Chapter XXXVIII: Book VI: Articulated Animals (2)

THIS insect is hatched from an egg laid in soft moving ground, or sand; the larva soon increases in size, and assumes the shape of a small spider--with this difference, that the legs are constructed in such a way that it can only proceed backwards or sideways. The abdomen is very large and fleshy; and the head, which is small, is armed with two long jaws like horns, somewhat resembling those of the stag-beetle. What must create our utmost admiration is, that this insect, which can only move in a retrograde direction, is doomed by nature to feed upon flies and ants, the quickness and agility of which would at all times deprive him of his prey were he not endowed with an uncommon instinct, which prompts him to the following stratagem:--He makes a kind of funnel-shaped hole in the loose earth or sand, and, placing himself at the bottom of it, waits there with the utmost patience, till an incautious ant or giddy fly falls into the deathful pit. Then all his skill is put in requisition; he throws out, by the shaking of his large jaws, a great quantity of sand upon the insect, to prevent its climbing up the steep sides of the hole; and when the prey appears strong and nimble, he gives such a general commotion, that the whole construction crumbles down, and the unfortunate insect, overwhelmed with the ruins, falls into the jaws of the Ant-lion, which open like a pair of forceps. When the Ant-lion has sucked out the blood and inside of his prey, he takes it upon his head, and, by a sudden jerk, throws the carcase to a distance from his abode. When the larva has attained its full size, it spins for itself a cocoon of white shining silk, with an external covering of sand. In about three weeks there bursts from this pupa case a slender-waisted winged insect, which, after fluttering about for a few weeks, and depositing eggs in the sand, resigns its life. The winged insect resembles a beautiful dragon-fly; it has a head of a chestnut colour; the body is of a pearly grey, the legs short, and the wings, which resemble the finest lace, are beautifully marked with dark lines and spots. This fly is often seen fluttering about the sides of roads and dry banks exposed to the east, in the months of June and July; it continues for a little time, and then entirely disappears. The Ant-lion is not found in this country; but in the south of France and Italy there is not a bank on the sides of a public road, or a sandy ridge at the foot of an old wall, which does not harbour a great number of these insects.

THIS genus of insects is well known to every one. The larva lives in the water, and wears a kind of mask, which it moves at will, and which serves to hold its prey while it devours it. The pupa closely resembles the larva in its form, except that at the sides of the body the wings are seen enclosed in thin cases. The period of transformation being come, the pupa goes to the water-side, and fixes on a plant, or sticks fast to a piece of dry wood, in which position it remains for some little time, when the skin of the nymph splitting at the upper part of the thorax, the winged insect issues forth gradually, throws off its slough, expands its wings, flutters, and then flies off with gracefulness and ease. The elegance of its slender shape, the richness of its colours, the delicacy and resplendent texture of its wings, render it a beautiful object. It is in length about four inches.

The female deposits her eggs in the water, from which spring the larvæ, which afterwards undergo the same transformations.

The Day Fly (_Ephemera_), so called on account of the shortness of its life, is a small insect originating from a larva residing in rivers. After remaining several months in the creeping state, a nymph is formed, from which the perfect insect changes, three or four hours after mid-day, into the fly form, and dies soon after. This fly has the singular characteristic of casting off its entire skin very soon after it has attained its perfect state; and the empty coat may often be seen lying about after its occupant has deserted it.

ORDER V. _Hymenoptera._

IN this order the wings are neither so large nor so strongly veined as in the previous one. The mouth is furnished with mandibles, maxillæ, and an upper and lower lip; and the abdomen of the female is terminated either with an ovipositor or a sting. The metamorphosis of these insects is complete.

