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 What is a man , 
 
 If his chief good and maxketofhis time 
 Be hut to sleep and feed? A beast, no more. 
 Sure, He, that m.ade us with such large discourse 
 Looking before and after, gave us not 
 That capability and godlike reason. 
 To fust in us unused." 
 
 HAMLET, ACT IV. SCENE IV.
 
 LETTERS 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE INSECTS 
 
 MENTIONED IN SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 
 
 WITH INCIDENTAL NOTICES OF THE ENTOMOLOGY OF IRELAND. 
 
 BY ROBERT PATTERSON, 
 
 «rnKR OF THE NATURAL HISTORY -"OCIKTY OK BELFAST. 
 
 LONDOX: 
 
 ^Y.^r. s. our & co., paternoster row. 
 
 MDCCCX^XVIII.
 
 LIBRARY 
 UNTVERSITY OF CALIFORN 
 
 SA^TA bah-^aha 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 It was my duty, in common with other members of 
 the Natural History Society of Belfast, to furnish 
 papers for some of those meetings in our Museum, 
 held on what are termed " Public Nights." On these 
 occasions ladies as well as gentlemen are admitted as 
 visitors, and the reader abandons, in a great degree, 
 the technicalities of science for " metal more attrac- 
 tive." 
 
 Several of these papers I had the honour of read- 
 ing at various intervals between the 1st of March, 
 1832, and the 1st of Januarj^ 1836. They were 
 then thrown into the epistolary form, in which they 
 appear in the following pages ; and with the excep- 
 tion of some verbal amendments, and the introduc- 
 tion of some additional quotations, as the sheets 
 were passing through the press, they are now printed 
 as they were then arranged. 
 
 This brief statement of the circumstances under 
 which these "Letters" were written will, I trust, 
 A 3
 
 vl PREFACE. 
 
 extenuate many of their imperfections. They were 
 designed as the commencement of a series of illus- 
 trations of the Natural History of Shakspeare's 
 Plays. The attempt to blend the imagery of the 
 Bard with the facts recorded by Science, has been 
 made in the humble hope, that the worshippers of 
 our Great Dramatist might be pleased to see another 
 oflFering laid upon his shrine, and that the youthful 
 lovers of Entomology might be attracted by the ex- 
 hibitions of her charms, reflected in the bright ima- 
 ginings of the Poet. 
 
 All arrangements with respect to the illustrative 
 woodcuts have been entrusted to the PubUshers. 
 Many of these they were enabled to give without 
 adding to the expense of the work, and for others 
 they are indebted to the pencil of Mr. G. F. Sar- 
 geant, a young artist of taste and talent. To J. O. 
 Westwood, Esq., the indefatigable Secretary of the 
 London Entomological Society, my grateful acknow- 
 ledgments are due for the flattering terms in which, 
 both to myself and others, he expressed himself 
 respecting the MS. of this little v^'ork, and encouraged 
 me to venture on its publication. 
 
 K. P. 
 
 Belfast, 3, College Square North, 
 13th June, 1838.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 Ennui occasionally experienced while residing in the country. 
 Its cause. Originates in a defective system of educa- 
 tion. Proper meaning of the term Naturalist. The legiti- 
 mate objects of his inquiry. Periodical changes in the 
 aspect of the external world. Pleasures which the study 
 of Nature affords ; mental effects of such pursuits. — 
 Poetry and Natural History might " each give to each a 
 double charm." Inquiry proposed with regard to the 
 knowledge of Natural Phenomena, exhibited by some of 
 our most admired Poets. Shakspeare "the Poet of Nature." 
 Opinion of Dr. Johnson. Remark of the late John Tem- 
 pleton, Esq. Shakspeare, in accurate observation, superior 
 to Milton. Illustrative extracts from " Lycidas" and tiie 
 " Winter's Tale." Number of the notices of natural ob- 
 jects in the Dramatic Works of Shakspeare. Their in- 
 vestigation, why interesting . . . page 1 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 ENTOMOLOGY RECOMMENDED. 
 
 Solace which the study of Natural History affords to the man 
 of business. The benefits it confers on the man possessed 
 of leisure. The study of insects proposed. It should
 
 via CONTENTS. 
 
 not be deemed frivolous, because the objects are diminu- 
 tive. They are a portion of the works of God. Their 
 diversity and beauty. Peculiar advantage enjoyed by the 
 Entomologist. Numbers of insects. Importance of a 
 knowledge of their habits. Their destructive powers. Be- 
 nefits they confer page 1 3 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 LARV^ AND PUP.E. 
 
 Advantages which may be anticipated from tlie proposed in- 
 quiry. Subject of the present Letter, — Insects in their 
 early or imperfect states. Expression used by Hamlet, 
 " If the sun breed maggots in a dead dog." Distinction 
 between the vertebrate animals and insects. Destructive 
 powers possessed by caterpillars ; frequently mentioned by 
 Shakspeare. The pupa state. " There is a difference be- 
 tween a grub and a butterfly." " The smirch'd moth- 
 eaten tapestry." "The worm i' the bud ;" " the canker." 
 Cocoon of the silk-worm; its value. "The worms were 
 hallowed that did breed the silk." " An empty hazel nut." 
 " The old gi'ub." " Your worm is your only emperor for 
 diet." Different meanings of the word " worm" in 
 Shakspeare 27 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 ORAL APPARATUS. 
 
 The Structure of the mouth different in the several orders of 
 insects. Destruction occasioned by a species of ant in 
 Grenada, — by locusts. Advantage of the use of scientific 
 terms. Difference of motion in the mouths of vertebrate
 
 CONTENTS. IX 
 
 animals and those of insects. Structure of the mouth in 
 the order Coleoptera. Sense in which the phrase " a per- 
 fect mouth," is used. It consists of seven parts ; their 
 names and uses. Palpi ; their supposed functions. Mouth 
 of the Orthoptera, — of the Hymenoptera. Various pur- 
 poses to wMch the mandibles are applied. Mechanism 
 and use of the tongue in bees. The corolla sometimes 
 pierced to obtain the honey. SimiUes supphed by the 
 butterfly and moth. Mouth of the Lepidoptera, — of 
 the Diptera ; " poor harmless fly," &c. Hemiptera ; 
 meaning of the word " bug," in Shakspeare. Aphaniptera ; 
 " a flea sticking upon Bartolph's nose." Aptera ; " the 
 dozen white louses;" description by Swammerdam. Variety 
 of mechanism exhibited in the varied formation of the 
 several mouths now described . . . page 41 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 ORDER COLEOPTERA. 
 
 'The shard-borne beetle ;" description of its flight, by Collins, 
 Gray, Hogg, and Shakspeare. Meanings of the word 
 " shards." The Dor — Geotrupes stercorarius. Interest ex- 
 cited by the Scarabceus sacer; its habits. Extracts from 
 Clarke and Denon. Representations of the insect found on 
 unrolUng mummies. Geotrupes vernalis. Difference in the 
 nidus of this beetle, and that of G. stercorarius. Time of 
 the appearance of the latter. It feigns death. Similar 
 procedure in a corn-crake. The Dor infested with para- 
 sites ; plan adopted to get rid of them. Strength of the 
 beetle. Illustrative extracts from Catesby's " Carolina," 
 and Sir Walter Scott's " Peveril of the Peak." Numbers
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 in which these insects sometimes appear. Their cleauh- 
 ness. Study of them recommended . . page 63 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 coLEOPTERA {confinued). 
 The predacious beetles. Number and habits of the Carabidaj" 
 " The poor beetle that we tread upon ;" meaning of the 
 passage. Prevailing ignorance of the variety observed 
 among the insects known by the English name of beetles. 
 Pleasures of meeting with the rarer species. They are 
 found even in the most barren places. Birkie bog. The 
 " tiger of the insect tribes." " The fieiy glow-worm's 
 eyes." Remarks of Dr. Johnson, Mason, and Douce, on 
 those words. The " fire," why " unefFectual." Light of 
 the male and female glow-worm ; description of its ap- 
 pearance, by Kirby and Spence. The insect unkno\vii in 
 the north of Ireland. Its appearance on Ben Lomond' 
 " Dost know this water-fly .' " What insect is here alluded 
 to. GjTinus foimd in a shell ; probable cause of its select- 
 ing such a habitation . . . . . 77 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 ORTHOPTERA AND HOMOPTERA. 
 
 The Grasshopper and Cricket. Poetical notices of the former. 
 The cricket, "always harbinger of good." A prevalent 
 opinion erroneous. Feelings associated with their chirp. 
 " As merr>- as crickets." Their cliirp noticed by Rogers, 
 Cowper, Milton, Hogg, Shakspeare, &c. Vessel saved by 
 the song of an insect of this order. Notes of the field 
 cricket. Its sense of hearing ; illustrative extracts from
 
 CONTEXTS. XI 
 
 Hogg, &c. How the sound is produced. Grassliopi)ers, &c. 
 used as food. The insect locust not mentioned by Shak- 
 speare. Number of British species. Endurance of hun- 
 ger by the cricket and the cockroach. Structure of the 
 feet of the house-cricket. Origin of the cuckoo-spit. 
 The Tettix of tlie ancients ; its powers of song. Verses 
 addressed to the Cicada by Anacreon . . page 95 
 
 LETTER Vni. 
 
 HYMEXOPTERA. 
 
 ' The honey-bees." Bees said to be found in a dead body. Tlie 
 Queen-bee. Slaughter of the drones. Inaccuracy in 
 Shakspeare and Milton. Humming of bees described by 
 several British poets. The humble-bee. Hazlitt's re- 
 mark on " the bag o' the bee." Wax ; how secreted. 
 Not collected by the bees, as stated by Shakspeare. Com - 
 position of seaUng wax. Honey ; mentioned both in a 
 literal and a metaphorical sense. Structm-e of the combs. 
 Sting of the bee. Practice of destrojing bees to obtain 
 the honey; described by Thomson. How it may be 
 avoided. Homeward flight of Ijees. Why they frequent 
 tho sea-coast. Prices paid for honey-comb. Bees of 
 Hymettus. The bee in North America considered as a 
 harbinger of the white man. Conduct of a colony of 
 EngUsh bees when transported to Waterford. Wasps ; 
 their rapacity. They are paper-makers. Nests of the 
 native and of foreign species. IrritabiUty of wasps. They 
 " rob bee-hives." Punishment described by Autolycus. 
 The AxT. Its wings ; when laid aside. Described as 
 " exceeding wise ;" and " provident of future." How the
 
 Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 erroneous opinon, that it stores up food, originated. Beauti- 
 ful description by Wordsworth. But once mentioned by 
 Shakspeare. Its connection with the aphides. The 
 honey-dew. Former opinions and present knowledge 
 respecting its origin .... page 113 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 LEPIDOPTERA. 
 
 Beauty and variety of the insects belonging to this order 
 Their "mealy wings." Universal diffusion. Found at all 
 seasons. Ideas of the ancients respecting the butterfly. 
 Notice of the insect by several British poets. Its pur- 
 suit by boys. Tlie brimstone butterfly. Vision in the 
 silver-streak butterfly. Some species extremely local. 
 Enumeration of those found in the neighbourhood of 
 Belfast. Some " gilded butterflies" widely diffused. — 
 Sphinxes found in this \icinity. The word " moth," how 
 used by Shakspeare. Size of some species. Enumeration 
 of the most conspicuous. The puss-moth ; injury it occa- 
 sioned. Grass-moths taken by a bird. Night-flying in- 
 sects attracted by a light. Leaf-mining caterpillars. The 
 gratification derivable from trifling objects, a high re- 
 commendation to the study of Entomology. Sensation in 
 the Lepidoptera not analogous to that sense in man. Num- 
 ber of eggs deposited by the ghost-moth . . 147 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 DIPTERA AND APHANIPTERA. 
 
 Distinguishing characteristics of the Diptera. Flesh-flies ; 
 their larvae or maggots. Utility of these flies. Their
 
 CONTENTS. XIU 
 
 fecundity. Their changes of colour wheu first disclosed 
 from the chrysalis. Their diffusion. The blue-bottle fly. 
 Cruelty to insects reproved. Diminutive size of some of 
 the Diptera. Their humming noticed by Wordsworth. 
 Their aerial dances. Their number in summer. Some 
 obser^'ed in winter. Clouds of flies in Januaiy, 1836. 
 Multitudes on grass. The fly used as an object of com- 
 parison by the poets. Mentioned in the Classics. An- 
 noyance it occasions. Itahan mode of excluding the 
 house-fly. Common gnat {Culex pipiens) supposed to be 
 identical with the mosquito. The mosquito found in all 
 parts of the world. Torment occasioned by it. " The 
 Brize" {(Estrus bovis). Sufferings endured from it by 
 cattle. Noticed by Virgil. " Bots." " Begnawn ■with 
 the bots." Disputed identity of the Oistros of the an- 
 cients with the ffisti'us of Linnaeus. " Flies at St. Bartho- 
 lomew-tide, bhnd though they have their eyes ;" mean- 
 ing of the passage. Examples of the frequent mention of 
 the flea by Shakspeare .... page 175 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 ARACHNOIDA. 
 
 Spiders not classed with insects. Their peculiar structure. 
 Variety of modes in which they capture their prey. " The 
 labouring spider." " Bottled spider." Fragility of the 
 thread. Its complicated structure. Used as a styptic and 
 a soporific. Web of the house and garden spiders. — 
 Shakspeare aware of the different habits of some tribes. 
 " Long-legged spinners." Poison possessed by spiders. 
 Affection of the female spider for her young. The gos- 
 samer mentioned by Spencer and Thomson erroneously.
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduced by Shakspeare and Hogg. Theories respecting 
 its emission. Is found at all seasons. Verses suggested 
 by its appearance when covered with hoar-frost page 207 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 CONCLUDIXG EPISTLE. 
 
 Notices of some insects not mentioned by Shakspeare. The 
 Ichneumonidaj ; their oviposition and imjjortance. Dragon- 
 flies. Their rapacious habits. Poetical notice of them as 
 Damsel flies. Attracted by peculiar colours. Habitats of 
 two species mentioned. Number of lenses in the eye. 
 Mask of the larva. Descent of the parent fly into the 
 water, when about to deposit her eggs. Analogous fact 
 observed in a species of Phryganea. Caddis-worms. 
 Variety of material employed in the structure of their 
 cases. Shells thus employed. Ingenious defence ; sul)- 
 stitute for the usual grating. The great water-beetle 
 {Dyticm marginalis). Its flight, and its food. The water- 
 scorjiion {Nepa cinerea). The boat-fly {Notonecta glmica). 
 Ilydrometridfe. Entomology makes every pool of water 
 attractive. Appearance of insects at irregular intervals. 
 One example of tliis furnished by a moth {Plusia feshicts). 
 Numbers of a gnat {Chironomus virescens), in 1832. Of 
 the cockchafer {Melolontha vulgaris) in 1835. Its ravages 
 in 1688. Failure of parsley in 1830-31 ; its growtli in 
 1832. Recognition of certain insects in unexpected 
 situations. Examples — Pentatoma riifpen in Belfast ; 
 Cossonus Tarda at Cranmore ; a burying beetle (Nfcro- 
 phorus morhwrum) on a high mountain. Mutual dei)cn(l- 
 ence of the sciences on each other. Conclusion . 225
 
 CONTEXTS. XV 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 INJURIES OCCASIONED BY INSECTS IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF 
 IRELAND. 
 
 Tipula tritici destructive to wheat ; C. bicolor to the Veronica 
 chamcedrys. Apple-tree grafts destroyed by Otiorhynchus nota- 
 fus, and flowers by 0. vasfator and Uyustici. The wire-worm 
 injuiious to grass. Crop of flax nearly destroyed by Halfica 
 parvula, in county Down. Defoliation of trees by a caterpillar 
 in Wicklow. Trees destroyed by the goat-moth (Cos.vts liyni- 
 perdd) near PortarUngton. Ravages of various species of 
 Yponomeuta. Clover and grass injured by the larvae of tlie 
 Tipida. The gooseberry saw-fly {Nematus ribesii) . page 257
 
 ' Tlie bounteous huswife, nature, on eacli bush 
 Lays her full mess before you." 
 
 TIMON OP ATHENS, ACT IV. 
 
 Your letter, my dear Arnold, has been received. 
 It is but two months since you ^\Tote to me of your 
 arrival at your new habitation — the kindness of your 
 reception, the dehghtful situation of the village, and 
 the hospitality of your future parishioners ; but a 
 change seems to have passed over your spirit, to have 
 " overcome " you "like a summer cloud," and has 
 excited, I must confess, my " special wonder." You 
 do not write in that tone which bespeaks a healthy ac- 
 
 B
 
 2 ENNUI AND ITS ORIGIN. 
 
 tivity of mind and body. A little querulousness (you 
 must excuse the expression) is now and then apparent; 
 and you resemble the mariner who sighs to exchange 
 the apathy of the calm, for the excitement of the gale, 
 or even the perils of the storm. This seemed to me 
 " passing strange ;" but one phrase in your letter 
 has enabled me to solve the enigma. While pursuing 
 your studies in the house, you appear happy — while 
 there you find your hbrary " a dukedom large enough 
 — while executing those missions of " peace and good 
 will to man " which the exercise of your profession 
 requires, you are all I could wish my friend to be ; 
 but when you tell me that there are moments in your 
 rambles in which you are tempted to envy the acti^dty 
 of the husbandman, or the ardour of the sportsman, I 
 strongly suspect the mind is in some degree " dis- 
 eased;" something is wanting, and that something 
 seems to be simply this : The husbandman takes a 
 deep interest in the fluctuations of the weather, and 
 the revolutions of the seasons. " The seed-time and 
 harvest" are indicated by a thousand circumstances, 
 which he is prompt to notice ; these modify his labour 
 and influence its result. The sportsman, in like man- 
 ner, finds his interest aroused by a thousand varying 
 phenomena : the mildness, or the severit)' of the winter ; 
 a late or an early spring ; a dry or rainy summer, all 
 produce certain results upon the objects of his pursuit,
 
 THE HUSBANDMAN AND SPORTSMAN. 6 
 
 and require a corresponding variation in his procedure. 
 The piercing note of the wild swan, high in the frosty 
 heavens, and the " booming " of the bittern from the 
 " sedgy shallow," arouse his attention and awaken 
 his destructive energies to action. Husbandman and 
 sportsman are alike in one respect, — they both take 
 a deep and active interest in some of the phenomena 
 of nature ; but by these phenomena you are compara- 
 tively unmoved. They do not furnish you with 
 EMPLOYMENT. You pay a passing tribute to the chaste 
 beaut}' of the snowdrop, or to the matin song of the 
 sky-lark, and pursue your path without that degree 
 of interest being excited, which suggests something 
 to be done, some difficulty to be surmounted, or some 
 information to be acquired. You observe them, but 
 they do not influence your pursuits — 5'ou see them, 
 but you seek not to investigate the mechanism of the 
 one, or the habits of the other. 
 
 I do believe, that if the true cause of your dis- 
 satisfaction were explored, it would be found to 
 spring from what I consider a radical error in the 
 system of education pursued in our universities. You 
 have passed through the usual course with honour — 
 you have on many occasions won " golden opinions 
 from all sorts of people," and yet I do venture to 
 assert that the defects in this verj'^ course of educa- 
 tion, are the primary causes of your present discon- 
 
 B 2
 
 4 DEFECTS OF E0UCAT1OX. 
 
 tent. Take one of those graduates who have been 
 most distinguished ; ask him concerning an event in 
 the ancient history of the world, the translation of 
 an admired passage in Anacreon, or the connection of 
 classic fable and historic truth, and in aU probability 
 your questions will be answered. Inquire how the 
 knowledge of mathematics gives new views of the 
 sublime science of astronomy, and you will receive 
 the information you demand. Request an exposition 
 of some particular theory in metaphysics, and your 
 desire may still be gratified. But ask the same 
 student to describe the functions or uses of some 
 common plant, or insect, — one which he sees every 
 day, with which he has been familiar from childhood, 
 and he will be unable to answer, nay, most likely, 
 unable to teU its name. 
 
 This is the radical error in university education. 
 Its votaries are conversant with books, not with 
 nature ; or, as it has been quaintly expressed, " they 
 view nature through the spectacles of books." With 
 the works which form the most lasting monuments 
 of the talents of man, they are familiar ; of those 
 nobler works which bear the visible impress of the 
 Deity, they are profoundly ignorant. 
 
 I have no desire that you should become either a 
 farmer or a sportsman ; but with your mental powers 
 and habits of observation, I should rejoice, indeed,
 
 THE NATURALIST. 5 
 
 to see you become a naturalist ; not one of that kind 
 who suppose a knowledge of nature to consist in a 
 knowledge of the terms which have been apjjlied to 
 her M'orks, or of the sections into which they have 
 been divided ; but one who studies the things them- 
 selves, and gives to classification its proper functions, 
 namely, that of designating correctly the indi\-idual 
 objects of his inquiry. Such a man vnW. not look with 
 wonder on any thing that is strange, merely because 
 to him it is new or uncommon, neither will he regard 
 with indifference things which are equally wonderful, 
 because he sees them daily around him. This is not the 
 fitting disposition of a naturalist, nor is its indulgence 
 calculated to bring home the love of nature to the 
 thoughts and affections of men, or furnish that series 
 of pleasurable emotions, which the proper knowledge 
 of the objects by w'hich we are surrounded would so 
 incessantly afford. In its true and legitimate exercise, 
 the knowledge of natural history unveils to its votary 
 " gems hidden from the world beside," and even her 
 wildest and most uncultivated scenes — 
 
 " The desert, forest, cavern, breaker's foam, 
 Are unto him companionship." 
 
 To any man, but more especially to one of your 
 profession, the mental effects of such pursuits are of 
 the very highest importance, and I am glad, on this 
 point, to fortify my own opinion by the words of
 
 b OBJECTS OF INQUIRY. 
 
 Archdeacon Paley : — " In a moral view I shall not, I 
 believe, be contradicted when I say, that if one train 
 of thinking be more desirable than another, it is that 
 which regards the phenomena of nature with a constant 
 reference to a supreme, intelligent author." Nor can 
 the study be considered as unworthy of our notice, 
 when we are told of Solomon, that he " spake of 
 trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon, even 
 unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall ; he 
 spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping 
 things, and of fishes." 
 
 Prior, however, to the study of these details, our 
 attention must be directed, and to a certain extent 
 it is irresistibly impelled, to the contemplation of the 
 periodical changes which the aspect of the external 
 world is ever undergoing. 
 
 " the seasons come, 
 
 And pass like shadows to their viewless home. 
 And come again, and vanish." 
 
 Each of them exhibits distinct and characteristic 
 features, and brings attractions and motives for exer- 
 tion peculiarly its own. And these changes are not 
 confined to inanimate nature ; for to a reflective mind, 
 which scans with attention these evanescent trains of 
 thought and feeling, it is interesting to remark how 
 very different the same man is at different seasons. 
 For instance, your ideas of pleasure in December and
 
 PLEASURE OF THE STUDY. 7 
 
 June are no doubt as completely distinct, nay, as much 
 contrasted, as would be those of different individuals 
 living in. distant regions. Should anyone doubt this, 
 let him compare his emotions during a morning walk 
 in spring with those in a summer noon, when he 
 stretches " his listless length" under some " nodding 
 beech," or with those he experiences when he draws 
 his chair closer to the fire on Christmas eve. To this 
 fertile £eld for observation, I solicit your attention : 
 it has one advantage over most other subjects of 
 inquiry, that you have ever the materials for its 
 prosecution within you and around you. 
 
 The pursuit I more especially recommend, namely, 
 the study of Natural History, in its widest signification, 
 would, I am persuaded, be to you, my dear Arnold, a 
 source, of gratification, " ever charming," yet " ever 
 new.". But I will candidly own I am not altogether 
 disinterested, and that I am anxious to procure your 
 co-operation and assistance in a project which I yet 
 hope to accomplish. I am anxious to ascertain if poetry 
 and natural history might not " each give to each a 
 double charm " — if poetry might not lend " thoughts 
 that breathe, and words that burn," to declare the 
 wonders that natural history unfolds. Reality, in this 
 case, is more wonderful than fiction ; yet the reality 
 is not brought home to the minds and hearts of men, 
 as it wovJd be if arrayed in the glowing garb of
 
 8 THE POETRY OF NATURE, 
 
 poetry : a fact, when " married to immortal verse," 
 would be "one entire and perfect chrysolite," and 
 remain for ever in the mind, " unmixed with baser 
 matter. "And what would poetry not gain, if access 
 were afforded to this new and almost unopened 
 mine ? The riches of the garden of Aladdin would fade 
 before the splendour of her new dominions; Besides, 
 you must recollect, that poetry is so pleasing a vehicle 
 for the expression of thought; so fascinating a medium 
 for the inculcation of a particular feehng or idea, 
 that it becomes a most powerful agent either in dis- 
 seminating truth, or in perpetuating falsehood. How 
 verj' desirable would it be if every poet were at the 
 same time a naturahst. Many depict, and depict 
 most truly, some of the attractive objects which Na- 
 ture, as if to win us to herself, has placed on our 
 right hand and on our left ; but seldom have they 
 done so without an intermixture of error, and too 
 often do we find that fancy takes the place of observa- 
 tion. It would become, therefore, a curious and 
 pleasing subject of inquiry to ascertain to what ex- 
 tent one of our most admired poets had faithfully 
 arrayed in the rich garniture of his verse, the pheno- 
 mena which he himself had seen, or how far he had 
 preserved there the errors of preceding writers. 
 
 This inquiry prompted me to read again the 
 plays of Shakspeare. I read them, however, not to
 
 SHAKSPEARE " THE POET OF NATURE. 9 
 
 analyze one of the characters, to criticise the struc- 
 ture, or unfold the beauties of a drama, but to ascer- 
 tain what notices of natural objects they con- 
 tained. I may, perhaps, have been influenced in 
 my selection of Shakspeare's Works by the opinion 
 which Dr. Johnson has expressed in his celebrated 
 preface. After applying to Shakspeare the epithet 
 of " the Poet of Nature," he remarks, " His attention 
 was not confined to the actions of men ; he was an 
 exact surveyor of the inanimate world ; his descrip- 
 tions have always some peculiarity, gathered by con- 
 templating things as they really exist ; whether life 
 or nature be his subject, Shakspeare shows plainly 
 that he has seen with his own eyes. He gives the 
 image which he receives, not weakened or distorted 
 by the inten^ention of any other mind ; the ignorant 
 feel his representations to be just, and the learned 
 see that they are complete." But I was still more 
 guided in my choice by the testimony of my friend 
 the late John Templeton, Esq., that " the works of 
 Shakspeare evince a surprising power of accurate 
 observation," and he added, although I may not 
 quote his words correctly, " that while Milton and 
 the other poets had strung together in their descrip- 
 tions the blossoms of spring and the flowers of sum- 
 mer, Shakspeare has placed in one group those only 
 which may be found in bloom at the same time.
 
 10 ILLUSTRATIVE EXTRACTS. 
 
 His defects are those of the age in which he lived ; 
 the beauty and truth of his pictures are his own." 
 
 To show the justness of this remark, only look at 
 the enumeration of flowers in Milton's Lycidas, and 
 that of Shakspeare in the Winter's Tale. In the 
 former we have, among " vernal flowers," many of 
 those which are the off^spring of Midsummer. The 
 musk-rose, the woodbine, and the amaranthus of a 
 still more advanced season, are grouped with the 
 daff'odil, the primrose, and the violet of early spring. 
 
 ' Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies, 
 The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine, 
 Tlie white pink, and the pansy freak'd with jet, 
 The glowing violet. 
 
 The musk-rose, and the well attired woodbine, 
 With cowslips wan, that hang the pensive head, 
 And every flower that sad embroidery wears ; 
 Bid amaranthus all his beauty shed. 
 And daffodillies fill their cups with tears. 
 To strew the laureat hearse where Lycid lies." 
 
 In the Winter's Tale, Perdita presents the " flowers 
 of winter, rosemary and rue," to her reverend guests ; 
 "to men of middle age," are given the " flowers of 
 middle summer." 
 
 " Hot lavender, mints, savory, marjoram, 
 The marigold, that goes to bed with the sun, 
 And with him rises weeping." — Act IV. Sc. 3. 
 
 When she addresses her " fairest friend," her words 
 are 
 
 " I would I had some flowers o' the spring, that might 
 Become your time of day ! "
 
 NATURAL OBJECTS NOTICED. 11 
 
 and "yours and yours," she continues, as she ad- 
 dresses those of a more advanced age ; and in her 
 invocation 
 
 " O Proserpina 
 For the flowers now, that, frighted, thou let'st fall 
 From Dis's waggon " — 
 
 she retains the same order, beginning with the daffo- 
 dil, and ending with the fleur-de-lis : 
 
 " daffodils, 
 That come hefore the swallow dares, and take 
 The winds of March with beauty — violets, dim, 
 But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, 
 Or Cytherea's breath ; pale primroses. 
 That die unmarried ere they can behold 
 Bright Phoebus in his strength, a malady 
 Most incident to maids ; bold oxslips, and 
 The crown imperial ; lilies of all kinds, 
 The fleur-de-lis being one !" 
 
 I was thus led to examine the plays of Shakspeare 
 with respect to the notices of natural objects which 
 they contain, and I soon found that these notices 
 were much more numerous than I had expected. I 
 transcribed the passages containing them, under the 
 several heads which naturalists have adopted in their 
 classifications, and found, to my surprise, that they 
 occupied one hundred closely written pages of letter 
 paper. Of these, twenty-two pages related to the 
 mammalia ; sixteen to birds ; nine to reptiles and 
 fishes ; two to shells and minerals ; nine to insects ; 
 thirteen to trees, flowers, and fruits ; and twenty-
 
 12 
 
 MATERIALS FOR INVESTIGATION. 
 
 nine to those ever-varying features, which mark the 
 progress of the seasons, or depict some of the count- 
 less phenomena of nature. What ample materials 
 for investigation those extracts would afford ! and 
 their elucidation would be highly interesting, for it 
 would place in juxta-position the state of natural 
 science now, and at the vaunted era of Queen 
 EUzabeth. 
 
 In my next letter, I shall mention to which of its 
 several branches I wish first to call your attention, 
 and lay before you some of the advantages arising 
 from the pursuit.
 
 ^^^i 
 
 ' In Nature's infinite toooli of secrecy 
 A little I oaxi read." 
 
 ANTONT AND OLEOPATRA, ACT I. SO 11. 
 
 I MUST apologize, my dear friend, for having al- 
 lowed some days to elapse without resuming the 
 subject introduced in my last letter ; but the avoca- 
 tions of business wiU occasionally interpose, in the 
 performance of many of the offices of friendship. 
 Occupied as I at present am, it is but seldom that 
 I can snatch a few consecutive hours, to pay my 
 homage to literature or to science. Trifling as my 
 acquisitions in either may be, they are still sufficient
 
 14 THE STUDY OF NATURE PROPOSED. 
 
 to keep alive the taste for both ; and, consequently, 
 if future years should bring with them a larger 
 portion of leisure, I hope and trust they wUl be 
 unaccompanied with that tcedium vitce, which too 
 often destroys the anticipated happiness of the man 
 of business. The object of my attention, in those 
 hours which are stolen from the bustle of the world, 
 has of late been natural history ; and I can safely 
 affirm that it has afforded a tranquillising, contented, 
 and invigorating spirit, when both mind and body 
 have been fatigued with the unremitting exertions 
 which business occasionally demands. To you, who 
 want occupation, the study would produce a different, 
 but equally beneficial result. It would stimulate to 
 activity faculties which now lie dormant, and rouse 
 to pleasurable exertion, powers which languish for 
 want of a proper stimulus. The particular branch 
 of natural history to which I have lately given my 
 attention, has been that which treats of the various 
 tribes of insects ; or, to use a more concise and more 
 scientific expression. Entomology. My progress 
 has not been so considerable as to give me that 
 knowledge of specific distinctions, which one who 
 lays claim to the title of an entomologist should 
 possess ; but it has been sufficient to teach me the 
 principal divisions of the science, and to make me 
 acquainted with the most obvious peculiarities in
 
 ENTOMOLOGY. 15 
 
 habit, by which many insect tribes are distinguished. 
 I have, I must own, been more anxious to learn 
 something of their habits, than of their classification ; 
 and although I have commenced forming a small 
 collection to illustrate the latter, I value it onlj^ as 
 sen-ing to elucidate the former. You will see from 
 this statement, that I am a lover of entomology, 
 rather than an entomologist. Humble as this appel- 
 lation may be, it is one which I must for, perhaps, a 
 considerable time, be contented to retain. Its low- 
 liness has not, however, prevented me from enjoying 
 many pleasing trains of thought, excited by the 
 pursuit — many happy feelings of novelty and wonder ; 
 and at all seasons the study has furnished me with 
 something for observation. I am most anxious, 
 therefore, my dear Arnold, that the pleasure I have 
 felt, you should experience ; and although I may be 
 a guide very imperfectly acquainted with the paths 
 I propose to traverse, I shall be delighted to point 
 out to you the most important landmarks, and 
 indicate the existence of wild glens and retiring 
 valleys which you may yourself explore. 
 
 We are all too apt to associate ideas of importance 
 wath the possession of corporeal bulk, and to regard 
 as trifling all those animals which are diminutive in 
 size. This may be one reason why the study of 
 entomology is comparatively of modern date ; for, so
 
 16 IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 strong and so general is this prejudice, that he who 
 devoted his days to observing the habits and economy 
 of insects, would have been regarded as a weak and 
 frivolous mortal — as a busy and unprofitable idler, 
 and unworthy to rank with men who were engaged 
 in more bustUng occupations. A wiser and more 
 philosophical spirit has now arisen, and anything, 
 however minute, which God has been pleased to 
 create, is no longer deemed unworthy of man to 
 study. " The beauties of the wilderness are His," 
 and the leafy monarch of the forest, the lowly and 
 fragile flower, the leviathan with his plated maU, and 
 each tiny wing that flutters in the sunbeam, are but 
 so many varied manifestations of the same Almighty 
 Power. To you, therefore, the study of insects will 
 have many attractions, for few are better calculated 
 than yourself 
 
 "To trace in nature's most minute design 
 The signature and stamp of power divine ; 
 The shapely limb, and lubricated joint, 
 Within the small dimensions of a point ; " 
 
 and to feel the justice of Burke's observation, that 
 we cannot, in the eff"ect on the mind, distinguish the 
 extreme of littleness from the vast itself. As, how- 
 ever, the state of mind which the feeling of surprise 
 creates, or the sense of the sublime occasions, is in 
 its very nature transitory, though delightful, I would
 
 FORM AND COLOITR OF INSECTS. 17 
 
 not, on the present occasion, lay much stress upon 
 this recommendation. I would rather allow the 
 study to win you to itself, by the permanence of the 
 agreeable ideas it is calculated to excite. One 
 source of these ideas is the form and the colouring 
 of insects : and any one who attempts to describe 
 such characteristics, may exclaim, as Thomson has 
 done of the flowers of spring, 
 
 " Oh ! what can language do ! " 
 
 Kirby and Spence, with that enthusiasm which 
 their knowledge of the subject both creates and 
 justifies, remark, " To these, her valued miniatures, 
 Nature has given the most delicate touch and highest 
 finish of her pencil. Numbers she has armed with 
 glittering mail, which reflects a lustre like that of 
 burnished metals ; in others she lights up the 
 dazzHng radiance of polished gems. Some she has 
 decked with what looks like liquid drops or plates of 
 gold or silver, or with scales or pile, which mimic 
 the colour and emit the ray of the same precious 
 metals." 
 
 " Their colours also are not evanescent and fugi- 
 tive, but fixed and durable, surviving their subject, 
 and adorning it as much after death as they did 
 when it was alive." In this respect the Entomologist 
 possesses an advantage over most of his brother natu- 
 
 c
 
 18 ADVANTAGES OF THE STUDY. 
 
 ralists. The loveliest rose that ever unfolded her 
 petals to the skies of June, the sweetest violet that 
 ever yielded her fragrance to the wooing breath of 
 April, are alike reft of their beauty, when transferred 
 to the hortus siccus of the botanist. The ornitholo- 
 gist may obtain for his herons, his swans, and his 
 falcons, their respective attitudes, but he must do so 
 at considerable cost, and requires a range of apart- 
 ments for their display and classification. The speci- 
 mens of the mineralogist are frequently of consider- 
 able bulk and weight, and require a corresponding 
 space for their arrangement. The Entomologist, on 
 the contrary, can, in a single drawer of moderate 
 dimensions, preserve hundreds of insects, with all the 
 colouring and attitudes of life. Yet it is not because 
 of their colours, though rich ; or their forms, though 
 varied ; or both, though beautiful, that I recommend 
 them to your notice. As beings endued with life, they 
 have higher claims on your attention. Morning, 
 noon, evening, and night, has each its own race of 
 happy insects ; they flit in the warm sunbeam of 
 summer, and desert not the icy mantle of winter. 
 
 Another reason why some attention should be 
 given to the study of insects, is the greatness of 
 their numbers, compared with that of the other tribes 
 of animated beings. The mammalia, birds, fishes, 
 and reptiles, at present known, and the mollusca.
 
 NUMBER OF SPECIES. 19 
 
 zoophytes, and microscopic animalcules, described 
 by naturalists, amount altogether to about twenty- 
 five thousand species. The Count Dejean has cata- 
 logued more than twenty thousand coleopterous in- 
 sects alone. Stephens describes ten thousand British 
 species ; and those now arranged and named in the 
 Royal Cabinet, at Paris, amount of themselves to 
 above twenty-seven thousand,* a number greater 
 than all the other varieties of animal life, taken 
 together, with which we are at present acquainted. 
 If to this were added those which the collection at 
 Paris does not possess, but which other cabinets 
 contain, those named in manuscripts scattered 
 through different countries in Europe, and the new 
 genera which are daily made known to us, both in 
 the east and in the w^est ; the niunber of species 
 already known could not be less than fifty thousand ! 
 But this number, great as it may appear, is trifling 
 compared with the myriads with which we are as 
 yet unacquainted, but whose existence is rendered 
 more than probable by the tribes which the accurate 
 investigation of any district, however limited, is 
 continually unfolding to our view. Kirby and Spence, 
 in their admirable " Introduction to Entomolog5^" 
 
 * This estimate of the number of known species was made some 
 years Ago, when the letters were first written : the numbers have been 
 greatly increased during the last few years. 
 
 c 2
 
 20 DESTRUCTIVE POWERS OF INSECTS. 
 
 agree with Mr. M'Leay in calculating the existing 
 number of species at four hundred thousand ! * 
 
 Even here the treasures of the Entomologist are not 
 exhausted. The geologist finds in shale the im- 
 pressions of insects, stamped on the yielding surface 
 of the mineral, and there presenting their correct 
 and enduring portraiture. In amber he discovers 
 insects in the very attitudes of life, and of species 
 which have long since become extinct. These repre- 
 sentatives of a former insect world are to the Ento- 
 mologist what the skeletons and ornaments of Pompeii 
 would be to the antiquarian, or fossil fishes to the 
 ichthyologist. They are the records of another era, 
 unfolded for our study. 
 
