‘i 4 - Ce ee 5 a! u “al li Rinna ie ey XS IRQ RA Frontispiece. | THE s.METAMORPHOSES OF THE STAG BEETLE. THE TRANSFORMATIONS “€ (OR METAMORPHOSES) a : OF hd INS Be WeSy aia (Tnsecta, Myriapoda, Arachnida, and Crustacea.) Z > BEING AN ADAPTATION, FOR ENGLISH READERS, OF M. EMILE BLANCHARD’S ““ METAMORPHOSES, , MCEURS ET INSTINCTS DES INSECTS;” AND A COMPILATION FROM THE WORKS OF : NEWPORT, CHARLES DARWIN, SPENCE BATE, FRITZ MULLER, PACKARD, LUBBOCK, STAINTON, AND OTHERS. BY Pe VIAR TIN DUNGAN FokeS:, Professor of Geology in King’s College, London. CLAXTON, REMSEN, AND HAFFELFINGER, and ; ' PHILADELPHIA. sf TABLE Or CONTENTS: ——~<>—. CHAPTER I. PAGE Tue INSECT WORLD I CREEP Mn ks se STRUCTURES IMPLICATED IN METAMORPHOSIS 9 CHAE DE Re LE METAMORPHOSES OF THE NERVOUS, DIGESTIVE, AND RESPIRATORY SYSTEMS, AND THE NATURE OF METAMORPHOSIS Bret CHAPTER LV. THE METAMORPHOSES OF THE LEPIDOPTERA . : : 3 : . 68 CHAPTER V. THE METAMORPHOSES OF THE LEPIDOPLTERA—Coztinued 93 CHAPTER VI. THE METAMORPHOSES OF THE HYMENOPTERA ‘ : , F : ato? (GWU MIM DR Wale THE METAMORPHOSES OF THE COLEOPTERA 204 CHAPTER VILE THE METAMORPHOSES OF THE ORTHOPTERA . 336 CHAP ILE Re EX THE METAMORPHOSES OF THE THYSANOPTERA 351 CHAE AERA a THe METAMORPHOSES OF THE NEUROPTERA . 353 CEVA Hee Xo. THE METAMORPHOSES OF THE HEMIPTERA iv TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER Xie PAGE THE METAMORPHOSES OF THE APHANIPTERA AND STREPSIPTERA . : . 384 CHAR DE Re ex tll: THE METAMORPHOSES OF THE DIPTERA. : : ; : : 3 - 390 CHAPTER XIV. THE ANOPLURA AND THYSANURA . 3 : - ; ; : : . 408 CEA Ragen THE MYRIAPODA . i 5 ; : ; ‘ : : ; : - Ae CHAPTER XVI. THE METAMORPHOSES OF THE ARACHNIDA . : : , ‘ : . 426 CHAPTER XVII. THE METAMORPHOSES OF THE CRUSTACEA : : : : : . 448 abe OF MUST RATIONS, FULL-PAGE PEA LES. The Metamorphoses of the Stag Beetle - - - - - "The Metamorphoses of Papilio machaon - - The Metamorphoses of Vazessa Lo - - - = - 2 The Metamorphoses of the Marbled White (Avge se nde : - The Metamorphoses of Sesta apiformis - - - - - The Metamorphoses of Zygena filipendule, the ‘‘ Six Spot Burnet” The Metamorphoses of the Sphinx euphorbie - - - - The Metamorphoses of Attacus luna - - - - - - The Metamorphoses of the Bombyx sc and of Calosoma sycophanta = - . - - - - The Metamorphoses of Psyche aes - - - - - The Metamorphoses of the Goat Moth (Cossus ligniperda) The Moths and Caterpillars of Cucullia verbasci - - - - Galls of Cyzips terminalis - - : = 2 z Chrysidide - - - - - - - : - = The Nest of Formica rufa - - The Metamorphoses of Scolia Havifrons = - : : Vespa sylvestrisand Nest - - - - - - - - Polistes gallica and Nests” - - - - - - - - Polybia palmarum and Nests - - 2 = - : : Tatua morio and Nest - : - Leaf-cutting Bees and Nests - - Anthocopa papaveris and Nests” - : - = = The Metamorphoses of Axthophora personata - - Bombus muscorum - - - - - - - The Nest of Alelipona scutellaris - - - - - The Metamorphoses of the Cockchafer (AZelolontha vulgaris) The Metamorphoses of Dytescus marginalis - - - The Metamorphosis of Acanthophorus serraticornis - - - The Eggs and immature and Adult forms of Phyllium siccifolium - The Metamorphoses of the Great Green Grasshopper - The Metamorphoses of the Mole Cricket (Gryllotalpa vulgaris) The Metamorphoses of Locusts (Acrvidium peregrinum) - = ss The Metamorphoses of the May Flies - - - - - - The Metamorphoses of the Dragon Fly (4schra maculatissima) - The Metamorphoses of Cicada fraxini - : - = = 2 The Garden Spider (Zfeira diadema) - - : = : : Mygale fodiens and its Nest - - - - - = s = Carcinus menas - - - - - - : 2 : The Spiny Lobster (Padinurus bee - - - - Lobster Fishery on the Coast of Normandy - - - To face Page Frontispiece. 78 82 ie) on) Nal TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS. ILLUSTRATIONS IN TRE TEX. GEVAE TERS sia Caterpillar of Sphinx ligustri - - Moth of Sphinx ligustri - - - Larve of a Dipterous Insect - Chrysalis of Sphinx ligustri - - - Larva and Moth of Adtacus pavonia major - Membranous Legs of Silkworm Caterpillar - Larva of Calosoma sycophanta - - - Beetle of Calosoma sycophanta (Magnified) - Larva of Silkworm with True and Membranous Legs - Legless Larvze of the Bee ; Nymphs of Bee - Caterpillar of a ‘* Looper” - - : - Chrysalides (Magnified) - - - - Anatomy of the Mouth of Locusta viridissima Mouth of Larva of Sphinx ligustri ; Head of Moth Head of a Hornet - - - - Digestive Apparatus of Locusta viridissima - Digestive Apparatus of Dytiscas marginalis - Digestive Apparatus of Caterpillar - . Digestive Apparatus of the Moth (Silkworm) (Magnified) CPAP WER: td. Nervous System of the Larva of the Bee (Magnified) - Nervous System of the Full-grown Bee (Magnified) Brain and Optic Nerves, &c.. of Larva of Water Beetle Brain and Optic Nerves, &c., of Adult Water Beetle - Nervous System of Larva of Silkworm - Nervous System of Moth of Silkworm - - Sympathetic Nerve of Silkworm - - Larva and Pupee of Vanessa urtice - = Metamorphoses of the Nervous System of Vanessa urtice A Trachea Magnified - = = 2 : 42, 2 ne DN wo ' bo WwW Go GW Go oO’ n Respiratory Organs of Larvee of Cloe bioculata and Ephemera vulgata The Larva and Nymph of the Caddis Fly - - - - - The Larva and Nymph of the Gnat_— - - - - - The Respiratory Apparatus of the Bee (Magnified) - - Sections of the Larva, Pupa, and Moth of Sphinx ligustri - Moths with Incomplete Wings - - - - - - - (Cris ANE Ia IR OY, A Portion of the Wing of Adtacus pavonia major - . Scales of Different Genera of Lepidoptera - - - - - Ends of the Feet of Lepidoptera - - - - - - = Moth of Sphinx Ligustri, and the Wings, Hook, and Catch - - TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Vil PAGE Terminal Parts of Antenne - - - = : = s : Sr T76 Membranous Feet of Caterpillars - - - = : 2 : ; 78 Caterpillar and Chrysalis of Pafilio machaon - - 2 : : = sh Caterpillars and Butterflies of 7Zecla W. album - - - - = : SEPBG Metamorphoses of Pamphila aracynthus - - = = : : 3 PERSE Caterpillars suspending themselves - - - - = E : : 90, 91 CH AGRA ER SV Antennz of Moths — - : - : = : : : ss é Z - © 64 Larva of the Death’s Head Moth - - = - = E é bs - 98 Chrysalis of the Death’s Head Moth - - - - = 2 c : L) vag Caterpillar of Cherocampa merit - - - : = - : = - = Tee Chrysalis of Cherocampa nerii - : - E = S = < = = 163 Moth of Cherocampa nerii - - - - - 2 z - : = =, E04 Death’s Head Moth - - - - - - : : c 3 2 = Os Moth and Larva of Attacus pavonia major - - - : : E - 109 Feet of Caterpillars and Moths - - - - - - : A E TG The Lackey Moth - - - - - = - - 2 é = ng Metamorphoses of Ovgyza antigua - - - - - = = A - 116 Female and Chrysalis of Psyche graminella - - : : - - E = 116 The Puss Caterpillar and Male Moth - < = : 2 : z : = 23 The Lobster Moth - - - - - : - 2 = : F =. Fan Erebus strix - - - - - - - < - : : = hae Caterpillars of Zxomos wlustraria - - c : = 2 = S = {534 Caterpillars and Moths of Aéraxas grossulariata - - - - 2 = 27035 The Male and Female Moths of the Mottled Umber — - - - - - = iy The Metamorphoses of Halias guercana - - E - : = = = AN The Metamorphoses of the Vine Pyralis — - - - = : - : = brag The Metamorphoses of 77xea tafetzella - - - - - . - - 147 Cocoons of Brazilian 77nxe‘na - - = - = - = - Z - 148 Larva Cases of 77xerna - = - - - - - - - - 149, 150 The Larva and Moths of Lithocolletis emberizepennela - - : - - => 3553 Moths of Orweodes and Pterophorus - - - - - - - - ~ E54 Male and Female Moth of Cimatobia brumata - - - = - - - 157 GAGE INE) Re Vale Ovipositor of //ylotoma rosea - - - - - - - - - - 166 Larva of a Saw Fly - - = : = 2 : : : 2 : - 168 Perfect Insect of Lophyrus pint - - - - - - - - - - 175 The Metamorphoses of Lophyrus pint - - - : = < = = 576 Strex gigas - - = = : 2 : 2 = 2 a - 178 Male and Female Cynips terminalis - - - - - - - - = oz Ichneumons - - = 2 2 : = 5 : 3 2 : - 190 Diplolepis and Chalcis = - = 4 2 E = : Z : - 193 The Ashy Ant - : 2 E : : : : E : 3 a ~ args The Red Ant - = < 2 = 2 2 z = = . = = 199 viii TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Larve, Nymph, and Cocoon of Red Ant Myrmecocystus Mexicanus - - Mutilla Europea - - - Ammophila sabulosa - - - Pelopeus spirifex - - - Pelopeus spirifex, Nest detached - Cerceris arenaria - - 2 Lhilanthus apivorus - - > Cemonus lugubris - - - Odynerus parietum, Metamorphoses Adult, Larva, and Pupa of Odynerus Lumenes pomiformis - - - Chalicodoma muraria - Chalicodoma muraria, Nest of — - Osmia aurulenta - - - Xylocopa violacea Psithyrus vestalis - . - - Apis mellifica - - - - Under surface of Bee - - : Hind Legs of Bee - - Head of Bee - - - - Sting and Venom Glands of Bee - Honeycomb - = : : COEITAGE Aa RV alate Metamorphoses of the Cefonia aurata Melolontha fullo - - - - Oryctes nasicornis Ateuchus sacer - - - - Necrophorus vespillo - Silpha quadripunctata Staphylinus olens = - - Viviparous Staphylinide - - Dermestes lardarius and Dermestes vulpinus Hydrous piceus - - - - LHydrous piceus, Egg Cocoons of Carabus auratus - - - > Cicindella campestris - c Tenebrio molitor - 2 Meloé cicatricosus and Sitaris humeralis Stlaris humeralis - - - Lampyris splendidula - - > Alaus oculatus - Trichodes alvearius Scolytus destructor Tomucus typographus and Scolytus destructor TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS. ix PAGE Rynchites Bacchus and Apoderus coryli - - - - - - - - 318 Beetles and Larvze of ZLarinus maculosus - - - - - - - - 319 Calandra palmarum - - - = = = = & : 3 =) 32K » Calandra oryze, and Calandra granaria - : = - = : s - 322 Chalcophora Mariana - - = - - - : = = = = 328 | Metamorphoses of Chalcophora Mariana - - - : = - = - 324 Metamorphoses of Océderes vomicosus - - - = 2 : 2 = gor Crioceris merdigera - - - = = = : a : = = (329 Lina populi - - - - - - : - = : . : = #330 Coccinella septempunctata - - : - : = = : 2 - 331 CIPASP Ay BARS save leleles Forficula auricularia - z 2 : : E ss : 3 E E 2) "onc Blatta Americana - = - - = = - - 2 a 2 “yaar _ Egg Capsules of Mantis religiosa - - - - - - - - - - 339 Empusa pauperata - = : 2 e 3 : : : 2 : - 340% Metamorphoses of the Field Cricket - - - - = : : = - 342 CHC AGE Misi Rael Xee The Incomplete Metamorphosis of 7%vips cerealium - - - - : - 345 e CCA El HR xe Termes lucifugum - - - : - : : : “ 2 3 - 348 A Female Zermes - 2 : = = E i 2 : 3 = 350 The Metamorphoses of Perla marginata - - - > = = = = 352 Larva and Pupa of an Ephemera - - : = : : : : = - 354 Nymph and Adult of Zzbeliila - : : 3 z = = - : - 357 The Metamorphoses of AZyrmeleon formicarium - - = : : 3 = 355 The Metamorphoses of Palsares libelluloides - = : : = = - 360 Nemoptera coa and Ascalaphus longicornis — - : - - - - - - 361 The Metamorphoses of Panorpa communis - - - - - : = - 363 The Metamorphoses of Seméblis lutaria - - - - - - - - 364. The Metamorphoses of the Caddis Flies - - - - - = = - 366 Larva and Nymph of Caddis Flies - - - = - - : - 367 Hydropsyche atomaria - - : : : Z : S : z 2 - 368 CURIGAG Es Ta Hy Rs, eXGlle The Metamorphoses of Pertatoma grisea - - - = : : 372 Astemma aptera - = : : - A 3 Z if é P y - 373 The Metamorphoses of Reduvius personatus - - - - a = = 1375 The Nepide - é = = : z e = 3 | a) e - 377 Aprophora spumaria - : s : 2 a 4 2 : : - 379 The Rose Aphis - . . : 2 : E 2 2 . : 1 - 380 Coccus cacti - : b : 2 2 : é x ; Fi ae 81 Cochineal Insect (Magnified) x TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS. CHAVA BAER exe alee PAGE The Metamorphoses of the Flea - = - = 5 - é : - - 385 Stylops aterrimus - - - - - = - - - - - - 387 Female and Larva of Stylops aterimus - - - = : - Z : - 388 CHUAPE TERS xaiclet: Metamorphoses of the Gnat - - - - - - - - - - 391 Cecidomyia and Viviparous Larve - - - - - - - 2 - 394 Tabanus bovinus - - - - = = = 2 - A 4 = 306 Stratiomys chameleo - - < = = : 2 2 2 ¢ - 3098 Volucella zonaria - - - : : 2 = : 2 f z - 400 Eristalis tenax - = - : : 2 : : 2 s P : = 401 Gymnosoma rotundata - - - - - = : : z z - 403 Meat Flies - - : = : = 2 Z = 3 = . - 404 Ticks . - : : 2 : = E 5 - rc - 406 CIELO APIS IL Won Philopterus selcifrons and Pediculus capitis - - - - : : : - 409 Lepisma and Podura . - - - = = 2 = 5 = 41D CAHeACE AT BARS Xai: Fulus terrestris - - - : = 2 : : 5 : 5 ~ = ae Scolopendra morsitans - = : 2 : Z 2 = - Li ae Development of lus - - . - = 2 : : : 2 =o Ay Gla NIP IW WI Sew The Scorpion’ - - - - - = : < 2 5 : - 428 fydrachna geographica - - - = : : = z 2 S - 438 Hydrachna globula - < - . : - 2 g a 3 2 aAe: Itch Insect z = zs 2 s 3 2 is Ms = 2 ads Argyroneta aquatica - - - . - - - - - - . - 447 CUPAV ESSER oxen lal Carcinus menas—Zoéa - - = s a z 2 2 2 = (ARamara Young Lobsters - : 2 és f i s a 2 2 f - 487 Nauplius of Prawn - = 3 2 - : : : 5 = - - 498 Zoéa of Prawn - - 2 : : Z 2 4 : - ; - 459 Older Zoéa : - 2 S : : é J : : i ~ - 460 Mysis Form of Prawn - - - - - - - : 2 - 461 Palinurus—Zoéa - - - - - : - = E 462 Species of Praniza and Anceus - - - - - - 4 463 Daphnia pulex and Cypris fusca - - - - - - - 465 Metamorphosis of a Lernwan - ‘= F . : > - 468 Lepas anatifera - : = = 2 : 470 A Sessile Barnacle — - - . = 5 471 Larva of Scalpellum vulgare, and Larva of second stage - = PRE eee i. THIS volume consists mainly of an adaptation of M. Emile Blanchard’s popular work on the metamorphoses of insects for English readers. In order to complete the history of the evolution of some of the articulate animals which M. Emile Blanchard has not fully described I have selected much matter from the well- known writings of George Newport, Duges, Charles Darwin, Heroldt, Schiddte, Fritz Miiller, Packard, Sir John Lubbock, Stainton, and Spence Bate; but at the same time I have eliminated large portions of M. Emile Blanchard’s work, which, although very interesting, do not refer directly to the phenomena of metamorphosis. I have endeavoured to suppress all doubtful facts; and I have introduced here and there some opinions upon the nature of metamorphosis and its relation to the evolution of the creatures subjected or not to it. It is only just that M. Emile Blanchard should be relieved from the authorship of such opinions. Students of the Articulata will, perhaps, be astonished at the amount of work there still remains to be done in the examination of the transformations of many important families of the Zzsecta, and I venture to express a hope that carcinologists will give me their kind consideration—owing to the great difficulty of the subject—when they read the chapter on the metamorphoses of the Crustacea, and especially that part which is an analysis of Charles Darwin’s wonderful monograph. P. MARTIN DUNCAN. TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. OW sila ot tcc THE INSECT WORED- THE beings which belong to the great zoological group of the Articulata are found in enormous numbers in nearly every part of the world. The articulate animals comprise those which the great Linnaeus called “insects "—that is to say, the true insects, the hundred-legs, the spiders, and the crabs. Insects existed in very remote geological ages, and their wings have been found beautifully preserved in the remains of those old forests and swamps which have been formed into coal. Thus early in the world’s history the beetle droned at eventide, and the merry chirp of the grasshopper was added to the song of Nature. Moreover, the hundred-legs of the period enjoyed the quietude of the great tree stems, and many a spider spread its web on the ferns and the close underwood. Coal is dug up from depths of hundreds of fathoms, and is covered by sediments which are the remains of old continents, and sea bottoms, the thickness of which is a measure of the time they took to form; yet so far back in the annals of Nature the tiny insects came from the egg, lived as gormandising grubs, changed into sleepy pupe, and burst forth into lively winged creatures. Ever since, and during all the successive changes of the world’s surface, insect life has manifested itself, and now articulate animals are found everywhere. TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. to Insects fly, crawl, and hum in the forest, along the fields, and about the marsh; and they swim, fight, and devour in the tran- quil glassy pools hour after hour and without ceasing. They embody the very principles of vitality, activity, and destruction. Myriads dance in airy flight over the frozen sea, and alight on the ice-bound coasts, where life appears to be impossible, and where a few Esquimaux lead a desolate and adventurous existence. They tease the reindeer, and drive them to the region of bitter frost ; and they live upon the offal left by the hunters, or cast up by the tide. Many a wandering butterfly has been welcomed by the Alpine climber in his solitude, and vast columns of them have clothed the rigging and sails of ships far out at sea with their painted wings. In the tropics, where Nature revels in an excess of gorgeous splendour, the beetles and the flies compete with the floral world in numbers and in magnificence of colouring. The fire-flies illuminate the shades in the short twilight, and move in graceful curves through the dense woods; and until night sets in the insect war continues. In our temperate climates, where the sun is not so fierce and so constantly shining, the decorations of insects are not so intensely beautiful, but they are immensely appreciated; and the study of the anatomical details of all the kinds, and the examination of their habits and peculiarities, afford endless delight. During one part of the year the activity displayed by the little world of insects is unequalled. The caterpillars, grubs, and larvae eat with an incomparable appetite; they nibble and devour their food incessantly, and make haste to grow as fast as possible. They change their skins over and over again, and sleep for a while as nymphs, pupe, or chrysalides, and awake to a new life, which has but a slight resemblance to the old. The winged insects pursue each other, and dance in great companies, urging their short love chase amidst the pendant boughs and the gayest flowers, and then seek restlessly and skilfully the proper places for their eggs. Such industrious flies as the bees appear to live in order to work, and are so preoccupied with their undertakings that they seem never to have a moment to lose. There they are, making DS] THE INSECT WORLD. 3 holes in the soil or in old walls, and building cells, or rushing from flower to flower gathering honey, collecting pollen, and not in a temper to be disturbed at their business, for they are putting by for the rainy day, and thinking of the store they must lay up with their eggs. A caterpillar is in great distress, and is traversing the sunshine in the strong grip of a gaily-coloured Sphex, which is about to place it in the nest, where its young will make a meal of it some day or other; and an Ichneumon fly, with its slim waist and long, slender body, armed with a sharp ovipositor, is just about to attack another heavy feeder, and to lay an egg beneath its skin. Well armed and cuirassed carnivorous beetles and dragon-flies are busy slaying and eating the quiet munchers of leaves and the suckers of flowers; and the delicate water insects are revelling in a constant fight, or are gormandising on their weaker prey. Elsewhere there is a different scene of intense vitality. The blow-flies are hovering around, and are placing their eggs in the putrid dead body of a small animal, some beetles are burying portions of it, and soon a mass of maggots will revel in the rest. Most wonderful are the uses of insects. They fertilise the soil by scattering decomposing matters, and prevent them from vitiating the atmosphere. A plant grows luxuriantly and increases too rapidly ; the caterpillars arrest its growth and propagation; the caterpillars after a while become too destructive, and the Ichneu- mons kill them by myriads. The vegetarian insects which lead a luxurious and quiet life tend to increase greatly in number, and yet the carnivorous kinds are ever at hand to keep this prolific race within bounds. Century after century this curious equilibrium is maintained in Nature, and although occasionally locusts increase to such an extent as to ruin great districts, still, as a rule, the interference of man produces the ravages of the flies that injure his crops, for he constantly disarranges the balance of insect power. The crab tribe represents the insects in the seas, along the coasts, and in the rivers, and its members lead all sorts of lives under very diverse circumstances. It would appear that Nature requires the multiplication of the Articulata to be carried to the greatest excess, and that they B 2 4 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. should often lead different lives during the successive stages of their growth and development ; that they should be able to live under most opposite conditions of existence, being clothed in most varied garb; that they should undergo metamorphoses. Every civilised nation, during its early days, produced students of Nature who wondered at the metamorphoses of insects. They considered that there was a complete transformation of one being into another, and that the metamorphosis of the fable was repeated as a common condition in these lowly winged tribes. Scientific research and the results of the microscope proved, many years since, that this opinion was incorrect, and that the trans- formations were phases in the development or evolution of the animal. The butterfly—the metamorphoses of which are most striking to the young observer—could never have existed unless it had completed its regular course of development, separated by dis- tinct stages. The insect is born in an embryonic condition, that is, immature and imperfectly developed—born, as it were, too soon. The imperfectly developed insect is the caterpillar. The caterpillar receives in the egg the gift of the principal vital organs which are to be traced in the chrysalis and butterfly, but they have to be modified and perfected, and others have to ap- pear at a more advanced stage of the development of the insect. During the early part of its existence the insect only requires an abundant supply of food, and. grows daily in bulk, without there being any changes in its outlines and shape. Then, with increasing dimensions, come repeated skin sheddings and many internal alterations. It attains its greatest size, and then traces of new organs are to be discovered by the anatomist. Oftentimes old structures disappear. The caterpillar then ceases to eat, and appears to shorten, and to contract; the skin splits and falls off, and there remains an almost quiescent mass, the vitality of which is often doubtful in the eyes of the curious. It is an armoured being, some of whose outlines foreshadow a future condition; it is a mould wherein the changes of the animal alchemy are proceeding slowly and surely ; it is the dross before the gold; it is the chrysalis, out of which, in due time, flies the butterfly. THE INSECT WORLD. “ The beetles are born in a comparatively imperfect state, and no one could guess from their immature forms that they would eventually become what they do. In the first stage of their existence, after having escaped from the egg, they are grubs or larve, and they generally remain in this condition for a consider- able time before changing into the quiet and motionless nymph, pupa, or beetle chrysalis. But the life of the mature insect, which escapes fully and elaborately formed and decorated from the shroud of the nymph, is usually limited to a few days. The bees, wasps, and flies commence their existence as mag- gots or grubs, and have to submit to metamorphoses like those of the other insects. But the grasshoppers resemble their fully-developed parents from the first. They are only deficient in the wings, which of all organs are those the most indicative of perfection. The young grasshoppers have very much the shape of the old ones, and their habits and dispositions also. Old and young grass- hoppers, the first with and the others without wings, the adults and the larve, live very much the same sort of life, but the young ones change their skins several times during their growth. After the last moulting but one there are traces of wings which swathe the body, and the insect is then said to be a nymph; but it is not like the quiet chrysalis of the butterfly or the pupa of the beetle, for it is as active as the perfect adult into which it speedily grows. Some insects do not undergo any metamorphosis, and in this they are imitated by the hundred-legs, and the greater part, but not all, of the spiders. In the sea many of the Crustacea present transformations during their growth and adolescence quite as wonderful and interesting as those just noticed amongst the terrestrial insects. In most of the species of Crustacea successive changes of shape and of habits precede the perfection of the adult form. The heavy, slow-moving crab that crawls sideways over the rocks was once a sprightly, free-swimming larva, and so were all the shrimps ; moreover, there are long-legged, active things, swimming in every sea, which are larve that have a most extraordinary fate. They are destined to be fixed by their heads to rocks, ships, and even 6 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. to sharks and whales, and to turn into something much more dissimilar than butterflies are to caterpillars—into barnacles. Instead of their development progressing during the metamor- phosis it retrogrades, and the adult creature is less perfect than the young. Swammerdam, the great Dutch naturalist of the 17th century, laboured to prove that the structural elements of the perfect insect were already within the caterpillar or larva, and he impressed upon his contemporaries and upon many of his successors that all the parts of the adult were in the creature as it escaped from the egg, but on a small scale. He considered that the glories of the fully- developed insect were masked in the tiny grub, and hence the name of larva. But careful anatomical researches and dissections, with the aid of the microscope, gradually disproved this idea of Swammerdam’s, and by the beginning of this century the opinions of naturalists concerning the nature of the metamor- phoses of the Articudata were much nearer the truth. It had become known that some important organs which existed at one period of insect life were not to be found at others, and that new combinations of structures having peculiar functions and uses appeared during growth. Every one knows that a young chicken differs in shape from one just hatched. Now, the anatomists of the early part of this century laboured at the investigation of the alterations in the arrangement of the internal parts and organs which took place during the egg life of the bird, and they proved that the develop- ment within the egg was akin to that which entomologists were obtaining dim notions about with respect to the metamorphoses of insects. Later still) Von Baer and Rathke asserted that the early condition within the egg—the embryo—of all animals, had one aspect, but that soon essential differences in structure com- menced, and determined the future shape and peculiarities of the adults. This is not consistent with modern research, nor is it true that the most important organs appear first of all in the earliest stages of life; but these theories had excellent effects upon the progress of science. And Milne-Edwards proved that the embryos of the kinds of Crustacea, which, when fully grown, are of the same genera or groups of species, resembled each THE INSECT WORLD. Gs other, and he demonstrated that in the case of kinds whose adults were very unlike in shape, the resemblance of the young existed for a certain period, and then anatomical distinctions began and progressed until perfection was arrived at. There are, therefore, changes inside the egg, and moultings and metamorphoses outside, during the life history of most of the Articulata. Perhaps, when the matter has been more studied, the animal kingdom will be classified by observing the nature of the changes from the embryo to the adult form, and during the embryonic condition, but at present there are some difficulties to be over- come, for very similar creatures have different metamorphoses | and grades of changes of shape. That is to say, there are animals which resemble each other so far as their structures and habits are concerned, and which go through complete metamorphoses, and others that only have to submit to slight changes of shape and structure. The dif- ference is most striking, but, nevertheless, when the immature forms, and even the adults, are anatomised, the greatest resem- blances are detected between them. The beetles—for instance, the cockchafer and the stag beetle—are born in a very incomplete or embryonic condition. Insects of the order of the Orthoptera —the grasshoppers or the earwigs—on the contrary, when they come out of their eggs nearly resemble their parents, and they do not undergo true metamorphoses. But the beetles and the grasshoppers, so. far as the details of their construction are con- cerned, do not show any but secondary differences. The beetles have greater structural resemblances to the grasshoppers than they have to the butterflies, yet they resemble these last in their method of development and evolution. Similar peculiarities may be detected amongst the Crustacea. The lobster and the prawn are closely allied by their similarity of construction; but the first hardly undergo a change, whilst the last present three forms before reaching the mature beauties of prawn life. It would appear—after studying the metamorphoses of the Articulata and their skin sheddings, which are really the external evidences of an inward transformation, which is not marked by a great break or phase in the insect economy—that these inte- 8 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. resting phenomena have been added to insect life since the beginning of. it. How clearly it is the truth that the metamorphosis of insects is but a progressive development of the immature into the mature being, can best be seen by a slight examination of some’of those structures which are altered during growth, and of those which appear during the consecutive stages of life. CHAPTER 7 AAS ‘eo iN WTA (AN Wei i if \ i t I" yo, MOTHS WITH WINGS INCOMPLETE, JUST AFTER EMERGENCE, with minute hooks, similar to those on the feet of the larva. By means of these, by alternately contracting and extending its abdo- minal segments, the pupa is enabled to force an opening through its silken cocoon, or to move itself along until it has overcome the obstacles which might oppose its escape as a perfect insect. “Immediately after the insect has burst from the pupa case it suspends itself in a vertical position, with its new organs, the wings, somewhat depending, and makes several powerful respiratory efforts. At each respiration the wings become more and more enlarged by the expansion and extension of the tracheal vessels within them, accompanied by the circulatory fluids. When these organs have acquired their full development, the insect remains at rest for a few hours, and gains strength, and the exterior of the body becomes hardened and consolidated, and forms the dermo- THE NATURE OF '’METAMORPHOSTS. 67 skeleton. This is what takes place in lepidopterous insects. Some of the Coleoptera, as in the instance of Melolontha vulgaris, the common Chaffer Beetle, remain for a greater length of time in their nests before they come abroad, after entering the imago state. This is also the case with the humble-bees. When these insects first come from their cells they are exceedingly feeble, their bodies are soft, and covered with moisture, their thick coating of hairs has not acquired its proper colour, but is of a greyish white, and they are exceedingly susceptible of diminished warmth. They crowd everywhere among the cells and near other bees, where there is most warmth. In a few hours this great susceptibility is diminished, and their bodies acquire their proper colours, but they do not become sufficiently strong to be capable of great muscular exertion, and undertake the labours of the nest, until the following day. When an insect has once entered its perfect state, it is believed to undergo no further meta- morphosis or change of covering. But there exists an apparent exception to this general law in the Ephemeride, which are noted for the shortness of their existence in the imago state. When these insects have crept out of the water and rid themselves of the pupa covering, and their wings become expanded, they soon take flight, but their first movements in the air are performed with some difficulty, and they shortly alight again and throw off a very deli- cate membrane with which every part of the body has been covered, and then resume their flight with increased activity. The condition of the insect previous to this final change has been called the pseud-imago state.” The structural changes which occur during metamorphosis are certainly equalled, in the interest they must excite, by the psy- chical; and the habits, instincts, and passions witnessed during the different phases of existence are indeed most diverse. F bo CE APE ERIN: AD VeE 1 Mid, 1) IDO) 2 AW as 1 aN THERE is some advantage in commencing the description of the metamorphoses of insects with the Lefidoptera, for nearly every- body knows something about their transformations. No one has any hesitation in distinguishing an insect of this order, for its shape proclaims it to be a butterfly or a moth at once. The very name, scale-wing (Lepidoptera), calls up delicate and airy forms with elegant proportions and beautiful colouring. The wings, usually very large in proportion to the body, give that peculiar jerking flight to most of the Lepidoptera which attracts the attention. There are four wings, each formed by a double layer of colourless membrane, traversed by _nervures which are differently arranged according to the species of the insect; and these delicate expansions are covered with micro- scopic scales fixed on like the tiles of a roof. The beautiful colouring of the butterfly’s wing depends upon the scales. This nature painting, which seems to deal with elaring and strongly contrasted colours, is so perfect that it never offends the eye. Yet, if we place certain tints in direct opposition, an unpleasing effect is invariably produced. Thus, there are many Lepidoptera with a red, yellow, or bright blue band crossing a black ground; but there is a beautiful softening off of the intermediate tints produced by rows of diversely- coloured scales, which, although it escapes us in a general view, does away with all harshness, and conveys an excellent lesson to the painter. THE LEPIDOPTERA. 69 At first sight the scales look like dust, and they come off on to the finger and thumb when the wings are touched; but under the microscope they present most elegant shapes and singularly elaborate details of structure. Variable according to the genera and species of the Lepzdoptera, and equally so in different parts of the same wing; the scales may be more or less elongated or even fan-tailed in shape, and rounded at the free edge, or incised, so as to resemble dentations or pointed festoons. There is a short stalk at the base of each scale, which resembles a handle under the magnifying power of the microscope, and it is the portion A PORTION OF THE WING OF Adtacus pavonia major. Showing the method of implantation of the wing scales. (Magnified. ) which is implanted into the alar membrane. The surface of the scales ordinarily presents several longitudinal keel-like promi- nences, which are parallel and equidistant. Some cross markings, which are very close together, form a very delicate network between the keel-shaped lines, and they appear to have some- thing to do with the connection between the neighbouring scales. The scales are formed by two layers of excessively delicate tissue, and the colours are produced by extremely small dots, beads, or corrugations, which act upon the rays of light, and produce the phenomena of “interference.” There is no special colouring matter in the scales, and all the effect is brought about by the “ ference” and decomposition of light. Dr. Pigott and others have lately shown that the so-called ribs of the scales are corrugations of one or both of the layers of tissue, and that the beads—which inter- H® TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. are so difficult to resolve into such shapes, except with very good microscopes, handled by first-rate histologists—are dried drops of some secretion which is upon the scale when the whole wing is moist, immediately after metamorphosis. All the Lepidoptera, although the name implies to the contrary, have not their wings perfectly covered with scales. The wings of SCALES OF DIFFERENT GENERA OF LEPIDOPTERA. I, 2. Papilio machaon. 