Chapter XXI: Appendix

The following Wasps appear to me to be new to our fauna. I give a description of each of them.

A

CERCERIS ANTONIÆ—H. FAB.

Length, 16 to 18 millimetres. [56] Black, thickly and deeply spotted. Shield, raised like a nose, that is to say, forming a convex projection, broad at the base, pointed at the tip and resembling one half of a cone divided lengthwise. Prominent crest between the antennæ. A yellow streak above the crest, yellow cheeks and a large yellow spot behind each eye. Yellow shield, with black dot. Mandibles, iron-yellow, with black tips. First four or five joints of the antennæ, iron-yellow; the rest brown.

Two dots on the prothorax, the wing-scales and the postscutellum yellow. First segment of the abdomen has two round spots. The next four segments have on their hinder edge a yellow band cut deeply into the form of a triangle, or even broken right off; and this is more noticeable in the less distant segments.

Under-part of the body, black. Legs, iron-yellow all through. Wings, slightly bronzed at the tip.

The above is a description of the female. The male is unknown to me.

In colouring, this species approaches Cerceris labiata, from which it differs more particularly by the shape of the shield and by its size, which is much larger. Observed near Avignon in July.

I dedicate this species to my daughter Antonia, whose assistance has often been of great value to me in my entomological researches.

B

CERCERIS JULII.—H. FAB.

Length, 7 to 9 millimetres. [57] Black, thickly and deeply spotted. Shield, flat. Face covered with a fine silvery down. A narrow yellow band on either side on the inner edge of the eyes. Mandibles, yellow, with brown tips. Antennæ, black above, pale russet below; lower surface of their basilar joints, yellow.

On the prothorax two small yellow dots, some distance apart; yellow wing-scales and postscutellum. A yellow band on the third segment of the abdomen and another on the fifth segment; these two bands are deeply hollowed on the fore-edge, the first into a semicircle, the second into a triangle.

Under-part of the body, entirely black. Black hips; thighs of the hind-legs, all black; those of the two front pairs, black at the root and yellow at the end. Legs and tarsi, yellow. Wings slightly smoke-coloured.

Female.

Varieties: 1. Prothorax without yellow dots. 2. Two small yellow dots on the second segment of the abdomen. 3. Wider yellow band on the inner side of the eyes. 4. Front of shield edged yellow.

The male is unknown to me.

This Cerceris, the smallest in my district, feeds her larvæ on very small-sized Weevils, Bruchus granarius and Apion gravidum. Observed near Carpentras, where she builds her nest in September, in the soft sandstone locally known as safre.

C

BEMBEX JULII.—H. FAB.

Length, 18 to 20 millimetres. [58] Black, with bristling whitish hairs on the head, the thorax and the base of the first segment of the abdomen. Long upper lip, yellow. Ridge-shaped shield, forming a sort of trihedral angle, of which one side, that of the fore-edge, is all yellow, while each of the two others is marked with a large rectangular black patch, touching the adjacent one, so that the two together form a chevron; these two patches and also the cheeks are covered with a fine silvery down. Cheeks and a median line between the antennæ, yellow. The back rim of the eyes has a long yellow border. Yellow mandibles, brown at the tips. First two joints of the antennæ, yellow underneath, black above; the others, yellow.

Prothorax, black, with its sides and dorsal division yellow. Mesothorax, black; the callous dot and a small dot on either side, above the base of the intermediate legs, yellow. Metathorax, black, with two yellow spots behind and a larger one, on either side, above the base of the hind-legs. The first two spots are sometimes missing.

Abdomen, brilliant black above and bare, except at the base of the first segment, which bristles with whitish hairs. All the segments have a wavy transversal band, wider at the sides than in the middle and nearer to the hinder edge as the segment is farther back. On the fifth segment the yellow band touches the hinder edge. Anal segment, yellow, black at the root, covered all over the dorsal surface with rusty-red papillæ, forming a base for bristles. A row of similar bristle-bearing protuberances occupies also the hinder edge of the fifth segment. Underneath, the abdomen is brilliant black, with a triangular yellow patch on either side of the four intermediary segments.

Black hips; thighs, yellow in front, black behind; yellow legs and tarsi. Transparent wings.

In the male the chevron mark on the shield is narrower, or even entirely absent, in which case the face is all yellow. The bands on the abdomen are a very pale yellow, almost white. The sixth segment has a band like those which come before, but shorter and often reduced to two dots. The second segment has underneath it a longitudinal carina, raised and spine-shaped at the back. Lastly, the anal segment carries below it a rather thick angular projection. The rest is the same as in the female.

This Wasp is very much like Bembex rostrata in size and in the arrangement of the black and yellow. The chief differences lie in the following characteristics: the shield of Bembex Julii forms a trihedral angle, whereas it is rounded and convex in the other Bembex. It also has at its base a broad, chevron-shaped black band, formed of two rectangular patches joined together and powdered with a silvery down, which is very brilliant in a suitable light. The upper surface of the anal segment bristles with papillæ and reddish hairs, as does the hinder edge of the fifth segment. Lastly, the mandibles are stained black at the tips only, whereas the base also is black in Bembex rostrata. Their habits are equally dissimilar. Bembex rostrata hunts Gad-flies mainly; Bembex Julii never preys on big Flies but attacks smaller ones of greatly varying species.

Jules’ Bembex is frequent in the sandy soil of Les Angles, round about Avignon and on the hill at Orange.

D

AMMOPHILA JULII.—H. FAB.

Length, 16 to 22 millimetres. [59] Abdominal petiole consisting of the first segment and half the second. Third cubital narrowed towards the radial. Head, black, with silvery down on the face. Antennæ, black. Thorax, black, with transverse stripes on its three segments, darker on the prothorax and the mesothorax. Two patches on the sides and one behind either side of the metathorax, covered with silvery down. Abdomen, bare and shiny. First segment, black. Second segment, red in the part narrowed into a petiole and in the widened part. Third segment, all red. The others, a beautiful, metallic indigo-blue. Legs, black, with silvery down on the hips. Wings, slightly reddish. Builds her nest in October and stocks each cell with two medium-sized caterpillars.

Is nearly related to Ammophila holosericea, being of the same size, but differs markedly in the colour of her legs, which are all black, in her head and thorax, which are much less hairy, and in the transverse stripes on the three segments of the thorax.

I wish these three Wasps to bear the name of my son Jules, to whom I dedicate them.

Dear Jules, snatched at such an early age from your passionate love of flowers and insects, you were my fellow-worker; nothing escaped your clear-sighted glance; I was to write this book for you, to whom its stories gave such delight; and you yourself were to continue it one day. Alas, you went to a happier home, knowing nothing of the book but its first lines! May your name at least figure in it, borne by some of those industrious and beautiful Wasps whom you loved so well!

J. H. F.

Orange, 3 April 1879.

NOTES

[1] Léon Dufour (1780–1865) was an army surgeon who served with distinction in several campaigns and subsequently practised as a doctor in the Landes. He attained great eminence as a naturalist. Cf. The Life of the Spider, by J. Henri Fabre, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, chap, i.—Translator’s Note.

[2] For the complete monograph, cf. Annales des sciences naturelles: Series II., vol. xv.—Author’s Note.

[3] The 450 Buprestes unearthed belong to the following species: Buprestis octoguttata; B. fasciata; B. pruni; B. tarda; B. biguttata; B. micans; B. flavomaculata; B. chrysostigma; and B. novemmaculata.—Author’s Note.

[4] Pierre André Latreille (1762–1833), a French naturalist who was one of the founders of entomological science.—Translator’s Note.

[5] The Beetle known to Fabre as Sphenoptera geminata, Uliger, is now considered identical with S. lineola, Herbst, which was known many years earlier.—Translator’s Note.

[6] ·528 oz. av.—Translator’s Note.

[7] ·88 oz. av.—Translator’s Note.

[8] For a description of this species, which is new to entomology, see the Appendix.—Author’s Note.

[9] Marie Jean Pierre Flourens (1794–1867), the celebrated French physiologist, appointed perpetual secretary of the Academy of Science in 1833 and a member of the French Academy.—Translator’s Note.

[10] François Magendie (1783–1855), professor of anatomy in the Collège de France, noted for his experiments on the physiology of the nerves.—Translator’s Note.

[11] Claude Bernard (1813–1878), another distinguished French physiologist and perhaps the most famous representative of experimental science in the nineteenth century.—Translator’s Note.

[12] Annales des sciences naturelles, Series III., vol. v.—Author’s Note.

[13] For the Sacred Scarab, or Sacred Beetle, cf. Insect Life, by J. H. Fabre, translated by the author of Mademoiselle Mori: chaps. i. and ii.; and The Life and Love of the Insect, by J. Henri Fabre, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chaps, i. to iv.—Translator’s Note.

[14] For Philanthus Apivorus, the Bee-eating Wasp, cf. Social Life in the Insect World, by J. H. Fabre, translated by Bernard Miall: chap. xiii.—Translator’s Note.

[15] Cf. The Life and Love of the Insect: chap. xi.—Translator’s Note.

[16] Cf. The Life and Love of the Insect: chap. xii.—Translators Note.

[17] ·117 to ·156 inch.—Translator’s Note.

[18] A species of Green Grasshopper.—Translator’s Note.

[19] Nearly half an inch.—Translator’s Note.

[20] ·975 to 1·17 inch.—Translator’s Note.

[21] ·195 to ·234 inch.—Translator’s Note.

[22] 1·05 × ·35 inch.—Translator’s Note.

[23] Cf. Social Life in the Insect World: chaps. i. to iv.—Translator’s Note.

[24] Cf. Social Life in the Insect World: chaps. v. to vii.—Translator’s Note.

[25] The order of insects including Earwigs, Cockroaches, Mantes, Crickets, Locusts and Grasshoppers.—Translator’s Note.

[26] Amédée Comte Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau (1769–circa 1850), author of an Histoire naturelle des insectes (1836–1846) and of the volume on insects in the Encyclopédie méthodique. He was a younger brother of Louis Michel and Félix Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau, the members of the Convention.—Translator’s Note.

[27] Jean Théodore Lacordaire (1801–1870), professor at the university of Liège from 1835, author of Les Genera des coléoptères, in twelve volumes, and of the Introduction à l’entomologie quoted above (1837–1839).—Translator’s Note.

[28] Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802), the poet and naturalist, grandfather of Charles Robert Darwin. The book from which the above passage is quoted is Zoonomia, or, The Laws of Organic Life (1794–1796); but the reader will note that the author withdraws these comments in a later essay (cf. The Mason-bees, by J. Henri Fabre, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chap. vii.), where he explains that they are due to a misquotation or mistranslation made by Lacordaire, who wrote ‘a Sphex’ where Darwin, as his grandson pointed out to Fabre, had written ‘a Wasp,’ meaning the Common or Social Wasp. It was open to me to suppress this part of the chapter; but, in that case, there would have been so little left of the original and so small an excuse for the title that I might as readily have suppressed the whole chapter, a liberty which I did not feel justified in taking. Besides, the footnote to the aforementioned chapter of The Mason-bees, which precedes the present volume in the English edition, makes sufficient amends for any injury done to the elder Darwin’s reputation here.—Translator’s Note.

[29] ‘The busy bees, with a soft murmuring strain,
Invite to gentle sleep the labouring swain.’—

Pastorals, i., Dryden’s translation.

[30] Cf. p. 43 n. Flourens’ Expériences sur le système nerveux were first published in 1825.—Translator’s Note.

[31] ·039 inch.—Translator’s Note.

[32] The caterpillars of the Geometræ, or Geometrid Moths, are called also Inchworms, Spanworms and Surveyors.—Translator’s Note.

[33] Cf. The Life of the Fly, by J. Henri Fabre, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos: chap. ix.—Translator’s Note.

[34] About ·08 inch.—Translator’s Note.

[35] For a description of this new species, see the Appendix to the present volume.—Author’s Note.

[36] Or Flesh-fly. Cf. The Life of the Fly: chap. x.—Translator’s Note.

[37] The Bluebottle.—Translator’s Note.

[38] The Common House-fly.—Translator’s Note.

[39] Cf. The Life of the Fly: chaps. ii. and iv.—Translator’s Note.

[40] For other essays on the homing of insects, cf. The Mason-bees: chaps. ii. to vi.—Translator’s Note.

[41] ·061 cubic inch.—Translator’s Note.

[42] 61 cubic inches.—Translator’s Note.

[43] The piece of waste ground on which the author used to study his insects in their natural state. Cf. The Life of the Fly: chap. i.—Translator’s Note.

[44] Gun-flints.—Author’s Note.

[45] The local expression.—Author’s Note.

[46] Burying-beetles.—Translator’s Note.

[47] Carrion-beetles.—Translator’s Note.

[48] Mimic-beetles.—Translator’s Note.

[49] Bacon-beetles.—Translator’s Note.

[50] The Horseshoe Bat.—Translator’s Note.

[51] Lazaro Spallanzani (1729–1799), the great Italian naturalist.—Translator’s Note.

[52] ‘This night, at least, with me forget your care;
Chestnuts and curds and cream shall be your fare
The carpet-ground shall be with leaves o’erspread
And boughs shall weave a covering for your head.’—

Pastorals, book i., Dryden’s translation.

[53] Louis Racine (1692–1763), son of Jean Racine.—Translator’s Note.

[54] ... and even in the mire,
The insect, of its worth assured, once and again
Ventures to challenge us to make good our disdain.

[55] L. Couty, in the Revue scientifique, 6 August 1881.—Author’s Note.

[56] ⅝ to ¾ inch.—Translator’s Note.

[57] ¼ to ⅓ inch.—Translator’s Note.

[58] ¾ to ⅞ inch.—Translator’s Note.

[59] ·62 to ·86 inch.—Translator’s Note.