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Accessions jV.
Larva of Water-beetle (Dyticus).
* From the Latin word larva mask,
t From pupa, a child referring to the swathing-bands of infants.
THE CHANGES OF INSECTS.
57
the larva closely resembles the perfect insect, except in
being without wings. Besides these varieties, the larvse
of some terrestrial insects are aquatic in their habits, as in
the case of the common gnat, the dragonfly, &c.
The variety of character observable in the pupa is of the
more importance, from a scientific point of view, as it coin-
cides (though not without exceptions) with the principal
divisions of the insect tribes, and has, indeed, by some of
the best writers, been used to mark those divisions.
Thus all the beetles (Coleoptera), and all the insects of
the bee, wasp, and ant tribes (Hymenoptera) (figs. 27, 28),
Fig. 27. Fig. 28. Fig. 29. Fig. 30.
Pupa of Bee
(Front).
Pupa of Bee
(Profile).
Pupae of Diptera.
1. Pupa of Drone-fly still
in larva skin.
2. Ditto, with larva-skin
removed.
3. Ditto of Anthomyia.
I. Ditto of Mycetobia.
Pupa of Sphinx-
Moth.
have a pupa which is inactive and non-eating, but which
differs from those of the moths and butterflies (Lepidop-
tera) (fig. 29) and from some of the two-winged flies
(Diptera) (fig. 30) in being covered by a skin, which
allows the limbs to show separately, as the hand is
covered by a glove ; whereas in the butterflies and some
flies the whole pupa is enclosed in a simple case or
envelope. In these, therefore, the pupa in no degree
58 INSECTS.
resembles the perfect insect, while in the former it bears
some likeness to a dead and wingless specimen.
In other classes of insects the pupa is active, and
closely resembles the perfect insect, forming indeed, in
most cases, a link between this and the larva. Of this
kind are the pupse of the earwigs (Euplexoptera), and the
grasshoppers and cockroaches (Orthoptera), which can
only be distinguished from the wingless larva and the
winged imago by the rudimental wings, or rather wing-
cases, wherein the true wings are being prepared.
To sum up. From the egg of an insect emerges the
larva, which, whether active and independent, or partially
inactive and dependent on others, is always a feeding and
a growing animal. To the larva succeeds the pupa,
which may be totally quiescent and incapable of feeding,
or which may be active and voracious, but which never
grows or moults. From the pupa proceeds the imago
or perfect insect, which thenceforth neither grows nor
undergoes change or moult.
In the life of some insects the chief part seems to be
played whilst in the preliminary states ; the imperfect
insect preying, building, tailoring, and generally living
for a much longer time than the perfect insect ; the only
business of which, in these cases, seems to be to perpetuate
the species and to die ; whilst, on the other hand, there
are those which, having lived a dependent and inactive
life in their earlier stages, take upon them in their
maturity all the duties of parents, nurses, governors,
citizens, and artizans.
And now, after all that has been written in this and
the preceding chapters, it must be confessed that the
young student will occasionally find difficulties in his
way, even in the first step of determining whether a cer-
CHANGES OF INSECTS. 59
tain animal be a true insect or not. Again, there are
exceptional insects, concerning which he will at first be
puzzled to decide whether they are in a perfect or imper-
fect stage ; but a very little experience and observation
will do more for him than the addition of many words in
this place ; and he is advised here, and throughout his
studies, to turn at once from the written page to an
examination of the objects themselves, and thus to
exchange words for knowledge.
60
TABULAR SUMMARY OF CHAPTERS II., III., IV.
A. Insects with biting jaws.
ORDER I. COLEOPTERA (jcoXeoe = koleos, a sheath ; -nrepov =
pteron, a wing}.
Pupa inactive.
Fore-wings horny or leathery, covering the hind-
wings.
Hind-wings with branching nerves, folded
lengthwise and across.
Examples. Cockchafer, Devil's coachhorse,
Ladybird, &c.
ORDER II. EUPLEXOPTERA (ev = eu, well; TrXeicroc = plectos,
folded).
Pupa active, resembling larva and imago.
Fore-wings leathery, very small, not quite cover-
ing the hind- wings.
Hind- wings large, with radiating nerves, folded
lengthwise like a fan, then folded twice
across.
Example. Earwig.
ORDER III. ORTHOPTERA (o^dog = orthos, straight).
Pupa active, resembling larva and imago.
Fore-wings parchment-like.
Hind- wings large, with radiating veins, folding
. like a fan.
Examples. Cockroaches, Grasshoppers.
TABULAR SUMMARY OF CHAPTERS II., III., IV. 61
[ORDER IV. TRTSANOPTERA. See Chapter IX.
Example. Thrips. ]
ORDER V. NEUROPTERA (vevpov == 'neuron, a nerve).
Pupa active or inactive.
Four wings, all clear and membranous, with
veins forming a fine network.
Examples. Dragonfly, Lacefly, &c.
ORDER VI. TRICHOPTERA (rpix^y = trichion, hairy).
Pupa inactive.
Four wings covered with hairs.
Hind- wings larger than fore, and folding.
Example. Caddis-fly.
ORDER VII. HYMENOPTERA ( vpjv = hymen, a membrane).
Pupa inactive.
Four wings, clear and membranous. Veins
branching, not numerous.
Hind-wings smaller than the fore-wings, and
connected with them in flight by hooks.
Examples. Bees, Wasps, &c.
[ORDER VIII. STREPSIPTERA. See end of Chapter VI.
Example. StylopsJ]
B. Insects with sucking mouths.
ORDER IX. LEPIDOPTERA (AeTrtc = lepis, a scale).
Pupa inactive.
Four wings, large, covered on both sides with
fine dust or scales.
Examples. Moths, Butterflies.
[HEMIPTERA. Now divided into Hamoptera and Heteroptera.]
62 INSECTS.
ORDER X. HOMOPTERA (opoiog = homoios, alike).
Pupa active.* Sometimes resembling the perfect
insect.
Four wings, all clear and membranous ; or the
fore-wings slightly thickened throughout.
Fore-wings largest, not overlapping.
Proboscis springing from under the face, near
the throat.
Examples. Aphis, Cuckoo-spit insect, &c.
ORDER XI. HETEROPTERA (trspog = heteros, different).
Pupa active, resembling the perfect insect.
Hind- wings clear and membranous. Fore-wings
thickened in part, and clear in part, and
overlapping each other.f
Proboscis springing from the front of the face.
Examples. Water-boatman, Plant bugs, &c.
ORDER XII. APHANIPTERA ('A^a^e = Aphanes, invisible).
Pupa inactive.
Wingless.
Example. flea.
ORDER XIII. DIPTERA (Aic = dis, twice).
- Pupa inactive.^.
Two wings, membranous, clear, and not folded.
A pair of balancers in place of hind-wings.
Examples. Gnat, Daddylonglegs Housefly, Blue
bottle, &c.
* Except Aleyrodes.
f There are several exceptions to this rule. The mouth must then de-
cide the order. J Exception, Gnats.
63
CHAPTEK V.
ORDER I. COLEOPTERA.
THAT great diversity of habit, food, and structure should
be found in the order Coleoptera, might be inferred from
the fact that the species of Beetles (of which it is com-
posed) greatly exceed in number those of any other order
of insects. In England alone there are about 8000 known,
and the number constantly increases.
Amongst these then we find inhabitants of the land
and of the water, dwellers on the earth and under the
earth ; we find scavengers and sextons, fierce hunters
and sluggish vegetarians, and, strangest of all, we find a
servile race content to live in captivity and minister to
the needs or luxury of another tribe of animals.
Between the larval and the perfect state of the same
species, diversity is also to be found. Thus some, fiercely
predaceous in the imperfect, become vegetarian in the
perfect state ; and the aquatic larva produces a beetle
which, though furnished with swimming organs, and
certainly most at home in its native element, is yet both
able and willing to use the powerful wings with which
also it is provided. Even upon land the water-beetles
are by no means destitute of the means of progression,
64 INSECTS.
though they can hardly be considered graceful, the gait
of the water-beetle on land strongly resembling the
hurried shuffle, or " scuttling" motion of a frightened
turtle.
This variety of habit implies variety of structure, and
it follows hence that, with observation, we may learn to
recognise those peculiarities of form which attend certain
modes of life, and that thus we shall, in some cases at
least, be enabled to read, in the form of a hitherto un-
known insect, something of its life and character.
The number of British beetles being so great, it is im-
possible here to enumerate even the families, much Jess
the genera, in any manner which would be instructive or
interesting to the reader ;* and only a very slight out-
line of the order will be attempted, illustrated by examples
taken from among common beetles, which may be
already familiar to the reader, or which he may easily
procure and recognise. An examination and compari-
son of these will enable him to render himself familiar
with the characters used in scientific divisions.
The number of the tarsal joints (see p. #5, fig. 9, e) is
used to divide the beetles into four large sections. These
are
PENTAMERA, in which all the tarsi are five-jointed.
HETEROMERA, in which the four front tarsi are five-
jointed, the hind tarsi four-jointed.
TETRAMERA, in which all the tarsi are four-jointed.
TRIMERA, in which all the tarsi are three-jointed.
The word pseudo (false) is sometimes prefixed to
-tetramera and -trimera, as these are only apparently
* In the series to which the present work belongs, one interesting volume
is devoted to this branch of entomology. "British Beetles, an Introduc-
tion to the Study of our Indigenous Coleoptera," by E. C. Rye.
ORDER I. COLEOPTERA.
65
three and four-jointed; a minute and concealed additional
joint existing in both cases.
The form and clothing of the joints of the tarsi are
to be noted in the examination of beetles.
The antennas Fig. 31.
are next to be ob-
served. Some are
slender and taper-
ing, or thread-
like, (filiform, fig.
31, 1) ; others
thickened to\vards
the free end, and
club-shaped (cla-
vate) ; or knob-
bed (capitate, 2).
In some the last
joints are flat and
leaf-like (lamel-
late), attached to-
gether at one end
and opening and
closing like a fan
(fig. 3 1,5); while in
others these joints
are thick, and much
larger on one side
than on the other, forming a knob or club with deep fis-
sures (fissate, 6).
In some the antennas are slender and toothed more
or less deeply, like a saw (serrate, 7), or a comb (pecti-
nate, 8) ; and in others the joints present the appear-
ance of a string of beads (moniliform) . When the knob
1. Filiform.
2. Capitate.
3. Perfoliate club.
4. Geniculate.
5. Lamellate.
6. Fissateclub.
7. Serrate.
8. Pectinate.
66 INSECTS.
is formed of thin, flat, distinct joints, as at fig. 31, 3,
it is called per foliate, and when the antennae form an
angle, as at 4 and 6, it is geniculate, kneed or elbowed.
In beetles of the Section PENTAMERA the antennae
generally afford some indication of the habits of the
insects, though exceptions are numerous. Thus, those
with slender, filiform antennas are mostly found to feed
on living insects. Those with club-shaped antennae on
dead animal or vegetable matter ; those with lamellate
and fissate clubs, and also those with slender serrate
antennae, on living plants.
The Pentamerous beetles are divided into four Sub-
sections.*
The first is ADEPHAGA ('ASrj^ei'yoe, adepliagos, raven-
ous), and contains predaceous beetles, both land and
water, which have long horns and two pairs of palpi on
their maxillae. (See fig. 4, p. 65.)
These are again subdivided into land and water
beetles.
Of the first Subdivision, Geodephaga (Fr), ge, earth),
or the land ravenous beetles, the tiger and violet beetles
(PL I. figs. 1, 2) are good examples.
The tiger beetle, Cicindela campestris (PI. I. fig. I,
and fig. 3, a, b, p. 30), is often to be seen on heaths
and Sandy roads, and from its great beauty is very un-
likely to escape observation. It is easily recognised by
its elegant shape and beautiful colouring, and by the
remarkable agility of its motions, both running and
using its wings with a freedom rare among beetles.
A slender, yet strong-looking little creature, with
large eyes, compact thorax, and throat and waist well
* See the table at the end of Coleoptera.
ORDER I. COLEOPTERA. 6?
marked ; of a glorious green colour, shaded, or rather
illuminated with crimson and gold, and bearing cream-
coloured spots ; long wiry crimson legs with a metallic
lustre, and breast and belly clothed with burnished plate
armour of bluish green, crimson, and gold : this is the
Tiger-beetle.
The ferocity of this beetle is perhaps as great as that
of any animal known. The female has often been seen
to deliberately dismember and eat her husband, though
it remains a puzzle to naturalists that the husband an
insect apparently equal to herself, or nearly so, in size
and power should submit to this. In captivity the
Cicindelse will (says Mr. Holmes, "Zoologist," 475) "fight
savagely, rearing up against one another like dogs. I
have known one decapitate his adversary by a single
stroke of his jaws." It is not, however, usual for beetles
to prey on their own species when alive and not in con-
finement, though this rule is not without exception.
The female may be known by two dusky spots near the
base of the elytra, and also by the difference of form in
the legs of the two sexes ; the tarsi being simple in the
female, while in the male the three basal joints are
slightly dilated and cushioned.
There are only five British species of the Cicindela,
which may be recognised by a pointed claw or hook
terminating the maxillaa, and which is found in no other
British land beetle (see fig. 4, p. 30). The Cicindela
is essentially diurnal in its habits, running and flying
freely in the sunshine.
Carabusviolaceus (PL I. fig. 2), another of the raven-
ous land beetles, is a large, elegantly formed beetle with a
beautiful violet lustre upon the thorax and the wing-
cases, which latter, like those of many of the family, are
68 INSECTS.
firmly soldered together. It is frequently to be met with
in houses haunted by cockroaches and crickets, finding
there a plentiful supply of food, the nocturnal habits
of these insects (especially the cockroach) agreeing well
with its own, as, indeed, with those of most of the
Carabi. Predaceous though the Carabus be, it is almost
as common to find it half devoured by ants as alive and
well, and it appears highly probable that these little
creatures attack it when alive, and when one would have
supposed it capable of defending itself from their attacks
That ants do so attack large living beetles is well
known, and the writer once saw a cockchafer under the
process of being devoured alive. In this case the whole
of the abdomen was gone, and great part of the thorax,
only enough being left to hold together the head, wing-
cases, and three legs, one on one side and two on the
other. With these three legs and this nearly empty
half of a thorax, the miserable creature was walking
about, carrying with him his " detested parasites," which
continued their attentions till they were somewhat forcibly
brought to a conclusion by the finder.
Another insect of this division is the " Bombardier,"
which is not uncommon, and attracts attention by a
peculiar habit of suddenly ejecting an acrid fluid, as by
a little explosion, and which is visible and, at least in
the larger foreign species, even audible. The beetle is
easily provoked by irritation to these explosions, which
however, become weaker when repeated. Mr. Holmes
(Zool. 475) mentions the fact that the discharge has
been induced so long as four days after death.
The second Subdivision of the predaceous long-
horned beetles are the Hydradephaga (vSwp, hydor,
water).
The water-beetles may generally be recognised as
ORDER I. COLEOPTERA. 69
such by their hind legs, which are long, somewhat flat-
tened, tapering, and fringed with hairs ; and occasionally
present more remarkable modifications of form (see
Gyrinus, p. 86, figs. 11, 12), and are obviously fitted for
swimming rather than for walking.
The large Dyticus, a beetle common in fresh-water
aquaria, is an example of this division, and it, and the
smaller and commoner Acilius (PL I., fig. 3), much
resembling it, and which may be seen floating tail
upwards, in almost any pool or duck-pond in the country,
are both well-known insects. They are rendered con-
spicuous by the curious fore-legs of the male, three of
the tarsal joints of which are spread out, and together
form a nearly circular disc fringed with strong hairs
and studded with suckers, forming a singular and beauti-
ful prehensile organ.
In the Dyticus, as in the other predaceous water -
beetles, the long oar-like hind-legs are conspicuous and
well-marked as natatory organs ; and, like most other
rapacious animals, the Dyticus is enabled to move very
swiftly. This powerful insect, enclosed in plate-armour,
swift and ravenous, must be a frightful antagonist to the
soft-bodied inhabitants of the waters.
In the Oxford Museum is one which was taken in the
act of devouring a young pike longer than itself. A
fierce fight between two Dytici is no uncommon sight,
and the male frequently falls a victim to the fury of the
female, who attacks and eats him. When however this
does not take place, the male usually dies first, and is
then devoured by his wife.
The larva is a slender, active animal, with a pair of
long, sharp, and curved jaws (see fig. 26, p. 57), which
make it no less formidable a companion than the perfect
insect. A writer in the " Zoologist" gives a rather
70
INSECTS.
striking instance of the voracity of one of these insects
which, plunged with its prey, a half-dead eft, into strong
spirits of wine, continued to eat for twenty minutes or
half an hour, during which time he was himself actually
dying. Zool. ii. 702.
The merry little companies of the Whirligig beetle
(Gyrinus natator, PI. I. fig. 4) can hardly escape the
notice of any haunter of shady pools ; and the means by
which the gyrations of these glittering and silvery glo-
bules (as they appear when in motion), are described in a
foregoing page (p. 36).
The Gyrinus is small, boat-shaped, and black in colour,
Fig 32> and has peculiarities of form be-
sides that in the swimming appa-
ratus. The eyes (fig. 32) are so
divided as to give the appearance
of a pair on each side of the head
one directed upwards, the other
down ; a modification which is
Side view of head of Gyrinus. found in some Dung beetles.
The antennae also, are remarkable in form (fig. 33),
and the parts of the
mouth are well worth
examining. The in-
sect issupposed to live
on small dead insects,
which it seizes when
floating on the water
If neither the swift-
ness of the gyrating
motion, nor the
beauty of the contri-
Fig. 33.
Antennae of Gyrinus in different positions,
highly magnified.
vance which produces it, nor the singularity of the other
ORDER I. COLEOPTERA. 71
parts of the common little Gyrinus natator, serve to
impress it upon the recollection of the reader when once
seen, he will not easily forget it when once smelt. This
remark, however, does not apply to the other species of
Gyrinus.*
The eggs are placed end to end in parallel lines upon
the leaves of water-plants.
The second Subsection of Pentamera is RYPOPHAGA
(PVTTOC, RypO8,JUih), and consists of what may be called
scavengers of both land and water. They are distin-
guished from the preceding (the ravenous beetles) by the
form of the antennse, which are comparatively short and
more or less club-shaped, and by the maxillae, which have
but a single palpus.
The first Subdivision of these are the water-lovers,
Philhydrida (0tAu, phileo, to love ; vSup, hydor,
water.)
The best known of these is the very large Hydrophilus
Piceus or Hydrous Piceus, which greatly exceeds the
large Dyticus in size, and is fiercely predaceous in its
larval state. The perfect beetle is a quiet and peaceable
animal, which, notwithstanding the great strength and
completeness of its coat of mail, sometimes falls a
victim to its smaller carnivorous brethren.
As in the Dyticus, there is a remarkable enlargement
in the fore tarsus of the male Hydrophilus, the last joint
forming a large triangular plate, furnished with spines.
The second pair of legs is also spinous, as in the
Dyticus the tarsi of the second pair correspond with
those of the first in being furnished with suckers.
* It is supposed to arise from the voluntary emission of a volatile fluid.
The same thing occurs in many other beetles, as in the Carabus, the Bom-
bardier, and others.
72 INSECTS.
The larva of this beetle is one of the fiercest hunters
of the water.
The Hydrophilus has a habit, singular among beetles,
of spinning a flexible silken sac, in which to enclose
Fiac, keras, a horn).
The first Subdivision of these is Clavicornes (clavis, a
club, cornu, a horn), in which the antennae terminate in
a solid or perfoliate knob. This contains the oval-
shaped and very convex Pill-beetles (PI. II. fig. 1,
Byrrhus pilula). These are easily known by their
rounded form, and by their habit, when alarmed, of
drawing their small legs so closely together upon the
abdomen as to render them almost invisible. There
is a provision for this purpose in the form of the
abdomen, which has flattened grooves for the reception
of the legs, and in the legs themselves, of which the
various joints are grooved to receive each other.
The genus Hister, containing some small, squarish,
hard, shiny black beetles, sometimes with red or buff
markings, sometimes with a metallic lustre, have the
same habit of feigning death.
These beetles, though club -horned and feeding on
dead animal and vegetable matter, differ greatly from the
sextons, not in their form only and the contractile
power of their legs, but also in the character of the
larva.
The next Subdivision, Lamellicornes, comprises the
Stagbeetles, the Dung-beetles, and the Chafers.
In the first of these, the Stag-beetle, the three or four
final joints of the antennae are much enlarged on one
78 INSECTS.
side, forming a deeply-notched knob or club (fig, 31,6).
The antennae in these is also geniculated, or bent like a
knee. The fine stag-like " horns" of this beetle are in
reality the mandibles, which are enormously enlarged in
the males.
In the dung-beetles and chafers the antennas are
lamellate (fig. 31, 5, p. 65), the terminal joints are leaf-
like, and lie over one another like the sticks of a fan,
having the same power of being spread and contracted.
They are not geniculated, as are those of the stag-beetle.
There is a species of dung-beetle (Geotrupes ster-
corarius, PI. II., fig. 2), so common on heaths, on roads,
in fields, and wherever else its peculiar food is to be found,
that it can hardly be unknown to the reader. It is hump-
backed, slow, and of a bluish-black colour, and is
nearly as often to be found kicking on its back and dis-
playing a burnished blue underside profusely garnished
with pale-brown parasites, as pursuing its business or its
pleasure right side uppermost. In the latter case it may
be met crawling slowly along, and occasionally stopping
to give one or other leg a sort of weak flourish in the
air, like an old gentleman talking to himself, and suiting
the action to the word.
Like the sextons, this insect buries the offensive sub-
stance which it is its office to render harmless, and in so
doing performs the further office of rendering it useful.
It forms burrows beneath the masses of dung, carrying
into them small pellets in which its eggs are enclosed,
and thus separates and spreads the manure in the
ground.
The Geotrupes is related, and not very distantly, to
the sacred Scarabseus of the Egyptians, and their per-
sonification of the sun under the figure of a winged
ORDER I. COLEOPTERA. 79
Scarabaeus, bearing a globe upon the head,* is neither
more nor less than this animal with the ball of dung
-which it is its habit to form and roll before it.
The chafers, like the dung-beetles, have leaf-like
horns, but differ from them in their habits, the perfect
insects feeding on leaves and flowers, while the larvae
also are usually vegetarians ; some are, however, to be
found among the dung-eaters. The common Cock-
chafer, or May-bug (PL II., fig. 3), a large beetle,
with the forepart of the head curved downwards, with
brown wing- cases and sides marked with an angular
pattern of black and white, is known to every one ; and
the antennae of the male are a most beautiful example of
the lamellate form. The appearance of white dust
scattered over the wing-cases of this insect, and the
triangular white patches on the sides of the abdomen,
are produced by the growth of snowy white scale-like
hairs, thinly distributed over the wing-cases, but lying
closely together on the sides.
The cockchafer and dung-beetles are fond of flying
late in the evening, but seldom fly by daylight.
The June-bug (Phylloperiha horticola) is a pretty
little chafer, with green thorax and brown wing-cases.
Like the cockchafer, it is extremely abundant, and more
conspicuously so, as it flies by day, while the cockchafer
prefers the evening. The June-bug feeds upon flowers,
especially delighting in roses. The common white
Scotch rose, which flowers so abundantly, may some-
times be found with scarcely a blossom which does not
contain one, two, or three of these beetles.
The Rose- chafer (Cetonia aurea), a large and beauti-
* See the vignette at the head of this chapter.
80 INSECTS.
ful shining green beetle, is also to be found in roses
(but far less frequently than the Phyllopertha),
especially in white and blush roses ; and the most
fastidious insect-hater could hardly deny that the pre-
sence of one of these green gems is a beauty added to
the flower. They do not, like the June-bug, devour the
petals or injure the appearance of the blossom.
PRIOCERATA, the fourth and last Subsection of penta-
merous beetles, has thread-shaped antennae, generally
either tapering or uniform in thickness, and not long.
In the males, or in both sexes, these antenna are com-
monly serrated, or more deeply toothed like a comb.
These beetles include (with others) the hard-bodied
Skipjacks, or Elater family, of which the too well-
known Wireworm is the larva ; and the soft-bodied
Glowworms, Soldiers, Sailors, and others. Most of the
beetles of this section are long and narrow in shape.
The common Skipjack (PL II. fig. 4) is a long, slender,
hard, uninteresting-looking brown beetle, about half an
inch long, with very small legs, and neither throat nor
waist, the head being indeed sunk up to the eyes in the
thorax. The antenn are short and slightly serrated.
On the approach of danger, this insect, contracting its
limbs and antennae, falls to the ground, where it lies
on its back, motionless and feigning death, sometimes
for a considerable time, and, indeed, until it believes
the danger to be passed ; when, with a sudden click,
it springs high into the air, probably alighting on
its legs; or, if it fail in this, repeating the spring until
it is successful. The point of the breast-plate, which is
capable of being slipped in and out of a groove behind it,
is the instrument used to effect this leap.
The same power of leaping when lying on the back is
ORDER I. COLEOPTERA. 81
possessed by the aquatic Acilius sulcatus, but this is
effected by the mere strength of the insect's spring, and
there is no especial provision for it.
The Wire-worm, or larva of the Skipjack, is a long,
thin, cylindrical, hard, and eyeless grub, which causes
great devastation amongst potatoes and roots of various
kinds. The larves of some species live under the bark
of trees, and in rotten wood. These insects belong to
the Subdivision Macrosterni (Mtuc/>oc, large ; 'S.rtpvov,
breast), which also contains some pretty black and red
species.
The second Subdivision Aprosterni (a, without, irpo,
pro, in front of; Srlpvov, breast), consists of soft-bodied
beetles with serrate horns. Of these the reddish -yellow
" Soldiers," and the red-legged black-elytroned " Sailors"
(PI. III. fig. 1), are, perhaps, the best known, being
abundant and conspicuous everywhere. In these insects
the head is not concealed within the thorax, the legs
and antenna? are longer than in the Skipjacks, and the
last joint but one of the tarsus is divided into two lobes.
They are nearly as actively predaceous as the pentamerous
beetles of the first Subsection, but the maxilla has only
one palpus.
Not altogether unlike the dark Telephorus is the
male of the Glowworm (PL II. fig. 5), a soft-bodied, dusky
insect, without however the red legs of the Telephorus,
with shorter antennee, with a head even more concealed
than that of the Skipjack beneath the thorax, and possess-
ing the remarkable property of emitting light. The light
emitted by the male Glowworm is considerably less than
that of the female ; but, though this is sometimes disputed,
the male certainly does emit light. The writer was once
reading by lamplight in a farmhouse in the New Forest
G
82 INSECTS.
when a considerable number of dark, soft-bodied beetles,
attracted by the light, flew into the room ; some of
these were placed under a glass, and while being carried
through a dark passage, unexpectedly revealed them-
selves as Glowworms. The true Glow "worm," how-
ever, is the female of this beetle, (PI. II., fig. G), and is
quite unrecognisable as a beetle to an inexperienced eye.
It is a narrow, flat, soft, black insect, about an inch
long, and marked down the sides with pale spots ; the
legs and antennae are short, the thorax and abdomen not
very clearly distinguished from each other, and in the
common species there is no appearance whatever of
wings or elytra. In fact, the female so closely resembles
the larva as easily to be mistaken for it. The larva,
however, differs in the form of the legs and the length of
the antenna, arid also in being provided with an appen-
dage at the end of the body, which it uses as a foot
in walking, like the caterpillars of moths and butter-
flies. This appendage is peculiar, and is said to be used
to cleanse the insect after feeding. It may be observed,
even with the naked eye, to leave a minute spot of
moisture upon whatever it walks over, not at every step,
but at occasional momentary stoppages. The larva and
the perfect insect both feed upon snails.
Not only are the perfect male and female Glowworm,
luminous, but the larva?, and, it is said, even the eggs, are
so in a slight degree. Dr. Todd, in a paper read
before the Royal Society, April, 1824, states that the
luminous organ continues to give light for a short
period after amputation, and that it is to be re-excited
by heat, cold, friction and galvanism; by alcohol,
camphor and ammonia. He adds, that when the animal
is killed by certain poisons, after all light and life have
ORDER I. COLEOPTERA. 83
ceased, another fixed and steady light appears, lasting
from 12 hours to 4 days.*
The Devil's Coachhorse and other insects, have at
times caused some surprise by appearing luminous;
the light, however, in this case arising from their
having fed on, or crawled over some dead animal
matter in a phosphorescent state, particles of which had
remained attached to them. The Glowworm is the
only luminous insect known in England, and it is
worthy of note that it was capable of exciting Dr.
Johnson to write the only poem which is on record as
composed by him.
Among the soft-bodied beetles are two common and
beautiful' little species, which may be found on the
blossoms of grass and elsewhere Malacbius ffineus
and bipustulatus. Both these are remarkable for a
series of bright scarlet tubercles which, inconspicuous at
other times, swell out from the sides of the thorax and
abdomen when the insect is alarmed or irritated, and
which have been happily termed " irritation bubbles."
The asneus is a dark green oblong beetle, about Jin.
long, with a long triangular patch of dull red on the fore
part of the elytra. The antenna of the male are curiously
formed, the third joint having a hook-like process, which
Fig. 36.
Antenna of Malachius seneus $.
comes down over a projection of the second joint. Mala-
chius bipustulatus is a brighter and sometimes rather
brassy green, with a scarlet spot at the tip of each elytron.
* Journal of Science and the Arts, vol. xvii. 269.
G 2
84- INSECTS.
The use of the dilatable bladder-like organs on the
sides is not ascertained, but it seems to be generally
considered as a means of defence.
These little creatures are eminently predaceous, and
of two confined together, only one is likely to be
found afterwards if they be left undisturbed for a little
while.
There are several small wood-boring beetles which
belong to this division. They are generally dull in
colour, hard, and somewhat cylindrical in form, and the
antennae vary, being of a thread-like and tapering form,
or more or less deeply toothed, or, as in the Anobium
(PL III., fig. 2) (the beetle of which the common " Death
Watch" is the larva), approaching to the pectinated club
of the Stag-beetle, but without the -knee-like joint. The
larvae feed upon every variety of dry vegetable matter,
and the round tunnels of the beetle book-worm are but
too familiar a sight to his human representative. In
the case of books, the devastations of these insects may
be prevented by the frequent opening and exposure of
the volumes; but it is extremely difficult to stop the
progress of the wood-boring species when they have once
established themselves within the woodwork of houses,
furniture, &c. ; and this, too, is not even hindered by
the interposition of substances which seem impossible
to digest ; for, even as the human book-worm finds his
way through the heaviest authors, so have these been
known to work their way through leaden bullets and
the leaden lining of cisterns.
So considerable is the mischief effected by these
beetles, that in the choice of woods for shipping,
the preference of kinds least subject to their attacks
becomes a matter of importance.
ORDER I. COLEOPTERA. 85
Some species attack dried insects, fur, spices, and
innumerable other substances.
The production of the ticking sound of the Death
Watch is accounted for in different ways. Mr. West-
wood considers it to be made both by the larvae and also
by the perfect insects, and, in the latter case, to be a
signal between the two sexes. Another author, men-
tioned by him, attributes it to the larvae alone, and
supposes its purpose to be, to discover how near to the
surface of the wood they have bored. That they have
some means of ascertaining this, appears from the
fact that the burrows usually terminate, and the
change of the insects takes place close to the surface
of the wood.
86
CHAPTEE VI.
COLEOPTEEA. (Continued.)
THE second large Section of beetles is HETEROMERA,
subdivided first into TRACHELIA (rpa\r\\o^, trachelos, a
neck), beetles with an apparent throat connecting the
head and thorax; secondly, ATRACHELIA (a, ivithout),
beetles with the head sunk up to the eyes in the
thorax.
Most of the TRACHELIA are showy in colouring and
active in their movements ; the wing-cases are usually
wider than the thorax, and flexible, in this resembling
some of the serrate-horned pentamerous beetles, as the
Soldiers and Sailors. The antenua3 vary, being usually
rather long and thread-like, sometimes serrate, or
branched, and sometimes inclining to clavate. The last
joint of the tarsus is widened and divided into two lobes
in many of the Trachelia, while it is always simple in
the Atrachelia. The perfect insects are vegetable feeders,
and are generally to be found in flowers.
The Cardinal, a handsome red beetle, nearly three-
quarters of an inch long, with serrate antennae, is a
common and conspicuous example of this subdivision.
It is frequently found on ferns and other plants in May
and June. There are two English species, Pyrochroa
rubens, which is entirely red above (PL III., fig. b), and
P. coccinea, which is red \vith a black head.
The " Spanish fly," or Cantharis of the Pharmaco-
COLEOPTERA. 8?
poeia, is another handsome example of this family, but
though occasionally met with in England it is not con-
sidered indigenous.
Some families in this division contain insects of un-
usual form and still more remarkable habits. Ripiphorus
paradoxus is a humpbacked, long-legged animal, carrying
his shoulders very high and his head very low (not-
withstanding the feather-like antenna with which it is
graced), and dressed in a coat much too small for him,
the scanty elytra being narrow, pointed, and shorter
than the wings, which are left with but slight protection.
This beetle is, in its earlier state, a parasite upon
wasps, living in their nests, and preying on the young
wasp grubs.
Another beetle of unusual appearance is the Meloe, or
common " oil beetle" (PI. III., fig. 4). This, though
differing much in form from the " Spanish fly," is nearly
allied to it, and is said to possess similar medicinal pro-
perties. It is a large, heavy, awkward, bluish-black
beetle, very common on heaths, and on the flowers in
hedgerows. The abdomen has a bloated appearance,
and the elytra, which are not above half the length of the
abdomen, are convex, and overlapping; the wings are
wanting. The antenna of the males of some species
have a distorted appearance. Like the Ripiphorus, this
beetle is parasitic ; but the eggs are laid, not as is sup-
posed to be the case with that, in the nests of the
victim, but under the surface of the earth. When
hatched the young larvee take up their situation
on some plant, and availing themselves of the oppor-
tunity afforded by the visit of a honey-seeking bee,
attach themselves, to her body, and are by her transported
to her own home to destroy, first the progeny for which
88 INSECTS.
she was in the act of collecting food, and then the food
itself. This at least is what is now believed to be the
case, but the observations made are not as yet perfected,
and the history presents some difficulties.
Another beetle of rather remarkable appearance in this
division is the (Edemera cserulea, a beautiful greenish
blue, or bluish-green beetle, far more elegant in form than
the Ripiphorus, but with narrow gaping wing-cases. The
thighs of this insect are so thick and swollen as to sug-
gest the idea of great leaping power, which, however, it
does not possess. The larva lives under the bark of
trees.
In the family SalpingidaB are to be found some beetles,
with long snouted heads, much resembling the long-nosed
tetramerous beetles ; but from these they are to be known
by the tarsi.
The ATRACHELIA, or neekless beetles, have the elytra
of a harder consistence than those last described ; they are
duller in colouring and less active, sometimes inhabiting
flowers, but more frequently dark and damp places, and
feeding upon decayed wood, fungi, &c. The antennaB
in this division vary, being serrate, clavate, or perfoliate.
The " Churchyard Beetle" and the beetle of the meal-
worm are two common species of this division.
The third Section of beetles is TETRAMERA (or Pseudo-
tetramera), in which the tarsi are apparently composed
of only four joints.
The beetles of this Section are nearly all diurnal in
their habits.
It is divided into
1 . EHYNCOPHORA, long-nosed beetles.
2. LONGICORNES, long-horned beetles*
3. PHYTOPHAGA, plant eaters.
COLEOPTERA. 89
ID the EHYNCOPHORA (Pvy%og, rhynchos, beak or nose;
VTOV, phuton, a plant ; Qayto,
phago, to eat) are less elegant in form than the
Longicornes. The abdomen is larger in proportion to
the thorax, and the outline of the figure varies from
oblong to oval, quadrate, and nearly round. The
antennae are short, and the head is partly buried in the
thorax.
Among them are some beautiful species, and one of
these is the little Asparagus-beetle (Crioceris asparagi),
a little oblong beetle, which, in the month of June,
when the young plants are beginning to run up into
94 INSECTS.
seed, may be found in the asparagus beds by hundreds.
The head, horns, and legs of this little creature are
black; the thorax is red; a red line runs round the
outer edge of the wing-cases, which are black, with three
large cream-coloured spots on each, two of which are
confluent. When teased, it makes, like some other
beetles, a curious creaking sound. The eggs of this
species are fixed endways on the leaves, and sometimes
one is placed standing end to end on another. They
are plentiful enough to do great mischief in asparagus
beds. A red species of Crioceris frequents the white lily.
The Cassida viridis, or Tortoise-beetle, is a very pretty
little creature, completely concealed under a thin oval
shell, slightly concave and broad, which is larger on all
sides than the body which it covers. It is of a light but
vivid green colour.
The Bloody-nosed-beetle, a common, humpbacked,
bluish-black beetle, with broad tarsi, and known by its
habit of expelling a drop of red liquid from its mouth,
belongs to this division.
The last which shall be mentioned is the Turnip -fly
(Haltica), or, as it is sometimes called from its habit of
leaping, the Turnip -flea, a small active beetle, with large
muscular thighs formed for leaping. The larva of this
insect mines the leaves of the turnip, and the ravages
committed by it are such as very seriously injure the
turnip crops. Messrs. Kirby and Spence relate that
in 1786 the loss occasioned by them in Devonshire
amounted to 100,OOOL The destruction of a whole crop
is a common occurrence, even a second sowing often
failing to secure success.
This division contains some semi-aquatic genera, of
which the pupa? are aquatic, and the perfect insects live
COLEOPTERA. 9J
chiefly upon the leaves of water plants, taking flight
freely in sunny and warm weather. They may be found
below the surface of the water, where they cling to the
plants, but they are not furnished with swimming
apparatus.
The last and smallest of the principal Sections is
TRIMERA (or Pseudotrimera), with tarsi composed appa-
rently of three joints only. This section has in the
Ladybird a representative as familiar as the common
house-fly. It may indeed claim a place among domestic
insects, often choosing for its winter quarters the grooves
and hollows in the plaister mouldings of our ceilings,
which are sometimes filled with clusters, several inches
long, of these little beetles.
The ladybird, though usually only common enough
to be for its beauty's sake a welcome little visitor, is
occasionally to be met with in almost incredible
swarms. In the August of 1847 they more or less
covered miles of ground in Romney Marsh, and a cloud
of them, miles in extent, resembling " a long column
of smoke from a steamer," was, from the heights of
Ramsgate and Margate, seen hanging over the sea.
Next morning the coast was covered with them ; five
bushels were swept from Margate Pier, and Ramsgate
Harbour was in nearly the same state. The next two
days found Brighton in the same state. (See the Times,
Aug. 16, 1847.) Five species were counted in Southend
on one of these days.
Similar visitations of ladybirds have occurred at
Brighton and in other places on the southern coast in
other years, the last being in 1869, when these insects
swarmed not only in and about Kent, but were seen in one
of the London squares like a cloud passing over the
96 INSECTS.
houses. The following extract from the letter of a cor-
respondent of the Times, in August, 1869, may be inte-
resting to the reader:
"During the 14th, 15th, and 16th of this month
countless multitudes of the little red beetles appeared
upon the coasts of Kent and Sussex. The numbers
composing these swarms are utterly inconceivable to
those who did not see them. They were most numerous
close to the shore tens of thousands perished in the sea
near the land. The beaches, piers, and houses near the
shore were covered by the swarms, and in many places
the streets and roads looked as if strewn by dark red
gravel. This extended far inland, and on Sunday, the
15th, myriads were seen in London and its neighbour-
hood. But, as I have said, the largest assemblages by
far were on the east coast, especially at the points nearest
to the Continent. This, be it remembered, occurred at
a time when there was a continuous east wind.
" On the Sunday in question a scientific friend of mine,
a Fellow of the Koyal Society, well qualified to observe
and record facts of natural history, was fortunate to wit-
ness the actual arrival of one of these swarms. When
walking on Dover Pier, after morning service, he observed
an enormous multitude of these insects, like a cloud,
coming over the sea as if from Calais. They were flying
from east to west. Large numbers fell into the water,
others covered the pierhead as with a red carpet, but the
great mass flew on westward, and, as they passed over-
head, looked to those who gazed upwards like the inter-
minable flakes of a thick snowstorm as seen from below.
A member of my friend's family had seen a similar occur-
rence the same morning, when, as she expressed it, the
little beetles flew against the east-looking windows of
COLEOPTERA. 97
the house like a storm of hail. It would be preposterous
to imagine that these swarms of ladybirds had been
produced in this country and had flown to sea in the
teeth of an east wind, simply to be blown back again !
" When we remember the smallness and feebleness of
some of our migratory birds, such as the chiff-chaff and
willow-wren, that cross the seas to this country during
the stormy weather of early spring, the advent of these
swarms of ladybirds is robbed of much of its wonder.
But the interesting questions are Whence came they ?
Where did they collect in such prodigious numbers ?
What was the home that fed the larvae from which the
beetles sprang ? Or if, as seems probable, they had
many homes, what impulse brought together these mil-
lions for a common emigration ? If you kindly give
insertion to this letter, some intelligent observers of
nature on the other side of the Channel may perhaps
answer some, at least, of my queries."
The services of these little creatures are most consi-
derable. Their larvae, looking like little black speckled
crocodiles, are among the most voracious of insects, and
their food is the aphis, which although it has other
enemies, seems to be kept in check chiefly by the lady-
bird itself and by its larvae. They are peculiarly valuable
in hop gardens, hops being very liable to the attacks
of these flies. It was interesting to compare the nume-
rous newspaper reports of the " fly " damaging the hop-
crop in 1869, with those of the freedom of the crops
from fly in 1870, in connexion with the arrival of the
Ladybirds in 1869 too late to affect the crops of that
year.
It is impossible to find space within the narrow limits
H
98 INSECTS.
of this volume for much that is interesting relating to the
larvae of beetles, but a few words concerning them are
necessary.
They vary in form according to the mode of life laid
down for them. Thus, such larvae as are predaceous, as
the terrestrial larvae of the Carabus (fig. 37), and the
aquatic larvae of the Dyticus (see fig. 26,
p. 57), are comparatively light and active in
^ J$ * form, and have legs of considerable length
and power ; while, to go at once to the other
extreme, the larvae of some of the mining
and boring species, as the nut-weevil, are
footless grubs, merely furnished with tu-
kk bercles, or small fleshy prominences, which,
Larva somewhat like the false legs of the cater-
of Carabus.
pillar, aid the insect in such motion as
is necessary.
Others, again, as the underground, root-eating Cock-
chafer larvae (fig. 38), are strange, clumsy-looking
Fig. 38. animals, rendered totally incapable
of walking on the surface of the
earth by the large, curved, lumpy
termination to their bodies.
Some long terrestrial larvae, as of
the Glowworm, the brachelytrous
beetles, and such of the Skipjacks as
Larva of Melolontha , , -,
(Cockchafer). are no ^ subterranean, have their long
(Less than nat. size.) an j s i eD der abdomens supported, like
the caterpillar, by a terminal false leg, whilst the Wire-
worm, an underground larva in the latter family, is hard,
stiff, cylindrical, and pointed.
It is not, however, to be supposed that running after
food, or crawling after it, or quietly living in its midst,
COLEOPTERA. 99
X' *'&/
is all of which the beetle larvae are capable. The Cicindela
larva, a strange distorted animal, whose humped shoulders,
large head, and great curved jaws form his chief attrac-
tions in front, while his hinder parts display another
hump ornamented with two sharp hooks (fig. 39), seems
to be haunted by some not uncalled- pi g . 39.
for doubts as to the impression likely
to be produced by his appearance,
and accordingly conceals himself in a
. , ., , Larva of Cicindela
deep burrow, where ne awaits such (Tiger Beetle).
prey as may pass by that way. The ( From Westwood.)
burrow, which is frequently found in sunny banks, is
cylindrical, and a foot or a foot and a half in depth, and
by means partly of his hooks, partly of his legs, he fixes
himself at its opening, dragging his prey, when caught,
to the bottom.
The larva of the Devil's coachhorse digs a deep pitfall
in somewhat the same manner, but has not the peculi-
arities of form so remarkable in the Cicindela. It is a
long, flat, slender, many-jointed, six-legged animal, with
a large head ; altogether greatly resembling the perfect
insect, except in the absence of wings and wing-cases,
and of any evident separation between the thorax and
abdomen.
Whilst the Cicindela is provided with hooks acting like
anchors, the larva of the Cassida is furnished at the tail
with a long fork, which it is able, when at rest, to turn
over, and carry parallel with its back. The use of this ap-
pendage would be difficult to guess, had not the insect
been repeatedly found with this fork laden with excre-
ment, which, held over the body, forms a screen which
completely conceals it.
The species of Crioceris (Asparagus beetle), form this
H2
100 INSECTS.
screen of the same material, and retain it in its place
without the help of the fork, and without encrusting their
bodies.
Concealment is attained in another way by larvae in a
family allied to the bloody-nosed beetles, which form for
themselves a portable tent o'r case composed of various
substances, in this resembling the Caddis-worms, and
Clothes moths.
If the habits of the Caddis-worms and Clothes-moths
are represented by the larva? of some beetles, others of
the weevil tribe remind us of the gall-making Cynips flies,
the knots and lumps so often to be observed in turnips
and other roots, and gall-like excrescences upon some
leaves being occasioned by them, and serving them as
dwelling-places.
The leaf-mining moths also have representatives
among beetles. The destruction caused by the Turnip
beetle larvae, arises from their mining the leaves in the
early stage, and continuing to do so till the crop is lost.
The great value to man of the labours of some carrion-
eating larvae has already been mentioned. The importance
of the aphis-eating Ladybird larva is too evident to be
missed ; but there are many larvae commonly considered
as mischievous, which, nevertheless, are working
assiduously in the interests of man. Thus, the fruit-
eating, the root-eating, the tree-killing beetles, are all
doing their part towards checking the overcrowding, the
overgrowth, and the consequent enfeeblement of the
whole vegetable world ; and if sometimes a flight of
Locusts abroad, or an unusual multitude of Cock-
chafers at home, effects a destruction which for the
time appears a simple evil, we should do well to re-
member the Fire of London, and other " unmitigated
COLEOPTERA.
101
evils," which we have at length learned to view in their
true light.
Before leaving the order Coleoptera, an insect must he
mentioned which has much perplexed entomologists
namely, the Stylops. This insect, parasitic in its wingless
state in the hodies of bees and wasps, is in appearance,
habits, transformations, so peculiar or so little under-
Fig. 40.
Stylops Aterrima, Newport.
stood, that naturalists have had much difficulty in placing
it, and it has been moved from one order to another.
Mr. Westwood has formed it into an order by itself
STREPSIPTERA; but it has more recently been replaced in
Coleoptera.
The male Stylops is a singular looking insect, under a
quarter of an inch in length, and sometimes very minute ;
with a pair of enormous hind-vfiugs, and no fore-wings,
differing in this from the dipterous and all other insects
possessing only two wings (as e.g., the exceptional wing-
less beetles), these having the fore- wings developed while
the hind-wings are wanting. That they are the hind and
not the fore-wings which are developed, is shown by their
position on the thorax relatively to other parts, as the
102 INSECTS.
converse appears in the Diptera. As also in the Diptera
the missing hind-wings are represented by a pair of
hammer-like balancers which grow in their place ; so in
Stylops, in front of the wings, and situated where the
fore- wings would have been, is a pair of curious appen-
dages, supposed to be aborted wing-cases or elytra. These
vary in form in different species, and, standing out from
the shoulders, add to the singular appearance of the
insect The thorax is disproportionately large, the abdo-
men small, slender and weak ; the antenna? are in various
species more or less complicated, being forked or branched;
the mouth is very imperfect, if even at all adapted to the
reception of food ; and the feet are without claws.
The females never acquire wings, and never leave the
body of the bee or wasp in which they and the larva?,
whether male or female, are parasitic, swarming sometimes
(according to Mr. F. Smith) to the number of 200 or
300. It appears, however, that their presence is not, as
in the case of other insect parasites, actually fatal, living
bees and wasps being frequently observed with the exu-
viae of the perfected Stylops remaining in their bodies,
but it is supposed that they destroy the internal organs
and render the insects abortive.
The parasite is buried up to its head in the body of
Fio . 41 the bee, which is usually much
swollen, and this head being
flattened in shape has some-
thing of the appearance of an
acarus attached to the bee
between the segments of the
abdomen.
Stylopized Andrena. -rr-n -j -, -t -i
the eggs are laid, is a mystery which remains to be solved.
103
TABLE OF COLEOPTERA.
SECTION I. PENTAMERA. Tarsi, five-jointed.
Antennae long and slender.*
Maxillse with two palpi.
Habits predaceous.
SUBSECTION I. ADEPHAGA (Ravenous Beetles).
I. Geodephaga (Land Ravenous Beetles).
Legs formed for running.
1. Maxillse ending in a moveable claw.
Ex. Cidndela (Tiger Beetle}.
2. Maxillse not ending in a moveable claw.
Ex. Brachinus (Bombardier).
Carabus.
II. Hydradephaga (Water Ravenous Beetles).
Legs formed for swimming.
1. Front legs short, antennse long. Fore tarsi of
male sometimes forming a disc.
Ex. Dyticus.
Acilius.
2. Front legs long. Antennse short. Four hind
legs greatly dilated.
Ex. Gyrinus
* Except Gyrinus.
104 INSECTS.
SUBSECTION II. RHYPOPHAGA (Filth-eaters).
Antennse more or less clavate.
Tarsi of male with basal joints usually dilated.
Habits chiefly scavenger-like.
I. Philhydrida (Water lovers).
Hind legs generally formed for paddling.
Antennae short and knobbed.
Maxillary palpi long.
II. Necrophaga.
Legs fitted for running.
Antennae clubbed or knobbed.
Ex. Necrophorus (Sexton or Burying Beetles}:
tiilpha (Sexton or Burying Beetles).
Dermestes (Bacon Beetle, fyc.).
III. Brachelytra.
Legs fitted for running.
Antenna? slightly, if at all, thickened.
Elytra very short.
Body long, narrow, and flexible.
Ex. Goerius (Devil's coachhorse) .j"
(PselapTius and Claviger, tarsi three-jointed).
SUBSECTION III. CORDV LOCERATA (Club
horns).
Antennas with large terminal joints.
Elytra rather short and square ; club of ant. large, round, perfoliate.
f Ant. obliquely truncated.
TABLE OF COLEOPTERA. 105
I. Clavicornes.
Antennae ending in a solid or perfoliate knob.
Legs retractile into grooves in the abdomen.
Ex. Byrrhus (Pill Beetle)*
Hister.^
II, Lamellicornes.
Antennae ending in a serrate club, or in leaflike
joints (Lamellate).
1. Antennae elbowed, club serrate.
Ex. Lucanus (Stag Beetle).
2. Antennas straight (Lamellate).
Ex. Geotrupes (Dung Beetle).\
Melolontha (Cockchafer).^
Cetonia (Rosechafer).\
SUBSECTION IV. PRIOCERATA (Saw-horns).
Antennae not long, slender, of equal thickness
throughout or tapering. Often deeply toothed
or comblike.
I. Macrosterni.
Breast-plate long ; covering the throat in front ;
behind drawn out into a point between the
legs.
Antennae short.
Legs short and retractile.
Body hard, head buried to the eyes in thorax.
Ex. Elater (Skipjack).
* Ant. straight ; body oval.
Ant. elbowed ; body squarish or oblong.
Tib. broad and toothed.
Tib. slender ; claws toothed.
II Tib. slender ; claws simple.
106 INSECTS.
II. Aprosterni.
Breast-plate not covering the throat, nor pointed
behind.
Antennae moderately long, threadlike, serrate,
or toothed.
Legs moderately long and slender.
Body usually soft.
Ex. Lampyris (Glowworm).
Telephorus (Soldiers and Sailors).
Malachius.
Anobium (Deathwatch).
SECTION II. HETEROMERA. Four front tarsi
jive-jointed ; hind tarsi four-jointed.
SUBSECTION I. TRACHELIA (with a neck).
Hind part of the head exposed.
Coxae of forelegs long.
Elytra flexible.
Ex. Pyrochroa (Cardinal).*
Eipiphorus.
Meloe (Oil Beetle).
SUBSECTION II. ATRACHELIA (without a neck).
Hind part of the head concealed.
Coxae of forelegs short.
Elytra firm.
Ex. Blaps (Churchyard Beetle).
* Abd. and Elytr. much broader than thorax.
TABLE OF COLEOPTERA. 107
SECTION III. TETRAMERA. Tarsi four-join ted.
I. Rhyncophora.
Forepart of head prolonged into a snout.
Antennae short.
Tarsi cushioned.
Wing-cases sometimes soldered together.
Ex. Bruchus (weevil)*
Calandra (weevil). "\
Scolytus (weevil).^.
II. Longicornes.
Antennas long, slender and tapering, simple.
Body long ; legs long ; jaws large.
Ex. Cerambyx, or Aromia (Musk Beetle).^
Chjtus (Wasp Beetle).
Strangalia.\\
III. Phytophaga.
Antennae short, thread-like or slightly clavate ;
joints short and distinct.
Head buried to the eyes in thorax.
Ex. Crioceris (Asparagus Beetle $'c.).
Cassida (Tortoise Beetles).
Haltica (Turnip-flea).
Timarchia (Bloodi/nosed Beetle).
* Snout short, broad, flat ; ant. straight, slender.
f Snout long ; ant. elbowed, clubbed.
J Snout short ; ant. elbowed, knobbed.
Eyes kidney-shaped ; figure oblong.
|| Eyes round ; figure tapering.
108 INSECTS.
SECTION IV. TRIMERA. Tarsi three-jointed.
Ex. Coccinella (Ladybird).
(Pselaphus and Claviger, with short wing-cases, placed in
Brachelytra).
N.B. In this table a few genera only are given to serve as
examples.
109
CHAPTER VII.
ORDER ii. EUPLEXOPTERA.
THE order Euplexoptera contains the Earwigs only ;
insects as much disliked -and disliked with as little
reason (except, indeed, by the horticulturist) as any of
the tribe. The common Earwig is one of the best
known of insects, the forceps in its tail affording a means
of recognising it at once, at least to those who have
nerve sufficient to enable them to look steadily upon it ;
the less courageous, who sometimes bring stories to the
entomologist of encounters with " a dreadful black Ear-
wig, at least two inches long" (if not three), having
probably made their observations whilst running away
from the Goerius, or Devil's coachhorse, already de-
scribed.
The Earwigs so nearly resemble the Beetles with short
wing-cases, that, except for the tail forceps, they might
easily be mistaken for them ; indeed, they were formerly
classed among Coleopterous insects, an alliance with
which seemed pointed out by the cased wings and the
character of the mouth. The wings, however, differ
greatly in character (see figs. 17 and 18, p. 43); and
there is a still more important difference between the
Beetles and the Earwigs in the nature of their meta-
morphoses.
In Coleoptera there is a marked difference between the
active larva, the passive pupa, and the winged insect;
110 INSECTS.
whereas, in the present Order, the changes are gradual.
In all three stages the insect is active, and the larva,
pupa, and imago, have a strong resemblance to each
other.
The common Earwig (Forficula auricularia) , when
perfected, is a long, narrow, flat insect, of a brown or
puce colour. It has long, slender antennae of four-
teen joints, very short wing-cases, under which are large
and beautifully-folded wings (see Plate IV., fig. ]. F.
auricularia, with the wings expanded), and, at the tail, a
large pair of horny forceps in the male, strong, dilated
at the base, and toothed; in the female, more slender,
and quite simple.
The larva, when first hatched, is small, pale -coloured,
and active ; it increases in size every month, till it
reaches the pupa stage. The antennae are shorter than
in the imago, consisting of only eight or nine joints, and
the future forceps are nearly straight, long, slender, and
feeble. In the pupa the rudiments of wings and wing-
cases are apparent, the antennas are twelve-jointed, and
the forceps are strong and curved.
There are four genera of British Earwigs, of which For-
ficula contains four species, and the others only one each.
The genera are chiefly to be distinguished by the num-
ber of joints in the antennaB ; Forficula having fourteen,
Labia twelve,* and Forficesila about twenty-five. The
remaining genus, Apterygida, has antennae of twelve
joints, and, as its name denotes, is wingless. The wing-
cases, however, are present.
The curious forceps-like appendage of the abdomen
* This applies to the single English species, the foreign have from ten
to twelve.
EUPLEXOPTERA. Ill
seems intended to be generally useful. One correspon-
dent of the " Zoologist" describes the Labia minor, when
about to take flight, as turning up its tail, and inserting
a point of the forceps under first one wing-case and then
the other ; by this means quickly unfolding the wings.
Another observer, writing to the same journal, re-
ports having seen the common Earwig (F. auricularia)
seize a small beetle round its middle with the forceps,
and carry it away in spite of its struggles.
The reader probably knows that the Earwig is credited
with being as careful a mother as the domestic hen ;
not only sitting on her eggs until they are hatched, but
actually covering her young brood like a mother bird.
He may not, however, be aware that these facts have
been observed and are related by the best authorities,
and are not mere popular reports.
Of the other habits of the Earwig it is not easy to
speak quite so favourably ; the young, for instance, can
hardly be said to render due respect in return for such
maternal tenderness, as, though professed vegetarians,
they have been known to devour the dead body of their
mother (Westwood, p. 403). The account of an Earwig
carrying off a beetle points also to a carnivorous taste,
as it is difficult to imagine any use but one to which his
captive could be put.
Flowers are the chief food of the Earwigs, but they by
no means confine themselves to this, but consume fruit,
and other vegetable productions ; indeed, there have
been cases when, otherwise, their food must have failed
them. There is an account in the " Gentleman's
Magazine" for August 1755, of an extraordinary swarm
of Earwigs at Stroud : " There were such quantities of
Earwigs in that vicinity, that they destroyed not only the
112 INSECTS.
flowers and fruit, but the cabbages, were they ever so
large. The houses, especially the old wooden buildings,
were swarming with them; the cracks and crevices were
surprisingly full ; they dropped out in such multitudes
that the floors were covered ; the linen, of which they
are very fond" (!) "was likewise full, as was also the
furniture, and it was with caution that people eat their
provisions, for the cupboards and safes were plentifully
stocked with the disagreeable intruders."
Some doubt has been entertained as to whether the
common Earwig ever flies, but it has been found under
circumstances which render this probable. It may be
that it flies by night, as the lesser Earwig (Labia minor)
is known to do, these having been observed returning in
numbers to their home after the day's work.
The Forficula auricularia and Labia minor are the only
British species common. The latter appears to inhabit
dunghills and hotbeds. The Forficesila gigantea is a
large species which has been found on the sand at
Christchurch, but is considered a doubtful native. The
apterous earwig is also not common.
113
CHAPTER VIII.
ORDER III. ORTHOPTERA.
ORTHOPTERA is the last Order of biting insects in which
the hind wings are protected by any kind of wing-case ;
and the parchment-like and closely-veined tegmina, as
these are called, seem to form a step between the horny
elytra of the Beetle and Earwigs, and the clear and much-
veined wings of insects in the succeeding Orders. They
differ also in position, the wing-cases in Orthoptera over-
lapping each other when at rest, while the elytra of Ear-
wigs and Beetles (with a few exceptions) meet in a
straight line down the back.
The curious Leaf insects, and Walking-sticks, and the
Praying Mantis, are members of the order which have
no representatives in this country ; and indeed the
orthopterous insects known in England are but few, con-
sisting only of the Cockroaches (the " Blackbeetles" of
the kitchen), Crickets, Grasshoppers, and Locusts.
In this order (as in the preceding) both larva and
INSECTS.
pupa are active, and much resemble the perfect insect,
the larvae, however, being without wings, while the pupae
have their rudiments. After the last change of skin the
wings and wing-cases are fully developed, except in some
species, which in one or in both sexes remain wingless
even when arrived at maturity.*
The maxillae are peculiar in form, having two lobes,
of which the upper acts as a kind of sheath to the
lower.
The abdomen generally terminates in two bristle-like
appendages, short and jointed in the Cockroaches, very
long and bristle-like in some Crickets, shorter again in
the Locusts.
The English Orthoptera form two groups, the first
consisting of the Cockroaches, and distinguished by
their cursorial, or running legs, which are long, strong,
and spinous, and well adapted to this action. The
second group consists of the Crickets, Grasshoppers, and
Locusts, and is marked by the saltatorial, or leaping legs,
which are so conspicuous in these insects.
Among the Cockroaches, the common " Blackbeetle,"
although only too abundant and familiar, is but a
naturalized foreigner, and is supposed to have been im-
ported in merchant vessels from the East. Indeed,
various other species of these insects are rinding their
way in the same manner from and into all parts of the
world, their omnivorous habits making it easy for them
to find subsistence under almost any circumstances. The
destruction which they occasion is very great, for even
that which escapes being devoured by them they spoil
* This occurs in the female of the common Cockroach, which has very
short wing-cases, and no wings whatever.
ORTHOPTERA. 115
by means of a fluid ejected from the mouth, and which
corrodes, discolours, and imparts an offensive smell to
whatever has been subjected to its action. The writer
has seen the greater part of the contents of a book-case
injured in this way, books bound in red or violet-coloured
cloth appearing to be especially attractive to the Cock-
roaches.
The Cockroaches have a curious manner of laying
their eggs, not singly, but enclosed in a strong, some-
what bean-shaped capsule, on the outside of which may
be seen the impression of the eggs, which lie within in
a double row, and in the common Cockroach number
about sixteen. The female sometimes runs about for
days with this case protruding from her body, a raised
serrate ridge along the upper edge of the case helping to
retain it in this position. The mother has been observed
to assist the young larv in making their escape from
this capsule.
It would be unfair to suppress any fact which tells in
favour of this much abhorred insect, and as there is one
yet more abhorred, and unhappily equally domestic in
its habits, it may be well to say that a favourite dainty
of the Cockroach is the common Bed Bug, and one
whose attractions may probably account for its occasional
incursions into bedrooms.
Our native species of Cockroaches are much smaller,
more delicate, and even attractive-looking insects, in
which a careless observer would trace but little likeness
to the dark, long-legged, foul-smelling Cockroach of the
kitchen. They are found out of doors ; some species
inland upon herbage of various kinds, others near the
sea-shore sheltered under stones, while some are found
beneath the bark of trees. B. Lapponia, PI. IV., fig. 2
12
116 INSECTS.
(a species to be freely found in the New Forest), is a
slender dark insect, with beautifully veined, nearly
transparent, pale-brown wing-cases. These are much
wider, especially a little below the shoulders, and longer
than the body, and give the little creature a very delicate
appearance. With the wings closed it is about half an
inch in length, but considerably shorter if measured
from head to tail with the wings expanded.
The second group of Orthoptera is divided into
three families, distinguished by the shape and position
of the wing-cases, which either lie flat and horizon-
tally on the back, or shelve downwards, roof-like, at
the sides ; and by the form and proportion of the
antennae.
A f i ( Crickets . . . wing-cases flat.
Grasshoppers
Ant. short Locusts
wing cases shelv-
ing.
The most remarkable peculiarity in the wing-cases of
this group has been already described (pp. 44, 45)
namely, the musical instrument by which the chirping
of these little creatures is produced. The drum-like
membrane, or sounding-board of the wing-cases, is how-
ever found only in the two first families Crickets and
Grasshoppers; the Locusts, wanting these, produce
sound by the friction of theit file-like legs against the
edge of the wing-cases.
The Crickets form two genera Acluta and Gryllo-
talpa. To Acheta belongs the common House Cricket, (PI.
IV., fig. 3), A. domestica; the larger black Field Cricket,
A. campestris; and a small species, A. sylvestris, which
is distinguished by the smallness of its wing-cases and
the apterous state of the female. In the other genus,
ORTHOPTERA. 117
Gryllotalpa, is only one English species, the curious
Mole Cricket.
The House Cricket is an active, flattened, long-horned
insect, with rather sprawling legs, and the appearance of
several tails. These tails consist of, first, the abdominal
appendages usual in the order, and which in this are a
pair of long tapering bristles ; secondly, of the tips of
the wings, which being larger than the wing-cases, extend
beyond them, when folded, in two long slender points ;
and thirdly, in the female, of a long ovipositor.
The wing-cases are of a peculiar form in the crickets,
being flat along the back and suddenly depressed at the
sides for their whole length, thus covering the sides as
effectually as the shelving tegmina of the other
families.
The bodies of the Crickets are flatter or more depressed
than those of the Grasshoppers and Locusts ; the tarsi
are three-jointed, slender, and spined, so being fitted for
running on the ground. In the genus Acheta the
ovipositor of the female is long, slender, and projecting;
in the Mole Cricket it is withdrawn from sight.
The mole cricket (fig. 42, and fig. U, p. 37) differs
Fig. 42.
Outline of Mole Cricket.
from the other Crickets most conspicuously in the
curious hand-like front legs (described p. 37) ; which
118 INSECTS.
are used by the insect in forming burrows within
the earth. Not only do the digging instruments of
the Cricket, and its mode of proceeding, resemble
those of "the little gentleman in black velvet," but
the burrows formed though not constructed on a
precisely similar "ground-plan" consist, like his, of
a neatly finished chamber, approached by winding
galleries, and, like the Mole, the Cricket while mining,
raises a ridge of earth by which it may sometimes be
tracked. Unlike the quadruped, however, the insect is
fitted for more than underground life, and though not
equal, either in saltatorial or in flying powers to others
of its tribe, is able both to leap and to fly, and is
possessed of perfect organs of vision.
The chosen home of these curious creatures is the
soil in damp fields and gardens (whence their French
name of Courtiliere), or in peat bogs ; and their food
appears to be various, as they not only feed largely upon
vegetables doing great mischief among the roots of
plants, barley, potatoes, &c. but, like the Grasshoppers,
have been known to attack and devour each other. The
remains of other insects have been found in their
stomachs, and in confinement they have been fed on
insects and on raw meat, of which they appear extremely
fond.
The female Mole Cricket lays, in summer, an immense
number of eggs (according to Eesel, 300 or more),
which are hatched in about a month. The young
remain together underground (during the winter in a
dormant state) until all the changes of skin are accom-
plished, and the wings have attained their full growth,
which takes place in the following summer.
The insect is not common in England.
ORTHOPTERA. 119
The passages formed by the Mole Cricket are not suffi-
ciently wide to allow of the insect's turning within them.
This is compensated by the power of moving backwards
and forwards with equal ease, and still more remarkably
by the exceeding sensitiveness of the bristles at the end
of its body, which act like antennae, to inform the insect
of danger approaching from behind.
Crickets generally have more or less the habit of
burrowing, none, however, approaching the Mole
Cricket in power, or in architectural skill. The
Field Cricket, using its sharp, strong jaws as an
instrument, digs a refuge for itself in dry soil, some-
times to the depth of a foot ; while the House
Cricket excavates passages through the mortar of
stone or brick walls.
As might be expected of an insect so domesticated
as the Cricket, and so harmless, many superstitions have
clustered round it ; and if, among the sun-loving Greeks,
the Grasshopper was hailed as a friend by gods and
men, in our colder clime the Cricket is counted as a
fireside companion ; and dire are the consequences of
murdering one little songster, or of the desertion of our
hearth by their numbers. It seems, however, that their
music is not at all times, or in all places, equally
welcome, as the " Spectator" speaks of the voice of a
Cricket as striking more terror to the heart than the
roaring of a lion. Probably the roaring of the lion was
softened by distance.
The tone of the Field Cricket's song is observed to
vary according to the state of the atmosphere ; and
among the signs of the weather collected by Dr. Darwin,
is the sharpness of its sound before rain. This is pro-
to be accounted for by the action of the damp
120 INSECTS.
air contracting, and so tightening, the membrane which
forms the drum, or sounding-board.
The two families which remain are the Grasshoppers
and the Locusts.
There have been so many changes and interchanges
of the names of all these insects (including the Crickets),
both in various places and at various times, that the
reader will find it necessary to be on his guard when he
meets with the various generic names " Gryllus,
Locusta, Acrida, Acheta," &c. Thus Gryllus, formerly
the generic name of the Crickets, now gives place to
Acheta as applied to them, and is adopted, under the
form Gryllida3, as the family name of the Grasshoppers,
while similar confusing changes have been made with
regard to the family Locustidse. To enter upon these
details would be alike tedious and useless while the
reader is as yet unacquainted with the animals them-
selves ; and here, as in all cases of the same kind, the
first step is to study the animals and familiarize the
mind with their distinctive characters. With this
knowledge the difliculties occasioned by variety of
system and diversity of nomenclature, will become a help
rather than a hindrance in the work of obtaining a clear
idea of the relations and grouping of animals.
According to Westwood, whose classification is
followed here, these insects are grouped (see p. 1 16) into
the families of Achetida, Crickets ; Gryllidoe, ephemeras;
diurnal) does not, in some species, extend beyond
the day indeed, seldom beyond a few hours spends
nearly the whole of this brief space upon the wing.*
The mouth is so imperfectly developed that there is
* The brevity of the life of these insects was not unobserved by the
Ancients ; and if the antique gem of which an engraving is placed at the
head of the chapter on Lepidoptera (described p. 11), is truly figured,
it would seem that the Ephemera, not the Butterfly, is here represented ;
NEUROPTfcRA. 137
reason to suppose them incapable of taking food when
in this state. Indeed, there seems little necessity for
their so doing, their sole work now being to enjoy the
new life on which they have entered ; to sport for a few
hours in a new element and with new faculties for en-
joyment; to perpetuate their species, and to die.
The enormous multitudes of these insects, which some-
times come to life all at the same time, could hardly be
believed but by those who have seen them on the wing,
literally in clouds, as they may be seen in England.
Abroad they are still more plentiful, and Dr. Hagen
mentions that on the Curische-Nehrung these delicate
little creatures are used to feed pigs ! Yet of these, says
Aristotle, " the least is more noble than the sun, because,
it hath a sensitive soul in it."
Our knowledge of the Mayfly is at present very im-
perfect. Not only are there double the usual number of
specimens to be studied in each species i.e., the male
and female sub-imago, as the first winged state is called,
as well as the male and female imago but all the in-
sects of the family change so greatly after death that
preserved specimens are of little value in the study.
The larvee and pupae of the Ephemera are of a form
somewhat resembling that of the imago (though, of
and that the gem signifies, not the escape of the soul from Death, but the
shortness of human life.
The engraving is a faithful copy of one given by Guigniaut with the
following "explication."
" Tte de mort surmontee d'un papillon, symbole de 1'ame, et ayant a
cote d'elle I'hydrie qui contient 1'eau rafraichissante, confcrmement aux
croyances egyptiennes transplantees en Grece et communiquees au Chris-
tianisme par 1'intermedaire des neo-Platoniciecs. CRKTJZER, Voy. torn. i.
liv. iii. p. 403, et passim ; et torn. iii. liv. ix. Pierre gravee, communiquee
a M. Creuzer, par M. Miinter, &c."
1 38 INSECTS.
course, without wings), three beautifully-feathered tails,
much shorter than the tail-bristles of the perfect insect,
terminate the abdomen, and its sides are fringed with a
series of appendages which serve the double office of
gills and oars. The pupa3 may be known from the larvse
by the wing cases.
In these early stages the Ephemera are predaceous,
feeding also, probably, on the decaying animal or vege-
table matter which abounds in their haunts at the
bottom of ponds and running streams. Some species
make burrows in the mud, where they remain on the
watch for prey passing by ; others are swift swimmers
and hunt in the open waters, having in the water, the
same faculty as that possessed by the Dragonflies in the
air, of altering their course without turning.
The sub-imago has dull wings, fringed with fine hairs,
two or three tail-bristles, which are thinly covered with
hair, and which, with the legs, are shorter than those of
the perfect insect.
The wings of the perfect insect, or imago, are
generally spotted and marked with brown, and have
a bright surface. In the male the tail bristles and
the fore-legs are larger than in the female, the
colours are brighter, and the eyes, which are larger,
are sometimes so divided as to form two pairs, of
which one pair is sometimes considerably elevated above
the other. There are three ocelli. Belated to the May-
fly is a small family, to which the Genus Perla belongs.
Most of these flies resemble the Ephemera in having
two tail-like bristles, but they differ greatly from them
in the proportion of their wings, the hind-wing in Perla
being generally much larger than the fore-wing,and folded
when at rest. Besides this the body is less elegant, being
NEUROPTERA. 1 39
rather wide and flat, and of equal width throughout.
The males are much smaller than the females, and their
wings are small. The larvaB and pupae of Perla, like those
of the Ephemera, are aquatic and active ; unlike those,
they are carnivorous. The perfect fly is found near
palings, and is an inactive, uninteresting looking insect.
The " Stone-fly," " Willow-fly," and " Yellow Sally "
of the angler are species of the family.
The Laceflies (formerly called Hemerobius, but now
divided into several genera), are as conspicuous for their
beauty as the Dragonflies. The beauty is however of a
very different character. The softness of the parts, the
large size and exceedingly delicate texture of the wings,
and even the tenderness of the colouring, giving an ap-
pearance of great feebleness and fragility to the insect.
The one " touch " which lights up the whole is in the
glowing eyes, of a golden, sometimes ruby-like lustre,
from which is derived the name of one of the genera,
Chrysopa, or golden eyes.
The Lacefly (PI. V., fig. 3) has a cylindrical body, with
a small head placed on a neck, long antenna?, slender weak
legs, and large broad, lacelike wings, much exceeding the
body in length, and, when at rest, lying over it in the form
of a sloping roof. The Laceflies are rarely found upon
the wing except in the evening, and then may easily
be recognised by the cross-like form which they assume
in flight, the wings being extended wide and vibrating
rapidly, while the progress of the insect is extremely
slow and apparently laborious. The species vary in
size, the larger measure rather more than i in. in the
length of the body and about 2 in. from tip to tip of the
expanded wings.
The eggs have a singular appearance, being connected
140 INSECTS.
with the leaf on which they are laid by a slender hair-
like footstalk about \ in. long. Six or eight of these are
placed near together. The larvae when hatched feed on
Aphides, and it is worthy of note that the Laceflies, like
the Aphis-eating Ladybird, have when handled or crushed
a strong and disagreeable bug-like smell. The larva of
the Laceflies also resembles those of some species of
Beetles mentioned above, in the curious habit of clothing
itself, using for this the emptied skins of its prey.
As in most of the roof-winged Neuroptera, the pupa
state is inactive, and, when about to change, the larva
spins itself a silken cocoon from a spinning apparatus
which, unlike that of most larvae, is placed (as in spiders)
at the end of the body. The usual position for the
spinners of larvaB is at the mouth.
The Laceflies are divided into five genera, containing
about fifty species.
Next to the Laceflies comes the only Neuropterous
insect which has but little pretension to elegance namely
Sialis Lutaria (PL V., fig. 4). This insect, resembling the
Laceflies in general configuration, is totally without their
delicacy of form or colouring. It is of a brown colour, with
brownish wings strongly veined ; the head is rather large
and depressed, and the shoulders are high, giving a very
humpbacked aspect to the fly, which is increased by the
wings forming a flat surface at the shoulders, from which
they shelve into the usual roof-like position. The Sialis
is dull and sluggish in its motions as well as in appear-
ance. The Iarva3 are aquatic and the pupae inactive.
The beautiful and common Scorpion-fly, Panorpa
communis (PL V., fig. 2), is easily recognised, whether by
its long horse-like face, its brown and white speckled,
net-like wings, which when at rest lie horizontally over
NEUROPTERA. 141
the back, or by the formidable looking scorpion-like
pincers which terminate the body of the males. Beautiful
to the naked eye, it is still more beautiful when the magni-
fying of its parts displays the slender legs ringed with even
rows of delicate spines, armed with fringed and toothed
spurs, and terminated by a pair of curved and comb-
like claws, somewhat resembling those of certain species
of spiders. The head and all the other parts are beauti-
ful, and their transparency, under a very slight degree of
preparation, renders them peculiarly accessible to the
young microscope student.
Like the greater number of insects remarkable for
their beauty, the Panorpa is predaceous. One species
at least of the family is said to feed upon leaf- rolling
Caterpillars, a kind of prey for the capture of which the
toothed claws, and the long pointed head, terminated by
a pair of powerful jaws, are well adapted.
The larva and its habits are as yet unknown. The
pupa is inactive. The fly itself is found very commonly
upon hedges.
There are five English species of Panorpa known.
An allied genus, Boreus, contains a curious little insect
about the size of a large Aphis, and which, but for the
form of its long head, might hardly be recognised as a
relation of the Scorpion-fly. It has long legs, and the
female is quite wingless, while in the male the wings are
reduced to very unwinglike, little curved, leathery, brown
appendages. It does not appear to be common.
The Snake-fly, Raphidia ophiopsis (PL V., fig. 5), re-
presents another family ; and though not so commonly
observed as most of the insects already named, is as easily
recognised when found. About the medium size of a Lace-
fly, and with wings somewhat similar but less delicate, it
142 INSECTS.
differs from this, and indeed from all others, in the singular
length of its neck, which, slender itself, and terminated
by a gradually widening and flattened head capable
of great freedom of motion, gives a most curious snake-
like appearance to the insect. The abdomen is small
and short, and the thorax, placed between this and the
head and neck, is nearly in the centre of the insect. This
snaky look, added to the possession in the females of a
long ovipositor, has an uninviting effect; and not long
ago the writer received a specimen with an urgent request
for an opinion as to the probable extent of the injury
which it might have inflicted on a baby on whose face it
was found.
The Snake-fly and its larva are insect eaters, the latter
living under the bark of trees. The pupa is inactive in
its earlier stage, but is said to be capable of walking
immediately before arriving at perfection. There are five
English species of Eaphidia.
The insects hitherto described are probably familiar to
the reader in their winged state only ; there remains a
family of which the larva and pupa, and in some cases
a wingless imago, are but too well known. The com-
monest species of these is a little whitish, semi-trans-
parent creature which we find abounding in books
(especially such as are rarely used), old papers, collec-
tions of plants, of insects, &c. &c. This little insect is
the Psocus pulsatoria, the latter name from a sound,
similar to that produced by the death-watch, which is
heard to proceed from its haunts. There seems to be
some doubt, however, as to the fact of this sound being
caused by the Psocus. The Book-louse, as the Psocus
is commonly called, has always been considered very
destructive to the books and collections in which it is
NEUROPTERA. 143
found, and although it has found a defender in Dr.
Hagen, who (Ent. An. 1861) pronounces the insect,
according to his experience, to be nearly harmless, it is
difficult to relinquish the suspicion that to its presence
may he attributed the destruction of the paste and the
brittle condition of the binding in books long unused.
These insects are active in all stages, and the larvae
and pupae resemble each other, except in the progres-
sively developed wings. Some species, however, never
fully develope their wings, the Book-louse being one of
these. Others, haunting the crevices of tree-trunks, of
palings, walls, books, &c., acquire four large and mem-
branous wings, the expansion of which is sometimes
more than half an inch. The females of at least one
species are famished with a spinning apparatus in the
mouth, and cover their eggs with a delicate silken
web.
These insects are all small, the head large in propor-
tion and triangular, antennae long, the eyes somewhat
large prominent, simple eyes three or none. The body is
soft, and generally short and squat; the wings, when
fully developed, are large, and have fewer veins than
those of most Neuropterous insects.
144
TABLE OF NEUROPTERA.*
SECTION L BIOMORPHOTICA.
Pupa active.
Tarsi with three to five j oints,
A. Larva and pupa aquatic.
* Wings at rest erect.
a. f. w. large; h. w. small ; Tarsi five-jointed.
Ex. Ephemera (Mayflies), Sfc.
b. Wings equal, tapering to base; tarsi three-
jointed.
Ex. Agrion, Caleptcryx, fyc. (small Dragonflies) .
** Wings at rest extended horizontally.
a. Wings nearly equal; h. w. broad at base;
tarsi three-jointed.
Ex. Libellula, ^Eshna, Anax, cj-c. (Dragon/lies).
*** Wings at rest, lying fiat on the back.
a. Tarsi, three-jointed.
Ex. -Perla (Stonefly), Yellow Sally, Willow fly, fyc.
B. Larva and pupa terrestrial.
* Wings at rest, roof-like.
a. f. w. larger than h. w. ; tarsi three-jointed.
Ex. Psocus (Booklouse, $fc.)\
* This table is borrowed, with some alterations, from a paper by Mr.
Newman in the Zoologist. Mr. Newman includes in the present Order
Phryganea, which, however, in accordance with Westwood's Classification,
is here represented as forming the next Order, Trichoptera.
t See page 127, note.
TABLE OF NEUROPTERA. 145
SECTION II SUBNECROMORPHOTICA.
Pupa inactive.
Tarsi with five joints.
A. Larva aquatic.
* Wings at rest, roof-like.
a. Wings nearly equal in size, strongly veined.
Ex. Sialis.
B. Larva terrestrial.
* Wings at rest, roof-like.
a. Wings equal, delicately veined.
Ex. Hemerobius (Lacefty).
b. Wings nearly equal, neck very long.
Ex. Raphidia (Snake-fly).
-*# Wi n g S at rest, lying flat on the back ; equal.
a. Mouth prolonged into a snout.
Ex. Panorpa (Scorpion-fly). ^
t See p. 127.
$ '^N
vi
v 52
the Bees.
The insects belonging to
these two Subsections may be
distinguished by the legs. In
the Prffidones, the first or basal
joint of the hind tarsus (fig.
52, a) is cylindrical, while in the Was P' s Hinc
Anthophila, it is enlarged, and more or less flattened.
188 INSECTS.
This peculiarity in the Bees will be further noticed in
its own place.
Subsection 1. PR&DONES. The Praedones (Prcedo,
a robber) form three Divisions 1. Heterogyna, con-
taining the Ants; 2. Fossores (Fossor, a digger),
containing the Sandwasps ; 3. Diploptera, containing
the true Wasps. The two first are easily distinguished
from the third, which has the fore-wings folded length-
Fig. 53.
Outline of Formica.
ways ivhen at rest (whence the name AtTrXow, diploo, to
double; wrepov, a wing). The other two divisions are
less easy to distinguish from each other, but the fol-
lowing rules may be sufficient. Heterogyna consists of
the Social Ants and of the Solitary Ants. The Social
Ants may be distinguished from the Sandwasps by the
form of the footstalk by which the abdomen is attached to
the thorax, and which forms, in some, one scale-like
projection (fig. 53), or a knot-like lump ; in others
(fig. 54), two such lumps or nodes.
The Solitary Ants may be distinguished from the
Sandwasps by the female of the former being always
wingless, while the male is generally toothed or spired at
the apex of the abdomen.
When, therefore, an insect has been shown by the legs
to belong to the subsection PR^DONES, and by its non-
HYMENOPTERA. ACULEATA. 189
folding wings to belong to one of the two first divisions
in that subsection, its place will be further ascertained
Fig. 54.
Profile of Myrmica.
thus. It belongs to the first division, Heterogyna, if,
whether wingless or winged, the abdomen be furnished
with the scales or nodes (social ants) ; also if it be wing-
less ( ? of social ants sometimes, of solitary always) ; also
if it be winged and spicate at the tip of the abdomen (
of solitary ants only). Otherwise the insect belongs to
the Sandwasps or Fossores.
Division I. Heterogyna. The Ants. Very dif-
ferent opinions are entertained as to this division Hetero-
gyna. The word, signifying tTtpog, heteros, different ;
FUVTJ, gyne, a woman, is by some considered to exclude
the mutillidte or solitary ants, in which the sexes consist
only of the perfect male and female. The female here,
however, differs from most perfect insects in being
always wingless, in this approaching the neuters of the
social ants. In adopting the present arrangement, the
writer follows Mr. F. Smith, of the British Museum,
who has retained it from older writers, and this is done
partly in the hope that the young student of Hymenop-
tera may, as a first step, possess himself of the delightful
190 INSECTS.
(so-called) " catalogues"* by this gentleman, published
by the British Museum, and proceed upon his studies
with these in hand.
Heterogyna, then, consists of the Social Ants, For-
micidce, now divided into Formicidce, Poneridce, and
Myrmecidce, and of the Solitary Ants, Miitillidce.
The social ants are distinguished from the solitary and
from all other hymenopterous insects by a peculiar deve-
lopment of the first, or first and second joints of the
abdomen. The first joint, which forms the stalk of the
abdomen, grows out behind into a scale or raised
" node," in the Formicida3 and the Poneridse (fig. 53,
p. 188); in the Myrmecidse (fig. 54, p. 189), the same
happens with both the first and second joints.
The social ants, like the social wasps and bees, con-
sist of males, females, and workers, or imperfect females,
the latter being always wingless among the ants, while
among the bees and wasps they, like the perfect insects,
possess permanent wings. The female of the social
ants, winged like other insects at her emergence from
the pupa state, and like them, rejoicing for a time in
the sunshine and fresh air, to exercise them, retains
her wings only until she is ready to enter upon the
business of her life, laying the eggs which are to fill
the nests preparing for them by the workers. She then
prepares herself for her underground labours by volun-
tarily depriving herself of these appendages.
It would require more than the bulk of this entire
volume to repeat the wonders recorded of the tribe of
social ants. The very bees yield to them in the variety
* British Bees, and British Fossorial Hymenoptera.
HYMENOPTEEA. ACULEATA. 191
of their interests and achievements. Not only are they
the most skilful architects amongst insects, but as states-
men, as soldiers, as landed proprietors, as slave-owners,
herdsmen nay, if some writers may be believed, as
agriculturists*^, they stand at the head of insect-
thinkers and doers. Yet, above all, do they claim our
sympathy and respect in one point as yet unnamed, that
is, in their marvellous domestic conduct ; their unceas-
ing industry and tenderness in behalf of their young,
tenderness, not maternal, for it is shown by those who are
not and cannot be mothers ; while their private character
is still further displayed by the friendship, good under-
standing, and care for the safety one of another, which
subsists amongst the individuals of the community.
An amusing case of somewhat officious and peremptory
exercise of the privileges of friendship was observed by
Hagen : " The legs of a glass case, which contained the
nest of social ants, were plunged into pans of water, to
prevent the escape of the ants ; this proved a source of
great enjoyment to these little beings, for they are a thirsty
race, and lap like dogs. One day when he observed
many of them tippling away merrily, he was so cruel as
to disturb them, which sent most of the ants in a fright
to the nest ; but some, more thirsty than the rest, con-
tinued their potations. Upon this, one of those that had
* It is said that a species of Ant in Texas actually plants around its
dwelling a kind of grass, which it "nurses and cultivates with constant
care, cutting away all other grasses and weeds that may spring up."
Another species is said to plant "shade trees" as a protection against the
summer sun. (See " Zool.," 7576.)
It is possible to believe almost anything of the Ants, but even "seeing"'
ought not always to be " believing.''
192 INSECTS.
retreated returns to inform his thoughtless companions
of their danger: one he pushes with his jaws, another
he strikes first upon the belly and then upon the breast,
and so obliges three of them to leave off their carousing
and march homeward. But the fourth, more resolute to
drink it out, is not to be discomfited, and pays not the
least regard to the kind blows with which his compeer,
solicitous for his safety, repeatedly belabours him. At
length, determined to have his way, he seizes him by one
of his hind legs, and gives him a violent pull. Upon
this, leaving his liquor, the loiterer turns round, and
opening his threatening jaws, with every appearance of
anger, gcTes very coolly to drinking again. But his
monitor, without further ceremony, rushing before him,
seizes him by his jaws, and at last drags him off in
triumph to the nest."
After a battle, or any accident which has befallen a
colony, the survivors invariably carry away their dead ;
in the case of a battle the conquerors carry away the
bodies of their own soldiers, leaving the others to their
fate.
The community in which these insects live consists
primarily of the females and the workers, or " neuters,"
or imperfect females. The males and females leave the
nest on arriving at perfection, and associate together for
a short time ; after which the males die, the females
alone returning to the nest, where they labour diligently
until sufficient workers are hatched to set them free from
" menial " offices.
Their principal business from this time is the laying
of eggs, which are received and tended with the greatest
care by the workers. These carry them from the place
where they are dropped and carefully deposit them in
HYMEXOPTERA. ACULEATA. 193
suitable chambers, moistening them, it is said, from their
own mouths, and thus probably affording that nourish-
ment which must be essential to their growth ; the eggs
of Ants, like those of Sawflies, growing larger after they
are laid. According to the observations of M. Hubner,
the nurses then bestow the most assiduous attention
upon the eggs, daily removing them to those parts of the
nest of which the temperature is most suitable. In the
morning the eggs are carried to the upper chambers, to
be within the influence of the sun's rays, while in the
evening they are transferred to the lower apartments,
which are less susceptible to a sudden lowering of the
temperature. The eggs hatched, yet further labours
devolve upon the careful and busy nurses, who to the
daily removal of their little charges (creatures which
before long are equal to themselves in size) now add the
task of supplying them with food ; or, rather, of feeding
them. Nor does their care end here : when the time for
its perfection arrives, the larva, having spun its own co-
coon (the only act which it has ever been allowed to per-
form for itself), is not only extricated by the workers from
its silken shroud, but even receives their assistance iii
divesting itself of the delicate membrane which still has
to be stripped from its body.*
It has been said that the community consists primarily
of the females and the workers, but this is not all. The
* That all this care is not absolutely necessary has been proved by the
experiments of Mr. F. Smith, who found that the young ants, deprived of
the assistance of their nurses, were able, in some cases, to emerge without
help from their pupa-cases. Mr. Smith observes that the pupae are not
always enclosed in silken cocoons, the naked pupse always giving out neuter
insects. He accounts for this on the supposition that the under-fed
female larvse which were to be imperfectly developed into neuters, were not
sufficiently nourished to produce the silk.
O
194 INSECTS.
nests of Ants present the remarkable phenomenon of
being inhabited by various other species of insects, con-
cerning many of which there seems to be now no doubt
that they are actually kept prisoners by the Ants to serve
in various ways to the maintenance of the state.
Amongst these are the Aphides, commonly called the
cows of the Ants (whence we have given to the latter the
name of cattle owners), species which feed on the roots
of grass, &c., being plentiful in the nests, whilst others,
Leaf-eaters, are sometimes enclosed by the Ants in a kind
of earthen gallery constructed on the twig which forms
their pasture. Numerous species of Beetles are also well
known as inhabitants of ants' nests, and though it seems
difficult to ascertain in all cases whether this is in the
interest of the Beetles or of the Ants, yet in some there
is no doubt that the Ants derive from the Beetles, as from
the Aphides, a fluid which serves them as food. Mr. E.
Holmes (Zool. 475) saw some large Ked and Black Ants
carrying as captives living specimens of Philonthus ;
while other observers have seen the ants forcibly pre-
venting the escape of certain Beetles from the nest.
Woodlice also are found in great numbers in the nests of
ants, and whether or not these are amongst the profit-
able servants of the commonwealth, there can be little
doubt that their residence would be but of short duration
if disapproved by their omnivorous little hosts. With
regard to the Aphides, and some of the Beetles, the
question is put beyond a doubt by the sedulous care taken
by the Ants of these herds the eggs of the Aphides
receiving attention equal to that paid to their own.
But yet another element exists in the community of
some species of Ants more or less warlike, as are all
the social tribes, contending to the death for their terri-
HYMENOPTERA. ACULEATA. 195
torial possessions ; there are some whose taste in this
direction is so prononce, that they make war for the
purpose of possessing themselves of slaves who shall
free them from the necessity of all home drudgery.
This, which might seem almost incredible, can scarcely
be refused credence on the authority of such writers as
those who have from their own observation described
the proceedings of these slave-making Ants. The slaves
once domiciled amongst their captors take willingly to
their work, and perform most efficiently all the duties
of builders, nurses, and housekeepers, even extending
their labours to the feeding of those heroes whose
inveterate laziness " off duty" is not without example
amongst the warlike portion of a larger if not nobler
race.
Mr. Newman, in his " Popular Introduction to the
Natural History of Insects," gives a description of the
proceedings of these Ants, which will serve to illustrate
many points in their military tactics.
" The most remarkable fact connected with the history
of Ants is the propensity possessed by certain species to
kidnap the workers of other species and compel them to
labour for the community, thus using them completely
as slaves, and, as far as we yet know, the kidnappers are
red or pale-coloured Ants, and the slaves, like the ill-
treated natives of Africa, are of a jet black.
" The time for capturing slaves extends over a period
of about ten weeks, and never commences until the males
and females are about emerging from the pupa state,
and thus the ruthless marauders never interfere with
the continuation of the species. This instinct seems
specially provided, for were the slave ants created for no
other end than to fill the station of slavery to which
o 2
196 INSECTS.
they appear to be doomed, still even that service must
fail were the attacks to be made on their nests before
the winged myriads have departed, or are departing,
charged with the duty of continuing their kind.
" When the Eed Ants are about to sally forth on a
marauding expedition, they send scouts to ascertain the
exact position in which a colony of negroes may be
found. These scouts having discovered the objects of
their search, return to the nest and report their success.
Shortly afterwards the army of Red Ants marches forth,
headed by a vanguard, which is perpetually changing ;
the individuals which constitute it, when they have
advanced a little beyond the main body, halting, falling
into the rear, and being replaced by others. This van-
guard consists of eight or ten ants only. When they
have arrived near the negro colony they disperse, wander-
ing through the herbage and hunting about as if aware
of the propinquity of the object of their search, yet
ignorant of its exact position. At last they discover
the settlement, and the foremost of the invaders, rush-
ing impetuously to the attack, are met, grappled with,
and frequently killed by the negroes on guard. The
alarm is quickly communicated to the interior of the
nest ; the negroes sally forth by thousands, and the Eed
Ants rushing to the rescue, a desperate conflict ensues,
which, however, always terminates in the defeat of the
negroes, who retire to the inmost recesses of their
habitations. Now follows the scene of pillage. The
Red Ants with their powerful mandibles tear open the
sides of the negro ant-hill and rush into the heart of
the citadel. In a few minutes each of the invaders
emerges, carrying in its mouth the pupa of a working
negro, which it has obtained in spite of the vigilance
HYMENOPTERA. ACULEATA. 197
and valour of its natural guardians. The Eed Ants
return in perfect order to their nest, bearing with them
their living burdens. On reaching the nest the pupae
appear to be treated precisely as their own, and the
workers when they emerge perform the various duties
of the community with the greatest energy and apparent
goodwill ; they prepare the nest, excavate passages,
collect food, feed the Iarva3, take the pupae into the sun-
shine, and perform every office which the welfare of the
community seems to require. In fact, they conduct
themselves entirely as if fulfilling their original destina-
tion." Newman's Familiar Introd. to the Nat. Hist, of
Insects, p. 50. (From the " Zool.")*
Slight as has been the preceding sketch of the habits
and manners of the Ants, too many pages of this small
book have already been bestowed upon them, and there-
fore but a few lines more may be devoted to the mention
of their architectural labours. These are no less wonder-
ful than their other proceedings, and the reader is referred
to the pages of Messrs. Kirby and Spence for a most
delightful resume of, and observations upon, this and
other of their achievements. Suffice it to say here, that
without bricks and without mortar they build their many-
chambered dwellings build them of loose sand com-
pacted apparently by some especial mode of manipula-
tion. Story upon story of chambers are there connected
by galleries and supported by pillars and buttresses, the
nest being closed and guarded by doors, which are daily
removed and nightly replaced. The edifices of various
species vary in plan, and display the application of
* The above was transcribed some time ago, and the writer, not having the
" Zoologist" at hand, is uncertain as to whether it was transcribed verbatim.
198 INSECTS.
various architectural contrivances ; such as the use in one
case of beams in the construction of a ceiling, while in
another a large chamber will be strongly roofed without
beams or central support, by the application of the arch.
The nests here spoken of are constructed in the earth,
those of some species are excavated in the trunks of old
trees. Their internal temperature is high, the Ants, like
the Bees, having the power of generating a considerable
degree of heat. They are strongly redolent of a secretion
peculiar to the Ants, formerly called " formic acid," and
which is nearly powerful enough to take away the breath
if the head be held over a large and disturbed nest. This
acid the Ants have the power of squirting to a consider-
able distance, and it forms a considerable weapon in their
warfare. The whole of the inside of nests hollowed out
in the trunks of trees is stained black by this acid, while
Ray records that blue flowers placed in an ant-hill turn
red, and that a similar effect is produced in a Bluebottle
by the sting of an Ant.
It is probably for the sake of this acid that the insect
is used by the New Zealanders in the composition of the
wourali poison.
In Switzerland Ants are used crushed into a plaster
or poultice to be applied to the head to cure the head-
ache, while their stimulating property is well known to
Swiss schoolgirls, who rub their foreheads with the
insects " pour se fortifier la memoire." Ants give out
the acid so freely that in the same country the children
lay a wet branch across the nest of the large Wood Ant,
and when it is well covered with the insects, brush them
off and suck from it the "hot vinegar."
The principal use, however, made of these insects,
both in Switzerland and Germany, is in the composition
HYMENOPTERA. ACULEATA. 199
of ant-baths, on the subject of which a friend of the
writer has kindly communicated the following :
"The first time I ever heard of the ant-baths was
when at Wildbad. A Russian lady in the same house
with us, after having taken a course of the baths there,
was ordered to visit a village (of which I forget the
name) in the heart of the Black Forest, to strengthen
herself by the use of ant-baths. Afterwards, when at
Wiesbaden, our landlady told us that these baths were
very commonly used. Her own daughter, when a child,
had derived great benefit from them. At five years old
she could not walk, and had dwindled away to a mere
skeleton, when the mother was advised to try ant-baths,
which completely restored the child's strength.
" The ants are the large Wood Ants, and are collected,
earth, stones, leaves, &c., all together in bags, which are
placed in the bath, and have boiling water poured on
them. This is left to stand some time, and the water is
then used for the bath. They are sold in bags in the
market at Wiesbaden at the proper season, and are used
also for making ant spirit. For this purpose the ants are
put into a glass bottle filled with some cheap spirit, and
hung in the heat of the sun for some time. This spirit
is used to rub the limbs in the case of sprains or weak-
ness.
11 Ant vinegar is made in large quantities every year
by the Swiss ladies."
Possibly a liking for this acid is one of the attrac-
tions to some of those species of beetles which reside
voluntarily in ants' nests, as they have been found in-
habiting old nests, and deserting them when a heavy
shower had washed away the acid.
Much discussion has arisen upon the often-quoted
200 INSECTS.
words of Solomon : Go to the ant, thou sluggard :
consider her ways, and be wise : which having no guide,
overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer,
gathereth her food in the harvest. It has long been
popularly supposed that the ant does actually store up
grain as food for winter use, and the resemblance to
some small grain of the white pupse so carefully laid up,
so eagerly seized and carried away to some safe place on
the disturbance of a nest, has fostered, if not given rise
to this idea. The truth, however, is that, at least in
England, the Ants spend the winter in a torpid state,
neither requiring nor possessing magazines of food;
the food so industriously collected at other times being
for the immediate consumption of the inmates of the nest.
That seeds of various kinds are collected by Ants and
carried to the nest is beyond a doubt, but all observations
point to the fact that these are used not as food, but
as building material, in common with small stones and
other small objects which are collected at the same
time and in the same manner. Possibly in this fact
may be found an explanation of the supposed agricul-
tural performances mentioned in the note at p. 191.
How these facts are to be reconciled with the words
of the inspired writer remains to be shown. Possibly
a further knowledge of the habits of ants in warmer
climates may do this, or possibly, it may be a question
for the Philologist rather than for the Hymenopterist, as
it is by no means easy, nor always possible, to ascertain
without doubt the exact species of animal to which the
Hebrew names apply. In the volumes of Messrs. Kirby
and Spence, however, the following remarks occur,
and seem to remove the difficulty on a sound prin-
ciple :
HYMENOPTERA. ACULEATA. 201
" I think, if Solomon's words are properly considered,
it will be found that this interpretation has been fastened
upon them, rather than fairly deduced from them. He
does not affirm that the ant, which he proposes to his
sluggard as an example, laid up in her magazine stores
of grain The words may very well be inter-
preted simply to mean that the ant, with commendable
prudence and foresight " (and surely we may add with
industry), " makes use of the proper seasons to collect a
supply of provisions sufficient for her purposes. There
is not a word implying that she stores up grain or other
provision. She prepares her bread, and gathers her
food namely, such food as is suited to her in summer
and harvest that is, when it is most plentiful, and thus
shows her wisdom and prudence by using the advantages
offered to her. The words thus interpreted, which they
may bear without any violence, will apply to our Euro-
pean species as well as to those that are not indigenous."*
The Social Ants, formerly all included under Formicidse,
now form the three families, Formicidse, Ponerida?, and
Myrmecidse. These are distinguished by the " nodes "
on the abdomen. In the two former families there is
but one, in the latter two (see figs. 53, 54, pp. 188,
189 ; and PI. VII., fig. 1). The females of the Formi-
cidse present an exception in the Section to which they
belong, being without a sting. In Ponerida? (of which
there is but one, and that a rare English species), and
the Myrmecidffi, both females and neuters are provided
with this weapon.
The Solitary Ants, or Mutillidse, although a very
numerous family abroad, consist in England of but
* The word translated "provideth" does not necessarily imply foresiy lit.
In Gen. xliii. 16, the same verb is translated "make ready."
202 INSECTS.
three genera, these containing only five species. They
appear to be very nearly related in both their form and
their habits to the Sand-wasps, among which indeed
they are placed by Mr. Westwood and other writers.
The females are wingless, of robust figure, have
spinous legs fitted for digging, and are without the
small simple eyes called ocelli. They are active insects
and are found running on the ground in sandy places.
The males are winged, and, as has been said above, are
spicate at the tip of the abdomen. They have three
ocelli, and their compound eyes are somewhat kidney-
shaped, and larger than those of the female, which are
round. In size the English species vary from l-8th to
2-8rds of an inch, and the relative size of insects of
the opposite sexes varies, the males being the larger in
some species, and the females in others. The wings will
be found in the table of wings of Hymenoptera.
The female of the largest European species, Mutilla
Europaea (PL VII. fig. 2), can hardly have escaped the
observation of the young entomologist, less because it is
not very rare, than on account of its unusual appearance,
which is that of a stout, hairy, wingless, red and black
ant, of two-thirds of an inch in length. The male is smaller
than the female, and somewhat varies in the distribution
of its colours, but both are clothed with bands of pale
glittering hairs, alternated with bands of scanty black
down.
The habits of these solitary ants are as yet but little
known, but it seems probable that they are parasitic in
the nests' of other insects, carnivorous, and predaceous.
The female possesses a powerful sting.
203
CHAPTER XVI.
H YMENOPTERA. A CULEATA.
THE second division of the predaceous stinging Hyme-
noptera, known as Fossores or diggers, consists of the
Sand-wasps and Wood-wasps. From the true Wasps
they are known by their fore-wings, which are not folded ;
from the Bees by their tarsi, of which the first joint is
not wider than the following.
In general appearance some of them at first sight
resemble the solitary species of true Wasps, others the
Ichneumons, others, again, the gay yellow-banded para-
sitic Bees; but sufficient rules have already been given
for distinguishing them from all of these insects. They
vary much in colour and somewhat in form, some being
black, others black and red, or black with creamy spots,
others banded with bright yellow, and these latter are,
like those of other banded and spotted insects, sub-
ject to much variation of marking. In form they are
usually slender and wasp-like, with the abdomen in some
attached by a decided stalk, while in others it approaches
to being sessile. The abdomen is never laterally com-
pressed as in some of the Ichneumonidse.
The habits of these insects are interesting. The
Iarva3 being insect-feeders, the parent forms a cell either
(according to the species) in the ground, in the stalks of
plants, willow, bramble, or rose, in old posts, &c., or
in some tubular cavity or burrow which it finds ready
204 INSECTS.
made ; here it deposits its eggs, and with them a store
of insects to serve as food for the Iarva3. Most species
confine themselves to one kind of insect, hut there are
others that collect various kinds. Caterpillars, Spiders,
Gnats, and other flies, Aphides, Beetles, Ants, and Bees,
are all victims to one or another species. In some cases
the prey is half killed, or reduced to torpidity, by heing
stung ; in others it is stored quite alive, in others dead
insects are laid up. Some observers have stated that
there are species which are not content with laying up
beforehand a store of food for their young, but continue
to feed them at intervals. This Mr. Westwood doubts
in the case of any solitary insect, though so well-known
a habit with those which are social.
The land and wood wasps are divided into eight
families: 1. Scoliida3; 2. Sapygidse ; 3. Pompilid ;
4. Sphegida? ; 5. Larridae ; 6. Nyssonidse ; 7. Crabronidse ;
8. Philanthids.
The first family, Scoliidse, contains but two English
species, of one genus, Tiphia. This genus may be known
by the legs, which, in comparison with other Sand-
wasps, are short and very thick, with wide, flat femora,
and thickly-spined tibiae. The wings have two sub-
marginal cells. The antennas are thick, and shorter than
the thorax. Tiphia femorata is not rare. The female
is entirely black, excepting parts of the legs, which are
red. It is shiny, and scantily clothed with grey hairs;
its length about ^ inch, or under. The male is con-
siderably smaller, and bears a spine, curving upwards on
the tip of the abdomen. This insect is very common
on the cliffs at Lowestoft in Suffolk.
The second family, Sapygiclae, also contains but one
English genus and two species. This, Sapyga, may be
HYMENOPTERA. ACULEATA. 205
known by the kidney-shaped eyes and the presence of
four submarginal cells in the wings. The other English
genera of Fossores, with kidney-shaped eyes, differ in
the venation of the wings. The antennae are long, and
somewhat club-shaped. The legs are slender and spine-
less ; and thus the Sapyga is found making its cells
either in burrows ready formed in the ground by other
insects, or excavated by them in wood, or sometimes it
makes use of small snail shells. S. punctata, the most
common of the two species, is black, with small white
markings on the head and thorax, the abdomen black
and red, with white spots.
The third family, PompilidaB. contains three genera.
Pornpilus (twenty species) is the principal ; the others
(Ceropales, with four, andAporus, with two submarginal
cells) containing together but three species, none of
them common.
In Pompilus the wings have three submarginal cells,
and the head is transverse ; the antennae are inserted in
the middle of the face, and curled in the female. The
hind legs are long; the abdomen is egg-shaped in the
female, longer and more slender in the male, and attached
by a very short stalk. The legs vary so much in different
species, that the genus has been subdivided according to
the presence or absence of hair fringes and spines, and
this variety of structure affords an indication to variety
of habit. These differences consist in the presence or ab-
sence of cilise on the tarsi of the fore-legs, and of spines
(in double or single row, or irregularly placed), or of serra-
tions in the tibia? of the two other pairs. The hind legs
are long throughout the genus. The colours are chiefly
black ; or black and red, or reddish brown, sometimes
with white spots, wings usually somewhat dark. The
206 INSECTS.
various species of Pompilus are strong, fierce, and
active insects, generally (though not without exception)
making choice of Spiders, which they kill before storing
them in their nests. They walk backwards with their
prey in this way, carrying or dragging large Spiders for a
very considerable distance. Some of the species burrow
in hard seaside sandbanks, others in light sand ; it has
been said that some use ready-made burrows in wood.
Pompilus exaltatus (PI. VII., fig. 3) is one of the
commonest species. It is a bright and pretty insect,
black and shining, with the exception of the abdomen,
nearly two-thirds of which are red. The wings are
darkish, with a pale spot near the tip, but this is some-
times absent in the females and usually so in the males.
In this family the abdomen has a very short peduncle.
The fourth family, Sphegidee, much resembles the
former, but may be distinguished from it by the abdomen
being set on a long stalk and the head on a small neck.
There are four genera, all with three submarginal cells.
This family contains but few species, of which Ammo-
phila Sabulosa (PL VII. fig. 4) is the most conspicuous.
This insect is sometimes nearly one inch long, and is
black, with the central part of the abdomen red. It pro-
vides Caterpillars for the food of its young, in the store-
room at the end of the burrow, placing a Caterpillar
first and laying one egg upon it, then adding three or
four Caterpillars and carefully closing this burrow, it
proceeds to form another.
The fifth family, Larridse, is at once distinguished by
the form of the mandible, which has a deep notch near
the base on the outer side, and by the legs, which have
one spine at the end of the tibiee in the two first pairs,
and two on the same place in the hind pair. The eyes
HYMENOPTERA. ACULEATA. 207
in this family, except in one genus, Miscophus, approach
closely in the female and become confluent in the male.
Most of the species are rare. Tachytes Pompiliformis
(PL VII. fig. 5) is a common insect hy the seaside and
in other sandy places. It may be known by the absence
of the hind stemmata, the place of which is in this genus
occupied by a tubercle. The insect is about J inch long,
black, excepting the fore half of the abdomen, which is of
a red brown ; the wings are darkish, and have one pointed
marginal, and three submarginal cells. The fore tarsi
are fringed with strong hairs, and the spines in the
middle and hind pair are strong. It preys upon various
insects, having been seen with Caterpillars, and by Mr.
Smith, with a small kind of Grasshopper,
The sixth family, Nyssonida3, brings us among the
more wasp-like insects,* many of the species in this, and
the two remaining families being banded or spotted on
the abdomen, or abdomen and thorax with bright yellow.
Many, however, exhibit the same colouring as the pre-
ceding families. In the Nyssonid the head is large,
the mandibles are but slightly curved, not notched near
the base, the antennae are straight and threadlike, com-
posed of short joints, the eyes ovate. The legs are some-
what spinous, the fore-legs have one comb-like spine
on the tibise, and a corresponding notch opposite to this
in the tarsus. The genera all have three submarginal
cells in the fore-wings. The family contains five genera.
The first, Nysson, may be known by the stemmata being
(as is most common) in a triangle, and by the singular
form of the abdomen, the second ventral segment
abruptly forming an angle with the others ; the colours
* In the preceding families but one yellow-banded species is found,
Sapyga clavicomis.
208 INSECTS.
are black and yellow, legs partially tinged with reddish
Fig. 55. brown, wings more or less
darkened, N. dimidiatus is
black and red, with white mark-
ings. The second genus, Gorytes,
possesses in some species the
latter peculiarity, but has the
stemmata arranged in a curve.
These genera contain some
Profile Outline of Nysson common species, black and
Spinosus. yellow. The fifth gen us, Melli-
nus, has the stemmata in a curve, and the petiole of
the abdomen terminates in a knot. Mellinus arvensis
(PI. TIL, fig. 6) is one of the most common of the Sand-
wasps. It is usually banded and marked as in the plate,
but is subject to much variety in this particular. It is
about J inch in length. The wings have a long pointed
marginal cell, and four submarginal cells.* Of this
insect Mr. Smith writes as follows : " Having fre-
quently observed the habits of the Mellinus arvensis,
and reared it from the larva state, a few observa-
tions are here recorded. When the parent insect
has formed a burrow of the required length, and
enlarged the extremity into a chamber of proper dimen-
sions, she issues forth in search of the proper nutriment
for her young. This consists of various dipterous in-
sects ; species of various genera are equally adapted to
her purpose. Muscidce, Syrphidce, &c., are captured.
It is amusing to see four or five females lie in wait upon
a patch of cowdung until some luckless fly settles on it.
When this happens, a cunning and gradual approach
* The fourth, which reaches to the tip of the wing, is not shown in
the plate, the nerve which bounds it falling short.
HYMENOPTERA. ACULEATA. 209
is made a sudden attempt would not succeed : the fly
is the insect of quickest flight, therefore a degree of
artifice is necessary. This is managed by running past
the victim slowly, and apparently in an unconscious
manner, until the poor fly is caught unawares and carried
off by the MeUinus to her burrow. The first fly being"
deposited, an egg is laid. The necessary number of flies
are soon secured, and her task is completed ; but some-
times she is interrupted by rainy weather, and it is some
days before she can store up the quantity required. A
larva found feeding became full fed in ten days; six flies
were devoured, the heads, harder parts of the thorax, por-
tions of the abdomen, and the legs being left untouched.
The larva spins a tough, thin, brown silk cocoon, passes
the winter and spring in the larva state, changes to the
nymph on the approach of summer, and appears about
the beginning of autumn in the perfect state."
The seventh family, Crabronid, much resembles the
preceding in general character, but from it the three
principal genera, Trypoxylon, Crabro, Oxybelus, are
easily known from all other of the Fossores, by the
presence of only one submarginal cell. The first genus,
Trypoxylon, is distinguished by the eyes, which are deeply
cut, or kidney-shaped, and the wings with one tapering
marginal, and one submarginal cell. It contains three
species, all common. T. figulus is to be found every-
where. It burrows in sandy banks, sometimes forming
colonies, and provides its Iarva3 with spiders. It is a dusky
black insect, long, with a long somewhat slender club-
shaped abdomen, thickest at the end, contracted at the
close of each segment, and with a slight hump near the
base. The other two species are also black and similar
in form. T. claviceruyn and T. attenuatum, burrow in
210 INSECTS.
decaying wood ; the latter also in rose and bramble
sticks.
The second genus, Crabro, has large somewhat tri-
angular eyes, rounded at the angles, and wings with one
submarginal cell, which is truncated and has a fragment
of nerve springing from the end.
The genus presents many varieties. In some species
the abdomen is attached by a longer or shorter stalk,
having a little hump at the termination, while in others
it is almost sessile. In some the ocelli are arranged in
a triangle, in others in a curved line. The legs are
short, thick, and very spinous in most species,* and the
males of some have the basal joint of the front tibise
much dilated. In one species, C. cribrarius, the basal
joint of the tarsus forms a broad thin plate, giving the
limb a deformed appearance. The antennas also are
various in form. The colours in this genus are black,
black and reddish brown, or black banded with bright
yellow. In all but three of the species (of which there
are thirty-six), the legs are partially of a bright yellow.
The different species form burrows in sandbanks, in
wood more or less decaying, in brambles and rose sticks-
One species, C- luteipalpis (one of those with no yellow
on the legs), which burrows in the mortar of old brick
walls, stores up the aphis as food ; another, C. brevis,
living in sandbanks, has been seen with a small species
of beetle, but nearly all of which the habits are known,
feed their young on various kinds of diptera. Crabro
vagus (PI. VIII., fig. ])is one of the commonest species.
Of the next genus, Oxybelus, but one species, O.
uniglumis, is very common. Mr. Smith describes it as
* This is generally the case with burrowing insects.
HYMENOPTERA. ACULEATA. 211
springing on its prey (two-winged flies) after the
manner of a cat. The eyes in Oxybelus are ovate, the
antennae short, the legs thick, ciliated and spined, and
the thorax has a sharp curved spine, near the base, which
Crabro has not. The wings have but one submarginal
cell, from which springs a short nerve as in Crabro.
0. uniglumis is black with some white spots about the
thorax, the abdomen banded and spotted with yellowish
white, the legs black, reddish brown, and yellowish white.
In the genus Diodontus, the head is wider than the
thorax, the abdomen attached by a very short stalk,
eyes ovate, wings with two submarginal cells. The in-
sects are small and black, with a little colouring about
the legs. They prey upon aphides, and burrow in rose and
bramble stems, or in sandbanks. One species, D. minutus,
has colouring on the thorax, and yellow mandibles.
Pemphredon contains only one species. P. lugubris
(PL VIII., fig. 2), an exceedingly common insect, is
black, from J to | inch long, with a large head and
a small glittering abdomen, which is attached to the
thorax by a long and curved peduncle. The wings
have two submarginal cells. It burrows in decaying
wood, and has been observed by Mr. Smith to " settle
on a rose tree, and scraping a number of aphides into a
ball, fly off with it, carrying it in front of its anterior
legs and under its head."
Mimesa equestris, a very pretty little insect, about
J inch long, is black, with the middle part of the small
petiolated shining abdomen red. It seems not to be
common except at Lowestoft. In the male the abdomen
terminates in a spine, curved upwards. In this genus
the submarginal cells are three.
The eighth and last family, Philanthidae, consists of
p 2
2 1 2 INSECTS.
but two genera, Philanthus and Cerceris. In both, tbe
head is wider than the thorax, the tibia of the second
pair of legs has but one spine at the end, and the fore-
legs are strongly fringed with hairs on the tarsi. The
fore-wings have three submarginal cells. In Philanthus
the eyes are slightly cut, or inclined to kidney-shape,
the legs are strong and spiny, the tarsi strongly fringed,
the abdomen is ovate. P. triangulum, the only English
species, is a beautiful insect more than \ inch long. The
thorax is black, with creamy markings, and the face
creamy. The abdomen is yellow with a black border nar-
rowed in the middle to each segment, and a series of
triangular black spots down the middle, decreasing in size
towards the end. The legs are black and yellow. The
male has a yellow line behind the eyes, and the abdomen
is black with yellow bands, thinnest in their middle, and
yellow on the two last joints. It feeds its young upon
wild bees.
Cerceris may be distinguished by the decided constric-
tion of each segment of the abdomen. This character
occurs in Trypoxylon, and in a slighter degree in Phi-
lanthus. The antenna3 are inclined to be clubshaped ;
Fig 56 the legs strong, with strong
spines, and with fringes on the
fore-tarsi. The colours are black
and yellow. This genus pro-
vides its young with beetles,
amongst which are some of the
hardest species ; Mr. Smith,
however, suggests that these,
Profile of Cerceris Arenana. . . .
remaining m the damp ground
for some days before the larvae/ are ready for them, are
softened by the time they are required as food.
SIT 7
CHAPTER XVII.
HYMENOPTERA. ACULEATA.
THE true Wasps, solitary and social, form the third and
last division of the Predaceous Hymenoptera, Diploptera
(AfTrAow, diploo to double ; Trrtpbv, pteron wing) . As
this name indicates, the Wasps are distinguished by the
longitudinal folding, or doubling, of the fore-wing. The
eyes of Wasps are kidney- shaped, the tongue is cleft and
glandular at the tips ; the first and second pairs of legs
have one spine at the end of the tibiae ; the hind pair has
two spines. The claws are simple in the Social Wasps,
cleft in the Solitary, and the wings of all have three
submarginal cells.
The first family, the Solitary Wasps, or Eumenidse,
form two genera, Eumenes and Odynerus. To the first
belongs only one British species, E. coarctata (PI. VIII.,
fig. 3), which constructs upon the twigs of heath or
other shrubs, a small round nest of mud in which it
places a single egg, and a store of small caterpillars.
This Wasp is about half an inch long, the male smaller.
It may be distinguished from the Odyneri by the long
pear-shaped stalk by which its abdomen is attached to
the thorax. It is black with yellow spots and bands
about the face, thorax, abdomen, and legs.
The second genus, Odynerus, contains twelve species
of various habits. Some burrow in sandbanks, others in
the pith of brambles, &c. : while others form their cells
214 INSECTS.
in any convenient receptacle which offers itself; Mr.
Smith mentions a pistol-barrel, a piece of folded paper,
and the hollow reeds in thatch, as having been chosen
for this purpose by 0. quadratus, a species which on
other occasions burrows in old posts.
The young student will find no difficulty in distin-
guishing the Odyneri, the pear-shaped abdomen and stalk
of the Eumenes sufficing to mark that genus, while the
bifid claws of the Solitary Wasps divide them from the
Social. The species are all black marked with yellow.
The cells of Odijnerus Antilope (PI. VIII., fig. 4)
found by Mr. Smith in sandbanks, may very commonly be
observed built up of mud, in the crevices formed by the
perpendicular mouldings round doors, windows, &c.,
long mud tubes filling these hollows. The writer has
seen the joints in a wooden summer-house filled by such
cells from three to six or eight inches in length, and
containing alternately a single Wasp-grub and six or
seven emaciated green caterpillars. The little mothers
appear to prefer a warm aspect for their young, fre-
quently choosing a south wall, exposed to the full heat
of the sun.
The second family, Vespid, contains the Social
Wasps, of which there are in England seven species.
They are divided into' the Ground-wasps and the Tree-
wasps, but their habits are not invariable, large nests of
the Ground-wasps being occasionally found suspended in
the roofs of houses and other such situations.
The Social Wasps, like the Social Ants and Bees, con-
sist of males, females, and workers or small imperfect
females, and their economy, though differing in some
important details, is to a great extent similar. One point
of difference is, that while the societies of Bees and Ants
HYMENOPTERA. ACULEATA. 215
continue from year to year, those of the Wasps are
strictly annual.
The foundation of a nest is laid in the spring by a
solitary female, which having crept into some sheltered
place at the approach of the winter, has survived its
rigours, and now issues forth prepared to found a new
city. Before the end of autumn this will have contained
a population of many thousands. If a Ground-wasp
(and we will take Vespa Vulgaris as the example), she
commences her operations in some convenient cavity in
the earth, it may be an old molehill, or a cavity under
the roots of a tree. Here, of paper moulded of the
gnawed fibres of wood, she constructs a small comb of a
very few shallow cells, and, roofing it over, deposits an
egg in each cell. She then proceeds to form more cells
and lay more eggs ; and, those first laid being speedily
hatched, her labours in behalf of the young become un-
remitting. Not only does she feed them with the greatest
care, but as they increase in size each little cell is again
and again increased in depth. This forming of imperfect
cells in the beginning points to a most curious economy
of time. From the first eggs are hatched the larvee of
workers only, and it is evident that the increase and
prosperity of the nest greatly depend on a speedy supply
of labourers at this time. This the queen provides for
by spending no more time in building than is absolutely
necessary before she lays the first eggs, which she does
as soon as the cells will contain them, trusting to her
own unceasing activity to make up all deficiencies as
occasion requires. These larva?, then, she feeds and
tends until the time of their first change. On emerging
from the pupa state the young workers, within a few
hours, set earnestly about assisting the foundress in her
216 INSECTS.
labours. They form fresh combs, they increase the size
of the cavity in which the nest is placed, and, cutting
up the original saucer-like covering of the nest, they
use its material towards the construction of an elaborate
roof of layer after layer of grey paper, the size of which
increases with that of the nest itself. All this while, and
indeed throughout her life, the female assists in these
labours, not, as with the Ants, relinquishing such cares so
soon as she is surrounded by a hundred little hands and
feet willing and eager to undertake the whole labour of
the hive, nor, as with the Bees, consenting to be installed
in all the pomp and dignity of monarchy. The Wasp, on
the contrary, having reared her brood of workers, pro-
ceeds to fill the new and refill the old cells with eggs
which again are to produce workers only, and joins the
first brood in the task of tending and feeding the second.
This, however, is not all : the workers themselves begin
to increase the population of the hive (although no males
have as yet been hatched, these never appearing till
towards the end of the season) and lay eggs which pro-
duce workers only, or, later, workers and males. The
large, or perfect, females are always the progeny of the
first mother or foundress of the nest, as, in the time which
is approaching, these also will alone survive the winter,
to be themselves the founders of new colonies.
When the colony has arrived at what may be called its
perfect state, consisting of males, females, and neuters,
the work proceeds more actively than ever. Living
in perfect harmony, the many females now assist in
the populating of the nest, sharing meanwhile the
labours of the neuters ; and the males, though they
neither feed the young nor help in building, yet find
themselves occupation in the way of "odd jobs about the
HTMENOPTERA. ACULEATA. 217
house." Unlike the drones among the Bees, \vhich seem
to live only on sufferance, the male Wasps, acting as
scavengers, undertakers, &c., are a welcome and useful
portion of the community.
Throughout the summer, then, the varied labours of
these citizens continue, the chief work being the care
and feeding of the young. These, supplied at first with
juices of fruits and such like tender fare, are presently
promoted to an animal diet composed of insects or meat,
half digested for them by their careful nurses ; and this
as they approach their full growth, is exchanged for the
stronger nutriment afforded by these substances in almost
their natural state.
There is little left to add to this history except the
closing scene. It has been said that the societies of
Wasps are strictly annual. Like all other Hymenopte-
rous insects, Wasps are keenly sensitive to change of
temperature, and the first few frosts are fatal to them.
What, then, is the lingering death in store for the
young, hitherto so carefully fed and tended ? Warmly
sheltered in their little cells, it seems that they must
survive their tender nurses, to die of gradual starva-
tion, instead of by the quicker operation of the frost.
But this is not the way in which such things are
ordered. The nurses, for whom no labour has seemed
too great, whose care for their young has up to this time
been increasing, now suddenly seize upon them, and,
tearing them from their cells, kill, without exception,
every single grub, and scatter the bodies outside the
desolated nest.
By this expedient, an expedient second only to that
found in the marvellous system of prey, a quick and
easy death is substituted for one of slow privation and
218 INSECTS.
suffering, and the parents and nurses die the most
enviable of deaths, leaving none to miss them, and no
work unfinished.
It is a well-known .fact that the female insects in many
orders are extremely tenacious of life until they have
fulfilled their appointed work of continuing the race.
Thus the life of a Moth or Butterfly, which under
ordinary circumstances would terminate in a few months,
may, if that be hindered, be prolonged to two or even
three years. To this law it is perhaps owing that a few
of the late hatched female Wasps survive the cold which
destroys the rest of the community, and are thus ready
at the return of spring to lay the foundation of a new
nest. Let then the whole race of Wasp-haters bear this
in mind. The single Wasp which trusts to the deceitful
courtesy of one mild day in December or January to
venture into our sight, will, before autumn, be the
mother of some thirty thousand. She crawls forth half
starved, half frozen, to claim from you perhaps the hun-
dredth of a grain of one of your lumps of sugar. If
you must murder Wasps, murder her, and fulfil the desire
of a Nero at one blow you have slain the thousands of a
city. But when summer comes refrain from the useless
cruelty of taking life after life from the joyous, busy
little creatures whom you may kill by thousands without
making the slightest perceptible difference in their
numbers, although with every little victim one happy life
has been quenched. If the preservation of fruit trees
is the object in this random, useless warfare, the object
will be better attained by placing more attractive food in
the neighbourhood of the fruit. If their "nasty sting''
is the objection to them, make but two calculations.
First, inquire of half a dozen septuagenarian friends
HYMENOPTERA. ACULEATA. 219
how often they have been stung in the course of their
lives, and see if the average amount to more than one
Wasp sting in thirty years. Secondly, reckoning how
many millions of Wasps you may count upon as neigh-
hours during those thirty years, calculate how much
your chances of being stung are diminished by the
number of those that you kill. If after this you still
feel that your duty to yourself requires it, then by all
means kill the next little nurse or mother that comes to
see whether some of your breakfast would be nice for the
little ones at home.
If the common saying that a good plum season is a
season of many Wasps be true, we may find in it some
comfort under their depredations.
It is impossible to enter here into the details of the
architecture of the Wasp ; suffice it to say that the nest
spoken of above consists, when finished, of several large
combs, placed horizontally one above the other, with the
mouths of the cells downwards, and connected by strong
pillars, or rather ligaments of paper, and roofed with a
series of layers of grey paper. When, as sometimes
happens, the Wasp builds her nest not in the ground but
under the roof of an outhouse or loft, the roof is rather
differently constructed, and looks like a loose tiling of
small oyster-shells. The material with which the nests
of the Tree-wasps are made is much tougher than that
manufactured by the Ground- wasps, Mr. Smith observ-
ing that " the Tree-wasps may be considered as card-
board makers, and the Ground-wasps as paper makers."
The cells and roofs of the latter are sometimes exceed-
ingly fragile, the Wasp using, according to circumstances,
decayed or sound wood, but even in this case preferring
those parts which are worn by exposure. The oyster-
220 INSECTS.
shells forming the roof of a Wasp's nest, lately found in
the roof of a dwelling-house, were beautified with zones
of green, the little architects having made use of decayed
wood coloured by the spores of P. seruginosa.
The species of Solitary Wasps are not always very
easily distinguished, and would require a more minute
description than space will allow to be given here. The
females and workers of the Ground and Tree-wasps
may, however, be distinguished by the colour of the
first joint of the antennae. In the former (Ground-
wasps, i.e., V. vulgaris, PL VIII., fig. 5, 5a, V. Ger-
manica, ru/a) this is black, and in the latter (Tree-
wasps, i.e,, V. arborea, sylvestris, Norvegica, PL VIII.,
fig. 6, 6a, and V. Crabro) it is yellow in front, as in the
males of all the species.
221
CHAPTER XVIII.
HYMENOPTERA. ACULEATA.
FROM the predaceous Hymenoptera we now turn to the
" Flower-lovers," or Bees. Familiar to all as are the
common Hive Bee, and the great velvety Humble Bee,
there are many species, little less common, which the
young observer can hardly persuade himself to accept
as Bees. Some are little black glossy creatures, hardly
larger than the common Ant; others, a little larger, are
glossy black and red ; others have a metallic lustre ;
and others again, as the parasitic Nomada, are banded
and spotted with black and yellow, yellow and red-
brown, yielding in showiness of colouring to none of
the Wasp or Sand-wasp tribes, and greatly resembling
some of these in form and general appearance.*
It becomes necessary, therefore, to look for some
character which shall distinguish the Bees from other
insects resembling them in form or colouring. This is
found in the peculiar form of the hind leg, already
mentioned, page 187 (see fig. 52, and compare fig. 57,
p. 222) ; the first joint of the tarsus in the Bees being a
flattish oblong or long triangular plate, whilst in the
Wasps, Sand-wasps, &c., this joint is cylindrical.
The purpose of this modification of form in the leg
of the Bee is discovered by observing the use made of
the limb by the larger number of species. The flattened
* See Plate IX.
222
INSECTS.
tarsal-joint (fig. 57, 1, 2, 3 e), and the tibia (d) to which
it is attached, are in many Bees densely clothed with
hairs for the conveyanceof pollen, whilst in the neuter
Social Bees (both Hive and Humble) these joints are
also naked on the outer side, flat or slightly concave, and
fringed with hairs, thus forming a kind of basket for the
reception of the pollen. The reader can hardly have
failed to observe the flight homewards of Bees thus
laden, their legs appearing enormously enlarged, and
coloured red, white, and yellow, according to the colour
of the pollen of such flowers as they have been visiting.
Thus the mignonette-bed sends out a host of red-legged
Bees, the same Bees issuing from the hollyhock are laden
with white pollen, and others carry home a store of gold.
This flattened form of the tarsus, existing more or
less in all Bees, does not however always indicate that
each Bee is a pollen bearer, nor does the absence of its
Fig. 57.
pollen-bearing accessories prove a
Bee to be one which lays up no
stores. Thus in the male or drone
of the Hive Bee, which takes no part
in the collection of provisions, the first
tarsal joint is remarkably large and flat
in proportion to the rest of the tarsus,
but it is not hollowed and fringed on
the outer side like that of the worker.
In the parasitic Bees the flattening of
the joint is observable though not
conspicuous, and there are, as might
1, Hindlegof^mia; be expected, no pollen-bearing ap-
2, Eucera; 3, Nomada pen dages ; while in others (some of
(Parasitic Bee). . . \
the oolitary Bees) their place is
supplied by a series of brushes under the abdomen, or by
HYMEXOPTERA. ACULEATA. 223
pollen-baskets in the thighs and at the base of the thorax.
Some Bees, known as builders and storers of provisions,
are apparently without any contrivance of the kind, pre-
senting one more of the countless paradoxes which arise
on all sides in tbe investigation of nature.
The front legs of the Bees are furnished with a beau-
tiful contrivance for the care and dressing of the antennae.
This is a comb-like moveable spur which grows at the
end of the tibia, and closes down over a notch in tbe
tarsus just deep enough to embrace the antenna. The
Bees may be seen drawing their antenna? through these
little notches again and again, cleansing them from dust
and dirt, and even, when first emerged from the pupa,
stripping off a membrane with which they are occa-
sionally invested.
Setting aside for the moment all arrangement founded
on structure, Bees may be distinguished as Solitary,
Social, and Parasitic.
The Solitary Bees vary in their modes of life. Some
make the tiny cells which are the cradles of their young
in the hollow tubular stalks of plants, in snail shells, or
in underground tunnels, and are in the strictest sense of
the word solitary ; while others, haunting in considerable
numbers the same spot, form colonies, in which however
each pair has its independent dwelling-place.
The Social Bees live either in republics or patri-
archal (or rather matriarchal) communities, each house-
hold consisting (as with the Social Ants and Wasps) of
one or more large perfect females, of smaller imperfect
females or neuters, and later of males and the large
females which are to produce their young in the following
year.
The Parasitic or " Cuckoo" Bees make their dwelling
224 INSECTS.
in the territories of their neighbours, whether Solitary or
Social; each parasitic species being, however, limited in
its choice of the species with which to take up its abode.
From this slight sketch it will be seen that, making
allowance for the difference occasioned by variety of
food, great resemblance exists in the economy of all the
tribes of Aculeate Hymenoptera. Like the Solitary
Wasps and Sand-wasps, the Solitary Bees cradle their
young in nests or tunnels, placing with them a store of
proper food. Like the Social Wasps and Ants, the
Social Bees live in communities, and, by the help of
neuter or imperfect individuals, provide for their young
with a continuous and tender care. Like the Parasitic
Wasps and Ants, the Parasitic Bees find shelter for their
young in homes for which they have not worked ; and
though in the one case this is death to the rightful
inhabitant, who falls a prey to his rapacious guest, and
in the other guest and host often live together in perfect
harmony, yet there is enough resemblance to mark the
chain of relationship which binds these tribes together.*
The scientific division of Bees, based on their struc-
ture, depends chiefly on peculiarities in the tongue, legs,
and wings.
In the first family, Andrenidse, the tongue is short (as
compared with the mentum, or chin) and flat (fig. 58, 1).
It is broad, obtuse, and bi-lobed or notched (somewhat
like that of the Wasp, but without glands at the tip) in
the two first genera ; in the six remaining genera it is
pointed, and triangular or more or less lanceolate.
* In the following pages, the reader must be careful to distinguish be-
tween the social Bees, i.e. those living in communities formed of 9, $,
and thirteen-jointed in $
SUBSECTION I. -PRfEDONES (Predatory Insects).
Hind-leg. Basal joint of tarsus not dilated.
I. Heterogyna (Different females), Ants.
Fore-wings not folded.
* 9 with or without wings, and and $ with
one or two nodes on base of abdomen.
(Habits social.)
a. ] node.
Family 1. Formicidse.
2. Poneridae.
b. 2 nodes.
3. Myrmecidse.
* * $ without wings, and $ furnished with spikes
at end of abdomen.
(Habits solitary.)
4. Mutillidse.
TABLE OF HYMENOPTERA. 253
Fossores (Diggers), Sand and Wood-wasps.
Fore-wings not folded.
9 and $ always winged.
$ no spikes at end of abdomen.
and $ no nodes on base of abdomen.
Family 5. Scoliidse.
6. Sapygidse.
7. Pompilidae.
8. Sphegidffi.
9. Larridte.
10. Nyssonidae.
11. Crabronidae.
12. Philanthidae.
Diploptera (Doubled-wings), True Wasps.
Fore-wings folded.
Family 13. Eumenidse (Solitary Wasps).
14. Vespidae (Social Wasps).
SUBSECTION II ANTHOPHILA (Flower Lovers),
Bees.
Hind leg. Basal joint of tarsus dilated.
I. Short-tongue d Bees.
Tongue shorter than the mentum.
Labial palpi of four nearly equal joints.
Fam. 1. Andrenidse.
* Tongue broad, more or less cleft.
Sub-jam. 1. Obtusilingues.
* * Tongue sharp-pointed.
Sub-fam. 2. Acutilingues.
II. Long-tongued Bees.
Tongue longer than the mentum.
Labial palpi of four joints, of which the basal or
the second exceeds the two terminal in length.
254 INSECTS.
Family 2. Apidas.
* Hind legs hairy, from coxa to tarsus
Sub-fam. 1. Andrenoides.
** Legs and abdomen not hairy.
Sub-fam. 2. Cuculinae*
*** Underside of abdomen very hairy.
Sub-fam. 3. Dasygastrae.
**** Tibia and tarsus of hind-leg very hairy.
Sub-fam. 4. Scopulipedes.
***** Males, females, and neuters living in com-
munities.
Sub-fam. 5. Sociales.
N.B. Terebrantia is here arranged as by Mr. Westwood,
and Aculeata as by Mr. Smith, in the Brit. Mus. Catalogue,
slightly altered to make the terms of division agree with
those of Terebrantia.
Fig. 64.
a 1
1. Nervures : a, Costal; d, Post-costal; e, Externo-medial ;
/, Anal ; g, m, Transverse- medial ; A, Radial ; i, Cubital ;
fc, Discoidal : I, Sub-discoidal ; n, Recurrent ; 6, Apical ; c,
Posterior margin ; o, Stigma.
2. Cells : I., Costal; II., Externo-medial ; III., Interno-medial ;
IV., Anal; V., Marginal; VL, 1st; VII., 2nd; VIII., 3rd;
IX., 4th. Submarginal : X., 1st; XL, 2nd; XIL, 3rd.
Discoidal: XIII., 1st; XIV., 2nd Apical.
* The naked-legged genus Ceratina is in Scopulipedes.
255
" There is a difference between a grub and a butterfly,
And yet your butterfly was once a grub." Coriolanus.
CHAPTEK XX.
ORDER IX. LEPIDOPTERA.
THE Order LEPIDOPTERA is easily distinguished. It
contains the Butterflies and Moths only, and excepting
some species with clear and nearly naked membranous
wings, and the wingless females of certain other species,
which might for a moment perplex a beginner, excepting
also a small number which, approaching the Trichoptera
in character are a difficulty to the more advanced, Moths
and Butterflies are recognised by even the most unob-
servant. More than this, not the appearance and names
only, but even something of the history of these
insects is very generally known, and observation of
their caterpillars and chrysalids, or the beautiful sight
of the young Moth emerging from the chrysalis, is often
the beginning of a taste for the study of insects.
Their metamorphoses have already been noticed in
256 INSECTS.
Chap. IV. ; peculiarities in the larvse and pupse of some
of the group will be entered into when these groups
have been noticed.
The wings in Lepidoptera are four. They are large,
and entirely, or in some cases only partially, covered
by minutes scales arranged like the tiles of a house.*
In some species the wings are furnished with a sort of
spring, consisting of a strong curved bristle on the
base of the hind-wing, which plays, during flight, in a
socket or semi-loop, formed either of a ridge in the
membrane, or of a tuft of hairs on the fore-wing. A
curious epaulette-like appendage, called tegula, thickly
clothed with hairs, of triangular form and sometimes
of a large size, occurs at the insertion of the fore-
wing.
The organs of sight consist of a pair of compound
eyes, and frequently of additional simple eyes or ocelli.
The legs are hairy and spurred, and furnished with
two claws of various forms. In some Butterflies the
fore-legs are wanting.
Familiar as these insects are, and popular as they are
among young collectors and students, they are rendered
peculiarly difficult to treat in a very small space by the
immense number of their families, genera, and species ;
and the absence of those marked differences of economy
in the several families which, corresponding with marked
differences of form, give so great an interest to other
large orders of insects, as, for instance, to the order
Hymenoptera,
* These scales, which, with other skin-appendages, as the scales of fishee,
feathers of birds, &c., are somewhat of the nature of hairs, are, like them,
rooted in the skin, and in some species are fixed there with great firmness
by a club-like enlargement of their stalk at its insertion.
LEPIDOPTERA. 257
The numerous variations which occur in the habits
of these insects, in the material of their food, and the
situation or construction of their dwellings, almost ex-
clusively concern the larvae, and little or no indication
of them is to be found in the imago.
Of the Butterflies only twenty-eight genera, contain-
ing sixty-six species, are known in England, and these
are arranged in five families. Of the Moths, the known
species of which are constantly increasing in number, there
are more than one hundred families, consisting of between
four and five hundred genera : these containing nearly
two thousand species. The one hundred families are
arranged in nine large groups.*
It will be easily seen that to describe the families (not
to mention the genera) of the Moths, would be to reduce
the following pages to little more than a mere table :
the utmost, therefore, that will be attempted as regards
arrangement, is to enable the reader to determine
first whether an insect be a Butterfly or a Moth.
If the former, to which of the five families, if the
latter, to which of the nine groups of families, it be-
longs.f
First, then, with regard to distinguishing Butterflies
from Moths. It is not at all uncommon to find an
* Minor subdivisions, as of sub-families, &c,, are also ia use, but it is
not necessary to speak more of these here.
f In Mr. Stainton's volume on "The British Butterflies and Moths "
(part of the present series), the reader will find an introduction to all the
families of Moths, and to a large number of tbe more conspicuous species
of both Moths and Butterflies. In his " Manual of British Butterflies and
Moths" (2 vols.) the species also are described. The student who intends
to make real progress in the knowledge of this tribe of insects is strongly
advised to possess himself of the latter work. It has been largely drawn
from in the following pages,
S
258* INSECTS.
insect pronounced a Butterfly or a Moth because its
colouring is bright or dull. Thus the dull-coloured
brown Wood Butterflies are often supposed to be Moths,
while the showy Tiger-Moth, with its rich brown and
cream-coloured fore-wings, and hind-wings of bright
scarlet and blue-black, the beautiful green and red
Burnet Moth, and the Peacock-eyed Sphinxes, are called
Butterflies. Sometimes, too, size is supposed to settle
the question ; and, on this account, the smaller Butter-
flies are called Moths, and the large Moths, Butterflies.
This, like the appeal to colour, is quite erroneous. As
to colour, nocturnal insects of all kinds are usually more
soberly coloured than diurnal, and, the Butterflies being
diurnal, while the larger number of species of Moths are
night-fliers, the former are generally more conspicuously
marked and coloured than the latter ; but the white and
brown Butterflies, and the numerous gaily-coloured Moths,
make any rule, even in this matter, impossible. As to size,
the range is much greater in the Moths, our largest
Moth, the Death's-Head, sometimes measuring five inches
from tip to tip of the expanded wings, while some of
the minute leaf-mining Moths are smaller than the
common little green Rose-Aphis. The largest Butterfly,
on the other hand (the Swallowtail) seldom exceeds four
inches, and the smallest, a little blue Butterfly, measures
from about three-quarters to one inch.
Neither size, then, nor colour, will guide us in dis-
tinguishing between Moths and Butterflies.
Moths and Butterflies differ^-first, in the form of
their antennae ; secondly, in the position and folding
of the wings when at rest; thirdly, very generally in the
character of the caterpillar and chrysalis.
First, the antennae. The two sections of Lepidoptera
LEPIDOPTERA. 259
are RHOPALOCERA ('PoTraAov, Rhopalon, club ;
keras, horn), containing the Butterflies; HETEROCERA
CErcpoc, heteros, different ; Kepag, keras, horn), contain-
ing the Moths.
The section RHOPALOCERA, the club-horns, contains
the Butterflies. The antennae of these are largest at the
tip. In most they are very fine and hair-like, with an
abrupt enlargement or knob at the tip. In others, as
the Blue Butterflies, the enlargement is rather more
gradual and club-like.*
In the HETEROCERA (the Moths), the horns are some-
times thickened about the middle or towards the tip,
sometimes are like slender hairs, sometimes are branched
and appear like exquisite feathers, but are always more
or less tapering, being smaller at the tip than imme-
diately below it.
Another difference between the Butterflies and Moths
is, that in Butterflies the wings are never folded nor laid
one over the other. In repose they are generally raised
above the body and placed against each other, displaying
only the under surfaces.
Of the Moths, on the contrary, while some repose
with the wings expanded, the greater part fold the hind-
wings and lay the fore-wings down over both them and
the body. The Butterfly-like Currant Moth, and some
of its relations, rest with the wings raised Butterfly-
fashion ; but these having tapering and sometimes
feathered antenna, may by this be known as Moths.
Some Butterflies of the family Hesperida3 (a family
which seems to be in many respects a link between the
* There are exceptions to this rule among foreign Butterflies, some
having tapering, hair-like, or somewhat flat-knobbed antennae.
S *
260 INSECTS.
Butterflies and Moths), carry the fore-wings erect and
the hind-wings horizontally when in repose.
The spring and socket (mentioned p. 256) is generally
found in Moths and never in Butterflies. Again, the
hind-legs of Butterflies have two pairs of spurs on the
tibiae (excepting in the Hesperidse), while the Moths
have only one pair.
The Butterflies are divided into five families
1. Papilionidee.
2. Nymphalidse.
3. Erycinidse.
4. Lycaenidse.
5. Hesperidffi.
1. Papilionidae. This family includes (with one ex-
ception)* all the white, yellow, and greenish- white or
yellow Butterflies, with and without black markings.
The only approach to bright colouring in English
species of this family is found in Colias Edusa (the
clouded yellow), which is rich black and yellow, and in
Anthocharis Cardamine (orange tip), of which the male
has a patch of bright orange on the fore-wings, wanting
in the female, and beautiful green markings on the
under-side of the hind-wings. The large swallowtail
cream-coloured, with black markings has also a brick -
red spot on the hind-wings, almost the only instance of
anything but black, white, yellow, and greenish when
occurring in English species of this family.
The Brimstone or Sulphur Butterfly (PL X., fig. 1) is
one of the most beautiful of these. The form is singu-
larly elegant, from the varied curves in the outline of
the pointed wings. The colour is delicate and beautiful,
* This is the Marbled White the first species in the next family.
LEPIDOPTERA. 261
being true sulphur in the male, while the female is
somewhat whiter.
Individuals are common of a tender greenish hue,
which, combined with the angular form of the wings,
gives a remarkably leaf-like appearance to the insect.
The time of its appearance adds another charm, the
Sulphur Butterfly being usually the first awakened from
its winter sleep, while it is also one oij the latest to
remain with us, as if unwilling to give up the hope that
" summer liveth still."
Those seen in the Autumn months are the lately-
hatched individuals, the earlier visitors being such as
have lain dormant through the winter.
The common large and small White Butterflies, the
delicate and somewhat transparent " Black-veined White,"
the " Bath White," with its patches of black, and its
greenish under-side, are all included in this family, which
contains eleven species.
2. Nymphalidae. The most striking peculiarity in this
family is that all the species (in both sexes) have only
four legs ; the front pair being undeveloped. This dis-
tinguishes the Nymphalid from all other Butterflies
but one namely, the male of Nemeobius lucina, the only
British Butterfly in the 3rd family.
In the Nymphalidse the colours are generally dark, or
rich and sometimes beautifully variegated ; dark brown,
rich tawny-brown, orange, black, with brilliant markings
of scarlet, blue, and white, being all found here. One
exception to them is found in a black and cream-
coloured Butterfly, the " Marbled White," which in this
assimilates with the Papilionidae. The absence of the
front pair of legs, however, at once marks it as belong-
ing to the present family, and some ring-like spots, with
262 INSECTS.
white centres, are found on the underside of the hind-
wings. This marking is very common in this family,
hut not in Papilionidse, although the Clouded Yellow,
Colias, in Papilionidse has a ringed spot of some-
what silvery surface on the underside of the hind-
wing.
The family Nymphalidas contains, hesides the Marbled
White already named, all the hrown wood and meadow
Butterflies ; sober-coloured insects whose chief charm
is their very commonness, which associates them in our
memories with the woodland scenes and sunny days in
which they are seldom wanting.
There are several genera of these, and on the wings
of all the species several small dark spots occur which
have minute white centres, and are placed sometimes in
a pale or tawny ring or patch. The common " Meadow
Brown " (PL X., fig. 2), and the common little tawny
"Small Heath," are examples of this. Amongst the
more richly-coloured of the Nymphalidse, we come to
the White Admiral, and the Purple Emperor, both of a
brownish black with broad white markings. The male
of the Purple Emperor has also a deep purple lustre,
and some ringed spots on each hind-wing.
In the Painted Lady, " painted " with a delicate mix-
ture of rich dark brown with pale orange, tawny, and white,
ring-like marks are conspicuous on the under side.
But it is in the genus Vanessa that the ringed or eye-
like spot attains its highest glory in the Peacock
Butterfly, which, with its gorgeous peacock -eyed wings,
is perhaps the most conspicuously beautiful among
British insects. In this the under side is of very dark
rich brown made the richer (as by " stippling ") from
being covered with a minute and obscure pattern of a
LEPIDOPTERA. 263
darker colour. The upper side is too well known to
require any description.
All the Vanessas, which include the Peacock, Tortoise-
shells, Red Admiral, &c., and which, except the latter, are
somewhat sober in the colouring of their under side, are
remarkable for the ragged outline which they display
when closed, but which the patterns and colours of
their plumage render less conspicuous when expanded,
and still more ragged than any of these is one in the
next genus, Grapta, a rather scarce Butterfly, which a
young entomologist might almost pass by, when at
rest, as a torn and spoiled specimen. Above it is deep
yellow, brown, and black ; below, dark and dusky, and
marked in the middle of the hind-wing with a c-shaped
white spot, by which it may be recognised.
If among the Tortoiseshell and Peacock Butterflies a
beautifully marked and coloured upper surface is often
contrasted with a dark and dingy under side, in the
Fritillaries which succeed them we find several species
decorated underneath in an exquisite manner. In these
insects the jagged and irregular outline disappears
the upper side is a rich tawny colour, distinctly
lined and spotted with black : the under side of
the wings is studded with spots (in one species with
bands) of burnished silver. The silvery (not ivhite)
appearance of these spots is very remarkable, the
effect being exactly that of the polished metal. A
similar plumage is found in some minute moths, whilst
in others appears a surface of true golden or brassy
lustre. These silvered Butterflies are of the genus
Argynnis ; other Fritillaries, belonging to the genus
Melitcea, in the same family, resemble them in their
general colouring, but are without these spots.
264 INSECTS.
We now come to the third family, Erycinidse. This
contains but one British species, Nemeobius Lucina,
the male of which resembles the Nymphalidse in the
non-development of the fore-legs, while the female is
six-legged like other butterflies. This, though distinct
from the Fritillaries in the last family, resembles them
in the colouring, and is commonly known by the same
English name, Fritillary. It has no silvery spots
beneath.
The fourth family, Lycrenidse, contains those beautiful
little blue butterflies (PL X., f. 3), which, haunting the
same chalky districts that are the natural home of the
blue harebell, are so often to be seen hovering over its
delicate blossoms so near, indeed, do these two little
creatures approach in hue, in size, in fragility, in grace
and beauty, that it needs little more than the languid
dreaminess of an idle hour in a warm spring morning
to see the flowers take wing, and to hear them whisper-
ing the secret of their delight to their less aspiring
sisters, yet clinging to the slender stems which hold
them to the earth. Besides these the family contains
the brilliant little Copper Butterflies of the same size,
and often to be found in their company, their dark, rich
sparkling colour forming a beautiful contrast with the
delicate hues of the little blues. The brown and orange,
or purple Hair Streaks (Thecla) are also of this family.
The species of Thecla, may, all but one, be recognised
by two small tails on each hind wing. The colours are
brown with orange spots, or, in the Purple Hair Streak,
brown, with a rich purple tinge. The one tailless species,
the Green Hair Streak, is brown, without the orange
spots, and may be recognised by its green underside.
The species of Blue Butterflies vary in hue, and the
LEPIDOPTERA. 265
females of some are brown, with or without a purple
lustre. Some species of the genus are brown in both
sexes, some rich brown with orange spots. The under
side is pale blue, grey, pale greyish, or fawn-brown,
covered or margined with black spots, some of which
are enclosed in white, or whitish rings, sometimes with
red spots. It is from the occurrence of these conspi-
cuous spots that the genus Polyommatus (many-eyed)
receives its name.
The Copper Butterflies, Chrysophanus, never 'have
rings round the spots on their hind- wings. C. Phleas,
the small Copper, is common, and is very frequently
found in company with the Blue Butterflies, with the
delicate hues of which its rich and burnished wings are
in beautiful contrast, rendered more striking by the
similarity of size and general form. This little Butter-
fly, like the Thecla, seems to have earned for itself the
character of being quarrelsome. A curious variety has
been found in which the copper was on both wings ex-
changed for pure white.
The fifth and last family, Hesperid, appears in
several respects to be nearly related to the Moths, the
body being thicker in proportion than is usual in Butter-
flies, the legs having, like the Moths, only one pair of
spines, the fore-wings (in some species) being erect
during repose, while the hind-wings remain in a hori-
zontal position, and the antenna in two species being
slightly hooked at the tip, in a manner resembling that
of some Moths. Besides this, the larva spins for its
change a thin cocoon, a habit unusual among Moths,
as will hereafter be shown. In this family the colours
are chiefly rich brown and tawny, or yellowish. One
pretty little species, Thymele Alveolus, is nearly black,
266 INSECTS.
with a greenish hue, and marked with numerous angular
cream-coloured spots. The Butterflies in this family
are remarkable for their short, abrupt flight, whence they
derive their common name of Skippers.
The flight of Butterflies varies greatly in different
families and genera. Those with the greatest power of
flight are found among the richly-coloured species in the
second family, Nymphalidee, the Tortoiseshells, Peacock,
Eed Admiral, &c., one, the Purple Emperor, exceeding
all others in this, soaring sometimes completely out of
sight. In the same family, among the Brown Butter-
flies, are found some also of the weakest fliers, with a
habit of keeping near the ground.
The Small White Butterfly, Pieris Rapee (in the first
family), though not reckoned among the strong fliers,
distinguished itself about five-and-twenty years ago by
flying from France to England in such countless swarms,
that accounts of the time speak of the sun being com-
pletely hidden from vessels in the Channel, during a pro-
gress of several hundred yards, by the clouds of insects.
It seems likely that they may have received the assistance
of an aerial current on their journey, a strong west
wind having arisen shortly after their arrival in England.
This swarming of certain species of insects in a par-
ticular year is a phenomenon which occurs in nearly all
the orders, and is one of the problems in natural history
as yet unsolved by observation. In some cases count-
less myriads make their appearance, as in the case
of the Turnipfly recorded by Mr. Smith (p. 159), or
the recurring instances of such swarms of Ladybirds.
In others, insects more or less rare in some years, are
comparatively abundant in others. This has been
especially noticed of the " Clouded Yellow" Butterfly
LEPIDOPTERA. 267
(Colias Edusa), which, as Mr. Newman notes, is usually
visible, sometimes exceedingly plentiful, every four
years. The Camherwell Beauty, generally exceedingly
rare, has been seen to come afield in a " flock," as have
others of its more brilliant comrades, the Peacock, &c.
The Leopard Moth, an insect so rare as to be formerly
sold at a guinea a specimen, abounded about ten years
ago to such a degree, that nearly all the young trees
in Euston Square, and the copse plantations of ash in
many parts of the country were destroyed by its pith-
eating Iarva3.
This may be partly accounted for by the power pos-
sessed by some Lepidoptera, of remaining long in the
pupa state. Sphinx Ligustri has been known to remain
in the Chrysalis for three years, while Mr. John Sircow
records the coming out of a Moth after six years of
incarceration. It may be supposed that a particularly
favourable season brings to perfection the insects of many
preceding years.
Mr. Douglas notes that weather has an effect upon
the hatching of Lepidoptera, a warm rain after drought
being favourable to this process. In some cases a great
abundance of particular Butterflies has been accounted
for by their having lived through the winter, thus adding
the numbers of one year to those of another.
268
CHAPTEK XXI.
LEPIDOPTERA (continued) .
THE families of Moths (Heterocera) number, as has
been already said, about 100. These are formed into
nine groups :
1. Sphingina.
2. Bombycina.
3. Noctuina.
4. Geometrina.
5. Pyralidina.
6. Tortrioina.
7. Tineina.
8. Pterophorina.
9. Alucitina.
The first group is readily distinguished by the spindle-
shaped antennae antennae, that is, which are thick in
the middle, and taper towards the point and the base.
They approach more nearly to the clavate antennae of
some Butterflies, than do those of any other group of
Moths. And, indeed, similar antenna? are found in
some foreign species in the last family of Butterflies
Hesperidaa.
The Sphingina have, by some authors, been considered
not as Moths, but as forming an independent tribe,
between, and equal to, the great tribes of Butterflies and
LEPIDOPTERA. 269
Moths. They are now, however, ranked as one group
of the Moths.
This group contains, amongst others, the Sphinx
Family,* many of which, though not among our com-
monest Moths, are well known, on account of the atten-
tion they attract when they do appear. Their bodies are
large; most species have pointed and elegantly-formed
wings, and some are rendered further conspicuous by the
beauty of their colouring, and the eye-like spots on their
wings. The brown and rose-coloured Privet Hawk-Moth,
the Eyed Hawk-Moth, with rosy brown and bluish-eyed
wings, and the small Elephant Hawk-Moth (PL X., f. 4)
belong to the Sphinx family in this group. The Con-
volvulus, Privet, and Firtree Hawk-Moths are remark-
able for their long tongues, longer sometimes than the
whole body, and able to reach into the honeyed depths of
the longest flower-tubes. The singular and handsome
Death's-head belongs to this family, and is as remarkable
for shortness, as the true Sphinges for length of tongue
(Even the Sphinx loquacious as compared with Death !)
As might be expected, it does not therefore seek for
honey secreted in the depths of flowers. Loving this
food, however, as well as do its cousins, the Death's-
head is frequently to be found in hives feasting on the
sweet substance, as it lies stored therein. As, however,
only a few individuals can be supposed to derive nourish-
ment from this source, it remains to be discovered in
what other places, and on what other substances, the
insect feeds. Possibly, it may suck the juices of over-
ripe or bruised fruit, as Bees are well known to do in a
scarcity of honey.
* So called from the sphinx-like appearance of the Caterpillar when at
rest.
270 INSECTS.
This group contains (in the Death's-head Moth), the
largest species of British Moths.
The comparatively common Humming-Bird Moth,
somewhat resembling the Sphinges in general appear-
ance, belongs also to this group, as do some remarkable
clear-winged Moths, in which the scales, thickly planted
along the margins of some of the nerves, are wanting on
the membrane, which accordingly gives to these insects
a curious bee -like or wasp-like appearance.
The same group contains the beautifully-coloured
Burnet Moths, in which deep glossy bluish green, or
greenish blue and deep bright crimson are the prevailing
colours.
Most of these insects, excepting the true Sphinges, fly
by day. The group contains about thirty-eight species.
The second group is Bombycina, and, with all the re-
maining groups, has the antennae tapering, fine and
thread-like, sometimes with a deep double feather-like
fringing, sometimes only slightly fringed, sometimes
simple.
Bombycina contains several stout-bodied Moths, and
it is among these that the larvae, whose silk has become an
article of commerce, are found. The common Silk-worm
Moths, with their beautiful feathered antennae the large
spotted Leopard-Moth, the pencilled grey Goat- Moth,
(named from the smell of the larvae,) the Buff-tip
(PL X. f. 5.) sometimes so undistinguishable from a
broken twig, as it lies among the fallen leaves on the
ground the downy, large-winged Drinker, the Tussocks,
the handsome little Vapourers, and their clumsy and wing-
less females, the Brown Tiger, with its orange and
black-spotted hind-wings, the Cream-spotted Tiger,
with its black and cream-spotted fore-wings, yellow
LEPIDOPTERA. 271
and black spotted hind-wings, the delicate Ermine, and
the magnificent Peacock-eyed Emperor-Moths, are all
well-known examples of this group, which contains more
than 100 species. The greater number of these fly by
day. One family, which flies at twilight, has obtained
the name of the Sivifts, from the character of its motions.
In the Genus Psyche in this group, not only is the
female wingless, like that of the Vapourer, but she is
legless, antenna-less, and lives and dies within a portable
case formed and lived in by the larva. There must have
been some ingenuity in the naturalist who selected this
Moth, of all Moths, to bear the name of Psyche !
The antenna? in this group vary : in the principal
genera the antennae are flattened in the male, if not in
both sexes. Those of the Swifts are thread-like. The
most common attitude of repose is with the fore-wings
laid over the hind, and deflexed, as in the Tiger-Moth,
the Goat, the Leopard, &c. ; but some, as the Emperor,
rest with the wings extended. Others, again, assume a
peculiar position, allowing the under-wings to show
beyond the sides of the fore-wings.
This group is rendered interesting by the habits of
some of the larvse, which will be noticed hereafter.
Most of the night-flying Moths belong to the third
group Noctuina (whence this derives its name). These
insects are of smaller size than many of the preceding,
but are generally heavy-looking when in repose, their
bodies being stoutish, and their fore-wings narrow con-
cealing the broader hind- wings, which are folded beneath
them. The antenna are generally slender and simple,
the thorax is sometimes crested, and at rest the fore-
wings usually cover the hind, and are deflexed.
Nearly all the Noctuina are marked on the fore- wing,
272 INSECTS.
more or less distinctly, with a round or oval spot, a
kidney-shaped spot, and sometimes a wedge, or club-
shaped spot. Certain lines also run partly across the
wing.* These markings are sometimes very faint, some-
times wanting. Most of the brown, and more or less
dingy, heavy, middle-sized common Moths belong to
this group, while among them are some more conspicuous.
The Ked-underwing, a large grey Moth with red hind-
wings, decorated with broad black bands, is amongst
the latter ; and one genus, Plusia, glitters with gold
and silver. A very pretty Moth, Gonoptera Libatrix
(PL X. f. 6), belongs to this group. It is about an
inch long when the wings are closed : of a mixed grey
and brickdust colour, with minute white spots. The
wings are ragged-looking, and the thorax is crested.
This Moth is to be met with everywhere.
The group contains upwards of 300 species.
Geometrina is the fourth group. These Moths have
broad wings, and generally slender bodies. This is not
without exception ; but the group is well marked by
the peculiarity of the larvee, from which it derives its
name. These Geometrina or Earth-measuring Cater-
pillars, will be described hereafter.
The Geometrina are generally more delicate and
Butterfly-like than most of the preceding groups.
The large, delicate, and very beautiful sulphur -coloured
Swallowtail Moth, for instance, might certainly, but
for the slender and tapering antennse, be mistaken
for a Butterfly. The common little yellow Brimstone
Moth (Rumia Cratsegata), with its spotted wings,
* Similar marks are found in some families of the fifth group, Pyra-
lidina, but the smaller bodies of the latter serve to distinguish them.
LEPIDOPTERA. 273
and the equally common spotted Currant Moth, are
instances of this Butterfly-like character. Many species
are delicately coloured and marked ; a tender green,
white, delicate and brighter yellows, are common among
them. Exceedingly delicate pencilling also prevails
among the group, and the outlines of many species
are most elegant; in the attitude of repose, many of
these keep the wings expanded; others, as the Currant
Moth, raise them over the back in true Butterfly-fashion.
The larger number, however, repose in this as in other
groups, with the hind-wings concealed under the fore.
The females in some families are wingless.
The number of species in Geometrina is nearly equal
to that in Noctuinae.
Pyralidina contains slender-bodied Moths, differing
from those of the two preceding groups in the shape of
the fore-wings, which are long and triangular. In some
which lay their fore-wings horizontally on their backs
in repose, this is very apparent, the outline of the insect
forming a well-defined triangle, rendered the more per-
fect by the long, sharp snout, which is characteristic
of many of the Pyralidina (PI. XT., fig. 2. Hypena
proboscidalis).
One family of these snouted Moths, known as Grass
Moths, is easily recognised. The wings are large and
limp when expanded, but when at rest are folded close
round the long, slender body. In this position they are
amongst the most uninteresting-looking of Moths ; but
it is curious to watch them on a clear sunny day, sport-
ing by myriads in a grass field so long as the sun shines,
and the moment that a cloud fleets across him, settling
head downwards on the grass stalks, and with wings
closely folded, so as to become in an instant almost
T
274 INSECTS.
invisible. Their inconspicuous colouring whitish, yel-
lowish, brownish and the longitudinal markings in
the wings of some species, greatly increase their power
of concealing themselves, although under our very eye.
The writer has, on a day of swiftly alternating cloud
and sunshine, watched a grass field seeming literally
alive with these Moths, and with myriads of blue Butter-
flies, and in which, a few seconds after the obscuration
of the sun, a skilled eye was required to detect the pre-
sence of either, although in a hundred places seven or
eight of the lately blue now speckled drab Butterflies
were resting on one grass-stalk, and the same stalks
were thickened with the close-clinging Moths.
There are many very pretty and delicate species in
this group, snoutless, of somewhat Butterfly-like aspect,
and reposing with the wings spread. Some of these
are beautifully marbled. The " Small Magpie " (PL XL,
fig. 1), of which the Larva feeds on nettles, is one of the
commonest of these. In others, the wings are trans-
lucent, and have the lustre and colouring of mother-of-
pearl. The group contains only about one hundred and
seventy species.
In Tortricina, the sixth group, the more characteristic
genera are distinguished by the marking and form of the
fore-wings. These are broadish, and the front margin
bows out from the shoulder (see PL XI., fig. 3, Xantho-
setia Zygcena) ; some nearly triangular Moths are, how-
ever, found among them, and, as the unicolorous hind-
wings indicate, these are concealed in an attitude of
repose. The colouring is very sober, and the markings
are generally in patches. These insects are mostly of
rather small size ; the number of British species amounts
to about three hundred.
LEPIDOPTERA. 275
Tineina is a very large group, chiefly composed of
very small Moths, and which has attracted much atten-
tion on account of the variety of habit among the
larvae. The Moths are slender-bodied and very fragile,
their most striking features being the extreme length of
the hair or scales which fringe the wings. The form of
the wings varies in different families. Some are wing-
less or nearly wingless in the female sex. The antennae
too, short in some families and genera, are to be found
in some cases of more than six times the length of the
body.
The group contains fifteen families, nearly a hundred
genera, and between six and seven hundred species. The
common Clothes Moths, and the exquisite little families of
Leaf-Miners (see PI. XI., fig. 4), sometimes spangled and
banded with gold and silver, belong to this, the most
numerous family of the tribe. Many wingless females are
found among species whose larvae live in portable cells.
The eighth family, Pterophorina, is easily recognised,
containing only the ten-plume Moths (see PL XI. fig. 5),
the white species of which, common in strawberry beds,
is perhaps one of the best known as well as most beau-
tiful of insects. Their bodies and legs are very long ;
their fore-wings split into two, and the hind-wings into
three plumes. They fly at twilight.
Alucitina contains the twenty- (more correctly twenty-
four) plume Moths. Only one species is known in
England (see PL XI., fig. 6) an inconspicuously coloured
insect, which, however, standing always expanded, so as
to form the most exquisite little feather-fan, has pro-
bably attracted the attention of most persons.
T 2
276
CHAPTER XXII.
LEPIDOPTERA. LA^RVM.
IF there is little variety to be observed in the habits
and manners of the perfect insects in Lepidoptera, there
is much that is curious and interesting in the history of
their larva?.
Their beauty alone would call attention to many
species, as in the case of the Privet-hawk Moth, with
its soft green hue and purple and white decorations, and
above all, its dignified and sphinx-like carriage.
The tufted Hop-dog, with a green coat " slashed "
with black velvet and a pick-tipped tail, the larva of the
Tussock, is so prized and admired in the hop counties
that it is common to find it in the cottage of the very
poorest and most ignorant hop-gatherers. The hump-
backed, two-tailed Kitten Caterpillar, pale green, pink,
and grey and white ; the dark- green Caterpillar of the
Emperor Moth, with its gold-spangled black bands
these and many others have but to be seen to call
forth the admiration of the most determined hater of
" creeping things."
But, as is often the case, it is among the less con-
spicuous insects that some of the most interesting habits
are to be found, and there is neither time nor place in
which we may not meet with one or other of the Moth
LEPIDOPTERA. LARV.E. 2?7
larvae or pupae under circumstances which claim our
attention.
The true Naturalist (or, to use a pleasanter and larger
term, the lover of nature), while in the eyes of the world
a mere idler, has, of all men, the least chance or oppor-
tunity of being idle.
The Botanist and Entomologist, for instance, will
hardly pass without question a blotch in a leaf, a thread-
like track in a dusty road, a hole in a tree trunk, or a
patch of discoloration in a wall, unless he has traced
out its history, and found a reason for its being
there.
And thus it falls out that the driest hedge by a dusty
road-side, the oldest paling, the newest brick-wall, pre-
sents to his mind a series of what have been called " life
histories," not perhaps written out in full, but indicated ;
and the series of familiar signs which meets the eye of
the practised Naturalist give a pleasure not unlike that
which the bookworm derives from the perusal of a book-
catalogue or of the book-backs in a library.
Now the student of the tribe before us has especial
facilities for accounting for a spot on this leaf, a streak
on that, a fragment of silk clinging to a third, and a
jagged hole in a fourth. To him the spot may recall the
history of a little creature sheltered in a leafy tent, con-
structed by itself, and carried like the house of a snail ;
still farther sheltered by the instinct which confined its
labours below the leaf. Eating and eating, first it has
destroyed the under cuticle of the leaf, then the green and
tender part withjm, even till the upper cuticle was reached ;
never touching this, keeping its shelter unimpaired,
until, full-grown and ready for its change, it falls to the
ground, where it now lies swathed in a little shroud (its
278 INSECTS.
former tent), and waiting the awakening. To him the
undulating streak upon the bramble leaf, no thicker
than a hair in its beginning, but widening, river-like, in
its onward course, tells of a visit from a glorious little
sylph in gold and purple robes. The sylph is gone, bat
she has left behind her an almost invisible living atom
an egg, which, hatched, gives birth to an equally invisible
little creature a " caterpillar." Fully furnished with ap-
paratus for eating and for digesting, this loses no time in
setting about his labour of love ; and beginning to eat the
green pulp between the cuticles, injuring neither cuticle,
he is safely housed as it might seem from every danger.
And now, in the widening sinuous track, our Entomo-
logist sees his invisible little glutton growing fatter and
fatter, and requiring more room. He can imagine the out-
grown skin burst and laid aside, and replaced by a newer
and larger garment from within, and this perhaps again
and again, till, like his little tent-making friend, this also
drops to the ground, spins a silken shroud, and takes his
long winter repose.*
What is the little shred of white silk ? It may be the
remains of the cunningly-devised cell of a Hunting-Spider,
or it may be a silken shroud spun by some Caterpillar in
which to sleep the sleep from which will come so glorious
an awakening perhaps it may be both the emptied
shroud of the Caterpillar (how emptied ?), now occupied
as a house, a den, a " parlour/' by the Spider and,
perhaps, in a fragment of pupa case, or cast Spider-skin ;
the whole history may be plainly read when both the
living occupants are gone. Once more. This jagged
* If the mine be white it is empty, if but little discoloured the miner is
probably within.
LEPIDOPTERA. LARV.E. 279
hole in a leaf who made it? A jagged bole if so, it is
not the work of the Leaf-Cutter Bee. She would have left
her token behind in a nearly circular smooth -edged gap
at the edge, and infringing on the edge of the leaf, tell-
ing of a neat carpet laid down by the little housekeeper
in some well-stored home but this hole is jagged.
Is it the work of the Sawfly of the Slug of the
Caterpillar ? Our Entomologist will be able to tell
us.
It has been said above that there is neither time nor
place in which we may not find the traces of these
creatures, if not the creatures themselves. If at one
time of the year we tear a handful of moss from the
trunk of a tree, out drop some little brown Chrysalids ;
if at another we drag a tuft of grass up by the roots, there
we find silken tubes, the homes of some small Cater-
pillars. We find them in fungi, we find them in grain,
we find them in teazle-heads, in fir-cones, in rose-buds, and
in fruit ; and the Hymenopterist, carefully watching the
insect emerging from a Gall, discovers that he has reared
in it a Moth ! On the face of a lichen-covered rock we
see a moving fragment, and lo ! a little Caterpillar, neatly
encased like a Caddis-worm in a tent of lichen, is moving
and feeding, safe even from the bird's sharp eye. We
open our drawers, and there, oh, sight of horror ! what
is that streak of white silk upon the best garment the
garment laid by, too good for common wear ? We look
farther, what is that dusky little roll ? Is it a " great
coat" on a microscopic scale? It matches our best
garment ominously. It moves a head peeps out
some little legs, and away it walks ! Tell not
the housekeeper ! away it walks in safety from
the admiring Entomologist, if eye or lens has revealed
280 INSECTS.
the laborious weaving of the little garment, "his, late
mine."
While, however, we look admiringly on the ingenuity
of this thievish little tailor, we can but gravely con-
template his morals ; for the great law, " honour among
thieves," is totally disregarded by him. Two individuals
which, revelling on a many-coloured woollen rug, had
woven themselves most exquisitely- coloured and patterned
coats, were shut up together by the writer till it should
be convenient to make " specimens" of them. On open-
ing the box it was discovered that one had eaten half of
his neighbour's coat, and used up the remaining half in
patching his own, with much the same effect as would
be produced by the mending a kilt of one tartan with
pieces of another.
Yet again. In the hollowed stems of ash, lime, &c.,
we find the large pith-eating larvse of the Leopard and
other Moths, in numerous small plants numerous other
species ; while the Goat-Moth Caterpillar does not
flinch from attacking the solid trunks of timber trees, in
which it forms large cavities.
Some live in the leaves of plants, carefully curled,
lined with silk, and sewed up with silken thread. Others
bind together the young leaves at the extremity of the
shoots of plants, and feed luxuriously on their tender
substances.
Of the Leaf-Mining species alone the variety is con-
siderable, and the individuals are abundant. If anyone
doubts this, let him walk three yards along the first hedge
of varied foliage which he finds. First, how many white-
tracked bramble leaves will he see ? how many white
tracks in one leaf (never crossing or interfering with
LEPIDOPTERA. LARV^. 281
one another) ? Again, what is this large pale blotch on
the leaf of a wild plum or sloe ? Both surfaces seem
sound ; but he holds it to the light, and finds all the
green substance gone from within. An elm-tree over-
hangs : what is this dark zigzag track ? what this pretty
little pink stain on the sorrel at our feet ? What these
puckered lines on a hundred blades of grass ? Why is
half this hawthorn leaf brown, and dry, and thin ? Does
not the irregular line of black granules between the
cuticles tell of the passage of a creature feeding, digest-
ing, rejecting ? Enter the garden and look up ; the
drooping branches of laburnum show a hundred pale
patches marked like an oyster-shell in concentric lines,
and fortunate is the looker-on if the author of this
disfigurement is present, or rather, not the author, a
Caterpillar, but the beautiful creature developed from
that little grub (PI. XL, fig. 4).
Not all mined-leaves, however, have been the homes
of tiny Moth-larvae. On the leaves of buttercups,
primroses, holly, honeysuckle, and many others, are
found mines made by various species of two-winged
Flies ; and here, again, minute observation is necessary.
One means of distinguishing the Lepidopterous from
the Dipterous mines is afforded by the manner in which
the usually black, granular, excrementitious matter is
deposited, forming " a continuous track" in the mines
of the Lepidoptera, while in the mines of the Diptera it
is scattered irregularly. "In the blotch mine of the
sloe, the work of a Lepidopterous larva,* this matter is
* The writer finds the rules concerning the Lepidoptera mines in a MS.
note taken from the "Zoologist," aud with no authority affixed.
282 INSECTS.
usually in a heap in the lower end of the mine ; in
Khamnus Cathartica and Clematis vitalba it appears to
be fluid, not granular."
In more unexpected places we <3ome upon the larvae of
Moths. Those of the family Galleridce, in the group
Pyralidinae, inhabit in large numbers the hives of Bees,
where they, protecting themselves from attack by the
construction of silken galleries (hardened, it is said, with
wax), feed upon the waxen combs, occasioning such
mischief as sometimes to destroy the hive.
Another family, in the same group, are aquatic, some
living under water in cases filled with air, while others,
furnished with fish-like breathing apparatus, breathe in
the water itself.
The variety of food thus shown to be used by the
larvae of Moths may probably be new to the reader, who
it is likely has thought of Caterpillars as exclusively
vegetarian in their habits, excepting the little Clothes-
Moth grubs, with their taste for hair of all sorts, whether
in the form of woollen stuffs, fur, or horsehair stuffings.
But there are not only species which feed on dead animal
matter of very various kinds, as the hair aforesaid,
leather, grease, and butter ; but there are some which,
whatever their natural and usual food may be, will feed
also on other living insects. This is the case with the
large evil-smelling Caterpillar of the Goat Moth, and the
" Satellite," and it is on this account carefully watched
by the collector, as it will eat even its own species. The
larvae of the Puss Moth eat their >east skins, whilst some
larvae eat their own egg-shells on emerging from them.
These may be dainty, but can hardly be very nourishing
food.
With regard to variation in food, it may be mentioned
LEPIDOPTERA. LARVJ5. 283
here, that though some vegetarian Caterpillars will eat
almost any plants, yet in most cases individual species
of larva? are confined to -single species of plants, while
it is noticed that nearly-related genera of insects will
be apportioned to nearly-related genera of plants.
Nevertheless, there are instances of larv, deprived of
their natural food, taking with perfect content to
another kind. Thus the Silkworm, properly feeding on
mulberry leaves, may be kept on lettuce; and another
larva, supposed to be in its natural state an eater of
fungi, has so prospered and multiplied in London wine-
cellars, while feeding on the corks, as to be the cause of
serious injury to the stock. In this case the change of
food is argued from the impossibility that eggs or larvae,
if imported in the corks, could survive the various ope-
rations which these undergo.
And now, after this most unmethodical beginning, it
is necessary to turn to details which may give the reader
a clue to determining the tribe, group, or family to
which belong some of the larvae and pupae with which he
may meet.
The first thing to be done is to divide the larvae and
pupae of Butterflies from those of Moths.
Mr. Stainton, in his " Manual of Butterflies and
Moths," says : " The Caterpillars of Butterflies may in
most instances be distinguished (i.e., from those of
Moths) at first sight ; for, excepting the Caterpillars of
the first family, all the others are of peculiar forms,
either spiny or with two projecting horns at the head,
one on each side, or with two short tails, or fat and
short, like a Wood-Louse, or with the head much larger
than the segments behind."
284 INSECTS.
The Caterpillars of Butterflies have alivays sixteen
legs ; those of Moths vary in number.
The pupa3 of Butterflies may be known from those of
Moths by their more or less angular form, Moth pupse
by their rounded outline (see figs. 65, 66, p. 285 ; and
fig. 29, p. 57).
Besides this, the pupae of Butterflies (except those of
the last family, Hesperidse), are always naked, and
fastened by silk lines to some supporting object; those
of Moths are sometimes naked, sometimes enclosed in
cocoons, but not suspended, naked, in the same manner
as the Butterfly pupas.* They are also frequently sub-
terraneous.
The long, fat, soft, green Caterpillar of the Cabbage
Butterfly is (boiled) but too familiar an object, and will
serve as an example of the Iarva3 of the first family,
Papilionida3.
In the second family, Nymphalidse, the Marbled-
white and the Brown Butterflies have slender Cater-
pillars, distinguished by a short forked tail ; that of the
Purple Emperor has horns rising from the heart-shaped
head, and the rest are spinous.
In the third and fourth families, Erycinidse and
Lycsenidse, the Caterpillars are short, and formed some-
what like the Wood-Louse.
In the fifth family, Hesperidae, the Caterpillars are
distinguished by the great size of the head and the small
size of the segments immediately succeeding it.
The Chrysalids of Butterflies are supported in two
ways, they are either suspended by the tail (fig. 6A),
hanging perpendicularly, or are attached by the tail to
* For an exception to this rule, see below, among the Geometrinse.
LEPIDOPTERA. LARV^I. 285
some object, and then supported in an upright, inclined,
or horizontal position, by a silken band or girth passed
round the body (fig. 66). The Chrysalids of the
Fig. 65. Fig. 66.
Pupa of Vanessa urticce.
Pupa of Papilio machaon.
Nymphalidee are suspended in the former manner, those
of the other families in the latter, excepting the last
family, Hesperidse, which in this, as in many other par-
ticulars approximating to the Moths, lives during the
pupee stage in a slight cocoon, or net, as it might rather
be called.
It is not possible in this small space to give rules for
distinguishing the Iarva3 and pupse of the different
groups of Moths, as in most cases each group contains
many families widely differing from each other in this
particular. In a few instances, however, the reader may
be enabled to decide the group or part of a group to
which certain Iarva3 or pupse belong.
In the first group, Sphingina, all the Caterpillars have
the full number of legs (sixteen), and the greater part have
one stiff and horny tail. While from the appearance of
the larva of the Sphinx Moths is derived the name which
286 INSECTS.
attaches to the whole group, this is not the only re-
markable-looking Caterpillar which it contains, and that
of the Elephant Moths is even more peculiar. The
front segments of this insect can be retracted or pushed
forward into a tapering form like the trunk of an Ele-
phant, and the segments immediately behind being
smaller, and having large spots like eyes, gives a singular
resemblance to the head of an Elephant. Some of the
larvae in this family feed on wood or pith, living within
the stems of plants. The Chrysalids are naked and
subterraneous.
The larvae of the next group, Bombycinse, present
several varieties ; some have sixteen legs, some fourteen,
some have no visible legs at all. Some have a horny
plate on their backs neiar the head, and some have
two long tails. The Emperor Moth is garnished with
bristles arranged in stars, while others are tufted with
hairs, and others again, as the pretty and common
Caterpillar of the Tiger Moth, are clothed with long soft
fur. This last, the "Woolly Bear" of children, with
whom it is almost always a favourite, has a habit of
rolling itself into a ball when alarmed, and awful is the
memory of nurse's legend, delivered with many warnings,
of a lady round whose finger one of these rolled itself
so tightly that it (What ? Finger or Caterpillar ?), that
IT had to be cut off ! ! In this group are some larvae
which construct cases not for their own habitation only,
but for that also of the wingless female when come to
maturity (see Psyche above, p. 271). This group con-
tains the Silkworms ; all those species whose silk is
commonly used in manufacture being found here. The
cocoon species of the Emperor Moth is remarkable for
its elegant flask-like form.
LEPIDOPTERA. LARV.E. 287
In the third group, Noctuina, some have sixteen, four-
teen, or twelve legs, the latter walking with a somewhat
looping action, like those of the next family, Geometrina.
In this family some of the larvse are humped, some hairy,
some have retractile heads, others are furnished with
horny plates, others garnished with short and stiff" hair.
Geometrina, the fourth group, is named from the
peculiarity of the Iarva3. These are the well-known
" Loopers " : Caterpillars which, having legs (true and
false) only at the two extremities of their bodies, ad-
vance by nearly their whole length at each step, whence
their name, "Geometrina," or earth-measurers. The
Caterpillar, fixing its hind-legs to the substance on
Fig. 67.
Larva of a Geometer or Looper Moth (Ennomos), extended
and looped.
which it is walking, stretches the body to its full length,
takes hold with the fore-legs, and instantly draws the
hind-legs close to them : again stretching out the fore-
288 INSECTS.
part, the looping process is repeated, and the rapidity
with which the insect progresses is very great. The
application of the name is very evident, the act of
measuring being irresistibly brought to mind by their
movements.
One family of the Geometrinse (Ephyridse) is remark-
able for suspending the Chrysalis by silken threads at
the tail and round the body, like the Butterflies.
In Pyralidin the number of legs varies, sixteen or
fourteen being the usual numbers. The larvas are de-
scribed by Mr. Stainton as having a " glassy look,"
and an " unusually bristly look" in the few hairs. Some
of the larvae are case-bearers, and semi-aquatic, others
live on shrubs, and roll leaves wherein to change. Some
live in houses, upon greasy substances, flour, &c., and
others (the Galleridee, mentioned above, p. 282) in the
hives of Bees.
In Tortricin the legs are always sixteen, and the
larvae feed (as do many others) in leaves rolled (whence
the name Tortrix), and fastened by silken threads in
that position, or in stems, roots, &c.
In Tineina, the ninth and last group, we find much
variety in the mode of life of the larvae, and, as this
would lead us to expect, some variety of form also. The
number of legs varies from eighteen to sixteen, fourteen,
and more.
The Clothes Moths, remarkable (though not standing
quite alone) among Lepidopterous larva? for their pre-
ference of animal food; the Leaf- Miners, spoken of above
(pp. 277, 280), and most of the curious case-bearing larvae,
belong to this group, while in it are found some which
are miners in their early state and afterwards become
case-bearers, and one little species (Tinea ochraceella,)
LEPIDOPTERA. LARV.E. 289
emulating the gallery-makers of the Pyralidinae, which
live in hives, constructs similar silken passages in the
nests of Ants.
Many genera feed like those of other groups, naked,
and on the exposed surface of leaves, or snugly sheltered
within leaves which are rolled up.
The two last families, containing the Plume Moths,
differ from each other in both larvae and pupae. The
ten-plume Moths, Pterophorina, have hairy larvae and
naked pupae, which, fastened by the tail, are, at least in
one species, remarkable for activity and irritability,
suddenly reversing their position if disturbed, and as
suddenly returning to their former position, head up-
wards, after a few moments.
The larvae of the twenty-plumes, Alucitina, are
hairless, and the pupa3 enclosed in cocoons.
290
TABLE OF LEPIDOPTERA.
SECTION I. RHOPALOCERA (Butterflies).
Antennae thickened or knobbed at the tip.
Wings in repose erect.*
Pupae angular ;* naked.*
Family 1. Papilionidse.
Colours chiefly white and yellow.
Size from about 1 \ inches to 4.
Larvae long, naked or downy.
Pupae secured at tail, and with a belt.
Ex. Cabbage and Brimstone Butterflies.
Family 2. Nymphalidas.
Colours generally rich and bright, or dark,
, or tawny.
'Size about ly 1 ^ inches to 3-^.
Legs four.
Larvae spiny, or with two horns on head,
and two short tails.
Pupa secured at tail.
Ex. Brown, Tortoiseshell, Admiral, Peacock, and
Fritillary Butterflies.
Family 3. Erycinidas.
Colour brown, with tawny spots.
* Except in Hesperidse.
TABLE OF LEPIDOPTERA. 291
Size about 1 T ^ inches.
Legs 4 in $ , 6 in $ .
Larvae broad and short ; woodlouse-like.
Pupae secured at tail, and with a belt.
Only one British species, Nemeobius lucina.
Family 4, Lycsenidae.
Colour blue, brown, bright copper.
Size under j inch to about 1^.
Larvae broad and short, woodlouse-like.
Pupae secured at tail, and with a belt.
Ex. Blue and Copper Butterflies.
Family 5. Hesperidae.
Head large ; antenna; wide apart
Colour tawny or brown, generally spotted.
Size 1 inch to 1 J.
Wings in repose erect, or fore-wing erect
and hind-wing horizontal.
Larvae large heads and small necks.
Pupae secured at tail, belted, and in a
slight cocoon.
Ex. The Skippers.
SECTION II. HETEROCERA (Moths).
Antenna? various; thread-like, feathered, or
spindle-shaped.
Wings in repose horizontal or deflexed; hind-
wing generally covering fore-wing.
Pupae rounded, conical ; generally enclosed in a
cocoon, sometimes subterranean.
* Antennae thickest in the middle.
292 INSECTS.
I. Sphingina.
Larvae 16 legs.
Family 1. Zygoenidae.
Colours green and brown, or green and
red.
Larvae fat, tailless.
Ex. Forester Barnet Moth.
Family 2. Sphingidae.
Moth large. If in. to 5 in.
Larvae generally with horny tail.
Ex. Eyed Hawk Moth ; Death's-head.
Family 8. Sesiidae.
Wings short and broad (in Sesia clear) ;
body thick.
Larvae tailed.
Ex. Humming Bird Hawk Moth.
Bee Hawk Moth.
Family 4. Egeriidae.
Wings long and narrow, clear ; body long.
Larvae not tailed.
Ex. Gnat-like Trochilium.
** Antennae tapering from base to tip.
a. Body stout.
II. Bombycina.
Fore- wings broad ; body blunt at tip.
Family 1. Hepialidae.
Ex. The Swifts; Ghost Moth, tyc.
Family 2. Zeuzeridaa.
Ex. Wood- Leopard ; Goat- Moth.
TABLE OF LEPIDOPTERA. 293
Family 3. Notodontidge.
Ex. Puss-Moth ; Prominents ; Figure of 8 ;
Buj-tip.
Family 4. Liparidae.
Ex. Tussock (Hop-dog Moth).
Vapourer.
Family 5. Lithosidas.
Ex. The Footman.
Family 6. Chelonidae.
Ex. Tiger and Ermine Moths.
Family 7. Bombycidae.
. Ex. Oak Eggar Lackey ; Drinker.
Family 8. Endromidae.
Ex. Kentish Glory.
Family 9. Saturnidse.
Ex. Saturnia Pavonia-Minor (Emperor).
Family 10. Platypterigidae.
The Moths are small and slender; wings
generally hooked.
Family 11, Psychidae. Female wingless.
Larvae carrying a case.
Family 12. Cochliopodidae.
Larvae Woodlouse-like ; legless.
IH. Noctuina.
Fore-wings rather narrow ; body pointed.
(Fore-wings generally bearing two more or less
distinct spots near middle of costa one, nearest
291 INSECTS.
base of wings, round or oval ; the other 'kidney-
shaped, and four transverse lines.
Ex. Dagger ; Common Wainscot ; Satellite ;
Gonoptera Libatrix (PI. X. 6).
b. Body slender.
IV. Geometrina.
Fore -wings broad.
Larvae with ten legs, walking in loops.
(Fore-wings generally bearing a dark central spot
between two dark lines.)
Ex. Oak Beauty; Large Magpie (or Currant
Moth) ; Carpets ; Pugs.
V. Pyralidina.
Fore-wings long and triangular ; much longer
than hind-wings.
{Fore-wings in some cases bearing the same marks
as in Noctuina.)
Ex. Snouts (PI. XI. 2) ; China Mark;
Pearls; Small Magpie (PI. XI. 1).
The Galleridce.
VI. Tortricina.
Fore-wings rather broad; costa much curved
at base.
Colour often in patches.
Larvae mostly leaf-rollers.
Ex. Green Tortrix; Zanthosetia (PI. XI. 3).
VII. Tineina.
Fore- wings long, with very long fringes.
Larvae leaf-miners, case-bearers, &c.
Ex. The Clothes-moths ; Leaf-miners (PI. XI.
4), *c.
TABLE OF LEPIDOPTERA. 295
VIII. Pterophorina.
Fore-wing slit into two long feathers.
Hind-wing into three.
Ex. Strawberry Plume Moth.
IX. Alucitina.
Fore- wing and hind-wing each slit into six
feathers.
Ex. Twenty-plume Moth.
296
CHAPTER XXIII.
HOMOPTERA.
THE order HOMOPTERA will best be brought before the
reader by the mention of two familiar insects which it
contains. These are the " Cuckoo-spit" insect, or
" Frog -hopper," and the common green Eose Aphis. A
very slight examination of these will show the characters
of the order, and the points of difference between it and
others.
First, then, to take the Cuckoo-spit (Aphrophora
spumaria, PL XII., fig. 2), we see a little hopping
creature, with fore-wings of a thickened texture, and
placed when at rest in a shelving or roof-like position.
So far it agrees with the Grasshoppers and Locusts in
Orthoptera.
Next take the winged Rose Aphis. Four delicate
membranous wings, united in flight by hooks, at once
suggest the order Hymenoptera ; but (setting aside all
other characters to be presently described) look to the
mouth in either of these insects, and it at once appears
that, there being no biting jaws, but a sucking apparatus
in the shape of a tubular rostrum or proboscis, it must
belong to the second division of the order, consisting of
Sucking insects.
Now, the only other order with which there is any
excuse for confounding Homoptera, is that which fol-
HOMOPTERA, 297
lows it Heteroptera ; also an order containing insects
with thickened wings, and, like Homoptera belonging
to the Sucking section, like it possessing an evident
beak or rostrum. And here the wings themselves,
apart from all considerations of veining (which is
very various in both these orders), afford sufficient
distinction.
HOMOPTERA (from ojuotoe, homoios = alike, and TTTC/OOV,
a wing] contains Sucking insects in which the fore-wings,
whether thickened or membranous, are of a uniform
texture throughout .(see PI. XII., figs. 1 to 6). Thus
they may be thickened, as in the Frog-hopper (and so
differ from the hind- wings, which are clear), or, with
the hind-wings clear, and consisting throughout of thin
membrane, as in the Aphis. In HETEROPTERA (from
2r/30, different, and irrtpov, a wing) a reference to
PI. XIII. will at once show that the fore-wing displays
two distinct textures.
This, however, is not the only nor the chief difference
between Homoptera and Heteroptera (although the
distinctive names are derived from it), and indeed,
while this was considered as the chief distinction, the
two were combined in one order under the name of
Hemiptera.*
The remaining characters of Homoptera are as fol-
lows ; those of Heteroptera will be found in their place
farther on :
The insects are stout-bodied, sometimes with very
long, but generally with short, awl-like antennae, from
* The reader will do well to remember this, as the name Hemiptera
frequently occurs in books both old and comparatively new, and might
cause some confusion in his mind.
298 INSECTS.
the last joint of which springs a bristle. The mouth
is peculiarly placed, being very far back in the head, so
that the proboscis springs from that part which, in a
man's head, would be represented by the under-side of
the chin, near the breast. The proboscis consists of the
labium, which forms a jointed sheath for the slender
bristle-like mandibles and maxill, and also a canal for
the passage of the juices upon which the insect lives.
The wings usually rest in a shelving position, not
overlapping one another, but to this there are ex-
ceptions.
Most species leap, but their legs are small, and do not
resemble those of the Leaping Orthoptera (Grasshoppers,
&c.), nor the thickened legs of the Leaping Beetles and
other insects.
The pupa is active, and larvae, pup, and imago much
resemble each other, especially in the case of such as
have wingless females.
The females have a point of resemblance with the
Hymenoptera in the possession of an ovipositor, which
in some species is a beautiful combination of a sawing
and boring tool, holding a place not inferior to that of
the Sawfly saw in the mechanism of insect anatomy.
All the insects in this order are terrestrial, and live
upon the juices of plants, to which they are extremely
injurious.
Many cover themselves with substances exuded from
the body, and which in some cases entirely conceal the
insect. Thus the Cuckoo-spit derives its name from the
mass of froth so commonly found on plants in the
spring, and in which the larva is enclosed. The French
attribute the production of this froth to frogs (crachat
de grenouille), and the name Frog-hopper is supposed
HOMOPTERA. 299
by Mr. Westwood to have the same origin, though it
may be a question whether it does not arise from the
hopping, frog-like motions of the insect, which, when
come to perfection, no longer inhabits the frothy
nest.
Among the Aphides and their congeners, some species
conceal themselves with tufts of a woolly or cottony
substance, exuded, like the Cuckoo-spit froth, from their
bodies ; others slightly powder themselves over, or en-
tirely bury themselves in a fine meal produced in the
same manner ; while others, again, as the Scale insects
relations of the foreign Cochineals exude a secretion
which will be spoken of later. Some Aphides have
another mode of concealment, forming gall-like ex-
crescences upon trees, within which they live.
Homoptera is subdivided into three sections :
1. TRIMERA, in which the tarsi have three joints;
the antenna are very small and awl-like ; two or three
ocelli are generally present, and the fore-wings are some-
times thickened, sometimes clear.
This contains the Cicada, an insect related to the
foreign Fire-flies and the Frog-hoppers.
2. DIMERA, in which the tarsi have two joints, and
the antenna? are considerably longer than in the former
sections.
This contains the Aphis family, and insects not unlike
them, the Psyllid and Aleyrodes, tiny little white
Moth-like creatures.
3. MONOMERA, in which the tarsi have only one joint,
and which contains the curious Scale insects.
Cicada, in the first family in TRIMERA, consist of
singular-looking insects, with wide head and thorax
and a triangular abdomen. The wings are beautifully
300 INSECTS.
clear and distinctly veined, the antennae are placed be-
tween the eyes, and are of six or seven joints, and there
are three ocelli.
Cicada Anglica (PL XII., fig. 1), the only English
species, is a rare insect, but there are smaller species as
beautiful and more common ; but while in England the
Cicadse do not form a conspicuous family, they are in
some foreign countries rendered prominent both by their
numbers and by the deafening noise which, when con-
gregated together, their combined efforts are capable of
producing.
The Cicada is, as has been mentioned above (Introd.
p. 9), an eminently musical insect. In the Brazils it is
said to " sing till it bursts," an idea arising from the
number of split pupa-skins found under the trees
frequented by these insects,
In America (where it is commonly called the Locust)
it is less esteemed for its powers, if we may judge by the
following extract: "One of your Spa-fields meetings
can give you a faint idea of their incessant and unmusical
cheering and noise. If Hogarth had known these
Locusts, he would have placed them about the ears of
his enraged musician. Knife-grinders and ballad-singers
would have been lost in their din."*
The musical instrument is neither in the wing-cases,
as in the Cricket, nor in the legs, as in the Locusts ; but
is placed within the abdomen.
The ovipositor of the Cicada is to the full as remark-
able an instrument as that of the Sawfly. It is a horny
borer (/, a) composed of two thick blades, which may be
called either saws or files (6, c, d) and which, running in
; Journal of Science and the Arts," vol. vi. 1819.
HOMOPTERA. 301
the grooves of a supporting plate at the back (x), play
alternately upon the wood to be bored for the reception
of the Cicada's eggs. Some of this family leap.
Ovipositor of Cicada. (Taken from Weatwood.)
a. The borer.
6. Do. more highly magnified, seen from beneath.
c. Do. do. from above, one blade slightly protruded.
d. Do. do. blade fully protruded.
x The supporting plate at back.
In the remaining Trimerous insects the antennae are
of three joints only, and the ocelli are two in number.
The Fulgoridse, Fire-flies or Lanthorn-flies of hot
countries, find some small representatives in England
(about forty or fifty species), but none of them are
luminous. They may be recognised by the position of
the antenna, which are inserted below the eyes. Most
of them have legs fitted for leaping. The young micro-
scopist will find some species (as Cixius cunicularis)
well worth seeking for the sake of their delicate beaded-
veined fore-wings. One genus in this family (Delphax,
containing nineteen species) might occasion some diffi-
culty to the young student, as most of the species are
usually found with only the basal half of the fore-wings
developed, and wanting the hind-wings altogether. Mr.
Westwood states, however, that the wings are sometimes
found fully developed in hot seasons.
Next in this section come the Cercopidse, containing
302 INSECTS.
the Frog-hopping insects and others(see PL XII., figs. 2,
8, 4). Among these are some of very singular form, the
front joint (prothorax) of the thorax being extraordinarily
large, and forming sometimes a huge helmet, sometimes
a large strangely-shaped shield covering the whole body.
The strangest of these forms are chiefly foreign, but one
species common in the New Forest is sufficiently re-
markable. In this, Membracis cornuta (see PL XII.,
figs. 4 and 4 a), the prothorax forms a long, pointed,
curved, and keeled process over the back, "while on the
shoulder it shoots out into two sharp triangular and
prominent horns.
A small insect in this family sucks the juices of ferns,
causing large patches of discoloration.
In the second section, DIMERA, the wings are always
clear,* the antennae sometimes of considerable length.
The first family is Psyllidae, which consists of insects
very like the Aphida3 in appearance and habit, but
differing from them in certain respects.
Both Psyllidae and Aphidse have three ocelli placed
in a triangle, and long, or moderately long, slender
antenna3. The wings in both are carried in a shelving
roof-like position, and the range of size in the species is
about the same. In both families there are species which
cover themselves with a woolly secretion.
The Psyllidae may be distinguished from the Aphidae
by their power of leaping, their very large thorax, their
short rostrum, and antennae of ten joints. The female
has a visible ovipositor ; the male, several small upright
* The wings of Aleyrodes lose the clearness of their appearance through
being covered with a white mealy substance, but the membrane itseli is
transparent and not thickened.
HOMOPTERA. 303
appendages which garnish the upper side of the abdomen;
while the Aphides are furnished in both sexes with two
lateral tubercles.
The habits of the two families seem to be very similar,
and indeed many of the insects commonly called Aphis
are really species of Psylla. They are common on apple,
pear sometimes, and birch-trees, and Psylla Buxi sets ifs
mark on nearly every box-tree we examine, by shrink-
ing the terminal leaves into a concave form, so giving a
budlike appearance to their clusters.
Of all English Homoptera, the Aphides, or Plant-lice,
are the most destructive and the most universally preva-
lent. Their attacks sometimes convert a turnip field
into an offensive mass of decay, injuring, and at
times destroying, whole crops of all kinds, whilst not
sparing even the single little potted geranium in a
garret-window. In the hop countries they form a con-
siderable feature in the statistics of produce, and the
hops would be fairly exterminated by the Aphides if it
were not for several enemies already spoken of elsewhere.
The Hymenopterous Ichneumons, tiny enough to be
hatched, reared, and brought to perfection within the
small body of an Aphis, leave the proof of their numbers
in the brown swollen Aphis- skins which we may find
abounding in any plant frequented by the Aphides.
These displaying one small circular hole in the abdomen,
tell us of the exit of the little creature which was reared
and fattened in the wonderful laboratory in which vege-
table juices were transformed into animal food for his
sole use and benefit.
The larva of the Lacefly is another enemy, not however
plentiful enough to make much havoc among the legions
of the Aphis. The Syrphus larva does the gardener
304 INSECTS.
good service upon rose-trees, &c., being exceedingly
voracious. But the great adversary of the Aphis, and
one which, like itself, occasionally makes its appearance
in countless swarms, is the Ladybird. This, with its
larva, is so considerable a check upon the Aphis, that it
is wonderful that the hop planters have not learned to add
notices of the appearance of these insects to their reports
on the fly, as an indication of the help to be looked for
from them, either according to the time of year in the
present or the future season.
The hop-growers, acting upon a principle all the
bearings of which they probably do not fully perceive,
check the production of the Aphides by a change of crop.
The success of this plan is owing to the fact of certain
species of Aphides feeding only on certain species of
plants, so that the children of the Aphis which flourishes
on the hop must starve upon the different plants which
take its place. Yet, even while acting upon the expe-
rience of this fact, it is difficult to convince the rustic
mind that it is a fact. The writer once came upon a
gardener intent on cutting down a fine sycamore because
it covered a neighbouring morella cherry-tree with
blight. In vain was the plea brought forward, "the
sycamore ' blight ' can't live on the cherry." " But there
is the cherry all covered with sycamore blight." It
might have been asked, " How do you known that the
sycamore is not covered with cherry blight ?" That
might very probably have been triumphantly answered
by, " Because the cherry-fly is black, and the sycamore-
fly green." But let philosophers say what they will,
it is not always as long from the lion's tail to his head
as it is from his head to his tail ; and, pleaded on the
other side, the argument had no weight
HOMOPTERA. 305
Whilst, however, the attacks of each species of Aphis
are confined to one species of plant (or, when more
than one, to allied species), there are sometimes two
or more species of Aphis found on one kind of
plant. No part of a plant is secure from their attacks.
They live not only on the exposed parts, but under the
bark of trees, and upon roots buried under ground ; they
have even been found within the heart of apparently
sound fruit.
The gait of the Aphis, except when upon the wing, is
a slow creep, but some species have (in common with
the Psyllidse) another mode of locomotion which makes
up to them for the want of wings. This is similar to that
practised by the "Aeronautic," or Gossamer Spiders,
which throw forth long silken threads, and by this
means are enabled to float in the air currents to great
heights and distances.* The Aphides mentioned above
as extruding tufts of cottony substances, have been
observed floating in the same manner, and this is pro-
bably one of the causes of the sudden appearance in
fresh places of swarms of these insects. The apple-tree
blight, known to us as the " American blight," and which
sometimes nearly ruins the orchard, is one of these. The
name has been given under the belief that it has been
imported from America, but the Americans retort the
accusation upon Europe, and Mr. Harris, an American
writer on "Insects Injurious to Vegetation," states that
it is rare in his own country, and is supposed to have
* The Gossamer Spiders and Aeronauts are not of any particular genus
or species, the young of many kinds floating in the air by means of these
threads, and any Spider which throws out long floating threads of " gossa-
mer" being a '* Gossamer" Spider.
X
306 INSECTS.
been introduced with fruit trees from Europe. It is of
recent introduction in England.*
Yet one more mode of transport has been discussed.
Sir James Ross, in his appendix to " Parry's Narrative,"t
says that living Aphides were found in floating ice in the
Polar Sea 100 miles distant from land, and so far North
as 82|. Eesembling a species to be found on the fir,
it was conjectured that " the floating trees of fir that are
to be found so abundantly on the shores and to the
northward of Spitzbergen, might possibly be the means
by which this insect has been transported to the
Northern regions." It was never seen on the wing.
When large swarms of winged Aphides have suddenly
made their appearance in the air, it seems probable that
(as is frequently the case in the migrations of other
insects) the wind may have been mainly instrumental in
conveying them.
It certainly has the credit of so doing, and the farmers
commonly believe their appearance to be consequent on
a north-east or east wind. So Thomson
** For oft engendered by the hazy north,
Myriads on myriads, insect armies warp
Keen in the poisoned breeze ; and wasteful eat
Through buds and bark, into the blackened core
Their eager way."
Another substance which oozes from the tubercles at
the end of the body of the Aphis is the well-known
honey-dew, a favourite food of Bees, Ants, and other
insects, and of which Pliny says that it is " engendered
* The best mode of cure is said to be covering every patch of white
cotton with warm size. "Whitewash is very commonly used in our
orchards, and with some effect.
t See ''Spitzbergen and Greenland" (Hakluyt Society), p. 165, note.
HOMOPTERA. 307
naturally in the air," while another philosopher gives it
credit for breeding the very insects which produce it.
The presence of Aphides raay be detected in cases
where the insects themselves are concealed, by various
effects produced upon the plants infested by them. Some
species cluster on the under-side of leaves, either form-
ing numerous little concave nests in the under-side, while
the upper rises into corresponding convex excrescences,
or curving the whole leaf into one mighty dome in which
many hundreds live. Others, sucking the juices from
the stems of plants, cause contractions and distortions of
various kinds. Others, again, form large gall-like
excrescences upon various parts of plants. Of these the
pear-shaped sacs on the leaf-stalks of the Lombardy
poplar are a common example.
A very curious little insect, supposed to be the young
of some species of Aphis,* may be found on the under-
side of maple and sycamore leaves, generally (except
when numerous and scattered all over the leaf) sheltering
itself in the angle formed by two veins. To the naked
eye it is a minute green, or brownish-green scale ; under
the microscope it is one of the most singular-looking
creatures possible. This atom rejoicing in the names of
Chelymorpha phyllophorus, or " the leaf-bearing tortoise-
shaped," and Phyllophorus testudinatus, or " the tortoise-
like leaf-bearer" (and if a third variety could be formed by
twisting the name any other way, the insect is quite worthy
of the honour) is a flat, tortoise-shaped green insect,
bearing on its head a crown or tiara composed apparently
of four beautiful leaves, as clear as glass, and delicately
* It much more nearly resembles the young of some other insects in
the Order.
- x 2
308 INSECTS.
veined ; two smaller leaves coquettishly decorate a pro-
minence on the base of each antenna, slender leaflets
fringe the first and second pairs of legs, and the abdo-
men is bordered by a series of broad leaves like those
forming the tiara.
The history of Aphides is very remarkable. In the
spring, numbers of fertile females, and females only, are
hatched from eggs laid the autumn before. These,
rapidly attaining to their full growth, but never to the
possession of wings, give birth not to eggs, but to young
fertile females like themselves. These repeat the same
process, which occurs again and again, until at last nine
generations have been produced, when, autumn having
arrived, males as well as females are produced, which
sometimes, but not always, develope wings ; the usual
pairing takes place, the female lays her eggs and dies,
and from these eggs the next year's series of generations
is produced.
The true pupa may be known from the permanently
wingless female by its possessing the rudiments of wings.
The underground species of Aphis never develope wings.
The third family of Dimera contains only the genus
Aleyrodes ; pretty little insects already spoken of as so
covered by a fine white dust as to have the appearance
of tiny Moths (PI. XII., fig. 6, 6 a). The wings are
carried nearly horizontally when at rest. The abdomen
has none of the tubercles or other appendages common
in this order. The head is remarkable as having four
eyes, or, to use more scientific language, as having the
eyes "parted in the middle," as are those of Gyrinus
(see p. 70, fig. 32), and some few other insects. There
are only two British species of Aleyrodes. They are
about | inch in length.
HOMOPTERA. 309
The larva is a flat, scale-like insect, and the pupa,
which is quiescent, remains covered by the larva skin.
It is calculated that the descendants of one pair of
Aleyrodes may amount to 200,000 in a single year, the
little patriarchs possibly living to see them all !
The third and last section of Homoptera, MONOMERA,
contains only the curious family known as Scale insects,
Bark-Lice, or Mealy-Bugs.
The reader may often have remarked, fixed, limpet-
like, on the stems and branches of vines and other trees,
a convex brown scale of the size and shape of a small
Ladybird, and from under the edge of which a whitish sub-
stance appears, but with no sign of head, legs, horns, or
even of rings or joints. This is the dead body of a mother
Coccus, or Scale insect, and on its removal from the tree
the whole convex space below it will be found occupied
by the white mealy exudation resembling that produced
by some of the Homopterous insects, embedded in which
are numerous active young Cocci with two long tails.
" By the end of July the young quit the body of their
parent, and ascend to the extremity of the young
branches ; there they affix themselves by their rostrum,
gradually increase in size, and lose their anal setse, as
well as their former activity. In this state they remain
through the winter, without any diversity of appearance
indicative of the sexes ; and it is not till the following
April that this is first perceived, by the further increased
growth of the females, and by the males assuming the
pupa state, which is quiescent, with the limbs arranged
upon the breast, the fore-legs being directed forwards a
peculiarity not occurring in other insects."* The males
Coccus Aceris. From. Westwood's Introduction.
310 INSECTS.
undergo their final transformation, and become winged
about May ; and by the end of June the females, which
never obtain wings, but, on the contrary, become less
and less perfect and insect-like as they approach
maturity, are found in the shapeless state already
described.
The males are comparatively perfect insects. Only
one pair of nearly nerveless wings, however, is developed,
which they carry overlapping each other, and the mouth,
in the young and the females so powerful an instru-
ment for mischief, is in them in a rudimentary state.
The male has two long bristle-like tails resembling those
of the Ephemera. They are necessarily less frequently
observed than the larger and stationary females, but at
the end of May or beginning of June specimens may
easily be found which have not yet taken wing. These
are to be found sheltered under a tiny white scale-like
cocoon, from which the insect's two slender white tails
project, and on raising which the insect is exposed. One
of the most common English species is the Coccus of the
sycamore, on the branches of which these cocoons are
plentiful.
Many of the Cocci, probably imported with the plants
on which they live, infest the foreign trees in our hot-
houses and conservatories, as the pine-apples, orange-
trees, oleanders, &c. Others, natives of England, are
extremely injurious to apple and other trees, upon which
they multiply to such a degree as to kill them outright.
Hence, in England, the Cocci, whether native or im-
ported, are known only by the injuries which they inflict.
Abroad the ease is .far different, and the Coccus or
Cochineal insect is a most valuable article of mer-
chandize. So precious is it indeed, in proportion to its
HOMOPTEEA. 311
bulk, that it is not nnfrequently used in commerce in
the place of money, changing hands several times, and
making many journeys before arriving at its final desti-
nation.
Within a few years of the present time the brightest
and only fast red dye was obtained from this insect,
which was famous even in the times of the Greeks and
Eomans. Many species, from many countries, and dif-
fering greatly in value, have been used in dyeing, the
most valuable of all being a Mexican species living on
one of the Cacti, and which may be met with in English
hothouses.*
The Lac (called shell-lac, stick-lac, &c., according to
the manner of its preparation), which is used in the
making of sealing-wax, different varnishes, as Japan,
the lacquer used on metal, and of the pigments known
by the name of "Lake," is produced by an Indian
species of the Cochineal family, and is another valuable
article of commerce.
The Cochineal insect is used also in medicine, both as
a remedy and for the purpose of colouring other pre-
parations.
The little seed-like, narrow brown scales, so common
on the rind of oranges, are the remains of a species of
Coccus.
* The insects are exported in various states, the best and commonest
being that called "in grain" i.e., the insects whole, and with somewhat
of the appearance of small grains. Thus, "scarlet grain of Poland;" in
Spain "grana," or when broken "granilla." From this, the "scarlet in
grain," (formerly, as has been said, the only fast bright-red dye) probably
arose by degrees the application of the title " ingrain" or "ingrained" to
other bright colours as the means of making them fast were discovered.
A few years ago the only colours called " ingrain" were this fast red and a
then new fast bright blue.
312
TABLE OF HOMOPTEEA.
SECTION I TRIMERA.
Tarsi three-jointed.
Antennas very small, three or six joints ; the last bristle-
like.
Ocelli generally present, two or three.
Wings : fore-wing sometimes uniformly thickened, hind-
wing clear.
* Antennae six (seven ?) joints*
Ocelli, three.
a. Antennae between the eyes.
Ocelli on back of head.
Insect not saltatorial.
Family 1. Cicadidae.
Ex. Cicada.
* Antennae, three joints.
Ocelli, two.
a. Antennae beneath the eyes.
Ocelli beneath the eyes.
Insect generally saltatorial.
Family 2. Fulgoridae.
Ex. CixiuSj Delphax.
b. Antennas between the eyes.
Ocelli on forehead or face.
Insect saltatorial.
Family 3. Cercopidas.
Ex. Cuckoo spit.
TABLE OF HOMOPTERA. 313
SECTION II. DIMERA.
Tarsi, two joints.
Antennae longer than head ; six to ten long slender
joints.
Ocelli generally present, three.
Wings, hind and fore all clear.*
* Antennae six to ten joints long, or moderate.
Abdomen with appendages.
Wings at rest shelving.
a. Antennae ten joints; in front of the eyes.
Thorax very large.
Abdomen with visible ovipositor.
with several erect appendages.
Wings at rest shelving.
Face notched.
Insect saltatorial.
Family 1. Psyllidse.
Ex." Apple Aphis " (falsely so called).
b. Antennas (six or) seven joints, third longest.
Abdomen with two slender tubercles.
Wings at rest nearly perpendicular ; fore-wing
much the largest.
Insect crawling.
Family 2. Aphidae.
Ex. Rose Aphis.
** Antennae short, six joints.
Eyes divided into two pairs.
Abdomen without external appendages.
a. Wings at rest nearly horizontal. Powdered.
Family 3. Aleyrodidae.
Ex. Aleyrodes.
* Covered with powder in Aleyrodes.
314 . INSECTS.
SECTION III. MONOMERA.
Tarsi, one joint.
Ocelli, none.
Wings clear.
* Antennae of $ moderately long.
Abdomen of $ with two long tails.
Wings none, $ two, horizontal and over-
lapping.
Eyes composite or in a group.
$ scale-like.
Family 1. Coccidae.
Ex. Scale insects.
N.B. The above characters are chiefly derived from
Westwood's Classification.
315
CHAPTER XXIV.
HETEROPTERA.
THE order Heteroptera has already been partially de-
scribed with the Homoptera, to which it is very nearly
allied.
It contains some well-known insects, both aquatic, as
the Water Boatmen (PI. XIII., fig. 1) and Water Scor-
pions (PI. XIIL, fig. 2), and terrestrial, as the beautifully
coloured Plant Bugs (PI. XIII., fig. 6), and the less
attractive Bed Bug ; besides some, as the slender, active,
long-legged black Gerris (PI. XIII., fig. 3), which,
running and dancing on the surface of the water, can
hardly be called " terestrial," though certainly not belong-
ing to the aquatic section.
The characters of Heteroptera, and those in which it
differs from Homoptera, are as follows :
The wings are always dissimilar, the fore-wings being
thick and horny at their fore-part, and membranous at
the hinder part ; the hind-wings clear and membranous
throughout, and often of exceeding delicacy.
The proboscis springs from the fore-part of the head,
instead of, as in Homoptera, from that part nearest the
throat. When at rest it lies flat in both orders, pointing
towards the abdomen. It is sometimes very long, but in
predaceous species is generally short and strong.
The antennae consist of from four to five joints, and
316 INSECTS.
are long in the land species ; in the aquatic they are
shorter, of three or four joints, and are hidden from
sight in furrows beneath the head.
Ocelli are sometimes present, and are two in number.
As in Homoptera the fore-part of the thorax is some-
times of unusually large proportions, so in Heteroptera
is the scutellum, or little shield, a triangular plate ex-
tending over part of the abdomen (PI. XIII., fig. 6, &c.),
and which, in the Plant Bugs is sometimes so large as
nearly to cover the wings.
The tarsi have never more than three joints ; most
of the land species give out a disagreeable scent.
The Iarva3 and pupse are active, and resemble the
perfect insect.
Heteroptera is divided into two sections.
1. HYDROCORISA, which contains the aquatic species.
2. AUROCORISA, containing the terrestrial.
Hydrocorisa contains two families, Notonectida3 and
Nepidee.
To the first belong the well-known Water Boatmen.
Their shape is somewhat boat-like, and the resemblance is
increased by the two long hind-legs, which, extended on
either side, as the animal lies back downwards in the
water, exactly represent a pair of oars, both in appearance
and action.
The Notonecta Glauca (PL XIII., fig. 1) is a common
insect, and certain to attract attention from its size, from
its singular position as it floats with the under-side upper-
most,* head depressed, tail (for the purpose of respira-
tion) just touching the surface, and extended oars, and
from the swiftness with which one stroke of these fringed
* Whence its name.
HETEROPTERA. 317
oars enables it to dart at the approach of danger, or in
the hope of prey, from the spot where it has long lain
motionless.
This creature has a strong, thick, curved, sharp-pointed
and jointed beak, enclosing lancets, and will occasionally
wound the hand which captures it. What chance the
soft-bodied, plump little Tadpoles and sluggish thin-
skinned larvae of the water have against it may easily be
imagined, and a single Notonecta introduced into an
" aquarium " soon reduces almost any number of fat,
black Tadpoles to the same number of colourless, empty,
film-like skins.
Under the delicately-tinted wing-cases of the Boatmen
are a pair of large, thin, milky-looking membranous
wings, which the insect uses freely on occasion.
The larvae and pupae resemble the perfect insect, except
in the possession of wings, which, however, are indicated
in the pupae.
The genus Noctonecta may be recognised by its three-
jointed tarsi and overlapping fore-wings.
There are three species.
A little creature one-sixth of an inch long, and much
resembling the Noctonecta, except in its greater width
in proportion to its length, and comparative shortness
of its hind-legs, is the little boat Ploa minutissima.
This is remarkable in the order as being an exception to
the rule of the fore-wings overlapping. They are united
down the back in a straight line. Like Notonecta Ploa,
the fore-tarsi are three-jointed. In Sigara and Corixa
they have but one joint. Corixa (in which genus are
ten species) may be recognised by the little shield or
scutellum being covered by the prothorax, and by an
approach in the nipper-like fore-legs to the character
318 INSECTS.
to be noticed in the next family. In Sigara (containing
one species only) the scutellum is visible.
All the Notonectidse swim well and quickly.
The second family, Nepidse, contains the Water Scor-
pions, very different in appearance from the large-headed
boat-shaped Notonectidee, and are to be known by their
large prehensile fore-legs.
There are three genera, each containing only one
species, and the reader will readily distinguish these.
Nepa cinerea, the common Water Scorpion (PL XIII.,
fig. 2), is a large, very flat, dingy, small-headed insect,
with a tail composed of two long bristles, and a scorpion-
like pair of fore-legs. It measures nearly an inch in
length, or, with the tail, one inch and a-half. It is a
slow and sluggish animal, living in the mud, and on the
water-plants in ponds, and, notwithstanding its sluggish-
ness, is a ravenous destroyer of other insects, especially
larvae. Probably its form and colours, resembling those
of a decayed leaf, conceal it from the notice of its prey,
and render swiftness in pursuit unnecessary.
The eggs of the Water Scorpion are shaped like little
shuttlecocks, with feathers short and recurved.
Naucoris cimicoides is nearly oval in outline, with a
much wider head than that of Nepa. The body is also
rather more convex, and indeed the insect may easily be
mistaken by a careless observer for a Water Beetle. It is
brown and shining, and swims with some activity. The
fore-legs (fig. 1 5, p. 38), are thicker, and even more cruel-
looking (when in sight) than the nippers of the Nepa ;
but they are not usually held extended. The Naucoris
has no tails.*
* For an aquatic insect somewhat resembling this, but with simple
fore- legs, see Aphelocheirus in the next section.
HETEROPTERA. 319
Ranatralinearis resembles the Nepa in having a small
head, two long tails, and extended prehensile fore-legs,
but here all family likeness ends, for this most curious-
looking creature is but a series of thickish lines (as its
name imports). A long linear body with two long, thin
tails, and four long, thin legs, are all we see except a
pair of forceps, which would be long and thin too if
they were not so crooked. The creature looks cruel and
hungry, but where it stows all the prey for which it is so
greedy is a problem to be solved. A less aldermanic
figure can scarcely be conceived, unless in a family to be
described a few pages later.
The second section, AUROCOKISA, contains nine
families of insects, most of which are altogether terres-
trial ; some skim the surface of the water, but do not
swim in it ; one species alone is aquatic.
The first family, Acanthiid, contains only two genera
the aquatic insect just mentioned, Aphelocheirus
aestivalis, being the only species in one of these. It
will be recognised by its aquatic habits and oval shape,
which somewhat resembles that of Naucons ; while the
fore-legs are quite simple instead of being pincer-like.
It measures about three-eighths of an inch.
The genus Acanthia consists of insects which are
terrestrial, but inhabit watery places, the seaside, river-
sides, &c. They are small, active, hopping creatures, of
a flattish oval figure. One species is Acanthia saltatoria, a
dusky insect with minute cream- coloured spots, the clear
part of the fore- wings being creamy with dusky spots.
The second family, Hydrometridee, or the ivater-
meamrers, may be known at once by their very slender
figure, and their habit of skimming upon the surface of
the water.
They are dark and lanky, with slender, angular legs.
320 INSECTS.
One, Hydrometra stagnorum, an insect very common
on all stagnant water, is remarkable for extreme slender-
ness, being scarcely thicker than a fine thread, and about
three-eighths of an inch in length. The head is very long,
the eyes are excessively prominent, and the wing-cases
do not overlap. Gerris lacustris, and Gerris paludum
(PL XIII., fig. 3), two other common species, are larger
and somewhat bulkier, and are very conspicuous as they
skate on the water with the utmost swiftness and ease of
motion. Velia rivulorum is a rather less common insect,
shorter and not so slender as the last, and of livelier
colouring, black, red, and white
There are five genera in this family.
The third family, Reduviidse, contains genera and
species varying much in figure and general appearance,
but to be recognised by the short, thick, curved beak,
the neck-like form of the back of the head, and the
long antennae with the last joint very slender. The
larvae of one species in this family, Reduvius personatus,
has the curious habit of thickly covering itself with
dust, so as almost to lose the appearance of an insect.
A similar habit has been already described in the larvse
of the Tortoise Beetle. Eeduvius personatus is found
indoors, and is said to prey on the Bed Bug. Some
of the family do not, except under peculiar circum-
stances, fully develope their wings and wing-cases.
There are six genera in this family.
Cimicidse, the fourth family, enjoys the distinction of
containing the Bed Bug. There is one genus, in which
are four species. These are all very flat, roundish in
outline, and even in the perfect state have but the indi-
cation of one pair of undeveloped wings, consisting of
two little scale -like appendages.
HETEROPTERA. 321
The Bed Bug is generally supposed to have been im-
ported from abroad some persons think in pine-wood
from America. Southall (in Westwood) says that its
first appearance was after the fire of London in 1666 ;
but it is mentioned as having been seen in 1503. It is
believed to feed upon the sap of the pine, and certainly
" harbours" not only in new but also in old wood a fact
which has helped to make common the substitution of
iron for wooden bedsteads. The countless hosts in
which these insects occasionally appear, not by degrees
but suddenly, are very remarkable, and the superstition
attaches to them that this sudden appearance is por-
tentous of a death in the house. It is very certain that
they often live upon food other than the juices of animals,
from an account published some years ago of a long
closed and neglected building, which on being opened,
was found to contain these insects in millions ; they were
taken out in shovelfuls, and it required the labour of
days to effect anything like a clearance from them.
Pigeon-houses are liable to be infected by them.
TingidaB, the fifth family, contains nine genera of
broad, flat insects, varying in many respects, but to be
recognised by the antennae, of which the last joint is as
thick as, or thicker than, the preceding, and by the short
three-jointed beak, which lies in a groove under the head.
The species are all small.
In some genera, the shell of the thorax and the
elytra are much wider than the body to be covered, and
the pro-thorax goes down into a point like the con-
spicuous scutellum of some other heteropterous insects.
Most of the family display a beautiful network on
the surface of the thorax and elytra.
In one genus, Aradus, on the contrary, there is a
Y
322 INSECTS.
scutellum, and the thorax and wing-cases (which are
strongly veined), are reduced to the usual size the latter,
indeed, being rather below this, as they do not entirely
conceal the abdomen.
In the genus Aneurus (containing one species, Icevis)
the wing-cases are entirely without nerves. They are
sluggish insects, and live on the juices of plants.
In the genus Acalypta (containing only one species,
carinatus) , the rule of Heteroptera is broken by the
wing-cases meeting in a straight line like those of a
Beetle ; while in the genus Agramma (containing only
one species, Iceta), another exception to the rule is found
in the wing-cases being of uniform texture throughout.
Capsidse contains both more genera and more species
than any other family, the species numbering more than
eighty. They are small, soft, delicate-looking insects,
with long antennae, which generally, but not always, are
slender towards the tip, and much thicker below. This
peculiarity is conspicuous in Capsus spissicornis
(PI. XIII., fig. 4), a common little dark insect, which,
small as it is (about three-eighths of an inch in length),
is likely to attract observation from this circumstance
the antennas are about three-fourths the length of the
body, and thick enough greatly to increase the apparent
size and importance of their small owner.
Another common species is Capsus flavomaculatus
(Fabr.), which measures rather more than a quarter of
an inch, and may be known by its black thorax and hem-
elytra, the latter banded with yellow ; the legs are yellow,
and the membranous part of the fore-wings is beautifully
iridescent. The family generally is marked by the fore-
wings and hemelytra, the horny part of which is " ter-
minated by a large triangular piece, like a stigma, the
HETEROPTERA. 323
apical membrane having only one or two strong veins,
curved and parallel with tho tip of the wing, forming
a basal semicircular cell."
Pretty as they are, the little Capsidse, like others of
their order, are first cousins to the abhorred Bug, and
the family likeness makes its appearance in the dis-
agreeable scent belonging to them, and which they leave
behind on fruit, upon the juice of which they have been
feeding.
The Lygseidae are generally small and somewhat slender
insects, often prettily banded and spotted with black, red,
and white. Lygseus equestris (PL XIII., fig. 5), is one of
the larger and more conspicuous species ; the thorax and
horny part of the wings are red banded with black, and
the black membrane of the wings is beautifully spotted
with white. Some are remarkable for the form of the thighs
of the fore-legs, which are much thickened and curiously
toothed. Gastrodes abietis, an insect about one-third of
an inch long, is an example of this. The head and fore-
part of the thorax, the scutellum, and half the antennae
are black ; the basal joints of the antenna?, edge and
base of the thorax, and legs are yellow ; the wings are
yellowish, spotted with red. In this family is one genus,
Astemma (three species), in which the elytra neither
overlap, nor are half horny, half membranous, but are
thickened throughout.
Lygffiid and the following family, Coreidae, may be
distinguished by the longitudinal veins in the membranous
part of the fore-wiogs. In Lygaeid these are seldom
more than five in number, while they are numerous in
Coreid. In Coreidae too, the last joint of the antennas
is thickened, but not in Lygasidaa.
The Coreidffi, like the Lygaeidae, contain many
Y 2
324 INSECTS.
prettily-coloured species, and are often remarkable for
peculiarities both of form and texture.
In some genera, the thorax is dilated at the sides, the
wing-cases rarely entirely cover the abdomen, and the legs
are long.
One genus, Rhopalus, is remarkable for the texture of
the wings, the fore-part of which is nearly clear, and is
outlined and crossed by exceedingly strong, thick nerves,
forming cells. The lower part is numerously horned.
This genus contains only one species, R. capitatus, a
yellow insect about three-eighths of an inch in length,
with thick, hairy antennae.
Another species, Oymus resedse, about one-fifth of
an inch in length, with red head and scutellum, and the
rest of the body yellow, is found on Mignonette.
These insects are all active, both in running and
flying, and are supposed to live on the juices of plants.
The family ScutelleridaB derives its name from the
great size of the scutellum or triangular shield, which
overlies the abdomen. The proboscis and antenna are
long, the latter frequently consisting of five joints.
There are twelve genera, and about forty species, of
which fifteen are in the Genus Pentatoma. Pentatoma
rufipes (PI. XIII., fig. 6) is a common and handsome
species, but does not display the family character of an
enlarged scutellum in anything like the degree in which
it may be seen in other genera. Thus, in Podops in-
unctus, a broad, brown, beetle-like insect, about a
quarter of an inch in length, and with two curious horns
or epaulettes projecting from the shoulders, the large
rounded scutellum nearly covers the wings.
In Eurydema oleracea, a beautiful oval insect of about
the same length, the scutellum is nearly as long, but
HETEROPTERA. 325
narrower and more pointed. This insect is of a deep blue
colour, the head, thorax, and wing-cases are outlined
with red, a band of red runs down the middle of the
thorax, the scutellum has two lateral red spots and is
tipped with red, and a large red spot occurs at the end
of the horny part of each wing-case.
Cydnus bicolor is another pretty species, roundish
and flat, about a quarter of an inch in length, and pie-
bald black and white ; the wings leave the end of the
abdomen exposed, showing a pattern of black and
yellow.
The insects in this family are very various in colour-
ing, many being exceedingly beautiful, and they are
chiefly of large or middle size. They live principally
on the juice of plants, but will also prey on other living
insects.
Mr. Westwood quotes a statement that six or eight
specimens of Pentatoma bidens (a quietly-coloured,
yellowish-brown species, with a sharp tooth projecting
on each side of its thorax), shut up in a room swarming
with the Bed Bug for several weeks, completely extir-
pated them.
De Geer observed some females in this family accom-
panying and guarding their young brood as a hen her
chickens, or an earwig her little earwigs.
326 INSECTS.
TABLE OF HETEROPTERA.
SECTION I. HYDROCORISA.
Antennae short and concealed.*
Legs fitted for swimming.*
Ocelli wanting.
A. Form boat-like.
Hind-legs long and oar-like.
Head about as wide as thorax.
Family 1. Notonectidce.
Ex. Water Boatmen.
B. Form flat and broad ; or linear.
Fore-leg prehensile.
Head much narrower than thorax.
Family 2. Nepidae.
Ex. Water Scorpion.
SECTION II. AUROCORISA.
Antennae long.
Legs fit for running.
Ocelli often present.
* Aphelocheirus, an aquatic genus in the family Acanthidae, has these
characters of Hjdroeori e a.
TABLE OF HETEROPTERA. 327
A. Terminal joint or joints, or joints of Antennae not
more slender than those preceding.
Tarsi usually three-jointed.
* Rostrum long, second joint elongated and straight.
Figure oval, flat.
Family 1. Acanthidse.
** Rostrum moderately long, four-jointed; third
joint much longer than the rest.
Figure long, very slender. ,
Tarsi two- or three-jointed.
Family 2. Hydrometridae.
*** Rostrum short, three-jointed, buried in a groove
under the head.
Tarsi two- or three-jointed.
Figure flat, broad.
Family 3. Tingidse.
**** Rostrum moderately long, joints nearly equal.
Figure generally narrow.
Ocelli sometimes wanting.
Family 4. Lygaeidae.
***** Rostrum long, four-jointed.
Antennae long, often five-jointed.
Scutellum large.
Family 5. Scutelleridaa.
****** Rostrum moderately long ; third joint shorter
than fourth.
Antennae terminal joint large.
Tarsi three-jointed.
Family 6. Coreidae.
328 INSECTS.
B. Terminal joints of antennas slender.
* Rostrum short, thick, naked, curved.
Head narrowed into a neck.
Tarsi three-jointed.
Family 7. Reduviidae.
** Rostrum moderately long, three-jointed.
Abdomen flat, nearly round.
Wings wanting.
Family 8. Cimicidaa. (Bed Bug, &c.)
*** Rostrum long, four- jointed.
Body convex, soft.
Ocelli wanting.
Family 9. Capsidae.
329
CHAPTER XXV.
ORDER XII. APHANIPTERA.
THE order APHANIPTERA contains the family of Fleas
only insects which, as that name imports, are entirely
destitute of wings.
There may seem little that is remarkable in this cir-
cumstance ; apterous species, and apterous individuals
of winged species, being found in all or nearly all other
orders. But of the Fleas, which are considered to form
an order by themselves, not a single species. British or
foreign, is known to develope wings. It is true that four
little scales supposed to represent these are found upon the
thoracic segments, and Naturalists have observed " some-
thing like elytra," and "vestiges of wings," but any-
thing which could be called wings has never been found.
Indeed, it seems that the process of development in
the Flea is arrested before it comes to the wings, for it is
unlike nearly all other insects (except such as the im-
perfectly developed female of the Glowworm) in having
no distinct thorax. The body, from the head to the
tail, is composed of a series of rings or plates, not
soldered together in separate masses as those which form
the thorax and abdomen in other cases, and the insect
thus assumes rather the appearance of such a larva as
occurs in the families with imperfect transformations, than
that of a perfect insect.
330 INSECTS.
The transformations, however, of the Flea, are not of
the kind called " imperfect ;" the larva is a long, footless,
worm-like little grub, and the pupa is quiescent, re-
sembling that in Coleoptera and Hymenoptera.
The mouth is formed for sucking, and is composed of
the usual parts mandibles, maxill, labial and maxillary
palpi, and tongue, but is deficient in the upper lip.
The mandibles are transformed into serrated lancets, to
which the labial palpi form a sheath, the maxillse are
small, and the jointed maxillary palpi standing out in
front of the head might easily be mistaken for antennae.
The real antennas are small, curiously formed, and gene-
rally concealed. The body is compressed, the legs long
and very powerful, especially in the action of leaping.
About twenty British species are known, but it is
probable that many remain to be discovered, parasitic on
quadrupeds and birds. Man himself, cats, dogs, bats,
moles, pigeons, &c., are infested by them generally,
each by a species peculiar to itself. Each species pre-
fers the animal to which it belongs, and it is therefore
seldom or. never that a Flea found upon our persons
albeit it was hatched in the hen-house, or in the rug on
which our dog was lying is either a dog's Flea or a
chicken's Flea. Yet it must be confessed that there is
a natural reluctance on our part to lay claim to any
especial property in this insect. We can enter into the
feelings of a certain Princess, when an " Industrious
Flea," having escaped while being exhibited, and, as it
was supposed, " taken refuge with her Royal Highness,"
the culprit was sought for, captured, presented to the
exhibitor, and declared to be not an educated, but a
" wild " Flea not his, but hers.
Fleas thrive especially in dirty and untidy houses, and
APHANIPTERA. 331
other places where dust, flue, particles of animal matter,
&c., afford a harbour to the eggs and both food and
lodgings to the larvae. They have been found swarming
at the mouths of the deserted holes of Sand Martins ; and
a traveller (Sir Howard Douglas ?) speaks of them as so
numerous in one place that if they had but been unani-
mous they might have pushed him out of bed.
The Chigoe or Jigger of the West Indies and South
America is a species of Flea, and is far more objection-
able than any of our European species, from its habit of
burying itself in the skin, causing inflammation and
sores which are sometimes even fatal.
A curious legend, preserved among a sect of Kurds
who dwelt at the foot of Mount Sindshar, is quoted by
the author of "Episodes of Insect Life," whence we will
borrow it verbatim :
" When Noah's ark sprang a leak by striking against
a rock in the vicinity of Mount Sindshar, and Noah des-
paired altogether oi safety, the Serpent promised to help
him out of his mishap, if he would engage to feed him
upon human flesh after the deluge had subsided. Noah
pledged himself to do so, and the Serpent, coiling him-
self up, drove his body into the fracture and stopped
the leak. When the pluvious element was appeased,
and all were making their way out of the ark, the Serpent
insisted upon the fulfilment of the pledge he had
received; but Noah, by Gabriel's advice, committed
the Serpent to the flames, and, scattering its ashes in
the air, there arose out of them Flies, Fleas, Lice, Bugs,
and all such sorts of vermin as prey upon human blood,
and in this manner was Noah's pledge redeemed."
332
Deus Myiagrus.
CHAPTER XXVI.
ORDER XIII. DIPTERA.
now come to the order of Flies, a tribe regarded
with much disfavour by those who, not looking beyond
the apparent evils which they occasion, are ignorant of
their great importance in the economy of nature.
Not only in the ancient times already spoken of
times when a god* was summoned to disperse, as a
cause of evil, creatures which were in truth its antidote ;
not then only, but even to the present day these most
useful little creatures are thought of, spoken of, and
treated as an unmixed nuisance. In Greece and Rome
two thousand years ago they were looked upon as
bringing pestilence ; in England to-day, we hear of the
" Cholera Fly," not as a Fly coming with, but as one
* See Introduction, p. 2, and the figure at the head of this chapter.
DIPTERA. 333
" bringing " disease. In some years the large swarms
of so-called " Cholera Flies " have been flights of
Aphides. In this case it is less easy to trace either the
final cause of the presence of these insects or their
connexion with the appearance of cholera (if such con-
nexion exists), than in that of the true Flies, numbers
of which, bred in and feeding on the substances which
induce disease, are both dependent on the presence of
those substances, and corrective of their noxious in-
fluences. We may, however, believe that certain con-
ditions of the air favourable to the development of
disease, may be equally favourable to the development
of vegetable life, and consequently to that of vegetable-
feeding insects.
Enough has already been said of the usefulness of
Scavenger insects, and of their almost universal presence
where their labours are required, to suggest the thought
that where pestilence is rife, whether from careless un-
cleanliuess or from such noxious atmospheric influences
as produce the same effects, there will be found the
myriads of Flies, whose office it is, in their earlier stages,
to consume the deadly substances which fill the air with
poison. It is easy to conceive that the heathen feasts
and sacrifices, unguarded by the regulations which sur-
rounded those of the Jews, might well call for the
presence of these little guests; while in their bestowing
the names of Mwcu, muscte, on the uninvited and un-
welcome human parasites, who thrust themselves upon
their feasts, we may read the feelings which they, ignorant
and ungrateful, entertained towards their little bene-
factors.
But it may be said of the carrion -eating, dung-eating,
Scavenger Flies, that their purpose is apparent, and for
334 INSECTS.
the sake of their general utility, we are willing to con-
done the offences of even those who, under a mistaken
view of duty, visit our larders to assist us in the removal
of heef and mutton. What, however, is to be said in
defence of those hordes whose aggressions touch our
persons of the blood-sucking little demons which, a
small misery in an English summer, make whole
tracts of country uninhabitable in tropical regions ?
What of the swarms of Gnats, of Midges, of Mosqui-
toes, of Sandflies, which might almost have prompted the
thought of our forefathers that the fallen spirits,shut out
from the upper heaven because of its delights, from the
lower earth because they could not there torment the race
of men, are confined midway in the darkened air, where, as
Flies, they surround us numberless, filling the air so
that it is full of devils and evil spirits, " as the sonne
.bemes ben full of small motes, which is small dust or
poudre." Is there any defence for these creatures ?
Of the bloodsuckers in the race of Gnats, Midges,
Mosquitoes, &c., nearly all the larvee are aquatic, and
consumers of decaying matter Scavengers. If this be
so, is not the purpose of the production of the
myriads of such creatures in the unhealthy swamps
of unreclaimed tropical lands sufficiently evident ; and
would it be straining one's view of final causes to trace
the continuance of their beneficial influence on man,
when, changed from a Scavenger Maggot to a blood-
thirsty little Midge, our tormentor drives us from the
regions as yet unsuited for our habitation ?
That Flies are officious, busy, curious, there is no
denying. A well-known Artist of the present day tells
an amusing story of the interference of a little House-
fly, in which we might almost imagine the spirit of fun
DIPTERA. 3o
and mischief at work. The painter having left the room
in which he was giving a lesson in miniature painting,
returned to find the carefully finished eyes as carefully
unfinished again, denuded of all colour in the iris.
He cast an unfriendly eye on the pupil's little brother
(who had been left alone with the picture), and restored
the eyes. Called away again, the unpainting process
was partially repeated, and this time the little brother was
openly accused, denied the charge indignantly, was be-
lieved by his mother, and disbelieved by the angry master.
No sooner was the discussion dropped, than casting his
eyes upon the miniature, the Artist observed a Housefly
busily at work, delicately sucking up with his tiny pro-
boscis all that remained of the colour employed in
painting the irides.
And now, having talked for three pages about Flies, it
seems time to inquire what is meant by a " Fly" This
depends very much upon who is speaking. Being a
" popular name " the *' people " have a right to mean
what they choose by it, and they avail themselves of
this right some meaning by it one thing, some another,
some every flying insect for which they know no other
name. Thus, " the Fly " of the farmer is usually the
little hopping Turnip Beetle ; the " Fly " of the hop-
grower is an Aphis ; the " Fly" of the herdsman, a
Gad ; while to the citizen, almost anything to be seen
with wings (except pigeons and sparrows), is a Fly.
There are some again to whom Flies are Flies one Fly
the Fly the common well-known little black House-
fly. Here at last is something definite. No, not even
now; for these will at least claim their young Housefly,
and their full-grown Housefly, and expect you to be-
lieve that late in the year their Housefly takes to biting
336 INSECTS,
you : little dreaming that the little Fly, and the big Fly,
and the Fly which bites you, not only are different species,
but even belong to different genera : that the little Fly
never grows big, that the big Fly never was little, and
that their Housefly could not bite you if he would.
What, then, are we to understand by the name Fly ?
It is clear that the popular sense has no sense at all
or too many senses and yet the word cannot be spared
from our vocabulary. In any Latin dictionary we shall
find Musca (Fly), and the Entomologist pounces upon it,
and says, it shall mean the tribe of two-winged insects.
LinnaBus so used it, and his genus Musca, now broken
up into many new genera, represented the greater number
of those insects which the Entomologist now claims as
Flies.
The order DIPTERA, then, is marked by the absence
of hind-wings, the place of which is occupied by two
small, short, hair-like appendages, ending in a knob,
and termed halters or poisers. The wings are mem-
branous, not closely veined, and are never folded. At
their base, a little wing-like membrane, called alulet,
or winglet, is most frequently found.
The mouth is fitted for sucking only, and its principal
parts are a sucker, or fleshy tongue, familiar to us as
the " proboscis," or " trunk" of the Housefly, and
several fine lancet-like organs. It is these latter which,
in the blood-sucking Flies, or Gnats, Horseflies, &c., are
used to pierce the skin, while the fleshy tongue or sucker
makes a vacuum, and draws away the blood. In fact,
when a Gnat " bites" us, the truth is, that the little crea-
ture puts us through the exact process of cupping. The
fleshy sucker is the labium, lip, or tongue, as it is
variously called in this and other insects. The lancets
DIPTERA. 337
are the upper lip, mandible, maxillae, and palpi or some
of these completely changed from their form as that
is seen in Biting insects. These lancets, always delicate,
are nevertheless comparatively strong in the Blood-
Suckers ; while in those Flies which live on fluids not
enclosed in thick-skinned vessels, they are feeble and
flaccid.
The antennae vary greatly. Under one form there are
two or three short joints, of which the terminal is large
and sometimes nearly globose, with a bristle springing
from its upper side or from its apex. Under another,
the several joints form a more or less spindle-shaped
antenna, with or without a terminal bristle, while in the
Gnats, Daddy Longlegs, &c., the antennae are long,
slender, many-jointed, and beautifully decorated with
whorls of hair. There are also many intermediate
forms.
The tarsi are five-jointed. The commonest form of
foot consists of a pair of curved claws above a pair of
flat, sucker-like, hairy pads. The claws vary in form,
and the pads both in form and number there being two,
three, or, rarely, none.
The larvae of Flies are generally legless maggots of
simple form the " Gentle" used by anglers being a well-
known example ; but some of the aquatic species are
more complicated externally, and are furnished with
ornamental appendages belonging to the breathing ap-
paratus.
The pupae are inactive, a curious exception being
found in the Gnat family, of which the pupa (aquatic)
is very active, although unable to feed. The pupae are
sometimes naked, and sometimes remain enclosed in the
larva skin, which either retains much of its original form
z
338 INSECTS.
or contracts into a smooth, egg-like case or cocoon. The
pupa itself, whether naked or enclosed in the larva skin,
resembles that of the Beetles in having the limbs sepa-
rately cased.
The manner in which Flies are produced varies. Most
are, like other insects, produced in the egg state ; others,
among the Carrion Flies, are born, not in the egg, but
already grown to larvae ; while, in the case of certain
Parasitic Flies, they even attain the pupa stage before
exclusion.
As in all the four-winged orders of insects, some
species or sexes are found wanting one or both pairs of
wings,* so in the order Diptera, characterized by the
invariable absence of hind-wings, the fore as well as the
hind pair are sometimes wanting, and also the halteres
or representatives of the hind-wings.
If it be asked how, when, as in Diptera, or excep-
tionally in any of the orders above named, there is but
one pair of wings, they can be pronounced to be hind-
wings or fore-wings ? the answer is, much in the same
way as if a monstrous horse were born with only two
legs, it would be decided whether these were the hind or
the fore legs ; their relation to other parts would settle
the question.
The order Diptera is divided by marked characters
into two sections, PROBOSCIDEA and EPROBOSCIDEA, but
of these the first contains the bulk of the order, while
the second contains only a few known species, which
are all parasitic, living in the perfect state on the
surface of the bodies of quadrupeds and birds.
The characters of PROBOSCIDEA are proboscis fleshy
* When only one is absent, it is nearly always the hind pair.
DIPTERA. 339
and bilobed at the tip ; legs of the opposite sides in-
serted down the middle of the thorax ; head and thorax
distinct, being connected by a neck; antenna placed
between the eyes.
In EPROBOSCIDEA, the proboscis is tubular, the legs
are set wide apart, those of opposite sides being separated
by a wide breastplate. The head is either sunk in the
thorax, or thrown so completely backward as to be
actually reversed, and the antennae are partially buried
in the head.
The first section, PROBOSCIDEA, is divided into two
large groups, named, from the characters of the antennae,
1. NEMOCERA.
2. BRACHTCERA.
To this is added a third, HYPOCERA, which consists
but of one genus, containing only a few small species.
To NEMOCERA belong the Gnats, Daddy Longlegs, and
others, having long and slender thread-like antenna of
several joints, numbering from six to sixteen, and fre-
Fig. 69.
Antenna of fiptik.
quently very beautifully decorated with whorls of long or
short slender hairs (see fig. 59, and PI. XI V_, fig. 1).
The Flies of this division are nearly all to he recognised
Z 2
340 INSECTS.
with ease by their slender form, small head, high thorax,
and long and delicate legs, which are extended down-
wards and backwards during flight.
Fig. 70.
Female Gnat (Culex Pipiens) at rest.
In BRACHTCERA the antennae are comparatively short,
very often consisting of only three joints of unequal
size, from the last of which a bristle or delicate feather
usually springs (see PI. XIV., 6, a; XV., 4, a; XVI.,
3, a, 5, a). The antenna sometimes are longer and
have more joints (see PI. XIV., 2, a, 4, a) sometimes
as many as ten but these, after the third, are usually
more or less consolidated into one, and have a character
different from that of the distinctly articulated antennae
in Nemocera (see fig. above). By far the greater
number of Flies belong to Brachycera.
In the small section HYPOCERA, the antennae much
resemble those of the Brachycera, but are differently
placed, being low down and close to the mouth. The
character of the mouth, in which the lancets are not
developed,with some other characters to be named in their
place, also help to distinguish it from Brachycera.
The wings in Brachycera are usually characterized by
the posterior nerves forming several perfect cells.* In
most families the membrane of the wing forms a larger
or smaller lobe in the axil, which lobe is very small
* See figures in table of Diptera.
DIPTERA. 341
or wanting in Nemocera ; and the winglets, undeveloped
in Nemocera, are often conspicuous in Brachycera.
The habits of Flies both in the larval and perfect states
vary much. Of the larvse, many are purely aquatic, as the
well-known active little Gnat larva common in all pools,
ponds, and tanks ; or live in wet mud and filth, as the
useful " rat- tailed " larva of the Dronefly. Others live in
the earth, feeding on decayed matter, or on the roots of
plants ; while some, as the " Gentle " of the angler, are
deposited, already hatched from the egg, in the carrion
which it is their office to consume.* They are found
feeding in almost every part of almost every kind of
plant, and a large number live in unhealthy growths
upon plants similar to the galls of the Hymenoptera
occasioned by their own presence. Some few feed upon
other living insects. Some, again, are parasitic, in-
habiting the nests and feeding on the food of other
insects ; while others, as the Gadflies, are parasitic within
the bodies of quadrupeds.
The variety of food chosen by various Flies when
arrived at perfection is nearly as great as that of the
larvae. While perhaps the greater number of species
feed on the honey in flowers, and on the various juices
of plants, others, as the Gnats, Horseflies, c., suck the
blood of men and animals whenever an opportunity
offers. There are also true parasites among the FHes
species which, winged or wingless, live constantly, in
the complete state, upon the bodies of birds and quad-
rupeds. Besides these, many Flies are predaceous,
attacking other insects and draining them of their
blood, and some few live upon the fetid juices of carrion.
* The value of this provision in the saving of time, when the object is
to check the evil effects of putrefaction, needs no remark.
34)2 INSECTS.
As, however, is commonly the case in insects, preda-
ceous or vegetarian habits in the one state do not imply
a continuation of the same habit in another, and we not
seldom find the predaceous larva followed by a vegeta-
rian Fly, and the reverse. There are, however, a few rules
which appear to prevail, and which are worthy of note.
In the first division of Proboscidea, Nemocera, it may
generally be observed that the Blood-sucking Flies (i.e.,
Gnats, Midges, &c.) are those which proceed from aquatic
larvae, the terrestrial larvae which live chiefly on fungi and
other plants, living or decayed, producing flower-loving
Flies.
In the second division, Brachycera, on the contrary,
the Flies proceeding from aquatic larvae feed on the honey
in flowers, &c., while the blood-sucking Horsefly, the
predaceous Empis, and carrion-eating Flies are terrestrial
in the larva state. It is in this division that the para-
sitic larvae are found, of both kinds of parasitism, in the
nests and bodies of other insects, and in the bodies of
animals, and these larvae produce Flower-loving Flies.
The rules just given are not to be considered as
without exception, even among insects whose habits are
known ; and it must be remembered that there is so large
a number of insects of whose habits in one or both states
we are as yet entirely ignorant, that it is impossible to lay
down general rules in those matters which may not here-
after prove to be valueless.
The Parasitic Flies Flies, that is, which are parasitic
in their perfect state upon quadrupeds or birds are found
only in the second section, Eproboscidea, and, with the
peculiarities of their transformations, have been already
described.
The number of the Diptera is so large, that to describe
DIPTERA. NEMOCERA. 343
the families only in a manner which may enable the
young student to refer species to them, is all that can be
attempted here ; and the readeF will find it necessary for
this to make himself acquainted with the figure of a
wing and its principal veins and cells given at the end of
the table of Diptera.
The NEMOCERA have been divided into two families,
Culicidce, in which the proboscis is very long, and
Tipulida, in which it is short the Gnat (Culex)
being the type of the former, the Daddy Longlegs
(Tipula) of the latter. This marks off the Culex family
with distinctness, but the shortness or length of the pro-
boscis and membership of this family, are no certain
indications as to the blood-sucking habits of the species.
The group is now divided by Mr. Walker into ten
families* (Culicidae and Tipulidae being two of them) ; but
even so the Blood-suckers are not entirely separated from
the Vegetarians, one genus in Culicidse itself not being
blood-sucking, while Blood-suckers and Vegetarians are
mixed in other families.
Indeed, this habit is not so important a difference as
we (from an interested point of view) might be inclined
to consider it ; for it is evident that of the myriads of
Gnats and Midges which are produced in uninhabited
swamps and forests, the greater part must die without
having ever tasted blood, but having fed, if indeed food
is necessary during their short lives, on the juices of
plants, which their piercing and sucking probosces are
as well suited to obtain as the fluids contained in the
veins of animals. The pupa3 in Nemocera are naked.
* Mr. Walker, indeed, reckons eleven families in Diptera, the Flea*
forming one of these ; but in the present work these form an order by
themselves.
844 INSECTS.
Mr. Walker divides NEMOCERA into the following
families :
1. Mycetophilidae,
2. Cecidomyzidae (Gall-gnats).
3. Bibionidae.
4. SimulidaB (Sandflies).
5. Chironomidae (Midges).
6. Culicidae (Gnats).
7. Phlebotomidae.
8. Heteroclitae.
9. TipulidaB (Daddy Longlegs, Craneflies).
10. Khyphidaa.
In the three first of these familiies the larvae are
terrestrial, living on fungi, roots ot grain, &c., and dead
organic matter. The perfect Flies are not blood-suckers.
1. Mycetophilida3. These, as their name denotes,
live chiefly upon fungi, partly also (as is common with
fungus-eating insects) on decaying vegetable matter of
other kinds. They are little, active, hopping creatures,
in general appearance like minute and beautiful Gnats,
Iroui which, however, the shortness of the proboscis and
the comparative shortness of the legs serve to distinguish
them. They are further to be distinguished as usually
possessing ocelli, two or three in number Bibionidae,
and, rarely, Cecidomyzidae being the only other families
of Nemocera with ocelli.
The wings are without the discal areolet.
2. Cecidomyzida. These are also very small and
exquisitely beautiful Gnat-like little insects, with glitter-
ing rainbow-coloured wings, and often with long, slender,
and decorated antennas. They seldom have ocelli. The
Gall-making larvae are found in this family, while others
feed in the seed-vessels, flowers, leaves, &c., of living
DIPTERA. NEMOCERA. 345
plants, and some on decaying wood and even in the
woody galls formed by other insects.
As was observed above concerning the Lepidoptera,
so here it may be repeated of Diptera that a study of
the order, and especially of this family, will inform the
young naturalist of the history of many of the excres-
cences, monstrosities, and, in some cases, decorations,
which he cannot fail to observe in any country walk.
The larvae of some of the Cecidomyzidae live in the leaf-
buds at the tip of the branches of the dwarf willows
which fringe the pools and river-sides in every part of
the country, and there form rosette-like galls.
The wart-like galls common on the meadow-sweet
(Spiraea) ; the uneven swellings on the stalks and leaves
of the stinging-nettle ; the little furry, purses on the
ground ivy ; the woody, shapeless excrescences on the
raspberry plants ; the slender upright growth on beech
leaves ; the blisters on bedstraw, yellow nettle, and
others ; the knots within the very blossoms of many
flowers ; all these, and a great many more, are the work
of little creatures in this numerous family.
A few of them have been found in woody galls of
Hymenopterous insects ; some others are Aphis-eaters.
Besides these, some of the larvae live within the stalks
of groundsel and other allied plants ; others live in
rolled leaves, and one, the Cecidomyia tritici, is a scourge
to the farmers, inhabiting the ears of corn. It will give
some idea of the destruction of which these insects are
capable, to relate that forty-one of their maggots have
been counted in the husk of a single grain of wheat !
The Hessian Fly of America belongs to this family.
Some of the larvae in Oecidomyzidae spin silken cocoons.
3. Bibionidce. This is a small familv of rather stouter
346 INSECTS.
and less Gnat-like insects than the preceding. Their
larvae feed, some on the roots of grass, others on dung
and dead animal or vegetable matter of various kinds.
The Flies have generally three ocelli.
In the next three families the larvae are chiefly aquatic,
and the perfect insects blood-suckers.
4. Simulidae. This family contains only one genus,
and that but few British species perhaps we should be
as well satisfied if we might also say but few individuals,
for they are a race of tormentors. They are the Sand-
flies of Northern latitudes, and the Mosquitoes of some
countries, while in others the name Mosquito is given
to various species of Culex. In the preparatory states
they are aquatic, the larva spinning a cocoon for the
purpose, which, however, is but partially enclosed, the
fore-part of the pupa being subject to the action of the
water. This family is distinguished by the tibia and
the first joint of the tarsus being somewhat broad and
flattened,
5. Chironomidte are the Midges an immense family
of beautiful but bloodthirsty little creatures. A little,
thin, wriggling, red, eel-like Maggot, common in stagnant
water, and known as the Bloodworm, is the larva of a
common species, Chironomus plumosus, with feathery
antennae.* Like the pupa) of the Culicidse, or true
Gnats, the aquatic pupae in this family are capable of
motion, though less active than the Culicidae. They live
at the bottom of the water, rising to the surface when
about to change. Some of the larvae form tubes of
* It is remarked that the feathered antennae, so beautiful (especially
in the male) in many of the Nemocera, belong only (or generally) to
species with aquatic larvae.
DIPTERA. NEMOCERA. 347
decayed leaves spun together by silken threads, in which
they live.
The family contains one, probably more, species living
in dung in the earlier stages.
The legs of these insects are slender and not flattened.
6. Culicidce, the true Gnats, are, some of them, so
well known as to be recognisable at once. Their size is
generally greater than that of insects in the preceding
families, and they are distinguished by the position of
the long proboscis, which is held projecting straight for-
ward (fig. 70, p. 340). This organ, comparatively incon-
spicuous in the female, is often exceedingly ornamental
in the. male ; its feathered palpi, combined with the
feathered antenna, forming a most beautiful cluster of
plumes upon the bead (PL XIV., fig. 1). But, while the
apparently simple, needle-like proboscis of the female
(see fig. 70, p. 340, and PL XIV., fig. 1, b) is less likely
to attract the eye than are the showy plumes of her more
warlike-looking mate, hers is the weapon with which
we are but too well acquainted in action- This little
needle, finer than any hair, consists of a long tubular
sheath, which, enclosing and guarding five minute
lancets, serves also as a sucker to draw up blood from
the vessels pierced by these instruments. These delicate
but efficient little serrated lancets are either wanting in
the male, or are much less fully developed, and the
female alone is bloodthirsty. So also is she alone
musical, and musical only at her most bloodthirsty
times ; and the trumpet which we hear in the dead of
night sounding the attack is the instrument of this
amazon, and seldom gives a false alarm.
The swelling and irritation which follow the bite of
a Gnat are accounted for by supposing that she injects
348 INSECTS.
a venomous fluid into the wound, which creates inflam-
mation, while the swelling is caused by a pouring of
fluid from the vessels into the tissues around, an effort,
probably, to free the blood from the poison, but also
having the effect of rendering the little blood-sucker's
draught easy and more copious. It has long been
a fact familiar to many people that the bite of a
Gnat which is allowed to suck its fill, is much less
troublesome afterwards than that of an insect disturbed
while sucking. Humboldt has stated this of a South
American Gnat, and is quoted by a writer in the
" Zoologist," who had found the same thing true in
England. In a paragraph recently extracted by the
Times from an American paper, a gentleman who has
lived for years in a Mosquito country, states the same
fact, and accounts for it by saying that the Gnat
having leave to drink his fill, sucks back, the poison
together with the blood.
The lively Gnat larva^ are well known, as, with the
big-headed, tadpolish, jerky pupas, they are to be found in
.abundance in all standing water, not only in ponds and
ditches, but in cisterns and tanks, and occasionally in
our very water-jugs.
Yet tenfold the number of larv which our eyes have
ever looked upon would not seem enough to account for
the cloud-like myriads of Gnats which are often seen
filling the air. In the " Insect Miscellanies" a swarm
is recorded so dense as to have appeared like smoke
issuing from the spire of Salisbury Cathedral, giving
rise to an alarm of fire. It is not possible to conceive
the immense number of such minute creatures which
must be congregated together to become visible at so
great a height.
DIPTERA, NEMOCERA. 349
The flight of these insects is worth noticing, when we
consider the astonishing muscular power which must be
exerted by animals of weight so inconsiderable, in main-
taining their position against the wind. They generally
fly, or hover,* with their heads towards the wind, and a
cluster may be seen for hours dancing in the air without
yielding one inch of we cannot say ground ! The
loud humming, or trumpet-like sound too of the female,
if, as seems most probable, produced by the rapid
vibrations of the wings, must require a marvellous array
of powerful muscles.
That this is indeed the case is easily to be seen in a
Gnat rendered transparent by soaking in turpentine and
then viewed by polarized light. The whole of the
bulky (!) thorax (the only part of a Gnat which seems
to have any solidity at all) appears crossed and re-crossed
at right angles by broad, band-like muscles, which (if
the selenite crystal be used in the examination),
actually gives the little creature the appearance of being
dressed in a large check tartan jacket ! A beautiful
economy of power is also to be noticed in the centraliza-
tion of the weight of the insect in this one part, by
which the poising of the body is effected without special
muscular effort.
Eapidity of motion in these insects is in evident re-
spouse to quickness of vision. Though doubts are
entertained as to the distinctness of sight in insects
generally, there can be none concerning the swiftness
* The verb to hover is used here and elsewhere to express the action of
flying, fluttering, or remaining as it were suspended over one spot, whether
this be as, when by the rapid action of the wings the insect is maintained
apparently motionless in the air (as in some Syrphidse, &c.), or as in the
limited dance of the Gnats.
350 INSECTS.
with which they perceive and avoid danger. Who has
not watched a company of these creatures maintaining
their raerry dance during a shower of rain, without a
single individual being caught and dashed to the earth ?
It is clear that, as has been said of certain Tipulae also,
they dodge the drops of rain ; and we may conceive this
necessity as adding greatly to the glee and excitement of
their gambols. How clumsy and tame a performance is
the boasted " sword dance" in comparison with this !
7. PHLEBOTOMID.E, notwithstanding the threatening
name, and (8) HETEROCLIT/E, appear to partake of some
characters both of the Gnat and the Daddy Longlegs.
Some are blood-suckers and others not, and the food and
habits of the larvae are various. The genus generally
best known is Psychoda (in family 7), which contains
only two species. One of these, Psychoda phalenoides
(or " Moth-like" Psychoda), a little harmless grey woolly-
winged insect, sometimes libellously called a Midge, is
commonly to be found on the window-panes and else-
where in-doors, especially in winter. It is less than one-
twelfth of an inch long, with broad wings, sloping, roof-
like, from the back and antenna, which are banded with
black and decorated with whorls of hair, and exceedingly
beautiful, though not more so tfian hundreds of other
species in Nemocera. The Fly runs actively, but is more
noticeable for its habit of making sudden hops (produced,
however, by wings, not legs) in all unexpected directions.
The larva is terrestrial, and lives in dung.
9. Tipulidce. This family contains the "Daddy Long-
legs," " Harry Longlegs," or " Craneflies," the largest
insects not only in Nemocera, but if length length of
body and length of limb is considered, the largest of
English Diptera. The Tipulidse are easily to be distin-
DIPTERA. NEMOCERA. 351
guished from the other families in the group by a
transverse seam in the thorax, which is not found in
these.
The body of the female terminates in a sharp-pointed
oviduct ; that of the male is abruptly truncated. These,
insects, while out of their proper place they are among the
most awkward of animals, are interesting as examples of
structure peculiarly fitted for an especial purpose. Every-
where but at home the Daddy Longlegs is so encumbered
Fig. 71.
Daddy Longlegs (Tipula oleracea).
by his long and unmanageable limbs, that his life seems
to be spent in clumsy but successful efforts to leave
them behind him on every possible occasion and in every
possible place. But the Daddy Longlegs at home is
another creature, and is conspicuous as an example of a
very singular mode of locomotion. The larvse are sub-
terranean, feeding on the roots of grass ; the female,
therefore, seeks grassy meadows where to lay her eggs.
Her progress among the long blades is quick and easy,
the slender-jointed legs curling round and embracing
these leaves, so that, except for the body being main-
tained in a standing rather than a hanging position, the
352 INSECTS.
action might be compared to that of the Sloths, or Tree
Monkeys, with their prehensile limbs and tail.
The destruction occasioned by the larvae is sometimes
very great, though at others the quality of the grass is
even improved by the eating away of superabundant
roots. About ten or twelve years ago the insect swarmed
in and near London; in Kensington Gardens, and
other places, large patches of ground were entirely de-
nuded.
The long-nosed brown pupa-case of the Daddy Long-
legs may easily be found, empty, and projecting from the
turf, looking like a legless, wingless skin of the perfect
Ely.
The head of this insect may be recommended to young
microscopists as very easy of preparation ; and, from the
beauty of the whorled antennae, the large size of the com-
pound eyes, and the easily displayed structure of the
mouth, is a very interesting object.
In the Tipulidee family the larvae are chiefly subter-
ranean, feeding on fungi, roots, &c. ; but among them
are some which are aquatic in the larva state, and blood-
sucking in the perfect.
10. Khyphidce. There are two species of this family,
both common, and though smaller and shorter-bodied
in proportion than those of the last family, they resemble
them more nearly than the preceding. They are, however,
at once distinguished by the absence of the transverse
suture down the back. The larvae are dung-eaters.
Many of the flies in Nemocera, as the Gnats, Crane-
flies, &c., fly both by day and night. The Flies of the
following division, Brachycera, are all diurnal.
353
CHAPTEK XXVII.
D i p T E R A. (continued).
BRACHYCERA, the second large section of the Pro-
boscidae, contains seventeen families :
1. Stratiomidae (Soldier-flies) .
2. Xylophagidae.
3. Tabanidae (Horse~flies).
4. Acroceridae.
5. Asilida3.
6. Leptidae.
7. Bombylidae (Bee-flies).
8. Scenopiuidae.
9. Empidae (Snipe-flies).
10. Dolichopidae.
11. Lonchopteridae.
12. Platypezida?.
13. Pipunculidae.
14. Syrphidas (Dragon-flies, dc.).
15. Conopidae.
16. Muscidae (Houseflies, &c.).
17. (Estridas (Gadflies).
These families- form three groups, distinguished chiefly
by the character of the metamorphoses.
In the two first the pupa remains within the skin of
the larva, which retains something of its original
form.
A A
354 INSECTS.
In the eleven following families the pupa sheds tne
larva skin.
In the four last families the pupa remains within the
larva skin, which shrinks and hardens into an even,
somewhat eggshell-like or cocoon-like covering for the
pupa.
The antennae in the first two groups are generally long
in proportion to their bulk (PI. XIV., figs. 2 a, 4 a) \ or,- if
short and thick, have a terminal bristle (figs. 3 a, 6 a). In
the third group they are generally short, and have the last
joint much the most bulky, and garnished with a bristle
springing from its upper side (PL XV., fig. 4 a ; XVI.,
figs. 3 a, 5 a).
The family Stratiomidae contains the Soldier-flies
(PL XIV., fig. 2, Stratiomys chameleon), large or middle-
sized and somewhat broad-bodied insects, very prettily
marked in spots, streaks, and triangles, and of bright
colours black variegated with red, yellow, orange, or
white. The hinder part of the thorax is generally
armed with spines ; in the genus Stratiomys there are
two ; in other genera the number varies one, Beris,
having in some species as many as eight. The feet have
three pads.
The larvae in this family are chiefly aquatic some,
however, being terrestrial and feeding on decomposing
matter. The perfect insects haunt flowers, of which
they suck the juices. In some genera, as Sargus, the
Flies are more slender in form, and of beautiful metallic
colouring. Sargus cuprarius (PL XIV., fig. 3) is a
common and beautiful insect, with golden-green head
and thorax, and an abdomen lustrous with the purple
and gold of the Copper ore called " Peacock." The
larvae of these live in the earth.
DIPTERA. BRACHYCEBA. 355
XylopJiagiiSy in the next family, Xylophagidae, con-
tains but few and rare species, which in the earlier stages
live in decayed wood.
The antennae in these two families are composed of
from five to ten joints, and are generally somewhat
elongated, but less distinctly articulated than in the
Nemocera section. In Sargus .and some others of the
StratiomidaB, the third and following joints are con-
solidated into a sub-globular, oval, or spindle-shaped
mass, in which the articulations are to be distinguished,
and which is terminated by a bristle. The antennae in
Stratiomys are long and elbowed (PI. XIV., fig. 2 a).
Tabanus is the principal genus in the third family,
Tabanidee (PL XIV., fig. 4). The "Horse-stinger," a
speckled grey Fly, about half an inch long and very
common in woods, is an insect well known, especially by
those who have once felt its peculiarly acute bite. There
are several species, of which one, the Oxfly (T. borinus),
is nearly an inch in length, broad in proportion, and
covered with a handsome chequered pattern in grey and
white. These insects are called Horseflies and Oxflies,
Clegs, and Gadflies (a name more usually applied, how-
ever, to the (Estrus or Botfly), and, from the sound pro-
duced by their wings, Breezeflies. In some countries
they are a scourge to the cattle, and even in England the
approach of a single individual will sometimes occasion
no small panic in a herd. With these insects, however, as
with the Gnats, blood-sucking appears to be the habit of
the female alone, the males being true flower-lovers.
The antenna consists of three distinct portions viz.,
a basal joint, a second, and a tapering mass composed of
several joints.
The eyes are often exceedingly beautiful, lustrous and
AA2
.356 INSECTS.
varied in colouring. Some are golden green, with lines
and spots of purple, others are bronzed, others purplish
green, others green-striped or banded with crimson.
The feet have three pads.
The larvae are terrestrial.
Acroceridse, the fourth family, contains a few species
of small but remarkably swollen-looking Flies, with
nearly globular abdomen, broad, very high, and convex
thorax, and exceedingly small head, which seems only
just large enough to contain the eyes. The antennae are
small, and placed close together ; the feet, like those of
the Tabani, have three pads.
These insects are sluggish, and haunt flowers.
Asilus, the principal genus in the family Asilidae, con-
tains some long, strong, hairy, hungry-looking Flies of
predaceous habits. They feed principally on other
insects, and an Asilus may often be seen on the wing
bearing the whole weight of an unlucky Bee probably
on his way to a picnic, as there seems no other way of
accounting for his not eating his dinner where he found
it. It is supposed that some species suck the blood of
quadrupeds. Asilus crabroniformis (PI. XIV., fig. 5)
is a very handsome and conspicuous Fly, clothed all over
with deep golden hairs, except on the fore-half of the
abdomen, which is velvety black. The wings are some-
what golden or tawny, with dusky patches on the hind
margin.
The larvae of the Asilidae live in the earth or in decayed
wood.
In the Leptidae the antennas are nearly all very short,
being composed of three short joints (of which the last
is generally the greatest in circumference), and a long
terminal bristle usually reckoned as a fourth joint. The
DIPTERA. BRACHYCERA. 357
feet in Leptis have three pads, as in some other pre-
daceous Flies already described. Leptis scolopacea
(PI. XIV., fig. 6) is a Fly often found in woods, lanes,
and gardens. It is of a somewhat slender and tapering
figure, and of much feebler aspect than the Asilidae.
The thorax is of a pale striped grey in the male,
yellowish in the female, the abdomen tawny-coloured,
with a row of black spots running down it, and the grey-
tipped wings are spotted and partly bordered with brown.
The larvae live in the earth or in decayed wood, and
that of one foreign species is said to catch the small
insects upon which it preys in pitfalls formed in the sand,
somewhat after the manner of the Cicindela larva.
Common as are instances of such instinct among the
larvae of other orders, it is rare to find them in the
Diptera, cocoon-spinning being almost the only con-
structive work performed by them, and that being con-
fined to a few families. One common species in this
family, Atherix ibis, a little ash-coloured (?) or tawny
( $ ) Fly, spotted and banded with black, and about a
quarter of an inch in length, with an aquatic larva, has
the curious instinct to lay its eggs on branches over-
hanging the water, into which the larvae falls on emerg-
ing from the egg.
In Bombylidae, the most conspicuous is the Bee-fly,
Bombylim major (PI. XV., fig. 1). This is a furry-
looking Fly, with a small head, wide thorax, and
abdomen wider still and somewhat flattened. It is
black, covered with bristly golden hairs above, and with
black and white hairs below. The wings, even when in
repose, are kept at full stretch, and are longitudinally
divided in colour, the costal half being dark brown,
the other clear 'and colourless. The most remarkable
358 INSECTS.
feature, however, is the long, slender, projecting pro-
boscis, little inferior in length to the body of the insect.
The antennae are long, pointed, and slender.
Like the Humming-bird Moth, the Bee-fly may fre-
quently be observed eagerly hovering over a flower, and,
without settling, extracting honey by means of its long
proboscis. It resembles the Moth too in the suddenness
with which it darts away if approached while thus sus-
pended, apparently without motion, in the air.
The history of its larvae is not yet fully known, and it
is a question whether they are parasitic in their habits,
or vegetarian. There are some insects in the family
which are known to be parasitic, but most of these are
rare. Thereva, one of the genera, contains predaceous
Flies.
The eighth family, Scenopinidae, contains a few com-
mon but inconspicuous little black insects with rust-
coloured legs, found in houses and stables.
Empidae is a numerous family of voracious insect-
eating Flies somewhat resembling Asilus in figure, but
generally of small or middle size. Their heads are small
and round, the antennae three-jointed, tapering, and ter-
minating in a point or bristle of one or two joints ; the
tongue is generally long, and when at work very con-
spicuous, whence these insects are sometimes called
Snipe-flies. The wings are without the rounded lobe in
the axil, which appears in nearly all the other Brachy-
cerous flies excepting those of the families Dolichopidae
and Lonchopteridae.
Empis tessellata (PI. XV., fig. 2) is a dull, ash-coloured
Fly, with three longitudinal black streaks on the thorax,
legs long, strong, and spined, wings dusky and tinged
on the fore-part with reddish brown. It is very common
DIPTERA. BRACHYCERA. 359
in the spring, and may be met with on any plant fre-
quented by other insects.
Another insect, not common, but never to be forgotten
when once seen, even though but slightly magnified, is
the Hhamphomyia pennata, a little black Fly, the male
of which is rendered noticeable even to the naked eye by
the apparent thickness of the legs. These on being
magnified are seen to be most beautifully feathered, or
fringed throughout their whole length, by broad, flat,
striated scales or hairs. The decoration of the female is
much more insignificant.
Another, and much more common Fly in this family is
the little Hilara, the males of which may often be re-
cognised by the inflated appearance of the first joint of
the tarsus (metatarsus), which is nearly globular. This
insect abounds in gardens.
Some of the Empidse are found hovering in swarms,
like Gnats, over water. The family contains many
genera and many species.
Dolichopida3 also, the tenth family of Brachycera,
contains a large number of genera and species. The
Dolichopida3 are small bright Flies, generally with a
metallic lustre and colouring, very brisk and joyous in
their movements, especially in running, and, like most
very active insects, predaceous in their habits. Many
species in this family are found near water, and even on
its surface, upon which they run actively in search of
prey. The larvas are, however, supposed to be terrestrial,
and it is probably the insects abundant in such situations
which make them attractive to the Flies.
The remaining three families of Flies with naked pupae
contain few species, and their habits are not very re-
markable.
360 INSECTS.
Of the four families in which the pupse remain within
the altered and cocoon-like larva skin, the first is Syr-
phidse.
This is a very large family, consisting of no less than
thirty-one genera, and containing many large Flies,
rendered conspicuous by their bright and well-marked
colouring, their vigorous flight, and their constant pre-
sence during spring, summer, and autumn. Not only in
fields, lanes, and woods, but in our gardens too, the
motion of their bright and glancing wings, their musical
hum, and their evident enjoyment of the sunshine and the
flowers, are no small ingredients in the general brightness.
They are, almost without exception, pure flower-lovers
in their perfect state. In their earlier stages some of
them are useful servants to the gardeners, for while a few,
feeding on bulbous roots, &c., are known as injurious to
cultivated plants, the larvae of the genus Syrphus and
others are highly beneficial to them, living entirely upon
Aphides. Some, less praiseworthy, are parasitic in the
nests of Humble Bees and of Wasps. Others live in
rotten wood, cow-dung, and fungi ; while the larvae in the
genera Eristalis and Helophilus are aquatic.
The "Drone-fly," of which the aquatic larva is described
p. 47, is Eristalis tena#(Pl.XV., fig. 3). This, and some
other large stout-bodied Flies in this genus and Helophi-
lus,* must be familiar to every lover of the garden from their
habit of holding revels in the blossoms of the Michaelmas
daisy. They make a peculiarly loud and musical hum on
* These two genera much resemble each other, and may be known by
the form of the subapical cell, into the middle of which (see fig. 22, p. 49)
the cubital nerve makes a sudden dip. In Eristalis the subcostal and
radial nerves meet before reaching the margin ; in Helophilus ending
separately in the margin.
DIPTERA. BRACHYCERA. 361
rising from the flowers if disturbed. The pupa of Eristalis
tenax, in and out of the puparium or larva skin, is figured
p. 5, and the reader will observe that the long tail, used
by the larva as a breathing tube, still remains attached
after its change.
Another Fly, not occurring so abundantly, yet common
enough and remarkable enough to attract attention, is
Volucella pellucens. This insect is noteworthy both as
one of the Parasitic Flies and also on account of its very
singular appearance, which arises from the perfect trans-
lucency (and semi-transparency) of the basal half of the
large oval abdomen.
The thorax and the hinder-half of the head are black,
and the effect of the clear, colourless, and apparently
empty fore-half of the abdomen, is heightened by the
colouring of the wings, which, clear at the base, have a
brown mark across them exactly corresponding with the
darkened half of the abdomen. The antennae are beau-
tifully feathered. Another species, V. Bombylans, is
hairy, and has a remarkable resemblance to the Humble
Bees, whose nests it enters for the. purpose of depositing
its eggs.
The genus Syrphus contains some Flies similar in form
to the preceding, and others of smaller size with narrow
linear abdomens, and always marked with black and
yellow, or whitish bands or spots. They have a peculiar
mode of hovering, apparently motionless, over flowers,
making sudden darts forwards and from side to side. If,
however, the apparently motionless Fly be observed with
attention, it will be seen that the rapidity of motion in
the wings is so great as to render them almost invisible.
Syrphus pyrastri, a common species, is figured PI. XV.,
fig. 4. The long pear-shaped or flask-shaped brown
362 INSECTS.
pupa case of this insect may be frequently found attached
to the leaves which the larva (whose skin now forms this
pupa case) has but lately cleared of the infesting Aphides.
The larva is a slimy, whitish, slug-like, or rather leech-
like grub, with a curious habit of seizing its victim and
holding it raised in the air until all its juices are ex-
tracted.
The many genera which this family contains present
numberless varieties in form, colours, and marking.
Thus, as described above, some are Bee-like in form,
others compact, with oval or nearly globular abdomen,
others are long and narrow, and others again have a
somewhat club-shaped abdomen (see PI. XV., fig. 5,
Melithneptus menastri). In some of the more slender
species, the thighs are swollen, giving the Fly the appear-
ance of a leaping insect ; others have peculiar tarsi.
The colours also vary : they are black and yellow, black
and dull red, black and white, black and grey. Some
species are black only, others lustrous and metallic, while
others have black and green, yellow, or metallic and
glittering heads with black and yellow banded bodies.
Notwithstanding all these variations in form and
colour, there are characters which make it easy to dis-
tinguish the Syrphidae. The head is convex in front
and flat behind, so as to be nearly all face a large round
face almost covered by the eyes, which are especially
large in the males. The tongue, which is large and well
developed,* is bent about the middle when at rest, and
the front of the head sometimes forms a sort of pro-
jecting beak or snout (very conspicuous in a large, dull,
red Fly, the Rhingia rostrata. The antennae are, almost
* The tongue of the larger Syrphidae is one of the most beautiful and
most easily prepared for the microscope, of the tongues of the Diptera.
DIPTERA. BRACHYCERA.\\ 363
without exception, of three joints, of which the last is
large, nearly globular, oblong-oval, or somewhat kidney-
shaped (PI. XV., 4 a, Ant. of Syrphus pyrastri), and
bears a curved bristle, which is often beautifully feathered..
The wings afford the best character, the subapical cells
being perfect i.e., bounded short of -the margin by a
transverse vein. There are also two false veins, one of
which is conspicuous and runs from the prebrachial into
the subapical cell (see fig. 22, p. 49).
The Conopidae are a small family of prettily-coloured,
but rather awkwardly-formed Flies, of which the larvae
are parasitic in the bodies of Bees. They are rather
slender, generally about half an inch in length, with the
abdomen thickest toward the end, and curved downward.
The tongue is long, stiff, and projecting ; the antennae
are long and of singular form; three principal joints, of
which the second is the longest and the third the thickest,
are terminated by three small joints, the last and the
last but one forming a double joint to the antenna?.
The wings have the perfect subapical cell of the
Syrphidse, but not the false veins. There are two
species common Gonops quadrifasciatus, a black and
yellow Fly, with the abdomen not remarkably small
at the base, and C. nifipes (PI. XV., fig. 6), in which
the abdomen is, as it were, set on a stalk composed of
the attenuated basal joints.
We have now arrived at the Musciclae, by far the
largest family, and one which, as the Lmnaean genus
Musca, included many of those now distributed among
other families.
The reader will at once recognise some familiar insects
in this family, as the Housefly, the Bluebottle, the
chequered Blowfly, and the common yellow Dungfly.
364 INSECTS.
The thick, short tongue of the Housefly (Musca
domestica, PL XVI., fig. 3), with its large two-lobed
extremity, and capability, of being drawn entirely into
the mouth when not in use is well known. The an-
tennae somewhat resemble those of the Syrphidae, and
the wings are sparsely veined, and sometimes nearly or
quite without the little alulae or winglets.
This last peculiarity is used to subdivide the family
into the Calypterce, in which the alulae are large, and the
Acalypterae, in which they are wanting, or very minute.
In the habits of both larva and fly in the several
groups of genera in this one family, there is nearly as
much variety as in all the other families of Brachycera
together. Thus, while among the Flies are found flower-
lovers feeding on honey, blood-suckers, Flies preying on
others, Flies oviparous, and Flies ovoviviparous ; among
the larvae are found some terrestrial and some aquatic,
carrion -feeders, vegetarians, and wine-bibbers ; parasites
in the nests, and parasites in the bodies of other
insects; gall-makers, and leaf-miners. Of the Flies with
parasitic larvae there is a very large group, of which one
genus alone, Tachines, contains more than one hundred
and sixty species, varying in length from one-eighth
to two-thirds of an inch. They are powerful Flies, and
some are of brilliant and metallic colours, while others
are dull-coloured, hairy, and unattractive. Nearly all
the species are rare. The commonest Fly in the group
is Ententes geniculatus (PL XVI., fig. 1), a blood-
sucking, dowdy-looking Fly, frequently found in the
house, and which is remarkable as having the proboscis
doubled under, about the middle, as in the Syrphidae.
Another insect with the same propensity to " bite "
men and beasts, is Stomoxys calcitrans (PL XVI., fig. 2),
DIPTERA. BRACHYCERA. 365
the Stable Fly. Bred in dung, and very common in
stables, it is unfortunately not rare in houses, where its
bloodthirsty habits bring discredit on the harmless little
Housefly (PL XVI., fig. 3), which it closely resembles, but
from which it may readily be distinguished by its slender
proboscis, which projects in front of the head. The
proboscis is geniculated near the base. It is, indeed, a
near relation, being in the same group as the genus
Musca, to which the Housefly belongs ; but whereas, in
the genus Storaoxys, a projecting slender, polished, and
needle-like proboscis forms an admirable instrument of
torture ; in Muse a the soft, short, fleshy tongue, with
the sight of which we are all so familiar, is totally
incapable of wounding the skin. The tongue of the
Housefly is iudeed adapted only for licking up such
fluid substances as are entirely unprotected and left
exposed to its action. The little creature has, however,
a ready mode of rendering soluble substances fluid, by
emitting a drop of clear water from the mouth from time
to time. Hard white sugar and similar substances by
this means become fit food for the tender little mouth.
The larvae of the Housefly, like those of Stomoxys,
are found in dung.
The " Bluebottle" Flies, so well known and so little
loved, are also species of the genus Musca. Of the
habitat of their larvae the reader needs not to be
informed. The " Greenbottle," a smaller, brighter, and
prettier Fly, is of the same genus. These Meat-Flies, as
they are called, are resembled in their habits by the
Flies of another group, also flesh-eaters, and thence
called Sarcophaga. The large, handsome chequered
Blowfly is one of these, and is worthy of remark as
being viviparous (or, more correctly, ovoviviparous), a
366 INSECTS.
peculiar provision, of which the evident purpose is the*
saving of time in the removal of dead matter.
Reaumur calculated the number of young produced by
one Fly of this species to be about 20,000.
From these we turn to the so-called Flower-flies, or
Anthomyia, the larvae of which live chiefly on decaying
animal or vegetable matter, in roots, as onions, radishes,
&c. The perfect insects are found on flowers.
They are generally dull-coloured, hairy Flies, of
various shapes, some being short and thickset, and
others of a more slender form. Some have the abdomen
spotted or chequered, others are black with grey or
greyish-white hairs, tawny, or pale dull red, and some-
times aeneus. This genus contains a large number of
species, of which one, Anthomyia betes, mines the
leaves of mangold wurtzel, occasioning great loss to the
farmers.
All the Muscidae hitherto mentioned belong to the
first division of the family, and have large alulae.
The second division, Acalypterte, contains Flies in
which the alulae are wanting, and which are generally
smaller and of lighter make than the large Muscae, &c.,
lately described.
The clean, bright, active Scatophaga, or yellow Dung-
fly, is one of these. This pretty little Fly is familiar to
every stroller in the country, and is no less frequently
met with basking singly in the sunshine in the flower-
cups than clustering with many others on the unclean
mass whence the approaching footstep drives it with a
mighty buzz and bustle.
The egg of the Scatophaga is a beautiful and curious
object. It is a long curved egg (about half an inch in
length), convex in front and nearly straight behind,
DIPTERA. BRACHYCERA. 367
\vith the top cut off obliquely from front to back down-
wards, and covered by a hinged-on lid, which com-
pletely closes the opening. But the appendage which
most of all strikes us as evidently adapted to a certain
end, is a pair of long arm-like probosces which arise
from the upper end of the shell, and spreading out (as
a man sinking in mud would spread out his arms), pre-
vent the half-buried egg from sinking entirely in the
soft mass of dung. Hundreds of these little white
specks may be seen in a mass of cow-dung on a
summer's day, and are well worth examination. The
surface appears covered with a network.
The perfect insect is predaceous, and frequents flowers
probably for the same reason as do other predaceous
Flies, partly perhaps for the sake of their honey, but
chiefly on account of their being the resort of other
insects. The foot of this Fly is a very beautiful and
very easily prepared microscopic object ; the pads are
long and somewhat pointed, and covered with unusually
long hairs or suckers.
The larva? of others of the Muscid are Leaf-Miners,
like certain Lepidoptera the Honeysuckle, Holly, and
Columbine being conspicuously attacked by them ;
others again, as has been said, form galls in various parts
of plants, especially of the Syngenesis, as the Thistle
and others.
The genus Tephritis, or Trypeta, is conspicuous
among these. Most of the species are very small, but
some are more than a quarter of an inch long. They
may generally be recognised by the brilliancy and beau-
tiful colouring of their eyes, and by their delicately-
painted wings, which are brown, grey, or black spotted,
and banded in various patterns.
368 INSECTS.
The genus Chlorops is especially mischievous in its
larva state to grain of various kinds. One species, the
little Chlorops lineata (or Striped Green-eyes) is one of
the commonest, and is frequently to be met with in
houses, sometimes in large numbers. It is yellow, with
five black stripes on the. thorax, and a black spot on the
abdomen. The ravages committed by this insect and
its relations, both in England and in other countries, are
in some years of great importance, whole crops becoming
" gouty " under their attacks.
In the genus Drosophila is found one insect of decided
anti-teetotal habits a sad set-off to the good little
stories of good little dogs who sit outside public-houses
while their masters are sitting inside. This melancholy
example of a beast which is no better than a man, lives
in its larval state in the casks containing fermented
liquors, feeding on the rich substances deposited there.
Faute de mieux, it will feed on fungi or oakapples. Others
of the genus are leaf-miners in chickweed, catchfly,
corncockle, peas and other Papilionaceas, and on some
of the Cruciferee.
Nearly related to these is the little black Fly proceed-
ing from the hopping maggots common in cheese, with
another found in bacon, probably the most active of any
terrestrial Dipterous larva. The maggot effects its spring
by first standing on its tail, then, curving itself into a
circle and grasping its tail with its jaws, " it next con-
tracts its body into an oblong, so that the two halves are
parallel to each other ; it then lets go its hold with so
violent a jerk that the sound produced by its mandibles
may be readily heard, and the leap takes place."
The last of the Muscidse which shall be mentioned here
is a little dark, shining, metallic-coloured Fly, less than
DIPTERA. BRACHYCERA. 369
one-sixth of an inch in length, with clear wings, marked
near the tip with onehlack spot. This Fly, Sepsis cynipsea
(PL XVI., fig. 4), can hardly fail to be observed, owing
both to its great frequency and also to the peculiarity of
its manner and motions as it runs actively over the sur-
face of laurel and other leaves, with its glittering little
wings raised almost perpendicularly from its body, as if
in act to fly. The larva is a Scavenger.
(Estridae, the last family of the Brachycera, is that
which contains the insects well known in their larval
stage under the name of Bots, Wurmals, &c. The .perfect
insects, or Bot-flies, are also called Gadflies, in common
with the Tabani, from which nevertheless they differ in im-
portant particulars. If, however, either of the etymologies
be just, whether that which assumes the Gadfly to be the
Goadfly, goading the cattle to almost a state of madness,
or that which considers it as the Fly which " makes the
cattle gadde up and downe with stinging them," both
Tabanus and (Estrus are fully entitled to the name. On
the approach of either, the herd of cattle, oxen, or deer, or
the flock of sheep, is thrown into the utmost terror and
dismay, oxen " gadding up and downe," while sheep herd
together in their sheepish belief that in numbers there
is safety. While, however, the attacks of the blood-
thirsty Tabanus arise from purely selfish motives, the
(Estrus approaches the terrified victim with another
end in view. Another end it is in more senses than one,
for no blood-sucking proboscis is hers while Tabanus
is fully armed with lancets and sucker, her mouth is
in a merely rudimentary state, and altogether incapable
of aggressive operations. Not so her long and sharp and
jointed, possibly also poison- dropping ovipositor. This
is her goad, this her weapon of attack and not care for
B B
370 INSECTS.
herself, but care for her progeny, the motive of her
approach.
The Botflies all deposit their eggs on or in the bodies
of various quadrupeds, some species choosing one part
and some another, but each species of Fly being constant
both to the one species of quadruped and to one part of
its body.
The Botflies are large and hairy-bodied, and carry their
wings extended. (Estrus Bovis, the Ox Botfly, is about
half an inch in length ; the legs are long and strong, and
the alulse very large. It is of a blackish brown colour,
banded with black and coloured hairs. On the face the
hairs are reddish, and pale yellowish on the head. The
thorax is streaked with reddish hairs, and the base of the
abdomen is clothed with the same colour, the tip being
orange red.
The habit of this insect is to deposit its eggs, singly,
in holes which it perforates, with an auger-like ovipositor,
in the backs of oxen and other horned cattle. The egg
thus placed causes a large open tumour, in which the
larva resides until ready for the pupa change, when it
emerges, falls to the ground, and there undergoes its
metamorphosis.
The Botfly of the sheep, Cephalemyia ovis (PI. XVI.,
fig. 5, 5 a), lays its eggs in the nostrils of its victim,
whence the larvae creep farther into the head, sometimes
with fatal effect upon the animal. It is to avoid the
attacks of this Fly that sheep may be seen holding their
noses in the dust, in ruts, or dusty places, or stamping
and shaking their heads, or running violently about the
field. This Fly is about the same length as the former,
but the legs are much smaller and less powerful. It is
of a dark colour, chequered with hoary hairs.
DIPTERA. BRACHYCEEA. 371
The horse is subject to the attacks of four species of
Botfly, of which, however, only one is common. This
insect, Gasterophilus equi, deposits its eggs, not in their
final place of rest, which, being the stomach of the horse,
is inaccessible to the Fly, but on the surface of its body,
within reach of the tongue. The animal, by licking itself
and swallowing them, transfers the unwelcome little
stranger into its own inside, where it grows and prospers,
till, as in the former cases, it detaches itself, and dis-
charged by the horse, falls to the ground, and undergoes
the final changes. This Fly is sometimes as much as two-
thirds of an inch in length. It differs from both the
preceding in the very small size of the winglets. The
legs are of moderate size and strength. It is somewhat
rust-coloured, black at the tip of the abdomen. There
are varieties, differing in colour.
Another species of Gasterophilus lays its eggs on the
lip of the horse.
Besides the above-mentioned Flies, there are some
rarer species infesting deer; and in other countries,
several more are known, one even selecting the rhino-
ceros as its host, while others have been known to
attack men.
The third sub-section of the Proboscidea is HTPOCERA.
The antennse themselves differ little in this from some
of the Brachycera, but are differently placed, being very
near the mouth, instead of as in the Brachycera, between
the eyes.
This division consists of but one genus, Phora, con-
taining only a few species of minute Flies, ranging in
size from one twenty -fourth of an inch to one-sixth of
an inch. Some of these are exceedingly common, and
haunt the window-panes throughout the year. They
B B 2
372 INSECTS.
are rather hump-backed little creatures, with deflexed,
fringed wings, entirely destitute of transverse veins, and
move with much activity. In the larval stage, some
species feed on decayed vegetable matter, while others
are supposed to be parasitic on other insects.
The characters of the second section of Diptera,
EPROBOSCIDEA, have been given at page 339.
The Eproboscidea are, as has been already said, all
parasitic, in the perfect state, in various birds and quad-
rupeds. The Forest-fly, or Hippobosca, is a well-known
example, as also the stout- bodied, wingless Melophagus
ovinus (PL XVI., fig. 6), or " Sheep-tick," as it is im-
properly called, remarkable as having the appearance of
two groups of simple, rather than a pair of compound
eyes. This is owing to the external faces being distinct
from each other, and round instead of hexagonal. These
insects are parasitic on horses, oxen, and sheep. Others
of the same family are parasitic upon birds, and the
swallow is especially subject to their attacks.
An unusual circumstance occurs in this family, the
female giving birth to but one individual, and that not
until it has either already attained the last stage of larva-
hood or has become a pupa.
The second family in this section contains only two
known species, parasitic upon bats, and very rare. They
are wingless, and of most singular appearance, the head
being thrown completely backwards, and carried in an
inverted position. They form the genus Nycteribia.
With the Diptera, the most modern arrangements of
insects come to a close. There remain, however, a few
genera whose claim to rank as insects has so often been
urged, and whose appearance is so insect -like, that some
DIPTERA BRACHYCERA. 373
mention of them seems desirable. These are the six-
legged, non-changing Lepismas, the Spring-tails, the
Lice, and the Bird-lice. These have been variously
arranged ; at one time with the eight-legged Acari, &c.,
among the Arachnida at another, with the Fleas in the
order " Aptera," and so on.
Whilst, however, the Flea, although apterous, is clearly
shown by the nature of its transformations to belong
to the true insects, the Spring-tails, Lice, &c., are
excluded from this class by the total absence of trans-
formations, and have been formed into a class by
themselves under the name Ametabola.
This, again, is divided into Thysanura and Anoplura.
To the first belongs the little silvery fish-like Lepisma,
whose delicate scales are well known to microscopists as
a low test object The abdomen is furnished with several
bristle-like tails, of which three are the most conspicuous;
the mouth is mandibulate, the antennae are long and
bristle-like, and without the tail it measures about one-
third of an inch.
The Podura, or Spring-tail, in the same section, is
a very curious little creature, effecting its spring by
means of a forked tail turned under the abdomen, and
acting precisely like the wood-and-catgut spring of the
wooden frog made for children. It is smaller than the
Lepisma, dark and velvety, with the thorax and abdo-
men tolerably distinct, and has large, thick antennae
and mandibles.
These insects are found among wood, in the sawdust
in cellars, under stones, &c.
Anoplura contains the Sucking Lice, Pediculi, and the
Nirmi, or Biting Lice, which, except one species which
infests dogs, seem to be confined to birds. The Pediculi
374 INSECTS.
are flat, translucent, and short-legged. They seem to
belong to almost every known animal, and, in some
cases, more than one species are found on the same
animal. With the Nirmi, whatever may be the natural
prejudice entertained against them, under the microscope
a world of beauty and variety is revealed in their forms
and structure.
375
TABLE OF FAMILIES OF DIPTERA.
SECTION I. PROBOSCIDEA.
Mouth having a more or less fleshy trunk or proboscis,
bilobed at the tip.
Legs set close together on the under side of the thorax.
SUBSECTION I. NEMO CERA.
Antennae long, of six to ten distinct joints ; hairy.
Wings ; anal areolet open at the hind margin.
Figure usually slender, hump-backed, long-legged.
Families :
a. Ocelli two or three.
1. Discal areolet complete.
Rhyphidge.
2. Discal areolet wanting.
Mycetophilidas (1st segment of thorax
inconspicuous).
Bibionidae (1st segment of thorax con-
spicuous).
#. Ocelli none.
1. Costal vein ending near tip of wing.
Simulidse Sand/lies. (Tibias and 1st joint
of tarsus broad and compressed.)
Chironomidge Midges. (Tibiae and 1st joint
of tarsus slender, sub -cylindrical.)
376 INSECTS.
2. Costal vein attenuated round tip of wing.
* Veins in last subdivisions not more than
six.
Cecidomyzidae.
** Veins in last subdivision more than six.
Culicidae Gnats, Mosquitoes (Hind-margin
fringed with scales.)
Heteroclitse. (Hind-margin fringed with
hairs.)
Phlebotomidae. (Wings ovate, or lanceo-
late ; deflexed or divaricated.)
c. Middle segment of thorax with an angular,
transverse seam.
Tipulidae Daddy Longlegs, &c.
SUBSECTION II. BR ACHY CERA.
Antennae of three distinct joints, from the third of which
springs a bristle ; or from three to ten joints, which,
after the third, are fused together, or suddenly
become abruptly slender.
Wings ; anal areolet closed.
Figure usually stouter than in Nemocera.
Families :
a. Cubital vein forked ;f anal areolet tapering nearly
or quite to hind-margin.
1. Costal vein ending with tip of wing.
Stratiomidae. (Soldier-Jlies.) Antennae five
to ten joints, conical at tip, or terminating
in long style or short bristle.
Scenopinidae. Antennae three-jointed, spin-
dle-shaped ; third joint large and long.
t la Empis the cubital vein is sometimes forked, sometimes simple ;
the anal aveolet not reaching near hind margin.
TABLE OF FAMILIES OF DIPTERA. 377
2. Costal vein attenuated to hind margin.
* Alulae very large.
Tabanidse. (Horseflies.) Antennae six,
eight, or ten joints ; joints unequal.
** Alulae very small.
Xylophagidaa. Proboscis withdrawn ; an-
tennae ten joints ; joints equal after
second, and cylindrical, or tapering.
Asilidse. Foot-pads very large,f forehead
hollowed. Antennae three or five
joints, unequal.
Leptid. Empodium dilated like foot-
pads ; forehead convex ; antennae gene-
rally three joints, third largest, trans-
verse or conical, or bearing a bristle.
Bombylidas. (Beeflies.) Empodium slen-
der, pointed; forehead convex; antenna
three or four joints, unequal
b. Cubital vein simple.
1. Axillary lobe of wing obsolete.
* Tip of wing rounded.
Empidae. Brachial and anal areolets, some
of them reaching to one-third of wing ;
abdomen seven or eight segments.
Dolichopidae. Brachial and anal areolets
minute or indistinct ; abdomen five
segments, or in $ 6, rarely seven.
** Tip of wing pointed.
Lonchopteridae.
2. Brachial veins each accompanied by spu-
rious veins.
Syrphidae (Droneflies, &c.)
t Except in one genus, Leptogaster, to be recognised by the absence of
foot-pads.
378 INSECTS.
3. Brachial veins without spurious veins.
Platypezidag. Antennae, third joint globose,
tjonical or tapering, tipped by a bristle.
'Conopidas. Antennae long, no bristle ; three
first joints large, remainder small,
pointed.
Pipunculidae. Antennae bearing a bristle
on the upper edge of third joint; eyes
reaching to the mouth.
Muscidae. (Housefly, <-c.) Antennas bearing
a bristle on the upper end of third joint ;
eyes bounded by the cheeks.
-c. Halter es covered by alulae, and head very -minute.
Acroeeridae.
d. Proboscis obsolete.
(Estridge. (Gadflies.)
SUBSECTION III. HYPO CERA.
Antennae very short, close io mouth, ihree jointed
globose, bearing a bristle.
Veins of wings few, not branching.
Family :
Phora.
SECTION III. EPROBOSCIDEA.
Mouth having a tubular proboscis.
Legs set on either side of a broad breastplate.
Antennce buried in furrows near the mouth.
Families :
1. Head large, sunk in the thorax.
Hippoboscidias Forest-fly, Sheep-tick, fyc.
2. Head small, thrown backwards, and held
upside-down.
Nycteribiidaa.
The above characters are taken from Mr. Walker's work
on Diptera.
TABLE OF FAMILIES OF DIPTERA. 379
Fig. 72.
Wing of Tipula.
Fig. 73.
"Wing of Hippoboaca.
Nemo-
"]$TW>r%. _.
ichy-
cera.
'
a
Costal
a
b
Mediastinal
b
c
Sub-costal
c
d
Axillary
e
Anal
h
f _
Post-brachial
9
Pree-bracbial
h
Post-brach. veinlet
ii
Externo-medial
ft
k
Sub-apical
1
Cubital
e
m
Eadial
d
n
Cross veinlet of
antejugal axis
Cells or Areo^.
Mediastinal
n Sub-costal
o Prae-brachial
p Post-brachial
.
15
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