Full text of "Insect architecture : to which are added, miscellanies, on the ravages, the preservation for purposes of study, and the classification, of insects"

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LIBRARY OF

1885- IQ56

INSECT

ARCHITECTURE:

TO WHICH ARE ADDED,

MISCELLANIES,

ON THE RAVAGES,
THE PRESERVATION FOR PURPOSES OF STUDY,

AND

THE CLASSIFICATION, OF INSECTS.

JAMES RENNIE, A.M.

A NEW EDITION, REVISED.
IN TWO VOLUMES.— V0LU3IE I.

LONDON:
CHARLES KNIGHT & Co., LUDGATE STREET.

1845.

London : Printed bv William Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street.

( iii )

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

CHAPTER I.

Introduction.

Instruction derivable from common things .

Extraordinary numbers and varieties of Insects

Can be studied in every situation «

Anecdotes .....

Cabinets useful, but not indispensable

Study of insects does not narrow the mind

Injuries and benefits caused by insects

Use of names in Natural Historj'

Study of Insects fascinating to youth

Anecdote of a little girl .

Beauty of Insects . .

Varieties in the economy of Insects
States of Insects ....

Insects produced from eggs .

Larva, Caterpillar, Grub, Maggot

Pupa, Ciirysalis, Amelia, Nymjjh

Imago, jjerfect Insect .

CHAPTER II.

Structures for protecting Eggs . . . . .

Eggs of Insects can bear great degrees of lieat and
cvild .....

Bees compared to our mechanics
Miisoji-Wasps ....

Curious proceedings of one at Lee

Her caution outwitted by a Fly.

Structures of another Mason-Wasp

Her storing of live Caterpillars .
Mason-Bees .....

Nest of one on the wall of Greenwich Par]

Clay-mine of Mason -Bees at Lee

Estimate of their labours .

Wall- Mason Bees of France

Proceedings of the two-horned Mason-Bee at Lee

Structures of Mason-Bees . • • •

Their restless disposition ....

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Mining-Bees , . . . . . . .46

Their different proceedings in Britain and in France 47

CHAPTER III.

Cavpenter-Bees • . . •

Methods of working . •

History of one at Lee . .

Violet Carpenter-Bee of France .
Compared with our joiners .

Elder and Bramble Carpenter-Bees

Carpenter- Wasps ....
Curious cocoon of . . .

Upholsterer-Bees ....

Poppy-flower Bee of Largs and of Bercy
Taste of the little architects in ornament
Cotton-gathering Bee . . .

Rose-Leaf-cutfer Bee . •

Her method of working . .

Anecdote of St. Francis Xavier .

CHAPTER IV.

Carder-BeeS) ,.*."....

IMethod of preparing and conveying their material

Structure of their nests
Lapidary-Bees ....

Pertinacity in defending their nest
Humble-Bees ....

Structure of their nests
Social-Wasps ....

Nest founded by a single female

Compared with the Burrowing-Owl

Materials rasped off irom wood .

Different opinions of Naturalists

Paper made by Wasps

Structure of the nest . .

Extraordinary number of cells .

Hornet's nest ....

Ti'ee- Wasps' nests in Ayrshire ,

Rose-shaped Wasps'-nest . .

Vertical Wasps'-nest

W'asp-paper compared with ours

Canl-making Wasp of Cayenne

CO>'TENTS.

CHAPTER V.

Architecture of the Hive- Bee . . . . .

Discoveries from Aristonxachus to iNFaruldi and
Huber .....

Nurse-Bees and Wax-workers .
Preparation of wax . .

Erroneous account by the Abbe la Pluche

Conjectures of Reaumur . ,

Discovery of John Hunter

Experiments of M. Huber

Singular facts by Mr. Wiston .

Dissections by Madlle. Jurine and M. Latreille
Propolis ......

Opinions of Old Naturalists

Discovery by Huber

Various uses of propolis .

Mr. T. A. Knight's observations.

Basket for carrying on the thiglis of Bees

Process of loading . . .

Building of the cells . *

Division of labour .

Festooned curtain of Wax-workers

Commencement of the combs

Hiiber's history of liis experiments

Secretion of wax

Foundation of the first cell

Workers extract their own wax .

View of the proceedings obstructed

CHAPTER VI.

Form of the cells .....

Mathematical problem solved by Bees

Calculated by Maraldi and Koenig .

Reasons for the form of the cells . .

Referred to the form of the Bee .

Experiments of Huber

Cells commenced in the foundation-wall

Deepening of the cells . . .

Polishing by Nurse-Bees .

Distance of the coml)s from each otlier

Dr. Barclay's discovery • .

Inegularities in their workmanship . .

Anecdote from Dr. Bevan

PAGE

CONTENTS.

Similar anecdote from Huber

Symmetry in the architecture of Bees explained

Curved comhs

Experiments of Huber

Size of male cells .

Cells enlarged v/ben honey is plentiful
The linishing of the cells

"\'arnisbed with pro})olis .

Strengthened with pissoceros

Discovery by Huber

Cells strengthened by the Bee-grubs

Difficulties explained

Mistake of an American v/rlter

Curious exjoeriment of Huber
Wild-Honey Bees .

Wild-Bees of America, Ireland, Palestine

Honey-guide of Africa

Bee-hunting iu America

CHAPTER VII.

Car})entry of Tree-hoppers ( Cicadai)

Mistaken for Grass-hojipers

Singular cutting Instrument of the Tree-hopper

Double files of .

Their nests . •

Sav/-Flles

Their ovipositor

Structure of .

Comb-toothed rasp, and saw

Grooves cut by It in the rose-tree

CHAPTEPv Vni.

Leaf-rolling Caterpillars .

Lilac-Leaf Roller * , .

Oak-Leaf Roller .
Rose- Leaf Roller
Nettle-Leaf Roller .
Method of proceeding . .

Probable mistake concerning
Sorrel-Leaf Roller . ,

Admirable and Painted La/-ly Butterfl
Mallow-Butterfly of France ' .
Willow-Leaf Bundler .

COUTEMTS.

Nest of Zlczac Caterpillar ' . .

Nest of Glanville Fritillary
Experiment on gregarious Caterpillars by J. U.
Design in rolling leaves . • • .

VAGE

164
1(J4

loa

167

CHAPTER IX.

Habitations formed of detached leaves
The Pondweed Tent-maker
Chickweed Caterpillar's nest
Cypress-spurge Caterpillar's nest
Durability of these structures .
Moss-cell of a Wall-Calerpillar
Caterpillar of Greenwich P;uk wall

16S
169
170
171
171
173
173

CHAPTER X.

Caddis-Worms . .

Leaf and reed nests of

Shell nests of.

Stone and sand nests of

Nest balanced with straws
Carpenter-Caterpillars

Caterpillar of Goat-Moth .

Its winter nest .

Singular nest of . - .

Nest of the vEgeria in a Poplar .

Paper-nest of the Puss-Zslotli

How it escapes from its cell

Purple-Capricorn Beetle

Bark-building Caterpillar of the oak

175
175
176
177
178
179
179
ISO
181
181
183
184
185
186

CHAPTER XI.

Eartli-mason Cater})illar3

Outside walls oftbeirnest
Caterpillar of Ghost-Moth
Experiments of Reaumur . .

Nests of Ephemera Grubs .

Similar nests in a willow stinnp
Nests of the Cincindela- Beetle .

The Ant-Lion ...

Structure of the Grub . .

189
190

leo

192
195
195
196
197
198

CONTENTS.

Formation of its traps

jRefleclioiis u|;on tlie economy ol" Nature

199
203

. CHAPTER XII.

'Clothes-Mo tlj Caterpillars

Varieties in the species

IMethods of destroying

Mode of building .

Experiments upon »

Migrations of. .

Tent-Making Caterpillars

Mode of constructing these

Experiments upon .

Tent upon a Nettle-leaf
Stone-Mason Caterpillars

Their singular proceedings

Colony of, at Blackheath

Foundation of their tents

An attempted robbery
Muft-shaped Tents .

Their utility .
Leaf. Mining Caterpillars

On the leaf of the Monthly Rose-tree

On the leaf of the Bramble

On the leaf of the Primrose

Vine-leaf Miner

On the leaf of the Alder .
Social Leaf-Miners .

Bark-mining Caterpillars

CHAPTER XIII.

Structures of Crickets
The House-Cricket
The Mole-Cricket .
The Field-Cricket .
Mode of depositing eggs

Beetles

The Burying-Beetle
The Dung-Beetle .
Its cleanliness
The Rose-Cliafer .
The Tumble-dung Beetle
The Necklace-Beetle

( 9 )

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.

It can never be too strongly impressed upon a mind
anxious for the acquisition of knowledge, that the com-
monest things by which we are surrounded are deserving
of minute and careful attention. The most profound
investigations of Philosophy are necessarily connected
with the ordinary circumstances of our being, and of the
world in which our every-day life is spent. With re-
gard to our ov.n existence, the pulsation of the heart,
the act of respiration, the voluntary movement of our
limbs, the condition of sleep, are among the most ordi-
nary operations of our nature ; and yet how long were
the wisest of men struggling with dark and bewildering
speculations before they could ofter anything like a satis-
factory solution of these phenomena, and how far are
we still from an accurate and complete knowledge of
them ! The science of Meteorology, which attempts to
explain to us the philosophy of matters constantly be-
fore our eyes, as dew, mist, and rain, is dependent for
its illustrations upon a knowledge of the most compli-
cated facts, such as the influence of l.eat and electricity
upon the air ; and this knowledge is at present so im-
perfect, that even these common occun'ences of the
weather, which men have been observing and reasoning
upon for ages, are by no means satisfactorily explained, or
reduced to the precision that every science should aspire

VOL. I. B

10 INSECT AKCHITECTUBE.

to. Yet, however difficult it may be entirely to com-
prehend the phenomena we daily witness, every thing
in nature is full of instruction. Thus the humblest
flower of the field, although, to one whose curiosity has
not been excited, and whose understanding has, there-
fore, remained uninformed, it may appear worthless and
contemptible, is valuable to the botanist, not only with
regard to its place in the arrangement of this portion of
the Creator's works, but as it leads his mind forward to
the consideration of those beautiful provisions for the
support of vegetable life, which it is the part of the phy-
siologist to study and to admire.

This train of reasoning is peculiarly applicable to the
economy of insects. They constitute a very large and
interesting part of the animal kingdom. They are
everywhere about us. The spider weaves his curious
web in our houses ; the caterpillar constructs his silken
cell in our gardens ; the wasp that hovers over our food
has a nest not far removed from us, which she has assisted
to build with the nicest art ; the beetle that crawls across
our path is also an ingenious and laborious mechanic,
and has some curious instincts to exhibit to those who
will feel an interest in watching his movements ; and
the moth that eats into our clothes has something to
plead for our pity, for he came, like us, naked into the
world, and he has destroyed our garments, not in malice
or wantonness, but that he may clothe himself with the
same wool which we have stripped from the sheep. An
observation of the habits of these little creatures is full
of valuable lessons, which the abundance of the examples
has no tendency to diminish. The more such observa-
tions are multiplied, the more are we led forward to the
freshest and the most delightful parts of knowledge ; the
more do we learn to estimate rightly the extraordinary
provisions and most abundant resources of a creative
Providence ; and the better do we appreciate our own
relations with all the infinite varieties of Nature, and
ojT dependence, in common with the ephemeron that
flutters its little hour in the summer sun, upon that Being
in whose scheme of existence the humblest as well as the

INTKODUCTIOX. 11.

highest creature has its destined purposes. " If you
speak of a stone," says St. Basil, one of the Fathers of
the Church, *' if you speak of a fly, a gnat, or a bee,
your conversation will be a sort of demonstration of His
power whose hand formed them, for the wisdom of the
workman is commonly perceived in that which is of
little size. He who has stretched out the heavens, and
dug up the bottom of the sea, is also He who has pierced
a passage through the sting of the bee for the ejection of
its poison."

If it be granted that making discoveries is one of the
most satisfactory of human pleasures, then we may with-
out hesitation affirm, that the study of insects is one of
the most delightful branches of natural history, for it
affords peculiar facilities for its pursuit. These facilities
are found in the almost inexhaustible variety which in-
sects present to the curious observer. As a proof of the
extraordinary number of insects within a limited field of
observation, Mr. Stephens informs us, that in the short
space of forty days, between the middle of June and the
beginning of August, he found, in the vicinity of Ripley,
specimens of above two thousand four hundred species
of insects exclusive of caterpillars and grubs, — a number
amounting to nearly a fourth of the insects ascertained
to be indigenous. He further tells us, that, among these
specimens, although the ground had, in former seasons,
been frequently explored, there were about one hundred
species altogether new, and not before in any collection
which he had inspected, including several new genera ;
while many insects reputed scarce were in considerable
plenty.* The localities of insects are, to a certain ex-
tent, constantly changing ; and thus the study of them
has, in this circumstance, as well as in their manifold
abundance, a source of perpetual variety. Insects, also,
which are plentiful one year, frequently become scarce,
or disappear altogether, the next — a fact strikingly illus-
trated by the uncommon abundance, in 1826 and 1827,
of the seven-spot lady-bird {Coccinella septempunc-

* Stephens's Illustrations, vol. i., p. 72, note.

B 2

12 INSECT ABCHITECTUBE.

tatd), in the vicinity of London, though during the two
succeeding summers this insect was comparatively scarce,
while the small two-spot lady-bird (^Coccinella bipunc-
tatd) was plentiful.

There is, perhaps, no situation in which the lover of
nature and the observer of animal life may not find op-
portunities for increasing his store of facts. It is told of
a state prisoner under a cruel and rigorous despotism,
that when he was excluded from all commerce with
mankind, and was shut out from books, he took an in-
terest and found consolation in the visits of a spider ;
and there is no improbability in the story. The opera-
tions of that persecuted creature are among the most
extraordinary exhibitions of mechanical ingenuity ; and
a daily watching of the workings of its instinct would
beget admiration in a rightly constituted mind. The
poor prisoner had abundant leisure for the speculations
in which the spider's web would enchain his understand-
ing. We have all of us, at one period or other of our
lives, been struck with some singular evidence of con-
trivance in the economy of insects, which we have seen
w^ith our own eyes. Want of leisure, and probably want
of knowledge, have prevented us from following up the
curiosity which for a] moment was excited. And yet
some such accident has made men Naturalists, in the
highest meaning of the term. Bonnet, evidently speak-
ing of himself, says, " I knew^ a naturalist, who, when
he was seventeen years of age, having heard of the
operations of the ant-lion, began by doubting them.
He had no rest till he had examined into them ; and he
verified them, he admired them, he discovered new
facts, and soon became the disciple and the friend of the
Pliny of France " * (Reaumur). It is not the happy
fortune of many to be able to devote themselves exclu-
sively to the study of nature, unquestionably the most
fascinating of human employments ; but almost every
one may acquire sufficient knowledge to be able to derive
a high gratification from beholding the more common

* Contemplation de la Nature, part ii. ch. 42.

INTRODUCTION. 1 3

operations of animal life. His materials for contem-
plation are always before him. Some weeks ago we
made an excursion to West Wood, near Shooter's Hill,
expressly for the purpose of observing the insects we
might meet with in the wood : but we had not got far
among the bushes, when heavy rain came on. We im-
mediately sought shelter among the boughs of some
thick" underwood, composed of oak, birch, and aspen;
but we could not meet with a single insect, not even a
gnat or a fly, sheltered under the leaves. Upon look-
ing more narrowly, however, into the bushes which
protected us, we soon found a variety of interesting
objects of study. The oak abounded in galls, several
of them quite new to us ; while the leaves of the birch
and the aspen exhibited the curious serpentine paths of
the minute mining caterpillars. When we had exhausted
the narrow field of observation immediately around us,
we found that we could considerably extend it, by
breaking a few of the taller branches near us, and then
examining their leaves at leisure. In this manner two
hours glided quickly and pleasantly away, by which
time the rain had nearly ceased, and though we had
been disappointed in our wish to ramble through the
wood, we did not return without adding a few interest-
ing facts to our previous knowledge of insect economy.*
It will appear, then, from the preceding observations,
that cabinets and collections, though undoubtedly of the
highest use, are by no means indispensable, as the ob-
server of nature may find inexhaustible subjects of study
in every garden and in every hedge. Nature has been
profuse enough in affording us materials for observation,
when we are prepared to look about us with that keen-
ness of inquiry, which curiosity, the first step in the
pursuit of knowledge, will unquestionably give. Nor
shall we be disappointed in the gratification which is
thus within our reach. Were it no more, indeed, than
a source of agreeable amusement, the study of insects

* The original observations in this volume which are marked
by the initials J. R., are by J. Rennie, A.M., A.L.S.

14 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

comes strongly recommended to the notice of the well-
educated. The pleasures of childhood are generally
supposed to be more exquisite, and to contain less alloy,
than those of riper years ; and if so, it must be because
then everything appears new and dressed in fresh beau-
ties : while in manhood, and old age, whatever has fre-
quently recurred begins to -wear the tarnish of decay.
The study of nature affords us a succession of " ever
new delights," such as charmed us in childhood, when
everything had the attractions of novelty and beautj' ;
and thus the mind of the naturalist may have its own
fresh and vigorous thoughts, even while the infirmities
of age weigh down the body.

It has been objected to the study of insects, as well as
to that of Natural History in general, that it tends to
withdraw the mind from subjects of higher moment ;
that it cramps and narrows the range of thought ; and
that it destroys, or at least weakens, the finer creations
of the fancy. Now, we should allow this objection in
its fullest extent, and even be disposed to carry it fur-
ther than is usually done, if the collecting of specimens
only, or, as the French expressly call them, chips
(echantillons) , be called a study. But the mere collector
is not, and cannot be, justly considered as a naturalist ;
and, taking the term naturalist in its enlarged sense, we
can adduce some distinguished instances in opposition to
the objection. Rousseau, for example, was passionately
fond of the Linnaean botany, even to the driest minutiae
of its technicalities ; and yet it does not appear to have
cramped his mind, or impoverished his imagination. If
Rousseau, however, be objected to as an eccentric being,
from whose pursuits no fair inference can be drawn, we
give the illustrious example of Charles James Fox, and
may add the names of our distinguished poets. Gold-
smith, Thomson, Gray, and Darwin, who were all
enthusiastic naturalists. We wish particularly to insist
upon the example of Gray, because he was very partial
to the study of insects. It may be new to many of our
readers, who are familiar with the Elegy in a Country
Church-vard, to be told that its author was at the pains

INTRODUCTION. 15

to turn the characteristics of the Linnaean orders of in-
sects into Latin hexameters, the manuscript of which is
still preserved in his interleaved copy of the ' Systema
Naturae.' Further, to use the somewhat exaggerated
words of Kirby and Spence, whose work on Entomology
is one of the most instructive and pleasing books on the
science, *' Aristotle among the Greeks, and Pliny the
Elder among the Romans, may be denominated the
fathers of Natural History, as well as the greatest
philosophers of their day ; yet both these made insects
a principal object of their attention : and in more re-
cent times, if we look abroad, what names greater than
those of Redi, Malpighi, Vallisnieri, Swammerdam,
Leeuwenhoek, Reaumur, Linnaeus, De Geer, Bonnet,
and the Hubers ? and at home, what philosophers have
done more honour to their country and to human nature
than Ray, Willughby, Lister, and Derham ? Yet all
these made the study of insects one of their most favourite
pursuits." *

And yet this study has been considered, by those who
have superRcially examined the subject, as belonging to
a small order of minds ; and the satire of Pope has been
indiscriminately applied to all collectors, while, in truth,
it only touches those who mistake the means of know-
ledge for the end : —

" O ! would the sons of men once think their eyes
And reason given them but to study Flies !
See Nature, in some partial, narrow shape,
And let the Author of the whole escape ;
Learn but to trifle ; or, who most observe,
To wonder at their Maker, not to serve." f

Thus exclaims the Goddess of Dulness, sweeping into
her net all those who study nature in detail. But if the
matter were rightly appreciated, it would be evident that
no part of the works of the Creator can be without the
deepest interest to an inquiring mind ; and that a portion

* Introduction to Entomology, vol. i.
f Dunciad, book iv.

16 INSECT ARCHITKCTLRE.

of creation which exhibits such extraordinary manifesta-
tions of design as is shown by insects must have attrac-
tions for the very highest understanding.

An accurate knowledge of the properties of insects is
of great importance to man, merely with relation to his
own comfort and security. The injuries which they
inflict upon us are extensive and complicated ; and the
remedies which we attempt, by the destruction of those
creatures, both insects, birds and quadrupeds, who keep
the ravages in check, are generally aggravations of the
evil, because they are directed by an ignorance of the
economy of nature. The little knowledge which we
have of the modes by which insects may be impeded in
their destruction of much that is valuable to us, has pro-
bably proceeded from our contempt of their individual
insignificance. The security of property has ceased to
be endangered by quadrupeds of prey, and yet our
gardens are ravaged by aphides and caterpillars. It is
somewhat startling to ainrm that the condition of the
human race is seriously injured by these petty annoy-
ances ; but it is perfectly true that the art and industry
of man have not yet been able to overcome the collective
force, the individual perseverance, and the complicated
machinery of destruction which insects employ. A small
ant, according to a most careful and philosophical ob-
server, opposes almost invincible obstacles to the progress
of civilization in many parts of the equinoctial zone.
These animals devour paper and parchment ; they destroy
every book and manuscript, xvlany provinces of Spanish
America cannot, in consequence, show a written docu-
ment of a hundred years' existence. " What develop-
ment," he adds, " can the civilization of a people assume,
if there be nothing to connect the present with the past
— if thejdepositories of human knowledge must be con-
stantly renewed — if the monuments of genius and w is-
dom cannot be transmitted to posterity ? " * Again,
there are beetles which deposits their larvag in trees in
such formidable numbers that whole forests perish be-

* Humboldt, Voyage, lib. vii., cb. 20.

INTEODUCTIOJf. 17

vond the power of remedy. The pines of the Hartz
have thus been destroyed to an enormous extent ; and in
North America, at one place in South Carolina, at least
ninety trees in every hundred, upon a tract of two thou-
sand acres, were swept away by a small black, winged
bug. And yet, according to Wilson, the historian of
American birds, the people of the United States were in
tlie habit of destroying the red-headed woodpecker, the
great enemy of these insects, because he occasionally
spoilt an apple.* The same delightful writer and true
naturalist, speaking of the labours of the ivory-billed
woodpecker, says, " Would it be believed that the larvae
of an insect or fly, no larger than a grain of rice, should
silently, and in one season, destroy some thousand acres
of pine-ti'ees, many of them from two to three feet in
diameter, and a hundred and fifty feet high ? In some
places the whole woods, as far as you can see around
you, are dead, stripi^ed of the bark, their wintry-looking
arms and bare trunks bleaching in the sun, and tumbling
in ruins before every blast." f The subterraneous larva
of some species of beetle has often caused a complete
failure of the seed-corn, as in the district of Halle in
18 12. J The corn-weevil, which extracts the flour from
grain, leaving the husk behind, will destroy the contents
of the largest storehouses in a very short period. The
wire-worm and the turnip-fly are dreaded by every
farmer. The ravages of the locust are too well known
not to be at once recollected as an example of the for-
midable collective power of the insect race. The white
ants of tropical countries sweep away whole villages with
as much certainty as a fire or an inundation ; and ships
even have been destroyed by these indefatigable repub-
lics. Our own docks and embankments have been
threatened by such minute ravagers.

The enormous injuries which insects cause to man may
thus be held as one reason for ceasing to consider the
study of them as an insignificant pursuit ; for a know-

* Amer. Ornith., 5., p. 144. f lb. in., p. 21.

+ Blumenbach ; see also Insect Transformations, p. 231.

B 3

18 INSECT AECHITECTURE.

ledge of their structure, their food, their enemies, and
their general habits, may lead, as it often has led, to the
means of guarding against their injuries. At the same
time we derive from them both direct and indirect bene-
fits. The honey of the bee, the dye of the cochineal,
and the web of the silk-worm, the advantages of which
are obvious, may well be balanced against the destructive
propensities of insects which are offensive to man. But
a philosophical study of natural history will teach us that
the direct benefits which insects confer upon us are even
less important than their general uses in maintaining the
economy of the world. The mischiefs which result to
us from the rapid increase and the activity of insects are
merely results of the very principle by which they confer
upon us numberless indirect advantages. Forests are
swept away by minute beetles ; but the same agencies
relieve us from that extreme abundance of vegetable
matter which would render the earth uninhabitable were
this excess not periodically destroyed. In hot countries,
the great business of removing corrupt animal matter,
which the vulture and the hyaena imperfectly perform, is
effected with certainty and speed by the myriads of in-
sects that spring from the eggs deposited in every carcase
by some fly seeking therein the means of life for her pro-
geny. Destruction and reproduction, the great laws of
Nature, are carried on very greatly through the instru-
mentality of insects ; and the same principle regulates
even the increase of particular species of insects them-
selves. When aphides are so abundant that we know
not how to escape their ravages, flocks of lady-birds in-
stantly cover our fields and gardens to destroy them.
Such considerations as these are thrown out to show that
the subject of insects has a great philosophical import-
ance— and what portion of the works of Nature has not ?
The habits of all God's creatures, whether they are noxi-
ous, or harmless, or beneficial, are worthy objects of our
study. If they affect ourselves, in our health or our posses-
sions, whether for good or for evil, an additional impulse
is naturally given to our desire to attain a knowledge
of their properties. Such studies form one of the most

INTRODUCTION. 1 9

interesting occupations which can engage a rational and
inquisitive mind ; and, perhaps, none of the employments
of human life are more dignified than the investigation
and survey of the workings and the ways of Nature in
the minutest of her productions/

The exercise of that habit of observation which can
alone make a naturalist — " an out-of-door naturalist," as
Daines Barrington called himself — is well calculated to
strengthen even the most practical and merely useful
powers of the mind. One of the most valuable mental
acquirements is the povi'er of discriminating among things
which differ in many minute points, but whose general
similarity of appearance usually deceives the common
observer into a belief of their identity. The study ot
insects, in this point of view, is most peculiarly adapted
for youth. According to' our experience, it is exceed-
ingly difficult for persons arrived at manhood to acquire
this power of discrimination ; but, in early life, a little
care on the part of the parent or teacher will render it
comparatively easy. In this study the knowledge of
things should go along with that of words. " If names
perish," says Linnaeus, "the knowledge of things pe-
rishes also :" * and, without names, how can any one com-
municate to another the knowledge he has acquired rela-
tive to any particular fact, either of physiology, habit,
utility, or locality ? On the other hand, mere catalogue
learning is as much to be rejected as the loose gene-
ralizations of the despisers of classification and nomencla-
ture. To name a plant, or an insect, or a bird, or a
quadruped rightly, is one step towards an accurate know-
ledge of it ; but it is not the knowledge itself. It is
the means, and not the end, in natural history, as in
every other science.

If the bias of opening curiosity be properly directed,
there is not any branch of natural history so fascinating
to youth as the study of insects. It is, indeed, a common
practice in many families to teach children, from their
earliest infancy, to treat the greater number of insects as

* Nomina si pereauf, perit et cognitio lerum.

20 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

if they were venomous and dangerous, and, of course,
meriting to be destroyed, or at least avoided with horror.
Associations are by this means linked with the very ap-
pearance of insects, which become gradually more invete-
rate with advancing years ; provided, as most frequently
happens, the same system be persisted in, of avoiding or
destroying almost every insect which is unlucky enough
to attract observation. How much rational amusement
and innocent pleasure is thus thoughtlessly lost ; and
how many disagreeable feelings are thus created, in the
most absurd manner ! '* In order to show that the study
or (if the word be disliked) the observation of insects is
peculiarly fascinating to children, even in their early
infancy, we may refer to what we have seen in the family
of a friend, who is partial to this, as well as to all the
departments of natural history. Our friend's children,
a boy and girl, were taught, from the moment they could
distinguish insects, to treat them as objects of interest and
curiosity, and not to be afraid even of those which wore
the most repulsive appearance. The little girl, for ex-
ample, when just beginning to walk alone, encountered
one day a large staphylinus ( Goerius olens ? Stephens ;
vulgo, the devil's coach-horse), which she fearlessly seized,
and did not quit her hold, though the insect grasped
one of her fingers in his formidable jaws. The mother,
who was by, knew enough of the insect to be rather
alarmed for the consequences, though she prudently con-
cealed her feelings from the child. She did well ; for
the insect was not strong enough to break the skin, and
the child took no notice of its attempts to bite her finger.
A whole series of disagreeable associations with this
formidable-looking family of insects was thus averted at
the very moment when a different mode of acting on the
part of the mother would have produced the contrary
effect. For more than two years after this occurrence
the little girl and her brother assisted in adding nume-
rous specimens to their father's collection, without the
parents ever having had cause, from any accident, to
repent of their employing themselves in this manner.
The sequel of the little girl's history strikingly illustrates

IXTRODUCTIOK. 21

the position for which we contend. The child happened
to be sent to a relative in the country, where she was not
long in having carefully instilled into her mind all the
usual antipathies against ''everything that creepeth on
the earth ;" and though she afterwards returned to her
paternal home, no persuasion nor remonstrance could ever
again persuade her to touch a common beetle, much less
a staphylinus, with its tail turned up in a threatening
attitude, and its formidable jaws ready extended for
attack or defence.* We do not wish that children should
be encouraged to expose themselves to danger in their
encounters with insects. They should be taught to avoid
those few which are really noxious — to admire all — to
injure none.

The various beauty of insects — their glittering colours,
their graceful forms — supplies an inexhaustible source of
attraction. Even the most formidable insects, both in
appearance and reality, — the dragon-fly, which is per-
fectly harmless to man, and the wasp, whose 'sting every
human being almost instinctively shuns, — are splendid in
their appearance, and are painted with all the brilliancy
of natural hues. It has been remarked, that the plumage
of tropical birds is not superior in vivid colouring to what
may be observed in the greater number of butterflies and
moths, t "See," exclaims Linnaeus, "the large, ele-
gant painted wings of the butterfly, four in number,
covered with delicate feathery scales ! With these it
sustains itself in the air a whole day, rivalling the fligjit
of birds and the brilliancy of the peacock. Consider
this insect through the wonderful progress of its life, —
how different is the first period of its being from the
second, and both from the parent insect ! Its changes
are an inexplicable enigma to us : we see a green cater-
pillar, furnished with sixteen feet, feeding upon the leaves
of a plant ; this is changed into a chrysalis, smooth, of
golden lustre, hanging suspended to a fixed point, with-
out feet, and subsisting without food ; this insect again

* J. R. in Mag. of Natural History, vol. i., p. 334.
f Miss Jermyn's Butterfly Collector, p. 11.

22 IXSECT APXHITECTURE.

undergoes another transformation, acquires wings, and six
feet, and becomes a gay butterfly, sporting in the air,
and living by suction upon the honey of plants. What
has Nature produced more worthy of our admiration than
such an animal coming upon the stage of the world, and
playing its part thereunder so many different masks?"
The ancients were so struck with the transformations of
the butterfly, and its revival from a seeming temporary
death, as to have considered it an emblem of the soul,
the Greek word psyclie signifying both the soul and a
butterfly ; and it is for this reason that we find the but-
terfly introduced into their allegorical sculptures as an
emblem of immortality. Trifling, therefore, and per-
haps contemptible, as to the unthinking may seem the
study of a butterfly, yet when we consider the art and
mechanism displayed in so minute a structure, — the fluids
circulating in vessels so small as almost to escape the
sight— the beauty of the wings and 'covering — and the
manner in which each part is adapted for its peculiar
functions, — we cannot but be struck with wonder and
admiration, and allow, with Paley, that "the production
of beauty was as much in the Creator's mind in painting
a butterfly as in giving symmetry to the human form."

A collection of insects is to the true natqralist what a
collection of medals is to the accurate student of history.
The mere collector, who looks only to the shining wings
of the one, or the green rust of the other, derives little
knowledge from his pursuit. But the cabinet of the
naturalist becomes rich in the most interesting subjects of
contemplation, when he regards it in the genuine spirit
of scientific inquiry. What, for instance, can be so de-
lightful as to examine the wonderful variety of structure
in this portion of the creation ; and, above all, to trace
the beautiful gradations by which one species runs into
another. Their differences are so minute,* that an un-
practised eye would proclaim their identity ; and yet,
when the species are separated, and not very distantly,
they become visible even to the common observer. It is
in examinations such as these that the naturalist finds a
delight of the highest order. While it is thus one of

INTRODUCTION. 23

the legitimate objects of his study to attend to minute
differences of structure, form, and colouring, he is not
less interested in the investigation of habits and economy ;
and in this respect the insect world is inexhaustibly rich.
We find herein examples of instinct to parallel those of
all the larger animals, whether they are solitary or
social ; and innumerable others besides, altogether unlike
those manifested in the superior departments of animated
nature. These instincts have various directions, and are
developed in a more or less striking manner to our senses,
according to the force of the motive by which they are
governed. Some of their instincts have for their object
the preservation of insects from external attack ; some
have reference to procuring food, and involve many re-
markable stratagems ; some direct their social economy,
and regulate the condition under which they live to-
gether either in monarchies or republics, their coloniza-
tions, and their migrations : but the most powerful in-
stinct which belongs to insects has regard to the pre-
servation of their species. We find, accordingly, that as
the necessity for this preservation is of the utmost im-
portance in the economy of nature, so for this especial
object many insects, whose oflTspring, whether in the egg
or the larva state, are peculiarly exposed to danger, are
endued with an almost miraculous foresight, and with an
ingenuity, perseverance, and unconquerable industry, for
the purpose of avoiding those dangers, which are not to
be paralleled even by the most singular efforts of human
contrivance. The same ingenuity which is employed for
protecting either eggs, or caterpillars and grubs, or pupae
and chrysalides, is also exercised by many insects for their
own preservation against the changes of temperature to
which they are exposed, or against their natural enemies.
Many species employ those contrivances during the
period of their hybernation, or winter- sleep. For all
these purposes some dig holes in the earth, and form them
into cells ; others build nests of extraneous substances,
such as bits of wood and leaves ; others roll up leaves into
cases, which they close with the most curious art ; others
build a house of mud, and line it with the cotton of trees,

24 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

or the petals of the most delicate flowers ; others con-
struct cells, of secretions from their own bodies ; others
form cocoons, in which' they undergo their transforma-
tion ; and others dig subterraneous galleries, which, in
complexity of arrangement, in solidity, and in complete
adaptation to their purposes, vie with the cities of civilized
man. The contrivances by which insects effect these
objects have been accurately observed and minutely de-
scribed, by patient and philosophical inquirers, who knew
that such employments of the instinct with which each
species is endowed by its Creator offered the most valu-
able and instructive lessons, and opened to them a wide
field of the most delightful study. The construction of
their habitations is certainly among the most remarkable
peculiarities in the economy of insects ; and it is of this
subject that we propose to treat under the general name,
which is sufficiently applicable to our purpose, of Insect
Architecture.

In the descriptions which we shall give of Insect Archi-
tecture, we shall employ as few technical words as pos-
sible ; and such as we cannot well avoid, we shall explain
in their places : but, since our subject chiefly relates to
the reproduction of insects, it may be useful to many
readers to introduce here a brief description of the
changes which they undergo.

It was of old believed that insects were produced
spontaneously by putrefying substances ; and Virgil gives
the details of a process for creatmg a swarm of bees out
of the carcase of a bull : but Redi, a celebrated Italian
naturalist, proved by rigid experiments that they are
always, in such cases, hatched from eggs previously laid.
Most insects, indeed, lay eggs, though some few are vivi-
parous, and some propagate both ways. The eggs of
insects are very various in form, and seldom shaped like
those of birds. We have here figured those of several
species, as they appear under the microscope.

When an insect first issues from the e^^, it is called

IXTRODUCTIOX.

Magnified eggs of a, Geometra nrmlllata ; b, of .an unknown water
insect ; c, of the lacquey moth ; d, of a. caddis-fly (Phryganea atratd) ;

f, of red underwing moth iCatomla nup'a)', f, of Funtia Brassicce ;

g, of the Clifden Nonpareil moth.

by naturalists larva, and, popularly, a caterpillar, a grub,
or a maggot. The distinction, in popular language,
seems tf) be, that caterpillars are produced from the eggs
of moths or butterflies ; grubs from the eggs of beetles,
bees, wasps, &c. ; and maggots (which are without feet)
from blow-flies, house-flies, cheese-flies, &c., though this
is not very rigidly adhered to in common parlance.
Maggots are also sometimes called norms, as in the in-
stance of the meal-worm ; but the common earth-worm
is not a larva, nor is it by modern natui'alists ranked
among insects.

There are, however, certain larvae, as those of the
Cicada, the crickets, the Mater boatsman (Notonecta),
the cockroach, &c., which resemble the perfect insects
in form, excepting that they are destitute of wings ; but
in the pupa state these appear in a rudimentary condi-
tion, at least in such species as have wings in the
mature stage of existence. The pupae are active and
eat. Insects, the larvae and pupae of which are so
similar to the adults, are termed Ametaholous (a, without,

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

fiETafioXr], change) ; those the larvae of which undergo
changes of a marked character, Metaholous (Insecta
ametabola and Insecta metabola, Burmeister).

Larvse are remarkably small at first, but grow rapidly.
The full-grown caterpillar of the goat moth (Cossus
ligjiipei'd^ is thus seventy-two thousand times heavier
than when it issues from the egg ; and the maggot of the

a, Ametabolous Pupa of Cicada; b, Caterpillar of tussock moth
(^Laria fascelina) ; c, larva of the poplar beetle (^Clirysomelapopidi);
d, larva of Sinex ; e, larva of the common gnat.

blow-fly is, in twenty-four hours, one hundred and fifty-
five times heavier than at its birth. Some larvae have
feet, others are without ; none have wings. They can-
not propagate. They feed voraciously on coarse sub-
stances ; and as they increase in size, which they do very
rapidly, they cast their skins three or four times. In
defending themselves from injury, and in preparing for
their change by the construction of secure abodes, they
manifest great ingenuity and mechanical skill. The

I>TR0DUCT10X.

figures on the preceding page exemplify various forms of
insects in this stage of their existence.

When larvae are full grown, they cast their skins for
the last time, undergo a complete change of form, ex-
cepting in the case of ametabolous larvae, cease to eat,
and remain nearly motionless. The inner skin ot the
larva nov/ becomes converted into a membranous or
leathery covering, which wraps the insect closely up like

a. Pupa of a water-teetle (^Hydrophilus) ; h, pup.i ofSjihinx Ligustii.

a mummy ; in this condition it is termed Pupa, from its
resemblance to an infant in swaddling bands. Nympha,
or nymph, is another term given to insects in this stage ;*
moreover from the pupae of m.any of the butterflies ap-
pearing gilt as if with gold, the Greeks called them
Chrysalides, and the Romans AurelicB, and hence na-
turalists frequently call a pupa chrysalis, even when it is
not gilt. We shall see, as we proceed, the curious con-
trivances resorted to for protecting insects in this helpless
state.

After a certain time, the insect which has remained in
its pupa-case, like a mass of jelly without shape, is gra-
dually preparing for its final change, when it takes the
form of a perfect insect. This state was called by
Linnaeus Imago, because the insect, having thrown off

* Generally to ametabolous pnpse.

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

its mask, becomes a perfect image of its species. Of
some, this last portion of their existence is very short,
others live through a year, and some exist for longer
periods. They feed lightly, and never increase in size.
The chief object of all is to perpetuate their species, after
which the greater number quickly die. It is in this state
that they exercise those remarkable instincts for the pre-
servation of their race, which are exhibited in their pre-
parations for the shelter of their eggs, and the nourish-
ment of their larvoe. The following are examples of
insects in the imagOj or perfect state.

\ /

Insects in the Imago or perfect state.
u, Nemopteryx coa, Leach.— 6, Myrmelcon furmkalynx, Fabricius.
c, Heiperia comma, Fabricius. — d, Nepa cinered, Linn;eus.

MASOX-BEES. 29

CHAPTER II.

Structures for protecting Eggs, — Mason-Wasps ; Mason-
Bees ; Mining-Bees.

The provisions which are made by the different species
of insects for protecting their eggs, appear in many cases
to be admirably proportioned to the kind of danger and
destruction to which they may be exposed. The eggs
themselves, indeed, are not so liable to depredation and
injury as the young brood hatched from them ; for, like
the seeds of plants, they are capable of withstanding
greater degrees both of heat and cold than the insects
which produce them. According to the experiments of
Spallanzani, the eggs of frogs that had been exposed to
various degrees of artificial heat, were scarcely altered in
their productive powers by a temperature of 111"* of
Fahrenheit, but they became corrupted after 133°. He
tried the same experiment upon tadpoles and frogs, and
found they all died at 111°. Silk-worms died at a tem-
perature of 108°, while their eggs did not entirely cease
to be fertile till 144°. The larvae of flesh-flies perished,
while the eggs of the same species continued fertile, at
about the same comparative degrees of heat as in the pre-
ceding instances. Intense cold has a still less effect upon
eggs than extreme heat. Spallanzani exposed the eggs
of silk-worms to an artificial cold 23° below zero, and yet,
in the subsequent spring, they all produced caterpillars.
Insects almost invariably die at the temperature of 14°,
that is at 18° below the freezing point.* The care of
insects for the protection of their eggs is not entirely
directed to their preservation in the most favourable

* See Spallanzani's Tracts, by Dalyel!, vol. i.

30 IXSECT ARCHITECTURE.

temperature for being hatched, but to secure them against
the numerous enemies which would attempt their destruc-
tion ; and, above all, to protect the grubs, when they are
first developed, from those injuries to which they are
peculiarly exposed. Their prospective contrivances for
accomplishing these objects arc in the highest degree
curious.

Most persons have more or less acquaintance with the
hives of the social species of bees and wasps ; but little is
generally known of the nests constructed by the solitary
species, though in many respects these are not inferior
to the others in displays of ingenuity and skill. We
admire the social bees, labouring together for one com-
mon end, in the same way that we look with delight upon
the great division of labour in a well-ordered manufac-
tory. As in a cotton -mill some attend to the carding of
the raw material, some to its formation into single
threads, some to the gathering these threads upon spin-
dles, others to the union of many threads into one, — all
labouring with invariable precision because they attend
to a single object ;— so do we view with delight and
wonder the successive steps by which the hive-bees bring
their beautiful work to its completion, — striving, by in-
dividual efforts, to accomplish their general task, never
impeding each other by useless assistance, each taking a
particular department, and each knowing its own duties.
We may, however, not the less admire the solitary wasp
or bee, who begins and finishes every part of its des-
tined work ; just as we admire the ingenious mechanic
who perfects something useful or ornamental entirely by
the labour of his own hands, — whether he be the patient
Chinese carver, who cuts the most elaborately decorated
boxes out of a solid piece of ivory, or the turner of
Europe, who produces every variety of elegant form by
the skilful application of the simplest means.

Our island abounds with many varieties of solitary
wasps and bees ; and their nests may therefore be easily
discovered by those who, in the proper sciisons, are de-
sirous of observing the peculiarities of their architecture.

MASO^'-BEES. 31

Mason- Wasps.

In September, 1828, a common species of solitary
mason-wasp ( Odynerus^ LATR.).was observed by us ( J. R.)

Odynerus. — Natural size.

on the east wall of a house at Lee, in Kent, very busy
in excavating a hole in one of the bricks, about five feet
from the ground. Whether there might not have been
an accidental hole in the brick, before the wasp com-
menced her labours, is unknown, as she had made con-
siderable progress in the work when first observed ; but
the brick was one of the hardest of the yellow sort made
in this neighbourhood. The most remarkable circum-
stance in the process of hewing into the brick, was the
care of the insect in removing to a distance the fragments
which from time to time she succeeded in detaching. It
did not appear to suit her design to wear down the brick,
particle by particle, as the furniture beetle (Anobiwn
pertinax) does in making its pin-hole galleries in old
wood. Our wasp-architeet, on the contrary, by means
of her strong ^ranc/ia«^-toothed jaws, severed a piece
usually about the bigness of a mustard-seed. It might
have been supposed that these fragments would have
been tossed out of the hole as the work proceeded, with-
out further concern ; as the mole tosses above ground the
earth which has been cleared out of its subterranean
gallery. The wasp was of a different opinion ; for it was
possible that a heap of brick chips, at the bottom of the
wall, might lead to the discovery of her nest by some of
her enemies, pai'ticularly by one or other of the nume-
rous tribe of what are called ichneumon flies. This
name is given to them, from the similarity of their habit
of destroying eggs, to that of the little animal which
proves so formidable an enemy to the multiplication of

32 IXSECT ARCHITECTURE.

Mandibles — Jaws of Mason-Wasp,— Greatly magnified.

the crocodile of Egypt. They may be also denominated
cuckoo flies, because, like that bird, they thrust their egg
into the nest of another species. These flies are con-
tinually prowling about and prying into every corner, to
find, by stealth, a nidus for their eggs. It might have
been some such consideration as this which induced the
wasp to carry oft' the fragments as they were successively
detached. That concealment was the motive, indeecl,
was proved ; for one of the fragments which fell out of
the hole by accident, she immediately sought for at the
bottom of the wall, and carried off" like the rest. It was
no easy matter to get out one of the fragments, as may
readily be conceived when the size of the insect is com-
pared with that of the entrance, of which this (^) is
the exact size, as taken from the impression of a bit of
dough upon the hole when finished. It was only by
seizing the fragment with her jaws, and retreating back-
wards, that the matter could be accomplished; though,
after the interior of the excavation was barely large
enough to admit of her turning round, she more than once
attempted to make her exit head-foremost, but always
unsuccessfully. The weight of the fragments removed
did not appear to impede her flight, and she generally
returned to her task in about two or three minutes.

Within two days the excavation was completed ; but
it required two other days to line it with a coating of
clay, to deposit the eggs, two in number, and, no doubt,
to imprison a few live spiders or caterpillars, for the

MASOX-BEES.

young when hatched — a process which was first observed
by Ray and Willughby,* but which has since been fre-
quently ascertained. In the present instance, this pecu-
liarity was not seen ; but the little architect was detected
in closing up the entrance, which was formed of a layer
of clay more than double the thickness of the interior
lining. In November following, we hewed away the
brick around this nest, and found the whole excavation
was rather less than an inch in depth.

Notwithstanding all the precautions of the careful
parent to conceal her nest, it was found out by one of
the cuckoo flies (laclnna larvarum?) — probably a com-
mon species very similar to the house-fly, but rather

Cuckoo.Fly — (Tachina larvarum ?) — Natural size.

larger, which deposited an egg there; and the grub
hatched from it, after devouring one of the w asp-grubs,

Mason- Wasp's Nest and Cocoons.— About one-third the natural size.

formed itself a cocoon («), as did the other undevoured
grub of the wasp (b). Both awaited the return of sum-
mer to change into winged insects, burst their cerements,
and proceed as their parents did.

VOL. I.

* Ray, Hist. Insect.. 251.

84 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

Mason-Wasp— (Odyncrus mararius). — Natural size.

Another mason-wasp {Odynerus murarius, Latr.),
differing little in appearance from the former, may often
be seen frequenting sandy banks exposed to the sun, and
constructing its singular burrows. The sort of sand-bank
which it selects is hard and compact ; and though this
may be more difficult to penetrate, the walls are not
liable to fall down upon the little miner. In such a bank,
the mason-wasp bores a tubular gallery two or three
inches deep. The sand upon which Reaumur found
some of these wasps at work was almost as hard as stone,
and yielded with difficulty to his nail ; but the wasps
dug into it with ease, having recourse, as he ascertained,
to the ingenious device of moistening it by letting fall
two or three drops of fluid from their mouth, which ren-
dered the mass ductile, and the separation of the grains
easy to the double pickaxe of the little pioneers.

When this wasp has detached a few grains of the
moistened sand, it kneads them together into a pellet
about the size of one of the seeds of a gooseberry. With
the first pellet which it detaches, it lays the foundation
of a round tower, as an outwork, immediately over the
mouth of its nest. Every pellet which it afterwards
carries off" from the interior is added to the wall of this
outer round tower, which advances in height as the hole
in the sand increases in depth. Every two or three
minutes, however, during these operations, it takes a
short excursion, for the purpose, probably, of replenish-
ing its store of fluid wherewith to moisten the sand. Yet
so little time is lost, that Reaumur has seen a mason-wasp
dig in an hour a hole the length of its body, and at the
same time build as much of its round tower. For the
greater part of its height this round tower is perpen-

MASON-3EES.

Nests, Sec, of Mason-Wasps.— About half the natural size.
a, Tlie tower of the nest ; b, the entrance after the tower is removed ;
c,the cell; rf.the cell, with a roll of caterpillars prepared for the larva.

dicular ; but towards the summit it bends into a curve,
corresponding to the bend of the insect's body, which,
in all cases of insect architecture, is the model followed.
The pellets which form the walls of the tower are not
very nicely joined, and numerous vacuities are left be-
tween them, giving it the appearance of fillagree work.
That it should be thus slightly built is not surprising,
for it is intended as a temporary structure for protecting
the insect while it is excavating its hole ; and as a pile
of materials, well arranged and ready at hand, for the
completion of the interior building, — in the same way
that workmen make a regular pile of bricks near the
spot where they ai'e going to build. This seems, in fact,
to be the main design of the tower, which is taken down
as expeditiously as it had been reared. Reaumur thinks
that, by piling in the sand which has previously been dug
out, the wasp intends to guard his progeny for a time
from being exposed to the too violent heat of the sun ;
and he has even sometimes seen that there were not suf-
ficient materials in the tower, in which case the wasp had

36 IKSECT ARCHITECTURE.

recourse to the rubbish she had thrown out after the
tower was completed. By raising a tower of the mate-
rials which she excavates, the wasp produces the same
shelter from external heat as a human creature would
who chose to inhabit a deep cellar of a high house. She
further protects her progeny from the ichneumon fly, as
the engineer constructs an outwork to render more diffi-
cult the approach of an enemy to the citadel. Reaumur
has seen this indefatigable enemy of the wasp peep into
the mouth of the tower, and then retreat, apparently
frightened at the depth of the cell which he was anxious
to invade.

The mason-wasp docs not furnish the cell she has thus
constructed with pollen * and honey, like the solitar}^
bees, but with living caterpillars, and these always of the
same species — being of a green colour, and without feet.
She fixes the caterpillars together in a spiral column :
they cannot alter their position, although they remain
alive. They are an easy prey to their smaller enemy ;
and when the grub has eaten them all up, it spins a case,
and is transformed into a pupa, which afterwards becomes
a wasp. The number of caterpillars which is thus found
in the lower cavity of the mason- wasp's nest is ordinarily
from ten to twelve. The mother is careful to lay in the
exact quantity of provision which is necessary to the
growth of the grub before he quits his retreat. He
works through his store till his increase in this state is
perfected, and he is on the point of undergoing a change
into another state, in which he requires no food. The
careful purveyor, cruel indeed in her choice of a supi)ly,
but not the less directed by an unerring instinct, selects
such caterpillars as she is conscious have completed
their growth, and will remain thus imprisoned without
increase or corruption till their destroyer has gradually
satisfied the necessities of his being. *' All that the
worm of the wasp," says Reaumur, " las to do in his nest,
from his birth to his transformation, is to eat." There
is another species of wasp which does not at once enclose

* The prolific po;vdcr of flj.vers.

MASOX-BEES. 37

in its nest all the sustenance which its larva will require
before transformation, but which from time to time im-
prisons a living caterpillar, and when that is consumed
opens the nest and introduces another.*

Masox-Bees.

It would not be easy to find a more simple, and, at
the same time, ingenious specimen of insect architecture
than the nests of those species of solitary bees which
have been justly called mason-bees {JHegachile, La-
tueille). Reaumur, who was struck by the analogies
between the proceedings of insects and human arts, first
gave to bees, wasps, and caterpillars those names which
indicate the character of their labours ; and which,
though they may be considered a little fanciful, are at
least calculated to arrest the attention. The nests of
mason-bees are constructed of various materials ; some
with sand, some with earth mixed with chalk, and some
with a mixture of earthy substances and wood.

On the north-east wall of Greenwich Park, facing the
road, and about four feet from the ground, we disco-
vered (J. R.), December 10th, 1828, the nest of a mason-
bco, formed in the perpendicular line of cement between
two bricks. Externally there Avas an irregular cake of dry
mud, precisely as if a handful of wet road-stuff" had been
taken from a cart-rut and thrown against the wall ;
though, upon closer inspection, the cake contained more
small stones than usually occur in the mud of the adja-
cent cart-ruts. We should in fact have passed it by with-

Mason-Eee— (^*jt/jc>j)/jcr« retusn). — Natural size.
* Bonnet, Contemplation, &c. 1. xii. c. 41.

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

out notice had there not been a circular hole on one side
of it, indicating the perforation of some insect. This

Exterior Wall of Mason-Bee's Nest.

hole was found to be the orifice of a cell about an inch
deep, exactly of the form and size of a lady's thimble,
finely polished, and of the colour of plaster of Paris, but
stained in various places with yellow.

This cell was empty ; but. upon removing the cake of
of mud, we discovered another cell, separated from the
former by a partition about a quarter of an inch thick,
and in it a living bee, from which the preceding figure
was drawn, and which, as we supposed, had just changed
from the pupa to the winged state, in consequence of the
uncommon* mildness of the weather. The one which
had occupied the adjacent cell had, no doubt, already
dug its way out of its prison, and would probably fall a
victim to the first frost.

5» ^V!' |fl

Cells of a Mason-Bee (/!n'/.ophora rcttisa). —One-th'nd the natural size.

MASOX-BEES. 31)

Our nest contained only two cells — perhaps from there
not being room between the bricks lor more.

An interesting account is given by Reaumur of another
mason-bee (Megaddle miirwia), not a native of Britain,
selecting earthy sand, grain by grain ; her gluing a mass
of these together with saliva, and building with them her
cells from the foundation. But the cells of the Green-
wich Park nest were apparently composed of the mortar
of the brick wall ; though the external covering seems
to have been constructed as Reaumur describes his nest,
with the occasional addition of small stones.

About the middle of May, 1829, we discovered the
mine from which all the various species of mason-bees in the
vicinity seemed to derive materials for their nests. (J.R.)
It was a bank of brown clay, facing the east, and close
by the margin of the river Ravensbourn, at Lee, in Kent.
The frequent resort of the bees to this spot attracted the
attention of some workmen, who, deceived by their re-
semblance to wasps, pointed it out as a wasps' nest ;
though they were not a little surprised to see so numerous
a colony at this early season. As the bees had dug a
hole in the bank, where they were incessantly entering
and reappearing, we were of opinion that they were a
peculiar sort of the social earth-bees (Bomhi). On ap-
proaching the spot, however, we remarked that the bees
were not alarmed, and manifested none of the irritation
usual in such cases, the consequence of jealous affection
for their young. This led us to observe their operations
more minutely ; and we soon discovered that on issuing
from the hole each bee carried out in its mandibles a
piece of clay. Still supposing that they were social earth-
bees, we concluded that they were busy excavating a
hollow for their nest, and carrying off the refuse to pre-
vent discovery. The mouth of the hole was overhung,
and partly concealed, by a large pebble. This we re-
moved, and widened the entrance of the hole, intending
to dig down and ascertain the state of the operations ;
but we soon found that it was of small depth. The bees,
being scared away, began scooping out clay from another
hole about a yard distant from the first. Upon our with-

40 IXSECT AKCHITECTURE.

drawing a few feet from the first hole, they returned
thither in preference, and continued assiduously digging
and removing the clay. It became obvious, therefore,
from their thus changing place, that they were not con-
structing a nest, but merely quarrying for clay as a build-
ing material. By catching one of the bees (^Osmia
hicornis) when it was loaded with its burden, we ascer-
tained that the clay was not only carefully kneaded, but
was also more moist than the mass from which it had
been taken. The bee, therefore, in preparing the pellet,
which was nearly as large as a garden pea, had moistened
it with its saliva, or some similar fluid, to render it, we
may suppose, more tenacious, and better fitted for build-
ing. The reason of their digging a hole, instead of
taking clay indiscriminately from the bank, appeared to
be for the purpose of economizing their saliva, as the
weather was dry, and the clay at the surface was parched
and hard. It must have been this circumstance which
induced them to prefer digging a hole, as it were, in
concert, though each of them had to build a separate
nest.

The distance to which they carried the clay was pro-
bably considerable, as there was no wall near, in the direc-
tion they all flew towards, upon which they could build ;
and in the same direction also, it is worthy of remark,
they could have procured much nearer the very same
sort of clay. Whatever might be the cause of their pre-
ference, we could not but admire their extraordinary in-
dustry. It did not require more than half a minute to
knead one of the pellets of clay ; and, from their fre-
quent returns, probably not more than five minutes to
carry it to the nest, and apply it where wanted. From
the dryness of the weather, indeed, it was indis-
pensable for them to work rapidly, otherwise the clay
could not have been made to hold together. The extent
of the whole labour of forming a single nest may be
imagined, if we estimate that it must take several hun-
dred pellets of clay for its completion. If a bee work
fourteen or fifteen hours a day, therefore, carrying ten or
twelve pellets to its nest every hour, it will be able to

MA SOX- BEES. 41

finish the structure in about two or three days ; allowing
some hours of extra time for the more nice workmanshij)
of the cells in which the eggs are to be deposited, and
the young grubs reared.

That the construction of such a nest is not a merely
agreeable exercise to the mason-bee has been sufficiently
proved by M. Du Hamel. He has observed a bee
\Megachile murarid) less careful to perform the neces-
sary labour for the protection of her offspring than these
we have described, but not less desirous of obtaining
this protection, attempt to usurp the nest which another
had formed. A fierce battle was invariably the conse-
quence of this attempt ; for the true mistress would
never give place to the intruder. The motive for the
injustice and the resistance was an indisposition to further
labour. The trial of strength was probably, sometimes,
of as little use in establishing the right as it is amongst
mankind ; and the proper owner, exhausted by her
efforts, had doubtless often to surrender to the dishonest
usurper.

The account which Reaumur has given of the opera-
tions of this class of bees differs considerably from that
which we have here detailed ; from the species being
different, or from his bees not having been able to procure
moist clay. On the contrary, sand was the chief mate-
rial used by the mason-bees {Megachile muraria) ;
which they had the patience to select from the walks of
a garden, and knead into a paste or mortar, adapted to
their building. They had consequently to expend a
much greater quantity of saliva than our bees {^Osmia
bicoiTiis), which worked with moist clay. Reaumur, in-
deed, ascertained that every individual grain of sand is
moistened previous to its being joined to the pellet, iu
order to make it adhere more effectually. The tenacity
of the mass is besides rendered stronger, he tells us, by
adding a proportion of earth or garden mould. In th's
manner, a ball of imortar is formed, about the size of a
small shot, and carried off to the nest. When the struc-
ture of this is examined, it has all the appearance exter-
nally of being composed of earth and small stones or

• c 3

42 INSECT AECHITECTURE.

gravel. The ancients, who were by no means accurate
naturaUsts, having observed bees carrying pellets of earth
and small stones, supposed that they employed these to
add to their weight, in order to steady their flight when
impeded by the wind.

The nests thus constructed appear to have been more
durable edifices than those which have fallen under our
observation ; — for Reaumur says they were harder than
many sorts of stone, and could scarcely be penetrated with
a knife. Ours, on the contrary, do not seem harder than
a piece of sun-baked clay, and by no means so hard
as brick. One circumstance appeared inexplicable to
Reaumur and his friend Du Hamel, who studied the
operations of these insects in concert. After taking a
portion of sand from one part of the garden- walk, the
bees usually took another portion from a spot almost
twenty and sometimes a hundred paces off, though the
sand, so far as could be judged by close examination,
was precisely the same in the two places. We should
be disposed to refer this more to the restless character of
the insect, than to any difference in the sand. We have
observed a wasp pai'ing the outside of a plank, for mate-
rials to form its nest ; and though the plank was as uni-
form in the qualities of its surface, nay, probably more
so than the sand could be, the wasp fidgeted about,
nibbling a fibre from one, and a fibre from another
portion, till enough w'as procured for one load. In the
same way, the whole tribe of wasps and bees flit rest-
lessly from flower to flower, not unfrequently revisiting
the same blossom, again and again, within a few seconds.
It appears to us, indeed, to be far from improbable, that
this very restlessness and irritability may be one of the
springs of their unceasing industry.

By observing, with some care, the bees which we
found digging the clay, we discovered one of them
( Osmia hicornis) at work upon a nest, about a gunshot
from the bank. The place it had chosen was the inner
wall of a coal-house, facing the south-west, the brick-
work of which was but roughly finished. In an upright
interstice of half an inch in width, between two of the

MASOX-BEES. 43

bricks, we found the little architect assiduously building
its walls. The bricklayer's mortar had either partly
fallen out, or been removed by the bee, who had com-
menced building at the lower end, and did not build
downwards, as the social wasps construct their cells.

The very different behaviour of the insect here, and
at the quarry, struck us as not a little remarkable.
When digging and preparing the clay, our approach,
however near, produced no alarm ; the work went on as
if we had been at a distance ; and though we were
standing close to the hole, this did not scare away any
of the bees upon their arrival to procure a fresh load.
But if we stood near the nest, or even in the way by
which the bee flew to it, she turned back or made a
wide circuit immediately, as if afraid to betray the site
of her domicile. We even observed her turning back,
when we were so distant that it could not reasonably be
supposed she was jealous of us ; but probably she had
detected some prowling insect depredator, tracking her
flight with designs upon her provision for her future
progeny. We imagined we could perceive not a little
art in her jealous caution, for she would alight on the
tiles as if to rest herself; and even when she had entered
the coal-house, she did not go directly to her nest, but
again rested on a shelf, and at other times pretended to
examine several crevices in the wall, at some distance
from the nest. But when there was nothing to alarm
her, she flew directly to the spot, and began eagerly to
add to the building.

It is iu instances such as these, which exhibit the
adaptation of instinct to circumstances, that our reason
finds the greatest difficulty in explaining the governing
principle of the minds of the inferior animals. The
mason-bee makes her nest by an invariable rule ; the
model is in her mind, as it has been in the mind of her
race from their first creation : they have learnt nothing
by experience. But the mode in which they accomplish
this task varies according to the situations in which they
are placed. They appear to have a glimmering of

IXSECT AECniTECTL'SE.

reason, employed as an accessary and instrument of their
instinct.

The structure, when finished, consisted of a wall of
clay supported by two contiguous bricks, enclosing six
chambers, within each of which a mass of pollen, rather
larger than a cherry-stone, was deposited, together with
an egg, from which in due time a grub was hatched.
Contrary to what has been recorded by preceding natu-
ralists, with respect to other mason-bees, we found the
cells in this instance quite parallel and perpendicular ;
but it may also be remarked, that the bee itself was a

Cells of Mason Bees, built, in the first and second figures, by Osmia
bicovTiis between bricks, and in the third, by Megachile muraria in the
fluting of an old pilaster. — About half the natural size.

species altogether different from the one which we have
described above as the Anthophora retusa, and agreed
with the figure of the one we caught quarrying the clay
— (Os7nia hicornis).

There was one circumstance attending the proceedings
of this mason-bee which struck us not a little, though we
(ould not exj>lain it to our own satisfaction. Every time
she left her nest for the purpose of procuring a fresh
supply of materials, she paid a regular visit to the blos-
soms of a lilac tree which grew near. Had these
blossoms afibrded a supply of pollen, with Avhich she
could have replenished her cells, we could have easily

MASON-BEES.

understood her design ; but the pollen of the lilac is not
suitable for this purpose, and that she had never used it
was proved by all the pollen in the cells being yellow,
whereas that of the lilac is of the same pale, purple
colour as the flowers. Besides, she did not return im-
mediately from the lilac tree to the building, but always
went for a load of clay. There seemed to us, therefore,
to be only two ways to explain the circumstance : — she
must either have applied to the lilac blossoms to obtain a
refreshment of honey, or to procure glutinous materials
to mix with the clay.

Vv hen employed upon the building itself, the bee ex-
hibited the restless disposition peculiar to most hymeno-
pterous* insects ; for she did not go on with one particular
portion of her wall, but ran about from place to place
every time she came to work. At first, when we saw
her running from the bottom to the top of her building,
we naturally imagined that she went up for some of the
bricklayer's mortar to mix with her own materials ; but
upon minutely examining the walls afterwards, no lime
could be discovered in their structure similar to that
which was apparent in the nest found in the wall of
Greenwich Park.

Reaumur mentions another sort of mason-bee, which
selects a small cavity in a stone, in which she forms her

Mason-Bee and Nest, from Reaumur.

* The fifth order of Linnaeus ; insects with four transparent
veined win^s.

46 INSECT ARCHITECTTKE.

nest of garden mould moistened with gluten, and after-
wards closes the hole with the same material.

Mixing-Bees.
A very small sort of bees (Ajidrence), many of them
not larger than a house-fly, dig in the ground tubular
galleries little wider than the diameter of their own
bodies. Samouelle says, that all of them seem to prefer
a southern aspect ; but we have found them in banks
facing the east, and even the north. Immediately above
the spot where we have described the mason-bees quar-
rying the cla}'^, we observed several holes, about the dia-
meter of the stalk of a tobacco-pipe, into which those
little bees were seen passing. The clay here was very
hard ; and on passing a straw into the hole as a director,
and digging down for six or eight inches, a very smooth
circular gallery was found, terminating in a thimble-
shaped horizontal chamber, almost at right angles to the
entrance and nearh^ twice as wide. In this chamber
there was a ball of blight yellow pollen, as round as a
garden pea, and rather larger, upon which a small white
grub was feeding ; and to which the mother bee had
been adding, as she had just entered a minute before
with her thighs loaded with pollen. That it was not
the male, the load of pollen determined ; for the male
has no apparatus for collecting or transporting it. The

Cell of Minini,'-Kee (Andrena). — About half the natural size.

whole labour of digging the nest and providing food for
the young is performed by the female. The females of
the solitary bees have no assistance in their tasks. The

MIX I>G -BEES. 47

males are idle ; and the females are unprovided with la-
bourers, such as the queens of the hive command.

Reaumur mentions that the bees of this sort, whose
operations he had observed, piled up at the entrance of
their galleries the earth which they had scooped out from
the interior ; and when the grub was hatched, and pro-
perly provided with food, the earth was again employed
to close up the passage, in order to prevent the intrusion
of ants, ichneumon-flies, or other depredators. In those
which we have observed, this was not the case ; but
every species diflcrs from another in some little pecu-
liarity, though they agree in the general principles of
their operations.

48 U;SECT ARCHITECTUKK.

CHAPTER III.

Carpeuter-Bees; Carpenter- Wasps; Upbolsterer-Bees.

' CARP£^'TER-BEES.

Among the solitary bees are several British species
which come under that class called carpenter-bees byM.
Reaumur, from the circumstance of their working in
wood, as the mason-bees work in stone. We have fre-
quently witnessed the operations of these ingenious little
workei-s, who are particularly partial to posts, palings,
and the wood-work of houses which has become soft by
beginning to decay. Wood actually decayed, or afiected
by dry-rot, they seem to reject as unfit for their pur-
poses ; but they make no objections to any hole pre-
viously drilled, provided it be not too large ; and, like
the mason-bees, they not unfrequently take possession of
an old nest, a few repairs being all that in this case is
necessary.

When a new nest is to be constructed, the bee pro-
ceeds to chisel sufficient space for it out of the wood with
her jaws. We say lier, becaiLse the task in this instance,
as in most others of solitary bees and wasps, devolves
solely upon the female, the male taking no concern in
the affair, and probably being altogether ignorant that
such a work is going forward. It is, at least, certain
that the male is never seen giving his assistance, and he
seldom, if ever, approaches the neighbourhood. The
female carpenter-bee has a task to perform no less
arduous than the mason-bee ; for though the wood may
be tolerably soft, she can only cut out a very small
portion at a time. The successive portions which she
gnaws off may be readily ascertained by an observer, as
she carries them away from the place. In giving the

CARPENTER-BEES. 49

history of a mason-wasp {Odynerns), at page 27, we
remarked the care with which she carried to a distance
little fragments of brick, which she detached in the pro-
gress of excavation. We have recently watched a pre-
cisely similar procedure in the instance of a carpenter-
bee forming a cell in a wooden post. (J. R.) The only
difference was, that the bee did not fly so far away with
her fragments of wood as the wasp did ; but she varied
the direction of her flight every time : and we could
observe, that after dropping the chip of wood which she
had carried off, she did not return in a direct line to her
nest, but made a circuit of some extent before wheeling
round to go back.

On observing the proceedings of this carpenter-bee
next day, we found her coming in with balls of pollen on
her thighs ; and on tracing her from the nest into the
adjacent garden, we saw her visiting every flower which
Mas likely to yield her a supply of pollen for her future
progeny. This was not all : we subsequently saw her
taking the direction of the clay-quarry frequented by the
mason-bees, as we have mentioned in page 35, where we
recognised her loading herself with a pellet of clay, and
carrying it into her cell in the wooden post. We ob-
served her alternating this labour for several days, at one
time carrying clay, and at another pollen ; till at length
she completed her task, and closed the entrance with a
barricado of clay, to prevent the intrusion of any insecti-
vorous depredator, who might make prey of her young ;
or of some prying parasite, who might introduce its own
eggs into the nest she had tiiken so much trouble to
construct.

Some days after it was finished, we cut into the post,
and exposed this nest to view. It consisted of six cells
of a somewhat square shape, the wood forming the lateral
walls ; and each was separated from the one adjacent by
a partition of clay, of the thickness of a playing card.
The wood was not lined with any extraneous substance,
but was worked as smooth as if it had been chiselled by a
joiner. There were five cells, arranged in a very sin-

INSIiCT ARCHITECTLEJi.

Cells of Carpenter-Bees, excavated in an old post.

In fig. A the cells contain the young grubs ; in fig. B the cells are
empty. Both figures are shown in section, and about half their natural
size.

gular manner — two being almost horizontal, two perpen-
dicular, and one oblique.

The depth to which the wood was excavated in this
instance, was considerably less than what we have ob-
served in other species which dig perpendicular galleries
several inches deep in posts and garden-seats ; and they
are inferior in ingenuity to the carpentry of a bee de-
scribed by Reaumur (^Xylocopa violacea), which has not
been ascertained to be a native of Britain, though a single
indigenous species of the genus has been doubtingly
mentioned, and is figured by Kirby and Spence, in their
valuable * Monographia.' If it ever be found here, its
large size and beautiful violet-coloured wings will render
mistakes impossible.

The violet carpenter-bee usually selects an upright
piece of wood, into which she bores obliquely for about
an inch ; and then, changing the direction, works per-
pendicularly, and parallel to the sides of the wood, for
twelve or fifteen inches, and half an inch in breadth.
Sometimes the bee is contented with one or two of these
excavations ; at other times, when the wood is adapted

CARPENTER-BEES.

to it, she scoops out three or four — a task which some-
times requires several weeks of incessant labour.

The tunnel in the wood, however, is only one part of
the work ; for the little architect has afterwards to divide
the whole into cells, somewhat less than an inch in depth.

A represents a part of an espalier prop, tunnelled in several places
by the violet carpenter-tee: the stick is split, and shews the nests and
passages by which they are approached. B, a portion of the prop, half
the natural size. C, a piece of thin stick, pierced by the carpenter-
bee, and split, to shew the nests. D, Perspective view of one of the
partitions. E, Carpenter-bee {Xylocopa viulacea). F, Teeth of the
carpenter tee, greatly magnified ; a, the upper side ; b, the lower side.

52 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

It is necessary, for the proper growth of her progeny,
that each should be separated from the other, and be
provided with adequate food. She knows, most exactly,
the quantity of food which each grub will require, dur-
ing its growth ; and she therefore does not hesitate to
cut it off from any additional supply. In constructing
her cells, she does not employ clay, like the bee which
we have mentioned above, but the sawdust, if we may
call it so, which she has collected in gnawing out the
gallery. It would not, therefore, have suited her design
to scatter this about, as our carpenter-bee did. The
violet-bee, on the contrary, collects her gnawings into a
little store-heap for future use, at a short distance from
her nest. She proceeds thus : — At the bottom of her
excavation she deposits an egg, and over it fills a space
nearly an inch high with the pollen of flowTrs, made into
a paste with honey. She then covers this over with a
ceiling composed of cemented sawdust, w hich also serves
for the floor of the next chamber above it. For this
purpose, she cements round a wall a ring of wood chips
taken from her store-heap ; and within this ring forms
another, gradually contracting the diameter till she has
constructed a circular plate, about the thickness of a
crown-piece, and of considerable hardness. This plate
of course exhibits concentric circles, somewhat similar
to the annual circles in the cross section of a tree. In
the same manner she proceeds till she has completed ten
or twelve cells ; and then she closes the main entrance
with a barrier of similar materials.

' Let us compare the progress of this little joiner with
a human artisan — one who has been long practised in his
trade, and has the most perfect and complicated tools
for his assistance. The bee has learnt nothing by prac-
tice ; she makes her nest but once in her life, but it is
then as complete and finished as if she had made a thou-
sand. She has no pattern before her — but the Architect
of all things has impressed a plan upon her mind, which
she can realize without scale or compasses. Her tw'o
sharp teeth are the only tools with which she is provided
for her laborious work ; and yet she bores a tunnel,

CAKPEJJTEa-BEES. 63

twelve times the length of her own body, with greater
ease than the workman who bores into the earth for
water, with his apparatus of augurs adapted to every soil.
Her tunnel is clean and regular ; she leaves no chips at
the bottom, for she is provident of her materials. Fur-
ther, she has an exquisite piece of joinery to perform
when her ruder labour is accomplished. The patient
bee works her rings from the circumference to the centre,
and she produces a shelf, united with such care with her
natural glue, that a number of fragments are as solid as
one piece.

The violet carpenter-bee, as may be expected, occu-
pies several weeks in these complicated labours ; and
during that period she is gradually depositing her eggs,
each of which is successively to become a grub, a pupa,
and a perfect bee. It is obvious, therefore, as she does
not lay all her eggs in the same place — as each is sepa-
rated from the other by a laborious process — that the egg
which is first laid will be the earliest hatched ; and that
the first perfect insect, being older than its fellows in
the same tunnel, will strive to make its escape sooner,
and so on of the rest. The careful mother provides for
this contingency. She makes a lateral opening at the
bottom of the cells ; for the teeth of the young bees
would not be strong enough to pierce the outer wood,
though they can remove the cemented rings of sawdust
in the interior. Reaumur observed these holes, in se-
veral cases ; and he further noticed another external
opening opposite to the middle cell, which he supposed
was formed, in the first instance, to shorten the distance
for the removal of the fragments of wood in the lower
half of the building.

That bees of similar habits, if not the same species as
the violet-bee, are indigenous to this country, is proved
by Grew, who mentions, in his ' Rarities of Gresham
College,' having found a series of such cells in the middle
of the pith of an elder branch, in which they were placed
lengthwise, one after another, with a thin boundary be-
tween each. As he does not, however, tell us that he

54 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

was acquainted with the insect which constructed these,
it might as probably be allied to the Ceratina albilabris,
of which Spinola has given so interesting an account in
the ' Annales du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle ' (x.
236). This noble and learned naturalist tells us, that
one evening he perceived a female ceratina alight on the
branch of a bramble, partly withered, and of which the
extremity had been broken ; and, after resting a moment,
suddenly disappear. On detaching the branch, he found
that it was perforated, and that the insect was in the very
act of excavating a nidus for her eggs. He forthwith
gathered a bundle of branches, both of the bramble and
the wild-rose, similarly perforated, and took them home
to examine them at leisure. Upon inspection, he found
that the nests were furnished like those of the same
tribe, with balls of pollen kneaded with honey, as a pro-
vision for the grubs.

The female ceratina selects a branch of the bramble
or wild-rose which has been accidentally broken, and
digs into the pith only, leaving the wood and bark un-
touched. Her mandibles, indeed, are not adapted for
gnawing wood ; and, accordingly, he found instances
in which she could not finish her nest in branches of the
wild-rose, where the pith M'as not of sufficient diameter.

The insect usually makes her perforation a foot in
depth, and divides this into eight, nine, or even twelve
cells, each about five lines long, and separated by par-
titions formed by the gnawings of the pith, cemented by
honey, or some similar glutinous fluid, much in the same
manner with the xylocopa violacea, which we have already
described.

Carpenter- Wasps.

As there are mason-wasps similar in economy to
mason-bees, so are there solitary carpenter-wasps which
dig galleries in timber, and partition them out into several
cells by means of the gnawings of the wood which they
have detached. This sort of wasp is of the genus
JEitmenes. The wood selected is generally such as is
soft, or in a state of decay ; and the hole which is dug

tPHOJ.STERER-BEEr.

•"V B represent sections of old wooden posts, with the cells of the
carpenter-wasp. In tig. A the young grubs are shewn feeding on the
insects placed there for their support by the parent wasp. The cells in
fig. B contain cocoons. C, carpenter-wasp, natural size. D, cocoon of
a carpenter-wasp, composed of sawdust and wings of insects.

in it is much less neat and regular than i^that of the
carpenter-bees, while the division of the ^chambers is
nothing more than the rubbish produced during the ex-
cavation.

The provision which is made for the grub consists of
flics or gnats piled into the chamber, but without the
nice order remarkable in the spiral columns of green
caterpillars provided by the mason- wasp (^Odynenis
murariiis). The most remarkable circumstance is, that
in some of the species, when the grub is about to go
into the pupa statd, it spins a case (a cocoon), into' which
it interweaves the wings of the flies whose bodies it has
previously devoured. In other species, the gnawings of
the wood are employed in a similar manner.

Upholsterer-Bees.

In another part of this volume we shall see how
certain caterpillars construct abodes for themselves, by
cutting off portions of the leaves or bark of plants, and
uniting them by means of silk into a uniform and com-

66 INSECT ARCKITECTURE.

pact texture ; but this scarcely appears so wonderful as
the prospective labours of some species of bees for the
lodgment of their progeny. We allude to the solitary
bees, known by the name of the leaf-cutting bees, but
which may be denominated more generally iipholsteier-
bees, as there are some of them which use other materials
beside leaves.

One species of our little upholsterers has been called
the poppy -bee (Osniia papaver is, Latb.), from its se-
lecting the scarlet petals of the poppy as tapestry for its
cells. Kirby and Spence express their doubts whether
it is indigenous to this country : we are almost certain
that we have seen the nests in Scotland. (J. R.) At
Largs, in Ayrshire, a beautiful sea-bathing village on
the Firth of Clyde, in July, 1811, we found in a foot-
path a great number of the cylindrical perforations of
the poppy-bee. Reaumur remarked that the cells of this
bee which he found at Bercy, were situated in a northern
exposure, contrary to what he had remarked in the
mason-bee, which prefers the south. The cells at Largs,
however, were on an elevated bank, facing the south,
near Sir Thomas Brisbane's observatory. With respect
to exposure, indeed, no certain rule seems applicable ;
for the nests of mason-bees which we found on the wall
of Greenwich Park faced the north-east, and we have
often found carpenter-bees make choice of a similar situ-
ation. In one instance, we found carpenter-bees working
indifferently on the north-east and south-west side of the
same post.

As we did not perceive any heaps of earth near the
holes at Largs, we concluded that it must either have
been carried, off piecemeal when they were dug, or that
they were old holes re-occupied (a circumstance com-
mon with bees), and that the rubbish had been trodden
down by passengers. Reaumur, who so minutely de-
scribes the subsequent operations of the bee, says nothing
respecting its excavations. One of these holes is about
three inches deep, gradually widening as it descends, till
it assumes the form of a small Florence flask. The in-
terior of this is rendered smooth, uniform, and polished,

LPHOLSTERER-BEES. 57

in order to adapt it to the tapestry with M'hich it is in-
tended to be hung, and which is the next step in the
process.

The material used for tapestry by the insect uphol-
sterer is supplied by the flower-leaves of the scarlet
field-poppy, from which she successively cuts off small
pieces of an oval shape, seizes them between her legs,
and convej'S them to the nest. She begins her work at
the bottom, which she overlays with three or four leaves
in thickness, and the sides have never less than two.
""When she finds that the piece she has brought is too
large to fit the place intended, she cuts off what is super-
fluous, and carries away the shreds. By cutting the
fresh petal of a poppy with a pair of scissors, we may
perceive the difficulty of keeping the piece free from
wrinkles and shrivelling ; but the bee knows how to
spread the pieces which she uses as smooth as glass.

When she has in this manner hung the little chamber
all around with this splendid scarlet tapestry, of which
she is not sparmg, but extends it even beyond the en-
trance, she then fills it with the pollen of flowers mixed
with honey, to the height of about half an inch. In this
magazine of provisions for her future progeny she lays an
egg, and over it folds down the tapestry of poppy-petals
from above. The upper part is then filled in with earth ;
but Latreille says, he has observed more than one cell
coriStructed in a single excavation. This may account
for Reaumur's describing them as sometimes seven inches
deep ; a circumstance which Latreille, however, thinks
very surprising.

It will, perhaps, be impossible ever to ascertain, be-
yond a doubt, whether the tapestry-bee is led to select
the brilliant petals of the poppy from their colour, or
from any other quality they may possess, of softness or
of warmth, for instance. Reaumur thinks that the large-
ness, united with the flexibility of the poppy-leaves, de-
termines her choice. Yet it is not improbable that her
eye may be gratified by the appearance of her nest ; that
she may possess a feeling of the beautiful in colour, and
may look with complacency upon the delicate hangings

VOL. I. D

58 INSECT AKCHITECTURE.

of the apartment which she destines for her offspring.
Why should not an insect be supposed to have a glim-
mering of the value of ornament? How can we pro-
nounce, from our limited notion of the mode in which the
inferior animals think and act, that their gratifications
are wholly bounded by the positive utility of the objects
which surround them ? Why does a dog howl at the
sound of a bugle, but because it offends his organ of
hearing '? — and why, therefore, may not a bee feel glad-
ness in the brilliant hues of her scarlet drapery, because
they are grateful to her organs of sight ? All these little
creatures work, probably, with more neatness and finish
than is absolutely essential for comfort ; and this circum-
stance alone would imply that they [have something of taste
to exhibit, which produces to them a pleasurable emotion.

The tapestry-bee is, however, content with ornament-
ing the interior only of the nest which she forms for her
progeny. She does not misplace her embellishments
with the error of some human artists. She desires se-
curity as well as elegance ; and, therefore, she leaves no
external traces of her operations. Hers is not a mansion
rich with columns and friezes without, but cold and un-
furnished within, like the desolate palaces of Venice.
She covers her tapestry quite round with the common
earth ; and leaves her eggs enclosed in their poppy-case
win a certainty that the outward show of her labours
will attract no plunderer.

The poppy-bee may be known by its being rather
more than a third ,'of an inch long, of a black colour,
studded on the head and back with reddish grey hairs ;
the belly being grey and silky, and the rings margined
with grey above, the second and third having an im-
pressed transversal line.

A species of solitary bee (Anthidium mamcatumj
Fabricius), by no means uncommon with us, forms a
nest of a peculiarly interesting structure. Kirby and
Spence say, that it does not excavate holes, but makes
choice of the cavities of old trees, key-holes, and similar
localities 5 yet it is highly probable, we think, that it

UPHOLSTERER-BEES. ' 59

may sometimes scoop out a suitable cavity when it cannot
find one ; for its mandibles seem equally capable of this,
with those of any of the carpenter or mason bees.

Ce this as it may, the bee in question having selected
a place suitably sheltered from the weather, and from
the intrusion of depredators, proceeds to form her nest,
the exterior walls of which she forms of the wool of
pubescent plants, such as rose-campion (^Lychnis coro-
nan'a), the quince {Pi/rus cydonia), cats-ears {Stachys
lunata), &c. '* It is very pleasant," says Mr. White of
Selborne, " to see with what address this insect strips off
the down, running from the top to the bottom of the
branch, and shaving it bare with all the dexterity of a
hoop-shaver. When it has got a vast bundle, almost as
large as itself, it flies away, holding it secure between its
chin and its fore-legs." * The material is rolled up like
a ribbon, and we possess a specimen in which one of
these rolls still adheres to a rose-campion stem, the bee
having been scared away before obtaining her load.

The manner in which the cells of the nest are made
seems not to be very clearly understood. M. Latreille
says, that after constructing her nest of the down of
quince-leaves, she deposits her eggs, together with a
store of paste, formed of the pollen of flowers, for
nourishing the_^' grubs. Kirby and Spence, on the other
hand, tell us, that " the parent bee, after having con-
structed her cells, laid an e^^ in each, and filled them
with a store of suitable food, plasters them with a cover-
ing of vermiform masses, apparently composed of honey
and pollen ; and Raving done this, aware, long before
Count Rumford's experiments, what materials conduct
heat most slowly," she collects the down from woolly
plants, and "sticks it upon the plaster that covers her
cells, and thus closely envelops them with a warm coating
of down, impervious to every change of temperature."
*' From later observations," however, they are " inclined
to think that these cells may possibly, as in the case of
the humble-bee, be in fact formed by the larva previously

* Naturalist's Calendar, p. 100.

60 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

to becoming a pupa, after having eaten the provision of
pollen and honey with which the parent bee had sur-
rounded it. The vermicular shape, however, of the
masses with which the cases are surrounded, does not
seem easily reconcileable with this supposition, unless
they are considered as the excrement of the larva." *

Whether or not this second explanation is the true
one, we have not the means of ascertaining ; but we are
almost certain the first is incorrect, as it is contrary to
the regular procedure of insects to begin with the inte-
rior part of any structure, and M'ork outwards. We
should imagine, then, that the down is first spread out
into the form required, and afterwards plastered on the
inside to keep it in form, when probably the grub spins
the vermicular cells previous to its metamorphosis.

It might prove interesting to investigate this more
minutely ; and as the bee is by no means scarce in the
neighbourhood of London, it might not be difficult for a
careful observer to witness all the details of this singular
architecture. Yet we have repeatedly endeavoured, but
without success, to watch the bees, when loaded with
down, to their nests. The bee may be readily known
from its congeners, by its being about the size of the
hive-bee, but more broad and flattened, blackish brown
above, with a row of six yellow or white spots along
each side of the rings, very like the rose-leaf cutter, and
having the belly covered with yellowish brown hair,
and the legs fringed with long hairs of a rather lighter
colour.

A common bee belonging to the family of upholsterers
is called the rose-leaf cutter {Megacliile centimcnlarisj
Latr.). The singularly ingenious habits of this bee
have long attracted the attention of naturalists, but the
most interesting description is given by Reaumur. So
extraordinary does the construction of their nests appear,
that a French gardener having dug up some, and be-
lieving them to be the work of a magician, who had

* Introduction to Eiitoniology, vol. i. p. 435, 5th edit.

rPHOLSTERER- BEES .

placed them in his garden with evil intent, sent them to
Paris to his master, for advice as to what should be done
by way of exorcism. On applying to the Abbe Nollet,
the owner of the garden was soon persuaded that the
nests in question were the work of insects ; and M.
Reaumur, to whom they were subsequently sent, found
them to be the nests of one of the upholsterer-bees, and
probably of the rose-leaf cutter, though the nests in
question were made of the leaves of the mountain-ash
(^Pyrus avcvparici).

The rose-leaf cutter makes a cylindrical hole in a
beaten pathway, for the sake of more consolidated earth
(or in the cavities of walls or decayed wood), from six
to ten inches deep, and does not throw the earth dug out

Rose-leaf cutter Bees, and Nest lined with rose-leaves.

62 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

from it into a heap, like the Andrense,* In this she
constructs several cells about an inch in length, shaped
like a thimble, and made of cuttings of leaves (not
petals), neatly folded together, the bottom of one
thimble-shaped cell being inserted into the mouth of the
one below it, and so on in succession.

It is interesting to observe the manner in which this
bee procures the materials for forming the tapestry of
her cells. The leaf of the rose-tree seems to be that
which she prefers, though she sometimes takes other
sorts of leaves, particularly those with serrated margins,
such as the birch, the perennial mercury (^Mercurialis
perennis), mountain-ash, &c. She places herself upon
the outer edge of the leaf which she has selected, so that
its margin may pass between her legs. Turning her
head towards the point, she commences near the foot-
stalk, and with her mandibles cuts out a circular piece
with as much expedition as we could do with a pair of
scissors, and with more accuracy and neatness than could
easily be done by us. As she proceeds, she keeps the
cut portion between her legs so as not to impede her
progress ; and using her body for a trammel^ as a car-
penter would say, she cuts in a regular curved line. As
she supports herself during the operation upon the por-
tion of the leaf which she is detaching, it must be ob-
vious, when it is nearly cut off, that the weight of her
body might tear it away, so as to injure the accuracy of
its curvilineal shape. To prevent any accident of this
kind, as soon as she suspects that her weight might tear
it, she poises herself on her wings, till she has completed
the incision. It has been said, by naturalists, that this
manoeuvre of poising herself on the wing, is to prevent
her falling to the ground, when the piece gives way ;
but as no winged insect requires to take any such pre-
caution, our explanation is probably the true one.

With the piece which she has thus cut out, held in a
bent position perpendicularly to her body, she flies off
to her nest, and fits it into the interior with the utmost

* See p. 43.

UPHOLSTERER-BEES. 63

neatness and ingenuity ; and, without employing any
paste or glue, she trusts, as Reaumur ascertained, to the
spring the leaf takes in drying, to retain it in its position.
It requires from nine to twelve pieces of leaf to form
one cell, as they are not always of precisely the same
thickness. The interior surface of each cell consists of
three pieces of leaf, of equal size, narrow at one end,
but gradually widening at the other, where the width
equals half the length. One side of each of the pieces is
the serrated margin of the leaf from which it was cut,
and this margin is always placed outermost, and the cut
margin innermost. Like most insects, she begins with
the exterior, commencing with a layer of tapestry, which
is composed of three or four oval pieces, larger in di-
mensions than the rest, adding a second and a third layer
proportionately smaller. In forming these, she is care-
ful not to place a joining opposite to a joining, but, with
all the skill of a consummate artificer, lays the middle of
each piece of leaf over the margins of the others, so as
by this means both to cover and strengthen the junctions.
By repeating this process, she sometimes forms a fourth
or a fifth layer of leaves, taking care to bend the leaves
at the narrow extremity or closed end of the cell, so as
to bring them into a convex shape.

When she has in this manner completed a cell, her
next business is to replenish it with a store of honey and
pollen, which, being chiefly collected from thistles,
forms a beautiful rose-coloured conserve. In this she
deposits a single egg, and then covers in the opening
with three pieces of leaf, so exactly circular, that a pair
of compasses could not define their margin with more
accuracy. In this manner the industrious and ingenious
upholsterer proceeds till the whole gallery is filled, the
convex extremity of the one fitting into the open end of
the next, and serving both as a basis and as the means of
strengthening it. If, by any accident, the labour of
these insects is interrupted or the edifice deranged, they
exhibit astonishing perseverance in setting it again to
rights. Insects, indeed, are not easily forced to abandon
any Mork which they may have begun.

-64 IXSECT ARCHITECTURE.

The monkish legends tell us that St. Francis Xavier,
walking one day in a garden, and seeing an insect, of the
Mantis genus, moving along in its solemn way, holding
up its two fore legs as in the act of devotion, desired it
to sing the praises of God. The legend adds that the
saint immediately heard the insect carol a fine canticle
with a loud emphasis. We want no miraculous voice to
record the wonders of the Almighty hand, when we re-
gard the insect world. The little rose-leaf cutter, pur-
suing her vvork with the nicest mathematical art — using
no artificial instruments to form her ovals and her circles
— knowing that the elastic property of the leaves will
retain them in their position — making her nest of equal
strength throughout, by the most rational adjustment of
each distinct part — demands from us something more
than mere wonder ; for such an exercise of instinctive
ingenuity at once directs our admiration to the gi'eat
Contriver, who has so admirably proportioned her know-
ledge to her necessities.

CARDER-BEES.

CHAPTER IV.

Carder-Bees ; Humble-Bees ; Social-Wasps.

The bees and wasps, whose ingenious architecture we
have ah'eady examined, are soHtary in their hibours.
Those we are about to describe live in society. The
perfection of the social state among this class of insects
is certainly that of the hive-bees. They are the inha-
bitants of a large city, where the arts are carried to a
higher excellence than in small districts enjoying little
communication of intelligence. But the iDees of the
villages, if we may Ibllow up the parallel, are not with-
out their interest. Such are those which are called car-
der-bees and humble-bees.

Carder-Bees.
The nests of the bees which Reaumur denominates
carders (^Boinbus muscorum, Latr.) are by no means un-
common, and are well worth the study of the naturalist.
During the hay harvest, they are frequently met with by
mowers in the open fields and meadows ; but they may
sometimes be discovered in hedge-banks, the borders of
copses, or among moss-grown stones. The description
of the mode of building adopted by this bee has been
copied by most of our writers on insects from Reaumur ;
though he is not a little severe on those who write
without having ever had a single nest in their possession.
We have been able to avoid such a reproach ; for we
have now before us a very complete nest of carder-bees,
which differs from those described by Reaumur, in being-
made not of moss, but withered grass. With this
exception, we find that his account agrees accurately with
our own observations. (J. R.)

The carder-bees select for their nests a shallow exca-

D 3

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.
A

Fig. A represents two Carder-bees heckling moss for their nests,
B, exterior view of the nest of the carder-bee.

vation about half a foot in diameter; but when they
cannot find one to suit their purpose, they undertake the
Herculean task of digging one themselves. They cover
this hollow with a dome of moss — sometimes, as we have
ascertained, of withered grass. They make use, indeed,
of whatever materials may be within their reach ; for
they do not attempt to bring anything from a distance,
not even when they are deprived of the greater portion
by an experimental naturalist. Their only method of
transporting materials to the building is by pushing them
along the ground — the bee, for that purpose, working

CARDER-BEES. 67

backwards, with its head turned from the nest. If there
is only one bee engaged in this labour, as usually happens
in the early spring, when a nest is founded by a solitary
female who has outlived the winter, she transports her
little bundles of moss or grass by successive backward
pushes, till she gets them home.

In the latter part of the season, when the hive is
populous and can afford more hands, there is an ingenious
division of this labour. A file of bees, to the number
sometimes of half a dozen, is established, from the nest
to the moss or grass which they intend to use, the heads
of all the file of bees being turned from the nest and
towards the material. The last bee of the file lays hold
of some of the moss with her mandibles, disentangles it
from the rest, and having carded it with her fore-legs
into a sort of felt or small bundle, she pushes it under
her body to the next bee, who passes it in the same
manner to the next, and so on till it is brought to the
border of the nest, — in the same way as we sometimes
see sugar-loaves conveyed from a cart to a warehouse, by
a file of porters throwing them from one to another.

The elevation of the dome, which is all built from the
interior, is from four to six inches above the level of the
field. Beside the moss or grass, they frequently employ
coarse wax to form the ceiling of the vault, for the pur-
pose of keeping out rain, and preventing high winds from
destroying it. Before this finishing is given to the nest,
we have remarked, that on a fine sunshiny day the upper
portion of the dome was opened to the extent of more
than an inch, in order, we suppose, to forward the hatch-
ing of the eggs in the interior ; but on the approach of
night this was carefully covered in again. It was re-
markable that the opening M'hich we have just mentioned
was never used by the bees for either their entrance or
their exit from the nest, though they were all at work
there, and, of course, would have found it the readiest
and easiest passage. But they invariably made their exit
and their entrance through the covert-way or gallery
which opens at the bottom of the nest, and, in some nests,
is about a foot long and half an inch wide. This is, no

68 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

doubt, intended for concealment from field-mice, pole-
cats, wasps, and other depredators.

On removing a portion of the dome and bringing the
interior of the structure into view, we find little of the
architectural regularity so conspicuous in the combs of a
common bee-hive : instead of this symmetry, there are
only a few egg-shaped, dark-coloured cells, placed some-
what irregularly, but approaching more to the horizontal
than to the vertical position, and connected together with
small amorphous * columns of brown wax. Sometimes
there are two or three of these oval cells placed one
above another, without anything to unite them.

These cells are not, however, the workmanship of the
old bees, but of their young grubs, who spin them when
they are about to change into nymphs. But, from thcso
cases, when they are spun, the enclosed insects have no
means of escaping, and they depend for their liberation
on the old bees gnawing off the covering, as is done also
by ants in the same circumstances. The instinct with
which they know the precise time when it is proper to
do this is truly wonderful. It is no less so, that these
cocoons are by no means useless when thus untenanted,
for they subsequently serve for honey-pots, and are in-
deed the only store-cells in the nest. For this purpose
the edge of the cell is repaired and strengthened with a
ring of wax.

The true breeding-cells are contained in several amor-

Breeding-Cells.
* Shapeless.

CARDER-BEES.

phous masses of brown-coloured wax, varying in dimen-
sions, but of a somewhat flat and globular shape. On
opening any of these, a number of eggs or grubs are
found, on whose account the mother bee has collected
the masses of wax, which also contain a supply of pollen
moistened with honey, for their subsistence.

Interior views of Carder-bee's Nest.

The number of eggs or grubs found in one spheroid
of wax varies from three to thirty, and the bees in a
whole nest seldom exceed sixty. There are three sizes
of bees, of which the females are the largest ; but neither

70 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

these nor the males are, as in the case of the hive-bee,
-exempt from labour. The females, indeed, always found
the nests, since they alone survive the winter, all the
rest perishing with cold. In each nest, also, are several
females, that live in harmony together.

The carder-bees may be easily distinguished from
their congeners (of the same genus), by being not unlike
the colour of the withered moss with which they build
their nests, having the fore part of their back a dull
orange, and hinder part ringed with different shades of
greyish yellow. They are not so large as the common
humble-bee (JBombus terrestris, Latr.), but rather
shorter and thicker in the body than the common hive-
bee {Apis melhyica) .

Lapidary- Bees.

A bee still more common, perhaps, than the carder is
the orange-lailed bee, or lapidary {Bombus lapldarid),
readily known by its general black colour and reddish
orange tail. It builds its nest sometimes in stony ground,
but prefers a heap of stones such as are gathered off grass
fields or are piled up near quarries. Unlike the carder,
the lapidary carries to its nest bits of moss, which are
very neatly arranged into a regular oval. These insects
associate in their labours ; and they make honey with
great industry. The individuals of a nest are more nu-
merous than the carders, and likewise more pertinaciously
vindictive. About two years ago we discovered a nest
of these bees at Compton-Bassett, in Wiltshire, in the
centre of a heap of limestone rubbish ; but owing to the
brisk defensive warfare of their legionaries, we could not
obtain a view of the interior. It was not even safe to
approach within many yards of the place, and we do not
exaggerate when we say that several of them pursued us
most pertinaciously about a quarter of a mile. (J. R.)

Humble-Bees.

The common humble-bee (Bombus terresti'is) is pre-
cisely similar in its economy to the two preceding species,
with this difference, that it forms its nest underground

SOCIAL-WASPS. 71

like the common wasp, in an excavated chamber, to
which a winding passage leads, of from one to two feet,
and of a diameter sufficient to allow of two bees passing.
The cells have no covering beside the vault of the exca-
vation and patches of coarse wax similar to that of the
carder-bee.

Social-Wasps.

The nest of the common wasp ( Vespa indgaris) at-
tracts more or less the attention of everybody ; but its
interior architecture is not so well known as it deserves to
be, for its singular ingenuit}'^, in which it rivals even that
of the hive-bee {Apis melUfica). In their general eco-
nomy the social or republican wasps closely resemble
the humble-bee {Bomhus), every colony being founded
by a single female who has survived the winter, to the
rigours of which all her summer associates of males and
working wasps uniformly fall victims. Nay, out of three
hundred females which may be found in one vespiary, or
wasp's nest, towards the close of autumn, scarcely ten or
a dozen survive till the ensuing spring, at which season
they awake from their hybernal lethargy, and begin
with ardour the labours of colonization.

It may be interesting to follow one of these mother
wasps through her several operations, in which she
merits more the praise of industry than the queen of a
bee-hive, who does nothing, and never moves without
a numerous train of obedient retainers, always ready to
execute her commands and to do her homage. The
mother wasp, on the contrary, is at first alone, and is
obliged to perform every species of drudgery herself.

Her first care, after being roused to activity by the re-
turning warmth of the season, is to discover a place
suitable for her intended colony ; and, accordingly, in
the spring, w^asps may be seen prying into every hole of
a hedge bank, particularly where field-mice have bur-
rowed. Some authors report that she is partial to the
forsaken galleries of the mole, but this does not accord
with our observations, as we have never met with a
single vespiai'y in any situation likely to have been fre-

72 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

quented by moles. But though we cannot assert the fact,
we think it highly probable that the deserted nest of the
field-mouse, which is not uncommon in hedge banks, may
be sometimes appropritited by a mother wasp as an exca-
vation convenient for her purpose. Yet, if she does
make choice of the burrow of a field-mouse, it requires
to be afterwards considerably enlarged in the interior
chamber, and the entrance gallery very much narrowed.
The desire of the wasp to save herself the labour of
excavation, by forming her nest where other animals have
burrowed, is not without a parallel in the actions of
quadrupeds, and even of birds. In the splendid con-
tinuation of Wilson's American Ornithology, by Charles
L. Bonaparte (whose scientific pursuits have thrown
round that name a beneficent lustre, pleasingly contrasted
with his uncle's glory), there is an interesting example
of this instinctive adoption of the labours of others. " In
the trans-Mississippian territories of the United States,
the burrowing-owl resides exclusively in the villages of
the marmot, or prairie-dog, whose excavations are so
commodious, as to render it unnecessary that the owl
should dig for himself, as he is said to do where no bur-
rowing animals exist.* The villages of the prairie-dog
are very numerous and variable in their extent,— some-
times covering only a few acres, and at others spreading
over the surface of the country for miles together.
They are composed of slightly-elevated mounds, having
the form of a truncated cone, about two feet in width at
the base, and seldom rising as high as eighteen inches
from the surface of the soil. The entrance is placed
either at the top or on the side, and the whole mound is
beaten down externally, especially at the summit, re-
sembling a much-used footpath. From the entrance, the
passage into the mound descends vertically for one or
two feet, and is thence continued obliquely downwards
until it terminates in an apartment, within which the in-

* The owl observed bj' Yieillot in St. Domingo digs itself a
burrow two feet in depth, at the bottom of which it deposits its
eggs upon a bed of moss.

SOCIAL-WASPS. 73

dustrious prairie-dog constructs, on the approach of cold
weather, a comfortable cell for his winter's sleep. The
cell, which is composed of fine dry grass, is globular in
form, with an opening at top, capable of admitting the
finger ; and the whole is so firmly compacted, that it
might, without injury, be rolled over the floor."*

In case of need the wasp is abundantly furnished by
nature with instruments for excavating a burrow out of
the solid ground, as she no doubt most commonly docs,
— digging the earth with her strong mandibles, and car-
rying it off or pushing it out as she proceeds. The
entrance-gallery is about an inch or less in diameter, and
usually runs in a winding or zigzag direction, from one
to two feet in depth. In the chamber to which this
gallery leads, and which, when completed, is from one
to two feet in diameter, the mother wasp lays the foun-
dations of her city, beginning with the walls.

The building materials employed by wasps were long
a matter of conjecture to scientific inquirers ; for the
bluish-grey papery substance of the whole structure has
no resemblance to any sort of wax employed by bees for
a similar purpose. Now that the discovery has been
made, we can with difficulty bring ourselves to believe
that a naturalist so acute and indefatigable as M. Reau-
mur, should have, for twenty years, as he tells us, endea-
voured, without success, to find out the secret. At
length, however, his perseverance was rewarded. He
remarked a female wasp alight on the sash of his window,
and begin to knaw the wood with her mandibles ; and it
struck him at once that she was procuring materials for
building. He saw her detach from the wood a bundle
of fibres about a tenth of an inch in length, and finer
than a hair ; and as she did not swallow these, but
gathered them into a mass with her feet, he could not
doubt that his first idea was correct. In a short time
she shifted to another part of the window-frame, carrying
with her the fibres she had collected, and to which she

* American Ornithology, by Charles Lucien Bonaparte,
vol. i. p. 69.

T4 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

continued to add, when he caught her, in order to
examine the nature of her bundle ; and he found that it
Mas not yet moistened nor rolled into a ball, as is always
done before employing it in building. In every other
respect it had precisely the same colour and fibrous
texture as the walls of a vespiary. It struck him as re-
markable that it bore no resemblance to wood gnawed
by other insects, such as the goat-moth caterpillar, which
is granular like sawdust. This would not have suited
the design of the wasp, who was well aware that fibres
of some length form a stronger texture. He even dis-
covered, that before detaching the fibres, she bruised
them (les charpissoit^ into a sort of lint (charpie) with
her mandibles. All this the careful naturalist imitated
by bruising and paring the same wood of the window-
sash with his penknife, till he succeeded in making a
little bundle of fibres scarcely to be distinguished from
that collected by the wasp.

We have ourselves frequently seen wasps employed in
procuring their materials in this manner, and have always
observed that they shift from one part to another more
than once in preparing a single load, — a circumstance
which we ascribe entirely to the restless temper peculiar
to the whole order of hymenopterous insects. Reaumur
found that the wood which they preferred was such as
had been long exposed to the weather, and is old and
dry. White of Selborne, and Kirby and Spence, on the
contrary, maintain that wasps obtain their paper from
sound timber, hornets only from that which is decayed.*
Our own observations, however, confirm the statement
of Reaumur with respect to wasps, as, in every instance
which has fallen under our notice, the wood selected was
very much weathered ; and in one case an old oak post
in a garden at Lee, in Kent, half destroyed by dry-rot,
was seemingly the resort of all the wasps in the vicinity.
In another case, the deal bond in a brick wall, which
had been built thirty years, is at this moment (June,

* Reaumur, vol. vi. boKom of page 182 ; Hist, of Selb. ii.
228; and Introd. to Entomol. i. 504, 5th edition.

SOCIAL-WASPS. 75

1829) literally striped with the gnawings of wasps,
which we have watched at the work for hours together.
(J. R.)

The bundles of ligneous fibres thus detached, are
moistened before being used, with a glutinous liquid,
which causes them to adhere together, and are then
kneaded into a sort of paste, or papier mache. Having
prepared some of this material, the mother wasp begins
first to line with it the roof of her chamber, for wasps
always build downwards. The round ball of fibres which
she has previously kneaded up with glue, she now forms
into a leaf, walking backwards, and spreading it out with
her mandibles, her tongue, and her feet, till it is as thin
almost as tissue paper.

One sheet, however, of such paper as this would form
but a fragile ceiling, quite insufficient to prevent the
earth from falling down into the nest. The wasp, ac-
cordingly, is not satisfied with her work till she has spread
fifteen or sixteen layers one above the other, rendering
the wall altogether nearly two inches thick. The several
layers are not placed in contact like the layers of a piece
of pasteboard, but with small intervals or open spaces
between, appearing somewhat like a grotto built with
bivalve shells, particularly when looked at on the out-
side. This is probably caused by the insect working in
a curvilineal manner.

Having finished the ceiling, she next begins to build
the first terrace of her city, which, under its protection,
she suspends horizontally, and not, like the combs in a
bee-hive, in a perpendicular position. The suspension of
which we speak is also light and elegant, compared with
the more heavy union of the hive-bees' combs. It is in
fact a hanging floor, immoveably secured by rods of
similar materials with the roof, but rather stronger.
From twelve to thirty of these rods, about an inch or
less in length, and a quarter of an inch in diameter, are
constructed for the suspension of the terrace. They are
elegant in form, being made gradually narrower towards
the middle, and widening at each end, in order, no doubt,
to render their hold the stronger. _

IXSECT AUCHITECTUEE.

Section of the Social- Wasp's Nest.

a a, the external wall ; h, c c, five small terraces of cells for the neuter

wasps ; dd, ee, three rows of larger cells for the males and females.

The terrace itself is circular, and composed of an im-
mense number of cells, formed of the paper already de-
scribed, and of almost the same size and form as those of
a honeycomb, each being a perfect hexagon, mathema-
tically exact, and every hair's breadth of the space com-
pletely filled. These cells, however, are not used as
honey-pots by wasps, as they are by bees ; for wasps,
certain foreign species excepted, make no honey, and
the cells are wholly appropriated to the rearing of their
young. Like other hymenopterous insects, the grubs
are placed with their heads downwards ; and the open-
ings of the cells are also downwards ; while their united

SOCIAL-WASPS.

bottoms form a nearly uniform level upon which the
inhabitants of the nest may walk. We have seen, in
describing the economy of the carder-bee, that when a
young bee had escaped from its cradle-cell, and so ren-
dered it empty, that cell was subsequently appropriated
to the storing of honey. But in the case of wasps, a cell
thus evacuated is immediately cleaned out and repaired
for the reception of another grub — an egg being laid in
it by a female wasp as soon as it is ready.

When the foundress wasp has completed a certain
number of cells, and deposited eggs in them, she soon
intermits her building operations, in order to procure
food for the young grubs, which now require all her
care. In a few weeks these become perfect wasps, and
lend their assistance in the extension of the edifice ; en-
larging the original coping of the foundress by side walls,
and forming another platform of cells, suspended to the
first by columns, as that had been suspended to the
ceilinc.

A represents one of tlie rods from wliicli the terraces are suspended.
B, a portion of the external crust.

In this manner several platforms of combs are con-
structed, the outer walls being extended at the same
time ; and, by the end of the summer, there is generally
from twelve to fifteen platforms of cells. Each contains
about 1060 cells — forty-nine being contained in an inch
and a half square, and, of course, making the enormous
number of about 16,000 cells in one colony. Reaumur,
upon these data, calculates that one vespiary may produce
every year more than 30,000 wasps, reckoning only

78 IXSECT ARCHITECTURE.

10,000 cells, and each serving successively for the cradle
of three generations. But, although the whole structure
is built at the expense of so much labour and ingenuity,
it has scarcely been finished ^before the winter sets in,
when it becomes nearly useless, and serves only for the
abode of a few benumbed females, who abandon it on
the approach of spring, and never return ; for wasps do
not, like mason-bees, ever make use of the same nest for
more than one season.

Both Reaumur and the younger Huber studied the
proceedings of the common wasp in the manner which
has been so successful in observing bees — by means of
glazed hives, and other contrivances. In this, these na-
turalists were greatly aided by the extreme affection of
wasps for their young ; for though their nest is carried
off, or even cut in various directions, and exposed to the
light, they never desert it, nor relax their attention to
their progeny. When a wasp's nest is removed from its
natural situation, and covered with a glass hive, the first
operation of the inhabitants is to repair the injuries it has
suffered. They carry off with surprising activity all the
earth or other matters which have fallen by accident into
the nest ; and when they have got it thoroughly cleared
of everything extraneous, they begin to secure it from
further derangement, by fixing it to the glass with
papyraceous columns, similar to those which we have al-
ready described. The breaches which the nest may
have suffered are then repaired, and the thickness of the
walls is augmented, with the design, perhaps, of more
effectually excluding the light.

The nest of the hornet is nearly the same in structure
with that of the wasp ; but the materials are considerably
coarser, and the columns to which the platforms of cells
are suspended are larger and stronger, the middle one
being twice as thick as any of the others. The hornet,
also, does not build underground, but in the cavities of
trees, or in the thatch or under the eaves of barns.
Reaumur once found upon a wall a hornet's nest which
had not been long begun, and had it transferred to the

SOCIAL-WASPS.

outside of his study-window ; but in consequence, as he
imagined, of the absence of the foundress hornet at the
time it was removed, he could not get the other five
liornets, of which the colony consisted, either to add to
the building or repair the damages which it had sustained.

Hornet's Nest in its first sta^e.

M. Reaumur differs from our English naturalists,
White, and Kirby and Spence, with respect to the ma-
terials employed by the hornet for building. The latter
say that it employs decayed wood ; the former, that it
uses the bark of the ash-tree, but takes less pains to split
it into fine fibres than wasps do ; not, however, because it
is destitute of skill ; for in constructing the suspensory
columns of the platforms, a paste is prepared little infe-
rior to that made by wasps. We cannot, from our own
observations, decide which of the above statements is cor-

80 INSECT ARCHITECTUEE.

rect, as we have only once seen a hornet procuring mate-
rials, at Compton-Bassett, in Wiltshire ; and in that case
it gnawed the inner bark of an elm which had been felled
for several months, and was, consequently, dry and tough.
Such materials as this would account for the common
yellowish-brown colour of a hornet's nest. (J. R.)

When hornets make choice of a tree for their domicile,
they select one which is in a state of decay, and already
partly hollowed ; but they possess the means, in their
sharp and strong mandibles, of extending the excavation
to suit their purposes ; and Reaumur frequently witnessed
their operations in mining into a decayed tree, and car-
rying off M'hat they had gnawed. He observed, also,
that in such cases they did not make use of the large
hole of the tree for an enti'ance, but went to the trouble
of digging a gallery, sufficient for the passage of the
largest hornet in the nest, through the living and unde-
cayed portion of the tree. As this is perforated in a
winding direction, it is no doubt intended for the pur-
pose of protecting the nest from the intrusion of depre-
dators, who could more easily efiect an entrance if there
were not such a tortuous way to pass through.

One of the most remarkable of our native social- wasps
is the tree-wasp {Vespa Bj'itannicd), which is not un-
common in the northern, but is seldom to be met with
in the southern parts of the island. Instead of burrow-
ing in the ground like the common wasp ( Vespa vul-
garis,^ or in the hollows of trees like the hornet ( Vespa
crahro), it boldly swings its nost from the extremity of
a branch, where it exhibits some resemblance, in size
and colour, to a Welsh wig hung out to dry. We have
seen more than one of these nests on the same tree, at
Catrine, in Ayrshire, and at Werayss Ray, in Renfrew-
shire. The tree which the Britannic wasp prefers is the
silver fir, whose broad fiat branch serves as a protection
to the suspended nest both from the sun and the rain.
We have also known a wasp's nest of this kind in a
gooseberry-bush, at Red-house Castle, East Lothian.
The materials and structure are nearly the same as those

SOCIAL-WASPS. 81

employed by the common wasp, and which we have al-
ready described. (J. R.)

A singular nest of a species of wasp is figured by
Reaumur, but is apparently rare in this country, as Kirby
and Spence mention only a single nest of similar con-
struction, found in a garden at East-Dale. This nest is
of a flattened globular figure, and composed of a groat
number of envelopes, so as to assume a considerable re-
semblance to a half-expanded Provence rose. The
British specimen mentioned by Kirby and Spence had
only one platform of cells ; Reaumur's had two ; but
there was a large vacant space, which would probably
have been filled with cells, had the nest not been taken
away as a specimen. The whole nest was not much
larger than a rose, and was composed of paper exactly
similar to that employed by the common ground-wasp.*

* Two British species of wasp, Vespa Hohaiica, Fabr., and
f'espa Bi-itajinica, Leach, if indeed they be truly distinct spe-
cies, make pendent vespiaries, attached to the braiicli of a
shiub or tree. The nest of the Fespa Holsatica is said to be
much larger than that of the other, and in the north of Eng-
land it is often found in gooseberry-bushes. A nest of this
kind we have ourselves seen in such a bush, in Derbyshire, —
it v/as pendent and loosely constructed externally of foliaceous
layers. In the Mag. of Nat. Hist. 1839, p. 458, Mr. Shuck-
ard gives an account cf the nest of a wasp, which he regards
as Fespa Britavjiica, — remarkable for the material of which it
was ci.-nstiucted, and for the locality in which it was found.
This nest, which was exhibited at a meeting of the Entomo-
logical Society, was found near Croydon, built in a sparrov/'s
nest, and attached to the lining feathers. '"The smallness of
the nest," says Mr. Shuckard, "and also of the tier of cells, as
well as the peculiar material of which it appeared com] osed,
led to a discussion, the tendency of which seemed to support
the opinion that it was most proLably the nest of a Po/istes, a
social-wasp not yet found in this counlry, but if not of Po-
listes, certainly not yet determined or known." Tlie nest was
ovate, about an inch and a half long, with a tier of cells in-
ternally, originating from a common pedicle. It appeared
to be constructed " of the agglutinated particles of a soft white
VOL. I. E

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

Wasp's Nest.

There is another species of social- wasp (^Epipone nidu-
lans, Latr.) meriting attention from the singular con-
struction of its nest. It forms one or more terraces of
cells, similar to those of the common wasp, but without
the protection of an outer \^all, and quite exposed to the
weather. Swammerdam found a nest of this description
attached to the stem of a nettle. Reaumur says they are
sometimes attached to the branch of a thorn or other

wood, probably willow, very imperfectly triturated;" whence
it had externally a rough granulated appearance. It was
sprinkled with black specks, arising perhaps from the inter-
mixture of more decayed portions of the wood ; and was of a
very fragile texture. " The nature of the material, and its un-
finished execution, as well as the situation in which it was
found, appear to me to be its own peculiarities, and I must
necessarily consider it merely an accidental variation in ma-
terial and locality from the usual nests of the Vespa Britan-
nica of Leach." — Mr. Shuckard concludes his paper by stating
that he strongly suspects the identity of Fespa Holsatica and
Fespa Britannica,

SOCIAL-WASPS.

shrub, or to stalks of grass ; — peculiarities which prove
that there are several species of these wasps.

The most remarkable circumstance in the architecture
of this species of vespiary is, that it is not horizontal, like
those formerly described, but nearly vertical. The rea-
son appears to be, that if it had been horizontal, the cells
must have been frequently filled with rain ; whereas, in
the position in which it is placed, the rain runs off with-
out lodging-. It is, besides, invariably placed so as to
face the north or the east, and consequently is less ex-

"Wasp's Cells attached to a Brancli.

posed to rains, which most frequently come with south-
erly or westerly winds. It is another remarkable pecu-
liarity, that, unlike the nests of other wasps, it is covered
with a shining coat of varnish, to prevent moisture from
soaking into the texture of the wasp's paper. The laying
on this varnish, indeed, forms a considerable portion of

E 2

84 IXSECT ARCHITECTUKE.

Ihe labour of the colony, and individuals may be seen
employed for houi*s together spreading it on with their
tongues.

Few circumstances are more striking, with regard to
insects, as Kirby and Spencc justly remark, than the
great and incessant labour which maternal aftection for
their progeny leads them to undergo. Some of these
exertions are so disproportionate to the size of the insect,
that nothing short of ocular conviction could attribute
them to such an agent. A wild bee, or a wasp, for in-
stance, as we have seen, will dig a hole in a hard bank
of earth some inches deep, and five or six times its own
size, labouring unremittingly at this arduous task for
several days in succession, and scarcely allowing itself a
moment for eating or repose. It will then occupy as
much time in searching for a store of food ; and no
sooner is this finished, than it will set about repeating
the process, and, before it dies, will have completed five
or six similar cells, or even more.

We shall have occasion more particularly to dwell
upon the geometrical arrangement of the cells, both of
the wasp and of the social-bee, in our description of those
interesting operations, which have long attracted the
notice, and commanded the admiration, of mathematicians
and naturalists. A few observations may here be pro-
perly bestowed upon the mateiial with which the wasp-
family construct the interior of their nests.

The wasp is a paper-maker, and a most perfect and
intelligent one. While mankind were arriving, by slow
degrees, at the art of fabricating this valuable substance,
the wasp was making it before their eyes, by yerj much
the same process as that by which human hands now
manufacture it with the best aid of chemistry and ma-
chinery. While some nations carved their records on
wood, and stone, and brass, and leaden tablets, — others,
more advanced, wrote with a style on wax, — others em-
ployed the inner bark of trees, and others the skins of
animals rudely prepared, — the wasp was manufacturing a
firm and durable paper. Even when the papyrus was
rendered more fit, by a process of art, for the trans-

SOCIAL- WASPS. 85

mission of ideas in writing, the wasp was a better artisan
than the Egyptians ; for the early attempts at paper-
making were so rude, that the substance produced was
ahnost useless, from being extremely friable. The ]}aper
of the papyrus was formed of the leaves of the plant,
dried, pressed, and polished ; the wasp alone knew how
to reduce vegetable fibres to a pulp, and then unite them
by a size or glue, spreading the substance out into a
smooth and delicate leaf. This is exactly the process of
])aper-making. It would seem that the wasp knows, as
the modern paper-makers now know, that the fibres of
rags, whether linen or cotton, are not the only materials
that can be used in the formation of paper; she employs
other vegetable matters, converting them into a proper
consistency by her assiduous exertions. In some re-
spects she is more skilful even than our paper-makers,
for she takes care to retain her fibres of sufficient length,
by which she renders nm' paper as strong as she requires.
Many manufacturers of the present day cut their mate-
rial into small bits, and thus produce a rotten article.
One great distinction between good and bad paper is its
toughness ; and this difference is invariably produced by
the fibre of which it is composed being long, and there-
fore tough ; or short, and therefore friable.

The wasp has been labouring at her manufacture of
paper, from her first creation, with precisely the same
instruments and the same materials ; and her success has
been unvarying. Her machinery is very simple, and there-
fore it is never out of order. She learns nothing, and
she forgets nothing. Men, from time to time, lose their
excellence in particular arts, and they are slov.' in finding
out real improvements. Such improvements are often
the efrect of accident. Paper is now manufactured ver}^
extensively by machinery, in all its stages ; and thus,
instead of a single sheet being made by hand, a stream
of paper is poured out, which would form a roll large
enough to extend round the globe, if such a length were
desirable. The inventors of this machinery, Messrs.
Fourdrinier, it is said, spent the enormous sum of
40,000/. in vain attempts to render the machine capable

86 IKSECT ARCHITECTURE.

of determining with precision the width of the roll ; and,
at last, accomplished their object, at the suggestion of a
bystander, by a strap revolving upon an axis, at a cost of
three shillings and sixpence. Such is the difference be-
tween the workings of human knowledge and expe-
rience, and those of animal instinct. We proceed slowly
and in the dark — but our course is not bounded by a
narrow line, for it seems difficult to say what is the per-
fection of any art ; animals go clearly to a given point —
but they can go no further. We may, however, learn
something from their perfect knowledge of what is
within their range. It is not improbable that if man
had attended in an earlier state of society to the labours
of wasps, he w^ould have sooner known how to make
paper. We are still behind in our arts and sciences,
because we have not always been observers. If we had
watched the operations of insects, and the structure of
insects in general, with more care, we might have been
far advanced in the knowledge of many arts which are
yet in their infancy, for nature has given us abundance of
patterns. We have learnt to perfect some instruments
of sound by examining the structure of the human ear ;
and the mechanism of an eye has suggested some valuable
improvements in achromatic glasses.

Reaumur has given a very interesting account of the
wasps of Cayenne {Chartergus nidulans), which hang
their nests in trees.* Like the bird of Africa called the
social grosbeak {Loxia socio), they fabricate a perfect
house, capable of containing many hundreds of their
community, and suspend it on high out of the reach of
attack. But the Cayenne wasp is a more expert artist
than the bird. He is a pasteboard-maker ;— and the
card with which he forms the exterior covering of his
abode is so smooth, so strong, so uniform in its texture,
and so white, that the most skilful manufacturer of this
substance might be proud of the work. It takes ink ad-
mirably.

* Memoires sur les Insectes, torn, vi., mem. vii. See also
Bonnet, vol. ix.

SOCIAL-WASPS.

The nest of the pasteboard-making wasp is impervious
to water. It hangs upon the branch of a tree, as repre-
sented in the engraving ; and those rain-drops which
penetrate through the leaves never rest upon its hard
and polished surface. A small opening for the entrance
of the insects terminates its funnel-shaped bottom. It is
impossible to unite more perfectly the qualities of light-
ness and strength.

In the specimen from which we take our descrip-

Nest of the Pasteboard maker Wasp, with part removed to show
the arrangement of the Cells.

88 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

tion, the length of which is nine inches, six stoat cir-
cular platforms stretch internally across, like so many
fioors, and fixed all round to the walls of the nest.
They are smooth above, with hexagonal cells on the
under surface. These platforms are not quite flat, but
ratlier concave above, like a watch-glass reversed ; the
centre of each platform is perforated for the admission of
the wasps, at the extremity of a short funnel-like pro-
joction, and through this access is gained from story to
story. On each platform therefore can the wasps walk
leisurely about, attending to the pupae secured in the
cells, which, with the mouths downward, cover the
ceiling above their heads — the height of the latter being
just convenient for their work.

Pendent wasps'-nests of enormous size are found in
Ceylon, suspended often in the talipot-tree at the height
of seventy feet. The appearance of these nests thus
elevated, with the larger leaves of the tree, used by the
natives as umbrellas and tents, v/aving over them, is very
singular. Though no species of European wasp is a
storer of honey, yet this rule does not apjily to certain
species of South America. In the ' Annals and Maga-
zine of Natural History' for June, 1841, will be found
a detailed account, with a figure, of the pendent nest of
a species termed by Mr. A. White Myraptera scutellaris.
The external case consists of stout cardboard covered
with conical knobs of various sizes. The entrances are
artfully protected by pent-roofs from the weather and
heavy rains ; and are tortuous, so as to render the ingress
f»f a moth or other large insect difficult. Internally are
fourteen combs, exclusive of a globular mass, the nucleus
ol several circular combs, which are succeeded by others
of an arched form — that is, constituting segments of
ciicles. ]\Iany of the uppermost combs were found to
have the cells filled with honey of a brownish red colour,
but which had lost its flavour. After entering into some
m'.nute details, Mr. A. White makes the following inte-
resting observations : — " Azara, in the account of his
residence in various parts of South America, mentions
the fact of several wasps of these countries collecting

SOCIAL-WASPS. 89

honey. The Baron Wachenaer, who edited the French
translation of this work published in 1809, thought that
the Spanish traveller, who was unskilled in entomology,
had made some mistake with regard to the insects, and
regarded the so-called ivasps as belonging to some bee
of the genus of which Apis amalthea is the type {Meli-
2^ond). Latreille (who afterwards corrected his mistake)
also believed that they must be referred to the genera
Melipona or Trigona — insects which in South America
take the place of our honey-bee. These authoi-s were after-
wards clearly convinced of the correctness of Azara's
observations, by the circumstance of M. Auguste de
St. Hilaire finding near the river Uruguay an oval grey-
coloured nest of a papery consistence, like that of the
European wasps, suspended from the branches of a small
shrub about a foot from the ground ; he and two other
attendants partook of some honey (contained in its cells)
and found it of an agreeable sweetness, free from the phar-
maceutic taste which so frequently accompanies European
hcney. He gives a detailed account of its poisonous
effects on himself and his two men." Afterwards he
procured specimens of the wasp, which was described by
Latreille under the name of Polistes Lecheguana. It
v.'ould seem that the nest described by Mr. White agrees
with that of a wasp termed CInguana by Azara (or
Lecheguana), and is very different to the slight papery
nest of the Polistes Lecheguana of Latreille. We may
add that M. Auguste de St. Hilaire speaks of two species
of wasp remarkable for storing honey in South America ;
the honey of one is white, of the other reddish. That
the habits of these honey-wasps m-ust differ considerably
from those of any of our European species we may at
once admit ; perhaps in some points of their econcmy
these insects may approach the bee.

s 3

IXSKCT ARCHITECTURE.

CHAPTER V.

Architecture of the Bee-liive.

Part of a Honeycomb, and Bees at work.

Although the hive-bee (Apis mellificd) has engaged
the attention of the curious from the earliest ages, recent
discoveries prove that we are yet only beginning to arrive
at a correct knowledge of its wonderful proceedings.
Pliny informs us that Aristomachus, of Soles, in Cilicia,
devoted fifty-eight years to the study ; and that Philis-
cus the Thracian spent his whole life in forests for the
purpose of observing them. But in consequence (as we
may naturally infer) of the imperfect methods of research,

HIVE-BEES. 91.

assuming that what they did discover was known to
Aristotle, Cokimella, and Pliny, we are justified in pro-
nouncing- the statements of these philosophers, as well as
the embellished poetical pictures of Virgil, to be nothing
more than conjecture, almost in every particular erro-
neous. It was not indeed till 1712, when glass hives
were invented by Maraldi, a mathematician of Nice,
that what we may call the in-door proceedings of bees
could be observed. This important invention was soon
afterwards taken advantage of by JNI. Reaumur, who
laid the foundation of the more recent discoveries of
John Hunter, Schirach, and the Rubers. The admir-
able architecture which bees exhibit in their miniature
cities has, by these and other naturalists, been investi-
gated with great care and accuracy. We shall endea-
vour to give as full an account of the wonderful struc-
tures as our limits will allow. In this we shall chiefly
follow M. Iluber, the elder, whose researches appear
almost miraculous when we consider that he was blind.

At the early age of seventeen this remarkable man lost
his sight by gtitta serena, the " drop serene " of our own
Milton. But though cut off from the sight of Nature's
works, he dedicated himself to their study. He saw
them through the eyes of the admirable woman whom he
married ; his philosophical reasonings pointed out to her
all that he wanted to ascertain ; and as she reported to him
from time to time the results of his ingenious experiments,
he was enabled to complete, by diligent investigation,
one of the most accurate and satisfactory accounts of the
habits of bees which have ever been produced.

It had long been known that the bees of a hive con-
sist of three sorts, which were ascertained by M.
Reaumur to be distinguished as workers or neuters, con-
stituting the bulk of the population ; drones or males, the
least numerous class ; and a single female, the queen and
mother of the colony. Schirach subsequently discovered
the very extraordinary fact, which Huber and others
have proved beyond doubt, that when a hive is acci-
dentally deprived of a queen, the grub of a worker can
be and is fed in a particular manner so as to become a

92 IXSECT ARCHITECTURE.

queen and supply the loss.* But another discovery of
M. Huber is of more importance to the subject of arclii-
tecture now before us. By minute research he ascer-
tained that the workers which had been considered by
former naturalists to be all alike, are divided into two
important classes, nurse-bees and wax-makers.

The nurse-bees are rather smaller than the wax-
workers, and even when gorged with honey their belly
does not, as in the others, appear distended. Their
business is to collect honey, and impart it to their com-
panions ; to feed and take care of the young grubs, and
to complete the combs and cells which have been founded
by the others ; but they are not charged with provision-
ing the hive.

The icax-worhers, on the other hand, are not only ai
little larger, but their stomach, when gorged with honey,
is capable of considerable distention, as M. Huber
proved by repeated experiments. He also ascertained
that neither of the species can alone fulfil all the func-
tions shared among the workers of a hive. He painted
those of each class with different colours, in order to
study their proceedings, and their labours were not inter-
changed. In another experiment, after supplying a
hive deprived of a queen with brood and pollen, he saw the
nurse-bees quickly occupied in the nutrition of the grubs,
while those of the wax-working class neglected them.
When hives are full of combs, the wax-workers disgorge
their honey into the ordinary magazines, making no
wax: but if they v»'ant a reservoir for its reception, and
if their queen does not find cells ready made wherein to
lay her eggs, they retain the honey in the stomach, and
in twenty -four hours tliey produce wax. Then the la-
boar of constructing combs begins.

It might perhaps be supposed that, when the country

* It is light to remark that Hiiish and others have suggested
that tlie grubs thus rjyalized may originally be misplaced
queens; yet tins admission is not necessary, since ]\Iadlle. Ju-
rine has proved, by dissection, the workers to be imperfect
females.

HIVE-BEES. 93

does not afford honey, the wax-workers consume the
provision stored up in the hive. But they are not per-
mitted to touch it. A portion of honey is carefully pre-
served, and the cells containing it are protected by a
waxen covering, which is never removed except in case
of extreme necessity, and when honey is not to be other-
wise procured. The cells are at no time opened during
summer ; other reservoirs, always exposed, contribute to
the daily use of the community ; each bee, however,
supplying itself from them with nothing but what is re-
quired for present wants. Wax-workers appear with
large bellies at the entrance of their hive, only when the
country affords a copious collection of honey. From this
it may be concluded, that the production of the waxy
matter depends on a concurrence of circumstances not
invariably subsisting. Nurse-bees also produce wax, but
in a very inferior c^uantity to what is elaborated by the
real wax-workers. Another characteristic whereby an
attentive observer can determine the moment of bees
collecting sufficient honey to produce wax, is the strong
odour of both these substances from the hive, which is
not equally intense at any other time. From such data,
it v.as easy for M. Huber to discover whether the bees
worked in wax in his own hives, and in those of the other
cultivators of the district.

There is still another sort of bees, first observed by
Huber in 1809, which appear to be only casual inmates
of the hive, and which are driven forth to starve, or are
killed in conflict. They closely resemble the ordinary
workers, but are less hairy, and of a much darker colour.
These have been called black bees, and are supposed by
Huber to be defective bees;* but Kirby and Spence
conjecture that they are toil-worn superannuated workers,
of no further use, and are therefore sacrificed, because
burdensome to a community which tolerates no unne-
cessary inmates. The very great numbers of black bees,
however, which sometimes appear, does not well accord
with such an opinion. The subject remains, therefore,
still in uncertainty.

* Kuber on Bees, p. 338.

84 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

Preparatiox or Wax.

In order to build the beautiful combs, which every one
must have repeatedly seen and admired, it is indispens-
able that the architect-bees should be provided with the
materials — with the wax, in short, of which they are
principally formed. Before we follow them, therefore,
to the operation of building, it may be necessary to in-
quire how the wax itself is procured. Here the disco-
veries of recent inquirers have been little less singular
and unexpected than in other departments of the history
of these extraordinary insects. Now that it has been
proved that wax is secreted by bees, it is not a little
amusing to read the accounts given by our elder natural-
ists, of its being collected from flowers. Our country-
man, Thorley,* appears to have been the first who sus-
pected the true origin of wax, and Wildman (1769)
seems also to have been aware of it ; but Reaumur, and
particularly Bonnet, though both of them in general
shrewd and accurate observers, M'cre partially deceived
by appearances.

The bees, we are erroneously told, search for wax
''upon all sorts of trees and plants, but especially the
rocket, the single poppy, and in general all kinds of
flowers. They amass it with their hair, with which
their whole body is invested. It is something pleasant
to see them roll in the yellow dust which falls from the
chives to the bottom of the flowers, and then return
covered with the same grains ; but their best method of
gathering the wax, especially when it is not very plen-
tiful, is to carry away all the little particles of it with
their jaws and fore feet, to press the wax upon them into
little pellets, and slide them one at a time, with their
middle feet, into a socket or cavity, that opens at their
hinder feet, and serves to keep the burthen fixed and
steady till they return home. They are sometimes ex-

* Melisselogia, or Female Monarchy, 8vo., Lend. 1744.

HIVE-BEES. 95

posed to inconveniences in this work hy the motion of
the air, and the delicate texture of the flowers which
bend under their feet, and hinder them from packing up
their booty, on which occasions they fix themselves in
some steady place, where they press the wax into a mass,
and wind it round their legs, making frequent returns to
the flowers ; and when they have stocked themselves
with a sufficient quantity, they immediately repair to
their habitation. Two men, in the compass of a whole
day, could not amass so much as two little balls of wax ;
and yet they are no more than the common burthen of a
single bee, and the produce of one journey. Those who
are employed in collecting the wax from flowers are
assisted by their companions, who attend them at the
door of the hive, ease them of their load at their arrival,
brush their feet, and shake out the two balls of wax ;
upon which the others return to the fields to gather new
treasure, while those who disburthencd them convey
their charge to the magazine. But some bees, again,
when they have brought their load home, cany it them-
selves to the lodge, and there deliver it, laying hold of
one end by their hinder feet, and with their middle feet
sliding it out of the cavity that contained it ; but this is
evidently a work of supererogation which they are not
obliged to perform. The packets of wax continue a few
moments in the lodge, till a set of officers come, who are
charged with a third commission, which is to knead this
wax with their feet, and spread it out into different
sheets, laid one above another. This is the unwrought
wax, which is easily distinguished to be the produce of
different flowers, by the variety of colours that appear
on each sheet. When they afterwards come to work,
they knead it over again, they purify and whiten, and
then reduce it to a uniform colour. They use this wax
with a wonderful frugality ; for it is easy to observe that
the whole family is conducted by prudence, and all their
actions regulated by good government. Everything is
granted to necessity, but nothing to superfluity ; not the
least grain of wax is neglected, and if they waste it, they

SJO IXSECT ARCHITECTL'KE.

are frequently obliged to provide more ; at those very
times when they want to get their provision of honey,
they take off the wax that closed the cells, and carry it
to the magazine."*

Reaumur hesitated in believing that this was a correct
view of the subiect, from observing^ the g^reat difference
between wax and pollen ; but he was inclined to think
the pollen might be swallowed, partially digested, and
disgorged in the form of a kind of paste. Schirach also
mentions, that it was remarked by a certain Lusatian,
that wax comes from the rings of the body, because, on
Avithdrawing a bee while it is at work, and extending its
body, the wax may be seen there in the form of scales.

The celebrated John Hunter shrewdly remarked that
the pellets of pollen seen on the thighs of bees are of
different colours on different bees, while the shade of the
new-made comb is always uniform ; and therefore he
concluded that pollen was not the origin of wax. Pollen
also, he observed, is collected with greater avidity for
old hivQg, where the comb is complete, than for those
where it is only begun, which would hardly be the case
were it the material of wax. He found that when the
weather was cold and wet in June, so that a young swarm
was prevented from going abroad, as much comb was
constructed as had been made in an equal time when the
weather was favourable and fine.

The pellets of pollen on the thighs being thence
proved not to be wax, he came to the conclusion that it
was an external secretion, originating between the plates
of the belly. When he first observed this, he felt not a
little embarrassed to explain the phenomenon, and
doubted whether new plates were forming, or whether
bees cast their old ones as lobsters do their shell. By
melting the scales, he ascertained at least that they were
wax ; and his opinion was confirmed by the fact, that the
scales are only to be found during the season when the
combs ai*e constructed. But he did not succeed in com-

* De la Plucbe, Spectacle de la Nature, vol. i.

HIVE-BEES. 97

pleting the discovery by observing the bees actually de-
tach the scales, though he conjectured they might be
taken up by others, if they were once shaken out from
between the rings.*

We need not be so much surprised at mistakes com-
mitted upon this subject, when we recollect that honey
itself was believed by the ancients to be an emanation
of the air — a dew that descended upon flowers, as if it
had a limited commission to fall only on them. The ex-
posure and correction of error is one of the first steps to
genuine knowledge ; and when we are aware of the
stumbling-blocks which have interrupted the progress of
ethers, we can always travel more securely in the way of
truth.

That wax is secreted is proved both by the wax-pouches
Avithin the rings of the abdomen, and by actual experi-
ment. Iluber and others fed bees entirely upon honey
or sugar, and, notwithstanding, wax A\as produced and
combs formed as if they had been at liberty to select their
Ibod. " When bees were confined," says M. Huber,
" for the purpose of discovering Nvhether honey was suf-
ficient lor the production of wax, they supported their
capti\ity patiently, and showed uncommon perseverance
in rebuilding their combs as we removed them. Our ex-
periments required the presence of grubs ; honey and
v»ater had to be provided ; the bees were to be su})plied
with combs containing brood, and at the same time it was
necessary to confine them, that they might not seek pollen
abroad. Having a swarm by chance, which had become
useless iiom sterility of the queen, we devoted it for our
investigation in one of my leaf-hives, which was glazed
on both sides. We removed the queen, and substituted
combs containing eggs and young grubs, but no cell with
iarina ; even the smallest particle of the substance which
John Hunter conjectured to be the basis of the nutriment
of the young was taken away.

"Nothing remai'kable occurred during the first and
second day : the bees brooded over the young, and seemed

* Philosoi^hlcal Trans, for 1792, p. 143.

98 LNSECT ARCHITECTURE.

to take an interest in them ; but at sunset, on the third,
a loud noise was heard in the hive. Impatient to discover
the reason, v,e opened a shutter, and saw all in confusion ;
the brood was abandoned, the workers ran in disorder
over the combs, thousands rushed towards the lower part
of the hive, and those about the entrance gnawed at its
grating. Their design was not equivocal ; they wished
to quit their prison. Some imperious necessity evidently
obliged them to seek elsewhere what they could not find
in the hive; and apprehensive that they might perish if
I restrained them longer from yielding to their instinct, I
set them at liberty. The whole swarm escaped ; but the
hour being unfavourable for their collections, they flew
around the hive, and did not depart far from it. In-
creasing darkness and the coolness of the air compelled
them very soon to return. Probably these circumstances
calmed their agitation ; for we observed them peaceably
remounting their combs ; order seemed re-established,
and we took advantage of this moment to close the hive.

" Next day, the 19th of July, we saw the rudiments of
two royal cells, which the bees had formed on one of the
brood-combs. This evening, at the same hour as on the
precedinof, we again heard a loud buzzing in the closed
hive ; agitation and disorder rose to the highest degree,
and we were again obliged to let the swarm escape. The
bees did not remain long absent from their habitation ;
they quieted and returned as before. We remarked on
the 20th that the royal cells had not been continued, as
would have been the case in the ordinary state of things.
A great tumult took place in the evening ; the bees ap-
peared to be in a delirium ; we set them at liberty, and
order was restored on their return. Their captivity having
endured five days, we thought it needless to protract it
farther ; besides, we were desirous of knowing whether
the brood was in a suitable condition, and if it had made
the usual progress ; and we wished also to try to discover
what might be the cause of the periodical agitation of the
bees. M. Burnens (the assistant of Huber), having ex-
posed the two brood-combs, the royal cells were imme-
diately recognised ; but it was obvious that they had not

HIVE-BEES. 99

been enlarged. Wliy should they ? Neither eggs,
grubs, nor that kind of paste peculiar to the individuals
of their species were there ! The other cells were vacant
likewise ; no brood, not an atom of paste, was in them.
Thus, the worms had died of hunger. Had we precluded
the bees from all means of sustenance by removing the
farina ? To decide this point, it was necessary to confide
other brood to the care of the same insects, now giving
them abundance of pollen. They had not been enabled
to make any collections while we examined their combs.
On this occasion they escaped in an apartment where the
windows were shut ; and after substituting young worms
for those they had allowed to perish, we returned them
to their prison. Next day we remarked that they had
resumed courage ; they had consolidated the combs, and
remained on the brood. They were then provided with
fragments of combs, where other workers had stored up
farina ; and to be able to observe what they did with it,
we took this substance from some of their cells, and
spread it on the board of the hive. The bees soon dis-
covered both the farina in the combs and what we had
exposed to them. They crowded to the cells, and also
descending to the bottom of the hives, took the pollen
grain by grain in their teeth, and conveyed it to their
mouths. Those that had eaten it most greedily, mounted
the combs before the rest, and stopping on the cells of
the young worms, inserted their heads, and remained
there for a certain time. iSI. Bm'nens opened one of the
divisions of the hive gently, and powdered the workers,
for the purpose of recognising them when they should
ascend the combs. He observed them during several
hours, and by this means ascertained that they took so
great a quantity of pollen only to impart it to their young.
Then withdrawing the portions of comb which had been
placed by us on the board of the hive, we saw that the
pollen had been sensibly diminished in quantity. They
were returned to the bees, to augment their provision still
further, for the purpose of extending the experiment.
The royal, as well as several common, cells were soon
closed ; and, on opening the hive, all the worms were

100 IKSECT ARCHITECTURE.

found to have prospered. Some still had their food be-
fore them ; the cells of others that had spun were shut
with a waxen covering.

*' We witnessed these facts repeatedly, and always with
equal interest. They so decisively prove the regard of
the bees towards the grubs which they arc intrusted with
rearing, that we shall not seek for any other explanation
of their conduct. Another fact, no less extraordin.ny,
and much more difficult to be accounted .for, was exhi-
bited by bees constrained to work in wax, several times
successively, from the syrup of sugar. Towards the close
of the experiment they ceased to feed the young, though
in the beginning these had received the usual attention.
They even frequently dragged them from their cells, and
carried them out of the hive."*

Mr. Wiston, of Germantown, in the United States,
mentions a fact conclusive on this subject. " I had,'*
sa^'S he, " a late swarm last summer, which, in conse-
quence of the drought, filled only one box with honey.
As it was late in the season, and the food collected would
not enable the bees to subsist for the winter, I shut up
the hive, and gave them half a pint of honey every day.
Tliey immediately set to work, filled the empty cells,
and then constructed new cells enough to fill another
box, in which they deposited the remainder of the
honey."

A more interesting proof is thus related by the same
gentleman. ** In the summer of 1824, I traced some
wild bees, which had been feeding on the flowers in my
meadow, to their home in the woods, and which I found
in the body of an oak tree, exactly fifty feet above the
ground. Having caused the entrance to the hive to be
closed by an expert climber, the limbs were separated in
detail, until the trunk alone was left standing. To the
upper extremity of this, a tackle-fall was attached so as
to connect it with an adjacent tree, and, a saw being ap-
plied below, the naked trunk was cut through. Vvlien
the immense weight was lowered nearly to the earth, the

* Huber on Bees.

HIVE-BEES. 101

ropes broke, and the mass fell Avith a violent crash. The
part of the tree which contained the hive, separated by
the saw, was conveyed to my garden, and placed in a
vertical })osition. On being released, the bees issued out
by thousands, and though alarmed, soon became recon-
ciled to the change of situation. By removing a part of
the top of the block the interior of the hive was exposed
to view, and the comb itself, nearly six feet in height,
was observed to have fallen down two feet below the roof
of the cavity. To repair the damage was the first object
of the labourers ; in doing which, a large part of their
store of honey was expended, because it was at too late a
season to obtain materials from abroad. In the following
February these industrious, but unfortunate insects, issuing
in a confused manner from the hive, fell dead in thou-
sands around its entrance, the victims of a poverty
created by their efforts to repair the ruins of their habit-
ation."*

In another experiment, M. Huber confined a swarm so
that they had access to nothing beside honey, and five
times successively removed the combs with the precaution
of preventing the escape of the bees from the apartment.
On each occasion they produced new combs, which puts
it beyond dispute that honey is sufficient to effect the
secretion of wax without the aid of pollen. Instead of
supplying the bees with honey, they were subsequently
fed, exclusively, on pollen and fruit; but though they
were kept in captivity for eight days under a bell-glass,
with a comb containing nothing but farina, they neither
made wax nor was any secreted under the rings. In
another series of ex})eriments, in which bees were fed
with different sorts of sugar, it was found that nearly one-
sixth of the sugar was converted into wax, dark coloured
sugar yielding more than double the quantity of reHned
sugar.

It may not be out of place to subjoin the few anatomical
and physiological facts which have been ascertained by
Huber, Madile. Jurine, and Latreille.

♦ American Quarterly Review for June, 1828, p. 3£2.

102

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

The first stomach of the worker-bee, according to
Latreille,* is appropriated to the reception of honey, but
this is never found in the second stomach, which is sur-
rounded with muscular rings, and from one end to the
other very much resembles a cask covered with hoops.
It is within these rings that the wax is produced, but the
secreting vessels for this purpose have hitherto escaped
the researches of the acutest naturalists. Huber, how-
ever, plausibly enough conjectures that they are contained
in the internal lining of the wax-pockets, which consists
of a cellular substance reticulated with hexagons. The
wax-pockets themselves, which are concealed by the over-
lapping of the rings, may be seen by pressing the abdo-
men of a worker-bee so as to lengthen it, and separate the
rings further from each other. When this has been done,
there may be seen on each of the four intermediate hoops
of the belly, and separated by what may be called the
keel (carina)^ two whitish-coloured pouches, of a soft
texture, and in the form of a trapezium. Within, the

Worker-bee, magnlQed — showing the position of the scales of Wax.

little scales or plates of wax are produced from time to
* Latreille, ^em. Acad, des Sciences, 1821 i

HIVE-BEES. 103

time, and are removed and employed as we shall presently
see. We may remark, that it is chiefly the wax-workers
which produce the wax ; for though the nurse-bees are
furnished with wax-pockets, they secrete it only in very
small quantities ; while in the queen-bee, and the males
or drones, no pockets are discoverable.

Abdomen of Wax- worker Bee.

" All the scales," says Huber, '' are not alike in every
bee, for a difference is perceptible in consistence, shape,
and thickness ; some are so thin and transparent as to re-
quire a magnifier to be recognised, or we have been able
to discover nothing but spiculae similar to those of water
freezing. Neither the spiculae nor the scales rest imme-
diately on the membrane of the pocket, a slight liquid
medium is interposed, serving to lubricate the joinings of
the rings, or to render the extraction of the scales easier,
as otherwise they might adhere too firmly to the sides of
the pockets." M. Huber has seen the scales so large as
to project beyond the rings, being visible without stretch-
ing the segments, and of a whitish yellow, from greater
thickness lessening their transparency. These shades of

104 INSECT AHCHITECTURE.

difference in the scales of various bees, their enlarged
dimensions, the fluid interposed beneath them, the cor-
respondence between the scale, and the size and form of
the pockets, seem to infer the oozing of this substance
through the membranes whereon it is moulded. He was
confirmed in this opinion by the escape of a transparent
fluid on piercing the membrane, whose internal surface
seemed to be applied to the soft parts of the belly. This
he found coagulated in cooling, when it resembled wax,
and again liquefied on exposure to heat. The scales
themselves, also, melted and coagulated like wax.*

By chemical analysis, however, it appears that the wax
of the rings is a more simple substance than that which
composes the cells ; for the latter is soluble in ether, and
in spirit of turpentine, while the former is insoluble in
ether, and but partially soluble in spirit of turpentine. It
should seem to follow, that if the substance found lying
under the rings be really the elements of wax, it under-
goes som.e subsequent preparation after it is detached ; and
that the bees, in short, are capable of impregnating it with
matter, imparting to it whiteness and ductility, whereas
in its unprepared state it is only fusible.

Propolis.

Wax is not the only material employed by bees in their
architecture. Beside this, they make use of a brown,
odoriferous, resinous substance, called propolis,^ more
tenacious and extensible than wax, and well adapted for
cementing and varnishing. It was strongly suspected by
Reaumur that the bees collected the propolis from those
trees which are known to produce a similar gummy resin,
such as the poplar, the birch, and the willow ; but he
was thrown into doubt by not being able to detect the
bees in the act of procuring it, and by observing them to
collect it where none of those trees, nor any other of the
same description, grew. His bees also refused to make

* Huber on Bees, p. 325.

f From two Greek words, irpo iroXis, meaning be/ore the city,
as the substance is principally applied to the projecting parts of
the hive.

iiiV£-Bi:ES. 105

»ise of bitumen, and other resinous substances, with which
he supplied them, though Mr. Knight, as we shall atter-
M'ards see, was more successful.*

Long before the time of Reaumur, however, Mouffet,
in his Insectarum llieatrum, quotes Cordus for the opi-
nion that propolis is collected from the buds of trees,
such as the poplar and birch ; and lleim says it is
collected from the pine and fir.f lluber at length set
the question at rest ; and his experiments and observa-
tions are so interesting, that v.e shall give them in his own
\^•ords : —

" For many years," says he, "I had fruitlessly endea-
voured to find them on trees producing an analogous sub-
stance, though multitudes had been seen returning laden
with it.

" In July, some branches of the wild poplar, which had
been cut since spring, with very large buds, full of a
reddish, viscous, odoriferous matter, were brought to me,
and I planted them in vessels before hives, in the way of
the bees going out to forage, so that they could not be in-
sensible of their presence. Within a quarter of an hour,
they were visited by a bee, which separating the sheath
of a bud with its teeth, drew out threads of the viscous
substance, and lodged a pellet of it in one of the baskets
of its limbs : from another bud it collected another pellet
for the opposite limb, and departed to the hive. A
second bee took the place of the former in a few minutes,
following the same procedure. Young shoots of poplar,
recently cut, did not seem to attract these insects, as their
viscous matter had less consistence than the former.j:

"Different experiments proved the identity of this
substance with the propolis ; and now, having only to
discover how the bees applied it to use, vre peopled a
hive, so prepared as to fulfil our views. The bees,
building upwards, soon reached the glass above ; but,

* Phil. Trans, for 1807, p. 242.

f Schirach, Hist, des Abeilles, p. 241.

X Kirby and Spence observed bees very busy in collecting

propolis from the tacamahaca tree CPopulus batsamifera)

Introd., ii. 186. ^

VOL. I. r

106 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

unable to quit their habitation, on account of rain, they
were three weeks without bringing home [)ropolis. Their
combs remained perfectly white until the beginning of
July, when the state of the atmosphere became more
favourable for our observations. Serene, warm weather
engaged them to forage, and they returned from the fields
laden with a resinous gum, resembling a transparent jelly,
and having the colour and lustre of the garnet. It was
easily distinguished from the farinaceous pellets then col-
lected by other bees. The workers bearing the propolis
ran over the clusters, suspended from the roof of the hive,
and rested on the rods supporting the combs, or some-
times stopped on the sides of their dwelling, in expecta-
tion of their companions coming to disencumber them of
their burthen. We actually saw two or three arrive, and
carry the propolis from off the limbs of each with their
teeth. The upper part of the hive exhibited the most
animated spectacle ; thither a multitude of bees resorted
from all quarters, to engage in the predominant occupa-
tion of the collection, distribution, and application of the
propolis. Some conveyed that of which they had mi-
loaded the purveyors in their teeth, and deposited it in
heaps ; others hastened, before its hardening, to spread it
out like a varnish, or formed it into strings, proportioned
to the interstices of the sides of the hive to be filled up.
Nothing could be more diversified than the operations
carried on.

" The bees, apparently charged with applying the pro-
polis within the cells, were easily distinguished from the
multitude of workers, by the direction of their heads to-
wards the horizontal pane forming the roof of the hive,
and on reaching it, they deposited their burthen nearly in
the middle of intervals separating the combs : then they
conveyed the propolis to the real place of its destination.
They suspended themselves by the claws of the hind legs
to points of support, afforded by the viscosity of the pro-
polis on the glass ; and, as it were, swinging themselves
backwards and forwards, brought the heap of this sub-
stance nearer to the cells at each imjjulse. Here the bees
employed their fore feet, which remained free, to sweep

HIVK-BKES. 107

what the teeth Iiad detached, and to unite the fragments
scattered over the glass, which recovered all its transpa-
rency when the whole propolis was brought to the vici-
nity of the cells.

"After some of the bees had smoothed down and cleaned
out the glazed cells, feeling the way with their antennse,
one desisted, and having approached a heap of propolis,
drew out a thread with its teeth. This being broken otf,
it was taken in the claws of the fore feet, and the bee,
re-entering the cell, immediately placed it in the angle of
two portions that had been smoothed, in which operation
the fore feet and teeth were used alternately ; but pro-
bably proving too clumsy, the thread was reduced and
polished ; and we admired the accuracy with which it was
adjusted when the work was completed. The insect did
not stop here : returning to the cell, it prepared other
parts of it to receive a second thread, for which we did not
doubt that the heap would be resorted to. Contrary to
our expectation, however, it availed itself of the portion
of the thread cut off on the former occasion, arranged it
in the appointed place, and gave it all the solidity and
finish of which it was susceptible. Other bees concluded
the work which the first had begun ; and the sides of the
cells were speedily secured with threads of propolis, while
some were also put on the orifices ; but we could not seize
the moment when they were varnished, though it may be
easily conceived how it is done."*

This is not the only use to which bees apply the pro-
polis. They are extremely solicitous to remove such in-
sects or foreign bodies as happen to get admission into the
hive. When so light as not to exceed their powers, they
first kill the insect with their stings, and then drag it out
with their teeth. But it sometimes happens, as was first
observed by Maraldi, and since by Reaumur and others,
that an ill-fated snail creeps into the hive : this is no
sooner perceived than it is attacked on all sides, and stung
to death. But how are the bees to carry out so heavy a
burthen ? Such a labour would be in vain. To prevent

* Huber on Bees, p. 408.

108 IKSECT AKCUITKCTURE.

the noxious sineli which would arise from its putrefaction,
they immediately embalm it, by covering every part of
its body with propolis, through which no effluvia can
escape. When a snail with a shell gets entrance, to dis-
pose of it gives much less trouble and expense to the bees.
As soon as it receives the first wound from a sting, it
natm'ally retires within its shell. In this case, the bees,
instead of pasting it all over with propolis, content them-
selves with gluing all round the margin of the shell, which
is sufficient to render the animal for ever immoveably
fixed.

Mr. Knight, the learned and ingenious President of
the Horticultural Society, discovered by accident an arti-
ficial substance, more attractive than any of the resins
experimentally tried by Reaumur, Having caused the
decorticated part of a tree to be covered with a cement
composed of bees'-wax and turpentine, he observed that
this was frequented by hive-bees, who, finding it to be a
very good propolis ready made, detached it from the tree
with their mandibles, and then, as usual, passed it from
the first leg to the second, and so on. When one bee had
thus collected its load, another often came behind and
despoiled it of all it had collected ; a second and a third
load were frequently lost in the same manner ; and yet
the patient insect pursued its operations without manifest-
ing any signs of anger.* Probably the latter circum-
stance, at which Mr. Knight seems to have been surprised,
was nothing more than an instance of the division of
labour so strikingly exemplified in every part of the eco-
nomy of bees.

It may not be out of place here to describe the appa-
ratus with which the worker-bees are provided lor the
pui'pose of carrying the propolis as well as the pollen of
flowers to the hive, and which has just been alluded to in
the observations of Mr. Knight. The shin or middle
portion of the hind pair of legs is actually formed into a
triangular basket, admirably adapted to this design. The
bottom of this basket is composed of a sujooth, shining,

* Philosophical Trans, for 18G7, p. 242,

IiIVi:-SEKS.

109

Structure of the legs of the Bee f>.r carrying propolis a;id I'oUen, mag-
nified .

horn-like substance, hollowed out in the substance of the
limb, and surrounded with a margin of strong and thickly-
set bristles. Whatever materials, therefore, may be
placed by the bee in the interior of this basket, are secured
from falling out by the bristles around it, whose elasticity
will even allow the load to be heaped beyond their points
without letting it fall.

In the case of propolis, when the bee is loading her
singular basket, she first kneads the piece she has de-
tached with her mandibles, till it becomes somewhat dry
and less adhesive, as otherwise it would stick to her
limbs. This preliminary process sometimes occupies
nearly half an hour. She then passes it backwards by
means of her feet to the cavity of her basket, giving it
two or three pats to make it adhere ; and when she adds
a second portion to the first, she often finds it necessary
to pat it still harder. When she has procured as much
as the basket will conveniently hold, she flies ofl" with it
to the hive.

THE BUILDIXG OF THE CELLS.

The notion commonly entertained respecting glass hives
is altogether erroneous. Those who are unacquainted

110 IXSECT ARCHITECTUKE.

with bees imagine that, by means of a glass hive, all their
proceedings may be easily watched and recorded; but it
is to be remembered that bees are exceedingly averse
to the intrusion of light, and their first operation in such
cases is to close up every chink by which light can enter
to disturb them, either by clustering together, or by a
plaster composed of propolis. ^ It consequently requires
considerable management and ingenuity, even with the
aid of a glass hive, to see them actually at work. M.
Huber employed a hive with leaves, which opened in the
manner of a book ; and for some purposes he used a glass
box, inserted in the body of the hive, but easily brought
into view by means of screws.

But no invention hitherto contrived is sufficient to ob-
viate every difficulty. The bees are so eager to afford
mutual assistance, and for this purpose so many of them
crowd together in rapid succession, that the operations of
individuals can seldom be traced. Though this crowding,
however, appears to an observer to be not a little con-
fused, it is all regulated with admirable order, as has
been ascertained by Reaumur and other distinguished
naturalists.

When bees begin to build the hive, they divide them-
selves into bands, one of which produces materials for
the structure ; another works upon these, and forms them
into a rough sketch of the dimensions and partitions of
the cells. All this is completed by the second band, who
examine and adjust the angles, remove the superfluous
wax, and give the work its necessary perfection ; and a
third band brings provisions to the labourers, who cannot
leave their work. But no distribution of food is made to
those whose charge, in collecting propolis and pollen,
calls them to the field, because it is supposed they will
hardly forget themselves ; neither is any allowance made
to those who begin the architecture of the cells. Their
province is very troublesome, because they are obliged
to level and extend, as well as cut and adjust the wax to
the dimensions required ; but then they soon obtain a
dismission from this labour, and retire to the fields to
regale themselves with food, and wear off their fatigue

niVE-BEES. Ill

with a more agreeable employment. Those who suc-
ceed them, draw their mouth, their feet, and the ex-
tremity of their body, several times over all the work,
and never desist till the whole is polished and completed ;
and as they frequently need refreshments, and yet are
not permitted to retire, there are waiters always attend-
ing, who serve them with provisions when they require
them. The labourer who has an appetite, bends down
his trunk before the caterer to intimate that he has an
inclination to eat, upon which the other opens his bag of
honey, and pours out a few drops ; these may be dis-
tinctly seen rolling through the whole of his trunk, which
insensibly swells in every part the liquor flows through.
When this little repast is over, the labourer returns to
his work, and his body and feet repeat the same motions
as before.*

Before they can commence building, however, when a
colony or swarm migrates from the original hive to a new
situation, it is necessary first to collect propolis, M'ith
which every chink and cranny in the place where they
mean to build may be carefully stopped up ; and secondly,
that a quantity of wax be secreted by the wax-workers,
to form the requisite cells. The secretion of wax, it
would appear, goes on best when the bees are in a state
of repose ; and the wax-workers, accordingly, suspend
themselves in the interior in an extended cluster, like a
curtain which is composed of a series of intertwined fes-
toons or garlands, crossing each other in all directions, —
the uppermost bee maintaining its position by laying hold
of the roof with its fore-legs, and the succeeding one by
laying hold of the hind legs of the first.

" A person," says Reaumur, " must have been born
devoid of curiosity not to take interest in the investigation
of such wonderful proceedings." Yet Reaumur himself
seems not to have understood that the bees suspended
themselves in this manner to secrete wax, but merely, as
he imagined, to recruit themselves by rest for renewing'
their labours. The bees composing the festooned cur-

* Spectacle de la Nature, tome i.

112

INSECT AK( lilTLCTLHr.

tain are individually motionless ; but this curtain is, not-
withstanding, kept moving- by the proceedings in the in-
terior ; for the nurse-bees never form any portion of it,
and continue their activity— a distinction with which
lleauniur was unacquaintecL

Curtain of W,ix w* rke-is ^eineiin'' wak.

HlVS-UiiliS. 113

Altliough there are many thousand labourers in a hive,
they do not commence foundations for combs in several
places at once, but wait till an individual bee has selected
a site, and laid the foundation of a comb, which serves as
a directing mark for all that are to follow. Were we not
expressly told by so accurate an observer as Huber, we
might hesitate to believe that bees, though united in what
appears to be a harmonious monarchy, are strangers to
subordination, and subject to no discipline. Hence it is,
that though many bees work on the same comb, they do
not appear to be guided by any simultaneous impulse.
The stimulus which moves them is successive. An in-
dividual bee commences each operation, and several
others successively apply themselves to accomplish the
the same purpose. Each bee appears, therefore, to act
individually, either as directed by the bees preceding it,
or by the state of advancement in which it finds the work
it has to proceed with. If there be anything like una-
nimous consent, it is the inaction of several thousand
v.orkers while a single individual proceeds to determine
and lay down the foundation of the first comb. Reaumur
regrets, that, though he could by snatches detect a bee at
work in founding cells or perfecting their structure, his
observations were generally interrupted by the crowding
of other bees between him and the little builder. He
was therefore compelled rather to infer the different steps
of their procedure from an examination of the cells when
completed, than from actual observation. The ingenuity
of Huber, even under all the disadvantages of blindness,
succeeded in tracing the minutest operations of the
workers from the first waxen plate of the foundation,
We think the narrative of the discoverer's experiments,
as given by himself, will be more interesting than any
abstract of it which we could furnish.

" Having taken a large bell-shaped glass receiver, we
glued thin wooden slips to the arch at certain intervals,
because the glass itself was too smooth to admit of the
bees supporting themselves on it. A swarm, consisting
of some thousand workers, several hundred males, and a
fertile queen, was introduced, and they soon ascended to

114 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

the top. Those first gaining the slips, fixed themselves
there by the fore-feet ; others, scrambling up the sides,
joined them, by holding their legs with their own, and
they thus formed a kind of chain, fastened by the two
ends to the upper parts of the receiver, and served as
ladders or a bridge to the workers enlarging their num-
ber. The latter were united in a cluster, hanging like
an inverted pyramid from the top to the bottom of the
hive.

" The country then affording little hone}^, we pro-
vided the bees with syrup of sugar, in order to hasten
their labour. They crowded to the edge of a vessel con-
taining it ; and, having satisfied themselves, returned to
the group. We were now struck with the absolute re-
pose of this hive, contrasted with the usual agitation of
bees. Meanwhile, the nurse-bees alone went to forage
in the countiy ; they returned with pollen, kept guard at
the entrance of the hive, cleansed it, and stopped up its
edges with propolis. The wax-workers remained m.o-
tionless above fifteen hours : the curtain of bees, consist-
ing always of the same individuals, assured us that none
replaced them. Some hours later, we remarked that
almost all these individuals had wax scales under the rings ;
and next day this phenomenon was still more general.
The bees forming the external layer of the cluster, having
now somewhat altered their position, enabled us to see
their bellies distinctly. By the projection of the wax
scales, the rings seemed edged with white. The curtain
of bees became rent in several places, and some commo-
tion began to be observed in the hive.

" Convinced that the combs would originate in the
centre of the swarm, our whole attention was then di-
rected towards the roof of the glass. A worker ati this
time detached itself from one of the central festoons of
the cluster, separated itself from the crowd, and, with its
head, drove away the bees at the beginning of the row
in the middle of the arch, turning round to form a space
an inch or more in diameter, in which it might move
freely. It then fixed itself in the centre of the space thus
cleared.

hive-bi:es. 115

" The worker now employing the pincers at the joint
of one of the third pair of its limbs, seized a scale of wax
projectine: from a ring-, and brought it forward to its
mouth with the claws of its lore-legs, where it appeared

Wax-worker laying the foundation of.the first Cell.

in a vertical position. We remarked that, with its claws,
it turned the wax in every necessary direction ; that
the edge of the scale was immediately broken down,
and the fragments having been accumulated in the
hollow of the mandibles, issued forth like a very narrow
ribbon, impregnated with a frothy liquid by the tongue.
The tongue itself assumed the most varied shapes, and
executed the most complicated operations, — being some-
times flattened like a trowel, and at other times pointed
like a pencil ; and, after imbuing the whole substance of
the ribbon, pushed it forward again into the mandibles,
whence it was drawn out a second time, but in an oppo-
site direction.

*' At length the bee applied these particles of wax to
the vault of the hive, where the saliva impregnating them
promoted their adhesion, and also communicated a white-
ness and opacity which were wanting when the scales
were detached from the rings. Doubtless, this process
was to give the wax that ductility and tenacity belonging
to its perfect state. The bee then separated those por-
tions not yet applied to use with its mandibles, and with
the same organs afterwards arranged them at pleasure.
The founder bee, a name approjjriated to this worker,
repeated the same operation, until all the fragments,
worked up and impregnated with the fluid, were attached
to the vault, when it repeated the preceding operations
on the part of the scale yet kept apart, and again united
to the rest what was obtained from it. A second and

116

I>SECT AECHITECTLIIE.

third scale were similarly treated by the same bee ; yet
the work was only sketched ; for the worker did nothing
but accumulate the particles of wax together. Mean-
while, the founder, quitting its position, disappeared
amidst its companions. Another, with wax under the
rings, succeeded it, which suspending itself to the same
spot, withdrew a scale by the pincers of the hind legs,
and passing it through its mandibles, prosecuted the work ;
and taking care to make its deposit in a line with the
former, it united their extremities. A third worker, de-
taching itself from the interior of the cluster, now came
and reduced some of the scales to paste, and put them

Curlain of W. x-'voikei-s (see p. 1 12).

iiive-ue;-:s. 117

neai' the materials accumulated by its companions, but not
in a straight line. Another bee, apparently sensible of
the defect, removed the misplaced wax before our eyes,
and carrying it to the former heap, deposited it there,
exactly in the order and direction pointed out.

" From all these operations was produced a block of a
rugged surface, hanging down from the arch, without
any perceptible angle, or any traces of cells. It was a
simple wall, or ridge, running in a straight line, and
without the least inflection, two-thirds of an inch in
length, about two-thirds of a cell, or two lines, high, and
declining towards the extremities. We have seen other
foundation walls from an inch to an inch and a half long,
the form being always the same ; but none ever of greater
height.

" The vacuity in the centre of the cluster had per-
mitted us to discover the first manoeuvres of the bees, and
the art with which they laid the foundations of their
edifices. However, it was filled up too soon for our sa-
tisfaction ; for workers collecting on both faces of the
wall obstructed our view of their further operations." *

* Hubcr on Bee?, n. 358.

( 118 )

CHAPTER VI.

Architecture of the Hive-bee continued — Form of the Cells.

The obstruction of which M. Huber complains only
operated as a stimulus to his ingenuity in contriving how
he might continue his interesting observations. From
the time of Pappus to the present day, mathematicians
have applied the principles of geometry to explain the
construction of the cells of a bee-hive ; but though their
extraordinary regularity, and wonderfully selected form,
had so often been investigated by men of the greatest
talent, and skilled in all the refinements of science, the
process by which they are constructed, involving also the
causes of their regularity of form, had not been traced,
till M. Huber devoted himself to the inquiry.

As the wax-workers secrete only a limited quantity of
wax, it is indispensably requisite that as little as possible
of it should be consumed, and that none of it should be
•wasted. Bees, therefore, as M. Reaumur well remarks,*
have to solve this difficult geometrical problem : — a quan-
tity of wax being given, to form of it similar and equal
cells of a determinate capacity, but of the largest size in
proportion to the quantity ot* matter employed, and dis-
posed in such a manner as to occupy the least possible
space in the hive. This problem is solved by bees in all
its conditions. The cylindrical form would seem to be
best adapted to the shape of the insect ; but had the cells
been cylindrical, they could not have been applied to
each other without leaving a vacant and superfluous space
between every three contiguous cells. Had the cells, on
the other hand, been square, or triangular, they might
have been constructed without unnecessary vacancies ;
but these forms would have both required more material

* Reaumur, vol. v. p. 380.

HIVE-BEES. 119

and been very unsuitable to the shape of a bee's body.
The six-sided form of the cells obviates every objection ;
and while it fulfils the conditions of the j)roblem, it is
equally adapted with a cylinder to the shape of the bee.

M. Reaumur further remarks, that the base of each
cell, instead of forming a plane, is usually composed of
three pieces in the shape of the diamonds on playing
cards, and placed in such a manner as to form a hollow
pyramid. This structure, it may be observed, imparts a
greater degree of strength, and, still keeping the solution
of the problem in view, gives a great capacity with the
smallest expenditure of material. This has actually, in-
deed, been ascertained by mathematical measurement and
calculation. Maraldi, the inventor of glass hives, deter-
mined, by minutely measuring these angles, that the
greater were 109^ "28', and the smaller^TO^ 32'; and
M. Reaumur, being desirous to know why these parti-
cular angles are selected, requested M. Koenig, a skill ul
mathematician (without informing him of his design, or
telling him of Maraldi's researches), to determine by
calculation, what ought to be the angle of a six-sided
cell, with a concave ])yramidal base, formed of three
similar and equal rhomboid plates, so that the least pos-
sible matter should enter into its construction. By em-
ploying what geometricians denominate the injitiitesimal
calculus, M. Koenig found that the angles should be 109°
26' for the greater, and 70° 34' for the smaller, or about
two-sixtieths of a degree, more or less, than the actual
angles made choice of by bees. The equality of inclina-
sion in the angles has also been said to facilitate the con-
struction of the cells.

M. Huber adds to these remarks, that the cells of the
first row, by which the whole comb is attached to the
roof of a hive, are not like the rest ; for, instead of six
sides, they have only five, of which the roof forms one.
The base, also, is in these different, consisting of three
pieces on the face of the comb, and on the other side of
two : one of these only is diamond shaped, while the
other two are of an irregular four-sided figure. This ar-
rangement, by bringing the greatest number of points in

120

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

contact with the interior surface, ensures the stability of
the comb.

Anaagemeni of Cells.

It may, however, be said not to be quite certain, that
Reaumur and others have not ascribed to bees the merit
of ingenious mathematical contrivance and selection,
when the construction of the cells may more probably
originate in the form of their mandibles and other instru-
ments employed in their operations. In the case of other
insects, we have, both in the preceding and subsequent
pages of this volume, repeatedly noticed, that they use
their bodies, or parts thereof, as the standards of mea-
surement and modelling ; and it is not impossible that
bees may proceed on a similar principle. M. Huber
replies to this objection, that bees are not provided with
instruments corresponding to the angles of their cells ; for
there is no more resemblance between these and the form
of their mandibles, than between the chisel of the sculptor
and the work which he produces. The head, he thinks,
does not furnish any better explanation. He admits that
the antennae are very flexible, so as to enable the insects
to follow the outline of every object ; but concludes that
neither their structure, nor that of the limbs and mandi-
bles, are adequate to explain the form of the cells, though
all these are employed in the operations of building, —
the effect, according to him, depending entirely on the
object which the insect proposes.

We shall now follow M. Huber in the experiments

HIVE-BEES. 121

which he contrived, in order to observe the operations
of the bees subsequent to their laying a foundation for
the first cell ; and we shall again quote from his own
narrative : —

" It appeared to me," he says, " that the only method
of isolating the architects, and bringing them individually
into view, would be to induce them to change the direc-
tion of their operations and work upwards.

" I had a box made twelve inches square and nine
deep, with a moveable glass lid. Combs full of brood,
honey, and pollen, were next selected from one of my
leaf-hives, as containing what might interest the bees,
and being cut into pieces a foot long, and four inches
deep, they were arranged vertically at the bottom of the
box, at the same intervals as the insects themselves
usually leave between them. A small slip of wooden
lath covered the upper edge of each. It was not pro-
bable that the bees would attempt to found new combs on
the glass roof of the box, because its smoothness pre-
cluded the swarm from adhering to it ; therefore, if dis-
posed to build, they could do so over the slips resting on
the combs, which left a vacuity five inches high above
them. As we had foreseen, the swarm with which this
box was peopled established itself among the combs below.
We then observed the nurse-bees displaying their natural
activity. They dispersed themselves throughout the
hive, to feed the young grubs, to clear out their lodg-
ment, and adapt it for their convenience. Certainly,
the combs, which were roughly cut to fit the bottom of
the box, and in some parts damaged, appeared to them
shapeless and misplaced ; for they speedily commenced
their reparation. They beat down the old wax, kneaded
it between their teeth, and thus formed binding materials
to consolidate them. We were astonished beyond ex-
pression by such a multitude of workers employed at once
in labours to which it did not appear they should have
been called, at their coincidence, their zeal, and their
prudence.

" But it was still more wonderful, that about half the
numerous population took no part in the proceedings,

i22 IKSECT AKCHITECTURE.

remaining motionless, while the others fulfilled the func-
tions required. The wax-workers, in a state of absolute
repose, recalled our former observations. Gorged with
the honey we had put within their reach, and continuing
in this condition during twenty-four hours, wax was
formed under their rings, and was now ready to be put
in operation. To our great satisfaction, we soon saw a
little foundation wall rising on one of the slips that we
had prepared to receive the superstructure. No obstacle
was offered to the progress of our observations ; and for
the second time, we beheld both the undertaking of the
founder-bee, and the successive labours of several wax-
workers, in forming the foundation wall. Would that
my readers could share the interest which the view of
these architects inspired !

" This foundation, originally very small, was enlarged
as the work required ; while they excavated on one side
a hollow, of about the width of a common cell, and on
the opposite surface two others somewhat more elongated.
The middle of the single cell corresponded exactly to the
partition separating the latter ; the arches of these exca-
vations, projecting by the accumulation of wax, were
converted into ridges in a straight line ; whence the
cells of the first row were composed of five sides, con-
sidering the slip as one side, and those of the second row,
of six sides.

Foundation-wall eiil.irjjed, and the Cl'IIs commenced.

*' The interior conformation of the cavities, apparently,
was derived from the position of their respective outlines.
It seemed that the bees, endowed with an admirable
delicacy of feeling, directed their teeth principally to
the place where the wax was thickest ; that is, the parts
where other workers on the opposite side had accumulated

UIVJi-KEES. 123

it ; and this explains why the bottom of the cell is ex-
cavated in an angular direction behind the projection on
the sides of which the sides of the corresponding cells are
to rise. The largest of the excavations, which was op-
])Osite to three others, was divided into three parts, while
the excavations of the first row on the other face, applied
against this one, were composed of only two.

*' In consequence of the manner in which the excava-
tions were opposed to each other, those of the second
row, and all subsequent, partially applied to three cavi-
ties, were composed of three equal diamond-shaped lo-
zenges. I may here remark, that each part of the labour
of bees appears the natural result of what has preceded
it ; therefore, chance has no share in these admirable
combinations.

" A foundation wall rose above the slip like a minute
vertical partition, five or six lines long, two lines high,
but only half a line in thickness ; the edge circular, and
the surface rough. Quitting the cluster among the combs,
a nurse-bee mounted the slip, turned around the block,
and visiting both sides, began to work actively in the
middle. It removed as much wax with its teeth as might
equal the diameter of a cOmmon cell ; and after kneading
and moistening the particles, deposited them on the edge
of the excavation. This insect having laboured some
seconds, retired, and was soon replaced by another; a
third continued the work, raising the margin of the edges,
now projecting from the cavity, and with assistance of its
teeth and feet fixing the particles, so as to give these
edges a straighter form. More than twenty bees succes-
sively participated in the same work ; and when the ca-
vity was little above a line and a half in height, though
equalling a cell in width, a bee left the swarm, and after
encircling the block commenced its operations on the
opposite face, where yet untouched. But its teeth acting
only on one half of this side, the hollow which it formed
was opposite to only one of the slight prominences bor-
dering the first cavity. Nearly at the same time another
worker began on the right of the face that had been un-
touched, wherein both were occupied in forming cavities,

124 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

which may be designed the second and third ; and they
also were replaced by substitutes. These two latter ca-
vities were separated only by the common margin, framed
of particles of wax withdrawn from them ; which margin
corresponded with the centre of the cavity on the oppo-
site surface. The foundation wall itself was still of in-
sufficient dimensions to admit the full diameter of a cell :
but while the excavations were deepened, wax-workers,
extracting their scales of wax, applied them in enlarging
its circumference ; so that it rose nearly two lines further
around the circular arch. The nurse-bees, which ap-
peared more especially charged with sculpturing the
cells, being then enabled to continue their outlines, pro-
longed the cavities, and heightened their margins on tl^e
new addition of wax.

" The arch, formed by the edge of each of these ca-
vities, was next divided as by two equal chords, in the
line of which the bees formed stages or projecting bor-
ders, or margins meeting at an obtuse angle ; the cavities
now had four margins, two lateral and perpendicular
to the supporting slip, and two oblique, which were
shorter.

" Meantime, it became more difficult to follow the
operations of the bees, from their frequently interposing
their heads between the eye of the observer and the bot-
tom of the cell ; but the partition, whereon their teeth
laboured, had become so transparent, as to expose what
passed on the other side.