 We must recollect also, that an accurate knowledge 
 of the habits and economy of insects is of considerable 
 importance to the comfort, and to the security of 
 man. Though each may individually be regarded as 
 insignificant, their numbers compensate for their di- 
 minutive size, and thus banded together, they become 
 absolutely irresistible. Wilson, in his " American 
 Ornithology," says, " Would it be believed that the 
 larvae of an insect or fly, no larger than a grain of 
 rice, should silently and in one season destroy some 
 thousand acres of pine trees, many of them from two 
 to three feet in diameter, and a hundred and fifty 
 
 * Introduction to Entomology, vol. iv. p. 476.
 
 DESTRtrCTIVE POWERS OF INSECTS. 
 
 21 
 
 feet in height ? In some places the whole woods, 
 as far as you can see around you, are dead ; — stripped 
 of their bark, their wintry-looking arms and bare 
 trunks bleaching in the sun, and tumbling in ruins 
 before every blast." In tropical countries the white 
 
 Queen of the White Ant in the winged state, and filled with eggg. 
 
 ants are so voracious that, according to Smeathman, 
 " the total destruction of deserted towns is so 
 effectually completed, that in two or three years a 
 thick wood fills the space." Humboldt states that, 
 as they devour paper and parchment, many pro\dnces 
 of Spanish America cannot in consequence shew a 
 written document of a hundred years' existence, and 
 he justly inquires, " What developement can the 
 civilization of a people assume, if there be nothing 
 to connect the present with the past, — if the de-
 
 22 DEVASTATIONS OF THE APHIDES. 
 
 positories of human knowledge must be constantly 
 renewed, — if the monuments of human genius and 
 wisdom cannot be transmitted to posterity." The 
 very name of the locust calls up ideas of desolation 
 and famine. " The land is as the garden of Eden 
 before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness." 
 From this awful pest we are in this country happily 
 free, but we are exposed to the attacks of many 
 others, which, at times, are scarcely less formidable. 
 The turnip fly and the wire-worm have often ren- 
 
 Turnip Fly. 
 
 dered vain the hopes and the labours of the farmer. 
 Crops of grain have been destroyed, fruit trees 
 blighted, and plantations overthrown, by other tribes 
 of these Lilliputian devastators. One of the Aphi- 
 des appears occasionally in such multitudes, that 
 Thomson has thus introduced it into his description 
 of the phenomena of spring : — 
 
 " For oft, engender'd by the hazy North, 
 MjTiads on myriads, insect armies warp
 
 BENEFITS CONFERRED BY INSECTS. 23 
 
 Keen in the poison'd breeze ; and wasteful eat, 
 Through buds and bark, into the blacken'd core, 
 Their eager way. A feeble race ! yet oft 
 The sacred sons of vengeance, on whose course 
 Corrosive Famine waits, and kills the year." 
 
 With the exception of their not being " engendered 
 by the hazy North," but produced, Uke all other 
 insects, from eggs previously deposited, the descrip- 
 tion of the poet is perfectly correct. A writer in 
 the Entomological Magazine, (No. iii. p. 221,) con- 
 cludes an account of the habits of another species of 
 insect, the Aphis humuli, one which preys upon the 
 hop plant, in the following words: — "From this it 
 will appear that in duty alone, a little insignificant 
 looking fly has a control over four hundred and 
 fifty thousand pounds annual income to the British 
 Treasury ; and, supposing the hop grounds of Eng- 
 land capable of paying this duty annually, which 
 they certainly are, it is very manifest that, in 1825, 
 these creatures were the means of robbing the 
 Treasury of four hundred and twenty-six thousand 
 pounds." 
 
 The advantages which insects produce are, how- 
 ever, more important than the injuries they occasion. 
 To multitudes of our "little trooping birds" they 
 supply food, and that to an extent that no one would 
 at first suppose possible ; for it has been calculated, 
 that a single pair of sparrows having young to main-
 
 24 
 
 BENEFITS CONFERRED BY INSECTS. 
 
 tain, will destroy three thousand three hundred and 
 sixty caterpillars in a week. 
 
 To fishes they are of equal importance, as I had 
 myself on one occasion an opportunity of obsening, 
 at Lough Beg, a small lake through which the river 
 Bann flows in its course to the sea. As we were 
 crossing in a boat from the main land to Church Island, 
 the spot where the celebrated Jeremy Taylor penned 
 many of his most eloquent productions, a sudden 
 gust of wind arose, accompanied by heavy rain, and 
 precipitated into the water multitudes of the day- 
 fly {Ephemera vulgata), which had been sporting over 
 
 Larva, Pupa, and Imago of Ephemera vulgata. 
 
 the lake. So great was their number, that as we 
 rowed rapidly forward, we could not, for the space 
 of fifteen minutes, during which we were every 
 instant changing our position, discover two square
 
 ADVANTAGES TO MAN. 
 
 25 
 
 feet on the surface of the water, on which there was 
 not at least one of these flies, and not unfrequently 
 there were eight, ten, or twelve, in that extent of 
 superficies. On a subsequent occasion, I noticed a 
 mass of two-winged flies {Tipulidce, Sfc), some inches 
 
 Ceddomyia destructor, and tritici, with Larva, all feeding. 
 
 in thickness, cast upon the beach of Lough Weagh, 
 not far from the town of Antrim, 
 
 To " man, proud man," they bring rich and 
 numerous offerings. The gall of the oak, which. 
 
 Oak Apple, Gall, and Cynips quercus folii. 
 
 when converted into ink, " speeds the soft intercourse
 
 26 ADVANTAGES OF THE STUDY. 
 
 from pole to pole," and allows the philosopher to 
 transmit his discoveries to future ages, is only the 
 production of an insect. Honey, which from the 
 earliest times has been the emblem of aU that is most 
 grateful to the palate, is another tribute from the 
 insect world. The bright dye of the cochineal is 
 supplied by an insect ; and silk, the use of which is 
 still more widely diffused, is, perhaps, the most ex- 
 traordinary existing example, of the benefits derived 
 by man from the labours of the insect tribes. 
 
 I hope enough has now been adduced to show that 
 the study of Entomology should not, by any reflective 
 mind, be regarded as frivolous or degrading, and that 
 if we would either derive advantage or escape injury 
 from insects, a knowledge of their habits and economy 
 is alike indispensable.
 
 'Hast thou the pretty worm of Nilus there , 
 That kilie and pains not ? " 
 
 AJTTOiTY AiJD CLEOPATK&, ACT 
 
 I SHALL now, my dear Arnold, in this and in my 
 subsequent letters, bring before you some of the par- 
 ticulars relative to the natural history of those insects 
 mentioned in Shakspeare's plays. From the writings 
 of eminent entomologists, or from extracts from works 
 which are not generally accessible to the inhabitants 
 of a provincial town, I have at various times received 
 much of the information they may contain. In some 
 instances I have copied in my note book the passage 
 in which any remarkable fact was embodied. These
 
 28 THE SUBJECT PROPOSED. 
 
 extracts are not numerous, and as they may perhaps 
 prove interesting, I shall be glad to transmit them to 
 you in the words of their respective authors. It has 
 sometimes been in my power to verify those state- 
 ments by my own observations, and occasionally, 
 although very rarely, to add something to the know- 
 ledge they convey ; but my great object will be to 
 point out how the remarks of the Poet are borne out 
 by the discoveries of modern science. 
 
 If these letters induce you to examine the facts for 
 yourself, and to fill up those blanks which I shall 
 occEisionally indicate, I shall rejoice at having been 
 the humble instrument of " a consummation" so 
 " devoutly to be wished." Should the important 
 avocation in which we are both engaged permit us 
 to enter together on the natural history of the quadru- 
 peds, the birds, or the plants which Shakspeare has 
 dignified by his magic touch, it would be delightful 
 to reciprocate with each other the information we 
 might respectively obtain, and communicate our ob- 
 servations on a subject of common interest to both. 
 But I must own that " the wish is father to that 
 thought," for, situated as I am, it is scarcely pos- 
 sible for me to take a fair proportion of the exer- 
 tion necessary for such an object. You, however, 
 are so differently circumstanced, that you may hope 
 to effect that, which I am able only to desire. Of
 
 shakspeare's natural history. 29 
 
 tu'o things I am quite certain — that a knowledge of 
 the Natural History of Shakspeare's Plays would 
 increase the pleasure we all experience in reading 
 those unrivalled productions ; and that to the in- 
 quirer, the pursuit would be replete with interest. 
 He would tread a path of softest verdure ; he would 
 behold a brighter sky , he would breathe a more balmy 
 atmosphere, and might well say, like Caliban, while 
 escorting the mariners under the unseen guidance of 
 Ariel, 
 
 'Tlie isle is full of noises, 
 
 Sounds, and sweet airs ; that give delisrht, and hurt not." 
 
 Tempest, Act III. Sc. II. 
 
 That the subject on which I am now about to enter 
 may be proceeded with in regular order, it is better 
 " to begin with the beginning :" I shall, therefore, in 
 my present letter, confine myself to some observations 
 on insects, in their imperfect or immature state. 
 
 We find that the Prince of Denmark, the reflective 
 and philosophical Hamlet, employs on one occasion 
 the words, " If the sun breeds maggots in a dead 
 dog," {Act I. Scene II.) ; and he uses them in a man- 
 ner that shows he did not question the truth of the 
 position. Let it not surprise you, that a prince of 
 mental powers sufficient to descant upon " this 
 goodly frame the earth," and to utter the sublime 
 apostrophe, "What a piece of work is man !" should 
 adopt an opinion so erroneous. It was the universal
 
 30 
 
 TRANSFORMATIONS OF INSECTS. 
 
 belief of the age in which Shakspeare lived ; and it 
 was not until near the conclusion of the sixteenth 
 century, that it was proved by the experiments of 
 Redi to be utterly groundless. This forms one 
 example of the progress of human knowledge in 
 destroying " that labyrinth of idle fancies and unsup- 
 ported fables, which, entangled with one another like 
 a Gordian knot, have even to this day obscured 
 the beautiful simplicity of this part of Natural 
 History."* 
 
 Tlie vertebrate animals by which we are surrounded 
 retain through life, with some variations in size and 
 colouring, very nearly the same form they had at 
 
 Chrysalis and Caterpillar of the Magpie Moth. 
 
 their birth. Insects, on the contrary, have their 
 parts and powers progressively developed, and pass 
 
 * Swammerdam, Book of Nature, p. 223.
 
 CATERPILLARS. 31 
 
 in general through four distinct stages of existence. 
 They are first contained in eggs deposited by the 
 parent. They then become active and rapacious, 
 and in this state some tribes are known by the com- 
 mon names of maggots, grubs, or caterpillars, all of 
 which are included by naturalists in the term larvse. 
 Every one is familiar with their appearance, and 
 few unacquainted with their destructive powers. 
 They have furnished Shakspeare on many occasions 
 with appropriate metaphors. Thus the creatures of 
 Richard are termed by Bolingbroke " the caterpillars 
 of the Commonwealth," (King Richard II., Act II. 
 Sc. IV.), and the Duke of York's reflection on the 
 destruction of his hopes, is, 
 
 "Tlius are my blossoms blasted in the bud. 
 And caterpillars eat my leaves away." 
 
 Second Part Henry VI., Act III. Sc. I. 
 
 " False caterpillars " is the epithet bestowed by 
 Jack Cade and his " ragged multitude " on their 
 opponents ; but never is the image employed in a 
 manner more just, and yet more melancholy, than 
 when in King Richard II. the gardener enters into 
 a colloquy with his attendant on the state of the 
 kingdom, while the queen, who had entered " to 
 drive away the hea\'y thoughts of care," becomes a 
 concealed listener to their discourse. Instead of
 
 32 CHRYSALIS STATE OF INSECTS. 
 
 silently executing the directions of his superior to 
 
 " Cut off the heads of too fast growing; sprays," 
 
 the servant inquires — 
 
 " Wliy should we in the compass of a pale 
 Keep law, and form, and due proportion, 
 Shewing, as in a model, our firm state ; 
 When our sea-walled garden, the whole land 
 Is full of weeds ; her fairest flowers choked up. 
 Her fruit trees all unpruned, her hedges ruiu'd, 
 Her knots disordered, and her wholesome herbs 
 Swarming with catei-pillars ? "—Act III. fie. IV. 
 
 The next state of insects is the Pupa, or Chrysalis, 
 in which they assume very diiferent forms and diver- 
 sified habits. Some are lively and active, as the 
 crickets and cockroaches, which are found in our 
 kitchens. Others are enveloped in a peculiar cover- 
 ing, called a cocoon, formed for the occasion, and 
 composed of leaves, of wood, or of sUk. Now all 
 appearance of vitality is lost, until at its appointed 
 time the enclosed insect bursts its sepulchre, flings 
 off the vestments of the tomb, and, gifted with 
 beaut}' of form, and with powers unknown before, 
 enters on the enjoyment of a new state of existence. 
 To you I need not say anything of the classical asso- 
 ciations or the train of spiritual reflections which 
 such a change is calculated to excite. Without in- 
 dulging in either the one or the other, Shakspeare 
 has employed his knowledge of the fact to illustrate
 
 TRANSFORMATION OF INSECTS. 
 
 33 
 
 the ciltered condition of Coriolanus, when from a 
 Roman general he has become the invincible leader 
 of the Volscians in their progress against his native 
 city. " Is 't possible," asks Sicinius, " that so 
 short a time can alter the condition of a man ? " 
 and most justly is he answered by Menenius : ' ' There 
 is a difference between a grub and a butterfly, yet 
 your butterfly was a grub." — Act V. Sc. IV. 
 
 Caterpillar, leaf-cocoon, ami chrysalis of the Prometheus Moth. 
 
 Almost every one has noticed the destruction of 
 clothes, furs, and tapestry by the larvce of minute 
 moths (Tineida). It is not to be supposed, therefore, 
 that the all-seeing eye of Shakspeare should pass un-
 
 34 " THE WOKM l' THE BUD." 
 
 noticed so ordinary an occurrence. "We accordingly 
 find reference made to it in more than one instance. 
 Thus Borachio, in " Much Ado about Nothing," 
 speaks of " the smirch'd moth-eaten tapestry ;" and 
 when the visitor of Virgilia is wishing her to " lay 
 aside her stitchery " and play the idle huswife," she 
 tauntingly says, " You would be another Penelope ; 
 yet they say aU the yarn she spun in Ulysses' absence 
 did but fill Ithaca full of moths." — Coriolanus, Act I. 
 Sc. III. 
 
 There is another insect of the same family whose 
 choice of a dwelling e\dnces a more refined luxurious- 
 ness, if, indeed, we are warranted in making use, 
 even metaphorically, of such a term, when to every 
 insect the food destined for its support is that which 
 is most grateful to its palate. The larva I allude 
 to (Lozotcenia Rosana) passes by the " smirch'd ta- 
 pestr)^" and chooses for its domicile " the fresh lap 
 of the crimson rose." It there lives among the 
 blossoms, and prevents the possibihty of their further 
 developement. Tlie stop thus put to the ordinary 
 course of vegetation must early have excited the 
 attention of all who take delight in the " innocent 
 flower," and hence we find — 
 
 " the bud bit with an envious worm 
 
 Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air, 
 Or dedicate his beauty to the same " — 
 
 {Romeo and Juliet, Act I. Sc. I.)
 
 THE CANKER. 35 
 
 has been a favourite object of comparison. In the 
 mouth of Viola it becomes one of the most touching 
 images that poet ever employed : 
 
 " She never told her love ; 
 But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, 
 Feed on her damask cheek." 
 
 Twelfth Night, Act II. Sc. I. 
 
 In many other passages " the worm " is either 
 alluded to, or mentioned, as " the canker." Thus, 
 when Laertes is cautioning Ophelia against 
 
 " Hamlet and the trifling- of his favour," (Act I. Sc. III.) 
 
 his words are — 
 
 " The canker galls the infants of the spring, 
 Too oft, before their buttons be disclosed." 
 
 Among the enumeration given by Titania of the 
 duties of her fairy attendants — 
 
 " To kill cankers in the musk-rose buds," 
 
 {Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II. Sc. III.) 
 
 holds a prominent place ; and when in the opening 
 scene of the " Two Gentlemen of Verona," Protheus 
 is defending himself against the raillery of his friend 
 Valentine, the image which he employs is skilfully 
 turned against himself. 
 
 " Protheus. Yet writers say, as in the sweetest bud 
 The eating canker dwells, so eating love 
 Inhabits in the finest wits of all. 
 
 D 2
 
 36 COCOON OF THE SILKWORM. 
 
 Valentine. And \^Titers say, as the most forward bud 
 Is eaten by the canker ere it blow, 
 Even so by love, the youn^ and tender wit 
 Is turn'd to folly : blasting in the bud, 
 Losing his verdure even in the prime." — Act I. Sc. 1. 
 
 The hirvce yet mentioned are all of them destruc- 
 tive in some degree to our property, either to that 
 species of property comprised in the vegetable king- 
 dom, or that w^hich constitutes the raiment of our 
 persons, or the furniture of our apartments ; and so 
 far they are all represented as injurious to man. 
 One, however, is casually introduced, whose labours 
 may be considered as outweighing, by the advantages 
 they produce, the injuries which all the others may 
 occasionally inflict. It is the larva of a moth. 
 The produce of its cocoon was at one period con- 
 sidered so valuable, as to be estimated in Imperial 
 Rome at its weight in gold, and even now it gives 
 employment to many thousand individuals, and forms 
 an important branch of our national manufactures. 
 You no doubt suspect already that the insect to 
 which I allude is the silkworm. OtheUo, in the cele- 
 brated scene where he demands " the handkerchief," 
 venerated as the dying gift of his mother, and en- 
 dowed with supernatural virtues by " an Egyptian," 
 mentions the insect thus : — 
 
 " The worms were hallow'd that did breed the silk." 
 
 Act III. Sc. IV.
 
 THE NUT WEEVIL. 37 
 
 In two passages Shakspeare mentions a nut with 
 no kernel. In the first passage the words are em- 
 ployed figurativelJ^ to denote the absence of real 
 worth in the character of Parolles — 
 
 " There can be no kernel in this light nut." 
 
 AWs Well that Ends Well, Act II. So. V. 
 
 In the other they are used to imply a want of under- 
 standing. 
 
 " Thersites. Hector shall have a great catch if he knock out 
 either of your brains : 'a were as good crack a fusty nut with no 
 kernel." — Troilus and Cressida, Act II. Sc. I. 
 
 There is nothing in those extracts to indicate that 
 Shakspeare was cognizant of 
 
 " The red-capped worm that's shut 
 Within the concave of a nut ;" — {UerricWs Hesperides.*) 
 
 but that he was so, is apparent from the phrase in 
 As You Like It, " as concave as a worm-eaten nut," 
 (Act III. Sc. IV.), and also from the passage in which 
 he describes the equipage of Queen Mab — 
 
 " Her chariot is an empty hazel nut, 
 Made by the joiner squirrel, or old grub, 
 Time out of mind the fairies' coachmaker." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, Act I. Sc. IV. 
 
 The " old grub " here mentioned by the poet as caus- 
 ing the vacuity in the shell, is the larva of a wee^*il 
 
 * Quoted by Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 309.
 
 38 
 
 IMPERIAL DIET. 
 
 (Balaninus nucumj. The motljer is furnished with 
 a long horny beak, and while the nut is yet soft, 
 drills a hole through the shell, deposits an egg, and 
 thus furnishes its future offspring with a house for 
 its defence, and food for its support. 
 
 A hranch of the filbert tree ; a, perforation of the iceevil; b, extremity 
 of the nut ; c, exit hole of the grub ; b, the grub; c, the pupa; d, 
 the perfect insect. 
 
 In the passages already quoted, the word worm is 
 not appUed to the object to which we usually give 
 the name, the common earth-worm (Lumhriciis ter- 
 restrisj, but to the larva of some species of insect. 
 It is in this sense that the word is almost invariably 
 employed by Shakspeare. Thus, when Hamlet says, 
 " your worm is jour only emperor for diet," the 
 meaning of the word worm is evident from the re- 
 mainder of the passage — " We fat all creatures else 
 to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots."
 
 THE blind-worm's STING. 39 
 
 In one instance, however, the word worm denotes 
 some species of venemous reptile ; for Cleopatra asks 
 the countryman who brings her " the aspick," 
 " Hast thou the pretty worm of Nilus here, that kills 
 and pains not ? " and some commentators have attri- 
 buted a similar meaning to the words used by the 
 disguised duke when addressing Claudio : 
 
 " Thou art by no means valiant, 
 For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork 
 Of a poor worm." — Measure for Measure, Act III. Sc. I. 
 
 In this opinion I for one do not concur. It seems 
 
 to be more probable that in this instance, and in 
 
 the line, 
 
 " Worm nor snail do no offence," — 
 
 (Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II. Sc. III. 
 
 the common earth-worm, which truly belongs to the 
 class Vermes, is the creature alluded to. The word 
 worm occurs again in the enumeration by the witches 
 in " Macbeth," of " the ingredients of our cauldron." 
 But here the " bhnd-worm's sting" is ob\'iously in- 
 tended to apply to the Anguis fragilis, or blind- worm 
 of Great Britain, a reptile which, I believe, is not 
 found in Ireland. I saw it some years ago, for the 
 first time, in that part of Scotland — 
 
 " Where Loch Vennachar in silver flows." 
 
 I shall not at present dwell longer on the notice
 
 40 
 
 THE STUDY NOT UNPROFITABLE. 
 
 taken by Shakspeare of insects ere they assume their 
 perfect form. Enough has been adduced to show 
 that he was aware of their changes, and familiar 
 with the appearance and economy of those belonging 
 to very different orders. But as you may perhaps 
 wish to hear something of the powers occasionally 
 exercised in this part of the kingdom by those dimi- 
 nutive and apparently contemptible beings, I shall 
 send you shortly some notes respecting their ravages. 
 After I have thus " showed you all the qualities 
 o' the isle," you remain at perfect liberty to abjure 
 Entomology, should it appear to you 
 
 "Weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable."
 
 ' Where the bee sucks there suck I." 
 
 TBMPBST, ACT V, 3C. I. 
 
 Having now, my dear friend, glanced at the 
 destructive powers exercised by the caterpillars of 
 insects, we are prepared for entering on some con- 
 siderations relative to their economy and habits. 
 But I must trespass a little longer on your patience, 
 to bring before you in one connected view an im- 
 portant point in their physical organization. Some 
 tribes of insects, as you well know, are rapacious, 
 and live by the destruction of those which are less 
 powerful than themselves. Some, like " the worm
 
 42 OIIGANS OF INSECTS. 
 
 i' the bud," feast on the petals of flowers, and others 
 revel on the nectar of our choicest fruits. By their 
 numbers, their varied powers, and their diversified 
 instincts, they exert a prodigious influence on the 
 economy of Nature. This influence depends in 
 many instances on the structure of those organs by 
 which they provide themselves with nourishment, 
 joined of course to tliose peculiar instincts invari- 
 ably accompanying each particular formation of the 
 mouth. I propose, therefore, in my present letter to 
 confine myself to a slight sketch of the oral apparatus 
 wnith which insects are furnished, an apparatus which 
 undergoes an astonishing number of modifications. 
 In fact, on a minute scrutiny, we find throughout all 
 the insect tribes the same admirable adaptation of 
 means to an end which has so frequently been pointed 
 out in the various organs of quadrupeds and birds. 
 The flexile trunk of the elephant, the graceful neck 
 of the girafi'e, the talons and strength of the eagle, 
 the migratory powers of the swallow, are not better 
 adapted to their wants and capabilities, than are the 
 instruments by which insects take their respective 
 food. It becomes, therefore, a pleasing inquiry to 
 ascertain what structure of mouth belongs to each 
 order of insects ; by what habits that structure is 
 accompanied, and by what changes in those habits 
 every alteration in the structure of the mouth is at-
 
 DESTRUCTION BY ANTS. 43 
 
 tended. Nor is this an inquiry unconnected with 
 the well-being of man, or far removed from his pur- 
 suits. When we are told that about seventy years 
 ago a species of ant appeared in the Island of Gre- 
 nada in such infinite hosts as to put a stop to the 
 cultivation of the sugar cane ; that the government 
 of the country offered a reward of twenty thousand 
 pounds to any person who shovJd discover an eflfect- 
 ual mode of destroying them ; and that many domestic 
 quadrupeds, together -ndth rats, mice, reptiles, and 
 even birds, fell a prey to their attacks, we very 
 naturally inquire by what means could an insect, so 
 insignificant, produce efi'ects so important ? * When 
 we read of locusts innumerable as flakes of snow, so 
 rapacious as to devour every green thing, and at- 
 tended in their progress by pestilence and famine, 
 we ask. With what instruments of destruction can 
 they be provided .'' How are they rendered capable 
 of exerting a power so terrific .■* A glance at the 
 formation of their mouths, and a moment's reflection 
 on their bodily powers, and the myriads which make 
 their appearance together, wUl solve the question. 
 
 I shall not at present enter into any details of the 
 habits of different insects : these I reserve for descrip- 
 tion at some future time, talcen in connection with 
 the passages in which they are noticed by the Bard 
 * Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 182.
 
 44 MOUTHS OF INSECTS. 
 
 of Avon. But as insects belonging to seven different 
 orders are mentioned in the plays of Shakspeare, 1 
 desire at present to convey to you an idea of the 
 diversified structure observable in their mouths. For 
 this purpose I shall endeavour not " to bestow my 
 tediousness upon you " at greater length than the 
 proposed object requires, and shall accordingly use 
 only such quotations as are necessary to show that 
 the insect I name is one of those recorded. 
 
 For the introduction of scientific terms I make no 
 apology. To one acquainted with the languages from 
 which they are derived, those terms convey more 
 distinct and definite ideas than any English words. 
 But even if you were not so, I would still adopt 
 the same course ; because I feel convinced that the 
 difficulty of comprehending the meaning, and learning 
 the signification, of a scientific term, is far more than 
 counterbalanced by the accurate ideas with which 
 it is ever afterwards connected in the mind of the 
 student ; and I have had occasion to regret that in 
 some recent publications the authors have made use 
 of English words in a manner not only very per- 
 plexing, but calculated to convey inaccurate, and 
 even erroneous ideas. 
 
 Few persons have examined the mouth of an in- 
 sect ; even those who have suff'ered from its attack 
 are ignorant of the structure of the weapon by which
 
 THE SHARDED BEETLE. 45' 
 
 the wound has been inflicted. All the animals, the 
 birds, the fishes, which we are in the habit of meet- 
 ing, have a mouth composed of an upper and lower 
 jaw, and the motion appears to be vertical. The 
 mouth in insects is totally different : many have 
 two upper jaws and two under jaws, and in these 
 the motion is horizontal. 
 
 In the first order of insects fColeopteraJ , to which 
 the " sharded beetle " belongs, the several parts of 
 the mouth are more distinct than in many of the 
 other divisions. Beetles, therefore, of which this 
 order is composed, are said to have more perfect 
 mouths than gnats, moths, or butterflies. It is not 
 meant that any real imperfection attaches to the 
 mouth of a gnat, or of a butterfly ; on the contrary, 
 we know that each "is perfect after its kind;" but 
 by using the word perfect, I merely mean to say 
 that each of the several parts of the mouth in the 
 beetle tribes is more fully developed than in some of 
 the other orders, where some parts are considerably 
 enlarged, and others exist only as rudiments, or else 
 are altogether wanting. 
 
 A perfect mouth consists of seven parts : and will 
 perhaps be better understood by a reference to the 
 accompanying figure. The mouth consists, as in 
 all masticating insects, of an upper lip, labrinn (a) ; 
 a pair of horny jaws, moving horizontally, called
 
 46 
 
 COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS. 
 
 mandibles (b) ; two other jaws, maxillcE (c), of a less 
 firm consistence, bearing a palpus or feeler (d) ; and 
 lastly a lower lip, labium (e), furnished with a pair of 
 palpi (f), and implanted upon a broad, homy, basal 
 piece, which is termed the chin, or mentum (g) . 
 
 The upper and lower lip and the tongue are so 
 analogous to the corresponding parts in the verte- 
 brate animals, that I need not say any thing respect- 
 ing their uses. With the jaws the case is widely 
 different. 
 
 The mandibles or upper jaws are situated on each 
 side and immediately under the labrum or upper 
 lip. The office of mastication peculiarly belongs to 
 them. In some genera they are powerful instru- 
 ments, of a hard substance like horn ; but in " the 
 shard-borne beetle " they are soft and membranous. 
 A corresponding change is observable in the habits 
 of the insects. The former are cannibals, and live
 
 COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS. 47 
 
 by rapine ; the latter are scavengers, and subsist on 
 the dung of quadrupeds. The mandibles are generally 
 armed with teeth, and those teeth are divided into 
 
 Geotrupes stercorarius. 
 
 incisive, laniar>', and molary, as in the Mammaha , 
 they are not, however, fixed into the mandibles, but 
 form an actual part of those organs. Underneath 
 the mandibles are the maxillae, placed one on each 
 side of the labium. They are occasionally employed 
 in lacerating the food, but their primary use seems 
 to be to hold and presen-e it from falling, while the 
 mandibles are employed in its laceration. In looking 
 at the mouth of a beetle, you will probably observe 
 some parts which I have not yet named. These are 
 not essential, like those I have already mentioned. 
 They are termed Palpi, and have a trivial appellation, 
 derived from the peculiar part of the mouth to which
 
 48 ORTHOPTEROUS IXSECTS. 
 
 they are attached : when they spring from the maxillae, 
 they are termed Maxillary Palpi ; when they are 
 attached to the lower lip, they are called Labial Palpi. 
 Much difference of opinion has existed as to their 
 functions, but the most general belief now is, that 
 they are really what their name denotes, " feelers." 
 
 Mole Cricket, Grylloialpa vulgaris. 
 
 " As merry as crickets," is the comparison made 
 use of by Poins in one of his frohcs with the Prince, 
 at the Boar's Head Tavern. This merry insect be- 
 longs to a different order, Orthoptera, and exhibits in 
 its mouth seven parts as distinct as those of the 
 Coleoptera, but somewhat different in form. The 
 mandibles are strong, and admirably adapted for 
 cutting vegetable substances, on which the greater 
 part of the order subsists ; and in this insect the 
 ton"-ue is more perfectly developed than in the beetle^ 
 where it can scarcely be said to exist as a distinct 
 organ.
 
 ORGANS OF ORTHOPTEROUS INSECTS. 49 
 
 The insects I have yet named employ their man- 
 dibles for cutting, or for macerating their food. In the 
 next division the mandibles supply the place cf tools 
 for plastering, for digging, for sawing, and for cut- 
 ting, and the food on which the insect subsists is ob- 
 tained, not by maceration, or by suction, but simply 
 by lapping. This is eflfected by a tongue well fitted for 
 the purpose, and protected by a sheath of a singiJar 
 construction from injury when not in use. The 
 insect I have selected as the representative of this 
 order is one with which you have long been familiar, 
 and from whose labours you have in more ways than 
 one derived gratification. It seems so busy and so 
 happy that the delicate Ariel found no stronger 
 image to denote his own enjoyment than the ex- 
 pression — 
 
 " Where the bee sucks, there suck I." 
 
 Tempest, Act V. Sc. I. 
 
 Strictly speaking, the bee does not suck the honey 
 from flowers, but collects it by means of his tongue, 
 which is furnished with a contrivance for that pur- 
 pose, not unlike a brush, or a round plate, fringed 
 ^vith hair. If we hold a bee by its wings, the mouth 
 at first sight appears to consist only of a small trans- 
 verse lip, and a pair of strong jaws, hanng a lateral 
 motion, as in fig. 1. On further examination, how- 
 ever, a flattened instrument of a shining brown colour 
 
 E
 
 50 
 
 MOUTH OF THE BEE. 
 
 is perceived, extending from the lip to the throat : 
 this is the tongue, and at the pleasure of the bee it 
 
 The Bee's Tongue. 
 
 can be projected forward, either in a straight or curved 
 form, as in figs. 2 and 3. 
 
 I wish much I could exhibit to you some mag- 
 nified drawings in my possession, by which the sin- 
 gular structure of this organ would be illustrated ; 
 but as this is impossible, I must content myself with 
 mentioning, that the tongue in the Coleopterous and 
 Orthopterous orders was apparently of trifling im- 
 portance ; but in the order Hymenoptera, it becomes 
 themost conspicuous and remarkable part of itscurious 
 oral apparatus. The mandibles are powerful, as in the 
 other tribes, but a new and complex piece of mecha- 
 nism has been added. The tongue, furnished with 
 numerous muscles, and protected by sheaths when
 
 ITS WONDERFUL ADAPTATION. 
 
 51 
 
 not in use, is unfolded and darted instantaneously 
 into the blossom of a flower, sweeps up the nectar 
 which it finds, and consigns it to the honey bag. It 
 is then sheathed with the same rapidity, retracted in 
 part into the mouth, and the remainder doubled up 
 under the chin and neck, until again called into 
 
 The Bee^s Mouth magnified. 
 
 active service. This tongue is so admirably fitted 
 for " visiting every comer of the nectaries of flowers," 
 that it has been supposed bees can obtain their con- 
 tents without being obhged to use their mandibles, 
 for cutting a passage into the blossoms. This, how- 
 ever, is not always the case. Tlie testimony of two 
 very accurate obser\'ers leaves no doubt on my mind 
 
 E 2
 
 52 THE HUMBLE BEE. 
 
 that bees do pierce the corollas of some flowers 
 to obtain their honey. Doctor J. L. Drummond, 
 the talented author of " First Steps to Botany," and 
 President of our Natural History Society, tells me 
 that he has repeatedly seen them piercing the com- 
 mon Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) for this purj>ose ; 
 and Mr. Wyndman, another of my fellow members, 
 and one who has paid considerable attention to 
 Entomology, had the pleasure of seeing one of our 
 wild bees fBombus muscorumj busily engaged last 
 
 b 
 
 a, Mandible of the male, and b, of the female, llumble Bee. 
 
 summer, in the Botanic Garden here, piercing the 
 bell- shaped corollas of the Irish heath (Menziesia 
 polifoliaj, and on examining the plants, found, to 
 his great surprise, there was scarcely a blossom of 
 the heath which had not thus been perforated. 
 
 The passages in which the working bees are men- 
 tioned by Shakspeare are so numerous, that I prefer
 
 shakspeare's drones. 53 
 
 directing your attention to them at a future time to 
 doing so now, when I am merely mentioning the 
 construction of their mouths. The working bees 
 are not, however, the only ones alluded to. In the 
 " Midsummer Night's Dream," when Bottom, the 
 weaver, in the character of an ass, 
 
 " With amiable cheeks and fair large ears," 
 
 is giving orders to his new attendants, he makes use 
 of the following words : — 
 
 " Monsieur Cobweb, good Monsieur, get your weapons in your 
 Land, and kill me a red hip'd humble bee on the top of a thistle ; and 
 good Monsieur, bring me the honey bag." — Act IV. Sc. I. 
 
 Drones are also noticed ; for Shylock, in speaking 
 of his servant Launcelot, (whom he had parted with 
 to Bassanio because he " would him help to waste 
 his borrowed purse,") after describing him as " a 
 huge feeder," " snail slow in profit," adds, " drones 
 hive not with me." But as the drone, the ant, to 
 which the fool in King Lear threatens to send Kent 
 to school, and " injurious wasps," partake of the 
 same general structure, so far as the mouth is con- 
 cerned, I shall not detain you with a description of 
 any minute diiFerence between them. 
 
 Shakspeare, above all other writers, seems to 
 possess a plastic power of moulding every object of
 
 54 BUTTERFLIES. 
 
 nature to his will, of constructing the little and the 
 great alike to do his " spiriting gently," of finding 
 
 " tong^ues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
 Sermons in stones, and good in every thing." 
 
 As You Like It, Act II. Sc. I. 
 
 The butterfly supplies him with many images preg- 
 nant with instruction, and grouped with an expression 
 and variety, which no artist could embody, who did 
 
 not, like our great Poet, possess an equal knowledge 
 of the conduct and the heart of man. Thus it is in- 
 troduced in the reflection of Achilles, when the 
 Grecian lords, in " Troilus and Cressida," pass by 
 him, and " either greet him not or else disdainfully" — 
 
 " What the declined is 
 
 He shall as soon read in the eyes of others. 
 
 As feel in his own fall ; for men, like butterflies. 
 
 Show not their mealy wings but to the summer." 
 
 Act III. Sc. III. 
 
 "The gentle Desdemona," when beseeching the 
 senate that she might accompany the Moor to
 
 ORGANS OF THE LEPIDOPTERA. 55 
 
 Cyprus, applies to herself the epithet " a moth of 
 peace." I must not venture to quote all the various 
 passages in which butterflies and moths are men- 
 tioned, but shall at once proceed to point out the 
 peculiar formation of mouth which the Lepidoptera 
 possess. 
 
 " The innumerable tribes of moths and butterflies," 
 of which the order is composed, " eat nothing but 
 the honey secreted in the nectaries of flowers, which 
 are frequently situated at the bottom of a tube of 
 great length. They are accordingly provided with 
 an organ exquisitely fitted for its oflice — a slender 
 and tubular tongue, more or less long, sometimes 
 not shorter than three inches, but spirally convoluted 
 when at rest, like the main- spring of a watch, into 
 a convenient compass. This tongue, which they 
 have the power of instantly vmrolling, they dart into 
 the bottom of a flower, and, as through a syphon, 
 draw up a supply of the dehcious nectar on which 
 they feed."* I have called it a tongue, but strictly 
 speaking it is not so. It is an organ of a carti- 
 laginous substance, consisting of innumerable rings, 
 and composed of three distinct tubes, through the 
 centre one of which the honey alone is conveyed. 
 This central one appears to be formed by the grooves 
 of the lateral tubes, hooked together in the same 
 
 * Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 395.
 
 56 ORGANS OF THE LEPIDOPTERA. 
 
 manner as the laminae of a feather, and capable of 
 being united into an air-tight canal, or of being 
 instantly separated, at the pleasure of the insect. 
 
 The formation of mouth we have now been con- 
 sidering is totally different from that of the Cole- 
 optera, or Hymenoptera, formerly described. The 
 mandibles have undergone a change : they no longer 
 appear as powerful instruments for seizing or for 
 cutting ; and the maxillae exhibit a still greater me- 
 tamorphosis, and have become converted into the 
 curious tubular apparatus through which the honey 
 is imbibed. I do not of course mean that the maxillas 
 of the butterfly were ever like those of the beetle : 
 by the word metamorphosis, I merely mean that a 
 difference is observed, and not that the one ever 
 becomes converted into the other. These maxillae 
 are very singular in their structure, and you can, by 
 taking a pin, and applying it to those of any butter- 
 fly, satisfy yourself that it is composed of two dis- 
 tinct tubes. Now, a question naturally arises, of 
 what use are the two outer tubes, when the central 
 one formed by their union is the only one through 
 which the fluid passes ? To explain the cui bono of 
 any point in animal physiology is, in our imperfect 
 state of knowledge, a difficult undertaking ; but I 
 am inclined to think that they are of service in pro- 
 tecting the central one from the pressure of the
 
 THE DIPTERA. 57 
 
 atmosphere. If a vacuum were formed in the tube, 
 and it were not strengthened by this contrivance, 
 the sides might be pressed together, and the honey 
 prevented from ascending to the mouth of the insect. 
 This I throw out merely as a suggestion, the truth 
 or falsehood of which I would wish you to prove by 
 observation. If it be a " baseless fabric," the sooner 
 it be " dissolved " the better. 
 
