Chapter I: Front Matter

THE ROMANCE OF
INSECT LIFE

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Aztecs of Mexico were accustomed to use these insects to
light them through the forests by night. Fastening them to
their hands and feet, they passed flaming along. It is said
that the Mexicans still use them for this purpose. The fire
beetle is shown to the left of this inscription.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE ROMANCE OF
INSECT LIFE

INTERESTING DESCRIPTIONS OF
THE STRANGE AND CURIOUS IN
THE INSECT WORLD

BY

EDMUND SELOUS

AUTHOR OF
“THE ROMANCE OF THE ANIMAL WORLD,” “BIRD LIFE GLIMPSES,”
“BIRD WATCHING,” “TOMMY SMITH’S ANIMALS,” &c.

WITH TWENTY-ONE ILLUSTRATIONS BY

LANCELOT SPEED
&
CARTON MOORE PARK

THIRD EDITION

LONDON
SEELEY, SERVICE & CO. LIMITED
38 GREAT RUSSELL STREET
1914

------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE LIBRARY OF ROMANCE

Extra Crown 8vo. With many illustrations. 5s. each.

“Splendid Volumes.”—The Outlook.

“The Library of Romance offers a splendid choice.”—Globe.

“Gift Books whose value it would be difficult to
over-estimate.”—The Standard.

“This series has now won a considerable & well deserved
reputation.”—The Guardian.

“Each Volume treats its allotted theme with accuracy, but at the
same time with a charm that will commend itself to readers of
all ages. The root idea is excellent, and it is excellently
carried out, with full illustrations and very prettily designed
covers.”—The Daily Telegraph.

By Prof. G. F. SCOTT ELLIOT, M.A., B.Sc.

The Romance of Savage Life
The Romance of Plant Life
The Romance of Early British Life

By EDWARD GILLIAT, M.A.

The Romance of Modern Sieges

By JOHN LEA, M.A.

The Romance of Bird Life

By JOHN LEA, M.A. & M. COUPIN, D.Sc.

The Romance of Animal Arts and Crafts

By SIDNEY WRIGHT

The Romance of the World’s Fisheries

By the Rev. J. C. LAMBERT, M.A., D.D.

The Romance of Missionary Heroism

By G. FIRTH SCOTT

The Romance of Polar Exploration

By CHARLES R. GIBSON, F.R.S.E.

The Romance of Modern Photography
The Romance of Modern Electricity
The Romance of Modern Manufacture
The Romance of Scientific Discovery

By CHARLES C. TURNER

The Romance of Aeronautics

By HECTOR MACPHERSON, Junr.

The Romance of Modern Astronomy

By ARCHIBALD WILLIAMS,
B.A. (Oxon.), F.R.G.S.

The Romance of Early Exploration
The Romance of Modern Exploration
The Romance of Modern Mechanism
The Romance of Modern Invention
The Romance of Modern Engineering
The Romance of Modern Locomotion
The Romance of Modern Mining

By EDMUND SELOUS

The Romance of the Animal World
The Romance of Insect Life

By AGNES GIBERNE

The Romance of the Mighty Deep

By E. S. GREW, M.A.

The Romance of Modern Geology

By J. C. PHILIP, D.Sc., Ph.D.

The Romance of Modern Chemistry

By E. KEBLE CHATTERTON, B.A.

The Romance of the Ship

By T. W. CORBIN

The Romance of Submarine Engineering

SEELEY, SERVICE & CO., LIMITED.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PAGE

“The natural system”—A middle course—Neuropterous insects—White 13
ants and their ways—Kings and queens—A royal diet—Secondary
majesties—Soldiers and workers—Ant invaders—Methods of warfare

CHAPTER II

Ant language—Stridulatory organs—How white ants 20
communicate—Conversation through convulsions—Nests in
tubes—Detection of a “crepitus”—Mutual recognition—Cannibalistic
propensities—Royal jealousy—Loyal assassins—A kingly
feast—Methods of feeding—Foundation of colonies—Swarming habits

CHAPTER III

Ants and white ants—Guest insects—Ants’-nest beetles—Doubtful 32
relations—A strange forbearance—Yellow ants and white
wood-lice—Beetles fed by ants

CHAPTER IV

Ant parasites—Fleet-footed brigands—Honey-stealing mites—A strange 42
table companion—Privileged cockroaches—Ants and their riders—A
fly-ride on beetle-back

CHAPTER V

From biped to quadruped—Flies that borrow wings—Sit-o’-my-head—A 54
novel cradle—Flies that kill bees—Nature’s sadness—Consolations
of the future—The Tachina fly and the locust

CHAPTER VI

The burden of the locusts—Classical nonsense—Address to 65
Mahomet—Locusts in Europe—Succumb to the English
climate—Described by Darwin—Locusts in Africa—The wingless host
do greatest damage—Hoppers and jumpers—“An army on the march”

CHAPTER VII

The sense of direction—How locusts look flying—Follow no 75
leader—Unanimity of movement—Flight by moonlight—Roosting at
night—Extirpated in Cyprus—The “Chinese Wall” system—Not adapted
to Australia—Deference to aboriginal feeling—Locusts in
Australia—Strange ceremony of egg-laying—Inadequate explanation

CHAPTER VIII

Locusts and _locustidæ_—The most musical grasshoppers—Katydid 85
concerts—A much resembling note—Cricket thermometers—Cicadas and
sounding-boards—Admired musicians—An appreciative audience

CHAPTER IX

A Greek mistake—Nature vindicated—Cicadas provided for—A difficult 98
feat—Perseverance rewarded—Cicadas in story—Dear to Apollo—Men
before the Muses—Plato and Socrates—Athenian views—A mausoleum
for pets—The Greek ploughman—Apollo’s judgment—Hercules’ bad
taste—Modern survivals—A beneficent insect—Elementary education
in Tuscany

CHAPTER X

Cicadas in England—A blower of bubbles—The prolific Aphis—A nice 108
calculation—Scientific curiosity—Dragon-fly armies—The son of
the south-west wind

CHAPTER XI

Aphides and their enemies—Curious interrelations—The biter 119
bit—Altruistic development—Bread and beer protectors—Saved by
ladybirds

CHAPTER XII

Ants and their honey-cows—A mutual benefit—Unity of motive—The end 129
and the means—Two ways of getting honey—Insect cattle—Wasps as
cow-milkers—A cow-keeping bee—Ant cow-sheds—Aphides in ants’
nests—Children of light and darkness—Forethought extraordinary

CHAPTER XIII

Cow caterpillars—The adventures of Theophrastus—Cave-born 144
Ariels—Led to the sky—A strange attraction—Ant slaves and
slave-holders—Slave-making raids—Feeble masters—An ant
mystery—Effects of slavery—The decadent’s reply

CHAPTER XIV

Ant partnerships—How some ants feed—Persuasive methods—An 159
_imperium in imperio_—Amusement by instinct—Begging the
question—Nest within nest—Ant errors _v._ human
perfection—Distorted arguments—How partnerships begin—Housing an
enemy—Ant ogres

CHAPTER XV

Ant wonders—Leaves cut for mushroom growing—How ants plant 172
mushrooms—A nest in a mushroom-bed—“Psychic plasticity”—Two
opinions—Ant stupidity—Unfair comparisons—The ant and the
servant-maid—Mushroom-growing beetles—Choked by
ambrosia—Intelligent uselessness—Automatic phraseology—A curious
insect

CHAPTER XVI

From wood to ambrosia—Wood-boring beetles—Rival claimants—Stag and 188
other beetles—Metempsychosis—Flies with horns—Comical
combatants—Female encouragement—The sacred Scarabæus—A beetle
with a profession—Table companions—Old and new fallacies—From
theft to partnership

CHAPTER XVII

Do ants sow and reap?—Rival observers—The Texan _v._ Macaulay’s 200
schoolboy—More evidence wanted—How ants cross rivers—Tubular
bridges—Ant armies—A world in flight—Living nests—Ants and
plants—Mutual dependence—Nests in thorns and tubers—Ant
honey-pots—Business humanity—Burial customs—A strange
observation—Two views of ants

CHAPTER XVIII

Bees and wasps—A bee’s masonry—What happens to caterpillars—Living 218
food—Variations in instinct—A wasp’s implement—Unreal
distinctions—A cautious observer—Bees that make tunnels—A
wonderful instinct—Leaf-cutting bees—Nests made of
poppy-leaves—Born in the purple—Commercial philosophy—The
appreciative white man—Economy of labour—Bees and rats—Busy
shadows—A bee double

CHAPTER XIX

Natural selection—Protective resemblances—A locust’s 238
stratagem—Mock leaf-cutting ants—Flowery dissemblers—A Malay
explanation—Snake-suggesting caterpillars—A prudent
lizard—Inconclusive experiments—A bogus ant—Flies that live with
bees—A caterpillar that dresses up—A portrait-modelling
caterpillar

CHAPTER XX

Butterfly resemblances—A living leaf—How spiders trap 255
butterflies—Butterfly doubles—Suggested explanation—More
evidence wanted—Warning coloration—A theory on trust—A
straightforward test—Advice to naturalists—A strange omission

CHAPTER XXI

Sights of the forest—A butterfly bridge—Bird-winged 272
butterflies—“What’s in a name?”—Scientific
sensibility—Resemblance _v._ mimicry—A convenient wrong
word—Beauty in nature—Nuptial display—Strange
counter-theory—_Lucus a non lucendo_—Reasoning by
contraries—True in Topsy-turvydom—Butterfly courtship—Form and
colour—A curious suggestion—Powers of defective eyesight

CHAPTER XXII

Beautiful spiders—The “Peckham paper”—Spider courtships—Male 289
antics and love-dances—Occasional accidents—Strength of the
evidence—The one explanation—Darwin’s last words—His theory
established

CHAPTER XXIII

Web-making spiders—Dangerous wooings—An unkind 307
lady-love—Lizard-eating spiders—Enlightened curiosity—Rival
entomologists—Instinct of resignation—A worm-eating
spider—Alternative explanation—The dangers of
patriotism—Trap-door spiders—Web-flying spiders—Spiders that
nearly fly—Spider navigators—The raft and the diving-bell

CHAPTER XXIV

Aquatic insects—Lyonnet’s water-beetle—A floating cradle—Larva and 320
pupa—An ingenious contrivance—Nothing useless—The imaginary
philosopher—How the cradle is made—The mysterious “mast”—Later
observation—The giant water-bug—An oppressed husband

CHAPTER XXV

One remark—Phosphorescent insects—Glow-worms and fire-flies—Fiery 329
courtship—A beetle with three lamps—Travelling by
beetle-light—The great lantern-fly controversy—Is it
luminous?—Madame Merian’s statement—Contradictory evidence—A
Chinese edict—Suggested use of the “lantern”—Confirmation
required—Luminous centipedes