" The cavities of which we speak, formed the bottom
of the first three cells ; and while the bees engaged were
advancing them to perfection, other workers commenced
sketching a second row of cells above the first, and partly
behind those in front — for, in general, their labour pro-
ceeds by combination. We cannot say, ' When bees
have finished this cell, they will begin new ones;' but,
' while particular workers advance a certain portion, we
are certain that others will carry on the adjacent cells.'
Further, the work begun on one face of the comb is
already the commencement of that which is to follow on
the reverse. All this depends on a reciprocal relation.

lilVE-IiELs. 125

or a mutual connexion of the parts, rendering' the whole
subservient to each other. It is undoubted, therefore,
that slight irregularities on the front will affect the form
of the cells on the back of the comb." *

When they have in this manner worked the bottoms
of the first row of cells into the required forms, some of
the nurse-bees finish them by imparting a sort of polish,
while others proceed to cut out the rudiments of a second
row from a fresh wall of wax which has been built in the
meanwhile by the wax-workers, and also on the opposite
side of this wall; for a comb of cells is always double,
being arranged in two layers, placed end to end. The
cells of this second row are engrafted on the borders of
cavities hollowed out in the wall, being founded by the
nurse-bees, bringing the contour of all the bottoms,
which is at first unequal, to the same level ; and this
level is ke}»t uniform in the margins of the cells till they
are completed. At first sight, nothing appears more
simple than adding wax to the margins ; but from the
inequalities occasioned by the shape of the bottom, the
bees must accumulate M'ax on the depressions, in order
to bring them to a level. It follows accordingly that the
surface of a new comb is not quite fiat, there being a pro-
gressive slope produced 'as the work proceeds, and the
comb being therefore in the form of a lens, the thickness
decreasing towards the edge, and the last formed cells
being shallov.er or shorter than those preceding them.
So long as there is room for the enlargement of the comb,
this thinning of its edge may be remarked ; but as soon
as the space within the hive prevents its enlargement,
the cells are made equal, and two flat and level surfaces
are produced.

M. Huber observed, that while sketching the bottom
of a cell, before there was any upright margin on the
reverse, their pressure on the still soft and flexible wax
gave rise to a projection, v.hich sometimes caused a breach
of the partition. This, however, was soon repaired, but
a slight prominence always remained on the opposite sur-

* Huber on Bies, p. 368.

126 INSECT ARCHIfECTUEE.

face, to the right and left of which they placed them-
selves, to begin a new excavation ; and the}' heaped up
part of the materials between the two flutings formed
by their labour. The ridge thus formed becomes a guide
to the direction which the bees are to follow for the ver-
tical furrow of the front cell.

We have already seen that the first cell determines the
place of all that succeed it, and two of these are never,
in ordinary circumstances, begun in dilierent parts of the
hive at the same time, as is alleged by some early writers.
When some rows of cells, however, have been com-
pleted in the first comb, two other foundation walls are
begun, one on each side of it, at the exact distance of
one-third of an inch, which is sufhcient to allow two bees
employed on the opposite ceils to pass each other without
jostling. These new walls are also parallel to tlie former ;
and two more are afterwards begun exterior to the se-
cond, and at the same parallel distance. The combs are
uniformly enlarged, and lengthened in a progression pro-
portioned to the priority of their origin ; the middle
comb being always advanced beyond the two adjoining
ones by several rows of cells, and these again beyond the
ones exterior to them. Did the bees lay the foundations
of all their combs at the same time, they would not find
it easy to preserve parallelism and an equality in their
distances. It may be remarked further, that beside the
vacancies of half an inch between the cells, which form
what we call the highways of the community, the combs
are pierced in several places with holes which serve as
postern-gates for easy communication from one to another,
to prevent loss of time in going round. The equal dis-
tance between the combs is of more importance to the
welfare of the hive than might at first appear ; for were
they too distant, the bees would be so scattered and dis-
persed, that they could not reciprocally communicate the
heat indispensable for hatching the eggs and rearing the
young. If the combs, on the other hand, were closer,
the bees could not traverse the intervals with the freedom
necessary to facilitate the work of the hive. On the ap-
proach of winter, they sometimes elongate the cells which

IIIVE-BEES. 127

contain honey, and thus contract the intervals between
the combs. But this expedient is in jjreparation lor a
season when it is important to have copious magazines,
and when, their activity being relaxed, it is unnecessary
for their communications to be so spacious and free. On
the return of spring, the bees hasten to contract the
elongated cells, that they may become fit for receiving
the eggs which the queen is about to deposit, and in this
manner they re-establish the regular distance.*

We are indebted to the late Dr. Barclay of Edinburgh,
well known as an excellent anatomist, for the discovery
that each cell in a honeycomb is not simply composed of
one wall, but consists of two. We shall give the account
of his discovery in his own words : —

*' Having inquired of several naturalists whether or not
they knew any author who had mentioned that the par-
titions between the cells of the honeycomb were double,
and ^^ hether or not they had ever remarked such a struc-
ture themselves, and they having answered in the nega-
tive, I now take the liberty of presenting to the Society
pieces of honeycomb, in w hich the young bees had been
reared, upon breaking which, it will be clearly seen that
the partitions between difierent cells, at the sides and
the base, are all double; or, in other words, that each
cell is a distinct, separate, and in some measure an in-
dependent structure, agglutinated only to the neighbour-
ing cells ; and that when the agglutinating substance is
destroyed, each cell may be entirely separated from the
rest.

" I have also some specimens of the cells formed by
wasps, which show that the partitions between them are
also double, and that the agglutinating substance between
them is more easily destroyed than that between the cells
of the bee."t

IKKEGULARITIES IX THEIR WORKMANSHIP.

Though bees, however, work with great uniformity

* Huber on Bees, p. 220.
f Memoirs of the Wernerian Nat. Hist. Soc. vol. ii. p. 2G0.

128 INSECT ARCHITECTURE,

Avhen circumstances favour their operations, they may be
compelled to vary their proceeding-s. M. Huber made
several ingenious experiments of this kind. The follow-
ing, mentioned by Dr. Bevan, was accidental, and oc-
curred to his friend Mr. Walond. " Inspecting his bee-
boxes at the end of October, 1817, he perceived that a
centre comb, burthened with honey, had separated from
its attachments, and v.as leaning against another comb so
as to prevent the passage of the bees betv.een them.
This accident excited great activity in the colony ; but
its nature could not be ascertained at the time. At the
end of a week, the weather being cold, and the bees
clustered together, Mr. Walond observed, through the
window of the box, that they had constructed two hori-
zontal pillars betwixt the combs alluded to ; and had
removed so much of the honey and wax from the top of
each as to allow the passage of a bee : in about ten days
more there Mas an uninterrupted thoroughfare ; the de-
tached comb at i(s upper part had been secured by a
strong barrier, and fastened to the window with the spare
wax. This being accomplished, the bees removed the
horizontal pillars first constructed, as being of no further
use."*

A similar anecdote is told by M. Huber. "During
the winter," sa^^s he, " a comb in one of my bell-glass
hives, having been originally insecure, fell down, but
preserved its position parallel to the rest. The bees were
unable to fill up the vacuity left above it, because they
do not build combs of old v.ax, and none new could be
then obtained. At a more favourable season they would
have ingrafted a new comb on the old one ; but now their
provision of honey could not be spared for the elaboration
of this substance, which induced them to ensure the
stability of the comb by another process.

" Crowds of bees taking wax from the lower part of
other combs, and even gnawing it from the suriace of the
orifices of the deepest cells, they constructed so many
irregular pillars, joists, or buttresses, between the sides

'■'■ Bevan on Bees, p. 326.

HIVE-BEES. 129

of the fallen comb, and others on the glass of the hive.
All these were artificially adapted to localities. Neither
did they confine themselves to repairing the accidents
which their works had sustained. They seemed to profit
by the warning to guard against a similar casualty.

'* The remaining combs were not displaced ; therefore,
while solidly adhering by the base, we were greatly sur-
prised to see the bees strengthen their principal fixtures
with old wax. They rendered them much thicker than
before, and fabricated a number of new connexions, to
unite them more firmly to each other and to the sides of
their dwelling. All this passed in the middle of January,
a time that these , insects commonly keep in the upper
part of their hive, and when work is no longer season^
able.--'*

M. Huber the younger shrewdly remarks, that the
tendency to symmetry observable in the architecture of
bees does not hold so much in small details as in the
whole work, because they are sometimes obliged to adapt
themselves to particular localities. One irregularity leads
on to another, and it commonly arises from mere accident,
or from design on the part of the proprietor of the bees.
By allowing, for instance, too little interval between the
spars for receiving the foundation of the combs, the struc-
ture has been continued in a particular direction. The
bees did not at first appear to be sensible of the defect,
though they afterwards began to suspect their error, and
were then observed to change their line of work till they
gained the customary distance. The cells havino- been
by this change of direction in some degree curved, the
new ones which were commenced on each side of it, by
being built everywhere parallel to it, partook of the same
curvature. But the bees did not relish such approaches
to the 'Mine of beauty," and exerted themselves to brino-
their buildings again into the regular form.

In consequence of several irregularities which they
wished to correct, the younger Huber has seen bees de-
part from their usual practice, and at once lay on a spar

* Huber on Bee?, p. 416.
VOL. I. Q

130 IXSECT AKCHITECTURE.

two foundation walls not in the same line. They could
consequently neither be enlarged without obstructing
both, nor from their position could the edges unite had
they been prolonged. The little architects, however, had
recourse to a very ingenious contrivance : they curved the
edges of the two combs, and brought them to unite so
neatly that they could be both prolonged in the same line
with ease ; and when carried to some little distance, their
surface became quite uniform and level.

" Having seen bees," says the elder Huber, '* work
both up and down, I wished^ to try to investigate whether
we could compel them to construct their combs in any
other direction. We endeavoured to puzzle them with a
hive glazed above and below, so that they had no place
of support but the upright sides of their dwelling ; but,
betaking themselves to the upper angle, they built their
combs perpendicular to one of these sides, and as regularly
as those which they usually build under a horizontal sur-
face. The foundations were laid on a place which does not
serve naturally for the base, yet, except in the difference
of direction, the first row of cells resembled those in or-
dinary hives, the others being distributed on both faces,
while the bottoms alternately corresponded with the same
symmetry. I put the bees to a still greater trial. As
they now testified their inclination to carry their combs,
by the shortest way, to the opposite side of the hive (for
they prefer uniting them to wood, or a surface rougher
than glass), I covered it with a pane. Whenever this
smooth and slippery substance was interposed between
them and the wood, they departed from the straight line
hitherto followed, and bent the structure of their comb at
a right angle to what was already made, so that the pro-
lono-ation of the extremity might reach another side of the
hive, which had been left free. x

" Varying this experiment in several ways, I saw the
bees constantly change the direction of their conibs, when
I presented to them a surface too smooth to admit of their
clustering on it. They always sought the wooden sides.
I thus compelled them to curve the combs in the strangest
shapes, by placing a pane at a certain distance from their

HIVE-BEES. 131

edges. These results indicate a degree of instinct truly
wonderful. They denote even more than instinct : for
glass is not a substance against which bees can be warned
by nature. In trees, their natural abode, there is nothing
that resembles it, or with the same polish. The most
singular part of their proceeding is changing the direction
of the work before arriving at the surface of the glass,
and while yet at a distance suitable for doing so. Do
they anticipate the inconvenience which would attend any
other mode of building ? No less curious is the plan
adopted by the bee for producing an angle in the combs :
the wonted fashion of their work, and the dimensions of
the cells, must be altered. Therefore, the cells on the
upper or convex side of the combs are enlarged ; they
are constructed of three or four times the width of those
on the opposite surface. How can so many insects, oc-
cupied at once on the edges of the combs, concur in
giving them a common curvature from one extremity to
the other '? How do they resolve on establishing cells so
small on one side, while dimensions so enlarged are be-
stowed on those of the other ? And is it not still more
singular, that they have the art of making a correspond-
ence between cells of such reciprocal discrepance ? The
bottom being common to both, the tubes alone assume a
taper form. Perhaps no other insect has afforded a more
decisive proof of the resources of instinct, when com-
pelled to deviate from the ordinary course.

"But let us study them in their natural state, and
there we shall find that the diameter of their cells must
be adapted to the individuals which shall be bred in
them. The cells of males have the same figure, the
same number of lozenges and sides, as those of workers,
and angles of the same size. Their diameter is 3^ lines,
while those of workers are only 2|.

" It is rarely that the cells of males occupy the higher
part of the combs. They are generally in the middle
or on the sides, where they are not isolated. The
manner in which they are surrounded by other cells
alone can explain how the transition in size is effected.
When the cells of males are to be fabricated under those

132 INSECT ARCIIITECTUBE.

of workers, the bees make several rows of intermediate
cells, whose diameter augments progressively, until
gaining that proportion proper to the cells required ; and
in returning to those of workers, a lowering is observed
in a manner corresponding.

"Bees, in preparing the cells of males, previously
establish a block or lump of wax on the edge of their
comb, thicker than is usually employed for those of
workers. It is also made higher, otherwise the same
order and symmetry could not be preserved on a larger
scale.

" Several naturalists notice the irregularities in the
cells of bees as so many defects. What would have been
their astonishment had they observed that part of them
are the result of calculation ? Had they followed the
imperfection of their organs, some other means of com-
pensating them would have been granted to the insects.
It is much more surprising that they know how to quit
the ordinary route, when circumstances demand the con-
struction of enlarged cells; and, after building thirty or
forty rows of them, to return to the proper proportions
from which they have departed by successive reductions.
Bees also augment the dimensions of their cells when
there is an opportunity for a great collection of honey.
Not only are they then constructed of a diameter much
exceeding that of the common cells, but they are elon-
gated throughout the whole space admitting it. A great
portion of irregular comb contains cells an inch, or even
an inch and a half, in depth.

" Bees, on the contrary, sometimes are induced to
shorten their cells. When wishing to prolong an old
comb, whose cells have received their full dimensions,
they gradually reduce the thickness of its edges, by
gnawing down the sides of the cells, until they restore
it to its original lenticular form. They add a waxen
block around the whole circumference, and on the edge
of the comb construct pyramidal bottoms, such as those
fabricated on ordinary occasions. It is a certain fact,
that a comb never is exiended in any direction unless the
bees have thinned the edges, which are diminished

HIVE-BEES. 133

throughout a sufficient space to remove any angular pro-
jection.

** The law which obliges these insects partly to demo-
lish the cells on the edges of the comb before enlarging
it, unquestionably demands more profound investigation.
How can we account for instinct leading them to undo
what they have executed with the utmost care ? The
wonted regular gradation, which may be necessary for
new cells, subsists among those adjoining the edges of a
comb recently constructed. But afterwards, when those
on the edge are deepened like the cells of the rest of the
surface, the bees no longer preserve the decreasing grada-
tion which is seen in the new combs."*

THE riNISHING OF THE CELLS.

While the cells are building, they appear to be of a
dull white colour, sol't, even, though not smooth, and
translucent ; but in a few days they become tinged with
yellovv, particularly on the interior surface ; and their
edges, from being thin, uniform, and yielding, become
thicker, less regular, more heavy, and so firm that they
will bend rather than break. New combs break on the
slightest touch. There is also a glutinous substance ob-
servable around the orifices of the yellow cells, of reddish
colour, unctuous, and odoriferous. Threads of the same
substance are applied all around the interior of the cells^
and at the summit of their angles, as if it were for the
purpose of binding and strengthening the walls. These
yellow cells also require a much higher temperature of
water to melt them than the white ones.

It appeared evident, therefore, that another substance,
different from wax, had been employed in varnishing the
orifices and strengthening the interior of the cells. M.
Iluber, by numerous experiments, ascertained the resi-
nous threads lining the cells, as well as the resinous
substance around their orifice, to be propolis ; for he
traced them, as we mentioned in our account of pro-
polis, from the poplar buds where they collected it, and

* Huber on Bees, p. 391.

134 INSECT AKCHITECTURE.

saw them apply it to the cells ; but the yellow colour is
not imparted by propolis, to which it bears no analogy.
We are, indeed, by no means certain what it is, though
it was proved by experiment not to arise from the heat
of the hives, nor from emanations of honey, nor from
particles of pollen. Perhaps it may be ascribed to the
bees rubbing their teeth, feet, and other parts of their
body, on the surfaces where they seem to rest ; or to
their tongue (haustellum) sweeping from right to left
like a fine pliant pencil, when it appears to leave some
sprinkling of a transparent liquid.

Beside painting and varnishing their cells in this man-
ner, they take care to strengthen the weaker parts of
their edifice by means of a mortar composed of propolis
and wax, and named pissoceros* by the ancients, who
first observed it, though Reaumur was somewhat doubtful
respecting the existence of such a composition. We are
indebted to the shrewd observations of Huber for a re-
concilement of the Roman and the French naturalists.
The details which he has given of his discovery are per-
haps ihe most interesting in his delightful book.

** Soon," he says, " after some new combs had been
finished in a hive, manifest disorder and agitation pre-
vailed among the bees. They seemed to attack their own
works. The primitive cells, whose structure we had ad-
mired, w^ere scarcely recognizable. Thick and massy
walls, heavy, shapeless pillars, were substituted for the
slight partitions previously built with such regularity.
The substance had changed along with the form, being
composed apparently of wax and propolis. From the
perseverance of the workers in their devastations, we
suspected that they proposed some useful alteration of
their edifices ; and our attention was directed to the cells
least injured. Several were yet untouched ; but the bees
soon rushed precipitately on them, destroyed the tubes,
broke down the wax, and threw all the fragments about.
But we remarked, that the bottom of the cells of the first
row were spared ; neither were the corresponding parts

'" From two Greek words, signifying pitch and wax.

mVii-B£ES. 135

on both faces of the comb demolished at the same time.
The bees laboured at them alternately, leaving some of
the natural supports, otherwise the comb would have
fallen down, which was not their object: they wished,
on the contrary, to provide it a more solid base, and to
secure its union to the vault of the hive, with a substance
whose adhesive properties infinitely surpassed those of
wax. The propolis employed on this occasion had been
deposited in a mass over a cleft of the hive, and had hard-
ened in drying, which probably rendered it more suitable
for the purpose. But the bees experienced some difficulty
in making any impression on it ; and we thought, as also
had appeared to M. de Reaumur, that they softened it
with the same frothy matter from the tongue which they
use to render wax more ductile.

" We very distinctly observed the bees mixing fragments
of old wax with the propolis, kneading the two substances
together to incorporate them ; and the compound was em-
ployed in rebuilding the cells that had been destroyed.
But they did not now follow their ordinary rules of archi-
tecture, for they were occupied by the solidity of their
edifices alone. Night intervening, suspended our observa-
tions, but next morning confirmed what we had seen.

" We find, therefore, that there is an epoch in the
labour of bees, when the upper foundation of their combs
is constructed simply of wax, as Reaumur believed; and
that, after all the requisite conditions have been attained,
it is converted to a mixture of wax and propolis, as
remarked by Pliny so many ages before us. Thus is the
apparent contradiction between these two great naturalists
explained. But this is not the utmost extent of the fore-
sight of these insects. When they have plenty of wax,
they make their combs the full breadth of the hive, and
solder them to the glass or wooden sides, by structures
more or less approaching the form of cells, as circum-
stances admit. But should the supply of wax fail before
they have been able to give sufficient diameter to the
combs whose edges are rounded, large intervals remain
between them and the upright sides of the hive, and they
are fixed only at the top. Therefore, did not the bees
provide against it, by constructing great pieces of Avax

136 INSECT ARCIIITECTDRE.

mixed with propolis, in the intervals, they might be borne
down by the weight of the honey. These pieces are ot*
irregular shape, strangely hollowed out, and their cavities
void of symmetry."*

It is remarked by the lively Abbe la Pluche, that the
foundations of our houses sink with the earth on which
they are built, the walls begin to stoop by degrees, they
nod with age, and bend from their perpendicular ; —
lodgers damage everything, and time is continually intro-
ducing some new decay. The mansions of bees, on the
contrary, grow stronger the oftener they change inha-
bitants. Every bee-grub, before its metamorphosis into
a nymph, fastens its skin to the partitions of its cell, but
in such a manner as to make it correspond with the lines
of the angles, and without in the least disturbing the re-
gularity of the figure. During summer, accordingly, the
same lodging may serve for three or four grubs in succes-
sion ; and in the ensuing season it may accommodate an
equal number. Each grub never fails to fortify the panels
of its chamber by arraying them with its spoils, and the
contiguous cells receive a similar augmentation from its
brethren.! Reaumur found as many as seven or eight of
these skins spread over one another : so that all the cells
being incrusted with six or seven coverings, well dried
and cemented with propolis, the whole fabric daily ac-
quires a new degree of solidity.

It is obvious, however, that by a repetition of this pro-
cess the cell might be rendered too contracted ; but in
such a case the bees know well how to proceed, by turn-
ing the cells to other uses, such as magazines for bee-bread
and honey. It has been remarked, however, that in the
hive of a new swarm, during the months of July and Au-
gust, there are fewer small bees or nurse-bees than in one
that has been tenanted four or five years. The workers, in-
deed, clean out the cell the moment that a young bee leaves
its cocoon, but they never detach the silky film which it
has previously spun on the walls of its cell. But though
honey is deposited after the young leave the cells, the

* Huber en Bees, p. 415.

f Sj.ectacle de la Nature, vol. I.

mVE-BEE3. 137

reverse also happens ; and accordingly, when bees are
bred in contracted cells, they are by necessity smaller, and
constitute, in fact, the important class of nurse-bees.

We are not disposed, however, to go quite so far as an
American periodical writer, who says, " Thus we see that
the contraction of the cell may diminish the size of a bee,
even to the extinction of life, just as the contraction of a
Chinese shoe reduces the foot even touselessness."* We
know, on the contrary, that the queen bee will not deposit
eggs in a cell either too snuill or too large for the proper
rearing of the young. In the case of large cells, M. Huber
took advantage of a queen that was busy depositing the
eggs of workers, to remove all the common cells adapted
for their reception, and left only the large cells appro-
priated for males. As this was done in June, when bees
are most active, he expected that they would have imme-
diately repaired the breaches he had made ; but to his
great surprise they did not make the slightest movement
for that purpose. In the meanwhile the queen, being
oppressed by her eggs, was obliged to drop them about at
random, preferring this to depositing them in the male
cells, which she knew to be too large. At length she did
deposit six eggs in the large cells, which were hatched,
as usual, three days after. The nurse-bees, however,
seemed to be aware that they could not be reared there,
and, though they supplied them with food, did not attend
to them regularly. M. Huber found that they had been
all removed from the cells during the night, and the busi-
ness both of laying and nursing was at a complete stand
for twelve days, when he supplied them again with a
comb of small cells, which the queen almost immediately
filled with eggs, and in some cells she laid five or six.

The architecture of the hive, which we have thus de-
tailed, is that of bees receiving the aid of human care, and
having external coverings of a convenient form, prepared
for their reception. In this country bees are not found
in a wild state ; though it is not uncommon for swarms to

* North American Rev. Oct. 1828, p. 355.

G 3

138 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

stray from their proprietors. But these stray swarms do
not spread colonies through our woods, as they arc said
to do in America. In the remoter parts of that continent
there are no wild bees. They precede civilization ; and
thus when the Indians observe a swarm they say, " The
white man is coming." There is evidence of bees having
abounded in these islands, m the earlier periods of our
history ; and Ireland is particularly mentioned by the
Venerable Bede as being "rich in milk and honey."*
The hive-bee has formed an object of economical culture
in Europe at least for two thousand years ; and Varro
describes the sort of hives used in his time, 1870 years
ago. We are not aware, however, that it is now to be
found wild in the milder clime of Southern Europe, any
more than it is in our own island.

The w ild bees of Palestine principally hived in rocks.
" He made him," says Moses, " to suck honey out of the
rock."t " With honey out of the rock," says the
Psalmist, " should I have satisfied thee."t In the caves
of Salsette and Elephanta, at the present day, they hive
in the clefts of the rocks and the recesses among the fis-
sures, in such numbers, as to become very troublesome to
visiters. Their nests hang in innumerable clusters. §

We are told of a little black stingless bee found in the
island of Guadaloupe, which hives in hollow trees or in
the cavities of rocks by the sea-side, and lays " up honey
in cells about the size and shape of pigeons' eggs. These
cells are of a black or deep violet colour, and so joined
together as to leave no space between them. They hang
in clusters almost like a bunch of grapes." || The follow-
ing are mentioned by Lindley as indigenous to Brazil.
" On an excursion towards Upper Tapagippe," says he,
" and skirting the dreary woods which extend to the in-
terior, I observed the trees more loaded with bees' nests
than even in the neighbourhood of Porto Seguro. They
consist of a ponderous shell of clay cemented similarly to

* " Hlbernia dives lactis ac mellis insula.' • — Beda, Hist.

Eccles. i. 7. f Deut. xxxii. 13. % Psalm Ixxxi. 16.

§ Forbes, Orieu. Mem. i. || Amer. Q. Rev. iii. p. 383.

HIVE-BEES. 139

martins' nests, swelling from high trees about a foot thick,
and forming an oval mass full two feet in diameter.
When broken, the wax is arranged as in our hives, and
the honey abundant."*

Captain Basil Hall found in South America the hive
of a honey-bee very ditiiarent from the Brazilian, but
nearly allied to, if not the same as, that of Guadaloupe.
" The hive we saw opened," he says, " was only partly
filled, which enabled us to see the economy of the inte-
rior to more advantage. The honey is not contained in
the elegant hexagonal cells of our hives, but in wax bags,
not quite so large as an egg. These bags or bladders are
hung round the sides of the hive, and appear about half
full ; the quantity being probabl}^ just as great as the
strength of the wax will bear without tearing. Those
near the bottom, being better supported, are more filled
than the upper ones. In the centre of the lower part of
the hive we observed an irregularly-shaj^ed mass of comb,
furnished with cells like those of our bees, all containing
young ones in such an advanced state, that, when we
broke the comb, and let them out, they flew merrily
away."

Clavigero, in his ' History of Mexico,' evidently
describing the same species of bee, says it abounds in
Yucatan, and makes the honey of Estabentum, the finest
in the world, and which is taken every two months. He
mentioned another species of bee, smaller in size, and
also without a sting, which forms its nest of the shaj^e of
a sugarloaf, and as large or larger. These are suspended
from trees, particularly from the oak, and are much more
populous .than our common hives.

Wild hone3^-bees of some species appear also to abound
in Africa. jNIr. Park, in his second volume of travels,
tells us that some of his associates imprudently attempted
to rob a numerous hive of its honey, when the exaspe-
rated bees, rushing out to defend their property, attacked
their assailants with great fury, and quickly compelled
the whole company to fly.

* Roy. Mil. Chron. quoted in Kiiby and Spence.

140 IKSECT ARCHITECTURE,

At the Cape of Good Hope the bees themselves must
be less formidable, or more easily managed, as their hives
are sought for with avidity. Nature has there provided
man with a singular and very efficient assistant in a bird,
most appropriately named the honey-guide {Indicator
major, Vieillot ; Cuculus indicator, Latham). The
honey-guide, it is said, so far from being alarmed at the
presence of man, appears anxious to court his acquaint-
ance, and flits from tree to tree with an expressive note
of invitation, the meaning of which is well known both
to the colonists and the Hottentots. A person thus in-
vited by the honey-guide seldom refuses to follow it
onward till it stops, as it is certain to do, at some hollow
tree containing a bee-hive, usually well stored with honey
and wax. It may be that the bird finds itself inadequate
to the attack of a legion of bees, or to penetrate into the
interior of the hive, and is thence led to invite an agent
more powerful than itself. The person invited, indeed,
always leaves the bird a share of the spoil, as it would be
considered sacrilege to rob it of its due, or in any way to
injure so useful a creature.

The Americans, who have not the African honey-
guide, employ several well-known methods to track bees
to their hives. One of the most common though inge-
nious modes is to place a piece of bee-bread on a flat
surface, a tile for instance, surrounding it with a circle of
•wet white paint. The bee, whose habit it is always to
alight on the edge of any plane, has to travel through the
paint to reach the bee-bread. When, therefore, she flies
oflT, the observer can track her by the white on her body.
The same operation is repeated at another place, at
some distance from the first, and at right angles to the
bee-line just ascertained. The position of the hive is
easily determined, for it lies in the angle made by the
intersection of the bee lines. Another method is de-
scribed in the Philosophical Transactions for 1721. The
bee-hunter decoys, by a bait of honey, some of the bees
into his trap, and when he has secured as many as he
judges will suit his purpose, he incloses one in a tube, and,
letting it fly, marks its course by a pocket compass.

HIVE-BEES. 141

Departing to some distance, he liberates another, observes
its course, and in this manner determines the position of
the hive, upon the principle already detailed. These
methods of bee-hunting depend upon the insect's habit of
always flying in a right line to its home. Those who
have read Cooper's tale of the ' Prairie ' must well
remember the character of the bee-hunter, and the expres-
sion of " lining a bee to its hive."

In reading these and similar accounts of the bees of
distant parts of the world, we must not conclude that the
descriptions refer to the same species as the common-
honey-bee. There are numerous species of social bees^
which, while they differ in many circumstances, agree in
the practice of storing up honey, in the same way as we
have numerous species of the mason-bee and of the
humble-bee. Of the latter Mr. Stephens enumerates no.
less than forty-two species indigenous to Britain.

( 142 )

CHAPTER YII.

Carpentry of Tree-hoppers and Saw-flies.

The operations of an insect in boring into a leaf or a
bud to form a lodgment for its eggs appear very simple.
The tools, however, by which these effects are per-
formed are very complicated and curious. In the case
of gall-flies (Cynips), the o}>eration itself is not so re-
markable as its subsequent chemical effects. These
effects are so different from any others that may be
classed under the head of Insect Architecture, that we
shall reserve them for the latter part of this volume ;
although, with reference to the use of galls, the protec-
tion of eggs and larvae, they ought to find a place here.
We shall, however, at present confine ourselves to those
which simply excavate a nest, without producing a
tumour.

The first of these insects which we shall mention is
celebrated for its song, by the ancient Greek poets, under
the name of Tettix. The Romans called it Cicada,
which we sometimes, but erroneously, translate " grass-
hopper ;" for the gi'asshoppers belong to an entirely
different order of insects. We shall, therefore, take the
liberty of calling the Cicadge Treehoppers^ to which the
cuckoo-spit insect {Tettigonia spumaria, Oliv.) is allied ;
but there is only one of the true Cicadas hitherto ascer-
tained to be British, namely, the Cicada hcmmatodes
(Lixx.), which was discovered in the New Forest,
Hampshire, by Mr. Daniel Bydder.

jNI. Reaumur was exceedingly anxious to study the
economy of those insects ; but they not being indi-
genous in the neighbourhood of Paris, he commissioned
his friends to send him some from more southern latitudes,
and he procured in this way specimens not only from the

TREE-HOPPERS. 143

South of France and from Italy, but also from Egypt.
From these specimens he has given the best account of
them yet published ; for though, as he tells us, he had
never had the pleasure of seeing one of them alive, the
more interesting parts of their structure can be studied as
well in dead as in living specimens. We ourselves pos-
sess several specimens from New Holland, upon which
we have verified some of the more interesting observations
of Reaumur.

Virgil tells us, that in his time " the cicadas burst t
very shrubs with their querulous music ;" * but we m
well suppose that he was altogether unacquainted wit|
the singular instrument by means of which they can, n^
poeticall}^, but actually, cut grooves in the branches the
select for depositing their eggs. It is the male, as in th
case of birds, which fills the woods with his song ; whil i
the female, though mute, is no less interesting to th <
naturalist on account of her curious ovipositor. Thi .
instrument, like all those with which insects are furnishec
by nature for cutting, notching, or piercing, is compose(
of a horny substance, and is also considerably larger thaT >
the size of the tree-hopper would proportionally indicf*
It can on this account be partially examined w;tMecc,
microscope, being, in some of the larger species, no *
than five lines t in length. -e-

The ovipositor, or auger {tariere)^ as Reaumur calls it,
is lodged in a sheath which lies in a groove of the termi-
nating ring of the belly. It requires only a very slight
pressure to cause the instrument to protrude from its
sheath, when it appears to the naked eye to be of equal
thickness throughout, except at the point, where it is
somewhat enlarged and angular, and on both sides finely
indented with teeth. A more minute examination of the
sheath demonstrates that it is composed of two horny
pieces slightly curved, and ending in the form of an
elongated spoon, the concave part of which is adapted to
receive the convex end of the ovipositor,

* "Cautu querulae rumpent arbusta cicadae." Georg. iii, 328.
f A line is about the twelfth part of an inch.

144 IKSECT ARCHITECTURE.

When the protruded instrument is further examined
"with a microscope, the denticulations, nine in number on
each side, appear strong, and arranged with great sym-
metry, increasing in fineness towards the point, where
there are three or four very small ones, beside the nine
that are more obvious. The magnifier also shows that
the instrument itself, which appeared simple to the naked
eye, is in fact composed of three diflfierent pieces, two
exterior armed with the teeth before mentioned, denomi-
iQated by Reaumur files (limes), and another pointed like
^ lancet, and not denticulated. The denticulated pieces,
[%ioreover, are capable of being moved forwards and back-
l^ards, while the centre one remains stationary ; and as
^this motion is eft'ected by pressing- a pin or the blade of
'"^ knife over the muscles on either side at the origin of
the ovipositor, it may be presumed that those muscles
are destined for producing similar movements when the
insect requires them. By means of a finely pointed pin
carefully introduced between the pieces, and pushed very
gently downwards, they may be, with no great difficulty,
separated in their whole extent.

whiCI^^ contrivance by which those three pieces are held

tumo'^> while at the same time the two files can be easily

'pin motion, is similar to some of our own mechanical

(.^^'ventions, with this difference, that no human workman

«ould construct an instrument of this description so small,

fine, exquisitely polished, and fitting so exactly. We

should have been apt to form the grooves in the central

piece, whereas they are scooped out in the handles of the

files, and play upon two projecting ridges in the central

piece, by which means this is rendered stronger. M.

Reaumur discovered that the best manner of showing the

play of this extraordinary instrument is to cut it oft' with

a 'pair of scissors near its origin, and then, taking it

between the thumb and the finger at the point of section,

•work it gently to put the files in motion.

Beside the muscles necessary for the movement of the
files, the handle of each is terminated by a curve of the
.same hard horny substance as itself, which not only fur-
nishes the muscles with a sort of lever, but serves to press,

TKEE-HOrrERS.

145

Ovipositors, with files, of Tree-hopper, magnified.

as with a spring, the two files close to the central piece,
as is shown in the lower figure. «

M. Pontedera, who studied the economy of the tree-
hoppers with some care, was anxious to see the insect
itself make use of the ovipositor in forming grooves in
wood, but found that it was so shy and easily alarmed,
that it took to flight whenever he approached ; a circum-
stance of which Reaumur takes advantage, to soothe his
regret that the insects were not indigeno\is in his neigh-
bourhood. But of their workmanship, when completed,
he had several specimens sent to him from Provence and
Languedoc by the Marquis de Caumont.

The gall-flics, when about to deposit their eggs, select
growing plants and trees ; but the tree-hoppers, on the
contrary, make choice of dead, dried branches, for the
mother seems to be aware that moisture would injure her
progeny. The branch, commonly a small one, in which
eggs have been deposited, may be recognised by being

146 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

covered with little oblong elevations caused by small
splinters of the wood, detached at one end, but left fixed
at the other by the insect. These elevations are for the
most part in a line, rarely in a double line, nearly at
equal distances from each other, and form a lid to a
cavity in the wood, about four lines in length, containing

Excavations for eg^s of Tree-hopper, with tlie chip-lids raised.

from four to ten eggs. It is to be remarked, that the
insect always selects a branch of such dimensions, that it
can get at the pith, not because the pith is more easily
bored, for it does not penetrate into it at all, but to form
a warm and safe bed for the eggs. M. Pontedera says,
that when the eggs have been deposited, the insect closes
the mouth of the hole with a gum capable of protecting
them from the weather; but M. Reaumur thinks this
only a fancy, as, out of a great number which he exa-
mined, he could discover nothing of the kind. Neither
is such a protection wanted ; for the woody splinters
above mentioned furnish a very good covering.

The grubs hatched from these eggs (of which, M. Pon-
tedera says, one female will deposit from five to seven
hundred) issue from the same holes through which the
eggs have been introduced, and betake themselves to the
ground to feed on the roots of plants. They are not
transformed into chrysalides, but into active nymphs,
remarkable for their fore limbs, which are thick, strong,
and furnished with prongs for digging ; and when we are
told, by Dr. Le Fevre, that they make their way easily
into hard stiif clay, to the depth of two or three feet,
we perceive how necessary to them such a conformation
must be.

saw-flies. 147

Saw-Flies.

An instrument for cutting grooves in wood, still more
ingeniously contrived than that of the tree-hopper, was
first observed by Vallisnieri, an eminent Italian naturalist,
in a four-winged fly, most appropriately denominated by
M. Reaumur the saw-Jly {Tenthredo) , of which many
sorts are indigenous to Great Britain. The grubs from
which those flies originate are indeed but too well known,
as they frequently strip our rose, gooseberry, raspberry,
and red currant trees of their leaves, and are no less de-
structive to birch, alder, and willows ; while turnips and
wheat suffer still more seriously by their ravages. These
grubs may readily be distinguished from the caterpillars
of moths and butterflies by having from sixteen to twenty-
eight feet, by which they usually hang to the leaf they
feed on, while they coil up the hinder part of their body
in a spiral ring. The perfect flies are distinguished by
four transparent wings ; and some of the most common
have a flat body of a yellow^ or orange colour, while the
head and shoulders are black.

In order to see the ovipositor, to which we shall for
the present turn our chief attention, a female saw-fly must
be taken, and her belly gently pressed, when a narrow
slit will be observed to open at some distance from the
apex, and a short, pointed, and somewhat curved body,
of a brown colour and horny substance, will be protruded.
The curved plates which form the sides of the slit, are
the termination of the sheath, in which the instrument
lies concealed till it is wanted by the insect The appear-
ance of this instrument, however, and its singular struc-
ture, cannot be well understood without the aid of a
microscope.

The instrument thus brought into view is a very finely
contrived saw, made of a horny substance, and adapted
for penetrating branches and otlier parts of plants where
the eggs are to be deposited. The ovipositor-saw of the
insect is much more complicated than any of those em-
ployed by our carpenters. The teeth of our saws are
formed in a line, but in such a manner as to cut in two

148 IXSECT ARCHITECTURE.

a, Ovipositor of Saw-fly, protiuded from its sheath, magnified.

lines parallel to, and at a small distance from, each other.
This is effected by slightly bending the points ot" the
alternate teeth right and left, so that one halfof the whole
teeth stand a little to the right, and the other half a little
to the left. The distance of the two parallel lines thus
formed is called the course of the saw, and it is only the
portion of wood which lies in the course that is cut into
saw-dust by the action of the instrument. It will follow,
that in proportion to the thinness of a saw there will be
the less destruction of wood which may be sawed. When
cabinet-makers have to divide valuable wood into very
thin leaves, they accordingly employ saws with a narrow
course ; while sawyers who cut planks, use one with a
broad course. The ovipositor-saw being extremely fine,
does not require the teeth to diverge much, but fiom the
manner in which they operate, it is requisite that they
should not stand, like those of our saws, in a straight line.
The greater portion of the edge of the instrument, on the
contrary, is towards the point somewhat concave, similar
to a scythe, while towards the base it becomes a little
convex, the whole edge being nearly the shape of an
Italic/.

The ovipositor-saw of the fly is put in motion in the
same way as a carpenter's hand-saw, supposing the tendons
attached to its base to form the handle, and the muscles
which put it in motion to be the hand of the carpenter.

SAW-FLIES.

149

Ovipositor-saw of Saw-fly, with rasps shown in tlie cross lines.

Bat the carpenter can only work one saw at a time,
whereas each of these flies is furnished with two, equal
and similar, which it works at the same time — one being
advanced and the other retracted alternately. The secret,
indeed, of working more saws than one at once is not un-
known to our mechanics ; for two or three are sometimes
fixed in the same frame. These, however, not only all
move upwards and downwards simultaneously, but cut the
wood in different places ; while the two saws of the ovi-
positor work in the same cut, and consequently, though
the teeth are extremely fine, the effect is similar to a saw
with a wide set.

It is important, seeing that the ovipositor-saws are so
fine, that they be not bent or separated while in opera-
tion— and this, also, nature has provided for, by lodging
the backs of the saws in a groove, formed by two mem-
braneous plates, similar to the structure of a clasp-knife.
These plates are thickest at the base, becoming gradually
thinner as they approach the point which the form of the
saws requires. According to Yallisnieri, it is not the

150 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

only use of this apparatus to form a back for the saws, he
having discovered, between the component membranes,
two canals, which he supposes are employed to conduct
the eggs of the insect into the grooves which it has hol-
lowed out for them.*

The teeth of a carpenter's saw, it may be remarked,
are simple, whereas the teeth of the ovipositor-saw are
themselves denticulated with fine teeth. The latter, also,
combines at the same time the properties of a saw and of
a rasp or file. So far as we are aware, these two proper-
ties have never been combined in any of the tools of our
carpenters. The rasping part of the ovipositor, however,
is not constructed like our rasps, with short teeth thickly
studded together, but has teeth almost as long as those of
the saw, and placed contiguous to them on the back of
the instrument, resembling in their form and setting the
teeth of a comb, as may be seen in the figure. Of course,
such observations are conducted with the aid of a mi-
croscope.

Portion of Saw-fly's comb-toothed rasp, and saw.

When a female saw-fly has selected the branch of a
rose-tree, or any other, in which to deposit her eggs, she
may be seen bending the end of her belly inwards, in
form of a crescent, and protruding her saw, at the same
time, to penetrate the bark or wood. She maintains this
recurved position so long as she works in deepening the
groove ; but when she has attained the depth required,
she unbends her body into a straight line, and in this
position works upon the place lengthways, by applying
the saw more horizontally. When she has rendered the

* Reaumur, Mem. des Insectes, v, p. 3.

saw-flip:s. 151

groove as large as she wishes, the motion of the tendons
ceases, and an egg is placed in the cavity. The saw is
then withdrawn into the sheath for about two-thirds of
its length, and at the same moment a sort of frothy
liquid, similar to a lather made with soap, is dropped over
the egg, either for the purpose of gluing it in its place or
sheathing it from the action of the juices of the tree. She
proceeds in the same manner in sawing out a second
groove, and so on in succession till she has deposited all
her eggs, sometimes to the number of twenty- four. The
grooves are usually placed in a line, at a small distance
from one another, on the same branch ; but sometimes
the mother fly shifts to another, or to a different part of
the branch, when she is either scared or finds it unsuit-
able. She commonly, also, takes more than one day to
the work, notwithstanding the superiority of her tools.
Reaumur has seen a saw-fly make six grooves in succes-
sion, which occupied her about ten hours and a half.

The grooves, when finished, have externally little
elevation above the level of the bark, appearing like the
puncture of a lancet in the human skin ; but in the course
of a day or two the part becomes first brown and then
black, while it also becomes more and more elevated.
This increased elevation is not owing to the growth of
the bark, the fibres of which, indeed, have been destroyed
by the ovipositor-saAv, but to the actual growth of the
egg ; for when a new-laid egg of the saw-fly is compared
with one which has been several days enclosed in the
groove, the latter will be found to be very considerably
the larger. This growth of the egg is contrary to the
analogy observable in the eggs of birds, and even of most
other insects ; but it has its advantages. As it continues
to increase, it raises the bark more and more, and conse-
quently widens, at the same time, the slit at the entrance ;
so that, when the grub is hatched, it finds a passage
ready for its exit. The mother fly seems to be aware of
this growth of her eggs, for she takes care to deposit them
at such distances as may prevent their disturbing one
another by their development.

Another species of saw-fly, with a yellow body and

152

IKSECT ARCHITECTURE.

deep violet-coloured wings, which also selects the rose-
tree, deposits her eggs in a different manner. Instead of
making a groove for each egg, like the preceding, she
forms a large single groove, sufficient for about two dozen
eggs. These eggs are all arranged in pairs, forming two
straight lines parallel to the sides of the branch. The
eggs, however, though thus deposited in a common groove,
are carefully kept each in its place ; for a ridge of the
wood is left to prevent those on the right from touching
those on the left — and not only so, but between each egg
of a row a thin partition of wood is left, forming a shallow
cell.

Nest of eggs of Saw-fly, iu rose tree.

The edges of this groove, it will be obvious, must be
farther apart than those which only contain a single egg,
and, in fact, the whole is open to inspection ; but the eggs
are kept from falling out, both by the frothy glue before
mentioned and by the walls of the cells containing them.
They were observed also, by Vallisnieri, to increase in
size like the preceding.

( 1^3 )

CHAPTER VIII.

Leaf-rolling Caterpillars.

The labours of those insect-architects, which we have
endeavoured to describe in the preceding pages, have
been chiefly tliose of mothers to form a secure nest for
their eggs, and the young hatched from them, during the
first stage of their existence. But a much more numerous
and not less ingenious class of architects may be found
among the newly hatched insects themselves, who, un-
taught by experience, and altogether unassisted by pre-
vious example, manifest the most marvellous skill in the
construction of tents, houses, galleries, covert-ways, forti-
fications, and even cities, not to speak of subterranean
caverns and subaqueous apartments, which no human art
could rival.

The caterpillars, which are familiarly termed leaf-
rollers, are perfect hermits. Each lives in a cell, which
it begins to construct almost immediately after it is
hatched ; and the little structure is at once a house which
protects the caterpillar from its enemies, and a store of
ibod for its subsistence, while it remains shut up in its
prison. But the insect only devours the inner folds.
The art which these cater])illars exercise, although called
into action but once, perhaps, in their lives, is perfect.
They accomplish their purpose with a mechanical skill,
which is remarkable for its simplicity and unerring
success. The art of rolling leaves into a secure and
immoveable cell may not appear very difficidt : nor would
it be so if the caterpillars had fingers, or any parts which
were equivalent to those delicate and admirable natural
instruments with which man accomplishes his most ela-
borate works. And yet the human fingers could not roll

VOL. I. H

154 IJS'SECT ARCHITECTURE.

a rocket-case of j)aper more regularly than the caterpillar
rolls his house of leaves. A leaf is not a very easy sub-
stance to roll. In some trees it is very brittle. It has
also a natural elasticity, — a disposition to sj)ring back if
it be bent, — which is caused by the continuity of its
threads, or nervures. This elasticity is s})eedily over-
come by the ingenuity with which the caterpillar works ;
and the leaf is thus retained in its artificial position for
many weeks, under every variety of temperature. We
will examine, in detail, how these little leaf-rollers accom-
■^)lish their task.

One of the most common as well as the most simple
fabrics constructed by caterpillars, may be discovered
during summer on almost every kind of bush and tree.
We shall take as examples those which are found on the
lilac, and on the oak.

A small but very pretty chocolate-coloured rnoth,

Lilac-tree Muth. (^Luxotcenia Riheana, Stephens ?)

abundant in every garden, but not readily seen, from its
frequently alighting on the ground, which is so nearly of
its own colour, deposits its eggs on the leaves of the
currant, the lilac, and of some other trees, appropriating
a leaf to each egg. As soon as the caterpillar is hatched,
:it begins to secure itself from birds and predatory insects
by rolling up the lilac leaf into the form of a gallery,
'where it may feed in safety. We have repeatedly seen
•one of them when just escaped from the egg, and only a
few lines long, fix several silk threads from one edge of
a leaf to the other, or from the edge to t,he mid-rib.
Then going to the middle of the space, he shortened the
threads by bending them with his feet, and consequently
pulled the edges of the leaves into a circular form ; and
he retained them in that position by gluing down each

CATERPILLARS.

Nest of ;i Lilac-leaf Roller.

thread as he shortened it. In their younger state, those
caterpillars seldom roll more than a small portion of the

Another nest of Lilac leaf Roller.

1 56 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

leaf; but, when farther advanced, they unite the two
edges together in their whole extent, with tiie exception
of a small opening at one end, by which an exit may be
made in case of need.

Another species of caterpillar, closely allied to this,
rolls up the lilac leaves in a different form, beginning at
the end of a leaf, and fixing and pulling its threads till
it gets it nearly into the shape of a scroll of parchment.
To retain this form more securely, it is not contented,
like the former insect, with threads fixed on the inside
of the leaf; but has also recourse to a few cables which
it weaves on the outside.

Another species of moth, allied to the two preceding,
is of a pretty green colour, and lays its eggs upon the

Small green Oak-moth. {Tortrix Firidanc,.')

leaves of the oak. This caterpillar folds them up in a
similar manner, but with this difference, that it works on
the under surface of the leaf, pulling the edge downwards
and backwards, instead of forwards and upwards. This
species is very abundant, and may readily be found as
soon as the leaves expand. In June, when the perfect
insect has appeared, by boating a branch of an oak, a
whole shower of these pretty green moths may be shook
into the air.

Among the leaf-rolling caterpillars, there is a small
dark-brown one, with a black head and six feet, very
common in gardens, on the currant-bush, or the leaves
of the rose-tree {Lozotcsjiia Bosatw, Stephe>'s). It is
exceedingly destructive to the flower-buds. The eggs
are deposited in the summer, and probably also in the
autumn or in spring, in little oval or circular patches of
a green colour. The grub makes its appearance with the
first opening of the leaves, of whose structure in the

CATERPLTiLAKS.

157

Nests of Oak-leaf- roiliug Caterpillars.

half-expanded state it takes advantage to construct its
summer tent. It is not, like some of the other leaf-rollers,
contented with a single leaf, but weaves together as manj
as there are in the bud where it may chance to have been
hatched, binding their discs so firmly with silk, that all
the force of the ascending sap, and the increasing growth
of the leaves cannot break through ; a farther expansion
is of course prevented. The little inhabitant in the mean-
while banquets securely on the partitions of its tent,
eating door-ways, from one apartment into another,
through which it can escape in case of danger or dis-
turbance.

The leafits of the rose, it may be remarked, expand in
nearly the same manner as a fan, and the operations of
this ingenious little insect retain them in the form of a
fan nearly shut. Sometimes, however, it is not contented

]58

lySECT ARCHITECTURE.

with one bundle of leafits, but by means of its silken cords
unites all m hich spring from the same bud into a rain-proof
canopy, under the protection of which it can feast on the
flower-bud, and prevent it from ever blowing.

In the instance of the currant leaves, the proceedings
of the grub are the same ; but it cannot unite the plaits
so smoothly as in the case of the rose leafits, and it re-
quires more labour also, as the nervures, being stiff,
demand a greater effort to bend them. When all the
exertions of the insect prove unavailing in its endeavours
to draw the edges of a leaf together, it bends them in-
wards as far as it can, and weaves a close web of silk over
the open space between. This is well exemplified in one
of the commonest of our leaf-rolling caterpillars, which
may be found as early as February on the leaves of the
nettle and the white archangel (Lamiiim album). It is
of a light dirty-green colour, spotted with black, and
covered ^vith a few hairs. In its young state it confines
itself to the bosom of a small leaf, near the insertion of
the leaf-stalk, partly bending the edges inwards, and
covering in the interval with a silken curtain. As this
sort of covering is not sufficient for concealment when
the animal advances in growth, it abandons the base of
the leaf for the middle, w:here it doubles up one side in
a very secure and ingenious manner.

Nest of the iscttle-leaf-rolling Caterpillar.

We have watched this little architect begin and finish
his tent upon a nettle in our study, the whole operation
taking more than half an hour. (J. R.) lie began by
walking over the plant in all directions, examining the

CATERPILLARS. 159

loaves severally, as if to ascertain which was best fitted for
his purpose by being pliable, and bending with thevveiglit
of his body. Ilaving found one to his mind, he placed
himself along the mid-rib, to the edge of which he
secured himself firmly with the pro-legs of his tail ; then
stretching his head to the edge of the leaf, he fixed a
series of parallel cables between it and the mid-rib, with
another series crossing these at an acute angle. The
position in which he worked was most remarkable, for he
did not, as might have been supposed, spin his cables
with his face to the leaf, but throwing himself on his
back, which was turned towards the leaf, he hung witii
his whole weight by his first-made cables. This, by
drawing them into the form of a curve, shortened them,
and consequently pulled the edge of the leaf dowi>
towards the mid-rib. The weight of his body was not,
however, the only power which he employed ; for, using-
the terminal pro-legs as a point of support, he exerted
the whole muscles of his body to shorten his threads,
and pull down the edge of the leaf. When he had
drawn the threads as tight as he could, he held them till
he spun fresh ones of sulficient strength to retain the leaf
in the bent position into which he had pulled it. He
then left the first series to hang loose while he shortened
the fresh spun ones as before. This process was con-
tmued till he had worked down about an inch and a half
of the leaf, as much as he deemed sufficient for his habi-
tation. This was the first part of the architecture.

By the time he had worked to the end of the fold he
had brought the edge of the leaf to touch the mid-rib ;
but it was only held in this position by a few^ of the last
spun threads, for all the first spun ones hung loose within.
Apparently aware of this, the insect protruded more than
half of its body through the small aperture left at the end,
and spun several bundles of threads on the outside pre-
cisely similar to those ropes of a tent which extend
beyond the canvas, and are pegged into the ground.
Unwilling to tnist the exposure of his whole body on
the outside, lest he should be seized by the first sand-
wasp (^od}jnents) or sparrow which might descry him, he
now withdrew to complete the internal portion of his

160 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

dwelling, where the threads were hanging loose and
disorderly. For this purpose he turned his head about,
and proceeded precisely as he had done at the beginning
of his task, but taking care to spin his new^ threads so as
to leave the loose ones on the outside, and make his
apartment smooth and neat. When he again reached
the opposite end, he constructed there also a similar
series of cables on the outside, and then withdrew to give
some final touches to the interior.

It is said by Kirby and Spence,* that when these leaf-
rolling insects find that the larger nervures of the leaves
are so strong as to prevent them from bending, they
" weaken it by gnawing it here and there half through."
We have never observed the circumstance, though we
have witnessed the process in some hundreds of instances ;
and we doubt the statement, from the careful survey w^iich
the insect makes of the capabilities of the leaf before the
operation is begun. If slie found upon examination that
a leaf would not bend, she would reject it, as we have often
seen happen, and pass to another. (J. R.)

A species of leaf-roller, of the most diminutive size,
merits particular mention, although it is not remarkable
in colour or figure. It is without hair, of a greenish
white, and has all the vivacity of the other leaf-rollers.
Sorrel is the plant on which it feeds ; and the manner in
which it rolls a portion of the leaf is very ingenious.

The structure w hich it contrives is a sort of conical
pyramid, composed of five or six folds lapped round each
other. From the position of this little cone the cater-
pillar has other labours to perform, beside that of rolling
the leaf. It first cuts across the leaf, its teeth acting as
a pair of scissors ; but it does not entirely detach this seg-
ment. It rolls it up very gradually, by attaching threads
of silk to the plane surface of the leaf, as we have before
seen ; and then, having cut in a different direction, sets
the cone upright, by \^'eaving other threads, attached to
the centre of the roll and the plane of the leaf, upon which
it throws the weight of its body. This, it will be readily

* Introfl. vol. i. p. 457.

CATERPILLARS.

161

seen, is a somewhat complicated effort of mechanical skill.
It has been minutely described by M. Reaumur ; but the
following representation will perhaps make the process
clearer than a more detailed account.

Leaf-rolling Caterpillars of the Sorrel.

This caterpillar, like those of which we have already
spoken, devours all the interior of the roller. It weaves,
also, in the interior, a small and thin cocoon of white silk,
the tissue of which is made compact and close. It is then
transformed into a chrysalis.

The caterpillars of two of our largest and handsomest
butterflies, the painted lady (^Cynthia cardui, Stephens),
and the admirable, or Alderman of the London fly-fanciers
( Vanessa atalanta') , are also leaf-rollers. The first selects
the leaves of the great spear-thistle, and sometimes those
of the stemless or star thistle, which might be supposed
rather difficult to bend ; but the caterpillar is four times
as large and strong as those which we have been hitherto
describing. In some seasons it is plentiful ; in others it
is rarely to be met with : but the admirable is seldom
scarce in any part of the country ; and by examining the
leaves of nettles which appear folded edge to edge, in
July and August, the caterpillar may be readily found.

162

IXSKCT ARCHITECTURE.

Nests of the Hesperia malvae, \^ ith Caterpillar, Clirysalis, aud Butterflies.

Another butterfly {Hesperia malvce) is met with on
dry banks where mallows grow, in May, or even earlier,
and also in August, but is not indigenous. The cater-
pillar, which is grey, with a black head, and four sulphur-
coloured spots on the neck, fokls around it the leaves of
the mallow, upon which it feeds. There is nothing,
however, peculiarly different in its proceedings from those
above described ; but the care with which it selects and
rolls up one of the smaller leaves, when it is about to be
transformed into a chrysalis, is worthy of remark ; it joins
it, indeed, so completely round and round, that it has
somewhat the resemblance of an &%%. Within this green
cell it lies secure, till the time arrives when it is ready
to burst its cerements, and trust to the quickness of its
wings for protection against its enemies.

CATERPILLARS.

163

Among the nests of caterpillars which roll up parcels
of leaves, we know none so well contrived as those which
are found upon willows and a species of osier. The long
and naiTow leaves of these plants are naturally adapted to
he adjusted parallel to each other ; for this is the direction
which they have at the end of each stalk, when they are
not entirely developed. One kind of small smooth cater-
pillar {Tortn'x chlorana), with sixteen feet, the under

Nest of Willow-leaf Roller.

part of which is brown, and streaked with white, fastens
these leaves together, and makes them up into parcels.
There is nothing particularly striking in the mechanical

164 INSECT AKCHITECTUEE.

manner in which it constructs them. It does precisely
what we should do in a similar case : it winds a thread
round those leaves which must be kept together, from a
little above their termination to a very short distance from
their extreme point ; and as it finds the leaves almost con-
stantly lying near each other, it has little difficulty in
bringing them together, as is shown in the cut, a.

The prettiest of these parcels are those which are made
upon a kind of osier, the borders of whose leaves some-
times form columnar bundles before they are become
developed. A section of these leaves has the appearance
of filigree work (see Z>, p. 163).

A caterpillar which feeds upon the willow, and whose
singular attitudes have obtained for it the trivial name of
Ziczac, also constructs for itself an arbour of the leaves,
by drawing them together in an ingenious manner. M.
Roesel* has given a tolerable representation of this nest,
and of the caterpillar. The caterpillar is found in June ;
and the moth {Notodonta ziczac) from May to July in
the following year (see cut, p. 165).

Beside those caterpillars which live solitary in the folds
of a leaf, there are others which associate, employing their
united powers to draw the leaves of the plants they feed
upon into a covering for their common protection.
Among these we may mention the caterpillar of a small
butterfly, the plantain or Glanville fritillary (Melitea
cinxid), which is very scarce in this country.

Although a colony of these caterpillars is not numerous,
seldom amounting to a hundred individuals, the place
which they have selected is not hard to discover. Their
abode may be seen in the meadow in form of a tuft ot
herbage covered with a white web, which may readily be
mistaken, at first view, for that of a spider, but closer in-
spection soon corrects this notion. It is, in fact, a sort
of common tent, in which the whole brood lives, eats, and
undergoes the usual transformations. The shape of this
tent, for the most part, approaches the pyramidal, though
that depends much upon the natural growth of the herbage

^* Roesel, cl. ii., Pap. Nocturn., tab. xx. fig. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

CATERPILLARS.

I6tt

Zicz.ic Caterpiliar and Nest.

which comj)oses it. The interior is divided into com-
partments formed by the union of several small tents, as
it were, to which others have been from time to time
added according to the necessities of the community.

When they have devoured all the leaves, or at least
those which are m©st tender and succulent, they abandon
their first camp, and construct another contiguous to it
under a tuft of fresh leaves. Several of these encamp-
ments may sometimes be seen within the distance of a foot
or two, when they can find plantain {Plantago lanceolata)
fit for their purpose ; but though they prefer this plant,
they content themselves with grass if it is not to be pro-
cured.

iCyG IXSECT ARCHITECTURE.

When Ihey are about to cast their skins, but particu-
larly when they perceive the approach of winter, they
construct a more durable apartment in the interior of their
])rincipal tent. The ordinary web is thin and scnii-
transparent, permitting the leaves to be seen through it ;
but their winter canvas, if we may call it so, is thick,
strong, and quite opaque, forming a sort of circular hall
Avithout any partition, where the whole community lie
coiled up and huddled together.

Early in spring they issue forth in search of fresh food,
and again construct tents to protect them from cold and
]'ain, and from the mid-day sun.

M. Reaumur found upon trial, that it was not only the
caterpillars hatched from the eggs of the same mother
which would unite in constructing the common tent ; for
different broods, when put together, worked in the same
.social and harmonious manner. We ourselves ascertained,
during the present summer (1829), that this principle of
sociality is not confined to the same species, nor even to
the same genus. The experiment which we tried was to
confine two broods of different species to the same branch
by placing it in a glass of water to prevent their escape.
The caterpillars which we experimented on were several
broods of the brovrn-tail moth {Porthesia auriflud), and
the lackey {^Clisiocampa nenstrici). These we found to
work with as much industry and harmony in constructing
the common tent as if they had been at liberty on their
native trees ; and when the lackeys encountered the
brown-tails they manifested no alarm nor uneasiness, but
passed over the backs of one another as if they had made
only a ])ortion of the branch. In none of their operations
did they seem to be subject to any discipline, each indi-
vidual appearing to work, in perfecting the structure, from
individual instinct, in the same manner as was remarked
by M. Huber, in the case of the hive-bees.* In making
such experiments, it is obvious that the species of cater-
pillars experimented with must feed upon the same sort
of plant. (J. R.)

* Scor/. 113.

CATERPILLARS. 167

The design of the caterpillars in rolling up the leaves
is not only to conceal themselves from birds and predatory
insects, but also to protect themselves from the cuckoo-
tlies, which lie in wait in every quarter to deposit their
eggs in their bodies, that their progeny may devour them.
Their mode of concealment, however, though it appear
to be cunningly contrived and skilfully executed, is not
always successful, their enemies often discovering their
hiding-place. We happened to see a remarkable instance
of this last summer (1828), in the case of one of the lilac
caterpillars which had changed into a chrysalis within the
closely folded leaf. A small ichneumon, aware, it should
seem, of the very spot where the chrysalis lay within the
leaf, was seen boring through it with her ovipositor, and
introducing her eggs through the punctures thus made
into the body of the dormant insect. We allowed her to
lay all her eggs, about six in number, and then put the
leaf under an inverted glass. In a few days the eggs of
the cuckoo-fly were hatched, the grubs devoured the lilac
chrysalis, and finally changed into pupae in a case of yellow
silk, and into perfect insects like their parent. (J. R.)

( 168 )

CHAPTER IX.

Insects forming Habitations of detached Leaves.

The habitations of the insects which we have just
described consist of growing leaves, bent, rolled, or
pressed together, and fixed in their positions by silken
threads. But there are other habitations of a similar
kind which are constructed by cutting out and detaching
a whole leaf, or a portion of a leaf. We have already
seen how dexterously the upholsterer-bees cut out small
parts of leaves and petals with their mandibles, and fit
them into their cells. Some of the caterpillars do not
exhibit quite so much neatness and elegance as the leaf-
cutting bees, though their structures answer all the pur
poses intended ; but there are others, as we shall pre
sently see, that far excel the bees, at least, in the delicate
minutioe of their workmanship. We shall first advert to
those structures which are the most simple.^

Not far from Longchamps, in a road through the
Bois de Boulogne, is a large marsh, which M. Reaumur
never observed to be in a dry state even during summer.
This marsh is surrounded with very lofty oaks, and
abounds with pondweed, the water ]>lant named by
botanists pola77iogeton. The shining leaves of this plant,
which are as large as those of the laurel or orange-tree,
but thicker and more fleshy, are spread upon the surface
of the water. Having pulled up several of these about
the middle of June, M. Reaumur observed, beneath one
of the first which he examined, an elevation of an oval
shape, which was formed out of a leaf of the same plant.
He carefully examined it, and discovered that threads of
silk were attached to this elevation. Breaking the threads,
he raised up one of the ends, and saw a cavity, in which

POKDWEED TENT-MAKEH. 169

a caterpillar (^Hydrocajnpa Potamogetd) was lodged. An
indefatigable observer, such as M. Reaumur, would na-
turally follow up this discovery ; and he has accordingly
given us a memoir of the pond weed tent-maker, distin-
guished by his usual minute accuracy.

In order to make a new habitation, the caterpillar
fastens itself on the under side of a leaf of the Pota-
mogetcn. With its mandibles it pierces some part of
this leaf, and afterwards gradually gnaws a curved line,
marking the form of the piece which it wishes to detach.
When the caterpillar has cut off, as from a piece of cloth,
a patch of leaf of the size and shape suited to its purpose,
it is provided with half of the materials requisite for
making a tent. It takes hold of this piece by its man-
dibles, and conveys it to the situation on the under side
of its own or another leaf, whichever is found most appro-
priate. It is there disposed in such a manner that the
under part of the patch — the side which was the under
part of the entire leaf — is turned towards the under part
of the new leaf, so that the inner walls of the cell or tent
are always made by the under part of tvv'o portions of
leaf. The leaves of the potamogeton are a little concave
on the under side ; and thus the caterpillar produces a
hollow cell, though the rims are united.

The caterpillar secures the leaf in its position by threads
of white silk. It then weaves in the cavity a cocoon,
which is somewhat thin, but of very close tissue. There
it shuts itself up, to appear again only in the form of the
perfect insect, and is soon transformed into a chrysalis.
In this cocoon of silk no point touches the water ; whilst
the tent of leaves, lined with silk, has been constructed
underneath the wat€r. This fact proves that the cater-
pillar has a particular art by which it repels the water
from between the leaves.

When the caterpillar, which has thus conveyed and
disposed a patch of leaf against another leaf, is not ready
to be transformed into a chrysalis, it applies itself to make
a tent or habitation which it may carry everywhere about
with it. It begins by slightly fixing the piece against
the perfect leaf, leaving intervals all round, between the

170 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

piece and leaf, at which it may project its head. The
piece which it has fixed serves as a model for cutting out
a similar piece in the other leaf. The caterpillar puts
them accurately together, except at one end of the oval,
where an opening is left for the insect to project its head
through. When the caterpillar is inclined to change its
situation, it draws itself forward by means of its scaly
limbs, riveted upon the leaf. The membranous limbs,
which are riveted against the inner sides of the tent,
oblige it to follow the anterior part of 4^he body, as it
advances. The caterpillar, also, puts its head out of the
tent every time it desires to eat.

There is found on the common chickweed {SteUaria
7ne{Ua), towards the end of July, a middle-sized smooth
green caterpillar, having three brown spots bordered with
white on the back, and six legs and ten pro-legs, whose
architecture is worthy of observation. When it is about
to go into chrysalis, towards the beginning of August, it
gnaws off, one by one, a number of the leaves and smaller
twigs of the chick-weed, and adjusts them into an oval
cocoon, somewhat rough and unfinished externally, but
smooth, uniform, and finely tapestried with white silk
within. Here it undergoes its transformations securely,
and, when the period of its pupa trance has expired in
the following July, it makes its exit in the form of a
yellowish moth, with several brown spots above, and a
brown band on each of its four wings below. It is al?o
furnished with a sort of tail.

On the cypress spurge {Euphorbia cyparmias), a na-
tive woodland plant, but not of very common occurrence,
may be found, towards the end of October, a caterpillar
of a middle size, sparely tufted with hair, and striped
with black, white, red, and brown. The leaves of the
plant, which are in the form of short narrow blades of
grass, are made choice of by the caterpillar to construct its
cocoon, which it does with great neatness and regularity,
the end of each leaf, after it has been detached from the
plant, being fixed to the stem, and the other leaves placed
parallel, as they are successively added. The other ends
of all these are bent inwards, so as to form a uniformly

CYPRESS-SPURGE CATERPILLAR.

171

rounded oblong figure, somewhat larger at one end than
at the other.

Cypress-Spurge Caterpillar— (^c/on^cM Euphras^iep ?)—Xrith a Cocoon,
on a l)ranch.

A caterpillar which builds a very similar cocoon to the
last-mentioned may be found upon a more common plant
— the yellow snap-dragon or toad-flax (^Antirrhinum
linaria) — which is to be seen in almost every hedge.
It is somewhat shaped like a leech, is of a middle size,
and the prevailing colour pearl-grey, but striped with
yellow and black. It spins up about the beginning of
September, forming the outer coating of pieces of de-
tached leaves of the plant, and sometimes of whole leaves
placed longitudinally, the whole disposed with great
symmetry and neatness. The moth appears in the
following June.

It is worthy of remark, as one of the most striking
instances of instinctive foresight, that the caterpillars
which build structures of this substantial description are
destined to lie much longer in their chrysalis trance than
those which spin merely a flimsy web of silk. For the
most part, indeed, the latter undergo their final trans-
formation in a few weeks ; while the former continue en-
tranced the larger portion of a year, appearing in the per-
fect state the summer after their architectural labours have
been completed. (J.R.) This is a remarkable example of

172 INSECT AKCHITECTUKE.

the instinct which leads these little creatures to act as if
under the dictates of prudence, and with a perfect know-
ledge of the time, be it long or short, which will elapse
before the last change of the pupa takes place. That the
caterpillar, while weaving its cocoon and preparing to
assume the pupa state, exercises any reflective faculties,
or is aware of what is about to occur relative to its own
self, we cannot admit. It enters upon a work of which
it has had no previous experience, and which is per-
formed, as far as contingencies allow, in the same manner
by every caterpillar of the same species. Its labours, its
mode of carrying them on, and the very time in which
they are to be commenced, is all pre-appointed ; and an
instinctive impulse urges and guides ; and with this
instinct its organic endowments are in precise harmony ;
nor does instinct ever impel to labours for which an
animal is not provided. " The same wisdom," says
Bonnet, " which has constructed and arranged with so
much art the various organs of animals, and has made
them concur towards one determined end, has also pro-
vided that the different operations which are the natural
results of the economy of the animal should concur to-
wards the same end. The creature is directed towards
his object by an invisible hand ; he executes with pre-
cision, and by one eflbrt, those works which wc so much
admire ; he appears to act as if he reasoned, to return to
his labour at the proper time, to change his scheme in
case of need. But in all this he only obeys the secret
influence which drives him on. He is but an instrument
which cannot judge of each action, but is wound up by
that adorable Intelligence, which has traced out for every
insect its proper labours, as he has traced the orbit of
each planet. When, therefore, I see an insect working
at the construction of a nest, or a cocoon, I am impressed
with respect, because it seems to me that I am at a
spectacle where the Supreme Artist is hid behind the
curtain." *

There is a small sort of caterpillar which may be found

* Contemplation de la Nature, part xv. chap. 38.

MOSS-BUILDL!SrG CATERPILLAR. 173

on old walls, feeding upon minute mosses and lichens,
the proceedings of which are well v.orthy of attention.
They are similar, in appearance and size, to the cater-
pillar of the small cabbage-butterfly {Pontia I'cipcB)^ and
are smooth and bluish. The material which they use in
building their cocoons is composed of the leaves and
branchlets of green moss, which they cut into suitable
pieces, detaching at the same time along with them a
portion of the earth in which they grow. They arrange
these upon the walls of their building, with the moss on
the outside, and the earth on the inside, making a sort of
vault of the tiny bits of green moss turf, dug from the
surface of the wall. So neatly, also, are the several pieces
joined, that the whole might well be supposed to be a
patch of moss which had grown in form of an oval tuft,
a little more elevated than the rest growing on the wall.
When these caterpillars are shut up in a box with some
moss, without earth, they construct with it cells in form
of a hollow ball, very prettily plaited and interwoven.

Moss-Ccll of small Caterpillar (Bryophlla'perla?)

In May last (1829), we found on the walls of Green-
wich Park a great number of caterpillars, whose manners
bore some resemblance to those of the grub described by
M. Reaumur. (J. R.) They were of middle size, with a dull
orange stripe along the back ; the head and sides of the
body black, and the belly greenish. Their abodes were
constructed with ingenuity and care. A caterpillar of
this sort appears to choose either a part where the mortal-
contains a cavity, or it digs one suited to its design.
Over the opening of the hollow in the mortar it builds

174 IXSECT ARCHITECTUKE.

an arched wall, so as to form a chamber considerably
larger than is usual with other architect caterpillars. It
selects grains of mortar, brick, or lichen, fixing them, by
means of silk, firmly into the structure. As some of these
vaulted walls were from an inch to an inch and a half
long, and about a third of an inch wide and deep, it may
be well imagined that it would require no little industry
and labour to complete the work. Yet it does not demand
more than a few hours for the insect to raise it from the
foundation. Like all other insect architects, this cater-
pillar uses its own body for a measuring rule, and j^artly
for a mould, or rather a block or centre to shape the
walls by, curving itself round and round concentrically
with the arch which it is building.

We afterwards found one of these caterpillars, which
had dug a cell in one of the softest of the bricks, cover-
ing itself on the outside with an arched wall of brick-dust,
cemented with silk. As this brick was of a bright red
colour, we were thereby able to ascertain that there was
not a particle of lichen employed in the structure.

The neatness mentioned by Reaumur, as remarkable in
his moss-building caterpillars, is equally observable in
that which we have just described ; for, on looking at
the surface of the wall, it would be impossible for a
person unacquainted with these structures to detect where
they were placed, as they are usually, on the outside,
level with the adjoining brick-work ; and it is only when
they are opened by the entomologist, that the little
architect is perceived lying snug in his chamber. If a
portion of the wall be thus broken down, the caterpillar
immediately commences repairing the breach, by piecing
in bits of mortar and fragments of lichen, till we can
scarcely distinguish the new portion from the old.

( 1'^ )

CHAPTER X.

Caddis-Worms and Carpenter-Caterpillars.

There is a very interesting class of grubs which live
under water, where they construct for themselves move-
able tents of various materials as their habits direct them,
or as the substances they require can be conveniently
procured. Among the materials used by these singular
grubs, well-known to fishermen by the name of caddis-
worms, and to naturalists as the larvm of the four-Minged
flies in the order Trichoptera of Kirby and Spence, we
may mention sand, stones, shells^ wood, and leaves, which
are skilfully joined and strongly cemented. One of these
grubs* forms a pretty case of leaves glued together longi-
tudinally, but leaving an aperture sufficiently large for
the inhabitant to put out its head and shoulders when it

Leaf Ni'st of Caddis- Woim.

wishes to look about for food. Another employs pieces
of reed cut into convenient lengths, or of grass, straw,
wood, &c., carefully joining and cementing each piece to
its fellow as the work proceeds ; and he frequently finishes

Rt»ed Nest of Caddis- Worm.

the whole by adding a broad piece longer than the rest

176

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

to shade his door-way over-head, so that he may not be
seen from above. A more laborious structure is reared
by the grub of a beautiful caddis-fly (Phrr/ganea), which
weaves together a group of the leaves of aquatic plants
into a roundish ball, and in the interior of this forms a
cell for its abode. The following figure from Roesel
will give a more precise notion of this structure than a
lengthened description.

Another of these aquatic architects makes choice of
the tiny shells of young fresh-water mussels and snails
(Planorbis), to form a moveable grotto ; and as these
little shells are for the most part inhabited, he keeps the

Shell Nests of Caddis-Wonns.

poor animals close prisoners, and drags them without
mercy along with him. These grotto-building grubs are

CADDIS-WOEMS. 177

by no means uncommon in ponds ; and in chalk districts,
such as the country about Woolwich and Gravesend, they
are very abundant.

One of the most surprising instances of their skill
occurs in the structures of which small stones are the
principal material. The problem is to make a tube
about the width of the hollow of a wheat straw or a
crow quill, and equally smooth and uniform. Now the
materials being small stones full of angles and irre-
gularities, the difficulty of performing this problem will
appear to be considerable, if not insurmountable : yet
the little architects, by patiently examining their stones
and turning them round on every side, never fail to ac-
complish their plans. This, however, is only part of

Stone Nest of Caddis- Worm. "*

the problem, which is complicated with another condi-
tion, and which we have not found recorded by former
observers, namely, that the under surface shall be flat and
smooth, without any projecting angles which might im-
pede its progress when dragged along the bottom of the
rivulet where it resides. The selection of the stones,
indeed, may be accounted for, from this species living
in streams where, but for the weight of its house, it
would to a certainty be swept away. For this purpose,
it is probable that the grub makes choice of larger stones
than it might otherwise want ; and therefore also it is
that we frequently find a case composed of very small
stones and sand, to which, when nearly finished, a large

Sand Nest balanc( d with a Stone.

stone is added by way of ballast. In other instances,
when the materials are found to possess too great specific

VOL. I. I

178 ijnsect architecture.

gi-avity, a bit of light wood, or a hollow straw, is added
to buoy up the case.

Nest of Caddis Worm balanced with Straws.

It is worthy of remark, that the cement, used in all
these cases, is superior to pozzolana * in standing water,
in which it is indissoluble. The grubs themselves are
also admirably adapted for their mode of life, the por-
tion of their bodies which is always enclosed in the case,
being soft like a meal-worm, or garden caterpillar, while
the head and shoulders, which are for the most part
projected beyond the door-way in search of food, are
firm, hard, and consequently less liable to injury than the
protected portion, should it chance to be exposed.

"\Ye have repeatedly tried experiments with the in-
habitants of those aquatic tents, to ascertain their mode
of building. We have deprived them of their little
houses, and furnished them with materials for constructing
new ones, watching their proceedings from their laying
the first stone or shell of the structure. They work at
the commencement in a very clumsy manner, attaching
a great number of chips to whatever materials may be
within their reach with loose threads of silk, and many
of these they never use at all in their perfect building.
They act, indeed, much like an unskilful workman try-
ing his hand before committing himself upon an intended
work of difficult execution. Their main intention is,
however, to have abundance of materials within reach :
for after their dwelling is fairly begun, they shut them-
selves up in it, and do not again protrude more than half
of their body to procure materials ; and even when they
Lave dragged a stone, a shell, or a chip of reed within
building reach, they have often to reject it as unfit. (J. R.)

1 * A cement prepared of volcanic earth, or lava.

GOAT-iMOTil.

179

CAEPEKTER-CATEKPILLAKS.

Insects, though sometimes actuated by an instinct
apparently blind, unintelligent, or unknown to them-
selves, manifest in other instances a remarkable adapta-
tion of means to ends. We have it in our power to
exemplify this in a striking manner by the proceedings
of the caterpillar of a goat-moth (Cossus ligniperda)
-which we kept till it underwent its final change.

Caterpillar of Goat-Moth ia a Willow Tree.

This caterpillar, \^hich abounds in Kent and many
other parts of the island, feeds on the wood of willows,
oaks, poplars, and other trees, in which it eats extensive
galleries ; but it is not contented with the protection
afforded by these galleries during the colder months of
winter, before the arrival of which it scoops out a hollow
in the tree, if it do not find one ready prepared, suffi-
ciently large to contain its body in a bent or somewhat
coiled-up position. On sawing off a portion of an old
poplar in the winter of 1827, we found such a cell with
a caterpillar coiled up in it.

I 2

180

IXSECT AKCHITECTDRE.

V inter Nest of the Goat- Caterpillar.

It had not, however, been contented with the bare
walls of the retreat which it had hewn out of the tree,
Jbr it had lined it with a fabric as thick as coarse broad-
cloth, and equally warm, composed of the raspings of
the wood scooped out of the cell, united with the strong
silk which every species of caterpillar can spin. In this
snug retreat our caterpillar, if it had not been disturbed,
would have spent the winter without eating ; but upon
being removed into a warm room and placed under a
glass along with some pieces of wood, which it might
eat if so inclined, it was roused for a time from its dor-
mant state, and began to move about. It was not long,
however, in constructing a new cell for itself, no less
ingenious than the former. It either could not gnaw
into the fir plank, where it was now placed with a glass
above it, or it did not choose to do so ; for it left it un-
touched, and made it the basis of the edifice it began to
construct. It formed, in fact, a covering for itself pre-
cisely like the one from which we had dislodged it, —
composed of raspings of wood detached for the purpose
from what had been given it as food, — the largest piece
of which was employed as a substantial covering and pro-
tection for the whole. It remained in this retreat, mo-
tionless, and without food, till revived by the warmth of
the ensuing spring, when it gnawed its way out, and
began to eat voraciously, to make up for its long fast,

GOAT-MOTH.

181

These caterpillars are three years in arri\ ing at their
final change into the winged state ; but as the one just
mentioned was nearly full grown, it began, in the month
of May, to prepare a cell, in which it might undergo its
metamorphosis. Whether it had actually improved its
skill in architecture by its previous experience we will
not undertake to say, but its second cell was greatly
superior to the first. In the first there was only one
large piece of wood employed ; in the second, two pieces
were placed in such a manner as to support each other,
and beneath the angle thus formed an oblong structure
was made, composed, as before, of wood-raspings and
silk, but much stronger in texture than the winter cell.
In a few weeks (four, if we recollect aright) the moth
came forth. (J. R.)

Nest of Goat-Motli. — Figured fiora specLmcu, and raised to show the

Til pa.

A wood-boring caterpillar, of a species of moth much
rarer than the preceding (^^geria asiliformis, Stephexs),
exhibits great ingenuity in constructing a cell for its me-
tamorphosis. We observed above a dozen of them dur-
ing this summer (1829) in the trunk of a poplar, one side
of which had been stripped of its bark. It was this
portion of the trunk which all the caterpillars selected
for their final retreat, not one having been observed
where the tree was covered with bark. The ingenuity
of the little architect consisted in scooping its cell almost
to the very surface of the wood, leaving only an exterior

182 INSECT AECHITECTURE.

covering of unbroken' wood, as thin as writing paper.
Previous, therefore, to the chrysalis making its way
through this feeble barrier, it could not have been sus-
pected that an insect was lodged under the smooth wood.
We observed more than one of these in the act of break-
ing through this covering, within which there is besides
a round moveable lid of a sort of brown wax. (J. R.)

Another architect caterpillar, frequently to be met with
in July on the leaves of the willow and the poplar, is, in
the fly-state, called the puss-moth ( Centra vinula). The
caterpillar is produced from brown-coloured shining eggs,
about the size of a pin's head, which are deposited — one,
two, or more together — on the upper surface of a leaf.
In the course of six or eight weeks (during which time
it casts its skin thrice) it arrives at its full growth, when
it is about as thick, and nearly as long, as a man's thumb,

Eggs of the Puss Moth.

and begins to prepare a structure in which the pupa may
sleep securely during the winter. As we have, oftener
than once, seen this little architect at work, from the
foundation till the completion of its edifice, we are thereby
enabled to give the details of the process.

The puss, it may be remarked, does not depend for
protection on the hole of a tree, or the shelter of an over-
hanging branch, but upon the solidity and strength of the
fabric which it rears. The material it commonly uses
is the bark of the tree upon which the cell is constructed ;
but when this cannot be procured, it is contented to em-
ploy whatever analogous materials may be within reach.
One which we had shut up in a box substituted the marble
paper it was lined with for bark, which it could not pro-

PUSS-MOTH. 183

cure.* With silk it first wove a thin web round the edges
of the place which it marked out for its edifice ; then it
ran several threads in a spare manner from side to side,
and from end to end, but very irregularly in point of
arrangement ; these were intended for the skeleton or
frame-work of the building. When this outline was
finished, the next step was to strengthen each thread of
silk by adding several (sometimes six or eight) parallel
ones, all of which were then glued together into a single
thread, by the insect running its mandibles, charged with
gluten, along the line. The meshes, or spaces, which
were thus widened by the compression of tlie parallel
threads, were immediately filled up with fresh threads,

' * It is justly remarked by Reaumur, that when caterpillars
are left at liberty among their native plants, it is only by lucky
chance they can be ol)served building their cocoons, because
the greater number abandon the plants upon which they have
bsen feeding, to spin tip in places at some distance. In order
to see their operations the)' must be kept in confinement, par-
ticularly in boxes with glazed doors, where they may be always
under the eye of the naturalist. In such circumstances, how-
ever, we may be ignorant what building materials we ought to
provide them with for their structures. A red caterpillar,
with a few tufts of hair, which Reaumur found in July feeding
upon the flower bunches of the nettle, and refusing to touch the
leaves, began in a few days to prepare its cocoon, by gnawing
the paper lid of the box in which it was placed. This, of
course, was a material which it could not have procured in the
tields, but it was the nearest in properties that it could pro-
cure ; for, thougli it liad the leaves and stems of nettles, it
never used a single fragment of either. When Reaumur found
that it was likely to gnaw through the paper lid of the box,
and might effect its escape, he furnished it with bits of rumpled
paper, fixed to the lid by means of a pin ; and these it chopped
down into such pieces as it judged convenient for its structure,
which it took a day to complete. The moth appeared four
weeks after, of a brownish-black colour, mottled with white, or
rather grey, in the manner of lace.

Bonnet also mentions more than one instance in which he
observed caterpillars making use of paper, when they could not
procure other materials.

184

INSECT AKCHITECTUBE.

■Rudiments of the Cell of the Puss Motli.

till at length only very small spaces were left. It was in
this stage of the operation that the paper came into requi-
sition, small portions of it being gnawed off the box and
glued into the meshes. It was not, however, into the
meshes only that the bits of paper were inserted ; for the
whole fabric was in the end thickly studded over with
them. In about half a day from the first thread of the
frame-work being spun the building was completed. It
was at first, however, rather soft, and yielded to slight
pressure with the finger ; but as soon as it became tho-
roughly dry, it was so hard that it could with difficulty
be penetrated with the point of a penknife. (J. R.)

Cell built by the Larva of the Puss-Moth.

A question will here suggest itself to the curious in-
quirer, how the moth, which is not, like the caterpillar,
furnished with mandibles for gnawing, can find its way
through so hard a wall. To resolve this question, it is
asserted by recent naturalists (see Kirby and Spence, vol.
iii. p. 15), that the moth is furnished with a peculiar acid
for dissolving itself a passage. We have a specimen of
the case of a puss-moth, in which, notwithstanding its
strength, one of the ichneumons had contrived to deposit

CAPRICOKK-BEETLE. 185

its esrgs. In the beginning of summer, when we expected
the moth to appear, and felt anxious to observe the re-
corded effects of the acid, we were astonished to find a
large orange cuckoo-fily make its escape ; while another,
which attempted to follow, stuck by the way and died.
On detaching the cell from the box, we found several
others, which had not been able to get out, and had died
in their cocoons. (J. R.)

Ichneumon (OpJiion luteum), figured from the one mrntioned.

Among the carpenter-grubs may be mentioned that of
the purple capricorn-beetle (CalUdium violaceum), of
which the Rev. Mr. Kirby has given an interesting
account in the fifth volume of the ' Linnaean Transactions.'
This insect feeds principally on fir timber which has been
felled some time without having had the bark stripped
oft"; but it is often found on other wood. Though occa-
sionally taken in this kingdom, it is supposed not to have
been originally a native. The circumstance of this
destructive little animal attacking only such timber as had
not been stripped of its bark ought to be attended to by
all persons who have any concern in this article ; for the
bark is a temptation not only to this, but to various other
insects ; and much of the injury done in timber might be
prevented, if the trees were all barked as soon as they
were felled. The female is furnished, at the posterior
extremity of her body, with a flat retractile tube, which
she inserts between the bark and the wood, to the
depth of about a quarter of an inch, and there deposits a
single agg. By stripping off the bark, it is easy to trace
the whole progress of the grub, from the spot where it is
hatched, to that where it attains its full size. It first
proceeds in a serpentine direction, filling the space which
it leaves with its excrement, resembling saw-dust, and so

1 3

186 INSECT ARCHITECTUKE.

stopping all ingress to enemies from without. When it
has arrived at its utmost dimensions, it does not confine
itself to one direction, but works in a kind of labyrinth,
eating backwards and forwards, which gives the wood
under the bark a very irregular surface ; by this means its
paths are rendered of considerable width. The bed of its
paths exhibits, when closely examined, a curious appear-
ance, occasioned by the gnavv ings of its jaws, which exca-
vate an infinity of little ramified canals. "When the insect
is about to assume its chrysalis state, it bores down ob-
liquely into the solid wood, to tb.e depth sometimes of three
inches, and seldom if ever less than two, forming holes
nearly semi-cylindrical, and of exactly the form of tlie
grub which inhabits them. At first sight one would
wonder how so small and seemingly so weak an animal
could have strength to excavate so deep a mine ; but when
we examine its jaws our wonder ceases. These are large,
thick, and solid sections of a cone divided longitudinally,
which, in the act of chewing, ap})ly to each other the
whole of their interior plane surface, so that they grind
the insect's food like a pair of millstones. Som.e of the
grubs are hatched in October ; and it is supposed that
about the beginning of March they assume their chrysalis
state. At the place in the bark opposite to the hole from
whence they descended into the wood, the perfect insects
gnaw their way out, which generally takes place betwixt
the middle of May and the middle of June. These insects
are supposed to fly only in the night, but during the day
they may generally be found resting on the wood from
which they were disclosed. The gi'ubs are destitute of
feet, pale, folded, somewhat hairy, convex above, and
divided into thirteen segments. Their head is large and
convex.* 'i

It would not be easy to find a more striking example
of ingenuity than occurs in a small caterpillar which may
be found in May, on the oak, and is supposed by Kirby
and Spence to be that of the Pyralis strigulalis. It is of
a whitish yellow colour, tinged with a shade of carnation,

* Kirby, in ' Linn. Trcns ,' vol. v. p. 216, and Introd. ii.

OAK-BARK CATEKPILLAR.