3, 4. Morpho menelas. 5. Pamphila aracanthus. 6. Sesia apiformis. 7. Zygzena filipendule. 8, 9, 10. Sphinx ligustri. 11. Pterophorus pentadactylus. some are more or less transparent, and this is because they are not covered with scales; nevertheless these elegant structures are to be found on the margins, upon the nervures, and on some parts of the wings. They are never entirely deficient, and must be looked upon in all the Lefzdoptera as structures superadded during the second metamorphosis. The legs of the Lepidoptera are almost always very slender in proportion to the size and weight of the body. The adult insects, THE LEPIDOPTERA. 71 of whose legs we are now treating, do not walk much, and this is particularly the case with regard to those that fly by day—the diurnal or butterfly Lepidoptera—which only use their extremities as supports to rest upon. Generally the three pairs of legs are equally developed, but the first are often atrophied in some kinds of butterflies. These ill-developed legs are smaller than the others, ENDS OF THE FEET OF LEPIDOPTERA. 1. Papilio machaon. 2. Heliconia. 3. Vanessa lo. 4. Sphinx ligustri. and do not have hooks or claws on their extremities ; they are very hairy, and are usually kept close against the chest or thorax. The legs of the Lepidoptera are covered with hairs and scales, and the feet terminate in hooks, which are always of one shape in the moths or nocturnal kinds, and which are greatly modified in the butterflies or diurnal flyers. Nearly every kind of butterfly has the endings of its feet modified to meet its peculiar habits and the nature of the foliage it crawls over. We have noticed the wonderful transformation which occurs 72 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. of the mouth of the caterpillar into the long trunk-like suction tube of the perfect insect, and it is therefore only necessary to state that the lower palpi, which are attached to the lower lip or labrum, are large, and that they probably act as organs of touch. The antenne are formed by a long row of joints, and are ot different shapes in a great number of the Lepidoptera. They form, with the eyes, very beautiful objects for low magnifying powers, and the globular shape of these compound organs of vision is well shown with the binocular microscope, which ex- hibits the extraordinary long hairs between the hexagonal facettes of the cornea to perfection. . All these structural details refer to the perfect insect, and they have been superadded to those characteristic of the larva or caterpillar condition during metamorphosis; they are the pro- duct of a definite growth and development, and which is more or less invariable, according to the species, but they are often modified and varied in order to meet the exigencies of altered external circumstances. The most beautiful insects in the world belong to the Lepi- doptera, but it is remarkable that they should not be very interesting in their habits and peculiar instincts. The gift of superior beauty, like as in the highest of all animals, is not fre- quently accompanied by remarkable intelligence and superior sense; and the most gaudy butterfly is a fool in comparison to a dingy-coloured bee. The butterflies have some curious instincts when in the caterpillar state, but they only live to increase and multiply their race, and to embellish Nature. Their existence is usually very brief; it is one of the prettiest of honeymoons, and often love subdues and destroys every other passion. The gormandising caterpillar is never troubled by the ardent flame which consumes even the thought of sipping the nectar of the flowers that rival in beauty the wings of the perfect represen- tation of elegance and love. The early insect lives and eats, and the perfect form loves and dies. The female butterfly’s instincts are principally restricted to selecting proper positions for her eggs. She never sees her hatched progeny, and can have no ideas about the respective THE LEPIDOPTERA. 73 merits of cabbages, carrots, or oak leaves as their future nourish- ment, for, at the most, she dips her long sucker into a few flowers to enjoy their sweetness. Nevertheless she deposits her eggs in a safe place, and as near as possible to the ordinary ‘nourishment of the future caterpillar. It is impossible to explain the varieties of the colouring of some groups of the Lepidoptera, or the remarkable resemblances which exist between the tints of others. Sometimes all the species of a genus have the same shades of colour and markings. The most brilliantly tinted kinds belong to the hottest and moistest climates; for instance, South America, the Moluccas, and certain parts of India. Several groups of species belonging to the great genus Papzlio have a very uniform system of decoration. Species of this genus, which are found in the Moluccas, in the neighbourhood of the Straits of Sunda, in India, and in Southern China, have black velvety wings, dusted with a metallic blue or green tint, and ornamented with spots or bands of the same shade. Other species of the genus belonging to South America, to the Antilles, and to Mexico, are distinguished on account of a flaring red spot, or a band with opalescent tints, which ornament the black hinder wings. Multitudes of others have their wings variegated with yellow and black colours. The Pzeridi, whose type is the great Cabbage Butterfly, have usually white wings, and the species of the genus Colas have them tinted yellow; moreover, most of those of the genus Morphos, of South America, have their wings brilliantly coloured with a metallic blue. Thus there is a sort of uniformity in the ornamentation and colouring of more or less widely spread natural groups of the Lepidoptera. But if we seek the reason why, and endeavour to discover the end that Nature had in view in giving certain shades of colour to certain species, we shall not obtain very satisfactory answers. It is known that the brilliant colouring depends upon the presence of the scales, so far as the Lepidoptera are concerned, and the microscope has proved that no inherent and tangible colouring matters exist in those tiny dust-like particles. The delicate ridges and net-work of the scales act 74 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. upon the colourless rays of light that fall upon them, and decompose them into a variety of tints that emulate the rainbow. Many animals, such as birds and insects, live beneath the branches and amongst the sombre foliage of trees, and _ their colours are correspondingly quiet in tone; they take on a livery which enables them to escape observation, and they thus owe their safety to their mistress Nature. Hundreds of caterpillars escape destruction and extirpation in this manner; but the but- terflies of the Lepidoptera do not hide, and they rather glory in the brightness of the full light of day. The inquiry is rather complicated by the fact, elaborated by Wallace, that Lepidoptera which belong to different genera have often a similarity of colouring; but a hint from Mr. Bates, that admirable naturalist, who has given us such vivid descriptions of tropical nature in the district watered by the Amazons, throws no little light upon this difficult subject. He noticed immense flocks of Lepidopterc, belonging to the genus Heliconia, and that there were several other kinds mingling with them which belonged to different genera. Now these strangers in the crowd borrowed the Heliconian decorations, and would have passed muster to superficial observers as having a legitimate right to them. But the eye of the entomologist discovered that some belonged to the Pzeridi, which we have already noticed as usually having white, wings. The insect was clearly one of the Pzerzdz, but its clothing was that of /e/zconza. It was a dove in peacock’s attire, all glowing with red, yellow, and dark colours. Some of the other butterflies of the crowd had the same habits and peculiarities of flight of the Lepidoptera, whose garments they imitated. These were not accidental mimicries, for the descendants of these masqueraders do the same thing year after year. Why does Nature then mimic the decorations and colours? Mr. Bates suggests that in clothing a Pzeris with the garb of a Hediconza, Nature has provided it with a means of escape from insectivorous . creatures, that do not care for He/iconte—natural selection being at the bottom of the matter. The colours of both sexes are often the same in the Lepidoptera, but in some instances the ornamentation and tinting of the males and females differ, as also do their growth and development. THE LEPIDOPTERA. 75 Many females have no wings, and others are so imperfectly developed that they can hardly be distinguished from larve. It is evident, then, that there is design in the decorations of the Lepidopiera; that they are for the good of the insect ; that they vary under certain conditions of life, the other struc- tures remaining the same; that they have some reference to sex; that they are inherited, variations and all; and that, besides all this, they are proofs of the high art in Nature, and the beauty of God’s thoughts. MOTH OF Sphinx ligustit (PRIVET MOTH), Showing on one side the ‘‘catch” of the lower wing filled into a flat ring in the upper one ; and on the other side, the catch out of the ring, and the wings separated. There is a curious structure which is found on the wings of those Lepidoptera that fly very strongly and rapidly, and not in the jerking, irregular manner of butterflies. A sort of hook arises from one of the nervures of the hind wing, and fits into a ring on the large nervure of the front one. Both wings act then very strongly together. As a general rule, which is subject to a few exceptions, the diurnal Lepidoptera and they are therefore classified as Achalinoptera—wings without hooks. The rest of the Lepidoptera are Chalinopterous, and have the butterflies—do not have this structure, the strengthening structures. 76 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. THE LEPIDOPTERA WITHOUT HOOKS TO THEIR WINGs: (Achalinoptera.) These Lepidoptera are celebrated for the elegance of their shape and brilliant colour. The wings of the butterflies, or diurnal flyers, are usually very large, and very varied in their 7 i pallliig. i \ } 7 il j i I 2 3 4 TERMINAL PARTS OF THE ATTENNE IN DIFFERENT GENERA. (Magnified.) 1. Papilio machaon. 2. Argynnis paphia. 3. Thecla W. album. 4. Hesperia sylvanus. outlines. Some have them gracefully rounded off, and others have them prolonged backwards symmetrically. When these insects are at rest, their wings are set up, so that only their lower surfaces can be seen; they can hardly walk, and their legs are principally employed to keep the body steady, and to support it. The antenne of all the species are clubbed, and are useful to distinguish the different kinds. THE PAPILIONIDI. ae, The swallow tail Papilio machaon is a well known butter- fly in England, France, and the rest of Europe; it is also found in Asia as far as the Himalayas, and even in South Africa. Every one has seen it flying in the fields and resting on the milk parsley and other umbelliferous plants, and has admired its great size, its yellow wings, marked and splashed with black, and its hinder ones so beautifully ornamented with a row of eye-shaped spots of light blue. The butterfly appears for the first time every year in the month of May and a second time in the month of July. A very pretty caterpillar, about an inch and a half in length, may be found on the wild fennel and carrot plants during June and September. It is of a very vivid green colour, and is orna- mented with black velvety rings and large dabs of a reddish fawn colour. When this caterpillar—which is that of Pafzlio machaon—is quietly browsing upon its favourite plant, it resembles many others, and there is nothing very remarkable about the insect; but if it be touched it suddenly pokes out a spotted tentacule from between the head and the first segment of the body, and there being one on each side, they look like horns. Doubtless the insect believes that its enemies are alarmed by this proceeding, and a faint smell is certainly produced at the same time. These horns are common in the caterpillars of the genus Pafzlio. The caterpillar of Papzlio machaon has rather a small head, the skin of which is not much harder than that of the rest of the body. It feeds upon soft leaves, and the mandibles are weak and their cutting edge is not toothed. The upper lip or labrum is not split, but simply notched, and this indicates that the insect browses upon small leaves or upon those which are very “com- pound,” as the botanists have it, and which do not require to be held steadily whilst the masticating is going on. The mem- branous legs of this caterpillar are evidently admirably adapted for a larva that crawls upon easily grasped stems and twigs. They end in an inner margin, which is covered with spines, and in an outer, which is furnished with little hairs that materially assist the sense of touch. There are two caterpillars of Papilio machaon represented 78 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. in the engraving, and their peculiar horn-shaped prominences may be noticed behind their heads. An angular chrysalis is repre- sented hung by its tail end and slung also by a girdle of silk to Ny os) ES MEMBRANOUS FEET OF CATERPILLARS. 1. Papilio machaon. 2. Vanessa urtice. 3. Charaxes jasius. 4. Thecla W. album. a stem. The caterpillar does not spin a cocoon, but slings itself, and the chrysalis stage is completed in May. The special adaptation of the external organs of the cater- pillar to definite methods of existence is very noticeable. Thus, in Carolina, Virginia, and Louisiana, there are swallow-tails CATERPILLAR AND CHRYSALIS OF Papilio machaon. (Papilio asterias) whose caterpillars live on umbelliferous plants, like those of Paptlio machaon, and their oral (mouth) struc- tures, and their feet, are like those of the common European insect. In the same districts a Papzlzio trotlus lives on laurels in its caterpillar state, and the larva has its labrum or upper lip more split than the others, so as to hold the leaf it gnaws —moreover, the spines of the feet are stronger, so as to enable THE METAMORPHOSES OF Latilio machaon. ee ‘ iy i . { Tix Ss ’ y io = as Pe 2 in : a) im Te. j i BD a | Ce . 7) + oir yl . Yes SS igo Hen r THE PAPILIONIDYI. 79 the creature to walk over the stems and leaves of the plants, which are more difficult to grasp than those of the Umdellifere. These species may be compared with a swallow-tail from Bengal (Papilio Hector), which has its black wings spotted with white and red. Its caterpillar has a very hard head, and its labrum is deeply notched; the mandibles are powerful, and are armed with saw-like edges, and the legs are much more spined than those of the other kinds. The Bengalese caterpillar evidently crawls over vegetable tissues which are not easily climbed, and lives upon large and hard leaves, and it is said that herbaceous Aristolochiacee are its favourite food. This caterpillar’s peculiar structures relate distinctly to its habits. It has, however, two rows of tubercles on the back, whilst the body of our species is smooth. Several very closely-allied genera, which belong to the same little group of Lepidoptera as the genus Papilio, are very remarkable, for more reasons than one. The Ovrunithoptera are readily distinguished by their great size, their strongly-formed head, their long anterior wings, and their toothed hind ones which have not a vestige of a swallow-tail; they are magnifi- cent butterflies, which inhabit the Moluccas, the Philippines, and the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. Travellers in Amboina are always struck with the beauty of the great Ornithoptera Priamus, whose wings have a diameter of from six to eight inches. The black velvety colour and the bril- liant and silky green tints of the wings of the male are most harmoniously contrasted, and he is a glorious fellow; but the female, although larger than its beautiful companion, is very quietly clothed in deep brown with white spots. In most mountainous countries there are species of the genus Parnassius, which have a short body, short antenne, and wings as crisp as parchment, and almost without any scales on their surfaces. The Parnassius Apollo is common during the summer on the Alps, the Jura mountains, the Puy-de-Déme, tie Pyrenees; the Caucasus, and the Sierra Nevada; and. it has rather a striking appearance, on account of its great white wings being semi-transparent, spotted and dotted with black, and ornamented with splashes of vermilion, surrounded by black tints, 80 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. and marked with white eye-shaped circles. Its caterpillar is velvety black, and has tubercles which are more or less blue, with orange-coloured points. It lives upon the Saxifrages and the Crassulaceous plants of the hills. When it undergoes the transformation into the chrysalis state, it forms a silken net around the body, and attaches the end of the abdomen to its resting-place, and forms the usual girdle by which it is safely anchored. Most of the pupz or chrysalides of the Lepidoptera are naked, but from the above example it is evident that the protecting nature of a silken coverlet bears some reference to the exposure of the quiet insect to cold and rain, which are common enough in Alpine districts, and which would tend to destroy were there no natural clothing. Nevertheless, the protection it gives must be slight, for the insect has to sling itself, after being invested by it. The Pierid7, which are vulgarly termed Cabbage Butterflies, on account of the favourite food of the caterpillars of one genus, are found in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. The larve are remarkable on account of the small size of the head and the end of the body, and their hairy skin. The pupe are very angular, and have a pointed projection in front. The butterflies always have wings, without tails, and the legs are long and hairy. The type of the genus is the Peis -brassi@, the ereat Cabbage Butterfly, which is to be seen in every garden and field in Europe. The butterfly is, moreover, well known in Asia Minor, in Egypt, in Northern Africa, in Siberia, in Nepaul, and even in Japan. The caterpillar makes sad havoc amongst the cabbages, and it is not a pleasant-looking nor a nice-smelling vegetarian. Its greenish body, marked with three long yellow lines broken into here and there, by little black hairy tubercles, excites indignation in the breast of every gardener. Unfortunately, they are not solitary in their habits, for they generally abound in swarms, and destroy the tenderest leaves of the hardest-hearted cabbages with infinite relish, and with an utter disregard of consequences. Everybody has met with some of these caterpillars wandering about the roads and paths, and crawling up walls and palings, in order to find a IMEI, SAV AMOV si cornice, or a safe projection under which they may turn into chrysalides, and rest in safety until the spring-time of the next year. Myriads of them are killed by remorseless market gar- deners, and devoured by birds; but were it not for a little ichneumon fly (JZicrogaster glomerator) the existence of cabbages would indeed be imperilled. The caterpillars change their skin several times during their growth, and finally hang themselves up by the tail, and sling a silken girdle round their body before undergoing the meta- morphosis into the chrysalis. . Some small Pzeridz, whose delicate wings are ordinarily varie- gated with green colours, form the genus Azthocharis. This name indicates the grace and exquisite beauty of the little butterflies that rival the flowers they roam over in symmetry. The orange- tip Axnthocharis cardamines, so common in the spring of the year in wood-side lanes, quite deserves its title, and it is the male whose fore wings are marked with an orange spot. In the centre of France, and in Southern Europe, there is another Azthocharis, whose males have perfectly yellow wings. But so far as colouring is concerned, there are some remarkable facts in reference to some species of the genus which have white tints on the upper surface of the wings in both sexes. The Axthocharis belia of the centre of France sometimes wanders close to Paris, and is found in Southern Europe and in North Africa. There are two gene- rations of it every year. The first butterflies escape from the chrysalis state in the months of March and April, having been in that condition all the winter. Their hinder wings are of a delicate yellow green below or on their under surfaces, and are ornamented with spots of the purest nacreous white. These butterflies produce a new generation, whose adults appear at the end of June or to the beginning of August. These are larger than the first, and their wings are marked with a dull white. This interesting variation in the colouring of the same species at different times of the year is seen also in one of the Vanesse (Vanessa prorsa), whose successive generations are so different that separate names have been given them. The butterflies of this species, which are common in France, are G 82 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. very small; some of them may be seen towards the end of April or the beginning of May, when Nature has awakened from her long sleep, and the leaves are beautiful from their freshness. They play around the nettles under the shade of the damp underwood. Their wings look new and unworn, for their texture resembles velvet, and they are of a bright fawn colour, being also ornamented with wandering black lines, which give the common name to the insect of the “carte geographique.” If the same spots are revisited during the month of June, none of the pretty little butterflies can be seen, but the nettle leaves are covered here and there with little black caterpillars, which have white dots, and fine branching spines. These are the offspring of the pretty April butterflies. When the caterpillars have attained their full growth they separate, and each, after fastening itself, becomes a grey chrysalis, having the angular form, like those of all Vanesse. It is now the month of June, and the temperature of the air is high, so that the development and the metamorphoses are rapid. A fortnight passes, and the little “cartes geographiques” burst from the chrysalis state. Now this second generation differs materially, so far as colouring is concerned, from the first which produced it. The wings of the July butterflies are black, and are scratched with whitish lines. But this is not all. The Vanesse@ with the black wings lay their eggs, and little caterpillars are hatched, in August and September. These devour the favourite nettles, and resemble those which did the same thing in June. Like the others, these autumnal caterpillars hang themselves up, and are meta- morphosed into pupe. If the autumn is fortunately a prolonged summer, some butterflies will escape from the chrysalis condition in October. Strange to say, their wings have neither the black colours of the July butterflies, nor the fawn tint of the April brood, but an intermediate ornamentation. This late meta- morphosis is rare, but it can be produced artificially by keeping the chrysalides in a warm place. Most of the chrysalides, and sometimes all of them, live in this state through the winter, and are metamorphosed into the true “cartes geographiques” during the spring, and the butterflies are then tinted with fawn colour. il} ih Dp) J I}, Y iv S THE METAMORPHOSES OF Vazessa Lo. THE VANESSIDI. 83 An Anthocharis with a larger body than those just mentioned has been noticed in Orenburg, and is not very remarkable in the adult state, but Dr. Rambur having met with it in Andalusia, in the environs of Malaga and Granada, studied its metamor- phosis. The caterpillar lives in the fields on coniferous plants. It makes a sort of delicate shroud of silk for itself before becoming a pupa, the shape of which is not at all angular, like those of the other Papzlionidz. The most favourite, perhaps, of all the butterflies is the Pea- cock— Vanessa Jo. If it came from the tropics alone its value would be incalculable, but although it is so common its beautiful ornamentation and splendid colouring always make it prized. This Vanessa appears in the spring-time and also in the summer, and a third generation may ornament the autumn. Nettles are the food of the caterpillar, as they were with the small Vanessa just described. In their early days the caterpillars hatched from one set of eggs keep together and do not separate until the time for metamorphosis is at hand. They crowd upon the same leaf or twig, and when this is eaten they move ez masse to others. Their colour is velvety black, pointed with white, and each segment of their bodies, except the first, carries six branching spines or stiff hairs. The membranous feet have a circle of very fine spines upon them, and they are constructed so as to climb the rather tender twigs and leaves of the nettle. Before turning into the chrysalis the caterpillars fix themselves usually to the leaves of their favourite plant or to some other in its immediate neighbourhood. Fifteen days after this the butter- flies escape. The different generations do not exhibit any altera- tions in their colouring, so that those noticed in the case of the other Vanesse must have some other cause than the influence of heat and light. Some of the latest metamorphosed peacocks hybernate and fly early in the spring. The pendant chrysalis and the butterfly of Vanessa fo are shown in the plate with several caterpillars. The angular shape of the chrysalis is very evident. The favourite White Admiral butterfly frequents woods and forest glades in preference to the open fields and gardens, and flies in June, and sometimes as late as September. Its spiny Cree 84 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. caterpillar is well known as a honeysuckle eater, and its green colour blends with that of the plant. The caterpillar of the Papilionidi already mentioned have their feet especially suited for climbing their favourite plants, but the white admiral’s larva is badly off in this respect. Its feet are not sufficiently furnished with spines and hairs to enable it to climb with perfect safety, for the twigs of the honeysuckle are smooth, hard, and often long; the spinning glands are, therefore, brought into requi- sition, and a fine silken thread placed here and there on the plant, and collected more decidedly on the leaves, protects the caterpillar from falling violently to the ground. The chrysalis is very angular in its aspect, and is of a dark greenish brown, but it is ornamented on the upper part of the abdomen with brilliant silvery spots and a large one of pale green. The great Lzmenitis populi is rather common in the large forests in France, and its caterpillar choses very inaccessible places, such as the very top of poplar trees, so as to feed safely and well. Many a tired butterfly hunter has given up the chase after this splendid insect, whose flight is very strong and high, and were it not for a peculiar habit of this exquisite and delicate-looking creature specimens of it would be very rare in collections. Many are the evils of dirty habits and common tastes, and curious are the longings of the beautiful for the vulgar. The great Poplar Butterfly loves the moisture of horse dung, and leaves the tree tops to dip its trunk in the nauseous mess: then is the time for the butterfly net. A large greenish caterpillar which moves very slowly, and looks remarkably stupid and dull, lives during the month of May upon the tops of aspen, willow, and poplar trees, whose constant motion must be very dangerous to it. The feet of the larva are not well furnished with the means of clinging on, but the creature makes use of. its spinners and completely covers the leaves upon which it feeds, so that the wind may blow as much as it likes, providing the leaves do not come off. This Vymphals zlia is a large butterfly with dark wings and yellowish white spots upon them, the whole having beautiful violet tints in certain lights. It flies near long rows of poplars, especially if there is any water near, and loves the shade of the meadows close to great woods. TTT THE METAMORPHOSES OF THE MARBLED WHITE (Arce galathea). _ : a 7 Sia, “ee, va THE SATVRIDI. 85 The fine Purple Emperor, Afatura iris, whose caterpillars live On thevoal< trees; is one of the gemsof all collections. Tts magnificence is greater than its gentility, for Mr. Stainton accuses this monarch of the Lepidoptera of having a penchant for home- made gooseberry wine, and for leaving his realms in the air in order to seek the “shades” of a gooseberry bush. M. Pierret says it condescends to still lower tastes, and the only satisfac- tion is that they lead it to destruction. All these species of the old genus Wymphalis prefer sucking very nasty things or the sweeter sap and gum of plants and trees to enjoying the nectar of flowers. The Satyridi are world-wide butterflies. In Europe they are to be found on open plains, arid downs, the road side, forests, and even on the mountains amidst the everlasting snow. From spring to autumn the tawny, grey, and brown butterflies are constantly flying here and there, but for short distances, wherever there is the rankest and commonest vegetation. Their caterpillars live on the different kinds of grasses, and although they must be very common they are very rarely seen except by those who can look for them scientifically. They do not feed upon the slender grass leaves at all during the day, but hide themselves up at the bottom of the plant, with whose colours their tints harmonise. At night-time, however, they move for short distances and eat. This is an interesting habit, and contrasts with that of the majority of their fellow caterpillars. The larve of the Satyridi are all shaped alike. The body is rather hairy, narrowed at each end, and the last segment is furnished with two hooks. The pupz are short and well set, and do not exhibit any of the strange-shaped projections which are common in the chrysalides of the Nymphalidt. A pretty butterfly (Azge galathea), the Marbled White, is rather common in the middle of summer in the whole of central and northern Europe, and it is our commonest representative of the Satyridi7. The caterpillar lives upon some of the simplest grasses, and frequents the Timothy grass in England. The but- terfly has the very delicate antennz hardly swollen at their ends. The black and white ornamentation of the perfect insect is very distinctive, and the accompanying plate shows the fusiform cater- 86 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. pillars and a chrysalis, attended by a marbled white, upon one of the Composite and by two others in different positions. LZ Yy 444 tj tp, CUPL OEE ¢ PEPE \ \ IQ QW RQIOMAAULOOMNHN SS CATERPILLARS AND BUTTERFLIES OF Zhecla Walbume. The genus Zyrebia has its species in abundance in mountainous districts. They are small butterflies, whose black wings are THE LYCANIDE. 87 ornamented with eye-shaped spots of fawn or red colour; and these negroes, as they are termed, are found upon the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Caucasus, the Himalayas, and even upon the Rocky Mountains. Some closely allied forms, belonging to the genus Chionobas, are of a tawny or pale greyish yellow colour, and are found in the remotest north of Europe, America, Iceland, Siberia, and Kamschatka, and one kind lives in the Alps. There are some Satyridz in South America, the forms and colour of wings of which are very different to those of the Euro- -pean kinds. Thus, the Hewtere of Brazil and Guiana have festoon- shaped wings, which are partly transparent. The scales on the wings, scantily sown, as it were, are almost wanting in many spots, where they are often replaced by pretty little hairs. The mem- brane of the wing is, however, very iridescent, and produces very pretty effects of light and shade. The caterpillars of the 7hecla Walbum, one of the Lycenide, and so called on account of a curious white mark near the end of the hinder wings like the letter W, feeds on the elm and haw- thorn, and owes its safety to its colour being so very exactly like that of the foliage upon which it lives. The general shape of the larva and the short legs impede its movements, and the insect is rarely found off a leaf. After having devoured one leaf the caterpillar crawls on to the next, and this is about the extent of its travels. The caterpillar usually lies very closely upon the under surface of leaves, and its tints so resemble those of the elm that it is not readily perceived. The chrysalis is found attached to the leaves, which have partly contributed to the maintenance of the larva, and the butterfly escapes about a fortnight after the first transformation. One of the species of 7ecla—the Green Hair-streak, or 7hecla rubi—has an ornamentation, so far as colour is concerned, which is, perhaps, exceptional in the Lepidoptera. Its wings are brown above, but of a uniform light blue beneath. A Californian species has its wings of the same colour, and affords an example of the close relationship between the butterflies of North America and the temperate tracts of Europe. The Hesperide are butterflies that have many points of resemblance with moths, and therefore are unlike those we have 88 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. noticed hitherto. They have a thick body, a large and strong head, and the antennz swollen and spindle-shaped at their ends, or hooked. Their legs are well developed; the hind ones are particularly strong, and the others are spined. The wings are small in proportion to the size of the bodies, in these Lepidoptera, THE METAMORPHOSES OF Pamphila aracynthus. sand they are generally grey, brownish, or fawn in colour. The butterflies have a curious and hesitating flight, and are very pro- perly called Skippers. The caterpillars differ from those of the other Lepidoptera already noticed as much as the butterflies do ; they have a long and thin shape, with a large rounded head, and they are remarkable for their brisk movements. In order to hide safely, the caterpillars roll up the side of a leaf, and fasten it with some of their silk. Before the first metamorphosis they choose a safe hiding-place; then they attach themselves by their extremity like the other diurnal forms. THE HESPERIDZ.. 89 Before transformation proceeds, however, they swathe themselves with a set of silken lines, which cross and re-cross the body, and finally the thin, long, and angular chrysalis rests in a slight cocoon. The European species are all small, and the name of Pamphila is given to those of a genus which delight in underwood and thick forests. Their bodies are thinner than those of the other Flesperide, and the ends of their antennz are egg-shaped. The engraving represents the long and slender caterpillar and the elongate chrysalis, this being swathed with crossing fibres of silk. The butterfly is brownish black above, and the male is almost without spots, but the female is slightly marked with yellow. The posterior wings are ornamented beneath in both sexes with white spots, encircled with brown, and which resemble so many mirrors. This insect inhabits large woody tracts during June and July. The caterpillar, as shown in the engraving, is found on grasses in the spring; it is of a green colour, like the plant it feeds upon, and as it generally keeps near the stalk, is not readily discovered. The transformation into the pupa form is preceded by the formation of the silken swathing already noticed. The leaf-rolling propensity is especially noticed in a species of Syrichtus, one of the Hespertde, which curls up the mallow leaves upon which it feeds. The caterpillars of most of the Pafzlionide do not swathe their bodies, but place a silken girdle over themselves very cleverly, just before the first metamorphosis. The cabbage butterfly caterpillar, when it has shed its skin several times, and has attained its full growth, retires to a quiet place—on palings, or under the eaves, and fixes its tail-end to the surface upon which it is to hang for many months. It applies its mouth to the wood-work, for instance, and draws out some silk. After doing this several times, and thus producing a small silken tangle, the insect attaches the end of its body to the silk, and hangs head downwards. The caterpillar has thus fixed itself, and the end of the body grasps the silk so perfectly, that the whole hangs safely. But to prevent the wind moving the future chrysalis, and rubbing it against the wood, another operation is commenced. As it hangs head downwards, the caterpillar 90 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. throws back its head, and twists it sideways, so as to touch the wood on one side of the body. The touch pulls out a silken thread, and then the insect carries the head to the other side, and fixes the silk. This is repeated several times, until a sort of sling is placed over the body. Then the first metamor- phosis takes place, and the chrysalis finds itself slung by the tail, and girded to the wood-work by a silken sling, The first step to cocoon making, which is so usual in the next division of the Lepidoptera, is shown in the habit that : ‘ahh - “y oi gil = CATERPILLARS OF THE CABBAGE BUTTERFLY SLINGING THEMSELVES BEFORE THE FIRST METAMORPHOSIS, Pamphila aracynthus has of swathing itself with a network of silk before undergoing the first metamorphosis, and the leaf- rolling propensities of many caterpillars and moths are fore- shadowed by a species of Syvichtus. The angular shape of the butterfly chrysalides may have something to do with their comparatively unprotected and uncovered state, for this sharpness of outline which causes them to differ in appearance from most living things is not so perfectly seen in the case of the Axthocharis, from Spain, which spins a slight cocoon. It has already been stated that the repeated sheddings of the skin and mucous (epithelial) tissues of the caterpillars during VHE LEPIDOPTERA. gl their growth really form a most important part of the phenomena of evolution, for some very necessary alterations in the internal structures progress especially during the last stage of quiet retire- ment which accompanies the final change of skin before the commencement of the chrysalis state. Although several broods of caterpillars are born in a year in such species as Axthocharis belia and Vanessa prorsa, yet CHRYSALIDES SLUNG AND SUSPENDED. the successive larve present no distinctions in their external ornamentation, but the perfect insects which are metamorphosed from these similar larve do differ very materially. Yet the butterflies of Vanessa [o, a species closely allied to Vanessa prorsa, are always the same, notwithstanding there are successive broods of them in the year. This variation in the colouring and ornamentation of the butterflies of successive broods is most interesting, especially when it is considered in relation to the opposite state of things so common in some species of moths, whose generations of caterpillars differ, the perfect insects remaining unaltered. The Q2 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. change in the butterfly must be determined in the chrysalis state, and during the progress of the second metamorphosis. It has been proved that the duration of the chrysalis condition can be lengthened by placing the pupa in cold and dark places, or in ice, and shortened by increasing the usual amount of warmth. But no variation in the ornamentation of the perfect insect has been produced by this artificial lengthening or shortening of chrysalis life. So that most probably the disposition of these butterflies to vary has some deep significance, which refers to the duration of the species in time—moribund genera and _ species varying much, and new forms striving to adapt themselves to peculiar conditions. The hybernation of some of the large butterflies through the winter in temperate climates is very interesting. CHAPTERS Vi THE LEPIDOPTERA WITH WINGS UNITED BY A HOOK. (Chalinoptera.) ALL these Lepidoptera were formerly called moths or crepuscular and nocturnal flyers, but as some of the night-loving tribes were equally active during sunshine, and as none of them really wandered in the depths of the darkness, when everything sleeps, there was no wisdom in keeping up these popular distinctions. The structure which retains the hind and fore wings on each side together is a very good distinction, especially as it is common to most twilight and nocturnal Lepidoptera, it being deficient in the butterflies; nevertheless, it is wanting in some kinds of moths. The tints of the wings of moths (under this term we include the nocturnal and crepuscular Chalinoptera) are principally shades of grey and brown, and resemble the colours of the trees and walls, when the light is dim, and night is advancing. But the wings of some, although not so brilliant and coruscating as those of the butterflies, are exquisitely delicate and soft in their tone. Some of the moths that fly by day, and thus lead the life of butterflies, often have colours as glowing as these have, but the tints are never brilliant and sparkling. The educated eye can distinguish at once between the scales of a butterfly and those of the brightest of moths. The wings of moths rest upon the body of the insect when in repose, and are not stuck upright like those of the butterflies. The antennae of the moths are very different in shape to those of the butterflies, as can readily be seen by comparine 94 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. the representation of the structures in the accompanying en-. graving with that of those of the butterflies on page 76. ay Ys SX Wy ANTENN# OF MOTHS. Sphinx ligustri. Bombyx cecropia. Fidonia plumaria. There are some Lepidoptera which come under the division we are now considering, but which may readily be taken for hornet-like flies. Their projecting bodies, and particularly their colouring, which is black with yellow bands, give the individuals of the genus Sesza a very waspish look. They are really moths, the appearance of which in the perfect state is as odd as is that of their caterpillars. Their wings do not look like those of but- terflies ; narrow, and nearly entirely transparent and naked, they THE METAMORPHOSIS OF THE SPHINGINA. 95 are bereft of scales, except upon the nervures, upon the margin, and in some scattered spots. With the essential character of the Lepidoptera, they have almost the physiognomy of the Hymenop- tera, or bee tribe. It is rather curious to notice how the insects of one order mimic those of another with which they have no family con- nection. The strangest part of the matter is, that the habits of the Sesz7de are not in the least like those of the very violent- tempered insects whose uniform they wear. The Seszzde, although moths, fly in the hottest sunshine, and often rest on trees and shrubs, in order to lay their small round eggs. The caterpillars have an elongate, and almost cylindrical body, and they live in the interior of the trunks of trees, of branches, roots, and even in some fruits. Pale, and almost with- out the least colour, like beings which never see the light, there is no difficulty in determining that they are wood-eating larvee. One of these wasp-like moths is called the bee-shaped Sesza (Sesta apiformis), and it may be seen flying to and fro amongst the poplars by the river side, or running with much agility upon their trunks. This moth, which is classified by Mr. Stainton under the genus Sphecita, lays its eggs on the bark of poplar trees, low down and near the ground. When the caterpillars are hatched they gnaw the bark, and each endeavours to pene- trate the tree by excavating a tiny gallery. The larve live a long time, and drill holes of a considerable size, doing much harm to the trees. They are enabled to do this quietly and effectually, for instead of only living for a few. weeks before their metamorphosis into the chrysalis, and having jaws fitted for browsing the tender shoots and leaves, their caterpillar life lasts two years, and their masticating apparatus is strong, and admirably fitted for its purpose. It is very remarkable that they should only flourish upon those trees which have been injured; and it would appear that the abundance of the sap of perfect and healthy poplars is too much for the excavators. An examination of the caterpillar proves how admirably it is adapted for its peculiar method of life, and how perfectly help- less it would be upon a tender succulent plant. The legs are 96 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. smaller than those of most other larve, for had they been larger, they would have been in the way in the narrow exca- vated gallery; the membranous feet also are short, and are not calculated to grasp, but they can adhere strongly to a large surface, and their spines form a complete crown. The head of the larva is covered with a reddish and hard integument, so as to allow a solid foundation for the action of the jaws in grinding the dense tissue of the tree. Curiously enough the labrum, or lip, is not notched as it is in the leaf-eaters, and this fact proves the design that has influenced the development of all the other structures. The body has a soft skin, and is covered with tubercles and a few hairs, which render the larva very sensitive to the touch. The caterpillar produces a small quantity of silk, but not enough to make a comfortable resting- place for the chrysalis, so it utilises the saw-dust which has accumulated during the process of tunnelling and drilling, and forms a comfortable and silken cocoon within, and covers it with the dust outside. The chrysalis resembles those of the other moths in certain respects, but it has an armature which is not merely an ornament, but a most useful mechanism, for it helps the pupa to crawl. Immediately after the transformation into the moth state, the life of the perfect insect is more or less endangered, for in traversing the gallery made when it was a caterpillar, it might be severely scratched, and its wings spoiled. But the enveloping skin of the chrysalis, with its spines and sharp points, acts like a suit of armour to the Sesia, which has just got its legs into the world. The insect drags its body slowly along, and finally reaches the open air, and extricates itself and flies away, leaving the skin behind stuck in the hole. In the engraving of the metamorphoses of Sesia apiformis, the moth on the tree has just escaped from the chrysalis case in the hole below. A larva is shown in its gallery, and two cocoons also. The Zygenide have some likeness to the Seszzde, and are very common in southern Europe, some being found, however, in France and Great Britain. The moths fly by day, and like the sun and the bright flowers; they are a sluggish set, however, and this veculiarity is found in the larva as well. Some of them have THE METAMORPHOSES OF Sesia apiformis. THE SPHINGID#. 97 immense antenne upon their very small heads; and the narrow wings, which are green or a very deep blue, with spots or bands of rich carmine, make them to be very much sought after. One species, Zygena filipendule, is very well known over large districts, and it is amusing to see these “six spot burnets” buz- zing about in considerable numbers around the dandelions, thistles, and other common plants, or flying heavily and slowly over the hills. The moth is of a steel-blue colour, and has patches of car- mine on its front wings; the hinder wings are red, with a black border. The caterpillar is rather bloated-looking, and is orna- mented with small bundles of delicate hairs ; it is of a pale yellow colour, and has rows of black spots upon it. Its head is very small, and the jaws are made after the model of those of the tender leaf eaters. It lives upon many kinds of leguminous plants. When about to undergo the first metamorphosis the caterpillar constructs a long cocoon, of a pale yellow colour, and fixes it on twigs ; it is thin, but as strong as parchment, the silk which forms it being mixed with much secretion like varnish. The young larvee escape from the egg at the end of summer, and remain dull and stupid during autumn and winter. After this hybernation they wake up in the spring, and seek the plants upon which they can subsist. The engraving of the metamorphosis of the “ six- spot burnet,” the Axthrocera filipendule, of Stainton, or the Zygena of the same name, shows the chrysalis in its cocoon, fixed on to a stem, and the moth with the large antenne. No family of the Lepidoptera is better known or more readily distinguished than that of the Sphingide, Sphinges or, Sphinxes, as they are commonly called. The large body, the thick antenne, terminating in a hooked bristle, and the long, narrow, and strong wings, give the sphinges a very marked appearance. These moths are usually large, and their active flight soon makes them noticed. They glide along during the hot summer evenings with immense rapidity, and poise themselves in the air by a peculiar vibration of their wings. The sphinges, which have long trunks, can thus sip up the honey from the nectaries of flowers without touching them, and this peculiarity recalls that of the humming birds of the New World. The Sphinges are very remarkable, even as caterpillars. They H 98 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. are large creatures, which, when quiet, often put on a very curious attitude. Being well and safely fixed on a twig or leaf by their membranous or hind feet, they lift up the front of their bodies, and bend the head, which is buried in the first segment; they then remain perfectly motionless for hours. This attitude—which is represented in the engraving of the Awphorbia sphinx—has excited much attention, and entomologists, whose imaginations are always . vivid, and sometimes classical, have had no difficulty in investing LARVA OF THE DEATH’S HEAD SPHINX MOTH. this larva with the majesty of the Egyptian sphinx. Indeed, one of these stolid larvae has sufficed to bring up the memories of Thebes and of the great enigma before the enthusiastic naturalist. The name has become popular, and there is really something enigmatical in the queer posture. Why should the larva imitate the sphinx, which it never saw? The answer may be common- place, but nevertheless true; it remains thus motionless to prevent itself being gobbled up by birds or attacked by ichneumon flies, which are on the look-out for everything that moves. ‘HE METAMORPHOSES OF Zygena filipendule, ‘‘ THE SIX SPOT BURNET.” THE SPHINGIDE. 99 These fine caterpillars have a smooth and glossy skin, with bright colours, and pretty ornamentation. Generally speaking, they are rather narrowed in front, and have a curved appendix on the top of the last segment of the body like a horn or tail. When about to become transformed into the pupa condition, the caterpillars hide themselves in the ground, forming a comfortable hole, which they line with all the silk they can muster. It is very wonderful, in this instance, as in all others, how the insects that live in the earth through very inclement seasons manage to make a safe retreat with so very little silk as a covering. The chrysalis has to live in the hole in the ground throughout the winter, and any water draining in would assuredly kill it. CHRYSALIS OF THE DEATH’S HEAD SPHINX MOTH. The silk is all expended in lining the cavity, and fortunately, although it is scanty, it is so varnished that it is water-tight; hence the safety of the pupa is hardly a matter of doubt. Some species of Sphingide undergo their metamorphoses on top of the soil, and agglutinate little stones, leaves, and rubbish into a cocoon. The pupe of these great caterpillars are not very remarkable; they are dark brown or reddish, and have a small point at their end. The most common sphinges are the Privet Moth, or Sphenx ligustri, and the Convolvulus Hawk, or Sphinx convolvuli. The caterpillars of the first are well known to and prized by young collectors, and are now and then seen upon the privet hedges, or upon the lilac bushes. They are very fine insects, and their size renders their beautiful light green colour and oblique bands of violet very visible. This pretty larva feeds vigorously during Hi 2 100 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. the summer, and when full grown begins to descend to the ground at the base of the tree, whose leaves it has partly consumed. Towards the end of July, or the commencement of August, it hides up in the earth, where it forms a comfortable cocoon, and becomes metamorphosed into a chrysalis, living, moreover, in that condition all through the winter, and until the month of June in the next year. It then bursts forth as a moth. The anatomy of this sphinx, and the details of its meta- morphoses have already been described. The other sphinx has a green or brown larva, marked with seven oblique side streaks, and the spiracles or air openings are black in white rings. It lives on the small bindweed, and on the wild balsam. The moth is rather larger than that of the privet sphinx, and has a very long trunk, Perhaps the Dezlephile are the prettiest sphinges. Their trunk is only half as long as their body, which has a long and conical abdomen. These insects are rather common, and their caterpillars are really very pretty, on account of the variety of their colours, and the freshness of their tints. The Euphorbia sphinx is one of them, and is interesting, because there are two broods of it every year; one appearing in June and the other in September. Its caterpillars live upon the pretty green leaves of the Euphorbia, whose stems, when broken, exude a milky sap. Before these larve attain their full growth they may be seen in abundance on the same plant, but as they are gross feeders, they soon have to separate, in order to exist. Their bodies are curiously ornamented, being black in colour, and they have three long lines of a carmine tint upon them, one on the back, and the others above the line of the legs; besides these there are some very close points and dots of yellow arranged on each segment, like coronets of pearls, and finally there are two rows on each flank of rounded spots, which are sometimes yellow, or even red or white and red in colour. Sometimes, with all this elaborate colouring, the foundation is a lively green instead of black. They become full grown towards the end of July, and they then hide themselves in the ground, after having formed a hole, and are transformed; but they do THE METAMORPHOSES OF CHE Sphinx euphordie. il ei {ih hi ie i at wi nL Alt : a a Vj | [s iN iy el i ie « Pf i Mh aa y. THE SPHINGIDA. Io! ‘not stop n it very long, for the chrysalis becomes metamorphosed in a few weeks, and then the Sphinx euphorbie may be seen buzzing about the flowers in the early morning and during the evening twilight. It is a very pretty insect, the front wings of which are of a subdued rose colour, with three spots of deep green, and an undulating band of the same shade, and the hind wings are of a rose tint, with black bands. The caterpillars of this sphinx appear a second time on the LEuphorbias in the same year. Towards the end of September they hide themselves in the earth, and become chrysalides, and remain in that state until the next year. The engraving represents the sphinx hovering over the Euphorbia, and the caterpillars upon the leaves, one being in the quiet, sphinx-like attitude. The chrysalis is on the ground. This interesting Dezlephila is stated by Mr. Stainton to be found in England at Scarborough and Bideford. This author gives some interesting descriptions of the habits of the larva, which were observed by Mr. Melhuish on the coast of Brittany, near St. Pol de Léon. This naturalist collected 400 of these beautiful insects in three days in the first week of September. He says, “All the larve that I saw at liberty were seen by me between the hours of three and six P.M. They were invariably actively engaged, either in feeding or in running over the sand, which they did with great ease, from one plant which they had stripped to another with leaves. The eggs must be always laid at the top of the plant, among the soft budding leaves, for this is without exception the position of the youngest larve. They then gradually work their way downwards, till, having eaten all the leaves, they reach the ground, and march off in search of more, leaving a _ broad trail on the sand. They are fond of the milk, and will eat everything except the stringy roots of the plant. The seed vessels they take between their front legs, and raising them- selves into the sphinx posture, gnaw away at one till it is demolished, just like a monkey with an apple, their feet being placed close before their mouths. If interrupted at any time while feeding, they turn round with the greatest fury, and spit out a quantity of green liquid 102 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. of an acid and disagreeable smell, similar to that of the milk of the plant, only worse. When a larva, after rambling about, finds a fresh plant to his taste, he sets to at once upon the bottom leaves, merely raising his head from the ground, and devours all within his reach, before proceeding to climb the stem. These bottom leaves are, of course, very inferior, but were the large larva, who are old enough to travel, to mount up to the top of the plant at once, and eat all the tender shoots, of course all the tiny individuals just out of their eggs would be starved.” Some very beautiful sphinges which belong to the genus CATERPILLAR OF Cherocampa merit. Cherocampa are occasionally found in England, but their home is on the shores of the Mediterranean sea, where their gigantic caterpillars revel upon the leaves of the delicate oleanders. In this country they have been found upon those plants and upon fuchsias and the epilobium, and they have their mouths especially adapted for biting the rather dense and thick leaves. The upper lip is very hard and is deeply notched, so that it can hold the leaf tightly, whilst the pair of strong denticulate jaws can cut pieces out of it without any difficulty. Sometimes the Oleander Sphinx wanders to the north, out of the region of the wild oleanders, and it has been taken in Paris, and even on the south coast of England. The caterpillar is green and some- times yellow, and has two large eye-shaped spots on the fourth segment, a longitudinal white streak on each side, and numerous THE SPHINGIDA:. 103 small white dots on the sixth and twelfth segments. The horn is orange-coloured, short, blunt, and curved downwards. Before undergoing the first metamorphosis the caterpillar loses its bril- liant appearance, and becomes brown and dirty yellow in colour. The chrysalis is of a hazel brown, streaked with a darker tint, and a black spot marks the position of the spiracles. The insect attains its full growth in the middle of the summer, and then makes a cocoon in the earth with a small quantity of silk and vegetable refuse, and protects the whole with dead leaves. The sphinx bursts from the chrysalis either in September or October, and is one of the handsomest of the Lepidoptera. The wings are rather more than four inches across; the front pair are pale rosy CHRYSALIS OF Cherocampa nerit. grey in colour; they are marked with large irregular blotches of dull green, more or less intersected with wavy whitish streaks ; the hind wings are purplish brown or black at the base, and shade into a green tint towards the margin. The Elephant Hawk, or, as it is called in France, the Vine Sphinx, has two broods in the year; and the caterpillar, which cannot secrete much silk, does not dig into the ground to under- go its metamorphosis, but makes a small cocoon on the surface by binding together mosses and dry leaves. The perfect insect has its body tinted with rose red and worked out with a light green. The light green wings have bands of a most delicate and velvety rose colour upon them, and the hinder pair are of the same general tint, but have a black base and a white fringe. Some sphinges are placed, on account of their very long trunks, 104. TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. in the genus JZacroglossa, and one of them is well known during hot summers, as the Humming Bird Moth or sphinx. They are to be seen in the bright sunshine flying from plant to plant with great velocity, and sucking nectar from the flowers without resting upon the petals. Like the humming birds, they make a buzzing noise, and hover over their favourite flowers, and feed without crumpling a leaf. They suck up the honey through their MOTH OF Cherocanipa neriz. very long trunks with great rapidity. The moth is of a brown colour, and there are black rays on the front wings, and the hinder pair are of a yellow fawn tint. The caterpillar lives upon the bedstraw, Galiwm molugo. The Death’s Head Moth is a well-known sphinx, on account of its fine size, as well as from there being some markings on the thorax, which, with the aid of a little imagination, can be believed to represent a human skull. Unlike the humming-bird sphinx, the Acherontia atropos has a short and thick trunk; its antenne, THE SPHINGIDZ:. 105 moreover, are short, thick, and terminated in a hooked. bristle. The head is large, and the abdomen very thick. The front wings are blackish brown, with indistinct tawny markings and a conspicuous yellowish dot near their centres; the hind wings are yellow and have a narrow black central and a broad black marginal band. The moth possesses the power of squeaking, and this propensity THE DEATH’S HEAD MOTH. has given an infinitude of trouble to philosophers, who have formed many theories concerning the manner in which the sound can be produced. This gift, combined with the sombre hues of the sphinx, and the presence of the death’s head upon its back, have surrounded the moths with much mysterious dread, and there are many people in the most civilised and learned countries in the world that are heartily afraid of them. They are said to be a sign of bad luck, and are supposed to precede a death in the house; and they once produced a downright panic in Brittany. The squeak- ing appears to be connected in some way or other with a small 106 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. membranous capsule, which is situated on either side of the body at the base of the abdomen, and which is covered with some hairs that can be made to vibrate. The fondness of the moth for honey leads it into bee-hives, and it is most remarkable that the insect should know that honey is to be got there. The bees, moreover, do not rush upon the robber, but employ every artifice to shut it out or wall it up. The caterpillar is perhaps the largest among the European kinds. It is usually lemon yellow in colour, and a fresh green tint may be noticed towards the head and the lower part of the sides; there are seven oblique violet stripes on the sides, and the spiracles are black, edged with white. The horn is yellowish, rough, and inclined backwards. Sometimes the colour is by no means like this, for some caterpillars have been found whose prevailing colour is brownish olive, and whose lateral stripes are darker. A fresh green tint is accompanied by dark blue stripes in others. This great caterpillar lives on the potato leaf, the jasmine, and the common tea tree (Lyczwm barbarum); and when full grown it hides in the earth, and undergoes its metamorphosis into the chrysalis. The death’s head moth is more common in Asia and in Africa than in Europe, and there is no doubt that. many of the pupz are destroyed in this country and in France during severe winters. Perhaps the largest sphinges in the world live in Australia, and their caterpillars feed upon the Banksia trees and bushes, which form most important parts of the foliage of the landscape of that country. The sphinges gradually become more and more like that creat tribe of moths which may be considered to be represented by the silkworm moth. Thus there are some sphinges which have slender, flexible, or more or less pectinated antenne, and rudimentary trunks instead of the long and flexible organs of some of the hawks. Such species of the genus Smerinthus as the eyed hawks, poplar hawks, and lime hawks, live upon willow, poplar, birch, and apple trees, and connect by their structures the death’s head moths, the privet, and humming-bird moths with the Bombycina or the spinners. The insects of this group are very numerous, and often attain THE BOMBYCINA. 107 a great size; they are celebrated for their beauty and strangeness of form, as well as for the simplicity of the decorations of the species which are the most valuable to man. As moths the Bombycina are usually stout and solid about the body without being as robust as the sphinges. Their wings are usually large, and the antenne, which are formed like the teeth and stem of a comb (pectinated), are sometimes feathery in the males. The trunk is rudimentary and useless, and the legs are short. The majority of the moths live for love, and the lady bombycides are so attractive that their pursuit and courtship are the sole pleasures and delights of the males, which seek them out at great distances and in a most remarkable manner. If a female moth be carried into a house in a town far away from the fields and hedges and be placed upon the window-panes, she will surely attract followers and lovers in abundance. Towards the evening the gentlemen begin to arrive; they are in a great hurry, and usually are very short sighted: so that they can see their cherished object, what else is worthy of consideration? Love laughs at locks, bolts, and bars, but a pane is no joke, and many an ardent bombyx bangs against this deceptive prison wall, maddened by the sight of bombycina and hopelessly in love. An Australian traveller once caught a pretty little moth and placed it in his pocket inside a box. All the evening he was pestered with moths that flew about him and settled upon him in every direction. They followed him into his house, and would not be satisfied without a sight of bombycina. The males which are thus able to find out the hidden females, have feathery antenna, and perhaps there is some excessively delicate organisation in them that gives the insect the peculiar power of discovering the distant and desired object. Sight is of no importance, neither is hearing, in this peculiar inquiry; and, although it is difficult to understand, probably the odour of the female insect attaches itself to anything it may touch, and thus attracts the males. There are many tribes in this great group. The Sombycide contain the most remarkable species, and they all have almost invisible trunks and small palpi. A section of them, with large wings marked with a spot upon their disc, 108 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. is celebrated for containing the Bombyx mori the mulberry cater- pillar or silkworm. This genus Lombyx has been sub-divided, so that now this well-known pet amongst children, and great care amongst silk growers, is called Sericaria. This insect is so well known that no description of its rapidly- growing caterpillar, the lazy chrysalis, and the quiet moth that never eats or sucks, is necessary. What a plain, ugly moth it is, and what a common looking grub comes from the egg. There is nothing charming, no bright tints, and no delicate ornamentation; moreover, it is rather clumsy looking. None of the graces of form or the magnificence of the colouring of the Lepidoptera that enliven the shades of the grandest flowers are here. The caterpillars of some species of the genus are even handsome, and have pretty green globular ornaments on their segments, and others like coral and pearl; but the humble silkworm has none of these. Its beauties are intrinsic, and it yields the most beautiful web that Nature can produce, to render, if possible, the loveliest of all created things more attractive than ever. The comparison of the silkworm caterpillar with those of other moths soon enables us to dis- tinguish between the Sfhingide and the Bombycide, and to notice how much they are alike in structure generally speaking. The silkworm caterpillar resembles those of some sphinges in its shape, and in its having the tubercle on the last segment but one of the body, but it differs from all by having its silk- bearing glands enormously developed. When a full-grown silk- worm caterpillar is opened, the intestinal canal will be seen to fill the greater part of the body, and on either side of the stomach and gullet there will be observed a large twisted tubular gland. This is the silk gland, or rather, of that viscous matter, which as it is drawn out, hardens into silk. These glands pass under- neath the gullet, and each is continued in the form of a narrow tube to the mouth; they unite before reaching the head, and form one canal, into which open the ducts of two little glands, whose function is to unite the silken threads of the silk tubes, to varnish and brighten them, and to give them that perfection of texture we all admire and value. The canal opens in the lower lip or labrum, and passes through a small opening in a THE BOMBYCINA. 109 pimple-like projection. The silkworm caterpillar moves its head about in the same manner as other larve with spinners, and draws out the silk in regular lengths. It changes its skin in the manner already described in a former chapter, and makes the wonderful cocoon before undergoing its first metamorphosis. The moths escape from the chrysalis state, which lasts about three weeks, and the eggs which are laid in the autumn are THE MOTH AND LARVA OF Aldtacus pavonia major. hatched during the next spring. Some species, however, have two and even three broods in the year. There are some splendid moths belonging to the genus Attacus, which are closely related to the silkworms. They are usually large insects, and with very fine wings. Their antenne are beautifully feathery, and decorate the heads of the moths very prettily. Some have wings with tailed prolongations, like the butterflies of the swallow-tail group, and, indeed, they exceed those of any other Lepidoptera in length. Their cater- pillars are large and heavy, but are very beautiful. Some have MIKO) TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. hairy tubercles upon them which are illuminated with vivid colours, and others carry spines which are very elegantly branched and twisted. They produce plenty of silk, and make large cocoons of it between the leaves of the trees they live upon before their metamorphosis. There is one of them which is rather common in Europe, the Attacus pavonta major, and another, which is found in England, Attacus pavonia minor (or Saturnia) the Emperor Moth. The first-mentioned A¢zacus, which the French call the Night Peacock, lives, when in the caterpillar state, on fruit trees and elms. The caterpillar prepares for transformation towards August, and leaves the trees, and wanders over the roads, and crawls up walls in nt il I 2 S 4 FEET OF THE CATERPILLARS OF MOTHS. I. Sesiaapiformis. 