Chapter V: Preface (5)

The crickets are found in the greatest variety. Some live in the ground, others affect houses, and in the tropics beautiful tree crickets are found. The snowy tree cricket has a peculiar note, _te-reat, te-reat, te-reat_. The broad-winged tree cricket has a call which resembles a dog whistle. Another has a piping note resembling the thrilling musical sound made by rubbing the edge of a glass with one's finger. The singular cave cricket is wingless, and has antennæ several times the length of its body. The Western cricket does great damage to the crops of the farmer, and when bands are seen marching over the country, ditches are often dug into which the crickets plunge, where, in default of food, they begin to devour one another. The cry of this cricket is harsh and disagreeable, the "musical instrument" being on the dorsum or back of the shield which seems to cover the fore part of its back. The curious mole cricket, which burrows underground and is provided with enormous jaws, is a menace to the gardener. In the outer Florida Keys I found that it was almost impossible to rear plants, so plentiful and ravenous were these fierce root eaters.

XXIV. THE BEETLES

The beetles (Fig. 199) are insects having their fore wings thickened to constitute sheaths or covers for the lower pair, used in flight. Their mouths are adapted for biting, and they pass through a complete metamorphosis. There are about ninety thousand species, ranging from minute creatures to huge, lumbering goliaths. When walking the beetle presents a trim appearance, enveloped in a gleaming armor of the highest polish, and often ablaze with metallic tints, but when it flies the elytra, or wing covers, are thrown up, and a pair of soft, silken wings flutter out, stiffen, and bear the beetle away.

The head of the beetle is small and adapted for biting (Fig. 200); the digestive apparatus is simple. The most noticeable feature of many are the antennæ (Fig. 201), which often are very long and ornamental. The eyes are compound. The legs are strong and powerful. The beetles spend little time in flying, many being flesh eaters and continually searching for game under refuse and in dark places. They lay eggs which are deposited in the ground, or in special cavities made in wood, which hatch into larvæ (Fig. 202). In the tiger beetle the larvæ resemble white worms. In the rose beetle they look like grubs. These in time change to helpless pupæ.

The June bug, the beetle which dashes into rooms, blindly charging lights of all kinds, is a familiar example. Its larva is white and very destructive. On my lawn in California the Bermuda grass often turns white, and sections a foot square can be lifted, having been cut off from the roots by this destructive larva of the June bug, which during this stage of its existence lives underground, eating roots and plants of various kinds. For two years this beetle (Fig. 203) lives a subterranean, marauding life, growing and shedding its skin. It is often considered a complete animal, but at the end of this period it changes into what is called the pupa stage, which does not move; the pupæ are white, soft, helpless creatures which are found around the roots of rose bushes in great number, and which are so appreciated by mocking birds that they and the blackbirds invariably follow me about the garden when I am overturning the soil with the trowel. Finally the pupa changes into the perfect insect.

The larvæ of some of the spring beetles remain in the "grub" stage five years, and are known as wire worms, doing a vast amount of damage.

The girdler beetle bores holes in tender limbs of the hickory, then systematically girdles the limb below the eggs, so that by the time the young hatch they have soft, dead wood to feed upon. The bark borer (Fig. 204) penetrates the bark of trees, and cuts winding tunnels here and there, in which are placed its eggs. Among the most attractive of the beetles are the carnivorous sexton beetles. They find dead bodies with all the skill of a vulture, burrow beneath them and deposit their eggs within the body, where the young feed. The work these beetles accomplish in destroying animals and even burying them renders them valuable scavengers. Among the destructive beetles are the buffalo bugs (Fig. 205), which have been introduced from Europe; the larva of these is a strange, fuzzy little creature (_a_).

The weevils (Fig. 206) are the bane of the dweller in the tropics. They infest bread, cake, and flour and meal of every kind. Perhaps the most dreaded by the Northern farmer is the potato bug (Fig. 207), which plays havoc with potatoes, often ruining the entire crop, the vines being covered by the soft and disagreeable larva, more like a worm than anything else. The diving beetle is an interesting insect, being a flier and a swimmer. Its hind legs are fringed and adapted for swimming. On the fore limb is a sucker, or several, by which the beetle can attach itself to any object. The larva is a ferocious creature, armed with a pair of fierce jaws, with which it attacks small fishes, frogs, tadpoles, and game very much larger than itself.

XXV. THE BUGS

The bugs are easily recognized. They have the mouth parts arranged as a sucking beak or proboscis. The chinch bug (Fig. 208), the squash bug (Fig. 209), the seventeen-year cicada, or locust (Fig. 210), and the bean aphis (Fig. 211) are well-known examples. They represent a group dreaded for many reasons; many are parasites on man and beast, while many others destroy crops of various kinds.

In nearly all fresh-water ponds and pools curious flat, long-legged creatures (Fig. 212) are seen darting over the surface, being perfectly at home. They are water boatmen, and one species (Fig. 213) is found far out at sea.