187

and studded with tufts of red hairs on each segment, and
two brown spots behind the head. It has fourteen feet,
and the upper part of its body is much flatter than is
common in caterpillars. When this ingenious little insect
begins to form its cell, it selects a smooth young branch
of the oak, near an offgoing of the branchlets whose angle
may afford it some protection. It then measures out, with
its body for a rule, the space destined for its structure, the
basement of which is of a triangular form, with the apex
at the lower end. The building itself is composed of
small rectangular strap-shaped pieces of the outer bark of
the branch cut out from the immediate vicinity ; the insect
indeed never travels farther for materials than the length
of its own body. Upon the two longest sides of the tri-
angular base it builds uniform walls, also of a triangular
shape, and both gradually diverging from each other as
they increase in height. These are formed with so much
mathematical precision, that they fit exactly when they

Magnified Cells of Pyialis slrigulalis ?

o. The walls before they are joined, h. Walls jcinpd, l;ut not clo?id
at tr>p. c. Side view of structure coiaplete.

188 IKSECT AKCHITKCTUBE.

are afterwards brought into contact. As soon as the little
architect has completed these walls, which resemble very
much the feathers of an arrow, it proceeds to draw them
together in a manner similar to that which the leaf-rolling
caterpillars employ in constructing their abodes, by pull-
ing them with silken cords till they bend and converge.
Even when the two longest sides are thus joined, there is an
opening left at the upper end, which is united in a similar
manner. When the whole is finished, it requires close
insj)ection to distinguish it from the branch, being formed
of the same materials, and having consequently the same
colour and gloss. Concealment, indeed, may be supposed,
with some justice, to be the final object of the insect in
producing this appearance, the same principle being ex-
tensively exemplified in numerous other instances.

( 189 )

CHAPTER XI.

Earth-mason Caterpillars.

Many species of caterpillars are not only skilful in con-
cealing themselves in their cocoons, but also in the con-
cealment of the cocoon itself; so that even when that is
large, as in the instance of the death's-head hawk-moth
(^Acherontia atropos), it is almost impossible to find it.
We allude to the numerous class of caterpillars which,
previous to their changing into the pupa state, bury them-
selves in the earth. This circumstance would not be
surprising, were it confined to those which are but too
well known in gardens, from their feeding upon and de-
stroying the roots of lettuce, chicory, and other plants, as
they pass a considerable portion of their lives under
ground ; nor is it surprising that those which retire under
ground during the day, and come abroad to feed in the
night, should form their cocoons where they have been
in the habit of concealing themselves. But it is very
singular and unexpected, that caterpillars which pass the
whole of their life on plants and even on trees, should
afterwards bury themselves in the earth. Yet, the fact
is, that perhaps a greater number make their cocoons
under than above ground, particularly those which are not
clothed with hair.

Some of those caterpillars, which go into the ground
previous to their change, make no cocoon at all, but are
contented with a rude masonry of earth as a nest for their
pupae : into the details of their operations it will not be
so necessary for us to go, as into those which exhibit more
ingenuity and care. When one of the latter is dug up it
has the appearance of nothing more than a small clod of
earth, of a roundish or oblong shape, but, generally, by
no means uniform. The interior, however, when it is laid

190 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

open, always exhibits a cavity, smooth, polished, and
regular, in which the cocoon or the chrysalis lies secure
(Fig. B, p. 191). The polish of the interior is precisely
such as might be given to soft earth by moistening and
kneading it with great care. But beside this, it is usually
lined with a tapestry of silk, more or less thick, though
this cannot always be discovered without the aid of a mag-
nifying glass. This species of caterpillars, as soon as they
have completed their growth, go into the earth, scoop out,
as the cossus does in wood, a hollow cell of an oblong
form, and line it with pellets of earth, from the size of a
grain of sand to that of a pea — united, by silk or gluten,
into a fabric more or less compact, according to the spe-
cies, but all of them fitted for protecting the inhabitant,
during its winter sleep, against cold and moisture.

Outside vit'W of Ne&ts of EaitJi masou Caterpillars.

One of the examples of this occurs in the ghost-moth
{Hepialns hwmdi), which, before it retires into the earth,
feeds upon the roots of the hop or the burdock. Like
other insects which construct cells under ground, it lines
the cemented earthen walls of its cell with a smooth
tapestry of silk, as closely woven as the web of the house-
spider.

Inaccurate observers have inferred that these earthen
structures were formed by a very rude and unskilful pro-
cess— the caterpillar, according to them, doing nothing
more than roll itself round, M'hile the mould adhered to
the gluey perspiration with which they describe its body
to be covered. This is a process as far from the truth as
Aristotle's account of the spider spinning its web from
wool taken from its body. Did the caterpillar do nothing

EARTH-MASOX CATEP.PILL.ABS.

191

Nests, &c., of an Earth-maiou Caterpillar.

more than roll itself in the earth, the cavity would be a
long tube fitted exactly to its body {Jig. c) : it is essen-
tially different.

It does not indeed require very minute observation to
perceive, that every grain of earth in the structure is
united to the contiguous grains by threads of silk ; and
that consequently, instead of the whole having been done
at once, it must have required \Qry considerable time and
labour. This construction is rendered more obvious by
throwing one of these earthen cases into water, which
dissolves the earth, but does not act on the silk which
binds it together. To understand how tliis is performed,
it may not be uninteresting to follow the little mason from
the beginning of his task.

When one of those burrowing caterpillars has done

192 IXSECT ARCHITECTUKE.

feeding, it enters the earth to the depth of several inches,
till it finds mould fit for its purpose. Having nowhere
to throw the earth which it may dig out, the only means
in its power of forming a cavity is to press it with its
body ; and, by turning round and round for this purpose,
an oblong hollow is soon made. But M'ere it left in this
state, as Reaumur well remarks, though the vault might
endure the requisite time by the viscosity of the earth
alone, were no change to take place in its humidity, yet,
as a great number are wanted to hold out for six, eight,
and ten months, they require to be substantially built ; a
mere lining of silk, therefore, would not be sufficient, and
it becomes necessary to have the walls bound with silk to
some thickness.

When a caterpillar cannot find earth sufficiently moist
to bear kneading into the requisite consistence, it has the
means of moistening it with a fluid which it ejects for the
purpose ; and as soon as it has thus prepared a small
pellet of earth, it fits it into the wall of the vault, and
secures it with silk. As the little mason, however, always
works on the inside of the building, it does not, at first
view, appear in what manner it can procure materials for
making one or two additional walls on the inside of the
one first built. As the process takes place under ground,
it is not easy to discover the particulars, for the cater-
pillars will not work in glazed bexes. The difficulty was
completely overcome by M. Reaumur, in the instance of
the caterpillar of the water-betony moth {Ciicullia
scrophdo.ricB^ Schra>'k), which he permitted to construct
the greater part of its underground building, and then
dug it up and broke a portion off" from the end, leaving
about a third part of the whole to be rebuilt. Those who
are unacquainted with the instinct of insects might have
suppcsed that, being disturbed by the demolition of its
walls, it M'ould have left off work ; but the stimulus of
providing for the great change is so powerful, that scarcely
any disturbance will interrupt a caterpillar in this species
of labour,

The little builder accordingly was not long in recom-
mencing its task for the purpose of repairing the disorder,

EARXa-MASOA' CATERPILLABS.

193

Earth mason Caterpillar's Nests, with the perfect Moth, &C4

194 ' INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

which it accomplished in about four hours. At first it pro-
truded its body almost entirely beyond the breach which
had been made, to reconnoitre the exterior for building ma-
terials. Earth was put within its reach, of the same kind
as it had previously used, and it was not long in selecting
a grain adapted to its purpose, which it fitted into the
wall and secured with silk. It first enlarged the outside
of the wall by the larger and coarser grains, and then
selected finer for the interior. But before it closed the
ajjerture, it collected a quantity of earth on the inside,
wove a pretty thick network tapestry of silk over the part
vvhich remained open, and into the meshes of this, by
pushing and pressing, it thrust grains of earth, securing
them with silk till the whole was rendered opaque ; and
the further operations of the insect could no longer be
watched, except that it was observed to keep in motion,
finishing, no doubt, the silken tapestry of the interior of
its little chamber. When it was completed M. Reaumur
ascertained that the portion of the structure which had
been built under his eye was equally thick and compact
with the other, which had been done under ground.

The grubs of several of the numerous species of may-
fly {Ephemera) excavate burrows for themselves in soft
earth, on the banks of rivers and canals, under the level
of the water, an operation well described by Scopoli,
Sv/ammerdam, and Reaumur. The excavations are always
proportioned to the size of the inhabitant ; and conse-
quently, when it is young and small, the hole is propor-
tionally small, though, with respect to extent, it is always
at least double the length of its body. The hole, being
under the level of the river, is always filled with water,
so that the grub swims in its native element, and while it
is secure from being preyed upon by fishes, it has its own
food within easy reach. It feeds, in fact, if we may
judge from its egesta, upon the slime or moistened clay
with which its hole is lined.

In the bank of the stream at Lee, in Kent, we had oc-
casion to take up an old willow stump, which, previous
to its being driven into the bank, had been perforated in
numerous places by the caterpillar of the goat-moth

EARTH-MA SOX CATERPILLARS.

195

Nests of tho Grubs of Ephemera.

A, The Grub. B, Perforations in a river bnnk. C, One laid open to show
the parallel structure.

(Cossus ligniperdd) . From having been driven amongst
the moist clay, these perforations became filled with it,
and the grubs of the ephemerae found them very suitable
for their habitation ; for the wood supplied a more secure
protection than if their galleries had been excavated in
the clay. In these holes of the wood we found several
empty, and some in which were full-grown grubs.
(J. R.)

Nests of Epheraorfc in holes of Cossus.

196 LNSECT ARCHITECTURE.

The architecture of the grub of a pretty genus of
beetles, known to entomologists by the name of Cincin-
dela, is peculiarly interesting. It was first made known
by the eminent French naturalists, Geoftroy, Desmarest,
and Latreille. This grub, which may be met with during
spring, and also in summer and autumn, in sandy places,
is long, cylindric, soft, whitish, and furnished with six
brown scaly feet. The head is of a square form, with six
or eight eyes, and very large in proportion to the body.
They have strong jaws, and on the eighth joint of the
body there are two fleshy tubercles, thickly clothed with
reddish hairs, and armed with a recurved horny spine, the
whole giving to the grub the form of the letter Z.

With their jaws and feet they dig into the earth to the
depth of eighteen inches, forming a cylindrical cavity of
greater diameter than their body, and furnished with a
perpendicular entrance. In constructing this, the grub
first clears away the particles of earth and sand by placing
them on its broad trapezoidal head, and carrying the load
in this manner beyond the area of the excavation. When
it gets deeper down, it climbs gradually up to the surface
with similar loads by means of the tubercles on its back,
above described. This process is a work of considerable
time and difficulty, and in carrying its loads the insect has
often to rest by the way to recover strength for a renewed
exertion. Not unfrequently, it finds the soil so ill adapted
to its operations, that it abandons the task altogether,
and begins anew in another situation. When it has suc-
ceeded in forming a complete den, it fixes itself at the
entrance by the hooks of its tubercles, which are admir-
ably adapted for the purpose, forming a fulcrum or sup-
port, while the broad plate on the top of the head exactl}'-
fits the aperture of the excavation, and is on a level with
the soil. In this position the grub remains immoveable,
with jaws expanded, and ready to seize and devour every
insect which may wander within its reach, particularly
the smaller beetles ; and its voracity is so great, that it
does not spare even its own species. It precipitates its
prey into the excavation, and in case of danger it retires
to the bottom of its den, a circumstance which renders it

TnE ANT-LIOy. 197

not a little difficult to discover the grub. The method
adopted by the French naturalists was to introduce a straw
or pliant twig into the hole, while they dug away, by
degrees and with great care, the earth around it, and
usually found the grub at the bottom of the cell, resting
in a zig-zag position like one of the caterpillars of the
geometric moths.

When it is about to undergo its transformation into a
pupa, it carefully closes the mouth of the den, and retires
to the bottom in security.

It does not appear that the grub of the genus Cincin-
dela uses the excavation just described for the purpose of
a trap or pitfall, any further than that it can more effec-
tually secure its prey by tumbling them down into it ;
but there are other species of grubs which construct pit-
falls for the express purpose of traps. Among these is
the larva of a fly {R/iagio vermileo), not unlike the com-
mon flesh maggot. The den which it constructs is in the
form of a funnel, the sides of which are composed of sand
or loose earth. It forms this pitfall of considerable depth,
by throwing out the earth obliquely on all sides ; and
when its trap is finished, it stretches itself along the bot-
tom, remaining stiff and motionless, like a piece of wood.
The last segment of the body is bent at an angle with the
rest, so as to form a strong point of support in the strug-
gles which it must often have to encounter with vigorous
prey. The instant that an insect tumbles into the pit-
fall, the grub pounces upon it, writhes itself round it like
a serpent, transfixes it with its jaws, and sucks its juices
at its ease. Should the prey by any chance escape, the
grub hurls up jets of sand and earth, with astonishing
rapidity and force, and not unfrequently succeeds in again
precipitating it to the bottom of its trap.

The Akt-Liox.

The observations of the continental naturalists have
made known to us a pitfall constructed by an insect, the
details of whose operations are exceedingly curious ; we
refer to the grub of the ant-lion {Myrmeleon formicarius) ,

1S8 INSECT AKCHITECTURE,

which, though marked by Dr. Turton and Mr. Stewart
as British, has not (at least of late years) been found in
this country. As it is not, however, uncommon in France
and Switzerland, it is probable it may yet be discovered
in some spot hitherto unexplored, and if so, it will well
reward the search of the cm'ious.

The ant-lion grub being of a grey colour, and having
its body composed of rings, is not unlike a wood-louse
(Onisciis), though it is larger, more triangular, has only
six legs, and most formidable jaws, in form of a reaping-
hook, or a pair of calliper compasses. These jaws, how-
ever, are not for masticating, but are perforated and
tubular, for the purpose of sucking the juices of ants
upon which it feeds. Vallisnieri was therefore mistaken,
as Reaumur well remarks, when he supposed that he had
discovered its mouth. Its habits require that it should
walk backwards, and this is the only species of locomo-
tion which it can perform. Even this sort of motion it
executes very slowly ; and were it not for the ingenuity
of its stratagems, it would fare but sparingly, since its
chief food consists of ants, whose activity and swiftness
of foot would otherwise render it impossible for it to
make a single capture. Nature, however, in this, as in
nearly every other case, has given a compensating power
to the individual animal, to balance its privations. The
ant-lion is slow, but it is extremely sagacious ; it cannot
follow its prey, but it can entrap it.

The snare which the grub of the ant-lion employs
consists of a funnel-shaped excavation formed in loose
sand, at the bottom of which it lies in wait for the ants
that chance to stumble over the margin, and cannot, from
the looseness of the walls, gain a sufficient footing to
effect their escape.

By shutting up one of these grubs in a box with loose
sand, it has been repeatedly observed constructing its
trap of various dimensions, from one to nearly three inches
in diameter, according to circumstances.

In the 'Magazine of Natural History,' 1838, p. 601,
Mr. Westwood gives a very interesting account of the
mode in which the ant-lion proceeds in the excavation of

THE ANT-LION.

199

>r.

Grub of the Aat-Lion, magnified, with one perfect Trap, and another

beL'ua.

its pitfall, as witnessed by himself in specimens procured
in the Pare de Belle Vue, near Paris, where, at the foot
of a very high sand-bank, these pits were numerous, and
of various sizes, but none exceeded an inch and a half or
two inches in diameter, and two-thirds of an inch deep.
"The ant-lions were of various sizes, corresponding to
the size of their retreats, I brought many of them to
Paris, placing several together in a box filled with sand.
They, however, destroyed one another whilst shut up in
these boxes ; and I only succeeded in bringing three of
them alive to England, one of v.hich almost immediately
afterwards (on the 23d of July) enclosed itself in a glo-
bular cocoon of fine sand. The other two afforded me
many opportunities of observing their proceedings. They
were unable to walk forwards, — an anomalous circum-
stance, and not often met with in animals furnished with

200 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

well developed legs. It is generally backwards, working
in a spiral direction, that the creature moves, pushing
itself backwards and downwards at the same time, the
head being carried horizontally, and the back much
arched, so that the extremity of the body is forced into
the sand. In this manner it proceeds backwards (to use
an Hibernianism), forming little mole-hills in the sand.
But it does not appear to me that this retrograde motion
lias anything to do with the actual formation of the cell,
since, as soon as it has fixed upon a spot for its retreat,
it commences throwing up the sand wilh the back of its
head, jerking the sand either behind its back or on one
or the other side. It shuts its long jaws, forming them
into a kind of shovel, the sharp edges of which it thrusts
laterally into the sand on each side of its head, and
thereby contrives to lodge a quantity of the sand upon
the head as well as the jaws. The motion is in fact
something like that of the head of a goat, especially when
butting sideways in play. In this manner it contrives to
throw away the sand, and by degrees to make a hole
entirel}^ with its head, the four legs not aflbrding the
slightest assistance in the operation. During this per-
formance the head only is exposed, the insect having
previousl}' pushed itself beneath the surface of the sand ;
but when it has made the hole sufficiently deep, it with-
draws the head also, leaving only the jaws exposed,
which are spread open in a line, and laid on the sand so
as to be scarcely visible. If alarmed, the insect imme-
diately takes a step backwards, withdrawing the jaws ;
but when an insect falls into the hole, the jaws are in-
stinctively and instantaneously closed, and the insect
seized by the leg, wing, or body, just as it may chance
1o fall within the reach of the ant-lion's jaws. If, how-
ever, the insect be not seized, but attempts to escape, no
matter in what direction, the ant-lion immediately begins
twisting its head about, and shovelling up the sand with
the greatest agility, jerking it about on each side and
backwards, but never forwards, as misrepresented in
some figures, until the hole is made so much deeper,
and such a disturbance caused in the sides of the hole,

THE ANT-LIOX. 201

that the insect is almost sure to be brought down to the
bottom, when it is seized by the ant-lion, which imme-
diately endeavours to draw it beneath the sand ; and if it
be very boisterous, the ant-lion beats it about, holding it
firmly with the jaws, until it is too weak for further re-
sistance. Hence, as the head of the ant-lion is immersed
in the sand, it is evident that the accounts given in po-
pular works of the instinct by which it throws the sand
in the direction of the escaping prey is not quite correct.
The act of throwing up the sand, when an insect has
fallen into the pit and attempts to escape, has evidently
for its chief object that of making the pit deeper and
more conical, and therefore more difficult of ascent."

It is by the action of the hinder pair of its legs that
the ant-lion drags itself backwards, the other four pair
being extended trailing after it, and leaving an impression
on the surface of the fine sand over which it has passed ;
and when burrowing its way beneath the surface of the
sand, it proceeds by short steps backwards. A portion
of sand at each step is thrown on the head, owing to the
hump-like form of the back ; this is immediately jerked
away, the body at the same time advancing another step
in its backward and spiral motion. Where it rests, a
little hillock of sand is raised by the body of the ant-lion
underneath ; while its jaws emerge and spread flat on the
surface. It now probably commences its pitfall, the
mode of excavating which we have given in detail.
From the spiral course described by the ant-lion in its
backward progress, ajjpears to have arisen the idea of its
tracing out a circle as the outline of its pitfall — as Mould
an architect or engineer ; but whence sprang the often-
repeated statement, that the ant-lion loads its head with
sand by means of one of its legs, that nearest the centre
of the circle, we cannot conjecture. Nor do we know
how, as it works entirely buried with the exception of
the head, the ant-lion can act when it meets with a stone
or other obstacle, as M. Bonnet states he has repeatedly
witnessed. He observes that if the stone be small, it can
manage to jerk it out in the same manner as the sand ;
but when it is two or three times larger and heavier than

VOL. I. K

202

IXSECT ARCHITECTUKE.

Aut-Lion's Pitfalls, in an expeiimenting-box.

its own body, it must have recourse to other means of
removal. The larger stones it usually leaves till the last ;
and when it has removed all the sand which it intends, it
then proceeds to try what it can do with the less manage-
able obstacles. For this purpose, it crawls backwards to
the place where a stone may be, and thrusting its tail
under it, is at great pains to get it properly balanced on
its back, by an alternate motion of the rings composing
its body. When it has succeeded in adjusting the stone,
it crawls up the side of the yi'it with great care, and de-
posits its burthen on the outside of the circle. Should
the stone happen to be round, the balance can be kept
only with the greatest difficulty, as it has to travel with
its load upon a slope of loose sand which is ready to give
way at every step ; and often when the insect has carried
it to the very brink, it rolls off its back and tumbles down
to the bottom of the pit. This accident, so far from dis-
couraging the ant-lion , only stimulates it to more perse-
vering efforts. Bonnet observed it renew these attempts
to dislodge a stone five or six times. It is only when it
finds it utterly impossible to succeed, that it abandons
the design and commences another pit in a fresh situation.
When it succeeds in getting a stone beyond the line of
its circle, it is not contented with letting it rest there ;
but to prevent it from again rolling in, it goes on to push
it to a considerable distance. We may be pardoned for
pausing before we give full credence to these details.
The ant-lion feeds only on the blood or juice of insects ;

THE A>'T-LIOir. 203

and as soon as it has extracted these, it tosses the dry-
carcase out of its den.

When it is about to change into a pupa, it proceeds in
nearly the same manner as the caterpillar of the water-
betony moth (Caculfia scropl/ularice). It first builds a
case of sand, the particles of which are secured by threads
of silk, and then tapestries the whole with a silken web.
Within this it undergoes its transformation into a pupa,
and in due time it emerges in form of a four- winged fly,
closely resembling the dragon-flies (^Lihellulce), vulgarly
and erroneously called horse-stingers.

The instance of the ant-lion naturally leads us to con-
sider the design of the Author of Nature in so nicely
adjusting, in all animals, the means of destruction and of
escape. As the larger quadrupeds of prey are provided
with a most ingenious machinery for preying on the
weaker, so are these furnished with the most admirable
powers of evading their destroyers. In the economy of
insects, we constantly observe that the means of defence,
not only of the individual creatures, but of their larvas
and pupae, against the attacks of other insects, and of
birds, is proportioned, in the ingenuity of their arrange-
ments, to the weakness of the insect employing them.
Those species which multiply the quickest have the
greatest number of enemies, Bradley, an English natu-
ralist, has calculated that two sparrows carry, in the
course of a week, above three thousand caterpillars to
the young in their nests. But though this is, probably,
much beyond the truth, it is certain that there is a great
and constant destruction of individuals going forward ;
and yet the species is never destroyed. In this way a
balance is kept up, by which one portion of animated
nature cannot usurp the means of life and enjoyment
which the world offers to another portion. In all matters
relating to reproduction. Nature is prodigal in her ar-
rangements. Insects have more stages to pass through be-
fore they attain their perfect growth than other creatures.
The continuation of the species is, therefore, in many
cases, provided for by a much larger number of eggs
being deposited than ever become fertile. How many

204 IKSECT ARCHITECTURE.

larvae are produced, in comparison with the number
which pass into the pupa state ; and how many pupae
perish before they become perfect insects ! Every garden
is covered with caterpillars ; and yet how few moths and
butterflies, comparatively, are seen, ev'cn in the most
sunny season ! Insects which lay few eggs are, commonly,
most remarkable in their contrivances for their preserva-
tion. The dangers to which insect life is exposed arc
manifold ; and therefore are the contrivances for its pre-
servation of the most perfect kind, and invariably adapted
to the peculiar habits of each tribe. The same wisdom
determines the food of every species of insect ; and thus
some are found to delight in the rose-tree, and some in
the oak. Had it been otherwise, the balance of vegetable
life would not have been preserved. It is for this reason
that the contrivances which an insect employs for obtain-
ing its food are curious, in proportion to the natural
difficulties of its structure. The ant-lion is carnivorous,
but he has not the quickness of the spider, nor can he
spread a net over a large surface, and issue from his
citadel to seize a victim which he has caught in his out-
works. He is therefore taught to dig a trap, where he
sits, like the unwieldy giants of fable, waiting for some
feeble one to cross his path. How laborious and patient
are his operations — how uncertain the chances of success !
Yet he never shrinks from them, because his instinct tells
him that by these contrivances alone can he preserve his
own existence, and continue that of his species.

( 205 )

CHAPTER XII.

Clothes-Moth and other Tent-making Caterpillars. — Leaf and
Bark Miners.

There are at least five different species of moths similar
in manners and economy, the caterpillars of which feed
upon animal substances, such as furs, woollen cloths, silk ,
leather, and, what to the naturalist is no less vexing,
upon the specimens of insects and other animals pre-
served in his cabinet. The moths in question are of the
family named Tinea by Entomologists, such as the
tapestry moth {Tinea tapetzella), the fur moth {Tinea
pellionella), the wool moth {Tinea vestianella), the
cabinet moth {Tinea destructor, Stephens), &c.

The moths themselves are, in the winged state, small,
and well fitted for making their way through the most
minute hole or chink, so that it is scarcely possible to
exclude them by the closeness of a wardrobe or a
cabinet.* If they cannot effect an entrance when a
drawer is out, or a door open, they will contrive to glide
through the key-hole ; and if they once get in, it is no
easy matter to dislodge or destroy them, for they are
exceedingly agile, and escape out of sight in a moment.
Moufet is of opinion that the ancients possessed an
effectual method of preserving stuffs from the moth,
because the robes of Servius Tullius were preserved up
to the death of Sejanus, a period of more than five
hundred years. On turning to Pliny to learn this secret,
we find him relating that stuff" laid upon a coffin will be
ever after safe from moths ; in the same way as a person
once stung by a scorpion will never afterwards be stung
by a bee, or a wasp, or a hornet ! Rhasis again says,

* See fig. (/., p. 209.

206 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

that cantharides suspended in a house drive away moths ;
and, he adds, that they will not touch anything wrapped
in a lion's skin ! — the poor little insects, says Reaumur
sarcastically, being probably in bodily fear of so terrible
an animal.* Such are the stories which fill the imagina-
tion even of philosophers, till real science entirely
expels them.

The effluvium of camphor or turpentine, or fumiga-
tion by sulphur or chlorine, may sometimes kill them,
when in the winged state, but this will have no effect
upon their eggs, and seldom upon the caterpillars ; for
they wrap themselves up too closely to be easily reached
by any agent except heat. This, '^when it can be con-
veniently applied, Mall be certain either to dislodge or
to kill them. When the effluvium of turpentine, how-
ever, reaches the caterpillar. Bonnet says it falls into
convulsions, becomes covered with livid blotches, and
dies.f

The mother insect takes care to deposit her eggs on or
near such substances as she instinctively foreknows will
be best adapted for the food of the young, taking care to
distribute them so that there may be a plentiful supply
and enough of room for each. We have found, for
example, some of those caterpillars feeding upon the
shreds of cloth used in training wall-fruit trees ; but we
never saw more than two caterpillars on one shred. This
scattering of the eggs in many places renders the effects
of the caterpillars more injurious, from their attacking
many parts of a garment or a piece of stuff at the same
time. (J. R.)

When one of the caterpillars of this family issues from
the egg^ its first care is to provide itself with a domicile,
which indeed seems no less indispensable to it than food ;
for, like all caterpillars that feed under cover, it will not
eat while it remains unprotected. Its mode of building
is very similar to that which is employed by other cater-
pillars that make use of extraneous materials. The

* Reaumur, ' Mem. Hist. Insectes,' iii. 70.
•j- ' Contemplation de la Nature,' part xii. chap. x. note.

MOTH-CATERPILLARS. 207

foundation or frame-work is made of silk secreted by
itself, and into this it interweaves portions of the material
upon which it feeds. It is said by Bingley, that " after
having spun a fine coating of silk immediately around its
hodi/, it cuts the filaments of the wool or fur close by
the thread of the cloth, or by the skin, with its teeth,
which act in the manner of scissors, into convenient
lengths, and applies the bits, one by one, with great
dexterity, to the outside of its silken case." * This
statement, however, is erroneous, and inconsistent with
the proceedings not only of the clothes-moth, but of
every caterpillar that constructs a covering. None of
these build from within outwards, but uniformly com-
mence with the exterior wall, and finish by lining the
interior with the finest materials. Reaumur, however,
found that the newly-hatched caterpillars lived at first in
a case of siik.

We have repeatedly witnessed the proceedings of these
insects from the very foundation of their structures ; and,
at the moment of writing this, w'e turned out one from the
carcase of an " old lady moth " (^Mormo maura, Ochsex-
heim) in our cabinet, and placed it on a desk covered
with green cloth, where it might find materials for con-
structing another dwelling. It wandered about for half
a day before it began its operations ; but it did not, as
is asserted by Bonnet, and Kirby and Spence, " in mov-
ing from place to place, seem to be as much incom-
moded by the long hairs which surround it, as we are by
walking amongst high grass," nor, "accordingly, march-
ing scythe in hand," did it, " with its teeth, cut out a
smooth road." f On the contrary, it did not cut a single
hair, till it selected one for the foundation of its in-
tended structure. This it cut very near the cloth, in
order, we suppose, to have it as long as possible ; and
placed it on a line with its body. It then immediately
cut another, and placing it parallel to the first, bound
both together with a few threads of its own silk. The

* 'Animal Biograjliy,' vol. iii. p. 330, 3d ed.
t Bonnet, xi. p. 204; Kirby and Spence, 'Intro.' i. 46 J,
5th ed.

208 I^-SECT ARCHITECTURE.

same ])rocess was repeated with other hairs, till the little
creature had made a fabric of some thickness, and this it
went on to extend till it was large enough to cover its
body ; which (as is usual with caterpillars) it employed
as a model and measure for 2'egulating its operations.
We remarked that it made choice of longer hairs for the
outside than for the parts of the interior, which it thought
necessary to strengthen by fresh additions ; but the
chamber was ultimately finished by a fine and closely
woven tapestry of silk. We could see the progress of
its work, by looking into the opening at either of the
ends ; for at this stage of the structure the walls are quite
opaque, and the insect concealed. It may be thus ob-
served to turn round, by doubling itself and bringing its
head where the tail had just been ; of course, the interior
is left wide enough for this purpose, and the centre,
indeed, where it turns, is always wider than the extre-
mities. (J. R.)

When the caterpillar increases in length, it takes care
to add to the length of its house, by working-in fresh
hairs at either end ; and if it be shifted to stuffs of dif-
ferent colours, it may be made to construct a party-
coloured tissue, like a Scotch plaid. Reaumur cut off
with scissors a portion at each end, to compel the insect
to make up the deficiency. But the caterpillar increases
in thickness as well as in length, so that, its first house
becoming too narrow, it must either enlarge it, or build
a new one. It prefers the former as less troublesome,
and accomplishes its purpose " as dexterously," says
Bonnet, '* as any tailor, and sets to work precisely as we
should do, slitting the case on the two opposite sides, and
then adroitly inserting between them two pieces of the
requisite size. It does not, however, cut open the case
from one end to the other at once ; the sides would
separate too far asunder, and the insect be left naked.
It therefore first cuts each side about half way down,
beginning senietimes at the centre and sometimes at the
end (Fig. c), and then, after having filled up the
fissure, proceeds to cut the remaining half; so that, in
fact, four enlargements are made, and four separate
pieces inserted. The colour of the case is always the

MOTH-CATERPILLARS.

209

Cases, Sec, of the Clothes-Moth (Tinea pellioneUa). — n. Caterpillar feed-
ing ill a case, \v}\ichhas been lengthened by ovals of different colours;
b, Case cut at tlie ends for expeiimeut; c. Case cut open by the insect
for enlarging it ; d, e. The clothes-moths in their perfect state, when,
as they cease to eat, they do no furtiier injury.

same as that of the stuft'from ^vhich it is taken. Thus,
if its original colour be blue, and the insect, previously
to enlarging it, be put upon red cloth, the circles at the
end, and two stripes down the middle, will be red." *
Reaumur found that they cut these enlargements in no
precise order, but sometimes continuously, and some-
times opposite each other, indifferently.

The same naturalist says he never knew one leave its
old dwelling in order to build a new, though, when
once ejected by force from its house, it would never enter
it again, as some other species of caterpillars will do,
but always preferred building another. We, on the con-
trary, have more than once seen them leave an old habi-
tation. The very caterpillar, indeed, whose history we have
above given, first took up its abode in a specimen of the
ghost-moth (Hejnalus hiunuli), where, finding few suit-
able materials for building, it had recourse to the cork of
the drawer, with the chips of which it made a structure

* Bonnet, vol. ix. p. 203.

K o

210 I>'SECT ARCHITECTURE.

almost as warm as it would have done from wool.
Whether it took offence at our disturbing it one day, or
whether it did not find sufficient food in the body of the
ghost-moth, we know not ; but it left its cork house,
and travelled about eighteen inches, selected " the old
lady," one of the largest insects in the drawer, and built
a new apartment composed partly of cork as before, and
partly of bits dipt out of the moth's wings. (J. R.)

We have seen these caterpillars form their habitations
of every sort of insect, from a butterfly to a beetle ; and
the soft feathery wings of moths answer their purpose
very well : but when they fall in with such hard ma-
terials as the musk beetle {Ceramhyx moschatus) or the
large scolopendra of the West Indies, they find some
difficulty in the building.

When the structure is finished, the insect deems itself
secure to feed on the materials of the cloth or other
animal matter within its reach, provided it is dry and
free from fat or grease, wliich Reaumur found it would
not touch. This may probably be the origin of the
practice of putting a bit of candle with furs, &c., to pre-
serve them from the moth. For building, it always
selects the straightest and loosest pieces of wool, but for
food it prefers the shortest and most compact ; and to
procure these it eats into the body of the stuif, rejecting
the pile or nap, which it necessarily cuts across at the
origin, and permits to fall, leaving it threadbare, as if it
had been much worn. It must have been this circum-
stance which induced Bonnet to fancy (as we have al-
ready mentioned) that it cut the hairs to make itself a
smooth comfortable path to walk upon. It would be
equally correct to say that an ox or a sheep dislikes
walking amongst long grass, and therefore eats it down
in order to clear the wa}^

TENT-MAKING CATERPILLARS.

The caterpillars of a family of small moths {Tineidc^},
which feed on the leaves of various trees, such as the haw-
thorn, the elm, the oak, and most fruit-trees, particu-

TENT-MAKING CATERPILLARS. 211

larly the pear, form habitations which are exceedingly
ingenious and elegant. They are so very minute that
they require close inspection to discover them ; and to
the _ cursory observer, unacquainted uith their habits,
they will appear more like the withered leaf scales of the
tree, thrown off when the buds expand, than artificial
structures made by insects. It is only, indeed, by seeing
them move about upon the leaves, that we discover they
are inhabited by a living tenant, who carries them as the
snail does its shell.

These tents are from a quarter of an inch to an inch
in length, and usually about the breadth of an oat-straw.
That they are of the colour of a withered leaf is not
surprising ; for they are actually composed of a piece of
leaf; not, hovvever, cut out from the whole thickness,
but artfully separated from the upper layer, as a person
might separate one of the leaves of paper from a sheet of
pasteboard ;

K^M^_

A caterpillar's tent upon a leaf of the elm. — a, a, the part of the leaf
from Nvhich the tent has been cut out ; b, the tent itself.

The tents of this class of caterpillars, which are found
on the elm, the alder, and other trees with serrated leaves,
are much in the shape of a minute gold-fish. They are
convex on the back, where the indentations of the leaf
out of which they have been cut add to the resemblance,
by appearing like the dorsal fins of the fish. By depriv-
ing one of those caterpillars common on the hawthorn of
its tent, for the sake of experiment, we put it under the
necessity of making another ; for, as Fliny remarks of
the clothes-moth, they will rather die of hunger than

212 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

feed unprotected. When we placed it on a fresh haw-
thorn leaf, it re})eatedly examined every part of it, as if
seeking for its lost tent, though, when this was put in
its way, it would not again enter it ; but, after some
delay, commenced a new one. (J. R.)

For this purpose, it began to eat through one of the
two outer membranes which compose the leaf and enclose
the pulp {parencliymo) ^ some of which, also, it devoured,
and then thrust the hinder part of its body into the per-
foration. The cavity, however, which it had formed,
being yet too small for its reception, it immediately re-
sumed the task of making it larger. By continuing to
gnaw into the pulp, hehveen the membranes of the leaf
(for it took the greatest care not to puncture or injure
the membranes themselves), it soon succeeded in mining
out a gallery rather larger than was sufficient to contain
its body. We perceived that it did not throw out as
rubbish the pulp it dug into, but devoured it as food, — a
circumstance not the least remarkable in its proceedings.

As the two membranes of leaf thus deprived of the
enclosed pulp appeared white and transparent, every
movement of the insect within could be distinctly seen ;
and it was not a little interesting to watch its ingenious
operations while it was making its tent from the mem-
branes prepared as we have just described. These, as
Reaumur has remarked, are in fact to the insect like a piece
of cloth in the hands of a tailor ; and no tailor could
cut out a shape with more neatness and dexterity than this
little workman does. As the caterpillar is furnished in its
mandibles with an excellent pair of scissors, this may not
appear to be a difficult task ; yet, when wc examine the
matter more minutely, we find that the peculiar shape of
the two extremities requires different curvatures, and this,
of course, renders the operation no less complex, as
Reaumur subjoins, than the shaping of the pieces of
cloth for a coat.* The insect, in fact, shapes the mem-
branes slightly convex on one side and concave on the
other, and at one end twice as large as at the
other. In the instance which we observed, beginning
* ♦ Mem. Hist. Insect.' iii. p. 106.

TENT-MAKIJfG CATEBPILLARS. 213

at the larger end, it bent them gently on each side by
pressing them with its body thrown into a curve. We
have not said it cuts, but shapes its materials ; for it
must be obvious that if the insect had cut both the mem-
branes at this stage of its operations, the pieces would
have fallen and carried it along with them.

To obviate such an accident it proceeded to join the
two edges, and secure them firmly with silk, before it
made a single incision to detach them. When it had in
this manner joined the two edges along one of the sides,
it inserted its head on the outside of the joining, first at
one end and then at the other, gnawing the fibres till
that whole side was separated. It proceeded in the same
manner with the other side, joining the edges before it
cut them ; and when it arrived at the last fibre, the only
remaining support of its now finished tent, it took the
precaution, before snipping it, to moor the whole to the
uncut part of the leaf by a cable of its own silk. Con-
sequently, when it does cut the last nervure, it is secure
from falling, and can then travel along the leaf, carrying
its tent on its back, as a snail does its shell. (J. R.)

a. The Caterpillar occupying the space it has eaten between tire cuticle
of t!:e leaf; b, A portion of the upper cuticle, cut out for the formation
of the tent; c, The tent nearly completed ; d. The perfect tent, with
the caterpillar protruding its head.

We have just discovered (Nov. 4th, 1829) upon the
nettle a tent of a very singular appearance, in conse-

214 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

quence of the materials of which it is made. The cater-
pillar seems, indeed, to have proceeded exactly in the
same manner as those which we have described, mining
first between the two membranes of the leaf, and then
uniting these and cutting out his tent. But the tent itself
looks singular from being all over studded with the
stinging bristles of the nettle, and forming a no less for-
midable coat of mail to the little inhabitant than the
spiny hide of the hedgehog. In feeding it does not
seem to have mined into the leaf, but to have eaten the
whole of the lower membrane, along with the entire
pulp, leaving nothing but the upper membrane un-
touched. (J.R.) During the summer of 1830 we dis-
covered a very large tent M'hich had been formed out of a
blade of grass ; and another stuck all over with chips of
leaves upon the common maple.

Tents of Stone-Mason Caterpillars.

The caterpillar of a small moth (Tinea) which feeds
upon the lichens growing on walls, builds for itself a
moveable tent of a very singular kind. M. de la Voye
was the first who described these insects ; but though
they are frequently overlooked, from being very small,
they are by no means uncommon on old walls. Reaumur
observed them regularly for twenty years together on the
terrace- wall of the Tuileries at Paris ; and they may be
found in abundance in similar situations in this country.
This accurate obsei'ver refuted by experiment the notion
of M. de la Voye that the caterpillars fed upon the stones
of the wall ; but he satisfied himself that they detached
particles of the stone for the purpose of building their
tents or sheaths (foun-eaux), as he calls their dwellings.
In order to watch their mode of building, Reaumur
gently ejected half a dozen of them from their homes,
and observed them detach grain after grain from a piece
of stone, binding each into the wall of their building with
silk till the cell acquired the requisite magnitude, the
whole operation taking' about twenty-four hours of con-
tinued laboiu-. M. de la Voye mentions small granular

STOXE-MASON CATERPILLARS.

215

bodies of a greenish colour, placed irregularly on the
exterior of the structure, which he calls eggs ; but we
agree with Reaumur in thinking it more probable that
they are small fragments of moss or lichen intermixed
with the stone : in lact, we have ascertained that they
are so. (J. R.)

When these little architects prepare for their change
into chrysalides before becoming moths, they attach their
tents securely to the stone over which they have hitherto
i-ambled, by spinning a strong mooring of silk, so as not
only to till up every interstice between the main entrance
of the tent and the stone, but also weaving a close, thick
curtain of the same material, to shut up the entire
aperture.

Licheii-Tenta and Caterpillars, both of their natural size and magnified.'

It is usual for insects which form similar structures to
issue, when they assume the winged state, from the
broader end of their habitation ; but our little stone-
mason proceeds in a different manner. It leaves open
the apex of the cone from the first, for the purpose of
ejecting its excrements, and latterly it enlarges this
opening a little, to allow of a free exit when it acquires
W'ings ; taking care, however, to spin over it a canopy of„
silk, as a temporary protection, which it can afterwards
burst through without difficulty. The moth itself is very
much like the common clothes-moth in form, but is of a
gilded bronze colour, and considerably smaller.

216 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

' In the same locality, M. de Maupertuis found a nume-
rous brood of small caterpillars, which employed grains
of stone, not, like the preceding:, for building feeding
tents, but for their cocoons. This caterpillar was of a
brownish-grey colour, with a white line along the back,
on each side of which were tufts of hair. The cocoons
which it built were oval, and less in size than a hazel
nut, the grains of the stone being skilfully woven into
irregular meshes of silk.

In June, 1829, we found a numerous encampment of the
tent-building caterpillars described by MM. de la Voye
and Reaumur, on the brick wall of a garden at Blackheath,
Kent. (J. R.) They were so very small, however, and so
like the lichen on the wall, that, had not our attention
been previously directed to their habits, we should have
considered them as portions of the wall ; for not one of
them was in motion, and it was only by the neat, turbi-
nated, conical form in which they had constructed their
habitations, that we detected them. We tried the ex-
periment above-mentioned, of ejecting one of the cater-
pillars from its tent, in order to watch its proceedings
when constructing another ; but probably its haste to
procure shelter, or the artificial circumstances into which
it was thrown, influenced its operations, for it did not
form so good a tent as the first, the texture of the walls
being much slighter, while it was more rounded at the
apex, and of course not so elegant. Reaumur found, in
all his similar experiments, that the new structure equalled
the old ; but most of the trials of this kind which we
have made correspond with the inferiority which we have
here recorded. The process indeed is the same, but it
seems to be done with more hurry and less care. It
may be, indeed, in some cases, that the supply of silk
necessary to unite the bits of stone, earth, or lichen
employed, is too scanty for perfecting a second struc-
ture.

We remarked a very singular circumstance in the
operations of our little architect, which seems to have
escaped the minute and accurate attention of Reaumur.
When it commenced its structure, it was indispensable

STONE-MASON CATERPILLARS. 217

to lay a foundation for the walls about to be reared ;
but as the tent was to be moveable like the shell of a
snail, and not stationary, it would not have answered its
end to cement the foundation to the wall. We had fore-
seen this difficulty, and felt not a little interested in
discovering how it would be got over. xVccordingly,
upon watching its movements with some attention, we
were soon gratified to perceive that it used its own body
as the primary support of the building. It fixed a thread
of silk upon one of its right feet, warped it over to the
corresponding left foot, and upon the thread thus stretched
between the two feet it glued grains of stone and chips
of lichen, till the wall was of the required thickness.
Upon this, as a foundation, it continued to work till it
had formed a small portion in form of a parallelogram ;
and, proceeding in a similar way, it was not long in
making a ring a very little wider than sufficient to admit
its body. It extended this ring in breadth, by working
on the inside only, narrowing the diameter by degrees,
till it began to take the form of a cone. The apex of
this cone was not closed up, but left as an aperture
through which to eject its excrements.

It is worthy of remark, that one of the caterpillars
which we deprived of its tent, attempted to save itself
the trouble of building a new one, by endeavouring to
unhouse one of its neighbours. For this purpose, it got
upon the outside of the inhabited tent, and, sliding its
head down to the entrance, tried to make its M'ay into
the interior. But the rightful owner did not choose to
give up his premises so easily ; and fixed his tent down
so firmly upon the table where we had placed it, that the
intruder was forced to abandon his attempt. The in-
stant, however, that the other unmoored his tent and
began to move about, the invader renewed his efibrts to
eject him, persevering in the struggle for several hours,
but without a chance of success. At one time we
imagined that he would have accomplished his felonious
intentions ; for he bound down the apex of the tent to
the table with cables of silk. But he attempted his
entrance at the wrong end. He ought to have tried the

218 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

aperture in the apex, by enlarging which a little he would
undoubtedly have made good his entrance ; and as the
inhabitant could not have turned upon him for want of
room, the castle must have been sun'endered. This
experiment,' however, was not tried, and -there was no
hope for him at the main entrance.

Muff-shaped Tents.

The ingenuity of man has pressed into his service not
only the wool, the hair, and even the skins of animals,
but has most extensively searched the vegetable king-
dom for the materials of his clothing. In all this, how-
ever, he is rivalled by the tiny inhabitants of the insect
world, as we have already seen ; and we are about now
to give an additional instance of the art of a species of
caterpillars which select a warmer material for their tents
than even the caterpillar of the clothes- moth. It may
have been remarked by many who are not botanists, that
the seed-catkins of the willow become, as they ripen,
covered with a species of down or cotton, which, how-
ever, is too short in the fibre to be advantageously em-
ployed in our manufactures. But the caterpillars to
which we have alluded, find it well adapted for their
habitations.

The muft-looking tent in which we find these insects
does not require much trouble to construct ; for the ca-
terpillar does not, like the clothes-moth caterpillar, join
the willow-cotton together, fibre by fibre — it is contented
with the state in which it finds it on the seed. Into this
it burrows, lines the interior with a tapestry of silk, and
then detaches the whole from the branch where it was
growing, and carries it about with it as a protection
while it is feeding.*

^ An inquiring friend of Reaumur having found one of
these insects floating about in its muff-tent upon water,
concluded that they fed upon aquatic plants ; but he was
soon convinced that it had only been blown down by an

* Reaumur, iii. p. 130.

MINING CATERPILLARS.

219

a, Brancli of the Wil ow, with seed spikes covered with eottou ; 6, Muff
Tents, made of this cotton by c, the Caterpillar.

accident, %vhich must frequently happen, as willows so
often hang over water. May it not be, that the buoyant
materials of the tent were intended to furnish the little
inhabitant with a life-boat, in which, when it chanced
to be blown into the water, it might sail safely ashore
and resrain its native tree ?

Leaf-mixixg Caterpillars.

The process of mining between the two membranes of
a leaf is carried on to more extent by minute caterpillars
allied to the tent-makers above described. The tent-
maker never deserts his house, except when compelled,
and therefore can only mine to about half the length of
his own body ; but the miners now to be considered

220

rsSECT ARCHITECTUKE.

make the mine itself their dwelling'-placc, and as they
eat their way they lengthen and enlarge their galleries.
A few of these mining caterpillars are the progeny of
small weevils {Ciirculionidce) , some of two- winged flies
(^Diptera) J but the greater number are produced from
a genus of minute moths {(Ecophora, Latr.), which,
when magnified, appear to be amongst the most splendid
and brilliant of Nature's productions, vying even with
the humming-birds and diamond beetles of the tropics in
the rich metallic colours which bespangle their wings.
Well may Bonnet call them " tiny miracles of nature,"
and regret that they are not en grand*

There are few plants or trees whose leaves may not,
at some season of the year, be found mined by these
caterpillars, the track of whose progress appears on the
upper surface in winding lines. Let us take one of the

Leaf of the Monthly Rose {Rose Indica'), mined by Caterpillars of
Argyioiuiges ?

most common of these for an example,— that of the rose-
leaf, produced by the caterpillar of Ray's golden-silver
spot {Argyromifjcs Rcnjella? Curtis), of which we have

* Bonnet, * Contempl. de la Nature,' part xii.

MINING CATEKPILLARS. 221

just gathered above a dozen specimens from one rose-
tree. (J. II.)

It may be remarked that the winding line is black,
closely resembling the tortuous course of a river on a
map, — beginning like a small brook, and gradually in-
creasing in breadth as it proceeds. This representation
of a river exhibits, besides, a narrow white valley on each
side of it, increasing as it goes, till it terminates in a
broad delta. The valley is the portion of the inner leaf
from which the caterpillar has eaten the pulp (^paren-
chyma), while the river itself has been formed by the
liquid ejectamenta of the insect, the watery part be-
coming evaporated. In other species of miners, how-
ever, the dung is hard and dry, and consequently these
only exhibit the valley without the river (see p. 223).

On looking at the back of the leaf, where the wind-
ing line begins, we uniformly find the shell of the
very minute e^^ from which the caterpillar has been
hatched, and hence perceive that it digs into the leaf
the moment it escapes from the ^^^^ without wandering
a hair's breadth from the spot ; as if afraid lest the air
should visit it too roughly. The e^^ is, for the most
part, placed upon the mid-rib of the rose-leaf, but some-
times on one of the larger nervures. When once it has
got within the leaf, it seems to pursue no certain direc-
tion, sometimes working to the centre, sometimes to the
circumference, sometimes to the point, and sometimes to
the base, and even, occasionally, crossing or keeping
parallel to its own previous track.

The most marvellous circumstance, however, is the
minuteness of its workmanship ; for though a rose-leaf is
thinner than this paper, the insect finds room to mine a
tunnel to live in, and plenty of food, without touching
the two external membranes. Let any one try with the
nicest dissecting instruments to separate the two plates of
a rose-leaf, and he will find it impossible to proceed far
without tearing one or other. The caterpillar goes still
further in minute nicety ; for it may be remarked, that
its track can only be seen on the upper, and not on the
under surface of the leaf, proving that it eats as it pro-

222

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

ceeds only half the thickness of the pulp, or that portion
of it which belongs to the upper membrane of the leaf.

We have found this liitle miner on almost every sort
of rose-tree, both wild and cultivated, including the
sweet-briar, in which the leaf being very small, it re-
quires nearly the whole parenchyma to feed one cater-
pillar. They seem, however, to prefer the foreign
monthly rose to any of our native species, and there are
few trees of this where they may not be discovered.

Tunnels very analogous to the preceding may be
found upon the common bramble (Mubus fruticosus) ;
and on the holly, early in spring, one which is in form
of an irregular whitish blotch. But in the former case,
the little miner seems to proceed more regularly, always,
when newly hatched, making directly for the circum-
ference, upon or near which also the mother moth depo-
sits her Q^g^ and winding along for half the extent of
the leaf close upon the edge, following, in some cases,
the very indentations formed by the terminating nervures.

Leaf of tlie Dew-berry Bramble (Ruhus ccesiuij, mined by Caterpillars.

The bramble-leaf miner seems also to differ from that
of the rose-leaf, by eating the pulp both from the upper
and under surface, at least the track is equally distinct
above and below ; yet this may arise from the different

MINING CATERPILLARS. 223

consistence of the leaf pulp, that in the rose being firm,
while that of the bramble is soft and pufty.

On the leaves of the common primrose (^Primula
veris), as well as on the garden variety of it, the
polyanthus, one of those mining caterpillars may very
frequently be found. It is, however, considerably dif-
ferent from the preceding, for there is no black trace —
no river to the valley which it excavates : its ejecta-
menta, being small and solid, are seen, when the leaf is
dried, in little black points like grains of sand. This
miner also seems more partial than the preceding to the
mid-rib and its vicinity, in consequence of which its path
is seldom so tortuous, and often appears at its extremity
to terminate in an area, comparatively extensive, arising
from its recrossing its previous tracks. (J. R.)

Leaf of the Primrose (^Primula veris), mined by a Caterpillar.

Svtammerdam describes a mining caterpillar which he
found on the leaves of the alder, though it did not, like
those we have just described, excavate a winding gallery ;
it kept upon the same spot, and formed only an irregular
area. A moth was produced from this, whose upper
wings, he says, " shone and glittered most gloriously
with crescents of gold, silver, and brown, surrounded by
borders of delicate black." Another area miner which
he found on the leaves of willows, as many as seventeen
on one leaf, producing what appeared to be rusty spots,
was metamorphosed into a very minute weevil ( Carculio

224 INSECT ARCUITECTUKE.

RJunoc). He says he has been informed, that, in warm
climates, worms an inch long are found in leaves, and
adds, with great simplicity, " on these many fine expe-
riments might have been made, if the inhabitants had
not laboured under the cursed thirst of gold."*

The vine-leaf miner, when about to construct its
cocoon, cuts, from the termination of its gallery, two
pieces of the membrane of the leaf, deprived of their
pulp, in a similar manner to the tent-makers described
above, uniting them and lining them with silk. This she
carries to some distance before she lays herself up to
undergo her change. Her mode of walking under her
burthen is peculiar, for, not contented with the security
of a single thread of silk, she forms, as Bonnet says,
" little mountains {monticules) of silk, from distance to
distance, and seizing one of these with her teeth, drags
herself forward, and makes it a scaffolding from which
she can build another.f Some of the miners, however,
do not leave their galleries, but undergo their transforma-
tions there, taking the precaution to mine a cell, not in
the upper, but in the under surface ; others only shift to
another portion of the leaf.

Social LEAF-MI^'ERs.

The preceding descriptions apply to caterpillars who
construct their mines in solitude, there being seldom
more than one on a leaf or leaflet, unless when two
mother flies happen to lay their eggs on the same leaf;
but there are others, such as the miners of the leaves of
the henbane {Hyoscyanms niger)^ which excavate a
common area in concert — from four to eight forming a
colony. These are very like flesh-maggots, being larger
than the common miners ; the leaves of this plant, from
being thick and juicy, giving them space to work and
plenty to eat.

Most of the solitary leaf-miners either cannot or will

* Swammerd., < Book of Nature,' vol. ii. p. 84.
f ' Contempl. de la Nature/ part xii. p. 197.

BAEK-MINIKG CATERPILLARS. 225

not construct a new mine, if ejected by an experimenter
from the old, as we have frequently ])roved ; but this is
not the case with the social miners of the henbane leaf.
Bonnet ejected one of these, and watched it with his
glass till it commenced a new tunnel, which it also en-
larged with great expedition ; and in order to verify the
assertion of Reaumur, that they neither endeavour nor
fear to meet one another, he introduced a second.
Neither of them manifested any knowledge of the other's
contiguity, but both worked hard at the gallery, as did a
third and a fourth which he afterwards introduced ; for
though they seemed uneasy, they never attacked one
another, as the solitary ones often do when they meet.*

Bark-m!nixg Caterpillars.

A very different order of mining caterpillars are the
progeny of various beetles, which excavate their galleries
in the soft inner bark of trees, or between it and the
young wood {alburnum). Some of these, though small,
commit extensive ravages, as may readily be conceived
when we are told that as many as eighty thousand are
occasionally found on one tree. In 1783 the trees thus
destroyed by the printer-beetle {Tomictts typographus^
Latr.), so called from its tracks resembling letters,
amounted to above a million and a half in the Hartz
forest. It appears there periodically, and confines its
ravages to the iir. This insect is said to have been found
in the neighbourhood of London.

On taking off the bark of decaying poplars and wil-
lows, we have frequently met with the tracks of a miner
of this order, extending in tortuous pathways, about a
quarter of an inch broad, for several feet and even yards
in length. The excavation is not circular, but a com^
pressed oval, and crammed throughout with a dark-
coloured substance like sawdust — the excrement no doubt
of the little miner, who is thereby protected from the
attacks of Staphylinidce, and other predaceous insects,

* Bonnet, ' Observ. sur les Insectes, vol. ii. p. 425.

VOL. I. L

226

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

from behind. But though we have found a great nuiff-
ber of these subcortical tracks, we have never discovered
one of the miners, though they are very probably the
grubs of the pretty musk-beetle (^Ceramhyx ynoschatus),
which are so abundant in the neighbourhood of the trees
in question, that the very air in summer is perfumed with
their odour. (J. R.)

Another Capricorn beetle of this family is no less de-
structive to bark in its perfect state than the above are
when grubs, as from its habit of eating round a tree, it
cuts the course of the returning sap, and destroys it.

C.'.pricoru Beetle (Ceramhyx Lamia ampulatvr) rounding off the balk of

a tree,

MOLE-CRICKET. 227

CHAPTER XIII.

Structures of Grasshoppers, Crickets, and Beetles.

Grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, and beetles arc, in
many respects, no less interesting than the insects whose
architectural proceedings we have already detailed.
They do not, indeed, build any edifice for the accom-
modation of themselves or their progeny ; but most, if
not all of them, excavate retreats in walls or in the
ground.

The house-cricket (^Acheta domesticd) is well known
for its habit of picking out the mortar of ovens and
kitchen fire-places, where it not only enjoys warmth, but
can procure abundance of food. It is usually supposed
that it feeds on bread. M. Latreille says it only eats
insects, and it certainly thrives well in houses infested
by the cockroach ; but we have also known it eat and
destroy lamb's-wool stockings, and other woollen stuffs,
hung near a fire to dry. It is evidently not fond of hard
labour, but prefers those places where the mortar is
already loosened, or at least is new, soft, and easily
scooped out; and in this way it will dig covert ways
from room to room. In summer, crickets often make
excursions from the house to the neighbouring fields, and
^well in the crevices of rubbish, or the cracks made in
the ground by diy weather, where they chirp as merrily
as in the snuggest chimney corner. Whether they ever
dig retreats in such circumstances we have not ascer-
tained ; though it is not improbable they may do so for
the purpose of making nests. M. Bory St. Vincent tells
us that the Spaniards are so fond of crickets that they
keep them in cages like singing birds.*

* Diet. Classique d'Hist. Nat. Art. Grillon.

L 2

228 IXSECT ARCHITECTURE.

The Mole-Cricket.

The insect, called, from its similarity of habits to the
mole, the mole-cricket {Gryllotalpa vulgaris, Latr.) is
but too well known in gardens, corn-fields, and the
moist banks of rivers and ponds, in some parts of Eng-
land, such as Wiltshire and Hampshire, though it is
comparatively rare or unknown in others. It burrows in
the ground, and forms extensive galleries similar to those
of the mole, though smaller ; and these m.ay alv.ays be
recognised by a slightly elevated ridge of mould : for the
insect does not throw up the earth in hillocks like the
mole, but gradually, as it digs along, in the manner of
the field-mouse. In this way it commits great ravages,
in hotbeds and in gardens, upon peas, young cabbages,
and other vegetables, the roots of which it is said to de-
vour. It is not improbable, we think, that, like its con-
gener, the house-cricket, it may also prey upon under-
ground insects, and undermine the plants to get at them,
as the mole has been proved to do, Mr. Gould, indeed,
fed a mole-cricket for several months upon ants.

The structure of the mole-cricket's arms and hands (if
we may call them so) is admirably adapted for these ope-
rations, being both very strong, an<l moved by a peculiar
apparatus of muscles. The breast is formed of a thick,
hard, horny substance, which is further strengthened
within by a double framework of strong gristle, in front
of the extremities of which the shoulder-blades of the
arms are firmly jointed ; a structure evidently intended
to prevent the breast from being injured by the powerful
action of the muscles of the arms in digging. The arms
themselves are strong and broad, and the hand is fur-
nished with four large sharp claws, pointed somewhat
obliquely outwards, this being the direction in which it
digs, throwing the earth on each side of its course. So
strongly indeed does it throw out its arms, that m'C find
it can thus easily support its own weight when held be-
tween the finger and thumb, as we have tried upon half
a dozen of the living insects now in our possession.

MOJ.E-CRICKET.

229

The Mole-Cricket, with a separate outline of one of its liands.

The nest which the female constructs for her eggs, in
the beginning of iNlay, is well worthy of attention. The
Rev. My. White, of Selborne, tells us that a gardener,
at a house vhere he was on a visit, while mowing grass
by the side of a canal, chanced to strike his scythe too
deep, and pared off a large piece of turf, laying open to
view an interesting scene of domestic economy. There
was a pretty chamber dug in the clay, of the form and
about the dimensions it would have had if moulded by
an egg, the walls being neatly smoothed and polished.
In this little cell were deposited about a hundred eggs,
of the size and form of caraway comfits, and of a dull
tarnished white colour. The eggs were not very deep,
but just under a little heap of fresh mould, and within
the influence of the sun's heat.* The dull tarnished
white colour, however, scarcely agrees with a parcel of
these eggs now before us, which are translucent, gela-
tinous, and greenish.

* Nat. Hist, of Selborne, ii 82

230 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

Like the eggs and young of other insects, however,
those of the mole-cricket are exposed to depredation,
and particularly to the ravages of a black beetle which
burrows in similar localities. The mother insect, ac-
cordingly, does not think her nest secure till she has
defended it, like a fortified town, with labyrinths, in-
trenchments, ramparts, and covert ways. In some part
of these outworks she stations herself as an advanced
guard, and when the beetle ventures within her circum-
vallations, she pounces upon him and kills him.

Nest of the Mole Cricket.

The Fjeld-Cricket.

Another insect of this family, the field-cricket (Aclieta
cmnpestris) , also forms burrows in the ground, in which
it lodges all day, and comes out chiefly about sunset to
pipe its evening song. It is so very shy and cautious,
however, that it is by no means easy to discover either
the insect or its burrow. '• The children in France
amuse themselves with hunting after the field-cricket ;
they put into its hole an ant fastened by a long hair, and
as they draw it out the cricket does not fail to pursue it,
and issue from its retreat. Pliny informs us it might be
captured in a much more expeditious and easy manner.
If, for instance, a small and slender piece of stick were
to be thrust into the burrow, the insect, he says, would
immediately get upon it for the purpose of demanding the
occasion of the intrusion : whence arose the proverb
stultior grillo (more foolish than a cricket), applied to

! FIELD-CRICKET. 231

one who, upon light grounds, provokes his enemy, and
falls into the snares -which might have been laid to entrap
him."*

The Rev. Mr. White, who attentively studied their
habits and manners, at first made an attempt to dig them
out with a spade, but without any great success ; for
either the bottom of the hole was inaccessible, from its
terminating under a large stone, or else, in breaking up
the ground, the poor creature was inadvertently squeezed
to death. Out of one thus bruised, a great number of
eggs were taken, which were long and narrow, of a
yellow colour, and covered with a very tough skin.
More gentle means were then used, and those proved
successful. A pliant stalk of grass, gently insinuated
into the caverns, will probe their windings to the bottom,
and bring out the inhabitant ; and thus the humane in-
quirer may gratify his curiosity without injuring the
object of it.

When the males meet, they sometimes fight very
fiercely, as Mr. White found by some that he put into
the crevices of a dry stonewall, where he wished to have
them settle. For though they seemed distressed by
being taken out of their knowledge, yet the first that got
possession of the chinks seized on all the others that
were obtruded upon him with his large row of serrated
fangs. With their strong jaws, toothed like the shears
of a lobster's claws, they perforate and round their
curious regular cells, having no fore claws to dig with,
like the mole-cricket. When taken into the hand, they
never attempt to defend themselves, though armed m ith
such formidable weapons. Of such herbs as grow about
the mouths of their burrows they eat indiscriminately,
and never in the day-time seem to stir more than two or
three inches from home. Sitting in the entrance of their
caverns, they chirp all night as well as day, from the
middle of the month of May to the middle of July. In
hot weather, when they are most vigorous, they make
the hills echo ; and, in the more still hours of darkness,

Entomologie, par R. A. E. 18mo., Paris, 1826, p. 168.

L 3

232

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

may be heard to a very considerable distance. " Not
many summers ago," says Mr. White, " I endeavoured
to transplant a colony of these insects to the terrace in
my garden, by boring deep holes in the sloping turf.
The new inhabitants stayed some time, and fed and sang ;
but they wandered away by degrees, and Mere heard at
a greater distance every morning ; so it appears that on
this emergency they made use of their wings in attempt-
ing to return to the spot from which they were taken."*
The manner in which these insects lay their eggs is
represented in the following figure ; which is that of an
insect nearly allied to the crickets, though of a different
genus.

Acrida verrucitora depositing her eggs.
Tlie usual position of the ovipositor is represented by dots

* Nat. Kist. Stlborne.

BURYIKG-BEETLE. 233

A more laborious task is performed by an insect by no
means uncommon in Britain, the Bur^'ing Beetle {Necro-
phorus vespillo), which may be easily recognised by its
longish body, of a black colour, Avith two broad and irre-
gularly indented bands of yellowish brown. A foreign
naturalist, M. Gleditsch, gives a very interesting account
of its industry. He had" " often remarked that dead
moles, when laid upon the ground, especially if upon
loose earth , were almost sure to disappear in the course
of two or three days, often of twelve hours. To ascer-
tain the cause, he placed a mole upon one of the beds in
his garden. It had vanished by the third morning ; and
on digging where it had been laid, he found it buried to
the depth of three inches, and under it four beetles,
which seemed to have been the agents in this singular
inhumation. Not perceiving anything particular in the
mole, he buried it again ; and on examining it at the end
of six days, he found it swarming with maggots, appa-
rently the issue of the beetles, which M. Gleditsch now
naturally concluded had buried the carcass for the food
of their future young. To determine these points more
clearly, he put four of these insects into a glass vessel,
half filled with earth and properly secured, and upon the
surface of the earth two frogs. In less than twelve hours
one of the frogs was interred by two of the beetles ; the
other two ran about the whole day, as if busied in mea-
suring the dimensions of the remaining corpse, which on
the third day was also found buried. He then intro-
duced a dead linnet. A pair of the beetles were soon
engaged upon the bird. They began their operations
by pushing out the earth from under the body, so as to
form a cavity for its reception ; and it was curious to see
the efforts which the beetles made, by dragging at the
feathers of the bird from below, to pull it into its grave.
The male, having driven the female away, continued the
work alone for five hours. He lifted up the bird,
changed its place, turned it and arranged it in the grave,
and from time to time came out of the hole, mounted
upon it, and trod it under foot, and then retired below,
and pulled it down. At length, apparently wearied with

234 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

this uninterrupted labour, it came forth, and leaned its
head upon the earth beside the bird without the smallest
motion, as if to rest itself, for a full hour, when it again
crept under the earth. The next day, in the morning:,
the bird was an inch and a half under ground, and the
trench remained open the whole day, the corpse seeming
as if laid out upon a bier, surrounded with a rampart of
mould. In the evening it had sunk half an inch lower,
and in another day the work was completed, and the
bird covered. M. Gleditsch continued to add other
small dead animals, which were all sooner or later buried ;
and the result of his experiment was, that in fifty days
four beetles had interred, in the very small space of earth
allotted to them, twelve carcasses, viz., four fi'ogs, three
small birds, two fishes, one mole, and two grasshoppers,
besides the entrails of a fish, and two morsels of the
lungs of an ox. In another experiment, a single beetle
buried a mole forty times its own bulk and weight in two
days." *

In the summer of 1826, we found on Putney Heath,
in Surrey, four of these beetles, hard at work in burying
a dead crow, precisely in the manner described by M.
Gleditsch. (J. R.)

Dung-Beetle.

A still more common British insect, the Dorr, Clock,
or Dung-Beetle {Geotntpes stercorarius) , uses different
materials for burjnng along with its eggs. " It digs,"
to use the words of Kirby and Spence, "a deep cylin-
drical hole, and carrying down a mass of the dung to the
bottom, in it deposits its eggs. And many of the species
of the genus Ateuchns roll together wet dung into round
pellets, deposit an e^^ in the midst of each, and when
dr}-- push them backwards, by their hind feet, to holes of
the surprising depth of three feet, which they have pre-
viously dug for their reception, and which are often
several yards distant. The attention of these insects to

* Act. Acad. Berolin. 1752, et Gleditsch, Pbys. Botan.,
quoted by Kirby and Spence, ii. 353.

DUNG-BEETLE. 235

their eggs is so remarkable, that it was observed in the
earliest ages, and is mentioned by ancient writers, but
with the addition of many fables, as that they were all
of the male sex ; that they became young again every
year ; and that they rolled"^ the pellets containing their
eggs from sunrise to sunset every day, for twenty eight
days without intermission." *

"We frequently notice in our evening walks," says
Mr. Knapjj, " the murmuring passage, and are often
stricken by the heedless flight of the great dorr-beetle
(Geotnipes stercorarius), clocks, us the boys call them.
But this evening my attention was called to them in par-
ticular, by the constant passing of such a number as to
constitute something like a little stream ; and I was led
to search into the object of their direct flight, as in ge-
neral it is irregular and seemingly inquisitive. I soon
found that they dropped on some recent nuisance : but
what powers of perception must these creatures possess,
drawn from all distances and directions by the very little
I'etor which, in such a calm evening, could be diffused
around, and by what inconceivable means could odours
reach this beetle in such a manner as to rouse so inert an
insect into action ! But it is appointed one of the great
scavengers of the earth, and marvellousl}'^ endowed with
powers of sensation, and means of eft'ecting this purpose
of its being. Exquisitely fabricated as it is to receive
impressions, yet probably it is not more highly gifted
than any of the other innumerable creatures that wing
their way around us, or creep about our paths, though by
this one perceptible faculty, thus ' dimly seen,' it excites
our wonder and surprise. How wondrous then the
whole !

" The perfect cleanliness of these creatures is a very
notable circumstance, when we consider, that nearly
their whole lives are passed in burrowing in the earth,
and removing nuisances; yet such is the admirable polish
of their coating and limbs, that we very seldom find any
soil adhering to them. The meloe, and some of the

* Moufet, 153. Kirby and Spence, ii. 350.

296 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

scarabaei, upon first emerging from their winter's retreat,
are commonly found with earth clinging to them ; but
the removal of this is one of the first operations of the
creature ; and all the beetle race, the chief occupation of
which is crawling about the soil, and such dirty employs,
are, notwithstanding, remarkable for the glossiness of
their covering, and freedom from defilements of any kind.
But purity of vesture seems to be a principal precept of
nature, and observable throughout creation. Fishes,
from the nature of the element in which they reside, can
contract but little impurity. Birds are unceasingly at-
tentive to neatness and lustration of their plumage. All
the slug race, though covered with slimy matter calcu-
lated to collect extraneous things, and reptiles, are per-
fectly free from soil. The fur and hair of beasts, in a
state of liberty and health, is never filthy or sullied with
dirt. Some birds roll themselves in dust, and, occasion-
ally, particular beasts cover themselves with mire ; but
this is not from any liking or inclination for such things,
but to free themselves from annoyances, or to prevent
the bites of insects. Whether birds in preening, and
beasts in dressing themselves, be directed by any in-
stinctive faculty, we know not ; but they evidently derive
pleasure from the operation, and thus this feeling of en-
joyment, even if the sole motive, becomes to them an
essential source of comfort and of health." *

The rose or green chafer (Cetoiiia aiirata), which is
one of our prettiest native insects, is one of the bur-
rowers, and, for the purpose of depositing her eggs, digs,
about the middle of June, into soft light ground. When
she is seen at this operation, with her broad and deli-
cate wings folded up in their shining green cases,
speckled with white, it could hardly be imagined that
she had but just descended from the air, or dropped
down from some neighbouring rose.

The proceedings of the Tumble-Dung Beetle of
America {Scarabceus pilularius, Linn.) are described in

* Journal of a Naturalist, p. 311.

TUMBLE-DUJTG BEETLE. 237

a very interesting manner by Catesby, in his ' Carolina.*
" I have," says he, " attentively admired their industry,
and mutual assisting of each other in rolling their globu-
lar balls from the place where they made them to that
of their interment, which is usually the distance of some
yards, more or less. This they perform breech fore-
most, by raising their hind parts, and forcing along the
ball with their hind feet. Two or three of them are
sometimes engaged in trundling one ball, which, from
meeting with impediments on account of the unevenness
of the ground, is sometimes deserted by them. It is,
however, attempted by others with success, unless it
happens to roll into some deep hollow or chink, where
they are constrained to leave it ; but they continue their
work by rolling off the next ball that comes in their way.
None of them seem to know their own balls, but an
equal care for the whole appears to affect all the com-
munity. They form these pellets while the dung re-
mains moist, and leave them to harden in the sun before
they attempt to roll them. In their moving of them
from place to place, both they and the balls may fre-
quently be seen tumbling about the little eminences that
are in their way. They are not, however, easily dis-
couraged ; and, by repeating their attempts, usually sur-
mount the difficulties."

He further informs us that they ''find out their sub-
sistence by the excellency of their noses, which direct
them in their flight to newly fallen dung, on which they
immediately go to work, tempering it with a proper
mixture of earth. So intent are they always upon their
employment, that, though handled or otherwise inter-
rupted, they are not to be deterred, but immediately, on
being freed, persist in their v.ork without Qny apprehen-
sion of danger. They are said to be so exceedingly
strong and active as to move about, with the greatest
ease, things that are many times their own weight. Dr.
Brichell was supping one evening in a planter's house
of North Carolina, when two of them were conveyed,
without his knowledge, under the candlestick. A few
blows were struck on the table, and, to his great surprise,

238 INSECT AKCHITECTURE.

the candlesticks began to move about, apparently m ith-
out any agency ; and his surprise was not much lessened
when, on taking one of them up, he discovered that it
was only a chafer that moved."

We have often found the necklace-beetle {Carahus
monilis) inhabiting a chamber dug out in the earth of a
garden, just sufficient to contain its body, and carefully
smoothed and polished. From the form of this little
nest, it would seem as if it were constructed, not by
digging out the earth and removing it, but chiefly by the
insect pushing its body forcibly against the walls. The
beetles which we have found nestling in this manner
have been all males ; and therefore it cannot be intended
for a breeding-cell ; for male insects are never, we be-
lieve, sufficiently generous to their mates to assist them
in such labours. The beetle in question appears to be
partial to celery trenches (J. R.) ; probably from the
loose earth of which they are composed yielding, without
much difficulty, to the pressure of its body.

END or VOL. I.

( 239 )
ILLUSTRATIONS OF VOL. I.

le;iv

1 Eggs of insects, magnified .

2 Larvae, giubs, caterpillars, or maggots .

3 PupEe, or chrysalides ....

4 Insects in the imago or perfect state

5 Mason-wasp .....

6 Jaws of mason- wasp, magnified . .

7 Cuckoo-fly ......

8 Mason-wasp's nest and cocoons

9 Mason wasp .....

10 Nests, &c. of mason- wasps .

1 1 Mason bee ......

12 Exterior wall of mason bee's nest . .

13 Cells of mason bee's nest

14 Varieties in cells of raaion-bee's nest, tine

15 Mason-bee and nest ....

16 Cell of mining-bee ....

17 Cells of carpenter-bees, two figures ,

18 Carpenter-bee and cells . , , .

19 Teeih of carpenter-bee, magnified .

20 Nests of carpenter-wasps, tsvo figures

21 Carpenter-wasp .....

22 Cocoon of a carpenter wiisp .

23 Rose-leaf cutter bees, and nest lined with rcse

24 Carder-bees heckling moss for tlieir nests

25 Exterior of the earder-bee's nest . .

26 Breeding cells of the carder-bee . ,

27 Interior of carder-bee's nest, two figures

28 Section of social wasp's nest .

29 Suspension rod of social-wasp's nest

30 Portion of external crust of social-wasp's nest

31 Hornet's nest in its first stage . .

32 Singular wasp's nest ....

33 Wasp's cells attached to a branch .

34 Nest of the pasteboard-maker wasp

35 Part of a honeycomb and bees al w ork .

36 Worker-bee, magnified ....

37 Abdomen of wax-working bee .

38 Structure of the legs of the bee for carrying propolis

39 Curtain of wax-workers secreting wax .

40 Wax-worker laying the foundation of the first

41 Curtain of wax-workers . . .

42 Arrangement of cells of hive-bees .

43 Foundation-wall enlarged and the cells commenced

44 Ovipositors, with files, of the tree-hopper, magnified

45 Excavations for eggs of tree-hopper, vith lid raised

46 Ovipositor of saw-fly protruded from its shfath, m^gnifie

47 Ovipositor saw of saw-fly, magnified

48 Portion of saw-fly's comb-toothed rasp, and saw

49 Nest of eggs of saw-fly .....

50 Lilac tree moth ......

51 Nest of a lilac leaf roller ....

cell

, See-

page

240

IIXUSTRATIONS.

52 Another nest of lilac-leaf roller , .

53 Small greeu-oak-raotli ....

54 Nests of oak leaf rolling caterpillars .

55 Nest of the nettle-lcaf-roUin^ cateriullar

56 Leaf-i oiling caterpillars ol ihe sorrel

57 Nests of the hespcria malvse, with caterpillar, chrysalis.

58 Nest of willow lealroUer .
69 Ziczac caterpillar and nest .

60 Cypress-spurge cater))illars

61 Cocoon of ditto on a branch .

62 Small caterpillar and moss cell of the same

63 Leaf nest of the caddis-worm

64 Reed nest of ditto ....

65 Aquatic nest of ditto ....

66 Shell nests of ditto, five figures

67 Stone nest of ditto ....

68 Sand nest of ditto, balancedwith a stone

69 Nest of ditto, balanced with straws

70 (Caterpillar of goat-moth in a willow tree

71 Winter nest of the goat caterpillar

72 Nest of goat-moth, raised to show the pupa

73 Eggs of the puss-moth . . .

74 Uudimenis of the cell of the puss-motli

75 Cell built by the larva of the puss-moth

76 Ichneumon ......

77 Magnified c?lls of Pyralis strigulalis

78 Nests of earth-mason caterpillars, two fiirures

79 Earth-mason caterpillars' nests, caterpiilur and moth

80 Earth-mason caterpillars' nests, moth, &c. seven figure;

81 Nests of the grubs of ephemera, two figures .

82 Grub of ephemera ....••

83 Nest of ephemera in holes of cossus

84 Grub of the ant-lion, magnified ....

85 Trap of the ant-lion in different stages, two figures

86 Aut-liuns' pitfalls in an experimenting i;ox

87 Cases, ike, of the clothes moth, and perfect moths [.

88 Caterpillar's tent upon the leaf of an elm

89 Tents of the caterpillar in difTerent stages . .

90 Tents and cater])il!ars, natural size, and magnified

91 Branch of the w illow with seed spikes . . .

92 Muff tents marie of the aljove cotton

93 Muff-making catt-rpillar . . . _' .

94 Leaf of the monthly rose mined by .'•at:rpillars .

95 Leaf of the dewberry bramble mined

96 Leaf of the primros" mined .....

97 Capricorn beetle rounding off the bark of a tree

98 Mole-ciickct, with outline of one otiti hands

99 Nest of the Mole-cricket

100 Acvida verrucivora depositing her eggs ,

&c.

London: Printed by Wu.LiAii Clowes and Son.-, Stamford Street.

INSECT

ARCHITECTURE:

TO WHICH ARE ADDED,

MISCELLANIES,

ON THE RAVAGES,
THE PEESERVATION FOR PURPOSES OF STUDY,

AND

THE CLASSIFICATION, OF INSECTS.

JAMES RENNIE, A.M.

A NEW EDITION, REVISED.

IN TWO VOLUMES.— VOLUME II.

L 0 ^" D O N :
CHARLES KNIGHT & Co., LUDGATE STREET.

1845.

London : Printed by William Clowes and SoN^, Stamford Street.

( i» )

CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

CHAPTER XIV.

Architecture of Ants . • • •

Tlii^ir genuine history begun by Gould

Mason -Ants . . . •

Structures of Turf-Ants . .

^^'iIlter nest of Yfllow Ants
Sort of earth emj)loyed in building
Proceed! Ujjs of the Brown Ants .
Raft fiirnied by American Ants
Blind Ants ....
Night j)i(icee(iin<xs of Ants .

Proceedings duiing rain , .

Experiments ....
History of a labouring Ant, by M. Huber
Ghized Artificial Formicaries
Section of a Mas ii-Ant's nest .
Experiments by J. R. . ,

CHAPTER XV.

Structures of the Wood-Ants, or Pismires .

Materials employed

Coping of their nest . .

Interior structure ....

Glazed Formicary for experiments ,

Their proceedings at night-fall .
Carpenter- Ants .....

Emmets, or Jet- Ants . . .

Their galleries in trees . . .

Extremely [jupulous colony at Brockley

Dusky Ants .....
Foreign Ants .....

Sugar-Ants of the West Indies .

PAOK

9
10
10
11
12
13
14
16
16
16
21
22
23
24
24

26
26
27
28
2'.)
31
32
32
32
35
35
36
38

a 2

C02^ TEXTS.

CHAPTER XVI.

Structures of White Ants, or Termites

Their extraordinary comparative heig^ht

Their mining operations .
The Warrior (Termes Be/licosus)

Used as delicate food

Commencement of their nests

Royal cliamber .

Nurseries ....

Galleries and covered ways
Turret-building White Ants .

Singular form of their nests •

W^hite''Ants of trees and timber

Death-Watch

CHAPTER XVI r.

Spiiuiing- Caterpillars ....
Manifold advantages of spinrn'ng
Structure of their legs and feet . ,

Side spiracles for breathing .

Internal structure ....
Structure of the silk-tube .

Mode of Spinning described by La Pluclie

Silk-Worms

Their transformations

How they make their exit from the cocoons
Parts used in our manufactures .
History of the introduction of silk .
Varieties and species of silk-worms .

Emperor-Moth . ' ,

Ingenious contrivance of the cocoon .

Spinning-Caterpillars continued . .

Elastic cocoon of Tortrix cldoraim
Slender coverhig of the Gipsy-Motli .
Cocoon of the Cream-spot Tiger-Molh
Experiment with the Dock-Weevil .
Nest of Puss-Moth, with cocoons of Ichneun^
Cocoon of the Horned Mason-Bee
Experiment with Eriogasier lanestris .

Social Spinning-Caterpillars

Winter nest of the Brown -tail Moth .

CONTENTS.

Winter nests of the Golden-tail Motli .
Pendulous leaf nests, from Bonnet
Nest of Processionury Cateiplllais .

CHAPTER XVIII.

Structures of Spiders ....

Spiders not properly insects, and why .

Apparatus for spinning

Extraordinary number of spinnerules .

Attachment of the end of a thread
Shooting of the Lines of Spiders

1. Opinions of Redi, Swammerdam, and Kirhy

2, Lister, Kirby, and Wliite

3. La Pluclie and Bin^dey .

4. D'Isjonval, Murray, and Eowm

5. Experiments of Mr. Blackwall
His account of the ascent of gossamer

6. Expeiiments by J. R. .
Thread supposed to go off double
Subsequent experiments . . .

Nests, Webs, and Nets of Spiders

Elastic satin nest of a Sj)ider

Evelyn's account of Huntmg Spiders .

Labyrinthic Spitler's nest .

Erroneous account of the House Spider

Geometric Spiders ....
Mason-Spiders .....

Ingenious door with a hinge . .

Nest from the West Indies, with sprin;^ hing
Raft-building Spider ....
Diving Water-Spider . . •

Observations of M. Clerck .

Cleanliness of Spiders ....

Structure of their claws . .

Fanciful account of them patting tlieir v/eLs

Proceedings of a Spider in a steam-boat

CHAPTER XIX.

Structures of Gall-Flies . . . « •

Berry gall of the oak-leaf, &c. . •

Ingenious mechanism of the ovipositor
Opinions of Naturalists as to the cause of galls

PAGK

77
79
80

f.S

GO)

100

1U2

102

103

105

10.')

108

1C9

109

111

112

113

114
114
115
118

C0>' TENTS.

Becfeguar of tlie rose

Artichoke gall of the oak .

Leaf-gall of Dyer's broom

Rose-willow .

Rose-hawthorn . ,

Woolly gall of the oak

Experiments with the Flies

Oak-apples . .

Root-galls of the oak

Woody gall of the willow

Oak cu riant-galls .
W^eevil-Galls

Weevil-gall of the hawthorn

Anbury on the roots of cabbages, &c.
Semi-Galls of Aphides .

Mountain- ash leaf-galls

Poplar semi-galls of the cottony aphis
Leaf-rolling Apliides

Leaf of the currant-bush thus al<ered

Shoot of the lime-tree thus convoluted
Pseudo-Galls ....

Pseudo-gall of the bramble

■ hawthorn

■ Scotch fir

CHAPTER XX.

Animal-Galls .....

Enthusiasm of M. Rt-aumur for study

Ovipositor of Breeze-flies .

Opinion of Mr. Bracey Clark on its use

Effects produced by the fly upon cattle

Observations of Linnaeus on tl)e Rein-deer Breeze
fly

Opinion of Kirby and Spence

Observations of Mr. B. Clark

Hatching of the egg . . .

Bumps, or wurbles, thence produced .

Communication of the grub with the air

Final cause of these bumps •

The Zimb (^Breeze-fly ?j of Africa

Human Bieeze-fly , . . .

Grub Parasite in the Garden-Snail .

Caterpillar Parasite in the same

CONTENTS.

MISCELLANIES.

I. — On the Ravages of Insects : —

Voracity of Caterpillars, Grubs, and Maggots . 157

Caterpillars , , . . . , . ]G3

Grubs 1R3

Maggots 201

JI- — On the Cijllection and Preservation of Insects for
the purposes of Study : — •

Breeding-cage 224

Larvae- box . , . , . . .228

Pocket collecting-box ..... 228

Water-net ....... 228

Butterlly-net 229

Clap-net 229

Ring-net 231

Net forceps . . . . . . .231

Digger . _ 233

Chip collecting-box. ..... 234

Metl)od of setting Insects ..... 236

Cabinet 237

in. — Systematic Arrangements of Insects : —

The Wing System 239

The Locality System ..... 242

The Transformation System .... 244

Tlie Cibarian, Maxillar}', or Mouth System . . 246
The Ovary, or Egg System . . . .248

The Eclectic, or Modern System . . . 249

The Quhiary System ..... 252

( 9 )

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

CHAPTER XIV.

Architecture of Ants. — Mason-Ants.

All the species of ants are social. There are none soli-
tary, as is the case with bees and wasps. They are all
more or less skilful in architecture, some employing ma-
sonr}', and others being carpenters, wood-carvers, and
miners. They consequently afford much that is interest-
ing to naturalists who observe their operations. The
genuine history of ants has only been recently investi-
gated, first by Gould in 1747, and subsequently by Lin-
naeus, De Geer, Huber, and Latreille. Previous to that
time their real industry, and their imagined foresight,
were held up as moral lessons, without any great accu-
racy of observation ; and it is probable that, even now,
the mixture of truth and error in Addison's delightful
papers in the Guardian (Nos. 156, 157), maybe more
generally attractive than the minute relation of careful
naturalists. Gould disproved, most satisfactorily, the
ancient fable of ants storing up corn for wint^?r provision,
no species of ants ever eating grain, or feeding in the
winter upon anything. It is to Hui)er the younger,
liowever, that we are chiefly indebted for our knowledge
of the habits and economy of ants ; and to Latreille for a
closer distinction of the species. Some of the more
interesting species, whose singular economy is described
by the younger Huber, have not been hitherto found in
this country. We shall, however, discover matter of
very considerable interest in those v. hich are indigenous ;

VOL. II. B

10 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

and as our principal object is to excite inquiry and obser-
vation with regard to those insects which may be easily
watched in our own gardens and fields, we shall chiefly
confine ourselves to the ants of these islands. We shall
begin with the labours of those native ants which may be
called earth-masons, from their digging in the ground,
and forming structures with pellets of moistened loam,
clay, or sand.

Maso^-Ants.

We have used, in the preceding pages, the terms ma-
son-bees and mason-wasps, for insects which build their
nests of earthy materials. On the same principle, we
have followed the ingenious M. Huber the younger, in
employing the term mason-ants for those whose nests on
the exterior appear to be hillocks of earth, without the
admixture of other materials, whilst in the interior they
present a series of labyrinths, lodges, vaults, and gal-
leries, constructed with considerable skill. Of these
mason-ants, as of the mason wasps and bees already de-
scribed, there are several species, differing from one
another in their skill in the art of architecture.

One of the most common of the ant-masons is the turf-
ant (^Formica ca'spitum, Latr.), which is very small,
and of a blackish brown colour. Its architecture is not
upon quite so extensive a scale as some of the others ;
but, though slight, it is very ingenious. Sometimes they
make choice of the shelter of a flat stone or other cover-
ing, beneath which they hollow out chambers and com-
municating galleries ; at other times they are contented
with the open ground ; but most commonly they select a
tuft of grass or other herbage, the stems of which serve
for columns to their earthen walls.

W^e had a small colony of these ants accidentally esta-
blished in a flower-pot, in which we were rearing some
young plants of the tiger-lily {Lilium tigrinum), the
stems of which being stronger than the grass where they
usually build, enabled them to rear their edifice higher,
and also to make it more secure, ihan they otherwise
might. It was wholly formed of small grains of moist

>IASO>-A>TS. 11

earth, pilwl up between the stems of the lily without any-
apparent cement ; indeed it has been ascertained by
Iluber, as we shall afterwards see, that they use no ce-
ment beside water. This is not always to be procured,
as they depend altogether on rains and dew ; but they
possess the art of joining grains of dry sand so as to sup-
port one another, on some similar principle, no doubt, to
that of the arch.