This order contains the Bees, of which there are hundreds of different species. The most interesting of these is the common Hive Bee, from whose industry we obtain wax, and by whose provident habits we are supplied with honey. The inhabitants of a hive are of three kinds: one Queen, a few hundred drones or males, and several thousand workers. The Queen, or Parent Bee, is the soul of the community; to her all the rest are so attached, that they will follow her wherever she goes. She has the power of quelling any disturbance which may arise among her subjects by making a peculiar humming noise. She is so prolific as to lay fifteen or eighteen thousand eggs, which produce about eight hundred males or drones, four or five Queen Bees, and the rest Working Bees or Neuters. The combs of a hive consist of a number of cells, formed of wax, a substance which is secreted by the Working Bees after gorging themselves with honey. These cells are for the habitation and breeding of the young Bees, and are also used as stores for honey, and bee-bread, or the pollen of flowers. The royal cells, in which are laid the eggs of future Queens, are the largest, and shaped like the cup of an acorn. All the other cells are of a beautiful hexagonal form, and of two kinds, one larger than the other: the larger for the young drones, the smaller forthe workers. In two or three days the eggs are hatched, when the Neuters nurse the young grubs, whom they feed most tenderly with bee-bread and honey. After twenty-one days, the young Bees are able to form cells with such indefatigable activity that they will then do more in one week than during all the rest of the year. No more than one Queen is ever permitted to inhabit a hive. When a young Queen is about to be hatched, the old one leads away a swarm from the old colony to form a new one. If the Queen die or is lost to the hive by accident, and there be no young Queens in the royal cells, the Bees can repair their loss. They choose a grub of the Neuter species, enlarge its cell by adding to it three or four adjacent ones, feed the young grub on royal food, and it is then developed into a Queen. Sometimes there are Bees who, less laborious than the others, support themselves by pillaging the hives of the rest; upon which a battle ensues between the industrious and the despoiling insects. Their foes are the wasp, the hornet, and various kinds of birds.

The Bee collects the honey by means of its proboscis, or trunk, which is a most astonishing piece of mechanism, consisting of more than twenty parts. Entering the hive, the insect disgorges the honey into cells, for winter subsistence; or else presents it to the labouring Bees.

The combs of cells formed by these industrious insects are constructed with an instinctive ingenuity which must always be regarded as one of the most marvellous things in nature. Each comb consists of two sets of hexagonal cells placed back to back, and not only do the insects adopt this form which enables them to construct the greatest number of cells of the requisite size within the smallest possible space, and with the least possible amount of material, but each cell on one side of the comb is placed opposite to the junction of three cells on the opposite side, so that its centre may be deepened without interfering with the latter, the three diamond-shaped pieces forming the bottom of each cell belonging to three distinct cells of the opposite side of the comb. By all these contrivances the Bees manage to get the greatest possible amount of accommodation in the smallest possible space; and it has been found, by mathematical calculation, that if it were desired to construct a series of cavities of a given size within the smallest possible space and with the smallest possible amount of materials, we should have to adopt precisely the same plan, even to the forms of the sides of the cells and the angles at which they are attached to each other, that has been instinctively adopted by the little Bee. At the entrance of every cell the Bee architect places a flange of wax, which fortifies the aperture, and prevents the injuries it might receive from the frequent ingress and egress of the Bees.

Bees produce honey, which they lay up for winter consumption; wax, of which they form their cells; and a substance called bee-bread, which they extract chiefly from the pollen of flowers, and which they use for feeding their young.

Above are given representations of, first, the _Queen Bee_, placed on the left-hand side; second, the _Drone_; and, third, the _Working Bee_.

IS a very fierce, dangerous, and rapacious insect; it is much larger than the bee, and furnished with a powerful sting. The abdomen is striped with yellow and black. All kinds of Wasps make curious nests; some attach them to the beams of a barn or other building, or place them in the hollow of a large tree, but the common Wasp digs a hole in the ground. Wasps do not construct their combs with quite the same care and accuracy as the bee; nevertheless, their nests are often very ingeniously made, and the material employed by most of them is curious, being a sort of paper or card made from fibres of wood masticated between the jaws of the insects. As they do not lay up a store of honey for their support during winter, they mostly die at that season; and the few that live remain in a torpid state till spring. Their sting is very large; and the poisonous liquor of it, when introduced into the human body, excites inflammation and creates very considerable pain.

THE mouth of this insect has jaws, but no sucking tongue. The antennæ contain more than thirty joints; and the abdomen is joined to the body by a slender pedicle. The ovipositor is enclosed in a cylindrical sheath, composed of two valves.