In passing in review the various insects the peculiar transformations through which they pass are noticed; some long, some short, some partial, and many complete. In the cicada, or seventeen-year locust, or harvest fly, we have an instance of one of the strangest examples of slow development known. The cicada is a wedge-shaped insect having some resemblance to a huge fly. At the base of the abdomen is a drumlike organ by which it makes a shrill "zeeing" sound which, when thousands are joined in concert, produces a remarkable sound audible for a long distance. I have heard it half a mile with the wind, and by following it up found a grove filled with insects producing a roar of sounds, while, clinging to the trees and branches, were thousands of empty skins from which the cicadas had escaped. The cicada deposits three or four hundred eggs in holes on the twigs or bark of the oak. They hatch very promptly in six weeks or so, and we might conclude that the young cicadas would soon appear. But seventeen long years of life underground are now required before the pupa crawls upward, molts, and appears as an adult cicada. It has spent all these years as an almost helpless creature, resembling the mole cricket, subsisting by sucking the juices from the roots of plants, waiting for the ending of its imprisonment.

On many plants the stroller through the garden will observe bits of white froth, like soap suds, and few persons, were they not in the secret, would believe that the froth is an especially devised medium for the little leaf hopper (Fig. 214). The adult insect is a curious little creature found among the grasses in spring. The young require moisture to enable them to attain their full development, and when hatched they climb up stalks of grass and pierce them with their beaklike proboscis and gorge themselves with the juices. The insect now exudes a foamy secretion which bubbles up about it, in time entirely surrounding itself in a mass of moisture. The insect converts this into air globules by pushing its tail above the mass (_a_) and seizing air in its claspers, which it passes beneath it to the spiracle or breathing pore. In this way it breathes and also fills the section about it with air. There the animal passes the time until it is ready to change, when it escapes and becomes a perfect leaf hopper. The famous cochineal insects (Fig. 215) belong to this group. They are minute creatures which live upon certain cacti in the tropics. When collected they form the celebrated dye. Another form produces a valuable wax.

Who has not found his rose bushes swarming with minute green bodies, the Aphidæ? Brush them off at night and in a few hours as many more are seen, due to the marvelous rapidity of their increase. The eggs are laid in the autumn, and hatch in the early spring, the young then appearing as wingless little creatures which in turn produce not eggs but winged or wingless Aphidæ (Fig. 216). These appear in such numbers and so quickly that in a single summer a pair of plant lice will produce one quintillion of young ones. Can we wonder that it is difficult to keep the rose bushes free from such a swarm? The story of the development of these insects is but merely touched upon, but it is among the most remarkable of all the strange and unexplainable transformations we find in animal life.

Here we may glance at the countless scaly insects which infest fruit of various kinds. The black, red, and cottony scale are common in California, and have to be fought with all the cunning and intelligence that man can invoke. In 1886 the orange groves of southern California were almost ruined by the cottony scale. I have seen trees that looked as though the limbs were covered with snow. But an enemy of the scale, a little spotted lady bug, was imported from Australia, and in a few months the scale had disappeared. The black and red scale and several others are pests which devastate the groves, stopping the growth of the trees and operating against the fruit grower, who is obliged to spray the trees with poisonous washes to destroy them.

XXVI. FLIES AND MOSQUITOES

The flies and mosquitoes are among the greatest pests and dangers to man. Both are conveyers of disease, and the former, as an agent of destruction, deposits its eggs in meat of all kinds, making it impossible to keep meat in some countries. On the other hand, it should be remembered that the flies are valuable scavengers, hastening the destruction of dead matter which might contaminate the air.

The flies (Fig. 217) are two-winged insects with mouth parts adapted for lapping (Fig. 218) or sucking. Under the microscope these organs often appear to be composed of needlelike bristles, forming a proboscis protected by a scabbard or sheath. In some flies this weapon is many times as long as the body. The head is well separated from the body, and movable. The eyes are compound and simple, made up of many facets (Fig 219). The wings are gauze-like, often beautiful, and when the fly is in motion, they move in a figure eight, making, it is estimated, 19,800 revolutions a minute. The feet (Fig. 220) enable it to cling to the smoothest surfaces with ease. The little pads are extremely irritating at times when the fly walks over the flesh, tapping here and there with its soft tongue, in which all parts except the labium are rudimentary. The latter has a broad tip for licking or lapping. The flies breathe by spiracles, and are among the most active of all insects, and the bravest, attacking man and beast, and refusing to be driven off, despite the most active and spirited defense.

The development of the house fly is a familiar process. The eggs of the flesh fly, as an example (Fig. 221), are small, white objects which hatch into maggots. These change gradually, finally becoming pupæ, then assuming the adult form. The bluebottle fly (Fig. 222) is one of the best known. The house fly is found in greatest numbers near stables, as there, in the piles of refuse, the eggs are deposited, hatching in twenty-four hours. The young appear as fleshy, soft, footless worms or maggots, which are ravenous, and live upon the most fœtid matter for two weeks, when they change into a pupa, a barrel-shaped, cocoonlike form. For two weeks this remains motionless, when out of it breaks the perfect house fly, soon to deposit its eggs and help to produce the tens of millions of flies which swarm wherever human beings are found.