The nest which our turf-ants constructed in the flower-
pot was externally of an imperfect square form, in con-
sequence of its situation ; for they usually prefer a
circular plan. The principal chambers were placed
under the arches, and, when inspected, contained a pile
of cocoons and pupae. Beneath those upper chambers
there were others dug out deeper down, in which were
also a numerous collection of eggs and cocoons in various
stages of advancement. (J. R.)

Mr. Knapp describes a still more curious structure of
another species of ant common in this country : — '* One
year,*' says he, " on the third of March, my labourer
being employed in cutting up ant-hills, or tumps as we
call them, exposed to view multitudes of the yellow spe-
cies {Formica JIava) in their winter's retirement. They
were collected in numbers in little cells and compart-
ments, communicating with others by means of narrow
passages. In many of the cells they had deposited their
larvae, which they were surrounding and attending, but
not brooding over or covering. Being disturbed by our
rude operations, they removed them IVom our sight to
more hidden compartments. The larvae were small.
Some of these ant-hills contained multitudes of the young
of the wood-louse (Oniscus armadillo), inhabiting with
perfect familiarity the same compartments as the ants,
crawling about with great activity with them, and per-
fectly domesticated with each other. They w ere small
and white ; but the constant vibration of their antennae,
and the alacrity of their motions, manifested a healthy
vigour. The ants were in a torpid state ; but on being
removed into a temperate room, they assumed much of
their summer's animation. How these creatures are sup-

12 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

ported during the winter season it is difficult to compre-
hend ; as in no one instance could we perceive any store
or provision made for the supply of their wants. The
minute size of the larvae manifested that they had been
recently deposited ; and consequently that their parents
had not remained during winter in a dormant state, and
thus free from the calls of hunger. The preceding
month of February, and part of January, had been re-
markably severe ; the frost had penetrated deep into the
earth, and long held it frozen ; the ants were in many
cases not more than four inches beneath the surface, and
must have been enclosed in a mass of frozen soil for a
long period ; yet they, their young, and the onisci, were
perfectly uninjured by it : aftbrding another proof of the
fallacy of the commonly received opinion, that cold is
universally destructive to insect life." *

The earth employed by mason -ants is usually moist
tlay, either dug from the interior parts of their city, or
moistened by rain. The mining-ants and the ash- co-
loured {Formica fusca) employ earth which is probably
not selected with so much care, for it forms a much
coarser mortar than w hat we see used in the structure of
the yellow ants {F.JIava) and the brown ants (F. brun-
nea). We have never observed them bringing their
building materials of this kind from a distance, like the
mason -bees and like the wood or hill ant {F. rnfa) ; but
they take care, before they fix upon a locality, that it
shall produce them all that they require. We are in-
debted to Iluber the younger for the most complete ac-
count which has hitherto been given of these operations,
of which details we sliall make i'vee use.

" To form," says this shrewd observer, " a correct
judgment of the interior arrangement or distribution of
an ant-hill, it is necessary to select such as have not
been accidentally spoiled, or whose form has not been
too much altered by local circumstances ; a slight atten-
tion will then suffice to show that the habitations of the
different species are not all constructed after the same

♦ Journal of a Naturalist, p. 30^.

MASOX-AXTS. 13

system. Thus, the hillock raised by the ash-coloured
ants will always present thick walls, fabricated with
coarse earth, well marked stories, and large chambers,
with vaulted ceilings, resting upon a solid base. We
never observe roads, or galleries, properly so called, but
large passages, of an oval form, and all around consider-
able cavities and extensive embankments of earth. We
I'urther notice, that the little architects observe a certain
proportion between the large arched ceilings and the
]jillars that are to support them.

" The brown ant {Formica brun?iea), one of the
smallest of the ants, is particularly remarkable for the ex-
treme finish of its work. Its body is of a reddish shining
brown, its head a little deeper, and the antennee and feet
a little lighter in colour. The abdomen is of an obscure
brown, the scale narrow, of a square form, and slightly
scolloped. The body is one line and two-fifths in length.*

" This ant, one of the most industrious of its tribe,
forms its nest of stories four or five lines in height.
The partitions are not more than half a line in thickness ;
and the substance of which they are composed is so finely
grained, that the inner walls present one smooth unbroken
surface. These stories are not horizontal ; they follow
the slope of the ant-hill, and lie one upon another to the
ground-floor, which communicates with the subterranean
lodges. They are not always, however, arranged with
the same regularity, for these ants do not follow an in-
variable plan ; it aj)pears, on the contrary, that nature
has allowed them a certain latitude in this respect, and
that they can, according to circumstances, modify them
to their wish ; but, however fantastical their habitations
may appear, we always observe they have been formed
by concentrical stories. On examining each story sepa-
rately, we observe a number of cavities or halls, lodges
of narrower dimensions, and long galleries, which serve
for general communication. The arched ceilings covering
the most spacious places are supported either by little co-

* A line is the twelfth part of tlie eld French inch. See
Companion to the Almanac for 1S30, p. 114.

14 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

liimns, slender walls, or by regular buttresses. We also
notice chambers, that have but one entrance, communi-
cating with the lower story, and large open spaces, serv-
ing as a kind of cross-road (cai-refmir^ , in which all the
streets terminate.

" Such is the manner in which the habitations of these
ants are constructed. Upon opening them, we com-
monly find the apartments, as well as the large open
spaces, filled with adult ants ; and always observed their
pupae collected in the apartments more or less near the
surface. This, however, seems regulated by the hour of
the day, and the temperature : for in this respect these
ants are endowed with great sensibility, and know the
degree of heat best adapted for their young. The ant-
hill contains, sometimes, more than twenty stories in its
upper portion, and at least as many under the surface of
the ground. By this arrangement the ants are enabled,
with the greatest facility, to regulate the heat. When a
too burning sun over-heats their upper apartments, they
withdraw their little ones to the bottom of the ant-hill.
The ground-floor becoming, in its turn, uninhabitable
during the rainy season, the ants of this species transport
what most interests them to the higher stories ; and it is
there we find them more usually assembled, with their
eggs and pupae, when the subterranean apartments are
submerged."*

Ants have a great dislike to water, when it exceeds
that of a light shower to moisten their building materials.
One species, mentioned by Azara as indigenous to South
America, instinctively builds a nest from three to six
feet high,f to provide against the inundations during the
rainy season. Even this, however, does not always save
them from submersion ; and, when that occurs, they are
compelled, in order to prevent themselves from being
swept away, to form a group somewhat similar to the
curtain of the wax-workers of hive-bees (see vol. i. p. 112).
The ants constituting the basis of this group, lay hold of

* M. P. Huber on Ants, p. 20.
f StedmaiVs Surinam, vol. i., p. 160.

MASON-ANTS. 1 5

some shrub for security, while their companions hold on
by thoni ; and thus the whole colony, forming an ani-
mated raft, floats on the surface of the water till the in-
undation (which seldom continues longer than a day or
two) subsides. We confess, however, that we are some-
what sceptical respecting this story, notwithstanding the
very high character of the Spanish naturalist.

It is usual with architectural insects to employ some
animal secretion, by way of mortar or size, to temper the
materials with which they work ; but the whole economy
of ants is so different, that it would be wrong to infer
from analogy a similarity in this respect, though the
exquisite polish and extreme delicacy of finish in their
structures, lead, naturally, to such a conclusion. M. P.
Huber, in order to resolve this question, at first thought
of subjecting the materials of the walls to chemical ana-
lysis, but wisely (as we think) abandoned it for the surer
method of observation. The details which he has given,
as the result of his researches, are exceedingly curious
and instructive. He began by observing an ant-hill till
he could perceive some change in its form.

" The inhabitants," says he, " of that which I se-
lected, kept within during the day, or only went out by
subterranean galleries which opened at some feet distance
in the meadow. There were, however, two or three
small openings on the surface of the nest ; but I saw
none of the labourers pass out this way, on account of
their being too much exposed to the sun, which these in-
sects greatly dread. This ant-hill, which had a round
form, rose in the grass, at the border of a path, and had
sustained no injury. I soon perceived that the freshness
of the air and the dew invited the ants to walk over the
surface of their nest ; they began making new apertures ;
several ants might be seen arriving at the same time,
thrusting their heads from the entrances, moving about
their antennae, and at length adventuring forth to visit
the environs.

" This brought to my recollection a singular opinion
of the ancients. They believed that ants were occupied

IG ISSECT AKCHlTiiCTUKE.

in their architectural labours during the night, when the
moon was at its full." *

M. Latrcille discovered a species of ants which were,
so iar as he could ascertain, completely blind, f and of
course it would be immaterial to them whether they
worked by night or during the day. All observers in-
deed agree that ants labour in the night, and a French
naturalist is therefore of opinion that they never sleep,
— a circumstance which is well ascertained with respect
to other animals, such as the shark, which will track a
ship in full sail for weeks together.:]: The ingenious his-
torian of English ants, Gould, says they never intermit
their labours by night or by day, except when compelled
b}'^ excessive rains. It is probable the ancients were mis-
taken in asserting that they only work when the moon
shines ;§ for, like bees, they seem to find no difficulty in
building in the dark, their subterranean apartments being
as well finished as the upper stories of their buildings.
But to proceed with the narrative of M. P. Huber.

'* Having thus noticed the movements of these insects
during the night, I found they were almost always abroad
and engaged about the dome of their habitation alter
sunset. This was directly the reverse of what I had
observed in the conduct of the wood-ants (JP. Jttfa), who
only go out during the day, and close their doors in the
evening. The contrast was still more remarkable than I
had previously supposed ; for upon visiting the brown
ants some days after, during a gentle rain, 1 saw all their
architectural talents in full pla^'.

*' As soon as the rain commenced, they left in great
numbers their subterranean residence, re-entered it al-
most immediately, and then returned, bearing between

* M. P. Huber on Ants, p. 23.

■\- Latreille, Hist. Nat. des FouimJs.

I Dr. Clegliorn, Thesis de Somno.

0 Aristotle, Hist. Animal, ix. 38. Pliny says, " Operantur
et ijocfu plena luna ; eadem interlunio cessant," /. e. They
work in the night at full moon, but they leave olT between
moon and moon. It is the latter that we think doubtful.

MAso^'-A^Ts. 17

their teeth pellets of earth, which they deposited on the
roof of their nest. I could not at first conceive wliat
this was meant for, but at length I saw little walls start
up on all sides with spaces left between them. In seA'eral
[Jaces, columns, ranged at regular distances, announced
halls, lodges, and passages, which the ants proposed esta-
blishing ; in a word, it was the rough beginning of a new
story.

" I watched with a considerable degree of interest the
most trifling movements of my masons, and found they
did not work after the manner of wasps and humble-bees,
when occupied in constructing a covering to their nest.
The latter sit, as it were, astride on the border or margin
of the covering, and take it between their teeth to model
and attenuate it according to their wish. The wax of
which it is composed, and the paper which the wasp em-
ploys, moistened by some kind of glue, are admirably
adapted for this purpose, but the earth of which the ants
make use, from its often possessing little tenacity, must
be worked up after some other manner.

" Each ant, then, carried between its teeth the pellet
of earth it had formed by scraping with the end of its
mandibles the bottom of its abode, a circumstance which
I Jiave frequently witnessed in open day. This little
mass of earth, being composed of particles but just united,
could be readily kneaded and moulded as the ants wished ;
thus, when they had applied it to the spot where they
had to rest, they divided and pressed against it with their
teeth, so as to till up the little inequalities of their wall.
The antenna followed all their movements, passing over
€ach particle of earth as soon as it was placed in its proper
position. The whole was then rendered more compact
by pressing it lightly with the fore-feet. This work
went on remarkably fast. After having traced out the
plan of their masonry, in laying here and there founda-
tions for the pillars and partitions they were about to
erect, they raised them gradually higher, by adding fresh
materials. It often happened that two little walls, which
were to form a gallery, were raised opposite, and at a

B 3

18 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

slight distance from each other. When they had attained
the height of four or five lines, the ants busied themselves
in covering in the space left between them by a vaulted
ceiling.

*' As if they judged all their partitions of sufficient
elevation, they then quitted their labours in the upper
part of the building ; they affixed to the interior and
upper part of each wall fragments of moistened earth,
in an almost horizontal direction, and in such a way as to
form a ledge, which, by extension, would be made to
join that coming from the opposite wall. These ledges
were about half a line in thickness ; and the breadth of
the galleries was, for the most part, about a quarter of
an inch. On one side several vertical partitions were
seen to form the scaffolding of a lodge, which communi-
cated with several corridors, by apertures formed in the
masonry ; on another, a regularly-formed hall was con-
structed, the vaulted ceiling of which was sustained by
numerous pillars ; further off, again, might be recognised
the rudiments of one of those cross roads of which I have
before spoken, and in which several avenues terminate.
These parts of the ant-hill were the most spacious ; the
ants, however, did not appear embarrassed in constructing
the ceiling to cover them in, although they were oft«n
more than two inches in breadth.

" In the upper part of the angles formed by the dif-
ferent walls, they laid the first foundations of this ceil-
ing, and from the top of each pillar, as from so many
centres, a layer of earth, horizontal and slightly convex,
was carried forward to meet the several portions coming
from different points of the large public thoroughfare.

" I sometimes, however, laboured under an apprehen-
sion that the building could not possibly resist its own
weight, and that such extensive ceilings, sustained only
by a few pillars, would fall into ruin from the rain which
continually dropped upon them ; but I was quickly con-
vinced of their stability, from observing that the earth
brought by these insects adhered at all points, on the
slightest contact ; and that the rain, so far from lessening

MASO>ii'-A>TS. 19

the cohesion of its particles, appeared even to increase
it. Thus, instead of" injuring the building, it even con-
tributed to render it still more secure.

" These particles of moistened earth, which are only
held together by juxtaposition, require a fall of rain to
cement them more closely, and thus varnish over, as it
were, those places where the walls and galleries remain
uncovered. All inequalities in the masonry then disap-
pear. The upper part of these stories, formed of several
pieces brought together, presents but one single layer of
compact earth. They require for their complete conso-
lidation nothing but the heat of the sun. It sometimes,
however, happens that a violent rain will destroy the
apartments, especially should they be but slightly arched ;
but under these circumstances the ants reconstruct them
with wonderful patience.

*' These different labours were can-ied on at the same
time, and were so closely followed up in the different
quarters, that the ant-hill received an additional story in
the course of seven or eight hours. All the vaulted
ceilings being formed upon a regular plan, and at equal
distances from one wall to the other, constituted, when
finished, but one single roof. Scarcely had the ants
finished one story than they began to construct another ;
but they had not time to finish it — the rain ceasing before
the ceiling was fully completed. They still, however,
continued their work for a few hours, taking advantage
of the humidity of the earth ; but a keen north wind soon
sprung up, and hastily dried the collected fragments,
which, no longer possessing the same adherence, readily
fell into powder. The ants, finding their eflbrts inef-
fectual, were at length discouraged, and abandoned their
employment ; but what was my astonishment when I
saw them destroy all the apartments that were yet un-
covered, scattering here and there over the last story the
materials of which they had been composed ! These
facts incontestably prove, that they employ neither gum,
nor any kind of cement, to bind together the several
substances of their nest ; but in place of this avail them

20 INSECT AECHITECTURE.

selves of the rain, to work or knead the earth, leaving
the sun and wind to dry and consolidate it." *

Dr. Johnson of Bristol observed very similar proceed-
ings in the case of a colony of red ants (JMyrmica rubra ?),
the roof of whose nest was formed by a flat stone. Dur-
ing dry weather, a portion of the side walls fell in ; but
the rubbish was quickly removed, though no repairs
were attempted till a shower of rain enabled them to
work. As soon as this occurred, they worked with
extraordinary rapidity, and in a short time the whole of
the fallen parts were rebuilt, and rendered as smooth as
if polished with a trowel.

When a gardener wishes to water a plot of ground
where he has sown seeds that require nice management,
he dips a strong brush into water, and passes his hand
backwards and forwards over the hairs for the purpose
of producing a fine artificial shower. Huber success-
fully adopted the same method to excite his ants to re-
commence their labours, which had been interrupted lor
want of moisture. But sometimes, when they deem it
unadvisable to wait for rain, they dig down (as we re-
marked to be the practice of the mason-bees) till they
arrive at earth sufficiently moist for their purpose. They
do not, however, like these bees, merely dig for mate-
rials ; for they use the excavations for apartments, as
well as what they construct with the materials thence
derived. They appear, in short, to be no less skilful in
mining than in building.

Such is the general outline of the operations of this
singular species ; but we are still more interested with
the history which M. P. lluber hiis given of the labours
of an individual ant. ''One rainy day," he says, " I
observed a labourer of the dark ash-coloured species
{Formica ft(sca) digging the ground near the aperture
which gave entrance to the ant-hill. It placed in a heap
the several fragments it had scraped up, and formed them
into small pellets, v.hich it deposited here and there

* M. P. Hubcr on Anfs, p. 31.

MASON- AXTS. 21

upon the nest. It returned constantly to the same ])lace,
and appeared to have a particular design, for it laboured
with ardour and perseverance. I remarked a slight
furrow, excavated in the ground in a straight line, re-
presenting the plan of a path or gallery. The labourer
(the whole of whose movements fell under my imme-
diate observation) gave it greater depth and breadth,
and cleared out its borders ; and I saw, at length — in
which I could not be deceived — that it had the intention
of establishing an avenue which was to lead from one of
the stories to the underground chambers. This path,
which was about two or three inches in length, and
formed by a single ant, was opened above, and bordered
on each side by a buttress of eai'th. Its concavity, in
the form of a pij)e {gouttiere) , was of the most perfect
regularity ; for the architect had not left an atom too
much. The work of this ant was so well followed and
understood, that I could almost to a certainty guess its
next proceeding, and the very fragment it was about to
remove. At the side of the opening where this path
terminated was a second opening, to which it was neces-
sary to arrive by some road. The same ant began and
finished this undertaking without assistance. It furrowed
out and opened another path, parallel to the first, leaving
between each a little wall of three or four lines in height."

Like the hive-bees, ants do not seem to work in con-
cert, but each individual separately. There is, conse-
quently, an occasional want of coincidence in the walls
and arches ; but this does not much embarrass them, ior
A worker, on discovering an error of this kind, seems to
know how to rectify it, as appears from the following-
observations : —

"A wall," says M. Huber, *' had been erected, with
the view of sustaining a vaulted ceiling, still incomplete,
that had been projected towards the wall of the opposite
chamber. The workman who began constructing it, had
given it too little elevation to meet the opposite parti-
tion, upon which it was to rest. Had it been continued
on the original plan, it must infallibly have met the wall
at about one half of its height ; and this it was necessary

22 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

to avoid. This state of things very forcibly claimed my
attention ; when one of the ants arriving at the place,
and visiting the works, appeared to be struck by the dif-
ficulty which presented itself; but this it as soon ob-
viated, by taking down the ceiling, and raising the wall
upon which it reposed. It then, in my presence, con-
structed a new ceiling with the fragments of the former one.

*' When the ants commence any undertaking, one
would suppose that they worked after some preconceived
idea, which, indeed, would seem verified by the execu-
tion. Thus, should any ant discover upon the nest two
stalks of plants which lie crossways, a disposition favour-
able to the construction of a lodge, or some little beams
that may be useful in forming its angles and sides, it
examines the several parts with attention ; then distri-
butes, with much sagacity and address, parcels of earth
in the spaces, and along the stems, taking from every
quarter materials adapted to its object, sometimes not
caring to destroy the work that others had commenced ;
so much are its motions regulated by the idea it has con-
ceived, and upon which it acts, with little attention to
all else around it. It goes and returns, until the plan is
sufficiently understood by its companions.

" In another part of the same ant-hill," continues M,
Huber, "several fragments of straw seemed expressly
placed to form the roof of a large house ; a workman
took advantage of this disposition. These fragments
lying horizontally, at half an inch distance from the
ground, formed, in crossing each other, an oblong paral-
lelogram. The industrious insect commenced by placing
earth in the several angles of this frame- work, and all
along the little beams of which it was composed. The
same workman afterwards placed several rows of the same
materials against each other, when the roof became very
distinct. On perceiving the possibility of profiting by
another plant to support a vertical wall, it began laying
the foundations of it ; other ants having by this time
arrived, finished in common what this had commenced."*

* Huber on Ants, p. 43.

MASOK-ANTS.

M. Hubermade most of his observations upon the' pro-
cesses followed by ants in glazed artificial hives or formi-
caries. The preceding- figure represents a view of one
of his formicaries of mason-ants.

We have ourselves followed up his observations, both
on natural ant-hills and in artificial formicaries. On dig-
ging cautiously into a natural ant-hill, established upon
the edge of a garden walk, we were enabled to obtain a
pretty complete view of the interior structure. There
were two stories, composed of large chambers, irregularly
oval, communicating with each other by arched galleries,
the walls of all w^iich w'ere as smooth and well polished
as if they had been passed over by a plasterer's [trowel.
The floors of the chambers, we remarked, were by no
means either horizontal or level, but all more orlless
sloped, and exhibiting in each chamber at least two slight

ISSECT ARCHITECTURE.

depressions of an irregular shape. We left the under
story of this nest untouched, with the notion that the
ants might repair the upper galleries, of which we had
made a vertical section ; but instead of doing so they
migrated during the day to a large crack formed by the
dryness of the weather, about a yard from their old nest.
(J. R.)

^\e pi!t a number of yellow ants {Formica Jiava),
with their eggs and cocoons, into a small glass frame,
more than half full of moist sand taken from their native
hill, and placed in a sloping position, in order to see
whether they would bring the nearly vertical, and there-
fore insecure, portion to a level by masonry. We were
delighted to perceive that they immediately resolved
ni[)on performing the task which had been assigned them,
though they did not proceed very methodically in their
manner of building ; for instead of beginning at the bot-
.ix)m and building upwards, many of them went on to add
to the top of the outer surface, which increased rather
than diminished the security of the whole. Withal,
however, they seemed to know how far to go, for no
portion of the newly-built wall fell ; and in two days
they had not only reared a pyramidal mound to prop the

rest, but had constructed several galleries and chambers
for lodging the cocoons, which we had scattered at ran-
dom amongst the sand. The new portion of this build-
ing is represented in the figure as supporting the upper
and insecure parts of the nest.

MASON-AKTS. 25

We are soiry to record that our ingenious little masons
were found upon the third day strewed about the outside
of the building dead or dying, either from over fatigue
or perhaps from surfeit, as we had supplied them v, ith
as much honey as they could devour. A small colony
of turf-ants have at this moment (July 28th, 1829) taken
possession of the premises of their own accord. (J. IX.)

26 INSECT ARCHITIXTURE.

CHAPTER XV.

Structures of the Wood-Ant or Pismire, and of Carpenter-
Ants.

The largest of our British ants is that called the Hill-
ant by Gould, the Fallow-ant by the English translator
of Huber, and popularly the Pismire ; but which we
think may be more appropriately named the Wood-ant
{Formica rufa, Latr,), from its invariable habit of living
in or near woods and forests. This insect may be readily
distinguished from other ants by the dusky black colour
of its head and hinder parts, and the rusty brown of its
middle. The structures reared by this species are often
of considerable magnitude, and bear no small resemblance
to a rook's nest thrown upon the ground bottom up-
wards. They occur in abundance in the woods near
London, and in many other parts of the country : in
Oak of Honour wood alone, we are acquainted with the
localities of at least two dozen, — some in the interior and
others on the hedge-banks on the outskirts of the wood.
(J. R.)

The exterior of the nest is composed of almost every
transportable material which the colonists can find in
their vicinity : but the greater portion consists of the
stems of withered grass and short twigs of trees, piled
up in apparent confusion, but with sufficient regularity to
render the whole smooth, conical, and sloping towards
the base, for the purpose, we may infer, of carrying oft"
rain water. When within reach of a corn-field, they
often also pick up grains of wheat, barley, or oats, and
carry them to the nest as building materials, and not for
food, as was believed by the ancients. There are won-
ders enough observable in the economy of ants, without

"WOOD-ANTS. 27

having" recourse to fancy — wonders which made Aristotle
extol the sagacity of bloodless animals, and Cicero ascribe
to them not only sensation, but mind, reason, and
memory.* jJElian, however, describes, as if he had
actually witnessed it, the ants ascending a stalk of grow-
ing corn, and throwing down " the eai's which they bit
oft" to their companions below." Aldrovand assures us
that he had seen their granaries ; and others pretend
that they shrewdly bite oft' the ends of the grain to pre-
vent it from germinating. t These are fables which
accurate observation has satisfactorily contradicted.

But these errors, as it frequently happens, have con-
tributed to a mo]"e perfect knowledge of the insects than
we might otherwise have obtained ; for it was the wish
to prove or disprove the circumstance of their storing up
and feeding upon grain, which led Gould to make his
observations on English ants ; as the notion of insects
being produced y>"om putrid carcases had before led Redi
to his ingenious experiments on their generation. Yet,
although it is more than eighty years since Gould's book
was published, we find the error still repeated in verj'
respectable publications 4

The coping which we above described as forming the
exterior of the wood-ant's nest, is only a small portion of
the structure, which consists of a great number of interior
chambers and galleries, with funnel-shaped avenues
leading to them. The coping, indeed, is one of the
most essential parts, and we cannot follow a more de-
lightful guide than the younger Huber in detailing its
formation.

" The labourers," he says, '* of which the colony is
composed, not only work continually on the outside of
their nest, but, differing very essentially from other
species, who willingly remain in the interior, sheltered

* In formica non modo sensus, sed etiam mens, ratio, me-
moria.

f Aldrovand us de Formicis, and Johnston, Thaumaturg.
Nat. p. 356.

X See Professor Paxton's lUustr. of Scripture, i. 307.

28 INSECT ARCHITKCTURE.

from the sun, they prefer living in the open air, and do
not hesitate to cany on, even in our presence, the greater
part of their operations.

" To have an idea how the straw or stubble-roof is
formed, let us take a view of the ant-hill at its origin,
when it is simply a cavity in the earth. Some of its
future inhabitants are seen wandering about in search of
materials fit for the exterior work, with which, though
rather irregularly, they cover up the entrance ; whilst
others are employed in mixing the earth, thrown up in
hollowing the interior, with fragments of wood and
leaves, which are every moment brought in by their fel-
low-assistants ; and this gives a certain consistence to
the edifice, which increases in size daily. Our little
architects leave here and there cavities, where they in-
tend constructing the galleries which are to lead to the
exterior, and as they remove in the morning the barriers
placed at the entrance of their nest the preceding even-
ing, the passages are kept open during the whole time
of its construction. We soon observed the roof to be-
come convex ; but we should be greatly deceived did we
consider it solid. This roof is destined to include many
apartments or stories. Having observed the motions of
these little builders through a pane of glass, adjusted
against one of their habitations, I am thence enabled
to speak with some degree of certainty upon the manner
in which they are constructed. I ascertained that it is
by excavating, or mining the under portion of their edi-
fice, that they Ibrm their spacious halls, low indeed, and
of heavy construction, yet sufiiiciently convenient for the
use to which they are appropriated, that of receiving, at
certain hours of the day, the larvae and pupae.

" These halls have a free conmmnication by galleries,
made in the same manner. If the materials of which
the ant-hill is composed were only interlaced, they would
fall into a confused heap every time the ants attempted
to bring them into regular order. This, however, is
obviated by their tempering the earth with rain-water,
which, afterwards liardened in the sun, so completely
and effectually binds together the several substances, as

WOOD-ANTS. 29

to permit the removal of certain fragments from the ant-
hill without any injury to the rest ; it, moreover, strongly
opposes the introduction of the rain. I never found,
even after long and violent rains, the interior of the nest
■vvetted to more than a quarter of an inch from the sur-
face, provided it had not been previously out of repair,
or deserted by its inhabitants.

" The ants are extremely well sheltered in their
chambers, the largest of which is placed nearly in the
centre of the building ; it is much loftier than the rest,
and traversed only by the beams that support the ceiling ;
it is in this spot that all the galleries terminate, and this
forms, for the most part, their usual residence.

" As to the luiderground portion, it can only be seen
when the ant-hill is placed against a declivity ; all the
interior may be then readily brought in view, by simply
raising up the straw roof. The subterranean residence
consists of a range of apartments, excavated in the earth,
taking an horizontal direction."*

M. P. Huber, in order to observe the operations of
the wood-ant with more attention, transferred colonies of
them to his artificial formicaries, plunging the feet of the
stand into water to prevent their escape till they M'cre
reconciled to their abode, and had made some progress in
repairing it. On the next page is a figure of the apparatus
which he used for this purpose.

There is this remarkable difference in the nest of the
wood-ants, that they do not construct a long covert way as
if for concealment, as the yellow and the brown ants do.
The wood-ants are not, like them, afraid of being sur-
prised by enemies, at least during the day, when the
whole colony is either foraging in the vicinity or em-
ployed on the exterior. But the proceedings of the
wood-ants at night are well worthy of notice ; and when
M. Huber began to study their economy, he directed
his entire attention to their night proceedings. '^ I re-
marked," says he, " that their habitations" changed in
appearance hourly, and that the diameter of those

* Kuber on Ants, p. 15.

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

spacious avenues, where so many ants could freely pass
each other during the day, was, as night approached,
gradually lessened. The aperture, at length, totally dis-
appeared, the dome was closed on all sides, and the ants
retired to the bottom of their nest.

" In further noticing the apertures of these ant-hills,
I fully ascertained the nature of the labour of its inhabit-
ants, of which I could not before even guess the purport ;
for the surface of the nest presented such a constant
scene of agitation, and so many insects were occupied in
carrying materials in every direction, that the movement
offered no other image than that of confusion.

" I saw then clearly that they were engaged in stop-
ping up passages; and, for this purpose, they at first
brought forward little pieces of wood, which they de-
posited near the enfrance of those avenues they wished
to close ; they placed them in the stubble ; they then
went to seek other twigs and fragments of wood, which

WOOJD-A>TS. 31

they disposed above the first, but in a different direction,
and appeared to choose pieces of less size in proportion
as the work advanced. They, at length, brought in a
number of dried leaves, and other materials of an enlarged
form, with which they covered thereof: an exact minia-
ture of the art of our builders, when they form the co-
vering of any building? Natuie, indeed, seems every-
where to have anticipated the inventions of which we
boast, and this is doubtless one of the most simple.

" Our little insects, now in safety in their nest, retire
gradually to the interior before the last passages are
closed ; one or two only remain without, or concealed
))ehind the doors on guard, while the rest either take
their repose, or engage in different occupations in the
most perfect security. I was impatient to know what
took place in the morning upon these ant-hills, and
therefore visited them at an early hour. I found them
in the same state in which I had left them the preceding
evening. A few ants were wandering about on the sur-
face of the nest, some others issued from time to time
from under the margin of their little roofs formed at the
entrance of the galleries : others afterwards came forth,
who began removing the wooden bars that blockaded
the entrance, in which they readily succeeded. This
labour occupied them several hours. The passages were
at length free, and the materials with which they had
been closed scattered here and there over the ant-hill.
Every day, morning and evening, during the fine wea-
ther, I was a witness to similar proceedings. On days
of rain the doors of all the ant-hills remained closed.
When the sky was cloudy in the morning, or rain was
indicated, the ants, who seemed to be aware of it, opened
but in part their several avenues, and immediately closed
them when the rain commenced." *

The galleries and chambers which are roofed in as
thus described, are very similar to those of the mason-
ants, being partly excavated in the earth, and partly
built with the clay thence procured. It is in these they

* Huber on Ants, p. 11,

32 INSECT ARCHITECTUKE.

pass the night, and also the colder months of the winter,
when they become torpid, or nearly so, and of course re-
quire not the winter granaries of com with which the
ancients fabulously furnished them.

Cakpenter-Axts.

The ants that work in wood perform much more exten-
sive operations than any of the other carpenter insects
which we have mentioned. Their only tools, like those
of bees and wasps, are their jaws or mandibles ; but
though these may not appear so curiously constructed as
the ovipositor file of the tree-hopper (Cicada), or the
rasp and saw of the saM-flies {Tentliredimdce), they are
no less efficient in the performance of what is required.
Among the carpenter-ants the emmet or jet-ant {¥.
fiOiginosd) holds the first rank, and is easily known by
being rather less in size than the wood-ant, and by its
fine shining black colour. It is less common in Britain
than some of the preceding, though its colonies may
occasionally be met with in the trunks of decaying oak
or willow trees in hedges.

" The labourers,'' says Huber, " of this species work
always in the interior of trees, and are desirous of being
screened from observation : thus every hope on our part
is precluded of following them in their several occupa-
tions. I tried every expedient I could devise to sur-
mount this difficulty ; I endeavoured to accustom these
ants to live and work under my inspection, but all my
efforts were unsuccessful ; they even abandoned the most
considerable portion of their nest to seek some new
asylum, and spurned the honey and sugar which I ofi'ered
them for nourishment. I was now, by necessity, limited
to the inspection only of their edifices ; but, by decom-
posing some of the fragments with care, I hoped to ac-
quire some knowledge of their organization.

" On one side I found horizontal galleries, hidden in
great part by their walls, which follow the circular di-
rection of the layers of the wood ; and on another, pa-
rallel galleries, separated by extremely thin partitions,
having no communication except by a few oval apertures.

CARPENTER-ANTS. 33

Such is the nature of these works, remarkable for their
delicacy and lightness.

" In other fragments I found avenues which opened
laterally, including portions of walls and transverse par-
titions, erected here and there within the galleries, so as
to form separate chambers. When the work is further
advanced, round holes are always observed, encased,
as it were, between two pillars cut out in the same wall.
These holes in course of time become square, and the
pillars, originally arched at both ends, are worked into
regular columns by the chisel of our sculptors. This,
then, is the second specimen of their art. This portion
of the edifice will probably remain in this state.

" But in another quarter are fragments differently
wrought, in which these same partitions, pierced now in
every part, and hewn skilfully, are transformed into co-
lonnades, which sustain the upper stories, and leave a
free communication throughout the whole extent. It
can readily be conceived how parallel galleries, hollowed
out upon the same plan, and the sides taken down, leaving
only from space to space what is necessary to sustain
their ceilings, may form an entire story ; but as each has
been pierced separately, the flooring cannot be very level :
this, however, the ants turn to their advantage, since
these furrows are better adapted to retain the larvae that
may be placed there.

" The stories constructed in the great roots offer
greater irregularity than those in the very body of the
tree, arising either from the hardness and interlacing of
the fibres, which renders the labour more difficult, and
obliges the labourers to depart from their accustomed
manner, or from their not observing in the extremities
of their edifice the same arrangement as in the centre ;
whatever it be, horizontal stories and numerous partitions
are still found. If the work be less regular, it becomes
more delicate ; for the ants, profiting by the hardness
and solidity of the materials, give to their building an
extreme degree of lightness. I have seen fragments of
from eight to ten inches in length, and of equal height,
formed of wood as thin as paper, containing a number of

VOL,. II. c

9A-

IKSECr AF.cn ITJiCrURE,

Portion of a Tree, with Clianibers and Galleries diistled out by
Jet- Ants.

nparimcuts, and presenting a most singular appearance.
At tlie entrance of these apartments, worked out with so
much care, are very considerable openings ; but in j)laco
of chambers and extensive galleries, the layers of the
wood are hewn in arcades, allowing the ants a free
passage in every direction. Tiiese may be regarded
as the gates or vestibules conducting to the several
lodges." *

It is a singular circumstance in the structures of these
ants, that all the wood which they carve is tinged of a
black colour, as if it were smoked ; and M, Huber was
not a little solicitous to discover whence this arose. It
certainly does not add to the beauty of their streets,
which look as sombre as the most smoke-dyed walls in
ihe older lanes of the metropolis. M. Huber could not
satisfy himself whether it was caused by the exposure of
the wood to the atmosphere, by some emanation from
the ants, or by the thin layers of wood being acted upon
or decomposed by the formic acid.f But if any or all
of tliese causes operated in blackening the wood, wo
should be ready to anticipate a similar effect in the case

Kuber, p. 5G.

f The acid of ants.

CARPEXTER-A^TS. 35

of Other species of ants which inhabit trees ; yet the
black tint is only found in the excavations of the jet-ant.

We are acquainted with several colonies of the jet-
ants, — one of which, in the roots and trunk of an oak on
the road i'roni Lewisham to Sydenham, near Brockley,
in Kent, is so extremely populous, that the numbers of
its inhabitants appeared to us beyond any reasonable
estimate. None of the other colonies of this species
which v.e have seen appear to contain many hundreds.
On cutting into the root of the before-mentioned tree,
we found the vertical excavations of nmch larger dimen-
sions, both in width and depth, than those represented
by Iluber in the preceding cut (page 34). What sur-
prised us the most was to see the tree growing vigor-
ously and fresh, though its roots were chiseled in all
directions by legions of workers, while every leaf, and
every inch of the bark, was also crowded by parties of
foragers. On one of the low branches we found a de-
serted nest of the white-throat {Si/lvia cinerea, Tem-
mixck), in the cavity of which they were piled upon
one another as close as the unhappy negroes in the hold
of a slave-ship ; but we could not discover what had
attracted them hither. Another dense group, collected
on one of the branches, led us to the discovery of a very-
singular oak gall, formed on the bark in the shape of a
pointed cone, and crowded together. It is probable that
the juice which they extracted from these galls was
much to their taste. (J. R.)

Beside the jet-ant, several other species exercise the
art of carpentry, — nay, what is more wonderful still,
they have the ingenuity to knead up, with spiders'-web
ior a cement, the chips which they chisel out into u
material with which they construct entire chambers.
The species which exercise this singular art are the
Ethiopian (^Formica nigra) and the yellow ant (P.
jlava)*

Wo once observed the dusky ants (2^. fused), at
Biackheath, in Kent, busily employed in carrying out

* Huber.

c 2

36 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

chips from the interior of a decaying black poplar, at
the root of which a colony was established ; but, though
it thence appears that this species can chisel wood if they
choose, yet they usually burrow in the earth, and by
preference, as we have remarked, at the root of a tree,
the leaves of which supply them with food.

Among the foreign ants we may mention a small
yellow ant of South America, described by Dampier,
which seems, from his account, to construct a nest of
green leaves. '' Their sting," he says, " is like a spark
of fire ; and they are so thick among the boughs in some
places, that one shall be covered with them before he
is aware. These creatures have nests on great trees,
placed on the body between the limbs : some of their
nests are as big as a hogshead. This is their winter
habitation ; for in the wet season they all repair to these
their cities, where they preserve their eggs. In the dry
season, when they leave their nests, they swarm all over
the woodlands, for they never trouble the savannahs.
Great paths, three or four inches broad, made by them,
may be seen in the woods. They go out light, but bring
home heavy loads on their backs, all of the same sub-
stance, and equal in size. I never observed anything
besides pieces of green leaves, so big that I could scarcely
see the insect for his burthen ; yet they would march
stoutly, and so many were pressing forward that it was a
very pretty sight, tor the path looked perfectly green
with them."

Ants observed in New South Wales, by the gentlemen
in the expedition under Captain Cook, are still more in-
teresting. "Some," we are told, "are as green as a
leaf, and live upon trees, where they build their nests
of various sizes, between that of a man's head and his
fist. These nests are of a very curious structure : they
are formed by bending down several of the leaves, each
of which is as broad as a man's hand, and gluing the
points of them together, so as to form a purse. The
viscous matter used for this purpose is an animal juice

CARPENTER-ANTS. 37

which jiature has enabled them to elaborate. Their
method of first bending down the leaves we had no
opportunity to observe ; but we saw thousands uniting
all their strength to hold them in this position, while
other busy multitudes were employed within in applying
this gluten that was to prevent their returning back. To
satisfy ourselves that the leaves were bent and held down
by the efforts of these diminutive artificers, we disturbed
them in their work ; and as soon as they were driven
from their stations, the leaves on which they were em-
ployed sprang up with a force much,' greater than we
could have thought them able to conquer by any com-
bination of their strength. But, though we gratified
our curiosity at their expense, the injury did not go un-
revenged ; for thousands immediately threw themselves
upon us, and gave us intolerable pain Mith their stings,
especially those which took possession of our necks and
hair, from whence they were not easily driven. Their
sting was scarcely less painful than that of a bee ; but,
except it was repeated, the pain did not last more than
a minute.

" Another sort are quite black, and their operation
and manner of life are not less extraordinary. Their
habitations are the inside of the branches of a tree,
which they contrive to excavate by working out the pith
almost to the extremity of the slenderest twig, the tree
at the same time flourishing as if it had no such inmate.
When we first found the tree we gathered some of the
branches ; and were scarcely less astonished than we should
have been to find that we had profaned a consecrated
grove, where every tree, upon being wounded, gave signs
of life ; for we were instantly covered with legions of
these animals, swarming from every broken bough, and
inflicting their stings with incessant violence.

" A third kind we found nested in the root of a plant,
which grows on the bark of trees in the manner of
mistletoe, and which they had perforated for that use.
This root* is commonly as big as a large turnip, and
sometimes much bigger. When we cut it, we found it
intersected by innumerable winding passages, all filled

38 I>SJi:CT ARCHITECTURE.

with these animals, by which, however, the vegetation
of the plant did not appear to have suffered any injury.
We never cut one of these roots that was not inhabited,
though some were not bigger than a hazel-nut. The
animals themselves are very small, not more than half as
big as the common 'red ant in England. They had
•Slings, but scarcely force enough to make them felt :
they had, however, a power of tormenting us in an
equal, if not in a greater degree ; for the moment we
handled the root, they swarmed from innumerable holes,
and running about those parts of the body that were un-
covered, produced a titillation more intolerable than
pain, except it is increased to great violence." *

The species called sugar-ants in the West Indies are
particularly destructive to the sugar-cane, as well as to
lime, lemon, and orange-trees, by excavating their nests
at the roots, and so loosening the earth that they are
frequented uprooted and blown down by the winds. If
this does not happen, the roots are deprived of due nou-
rishment, and the plants become sickly and die.f

* Hawkeswortirs Account of Cook's First VoyagR.
t Phil. Trans., xxx., p. ?A(j.

WHITE ANTS.

CIIAPTErx XVI.
Structures of Wliite Ants, or Termites.

WiiEX wc look back upon the details which wo have
-given of the industry and ingenuity of numerous tribes of
insects, both solitary and social, we are induced to think
it almost impossible that they could be surpassed. The
structures of wasps and bees, and still more those of the
wood-ant (^Formica nifa), when placed in comparison
with the size of the insects, equal our largest cities com-
pared with the stature of man. But when we look at
the buildings erected by the white ants of troj)ical
climates, all that we have been surveying dwindles into
insignificance. Their industry appears greatly to sur-
pass that of our ants and bees, and they are certainly
more skilful in architectural contrivances. The elevci-
tion, also, of their edifices is more than five hundred
times the height of the builders. Were our houses built
according to the same proportions, they would be tv.clve
or fifteen times higher than the London Monument, and
four or five times higher than the pyramids of Egypt,
with corresponding dimensions in the basements of the
edifices. These statements are, perhaps, necessary to
impress the extraordinary labours of ants upon the mind ;
for we are all more or less sensible to the force of com-
parisons. The analogies between the works of insects
and of men are not perfect ; for insects are all provided
with instruments peculiarly adapted to tJie end which
they instinctively seek, while man has to form a plan by
progressive thought and upon the experience of others,
and to complete it with tools which he also invents.

The termites do not stand above a quarter of an inch
high, while their nests are frequently twelve feet; and

.40 INSECT ARCHITECTURE,

Jobson mentions some which he had seen as high as
twenty feet; "of compass," he adds, "to contain a
dozen men, with the heat of the sun baked into that
hardness, that we used to hide ourselves in the ragged
tops of them when we took up stands to shoot at deer
or wild beasts."* Bishop Ileber saw a number of these
high ant-hills in India, near the principal entrance of
the Sooty or Moorshedabad river. " Many of them,"
he says, " were five or six feet high, and probably seven
or eight feet in circumference at the base, partially over-
grown with grass and ivy, and looking at a distance like
the stumps of decayed trees. I think it is Ctesias,
among the Greek writers, who gives an account alluded
to by Lucian, in his ' Cock,' of monstrous ants in India,
as large as foxes. The falsehood probably originated in
the stupendous fabrics which they rear here, and which
certainly might be supposed to be the work of a much
larger animal than their real architect."! Herodotus
has a similar fable of the enormous size and brilliant ap-
pearance of the ants of India.

Nor is it only in constructing dwellings for themselves
that the termites of Africa and of other hot climates
employ their masonic skill. Though, like our ants and
wasps, they are almost omnivorous, yet wood, particu-
larly when felled and dry, seems their favourite article
of food ; but they have an utter aversion to feeding in
the light, and always eat their way with all expedition
into the interior. It thence would seem necessary for
them either to leave the bark of a tree, or the outer por-
tion of the beam or door of a house, undevoured, or to
eat in open day. They do neither; but are at the
trouble of constructing galleries of clay, in which they
can conceal themselves, and feed in security. In all
their foraging excursions, indeed, they build covert ways,
by which they can go out and return to their encamp-
ment.J

* Jobson's Gambia, in Piirclias's Pilgrim, ii. p. 1570.

f Hebei's Journal, vol. i. p. 248.

I Smeatbmaii, in Pliil. Traiis., vol. Ixxi.

^V111TE A>TS. 41

Others of the species (for there are several), instead
of building galleries, exercise the art of miners, and
make their approaches under ground, penetrating beneath
the foundation of houses or areas, and rising again either
through the floors, or by entering the bottom of the
posts that support the building, when they follow the
course of the fibres, and make their way to the top,
boring holes and cavities in different places, as they
proceed. Multitudes enter the roof, and intersect it
with pipes or galleries, formed of wet clay ; which serve
for passages in all directions, and enable them more
readily to fix their habitations in it. They prefer the
softer woods, such as pine and fir, which they hollow
out with such nicety, that they leave the surface whole,
after having eaten away the inside, A shelf or plank
attacked in this manner, looks solid to the eye, when, if
weighed, it will not out-balance two sheets of pasteboard
of the same dimensions. It sometimes happens that
they carry this operation so far on stakes in the open
air, as to render the bark too flexible for their purpose ;
when they remedy the defect by plastering the whole
stick with a sort of mortar which they make with clay ;
so that, on being struck, the form vanishes, and the
artificial covering falls in fragments on the ground. In
•the woods, when a large tree falls from age or accident,
they enter it on the side next the ground, and devour it
at leisure, till little more than the bark is left. But in
tliis case they take no precaution of strengthening the
outward defence, but leave it in such a state as to deceive
an eye unaccustomed to see trees thus gutted of their
insides; and " you may as well," says Mr. Smeathman,
"step upon a cloud." It is an extraordinary fact, that
w^hen these creatures have formed pipes in the roof of a
house, instinct directs them to prevent its fall, which
would ensue from their having sa})ped the posts on which
it rests ; but as they gnaw away the wood, they fill up
the interstices with clay, tempered to a surprising de-
gree of hardness ; so that, w hen the house is pulled
down, these posts are transformed from wood to stone.
They make the walls of their galleries of the same com-

c 3

42 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

position as their nests, varying the material saccording to
their kind : one species using red clay, another black
clay, and a third a woody substance, cemented with
gums, as a security from the attacks of their enemies,
particularly the common ant, which, being defended by
u strong, horny shell, is more than a match for them ;
and when it can get at them, rapaciously seizes them,
and drags them to its nest for food for its young brood.
If any accident breaks down part of their walls, they
repair the breach Mith all speed. Instinct guides them
to perform their office in the creation, by mostly confin-
ing their attacks to trees that are beginning to decay, or
such timber as has been severed from its root for use,
and would decay in time. Vigorous, healthy trees do
not require to be destroyed, and, accordingly, these con-
sumers have no taste for them.*

M. Adanson describes the termites of Senegal as con-
structing covert \Miys along the surface of wood which
they intend to attack : but though we have no reason to
distrust so excellent a naturalist, in describing what he
saw, it is certain that they more commonly eat their wa^-
into the interior of the wood, and afterwards form the
galleries, when they find that they have destroyed the
Vv'ood till it will no longer aftbrd them protection.

lint it is time that we should come to their principal*
building, which may, with some propriety, be called a
city ; and, according to the method we have followed in
other instances, we shall trace their labours fi-om the
commencement. We shall begin Vtith the operations of
the sj)ecies which may be appropriately termed the
Warrior {lennesfaialis, Link. ; 2\ bell/cosv.s, Smeatii.)

We must premise, that though they have been termed
white atits, they do not belong to the same order of in-
sects with our ants ; yet they have a slight resemblance
to ants in their ibrm, but more in their economy,
fsmeathman, to v.hom we owe our chief knowledge of
the genus, describes them as consisting of kings, queens,
soldiers, and workers, and is of o}»inion that the workers

* Sincathmai!.

WHITE ANTS.

Termesbollicosus in the x^ingcd state.

nre larvge, the soldiei's nyniphae, and the kings and
queens the perfect insects. In this opinion he coincides
with Sparrmann* and others; but Latreille is inchned
to think, from what he observed in a European species
(^Tcnnes lucifvgits) , found near Bordeaux, that the
sokliers form a distinct race, Hke the neuter workers
amono^ bees and ants, while the working termites are
h\rv8e,t which are furnished with strong mandibles for
jrnawing ; when they become nymphs, the rudiments of
iour wings appear, which are fully developed in the
perfect insects. In this state, they migrate to form new
colonies, but the greater number of them perish in a few
hours, or become the prey of birds, and even the natives,
who fry them as delicacies. " I have discoursed with
several gentlemen," says Smeathman, "upon the taste
of the white ants, and on comparing notes, we have
always agreed that they are most delicious and delicate
eating. One gentleman compared them to sugared mar-
row, another to sugared cream and a paste of sweet
almonds."!

jNIr. Smeathman's very interesting paper affords us
the most authentic materials for the further description
of these wonderful insects ; and we therefore continue
partly to extract from, and partly to abridge, his
account.

* Quoted by De Geer, vol. vii.

f Hist. Nat. Generale, vol. xiii. p. 66.

I Smeathman, in Phil. Trans, vol. Ixxi. p. 169, note.

44 INSECT ABCHITECTURB.

The few pairs that are so fortunate as to survive the
various casualties that assail them, are usually found by
workers (larvae), which, at this season, are running con-
tinually on the surface of the ground, on the watch for
them. As soon as they discover the objects of their
search, they begin to protect them from their surround-
ing enemies, by inclosing them in a small chamber of
clay, where they become the parents of a new com-
munity, and are distinguished from the other inhabitants
of the nest, by the title of king and queen. Instinct
directs the attention of these labouring insects to the
preservation of their race, in the protection of this pair
and their offspring. The chamber that forms the rudi-
ment of a new nest is contrived for their safety, but the
entrances to it are too small to admit of their ever leav-
ing it ; consequently, the charge of the eggs devolves
upon the labourers, who construct nurseries for their re-
ception. These are small, irregularly-shaped chambers,
placed at first round the apartment of the king and queen,
and not exceeding the size of a hazel-nut ; but in nests
of long standing they are of great comparative magni-
tude, and distributed at a greater distance. The recep-
tacles for hatching the young are all composed of wooden
materials, apparently joined together with gum, and, by
way of defence, cased with clay. The chamber that
contains the king and queen is nearly on a level with the
surface of the ground ; and as the other apartments are
formed about it, it is generally situated at an equal dis-
tance from the sides of the nest, and directly beneath
its conical point. Those apartments which consist of
nurseries and magazines of provisions, form an intricate
labyrinth, being separated by small, empty chambers and
galleries, which surround them, or afford a communica-
tion from one to another. This labyrinth extends on all
sides to the outward shells, and reaches up within it to
two-thirds or more of its height, leaving an open area
above, in the middle, under the dome, which reminds the
spectator of the nave of an old cathedral. Around this
are raised three or four large arches, which are sometimes
two or three feet high, next the front of the area, but

WHITE ANTS. 45

diminish as they recede further back, and are lost amidst
the innumerable chambers and nurseries behind them.

Every one of these buildings consists of two distinct
parts, the exterior and the interior. The exterior is one
large shell, in the manner of a dome, large and strong
enough to inclose and shelter the interior from the vicis-
situdes of the weather, and the inhabitants from the
attacks of natural or accidental enemies. It is always,
therefore, much stronger than the interior building,
which is the habitable part, divided, with a wonderful
kind of regularity and contrivance, into an amazing
number of apartments for the residence of the king and
queen, and the nursing of the numerous progeny ; or for
magazines, which are always found well filled with stores
and provisions. The hills make their first appearance
above ground by a little turret or two, in the shape of
sugar-loaves, which are run a foot high or more. Soon
after, at some little distance, while the former are in-
creasing in height and size, they raise others, and so go
on increasing their number, and widening them at the
base, till their works below are covered with these tur-
rets, of which they always raise the highest and largest
in the middle, and, by filling up the intervals between
each turret, collect them into one dome. They are not
very curious or exact in the workmanship, except in
making them very solid and strong; and when, by their
joining them, the dome is completed, for which purpose
the turrets answer as scaffolds, they take away the middle
ones entirely, except the tops, which, joined together,
make the crown of the cupola, and apply the clay to the
building of the works within, or to erecting fresh turrets
for the purpose of raising the hillock still higher ; so that
some part of the clay is probably used several times, like
the boards and posts of a mason's scalibids.

When these hills are little more than half their height,
it is a common practice of the wild bulls to stand as
sentinels on them, while the rest of the herd are ruminat-
ing below. They are sufticiently strong for that purpose ;
and at their full height, answer excellently well as places
of look-out; and jNIr. Sraeathman has been, .with four

IXSXCT ARCHITECTLRE.

aiore, on the top of one of these hillocks, to watch for a
vessel in sight. The outward shell, or dome, is not only
of use to protect and support the interior buildings from
external violence and the heavy rains, but to collect and
preserve a regular degree of the warmth and moisture
necessary for hatching the eggs and cherishing the
young. The royal chamber occupied by the king and
queen appears to be, in the opinion of this little people,
of the most consequence, being always situated as near
the centre of the interior building as possible. It is
always nearly in the shape of half an egg, or an obtuse
oval, within, and may be supposed to represent a long
oven. In the infant state of the colony, it is but about
an inch in length ; but in time will be increased to six or
eight inches, or more, in the clear, being always in ])ro-
portion to the size of the queen, who, increasing in bulk as
1:1 age, at length requires a chamber of such dimensions.

Queon distended with Eggs,

Its floor is perfectly horizontal, and, in large hillocks,
sometimes more than an inch thick of solid clay. The,
roof, also, which is one solid and well-turned oval arch,
is generally of about the same solidity, but in some
places it is not a quarter of an inch thick, on the sides
where it joins the floor, and where the doors or en-
trances are made level with it, at nearly equal distances
from each other. These entrances will not admit any
animal larger than the soldiers or labourers ; so that the
king and the queen (who is, at full size, a thousand
times the weight of a king) can never possibly go out,
but remain close prisoners.

The royal chamber, if in a large hillock, is surrounded

•\vuiTr ANTS. 47

))y a countless number of others, of different sizes, shape;?^
luid dimensions ; but all of them arehed in one way or
another — sometimes elliptical or oval. These either
open into each other, cr communicate by passages as wide
as, and are evidently made for, the soldiers and attend-
ants, of w horn great numbers are necessary, and always
in waiting. These apartments are joined by the maga-
zines and nurseries. The Ibrm.er are chambers of cla}^,
and are always well fdled with provisions, which, to the
naked eye, seem to consist of the raspings of wood,
and plants which the termites destroy ; but are found by
the microscope to be principally the gums or inspissated
juices of plants. These are thrown together in little
masses, some of which are finer than others, and resemble
the sugar about ])reserved fruits ; others are like tears of
gum, one quite transparent, another like amber, a third
brown, and a fourth quite o])aque, as we see often in
]);ircels of ordinary gums. These magazines are inter-
mixed with the nurseries, which are buildings totally
ditlerent from the rest of the apartments ; lor these are
composed entirely of wooden materials, seemingly joined
together with gums. Mr. Smeathman calls them the
nurseries, because they are invariably occupied by the
eggs and young ones, which appear at first in the shape
of labourers, but white as snow. These buildings are
cxceedingl}' compact, and divided into many very small
irregular-shaped chambers, not one of which is to be
ibund of half an inch in width. They are placed all
round, and as near as possible to the royal apartments.

AVhen the nest is in the infant state, the nurseries are
close to the royal chambers ; but as, in j^rocess of time,
the queen enlarges, it is necessary to enlarge the chamber
for her accommodation ; and as she then lays a greater
number of eggs, and requires a greater number of at-
tendants, so it is necessary to enlarge and increase the
number of the adjacent apartments ; for which purpose
the small nurseries which are first built are taken to
})ieces, rebuilt a little further of a size larger, and the
number of them increased at the same time. Thus they
continually enlarge their a])avtmcnts, pull down, rcjiaii',

48 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

or rebuild, according to their wants, with a degree of
sagacity, regularity, and foresight, not even imitated by
any other kind of animals or insects.

All these chambers, and the passages leading to and
from them, being arched, they help to support each other ;
and while the interior large arches prevent them from
falling into the centre, and keep the area open, the ex-
terior building supports them on the outside. There
are, comparatively speaking, few openings into the great
area, and they, for the most part, seem intended only to
admit into the nurseries that genial warmth which the
dome collects. The interior building, or assemblage of
nurseries, chambers, &c,, has a flattish top or roof, with-
out any perforation, which M^ould keep the apartments
below dry, in case through accident the dome should
receive any injury, and let in water ; and it is never
exactly flat and uniform, because the insects are always
adding to it by building more chambers and nurseries ;
so that the division or columns between the future arched
apartment resemble the pinnacles on the fronts of some
old buildings, and demand particular notice, as affording
one proof that for the most part the insects project their
arches, and do not make them by excavation. The area
has also a flattish floor, which lies over the royal cham-
ber, but sometimes a good height above it, having nurse-
ries and magazines between. It is likewise waterproof,
and contrived to let the water off" if it should get in, and
run over by some short way into the subterraneous pas-
sages, which run under the lowest apartments in the hill
in various directions, and are of an astonishing size,
being wider than the bore of a great cannon. One that
Mr. Smeathman measured was perfectly cylindrical, and
thirteen inches in diameter. These subterraneous pas-
sages, or galleries, are lined very thick with the same
kind of clay of which the hill is composed, and ascend the
inside of the outward shell in a spiral manner ; and wind-
ing round the whole building up to the top, intersect
each other at different heights, opening either imme-
diately in the dome in various places, and into the in-
terior building, the new turrets, &c., or communicating

WHITE ANTS. 49

with them by other galleries of different diameters, either
circular or oval.

From every part of these large galleries are various
small covert ways, or galleries leading to different parts
of the building. Under ground there are a great many
that lead downward by sloping descents, three and four
feet perpendicular among the gravel, whence the workers
cull the liner parts, which, being kneaded up in their
mouths to the consistence of mortar, become that solid
clay or stone of which their hills and all their buildings,
except their nurseries, are composed. Other galleries
again ascend, and lead out horizontally on every side,
and are carried under ground near to the surface a vast
distance : for if all the nests are destroyed within a
hundred yards of a house, the inhabitants of those which
are left unmolested farther off, will still carry on their
subterraneous galleries, and, invading it by sap and mine,
do great mischief to the goods and merchandises contained
in it.

It seems there is a degree of necessity for the galleries
under the hills being thus large, since they are the great
thoroughfares for all the labourers and soldiers going
forth or returning, whether fetching clay, w^ood, water,
or provisions ; and they are certainly well calculated for
the purposes to which they are applied by the spiral slope
which is given them ; for if they were perpendicular,
the labourers would not be able to carry on their build-
ing with so much facility, as they ascend a perpendicular
with great difficulty, and the soldiers can scarcely do it
at all. It is on this account that sometimes a road like a
ledge is made on the perpendicular side of any part of the
building within their hill, which is flat on the upper sur-
face and half an inch w ide, and ascends gradually like a
staircase, or like those winding roads which are cut on
the sides of hills and mountains, that would otherwise be
inaccessible ; by w^hicli and similar contrivances they
travel with great facility to every interior part.

This, too, is probably the cause of their building a
kind of bridge of one great arch, which answers the pur-
pose of a flight of stairs from the floor of the area, to

IXSECT ARCHITECTURE.

fl, A covered w.iy and nest, on the brancli of a tree, of the Termites
arburum. b. Section'of the Hill-ncst of tlie Termites bellicosi, to show
the interior, c, Hiil-nest of tlie Termites bellicosi, enlhe.

MIIITE ANTS. 51

some opening on the side of one of the columns that sup-
])ort the great arches. This contrivance must shorten
the distance exceedingly to those labourers who have the
eggs to carry from the royal chamber to some of the
upper nurseries, which in some hills would be four or
five feet in the straightest line, and much more if carried
through all the winding passages leading through the
inner chambers and apartments. Mr. Smeathman found
one of these bridges, half an inch broad, a quarter of an
inch thick, and ten inches long, making the side of an
elliptic arch of proportionable size ; so that it is wonder-
ful it did not fall over or break by its own wei^^' t before
they got it joined to the side of the column above.

It was strengthened by a small arch at the bottom, and
had a hollow or groove all the length of the upper sur-
face, either made purposely for the inhabitants to travel
over with more safety, or else, whicii is not improbable,
worn by frequent treading.

TuRRET-BuiLDIXG WhITE AsTS. ,

Apparently more than one species smaller than the
preceding, such as the Termes niordax and 1\ atrox of
Smeathman, construct nests of a very different form, the
figures of which resemble a pillar, with a large mush-
room for a capital. These turrets are composed of well-
tempered black earth, and stand nearly three feet high.
The conical mushroom-shaped roof is composed of the
same material, and the brims hang over the column, being
three or ibur inches wider than its perpendicular sides.
Most of them, says Smeathman, resemble in shape the
body of a round windmill, but some of the roofs have
little elevation in the middle. When one of these turrets
is completed, the insects do not afterwards enlarge or
alter it ; but if it be found too small for them, they lay
the foundation of another at a few inches' distance. They
sometimes, but not often, begin the second before
the first is finished, and a third before they have com-
pleted the second. Five or six of these singular turrets
in a group may be seen in the thick woods at the foot of

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

a tree. They are so very strongly built, that in case of
violence, they will sooner tear up the gravel and solid
heart of their foundation than break in the middle.
When any of them happen to be thus thrown down, the
insects do not abandon them : but, using their over-turned
column as a basis, they run up another perpendicularly
from it to the usual height, fastening the under part
at the same time to the ground, to render it the more
secure.

Turret Nests of White Ants. One nest is represented cut tirrougli, with
the upper part lying on the ground.

The interior of a turret is pretty equally divided into
innumerable cells, irregular in shape, but usually more
or less angular, generally quadrangular or pentagonal,
though the angles are not well defined. Each shell has
at least two entrances ; but there are no galleries, arches,
nor wooden nurseries, as in the nests of the warrior {T.
bellicosus). The two species which build turret nests
are very different in size, and the dimensions of the nests
differ in proportion.

WHITE ANTS. 63^

The White Ants or Trees

Latreille's species of white ant {Tertnes hicifttgus,
Rossi), formerly mentioned as found in the south of
Europe, appear to have more the habits of the jet ant,
described page 32, than their congeners of the tropics.
They live in the interior of the trunks of trees, the wood
of which they eat, and form their habitations of the
galleries which they thus excavate. M. Latreille says
they appear to be furnished with an acid for the purpose
of softening the wood, the odour of which is exceedingly
pungent. They prefer the part of the wood nearest to
the bark, which they are careful not to injure, as it
affords them protection. All the walls of their galleries
are moistened with small globules of a gelatinous sub-
stance, similar to gum Arabic. They are chiefly to be
found in the trunks of oak and pine trees, and are very
numerous.*

Another of the species {Termes arhorwui)^ described
by Smeathman, builds a nest on the exterior of trees,
altogether different from any of the preceding. These
are of a spherical or oval shape, occupying the arm or
branch of a tree sometimes from seventy to eighty feet
from the ground, and as large, in a few instances, as a
sugar-cask. The composition used for a building mate-
rial is apparently similar to that used by the warriors for
constructing their nurseries, being the gnawings of wood
in very small particles, kneaded into a paste with some
species of cement or glue, procured, as iSmeathman sup-
poses, partly from gummiferous trees, and partly from
themselves ; but it is more probable, we think, that it is
wholly secreted, like the wax of bees, by the insects
themselves. With this cement, whatever may be its
composition, they construct their cells, in which there is
nothing very wonderful except their great numbers.
They are very firmly built, and so strongly attached to
the trees, that they will resist the most violent tornado.
It is impossible, indeed, to detach them, except by

* Latreille, Hist. Nat, Generale, torn. xiii. p. 64.

54 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

cutting them in pieces, or sawing off the branch, which
is frequently done to procure the insects i'or young
turkeys. (See engraving, p. 50, for a figure of this
nest. )

This species very often, instead of selecting the bough
of a tree, builds in the roof or wall of a house, and un-
less observed in time, and expelled, occasions considerable
damage. It is easier, in fact, to shut one's door against
a fox or a thief, than to exclude such insidious enemies,
whose aversion to light renders it difficult to trace them
even when they are numerous.

If we reflect on the prodigious numbers of those in-
sects, and their power and rapidity of destroying, we
cannot but admire the wisdom of Providence in creating
so indefatigable and useful an agent in countries where
the decay of vegetable substances is rapid in proportion
to the heat of the climate. We have already remarked
that they always prefer decaying or dead timber ; and it
is indeed a very general law among insects which feed
on wood to prefer what is unsound : the same prin-
ciple holds with respect to fungi, lichens, and other para-
sitical plants.

All the species of Termites are not social ; but the
solitary ones do not, like their congeners, distinguish
themselves in architecture. In other respects, their
habits are more similar ; for they destroy almost every
substance, animal and vegetable. The most common of
the solitary species must be familiar to all our readers by
the name of wood-louse (Termes pulsatorium, Linn. ;
Atropos lignarius, Leach) — one of the insects which
produces the ticking superstitiously termed the death-
tvatch. It is not so large as the common louse, but
v>'hiter and more slender, having a red mouth and yellow
eyes. It lives in old books, the paper on walls, collec-
tions of insects and dried plants, and is extremely agile
in its movements, darting, by jerks, into dark corners
ibr the purpose of concealment. It docs not like to run
straight forward without resting every half-second, as if
to listen or look about for its pursuer, and at such resting
times it is easily taken. The ticking noise is made by

SPINNI>"G CATERPILLARS. 55

the insect beating against the wood with its head, and it
is supjwsed by some to be peculiar to the female, and to
be connected with the laying of her eggs. M. Latreille^
however, thinks that the wood-louse is only the grub of
the Psocus abdominalis, in which case it could not lay
eggs ; but this opinion is somewhat questionable. Ano-
ther death-watch is a small beetle (Anohiwntesselatumy.

6^ INSECT ABCHITECTURE.

CHAPTER XVII.

Structures of Silk spun by Caterpillars, including the
Silk- Worm.

" Millions of spinning-worms,
That in their green shops weave the smooth-hair'd silk."

Milton's Comus.

All the caterpillars of butterflies, moths, and, in general,
of insects with four wings, are capable of spinning silk,
of various degrees of fineness and strength, and differing
in colour, but usually white, yellow, brown, black, or
grey. This is not only of advantage in constructing
nests for themselves, and particularly for their pupae, as
we have so frequently exemplified in the preceding pages,
but it enables them, the instant they are excluded from
the Q^^^ to protect themselves from innumerable acci-
dents, as well as from enemies. If a caterpillar, for in-
stance, be exposed to a gust of wind, and blown off from
its native tree, it lets itself gently down, and breaks its
fall, by immediately spinning a cable of silk, along which,
also, it can reascend to its former station when the danger
IS over. In the same way, it frequently disappoints a
bird that has marked it out for prey, by dropping hur-
riedly down from a branch, suspended to its never-fiailing
delicate cord. The leaf-rollers, formerly described, have
the advantage of other caterpillars in such cases, by
being able to move as quickly backwards as forwards ; so
that when a bird puts in its bill at one end of the roll,
the insect makes a ready exit at the other, and drops

SPINNIXG CATERPILLARS.

along its thread as low as it judges convenient. We have
seen caterpillars drop in this way from one to six feet
or more ; and by means of their cable, which they are
careful not to break, they climb back with great expedi-
tion to their former place.

The structure of their legs is well adapted for climbing
up their singular rope — the six fore-legs being furnished
with a curved claw ; while the pro-legs (as they have
been termed) are no less fitted for holding them firm to
the branch when they have regained it, being con-
structed on the principle of forming a vacuum, like the
leather sucker with which boys lift and drag stones. The
foot of the common fly has a similar sucker, by which it
is enabled to walk on glass, and otherwise support itself
against gravity. The different forms of the leg and pro-
leg of a spinning caterpillar are represented in the figure.

Leg and Pro-leg of a Caterpillar, greatly magnified.

In order to understand the nature of the apparatus by
which a caterpillar spins its silk, it is to be recollected
that its whole interior structure differs from that of warm-
blooded animals. It has, properly speaking, no heart,
though a long tubular dorsal vessel, which runs along
the back, and pulsates from twenty to one hundred times
per minute, has been called so by Malpighi and others :
but neither Lyonnet nor Cuvier could detect any vessel
issuing from it; and consequently the fluid which is
analogous to blood has no circulation. It differs also

VOL. II. D

68 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

from the higher orders of animals in having no brain,
the nerves running along the body being only united by
little knobs, called ganglions. Another circumstance is,
that it has no lungs, and docs not breathe by the mouth,
but by air-holes, or spiracles, eighteen in number, situ-
ated along the sides, in the middle of the rings, as may
be seen in the following figure from Lyonnet.

Caterpillar of the Goat-Moth (^Cossus ligniperda).

These spiracles communicate on each side with tubes,
that have been called the wind-pipes (trachea). The
spinning apparatus is placed near the mouth, and is con-
nected with the silk-bags, which are long, slender, float-
ing vessels, containing a liquid gum. The bags are
closed at their lower extremity, become wider towards
the middle, and more slender towards the head, where
they unite to form the spinning-tube, or spinneret. The
bags being in most cases longer than the body of the
caterpillar, necessarily lie in a convoluted state, like the
intestines of quadrupeds. The capacity, or rather the
length, of the silk-bags, is in proportion to the quantity
of silk required ibr spinning ; the Cossits ligniperda, for
example, from living in the wood of trees spins little,
having a bag only one-fourth the length of that of the
silk-worm, though the caterpillar is at least twice the
dimensions of the latter. The following figure, taken
from the admirable treatise of Lyonnet on the anatomj^
of the Cossus, will render these several organs more easily
understood than any description.

The spinneret itself was supposed by Reaumur to
have two outlets for the silk ; but Lyonnet, upon minute
dissection, found that the two tubes united into one be-
fore their termination ; and he also almost assured him-
self that it was composed of alternate slips of horny and

SPINNING CATKRPILLARS.

D 2

CfO 1>SECT ARCIIITECTUKE.

membranaceous substance, — the one for pressing the
thread into a small diameter, and the other for enlarging
it at the insect's pleasure. It is cut at the end somewhat
like a writing-pen, though with less of a slope, and is
admirably fitted for being applied to objects to which it
may be required to attach silk. The following are
magnified figures of the spinneret of the Cossus, from
Lyonnet.

Side-view of the Silk-tube. Section of the Silk-tube, magnified
22,000 times.

" You may sometimes have seen," says the Abbe de
la Pluche, "in the work-rooms of goldsmiths or gold-
wire- drawers, certain iron plates, pierced with holes of
different calibres, through which they draw gold and
silver wire, in order to render it finer. The silk-worm
has under her mouth such a kind of instrument, perfo-
rated with a pair of holes [united into one on the out-
side*], through which she draws two drops of the gum
that fills her two bags. These instruments are like a
pair of distaffs for spinning the gum into a silken thread.
She fixes the first drop of gum that issues where she
pleases, and then draws back her head, or lets herself
fall, while the gum, continuing to flow, is drawn out and
lengthened into a double stream. Upon being exposed
to the air, it immediately loses its fluidity, becomes dry,
and acquires consistence and strength. She is never de-
ceived in adjusting the dimensions of the [united] aper-
tures, or in calculating the proper thickness of the

* Lyonnet.

SPINNING CATERPILLAKS.

Labiuin, or lower lip of Cossas. — a. Silk-tube.

thread, but invariably makes the strength of it propor-
tionable to the weight of her body.

" It would be a very curious thing to know how the
gum which composes the silk is separated and drawn off
from the other juices that nourish the animal. It must
be accomplished like the secretions formed by glands in
the human body. I am therefore persuaded that the
gum- bags of the silk- worm are furnished with a set of
minute glands, which, being impregnated with gum,
alFord a free passage to all the juices of the mulberry-
leaf corresponding with this glutinous matter, while they
exclude every fluid of a ditterent quahty."* When con-
fined in an open glass vessel, the goat-moth caterpillar
will effect its escape by constructing a curious silken
ladder, as represented by Roesel.

Caterpillars, as they increase in size, cast their skins
as lobsters do their shells, and emerge into renewed ac-
tivity under an enlarged covering. Previous to this
change, when the skin begins to gird and pinch them,
they may be observed to become languid, and indifferent
to their food, and at length they cease to eat, and await

* S^.ectacle de la Xatuie, vol. i.

62 INSECT ARCHITECTUBE.

the slou^hingf of their skin. It is now that the faculty
of spinning silk seems to be of great advantage to them ;
for being rendered inactive and helpless by the tighten-
ing of the old skin around their expanding body, they
might be swept away by the first puff of wind, and
made prey of by ground beetles or other carnivorous
prowlers. To guard against such accidents, as soon as
they feel that they can swallow no more food, from being
half choked by the old skin, they take care to secure
themselves from danger by moorings of silk spun upon
the leaf or the branch where they may be reposing.
The caterpillar of the white satin-moth (^Leuco}na salicis,
Stephens) in this way draws together with silk one or
two leaves, similar to the leaf-rollers (^Torfricidce),
though it always feeds openly without any covering.
The caterpillar of the puss-moth again, which, in its
third skin, is large and heavy, spins a thick web on the
upper surface of a leaf, to which it adheres till the change
is effected.

The most important operation, however, of silk-spin-
ning is performed before the caterpillar is transformed into
a chrysalis, and is most remarkable in the caterpillars of
moths and other four-winged flies, with the exception
of those of butterflies ; for though these exhibit, perhaps,
greater ingenuity, they seldom spin more than a few
threads to secure the chrysalis from falling, whereas the
others spin for it a complete envelope or shroud. Wc
have already seen, in the preceding pages, several
striking instances of this operation, when, probably for
the purpose of husbanding a scanty supply of silk, ex-
traneous substances are worked into the texture. In the
case of other caterpillars, silk is the only material em-
ployed. Of this the cocoon of the silk-worm is the
most prominent example, in consequence of its import-
ance in our manufactures and commerce, and on that
account will demand from us somewhat minute details,
though it would require volumes to incorporate all the
information which has been published on the subject.

SLLIw-WOBM. G3

Sllk-Wokm.

The silk-worm, like most other caterpillars, changes
its skin four times during its growth. The intervals at
which the four moultings follow each other depend
much on climate or temperature, as well as on the
quality and quantity of food. It is thence found, that
if they are exposed to a high temperature, say from 81°
to 100^ Fahrenheit, the moultings will be hastened ; and
only five days will be consumed in moulting the third
or fourth time, whilst those worms that have not been
hastened take seven or eight days.*

The period of the moultings is also influenced by the
temperature in w^hich the eggs have been kept during
the winter. When the heat of the apartment has been
regulated, the first moulting takes place on the fourth or
fifth day after hatching, the second begins on the eighth
day, the third takes up the thirteenth and fourteenth
days, and the last occurs on the twenty-second and
twenty-third days. The fifth age, in such cases, lasts
ten days, at the end of which, or thirty -two da^^s after
hatching, the caterpillars attain their full growth, and
ought to be three inches in length ; but if they have
not been properly fed, they will not be so long.

With the age of the caterpillar, its appetite increases,
and is at its maximum after the fourth moulting, when
it also attains its greatest size. The silk gum is then
elaborated in the reservoirs, while the caterpillar ceases
to eat, and soon diminishes again in size and weight.
This usually requires a period of nine or ten days, com-
mencing from the fourth moulting, after which it begins
to spin its shroud of silk. In this operation it proceeds
with the greatest caution, looking carefully for a spot in
which it may be most secure from interruption.

" We usually," says the Abbe de la Pluche, " give
it some little stalks of broom, heath, or a piece of paper
rolled up, into which it retires, and begins to move its
head to different places, in order to fasten its thread on

* Cours d' Agriculture, par M. Rozier. Paris, 1801.

64 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

every side. All this work, though it looks to a bystander
like confusion, is not without design. The caterpillar
neither arranges its threads nor disposes one over
another, but contents itself with distending a sort ol^
cotton or floss to keep off the rain ; for Nature having
ordained silk-worms to work under trees, they never
change their method, even when they ai'e reared in our
houses.

" When my curiosity led me to know how they spun
and placed their beautiful silk, I took one of them, and
frequently removed the floss with which it first attempted
to make itself a covering ; and as b}^ this means I
weakened it exceedingly, when it at last became tired ot
beginning anew, it fastened its threads on the first thing
it encountered, and began to spin very regularly in ray
presence, bending its head up and down, and crossing to
every side. It soon confined its movements to a very
contracted space, and, by degrees, entirely surrounded
itself with silk ; and the remainder of its operations
became invisible, though these may be miderstood from
examining the work after it is finished. In order to
complete the structure, it must draw out of the gum-bag
a more delicate silk, and then with a stronger gum bind
all the inner threads over one another.

" Here, then, are three coverings entirely different,
which afford a succession of shelter. The outer loose
silk, or floss, is for keeping oft" the rain ; the fine silk in
the middle prevents the wind from causing injury ; and
the glued silk, which composes the tapestry of the
chamber where the insect lodges, repels both air and
water, and prevents the intrusion of cold.

" After building her cocoon, she divests herself of
her fourth skin, and is transformed into a chrysalis, and
subsequently into a moth (Bomb i/jc mor'i), when, without
saw or centre-bit, she makes her way through the shell,
the silk, and the floss ; for the Being who teaches her
how to build herself a place of rest, where the delicate
limbs of the moth may be formed without interruption,
instructs her likewise how to open a passage for escape.

" The cocoon is like a pigeon's e^^, and more pointed

SILK- WORM. 65

at one end than the other ; and it is remarkable that the
caterpillar does not interweave its silk towards the
pointed end, nor apply its glue there as it does in every
other part,* by bending itself all around with great
pliantness and agility : what is more, she never tails,
when her labour is finished, to fix her head opposite to
the pointed extremity. The reason of her taking this
position is, that she has purposely left this part less
strongly cemented, and less exactly closed. She is
instinctively conscious that this is to be the passage for
the perfect insect which she carries in her bowels, and
has therefore the additional precaution never to place
this pointed extremity against any substance that might
obstruct the moth at the period of its egress.

" When the caterpillar has exhausted herself to
furnish the labour and materials of the three coverings,
she loses the form of a worm, her spoils drop all around
the chrysalis ; first throwing off her skin, with the head
and jaws attached to it, and the new skin hardening into
a sort of leathery consistence. Its nourishment is already
in its stomach, and consists of a yellowish mucus, but
gradually the rudiments of the moth unfold themselves, —
the wings, the antennae, and the legs becoming solid. In
about a fortnight or three weeks, a slight swelling in the
chrysalis may be remarked, which at length produces a
rupture in the membrane that covers it, and by repeated
effoi'ts the moth bursts through the leathery envelope
into the chamber of the cocoon.

*' The moth then extends her antennae, together with
her head and feet, towards the point of the cone, which
not being thickly closed up in that part gradually yields
to her efforts ; she enlarges the opening, and at last
comes forth, leaving at the bottom of the cone the ruins
of its former state — namely, the head and entire skin of
the caterpillar, which bear some resemblance to a heap
of foul linen. "f

Reaumur was of opinion that the moth makes use of

* This is denied by recent observers,
■j" Spectacle de la Nature, vol. i.

66 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

its eyes as a file, in order to effect its passage through the
silk ; while Malpighi, Peck, and others, believe that it
is assisted by an acid which it discharges in order to
dissolve the gum that holds the fibres of the silk together
(seep. 184). Mr. Swayne denies that the threads are
broken at all, either by filing or solution ; for he suc-
ceeded in unwinding a whole cocoon from which the
moth had escaped. The soiling of the cocoon by a fluid,
however, we may remark, is no proof of the acid ; for all
moths and butterflies discharge a fluid when they assume
wings, whether they be inclosed in a cocoon or not ;
but it gives no little plausibility to the opinion, that
" the end of the cocoon is observed to be wetted for an
hour, and sometimes several hours, before the moth
makes its way out."* Other insects employ different
contrivances for escape, as we have already seen, and
shall still further exemplify.

It is the middle portion of the cocoon, after removing
the floss or loose silk on the exterior, which is used in
our manufactures ; and the first preparation is to throw
the cocoons into warm water, and to stir them about with
twigs, to dissolve any slight gummy adhesions which
may have occurred when the caterpillar was spinning.
The threads of seYcral cones, according to the strength
of the silk wanted, are then taken and wound off' upon a
reel. The refuse, consisting of what we may call the
tops and bottoms of the cones, are not wound, but carded,
like wool or cotton, in order to form coarser fabrics.
We learn from the fact of the cocoons being generally
unwound without breaking the thread, that the insect
spins the whole without interruption. It is popularly
supposed, however, that if it be disturbed during the
operation by any sort of noise, it will take alarm, and
break its thread ; but Latreille says this is a vulgar
error.'!'

* Count Dandolo's Art of Rearing Silk-Worms, Eng.
Transl., p. 215.

f On a tort de croire que le bruit nuise a ces insectes*
Hist. Nat. Geueiale, vol. xiii. p. 170.

SlLK->YOIiM. 67

The length of the unbroken thread in a cocoon varies
from six hundred to a thousand feet ; and as it is all spun
double by the insect, it will amount to nearly two
thousand feet of silk, the whole of which does not weigh
above three grains and a half: five pounds of silk from
ten thousand cocoons is considerably above the usual
average. When we consider, therefore, the enormous
quantity of silk which is used at present, the number of
worms employed in producing it will almost exceed our
comprehension. The manufacture of the silk, indeed,
gives employment, and furnishes subsistence, to several
millions of human beings ; and we may venture to say,
that there is scarcely an individual in the civilized
world who has not some article made of silk in his pos-
session.

In ancient times, the manufacture of silk was confined
to the East Indies and China, where the insects that
produce it are indigenous. It was thence brought to
Europe in small quantities, and in early times sold at so
extravagant a price, that it was deemed too expensive
even for royalty. The Emperor Aurelian assigned the
expense as a reason for refusing his empress a robe of
silk ; and our own James I., before his accession to the
crown of England, had to borrow of the Earl of Mar a
pair of silk stockings to appear in before the English
ambassador, a circumstance which probably led him to
promote the cultivation of silk in England.* The
Roman authors were altogether ignorant of its origin, — •
some supposing it to be grown on trees as hair grows on
animals, — others that it Mas produced by a shell-fish
similar to the mussel, which is known to throw out
threads for the purpose of attaching itself to rocks, — •
others that it was the entrails of a sort of spider, which
was fed for four years with paste, and then with the
leaves of the green willow, till it burst with fat, — and
others that it was the produce of a worm which built
nests of clay and collected wax. The insect was at
length spread into Persia ; and eggs were afterwards, at

Shaw's Gen. Zoology, vol. vi.

68 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

the instance of the Emperor Justinian, concealed m
hollow canes by two monks, and conveyed to the isle of
Cos. This emperor, in the sixth century, caused them
to be introduced into Constantinople, and made an object
of public utility. They were thence successively culti-
vated in Greece, in Arabia, in Spain, in Italy, in France,
and in all places where any hope could be indulged of
their succeeding. In America the culture of the silk-
worm was introduced into Virginia in the time of
James I., who himself composed a book of instructions
on the subject, and caused mulberry-trees and silk- worms'
eggs to be sent to the colony. In Georgia, also, lands
were granted on condition of planting one hundred white
mulberry-trees on every ten acres of cleared land.*

The growth of the silk- worm has also been tried, but
with no great success, in this country. Evelyn computed
that one mulberry-tree would feed as many silk-worms
annually as would produce seven pounds of silk. " Ac-
cording to that estimate," says Barham,f " the two thou-
sand trees already planted in Chelsea Park (which take up
one-third of it) will make 14,000 lbs. weight of silk ; to be
commonly worth but twenty shillings a pound, those trees
must make 14,000/. per annum." During the last cen-
tury, some French refugees in the south of Ireland made
considerable plantations of the mulberry, and had begun
the cultivation of silk with every appearance of success ;
but since their removal the trees have been cut down, j
In the vicinity of London, also, a considerable plantation
of mulberry-trees was purchased by the British, Irish,
and Colonial Silk Company in 1825; but we have not
learned whether this Company have any active measures
now in operation.

The manufacture of silk was introduced into this coun-
try in 1718, at Derby, by Mr. John Lombe, who tra-
velled into Italy to obtain the requisite information ;
but so jealous were the Italians of this, that according

* North American Review, Oct. 1828, p. 449.
f Essay on the Silk-Worm, p. 95. London, 1719.
1 Preface to Dandolo on the Silk-Worm, Eng. Trans!.,
p. xiii.

EMPEROR-MOTH. 69

to some statements which Jbave obtained belief, he fell
a victim to their revenge, having been poisoned at the
early age of twenty-nine.*

There are not only several varieties of the common
silk-worm {Bombijx mori), but other species of cater-
pillars, which spin silk capable of being manufactured,
though not of so good qualities as ^le common silk.
None of our European insects, however, sieem to be well
fitted for the purpose, though it has been proposed by
Fabricius and others to try the crimson under-wing (Ca-
tocala sponsa, Schraxk), &c. M. Latreille quotes from
the ' Recreations of Natural History,' by Wilhelm, the
statement that the cocoons of the emperor-moth {Saiur-
7iia pavofiia) had i^en successfully tried in Germany,
by M. Wentzel IIeg^fei^:^de Berchtoldsdorf, under an
imperial patent. ^

Emperor-Moth.

The emperor-moth, indeed, is no less worthy of our
attention with respect to the ingenuity of its architecture
than the beauty of its colours, and has consequently at-
tracted the attention of every Entomologist. The cater-
pillar feeds on fruit-trees and on the willow, and spins a
cocoon, in form of a Florence flask, of strong silk, so
thickly Avoven that it appears almost like damask or
leather. It differs from most other cocoons in not being
closed at the upper or smaller end, which terminates in
a narrow circular aperture, formed by the convergence
of little bundles of silk, gummed together, and almost as
elastic as whalebone. In consequence of all these ter-
minating in needle-shaped points, the entrance of depre-
dators is guarded against, upon the principle which pre-
vents the escape of a mouse from a wire trap. The
insect, however, not contented with this protection, con-
structs another in form of a canopy or dome, within the
external aperture, so as effectually to shield the chrysalis
from danger. We have formerly remarked (page 181)

* Glover's Directory of the County of Derby, Introd., p. xvi.

70 INSECT ARCIIITECTUKE.

that the caterpillar of the jEgei'ia asUifonnis of Ste-
phens in a similar way did not appear to be contented
with a covering- of thin wood, without an additional bon-
net of brown wax. The cocoon of the emperor-moth,

Cocoons of the Emperor-moth, cut open to show their structure.

though thus in some measure impenetrable from without,
is readily opened from within ; and when the moth
issues from its pupa case, it easily makes its way out
without either the acid or eye-files ascribed to the
silk-worm. The elastic silk gives way upon being
pushed from within, and when the insect is fairly out,
it shuts again of its own accord, like a door with spring
hinges, — a circumstance which at first puzzled Roesel
not a little when he saw a fine large moth in his box,
and the cocoon apparently in the same state as when
he had put it there. Another naturalist conjectures that
the converging threads are intended to compress the
body of the moth as it emerges, in order to force the
fluids into the nervures of the wings ; for when he took
the chrysalis previously out of the cocoon, the wings of
the moth never expanded properly.* Had he been
much conversant with breeding insects, he M'ould rather,

* Meinecken, quoted by Kirby and Spence, iii. 280.

MOTHS. 71

we think, have imputed this to some injury which the
chrysalis had received. We have witnessed the shrivel-
ing of the wings which he alludes to, in many instances,
and not unfrequently in butterflies which spin no cocoon.
The shriveling, indeed, frequently arises from the want
of a sufficient supply of food to the caterpillar in its last
stage, occasioning a deficiency in the fluids.

The elasticity of the cocoon is not peculiar to the em-
peror-moth. A much smaller insect, the green cream-
border-moth {Tortrix clilorcuui) before mentioned (page
163), for its ingenuity in bundling up the expanding
leaves of the willow, also spins an elastic shroud for its
chrysalis, of the singular shape of a boat with the keel
uppermost. Like the caterpillar of Pyralis strigulalls
(page 187), whose building, though of different mate-
rials, is exactly of the same form, — it first spins two ap-
proximating walls of whitish silk, of the form required,
and when these are completed, it draws them forcibly
together with elastic threads, so placed as to retain them
closely shut. The passage of the moth out of this
cocoon might have struck Roesel as still more marvel-
lous than that of his emperor, in which there was at
least a small opening ; while in the boat cocoon there
is none. We have now before us two of these, which
we watched the caterpillars through the process of build-
ing, in the summer of 1828, and from one only a moth
issued, — the other, as often happens, having died in the
chrysalis. But what is most remarkable, it is impossible
by the naked eye to tell which of these two has been
opened* by the moth, so neatly has the joining been
finished. (J. R.)

Some species of moths spin a very slight silken tissue
for their cocoons, being apparently intended more to
retain them from falling than to afibrd protection from
other accidents. The gipsy-moth {Hypogymna cUspar),
rare in most parts of Britain, is one of these. It selects
for its retreat a crack in the bark of the tree upon which
it feeds, and over this spins only a few straggling threads.
We found last summer (1829), in the hole of an elm-
tree in the Park at Brussels, a group of half a dozen of

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

these, that did not seem to have spun any covering at all,
but trusted to a curtain of moss (^Hi/pjia) which mar-
gined the entrance. (J. R.) In a species nearly allied
to this, the yellow-tussock (Dasi/chira pudibimtla, Ste-
phens), the cocoon, one of which we have now before
us, is of a pretty close texture, and interwoven with the
long hairs of the caterpillar itself (see figure b, page 22),
which it plucks out piece-meal during the process of
building, — as is also done by the vapourer (^Oryyia an-
tiqua, Hubner), and many others.

These are additional instances of the remarks we for-
merly made, that caterpillars which spin a slight web are
transformed into perfect insects in a much shorter period
than those which spin more substantial ones. Thus the
cream-spot tiger {Arctia v'dUca, Stephexs) lies in
chrysalis only three weeks, and therefore does not re-
quire a strong web. It is figured below, along with
another, which is still slighter, though more ingeniously
woven, being regularly meshed like net-work.

A very prettily-netted cocoon is constructed by the

Cocoon of Arctia villica.'

Net-work cocoon .

SPI^'N1NG CATERPIIXARS. 73

grub of a very small grey weevil (^Hijpera Rumicis)^
which is not uncommon in July, on the seed spikes of
docks (B amices). This cocoon is globular, and not
larger than a garden pea, though it appears to be very
large in proportion to the pupa of the insect, reminding
us not a little of the carved ivory balls from China. The
meshes of the net-work ai'e also large, but the materials
are strong and of a wa^y consistence. Upon remarking
that no netting was ever spun over the part of the plant
to which the cocoon was attached, we endeavoured to
make them spin cocoons perfectly globular, by detaching
them when nearly finished ; but though we tried fom* or
five in this way, we could not make them add a single
mesh after removal, all of them making their escape
through the opening, and refusing to re-enter in order
to complete their structure. (J. R.)

The silk, if it may be so termed, spun by many species
of larvag is of a still stronger texture than the waxy silk
of the little weevil just mentioned. We recently met
with a remarkable instance of this at Lee, in the cocoons
of one of the larger ichneumons i^Ophion VinalcB?
Stephens), inclosed in that of a puss-moth {Cerura
Vinida) — itself remarkable for being composed of sand
as well as wood, the fibres of which had been scooped
out of the under-ground cross-bar of an old paling, to
which it was attached. But the most singular portion
of this was the junction of the outer wall with the edges
of the hollow thus scooped out, Mhich was formed of
fibres of wood placed across the fibres of the bar nearly
at right angles, and strongly cemented together, as if to
form a secure foundation for the building.

In this nest were formed, surreptitiously introduced
into the original building, five empty cells of a black
colour, about an inch long, and a sixth of an inch in
diameter ; nearly cylindrical in form, but somewhat
flattened ; vertical and parallel to one another, though
slightly cm*ved on the inner side. The cells are com-
posed of strong and somewhat coarse fibres, more like the
carbonized rootlets of a tree than silk, and resembling in
texture a piece of coarse milled cloth or felt, such as is

IXSECT ARCHITECTURE.

Kest of Puss-moth, inclosing five cocoons of an Ichnsumon.
Natural size.

used for the bases of plated hats. It is worthy of re-
mark, that all these cells opened towards one end, as if
the caterpillars which constructed them had been aware
that the wall of the puss-moth, in which the flies would
have to make a breach, was very hard, and would require
their united efforts to eftect an escape. The importance
of such a precaution will appear more strikingly, when
we compare it with the instance formerly mentioned
(page 185), in which only one ichneumon had been able
to force its way out. (J. R.)

It appears indispensable to some grubs to be confined
within a certain space in order to construct their cocoons.
We saw this well exemplified in the instance of a grub
of one of the mason-bees (^Osmia bicor?iis), which we
took from its nest, and put into a box, with the pollen
paste which the mother bee had provided for its subsist-
ence. (See pages 43, 44.) When it had completed its
growth, it began to spin, but in a very awkward manner
— attaching threads, as if at random, to the bits of pollen
which remained undevoured, and afterwards tumbling
about to another part of the box, as if dissatisfied with
what it had done. It sometimes persevered to spin in
one place till it had formed a little vaulted wall ; but it

SP12»X1JSG CATJiRriLLABS. 75

abandoned at the least three or four of these in order to
begin others, till at length, as if compelled by the ex-
treme urgencj of the stimulus of its approaching change,
it completed a shell of shining brown silk, woven into a
close texture. Had the grub remained within the narrow-
clay cell built for it by the mother bee, it would, in all
probability, not have thus exhausted itself in vain efforts
at building, which were likely to prevent it from ever
arriving at the perfect state — a circumstance which often
happens in the artificial breeding of insects. This bee,
however, made its appearance the following sprins:.
(J. R.)

Beside silk, the cocoons of many insects are composed
of other animal secretions, intended to strengthen or
otherwise perfect their texture. We have already seen
that some caterpillars pluck off their own hair to inter-
weave amongst their silk ; there are others which pro-
duce a peculiar substance for the same purpose. The
lackey caterpillar (^Clisiocampa neustria, Curtis) in this
manner lines its cocoon with pellets of a downy sub-
stance, resembling little tufts of the flowers of sulphur.
The small egger, again (^Eriog aster lanestris, Germak),
can scarcely be said to employ silk at all, — the cocoon
being of a uniform texture, looking, at first sight, like
dingy Paris plaster, or the shell of a pheasant's eg:g ; but
upon being broken, and inspected narrowly, a few threads
of silk may be seen interspersed through the whole. In
size it is not larger than the egg of the gold-crested
wren. It has been considered by Brahm a puzzling cir-
cumstance, that this cocoon is usually perforated with
one or two little holes, as if made by a pin from with-
out ; and Kirby and S pence tell us that their use has not
been ascertained.* May they not be left as air-holes for
the included chrysalis, as the close texture of the cocoon
might, without this provision, prove fatal to the animal ?
Yet, on comparing one of these with a similar cocoon of
the large egger-moth (^Lasiocanipa Quercus), we find no
air-holes in the latter, as we might have been led to

* Brahm's Ins. Nat. 289, and Kirby and Speiice's lutr. iii. 223.

76 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

expect from the closeness of its texture. We found a
cocoon of a saw-fly {^Trichioboma), about the same size
as that of the egger, attached to a hawthorn twig, in a
hedge at New-Cross, Deptlord, but of a leatliery texture,
and, externally, exactly the colour of the bark of the
tree. During the summer of 1830 we found a consider-
able number of the same cocoons. These were all with-
out air-holes. The egger, we may remark, unlike the
dock-weevil or the bee-grub just mentioned, can work
her cocoon without any point of attachment. We had a
colony of these caterpillars in the summer of 1825,
brought from Epping Forest, and saw several of them
■work their cocoons, and we could not but admire the
dexterity with which they avoided filling up the little
pin-holes. The supply of their building material was
evidently measured out to them in the exact quantity re-
quired ; for when we broke down a portion of their wall,
by way of experiment, they did not make it above half
the thickness of the previous portion, though they plainly
preferred having a thin wall to leaving the breach mi-
closed. (J. R.)

Several species of caterpillars, that spin only silk, are
social, like some of those we formerly mentioned, which
unite to form a common tent of leaves (^see pages 165, 166).
The most common instance of this is in the caterpillars
which feed on the nettle — the small tortoise-shell
(^Vanessa uriicce), and the peacock's eye^(F. /).
Colonies of these may be seen, after Midsummer, on
almost every clump of nettles, inhabiting a thin web of
an irregular oval shape, from which they issue out to
feed on the leaves, always returning when their appetite
is satisfied, to assist their companions in extending their
premises. Other examples, still more conspicuous from
being seen on fruit-trees and in hedges, occur in the
caterpillars of the small ermine-moth (^Yponomeiita
padella), and of the lackey (^Clisiocampa Jieustria),
which in some years are but too abundant, though in
others they are seldom met with. In the summer of
1826, every hedge and fruit-tree around London swarmed
with colonies of the ermine, though it has not since been

SPINNING CATERPILLARS.

plentiful ; and in the same way, during the summer of
1829, the lackeys were to be seen every where. We
mention this irregularity of appearance that our readers
may not disappoint themselves by looking for what is
not always to be found. It is probable, that in 1830,
the lackeys will be few, for, notwithstanding the myriads
of caterpillars last summer, we saw only a single moth
of this species, and out of a number of chrysalides which a
young friend had in his nurse-boxes, not one moth was bred.
The caterpillars of other moths, which are in some
years very common— such as the brown-tail (Porthesia
aurijiua), and the golden-tail (P. Chri/sorrhcpa), are
also social ; and, as the eggs are hatched late in the
summer, the brood passes the winter in a very closely
woven nest of warm silk. This is usually represented
as composed of leaves which have had their pulpy parts

Winter nest of the Social Caterpillars of the Brown-tail Motb
{Pcrrthesia aurifitia^ figured rom specimen.

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

eaten as food by the colonists ; but from minute observa-
tion of at least twenty of these nests in the winter of
1828-9, we are quite satisfied that leaves are only an
accidental, and not a necessary, part of the stiucture.
When a leaf happens to be in the line of the walls of
the nest, it is included ; but there is no apparent design
in pressing it into the service, nor is a branch selected
because it is leafy. On the contrary, by far the greater
number of these nests do not contain a single leaf, but
are composed entirely of grey silk. In external form,
no two of these nests are alike ; as it depends entirely
upon the form of the branch. When, therefore, there
is only one twig, it is somewhat egg-shaped ; but when
there are several twigs, it commonly joins each, assuming
an angular shape, as maybe seen in the preceding figure.
This irregularity arises from the circumstance of each
individual acting on its own account, without the direc-

Winter nests o( Poithesia chrysorrhaa, one bciri";; cut open to show the
chambers. T lie dots represent the cgesta of the caterpillars.

SPIKNIXG CATERPILLARS.

tion or superintendence of the others. The interior of
the structure is, for the same reason, more regular, being
divided into compartments, each of which forms a cham-
ber for one or more individuals. Previous to the cold
weather, these chambers have but slight partitions ; but
before the frosts set in the whole is made thick and
warm.

A no less remarkable winter nest, of a small species
of social caterpillar, is described by M. Bonnet, which
we omitted to introduce when treating of the Glanville
fritillary (page 164). The nest in question is literally
pendulous, being hung from the branch of a fruit-tree by
a strong silken thread. It consists of one or two leaves
neatly folded, and held together with silk, in which the
caterpillars live harmoniously together.

Pendulous leaf iiests, from Bonnet.

In a recently published volume of ' Travels in Mexico,'
we find a very remarkable account of some pendulous
nests of caterpillars, which appear to be almost as curi-
ous as the nests of the pasteboard-making wasps, de-
scribed at p. 87. The author of these Travels does not
define the species of caterpillar whose constructions at-
tracted his observation. He says, *' After having as-
cended for about an hour, we came to the region of oaks
and other majestically tall trees, the names of which I

«J0 insect AKCIIITECTUEE.

could not learn. Suspended from their stately branches,
were innumerable nests, enclosed, apparently, in white
paper bags, in the manner of bunches of grapes in Eng-
land, to preserve them from birds and flies. I had the
curiosity to examine one of them, which I found to con-
tain numberless caterpillars. The texture is so strong
that it is not easily torn ; and the interior contained a
quantity of green leaves, to support the numerous pro-
geny M'ithin." *

In all the nests of social caterpillars, care is taken to
leave apertures for passing out and in. It is remarkable,
also, that however far they may ramble from their nest,
they never fail to find their way back when a shower oi
rain or nightfall renders shelter necessary. It requires
no great shrewdness to discover how they effect this ; for
by looking closely at their track it will be found that it
is carpeted with silk — no individual moving an inch
without constructing such a pathway, both for the use of
his companions and to facilitate his own return. All
these social caterpillars, therefore, move more or less in
processional order, each following the road which the
first chance traveller has marked out with his strip of
silk carpeting.

There are some species, however, which are more
remarkable than others in the regularity of their proces-
sional marchings, particularly two which are found in
the south of Europe, but are not indigenous in Britain.
The one named by Reaumur the processionary {Cnetlio-
campa processio?iea, Stephens) feeds upon the oak ; a
brood dividing, when newly hatched, into one or more
parties of several hundred individuals, which afterwards
unite in constructing a common nest nearly two feet
long, and from four to six inches in diameter. As it is
not divided like that of the brown-tails into chambers,
but consists of one large hall, it is not necessary that
there should be more openings than one ; and accord-
ingly, when an individual goes out and carpets a path,
the whole colony instinctively follow in the same track,

* Hardy's Travels in the Interior of Mexico, p. 32.

SPINNING CATERPILLARS.

though from the immense population they are often
compelled to march in parallel files from two to six deep.
The procession is always headed by a single caterpillar ;
sometimes the leader is immediately followed by one or
two in single file, and sometimes by two abreast, as re-
presented in the cut. A similar procedure is followed
by a species of social caterpillars which feed on the pine
in Savoy and Languedoc ; and though their nests arc
not half the size of the preceding, they are more worthy
of notice, from the strong and excellent quality of their
silk, which Reaumur was of opinion might be advan-
tageously manufactured. Their nests consist of more
chambers than one, but are furnished with a main en-
trance, through which the colonists conduct their forag-
ing processions.

Is'est and order of mavchin? of the Proc>3Ssionan,- Caierpillirs
of the oak '^Cntthocampa processioneli).

VOL. ir.

82 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Structures of Spiders.

Modern naturalists do not rank spiders among insects,
because they have no antennas, and no division between
the head and the shoulders. They breathe by leaf-shaped
gills, situated under the belly, instead of spiracles in
the sides ; have a heart connected with these ; have eight
legs instead of six ; and eight fixed eyes. But as spiders
are popularly considered insects, it will sufficiently suit
our purpose to introduce them here as such.

The apparatus by which spiders construct their inge-
nious fabrics is much more complicated than that which
we have described as common to the various s])ecies of
caterpillars. Caterpillars have only two reservoirs for
the materials of their silk ; but spiders, according to the
dissections of M. Treviranus, have four principal vessels,
two larger and two smaller, with a number of minute
ones at their base. Several small tubes branch towards
the reservoirs, for carrjnng to them, no doubt, a supply
of the secreted material. Swammerdam describes them
as twisted into many coils of an agate colour.* We do
not find them coiled, but nearly straight, and of a deep
yellow colour. From these, when broken, threads can
be drawn out like those spun by the spider, though we
cannot draw them so fine by many degrees.

From these little flasks or bags of gum, situated near
the apex of the abdomen, and not at the mouth; as in
caterpillars, a tube originates, and terminates in the ex-
ternal spinnerets, which may be seen by the naked eye
in the larger spiders, in the form of five little teats sur-
rounded by a circle, as represented in the following figure.

* Hill's Swammerdam, part i. p. 23.

SPIDERS.

Garden Spider {Epeira dlademd), suspended by a thread proceeding
from its spinneret.

We have seen that the silken thread of a caterpillar is
composed of two united within the tube of the spinneret,
but the spider's thread would appear, from the first view
of its five spinnerets, to be quintuple, and in some spe-
cies which have six teats, so many times more. It is
not safe, however, in our interpretations of nature to
proceed upon conjecture, however plausible, nor to take
anything for granted which we have not actually seen ;
since our inferences in such cases are almost certain to
be erroneous. If Aristotle, for example, had ever looked
narrowly at a spider when spinning, he could not have
fancied, as he does, that the materials which it uses are
nothing but wool stripped from its body. On looking,
then, with a strong magnifying glass, at the teat-shaped

E 2

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

spinnerets of a spider, we perceive them studded with
regular rows of minute bristle-like points, about a thou-
sand to each teat, making in all from five to six thousand.
These are minute tubes which we may appropriately
term sp'umerides, as each is connected with the internal
reservoirs, and emits a thread of inconceivable fineness.
In the figure below, this wonderful apparatus is repre-
sented as it appears in the microscope.

Spinnerets of a Spider magnified to show tlie Spinnerules.

We do not recollect that naturalists have ventured to
assign any cause for this very remarkable multiplicity of
the spinnerules of spiders, so difi'erent from the simple
spinneret of caterpillars. To us it appears to be an ad-
mirable provision for their mode of life. Caterpillars
neither require such strong materials, nor that their
thread should dry as quickly. It is well known in our
manufactures, particularly in rope-spinning, that in cords
of equal thickness, those which are composed of many
smaller ones united are greatly stronger than those which
are spun at once. In the instance of the spider's thread,
this principle must hold still more strikingly, inasmuch
as it is composed of fluid materials that require to be
dried rapidly, and this drying must be greatly facilitated

SPIDERS.

by exposing so many to the air separately before their
ufiion, which is effected at the distance of about a tenth
of an incli from the spinnerets. In the following figure
each of the threads represented is reckoned to contain
one hundred minute threads, the whole forming only
one of the spider's common threads.

A single tlivead of a Spider, £;reatly ma^jiiified, so that, for the small
space repvesfuted, the liues are sliowu as parallel.

Leeuwenhoeck, in one of his extraordinary microsco-
pical observations on a young spider not bigger than a
grain of sand, upon enumerating the threadlets in one of
its threads, calculated that it would require four millions
of them to be as thick as a hair of his beard.

Another important advantage derived by the spider
from the multiplicity of its threadlets is, that the thread
affords a much more secure attachment to a wall, a branch
of a tree, or any other object, than if it were simple ;
for, upon pressing the spinneret against the object, as
spiders always do when they fix a thread, the spinnerules
are extended over an area of some diameter, from every

86 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

hair's breadth of which a strand, as rope-makers term it,
is extended to compound the main cord. The following
figme exhibits this ingenious contrivance.

Attached end of a Spirt's thread magnified.

Those who maybe curious to examine this contrivance,
will see it best when the line is attached to any black
object, for the threads, being whitish, are, in other cases,
not so easily perceived.

Shooting of the Lines.

It has long been considered a curious though a diffi-
cult investig-ation, to determine in what manner spiders,
seeing that they are destitute of wings, transport them-
selves from tree to tree, across brooks, and frequently
through the air itself, without any apparent starting-
point. On looking into the authors who have treated
upon this subject, it is surprising how little there is to
be met with that is new, even in the most recent. Their
conclusions, or rather their conjectural opinions, are,
however, worthy of notice ; for by unlearning error, we
the more firmly establish truth.

1. One of the earliest notions upon this subject is that
of Blancanus, the commentator on Aristotle, which is

SPIDEKS.

partly adopted by Redi, byjHenricus Regius of Utrecht,
by Swammerdam,* by Lehmann, and by Kirby and
Spence.t "The spider's thread," says Swammerdani,
"is generally made up of two or more parts, and after
descending by such a thread, it ascends by one only, and
is thus enabled to waft itself from one height or tree to
another, even across running waters ; the thread it leaves
loose behind it being driven about by the wind, and so
fixed to some other body." "I placed," says Kirby,
" the large garden spider (Epeira diademci) upon a stick
about a foot long, set upright in a vessel containing

water It let itself drop, not by a single thread,

but by two, each distant from the other about the twelfth
of an inch, guided, as usual, by one of its hind feet, and
one apparently smaller than the other. When it had
suffered itself to descend nearly to the surface of the
water, it stopped short, and by some means, which I
could not distinctly see, broke off, close to the spinners,
the smallest thread, which still adhering by the other
end to the top of the stick, floated in the air, and was
so light as to be carried about by the slightest breath.
On approaching a pencil to the loose end of this line, it
did not adhere from mere contact. I, therefore, twisted
it once or twice round the pencil, and then drew it tight.
The spider, which had previously climbed to the top of
the stick, im.mediately pulled at it wdth one of its feet,
and finding it suffxciently tense, crept along it, strength-
ening it as it proceeded by another thread, and thus
, reached the pencil."

We have repeatedly witnessed this occurrence, both
in the fields and when spiders were placed for experi-
ment, as Kirby has described ; but we very much doubt
that the thread broken is ever intended as a bridge cable,
or that it would have been so used in that instance, had
it not been artificially fixed and accidentally found again
by the spider. According to our observations, a spider
never abandons, for an instant, the thread which she
dispatches in quest of an attachment, but uniformly keeps

* S'.vammerdam, part i. p. 24. \ lufr. vol. i. p. 415.

88 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

trying it with her feet, in order to ascertain its success.
Wc are, therefore, persuaded, that when a thread is
broken in the manner above described, it is because it
has been spun too weak, and spiders may often be seen
breaking such threads in the process of netting their
webs. (J. R.)

The plan, besides, as explained by these distinguished
writers, would more frequently prove abortive than suc-
cessful, from the cut thread not being sufficiently long.
They admit, indeed, that spiders' lines are often found
" a yard or two long, fastened to twigs of grass not a
foot in height Here, therefore, some other pro-
cess must have been used."*

2. Our celebrated English naturalist, Dr. Lister, whose
treatise upon our native spiders has been the basis of
every subsequent work on the subject, maintains that
* ' some spiders shoot out their threads in the same manner
that porcupines do their quills ;t that whereas the quills
of the latter are entirely separated from their bodies ,
when thus shot out, the threads of the former remain
fixed to their anus, as the sun's rays to its body."| A
French periodical writer goes a little farther, and says,
that spiders have the power of shooting out threads, and
directing them at pleasure towards a determined point,
judging of the distance and position of the object by
some sense of which we are ignorant. § Kirby also says,
that he once observed a small garden spider {Jranea
reticulata) "standing midway on a long perpendicular
fixed thread, and an appearance caught" his "eye, of
what seemed to be the emission of threads.." " I,"
therefore, he adds, "moved my arm in the direction in
which they apparently proceeded, and, as I had sus-
pected, a floating thread attached itself to my coat, along
which the spider crept. As this was connected with
the spinners of the spider, it could not have been

* Kirby and Spence, vol. i. Intr. p. 416.
f Porcupines do not shoot out their quills, as was once
generally believed.

;J: Lister, Hist. Animalia Angliae, 4to. p. 7.
§ Phil. Mag. ii. p. 275.

SPIDERS. 89

formed " by breaking a " secondary thread."* Again,
in speaking of the gossamer-spider, he says, " it first
extends its thigh, shank, and foot, into a right lino,
and then, elevating its abdomen till it becomes vertical,
shoots its thread into the air, and flies off from its sta-
tion."!

Another distinguished naturalist, Mr. White of Sel-
borne, in speaking of the gossamer-spider, says, " Every
day in fine vreather in autumn do I see these spiders
shooting out their webs, and mounting aloft : they Mill
go off from the finger, if you will take them into your
hand. Last summer, one alighted on my book as I was
reading in the parlour ; and running to the top of the
page, and shooting out a web, took its departure from
thence. But what I most wondered at was, that it went
off with considerable velocity in a place where no air
was stirring ; and I am sure I did not assist it with my
breath."t

Having so often witnessed the thread set afloat in the
air by spiders, we can readily conceive the way in which
those 'eminent naturalists were led to suppose it to be
ejected by some animal force acting like a syringe ; but
as the statement can be completely disproved by experi-
ment, we shall only at present ask, in the words of Swam-
merdam — " how can it be possible that a thread so fine
and slender should be shot out with force enough to
divide and pass through the air ? — is it not rather pro-
bable that the air would stop its progress, and so entangle
it and fit it to perplex the spider's operations '?"§ The
opinion, indeed, is equally improbable with another, sug-
gested by Dr. Lister, that the spider can retract her
thread within the abdomen, after it has been emitted, |j
De Geer^ very justly joins Swammerdam in rejecting
both of these fancies, which, in our own earlier observa-
tions upon spiders, certainly struck us as plausible and

* Vol. i. Intr. p. 417. f Ibid. li. p. 339.

X Nat. Hist, of Selborne, vol. i. p. 327.
§ Book of Nature, part i. p. 25.
jl Hist. Anim. Anglise, 4to. *f[ Memoiies, vol. vii. p. 189.

153

90 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

true. There can be no doubt, indeed, that the animal
has a voluntary power of permitting the material to
escape, or stopping it at pleasure, but this power is not
projectile.

3. " There are many people," says the Abbe de la
Pluche, ''who believe that the spider flies when they
see her pass from branch to branch, and even from one
high tree to another ; but she transports herself in this
manner : she places herself upon the end of a branch,
or some projecting body, and there fastens her thread ;
after which, with her two hind feet, she squeezes her
dugs {spinnerets), and presses out one or more threads of
two or three ells in length, which she leaves to float in
the air till it be fixed to some particular place."* With-
out pretending to have observed this, Swammerdam says,
" I can easily comprehend how spiders, without giving
themselves any motion, may, by only compressing their
spinnerets, force out a thread, which being driven by the
wind, may serve to waft them from one place to ano-
ther."f Others, proceeding upon a similar notion, give a
rather different account of the matter. " The spider,"
says Binglcy, "fixes one end of a thread to the place
where she stands, and then with her hind paws draws
out several other threads from the nipples, which, being
lengthened out and driven by the wind to some neigh-
bouring tree or other object, are by their natural clam-
miness fixed to it."t

Observation gives some plausibility to the latter opi-
nion, as the spider always actively uses her legs, though
not to draw out the thread, but to ascertain whether it
has caught upon any object. The notion of her pressing
the spinneret with her feet must be a mere fancy ; at
least it is not countenanced by anything which we have
observed.

4. An opinion much more recondite is mentioned, if
it was not started, by M. DTsjonval, that the floating of
the spider's thread is electrical. *' Frogs, cats, and other

* Spectacle de la Nature, vol. i. f Book of Nature, pt. i. p. 25.
X Animal Biography, vol. iii. p. 475, 3rd edition.

SPIDERS. 91

animals," he says, " are affected by natural electricity,
and feel the change of weather ; but no other animal
more than myself and my spiders." During wet and
windy weather he accordingly found that they spun
very short lines, " but when a spider spins a long thread,
there is a certainty of fine weather for at least ten or
twelve days afterwards."* A periodical writer, who
signs himself Carolan,t fancies that in darting out her
thread the spider emits a stream of air, or some subtle
electric fluid, by which she guides it as if by magic.

A living wTiter (Mr. John Murray) whose learning
and skill in conducting experiments give no little weight
to his o})inions, has carried these views considerably
farther. " The aeronautic spider," he says, "can propel
its thread both horizontally and vertically, and at all re-
lative angles, in motionless air, and in an atmosphere
agitated by winds ; nay more, the aerial traveller can
even dart its thread, to use a nautical phrase, in the
* wind's eye.' My opinion and observations are based
on many hundred experiments The entire phe-
nomena are electrical. When a thread is propelled in a
vertical plane, it remains perpendicular to the horizontal
plane, always u])right, and when others are projected at
angles more or less inclined, their direction is invariably
preserved; the threads never intermingle, and when a
pencil of threads is propelled, it ever presents the ap-
pearance of a divergent brush. These are electrical
phenomena, and cannot be explained but on electrical
principles."

" In clear, fine weather, the air is invariably positive ;
and it is precisely in such weather that the aeronautic
spider makes its ascent most easily and rapidly, whether
it be in summer or in winter." " When the air is
weakly positive, the ascent of the spider will be difiicult,
and its altitude extremely limited, and the threads pro-
pelled will be but little elevated above the horizontal
j)lane. When negative electricity prevails, as in cloudy

* Biez, Flore des Iiisectophiles. Notes, Supp. p. 134.
f Thomson's Ann. of Philosophy, vol. ill. p. 306.

92 LNSECT ARCHITECTURE.

weather, or on the approach of rain, and the index of
De Saussure's hygrometer rapidly advancing towards
humidity, the spider is unable to ascend."*

Mr. Murray had previously told us, that '*' when a
stick of excited sealing-wax is brought near the thread of
suspension, it is evidently repelled ; consequently, the
electricity of the thread is of a negative character," while
*' an excited glass tube brought near, seemed to attract
the thread, and with it the aeronautic spider. "f His
friend, Mr. Bowman, further describes the aerial spider
as "shooting out four or five, often six or eight, ex-
tremely fine webs several j^ards long, which waved in the
breeze, diverging from each other like a pencil of rays."
One of them "had two distinct and widely diverging
fasciculi of webs," and " a line uniting them would have
been at right angles to the direction of the breeze. "J

Such is the chief evidence in support of the electrical
theory ; but though mo have tried these experiments,
we have not succeeded in verifying any one of them. The
following statements of Mr. Blackwall come nearer our
own observations.

5. " Having procured a small branched twig," says
Mr. Blackwall, " I fixed it upright in an earthen vessel
containing water, its base being immersed in the liquid,
and upon it I placed several of the spiders which produce
gossamer. Whenever the insects thus circumstanced
were exposed to a current of air, either naturally or arti-
ficially produced, they directly turned the thorax towards
the quarter whence it came, even when it was so slight
as scarcely to be perceptible, and elevating the abdomen,
they emitted from their spinners a small portion of glu-
tinous matter, which was instantly carried out in a line,
consisting of four finer ones, with a velocity equal, or
nearly so, to that with which the air moved, as was ap-
]:)arent from observations made on the motion of detached
lines similarly exposed. The spiders, in the next place,

* Loudon's Mag. of Nat. Hist,, vol. i. p. 322.
f Expeiim. Researches in Nat. Hist., p. 136.
X Ma-. Nat. Hist. vol. i. v- 324.

SPIDERS. 93

carefully ascertained whether their lines had hecome
firmly attached to any object or not, by pulling at them
with the first pair of legs ; and if the result was satis-
factory, after tightening them sufficiently, they made
them pass to the twig ; then discharging from their spin-
ners, which they applied to the spot where they stood, a
little more of their liquid gum, and committing them-
selves to these bridges of their own constructing, they
passed over them in safety, drawing a second line after
them, as a security in case the first gave way, and so
effected their escape.

" Such was invariably the result when spiders were
placed where the air was liable to be sensibly agitated :
I resolved, therefore, to put a bell-glass over them ; and
in this situation they remained seventeen days, evidently
unable to produce a single line by which they could quit
the branch they occupied, without encountering the
water at its base ; though, on the removal of the glass,
they regained their liberty with as much celerity as in
the instances already recorded.

" This experiment, which, from want of due precau-
tion, has misled so many distinguished naturalists, I have
tried with several geometric spiders, and always with
the same success."*

Mr. Blackwall, from subsequent experiments, says ho
is " confident in affirming, that in motionless air sjiiders
have not the power of darting their threads even through
the space of half an inch."t The following details are
given in confirmation of this opinion. Mr. Blackwall
observed, the 1st Oct., 1826, a little before noon, with
the sun shining brightly, no wind stirring, and the ther-
mometer in the shade ranging from 55^.5 to 64-, a pro-
fusion of shining lines crossing each other at every angle,
forming a confused net- work, covering the fields and
hedges, and thickly coating his feet and ankles, as he
walked across a pasture. He was more struck with the
phenomenon because on the previous day a strong gale

* Linn. Trans,, vol. xv. p. 456.
t Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. ii. p. 397.

94 IS SECT ARCHITECTURE.

of wind had blown from the south, and as gossamer is
only seen in calm weather, it must have been all pro-
duced within a very short time,

" What more particularly arrested my attention," says
Mr. Blackwall, " was the ascent of an amazing quantity
of webs, of an irregular, ci)mplicated structure, resem-
bling ravelled silk of the finest quality, and clearest
white ; they were of various shapes and dimensions,
some of the largest measuring u))wards of a yard in
length, and several inches in breadth in the widest part ;
while others were almost as broad as long, presenting an
area of a few square inches only.

" These webs, it was quickly perceived, were not
formed in the air, as is generally (Dclieved, but at the
earth's surface. The lines of which they were com-
posed, being brought into contact by the mechanical
action of gentle airs, adhered together, till, by continual
additions, they were accumulated into flakes or masses of
considerable magnitude, on M'hich the ascending current,
occasioned by the rarefaction of the air contiguous to
the heated ground, acted with so much force as to sepa-
rate them from the objects to which they were attached,
raising them in the atmosjjhere to a perpendicular height
of at least several hundred feet. I collected a number
of these webs about mid-day, as they rose ; and again in
the afternoon, when the upward current had ceased, and
they were falling ; but scarcely one in twenty contained
a spider: though, on minute inspection, I found small
winged insects, chiefly aphides, entangled in most of them.
" From contemplating this unusual display of gossa-
mer, my thoughts were naturally directed to the animals
which produced it, and the countless myriads in which
they swarmed almost created as much surprise as the sin-
gular occupation that engrossed them. Apparently actu-
ated by the same impulse, all were intent upon traversing
the regions of air ; accordingly, after gaining tlie sum-
mits of various objects, as blades of grass, stubble, rails,
gates, &c., by the slow and laborious process of climb-
ing, they raised themselves still higher by straightening
their limbs ; and elevating the abdomen, by bringing it

SPIDERS. 95

from the usual horizontal position into one almost per-
pendicular, they emitted from their spinning apparatus
a small quantity of the glutinous secretion with which
they construct their webs. This viscous substance being
drawn out by the ascending current of rarefied air into
fine lines several feet in length, was carried upward,
until the spiders, feeling themselves acted upon with
sufficient force in that direction, quitted their hold of
the objects on which they stood, and commenced their
journey by mounting aloft.

" Whenever the lines became inadequate to the pur-
pose for which they were intended, by adhering to any
fixed body, they were immediately detached from the
spinners and so converted into terrestrial gossamer, by
means of the last pair of legs, and the proceedings just
described were repeated ; which plainly proves that these
operations result from a strong desire felt by the insects
to effect an ascent."* Mr. Black wall has recently read
a paper (still unpublished) in the Linnean Society, con-
firmatory of his opinions.

6. Vrithout going into the particulars of what agrees
or disagrees in the above experiments with our own ob-
servations, we shall give a brief account of what we have
actually seen in our researches. (J. R.) So far as we
have determined, then, all the various species of spiders,
how different soever the form of their webs may be, pro-
ceed in the circumstance of shooting their lines precisely
alike ; but those which we have found the most manage-
able in experimenting, are the small gossamer spider
(^Aranea obtex/rix, Bechstein), known by its shining
blackish-brown body and reddish-brown semi-transparent
legs ; but particularly the long-bodied spider (^Tetrag-
natha extensa^ Latr.), which varies in colour from
green to brownish or grey — but has always a black line
along the belly, with a silvery white or yellowish one on
each side. The latter is chiefly recommended by being
a very industrious and persevering spinner, while its

* Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 453^

96 INSECT AKCHITECTUKE.

movements are easily seen, from the long cylindrical
form of its body and the length of its legs.

We placed the above two species with five or six
others, including the garden, the domestic, and the laby-
rinthic spiders, in empty wine-glasses, set in tea-saucers
filled with water to prevent their escape. When they
discovered, by repeated descents from the brims of the
glasses, that they were thus surrounded by a wet ditch,
they all set themselves to the task of throwing their
silken bridges across. For this purpose they first en-
deavoured to ascertain in what direction the wind blew,
or rather (as the experiment was made in our study)
which way any current of air set, — by elevating their
arms as we have seen sailors do in a dead calm. But, as
it may prove more interesting to keep to one individual,
we shall first watch the proceedings of the gossamer
spider.

Finding no current of air on any quarter of the brim
of the glass, it seemed to give up all hopes of construct-
ing its bridge of escape, and placed itself in the attitude
of repose ; but no sooner did we produce a stream of air,
by blowing gently towards its position, than, fixing a
thread to the glass, and laying hold of it with one of its
feet, by way of secm*ity, it placed its body in a vertical
position, Avith its spinnerets extended outwards; and
immediately we had the pleasure of seeing a thread
streaming out from them several feet in length, on which
the little aeronaut sprung up into the air. We were
convinced, from what we thus observed, that it was the
double or bend of the thread which was blown into the
air ; and we assigned as a reason for her previously at-
taching and drawing out a thread from the glass, the
wish to give the wind a. point cVappiii — something upon
M'hich it might have a purchase, as a mechanic would
€ay of a lever. The bend of the thread, then, on this
view of the matter, would be carried out by the w^ind, —
would form the point of impulsion, — and, of course, the
escape bridge would be an ordinary line doubled.

Such was our conclusion, which was strongly corro-

SPIDERS. 97

bora ted by what we subsequently found said by M. La-
treille — than whom no higher authority could be given.
" When the animal," says he, " desires to cross a brook,
she fixes to a tree or some other object one of the ends
of her first threads, in order that the wind or a current
of air may carry the other end beyond the obstacle j"*
and as one end is always attached to the spinnerets, he
must mean that the double of the thread flies off. In
his previous publications, however, Latreille had con-
tented himself with copying the statement of Dr. Lister.
In order to ascertain the fact, and put an end to all
doubts, we watched, with great care and minuteness,
the proceedings of the long-bodied spider above men-
tioned, by producing a stream of air in the same man-
ner, as it perambulated the brim of the glass. It imme-
diately, as the other had done, attached a thread and
raised its body perpendicularly, like a tumbler standing
on his hands with his head downwards ; but we looked
in vain for this thread bending, as we had at first sup-
posed, and going off double. Instead of this it remained
tight, while another thread, or what appeared to be so,
streamed off from the spinners, similar to smoke issuing
through a pin-hole, sometimes in a line, and sometimes
at a considerable angle, with the first, according to the
current of the air, — the first thread, extended from the
glass to the spinnerets, remaining all the while tight
drawn in a right line. It further appeared to us, that
the first thread proceeded from the pair of spinnerets
nearest the head, while the floating thread came from
the outer pair, — though it is possible in such minute ob-
jects we may have been deceived. That the first was
continuous with the second, without any perceptible
joining, we ascertained in numerous instances, by catch-
ing the floating line and pulling it tight, in which case
the spider glides along without attaching another line to

'' L'un des bouts de ces premiers fils, afin que le vent

ou un courant d'air pousse laufie extiemite de lun d eux
au de la de robstacle." — Diet. Classique d'Hist. Nat., vol. i.
p. 510.

98 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

the glass ; but if she have to coil up the floating line to
tighten it, as usually happens, she gathers it into a
packet and glues the two ends tight together. Her
body, while the floating line streamed out, remained quite
motionless, but we distinctly saw the spinnerets not only
projected, as is always done when a spider spins, but
moved in the same w ay as an infant moves its lips when
sucking. We cannot doubt, therefore, that this motion
is intended to emit (if eject or project be deemed too
strong words) the liquid material of the thread ; at the
same time, we are quite certain that it cannot throw out
a single inch of thread without the aid of a current of
air. A long-bodied spider will thus throw out in suc-
cession as many threads ijs we please, by simply blowing
towards it ; but not one where there is no current, as
under a bell-glass, where it may be kept till it die,
without being able to construct a bridge over water of
an inch long. We never observed more than one float-
ing thread produced at the same time ; though other
observers mention several.

The probable commencement, we think, of the floating
line, is by the emission of little globules of the glu-
tinous material to the points of the spinnerules — perhaps
it may be dropped from them, if not ejected, and the
globules being carried off by the current of air, drawn
out into a thread. But w^e give this as only a conjec-
ture, for ^^■e could not bring a glass of suflacient power
to bear upon the spinnerules at the commencement of the
floating line.

In subsequent experiments we found, that it was not
indispensable for the spider to rest upon a solid body
when producing a line, as she can do so while she is sus-
pended in the air by another line. When the current of
air also is strong, she will sometimes commit herself to
it by swinging from the end of the line. We have even
remarked this when there was scarcely a breath of air.

We tried another experiment. We pressed pretty
firmly upon the base of the spinnerets, so as not to injure
the spider, blowing obliquely over them ; but no floating
line appeared. We then touched them with a pencil

SPIDEES. 99

and drew out several lines an inch or two in length, upon
which we blew in order to extend them, but in this also
we were unsuccessful, as they did not lengthen more
than a quarter of an inch. We next traced out the re-
servoirs of a garden-spider {Epeira diadema), and im-
mediately taking a drop of the matter from one of them
on the point of a fine needle, we directed upon it a strong
current ©f air, and succeeded in blowing out a thick
yellow line, as we might have done with gum-water, of
about an inch and a half long.

When we observed our long-bodied spider eager to
throw a line by raising up its body, we brought within
three inches of its spinnerets an excited stick of sealing-
wax, of which it took no notice, nor did any thread
extend to it, not even when brought almost to touch the
spinnerets. We had the same want of success with an
excited glass rod ; and indeed we had not anticipated any
other result, as we have never observed that these either
attract or repel the floating threads, as Mr. Murray has
seen them do ; nor have we ever seen the end of a float-
ing thread separated into its component threadlets and
diverging like a brush, as he and Mr. Bowman describe.
It may be proper to mention that Mr. Murray, in con-
formity with his theory, explains the shooting of lines in
a current of air by the electric state produced by motion
in consequence of the mutual friction of the gaseous par-
ticles. But this view of the matter does not seem to
affect our statements.

Nests, Webs, axd Nets of Spiders.

The neatest, though the smallest spider's nest which
we have seen, was constructed in the chink of a garden
post, which we had cut out the previous summer in
getting at the cells of a carpenter-bee. The architect
was one of the larger hunting-spiders, erroneously said
by some naturalists to be incapable of spinning. The
nest in question was about two inches high, composed
of a very close satin-like texture. There were two pa-
rallel chambers placed perpendicularly, in which posi-

100 IXSECT ARCHITECTURE.

tion also the inhabitant reposed there during the day,
going, as we presume, only abroad to prey during the
night. But the most remarkable circumstance was, that
the openings (two above and two below) were so elastic,
that they shut almost as closely as the boat cocoon of the
Toririx Chlorava (see page 71). We observed this
spider for several months, but at last it disappeared, and
we took the nest out, under the notion that Jt might
contain eggs ; but we found none, and therefore con-
clude that it was only used as a day retreat. (J. R.)
The account which Evelyn has given of these hunting-
spiders is so interesting, that we must transcribe it.

" Of all sorts of insects," says he, " there is none has
afforded me more divertisement than the venatores
(hunters), which are a sort of liqn (wolves) that have
their dens in rugged walls and crevices of our houses ; a
small brown and delicately-spotted kind of spiders,
whose hinder legs are longer than the rest. Such I did
I'requently observe at Rome, which, espying a fly at
three or four yards distance, upon the balcony where I
stood, would not make directly to her, but crawl under
the rail, till being arrived to the antipodes, it would steal
up, seldom missing its aim ; but if it chanced to want
anything of being perfectly opposite, would, at first peep,
immediately slide down again, — till, taking better notice,
it would come the next time exactly upon the fly's back :
but if this happened not to be within a competent leap,
then would this insect move so softly, as the very shadow
of the gnomon seemed not to be more imperceptible,
unless the fly moved ; and then would the spider move
also in the same proportion, keeping that just time with
her motion, as if the same soul had animated both these
little bodies ; and whether it were forwards, backwards,
or to either side, without at all turning her body, like a
well-managed horse : but if the capricious fly took wing
and pitched upon another place behind our huntress,
then would the spider whirl its body so nimbly about,
as nothing could be imagined more swift : by which
means she always kept the head towards her prey,
though, to appearance, as innnoveable as if it had been

SPIDERS. 101

a nail driven into the wood, till by that indiscernible pro-
gress (being arrived within the sphere of her reach)
she made a fatal leap, swift as lightning, upon the fly,
catching him in the pole, where she never quitted hold
till her belly was full, and then carried the remainder
home."

One feels a little sceptical, however, when he adds,
'' I have beheld them instructing their young ones how
to hunt, which they would sometimes discipline for not
well observing ; but when any of the old ones did (as
sometimes) miss a leap, they would run out of the field
and hide themselves in their crannies, as ashamed, and
haply not to be seen abroad for four or five hours after ;
for so long have I watched the nature of this strange
insect, the contemplation of whose so wonderful sagacity
and address has amazed me ; nor do I find in any chase
whatsoever more cunning and stratagem observed. I
have found some of these spiders in my garden, when
the weather, towards spring, is very hot, but they are
nothing so eager in hunting as in Italy." *

We have only to add to this lively narrative, that the
hunting-spider, when he leaps, takes good care to pro-
vide against accidental falls by always swinging himself
from a good strong cable of silk, as Swammerdam cor-
rectly states,! and which anybody may verify, as one of
the small hunters (Salticus sceniciis), known by having
its back striped with black and white like a zebra, is
ver}^ common in Britain.

Mr. Weston, the editor of ' Bloomfield's Remains,'
falls into a very singular mistake about hunting-spiders,
imagining them to be web-weaving ones which have ex-
hausted their materials, and which are therefore com-
pelled to hunt. In proof of this he gives an instance
which fell under his own observation ! J

As a contrast to the little elastic satin nest of the
hunter, we may mention the largest with which we are

* Evelyn's Travels in Italy.

f Book of Niitiue, ])art i. }). 24.

X Bloomfield's Remains, vol. ii. p. 61, fiote.

102 IKSECT ARCHITECTURE.

acquainted, — that of the labyrinthic spider {Agelena
lahynnthica^ Walckexaer). Our readers must often
have seen this nest spread out like a broad sheet in
hedges, furze, and other low bushes, and sometimes on
the ground. The middle of this sheet, which is of a
close texture, is swung like a sailor's hammock, by silken
ropes extended all around to the higher branches ; but
the whole curves upwards and backwards, sloping down
to a long funnel-shaped gallery which is nearly horizontal
at the entrance, but soon winds obliquely till it becomes
quite perpendicular. This curved gallery is about a
quarter of an inch in diameter, is much more closely
woven than the sheet part of the web, and sometimes
descends into a hole in the ground, though oftener into
a group of crowded twigs, or a tuft of grass. Here the
spider dwells secure, frequently resting with her legs
extended from the entrance of the gallery, ready to
spring out upon whatever insect ladiy fall into her sheet
net. She herself can only be caught by getting behind
her and forcing her out into the web ; but though we
have often endeavoured to make her construct a nest
under our eye, we have been as unsuccessful as in similar
experiments with the common house spider (^Aranea
domestica). (J. R.)

The house spider's proceedings were long ago de-
scribed by Romberg, and the account has been copied,
as usual, by almost every subsequent writer. Goldsmith
has, indeed, given some strange mis-statements from his
own observations, and Bingley has added the original
remark, that, after fixing its first thread, creeping along
the wall, and joining it as it proceeds, it " darts itself to
the opposite side, where the other end is to be fas-
tened ! " * Romberg's spider took the more circuitous
route of travelling to the opposite wall, carrying in one
of the claws the end of the thread previously fixed, lest
it should stick in the wrong place. This we believe to
be the correct statement, for as the web is always hori-
zontal, it would seldom answer to commit a floating

* Animal Biography, iii. 470-1.

SPIDEES. 103

thread to the wind, as is done by other species. Hom-
berg's spider, after stretching as many lines by way of
tvarp as it deemed sufficient between the two walls of
the corner which it had chosen, proceeded to cross this
in the way our weavers do in adding the woof\ with this
difference, that the spider's threads were only laid on,
and not interlaced.* The domestic spiders, however,
in these modern daj'-s, must have forgot this mode of
weaving, for none of their webs will be found to be thus
regularly constructed ! ]

The geometric, or net-working spiders (^Tendeuses,
Latk.), are as well known in most districts as any of
the preceding ; almost every bush and tree in the gardens
and hedge-rows having one or more of their nets stretched
out in a vertical position between adjacent branches.
The common garden spider {Epeira diadem(i), and the
long-bodied spider {Tetragnatha extensa), are the best
known of this order.

The chief care of a spider of this sort is, to form a
cable of sufficient strength to bear the net she means to
hang upon it ; and, after throwing out a floating line as
above described, when it catches properly she doubles
and redoubles it with additional threads. On trying its
strength she is not contented with the test of pulling it
with her legs, but drops herself down several feet from
various i)oints of it, as we have often seen, swinging and
bobbing with the whole weight of her bodj-. She pro-
ceeds in a similar manner with the rest of the frame-
work of her wheel-shaped net ; and it may be remarked
that some of the ends of these lines are not simple, but
in form of a Y, giving her the additional security of two
attachments instead of one.

In constructing the body of the net, the most remark-
able circumstance is her using her limbs as a measure,
to regulate the distances of her radii or whecl-spokes,
and the circular meshes interweaved into them. These
are consequently always proportional to the size of the
spider. She often takes up her station in the centre,

* Mem. de I'Acad. des Sciences pour 1707, p. 339.

104

IXSECT ARCHITECTURE.

Geometric Net of Ejeira diadema.

but not always, though it is so said by inaccurate writers ;
for she as frequently lurks in a little chamber constructed
under a leaf or other shelter at the corner of her web,
ready to dart down upon whatever prey may be entan-
gled in her net. The centre of the net is said also to be
composed of more viscid materials than its suspensory
lines, — a circumstance alleged to be proved by the
former appearing under the microscope studded with
globules of gum.* Wo have not been able to verify
this distinction, having seen the suspensory lines as often
studded in this manner as those in the centre. (J. R.)

* Kirby and Spence, Intr. i. 4 19.

SPIDERS. 105

Mason-Spidehs.

A no less wonderful structure is composed by a sort of
spiders, natives of the tropics and the south of Europe,
which have been justly called mason-spiders by M.
Latreille. One of these (^Mygale niclidans, Walckx.),
found in the West Indies, "digs a hole in the earth
obliquely downwards, about three inches in length, and
one in diameter. This cavity she lines \nth a tough
thick web, which, when taken out, resembles a leathern
purse ; but what is most curious, this house has a door
with hinges, like the operculum of some sea-shells, and
herself and family, who tenant this nest, open and shut
the door whenever they pass and repass. This history
was told me," says Darwin, "and the nest, with its
door, shown me by the late Dr. Butt, of Bath, who was
some years physician in Jamaica."*

The nest of a mason-spider, similar to this, has been
obligingly put into our hands by Mr. Riddle, of Black-
heath. It came from the West Indies, and is probably
that of Latreille's clay-kneader (^Mygale cratiens), and
one of the smallest of the genus. We have since seen
a pair of these spiders in possession of Mr. William
Mello, of Blackheath. The nest is composed of very
hard argillaceous clay, deeply tinged with brown oxide
of iron. It is in form of a tube, about one inch in dia-
meter, between six and seven inches long, and slightly
bent towards the lower extremity — appearing to have
been mined into the clay rather than built. The inte-
rior of the tube is lined with a uniform tapestry of silken
web, of an orange- white colour, with a texture interme-
diate between India paper and very fine glove leather.
But the most wonderful part of this nest is its entrance,
which we look upon as the perfection of insect architec-
ture. A circular door, .about the size of a crown piece,
slightly concave on the outside and convex within, is
formed of more than a dozen layers of the same web which
lines the interior, closely laid upon one another, and

* Darwhi's Zoonomia, i. 253, Svo. ed.

VOL. II. F

106 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

shaped so that the inner layers are the broadest, the
outer being gradually less in diameter, except towards
the hinge, which is about an inch long ; and in conse-
quence of all the layers being united there, and pro-
longed into the tube, it becomes the thickest and strongest
part of the structure. The elasticity of the materials,
also, gives to this hinge the remarkable peculiarity of
acting like a spring, and shutting the door of the
nest spontaneously. It is, besides, made to fit so accu-
rately to the aperture, which is composed of similar con-
centric layers of web, that it is almost impossible to dis-
tinguish the joining by the most careful inspection. To
gratify curiosity, the door has been opened and shut
hundreds of times, without in the least destroying the
power of the spring. When the door is shut, it resem-
bles some of the lichens (Lecidea), or the leathery fungi,
such as Pohjporus versicolor (Michej:.i), or, nearer still,
the upper valve of a young oyster shell. The door of
the nest, the only part seen above ground, being of a
blackish-brown colour, it must be very ditficult to dis-
cover. (J. R.)

Another mason-spider {Mygale ctsmentaria, Latr.),
found in the south of France, usually selects for her nest
a place bare of grass, sloping in such a manner as to
carry off the water, and of a firm soil, without rocks or
small stones. She digs a gallery a foot or two in depth,
and of a diameter (equal throughout) sufficient to admit
of her easily passing. She lines this with a tapestry of
silk glued to the walls. The door, which is circular, is
constructed of many layers of earth kneaded, and bound
together with silk. Externally, it is flat and rough, cor-
responding to the earth around the entrance, for the pur-
jDOse, no doubt, of concealment : on the inside it is con-
vex, and tapestried thickly with a web of fine silk. The
threads of this door-tapestry are prolonged, and strongly
attached to the upper side of the entrance, forming an
excellent hinge, which, when pushed open by the spider,
shuts again by its own weight, without the aid of spring
hinges. When the spider is at home, and her door for-
cibly opened by an intruder, she pulls it strongly in-

SPIDERS.

107

Nest of the Mason-Spider.

A. The nestgjiut. B. The nest open. C. Tlie spider, Mygale ccemen-
taria. I). The eyes magnified. E, F. Parts of the foot and claw
magnified.

wards, and even when half-opened often snatches it out
of the hand ; but when she is foiled in this, she retreats
to the bottom of her den, as her last resource.*

Rossi ascertained that the female of an allied species
(^Mygale saiivogesii, Latr.), found in Corsica, lived in
one of these nests, with a numerous posterity. He de-
stroyed one of these doors to observe whether a new
one would be made, which it was : but it was fixed
immoveably, without a hinge ; the spider, no doubt, for-

* Mtm. Soc, d'Hist. Nat. de Paris, An. vii.

108 ISSECT ARCHITECTURE.

tifying herself in this manner till she thought she might
re-open it without danger.*

"The Rev. Revett Shepherd has often noticed, in
the fen ditches of Norfolk, a very large spider (the
species not yet determined) which actually forms a raft
for the purpose of obtaining its prey with more facility.
Keeping its station upon a ball of weeds about three
inches in diameter, probably held together by slight
silken cords, it is wafted along the surface of the
water upon this floating island, which it quits the mo-
ment it sees a drowning insect. The booty thus seized
it devours at leisure upon its raft, under which it retires
when alarmed by any danger."!- In the spring of 1830,
we found a spider on some reeds in the Croydon Canal,
which agreed in appearance with Mr. Shepherd's.

Among our native spiders there are several besides
this one, which, not contented with a web like the rest
of their congeners, take advantage of other materials to
construct cells where, " hushed in grim repose," they
*' expect their insect prey." The most simple of those
spider-cells is constructed by a longish-bodied spider
(^Aranea holosericea, Linn.), which is a little larger than
the com.mon hunting spider. It rolls up a leaf of the
lilac or poplar, precisely in the same manner as is done
by the leaf-rolling caterpillars, upon whose cells it some-
times seizes to save itself trouble, having fifst expelled,
or perhaps devoured, the rightful owner. The spider,
however, is not satisfied with the tapestry of the cater-
pillar, but always weaves a fresh set of her own, much
more close and substantial.

Another spider, common in woods and copses {Epeira
quadrata ?) weaves together a great number of leaves to
form a dwelling for herself, and in front of it she spreads
her toils for entrapping the unwary insects which stray
thither. These, as soon as caught, are dragged into her

'■'' Mem. Soc. d'Hist. Nat. de Paris, An. vii. p. 125, and
Latreille, Hist. Nat. Geuer. viii. p. 163.
f Kiiby and Spence, Intr. i. 425.

SPIDERS. 109

den, and stored up for a time of scarcity. Here also her
egrgs are deposited and hatched in safety. When the
cokl weather ajiproaches, and the leaves of her edifice
wither, she abandons it for the more secm'e shelter of a
hollow tree, where she soon dies ; but the continuation
of the species depends upon eggs, deposited in the nest
before winter, and remaining to be hatched with the
warmth of the ensuing summer.

The spider's den of united leaves, however, which has
just been described, is not always useless when withered
and deserted ; for the dormouse usually selects it as a
ready-made roof for its nest of dried grass. That those
old spiders' dens are not accidentally chosen by the mouse,
appears from the fact, that out of about a dozen mouse-
nests of this sort found during winter in a copse between
Lewisham and Bromley, Kent, every second or third one
was furnished with such a roof. (J. R.)

Diving Water-Spider.

Though spiders require atmospheric air for respiration,
yet one species well known to naturalists is aquatic in
its habits, and lives not only upon the surface but below
the surface of the water, contriving to carry down with
it a sufficiency of air for the support of life during a
considerable period of time. Its subaqueous nest is in
fact a sort of diving-bell, and constitutes a secure and
most ingenious habitation. This spider does not like
stagnant water, but prefers slow running streams, canals,
and ditches, where she may often be seen, in the vici-
nity of London and elsewhere, living in her diving-bell,
which shines through the water like a little globe of
silver : her singular economy was first, we believe, de-
scribed by Clerck,* L. M. de Lignac,t and De Geer.

'' The shining appearance," says Clerck, " proceeds
either from an inflated globule surrounding the abdomen,
or from the space between the body and the water. The

* Aranei Suecici, Stockholm, 1757.

f Mem. des Aiaign. Aquat., 12mo. Paris, 1799.

110 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

spider, when wishing to inhale the air, rises to the sur-
face, with its body still submersed, and only the part
containing the spinneret rising just to the surface, when
it briskly opens and moves its ibur teats. A thick coat
of hair keeps the water from approaching or wetting the
abdomen. It comes up for air about four times an hour
or oftener, though I have good reason to suppose it can
continue without it for several days together.

"I found in the middle of May one male and ten.
females, which I put into a glass filled with water, where
they lived together very quietly for eight days. I put
some duck- weed {Lemna^ into the glass to afford them
shelter, and the females began to stretch diagonal threads
in a confused manner from it to the sides of the glass
about half way down. Each of the females afterwards
fixed a close bag to the edge of the glass, from which
the water was expelled by the air from the spinneret,
and thus a cell was formed capable of containing the
whole animal. Here they remained quietly, with their
abdomens in their cells, and their bodies still plunged in
the water ; and in a short time brimston-coloured bags
of eggs appeared in each cell, filling it about a fourth
part. On the 7th of July several young ones swam out
from one of the bags. All this time the old ones had
nothing to eat, and yet they never attacked one another
as other spiders would have been apt to do."*

*' These spiders," says De Geer, "spin in the water
a cell of strong, closely woven, white silk in the form
of half the shell of a pigeon's egg, or like a diving-bell.
This is sometimes left partly above water, but at others
is entirely submersed, and is always attached to the ob-
jects near it by a great number of irregular threads. It
is closed all round, but has a large opening below, which,
however, I found closed on the loth of December, and
the spider living quietly within, with her head down-
wards. I made a rent in this cell, and expelled the air,
upon which the spider came out ; yet though she ap-
peared to have been laid up for three months in her

* Cleick, Aranei Suecici, cap. viii.

SPIDERS.

Ill

winter quarters, she greedily seized upon an insect and
sucked it. I also found that the male as well as the
female constructs a similar subaqueous cell, and during
summer no less than in winter."* We have recently
kept one of these spiders for several months in a glass of
water, where it built a cell half under water, in which it

laid its eggs.

Cleanliness of Spidebs.

When we look at the viscid material with which
spiders construct their lines and webs, and at the rough,
hairy covering (with a few exceptions) of their bodies,
we might conclude, that they would be always stuck
over with fragments of the minute fibres which thoy
produce. This, indeed, must often happen, did they
not take careful precautions to avoid it ; for we have
observed that they seldom, if ever, leave a thread to float
at random, except when they wish to form a bridge.
When a spider drops along a line, for instance, in order
to ascertain the strength of her web, or the nature of the
place below her, she invariably, when she re-ascends,
coils it up into a little ball, and throws it away. Her

'J'riple-clawed foot of a Spider, magnified.

claws are admirably adapted for this purpose, as well as
for walking along the lines, as may be readily seen by a
magnifying glass.

There are three claws, one of which acts as a thumb,

* De Geer, jMem. des Insectes, vii. 312.

112 IXSECT ARCHITECTURE.

the others being toothed like a comb, for gliding along
the lines. This structure, however, unfits it to walk, as
flies can do, upon any upright polished surface like
glass ; although the contrary* is erroneously asserted by
the Abbe de la Pluche. Before she can do so, she is
obliged to construct a ladder of ropes, as Mr. Blackwall
remarks,! by elevating her spinneret as high as she can,
and laying down a step upon which she stands to form a
second ; and so on, as any one may try by placing a
spider at the bottom of a very clean wine glass.

The hairs of the legs, however, are always catching
bits of web and particles of dust ; but these are not
suffered to remain long. Most people may have re-
marked that the house-fly is ever and anon brushing its
feet upon one another to rub off the dust, though we
have not seen it remarked in authors that spiders are
equally assiduous in keeping themselves clean. They
have, besides, a very efficient instrument in their man-
dibles or jaws, which, like their claws, are furnished with
teeth ; and a spider which appears to a careless observer
as resting idly, in nine cases out of ten will be found
slowly combing her legs with her mandibles, beginning
as high as possible on the thigh, and passing down to
the claws. The flue which she thus combs off is regu-
larly tossed away.

With respect to the house-spider {A. domestica), we
are told in books, that " she from time to time clears
away the dust from her web, and sweeps the whole by
giving it a shake with her paw, so nicely proportioning
the force of her blow, that she never breaks any thing."$
That spiders may be seen shaking their webs in this
manner, we readily admit ; though it is not, we imagine,
to clear them of dust, but to ascertain whether they are
sufficiently sound and strong.

We recently witnessed a more laborious process of
cleaning a web than merely shaking it. On coming
down the Maine by the steam-boat from Frankfort, in

* Spectacle de la Nature, i. 58. f Linn. Trans, vol. xv.
X Spectacle de la Nature, i. p. 61.

SPIDERS. 113

August 1829, we observed the geometric-net of a conic-
spider (Epeira conica, Walck.) on the framework of
the deck, and as it was covered with flakes of soot from
the smoke of the engine, we were surprised to see a
spider at work on it ; for, in order to be useful, this sort
of net must be clean. Upon observing it a little closely,
however, w^e perceived that she was not constructing a
net, but dressing up an old one ; though not, we must
think, to save trouble, so much as an expenditure of
material. Some of the lines she dexterously stripped of
the flakes of soot adhering to them ; but in the greater
number, finding that she could not get them sufficiently
clean, she broke them quite off', bundled them up, and
tossed them over. We counted five of these packets of
rubbish which she thus threw away, though there must
have been many more, as it was some time before we
discovered the manoeuvre, the packets being so small as
not to be readily perceived, except when placed between
the eye and the light. When she had cleared off" all
the sooted lines, she began to replace them in the usual
way ; but the arrival of the l)oat at Mentz put an end to
our observations. (J. R.) Bloomfield, the poet, having
observed the disappearance of these bits of ravelled web,
imagined that the spider swallowed them ; and even
says that he observed a garden spider moisten the
pellets before swallowing them l* Dr. Lister, as we
have already seen, thought the spider retracted the
threads within the abdomen.

* Remains, ii. 62-5. It is a remarkable fact, as recorded
from personal observation by Mr. Bell (British Reptiles), that
the toad swallows the cuticle detached from its body during
the moult which it undergoes.

114

IXSECT ARCHITECTURE.

CHAPTEH XIX.

Structures of Gall- Flies and Aphides.

Many of the processes which we have detailed bear
some resemblance to our own operations of" building with
materials cemented together ; but we shall now turn
our attention to a class of insect-architects, who cannot,
so far as we know, be matched in prospective skill by
any of the higher orders of animals. We refer to the
numerous family which have received the name of gall-
flies,— a family which, as yet, is very imperfectly under-
stood, their economy being no less difficult to trace, than
their species is to arrange in the established systems of
classification ; though the latter has been recently much
improved by Mr. Westwood.

Small berry-shaped galls of the oak leaf, produced by Cynips
quercusfuliif

GALL-FLIES. 116

One of the most simple and very common instances
of the nests constructed by gall-insects, may be found in
abundance during- the summer, on the leaves of the
rose-tree, the oak, the poplar, the willow (Salix vimi-
nalis}, and many other trees, in the globular form of a
berry, about the size of a currant, and usually of a
green colour, tinged with red, like a ripe Alban or Bal-
timore apple.

When this pseudo-apple in miniature is cut into, it is
found to be fresh, firm, juicy, and hollow in the centre,
where there is either an egg or a grub safely lodged, and
protected from all ordinary accidents. Within this
hollow ball the egg is hatched, and the grub feeds
securely on its substance, till it prepares for its winter
sleep, before changing into a gall-fly (Cy nips') in the
ensuing summer. There is a mystery as to the manner
in which this gall-fly contrives to produce the hollow
miniature-apples, each enclosing one of her eggs ; and
the doubts attendant upon the subject cannot, so far as
our present knowledge extends, be solved, except by
plausible conjecture. Our earlier naturalists were of
opinion that it was the grub which produced the
galls, by eating, when newly hatched, through the
cuticle of the leaf, and remaining till the juices flowing
from the wound enveloped it, and acquired consistence
by exposure to the air. This opinion, however, plausible
as it appeared to be, was at once disproved by finding
nnhatched eggs on opening the galls.

There can be no doubt, indeed, that the mother
gall-fly makes a hole in the plant for the purpose of
depositing her eggs. She is furnished with an admirable
ovipositor for that express purpose, and Swammerdam
actually saw a gall-fly thus depositing her eggs, and we
have recently witnessed the same in several instances.
In some of these insects the ovipositor is conspicuously
long, even when the insect is at rest ; but in others, not
above a line or two of it is visible, till the belly of the
insect be gently pressed. When this is done to the fly
that produces the currant-gall of the oak, the ovipositor
may be seen issuing from a sheath in form of a small

116 IXSECT ARCHITECTUKE.

curved needle, of a chesnut-brown colour, and of a
homy substance, and three times as long as it at first
appeared.

Ovipositor of gall-fly, greatly magniOed*

What is most remarkable in this ovipositor is, that it
is much longer than the whole body of the insect, in
whose belly it is lodged in a sheath, and, from its horny
nature, it cannot be either shortened or lengthened. It
is on this account that it is bent into the same curve as
the body of the insect. The mechanism by which this
is effected is similar to that of the tongue of the wood-
peckers {Picidcs}, which, though rather short, can be
darted out far beyond the beak, by means of a forked
bone at the root of the tongue, which is thin and rolled
up like the spring of a watch. The base of the ovipo-
sitor of the gall-fly is, in a similar way, placed near the
anus, runs along the curvature of the back, makes a turn
at the breast, and then, following the curve of the
belly, api:>ears again near where it originates. We copy
from R'-aumur his accurate sketch of this remarkable
structure.

With this instrument the mother gall-fly pierces the
part of a plant which she selects, and, according to our
older naturalists, " ejects into the cavity a drop of her
corroding liquor, and immediately lays an e^g or more
there ; the circulation of the sap being thus interrupted,
and thrown, by the poison, into a fermentation that
bums the contiguous parts and changes the natural

GALL-FLIES.

117

Gall-fly, and mechanism of ovipositor, greatly magnified.

colour. The sap, turned from its proper channel, cx-
travasates and flows round the eggs, ^hile its sui-lace is
dried by the external air, and hardens into a vaulted
form."* Kirby and Spence tell us, that the parent fly
introduces her egg *' into a puncture made by her curious
spiral sting, and in a few hours it becomes surrounded
with a fleshy chamber. '"f M. Virey says, the gall
tubercle is produced by irritation, in the same way as an
inflamed tumor in an animal body, by the swelling of
the ceHular tissue and the flow of liquid matter, which
changes the organization, and alters the natural external
form. J This seems to be the received doctrine at pre-
sent in France, §

Sprcngel, speaking of the rose-willow, says, the insect
in spring deposits its eggs in the leaf buds. " The new
stimulus attracts the sap, — the type of the part becomes

* Spectacle de la Nature, i. 119.

t Iiitrod. ii. 449.

^ Hist, des Moeurs et de rinstlnct, vol. ii.

■6 Entoinologie par R. A. E. page 242. Paris, 1826.

118 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

changed, and from the prevailing acidity of the animal
juice, it happens, that in the rose and stock-shaped leaves
which are pushed out, a red instead of a green colour is
evolved."*

Without pretending positively to state facts which are,
perhaps, beyond human penetration, we may view the
process in a rather different light. (J. R.) Following
the analogy of what is knoum to occur in the case of the
saw-flies (see page 150), after the gall-fly has made a
puncture and pushed her egg into the hole, we may
suppose that she covers it over with some adhesive gluten
or gum, or the egg itself, as is usual among moths, &c;,
may be coated over with such a gluten. In either of
these two cases, the gluten will prevent the sap that
flows through the puncture from being scattered over
the leaf and wasted ; and the sap, being thus confined
to the space occupied by the eggs, will expand and force
outwards the pellicle of gluten that confines it, till be-
coming thickened by evaporation and exposure to the
air, it at length shuts up the puncture, stops the further
escape of the sap, and the process is completed. This
explanation will completely account for the globular form
of the galls alluded to ; that is, supposing the egg of the
gall-fly to be globular, and covered or coated with a
pellicle of gluten of uniform thickness, and consequently
0])posing uniform resistance, or rather uniform expan-
sibility, to the sap pressing from within. It will also
account for the remarkable uniformity in the size of the
gall apples ; for the punctures and the eggs being uniform
in size, and the gluten, by supposition, uniform in quan-
tity, no more than the same quantity of sap can escape
in such circumstances.

But though this explanation appears to be plausible, it
is confessedly conjectural ; for though Swammerdam de-
tected a gall-fly in the act of depositing her eggs, he did
not attend to this circumstance ; and in the instances
which we have observed, some unlucky accident always
prevented us from following up our observations. The

* Elements of the Philosophy of Plants, Eng. Trans., p. 285.

GALL-rLlES.

119

indefatigable Reaumur, on one occasion, thought he
would make sure of tracing the steps of the process in
the case of the gall-fly which produces the substance
called hedeguar on the wild rose-tree, and to which we
shall presently advert. His plan was to enclose in a
box, in which a brood of flies had just been produced
from a bedeguar, a living branch from a wild rose-tree ;
but, to his great disappointment, no eggs were laid, and
no bedeguar formed. Upon further investigation, he dis-
covered that the brood of flies produced from the bede-
guar were not the genuine bedeguar insects at ail, but
one of the parasite ichneumons (Callimone Bedeguaris,
Stephens), which had surreptitiously deposited their
eggs there, in order to supply their young with the
bedeguar grubs, all of which they appeared to have

Bedeguar Gall of tlie Rose, produced by Cynips Ros<e.

120 IXSECT ARCHITECTUEE.

devoured. It may prove interesting to look into the
remarkable structure of the bedeg-uar itself, which is very
ditferent from the globular galls above described.

Oae of the bristles of the Bedeguur of the rose ma^^ified.

The gall-fly of the willow (^Cynipsviminalis) deposits,
as we have just seen, only a single e^^ on one spot;
but the bedeguar insect lays a large cluster of eggs on
the extremity of a growing branch of the wild rose-tree,
making, probably, a proportionate number of punctures
to procure materials for the future habitation of her young-
progeny. As in the former case, also, each of these
eggs becomes (as we may suppose) surrounded with the
sap of the rose, enclosed in a pellicle of gluten. The
gluten, however, of the bedeguar insect is not, it would
appear, sufficiently tenacious to confine the flowing sap
within the dimensions of any of the little clustered globes
containing the eggs, for it oozes out from numerous
cracks or pores in the pellicle ; which cracks or pores,
however, are not large enough to admit a human hair.
But this, so far from being a defect in the glutinous
pellicle of the bedeguar fly, is, as we shall presently see,
of great utility. The sap which issues from each of these
pores, instead of being evaporated and lost, shoots out
into a reddish-coloured, fibrous bristle.

It is about half an inch long, and, from the natural
tendency of the sap of the rose-tree to form prickles,
these are all over studded with weak pricklets. The
bedeguar, accordingly, when fully formed, has some re-
semblance, at a little distance, to a tuft of reddish-brown
hair or moss stuck upon the branch. Sometimes this
tuft is as large as a small apple, and of a rounded but
irregular shape ; at other times it is smaller, and in one

GALL-rHES.

121

instance mentioned by Reaumur, only a single egg had
been laid on a rose leaf, and, consequently, only one
tuft was produced. Each member of the congeries is
furnished with its own tuft of bristles, arising from the
little hollow globe in which the egg or the grub is
lodged.

The prospective wisdom of this curious structure is
admirable. The bedeguar grubs live in their cells
through the winter, and as their domicile is usually on
one of the highest branches, it must be exposed to every
severity of the weather. But the close, non-conducting,
warm, mossy collection of bristles, with which it is sur-
rounded, forms for the soft, tender grubs a snug protec-
tion against the winter's cold, till, through the influence
of the warmth of the succeeding summer, they undergo
their final change into the winged state ; preparatory to

Artichoke Gall of the Oak-bud, with Gall-fly (Ci/nips qucrcus gemma),
natural size, and its ovipositor (a) magnified.

122 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

which they eat their way with their sharp mandibles
through the walls of their little cells, which are now so
hard as to be cut with difficulty by a knife. (J. R.)

Another structure, similar in principle, though different
in ap]3earance, is very common upon oak-trees, the ter-
mination of a branch being selected as best suited for the
purpose. This structure is rather larger than a filbert,
and is composed of concentric leaves diverging from the
base, and expanding upwards, somewhat like an arti-
choke. Whether this leafy structure is caused by a
superinduced disease, as the French think, or by the
form of the pores in the pellicle of gluten surrounding
the eggs, or rather by the tendency of the exuding sap
of the oak to form leaves, has not been ascertained ; but
that it is intended, as in the case of the bedeguar, to afford
an efficient protection against the weather to the included
eggs or grubs, there can be no doubt.

From the very nature of the process of forming
willow-galls, bedeguar, and the artichoke of the oak,
whatever theory be adopted, it will be obvious that their
growth must be rapid ; for the thickening of the exuded
sap, which is quickly effected by evaporation, will soon
obstruct and finally close the orifice of the puncture made
by the parent insect. It is accordingly asserted by
Reaumur and other observers, that all the species of
galls soon reach their full growth.

A very minute reddish-coloured grub feeds upon
dyer's broom (^Genista), producing a sort of gall, fre-
quently globular, but always studded with bristles, arising
from the amorphous leaves. The stem of the shrub
passes through this ball, which is composed of a great
number of leaves, shorter and broader than natural, and
each rolled into the form of a horn, the point of which
ends in a bristle. In the interior we find a thick fleshy
substance, serving to sustain the leaves, and also for the
nourishment of the grubs, some of which are witiiin and
some between the leaves. They are in prodigious
numbers, — hundreds being assembled in the same gall,
and so minute as scarcely to be perceived without the
aid of a magnifying glass. The bud of the plant attacked

GALL-FLIES.

123

by those grubs, instead of forming a shoot, pushes out
nothing but leaves, and these are all rolled and turned
round the stem. Some shrubs have several of these
galls, which are of various sizes, from that of a filbert
to that of a walnut.

Leafy' Gall of Dyer's Broom, produced by Cynips genisUe ?
A. gall, uatural size ; B. a lealet maguitied.

A similar but still more beautiful production is found
upon one of the commonest of our indigenous willows
(Salix purpurea), which takes the name of rose-willow,
more probable from this circumstance than from the red
colour of its twigs. The older botanists, not being
aware of the cause of such excrescences, considered the
plants so atfected as distinct species ; and old Gerard,
accordingly, figures and describes the rose-willow as
" not only making a gallant show, but also yielding a
most cooling air in the heat of summer, being set up in
houses for decking the same." The production in
question, however, is nothing more than the efi'ect pro-
duced by a species of gall-fly (^Cynips salicis) depositing

124 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

its eggs in the terminal shoot of a twig, and, like the
bedeguar and the oak artichoke, causing leaves to spring
out, of a shape totally different from the other leaves of
the tree, and aiTanged very much like the petals of a
rose. Decandolle says it is found chiefly on the Salije
Jieliv, S. alba, and S. riparia.*

A production very like that of the rose-willow may
be commonly met with on the young shoots of the
hawthorn, the growth of the shoot affected being stopped,
and a crowded bunch of leaves formed at the termination.
These leaves, beside being smaller than natural, are
studded with short bristly prickles, from the sap (we
may suppose) of the hawthorn being prevented from
rising into a fresh shoot, and thrown out of its usual
course in the formation of the arms. These bristles
appear indiscriminately on both sides of the leaves, some
of which are bent inwards, while others diverge in their
natural manner.

This is not caused by the egg or grub of a true
gall-fly, but by the small white tapering grub of some
dipterous insect, of which we have not ascertained the
species, but which is, probably, a cecidomyia. Each
terminal shoot is inhabited by a number of these — not
lodged in cells, however, but burrowing indiscriminately
among the half-withered brown leaves which occupy the
centre of the production. (J. R.)

A more remarkable species of gall than any of the
above we discovered in June, 1829, on the twig of an
oak in the grounds of Mr. Perkins, at Lee, in Kent.
When we first saw it, we imagined that the twig was
beset with some species of the lanigerous aphides, similar
to what is vulgarly called the American or white blight
(^aphis lanata) ; but on closer examination we discarded
this notion. The twig was indeed thickly beset with
a white downy, or rather woolly, substance around the
stem at the origin of the leaves, which did not appear to
be affected in their growth, being well formed, healthy,
and luxuriant. We could not doubt that the woolly

* Flore Fran^. Disc. Preliminaiie.

GALL-FLIES. 125

substance was caused by some insect ; but though we cut
out a portion of it, we could not detect any egg or grub,
and wc tlierefore threw the branch into a drawer, in-
tending to keep it as a specimen, whose history we
might complete at some subsequent period.

A few weeks afterwards, on opening this drawer, we
were surprised to see a brood of several dozens of a
species of gall-fly [Ct/nips), similar in form and size to
that whose eggs cause the bedeguar of the rose, and
differing only in being of a lighter colour, tending to a
yellowish brown. We have since met with a figure and
description of this gall in Swammerdam. We may
remark that the above is not the first instance m hich has
occurred in our researches, of gall insects outliving the
V, ithering of the branch or leaf from which they obtain
their nourishment.

The woolly substance on the branch of the oak which
we have described was similarly constituted with the
bedeguar of the rose, with this difference, that instead
of the individual cells being difiused irregularly through
the mass, they were all arranged at the off-goings of the

S. mi Gall of ilie Ilawihoni, produced by Cecidomyiaf drawa f:ora a
specimen.

126

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

"Woolly Gall of the Oak, less than the natural size, caused by a Cynips,
and drawn from a specimen.

leaf-stalks, each cell being surrounded with a covering of
the vegetable wool, which the stimulus of the parent
^?&j or its gluten, had caused to grow, and from each
cell a perfect fly had issued. We also remarked that
there were several small groups of individual cells, each
of which groups was contained in a species of calyx or
cup of leaf-scales, as occurs also in the well-known gall
called the oak-apple.

We were anxious to watch the proceedings of these
flies in the deposition of their eggs, and the subsequent
developments of the gall-growths ; and endeavoured
for that purpose to procure a small oak plant in a garden-
pot ; but we did not succeed in this : and though they
alighted on rose and sweet-briar trees, which we placed
in their way, we never observed that they deposited any
eggs upon them. In a week or two the whole brood
died, or disappeared. (J. R.)

GALL-FLIES.

127

There are some galls, formed on low-growing" plants,
which are covered with down, hair, or wool, though by-
no means so copiously as the one which we have just
described. Among the plants so affected are the
germander speedwell, wild thyme, ground-ivy, and
others to which we shall afterwards advert.

Oak-apple Galls, one being cut open to sliow the vessels running to
granules.

The well-known oak-apple is a very pretty example
of the galls formed by insects ; and this, when compared
with other galls which form on the oak, shows the re-
markable difference produced on the same plant by the
punctures of insects of different species. Tlie oak-apple
is commonly as large as a walnut or small apple, rounded,
but not quite spherical, the surface being irregularly-
depressed in various places. The skin is smooth, and
tinged with red and yellow, like a ripe apple ; and at
the base there is, in the earlier part of the summer, a
calyx or cup of five or six small brown scaly leaves ; but
these fall off as the season advances. If an oak-apple be
cut transversely, there is brought into view a number of
oval granules, each containing a grub ; and embedded in
a fruit-looking fleshy substance, having fibres running
through it. As these fibres, however, run in the direc-

128 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

tion of the stem, they are best exhibited by a vertical
section of the gall ; and this also shows the remarkable
peculiarity of each fibre terminating in one of the
granules, like a foot-stalk, or rather like a vessel for
carrying nourishment. Reaumur, indeed, is of opinion
that these fibres are the diverted nervures of the leaves,
which would have sprung from the bud in which the
gall-fly had inserted her eggs, and actually do carry sap-
vessels throughout the substance of the g%\\.

Reaumur says the perfect insects {Cynips quercus)
issued from his galls in June and the beginning of July,
and were of a reddish-amber colour. We have procured
insects, agreeing with Reaumur's description, from galls
formed on the bark or wood of the oak, at the line of
junction between the root and the stem. These galls
are precisely similar in structure to the oak-apple, and
are probably formed at a season when the fly perceives,
instinctively, that the buds of the young branches are
unfit for the purpose of nidification.

Root Galls of tlie Oak, produced by Cynips quercus inferus ?
drawn Irotn a specimen.

There is another oak-gall, differing little in size and
appearance from the oak-apple, but which is very difi^er-
ent in structure, as, instead of giving, protection and
nourishment to a number of grubs, it is only inhabited
by one. This sort of gall, besides, is hard and woody
on the outside, resembling a little wooden ball of a yel-
lowish colour, but internally of a soft, spongy texture.
The latter substance, however, incloses a small hard
gall, which is the immediate residence of the included
insect. Galls of this description are often found in
clusters of from two to seven, near the extremity of a

GALL-FLIES.

129

branch, not incorporated, however, but distinctly se-
parate.

We have obtained a fly very similar to this from a
very common gall, w^hich is formed on the branches of
the willow. Like the one-celled galls just described,
this is of a hard, ligneous structure, and forms an in-e-
gular protuberance, sometimes at the extremity, and
sometimes on the body, of a branch. But instead of one,
this has a considerable number of cells, irregularly dis-
tributed through its substance. The structure is some-
what spongy, but fibrous ; and externally the bark is
smoother than that of the branch upon which it ecrows.
(J. R.)

Woody Gall on a Willow branch, diawu fiom a specimen.

The currant-galls (as the French call them) of the oak
are exactly similar, when formed on the leaves, to those
which we have first described as produced on the leaves
of the willow and other trees. But the name of currant-
gall seems still more appropriate to an excrescence which
grows on the catkins of the oak, giving them very much
the appearance of a straggling bunch of currants or bird-
cherries. The galls resemble currants which have fallen
from the tree before being ripe. These galls do not
seem to differ from those formed on the leaves of the

VOL. II. o

130

INSECT ARCHITECTURE,

Currant Gall of the catkins of the Oak, produced by Cyntps
quercus pedunculi ?

oak ; and are probably the production of the same insect,
which selects the catkin in preference, by the same in-
stinct that the oak-apple gall-fly, as we have seen, some-
times deposits its eggs in the bark of the oak near the
root.

The gall of the oak, which forms an important dye-
stuff, and is used in making writing-ink, is also produced
by a Cijuips, and has been described in the ' Library of
Entertaining Knowledge' (Vegetable Substances, p. 16).
The employment of the Cynips pse?ies for ripening figs
is described in the same volume, p. 244.

Gall of a Hawthorn Weevil.

In May, 1829, we found on a hawthorn at Lee, in
Kent, the leaves at the extremity of a branch neatly
folded up in a bundle, but not quite so closely as is usual
in the case of leaf-rolling caterpillars. On opening
them, there was no caterpillar to be seen, the centre
being occupied with a roundish, brown-coloured, woody
substance, similar to some excrescences made by gall-

HAWTHOKN WEEVIL. 131

insects {Cynips). Had we been aware of its real nature,
we should have put it immediately under a glass or in a
box, till the contained insect had developed itself ; but
instead of this, we opened the ball, where we found a
small yellowish grub coiled up, and feeding on the exu-
ding juices of the tree. As we could not replace the
grub in its cell, part of the walls of which we had un-
fortunately broken, we put it in a small pasteboard box
with a fresh shoot of hawthorn, expecting that it might
construct a fresh cell. This, however, it was probably
incompetent to perform : it did not at least make the
attempt, and neither did it seem to feed on the fresh
branch, keeping in preference to the ruins of its former
cell. To our great surprise, although it was thus ex-
posed to the air, and deprived of a considerable portion
of its nourishment, both from the part of the cell having
been broken off, and from the juices of the branch having
been dried up, the insect went through its regular

Sail of the Hawthorn Weevil, drawn from specimen.
a. Opened to show the grub.

changes, and appeared in the form of a small greyish-
brown beetle of the weevil family. The most remark-
able circumstance in the case in question, was the a])pa-

132 LNSECT ARCHITECTURE.

rent inabilitj'^ of the grub to construct a fresh cell after
the fii'st was injured, — proving, we think, beyond a
doubt, that it is the puncture made by the parent insect
when the egg is deposited that causes the exudation and
subsequent concretion of the juices forming the gall.
These galls were very abundant during the summer of
1830. (J. R.)

A few other instances of beetles producing galls are
recorded by naturalists. Kirby and Spence have ascer-
tained, for example, that the bumps Ibrmed on the roots
of kedlock or charlock {Sinajyis arvensis) are inhabited
by the larvae of a weevil {Curculio contractus, Maksham ;
and Rhynchcenus assi?7iilis, Fabr.) ; and it may be rea-
sonably supjTOsed that either the same or similar insects
cause the clubbing of the roots of cabbages, and the
knob-like galls on turnijjs, called in some places the a?i-
hury. We have found them also infesting the roots of
the holyhock {Alcea rosea). They are evidently beetles
of an allied genus which form the woody galls sometimes
met with on the leaves of the guelder-rose {Viburnu7n),
the lime-tree {Tilia europcsa), and the beech {Fagus
sylvaticd).

There are also some two-winged flies which produce
woody galls on various plants, such as the thistle-fly
(^Tephritis cardui, Latr.). The grubs of this pretty fly
produce on the leaf-stalks of thistles an oblong woody
knob. On the common white brioiiy (^Bryonia dioica)
of our hedges may be found a very pretty fly of this
genus, of a yellowish brown colour, with pellucid wings,
waved much like those of the thistle-fly with yellowish
brown. This fly lays its eggs near a joint of the stem,
and the grubs live upon its substance. The joint swells
out into an oval form, furrowed in several places, and
the fly is subsequently disclosed. In its perfect state,
it feeds on the blossom of the briony. (J. R.) Flies of
another minute family, the gall-gnats (^Cecidomyics,
Latr.), pass the first stage of their existence in the
small globiflar cottony galls which abound on germander
speedwell (^Veronica cJiamcEdrys), wild thyme (^Thymus
serpylluvi), and ground-ivy (^Glechoma hederacea). The

GAIX-BEETLES. 133

latter is by no means uncommon, and may be readily
recognised.

Certain species of plant-lice {Aphides), whose com-
plete history Mould require a volume, produce excres-
cences upon plants which may with some propriety be
termed galls, or semi-galls. Some of these are without
any aperture, whilst others are in form of an inflated
vesicle, wi^^h a narrow opening on the under side of a
leaf, and expanding (for the most part irregularly) into
a rounded knob on its upper surface. The mountain-ash
{Pi/rus aucuparia) has its leaves and young shoots fre-
quently affected in this way, and sometimes exhibits
galls larger than a walnut or even than a man's fist ; at
other times they do not grow larger than a filbert. Upon
opening one of these, they are found to be filled with
the aphides sorbi. If taken at an early stage of their
growth, they are found open on the under side of the
leaf, and inhabited only by a single female aphis, preg-
nant with a numerous family of young. In a short time,
the aperture becomes closed, in consequence of the insect
making repeated punctures round its edge, from which
sap is exuded, and forms an additional portion of the
walls of the cell.

A Plant-Louse {Aphis), magnified.

In this early stage of its growth, however, the gall
does not, like the galls of the cynips, increase very
much in dimensions. It is after the increase of the in-
habitants by the young brood that it grows with consi-
derable rapidity ; for each additional insect, in order to

134 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

procure food, has to puncture the wall of the chamber,
and suck the juices, and from the punctures thus made
the sap exudes, and enlarges the walls. As those galls
are closed all round in the more advanced state, it does
not appear how the insects can ever effect an exit from
their imprisonment.

A much more common production, allied to the one
just described, may be found on the poplar in June and
July. Most of our readers may have observed, about
Midsummer, a small snow-white tuft of downy-looking
substance floating about on the wind, as if animated.
Those tufts of snow-M'hite down are never seen in num-
bers at the same time, but generally single, though some
dozens of them may be observed in the course of one
day. This singular object is a four-winged Ry {Erioso?7ui
popuU, Leach), whose body is thickly covered with
long down — a covering which seems to impede its flight,
and make it appear more like an inanimate substance
floating about on the wind, than impelled by the volition
of a living animal. This pretty fly feeds upon the fresh
juices of the black poplar, preferring that of the leaves
and leaf-stalks, which it punctures for this purpose with
its beak. It fixes itself with this design to a suitable
place upon the principal nervure of the leaf, or upon the
leaf-stalk, and remains in the same spot till the sap, ex-
uding through the punctures, and thickening by contact
with the air, surrounds it with a thick fleshy wall of
living vegetable substance, intermediate in texture be-
tween the wood and the leaf, being softer than the
former and harder than the latter. In this snug little
chamber, secure from the intrusion of lady-birds and the
grubs of aphidivorous flies (St/rp/ti), she brings forth
her numerous brood of young ones, who immediately
assist in enlarging the extent of their dwelling, by punc-
turing the walls. In one respect, however, the galls
thus formed differ from those of the mountain-ash just
described, — those of the poplar having always an opening
left into some part of the cell, and usually in that portion
of it which is elongated into an obtuse beak. From tliis
opening the young, when arrived at the winged state,

GALL-APHIDES.

135

make their exit, to form new colonies ; and, during their
migrations, attract the attention of the most incurious by
the singularity of their appearance. (J. R.)

G-ilU pvodaced on the leaves and leaf-stalks of the Poplar by Eriosoma
p.ipidi, with the various forms of the insects, winged, not winged, and
covered with wool, both of the natural size and magnified.

On the black poplar there may be found, later in the
season than the preceding, a gall of a very different form,
though, like the other, it is for the most part on the
ieaf-stalk. The latter sort of galls are of a spiral form ;
and though they are closed, they open upon slight pres-
sure, and appear to be formed of two laminee, twisted so
as to unite. It is at this opening that an aperture is
formed spontaneously for the exit of the insects, when

136 IJfSECT AECHITECTCRE.

arrived at a perfect state. In galls of this kind we find
aphides, but of a different species from the lanigerous
ones, which form the horn-shaped galls above described.

Leap-Rollixg Aphides.

It may not be improper to introduce here a brief
sketch of some other effects, of a somewhat similar kind,
produced on leaves by other species of the same family
(AphidcE). In all the instances of this kind which we
have examined, the form which the leaf takes serves as a
protection to the insects, both from the weather and from
depredators. That there. is design in it appears from
the circumstance of the aphides crowding into the em-
bowering vault which they have formed ; and we are not
quite certain whether they do not puncture certain parts
of the leaf for the very purpose of making it arch over
them ; at least, in many cases, such as that of the hop-fly
(^Aphis humidi), though the insects are in countless num-
bers, no arching of the leaves follows. The rose-plant
louse, again (Aphis ros(c), sometimes arches the leaves,
but more frequently gets under the protecting folds of
the half-expanded leaf-buds. (J. R.)

One of the most common instances of what we mean
occurs on the leaves of the currant-bush, which may often
be observed raised up into irregular bulgings, of a red-
dish-brown colour. On examining the under side of
such a leaf, there will be seen a crov.d of small insects,
some with and some without wings, which are the
Aphides ribis in their different stages, feeding securely
and socially on the juices of the leaf.

The most remarkable instance of this, however, which
we have seen, occurs on the leaves of the elm, and is
caused by the Aphis uhni. The edge of an elm-leaf in-
habited by those aphides is rolled up in an elegant con-
voluted form, very much like a spiral shell ; and in the
embowered chamber thus formed, the insects are secure
from rain, wind, and, partially, from the depredations of
carnivorous insects. One of their greatest enemies, the
lady-bird (Coccinella), seldom ventures, as we have re-

APHIDES.

137

Leaf of the Currant-biisli, bulged out by the Aphis ribis.

marked, into concealed corners, except in cold weather,
and contrives to find food enough among the aphides
which feed openly and unprotected, such as the zebra
aphides of the alder {Aphides samhuci). The gi'ubs,
however, of the lady-bird, and also those of the aphidi-
vorous flies {Syrph'i), may be found prying into the most
secret recesses of a leaf to prey upon the inhabitants,
whose slow movements disqualify them from effecting an
escape. (J. R.)

The effects of the puncture of aphides on growing
})lants is strikingly illustrated in the shoots of the lime-
tree and several other plants, which become bent and
contoited on the side attacked by the insects, in the
same way that a shoot might warp by the loss of its
juices on the side exposed to a brisk fire. The curvings
thus effected become very advantageous to the insects,
for the leaves sprouting from the twig, which naturally
grow at a distance from each other, are brought close

together in a bunch, forming a kind of

nosegay,
g3

that

138

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

conceals all the contour of the sprig, as well as the in-
sects which are embowered under it, protecting them
against the rain and the sun, and, at the same time, hiding
them from observation. It is only requisite, however,
Vi'here they have formed bowers of this description, to
raise the leaves, in order to see the little colony of the
aphides, — or the remains of those habitations which they
have abandoned. We have sometimes observed sprigs of
the lime-tree, of a thumb's thickness, portions of which
resembled spiral screws ; but we could not certainly have
assigned the true cause for this twisting, had we not been
acquainted with the manner in which aphides contort the
young shoots of this tree.* The shoots of the gooseberry
and the willow are sometimes contorted in the same way,
but not so strikingly as the shoots of the lime.

Shoot of the Lime-tree contorted by tlie punctures of the Aphis Tilice.

Pseudo-Galls.

It may not be out of place to mention here certain
anomalous excrescences upon trees and other plants,
which, though they much resemble galls, are not so
distinctly traceable to the operations of any insect. In

* Reaumur, vol. iii.

PSEUDO-GALLS. 139

PseuJo Gull of the Bramble, drawn from a specimen.

our researches after galls, we have not unfrequently met
with excrescences which so very much resemble them,
that before dissection we should not hesitate to consider
them as such, and predict that they formed the nidus of
some species of insects. In more instances than one we
have felt so strongly assured of this, that we have kept
several specimens for some months, in nurse-boxes, ex-
pecting that in due time the perfect insects would be
disclosed.

One of these pseudo-galls occurs on the common
bramble (Rubus friificosus), and bears some resemblance
to the bedeguar of the rose when old and changed by
weather. It clusters round the branches in the form of
irregular granules, about the size of a pea, very much
crowded, the whole excrescence being rather larger
than a walnut. We expected to find this excrescence
full of grubs, and were much surprised to discover, upon
dissection, that it was only a diseased growth of the
plant, caused (it might be) by the puncture of an insect,
but not for the purpose of a nidus or habitation. (J. R.)

Another sort of excrescence is not uncommon on the

140

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

terminal shoots of the hawthorn. This is in general
irregularly oblong, and the bark which covers it is of an
iron colour, similar to the scoriae of a blacksmith's forge.
When dissected, we find no traces of insects, but a hard,
ligneous, and rather porous texture. It is not impro-
bable that this excrescence may originate in the natural
growth of a shoot being checked by the punctures of
aphides, or of those grubs which we have described
(page 131).

Many of these excrescences, however, are probably
altogether unconnected with insects, and are simply hy-
pertrophic diseases, produced by too much nourishment,
like the wens produced on animals. Instances of this
may be seen at the roots of the holyhock {Althea rosea)
of three or four years' standing ; on the stems of the elm
and other trees, immediately above the root ; and on the
upper branches of the birch, where a crowded cluster of

PseucTo galls of the Hawthora, drawn from specirrens.

PSEUDO-GALLS, 141

twigs sometimes grows, bearing no distant resemblance
to a rook's nest in miniature, and provinciallj called
witch-knots.

One of the prettiest of these pseudo-galls with which
we are acquainted, is produced on the Scotch fir (Pi?iiis
si/hesfris), by the aphis pini, which is one of the largest
species of our indigenous aphides. The production we
allude to may be found, during the summer months, on
the terminal shoots of this tree, in the form of a small
cone, much like the fruit of the tree in miniature, but
with this difference, that the fruit terminates in a point,
whereas the pseudo-gall is nearly globular. Its colour
also, instead of being green, is reddish ; but it exhibits
the tiled scales of the fruit cone.

Pseudo gall produced by Aphis Pini on the Scotch fir, drawn
from a specimen.

We have mentioned this the more willingly that it
seems to confirm the theory which we haA^e hazarded
respecting the formation of the bedeguar of the rose and
other true galls — by which we ascribed to the sap, di-
verted from its natural course by insects, a tendency to
form leaves, &c., like those of the plant from which it
is made to exude.

X42 IXSECT ARCHITECTUKE.

CHAPTER XX.

Animal Galls,* produced by Breeze-Flies and Snail-Beetles.

The structures which v,e have hitherto noticed have all
been formed of inanimate materials, or at the most of
growing vegetables ; but those to which we shall now
advert are actually composed of the flesh of living
animals, and seem to be somewhat akin to the galls
already described as formed upon the shoots and leaves
of plants. These were first investigated by the accurate
Vallisnieri, and subsequently by Reaumur, De Geer,
and Linnaeus ; but the best account which has hitherto
been given of them is by our countryman Mr. Bracey
Clark, who differs essentially from his predecessors as to
the mode in which the eggs are deposited. As, in con-
sequence of the extreme difficulty, if not the impossi-
bility, of personal observation, it is no easy matter to
decide between the conflicting opinions, we shall give
such of the statements as appear most plausible.

The mother breeze-fly {Oestrus bovis, Clakk; —
Hypoderma bovis, Latr.), which produces the tumors
in cattle called tvurbles, or tvonmds (quasi, worm-holes),
is a two-winged insect, smaller, but similar in appear-
ance and colour to the carder-bee (p. 64), with two
black bands, one crossing the shoulders and the other
the abdomen, the rest being covered with yellow hair.
This fly appears to have been first discovered by Vallis-
nieri, who has given a curious and interesting history of
his observations upon its economy. " After having read

* In order to prevent ambiguity, it is necessary to remark
that the excrescences thus called must not be confounded with
the true galls, which are occasionally found in the gall-
bladder.

AXIMAL GALLS. 143

this account," says Reaumur, '' with sincere pleasure, I
became exceedingly desirous of seeing with my own eyes
what the Italian naturalist had reported in so erudite and
pleasing a manner. I did not then imagine that it
would ever be m}^ lot to speak upon a subject which had
been treated with so much care and elegance ; but since
I have enjoyed more favourable opportunities than M.
Vallisnieri, it was not difficult for me to investigate some
of the circumstances better, and to consider them under
a different point of view. It is not indeed very wonder-
ful to discover something new in an object, though it
has been already carefully inspected Mith very good eyes,
when we sit down to examine it more narrowly, and in
a more favourable position ; while it sometimes happens,
also, that most indifferent observers have detected what
had been previously unnoticed by the most skilful inter-
preters of nature."*

From the observations made by Reaumur, he con-
cluded that the mother-fly, above described, deposits her
eggs in the flesh of the larger animals, for which pur-
pose she is furnished with an ovipositor of singular me-
chanism. We have seen that the ovipositors of the gall-
flies {Cyn'ips) are rolled up within the body of the insect
somewhat like the spring of a watch, so that they can
be thrust out to more than double their apparent length.
To effect the same purpose, the ovipositor of the ox-fly
lengthens, by a series of sliding tubes, precisely like an
opera-glass. There are four of these tubes, as may be
seen by pressing the belly of the fly till they come into
view. Like other ovipositors of this sort, they are com-
posed of a horny substance ; but the terminal piece is
very different indeed from the same part in the gall-flies,
the tree-hoppers (Cicadce), and the ichneumons, being
composed of five points, three of which are longer than
the other two, and at first sight not unlike a Jienr-de-lis,
though, upon narrower inspection, they may be discovered
to terminate in curved points, somewhat like the claw
of a cat. The two shorter pieces are also pointed, but

* Reaumur, Mem. iv. 505.

144

IXSECT AECHITECTUEE.

not curved ; and by the union of the five, a tube is
composed for the passage of the eggs.

Ovipositor of the Breeze-fly, greatly magnified, -with a claw and part
ot tlie tube, distinct.

It would be necessary, Reaumur confesses, to see the
fiy employ this instrument to understand in what manner
it acts, though he is disposed to consider it fit for boring
through the hides of cattle. '^ Whenever I have suc-
ceeded," he adds, " in seeing these insects at work, the}"
have usually shown that they proceeded quite differently
from what I had imagined ; but unfortunately I have
never been able to see one of them pierce the hide of a
cow under my eyes."*

Mr. Bracey Clark, taking another view of the matter,
is decidedly of opinion that the fly does not pierce the

* Mem. iv. 538/

ANIMAL GALLS. 145

skin of cattle with its ovipositor at all, but merely glues
its eg"gs to the hairs, while the grubs, when hatched, eat
their way under the skin. If this be the fact, as is not
improbable, the three curved pieces of the ovipositor,
instead of acting, as Reaumur imagined, like a centre-
bit, will only serve to prevent the eggs from falling till
they are firmly glued to the hair, the opening formed by
the two shorter points permitting this to be effected.
This account of the matter is rendered more plausible,
from Reaumur's statement that the deposition of the egg-
is not attended by much pain, unless, as he adds, some
verj'- sensible nervous fibres have been wounded. Ac-
cording to this view^, we must not estimate the pain pro-
duced by the thickness of the instrument ; for the sting
of a wasp or a bee, although very considerably smaller
than the ovipositor of the ox-fly, causes a very pungent
pain. It is, in the latter case, the poison infused by the
sting, rather than the wound, which occasions the pain ;
and Vallisnieri is of opinion that the ox-fly emits some
acrid matter along with her eggs, but there is no proof
of this beyond conjecture.

It ought to be remarked, however, that cattle have
very thick hides, which are so far from being acutely
sensitive of pain, that in countries where they are put
to draw ploughs and waggons, they find a whip ineffec-
tual to drive them, and have to use a goad, in form of an
iron needle, at the end of a stick. Were the pain in-
flicted by the fly very acute, it -would find it next to im-
possible to lay thirty or forty eggs without being killed
by the strokes of the ox's tail ; for though Vallisnieri sup-
poses that the fly is shrewd enough to choose such places as
the tail cannot reach, Reaumur saw a cow repeatedly flap
its tail upon a part full ot the gall-bumps ; and in another
instance he saw a heifer beat away a party of common
flies from a part where there were seven or eight gall-
bumps. He concludes, therefore, with much plausibility,
that these two beasts would have treated the ox-flies in
the same way, if they had given them pain when deposit-
ing their eggs.

The extraordinary effects produced upon cattle, on the

146 IlfSECT ARCHITECTURE.

appearance of one of these flies, would certainly lead us to
conclude that the pain inflicted is excruciating. Most of
our readers may recollect to have seen, in the summer
months, a whole herd of cattle start off" across a field in
full gallop, as if they were racing, — their movements in-
describably awkward — their tails being poked out be-
hind them as straight and stiff as a post, and their necks
stretched to their utmost length. All this consternation
has been known, from the earliest times, to be produced
by the fly we are describing. Virgil gives a correct and
lively picture of it in his Georgics,* of which the follow-
ing is a translation, a little varied from Trapp : —

Round Moimt Alburnus, green with shady oaks,

And in the groves of Silarus, there flies

An insect pest (named CEstrus by the Greeks,

By us Asilus) : fierce with jarring hum

It drives, pursuing, the affrighted herd

From glade to glade : the air, the woods, the banks

Of the dried river echo their loud bellowing.

Had we not other instances to adduce, of similar terror
caused among sheep, deer, and horses, by insects of the
same genus, which are ascertained not to penetrate the
skin, we should not have hesitated to conclude that Val-
lisnieri and Reaumur are right, and Mr. Bracey Clark
w rong. In the strictly similar instance of Reindeer fly
(CEstrus tarcmdi, Linn.), we have the high authority of
Linnaeus for the tact, that it lays its eggs upon the skin.

" I remarked," he says, " with astonishment how
greatly the reindeer are incommoded in hot weather,
insomuch that they cannot stand still a minute, no not a
moment, without changing their posture, starting, puffing
and blowing continually, and all on account of a little

* Est lucos Silari circa ilicibusque virentem
Plurimus Alburnum volitans, cui nomen asilo
llomanum est, CEstrum Graii vertere vocantes,
Asper, acerba sonans; quo tuta exterrita silvis
Diffugiunt armenta; farit mugitibus aether
Concussus. sylvseque et sicci ripa Tanagri.

Georg. lib. iii. 145.

AXIMAL-GAT.LS. 147

fly. Even though amongst a herd of perhaps five hun-
dred reindeer, there were not above ten of those flies,
every one of the herd trembled and kept pushing its
neighbour about. The fly, meanwhile, was trying every
means to get at them ; but it no sooner touched any part
of their bodies, than they made an immediate eft^brt to
shake it oft*. I caught one of these insects as it was
flying along with its tail protruded, which had at its ex-
tremity a small linear orifice perfectly white. The tail
itself consisted of four or five tubular joints, slipping
into each other like a pocket spying-glass, which this fly,
like others, has a power of contracting at pleasure."*

In another work he is still more explicit. "This
well-known fly," he says, "hovers the whole day over
the back of the reindeer, with its tail protruded and a
little bent, upon the point of which it holds a small white
Ggg, scarcely so large as a mustard-seed, and when it
has placed itself in a perpendicular position, it drops its
egg, which rolls down amongst the hair to the skin,
wh^re it is hatched by the natural heat and perspiration
of the reindeer, and the grub eats its way slowly under
the skin, causing a bump as large as an acorn. "f The
male and female of the reindeer breeze-fly are figured in
the ' Library of Entertaining Knowledge, Menageries,'
vol. i. p. 405.

There is one circumstance which, though it appears to
us to be of some importance in the question, has been
either overlooked or misrepresented in books. " While
the female fly," say Kirby and Spence, " is performing
the operation of oviposition, the animal attempts to lash
her oft' as it does other flies, with its tail ]"X though this
is not only at variance with their own words in the page
but one preceding, where they most accurately describe
'• the herd with their tails in the air, or turned upon
their backs, or stiffly stretched out in the direction of the
spine, '"§ but with the two facts mentioned above from
Reaumur, as well as with common observation. If the

* Linnaeus, Lacheais Lapponica, Jnly 19tli.

t Linnaeus, Flora Lap^wnica, p. 378, ed. Lond. 1792.

I Kiiby and Spence, Litrod. i. 151. § Ibid. p. 149.

148 rsrSECT ARCHITECTURE.

OX then do not attempt to lash off the breeze-fly, but
runs with its tail stiffly extended, it affords a strong pre-
sumption that the fly terrifies him by her buzzing (asper,
acerba sonatis), rather than pains him by piercing his
hide ; her buzz, like the rattle of the rattle-snake, being
instinctively understood, and intended, it may be, to
prevent an over-population, b}-- rendering il difficult to
deposit the eggs.

The horse breeze-fly (^G aster ophilus egut. Leach),
which produces the maggots well known by the name of
boits in horses, is ascertained beyond a doubt to deposit
her eggs upon the hair, and as insects of the same genus
almost invariably proceed upon similar principles, how-
ever much they may vary in minute particulars, it may
be inferred with justice, that the breeze-flies which pro-
duce galls do the same. The description given by Mr.
Bracey Clark, of the proceedings of the horse breeze-
fly, is exceedingly interesting.

" When the female has been impregnated, and her
eggs sufficiently matured, she seeks among the horses a
subject for her purpose, and approaching him on the
wing, she carries her body nearly upright in the air, and
her tail, which is Ie7igthe7ied for the pvrpose,* curved
inwards and upwards : in this way she approaches the
part where she designs to deposit the e^^ ; and suspend-
ing herself for a few^ seconds before it, suddenly darts
upon it and leaves the e^g adhering to the hair ; she
hardly appears to settle, but merely touches the hair
with the e^g held out on the projected point of the abdo-
men.^ The egg is made to adhere by means of a gluti-
nous liquor secreted with it. She then leaves the horse
at a small distance, and prepares a second Qgg, and pois-
ing herself before the part, deposits it in the same way.
The liquor dries, and the egg becomes firmly glued to
the hair ; this is repeated by these flies till four or five
hundred eggs are sometimes placed on one horse."

* These circumstances aflbrd, we think, a complete answer
to the query of Kirby and Spence — " There can be little doubt
(or else what is the use of such an apparatus ?) that it bores a
hole in the skin." — Introd. i. 162, 2nd edit.

ANIMAL-GALLS, 149

Mr. Clark farther tells us, that the fly is careful to
select a part of the skin which the horse can easily reach
with his tongue, such as the inside of the knee, or the
side and back part of the shoulder. It was at first con-
jectured, that the horse licks off the eggs thus deposited,
and that they are by this means conveyed into its
stomach ; but Mr. Clark says, " I do not find this to be
the case, or at least only by accident ; for when they
have remained on the hair four or five days, they become
ripe, after which time the slightest application of warmth
and moisture is sufficient to bring forth, in an instant,
the latent larva. At this time, if the tongue of the
horse touches the egg, its operculum is thrown open,
and a small, active worm is produced, which readily
adheres to the moist surface of the tongue, and is thence
conveyed with the food to the stomach." He adds, that
" a horse which has no ova deposited on him may yet
have botts, by performing the friendly office of licking
another horse that has."* The irritations produced by
common flies (^AnthomyicB meteoricce^ Meigek) are
alleged as the incitement to licking.

The circumstance, however, of most importance to our
purpose, is the agitation and terror produced both by
this fly and by another horse breeze-fly (^G aster ophilus
Jicemorrhoidalis, Leach), which deposits its eggs upon
the lips of the horse, as the sheep-breeze fly {CEstnis
ovis) does on that of the sheep. The first of these is
described by Mr. Ciai'k as ' ' very distressing to the ani-
mal, from the excessive titillation it occasions ; for he
immediately after rubs his mouth against the ground,
his fore-feet, or sometimes against a tree, with great
emotion ; till, finding this mode of defence insufficient,
he quits the spot in a rage, and endeavours to avoid it
by galloping away to a distant part of the field, and if
the fly still continues to follow and teaze him, his last
resource is in the water, where the insect is never ob-
served to pursue him. These flies appear sometimes to
hide themselves in the grass, and as the horse stoops to

* Lirm. Trans, iii. 305.

150

INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

graze they dart upon the mouth or lips, and are always
observed to poise themselves during a few seconds in
the air, while the egg is preparing on the extended point
of the ahdomen.''^^

The moment the second fly just mentioned touches
the nose of a sheep, the animal shakes its head and
strikes the ground violently with its fore-feet, and at the
same time holding its nose to the earth, it runs away
looking about on every side to see if the flies pursue. A
sheep will also smell the grass as it goes, lest a fly should
be lying in wait, and if one be detected, it runs off" in
terror. As it will not, like a horse or an ox, take refuge
in the water, it has recourse to a rut or dry dusty road,
holding its nose close to the ground, thus rendering it
difficult for the fly to get at the nostril.

a. The belly of the grub. 6, Its back, c. The tail of the grub, greatly
magnified, d, Tlie bump, or gall, having its external aperture filled
w ilh the tail of the grub.

When the egg of the ox-breeze fly {Hypoderma bovisj
Latr.) is hatched, it immediately (if Mr. Bracey Clark
be correct) burrows into the skin ; while, according to

* Linn. Trans, iii. 305.

ANIMAL-GALLS,

151

Reaumur, it is hatched there. At all events, the grub
is found in a bump on the animal's back, resembling a
gall on a tree, — " a place," says Reaumur, " where
food is found in abundance, where it is protected from
the weather, where it enjoys at all times an equal degree
of warmth, and where it finally attains maturity."*
AMien in an advanced stage, the bumps appear much
like the swellings produced upon the forehead by a smart
blow. These, with the grubs, are represented in the
foregoing figure, and also at page 1 52.

Fly, maggot, and grub of the Ox-breeze fly, with a microscopic
viewer the maggot.

Every bumb, according to Reaumur, has in its inside
a cavity, which is a lodging proportionate to the size of
the insect. The bump and cavity also increase in pro-
portion to the growth of the grub. It is not until about
the middle of May that these bumps can be seen full
grown. Owing to particular circumstances, they do not
all attain an equal size. The largest of them are sixteen
or seventeen lines in diameter at their base, and about
an inch high ; but they are scarcely perceptible before
the beginning or during the course of the winter.

It is commonly upon young cattle, such, namely, as
are two or three years old, that the greatest number of
bumps is found ; it being rare to observe them upon very

* Mem. iv. 540.

152

INSECT ARCHITECTURE,

old animals. The fly seems to be well aware that such
skins will not oppose too much resistance, and seems to
know, also, that tender flesh is the most proper for sup-
plying good nourishment to its progeny. " And why,"
asks Reaumur, " should not the instinct which conducts
it to confide its eggs to the flesh of certain species only,
lead it to prefer the flesh of animals of the same species
which is most preferable ?" The number of bumps
which are found upon a beast is equal to the number of
eggs which have been deposited in its flesh ; or, to speak
more correctly, to the number of eggs which have suc-
ceeded, for apparently all are not fertile ; but this num-
ber is very different upon different cattle. Upon
one cow only three or four bumps may be observed,
while upon another there will appear from thirty to
forty. They are not always placed on the same parts,
nor arranged in the same manner : commonly, they are
near the spine, but sometimes upon or near the thighs
and shoulders. Sometimes they are at remote distances
from each other ; at other times they are so near that

Bumps or wurbles produced on cattle by tlie Ox-breeze fly.

ANIMAL GALLS. 153

their circumferences meet. In certain places, three or
four tumors may be seen touching each other ; and
more than a dozen sometimes occur arranged as closely
together as possible.

It is very essential to the grub that the hole of the
tumor should remain constantly open ; for by this aper-
ture a communication with the air necessary for i-espira-
tion is preserved ; and the grub is thence placed in the
most favourable position for receiving air. Its spiracles
for respiration, like those of many other grubs, are situ-
ated immediately upon the posterior extremity of the
body. Now being almost always placed in such a situa-
tion as to have this part above, or upon a level with the
external aperture, it is enabled to respire freely,*

We have not so many examples of galls of this kind
as we have of vegetable galls ; and Avhen we described
the surprising varieties of the latter, we did not perceive
that it was essential to the insects inhabiting them to pre-
serve a communication with the external air : in the galls
of trees, openings expressly designed or kept free for
the admission of air are never observed. Must the grub,
then, which inhabits the latter have less need of respir-
ing air than the grub of the breeze-flies in a flesh-gall ?
Without doubt, not ; but the apertures by which the air
is admitted to the inhabitants of the woody gall, although
they may escape our notice, in consequence of their
minuteness, are not, in fact, less real. We know that,
however careful we may be in inserting a cork into a
glass, the mercury with which it is filled is not sheltered
from the action of the air, which weighs upon the cork ;
we know that the air passes through, and acts upon the
mercury in the tube. The air can also, in the same
way, penetrate through the obstruction of a gall of wood,
though it have no perceptible opening or crack ; but
the air cannot pass in this manner so readily through the
skins and membranes of animals.

In order to see the interior of the cavity of an animal
gall, Reaumur opened several, either with a razor or a

* Reaumur, iv. 549.
VOL. ir. H '

1 54 INSECT ARCHITECTURE.

pair of scissors ; the operation, however, cannot fail to
be painful to the cow, and consequently renders it impa-
tient under the process. The grub being confined in a
tolerably large fistulous ulcer, a part of the cavity must
necessarily be filled with pus or matter. The bump is a
sort of cautery, which has been opened by the insect, as
issues are made by caustic : the grub occupies this issue,
and prevents it from closing. If the pus or matter which
is in the cavity, and that which is daily added to it, had
no means of escaping, each tumor would become a con-
siderable abscess, in which the grub would perish : but
the hole of the bump, which admits the entrance of the
air, permits the pus or matter to escape ; that pus fre-
quently mats the hairs together which are above the
small holes, and this drying around the holes acquires a
consistency, and forms in the interior of the opening a
kind of ring. This matter appears to be the only ali-
ment allowed for the grub, for there is no appearance
that it lives, like the grubs of flesh-flies, upon putrescent
meat. Mandibles, indeed, similar to those with which
other grubs break their food, are altogether wanting. A
beast which has thirty, forty, or more of these bumps
upon its back, would be in a condition of great pain and
suffering, terrible indeed in the extreme, if its flesh were
torn and devoured by as many large grubs ; but there is
every appearance that they do not at all afflict, or only
afflict it with little pain. For this reason cattle most
covered with bumps are not considered by the farmer as
injured by the presence of the fly, which generally se-
lects those in the best condition.

A fly, evidently of the same family with the preced-
ing, is described in Bruce's ' Travels,' under the name of
zimb, as burrowing during its grub state in the hides of
the elephant, the rhinoceros, the camel, and cattle.
" It resembles," he says, " the gad-fly in England, its
motion being more sudden and rapid than that of a bee.
There is something peculiar in the sound or buzzing of
this insect ; it is a jarring noise together with a hum-
ming, which as soon as it is heard all the cattle forsake
their food and run wildly about the plain, till they die,

ANIMAL GALLS. 155

worn out with fatigue, fright, and hunger. I have
found," he adds, " some of these tubercles upon ahiiost
every elephant and rhinoceros that I have seen, and
attribute them to this cause. When the camel is at-
tacked by this fly, his body, head, and legs break out in to
large bosses, which swell, break, and putrefy, to the
certain destruction of the creature.'* That camels die
under such symptoms, we do not doubt ; but we should
not, without more minutely accurate observation, trace
all this to the breeze-fly.

MM. Humboldt and Bonpland discovered, in South
America, a species, probably of the same genus, which
attacks man himself. The perfect insect is about the
size of our common house-fly {Miisca domcslica), and the
bump formed by the grub, which is usually on the belly,
is similar to that caused by the ox breeze-fly. It re-
quires six months to come to maturity, and if it is irri-
tated it eats deeper into the flesh, sometimes causing
fatal inflammations.

Grub Parasite in the Snail.

During the summer of 1829, we discovered in the hole
of a garden-post, at Blackheath, one of the larger grey
snail shells {Helix aspersa, Muller), with three white
soft-bodied grubs burrowing in the body of the snail.
They evidently, from their appearance, belonged to
some species of beetle, and we carefully preserved them
in order to watch their economy. It appeared to us that
they had attacked the snail in its stronghold, while it
was laid up torpid for the winter ; for more than half of
the body was already devoured. They constructed for
themselves little cells attached to the inside of the shell
and composed of a sort of fibrous matter, having no
distant resemblance to shag tobacco, both in form and
smell, and which could be nothing else than the remains
of the snail's body. Soon after we took them, appear-
ing to have devoured all that remained of the poor snail,

* Biuce's Travel?, i. 5, and v. 191.

H 2

156 INSECT AECHITECTURE.

we furnished them with another, which they devoured
in tlie same manner. They formed a cocoon of the same
fibrous materials during the autumn^ and in the end of
October appeared in their perfect form, turning out to
be the Driltis favescens, the grub of which was first dis-
covered in France in 1824. The time of their appear-
ance, it may be remarked, coincides with the period when
snails become torpid. (J. R.)

In the following autumn, we found a shell of the same
species with a small pupa-shaped egg deposited on the
lid. From this a caterpillar was hatched which subse-
quently devoured the snail, spun a cocoon within the
shell, and was transformed into a small moth (of which
we have not ascertained the species) in the spring of
1830.

END OF LSrSECT ARCHITECTURE.

VORACITY OF CATERPIJLLAES. 157

MISCELLANIES.

I.— ON THE RAVAGES OF INSECTS.

Voracity of Caterpillars, Grubs, and Maggots.

Insects, in the early stage of their existence, may be
compared to an Indian hunter, who issues from his hut,
as tliey do from the egg, with a keen appetite. As soon
as he is successful in finding game, he gorges himself till
he can eat no more, and then laying him down to sleep,
only bestirs himself again to go through a similar process
of gorging and sleeping ; just so the larvae of insects doze
away a day or more when casting their skins, and then
make up for their long fast by eating with scarcely a
pause. Professor Bradley calculates (though upon data
somewhat questionable) that a pair of sparrows carry to
their young about three thousand caterpillars in a week ;*
but this is nothing when compared with the voracity of
caterpillars. Of the latter we have more accurate calcu-
lations than that of Bradley, who multiplied the number
of caterpillars which he observed taken in one hour by
the hours of sunlight in a week. Redi ascertained by
experiment that the mag2:ot of the common blow-fly
{JMusca carnaria) becomes from 140 to 200 times heavier
within twenty-four hours ;f and the cultivators of silk-
worms know the exact quantities of leaves which their
broods devour. " The result," says Count Dandolo,
" of the most exact calculations is, that the quantity of
leaves drawn from the tree employed for each ounce of

* Account of the Works of Nature.
f Esperienze de Insetti, p. 23.

168 RAVAGES OF IKSECTS.

eggs amounts to 1G09 lbs. 8 oz., divided in tlie following
manner :" —

Sorted leaves. Refuse.

11)3 07.. lbs. oz.

First age 60 18

Second age IS 0 3 0

Third age 60 0 9 0

Fourth age ISO 0 27 0

Fifth age 1093 0 102 0

Per ounce of eggs of SOI ted leaves .lbs. 1362 0 142 8

Refuse 142 8

Lost from the leaves by evaporation, &c. 10.5 0

160D 8

He adds to this curious table, that from the 1362 lbs. of
sorted leaves given to the caterpillars, it is necessary to
deduct 155 lbs. 7 oz. 4 drs. of litter, consisting of frag-
ments of uneaten leaves, stalks, fruit, &c., and conse-
quently that they actually devour only 1206 lbs. 4 oz.
4 drs. It is necessary also to mention that of this quan-
tity 745 lbs. 8 oz. of dung are carried from the hurdles ;
and consequently there is only digested 771 lbs. 7 oz.
4 drs. of pure leaves, which produce 120 lbs. of silk co-
coons,— giving a loss by evaporation from the worms in
gas and vapour of 496 lbs. 4 oz., nearly three parts of
this loss occurring in the six last days of the fifth age.**
These deductions, however, do not affect the amount
eaten by the caterpillars produced from 1 oz. of eggs,
which is upwards of 1200 lbs. A single silk-worm, as
we before mentioned, consumes within thirty days about
60,000 times its primitive weight.

When we take these facts into consideration, we need
not be surprised at the extensive ravages committed by
other caterpillars, man}' of which arc much larger than
the silk-worm, and all of them produced in broods of
considerable numbers. Mr. Stephens, in his valuable
catalogue of British insects, a work of very extraordinary

* Count Dandolo's Art of rearing Silk-Worms, p. 322-21,
Eng. Transl.

A'ORACITY OF CATERPILLARS. 159

accuracy, enumerates nearly 2000 species of native moths
and butterflies ; and as the females of these are for the
most part very prolific, we have little reason to be sur-
prised at the occasional extent of their depredations. The
2000 species just mentioned are, besides, not more than
a fifth of our native insects, most of the grubs and mag-
gots of which are exceedingly voracious and destructive.

It appears to be indispensable for most insects to feed
copiously during their larva state, in order to supply a
store of nutriment for their subsequent changes ; for many
of them eat nothing, and most of them little, after they
have been transformed into pupae and perfect insects.
What is no less wonderful, a corresponding change takes
place in the internal formation of their organs of diges-
tion. A caterpillar will, as we have seen, devour in a
month 60,000 times its own weight of leaves, while the
moth or the butterfly into which it is afterwards trans-
formed may not sip a thousandth part of its weight of
honey during its whole existence. Now, in the cater-
pillar, nature has provided a most capacious stomach,
which, indeed, fills a very large portion of its body ; but
in the butterfly the stomach is diminished to a thread.
By a series of minute dissections, conducted with great
skill, Heroldt traced these changes, as they successively
occur, from the caterpillar to the butterfly. In the cater-
pillar he found the gullet, the honey-stomach, the true
stomach, and the intestines capacious. Two days after
its first change all these are visibly diminished, as well as
the silk reservoirs, which, in a chrysalis eight days old,
have wholly disappeared ; while the base of the gullet is
dilated into a crop, and the stomach still more contracted
into a spindle form. When near its change into the per-
fect insect the gullet is still more drawn out, while the
crop, still small, is now on one side of the gullet ; and in
the butterfly is enlarged into a honey-stomach.

It is remarkable that in men of such extraordinary ap-
petite as amounts to a disease {Bulimia, Culle>'), the
natural capacity of the stomach, which, according to
Blamenbach, contains about three pints,* is very much

Blumenbach, Physiol., s. xxlii.

160

RAVAGES OF INSECTS,

View of the upper side.

"View of the under side*

33J

I):

r A,B,C,The ceso-
phagus and its ap-
pendaj^es.

D, E, The sto-
mach ; — a pair of
muscles wind spi-
rally round it, and . -^
by tiieir contraction V\^-
squeeze the digested
food into the intes-
tines.

E, F, Tlie first
large intestine. F,
G, the second, G,
II, the third.

I, I, The biliary
tubes, or bile ves-
sels. E,

'f-

■Q

Viscera of the Cossus.

CATERPILLARS.

A, Caterpillar of Vanessa urticse magnified, a — li, the intestines
of the same, a, the gullet, b b b b, pulmonary tubes, c c, ligament
of the stomach, d d d d, transparent rings of the same, e e,/, g g,
h h, biliary vessels, i k, the rectum.

H $

162

P.AVAGES OF IXSECTS.

Intestinal cnnais of the caterpillar, pupa, and butterfly.

A. Caterpillar, a, the CESophajjus. h, the stomach, c d, the two lar^je

intestines.

B. Pup;i two days old. a, the oesophagus. 6, the stomach, c rf, the

two large intestines.

C. Pupa t'rijht days old. «, dilation of the oesophagus, forming the crop

or hi)ney-stumach.

D. I'upa immediately before its transformation, a, the honey stomach

become a lateral appendage of the CBsophagus. /;, the stomach.
c d, the large intestines.

E. Butterfly, a, honey-stomach, h, the digesting stomach, c d, the

large intestines, become very long.

enlarged. This was peculiarly the case -with Tarare, an
Italian juggler, who, i'rom swallowing flints, whole bas-
kets of fruit, &c., seems to have enlarged the capacity of
his stomach so as to render his appetite insatiable. M.
Tessier, of the Infirmary at Versailles, where Tarare
died of consumption, found on examination that his sto-
mach was prodigiously distended.* The same must have
been the case with the French prisoner at Liverpool,
who, on the testimony of Dr. Cochrane, consumed, in
one day, sixteen pounds of raw meat and tallow candles,
besides five bottles of porter.f

The mandibles of caterpillars, which do not act per-

* M. Percy, in Rapport d' Institute Nationelle.
t Med. and Pliys. Jouin., iii. 209.

gATERPILLArvS. 163

pcndicularly like the jaws of quadrupeds, but horizontally,
are for the most part very sharp and strong, being of a
hard, horny substance, and moved by powerful muscles.
They are, for the most part, slightly bent in the form of
a reaping-hook ; having the concavity indented with
tooth-shaped projections, formed out of the substance of
the jaw, and not socketed as the teeth of quadrupeds.
These are made to meet like the blades of a pair of
pincers ; and in some cases they both chop and grind the
food.* Besides these there is a yjair of jav>s {inaxillcc')
placed on each side of the middle portion of the under
lip ; and from their being of a softer substance they seem
to be more for the purpose of retaining the food than
for mastication. This formidable apparatus for masti-
cating {Irophi) is well adapted to supply the large de-
mands of the capacious stomachs of larvae ; and when we
consider that all of them are employed in eating at least
for ten or twelve hours in the day, and a gi'cat number
during the night, we need not wonder at their extensive
ravages upon the substances on which they feed. It
may be interesting, however, to give a few examples of
their destructiveness ; and with this view it will be con-
venient to consider them under the three popular names
of caterpillars, grubs, and maggots.

Caterpillaks.

The ravages of caterpillars are amongst the most con-
spicuous of insect depredations, in consequence of their
being committed upon the leaves of trees, bushes, and
plants, which are often stripped as bare as in winter.
Even the smaller sorts of caterpillars become, from their
multiplicity, sometimes as destructive as those which are
of considerable magnitude. During the summer of 1S27
we were told that an extraordinary blight had suddenly
destroyed the leaves of all the trees in Oak of Honour
Wood, Kent. On going thither, we found the report
had been little exaggerated ; for though it was "in the
leafy month of June," there was scarcely a leaf to be

* Cuvier, Auat. Com., iii. 322.

164

RAVAGES OF INSECTS,

seen on the oak-ti'ees. which constitute the greater por-
tion of" the wood. But we were rather sur[n*ised when
we discovered, on examination, that this extensive de-
struction had been effected by one of the small soli-
tary leaf-rollers (^Tortrix vindana, Haworth) ; for one
of this sort seldom consumes more than four or five
leaves, if so much, durino; its existence. The number,
therefore, of these caterpillars must have been almost be-
yond conception ; and that of the moths, the previous
year, must also have been very great : for the mother
moth only lays from fifty to a hundred eggs, which are
glued to an oak branch, and remain during the winter.
It is remarkable that in this wood during the two follow-
ing summers these caterpillars did not abound. (J. R.)
Instances like this, however, from solitary species, are,

Ravages of the bufF-tip caferpillar {Pi/T^ra bucphala). a, the full-
grown caterpillar, b, the moih. c '•, a line of young caterpillars, ad-
vancing along a leaf and devouring it hilf through as they march rf,
the CKjis.

CATERPILLARS. 165

we believe, less common than those of the ravages of
gregarious caterpillars. In 1826, colonies of the buff-tip
(^Pi/gesra bucephala^ Ochsenheim) were in some parts
of the country very abundant. We remarked them par-
ticularly at llarrow-on-the-IIill, and at Compton-Basset
in Wiltshire. From their feeding in company, they strip
a tree, branch after branch, scarcely leaving the fragment
of a leaf, till a great portion of it is completely bare.
Some of the magnificent beeches in Compton Park, from
this cause, appeared with the one-half of their branches
leafless and naked, while the other half was untouched.
Besides the beech, these caterpillai-s feed on the oak, the
lime, the hazel, the elm, and the willow. When newly
hatched they may be readily discovered, from their sin-
gular manner of marshalling themselves, like a file of
soldiers, on a single leaf, only eating it half through ; and
in their more advanced stage, their gaudy stripes of yellow
and black render them very conspicuous on the branches
v/hich they have nearly stripped bare. The cuckoo feeds
as greedily upon them as they do on leaves, and may be
seen early in the morning perched in the midst of their
colonies, and devouring them by dozens. (J. R.)

Those caterpillars which feed upon fruit-trees and
hedge shrubs are still more likely to attract attention ;
since, when any of these are abundant, it is scarcely pos-
sible to stir out of doors without observing them. Thus,
in the suburbs of London, in the summer of 1829, not
only the orchards and gardens, but every hedge, swarmed
with the lackey caterpillars {C/isiocampa nensfn'a), which
are what naturalists term polyphagous feeders, that is,
they do not confine themselves to a particular sort of
tree, but relish a great number. The hawthorn, the
blackthorn, and the oak, hov.ever, seem to be most to
their taste ; while they are rare on the willow, and we
have never observed them on the poplar or the elder.

Another of what may be api)ropriately termed the en-
camping caterpillars, of a much smaller size, and of a
different genus, is the small ermine ( Yponomeuta pa-
della), which does not, besides, feed quite so indiscrimi-
nately; but when the bird-cherry {Prwnis padiis), its

166

KAVAGES OF ISTSECTS.

peculiar food, is not to be; had, it will put up with black-
thorn, plum-tree, hawthorn, and almost any sort of
orchard fniit-trce. With respect to such caterpillars as
feed on different plants, Reaumur and De Geer make the
singular remark, that in most cases they would only
eat the sort of plant upon which they were originally
hatched.* We verified this, in the case of the cater-
pillar in question, upon two different nests which we took,
in 1806, from the bird-cherry at Crawfordland, in Ayr-
shire. Upon bringing these to Kilmarnock, we could
not readily supply them with the leaves of this tree ; and
having then only a slight acquaintance v.ith the habits of
insects, and imagining they would eat any soi't of leaf, we
tried them with almost everything green in the vicinity

Ei.campinent of the caterpillar of the small ermine {YponomevXa
padellu) on the Siberian crab.

* De Geer, Mem. i. 319.

CATERPILLARS. 167

of the town ; but they refused to touch any which we
ofi'ered them. After they had flisted several days, wo at
length procured some fresh branches of the bird-cheny,
with which they gorged themselves so that most of them
died. Last summer (1829) we again tried a colony of
these caterpillars, found on a seedling plum-tree at Lee,
in Kent, with blackthorn, hawthorn, and many other
leaves, and even with those of the bird-cherry ; but they
would touch nothing except the seedling plum, refusing
the grafted varieties. (J. R.)

A circumstance not a little remarkable in so very nice
a feeder is, that in some cases the mother moth will de-
posit her eggs upon trees not of indigenous growth, and
not even of the same genus with her usual favourites.
Thus, in 1825, the cherry-apple, or Siberian crab (Pt/riis
pninijoUa, Willdenow), so commonly grown in the
suburbs of London, swarmed with them. On a single
tree at Islington we counted above twenty nests, each
of \A hich would contain from fifty to a hundred cater-
pillars ; and though these do not grow thicker than a
crow-quill, so many of them scarcely left a leaf unde-
voured, and, of course, the fruit, which showed abun-
dantly in spring, never came to maturity. The summer
following they were still more abundant on the hawthoi-n
hedges, particularly near the Thames, by Battersca and
Richmond. Since then we have only seen them spar-
ingly ; and last summer we could only find the single
nest upon which we tried the preceding experiment.
(J. R.) This present spring (1830) they have again
appeared in millions on the hedges.

Reaumur says that in some years they were exceed-
ingly destructive to his apple-trees, though they did
not touch his pears, plums, or apricots,* which agrees
precisely with our own remarks. We are well aware
that there are several species of the small ermines, all
similar in manners, such as the one which feeds on the
spindle-tree {Euonijmus), and produces the prettiest
moth of the genus ( Yponomeiita Euomjmelld) ; but our
preceding remarks all apply to one species.

* Reaumur, Mem. ii. 198.

168 RAVAGES OF INSECTS.

In 1829 we remarked a very extraordinary number
of webs of some similar caterpillar, of which we did not
ascertain the species, on the willows in Holland and
the Netherlands^ from Amsterdam to Ostend. In
some districts, particularly near Bruges and Rotterdam,
the leaves were literally stripped from whole rows of
trees ; while other rows, at no considerable distance,
were entirely free from their ravages. A foreign
naturalist, quoted by Harris in his Aurelian, says, that
the caterpillar of the Camberwell beauty ( Vanessa
Antiopa), which feeds gregariously on the willow,
sometimes defoliates the trees of a whole district in the
Low Countries; but the ravages observed by us were
evidently made by the caterpillars of some small moth.
(J. R.)

None of the preceding details, however, appear so
striking as what is recorded of the brown-tail moth
(^Pirthesia aurifluci) by Mr. W. Curtis,* whose multi-
tudinous colonies spread great alarm over the country
in the summer of 1782. This alarm was much increased
by the exaggeration and ignorant details which ibund
their way into the newspapers. The actual numbers of
these caterpillars must have been immense, since Curtis
says, "in many of the parishes near London subscrip-
tions have been opened, and the poor people emplo^^ed
to cut off the webs at one shilling per bushel, which
have been burnt under the inspection of the church-
wardens, overseers, or beadle of the parish : at the first
onset of this business fourscore bushels, as T was most
credibly informed, were collected in one day in the parish
of Clapham."

It is not, therefore, very much to be wondered at,
that the ignorant, who are so prone to become the
victim of groundless fears, should have taken serious
alarm on having so unusual a phenomenon forced upon
their attention. Some alarmists accordingly asserted
that the caterpillars "were the usual presage of the
plague ;" and others that they not only presaged it,
but would actually cause it, for "their numbers were

* Curtis, Hist, of Brown-tail Moth, 4to. London, 1782.

CATERPILLARS. 169

great enough to render the air pestilential," while, to
add to the mischief, "they would destroy every kind
of vegetation, and starve the cattle in the fields."
" Almost every one," adds Curtis, " ignorant of their
history, was under the greatest apprehensions concern-
ing them ; so that even prayers were offered up in some
churches to deliver the comitry from the apprehended
approaching calamity."

It seems to have been either the same caterpillar, or
one very nearly allied to it, probably that of the golden-
tail (Porthesla C/iri/sonhoea), which in 1731-2 pro-
duced a similar alarm in France. Reaumur, on going
from Paris to Tours, in September 1730, found every
oak, great and small, literally swarming with them, and
their leaves parched and brown as if some burning wind
had passed over them ; for when newly hatched, like the
young buff-tips, they only eat one of the membranes of
the leaf, and of course the other withers away. These
infant legions, under the shelter of their warm nests,
survived the winter in such numbers, that they threatened
the destruction not only of the fruit-trees, but of the
forests, — every tree, as Reaumur says, being overrun with
them. The Parliament of Paris thought that ravages so
widely extended loudly called for their interference, and
they accordingly issued an edict, to compel the people to
uncaterpillar (decheniller) the trees ; which Reaumur
ridiculed as impracticable, at least in the forests. About
the middle of May, however, a succession of cold rains
produced so much mortality among the caterpillars, that
the people were hajipily released from the edict ; for it
soon became difficult to find a single individual of the
species.* In the same way the cold rains, during the
summer of 1829, seem to have nearly annihilated the
lackeys, which in the early part of the summer swarmed
on every hedge around London. The ignorance dis-
played in France at the time in question, was not inferior
to that recorded by Curtis ; for the French journalists
gravely asserted that part of the caterpillars were pro-

* Rcaumuv, ii. p. 137.

170 EAYAGES OF INSECTS.

duced by spiders ; and that these spiders, and not the
caterpillars, constructed the webs of the slime of snails,
which they were said to have been seen collecting for the
purpose ! " Verily," exclaims Reaumur, " there is more
ignorance in our age than one might believe."

It is justly remarked by Curtis, that the caterpillar of
the brown-tail moth is not so limited a feeder as some,
nor so indiscriminate as others ; but that it always con-
hnes itself to trees or shruijs, and is never found on her-
baceous plants, whose low growth v.ould seldom supply
a suitable foundation for its web. Hence the absurdity
of supposing it would attack the herbage of the field, and
produce a famine among cattle. Curtis says, it is found
on the " hawthorn most plentifully, oak the same, elm
very plentifully, most fruit-trees tlie same, black-thorn
plentifully, rose-trees the same, bramble the same, on the
willow and poplar scarce. None have been noticed on
the elder, walnut, ash, fir, or herbaceous plants. With
respect to fruit-trees the injuries they sustain are most
serious, as, in destroying the blossoms as yet in the bud,
they also destroy the fruit in embryo ; the owners of
orchards, therefore, have great reason to be alarmed."

The sudden appearance of great numbers of these
caterpillars in particular years, and their scarcity in
others, is in some degree explained by a fact stated by
Mr. Salisbury. "A gentleman of Chelsea," he says,
" has informed me that he once took a nest of moths and
bred them ; that some of the eggs came the first year,
some the second, and others of the same nest .did not
hatch till the third season."* We reared, during 1829,
several nests both of the brown-tails and of the golden-
tails, and a number of the females deposited their eggs
in our nurse-cages ; but, contrary to the experiment just
quoted, all of these were hatched during the same
autumn. (J. R.) Tlie difi'erence of temperature and
moisture in particular seasons may produce this diversity.

An alarm, similar to those we have recorded, was pro-
duced in France in 1735 by the green-striped caterpillars

Salisbury, Hints on Orchards, p. 53.

CATERPILLARS. 171

oF a moth very common in Britain, called by collectors,
from a mark on its upper wings, the Y, or more properly
the y moth {Plusia Gamma, Ochs.)- Though ranked
in some classifications amongst the nocturnal moths, it
flies chiefly by day, and may be seen in Battersea-fields,
or other moist meadows, flitting from herb to herb and
flower to flower, in short and low flights ; for it seldom
soars higher than the tallest grass-stem, or the crimson
flower-heads of the knap-weed, upon whose honey it
sometimes regales, remaining on the wing all the while
it is sipping it. During the cold rainy summer of 1829
it was almost the only moth which appeared plentiful.
(J. R.) At least two broods seem to be produced dur-
ing the season ; which may account for its being found
from May till the setting-in of the winter frosts.

Notwithstanding its being so plentiful, however, we
have not heard of its having ever been so destructive here
as in France, where, as usual, the most improbable causes
were assigned for its increase. " In some places," says
Reaumur, " they assured me they had seen an old soldier
throw the spell ; and in other places an ugly and mis-
chievous old woman had wrought all the evil."* These
supposed supernatural agents, however, must have been
either very numerous or very active to fill, not only the
gardens, but every field, with legions of those caterpil-
lars, which devoured almost every green thing, and left
only the stalks as monuments of their devastation. The
alarm proceeded farther, for it began to be whispered
that they were poisonous; and many were in consequence
afraid to touch soups or salads. Reaumur thought it in-
cumbent on him to refute this notion at some length ; but
we cannot accept his doctrine as very palatable, when he
tells us that few dishes of soup or salad are ever prepared
without containing caterpillars, and yet all the world are
not poisoned thereby, any more than by eating oysters
or viper broth. He endeavoured also to account by cal-
culation for their excess, from the data of the female
moth laying about four hundred eggs. Now, if there

* Reaumur, ii. 336.

172

KA VAGES OF IK SECTS.

Transformations of the "y moth {Pltisia Gamma), a, the egg, greatly
magnified, on a morsel of leaf, b, the egg on a leaf, natural size, c,
the larva, d, the pupa, e, the moth,

were only twenty caterpillars distributed in a garden,
and all lived through the winter, and became moths in
the succeeding May, the eggs laid by these, if" all fertile,
would produce 800,000, a number much more than suffi-
cient to effect great destruction.* Did not Providence,
therefore, put causes in operation to keep them in due
bounds, the caterpillars of this moth alone, leaving out
of consideration the 2000 other British species, would
soon destroy more than half of our vegetation.

The caterpillar just mentioned, amongst other pot-
herbs, attacks coleworts and cabbage ; and may sometimes
be found there along with another, not uncommon, but
seldom very destructive, called by collectors the burnished
brass (Plusia dirysitis)^ M'hich differs little from the
caterpillar of the y moth, except in being of a brighter
green. Another, called the old gentlewoman (Mames-
tra b?'assica?, Treitsche), is so destructive to cabbages
in Germany, that the gardeners gather whole basketsful
* Reaumur, ii. 337.

CATERPILLARS. 173

and luiiy them ; but as Rosel remarks, they might as
well endeavour to kill a ci'ab by covering it with sea-
water, for it is natural to them to burrow under ground
when they change into chrysalides.* We have seen this
caterpillar, as well as that of the brown-eye (^Mamestra
oleraceci), do considerable damage in Wiltshire, but
nothing to what is reported of it in Germany.

The leaves of cabbages, cauliflower, brocoli, cole-
worts, and turnips, are frequently devoured to a more
considerable extent by the sub-gregarious caterpillars of
the white butterflies (Pontia brassicce, P. napi, &c.).
From the great multiplicity of the butterflies, indeed, and
from there being two broods in the year, we have reason
to wonder that their ravages are not more extensive.
But we have remarked that they seem more partial to
wild than cultivated plants ; for we have seen, near
Islington, the oleraceous weeds, such as rape {Brassica
napus), overrun with them in the very same fields with
cultivated cabbages, which were not touched (J. R.) ; so
that the caterpillars are not aUvays so injurious as we
might at first suppose, since in this case they tend to keep
down the weeds, while the birds and the ichneumon flies
keep them in check by making prey of them.

The gregarious caterpillars of an allied species, called
the black-veined white butterfly (Pieris Cratc&gi,
Stephens), is in some seasons and districts no less de-
structive to orchards and hawthorn hedges than the pre-
ceding ones are to the kitchen-garden. Salisbury, who
wrote at Chelsea in 1815, says it "commits great de-
struction every spring, and not only to the apple-trees,
but other kinds of fruits. "f Mr. Stephens, writing in
1827, says, " In June, 1810, I saw it in plenty at Coombe
Wood, and in the following year I captured several at
Muswell-hill, since which time I have not seen any at
large. "J JMr. Haworth also says, "it has not of late
years been seen at Chelsea, where it formerly abounded."

• Rosel, Inseckten, i. iv. 170.

f Hints on Orchards, p. 56.

X Illustrations, i. Haustellata, 27.

174 KAVAGES OF INSECTS.

We have never met with it at all. According to Salis-
bury the female butterfly lays her eggs near the extremity
of an old rather than a young branch, and covers them
v»'ith a coating of gluten, which is both impervious to
moisture and impenetrable (this we doubt) to the bills
of birds. " In this state," he adds, " we have instances
of their remaining without losing their vitality for several
years, until a favourable opportunity of their being-
brought into existence arrives."* The caterpillars,
M'hich are at first black and hairy, live in common in a
silken tent. They become subsequently striped with
reddish brown, and disperse over the trees. This cater-
pillar and its butterfly are figured in a subsequent page.

Our gooseberry and red-currant bushes are very fre-
quently despoiled of their leaves, both by the speckled
caterpillar of the magpie moth {Abraxas giossnlariata),
and by what Reaumur terms the pseudo-caterpillars of
one of the saw-flies {Nemaiiis Hibesit, ST£PHE^s). The
latter insect has a flat yellow body and four pellucid
wings, the two outer ones marked with brown on the
edge. In April it issues from the pupa, which has lain
under ground from the preceding September. The
female of the gooseberry saw-fly does not, like some of
the family, cut a groove in the branch to deposit her
eggs; — "of what use, then,'' asks Reaumur, "is her
ovipositor saw '?"t In order to satisfy himself on this
point, he introduced a pair of the flics under a bell-glass
along with a branch bent from a red-currant bush, that
he might watch the process. The female immediately
f»erambulated the leaves in search of a place suited to her
purpose, and passing under a leaf began to lay, deposit-
ing six eggs within a quarter of an hour. Each time she
placed herself as if she wished to cut into the leaf with
her saw ; but, upon taking out the leaf, the eggs appeared
rather projecting than lodged in its substance. They
adhered so firmly, however, that they could not be de-
tached without crushing them. He could not discover

* Hints on Orchards, p. 57.
f See chap. vii. for a description of this curious instrument.

CATERriLLAHS.

175

a a a, Saw-fly of the goosel:erry (Nematus Rtbtsii, Stephens), b, its
eggs on the nervures of a leaf, d d, the caterpillars eating, c, one
rolled lip. /", one extended.

any groove ;* but we think it likely that a minute cut is
made in the exterior membrane of the leaf, the edges of
which grasp and hold firm the part of the egg which is
thrust into it by the insect. Be this as it may, the cater-
pillars are hatched in two or three weeks ; and they feed
in company till after midsummer, frequently stripping
both the leaves and fruit of an extensive plantation. The
caterpillar has six legs and sixteen prolegs, and is of a
green colour mixed with yellow, and covered with
minute black dots raised like shagreen. In its last skin
it loses the black dots and becomes smooth and yellowish
white. The Caledonian Horticultural Society have
published a number of plans for destroying these cater-
pillars.

An allied species of saw-fly (Nematus Caprece,

* Reaumur, v. 125.

176 RAVAGES OP INSECTS. ;

Stephens) frequently becomes extensively destructive to

several species of willow, sallow, and osier. It is so
like that of the gooseberry and that of the willow (Ne-
matus salicis), which is not British, that it has been con-
founded with these by Fabricius, Stewart, Gmelin, and
other authors. In the summer of 1828, we observed a
considerable group of young standards of the golden osier
(Salix vitellhia), in a nursery at Lewisham, rendered
quite leafless by these caterpillars ; which, when feeding,
throw themselves into singular postures by holding only
with their fore feet. The fly appears in spring, and
places its eggs in a round patch on the back of the leaf,
and not along the ner\ ures, like the gooseberry saw-fly.
During the three last summers, we also remarked that
the alders (Abius glutinosa) along the banks of the
Ravensbourne, in Kent, were extensively stripped of
their leaves by a saw-fly caterpillar, very like the pre-
ceding, but of a larger size. (J.U.) It appears to be the
same as one figured by Reaumur* (Selandria Alni?
Stephens).

Another slimy caterpillar of a saw-fly, allied to that
of the cherry {Tenthredo CerasiJ, is called the slug-worm
in North America, where it has increased so numerously
as to threaten the entire destruction of fruit-trees, in-
cluding the cherry, plum, pear, and quince. Where
they are numerous, the air becomes loaded with a dis-
agreeable and sickly effluvium. The history of this
orchard pest has been admirably written by Professor
Peck.f

When a turnip crop has been fortunate enough to
escape the ravages committed on it in the seed leaf by a
small jumping beetle (Haltica nemonon, Illiger), and
by a root weevil (Nedyus contractus, Stephens), a no
less formidable depredator sometimes appears in a cater-
pillar belonging to the saw-fly family (Tenthredinidce),
and apparently of the genus AtJialia. An instance is
recorded by Marshall, in the Philosophical Transactions,

* Reaumur, vol. v., pi. 11, fig. 1, 2.
f Nat. Hist, of the Slug- Worm, Boston, 1799.

CATERPILLARS.

177

, Neiuatus caprco", on the osier ; b, Selandria alni? on the alder.

of many thousand acres having had to be ploughed up
on account of the devastations caused by these insects.
It is, he informs us, the general opinion in Norfolk that
they come from over-sea ; and a farmer averred that he
saw them arrive in clouds so as to darken the air, while
the fishermen reported that they had repeatedly wit-
nessed flights of them pass over their heads when they
were at a distance from land. On the beach and the
cliffs, indeed, they lay in heaps, so that they might have
been taken up with shovels ; while three miles inland
they crowded together like a swarm of bees.*
'■'■ Phil. Trans, vol. Ixxiii. p. 317-
VOL. ir. I

178 RAVAGES OF INSECTS.

We have little doubt, however, that these details are
put in an inverse order ; as frequently occurs in histories
of the proceedings of insects by those but little acquainted
with their habits. Insects of this family, indeed, seldom
fly far, and could not at all events cross the sea, unless
it might be a narrow bay or inlet ; and if they had, we
ought to have heard of their departure as well as their
arrival, since their extraordinary number could not have
failed to attract public notice on other shores. The na-
ture of these insects is to lie in the pupa state during the
winter under ground ; and when, at its appointed time,
the fly comes forth, it only lives to lay its eggs, usually
dying within a few days or weeks. It must have been,
therefore, after the laying their eggs on the turnips, and
not before, that clouds of the flies were seen at sea and
on the shore, though not arriving, but going away.
They were, doubtless, impelled by that restless desire of
change felt by all animals when death is approaching,
and v^hich in tropical countries is yearly exemplified in
the destruction of locusts, for these always make for the
sea, and perish there. But though they were thus got
rid of in August, 1782, they left a progeny behind them
in the black caterpillars which were hatched from their
eggs. In the summer of 1783, accordingly, we are told
by Mr. Marshall, that whole districts were ravaged by
them, — the descendants, of course, in the second gene-
ration, of the saw-flies which perished on the beach and
at sea the preceding autumn.

Some caterpillars, which either conceal themselves
under ground, or feed on roots and the wood of trees, do
considerable injury, without apparent cause ; and often
give occasion to the popular notions respecting mysterious
blights. In this manner will the caterpillars of the
ghost moth (Hepialus Humuli) gnaw the roots of the
burdock, and, what is of more consequence, of the hop
plant, till the shoots are weakened, and the leaves droop
in bright sunshine. We have repeatedly seen, in the
gardens about Lee, a large branch of the red-currant
bush, though previously healthy and loaded with fruit,
all of a sudden droop and wither, giving good cause to

CATERPILLARS. 179

surmise, except in the leaves not being brown or parched,
that it had been struck with lightning. On cutting into
such branches, however, the cause was uniformly found
to be the ravages of the caterpillar of the currant hawk-
moth {jEgeria tipuliformis, Stephens), which abounds
in the vicinity. But we have also remarked that it only
occasionally produces this effect upon the trees ; for
several bushes upon which we have found old pupa-cases
projecting from the bark, remained healthy and unin-
jured. (J.R.) Sir Joseph Banks showed Mr. Kirby a cur-
rant branch perforated by this caterpillar to the pith, and
said the size of the fruit was in consequence diminished.*
In Germany it is reported to destroy even large bushes
of , the red currant. There can be no doubt that the
caterpillars of the goat-moth frequently destroy willow,
poplar, and oak trees, of considerable magnitude ; but
the mother moth seems to prefer laying her eggs upon
those which have already begun to decay. A black
poplar tree, not thicker than a man's leg, and stripped
on one side of more than a foot of the bark, was bored
by above a dozen caterpillars of the clear underwing
(jEgeria asiliformis, Stephens), without seeming to have
its growth at all retarded.!

It does not appear that a minute moth, called by
Leeuwenhoeck, who writes its history, the wolf, and by
Haworth the mottled-woollen (Ph. lYnea granella,
LiNN^us), is so abundant in Britain as to do much da-
mage to the grain stored in granaries, upon which it
feeds. But it seems to have created considerable alarm
on the Continent. It has been found near London, and
?nai/ increase with us. The caterpillar, Vvhich is smooth
and white, ties together with silk several grains of wheat,
barley, rye, or oats, weaving a gallery between them.,
from which it projects its head while feeding ; the grains,
as Reaumur remarks, being jiH'evented from rolling or
slipping by the silk which unites them. He justly ridi-
cules the absurd notion of its filing off the outer skin of

* Kirby and Sptnce, vol. i. p. 197.
f See vol. i. p. ISl.

I 2

180

RAVAGES OF INSECTS.

the wheat by riibbirij^ upon it with its body, the latter
being the softer of the two ; and he disproved, by ex-
periment, Leeuwenhoeck's assertion that it will also feed
on woollen cloth. It is from the end of May till the
beginning of July that the moths, which are of a silvery
grey, spotted with brown, appear and lay their eggs in
granaries.

The caterpillar of another still more singular grain
moth (Tinea Hordei^ Kirby and Spence) proves some-
times very destructive to granaries. The mother moth,
in May or June, lays about tvventy or more eggs on a
grain of barley or wheat ; and when the caterpillars are
hatched they disperse, each selecting a single grain.
M. Reaumur imagines that sanguinary wars must some-
times arise, in cases of preoccupancy, a single grain of
barley being a rich heritage for one of these tiny insects ;
but he confesses he never saw such contests. When the
caterpillar has eaten its way into the interior of the grain,
it feeds on the farina, taking care not to gnaw the skin
nor even to throw out its excrements, so that except the
little hole, scarcely discernible, the grain appears quite

^^-

)

Transformations of the grain moths, a, grain of barley, including a
caterpillar ; b, c, the grain cut across, seen to be hollowed out, and
divided by a partition of silk; d, the moth (Tinea Horrid); e, grains
of wheat tied together by the caterpillar, /; g, the moth (Euplocamus
granella).

CATERPILLARS. 181

sound. When it has eaten all the favina, it spins itself
a case of silk within the now hollow grain, and changes
to a pupa in November,*

Two other caterpillars of a different family, the honey-
comb moth (Galleria cercana, Fabr,), and the honey
moth (G. olvearia, Fabr.), the first having square, and
the second rounded wings, f do very considerable da-
mage to the hives of bees. The moths of both, accord-
ing to Reaumur, appear about the end of June or be-
ginning of July ; and when in danger they run rather
than fly, gliding with such celerity that they can easily
elude the vigilance of the bees, which, indeed, if we may
trust Swammerdam, never attack them, nor prevent their
entrance into the hives, unless they chance to brush
against them in their passage. But Reaumur actually
saw the bees pursue one, though without success. It
becomes easy for a moth, at all events, to lay eggs among
the combs ; or, as Keys says, at the entrance of the hive ;
this writer adds, *' she spins a close and strong web to
defend the young;" J which is impossible, as no insect,
subsequent to its larva state, can spin.

The caterpillar of the first species, " wherever it
passes," says Swammerdam, " gnaws round holes through
the waxen cells, one caterpillar sometimes breaking open
and destroying fifty or sixty cells. Wherever it pene-
trates it always fabricates a hollow tubulated web, in
which, as a rabbit in its burrow, it can very swiftly pass
from one part to another, and speedily run back again.
It fills the whole comb with such webs, and turns itself
in them every way into various bendings and windings ;
so that the bees are not only perplexed and disturbed in
their work, but they frequently entangle themselves by
the claws and hairs of their legs in those webs, and the
w^hole hive is destroyed."

The other species he accuses of being not only de-
structive to the wax, but to the bees themselves. " I

* Reaumur, Mem., vol. ii. p. 4S6, &c.

f Stephens's Catalogue, vol. ii. p. 213.

I KeySj Treatise on Bees, p. 173, edit. 1814.

182

RAVAGES OF INSECT3.

Transformations of the lioneycomb moths, 'a a a, Galleries of the
cell-borinj,' caterpillar ; 6, the female ; c, the male moth (6V///cj'rt nlve-
aria) ; dd dd, jjalleries of the wax eating caterpillar, e, seen at the en-
trance ; /, the same exposed ; g, its cocoon ; h, the moth {Galleria
cereana).

saw one of these little caterpillars," he says, " whilst it
was still small, and was breaking the cells in which the
pupa of the bees lie, and eating the wax there, cover
up these, pupge with its excrements, so that they could
scarcely be known." He adds with great naivete, " I
have learned these matters much against my inclination,
and have been full of wrath against the insect for thus
defiling and killing some bee pupae which I had designed
to observe in their changes."*

M. Bazin, a friend of Reaumur's, discovered the cater-
pillar of a moth of this order feeding on chocolate, of
which it seemed very choice, always preferring that

* Swammerdam, vol. i. p. 225.

GRuns. 188

which had the finest flavour. The moth is sometimes
produced in September, and sometimes in the beginning
of the following- summer. It is probable that, like the
cheese-fly, it might, in default of chocolate, select some
other aliment.*

Grubs.

We frequently hear farmers and gardeners complaining
that their produce is destroyed by '"'■the grub;" they
might with equal propriety accuse "Me bird" when
their ripe seeds are devoured by sparrows, chaffinches,
linnets, and other seed-eaters. Instead of one sort of
grub, as the expression seems to indicate, we are far
under the mark in reckoning a thousand species indige-
nous to Britain, each peculiar in its food and its manners.
We shall, however, adhere as nearly as possible to the
terms in common use ; but as the larvas of the crane-flies
{TipulidcB^ Leach), being without legs, cannot be accu-
rately ranked with the legged grubs of beetles, we shall
consider them as maggots, though they are usually termed
grubs by the farmers.

The most destructive, perhaps, of the creatures usually
called grubs, are the larvae of the may-bug or cockchafer
(JMelolontlia vulgaris), but too well known, particularly
in the southern and midland districts of England, as well
as in Ireland, where the grub is called the Connaught
worm ;1' but fortunately not abundant in the north. We
only once met with the cockchafer in Scotland, at Som,
in Ayrshire. (J. R.) Even in the perfect state, this
insect is not a little destructive to the leaves 6f both
forest and fruit trees. In 1823, we remember to have
observed almost all the trees al^oat Dulwich and Cam-
berwell defoliated by them ; and Salisbury says, the leaves
of the oaks in Richmond Park were so eaten by them,
that scarcely an entire leaf was left. But it is in their
previous larva state that they are most destructive, as we
shall see by tracing their history.

* Reaumur, vol. iii. p. 277.
f Bingley, Aiiim. Biog. vol. iii. p. 230.

1 84 EAVAGES OF INSECTS.

The mother cockchafer, when about to lay her eggs,
digs into the earth of a meadow or corn-field to the depth
of a span, and deposits them in a cluster at the bottom of
the excavation. Roscl, in order to watch their proceed-
ings, put some females into glasses half-filled with earth,
covered with a tuft of grass and a piece of thin muslin.
In a fortnight, he found some hundreds of eggs depo-
sited, of an oval shape and a pale yellow colour. Placing
the glass in a cellar, the eggs were hatched towards
autumn, and the grubs increased remarkably in size. In
the following IMay they fed so voraciously that they re-
quired a fresh turf every second day ; and even this
proving too scanty provender, he sowed in several gar-
den pots a crop of peas, lentils, and salad, and when the
plants came up he put a pair of grubs in each pot ; and
in this manner he fed them through the second and third
years. During this period, they cast their skins three
or four times, going for this purpose deeper into the
earth, and burrowing out a hole where they might effect
their change undisturbed ; and they do the same in
winter, during which they become torpid and do not
eat.

When the grub changes into a pupa, in the third
autumn after it is hatched, it digs a similar burrow about
a yard deep ; and when kept in a pot, and prevented
from going deep enough, it shows great uneasiness and
often dies. The perfect beetle comes forth from the
pupa in January or February ; but it is then as soft as it
was whilst still a grub, and does not acquire its hardness
and colour for ten or twelve days, nor does it venture
above ground before May, on the fourth year from the
time of its hatching. At this time, the beetles may be
observed issuing from their holes in the evening, and
dashing themselves about in the air as if blind.

During the three summers then of their existence in
the grub state, these insects do immense injury, burrowing
between the turf and the soil, and devouring the roots of
grass and other plants ; so that the turf may easily be
rolled off*, as if cut by a turfing spade, while the soil
underneath for an inch or more is turned into soft mould

GRUBS.

185

Transformations of the cockchafer {Mcklmthn rulgarh). a. Newly
hatched larvae, b, larva, one year old. c, the same larva at the second
year of its growth, d, the same three years old. e, section of a bank
of earth, containing the chrysalis of the fourth year, /', the cliafer first
emerging from the earth, g, the perfect chafer in a sitting posture, /i,
the same Hying.

like the bed of a garden. Mr. Anderson, of Norwich,
mentions having seen a whole field of fine flourishing
grass so undermined by these grubs, that in a few weeks
it became as dry, brittle, and withered as hay.* Binglej
also tells us that "about sixty years ago, a farm near

* Fhilosoph. Trans, xliv. 579.

I 3

186 RAVAGES OF INSECTS.

Norwich was so infested with cockchafers, that the farmer
and his servants affirmed they gathered eighty bushels of
them ; and the grubs had done so much injury, that the
court of the city, in compassion to the poor fellow's mis-
fortune, allowed him twenty-five pounds." * In the year
1785, a farmer, near Blois, in France, employed a num-
ber of children and poor persons to destroy the cock-
chafers at the rate of two liards a hundred, and in a few
days they collected fourteen thousand. f

" I remember," says Salisbury, " seeing, in a nursery
near Bagshot, several acres of young forest trees, parti-
cularly larch, the roots of which were completely de-
stroyed by it, so much so that not a single tree was left
alive." J We are doubtful, however, whether this was
the grub of the cockchafer, and think it more likely to
have been that of the green rose-beetle {Cetonia aurata)^
which feeds on the roots of trees.

The grub of an allied genus, the midsummer chafer
(^Zantheiimia solstitialis^ Leach), has for the last two
years been abundant on Lewisham Hill, Blackhoath,
doing considerable injury to herbage and garden plants.
This beetle may be known fi-om being smaller and paler
than the cockchafer, and from its not appearing before
midsummer. The grub is very similar.

The best way of preventing the ravages of these in-
sects would be to employ children to collect the perfect
insects when they first appear, before they lay their
eggs ; but when a field is once overrun with the larva,
nothing can be done with it, except paring and burning
the surface, or ploughing it up, and turning in a flock of
ducks or other poultry, or a drove of pigs, wdiich are said
to eat these grubs, and to fatten on the fare. Drenching
the field with stable urine§ by means of reservoir-carts,
like those used for watering roads, would, it sufficiently
done, both kill the grubs and beneficially manure the
land.

* Anim. Biog. iii. 233.

f Anderson's Recr. in Agricult. iii. 420. j Hints, 71.

§ See the Harleian Dairy System, p. 222.

GRUBS. 187

The grub called the wire-ivorm, though not very appro-
priately, is the larva of one of the spring or click beetles
(Hemirhipiis lineatus, and II. obscurr/s, Latreille),
known by their long flattish body, and their power of
springing with a clicking sound out of the hand when
caught. In some works on agriculture, the larva of a com-
mon crane-fly (Tipnla oleracea or T. crocata) is called the
u'ire-ivonn, — we suppose by mistake.* The grubs of the
click-beetles, just alluded to, are said by Bierscanderf
and by Mr. Paul of Starston, Norfolk, ;}: who watched
their transformations, to continue five years before pro-
ducing the perfect insect. During this time the grub
feeds chiefly on the roots of wheat, rye, oats, barley, and
grass ; but seems also sometimes to attack the larger roots
of potatoes, carrots, and salads. Its ravages are often so
extensive as to cut off" entire crops of grain. It appears
to be most partial to land newly broken up ; and has not
been found so abundant in meadows and pastures, unless
in fields recently laid down with grass. "The wire-
worm," says Spence, " is particularly destructive for a
few years in gardens recently converted from pasture
ground. In the botanic garden at Hull, thus circum-
stanced, a great proportion of the annuals sown in 1813
were destroyed by it. A very simple and effectual re-
medy, in such cases, was mentioned to me by Sir Joseph
Banks. He recommended that slices of potatoes, stuck
upon skewers, should be buried near the seeds sown,
examined every day, and the wire-worms, which collect
upon them in great numbers, destroyed." §

The wire-worm is long, slender, and very tough and
hard ; but otherwise it has no resemblance to wire, being
whitish in colour, of a flattish form, and jointed or ringed.
Its breathing spiracles, two in number, are on the back
of its last ring.

An insect of this family (Elater nociilucus, Lixn.) is
exceedingly destructive, in the West Indies, to the sugar-

* See Loudon's Eiicycl. of Agricult. 6. 6921.
f Act. Holm. 1779, p. 284. + Kirbv and Spence, i. 182.
^^ lutr. i. 1S2-3. '

188

RAVAGES OF INSECTS.

«j Wire worm ; I, Click beetle.

cane ; the grub, according: to Humboldt and Bonpland,
feeding on its roots and killing the plants." *

Instances are by no means rare, however, of insects
being accused of depredations of which they are not
guilty, from the mere circumstance of their being found
in abundance where ravages have been committed by
others that have naturally disappeared. It is not im-
probable that this was the case with a grub of some
beetle (Staphylinidci^ ?) mentioned by Mr, Walford, and
mistaken by him for the wire-worm. Out of fifty acres
of wheat sown in 1802, ten had been destroyed in Octo-
ber by this grub eating into the centre of the young stem
an inch below the surface and killing the plant. f It
seems still more probable that the grub of a native
beetle (Zabrvs gibhus, Stephe.ns), which has been
found in considerable numbers near Worthing, Brighton,
Hastings, aid Cambridge, has been unjustly blamed
as a destroyer ot" corn ; though we have the respectable
authority of Germar, who, with other members of the
society of Natural History of Halle, imagined he had
ascertained the fact. In the spring of 1S13, about two
hundred and thirty acres of young wheat are said to have
been destroyed by it ; and it is farther supposed to be

* Geog. des Plaiites, 136.
■j- Linn. Trans, ix. 156-61.

GRUBS.

189

the same insect which caused great destruction in Italy in
1776. This grub is said to take probably three years in
coming to a beetle, in Avhich state it is alleged to clamber
up the stems at night to get at the corn. It is important
to remark, that along with these grubs wore found those
of a chafer {Melolontha rnficornis^ Fabr,), in the pro-
portion of about a fourth.*

a b

a, Zabrus gibbus ; h, Melolontha ruficornis.

To this account Mr. Stephens appends the shrewd
questions — " May not these herbivorous larvte [of the
chafer] have been the principal cause of niiscliief to the
wheat, while those of the Zabrus rather contributed to
lessen their numbers than to destroy the corn ? And is
it not probable that the perfect insects ascend the corn
for the purpose of devouring the insect parasites thereon ?
This is a subject," he justly adds, " that requires inves-
tigation, as it is highly important, for the interests of the
agriculturists in those districts where the insect abounds,
that the question should be thoroughly set at rest ; be-
cause, should the Zabri depart from the habits of the
group to which they belong, and become herbivorous
instead of carnivorous, their destruction would be de-
sirable ; while, on the contrary, if they destroy the de-
vourers of our produce their preservation should be
attempted." f

* Germar, Mag. der Entomol., i. 1-10; and Kirby and
Spence, i. 1G9.

t Stephens, Illustrations, i. Mandib. pp. 4 and 110.

190 KAVAGES OF INSECTS.

Wc have little doubt that Mr. Stephens is right, and
Gerniar wrong ; but it would be improper to decide the
question by analogy unsupported by direct exjieriment.
One thing is certain, that both this family (Harpalidce^
MacLeay) and the whole section (Adephaga, Clair-
ville) are not herbivorous, but carnivorous.* Similar
errors will come under our notice, as we proceed, not
more defensible than that of the old soldier causing cater-
pillars in France.

Even when agricultural produce escapes being de-
voured at the root, or the young shoots eaten up, the
seeds are often made the prey of the grubs of beetles and
weevils. Among the first, the gnawing beetles (Bru-
chidcs. Leach) are very destructive. In North Ame-
rica, the pea-beetle (SrucJms Pisi\ Linn.) commits such
extensive depredations on pulse, that in some districts
the sowing of peas has been abandoned as useless. Ivalm,
the Swedish traveller, having witnessed these depreda-
tions in America, became quite alarmed when he disco-
vered the insect among some peas he had brought to
Sweden, lest he should be the means of introducing so
formidable a pest.f His fears seem to us to have been
in a great measure groundless ; for, probably, the insect
may be indigenous to Sweden, as it is to Britain, though
from circumstances of climate, and other causes, it is
seldom produced in such numbers with us as to occasion
extensive damage. It may have been the same or an
allied species of grub mentioned by Amoroux as having
spread an alarm in France in 1780, when the old fancy
of its being poisonous induced the public authorities to
prohibit peas from being sold in the markets. J The in-
sect most destructive to our peas is the pulse-beetle
(^Bruclms grcmarms, Li^is'.), v.hich sometimes lays an
egg on every pea in a pod, which the grub, when
hatched, destroj's. In the same way, clover-seed is

* See an illustration in vol. i. p. 196.
f Kalm's Travels, vol. i. p. 173.

X Amoroux, Insectes Venimeux^ 2SS. Kirby and Spence,
i. 177.

GRUBS.

191

often attacked hy two or more species of small weevil
(Apwn, Hekbst), known by the yellow colour of their
thighs or their feet ; and when the farmer expects to
reap considerable profit, he finds nothing but empty
husks.

We ha\e mentioned the ravages committed in grana-
ries by the caterpillars of small moths ; but these are
rivalled in the work of destruction by several species of
grubs. One of these grubs is called by the French ca-
delle {Trogosita mauritanica, Olivier), and is reported
to have done more damage to housed grain than any
other insect.* The pest of the granaries, which is but
too well known in this country, is the grain weevil (Ca-
landra granaria, Clairville), the same, probably,
which is mentioned by Virgil,

Populatque ingentem fariis acervum

Curculio. Gsoi-g. i. 87.

The high stacks of corn

Are wasted by the weevil. Trapp.

Kirby and Spence calculate that a single pair of wee-
vils may produce in one season 6000 descendants ; and
they were told by an extensive brewer that he had col-
lected and destroyed them by bushels, f — meaning, no
doubt, insects and damaged grain together.

Another beetle grub, popularly called the meal-worm,
the larva of Tenebrio molitor, Li>'>:., which lives in that

Corn weevil {Calanira granaria), magnified.

* Olivier, ii. 19.

fln'r. M73.

192 BAVAGES OF INSECTS.

state two years, does no little damage to flour, as well a?
to bread, cakes, biscuit, and similar articles. Accounts
arc also given of the ravages committed by the grubs of
other beetles, of several species apparently not well as-
certained, upon ditFerent sorts of provisions, such as
bacon, ham, dried tongues, ship-biscuit, &c. Sparrman
tells us that he has witnessed the ground peas on ship-
board so infested with these grubs, that they were seen
in every spoonful of the soup. In the case of soup, or
of other food which has been exposed to heat, the only
inconvenience is the disgust which must ensue ; but, un-
fortunately, there may sometimes occur circumstances of
s, more serious nature, — from either the eggs or the in-
sects themselves being incautiously swallowed alive. We
do not wish, however, to create, so much as to allay, the
fears entertained by those who are unacquainted with
the habits of insects ; and nothing we are persuaded will
do this more effectually than a statement of facts well
ascertained. " Several people,'' says the Abbe de la
Plucbe, " never eat fruit because they believe that spiders
and other insects scatter their eggs upon it at random ;"*
but even if this M-ere so, as it is not, it would be impos-
sible for the young, should they be hatched in the sto-
mach, to live there for an instant. The possible cases
in which this may occur we shall now briefly notice ;
they are fortunately very rare.

The grub of the nut weevil (Bakminus Nucum, Ger-
mar) might, perhaps, by rare accident, get into the
stomach, either of man or of the quadrupeds which
feed on nuts ; but as it is by no means so tenacious of
life as the grub of the churchyard-beetle {Blaps 7nor-
tisaga) it is unlikely that it would produce any con-
siderable disorder. The wee\41 in question, like the
rest of its congeners, is furnished v/ith an instrument for
depositing its eggs considerably difterent from those of
the ichneumons and saw-flies. For this purpose the
weevil makes use of its long horny beak (^Rostrurn) to

* Spectacle de la Nature, i. Q5,

GRUDS OF BEETLES. 193

drill a hole in filberts and hazel-nuts, uliilc in their
young and soft state, about the beginning of August.
The mother weevil may then be seen eagerly running
over the bushes, and it would appear that she always
rejects the nuts in which one of her neighbours may have
previously laid an egg ; at least we never find two grubs
in the same nut. The egg which is thus thrust into the
young nut, is of a brown colour, and is hatched in about
a fortnight, the grub feeding on the interior of the shell
as well as the soft pulp, till the one becomes too hard
and the other too dry to be nutritive. It is remarkable
that, during this period, he takes care not to injure the
kernel, but permits it to ripen before he attacks it. Had
he done this prematurely, he would have ultimately been
starved, as he has not the power of perforating another
nut when the first is consumed. It is said also that he
is very careful to preserve the original hole made by the
mother, by gnawing around its inner edges, in order to
facilitate his exit,* which he efiects when the nut falls
to the ground in September or October. The hole
found in the nut appears much too small to have admitted
of its passage ; but from being very soft it no doubt
stretches itself out for the purpose, using its short claws
as instruments of motion.

Iloscl, in order to observe the transformation of these
nut grubs, put a number of them, at the commencement
of winter, into glasses half filled with earth, coveied
with green turf. All of them dug directly down into
the earth, remained there all the winter, and did not
change into pupae till the following June ; the perfect
weevils appeared from the 1st till about the 20th of
August, but still kept under ground for the first week
after their change.

"During the autumn," says Salisbury, "we fi'C-
quently observe a small red weevil busily employed in tra-
versing the branches of a])ple-trees, on which it lays its
eggs by perforating the bloom buds. In the sj>ring
these hatch, and the grubs feed on the petals of the

* Bingley, Animal Biography, vol. iii., p. 251.

194

RAVAGES OF INSECTS.

Nut and apple-tree beetles. A, a branch of the filbert -tree, a, egg
hole in the nut; 6, exit hole of the grub B, the larva of the nut
beetle. C, the same in the pupa state. D, female beetle. E, male
beetle, c, the beetle that destroys the bloom- hud of the apple-tree;
a, the same in the larva state ; b, the chrysalis of the same.

flowers, drawing up the whole flower into a cluster by-
means of their web. The bloom thus becomes de-
stroyed, and the grub falls to the ground, where it lays
itself up in the chrysalide state ; and in the autumn
afterwards we tind the weevil renewed, which again per-
forates the buds, and causes a similar destruction in the
following spring. Mr. Knight, in his treatise on the
apple, mentions a beetle which commits great destruction
on the apple-trees in Herefordshire ; but I do not think
it the same as the one I have described above, and which
is very common in the gardens near London."* Salis-
bury's weevil is probably the Anthonomiis Pomorum of
Germar ; and Knight's, his Pohjdrusus Mali. Another
weevil (JRhynchites Bacchus, Herbst), one of our most
splendid but not very common native insects, bores into
the stone of the cherry, &c., while it is young and soft,
and deposits an e^^ there, as the nut weevil does in the
nut.

* Salisbury's Hints on Orchards, p. 92.

GKUUS or BEETLES. 195

Perhaps the most voracious grub on record is that of a
large and beautiful beetle (Calosoma sycophanta^ We-
ber), which is rare in Britain. It is sometimes found
in the nests of the processionary and other gregarious
caterpillars, so gorged with those it has devoured that it
can scarcely move without bursting. xSot contented
Mith this prey alone, however, the younger grubs are
said '* often to take advantage of the helpless inactivity
into which the gluttony of their maturer comrades has
thrown them, and from mere wantonness, it should seem,
when in no need of other food, pierce and devour
them."* It is a familiar occurrence to those v,ho breed
insects to find caterpillars, whose natural food is leaves,
devouring others in the same nurse-box ; and without any
apparent discrimination whether these are the pi-ogeny
of their own mother, or of a different species. f (J.R.)

We have frequently observed a very remarkable in-
stinct in the grubs of a species of beetle {Scolytns de-
structor, Geoitroy), which lives under the dead bark
of trees. The mother insect, as is usual with beetles,
deposits her eggs in a patch or cluster in a chink or hole
in the bark ; and when the brood is hatched, they begin
feeding on the bark which had formed their cradle.
There is, of course, nothing wonderful in their eating the
food selected by their mother ; but it appears that, like
the caterpillars of the clothes moth, and the tent insects,
they cannot feed except under cover. They dig, there-
fore, long tubular galleries between the bark and the
wood ; and, in order not to interfere with the riins of
their brethren, they branch off from the place of hatch-
ing like rays from the centre of a circle : though these
are not always in a right line, yet, however near they
may approach to the contiguous ones, none of them ever
break into each other's premises. We cannot but ad-
mire the remarkable instinct implanted in these grubs
by their Creator ; which guides them thus in lines di-
verging farther and farther as they increase in size, so

* Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 277.
t See also De Geer, i. 5o3, &c., and Reaumur, ii. 413.

196

RAVAGES OF INSECTS.

Bark mined in ravs bv beetle-L'rubs.

that they are prevented from interfering with the com-
forts of one another.

The various instances of voracity which we have thus
described sink into insignificance when compared with
the terrible devastation produced by the larvae of the
locust {Locusta migratoria, Leach), — the scourge of
Oriental countries, "A fire devoureth before' them,"
says the Prophet Joel, " and behind them a flame burn-
eth : the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and
behind them a desolate wilderness ; yea, and nothing
shall escape them. The sound of their wings is as the
sound of chariots, of many horses running to battle ; on
the tojis of mojjntains shall they leap, like the noise of a
flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong
people set in battle array. Before their faces, the people
shall be much pained, all faces shall gather blackness.
They shall run like mighty men ; they shall climb the
wall like men of war ; and they shall march every one in
his ways, and they shall not break their ranks ; neither
shall one thrust another."*

* Joel ii. 2, &c.

JLOCUSTS. 197

The intelligent traveller, Dr. Shaw, was an eye-wit-
ness of their devastations in Barhary in 1724, where
they first appeared about the end of March, their num-
bers increasing so much in the beginning of April as
literally to darken the sun ; but by the middle of INIay
they began to disappear, retiring into the jNIettijiah and
other adjacent jdains to deposit their eggs. "These
were no sooner hatched in June," he continues, "than
each of the broods collected itself into a compact body,
of a furlong or more in square ; and marching afterwards
directly forwards toward the sea, they let nothing escape
them, — they kept their ranks like men of war ; climbing
over, as they advanced, every tree or wall that was in
their way ; nay, they entered into our very houses and
bed-chambers, like so many thieves. The inhabitants,
to stop their progress, formed trenches all over their fields
and gardens, which they filled with water. Some placed
large quantities of heath, stubble, and other combustible
matter, in rows, and set them on fire on the approach of
the locusts ; but this was all to no purpose, for the
trenches were quickly filled up, and the fires put out, by
immense swarms that succeeded each other.

" A day or two after one of these hordes was in mo-
tion, others were already hatched to march and glean
after them. Having lived near a month in this manner,
they arrived at their full growth, and threw off their
nympha state by casting their outward skin. To pre-
pare themselves for this change, they clung by their
hinder feet to some bush, twig, or corner of a stone ; and
immediately, by using an undulating motion, their heads
would first break out, and then the rest of their bodies.
The whole transformation was performed in seven or
eight minutes ; after which they lay for a small time in a
torpid, and, seeminglj^, in a languishing condition ; but
as soon as the sun and the air had hardened their wings
by drying up the moisture that remained upon them after
casting their sloughs, they resumed their former voracity,
with an addition of strength and agility. Yet they con-
tinued not long in this state before they were entirely
dispersed." *

* Shaw's Travels, p. 2S7.

198 RAVAGES OF INSECTS.

It is difficult to form an adequate conception of the
swarms of locusts which, in 1797, invaded the interior of
southern Africa, as recorded by Mr. Barrow. In the
part of the country where he was, the whole surfiice of
the ground, for an area of nearly two thousand square
miles, might .literally be said to be covered with them.
The water of a very wide river was scarcely visible, on
account of the dead carcases of locusts that floated on
the surface, drowned in the attempt to come at the reeds
that grew in it. They had devoured every blade of
grass, and every green herb, except the reeds. But they
are not precisely without a choice in their food. When
they attack a field of corn just come into ear, they first,
according to Mr. Barrow, mount to the summit and pick
out every grain before they touch the leaves and stem,
keeping the while constantly in motion, with the same
intent of destruction always in view. When the larvag,
which are much more voracious than the perfect insects,
are on a march during the day, it is utterly impossible to
turn the direction of the troop, and this seems usually to
correspond with that of the wind. Towards the setting
of the sun the march is discontinued, when the troop di-
vides into companies that surround the small shrubs, or
tufts of grass, or ant-hills, in such thick patches, that
they appear like so many swarms of bees ; and in this
manner they rest till day-light. At these times it is that
the farmers have any chance of destroying them ; this
they sometimes effect by driving among them a flock of
two or three thousand sheep, by whose restlessness great
numbers of them are trampled to death. The year 1797
was the third of their continuance in Sneuwberg ; and
their increase had been more than a million-fold from
year to year.

This district, however, had been entirely free from
them for ten years preceding their visit in 1794. Their
former exit was singular : all the full-grown insects were
driven into the sea by a tempestuous north-west wind,
and were afterwards cast up on the beach, where thej
formed a bank of three or four feet high, and extending
to a distance of nearly fifty miles. When this mass be-
came putrid, and the wind was at south-east, the stench

LOCUSTS. ' 199

was sensibly felt in several parts of Sneuwberg, although
distant at least a hundred and fifty miles.*

Pallas gives a more detailed account of the daily pro-
ceedings of the larvae of the Italian locust {Locusta
Italica, Leach). " In serene weather," he tells us,
" the locusts are in full motion in the morning, imme-
diately after the evaporation of the dew ; and if no dew
has fallen, they appear as soon as the sun imparts his
genial warmth. At first, some are seen running about
like messengers among the reposing swarms, which are
lying partly compressed ujjon the ground at the side of
small eminences, and partly attached to tall plants and
shrubs. Shortly after the whole body begins to move
forward in one direction, and v.ith little deviation.
They resemble a swarm of ants, all taking the same
course, at small distances, but without touching each
other: they uniformly travel towards a certain region as
fast as a fly can run, and without leaping, unless pursued ;
in which case, indeed, they disperse, but soon collect
again and follow their former route. In this manner
they advance from morning to evening without halting,
frequently at the rate of a hundred fathoms and upv.ards
in the course of a day. Although they prefer marching
along high roads, foot-paths, or open tracts, yet, when
their progress is opposed by bushes, hedges, and ditches,
they penetrate through them : their way can only be im-
peded by the waters of brooks or canals, as they are
apparently terrified at every kind of moisture. Often,
however, they endeavour to gain the opposite bank, with
the aid of overhanging boughs ; and, if the stalks of
plants or shrubs be laid across the water, they pass in
close columns over these temporary bridges, on which
they even seem to rest, and enjoy the refreshing coolness.
Towards sun-set, the whole swarm gradually collect in
parties, and creep up the plants, or encamp on slight
eminences. On cold, cloudy, or rainy days, they do not
travel. As soon as they acquire wings, they progres-
sively disperse, but still fly about in lai*ge sv,arms."f

* Barrow's Travels in South Africa, p. 257.
f Travels in Russia, ii. 422-6.

200 RAVAGES or INSECTS.

"When Captains Irby and Mangles were travelling
round the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, in the
end of May, they had an opportunity of observing these
insect depredators. " In the morning," say they, " we
quitted Shobek. On our way we passed a swarm of
locusts that were resting themselves in a gully ; they
were in sutficicnt numbers to alter apparently the colour
of the rock on which they had alighted, and to make a
sort of crackling noise while eating, which we heard be-
fore we reached them. Volney compares it to the fo-
raging of an army. Our conductors told us they were
on their way to Gaza, and that they pass almost
annually."*

Even our own island has been alarmed by the appear-
ance of locusts, a considerable number having visited us
in 1748 ; but they happily perished without propagating.
Other parts of Europe have not been so fortunate. In
1650 a cloud of locusts were seen to enter Russia in three
different places ; and they afterwards spread themselves
over Poland and Lithuania in such astonishing multitudes,
that the air was darkened, and the earth covered with
their numbers. In some places they were seen lying-
dead, heaped upon each other to the depth of four feet ;
in others they covered the surface of the ground like a
black cloth : the trees bent with their weight, and the

Locust.

* Irby and Mangles' Travels in Egypt and Syriaj p. 113.

MAGGOTS. 201

ihimage the country sustained exceeded computation.*
They iiave frequently come also from Africa into Italy
and Spain. In the year 591 an infinite army of locusts,
of a size unusually large, ravaged a considerable part of
Italy, and being at last cast into the sea (as seems for
the most part to be their fate), a pestilence, it is alleged,
arose from their stench, which carried off nearly a mil-
lion of men and beasts. In the Venetian territory, like-
wise, in 1478, more than 30,000 persons are said to have
perished in a famine chiefly occasioned by the depre-
dations of locusts. t

Maggots.

Adhering to the distinction of terming those larva?
which are destitute of feet, maggots, we shall notice here
a very destructive one, which is sometimes popularl}"
cjdled the grub, and sometimes confounded with the wire-
worm. |l* We allude to the larvae of one or two common
species of crane-flies {Tipulidce) , well known by the
provincial names of father-long-legs, Jenny-spinne:-s,
and tailors. These insects are so common in some mea-
dows, that, being very shy and fearful of danger, they
rise in swarms at every step — some of them flying
high, others only skipping over the grass, and others
running and using their long legs as the inhabitants of
marshy countries use stilts, and employing their wings
like the ostrich to aid their limbs.

These flies deposit their eggs in the earth ; sometimes
in grass-fields or moist meadows, and sometimes in the
tilled ground of gardens and farms. For this purpose
the female is provided with an ovipositor well adapted to
the operation, consisting of a sort of pincers or Ibrceps of
a horny consistence, and sharp at the point. By pres-
sure, as Reaumur says, the eggs may be extruded from
this in the same way as the stone can be easily squeezed
out of a ripe cherry, as in the following figure.

* Biugley, Anim. Biog. iii. 2S0.
t Mouffet, Theatr. Insect. 123.
X See Stlckney's Observ. on the Gnib, 8vo. Hull, ISOO.
VOL. II. K

202 RAVAGES OF INSECTS.

Ovipositor and eggs of the crane-fly {Tipula).

The eggs are exceedingly small and black, like grains
of gunpowder, and each female lays a good many hun-
dreds. The position which she assumes appears some-
what awkward, for she raises herself perpendicularly on
her two hind-legs, using her ovipositor as a point of sup-
port, and resting with her fore-legs upon the contiguous
herbage. She then thrusts her ovipositor into the ground
as far as the first ring of her body, and leaves one or more
eggs in the hole ; and next moves onwards to another
place, but without bringing herself into a horizontal po-
sition. The maggot, \vhen hatched from the egg, im-
mediately attacks the roots of the grass and other herb-
age which it finds nearest to it ; and of course the por-
tion of the plant above ground withers for lack of
nourishment.

The maggots of this family which seem to do most
injury are those of Tipula oleracea and T. cornicina. In
the summer of" 1828, we observed more than an acre of
ground, adjoining the Bishop of Oxford's garden at
Blackheath, as entirely stripped, both of grass and every-
thing green, as if the turf had been pared off from the
surface, the only plant untouched being the tiny bird-tare

MAGGOTS. 2Q3

(^Ornithopus perpusillus) . On digging here to learn the
cause, we found these larvae already full-fed, and about
to pass into pupae, after having left nothing upon which
they could subsist. It was not a little remarkable that
they seemed to be altogether confined to this spot ; for we
did not meet with a single foot of turf destroyed by them
in any other part of the heath, or in the adjacent fields.
So very complete, however, was their destruction of the
roots on the spot in question, that even now, at the dis-
tance of two years, it is still visibly thinner of herbage
than the parts around it. (J. R.)

Reaumur gives a similar account of their ravages in
Poitou, where, in certain seasons, the grass of the low
moist meadows has been so parched up in consequence,
as not to afford sufficient provender for the cattle. He
describes the soil in Poitou as a black peat mould ; and it
was 'the same in which we found them at Blackheath,
with this difference, that the spot was elevated and dry.
According to M. Reaumur, also, their only food is this
sort of black mould, and not the roots of grass and
herbage, which he thinks are only loosened by their
burrowing.* This view of the matter appears strongly
corroborated by the fact that several species of the family
feed upon the mould in the holes of decaying trees, par-
ticularly the larva of a very beautiful one (Ctenophora
JIaveoIata, Meigen), which is very rare in Britain. It
is proper to mention, however, that Mr. Stickney's ex-
periments,! contrary to the conclusions of Reaumur, in-
dicate that these larvae devour the roots of grass ; and
Stewart says they " feed on the roots of plants, com,
and grasses, and are thence destructive to gardens, fields,
and meadows. They prevailed in the neighbourhood of
Edinburgh, and other places in Scotland, in the spring
of 1800, when they laid waste whole fields of oats and
other grain." |

In many districts of England these insects cut oflT a
large proportion of the wheat crop, particularly, it would

* Reaumur, v. 12, &c. f Obs. on the Grub.

+ Elements, ii. 267.

20 i RAVAGES or INSECTS.

appear, when it had been sown on clover leys. " In the
rich district," say Kirby and Spence, "of Sunk. Island,
in Holderness, in the spring of 1813, hundreds of acres
of pasture have been entirely destroyed by them, being
rendered as completely brown as if they had suffered a
three months' drought, and destitute of all vegetation
except a few thistles. A square foot of the dead turf
being dug up, 210 grubs were counted on it ; and, what
iurnishes a striking proof of the prolific powers of those
insects, last year it was difficult to find a single one."*

It is worthy of remark that the mandibles of these de-
structive creatures, which are claw-shaped and transverse,
do not act against each other as is usual among insects,
but against two other pieces which are immoveable, con-
vex, and toothed, — as if the under-jaw in quadrupeds
were divided into two, and should act vertically on tho
two portions of the immoveable upper-jaw thrown in
between them.

The maggot of a minute fly of the same family, known
by the name of the wheat-fly {Cec'idomyia Tn'tici, Kirby
and Spence), is frequently productive of great damage
in the crops of wheat. Its history was first investigated
by Marsham, and subsequently by Kirby and Spence,
and several other intelligent naturalists. The parent fly
is very small, not unlike a midge {Cidicoidcs punctata^
Latr.), of an orange colour, and wings rounded at the
tip, and fringed with hairs. f The female is furnished
with a retractile ovipositor, four times as long as the
body, and as fine as a hair, for depositing her eggs,
M'hich she does in the glumes of the florets of the grain.
The following account of its proceedings is given by
Mr. Shireff, an intelligent farmer of East Lothian.

" Wheat-flies," he says, " were first observed here
this season on the evening of the 21st of June, and,
from the vast number seen, it is probable a few of them
may have been in existence some days previous. The

* Iiitr. i. 318, note.
f Linn. Trans., iii. 243— iv. 231-240 ; v. 96.

MAGGOTS. * 205

eggs were visible on the 23rd, the larvce on the 30th of
tliat month, and the pupae on the 29th of July, The
flies were observed depositing eggs on the 28th, and
finally disappeared on the 30th July ; thus having ex-
isted throughout a period of thirty-nine days.

" The flies were observed to frequent the wheat-plant,
including the thicic -rooted couch-grass (Iriticiim i-epens).
They generally reposed on the lower parts of the stems
during the day, and became active about sunset, except
when the wind was high. I have, however, seen them
flying about on cloudy mornings, till seven o'clock ; and,
upon one occasion, witnessed them depositing their eggs,
in a shaded situation, at two in the afternoon. Their
movements appear to be influenced by the rays of light,
of which they seem impatient, being active when the sun
is below or near the horizon : they frequent the most
umbrageous part of the crop, and shun that which is de-
ficient in foliage.

*' The flies almost invariably preferred the ears emerg-
ing from the vagina to those farther advanced, for de-
positing their eggs on ; and as one side only of the ear
is exposed when the plant is in this stage of growth, the
other side generally remained uninjured. The fly de-
serted the fields as the crop advanced towards maturity,
and were found longest on the spring-sown portion of
the crop. It seemed to feed on the gum adhering to the
newly emerged ears ; and as there is a great diversity in
the time of sowing wheat in this neighbourhood, and
consequently of the ears escaping fiom the vagina, I
attribute the unusual length of time it has existed this
season, to the supply of food thus gradually furnished.

" The fly deposits its eggs with much intensity, and
may easily be taken when so employed. Upon one
occasion, I numbered thirty -five flies on a single ear ; and,
after carrying it a distance of a quarter of a mile, six of
them still continued to deposit eggs. At another time,
I placed a fly, then laying, between the face and glass
of my watch, where it deposited several eggs, although
invariably interrupted by the revolution of the moment
hand.

206 ' RAVAGES or INSECTS.

" The eggs of the fly are generally found in clusters,
varying in number from two to ten, upon the inner chaff,
in which the furrowed side of the grain is embedded,
and are also occasionally to be seen in the interior parts
of the flower and chafl\. The eggs are deposited by
means of a long slender tube, and fixed with a glutinous
substance possessed by the fly. A thread of glutinous
matter frequently connects a cluster of eggs with the
style, where the larvae seem to subsist on the pollen ; in
one instance, fifteen eggs were numbered on such a thread,
several of which were suspended on the portion extend-
ing between the chaff and the style. The fly not only
seems thus to provide a conveyance from the larvae to the
style, but also food for their support. The anthers are
prevented from leaving the style in consequence of being
gummed down by the glutinous matter of the fly, and
the pollen thereby detained for the use of the larvae,
which otherwise would, in part, be carried out of the
glumes by the expansion of the filaments, — known to
farmers by the term bloom. In the exertion of gumming
down the anthers, many of the flies are entangled in the
vascules of the corolla, and thus become a sacrifice to
their maternal affection.

" The larvae are produced from the eggs in the course
of eight or ten days : they are at first perfectly trans-
parent, and assume a yellow colour a few days afterwards.
They travel not from one floret to another, and forty-
seven have been numbered in one. Occasionally there
are found in the same floret larvae and a grain, which is
generally shrivelled, as if deprived of nourishment ; and
although the pollen may furnish the larvae with food in
the first instance, they soon crowd around the lower part
of the gerraen, and there, in all probability, subsist on
the matter destined to have formed the grain."*

Another intelligent observer, Mr. Gorrie, of Annat
Gardens, Perthshire, found that by the first of August
all the maggots leave the ears, and go into the ground

Loudon's Mag. of Nat. Kist, Nov. 1829, j-. 450.

MAGGOTS.

207

Germination of a <,'rain of wheat, a, the heart of the grain, the part
devoured by the insect. 6, bag of the seed, c, the root, rf, vessels to
convey the nutriment for the root, e, feathers conveying the pollen
to fructify the seed.

about the depth of half an inch, where it is probable they
pass the winter in the pupa state.*

It is interesting to learn that this destructive insect is
providentially prevented from multiplying so numerously
as it might otherwise do, by at least two species of
ichneumons, which deposit their eggs in the larvi£. One
of these {Encyrtits inserens, Latr.) is very small, black,
and shining. The other {Platygaster Tipulce^ Latr.)
is also black, with red feet, and a blunt tail. These
have been frequently mistaken for the wheat-fly ; but as

* Loudon's Ma^. of Nat. Hist., September, 1829, p. 324.

208

EAVACES OF INSECTS,

Transformations of tlie wheat fly : a, the female fly magnified ; h,
larvae, natural si/e, feeding; c, one magnilied.

it has only two w ings, %vhile they have four^ the distinc-
tion is obvious. In order to observe the jjroceedings of
the ichneumons, Kirby placed a number of" the larvae of
the wheat-fly on a sheet of white paper, and set a female
ichneumon in the midst of them. She soon pounced
upon her victim, and intensely vibrating her antennae,
and bending herself obliquely, plunged her ovipositor
into the body of the larva, depositing in it a single e^^.
She then passed to a second, and proceeded in the same
manner, depositing a single egg in each. Na}', when
she examined one which she found had already been
pricked, she always rejected it and passed to another.*
Mr. Shireff repeated these experiments successfully, ex-
cept that he saw an ichneumon twice prick the same
jnaggot, which " writhed in seeming agony," and *' it
was again stung three times by the same fly." He adds-.
*• the earwig also destroys the larvae, three of which I
successively presented to an earwig, which devoured
them immediately."! Mr. Gorrie describes these ich-
neumons as appearing in myriads on the outside of the
car ; but as impatient of bright light, sheltering them-
selves from the sun's rays among the husks.

Our English naturalists were for many years of opinion,
that the insect called the Hessian-fly, so destructive to
wheat crops in America, belonged to the same family
{Muscidce) with the common house-fly ; and Mr. Mark-

• Linn. Trans, ut svpra. f Loudon's Mag. ut supra.

WHEAT-FLIES. 209

wick, an intelligent naturalist, by a series of observations
on a British fly {Chlorops pumilionis^ Meigex) whicli
attacks the stems oF wheat, created no little alarm among
ag-riculturists. Markwick's fly is less than a fourth of an
inch in length, with dark shoulders striped with two
yellow lines ; and the maggot is white. He ])lanted
roots of wheat containing larvye in a small flower-pot,
and covered them with gauze. Each stem produced one
of the above flies. The crop of wheat attacked by this
maggot, though at first it appeared to fail, turned out
well in consequence of numerous side shoots. It is only
the early wheat sown in October that is affected by it.*

«, The Hessian-fly (Cecidomt/ia destructor) ; h, Markwick flj (Chlorop$
pu7nilionis\ magnified.

It now appears that Markwick was altogether mis-
taken in identifying his insect with the Hessian-fly
{Cecidoynyia destntctor, Say), which has been accurately
described by Mr. Say in the ' Journal of the Academy
of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia' for 1817. It is a
little larger than our wheat-fly, more slender in the body,
has longer legs, and is not orange, but black and fulvous.
The female deposits from one to eight or more eggs on a
single plant of wheat, between the sheath of the inner
leaf and the stem nearest the roots ; in which situation,
with its head towards the root or first joint, the young
larva passes the winter, eating into the stem, and causing
it to break. t

* Mag. Nat. Hist.. July 1829, p. 292.
f Ibid., vol. i. p. 228.

210 KAVAGES OF INSECTS.

The devastation committed by the Hessian-fly seems
to have been first observed in 1776, and it was erroneously
supposed that the insect was conveyed among straw by
the Hessian troops from Germany. It was first noticed
in the wheat fields of Long; Island, from which it spread
gradually at the rate of fifteen or twenty miles round ;
and in 1789 it had advanced two hundred miles from its
original station in Long Island. Other accounts state
that it did not travel more than seven miles annually, and
did little serious damage before 1788. Their numbers
seem almost incredible. The houses in the infested dis-
tricts swarmed with them to so great a degree, that
every vessel was filled with them ; five hundred were
actually counted on a glass tumbler which had been set
down for a few minutes with a little beer in it. They
were observed crossing the Delaware river like a cloud ;
and even mountains do not seem to interrupt their pro-
gress.* We can well understand, therefore, that so
formidable a ravager should have caused a very great
alarm ; and even our own government was in fear lest
the insect should be imported. The privy council, in-
deed, sat day after day in deep consultation what mea-
sures should be adopted to M'ard off the danger of a
calamity more to be dreaded, as they well knew, than the
plague or the pestilence. Expresses were sent oflT in all
directions to the officers of the customs at the different
outports respecting the examination of cargoes, — de-
spatches were written to the ambassadors in France^
Austria, Prussia, and America, to gain information, — ■
and so important altogether was the business deemed,
that the minutes of council, and the documents collected
from all quarters, fill upwards of two hundred pages. f

As in the case of the English wheat-fly, the American
Hessian -fly has a formidable enemy in a minute four-
winged fly (Ceraphron destructor, Say), which deposits
its eggs in the larvae. Were it not for the Ceraphron,
indeed, Mr. Say is of opinion that the crops of wheat

* Kiiby and Spence, vol. i. p. 172.
f Young, Annals of Agric, vol. xi.

CHEESE-FLY. 211

would be totally annihilated in the districts where the
Hessian-fly prevails.*

Those who have, from popular associations, been ac-
customed to look with disgust at the little white larvae
common in cheese, well known under the name of
hoppers^ will be somewhat surprised to hear the illus-
trious Swammerdam say, " I can take upon me to
affirm that the limbs and other parts of this maggot are
so uncommon and elegant, and contrived with so much
art and design, that it is impossible not to acknowledge
them to be the work of infinite power and wisdom, from
which nothing is hid, and to which nothing is impos-
sible." f But whoever will examine it with care, will
find that Swammerdam has not exaggerated the facts.

The cheese-fly (Piophila Casei, Fallen) is very small
and black, with whitish wings, margined with black. It
was one of those experimented upon by Redi to prove
that insects, in the fabric of which so much art, order,
contrivance, and wisdom appear, could not be the pro-
duction of chance or rottenness, but the work of the same
Omnipotent hand which created the heavens and the
earth. This tiny little fly is accordingly furnished with
an admirable instrument for depositing its eggs, in an
ovipositor which it can thrust out and extend to a great
length, so that it can penetrate to a considerable depth
into the cracks of cheese, where it lays its eggs, 256 in
number. " I have seen them myself," says Swammer-
dam, '' thrust out their tails for this purpose to an amazing
length, and by that method bury their eggs in the deepest
cavities. I found in a few days afterwards a number of
maggots which had sprung from those eggs, perfectly
resembling those of the first brood that had produced
the mother fly. I cannot but also take notice that the
rottenness of cheese is really caused by these maggots ;
for they both crumble the substance of it into small par-
ticles and also moisten it with some sort of liquid, so that

* Jonrn, of Acad. Philadelph. vi supra.
f Bibl. Naturae, vol. ii. p. Q'i.

212

KAVAGES OF INSECTS.

the decayed part rapidly spreads. I once o>)served a
cheese which I had purposely exposed to this kind of fly
grow moist in a short time in those parts of" it where eggs
had been deposited, and had afterwards been hatched
into maggots ; though, before, the cheese was perfectly
sound and entire." *

The cheese-hopper is furnished with two horny clavr-
shaped mandibles, which it uses both for digging into
the cheese and for moving itself, being destitute of feet.
Its powers of leaping have been observed by every one ;
and Swammerdam says, " I have seen one, whose length
did not exceed the fourth of an inch, leap out of a box
six inches deep, that is, twenty-four times the length of
its own body: others leap a great deal higher."f For
this purpose it first erects itself on its tail, which is fur-
nished with two wart-like projections, to enable it to
maintain its balance. It then bends itself into a circle,
catches the skin near its tail with its hooked mandibles,
and after strongly contracting itself from a circular into an
oblong form, it throws itself with a jerk into a straight
line, and thus makes the leap.

One very surprising provision is remarkable in the
breathing-tubes of the cheese-maggot, which are not

Cheese Ijoppers (Fiapkila easel. Fallen) a, the lYiagjB^ot extcndefl;
b, in a leaping position ; d, the same magnified ; e, the fly maijnified ;
f, (J, the fly, natural size.

* Swammerdam, vol. ii. p. 69.
f Bibl. Nat., vol. ii. p. 65.

BLOW-FLIES. 213^

placed, as in caterpillars, along the sides, but a pair near
the head and another pair near the tail. Now, when
burrowing in the moist cheese, these would be apt to be
obstructed ; but to prevent this, it has the power ot*
bringing over the front pair a fold of the skin, breathing
in the meanwhile through the under pair. Well may
Swammerdam denominate these contrivances " sur-
prising miracles of God's power and wisdom in this ab-
ject creature."

Like the other destructive insects above mentioned,
the multiplication of the cheese-fly is checked by some
insect, whose history, so far as we are aware, is not yet
known. Swammerdam Ibund many of the maggots with
other larvag in their bodies ; but he did not trace their
transformations. If they were the larvae of an ichneu-
mon, it must be exceedingly minute.

It must have attracted the attention of the most in-
curious, to see, during the summer, swarms of flies
crowding about the droppings of cattle, so as almost to
conceal the nuisance, and presenting instead a dis])lay of
their shining corslets and twinkling wings. The object
of all this busy bustle is to deposit their eggs where their
progeny may find abundant food ; and the final cause is
obviously both to remove the nuisance and to provide
abundant food for birds and other animals, which prey
upon flies or their larvae. The same remarks apply with
no less force to the blow-flies which deposit their eggs,
and in some cases their young, upon carcases. The
common house-fly (Musca domestica) belongs to the first
division, the natural food of its larvag being horse-dung;
ccnsequently it is always most abundant in houses in the
vicinity of stables, cucumber beds, &c., to which, when its
numbers become annoying, attention should be primarily
directed, rather than having recourse to fly-waters.

Another common insect (Bibio Jiortulamis, Meigex)
lives in the larva state in cesspools, along with rat-tailed
larvae, &c. The maggot of the bibio is very peculiar in
form. They are hatched from eggs with shells as hard
as Paris plaster, deposited on the adjacent walls, and

214

RAVAGES OF INSECTS.

frequently upon the pupa-case w hich the mother has pre-
viously quitted. Like the larvae of the crane-flies above
described, this one moves itself chiefly by means of its
mandibles, and therefore it can make no progress on a
piece of smooth glass. Its skin, it may be remarked, is
so exceedingly hard and tough, that it is no easy matter
to kill it.* We have introduced this insect here, how-
ever, chiefly for the purpose of refuting an erroneous
popular accusation against it, which is supported by the
high authorities of Ray and Reaumur. Our great Eng-
lish naturalist calls it the deadliest enemy of the flowers
in spring, and accuses it of despoiling the gardens and
fields of every blossom. f Reaumur is less decided in his
opinion ; for though he perceived that, not being fur-
nished with mandibles, they could not, as is supposed,
gnaw the buds of fruit-trees ; yet, from their being found
crowded upon flowers and buds, he thinks they may suck
the juices of these, and thus cause them to wither.^
We are satisfied, by repeated observation, that the fly

Transformations of Bihio Iwrtulanus, Mfigen. a, the egg inagnificd ;
h, the same when hatched ; c, d, the maggot and pupa magnibcd ; e,J,
the same, natural size ; g, the fly.

* Swammeidam, x. 212.
f Rail Hist. Insect. Pief. p. xi. % Reaumur, v. 56.

BLOW-FLIES. 215

only uses its sucker (Jiaustellum) for sipping the honey
of flowers, or the gum with which the opening bud is
usually covered. The damage of which it is accused is
more probably done by caterpillars, snails, or other night-
feeding insects, which, not being seen by day, the fly is
blamed for what it is entirely innocent of. (J. R.)

In the case of the blow-flies Linnaeus tells us that the
larvae of three females of Musca vomitoria will devour
the carcase of a horse as quickly as would a lion ; and
we are not indisposed to take this literally, when we
know that one mother of an allied species (J/, carnarid)
produces about 20,000, and that they have been proved
by Redi to increase in weight two-hundred-fold within
twenty-four hours. The most extraordinary fact illus-
trative of the voracity of these maggots which we have
met with, is the following, given by Kirby and Spence,
from ' Bell's Weekly Messenger :' —

*' On Thursday, June 25th, died at Asbornby, Lin-
colnshire, "John Page, a pauper belonging to Silk-Wil-
loughby, under circumstances truly singular. He being
of a restless disposition, and not choosing to stay in the
parish workhouse, was in the habit of strolling about the
neighbouring villages, subsisting on the pittance obtained
from door to door : the support he usually received from
the benevolent was bread and meat ; and after satisfying
the cravings of nature, it was his custom to deposit the
surplus provision, particularly the meat, betwixt his shirt
and skin. Having a considerable portion of this pro-
vision in store, so deposited, he was taken rather unwell,
and laid himself down in a field, in the parish of Scred-
ington ; when, from the heat of the season at that time,
the meat speedily became putrid, and was of course struck
by the flies : these not only proceeded to devour the in-
animate pieces of flesh, but also literally to prey upon the
living substance ; and when the wretched man was acci-
dentally found by some of the inhabitants, he was so
eaten by the maggots that his death seemed inevitable.
After clearing away, as well as they were able, these
shocking vermin, those who found Page conveyed him to
Asbornby, and a surgeon was immediately procured,

216 RAVAGES OF INSECTS.

who declared that his body was m such a state, that
<lressing it must be little short of instantaneous death ;
and, in fact, the man did survive the operation but a
few hours. When first found, and aoain when examined
by the surgeon, he presented a sight loathsome in the
extreme ; white maggots of enormous size were crawling
in and upon his body, which they had most shockingly
mangled, and the removing of the external ones served
only to render the sight more horrid." Kirby adds,
" in passing through this parish last spring, I inquired
of the mail-coachman whether he had heard this story ;
and he said the fact was well known."* The year in
which this remarkable circumstance occurred is not
mentioned.

The importance of the insects just mentioned, in re-
moving with great rapidity what might otherwise prove
nuisances of considerable magnitude, naturally leads us to
notice another sort of larva, no less useful in diminishing
the numbers of the plant-lice (Aphides) which do so
much damage to cultivated vegetables. We do this
also the more readily, that these very insects, which are
so beneficial to the husbandman and tlie gardener, are
often erroneously accused of being themselves the cause
of the mischief. A correspondent of the Natural His-
tory Magazine, for example, says, " the lady-bird is re-
markably abundant this season. The shrimp (larva) of
this insect destroys both turnips and peas in many parts
of England."! The truth is, however, that all the
species of lady-birds (Coccme/tidcs, Latr.), both in the
iarva and the perfect state, feed exclusively on aphides,
.and never touch vegetable substances. The eggs are
usually placed in a group of twenty or more upon a leaf
where aphides abound ; and when the young are hatched
they find themselves in the midst of their prey. There
arc a considerable number of species of this family (Mr.
Stephens enumerates fifty) ; but the most common, per-
haps, is the seven-spotted lady-bird (Coccinella septem-
ptmctata), whose larva is of considerable size, and, of

* liitr. i. 110, and note. f ^^^o- of Nat. Hist. i. 191.

MAGGOTS.

217

course, when abundant, must destroy a vast number of
aphides. i

The maggots of many species of a beautiful family
(Si/rphid(B, Leach) of two-winged flics are also voracious
devourers of the aphides. These larvae are of a tapering
form, and they can contract or lengthen their bodies to a
considerable extent ; while they have a retractile instru-
ment, armed with three prongs like a trident, with which
they transfix their helpless and hapless victims. " When
disposed to feed," says Kirby, " he fixes himself by his
tail, and being blind, gropes about on every side, as the
Cyclops did for Ulysses and his companions, till he
touches one, which he immediately transfixes with his
trident, elevates into the air, that he may not be
disturbed with its struggles, and soon devours. The
havoc which these grubs make amongst the aphides is
astonishing. It was but hist week that I observed the
top of every young shoot of the currant trees in my gar-
den curled up by myriads of these insects. On examin-
ing them this day, not an individual remained ; but be-
neath each leaf are three or four full-fed larvas of aphi-

«, Lace-winged fly ; 5, the grub of the same, msgnified ; c, syrphus ;
d, larva of the same devouring the aphides of the elder ; r, tlie head
magnified, to show the mouth.

218 RAVAGES OF INSECTS.

divorous flies surrounded with heaps of the skins of the
slain, the trophies of their successful warfare."*

The larvae of the lace- winged flies {HemerohidcR^
Leach) are even more destructive to the aphides than
either of the preceding; insomuch that Reaumur was
induced to call them the lions of the aphides. The
mandibles of the larva of Ilemerobius are somewhat
crescent-shaped, and, like those of the ant-lion, are
hollow, by means of which they suck the juices of their
victims. These are rarely so numerous as the two pre-
ceding families, but they make up for their fewness in
the voracity with which they devour the little destroyers
of our vegetables.

* Intr. i. 264.

( 219

II.— ON THE COLLECTION AND PRESERVATION
OF INSECTS FOR THE PURPOSES OF STUDY.

'' I COULD wish," says Addison, in ' The Spectator,'
" our Royal Society would compile a body of natural
history, the best that could be gathered together from
books and observations. If the several writers among
them took each his particular species, and gave us a
distinct account of its original, birth, and education;
its policies, hostilities, and alliances ; with the frame
and texture of its inward and outward parts, — and par-
ticularly those which distinguish it from all other
animals, — with their aptitudes for the state of being in
which Providence has placed them ; it would be one of
the best services their studies could do mankind, and
not a little redound to the glory of the All-wise
Creator."* Now, though we can scarcely consider
Addison as a naturalist, in any of the usual meanings of
the term, it would be no easy task, even for those who
have devoted their undivided attention to the subject, to
improve upon the admirable plan of study here laid
down. It is, moreover, so especially applicable to the
investigation of insects, that it may be more or less put
in practice by any person who chooses, in whatever
station or circumstances he happens to be placed. Nay,
we will go i'arther ; for since it agrees with experience
and many recorded instances that individuals have been
enabled to investigate and elucidate particular facts, who
were quite unacquainted with systematic natural history,
we hold it to be undeniable that any person of moderate
penetration, though altogether unacquainted with what

* 'Spectator,' No. 111.

220 rRESERVATIOX OF IXSKCTS.

is called Natural History, who will take the trouble to
observe particular facts and endeavour to trace them to
their causes, has every chance to be successful in adding
to his own knowledge, and frequently in making dis-
coveries of what was previously unknown. We adverted
in a former volume to the spider, which M. Pelissan,
while a prisoner in the Bastille, tamed by means of
music ;* and in another place we quoted some observa-
tions on hunting-spiders, by the celebrated Evelyn, both
of which are strong prcol's of our position, and show
that though books are often of high value to guide us in
our observations, they are by no means indispensable to
the study of nature, inasmuch as the varied scene of
creation itself forms an inexhaustible book, which " even
he who runneth may read," It shall be our endeavour,
therefore, in what we shall now add, to point out a few
particulars by way of assisting young naturalists to read
the book of nature with the most advantage. It will be
of the utmost importance, in the study here recom-
mended, to bear in mind that an insect can never be
found in any situation, nor make any movement, without
some motive, originating in the instinct imparted to it
by Providence. This principle alone, when it is made
the basis of inquiry into such motives or instincts, will
be found productive of many interesting discoveries,
which, without it, might never be made. With this,
indeed, exclusively in view, during an excursion, and
with a little attention and perseverance, every walk —
nay, every step — may lead to delightful and interesting
knowledge.

In accordance with these views, we advise the young
naturalist to watch as far as possible the progress of
every insect which he may meet with, from the egg till
its death, marking its peculiar food, the enemies which
prey on it, and the various accidents or diseases to which
it may be liable, — the latter appearing, to our limited
comprehension, to be some of the means appointed by
Providence to restrain excessive multiplication. It is

* See Antoiiie, Animaux Ctlebres, i. 21.

CLASSIFICATION. 221

obvious that all this may be done (it actually has been
done by an illiterate labourer at Blackheath) without
knowing' the name of the insect observed, or the rank it
holds in any particular system. These, however, it may
be interesting for the observer to ascertain afterwards, in
order that he may compare his own observations with
tliose of other naturalists. At the commencement,
therefore, of such investigations, it may be useful, when
the name of an insect is unknown, to mark it with some
number by v. ay of distinction, till the name (if it have
one) given it by systematists be discovered. In our own
researches we have found these numeral names — 1, 2, 3,
or A, B, C, — of considerable use, when we could not
readily trace the names we wanted amongst the almost
interminable synonymes to be met with in systems of
classification.

If we should be asked, what is the best place to find
insects, our answer must be, everywhere — woods, fields,
lanes, hedge-rows, gardens : wherever a flower blooms
or a green leaf grows, some of the insects which feed on
living vegetables will bo sure to be found, as will those
which feed on decaying leaves and decaying wood be
met with wherever these abound. In the waters, again,
both running and stagnant, from the rill to the river,
and from the broad lake to the little pool formed in a
cow's footstep, aquatic insects of numerous varieties may
be seen. AVinged insects, of countless species, may be
seen in the air during their excursions in search of Ibod,
or for the purposes of pairing or depositing their eggs,
and the observation of these forms a most interesting-
branch of the stud3^ The species which prey on animal
substances, either living or dead, oiten possess such
habits as may deter some students from attending to
them, and yet they- fulHl most important purposes in
nature, and have furnished the distinguished naturalists,
Redi, SwammerJam, Leeuwenhoeck, Reaumur, and De
Geer, with highly interesting subjects of research. The
history of many of these animals becomes highly in-
teresting, from its relation to our domestic comfort.
The house-fly, for instance, is said to breed amongst

222 PRESERVATION OF INSECTS.

horse-dung ; but that its maggots find food in other sub-
stances not hitherto ascertained, is rendered probable by
the enormous numbers which are sometimes seen at a
distance from places where they could obtain the alleged
nutriment, as in Pitcairn's Island in the Pacific Ocean,*
where there never was a horse. With reference to
husbandry, again, the correct history of many insects is
perhaps still more important, of which we beg leave to
give one striking instance in the case of what is called
the turnip-fly {Haltica Nemorum, Illiger), which is
not a fly, but a small jumping-beetle. " In these cir-
cumstances," says Mr. W. Greaves, " I flatter myself
will be found the cause of the disease here mentioned :
the manure which is taken from the farm-yard, and
spread upon the soil already cleared for turnips, is after-
wards turned in with the plough ; the seed is then put
in, and nature does not rest till it is time for hoeing.
Now, it must be obvious that manure put into the
ground at this season of the year (June) must be full of
eggs of flies, which are seen to swarm upon manure
heaps in the autumnal season, and there deposit their
eggs for future generations in the succeeding years.
These eggs are hatched by the heat of the sun, when
the manure is laid upon the ground, or by the warmth
of the earth when it is ploughed in, and make their first
appearance in the shape of a caterpillar, which may be
observed jumping and crawling on the land. The leaves
of vegetables are their choicest food, and in turnip land,
though they find nothing else, they find plenty of leaf,
and on this they feed to the absolute ruin of the root."f
But had this writer taken the trouble to confine these
dung maggots under a gauze cover till they were
hatched, he would have found, instead of the halticae,
some common two-winged flies, which a simple experi-
ment would have convinced him do not eat green leaves
of any kind, being incapable thereof for want of eating-
organs ; and our young naturalists who may wish to try

* Beecliey's Voyage in the Blossom,
f Treatise on Agriculture.

FOOD. 223

this will be enabled to prove to any farmer, who is in
fear of diffusing injurious insects by manure, that no
insects bred in dung ever touch a green leaf.

This remark brings us directly back to our subject of
instructing the student how to keep such insects as he
may find, in order to study their economy. In the case
of those just mentioned, which live in dung, in decayed
vegetables, or in earth, when they cannot climb upon
glass, we have found that open ale-glasses or common
tumblers filled with the materials among which they are
found, and kept in a due state of moistness, constitute the
best apparatus ; for even when the animals dig down,
their movements can usually be observed through the
sides of the glass. In the case of the meal-worm, which
lives upon flour, the same expedient answers well, and
the whole history of the insect may be read from day to
day by simple inspection. We are well aware that it is
not common in these collecting days of ours, to take the
trouble of breeding any insects besides moths and butter-
flies ; but our design being not to procure specimens,
but to ascertain facts, we advise the breeding of every
insect whose history it is required to investigate.

In order to succeed in this object, it will be indis-
pensable to place the insects as much as possible in their
natural circumstances. Those who breed moths and
butterflies to procure specimens, feed them in boxes, into
which a branch of the plant each feeds on is placed in a
straight-necked phial of water, to keep it Iresh. We
have found it preferable to give them fresh leaves twice
or thrice a day, for the plants kept in water are apt to
scour and kill the insects. When we have been unpro-
vided with boxes, we have used ale-glasses or glass tum-
blers with success, either turning: them bottom upwards,
and admitting air round the edges by inserting slips of
card, or covering them with gauze at top. Such glasses
seem to have been the chief apparatus used by Reaumur,
Bonnet, and De Geer, in those researches which are
quite unrivalled in our own days. Small pasteboard boxes,
like those made for ladies' caps, answer very well when
covered with gauze.

224 PRESERVATION OF INSECTS.

The breeding-cage employed by Mr, Stephens he has
thus described : — " The length of the box is twenty
inches; height twelve ; and breadth six; and it is divided
into five compartments. Its lower half is constructed
entirely of wood, and the upper of coarse gauze, stretch-
ed upon wooden or wire frames ; each compartment has
a separate door, and is, moreover, furnished with a phial
in the centre, for the purpose of containing water, in
which the food is kept fresh ; and is half-filled with a
mixture of fine earth and the dust from the inside of
rotten trees, the latter article being added for the purpose
of rendering the former less binding upon the piipce,* as
well as highly important for the use of such larvae as
construct their cocoons of rotten wood. The chief ad-
vantages of a breeding-cage of the above description are
the occupation of less room than five separate cages, and
a diminution of expense, both important considerations
when any person is engaged extensively in rearing in-
sects. Whatever be the construction of the box, it is
highly necessary that the larvae be constantly supplied
with fresh food, and that the earth at the bottom should
be kept damp. To accomplish the latter object, I keep
a thick layer of moss upon the surface, which I take out
occasionally, perhaps once a week in hot weather, and
once a fortnight or three weeks in winter, and saturate
<.'ompletely with water, and return it to its place : this
keeps up a sufficient supply of moisture, without allowing
the earth to become too wet, which is equally injurious
to the pupae with too much aridity. By numbering the
cells, and keeping a register corresponding with the
numbers, the history of any particular larvae or brood may
be traced."!

We prefer glass sides to the cells, with gauze doors,
opening above, rather than at the sides, according to the
following figure. (J. R.)

Some of the beautiful experiments of Bonnet and

* The French naturalists use fine dry sand. See 'Manuel
du Naturallste Preparateur.'
■j- lugpen's 'Instructions,' p. 13.

BREEDING-CAGES.

225^

*Breediug-cage, with gauze doors aud glass sides.

Reaumur suggested to us the idea of supplying insects
with growing food, instead either of gathered leaves or
branches kept fresh in water ; and we have in several
instances, particularly in town, where we could not
always procure fresh food for our broods when wanted,
kept plants growing in garden-pots, and either confined
the insects by means of gauze, or surrounded the pots
with water, to prevent their escape. We have since
carried this somewhat farther, having procured young
plants of forest and orchard trees and shrubs, and planted
them in garden-pots, which are plunged, as the gardeners
term it, to defend them from drought, and are ready for
any experiment we choose to make. These, besides,
have the advantage of attracting into the garden where the
pots are plunged the insects peculiar to the several trees ;
and when we say that the space occupied is only about
thirty or forty feet in length, by two in breadth, while
none of the trees are suffered to get above two or three
feet high, we apprehend that few persons, who have any
garden at all, will find such a plantation unsuitable to their
convenience, if they are disposed to such pursuits. Her-
baceous plants can, for the most part, be procured and
planted at any season they may be required, and hence
it is not so necessary to keep any collection of them
growing ; whereas the transplanting of trees in summer
is most likely to kill them. (J, R.)

This plan has, besides, the peculiar advantage of
putting it in our power, by means of sufficiently ample

VOL. II. L

226 PRESERVATIOX OF INSECTS,

gfuze coverings, to make moths, butterflies, and other
insects deposit their eggs under our eye on the plants or
trees on which they would do so when at liberty, — an
interesting part of insect history, which, on account of
the difficulties of research, is as yet very imperfectly
known.

It would be in vain for us to attempt to enumerate the
Tarious plants, trees, and other things on or in which the
]arvas or perfect insects should be sought for, as such an
enumeration would necessarily be nearly as extensive as
the number of known species. A useful little French
Avork, by M. Brez, entitled ' Flore des Insectophiles,'
was published about forty years ago, containing a sys-
tematic list of plants, with the peculiar insects found on
each, and though recent discoveries render it very im-
]:erfect, it may still be consulted with advantage. But,
with all the information we can procure, the remarks of
Addison, in the paper we have quoted, still. hold true,
that "Seas and deserts hide millions of animals from
cur observation ; innumerable artifices and stratagems
are acted in the howling wilderness, and in the great
deep, that can never come to our knowledge. Besides,
that there are infinitely more species of creatures which
are not to be seen without, nor indeed with the help of
the finest glasses, than of such as are bulky enough
for the naked eye to take hold of. However, from the
consideration of such animals as lie within the compasS^
of our knowledge, we might easily form a conclusion
of the rest, that the same variety of wisdom and good-
ness runs through the whole creation, and puts every
creature in a condition to provide lor its safety and sub-
sistence, in its proper season."*

Looking minutely at all the leaves, flowers, and stems
of plants and trees, and prying into every corner where
insects may lurk, is one means of discovering their
J^aunts, — the only one, indeed, ,'with respect to many
species ; but collectors are not satisfied with a process so
Kecessarily slow, and take various means for expediting

* Spectator, No. 111.

BUTTERrLT-XETS.

227

the capture of numbers, rather than observing the natural
movements and dispositions of a few. We may advan-
tageously adopt these methods when we wish to furnish
our cages with live insects, in order to study their
economy.

One of the most useful and handy instruments for this
purpose is an umbrella. In walking through a meadow,
for instance, where the grass is not too short, we may
stretch the umbrella, hold the hollow side uppermost,
and push it through the grass, when the insects which
may be above its level will fall into the trap. In this
way we have procured the caterpillars of saw-flies, moths,
and butterflies, which feed on grass and on the other
herbage in meadows, where we might probably have
searched for them in vain by the eye. The sides of
drains and ditch-banks may be trailed in the same man-
ner. The butterfly-nets, to be afterwards described,
may be used in the same way, and are, we think, supe-
I'ior to the apparatus invented by Mr. Paul, of Starston
in Norfolk, for taking the turnip-fly.

The umbrella is equally useiul for holding under the
branches of shrubs and trees, which ought to be beaten
smartly over it with a strong walking-stick, the shock of
the strokes causing the insects to drop down. This,
however, will only answer for the smaller and lower
branches : when it is required to beat the higher boughs,
a long pole must be used, with a sheet or a piece of can-
vas spread under the tree. The tops of the taller plants
may be shaken by the hand over the umbrella.

When insects are thus found, it will be necessary to
secure them, in order to take them to the cages unin-
jured, to be provided with a number of pill-boxes, with
pin-holes drilled in them to admit air, and to introduce,
particularly along with caterpillars, a bit of the fresh
leaf or other substance upon which they have been lieed-
ing. We prefer separate, small boxes for such purposes,
to the larger larvae-box in use among collectors ; since
we can by their m.eans more readily remember the diflcr-
ent plants on which several species were found, besides
avoiding the risk of one species devouring another, — an

L 2

228

PRESERVATION OF INSECTS.

a, Laivae-box ; and b. Pocket collecting box.

incident not uncommon among the caterpillars of moths,
as we have recorded in a former page. The collector's
larvae-box is an oblong chip box, such as is used for
wafers, with a gauze lid for air, and a hole at one end,
furnished with a stopper, for introducing the larvas.

For water-insects a net, similar to a fisher's landing-
net, is employed, fixing it to a long pole, and raking
with it through every piece of water within reach. The
net which we have had constructed consists of an interior
lining of gauze, as strong as it can be procured, with a
strong fish-net on the outside to strengthen this. When
canvas is used, the water does not escape through it
with sufficient facility. Many interesting water-insects,
however, may be procured by mere inspection of water-
plants, particularly the under-sides of their leaves, at the
edges of ditches, ponds, canals, rivers, and lakes, and
when the water is clear, by examining the bottom of the
channel. In consequence of aquatic insects, for the
most part, preying upon one another, they are usually
very nimble in their movements, so that it requires con-
siderable dexterity and quickness to entrap them. For
the same reason a number of phials, containing water,
will be as requisite to carry them as pill-boxes to carry
the land-insects. But when they are kept in wine or
ale-glasses, and supplied with food, they furnish excel-

WATER-XET.

229

lent materials for interesting observation. It is easy, in-
deed, in this way to have several successive generations,
and when gnats' eggs are procured the whole history of
these curious insects may be traced with little difficulty.
When the pupae are observed to be about to be trans-
formed into winged insects, a gauze covering may be
employed to prevent their escape.

Water-net.

Analogous to the water-net in size and construction is
the butterfly-net, which is chiefly used on the Continent,
though seldom, we believe, in this country. It consists
of a hoop, about a foot in diameter, of brass or iron
wire, jointed or not, so as to fold up into a narrow com-
pass, with a bag-net of gauze or thin muslin, two feet
deep, attached to it. This is screwed into a pole about
six feet long, for ordinary purposes ; but for the purple
emperor butterfly {Apatura Iris), and other high-flying
insects, thirty feet is not too long. j

The instrument chiefly used for the same purpose in
this country is much more unwieldy, though more easily
managed by the inexperienced. It is a clap-net, similar
to a bird-catcher's bat-fowling-net, but of slighter mate-
rials. The rods of the one which we use are about five

230

FRESERVATIOy OF INSECTS.

Bu!tcif!v-net.

feet long, when the three pieces are joined by means of
brass ferules. They ought to be made, tapering like a
fishing-rod, of hazel or any tough wood, with two bent
pieces of cane at the end, tightly fitted in so as not to
slip when the apparatus is used. The net may be made
of fine white muslin, for small insects ; but green gauze
is best for moths and butterflies, the edges being bound
with broad tape all round, so as to form a place for the
rods to slip in. When the net is mounted, a rod is held
in each hand, and the whole spread out so as to intercept
insects on the wing, which are secured by clapping the
rods together. A little practice will render this easy,
except when there is much wind, and in that case few
insects fly. It is no less useful for throwing over insects

Clap-net.

KING-NET. ^NET-FORCEPS.

231

when they alight on low flovrers, and in this way we
have caught some very fine butterflies and moths.

An instrument still more used by collectors than any
of the preceding is the net-forceps, which may be readily
constructed out of an old pair of curling-irons, s>ich as
have rings for the finger and thumb, binding these with
silk, or cotton to prevent their hurting the hand. To the
blades of these, hoops should be fitted, covered with fine
gauze, and made to close accurately when moved like a
pair of scissors. It requires some experience and dex-
terity to catch nimble insects with these ; but it is indis-
pensable for a collector to acquire this skill. Without

Riii'j-ncl.

Net-forceps.

opening them at all, the forceps may be used for securing
an insect when alighted on a wall, or other flat surface,
by merely covering it ; for which purpose some collectoi's
also use a ring-net. We are of opinion, however, that
it is more convenient to have few instruments, for multi-
l)licity only serves to embarrass.

We have taken a great number of insects by means of
a pill-box, putting the lid on one side and the bottom on
the other side of a leaf, and suddenly shutting in both the
insect and the part of the leaf it was sitting on. Whoa
a small moth, again, or other insect, is resting on a wall,
a }>ane of glass, or the smooth trunk of a tree, we take

232

PRESERVATION OF INSECTS.

a, French beetle forceps; and b, Pliers.

off the lid of a pill-box, cover the insect with the bottom
part, which we move backwards and forwards till the
insect takes refuge from the annoyance at the very
bottom, when we cover it as quickly as possible with the
lid. This is by far the best way of taking small moths,
for their delicate plumage is not injured, as it must in-
evitably be when they are touched even in the most
gentle way.

We purchased last year, in Paris, a pair of insect for-
ceps, which do not seem to be known to our collectoi*s,
but which we have found exceedingly useful for taking
beetles and other insects out of holes where they cannot
be otherwise easily reached. The instrument is made of
steel, and resembles a pair of large scissors. In some,
the handle-rings are like those of scissors, on a line with
the blades ; in others, they are at right angles to these.
The pliers used by our collectors are much inferior in
utility, being too small, short, and slender. The French
instrument is farther useful for seizing venomous or dan-
gerous insects. In other cases the fingers alone are often
sufficient, and for minute beetles a wetted finger.

In order to get at beetles and larvae which feed under
the bark, or in the wood of trees, and also under ground,
the instrument which we have found most convenient is

DIGGEU. 233

a very strong clasp-knife : one which has a saw-blade, a
hook, a file, and other instruments in the same handle, is
preferable ; but most of the London collectors use what
is called a digger, and first, if we mistake not, described
by Mr. Samouelle, in his Compendium. It is made of
steel, of from twelve to eighteen inches long, forked at
the extremity, and fixed into a wooden handle.

In addition to this, w^e recommend a long slip of very
thin and narrow whalebone, which may be introduced
into the holes of such insects as burrow in the earth or
sand, to direct us in digging down to their nests, the hole
being certain to be filled up, and probably lost, without
such a contrivance. When a piece of whalebone is not
at hand, a long straw will form a good substitute.

Digger.

When insects are caught merely for the cabinet, and
not with reference to their habits and economy, collectors
provide themselves with a quill-barrel, sealed at one end
with wax, and having a cork stopper at the other, for
very minute specimens ; with a wide-mouthed phial,
containing weak spirits of wine, into which dark-coloured
beetles, wasps, and bees, are put, the spirits instantly
killing them, and preserving them for future purposes ;
and with a pocket collecting box or boxes for winged
insects. An oblong chip wafer-box, lined at top and
bottom with cork, and covered with white paper, will
form a very good collecting box, taking care that it is
neither too shallow nor too deep ; but some have a square
box, made of mahogany, deal, or cedar, with hinges on
one side and a spring on the other, so that it can be
opened by the left hand while an insect is held in the
right, and figured above (Z*, p. 228). Sparmann, when
travelling at the Cape, used to stick his insect specimens
on the outside of his hat, to the consternation of the

L 3

234

PRESERVATION OF INSECTS.

Chip collecting box, oj ened.

simple Hottentots, who took him for a conjuror. A
more judicious plan is for a collector to have the crown
of his hat lined inside with cork, which will save hin)
the trouble of carrying a collecting box. When a col-
lector has not his boxes with him, a bit of paper, twisted
at each end, will often answer every purpose.

When an insect is caught, before it be placed in the
collecting box or the hat-crown, it is necessary to kill
it, and this circumstance has given rise to much preju-
dice, on the charge of cruelty, — the objectors forgetting
that most of the insects so killed could not naturally sur-
vive many days, and that their feelings of pain are, in all
probability, much less acute than those of animals fur-
nished with a brain and cerebral and vertebral nerves,
of which they are destitute. Accordingly, a fly with-
out its head will walk about almost as if nothing had
happened to it, and a wasp will eat greedily with the
head only when it has been separated from the body.
We should not like, however, to be considered advocates
of any species of cruelty, hoM-ever slight, and in killing
insects for a collection the speediest methods are to be
preferred. In the case of butterflies and some moths, as
well as other winged insects, a slight pressure upon the
breast will instantly kill them, and exposing them to
heat is a still more rapid means, plunging those con-

METHOD or SETTIXG.

235

tained in a phial into boiling water, and holding those in
pill-boxes near the fire. Suffocating them with sulphur,
as some recommend, spoils the colours ; and we re-
marked in the museums of Brussels, Louvain, and Frank-
tbrt-on-the-Maine, that all the insects had had their co-
lours injured in this way, the black spots on white but-
terflies being turned to brown, and the white tinged with
yellowish green. In the case of insects tenacious of life,
such as some moths, j^articularly females which Iiave not

Setlingneedles and brush ; with the method of seUing insects, a, Swal«
low-tailed butterfly (^Papiliu machaim) ; h. Wasp ; c. Beetle.

286 PRESERVATION OF INSECTS.

deposited their eggs, piercing their breast with a pin
dipt in nitric acid will instantly kill them. After killing
dragon-flies the intestines must be carefully removed,
otherwise the colours will all become black.

Method of mounting smull insects.

To fit insects for a cabinet, they require to be set, as
it is termed ; that is, all their parts must be placed in
the manner best fitted to display them. For this pur-
pose each is pierced, when dead, with an insect pin, a
fine slender sort, manufactured on purpose. Beetles
ought to have the pins passed through the shoulder of
the right wing-case, and butterflies and other insects
through the corslet, on a right line with the head, and a
little back from it. While the insect is fresh and flexi-
ble, the legs and wings are to be stretched out with a
setting-needle, or a large pin bent at the point and fixed
into a wooden handle, then stuck upon a board covered
with cork and paper, and kept in their proper position
by means of pins and braces till they become dry and
stiff". The braces are made with slips of fine card, or
thick hot-pressed paper, stuck through at one end with
a strong pin. When insects have become stiff before
being set, they may be rendered flexible again by cover-
ing them over for several hours with a damp cloth, which,
however, must not be permitted to touch them. A
camel-hair pencil is used for brushing off" dust. The
mode of setting will be best understood from the figures.

When insects are very small, as piercing them with a
pin would destroy them, it is usual to gum them on a
slip of card or cut wafer, and to arrange this in the cabi-

SETTING-BOARD.

237

net. Minute beetles and flies may thus be preserved,
as is shown in the figures.

The setting-board ought to be kept where there Is a
free ventilation of air till the set insects are thoroughly
dry ; but it is necessary that it be also out of the reach
of spiders ; for we have in several instances had our
specimens, while drying, mutilated and destroyed by
these prowlers. The most convenient apparatus is an
upright box, with grooves, into which the setting-boards
may slide, with the door and the side of the box opposite
to it covered with gauze.

Si'UiiiiC-bo ir<l iVaiTK

No Other preservative is wanted, after the insects are
set and dried, except to keep them from damp, to put
a little camphor in the cabinet drawers to prevent mites,
and to take care to prevent them from being destroyed
by the larvae of some small moths and beetles, which the
camphor will not do, nor anything else with which we
are acquainted. We had once a whole drawer of insects
destroyed by mice. Glazing the drawers of a cabinet,
and occasional careful inspection, will be indispensable to
keep a collection in good condition.

The cabinet may consist of more or fewer drawers,
according to the extent of a collection. The most con-
venient dimensions of the drawers are from a foot to

238 FEESERVATION OF INSECTS.

eighteen inclies square, and two inches deep ; and the
best wood is mahogany, cedar, or \vainscot, deal being-
apt to split or warp. The doors ought to have velvet
glued round the edges, to keep out dust and small in-
sects. The bottoms of the drawers are lined with sheet
cork, about a sixth of an inch in thickness, made uni-
formly smooth by filing, and having white paper pasteil
over it.

Where a cabinet has not been procured, collectors
make use of store boxes, made on the principle of a
backgammon board, each leaf being about two inches
deep, and lined with cork and paper. These are con-
venient, also, for travellers sending home insects from a
distance.

The specimens are best arranged in columns from top
to bottom of the drawers, with the names attached to
each. We are unwilling, amidst the great variety of
systems, to recommend any particular one as the best;
and prefer leaving our readers to choose for themselves,
by giving the outlines of the principal classifications
which have been proposed from the earliest times till the
present day.

( 239 )

HI.— SYSTEMATIC AERANGEMENTS
OF INSECTS.

WiiEx we consider that the number of known species
of British insects alone amounts to more than ten thou-
sand, being about six times more than the species of our
plants— that is, six species of insects, on an average, to
each species of plant — it will be obvious that, in a col-
lection of specimens, some systematic order of arrange-
ment will be requisite ; though, for purposes of out-door
study of manners and econom}^ nice distinctions are less
indispensable, as appears from the beautiful and success-
ful researches of Reaumur, Gould, Lyonnet, i^onnet, the
Hubers, and other distinguished inquirers, who paid
little or no attention to the minutite of classification. In
consequence, however, of a course diametrically oppo-
site having been pursued by other naturalists of celebrity,
we consider it our duty to warn our readers against the
error of considering arrangement the sole end and aim
of study ; whereas the correct view of the matter, as we
understand it, is not to neglect or discard system, as
was done by lieaum.ur and Bonnet, but to make it sub-
servient to such details of causes, motives, and effects,
as we have endeavoured to exemplify. In every page of
these volumes we have accordingly ke])t systematic dis-
tinctions closely, though subordinately, in view. Wo
shall now give a brief sketch of several classifications of
insects, invented by celebrated writers, from the earliest
times.

240 SYSTEMATIC AEEANGEMEKTS OF INSECTS.

The Wing System.

The illustrious Aristotle, almost the only genuine natu-
ralist among the ancients, seems to have been the first
^vho distinguished insects by their wings, — a principle
ibllowed with greater minuteness, in recent times, by
Linnaeus and De Geer. Aristotle does not, indeed, put
his system in a tabular form ; but, for the sake of brevity,
we shall draw up a table, founded on indications in his
admirable History of Animals.

Aristotle's Classification.

I. Winged Insects {Pterota, or Ftilota).

1. With wing-cases — beetles — {Coleoptera).

2. With coriaceous wings — grasshoppers {Pedetica).

3. Without jaws — bugs {Astomata).

4. With powdery wings — moths and butterflies

{Psj/cIice).

5. With four transparent wings ( Tetraptera).
Witliout stings, and larger — dragon-flies.
With stings — bees and wasps {Opisthocoitra).

6. With two wings {Diptera).

Without mouth-piercers, and smaller — flies and

crane-flies.
With mouth-piercers — gnats and gad-flies (Empros-

thocentra.

II. Wingless Insects.

1. Occasionally acquiring wings: —

Ants {Mijrmices).
Glow-worms (^P^^golampides).

2. Without wings (^Aptera).

Linnceus's Classification.
I. Winged Insects.
1 . With four wivjjs : —

a, Upper wings more or less crustaceous : the under
wings membranaceous.

THE WING SYSTEM. 241

Upper wings quite crustaceous, and not overlap-
ping— beetles ( Coleopierd).

Upper wings semi-crustaceous, and overlapping —
bugs and grasshoppers (Hemiptera).

b, Upper and under wings of the same texture.
Wings covered with small tiled scales — butterflies

and moths {Lepidoptera).
Wings membranaceous and naked.

Without a sting — dragon-flies, &c. {Neuropteia).
With a sting — wasps, bees, &c. {Hijinenoptera).
•2. With two wiiigs : — Flies, gnats, &c. {Diptera).
II. Wingless Insects {Apterd).

De Geer's Classification.

I. Winged Insects.

1. Wings four, icithout iving-cases: —

o, Wings covered with scales ; tongue spiral — but-
terflies and moths.

h, Wings naked and membranaceous— May-flies and
caddis-flies.

c, Wings equal, membranaceous, and netted ; the

mouth with teeth — dragon-flies and lace-winged
flies.

d, Wings unequal ; nervures placed lengthwise ;

mouth with teeth; and the females having a
sting or ovipositor — bees, wasps, ants, ichneu-
mons, saw-flies, &c.

e, Wings membranaceous ; the tongue bent under the

throat — tree-hoppers, &c.

2. Wings two, covered hy two wing-cases : —

a. Wing-cases partly coriaceous and partly mem-

branaceous, overlapping each other ; tongue bent
under the throat — bugs, &c.

b. Wing-cases coriaceous, or somewhat crustaceous

and wing-like, overlapping ; mouth with teeth —
locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers.

c. Wing-cases hard and crustaceous, not overlapping,

covering the mider wings ; mouth with teeth —
beetles.

3. Wings two, without wing-cases : — ^

a, Two membranaceous wings, and two poisers be-

242 SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENTS OF INSECTS.

hind these ; mouth with a tongue, but no teeth
— flies, gnats, &c.
h. Two membranaceous wings in the male, but no
poisers, tongue, nor teeth; no wings in the
female, but a tongue in the breast — vine-louse,
&c.

II. Wingless Insects.

1. Undergoing tra)isformation : —

With six legs, and the mouth having a tongue — fleas.

2. Undergoing no transformations: —

a, With six legs, the head distinct from the trunk —

— white ants, &c.

b, With eight or ten legs, and the head not distinct

from the trunk — spiders, crabs, &c.

c, With fourteen or more legs, and the head distinct

from the trunk — centipedes, wood-lice, &c.

The Locality System.

The next system, in order oFtinie, reckoning from the
period of Aristotle, is taken, not from the structure of
insects, but the places they frequent. We owe the first
sketch of an arrangement on this principle to the great
naturalist of Italy, Ulysses Aldrovand, whom it has been
the recent fashion to decry as a collector of fables ; but
whose voluminous works, written in Latin, and never,
we believe, translated, must always be consulted with
admiration by every genuine inquirer, as a mine of in-
formation altogether miraculous as the production of one
man.

Aldrovand's Classijication.

I. Land Insects ( Terre^fna).

I. With feet (Pedata) :—
a, With wings (Alata). ,

Without Aving-cases {Aneli/tra).

With membranaceous wings (^Membranaced),

Honey-making {Favijica).

Not honey-making {Noiifavijica).

TIIE LOCALITY SYSTEM. 24;j

With scaly wings ( Faruiosa').
With ■wing-cases (Eli/trota).
b, Without wings (Aptera).
With few feet (^Paucipeda^.
With many feet (Multipeda).
2. Vtlthout feet (Apoda).

II. Water Insects {Aquatica).

1. With feet (Vedsita) :—

a. With few feet (^Paiicipeda).

b. With many feet (^Multipeda).

2. Without feet (Apoda).

Vallisn iens Class Ificat ion .

I. Plant Insects {Tnsetti, che annidano nelle pianti e le

divorano).
I [. ''\\ ater insects (I/isetti, che nuotano, crescono, vivono, e
seinpre dimorano ne' soli fluid i).

III. Insects inhabiting Earthy or Mineral Substances (//j-

setti, che si trovano deutro i marmi, sassi, crete, ossa, e
conchiglie).

IV. Insects inhabiting Living Animals (^Lisetti, che fanno

dentro, o sopra i viventi *).

Fahricius's Geographical Classijication.

This celebrated systematic writer divides the globe into
eiftht insect climates : —

1. Indian.

2. Egyptian.

3. Southern.

4. Mediterranean.

5. Northern.

6. Oriental.

7. Occidental.

8. Alpine.

LatreiUes Geographical Classification.

This celebrated French systematist has written a cu-
rious and ingenious pa])er on the Geography of Insects,
as a companion to Humboldt's famous Geography of
Plants. He divides the globe into twelve insect zones
or climates, thus : —

* Esperienze ed Osjeivazioni, p. 42, 43 ; 4to., Padjva, 1725.

244 SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENTS OF INSECTS.

Arctic, all North of the Equator.

1. Polar.

2. Sub-polar.

3. Superior.

4. Intermediate

5. Supra-tropical.

6. Tropical.

7. Equatorial.

II. Antarctic, all South of the Equator.

1. Equatorial.

2. Tropical.

3. Supra-tropical.

4. Intermediate.

5. Superior.

Connected with this subject is the doctrine of Repre-
sentalio7i and Replacement, by which it is maintained,
that when a particular species of insect, or other animal,
is not found in two several countries or districts, such as
Britain and New England, it is represented or replaced
by some species resembling it in form and in function.
Taking a more popular example than insects furnish, it
is held, according to this system, that the puma of Ame-
rica replaces the lion of Africa, or that the pecari repre-
sents in Mexico the hog of Europe.

The Transformation System.

There are considerable^differences in transformations
among various species. These, the illustrious Swam-
merdam, whose accurate observations are now as valuable
as when they were made nearly two centuries ago, has
made the basis of his system.

Swammerdam's Classification.

I. Transformations immediate, the insects being hatched
perfectly formed — fleas, spiders, &c.

II. Transformations taking place under a covering* —
locusts, crickets, bugs, dragon-flies, May-flies, &c.

III. Transformations with a pupa-case intermediate* —
beetles, bees, wasps, saw-flies, gnats, &c.

* In explaining Swammerdam's SN'stem, Kirby and Spence
use the terms of " complete" and " incomplete," which are not
in the original.

THE TBANSrOEMATIOK SYSTEM. 245

Transformations in the pupa state obtected — moths and
butterflies.

IV. Transformations in the pupa state coarctate — ichneu-
mons, flies, &c.

Ray and Wilhghhy's Classification.

I. Insects undergoing no Transformations

(^A/j.€TaiJ.op<po}Ta).

1. Without feet (ATToda) : —

a, Land Insects, including worms, &c. QTerrestria).

b, Water Insects, including Leeches, &c. {Aquaticd).

2. With feet (Pedata) :—

a, With six feet (Hexapoda).

Land Insects (Terrestria).

Larger, including lignivorous larvae (^Majora).

Less, including lice and springtails (^Minora).

Water Insects, including the river shrimp (^Aqua-
tica).
h, With eight feet ( Octopoda).

With tails— scorpions {Caudata).

Without tails — spiders, mites (^Non caudata).

c, V/ith fourteen feet — woodlice (Teccrapes/catSe-

KaiToZa).

d, With twenty-four feet.

e, With thirty feet.

/, With many feet (UokviroSa).
Land Insects ( Terrestria^.
With a roundish body — millepedes {^Tereti seu

subrotundi).
With a flat or compressed body — centipedes {Piano

seu compressd).
Water Insects (Aquatica).
With a round body ( Corpore tereti).
With a flat body ( Corpore piano).
With a double tail {Bicaudatum). \

II. Insects undergoing Transformations

(M€Ta^o/)<^ov/xe//a).

1. Transformations instantaneous (Trausmutatio iustan-
tanea) : —

a, Lace-winged flies {Libella seu Perlx), &c.

b, Wild bugs {Cimiccs sylvestres).

c, Locusts and mantes (JLocustce).

246 SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENTS OF INSECTS.

d, Field-crickets (Grylli campestres).

e, Hearth-crickets {Gn/Ili domestici).

f, Mole-cricket (Gri/llo talpa).

g, Tree-hoppers (^CicadcB).
h, Cock-roaches {Blattce),
i, Crane-flies ( Tipulce). ^

h, Water-scorpion (^Scorpius aquaticus).
1, Water-flies {Muscce aquaticcB).
ni, May-flies {Hemerohii).
n, Ear-wigs (^Forficula seu auricxdarict).
2. Transformations hco-fold (Metamoi-phosis duplex) : —

a, With wing-cases — beetles (KouAeoTrrepa seu Va-

gini penniay

b, Without wing-cases (A»'e\uT/5o).

\Vith mealy wings — butterflies and moths (Alls

farinaceis).
With membranaceous wings — bees, flies {Alls

membranaceis^.
With two wings (AtTrrepa).
With four wings (TcTpaTnepa).
Gregarious ( Gregaria).
Making honey — bees, &c. (Melli/lca).
Not making honey (Noti melUJica).
Solitary {Soliiaria).
Bee-formed {Aplformia').
Wasp-formed ( Vespiformia').
Butterfly-formed ( Papiliomformia').
With an ovipositor {Seticaudce seu Trijnlia).

TUE ClBARIAN, J.IaxILLARY, OR MoUTH SySTEM.

FABRicius,"a Danish systematic writer of high celebrity,
« niulous of the fame of Linnaeus, conceived the idea
of classifying insects according to the structure of their
mouths, or their feeding organs {Lntnnnenta cibario).

Fahricuis's Classification.

1 . With the lower jaws naked, free, and carrying palpi

— beetles {Eleutherata).

2. With the lower jaws covered by an obtuse shield or

lobe — locusts, crickets, &c. {Ulonata).

3. With the lower jaws jointed at the base, and joined

with the lip — lace-wing flies, &c. {Si^nistata).

, THE MOUTH SYSTEM. 247

4. With the lower jaws horny, compressed, and often

tlongated — bees, wasps, &c. (Piezata).

5. With the lower jaws horny, toothed, and having two

palpi — dragon-flies, &c. {Opoutata).

6. With the lower jaws horny, vaulted, and no palpi —

centipedes, wood-lice, &c. {Mitosata).

7. With the lower jaws horny, and armed with a claw

— spiders, &c. {Unogata).

?. With many jaws within the lip, the palpi mostly six
(^Poli/gonata).

9. With many jaws, without the lip closing the mouth
(Kleistaguat/io).

10. With many jaws without the lip, covered by palpi
(^Exochnata),

11. Mouth with a spiral tongue, between [reflected palpi

— butterflies and moths {Glossata).

12. Mouth with a rostrum and a jointed sheath — bugs,
&c. {Hi/iigota).

13. Mouth with a sucker without joints — flies. See.
{Andiata).

Cuvier's CJassijication.'

I. Insects with Jaavs.

1. Without wings — crabs, spiders {Gnathoptera).

2. With four equal wings — dragon-flies, &c. (^JS'eu-

ropterd).

3. With four unequal wings — bees, wasps {Ili/ir.e-

noptera).

4. With wing-cases — beetles (Coleoptera).

5. With four straight wings — crickets, &c. QOr-

thoptera).

II. Insects without Jaws.

1. With upper wings of unequal consistence — bugs, £:c.

(^He7niptera^.

2. "With powdery wings — butterflies and moths (Ze-

pidoptera).
.1. Vritn two wings — flies, &c. {Diptera).
4. Without v.ings — fleas, mites, &c. {Aptcra^.

248 SYSTEMATIC ABBANGEMEMTS OF INSECTS.

Lamarck's Classification.
I. Insects with Jaws.

1. With wing-cases — beetles ( CoZeo/j<e?-o).

2. With straight wings — ciuckets, &c. {Orthoptei a).

3. With four equal wings — dragon-flies {Neiiroptera).

II. Insects with Jaws and a sort of Sucker.

4. With four unequal wings — bees, &c. (^Hymenoptera).

III. Insects with no Jaws, but having a Sucker.

5. With powdery wings — moths, &c. (Lepidoptera).

6. With upper wings of unequal consistence — bugs, &c.

(^Hemiptera).

7. With two wings — flies, &c. (Diptera).

8. Without wings (^Aptera).

The Ovary, or Egg System.

It has been recently proposed to arrange all animals ac-
cording to the structure, &c. of their eggs {ova) ; and,
in accordance with this principle, an ingenious arrange-
ment has been constructed by a venerable and enthusi-
astic inquirer, from which we shall give what relates to
certain insects forming the eighth class.

Sir Everard Home's Classification.
Metamorphogenoa,

Having the embryo produced from an egg which is formed
in the ovarium, subjected to transformation, and breathing
by air-tubes {spiracula) ; heart wanting ; blood white.

1 . The embryo developed from eggs attached under the

tail. Lobster {Cancer).

2. The embryo developed from eggs carried upon the

anterior feet. Spider {Aranea).

3. The embryo developed from eggs deposited under

the cuticle of the skin or stomach. Gad-fly
{(Estrus).

4. Embryos developed from eggs for several genera-

tions, impregnated at the same time. Plant-louse
{Aphis).

5. Embryos, produced from eggs of one mother, that

compose the whole republic. Bee {Apis).
G. Embryos from eggs deposited under water. The
water-moth {Phri/ganea).

the eclectic, or modern system. 249

The Eclectic, or Modern System.

M. Clairville appears to have first conceived the idea
of uniting the principles of several of the preceding sys-
tems, an idea which has been followed up by Latreillc,
Dr. Leach, and Mr. Stephens.

Clairville's Classification.

I. Winged Insects {PteropJiora).

1. With jaws (Mandibulata) : —

a, With wing-cases {Elytroptera).

b, With coriaceous wings QDeratoptera).

c, With netted vings (^l)icti/opie7-a).

d, AVith veined wings (Plileboj.tera).

2. With suckers (Haustellata) : —

a, AVings with poisers {Halteriptera).

b, Wings powdery (^Lepidoptera).

c, Wings partly opaque and partly translucent {Ile-

mimcroptera).

II. Wingless Insects (Aptera).

1. With a sucker {Haustellata^
With a sharp sucker {Rophoptera).

2. With. iiL-ws {Mandibulata).

With legs formed for running {Pododunera^.

Latreille's Classification.'*^

I. Insects with more than Six Feet, and without
Wings {Mijriapoda).

1. With mam/ jaivs — wood-lice {Chilognatha').

2. With many feet — millepedes (Chilopoda).

II. Insects with Six Feet.

Without icings : —

a. With organs of motion like feet ( Thysanurd).

b. Mouth with a retractile sucker {Parasitd).

c. External mouth with a jointed tube enclosing a

sucker {Suctoria).
With Jour wings: —
A, Upper wings crustaceous or coriaceous, at least at
the base.

* Regue Animal, 8vo. Paris, 1829.
VOL. II, M

260 SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENTS OF INSECTS.

a, With the under wings folded crosswise — beetles

{Coleoptera). 1. Pentamera; 2. Heteromera;

3. Tetramera; 4. Trimera.
h, With the under wings folded lengthwise (^OrtJwp-

tera).
Legs formed for running ( Cursoria).
Legs formed for leaping {Saltatorici).
c, With a sucker enclosing several bristles {Hemip-

tera). 1. Heteroptera ; 2. Homoptera.
B, Upper wings membranaceous.
a, Wings naked and netted {Neuroptera). 1. Sub-

ulicornes ; 2. Planipennes ; 3. Plicipennes.
h. Wings naked and veined (^H^menopiera). 1. Tere-

brantia ; 2. Aculeafa.
c, Wings with dust-like scales ( Lepidoptera). 1. Di-

urna; 2. Crepuscularia ; 3. Nocturna.
With two twisted ehjtra and two wings (Rhipiptera).

1. Xenos; 2. Stylops.
With two wings (Diptera).

Leach's Classification.

I. Insects undergoing no Transformation {Ameta-
bolia).

1. With bristles at the tail (TTii/sanura).

2. With no bristles at the tail {Anopluray

IL Insects undergoing Transformation (^Metabolia).

1. With two wings folded crosswise, and covered with

hard wing-cases ( Coleoptera).

2. With two wings folded lengthwise and crosswise, and

short and softer wing-cases (Dermaptera).

3. With two wings folded lengthwise and wing-cases

overlapping each other at the edges (^Orthop-
tera).

4. With two wings twice folded lengthwise, and wing-

cases obliqviely overlapping; mouth with jaws
(^Dictyopterd).

5. With two wings, and overlapping wing-cases, having

the apex membranaceous (^Hemiptera).

6. With two wings, and coriaceous or membranaceous

wing-cases ( Omoptera).

7. With no wings nor wing-cases (Aptera).

THE ECLECTIC, OR MODERN' SYSTEM. 251

8. With foar wings covered with meal-like scales (Ze-

pidoptera).

9. With four membranaceous wings, the wingboues

hairy ( Trichopterd).

10. With four nearly equal membranaceous reticulated

wings (^Neuropterd).

11. With four unequal membranaceous wings, the wing-

bones running lengthwise {Hymenopteni).

12. With two wings folded lengthwise {Rhipiptera).

13. With two wings not folded; mouth formed for suck-

ing— flies (Viptera).

14. With two or with no wings ; mouth with long jaws —

bird-flies, bat-flies (^Omaloptera).

Stephens's Classification.

I. IxsECTS WITH Mandibles (^Mandlbidata').

1. With hard wing-cases (^Coleoptera).

a, Voracious (Adepliaga).
Ground feeders (Geodephaga^.
Water feeders (Hi^drodephaga).

b, Cleansers {Rt/pophaga).
Haunting water {Philhi/drida).

Feeding on carrion, or putrid wood (A'^ecrophaga).
With short wing-cases {Brachelytra).

c, Chilognathiform larvae.

With clavate sublaminate antenna? {Helocera').
With laminate antennae {Lamellicornes).
AVith filiform antennae (^Sternoxi).
With setaceous or abruptly clavate autennce.

d, Vermiform larvae.

With a rostrum {RJnnchophora).
Without a rostrum {Longicornes).

e, Anopluriform ? larvae.
Tarsi tetramerous.
Body elongate (Eupoda).
Body ovoid or oval ( Cyclica).
Tarsi trimerous {Trimeri).

f, Heteromerous beetles {Heteromera').

2. With short and somewhat crustaceous wing-cases —

earwigs (Dermaptera).

3. With coriaceous wing-cases (^Orthoptera).

4. With netted wings {Neuroptera).
a, Scorpion-flies \Panorpina).

M 2

252 SYSTEMATIC AKRAKGEMEXTS OF INSECTS.

h, Day-flies (Anisoptera).

c. Dragon-flies (Lihellulind).

d. White-ants (Termitina).

e. With large wings {Megaloptera).

5. With four hairy wings ( Trichoptera).

6. With four unequal wings (Hpnenopiera).
a, Borers (Terebrantia).

b, •- wasps, bees, ants, &c.

c, ruby tails, &c.

7. • sty lops (^Strepaipterd),

II. Insects with Suckers {Haustellata).

1. With powdery wings {Lepidoptera).

a, Butterflies appearing by day {Diurna').

b, Moths appearing at twilight (Crcpiiscularia).

c, Moths appearing in the afternoon {Fomcridiand).

d, Moths appearing at night {Nocturtia).

e, Moths appearing partly by day {Semidnnvd).

f, Moths appearing in the evening ( Vcspertinci).

2. With two wings (Diptera).

3. With elonged jaws and two wings, or none (^Homa-

lopterd).

4. With wings not perceptible — fleas {Aphanipterd).

5. Without wings (Aptcra).

6. With two wings and overlapping wing-cases (^He-

mipterd).
a, Land insects ( Terrestrici).
h. Water insects {Aquatica).

7. With two wings and wing-cases not overlapping each

other (^Homopterci).

The Quinary System.

Mr. W. S. MacLeay, the author of this system, pro-
poses to arrange insects in circular groups of fives, so
as to place those which have the nearest resemblance, or
(as he terms it) n-ffinity, contiguous to one another in
their several circles. We shall here give from the Horae
Entomologicae his arrangement of Clairville's Mandibn-
lata, with translations, &c. of his terms.

THE QUINARY SYSTEM.

253

MacLeay s Classification.

^^$

-= "^

IIYMKNOHTRI^A. ^"^
CUHequal-ieinged Insects.J ■§ ~

cxvhu. a. Il

o."0 it.

\<\ /
,^ Cor.F.OPTERA. _ > |-3t'

r. o OVin^-cassi Imecis.) S^ ;t3-

5-5 rafe

, -> TRICHOPTERA. o-, I

« ^ (liaity-icinsfd Insects.) g^ a- J

'megaloptera.

\' ""

^TTERA. T^ 1/

Ringed Inseclt.) ^-t [/ ^ NET'ROPTERA. t^^

,? ir' 1 s S (fciny-ii inged Imccls.J H.-^

254 SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENTS OF INSECTS.

Insects have also been divided according to the con-
dition of their food ; but the arrangements on this prin-
ciple have not, as far as we know, been perfected.

I. Insects feeding on Living substances {Tliolei-o-
phaga).

1. Feeding on living flesh (CV/r;u'i7ora).
a, Feeding on aphides (Aphidivora).

2. Feeding on growing vegetables {Phytophagd).

a, Feeding on grain and seeds {Granivora),

b, Feeding on fungi (^Fiingivora).

II. Insects feeding on Dead substances {Saprophaga).

1. Feeding on dead "wood (^Ligmvora).

2. Feeding on -dung {Coprophaga).

3. Feeding on dead animals {Neeropkaga).

( 255 )

ILLUSTRATIONS OF VOL. II.

out by jet

1 Artificial hive for observing the mason-ants .

2 Vertical section for masou-ant s nest

3 Contrivance of mason-ants to ttrengthen the building of

nest .......

4 Artificial hive for the wood-ant . , .

5 Portion of a tree, with chambers, &c., chiselled

ants .......

6 Warrior ant in the winged state . • .

7 White ant queen distended witli eggs . .

8 Covered way and nest of the termites arboTum

9 Section of the hill nest of the termites bellicosi

10 Hill nest of the termites bellicosi . .

11 Turret nests of white ants ....

12 Leg and pro-leg of a caterpillar, greatly magnified

13 Caterpillar of the goat-moth ....

14 Interior structure of the cossus . . .

15 Side view of the silk tube ....
IG !*ection of silk tube, magnified . . .

17 Labium or lower lip of cossus . .

18 Cocoons of the emperor-moth . . •

19 Cocoon of aictia villica .....

20 Net-work cocoon ......

21 Nest of puss-moth, inclosing five cocoons .

22 Winter nest of the social caterjiillars of the brownt

23 Winter nests of Porthesia chrysorrhaea . .

24 Pendulous leaf-nests .....

25 Nest and order of marching of the processionary caterpill

26 Garden s])ider suspended by a thread from its siiinneret

27 Spinneret of a spider magnilied to show the spinnerules

28 Single thread of a spider, greatly magnified . .

29 Attached end of a spider's thread, magnified .

30 Geometric net of the garden spider ....

31 Nests of the mason spider .....

32 The spider, mygale caementaria ....

33 The eyes, magnified ......

34 Parts of the foot and claw, magnified . .

35 Triple-clawed foot of a spider, magnified .

36 Small berry-shaped galls of the oak-leaf . .

37 Ovipositor of gall-fly, greatly magnified. .

38 Gallfly, and mechanism of ovipositor, greatly magnified

39 Bedeguar gall of the rose, produced by Cynips rosse

40 One of the bristles of the bedeguar ot the rose, magnified

41 Artichoke gall of the oak-bud, with gall fly

42 L' afy gall ot dyer's broom .

43 Semi-gall of the hawthorn .

44 Woolly gall of the oak ....

il motli

heir

PAGE

23
23

256

ILLUSTRATIONS.

45 Oak-apple galls, one cut open to show the vessel

46 Root galls of the oak ....

47 Woody gall ou a willow branch . ,
4S Currant gall of the catkins of the oak .

49 Gall of the hawthorn weevil .

50 A plant louse, magnified

51 Galls produced on tlie leaves of the poplar, with

forms of the insect, ten figures.

52 Leal' of the currant bush, bulged out by the Aphis

53 Shoot of the lime-tree contorted by the Aphis tiliae

54 Pseudo gall of the bramble . .

55 Pseudo galls of the hawthorn .
55 I'seiido gall on the Scotch lir .

57 Ovipositor of the breeze- fly . .

58 Grub of the breeze-fly, four figures.

59 Fly, maggot, and grub of the ox breeze-fly

60 Bumps or wurbles produced on cattle .

61 Viscera of the Cossus ....

62 Caterpillar of Vanessa urticre magnified

63 Intestinal canals of the caterpillar, pupa, and butle

64 Ravages of the biilT-tip calerpilLir .

65 Encampment of tlie caterpillar of the small

Siberian crab .....

66 Transfoimations of the Gamma moth

67 Saw-fly of the gooseberry

68 Numatus capreae on the osier, and Selandria ;i

69 Transformations of the grain moths

70 Tratisf)rmations of the honeycomb-moths

71 Transformations of the cockchafer

72 Wire-worm and click-beetle . . .

73 Zabrus gibljus and Melolontha ruficoriiis

74 Corn-weevil, magnified . . .

75 Nut and apple tiee beetles . .

76 hark mined in rays by beetle-grubs

77 Locust

78 Ovipositor and eggs of the crane-fly

79 Germination of a grain of wheat .

80 Transfoimations of the wheat-fly . .

81 The Hessian fly and the Markwick fly .

82 Cheese-hoppers .....

83 Transformations of Bibio hortulanus .

84 Lace-winged fly and Sjrplms

85 Breeding-cage .....

86 Larvae-box arid pocket collecting box

87 Water-net ... . .
8S Butterfly-net and clap-net . . .
t9 Ring-net and net-forceps . . .

90 French beetle-forceps and pliers

91 Digger ......

92 Chip collecti')g-box ....

93 Setting-needles and brush, with the method of setti

94 Method of mounting small insects

95 Setting-board frame ....

on th

the V
bcs

fly

lie on 11

aid

ects

London: Printed by William Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street.

PP'OPERTY

.-rrw^^ERTY OF

^. R METCALP

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