One distinguishing and striking characteristic of all the species of this kind of fly is the almost continual agitation of their antennæ. The name of Ichneumon has been applied to them from the service they do us by destroying caterpillars, plant-lice, and other insects; as the Ichneumon or Mangouste destroys the crocodile in the East. The tip of the abdomen of the females is armed with an ovipositor, visible in some species, though not in others; and this instrument, though so fine, is able to penetrate through mortar and plaster. The female fly uses it to deposit her eggs in the body of other insects when in the egg, caterpillar, or pupa state; so that the young as soon as they are hatched may feed upon the caterpillar, penetrating to its very entrails. These larvæ, however, contrive to suck out the nutritious juices of their prey without attacking its vitals; for the caterpillar continues to live for a long time, so as to afford them food till they have attained their full size. It is not uncommon to see caterpillars fixed upon trees, as if they were sitting upon their eggs; when it is afterwards discovered that the larvæ, which were within their bodies, have spun their threads, with which, as with cords, the caterpillars are fastened down, and so perish miserably.

“A friend of mine,” says Dr. Derham, “put about forty large caterpillars, collected from cabbages, on some bran and a few leaves in a box, and covered it with gauze to prevent their escape. After a few days we saw, from the backs of more than three-fourths of them, about eight or ten little caterpillars of one of the Ichneumon flies come out and spin each a small cocoon of silk; and in a few days the large caterpillars died.”

The Ichneumons performed great service in the years 1731 and 1732, by multiplying in the same proportion as the caterpillars, and their larvæ destroyed more of these destructive creatures than could any efforts of human industry.

They are found of all sizes, suitable to the various insects they are parasitic upon, and in their ceaseless rummaging about in every hole and corner, millions of destructive larvæ are discovered and destroyed by them, which would otherwise have reached maturity, and left a progeny to renew their ravages in the ensuing summer. Even those larvæ which feed in concealment are readily discovered by the Ichneumons destined to live upon them, and the farmer is often made aware of the presence of his enemies by observing the activity of his friends.

(_Formica rufa._)]

THE colour of the Ant is in general a dark red or brown, with a fine gloss on the abdomen. They are like the bees, divided into three kinds--males, females, and neuters. The females and neuters are furnished with stings for their defence; the males are wholly destitute of them. The males and females are in proper season furnished with wings, but the neuters have none, and they are doomed always to labour and drudgery on the hill. This hill is constructed with considerable art and labour; it is composed of leaves, bits of wood, sand, earth, and gum from the trees, which are all united into a mass, perforated with galleries to give access to the numerous cells which it contains. From this hill there are several paths, worn by the constant passing and repassing of these creatures; and it is worthy the admiration of the naturalist to consider how busy the whole legion appears in bringing bits of straw, dead bodies of other insects, or in carrying away their eggs, if any danger threatens their republic. Their sense of smell is very keen, and they discover at a great distance any food they may be in search of.

ORDER VI. _Lepidoptera._ _The Moths and Butterflies._

THE insects included in this order are all remarkable for their beauty. Their wings are membranous and veined, like those of the dragon flies and their allies, but instead of being naked they are covered by close-set scales of the most delicate texture and most brilliant colours. The mouth is furnished with a spiral trunk or tongue, by which nectar is sucked from the flowers; but in other respects it only differs from the mouths of the masticating mandibulated orders in the smallness of its parts. The antennæ vary in the different kinds: but those of all the diurnal lepidoptera, or butterflies, are terminated by a small inflation or knob; while those of the nocturnal species, or moths, taper to a point, and are often feathery, or comb-shaped. The transformations of the species belonging to this order are all complete.

Over the larvæ of this order the ichneumons reign with undisputed sway; attacking all indiscriminately, from the minute insect that forms its labyrinth within the thickness of a leaf, to the giant caterpillar of the hawk moth. The most useful of all, however, the silkworm, appears, at least with us, to be exempted from this scourge. De Geer, out of fifteen larvæ that were mining between the two cuticles of a rose-leaf, found that fourteen were destroyed by one of these insects.

THE larva of all the lepidoptera is a Caterpillar composed of twelve ring-like segments, exclusive of the head, which is harder than the other parts, and always of a deeper colour than the body. Each Caterpillar has nine breathing-holes on each side; and each of the three segments nearest the head is furnished with a pair of short legs, ending in a kind of claw, which are the true legs of the insect. The Caterpillar has, however, eight or ten other legs on the hinder segments of its body. The head has twelve eyes, and two very short conical antennæ; and the mouth is furnished with two strong mandibles, two maxillæ, a labrum, and four palpi.

The habits of Caterpillars differ: some, which are called Geometers, or Loopers, advance by a succession of steps, first extending the body to its full length and adhering by the fore legs, then drawing up the hinder part of the body close to the forepart so as to form a loop, and then again repeating this process; these Caterpillars, when at rest, often adhere by their hinder feet, and extend the body stiffly, like a little dry twig; others, which are furnished with more prolegs, adhere by these to the branch or leaf, and raise the forepart of the body a little, an attitude which induced Linnæus to give the name of _Sphinx_ to the moths in whose Caterpillars this habit prevails; some small species live between the upper and lower surfaces of leaves, in which they excavate mines; others dwell in small cases, which they manufacture of various materials; whilst others, dwelling in large societies, spin for themselves a sort of silken tent, in which they take their repose, and from which they issue daily in search of food in a regularly marshalled procession. Many make themselves cocoons; but others have no other covering in the pupa state than a smooth shining skin, or a dark mummy-like cerement. The chrysalis of a butterfly is generally angular, and that of a moth cylindrical.

(_Vanessa urticæ._)]

THE Caterpillar, which feeds on the nettle, is about an inch in length, covered with bristles, and of a reddish brown colour. After having changed its skin three times when in the shape of a Caterpillar, it crawls up to a branching part of the stalk; and, hanging itself by the hinder part or tail, swells and bursts in such a curious way, that the Caterpillar’s skin drops to the ground, and the chrysalis, or aurelia, remains suspended; till after a fortnight of torpor it bursts its skin again, and escapes into the air, under the beautiful form of a variegated Butterfly. The golden line which shines through the pupa case of this Butterfly is supposed to have suggested the words chrysalis and aurelia, both of which signify golden. The wings of the perfect insect are about two inches in extent, of a deep orange colour above, and their base and hinder margin black, with a series of blue crescents. These Butterflies, which are very common in England, appear in spring, and at the end of June and beginning of September.

(_Pontia_, or _Pieris Brassicæ_.)]

WHEN the colewort and cauliflower are nearly mature, the perfect insect of this Caterpillar is found depositing her eggs upon the leaves. The heat of the sun soon vivifies them and brings forth the Caterpillars, which immediately proceed to consume the vegetables on which they received being. They bear the heat of the sun without inconvenience, but cannot endure long rains, and in wet weather they soon disappear. There are several species of this Butterfly, but the common white, with a black spot on each of the under wings, is the earliest seen in our gardens. It lays its eggs in May; and its Caterpillars, which are soon hatched, feed together till the end of June, when they go into the pupa state, from which the perfect Butterfly appears in July. The eggs laid by the second brood of Butterflies produce Caterpillars which feed during the remainder of the summer, and remain in the pupa state all the winter, to be hatched the following spring.

From the astonishing fecundity of these insects, it may be wondered that they do not, in the course of time, completely overspread the face of the earth, and totally consume every green plant. This would certainly be the case if Providence had not provided a check to their progress. One of the kinds of the ichneumon fly deposits her eggs within the caterpillar of this Butterfly, and they are there hatched. In their larva state they continue preying on the vitals of the animal; they then pass to the pupa condition, and eventually emerge as perfect insects. So greatly are we indebted to this apparently contemptible little parasite, for keeping down the increase of an insect which would otherwise become a serious and alarming evil.

(_Geometra_, or _Abraxas grossulariata_.)]

THE Caterpillar of this Moth is one of the kind called loopers, and is very destructive. The chrysalis is naked and shining; and its colour is a bright yellow with black bands. The Moth is white, spotted with black, and hence its name of Magpie.

The black and white caterpillar of this Moth is very destructive to currant and gooseberry bushes, and in some seasons particularly so. Mr. Kirby especially cites the devastations at Hull in the spring of 1814. He also confirms Boerhaave’s assertion, that the severity of winter has no effect in destroying the larvæ of those insects, as these abounded even more after a winter when Fahrenheit’s thermometer stood at zero, than after a winter which was remarkably mild.

(_Geometra_, or _Cheimatobia brumata_.)]

THE Caterpillar delights in newly-opened leaves; it is not so ravenous as many others, making long intervals between its meals, but it seldom quits a leaf until it has entirely consumed it. The colour is very elegant. The upper part of the body is of a fine yellowish green; but it is by no means so beautiful after as before feeding, its skin being so thin as to transmit the hue of whatever food it eats. They are also called looper Caterpillars, because when they crawl they draw their hind and fore feet together, so as to form their bodies into a loop. They go into the pupa state towards the end of June, burying themselves for that purpose in the earth; and in November or December the perfect insect is brought forth.

It is evident that they possess great muscular power, and hence their positions during repose are very striking. Fixing themselves by their hinder feet alone, they extend their bodies in a straight line, holding it in that position for a long time. This, together with their obscure colours, and the warts on their bodies, render it often difficult to distinguish them from the twigs of the trees on which they feed. When alarmed, these Caterpillars have the instinct to drop from the leaves, and suspend themselves by a thread, which enables them to remount when the danger is over.

WITHOUT entering into a very minute description of this Caterpillar, we shall confine ourselves to what we think will be at once more interesting and more useful. As the Silkworm is an insect of universal service, and not of singular beauty, we are induced to prefer giving an account of its utility, rather than any elaborate description of its figure or colour.

This larva feeds on the leaves of the mulberry tree, and when first produced is extremely small, and entirely black. In a few days it appears in a new habit, which is white, tinged with the colour of its food; and before it goes into its chrysalis state it changes its skin several times. When full grown it spins its cone of silk, which is its cocoon, in the same manner as other insects. The Moth possesses no beauty. The Silkworm is a native of China, whence the greater part of our silk is still imported; but the insect was introduced into the south of Europe during the reign of the Emperor Justinian, and is now reared in large quantities both in France and Italy.

The art of manufacturing silk was known to the ancients. We are informed that, in the third century, the wife of the Roman emperor Aurelian entreated him to give her a robe of purple silk, which he refused on account of its enormous price.

It is not certain at what precise period the manufacture of silk was first introduced into England; but in the year 1242, we are told that part of the streets of London were covered or shaded with silk, for the reception of Richard, the brother of Henry III., on his return from the Holy Land. In 1454 the silk manufactures of England are said to have been confined merely to ribbons, laces, and other trifling articles. Queen Elizabeth, in the third year of her reign, was furnished by her silk-woman with a pair of black knit silk stockings, which she is stated to have admired as “marvellous delicate wear;” and after the using of which she no longer had cloth ones as before. James I., whilst king of Scotland, requested of the Earl of Mar the loan of a pair of silk stockings to appear in before the English ambassador, enforcing his request with the cogent appeal, “For ye would not, sure, that your king should appear as a scrub before strangers.”

THE larva of this little Moth is well known from the damage it commits in woollen cloth and furs. These substances constitute the principal support of the Caterpillar, and therefore the parent is, by its natural instinct, directed to deposit its eggs in them. As soon as it quits the egg, the Caterpillar begins to form for itself a nest: for this purpose, after having spun a fine coating of silk immediately around its body, it eats the filaments of the cloth or fur, close to the thread of the cloth, or to the skin. This operation is performed by its jaws, which act in the manner of scissors. The pieces are cut into convenient lengths, and applied, with great dexterity, one by one, to the outside of its case; and to this it fastens them by means of its silk. Its covering being thus formed, the little Caterpillar never quits it but on the most urgent necessity. When it wants to feed, it puts out its head at either end of its case, as best suits its conveniency. When it wishes to change its place, it puts out its head and its six fore legs, by means of which it moves forward, taking care first to fix its hind legs into the inside of the case, so as to drag it along. After having changed within its case into a chrysalis, it issues, in about three weeks, a small, winged, mealy-looking Moth, of silvery drab colour, too well known to almost every mistress of a family. The best mode of destroying this insect, when in the cloth, is to place a saucer of oil of turpentine with the articles affected in a close place, when the vapour raised by the warm air will immediately destroy it. Should the Caterpillar be old and strong, it may be necessary to brush the clothes with a brush, the points of which have been dipped in turpentine. Camphor wrapped up with furs will protect them from the Moth.

ORDER VII. _Diptera, or Flies._

THIS order is characterised by having only two wings, which are transparent, and which have two little movable bodies, called halteres or balancers, placed close behind them. The head is almost covered with a pair of enormous eyes; and the mouth is furnished with a proboscis or sucker. The legs are long in proportion to the body, and are in many species terminated by two or three small cushion-like expansions, which, it is supposed, enable them to walk on glass. Each foot has also two hooks or claws.

THIS insect lays its eggs in sinks, dunghills, or any other place where there is decaying vegetable matter tolerably moist. The larvæ, or maggots, are thick and fleshy, without legs, but having the mouth furnished with hooks, by means of which they drag themselves along when they wish to move. They go into the pupa state without throwing off the skin of the maggot; and when the perfect insect appears, it forces off a kind of cap from one end of the pupa case, in order to make its escape. The _Blue Bottle flies_ (_Musca erythrocephala_ and _Vomitoria_) are only too well known from their habit of depositing their eggs upon our meat in summer. In the _Flesh fly_ (_Musca_ or _Sarcophaga carnaria_) and some allied species, the eggs are hatched within the body of the parent, which thus deposits living larvæ upon the decomposing animal matter that constitutes their food. These flies are so prolific and their larvæ so voracious that Linnæus says the progeny of them would devour a horse as quickly as a lion could do it.

THE GNAT. (_Culex pipiens._)

THIS is an insect which deserves the observation of the naturalist, not only for the very curious conformation of its proboscis (which so quickly and powerfully penetrates into our skin, and through which it sucks our blood into its body), but also for the several metamorphoses it undergoes before it arrives at its winged state. The Gnat deposits its eggs upon the surface of stagnant water, and sets them upright one against another, in the form of a small boat: after floating upon the water for several days, as soon as the time of hatching arrives thelarvæ, which the eggs contain, escape into the water in which they swim about with vigorous jerking movements. They are compelled to visit the surface to take in a supply of air, and for this purpose the tail is furnished with a short tube, surrounded at its extremity with a star of bristles, which, when spread out, prevent the water from flowing into the air tube. The change to the pupa state is a curious one. In this condition the insect exhibits a rather slender body with a bulky anterior extremity, in which the head, wings, and limbs are enclosed; the tail is furnished with a pair of leaves or membranous plates, the matting tube has vanished from this part and in place of it we find two tubes situated on the sides of the thorax: having passed about ten days in this state, its increase being at an end, it keeps longer near the surface, and at last the outer skin bursts, and the winged insect, standing upon the _exuviæ_ it is going to leave behind, smooths its new-born wings, springs into the air, and begins its depredations. The fecundity of the Gnat is so remarkable, that in the course of one summer they might increase to the amazing number of five or six hundred thousands, if Providence had not ordered that they should become the prey of birds, who by this means prevent their multiplying more than they generally do. These insects are very annoying from their blood-sucking propensities; and as the sucker is horny at the tip, it inflicts a severe wound, into which the insect emits a small quantity of poison, which occasions the pain and inflammation always felt from a Gnat bite.

ORDER VIII. _Suctoria._

THESE insects are without wings. The mouth is furnished with a trunk or beak, formed to wound as well as to suck.

IS one of those little creatures with which want of cleanliness in mankind is punished. It is one of the most annoying insects that infest the human race, as, by its leapings, it often escapes being caught. It is oviparous, and the egg, which is hardly discernible with the naked eye, contains at maturity a small white worm, beset with hairs. This worm soon spins for itself a little silk cocoon, from which the perfect insect issues. The Flea is an active, troublesome, blood-thirsty insect; it has a small head, large eyes, and a roundish, but compressed body, which is covered with a kind of armour resembling the tortoise shell in colour and transparency. The plates of which this skin is composed are also armed with spines or bristles. It has six legs, two of which are much longer than the others, in order to enable the insect to make such wondrous leaps, as to raise the body above two hundred times its diameter. The great strength and agility of the Flea are well known, from the exhibition of the industrious Fleas.