2. Attacus pavoniamajor. 3. Cuculliaverbasci. 4. Noctua segetum. order to seek a safe shelter for its cocoon, and it is then often discovered and made captive. But should a comfortable place be obtained, a large, pear-shaped cocoon is spun, which is hard, and contains much gummy matter. It is open at the smaller end, and the fibres of it are so arranged that nothing can come in, whilst the moth, when it is ready, can go out with ease. All insects are thus kept carefully and effectually out of the snug silken house, and the mechanism of this interesting and very safe place depends upon the manner in which the caterpillar weaves the cocoon over itself before passing the silk from one side of it; to the other, “Whe tect ofseme vols these caterpillars are very interesting, and those of the Attacus pavonia major are THE BOMBYCINA. IE IG i especially strong and membranous, in order that it can grasp the twigs safely. The emperor moth has a very pretty larva, which is often found upon heather in the summer. It is green, and each segment has seven pink tubercles on black rings, and each tubercle -has’ a tuft of short black hair)’ The spiracles, are orange in colour. The caterpillars of Adttacus cecropia, from Louisiana, are remarkable for the changes they undergo in moulting, before transforming themselves into pupae. At their birth they are almost black, and are decorated with verticillate hairs, which make them look like little hedgehogs. After a few days their general colour becomes clearer and lighter, and the tubercles which support the hairs become more promi- nent. The skin is then moulted, and the new one succeeds, and is of a grey green or russet colour, and all the tubercles and spines are brilliantly black. Moulting again occurs, and, behold, a light green creature appears, with five rows of black spots; two mag- nificent tubercles of a carmine colour are to be observed on the second and third segments, and two of a light yellow are situated upon the dorsal part of every other segment. Each tubercle carries several verticillate hairs, which are black. 4 rie Ny (aN Hh lil | THE METAMORPHOSES OF Psyche graminella. THE BOMBYCINA. | upon the roots of hops, nettles, and burdocks, being common all over Europe, and even among the hilly districts. Australia, however, is the land where the Hepialide flourish. One of them has a caterpillar which may really be called enormous in size; it lives within the trunks of the beef-wood trees, and although it is a flabby, flat, and white-looking grub, it is by no means despised as a luxury by the natives. The Australians eat the caterpillars uncooked, and peel and squeeze them first of all, just as we do a fig or a peach. The Goat Moth (Cossus igniperda) is a well-known insect, with a short body and large and broad wings of a pale brownish-white colour, marked with short wavy lines. The caterpillar of this insect is flesh or wine coloured, and has a few hairs upon it ; and a faint and disagreable smell is evolved from it, which is left behind upon the wood over which it has recently crawled. This larva gnaws the old trunks of willows and elms, and by excavating large galleries in the trees, it often destroys some of the largest and finest. It is admirably adapted for this sort of life, and the upper lip is not notched ; moreover, the jaws are strongly toothed. The simple lip and the dentated jaws enable the larva to gnaw away at the wood, which it does not want to hold like a leaf. The membranous legs of the larva are short, and are furnished with a ring of hooks, so as to allow it to move readily in the long galleries. When fully grown the caterpillar is nearly three inches in length, and is as thick as a man’s finger ; this size is only attained after at least three years’ gnawing and tunneling under the bark of the trees it injures. It makes a cocoon of the gnawings of wood, which it fastens together with a viscous secretion, and then all is lined with soft silk. This case is so placed that the end corres- ponding to the head of the chrysalis (so writes Dr. Baird) is turned towards a hole which the caterpillar has had the precaution to form beforehand in the bark of the tree on that side from which it is about to escape. This hole remains closed outside, but the partition is so thin that the slightest effort can break it and let the prisoner free. The chrysalis itself bursts this slight partition and escapes about half way through before breaking its own bonds and assuming the perfect form. Some of the moths measure at least three inches across the wings. [22 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. There are some moths belonging to the Lombycina group which have great resemblance to the group Voctuzna (or those which are usually night-fliers), on account of the size of their bodies and the proportions of their wings. They have the antennz longer than the thorax, and they are pectinated in the males. The trunk is rudimentary, but perfectly distinct, and the fore-wings are frequently marked with a projecting tuft of scales on the inner margin. This, when the wings are in repose and in their usual roof shape, forms a little prominence on the outline of the wing, whence the term “prominent,” which is applied to several of the species (Stainton). There is nothing very striking about the perfect insects, but the larva present many singular structural pe- culiarities, They are as a whole very variable in form. At one extreme of the series the Cerura larve have only fourteen legs, but they have two long projecting tails upon the last segment of the body; at the other extreme the larve have sixteen legs and no peculiarity of form—those of the Buff Tip Moth for instance. Most have, however, the gift of holding the hind segments of the body erect when in repose. Many of the larve are hairless, but they are downy in the Buff Tip, and usually there are projections on the twelfth segment. The pup are smooth, and rarely make a cocoon. What our country people call the Puss Moth the French term the Fork Tail; it is one of those Motodontide of which we are now taking notice, and English entomologists call it Cerura vinula, whilst on the other side of the channel Dzcranura is its generic name. This moth is very common in the last week of April, and during the whole of May, and it flies in damp places, near willows, sallows, and poplar trees during the evening. All day it hides under the leaves or in the hollow trees. It has whitish wings with numerous V-shaped markings upon them. The female lays its eggs, which are hatched early in the same month of June, and the caterpillars may be seen here and there, but not in companies, upon the poplar leaves. Their colour is almost black when they are small, but a few weeks elapse, and the caterpillars having moulted several times and grown large, very different- looking insects result. These smooth caterpillars, with their great heads drawn back as it were into the first segment of the body, Yipee aE. N iS Lf Ly, yy THE METAMORPHOSES OF THE GOAT MOTH (Cossus Ligniperda). I, 2. Perfect Insect. 3. Pupa. 4 Larva. THE BOMBYCINA. 123 with a hump upon the third or fourth segment, and with their tail ends furnished with two prolongations, have become of a delicate green colour, and they are marked with a lozenge of a brownish tint, and a white border on the back. The larva has strong membranous legs to carry its heavy body, and they are furnished with long spines. The tails are nearly THE PUSS CATERPILLAR AND THE MALE MOTH. white, and are ornamented with black tubercles. The greatest peculiarity of the insect is this development of the last two legs into two appendages, which are, in fact, tails pierced for the projection of tentacules which are doubtless of use to it. Perhaps the caterpillar may use them to scare the ichneumons away when they are about to lay their eggs in its tempting looking body. When fully grown the larva descends to the foot of the tree upon which it has been feeding, and makes a very thick and tough cocoon, by sticking together vegetable tissues with a great deal of viscous secretion. It is then metamorphosed, and passes the autumn and winter in the chrysalis state. 124 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. The caterpillars of the genus Stauropus, or the Lobster Moths, are more extraordinary looking than those of the puss moth. They are found during August and September in large forests and woods, and usually upon beech, oak, and_ birch Mees, and “are very’ curious “opjects, “Whey -are' of a "pale or reddish-brown colour, or resemble leather in their tints, so that THE LOBSTER MOTH (Stauropus fagi). The male moth. The female upon the leaf. The caterpillar with its tail end in the air, and the long legs close to the head. they are not remarkable for beauty; but the second and third pairs of front legs are extremely long, the first pair being absent. There are two sharpish projections on every segment, from the fourth to the seventh, and there is a considerable enlargement of the sides of the ninth and the last segments. There are two little tails. When quiet the caterpillar usually erects its tail end, as well as the head, and the attitude renders the peculiar shape of the body more striking than ever. The long fore legs are THE NOCTUINA. 125 not noticed in any other of the Lefzdopfera, and their use is by no means evident. When ready to assume the chrysalis state the lobster caterpillar spins a slight cocoon, and protects it with leaves. The largest group of the order of the Lepzdopiera is called Noctuina. Yhe majority of night-flying moths belong to it, and they are very properly named after their nocturnal habits. As there is no rule, even in. Nature, without an exception, so we find that several kinds of the octuina fly by day, and enjoy the sunlight as much as any butterfly. The number of species in this group is immense, and about 800 are pretty well known in Europe, and there are about 300 British species. Naturalists meet with great difficulties in classifying them into genera, and even their specific differences are either very hard or impossible to make out. There are no _ satisfactory distinctions between some of the moths which enable any one to say that they are of such and such species, and very frequently they are separated into different kinds, because they happen to feed upon various plants, and because the moths are not all coloured in the same manner. Of course the entomologists that believe jin ithe real nature of species have taken -a vast deal of trouble with the Voctuzna, but those who do not think a species to be anything more than an abstract idea, and that it really consists of the sum of the variations of a closely allied series offi: forms, do, not see the -use of this natural history hair-splitting. The comparative study of a sub-group of the Noctuina is certainly very instructive. There are ten, twenty, thirty, and more kinds of moths whose structures are in the main alike, there being only the appreciable differences produced by the details of their ornamentation. Their dis- tinctive characters are so feeble that no philosophical naturalist would care to call any of the species other than varieties of some common type. In fact, in studying these NVoctucéna in the adult form, every one must admit that they oppose the notion of species in its ordinary acceptation. The most inte- resting part of the examination refers to the caterpillars, for those belonging to moths, which are almost exactly alike, present very marked distinctions. The moths resemble each * 126 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. other, and the caterpillars are dissimilar. The caterpillars live under very opposite circumstances, they like different plants, and they have their feet specially constructed to enable them to crawl over particular leaves, and one kind would find itself very much out of its place should it attempt to lead the life of others. No group, so far as the caterpillars are concerned, shows greater evidences of design, and offers proofs of the special adaptation of structures to particular ends. In con- sidering how all this bears upon the Darwinian theory, it must be remembered that the moth is the perfect animal, and that the caterpillars and chrysalides are being developed into the perfect form, and that they are undergoing evolution. It is not logical to argue upon the data afforded by the structures of the immature insect, because, during the early conditions of all animals, there are developments going on which cannot be divided naturally into steps or stages for the sake of argument. The details of the organisation of the adult and perfect forms afford the only satisfactory data for comparison, and it is evident that in the instances before us the variability is cut short at the end of caterpillar life, and that Nature asserts her love of persistence of form in reproducing identical moths from different larve. The Voctuina have a stout body, and generally speaking narrow fore wings, under which the hind wings are folded in repose; the insect thus looks much smaller than it does when the wings are all expanded. Mr. Stainton mentions that when he first saw the common “ yellow under wing” he thought it a dull, reddish-brown inconspicuous thing; he was surprised to see it grow to three times its previous size, as it displayed its yellow under wings. The Joctuina are generally small; they have a moderately long trunk, and projecting palps, and the antennz which are thread-shaped, are either simple or finely ' denticulated. The moths, unlike those we have just noticed amongst the Bomdbycina, take nourishment, and are very fond of sugar, and they have, therefore, a moderately long sucker. The caterpillars are usually without any hair. Naturalists have divided the Woctuzxa into two main groups, the Y7rifide and the Quadrifide. In the 7rifide the moth is THE NOCTUINA. 127 generally of moderate size; the hind wings are usually much folded under the fore wings, and the inner margins of the latter in repose frequently overlap. The caterpillar generally has sixteen legs, and, consequently, few loop when walking. Their chrysalis is usually found underground. The moths of the Quadrifide have generally broad wings, which sometimes are of very large size; the hind wings are but little folded, and the inner margins of the fore wings rarely overlap in repose. The caterpillars rarely have sixteen legs, and more frequently are noticed with fourteen or twelve, and many of them loop more or less when they walk. The chrysalis is rarely found under- ground. There are some Noctuina which particularly put one in mind of the Bombycina, and they are the Acronycta and the allied genera (forming the Bombycoide). A greyish-black caterpillar, with a broad yellow line down the back, having a large black hump on the fifth segment of its body, and a short black one on the twelfth, is very common during the autumn upon the elms, limes, and upon most fruit trees. When it has reached its full growth the insect descends from the branches and hides itself, either in the cracks in the bark of the trunk or in holes at the foot of the tree, where there is safe shelter, and then spins a light cocoon, and undergoes its metamorphosis. The chrysalis remains in its quiet condition until the month of June in the next year, when the metamorphosis into the moth takes place. The moth may be seen during the day-time upon trunks of trees, or upon walls, and may be recognised by a curious mark on the wing, which resembles a Greek letter. Hence the moth is called Acronycta pst. In England it is called the Common Dagger. Now, Acronycta tridens has a caterpillar which is orange red in colour, and which has a small black hump on the fifth, and a whitish black-crowned hump on the twelfth segment. This caterpillar differs, therefore, in its colour and humps from the common dagger caterpillar. But the moths of the two species resemble each other perfectly. The question arises at once in the mind, is this diversity of colouring and humping of very great importance, and of any specific value? It has been noticed in former pages that the caterpillars of succeeding broods of the 128 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. same species differ very much in their ornamentation and tint- ing. The propriety, then, of separating these kinds of Moctuina is very doubtful. The little dark caterpillars of the Acronycta are very fond of the mosses and lichens which grow upon trees, and upon the walls of our towns, and which are often found on the quays and parapets by the water-side. They usually hide themselves in the day-time in holes and corners, and they finally shut themselves up there, and form their cocoons with silk, moss, and pieces of lichen. One of the commonest of the Voctuzna does a great deal of mischief. It belongs to the family of the Noctuide, and is usually seen about the flower beds at dusk on a summer’s evening. This little moth, Agrotis segetum, is called the Reaper by the French. The fore wings are of a greyish brown or fawn colour, and are marked at the base with two undulating lines, and the hind wings are whitish. The males have lighter tints than the females. The moths fly at the end of May, or the beginning of June, their appearance depending upon the warmth of the season. The females generally lay their eggs in little patches on the lower surfaces of such plants as the chicory and beetroot. The caterpillars do not stop upon these leaves, but descend and hide themselves in the ground during the day. They only move during the night- time, and then never trouble the leaves, but enjoy the succulent roots, which they gnaw and perforate just where the stem is united to them. By about the middle of July, the caterpillars have attained their full size, and they then measure an inch to an inch and half in length. Their bodies are smooth and shining, and are sombre coloured. They are ornamented with two rows of black wart-like points surmounted with hair, and there is a general greenish hue over all. Their mandibles are strong and trenchant, and the upper lip has no notch, the mouth being admirably adapted for munching roots. ‘Their hinder or membranous feet are very short, and have a very small hollow in them, surrounded by a hard border, and covered with short hooks. The larva, which gardeners call the grey worm, can crawl over the cround, but its feet are not suited for climbing stems and leaves, or for clasping them. THE NOCTUINA. 129 When the caterpillars have attained their full size they make a shallow hole in the earth. This they line with a small quantity of silk, so as to keep the water out, and then they undergo the first metamorphosis. The second is completed in August, and the moth escapes from the cocoon in the earth, semi-clad with the chrysalis skin, which prevents the delicate integuments from being torn or rubbed as the perfect insect crawls into the air. The moth does not get rid of this useful armour until it is well out of danger. When these reapers fly in the middle of summer, their cater- pillars may be seen feeding in the autumn, and they transform themselves into pupz on the approach of winter; but if they are not ready for the change by the advent of cold weather, they hybernate and undergo the metamorphosis in the early spring. The common Yellow Under-Wing is frequently seen in gardens and houses. The front wings of this moth are excessively variable in colour and marking; some specimens have reddish-yellow tints, others dark brown, variegated with grey, and some reddish- brown. The hind wings are yellow, with a narrow black band. The caterpillar is grey or greenish, and has some yellow lines and black patches placed upon it with tolerable regularity. It _feeds on almost all low plants, and is very fond of the best parts of cabbages and lettuces. Before undergoing the first metamorphosis, the full-grown caterpillar hides itself in a hole in the ground late in the autumn, and hybernates through the winter. Its transformation occurs in the spring. Many Noctuina with simple antenne have the thorax and abdomen crested, the crests being produced by masses of hairs and scales. Their caterpillars are smooth, long, and are rather brightly coloured ; moreover, they like the light, and thus differ from those of many other kinds. The common Hadena oleracca, which is so great a pest in cottage gardens, has a caterpillar whose ornamentation differs with its age. It is green, and has white and yellow lines upon it when it is young; and 1s usually brown, with a bright yellow side line, when it is old. It constructs a cocoon in the earth, which is made up of pieces of mould, dust, and small stones bound together with silk. A } 13'@) TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. closely-allied moth, belonging to the genus Dzanvthecia, is remark- able both on account of the beautiful colours, vivid tints, and the elaborate ornamentation of the wings of the moth, as well as from the habits of the caterpillars. They choose the buds and the flowers of the pink tribe for their food; they eat the seeds, and before they are much grown they roll themselves up in the buds. The chrysalis terminates in a sharp point, and those parts of it which cover the wings of the future moth protrude considerably. The family of the Leucanide, belonging to the group /Voc- tuina, has many genera. The moths are small; their bodies are smooth ; their wings are of pale colours without ornamentation ; their palpi are projecting, and their antennz are usually pubescent. The caterpillars are almost white in colour, or sometimes are rather rose or yellowish; they live on grasses, and always hide themselves. The colourless decorations of the moths and cater- pillars of some of these kinds are very remarkable. The common Wainscot Moth is one of them. The larve of the allied genus Nonagria are also uncoloured, for they feed in the dark, inside the stems of reeds and grasses; they are long creatures, and have very distinct horny plates, and shining spots upon them. The pupz are found enclosed in the stems in which the larvae have lived. Another family, that of the Xy/énid@, has some very beautiful caterpillars; indeed, Mr. Stainton says that no figure can give any idea of the beauty of the living caterpillar of Catocala exolita, and that when he saw it he nearly screamed with delight. They are very long, cylindrical, and attenuated at each end; their colour is a bright green, and the spiracles are connected with pale yellow lines, intersected by a slender scarlet streak. There are also white spots upon them, edged with black, and those of the back are joined together by black patches. The pupe bury themselves at a considerable depth in the ground. One kind has its chrysalis enclosed in a cocoon, which is very papery, and placed on the surface of the ground. The genus Cucullia has some very pretty moths and cater- pillars. The moths have long pointed wings, long bodies, and a-sort of: hood’ to. their “thotax, (and Vareocalled “Sharks:) @he UU \ N\ Hin THE MOTHS AND CATERPILLARS OF Cucullia verbasct. THE NOCTUINA. 131 caterpillars are remarkable for the ease with which they may be picked off the flowers and leaves on which they feed. The French call them Capuchins, on account of the peculiar hood- shaped projection. The caterpillars come out during the evening from amongst the leaves and flowers of the mullein and other scrophularious plants, where they have been hidden during the day. They are easily known, for they are of a greenish white colour, with a rather broad bright yellow transverse band on each segment, reaching from spiracle to spiracle; the ordinary spots, which are black and very large, are in this band, and a black spot follows each spiracle, two others being below it. The face of the larva is yellowish and spotted with blue. They are of all sizes ; and as they grow large they seek the foot of the plant, and make a cocoon underground with some grains of sand and pieces of earth and silk. The moths often fly around the plants which nourish them in the caterpillar state, and are remarkable for their wood-like tints and russet brown colour, the tints passing insen- sibly into a more or less bright red. In the engraving the caterpillars are to be noticed upon the leaves of the mullein, and one of the moths, above the flower, shows its Capuchin hood very distinctly. A few of the Noctwina have metallic markings upon their wings, and one of them is called the Silver Y, or Plusia gamma, it has a silvery mark on its fore wings like the Greek y. The caterpillar, which is covered with but few hairs, is green, and has six white lines and two yellow ones upon it. When it is full grown it makes a small cocoon of pure silk, and then turns up a leaf and hides it. This plan of above ground hiding, so different to that usually employed by the Woctuina, also takes place in the genus Catocala. These moths are, as their name implies, ‘“ beau- tiful beneath ;” when they are at rest they form a not particularly handsome flat grey triangle; but when the hind wings, which are either red or greyish-blue, are exposed to view, the elegance of the insect is at once apparent. The larve, which have already been noticed, are long, and they have their heads flattened and rather forked at the top, and the face is placed obliquely; they often have small humps, and they feed on trees, and rest attached to the trunks.) The moths are of large size, and their thorax jae 132 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. is slightly crested. When the caterpillars are full grown they spin a slight cocoon of silk amongst the leaves or in the bark, and the chrysalis becomes covered with a curious purple or blue efflorescence, which makes it look like the skin of ripe plums or grapes. Some of the American species are very large, and although very little is known about their metamorphosis, they are worth mentioning on account of the sombre colours of such species as Erebus strix, which is common in the Brazils ; its wings, which EREBUS STRIX. are of a pale grey colour with black or grey ornamentations, are nearly seven inches across. Before concluding this notice of the first great division of the Noctuina, we ought not to pass on without considering the curious habits of the caterpillar of one of the species of the genus Scopelosoma. ‘The larva lives upon the oak, beech, and elm trees, and is a dark black-brown insect, with three white lines on the back of the second segment, and a white spot on most of the others below the spiracles. It is very common, and, according THE NOCTUINA. 133 to Mr. Stainton, has very depraved tastes. It appears to be omnivorous, and if it is kept with its own brothers, or with the larve of other moths, it will not confine itself to the plentiful supply of leaves, but will bite and finally eat, like a cannibal, all that comes in its way. The moth has a curious half-moon shaped pattern at the ends of its fore wings, and is therefore called the Satellite. The Phalenoide are a very remarkable family. The moths usually have delicate bodies, much more slender than those of the kinds already noticed; they have large wings, thread-shaped antenne, which are often pectinated and even fan-shaped ; they have a rudimentary trunk, which, however, is a useless organ ; and very small palpi. The caterpillars are more remarkable than the moths; they are long and cylindrical, like the twigs of a plant, and they have usually only two pairs of membranous legs ; there are three pairs in a few species, but all the segments in the middle of the body, which in other caterpillars maintain two or three sets of legs, as the case may be, do not have these loco- motive organs; consequently, the method of walking in these caterpillars is very different to that which is noticed in other larve. The group of the Geometrina exhibit this peculiarity in perfection. In describing the peculiarities of the groups of the Woctuzna, it was noticed that one of them had caterpillars which almost always loop when they walk, that is to say, that the back part of the body is brought up against the last of the fore legs—the body thus forming an arch or a loop. When the caterpillar wishes to move forwards it lets go its front legs, holds on with the hinder ones, and straightens itself, and does away with its looped shape; as soon as it is stretched out, the front legs catch hold of the leaf or twig upon which the insect may be moving, and the hind legs are let go, and brought forward. Moreover, from its ability to hold on perfectly by means of its hind legs, the caterpillar is very fond of raising its head and body in the air, and of remaining quite stationary in that attitude even for hours. Their colouring so often resembles that of the plants upon which they feed that, when they are quietly stiffened out, they cannot be distinguished from them; should they be disturbed they fix a_ 134 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. thread to the twig or leaf, and let themselves drop rapidly by their silken cable. They are called geometric caterpillars, and those of Exnomos illustraria are very good examples of the group; they may be noticed in different positions in the accom- panying engraving, which also represents the moth. The caterpillars of the Zerenide attack the buds of peaches and apricots early in June, or during the last weeks of May, and are especially fond of the leaves of the red and dark gooseberry THE CATERPILLARS OF £yx20n05 tllustraria. bushes; they are geometrical larve, and are very distinctly and readily seen, for, singularly to say, their colours do not resemble those of the plants, but have some sort of analogy with those of their moths. They have a dull white or greenish colour, with orange and black patches; they have also black hairs, which are rather prominent and abundant, so that the insects show very distinctly in contrast with the tender green of the leaves and buds they destroy so readily. When in danger they drop down, holding on by a silken thread, and they make THE GEOMETRINA. I their cocoon when they have attained their full growth with a little silk, and place it under the leaves. The moths fly in the AY RK VO THE CATERPILLARS AND MOTHS OF Adbrvaxas grossulariata. month of July, and frequent hedges, gooseberry bushes, and gardens, where they delight, like butterflies, in the open sun- I 36 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. shine; in fact, they resemble them very much, and their tints are very vivid and pretty. The engraving shows one of the species of the Zerentde (the Large Magpie) in the moth state and as a caterpillar. There are some moths closely allied to them—but which have stouter bodies and a great dislike of sunshine—whose caterpillars grow to a great size, and are very geometric in their method of walking. Phalena betularia has a caterpillar which is of a green or brown colour, and is covered with little wart-like growths. It goes into the earth, makes an oval-shaped resting place, and is transformed into a chrysalis during the month of September. The moth flies in the month of May, or early in June in the following year, and some specimens measure nearly two inches across the wings. It is very remarkable that some of the female moths of this genus should, like some of the Bombycina, have only rudimentary wings, or organs of flight, that are not sufficiently strong to raise the body in the air. Some of these geometric moths fly in the winter time; and AHybernia rupicapraria, or the Early Moth, may be caught on the Ist of January, and the Dotted Border may be seen on the hedges in February. The females of these have pigmy wings, and so have those of the Spring Usher, another of the same family. After March is passed no more of these moths are seen until the end of autumn, but when the leaves are falling fast, one of them, which is called the Mottled Umber, may be seen on the trunks of trees; they have been found even as late as Christmas, The female of this moth is a long-legged, spider-like insect, without any wings at all. These are most interesting examples of retrograde meta- morphosis, so far as the females are concerned. Another division of the Lepidoptera, which contains a great number of species with very small individuals, is that of the Pyralidina. These insects are as remarkable for the pecu-— liarities of their habits as for the diversity of their shapes. Although usually very small, they are quite as well ornamented as the larger moths, and certainly their instincts, habits, and metamorphoses are quite as interesting as those of the other Lepidoptera. It is rather difficult to separate this division from the Lepidoptcra which have still to be noticed, and this part THE PYRALIDINA, 137 of our subject, as it does not bear very much upon the question of metamorphosis, can just as well, and more appropriately, be studied in classificatory works. The Pyralidina are very numerous, and are generally gregarious. Most of them are readily disturbed by day, are generally active on the wing before dusk, and a few fly late in the night, and others, like butterflies, enjoy the sunshine. The moths may generally be recognised at a glance ; the body is slender, the wings are large, the front pair being much longer than the hind ones. Their trunk is usually well developed, and the palpi are always long and often very large. The abdomen and the legs are long. The caterpillars have a remarkably glassy appearance, and their few hairs have an unusually bristly look. They have five pairs of Male. Female. WINTER MOTH—THE MOTTLED UMBER. membranous legs, and they are generally very agile, being able to advance and (retreat with ease. Disliking the light, they remain hidden up, but they are always ready for any emergency which is likely to produce a fall. Their silk glands are well developed, and the caterpillars, like many others, use this secre- tion in order to prevent themselves from falling. The moths are very readily attracted by candles and lamps, and this pecu- liarity has caused them to be brought into association with the Greek word for fire. In England the peculiar lustre of the wings of some has caused them to be called “Pearls.” Some of these Lepidoptera form cocoons before metamorphosis, and others, like some of the butterflies, hang themselves up by the tail, and place a silk band round the body before becoming pupa. The group of the Pyralites contains a singular medley. One species of it was formerly considered to belong to another order of insects alto- gether, namely, the Meuroptera, or the Dragon Fly tribe. Others 13 8 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. are classified by some naturalists amongst the Bombycina, which we have already noticed, and in one small family, the Aydro- campide, the caterpillars live in the water, and undergo their metamorphosis there, one species of it being furnished with branchiz (“fins”). The Meal Moth, Asopza farinalts, which is very common in houses, is a small moth with reddish-brown wings, with their centres patched with fawn or grey colours. Its caterpillar looks as if it were varnished, and has its membranous legs very slightly developed. It has the curious taste of dis- regarding the crisp leaves of the garden, and of liking pieces of straw or corn, or even animal matter. These insects undergo a regular metamorphosis inside little silken cocoons, and the moths have a rudimentary trunk, and do not take any nourish- ment. Another moth, the Tabby, Aglossa pinguinalis, is also found in houses and stables. The caterpillar is of a uniform dark brown, with its head and front legs of a darker tint, and it will have nothing whatever to do with the usual food of Lepidopterous larve. It has a fancy for greasy horse-cloths, and grease in any form; moreover, its structures are evidently suited’ for its’ love of fatty matters. The caterpillar-stieks itself into the grease bodily, and without danger of being suffocated, for its spiracles are covered by folds of the out- side skin, which prevent the grease and fat from blocking them up. It is always interesting and instructive to notice how Nature provides for the well-being and safety of living things existing under extraordinary circumstances, and it is important to remember that horse-cloths, grease, and kitchen fat are productions of a more or less recent civilisation, and that these moths obtained their peculiarities, which always descend generation after generation, after the invention of this greasy nastiness. They are either new species which have become evolved from others, which led different lives before horse-cloths were invented, or else they were specially created to relieve the werld of much fat, and things we don't. care about. Which of the two origins is the correct one must be left to the intelligence of all the good people who, if they are not very well qualified to give an opinion upon the origin of species, never hesitate to do it. THE PYRALIDINA. 139 The Bordered Pearls, the Mother of Pearls, the long-winged Pearls, and the small Magpie are well-known moths which belong to the genus Botys. They have long trunks and very pretty wings. The caterpillars are rather long and are extremely rapid in their movements. They twist up the leaves with a few silken threads and make safe hiding places, the small Magpie choosing the sting- ing nettle for its particular habitation. Its membranous legs are particularly adapted for walking on plain surfaces, but not for climbing. Everybody may recognise them, because when they are disturbed they wriggle about in the most extraordinary manner. Of all the Lepidoptera the Hydrocampide are perhaps the most extraordinary so far as their methods of life are concerned. The moths fly and enjoy the air as much as any others, and cannot be distinguished from those whose caterpillars live on dry land. Their breathing apparatus is like that of other moths, and they have the habits of the other night-flyers. But the caterpillars live in the water and respire in two manners. In some kinds of the Hydrocampide the caterpillars live in the water, surrounded by a great bubble of air, and others positively have gills or branchiz, and are surrounded and bathed by water. This is a most extraordinary fact, for the moths which are pro- duced by metamorphosis from these caterpillars, resemble each other to a great extent, and it shows how slight the distinction may be between aquatic and air-breathing animals, and how nearly the origin of the separate conditions may be allied. The gills are in the shape of filaments, like those of the larve of the caddis flies, but there is one kind (Paraponyx) whose larve have large branchie and also spiracles. Its pupa is found in a cocoon amongst leaves under water, but it does not appear at present certain how the moth gets out of the chrysalis case without drowning itself. There is a common species in France which lives upon the pond weed. Whilst in the caterpillar state it cuts two pieces of leaf and fashions them so that they become oval in shape and nearly equal in size. It unites them by their margins, sew- ing them as it were with a little silk, and leaving an opening for its head and the first segments of the body. It drags this house about under water, but sometimes leaves it for a [40 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. more Jastine «domicile: “It. then fixesa ypertion ofa leat am contact with the lower surface of some floating leaf, and remains inside this retreat for several days at a time. The larva often walks over the surface of the water weeds, and manages to supply its leafy house with fresh air. When the larva has attained its full growth, and is about to undergo the metamorphosis into the chrysalis, it closes its leafy retreat perfectly, having attached it first of all either to plants or stones close by its ordinary dwelling- place. The small China Mark’s caterpillar is long and has a very pale-coloured head. It lives underneath the leaves of duck weed, in the water, and protects itself in a cylindrical silk case covered with leaves. The chrysalis is found in this case, so that meta- morphosis takes place in it. The moths differ very much, the male having its fore wings white, with a blackish central spot, and the hind wings white, with some irregular markings, and the female has pale brownish fore wings and clouded grey hind wings. The caterpillars of some Galleride \ead a very singular life. They are dull, whitish looking things, with dark spots and bristles. They make their way into bee hives and the nests of wild bees, but instead of eating the honey they devour the wax. They move through the honeycomb in galleries, which they line with silk, destroy many young bees by pressure, and undergo their metamorphosis in a white cocoon. The per- fect insects appear in the summer months, hide by day, and endeavour to enter the hives by night, and finally lay eggs in the honeycomb. We have already noticed that the death’s head moth enters hives and makes free with the honey, so that this caterpillar has Lepidopicrous companions and fellow thieves. Curtis states that //ythia colonella inhabits the nests of Humble Bees, the caterpillars living directly upon the young bees. The TJortricina, as their name implies, are those moths whose caterpillars twist and fold up the margins of leaves so as to form shelters. Several species, however, do not fold up the leaves, but unite many of them together in bunches by means of silken threads; and there are some kinds that live inside seeds and buds, or in the roots and stems of plants. Ail these cater- pillars have very much the same general appearance, although THE TORTRICINA. IAI they lead very different lives. Their skin is shiny, soft, and frequently covered here and there with hairs which are exqui- sitely sensitive. They are of different colours ; the green tints, THE METAMORPHOSIS OF /Zalras quercana. however, predominate, and they are not perfectly white like those caterpillars that never see daylight. These Leaf Rollers usually undergo their metamorphoses in the tubes, folds, and packets of leaves which were formed by the caterpillars which shut up all the orifices with silken threads when they have attained their full 142 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. growth; but some, especially those which live on fir trees, spin a cocoon. The moths have simple antennz, a rudimentary trunk, obtuse palpi, and tolerably large wings. The largest moths of this group belong to the genus //a/zas, and their trunks are not so rudimentary as is usual; moreover, they may be distinguished by the bright green colour of their wings. The Halas of the oak, Halias quercana, is the largest of the genus. The caterpillar is of a grey-green colour, and rolls up the leaves of the oak, and undergoes its metamorphosis in a cocoon, which it spins in the shape of a little boat turned upside down. The moth has two white bands upon its pretty bright green wings. Another kind, which is much smaller, is called the Green Tortrix. It does frightful mischief to oak trees, stripping them almost entirely of their leaves during the month of June. It rolls up the leaves in the shape of regular tubes, and undergoes its metamorphosis inside. The moths are drawn in the engraving one flying and the other at rest. The caterpillars are shown in different conditions, and the rolled-up leaf contains the pupa. Most of our vegetables are attacked by some caterpillars of this group, and the rose trees often suffer very much from them. One kind is very rare in England, but, unfortunately, is often so common in France that it produces great distress amongst those people that depend upon the cultivation of vineyards for their incomes. It is called Cenectra pilleriana. In England Mr. Stainton finds the larva in the seeds of the stinking iris, near Ventnor, but it is rare; in France, however, it attacks vine leaves, and does infinite mischief. The moth, which is not very large, has yellowish wings, which are darker behind. Its palpi are three times as long as the head, and this is a remarkable peculiarity. The moths fly in the month of July, and soon lay their eggs on the top of the vine leaves, in little flat packets, which are very readily seen. During the month of August the little caterpillars are hatched, but they do not begin to eat, although the temperature is high, and there is abundance of food; on the contrary, each one hangs itself by a silken thread, waiting to be moved to and fro by the breeze, until it touches the wooden prop of the vine, or the THE TORTRICINA. 143 stem of the plant. itself.. They then-get rid of their silk, and enter the cracks of the wood, or beneath the bark, and hybernate ‘until late in the spring; that is to say, they do not THE METAMORPHOSES OF THE VINE MOTH. 1, 2, 3, 4. Eggs on the leaf. 5. Young caterpillars hanging by their web. 6. Leaf with chrysalis. 7. Caterpillar. 8. Moths. take any food, and remain in a sleepy and perfectly quiet state, without any metamorphosis; in fact, growth does not go on. When the hot weather commences, they climb up the tender shoots of the vine, and bind up the tiny leaves and 144 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. minute bunches of grapes with their silken threads, uniting them in packets. The caterpillars having thus made a safe home, eat away in the inside, and they do so much harm in this manner that sometimes a whole vineyard is ruined in a few weeks. Towards the end of the last century much attention was paid by naturalists, in order to find a remedy, and to discover how these insects could be destroyed, but they came to no satisfactory conclusion. In 1835 and 1840 these caterpillars did so much harm in several departments that the French Government ordered Victor Audouin to examine into the question, and he wrote a very fine work upon the insects which are injurious to the vine. He showed that it was easy to destroy the eggs by removing the leaves, but he suggested that inasmuch as the young caterpillars always took refuge in the props and the upright shoots of the vine before they did any mischief, that these should all be burnt, or so heated that the caterpillars would be destroyed. The vines shot up in the next year, and the props contained no caterpillars, and from that time the great pest has hardly ever appeared. Many years ago one of the moths which are so injurious to the vine became common in Savoy, and after a year or two the caterpillars began to do great mischief. The unfortunate farmers applied to the Archbishop, and requested him to curse the caterpillars, as they were doing a great deal of injury. The Archbishop, being a merciful man, did not think the insects were to blame, because they were only indulging in those habits which were necessary for their existence, and he also con- sidered that they were sent as a punishment to the vineyard men, who had not paid up all their tithes. Consequently, he ordered the Bishop to open a court, where the farmers and the insects were to appear by counsel. A long trial took place, and a commission was ordered to inquire into the truth of the allegations of the farmers, but of course, whilst this was being done the caterpillars had metamorphosed, and the mischief was completed. Many years afterwards the moths and caterpillars re-appeared, and then the farmers proposed to set apart a particular plot of ground for the insects, which were to be under the charge of the Church, and petitioned that if they THE TORTRICINA. 145 did this the Archbishop should curse the rest, and allow all those out of bounds to be destroyed. The Archbishop, con- sidering that the Church gained a nice piece of ground by this transaction, willingly agreed to form a procession round the country, and to do the required cursing, after which, however the farmers were to do penance, and to pay up all their tithes. The TZortrictna which eat fruits principally belong to the Carpocapside ; one kind, Exdopisa proximana, has a yellowish white caterpillar, which feeds upon the peas inside pea-pods ; and the Carfocapsa pomonella \oves the insides of apples and pears. When this caterpillar is full grown, it eats its way out of the fruit, and then spins a cocoon on some twig or other. The moth is very pretty, and its iron-grey wings are orna- mented with brilliant copper-coloured streaks. The caterpillar is of a pinkish colour, and the second segment is pale yel- lowish brown. Many a plum pie contains the pale red larva of a closely allied kind, and others may be found even in acorns and beech-nuts. One species, Carfocapsa splendana, lives in the edible chesnut. Some of the caterpillars of these fruit- eaters move very actively in the insides of the seeds or fruits they are devouring. M. Lucas had some large Euphorbia seeds, which came from Mexico, and which, when exposed to gentle heat, jumped up a few lines into the air. It was difficult to account for this, but it was found that the movements were produced by the caterpillar inside jumping about. Some of the same group choose very different food, and one caterpillar feeds within a hollow resinous exudation from the branches of fir- trees; another, which is very common everywhere, feeds on almost any plant. This caterpillar is of a dull olive green colour, with a pale brown head, and is very sluggish. When it is disturbed it does not attempt to run away, or to fall down, hanging on with its silken thread, but curls itself up like a ball, and shams being dead, and trusts to circumstances. The Tzneina are the smallest of the small amongst the Lepidoptera, and they are, perhaps, the most eccentric in their habits of life and peculiarities. The perfect insects have narrow wings, bordered with a long silken fringe, and long palpi. The kK 146 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. larvee, according to Mr. Stainton, who has made this group his especial study, vary excessively in the number of legs; sixteen is the usual number, but in several genera fourteen only are found; in the genus /fepticula they number eighteen, and on the other hand, some other larve are legless or apodal. The habits of the larve vary also; some feed in the open air, others in rolled up leaves, others are miners, some case bearers, and some feed upon clothes, or on the lining of sofas. (Stainton.) Many naturalists have observed that the species of Solenodia, one of the Zzuzctde, have a most exceptional power of repro- duction. The maiden females of the genus lay eggs which can be hatched so as to produce larve, and a naturalist may breed a species for years without seeing a male Solenobia. ‘This extra- ordinary fact is not without parallel amongst the Lepidoptera, as will be noticed at the end of this chapter, and it is common amongst the bees and Affzdes, or plant-lice. Many of the Z7zzezd@ do a great deal of mischief in houses, to clothes, carpets, household stuffs, and feathers; for the larve, which have soft integuments, have the instinct to clothe them- selves artistically, but at our expense. TZznea tapetzella is one of the most destructive species, for the little caterpillar constructs a protecting tube, which is almost cylindrical in shape, out of the fibres and small pieces of the stuff it delights to gnaw. As the caterpillar grows the. case becomes too small, so the insect enlarges its home by adding some threads to both of the ends, and a very harlequin appearance may be given to the tube if differently coloured stuffs are placed in the way of the little tube-maker from time to time. The caterpillar closes one end of the case, and hangs it up before becoming metamorphosed into a chrysalis; but the insect turns in the tube before the transformation, and keeps its head turned towards the open and unattached termination. The moth comes out, therefore, easily enough. Tinea pellionella makes a case with silk and small pieces of hair or fur all cut to the same size, and does a great deal of mischief to furriers’ stores; and TZzuea crinella attacks skins, feathers, and horse-hair, doing an infinitude of harm to furniture. There is a 7txea that lives in cereals when the grain is stored THE TINEINA. 147 in granaries, and it unites several seeds together with a pure white silk, and lives in the midst as in acase. Its house, however, it devours. Alucita porectella is found in gardens, and its beautiful net- worked cocoon is hidden within curled-up leaves or underneath Wi ys | Ky Ni ONAN Tinea tapetzella. A rug attacked by the caterpillars. Cases suspended on the beam before the meta- morphosis into the chrysalis state. The moth, the size of life. A caterpillar out of its case and magnified. Caterpillars and their cases magnified. them, but the Brazilian species spin most elaborate, perfect, and regular network cocoons, of violet or red-coloured silk, which makes them very distinct and visible. There are some species of Z¢xezd@ which represent the habits of the larve of the Psyches amongst the Lombycide, and they are called the Coleophora. The moths hide themselves in trees during the day-time, and are nocturnal in their habits. They appear in July, and the eggs being laid and the caterpillars hatched, these last K 2 148 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. pierce into a leaf or a seed, and begin to mine. After a while, and when the caterpillars have grown to a certain size, they leave their solitary mine, eat through the skin of the leaf, and appear on the surface. They divide the leaf, and sew one part on to another, and make themselves a comfortable tube. So readily do these caterpillars make a protecting case, that they do not care COCOONS OF BRAZILIAN 77272e7na. much about repairing old ones, or enlarging their small homes ; on the contrary, they leave the old and take refuge in new leafy houses very constantly, after having eaten the best part of the former. Some eat grain, and, after having cleared out the interior of one, find in the skin a most convenient case. The last segment of the abdomen of the caterpillars of the Colco- phore is horny, and so is the second of the body, for this hardness of structure is much required by case-bearing insects, on account of the friction and pressure of the two ends of the tube. The pupze THE TINEINA. 149 being enclosed in the larva case are not ordinarily seen; but, when they are examined, it is observed that the sheaths of the antenne are rather prominent, and that sometimes the ends of the wing cases are detached from the body. The case of the larva LARVA OF Coleophora juncicolella. LARVA CASE. (After Stainton.) of Coleophora juncicolella puts one in mind of that of Gelechia and Psyche, for it is formed of several heath leaves, which are attached on alternate sides to the number of seven or nine. This case, which is firmly spun together with silk, is then attached to the LARVA CASE OF Coleophora lineola. (After Stainton.) under side of a heath leaf, and the larva bores into the interior of the leaf, devouring all the green pulpy portion, except a very little piece at the tip. The larva of another Coleophora mines the leaves of several delicate plants in September, and makes whitey-brown, and rather glossy-looking blotches on the leaves. As soon as it has mined a sufficient space, it cuts out the mined place to form a case, and 150 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. from the hairy nature of the leaf and the diamond shape of the excision the case has a very comical appearance. Some of the dry calyxes of the common Marjoram are often found fastened together lengthwise when the plant is going out of bloom, and a careful examination proves that they have been formed into the case of a caterpillar. The whitish larva of Gelechia subocella may be seen to poke its pale brown head out of the end of this pretty refuge. The larva feeds on the seeds of the plant, and when it has eaten the contents of one flower it bites off the dry calyx, and using it as a case proceeds to another flower, and places the movable calyx in the opening of that which is fixed, the seeds of which THE LARVA OF Gelechia subocella IN ITS CASE OF ORIGANUM FLOWERS. (After Stainton). it then demolishes. When the supply is exhausted, the cater- pillar bites off the second calyx, and moves off to a third, and thus the flowery case gradually increases in length till it consists of the husks of four or five flowers. When the caterpillar has done with eating and flower-destroying, it attaches this singular home either to the dried flower seed or to the stem of the plant, or to some neighbouring object, and undergoes metamorphosis.* The yellowish green caterpillar of another Gelechia (Gelechia marmora) injures the roots of the Cerastium, which grows on the sand-hills near the coast, and forms little tubes of sand fastened together with silk. The caterpillar having constructed this peculiar home, attacks the leaves which are trailing on the ground, leaving the case, and returning, before moving off, to plunder some more distant plant. The larva is almost subter- * Stainton, ‘‘ Natural History of the Tineina,” vol. x., part ii., p. 290. THE TINEINA. I51 ranean in its habits, and may be collected in great quantities in March and April. All the moths. of the genus Gedechia are exceedingly quick and active in their movements; at rest one moment, the next they have flown away with extreme rapidity; even without the use of their wings, they run away from the unwary collector. Many species are seen freely on the wing, arising in front, and settling a few paces in advance, and others lead a retired life. Some are met with in the perfect state during a considerable time, and there are two broods in the year of several kinds of the genus. Hybernation occurs but rarely. The larve, with sixteen legs, are generally active, and when crawling often raise the head with a peculiar tremulous movement. The greater number of them live in the buds and shoots of plants, or between curled leaves; two species feed in grass leaves rolled into a tubular form; many mine in the leaves of plants, and others eat inside the seeds and stems. The Gelechia of the Origanum mimics the habits of the Coleophora. The caterpillars of the genus Gvacillaria have only fourteen legs, like those of Lzthocolletis, and one species undergoes a total change of colour, from pale green to crimson, when about to assume the pupa state. This Graczllaria omissella mines the leaves of the Artemisia vulgaris, loosens large portions of the lower cuticle, and causes them to assume a bladdery appearance. All the larve of the genus are miners at first, and some remain so always, whilst a few discontinue this method of life, and proceed to roll up leaves instead. Most of the rollers form conical structures upon leaves; and Gracillaria auroguttella, which feeds upon the Hypericum perforatum, may be taken as an example of a very elaborate cone maker. It commences by mining a narrow strip, which puckers the leaf longitudinally, and then soon quits the mine and constructs its cone. The cone is formed by turning the tip of the leaf downwards, and so applying it to the under surface that the entire leaf is con- verted into a hollow space, with the edges fitting neatly. The form which the leaf then assumes is nearly that of a double cone (the cones united at their bases), and in it the larva proceeds to devour the under surface. When the interior of the cone is eaten up the caterpillar moves off to another leaf, and thus many rolled 152 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. leaves, each containing a piece of the excrement of the caterpillar, are left upon the tree for a short time. When the caterpillar has attained its full growth it rolls up a leaf longitudinally into a light tube, spins its cocoon, and changes into the pupa. There are two broods in the year. The pupz of the genus JVefticula have the parts of the future insect far more conspicuously displayed than is usual in the chrysalides of the Lepidoptera; and Nepticula anomalella may be found in the hollow of the footstalk of the rose leaf which the caterpillar has marked with serpentine tracks in the later weeks of the summer. It is contained in an elliptical reddish silken cocoon, The perfect insect lays its eggs on the under surface of the rose leaf, close to the mid-rib, and the larva, when hatched, bores into the cellular structures, and commences an irregular wavy gallery. When fully formed the larva splits the upper skin jot the leat, and’ creeps out; and ‘af it * be “one “of tie summer brood it proceeds to the leaf stalk, and there spins an orange coloured cocoon, which is of rather peculiar structure; for the side exposed to the weather has a sort of outer covering which projects beyond the limits of the true cocoon, serving as a protection against the wet. If the larva be of the autumnal brood, it very rarely seeks the foot-stalk, but attaches itself to the main stem of the rose bush, beneath the shelter of some branch or thorn, or else it seeks shelter on the ground amongst leaves. After completing the cocoon, the metamorphosis into the chrysalis takes place, and the second transformation occurs in a fortnight or three weeks in summer, and in six or seven months in winter and spring. Some of the mining genera of the 77zezxa undergo very rapid transformations, and the kinds of Lthocolletis which fly in July and — September offer examples. They are very small moths, with hairy heads and straight and pendent palpi, and their wings, which are of different colours, are frequently ornamented with spots looking like gold or silver, and have beautiful fringes. Moreover, the antennz, which are like slender threads of silk, are kept in constant movement. There are at least a hundred species of this genus, and each one lives upon some particular plant ; but THE TINEINA. 153 unfortunately very little is known concerning their metamorphosis. The honeysuckle is devoured by two sets of Lzthocolletis caterpillars every year, in the spring-time and at the end of summer. A small moth with yellowish brown wings, ornamented with white bands and spots, and bordered with a fine and long silky fringe, A BRANCH OF HONEYSUCKLE, THE LEAVES OF WHICH ARE OCCUPIED BY THE MINING CATERPILLARS OF Lithocolletis. Lithocolletis emberizepennella. a. Moth natural size. 4. Moth magnified. ¢. A caterpillar magnified. may be seen upon the hedges where the wild honeysuckles grow. About those times of the year the caterpillar of this pretty moth mines the leaves of the honeysuckle from their lower surface, and eats the cellular structures. The leaf very soon begins to twist irregularly, and if it is straightened the skin of it breaks, and the little pale, greenish, semi-transparent caterpillar comes out or recedes, showing great agitation. It is blanched, like many other animals that pass their lives out of 154 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. the light. It does not quit the leaf which nourishes it, but when about to undergo the change into the chrysalis state a thick silken cocoon is spun, which is usually of a dark green colour, and the metamorphosis proceeds. The tiny caterpillars of this mining insect with such a very long name may be seen in different positions on the leaves of Orneodes hexadactylus. Pterophorus pentadactylus. (Natural size, and magnified.) the plant engraved on page 153. The cuticle has been broken so as to show the larve and in one leaf the pupa. Two genera—Pverophorus and Orneodes—of the great tribe of the Zzzeina require to be noticed on account of the singular conformation of their wings. The organs of flight appear to have suffered a singular amount of degradation, so far as their development is concerned, in these little insects, but they are nevertheless exquisitely delicate and peculiar, for the wings are divided longitudinally into several branches, and each of these is furnished with a long fringe of wonderful silkiness, so that the appearance is presented of pretty little plumes of THE PTEROPHORINA. 155 feathers of microscopic size. The Péerophora have the first pair of wings divided into two and the second pair into three portions. These insects have also a long trunk and long hind legs, which are furnished with spines. They have a peculiar sort of flight, jerking about here and there, and some of them are called ghosts by country people. The white Pverophorus, which is called pentadactylus, because the wings are in five divi- sions, is perfectly white in colour, and flies about hedges and banks, with the dark-coloured leaves of which it forms a striking contrast in the eventide. The caterpillar, which is marked with green, white, and yellow rays, lives upon the bindweed, and hangs itself up when about to undergo metamorphosis into a chrysalis by a silken girdle, in the same manner as the cabbage caterpillars. The Orneodes have their wings, as may be seen in the engraving, very differently arranged to the species of Péero- phorus, for each one presents the appearance of six small but beautifully fringed feathers, and there being twelve on each side the insect really has twenty-four of them. When the moth alights, or is disposed to be quiet, it folds up these pretty feathery wings, just as if they were portions of a fan. The moths have no trunks, and they deposit their eggs here and there upon the flowers of the honeysuckle. The small caterpillar crawls inside the calyx and eats it from within, and when it has attained its full growth spins a small cocoon. The silkworm moth’s metamorphoses are so well known that they may be conveniently considered as the normal or usual phenomena with which to compare those of all other Chalinoptera. The transformation into the chrysalis state during the summer, and the rapid metamorphosis into the moth, appear necessary, in order that the eggs should be laid so as to be hatched on the first appearance of the leaves in the next spring. The delicate moth could not hybernate, and the chrysalis could not live in its cocoon all through the winter like those of many other genera. So the silkworm embryos in the egg have a long time 15 6 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. of incubation; but in some species closely allied to the silkworm two or three broods are obtained every year, and the embryonic state is then very short. How different to this metamorphosis is that of the Sesza apiformis, the caterpillar of which lives for two years, and then changes into a chrysalis which has some power of progression ; and how different is the physical condition of the perfect Sesza to the slow-moving Bombyx. The goat moth larva, like its fellow tree- dweller the Sesza, has a long life, and is metamorphosed into a more or less active chrysalis, and these long-living caterpillars change their skins during growth, but no essential difference is noticed as regards their ornamentation during the successive moults. All the supposed causes of the metamorphosis into the chrysalis state act over and over again upon these long-lived caterpillars, and cold winter, genial spring, and hot summer, succeed each other without the change taking place. The hybernation of such caterpillars as those of Cnectra pulleriana and Lasiocampa quercis, which go into hiding imme- diately after hatching, proves that there is something more required to produce the metamorphosis besides want of food and heat. The hybernation of well-fed caterpillars, like those of the Anthrocera already mentioned, must be considered with these proofs that metamorphosis is not a condition to be determined by simple physical influences, but that it often refers back to ancestral peculiarities. The cocoon making and burying in the height of the warm weather, when placed in relation with the occurrence of two or more broods during the season, in some closely allied species, the last being hatched late, are incompre- hensible on the simple explanation that the silken and stony shelters are absolutely required for the preservation of the insect during its longer or shorter inclusion. The case of the Reapers —which undergo metamorphosis both in summer and in autumn—- is complicated by the fact that the last brood, if it is very late, hybernate as caterpillars, and not in their admirably protected natural shelters. Here is a direct proof that something more than cold and absence of food is required to determine the first metamorphosis of the Lepidoptera, and that it cannot take place until the development of the caterpillar has advanced to CURIOSITIES OF METAMORPHOSIS. 157 a certain and definite stage—that stage being determined by hereditary peculiarities. The metamorphoses of the Hydrocampide are very interesting, on account of the extraordinary change which occurs in the con- dition of life between a swimming larva and a gay moth, to which water is almost certain death. The examples of the corresponding transformations of the gaily-coloured flies that lead aquatic exis- tences in the larva state naturally rise up before us, as also do the Zoéa of the crustaceans, and all these peculiarly allied forms become more strongly than ever united in a common ancestry. FEMALE AND MALE MOTHS OF Climatobia brumata. Retrograde metamorphosis, that is, a transformation which, when completed, leaves the insect less elaborately organised than before, is observed in the females of Psyche and Orgyza, and several other genera. The female of the Winter Moth has no wings developed, that of Clmatobia brumata has very small wings, and Psyche is not much more than an egg-bag, not having even the locomotive power of the caterpillar. Why the male should undergo a progressive metamorphosis, and receive addi- tional organs in the usual manner, and why the female, on the contrary, should positively retrograde in its evolution, is impos- sible of explanation at present. There is no-evidence to prove that a difference exists in the caterpillars which turn eventually to the male and female moths, and all of them partake of the same kind of food. The legless and wingless females of Psyche are, perhaps, more retrograde than those of Orgyia. The females of Fumea and Hibernia have legs and antenne, and, therefore, their development is in excess of that of Psyche. It has been mentioned that the females of a genus of the 158 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. Tineina have that power of reproduction which dispenses with the male for many generations. The maiden females of Solenodza lay eggs which are fertile, and a succession of broods may occur without a male ever being seen. This method is sometimes called “parthenogenesis.” The celebrated German naturalist, Von Siebold, examined into this question, and his work was translated by W. S. Dallas, in 1857. Von Siebold collected a great number of the cases, or sacs, as he calls them, of Solenobia lichenella and Solenobia trique- trella, and to his great astonishment none but female individuals came out of them, and only a single locality furnished him with a couple of males. He kept these females carefully in little vessels closed with glass lids, and found that they clung to their cases, resting upon the outside of them. These virgin females laid eggs and filled their sacs with them, and did not wait for any fertilising male, for they commenced egg-laying very soon after they escaped from the pupa case, or the chrysalis condition. When the Solenobie were removed from their sacs, they had such a violent impulse to lay, that they pushed their laying-tube about in search of the surface of the sac, and at last let their eggs fall openly. He writes: “If I had wondered at the zeal for oviposition in these husbandless Solenobig, how was I astonished when all the eggs of these females, of whose virgin state I was most positively convinced, gave birth to young caterpillars, which looked about with the greatest assiduity in search of materials for the manufacture of little sacs.” He thought that this egg-laying might be a similar phenomena to that of the birth of successive generations of Affides from the internal budding of sexless indi- viduals ; but on examining several of the Solenobia, they proved to be perfectly-developed females. A similar laying of fertile eggs by a virgin of the species Psyche helix is noticed and carefully explained by Von Siebold. He states: “The two species of sac- bearers just mentioned are not, however, the only representatives of the true parthenogenesis ; an equally striking example of the virgin reproduction of a female insect is presented by Psyche - helix. Of this remarkable moth we are at present only certainly acquainted with the female. In the caterpillar state it lives ina sac which in its form resembles a sinistral (turning to the left) PARTHENOGENESIS IN PSYCHE HELIX. 159 snail-shell, to which similarity the specific name given by me to this Psyche also refers.” The body of the caterpillar which makes this twisted case is also curved spirally, and it leaves an opening in the hinder whorls of the sac. The female moth lays its eggs inside this sac, which it occupied as caterpillar and pupa, and having spun down the front opening, leaves the dwelling by the other opening, which is large enough for its shrivelled, eggless body. Von Siebold proceeds: ‘“ These sac-bearers are leaf- miners, and push their bodies far in between the epidermic plates of the leaves through a round hole which they gnaw in the latter, and devour the green colouring-matter. During this process the sac remains outside, sticking with its aperture to the opening in the epidermis. The leaves, and even the variegated flowers, are in this way often completly decolourised by the sac-bearers.” ‘“ When these sac-bearers are full-grown—which is the case in the latter part of the summer—they quit the plants they have been feeding upon, like the other caterpillars of the genus, and seek a suitable place for the change into the pupa state. When they find stone walls or rocks in their vicinity, they creep high up on them, and spin down the lower aperture of their dwelling firmly. In passing through the process of moulting, also, these caterpillars, like all other sac- bearers, always spin down their habitation temporarily. The evolution of the moth takes place in the same year. If after some time we examine the spun-down sac of a Psyche helix during its chrysalis state, we find the pupa in the lower twist or whorl of the case, with its head directed upwards and its tail-end downwards, towards the last aperture. Between this and the tail-end of the pupa the shrivelled skin of the caterpillar, stripped off in its last change, is always fixed, so that this caterpillar, like all those of the Psychide, turns itself round in the sac before true pupation. In all the sacs of Psyche helix in the pupa state hitherto examined by me, of which I have had the opportunity of observing more than a hundred and fifty in seven years, I never found any but a female pupa. This is of a yellowish brown colour, and with very indistinct segments.” ‘The wingless and almost footless female moth which is evolved from this pupa also appears slightly curved in a spiral. Its colour is grey, with a slight brown tint on the back of the three thoracic segments. The head has no antenne, 160 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. the rudiments of a mouth are found, and of two eyes without facets. The movements of these admirable examples of retrograde meta- morphosis—and how slightly they resemble the well-developed Lepidoptera !—are extremely sluggish, and the six little feet of the thoracic segments, which are in the form of very short conical processes, scarcely take any part in them. A dissection proved these moths to be true females. They deposited their yellowish eggs in the empty pupa case which in Psyche always remains behind in the caterpillar sac; they then shrivelled up to a very small volume, when they generally left the sac by the above- mentioned side aperture, and soon afterwards died.” Von Siebold proceeds in the description of this strange case as follows :—“ The unfertilised eggs concealed in the pupa case are also developed in the same year. If a spun-down sac of Psyche helix be opened in the latter part of the autumn, or in winter, we always find from ten to twenty-four young reddish-grey caterpillars in the interior of the pupa case.” No other method of reproduction but by virgin females, and without the influence of the male, was witnessed in this Psyche by Von Siebold. Heroldt described the changes which go on in the young silk- worm within the eggs laid by unfertilised female moths, and found that development proceeded all the same; and Von Siebold acknowledges that the silkworm can be raised occasionally from unfecundated eggs. Other observers have decided that the tiger and other moths can be thus reproduced, but the above instances must suffice to show the extraordinary method of reproduction amongst the Lepidoptera, which is of such great importance amongst the bee tribe. The alterations in the external structures of some genera during successive moultings of the skin have been pointed out. Thus in Hadena oleracea, the caterpillar has different colours when old to those which ornamented it during the early part of its life, and the “Forked Tail” undergoes alterations in colour during the skin casting process. A¢tacus cecropie@ submits to corresponding changes in its tints. It is thus necessary to consider the moulting periods as most important epochs in the evolution of the Lepidoptera, although the marked stages of meta- THE LEPIDOPTERA. 161 morphoses appear to eclipse everything else which may have to do with the progressive and systematic development. The em- bryonic life, or that within the egg, the moults, and the first and second metamorphoses, are then the more or less important and marked stages in the evolution of the lepidopterous insects. Some caterpillars do not assume, either at first or at all, a perfect larval con- dition, and then the embryonic stage has been less complete than usual. Thus the caterpillars of the Cochliopodide are legless ; and this state of things is not restricted to that genus. In other in- stances the larve, when hatched, present evidences of advanced development, and in one genus the pupa appears to be far advanced towards the future condition. The extraordinary variety of the shape and colour of the caterpillars of the JVoctuzna, and the identity of the moths have been noticed; but the study of the phenomena repays, for it adds to our conception of the mysteries of the metamorphosis. It is interesting to note the structural relations between those Lepidoptera which have a scanty supply of wing scales and the Hymenoptera, and to observe the curious mimicry of shape and tints which then prevails. The metamorphoses of the Lepidoptera may be classified, for the sake of convenience, as follows: complete, incomplete, and retrograde. The duration of the stages, however, differs, and necessitates a second scheme. The metamorphosis takes place once in the year, and the eggs remain unhatched until the spring —a long embryonic stage—the other stages being short. The metamorphosis takes place twice or more in the year, and the eggs of the last brood remain through the winter and into spring. Here the embryonic stage differs in length. The metamorphosis may not be completed in the summer and autumn, and the chry- salis lives as such through the winter and into the early summer. The caterpillar may hybernate, and the metamorphosis may take place early in the year; or the caterpillar stage may last more than a year. It is perfectly evident that closely allied Lepédop- tera have different forms of metamerphosis, and that the pheno- menon has been acquired in accordance with a law. GVA aie AWE TAS, TSE NEL SIN) (O) teed WARS vate HOWEVER much we may become interested in the habits, struc- tures, and metamorphoses of other insects, there is always a sense of satisfaction in studying the Aymenoptera. The infinitely numerous insects which are classified under this important order are not celebrated for great elegance of shape, magnificent colours, and elaborate ornamentation, and they are usually small in size, and modest in their decoration. Some, it is true, are brilliant enough, but this is very exceptional, and they never attain a large size. When the Hymenopicra are examined no one expects to meet with unusual beauties; but the interest they convey is far higher in its origin than that of simple decoration. The butterfly is admired on account of the richness of its colours, its elegant shape, and the magnificent wings; and a beetle is attractive on account of the dazzling brilliancy of its elytra, which may resemble the most lustrous metals or the finest jewels. But the butterfly and the beetle, which revel in all the decorative wealth of nature, lead useless and apparently purposeless lives, and their external beauty is their sole attraction. The hymenopterous insect pillages the flowers; it has quiet tints and sombre colours; and its form and shape are simple in the extreme. This insect, which has no very elaborate ornamen- tation to make it attractive, soon commends itself to the close observer, whose delight in the tiny thing increases to a sense of great admiration, as its agile movements, indefatigable perseve- rance, and independent spirit gradually unveil themselves. What THE HYMENOPTERA. 163 a wonderful contrast there is between the gaudy butterfly or the magnificent Buprest?is beetle, and the bee! In the one case there is an existence of decorated idleness, and in the other a modest exterior enhances the charms of a laborious life, in which all the resources of the highest instinct are combined to a common end. Contrasts of this kind are not uncommon in Nature, and are not restricted to families, but are to be noticed in species, and even amongst individuals. There is a great amount of uniformity in the shapes, the physiology, and in the phases of the development of the Lepidoptera, and also in their methods of life and instincts. There are no grand differences, although there is an infinitude of peculiarities. But the distinctions between the principal types or kinds of the Hymenoptera are most striking. These insects, when perfect, usually feed upon vegetable matters, but during their larval condition some live upon plants, and others remain within excrescences which they produce upon the leaves, roots, and stems of trees. Many larve are absolutely carnivorous, and live within the bodies of all kinds of insects; whilst a vast number are provided for by their parents, and receive, as legacies, either a living thing to be fed upon, or a delicacy composed of honey and the pollen of flowers. There is every possible variety of food, and every imaginable method of life. The hymenopterous larvee differ amongst themselves in their conformation and in their development. Those of an entire family are hatched sufficiently well developed to take care of themselves ; they live in full daylight, and can walk, so that they may be compared to caterpillars. But others pass a hidden exis- tence, beyond the help of the outside world, because they must live in the place where the eggs out of which they have come were deposited, and, indeed, they never care to wander. There are some kinds which are so ill-developed that they have no means of locomotion, and cannot even take their food themselves, so that they require mothers, or a staff of nurses gifted with industry and sufficient intelligence to find a safe place and plenty of proper nourishment for their charges. Many Hymenoptera—unlike almost all the other insects — never abandon their eggs, and the love of their offspring has been L 2 164 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. implanted in them by Nature. This obligation could not exist without bringing with it the necessity for, and the desire of, labour ; without exciting maternal love, and many instincts verging upon reason. The smallest amount of intelligence requires a very perfect organisation for its production, and so does a high order of instinct. Mechanical appliances, implements, tools, and industry are requisite to produce good work, and they are only given by Nature to those creatures which are intelligent enough to use them. The flymenoptera are the most highly endowed of all insects, yet they often live for a time in apparently most miserable con- ditions; and parallel instances are not uncommon in the vertebrate animal kingdom—for the most gifted birds can only at first exist, thanks to their parents; but many less favoured kinds, like the gallinaceous birds, for instance, run about and take care of them- selves soon after they escape from the egg. In spite of the great differences which exist between the principal types of the order now under consideration—differences in the shape and external character of the larve and the adults ; differences in the internal organisation; differences in the pro- gress of development, in the kind of life, in the diet, and in the condition of existence of the species—all the insects of this great zoological division have common characters, which are readily distinguishable. The Hymenoptera have four membranous wings (whence their name—vpnv, membrane; aTepov, wing), which are free from scales, and they are marked with more or less numerous nervures, which usually do not form a reticulation. The wings, which are rather small in relation to the bulk of the body, are usually perfectly transparent. Sometimes they have a violet hue; but more fre- quently they are dusky in colour. The wings characterise the Hymenoptera; and the ancients called them—as the moderns do— “ flies with four wings.” These insects have stoutly formed heads, and very large eyes upon the sides of them. Usually there are three ocelli on the forehead. The antennez differ in their general structure, even amongst the species of a genus, and, as might be anticipated, in families also. Their mouths are formed for nibbling or crushing, and also for suction. All the structures are free, and are more THE HYMENOPTERA. I 65 or less well developed. The mandibles are always strong, but differ much in form, according to the habits of the species. The jaws and the lower lip, which are usually rather short, elongate in some kinds which pump up honey, and they then form a kind of trunk, which is doubled up against the thorax when it is not wanted. The thorax is swollen out, as it were, and its integu- ment is solid and dense, like a cuirass; and the muscles which produce the movements of the wings, and which are attached to it within, are very large and strong. The legs have moderate powers; and, although these insects are better able to walk than the Lepidoptera, still they cannot be called, in comparison with others, either walking or jumping insects. Their best means of locomotion are their wings; and the insects fully understand this, for even when they have to walk a short distance the wings assist the legs, and help the not very heavy body to move along. The only Hymenoptera that can be called true walkers are those that have no wings, like the neuter ants, and their agility 1s very won- derful. The legs are often provided with accessory structures, and are, moreover, modified so as to enable certain species to live particular lives. Most of these insects have a very movable abdomen attached to the thorax by a very narrow waist, which is notoriously small, in the wasp tribe for instance, The females have a long and slender tube at the end of the abdomen, which is of great im- portance to them, either as an ovipositor or as a sting. The weapon of offence is invariably formed by the same kind of structures in all insects that possess it, and Lacaze Duthiers has discovered it in a rudimentary condition even amongst the Lepidoptera. These structures are modified in various manners, but the same end is always kept in view, and the resulting organ is of the greatest importance. The Hymenoptera undergo complete metamorphoses. Some larve are usually soft and white, and, as they have no legs, they look like worms; but some exceptional kinds have small fore and hind legs like caterpillars. Almost all the larve, when they have attained their full growth, shut themselves up in a cocoon, which they make up with the silken stuff they are able to produce, and then are transformed into pupe. 166 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. The principal divisions of the //ymenoptera are readily dis- tinguished by characteristic species, so that their classification is comparatively simple, and some remarkable habits which are prevalent amongst some peculiarly constructed kinds appear to have definite relations with their metamorphosis. THE. HYMENOPTERA WITH OV IPOSITORS. (Zenthredinide and Siricid@.) The celebrated entomologist Latreille distinguished the y- menoptera which had the abdomen attached to the rest of the body by its entire width from those which had a slender, waist- like junction. This distinction, although not very important, is THE OVIPOSITOR OF THE Hylotoma rosea. very handy. The species with thick waists are collected into two families, one very numerous in species and the other much less so. The principal, or first family, is that of the saw-flies, or Tenthredinide, and the other the Szviczde. The saw-flies are common everywhere, and are to be seen and watched whilst they fly, work, and crawl about in nearly every garden and wood. Once seen, the peculiar habits and odd manners of these active flies are never forgotten. Their body is short and compact, their mandibles are long, flat, and cutting, the jaws are short, feeble, and furnished with six-jointed palpi, and the antenne are either thread-shaped or are thick at the end or branched. The Tenxthredinide are particularly THE TENTHREDINIDE.. 167 distinguishable on account of the movable, dentate, saw-like ovipositor which is attached to the abdomen of the females. This is a wonderful little instrument. It is in the form of a double saw, the length of which varies according to the species, and there are from fifteen to twenty or more regularly placed teeth added to the cutting edge. But the little saw of the Zenthredo is not always so simple in its construction as that of a carpenter, for the teeth or dentations are covered with others, so that the teeth of the saw are themselves toothed. The perfection of this minute weapon suggests that manufacturers might take a lesson from it and invent a cutting saw with double serrations, which might be of infinite use in the arts. The double saw corresponds to the stylets of the sting of the wasp and bee. The two valves are kept fixed by being inserted or fixed into a scale which adheres to the sides of the abdomen ; and the process that surrounds the stylets of the sting may be noticed in its rudimentary condition as a thin membrane in the saw-flies, but it is of no importance to them. The Tenthredinide have active dispositions, and are orna- mented with various colours, and their bodies are smooth and shining. They do not consume much nourishment in the adult stage, and they then appear to prefer fruit, which they snip in pieces with the aid of their cutting mandibles. The larve resemble caterpillars in their shape and habits, yet it is hardly possible for any one to mistake them for the miniature form of the Lepidoptera. It is true that amateur entomologists have nourished and taken vast pains with the larve, believing that they would eventually turn to new and splendid butterflies, and that they have been surprised at the evolution of a saw-fly instead of the expected scale-winged insect. But in spite of the resemblance, the mistake ought never to occur if a careful examination be made. Caterpillars have never more than five pairs of membranous or hind legs, but the larve of the saw-flies have generally seven or eight, and never less than six pairs. The feet have, however, circles of hooks, like the caterpillars. The head is always rounder and more globular, and the eyes are more wide apart and distinct, than in the larve of the butterflies. The saw-fly larvae have, 168 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. moreover, peculiar movements, and especially that of curling them- selves up, and they do this for hours during the great heat of the day; if they are alarmed, they cock up the end of their bodies in a threatening manner, and the attitude doubtless frightens some of their disturbers. ‘The larve eat the leaves of most plants, and they collect together in colonies, and often do a great deal of mischief. When they have attained their full size, the larvae form cocoons with silk, and glue the threads together so as to make stout and hard cases; and some of them are to be seen stuck between the LARVA OF A SAW-FLY. twigs and leaves or upon the small branches, whilst others are placed in the ground. These ground cocoons, however, contain pieces of stone and dust. Every caterpillar, as soon as its cocoon is made, begins to transform itself into a chrysalis; but the saw- fly larvee remain inert and huddled up for several months after having made their snug and safe hiding-places. The metamor- phosis does not take place at once, but occurs some time or other during the winter or early spring; and when it is com- plete, the fly escapes, usually by cutting the end of the cocoon with its jaws, and, should it be a female, it soon begins to use the ovipositor. It flies to and fro, seeking a proper place to deposit its eggs in, and takes a great deal of pains to select a spot where the nourishment of the future larve will be at hand; and it is not simply satisfied, like the butterfly, with laying its eggs on or near the plant upon which the young are to feed. The THE TENTHREDINIDZ. 169 saw-fly places its eggs in the very midst of the food, and protects them with extraordinary care. It makes a series of slits in the stalk of a leaf or in the twig of a shrub with its tiny saw, and deposits an egg at the very bottom of the cut, covering the opening with a secretion that hardens and keeps out the wet and the air. Some saw-flies only attack the petioles of leaves; others like sawing the hard twigs of trees; and each species has its particular method of egg-laying and wood-sawing, and each chooses a parti- cular plant. Some large 7enthredinide only carry a very delicate and small saw, for the eggs are to be laid in the very tissues of the leaves, which must not be torn or pierced through; and others, that are small in size, have great saws which are strong and double-toothed, for they have to cut into hard tissues; so that with a little trouble the naturalist can tell what sort of a saw a tenthredinate insect must have, by observing the habits of the fly; and he can satisfy himself, on the other hand, when he sees the saw, concerning the peculiar habits of its possessor. All the Yenthredinide are closely allied by their structural peculiarities ; and some external characters have caused them to be grouped in two great tribes, which contain many genera. The tribe, the species of which have short and stout bodies, contains the greatest number of saw-flies, and it is subdivided into four groups—the Czmdbicides, the Hylotomites, the Tenthredites, and the Lydites. The Cimbicides are the largest of the saw-flies. They have thick bodies, and their antennze are swollen at the end so as to resemble a club, and have never more than eight joints. Their flight is heavy, and they make a great buzzing. Their larve have a peculiar tough-looking skin, and have no less than nine pairs of membranous legs. The common German species, the yellow Cimbex (Czmbex lutea) is a large form, and may be considered to be the representative insect of the genus. The difference between the males and females of this saw-fly is so great that many naturalists considered them to belong to separate species. The male is rather long in shape, and has large legs, its colour is brown, and the insect is marked with a bright yellow spot on the first segment of the abdomen. The female, on the contrary, is plump and rounded in figure, and has a yellow 170 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. colour, the fore parts of the body being blackish. The adult insect flies in the month of May. The females, although they are large insects, have a very small ovipositor saw; but they do not require any other, for, instead of using it upon dense vegetable fibre and hard twigs, they simply incise the stalks of leaves. The larve are of a pretty green colour, and have a black ray down the back; they do not indulge in the threatening posture of lifting up their tails, but curl themselves up just like a sleeping cat. There are some small saw-flies which are well known, and which belong to the Hylotomites; their antenne are slightly swollen, and have from three to seven joints. The genus //y/otoma is the most important, and its species are very common in Europe. They usually have the greater part of the body coloured yellow, and the rest black ; and the common rose saw-fly is a well-known example, and one that is especially hated by rose fanciers. It is to be found in every garden, and its habits can be watched with ease. When all is bright and full of sunshine early in the summer morning, and when the rosebuds are longing to open and to display their magnificent colours, then is the time to watch the restless saw-flies that move here and there with great velocity, and rest every now and then on the rose trees. These pretty flies are about one-third of an inch long, and when they fly their wings measure nearly half an inch across. Their bodies are smooth, gleaming, appear highly polished, and have an orange tint, whilst their heads, antennae, and much of the body, are black, as are the ends of the legs and the pieces of the tarsus or foot. These Hylotome belong to the species Rosea, but at first nothing unusual is observed respecting their habits. After a while the flies become more numerous, and as the day passes on some begin to think of laying their eggs. The females fly to and fro, and soon several may be recognised, for they are crowded and heavy with eggs. The slow-flying saw-fly may be noticed buzzing about the most succulent and healthiest of the roses, and it is so anxious to lay that itvcares little for the spectator. It crawls and runs over the leaves and suckers, and looks here and there, and is evidently intently occupied in some important duty. Finally, the saw-fly finds a delicate succulent THE HYLOTOMA. 171 twig or stem, which it likes, and immediately the insect clasps it with its legs, bends the back, and places its head low. Then the saw suddenly appears under the end of the body, and is dug deeply into the green stem like a knife. Immediately the skin of the twig is pierced, the lamina which form the: double saw are stretched slightly apart, and the gentle saw-like motion cuts deeper and deeper. Each saw cuts so as to separate from its fellow, and to widen the slit, whilst the rough parts of the outside of the saws scrape and enlarge the wound also. In a few seconds or minutes the slit has become large enough for the purpose of the saw-fly, and when this time has arrived the insect rests perfectly still for a short period, and the saws separate sideways and enlarge the slit; at the same time an egg passes down between them slowly but surely. The egg is laid at the bottom of the slit in safety, but more has to be done to ensure the future comfort of the larva and its freedom from danger. If the egg were simply left at the bottom of the wound the vegetable fibrous cells would soon close over and effectually imprison it for ever, and the young larva would be crushed before it was born, or starved. Every care is taken, however, to prevent this mis- fortune. The egg is hardly laid before a mucus secretion, provided by special glandular structures, escapes from the insect, and enters the wound and covers its sides; it acts as an irritant to the plant, and soon makes itself felt by the vegetable tissues, which it alters and indurates in a remarkable manner. No sooner is it deposited than the fibres become wider apart, and soon blacken, whilst the deeper-seated tissues become thickened and impaired, so far as their growing powers are concerned. The egg thus remains free at the bottom of the slit, and does not suffer from the growth of the surrounding tissues, thanks to the glandular secretion. Ege after egg is deposited in the same manner, and with the same precautions, and we may often distinguish the twigs where all this has gone on, and which contain a long series of eggs in separate slits. Sometimes only three or four wounds may be counted, but ten or fifteen or more punctures are often made. The operation of laying is by no means easy, and it requires much care; so the female only deposits a few eggs every day, 172 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. and curiously enough it never attacks a second twig on the same tree. Day after day a new plant is chosen, and there is evidently a plan in this. Why should the insect avoid the tempting stems of the same bushes, and seek those of other rose trees? Simply because were it to lay too many eggs on one tree there would not be leaves enough for the progeny. What a wonderful instinct is| this, that- causes the creature to think for the future, andeto reason more wisely than many men! The Aylotoma takes care of all its little ones in the most clever manner possible, and it leaves them enough to live on without starving each other—an example which might be followed by most of the creatures that consider themselves infinitely higher and more able than the tiny insects. - About eight or ten days elapse after the eggs have been fixed into the twigs of the rose, and then the young larve are hatched, and they immediately crawl on to the leaves, and begin to eat them. Their growth is rapid, and they change their skins time after time, but without the general shape of the body or its colours undergoing a decided alteration. The body of the larva is of a more or less dark yellow colour, and the sides are green. It is marked very generally with numerous black and shining tubercles, which are covered with hairs. The head is yellow, and the black eyes are surrounded with spots of the same colour. These larve resemble true caterpillars exceedingly, especially when they move from place to place, but their characteristic atti- tude is very different from those of the Lepidoptera. They are very prone to adopt the curious and striking posture which has been noticed aiready. Holding on to the plant by their fore legs, they stick up the end of the body, and if they are feeding with the body in the usual horizontal position, and are disturbed suddenly, this threatening attitude is forthwith adopted. Under different circumstances, and when they are at rest, they simply twist the last segments of the body underneath, but do not roll themselves up in a spiral like many other larve of saw-flies. By the end of the month of June the larve of this interesting saw-fly have reached their full growth, and most of them walk off the leaves and twigs that have been so serviceable to them, THE HYVLOTOMA. Wea and descend to the ground and hide themselves in the soil at a slight depth. Others do not leave the stem of their favourite tree, and not a few stop upon walls or upon the trunks of trees. Wherever they may hide or stop they form an _ oval-shaped cocoon, which is composed of silk joined together by a very glutinous secretion, but it never contains grains of sand or of earth. The cocoons of the rose saw-fly are of an earthy yellow colour, ~ and their singular construction was noticed in the last century by Réaumur. On the outside there is an elastic tissue which is able to resist very considerable shocks and knocks, and the microscope shows that it is made up of fibres arranged like the network of a racket mace. This is the first envelope, and the cocoon beneath it is made up of a soft, close, and flexible sub- stance which is not adherent to it. When the second metamorphosis is complete, and the Hylotoma has changed its pupa skin within the cocoon, it gnaws the soft layers with its mandibles, and cuts the stout outside threads with them, and escapes. The second generation of the rose saw-flies appears towards the end of July or the beginning of August. They soon lay, and the larve may be seen upon the roses during the whole of the autumn. As soon as the temperature of the season begins to decline, and before the fine days are all gone, the larve descend to the earth and establish themselves in their cocoons in the soil, and none of them remain on trees or walls. They have the instinct to place themselves out of the danger of frost and cold, for the winter time is full of peril to them. After being snugly housed in their cocoons, where they have to remain until the next spring, they become dull and_ stupid, and hybernate as larve. The long winter passes and the early spring finds the larve in much the same state, but a few fine days stimulate their vital processes, and the metamorphosis into the pupa condition proceeds. The saw-flies are a great pest to horticulturists, and yet a slight knowledge of the method of the metamorphosis of the larva would enable those generally very self-opinionated persons to save many a rose, and prevent much loss to themselves. The habit 174 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. of crawling down the rose stem into the ground on the approach of winter, and of hybernating in the cocoon at the base of the little tree, should suggest the propriety of raking and thoroughly disturbing the superficial mould. By these means the cocoons can be easily seen and destroyed. There is another plan, which is not so ready however, and it is to notice where the eggs are laid, and to paint the twig over with some viscid liquid that will fill the ‘cracks, and seal up the unfortunate larve quite hermetically. The rose saw-flies do not live in common, and each one makes its own cocoon. In the Brazils, however, there is Aylotoma Jormosa, which, according to Sichel, makes a nest in which many participate. The TYenxthredites are the most numerous of the saw-fly family, and they may be recognised by their antenne not being swollen and not having less than from nine to fourteen distinct joints. Their habits and metamorphoses resemble those of the //y/otoma, and it is, therefore, only requisite to select a few examples where there is a shade of difference, and where the structures of the insect are evidently modified for a purpose. The Athalie are small insects, and their colour resembles that of the //y/otome generally speaking, but their antenne are sufficiently distinct as regards their construction to prevent the genera being confounded. They are finely pectinated in the male A¢halig, but they are not composed of more than from nine to ten joints, and this is the case in both sexes. Athalia centifolig, so well known to English entomologists, from Newport’s magnificent descriptions and studies, is one of the commonest species. The larve are of a greenish black colour and have eight pairs of membranous legs. They occasionally are to be found in great numbers on culinary vegetables, which they eat and waste remorselessly. United in numerous groups upon each plant, they devour the leaves and even the tenderest twigs. A closely allied species (Athalia spinarum) attacks cru- ciferous plants, and does a great deal of damage during certain years. The larve of these small saw-flies undergo their meta- morphoses in the earth, and as they have not much silk at their command they agglutinate earthy particles together, and make a rude sort of cell or cocoon. HVE STE IMS TEU EIOV IID S 175 The females lay their eggs by inserting them with their saw- ovipositor between the skin or cuticle of the turnip leaf and its cellular or parenchymatous structure. The egg is therefore only separated from the atmosphere by a most delicate membrane, so that the heat and moisture soon affect it and hatch the little Athalia centifolie very rapidly. It appears necessary that this egg should be exposed to much heat in order to hasten the birth in time for the turnip to be enjoyed by the larva. Newport states that the cocoon of this insect is lined with silk. The larve of the genus Selandria are of a somewhat peculiar shape. Their legs are extremely short, and their bodies are lubri- cated with a viscid secretion which makes them look like small slugs. Réaumur, in fact, called them slug larve. The larve of Selandria A:thiops often become very injurious to cherry, pear, Lophyrus pint. and other fruit trees. They remain perfectly quiet during the heat of the day, and seem to draw their heads within the first segment of their bodies, and they are then covered over with the slimy moisture so as not to look like insects at all. By night and during the early morning they are lively enough, and they then devour the foliage. The Lydites form a small group of saw-flies which are charac- terised by having a great number of joints to their antenna. They are the saw-flies of the north, and they attack fir trees and pines. The Lophyri, which belong to this group, have a thick body, and the males have doubly pectinated and feathery antenne. The species are very difficult to separate, and entomologists have had to take into consideration the disposition of the nervures of the wings, in order to decide upon particular forms with certainty. The commonest species is Lophyrus pint. The male is quite 176 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. black; the female is almost entirely yellow, and is spotted with black. The adult insect flies during the summer months, and the THE METAMORPHOSES OF Lophyrus pint. females saw the tissues of the twigs and fine stems of fir-trees, and insert their eggs. The females are so industrious, and are so prolific, that vast numbers of eggs are laid upon a tree, and the parent seems to know that there will be enough and _ to THE LOPHYRI. 7 spare for its larvae. The young larve live in groups, and collect in great numbers ; they eat first of all the young shoots and buds, and finally do not despise the hardest foliage. Many of the trees they attack are soon terribly despoiled of their leaves, and have their existence endangered, and every now and then large forests of firs and pines are nearly destroyed by the ravages of this insect, which certainly chooses a strong tasting diet. The larve of the Lopfhyri do not dig into the earth in order to undergo their metamorphosis, like so many of the saw-flies ; but they construct their cocoons upon the branches of the tree they have despoiled. The cocoons are grouped together on the stouter twigs of the trees, and are more or less oval in shape. They are often found empty, and one end opens like a trap-door. This is because the saw-fly, when ready to escape, cuts a nearly circular slit in one end, pushes up the flap, and flies off. The position of the oval shaped cocoons is shown in the engraving, and there are some perfect insects represented. The females are engaged in depositing eggs, whilst a male is flying. The larve have the characteristic curl of the tail. Some larve of the genus Lyda live in groups, and like the Lepidoptera under similar circumstances, protect themselves by forming a net-work of silk for the whole colony. The pear-trees are now and then much damaged by Lyda piri, whose larve collect in great numbers upon the leaves, and spin a web in common to protect themselves. The Cephines are the second tribe of the saw-flies, and they have slender bodies. They live in the interior of plants when in the larva form, and thus imitate the peculiar habits of many caterpillars, and, as might be expected, they present similar peculiarities as regards colour and the development of the legs. The Cephznes in fact exhibit so great an arrest of the growth of the membranous legs that they surpass nearly all caterpillars in this respect, and, indeed, they are almost like worms. The species of the genus Cephus have a compressed abdomen, and the ovipositor of the female is hardly visible, whilst the antennz are swollen at their ends, and composed of twenty-one joints. The commonest kind is Cephus pygmeus—a little insect of a third of an inch in length; it is black, and has a yellow border to its third, fourth, and seventh M 178 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. segments. It is very injurious to cereal crops. When the wheat crop is about to ripen, if some white ears are seen elevated above the others which are heavy, green, and somewhat bent, there is a tolerable certainty of not finding the grains but of discovering one or more larve of Cephus pygmaeus. These small white larvae may be exposed by breaking the white ears, and they live in the powdery dust which they have produced by gnawing the corn, and by their dejections. These larve appear to have a strong impression that the wheat ear is all very well for a temporary home, but that it is dangerous for a permanent one, for before the = = ——— —=s fais # \ NS ve \ Y \ Sirex gigas. harvest the insect crawls down the stem and buries itself in the ground near the roots. There it makes a cocoon, and hybernates through the winter, out of the way of sickle and scythe. The Szriced@ are a more numerous family than the last, and they may be known by their long bodies and short thick mandibles ; the antennze being thread-like. The principal genus is Szvex. Whe females of it) havea long, toothed, for it has to pierce something harder than leaves and straight saw, which is rose twigs. The species are more common in Germany, Northern Europe, and North America, than in southern districts ; and they frequent the forests of firs and pines. The great Szrer— Sirex gigas—is a splendid insect: the female is black and yellow, THE TENTHREDO LUCORUM. 179 and attains the length of an inch without reckoning the ovipositor, which is half an inch long. This long instrument is used to perforate the bark of fir trees, and the larva finds itself in the midst of its food. The genus contains species that have been called by the name of Uvocera; and they have, of late years, excited no small astonishment in the minds of many military men, for some of these insects took a fancy to eat lead and gnaw bullets. Mar- shal Vaillant, a Russian colonel, M. Motschulsky, and the director of the museum at Vienna, M. Kollar, have asserted and proved that the leaden bullets made for the French army during the Crimean war were riddled by Szrer juvencus. These insects certainly got out of the boxes, in the wood of which—green when they were made—the larve were included; and they were found in the middle of the bullets, gnawing away, and perforating the lead with their strong mandibles. Oryssus coronatus is one of the Szric7de, and the female has a thin saw, which is folded underneath the abdomen; but, unfor- tunately, its metamorphoses are unknown. There is a remarkable saw-fly (Zenthredo Lucorum) which lays its eggs in the hawthorn trees soon after they have pushed forth their tenderest leaves. It is a large fly, and is of a dusky-brown colour, and about the size of a wasp. The female has a small and very thin laying apparatus, and she chooses the upper surface of a leaf, and pokes the edge of the ovipositor just under the cuticle ; she then moves the saws gently, and expands them, moving them side- ways. As the saws are drawn out of this most delicate wound, an egg is left in their place, and gummed in by a viscid secretion. The female lays several eggs, and they are pale and small. After a while, the leaf grows, and is well nourished with the juices of the plant ; and the eggs grow also, being close to the respiratory organs of the leaf, and in the midst of the nutritious fluids. The larva can be seen in the egg, curled up, and turning over and over, after the manner of all embryos. It is hatched after a while, and it crawls upon and devours the leaf. The thorns suffer a great deal from it, and were it not for a fellow hymenopterous insect that lays its eggs in the larva, they would have much more damage done to them. When the larva has attained its full M 2 180 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. growth, it makes a very woody cocoon, and sticks it to the twigs of the tree upon the leaves of which the insect lives. The cocoon is brown and very hard, and the larva hybernates in it, and is trans- formed in the spring. The fly gnaws off the top of the cocoon from within, and escapes; its jaws, like those of most others, being made solely for this purpose. The Tom-tits get a great many of the larve by nibbling the cocoons during hard winters. THE HYMENOPTERA WHICH PRODUCE GALLS. GALL FLIES (Cynipside). The Hymenoptera that produce galls, or excrescences upon plants, form a group by themselves. They are small insects, very distinguishable, and they stimulate a great number of dif- ferent kinds of plants to develop those unusual growths of their tissues which are called gall-nuts, galls, oak-apples, &c. Every- body has seen these curious and odd-looking excrescences; but very few have noticed the beings that have grown within them— and which, when they have attained their perfect form, escape and fly. A winged insect not much more than a tenth or a twelfth of an inch long is not readily observed, especially when amongst the host of little flies that continually move around us. These small Hymenoptera belong to one family—that of the Cynipside—which contains the genus Cynifs, and others very much like it. The Cyzipside have an oblong and very convex body, the abdomen of which is attached to the thorax by a very thin pedicle. The saw ovipositor is very curiously made; it is very long and slender, and is twisted up in a spiral form within the abdomen of the female when it is not required. But when the insect has made up its mind to lay an egg, having chosen the proper spot, the muscles of the abdomen suddenly unfold this spiral, and the ovipositor is straightened, and thrust instan- taneously into the plant. The Cynipside are found everywhere in spring and summer. When about to lay, the females take great trouble to seck a good place on a proper plant: they make a puncture with their long ovipositors in a twig or leaf, and deposit either one or a LUI A \\ \ Ml \ \ a UY 4 Lie Wf ve \ My Wty OZ y GALLS OF Cynips terminalis. THE CYNIPSID. 181 considerable number of eggs. When the puncture is made the insect spreads a secretion over the wound which is of a very irritating character, and it is believed to excite the nutrition of the vegetable tissue to develop irregular masses of its cellular structures. There are multitudes of plants attacked, and generally the shape of the gall differs in each, and is produced by a different insect. Hartig, Westwood, Giraud, and others, have described some very unusual forms. The oak trees afford a refuge for, and nourish many kinds of gall-flies, which do not spare the trunks, the leaves, the twigs, or the roots. Oak-apples, or the rounded masses attached to oaks in the summer, some small and others large, readily attract the attention; they are galls that have been produced by a Cyuips. They might be taken to be the fruit of the oak, and they are to the eye miniature apples—oak apples. The largest are always at the base of the leaves, and within them there is a cavity tenanted by one larva; it remains there in a dull and stupid condition during the winter, and is transformed into a pupa in the spring. The adult insect is developed within the cellule, and is obliged to cut its way out into the world with its mandibles. This Cyzzps is of a bright brown colour, and is called Cynips quercis baccarum. The small oak-apples that usually are found in plenty on the lower surface of the leaves are formed by another species—Cyzips guercis folit. The branches of the oak in the spring-time are often covered with nodules, some of which are very large and irregular in shape. Their surface is smooth, their colour light green, passing into red in some spots, and there are usually several on a twig close to each other. They are constructed on a different plan to those of the gall-leaf insects, for they contain twelve or fifteen cellules, or more, each of which contains a larva. These kinds of Cynips fly in the middle of the summer, and there are probably two generations in each year. They are called Cynips terminalis, on account of the peculiar ornamentation of the female. The sexes differ much in their shape and colour; the male has large transparent wings, and its body is of a uniform bright fawn colour, whilst the female has no wings whatever, and is brownish, the end of the abdomen being of a shiny black tint. 182 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. The large engraving shows the galls of the insect. They are cellular, and are aggregated in masses upon the twigs. A very common species of Cynips—Cynips aptera—produces great galls upon the roots of the oak, and it is a most remarkable thing that neither the males nor the females should have wings. The gall nuts of commerce, which are used as dyes, and to make ink and tinctures, and whence gallic acid is derived, are produced by the punctures of Cynips galle tinctoriga. These insects affect an Eastern species of oak, Quercus infectoria, and their galls are remarkably hard, round, and tuberculated. They Female. Cynips terminalis. only contain one larva. The cellule is moderately capacious, but the walls are very thick; nevertheless, the little Cyzzps perforates them without much difficulty, in order to come to the light of day. The rose fungus is one of the most curious galls; it is pro- duced by a Cyzips, and is found upon the hedge roses and sweet- briars. The adult insect which produces these excrescences is about the fifth of an inch long. Its transparent wings are slightly clouded, and it is of a glossy black colour. The females lay their eggs towards the end of May or the beginning of June, and the galls soon form, but they grow at first very slowly, and subsequently quickly, so that they attain their full size on the approach of cold weather. Sometimes the galls are round, or flat, at others they are irregular in shape, and resemble medlars, and they are about the same size as those fruits. They are THE CYNIPSIDE. 183 moss-like in texture, and appear to be composed of branching filaments, which are placed closely together. Hence their name of “hairy galls.” There is a sort of stem or peduncle to the galls, so that when they become variously tinted with green and red colours towards the end of summer they look like pretty fruit, During the winter time these colours disappear, and the galls become uniformly brown. The mossy surface of the rose fungi is so soft and com- pressible that it appears at first sight to form the whole of the gall, but this is not the case, for there is a woody texture beneath which is very hard indeed. On cutting the gall across it will be observed that the larve inside are admirably protected against injuries from without, for their cells are in the midst of the dense woody tissue, which is covered with the soft moss-like structures. The space in which each larva lives is restricted enough, but it undergoes its metamorphoses in the small cell. The larve are whitish, and the only colour about them is in the eyes. When they have attained their full growth, these larve remain at rest for a long period; they shorten themselves, as it were, and remain huddled up and quiet from the end of autumn to the beginning of the following spring. Then the metamor- phosis into the pupa commences and is perfected. The Cynips does not last more than ten or fifteen days in this form, and then the second metamorphosis takes place. But if the spring is not genial, and if the temperature is low, the perfect insect does not get out of its cell, for it remains within waiting for the fine weather. When the warmth of the season is sufficient for the well- being of the Cyzzps it gnaws its way out of the gall and escapes. There is a Cynips that undergoes its metamorphosis in the fruit of fig trees in Southern Europe, Africa, and the East, and the perfect insect eats its way out of the fruit when the ovules within are being fertilised with pollen; consequently, this insect brings out with it a quantity of the pollen in the form of dust. Now this has been taken advantage of by practical men, and figs that are backward and small are stimulated to grow arti- ficially by fixing a fruit containing the Cyuzps upon them. The Cynips comes out of the fig covered with pollen, and immediately pushes its way into the ill-developed fruit, the 184 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. ovules of which it fertilises; and then the growth of the fruit proceeds rapidly. The so-called Dead Sea fruits are galls which have been produced by a Cymips. THE PARASITIC) HY ME NOR WER. (Lchneumonide, Chalcidide, Proctotrupide.) The parasitic Hymenoptera form a little world of themselves, and they have the same habits, instincts, and metamorphoses, although their numbers are enormous. They form the insect array which Nature employs to check the superabundant multi- plication of the phytophagous or vegetable-feeding creatures of the class. Every parasite attacks a particular species or some closely allied kinds, in obedience to some mysterious law; and many an unfortunate caterpillar is subject to the violence of several of these dangerous enemies. Nearly every insect has more than one parasite, and this fact enables us to estimate the multitudes of Hymenoptera that are in the world. These Hymenoptera belong to three very distinct types; but each of them has females which are furnished with a straight, thin, and sharp ovipositor. These parasites are very pretty and elegantly formed insects when in the adult form, and are gifted with great agility and restlessness. But in their early condition they cannot move, having no locomotive organs, and _ their structures are so soft that they are destroyed with the greatest ease. The larve look like worms or maggots, and do not attain a great perfection of development during their growth. The contrast between the lazy and sluggish larva of the active and restless adults of the parasitic /7ymenoptera is almost as great as that of-the larva and the imago of the industrious //ymenoptera, such as the bees. All the parasites seek out a caterpillar, a larva, or an insect which suits their purpose, in order to lay an egg within its body. A larva which is born from this egg is nourished by the blood and fat of the victim, whose vital organs it does not touch or injure in any way, for were it to die the parasite would come to THE HYMENOPTERA. I 85 an end also. It is only when the larva is nearly full grown, and is about to undergo its metamorphosis into a pupa, that it appears to know that the life of the victim is not likely to be of much further use. It then devours the internal organs of the unfor- tunate insect, and undergoes its transformation. The skin of the victim protects some of the pupe of its destroyers after all the inside has been eaten. Nearly all—if not quite all—insects are subject to the attacks of parasitic Hymenoptera. Fine, smooth, and_brightly-coloured caterpillars often have a black spot upon their skin, and this is the healed wound of the ovipositor of one of the parasites. Sooner or later the creature is sure to die, and it never reaches the stage of growth when it can lay eggs or reproduce its kind, for before this time the growing larva within destroy it, as it were, by a slow consumption. Some affected caterpillars die soon, others nearly reach their full growth, and a few undergo their transforma- tion into the chrysalis state before death. It is, therefore, not an uncommon thing for a butterfly collector, who hopes to see a fine moth disengage itself from its pupal covering, to be disappointed by the appearance of several little parasitic //ymenoptera that have been living within the chrysalis he has been keeping. Although we know a great deal about the economy of the parasitic Hymenoptera, still there are some points of the greatest possible interest in it, and which are really very provocative of wonder. When a parasitic insect of this family discovers a cater- pillar feeding on a leaf in broad daylight, there is nothing very wonderful about it, because we could do as much ourselves; but when it is evident that the female parasitic Yymenoptera finds out a larva which is situated inside a fruit, and within a branch or trunk of a tree, and perfectly out of sight, we may well wonder how this is done. When one sense fails, another is supposed to supply its place, and the sense of smell of the insect is thought to do what the eyes evidently cannot perform. It is probable that the sense of hearing may assist in the discovery, but it is by no means proved. There is another instinct which is very remarkable, and, indeed, as curious as that just mentioned. A large parasite deposits only one egg under the skin of a caterpillar or other insect, for its) larva, as it increases in» size; requires.(all. the. jwices of the 186 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. victim. If two or three eggs had been laid, and larve had been born from them, they would have been starved after a while, for the body of the infected insect would have been consumed twice or three times too quickly. But if a moderate sized parasite attacks a tolerably large caterpillar it introduces two or three eggs, and if a very small /chneumon meets with a fine larva it may lay as many as fifty or sixty eggs in it. There is always enough and to spare in these instances, and it would appear that the insects considered the future. But there is a great sameness in the habits of insects, and these parasites choose their victims upon the same plan generation after generation. If the large parasite came across a new caterpillar three times as big as any it ever saw before, it either would pass it by, or would still only lay one egg. On the other hand, a very small parasite would always lay the same number, whatever the size of the victim might be. | All insects are not equally exposed to the attacks of parasites ; for instance, those that know how to form shelters are less so than those which live in broad daylight on leaves, and hairy caterpillars are less liable to suffer than the smooth kinds. It would appear that the long tufts of hairs and the branching spines which cover the bodies of so many larve are the structures which protect them, like an armour, from the sudden and eventually fatal stab of the /chneumons. The peculiar movements given to the hairs by the contraction of the segments of the body evidently pre- vent the parasites from giving the stab with certainty. Larve are especially subject to the attacks of the parasitic Hymenoptera, and there is no difficulty in understanding why they should be chosen as the homes for the future young of such crea- tures as the /chnceumons. The life of adult insects is usually brief, and is cut short by many accidents, so that were the larve of the parasites developed within them, their existence would be con- stantly in danger, and very few of them would come to perfection. It is very wonderful, however, that those insects which do live longer than others in the adult form, should be subject to the attacks of parasites, whilst the others, whose existence is in- variably short, should never be pierced by the Hymenoptera. Many Coleoptera, which are well covered with a hard integument, THE HYMENOPTERA. 187 and which, like men in armour, care little for the attacks of their fellows, succumb to the active lancer-like parasitic flies. The weevils, for instance, are long-lived insects, and are encased in armour, but their active enemy finds out the joints, and sticks in its ovipositor between the articulations of the body, and lays the egg, which grows like a canker within. The parasitic Hymenoptera are of all dimensions ; many are of considerable size, but the name of the minute insects is indeed legion. So small are some of their larvee that several can be accommodated within the body of an Apszs or plant louse, and even in an egg of an insect. The eggs of many Lepidoptera are destroyed by the larve of the parasitic Hymenoptera that have become developed within them from the eggs introduced by the ovipositor. Almost all these parasites introduce their eggs under the skin of their victims, so that their larvae are never seen, but there are some kinds which only lay their eggs on the outside of caterpillars, and other insects. When the larve of these last-mentioned para- sites are hatched they pinch up the skin with their mandibles, and force the front part of their heads within the victim’s body, and remain in that position. They then suck the juices of their prey, and the greater part of their body is exposed to the air. Since nearly all the parasitic Yymenoptera lead the same sort of life, we might expect not to find any great structural differences amongst them. There is, however, a considerable variety in the length of the ovipositor of the females. The females which deposit their eggs within the bodies of caterpillars or larvee that live in the open air have very small ovipositors; those which attack larve which are tinderground, or are protected by some shelter, have longer instruments; and those that have toreach insects which live within the trunks of trees, have very large and greatly developed egg depositors; so that the /chneumon’s habits and prey may be guessed by the length of the ovipositor. Nature employs these parasites constantly when insect life is too luxuriant ; they stop the multiplication of a crowd of creatures that would do an infinitude of injury, and they limit the numbers and the geographical distribution of many species. When the insects which are most injurious to agriculturists are studied, the important 188 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. office of the parasitic //ymenoptera becomes most evident, and they evidently render us most important services, for they check the ravages of the larve which destroy cereals, vines, and vegetables of all kinds. The balance of life between the vegetables, the caterpillars, and the parasites is most extraordinary. A few cater- pillars come from the egg of one butterfly, perhaps in a newly cultivated district, and they are not noticed. The next year hun- dreds of caterpillars are found devouring everything, and then one or two stray /chneumons come upon the scene. They are so clever that they never miss their aim, and they lay thousands of eggs in as many caterpillars. The year following there are fewer caterpillars, and a great host of /chneumons, that riddle every insect that comes in their way. Spring comes round again, and there are no caterpillars, vegetation flourishes, and then comes the turn of the parasites. Their office is completed, and they pass away. It is thus that armies of caterpillars suddenly appear and disappear. There is some difficulty in applying the word parasite to all insects that live in intimate relation with others. The parasite just noticed lives at the expense of the vital juices of its victim or host. It does not devour the body, and then remain glutted. But many insects, like human parasites, only eat the provisions which others have laid up in store for the rainy day, or for their offspring, and these, of course, should be called the true parasites. Others live with their strange companions, and look out for scraps, and what happens to come in their way, these are comrades, and are very common in many families of the Articulata. The /chneumonide have, as a rule, long thin bodies, slender legs, very large wings, which are much veined, and long, slender, vibrating, thread-shaped antenne. Agility is written in every structure of the /chneumons ; the jaws have long palps; and the slender body, large wings, and the legs, which can be used for run- ning, indicate unusual locomotive powers. The lively appearance of the insects is heightened by their projecting eyes and the long and restless antenne. They are not to be caught readily, but rush off with wonderful rapidity out of the way of danger, and if a female is seized she endeavours to stick her ovipositor into the fingers of her captor. THE EPHIALTA:. 189 There are two very distinct tribes of J/chneumonide; the Ichneumons proper and the Lracontde. The insects of the first tribe have four joints to the palps of their lower lip, and those of the last have only three. The species contained in the first tribe are usually tolerably large, and the abdomen is rounded at its sides; their ovipositor is very small, and does not project from the hind part of the body when the insect is at rest. They introduce their eggs into the bodies of caterpillars, and other larvae which live in full daylight. The genus /chneuwmon forms part of this tribe, and its species have the abdomen rather thick, and attached to the thorax by a waist. These insects are elongate in form, and are usually decorated with yellow or red bands and spots, which are rendered striking by their black ground. The Pzmplite are those [chneumons which have the abdomen slightly narrowed at its commencement, and very projecting ovipositors; and the females of some kinds, especially of the “£fhzalte, have them longer than the rest of the body. The black Ephzaltes, a common parasitic Hymenoptera of the centre and north of Europe (Zphialtes manifestator), may be seen during the summer time in the avenues of woods, and resting on flowers, or running upon the trees. The whole of its body is of a shining black colour ; its transparent wings are slightly clouded, its legs are long and slender, and are of a bright red colour, the hind ones being brownish. The male is thin, and rather small, but the female is very robust, and comparatively large. The larve of the Lwprestis beetles, which live inside the roots of trees, are afflicted by the females of this fine parasite, and there are few things more interesting than the sight of the egg laying. In very fine weather, when the sun is shining in great power, the insect appears full of animation. Its antennz are perpetually vibrating and moving in different directions ; its wings are trembling, and it is constantly running over the trunk of a tree with great rapidity. Every now and then the insect stops, runs to the right hand and to the left, and goes over the ground like a hound that has lost the scent. Then it seeks another locality, and the same vivacious proceeding is repeated a hundred times. Suddenly the insect appears to be satisfied that it has made a discovery, it stops, and 190 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. commences to dig its long and curved ovipositor into the bark; there is a larva of Chalcophora Mariana in the wood, and the Y rT aie of. : rf iit ICHNEUMONS. Ephialtes manifestator. The male is flying on the left, and the female is introducing an egg into the body of a larva. Another Ephialtes, Rhyssa persuasoria, a female, is on the branch to the left hand. Ephialtes has become aware of it. The insect lowers its head and grasps the bark with its legs ; it then lifts up its abdomen, bring- THE EPHIAL TZ, IOI ing the ovipositor beneath, and plunges the point within a narrow fissure, so that it reaches the larva, which is grubbing away, in apparent safety, at the rotten wood. When the stroke is given, the valves of the ovipositor separate, and curve, so that the thrust, when it overcomes the resistance of the wood, penetrates far inside. In the engraving, which is, of course, a diagram, this operation is shown, the wood being removed over the larva. The curve of the ovipositor beneath the abdomen is apparent. All this is very surprising, for the active insect manages to discover the deeply secreted larva, which it cannot see, and to find out a convenient fissure in the wood down which to thurst its ovipositor with certain effect. The Rhyssa persuasoria has the same habits as the Ephialtes, and is a much prettier insect, being marked with little spots, or lines of a yellow colour. The Ophionide are Ichneumons, which can be distinguished at once by the peculiar shape of the abdomen, for it is bent, and compressed, literally like a sickle. They have a small ovipositor, and deposit their eggs either within caterpillars that feed on leaves in broad daylight and are unsheltered, or upon their skins. The eggs are somewhat remarkable, and have been carefully examined. They are oblong, and have a long and _ twisted peduncle, and this is fixed on to the skin of the victim. The young larva, on being hatched, breaks its egg shell on the side remote from the peduncle, allows its body still to remain within the pedunculated shell, and thus attacks the caterpillar in safety. Sometimes the female misses the caterpillar, and the egg sticks on her own body, so that when the larva is born it at once attacks its own parent. Most of these kinds are large insects, and Ophion luteus is very common in Europe. The Lraconideé are a very large tribe, and are the commonest of the parasitic /chneumonide. They multiply at a great rate, and most of them are very small indeed. Many of them frequent flowers during fine weather, and are enemies of the beetles, and the species of the genus A/ysza are parasitic upon the great family of the flies W/uscide. The Microgasters belong to a group which differs from that of the Braconites, and are very small insects, being about the 192 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. twelfth of an inch long. They have no less than eighteen joints in their antennz, and they deposit a quantity of eggs inside many species of caterpillars. After having lived in the juices of the caterpillars, the larve of the Muicrogasters having attained their full growth, begin to devour the viscera also, and finally they eat through the skin. They then spin silky cocoons, and undergo their metamorphosis. One of the species, JZtcrogaster glomeratus, which is black in colour, and which has fawn coloured legs, can be recognised easily, and its metamorphosis examined. The caterpillars of the cabbage butter- fly, Pueris brassice, are frequently killed by this little parasite, and occasionally nearly every one of these destructive vegetable feeders falls a prey. They usually live until about the time of the first metamorphosis, and then they begin to look out for a safe place to hang themselves up, and to undergo the transformation into the chrysalis state. But it is just then that they die, for then the Microgasters which have had enough of the caterpillar, pierce through its skin, and form their cocoons on and around it. They complete their metamorphosis in a few days, and the perfect para- sites fly. The cocoons of these JJicrogasters are usually united in packets, are oval shaped, and being composed of very fine yellow silk, look like those of silkworms in miniature. The smallest of the ichneumons are the species of the genus H/ydrizon, and they wage war against the Affides, one of them laying its egg in the Apfzs, which is so common on the delicate stems of roses. The Proctotrupide are distinguished from the /chneumonide by their oblong body, the simple condition of the nervures of the wing, the moderately long antenne, and the long pendant palps. They are such little insects that they must be examined with a good lens or a microscope, if they are to be studied. One tribe of them attacks the maggots of flies, especially of the wheat fly, and another lays its eggs in the larve of the 77zpw/e@—the daddy long- legs tribe. Some of the parasites of the maggots spin cocoons beneath the skins of their victims. The TZeleas ovulorum is a tiny insect of about a fiftieth of an inch long, and it lays its eggs in the eggs of moths, and when its larvee are developed they enjoy their curious and small habitation. THE, CHAL CLDIDAS. 193 The species of a most important family of the AWymenopiera have small palpi, the antennz consist of twelve or thirteen joints, and the nervure of the wing is simple and bifurcate; they are numerous, and the members of them are very common. These Chalcidide are small creatures, and attack all sorts of insects, and do not even spare the other parasites. The species of the genus Chalcis are common, and the indivi- duals are larger than those of the other kinds. They may be known by the peculiar shape of the antenna, by the enlargement in the thighs of the hind legs, and by the prominent ovipositor. Chalets minuta, which is very common in some localities, lays its eges in the bodies of different kinds of caterpillars, and it is THE ADULT FEMALE OF THE ADULT FEMALE OF Diplolepis bedeguaris. Chalcis minuta. especially fond of the Pyrals, which is so troublesome to the vine growers. Nine other species attack this pest also. The Dzplolepide have the body magnificently coloured with golden green tints, and their ovipositor is very long. The females usually seek out the larva of the species of Cyzzps which are en- closed in galls. The larve of the rose fungus upon the sweet briar are frequently attacked by the insect represented above, and a genus of beetles (Azobium) has its members killed and preyed upon by a Perilampts. A small host of Pteromalide may be seen to issue from the body of a chrysalis of a Vanessa; and the tiny Lzlophe, which are perfect insect gems, glowing with golden green and bronze tints, attack caterpillars, maggots, and the eggs of butterflies and moths indiscriminately. 194 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. HYMENOPTERA WITH DENSE INTEGUMENTS. (Chrysidide.) This family of Lymenoptera cannot be very readily associated with the others. The Chrystdide@ are commonly called ruby-tail flies or gilded wasps, and they have a close resemblance on account of their peculiar shape to tiny wasp-like flies, but they never attain a third of the size of the common Vespa. The bril- liant colours of the Chryszdid@ strike the observer at once, and their fiery tints look like a blaze of jewels. Some species have the body tinted with a beautiful golden green, others shine in ultramarine, and many have this splendid blue relieved by a scintillating ruby red colour on the abdomen. There are some large spots and chasings upon the thorax, which produce beautiful effects in the light, and thus the Chryszdid@ are splendid when moving restlessly here and there in the bright sunshine. Had they large bodies they would be prized for their beauty as the humming birds of the insect world, but as they are small crea- tures, their decorations are therefore less striking. The integuments of the Chrystdid@ are very thick and hard; and the insects have the power of rolling themselves up like a ball, by bringing the abdomen against the underneath part of the thorax. This is quite a peculiarity amongst these Hymenoptera ; moreover, they differ from others by having a cylindrical body, the abdomen being concave below, and very convex above, and attached to the thorax by a very short waist. The rings of the abdomen appear to shut up more or less within each other, like a telescope slide. The females carry a very sharp sting, which gives great pain. These insects have filiform antenne, long man- dibles ; the jaws have palpi, formed of five joints; and the lower lip projects, and is membranous, so that they can suck. The wings are moderately veined, and the legs are slender. These insects exhibit a wonderful amount of activity under a broiling sun, and then they are never still, but are constantly flying here and there, and resting a while upon the flowers. In some spots of central Europe—where these insects are much more common than in the north—they collect in numbers, and afford a mag- a= i $e Arle, 7 LGR a “Cc, CHRYSIDIDE. Chrysis ignita, Stilbum calens, Parnopes carnea, whose cocoon is to be seen enclosed in the larva of a Bombyx. pt Oy @ Ps ee Se ee ee ~ x e + ~~ LIEN, XEIEUR NG SVAOULD YS. 195 nificent spectacle, and they resemble fiery pearls rushing to and fro. They have no industrial habits, and do not lay eggs within other insects. Their larve, however, only live upon living prey, and the instinct of the female leads her to lay her eggs where the future offspring will be protected against danger. She has no hesitation about laying them in the nests of the other Hymenoptera, and especially where there is some provision being laid up for the larvae. She does not care for the solitary bee or a Bembex, for she has a terrible sting and a hard cuirass, which is not to be pierced by ordinary insect weapons. The female introduces herself into the nest of the bee, for instance, and rolls herself up if attacked, and then, being victorious, lays her eggs on the food which has been stored up. The little parasites are hatched, and live upon this food with the larve of the original tenant, and when the store has been devoured they attack the larve, and suck their juices. They make a cocoon before undergoing their metamorphosis, but very little is known about their transformations. The Chrysis ignita is very common in England, and may be seen in constant motion, running upon walls and palings; it lays its eggs in the nests of hornets, sand wasps, and solitary wasps. Some beautiful insects of the genus Hedychrum have habits like those of the Crysis just mentioned. Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau describes the attack of a sand bee upon one of them which had invaded its dwelling in order to lay eggs. The Osmia, a sand bee, discovered the intruder in the act, and immediately proceeded to turn her out by laying hold of her with its mandibles. But the Hedychrum rolled herself up like a ball, and was invulnerable. The bee carried her out, gave her a good shaking, bit her wings off, and left her. She had her way for all that, and crawled back again into the nest, and laid her ege. The St#/6i have a very convex abdomen, and are inhabitants of warm climates, but a species is found in Central France. The species of Parnopes are green insects, with flesh-coloured abdomens. Parnopes carnei lays its eggs in the nests of the Bender. 196 7RANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. TELE ANA heAsi ie aie V.- ( Formicide. ) Ants are so common in nearly every part of the globe that they are very well-known insects; nevertheless, they have all sorts of characters given them. They are considered destructive and encroaching, as well as disagreeable things, and they have, as a rule, a very” doubtful reputation amongst the public in nearly every country ; but naturalists and those who inquire a little more carefully into the mysteries of the insect world, are always ready to admire their wonderful instincts. In fact, the ants possess those marvellous gifts in as great a degree as any other beings. The ancients were struck with their admirable underground works, and from the earliest times imagination has assisted those who look superficially into the natural history of these little creatures, at the expense, however, of truth. The curious idea— which appears to have commenced in very remote times, and to have been carried down by tradition, and which was assisted by the results of careless observations—concerning the habits of the ants in collecting and storing up provisions, as it were, under the influence of a wise foresight, is evidently incorrect. But although this foresight is not developed in the ants, they still have a few resemblances by which they can be compared with men, so far as social habits are concerned. The same is true for wasps and bees, and many other insects, but when the matter is carefully looked into, the analogy between the insect and human society is much less than might have been supposed. It is evident that all the individuals of a tribe of ants act in concert to carry on a common work, which is invariably effected by means of all, or at least of the greatest possible number of the insects. This is certainly wonderful, but there is nothing like what is observed and which appears to be inevitable in human society, namely, a hierarchy composed of individuals which command, and of others who obey. To all appearance, the most perfect equality exists between all the individuals of insect societies ; no one commands and does not work, for they all work, and each insect appears to understand what is required of it, and affords assistance to others THE FORMICIDAE. 197 when it is necessary—being influenced by the instinct of doing a certain definite duty ; at least this appears to be consistent with correct observation. Many authors have imagined that the industrious insects that live in communities obey certain chiefs, and have, as it were, a sort of government. The opinion appears because such a to have originated in a very simple manner state of things exists amongst men, and appears to be necessary ; but all the best established facts relating to insects which live in communities, such as ants, wasps, and bees, prove that every one has an equal share in the government of the commonwealth, and that the so-called kings and queens, which are the objects of particular attentions, have no authority, and are in no way con- cerned with the occupations and labours of the rest of the tribe. The ants, like almost all the /Yymenoptera, are born in a very rudimentary condition, for their development within the egg has not progressed much. The larve are even incapable of taking the food which is within their reach, for their mouth-pieces are very small and feeble, so that it is necessary that the nourishment should be placed inside their mouths. Thus they may be said to be constant objects of care and anxiety to others of the community. The nursing, which is attended to with wonderful perseverance, is carried out by the workers, who are first-rate nurses, and at the same time admirable architects and builders of spacious and comfortable nurseries. The united species of ants constitute the family of the Formz- cide, and are very readily distinguished from other Hymenoptera. They have a triangularly-shaped head, bent antenne, the first joints of which, always very long, are stalk-like; they have a large upper lip, strong mandibles, and the jaws and lower lip are short ; the legs are long and slender, and the abdomen, which is more or less oval, is attached to the thorax by a short and narrow waist. The ants without wings, which are most commonly observed by everybody, and which run about roads and paths, and which have a very narrow thorax, are the workers, or neuters; they crawl over plants and up walls, and are found everywhere. But the males and females are only to be noticed at certain times of the year, and can be distinguished at once from the workers by their possessing wings, and a very broad thorax. There are a 198 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. great number of species of ants, and they may be divided into three groups, which are characterised by some rather important structural differences. These groups are the Formicites, Ponerites, and the JlZyrmicites. Vhe segment at the base of the abdomen forms a single knot or swelling in the first and second groups, but the females and the workers of the Powerites have stings, and those of the /armicites have not. The Jyrmicites have a sting, but their abdominal segment is formed into two knot-like divisions. The common genus /ormica, the true ants, belongs to the Frormicites, and its individuals may be distinguished by their triangular and very dentate mandibles, which are their tools.. As every species of ant has peculiar habits, it is best to take one as the type. The ant to which we intend to devote our attention Male. Worker. Female. AGS UVa live is by no means uncommon, for although it may not be found in woods and copses, yet it is sure to be met with upon nearly every road or path, and very few people that live in Central Europe can say they have never seen a long train or column of the red ant. This ant, formica rufa, or the Red Ant, is principally known through its workers, which are nearly red, and are very interesting to watch. The workers have a black spot on the head, and some- times on the thorax, and the abdomen is blackish above, except at the waist. The female, which has the same general tint as the worker, is shining as if it had been polished, and it has the upper parts of the head, the thorax, and the abdomen of a beautiful black colour, and the wings are rather dusky at their bases. The male, which is almost as large as the female, is quite black and hairy. Now, let us examine the dwelling places of these red ants. THE FORMICIDA. 199 They may be found in woods where the underwood is not very dense, and they constitute slightly elevated and rounded little patches of earth at the foot of oaks for instance, but sometimes they are of considerable width and length. The surface of the hills is made up of a mass of little pieces of wood, bits of straw, flints, grains of wheat or of oats, and of earth, and it does not require much trouble to become aware that they are all arranged with a purpose, although they appear to be laid about confusedly. If a portion of the roof be broken down a crowd of agitated ants comes to the breach, and begins to repair the mischief at once, working with the most intelligent and persevering determination. Worker Female. THE RED ANT. (Formica rufa. ) A glimpse may be had of the interior of the building whilst the roof is being reconstructed. Sometimes the nest descends to a considerable depth, and it will be noticed that the ants have had to clear out and excavate portions one after the other, as the swarm increased in numbers. It appears to be made up of a tangle of pieces of wood all about the same size, and which appear to be piled up anyhow; but by examining the confused mass with some attention it will be noticed that the morsels of wood are so arranged that they form chambers, galleries, and more or less irregular tracks or runs. Moreover, they are so arranged as to permit a free passage in every part of the nest. In fact, the pieces of wood are disposed after a definite plan, and with much care. Those in the lowest part of the ant’s 200 TRANSFORMATIONS OF JNSECTS. nest are stuck into the ground, and are so piled up one upon the other as to prevent the effects of a sudden and violent shock; above all this the tiny beams are laid in stages,-one over the other, and in some parts of the nest the intervals between them are filled up with such substances as earth, grains, and dried leaves. It is the presence of these grains—which are used by ants as materials with which to construct their nests—that has given rise to the idea that these insects collect provisions for the rainy day. But ants do not eat wheat or grains of any kind ; their nourishment consists of more or less fluid or soft substances, and these supposed wise and economical creatures do not store up, but live from day to day from hand to mouth, and, like most insects, become stupid and hybernate when winter arrives. If a nest of red ants is examined at different times during the day, a constant succession of alterations will be seen to be going on. Very early in the morning everything seems quiet about the nest, and there are no openings visible, but there are some small cracks which might allow the ants to get out by undergoing a tight squeeze. Then a few of the insects begin to show them- selves, and run over the dome of the nest, and they appear to be just awake; gradually they increase in numbers, and then some of them are noticed carrying and bringing little bits of stick, whilst others are clearing out and sweeping the passages to the nest. Should it happen to be fine weather, many large openings, which communicate with the principal galleries, are soon made outside the nest, and then the whole population becomes actively engaged, and each individual appears to have something to do. When the evening comes, the insects shut up the nest, and close the passages, and do everything to enable themselves to pass a quiet night after their labours, by rendering their house secure against violence and invasion. Should heavy rain come on during the daytime, the ants, fearing that water might get inside their nest, hasten to close its openings, and every member of the swarm appears to be impressed with the necessity of doing its best, and all sorts of materials are brought at once to shut the water out, and to place the erection in safety. Pierre Huber was the first naturalist who made a careful study of these proceedings, which seem to be produced by Mi) I i, i f ) NM }} (aul /| | THE NEST OF Formica rufa. THE FORMICIDA. 201 a greater or less reasoning power; moreover, he had the sood fortune to witness many proceedings which have not been seen by other observers. Thus, he describes how the ants bring little beams and place them in front of the galleries, the entry to which they wish to construct, and how they seek for smaller pieces of wood as the operation advances. Having observed these interesting manceuvres, Huber wrote :—‘“Is not this the art of our carpenters in miniature? Nature seems to be everywhere in advance of those inventions of which we, as men, are so proud.” Huber is correct, for if careful observers of Nature had existed amongst the early races of men, many important branches of knowledge and mechanical ideas, which civilised nations have taken centuries to discover and to com- plete, would have been found out very soon. The engraving of the nest of the red ant was drawn from Nature in the forest of d’Aunay, near Paris. The rounded form of the nest is very evident, and there is a great rent in it, which occupies the centre of the mass. The dark holes into which working ants are carrying large oval-shaped cocoons, which are commonly called eggs, are the commencement of galleries, over which small pieces of wood may be noticed fixed in the earth. On the left hand side there are some male and female ants, with wings, and some workers may be seen close to the tree, pulling at a fly which has come within their reach. The whole nest is in a great state of activity in consequence of a portion of it having lately been broken into. It is very interesting to observe how the ants commence to build their nests, and the beginning of the work may be seen when the overplus of inhabitants of a nest is obliged to leave it in order that a new colony may be founded at the foot of some other tree. First of all the ants have to do mining work, and they dig into the soil with their mandibles, and after prolonged labour they manage to make a cavity. Then the little bits of wood and the other building materials are sought for, and brought in and stuck into the earth, being crossed one over the other in a most ingenious manner, so that the chambers, the greater or less sized cells, and the galleries, are constructed and strengthened in the lowest part of the nest, and then the upper stories are built. If a large ant’s 202 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. nest is opened early in the spring-time, no winged insects will be found, but a multitude of workers, and a few females, which have lost their wings; they are readily distinguishable, however, by their thick thorax and colour. All the female ants are born with wings, and very shortly afterwards they leave home, and fly off with a number of males, but they soon settle down to be careful and steady housekeepers; for whether they stray back to their old nest, or whether they come near to others, they begin to tear off their wings, and should any workers be in the neighbourhood they assist them in completing this extraordinary operation. Nature does not care to perpetuate useless structures, and they generally drop off, or become smaller, but in this instance the THE LARVA, NYMPH, AND COCOON OF THE RED ANT, A larva magnified and of the natural size, seen sideways and from above. The nymph seen from below, actual size and magnified. The cocoon of the nymph enlarged, and of the natural size. ants appear to know that the wings are about to be useless to them, for the females will live a perfectly sedentary life for the future, consequently they act instead of Nature, and destroy their useless organs of flight. The wings of the female ants have nervures which are more or less divided close to their origin, so that they can be cut through very easily, and without the insect suffering any pain. The females begin to lay during the first fine days of the year, and their white and very tiny eggs increase sensibly in size until the larvae escape from them. The workers take wonderful care of the eggs; they place them in special chambers, and appear every now and then to lick them, and they carry them alternately to the upper and lower stories of the nest, and manage so that they are never exposed to too great a heat, and that they are kept in a uniform temperature. When the THE FORMICIDE. 203 larve are hatched, more care than ever is required on the part of the laborious insects, for then the ants, which we have noticed as able and industrious architects, have to take their turn in the nursing ; and certainly more attentive, vigilant, and devoted ser- ae vants could not be found. The little vermiform larva cannot move, but they have the instinct to lift up their heads, and to open their mouths, so as to receive their subsistence from the jaws of the nurses, and they are thus fed like little birds lately hatched. It is not for them- selves alone that the ants seek honey, sugary liquids, and the juice of fruits, with such avidity, but it is quite as much for the larve, to whom these nice things are carried. The particular delights of ants are known to everybody; every one complains in the country of the constant visits of these insects, and they show themselves wherever fruit can be obtained, and where there are syrups and sugar. They may be seen upon flowers, the nectaries of which they visit for the honey, and they are almost always upon the stems of those plants which are crowded with Aphzdes. Not that they do any harm to them, on the contrary, they rub them gently with their antennez, and then the Affzdes, apparently pleased, cause a little drop of sugary liquid to appear at the end of the small cylindrical tubes, which are situated at the extremity of their bodies. This is what the ants require, and they soon sip it up. The Apfides thus act as cows to the ants, and it is very remarkable that as yet no one has been able to recognise the use that this secretion may be to the Apfzdes themselves. As soon as an ant discovers a spot where there is some plunder to be had, bands of them will constantly come and visit the place. The ants return to the nest gorged with food, and give’up a portion of it, which they have retained in their gullet-pouch, to those which have remained at home, and especially to the larvae. Hundreds of observations have proved that these industrious insects com- municate with and understand each other. Frequently they may be seen to stop and to touch each other with their antenne, and many naturalists have thought that these appendages are the special organs of a particular insect language. They may be noticed singly or in numbers succouring wounded brethren, and leading them to the nest, and when the inhabitants of 204 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. two nests encroach upon each other, they fight in military array, and with great skill. It is very interesting to watch the workers in their almost incessant nursing of the larve. They clean them by rubbing them with their palpi, they carry them in the early morning up into the higher stories of the nest, so that they may be warmer, and they bring them back again into the depths of the cells when the sun becomes too hot for these frail little creatures. It is very wonderful how the worker ants manage to carry these very soft larve in their very sharp mandibles, but accidents never happen, and such a thing is unknown as a wound pro- duced by unusual pressure, or by tumbling up against the walls of the long corridors and chambers of the nest. When the larve become full grown they spin a silky cocoon in order that they may undergo their metamorphosis in it. The cocoons are oval in shape, and indeed so much so that they are usually called ant’s eggs; and it is certainly curious that a great number of intelligent and highly educated people believe that ants lay eggs much larger than themselves. In fact, it does not strike them as being at all wonderful. Does not nearly every one talk about the ant’s eggs, which are collected to feed young phea- sants ? but these so-called eggs are really cocoons manufactured by larve, and which contain them or nymphs. The nymphs are perfectly enclosed in their silky cocoons; they are white, and resemble the adult form swathed up. The workers carry them about as they do the larve, and with the same intentions. When the metamorphosis is completed the perfect ant is absolutely too weak to tear open the silk of its cocoon, and would inevitably perish in this natural prison were it not for the vigilance of the workers, which, like excellent nurses, never let their charges out of their sight. Perceiving that a change has taken place inside the cocoon, these admirable attendants open it with their mandibles, and set free their new companion. But even when thus safely born the lately metamorphosed insects are not in a condition either to take care of themselves, or to take a part in the labours of the community, so their nurses do not leave them, but give them nourishment, and then lead them all over the nest, and thus appear to introduce them to their new life. Fortunately, THE FORMICIDE. 205 not much education is required, and the young are soon able to participate in the labours of the old. Whenever large numbers of workers are born or are metamorphosed, some males and females come to the light also. The workers love the old house, but the males and females appear to have but one wish, and that is to fly away from home as soon as possible. Some do not fly very far, and when they alight, as has already been noticed, the workers assist the females, and carry them to their nest; most of them, however, fly, or are carried by the wind to great distances, and when they settle they form new colonies. The males appear to die soon after they see their pretty com- panions remorselessly snipping off their wings, and settling down to a quiet humdrum life. It was formerly supposed that the females which alighted ata , great distance from their old nests returned again, but Huber, having great doubts upon this subject, found that some of them after having left the males, fell on to the ground in out-of-the-way places, whence they could not possibly return to the original nest. It was evident that either they must do something for themselves or else die in obscurity. Huber observed a solitary female go down into a small underground hole, take off her own wings, and become, as it were, a worker ; then she constructed a small nest, laid a few eggs, and brought up the larve by acting as mother and nurse at the same time. The larve were a generation of workers, and when they grew to adult age, and began to execute all their usual works, from that moment the mother ant became lazy, and did nomore. In order to make himself doubly sure upon this point this excellent naturalist imprisoned a single female ant in a little cage, and observed its proceedings. It is quite evident that the greater part of the intelligence and instinct of the ants is devoted to the care of their young before and during meta- morphosis, and it is always interesting to notice the agitation of the workers when a hole is made in a nest, and a number of larve and nymphs are exposed to daylight, or when they fall from the top to the bottom of the breach. The workers im- mediately rush to succour these tender little things, and the first care is to carry them off to the deep passages out of sight. This having been done, the reparation of the nest is thought 206 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. about, and the ants, working energetically, will often repair the mischief in the course of an hour. Although most of the species of ants resemble each other in their habits, instincts, and intelli- gence, each one chooses a particular position for its nest, and esta- blishes it upon a special plan, which has greater or less reference to some peculiar habit. Huber calls those kinds which only use earth as the material for their nests, Mason Ants; there are two kinds of them which are common over a great part of Europe, the Brown Ant, Formica fusca, and the Mining Ant, Formica cunicularia. The neuters or workers of the first species are of a blackish brown colour, and their bodies are covered with fine black hairs, the antenne and legs being of a reddish tint; the females are of a brilliant black colour, and the males have fawn coloured legs, but are otherwise dark. The workers of the second species are of an iron-red colour, and the females have the same tint, but the males are black. The brown ants, or those of the first species, hollow out the soil and make in the interior of a great cavity cells, galleries, and more or less spacious avenues, all in stories, one over the other, and their nest looks like the dome of a vault outside. The mining ant constructs its dwelling very much in the same manner, but the roof never appears above the level of the soil. These insects work the earth with their mandibles, and make pillars, columns, and partitions out of it, and do not neglect to fill up cracks, or to level irregularities, and in fact they act like very able builders. The mason ants cannot work during very dry weather, and they wait patiently, with their buildings half finished, for rain, but should some parts of them which were built up as the weather became very dry show any signs of cracking, the intelligent insects pull them down, and wait for better times. Huber gave some mason ants a good watering from the rose of a waterpot when they were in this somewhat desperate condition, and they set to work immediately, and built up walls and cells, and completed a story in a few hours. Other ants live in old trunks of trees, and cut and work the wood in a wonderful manner. Of these, Formica fuliginosa, which is of a brilliant black colour, with pale reddish tarsi, is the most common example, and its works almost defy description. It builds many stories, which are almost always horizontal, forms THE FORMICIDA. 207 platforms and beams of about the thickness of paper, and makes upright partitions of the same delicacy, and these include and partition off rooms and cells, the number of which may be really said to be immense. In some places they make little columns instead of the partitions, which give a miniature palatial aspect to the excavation. Other ants settle down inside the beams of houses, and interfere with the safety of large buildings in consequence of their very intelligent and destructively exca- vating habits. All these different species, which have such diverse constructive instincts, appear to take care of their larve in very much the same way; but there is one kind, Formica sanguinea, which is of an iron-red colour, that settles down in the nests of other species, especially in those of the brown and mining ants, and singularly enough it attacks these kinds in order to carry away their nymphs, so as to make slaves of them. This is an extraordinary fact, but there are other examples of the same kind, which we shall notice presently. We have already mentioned the curious use that some ants make of the Apfzdes. The red ants visit the plants which are covered by them, but they do not hesitate to look after cochineal insects, scale insects, and several Hemiptera; moreover, in those parts of the world where there are no Affhides or scale insects these ants seek the Czcadel/e. But under certain circumstances the ants do not care about passing good food in order to enjoy the tiny drops of aphis liquor, so in order to save time they bring the authors of these little luxuries into the immediate neighbourhood of their nests, and sometimes carry them inside. This is peculiarly the case amongst the ants which lead very sedentary lives, and they select those Apsides which live upon grass and roots. Such species of the genus Formica are always very attentive to the captive +. e . re pit . 7. 480 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. i, “a Now the pupz of the C7zrripedes resemble greatly those of ‘some Crustacea which are called Rhizocephala. \n both the mouth is closed and useless, and the prehensile antennz are developed ; but in the Cirripedes there are eyes and some other proofs of a higher or- ganisation. The pupz of the C7zrrzpedes attach themselves, as has been explained, and those of the AAzzocephala fix themselves to the abdomen of common and hermit crabs. The future of the R/Azz0- cephalous pup is wonderful, and would be perfectly unique .were it not for the notice given above of the Azelasma. They remain ~ through life without mouth or any digestive apparatus ; they lose all their limbs completely after their metamorphosis from the pupa, and appear (writes Fritz Miller) as sausage-like sac-shaped or discoidal excrescences upon their victim or “ host,” filled with ova. From the point of attachment closed tubes—ramified-like roots—- sink into the interior of the “host,” twisting round its intestines even, or, becoming diffused amongst.the sac-like tubes of its liver. The only manifestations of life which persist in these non plus ultras in the series of retrogressively metamorphosed Creustacea are powerful contractions of the roots, and an alternate expansion and contraction of the body, in consequence of which water flows into the blood cavity, and is again expelled through a wide orifice. There is a close resemblance between the early larva or Nauplii © of the Rhizocephala and the Czrripedia, and the likeness of the» pupz to each other has been noticed; but then the retrograde metamorphosis causes an extreme divergence of character, the Anclasma \inking, however, the two orders Rhizocephala and Cirripedia together, and offering a strong evidence of their former common origin. (Fritz Miiller, translated by W. S. Dallas.) Thus the Crustacea, like some of the other great divisions of, the Articulata, have some kinds which do not undergo any meta- ; morphosis, and others in which the transformation is very great and progressive ; whilst'a few forms positively retrograde in their development during their wonderful evolution. > » — - * CASSELL, PETTER, AND GALPIN, BELLE SAUVAGE WORKS, LONDON, E.C. Fh cree aeatniguens: