Chapter II: Insects (2)

The life-history of the lacewing-fly is very curious. When the maternal insect lays her eggs, she first deposits a drop of a highly glutinous fluid upon a leaf or slender twig, and then, with an upward jerk of her long body, draws it out into a slender thread. On contact with the air this thread immediately hardens, and just as she releases her hold the fly attaches a single egg to the tip. In this way 200 or 300 eggs are laid together in a little cluster, which looks just like a tiny patch of moss. In the earlier botanical manuals, indeed, it was actually named, figured, and described as a moss.

LARGE CADDIS-FLY.

The largest British species measures about an inch and a half across the wings.]

The grubs which hatch out from these eggs feed upon plant-lice, of which they devour vast numbers, draining the juices by means of their hollow jaws, and then fastening the empty skins on their own backs, as an American Indian might decorate himself with the scalps of his victims. Owing to this singular habit, the grub becomes perfectly unrecognisable after the first few days of its life, only the jaws and feet being visible beneath the pile of dry skins. When fully fed, it changes to the pupal condition in a silken cocoon, which it attaches to a leaf, and the perfect insect makes its appearance in the course of a few days.

The ALDER-FLIES, in general appearance, are not unlike caddis-flies, but may easily be distinguished by the fact that the wings are not longitudinally folded while at rest. They are very abundant in the neighbourhood of ponds and small streams, where they may be seen flying slowly and heavily, or resting on low herbage or the foliage of trees and bushes. The female insect lays her eggs in clusters of 300 or 400 on the leaves of water-plants, and the little grubs make their way down into the water immediately on hatching out, where they creep about on the mud at the bottom in search of the tiny creatures on which they feed. When full-grown, they are about an inch in length. They then leave the water and bury themselves in the earth, where they change to pupæ, the perfect insects emerging in June or July.

The CADDIS-FLIES, of which there are many British representatives, belong to the Hairy-winged group. The larvæ of these insects are entirely aquatic, and remind one of hermit-crabs, the front part of the body being clothed with horny armour, while the hinder part is entirely unprotected. In order to escape the attacks of predaceous insects these grubs construct cases round their bodies, which they drag about wherever they go. In one or two instances, however, the case is attached to the lower surface of a stone.

The materials of which these cases are made vary in accordance with the species. In one group, for instance, they consist of pieces of twigs and leaves, cut into short lengths, and arranged side by side in such a manner as to form a spiral band. The larva of another kind uses entire leaves, gluing them firmly together and living between them. A third species employs grains of sand and tiny stones, which it arranges in the form of a cow's horn. Most curious of all, however, is the case of a caddis-fly which is made entirely of the shells of water-snails. As these shells are, as a rule, still tenanted by their owners, the snails may sometimes be seen attempting to crawl simultaneously in half a dozen different directions, while the grub is dragging them in a seventh.

All the grubs retain tight hold of their cases by means of a pincer-like organ at the end of the body. When fully fed, they close the aperture at each end of the tube, and assume the chrysalis state, the perfect insects emerging a few weeks later. Although the wings are large and broad, they fly very slowly, and never seem to take more than a short journey through the air. They may often be seen in numbers resting upon the herbage on the banks of streams and ponds, or crawling down into the water in order to deposit their eggs.

STINGING FOUR-WINGED INSECTS, OR ANTS, BEES AND WASPS, AND THEIR ALLIES

BY W. F. KIRBY, F.L.S.

The order of insects to which the Ants, Bees, and Wasps belong includes a very large number of species. All these are provided with four membranous wings, alike in consistency, and provided with comparatively few nervures. The wings are usually of small size, as compared with the dimensions of the insects, but are very powerful, owing to the fore and hind pair being connected together during flight by a series of little links; and the flight of the insects is usually very rapid. These insects pass through a perfect metamorphosis, the pupa being always inactive; the jaws are provided with mandibles, though a proboscis, or sucking-tube, is also present, and the abdomen of the female is armed with an ovipositor, or boring instrument, which is frequently modified into a powerful sting, used to deposit the eggs in their proper position. One peculiarity is that several species of ants, bees, and wasps live in large communities, in which the bulk of the inhabitants, on whom most of the work of the nest falls, are imperfectly developed and usually sterile females, called neuters, or workers. This arrangement is also met with in the White Ants, which belong to the order of Lace-winged Insects. Among both the Ants and White Ants the neuters are unprovided with wings; but these organs are present in the fully developed males and females, though soon cast.

SAW-FLY.

One of the commonest of the larger British species is a blackish hairy insect, measuring rather more than an inch in expanse, with transparent wings bordered with brown.]

MARBLE GALL-FLY AND GALL.

Found on oak, and not unlike the foreign gall used for making ink.]

A great variety of other insects also belong to this order, such as Saw-flies, Gall-flies, and an immense number of parasitic species, generally called Ichneumon-flies, among which are some of the smallest insects known.

This extensive order of insects is divided into two principal sections--those in which the ovipositor is used as a saw or an auger, and those in which it is modified into a sting. One of the most interesting sections of the Borers includes the SAW-FLIES, in which the boring instrument is modified into a pair of toothed saws, which are used for cutting incisions in leaves, or in the tender bark of twigs, in which to deposit the eggs. These flies have four transparent wings, sometimes stained with yellow or purple, and their bodies are moderately stout and obtuse, and generally black, red or yellow. The antennæ are very variable in form, and are sometimes knobbed at the end like those of a butterfly; sometimes they are formed of a number of long, slender joints; sometimes of only three--a moderately long basal one, a short middle one, and a long terminal one, composed of a number of joints united into one; and rarely, as in the case of the males of some small species about half an inch long which feed on fir and pine, the antennæ are feathered. The grubs are very like caterpillars, and are sometimes called "false caterpillars"; but a true caterpillar (except in one or two very rare exceptions among foreign species) has never more than sixteen legs, while these "false caterpillars" have more, often as many as twenty-two. They also resemble caterpillars in another way, for the pupæ are enclosed in cocoons. One interesting Australian species, which feeds on gum-trees, proceeds from a black caterpillar with only six legs. The perfect insect has a blackish head and thorax, with three large yellow spots on the latter, yellowish antennæ and wings, and a green abdomen; it measures about an inch and a half across the wings, and has knobbed antennæ. An allied species, found in Tasmania, is said to tend its young larvæ--an unusual habit, except among social insects like bees, wasps, and ants. Among the commonest and the most destructive saw-flies in England are those feeding upon the currant, gooseberry, and pear, of which there are several species, measuring about half an inch across the wings. The commonest flies which lay their eggs on the gooseberry and currant are yellow, with the head, antennæ, and three long spots on the back black, and the wings transparent, with black veins. The grubs are bluish green, with twenty legs, and numerous black dots; and several may often be seen on one leaf. The best-known of the PEAR SAW-FLIES is black, with the wings transparent, except the veins; the grub is very like a slug, and is green or yellow, very slimy, with the front of the body much thickened.

TREE-WASP.

Very similar to the common wasp, but builds its nest in trees instead of in the ground.]

The WOOD-WASPS include only a few species, the grubs of which live in the stems of plants, or in the solid wood of trees. One of the largest feeds on fir- or pine-trees, and the fly measures from half an inch to an inch and a half in length, and varies much in size, though the male is generally much smaller than the female. The female is yellow, with two black bands, and a stout ovipositor half as long as the abdomen. In the male the tip of the abdomen is black, and ends in a rectangular point. The wings are transparent, with yellow nervures.

[_Parson's Green._

TREE-WASP'S NEST.

Generally built in a thick bush.]

Next to these insects come the GALL-FLIES, most of which produce round galls on oaks; and in some species we meet with a wingless brood, living alternately with the winged broods, but at the roots of the trees instead of in the open air. The veining of the wings is reduced to one or two veins; the antennæ are rather long, and not angulated; and the abdomen is short, and constricted at the base. The flies seldom measure more than half an inch across the wings. Some galls are hard, like the one found on the Turkey oak, from which ink is made; while others are large and juicy, resembling cherries, or small apples, among which is the so-called apple of Sodom. Others, like the Bedeguar, which is found on roses, have a mossy appearance. The latter are produced by a small black saw-fly, with part of the legs, and, in the female, the base of the abdomen, red beneath.

[_Regent's Park._

PINE-BORING WASP (FEMALE).

Formidable in appearance, but quite harmless.]

Some of the smaller gall-flies do not produce galls, but are parasitic on other insects; but galls are very liable to the parasitic attacks of other insects, especially to those of small brilliant metallic green four-winged flies, belonging to an allied family, with very few nervures, but with a black membranous spot on the front edge of the fore wings, and angulated antennæ. Many galls do not begin to grow until the larva is hatched and begins to eat.

We now come to five or six families of parasitic species, popularly called ICHNEUMON-FLIES, and immensely numerous and varied. There are probably considerably over 2,000 species in England alone; but they are comparatively little known or studied. Some of these have beautifully delicate wings, fringed with long bristles, and are among the smallest insects known, being of quite microscopic dimensions. These are parasitic on the eggs of various insects, and some are aquatic. But the more typical ichneumon-flies are of larger size, often measuring more than an inch across the wings. Their bodies are usually black or yellow, and there is often an irregularly shaped space in the middle of the fore wing, where the veins of the wing converge. In these flies the ovipositor is very short; but in others it is of great length, especially in the case of the largest British insect of this group, which is parasitic on the larvæ of the great black-and-yellow wood-wasp, of which we have already spoken. This parasite is as large as the wood-wasp, but much more slender; it is black, with red legs, and two white dots on each segment of the abdomen. The ovipositor, which looks like three black threads, is as long as the whole body.

PINE-BORING WASP (MALE).

Smaller than the female, and very different in appearance.]

The numerous parasites of which we have spoken usually deposit their eggs in punctures in the bodies of caterpillars or other immature insects, which the grubs devour from within during the life of their victim, leaving it to die when they themselves have reached their full growth.

Intermediate between the boring and stinging insects of this order comes the small family of the RUBY-TAILED FLIES. These are brilliantly coloured bronze-red, blue, or green metallic four-winged flies, with the thorax covered with large depressions, and the abdomen smooth, and usually composed, as seen from above, of one large, smooth joint, and one or two much smaller coarsely punctured ones beyond it, the last ending in a variable number of short teeth. They roll themselves up in a ball when alarmed, and are parasites, depositing their eggs in the nests of other insects. An entomologist once saw a ruby-tailed fly hurled to the ground by a mason-bee which had built her nest in a hole in a wall. The fly rolled herself up into a ball, when the bee bit off her wings, and then flew away. But as soon as she was gone the wingless fly stretched herself out again, and climbed up the wall to the bee's nest to deposit her eggs.

Male natural size]

CROESUS BUTTERFLY OF BATCHIAN.

Female slightly reduced]

[_Regent's Park._

ICHNEUMON-FLY.

One of the largest British species of a very extensive group of parasitic insects.]

The group of stinging insects begins with the ANTS, which are probably the most intelligent animals now living in the world. Different species, however, differ very much in their manners and customs, and in the grade of civilisation to which they have attained. Some of the more industrious among them keep other insects as cattle, and even as pets; others harvest grain, while a few species cultivate grain for their own use; and others make large mushroom-beds of comminuted leaves, and thus do great harm to cultivated trees in many parts of tropical America. When the industrious ants are not too busy, they sometimes indulge in sports and pastimes. But there are some species which live in idle communities. Such ants are only energetic as marauders, and are so degraded that they cannot even feed themselves, and starve to death if they are deprived of the services of their black slaves, which have been carried off as pupæ by the others in piratical raids, and brought up by other slaves, which do all the work in the nests of their captors.

Quitting the Ants, we arrive at a rather extensive series of insects of moderate or considerable size, and with very spiny legs, called BURROWING-WASPS. They are brightly coloured, active insects, and generally dig holes in the ground, which they provision with caterpillars, grasshoppers, or spiders, which they paralyse with their stings, and leave in a moribund condition to form the food of their progeny. They are generally winged in both sexes, but in one family the females are stout and very hairy, and look like large hairy ants, while the males are slender winged insects, very unlike their partners. In the burrowing-wasps the front of the thorax, or second division of the body, is usually transverse, and often narrow; but in the TRUE WASPS it bends back to the wings. Among these latter it is only the small group of the SOCIAL WASPS which are gregarious, and among which we find workers as well as males and females. The largest of the British wasps is the HORNET; but there are several much larger species in the East Indies, some of which are black and yellow, like the Chinese MANDARIN-WASP, the largest of all, which often measures 2 inches across the wings. Others are black, with one large reddish band on the abdomen. Their nests, which they construct of a kind of paper, are formed in a hole in the ground, in a hollow tree, or in a bush, or under the eaves of a house. A nest is commenced by a single female which has survived the winter, and is afterwards enlarged by the exertions of her progeny.

Generally of a brilliant metallic green or blue.]

WOOD-ANT. The largest species found in Britain.]

The last group in this order are the BEES. They may generally be easily recognised by their shaggy bodies and legs. As with the Wasps, most species are solitary, or live in very small communities. Some few are smooth, and more or less metallic. A photograph of a large and beautiful South American species appears in the Coloured Plate. The largest British bees are the stout-bodied HUMBLE-BEES, or BUMBLE-BEES, which are generally yellow, more or less banded with black, or else black with a red tail. They form a small nest of cells just beneath the surface of the ground in meadows. A common European species, not found in England, is the large black, violet-winged CARPENTER-BEE, which makes its nest in a gallery burrowed in a post, where there is a separate compartment for each grub.

SOLITARY ANT.
(MALE.) (FEMALE.)

Not a true ant, but a burrowing-wasp, believed to be parasitic in the nests of humble-bees.]

There are only a few species belonging to the TRUE HIVE-BEES found in different parts of the world. They can always be distinguished from any of the SOLITARY BEES, some of which much resemble them, by having a single long, narrow cell, about four times as long as broad, running along the front edge of the fore wing. In the solitary bees the corresponding cell is much broader and shorter, rarely more than one and a half times as long as broad, and only occupying a small portion of the front edge of the wing.

Hive-bees have always been looked upon with more interest than most other insects, both on account of the valuable products of honey and wax which they produce, and because of their remarkable habits. They are probably less intelligent than ants, but they are larger; and as all classes of their adult population are winged insects, and have been kept in a domesticated or semi-domesticated state for many centuries, they have lent themselves more readily to observation.

[_Regent's Park._

HORNET.

The largest species of true wasp found in Britain.]

The hive-bees live in very large communities, and in a state of nature they make their nests in hollow trees or in crevices of rocks, where they build their waxen cells, store their honey, and rear their young. There are three classes among them,--the queen-bee, the female and the mother of the hive; the male, or drone; and the neuter, or worker, which is really an imperfectly developed and usually sterile female. Like other insects, bees pass through a metamorphosis, which in their case is of the description called "complete," for the immature forms of the bee show no resemblance whatever to the winged insect which will finally be perfected. Every bee commences its life in the form of an egg. Each egg is laid by the queen-bee in a separate cell, and in a few days the egg hatches into a white footless maggot, which is carefully tended by the workers, and fed by them with a preparation secreted by the bees, which is carefully graduated, not only according to the age of the grub, but is differently constituted according to the sex and status of the bee; for it is well known that it is in the power of the workers to develop a young grub which would otherwise become a sterile worker into a perfect queen-bee, by placing it in a large cell, and rearing it on the same nourishing food which is supplied to those grubs which are intended to become perfect queens. When the grub is full-grown, it spins itself a small silken cocoon, and becomes a pupa, or nymph, as it is called. The pupa somewhat resembles a swathed mummy, for all the external portions of the future bee can be seen outlined in the hard casing which encloses it. As soon as it arrives at maturity, it makes its way out through the upper end, when the cell is at once prepared by the other bees for a fresh occupant. The newly born bee is at first moist, flabby, and pale-coloured; but in a few hours her skin dries and hardens, when she at once commences her life-long labours, at first tending the young bees and doing other necessary duties in the hive, and then, a fortnight later, going forth with her companions to collect honey and pollen in the meadows and gardens.

HIVE-BEE. (QUEEN, WORKER, AND DRONE.)

There are only about ten or twelve kinds of true hive-bees known.]

There is never room for more than one queen-bee in a hive; and the queens, which may be recognised by their longer bodies and shorter wings, have such a mortal hatred of each other that, whenever two of them meet, they will fight, if permitted, until one is killed. But in summer, when young bees are hatching daily in large numbers, and the hive is getting over-populated, the workers do not permit the queens to fight; and finally one of them (usually the old queen in the first instance) works herself up into a great flurry, and rushes out of the hive, attended by several hundred followers, to seek for fresh fields and pastures new. This is called "swarming"; and a strong hive will often throw off as many as four or five swarms in the course of the summer. It is then the object of the bee-keeper to get the queen to enter a new hive, for otherwise the swarm may fly to a distance and be lost; but wherever the queen-bee takes up her abode, her companions will assemble round her, and at once commence the work of building combs and storing up honey.

[_Sheffield._

BUMBLE-BEE ON EVERLASTING-PEA.

Bumble-bees make their nests in the ground, and live in smaller communities than the hive-bee.]

The drone, or male bee, is rather larger than the worker, and has a more obtuse body. He may be at once distinguished by his long thirteen-jointed antennæ, or feelers, for the antennæ are shorter and only twelve-jointed in the queen and worker. There are several hundred drones in a hive; but the queen only pairs once in her life, on the wing, and the ceremony is immediately followed by the death of the drone. The drones have no sting, for the sting of the female and worker is really a modified ovipositor, or egg-laying apparatus, analogous to the organ which is so conspicuous in many ichneumons and other insects belonging to the same order as the bees. In the autumn the unfortunate drones are all massacred or else driven forth from the hive by the workers, when they speedily perish. The workers are by far the most numerous of the inhabitants of a bee-hive; there may be many thousands of them, and their number appears to be only limited by the dimensions of the hive itself.

The ancients had observed something of the economy of bees, but many of their ideas on the subject were strangely fantastic. It was perhaps natural to suppose that the leader of the bees was a king rather than a queen; but it was also supposed that a swarm of bees could be obtained by killing an ox and leaving the carcase to rot. This notion appears to have originated in swarms of flies, more or less resembling bees, having been noticed flying round or near putrefying carcases.

Among all the truly social insects--_i.e._ hive-bees, wasps, ants, and termites, or so-called white ants--we find that the bulk of the community consists of sterile females, and the number of fertile females is very small, even in those cases where more than one female is permitted to live in a nest, as among wasps.

[_Wishaw, N.B._

BEES.

Swarming from the hive after the queen.]

HUMBLE-BEES live in small communities, consisting of males, females, and workers; but their economy is very simple compared with that of the hive-bee, and they do not confine themselves to a single female to a nest.

The SOLITARY BEES are very numerous in species, and consist only of males and females. They do not live in communities, but each female constructs a dwelling for her own young. Many of them burrow in the ground, and they are so far gregarious that a large number of females will sometimes form their burrows near each other in the same bank. There are about two hundred different kinds of bees known to inhabit the British Isles. The solitary bees are very varied in their habits, and some of them are parasitic on other species.

The large CARPENTER-BEES, which form their nests in wood, are not British; but there are some small British species which make theirs in the interior of bramble-sticks. Some are very hairy; others are smooth, and look at first sight like small wasps, being banded with black and yellow. But one of the handsomest and most conspicuous of the solitary species is the FULVOUS BEE, which is a hairy species much resembling a small humble-bee, and is one often seen in abundance along with other bees, flying round sallow blossoms in spring.

SCALE-WINGED INSECTS, OR BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS.

BY W. F. KIRBY, F.L.S.

BUTTERFLIES and MOTHS are easily distinguished from other insects by many very obvious characters, and a considerable number are remarkable for the beautiful and varied colours of their wings. These are, as it were, tiled with overlapping scales, attached to the membrane by a slender stem; hence their name, Scale-winged Insects. These scales differ very much in shape, sometimes being long and slender, and almost hair-like, while at other times they are widened at the extremity, like a battledore, or they may be short and broad, like a fan or a shovel. Different forms of scales are found on different parts of the wings of the same insect; and some forms of scale are peculiar to the male, as are usually the dense tufts of scales found on the fore wings of the Skipper Butterflies, and on the hind wings of the Chrysippus Butterfly. The varied colours of these scales are due partly to pigment, interposed between the extremely delicate double or triple tissues of which the scales are composed; or, more rarely, to the refraction of light from the surface of the scales themselves, or, as has recently been stated, to different coloured scales alternating so that the varying colours are visible at different angles, as in the metallic "shot" colour of the Purple Emperor Butterfly, and in various species found in South America and other countries. In the case of the Purple Emperor, and in many other butterflies, this "shot" colouring is confined to the males. Indeed, as a rule, female butterflies and moths are larger than the males, but far less brilliantly coloured than their mates. There are, however, many species in which the sexes differ little in size or colour; but it only rarely happens that the female is more brightly coloured than the male.

The bodies of butterflies and moths, the legs, and often more or less of the base or borders of the wings are clothed with hair or hair-like scales. These insects have a long or short proboscis, through which they imbibe their food, which consists of the honey of flowers, the sap of trees, or moisture from the ground. Like other insects, they have six legs in the perfect state; but in some species either the front or hind pair becomes more or less rudimentary, especially in the males.

[_Colesborne._

LEAF-BUTTERFLY.

These butterflies are so remarkably like certain leaves that it is almost impossible to distinguish the difference even at close quarters.]

Butterflies and moths pass through four stages. The egg is laid by the female on some plant which will provide suitable nourishment for the caterpillar. A caterpillar, which is the next stage, is a jointed, worm-like creature with sixteen legs; those corresponding with the legs of the perfect insect are horny, and a pair is placed on each of the first three joints behind the head. The next four pairs, called "prolegs," are thick and fleshy, and a pair is placed under each of joints seven to ten (reckoning the head as joint one), the last joint of all being provided with a pair slightly differing from the others, and called "claspers." In many young caterpillars, however, and also in the full-grown caterpillars of a considerable number of moths (especially among those with slender bodies), one or more of the first three pairs of pro-legs may be rudimentary or absent, and the caterpillar walks by arching its back at every step, in a way that must be seen to be appreciated, though such caterpillars (popularly called Loopers, on account of the way they loop up their bodies in walking) are often very active, and cover the ground much more rapidly than one might imagine. Sometimes the claspers, or last pair of legs, are modified into tentacles, which, in the caterpillars of the Puss-moth and its allies, contain retractile whips, used as weapons of defence.

[_New York._

SOUTH AMERICAN LONG-WINGED BUTTERFLIES.

Showing external resemblance between two butterflies of different families.]

[_New York._

DIANA FRITILLARY.

The male is dark brown, with a broad orange border spotted with black. The female has green marginal markings.]

[_Colesborne._

QUEEN OF SPAIN FRITILLARY.

Brown above, with plush spots; spotted with silver beneath.]

Caterpillars are very voracious, and increase in size with great rapidity; and whenever their skin gets too tight, after splitting it, they slip it off (along with the lining of the stomach and intestines), and after a few hours' lethargy, necessary to recover from the debilitating effects of such a serious operation, and to give the new skin time to dry and harden, they begin to feed again as voraciously as ever. The number of these moults varies according to the species; when the caterpillar has attained its full growth, it enters upon the third stage of its life as a pupa, or chrysalis.

A pupa means a doll, or swaddled baby, and is a very appropriate name for the dark-coloured object, cased in a horny skin, with no detached organs visible, except the sheath for the proboscis in some of the Hawk-moths, in which this organ is unusually long, but with the separate cases of the wings, legs, etc., of the future butterfly or moth plainly visible in the sutures on its surface. The pupæ of some butterflies have more or less metallic colours; and to these only is the term "chrysalis" applicable.

Some pupæ are naked, and those of most butterflies are either suspended by the tail, or attached to a branch by a belt of silk round the body. Those of moths are generally formed either in an earthen cell under the surface of the ground, or else are enclosed in an oval case called a "cocoon," chiefly composed of silk, though sometimes moss or chips of wood are worked into it. Other pupæ are found between leaves, or, in the case of caterpillars which feed in the wood of trees, or in the stems of plants, in the galleries where they have lived.

When the perfect butterfly or moth is ready to emerge, the pupa splits, and the insect works its way to the open air. Its body is limp and heavy, and the wings are like little flaps of wet rag; but it discharges a quantity of superfluous fluid, generally of a red colour, and fixes itself on a branch, or other convenient foothold, where its wings can hang downwards. The expansion and contraction of the muscles pump air into the hollow tubes which form the framework of the wings; these rapidly expand to their full size, and become dry and firm at the same time. After this, the insect flies about with its companions, pairs, lays its eggs, and then dies, after enjoying its life for a period, varying according to the species and the season, from a few hours to several months.

A North American butterfly.]

We have not yet spoken of the feelers, or antennæ, of butterflies and moths. They are two long, jointed organs, nearly always knobbed at the end in butterflies, or at least the terminal joints are thicker than the rest. But in moths the antennæ are of different shapes, and generally end in a point. Sometimes they are simple and thread-like; sometimes they are thickest in the middle, and thinner at both ends, as in the Hawk-moths; and they are often comb-like, especially in the males, as in the Silk-moths.

BUTTERFLIES.

[_New York._

CATERPILLAR OF TAWNY ADMIRAL.

Remarkable for the sharply contrasted black and pale markings.]

As already mentioned, butterflies may be distinguished from moths by their antennæ being thickened at the extremities. There are comparatively few species in Europe--only about three hundred, of which between sixty and seventy are met with in the British Islands; but in tropical countries they are much more numerous and varied. It is a mistake to suppose that butterflies are always bright-coloured insects, and moths the reverse; for though many butterflies are brightly coloured, others are very dingy. On the other hand, although it is equally true that many moths are dull-coloured, others, especially among those with slender bodies, or those which fly by day, are quite as brilliantly coloured as any butterflies.

BLUE BUTTERFLY.

Among the most conspicuous of the smaller European butterflies.]

Butterflies are divided into several groups, the first of which includes the BRUSH-FOOTED BUTTERFLIES, so called because the front pair of legs is converted into hairy paws, useless for walking, and only employed for toilet purposes. This is a very extensive group, including about half the butterflies known, and is divided into several smaller sections. The most interesting species among the DANAIDS is the MONARCH, one of the largest and commonest butterflies found in North America. It is migratory in its habits, and has succeeded in acclimatising itself throughout the Pacific islands as far as Australia and New Zealand, as well as in the Canaries; and so many specimens have been taken recently in the south of England that it seems not unlikely to take up its residence there also. It is a tawny butterfly, not unlike the one represented on the preceding page, but much larger, measuring about 5 inches across the wings. The caterpillar is yellow, with transverse black bands, and a pair of long, black slender filaments near each extremity of the body. The pupa is pale green, with golden spots, and is suspended by the tail, as is the case with most of those of the Brush-footed Butterflies.

The next group, the LONG-WINGED BUTTERFLIES, includes a considerable number of species with long rounded wings, found in tropical and sub-tropical America. A species with black and transparent markings is shown on page 710, but many have wholly transparent wings, except for a narrow black or brown border.

[_Milford-on-Sea._

BLUE MORPHO BUTTERFLY AND HUMMING-BIRD.

Note proportionate sizes.]

Turning to more familiar insects, there are several kinds of large or moderate-sized tawny butterflies, marked with black spots and lines, called FRITILLARIES in England. The caterpillars are spiny, and feed on violets and other low-growing plants. The photograph on page 710 shows the DIANA FRITILLARY, a large and handsome species, which is somewhat of a rarity in the Southern States of America; it measures 4 inches in expanse, and the sexes are very dissimilar. It is dark brown, with a broad orange border spotted with black in the male, and rows of more or less connected green or white spots in the female.

LARGE BLUE BUTTERFLY (MALE, FEMALE, AND UNDERSIDE).

Scarce and nearly extinct in England.]

Practically extinct in England.]

LONG-TAILED BLUE BUTTERFLY
(MALE, FEMALE, AND UNDERSIDE).

An occasional immigrant on the south coast of England.]

Probably a casual visitor in England.]

The ANGLE-WINGED BUTTERFLIES include several of the best known and most brightly coloured British species, such as the RED ADMIRAL, a velvety black butterfly, with a transverse red band on the fore wings, and several white spots between this and the tip, the hind wings having a red border, spotted with black and blue. It measures about 2½ inches across the wings, and is common in gardens and orchards in summer and autumn. The caterpillar, which feeds on nettle, is brown or black, with yellow stripes and spines. The TAWNY ADMIRAL is a North American butterfly, remarkable for its resemblance to the larger butterfly called the Monarch, of which we have already spoken. The Danaids and Long-winged Butterflies have tough integuments and a disagreeable odour, which more or less protects them from birds. Many other butterflies belonging to other families have a superficial resemblance to these, and are believed to share in their immunity. This phenomenon is technically called "mimicry." The caterpillar of the tawny admiral is grey and black, with curious spiny tufts.

LARGE COPPER BUTTERFLY (MALE, FEMALE, AND UNDERSIDE).

Extinct in England since 1860.]

Taken near Ilfracombe, August, 1887.]

The group of the SATYRS contains a great variety of moderate-sized brown or tawny butterflies, usually with round spots centred with white towards the margins of the wings. Many species are common in meadows; others, which are dark brown or black, with red, white-centred marginal spots, are numerous in mountainous countries, and two species are found in the north of England and Scotland. The caterpillars of the Satyrs are usually smooth and green, with a forked tail, and the pupæ are formed on the surface of the ground.

The great BLUE BUTTERFLIES of South America form another group of Brush-footed Butterflies.

The second family is almost entirely American, and is only represented in England by a brown butterfly about an inch in expanse, called the DUKE OF BURGUNDY FRITILLARY. The caterpillar is reddish, and feeds on primroses. It is not a very abundant species in England.

NEW GUINEA GOLDEN BUTTERFLY.

A remarkable and recently discovered swallow-tailed butterfly.]

The third family is represented in Britain by three very distinct sections of rather small butterflies, the largest of which scarcely measures more than an inch and a half across the wings. These are the HAIR-STREAKS (brown, with light lines on the under surface of the wings, and a short tail on the hind wings, except in the GREEN HAIR-STREAK, so named from the green under surface of the wings); the small BLUE BUTTERFLIES, which generally have brown females; and the COPPERS, the only common species of which measures about an inch across the wings. The fore wings are bright coppery red, with dark brown spots and borders, and the hind wings are dark brown, with a coppery red border, spotted outside with black. The small copper butterfly and some of the blues are common in meadows and gardens.

Many of the members of the fourth family are of a white or yellow colour, among which are the destructive WHITE CABBAGE-BUTTERFLIES, three species of which are very common in England, where they may be seen in every garden throughout the summer. The photograph on page 716 represents one of these at rest. A prettier species is the ORANGE-TIP, which is common in spring. The underside of the hind wings is mottled with green; and there is a bright orange spot before the tip of the fore wing, both above and below. Some of the South American butterflies of this family much resemble the Long-winged Butterflies of the same country.

AUSTRALIAN BUTTERFLIES.

Emerging from their pupæ.]

The family of the SWALLOW-TAILED BUTTERFLIES includes a considerable number of large and handsome species, but they are not numerous in Europe, and only one black-and-yellow species, measuring 3 inches across the wings, is found in England, where it is now almost confined to the fens of the south-eastern counties; its green caterpillar, with transverse black bands spotted with orange, feeds on carrot, fennel, and other similar plants. All the caterpillars of this family are remarkable for possessing a retractile fork on the neck; but the butterflies do not all possess the long appendage to the hind wings which has given some of them the name of Swallow-tails. Thus it is wanting in most of the great BIRD-WINGED BUTTERFLIES of the Eastern Islands, one of which, the CROESUS BUTTERFLY, is represented in the Coloured Plate. The great difference between the sexes is well worth noting. The female is considerably larger than the male, but in the coloured figure the former has been reduced, owing to the exigencies of space. Mr. A. R. Wallace writes as follows of the capture of the first specimen:--

[_Colesborne._

BATH WHITE BUTTERFLY.

Always rare in England, though common on the Continent.]

[_Sheffield._

GREEN-VEINED WHITE BUTTERFLY.

The cabbage-butterfly referred to on page 715.]

"One day about the beginning of January, I found a beautiful shrub with large white leafy bracts and yellow flowers, a species of Mussænda, and saw one of these noble insects hovering over it, but it was too quick for me, and flew away. The next day I went again to the same shrub and succeeded in catching a female, and the day after a fine male. I found it to be as I had expected, a perfectly new and most magnificent species, and one of the most gorgeously coloured butterflies in the world. Fine specimens of the male are more than seven inches across the wings, which are velvety black and fiery orange, the latter colour replacing the green of the allied species. The beauty and brilliancy of this insect are indescribable, and none but a naturalist can understand the intense excitement I experienced when I at length captured it. On taking it out of my net and opening the glorious wings, my heart began to beat violently, the blood rushed to my head, and I felt much more like fainting than I have done when in apprehension of immediate death. I had a headache the rest of the day, so great was the excitement produced by what will appear to most people a very inadequate cause."

[_Colesborne._

BLACK-VEINED WHITE BUTTERFLY.

A much rarer species in England now than formerly.]

The SKIPPERS, the last family of butterflies, are comparatively stout-bodied insects, with the antennæ widely apart at the base, and sometimes forked at the tip. They are not numerous in Europe; the prettiest of the British species is perhaps the PEARL-SKIPPER, which measures rather more than an inch across its brown and tawny wings; the under surface of the hind wings is green, and marked with several clear white spots.

MOTHS.

Moths are much more numerous than butterflies, and there are about 2,000 different kinds found in the British Islands alone. Consequently we are able to notice only a few.

The HAWK-MOTHS have long, pointed wings, thick, tapering bodies, and the antennæ thickest in the middle. The pink, greenish-striped ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH (see page 718) is a comparatively small species. The specimens measure about 2½ inches across the wings. Some species are much larger. The DEATH'S-HEAD HAWK-MOTH, whose caterpillar feeds on potato-leaves, is 5 or 6 inches in expanse; and some of the South American species measure as much as 9 inches. The caterpillars of the hawk-moths are generally green, often with oblique lines of a different colour on the sides. They are not hairy, though the skin is sometimes rough, and there is a fleshy appendage, called a "horn," on the back, just before the extremity of the body. The brown pupæ are found in cells in the ground.

ORANGE-TIP.

Showing three different positions when wings are folded, and partly or entirely concealing upper wing.]

The CHINESE MULBERRY-SILKWORM, which produces most of the silk of commerce, is a smooth, whitish caterpillar, about 2 inches long, with a horn. It is often reared in England on lettuce. The moth is a sluggish, stout-bodied insect. It is whitish, with two dusky stripes on the fore wings. The pupa is enclosed in an oval whitish or yellow cocoon of pure silk.

LARGE GRIZZLED SKIPPER BUTTERFLY.

Upper- and under-sides.]

[_Regent's Park._

SWALLOW-TAILED BUTTERFLY

The only British species of this butterfly is almost confined to the fen districts of Norfolk.]

The EMPEROR-MOTHS, of which there is only one species in England, likewise spin large cocoons, sometimes used for commercial purposes. The caterpillars are generally more or less spiny or tufted. Some of the moths have long tails on the hind wings, like swallow-tailed butterflies, and there are several species in South Europe, South Africa, the East Indies, and North America of a beautiful sea-green colour. It will be noticed that the specimens represented on page 718 have the tails a little broken, which is a very common accident with swallow-tailed butterflies and moths. We may also notice the round or crescent-shaped spots in the middle of the wings of some of the moths represented on this page and the next. These are very characteristic of the emperor-moths, and there is often a transparent spot in the centre of the concentric markings. Two other North American species of this family are shown in the photographs on page 719, rather under natural size. The second of these, the CECROPIA MOTH, is represented with its cocoon. This moth has occasionally been captured in England, having been introduced either accidentally or by design. A year or two ago a specimen was brought to the Natural History Museum at South Kensington which had been caught in the street close by. During the summer many foreign butterflies and moths may be seen alive in the Insect-house at the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, and several of the photographs given in these pages were taken from specimens living there in the summer of 1901. The largest of the emperor-moths is the great ATLAS MOTH of North India, the largest of all known butterflies or moths, which occasionally measures almost a foot across its reddish-tawny wings.

ELEPHANT HAWK MOTHS

Showing position when at rest.]

LUNA MOTHS.

A green North American moth with tail, allied to the English Emperor-moth.]

The IMPERIAL MOTH, a handsome North American moth belonging to a family allied to the emperor-moths, is represented below.

POLYPHEMUS MOTH.

A handsome North American Emperor-moth.]

CECROPIA MOTH.

The largest of the North American Emperor-moths.]

[_New York._

IMPERIAL MOTH.

Yellow with purplish-brown dots and blotches. Native of North America.]

The EGGARS form another allied family, also with tufted caterpillars, but with the central eye of the wings absent, or reduced to a small black spot. A set of remarkable photographs, representing the eggs, caterpillars, cocoons and sections of cocoons, and the moths of a large and handsome species--the CYPRESS-MOTH of Smyrna--appears on pages 720 and 721. We have received the following account of their habits from Mr. Mavroyeni, to whom we are indebted for the photographs: "In the month of July they start weaving their cocoons, in which they remain for seventeen days. A couple of weeks after the moths have emerged from their cocoons and laid their eggs, the eggs hatch, and the young caterpillars run up the tree, and feed from the end of August, during autumn, winter, and spring." We believe that the cocoons of this species are prepared for use as silk in Greece.

Among other kinds, we may notice the bright-coloured TIGER-MOTHS, with their black and cream-coloured fore wings and red-and-black hind wings, which frequent gardens, and are reared from reddish-brown caterpillars with long hair. These are stout-bodied moths; and there are other moths, with brown fore wings and whitish hind wings, which fly to candles, or buzz over flowers in the evening. These are called OWL-MOTHS; but there are larger and handsomer members of the same family, called YELLOW UNDERWINGS, measuring nearly 2 inches across the wings, and likely to be flushed in strawberry-beds or hay-fields. They have brown fore wings, and bright yellow hind wings, with a black border. The RED-UNDERWING MOTH is about 3 inches in expanse, and has greyish-brown fore wings, and red hind wings, with a black central band; it is often seen flying about willow-trees in the afternoon, or resting on tree-trunks, when the bright-coloured hind wings are quite concealed.

[_Smyrna._

COCOONS OF CYPRESS-MOTH.

These yield silk.]

The LOOPER-MOTHS are those produced from caterpillars which have only ten legs instead of sixteen, as already explained. Most have slender bodies of moderate length, and broad and rather brightly coloured wings, green, russet-brown, yellow, etc. Some, measuring about an inch in expanse, are called CARPET-MOTHS, from the zigzag patterns on the fore wings, which are generally black and white, or brown and white, and sometimes green. The YELLOW-SHELL, a yellow moth, with some zigzag brown and whitish lines across the wings, which expand about an inch, is common in hedges and bushes. The white, black-and-yellow-spotted GOOSEBERRY-MOTH, or MAGPIE-MOTH, so common in gardens, is also one of the Loopers.

[_Smyrna._

CYPRESS-MOTHS AT REST.

In the month of July they start weaving their cocoons, in which they remain for seventeen days. A couple of weeks after their eggs are hatched, and the young caterpillars run up the tree, and feed from the end of August, during autumn, winter, and spring.]

Among the smaller moths are the PEARL-MOTHS, with long slender bodies, wings longer than broad, and often with a pearly lustre, one or two species of which are common among nettles. We may also mention the SNOUT-MOTH, a brown slender-bodied moth, with a pointed beak projecting in front of the head, likewise a common insect among nettles. The GRASS-MOTHS are small moths, with narrow whitish fore wings, and broad brownish hind wings, which they wrap round their bodies when at rest. They are common in every field and meadow. The BELL-MOTHS have broad truncated fore wings, and rounded hind wings. A species belonging to this family, with green fore wings and brown hind wings, may be shaken from every oak-tree in summer, and at the same time numbers of its little green caterpillars will drop themselves down, and remain swinging at the end of a thread, till they think that the danger is past, when they climb up again.

[_Smyrna._

CYPRESS-MOTHS.

The inside of the cocoons, showing the pupæ.]

The CLOTHES-MOTHS, familiar to everybody, are representatives of an enormous family of small moths, comprising nearly two-thirds of the British species, but only a few live in houses. Most have narrow wings with long fringes, and many feed in tortuous galleries which they eat in the substance of leaves. Some are among the smallest moths known.

The WHITE PLUME-MOTH, which may be noticed floating about in weedy places like a piece of thistle-down, is a representative of a small family in which the fore wings are divided into three separate feathers, and the hind wings into two. The other species are brown, and smaller. When at rest, they look like small daddy-long-legs.

The TWENTY-PLUME MOTH is a yellowish-grey species, less than an inch in expanse, often to be seen at rest on windows or palings. It might easily be taken for a small looper-moth, but that each wing is split into six feathers.

SILKWORMS.

[_Smyrna._

CYPRESS-CATERPILLARS.

When they leave their cocoons, the young caterpillars run up the tree to feed.]

We have now completed a rapid survey of the principal groups of Butterflies and Moths, and may fittingly conclude this part of our subject by giving a short account of the history of SILKWORMS--insects which far surpass all other butterflies and moths in their importance to mankind, on account of the valuable product which is obtained from their cocoons. The industry has been carried on from time immemorial in China; and many old Chinese works contain interesting particulars, especially relating to the rearing of silkworms by the queens and their ladies, for silk was probably a royal monopoly in old times. These Chinese records date back to about 2200 B.C., when the silk industry was already flourishing; but, according to the usually received tradition, silkworms were first reared during the reign of the Emperor Hwang-té (2640 B.C.) by his queen. The following extracts from the "Le-he Book of Ceremonies," written between 204 B.C. and 135 B.C., and quoted by Horsfield and Moore in their "Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of the East India Museum," may not be uninteresting to our renders:--

[_Beith._

DEATH'S-HEAD MOTH.

Remarkable for the skull-like pattern on the back.]

"In the first month of spring orders were issued to the forester not to cut down the mulberry-trees; and when the cooing doves were observed fluttering with their wings, and the crested jays alighting upon the mulberry-trees, people were to prepare the trays and frames for the purpose of rearing the silkworms.

DAY-FLYING MOTH OF MADAGASCAR.

Remarkable for the brilliancy of its colours--green and black, with the hind wings brilliant coppery red towards the extremity.]

"In the spring season, when the empress and her ladies had fasted, they proceeded to the east, and personally engaged in picking the mulberry-leaves. On this occasion the married and single ladies were forbidden to wear their ornaments, and the usual employments of females were lessened, in order to encourage attention to the silkworms. When the rearing of the silkworms was completed, the cocoons were divided (for reeling) and the silk weighed (for weaving), each person being rewarded according to her labour, in order to provide dresses for the celestial and ancestorial sacrifices. In all this none dared indulge in indolence.

[_Beith._

CONVOLVULUS HAWK-MOTH.