Among the many species of flies some are bloodsuckers, as the horse flies. The robber flies are the hawks of the race, carrying off other insects, even large dragon flies. The many species of horse flies attack horses and cattle, and the animals are often driven to a frenzy by their approach. An entire herd will recognize the approach of these insects and stampede. Many of the flies deposit their eggs upon the hairs or nostrils of horses. Flies exist in countless varieties, from harmless creatures to some in Africa which are deadly to cattle and horses; from the ordinary fly whose larva lives in cheese to others which thrive in alcohol and wine. In California the larva of one species is found in Lake Mono, where no other animal can live. Hundreds of bushels of them are sometimes washed upon the beaches, constituting a favorite food for the Indians.

The warfare declared against mosquitoes in America, suggested by Dr. Howard, has attracted widespread attention to these insects, which have rendered many localities absolutely uninhabitable. A Florida physician informed me that in a certain locality horses had been killed by these insatiate bloodsuckers, which are now known to be the carriers of the germs of yellow fever. Over almost every pond or pool in summer they may be seen in countless numbers, filling the air with their disagreeable music.

The proboscis, or sucking weapon, of the mosquito (Fig. 223) is an innocent-appearing object when closed; but when the sheath is open it displays a series of scimeter and sawtooth daggers (Fig. 224), which fully explains the torture of the mosquito bite or that of the gnat which crawls up one's sleeve (Fig. 225). In all these extraordinary weapons we find the same organs, the labium, labrum, and others, but with greater or less development, according to the nature of the insect.

It is the female mosquito which occasions all the trouble and renders mankind miserable in some of the otherwise most delightful resorts. On the Florida Keys I always had a mosquito bar overhead, not merely over the bed but suspended from the ceiling in midday. Even then these pests would force their way through the meshes.

The development of the mosquito is interesting (Fig. 226). The eggs are deposited as a boat-shaped mass on the surface of the water, where they drift about for several days. The larvæ appear as wigglers floating in the water, tail upward, and breathing through a tube at the tip of the abdomen which is projected above the water for the purpose. After a while the head grows larger, and several changes ensue. Then the pupa finally appears. This rises to the surface, and out bursts a full-fledged mosquito which, like a man in a canoe, balances itself while its wings dry. A few hours before it was entirely dependent upon the water and swimming in it, but now it appears to be fearful of overturning the frail craft and falling in where it would surely drown. If all goes well, it soon tries its wings and goes buzzing away. The devastation caused by the armed and bewhiskered mosquito is not generally known. Doubtless thousands have lost their lives from this unsuspected cause.

The common gnat (Fig. 227) has habits similar to those of the mosquito. They are often seen floating in the air in great swarms or bands, rising and forming as though in some mystic dance.

Closely allied to these forms are the fleas (Fig. 228), which are at once interesting and irritating. They are wingless, and have two simple eyes. The larva resembles a small caterpillar. It attains its growth in twelve days, then enters a small cocoon, which it weaves. There it remains for sixteen days, when it breaks forth a full-grown flea. Of all insects the fleas are the most amenable to instruction. Some years ago a flea circus was one of the attractions of New York, where, by looking through a magnifying glass, one could see fleas dragging chariots with other fleas dressed as cavaliers sitting on the seats. Many other seemingly impossible feats were exhibited.

XXVII. THE BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS

Of all the insects the butterflies (Fig. 229) are the most beautiful. Nature has arrayed them in coats of many colors. Every tint and every possible shade of color, including metallic, is found among them. In some of the South American forests they are of gigantic size, a blaze of iridescent blue, as though formed of the most delicate flakes of that beautiful mineral labradorite.

The butterflies add to the beauty of nature. Among the trees they congregate, forming dashes of color, red, blue, green, and golden yellow. They vie with the flowers in their splendors; besides being ornamental they accomplish a great work in carrying pollen from flower to flower and from plant to plant. They have small heads (Fig. 230), short antennæ, and four beautiful wings which are covered with minute scales. Each of the latter when examined under a microscope becomes a resplendent object, glistening like the plate of some gorgeous armor. The mouth parts are adapted for sucking, and are coiled up when not in use (Fig. 231). They consist of two tubular or hollow threads.

The ordinary caterpillar is the larva of the butterfly. The eggs are deposited on leaves and various places, and soon hatch into caterpillars (Fig. 232). These lead a predatory life for some time, doing a vast amount of damage, almost every plant having its peculiar pest. Some affect one tree, some another. The famous elm trees of many of the New England cities have more than once been threatened by these larvæ. They shed their coats several times. The caterpillar finally merges into the chrysalis, from which it escapes as the perfect insect. All of these changes can easily be observed by keeping a caterpillar under continuous observation. The butterflies have well-developed legs, but they rarely use them for locomotion, preferring to fly from flower to flower. The tortoise-shell butterfly is a familiar form (Fig. 233), its marvelous colors resembling this shell. Some have an under covering of pure silver. Another conspicuous form is the white butterfly (Fig. 234), which, as its name suggests, is pure white, with several black spots.

When the butterfly is at rest its wings are held aloft, and many are so colored that in this position the wing resembles a leaf and the animal escapes observation. A marvelous example of this protective mimicry is observed in the East Indian butterfly, Kallima (Fig. 235). The wings have a little projection which resembles a stem from which a dark mark resembling a midrib extends. When the butterfly alights, this seeming stem, as shown in the illustration, appears to join to the branch, and the resemblance to a leaf is so perfect that the most careful observer is often deceived. Other butterflies observed by Wallace mimicked dry oak leaves and dead leaves of various kinds. All the spots and colors of decay were imitated in their wings. Other Indian forms resemble fungus, and utterly disappear as they alight upon it. No more attractive butterfly is seen than the finely marked Vanessa, the peacock butterfly (Fig. 236), which has beautiful peacock marks upon its wings in vivid blue.

In southern California, almost every spring, there is a migration of butterflies from the south northward along the Sierra Madre. I have watched them for hours, numbers being seen over a given spot every moment. By writing to postmasters and other persons in different sections, I found that the migrating band was two hundred miles long and from ten to twenty miles wide. Doubtless this was but a fraction of its actual extent, it being made up, in reality, of millions of yellow butterflies. Darwin saw such a migration in South America. Their pathway was several miles in width, they filled the air like a yellow cloud, and were several hours passing a given point. Vessels out at sea have met with similar flocks blown away from the shore.

The butterflies are included in the Lepidoptera, and are the day-flying forms. There are many other insects equally beautiful, in more subdued tints, which are night flyers. These are the moths (Fig. 237), which are slow of flight, ponderous, and have extraordinary tongues for sucking the juices from the flowers. They can be distinguished from the butterflies by their feathered antennæ. One of the best known for its ravages is the dwarf moth, the worm of which plays such havoc among woolens. The cankerworm moth is equally a pest among valuable shade trees. Another familiar form is the hawk moth (Fig. 238), which so resembles a humming bird in appearance and motion that it is almost impossible to distinguish between the two, the moth being one of the most active, poising over flowers and inserting its enormous tongue to secure the sweets there concealed. A showy moth is the huge Attacus, its larva being especially large and voracious.

The moths display as great a variety in their shapes, colors, and sizes as the butterflies. The death's-head moth (Fig. 239) is perhaps as startling as any, bearing on its back a well-defined figure of a skull. The most valuable moth to man is the silkworm moth, the wings of which have a spread of six inches and are a brilliant ochre yellow, fawn, or mouse color, marked with striking peacock-like eyes. They deposit eggs, but the development of the caterpillar is somewhat different from that of the butterfly larva. The latter passes its pupa stage as an unprotected chrysalis attached to some object by the tail (Fig. 240), but the caterpillar of the moth secretes silk from a gland in its head, and with this forms about itself a cocoon. This is unwound by machinery and woven into the valuable silk of commerce. The silk industry brings to the weavers of the United States alone an annual sum amounting to about $30,000,000. The silkworm can easily be kept and all its changes watched, and many persons are interested in rearing the worms. The time required by the worm to form its silk cocoon varies with the locality. Thus in France it will complete it in four days, while in England forty or more days are necessary. About two hundred cocoons weigh a pound.

Silkworm moths are ravenous eaters, living principally on mulberry leaves. They show much intelligence in forming their cocoons. Thus a South American moth (Fig. 241) forms a basketlike structure which it suspends from some limb. The cradle swings in the wind like a seed pod, more than anything else, and would never be suspected as inclosing a living creature. Many of the moths, by some remarkable instinct, deposit their eggs where the young will find an immediate supply of food. This care for their young is the cause of a vast amount of damage among fruit trees. The fruit moth, as an example, deposits its eggs in fruit; the caterpillar penetrates it and devours the interior, thousands of bushels of apples being destroyed yearly in this way, not to speak of other fruits.

One of the best known of the moths is the tent moth (Fig. 242), the larva of which forms a tentlike web for its protection in the trees it affects. A richly tinted flyer is known as the goat moth (Fig. 243), the caterpillar being a large and beautiful creature.

XXVIII. THE ANTS

If the question should be propounded which next to man is the most intelligent of animals, the reply might be, the ants; for after a careful study of all the ways and habits of these small insects, it will be very evident that the lives of many are conducted with more method than the lowest human lives.

The ants belong to the great group called Hymenoptera--insects with membranelike wings, including the gall flies, bees, and wasps.

Ants are found everywhere. Long lines are seen marching along, some coming, some going, in countless multitudes. Yet drop a strange ant into this highway and it is at once discovered and in danger. If water is poured into a nest of ants, the inhabitants come rushing out. Some come to fight, and others bear in their mouths the young (Fig. 244), countless thousands, to a place of safety.

The ant is a trim, vigorous individual, fleet of foot, tireless, never weary, brave, industrious, a type of the worker. The head is large. The eyes are compound, with three single eyes. The antennæ are long, slender organs by which ants appear to recognize friends or foes, and possibly talk with them in some way. Certainly when two ants meet, a very strange interchange of courtesies with the antennæ is performed. The males and females are winged, and there is a third kind without wings, called workers.

Ants live in vast communities of from one hundred thousand to five hundred thousand or more. They excavate the soil and gravel, descend into the ground, and tunnel it in every direction (Fig. 245). In certain places they store food, in others eggs. The affairs of their vast underground city are carried on with a marvelous method. Although the ants have wings, these are soon cast away. At certain times the winged males and females swarm out of the nest and fly away, forming other communities. The males soon die; the females rid themselves of their wings, and thereafter remain in their new nests. The entire work of the community falls upon the so-called workers. They make the nest, repair it, do the fighting when necessary, move the immature young or eggs, shut up the nest at night, and open it in the morning. The eggs are minute, and as soon as laid are taken by the workers, or nurses, as they are also called, and carried to favorable places, where they are carefully watched. They are shifted about and occasionally for some reason brought above ground. The larvæ, when they hatch (Fig. 246), appear as little worms, or grubs, which would starve if they were not constantly fed by the nurses. If it is too cold, these babies are taken up into the sunshine, or placed in some hall near the surface where the sun's rays can reach them. Finally they change to the pupa stage and are covered by a web. They are still cared for with the greatest solicitude by the nurses, which stand by when they finally hatch out and aid them in their entrance into the world. Nurses in every sense of the word, their care at this time is one of the most remarkable exhibitions of human traits in a lower animal known. Many other human traits find their prototype among these minute animals. They care for the young, the sick, and the wounded; they go to war, capture their foes, make slaves of them, and force them to work. They keep certain insects for the pleasant odor they afford and others for the secretions they emit, the latter action resembling keeping and milking cows. Ants build remarkable houses arranged in rooms for various purposes; they plant gardens to raise certain crops; they introduce plants that will provide certain food; they retard the growth of seeds in their granaries; build vast underground or covered roads to escape the heat; they make bridges to cross streams; and in numerous other ways they demonstrate their remarkable intelligence.

The extent of the homes of ants is astonishing when we bear in mind the size of the insect. Some often extend many feet underground, and their tunnels have been traced beneath the broad Paraiba River of South America.

Many different species of ants are known, all interesting for their singular ways of living. The foraging or slave-making ants of Africa go to war against other ants. Such foraging trips are carried on with remarkable discipline, and the warriors may be seen returning, a triumphant army, bearing the eggs and larvæ of the enemy, which they nurse and bring up as slaves. These slave makers are large and powerful Ecitons, the dominant race of the ants.

Among the slave-making ants the owners often become so dependent upon the slaves that they are almost helpless, and would starve were it not for these dependents. The so-called honey ants of Texas exhibit some remarkable traits in the manner of their lives (Fig. 247). These ants, which I have observed in the Garden of the Gods, Colorado, select certain individuals as storehouses and supply them with honey until the abdomen is expanded to many times its size, resembling a bottle. The ants when filled are placed in a compartment made for the purpose, and there hung to the wall, animated honey jars, which are taken down and made to give up their sweets as occasion demands. These honey balls are considered a delicacy in Mexico, and are served as dessert.

Among the ants, those of Texas known as the agricultural ants are remarkable for their intelligence. They are farmers, laying out places which they cultivate with a certain plant, which is especially to their taste, just as farmers plant corn.

XXIX. THE BEES AND WASPS

In almost every flower bed in the garden we shall find the bees, examples of tireless energy, storing up honey for their young in such vast quantities that the surplus forms a valuable food supply for man as well. The nests of bees are systematically robbed of their stores, and for this purpose the insects are supplied with artificial nests or hives, in which they deposit their honey, entirely for the benefit of mankind. Here we see a singular limitation placed upon intelligence. The intelligence of bees is wonderful and amazing. Many of their acts and works suggest those of human beings, yet when the time comes for thinking after the fashion of men, the bees are lacking. They go on storing honey in artificial hives without being able to bridge the mental chasm and perceive that they are being robbed and made to work as virtual slaves. Hence we assume that the intelligence of bees is not on the same plane as that of human beings. They appear to be acting upon a strong instinct which impels them to perform acts which seem intelligent.

The head of the bee bears two remarkable compound eyes, with three simple ones between them. The antennæ are short. The mouth parts (Fig. 248) are complicated, and adapted for sucking up the honey or sweets of flowers or the juices of fruits. In California, the bees eat fruit as well as honey, and even flesh or meat, in very dry seasons, when flowers are scarce. The abdomen of the bee (Fig. 249) is supplied with a sawlike stinger or dart (Fig. 250) which inflicts a painful and poisonous wound. In general appearance the ordinary honeybee resembles an ant with wings; but the bee is hairy, it has a sting, and the legs of the worker are provided with "honey baskets," which carry pollen.

Bees are of several kinds, queens, workers, and drones, there being a division of labor. The queen is the largest, the drone is the smallest, and it has no sting. The history of the bee and its development is one of the most wonderful chapters in the whole story of animal life. Glancing at the interior of a hive we see that the bees have constructed a series of hexagonal cells. To learn how they have accomplished this, we may follow a bee in its flight. This may be one or two miles from the hive, yet so perfect is the knowledge of the bee of direction, that it is rarely lost. Reaching a flower it sucks out the honey, which it swallows. It then takes pollen, the dust from the stamen of the flowers, and stows it away in little baskets attached to the legs. It also takes a waxlike substance called propolis from buds of various trees, which it packs with the pollen in the baskets. Arriving at the nest, the bee, with countless others, engages in the construction of the cells, which are of various sizes. The material for building up the cells is wax, which is secreted by the bees, appearing in little flakes under the abdomen, from which it is taken by the legs of the bee. This is the material from which the comb is made, while the propolis is employed as a cement to attach the cells together, and for various minor purposes. Think of thousands of workers bringing in this material, working in the dark, yet never making a mistake. The bee finally ejects the honey which it has swallowed, placing it in certain cells, where it is sealed up and remains until it is needed as food. The pollen is also placed in cells.

A single community of bees may consist of two hundred thousand individuals. In the hive there is a single queen, which often lays from fifteen hundred to two thousand eggs a day, and if we could follow her, we should find that she lays the eggs in different cells, and in cells of different sizes. In the first are eggs which develop into workers, and in the second are larger eggs which will produce males, called drones. The little eggs soon hatch into white grubs which are carefully fed by the workers with digested honey and pollen. Finally the young larvæ almost fill the cells and then stop eating. The workers cover them in, and each spins for itself a silken cocoon, in which it remains until it breaks out in the form of a perfect bee.

The workers build certain large cells on the side of the comb, which are called queen cells, and the larvæ which appear in them are fed with some peculiar food which produces queens. The workers watch each of these cells with great care, gnawing the wax away on top so that they can observe the progress of development. Finally a small hole is made, through which the proboscis of the young queen protrudes, and in this way it is fed for several days, during which it utters a low, piping noise. The queens attack each other on sight, and previous to the appearance of a young queen the old one, with thousands of followers, makes her escape, or swarms. Then the workers liberate a young queen, and if there are others, there are repeated swarms, each queen leaving with a multitude of followers, till the hive has but one queen. There are in the community now a number of drones, and as they appear to be an expensive and worthless burden to carry during the winter, the workers attack and kill them, throwing them out of the hive.

Among the many kinds of bees the carpenters (Fig. 251) are famous, boring tunnels into solid wood for the reception of their young; half an inch a day being accomplished by these little carpenters. The bumblebee, one of the largest, forms its nest in the ground (Fig. 252).

The wasps (Fig. 253) live in societies of males, females, and workers. The paperlike nests are familiar objects in the woods, resembling great bags of paper which when opened are seen to be filled with cells. Many nests are of beautiful shapes, resembling candelabra, while the cells of the common mud dauber (Fig. 254) call to mind the adobe houses of the Mexicans and Indians of the Southwest. The mud cells of a South American wasp resemble bottles (Fig. 255). Many of the large wasps are fierce and vindictive, and nearly all resent an attack upon their homes.

INDEX

A

Abalone, 109.

Æolis, 114.

Aeronaut, 179.

Agassiz, Louis, 27.

Amœba, 8, 10.

Anemone, 38, 43.

Angle worm, 82.

Animalcules, 76.

Ant, 223.

Antennæ, 96.

Ant lion, 181.

Aphis, 202.

Aphrodite, 85.

Aplysia, 114.

Apus, 137.

Aragonite, 29.

Arcturus, 178.

Argonaut, 125.

Arion, 115.

Aristeus, 158.

Ascension Is., 147.

Astræa, 49.

Atlantic, 51.

Atoll, 48.

Attacus, 218.

Attus, 172.

Aurelia, 29.

Auricle, 92.

Avalon, 86.

Avalon, Phosphorescence at, 86, 101.

B

Banks, Sir J., 157.

Barnacle, 104.

Barnacle, Goose, 134.

Bean aphis, 200.

Bee, 228.

Beetles, 195.

Beetles, Boring, 197.

Bell Animalcule, 12.

Bivalve, 91.

Blind crustacean, 143.

Bluebottle fly, 206.

Book scorpion, 166.

Brachiopoda, 81.

Branchipus, 137.

Brine shrimp, 137.

Buffalo bug, 198.

Bugs, 199.

Bulimus, 112.

Bumble bee, 223.

Burgos crab, 154.

Butterflies, 212.

Byssus, 99.

C

Caddis worm, 185.

Cardium, 103.

Carpenter bee, 231.

Caryophyllia, 47.

Cassis, 110.

Caterpillar, 164.

Caves, Santa Catalina, 32.

Centipede, 165.

Cerithium, 103.

Chætopterus, 86.

Challenger, 147.

Chamæleon, 143.

Chinch bug, 198.

Chiton, 101.

Cicada, 200.

Cilia, 11.

Clam, Giant, 98.

Cleodora, 116.

Cochineal, 202.

Cockle, 102.

Cocoanut crab, 155.

Colossendeis, 157.

Conch, 106, 110.

Cone, 110.

Conus, 110.

Coral, 44, 51, 53.

Coral insect, 52.

Cottony scale, 203.

Cowry, 110.

Crab, 42, 124, 156.

Cranchia, 127.

Crayfish, 130, 144.

Crickets, 165, 191.

Crinoid, 56.

Crustacean, 128.

Ctenactis, 46.

Cteniza, 174.

Cuttlefish, 117.

Cyanea, 27.

Cyclops, 135.

Cypræa, 110.

Cyprinæ, 136.

D

Daddy longlegs, 167.

Darwin, 83.

Decorative crab, 151.

Dendronotus, 114.

Dentalium, 116.

Devilfish, 117.

Doris, 114.

Dragon fly, 180.

E

Echinus, 65.

Eciton, 226.

Edible crab, 148.

Eolis, see Æolis.

Erenberg, 77.

F

Fiddler crab, 149.

Fierasfer, 71.

Firmin, Point, 32.

Firmin, Point, Phosphorescence at, 32.

Firmin, Point, Waves at, 32.

Flea, 211.

Florida, 71.

Flustra, 78.

Fly, 204.

Flying spider, 172.

Foraminifera, 15.

Fresh-water pearl, 98.

Fungia, 51.

Fusus, 111.

G

Gall crab, 152.

Gammarus, 138.

Garden Key, 44.

Garden of the Gods, 227.

Gecarcinus, 146.

Giant clam, 98.

Giant octopus, 123.

Giant squid, 114, 118.

Glacier flea, 178.

Glass-bottom boat, 50.

Glass sponge, 23.

Gnat, 210.

Goat moth, 221.

Goniaster, 61.

Gordius, 75.

Gorgonia, 49, 53.

Grapsus, 124, 147.

Grasshopper, 190.

Green crab, 149.

Gulf of Mexico, 33.

Gunther, 158.

H

Haliotis, 109.

Halobates, 201.

Helderberg, 53.

Hermit crab, 152.

Hibernation, 112.

Holothurian, 72.

Honey ant, 227.

Horseshoe crab, 155.

Howard, Dr., 207.

Hymenoptera, 222.

I

Ianthina, 116.

Insects, 159, 190.
Anatomy of, 159.
Larvæ of, 159.
Music of, 190.
Parts of, 159.
Spiracles of, 159.

J

Jægar, 192.
On locusts, 192.

Japanese crab, 152.

Jellyfishes, 26-35.
Beauties of, 27.
Development of, 29.
Young of, 29.

June bugs, 197.

K

Kallima, 215.

L

Labium, 206.

Labrum, 208.

Lake Mono, 207.

Lamp shell, 80.

Land crab, 149, 150.

Larva, 163.

Lasso, 28.

Leaf hopper, 201.

Leech, 82.

Lepidoptera, 217.

Lernæans, 136.

Limax, 115.

Lime, 50.

Limnoria, 138.

Limpet, 105, 108.

Lingula, 80.

Lobster, 132, 140.

Locust, 190.

Lucernaria, 30.

Luminous crab, 157.

M

Macrocheira, 152.

Mactra, 101.

Malay, 72.

Mammoth Cave, 143.

Mantis, 186.

May fly, 178.

Melicerta, 32.

Metridia, 156.

Mimicry, 186.

Mimicry of insects, 187.

Mite, 166.

Mole cricket, 201.

Moseley, Dr., 147.

Mosquito, 208.
Development of, 209.

Moth, 221.

Mushroom coral, 46.

Mussel, 97.

Mygale, 176.

N

Nassa, 107.

Natica, 106.

National Museum, 122.

Nemesia, 174.

Nereis, 86.

Noctiluca, 16.

Noctiluca, phosphorescence, 16.

Norway lobster, 129.

Nummulites, 13.

O

Ocean, 15.
Lime in, 15.

Octopus, 122.

Onchidium, 155.
Eyes of, 155.

Ophiocoma, 62.

Oyster crab, 152.

P

Paper nautilus, 125.

Paramœcium, 12.

Pearl, 94.

Pelagia, 35.

Pentacrinus, 56.

Pentacta, 71.

Peripatus, 164.

Philippines, 113.

Phorus, 103.

Phosphorescence, 7, 84, 156.

Phyllium, 189.

Physalia, 33.

Physophora, 36.

Planarian, 73.

Pleurobranchia, 53.

Polycirrus, 86.

Polyp, 46.

Polyzoan, 77.

Pompilius, 223.

Porpita, 37.

Potato bug, 198.

Prawns, 142.

Praya, 36.

Pteropod, 115.

R

Radiolarian, 14.

Razor clam, 99.

Reef, 53.

Rhizostoma, 32.

Rotifer, 76.

S

San Clemente, 112.

Sand collar, 106.

Sand dollar, 67.

Sand flea, 138.

Santa Catalina, 32, 50, 109.

Sapphirina, 167.

Scale insects, 203.

Scorpion, 160.

Sea anemone, 38, 43.

Sea cucumber, 70, 71.

Sea pen, 54.

Sea slug, 114.

Semper, Dr., 82.

Sepia, 118.

Serpulæ, 88.

Shrimps, 131.

Sierra Madre, 172.

Silk worm, 219.

Siphon, 92.

Snail, 90.

Soft-shelled crab, 147.

Southern California, 7.

Spicules, 21, 72.

Spider, 168.

Spider crab, 151.

Spirit crab, 128.

Sponges, 18.

Squash bug, 199.

Squid, 114, 120, 121.

Squilla, 139.

Starfish, 60, 64.

Stings, 229, 233.

Stone lilies, 56.

St. Paul's Rocks, 147.

Sucker, 122.

Syllis, 86.

Synapta, 72.

T

Taltritus, 138.

Tarantula, 174.

Terebratula, 80.

Teredo, 100.

Tiger beetle, 196.

Timos, 175.

Trichina, 75, 76.

Tritonia, 114.

Trochus, 103.

Turritella, 103.

U

Univalve, 104.

Urchin, 65, 69.

V

Velella, 35.

W

Walking stick, 188.

Wasp, 167.

Water boatman, 200.

Water flea, 136.

Web, 169.

White ant, 184.

ELEMENTARY NATURE STUDY

Abbott's A Boy on a Farm 45 cents

Two stories by Jacob Abbott, revised, and in new and attractive form. They are admirably suited for young readers. The illustrations are numerous and pleasing.

Bartlett's Animals at Home 45 cents

The object of these stories is to arouse the interest of children in certain representative individual animals, and by so doing to awaken a love for Natural History in general. The illustrations are attractive and true to life.

Bradish's Stories of Country Life 40 cents

These recollections of a childhood spent on a northwestern farm aim to emphasize the attractiveness of life in the country, and to add to its charm by awakening an intelligent interest in its many activities.

Dana's Plants and Their Children 65 cents

A series of easy lessons on the wonders of Plant Life, as entertaining for children as stories. These studies in nature are not only interesting and instructive in themselves, but they teach the child to see, to think, and to observe for himself.

Holder's Stories of Animal Life 60 cents

This book is intended to serve either as a first book on Zoölogy or as a supplementary reader. The author has aimed to create in young students an enthusiastic interest in Nature Study by presenting some of the most remarkable phases of animal life.

Kelly's Short Stories of Our Shy Neighbors 50 cents

This book furnishes children with entertaining and instructive reading in the field of Natural History. It tells about the living creatures that dwell near us and yet are oftentimes strangers. It does this in the form of stories, written in a pleasing and attractive style, and copiously illustrated.

Monteith's Some Useful Animals 50 cents

The subjects here treated assist both in Nature Study and in learning to read. The moral lessons derived from the actions of animals are vivid and engaging, and much useful and interesting information is imparted.

Needham's Outdoor Studies 40 cents

This book is suitable for pupils in the intermediate or grammar grades. May be used as a guide for field work as well as a reader in Nature Study, and it will pave the way for more advanced text-book study and for laboratory work in the higher grades.

Pyle's Stories of Humble Friends 50 cents

These stories are about animals and birds familiar to the children. They are simple in style and sympathetic in treatment. The many pictures, drawn by the author, are vividly illustrative of the incidents described.

Stokes's Ten Common Trees 40 cents

A series of simple nature lessons for young children, familiarly treating and giving a few definite impressions of what trees are and how they live.

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

Burnet's Zoölogy

FOR

HIGH SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES

BY

MARGARETTA BURNET

Teacher of Zoölogy, Woodward High School, Cincinnati, O.

Cloth, 12mo, 216 pages. Illustrated. Price, 75 cents

This new text-book on Zoölogy is intended for classes in High Schools, Academies, and other Secondary Schools. While sufficiently elementary for beginners in the study it is full and comprehensive enough for students pursuing a regular course in the Natural Sciences. It has been prepared by a practical teacher, and is the direct result of school-room experience, field observation and laboratory practice.

The design of the book is to give a good general knowledge of the subject of Zoölogy, to cultivate an interest in nature study, and to encourage the pupil to observe and to compare for himself and then to arrange and classify his knowledge. Only typical or principal forms are described, and in their description only such technical terms are used as are necessary, and these are carefully defined.

Each subject is fully illustrated, the illustrations being selected and arranged to aid the pupil in understanding the structure of each form.

_Copies of Burnet's School Zoölogy will be sent prepaid to any address, on receipt of the price, by the Publishers_:

American Book Company

New York ◆ Cincinnati ◆ Chicago

Birds of the United States

A Manual for the Identification of Species East of the Rocky Mountains

By AUSTIN C. APGAR

Author of "Trees of the Northern United States," etc.

Cloth, 12mo, 415 pages, with numerous illustrations. Price, $2.00

The object of this book is to encourage the study of Birds by making it a pleasant and easy task. The treatment, while thoroughly scientific and accurate, is interesting and popular in form and attractive to the reader or student. It covers the following divisions and subjects: