along the middle of the 
thorax. When the insect is free, its wings dry rapidly, and it is soon ready to fly. 
A fact of importance, first noticed in the Perlide, though it also occurs in 
some other groups, is that the tracheal gills are retained by the perfect insects, 
where they are attached in the same places as in the larva, but much reduced in 
size, and probably, in most cases, functionless. As an example of the Perlide, one 
of the best known British species, Perla bicaudata, is figured on p. 171. 
Termites, or The termites, or white ants (Termitide), differ considerably in 
White Ants. one respect from all the other groups of Pseudoneuroptera. They 
live in societies which are of a highly organised and complex nature and most 
resemble those met with among insects of the highest type, such as bees and ants. 
This is, however, the only direction in which the termites diverge to any extent 
from the rest of the Orthoptera; for, like all these, they pass from the larval to 
the adult state by a series of gradual changes; while, in the structure of their 
bodies, they show an affinity with some of the lowest groups of the order. In the 
termites the head is free and distinct, with the antennz composed of a number of 
small bead-like joints, and rather short. The perfect insects have compound eyes, 
and, as a rule, two ocelli; but the wingless individuals are generally without eyes 
of any kind. The mouth-parts, which are constructed on a clearly orthopterous 
plan, are not very unlike those of a cockroach, and consist of a distinct upper lip 
(labrum), two strong horny mandibles, a pair of two-lobed mawxille with five- 
jointed palpi, and a lower lip (labium), divided at the end into four lobes, and 
bearing three-jointed palpi. In the thorax the first segment is well developed, and 
its dorsal plate, or pronotum, is rather broad and flat; the other two segments being 
less strongly developed, though in the winged insects attaining a fair size. Both 
pairs of wings are much alike; they are long, narrow, not very closely veined, each 
wing being marked by a transverse suture at a short distance from the base; and in 
a state of rest they are laid flat over the back. The legs are slender, and well fitted 
for running, and their tarsi are four-jointed. The abdomen has a slightly elongated 
or oval form, and carries two very short appendages—the cerci—near its extremity. 
The common habitation of a society of white ants is known as a nest; and in 
each nest, which is divided into a number of cells or chambers communicating with 
one another, there may be found several different kinds of individuals in addition 
to the larve. Some are provided with wings, or with the rudiments thereof, and 
are distinguished also by having eyes. These are the sexually developed males 
and females, which are capable of reproducing their kind; though this function is, 
as a rule, carried on by a single couple in each nest. The king and queen—as this 


ORTHOPLERA. 173 


couple are named—are lodged in a large cell near the middle of the nest, and may 
be recognised by their large size, and the fact that they retain but small stumps of 
the wings which they once possessed. The royal cell is larger than the others, and 
has thicker walls; while the passages leading into it are too small to afford the 
occupants a means of escape, though large enough to admit the workers, which 
come and go, some to bring food to the royal pair, others to carry away the eggs 
laid by the queen. At this time the abdomen of the queen, owing to the number 
of eggs it contains, is swollen to an enormous size. “She lies there,’ writes 
Drummond, in reference to one of the African species, “a large, loathsome, 


WHITE ANTS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT, 


1, Male of Termes dirus ; 2, The same, seen from the side; 3, The head, enlarged ; 4, Worker; 5, The same, front 
view ; 6, 7, Soldier, side and front view ; 8, Werker (much enlarged ); 9, Nymph ; 10, Queen. 


cylindrical package, 2 or 3 inches long, in shape like a sausage, and as white asa 
bolster.” Her eggs are discharged at a rapid rate, amounting in a single day to 
several thousands, and the process is continued with the same activity for months 
in succession. Both workers and soldiers are wingless members of the community, 
and, in the majority of species, have no eyes. The workers have small and 
rounded heads, with short mandibles, and well-developed mawxillee and palpi; 
whereas the soldiers are easily recognised by their big, square, or oblong heads, 
and long mandibles. The workers are the most numerous class, and have many 
duties to perform in the way of building, tunnelling, and providing food for the 
young larvee and for the king and queen. The soldiers look after the protection 
of the workers, and act generally in defence of the community. In one genus 


174 INSECTS. 


there are no true mandibulate soldiers; but there is instead a class of individuals, 
known as “nasuti,’ from the fact that their pear-shaped heads are prolonged in 
front in the form of a beak The exact part which the nasuti play is not 
yet clearly known; but, like the soldiers of other species, these ‘individuals 
appear at the first sign of danger, and shake their head and palpi in a most 
menacing way. The eggs of the queen termite are, as mentioned, carried away 
by bodies of workers, and placed in special chambers, or nurseries. When the 
young larve are hatched, they are at first indistinguishable from one another, 
and are little blind creatures, with soft and pale integument; and it is only after 
the first or second moult, that they begin to show those differences which subse- 
quently distinguish the larvee of the various classes. They are fed with a special 
kind of food, consisting of comminuted dead wood, mixed with saliva, which certain 
of the workers prepare for them. By varying the quantity and quality of the 
food supplied, the termites appear able to arrest or deviate the development of 
larvee that would, in the ordinary course, become perfect insects or, in other words, 
they can produce workers and soldiers from larvee which, if fed upon a different 
diet, might develop into winged insects fitted to become kings and queens. And 
it has been shown that neither the soldiers nor the workers of the termites belong 
to one particular sex only, as is the case with the neuters of bees and ants, but 
that individuals of both sexes, in an imperfect sexual condition are comprised in 
each class. The winged insects into which many of the larvee develop are most 
abundant at certain periods of the year, especially after rains; they do not remain 
long in the nest, but, after a few days at the most, make their way out, or are led 
out by the workers, and shortly afterwards take flight. They may often be seen 
flying in swarms, and at night sometimes enter houses, being attracted by the 
light. Many are devoured by birds, which seize them as they leave the nest. 
When they have finished their flight, and alight on the ground, they shed their 
wings, which easily snap off at the line of suture near the base. If a couple, 
chancing to be near a termite burrow, are found by some workers, they are brought 
in, a royal cell is prepared for them, and, as king and queen, they become the 
parents of a new colony. Some larvee develop into individuals, which, although 
fitted to perform the functions of perfect insects, never possess complete wings, 
but are provided at most with wing-pads, or rudiments of wings. These indi- 
viduals, which somewhat resemble the nymphs of the perfect sects, are known as 
substitution kings and queens, and take the place of true royal couples, when from 
any cause the latter are not to be found. 

The food of white ants consists ordinarily of decaying wood, or similar 
vegetable matter, which, when it has passed in a half-digested state through their 
bodies, is eaten again. These insects have also the habit of devouring their dead, 
which makes it possible to destroy a whole colony by placing a little arsenic or 
mercuric chloride in their food; for the few that die through first partaking of the 
poison are eaten by others, which in their turn are also devoured, and so 
the poison is spread through the entire population. About two hundred species 
of termites have been deseribed: and these inhabit chiefly the tropical and sub- 
tropical parts of the world, although two small species are found in the south of 
Kurope. Some species live in the hollows they have eaten out in the interior of the 


ORTHOPTLE RA. 175 


trunks and branches of trees, or in timber. They line the galleries they make, which 
are often so close together as to be separated only by a thin wall, the wood in the 
interior being almost all eatenaway. A few make openings to the exterior, and form 
nests around the branches of trees; these nests being sometimes as large as a sugar- 
barrel, though the size varies considerably. The nests of most species are usually 
placed entirely below the level of the ground, and often lie beneath mounds of 
earth raised above the surface. Some of the larger African species, such as Termes 
bellicosus, build mounds of earth, frequently reaching a height of 12 or 14 feet. 
These mounds, which may stand singly, or in groups of varying size, are divided 
inside into chambers and galleries communicating with one another and with the 
nests and galleries underground. The nests of this kind, which consist almost 
entirely of clay, become in time quite hard and solid, and are much more 
durable than those which are composed of particles of dead wood pasted 
together with sticky saliva or with excrementitious matter. From the central 
nests termites construct underground galleries or tunnels leading in different 
directions, and sometimes reaching hundreds of feet in length. When it is 
necessary for the workers to go above ground in search of food, they protect 
themselves by building covered ways leading to the object they desire. Their 
tunnels sometimes lead to the interior of houses, and when once termites gain 
admittance in this way there is scarcely any limit to the mischief which may 
result from their operations. The wooden pillars that support the roof, the wood- 
work of the roof itself, and even articles of furniture, may be destroyed before 
the inhabitants become aware of what is taking place. For in tunnelling through 
wood termites take care to leave the outer shell intact; and what appears on the 
outside to be a solid piece of wood may consist in the interior of nothing but a 
series of galleries lined with white-ant mortar. These insects easily make their 
way into wooden boxes, and quickly destroy the books, papers, clothing, or what- 
ever else they may contain. The rapidity with which they work is remarkable, 
and ina single night they have been known to burrow up through the leg of a table, 
then across the table, stopping on the way to devour the articles lying on it, and 
down through another leg into the floor again. Forest trees, also, are often ruined 
by the action of termites, which, in order to get at the dead branches will some- 
times bore their way up through the trunk, and thus bring about its premature 


decay. 
The book-lice and the other insects classed with them in the 
Book-Lice. 


family Psocide form another small group of Pseudoneuroptera. 
They are mostly very small insects, with a proportionately big head, swollen in 
front, and carrying prominent eyes, three ocelli, and bristle-like antenne. Their 
mandibles are horny at the tip, but the other parts of the mouth are usually soft 
and membranous; the maxille being bilobed, with four-jointed palpi, and the 
palps of the bifid labium rudimentary. The middle segment of the thorax is 
the largest, and the prothorax is usually very short and narrow. The wings, 
which are wanting in some species, are slanting in repose, like the sides of a roof, 
and cover over the abdomen; they are of an almost glassy transparency, and have, 
as a rule, an open system of neuration. The tarsi are composed of two or three 
joints. Most species of Psocidw live in the open air, and feed on fungi, lichens, 


176 INSECTS. 


and the fragments of other plants; the largest European species (Psocws lineatus) 
being scarcely more than a quarter of an inch long. 

‘ie The Mallophaga, commonly known as bird-lice, are small wingless 
reais insects, resembling ordinary lice to some extent, but.differing from them 
in many characters, and especially in the structure of the mouth, which is fitted 
for taking food by biting instead of sucking. They form a distinct group, now 
generally placed in the Pseudoneuroptera, though 
some entomologists assign it a position near the 
Pediculina or true lice. The bird-lce are flat- 
bodied insects, with a broad head, varying a good 
deal in form, and a thorax which usually appears 
to consist of only two segments. Their antennze 
are short and composed of three, four, or five 
joints; and their eyes, when present, are simple. 
The mandibles appear as short hooks, sometimes 


toothed on the inner side; the maxille are short 


Psocus lineatus (enlarged three times). 


and said to be always palpless; while the lower 
hp is distinct and often bears palpi. The legs are short and stout, and have 
two-jointed tarsi, each of which carries at the end either one or two claws. As 
bird-lice are found on mammals as well as on birds, their name is to some extent 
misleading. 


TRUE ORTHOPTERA (Orthoptera Genwind). 


The insects of this suborder differ chiefly from those of the last group in the 
characters ot their wings, in which the two pairs are not formed alike. The fore- 
wings, which are usually stiff and tough, and in some cases horny, serve as wing- 
covers, and are generally spoken of as elytra; whereas the hind-pair are 
membranous, and capable of being folded longitudinally, or both longitudinally 
and transversely. The division of the ligula, or terminal piece of the lower lip 
into two or four lobes, is usually more complete than in the Pseudoneuroptera. 
It is usual to divide the true Orthoptera into two series or tribes—the Saltatoria, 
with strongly-developed hind-legs, adapted for leaping, and the Cursoria, in which 
the hind-legs are not thus developed, but are better fitted for use in running and 
walking. The saltatoria, or jumpers, are sometimes spoken of as the Musical 
Orthoptera, since nearly all these insects, such as crickets, grasshoppers and locusts, 
are noted for the loud chirping sounds which the males produce. The females are 
supposed to be attracted by the chirping of the males; they seldom emit any 
sound themselves, and when they do it is generally of a very feeble character. 
It is probable that most insects can hear, but by what means they do so is, in the 
majority of cases, to a great extent a matter of conjecture. The Saltatorial 
Orthoptera are, however, remarkable in possessing very definite organs of hearing, 
which, though occupying a different position, are functionally comparable to the 
ears of higher animals. 

The crickets (Gryllidw) which form the first family of the sub- 
order, have a somewhat rounded head, supporting long whip-like 
antenn. Their mandibles are strong and toothed; the inner lobe of the maxille 


Crickets. 


ORTHOPTERA 


ORTHOPTERA. 177 


being devoid of teeth, and the outer one long and slender. The fore-wings, or 
elytra, do not differ from one another in structure, and, when at rest, are closely 
applied to the somewhat thick and massive hind-body. The hind-wings are folded 
many times, and may generally be seen projecting beyond the tips of the elytra. 
The hind-legs are generally used in jumping, while the other two pairs are better 
adapted for walking, although in the mole-crickets the fore-legs are thickened 
and otherwise moditied for use in burrowing. The tarsi of all the legs are com- 
posed of either two or three joints. The abdomen bears near the tip two flexible, 
velvety appendages, which are sometimes very long; and in the females it usually 
carries also a long exserted ovipositor. The chirping of crickets is produced by 
rubbing the base of one elytron over the other; in which respect these insects 
differ from most grasshoppers and locusts, and resemble only those grasshoppers 
with long antennz, which belong to the family Locustidw. They resemble the 
latter also in having their organs of hearing placed on the fore-legs. These organs 
are lodged in the upper part of the tibize, a little below their articulation with the 


1-4, FIELD-CRICKET (Giryllus campestris)—(1) male, (2) female, (3 and 4) young and old larve ; 5, MALE OF THE 
HOUSE-CRICKET (Gryllus domesticus). 


femora, and consist externally of two small depressions or pits on opposite sides of 
each tibia, with a thin membrane stretched across the bottom of each depression. 
Inside the leg a tracheal vessel widens out between the two tympanic membranes, 
to form a vesicular expansion, on which are distributed the end cells and rods of a 
nerve which comes from the first thoracic ganglion. Crickets are found all over the 
world, but only four species are British. Of these one (Nemobius sylvestris) may 
be recognised by its small size, being little more than a third of an inch long. It 
is usually found among the dead leaves in woods, and appears to be restricted in 
its range to the southern counties. The field-cricket (Gryllus campestris), which 
sometimes measures an inch in length, is generally of a black colour, and lives in 
dry fields, where it is often heard though seldom seen on account of its retiring 
habits. The house-cricket (G. domesticus) has a reddish brown colour, and 
is somewhat smaller than the field-ericket. It has well-developed wings, and 
the female has a long ovipositor. The mole-crickets, of which there is one 
British species (Gryllotalpa vulgaris), have such a peculiar structure that 
they are easily distinguished from all other insects. They have a long, smooth, 
shiny prothorax; rather short, close-fitting elytra; and under-wings which, when 
VOL. VI.—12 


178 INSECTS. 


rolled up, look like a tail curving down over the tip of the abdomen. The 
abdomen itself carries two long flexible tails, which are said to be used like 
antenne, when the insect runs backwards. It is, however, by the extraordinary 
shape of the fore-legs that these insects may be most easily recognised. These 
limbs are thicker, but shorter than the hind-legs; they have very short tibiz, each 
ending below in four strong claws spread out like the fingers of a hand. 


HATTON 


Py ~~. | 
> | 


nn ee Ill) 
OMe A 


MOLE-CRICKET, WITH EGGS AND LARV# (slightly enlarged). 


Long-Horned Although named Locustide, this family does not comprise the 

Grasshoppers. Jocusts, but includes only those grasshoppers in which the antennz 
are long and tapering, and the tarsi are four-jointed; while the female is provided 
with a long ovipositor. Besides these characters, there are some others which help 
to distinguish the Locustidw from the members of the next family. In the present 
group the organs of hearing are placed, as in the crickets, in the tibize of the fore- 
legs; and the chirping of the male is produced by the friction of the wing-covers 
over one another. The wing-covers, instead of being both alike, as in crickets, 
exhibit a certain amount of difference in the arrangement of the veins and struc- 
ture of the membrane in their basal part. Taking the male of the large British 
green grasshopper as an example, it will be seen that on the portion of the right 
elytron which folds horizontally over the trunk, there is near the base a somewhat 
irregularly circular area, which has a glistening appearance, like a piece of tale. 
This area is bordered by a strong prominent vein. In a corresponding position on 
the left elytron, which, when closed, overlaps the right, there are also some thick 
transverse veins, but the cells enclosed by these veins have a similar texture to 
the rest of the membrane. When the insect rubs its left elytron rapidly over the 
right the veins projecting on the under side scrape on the margin of the mirror, and 
set the latter in vibration, thus giving rise to the well-known sound. The chirp- 
ing of the Locustide is generally louder and more prolonged than in the other 
grasshoppers. In certain North American species known as katy-dids, the song 
seems to consist of these words repeated again and again, with a slight variation. 
The life-history of the Locustide, so far as it is known, does not differ in any 
essential respect from that of the Acridiidw. It is probable that in most cases the 


ORTHO RIETCA. 179 


female uses her long ovipositor to lay her eggs at some depth in the ground, though 
in some species the female is known to deposit her eggs on plants. These grass- 
hoppers are less herbivorous in their habits than those belonging to the next family ; 
many of them are, in fact, believed to be more carnivorous than herbivorous in 
their tastes. The Locustide are most numerous in species in America and Asia; 
there being not many more than two hundred species in Europe, of which about 
ten are British. In the large green grasshopper (Locusta viridissima), which is 
nearly an inch and a half long, and is easily distinguished by its size from all the 
other British species, the male makes a harsh and strident noise, by which atten- 
tion is attracted, when otherwise, owing to its green colour, it might altogether 
escape notice. Green is the prevailing tint in very many species of this family. 
In some species the elytra have the most exquisite resemblance in colour and 
venation to green leaves; while in others they look more like withered leaves. 
Nowhere is this style of protective coloration better displayed than in the exotic 
genera Cycloptera and Pterochroza, one of the species of which is figured in the 


— $= SS== 


1, FEMALE OF Hetrodes spinulosus ; 2, MALE AND FEMALE OF Meconema varium. (AII nat. size.) 


coloured Plate. The shape, colour, and venation cf the wings are not only exactly 
like those of leaves, but there may be seen, here and there, little glistening, trans- 
parent patches of cuticle, which reveal, as it were, the work of an insect grub. 
In others, fungi seem to grow on the leaves, and leave their mark in the dis- 
coloured patches which may be seen scattered about. Amongst the species of the 
family remarkable in other respects we have space to mention only a few. In 
the genus Hetrodes the adult msects of both sexes are without wings; the pro- 
thorax is very large, and is armed above with a number of spines. An idea of the 
general appearance of the adult insect may be gathered from the figure of Hetrodes 
spinulosus. This species is found in Arabia and Syria. For the sake of contrast 
the male and female of a small British grasshopper (Jleconema varium) are figured 
beside it. The latter is winged in both sexes; it is found in oak trees, and belongs 
to a subfamily which is peculiar from the fact that the elytra of the male have no 
stridulating organs. 

The locusts and short-horned grasshoppers (Acridiide) are dis- 
tinguished by easily recognised characters from the other two families 
of the suborder. The antennz are short, seldom attaining more than half the 


Locust Tribe. 


180 INSECTS, 


length of the body, the tarsi are three-jointed, and the female always has a very 
short ovipositor. They differ also in the position of the auditory organs, and in 
the mode by which the males produce the chirping. In these insects the organs of 
hearing appear externally as two pits, somewhat crescentic or semilunar in shape, 
placed one on each side of the first abdominal segment, immediately behind the 
thorax. At the bottom of each pit there is a tense membrane, which on its inner 
side is brought into relation with the terminal rods and fibres of a nerve which 
arises from the last thoracic ganglion. It was thought that these pits were in some 
way concerned in the production of sound, but it is evident from their structure 
that this is not the case, while they really seem capable of serving no other function 
than that of ears. Moreover, it is now known that the chirping of these insects is 
produced by rubbing the hind-legs up and down against some of the projecting 
nervures in the sides of the closed elytra. When the insect is stridulating it keeps 
the tibia of the leg folded up against the femur. In some species the sound is 
heard at both the upward and downward stroke of the legs, in others at the 
downward stroke only. The sound varies in intensity in different species, and for 
this reason some of the commoner species may be recognised even before they are 
seen. In most of these insects the front of the head is vertical, or shghtly inclined 
backwards, but in some (T’ryxaline) it is much inclined backwards, and the whole 
head seems prolonged in a way that makes it look like a cone or wedge, with the 
antennee and eyes near the apex, and the mouth placed below under its base. The 
Acridiide are usually provided with three ocelli in addition to the compound eyes, 
the ocelli being as a rule more distinct than in the Locustide. The mouth-organs 
are well developed, consisting of a large upper lip; strong, toothed masticatory 
jaws; five-jointed maxillary palpi; and a lower lip, divided at the end into two or 
four lobes, and bearing three-jointed palpi. The prothorax is generally large, 
much longer above than below, and often carrying a prominent crest along the 
middle. Wings are usually present, but the hind-pair are wanting in the females, 
or even in both sexes, of some species. In their general life-history the Acridiide 
are probably much alike. The female lays her eggs at a short depth below the 
surface of the ground, or attaches them to the stalks of grasses, and usually 
surrounds them, in mass, with some sort of protective covering. Later on in the 
same year, or in the spring of the year following, the larve are excluded. They 
soon become active, and—except that they are without wings, have shorter antenne, 
and are of smaller size and no definite colour—do not differ much in appearance 
from the perfect insects. After undergoing, as a rule, about six moults, the larvee 
which are hatched in the spring become adult late in the summer. It is generally 
in the days immediately following their entry into the perfect state that the male 
insects are loudest and most persistent in their song. Few of the British Acridiide, 
of which there are about a dozen, are remarkable for the brightness of their colours ; 
nor do any cause trouble by a great excess of numbers. But amongst the exotic 
species there are many exhibiting vivid tints of colour; and some which are 
capable of multiplying to such an extent as to become a serious source of mischief 
in the places where they abound. It is to the species accustomed to assemble 
together, and migrate from place to place, in vast swarms, that the name of locusts 
is more especially applied; this habit really constituting almost the only difference 


ORTHOPTERA. 181 


between the locusts and many of the other grasshoppers of this family. Grass- 
hoppers feed chiefly on the grasses of different kinds, including most of the 
eultivated grains; but locusts leave scarcely anything in the nature of vegetation 
untouched, when, as often happens, they invade a district where the ordinary 
herbs and grasses are insufficient to support their vast numbers. Trees and shrubs 
are then stripped bare of their leaves, and the bark and wood even are not spared. 
Pressed by hunger, locusts do not refrain from attacking plants which at ordinary 
times they seem to avoid. They frequently devour their own dead, and even 
earry their cannibalism so far as to kill and eat the newly-moulted and soft- 
skinned larve. Different species of these destructive insects are found in all 
the great regions of the world; though North Africa is, perhaps, the one which 


MIGRATORY LOCUST OF SOUTH-EAST EUROPE (Pachytylus migratorius) AND ITS LARV® (nat. size). 


sufiers most from their ravages. The locusts referred to in Scripture belonged in 
all probability for the most part to the species known as Schistocerca peregrina, 
which has its chief home in the Sahara and surrounding districts. 

Several other species are found in North Africa, and in South Africa Pachy- 
tylus migratorioides is one of the most widely distributed. Great swarms of 
locusts of this species have been seen at different times in recent years; one which 
passed over Pretoria in 1891 was estimated to be twenty-five miles long, one and 
a half broad, and half a mile in depth. It was probably to this species also those 
locusts belonged, of which Barrow, giving an account of their ravages in the year 
1797, states that the whole surface of the ground over an area of about two thou- 
sand square miles was literally covered with them; and that when driven into the 
sea by a north-west wind, they formed a bank on the shore three or four feet high 
and fifty miles long. Amongst European locusts, the best known is P. migratorius, 


182 INSECTS. 


which occurs chiefly in the south-east, and is found also in Egypt and in West and 
Central Asia. 

Passing from the locusts, we may briefly notice a few of the other insects of 
the family. The 7ryxalinw are remarkable on account of the peculiar shape of 
their head, to which we have already 
alluded. No species of this sub- 
family is found in Britain. In the 
alhed Tettigine the pronotum is 
produced behind into a long process, 
which in some of the species reaches 
beyond the tip of the abdomen. Two 
of the smallest species of grass- 
hoppers found in Great Britain belong 
to the genus Tettiw—the typical 
genus of this subfamily. The genus 
Pnreumora, which is represented only 
in South Africa, is characterised by 
the bladder-like dilatation of the 
abdomen in one of the sexes. The hind-legs in this genus are rather short, and 


ogee2EBAW7 


Tettiz subulata (nat. size). 


are scarcely adapted for leaping. 
Stick- and Leaf- The stick- and leaf-insects (Phasmatide) are chiefly interesting 
Insects. = on account of their resemblance to the objects after which they are 
named. They form one of the families of Cursorial Orthoptera, and, in addition 
to the easily recognised shape of their bodies, are distinguished by the following 
characters. The head is distinctly visible from above, and is set somewhat 
obliquely, with the mouth placed well forwards on the under side. The short 
prothorax is much shorter, as a rule, than the next segment, or mesothorax. The 
legs which, in shape, usually harmonise with the shape of the body, are inserted 
somewhat close to the sides of the thorax, those of each pair being separated froin 
one another by a rather broad sternal plate; the tarsi are five-jointed, and exhibit 
a pad-lhke lobe between the claws of the terminal joint. In the stick-insects the 
trunk is long, narrow, and cylindrical; the legs are generally long, and, when 
stretched out unsymmetrically from the body, as they habitually are in the resting 
insect, look like smaller branches coming off from a thicker, jointed stem. Many 
stick-insects have no wings at any stage of their life, and it is difficult, in such 
cases, to distinguish the adult insects from some of the older larvee. In the winged 
species the fore-wings are usually very short, and often cover only a small part of 
the hind-pair; the latter exhibit a division into two distinct areas—one more 
membranous and transparent, and often brightly coloured; the other, which is 
narrower, and placed next the anterior border, being coloured like the elytra. 
When the wings are at rest, the brightly-coloured portion is folded beneath the 
other part, which alone is then exposed to view, so that there is nothing to detract 
from the general stick-like appearance of the body. These insects are usually found 
amongst underwood, or on shrubs and the stems of long grasses. They are mostly 
inactive during the day, and are not easily seen owing to the way in which their 


form and colours harmonise with their surroundings. They roam about at night, 


f=) 


ORTHOPTERA. 183 


and feed upon leaves. Most inhabit tropical and subtropical countries, and 
amongst them are some of the largest insects known, more than one measuring 
over 13 inches in length. Two species are found in South Europe, belonging to 
the genus Bacillus, and are both wingless forms of rather small size. One of these 
is figured in the illustration ; and, as examples of some of the more finely-coloured 
tropical forms, two species from the island of Borneo are represented on the 
coloured Plate of Orthoptera. 

The leaf-insects, though belonging to the same family, exhibit a marked 
contrast to stick-insects in the shape of the body, which, instead of being narrow 
and cylindrical, is broad and flat. The male is narrower than the female, and 
distinguished also by having moderately long antennz, well-developed hind-wings, 
and short fore-wings. In the female the antenne are very short, the hind-wings 


ONE OF THE STICK-INSECTS OF SOUTH EUROPE (Bacillus rossi) AND ITS LARVA (nat. size). 


are rudimentary; and the elytra are fairly large, leaf-like structures, which, in 
some species, almost entirely cover the broad, flattened abdomen. The legs have 
broad, leaf-like expansions on both the femora and tibiw, contributing to the 
general leaf-like appearance. It is remarkable that the colour of these insects, 
which is either the green of a living leaf, or some shade of yellow or brown, like 
that of a withered leaf, is due to a substance similar in its nature to chlorophyll, 
or the green colouring matter of plants; and it is stated that the internal structure 
of the elytra bears a striking resemblance to that of a plant. All these curious 
insects belong to the single genus Phylliuwm, and are found in the Oriental countries, 
and in some islands of the Indian Ocean. 

The praying insects, or Mantide, constituting the next family 
of the suborder, have the head turned down, with the face inclined 
backwards, so that the vertex projects in front, while the mouth les close to the 
lower edge of the prothorax. They have many-jointed, bristle-like, or comb-like 
antenne. The prothorax is generally much longer than the other two segments 


Praying Insects. 


of the thorax taken together; whereas the two hinder pairs of legs are long, and 
resemble one another. The fore-legs—which are inserted close to the front and 
wider end of the prothorax—exhibit a peculiar form and structure, their coxe 
being long and three-cornered, and often spined on the angles, and the femora broad, 
flattened, and grooved below to receive the tibiw, which can be folded back upon 


184 INSECTS. 


them like the blade of a knife. The tarsi of all the legs are five-jointed. These 
insects usually have two pairs of wings, of which the fore-wings, or elytra, are 
ordinarily of the length of the abdomen. The characteristic posture which these 
insects assume when resting on a tree or shrub with their prothorax raised, and 
the fore-legs doubled up in front of them, accounts for their common names of 
soothsayers and praying insects. They are amongst the most predaceous and 
bloodthirsty of creatures, living on flies and other insects, which they seize with 
their raptorial fore-legs, in the manner shown in the illustration. MJantide 
are chiefly found in tha warmer parts of the world, but a few species occur 
in South Europe. The best known of these is the figured Mantis religiosa. 
Some species, such as the African Harpaux ocellata, shown on the coloured 


PRAYING INSECT SEIZING A FLY. 


The egg-case and some of the escaping larve are shown at the left-hand side of the figure. 


Plate, are curiously marked, while others are prettily coloured. The colours are 
sometimes so disposed that the insect in its resting attitude resembles a flower, 
and thus draws towards it other insects, which, when they have approached near 
enough, are suddenly caught, as if in a trap, by the arms of the deceiver. 

The cockroaches (Blattide) constitute one of those families in 
which the legs are more specially fitted for running. They have a 
rather short head, with a large, flat face, looking slightly downwards, and the 


Cockroaches. 


mouth brought close to the prosternum. The eyes are large and compound, and 
in the place usually occupied by the lateral ocelli there are often to be seen 
two pale soft spots in the integument. The long and tapering antenne are 
inserted close to the eyes, and composed of a stouter basal joint, followed by a 
number of short joints. The strong and horny jaws are toothed or spined on the 
inner side, and thus well adapted to biting; and the head is scarcely visible from 
above, being overlapped by the large, shield-like plate of the prothorax. The legs 
are long, with spiny tibiee, and end in five-jointed tarsi. The pulvillus, which pro- 
jects between the tarsal claws of these and many other insects, constitutes a sixth 
joint, although not usually reckoned as such. Cockroaches are generally provided 
with two pairs of wings, the front pair being stiff and horny, while the hind pair 


ORTHOPTERA. 185 


are of a more membranous texture, and, in a state of rest, are folded longitudinally, 
and almost entirely covered by the elytra. The abdomen is broad and flat, and 
carries two jointed appendages—the cerci—near its extremity. About six 
species are found in Britain, of which three only are really indigenous, the 
others having been imported. The common cockroach (Periplaneta. orientalis) 
is believed to have belonged originally to the East, though now found in almost 


EGG-CASE OF THE COMMON KITCHEN COCKROACH (the top figure nat. size, the others much enlarged), 


all parts of the world. These insects are commonly spoken of as “ black-beetles,” 
though not beetles, and not black, but having a reddish brown colour. The male is 
easily recognised by the wings, of which there are two pairs, scarcely reaching 
beyond the middle of the abdomen. The female is broader in the body, and has 
very short rudimentary fore-wings and no hind-wings. Her eggs are arranged in 
a horny case, opening at the top, and shaped like a purse, which she carries about 
with her for scme time, protruding from the end of her abdomen. She finally 
deposits the egg-capsule in a crevice in the walls or below the floor, and after some 
interval the young larve are excluded. During growth they shed their skin several 
times. The new skin is at first soft and of a pale or nearly white colour, but 


COCKROACHES. 


1, Phyllodromia germanica, male and female ; 2, Ectobia lapponica. (Nat. size.) 


gradually hardens and gets darker. The American cockroach (P. americana) 
which is such a pest on many ships, and is found about the docks and ware- 
houses of seaport towns, is larger than the common species. Although it 
somewhat resembles the latter in general colour, it has two pale bands on the 
prothorax, and is winged in both sexes. The German cockroach (Phyllodromia 


186 LIN, SE GAGS: 


germanica) is another imported species, said to have first arrived with the soldiers 
returning from the Crimean War, but now plentiful in some houses, especially in 
bakeries and restaurants. It may be distinguished by its smaller size, and pale 
yellow-brown colour, with two dark brown bands along the pronotum. Both sexes 
have wings. In some parts of Central Europe they live in woods, resembling in 
this respect many other species, including three, belonging to the genus Hetobia, 
found in woods in England. One of the latter (4. lapponica) enters houses in 
some parts of Europe. 

The earwigs (Forficulide), which form the last family of 
Cursorial Orthoptera, possess distinct characters, and are sometimes 
treated as a separate order, under the name of Dermaptera. Easily recognised by 
the narrow body, short, squarely cut horny elytra, and the pincer-like appendages 
of their abdomen, these insects are further distinguished by the intricate folding 
of the hind-wings. The 
elytra, or fore-wings, do not 


Earwigs. 


overlap one another as in 
most Orthoptera, but, like 
those of beetles, simply meet 
by their edges along the 
middle line. The hind-wings, 


which are thin and mem- 
branous throughout most of 
their extent, are folded, partly 
1, MALE OF THE LARGE EARWIG ; 2, THE COMMON EARWIG, WITH like a fan, by means of folds 
AN ENLARGED FIGURE OF THE FLYING INSECT. radiating from near the middle 

of the anterior margin, and 

also transversely. In this way they occupy a small space, and are almost com- 
pletely covered by the elytra, a tiny piece only being left projecting behind. 
When fully expanded, each wing is somewhat elliptic in outline, with a straighter 
anterior and more rounded posterior margin. To these characters it is only 
necessary to add that the tarsi are three-jointed, and the ligula of the lower lip 
is deeply divided, to form two long lobes. This family is represented im almost 
all parts of the world, but not more than two or three species are commonly 
met with in Britain. The species are distinguished chiefly by the size and 
shape of their forceps, the length and number of joints of the antenne, the 
state of development of the wings (which in some species are altogether 
wanting), the length and shape of the tarsal joints, and other characters. 
The common earwig (Forficula auricularia), found all over Europe, is the best 
known species. The female is usually smaller than the male, and her forceps 
are shorter, and without teeth at the base. Her eggs are laid under stones, 
moss, or in other such places; and she watches over them with care. It was 


long ago observed that the female earwig sits over her eggs, like a hen in a 
nest, and if they happen to get scattered, gathers them all together again. The 
young larvee when hatched keep close to her, clustering under her body, and 
sometimes climbing on to her back. They are not very unlike their mother in 
appearance, but are without wings, and of much smaller size. The large earwig 


KRHA VNCHODA: 187 


(Labidura riparia), found somewhat rarely in England along the south coast, 
is nearly twice the size of the common species, and its forceps has a large tooth 
beyond the middle of its length. 


Order RHYNCHOTA. 


The numerous insects included in this order exhibit great differences in their 
external form, and while some, such as the Flatine, rival the butterflies and moths 
in the beauty and delicacy of their colours, others are amongst the most loath- 
some of creatures. But whatever be their form or colour, all agree in two 
essential characters, the first consisting in the fact that their development takes 
place without a complete metamorphosis; and the second that all have the 
mouth taking the form of a beak, or rostrum, adapted for piercing and sucking. 
The beak consists chiefly of the lower lip (labium), which is long and narrow, 
composed of three or four joints, and grooved along the whole length of its upper 
or anterior surface. This groove forms a sort of sheath, in which are lodged four 
long slender blades, corresponding to the mandibles and maxille of other insects, 
but here transformed into piercing organs. All these parts are covered at the 
base in front by the narrow and shghtly elongated upper lip (labrum). From 
the structure of their mouth, which is fitted only for the reception of liquid nutri- 
ment, it is easy to infer that these insects live by piercing tissues of plants and 
animals, and extracting the juices. The larvee differ little from the adults except 
in size, the absence of wings, and their usually shorter and more slender antenne. 
In many, however, the females are without wings at all stages; and in some 
cases both sexes are thus unprovided. When wings are present, they may be all 
of similar texture, or the front-pair may be somewhat stiffer and less membranous 
than the hinder. Wings of both these kinds are found in the section Homoptera. 
In other cases, while the hind-wings are entirely membranous, the front-pair are 
stiff and horny for some distance from their base, and thin and membranous 
towards their extremities. Such wings, which characterise the section Heterop- 
tera, are known as hemi-elytra. Over eighteen thousand species are already 
known. Fossil remains of the order are found in strata of the Jurassic epoch, 
and are tolerably abundant in amber and other beds of Tertiary age. 

All the Heteroptera, no matter how different they may be in external form 
or mode of life, are termed bugs, although this name was originally applied only 
to the bed-bug and a few closely-allied species. Most are winged insects, in 
which the fore-wings known as hemi-elytra, or simply as elytra, always have 
the form deseribed above. Their antenne are either short and inconspicuous, 
as in the water-bugs, or distinctly visible as in the land-bugs, and are generally 
composed of a small number of joints. As a rule they have two compound eyes, 
and often two or three ocelli. The first segment of the thorax is usually large, 
with the head sunk deeply into it. The abdomen generally has an oval flattened 
form, and the legs are mostly slender. With few exceptions bugs are characterised 
by a peculiar and somewhat unpleasant odour, which arises from a liquid secreted 
by special glands placed in the front part of the abdomen, and opening to the 
exterior by means of two small ostioles on the ventral surface of the metathorax, 


188 SIN SEE CLS. 


Bugs are divided into two tribes, based upon their mode of exist- 
ence, and the fact that in one tribe—the land-bugs, or Geocorisa— 
the antenne project, and are distinctly visible, while in the other—the water- 
bugs, or Hydrocorisa—they are very short, and hidden below the eyes. The shield- 
bugs (Pentatomatide), which constitute one of the largest families of the Geocorisa, 
are so called on account of their large scutellum, which reaches at least to the 
middle of the abdomen, and sometimes quite to its extremity, covering it over 
completely. The fore-wings are sometimes chitinised only near the basal margin, 
especially in those species with a very large scutellum. The body has in general 
an elliptical outline, or is shaped like a scutcheon, owing to the projecting lateral 
angles of the somewhat hexagonal pronotum. ‘These bugs are mostly found on low 
plants, some in concealment, many showing themselves openly, and often attracting 
observation by their striking colours. The adults pass the winter sheltered under 
bark or dried leaves. In early spring the females lay their eggs on the foliage of 
low plants, shrubs, and pine trees. The oval or spherical eggs are provided with 
an operculum, or lid, and disposed in patches resembling honeycomb. The 
larvee moult several times in the course of their 
growth, and thus gradually effect a change in 
their form and coloration. They feed on the 
Juices of plants, or, in some cases, of animals, and 


Land-Bugs. 


attain their full size towards the end of summer. 
The European species are rather limited in number; 
but many forms are found in other parts of the 
world. The Hottentot bug (Hurygaster maurus) 
is the name given to a species with a very large 
seutellum, found throughout nearly all Europe. 
HOTTENTOT BUG (nat. size). It is of a yellow, dark brown, or black colour, 
with two clear spots on each side of the base of 
the scutellum. Some rather pretty bugs of the genus Scutellera, belonging to 
the same subfamily, and characterised by a similar large scutellum, are found 
in Australia and the Eastern Archipelago. They are of a short, broad, and 
convex form, and have a very fine metallie-blue coloration, often spotted with 
bright yellow. The forest-bugs (Pentatoma) have strongly projecting angles 
to the prothorax, and have a long triangular scutellum. The species figured 
(P. rufipes) is common throughout Europe, on birch and other trees, and renders 
service by destroying certain caterpillars. We figure on the opposite page three 
other species of this family — Acanthosoma dentatum, which is common on 
willows; Hurydema oleraceum, a bluish green or metallic green species, with red 
or white markings, which in some places is injurious to plants of the cabbage 
tribe, but also lives on other plants, and has often been seen to prey upon insects ; 
and another common species met with near the outskirts of woods and in fields 
and meadows. 

The family Coreide includes a number of land-bugs, which vary a good deal 
in form, but which possess in common the following characters,—antennee four- 
jointed, set rather high up on the head; two ocelli generally present: scutellum 
short and triangular ; elytral membrane strongly and thickly veined. These bugs 


VES IM CI LOI G26 189 


mostly inhabit the warmer parts of the world, not more than about sixty species being 
found in Europe. Their habits are not very well known. Some of the European 
species live during the winter under leaves, and when disturbed in their retreat 
make by their movements a peculiar rustling sound. In summer they are to be 
found among herbs and 
shrubs seeking their 
food, or they may some- 
times be seen flying 
actively in the sunshine. 
Our figures—one_ repre- 
senting a stout, strongly- 
built insect (Syromastes 
marginatus), the other 
a species (Neides tipu- 
larvus) with a body as 
slender almost as that of 
a daddy long - legs — 
illustrate what consider- 
able differences of form 
are met with in this 
family, even among the 
common European 
Le at thse sen hee 1, Pentatoma rufipes ; 2, Acanthosoma dentatun ; 3, Hurydema oleraceum ; 
the next family of land- i 4, Aelia acuminata (nat. size). 

bugs, may be character- 

ised as follows,—antenne four-jointed, arising from below an imaginary line drawn 
from the middle of the eye to the base of the rostrum ; two ocelli usually present, 
and placed close to the compound eyes; sheath of rostrum composed of four nearly 
equal joints; scutellum short 
and triangular; membrane of 
elytra traversed by four or five 
longitudinal veins. They live, 
for the most part, under stones, 
dead leaves, or moss at the foot 
of trees, where they are often 
found together in large num- 
bers; and it is from their love 
of such obscure places that the 
name Lygeus has been given 
to the typical genus. They 
feed on the juices of plants or 


SHIELD BUGS. 


Aw 


60S 
AANA, MNS 
] ty " / i \" \ Wr 
Us LK D = Z N f AWA 


1, Syromastes marginatus ; 2, Larva of the same ; 3, Veides 
tipularius (nat size), 


the dead bodies of other insects. 
A few species only show them- 
selves in broad daylight. The species of the genus Pyrrhocoris, and others 
associated in the same subfamily, are distinguished by the fact that they have 
no oeelli. P. apterus is a common and widely-spread European species, occasionally 


190 YNSE CHS: 


met with in Britain, which may be known by its red and black colours, and the 
want of hind-wings, as well as of a membranous part to its elytra. The plant- 
bugs (Phytocoridw) have the followmg characters. Head triangular in shape, 
tricarinate above, and without ocelli; antennze long, four- 
jointed, with the second joint longest, and the last two very 
slender ; rostrum four-jointed, resting against the under side 
of the thorax, and almost reaching to the end of it; tarsi 
three-jointed ; elytra with an appendix, or small angular 
piece, divided off by a transverse suture from the rest of 
the coriaceous part of the elytra, and coming between it and 


i co 5 0 i 
a aN) S the membrane. This family is well represented in temperate 

KK ri i iii . . 
\ ey regions, and about three hundred European species are known, 


i 


They are mostly soft-bodied, fragile bugs, presenting a con- 
siderable variety of colour, of which green is in many cases 


the predominant tint. They live principally on honey, and 
Pyrrhocoris apterus (three 


fe ecaane are to be found on flowers and in meadows. Phajtocoris 


tripustulatus, a species with black elytra, marked with three 
orange spots on the outer margin, is common on nettles. We give an enlarged 
figure of another species (Calocoris striatellus), widely distributed throughout 
Kurope, and met with chiefly on umbelliferous plants. The Acanthiide form a 
family of mostly very small bugs, which are usually without ocelli, and have a 
three-jointed beak—lodged in a groove along the under side of the head 
two-jointed tarsi. These bugs frequently have a somewhat peculiar appearance, 
owing to the membranous or vesicular lobes with 
which the thorax, abdomen, and elytra are often 
furnished. For this reason they are sometimes 


and 


known as membranaceous bugs. The species of the 
genus Tingis are seldom more than one-sixth of an 
inch long, and distinguished by the knob-like ends to 
their antenne, as well as by the foliaceous expansion 
of their thorax, and the extension of the latter behind 
to cover the scutellum. The common 7. affinis may 
be recognised by the brown colour of its body, its 
transparent borders, with transverse brown nervures, 
and the x -shaped spot on the middle of each elytron. 
This species may be found on sandy soil among the — Calocoris striatellus (much enlarged). 

roots of grasses, or under plants, such as wormwood, 

belonging to the genus Artemisia. Another species (#. pyrt) is noted for the 
injury it does to pear trees, by pricking holes in hundreds on the under side of 


the leaves and extracting the sap. It is of a brown colour, with pale yellow or 
white elytra, marked with a brown spot at the base and another at the extremity. 
Aradus corticalis is a common species, found under bark, which we figure to give 
an idea of the flattened form and membranous appearance of the bugs of the sub- 
fuumily Aradinw. These bugs have a longer rostrum and more cylindrical antennee 
than those of the Tingitine. The bed-bug (Cimex lectularius), which also belongs 
to this family, is a wingless species, with four-joimted antennze, and a beak composed 


RHVNCHOTA. IQI 


also of four joints, which can be turned back to lie in a groove under the throat. 
The shape of the insect may be seen from the figure, as well as the two lobes lying at 
the sides of the scutellum, which are all it has in the way of elytra. Closely-allied 
species are found in dovecots, and in the 
nests of martins and bats. The 
Reduvide are predaceous bugs, in 
which the head, narrowed behind in the 
form of a neck, carries two ocelli in 
addition to the compound eyes. Their 
antenne are composed of four joints, 
though these are often subdivided in 


By 1, Tingis affinis (x8); 2, Aradus corticalis ( x6) ; 
such a way that the number may 3, Cimex lectularius (much enlarged). 


appear much greater. The rostrum 1s 

short and strong, and three-jointed ; their legs are long, and have three-jointed 
tarsi; and the fore-legs often serve as prehensile organs, their tarsi being specially 
adapted for that purpose. Reduvius personatus, the largest British species, is 


three-quarters of an inch long, of a 


sia Nsk-Inown cbr wie ele 

HE a aa itil which, as well as the prothorax and 
AA Bie: >) ( ; | antennee, are somewhat hairy. 

£2 3s The Saldide, which, on account 

of their large projecting eyes, are 


sometimes known as Oculati, form 
with the next family a sort of tran- 
sitional group between the land-bugs 
and water-bugs. They live in the 
neighbourhood of water, either by 
the seashore or along the sandy banks 
of inland waters; and not only run 
with great rapidity, but often advance 
with leaps and bounds, their long spiny hind-legs being well fitted for this mode 
of locomotion. One of the species of the typical genus Salda is represented in 
the illustration. The pond-skaters (Hydrometridw) have moderately long con- 
spicuous antenne, and present other points of structure showing 
that they are nearly related to the true land- bugs. In some 
Species wings, and in others, elytra also, may be wanting. These 
insects may be seen walking or gliding about on the sunny surface 
of stagnant or slow- flowing waters; and those of one genus 
(Halobates) are found on the surface of the sea, sometimes right 
out in mid-ocean. The true pond-skaters (Gerris) move about 
very quickly on the surface of the water, and use their fore-legs 
in seizing their prey. Limnobates stagnorum is a more sluggish 


Reduvius personatus and its larva (nat size). 


; ; ‘ : Salda elegantula 
insect, walking slowly on the surface of the water, or on the (greatly enlarged), 


grassy banks; and is remarkable for its elongated slender body, 
whence its name of needle-bug or water-gnat. This species is figured on p. 192, 
together with Gerris paludum and the larva of Velia cwrrens. 


192 INSECTS. 


The water-bugs, Hydrocorisa, are distinguished from the land-bugs, 
not only by their mode of life, but also by their short inconspicuous 
antennz, and are mostly dull and uniformly coloured insects, frequenting stagnant 
waters, where they swim some on their back, others with the back uppermost. They 
are all comprised in two families. Of these, the water-scorpions (Vepide) have a- 
small narrow head, and their fore-legs are specially modified to serve as prehensile 
organs. Whereas some swim actively, others drag themselves slowly along the 


Water-Bugs. 


COMMON BRITISH WATER-BUGS. 


1, The water boatman (Votonecta glauca) ; 2, The water-scorpion (Vepa cinerea), with (8) its larva and (4) its eggs ; 
5, Naucoris cimicoides ; 6, Coriza geoffroyi ; 7, Ranatra linearis ; 8, Limnobates stagnorum ; 9, Pond-skater 
(Gerris paludum), with (10) its eggs and larve ; 11, Larva of Velia currens (nat. size). 


bottom of the ponds in which they live. They are furnished with an appendage 
looking like a long tail, but consisting of two separate pieces, grooved on their inner 
surface, and capable of being locked closely together to form a tube, which leads 
to the two spiracles placed at the hind-end of the body. When the insects come 
up to breathe, the tip of this breathing-tube may be seen emerging just at the 
surface of the water. The form of the body is in some (Nepa) broad and flat; in 
others (Ranatra) elongated. The female of Nepa lays her eggs in chains on 
aquatic plants, and each egg has seven short processes radiating from one end. 
The eggs of the Ranatra are laid one by one in notches, which the female makes in 
the stems of the plant. 


RAVNCHOTLA. 893 


Certain exotic species of this family are remarkable for their great size, attain- 
ing in the genus Belostoma a length of over 4 inches. The water-boatmen 
(Notonectide) may be recognised by the large broad head without ocelli, and the 
short thick rostrum. They have long hind-legs fringed with hairs on one side, 
which they use like oars in swimming. When the insect comes to the surface to 
breathe, it rests with these long legs, stretched out like a boatman leaning on 
his sculls. Though the name NVotonectide has reference to their mode of 
swimming on the back, this habit is not characteristic of all the species. AIL 
are predaceous bugs, like all the rest of the same tribe, and are found abundantly 
in stagnant waters. Two of the common species, Votonecta glauca and Corixa 
geoffroy? are figured on p. 192. 

The Homoptera present much greater variety in external form than the 
insects of the preceding group, from which they differ in the following characters. 
The beak arises from the lower and hinder part of the head, and is, therefore, 
almost completely hidden from view. The fore-wings are, when present, of the 
same texture throughout the whole of their extent, and, in many cases, placed 
slanting, lke the 
sides of a roof, when 
at rest. ‘All the 
members of the 
section live by 
sucking the juices 
of plants; the 
females being often 
provided with a 
horny ovipositor— 
generally composed 
of three toothed 
plates, sheathed by 
two valves—for the 
purpose of making 


incisions in plants SS = ZS A Ai mM 


where the eggs are 
deposited. Unlike 
most bugs, they are 
not odoriferous insects, although many have special glands for the secretion of a 
kind of white waxy substance, often seen covering part of their body. The 
cicadas (Cicadidw) are stout-bodied insects, with a short broad head, bearing 
prominent lateral eyes, and three distinct ocelli, which are often brightly coloured 
and resemble tiny jewels set near the middle of the forehead. The short 
antenne are like small bristles inserted on the sides of the head just below the 
front margin of the eyes. The prothorax is short and broad, and the mesothorax 


EUROPEAN CICADAS. 


1, Cicada orni; 2, C. plebja and larva. 


also broad, on the upper side stretching back some distance behind to form a 

kind of shield. ‘The fore-wings are longer than the hind-pair, both being often 

glossy and transparent, but sometimes finely coloured and more or less opaque. 

Cicadas remain for a long period in the larval state, in many cases for several 
VOL. VI.—13 


194 TN SPCLS: 


years; a North American species, Cicada septemdecim, being known as the 
seventeen-year locust, since that period is the interval between one generation 
of winged insects and the next. They inhabit chiefly the warmer regions of 
the earth, of the four or five hundred species known, not more than eighteen 
being found in Europe, and these mainly in its southern parts. The song 
of the cicadas, which has been celebrated from very early times, is only 
produced by the male insects. “Happy” writes a Greek poet, “are the 
cicadas’ lives, for they all have voiceless wives.” The females are necessarily 
silent, since they are without the special apparatus for producing sound 
distinctive of the males. The two scaly plates which in the latter cover 
the under side of the base of the abdomen, are not, as sometimes supposed, the 
sound - producing organs. But if one of them be stripped off, there will be 
disclosed a cavity, divided by an oblique horny ridge into two portions, 
the inner one somewhat irregular in shape, and exhibiting tense glistening 
membranes in its walls, while the outer portion is narrow, and opens by a 
narrow mouth towards the side. Hidden in the wall of the latter chamber lies 
the membrane which is the chief organ concerned in the production of sound. 
These membranes are set in vibration by the contraction and relaxation of a pair of 
strong muscles attached to their inner faces and lying inside the body. The other 
membranes in their neighbourhood seem to serve the purpose only of modulating 
the sound. The cicadas figured are two of the commoner species from South 
Europe. Both live on ash trees, although Cicada orni selects by preference the 
mannaash. The specimen with its under side exposed may be easily recognised as 
a male, on account of the two plates, or opercula, covering the cavities in which the 
sound-apparatus is lodged. 

The lantern-flies and other insects included in the family Fulgoride are 
characterised by never having more than two ocelli, these being placed, one on 
each side, near the inner margin of the compound eyes. The latter are not large, 
and below them are inserted the short and inconspicuous antenne. The front, 
vertex, and sides of the head are usually separated from one another by sharp 
crests, and the head itself is in some cases greatly prolonged in front. The fore- 
wings are either similar in texture to the hind-pair, or else somewhat harder and 
more leathery. The Chinese lantern-fly (Hotinus candelurvus), so widely distri- 
buted in Asia, is one of the best known; the common names said to be given to it 
in China being very suggestive of its luminosity, although so far there is no trust- 
worthy evidence to show that it possesses any such property. Lantern-flies are 
nearly all prettily coloured; and of the other insects belonging to the same family 
there are some, like those of the genus Flata, rivalling in the delicacy of their 
colours the most beautiful butterflies or flowers; while others, as in the genus 
Flatoides, exhibit that curious mixture of grey and black, which, in combination 
with the flattened form of their bodies, gives them the most astonishing resemblance 
to lichen-covered bark. The species of Flata and other genera are remarkable 
also for their white tufted tails of wax, which are found more especially in the 
larvee, but are often present also in the winged insects. These insects do not stir 
far from their food-plant, on which they may be seen both in the larval and adult 
state, clustered together in large numbers, somewhat after the manner of plant-lice. 


RHYVNCHOTA. 195 


The European species of Fulgoride are not remarkable for their size or the 
brilliancy of their colours. Jssus coleoptratus is perhaps the largest British species, 
and we figure Cixius nervosus, another widely dis- 
tributed British and European species, together with 
Pseudophana europea, the scle representative in 
Europe of its genus, and sometimes spoken of as the 
European lantern-fly. 

The frog-hoppers (Cercopidw) are mostly small 
insects with a short broad head and _ stiff opaque 
elytra. They usually have two ocelli placed on the 
vertex of the head between the compound eyes; and 
their antenne are inserted, not below the eyes as in 
the Fulgoride, but between and a little way in front of them. These insects can 
give most vigorous leaps, and their hind-legs are generally thickened or other- 
wise adapted for that purpose. They feed 
on various plants, and in the summer the 
frothy masses in which their larvee lie con- 
cealed may be seen in numbers. It is from 
this habit the larve have of surrounding 
themselves in a mass of froth, known as 
cuckoo-spit, that the name Aphrophora 
(froth-bearing) has been given to one of the 
principal genera. A species of that genus is 
shown in the illustration on p. 196, where 
another form (Ledra awrita) — remarkable 
for an ear-like lobe on each side of the 
prothorax —is also figured. The family 
Membracide includes mostly exotic insects, which have in many cases an extra- 
ordinary appearance, owing to the shape of the prothorax, or the curious way in 
which it is armed with spines or knobs, or with both combined. In these insects 
the head is somewhat vertical, and usually placed rather low down; it carries very 
short antennz inserted near the front margin; and there are two ocelli between 
the compound eyes. The family is best represented in Tropical America, very few 
species being found in Europe, and two only in Britain. Centrotus cornutus, one 
of the two latter, may be recognised by the form of its prothorax, which carries 
on each side a horny spine, and is prolonged behind in another horny process, 
reaching almost to the end of the body. ' 

The leaf-fleas (Psyllidw)—included with the next two families in that section 
of the order to which the name Phytophthires has been given—are little 
jumping insects, winged in both sexes, and using their wings not so much for 
the purpose of flying as to assist in their leaps. They have moderately long 
antenne, consisting of eight or ten joints, and are thus easily distinguished 
from the Cercopidew. The head is provided with three ocelli, in addition to the 
compound eyes; and the tarsi are two-jointed. Owing to their method of 
locomotion, these insects are not liable to be mistaken for plant-lice, although, like 
these insects, they infest the leaves and buds of plants. They prick the leaves to 


Cixius nervosus (enlarged). 


196 INSECTS. 


feed on the sap, their puncture being often followed by the formation of gall-like 
swellings. The figured Psylla geniste feeds on the broom, but other species are 


(both enlarged); 3, Aphrophora spumaria; 4, 
Larva of the same. 


found on apple and pear trees. The plant- 
lice (Aphid) are small insects, which make 
up in numbers what they lack in size, and, 
owing to the injury they inflict on plants, 
must be ranked amongst the greatest pests 
with which the gardener and _ horticulturist 
have to contend. They are those soft, pulpy 
little creatures, with rather long antennze 
and conspicuous round eyes, so commonly 
seen crowded together on the under side of 
leaves, in buds and flowers, in clefts in the 
bark of trees, and sometimes even on the 
roots. The antennz are composed of from 
three to seven joints, on some of which are 
a number of curious rounded pits, probably 
of a sensory nature. The eyes are placed 
on the sides of the head, and each has 
often a sort of supplementary eye attached 
to its hind border; while in the winged 
aphides there are three ocelli on the crown 
of the head. The beak is composed of 
three jomts; and the tarsi are two-jointed 
and terminate in two claws. Wings, as a 
rule, are found only in the adult males and 
in some of those generations of asexual 
individuals to be mentioned presently. The 


fore-wings are longer than the hind-pair, and placed in repose like a roof over the 


hind part of the body. Both pairs 
have a scanty venation, consisting in 
each wing of a single longitudinal 
vein, and of some simple or forked 
branches given off obliquely from it. 
The number of species is considerable, 
and there is scarcely a single kind of 
plant that does not suffer as the 
special host of some one or more. 
Many are green, whence the name of 
green-fly by which they are com- 
monly known; others are black, red, 


Centrotus cornutus (slightly enlarged). 


or some other colour. They are usually named after 
the plants on which they more particularly live, 
though each species is not necessarily confined to one 
kind of plant. Thus we have the plant-louse of the 


Psylla geniste (six times nat. size), rose (Aphis rosce); the green aphis of the apple (A. 


RHVNCHOTA. 197 


mali), which is found also on the pear and sloe tree; the cherry aphis (A. ceras?), 
and a host of others named in the same manner. The life-history of plant- 
lice is very complicated; and although differing somewhat in different species 
is always characterised by what is known as an alternation of generations. 
There are several broods or generations of these insects in the course of a year, 
but it is only in the last autumn brood that true sexual individuals are found. 
The males are generally provided with wings, but the females are larger 


VINE-PHYLLOXERA (much enlarged). 


land 2, The wingless form found on the root, seen from above and below; 3, The same from the side; 4, Its 


a 


piercing organs ; 5, Winged individual; 6, Rootlets of the vine, with swellings caused by the Phylloxera ; 
7, An old root stock, with (8) hibernating individuals. 


and wingless; they lay fertilised eggs, from which, in the following spring, 
the first brood of the year is produced. The insects of this brood are usually 
wingless, and give birth to living young, or, as in the genus Phylloxera, lay eggs 
from which the young subsequently develop. The new brood, thus produced 
parthenogenetically, resembles the one from which it has sprung, and gives rise to 
a fresh brood in a similar manner. As many as nine or ten generations may 
succeed one another in this way during the course of the season, before the appear- 
ance in the autumn of the last or sexual generation. The brood preceding and 


198 INSECTS. 


giving rise to the latter often consists of winged individuals, which leave the plant 
on which they were born and fly to some other. In the genus Phylloxera, the 
males are wingless and each of the sexual females lays but a single egg, known as 
the winter egg ; but in other forms the number is often much greater. Each of 
the parthenogenetic females of Phyllowera may in the course of its life lay as 
many as two hundred eggs, and each of the viviparous females of other species may 
give birth before they die to forty or fifty young. When we consider that there 
are several generations every year, it can be easily understood how it is that these 
insects spread with such rapidity; and a sum in geometrical progression would 
show that the individuals which might arise in the course of a year from a single 
winter egg of Phylloxera, are not to be counted by hundreds or thousands, but by 
millions. Other species are capable of multiplying as rapidly. Fortunately, 
plant-lice have many enemies, such as the larvee of lady-bird beetles, of lace-wing 
flies, and of the flies of the family Syrphidew. These larvee devour great numbers, 
and ichneumon-flies also help to keep them in check. Plant-lice are divided into 
a number of subfamilies, of which the first is represented by the genus Aphis. In 
this genus the antenne are seven-jointed and about as long as the body; the two 
horny tubes called cornicles, which project from the back of the abdomen, are also 
characteristic. Through these tubes the lice secrete a sweet kind of liquid much 
sought after by ants, who, in an affectionate way, come and caress the aphides in 
order to obtain it. The sticky substance known as honey-dew, which is often 
spread in a shiny layer over the upper surface of leaves, is, in most cases, nothing 
but the liquid dropped by the crowds of plant-lice living above on the under side of 
other leaves. The members of the allied subfamily Lachnine have six-jointed 
antenne, and instead of cornicles possess prominent grandular structures placed on 
the back of the abdomen. ‘The figured Lachnus punctatus is found on the willow. 
The apple-blight insect (Schizonewra lanigera), 
which may be recognised by the white fluff 
covering in the wingless individuals the back 
of the abdomen, belongs to another subfamily. 
The winged individuals of this species are 
black, whereas those devoid of wings are of a 
yellowish or reddish brown colour, and live in 
the crevices of bark. The species is supposed 
to have been introduced from America, and was 
consequently at first known as American blight. In the genus Phylloxera— 
distinguished among other characters by the three-jointed antennae—one species 
lives on the leaves of the oak-tree, while a second (P. vastatriz) is the dreaded 
insect so destructive to the leaves and roots of the vine. These, hke many other 
species of the family, cause the formation of galls on the leaves and roots which 
they attack. The curious galls with the appearance of small fir cones, so often 
seen on young shoots of the spruce-fir, are caused by a species (Chermes abvetis) 
remarkable for its complicated life-history. 

The scale-insects (Coccidw), which owe their name to the fact that the larvee 
and females of many species look like oval or rounded scales attached to the bark 
and leaves of plants, are very dissimilar in the two sexes. The adult males are 


Lachnus punctatus (six times nat. size). 


RH VNCHOTA.- 199 


provided with one pair of wings; the hind-wings being rudimentary or altogether 
absent; they have rather long antenne, distinct eyes, and, in some cases, are 
furnished with two long bristle-like 
tails. These winged males are very 
rarely seen, which is accounted for by 
the fact that their mouth-parts are 
atrophied, so that they are incapable of 
taking nourishment, and live only a 
short time. The females are always 
wingless, and usually remain fixed to 
one spot, with their beak buried in the 
tissues of the plant, and their back 
often spread out in the form of a shield 
covering the head and body. The beak SPRUCE-GALL APHID (Ohermes abietis). 

1s generally three-jointed, the antennse 4@, Larva; 2, An older larva with its moulded skin still 
are short, and in the tarsi, which appear ee ‘ iar Sees eae Es 

arged, 

at first sight to consist of but one joint, 

two or three joints may on close examination be distinguished, the last ending, as 
a rule, in a single claw. In many species the female dies shortly after laying eggs 
beneath her when her body dries up and remains as a protective cover for them. 
When the larvee are hatched they soon leave this shelter, and rove about the food 
plant in search of a suitable place in which to insert their beaks and begin the 


operation of pumping up the sap. They cast their skin several times in the course 
of their growth; and those which become adult females undergo no great change 
in appearance, beyond an increase in their size, 2 gradual lengthening of the 
ae antenne, and a partial or almost complete obliter- 

HS ation of the segmentation of their bodies. With 

“SS the male larve the case is different ; these, unlike 
all others belonging to the order,undergoing a true 
metamorphosis before reaching the perfect state. 
Each prepares for itself a sort of cocoon, and 
it becomes transformed into a quiescent pupa, 
from which, after a certain lapse of time, the 
winged insect emerges. In Orthezia and other 
genera the female, instead of keeping to one spot 
on the food-plant, moves about and taps it at 
different points in order to extract the sap. 
When the eggs are laid, she envelops them in 
a kind of white cottony secretion and leaves 
them. Some species penetrate beneath the 
epidermis of their food-plant, and often cause 


the formation of galls, which, growing up around 
them, sometimes take the most extraordinary 
shapes. Scale-insects are probably more numerous within the tropics than in more 
temperate regions, although comparatively few of these tropical species have been 
described.’ These insects are found on the bark and leaves, and sometimes 


FEMALE OF Orthezia wrticw (nat. size). 


200 JOINESIO (CIES. 


even on the roots of several different kinds of plants. They multiply rapidly, 
and often prove as injurious as the most noxious plant-lice. The orange, 
apricot, olive, peach, fig, and other fruit trees, as well as ornamental shrubs 
like the rose, have each their own species, from which they sometimes suffer 
severely. Some years ago the orange-plantations of California were threatened 
with ruin owing to the ravages of Icerya purchast, which had been accident- 
ally imported from Australia, and had spread with great rapidity. Experts 
were sent to Australia to try and discover the natural enemies of the insect 
in its native country; it was found that the scale-insect was there kept in check 
by dipterous and hymenopterous parasites, but chiefly by the larvee of a lady- 
bird beetle. A number of these beetles and parasitic insects were brought to 
America, and set to prey upon the Coccidw. When they had multiplied sufficiently, 
they were distributed amongst several orange-plantations, with the result that 
many were soon almost entirely cleared of the scaly-bug. Though many species 


COCHINEAL INSECT (Coccus cacti), with enlarged figures to the left of (1) the male and (2) female. 


of Coccide have to be combated because of their injuries, there are a few which 
are cultivated on account of the useful products they yield. Among these, the 
cochineal insect (Coccus cacti) is a native of Mexico and other parts of Central 
America, where it feeds on a species of cactus; but it has been introduced into 
Spain, Algeria, and a few other countries. The male is of a dark red colour, with 
pale wings; the female has a reddish brown colour, but her body, which shows a 
distinct segmentation until the time of laying, is covered with a white powder. 
About seventy thousand dried bodies of these insects, chiefly females, are said to be 
contained in a single pound of cochineal. Long before the introduction of cochineal 
into Europe, two native species of Coccidw had been used for similar purposes. 
The dye with which the ancients produced their deep red or crimson colours was 
obtained from Cermes vermilio, known to the Greeks as kokkos and to the 
Arabians and Persians as kermes or alkermes. Another species (Porphyrophora 
polonica), formerly known as the scarlet grain of Poland, is found in many parts 
of Central Europe, and was at one time extensively collected for the sake of the 
ved dye it afforded. The lac-insect (Carteria lacca) of the Oriental countries, 


TH VSANOPTERA. 201 


not only furnishes the colouring matter called lac-dye, but causes also an exudation 
of a resinous substance, gum-lac, from the bark of the trees on which it lives. 
Stick-lac is the name given to this substance in its native state while still adhering 
to the twigs of the tree; when separated, pounded and freed by washing from its 
colouring matter, it is known as seed-lac, which after further preparation becomes 
lump-lae or shellac. 

The Pediculina, or true lice, as distinguished from the bird-lice of the order 
Orthoptera, are provided with piercing and suctorial mouth-parts, and live on 
the blood of animals, to which by this means they are enabled to gain access. 
Though they are without wings, and were at one time associated with other 
wingless insects in a separate order, lice are now generally regarded as de- 
graded forms of Rhynchota, in which the 
wingless condition has been brought about 
as an adaptation to their parasitic life. In 
these insects the head is set horizontally, and 
carries short, cylindrical, and usually five- 
jointed antenne; the eyes are small and 


: 1, HEAD-LOUSE WITH ITS EGGS ; 2, BODY-LOUSE ; 
simple; and the mouth consists externally of 3, CRAB-LOUSE. (All greatly enlarged.) 


a soft, retractile beak, somewhat conical in 

shape, and furnished below with a row of hooks for attachment. Within the 
fleshy beak there are four grooved pieces, forming by their juxtaposition an inner 
membranous tube, which ean be extended beyond its sheath, and acts both as a 
piercing organ and as a conduit for the passage of the blood which is sucked up by 
the insect. The thorax is small and not distinctly divided into segments, while the 
abdomen is relatively large, generally somewhat elliptical in outline, and exhibits 
seven or eight clearly marked segments. The tarsi are two-jointed, with the 
second joint in the form of a claw which can be turned back towards the first. 
Lice multiply rapidly, one generation succeeding another in a short space of time. 
Their pear-shaped eggs are generally found attached to the bases of the hairs; the 
young, which are hatched after about eight days, undergo no metamorphosis, and, 
in some cases, require only about eighteen days before becoming adult. 


Order THYSANOPTERA. 


The insects comprised in this order—some of them familiar enough to gardeners 
are all small. A few species only 


and others, by whom they are known as thrips 
exceed four or five lines in length, while the great majority are less than a tenth 
of an inch long. They are distinguished from all other insects by certain 
peculiarities in the structure of their mouth and of their wings and tarsi. The 
mouth lies far back on the under side of the head; its mandibles are transformed 
into a pair of piercing sete, while the upper lip, maxille and labium—the two 
are united together to form a short suctorial 


latter, provided with short palpi 
tube. The wings are small and narrow, contain few nervures, and are thickly 
fringed all round with long hairs. Two pairs of such wings are generally present, 
but in some cases they may be rudimentary or altogether wanting. The tarsi, 
which consist of one, two, or three joints, are without claws at the end, but are 


202 SOMSIO( GIES: 


furnished instead with small vesicular lobes, by means of which they adhere to 
the surface on which they rest. To these characters of the order we may add that 
the body is narrow and cylindrical ; the 
thorax is formed of three, and the ab- 
domen of ten segments; there are only 
three or four pairs of spiracular openings 
—two on the abdomen, and one or two 
on the thorax ; three ocelli are generally 
present on the head in addition to the Basis en 
fairly large faceted eyes; and the (greatly enlarged). 
antennee are composed of from seven to 
nine joints. The larvee have a general resemblance to the adult 
insects, and in their last stage they remain inactive and take no 
eruate corn-rurrps OUrIShment. Less than a hundred species of Thysanoptera, 
(much magnified) belonging mostly to the European fauna, have been described. 
These little insects are frequently to be seen on flowers, and on 
other parts of plants. They feed upon the juices, and when present in large 
numbers are capable of doing an appreciable amount of injury. Some destroy 
the pollen grains, and so prevent the fertilisation of the flowers. The corn-thrips 
(Thrips cerealium) sucks the young grains on the ears of corn, and stops their 
further growth. Heliothrips hwmorrhoidalis, another species which we figure, is 
common in hothouses, where it may be found on the young buds of several 
different kinds of plants. 


Order THYSANURA. 


The Thysanura are active little insects, which live generally in obscure places 
and are mostly of too small a size to attract much attention. They never exhibit 
any trace of wings, undergo no metamorphosis, and have a distinctly segmented 
body, which is usually covered with hairs or scales and furnished behind either 
with a forked tail, used as a_ springing 
apparatus, or with two or three long, jointed 
appendages, which sometimes serve a similar 
purpose. Characterised on the whole by a 
somewhat primitive type of structure, and, 
in general appearance resembling the larvze 
rather than the adult forms of other insects, 
the Thysanura are in some cases distinguished 
by special features of great interest. The 
spring-tails (Collembola) are all furnished on 
the under side of the first abdominal segment 
with a curious tube or sucker, from the 
mouth of which a glandular process, secreting Podura villosa (nat. size and greatly enlarged). 
a viscid matter, can be protruded ; they are 
remarkabie also from the fact that in most of them no trace of a tracheal system 
has yet been discovered. In the Collembola the eyes, when present, are in the form 


of simple or grouped ocelli; the antennz: number not more than six joints, and the 


TH YVSANOPTERA. 2103 


abdomen has at most but six segments and very often only three. The forked tail, 
which is attached to one of the hinder segments, is usually turned forwards and held 
in position under the body; when released, it springs back, striking the surface of 
support, and causes the insect to bound up into the air. These little insects are to 
be found commonly enough under flower-pots, leaves, and stones, or under the 
bark of trees and in other such situations. They may sometimes be seen collected 
together in great numbers, and spread over the surface of the ground like a layer 
of powder. Some species, such as Podura aquatica, may frequently be seen floating 
in patches on pools of water, and by striking 
their tails against the surface of the water, they can 
spring up into the air just as readily as others do 
from the ground. Desoria glacialis is an inter- 
esting species, found in Alpine regions, where it is 
often to be met with on the surface of the ice. Desoria glacialis (greatly enlarged). 
The bristle-tails (Thysanura proper) form but a 


small number of genera, some of which are very remarkable in having a series of 
small rudimentary legs on each side of the abdomen in addition to the ordinary six 
legs borne by the thorax. In all the genera the antenne are formed of a large 
number of joints; and the abdomen shows ten distinct segments, and, except in the 
genus Japyz, carries at the end two or three long jointed tails. Japya has instead 
a pair of short pincers like an earwig. The little silver-fish (Lepisma saccharina) 
is one of the best known insects belonging to this suborder. Found very often in 
damp corners in houses, among old books or papers, it may be recognised by the 
silvery scales covering its body, and by its three bristle-lke tails, of which the 
middle one is the longest. It feeds on the paste in the binding of books, and on 
sugary and starchy substances generally, though it is credited also with eating 
paper and linen. Thermophila furnorwm is a species which lives in bakehouses, 
where, as its name implies, it is often found in the ovens. 

Machilis is one of the genera in which the abdomen is provided with rudi- 
mentary legs in the form of small cylindrical appendages, each of which is 
accompanied by two small protrusible sac-like organs. An appendage similar 
to those on the abdomen is attached to each of the coxee of the two hinder pairs 
of legs. The body, covered over with scales, is arched up in the middle, as in 
Lepisma, and carries three tails. The eyes are large and faceted; and the palpi 
are long, those of the maxille looking like a second pair of antenne. Two species 
of this genus are found in Great Britain; one being common about rocks at the 
seaside, while the other is to be met with under stones in different parts of the 
country. Campodea staphylinus, the last insect we have to mention, is a pale, 
soft-bodied little creature, which is common almost everywhere under stones and 
in loose garden soil. It runs actively, and has two very long tails which it sticks 
up in the air or turns forward over its body. It has no eyes; the antenne are 
shorter than the tails and of equal thickness throughout; and the abdomen has 
seven pairs of rudimentary appendages. 

C. J. GAHAN. 


C HAP asks al. 


JOINTED ANIMALS,—continued. 


CENTIPEDES, MILLIPEDES, SCORPIONS, AND SPIDERS,—Classes 
Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Arachnida, etc. 


Characters of ACCORDING to modern views, centipedes are regarded as near allies 

Centipedes. of insects, the chief differences between the two groups being that 
whereas in the latter there are only three pairs of jaws attached to the lower 
surface of the head, in the former four pairs of appendages are modified to act 
as masticating organs. Moreover, the body of an insect is sharply divided 
into an anterior portion, or thorax, bearing three pairs of walking legs, and a 
posterior half, or abdomen, which in the adult at least is not provided with 
locomotor linbs, but the body of a centipede is composed of a large and varying 
number of segments, substantially alike in structure, and each bearing a single 
pair of legs. The number of segments varies from fifteen to considerably over 
one hundred, yet no matter how many vairs of legs there may be—whether it be 
fifteen or one hundred and twenty-one 


their number is invariably odd. 

The head bears a pair of elongate antennz in front, and often eyes arranged 
in two clusters at the sides. On its lower surface may be seen the four pairs 
of jaws. The first pair, or mandibles, are two-jointed and have a biting edge; 
the second pair, or maxillee, are soft, leaf-like, and united together in the middle 
line, each consisting of an outer jointed and an inner unjointed branch. The third 
pair, known as the first maxillipedes, are composed of four or five segments, and 
much resemble one of the walking limbs, being tipped with a claw. The fourth 
pair, or second maxillipedes, are large, powerful, and project forwards below the 
rest, so as more or less to conceal them from view. Their basal segments are 
usually fused to form a massive coxal plate, while the rest of the jaw consists of 
four segments, the terminal one being a long fang with a minute aperture at the 
tip, through which exudes poison secreted by a gland lodged inside the appendage. 
These two pairs of maxillipedes do not strictly belong to the head, since the dorsal 
elements of the segments that bear them are either distinct, or are united with 
the tergal plate of the following segment to constitute a-massive basilar plate. 

The rest of the body is composed of a varying number of segments, each 
consisting externally of a dorsal plate or tergum, and a ventral plate or sternum, 
connected laterally by a softer pleural membrane, to which the legs are articulated. 
These latter are usually short, composed of six or seven segments, and each is tipped 
with a single claw, and often furnished in addition with spines. The last pair are 
generally longer and stronger than the rest, and sometimes considerably modified 


CHARACTERISLTES: 205 


in structure. Breathing is effected by tracheal tubes, which open by means 
of stigmata, placed almost always upon the pleural membrane of the segments. 

Centipedes are divided into two subclasses—Anartiostigma, or those with 
unpaired dorsal stigmata, and Artiostigma, or those with paired lateral stigmata. 
In the former group, which contains the single family Scutigeride and the 
genus Scutigera, the head is furnished with a pair of large, compound, faceted 
eyes, the widely separated antennz are exceedingly long and thread-like; and 
the body, although composed of fifteen segments, has only eight dorsal plates, 
all of which except the last are furnished in the middle of the hinder border 
with a single large respiratory stigma. The first pair of maxillipedes consists 
of five segments, and the cox of the second pair, or poison-jaws, are not 
united; the legs are very long and their tarsi 
composed of a multitude of minute segments. 
The species of the genus Scutigera are distributed ; 
over all tropical and subtropical countries. Most | 
are of small size, with the body only about an 
inch in length, but in India and China there are 
species (S. longicornis and S. clunifera) which 
may reach a length of several inches. The 
majority are vividly coloured with black and 
yellow stripes or spots, and all are remarkable 
for their extreme agility, and the readiness with 
which, when handled, they part with their legs. 
None are indigenous to Britain, but the common 
South European S. coleoptrata has been itroduced 
into a paper-mill near Aberdeen, where, protected 
by the artificial heat, it has become established, 
and breeds. Unlike the rest of the centipedes, 
which habitually shun the light, the species of a1aide MapeD GaRMEEDRS Smee 
Scutigera may be seen in their native haunts (nat. size). 
darting about and catching insects regardless 
of the blazing sun. They are, however, by no means strictly diurnal, and the 
American 8S. forceps will come out in numbers at night to feed on flies. 

In the Artiostigma the stigmata are paired, and open upon the pleural 
membrane of all or some of the segments. There are the same number of tergal as 
of sternal plates; the eyes, when present, are not faceted, but consist of simple 
ocelli; the antennz are stouter and not thread-like ; the first maxillipedes consist of 
four segments, and the cox of the poison-jaws are united. The subclass contains 
the orders Lithobiomorpha, Scolopendromorpha, and Geophilomorpha. The first 
of these approaches the Anartiostigma in many characters, particularly in being 
furnished with fifteen pairs of legs, the coxee of which are of large size; and in one 
of the genera (Cermatobius), which forms by itself the family Cermatobiide, the 
tarsi of the legs are many-jointed. There are either six or seven pairs of stigmata, 
situated upon the first, third, fifth, eighth, tenth, twelfth and fourteenth leg- 
bearing segments in Henicops and Cermatobius, while those on the first have 
disappeared in Lithobius. In the latter genus, which with Henicops makes up 


206 CENTIPEDES. 


the family Lithobiide, the eyes consist of a cluster of ocelli on each side of the 
head, while in the other two there is only one pair of ocelli. Except in 
Cermatobius, the coxe of the last five pairs of limbs are furnished with organs 
known as the coxal pores, which are the apertures of special glands. 

The members of this order are found in all temperate and tropical regions, 
living often in pairs under stones, logs of wood, ete. The species of Lithobius are 
particularly abundant, and reach their largest size in the temperate parts of the 
Northern Hemisphere. A few only have been recorded from India and Australia, 
but none occur in Africa south of the Sahara, nor, with the single exception of a 
possibly introduced species in South America. In the Southern Hemisphere the 
genus is largely replaced by Henzcops, which is represented in Europe and North 
America by a single small species, but has many larger forms in South Africa, 
Australia, New Zealand, and Chili. The single species of Cernmatobiws occurs in 
Halmahira, one of the Moluccas. There are about half a dozen species of 
Lithobius in the British Islands, one of 
the commonest and largest being L. 
jorficatus, represented in the figure. 
Almost equally common and equally 
large, although seldom found close to 
houses, is L. variegatus,—a_brightly- 
coloured species with banded legs,—which 
is confined to the British and Channel 


X NG He Islands. The largest known species is 

WAAR Sy ; i 

\ BSS Raa Eee, Ve the handsome ZL. fasciatus, measuring 2 
=~ as mr, i eae x 


aoe PE Recon aa “* inches in length, and occurring in many 

of the southern countries of Europe. In 
all cases the females—which may be recognised by the presence of a pair of dwarfed, 
claw-tipped appendages behind the last pair of legs—lay their sticky eggs one 
at a time, and roll them in the soil until they become coated with earth, and 
consequently protected from observation. The young, like those of Scutigera, 
are hatched from the egg with only seven pairs of legs, the remaining eight 
pairs being added during growth. The food of these centipedes consist of worms, 
insects, ete., which are killed by the poisonous bite of their destroyer. 

The second order, or Scolopendromorpha, contains the giants of the group, some 
of the tropical species of Scolopendra reaching a length of almost 12 inches. The 
legs vary in number from twenty-one to twenty-three pairs, and there are either 
nineteen pairs of stigmata, as in the aberrant genus Plutonium from Italy, or 
more usually nine or ten pairs situated upon the third, fifth, eighth (sometimes 
also the seventh), tenth, and alternate segments of even number. The eyes are 
either absent or consist of four ocelli on each side of the head, and the segments of 
the antennse vary in number from seventeen to twenty-nine. The members of 
this order are referable to four families, the Scolopendride, Scolopocryptopide, 
Newportiide, and Cryptopide. Both the Scolopoeryptopide and Newportiide 
have twenty-three pairs of legs, but in the latter, which is confined to the South 
American region, the legs of the last pair are clawless and have their terminal 
Segments many jointed and evidently functioning as antenne, so that the 


CENTIIPEDES. 2077 


centipedes may be said to have a pair of feelers at each end of the body. The 
Cryptopide resemble the preceding in being blind, but have only twenty-one pairs 
of legs. They are all of small size, rarely exceeding an inch in length, and are 
spread all over the world, extending farther to the north than any other forms. 
One, namely, Cryptops hortensis, is by no means uncommon in England. The most 
important forms belong, however, to the Scolopendridw, which in number of 
genera and species is far superior to the others. Like the Cryptopide they have 
twenty-one pairs of legs, but the 
tarsi of these appendages are 
bisegmented, and there are four 
eyes on each side of the head. 
From the shores of the Mediter- 
ranean in the west, and from 
China and Japan in the east, 
this family spreads southwards 
over the entire Eastern Hemii- 
sphere, while in America it 
ranges from the Southern 


CENTIPEDE (Scolopendra morsitans) DEVOURING A BEETLE LARVA 


United States to Chili and (reduced). 

Argentina. The larger members 

of the group are a foot in length, and very venomous, although their bite is seldom 
fatal to man. The Scolopendride live under stones and logs, and in the tropics 
frequently take refuge in bedding, boots, or clothes. Their food consists principally 
of cockroaches, beetles, worms, etc.; but they do not seem to be particular as to 


diet, since some have been found devouring lizards of 
larger size than themselves, and one kept for more than 
a year in the London Zoological Gardens was fed upon 
mice. The female lays her eggs in clusters like berries 
on the ground in some damp obscure place, and coiling 
herself round them remains immovable until the young 
are hatched and have gained strength enough to scatter 
in search of prey. When kept without food in captivity 
the mother will feed upon her young. The growth of 
these centipedes, and probably of all members of the 
group, is accompanied by casting of the entire integu- 
ment. The membrane at the back and sides of the head 
splits, the head-plate turns forwards, and through the 
aperture thus made the new centipede gradually 
struggles, leaving behind the old skin with its posterior 
segments retracted within those that le in front like 
the pieces of a telescope. The genera of Scolopendride 


UPPER SURFACE OF HEAD OF 
Geophilus tenuitarsus (much 
enlarged), the most remarkable being the African Alipes, which 


has the last three segments of the last pair of legs 
flattened and leaf-like. The reason of this modification is unknown, but the 
creature is said to make a noise by knocking and rubbing its legs together. 


present a strong family likeness to each other; one of 


208 CENTIPEDES AND MILTIPEDES. 


The order Geophilomorpha, represented by the family Geophilide, includes the 
long worm-like centipedes, with the segments varying in number from thirty-nine 
to over a hundred. There are no eyes, and the short thick antenne are always 
composed of fourteen segments. Each segment of the body, with the exception 
of the first and last, bears a pair of stigmata and is double, an anterior portion being 
cut off by a distinct joint. The Geophilide, which are distributed all over the world, 
with the exception of the polar areas, are subterranean in their habits, burrowing 
after the manner of earth-worms, upon which they almost wholly subsist. Two 
exceptions, however, to this rule must be mentioned, namely, Linotenia maritima 
and Schendyla submarina, both of which have been obtained upon the shores of 
Western Europe, beneath stones at low-water mark. Although this is a strange 
habitat for animals, air-breathing species typically terrestrial can withstand 
immersion in sea-water for many hours, and in fresh water from one to two 


GEOPHILUS GRAPPLING WITH EARTH-WORM (nat, size), 


weeks. Many of the species emit a phosphorescent fluid from glands opening 
upon the sternal surface of the segments. In Europe the time for the appear- 
ance of the phenomenon is between the end of September and the beginning 
of November. Although its import is not understood, it appears to be connected 
in some manner with the mating of the sexes. A small reddish species (Linotenia 
crassipes) is the one most commonly found exhibiting this phosphorescence in 
England. 

Remains of fossil centipedes referable to the existing groups occur in amber 
beds belonging to the middle portion of the Tertiary period; while mere aberrant 
types have been discovered in the Paleozoic rocks of the United States. 

To a certain extent, connecting the centipedes with the millipedes and insects, 
is the class Symphyla, containing the single genus Scolopendrella. This is repre- 
sented by minute pale-coloured creatures, with long thread-like antenne, fifteen 
or sixteen hody-segments, and twelve pair of legs, each of which is armed with 
two claws. It further differs from the centipedes in having only two pairs of 
jaws, as in the millipedes. Scolopendrella, which includes two British species, also 
occurs In North America, India, and Sumatra. 


THE MILLIPEDES,—Class Diplopoda. 


Although millipedes and centipedes were formerly united to form the class 
Myriopoda, it has been discovered that the characters in which they resemble each 


MILETPEDES: ZO 


other are comparatively trifling, and that the present group is much less closely 
related to the insects than are the centipedes. In addition to certain anatomical 
features, millipedes differ from centipedes in the following points. They have only 
two pairs of jaws, namely, the mandibles—which are usually three-jointed—and the 
maxillz, which unite to form a large plate or gnathochilarium, acting as a lower 
lip. Besides these two pairs of appendages, the head is furnished usually with two 
clusters of eyes, and always with a pair of short antennz, never composed of 
more than eight segments, and usually of seven. The body consists as in the 
centipedes of a varying, often large, number of segments, some of which are 
furnished with two pairs of legs, and thus represent two primitive segments fused 
together. These segments are usually cylindrical in section, and although each 


A SUMATRAN MILLIPEDE, Platyrrhachus mirandus (nat. size), 


may consist of as many as five skeletal pieces, these are frequently fused together 
to form a single horny ring. The sternal surface, or the area between the bases of 
the legs, is generally reduced to a narrow strip, the legs being almost or quite in 
contact in the middle of the lower surface. The stigmata or breathing apertures 
are placed close to the base of the limbs on their outer side; and in addition to 
these apertures, there is often a pair of orifices in each segment (except the last 
and the first four) giving exit to an odorous fluid which serves as a protection to 
its possessors. The legs are short and generally composed of ae 


= \i 7. Ve 
NY 


six segments, tipped with a single terminal claw. The last 
segment is devoid of appendages, and furnished with a pair 
of movable flaps or doors, closing over the hinder end of the 
alimentary canal. 

Millipedes are divided into two subclasses, Pselaphognatha 
and Chilognatha. The former, with the single family Poly-  =S47™"™B2-— 
xenide, contains minute, rather soft-bodied forms, only about EW ppisry, WZ 
one-tenth of an inch in length, in which the body is composed 
of nine segments and bears thirteen pairs of legs. The head 
and dorsal plates are furnished with transverse rows of 
remarkably formed somewhat scale-like hairs, and there is a . 
great tuft of similar hairs upon the sides of each segment, Piigrceriateanete 
while the last joint is furnished with a backwardly projecting 
tubular brush of straight bristles. The antennze are eight-jointed, and there are no 
thick glands. These minute creatures live beneath stones or the bark of trees. A 
species of the typical Pelyxenus is shown in the illustration. In the Chilognatha 

VOL. VI.—14 


210 MILTTPE DEES. 


the antennex are seven-jointed, and the body is not furnished with tufts of scale-like 
hairs. The group is divisible into the orders Oniscomorpha, Limacomorpha, and 
Helminthomorpha. In the former, as represented by the pill-millipedes, the body 
is short and broad, convex above and _ flat 
below, with the second and last segments 
enormously enlarged, and capable of being 
rolled up into a ball. The skeletal pieces 
which compose the segments are distinct and 
movably jointed together. Each typical 
SUMATRAN PILL-MILLIPEDE, Sphwopeeus (nat. size), Segment consists of seven pieces; a large 

and vaulted tergum forming the upper sur- 
face and concealing the legs; while beneath this on each side there is a small pleural 
piece, and between this and the two legs two still smaller tracheal plates bearing the 
stigmata. The legs are in contact in the middle line of the body, and those of the 
last pair are enlarged in the male and transformed into a pair of clasping organs. 
Of the two families into which the order is divided the Glomeride, or small pill- 
millipedes of Kurope, have the antennze close together upon the front of the head 
the eyes with a single row of ocelli, and the 


body consists of only twelve segments. In 
the Zephroniide, or large tropical pill- 
millipedes, the antennze are situated on the 
sides of the head, the eyes are composed of 
a spherical cluster of ocelli, and the body 
consists of thirteen segments. In the South 
African genus Spherotherium the last 
pair of legs in the male is furnished with 
a well developed stridulating apparatus, 
consisting of a finely ridged plate, which 


by being rubbed against a set of granules 
on the inner surface of the last tergal shield, ENGLISH PILL-MILLIPEDE (nat. size). 

gives rise to an audible sound. Although 

no representatives occur in America, the order is spread over the Eastern Hemi- 
sphere, the Glomeride@ ranging over Europe and thence into India and Borneo, while 
the Zephroniide occur in South Africa, Madagascar, India, the Malay Peninsula, 
Australia, and New Zealand. 

The Limacomorpha, or slug-like millipedes, form a small group, containing but 
two known genera and three species included in the family Glomeridesmide. 
The body is composed of nineteen or twenty segments, all of them being approxi- 
mately equal in size and similar in form, and none of them abruptly larger than the 
rest. The body is capable of being spirally coiled; its seginents are formed 
much as in the Oniscomorpha, but the tracheal plates are not distinct. The last 
tergal plate, although small, forms a hood which covers over the last pair of legs, 
and these are modified in form as in the males of the Oniscomorpha. The rest of 
the legs are composed of only six segments, the basal of which is much enlarged. 
There are no true eyes. Glomeridesmus, the typical genus, is known from two 
species, found respectively in New Granada and in St. Vincent; the other genus, 


MILELIPEDES. 201 


Zephroniodesmus, occurring in Sumatra. None of the species exceed a quarter of an 
inch in length. 

In the Helminthomorpha, or worm-like millipedes, which comprise the majority 
of the species, the body is composed of from nineteen to over ninety segments, is 
usually elongate and slender, and capable of being spirally coiled. The characters 
by which this group may be distinguished from the two preceding are that the last 
tergal plate forms a complete ring, enclosing the pair of valves and sternum, and 
that the tracheal plates take the form of two median sternal pieces, to which the 
legs are directly articulated. Moreover, the pleural scutes, although sometimes free, 
are less distinct than in the preceding groups. The order is divided into the sub- 
orders Colobognatha, Chordeumoidea, Callipodoidea, Iuloidea, and Polydesmoidea. 
In the first of these the mandibles have undergone great degeneration, and in the 
most modified forms (Siphonophora), the lower edge of the head (labrum) and the 
lower lip (gnathochilarium) are together produced into a long, piercing snout. The 
pedal lamin, or sterna, are always free and movable, as are rarely the pleure. 
The secreting pores are present on all the segments, with the exception of the first 
four and the last; the parts of the segments around the pores being sometimes 
produced into wide plate- or rod-like processes covering the legs. The body 
segments vary in number from about thirty to over seventy, although the largest 
members of this group seldom exceed an inch in length, and are generally shorter. 
These millipedes occur in the tropical countries of both hemispheres, one form 
(Polyzonium germanicum) extending into Central Europe. In the Chordeumoidea 
there are no excretory pores, but each segment bears six symmetrically-arranged 
bristles. There are usually either thirty or thirty-two body segments; the pedal 
laminz are always free, and often the tergal plate is keeled, or furnished with a 
large lateral pro- 


cess on each. side. 
There is a pair of 
eyes on the head, 
and the jaws are 
normally devel- 
oped. | 

The lIuloidea, ¢Axckey aN C$ 2 ass caster 
which is the largest <s | cs 
suborder of the 
wortn-like — milli- 
pedes, contains 


families which may MILLIPEDE, Julus sabulosus (enlarged twice). 

be — distinguished 

from the last group by having the pedal lamin united to the terga. Some of 
the tropical species reach 6 inches or more in length, and are the largest millipedes. 
Of the families, the Spirostreptide are spread over all tropical countries, but 
scarcely migrate into temperate climes: while the Julidew reach their maximum 
development in Europe and the United States, and are only sparsely represented 
in the Tropics. The Cambalidw are remarkable for the presence of crests and 


tubercles on their segments. 


212 MWIGIEIGIGET DIDI ES, 


The suborder Polydesmoidea is almost as extensive as the Tuloidea, its members 
being spread over the habitable world. The largest species belonging to the genus 
Platyrrhachus, which reach a length of several inches, occur in Tropical America 
and the East Indies. In all, the number of segments is nineteen or twenty, or the 
fewest amongst the Helminthomorpha. Eyes are wanting, and, as in the Iuloidea, 
the segments form solid rings, owing to the fusion of the pleuree and pedal laminee 
with the terga. Secret- 
ing pores are generally 
present on most of the 
segments, though some- 
times absent in members 
of the family Cryptodes- 
mide. When present, 
they are almost always 
borne upon large plate- 
like processes, springing 


Ii 


> 
Al 


N 


from the sides of the 


FLAT MILLIPEDE, Polydesmus complanatus (much enlarged). segments. In distribu- 

tion this suborder is 

cosmopolitan, the temperate forms being of small size, while some of the tropical 
species are large and beautifully coloured. 

In habits all millipedes seem to be very similar. Although mostly 
vegetarians, feeding on soft roots, fruits, and succulent plants, one of the smaller 
kinds of Julide eats worms and decaying animal matter. They occur under 
stones, logs of wood, or in rotten tree trunks in damp places; and in tropical 
countries come out in numbers after rain, when they may be seen crawling over 
the ground and climbing bushes. Moisture is necessary for their existence, and in 
captivity they freely drink water or milk. Most are slow in their movements, and 
never trust in speed to escape. When walking the body is kept fully extended, and 
propelled by the legs, the movements of which resemble a series of waves passing 
up the body from behind forwards. As already stated, many forms are devoid of 
eyes; but even those possessing well-developed visual organs appear scarcely able to 
do more than distinguish light from darkness. As they erawl along, every inch 
of the road is first carefully touched by the antenne, which are tipped with a 
sensory organ, and the creatures appear to be unaware of the presence of an 
obstacle until the antennz have actually come into contact with it. All millipedes 
are perfectly harmless, and may be handled with impunity; but those species 
possessing odoriferous glands emit a disagreeable odour, due to the secretion of a 
fluid containing prussic acid. This, no doubt, serves as a protection against birds, 
ants, ete., to these otherwise defenceless creatures. Some birds will, however, eat 
them ; and in a hornbill’s nest in the British Museum the plaster used to block the 
entrance is largely composed of crushed fragments of a large Spirostreptus. Many 
of the species which have no glands are otherwise protected. Polywenus, for instance, 
is studded with bristles; while the Oniscomorpha roll themselves up into a round 
ball, with nothing but the horny integuments exposed. In the breeding-season the 
females of several forms make earthen nests for their eggs, working the lumps 


MILELPE DES AND SCORPIONS: 218 


together. The pill-millipede (Glomeris) is said to encase only a few eggs ina ball of 
earth; while Zulus lays from sixty to a hundred in her nest before closing the 
aperture. Among the suctorial millipedes it is said that the common European 
Polyzonium germanicum coils round her cluster of eggs and stays by them 
until they are hatched. When 


hatched, the young are minute, pale- 7 
(\ 
\ 


coloured creatures, consisting of the 


N 
head, with its antennez: and jaws, and T OOS 
' : a Wy) 

six body segments, of which the first =) 


three are provided with a pair of legs 
apiece. During growth the rest of 


< 
the segments are gradually added — 
ea 


AWN qT? 
Zw 
7 S\ SAN Me 
S IS 
SN Lee 
Zz “Ay 
; : ZAS Za) 
between the fifth and sixth, the latter ap Z oe 
remaining the terminal segment. l 
. . = 
Growth is also accompanied by ee’ 
; y 
moulting. —. i; 
Remains of extinct millipedes, Ss 
referable to several of the existing 
families, occur in the middle Tertiary 
rocks, while one species of doubtful 
position has been discovered in the 
Cretaceous. In the Carboniferous and 
Devonian rocks a number of types 
apparently referable to the millipedes occur, although they have been assigned to 
a special order. From the existing forms they differ by the incompleteness of 
the union between the dorsal elements of each double segment. 
Allied to the millipedes in many characters, but differing in certain special 
5 
features, is the small group known as Pauropoda. These contain some minute 
creatures, found in earth and rubbish heaps in Europe and North America, and 
remarkable for the fact that their antennz are branched at the apex, and furnished 
with long bristles. These have twelve body segments, and only nine pairs of legs, 
the first and the last two segments being limbless. 


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MILLIPEDE OF THE GENUS Spirostreptus, from Celebes. 


ScorPIONS, SpPrpERS, Ticks, ETC,—Class Arachnida. 


The members of the three classes of Arthropods hitherto considered are 
characterised by the possession of a distinct head, bearing in front of the mouth a 
pair of antenne, and at the sides of the same at least two pairs of appendages, 
which act solely as jaws. In the scorpions, spiders, and their allies, on the other 
hand, there is no such distinct head, while antennze are wanting; the first pair of 
appendages being composed of two or three segments only, and acting as seizing 
or biting organs. These mandibles are, in fact, the only limbs that can be 
described as jaws. It is true that the basal segments of the second, and sometimes 
of the third and fourth, pairs of limbs are used for crushing prey; but their 
remaining segments nearly always form leg-like appendages, used both for locomo- 
tion and grasping. In scorpions, for instance, the limbs of the second pair are 


214 SCORLIOMS: 


converted into large pincers; while in spiders they are short, and resemble the 
other limbs. In scorpions and the other groups, where these limbs form prehensile 
weapons, they are called chelw; whereas in the spiders and ticks, where they are 
smaller and tactile in nature, they are known as palpi. Behind the palpi or chelze 
come four pairs of limbs, acting as the locomotor organs. The palpi or chele are 
typically composed of six segments, and armed with a single claw, which, however, 
may be fused with the terminal segment, as in scorpions. ‘The legs seem primarily 
to have been six-jointed; and their segments, from base to apex, are respectively 
termed coxa, trochanter, femur, patella, tibia, tarsus. One or more of these is, 
however, almost invariably divided, so that the number rises to at least seven. 
Thus, whereas in the scorpions the tibia, and in spiders the tarsus, is divided, in 
other groups, like the Pedipalpi, the tarsus may be composed of a number of small 
segments. Accordingly, six pairs of large appendages are attached to the forepart 
of the body; and since this part was supposed to represent the combined head and 
thorax of insects, it is termed the cephalothorax. The abdomen may bear small, 
dwarfed limbs, as in scorpions and spiders, but its limbs are never, either structurally 
or functionally, like those of the cephalothorax. Although it may be undivided, 
this part never contains more than twelve segments, and often much fewer. 
Allowing twelve to the abdomen, and six to the cephalothorax, the body of the 
more typical members of the class comprises eighteen segments. All Arachnoids 
breathe air, either by means of short saes or of long tracheal tubes communicat- 
ing with the exterior by apertures (stigmata) on the lower surface of some 
of the abdominal segments. The young which, save in scorpions, are born in 
the egg stage, resemble their parents, and in the course of growth only undergo 
a series of moults without metamorphosis. The class may be divided into eight 
orders, the first of which includes 


THE ScorProns,—Order SCORPIONES. 


In this group all the typical eighteen segments of the body are developed, although 
the last five are abruptly narrowed to form with the telson, or poison-sting, the 
tail. The whole abdomen, including the tail, is distinctly joimted ; but the cephalo- 
thorax is covered above with a single plate, or carapace, bearing the eyes. The 
latter vary from six to ten, two being placed together in the middle, and the others 
arranged at the sides of the forepart of the carapace. Of the appendages, the 
four hinder pairs are similar, being tipped with a pair of claws, and used for 
locomotion. The two front pairs, however, have been transformed into pincers or 
nippers, the first pair, or mandibles, being smal] and three-jointed, and the second, 
the chele, or great pincers, of large size and six-jointed. The coxe of the four 
pairs of legs are immovably united to form the floor of the cephalothorax, and 
wedged in between those of the last two pairs there is a single sternal plate, the 
shape of which is of considerable value as a character in the classification of these 
animals. The breathing-organs consist of four pairs of sacs,—of which the 
cavities are filled up with a number of fine plates, arranged like the leaves of a 
book,—are placed upon the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth segments of the abdomen, 
and their apertures open upon the sternal or ventral plates of these segments. 


SCORPIONS. 215 


In addition to these stigmata, the abdomen bears a pair of curious organs called 
combs, or pectines, which are placed upon the lower surface of the second segment, 
_and are very characteristic of the group. 

Scorpions are found almost all over the world to the south of the 40th or 
45th parallel of north latitude, the only extensive area of land in the Southern 
Hemisphere in which they do not occur being New Zealand. The largest known 
forms occur in the tropical parts of Africa, especially on the shores of the Gulf 
of Guinea, and in the southern districts of India. These are the big black 
scorpions belonging to the genus Scorpio, which may 
attain a length of 8 or 9 inches, measured from the 
front of the head to the end of the tail. In structure 
the various species and genera are, on the whole, 
surprisingly uniform, all the known forms being refer- 
able to four families, namely, the Buthide, Bothriuride, 
Luride, and Scorpionide. In the Buthide the sternum 
of the cephalothorax is small and triangularly-pointed 
in front, in the Bothriwride it is transversely linear, 
and in the others it is broad and pentagonal; but while 
the Juridw agree with the other two families in pos- 
sessing two spurs on the articular membrane of the 
tarsus, the Scorpionide have but one. 

Scorpions ave a very ancient group, well-preserved 
remains of two genera having been discovered in the 
upper Silurian beds of both Europe and North America. 
In the Carboniferous period, too, they were evidently 
abundant; but no fossil forms have yet been discovered sign yerzow scorrion, Buthus 
in rocks of Secondary age, and only one has been recorded europeeus (nat. size). 
from Tertiary strata, this having been discovered in the % Lower surface of the abdomen, 

. showing combs and stigmata. 

amber beds of the Baltic. The strangest fact however, fe 2 
connected with fossil scorpions is the small amount of change the group has under- 
gone, in spite of the enormous time that it has been in existence. For instance, the 
Tertiary species named Jityus eoceenus does not differ in any important particulars 
from existing forms; while those from the Carboniferous can only be distinguished 
from them as a group by having the median eyes on the carapace in advance of 
the lateral. In this feature they agree with the Silurian species; but the latter, 
of which Palwophonus is the best known, are unique in the entire group in 
having the feet tipped with a single claw. For this reason the order, including 
living and extinct species, has been divided into two sections, the Apoxypodes, 
or those with pointed feet, including the Silurian Palwophonus, and the Diony- 
chopodes, or those in which the feet are tipped with a pair of movable claws. 
This last group is again divisible into the Anthracoscorpil, or scorpions of the 
Coal period, in which the median eyes are in front of the lateral, and the 
Neoscorpii, or recent forms, in which the median eyes are placed further back. 

In habits the different species seem to vary but little, most of them being 
nocturnal and all of them exclusively carnivorous, feeding upon any living creature, 
weak enough to be overpowered. They seem, however, to be largely dependent 


216 SCORPIONS. 


upon chance for the capture of prey; for although provided with a large number 
of eyes, vision is so defective that they cannot see more than a few inches, and there 
is no evidence of the existence of any organs of hearing. The sense of touch, how- 
ever, which resides in the hairs with which the body and limbs are studded, is 
exceedingly keen. No sooner does an unwary insect approach within reach than 
it is seized in the vice-like grip of 
the scorpion’s pincers; then quick 
as lightning the tail is brought into 
use, and the sting plunged into the 
struggling prey, which, as a rule, 
quickly succumbs to the paralysing 
effect of the poison. If, however, 
the prey be of large size, and 
muscular in proportion, the process 
of stinging is repeated; but it has 
been noticed that the scorpion in 
most cases carefully selects a soft 
spot into which to thrust its weapon, 
and does not strike at random. The 
object of this caution is evidently 
to avoid all risk of breaking the 
point of the sting against too hard 
a substance. The same care is 
shown in the carriage of the tail, 
this organ when not in use being 
almost always kept curled up in 
such a manner that the sting is 
securely protected. Having imper- 
fectly developed visionary powers, 
and no tactile antenne to supply 
this deficiency, scorpions when on 
the move always hold their large 
pincers well to the front, so as 
carefully to feel the way. But 
different species show considerable 
variation in the carriage of the 
body, some like Buthus, holding it 
high, while others shuffle along 
scarcely lifting it off the ground. 


AFRICAN ROCK-SCORPION, Scorpio viatoris (nut size). Again, many of the larger 
species, such as those belonging to 

Scorpio and Opisthophthalmus, live in deep holes, which they excavate in the ground 
by means of their large and powerful pincers. Others, like the little flat scorpions 
of South Europe (Luscorpius), hide away under stones and tree trunks, to which 
they cling belly uppermost; whilst others, like Buthus, dig shallow pits in 
sand, just deep enough to allow their eyes a clear vision of their surround- 


WHIP-SCORPIONS. 217 


ings, with the back on a level with the surface of the soil, and here concealed 
from view they lurk on the look out for prey. Sound-producing organs have 
been found in the large, black rock-scorpions of India and Africa; the organ, 
which lies between the basal segment of the pincers and that of the first pair 
of legs, consists of a set of tubercles and of a cluster of curved hair-tipped spines. 
When the scorpions are excited, they wave their pincers up and down, and by thus 
scraping the spinules against the tubercles emit a rustling sound, which has been 
compared to that produced by rubbing a stiff tooth-brush with one’s finger nails. 
This organ is equally well developed in members of both sexes, and probably serves 
as a warning to enemies to keep their distance. An analogous organ is found in 
the South African Opisthophthalmus, but in this ease it consists of leaf-lke 
hairs placed on the inner surface of the mandibles. 


THE WHIP-SCORPIONS AND THEIR ALLIES,—Order PEDIPALPI. 


The members of the second order of the Arachnida resemble the scorpions in 
having the abdomen composed of twelve segments, and the second pair of append- 
ages transformed into huge seizing organs, but differ from them in a number of 
important characters. The legs of the first pair, for instance, are not used for 
locomotion, but only as organs of touch, and have their last segment devoid of 
claws and divided into a series of secondary segments. Moreover, in the rest of 
the legs the feet are three-jointed. The most marked distinctions are, however, 
found in the abdomen. In the first place, this region is sharply marked off from 
the cephalothorax by a deep constriction forming a narrow waist. There is no 
trace of combs, and the first sternal plate is of large size, and entirely covers the 
ventral region of the first and second segments; so that, although there are twelve 
dorsal plates on this region of the body, there are only eleven sternal plates. The 
breathing-organs are of the same nature as those of the scorpions, namely, lung- 
books; but instead of forming four pairs, situated upon the third, fourth, fifth, and 
sixth sterna, there are only two pairs, of which the apertures are placed behind 
the sterna of the second and third segments. The order is divided into a tailed 
group (Uropygi), and a tailless group (Amblypygi). In the former the body is 
elongate, both cephalothorax and abdomen being much longer than wide; and to 
the last segment of the abdomen there is attached a movable tail corresponding to 
the sting of the scorpions. On the lower side of the cephalothorax there are two 
distinct sternal pieces, an anterior and a posterior, the latter being triangular and 
lying between the coxe of the last pair of legs, while the anterior is longer and 
placed between the cox of the first pair of legs and behind those of the pincers, 
which are united to form a kind of lower lip. The area between these sternal 
plates is narrow, membranous, and largely encroached upon by the coxee of the 
second and third legs, which nearly or quite meet in the middle line. The legs 
of the first pair are also much shorter, and more typically leg-hke than in the 
Amblypygi, the tarsal segment alone being divided into a series of nine cylindrical 
secondary segments. 

The tailed suborder may be further divided into the sections 


Tailed Group. ‘5 : : “ , : : ° 4 
y Tartarides and Oxopav. The former is a small group in which the 


218 WHIP-SCORPIONS. 


cephalothorax is divided into two regions by the jointing of the carapace, the 
region which corresponds to the posterior two pairs of legs having a small but 
distinct tergal plate of its own. Moreover, the eyes are either absent or reduced 
to a single pair, and the tail-piece, which is jointed to the last segment of the 
abdomen, is short and undivided. There is a single family of this tribe, the 
Schizonotide, so-called on account of the jointing of the carapace. The family 
contains two genera, Schizonotus and T'ripeltis, the species of which are pale- 
coloured forms, less than quarter 
Se of an inch in length, and con- 
x fined to Burma and Ceylon. 
The term Oxopct, or acid- 
producers, is apphed to the 
family Thelyphonide, or whip- 
scorpions, which differ from the 
last in having the carapace 
undivided, and the tail long, 
thread-like, and many jointed. 
The last three segments of the 
abdomen, too, are very narrow, 
forming a movable stalk for the 
filiform tail, and on its last 
segment there are generally 
two,sometimes four, clear yellow 
spots, the ommatoids. The eyes 
are always well developed, two 
of them being situated close to 
y the front edge of the carapace, 
and the others, of which there 
are eight or ten, arranged in two 
clusters of three or five each at 
% the sides of the head, some 
, distance behind the front eyes. 
The adult males differ from the 
females in having longer and 
often differently shaped pincers, 


wd + 


FEMALE OF BORNEAN WHIP-SCORPION, Thelyphonus hosev (nat. size. and also very generally in 

having the first ventral plate of 
the abdomen larger and more swollen. The females of some genera (Thelyphonus, 
Typopeltis), on the other hand, have the segments of the tarsus of the first pair 
of legs peculiarly moditied. 

Considering their antiquity and wide range, the whip-scorpions are strikingly 
uniform in structure. The largest specimens, measuring about 4 inches in length, 
have been met with in North-East India and Central and South America. All 
the species seem to be nocturnal, spending the day hiding beneath stones, logs of 
wood, ete., and, when surprised, hurrying away with considerable speed into any - 
holes or crevices that are handy. The Indian species require moist surroundings, 


WHIP-SCORPIONS. 219 


being generally only found during the heaviest rains, and soon dying when removed 
from their humid haunts. In Florida there is, however, a species frequenting dry 
sandy localities; and some species dig burrows in the ground and use them as 
permanent places of abode. 

In the tailless group, or Amblypygi, the body is much flattened, 
the carapace being wider than long, and kidney-shaped, and the 
abdomen oval with the segments gradualiy decreasing in size in front and behind, 
and none at the hinder end being narrowed to form a stalk. Corresponding with 
the great width of the carapace, we find the cox of the third and fourth pairs of 
legs widely separated, so that there is an oval sternal area, around which the cox 
of the five pairs of large cephalothoracic limbs are arranged radially. The anterior 


Tailless Group. 


Z y P, ‘ ‘ Ss 


! eo pip teh ientta tod nb ch te ae > : 


A WEST AFRICAN TAILLESS WHIP-SCORPION, Titanodamen johnstont (nat. size). 


and posterior sternal pieces of the preceding suborder are present between the coxze of 
the first and last pair of legs respectively, and the space between them is filled by 
horny pieces, varying in the degree of their development. The appendages also 
differ from those of the Uropygi, the basal segments of the pincers being freely 
movable and not united together, while these appendages are longer, thinner, and 
very spiny. The terminal segment forms a sharp claw, closing back on the pen- 
ultimate segment like the blade of a knife. The legs of the first pair are long and 
slender, and all its segments, except the first three, are converted into a long, 
thread-like, many-jointed lash acting as a feeler. The males do not as a rule differ 
strikingly in external characters from the females; although the abdomen is 
narrower, and the pincers and legs are longer. . . 

In geographical distribution the group resembles the Thelyphonide, with the 


220 WEB-SPIDERS. 


exception that it is spread over Africa south of the Sahara, extending from 
Senegambia and Abyssinia southwards into Cape Colony; but there are no species 
from Madagascar. It also seems to extend in India farther to the west than do 
the Thelyphonide, since species occur at Bombay, and thence spread along the south 
coast of Arabia from Muscat to Aden. In the Indian region the species are not so 
numerous as the true whip-scorpions, and in the Philippines they seem confined to 
caves, living permanently in the dark. None are known from Japan or China; but 
in America a few have been recorded from Texas and California, and many from 
Central America, the West Indies, and South America, as far down as Patagonia. 
Like the last, this group dates back to the Carboniferous, a single genus, 
Greophonus, having been described from the coal-measures of North America. 
A single specimen has also been discovered in the Miocene gypsum beds of Aix. 
The existing forms may be all included in the family Tarantulide; the genera 
being mainly characterised by the degree of development of the horny pieces on 
the lower surface of the cephalothorax. In habits the group resembles the last, 
except that the species, instead of digging burrows, avail themselves of natural 
crevices and holes, hiding beneath stones or fallen tree trunks, for which they are 
adapted by the flatness of their bodies. The species frequenting grottoes in the 
Philippines cling to the walls, with legs extended, and dart into rocky fissures at 
the least disturbance. 


Order PALPIGRADI. 


This group is represented only by a single South European form (Kanenia 
mirabilis). Structurally, this minute creature occupies a position intermediate 
between the whip-scorpions and the Solifuge. As in the Thelyphonide, there is 
a long, jointed tail, articulated to the last abdominal segment, which, with the two 
that precede it, is narrowed to form a movable stalk; but, as in the Solifuge, 
the abdomen consists of only ten segments. The carapace is segmented and has 
no eyes; but in the structure of its appendages Kwnenia is peculiar. The 
mandibles are large, pincer-like, and composed of three segments, but the palpi and 
all the legs are alike, being long, slender, and composed of a number of segments. 
The legs of the first pair, however, are the longest, as in the Pedipalpi. 


THE TRUE OR WEB-SPIDERS,—Order ARANE&. 


In many points of their organisation, the true spiders approach the tailless 
Pedipalpi. They have, for instance, a deep waist, separating the cephalothorax 
and the abdomen; the limbs are arranged radially round the cephalothorax, which 
is covered below by a single sternal plate, to which a labial piece is united in front, 
and above by a carapace bearing, in the majority of cases, eight eyes. Moreover, 
in some instances, there are four pairs of lung-sacs, as in the Pedipalpi, although 
generally the hinder pair are replaced by tracheal tubes. The differences between 
the two orders are, however, striking enough. Thus the four pairs of legs are 
alike, being composed of seven segments, and used for locomotion; while there are 
no great seizing limbs, the appendages of the second pair being short and leg-like, 
though composed of but six segments; of these the basal is termed the mawilla, on 


WEB-SPIDERS. 221 


account of its function as a jaw, and the remaining five the palpus. The mandibles, 
too, are larger than in the Pedipalpi, and contain a poison-gland, opening at the tip 
of the second segment, which is transformed into a strong fang. In the abdomen, 
a marked character of most spiders is the absence of segmentation, its covering 
consisting of a soft, hairy integument, or a hard horny cuticle, while on its 
lower surface there are two pairs of shortened appendages, called the spinning 
mammille, upon which open the silk-glands. These mammille are perhaps the 
most distinctive feature in spiders. Although varying considerably in shape and 
length, they are usually short and composed of two, or rarely three, segments. Each 
spinning appendage, however, is primarily 
composed of two branches, an outer and an 
inner, the outer forming the two- or three- 
jointed mammilla, while the inner branch 
or intermediate mammilla is always one- 
jointed. Consequently there may be as 
many as eight mammille ; usually, however, 
there are but six, owing to the disappear- 
ance of the inner branches of the first pair 
of spinning appendages. 

The oldest known form (Arthrolycosa) 
of the Carboniferous, differs from nearly all 
existing forms in having the abdomen pro- 
tected above by a series of plates, as in the 
recent genus Liphistius, to which it was 
doubtless allied. In Tertiary times, spiders 
closely related to those now existing were 
abundantly distributed over the Northern 


Hemisphere, as their well preserved remains 


; : ANATOMY OF COMMON CROSS SPIDER (Araneus 
from the Oligocene amber beds of the Baltic diadema). 


and from the gypsum beds of Aix satis- 1, Foot with claws and hairs; 2, Mandible with 


poison-glandand duct; 3, Faceand jaws ; 4, Spin- 
ning mammille; 5, One of the spinning papille. 


factorily testify. 

The females of all spiders lay eggs, from 
which the young are subsequently hatched. The first act of the mother before 
laying, is to spin a small and often saucer-shaped web. In this the eggs are 
deposited, and are then covered over with two layers of silk forming a cocoon. The 
cocoons differ greatly in shape and colour and texture, according to the spider that 
makes them. They may be green, yellow, white, mottled, or nearly black; round, 
oval, lenticular, or cigar-shaped; soft and woolly, hard and nut-like, or smooth 
like parchment; while the outer casing is sometimes caked with earth or other 
foreign material for purposes of concealment. After the construction of the cocoon, 
the mother’s interest in its fate varies in different spiders. Sometimes she pays 
no further attention to it, as in the case of the garden spider (Araneus), which 
suspends it in or near her web, and leaves the young to shift for themselves. 
In some cases, again, she remains for a longer or shorter time on guard in its 
Vicinity, sometimes spinning a regular nest for her young and herself during this 
period of quiescence; but in other cases, especially among the wandering species, 


22% WEB-SPIDERS. 


the mother carries the cocoon about with her, either attached to her spinners or 
clasped between her jaws. ‘The young hatch inside the cocoon, and subsequently 
make their way to the outer world through a rupture in its walls. They appear 
in a helpless state, either clinging together in clusters, as in the Argiopide ; staying 
in the nest, as in the jumping spiders; or clambering 
on to their mother’s back, as in the wolf - spiders. 
During growth the skin is periodically cast, the mem- 
brane of the cephalothorax splitting above the base of 
the limbs, and the carapace being raised to make an 
aperture, through which the body with the new skin 


emerges. The young spider is then soft, limp, and at 


FEMALE OF Drassus LAYING 
HER EGGS, 


the mercy of its enemies, until the integument becomes 
sufficiently hard and resisting to afford firm support 
to the muscles. Consequently, during this time, many species seek shelter in 
silken tubes spun for the purpose. On an average, perhaps, spiders undergo about 
eight or ten moults before reaching maturity, which is attained during the period 
intervening between the last moult and the last but one, so that the males and 
females, which during growth are much alike, emerge from the final casting in a 
fully developed state. In this stage the two sexes are distinguishable, the female 
having the palpi normally constructed, while in the male the terminal segment 
of this appendage carries on its lower surface an organ which in its simplest form 
is somewhat flask-shaped, but is more 


2 . Ova) . WITLE/H GIP 
often variously modified and compli- rs DY ea a 


eated. The male, also, is generally 


y 


rather the smaller of the two, some- 
times indeed, as in many tropical 
members of the family Avrgiopide, 
being of quite insignificant size in 
comparison with the female. He also 
has longer legs and a thinner abdomen, 
being thus the more graceful and 
active of the two. In the most 
sedentary of all spiders, or those FEMALE OF WOLF-SPIDER (Pardosa amentata) CARRYING 


belonging to the families Theridiide seein ne: 


and Argropide, still more striking Be eee ee oe eas pers 
differences often occur, the front part 

of the earapace being sometimes raised into a high pinnacle-like outgrowth. When 
the two sexes are approximately equal in size, the male is comparatively safe from 
his spouse during the period of courtship, but when, as in the Argiopide, he is much 
the weaker of the two, the female often avails herself of her superiority in size and 
strength to devour her mate. The first uses of the silk-glands seem to be to supply 
material for the construction of the cocoon, and of a tent or tubular retreat for 
the protection of the mother and young, or for the latter when passing through 
the dangers attendant upon the casting of the skin. Such cases are also used for 
the same purpose by many species during the winter months in temperate latitudes, 
and during drought in more tropical climes. It thus appears that, in the first 


WEB-SPIDERS. 223 


instance, the spimning instincts were directed solely to the protection of the species 
during infancy, growth, and maturity; and we may conclude that, apart from the 
cocoon, the initial stage in the development of web-making was the formation of 
some kind of tubular retreat. From this point the evolution of the spinning 
industry — perhaps the most important and interesting feature in the natural 
history of spiders—seems to have progressed 


along two lines. Along one the tubular retreat 
becomes gradually elaborated until it culmin- 
ates in the trap-door nest; while along the 
other the tube is to a greater or less extent, or 
even wholly, superseded by a new structure, 
the snare; the latter attaining its greatest 
perfection in the triangular snap-net of 
Hyptiotes, or the beautiful and symmetrical 
orb-web of the common garden spider. At 
the outset it is possible that the simplest form 
of snare arose from the spinning of supporting 
lines around the mouth of the tubular retreat, 
and if these served to entangle prey it is clear 
that a new and easy method of obtaining food 
would be opened up, and the habit of spmning 
webs of this nature would be fostered until 
the various kinds of nets became evolved. 
Another use to which the spinning of threads 
may be put is that of flying. This is especially 
practised by young spiders, who on_ fine 
autumnal days climb to the tops of bushes 


and fences, and, raising the abdomen into the 


JAMAICA TRAP-DOOR SPIDER (Pachylomerus) 
air, emit a thread or tuft of threads which AND APERTURE OF ITS NEST. 


blowing away in the wind soon become large 

and strong enough to carry the spider, sometimes to great heights above the ground. 
It was originally supposed that these threads were spun by a species called the 
gossamer-spider, but it is now known that the habit is practised by young spiders 
of different families. Floating about in the air, these fine threads meet and, 
becoming entangled, form masses of web, which ultimately fall upon the bushes 
and fields, sometimes covering them thickly with a white coating of fine silk. 


SEGMENTED GROUP,—Suborder Mesothele., 


Spiders may be divided into the two main groups, Mesothelw and Opisthothele. 
In the former, the spinning mammill, eight in number, are situated in a cluster in 
the middle of the lower surface of the abdomen; the upper surface of the latter 
being covered with a series of nine dorsal plates, resembling those of scorpions, 
while its lower surface is similarly furnished with two sternal plates covering the 
first and second pairs of lung-sacs. In these characters the group differs from other 
spiders, and in having the abdomen segmented it constitutes a kind of link 


224. WEB-SPIDERS. 


between them and the tailless Pedipalpi. It likewise resembles the latter 
in the structure and situation of the breathing-organs, and also in the mode in 
which the mandibles are articulated to the cephalothorax; their basal segments 
being directed forwards, parallel to each other and the long axis of the body, while 
the second segments or fangs are directed backwards, also nearly parallel to the 
longitudinal axis. The eight eyes are situated on a tubercle close to the front 
edge of the flat and broad carapace; the median being small, and the lateral 
larger and placed in a semicircle on each side. The long and powerful legs are 
armed with spines, and tipped with three claws; their coxe being long, whereas 
those of the palpi have no long maxillary process as in most other spiders. This 
group comprises only the family Liphistiide, with the genus Liphistius, of which 
there is one species from Penang, and another from Sumatra; both of large size, 
measuring about 2 inches in length. Nothing is known of their habits. 


TYPICAL GROUP,—Suborder Opisthothele. 


of 
which there are never more than six, owing to the disappearance or fusion of the 
inner branches of the first pair of appendages—have moved to the hinder extremity 
of the abdomen. It is separable into the sections Mygalomorphew and Arach- 


In this group the abdomen is not segmented, and the spinning mamuillee 


nomorphe. The former group includes the forms making the nearest approach 
to the preceding suborder. The spinning mammille are reduced in number, being 
usually only four, owing to the disappearance of the anterior pair of appendages, 
the posterior pair alone remaining, and being represented on each side by a long 
external joimted branch and a short inner one-jointed branch. Sometimes, how- 
ever, two mammille of the front pair are retained. The eyes generally form a 
compact group but the lateral eyes on each side may be widely separated from 
the median pair. 

Several families, passing almost imperceptibly into one another, are com- 
prised in the group. Among these, the bird-catching spiders (Theraphoside) are 
the giants of the order. They include several genera, such as Avicularia and 
Pecilotheria; a species of the latter being shown in the illustration on p. 225. 
Usually they are dark brown or black in colour, and clothed with short hairs 
mingled with bristles. The lower surfaces of the feet are covered with a thick 
pad of silky hair, furnished with adhesive power, by means of which these spiders 
are able to climb vertical sheets of glass. The claws on the feet seem to be of but 
little service, being small and generally concealed amongst the hairs. There are 
a large number of species and genera distributed over all tropical and subtropical 
countries; the largest species occurring in the northern parts of South America, 
where specimens almost equalling a rat in size are met with. The males are always 
smaller than the females, being of lighter build, longer in the leg, and consequently 
more agile. These spiders spin no web for the capture of prey, living either in 
holes in the ground or beneath stones and silk-lined logs, or in silken tubes which 
they spin in the hollows or upon the forked branches of trees. At night they 
issue forth in search of food which for the most part consists of beetles and 
other insects; but they will destroy and eat any living creature weak 


WEB-SPIDERS. 225 


enough to be overpowered, and travellers report having found small birds in their 
clutches. When laid, the eggs are wrapped in a strong cocoon, which the mother 
guards in her nest. 

The bird-eating spiders inhabiting the countries lying between India and 
Queensland differ from those coming from Africa and America in possessing sound- 
producing organs, which lie between the outer surface of the mandible and the 
inner surface of the maxilla or basal segment of the palp. In one case, namely, 
in the subfamily Selenocosmiine, the outer surface of the mandible is furnished 
with spines, and the inner surface of the maxilla with a set of horny notes, of 
varying thickness and length, which are thrown into a state of vibration by being 


BANDED BIRD-EATING SPIDER (Peacilotheria fasciata). 


rubbed over the spikes on the mandible. This organ is equally well developed in 
both males and females, and appears in the young soon after they emerge from 
the eggs. When these spiders are irritated or alarmed, they raise themselves upon 
their hind-legs and, by waving the palpi, scrape the keys against the spines on 
the mandibles and produce a sound which has been described as resembling the 
dropping of shot upon a plate. It is probable that the sound thus produced acts 
for the benefit of the spider in warning other creatures. In the second group 
(Ornithoctonine) the notes, formed of feathery hairs, are situated on the outer 
surface of the mandible, and the spines on the inner surface of the maxilla. 

Nearly allied is the family Dipluride, differing in having three well-developed 
claws upon the feet, and the external spinning mammille exceedingly long. Its 
members differ in habits, spinning upon the ground wide sheet-like webs to ensnare 

VOL. VI.—I5 


226 WEB-SPIDERS. 


prey. So far as the claw armature of the feet is concerned this family leads on 
to the trap-door spiders (Ctenizidw), famed for the perfection of their architecture. 
Although the species exhibit considerable variation in the perfection of their nests, 
the method of work appears in all cases to be substantially the same. A deep 
tunnel is first dug in the soil and then lined with silk to prevent the falling in of 
the loose earth. Then, with the object of excluding enemies such as ants and wasps, 
as well as to keep out rain, a lid, formed of layers of silk, strengthened with 
particles of soil, is built over the aperture, and attached along one side to the wall 
of the tube in such a manner that the elasticity of the silken hinge keeps the door 
normally closed. The outer surface of the 
door is then covered, if necessary, with 
fragments of moss, or with pieces of the 
plants that grow in the vicinity of the 
nest, so that when the door is closed it 
matches its surroundings and becomes 
practically invisible. In the genus 
Nenesia, from the shores of the Mediter- 
ranean and abundant in the Riviera, the 
lid is thin and light and of the so-called 
wafer type; but in the majority of cases it 
is thick and heavy, with a bevelled edge, so 
that it fits tightly into the upper end of the burrow, and is said to be of the cork- 
type. Not unfrequently the spider digs a side gallery to this burrow, and shuts 
the aperture of communication between the two by means of a second door. Then, 
in cases of emergency, when the lid of the main entrance has been forced, the 
spider retreats along the second branch and closes the door, so that the enemy, 
after exploring the main tube and finding it empty, departs, believing the burrow 
to be tenantless. In some instances, indeed, the secondary branch is made to 
communicate by a special opening with the exterior, so that even if its internal 
aperture be discovered, the spider can still beat a retreat. It is by no means, 
however, an easy matter to force open the lid in the first stance; for no sooner 
does the spider feel the attempt being made, than it seizes the inner side of the 
door with the claws of its front-legs, and, firmly planting those of its hinder limbs 
in the silken walls of the burrow, resists every effort to force an entrance. A few 
species have forsaken the ground and taken to building their nests upon the 
trunks of trees, as shown in the figure above. Some of these, like the South 
African Moggridgea, and the Mascarene Myrtale, avail themselves of natural 
irregularities in the surface and build silken tubes in the crevices; then, chipping 
off pieces of bark and lichen, cover the white silk, so that the tube and its door 
become invisible. The South American Pseudidiops, frequenting palm-trees at 
Bahia, appears to excavate its own grooves in the bark by means of the fangs, and 


PALM TRAP-DOOR SPIDER (Pseudidiops) AND ITS 
NEST (nat. size) 


the stout, short spines with which its mandibles are armed. 

In North Europe thé only representative of this group is the genus Atypus, 
which has been found in England and Ireland. This genus belongs to the 
family Atypide, differing from the rest of the section in possessing long maxillary 
processes on the coxe of the palp; and also in having six spinning mammille. 


WEB-SPIDERS. 227 


Instead of making a trap-door nest, this spider spins a long silk tube, closed at 
the ends, one half of which is buried in the earth, while the other les loosely 
among the grass or stones on the surface of the ground. When a fly or beetle 
alights on this part of the web, the spider slowly and cautiously climbs to the 
spot, and, invisible all the time to the insect, suddenly seizes it from within, and 
tearing away the web drags its prey through the aperture, which is then 
repaired. 

The next section is that of the Arachnomorphe, which includes the common 
house and field spiders, and differs from the last in having the basal segment of 
the mandible vertical instead of horizontal, and the fang closing inwards and 
backwards. There are generally six spinning mammille, comprising an anterior 
two-jointed pair, a similar posterior pair, and an intermediate single-jointed pair. 
Between those of the front pair there is either a functionless membranous piece, 
the colulus, or a paired plate, the eribellum, which is studded with the apertures of 
spinning glands. The eyes are occasionally arranged in three clusters, two being 
in the middle and three close together on each side; but usually the three lateral 


FIELD-SPIDERS (Segestria senoculata), a, Female; 6, Male; c, Arrangement of eyes (enlarged). 


ones are scattered, and the eight eyes placed on the front of the head in two rows. 
The Arachnomorphe are divided according to their structural characteristics and 
web-making instincts into a number of tribes each containing one or more families. 
The first tribe, Umbellitelaric, contains the single family Hypochilide, represented 
by the genus Hypochilus in North America and Ectatosticta in China. These two 
spiders differ from all the rest in having the hinder pair of breathing-organs in 
the form of lung-sacs; the cribellum and calamistrum being present and the 
long and slender legs furnished with three claws. In the genus Hypochilus, 
which is found in the forests of Tennessee, the web is constructed beneath over- 
hanging rocks and cliffs and has somewhat the form of an inverted saucer, made 
of thick white silk and kept in place by a loose network of threads. Beneath this 
web the spider remains upside down, and it has the habit, common to other species, 
of violently shaking the web when alarmed. In the tribe Pseudoterritelarie, 
as in the rest of the section, the breathing-organs of the hinder pair are in the 
form of tubular tracheze, but their apertures are widely separated and situated 
immediately behind those of the front pair. There is no cribellum nor 
calamistrum, and the eyes are reduced in number, being usually six, but some- 
times, as in Nops, only two. Two well-known European representatives of this 
tribe constitute the genera Dysdera and NSegestria. The former, found not 


=) 


228 WEB-SPIDERS. 


uncommonly under stones in damp places, may be recognised by the coral-red 
colour of its carapace, its bright yellow legs and pale grey abdomen. It makes 
no snare, merely constructing a small silken case, which serves as a protection 
to the mother and her eggs at the breeding-season. Segestria, on the contrary, 
is much darker coloured, with a band of diamond-shaped spots upon the upper 
side of the abdomen. It spins in holes in old walls a tubular nest, from whose 
aperture threads which serve to intercept prey pass to surrounding objects. In 
addition to these forms—which belong to the family Dysderide—this tribe con- 
tains the family Oonopide, comprising small, slender-legged spiders, with a short 
and high carapace, and the exotic family Caponiide, the chief peculiarity of 
which is the transformation of the front pair of lung-saes into tubular trachese— 
a character in which this family 1s unique amongst spiders. The Filitelarie 
contain the family Filistatide and genus Filistata; the latter being represented 
by several species, none of which are British. They are small or medium-sized 


HVC ULLU UBT 
1, t NY 


a, Male; b, Female (nat. size) ; arrangement of eyes shown on left hand of figure. 


species, easily recognised by the aggregation of the eight eyes upon a tubercle 
placed near the front border of the carapace, and of sedentary habits, spimning an 
extended web of white silk, in the form of an ill-defined tube. 

To the Tubitelarie are referred a number of families, presenting great 
variation both in structural features and instincts. The Drasside, for instance, 
spin no snare, but merely fabricate a silken case for themselves and young at the 
breeding-season, while others, like the Agalenidw, which include the house spider 
(Tegenaria atrica), build a flat, sheet-like web, continuous at one extremity with a 
tubular retreat in which the spider lurks. The spiders of this last group which 
spin these sheet-like snares are furnished with three claws on each foot, and long 
posterior spinning mammille; whereas the Drassidw and Clubionide, which live 
under stones, make no snare, and catch prey by chase or by lying in wait, have all 
the spinning mammille short, and only two claws on the feet. The above families 
differ from the preceding tribes of Arachnomorphe in that the stigmata of the 
posterior pair of breathing-organs are not only united in the middle line to form 
a single aperture, but this has also, as a rule, moved to the end of the abdomen in 
front of the spinning mammille. In two of the families, however, these apertures, 


WEB-SPIDERS. 229 


although covered with a fold of the skin, are distinct from each other, and have 
only migrated part of the distance over the lower surface of the abdomen. These 
families, Deside and Argyronetide, have three-clawed feet like the Agalenide, 
but instead of being snare-spinners, fabricate a silken case to serve as a receptacle 
for their eggs and as a place of refuge. Both have an aquatic mode of life. The 
first family is represented by the genus Desis, found on the coasts and coral-reefs 
of the South African, Indo-Malayan, and Australian seas. At low water the 
reefs and rocks upon which they live are uncovered ; but at the rising of the tide 
the spiders retreat into holes and crannies, where they surround themselves with 
a layer of silk strong enough to keep out water. They are good swimmers 
and feed upon small fish, crustaceans, ete. The Argyronetide live in fresh water, 
and are represented only by the water-spider (Argyroneta aquatica), frequenting 
ponds and ditches in the British Islands and other parts of Europe. Amongst the 


= 


WATER-SPIDERS, WITH NESTS (enlarged). 


waterweeds the water-spider spins a thimble or bell-shaped web, the aperture of 
which opens downwards. Then, ascending to the surface and thrusting its 
abdomen out of the water, it succeeds, by some process not clearly understood, in 
enveloping the hinder part of its body in a film or bubble of air. Retaining this 
bubble in position by means of its hinder pair of legs, the spider swims down to its 
web, and inserting its abdomen into the aperture of the bell, sets free the bubble of 
air, which rises to the upper part of the cavity of the web and replaces a certain 
quantity of water. The spider then fetches down another bubble, and repeats the 
process until the web is filled with air; it then has a water-tight chamber, in 
which it can dwell till all the oxygen is consumed. Here the eggs are laid and 
hatched. This spider lives on insects which it catches in the water. Belonging 
to the family Agalenidw is the genus Agalena, of which a British species 
(A. labyrinthica) is abundant in most districts, and spins a large sheet-like 
web upon hedges and bushes. At its inner extremity the web ends in a tube 
communicating at the back with the bush, into which the spider makes its 
escape when pursued. This spider is exceedingly agile, running with great speed 


230 WEB-SPIDERS. 


either on the ground or the upper side of its web. It has an ingenious method of 
overcoming insects like bees, with which it is afraid to come to close quarters, 
when they have fallen into the web. Attaching a thread to a spot close at hand, 
the spider runs in circles round and round its entangled prey, letting out the 
thread as it goes and gradually enveloping the insect, and effectually putting a 
stop to all struggles. Then, when it is tightly bound, the spider cautiously 
approaches, and, inflicting a bite upon the insect, puts an end to its life. Also 
belonging to this family is the so-called cardinal spider (Tegenaria guyonit), 
erroneously believed peculiar to the chapel at Hampton Court. Although none 
of the families of Twhitelarie hitherto considered possess the cribellum and 
calamistrum, one family (Amawrobiide) is suppled with these organs. <A well- 
known form is Amawrobius sumilis, which lives in holes in walls and ivy, where 
it spins an irregular, untidy, woolly web. The Plagitelaric contain the family 
Pholcide, of which the genus Pholcus is the best known; one species (P. phalan- 
gioides) being not uncommon in the South of England, where in sheds and 
outhouses it spins a characteristic web, composed of a tangled mass of irregularly 
interlacing threads. This species has exceedingly long and slender legs, which at 
first sight give it a close resemblance to the harvest spiders. It moves slowly and 
clumsily ; but when alarmed has a habit of hanging downwards in the web, by the 
tips of the toes, and swinging the body round and round with such rapidity that it 
becomes almost invisible. No nest is made, and the cocoon consists of a flimsy 
network, enveloping the eggs, which the mother carries about in her mandibles. 
The next tribe—(Retitelariv)—contains a host of spiders belonging to the 
families Theridiide and Linyphiide, most of which are of small size, while 
some are the smallest of all spiders. In structure they approach very near those 
Tubitelarie which have no cribellum. The web consists of an irregular network 
of lines, or a horizontal sheet of silk, but there is no tubular retreat ; and the 
spider crawls along the under instead of the upper surface of the web. The cocoon 
is suspended in or near the snare, and no nest is built for its reception. Of 
the first family a well-known representative is Lathrodecitus  tredecim- 
quttatus, which somewhat exceeds the common garden grass-spider in size, and 
is either black or variegated with thirteen pale spots. Occurring in the countries 
bordering the Mediterranean, this spider spreads it webs over grass fields, and lives 
largely on grasshoppers. This species and others of the genus are much dreaded on 
account of their poisonous bite. The Orbitelariw, or orb-spinners, containing the 
best known of all spiders, are closely allied to the Retitelariw, from which they 
differ by the presence of a smooth spot upon the base of the mandible, and also by 
having a narrow space between the eyes and the base of the mandible. In this 
group the art of net-spinning has reached its highest point; all their claws on 
the feet being highly developed, while some of the hairs on the apex of the 
tarsi are barbed and toothed to form a kind of spurious claw. Such members 
of the tribe as possess a cribellum and calamistrum, belong to the family 
Uloboride, which contains the well-known European genera, Uloborus and 
Hyptiotes. Both these spiders are adepts at the art of concealment; the 
former spins a shabby orb-web in a hollow tree trunk and places of a 
like nature, and leaves in its web the débris of insects that have been 


WEB-SPIDERS. Dem 


captured. It slings up, moreover, a string of cocoons, extending across the web, 
and at one extremity of the line, or amongst the dried carcases of flies, the 
spider takes its stand and harmonises so well in shape and colour with its surround- 
ings as to be practically indistinguishable amongst them. Even more interesting 
is Hyptiotes, which frequents pine trees, and is 
a small thick-set little species almost invisible 
on the bark. It spins a web, triangular in out- 
line, with anchoring threads passing from each 
of the angles to surrounding objects, and the 
triangular space filled in with cross-lines running 
parallel to the shortest side, and traversed in 
the middle by a single thread running from the 
apex to the base opposite. Taking up its position 
on the long anchoring thread which passes from 
the apical angle, and close to its point of attach- 
ment to the branch, the spider pulls in the 
thread so as to draw the whole net taut, coiling 
up the slack line between its front and hind-legs. 
The instant a fly strikes the net, the spider 
loosens its hold of the line, when the snare 
springs forward with a jerk, still further entang- 
ling the prey by bringing other threads into 
contact with it. If necessary, the net is snapped 
more than once, and when the spider feels that 


AN ORB-SPINNER (Tetragnatha extensa) aT 


the insect is enveloped, it crawls leisurely along REST IN ITS SNARE. 
the web to devour it. The genus is common to Arrangement of eyes shown above. 


Europe and North America. The other members 

of this tribe belonging to the family Argiopide have no cribellum nor calamistrum. 
Their webs vary in form, but are mostly of the orb type, consisting of straight 
threads radiating from a centre to the foundation lines, which are stretched from 
one point of support to another, and of a spiral line 
passing from the centre to the circumference, affording 
‘X y g support to the radial lines and partly filling in the 
F spaces between them. The spiral line is the principal 
part of the web involved in the capture of insects, many 
of its strands being covered with a series of gummy 
drops like beads on a string, which greatly hamper the 
* movements of a captured insect. The presence and 
position of an insect in the web is perceived solely by 


‘% the delicate sense of touch in the spider's feet, and for 


this reason the spider either takes up its stand in the 
COMMON CROSS SPIDER, Araneus 


Rie iennaapesize). centre of the web, where its eight legs can command all 


the radii, or else beneath some leaf at the end of a long 
thread passing from the centre to its place of concealment. In cases of danger the 
spiders either drop to the ground by a thread, or, seizing the web with the tips of 
their feet, start spinning the body round and round in circles and causing the web 


222 WEB-SPIDERS. 


to oscillate rapidly until it and its occupant almost disappear from view. The 
commonest British members of the family belong to the genus Araneus, of which 
the cross or garden spider (A. diadema) is so abundant in gardens late in summer 
and autumn. Some of the tropical forms, such as Nephila, are of enormous size, 
and construct huge webs strong enough, it is said, to arrest the flight of small birds. 
The males are veritable pigmies, as compared with the females. Also belonging to 
the family are those curious tropical spiders of the genus Gastracantha, which are 
protected from enemies by having the integument of the abdomen hard, horny, 
and armed with spines. The figure on p. 231 of a species of Tetragnatha re- 
presents another toler- 
ably common member 
of this family. It is 
characterised by its long 
and slender abdomen, 
and enormously strong 
projecting mandibles. 
We now come to 
spiders differing from 
nearly all the preced- 
ing in that they obtain 


A SIDE-WALKING ee (Xysticus viaticus), Female, left-hand figure: male, their PEs by hunting 
right-hand figure (enlarged), instead of constructing 
snares. The first tribe 
of these, the Laterigrade, derives its name from the fact that its members walk with 
a side, crab-like gait, a power which they owe to the rotation of their legs back- 
wards in such a manner that the lower surface is turned forwards and the front 
upwards. The two first pairs of legs are longer and stronger than the others; the 
tarsi have but two claws, and the eyes are arranged in a double row. Of the 
families the so-called crab-spiders (Thomiside) include small squat-looking forms, 
with the two hinder pairs of legs weaker than the two front pairs. The carapace 
is broad and often biangulate in front, and the abdomen frequently wider behind 
than in front. These spiders are mostly sluggish and noticeable for their protective 
coloration. Those frequenting flowers for the purpose of seizing the insects 
that visit them possess the power of changing their tints to suit that of the blossom 
in which they take up their abode. The egg-cocoon is sometimes rolled in a leaf, 
sometimes left uncovered; but after constructing it the female forsakes her 
wandering life to watch over her offspring. The Heteropodide differ in having 
the mandibles more strongly toothed. The family is represented in Europe by a 
few spiders of medium size (Sparassus, etc.), but in the tropics by many of large 
size. One of the best known is the tropical house spider (Heteropoda venatoria), 
a large, long-legged species, introduced almost all over the hotter parts of the 
world. The female carries her lenticular cocoon tucked to the lower surface of 
the cephalothorax. The annexed figure of a South African spider (Palystes) 
shows the characteristic size and structure of the members of this family. 
Passing over certain unimportant groups, we reach the running’ spiders, 
Citigrade, which live on the ground, and capture prey by speed of foot. 


WEB-SPIDERS. 233 


The legs are strong, not very unequal in length, and armed with three claws; the 
carapace is high, with the head compressed, and bearing on each side two pairs of 
large eyes belonging to the hinder row, and in front the four smaller eyes of the 
first row in a straight or 
eurved line. The typical 
members of the tribe belong 
to the family Lycoside, or 
wolf -spiders, of which a 
number of small forms are 
found in England, and the 
north and central parts of 
Europe. In summer these 
may be seen darting swiftly 
about amongst stones and ge 
grass, the female often carry- 7 
ing her cocoon attached to 
her spinning mammille. 
This cocoon is a spherical 
or more or less compressed 
sac, consisting of an upper 
and lower plate, fastened at SOUTH AFRICAN SIDE-WALKING SPIDER, Palystes (nat. size). 
the edges. The mother 
defends her packet of eggs with the utmost courage, and searches for it with 
diligence if lost. Soon after hatching, the young emerge from the cocoon, and 
climbing on to their mother’s back cling there by means of silk threads, until 
strong enough to shift for them- 


selves. The smaller species 
take refuge under stones or in 
crevices, and form no retreat; 
but many of the larger, 
especially those commonly 
known as Tarantula in South 
Europe, dig a burrow in the 
earth, hning it with silk, and 
in some cases building round 
the aperture a low circular wall 
of twigs or grass. To dig the 
burrow, the spider first loosens 
the earth with its mandibles, 
Hi 4d h then gathering the pieces into 
y 


N a heap and_= sticking them 
\ together by means of silk and 
ITALIAN TARANTULA SPIDER, Lycosa tarantula (nat. size). slimy matter secreted from the 
mouth, with a rapid flick jerks 
-the pellet to some distance from the scene of its operations. At the entrance of 
the burrow the spider lurks on the look-out for passing insects, and during the 


234 WEB-SPIDERS. 


o 


winter covers up the aperture with silk and retires to the deeper parts to 
hibernate. In certain districts in the south of Europe these Lycoside are dreaded 
by the peasants, and fabulous accounts were given of the deleterious effects of 
their poison. The bite was said to be the cause of a disease of an epileptic 
nature called tarantism, and this could only be cured by music of certain 
kinds, which worked the sufferer up to a state of frenzy. Another family 
(Pisauride) differs in having the eyes of the front row separated by a wide space 
from the base of the mandibles. In this group Pisawra mirabilis is a common 
British spider, living in woods and fields, and at the breeding season constructing 
amongst grass or shrubs a large nest, open at the bottom. In this she lays her 
egos, enveloping them in a thick cocoon which is carried about in her mandibles; 
but when the eggs are hatched, she retires to the nest and remains there with her 
young. The raft-spider (Dolomedes fimbriatus) is a large and handsome species, 
frequenting the borders of lakes and marshes, and owing its name to its habit of 
constructing a raft of leaves upon which it floats on the surface of the water. It can 
run with speed upon the water, and does not hesitate to plunge beneath the surface 
or run along the submerged stems of aquatic plants in chase of prey. The mother 
carries her cocoon in her mandibles; but at the time of hatching fastens it to some 
plant near the edge of the water. 

The tribe Saltigrade, or jumping spiders, contains the family Attide, all of 
which are of small or medium size, with a broad square head upon which the eyes 
are arranged somewhat as 
in the Lycoside; the 
anterior four being set in a 
straight line upon the front 
of the face, while the 
middle pair are of enormous 
size. The legs are stout, 
rather short, and, a rare 
thing in spiders, the third 


JUMPING SPIDERS (Zpiblemum scenicum). a, Female; b, Male ; leg is often the longest ; 
c, Female (nat. size); ¢d, Arrangement of eyes. 


there are only two claws, 
the place of the lower claw 
being occupied by hair-tufts. For moulting, hibernation, and egg-laying, the jumping 
spiders spin a small saccular nest, which in the latter case is frequently open at one 
or both ends. In this the eggs are laidand hatched, and the young remain for some 
time under their mother’s protection. Certain species depart from the normal type 
of structure of the others and closely resemble ants. This is brought about by the 
globular form of the abdomen, and a sharp constriction in the hinder half of the 
cephalothorax, so that the body appears to be divisible into three parts, as in an insect. 
Moreover, these spiders have learnt to walk with the gait of an ant, holding up a pair 
of its legs to simulate the antenne. Thus disguised, they live in the company of 
ants, and avoid the persecution to which they would be subjected if their identity 
were not concealed. Why the ants refrain from destroying them is unknown. 
These spiders spin no snare, and are dependent upon agility and great keenness of 
vision for the capture of prey. Sighting an insect at a distance, and eagerly 


PAESE (SPIDERS. 35 


watching the while its every movement, the spider gradually stalks nearer, until 
within reach of a leap; then, with a well-judged spring, launches itself on to its 
prey, and, in spite of vehement struggles, tenaciously retains its hold until the 
victim succumbs to the paralysing effects of the poison.» An Australian species 
(Attus volans) has acquired the power of prolonging its leaps into short flights, 
by elevating flaps of skin which arise from the abdomen. 


THE FaLsE SpIDERS,—Order SOLIFUGA. 


The members of this group bear such a strong superficial resemblance to the 
true spiders that they are usually called by that name. The structural distinctions 
between the two orders are, however, so great and so easily ascertainable, that an 
example of the one may be without difficulty distinguished from an example of the 
other. In the first place, the abdomen is composed of ten distinct segments, and 
is not supplied with spinning-glands, while the breathing-organs, which are in the 
form of long tracheal tubes, open upon its second, third, and sometimes on its 
fourth sterna. The cephalothorax is distinctly jointed, its last two segments 
having separate tergal plates, while its front part is covered by a _head-shield 
bearing a pair of large eyes near the middle of its front border, and merely traces 
of the lateral eyes at the sides. The mandibles, which form a powerful pair of 
toothed nippers, are articulated to the sides of the head-plate. The appendages of 
the second pair are palpiform and tipped with a sensory organ; but their basal 
segments, like those of the legs, are united together on the lower surface of the 
cephalothorax, which has no sternum. The three posterior pairs of legs are 
tipped with two claws each, but those of the first pair have only a single minute 
claw. On the basal segments of the last pair are certain racket-shaped organs, 
termed malleoli ; and behind those of the second pair open a couple of large stigmata, 
leading into additional breathing-tubes. The mouth is situated at the tip of a 
long horny beak, projecting forwards between the mandibles. The males are 
smaller and lighter than the females, but have more powerful and longer legs and 
palpi. Their mandibles, however, are much weaker, and are furnished above with 
a sensory organ called the flagellum. In both sexes the mandibles are supplied 
on their inner adjacent surface with a set of ridges, which give rise to a grating 
sound when rubbed together. Both in Europe, Africa, and America, the Solifuge 
closely follow the scorpions in their distribution, ranging in America from the 
Southern States of the Union southwards into Chili, and being found over the whole 
of Africa; none, however, have been recorded from Madagascar. In Europe they 
occur in Spain, Greece, and South Russia, being abundant and of large size in the 
steppes of the latter country. Thence they spread southwards and eastwards over 
the desert countries of South-Western Asia and India; but to the east of this 
point they become gradually scarcer, and although species have been discovered 
in Siam and the Moluceas, the group appears to be unrepresented in Australia and 
New Zealand. No extinct members have been described. 

The order contains but a single family Solpugide, divisible into several well- 
marked genera, differing from each other in a number of structural characters. 
The largest members of the group belong to the genus Solpuga, confined to South 


236 FALSE SPIDERS. 


Africa, and to Galeodes, which occurs in great numbers in Persia, Arabia, Egypt, 
and South Russia. Another well-known form is Rhawv, having the same range as 
Galeodes, but being a smaller and shorter-legged type. In habits the false spiders 


EEE 


MALE OF PERSIAN FALSE SPIDER, (aleodes (nat. size). 


are both diurnal and nocturnal; specimens of Galeodes and Rhax roam about 
deserts at night, and, attracted by the light, make their way into the tents of 
travellers, while at other times they may be met with darting about in the blazing 


PAL SE SCORPIONS. 237 


mid-day sun. Most species of Solpugide are extremely active, running with great 
speed ; but those of Riax—which have enormous mandibles and short thick legs— 
are slow movers, and it is probable that the equally short-legged South African 
Hexisopus is also relatively sluggish. When on the prowl, these creatures carry 
the body raised high on the posterior six legs, those of the first pair and the palpi 
being lifted up and waved in the air to feel the way, while the movements of 
the head from side to side bear witness to their eagerness to discover prey. 
Many stories are told of the courage and voracity of these animals. Their food 
seems to consist mostly of beetles or other insects; but they will not hesitate 
to attack such redoubtable adversaries as scorpions. 


THE FaLsE ScorPions,—Order PSEUDOSCORPIONES. 


The false scorpions are all of minute size, the largest not exceeding a quarter 
of an inch in length. They owe their name to the fact that, as in the true 
scorpions, the appendages of the second pair are of enormous size as compared with 
the body, and form pincers; the mandibles being small, and also pincer-like, while 
all the legs are of the ordinary locomotor type. There is, moreover, no waist 
separating the thorax from the abdomen, and the latter is distinctly jomted. All 
these characters impart a considerable superficial likeness to scorpions, and 
formerly the two groups were looked upon as closely allied, although there are in 
reality many important, deep-seated differences between them. The abdomen, for 
instance, in the Pseudoscorpiones, is practically the same width throughout, none of 
the posterior segments being narrowed to form a tail, and 
the last bears no skeletal piece at all comparable to the 
scorpion’s sting. The breathing-organs in the false 
scorpions are structurally of the same nature as those of 
the Solifuge, consisting of tracheal tubes, which open by 
two pairs of stigmata, situated upon the third and fourth 
abdominal segments. Like the true spiders, the false 
scorpions possess silk-glands, but these are situated, not In yoo scorpton, Ch iifericnie: 
the abdomen, but in the cephalothorax, and open by croides (much enlarged). 
minute apertures at the tip of the movable fingers of the 
mandibles. In addition to these glands, there are others in the abdomen termed 
cement-glands, which open upon the second and third sternal plates. The function 
of these is not known, but it has been suggested that they may secrete the gummy 
material which causes the eggs to adhere together. The eyes, either two or four 
in number, are placed on the sides of the forepart of the head-region. 

The false scorpions, which occur in all temperate and tropical countries, live 
for the most part under stones and the bark of trees, or hidden in moss or vegetable 
rubbish; only two European species, namely, Chelifer cancroides and Chiridium 
museorum, are commonly found in human dwellings, in dark corners and the 


wainscoting of rooms, in herbaria, or even in boxes of insect collections. Under 
these conditions the former is but rarely met with, but large numbers have been 
taken together in old bee-hives, wasp-nests, and badly kept pigeon-houses. The 
two species, however, are by no means found exclusively in habitats of this nature, 


238 HARVEST SPIDERS. 


o 


both having been observed under the bark of trees, far from the abodes of men. 
In South America it is by no means uncommon to find species of Chelifer living 
beneath the elytra of the large longicorn beetles. Some species frequent caves and 
erottoes, and many of these, from dwelling permanently in the dark, have lost all 
trace of eyes. Lastly, there are others which occur exclusively upon the seashore. 
Garypus littoralis, for instance—the giant of the order, so far as Kurope is concerned 
—being found in Spain and Corsica at the foot of the cliffs and beneath seaweed, 
while, on the south coast of England Obisiwm maritimum may be met with under 
the same conditions. The Cheliferide are, for the most part, slow in their move- 
ments, walking with the pincers extended to feel the way, although they also 
progress with facility sideways or backwards. The Obisiide, on the contrary, are 
much more agile, darting backwards with great speed when alarmed. Some 
species of the genus Chithonius, indeed, are said to possess leaping powers of no 
mean order. 

Although possessing silk-glands, the false scorpions have not learnt the art of 
ensnaring prey after the manner of spiders. They merely use the silk for con- 
structing a small oval or spherical protective cell at the time of egg-laying, or for 
purposes of hibernation, or moulting. A species of Chelifer has been observed to 
build a cell, in the first instance, when preparing to moult, and in this receptacle it 
stayed for five days, until the new integument had acquired its normal strength. 
But about three months afterwards it returned to the same quarters to spend the 
winter. As arule these cells, or cocoons, are left uncovered, attached to the under 
sides of stones, ete, but the Alpine Obistum jugorum covers its case with pieces 
of earth and of vegetable débris. Like the majority of the class, false scorpions 
are oviparous; the number of eges rarely exceeding fifty, although these are of 
relatively large size. By means of a gummy material, the eggs stick together into 
a rounded or oval mass, which remains adhering to the ventral surface of the 
abdomen of the female. The young stay with their parent until they have 
acquired their definite form, but, when first hatched, show no signs of segmenta- 
tion, either of the body or limbs, and the abdomen, which is folded against the 
lower surface of the cephalothorax, bears rudiments of four pairs of appendages, 
which subsequently disappear. The only fossil remains of the group hitherto 
discovered occur in the Tertiary amber beds of the Baltic; the species being 
apparently generically identical with those existing at the present time. 


THE HARVEST SPIDERS,—Order OPILIONES. 


Although the members of this group are frequently confounded with the true 
spiders, yet, as in the case of the scorpions and false scorpions, the resemblances 
between the harvest spiders and the true spiders are comparatively few and 
superficial, while the distinctive characters are many and deep-seated. In the first 
place, the body is oval, and the abdomen, which is united throughout its length 
with the cephalothorax, is, as in the scorpions and false scorpions, composed of from 
three to eight segments. The carapace which is short, unjointed, and usually bears 
one pair of eyes, is sometimes fused with the anterior segments of the abdomen; 
while in some cases the dorsal plates of all the abdominal segments are united to 


HARVEST SPIDERS. 239 


one another and to the carapace to form a single large plate, its separate elements 
being merely defined by shallow grooves. The lower surface of the carapace is 
either almost wholly covered by a forward prolongation of the sterna of the 
anterior abdominal segments, or by the ingrowth of the coxe of the appendages. 
The mandibles are composed of three segments, and are always pincer-like, and 
sometimes very powerfully developed. The appendages of the second pair 
(maxilla and palpus) consist of six segments, and are never chelate, although in 
some species they are armed with spines, and the claw is much enlarged and capable 
of being folded back upon the tarsus. In these species the appendage is used as an 
organ of attack and 
defence. The four 
pairs of legs are alike 
in form and function, 
being used for loco- 
motion. In addition 
to the mandibles and 
maxille, there are 
often accessory 
mouth - parts, taking 
the form of masti- 
cating lobes on the 
maxillee and the coxe 
of the first and second 
pairs of legs; while 
above the mouth 
there is frequently a 
labrum, or upper lip, 
and above this a 
second piece, or 
clypeus. As in false 
scorpions, breathing f 

is effected by means 

of tracheal tubes, / \ 
opening by a pair of 


orifices situated on SOUTH AMERICAN HARVEST SPIDER, Gonyleptes spinipes (nat. size). 
the sternal plate of 


the abdomen, immediately behind the coxe of the first pair of legs. In addition 
to these stigmata, there is one on each side of the cephalothorax lying below the 
edge of the carapace and above the coxe of the first pair of legs. These were 
originally regarded as the apertures of breathing - organs, but it is now known 
that they lead into glands, probably secreting an odorous and repellent fluid. In 
some species of harvest spiders, the males and females are almost exactly alike ; 
but usually the two sexes are recognisable by sharply marked characters. In the 
males, for instance, the body is smaller and often more brightly coloured, while the 
legs are both longer and more strongly spined, some of their segments being often 
modified in shape. The greatest moditication, however, is found in the mandibles, 


240 HARVEST SPIDERS. 


which are often much enlarged; in the male of Phalangiwm opilio, for example, 
the second segment is produced upwards into a great horn-like process. Fossil 
forms occur in the Carboniferous, one of which has been described as Lophrynus. 


Suborder Laniatores. 


In the harvest spiders of this group the first sternal plates of the abdomen do 
not project forwards to any great distance between the cox of the cephalothoracic 
limbs; the first being thus separated from the mouth by a long though narrow 
sternal area lying longitudinally between the cox of the right and left sides. The 
claw of the palpi is usually long, strong, and folded backwards against the tarsus, 
while the other segments are generally furnished with strong spines. Only the 
last four segments of the abdomen are free, the 
anterior coalescing with the carapace, which bears 
a pair of eyes, situated usually upon a single dorsal 
tubercle. This suborder is represented by numerous 
families in the tropical countries of both Eastern 
and Western Hemispheres. South of the Equator 
it extends to a considerable distance, reaching in 
South America as far as Tierra del Fuego ; although 
in temperate lands to the north of the Equator 
it is poorly represented, there being only a few 
species of small size in Europe and the United 
States. In the tropical parts of Central and South 
America the group attains its maximum of develop- 
ment, both as regards species and genera, and the 
abundance and size of individuals. In the families 
Cosmetide and Gonyleptidw, for imstance, speci- 
mens sometimes reach an inch in length, and cover 
with their long slender legs a span of many 
inches. The suborder also has representatives in South Africa and Tropical Asia. 

An aberrant group of the Laniatores is the family Sironide@ contaiming a few 
species from South Europe and the Oriental countries. These are all of small size 
with elongate oval bodies, and relatively short and stout legs. The palpi, moreover, 
are not armed with spines, thus resembling those of the following suborder; and 
the legs are tipped with a single claw. The two eyes, which are situated at the 
sides of the carapace, are raised on stalks, and generally there is an additional eye 
on each side at the base of the stalk. 


CHILIAN HARVEST SPIDER, 
Gonyleptes chilensis (nat. size). 


Suborder Palpatores, 


These harvest-spiders differ from the preceding group in having the anterior 
sternal areas of the abdomen thrust far forwards between the bases of the 
thoracic limbs, so as to lie just behind the mouth. The claw of the palpi is short 
and weak, and these appendages are small and unspined, being used merely as 
organs of touch and not of prehension. The legs, moreover, are furnished with a 


WITTE S, WADI DEUCES. 241 


single claw. This group has a more extensive range than the last, being repre- 
sented by a number of forms in Central and South Europe, and extending even to 
the Arctic Circle. The best known family is the Phalangiide, which is exceed- 
ingly rich in genera and species, and appears to be almost cosmopolitan in 
distribution. The body is often soft-skinned, small, and sometimes almost of the 
size and shape of a pea, while the legs, on the contrary, are exceedingly long and 
slender, and even thread-like. Still more curious are the members of the family 
Trogulide, i which the integument is hard and thick, while the legs are short 
and stout, and the front part of the head is produced forwards on each side into 
a distinct plate, meeting its fellow of the opposite side to form a hood, hollowed 
out below, and concealing the jaws and mouth-parts. 


Group RICINULEI. 


Tacked on to the Opiliones is a small group termed Ricinulei, which differs 
in many important characters from the harvest-spiders. The mandibles, for 
instance, consist of only two segments, and the palpi of only four (five with the 
maxilla). Moreover, the anterior part of the carapace is furnished with a movable 
hood, or cucullus, completely concealing the mouth; and the abdomen consists of 
only five segments. The leys are short, stout, and have two minute claws. 

Considering the differences in structure presented by the various groups of 
Opiliones, it is not surprising that corresponding differences occur with respect to 
habits. The species with short, stout legs, and relatively heavy bodies, like 
Trogulus and Stylocellus, are very sluggish, Trogulus lifting its legs one at a time, 
and with apparent effort, and at the shghtest danger ceasing all movement. This 
immobility, coupled with the protective covering of earth that adheres to its 
integument, conduces to the creature’s safety by enabling it to escape observation. 
The Palpatores and Laniatores, with their long slender legs and light bodies, 
are much more active, and run off with speed when alarmed. Apart from the 
agility which it confers, the extreme length of limb possessed by these Phalangiidee 
stands them in good stead by enabling them to stand on tiptoe and out of reach 
when threatened with destruction from armies of ants, which in tropical countries 
kill and devour every creature small enough to be overcome by numbers. 


THe Mites anp Ticks,—Order ACARI. 


The mites and ticks constitute a group which, for diversity of structure, 
number of species and individuals, and minuteness of size, has no equal in the class. 
Many are wholly parasitic in habit, and have become so profoundly modified in 
organisation, and their affinities with the rest of the Arachnida so masked by 
degeneration, that some authors have proposed to remove the Acari into a class by 
themselves. Nevertheless, most of the species which lead a free life and have 
departed least from the type of structure characteristic of the Arachnida, show so 
many points of resemblance to the Opiliones, that it is by no means easy to draw 
a hard-and-fast line between them. One leading character, however, by which the 
ticks may be distinguished from the Opiliones is that the abdomen never presents 

VOL; VI.—r16 


242 MITES AND TICKS. 


any trace of segmentation; it is confluent with the cephalothorax, the fusion between 
the two being so complete, that, as in the harvest-spiders of the group Palpatores, 
the anterior sternal plates of the abdomen are thrust far forward between the 
cox of the cephalothoracie limbs. As in all Arachnida, the mouth is adapted for 
sucking, but the jaws are often partially united, and form, with a plate termed 
the epistome, and the labiwm, a beak. The epistome is often of large size, and is 
attached to the front border of the carapace; the mandibles are either pincer-like 
or simply pointed at the tip, forming piercing organs. The palpi, which resemble 
a pair of small legs, have their basal segments, or maxille, united together and to 
the labium, to form a conspicuous plate or hypostome, constituting the floor of the 
mouth. These organs forming the mouth-parts are often separated from the rest 
of the cephalothorax by a membranous joint, and constitute a kind of movable 
head, the capitulum. In many cases there are no traces of special respiratory 
organs, breathing being effected by means of the skin; but, when present, such 
organs take the form of tracheal tubes, the apertures of which vary in position. 
They may, for instance, he in the head between the mandibles and palpi, or far 
back in the body at the base of the legs of the last pair; but in some species 
they occupy intermediate positions, and open in front either of the first, second, 
or third legs. Another character of some value in separating the ticks from the 
harvest-spiders, is that in the former the young undergo a metamorphosis in the 
course of growth, being hatched from the egg as six-footed larve, which later 
acquire the fourth pair of legs. The order may be divided into the typical mites 
and ticks (Acarina), and an aberrant worm-like group (Vermiformia). 

The Acarina include a number of families severally distinguished by the 
position of the respiratory stigmata, and the form of the mandibles and palpi. In 
the velvety mites (Trombidiide) the integument is soft and covered with variously 
coloured hairs; the legs are adapted for walking or running, the mandibles are 
pointed at the tip, and the stigmata open in the 
anterior portion of the body. There is usually 
a pair of eyes on the carapace, although these 
may be wanting. ‘These mites, which may be 
either parasitic or leading a free life, feed by 


sucking the juices of animals or plants. <A 
fairly common British species is Trombidiunr 
holosericeum, the second name referring to the 
clothing of crimson silky hairs covering its body. 
In the six-footed larval stage these mites live 
parasitically upon harvest-spiders, to which they 
rs cling, and resemble a cluster of bright red beads. 

ape antes pebbles sce Before attaining maturity they fall from their 
size on the leaf). host to the ground, where, after undergoing their 


final moult, they lead a free wandering life, living 

upon minute insects such as aphides. In tropical countries mites of this genus reach 

a large size, measuring half an inch in length. They are beautiful and striking 
objects, resembling tufts of bright blood-red plush. 

Nearly allied are the spinning-mites (Tetranychide), which live exclusively 


MITES. AND. TICKS. 243 


upon plants, and obtain nourishment by sucking the sap. One of the best known 
is Tetranychus telarius, a little red mite, sometimes called the money-spider. The 
web it spins is of very fine texture, and may usually be found on the backs of 
leaves, where it appears to be merely used as a protective screen for both adults 
and young. The silk is secreted from a conical nipple situated on the under side 
of the extremity of the abdomen, and, as in the ease of spiders, is manipulated 
by the appendages. Also related to the Trombidiidw, but connecting them 
with the next family, is the common mud-mite, Limnochares, which lives in 
fresh-water ponds, creeping upon the mud or the leaves of aquatic plants. The 
larva adheres to various water-insects. The 
water-mites (Hydrachnide) have been 
described as Trombidiide that have adopted 
an exclusively aquatic life. They live in 
fresh-water ponds and streams, where they 
may be seen swimming freely by means of 
vigorous strokes of their legs, which act like 
oars. In the adult the body is generally more 
or less spherical, and usually of a bright red 

or green colour. The males of one species gar iat epee. Hote eee 
(Atax globator) have a curious blunt tail-like WATER-SCORPION, INFESTED WITH Atacc. 
prolongation from the hinder end of the 

abdomen. The eggs are laid in the spring, in the stems of water-plants which are 
perforated for the purpose, and the six-footed larvee when hatched attach them- 
selves to water- bugs (Nepa), or water - beetles (Dytiscus), by means of a large 
sucker on the front of the head. The abdomen then starts growing, the feet 
drop off, and the creature remains hanging like a sack to its host. One species 
(Ataz bonzz) lives in the shell of the fresh-water mussel, while a few (Pontarachna) 
are marine. The next family (Halacaride) contains marine forms differing from 
the last in many important 


features ; the mouth-parts 
being more united. In 
addition to the pair of 
eyes on the carapace, there 
is an unpaired eye upon 
the — epistome. These 


marine mites do not 


appear to swim like their 
fresh - water allies, but 
creep on the stems of sea- 


weeds and  zoophytes. 
1, BEETLE-MITE, Gamasus coleoptratorum (much enlarged) ; 2, DOR BEETLE, They may be obtained 
INFESTED WITH Gamasus. berey é ; 

either by dredging in deep 

water or in rocky pools upon the coast. Passing on to the family Gamaside, we 
find the stigmata placed far back in the body, frequently at the sides of the thorax, 

g I 

above the legs of the third or fourth pair. The beak is imperfectly developed, the 
palpi being foot-like and free, and the mandibles pincer-like. There are no eyes; 


244 


MITES AND TICKS. 


and the legs are adapted for walking or running. The species figured (Gamasus 
coleoptratorwm) may often be seen in numbers attached to the lower side of dor- 
beetles. Others live parasitically upon bats and birds, one of the commonest 
being Dermanyssus avium, which infests poultry, canaries, and other cage-birds, 
whence they sometimes migrate to the persons who have charge of them. Ceylon, 


MOUTH-ORGANS OF SHEEP-TICK, 


c, Capitulum; d, e, 7, g, Segments of 
palp; 7, Spiny- beak, formed by 


fused mandibles. 


Sumatra, and Mauritius are the habitat of Holo- 
thyrus, in which the body is hard and horny, like 
that of a beetle, and of a shining chestnut colour. 

Of all the Acari the best known and most 
troublesome are those belonging to the family Zxodide, 
which infest terrestrial vertebrates, and sometimes 
attach themselves to men. They are furnished with 
a longish eylindrical beak, armed with recurved 
hooks, and formed by the two mandibles above and 
the long slender Jabium below. The palpi are either 
free, as in Argas, or closely applied to the beak, 
forming in fact a sheath for it, and preventing the 
escape of blood, which flows from the puncture made 
by the beak. In the accompanying figure, showing 
the mouth - parts of the common English dog- or 
sheep-tick (Jzodes ricinus), the lower surface of the 
capitulum, or head-like process, which bears the beak 
is shown at c; d, e, f, g, represent the four segments 
of the palpi; 4 is the labial process armed with the 
hooks forming the lower side of the beak; and 2 
indicates the tips of the two mandibles, forming its 
upper side, and projecting beyond the apex of the 


labium. By means of this beak, which is thrust to its 


base into the integument, the tick adheres firmly to its 
host, and in detaching them care must be taken that the 
head be not left behind buried in the skin. The species 
I. ricinus is commonly found in all stages of growth (see 
a, b, ce, d, e, f of figure) adhering to cattle. The females 
pump themselves full of blood, and swell up to the size of 
a large pea; but the male—formerly regarded as a distinct 
species under the name Redwviws—is of smaller size, and 
resembles the empty female in shape. In distribution 
these pests are almost cosmopolitan, but in tropical 
countries they reach much greater dimensions than in 
temperate climes, the females sometimes attaining the 
size of a large gooseberry. In addition to mammals, 
they attack birds, tortoises, snakes, and lizards; and even 
the thick hide of the hippopotamus and rhinoceros is of 
no avail against attack. On account of their numbers, 
the effects they produce upon cattle are sometimes of a 
serious nature. These ticks are not, however, found 


ENGLISH SHEEP-TICK. 


a, Six-legged young; 0b, Eight- 
legged young; c, Male; a, 
Female not distended; e, 
Female distended with blood 
from below; jf, Same from 
above; g, Specimen clinging 
to the hairy integument of 
a mammal. (All figures en- 
larged twice.) 


<> 


MITES AND TICKS. 245 


exclusively upon their hosts; they also occur on the ground, and under stones, 
where pairing and the hatching of the eggs take place. When in want of food, 
both old and young climb the stalks of grass and shrubs, and clasping the tips 
of the leaves with their fore-limbs, stand with the other legs stretched out behind, 
ready to catch the hairy skin of cattle as they sweep through 
the herbage. Also belonging to this family are the genus 
Argas and its allies, the species of which nearly equal the 
larger Ixodes in size, and although much less numerous in 
species and individuals have almost as extended a distribution. 
They may be at once distinguished from the latter by their 
coarsely granular skin, flattish bodies, and the entire conceal- 
ment of the capitulum beneath the projecting fore-margin of 
the cephalothorax. The species here figured (Argas reflexus) 


fae : : 2 DOG- OR SHEEP-TICK 
is habitually parasitic on pigeons, and occasionally occurs in (enlarged), 


England in places where these birds abound. A closely allied 
form from Persia—where it is known as the poisonous bug of Miana—is much dreaded 
by the natives, its bite being said to produce convulsions, delirium, or even death. 


The next family (Or- 
batidw) —the members of 
which are sometimes called 
beetle - mites, on account of 
their hard and horny integu- 
ment—contains a number of 
species found for the most 
part under the bark of trees 
or in damp spots on the 
ground, where they live by 
sucking the juices of plants 
and minute animals. The 
palpi are free and tactile, the 
mandibles pincer-like, and the 
traches, when present, open in the socket of the last pair of legs. The last family 
of true mites is that of the Sarcoptide, which are either free or parasitic. They 
have no special breathing-organs; the palpi are basally fused to the rostrum, the 
mandibles are pincer-like, and the tarsi are often furnished at their tips with a 
sucker. The most familiar of those that are not parasitic 
are the species known as cheese-mites (Tyroglyphus), which 
feed upon decaying organic matter. ‘The common cheese- 
mite (7. svro), which has the body armed with rows of 
long stiff bristles, is also found in flour and linseed meal. 
Another allied species (7. entomophagus) frequently causes 
much havoc among insect-collections, entirely destroying 


PIGEON-TICK, FROM ABOVE AND BELOW (much enlarged). 


the specimens if left unmolested, its presence in the cabinet 
being usually betrayed by the fine dust that results from 
its depredations. The most satisfactory method of destroy- 


CHEESE-MITE (much 
ing it seems to be soaking the cork of the box and the enlarged). 


246 MITES AND TICKS. 


specimens with benzine. A large number of mites living parasitically upon 
mammals—such as the mouse-mite (Myocoptes)—and birds also belong to the 
Sarcoptide ; but the only species that we have space to mention is the itch-mite 
(Sarcoptes scabiei), which gives rise to the disease known as scabies. This 
malady and the irritation accompanying it are caused by 
the mite excavating tunnels under the skin, In these the 
eggs are laid, and hatch ; and the young then start burrow- 
ing on their own account. The burrows usually show as 
whitish lines on the surface of the skin, and if the skin at 
the end of one of these lines be pricked with a sharp 
needle, the mite may be without difficulty extracted. 


Worm-Like In the group Vermiformia the elongate 
Group. abdomen is divided into a multitude of small 


rings. There are no eyes and no trachez. The suborder 
WrcH-MITE (enlarged 80 times), COMtain only the two families Demodicide and Phytoptide. 
(Lower view of female.) In the former the adult is provided with four pairs of short 
three-jointed legs; the mandibles are styliform, and the 
palpi formed of four segments, each armed with a claw. The family is represented 
by Demodex folliculorum, a minute mite less than =, of an inch in length, living 
parasitically in the sebaceous sacs and hair-follicles of the human skin. The 
same or an allied species has been found in the skin of a dog suftermg from 
mange, where they occurred in such quantities that thirty or forty might be seen 
in a single drop of matter. The members 
of the second family, commonly known as 
gall-mites, have lost all trace of the third 
and fourth pairs of legs; the first and 
second pairs only remaining and projecting Demodex folliculorum (enlarged 600 times). 
from the forepart of the body. These legs 
are long and five-jointed, the mandibles are styliform, and the palpi tactile and 
united at the base. The long body is furnished with symmetrically arranged 
bristles. There are numbers of species, living exclusively upon the leaves of plants, 
to which they do much damage by the excrescences or galls they form. Each 
kind of tree seems to be infested by its own special gall-mite, the so-called nail- 
galls of the lime being caused by a species named Phytoptus tiliw. These galls 
take the form of more or less cylindrical pointed columns, which stand erect on the 
upper side of the leaves. As a matter of fact, they seem to arise as an inpushing 
of the lower surface of the leaf to form a long pouch or pocket, in which the mites 
live. Galls of much the same structure, although differing somewhat in shape, 
occur in the sycamore, maple, elm, and various fruit-trees. Other species, like 
the Phytoptus of the currant and the yew, attack the young buds and prevent 
them attaining maturity. 


The mites and ticks complete the list of Arachnida; there remain, 
however, two small and obscure groups, which have been associated 
with the ticks, but apparently for no better reason than that their affinities are 
unknown. ‘The first of these are the Tardigrada, or bear-animalcules, which com- 
prise microscopical animals living in damp sandy and mossy spots. The body is long 


Aberrant Types. 


MITES AND PICKS: 247 


and oval in shape, and possesses four pairs of bud-like unjointed appendages, each 
tipped with two claws. The last pair of legs projects from the extreme hinder end 
of the body. The mouth is situated at the opposite extremity, but the only trace of 
jaws that it presents is a pair of stylets. There appear to be no organs of respira- 
tion or circulation ; and, unlike what obtains in all true Arachnida, the sexes are 
united in each individual. The second group, Linguatulina or Pentastomida, is still 
less ike the Arachnida. It includes internal parasites, which in form and mode of 
life present many points of resemblance to the intestinal worms. The body is long, 
broad in front, narrowed behind, and divided into a vast number of rings. Near 
the mouth there are two pairs of strong hooks, and although these are the only 
traces of appendages that the adult presents, the embryo is furnished in addition 
with two pairs of limbs, tipped with claws. It is mainly upon the evidence 
furnished by these limbs that the Linguatulina are regarded as degraded mites. 
One of the best known forms is Pentastomum tenioides, which in the adult stage 
lives in the nasal passages of dogs and wolves. From these hosts the embryos 
escape to the outer world mixed up with the nasal mucus. Taken into the body 
along with the food of the hare or rabbit, they emerge from the ege, penetrate the 
walls of the intestine, and lodge themselves in the liver. Here they become 
encysted, grow, and go through a series of changes of form, accompanied by 
repeated ecdyses, until they pass into a state known as Pentastonum denti- 
culatum. If the flesh of the rodent containing P. denticulatwm be devoured by 
a dog, the parasite passes into the skull of the dog, gradually takes on the form 
of P. tenioides, and acquires sexual organs. Another species has been found 
living in the lungs of the Egyptian cobra, and a third in those of a species of boa. 


R. I. POCOCK. 


A SPIDER’S SPINNERETS (greatly magnified). 


CHAP aR Ver. 


THE JOINTED ANIMALS,—concluded. 


THE SEA-SPIDERS, KING-CRABS, AND CRUSTACEANS,— 
Classes Pantopoda, Gigantostraca, and Crustacea. 


THE animals belonging to the first of the three classes named above present 
such a marked general resemblance to the true spiders, that they have been 
included in the same class. On the other hand, from their marine mode of life, 
some writers have come to the conclusion that their affinities are rather with 
the Crustaceans. As a matter of fact, it appears impossible to affiliate them with 
either of these groups, and the general opinion is that they are entitled to form 
a class by themselves. In all these creatures the adult is provided with four 
pairs of well-developed legs, composed of a large and varying number of segments, 
and each tipped with a single 
claw. These limbs, which are 
often exceedingly long and 
slender, radiate from the sides of 
the cephalothorax, which is pro- 
duced into stalks for their support. 
In front of these limbs, and 
attached to the headpiece, are 
sometimes three additional pairs of 
appendages. Hence the full com- 


plement of limbs is seven, and not 
FEMALE OF SLENDER SEA-PIDER, WITH EGGS (much enlarged), six pairs as in the true spiders. 

The first pair of appendages, form- 
ing the mandibles, are short and often pincer-like ; the second pair, or palpi, being 
also short; while the third pair, which are only developed in the females, are 
shorter than the true legs, and, from their function, are termed the egg-bearing 
legs. In some cases, however, these three pairs of appendages have entirely 
disappeared, as in the shore-spider (Pycnogonum littorale). Projecting forwards 
from the front end of the body is a long rigid beak, or proboscis, at the 
tip of which the mouth is situated. This beak is not formed by the fusion 
of limbs, like that of the ticks, but results from the great development of the 
area immediately around the mouth. The cephalothorax is divided into four 
distinct segments, of which the first, or head, supports the first four pairs of 
appendages, and has on its summit a pair of eyes, while the rest bear the three 
posterior pairs of limbs. Attached to the last of these segments, and projecting 


KING-CRABS. 249 


backwards between the last pair of legs, is the abdomen, which is reduced to a 
mere tubercle or rod-like process. The greater part of the body-cavity is occupied 
by the stomach, which sends prolongations almost down to 
the extremities of the four pairs of walking-legs. No 
breathing-organs are known. 

The sea-spiders are exclusively marine, and range 
from shallow water to depths of sixteen hundred fathoms 
or more. The conditions of life in the deep sea have by 
no means a dwarfing effect upon them, since the species 


living in the abysses of the ocean attain a size never 
equalled by those frequenting the coast. Some of the SHORE-SPIDER (enlarged), 
former are of a very large size; Colossendeis gigas, for 

instance, covering a span of nearly two feet from toe to toe. None are able to swim, 
but all crawl slowly amongst the branches of seaweed. The embryo emerges from 
the egg as a larva, provided with a beak and three pairs of appendages, representing 
the short anterior three pairs of the adult; the four pairs of great locomotor limbs 
being subsequently produced by outgrowths from a posterior elongation of the body. 


THE Kinc-Craps,—Class Gigantostraca. 


In many respects the representatives of this class occupy a position intermediate 
between the Scorpions and Spiders and the Crustaceans. From the fact that they 
are marine and breathe by means of gills, they were formerly always classified with 
the Crustaceans; but a large amount of evidence has been brought forward to show 
that whereas the earliest kinds are related to the primitive Crustaceans, the more 
specialised kinds are strikingly like some of the Scorpions. The class contains 
three orders, named Xiphosura, Merostomata, and Trilobita. The last two of these 
are now entirely extinct, and the first named nearly so, since it is represented 
at the present day by only a single genus, the king-crabs or horse-shoe crabs 
(Limulus). In the existing group, forming the order Xiphosura, the 
body is armed behind with a long spike-like tail, movably articulated 
to the middle of the hinder border of the abdomen. The abdomen consists of a 
large unsegmented pentagonal plate, armed on each side with six movable spines, 
and hollowed out below to receive six pairs of large flattened limbs, attached to 
the anterior part of its lower surface. With the exception of the first, each 
limb supports on its hinder surface a bunch of fine branchial plates, arranged one 
above another like the leaves of a book. In front of the abdomen comes the 
cephalothorax, which is covered above with an enormous carapace, having its border 
semicircular and its hinder angles acutely produced. The carapace is furnished 
above with four eyes, two being small and simple ocelli, situated close together 
some little distance behind the front border, while the others are large kidney- 
shaped compound eyes, placed at a corresponding distance from the lateral 
margin. The great size of the carapace is due to the prolongation of its edges 
into a wide sloping shelf-like expansion, concealing the walking limbs. Of the six 
pairs of the latter, the first are placed in front of the mouth, and are short, three- 
jointed nippers; while the rest are longer, generally six-jointed, and all but the 


Existing Forms. 


250 KING-CRABS. 


last nipper-like, the last or sixth ending in a number of flattened plates. The 
basal segments of the second, third, fourth, and fifth limbs are furnished with 
large processes, projecting into the mouth and studded with numbers of slender 
softish spines. The mouth is thus situated between the bases of these limbs, near 
the middle of the lower surface of the cephalothorax. The males differ from the 
females in having the second, or second and third pairs of limbs thickened and 
otherwise modified. In the male of the round-tailed king-crab (Limulus rotundi- 
cauda) the second and third pairs are considerably swollen, and the two fingers 
of the nippers cross each other when closed; whereas in the Moluccan king-crab 
(L. moluccanus) the immovable fingers of these limbs are reduced to short processes. 

In distribution, king-crabs are limited to the east coast of the United States, 
to the shores of China and Japan, and of the Indo-Pacific Islands, ranging from the 


CHINESE KING-CRAB. 


Moluceas to Singapore and Java. In the last-named area two species, L. moluccanus 
and L. rotundicauda, occur. The Chinese species is known as L. longispinus, on 
account of the long and strong spines projecting from the carapace and abdomen ; 
while the North American species is L. polyphemus. The habits of the last-named 
species are tolerably well known. It spends the greater part of the year in water 
from two to six fathoms deep, and, being unable to swim, creeps about the bottom 
of the sea in search of food, or even lives buried in mud, into which it scoops its 
way. This it effects by thrusting the front edge of the carapace forwards and 
downwards into the mud, the tail behind being used as a prop, while the legs are 
engaged in raking up the mud and pushing it out sideways. The tail is also of 
service in helping the animal to regain its proper position if turned upside down. 
Digging the tip of the organ into the soil, the crab raises its body, and after a few 
efforts succeeds in struggling over. In fact, were it not for the possession of a 
long tail, the king-ecrab would be as helpless on its back as a tortoise in the same 
position. 

King-crabs feed almost exclusively upon soft marine worms and_ bivalve 
molluses. The food is seized and tucked into the mouth by means of the legs, 


VOI C A GIGAIES . Sih Oe 25 


where the spines on the basal segments of these appendages crush and tear it to 
pieces. In May, June, and July, large numbers of king-crabs approach the coast 
in couples to spawn. Choosing spring-tides, they advance along the bottom until 
the water is shallow enough to allow the carapace to project above the surface. 
The female then scrapes a hollow in the mud, lays her eggs, and hurries back with 
her mate into deep water. By the action of the waves the eggs are soon covered 
with a layer of sand, and at ebb-tide are exposed to the warmth of the sun. When 
first it emerges from the egg, the young king-crab is a minute nearly spherical 
creature, with a fringe of stiff bristles running round the body, and differs from the 
parent in having no tail. Subsequently it undergoes a succession of moults, during 
which the form of the adult is gradually acquired, the tail appearing at the second 
change. The casting of the skin is effected by the splitting of the integument of 
the cephalothorax all round, immediately beneath the margin of the carapace. 
Through the aperture thus made the creature struggles forth, leaving its old shell 
behind. Before the growth of the tail the young king-crab is in a helpless state, 
the slightest obstacle turning it upside down. In this emergency it starts a 
vigorous flapping of its gill-plates, which cause it to rise in the water. Then 
ceasing the agitation, it at once descends with a chance of alighting right side up. 
The existing king-crabs are the typical representatives of the 
family Limulide, and fossil remains of Limulus occur in the Tertiary 
rocks as wells as in the Cretaceous, Jurassic, and Triassie beds of the Secondary 
epoch. In the Paleozoic strata the class is represented by a number of forms, such 
as Bellinurus from the Carboniferous, Protolimulus from the Devonian, and 
Hemiaspis from the Silurian, which resemble Limulus in most of their characters, 
but differ in having the abdomen composed of at least nine distinct segments. On 


Extinct Types. 


this account they are referred to a distinct family, Heniaspidide. It is, however, 
interesting to note that in the young king-crab the abdomen is also composed of 
nine segments, so that just as in the life-history of each individual king-crab the 
final and adult stage with a solid abdomen is preceded by a transitory stage in 
which the abdomen is jointed, in the history of the class the existing and final 
stage, represented by the adult king-crab of our own day, was preceded by a 
transitory stage, which, in the segmentation of the abdomen, was ona level with 
the young king-crab. 
The seas in which these fossil forms lived were also inhabited 
Merostomata. : wns . : ° 
by some nearly allied types, differing from the king-crabs, both in 
habits and some important points of structure. The carapace, for instance, was 
much smaller and did not conceal the legs, the last pair of which were generally 
thickened and flattened, and transformed, as in Hurypterus, into powerful short 
paddles. In one form, however, named Slimonia, the legs of the last two pairs 
were enormously elongated, evidently to serve the purpose of oars. The abdomen 
was used as a propeller, and it was long and divided into twelve flexible segments, 
the last of which bore the tail-plate or telson. As in the king-crab, the bases of 
most of the cephalothoracic limbs were armed with teeth and acted as jaws; 
but those of the anterior pair formed either short tactile organs or long and 
powerful nippers, as in Pterygotus. 
The Merostomata, as these animals are termed, appear to have lived both in 


Ze TRTLOBILES. 


fresh and salt water, and their organisation seems to show that they were powerful 
swimmers; considering, too, the large size which some of the species attained, 
examples of Pterygotus reaching a length of from 4 to 6 feet, there is little 
doubt that these monstrous sea-scorpions were the masters of the ocean in 
Palzeozoic times. <A third order is represented by the extinct Trilo- 
bites or Trilobata, which swarmed in the seas of the Paleozoic epoch, 
and are amongst the earliest of known fossils. The name Trilobite, or three- 
lobed, is given to them because in the best known and typical members of the 


Trilobites. 


group the body is divisible into three distinct parts—an anterior cephalic shield 
corresponding to the head of the Crustacea and to the cephalothorax of Limulus, 
and formed, as in Crustaceans, of five fused segments; a median thoracic portion, 

composed of a variable number of freely movable 
segments; and the pygidium, also composed of a 
variable number of segments, but usually fused to 
form a great caudal shield. The lateral portions 
of the segments are produced sideways into great 
pleural plates, which mostly conceal the limbs, 
and the hinder angles of the cephalic shield are 
frequently prolonged into sharp spiniform processes, 
sometimes so long that they project backwards 
beyond the hinder end of the body. On the upper 
side of the cephalic shield there are a pair of large 
kidney-shaped compound eyes, but no sign of the 
simple eyes present in the Xiphosura and Meros- 
tomata has been discovered. For many years no 
trace of limbs could be detected, but it is now 
known that a pair of limbs was attached to the 
lower surface of each of the segments of the head 
and body; though instead of there being two pairs 
situated in front of the mouth, as in Crustaceans, 
there was only one, as in the Xiphosura, Merostomata, 
and Arachnida. These, however, take the form of 


A TRILOBITE (T7vriarthrus). et i 
(From Beecher.) long filiform antenne, and are placed on each side 


of a large upper lip, or labrum, behind which comes 
the mouth. The rest of the appendages of the head, as well as those of the 
thorax, are alike, consisting of a large basal segment, from which spring two 
an inner, which was used for crawling, and an outer, many-jointed and 


branches, 
fringed with bristles, which was perhaps used for swimming. The basal segments 
of these limbs in the head region were utilised as jaws, and in the pygidium the 
inner branches, or endopodites, were flattened and more or less leaf-like as in the 
lower Crustaceans, such as Apus. There is little doubt that Trilobites, instead 
of swimming in the open sea and leading an active predatory life, spent their time 
crawling or swimming slowly along the bottom, feeding upon worms, burrowing 
in the mud, and, in case of danger, rolling up tightly into a ball like wood-lice. 
Many specimens are found fossilised in this condition, with the lower surface of 
the pygidium pressed against the head. 


CRUSTACEANS. 253 


Crabs, LOBSTERS, CRAYFISH, ctc.,—Class Crustacea. 


The Crustaceans comprise a large assemblage of Arthropods, presenting great 
diversity of structure. Some of the parasitic species have become so simplified in 
organisation that they appear to present no relationship with the higher members 
of the class, such as crabs, lobsters, wood-lice, ete. Yet it is certain that all the 
species, whether terrestrial or aquatic, free-living, sessile, or parasitic, belong to the 
same stock, and may be derived from the same fundamental plan of structure. 
Kssentially the body consists of a large number of segments, to each of which 
is attached a pair of two-branched appendages, the external branch being called 
the exopodite and the internal the endopodite. Five segments at the front end of 
the body unite to form a head; the appendages of the first two of these segments 
being situated in front of the mouth, and performing the office of feelers or 
antenne, while those of the remaining three segments are transformed into jaws, 
the first pair of jaws being the mandibles and the following two pairs the maxille. 
The rest of the appendages are variously modified, and to some are attached 
respiratory organs in the form of gills. According to this definition, Crustaceans 
may be distinguished from the Centipedes, Millipedes, Insects, ete., by the presence 
of two pairs instead of one pair of antenne, and by possessing branchial and not 
tubular (tracheal) respiratory organs. The Arachnida may be separated from 
Crustaceans by having in front of the mouth only one pair of appendages, acting 
as jaws and not as antenne, while respiration is effected by means of saccular 
or tubular ingrowths of the integument. Nor can there be any confusion between 
Crustaceans and the sea-spiders, since the latter have no antenne and all their 
appendages are placed behind the mouth, which is situated at the extremity of a 
tubular proboscis. But when we come to the Gigantostraca it is not so simple to 
point out the differential characters of the Crustaceans. It is true that the king- 
crabs are easily distinguishable, and appear to be more nearly related to the 
Arachnida, yet the Trilobites, which seem to be ancestral forms of the king-crabs, 
show marked affinities to the primitive Crustaceans. 

In a few Crustaceans, especially those leading a terrestrial life, or inhabiting 
fresh water, the young is very similar to the adult, and gradually attains maturity 
without going through any marked change of form; but 
in the majority the young upon leaving the egg is unlike 
the parent, and only acquires its definite form after 
undergoing a series of moults. The earliest stage, which 
has been called the Nawplius, is a minute oval body, 
showing no trace of segmentation, and provided with a 
single median eye, and three pairs of swimming 
appendages, which become the two pairs of antenne and 
the mandibles of the adult. This stage, however, is by 
no means of invariable occurrence, but is chiefly char- 
acteristic of the lowest members—the Entomostraca 
and is rare in the higher Malacostraca. In some members 
of the latter group, nevertheless, it does occur, as in one of the shrimps (Penwus). 
In this the Nauplius passes into a stage called the Zowa, in which four pairs 


NAUPLIUS LARVA OF BARNACLE 
(much enlarged). 


254 CRUSTACEANS. 


of appendages, representing the maxille and the two following pairs of limbs 
of the adult, have appeared, and the abdominal region has increased in length, 
although, like the greater part of the thorax, is still limbiess. A pair of compound 
eyes is present on the sides of the head. After this so-called copepod stage, the 
large eyes become stalked, the abdomen continues to increase in length, and takes 
on the function of swimming, which was before performed by the antenne, and 
the remainder of the thoracic and abdominal limbs appear. Since the thoracic 
limbs are provided with a distinct exopodite, as well as the principal branch or 
endopodite, as in the cleft-footed shrimps (Schizopoda), this larva is known as the 
schizopod stage. Lastly, the median eye and the 
exopodites of the motor-thoracic limbs disappear, and 
the adult form of the Pencwuws is attained. It is, how- 
ever, exceptional amongst the higher forms for the 
young to be set free in the Nauplius stage. The young 
of the lobster, for instance, hatches in the schizopod 
condition ; while that of the common crab appears in 
the Zovea form, although characterised by the presence 
of a long dorsal spine, and a sharp beak on the carapace. 
Moreover, the two pairs of antennee, the mandibles, and 
maxille, are of small size, while the following two pairs 
of limbs are relatively large, and forked. By means 


ZOHA STAGE OF CRAB (enlarged). 


of these the minute transparent creature swims, and 
after undergoing several moults passes into a stage termed the Megalopa, which 
is much like the adult, but has enormously large eyes, and swims by flapping its 
long jointed abdomen like a shrimp. 


THE TyPICAL CRUSTACEANS,—Subclass Malacostraca. 


Much difference of opinion still obtains as regards the classification of Crus- 
taceans, which are here divided into two main subclasses. In the present group, 
comprising the largest and most familiar forms, the number of segments in 
the body is very generally nineteen (but never more), and each has a pair of 
appendages. The first five segments compose the head, which, except in some 
blind species, bears a pair of compound eyes, two pairs of antennee, and three pairs 
of jaws, namely, a pair of mandibles in front, and two pairs of maxillee behind. 
The eight segments behind the head, which constitute the thorax, may be united 


a Db c dd 


JAWS OF CRAYFISH. 


a, Mandible ; 6, c, Maxille ; d, e, 7, Ist, 2nd, and 3rd Maxillipedes. 


with the head, as in crabs, when the whole region is termed the cephalothorax, and 
the shield that covers it the carapace. Sometimes too, as in the crayfish, the 
anterior three pairs of thoracic appendages are transformed into jaws, and on this 


CRABis. 295 


account are called the mailipedes, or foot-jaws; and in such cases only the 
remaining five pairs, called the trunk limbs, are large, and used for locomotion or 
seizing prey. In less highly organised forms, all the maxillipedes may be free and 
foot-like, as in the mantis-shrimps, or only the anterior pair, as in sand-hoppers, 
may act as jaws. The remaining six segments, forming the abdomen, are usually 
provided with six pairs of small two-branched limbs, and to the last of these 
segments there is articulated a single plate, or telson, while the limbs, or uropods, 
are generally of large size, and form with the telson the tail-fin. 

The Malacostraca are divisible into two series, the Podophthalmata, containing 
those in which the eyes are perched on movable stalks, and the Edriophthalmata 
containing those in which they are sessile, or if raised upon stalks not movable. 
The former are further distinguished by having the forepart of the body generally 
covered by a carapace; in the latter some of the thoracic segments are movable 
and there is generally no carapace. 

The tirst order (Decapoda) of the stalk-eyed series is characterised 
by having the posterior five pairs of thoracic limbs strongly 
developed, and forming either walking or swimming legs, or prehensile pincers. 
The three pairs of maxillipedes are generally transformed into jaws; but in some 
of the lowest forms, as shrimps, the third or last pair are long and limb-like, so 
that in reality there are six pairs of large thoracic limbs. The gills, which are 
attached to the sides of the cephalothorax and to the basal segments of its limbs, 
are concealed in a gill-chamber, formed by the lateral portions of the carapace. 
Each gill may be compared to a plume consisting of a central stem, to which is 
attached a number of delicate processes in the form of flattened plates or of 
filaments. The front aperture of the gill-chamber is closed by a movable plate 
called the scaphognathite, and attached to the second maxilla. During life this 
plate is in constant motion, baling out the impure water through the anterior 
opening, and thus compelling a flow of fresh fluid into the chamber through the 
openings at the hinder end of the carapace above the bases of the limbs. 


Decapods. 


SHoRT-TAILED GrouP,—Suborder Brachyura. 


Decapods are divisible into two suborders, the Brachyura, or short - tailed, 
and Macrura, or long-tailed group. The first-named suborder contains those 
members of the order which may be called crabs. Here the abdomen, or so- 
called tail, is small, and shorter than the cephalothorax, against the lower surface 
of which it is usually tucked away. In the males it is generally narrow, and 
bears only one or two pairs of appendages, but in the female it is broader 
and is furnished with four pairs of limbs. In neither sex is its last segment 
furnished with a pair of uropods forming the tail-fin. The lower surface of 
the cephalothorax is generally broad and triangular, and the third pair of 
maxillipedes are short and flattened, and form, when in contact, a plate completely 
covering the rest of the mouth-organs. The group is divisible into five tribes, the 
first of these being the Cyclometopa, or those with rounded foreheads. It includes 
most of the commoner species, such as the edible crab (Cancer pagurus), and 
shore-crab (Carcinus mnas). The former belongs to the family Canerida, 


256 CRUSTACEANS. 


characterised by having the carapace much wider than long. As an article of 
food the male is more esteemed than the female, being larger and having larger 
claws. The two sexes, as in all crabs, may be distinguished by the size of the 
tails, this organ in the male being narrower, more pointed, and having fewer and 
| smaller appendages than in the 
female. The family Cancride 
is represented in tropical seas 
by .a large number of species 
and genera, some of which, such 
as Actea, have the carapace 
covered with granules, and 
ornamented with a network of 
deep grooves. 

The members of the family 


Portunide may be recognised 
by a modification of the last 
pair of legs. In the great 


YOUNG EDIBLE CRAB. majority of crabs these legs are 

like the rest, ending with a 

long, slender - pointed foot, which bears evidence to its being an organ for 
running, climbing, or crawling; but in the Portunide these legs are much 
flattened, the last segment in particular being dilated into an oval plate. The 
creatures are thus equipped with a pair of oars, by means of which they swim 
Several species of the typical genus Portunus are found in British waters, and 
many of them are hand- 
somely coloured,although 
none are such expert 
swimmers as the tropical 
species, especially those 
inhabiting the gulf-weed 
of the Atlantic. The 
peculiar motion of the 
oar-like feet has given 
rise to the name of 
fiddler - crabs, so often 
apphed to the group. 
The figured species 
(Thalamita natator) is a 
native of the tropical 
seas. The common British 


SWIMMING-CRAB (nat. size). 


shore or green crab (Carcinus menas), which is referred to this family, differs 
from the rest in having the legs of the last pair adapted for walking, being armed 
with a claw, and not flattened into a paddle. Connecting the present with the 
following section, is the family Thelphuside, which contains a number of genera 
and species found in fresh-water streams, or on land, and sometimes ascending 
mountains, in temperate and tropical regions. One of the best known species is 


oN YS OVS liger® 


hh git 


en eee ees 


“eh 


sf 27S 
7 ope 


se 


= 


ae 
‘el 
‘+. La . « 


CRABS. 257 


the South European Thelphusa fluviatilis, which swarms on the muddy banks 
of the Lake of Albano, and is also abundant in the neighbourhood of Rome, where 
it is captured for sale. Another well-known form is the Indian land-erab (7. 
indica), to which the species here figured is nearly allied. 

The second tribe (Catometopa) is characterised by the broad and squared 
frontal region of the carapace being bent downwards. It is typically represented 
by the family Gecarcinide, including most of the true land-crabs. A large number 
of these belong to the genus Gecarcinus, which has representatives in both the 
Eastern and Western Hemispheres. Two inhabit the West Indian Islands, and of 
one of these (G. ruricola) from Jamaica a full account has been given by 
Mr. Browne. 


These crabs are generally found at a distance of from two to three miles from 


— 


x 
N 


a) 


a | 


It) 


My 


b 
 y 
. gf fi 


INDIAN LAND-CRAB (# nat. size). 


the sea, where they spend the day under stones, or in other sheltered situations. 
Pairing takes place in the spring; and shortly afterwards the whole population 
makes a move for the sea, in which the females lay their eggs. When seized with 
this migratory instinct, nothing can turn them from their course. Issuing from 
hollow trees, from under rocks, and out of innumerable holes, they muster in a host 
so fast that they thickly cover an area more than a mile long, and upwards of 
forty yards wide. The males lead the way, and the band proceeds in a straight 
line to its destination, climbing over everything that comes in its road, be it 
hedges, houses, churches, hills, or cliffs, and rather clamber up at the peril of their 
lives than make a circuit. Having reached the sea, the females lay their eggs, and 
the young hatch out as miniature copies of their parents. At the time of moulting, 
which takes place late in the summer, the crabs retire to their burrows, close up 
the apertures, and remain there out of harm’s way until the old shell is cast and 
the new integument hardened. It is while still in the soft state that these crabs, 
which are eaten by the natives, are considered most palatable. 
VOL. VI.—17 


° 


258 CRUSTACEANS. 


The second family (Ocypodide) is typically represented by the swift land- 
erabs (Ocypoda), which appear to be less strictly terrestrial than the last, although 
unable to endure a long sojourn in the sea. Indeed, from the adoption of a land 
life their breathing-organs have become so modified that these crabs may be drowned 


SWIFT LAND-CRAB (nat. size). 


by an immersion of twenty-four hours. They frequent sandy beaches, and when 
chased run with such speed, as to make their capture a matter of difficulty. 
They burrow deep perpendicular holes in the sand. In these they stay when 
the tide is up, but at low water they wander over the beach in search of food, 
which consists of sand-hoppers or any offal cast up by the waves. 

These crabs are gregarious, in the sense that numbers frequent the same spot. 
Each has a burrow to itself, and if one of them tries to enter by mistake the 
burrow of another, the rightful occupant makes a loud scraping noise to warn the 
intruder of its error; whereupon the latter retreats in search of its own abode. 
So strong is this instinct against trespassing, that a crab will always risk the 
chance of a fresh run for safety, rather than persevere in seeking concealment in 
the home of another. 

Nearly allied to the foregoing are the calling-crabs (Gelasimus), represented by 
a number of species from the warmer parts of the world. The carapace is broad 
and squared in front, and the long slender eye- 
stalks le when at rest along its front border, 
sunk in the orbits. But the most remarkable 
characteristic is the enormous size of one of the 
pincers in the male; and it is from the habit of 
brandishing this claw, as if beckoning, that the 
name of calling-crab is derived. So abundant 
are these crabs, that they may frequently be 
seen by the thousands either running over the 


CALLING-CRAB (nat. size), 


sand or peering out of their holes. These holes, 
which are thickly scattered over wide areas, lead into burrows frequently a foot 
or more in depth. The crabs scrape up a heap of sand, and grasping the pellet 
with three of the legs of one side, carry it to some distance before letting it 


CRABS. LEG 


drop, then raising their eyes and peering round, dart back to the burrow, 
scrape together another heap, and persevere in the same manceuvre till the 
burrow is of the required depth. It was long supposed that the pincers of 
the male were used as weapons of attack and defence; but, in addition to its 
size, this limb is noticeable for its bright colours, and Mr. Aleock, who observed 
a number of males of an Indian species (G. annulipes) waving their large 
claws in the presence of a female, has suggested that their object in so doing 
is to make a display of their gaudy ornamentation and thus influence her choice 
of a mate. 

The third family, Grapside, contains species which for the most part are 
shallow-water forms. They are widely distributed, and attract the attention 
of travellers both on account of their bright colours and their extraordinary 


THORNBACK CRAB (3 nat. size). 


activity. Possessing long and powerful legs, tipped with sharp strong claws, 
they are able to dart amongst the rocks on the coast with amazing speed, while 
by means of their flattened carapace and limbs they can slip away into the 
narrowest clefts and chinks. Unlike the majority of the family, the little gulf- 
weed crab (Planes minutus) occurs in temperate and tropical seas, amongst the 
floating weed, and it is said that Columbus adduced its presence as an argument 
in favour of the proximity of land when his sailors were on the verge of mutiny. 
The crabs of the family Pinnotheridew have the carapace soft and membranous 
and the orbits and eye-stalks small. An interesting fact connected with them is 
their habit of living in association with other animals; many species being found 
hiding between the shells of bivalve molluscs, and they have also been discovered 
lodged in the interior of sea-cucumbers. Entering this strange retreat in the zoma 
stage, they never quit it of their own choice. 

In the next tribe, Oxyrhyncha, the carapace is generally narrowed in front 
and wide behind, and furnished between the eyes with a distinct beak, which is 


260 CRUSTACEANS. 


sometimes double and of great length. On its dorsal surface the carapace is 
usually roughened with spines or tubercles, and frequently furnished with hooked 
hairs. These crabs frequent deep water, and, at least, on the English coast, are 
regarded by fishermen as spiders. The characteristics of this group are shown 
in the figures of two British species, the thornback erab (Maia squinado) and the 
long-beaked spider-crab (Macropodia longirostris). Also belonging to this tribe is 
Macrochira kempferi, which is not only the largest crab, but the largest 
crustacean known. It inhabits the seas of Japan, and is said to be able to span 
eleven feet with its outstretched pincers. 

A peculiarity of many of this group is their extreme untidiness, owing to the 
quantities of seaweeds, zoophytes, and other marine objects affixed to the carapace 
and limbs; and it has been ascertained that the presence of these extraneous 
bodies is not the result of chance, but that they are placed there, presumably 
for the purpose of concealment, by the crabs themselves. This feat they are 
enabled to perform owing to the flexibility of their pincers, and to the hooked 
hairs and spines with which the carapace is studded. Some examples of Hyas, 
deprived of their covering of foreign bodies, were placed under observation in an 
aquarium of which the bottom was covered with a layer of sponge. Contrary 
to their habitual sluggishness of manner, the crabs appeared much perturbed, 
running first to one side then to the other in the aquarium. Soon, however, by 
means of their pincers they tore off small fragments of the sponges, and, after first 
putting them to their mouths, placed them finally upon the dorsal surface of the 
carapace or linbs, sticking them there with a rubbing movement. Sometimes 
after several vain efforts the crab brought the fragment afresh to its maxillipedes 
and then repeats its efforts to make it adhere. The animal persevered in these 
manoeuvres until the piece of sponge remained fixed in the spot where it wished 
to place it. By continuing to act in this fashion the crab succeeded in com- 
pletely changing its appearance, and in rendering itself indistinguishable amongst 
the objects that surrounded it. The crab proceeded in exactly the same 
fashion when the bottom of the aquarium was strewn with seaweeds or any 
kind of zoophytes. Moreover, it was observed that some specimens, clothed with 
seaweed, which were left in an aquarium of which the bottom was covered 
with sponges did not hesitate to take off their old clothing and put on a new 
one of sponges. 

The present tribe also contains the family Parthenopide, the species of which, 
although not armed with spines and hooked hairs for holding foreign objects, 
are yet protected in the midst of their surroundings, by having the carapace 
covered with pits and variously shaped depressions, giving it a roughened corroded 
appearance, and consequently imparting a resemblance to pieces of rock or 
fragments of dead coral. 

The sharp-nosed crabs, forming the tribe Oxystomata, are so called because the 
carapace is produced in front into a short beak-like prominence, while the external 
maxillipedes which cover the mouth are narrowed and pointed at the apex. The 
families belonging to this group present great diversity of structure and habits, 
e@ the Portunide in having 
their posterior legs transformed into flattened paddles, while the Calappide, which 


the Matutide being active swimmers and resemblin 


CRABS. 261 


live a sluggish life on the floor of the sea, have the sides of the carapace produced 
into shelf-like plates covering the legs, and the upper edges of the pincers supplied 
with large crests. The latter shut in the cephalothorax in front, so that when at 


LONG-BEAKED SPIDER-CRAB (nat. size). 


rest the whole animal is enclosed in a casing of shell, and resembles a smooth 
pebble on the sea bottom. Some of the species of the family Leucosiide are 
remarkable for the porcelain-like appearance and texture of the carapace, 
while in others, as in Kbalia, this plate is granular and corroded. Three or four 
species of the latter genus occur in British waters, but the majority of the 
Oxystomata are inhabitants of the tropics. In the genus Dorippe, belonging to 
the family Dorippide, the last two pairs of legs are short and raised on the upper 
surface of the body behind the carapace. In 
this position and structure they are adapted 
for carrying foreign bodies to serve as a 
protection. 

The aberrant forms constituting the 
tribe Anomala differ from the other members 
of the suborder in having sometimes as 
many as fourteen pairs of gills, and also in 
that the apertures of the oviducts are situated 


upon the basis of the third pair of legs and DROMIA CRAB (nat. size). 


262 CRUSTACEANS 


not upon the breast-plate of the cephalothorax. Moreover, as in the Dorippide of 
the preceding tribe, the last or last two pairs of legs are shorter that the rest, and 
dorsally placed, as shown in the illustration of the common Dromia vulgaris. 
The crab uses these limbs to hold foreign bodies hke sponges and shells beneath 
which it thus lies concealed. 


LoNG-TAILED GRoUP,—Suborder Macrura. 


This suborder, comprising the lobsters, hermit-crabs, prawns, and shrimps, is 
distinguished by having the abdomen or tail usually of large size, and constituting 
a powerful flapper for swimming, in which function it is assisted by the 
enlargement of the appendages of its last segment to form with the telson a 
powerful tail-fin. The external maxillipedes are slender and leg-lhke, and the 
antenne usually longer than the body. The first tribe, Anomura, contains forms 
which typically have a symmetrical tail. With these were originally classified the 
anomalous crabs, and there is no doubt that some of the species bear a striking 
resemblance to the latter. This is shown in the illustration of the broad-clawed 
porcelain-crab (Porcellana platycheles), which frequents 
rocks and seaweed at low water. It may be distinguished 
from the true crabs by its long antenne, the presence 
of a tail-fin, and the slender unflattened external maxil- 
lipedes. The most familiar members are the hermit- 
erabs, which abound in all seas, and are represented by 
several British species. In the typical forms, the integu- 

Ep aire rome | eUCaI OLE dle abdomen is soft; and, aware of its defenceless- 
CRAB (nat, size), ness, the hermit-crab invariably thrusts itself for protection 

into some empty shell, which it subsequently never 

willingly quits, save for the purpose of changing its abode for a larger one, when 
compelled by the exigencies of growth. It is not an uncommon thing to find shells 
containing a hermit-crab surmounted by a large anemone. The advantage to the 
crab of this association is considerable, for anemones are so distasteful that no fish 
will bite at them twice, and consequently a fish that would, under ordinary circum- 
stances, greedily swallow a hermit-crab, shell and all, will not so much as sniff at it if 
protected by an anemone. One of the commonest deep-water British hermit-crabs, 


Hupagurus prideauxt, is invariably found associated with an anemone, but the 
latter adheres to the lower surface of the shell in such a manner that its mouth 
and tentacles are situated immediately below the forepart of the crab’s body. It 
is thus able to share in the meals that the crab procures for itself, and the com- 
panionship is consequently mutually beneficial to the two. An advantage conferred 
upon the crab by the presence of the anemone results from the fact that the latter 
gradually absorbs the shell in which the former is lodged, so that there is no 
occasion for it to change its abode with growth, the soft tissues of the polyp 
offering no resistance to the erab’s increase in size. Certain hermit-crabs have 
forsaken the sea as a permanent abode, and spend the greater part of their lives on 
land. For instance, the genus Cenobita, which oceurs both in the West Indies and 
India, may be met with in forests far from the coast. The best known of these 


ee 1 


LOBSTERS,“ CRAVLLST,. AG 265 


terrestrial forms is the great cocoa-nut crab (Birgus latro), found in the islands of 
the Indo-Pacific seas, and remarkable not only for its great size and habits, but also 
for having the abdomen symmetrical and covered above with a series of horny plates. 
These animals inhabit deep burrows, which they hollow out beneath the roots of 


trees, and carpet with fibres stripped 
from cocoa-nuts. Periodically, how- 
ever, they are compelled to visit the 
sea to moisten their gills; and here 
they lay their eggs, the young being 
hatched and living for some time on 
the coast. They live principally 
upon cocoa-nuts, which fall from the 
palms, but they do not climb the trees 
after the fruit. To get at the con- 
tents of the nut, the crab first tears 
away the fibre overlying the three 
“eyes, and then hammers away 
with its claws at the latter until a 
hole is made, when it extracts the 
kernel by means of its smaller 
pincers. Some observers state that 
after drilling through the perforated 
eye, the crab grasps the nut in its 
claws and breaks it against a stone. 

In the next tribe, or Thalas- 
sinidea, the carapace is much com- 
pressed and has a small rostruin, but 
the abdomen is well developed and 
often wider in the middle than in 
front. As in the short-tailed group, 
the fourth pair of thoracic limbs are 
enlarged and generally completely 
chelate, while the four succeeding 
pairs, of which the last is smaller 
than the rest, usually terminate in 
simple claws. All the members of 
this group are exclusively marine, 
living at the bottom of the sea 
buried a foot or more in the mud. 
The accompanying figure represents 
a species (Thaumastocheles zeleuca) 


= = ——— 


ONE-CLAWED LOBSTER, Thaumastocheles zeleuca (nat. size). 


obtained at a depth of four hundred fathoms in the West Indies. It is character- 
ised by the extraordinary development of the pincers of the right claw, which are 
not only very long and slender but beset with spine-like teeth. The creature is 
totally blind, having lost both eyes and eye-stalks. 

In the tribe of the Seyllaridea none of the limbs of the thorax are truly chelate, 


266 CRUSTACEANS. 


and the antenne are not furnished with an external scale-lke basal piece. The 
best known members of this group are the Palinuwride, or rock-lobsters, one member 
of which, the crawfish (Palinwrus vulgaris), may be seen for sale in England. 
It is larger than the lobster, 

. \ ip and has enormously long stout 

| antenne, and a spiny carapace 

3p but no claws. This species is 
figured on the left side of 
the coloured Plate. The second 
family, Scyllaride, contains a 
considerable number of genera 
(Scyllarus, [bacus, etc.), mostly 
from tropical seas, remarkable 
for having the carapace broad 
and flattened, with the eyes 
enclosed in complete orbits on 
its upper surface, and the 
antennz short and scale-like. 
In this tribe the larve are 


LARVA OF CRAYFISH, THE SO-CALLED GLASS-CRAB (nat. size). unlike those of crabs or 
lobsters. On account of their 


transparency and delicacy they are called glass-crabs. The body is formed of three 
distinct parts, a large round-sided head, a smaller but also round-sided thorax, and 
a minute jointed abdomen which projects like a short tail from the hinder end of 
the thorax. The abdomen bears no limbs. 

The lobsters and crayfish (Astacidea), have at least three pairs of the 
large thoracic limbs pincer-like, the first being much larger than the others. The 


== ——S = = =: 


SLENDER-CLAWED CRAYFISH, Willemesia leptodactyla (nat. size). 


LOBSTERS, (CRA VLLSE: eT C: 267 


antenns are furnished with a distinct basal scale-like plate. The first family 
(Eryontide) contains several genera found in deep water in various parts of the 
world, the slender-clawed Willemesia leptodactyla occurring in both the Pacitice 
and Atlantic Oceans, at depths varying from thirteen hundred to over two thousand 
fathoms. As in many deep water species the eye-stalks are rudimentary. The 
five posterior pairs of thoracic limbs are chelate in both sexes, and the first pair of 
antenne have their inner branches long, while the carapace is flattish with a small 
rostrum. 

The remaining three families, namely, the Nephropside, or lobsters, the 
Potamobiide, and Parastacide, or true crayfish, are nearly allied. Among the 


COMMON CRAYFISH (slightly reduced). 


former, the Norway lobster (Vephrops) is smaller than the common lobster, and 
has the pincers long, slender, and covered with seale-like tubercles. The common 
lobster (A stacus gammarus), from a commercial point of view, is one of the most 
important Crustaceans. The crayfish (Potamobiide), which live exclusively in fresh 
water, are very like small lobsters; the species known as Potamobia fluviatilis 
being found in many streams in England. Throughout the day crayfish usually 
lurk under stones or the edge of banks, and creep out in the evening in search of 
food, which consists of worms, water-insects, small frogs or fish, and plants and 
roots of many kinds. During the winter they seek the shelter of crevices or 


268 CRUSTACEANS. 


excavate deep burrows in the banks. In these they le, with their antenne 
stretched forward, and their claws ready to seize any passing object that may 
serve for prey. Pairing takes place in the autumn, and the female retires to her 
winter - quarters to deposit her eggs, which vary in number from one to two 
hundred. After being laid, the eggs are attached to the abdominal limbs of the 
mother. During the winter they develop slowly and are not ready to hatch until 
late in the spring or the early summer. The young, which at first much resemble 
the parent and go through no metamorphosis, adhere tightly to their mother’s 
limbs, and do not leave her until able to shift for themselves. Growth, however, 
although fast at first is a slow process, the crayfish not reaching maturity until 
about five years after birth. They probably live under favourable conditions for 


COMMON PRAWN (nat. size). 


about fifteen or twenty years. Although not considered a delicacy in England, on 
the Continent and especially in France, they are much appreciated. It is said that 
in Paris alone from five to six million crayfish are consumed annually, and to 
meet the demand large numbers are imported from Germany and elsewhere, and 
artificial cultivation has been carried on with success. The crayfish belonging to 
this family are found in the Northern Hemisphere; but in the Southern Hemi- 
sphere several forms occur which are referred to another family, Parastacide, 
differing in the arrangement of the gills. Some of these forms are of large size, the 
Tasmanian A stacopsis franklint measuring a foot or more in length. 

The next tribe, Caridea, embraces the shrimps and prawns, in which the last 
three pairs of thoracic limbs are never chelate, although the two pairs in front of 
them are frequently so. The tribe is divided into three sections. The first of 
these, or Crangoninea, contains the family Crangonide, or shrimps, characterised 
by having the first pair of trunk-limbs subchelate, that is, with the terminal segment 


LOB SLETCS, CRAY-HESTE ELC. 269 


capable of being folded back upon the penultimate. The common shrimp (Crangon 
vulgaris) occurs in shallow water on sandy coasts of temperate countries of the 
Northern Hemisphere. Its colour is a speckled grey, corresponding closely with 
that of the sandy sea-bottom upon which it lives, and in which it buries itself when 
threatened with danger. To escape the vigilance of fish, shrimps resolutely keep 
themselves hidden during the day, but come forth at night to hunt for food. The 
presence of this they perceive by means of scent, since a blind shrimp will find food 
as quickly as an uninjured one. A second British species is Allman’s shrimp 
(Crangon allmani), abundant in deep water in the Irish Sea and on the west 
coast of Scotland. It may be at once distinguished by the presence of two fine 
keels on the upper side of the sixth segment of the abdomen. Both have a short 
rostrum and no spines on the carapace; but some of the other members of the 
family have crests of spines on the carapace, and sometimes a largish rostrum as in 
the Arctie Sclerocrangon boreas. In Rhynchocinetes typus, from the South Pacific, 


WEST INDIAN PRAWN, Atya (nat. size). 


this rostrum is not only large but movably jointed to the earapace. The section 
Monocarpinea differs from the last in having the first and second trunk-limbs 
completely chelate, and the second pair larger than the first. To this section 
belong a number of fresh- and salt-water forms, and amongst them the Palemonide 
or prawns. The general form of the body is shown in the figure of the common 
prawn (Leander serratus). In its native haunts the prawn is nearly invisible, 
being almost colourless, translucent, and marked merely with streaks of various 
tints. In the rivers of tropical countries occur prawns (Palemon) rivalling lobsters 
in size, and remarkable for the length of their pincers, which may exceed that of 
the body. Among the largest are P. jamaicensis from the West Indies and Central 
America, and the Indian P. lar, so much esteemed when cooked as a curry. Also 
belonging to the same section is the family Atyide, containing a few genera such 
as Atya and Caridina, found in both Eastern and Western Hemispheres in fresh- 
water streams and lakes. In Atya the trunk-limbs are curiously constructed, the 
first two pairs being short and subequal with the two fingers of the pincers tipped 
with a long tuft of hairs. The remaining three pairs, of which the first is much the 


270 


CRUSTACEANS. 


stoutest, end in simple claws, and are studded with scale-like or spiny tubercles. 
It feeds on the organic matter contained in the mud which it gathers up in its 


1, MUSSEL-PRAWN (Pontonia tyrrhena) ; 2, SPONGE-PRAWN 


(Typton spongicola). (Nat. size.) 

representative is the red shrimp (Pan- 
dalus montagut), which gives its name 
to the family Pandalide, and is abund- 
ant upon many parts of the British 
coasts. This tribe is abundantly repre- 
sented in tropical seas by the hooded 
shrimps (Alpheidw), remarkable for the 
concealment of the eyes beneath the 


edge of the carapace, and for the 
enormous size, bright colours, and 


peculiar shape of the right or left 
pincers. With this instrument the 
hooded shrimps, which frequent holes 
and crevices in the coral-reets, are able 
to produce a clicking sound when angry 
or alarmed by the approach of danger. 
The last tribe of the suborder, known 
as Penzidea, appear similar to the 
Monocarpinea, but may be distinguished 
by the circumstance that the first three 
pairs of trunk-limbs are chelate, so 
that only the posterior two terminate in 
simple claws. Some of the species of the 
genus Penwus, belonging to the family 
Penceide, attain a large size in tropical 
seas, and form an important article of 
Nearly allied is the little 
Spongicola venusta, which makes its 


commerce. 


home in glass-sponges. In this neigh- 


bourhood may be placed the anomalous 


nippers, compresses into pellets, and 
transfers to its mouth. The two 
small Crustaceans figured in the 
illustration belong to the family 
Pontoniide. 
in habits, Pontonia lving between 


Both are semiparasitic 
the valves of mussel shells, and 
Typton being a lodger in sponges. 
The Polycarpinea contains those 
species in which the wrist of the 
second pair of trunk-legs is divided 
into several secondary segments. In 
other respects they are nearly allied 
to the last group. A common British 


\ 
\ 


\ 


ae 


Ve 


" 

\) 

| 
} 


——= £ 
caer ae L 
-— 

me 
fi, OO pe 
+ 


nae 


HOODED SHRIMP, Alpheus (nat. size). 


LOBSTERS, CRAYFISH, ETC. 271 


family, Sergestide, in which the gills are impoverished or lost, while the first 
pair of trunk-legs and sometimes the second are simple, the chele of the third are 


minute, and the fourth and fifth pairs 
are feeble, rudimentary, or absent. To 
this family belongs the genus Leucifer, 
remarkable for having the eyes and 
antennz supported at the end of a long 
neck which extends in advance of the 
mouth. The gills are absent, respiration 
being effected by means of the general 
integument, which is so thin that the 
internal organs can be seen. In the 
figure the dark line (7) is the ventral 
nerve -chord which throws out finer 
branches from ganglionic swellings in 
each of the segments; (/) is the heart, 
while immediately below the latter is 
the stomach, passing forwards into the 
gullet and backwards into the intestine. 


CLEFT-FooTED Group,—Order 
SCHIZOPODA. 


This name is applied to a group 
nearly allied to the long-tailed Decapods ; 
the chief difference between them being 
in the fact that in the present order the 
eight thoracic limbs are similar in struc- 
ture, each being pediform and provided 
with a distinct exopodite on the second 
segment. The gills, which are attached 
either to the thoracic or abdominal 
appendages, generally project into the 
water, and are but rarely concealed in a 
chamber. The eggs are carried by the 
female beneath the trunk, and are fre- 
quently protected by the development of 
a pouch. The order contains several 
families embracing a large number of 
mostly marine forms, some of which occur 
at great depths. Of the British species, 
the finest is Nyctiphanes norvegica, which 
forms an important part of the food of 
herrings. It has luminous organs on the 


LONG-NECKED SHRIMP, Leucifer (much enlarged). 


thorax and abdomen, and when swimming in a glass vessel, in a darkened room, 
appears like a flash of light. The young, as in all the members of the family 


ye CRUSTACEANS. 


Euphausiide, are hatched in the Nauplius stage. Most Schizopods are small, but 
species belonging to the genera Lophogaster and Gnathophausia measuring as 
much as 6 inches in length have been obtained. To the family Myside belongs 
the genus J/ysis, or opossum-shrimps, among which is J. veheta from certain lakes 
in Northern Europe. Into these lakes the species is presumed to have entered 
while they were connected with the sea; a supposition borne out by the fact that 
it is nearly related to M. oculata, now living in the Arctic Ocean. 


THE MANTIS-SHRIMPS,—Order STOMATOPODA. 


The mantis-shrimps (Sqwillide), which owe their name to the resemblance 
that their seizing limbs bear to those of the insect mantis, are abundant in tropical 
seas, Where they sometimes reach a large size. 
Although bearing a general likeness to the long- 
tailed Decapods, they may be recognised by 
certain prominent characters. A glance at the 
accompanying figure will show that the carapace 
is so short as to leave the hinder segments of 
the thorax uncovered, and, since the gills are 
attached to the abdominal limbs, it forms no 
branchial chamber. Only three pairs of limbs 
are modified into jaws, these being the mandibles 
and two pairs of maxille. The remaining eight 
pairs of thoracic limbs are foot-lke, the large 
prehensorial pair corresponding to the second 
maxillipedes of a Decapod. Two kinds of 
mantis-shrimp are occasionally met with in the 
English Channel, namely, Squilla desmaresti 
and S. mantis. The former is not uncommon 
along the shallower parts of the shores of 
Jersey, but as it lives in deep burrows among 
the roots of sea-grass, in a zone never uncovered 
by the tide, its appearance is infrequent. The 
allied North American Lysiosquilla excavatria 
is found in the sand below low-water-mark, 
where it is protected from the full force of the 


LE 


‘AN \ ocean swell, and inhabits deep cylindrical 
\ SS burrows which are nearly vertical and go down 


MANTIS-SHRIMP (reduced), for several feet. 


Sessile-Eyed Series —EDRIOPTHALMATA. 


We now come to the second great series of the Malacostraca, in which the 
compound eyes are generally sessile, and never mounted on movable stalks. As a 
rule, the last seven segments of the thorax are not covered by the carapace, and 
the last four are always free. The first order, Cumacea, is in many respects mter- 


STOMATOPODA. 273 


mediate between the typical members of the last and present series, the thorax being - 
larger and broader than the abdomen, while the carapace covers all but the last 
five segments. The front angles of the carapace are produced to meet in a kind 
of beak in front of the head, and the eyes are generally united in a single cluster 
of ocelli, None of the thoracic limbs are prehensile or chelate. The first five 
segments of the abdomen have no appendages in the female, although such limbs 
are present in the male. In the sixth seoment appendages are present in both 
sexes, and form a fork-like termination to the body. Two of the best known 
genera of the group are Cuma and Diastylis. The order, however, is relatively 
a small one, containing only a little over a hundred species. It has, nevertheless, 
a wide distribution, forms being met with in shallow and deep water in all seas, 
although the Arctic Ocean produces individuals of the largest size and in the 
greatest abundance. 


Order ISOPODA. 


Unlike the last, this second order of the series exhibits great diversity of 
structure. As a rule, the posterior seven segments of the thorax are free, and 
at least the first three, and generally the first five seements of the abdomen are 
short and sometimes fused together, while the sixth is the largest, and bears the 
telson and a pair of appendages. The other abdominal appendages usually 
overlap, and are modified to act as gills. The seven thoracic limbs are generally 
large, and perform the function of walking or swimming organs, while the 
posterior five pairs at least have no exopodites. There are four pairs of jaws, 
namely, the mandibles, two pairs of maxillze, and one pair of mavillipedes. 
Although there are many exceptions, it may be said that, as a rule, the body is 
broad, short, and flattened. Corresponding to the structural variations, the 
Isopods exhibit great diversity of habits and habitat. Most are marine, occurring 
in shallow waters or at great depths. Some live in fresh water, others on land, 
while others have taken to a parasitic life, and have thus to a great extent lost the 
characters of the order. 

Of the five tribes, the Valvifera have the posterior pair of abdominal 
appendages, or uropods, transformed into valves or flaps, covering part of the 
lower surface, and constituting a chamber for the gills. The tribe contains two 
families, the Arcturide and IJdoteidw. The former are distinguished by their 
slender cylindrical shape, long lower antenne, and the length of the fourth 
thoracic segment, which separates the posterior three pairs of thoracic legs from 
the anterior pairs by a wide space. The anterior thoracic feet are slender and 
hairy on the inner side, while the posterior feet are strong and prehensile, and 
enable the animal to fix itself to the branches of corallines. In the /doteide the 
body is longish and narrow, the thoracic segments being all of about the same 
size and shape, and their appendages short, stout, and used for walking. The 
anterior seoments of the abdomen are short, and the posterior fused into a 
eaudal shield. The species of the genus Idotea live in shallow water, and 
frequent places where there is an abundance of decomposing seaweed. They are 
essentially carnivorous, feeding on dead fish, worms, and molluses. 

VOL. v1.—18 


274 CRUSTACEANS. 


The tribe Flabellifera contains a part of marine species, in which the abdomen 
terminates in a tail-fin, formed as in the macrurous decapods from the telson and 
the limbs of the last segment. There are too many families to mention, but some 
of the characteristic forms are shown in the accompanying illustrations. In the 
genus Serolis, which alone represents the family Serolide, the body is depressed 
and broad, the segments of the thorax being furnished with long pointed side- 
plates, which impart to the animal a superficial resemblance to a trilobite. The 
legs and two pairs of antenne are long. It is stated that the Serolidw “live by 
preference on sandy ground, into which they burrow with their flat bodies up 


Serolis bromleyana (nat. size). 


to the caudal plate. Their nourishment appears chiefly to consist of the organic 
materials distributed in the fine sand, diatomacea and organic detritus. Their 
locomotion is carried on less by swimming than by backward movements on the 
sandy ground, wherein the widely separated feet are used as a point of support.” 
The species figured (S. bromleyana) is the largest, and has been taken at a depth 
of nineteen hundred and seventy-five fathoms. In the Sphewromide the convex 
body is capable of being rolled into a ball. Several species of Spheroma occur 
on the coasts of Britain, and may be found, sometimes in numbers, sometimes 
isolated, beneath stones or amongst seaweed at low water. The next family 
(Gnathiide) contains the genus Gnathia, in which the males and females are so 


LSOPODA. 


dissimilar that they were referred to two families. Jn the 
mandibles are powerful and prominent, and the head is large, 


least as wide as the thorax. In the adult female, on the con- 
trary, the head is small and triangular, without visible man- 
dibles, and the thorax is much dilated. Many species are known 
from the European coasts, and one has been obtained at a depth 
of nine hundred fathoms. Belonging to this tribe, but repre- 
senting a family by itself, is Limnoria lignorum, known to 
fishermen as the gribble, which is a persistent destroyer of 
submerged wood. The creatures are about one-sixth of an inch 
long, and of an ashy grey colour; and the destruction they 
bring about is due to their habit of boring into timber below 
water-mark. They are vegetarians, and feed on the wood which 
they excavate. The members of the group known as fish-lice 


275 


adult male the 
squared, and at 


pi 
pita 


si 
mi ial 


0 \ 


: = 4 


Ni 


Spherome (enlarged). 


are mostly of large size, the body being longish and 


oval, and the antenne fixed on the front of the head, 
which bears in addition two large eyes. The anterior 


three pairs of thoracic limbs are stout and prehensile, 
terminating in strong curved claws, while the posterior 
four pairs are longer and thinner, and adapted for 


fresh-water fish, and have a liking 
the mouth of their hosts. 


and unsymmetrical; but the smaller 


crawling. By means of their powerful fore-feet the 
Cymothoide attach themselves to both marine and 


for the inside of 


Another tribe is the Epicaridea, the members of 
which live parasitically upon other crustaceans. The 
form of the body in the female is, as a rule, distorted 


males are sym- 


MALE GNATHIA (enlarged), metrical, and are usually found adhering to the females. 


No group of Crustaceans seems exempt from the attacks 


of these parasites, but it is said that each species has its peculiar kind. 


The best known example of the tribe Asellota is 
Asellus aquaticus, distributed in fresh-water ponds and 
ditches almost all over Europe ‘The creature is of a 
greyish colour, mottled with paler markings; and the 
male, which is longer than the female, measures about 
half an inch long. The body is long, narrow in front, 
with a small head, and the antennz of the second pair 
are about as long as the body and head taken together. 
The seven segments of the thorax are free and of large 
size, but those of the abdomen have coalesced into a 
plate, from the end of which the long slender forked 
uropods project. The seven thoracic limbs are long, 
slender, and increase in length from the first to the 
seventh. 


The tribe Oniscoidea contains the wood-lice, in FEMALE 


GNATHIA (enlarged). 


276 CRUSTACEANS. 


which the abdominal appendages are modified for breathing air. Like all 
crustaceans that have adopted a terrestrial life, they seem able to live only in air 
saturated with moisture. The body is usually broadly oval, convex above, and 
flat or hollow beneath, widest in the middle, and gradually narrowing towards 
the head and tail. The head is small, but the thorax large and seven-jointed, the 
abdomen being short. Representatives of this tribe are found in all quarters 
of the globe. A familiar British species is the sea-slater (Ligia oceanaca), a 
large species living amongst the stones and rocks upon the coast above high water. 
The creature is nocturnal, and unless disturbed is not often seen during the day, 
but issues from the cracks and clefts of rocks in numbers at night. More obtrusive 
are the common wood- 
lice Porcellio scaber and 
Oniscus asellus, the for- 
mer distinguishable from 
the latter by its duller 
colour and the granules 
upon its segment ; Oniscus 
being smooth and more or 
less variegated. Both 
these are rather flat, and 
incapable of rolling up 
into a ball; but the pill 
‘ “s wood - louse (Armadil- 
COMMON AND PILL WOOD-LICE (nat. size). lidium vulgare) has the 
dorsal surface more con- 
vex, and when handled rolls up into a ball. On account of their resemblance 
to pills, these creatures were used for various maladies. In addition to its rounder 
shape, the pill wood-louse may be recognised by the fact that the appendages 
of the last abdominal segment (the uropods) do not project like a couple of 
small tails from the hinder end of the body. Members of this group, differing 
but little from the species deseribed, are widely distributed in all temperate and 
tropical parts of the world. 
The tribe Phreatoicidea can only be briefly noticed. It contains the genus 
Phreatoicus, of which two species—both inhabiting fresh water—are known, one 
from New Zealand, and the other from Australia. The body is long and laterally 


compressed, the seven thoracic appendages are well developed, and the first is sub- 
chelate as in many Amphipoda, and the abdomen consists of six distinct segments, 
with the gills attached to its appendages. The last tribe, Chelifera, containing the 
genus Tanais and others, approaches the next order, and is distinguished by 
having the first pair of appendages following the jaws—that is the second maxilli- 
pedes—pincer-like. It further differs in that the abdominal limbs are used 
rather for swimming than for respiration; the breathing-chamber is situated 
in the posterior portion of the thorax, and a constant circulation of water is 
kept up within it by the movement of a process projecting backwards from the 
maxillipedes. 


AMPHIPODA. 277 


Order AMPHIPODA. 


The Amphipods are allied to the Isopods, but the majority are recognisable 
by having the body narrow and flattened from side to side, instead of broad and 
flattened below. Moreover, the gills are attached to the thoracic feet, and the 
latter, instead of being 
broad, leaf-like, and 
overlapping, are foot- 
like, elongate, and used 
for leaping or- swim- 
ming. 

In the suborder 
Gammaridea the eyes 
are mostly of small 
size, and seldom pro- 


minent. The head 
does not coalesce with 
the first segment of FRESH-WATER SHRIMP (enlarged). 


the thorax, and the 

maxillipedes have a distinct palp; the abdomen being well developed, and 
bearing appendages. The form of the body is shown in the illustration of the 
fresh-water shrimp (Gammarus pulex), and the sand- 
hopper (TLalitrus locusta). The latter lives near the 
edge of the sea, beneath seaweed, or other substances, 


ssa | [ which prevent the evaporation of the moisture from 


My TRAX FTF ~=6the sand. Sand-hoppers usually progress on land by 
FMA NS ‘\ Pp KP 
sie #” leaps; and although some nearly allied forms are 
A\ Jd S\\#ZA found far from the sea, the majority of the Gam- 
A Ee 22 -— maridea are marine, swimming by means of the con- 
2 < WLigaaA~ : ; Ss) 


stant play of their abdominal appendages, and, when 


SAND-HOPPER : ‘ 3 
thrown on the land, wriggling helplessly along on their 


— 


enlarged). 


sides. The fresh-water shrimp 
is common in the streams and 
ditches of Europe. During 
the cold months of the year 
they bury themselves in the 
mud, but emerge from their 


winter-quarters on the first 
warm days of _ spring. 
Amongst deep-water forms, 
perhaps the most noteworthy 
are Acanthechinus tricari- 
natus,and Andania giganted. 
The former has developed a 


spiny process at almost every 
possible point, each of the 


278 CRUSTACEANS. 


principal segments bearing three large and pointed spines, which have their edges 
armed like the blades of a saw. Very different is Andania, which is one of the 
largest of amphipods, reaching a length of 2 inches. Many members of the group 

construct tubular dwelling-places, in 
“so S88 :=SCwhich they take shelter, and lay their 
== = __ eggs. For instance, the British Am- 
phitha rubricata, which is a brillant 


crimson colour, builds a nest of particles 
of seaweed cemented together with 
threads; while another species of the 
same genus (A. littorina) makes a tube 
by cementing together the edges of a 
leaf of growing weed, so as to make 
a tube open at both ends. Again, 
ia TN according to Bates, Podoacerus capil- 
i ii Wn = = latus “builds its nest in a very bird- 
= eee like manner in submarine forests; the 
JD nests consist chiefly of fine thread-like 
——— = material, woven and interlaced, being 
—— =o, = established firmly in the branches of 
zoophytes ; some small extraneous frag- 
ments are often bound with it, but these 
appear more the result of accident than intention. The form of the nest is 
somewhat oval, the entrance being invariably at the top. These nests are evidently 
used as places of refuge.” 
In the tribe Caprellina the head has coalesced with the first segment of the 
thorax, and the abdomen is reduced in size, with most 


GIGANTIC ANDANIA, Andania gigantea (nat. size). 


of its appendages wanting. The two principal families 
are the Caprellidw, or skeleton-shrimps, and the 
Cyanide, or whale-lice. In the former the thorax is 


cylindrical, and the abdomen, with its limbs, rud- 
imentary. In the typical Caprella the third and 
fourth thoracic segments are without legs, but bear a 
pair of branchial vesicles; the appendages of the 
second pair are developed into claspers, and those of 
the three last pairs are of the ambulatory type. 
These shrimps seldom swim, but climb amongst the 
branches of seaweeds and zoophytes. When at rest, 


they grasp the stems of the weeds with their hind- 
limbs, and, holding the body in an erect position, wave 


their long antenne in search of prey. In the whale- 


lice, which live parasitically upon cetaceans, the short 


: : ‘ A SKELETON-SHRIMP (somewhat 
and conical head is united to the first segment of the enlanced): 


thorax, which consists of six free, flattened segments. 
As in Caprella, the third and fourth segments of the body bear no limbs, but are 
furnished with a pair of gills, usually turned over the animal's back. In the 


AMPHIPODA. 279 


female, these segments carry beneath them plates, forming sacs, for the eggs. The 
second, fifth, sixth, and seventh segments are provided with short limbs, termin- 
ating in a sharp, pointed segment, which closes against the 
enlarged penultimate segment as the blade of a pocket- 
knife closes on its handle. By means of these chelate 
appendages the animals fasten themselves to the skin of 
cetaceans, thrusting their sharp claws into the epidermis, 
and adhering so firmly as to be able to withstand the dash 
of the waves. 

The members of the tribe Hyperina differ from the 
last by the larger size of the head, the more prominent eyes, 
and the absence of a palp on the maxillipedes. To this 
tribe belongs the large Cystosoma, a pelagic animal, probably 
retiring during the day to a considerable depth, but occasion- 
ally coming to the surface. The animal is colourless and transparent, so that by 
transmitted light the internal organs can be seen. The head is large and inflated, 
with its upper surface occupied by two enormous eyes. The genus Phronima also 
contains species attaining a considerable size, examples of the European P. sedentaria 


WHALE-LOUSE, Cyamus 
(nat. size). 


TRANSPARENT OCEAN-SHRIMP, Cystosoma neptuni (reduced), 


280 ' CRUSTACEANS. 


exceeding an inch in length. As in Cystosoma, the second pair of antennee are 
obsolete; the head is large, with the eyes placed upon its summit. There are 
seven pairs of large thoracic appendages, the third 
from the end forming a large and strong pincer. 

The species are widely distributed, although 
most abundant in the tropics. Like many pelagic 
animals, they are translucent, and mostly live in the 
mantle-cavity of the ascidians Pyrosoma and 
Doliolum, where the eggs are laid, and the young 
hatched. 

To a certain extent connecting the Malacostraca 
with the Entomostraca is a group of Crustaceans 
known as the Leptostraca, and containing the three recent genera MNebalia, 
Nebaliopsis, and Paranebalia, and a number of fossil forms. The affinities of 
the group seem to le with the Phyllopods on the one hand, and the Schizopods 
on the other. The body is laterally compressed, and the whole of the cephalothorax 
and the first four segments of the abdomen enveloped in a carapace, which springs 
from the head, and is formed of two movable valves, closed by a muscle. Although 
the eight thoracic segments are overlapped by the carapace, they are distinct and 
movable. The abdomen consists of eight movable segments, or two in excess of the 
normal number; but there are only nineteen pairs of appendages. The head bears 
a small, movable rostrum, and a pair of stalked eyes. The two pairs of antennze 
are well developed, and there are three pairs of jaws. The appendages of the thorax 
are foliaceous. The members of this group are marine, and widely distributed, 
being found in cold and warm latitudes. The female carries the eggs attached to 
her thoracic feet. 


PHRONIMA (enlarged three times), 


Subclass Entomostraca. 


The Crustaceans of this division are small, and vary much more than the 
Malacostraca, from which they differ in the following features. The number of 
body-segments is not constant, but either greater or less than nineteen, and, as a 
rule, there are no appendages to the abdomen. In the majority of cases the young 
are hatched as a Nauplius. 


THE BARNACLES,—Order CIRRIPEDIA. 


The adult members of this group are so unlike typical Crustaceans that it can 
hardly be a reproach to the older naturalists that they failed to discover their 
affinity. Two well-known members of the order are the barnacles so frequently 
attached to the bottoms of ships or floating timber, and the acorn-barnacles 
covering the rocks on the coast. The barnacle (Lepas) consists of a tough longer 
or shorter stalk, one end of which adheres tightly by means of a cement to the 
timber or ship, while to the other is attached an oval compressed body encased in 
pieces of shell, through two of the valves of which can be protruded six pairs of 
slender, bristly, two-branched, filamentous limbs. These limbs, being the appendages 
of the thorax, keep up a constant sweeping motion, whereby particles of food are 


BARNAGLES, 281 


washed into the mouth that lies below them. The abdomen is undeveloped ; but 
the rest of the body is enveloped in a fold, or mantle, supporting the outer shelly 
skeleton. The jaws consist of two pairs of maxille, and a pair of mandibles, and 
the lower part of the head is inferiorly continued into the stalk, which contains 
the gland secreting the cement. If a barnacle be carefully removed from its point 
of attachment, the remains of the first pair of antennee may be observed on the 
adhesive surface. When first hatched, the young are in the Nauplius stage, being 
furnished with a median eye, and three pairs of appendages, of which the posterior 
two are branched. After swimming for a while by means of these appendages, 


BARNACLES ATTACHED TO PUMICE. 


the larva moults several times, and passes into a second stage, in which, with its 
two eyes and compressed carapace, it resembles a Daphnia. The rudiments of the 
six pairs of thoracic legs appear behind the mouth, and the first pair of swimming 
appendages become antenniform, each being provided with a sucker. By means 
of these suckers the larva fixes itself to its permanent resting-place, and, the cement- 
gland pouring out its secretion, glues the creature firmly to its point of attachment. 
Henee it follows that the fixed end of the stalk is the front extremity of the body. 
In the allied stalkless barnacle (Megalasma) the shell is attached directly to the 
support. We are thus led on to the acorn-barnacles (Balanus), in which the entire 
animal is enclosed in a shell formed originally of six pieces, which grow into a 
tube of variable length. Some of the latter group (Balanide), namely, the genus 


282 CRUSTACEANS. 


Coronula, or coronet-barnacles, attach themselves to the skin of whales. The 
burrowing-barnacle (Zubicinella) has the same instinct. When adult it is long 
and cylindrical, 
consisting of a 


stout, stony rod, 
marked with a ff 
series of annular |) 


ridges. This is 


buried deeply in 
the skin of whales, ACORN-BARNACLE (nat. size). 
sometimes — pene- 

trating as far as the blubber. 

These Cirripedes are not true par- 
asites, inasmuch as they do not extract 
nourishment from the animal to which 
they are attached; but many members 
of the group live exclusively upon other 
living beings, and nourish themselves at 
their expense. One form, for instance, 


fh mf mt 


i 
wu 


Ae 


Proteolepas, is in the 
adult condition a 
maggot-shaped, 


limbless, shell - less 


PARASITIC CIRRIPEDE, 


STALKLESS BARNACLE (nat. size). body, living within Sacculina (nat.. size). 


the mantle-chamber 
of other members of the same order; while the root-headed Cirripedes (R/izocephala) 
live parasitically upon the higher crustaceans. They 
are degenerate forms, possessing neither appendages 
nor segments, the body being a mere sac, devoid of 
alimentary canal, and absorbing nutriment by means 
of the root-like processes branching throughout the 
body of the host. 


BIVALVED GRoupP,—Order OSTRACODA. 


This order isa sinall assemblage, characterised by 
the possession of a bivalved shell, formed from the 
right and left halves of the carapace, and furnished 
with an elastic hinge to separate the valves and a 
muscle to keep them shut. The shell encloses the 
body which is unsegmented, has a rudimentary 


abdomen, and bears seven pairs of appendages, 

namely, two pairs of antenne, three pairs of jaws PARASITIC BARNACLES. 

each belonging to the head. and two of limbs attached Upper Figure —Peltogaster curvatus 
ang pm : (enlarged 13 times); Lower 

to the thorax. These limbs, however, are stout and Figure— Nauplius larva of Par- 


narrow, and, as a rule, there are no special respiratory thenopea (enlarged 200 times). 


OSTRACODA AND COPEPODA. 283 


organs. Ostracods occur both in fresh water and the sea; the best known 
forms being Cypris and Cythere. The former contains species found in ditches 
and ponds in England. When the waters in which they live dry up, the 
species of Cypris bury themselves in the mud until rain falls: the eggs, which 
are spherical, being attached to aquatic plants. The species of Cythere are mostly 
marine, haunting rocky pools on the coast, and crawling amongst the seaweed. 
In Cypridina, on the contrary, which is also marine, the animals dart about 
with velocity; the females carrying their eggs between the valves of the shell 
attached to their feet. 


Oar-FooteD Group,—Order CoPEPoDA. 


In the free-living members of this group, the body is elongate and segmented ; 
the thorax bears four or five two-branched swimming-feet, and the abdomen is 
without appendages. A common fresh-water form is Cyclops, the structure of 
which serves as a type of that of the order. The body is broad in front and 
tapering behind, being thus pear-shaped in outline. The normal five pairs of head- 
appendages are well developed, the first pair of antenne being long and acting as 
oars. The dorsal elements of the head are fused to form a carapace, which bears 
a single eye in front and is behind united to the first 
thoracic segment, the remaining five of this region 
being free. The abdomen consists of four narrow 
cylindrical limbless segments; but the last bears a pair 
of processes severally tipped with a tuft of four long 
bristles. The eggs are carried by the mother in a 
couple of oval sacs attached to the last segment of the 
thorax, and so prolific are these creatures, that a 
female, it has been calculated, will in a year produce 
over four thousand million young. The young when 


COPEPODS. 
hatched is an oval Nawplius (6), which gradually a, Female Cyclops, with egg-sacs ; 


acquires the characters of the adult. Closely resem- b, ¢, Nauplius and later larva 


: : : : é 4 of same. 
bling the preceding is the marine Cetochilus, which 


is devoured in large quantities by whale-bone whales. ‘These crustaceans are of 
a bright red colour, and when seen in myriads give the sea the appearance of being 
stained with blood. 

The Copepods hitherto noticed are spoken of as the Eucopepoda, but we now 
come to a number of genera which have taken to a parasitic life, these Epizoa, 
or Parasitica, being strangely unlike the Mgher forms. As one of the least 
modified types, may be mentioned the carp-louse (Argu/ius). Of the more 
degenerate types, the structure is exemplified in the annexed cut. In these the 
body may be broad and flat, as Caligus (e), which is frequently found upon the eod- 
fish and the brill, or long and worm-like, as in Lerncwonema and Pennella (a and c), 
the former being a common parasite on the herring and sprat, while in Lernea, the 
gill-sucker, to which Hamobaphes (d) is allied, the body is swollen and twisted in 
the form of the letter S. The two long processes represented in the figures 
projecting from the posterior end of the body are the egg-sacs. The appendages 


284 CRO STACEAMS: 


of the head and thorax are more or less reduced, being either absent or converted 
into adhesive hoops or suckers. 


SS 


WAY 


SS 

SS 
= 
S 
y 


W ZZ 


WL: 


Xoo 
LE 


a 


FISH-LICE. 


a, Lerneonema (enlarged 3 times) ; 6, Brachiella (enlarged 9 times) ; c, Pennella (enlarged 5 times) ; 
d, Hemobaphes (nat. size); e, Caligus (enlarged 3 times). 


Order CLADOCERA. 
The members of this order take their names from the large and branched 
antenne, which serve as swimming organs. They are all small, and the carapace 
forms a bivalve shell enclosing the greater part of the body, this carapace being an 
extension of the dorsal surface of the head-segments. An example of the order is 
the water-flea (Daphnia pulexr), to which <Acanthocercus, represented in the 
figure on p. 285, is nearly allied. Here the body is narrowed in front, and at 
the posterior end, where the carapace (S) is deeply notched, is the tip of the 
abdomen (C), bearing the pair of rigid barbed sete, from which the genus 


CLADOCERA. 285 


takes its name. At the front of the head (A) is a large compound eye (0), 
and the branched and plumed appendages projecting from beneath the sides of 


SPINY-TAILED WATER-FLEA, Acanthocercus (much enlarged), 


the head are antenne (R, T). The first pair of antennz are small and simple. 
The jaws consist of the mandibles and the first pair of maxille, the second 
pair of maxille being obsolete in the adult. The 
thorax comprises five segments, each bearing a pair 
of leaf-like swimming-limbs. The abdomen consists 
of three segments and is limbless. The males of 
Acanthocercus are smaller than the females and 
much rarer, being generally met with in the 
autumn. Eggs are laid both in summer and winter 
and are passed into a brood-pouch, separating the 
upper surface of the thorax from the backward 
extension of the carapace. Here the summer-eggs 
hatch, but the winter set are enclosed in a kind of 
capsule developed from part of the carapace. This capsule, called the ephippiwm, 
is cast off with the next moult of the mother’s integument, and falling to the bottom 
of the water gives exit to the embryos, which hatch in its interior. Another type 
is the glassy Leptodora hyalina, so called on account of its semi-transparency, which 
inhabits the open water of fresh-water lakes. The shell is so much reduced as 
scarcely to envelop the animal. 


EGG-CAPSULE OR Ephippium OF WATER- 
FLEA, Acanthocercus (much enlarged). 


286 CRUSTACEANS. 


LeAr-FooTtep Group,—Order PHYLLOPODA. 


Some of the members of this group are relatively large, the body being long 
and composed of a great number of segments, of which the thoracic, and sometimes 
the abdominal, are furnished with leaf-like gill-bearing appendages. 


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THE GLASSY LEPTODORA, Leptodora hyalina (enlarged 12 times). 


SCALE-TAILED APUS, Lepidurus (nat. size). 


PHYLLOPODA. 287 


In the family A podide, containing the genera Apus and Lepidurus, the anterior 
end of the body is covered with a carapace, projecting from the head over the free 
segments of the thorax. The hinder border of this 
carapace is deeply cut out, and near its front end there is 
a pair of contiguous compound eyes. The mouth is 
bounded in front by a large upper lip and behind by a 
deeply cleft metastoma, or lower lip. Both pairs of 
antenne are short. The jaws consist of a pair of 
mandibles and two pairs of maxille; these are followed 
by eleven pairs of thoracic limbs, and there are append- 
ages on the abdomen, sometimes numbering as many as 
fifty-two pairs. The last segment of the abdomen bears 
a pair of long filaments, and sometimes, as in Lepidurus, 
a distinct caudal plate. These crustaceans occur in the 
fresh waters of most countries. They swim on their 
backs, using the legs as paddles; and the eges are capable 
of surviving long periods of drought when embedded in 
dried mud. In the second family—the Branchipodidee 
—the body is also elongate, but there are no appendages 
to the abdomen, which consists of nine segments, while 
there are eleven pairs of thoracic appendages. The head- 
shield is not developed backwards, and the large separated 
eyes are supported upon distinct stalks. In the male, the 


second antennz are converted into claspers. These forms 
likewise swim upside down. Some (Branchipus) occur in 4, yar or Branchipus gruber 
fresh waters, but others (Artemia) prefer briny pools and (nat. size); 6, FEMALE OF 
Branchipus grubei (nat. size) ; 


Cc, MALE OF BRINE SHRIMP, 
fatal to other crustaceans. Artemia salina (enlarged). 


flourish in water so strongly charged with salt as to be 


Class Prototracheata. 


This term is applied to the group now claiming attention, because in many 
respects it occupies a place between the Tracheates and Worms, and is consequently 
regarded as allied to the ancestral form from which all Tracheates have been 
evolved. Unlike the true Arthropods, the limbs are not jointed; and the tough 
integument is covered with bristle- bearing papillae, but is not divisible into 
segments. The long body is shaped like that of a caterpillar or slug, and to the 
sides of its lower surface are attached a number of short more or less conical legs, 
each tipped with a pair of strong claws. The head is supplied with a pair of stout 
longish antennz, at the base of each of which, on the outer side, is an eye. On 
the lower surface of the head is placed the mouth, supplied with fleshy lips and 
two pairs of toothed horny jaws; and on each side of the head there is a modified 
appendage known as the oral papilla. The chief features to note in the internal 
organisation are the presence of seomentally arranged kidneys— one opening at the 
base of each leg—and the wide separation of the two strands of the ventral nerve- 
chord. This last character is found in some of the lower worms, and the numbers 


: 
288 CRUSTACEANS. 


of paired kidneys in the higher members of the latter group. The class contains 
only the single family Peripatide, which has a wide but somewhat singular dis- 
tribution. The genus Peripatus, for example, is spread over the West Indian 
Islands, ranging from Nicaragua through the northern parts of South America to 
Chili, and has also a single representative in Sumatra; while Peripatopsis is 
confined to Cape Colony, and Peripatoides to Australia and New Zealand. These 
three genera are easily distinguishable by external characters, and differ both 
in internal features, and also in embryonic development. Nevertheless, all the 
species seem to be closely similar in habits, living beneath the bark of trees, in the 
crevices of rotten stumps, and under decaying leaves, but always in damp localities, 
being exceedingly susceptible to drought. Locomotion is slow, and effected entirely 
by the legs, the body being kept rigid; and in walking every inch of the track is 
carefully explored by the antennz, which are so sensitive that they seem able to 
learn the nature of an object without actual contact. The sole function of the 
eyes seems to be to distinguish light from darkness, though it is possible that 
being nocturnal the animal may be able to see to a slight extent in a subdued 
light. When irritated, these creatures spurt from their oral papille a quantity of 
slime at the offending object, and with the same sticky substance entangle their 
prey, which consists of small insects. A specimen of Peripatopsis capensis has 
been seen to overcome a small scorpion by this means. This slime—secreted by 
two long glands extending from the oral papillze far back into the body—ean be 
ejected to a distance of about a foot. Curiously enough it will not adhere to the 
skin of the Peripatus itself. In one of the Australian species (Peripatoides 
oviparus) the mother lays her eggs in damp spots; but, as a rule, the young are 
born alive, and although the mother takes no special notice of them they crawl 
upon her back for protection. 
R. I, POCOCK. 


Peripatus edwardsit (nat. size, from life). 


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