 The next order of insects, the Diptera, or two- 
 winged flies, are frequentl)^ mentioned. Titus An- 
 dronicus rebukes his brother Marcus for kUhng a 
 fly diu-ing a repast : — 
 
 " Poor harmless fly ! 
 That with his pretty buzzing melody 
 Came here to make us merry, and thou hast kill'd him." 
 
 Act III. Sc. II. 
 
 " The common people swarm like summer flies. 
 And whither fly the gnats but to the sun ? " 
 
 (Act II. Sc. ri.) 
 
 is the reflection of the wounded Cliff'ord in " Henry 
 the Sixth." 
 
 " My brave Egyptians all 
 Lie graveless till the flies and gnats of Nile 
 Have buried them for prey," — (Act III. Sc. XI.) 
 
 are the words of Cleopatra. 
 
 These extracts sufficiently indicate that Shakspeare 
 was familial* with the habits of some of the many 
 genera comprised in this order. To the different 
 formation of their mouths I would now wish to
 
 58 
 
 ORGANS OF THE DIPTERA. 
 
 direct your attention ; but I find it impossible to con- 
 vey to you, without the aid of magnified drawings, 
 
 A, Antenna of the Tipulida — b, of Tabanus — c, of Miuca. 
 
 a precise idea of the variations in structure which 
 they exhibit. They have, however, one common 
 character ; they are formed for imbibing food by 
 suction ; of this the common fly is perhaps the most 
 familiar example. In other genera, as in that to 
 which the " small grey-coated gnat " belongs, the 
 labrum, mandibulse, maxillae, and lingua, become 
 converted into a series of sharp and delicate instru- 
 ments, which not only pierce the skin, but form a 
 tube for the passage of the blood on which they live. 
 
 A, Mouth of Tabanus— B, of Miisca.
 
 THE HEMIPTERA. 59 
 
 It is supposed, and not without good reason, that 
 they have the power of instilhng a poison into the 
 wound, which has the effect of rendering the blood 
 more fluid, and better adapted for suction. 
 
 Insects of the order Hemiptera abstract the juices 
 of plants and animals by means of an instrument of 
 a construction altogether diff'erent. To this order 
 the bug (Cimex lectulariusj belongs ; but it is a 
 singular fact, and one which shows that this dis- 
 gusting visitant must have been comparatively little 
 known in the days of " good Queen Bess," that 
 although the word bug occurs on five or six different 
 occasions in Shakspeare's Plays, it is in every instance 
 synonymous with bugbear, and does not designate 
 the insect. Thus Petruchio, unawed by the descrip- 
 tion of the " wild cat " Catharine, scornfully exclaims 
 to the lovers of Bianca : " Tush, tush! fear boys with 
 bugs ;" and when Leontes, inflamed with groundless 
 jealousy against Hermione, bids her " look for no 
 less than death," her reply contains the same word 
 in precisely a similar sense : — 
 
 " Sir, spare your threats, 
 
 The bug which you will fright me with I seek." 
 
 Winter's Tale, Act III. Sc. I. 
 
 It is not SO, however, with another, to which you 
 
 would be most likely to apply the words of Jaques — 
 
 " let 's meet as Uttle as we can." 
 
 As You Like It, Act III. Sc. II.
 
 60 THE APTERA. 
 
 The insect I allude to, is that mentioned by Dame 
 Quickly in describing the death of Sir John Falstaff, 
 " 'A saw a flea sticking upon Bardolph's nose." In 
 this order fAphanipteraJ the mandibles appear like 
 two little plates : the maxUlse and tongue assume 
 the form of lancets, and the labrum and palpi are 
 altogether different. 
 
 One insect still remains, belonging to the order 
 Aptera ; but I shall let Shakspeare himself intro- 
 duce it to your notice. The passage I shall quote 
 is from the opening scene of the " Merry Wives of 
 Windsor," in which Justice Shallow, Slender, and 
 Evans are holding forth on the importance of Shallow 
 and his family, on his being " a gentleman bom," 
 and writing himself " Armigero : " — 
 
 " Shallow.— Ay, that I do, and have done so any time these 
 three hundred years. 
 
 Slender.— All his successors gone before him have done it, 
 and all his ancestors that come after him may : they may give the 
 dozen white luces in their coat. 
 
 Shallow. — 'Tis an old coat. 
 
 Evans. — The dozen white louses do become an old coat well: 
 it agrees well passant ; it is a familiar beast to man, and signifies 
 love." 
 
 Swammerdam, who died in 1681, is the latest 
 naturalist I have heard of, who has paid any attention 
 to the structure or anatomy of the genus. His words 
 are, " The louse has neither beak, teeth, nor any 
 kind of mouth, as Doctor Hook described it, for the
 
 HABITS OF INSECTS. 61 
 
 entrance into the gullet is absolutely closed ; in 
 place of aU these, it has a proboscis, or trunk, or, as 
 it may be otherwise called, a pointed and hollow 
 aculeus or sucker, with which it pierces the skin, 
 and sucks the human blood, taking it for food into 
 the body." — Book of Nature, p. 33. 
 
 Now, my dear Arnold, cast a retrospective glance 
 over the various formations of mouth which I have 
 described. In the Coleoptera, the powerful jaws 
 of the predaceous beetles (formidable weapons of 
 attack!), and the softer texture of the organs in those 
 tribes, which live on substances in a state of decay. 
 The strong mandibles of another order (Orthoptera), 
 adapted to the cutting of their appropriate vegetable 
 food. The various modifications of these instru- 
 ments, in the extensive genera of the order Hymeno- 
 ptera,\ giving to them the capability of being used 
 as spades, saws, augers, trowels, &c., and the new 
 and important offices which are performed by the 
 tongue. The change which is apparent when we 
 advance to the butterfly (Lepidoptera), and examine 
 the flexible siphon, through which its nectareous nu- 
 triment is imbibed. The singular and varied struc- 
 ture exhibited in the gnat or the fly {Diptera), and 
 so fitted for the suction of their liquid food. The 
 still further modifications presented by the lancets 
 and the sucker of the remaining orders {Aphaniptera
 
 62 
 
 MECHANISM IN INSECTS. 
 
 and Aptera), and by the total absence of parts which 
 in others had held a conspicuous place. Contrast 
 this diversity of structure with the comparative uni- 
 formity observable among the higher animals. Con- 
 sider, too, how admirably each set of organs is adapted 
 to the peculiar food on which the insect lives ; what 
 infinite skill, what minute, yet beautiful mechanism, 
 they respectively exhibit, and you will admit that 
 Entomology may have many a sentiment of humble 
 admiration and wonder — many a devout and unpre- 
 meditated outpouring of devotional feeling laid upon 
 her shrine ; and that the words which Cleomenes em- 
 ployed when speaking of Delphos would not in the 
 present instance be inapplicable ; 
 
 " The air most sweet " — " the temple much surpassing 
 The common praise it bears." — TVinter'n Tale, Act III. Sc. I.
 
 ' The abard-bome beetle, ■with his dro^vsy hume, 
 Hath run$ night's jai^Tjniu^ peal." 
 
 MACBETH, ACT III. 5C. II- 
 
 From caterpillars of the several kinds mentioned 
 by Shakspeare, and from the consideration of the 
 various forms of the mouth observable among in- 
 sects, we now advance to their habits and most 
 remarkable peculiarities. I hope that the " gentle 
 dulness" which may have pervaded many parts of 
 my former letters will now be dispelled, and that 
 you may become interested in attending to the 
 working of those various instincts with which the 
 beings we are considering have been endowed. So
 
 64 THE beetle's hum. 
 
 wonderful and admirable are their operations that 
 Bonnet says, " When I see an insect working at the 
 construction of a nest or a cocoon, I am impressed 
 with respect, because it seems to me that I am at a 
 spectacle where the supreme Artist is hid behind the 
 curtain." 
 
 The first insect I shall mention, and the one to 
 which I shall confine myself in my present letter, is 
 the common dor, or clock or bhnd beetle, which flies 
 in the summer's evenings, and occasionally startles 
 us by striking against our faces or our persons. 
 This circumstance has been accurately described by 
 Collins : — 
 
 " Now air is hushed save ■ 
 
 ■ where the beetle winds 
 
 His small but sullen horn ; 
 As oft he rises, midst the twilight path, 
 Against the pilgrim borne in heedless hum." 
 
 Ode to Evening. 
 
 Gray has most happily depicted, in his well-known 
 elegy, the circumstances under which it appears. 
 The flocks are returning from pasture, the husband- 
 man from his toil, the landscape is fading " on the 
 sight," and the air is still, 
 
 " Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight." 
 
 The remarkable sound which accompanies its flight 
 has been frequently noticed.
 
 THE beetle's hum. 65 
 
 "The beetle's drowsy distant hum" is mentioned 
 in one of Hogg's songs, as singing the lullaby of the 
 departing day, and is again described in his amusing 
 little poem " Connel of Dee." 
 
 " The beetle began his wild airel to tune, 
 And sang on the wynd with an eirj'some croon, 
 Away on the breeze of the Dee." 
 
 Vol. II. p. 119. 
 
 The beetle's hum is recorded by Crabbe among 
 
 " the sounds that make 
 
 Silence more awful." 
 
 Shakspeare has Latroduced it with the happiest effect 
 into his " Macbeth." 
 
 " Ere the bat hath flown 
 
 His cloister'd flight ; ere to black Hecate's summons 
 The shard-borne beetle, with his drowsy hums. 
 Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done 
 A deed of dreadful note." 
 
 Macbeth, Act III. Sc. II. 
 
 And here I may be permitted to remark, that a 
 very slight knowledge of Natural History may occa- 
 sionally assist us, iu understanding the description 
 of such authors as record what they themselves have 
 noticed. The beetle is furnished with two large 
 membranaceous wings, which are protected from 
 external injury by two very hard, horny Ming cases, 
 or, as entomologists term them, eljira. The old 
 English name was " shard," and this word was 
 
 p
 
 66 THE " SHARD-BORNE BEETLE." 
 
 introduced into three of Shakspeare's plays. Thus, 
 in his " Antony and Cleopatra," — 
 
 " They are his shards, and he their beetle ;" 
 
 {Act III, Sc. II.) 
 
 and in " Cymbeline," — 
 
 " Often to our comfort do we find 
 The sharded beetle in a safer hold 
 Than is the full-wing'd eagle."— .4c? III. Sc. III. 
 
 These shards or wing cases are raised and ex- 
 panded when the beetle flies, and by their concavity 
 act like two parachutes in supporting him in the air. 
 Hence the propriety and correctness of Shakspeare's 
 description, "the shard-borne beetle," a description 
 embodied in a single epithet. I do not mean to 
 assert that the word shard has not other meanings ; 
 in fact, it is employed by Hamlet in its primitive 
 English signification — a piece of broken tile ; for the 
 priest says of Ophelia, 
 
 "Shards, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her." 
 
 Act V. Sc. I. 
 
 I only deny that any of its other meanings should be 
 used in the present instance. The one most applicable 
 is that given by Mr. Toilet, as quoted in the notes 
 to Ayscough's edition of Shakspeare, that " shard- 
 born beetle is the beetle born in cow- dung; and 
 that shard expresses dung is weU known in the
 
 THE SCARAB^US. 67 
 
 north of Staffordshire, where cow's shard is the 
 word generally used for cow-dung." But it is not so 
 likely that Shakspeare was acquainted with the 
 stercoraceous nidus of the insect, as that he observed 
 the peculiarity of its flight, assisted by its expanded 
 elytra ; and if the word at the time he lived had both 
 meanings, I hope you will acknowledge the one I 
 have given to be the more probable. Should you, 
 however, feel disposed to enter more fully into a 
 question of the kind, I would refer you to a long 
 and very interesting note published in the Zoological 
 Journal, No. xviii. p. 147. 
 
 The dor, or blind beetle {Geotrupes stercorarius), 
 belongs to the Linnsean genus Scarabceus. The 
 antennae are composed of several little plates strung 
 together at one edge ; these, when the insect reposes, 
 are closely applied to each other, but they diverge 
 when it moves, and thus expose the papillary surface 
 to the air. It belongs to one of the numerous tribes 
 of insects which feed on organized matter in a state 
 of decay, and thus assist in preserving the general 
 salubrity of the eaith. From their mode of life 
 the word " saprophaga," signifying literally, as you 
 know, " devourers of filth," has become the name 
 by which the family is distinguished. Mr. MacLeay, 
 so weU known among modern naturahsts as the 
 proposer of the quinary system of classification, 
 
 f2
 
 68 SACRED SCARAB^US. 
 
 states that it was the peculiar interest which the 
 Scarabceus sacer of Linnseus excited as being a 
 principal among the many objects " qualia demens 
 ^gyptus coluit," that first led him to investigate 
 the natural history of the insect. His father's cabinet 
 contained one thousand eight hundred species of sca- 
 rabsei, and thus supplied him with an inducement to 
 commence the study, and with the means for its 
 successful cultivation. 
 
 The sacred scarabseus, which first led MacLeay to 
 the study of Entomology, differs in some of its habits 
 from our most common native scarabsei, although 
 belonging to the same Linnsean genus. Its image 
 sculptured on many of the Egyptian monuments 
 affords a melancholy proof of the superstition which 
 reigned in a coimtry where the arts flourished and 
 science found an abode. The insect is still common 
 in Egypt, and excites by its habits the surprise of 
 all who have only been accustomed to see the com- 
 mon dor of these countries. Doctor Clarke says, 
 " Upon the sands around the city of Rosetta we saw 
 the Scarabseus pilularius, or rolling beetle, [it is now 
 more properly termed the Scarabaeus sacer,] as it is 
 sculptured on the obehsks and other monuments of 
 the country, moving before it a baU of dung, in 
 which it deposits an i:gg. Among the Egyptian 
 antiquities preserved in the British Museum is a
 
 AN OBJECT OF WORSHIP IN EGYPT. 69 
 
 most colossal figure of this insect. It is placed 
 upon an altar, before which a priest is represented 
 kneehng. The beetle served as food for the Ibis. Its 
 remains are sometimes discovered in the earthenware 
 repositories of those embalmed birds which are found 
 at Saccara and Thebes. With the ancients it was a 
 type of the sun. We often find it among the 
 characters used in the hieroglyphic writing. As this 
 insect appears in that season of the year which im- 
 mediately precedes the inundation of the NUe, it 
 may have been so represented as a symbol of the 
 spring, or of fecundity, or of the Egyptian month 
 anterior to the rising of the water. The ancient 
 superstitions with regard to it are not wholly extinct, 
 for the women of the country stUl eat this beetle in 
 order to become proUfic."* 
 
 In Denon's splendid work on Egypt, I find the 
 following passage, which bears directly on the sub- 
 ject of our present inquiry : — " Scarabees, embl^mes 
 de la sagesse, de la force, de I'industrie : son image 
 se trouve partout, ainsi que ceUe du serpent ; il 
 occupe la place la plus distinguee dans les temples, 
 non seulement comme omement, comme attribut, 
 raais comme objet de culte." — Vol. ii. p. 60. 
 
 " The subject admits of further Ulustration by 
 reference to Plutarch. f According to him, soldiers 
 * Travels, vol. iv. p. 8. t Plutarch de Iside et Osiride, cap. x.
 
 70 ITS IMAGE ON SIGNETS. 
 
 wore the image of the beetle upon their signets ; and 
 this, perhaps, may account not only for the number 
 of them found, but also for the coarseness of the 
 workmanship."* 
 
 The unrolment of a mummy in the Royal College 
 of Surgeons, London, on the 16th of January, 1834, 
 afforded another example of the superstitious feelings 
 connected with the scarabseus among the ancient 
 Egyptians. From the mythological characters 
 painted on the cases, the nature of the colours em- 
 ployed, &c., it was ascertained that the body was 
 that of an incense-bearing priest, of the temple 
 of Ammon, at Thebes. " An amulet of various- 
 coloured stones was on the breast, and lower down 
 a scarabaeus, about an inch in length, in jade or 
 other hard substance." — Lit. Gaz., No. 887. 
 
 The habits of the beetle at Rosetta, described by 
 Doctor Clarke, are similar to those of many indi- 
 viduals of the same family, — among them to one 
 which I have found about the base of the Moume 
 mountains, county of Down, in spring (Geottntpes 
 vernalis). Tliis insect is said to deposit its egg in a 
 ball, prepared for that purpose, and rolled in the man- 
 ner already described ; but in districts where sheep 
 are kept it wisely saves its labour, and ingeniously 
 avails itself of the pellet- shaped balls of dung which 
 * Travels, vol. iv. p. 8.
 
 HABITS OF THE BEETLE. 71 
 
 those animals supply, and which are admirably 
 adapted for its purpose.* The dor or blind beetle 
 adopts a different course of proceeding ; and it must 
 excite our admiration of the infinite wisdom with 
 which every part of the economy of nature is 
 ordered, to observe that the method employed by the 
 female to secure a proper nidus for her eggs, serv'es 
 "to second, too, another use." She makes a large 
 cylindrical hole, often of considerable depth, and in 
 it she deposits her eggs, surrounded by a mass of 
 dung, in which they have been previously enveloped. 
 Here the labour of the insect ceases ; the develope- 
 ment of her young is secured, and their sustenance 
 provided. But the advantage resulting from her toil 
 does not terminate. The manure, which is positively 
 injurious to vegetation when lying in a mass, is not 
 only dispersed, but it is bxiried at the roots of the 
 adjoining plants, thus contributing considerably to 
 the fertility of our pastures, and, consequently, to 
 the well-being of aU those animals who depend on 
 these pastures for their support. 
 
 Spring is in general far advanced before the dor 
 beetle appears, so that we usually regard it as a 
 summer visitant : an occasional one, however, ven- 
 tures to come forth at an earlier period, for in the 
 
 * .Sturm, Deutschlands Fauna, i. 27, quoted by Kirby and Spence, 
 vol. ii. p. 475.
 
 72 FEIGNED DEATH OF ANIMALS. 
 
 spring of 1834, I recognized the insect on the even- 
 ing of the 11th of March, in the immediate vicinity 
 (rf Belfast. 
 
 I have often been amused, on taking the common 
 dor beetle, at observrag the manner in which it feigns 
 death. Its legs are set out perfectly stiff and im- 
 moveable, which is its posture when really dead, and, 
 no matter how much it is tossed about in the hand, 
 it will not, by the slightest movement, betray its 
 stratagem. The only way to restore its acti^'ity is 
 to allow it to remain for a minute or two undis- 
 turbed. It is said by this procedure to deceive the 
 rooks, which feed upon it, but which do so only 
 when their captive is alive. A curious example of 
 a similar instinct in birds is given in the " Time's 
 Telescope" for 1833: — "A gentleman had a corn- 
 crake brought to him by his dog : it was dead to all 
 appearance. As it lay on the ground he turned it 
 over with his foot : he was convinced that it was 
 dead ; standing by, however, some time in silence, 
 he suddenly saw it open an eye. He then took it 
 up ; its head fell, its legs hung loose, it appeared 
 again totally dead. He then put it in his pocket, 
 and before very long he felt it all alive, and struggling 
 to escape. He took it out : it was as lifeless as 
 before. He then laid it upon the ground, and re- 
 tired to some distance ; in about five minutes it
 
 GREAT STRENGTH OF BEETLES. 73 
 
 warily raised its head, looking round, and decamped 
 at full speed." 
 
 The dor beetle, in common with many others, is 
 occasionally infested with minute parasitic insects, 
 termed acari. In my cabinet at present I have one 
 of the rapacious beetles {Carabidce) so covered with 
 these parasites, that the real colour of the beetle is no 
 where visible, not even on the legs. I was witness, 
 in 1831, on the Malone road, near this town, of an 
 ingenious device, which the dor beetle employed to 
 get rid of its tormentors. It ahghted on a heap of 
 hardened dirt, folded up its wings with its usual 
 rapidity, then forced its way twice through the mass, 
 and whUe the acari which were thus brushed off, 
 were running about in great apparent confusion, it 
 hurried from their ^dcinity and effected its escape. 
 
 The great strength of these beetles in comparison 
 with their size is a pecuharity desen'ing of notice. 
 If one is taken in the hand, it wiU in a very short 
 time force its way out in despite of our utmost 
 pressure. Catesby, in his " Carohna," states that 
 " Doctor BricheU was supping one evening in a 
 planter's house of North Carolina, when two of 
 them were conveyed without his knowledge under 
 the candlesticks. A few blows were struck on the 
 table, when, to his great svirprise, the candlesticks 
 began to move about, apparently without any agency ;
 
 74 THEIR NUMBERS 
 
 and his surprise was not much lessened when, on 
 taking one of them up, he discovered that it was 
 only a chafer that moved." 
 
 This fact must have been known to Sir Walter 
 Scott, for in " Peveril of the Peak," in the scene 
 where Julian Peveril and GeoflFiy Hudson are im- 
 prisoned together, the dwarf says, " The least crea- 
 tures are oftentimes the strongest. Place a beetle 
 under a taU candlestick, and the insect wiU move it 
 by its eflforts to get out ; which is, in point of com- 
 parative strength, as if one of us should shake his 
 Majesty's prison of Newgate by similar struggles." 
 
 We are generally in the habit of seeing but one or 
 two of these insects at a time, but on some occasions 
 they appear in considerable numbers. Mr. Knapp, 
 in his "Journal of a Naturalist," states that one 
 evening his attention was called to them in par- 
 ticular, by the passing of such a number as to con- 
 stitute a little stream. " I was led," he continues, 
 " to search into the object of their direct flight, as in 
 general it is irregular and seemingly inquisitive. I 
 soon found that they dropped on some recent 
 nuisance : but what powers of perception must these 
 creatiu-es possess, drawn from aU distances and 
 directions by the very little fcetor which in such a 
 calm evening could be diflFused around ! and by what 
 inconceivable means could odours reach this beetle.
 
 AND CLEANLINESS. 75 
 
 SO as to rouse so inert an insect into action ! But it 
 is appointed one of the ^eat scavengers of the earth, 
 and marvellously endowed with powers of sensation, 
 and means of effecting the purpose of its being."* 
 
 The same elegant writer remarks, " The perfect 
 clearJiness of these creatures is a very notable cir- 
 cumstance, when we consider that nearly their whole 
 lives are passed in burrowing the earth, and re- 
 moving nuisances ; yet, such is the admirable polish 
 of their coating and limbs, that we seldom find any 
 soil adhering to them. The meloe, and some of the 
 scarabsei, upon first emerging from their winter's 
 retreat, are commonly found with earth clinging to 
 them ; but the removal of this is one of the first 
 operations of the creature, and all the beetle race, 
 the chief occupation of which is crawling about the 
 soU. and such dirty employs, are, notwithstanding, 
 remarkable for the glossiness of their covering and 
 freedom from defilement of any kind. But purity of 
 vesture seems to be a principal precept of nature, and 
 observable throughout creation." f 
 
 It is obvious from the various circumstances now 
 mentioned, that this humble beetle and its congeners 
 have been objects of interest to many cultivated 
 minds. They have furnished our poets with imagery, 
 which will live with our " land's language." They 
 * Pagre 319, third edition. t Page 321.
 
 76 
 
 STUDY OF THEM BECOMMENDEO. 
 
 have formed a subject for the ingenuity of learned 
 commentators. They have demanded the notice of 
 the historian, and the inqmry of the antiquarian : and 
 their various instinctive actions have supplied a theme 
 for the admiration of the naturalist. If, in the pre- 
 sent imperfect state of our knowledge, and with our 
 attention directed to only one of their most obvious 
 external characteristics, they have been found thus 
 interesting, what deUght should we not feel if we 
 could follow the complexity of their internal organiza- 
 tion, and develope the laws, on which their produc- 
 tion, their growth, and their preservation, essentially 
 depend !
 
 ' Oh ! I do fear thee, Claudio ; and I quake. 
 Lest thou a feverous life should 'at entertain. 
 And six or seven winters more respect 
 Than a perpetual honour." 
 
 MEA80RE FOR MEA30RE, ACT lil. SC. I. 
 
 After mentioning the best-known individual of 
 all those included under the term " beetles," I now 
 proceed to notice one of the most important divisions 
 of the insects belonging to the same order (Coleo- 
 pteraj . I allude to those which, instead of subsisting 
 on decayed vegetable and animal substances, are 
 predaceous in their habits, and live on animal food 
 (AdephagaJ . The principal part of their subsistence
 
 78 VORACITY OF THE CARABID^. 
 
 is derived from the flesh of the smaller insects 
 which they are able to overcome, and they seize as 
 booty any recent animal matter which chance may 
 throw in their way. They are so constantly forag- 
 ing about for provisions, so incessantly running 
 across our paths, that they must occasionally be 
 trampled to death. 
 
 Hence " the poor beetle that we tread upon " 
 probably belongs to the tribe forbidden by the fairies 
 to come near the sleeping Titania : — 
 
 " Beetles black, approach not here." 
 
 Almost everj^ stone during spring and summer forms 
 a covering for some of these insects, as you have no 
 doubt observed on many occasions. So numerous 
 are the individuals comprised in some of the families 
 into which they are divided, that of one very com- 
 mon kind fCarabidceJ, Curtis states we have two 
 hundred and seventy-five British species. All of 
 these are complete cannibals in their habits, and 
 sometimes by their rapacity disappoint the inexperi- 
 enced collector. On one occasion, when I was from 
 home on an entomological excursion, I put three of 
 them into a box together until I had an opportunity 
 of plunging them into hot water, the most expeditious 
 method of killing them. In about an hour I re- 
 turned to the house, and found, to my disappoint-
 
 SENSIBILITY OF INSECTS. 79 
 
 ment, that two of them had overpowered the third, 
 had eaten the body, and were then deliberately pick- 
 ing out the fragments of flesh which stUl adhered to 
 the horny covering. 
 
 " The poor beetle that we tread upon " must not, 
 however, be passed by with so cursory a notice. The 
 precise meaning which in this passage the Poet in- 
 tended to convey would indicate to us what was 
 Shakspeare's opinion of the sensibiht}^ of insects 
 compared with that of man, and this in our present 
 researches it is important to ascertain. The passage 
 in which these words occur, is introduced in " Mea- 
 sure for Measure." 
 
 " the poor beetle that we tread upon 
 
 In corporal sufferance finds a pang- as great 
 As when a giant dies." — Act III. >Sc. I. 
 
 Numerous, indeed, are the observations to which 
 those lines have given rise. It is usually asserted 
 that the Poet meant to saj^, " the corporal sufferings of 
 a giant are great, and those of a beetle when trodden 
 underfoot are as great." If this be so, the Entomologist 
 who kills an insect for his cabinet, occasions the same 
 amount of actual suffering he would do, were he to 
 put one of his fellow- creatures to death. Were this 
 the case, I for one would abjure a pursuit so fraught 
 with cruelt)', and bury my entire collection " deeper 
 than e'er plummet sounded." But, before I say
 
 80 SHAKSPEARE S MEANING EXPLAINED, 
 
 " Othello's occupation's gone," let us examine more 
 closely the words which Shakspeare employs, and 
 the circumstances under which they are used. 
 Claudio is in a dungeon, from which the compliance 
 of his sister Isabella with the terms of the ^^ceroy 
 would set him free. She dreads his fear of death 
 may overcome his sense of honour, and that he may 
 urge her, as in fact he eventually does, to adopt that 
 remedy which " to save a head " would " cleave a 
 heart in twain." Under this apprehension she 
 speaks : — 
 
 " Oh ! I do fear thee, Claudio ; and I qualce. 
 Lest thou a feverous life should'st entertain. 
 And sL\ or seven winters more respect 
 Than a perpetual honour. Barest thou die ? 
 The sense of death is most in apprehension ; 
 And the poor beetle that we tread upon 
 In corporal suft'erance finds a pang as great 
 As when a giant dies." 
 
 When the latter part of the sentence is separated 
 from the preceding lines, it appears to convey such 
 a picture of the sufferings of " the poor beetle," that 
 many have, on this passage, brought a charge of 
 cruelty against all persons devoted to Entomological 
 pursuits. Such a charge, ignorance alone could 
 suggest. " There are few instances of a more com- 
 plete perversion of the meaning of a poetical quota- 
 tion than occurs in this passage of Shakspeare. The 
 object of the fair pleader being to encourage her
 
 shakspeare's meaning explained. 81 
 
 brother stedfastly to encounter death, would scarcely 
 have been forwarded by depicting that consummation 
 as attended with great corporal sufferance. Yet 
 such is the effect of the omission of the context !"* 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Bird, after observing, that even 
 " Shakspeare is not an oracle on all points," remarks, 
 "It is somewhat amusing that his words should, in 
 this case, be entirely wrested from their original 
 purpose. His purpose was to show how httle a man 
 feels in dying ; that ' the sense of death is most in 
 apprehension, not in the act ; and that even a beetle, 
 which feels so little, feels as much as a giant does.' 
 The less, therefore, the beetle is supposed to feel, the 
 more force we give to the sentiment of Shakspeare. "f 
 
 To these extracts I shall make no addition ; for 
 additional argument might well appear " wasteful 
 and ridiculous excess." The ungrounded charge has, 
 I hope, been triumphantly refuted. 
 
 Beetles are mentioned by Shakspeare only in the 
 two passages already quoted, and amid the impreca- 
 tions of Cahban agamst the majestic Prospero — 
 
 " All the charms 
 Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, lig-ht on you." 
 
 Tempest, Act I. So. 11. 
 
 None of these imply, on the part of Shakspeare, 
 
 * Note by E. T. Bennett.— Zoological Journal, No. xviii. p. 196. 
 t On the Want of Analogy between the Sensations of Insects and 
 our own. — Entomological Magazine, No. ii. p. 113.
 
 82 POPULAR IGNORANCE OF ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 a knowledge of the variety of their kinds. This is 
 what might be expected; for even Ray's celebrated 
 work, "Historia Insectorum," published near a cen- 
 tury after the death of our own great poet, was writ- 
 ten, according to Haworth, in " the dark ages of 
 science." We must not, therefore, demand from 
 Shakspeare a knowledge beyond that of the age in 
 which he lived. Perhaps, if the state of science at 
 that time had been different, it would still have made 
 little, if any, change in him. He would probably 
 have exerted, as he did, his habits of quick and 
 accurate observation, but would not have courted the 
 assistance which science only can afford. In this 
 respect he might have resembled many gifted indi- 
 viduals of the present day, who, with all the facilities 
 which they possess of acquiring knowledge, have 
 never devoted a Httle time to learn how they might 
 discriminate one insect from another ; how they 
 might distinguish those living things, by which, 
 in every place and at all seasons, they are sur- 
 rounded. 
 
 Perhaps no stronger proof can be adduced of the 
 " plentiful lack" of information which prevails on 
 tliis subject, than that which the state of our lan- 
 guage affords. Try but to incUcate by English 
 words the first half-dozen of the most common 
 beetles you meet in a country ramble, and you will
 
 CARABUS NITENS AND CLATHRATUS. 83 
 
 find yourself unable to do so. In fact, their various 
 species, their habits, and their economy, are to the 
 generahty of people alike unknown. Yet these 
 are the phenomena which wiU make your love of 
 Entomology " grow by what it feeds on." So nu- 
 merous are the different species of beetle, and many 
 of them so local in their habitation, that no one who 
 pays attention to the subject for any length of time, 
 can fail to procure either what is extremely rare, or 
 else altogether unknown. I well recollect the plea- 
 sure I experienced, when I procured, on the shore of 
 Lough Neagh, at Shane's Castle, specimens of 
 Blethisa borealis and Bembidium paludosum, insects 
 which had not before been taken in this neighbour- 
 hood, and which I believe had not previously been 
 recorded as Irish. In my cabinet I have at present 
 one of our most brilliant native insects, the Carabus 
 nitens, a species which approaches in the splendour 
 of its decoration to the diamond beetle of tropical 
 climates. This insect was taken, along with Carabus 
 clathratus, on Birkie bog, about five miles from this 
 town. This bog is so divested of those heaths and 
 blossoms which lend beauty to the waste and colour- 
 ing to the landscape, that when the very extreme of 
 sterility or nakedness is to be expressed, the country 
 people in the vicinity invariably say, " as bare as 
 Birkie." Yet here, on this bleak, barren, and un-
 
 84 
 
 CICINDELA CAMPESTRIS. 
 
 cultivated waste, the Entomologist finds one of his 
 richest and most valuable captures. As the Knight 
 
 Carabus clathratus. 
 
 in Undine sees the forest glades peopled beneath his 
 feet, and rich with countless heaps of gold, so the 
 Entomologist finds, 'mid the bleak and sterile soil, 
 treasures which no eye less gifted than his owti can 
 witness. 
 
 The mention of Carabus nitens reminds me of 
 another beetle of a more agile form, and of scarcelj' 
 inferior decorations, — Cicindela campestris. Its colour 
 is a golden green, with white or yellow spots, and 
 appears peculiarly rich when the insect is running 
 rapidly along in the bright sunshine of a summer 
 day. You would not, when it first attracted your 
 attention by the beauty of its form and colouring,
 
 THE GLOW-WORM. 85 
 
 be aware that you are looking on one of a family justly 
 named by Linnaeus the tigers of the insect tribes. 
 " Though decorated with brilliant colours, they prey 
 upon the whole insect race ; their formidable jaws, 
 which cross each other, are armed with fearful fangs, 
 showing to what use they are applicable ; and the 
 extreme velocity with which they can either run or 
 fly, renders hopeless any attempt to elude their pur- 
 suit. Their larvae are also equally tremendous with 
 the imago."* I have in my cabinet specimens of the 
 insect from the county Wicklow, and from the Tro- 
 sachs, at Loch Katrine ; but it has not yet been ob- 
 served in the neighbourhood of this town. I hope 
 you will be able to detect its presence in your locaUty. 
 But perhaps, like Miranda, " I prattle something 
 too wildly;" so I shall now return once more to 
 Shakspeare. Although the word beetle occurs only 
 in the passages L have quoted, he has elsewhere 
 noticed, under a different name, an individual which 
 belongs to the same order. I allude to the glow-worm 
 (Lampyris noctiluca), an insect rich in poetic associ- 
 ations, andweU deserving of the epithet "earth-born 
 star," bestowed upon it by Wordsworth. It is hap- 
 pily introduced by Titania, where she enumerates to 
 
 "Pease-blossom! Cobweb! Moth! and Mustard-seed!" 
 the fairy-hke services which they were to render to 
 
 * Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 268.
 
 86 VINDICATION OF SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 the " gentle mortal," " sweet bully Bottom," wHtli 
 whom, in consequence of the potent spell laid on 
 her by Oberon, she has become " much enamoured." 
 
 " Steal from the humble bees. 
 And for night tapers crop their waxen thighs. 
 And Ug'ht them at the fiery glow-worms' eyes." 
 
 Act III. Sc. I. 
 
 This passage has been thus censured by Doctor 
 Johnson : — " I know not how Shakspeare, who com- 
 monly derived his knowledge of Nature from his o^^^l 
 obsen'ation, happened to place the glow-worm's light 
 in his eyes, which is only in his tail." To tliis. Mason 
 has replied, that " the blunder is not in Shakspeare, 
 but in those who have construed too literally a poetic 
 expression ;" and adds, " Surely a poet is justified in 
 caUingthe luminous part of the glow-worm the eye : 
 it is a Uberty we take in plain prose ; for the point 
 of greatest brightness in a furnace is commonly 
 called the eye of it." * 
 
 Hoping you will agree with Mr. Douce, that Dr. 
 
 Johnson's objection has " been skilfully removed by 
 
 Mr. Monck Mason," I shall give you, in the words 
 
 of that celebrated antiquarian, the meaning of Shaks- 
 
 peare's most appropriate epithet " uneffectual," in 
 
 the passage from Hamlet, 
 
 " The glow-worm shews the matin to be near. 
 
 And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire." — Act I. Sc. V. 
 
 * Comments on the last edition of Shakspeare's Plays, p. 12.
 
 THE glow-worm's " NUPTIAL LAMP." 87 
 
 " It was'," he remarks, " uneffectual only at the ap- 
 proach of morn, in like manner as the light of a 
 candle would be at mid-day." * 
 
 If you have ever seen the glow-worm, you may be 
 unable to account for the soft wingless creature you 
 behold being classed with the Coleoptera ; but it is 
 in the male you are to look for the expansive wings, 
 and the horny wing-covers or elytra, which form 
 some of the characteristics of the order. The female 
 crawls upon the ground, — the male wings his flight 
 
 
 WM 
 
 J/ff/t' and femule Gloic-worm. 
 
 through the air. The Ught of the former is beautiful 
 and brilliant ; that of the latter, comparatively in- 
 conspicuous, — a fact of which Shakspeare does not 
 appear to have been cognizant. 
 
 It has been poetically supposed, that the light may 
 be regarded as a " nuptial lamp," hung out to guide 
 the male glow-worm to the society of the female ; 
 
 * Dlustratious, p. 192.
 
 88 THE GLOW-WORM 
 
 an idea which has been happily embodied by Moore, 
 in the following lines : — 
 
 " For well I knew the lustre shed 
 From my rich wings, when proudliest spread. 
 Was in its nature lambent, pure 
 And innocent as is the light, 
 The glow-worm hangs out to allure 
 Her mate to her green bower at night." 
 
 That this theory is not altogether fanciful, has 
 been proved ; for " Olivier frequently caught the 
 males, by holding the females in the palm of his 
 hand."* The light perhaps serves some important 
 purpose in the economy of the glow-worm ; for 
 it has been noticed before the insect has assumed 
 its perfect form, and while it was yet in the nympha, 
 and even in the larva state. 
 
 In that admirable " Introduction to Entomology," 
 to which I have on more than one occasion already 
 referred, I find the following passage relative to the 
 insect now under consideration : — 
 
 "If, living like me in a district where it is rarely met 
 with, the first time you saw this insect chanced to be, 
 as it was in my case, one of those delightful evenings 
 which an English summer seldom yields, when not a 
 breeze disturbs the balmy air, and " every sense is 
 joy," and hundreds of these radiant worms, studding 
 their mossy couch with mild effulgence, were pre- 
 
 * Entomologia Edinensis, p. 206. 
 
 J
 
 NOT FOUND IN IRELAND. 89 
 
 sented to your wondering eye in the course of a 
 quarter of a mile, you could not help associating with 
 the name of glow-worm the most pleasing recol- 
 lections." * 
 
 The glow-worm is not found in this neighbour- 
 hood ; nor, so far as I have heard, has it yet been 
 noticed in any part of Ireland. The first and only 
 time I met with it, was in Scotland, towards the end 
 of the summer of 1824, and amid circumstances very 
 different from those described. With three friends, I 
 had started at an early hour from the vicinity of Loch 
 Katrine, walked over to the " Clachan o' Aberfoil," 
 and sauntered along the romantic shores of Loch 
 Ard, places which the pen of Sir Walter Scott has 
 converted into classic ground. Delighted with the 
 picturesque grandeur of the scener5% we neglected to 
 note the " fleeting hours of time," and found our- 
 selves, before we had gained the western side of 
 Ben Lomond, benighted and without a guide. The 
 morass abounded with deep fissures, which it required 
 the utmost circumspection to avoid. Weary, hungry, 
 and fearing every moment the result of some un- 
 lucky step, we descended the mountain. It was now 
 eleven o'clock, and part of the descent yet remained 
 to be accomplished ; when all at once, on a shelving 
 
 * Kirby and Spence, vol. ii. p. 410.
 
 90 FOUND ON BEN LOMOND. 
 
 rock and on the adjoining heather, we saw for the 
 first time the " mild effulgence" of the glow-worm. 
 No one exclaimed with Evans, " Twenty glow-worms 
 shall our lanthoms be ;" but the mind of each was 
 roused by a new and interesting object : we felt 
 pleased, cheered, invigorated, — pushed on with reno- 
 vated spirit, and about midnight reached the Uttle inn 
 of Rowardennan. 
 
 Let me now transport you by my " so potent art," 
 from the shores of Loch Lomond to the bank of 
 some murmuring rivulet, where 
 
 " He makes sweet music with the enamell'd stones, 
 Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge 
 He overtaketli in his pilgrimage ; " 
 
 (Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act. 11. Sc. VII.) 
 
 and while you stray along the margin, and watch 
 the streamlet, as 
 
 " by many winding nooks he strays, 
 With willing sport to the wild ocean;" 
 
 let me beg your attention to some of the insects 
 which sport upon the surface of the calm and quiet 
 pools where it reposes in its course, and ask you in 
 the words of Hamlet, 
 
 "Dost know this water-fly?" 
 
 You will find on a second glance that they are not 
 all of the same kind, and that some of them belong
 
 WATER-FLY OF SHAKSPEARE. 91 
 
 to the order Coleoptera. They are beetles less 
 in size than those we have been considering, and 
 dwelling not on the land, but in the water. On a 
 sunny day, they may be seen on almost every pool, 
 gliding with ease and rapidity in ceaseless circles, 
 dimpUng the glassy surface of the water, diving 
 when disturbed, and carrying down with them a 
 bubble of air shiaing like quicksilver. It would be 
 difficult to say why Shakspeare uses the word water- 
 fly as a term of reproach, and still more so, to ascer- 
 tain if this little whirlwig was the insect alluded to. 
 One of my fellow members has suggested that the 
 ephemerae may be meant, as they fling off their pupa 
 case with extreme rapidity, assume a new form, and 
 exist for so brief an interval. But this conjecture, 
 although ingenious, would scarcely be applicable to 
 the passage in "TroUus and Cressida," 
 
 " Ah ! how the poor world is pestered with such waterfties, diminu- 
 tives of nature ! "—Act V. Sc I. 
 
 Nor would it agree with the manner in which the 
 word is employed by Cleopatra, who, indeed, uses one 
 term, now restricted to the flesh flies : — 
 
 " Rather on Nilus' mud 
 
 ■ Lay me stark naked, and let water-flies 
 Blow me into abhorring." 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra, Act V. Sc. III.
 
 92 VARIOUS SPECIES 
 
 Another of our members has supposed, with greater 
 probability, that the Poet referred to some of the 
 smaller gnats, whose dimensions and habits of annoy- 
 ance would alike be legitimate subjects of allusion, 
 in the mouth of Thersites, that " crusty botch of na- 
 ture," If, however, it will not be admitted, that in- 
 sects which pass their first stages in the waters are 
 those alluded to, but that those only can be meant 
 who are foimd there in their perfect state, the Gyrinus 
 may be the one, although I can scarcely see in what 
 way so frolicsome a little fellow can be branded with 
 the term "pestered." It is possible, however, for 
 none of the water insects seem to be more generally 
 known. Mr. Knapp has justly remarked, "This plain, 
 tiny, gliding water-flea, seems a very unlikely creature 
 to arrest our young attention ; but the boy with his 
 angle has not often much to engage his notice ; and 
 the social, active parties of this nimble swimmer, 
 presenting themselves at these periods of vacancy, 
 become insensibly familiar to his sight, and by many 
 of us are not observed in after-life, without recaUing 
 former hours."* I may, therefore, be justifiable in 
 introducing to your notice this very amusing little 
 insect, the Gyrinus natator, whose social Uttle parties 
 can scarcely be regarded without pleasure. It was 
 
 * Journal of a Naturalist, p. 318, 3rd ed.
 
 OF GYRINUS. 9 3 
 
 my good fortune, on one occasion, to observe an in- 
 dividual of a different species in an unusual situa- 
 tion — the inhabitant of a freshwater shell (Limneus 
 pereger). When the shell was taken out of the 
 pool, its mouth was filled with what appeared a 
 mass of clay, but proved to be a fragment of some 
 aquatic plant of suitable length, the space between 
 it and the margin of the aperture being filled with 
 slime. The interior of this mass was lined with a 
 soft, whitish, silky substance, which extended to 
 the edge of the aperture. The " hollow- wreathed 
 chamber" of the shell was occupied by a living indi- 
 vidual of Gyrinus vUlosus, an insect which, I believe, 
 had not previously been taken in this neighbourhood. 
 Its habits are solitary, being the very rcA'erse of those 
 of its merry little congener, the Gyrimis natator. 
 Your observation would, perhaps, ascertain if those 
 species undergo their transformation in different situ- 
 ations, — if the one is always to be found beneath the 
 water, while the cocoon of the other is suspended 
 to the stem of some aquatic plant. Or you could, 
 perhaps, prove, that in the present instance the in- 
 sect, when about to undergo its transformation, had 
 probably taken advantage of an empty shell which 
 chance had thrown in its way, and had thus been 
 saved the trouble of constructing the customary
 
 94 
 
 ADAPTATION TO CIRCUMSTANCES. 
 
 cocoon. Should this be so, it would furnish an in- 
 teresting instance of that adaptation to circumstances 
 which " man, proud man," is apt to regard as the 
 concomitant and characteristic of reason alone, and 
 would show that in the deviations of instinct, no 
 lesr than in its ordinary operations, we may trace an 
 Unseen Hand. 
 
 V, ^^'J.^:-^
 
 " Her waggon spokes made of long spinner's legs, 
 Tbe cover of the wings of grasshoppers, 
 The txaces of the smallest spider's web, 
 The collars of the moonshine's watery beams 
 Her whip of cricket's bone." 
 
 ROMEO AND JULIET, ACT I. SC. IV 
 
 Such is the description of Queen Mab's equipage, 
 a description now quoted, as in it the two insects 
 which form the subject of my present letter, are both 
 casually mentioned. The Grasshopper and the 
 Cricket, for it is to those I allude, belong to the order 
 Orthoptera. Both are insects known to every one by 
 the sense of hearing, as well as that of sight. They
 
 96 NOTICES OF THE GRASSHOPPER. 
 
 are not regarded with aversion, like some of the 
 beetle tribe ; but are looked upon with feelings of 
 forbearance, if not of kindliness, by all who have 
 listened to their song. I have not, therefore, to be- 
 speak your indulgence, while I transcribe from my 
 note-book " the trivial fond records" relative to these 
 insects, 
 
 "Tliat youth and observation copied there." 
 
 The grasshopper is a universal favourite ; 
 
 " He is an evening' reveller, who makes 
 His life an infancy, and sing's his fill ;" 
 
 and the ease of his movements, the extent of his 
 spring, the variety of his colours, and the attractive 
 nature of the objects among which he is found, all 
 tend to increase his popularity. His song and his 
 activity have both been noticed by Hogg, and intro- 
 duced with pleasing effect in one of his minor poems, 
 the Address to a Wild Deer : — 
 
 " Elate on the fern branch the grasshopper sings, 
 And away in the midst of his roimdelay springs." 
 
 Wordsworth has not passed unheeded the 
 
 "jocund voice 
 Of insects chirping out their careless lives 
 On these soft beds of thyme-besprinkled turf." 
 
 But I shall not at present dwell on these poetic 
 sketches ; and as the cricket is an inhabitant of our
 
 CRICKETS HARBINGERS OF GOOD. 97 
 
 houses, while the grasshopper is a dweller out of 
 doors, I shall principally confine my observations to 
 the former insect {Acheta domestica Lin.), and to 
 others of the same genus. 
 
 In this part of the country, it is a common belief 
 that the appearance of crickets in a house is a good 
 omen, and prognosticates cheerfulness and plenty. 
 That this opinion is generally entertained, may be 
 inferred from the manner in which it has been em- 
 bodied by Cowper, in his Address to the Cricket 
 
 " Chirping on Iiis kitchen hearth. " 
 
 His words are, — 
 
 " Wheresoe'er be thine abode, 
 Always harbinger of good." * 
 
 " There needs no ghost from the grave, to tell us" 
 that the error is a very common one, which attributes 
 the actions of many of the inferior animals not to 
 causes actually in operation, but to " coming events," 
 which thus " cast their shadows before," and of 
 which these actions are the certain forerunners. Yet 
 the notion, although prevalent, is altogether un- 
 founded, and is opposed to every thing which either 
 reason or observation teaches us concerning their 
 habits. When swallows fly low, skimming along the 
 ground or water, they are said to foretell a change 
 
 * Translated from Vincent Browne. 
 
 H
 
 98 ERROR OF THE POPULAR NOTION. 
 
 of weather : but the fact is, the change has at that 
 time commenced. Swallows feed upon insects, and 
 alter their flight according to the different situations 
 of their prey. Insects, in common with many of 
 the inferior animals, appear to possess a nice percep- 
 tion of changes in the atmosphere, which our feelings 
 are not sufficiently sensitive to detect. They feel 
 the change, and they act on that feeling. We do 
 not feel it ; and are hence led into the error of sup- 
 posing that their actions prognosticate a "coming 
 event," when, in truth, they denote the existence of 
 a series of meteoric phenomena, which has not only 
 commenced, but is then actually in operation. To 
 apply this remark to the subject under consideration — 
 crickets take great delight in the warmth of a kitchen 
 hearth, and they feast on yeast, crumbs of bread, 
 milk, gravy, and all the waste and refuse of the fire- 
 side. Their presence, therefore, does not denote that 
 plenty is to come, but that it already exists, and they 
 should, consequently, be regarded as the attendants, 
 not as the harbingers, of comfort and abundance. 
 Their domicile about our kitchen hearth is not always 
 unaccompanied by damage ; for occasionally they gnaw 
 holes in clothes which may be drying at the fire. 
 This is done, not to revenge, as is commonly said, 
 the injuries which the proprietor of these clothes has 
 inflicted upon their tribe, but to gratify their thirsty
 
 THE cricket's MIRTHFUL CHIRP. 99 
 
 palates with the moisture which the clothes at that 
 time contain. 
 
 To most people, the chirp of the cricket is, as 
 Cowper has aptly expressed it, " full of mirth," and 
 conveys to the mind the idea of a perfectly happy 
 being. Thus, Poins in reply to the Prince's ques- 
 tion — " Shall we be merry," makes use of this simile, 
 " as merry as crickets." The learned Scaliger took 
 such a fancy to their song, that he was accustomed 
 to keep them in a box in his study. The Spaniards, 
 we are told by Osbeck, confine some insects of an 
 allied genus in cages, for the sake of their song.* "It 
 is reported, that in some parts of Africa the common 
 house crickets are kept and fed in a kind of iron 
 oven, and sold to the natives, who like their chirp, 
 and consider it a great soporific." t 
 
 In our own country, they have been repeatedly 
 noticed by those poets who describe things which 
 they themselves have seen or heard, and particularly 
 as connected with cheerfulness and mirth. Thus, 
 Rogers, in his delightful poem of "Italy," addressing 
 a being conceived by nature in " her merriest mood, 
 her happiest," adds, 
 
 " At thy birth the cricket chirp'd, Luigi, 
 Thine a perpetual voice, at every turn 
 A larum to the echo." 
 
 * Osljeck's Voy. i. 71, quoted by Kirby and Spence, vol. ii. p. 401. 
 t Mouflfet, Theatrum Insect. 136, (quoted in Insect Mis. p. 82.) 
 
 H 2
 
 100 POETICAL NOTICES 
 
 Cowper, if his own opinion coincides wnth that of 
 Bourne, from whom he translates, did not deem it 
 unworthy of 
 
 " Such a song as he could g^ive ;" 
 and considers it superior to the grasshopper : — 
 
 "Thou surpassest, happier fai", 
 Happiest grasshoppers that are ; 
 Their's is but a summer song. 
 Thine endures the winter long, 
 Unimpair'd, and shrill and clear, 
 Melody throughout the year." 
 
 Yet Milton did not consider this mirth inconsistent 
 with contemplation ; for " il Penseroso" desires to be 
 
 " Far from all resort of mirth, 
 Save the cricket on the hearth." 
 
 It is remarkable that, notwithstanding the accord- 
 ance, thus generally admitted, of the chirp of the 
 cricket with gaiety and mirth, it is occasionally em- 
 ployed by our poets in scenes of a completely oppo- 
 site character. Its fitness for such scenes may be 
 inferred from the manner in which it is introduced in 
 Wharton's " Pleasures of Melancholy" : — 
 
 " Far remote 
 
 From mirth's mad shouts, that through the illumined roof 
 
 Resound with festive echo, let me sit. 
 
 Blest with the lowly cricket's drowsy dirge." 
 
 Lady Macbeth, in replying to the question of her 
 husband after the murder of Duncan, says — 
 " I heard the owls scream, and the crickets cry."
 
 OF THE CRICKET. 101 
 
 In the play of " Cymbeline," where, at midnight, 
 lachimo commences his survey of the chamber where 
 Imogen lies sleeping, his first words refer to the 
 chirping of crickets, rendered audible by the repose 
 which at that moment prevailed throughout the 
 palace : — 
 
 "The crickets sins', ^^^ man's o'er-labowr'd sense 
 Repairs itself by rest." — Act II. Sc. II. 
 
 And in Hogg's " PUgrims of the Sun," " the cricket's 
 call" is introduced into one of the most solemn pas- 
 sages in the poem — the part where Mary, in her 
 shroud and funeral vestment, returns to Carelha. 
 
 " A dim haze shrouded every sight. 
 Each hair had life, and stood upright ; 
 No sound was heard tliroughout the hall, 
 But the beat of the heart, and the cricket's call." 
 
 But the song of the cricket has done more than 
 supply material to the poet for heightening the effect 
 of his mirthful or his tragic scenes. On one occa- 
 sion, if we may credit the historian, the song of an 
 insect of this genus was the means of saving a vessel 
 from shipwreck. The incident evinces the perilous 
 situation of Cabeza de Vara, in his voyage towards 
 Brazil, and is related by Dr. Southey in his history 
 of that country : — 
 
 " When they had crossed the Line, the state of the
 
 102 SHIPWRECK AVERTED BY IT. 
 
 water was inquired into, and it was found, that of a 
 hundred casks there remained but three, to supply- 
 four hundred men and thirty horses. Upon this, 
 the Adelantado gave orders to make the nearest land. 
 Three days they stood towards it. A soldier, who 
 set out in ill health, had brought a grillo, or ground- 
 cricket, with him from Cadiz, thinking to be amused 
 by the insect's voice ; but it had been silent the 
 whole way^ to his no little disappointment. Now, 
 on the fourth morning, the grillo began to sing its 
 shrill rattle, scenting, as was immediately supposed, 
 the land. Such was the miserable watch which had 
 been kept, that upon looking out at the warning, 
 they perceived high rocks within bow-shot ; against 
 which, had it not been for the insect, they must in- 
 evitably have been lost. They had just time to drop 
 anchor. From hence they coasted along, the grillo 
 singing every night, as if it had been on shore, till 
 they reached the island of St. Catalina."* 
 
 The cricket does not pass its entire existence about 
 our hearths. Like other denizens of the town, it 
 delights occasionally to take an excursion during the 
 summer, and at such times may be heard singing 
 its vesper song in company with another species, 
 which is always a denizen of the fields {Acheta cam- 
 pestris). The Rev. Gilbert White, in his delightful 
 * " Penny Magazine," November 3, 1832.
 
 ITS SHYNESS. 103 
 
 " Natural History of Selborne," has made both 
 species the subject of some observations, written in 
 that pleasing and unostentatious spirit by which all 
 his writings are pervaded : — " Sounds do not always 
 give us pleasure according to their sweetness and 
 melody, nor do harsh sounds always displease." We 
 are more apt to be captivated or disgusted with the 
 associations which they promote, than with the notes 
 themselves. " Thus, the shrilling of the field-cricket, 
 though sharp and stridulous, yet marvellously delights 
 some hearers, filling their minds with a train of sum- 
 mer ideas, of every thing that is rural, verdurous, 
 and joyous." * 
 
 The same author remarks, " they are so shy and 
 cautious, it is no easy matter to get a sight of them ; 
 for, feeling a person's footsteps as he advances, they 
 stop short in the midst of their song, and retire 
 backward nimbly into their burrows, where they lurk 
 until all suspicion of danger is over." 
 
 It is not, however, the " feeling" of an approach- 
 ing step, indicated by the \T.bratory motion of the 
 ground, which alone possesses the power of stilling 
 their chirping : any tolerably loud sound mil produce 
 a similar effect. This fact has been established by 
 modern observations on the habits of insects ; but as 
 it has been recorded by the Ettrick Shepherd, in his 
 
 * Page 349, ed. 1837.
 
 104 AMUSING EXPERIMENT UPON IT. 
 
 romantic tale of Mary Scott, I shall give his verses 
 precedence, on the principle mentioned by Tasso — 
 
 " che '1 vero condito in moUi versi 
 
 I piu schieri allettando ha persuaso." 
 
 " The warder lists with fear and dread 
 For distant shout of fray begTin ; 
 The cricket tunes his tiny reed. 
 And harps behind the embers dun. 
 
 " Why does the warder bend his head, 
 And silent stand the casement near? 
 The cricket stops his little reed. 
 The sound of gentle step to hear." 
 
 One example may perhaps be deemed sufficient 
 to show that the circumstance mentioned at the con- 
 clusion of the last verse is correct. " BruneUi, an 
 Italian naturalist, kept several of the field-crickets 
 in a chamber. They continued their crinking song 
 through the whole day ; but the moment they heard 
 a knock at the door, they were silent. He subse- 
 quently invented a method of imitating their sounds, 
 and when he did so outside the door, at first a few 
 would venture upon a soft whisper, and by and bye, 
 the whole party burst out in chorus to answer him ; 
 but upon repeating the rap at the door, they instantly 
 stopped again, as if alarmed. He hkevdse confined 
 a male in one side of his garden, while he put a 
 female in the other at liberty, which began to leap as 
 soon as she heard the crink of the male, and imme-
 
 MANNER OF PRODUCING ITS NOTE. 105 
 
 diately came to him, — an experiment which he fre- 
 quently repeated with the same result." * 
 
 Those facts show that Linnaeus and Bonnet were 
 incorrect in denying that insects can hear at aU ; and 
 that Shakspeare has evinced his usual accuracy of 
 discrimination, when he says, in the "Winter's 
 Tale," 
 
 " I will teU it softly; 
 Yon crickets shall not hear me." 
 
 Act II. Sc. I. 
 
 After so many quotations descriptive of the song 
 of the cricket, shall I be credited when I state, that 
 he has no song, in our acceptation of the term, — 
 that is, no peculiar note, produced, Hke the human 
 voice, or the song of birds, by the modulation of 
 vocal organs, or by air expelled from the mouth .'' 
 And yet, the chirp of the cricket, the drowsy hum of 
 the beetle, the buzzing of the fly, the humming of 
 the bee, are all sounds produced without, what may 
 be properly termed, voice. 
 
 In the beetle, they are probably caused by the 
 friction of the wing-cases {elytra) at the base of the 
 wings, throwing them into a strong ^•ibrator}■ motion. 
 Some species of grasshoppers eflfect a similar object, 
 by rubbing the elytra with the right and left legs 
 
 * Comment. Instit. Bonon., vii. 199, &c. apud Lehmann. Quoted 
 by Rennie, Insect Miscellanies, p. 77.
 
 106 MENTIONED IN HOLY WRIT. 
 
 alternately ; and the loudness of the sound is aug- 
 mented by a deep cavity on each side of the body, 
 in which there is a drum, or little membrane, in a 
 state of tension. In the cricket, the apparatus con- 
 sists of strong nerv'ures or rough strings in the wing- 
 cases, by the friction of which against each other a 
 sound is produced, and communicated to the mem- 
 branes stretched between them. The males only 
 are gifted with these musical powers, and as the 
 little areolets into which their wing-cases are divided 
 are larger than those in the female, they present, 
 under the microscope, an interesting subject for 
 observation. 
 
 To you, my dear friend, I shall not attempt to 
 enumerate the various passages scattered throughout 
 the Holy Scriptures, in which grasshoppers are men- 
 tioned. I shall only remind you of the fact, that 
 these insects, along with locusts and beetles, are 
 among the animals allowed to be eaten under the 
 Mosaical dispensation. The words in which the 
 permission is conveyed are striking to the Entomo- 
 logist, as showing that three species of insects belong- 
 ing to the order (Orthoptera) now under consider- 
 ation, were recognized as distinct. The words occur 
 in Leviticus (chap. xi. ver. 20 — 23.) 
 
 " 20. All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomi- 
 nation unto you.
 
 BRITISH SPECIES OF THE LOCUST. 107 
 
 " 21. Yet these may ye eat, of every flying', creeping- thing which 
 goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal 
 upon the earth. 
 
 " 22. Even these of them may ye eat. The locust after his kind, 
 and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and 
 the grasshopper after his kind. 
 
 " 23. But all other flying things which have four feet shall be an 
 abomination unto you." 
 
 To tlie insect emphatically distinguished as the 
 locust, and whose ravages have been among the 
 most awful visitations of other lands, I find no allu- 
 sion throughout the Dramatic Works of Shakspeare. 
 In fact, the word "locust" occurs but once, and then 
 is introduced in such a manner as to show it is the 
 vegetable production that is meant. " Fill thy purse 
 with money," says lago to Roderigo; " the food that 
 to him now is as luscious as locusts, shall be to him 
 shortly as bitter as coloquintida." 
 
 As, in these countries, we happily enjoy an ex- 
 emption from the devastation occasioned by these 
 insects, you will, perhaps, not be prepared to expect, 
 that twenty-three species of locust are now enume- 
 rated as British. The last specimen which I believe 
 has been recorded,* is one which was exhibited at a 
 meeting of our society, and was captured by Miss 
 Ball, at Ardmore, county of Waterford, Sept. 1835. 
 It was of a species first described by Mr. Curtis, and 
 named Locusta Christii, after Wm. Christ)*, esq., by 
 * Curtis's Illustrations of British Entomology, Aug. 1836, p. 608.
 
 108 
 
 THE CRICKET NOT PUGNACIOUS. 
 
 whom it had been taken in a garden near London, in 
 July, 1826. 
 
 Grasshoppers do not when in a state of freedom 
 appear to attack their own kindred, although they do 
 so when they are confined together. Being desirous 
 of ascertaining if a similar propensity prevailed 
 among crickets, I took four, and confined them for 
 eighteen hours without food, yet no one among 
 them inflicted the slightest injury on his feUow-pri- 
 soners. I gave them their freedom ; and on the 
 succeeding day took six others, differing very much 
 
 Blatta orie/italis, Male and Female. 
 
 in apparent size and strength, and kept them in a 
 glass for forty hours, yet the same result precisely
 
 STRUCTURE OF ITS FOOT. 109 
 
 took place. To put the question of their cannibalism 
 to a still more conclusive test, I next took two 
 crickets and two cockroaches {Blatta orientalis), and 
 confined them for eighty hours in a similar manner ; 
 at the expiration of that period they were all living 
 and active, and had not suffered from any attack on 
 each other. 
 
 During the time these unfortunate crickets were 
 in confinement, I observed that they repeatedly tried 
 to climb up the sides of the glass, but always in 
 vain, falling backwards at each successive attempt. 
 This appeared to me singular, as I had watched a 
 grasshopper (Locusta grossa) walking up the glass 
 pane of a window, and I knew no reason why 
 crickets should not be able to do the same. But to 
 reason from analogy, is a very uncertain mode of 
 arriving at just conclusions in Natural Historj'^. I 
 believe it is Dr. Fleming who remarks, that no person 
 from seeing the fallow-deer feeding on graminivorous 
 plants, could ever have imagined from analogy, that 
 the reindeer fed upon a lichen. The conclusion I 
 -drew respecting the cricket, was as erroneous as the 
 analogical inference in the other case would have 
 been, and it showed me the propriety of subjecting 
 every thing relating to the economy of insects to the 
 test of personal observation, so far as circumstances 
 wiU permit of our doing so. On examining, there-
 
 110 THE TETTIX. 
 
 fore, with a microscope, the foot of the cricket, to 
 ascertain if in this respect there was any difference 
 in structure, I found it perfectly smooth, and ter- 
 minating in a double hook ; but that of the grass- 
 hopper was not only furnished with a hook, but 
 likewise with three cushions or suckers. This form- 
 ation enables us to explain how it takes hold of the 
 stems of grass when it springs, and also how its 
 hold is retained. In such a situation, it has attracted 
 the eye of the poet already quoted, and been thus 
 described : — 
 
 " The grasshopper sits idle on the stalk 
 With folded pinions, and forgets to sing." 
 
 Before quitting this part of my subject, I may 
 mention, that the insect so celebrated by the Grecian 
 bards, under the name Tettix, is not a grasshopper, 
 as the word is commonly translated, but belongs to a 
 totally different order (Homoptera) . With the pecu- 
 liar covering in which one insect of this order is at a 
 certain period enveloped, you are doubtless familiar. 
 I allude to the little frothy appearance so frequently 
 seen on plants during the summer months, and 
 known by the common appellation of cuckoo-spit. It 
 is an exudation proceeding from the larva of Tettigonia 
 spumaria, which by this contrivance obtains, at the 
 same time, concealment from its various enemies, and 
 protection from the vicissitudes of weather.
 
 ESTEEMED BY THE ATHENIANS. Ill 
 
 Of the musical cicadas, one species has been dis- 
 covered in England. Like its classic congener, it be- 
 longs to the same family as the clamorous catydids 
 of North America, and is distinguished in Entomo- 
 logy by the term Cicada, the very word which is em- 
 ployed by Virgil, — 
 
 " Cantu quenilae rumpent arbusta cicadae.'' — Gear. III. 328. 
 
 The conclusion of Byron's notice of the grass- 
 hopper, while he chirps " one good-night carol 
 more," has been already quoted ; that of the cicada 
 should Hkewise be brought before you, to show the 
 accuracy with which he has distinguished the one 
 insect from the other : — 
 
 " The shrill cicadas, people of the pine, 
 Making their summer lives one ceaseless song." 
 
 The Athenians, as you are aware, wore in their 
 hair golden images of this insect. To excel it in 
 singing, was the highest commendation of a singer ; 
 nor was it considered derogatorj' to the orator to be 
 compared to the cicada. Instead, liowever, of any 
 longer bestowing " my tediousness upon you," I 
 shall reward your present attention by transmitting 
 a very spirited Ode of Anacreon, addressed to this 
 insect, and which has been very happily translated : — 
 
 " Happy Cicada, perch'd on lofty branches. 
 Deep in the forest, cheerful as a monarch, 
 Tasting the dew-drops, making all the mountains 
 Echo thy chirping.
 
 112 ODE OF ANACREON TO IT. 
 
 " Thine is each treasure that the earth produces ; 
 Thine is the freshness of each lield and forest ; 
 Tliine are the fruits, and thine are all the flowers, 
 Balmy spring scatters. 
 
 " Husbandmen fondly dote upon thy friendship, 
 Knowing thee guiltless of a thought to harm them. 
 Thee, mortals honour, sweet and tuneful songster. 
 Prophet of summer. 
 
 " Tliee, all the Muses hail a kindred being ; 
 Thee, great Apollo owns a dear companion : 
 Oh ! it was he who gave that note of gladness, 
 Wearisome never. 
 
 " Song-skilful, earth-born, mirth and music lovin g ; 
 Fairy-like being, free from age and suffering ; 
 Passionless, and pure from earth's defilement, 
 Almost a spirit. 
 
 " Drunk with the dew-drop, perch'd on twig so lofty, 
 Noisy Cicada, o'er the wild wave sounding. 
 Saw-like the feet which to thy side thou pressest, 
 
 Drawing sweet music." * 
 
 * Entomological Magazine.
 
 '9'i!l!^vl!:fil'ii'i''ltJlli''1«i!ii.Silii 
 
 * They have a king and officers of sorts. 
 Where some, like magistrates, correct at home ; 
 Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad." 
 
 HEKRT v., ACT r. f 
 
 In addressing these letters to you, my object is not 
 to eulogise the writings of Shakspeare, but to bring 
 before you the habits of- such insects as he has 
 named ; at least, so far as may be necessary for the 
 elucidation of the passages in which they occur. 
 Justly does he remark — 
 
 " 'Tis seldom when the bee doth leave her comb 
 In the dead carrion ;" — {Second Part Hen. IV., Act. IV. Sc. IV.) 
 
 an observation which will naturally recall to your 
 mind the passage in which we leara from the Scrip-
 
 114 SWARMING OF BEES. 
 
 ture, that Samson found " a swarm of bees and honey 
 
 in the carcase of the lion." But, seldom as any thing of 
 
 the kind does occur in this kingdom, it did happen on 
 
 one occasion in the county of Down, if some species 
 
 of wasp has not been mistaken for bees. The fact is 
 
 rcorded in the following words, extracted from the 
 
 Belfast News Letter, of Friday, 10th August, 1832 :— 
 
 " A few days ago, when the sexton was digging a 
 
 grave in Temple Cranney (a burying-place in Porta- 
 
 ferry), he came to a coffin which had been there two 
 
 or three years : this he thought necessary to remove, 
 
 to make room for the corpse about to be interred. 
 
 In this operation, he was startled by a great quantity 
 
 of wild bees issuing forth from the coffin, and upon 
 
 lifting the lid, it was found that they had formed 
 
 their combs in the dead man's skull and mouth, which 
 
 were full. The nest was made of the hair of the 
 
 head, together with shavings that had been put in 
 
 the coffin with the corpse." 
 
 Every hive contains a queen, drones, and workers ; 
 
 of these different kinds, Sliakspeare seems cognizant. 
 
 Thus the lines — 
 
 "Like stinging bees in hottest summer's day. 
 Led by their master to the flowered fields"— 
 
 (Titus Andronicus, Act V. Sc. I.) 
 
 recognize the first : 
 
 "Drones hive not with me," 
 the second ; and any of the numerous passages
 
 THE QUEEN BEE. 115 
 
 describing their labours, show his knowledge of the 
 third. 
 
 " So work the honey bees ; 
 
 Creatures, that, by a rule in nature, teach 
 
 The art of order to a peopled kingdom. 
 
 Tliey have a king and otticers of sorts, 
 
 Where some, like magistrates, correct at home ; 
 
 Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad ; 
 
 Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings, 
 
 Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds. 
 
 Which pillage they with merry march bring home 
 
 To the tent royal of their emperor ; 
 
 Who, busied in his majesty, surveys 
 
 The singing masons building roofs of gold ; 
 
 The civil citizens kneading up the honey ; 
 
 The poor mechanic porters crowding in 
 
 Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate ; 
 
 The sad-eyed justice, with his surly himi, 
 
 Delivering o'er to executors pale 
 
 The lazy yawning drone." — Henrii Y., Act I. Sc. II. 
 
 Such is the splendid description given by Shaks- 
 peare of the economy of a bee-hive, — a description 
 poetical in the highest degree, and pleasing alike to 
 the ear and the imagination. In it, without apparent 
 effort, we have a rich and glowing picture. The 
 artist, with his accustomed skill, has " o'erstepped 
 not the modest)'' of nature ;" and yet the simile is 
 sustained, animated, and vigorous throughout. 
 
 It is the queen bee, you are aware, that seems to 
 regulate the industry and preserve the equilibrium of 
 the denizens of the hive ; and to her, Shakspeare, 
 like the ancients, invariably applies a male epithet. 
 When by any accident she is destroyed, the social 
 
 I 2
 
 116 THE DRONES. 
 
 compact appears for a time to be dissolved, anarchy 
 and disorder succeed to the former regular and 
 systematic exertion, and a strange and fiery excite- 
 ment pervades the population. Most correctly, there- 
 fore, does Shakspeare introduce the comparison, 
 
 " The commons, like a hive of angT^r bees 
 ITiat want their leader, scatter up and down." 
 
 Second Part Henry IV., Act III. Sc. II. 
 
 The drones, it is now well known, are the males of 
 the community, destroyed by the workers when no 
 longer required ; but preserved uninjured while the 
 welfare of the hive requires the continuance of their 
 existence. It is, perhaps, to the slaughter of the 
 drones, which takes place towards the end of sum- 
 mer, that the Poet alludes in the figurative expression, 
 
 "The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum. 
 Delivering o'er to executors pale 
 The lazy yawning drone." 
 
 There is nothing in the writings of Shakspeare to 
 imply that he was aware of the precise nature of the 
 functions of the drone-bees ; nay, on one occasion, he 
 introduces the word " drone" in a manner that must 
 be regarded as incorrect : — 
 
 " Drones suck not eagle's blood, but rob bee-hives ; " 
 
 {Second Part Henry VI., Act IV. Sc. I.) 
 
 the robbery being a crime of which they cannot be 
 accused, although it may justly be charged against
 
 HUMMING OF THE BEE. 117 
 
 wasps, with whom they have, perhaps, in this pas- 
 sage, been confounded. Milton's notice is not per- 
 fectly accurate either ; for he throws the feeding of 
 the drones, and the forming of the cells, on the queen, 
 and not on the workers ; or, if he mean the working 
 bee, the term " husband" is inapplicable. 
 
 " Swamiing, next appeared 
 
 Tlie female bee, that feeds her husband droue 
 Deliciously, and builds her waxen cell 
 With honey stored." — Par. Lost, Book VII. 
 
 The immortal author of " Paradise Lost " has in 
 another passage, without derogating from the gran- 
 deur or Ijeauty of his theme, sung 
 
 "how the bee, 
 
 Sits on the bloom, extracting liquid sweet." 
 
 Perhaps nothing can convey a better idea of the 
 joyous feelings connected with the humming of the 
 bee, than the fact that it is mentioned by so many of 
 our British poets — introduced amid their finest pro- 
 ductions, and connected with the beauty and the 
 exuberance of summer. 
 
 " Hark ! the bee winds her small, but mellow horn, 
 Blithe to salute the sunny smile of morn ;" 
 
 is the description given by Rogers. 
 
 " The sycamore, all musical with bees," 
 
 is the harmonious line of Coleridge. It is introduced 
 as a simile in Hogg's " Pilgrims of the Sun :" —
 
 118 POETICAL NOTICES OF IT. 
 
 ■ " As they pass'd by 
 
 The angels paused, and saints that lay reposed 
 In bowers of Paradise, upraised their heads 
 To list the passing music, for it went 
 Swift as the wild bee's note, that on the wing- 
 Booms like unbodied voice along the gale." 
 
 In the sweet and artless poem, by "Wilson, of "Bessie 
 Bell and Mary Gray," it is thus noticed : — 
 
 "And from the hidden flowers, a song 
 Of bees in a happy multitude, 
 AU busy in that solitude." 
 
 Milton, in his "Penseroso," has connected the hum 
 of the bee with the murmuring of the waters : — 
 
 Hide me from day's garish eye. 
 While the bee with honied thigh. 
 That at her flowery work doth sing, 
 And the waters mui-muring, 
 With such concert as they keep, 
 Entice the dewy-feather'd sleep." 
 
 In the enumeration of the " melodies of morn," in 
 Beattie's " Minstrel," the picturesque image of 
 
 " The wild brook babbling down the mountain side," 
 
 does not impart greater pleasure to the mind, than 
 the more humble objects in another line, — 
 
 "The hum of bees, the linnet's lay of love." 
 
 In one of Byron's stanzas, in which the poet has 
 grouped together a collection of pleasing objects and 
 of simple sounds, which neither in beauty nor variety
 
 THE "bag o' the bee." 119 
 
 have ever been surpassed, he thus concludes the 
 
 verse : — 
 
 " Sweet the hum' 
 
 Of bees, the voice of girls, the song of birds, 
 The lisp of children, and their earliest words." 
 
 Shakspeare's knowledge of bees does not seem to 
 have been limited to the three kinds which consti- 
 tute the "buzzing pleased multitude" found in our 
 bee-hives ; he has noticed those which are soUtary in 
 their habits, as well as those which are social. Thus 
 we find in " All's Well that Ends Well," " red-tailed 
 humble-bee," a kind which nidificates among heaps 
 of stones. The humble-bee is introduced on another 
 occasion, when Bottom, in the " Midsummer Night's 
 .Dream," is giving orders to his fairy attendants. 
 The playful and sportive fancy which reigns in 
 these commands is inimitable ; and the diminutive 
 stature of Cobweb is well indicated by the fear that 
 he should be " overflown with a honey bag." Haz- 
 litt was so well pleased with the passage, that in his 
 " Characters of Shakspeare's Plays," he quotes the 
 commencement of it, and remarks, with a note of 
 admiration, " What an exact knowledge of Natural 
 Historj'- is here shown ; " although every boy who 
 has spent his summer holidays in the country, is 
 well acquainted with the "bag o' the bee." This 
 bag is, in fact, the first stomach of the insect. Into
 
 120 PRODUCTS OF ITS LABOURS. 
 
 it the liquid honey which is collected by the tongue 
 flows, after passing through the mouth and oesopha- 
 gus. It is a membranous receptacle, capable of con- 
 siderable distension, and exhibiting a different aspect, 
 according to the quantity it contains of that saccharine 
 fluid, which is there converted into honey. 
 
 Next to " the bag o' the bee," I may naturally 
 notice the products derived from the labours of the 
 same insect. These are principally wax and honey ; 
 both of which are mentioned by Shakspeare. The 
 former is brought forward as being the material em- 
 ployed for the sealing, not of letters only, but of 
 bonds and other legal instruments. Thus Cade, 
 after having declared that he will " make it felony to 
 drink small beer," and announced his intentions rela- 
 tive to other legislative enactments of a correspond- 
 ing character, proceeds in a strain admirably illustra- 
 tive of the man : — 
 
 " Is not this a lamentable thing, that the skin of an innocent lamb 
 should be made of parchment, and that parchment being scribbled 
 o'er, should undo a man. Some say the bee stings ; but I say 'tis 
 the bee's wax : for I did but seal once to a thing, and I was never my 
 ovni man since." — Second Part Henry VI., Act IV. Sc. II. 
 
 When Edgar has overcome the steward of Goneril, 
 he takes from his pockets the letters confided to his 
 charge ; and as he breaks the seal, he justifies to 
 himself the act he is committing : —
 
 bee's-wax, 121 
 
 " Leave, gentle wax, and manners, blame us not ; 
 To know our enemies' minds, we 'd rip their hearts ; 
 Their papers are more lawful." — Lear, Act IV. Sc. VI. 
 
 It is again mentioned, when Imogen, the fond and 
 faithful Imogen, receives a letter from her lord Leo- 
 natus ; her words are — 
 
 " Good wax, thy leave,— blest be 
 Yon bees, that make these locks of counsel ! Lovers 
 And men in dangerous bonds pray not alike ; 
 Though forfeiters you cast in prison yet, 
 You clasp young Cupid's tables." 
 
 Ct/mbeline, Act III. Sc. II. 
 
 You are of course aware, that the seaUng-wax we 
 now employ consists of lac and resin, combined with 
 some suitable pigment for giving it the desired colour. 
 This lac is itself an insect product, being secreted 
 by a species of coccus common in the East Indies. 
 No portion of bees'-wax enters into the composition 
 of the material now used for sealing letters ; but that 
 it may at a former period have been so used, I ^^•iU not 
 presume to deny. At present, it forms the principal 
 ingredient of the soft and colourless wax attached to 
 letters patent under the Great Seal, or to charters of 
 corporations, and public documents of a similar 
 character ; but " the lover, sighing like furnace," 
 never confides his sorrows to the custody of the 
 bee's wax. 
 
 The researches of modern times have ascertained
 
 122 OBSERVATIONS OF HXJBER. 
 
 a remarkable fact relative to the formation of this 
 substance, namely, that it is secreted by bees differ- 
 ent from those which attend to the feeding of the 
 young ; or, in other words, the working bees, which 
 were formerly supposed to be all alike, may be divided 
 into two classes, — wax- workers and nurses. 
 
 For our knowledge on this subject, we are princi- 
 pally indebted to the observations of a blind man, 
 the elder Huber, who made the study of bees the 
 occupation and solace of many years of visual dark- 
 ness. This he was enabled to do by the untiring at- 
 tention of his wife, who faithfully recounted the 
 phenomena which glass hives, variously constructed, 
 enabled her to witness. He saw by means of her 
 eyes, and in his experiments, he was assisted by a 
 patient investigator, M. Burnens. From Huber we 
 learn that wax is not collected from flowers, as was 
 formerly supposed, but is secreted by the wax- work- 
 ers by means of peculiar organs, which may easily be 
 seen, by pressing the abdomen so as to cause its dis- 
 tension. It is not, however, a secretion that is con- 
 stantly going on ; it is one which takes place only 
 when wax is required for the construction of the 
 comb. To supply it, the wax- workers are obliged to 
 feed on honey, and to remain inactive, generally sus- 
 pended from the top of the hive, for about twenty- 
 four hours previous to the deposition of the wax.
 
 HONEY. 123 
 
 What we read, therefore, of the bee collecting wax 
 and carrying it to the hive, is fabulous. The error 
 originated in the pollen with which bees are so fre- 
 quently laden, and which forms the bee bread of the 
 community, being mistaken for two little pellets of 
 wax, which the industrious insect was supposed to 
 have gathered. Shakspeare, as might be expected, 
 has adopted the universal, though incorrect, opinion 
 of his day. In the Une, therefore, 
 
 " Our thighs are pack'd with wax" — 
 
 we recognize one of those instances, where the 
 knowledge of the present time can be contrasted ad- 
 vantageously vdth. that of the past. 
 
 The word "honey" is of frequent occurrence. 
 When, in the English camp at Agincourt, King 
 Henry the Fifth, after the just and profound re- 
 flection — 
 
 " There is some soul of goodness in things evil. 
 Would men observingly distil it out ;"— 
 
 illustrates his meaning still further, by the obsen-a- 
 tion — 
 
 " Thus we may gather honey from the weed." 
 
 Act IV. Sc. I. 
 
 When Friar Lawrence is waiting in his cell, for the 
 arrival of Juliet, and is endeavouring to control the
 
 124 FREQUENTLY MENTIONED BY SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 transport of the expecting Romeo, he well re- 
 marks, — 
 
 " These violent delights have violent ends ; " 
 
 and adds — 
 
 " the sweetest honey 
 
 Is loathsome in his own deliciousness. 
 And in the taste confounds the appetite ; 
 Therefore, love moderately." — Act II. Sc. V. 
 
 But in general, the word is used metaphorically, not 
 literally. Thus Norfolk, in speaking of Cardinal 
 Wolsey, says, — 
 
 " the king hath found 
 
 Matter against him, that for ever mars 
 The honey of his langTiage." 
 
 Henri/ VIII., Act III. Sc. II. 
 
 And in the scene where Ophelia has borne the strange 
 and ungentle language of Hamlet, " get thee to a 
 nunnery," after her first thought, with all a woman's 
 fondness, has been given to his mental aberration: — 
 
 *' O ! what a noble mind is here o'erthrown ; " 
 
 she deplores her own condition, in the words, — 
 
 " And I of ladies most abject and wTetched, 
 That suck'd the honey of his music vows. " 
 
 Act III. Sc. II. 
 
 In the same manner the word is employed by 
 
 Romeo, on his descent into the monument where lies 
 
 the " living corse " of the " fair Juliet." 
 
 " O my love ! my wife ! 
 
 Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath. 
 
 Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty," — Act V. Sc. III.
 
 SYMMETRY OF THE HONEY-COMB. 125 
 
 Not content with using the word both in a literal and 
 in a metaphorical sense, the Poet has interwoven it 
 into several endearing epithets, as "honey love;" 
 " honey niirse," &c.; and in " Juhus Caesar," the still 
 more euphonious expression, — 
 
 " Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber. " — Act II. Sc. I. 
 
 The admirable symmetry and regularity of the 
 combs have, no doubt, attracted your attention ; 
 but perhaps you are not aware, that their form is 
 almost that which a mathematician would select to 
 combine the greatest extent of accommodation and 
 greatest strength, with the smallest expenditure of 
 material. The cells are arranged so close together, 
 and in a manner so skilful, that no space is lost 
 between them. The knowledge of the fact, that 
 there are no vacant spaces between the cells, gives 
 increased effect to the words of Prospero, when he 
 replies to the imprecations of Caliban : — 
 
 " Tliou shalt be pinch'd 
 
 As thick as honey-combs : each pinch more stinging: 
 Than bees that made 'em." 
 
 Tempest, Act I. Sc. II. 
 
 This passage refers to a fact in the economy of bees, 
 which I have not yet noticed : I mean their power 
 of stinging. Of this fact, almost every one has.
 
 126 STING OF THE BEE. 
 
 at some time or other, had painful experience. 
 Shakspeare says — 
 
 " Full merrily the humble bee doth sing, 
 Till she hath lost her honey and her sting;" — 
 
 {Troilus and Cres»ida, Act V. Sc. XI.) 
 
 a couplet which leads us to infer that the Poet was 
 well aware of these insects losing their sting, by 
 being unable to retract it from the wound they have 
 inflicted. 
 
 In the sarcasms to which Brutus and Cassius give 
 utterance against Antony, the same topic is thus 
 introduced : — 
 
 " Cas. — The posture of your blows are yet unknown ; 
 But for your words, they rob the Hybla bees, 
 And leave them honeyless. 
 
 Ant. — Not stingless too — 
 
 Bru. — O yes, and soundless too ; 
 For you have stol'n their buzzing, Antony, 
 And very wisely threat before you sting." 
 
 Julius Casar, Act V. Sc. I. 
 
 From the numerous passages in which the bee 
 is introduced, we might almost be warranted in 
 supposing that this insect was a favourite with 
 Shakspeare. It has certainly furnished him with 
 numerous similes, and what is rather remarkable in 
 a writer possessed of such varied powers of illustra- 
 tion, he has caused it to be twice mentioned by King 
 Henry the Fourth, in the course of one scene, — first, 
 when meditating on the wild and riotous life pursued
 
 MURDER OF THESE INSECTS. 127 
 
 by the Prince ; and secondly, when he supposes that 
 the anxiety felt by his son for the crown had caused 
 its removal from his pillow. The first of these 
 passages has been already noticed ; the second, I 
 shall now quote : — 
 
 " How quickly nature falls into revolt, 
 When gold becomes her object. 
 For this, the foolish over-careful fathers 
 Have broke their sleeps with thought, their brains with care, 
 When, like the bee, tolling from every flower 
 The ^^rtuous sweets. 
 
 Our thighs are pack'd with wax, our mouths with honey : 
 We bring it to the hive ; and, like the bees. 
 Are murder'd for our pains." 
 
 Second Part Uenry VI., Act IV. Sc. IV. 
 
 The mode in which this murder is committed, is in- 
 dicated by Shakspeare in another passage. Talbot 
 is gi\ing vent to his surprise and vexation at the 
 English troops being repulsed by Joan of Arc : — 
 
 "As bees with smoke, and doves with noisome stench, 
 Are from their hives and houses driven away." 
 
 First Part Henry VI., Act I. Sc. V. 
 
 In Thomson's " Autumn," we have a detailed 
 account of the process. The hive has been " at 
 evening snatched," and "placed o'er sulphur." 
 
 "Sudden the dark oppressive steam ascends. 
 And, used to milder scents, the tender race 
 By thousands tumble from their honied domes. 
 Convolved and agonizing in the dust." 
 
 It is much to be regretted, that when we could so
 
 128 PLANS FOR AVOIDING IT. 
 
 easily obtain the honey of the hive-bees without de- 
 stroying these industrious insects, the practice of put- 
 ting them to death should still be continued. It is 
 both cruel to the bees and injurious to the honey. 
 The practice may easily be avoided ; for a very simple 
 contrivance is sufficient for the purpose. Some hives, 
 which I have seen in the garden of a friend, had a 
 few inches taken horizontally off their summit ; over 
 this aperture, a board was fitted, with holes for the 
 passage of the bees, and a tin slide to close these 
 holes when necessary. Above this, a small hive was 
 placed : this, which coidd be removed at pleasure, 
 was filled by the bees with honey of the finest kind, 
 and the lower hive contained their winter store, and 
 their youthful progeny. 
 
 Boxes of various kinds, for the same humane 
 object, have been invented, and are described in 
 various works. The neatest I have seen are those 
 belonging to my friend, Thomas Jackson, Esq., of 
 this town, one of the architects under whose super- 
 intendence our Museum was erected. A small room 
 in the back part of his dwelling-house was appro- 
 priated to his bees, who entered the boxes prepared 
 for their reception by a covered passage, communi- 
 cating with the external air by means of an aperture 
 cut in a pane of glass for their reception. Outside 
 of the window was a board, on which they alighted
 
 BEEHIVE IN BELFAST. 129 
 
 prior to their entrance, and which thus corresponded 
 to " the suburb of their straw-built citadel," in the 
 ordinary hive. As far as the eye could reach, nothing 
 but the roofs of small houses could be seen, except 
 where the vision was bounded and closed in by the 
 walls of other edifices of a more lofty structure. It 
 seemed wonderful how, amid such a multitude of 
 houses, the bees could find their way back to the one 
 from which they issued. The theory propounded by 
 Rogers, in his " Pleasures of Memor}^" that it is by 
 retracing 
 
 "The varied scents which charm'd them as they flew," 
 
 would certainly be insufiicient to explain the pheno- 
 menon. There was nothing wavering or uncertain 
 in their homeward flight. In fact, from the moment 
 they appeared in view, their course was in a direct 
 line to their elevated abode, and so straight and rapid, 
 that they resembled bodies projected bj^ some power- 
 ful machine. 
 
 The gardens, meadows, and hedge-rows about 
 town, no doubt, supply to these bees the materials for 
 the prosecution of " their delicious task." 
 
 " Through the soft air the busy nations fly. 
 Cling to the bud, and with inserted tube 
 Suck its pure essence, its ethereal soul." 
 
 Thomson'* lS/)rinp.
 
 130 GLASS HIVES. 
 
 llie beach along the shores of our bay renders, per- 
 haps, some assistance, by the salt which it affords ; 
 for I have often seen bees on the margin of the sea, 
 and understand, that they thrive well along the entire 
 of the northern coast, from Belfast to the Causeway. 
 The Cavehill, however, a mountain, which, at a dis- 
 tance of about three miles from town, rises to the 
 height of 1100 feet, holds out, on its heathery and 
 uncultivated sides, richer attractions : — 
 
 " And oft, with bolder wing, they soaring dare 
 The purple heath, or where the wild thyme grows, 
 And yellow load them with the luscious spoil." 
 
 Thomson'* Spring. 
 
 A glass bell, placed upon the top of the bee-box, or 
 glass hive, for I know not which is the more proper 
 term, is soon filled with honey. The comb is remark- 
 able for its whiteness and transparency, and the 
 honey seems to be of the finest and purest kind. 
 Mr. Jackson's father has several glass hives of a 
 similar construction, at Waterford ; and has, on 
 different occasions, obtained two shilUngs and six- 
 pence a pound for a glass bell and its contained 
 honey. One bell produced, at this price, three 
 pounds seventeen shilhngs and six pence ; and 
 two others about three pounds thirteen shillings each, 
 having been purchased by a druggist in Bristol, as a 
 substitute for the celebrated honey of Narbonne.
 
 WILD BEES IN AMERICA. 131 
 
 It is curious how places have become famed for one 
 production, and continue to be so, while the genera- 
 tions of man pass away ; nay, while the very laws 
 and institutions of the countr)- have been overthrown. 
 A feeble plant may thus, in its descendants, survive 
 the " wreck of empires," for Nature is ever fresh, 
 vigorous, and unchanged, while human monuments 
 crumble into dust. While Greece, at the present 
 time, 
 
 " Is Greece, but living Greece no more ;" 
 
 the honey of Hymettus retains all its former celebrity. 
 Athens is no longer the abode of arts, eloquence, 
 literature, or science, — but 
 
 " still his honied wealth Hymettus yields ; 
 
 There the blythe bee his fragrant fortress builds ; 
 The free-bom wanderer of the mountain air." 
 
 Childe Harold, Canto II. St. 87. 
 
 Washington Irving, in his " Tour on the Pi-airies," 
 has given a very animated description of a bee-hunt 
 in one of the great American forests, and states, in 
 the following words, a remarkable opinion, which is 
 held concerning the wild bees : — " The Indians con- 
 sider them the harbingers of the white man ; and 
 say, that in proportion as the bee advances, the In- 
 dians and the buffalo retire. We are always accus- 
 tomed to associate the hum of the bee-hive with the 
 
 K 2
 
 132 PLEASING ASSOCIATIOXS. 
 
 farm-house and the flower-garden, and to consider 
 those industrious little animals as connected with the 
 busy haunts of man ; and I am told that the wild bee 
 is seldom to be met with at any great distance from 
 the frontier."* In the observations respecting the 
 bee-hive we can all perfectly concur, although ^^Tit- 
 ten in a country differing in so many particulars 
 from our own, and where new forms of vegetation 
 replace the heaths and roses, among which the bees 
 of these kingdoms delight to revel. 
 
 Though the flight of the bee is at all times pleas- 
 ing, it is especially so when, at the close of a sum- 
 mer day, she directs her course homeward to the 
 hive or to the nest. At that hour, when the fresh- 
 ness of evening is in the air, and the hues of sun- set 
 in the sky, there are many who have, with the poet, 
 
 " Welcomed the wild bee home on wearied wing. 
 Laden with sweets, the choicest of the spring." 
 
 RoGEKs' Pleasures of Memory, Canto I. 
 
 To all such the maiden's song, when " busy day is 
 o'er," will be fraught with pecuhar charms. 
 
 " Hark I along the humming air 
 Home the laden bees repair." 
 
 Milman'* Martyr of Antioch. 
 
 I must not, however, conclude the subject of Bees, 
 Avithout mentioning a curious fact, communicated to 
 
 * Miscellanies, by the Authorof the Sketch-Book, p. 61.
 
 WASPS. 133 
 
 me by Mr. Jackson. He brought over three hives 
 from Bristol to Waterford, in the summer of 1828. 
 Next spring, a full month before any of the inhabi- 
 tants of the Irish hives in the same garden were 
 stirring, the English bees were busUy at work, and 
 by the time their neighbours had commenced, had 
 formed a considerable quantity of comb. Next year, 
 they were earher than the Irish bees, but not so 
 much so as the preceding season ; and they have 
 now, hke some other settlers, adopted the seasons 
 and customs of those among whom they have taken 
 up their abode. It would be interesting, in con- 
 nexion w^th this fact, to ascertain the time at which 
 certain flowers come into blossom at Bristol and at 
 Waterford. 
 
 Another insect, no less knowm than the bee, but 
 regarded with very different feeUngs, is the Wasp. 
 The two insects, besides a general resemblance in 
 form, have a considerable similarity in some of their 
 habits. Both live in numerous communities, — both 
 construct hexagonal cells, in wliich their young are 
 reared ; and both labour with untiring perseverance 
 for their support. The wasps, however, do not store 
 up food, nor do they collect honey. They are armed 
 freebooters, and take by force what they will not 
 stoop to acquire by toU ; —
 
 134 WASPS PAPER-MAKERS. 
 
 " the g-ood old rule 
 
 Sufficeth them ; the simple plan, 
 
 That they should take who have the power, 
 
 And they should keep who cati." — Wordsworth. 
 
 To such lengths do they carry their contempt of 
 the law of the realm, that even the fear of incurring- 
 the pains and penalties of a violation of the Excise 
 laws does not prevent them from practising openly 
 as unlicensed paper-makers. Nay, my dear friend, 
 look not incredulous ; 
 
 " Remember, I have done thee worthy service ; 
 Told thee no lies; made no mistakings ;" 
 
 {Tempest, Act I. So. II.) 
 
 and I repeat, that wasps are not only the most free, 
 but also the most ancient, workers of this commodit)' 
 in her Majesty's dominions. In fact, their nest is 
 composed of paper, and of paper most ingeniously 
 fabricated for the express purpose. With their strong 
 mandibles they tear small spUnters of wood from 
 posts, railings, &c., in this neighbourhood, and 
 they may at times be heard busy among the tall 
 reeds on the banks of the Lagan, cutting off por- 
 tions of the stems. The ligneous fibre thus ob- 
 tained, forms the raw material. It is reduced by 
 them to a pulp, and spread out, not so expedi- 
 tiously, but quite as effectually, as if our most im- 
 proved machinery had been employed in the operation. 
 The paper thus made is in this country of a greyish
 
 THEIR XESTS, 135 
 
 colour, rough on the surface, and extremely thin, and 
 retains those characteristics, whether it be under 
 ground, or suspended to the branches of a tree. Our 
 home manufacturer, if I may venture to use the ex- 
 pression, is greatly surpassed by that of some more 
 tropical countries. I have at present in my cabinet 
 a wasp's nest, from Berbice, in South America. It 
 is about six inches in height, bell- shaped in its 
 general form, and seventeen inches in circumference 
 at its lower margin. A twig, to which it has been 
 attached, passed through two apertures at the top; 
 and a somewhat larger opening at the lowest part, 
 formed the entrance to the interior of the nest, pro- 
 tected from rain by the manner in which it project- 
 ed beyond the adjacent parts. In this specimen. 
 
 fVasps'' Nest. 
 
 the rough surface and loose flakes of the tree-nests 
 of this country have disappeared, and in their place
 
 136 IRASCIBILITY OF THE WASP. 
 
 is a firm, compact, and perfectly white surface, as 
 smooth and polished as the finest pasteboard. The 
 accompanying figures represent a nest of a species of 
 wasp, which was found in Oxfordshire, and forwarded 
 to Mr. Westwood. 
 
 But though an Entomologist may take pleasure in 
 observing the labours of wasps, both in constructing 
 their nests and in rearing their young, and look with 
 satisfaction on the ceaseless exertions by which the 
 food necessary for the support of the grubs is pro- 
 cured, he will find few persons who entertain similar 
 ideas ; on the contrary, he will observe, that they 
 are universally regarded as bold, audacious, and dan- 
 gerous intruders. They ahght fearlessly on the 
 viands in our parlours ; they rifle the choicest fruit 
 in our gardens ; and are prompt to avenge with their 
 sting the slightest molestation. 
 
 There is, perhaps, scarcely any person who has not 
 suffered from the wound which this formidable 
 weapon inflicts, by inadvertently provoking the 
 irritable insect by which it is borne. In fact, so 
 easily is its wrathful temperament aroused, that 
 extreme irritability or irascibility can scarcely be ex- 
 pressed by a stronger term than " waspish." It is, 
 accordingly, in this sense, that we find Shakspeare 
 has applied the epithet, " her waspish-headed son," 
 when we are told in the " Tempest," that Cupid is
 
 NOTICES OF IT BY SHAKSPEARE. 137 
 
 resolved to " be a boy outright ;" and again, in " As 
 You Like It," — 
 
 " I know not the contents ; but, as I ^ess 
 By the stern brow and waspish action 
 Wliich she did use as she was writing it. 
 It bears an angry tenour." — Act IV. Sc. III. 
 
 In the celebrated scene in which the reconciliation 
 between Brutus and Cassius is effected, the word is 
 used in a similar manner : — 
 
 " I '11 use you for my mirth ; yea, for my laughter. 
 When you are waspish." — Act IV. Sc. III. 
 
 In the first interview between Catherine and Pe- 
 truchio, the word has precisely a similar signification. 
 In accordance with his resolution to " woo her with 
 some spirit when she comes," Petruchio, ere long, 
 addresses his intended spouse by an epithet not 
 usually found in a lover's vocabulary — 
 
 " Pet. — Come, come, you u-asp, V faith — you are too angry. 
 Kath.— If I be waspish, best beware my sting. 
 Pet. — IMy remedy is then to pluck it out. 
 Kath.— Ay, if the fool could find it where it lies. 
 Pet.—Vs'ho knows not where a wasp doth wear his sting ? 
 In his t&il."— Taming of the Shreiv, Act II. Sc. I. 
 
 Its power of stinging, and its proneness to exert 
 that power, are the reasons why the word " wasp" is 
 applied to individuals who would be apt to avenge 
 real or imaginary injuries. This may be exemplified 
 by the line.
 
 138 WASPS NOT STORERS-UP OF HONEY. 
 
 " Let not this wasp outlive us both to sting." 
 
 Titus Andronicus, Act II. Sc. III. 
 
 Those characteristics are again referred to, when 
 Suffolk, in "HenryVIII."isreplying to the question — 
 
 " will the king 
 
 Digest this letter of the Cardinal's? 
 
 Suffolk.— There, be more wasps that buz about his nose, 
 Will make this sting the sooner." — Act III. Sc. II. 
 
 I have already mentioned, that the wasps do not, 
 like the bees, collect and store up honey : there is 
 nothing, however, of which they are more fond ; and 
 they scruple not to arrest it by force from the in- 
 dustrious inhabitants of the hive. In this attempt, 
 they " let no compunctious visitings o' nature shake 
 their fell purpose ;" and not unfrequently put to 
 death the victims of their rapacity. This fact has 
 not escaped the eye of Shakspeare. His knowledge 
 of it furnishes a metaphor employed, in the " Two 
 Gentlemen of Verona," by Julia, to express her con- 
 trition for having torn the letter of " the love- 
 wounded Protheus :" — 
 
 " Oh ! hateful hands, to tear such loving words ; 
 Injurious wasps, to feed on such sweet honey, 
 And kill the bees that yield it with your stings ! " 
 
 Act I. Sc. II. 
 
 An allusion to the fondness of the wasps for honey 
 is, in the " Winter's Tale," put with ludicrous effect 
 into the mouth of Autolycus. The " rogue," so let
 
 AUTOLYCUS. 139 
 
 me call him, though he says he is " proof against 
 that title," has terrified the old shepherd by a de- 
 scription of the tortures he shall feel, summed up by 
 the words, " All deaths are too few ; the sharpest, 
 too easy." The younger rustic, alarmed on his own 
 account, by the apprehension of similar sufferings, 
 timidly inquires, — " Has the old man e'er a son, sir ; 
 do you hear, an't like you, sir ? " and is utterly hor- 
 rified by the reply: — " He has a son, who shall be 
 flayed aUve, then 'nointed over with honey, set on 
 the head of a wasps' nest, then stand till he be 
 three-quarters and a dram dead : then recovered again 
 with aquavitse, or some other hot infusion : then, 
 raw as he is, and in the hottest day, prognostication 
 proclaims shall he be set against a brick-waU, the 
 sun looking with a southward eye upon him ; where 
 he is to behold him with flies blown to death." 
 " But what talk we of those traitorly rascals," 
 adds Autolycus ; then, changing the subject, inquires 
 their business with the King, and proposes, on being 
 " gently considered," to " whisper him on their be- 
 halfs." The clown, deUghted at the intercession of one 
 who "seems to be of great authority," bids his son 
 " close with him; give him gold." The whole scene 
 is replete with comic humour ; and if the stinging 
 of the wasps has been too long dwelt on — if my pro- 
 lixit)"- has tempted you to exclaim, — " Friend, you
 
 140 AXTS. 
 
 are tedious," let the mode in which the fact is intro- 
 duced by Autolycus make you amends. 
 
 Shakspeare has noticed another insect, which, 
 although very different from those we have now 
 been considering, belongs, like them, to the order 
 Hymenoptera. Perhaps this may seem to you a 
 strange arrangement, and you may wonder that the 
 busy Uttle wingless creatures, whose habitations you 
 have now and then inadvertently disturbed or wilfully 
 invaded, shoiild be classed mth those insects which 
 are furnished with four conspicuous wings. But if 
 you have ever examined the interior of an ant's nest 
 in the month of August, you may perhaps have 
 noticed that some of the inmates appear of larger 
 dimensions than usual, and that they are adorned 
 with four wings, similar to those of a wasp, or bee. 
 These are the female ants, just after their liberation 
 from the cocoon. They soon desert the place of 
 their nativity ; and, borne on their extended wings, 
 seek for new localities in which to establish their in- 
 dustrious colonies. As soon as their new abode has 
 been selected, the object for which the wings were 
 given is accomplished. These now useless append- 
 ages are laid aside, not metaphorically, but literally. 
 They are actually thrown off by the exertions of the 
 insect herself, who now sedulously commences to 
 lay the foundations of her populous kingdom.* 
 * See Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 370.
 
 THEIR SUPPOSED FORESIGHT. 141 
 
 Few insects are more widely diffused than the ant. 
 Its habits have attracted universal notice ; and it has 
 been celebrated, both by sacred and profane ^vriters, 
 as a model of prudence, foresight, wisdom, and dili- 
 gence. In Proverbs we are told (chap. xxx. ver. 24), 
 "There be four things which are little upon the 
 earth; but they are exceeding wise;" and in the 
 enumeration which follows, the ants are placed first, 
 and are described as " a people not strong, yet they 
 prepare their meat in the summer." In another part, 
 (chap. vi. ver. 6), Solomon desires the sluggard to 
 "go to the ant, consider her ways, and be wise ; which 
 having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her 
 meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the 
 harvest." Many of our British poets have applauded 
 the foresight of the ant ; and have either described 
 her as storing up grain for winter use, or have 
 alluded to such a circumstance. She is thus charac- 
 terized by Milton : — 
 
 " First crept 
 
 The parsimonious emmet, provident 
 
 Of future, in small room large heart enclosed." 
 
 Parnell depicts her as 
 
 " Pressed by the cumbrous weight of single grains ;" 
 
 these grains being " the burdens of a wintry store." 
 
 A similar idea was probably entertained by Rogers, 
 
 when he penned the harmonious couplet, — 
 
 " How oft, when purple evening tinged the west, 
 We watch'd the emmet to her grainy nest."
 
 142 THE POPULAR NOTION ERRONEOUS. 
 
 But it is unnecessary to multiply quotations to 
 show, that among all our popular writers, as well as 
 among our agricultural population, who might be 
 supposed to have the best means of observing the 
 habits of the ant, she is universally represented as 
 storing up food, and providing for the wants of 
 winter. Yet, universally as this opinion has pre- 
 vailed, it is not the less erroneous, and no species of 
 ant has yet been discovered, which thus hoards up 
 grain. The mistake seems to have had its origin in 
 observing the ants carrying their young in the state 
 of pupse, which in size and shape somewhat resemble 
 a grain of com ; and this opinion would be strength- 
 ened by seeing the ant occasionally gnawing the end 
 of one of these little oblong bodies, as if to extract 
 the substance of the grain, but, in reality, to hberate 
 the enclosed insect from its confinement. Shakspeare, 
 in his notice of this insect, has shown his usual ac- 
 curacy of observation, when he says, — " We '11 set 
 thee to school to an ant, to teach thee there is no 
 labouring in the winter ;" for the ants in these 
 countries lie dormant during that season, and con- 
 sequently do not require food for their su])port. It is 
 possible that in warmer climates we may yet discover 
 some species which do not pass the winter in a dor- 
 mant state, and which, of course, would require a 
 supply of food. But, so far as our acquaintance with
 
 ONLY ONCE MENTIONED BY SHAKSPEARE. 143 
 
 their modes of life at present extends, no species of 
 ant whatever hoards up grain. When Solomon, 
 therefore, describes the ant " as providing her meat 
 in the summer," he intimates, that she employs in- 
 dustry in taking advantage of the season proper to 
 accomplish a specific purpose ; and in this respect, 
 we may all " consider her ways and be wdse." 
 
 The appearance of a plain, on which numerous 
 colonies of ants have reared their mansions, has been 
 beautifully described by "Wordsworth : — 
 
 " The intelliffence that makes 
 
 The tiny creatures strong by social league 
 Supports the generations, multiplies 
 Their tribes, till we behold a spacious plain 
 Or grassy bottom, all with little hills, 
 Tlieir labour, cover'd as a lake with waves ; 
 Thousands of cities in the desert place. 
 Built up of Life, and food, and means of life ! " 
 
 The Excursion. 
 
 It is somewhat remarkable, that an insect so well 
 known, should, throughout all the dramatic works of 
 Shakspeare, be but once mentioned ; when others, 
 not more attractive, are so frequently introduced. 
 Perhaps, as the industry of the ant is the quality for 
 which it is conspicuous, it did not admit of the 
 variety of simile, or of the light and fanciful analogies 
 essential for the purposes of the poet. Instead, how- 
 ever, of indulging in what can only be regarded as 
 conjectural, I shall for a moment forsake the writings
 
 144 HONEY-DEW. 
 
 of " my very noble and approved good master," to 
 mention a circumstance which can easily be verified 
 by your owti observation. 
 
 The first time it attracted my attention, was on a 
 fine day in the month of September, 1829. I was 
 then visiting the beautiful demesne of Lord Annesley, 
 at Castle-weUan, and noticed a holly tree, on which 
 a number of wasps were continually alighting, run- 
 ning rapidly over its leaves, and flitting from branch 
 to branch. A number of hoUy trees were scattered 
 over the lawn ; but not one exhibited the same exhi- 
 larating bustle. I sat down beside it, to endeavour 
 to ascertain what peculiar attraction this tree pos- 
 sessed, and soon found that the wasps were not its 
 only visitors. A number of ants were plodding 
 quietly along the twigs and leaves, exhibiting, by 
 their staid and regular deportment, a singular con- 
 trast to the rapid and vacillating movements of the 
 wasps. I now discovered, that both ants and wasps 
 were attracted by a substance which was plentifully 
 sprinkled over all the leaves, — the celebrated honey- 
 dew of the poets. This substance has furnished 
 Shakspeare with a touching and pathetic simile, 
 which he has put into the mouth of Titus Andronicus — 
 
 "When I did name her brother, then fresh tears 
 Stood on her cheeks ; as doth the honey-dew 
 Upon a gather'd lily almost wither'd."— .4c^ ///. Sc. I.
 
 ECONOMY OF ANTS. 145 
 
 Honey-dew, instead of being, as Pliny conjectures, 
 the saliva of the stars, or a liquid produced by the 
 purgation of the air, is a secretion deposited by 
 a small insect, which is green upon the rose-tree 
 and black upon the wood-bine, and which Entomolo- 
 gists distinguish by the generic name of Aphis. The 
 liquid they deposit is perfectly pure, and rivals either 
 sugar or honey in its sweetness. The ants not 
 only suck it up with eagerness, whenever it can be 
 found, but they possess the art of making the aphides 
 yield it, by patting them gently with their antennae ; 
 and one particular species of ant is said to confine the 
 aphides in apartments constructed solely for that pur- 
 pose, to supply them with food, to protect them from 
 danger, and to take, in ever}' respect, as much care 
 of them as we should do of our milch cattle. 
 
 This may seem wonderful, nay, perhaps incredible. 
 But, for a full confirmation of its accuracy, and for a 
 delightful exposition of other facts not less surprising, 
 I refer you to M. P. Ruber's work on Ants, and con- 
 clude my present lengthened epistle in the words of 
 that accurate observer : — " The more the wonders of 
 nature have attractions for me, the less do I feel in- 
 clined to alter them by a mixture of the reveries of 
 imagination." 
 
 It is probable this letter will scarcely have been 
 closed, until I shall remember some circumstance
 
 146 
 
 SHAKSPEARE S CLIFF. 
 
 which I would not willingly have omitted. Such, 
 at least, has been the case in my former letters, 
 even with respect to passages penned by Shakspeare 
 himself. Thus, in speaking of beetles, a line was 
 overlooked, with which I have been familiar, "even 
 from my boyish days," and which gives a most forci- 
 ble idea of the dizzy altitude of Dover cliflf : — 
 
 " The crows and chougrhs that wing- the midway air, 
 Show scarce so gross as beetles." — Lear, Act IV. Sc. VI. 
 
 Should you take the trouble of directing my notice 
 to similar omissions, I shall heartily rejoice, as it will 
 afford the best proof of your interest being now 
 awakened.
 
 '■ 0' my word, tbe father'3 son . I'll swear 'tis a very pretty boy. O ray irctli. 
 I looked upon liim o" Wednesday half an hour together. " — " I saw him run after 
 a gMded butterfly- 
 
 CORIOLiNCS, ACT I. SO. Ill 
 
 The individuals I have now to bring before you, 
 are the most admired of all the insect tribes. In 
 expanse of wing, and beauty of colouring, they stand 
 unrivalled. Some are scarcely distinguishable from 
 the leaves of plants or the trunks of trees on whicli 
 they repose ; others are of the most unsullied white, 
 
 " Pure as the snow-flake ere it falls to earth." 
 
 Some exhibit gorgeous metallic hues ; and others 
 display an azure equal in its intensitj'' to that of the
 
 148 BUTTERFLIES. 
 
 summer sky at noon. Nor are the markings of their 
 wings and bodies less varied, or less attractive. 
 Lines, dots, circles, triangles, parallelograms, may 
 there be noticed, mingled in endless variety, and 
 shomng, that even in her most playful freaks, the 
 colouring of nature is at all times beautiful. But 
 the butterfly has to us a charm superior to all its 
 external claims to admiration. It is among insects. 
 what the primrose is among flowers — the prize of 
 our childhood, and the object of our boyish exertion. 
 What " young hunter of the butterfly and bee" 
 does not recollect how eagerly it was pursued, 
 the fear of wet feet or of soiled clothes, and aU the 
 cautions of mamma, totally forgotten } A tumble over 
 some concealed drain is disregarded ; the object of 
 pursuit is neared, — it is struck down on the grass, — 
 the rim of the hat is slowly raised, — and oh ! how 
 proud is the little urchin to find his captive safe and 
 unharmed wdthin ! But alas ! such delights are 
 transitory. The prisoner, by one vigorous dart, may 
 regain his freedom ; or, if retained in durance, soon 
 loses a portion of his beauty. The wings, touched 
 by the fingers, part with some of their colouring, 
 and justify the propriet}'- of Shakspeare's epithet of 
 "mealy." If, however, this "mealy" substance be 
 examined under a lens, it will be found not to consist 
 of fine dust, but of minute scales, preser^^ng a regular 
 
 I
 
 UNIVERSALLY DIFFUSED. 149 
 
 and peculiar form, and differing in the different 
 families. It is from the circumstance of the wings 
 being thus covered with scales, that the term Lepido- 
 ptera has been employed, to express the distinguishing 
 characteristic of the order to which the different kinds 
 of butterflies, spliinxes, and moths belong. 
 
 Such are the insects which are to "furnish forth," 
 I hope not "coldly," the materials for the present 
 " banquet :" and, as among these the butterflies are 
 generally \'iewed as the most important, I shall com- 
 mence with them ; adding occasionally, to use the 
 language of Justice Shallow, "any pretty little tiny 
 kickshaws." 
 
 I may first, however, remark that the lepidopterous 
 insects are universally diffused. In the flower-garden, 
 they flit from blossom to blossom ; in the pastures, they 
 rise almost from under your feet ; on the mountain, 
 they dart forth as you rustle through the heather ; in 
 the forest, they attract your notice, glancing through 
 its brightand sunny glades, or motionless as the lichens 
 which variegate the trunks of its leafy monarchs. 
 Not content with the possession of ubiquity out of 
 doors, they enter into our dwellings, and are found 
 even in the recesses of our chambers. They are 
 fitted, not only for every place, but for every season. 
 Some appear with the violets of spring, some \nth the 
 roses of summer, some with the dahlias of autumn, and
 
 150 THE DECEMBER MOTH. 
 
 one, at least, with the chrysanthemums of winter. It 
 is strange, that beings so fragile should be found at a 
 season so inclement; but He who has constructed the 
 snowdrop, so as to bear, uninjured, the drifting 
 storms of February, has enabled a small, darkish - 
 coloured moth to endure the rigour of December, 
 
 " Wien milk comes frozen home in pail." 
 
 Love's Labour Lost, Act V. Sc. U. 
 
 This little visitant is not diiScult to find. In suc- 
 cessive years, I have observed it in the sheltered 
 
 Larva, Pupa, and Imago of Hipparchia pamphilus. 
 
 walks of our botanic garden ; and the name by which 
 it is distinguished, the December moth {Eriogaster 
 populi), marks well the season of its appearance. 
 
 As all butterflies appear by day, and as they are 
 objects equally beautiful and conspicuous, it may be 
 expected that they are not unfrequently introduced
 
 BUTTERFLY A SYMBOL OF THE SOUL. 151 
 
 into poetic compositions. Long ere the Italian poet 
 had dared to designate the insect as "V angeUca 
 farfalla," the ancients had found in its transform- 
 ations a symbol of the vague and shadowy ideas they 
 entertained of the life of man here, of his repose in 
 the tomb, and of the probability of a more glorious 
 state of being hereafter. The Egyptian fable, as it is 
 supposed to be, of " Cupid and Psyche," seems built 
 upon this foundation. "Psyche," says an ingenious 
 and learned writer, " means in Greek, the human 
 soul ; and it means also, a butterfly ; of which ap- 
 parently strange double sense, the undoubted reason 
 is, that a butterfly was a very ancient symbol of the 
 soul. From the prevalence of this symbol, and the 
 consequent coincidence of the names, it happened 
 that the Greek sculptors frequently represented 
 Psyche as subject to Cupid, in the shape of a butter- 
 fly ; and that even when she appears in their works 
 under the human form, we find her decorated with 
 the light and filmy wings of that gay insect."* 
 
 The existence of the butterfly is so associated with 
 pleasing ideas, and apparently so removed from 
 aught that is irksome, that in Tliomson's "Castle 
 of Indolence," we find the Wizard, in the very first 
 verse of his "syren melody," brings forward the con- 
 dition of this insect, as contrasted with that of man: — 
 * Nare's Essays, i. 101, quoted by Kirby and Spence, iv. 74,
 
 152 NOTICES OF IT BY THE POET&", 
 
 " Behold ! ye pilgrims of this earth, behold ! 
 See all, but man, with unearn'd pleasure gay : 
 See her brig-ht robes the butterfly unfold, 
 Broke from her wintry tomb in prime of May '. 
 What youtliful bride can equal her array ? 
 Who can, with her, for easy pleasure vie ? 
 From mead to mead with gentle wing to stray, 
 From flower to flower on balmy gales to fly, 
 
 Is all she hath to do beneath the radiant sky." 
 
 Stanza IX. 
 
 Wordsworth hath noticed the butterfly in a manner 
 to which the feelings of every naturalist will respond : 
 
 — — " Tlie mute insect, fix'd upon the plant 
 On whose soft leaves it hangs, and from whose cup 
 Drains imperceptibly its nourishment, 
 Endear'd my wanderings." The Exemsion. 
 
 He has again depicted the same insect when she 
 springs from her place of momentary rest, and wings 
 her wandering and changeful flight high in the sum- 
 mer air : — 
 
 " Before your sight, 
 
 Mounts on the breeze the butterfly, and soars. 
 Small creature as she is, from earth's bright flowers 
 Into the dewy clouds." Idem. 
 
 The flight is so variable, so inconstant, so fai- 
 beyond any laws which we can lay down for its 
 guidance or its object, that Mrs. Hemans has likened 
 the butterfly to 
 
 "an embotlied breeze at play." 
 
 In Lord Byron's "Giaour," a highly popular passage 
 on this subject is to be found ; one where, however,
 
 ITS INCONSTANT FLIGHT. 153 
 
 we dissent from the conclusion, as forcibly as we 
 admire the description. The beginning is the only 
 part I have occasion to quote : — 
 
 " As, rising on its purple wing', 
 The insect-queen of Eastern spring, 
 O'er emerald meadows of Kashmeer 
 Invites the young pursuer near. 
 And leads him on, from flower to flower, 
 A weary chase, and wasted hour." 
 
 Moore has introduced these insects amid the splen- 
 dour of " The Light of the Haram :" — 
 
 " And they, before whose sleepy- eyes. 
 
 In their own bright Kathain bowers, 
 Sparkle such rainbow butterflies ; 
 
 Tliat they might fancy the rich flowers 
 That round them in the sun lay sighing, 
 Had been by magic all set flying I " 
 
 The flight of the butterfly, thus beautifully described 
 by the two most distinguished poets of the present 
 day, has not been passed by Shakspeare unnoticed 
 or unrecorded. "When Valeria visits Virgilia during 
 the absence of Coriolanus, she asks — " How does 
 your little son.?" and her question having been 
 answered, she proceeds in the strain most likely to 
 gratify his mother : — "O' my word, the father's son ; 
 I'll swear 'tis a very pretty boy. O' my troth, I looked 
 upon him o' Wednesday half an hour together." — 
 " I saw him run after a gilded butterfly ; and when he 
 caught it, he let it go again ; and after it again, and
 
 154 YELLOW BRIMSTONE BUTTERFLY. 
 
 over and over he comes, and up again ; catch'd it 
 again : or whether his fall enraged him, or how 'twas, 
 he did so set his teeth, and tear it. O ! I warrant how 
 he mammock'd it." — (Act I. Sc.III.) 
 
 The determination and absence of all fear wliich 
 boys evince in the pursuit, has supphed a forcible 
 simile at the time when Marcius, joined with the 
 Volscians, is approaching Rome with the irresistible 
 fury of a conqueror : — 
 
 " He is their God : he leads them like a thing 
 Made by some other deity than Nature, 
 That shapes man better ; and they follow him 
 Against us brats, with no less confidence 
 Than boys pursuing summer butterflies. 
 Or butchers killing flies."— Act IV. Sc. VI. 
 
 The same species of butterfly may be more easily 
 taken at one season of the year than at another. 
 Thus, the yellow brimstone butterfly {Gonepterix 
 Rhamni), I have been told, is in spring vigorous in 
 all its movements, and requires active exertion before 
 it can be secured. In the autumn, it is so sluggish, 
 that I have, on more than one occasion, lifted it 
 between my finger and thumb. This insect has 
 never been taken in the neighbourhood of Belfast. 
 The late J.Templeton, Esq., was of opinion, that on 
 one occasion he had seen it, but at such a distance, 
 as to render him uncertain of the fact. On the 4th 
 of July, 1829, I watched one for some time on
 
 VISUAL POWERS OF THE BUTTERFLY. 155 
 
 the quay of Belfast ; but as a crowded wharf is a 
 place but iU adapted for racing after butterflies, I 
 had to allow the unusual visitant to escape, but not 
 until I had been several times so near, as to preclude 
 the possibility of any mistake as to the insect. I 
 have taken it in the neighbourhood of Portarlington, 
 in the Queen's County, where it is always considered 
 extremely rare. In the Spirehill wood, near to the 
 same town, I have met in great abundance one of 
 the most beautiful native butterflies, the silver-streak 
 {Argynnis Paphia). It appeared, in quantity, to be 
 almost equal to the pretty little brimstone moth 
 {Rumia cratcegata), which flies in the dusk of 
 evening under the hawthorn hedges. I have never 
 seen any species of butterfly in the same profusion, 
 not even the common white. Yet, in the immediate 
 vicinity of Belfast, this insect is never seen. The 
 only parts of the north of Ireland in which I am 
 aware of its existence, are Tullamore Park, county 
 Down, and Shane's Castle Park, county Antrim. 
 An instance of the visual powers of this insect fell 
 under my observation. Being in the Spirehill wood 
 with two young friends, each armed with a butterfly 
 net, the boys were enjoying, with great glee, the 
 sport which the place aflforded. One of them, in 
 the excitement of the moment, made "one fell 
 swoop" with the net at one of the Paphian butter-
 
 156 SILVER-SPOT BUTTERFLY. 
 
 flies. The steel rim of the net unfortunately struck 
 the insect so forcibly as nearly to cut it in two, and 
 render it useless as a specimen for the cabinet. The 
 mutilated body was lying on the grass, and we were 
 awaiting the further appearance of this " untaxed 
 and unforbidden game," when an individual came in 
 sight, flitted to the branch of a tree, and then darted 
 in a straight line on the body of his deceased com- 
 panion. He rested there but a moment, and then 
 flew boldly away. The branch of the tree could not 
 have been less than twelve or fourteen feet from the 
 place where the dead butterfly lay. The other, to 
 have acted as he did, must have had distinct vision at 
 that distance. May I, my deai' Arnold, while I com- 
 municate the circumstance, beg you will follow it up 
 by further observation, and ascertain, if possible, at 
 what distance insects of the diff'erent kinds seem 
 capable of distingiiishing objects. 
 
 There is a butterfly very similar to the one last 
 mentioned, but the silver tints on the lower sides of 
 its wings are arranged in spots, and not in streaks. 
 It is called, therefore, the silver-spot butterfly 
 (Argj/nnis Aglaia). Tliis insect is not found at 
 Portarlington, but has been observed by Mr. Hynd- 
 man at Briansford, with the preceding species. Two 
 butterflies, which I have never seen on the wing, have 
 been taken by the same gentleman : one the grayling
 
 LOCALITIES OF INSECTS. 157 
 
 (Hipparchia Semele), on the Knockagh, near Carrick- 
 fersrus, and on the strand at Portstewart ; the other, 
 the painted lady {Cynthia Cardui) , near the town of 
 Antrim, on one occasion only. 
 
 In speaking of the latter, Mr. Knapp remarks, — 
 " This is a creature that visits us at very uncertain 
 periods, and is vivified by causes infinitely beyond the 
 comprehension of the Entomologist, seeming to re- 
 quire a succession and variety of seasons and their 
 changes, and then springing into life we know not 
 how." * 
 
 From what has been stated, it is obvious that the 
 butterflies of different disti-icts differ much from each 
 other. The same holds good with respect to all the 
 other insect tribes, and gives an additional stimulus 
 to the exertions of the collector and the entomologist. 
 It is, however, a very curious subject for observation 
 and inquiry. The question continually recurs, — 
 Why are they so local } "^liy, when we can detect 
 no difference in the temperature or in the produc- 
 tions of two adjoining districts, are insects to be 
 found in the one, which are never met with in the 
 other ? To this we can give no satisfactory reply. 
 It is one of those things to which human knowledge 
 has not yet attained. It is, perhaps, a mystery 
 which we shall never be able to unfold. Who could 
 
 * Journal of a Naturalist, p. 290.
 
 158 SPECIES FOUND NEAR BELFAST. 
 
 declare that the senses of insects are like to our 
 senses, or their perceptions similar to those of man. 
 May they not observe differences, nay, contrasts, 
 where, to our eye, all seems uniformity ? May 
 they not, 
 
 " Wliere full instinct is the unerring g^de," 
 
 {Essay on Man, Epistle III.) 
 
 possess means of discrimination of which we can 
 form no idea ? 
 
 This part of the country cannot be considered rich 
 in the variety of its Papilionidse. Besides the white 
 butterflies, which are common everywhere, we have 
 several of different shades of browTi (Hipparchia 
 j^geria, Megcera, Janira, Hyperanthus, and Pamphi- 
 lus); nor do we want the beautiful little copper 
 butterfly (Lyccena Phlcsas). Of the blue, of which 
 there are fifteen species in England, we have only 
 one {Polyommatus Dorylas). Early in spring, the 
 bright wings of the orange-tip butterflies (Mancipium 
 cardamines) are to be seen flitting over the meadows, 
 fresh and bright as the young flowers which bloom 
 on every sunny bank, or the feathery catkins which 
 the wiUow waves above the stream. Their appear- 
 ance inspires " vernal delight and joy," and betokens 
 the near approach of that warmer season, when 
 
 "Ten thousand forms, ten thousand different tribes. 
 People the blaze." 
 
 Thomson'* Summer. 
 
 i
 
 NOT VERY NUMEROUS. 159 
 
 During the summer, we have the tortoise-shell 
 butterfly (Vanessa urticee) unfolding his variegated 
 
 Tortoise-shell Bufterfly, just emerged from the Chrysalis. 
 
 wings on every sunny ditch along the road-side. 
 With the fruits of autumn, we have the admiral 
 butterfly ( Fawessa Atalanta), occasionally plentiful in 
 September, and even enjoying the gleams of sun- 
 shine which give a waning lustre to October. But 
 all these added together would scarcely amount to 
 twenty difi^erent species — a number small indeed, 
 compared with what some other parts of Britain 
 aiFord. 
 
 One which is extremely common in England, is 
 here totally wanting. I allude to that wliich exhibits 
 in its decorations the splendid eyes which adorn the 
 tail of the peacock, and whose velvet colouring is so
 
 160 OTHER IRISH SPECIES. 
 
 soft, SO rich, and so resplendent, that the attendants 
 of Titania, when ordered by their mistress, in her 
 passion for "Bottom the weaver," to 
 
 " pluck the ■(vina;s from painted butteiilies, 
 
 To fan the moon-beams from his sleeping eyes," — 
 
 (Midsummer Nighfs Dream, Act III. Sc. I.) 
 
 could select none more gorgeous or more beautiful. 
 The peacock butterfly (Vanessa lo), for so it is 
 named, is found, though very rarely, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Portarlington ; in the south of Ireland 
 it is comparatively abundant, if I may judge from the 
 numerous specimens which I have received from 
 Cork. 
 
 Some of the species now mentioned are found in 
 countries very remote from each other. Among a 
 very small number of Papilionidse, brought to me 
 from Port Hope, in Upper Canada, Phleas Aglaia and 
 Atalanta are found, and one almost, but not perfectly. 
 identical with Cardui. And in a collection from 
 " the frosty Caucasus," and now in the Museum 
 of the Royal Institution of London, may be observed, 
 I am told, lo, Paphia, Cardui, Dorylas, and Atalanta . 
 
 I shall not, at present, dwell longer on this attrac- 
 tive family, than merely to direct your attention to 
 the manner in which the term " gilded butterflies" is 
 applied by Shakspeare to gay, trifling, insignificant 
 persons. The phrase occurs when Lear is about
 
 THE SPHINXES. 161 
 
 being committed to confinement w'ith Cordelia, 
 towards whom he had previously confessed the in- 
 justice of his conduct. The old monarch, " four- 
 score and upwards," addresses his daughter in a man- 
 ner at once so natural and so pathetic, that the pas- 
 sage can scarcely be read without emotion : — 
 
 " "Come, let 's away to prison. 
 
 AVe two alone will sing' like birds i' the cage : 
 When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down 
 And ask of thee forgiveness : So we'll live, 
 And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh 
 At gilded .butterflies, and hear poor rogues 
 Talk of court news ; and we'll talk with them too, 
 Who loses, and who wins ; who 's in, who 's out ; 
 And take upon us the mystery of things, 
 As if we were God's spies." 
 
 Lear, Xct\. So. III. 
 
 The second great division of Lepidopterous insects 
 is that comprising the Sphinxes. Tliis name is applied 
 in consequence of the attitude assumed by the cater- 
 pillar, the head being held erect, so as to give the 
 figure, at a little distance, a resemblance to that 
 of the Egyptian sphinx. Of course you Avill not 
 find the term in Shakspeare, as it is one used only by 
 Entomologists, as a convenient designation to denote 
 a particular division of the objects of their research. 
 Unlike the butterflies, the spliinxes do not in general 
 delight in the bright and warm sunsliine of noon ; 
 they prefer the cooler hours of the morning and 
 evening. At such times, some species may be seen 
 
 M
 
 162 SPECIES TAKEN NEAR BELFAST. 
 
 darting along ■udth great power and rapidity, or 
 hovering over the flowers, from which they draw their 
 nutriment. The flexible tube which they insert 
 among the blossoms for this purpose, is sometimes of 
 considerable length. In a specimen of Sphinx con- 
 volvuli taken at Londonderry, and brought to me 
 alive by the guard of her Majesty's mail, it is nearly 
 three inches long. When not in use, this " tongue," 
 to use the popular name, is curled up like the cor- 
 responding organ in butterflies. The only sphinxes 
 yet taken in this neighbourhood, are the following, 
 and many of them are of rare occurrence : — Anthro- 
 cera Filipendulce, the six-spotted bumet ; Smerinthus 
 ocellatus, the eyed hawk-moth ; Smerinthus populi, 
 the poplar hawk-moth ; Sphinx convolvuU, the con- 
 volvulus hawk-moth ; Deilephila Elpenor, the ele- 
 phant hawk-moth ; Macroglossa stellatarum, the 
 humming-bird moth ; Sesia bombyliformis, the 
 narrow-bordered bee-moth ; Trochilium crabroni- 
 formis, the lunar hornet. 
 
 I may add to this list the most remarkable of 
 them all — the death's-head sphinx {Acherontia Atro- 
 pos). It is also the largest, for its wings, when ex- 
 panded, measure four inches and three-quarters 
 across. The insect is named from the peculiar mark- 
 ings on its thorax ; and as it possesses the power of 
 uttering a shriU and plaintive cry, it has from these
 
 death's-head sphinx. 163 
 
 two circumstances been regarded by the ignorant as 
 an object of superstitious terror. By such, the " very 
 
 Death's-head Moth. 
 
 shining of its eyes is thought to represent the fiery 
 element, whence it is supposed to have proceeded. 
 Flying into their apartments in the evening, it at 
 times extinguishes the light, foretelling war, pesti- 
 lence, hunger, death, to man and beast." * 
 
 The caterpillar is of considerable size, and remark- 
 able both in its form and colouring ; yet I have never 
 seen one alive, nor have I heard of its being ob- 
 served in any of the potato fields in this vicinity. 
 This may arise partly from their being few in 
 number, and partly from their lying concealed in 
 the day time, and feeding principally during the 
 night. 
 
 The remaining insects of the order Lepidoptera are 
 comprised under the general name of " Moth." This 
 * Journal of a Naturalist, p. 328. 
 
 M 2
 
 164 THE WORD "moth" IN SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 term does not awaken many pleasing associations. 
 In the minds of most people, it stands for an insect 
 either contemptible from its size and inertness, or 
 positively obnoxious from its attacks on many articles 
 of clothing. The destructive power it exerts, is 
 referred to by Pope, when contrasting the false with 
 the true critics : — 
 
 " Some on the leaves of ancient authors pre>'. 
 Nor time, nor moths, e'er spoil'd so much as they." 
 
 Essay on Criticism, Line 112. 
 
 Shakspeare employs the word " moth," to denote 
 something trifling or extremely minute ; and a doubt 
 may be entertained, whether, in some passages, he 
 intended any reference to the insect. Thus, in the 
 touching appeal of Prince Arthur to Hubert, 
 
 " Arthur. — Is there no remedy ? 
 
 Hubert.— 'Sone ; but to lose your eyes. 
 
 Arthur. — Oh Heaven ! that there were but a moth in yours ; 
 A grain, a dust, a g'nat, a wandering hair. 
 Any annoyance in that precious sense ! 
 Then, feeling what small things are boist'rous there. 
 Your vile intent must needs seem horrible." 
 
 King John, Act IV. So. I. 
 
 In the same manner we have, 
 
 "A moth will turn the balance." 
 
 Midsummer Nighfs Dream, Act V. Sc. I. 
 
 And in " King Henry the Fifth," — 
 
 "Wash every moth out of his conscience." — Act I. Sc. IV. 
 
 Vou may, perhaps, then, not be prepared to learn.
 
 VARIOUS SPECIES OF MOTHS. 165 
 
 that there are many moths not inferior in size or 
 beauty even to the butterflies, though they cannot, like 
 their diurnal brethren, boast of " troops of friends." 
 There is one in my cabinet at present, bred from a 
 caterpillar found in the lawn of the Royal Academical 
 Institution, which measures nearly three inches and 
 a half across the expanded wings. It is of a deep 
 fawn colour, and is kno^vn by the name of the oak- 
 moth (Lasciocampa quercus). The emperor (Saturnia 
 pavonia-minor) is of equal dimensions, and from the 
 splendour of his decorations well deserves his impe- 
 rial title. It is one of the largest and most conspi- 
 cuous species, — taken, although rarely, in this neigh- 
 bourhood. A few others may also be mentioned, as 
 the buff- tip {Pygeera bucephala), the ghost moth 
 (Hepialus humuli), the great tiger moth (Arctia 
 caja), the large sword-grass (Calocampa exoleta), and 
 the great bro\\Ti-bar moth (Mormo maurd). The 
 latter insect I have never seen alive ; but know that 
 it has been obsen^ed here by others. It was also 
 seen about the Weir, at Portarlington, this autumn, 
 alighting on the under surface of any projecting 
 ledge on the stepping stones, and turning over while 
 on the wing in a singular manner, so as to effect this 
 object. I may add to these the puss moth {Cerura 
 vinula), an insect, however, which is here of rare 
 occurrence. Two chrj'salids of an unusual appear-
 
 166 CLASSIC MOTHS. 
 
 ance were found at Carnmoney some years ago, and 
 being put under the charge of Mr. Hyndman, pro- 
 duced in time a male and female of this species. 
 An empty pupa case of the same insect was observed 
 at Wolf-hiU. These occurrences were sufficient to 
 prove that the moth frequented this locality ; but I 
 never knew of one being actually taken on the wing 
 until this summer, when a single specimen was sent 
 to me alive from Hollywood, county Down. In the 
 south of Ireland, on the contrary, the puss-moth 
 must at times be extremely abundant ; for in Septem- 
 ber, 1831, I was shown, at the Cove of Cork, some 
 young poplar trees which had been nearly destroyed 
 the preceding summer by the caterpillars of this 
 insect. I procured, at the same place, a wicker 
 basket, in which some of the larvae had been confined, 
 and where they had formed their cocoons by rasping 
 off small portions of the woody fibre, and cementing 
 it so strongly together, as not to be penetrated with- 
 out difficulty, even by the blade of a pen-knife. 
 
 Perhaps, however, the moths may prove more 
 attractive to you, " learned Theban," when they 
 assume the garb of learning. Know, then, that 
 there are two species which adopt not the costume of 
 our universities, but two different Greek letters, as 
 the "badge of all their tribe," and wear them very 
 conspicuously emblazoned on their wings : one of
 
 INGENIOUS DEVICE OF A BIRD. 167 
 
 them is hence called Gamma, the other Iota. WTiat 
 other creatures could so appropriately claim such 
 classic titles .'' I do not propose giving you a list of 
 our moths, as I did of our butterflies and sphinxes. 
 Tlieir number precludes such an attempt. I know 
 fully two hundred species taken in the neighbour- 
 hood of Belfast, and this is but a small portion of 
 those which are probably to be found. Among them 
 exists, as might be expected, considerable diversity 
 vnth respect to their habitats : a very numerous tribe 
 is found among our pasture fields, and its members 
 are only driven from their lurking places by the pas- 
 sage of some object through the grass. This year, 
 I noticed a very common httle bird, one of the wag- 
 tails {Motacilla alba), adopt an ingenious plan for 
 their capture. A cow was grazing, and of course 
 passing slowly along, with her head close to the 
 ground : the little bird placed itself so as to be almost 
 in contact with her mouth, and hopped along as she 
 advanced, seizing the moths which rose out of the 
 grass at her approach. The cow paid no attention 
 to the bird, and the bird seemed perfectly fearless 
 with respect to the cow. Was there not reason as 
 well as instinct in this procedure ? 
 
 It is an unaccountable fact, that the night-flying 
 insects, which shun the glare of the sunshine, and 
 delight in darkness, should yet be so strongly
 
 168 LEAF-MINING CATERPILLARS. 
 
 attracted by a light, as not only to hover around it, 
 
 but even to fly into the flame. The practice is, 
 
 however, so general, though so inexpUcable, that 
 
 when Portia says, 
 
 " Thus hath the candle singled the moth, " 
 
 (Merchant of Venice, Act II. Sc. IX.) 
 
 she uses an illustration with which every one is 
 familiar, and mentions an action which the spectator 
 cannot behold without his sympathy being disagree- 
 ably, if not painfully excited. 
 
 While sauntering " under the greenwood tree," 
 you can scarcely have failed to observe, that the 
 foliage presents, occasionally, a perforated or torn 
 appearance ; but, perhaps, you were not aware that the 
 little beings by whom this was occasioned, were, in 
 most instances, the caterpillars of moths. Their opera- 
 tions are not always carried on in so open a manner : 
 some species conceal themselves within the leaf, and 
 there feed upon its pulp, without breaking through 
 the membranous tissue of the surface. Nay, even 
 the thickness of a leaf, trifling though it be, is more 
 than they require ; the one-half of that extent giving 
 scope enough for their operations. Of this, you can 
 easily convince yourself, by examining the leaves of 
 some of your rose trees, or of the common bramble of 
 our hedges, or any of those indigenous plants of lowlier 
 growth, which adorn the sloping bank, or perfume
 
 POETICAL DESCRIPTIONS OF THE CATERPILLAR. 169 
 
 the margin of the rivulet. On many of them you 
 will perceive, on the upper surface, curious, irregular, 
 and generally tortuous lines, presenting, however, 
 some diversity both in form and colour. These are 
 the indications which tell that the little mining cater- 
 pillars of some of our moths have been at work, and 
 have been there enjoying their appointed food. There 
 is tiuth, as well as poetry, therefore, in the descrip- 
 tion given by Thomson : — 
 
 " The flowery leaf 
 
 Wants not its soft inhabitants. Secure 
 
 Within its winding citadel, the stone 
 
 Holds multitudes. But chief the forest boughs, 
 
 That dance, unnumber'd, to the playful breeze, 
 
 The downward orchard, and the melting pulp 
 
 Of mellow fruit, the nameless nations feed 
 
 Of evanescent insects." — Summer, p. 50, ed. 1803. 
 
 The skilful and deUcate manner in which these 
 little beings conduct their operations, is so truly won- 
 derful, that Young, after the descriptive line, 
 
 " Each flower, each leaf, with its small people swarm'd ;" 
 
 does not hesitate to term the little artisans 
 
 "Tliose puny vouchers of Omnipotence." 
 
 yight Thought, X. 9. 
 
 It must have been the long-continued habit of ob- 
 serving them in their different modes of life, — of 
 watching some assuming the lifeless appearance of 
 twigs of trees ; others, swinging on " their tree- 
 rocked cradles," or excavating their fanciful dwell-
 
 170 REMARKS ON THE 
 
 ings amid the foliage, that inspired Crabbe, when he 
 penned the following passage : — 
 
 " He knew the plants in mountain, wood, or mead ; 
 He knew the worms that on the foliage feed ; 
 Knew the small tribes that 'scape the careless eye, 
 ITie plant's disease, that breeds the embryo fly ; 
 And the small creatures, who, on bank or bough, 
 Enjoy their changes, — changed we know not how. 
 But now the imperfect being scarcely moves, 
 And now takes wing, and seeks the sky it loves." 
 
 Tales of the Hall, Vol. I. 
 
 It is no mean recommendation of my favourite 
 science, that she can thus discover, in the partial 
 destruction of bark or foliage, a source of high in- 
 tellectual gratification. When I consider, that ever>' 
 leaf may, in this manner, become a study, and one 
 single tree supply a fund of pleasing thoughts, and 
 grateful emotions, literally inexhaustible, I feel 
 
 " I am as rich, in having such a jewel, 
 As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, 
 The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold." 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act II. Sc. IV. 
 
 In a former letter, I noticed " the want of analog)^ 
 between the sensations of insects and our owti ;" on 
 which interesting subject, a communication was 
 made by the Rev. C. S. Bird, to the British Associa- 
 tion for Science, 1832. In this paper, the arguments 
 are in part founded on observations made on insects 
 of the order now under consideration ; and I accord • 
 ingly feel warranted in presenting you with the fol- 
 lowing extracts on the subject.
 
 SENSATIONS OF INSECTS. 171 
 
 "If in any case an insect feel pain, nothing, we 
 should imagine, could call forth the feeling more than 
 the act of passing a pin through its thorax, a part 
 which we know to be peculiarly sensitive. It is, in 
 fact, this ver)'^ act of ^dolence, equivalent to spearing 
 a wild boar or a salmon, which is most revolting to 
 observers ; and if their compassion can be shown to 
 be misplaced in this case, they will hardly, I believe, 
 appeal to any other," 
 
 The reverend author, after mentioning the quies- 
 cent state of a moth when pierced, thus continues : — 
 " The fluttering is the symptom, the only symptom, 
 by which people in general are convinced that an 
 insect is suffering ; but here there was no fluttering. 
 And then, to shew that even when it flutters, we are 
 not hastily to infer pain, I have suddenly and ab- 
 ruptly touched a leg, or some other part of its body, 
 but not so as to wound it, and alarmed the moth, 
 after which it has began to flutter, and finding the 
 restraint of the pin, has never ceased to flutter more 
 and more, until I destroyed it. I conclude, therefore, 
 that the \4olent struggles which excite so much pity 
 in us before we know their cause, are merely the 
 effect of alarm." * 
 
 To the accuracy of the facts here recorded, I am 
 enabled to bear testimony from my own personal 
 observation. On one occasion, last summer, a pret- 
 * Entomological Magazine, No. ii.
 
 172 EXPERIMENTS OX THE SUBJECT. 
 
 tily mottled moth (Mamestra brassicx) was pointed 
 out to me, although scarcely distinguishable in 
 colour from the lichen-coloured stone on which it 
 slept. Stooping gently down, I passed a pin through 
 the thorax of the insect, untU the point came in con- 
 tact with the stone underneath. No motion, not 
 even the slightest tremour, evdnced its consciousness 
 of being thus transfixed ; although, in the higher 
 animals, the most excruciating torture must have 
 followed such a process. But when I attempted to 
 move it, the case was altered. Tlie feet were very 
 firmly attached to the surface of the stone, and 
 therefore, in lifting the moth from it, a slight degree 
 of violence was used. This awoke the slumberer, 
 and it instantly evinced by its motions the terror 
 and desire to escape, so accurately described by 
 Mr. Bird. Soon afterwards, I tried a similar experi- 
 ment on a moth of a different species {Calyptra 
 libatrix) . On this occasion, I carried the insect down 
 four flights of stairs after its being transfixed with a 
 pin, showed it in its quiescent or seemingly torpid 
 state to some of my friends, and took it back to the 
 apartment whence it had been removed, without its 
 evincing the slightest indication of pain, or even 
 attempting to flutter, until touched and purposely 
 awakened. "Without, therefore, arguing that insects 
 are incapable of bodily suffering, we may, from these 
 facts, safely infer that, contrasted with man, they are
 
 DEPOSITION OF THE EGGS OF INSECTS. 173 
 
 endowed with a comparative insensibility to pain. 
 " The probation" of this point, bears, I hope, 
 
 " no hinge nor loop 
 
 To hang a doubt oxi."— Othello, Act III. Sc. III. 
 
 When once the Lepidoptera have attained their 
 perfect state, their lives are comparatively of short 
 duration. To provide for the continuance of the 
 species, seems, if not the sole, at least the principal 
 object of their existence. The utmost care is 
 evinced in selecting a proper place for depositing 
 the eggs, and in attaching them to that place when 
 chosen. Occasionally, however, some adverse cir- 
 cumstance happens to the parent, and prevents her 
 usual procedure. In such cases, her primary object 
 seems to be to deposit the eggs, and she does so even 
 when dj'ing. Hence the Entomologist will frequently 
 find in bis collecting-box, the eggs of the individuals 
 he has taken during his excursion, and which had 
 been transfixed and were apparently lifeless. On 
 such occasions, the eggs are propelled almost in a 
 continuous stream, and with astonishing rapidity. 
 Their vast number is of itself a subject of surprise. 
 On one occasion, a female of the ghost-moth {Hepia- 
 lus humuli), had flo^^^l into my parlour and was 
 secured. In less than half-an-hour afterwards, when 
 the moth was quite dead, the number of eggs she 
 had projected was such as to excite our wonder. We
 
 174 
 
 THEIR FECUNDITY. 
 
 counted one hundred, and as we had no dehcate 
 scales at hand to determine the matter by weight, 
 we divided them into little parcels corresponding in 
 bulk to that of the one hundred we had counted. 
 There were seven similar parcels, making, as near as 
 we could calculate by such means, eight hundred 
 eggs deposited before death by the one insect. 
 With such fecundity, we need not wonder, that after 
 supplying food to thousands of " little trooping 
 birds," each species is stiU preserved to fill its ap- 
 pointed place in the great scale of creation, and bear 
 emblazoned on its wings evidence of Creative power, 
 equal, in the mind of the philosopher, to that afforded 
 by " the great globe itself."
 
 ■' MARons.— Alas ! my lord, I have but kill'd a fly. 
 
 TiTca. — But tow, if tliat fly had a father Emd mother. 
 How would he hang his slender, gilded wings. 
 And buz lamenting doings in the air ■' 
 Poor, harmless fly :" 
 
 TITUS ANDRONICOS, iCT III. 3vT. II. 
 
 I HAVE now, my dear Arnold, to call your atten- 
 tion to the insects belonging to the order Diptera. 
 They are all furnished with two wings, as their name 
 imports, and also with two halteres or poisers, which 
 you will obsen-e behind, and generally underneath 
 the wings. The dipterous insects are very dissimilar
 
 176 THE DIPTERA. 
 
 in size and form, and, in fact, present so many marks 
 of distinction, that the British species at present 
 described amount to nearly two thousand, and there 
 are no doubt many with which we are yet unac- 
 quainted. I do not propose to bring before you the 
 habits of the numerous families into which this vast 
 assemblage of species is divided, but to confine my- 
 self principally to those mentioned by Shakspeare. 
 
 In a former letter I remarked, that the Poet seemed 
 cognizant of at least three or four different kinds, 
 each of which he distinguishes by some peculiarity 
 in its habits. One of these was the flesh-flies, or 
 those which prey on dead and decaying animal sub- 
 stances. The larvae of some of these insects con- 
 stituted the " convocation of poUtic worms," which 
 Hamlet describes as busy on the dead body of 
 Polonius. In a similar assemblage, one of the most 
 admired writers of the present day has introduced 
 the larva of the goat-moth, as the companion of the 
 earth-worm ; — 
 
 " round him now the worms are met in council ; 
 
 Cossus and Lumbricus are chosen presidents : 
 The one, because he is a judge of learning, 
 And t' other has taste in flesh." 
 
 The Temptation. — B. Cornwall. 
 
 Without pausing, at present, to inquire why these 
 individuals should be thus associated, or thus cha- 
 
 I 
 
 I
 
 FLESH-FLIES NOTICED BY SHAKSPEARE. 177 
 
 racterised, I return to Shakspeare. Now it is not a 
 little remarkable, that while he seems to suppose that 
 maggots were generated by the sun, or that " the 
 sun breeds maggots in a dead dog," he was at the 
 same time aware of the fact, that they are pro- 
 duced by a fly, who deposits on the decajdng 
 matter her eggs, or her larvse. It is curious, 
 that the two ideas could exist simultaneously — 
 that the knowledge of the latter circumstance did 
 not at once lead to the disbelief of the former. 
 But in the history of human knowledge, we meet 
 continually with such anomalies, and find the mind 
 stopping short in the midst of error, just where 
 one step farther would have placed it in the full 
 effulgence of truth. The allusions to the flesh-flies, 
 as the origin of the maggots, are numerous. When 
 Trinculo has been taken out of " the filthy mantled 
 pool," beyond the cell of Prospero, he replies to a 
 question by Alonzo, — " I have been in such a pickle 
 since I saw you last, that I fear me wiU never out of 
 my bones ; I shall not fear fly-blowing." (Tempest, 
 Act V. Sc. I.) When Imogen, in the assumed cha- 
 racter of Fidele, agrees to follow Lucius, she states 
 her determination, in the first instance, to bury the 
 supposed dead body of Posthumus, not for the pur- 
 pose of doing it honour, but of protecting it from 
 those insects : —
 
 178 UTILITY OF THESE FLIES. 
 
 " I '11 follow, Sir. But first, an't please the Gods, 
 I '11 hide my master from the flies, as deep 
 As these poor pickaxes can dig-." 
 
 Cymbeline, Act IV, Sc. II. 
 
 Ferdinand, when he avows his passion for Miranda, 
 says, I 
 
 " would no more endure 
 
 This wooden slavery, than I would suffer 
 The flesh-lly blow my mouth." 
 
 Tempest, Act III. Sc. I. 
 
 And, not to multiply quotations unnecessarily, 
 Shakspeare points out still more distinctly and un- 
 equivocally the connexion between the fly and the 
 maggot, when he says — 
 
 " these summer flies 
 
 Have blown me full of maggot ostentation." 
 
 Love's Labour Lost, Act V. Se, II. 
 
 Although our larders now and then suffer a little 
 from the attacks of these flesh-flies, the benefits they 
 confer outweigh a thousand times the injuries they 
 occasion. They are the great preservers of the 
 purity and salubrity of the air, by their instrument- 
 ality in consuming carrion, which, if left to decay by 
 the decomposition of its particles, would taint the 
 atmosphere around. To fit them the better for this im- 
 portant dut}', they are gifted with astonishing powers, 
 both of growth and of production. Tlie young of 
 one species {Musca carnaria) attain their full size in 
 
 i 
 
 ll
 
 THEIR FECUNDITY. 179 
 
 five days, and the female will give birth to twenty 
 thousand young. Hence the assertion of Linnaeus, 
 with regard to M. vomitoria, that three of these flies 
 would devour a dead horse as quickly as a lion would 
 do, astonishing as it may appear, is, perhaps, not 
 overstrained. 
 
 Not only are those flies endowed with rapidity of 
 growth, and extreme fecundity, but, to render those 
 powers available for the purposes for which they are 
 given, there is reason to believe that they possess an 
 instinct which, instead of making them keep, together 
 for companionship, prompts them to scatter widely 
 over the land in search of their fitting food, and con- 
 gregate only at the very place where their services 
 are required. Hence, they are constantly at hand 
 when wanted, and without delay commence the ful- 
 filment of their important task. I am the more 
 tempted to make this remark, from a circumstance 
 mentioned by my friend, Dr. J. L. Drummond. He 
 had procured a number of the maggots of the com- 
 mon blue-bottle fly, and had put them into a glass 
 vessel with a quantity of little pellets of paper, 
 among which they quickly buried themselves, mani- 
 festing the utmost impatience to avoid the light. 
 In about a month, they had undergone their 
 change into pupse, and were bursting their cases 
 and assuming the imago form, at the moment he 
 
 X -2
 
 180 THEIR CHANGES OF COLOUR. 
 
 chanced to direct his attention to them. For some 
 time, he was dehghted with observing the changes 
 of colour, described by him in the following words, 
 in his most deservedly popular work, " First Steps 
 to Botany." " At first," the flies, after bursting 
 from their chrysalid state, " are greyish white, 
 with a waxy transparency ; in a few seconds they 
 became bluish, in a few more like the mainspring 
 of a watch, and after some minutes, gi-eat part 
 of them is grown quite black." * He soon, how- 
 ever, noticed, that after resting a little while on the 
 walls of the apartment, they began to bestir them- 
 selves, and gained in time an open window, from 
 which the back-yard of the dweUing-house was seen, 
 surrounded on every side by high walls and build- 
 ings. The moment this position was attained, rest 
 was at an end. They opened their wings and flew 
 into the yard, not to rest upon its walls, but to hold 
 their course right into the air, above the houses 
 which hernmed them in, and thence scatter in every 
 direction fi'om the height they had attained. Of 
 hundreds which were evolved from the pupte cases, 
 not one rested in the yard, but, from the window, 
 darted right into the air, and held its unwavering 
 flight upwards. Perhaps, under such circumstances, 
 the wind might exercise a considerable influence on 
 
 Second ed. p. 149.
 
 THE BLUE-BOTTLE FLY. 181 
 
 their coiirse, with respect either to its direction or 
 extent. An idea that it has occasionally some such 
 effect, pervades the words of Florizel, when he 
 says — 
 
 " So we profess 
 
 Ourselves to be the slaves of chance, and flies, 
 Of every wind that blows." 
 
 Winter's Tale, Act IV. Sc. III. 
 
 The common blue-bottle fly {Musca vomitoria), on 
 which those observations were made, is so well known, 
 that it furnishes, in " King Henry the Fourth," an 
 epithet applied by the abusive tongue of DoU Tear- 
 sheet, to the beadle who had her in custody. She 
 reviles him as a "blue-bottle rogue," a term evidently 
 suggested by the similarity of the colour of his cos- 
 tume to that of the insect now under consideration. 
 The habits of the fly, so busy, noisy, and restless, 
 have caused Washington Irving to introduce it as an 
 object of comparison in his inimitable story of the 
 " Spectre Bridegroom." Baron Von Landshort, " a 
 fuming, bustling little man," is busied with pre- 
 parations for the expected arrival of his son-in-law ; 
 and we are told, " He worried from top to bot- 
 tom of the castle, with an air of infinite anxiety ; 
 he continually called the servants from their work to 
 exhort them to be diligent ; and buzzed about every 
 hall and chamber, as idly restless and as impor-
 
 182 CKrELTY TO INSECTS REPROVED. 
 
 tunate, as a blue-bottle fly of a warm summer's 
 day." * 
 
 The wanton cruelty too often exercised towards 
 flies, is unfortunately a circumstance of common oc- 
 currence, and as such, must have fallen under the 
 notice of Shakspeare. Accordingly, we find in 
 " King Lear," that Gloster utters the reflection, 
 
 " As flies to wanton boys, are we to the Gods ; 
 They kill us for their sport." — Act IV. Sc. I. 
 
 The ease with which this is effected, is implied in 
 " As You Like It," by the phrase, " by this hand it 
 will not kiU a fly." (Act IV. Sc. I.) In "Titus 
 Andronicus," we find that the killing of a fly is not 
 merely mentioned, but is reprehended in very decided 
 terms. When Titus and Marcus are seated together 
 at a banquet, the former inquires, — 
 
 " Tifi/s. — What dost thou strike at, Marcus, with thy knife ? 
 
 Marcus. — At that that I have killed, my lord, — a fly. 
 
 Tifus. — Out on thee, murderer I thou killest mine heart ; 
 Mine eyes are cloy'd with view of tyranny. 
 A deed of death done on tlie innocent. 
 Becomes not Titus' brother. Get thee g'one; 
 I see thou art not for my company. 
 
 Marcus. — Alas ! my lord, I have but killed a fly. 
 
 Tidts. — But liow, if that fly had a father and mother. 
 How would he hang his slender, gilded wings, 
 And buz lamenting doings in the air? 
 Poor, harmless fly I — Act III. Sc. II. 
 
 Although the fly having " a father and mother," 
 * Sketch Book, vol. i. p. 319, third ed.
 
 DIMINUTIVE SIZE OF SOME DIPTERA. 183 
 
 would not, to the Entomologist, convey the inference 
 which the Poet intended, the lesson of humanity will 
 by no one be appreciated more highly than by him, 
 because no one can estimate, as he does, the wonder- 
 ful structure and functions of the insect ; and 
 although, for scientific purposes, he occasionally puts 
 one to death, none would applaud more warmly the 
 conduct of Uncle Toby, when, after he had caught the 
 fly which had " buzzed about his nose, and tormented 
 him cruelly all dinner time," — "I'll not hurt thee, 
 says my Uncle Toby, rising from his chair and going 
 across the room with the fly in his hand, — I'll not 
 hurt a hair of thy head. Go, says he, lifting up the 
 sash, and opening his hand as he spoke, to let it 
 escape, go, poor devil, get thee gone ; why should I 
 hurt thee ? This world surely is wide enough to 
 hold both thee and me." 
 
 The diminutive size of many dipterous insects is 
 more than once indicated. Thus, Lear mentions not 
 the gilded fly, but " the small gilded fly." And we 
 are told that the driver of Queen Mab's equipage was 
 not merely a grey-coated gnat, but that her Majesty 
 had for 
 
 "Waggoner, a small grey-coated gnat." 
 
 The latter insect is again introduced as expressive of 
 the very minimum of physical dimensions. Imogen 
 is speaking of the departure of her lord : —
 
 184 POETICAL NOTICES OF THEM. 
 
 " I would have broke mine eye-string's ; crack'd them, but 
 To look upon him, till the diminution 
 Of space had pointed him sharp as my needle ; 
 Nay, followed him, till he had melted from 
 Tlie smallness of a g'nat, to air ; and then 
 Have turn'd mine eye and wept." 
 
 Cymbeline, Act I. Sc. IV. 
 
 The manner in which these insects keep pace witli 
 the traveller, has been thus noticed by Wordsworth — 
 
 "Across a bare, wide common I was toiling; 
 With lanafuid feet, which by the slippery ground 
 Were baffled ; nor could my weak arm disperse 
 The hosts of insects gathering round my face. 
 And ever with me as I paced along." 
 
 The Excursion. 
 
 The same poet has elsewhere admitted the cheerful 
 influence of their humming : — 
 
 "'Tis now the hour of deepest noon. 
 
 At this still season of repose and peace. 
 
 This hour, when all things which are not at rest 
 
 Are cheerful — while the multitude of flies 
 
 Is filling all the air with melody, 
 
 "Wliy should a tear be iu an old man's eye ? " 
 
 TJie Excurnoii. 
 
 The influence which the sun possesses in summoning 
 those insects to their mazy dances in the air, or in 
 sending them to their lurking places by withdrawing 
 his beams, has not been passed by unheeded. Thus 
 we read — 
 
 "WTien the sun shines, let foolish gnats make sport ; 
 But creep in crannies, when he hides his beams." 
 
 Comedy of Errors, Act II. Sc. 11.
 
 THEIR AERIAL DAXCES. 185 
 
 And we have a further reference to the effect of a 
 change of weather on this or some other genus, in 
 the words — 
 
 " One cloud of winter showers, 
 
 These flies have couched." 
 
 Timon of Athens, Act II. Sc. II. 
 
 Their assembling, as here described, is a fact with 
 which even the most incurious obsen-er is familiar, 
 and on which the most refined may speculate. Why 
 do they thus associate together .'' \Miat principle 
 impels them to join in the airy and ceaseless dance, 
 that best evidence of their enjoyment ? Perhaps 
 no solution of this question can be more true, and 
 at the same time more philosophical, than that afforded 
 by the poet : — 
 
 " Nor wanting here, to entertain the thought, 
 Creatui-es that in communities exist, 
 Less, as might seem, for general guardianship. 
 Or through dependence upon mutual aid, 
 Tlian by participation of delight, 
 And a strict fellowship of love combined : 
 ^^'hat other spirit can it be that prompts 
 The gilded summer-flies to mix and weave 
 Tlieir sports together in the solar beam, 
 Or in the gloom of twilight hum their joy ? " 
 
 Word*irort/i. 
 
 During the summer, many tribes of dipterous 
 insects are seen in the joyous mazes here described. 
 I have watched them over a small piece of water.
 
 186 THEIR NUMBERS. 
 
 dancing a varied, yet not irregular figure, and per- 
 forming, what a master of ceremonies would describe 
 as like to that part of the Lancer quadrille, when the 
 gentlemen turn off to the left, and the ladies to the 
 right, meet at the lower end of the room, and advance 
 again to their former stations. There was, however, 
 this difference, that all the dancers on this occasion 
 were what the master would call " les cavaliers," for 
 "les dames," among the Diptera, are never known to 
 partake of such amusements. 
 
 Sometimes, those tiny beings appear like clouds 
 rising and falling in the air, or presenting, above 
 plantations of trees, the aspect of wreaths of smoke 
 ascending from the chimney of a cottage. Such is 
 the appearance presented in the evening by Culex 
 detritus, a species which was undescribed, until 
 noticed about four miles from this town, by A. H. 
 Haliday, Esq., of Clifden, one of the members of 
 our Natural History Society. During the day, it 
 was observed in multitudes among the sedges on the 
 sea coast.* Any one who, at particular times, has 
 travelled from Crumlin to Antrim, must have observed 
 a similar phenomenon, arising from the myriads of 
 Culicida, TipuUda, and Ephemeridce, which exist in 
 the vicinity of Lough Neagh. 
 
 The occurrence of a similar phenomenon in a 
 * List of Diptera, Ento>nolog>cal Magazine, No. ii. p. 151.
 
 UNIVERSALLY DIFFUSED. 187 
 
 different part of this country, doubtless suggested to 
 our Irish bard, the melodious author of the " Fairy 
 Queen," the following beautiful simile ; — 
 
 " As when a swarm of gnats at eventide 
 Out of the fens of Allan do arise, 
 Their murmuring small trumpets sounden wide ; 
 Whiles in the air, their clustering- armies flyes, 
 That as a cloud doth seem to dim the skyes ; 
 Ne man nor beast may rest, or take repast. 
 For their shai-p wounds, and noyous injuries, 
 'Till the fierce northern wind, with blust'ring blast. 
 
 Doth blow them quite away, and in the ocean cast." 
 
 Book II, Canto 16. 
 
 In every country, however, the abundance of some 
 species of Diptera is a matter of common observa- 
 tion ; and it is this fact which gives such eifect to 
 the words of the Babylonian monarch : — 
 
 "Everywhere, the countless multitudes. 
 
 Like summer insects in the noontide sun, 
 Ck)me forth to bask in our irradiate presence." 
 
 Milman'* BeUhazsar. 
 
 So universally are they diffused, that their absence, 
 combined with that of other insects, denotes more 
 forcibly than almost any thing else could do, the 
 solitary altitude described by Byron : — 
 
 " My joy was in the wilderness, to breathe 
 The difficult air of the iced mountain's top, 
 Where the birds dare not build, nor insect's wing 
 Flit o'er the herbless granite." 
 
 Manfred, Act II. Sc. II. 
 
 While in summer we remark several kinds of
 
 188 SOME OBSERVED IX WINTER. 
 
 insects enjoying these festive meetings, in winter we 
 observe they are confined exclusively to the males of 
 the Tipulida. These insects differ exceedingly in 
 size and colour. Some (Hke T. crocata, abundant 
 about Shane's Castle) are splendidly adorned mth 
 bands of yellow. Others, of larger dimensions, and 
 more homely attire {T. oleracea), will amuse you, if 
 you watch them as I have done, holding the body 
 erect, while piercing the ground and depositing an 
 e^g, then moving an inch or two, and repeating the 
 operation with untiring perseverance. It is, how- 
 ever, to the smaller kinds you are most likely to 
 attend ; for in every winter walk they force them- 
 selves on your notice, when the sun is at all 
 warm, and your ramble not in an exposed locality. 
 Even when the pond rings with the evolutions 
 of the skaters, when Winter sits enthroned in all 
 his regal splendour, apparelled in his " diadem of 
 snows," — there they are, undeterred by cold, uncon- 
 scious of the torpidity of the scene around, disport- 
 ing in a manner as cheerful as incessant. Often, 
 when the quick motion of a smart walk has given 
 rise to pleasurable emotions, which Dr. Johnson, in 
 his post-chaise, might regard with emy, have I 
 looked with delight upon these happy insects, and 
 felt that their existence gave a new charm to the 
 prospect.
 
 CLOUDS OF THEM SEEN IX JANUARY, 1836. 189 
 
 Even at the most inclement season of the year, 
 they occasionally appear in very considerable num- 
 bers. An instance of this recently occurred between 
 Maghera and Dungiven, county Derry, and is thus 
 mentioned in the Northern Whig of Thursday, the 
 7th of January, 1836: — " On j^esterday, while the 
 Belfast and Londonderry' day coach was passing over 
 Glenshane mountain, on its way to this to^-n, it came 
 repeatedly in contact with extensive and dense 
 clouds of small flies, or midges. This very singular 
 occurrence continued for nearly a mile." I found, on 
 inquiry, that no one had thought of taking anj^ spe- 
 cimens, so that I am unable to state what species of 
 flies formed the vast assemblage thus noticed. 
 
 The countless multitude of summer flies do not 
 all select a station so elevated as that I have now 
 mentioned. IVIr. Haliday states, in speaking of Bibio 
 lanigerus, — " The first time I met with this species 
 was in the beginning of April some years back, walk- 
 ing one sunny morning on a low, sandy spit, that 
 runs into the bay at Hollywood, and is used for graz- 
 ing cattle. I was struck by an appearance of innu- 
 merable sparldes of light over the short herbage, as 
 far as I could see, resembling the reflections of the 
 sun on a g: 'itle ripple. On looking for the cause, I 
 found the sward covered with species, principally 
 males, who were in busy movement, exploring and
 
 190 MULTITUDES ON GRASS. 
 
 quartering their groundwdth the skill of a trained setter. 
 The e\'ident object of their search was the females, 
 who, in the proportion of about one to fifty of their 
 partners, were sitting sluggishly on the stems of the 
 grass. I contined my walk for about three hundred 
 yards, without perceiving any diminution of numbers. 
 I then measured off a square foot, and counted with- 
 in that space thirty- seven, and they did not appear 
 thicker in that spot than in others. Though the 
 species is still abundant in the season, I have never 
 since witnessed an assemblage like this." * 
 
 Supposing that Mr. Haliday could see the " innu- 
 merable sparkles of light over the short herbage," for 
 only twelve or thirteen yards on each side of him, 
 the breadth of the space occupied by these insects 
 would be tv/enty-five yards : as he walked " about 
 three hundred yards without perceiving any diminu- 
 tion of numbers," we may suppose that they extended 
 to at least a hundred yards further. The length 
 multiplied by the breadth, and reduced to square feet, 
 would give 90,000, and as a square foot, when they did 
 not appear more numerous in that spot than in others, 
 contained thirty- seven, the total number of insects 
 would be three millions three hundred and thirty 
 thousand. Perhaps, however, from the limited space 
 
 * Catalo;^e of Dii)tera occuring about HoWywood.— Entomological 
 Magazine, No. ii. p. 179.
 
 THE FLY AN OBJECT OF COMPARISON. 191 
 
 with respect to which the calculation is made, the 
 multitude of insects might be double or treble this 
 number, so that on a "low, sandy spit" of incon- 
 siderable dimensions, and in view of the highway, we 
 find animated millions enjoying life, revelling in all 
 the bliss it affords, — endowed with wants, feelings, 
 and instincts ; and, but for the eye of the Entomolo- 
 gist, all these living creatures would have appeared 
 and passed away without one human being ha^^ng 
 been aware of their existence. 
 
 Examples such as this teach us, what pride so 
 often forgets, — that the world is not made for man 
 alone, but that living myriads people each lonely 
 spot, and enjoy the degree and kind of happiness of 
 which they have been rendered capable by their 
 Creator. 
 
 To the poet and the moralist, the fly has not un- 
 frequently furnished a subject for reflection, and an 
 object for comparison. The gaiety which seems in- 
 herent in the life of the insect, has been likened to 
 that which marks the passage of the gay voluptuary, 
 whose thoughts are absorbed by the present, and who 
 heeds not the changes which time will inevitably 
 bring. Impressed with this image. Lord Byron, who, 
 like Shakspeare, has laid bare many of the secret 
 workings of the heart, has thus written : — 
 
 "Childe Harolde basked him in the noontide sun, 
 Disporting: there like any other ily :
 
 192 XOTICED BY THE POETS. 
 
 Nor deem'd before his little day was done. 
 One blast might chill him into misery." 
 
 Canto I. St. IV. 
 
 In a similar spirit, Cowper, in his natural and reflect- 
 ive poem of " Tlie Garden," has remarked, — 
 
 " The million flit as g-ay, 
 
 As if created only like the fly, 
 
 That spreads his motley wings in th' eye of noon. 
 
 To sport their season, and be seen no more." 
 
 The same idea appears still more amplified in Gray'.s 
 delightful " Ode to Spring." After he has told us — 
 
 "The insect youth are on the wing," 
 
 mentioned the habitats of some, and the " gilded 
 trim" of others 
 
 , " Quick glancing to the sun," 
 
 he proceeds to develope the reflections awakened by 
 their appearance : — 
 
 "To Contemplation's sober eye, 
 Such is the race of man ; 
 And they that creep, and they that fly, 
 Shall end where they began. 
 Alike the busy and the gay, 
 But flutter through life's little day. 
 In Fortune's varying colours dress'd, 
 Brush'd by the hand of rough Mischance, 
 Or chill'd by Age, their airy dance 
 They leave, in dust to rest." 
 
 You will see, therefore, my dear friend, that in 
 this, as in other departments of my favourite science, 
 the objects are not onlj- interesting themselves, but
 
 AND IN THE CLASSICS. 193 
 
 the source of ideas, which many would deem even 
 more interesting. 
 
 You vnH readily caU to mind passages from the 
 classics, in which these diminutive beings are brought 
 forward. Nay, occasionally, they are mentioned 
 amid circumstances, which at first sight seem, by 
 their importance, to forbid the introduction of " such 
 small deer." Of this kind, is that passage in the 
 "Agamemnon" of ^schylus, where Clytemnestra is 
 reciting to her lord, who has returned triumphant 
 from the siege of Troy, her " melancholy life" during 
 his absence : — 
 
 " At thy return, 
 
 The gushing fountains of my tears are dried. 
 
 Save that my eyes are weak with midnight watchings, 
 
 Straining, thro' tears, if haply they might see 
 
 Thy signal tires, that claim'd ray fixM attention. 
 
 If they were closed in sleep, a silly fly 
 
 Would, with its slightest murm'rings, make me start. 
 
 And wake me to more fears." 
 
 Potter's Tramlation, p. 189. 
 
 On Virgil's instructions for generating swarms of 
 bees from the 
 
 "putrid gore of oxen slain,"— (Gcor^/r. IV.) 
 I have thought it unnecessary to make any comment, 
 some species of flies busy about the fermenting car- 
 case, having obviously been mistaken for bees. 
 
 I must now call your attention to the annoyance 
 which flies in warm climates occasionally become.
 
 194 ANNOYANCE OCCASIONED BY FLIES. 
 
 and to a curious and unexplained mode of defence 
 which has lately been made public. In the first 
 scene in the tragedy of " Othello," we find lago, in 
 speaking of the Moor, use the remarkable words, — 
 
 "And tho' he in a fertile climate dwell, 
 Plague him with flies." 
 
 Othello had at that moment succeeded in carry- 
 ing off the gentle Desdemona. The malice of lago 
 might annoy, but not injure him ; or, as he himself 
 expresses it, in speaking of the Moor, — 
 
 "Though that his joy be joy, 
 
 Yet throw such changes of vexation on it, 
 As it may lose some colour." 
 
 Those words are supposed to be spoken at Venice, 
 where, from the multitude of canals,* and the low 
 situation of the city, flies of many kinds must be 
 supposed to abound ; especially those whose larvae 
 are aquatic. In point of fact, flies constitute " the 
 first of torments in Spain, Italy, and the olive district 
 of France." " It is not," continues Arthur Young, 
 " that they bite, sting, or hurt, but they buz, teaze, 
 and worry. Your mouth, eyes, ears, and nose, are 
 full of them ; they swarm on every eatable ; fiiiit, 
 sugar, milk, — every thing is attacked by them in such 
 myriads, that if they are not driven away incessantly 
 * The canals of Venice give birth to myriads of gnats.
 
 MODE OF EXCLUDING THEM FROM HOUSES. 195 
 
 by a person who has nothing else to do, to eat a 
 meal is impossible." * 
 
 The mode by which these intruders are excluded 
 from dwelling-houses, is detailed by W. Spence, Esq., 
 one of the authors of that " Introduction" which I 
 have so frequently quoted. I shall use the words 
 employed by him in his communication to the Ento- 
 mological Society : — " If my curiosity was excited by 
 this statement, my surprise was not lessened by 
 being told, in explanation of the apparent impossi- 
 biUty of thus excluding flies from a room with un- 
 closed windows, that in point of fact the openings of 
 the windows were covered with a net, but with a net 
 made of white, or light-coloured thread, and with 
 meshes an inch or more in diameter ; so that there 
 was actually no physical obstacle whatever to the 
 entrance of the flies, every separate mesh being not 
 merely large enough to admit one fly, but several, even 
 with expanded wings, to pass through at the same 
 moment, and that consequently, both as to the free 
 admission of air, and of the flies if they had chosen, 
 there was practically no greater impediment than if 
 the windows were entirely open, the flies being ex- 
 cluded simply from some inexpUcable dread of ven- 
 turing across the thread- work. "f The cause of their 
 
 * Travels, vol. ii. p. 35. 
 t Transactions of Entomological Society, vol. i. p. 3. 
 
 o 2
 
 196 MOSQUITOES. 
 
 seeming terror, Mr. Spence professes himself unable 
 to explain ; but he marks out very judiciously several 
 points of inquiry which are calculated to throw light 
 on this anomalous subject. 
 
 You, perhaps, are not aware, that the common 
 gnat of Britain {Culex pipiens) is supposed to be 
 identical with the dreaded mosquito of other Euro- 
 pean countries, and of the northern parts of Asia 
 and America. Although we suiFer but comparatively 
 little annoyance from the attacks of such insects, I 
 should scarcely be warranted in omitting all reference 
 to the torment they occasion in other climates, and 
 the manner in which they modify, in some respects, 
 the domestic economy of man. They seem to be able 
 
 " The fierce extremes of heat and cold to brook ; " 
 
 for they are found no less abundant among the "thick- 
 ribbed ice" of Lapland, than in regions exposed to 
 the full influence of a tropical sun*. Of the annoy- 
 ance they occasion in India, Captain Basil Hall gives 
 so vivid a description, that, like the unfortunate wight, 
 within the gauze curtains of whose bed a " villainous 
 mosquito" has gained admission, we " can almost 
 fancy there is scorn in the tone of his abominable 
 hum."* Dr. Clarke states, in his Journey along the 
 frontier of Circassia, that the Cossack soldiers " pass 
 
 * Fragments of Voyages and Travels, Third Series, vol. ii. p. 66.
 
 TORMENT OCCASIONED BY THEM. 197 
 
 the night upon the bare earth, protected from the 
 mosquitoes by creeping into a kind of sack, sufficient 
 only for the covering of a single person." In a note, 
 he adds, that the Cossacks sometimes scoop a hollow 
 in the ancient tombs, or construct a shed of reeds in 
 these places, and light large fires in order to fiU the 
 area ^vith smoke ; flying to their suffocating ovens, 
 in the most sultry weather, to escape the mosquitoes. 
 Yet, notwithstanding all these precautions, many of 
 the soldiers stationed along the Kuban died in con- 
 sequence of mortification produced by the bites of 
 these insects.* Humboldt informs us, in speaking 
 of one district in the equinoctial regions of the New 
 Continent, "that the superior of the Missions, when 
 he would make the lay brothers return to their duty, 
 menaces sometimes to send them to Esmeralda ; that 
 is, say the monks, to be condemned to moschettoes ; 
 to be devoured by these buzzing flies, with which 
 God has peopled the earth to chastise man."t Else- 
 where, the same philosophical writer remarks, — " It 
 were to be wished, that a learned Entomologist could 
 study, on the spot, the specific differences of these 
 noxious insects, which, in spite of their Httleness, 
 act an important part in the economy of nature. 
 
 * Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa. By Edward Daniel Clarke, 
 LL.D. Second ed. p. 387. 
 t Personal Narrative, vol. v. p. 508.
 
 198 THE GADFLY. 
 
 What appeared to us very remarkable, and is a fact 
 known to all the missionaries, is, that the different 
 species do not associate together, and that at differ- 
 ent hours of the day you are stung by distinct species. 
 Every time that the scene changes, and, to use the 
 simple expression of the missionaries, other insects 
 " mount guard," you have a few minutes, often a 
 quarter of an hour, of repose." * 
 
 How constant must be the suffering, when a respite 
 of a few minutes is a fact too ob\'ious to escape 
 general observation ! and what reason have we to be 
 thankful, that we are free from such incessant 
 torment ! 
 
 But among the multitude of flies to which my at- 
 tention has been directed in the course of the present 
 letter, I had almost forgotten one species, mentioned 
 by Shakspeare himself, under the name of " Brize." 
 It is that we usually term the gadfly (CEstrus bovis). 
 With its habits, your present residence in the coun- 
 trry will afford you ample opportunities of becoming 
 acquainted ; and, in fact, the terror wliich it inspires 
 among our herds, is such as to attract the notice of 
 the most superficial observer. In this, as in many 
 other instances, we find our poets furnish us with the 
 most striking, and, at the same time, the most accu- 
 rate description. The gadflies appear during the 
 * Personal Narrative, vol. v. p. 93.
 
 SUFFERINGS ENDURED FROM IT BY CATTLE. 199 
 
 hottest portion of our summer; and hence, among 
 the phenomena characteristic of that season, Thom- 
 son depicts the effect which their attack produces on 
 a herd of cattle : — 
 
 " Tossing the foam, 
 
 They scorn the keeper's voice, and scour the plain. 
 Through all the bright severity of noon : 
 AVhile from their labouring breasts, a hollow moan 
 Proceeding, runs low-bellowing round the hills." 
 
 From the sudden consternation and precipitate flight 
 of the cattle, Shakspeare introduces a comparison, 
 which, though not descriptive of one who, like 
 Cleopatra, beggar'd all description, marks well the 
 abruptness and sudden phrenzy of her retreat from 
 the naval conflict, and is highly appropriate in the 
 mouth of the excited Scarus : — 
 
 "Yon ribald nag of Egj'pt, 
 
 Whom leprosy o'ertake ! i' the midst o' the fight, — 
 When vantage like a pair of twins appear'd 
 Both as the same, or rather ours the elder, — 
 The brize upon her, like a cow in June, 
 Hoists sail, and flies." 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra, Act III. Sc. IX. 
 
 In another line, Shakspeare has indicated even more 
 strongly the sufferings which cattle endure from 
 this insect : — 
 
 " The herd hath more annoyance by the brize 
 Thau by the tiger." — TroUus and Cressida, Act I. Sc. III. 
 
 Now it is not a little curious, that the terror thus
 
 200 VARIOUS SPECIES OF (ESTRUS. 
 
 evinced by our cattle does not, in the opinion of 
 Mr. Bracey Clarke,* proceed from the infliction of a 
 painful wound, but solely from the alarm occasioned 
 by a peculiar sound emitted by the CEstri, while 
 hovering for the purpose of oviposition. This view 
 would corroborate the description given by Virgil, 
 both as regards the existence of such a sound, and 
 its apparent effect upon the herd. The remarkable 
 accuracy of the passage has induced Kirby and 
 Spencef to present it to their readers in the follow- 
 ing translation, which I transcribe, that you may have 
 the pleasure of comparing it with the original : — 
 
 " Through waving groves, where Selo's ton-ent liows, 
 And where, Alborno, thy green Ilex grows. 
 Myriads of insects flutter in the gloom, 
 (ffistrus in Greece, Asilus named at Rome), 
 Fierce and of cruel hum. By the dire sound, 
 Driven from the woods and shady glens around. 
 The universal herds in terror fly ; 
 Their lowiugs shake the woods and shake the sky, 
 And Negros' arid shore." — Georgics, Book III. 
 
 The whole history of the CEstri is singular ; and 
 the ox, the horse, and the sheep, in these countries, 
 are alike subject to their attack, but in different 
 ways. The species which attacks the ox {(E. bovis) 
 deposits its eggs on the back of the animal. These, 
 
 * Linna^an Transactions, vol. xv. p. 407. 
 t Introduction, vol. i. p. 149.
 
 BOTS IN HORSES 
 
 201 
 
 when hatched into grubs, produce the tumours so 
 well known among the country people by the name of 
 " wurbles." One of the species devoted to the horse 
 {Gasterophilus equi) , lays its eggs, not indiscriminately 
 
 Gasterophilus Equi. 
 
 over the body, but about the parts which are most 
 liable to be licked by the tongue of the animal. They 
 are thus taken into the stomach, and transformed into 
 lar\'3e, in this country universally termed " bots." As 
 the connexion of these creatures with a two-^^'inged 
 fly was in former times unknown, it is no wonder that 
 their origin was attributed to other causes. Hence, 
 Mr. Clarke, in the able Memoir already quoted, re- 
 marks, — " Our ancestors imagined that poverty, or 
 improper food, engendered these animals, or that 
 they were the offspring of putrefaction. In Shak- 
 speare's " Henry the Fourth," Part I., the ostler at 
 Rochester says, " Pease and beans are as dank here 
 as a dog ; and that is the way to give i^oor jades the 
 bots;" and one of the misfortunes of the miserable
 
 202 IDENTITY WITH THE 0I6TR0S. 
 
 nag of Petruchio is, that " he is so begnawn with 
 the bots." 
 
 Without entering on the peculiar habits of the 
 sheep-fly (CE. ovis), I shall now conclude this brief 
 notice of some of our British CEstri, whose obscure 
 and singular habitations are the stomach and intes- 
 tines of the horse, the frontal and maxillary sinuses 
 of sheep, and beneath the skin of the backs of horned 
 cattle."* They form, however, a striking example 
 of the influence exerted by insects over the health 
 and comfort of our domestic quadrupeds. 
 
 To you, it may, perhaps, be interesting to examine 
 what has been said of them by classical WTiters, and 
 to enter into the question, whether or not the Oistros 
 of the ancients was, or was not, the insect to which 
 the same name was applied by Linnaeus. If so, I 
 refer you to two papers in the " Transactions of the 
 Linnaean Society," advocating conflicting opinions 
 on this subject, the negative being contended for 
 by Mr. W. S. Macleay (vol. xiv. p. 353), and the 
 affirmative maintained by Mr. Bracey Clarke (vol. 
 XV. p. 402). One thing, however, is obvious, — that 
 the inquiry proposed has not been deemed unin- 
 teresting by that learned body, which has thus de- 
 voted many pages of its valuable "Transactions," to 
 
 * Mr. B. Clarke, Linn. Trans, vol.iii. p. 291.
 
 " FLIES AT BARTHOLOMEW TIDE." 203 
 
 determine the identity of one of those two-winged 
 insects which have formed the subject of my present 
 communication. 
 
 I now take leave of the Diptera ; but before doing 
 so let me call your attention to a passage, which I 
 frankly confess my inability to elucidate. In " Henry 
 the Fifth," Act V. Sc. II., he makes Burgundy say — 
 " Maids well summer'd and warm kept, are like flies 
 at Bartholomew tide, — bUnd, though they have their 
 eyes ; and then, they will endure handling, which 
 before would not abide looking on." This curious 
 comparison is passed over in silence by all the 
 commentators to whose notes I have had access ; 
 and even Douce, who has shed his antiquarian 
 lore over so many ancient customs and opinions, 
 is on this point altogether silent. Among school- 
 boys, in some parts of the country, there is a preva- 
 lent idea, that flies become blind about the beginning 
 of autumn, which is the very belief which Shakspeare 
 has laid hold of, and thus embodied. But still the 
 question naturally recurs, how could such an opinion 
 ever have become general ? As the house-fly (Musca 
 domestica) has not lost its activity so early as the 
 24th of August, Mr. Hahday has suggested to me 
 that Musca rudis, which begins to swarm about 
 windows at the approach of autumn, might be the
 
 204 THE FLEA. 
 
 species alluded to. Its stupid inaction, which is so 
 great that the fly appears almost devoid of the power 
 of movement, would countenance this supposition. 
 But still, it does not explain why the insect should be 
 supposed to be blind. Sluggish, it certainly is ; but 
 why should it be represented as deprived of sight .'' 
 Perhaps you can ferret out for me some " tale of the 
 times of old," some forgotten legend, some expected 
 superstition, which may irradiate the origin of the 
 belief now shrouded in the gloom and uncertainty' of 
 former ages. 
 
 On the habits of the little insect which figured 
 upon Bardolph's nose, it is not my intention to en- 
 large. I mentioned formerly, that it belonged to 
 the order Aphaniptera, and described the apparatus 
 by which it inflicts a wound. I now merely remark, 
 that from the frequent mention of it by Shakspeare, 
 it is evident there was no scarcity of them in " mer- 
 rie England" during the days of good Queen Bess. 
 The carriers in "Henry the Fourth," complain of 
 them.* They are alluded to in the colloquy between 
 Shallow and his man Davy.f And even the Duke 
 of Orleans, without reproach to manhood be it 
 spoken, is represented as saying to the Constable of 
 
 * Henry IV., First Part, Act II. Sc. I. 
 t Henry IV., Second Part, Act V. Sc. I.
 
 FREQUEXTLY MEXTIOXED BY SHAKSPEARE. 205 
 
 France, " That 's a valiant flea that dare eat his 
 breakfast on the lip of a Hon."* Sir Toby Belch 
 indicates his opinion of the valour, or rather of the 
 want of valour, in Sir Andrew Ague-cheek, by the 
 assertion, " If he were opened, and )^ou find so much 
 blood in his liver as will clog the foot of a flea, I'll 
 eat the rest of the anatomy." f And Mrs, Ford shows 
 she has been a witness to the execution of at least 
 one of these " wild fowl," when she exclaims, as her 
 jealous husband searches the clothes basket, " If you 
 find a man there he shall die a flea's death." + How- 
 ever, all these authorities may not inspire you with 
 any admiration for the insect. Even its astonishing 
 strength, sufficient to draw miniature coaches and 
 cannon, and its leaps, so disproportionate to its size, 
 may fad to make you regard it with complacence. 
 To you, the old lady mentioned by Kirby and Spence 
 may appear to have been singular in her taste, when 
 she exclaimed — " Dear, miss, don't you like fleas ! 
 well, I think they are the prettiest little, merry things 
 in the world. I never saw a dull flea in aU my 
 life." § If such be the case, I shall not ask you to 
 forego your old opinions ; but I trust, when you are 
 
 * Henry V., Ac/ III. Sc. VII. 
 
 t Twelfth Night, Act III. tic. II. 
 
 i. Merry Wives of Windsor, Act IV. Sc. II. 
 
 § Introduction, vol. i. p. 100.
 
 206 
 
 A TEACHER OF HUMILITY. 
 
 musing on the lofty pre-eminence of " man, proud 
 man," and chance to suffer from these little assail- 
 ants, you will imbibe a lesson of humility from their 
 attack, and say in the spirit, if not in the words of 
 the banished Duke : — 
 
 " These are counsellors. 
 
 That feelingly persuade me what I am." 
 
 Ai You Like It, Act II. Sc. I.
 
 l.->^" 
 
 
 ■^^^ 
 
 ' WeaviQg spiders, come not here : 
 Hence, ye long le^g'd spinners, hence." 
 
 MIDSUMMER night's DRF^M, ACT IT. 
 
 It might appear strange to you, my dear friend, if 
 among the insects mentioned in Shakspeare's plays, 
 I did not mention the spider. Perhaps it may seem 
 more strange to say, that it is not an insect at all. 
 Still, although such is the case, I shall bow at the 
 shrine of custom, and allow the spider to form the 
 subject of a letter, in the same manner as if the 
 popular classification were correct. 
 
 Spiders are not arranged by Naturalists with 
 insects properly so called, but occupy a place between
 
 208 SPIDERS NOT CLASSED WITH INSECTS. 
 
 crabs, lobsters, &c.,or crustaceous animals, and those 
 now designated as insects. The position thus 
 allotted to them is just, from a consideration of their 
 physical structure. They have no antennae, those 
 flexile appendages somewhat resembling horns, 
 which you have a thousand times observed in the 
 butterfly ; and which have been supposed, by various 
 authors, to be organs of hearing, of smeU, of feel- 
 ing, 01 of some unknown sense, although the opinion 
 that they are organs of touch, is that now gene- 
 rally received. Spiders, on their liberation from the 
 egg, are perfectly formed, although very minute, and 
 they do not, like insects, undergo transformations. 
 Many of them breathe through lungs, and hence their 
 respiratory apparatus forms another ground of dis- 
 tinction. Still, as we are, in common parlance, in 
 the habit of speaking of them as insects, a shght 
 notice of their habits cannot be altogether cut of 
 place. 
 
 They are all predaceous, and live upon small in- 
 sects, which they are able to overcome. This is 
 eflfected, however, in very diflPerent ways. Some spin 
 the webs, which are the abhorrence of all tidy house- 
 keepers ; others construct those nets, which, when 
 glittering in the morning sun, and bright as the dew- 
 drops by which they are surrounded, every one has 
 at some time or other regarded %vith admiration ;
 
 MODES OF CAPTURING THEIR PREY. 509 
 
 others do not take the trouble of weaving, but, choos- 
 ing a place of concealment, " in ambush wait" the 
 approach of their unsuspecting prey. It is, probably, 
 of this kind, that the Prisoner of ChiUon speaks, 
 when he says, — 
 
 " With spiders I had friendship made. 
 And watch'd them in their sullen trade." 
 
 Stanza XIV. 
 
 Another tribe, distinguished by the appropriate name 
 of " Hunters," are for ever roaming about, " seeking 
 whom they may devour." The singular habits of 
 the Arachnidee, but more especially of those which 
 construct nets for the capture of their insect food, 
 have in all ages attracted attention ; and the natural 
 sympathy we feel in seeing the weak overcome and 
 destroyed by a foe too powerful for them to oppose, 
 and which unites stratagem to strength, has caused 
 the spider to be considered as 
 
 "cunning: and fierce. 
 
 Mixture abhorr'd." 
 
 Thomson'* Summer. 
 
 I shall not lose time by endeavouring to vindicate its 
 character, convinced that you will not deem any 
 animal cruel, which exercises for its support those 
 instincts with which it has been endowed by its 
 Creator ; but shall proceed to direct your attention 
 
 p
 
 210 " THE LABOURING SPIDER," 
 
 to some of those passages in which Shakspeare 
 evinces his knowledge of the habits of spiders, and 
 his cognizance of the general feeling of mankind 
 concerning them. 
 
 When, in the " Merchant of Venice," Bassanio 
 has opened the leaden casket containing "fair Por- 
 tia's counterfeit," and is giving vent to the admira- 
 tion which so excellent a delineation of her beauty 
 excites, his words allude to the destruction which 
 the spider's web promotes : — 
 
 " Here, in her hairs, 
 
 The painter plays the spider, and hath woven 
 A golden mesh to entrap the hearts of men 
 Faster than gnats in cobwebs." — Act III. Sc. II. 
 
 To the same insect, Plantagenet compares the state 
 of his own mind : — 
 
 " My brain, more busy than the labouring spider. 
 Weaves tedious snares to trap mine enemies." 
 
 Second Part King Henry VI., Act III. Sc. I. 
 
 The epithets "labouring" and "tedious," are applied 
 with peculiar felicity, for they denote the protracted 
 labours, the industry and perseverance, evinced in 
 the fabrication of the snare. 
 
 When Queen Margaret is hurhng imprecations on 
 her enemies, she is turned from her encounter with 
 Gloster, by a remark made by the Queen : and while 
 
 il
 
 FRAGILITY OF THE THREAD. 211 
 
 a pitying spirit seems for a moment to supplant her 
 rage, she addresses her successor in the words — 
 
 " Poor, painted Queen ! vain flourisb of my fortune ! 
 Why strewest thou sugar on that bottled spider, 
 Whose deadly web ensnareth thee about ?" 
 
 Richard III., Act I. Sc. III. 
 
 In another part of the same play, the epithet "bottled," 
 is again apphed in a similar manner : — 
 
 "Tliat bottled spider, that foul hunchback'd toad." 
 
 Act IV. Sc. IV. 
 
 And in both instances we may suppose it is used on 
 account of the peculiar shape of the spider's body. 
 
 The weakness of the web is almost proverbial : 
 hence it is employed by Job, in speaking of the hypo- 
 crite, — " Whose trust shall be a spider's web" (c. viii. 
 V. 14). 
 
 In a similar signification it has been most appro- 
 priately employed by Young — 
 
 " The spider's most attenuated thread 
 Is cord, is cable, to man's tender tie 
 On earthly bliss ; it breaks at every breeze." 
 
 Niff/it Thoughts, Night I. 
 
 In foreign countries, instances very much the re- 
 verse of this might be brought forward ; for the threads 
 spun by spiders form no inconsiderable obstacle to 
 the progress of a man through the woods where they 
 
 p 2
 
 212 ITS COMPOUND STRTTCTTJBE. 
 
 abound, as a friend of mine at Sierra Leone has not 
 unfrequently experienced. In France, gloves and 
 stockings have been fabricaited of their silk, but in 
 this country it is characterised by extreme fragility. 
 Hence, the spider's web is mentioned by Falcon- 
 bridge, when impressing on Hubert, after the death 
 of Arthur, the conviction, that the slightest and most 
 trifling thing would be suflicient for his destruction, 
 if accessory " to this deed of death :" — 
 
 " If thou did'st but consent 
 To this most cruel act, do but despair. 
 And if thou want'st a cord, the smallest thread 
 That ever spider twisted from her womb. 
 Will serve to strangle thee." 
 
 King John, Act IV. Sc. III. 
 
 Slight, and even simple as the threads of the spider 
 may appear, they are not so in reality ; and this 
 forms one of the many examples in which the eye of 
 the Naturalist discerns some concealed elegance or 
 complex mechanism, in things which are daily be- 
 fore " the eyes of men," and yet are never seen as 
 they are seen by him. The obsen'ations of Reaumur 
 and Leeuwenhoek have incontestably shown that a 
 " spider's thread, even spun by the smallest species, 
 and when so fine that it is almost imperceptible to 
 our senses, is not, as we suppose, a single line, but a 
 rope composed of at least four thousand strands!"* 
 
 * Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 405.
 
 USED AS A STYPTIC AND SOPORIFIC. 213 
 
 In the equipage of Queen Mab, 
 
 " The traces of the smallest spider's web," 
 
 are in keeping with the rest of her appointments ; 
 and well were they adapted for her regal state, for 
 no eastern potentate ever harnessed his foaming 
 steeds by traces of so complicated a structure. 
 
 Epeira (Uadema. 
 
 The web of the common house- spider has long 
 been employed in stopping the effusion of blood. 
 This has not escaped the all-pervading eye of 
 Shakspeare ; and hence. Bottom, in addressing one 
 of his fair)'- attendants, says, — 
 
 " I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good Master Cobweb 
 If I cut my finger, I shall make bold with you." 
 
 Midsummer yi(//il's Dream, Act III. So. I. 
 
 Its medicinal virtues do not end here, for Professor
 
 214 WEB OF THE HOUSE AND GARDEN SPIDERS. 
 
 Hentz states, that the web " is narcotic, and has 
 been administered internally, in some cases of fever, 
 with success." * 
 
 The threads composing the webs of the house- 
 spiders appear to be formed entirely of one kind of 
 silk, and flies are caught by their claws being en- 
 tangled in the meshes. It is not so with those which 
 are situated in the open air, and which exhibit 
 so much regularity of structure, as to be termed 
 Geometric. Mr. Blackwall, in a late number of the 
 " Transactions of the Linnean Society," states, that 
 " they are composed of three kinds of silk ; and that 
 although the nets lose their viscidity when exposed to 
 the influence of sun and weather, yet, when artifi- 
 cially protected from the effects of these, they retain 
 it almost unimpaired for many months." f In those 
 webs, the threads forming the circles are closely 
 studded with minute dew-like globules, which, in 
 fact, are composed of a viscid gum, sufliciently adhe- 
 sive to retain the insects which fly into the net. 
 Those concentric circles lose their viscidity by ex- 
 posure to the air, and in ordinary circumstances are 
 renewed every twenty- four hours. J 
 
 Shakspeare seems, in my opinion, to have been 
 aware that there are diff"erences in the habits of 
 
 * Silliman's " Journal of Science," October, 1831, p. 103. 
 
 t Entomological Magazine, No. v. p. 446. 
 
 t Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 419.
 
 shakspeare's knowledge of their habits. 215 
 
 spiders ; some of them constructing nets, and others 
 not doing so. I am led to form this belief, from a 
 passage in the " Midsummer Night's Dream." Tita- 
 nia is reclining on the bank " whereon the wUd thyme 
 blows," and her fairy attendants are obeying her 
 commands, " Sing me now asleep :" — 
 
 " Weaving spiders, come not here ; 
 Hence, ye long-legged spinners, hence. 
 
 Act II. Sc. III. 
 
 By " weaving spiders," must of course be meant 
 some of those which construct nets in the open air ; 
 but the words " long-legged spinners," do not seem 
 to me to be a synonymous expression, but to denote an 
 entirely diiFerent tribe. Of those long-legged, or 
 shepherd spiders (Phalangida), which do not spin 
 nets, but seize their prey by violence, Latredle says — 
 " La plupart vivent a terre, sur les plantes, au has 
 des arbres, et sont tres-agiles ; d'autres se cachent 
 sous la pierre, dans la mousse." * They, of course, 
 would naturally abound in situations similar to that 
 in which Titania is placed. The word " spinner," 
 may justly, I think, be considered as a generic term 
 for spider, and not as indicating that the one to 
 which it is applied actually spins. This inference 
 does not appear to be unnatural or improbable ; — 
 
 "The court awards it, and the law doth give it ;" 
 
 Merchant of Venice, .\ct IV. Sc. 1. 
 
 '■ Le R^gne Animal, tome iii. p. 114, Paris, 1817.
 
 216 THEIR POISONOUS FLUID. 
 
 and, if lam right in my conjecture, the passage fur- 
 nishes another proof that what Shakspeare describes 
 is true and correct, for it is that which " he has seen 
 with his own eyes." 
 
 My single-hearted and talented friend, Sheridan 
 Knowles, has very happily noticed the spider, the 
 snail, and the nut- worm, in his popular drama of the 
 "Hunchback." Helen is rallying Julia on her de- 
 claration — " I'm constancy : " — 
 
 " I'm glad I know thy name 1 
 
 The spider comes of the same family. 
 
 That in his meshy fortress spends his life, 
 
 Unless you pull it down, and scare him from it. 
 
 And so thou 'rt constancy ? Art proud of that? 
 
 I'll warrant thee, I'll match thee with a snail, 
 
 From year to year that never leaves his house ! 
 
 Such constancy, forsooth ! — A constant grub, 
 
 That houses ever in the self-same nut 
 
 Where he was born ; till hunger drives him out. 
 
 Or plunder breaketh thro' his castle wall ! 
 
 And so, in very deed, thou 'rt constancy ! " — Act I. Sc. II. 
 
 All spiders are furnished with a poisonous fluid, 
 conveyed in their fangs ; but its effects seem to have 
 been greatly over-rated. There is one species (Theri- 
 dium verecundum) mentioned by Professor Hentz, in 
 the paper already quoted, as being well known in the 
 Southern States of America, the people there con- 
 sidering its bite to be very poisonous. A glass of 
 brandy is stated, however, to produce instant relief, 
 and to arrest the violent symptoms arising from its
 
 NOT NOXIOUS TO MAN. 217 
 
 bite, by inducing a reaction in the system. I am 
 not aware that any of our native Arachnida have 
 occasioned actual suffering to man ; yet, that they 
 are full of venom, is the universal belief; and in 
 accordance with it. King Richard II., in saluting the 
 " dear earth" on which he stands, after 
 
 " late tossing on the breaking seas," 
 
 accosts it thus : — 
 
 " Feed not thy sovereign's foes, my gentle earth. 
 Nor with thy sweets comfort his ravenous sense ; 
 But let thy spiders, that suck up thy venom, 
 And heavy-gaited toads, lie in their way. 
 Doing annoyance to the treacherous feet, 
 Which with usurping steps do trample thee." 
 
 Act III. Sc. II. 
 
 From another passage, it is evident that Shakspeare 
 believed that any injury a spider might occasion, 
 arose more from the imagination of the sufferer 
 than the venom of the spider : — 
 
 " There may be in the cup, 
 
 A spider steep'd, and one may drink, depart, 
 And yet partake no venom ; for his knowledge 
 Is not infected ; but if one present 
 The abhorr'd ingredient to his eye make known, 
 How he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his sides. 
 With violent hefts."— mw^erV Tale, Act II. Sc. I. 
 
 It is gratifying to the Naturalist, to find in a being 
 regarded by the bulk of mankind as so obnoxious, 
 the manifestations of parental attachment. On the
 
 •218 THEIR PARENTAL ATTACHMENT. 
 
 genus Lycosa, Professor Hentz remarks, — " We may 
 witness astonishing instances of maternal tenderness 
 and courage, and that, too, in the most cruel race of 
 animals ; a race, in which ferocity renders even the 
 approach of the sexes a perilous act, and condemns 
 every individual to perpetual solitude and apprehen- 
 sions of its own kind. When a mother is found 
 with the cocoon containing the progeny, if this be 
 forcibly torn from her, she turns round and grasps it 
 with her mandibulae. All her limbs, one by one, may 
 then be torn from her body, without forcing her to 
 abandon her hold. But if, without mangling the 
 mother, the cocoon be skilfully removed from her, 
 and suddenly thrown out of sight, she instantaneously 
 loses all her activity, seems paralyzed, and coils her 
 tremulous limbs as if mortaUy wounded : if the bag 
 be returned, her ferocity and strength are restored 
 the moment she has any perception of its presence, 
 and she rushes to her treasure to defend it to the 
 last." * 
 
 The harmony which nature has established between 
 ths colours of these insects and the places which 
 they inhabit, must not be passed in silence. The 
 species of Epeira, which weave their webs in the 
 air, the Thomisi, which hide themselves in flowers, 
 and the Sparassi, which run over the green sward, 
 * Silliraan's "Journal of Science," Oct. 1831, p. 107.
 
 THE GOSSAMER. 219 
 
 have the body either of an uniform lively green, 
 yellow, or purple colour, or varied with handsome 
 markings ; whilst the Mygale, Lycosce, and Aranece, 
 which conceal themselves under stones and in obscure 
 situations, are of brown, black, or other obscure 
 colours, like the places where they reside. 
 
 I must not leave this part of my subject without 
 referring to the silvery threads of gossamer, which 
 are so frequently seen extending from bush to bush, 
 from furrow to furrow, and glancing with iridescent 
 brightness in the morning sun. Their origin was 
 formerly unknowTi. Spencer speaks of them as 
 "scorched dew;" and Thomson mentions, in his 
 " Autumn," " the filmy threads of dew evaporate ;" 
 which no doubt refers to the same object. The 
 gossamer is now known to be the production of 
 a minute spider. It is twice mentioned by Shak- 
 speare ; but not in connexion with the httle being 
 from whom it originates, and with which he was most 
 probably unacquainted. One of the passages is 
 famihar to every one : — 
 
 " A lover may bestride the g-ossamer, 
 That idles in the wanton summer air, 
 And yet not fall, so light is vanity." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, Act II. Sc. VI. 
 
 and the other is put into the mouth of Edgar, when
 
 220 MENTIONED BY SHAKSPEARE AND HOGG. 
 
 he accosts his father, after his supposed leap from 
 that 
 
 " Cliff, whose hig:h and bending head 
 Looks fearfully on the confined deep." — 
 
 " Had'st thou been aught but gossamer, feather, air. 
 So many fathom down precipitating. 
 Thou had'st shiver'd like an egg." 
 
 Lear, Act IV. So. VI. 
 
 In both instances, it is expressive of extreme light- 
 ness. In the same manner, is is used by Hogg, in 
 the " Queen's Wake :" — 
 
 "Light as the fumes of fervid wine, 
 Or foam belts floating on the brine, 
 The gossamers in air that sail. 
 Or down that dances in the gale." 
 
 And the same poet has introduced it as a vehicle fit 
 for the fairy bands, which he describes as 
 
 " sailing mid the golden air 
 
 In skiffs of yielding gossamer." 
 
 Thus, beautiful in its appearance, and rich in poetic 
 associations, the " restless gossamer"* comes recom- 
 mended to our notice, and courting our inquiry. 
 But the subject is still involved in obscurity, and is 
 one of those in which your own personal observation 
 might solve many doubts, and explain many diffi- 
 culties. Two opposite opinions respecting it have 
 been ably advocated by authors, both of whom are 
 * Coleridge's " Ancient Mariner."
 
 THEORIES RESPECTING ITS EMISSION. 221 
 
 entitled to high respect and consideration. One of 
 these gentlemen, Mr. John Murray, says, — " The 
 aeronautic spider can propel its threads both horizon- 
 ally and vertically, and at all relative angles, in mo- 
 tionless air, and in an atmosphere agitated by M'inds; 
 nay, more, the aerial traveller can even dart its 
 thread, to use a nautical phrase, in the " wind's 
 eye." My opinion and observation are based upon 
 many Jiundred experiments. The entire phenomena 
 are electrical." * 
 
 Mr. Blackwall, on the other hand, states, and I 
 concur in his opinion, that the glutinous matter 
 emitted from the abdomen is carried out into a line, 
 only in those situations where the insects are exposed 
 to a current of air. When a glass bell was placed 
 over them, they " remained seventeen days, evidently 
 unable to produce a single line by which they could 
 quit the branch they occupied, without encountering 
 the water" in which its base was immersed. f From 
 this, and many subsequent experiments, Mr. Black- 
 wall is " confident in affirming that, in motionless air, 
 spiders have not the power of darting their threads 
 even through the space of half an inch." + 
 
 It is not a Uttle singular, that many very accurate 
 
 * Insect, Architecture, p. 315. 
 t Linnean Transactions, vol. .\v. pt. ii. p. 456. 
 t Maa^azine of Natural History, vol. ii. p. 397.
 
 222 IS FOUND AT ALL SEASONS. 
 
 observations on this subject were made by President 
 Edwards, when he was only twelve years of age. 
 They are detailed by him in a letter written in 1715, 
 and published in a New York edition of his works, 
 in 1829. It is republished in Silliman's "Journal 
 of Science," Vol. xxi., with many interesting remarks 
 from the learned editor of that periodical ; and it 
 countenances the opinion, that it is by the action of 
 the "gently moving air," that the thread is drawn 
 out to what length the spider pleases. 
 
 The threads of the gossamer are more abundant 
 in autumn than at any other period of the year. 
 But I have seen them at all seasons, and never with 
 greater pleasure, than when crusted with hoar-frost, 
 and glittering like little garlands of minute icicles. 
 In fact, they delighted me so much in their new garb, 
 tliat I took the earliest opportunity afterwards, of 
 embodying in rhyme the ideas which they suggested. 
 To you, I shall make no apology for the imperfections 
 of the verses, for I do not fear your criticism. The 
 criticism of a friend, like " the quality of mercy, is 
 not strained," and "blessethhira that gives, and him 
 that takes." 
 
 It was a pleasant winter morn ; 
 
 Through all the silent night. 
 The skies had been of azure hue. 
 
 And countless stars were bright.
 
 VERSES SUGGESTED BY ITS APPEARANCE. 223 
 
 The sun in golden glories came. 
 
 And shot his glancing ray 
 Across the woods, and o'er the fields. 
 
 With hoar-frost glittering gay. 
 
 That lovely, pearly, brilliant frost, 
 
 The landscape overspread, 
 Like cold and fleeting beauties, which 
 
 Adorn the youthful dead. 
 
 In every field each blade of grass, 
 
 On every tree each spray, 
 Was with fantastic garlands hung. 
 
 As for some festal day. 
 
 And yet as numberless and bright. 
 
 And beautifully placed. 
 As though Titania's fairy train, 
 
 The fading leaves had graced. 
 
 WTiat could they be ? I paused to gaze, 
 
 And soon delighted found. 
 They were the gossamer's light threads, 
 
 With ice encrusted round. 
 
 That thread was like the poet's thought. 
 
 The child of sunny hours, 
 Wliich often is by ice conceal'd, 
 
 Or swept away by showers. 
 
 The icicles which clustered round 
 
 That graceful, fragile thread. 
 Were brilliant iis an infant's dream, — 
 
 Pure as the sainted dead. 
 
 They were like human loves, which hang 
 
 By links as frail and light, 
 A breath may rend them, and, alas! 
 
 They ne'er can reunite.
 
 224 VERSES SUGGESTED BY THE GOSSAMER. 
 
 As dew they would have gaily shone, 
 Kiss'd by the mornin? breeze; 
 
 As icicles, iiow changed they are. 
 Yet not the less they please. 
 
 Tlius, o'er all Nature's works, we see 
 
 That Beauty walks abroad ; 
 And every change is lovely there. 
 
 Because ordain'd by God.
 
 Full of wise saws and cQOdern lostances." 
 
 ^S yOO LIIE IT, . 
 
 I HKJoicE, my dear friend, at the willingness you 
 now express to enter into my favourite pursuit, and 
 at the alacrity which breathes throughout the entire 
 of your last letter. I hail it as the intimation that 
 your apathy has been dispelled, that your listlessness 
 has been flung aside, and that your vigorous and 
 cultivated mind is about to find full employment for 
 its varied powers of action. 
 
 Q
 
 226 INSECTS NOT MENTIONED BY SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 " The gorg-eous insect hovering in the air," 
 
 will not monopolize your attention, although it will 
 rouse your admiration. The less conspicuous in- 
 habitant of the "impregnable and gnarled oak," 
 whether residing in the leaves or in the trunk, will 
 be sought for, — places you formerly regarded as 
 " barren, barren, barren," will now be explored, — 
 
 " The green myriads in the peopled grass," 
 
 will be examined, — and 
 
 " By paved fountain, or by rushy brook. 
 Or on the beached margent of the sea," 
 
 (Midsummer Nif/ht's Dream, Act II. Sc. II.) 
 
 you will find the countless objects of your observa- 
 tion and research. It seems to me right, however, 
 that before closing the present series of letters, I 
 should introduce to your notice some tribes of insects 
 which have not been mentioned by Shakspeare, and 
 relate some circumstances with respect to their his- 
 tory-, which invest them either with interest or im- 
 portance. You well know, " I have no superfluous 
 leisure ; my stay must be stolen out of other affairs ; 
 but I wiU attend you awhile," until the object I have 
 now mentioned be accomplished. 
 
 And first, let me bring forward the singular habits 
 of a large and important family of insects, the 
 IchneumonidcE . These singular beings deposit their
 
 THE ICHNEUMONID^, 
 
 227 
 
 eggs, not in a waxen cell, not on the leaf of a plant, 
 not in a silken bag constructed for the purpose, — 
 but actually in the body of a lining caterpillar. To 
 
 Pimp/a manifestator dcpositiiit/ its eggs. 
 
 insects of this tribe, Linnaeus gave the name of 
 Ichneumon, from the analogy between their sen'ices 
 and those of the ichneumons of Egj^t : the former 
 as the destroyer of insects, the latter as the de- 
 vourers of serpents, the eggs of crocodiles, &c. 
 When I mention that about three thousand species 
 of ichneumons are at present known and described, 
 it will be obvious that it would be impossible to en- 
 ter into many details respecting them. I shall 
 
 q2
 
 228 THEIR OVIPOSITION 
 
 therefore merely mention some of the peculiar habits 
 of the tribe, and this I shall principally do in the 
 M'ords of Kirby and Spence. 
 
 " The habits of this whole tribe, which properly 
 includes a great number of distant genera, are simi- 
 lar. They all oviposit in living insects, chiefly 
 while in the larva state, sometimes while pupae {Ich. 
 puparum L.), and even while in the egg state (Ich. 
 ovulorum L.), but not, as far as is known, in perfect 
 insects. The eggs thus deposited soon hatch into 
 grubs, which immediately attack their victim, and in 
 the end insure its destruction. The number of eggs 
 committed to each individual varies according to its 
 size, and that of the grubs which are to spring from 
 them, being in most cases one only, but in others 
 amounting to some hundreds. 
 
 " From the observations hitherto made by Ento- 
 mologists, the great body of the ichneumon tribe is 
 principally employed in keeping within their pro- 
 per limits the infinite host of lepidopterous larvae, 
 destroying however many insects of other orders ; 
 and perhaps, if the larvae of these last fell equally 
 under our observation with those of the former, we 
 might discover that few exist uninfested by their ap- 
 propriate parasite. Such is the activity and address 
 of the Ichneumonidse, that scarcely any concealment, 
 except perhaps the waters, can secure their prey 
 
 q2
 
 AND IMPORTANCE. 229 
 
 from them; and neither bulk, courage, nor ferocity 
 avail to terrify them from effecting their purpose." * 
 
 "An idea of the services rendered to us by those 
 ichneumons which prey upon noxious larvee may be 
 formed from the fact, that out of thirty individuals of 
 the common cabbage caterpillar {Pupilio brassiae) 
 which Reaumur put into a glass to feed, twenty-five 
 were fatally pierced by an ichneumon (/. globatus) ; 
 and if we compare the myriads of caterpillars that 
 often attack our cabbages and brocoli with the small 
 number of butterflies of this species which usually 
 appear, we may conjecture that they are commonly 
 destroyed in some such proportion, — a circumstance 
 which will lead us thankfully to acknowledge the 
 goodness of Providence, which, by providing such 
 a check, has prevented the utter destruction of the 
 Brassica genus, including some of our most esteemed 
 and useful vegetables." f 
 
 As these insects are so widely diffused, you will 
 have ".0 difficulty in obtaining specimens of various 
 genera, and you will see at once that they belong 
 to the same order as the bees, the wasps, and the 
 ants, already described — the Hymenoptera. It is a 
 remarkable fact, however, that these parasites, whose 
 universal office it is in their first state of being to 
 prey upon insects, are themselves liable to be preyed 
 
 * Kirby and Spence, p. 264. t lb. vol. i. p. 266.
 
 230 DRAGON-FLIES. 
 
 on in turn. Other species of ichneumons act to- 
 wards them as they have acted towards the caterpil- 
 lar, in whose living body they are enclosed. And 
 these more minute Ichneumonidae are sometimes 
 so nimierous as to destroy, it is said, the tithe of 
 the kinds they attack. Should you be disposed to 
 seek for information respecting the nomenclature 
 and classification of these singular and interesting 
 tribes, I would refer you to the " Essay on the 
 Classification of Parasitic Hymenoptera," published 
 in the Entomological Magazine, by A. H. Haliday, 
 Esq., Clifden. 
 
 Let me now introduce you to another family, 
 whose bodies are long and tapering, and who are 
 adorned with four wings of a texture surpassing in 
 beauty the finest net- work, and glowing in the sun- 
 shine with a splendid iridescence of colouring. Such 
 might have existed in the imagination of Pope, when 
 penning his description of the Sylphs attendant on 
 Belinda : — 
 
 " Some to the sun their insect-wing' unfold, 
 Waft on the breeze, or sink in clouds of gold." 
 
 Rape of the Loch, Canto ii. 
 
 They differ considerably in size, and many of the 
 smallest are arrayed in the most brilliant costume, 
 being in the softest green, or in the brightest az\u"e. 
 Others assume a crimson uniform, while those among
 
 RAPACITY OF THE LARViE. 
 
 231 
 
 whom they are found exhibit a mottled livery of 
 brown, white, and yellow. You will conjectvire I am 
 alluding to the dragon-flies {Libellulina MacLeay), 
 for those creatures, whose appearance is so rich, so 
 graceful, and so airy, bear that terrifying appellation. 
 I must admit that the epithet is justly applied, for 
 their whole life is one continued scene of destruction. 
 
 A, The Dragon-flu making iU exit from the pupa; b, The same drying 
 its wings. 
 
 They are found so early as May, and I have seen 
 them "labouring in their vocation" on the 4th of 
 October. In their lana state they reside in water ; 
 and here they are the terror of aquatic insects, and 
 even the successful assailant of the smaller fishes. 
 One, about an inch and a quarter in length, which I 
 lifted in my hand with some water, from one of the
 
 232 RAPACIOUS HABITS 
 
 ponds in our Botanic Garden, was in the act of 
 preying on a tadpole, much more bulky than itself, 
 and continued its operations without evincing the 
 slightest discomposure. My relative, B. J. Clarke, 
 Esq., of La Bergerie, Portarlington, on one occasion 
 witnessed a struggle between one of these larvae and 
 a fuU-grovni stickleback of twice its size. The huge 
 mandibles of the assailant were extended across the 
 head of the fish, one being inserted into each eye : 
 and although the larva was taken from the water, 
 and held suspended by the tail, it never for a moment 
 relaxed its hold of the prey. 
 
 When elevated from the water into the genial 
 warmth of the summer sun, and gifted in their 
 perfect state with their full powers of destruc- 
 tion, they carry on a successful warfare against the 
 other inhabitants of the air ; hawking over the pools 
 and rivers, seizing the Phryganese and Ephemerae, lop- 
 ping off their wings with great rapidity, and devour- 
 ing their bodies. Nor are their attacks confined to 
 these tribes : the elegant plumage which decks the 
 Lepidoptera forms no protection, or perhaps makes 
 them more conspicuous to their destroyer. Mr. 
 B. J. Clarke has told me, that when fishing in the 
 river Barrow, near that town, he has watched 
 with great interest the proceedings of the large 
 dragon-flies. Gardens and meadows extend in that
 
 OF THE PERFECT INSECT. 233 
 
 neighbourhood dowii to the banks of the river, and 
 of course the white butterflies are not unfrequently to 
 be seen upon its margin. My informant has often 
 observed the dragon-fly dart down as a hawk upon a 
 quarry, seize with its legs a firm hold of the butter- 
 fly, and carry it to a branch of one of the adjoining 
 trees. In a moment one of the white wings would 
 drop from the branch, then another would come 
 wavering downwards, until the four had fallen, and 
 the dragon-fly, after a short pause, would again 
 dart forth in pursuit of a fresh victim. He never 
 launched himself on his prey when on a perfect hori- 
 zontal line with it ; but took care to be either some- 
 what higher, or somewhat lower, so that he could 
 seize it with his feet. 
 
 Perhaps from this account of their rapacity you 
 will deem our Enghsh name of dragon-fly more suit- 
 able than the French term apphed to the same 
 inssect — " demoiselles." Tlie translation of the latter 
 term is however the word used by Moore, in his de- 
 lightful little poem of " Paradise and the Peri." 
 
 " When o'er the vale of Balbec winging 
 
 Slowly, she sees a child at play, 
 Among the sunny wild flowers singing. 
 
 As rosy and as wild as they ; 
 Chasing with eager hands and eyes 
 
 Tlie beautiful blue {/aiiisel llies. 
 That flutter'd round the jasmine stems, 
 
 Like winged flowers or flying gems."
 
 234 ATTRACTED BY PECULIAR COLOURS. 
 
 Some of these insects (the Agrionidce) seem to be 
 attracted by particular colours. I have been in- 
 formed by a friend that they have repeatedly alighted 
 on the blue " float" of his fishing-line, and that even 
 five or six might be seen resting on it at the same 
 moment. My relative, Mr. Jellett of Ballymena, 
 observed, on the banks of the river near that town, 
 great numbers of a different genus flying about some 
 beech trees, and frequently alighting on the smooth 
 and shining stones. It occurred to him that the 
 light colour which the trunks exhibited in the sun- 
 shine might be the attraction which brought the 
 dragon-flies in such numbers to that place, rather 
 than to any other. He instantly determined to put 
 the accuracy of this idea to the test of experiment, 
 laid aside the dark portions of his dress, and stood 
 motionless, with his arms extended. A dragon fly 
 almost immediately alighted on his breast, and was 
 secured, another came in the course of a few minutes, 
 and I have now in my cabinet five or six specimens 
 taken on that occasion. They are of two species 
 {Calepteryx Virgo and C. Ludoviciand) ; both are 
 plentiful about the weir on the Barrow, near Portar- 
 lington, but I have never seen either of them in the 
 neighbourhood of Belfast. Strange that they should 
 have been found at two places, one a hundred and 
 thirty miles further north than the other, and yet
 
 NUMBER OF LENSES IN THE EYE. 
 
 23^ 
 
 that they should not have been recognized in the 
 intermediate locality ! 
 
 A, The Dragon-fly, with its mask extended; b, the same, with the mask 
 closed and discharging a current of water. 
 
 The eyes of the dragon-fly are extremely beautiful, 
 being prominent, and exhibiting an infinity of little 
 hexagonal facets. These were counted by Leeuwen- 
 hoek, and were found, in a single eye, to amount to 
 12,000. Great as this number may appear, it is sur- 
 passed by that exhibited in the eye of some other 
 insects, for 17,325 have been actually reckoned in 
 that of a butterfly. 
 
 I have mentioned that the larv^a of the dragon-fly 
 is an inhabitant of the water. It is in that state
 
 236 MASK OF THE LARVA. 
 
 furnished with a most remarkable apparatus attached 
 to the lower lip. It resembles a mask of singular 
 construction, and is used, not only for seizing the 
 prey, but also for holding it while the jaws perform 
 their customary office. * But you may, perhaps, 
 inquire, how comes it that the larva is found in the 
 water, while the perfect insect dwells in the air, 
 sports in the sunshine, and is the constant denizen 
 of an element so different from that in which it for- 
 merly dwelt ? You may ask, how, and under what 
 circumstances, are the eggs deposited, so that the en- 
 closed young may, on their exclusion, be surrounded 
 by the fluid in which the first stage of their existence 
 is to be passed ? I am glad, from the accurate obser- 
 vation of Mr. B. J. Clarke, to be able to answer 
 this question. He has, on several occasions this sum- 
 mer (1835), seen the male and female dragon-fly alight 
 on some of the aquatic plants in the canal adjoining 
 his residence, having exhibited, while in the air, the 
 strange appearance of one body, with a head at each 
 extremity ; a phenomenon which may have attracted 
 your attention. The male would then fling himself 
 into the air and fly away. The female adopted a 
 different course. She deliberately turned her head 
 
 * For a most lucid description of this instrument, see Kirby and 
 Spence, vol. iii. p. 125.
 
 ITS EGGS DEPOSITED UNDER WATER. 237 
 
 downwards, descended the stem or leaf of the plant, 
 to a depth of some inches below the surface of the 
 water, and there remained, as he supposed, for the 
 purpose of depositing her eggs. It was strange to 
 see a creature, who, but a few minutes before, had 
 been winging her way through the air, thus quietly 
 abiding in a different element, while the great work of 
 pro\'iding a suitable situation for her young was about 
 being accomplished. On one occasion, my inform- 
 ant, while she was thus engaged, touched her with 
 the extremity of his fishing-rod ; she then desisted 
 from her work, crawled up to the surface, and after 
 remaining there a few minutes, as if to allow the 
 cause of her molestation to pass by, again directed 
 her way downwards, and completed the important 
 task in which she had been interrupted. 
 
 An analogous fact with respect to one of the May- 
 flies {Phryganeee), was noticed in a pond, in our 
 Botanic Garden, by Mr. Hyndman. He has kindly 
 favoured me with the following note respecting it, 
 dated May 27, 1833 :— " I first obser^-ed the Phry- 
 ganea on the leaf of an aquatic plant, from which it 
 crept down along the stem, under the water, very 
 nearly a foot deep ; it appeared then to have been 
 disturbed by some stickle-backs which approached, 
 and seemed inclined to attack it, and swam \'igorously
 
 238 
 
 CADDIS-WORMS. 
 
 and rapidly beneath the water, over to some other 
 plants. I there took the insect up, and found a large 
 bundle of eggs of a green colour, closely enveloped 
 in a strong, jelly-like substance, attached to the ex- 
 tremity of its abdomen. The bundle of eggs was of 
 an oblong form, bent in the middle, and the two ends 
 attached to the tail of the animal." 
 
 The insects of this family are well known to you 
 in their larva state, under the name of case-worms, 
 or caddis-worms, and are to be found in every run- 
 
 A, The Caddis-worm in cases of sand, shells, fyc. ; b, Grating of silk 
 formed by the larva previous to assuming the pupa state; c, The 
 Caddis-fly. 
 
 ning stream, and almost in every ditch. Their 
 habitations are extremely singular, and differ con- 
 siderably, both in the materials employed, and in their
 
 MATERIALS WHICH FORM THEIR CASES. 239 
 
 external configuration. Some are formed of nu- 
 merous little pieces of grass, and stems of aquatic 
 plants, cut into suitable lengths, and placed cross- 
 ways, forming a rude polygonal figure ; others are 
 constructed of bits of stick, or grains of sand or 
 gravel, cemented strongly together ; and others, 
 again, are composed of fresh-water shells, each con- 
 taining its own proper inhabitant, — " a covering," 
 as Kirby and Spence remark, " as singular, as if a 
 savage, instead of clothing himself with squirrel 
 skins, should sew together into a coat the animals 
 themselves." 
 
 Some of these cases exhibit shells of three or 
 four different kinds, and are hence interesting to the 
 Conchologist, as well as to the Entomologist. Three, 
 now in my cabinet, present specimens, altogether, of 
 seven fresh-water shells, namely : — Planorbis mar- 
 ginatus, P. contortus, P. vortex, P. glaber (?), Cyclas 
 cornea, Valvata obtusa, and Paludina impura. 
 
 To protect themselves from the attacks of their 
 enemies, and, at the same time, to give admission to 
 the supply of water essential to their existence, the 
 caddis-worms, before assuming the torpidity of 
 their pupa state, adopt an ingenious expedient. They 
 construct a kind of grating, which they fix across 
 each extremity of their domicile, and thus pro^-ide 
 at the same time for respiration and defence. It is
 
 240 SUBSTITUTE FOR THE USUAL GRATING. 
 
 stated, that this grating is formed of a strong descrii^- 
 tion of silk, which the animal has the power of 
 spinning, and which assumes, although under water, 
 the necessary degree of consistence. In one of the 
 cases in my possession, it is formed of a mass of 
 minute portions of vegetable matter, so thick as 
 almost to exclude water ; and two holes are formed 
 at the sides of the case, close to the extremity, for 
 the ingress of the fluid. In another, some small 
 bivalve shells {Cyclas cornea) are agglutinated 
 together : and as their convexity leaves some vacant 
 spaces between each shell, the object of the grating 
 is attained by a dilFerent procedure. It would seem, 
 therefore, that the larvae, although endued with the 
 power of forming a silken net-work, avoid the trouble 
 of doing so, where the abundance of suitable mate- 
 rials of a different description, renders such a labour 
 unnecessary. They ajjpear to have the power of 
 secreting the silken substance for some time be- 
 fore the period of their change into pupae, if, in- 
 deed, they do not possess it from the first. This 
 opinion was formed on one occasion, when I had a 
 few caddis- worms in a glass of water, for the pur- 
 pose of observing their movements. One of large 
 dimensions projected his body a considerable way 
 from his covering, untU it touched the case of a 
 smaller caddis-worm in its vicinity, and after a
 
 GREAT WATER-BEETLE. 
 
 241 
 
 peculiar kind of contortion, was again withdrawn 
 The larger caddis- worm then put itself into motion ; 
 and to my surprise, I found that the lesser one was 
 attached by a silken cable to his more bulky com- 
 panion, and towed after him as a jolly-boat would be 
 towed by a cutter, without the means of offering any 
 resistance to its progress. 
 
 If you are attending to the proceedings of the 
 caddis- worms in their natural habitats, you cannot 
 fail to observe the rapid plunging movements of the 
 great water-beetle (JDyticus marginalis) . The male 
 is easily distinguished from the female, by the 
 curious hemispherical appendages on the anterior 
 legs, which, acting Uke suckers, enable him to retain 
 
 A, Larva — b, the perfect Di/ticus marginalis. 
 
 a hold of his mate in the unstable element they in- 
 habit. Though living in the water, he is, at times, 
 
 K
 
 242 ITS FLIGHT, AND ITS FOOD. 
 
 especially in the evening, noticed in the air ; for he 
 is furnished with ample wings, and can at pleasure 
 change his abode from one pool to another. In the 
 winter of 1830, we had here a very hard frost, which 
 lasted for several days, and the large ponds in our 
 Botanic Garden were completely frozen. The late 
 Mr. James Drummond, whose untimely death at 
 Cuba every Naturalist must regret, was at that time 
 the curator of the garden. I was informed by him, 
 that the very first day the ice was broken up by thaw, 
 he observed several of these water-beetles flying to 
 the pond, and plunging into the water. A Dyticus 
 which I kept in a glass vessel seized with avidity 
 any crumbs of bread that were thrown in, but I 
 could never observe that they were actually eaten. 
 It was not so with a piece of raw beef : for on it he 
 feasted with great apparent relish. By supplying 
 this description of food, Esper kept one alive in a 
 glass vessel three years and a half. There is, how- 
 ever, a kind of nutriment to which this insect 
 appears even more partial, and this, I regret to say, 
 is the smaller water-beetles, which it seizes and 
 greedily devours. In its larva state, the Dyticus 
 is equally formidable and rapacious ; and not con- 
 tent with destroying the lar\'8e of gnats, ephemera, 
 &c., will attack animals of larger dimensions. I 
 knew it on one occasion to seize a stickleback, and 
 
 i\
 
 THE WATER-SCORPION BOAT-FLY. 243 
 
 carry it off in despite of all the struggles of the fish * ; 
 and the editors of the Entomologia Edinensis inform 
 us, in speaking of the rapacity of the Dyticidce in 
 the larva state, that they " observed one of the larger 
 kinds transfix and suck out the juices of thirteen 
 well-grown tadpoles, in a single day." 
 
 I must not, however, dwell in this manner on aU 
 the insect inhabitants of the water, else you might 
 dread I was about to become, as Dogberry would 
 word it, " as tedious as a king." But I may mention, 
 that if you expand the ashy-coloured elytra of one 
 common insect, the water- scorpion {Nepa cinerea), 
 you wUl be pleased to find, under so hard and dusky 
 an exterior, a soft and delicate pair of wings, folded 
 on a ground of a pecuHar shade of scarlet. If you 
 watch another, which is here very abundant, the 
 boat-fly (Notonecta glanca), lying on his back, and 
 using his long and dehcately-fringed feet as oars to 
 impel him along, beware of taking him in your hand, 
 or you may find by experience, as I have done, that 
 the wound inflicted by his rostrum is both sharp and 
 
 * For an interesting fact with respect to our Irish three-spined 
 stickleback, we are indebted to the obsen'ation of W. Tliompsoii, 
 Esq., Vice-President of our Natural History Society. He has pointed 
 out the differential characters between it and the three English spe- 
 cies described by Mr. Yarrell, and shown its identity with the Gn*- 
 terosteus brachi/centrusoi Cuvier, found in the brooks of Tuscany. — 
 Vide Proceedings of Linncan lioeieti/, in the London and Edinburgh 
 Phil. Mag. and Journal of Science, vol. v. p. 229. 
 
 R 2
 
 244 ATTRACTIONS OF ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 sudden. And if you continue your observations, 
 you cannot fail to see insects of a different tribe 
 {Hydrometridce Leech), which scorn to adopt so 
 common a procedure as swimming in the water, and 
 who perform, with astonishing rapidity, the more 
 wonderful feat of running upon its surface. 
 
 By the aid of Entomology, therefore, a pool of 
 water may be made to furnish amusement and 
 pleasurable occupation for many weeks. Bethink 
 you for a moment, what an advantage, nay, what an 
 untold treasure, it may thus become. When I'itania, 
 with all the powers fitting to her sjjhere, wishes to 
 bestow what she deems most valuable, she exclaims, 
 
 " I '11 give thee fairies to attend on thee. 
 And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep." 
 
 Midsummer Night's Dream, Act III. Sc. I. 
 
 The goddess I sen^e will do more, — for she wUl 
 " fetch thee jewels," not from the deep only, but 
 from every ditch, every pool, every lake, every brawl- 
 ing rivulet, in your vicinity. And those jewels are 
 your own, — they cannot be lost, or stolen ; they abide, 
 as all knowledge does, with the humble and sincere 
 recipient, — they become part and parcel of his mental 
 acquisitions. Which "jewels" are to be preferred .-' 
 — the physical or the mental ; those which adorn the 
 body, or those which enrich the mind .-• WTiich 
 goddess, then, would you select } Which potentate.
 
 IRREGULAR APPEARANCE OF INSECTS. 245 
 
 if you had the power of choice, would you serve ? 
 In whose ranks would you be enrolled ? 
 
 " Under which king, Bezonian ? speak or die." 
 
 Second Part of Henry IV., Act V. Sc. IIV 
 
 The mind, wliile en^ao-ed in this branch of science, 
 is not only enriched by the knowledge of new facts, 
 but is pleased and exercised in the endeavour to 
 account for phenomena which seem to follow no 
 regular order of succession. Tliis is a legitimate and 
 justifiable appphcation of its powers : — 
 
 " Sure, he that made us with such large discourse. 
 Looking before and after, gave us not 
 That capability and godlike reason, 
 To fust in us unused."— Hamlef, Act IV. Sc. IV. 
 
 The investigation of the laws which regulate the 
 appearance of any of the inferior animals, which 
 send them forth as living beings endowed with all 
 necessary instincts and powers, or which retard their 
 developement for any indefinite periods of time, is 
 desen'ing of attention from a reflecting and well- 
 regulated mind. Many opportunities for such in- 
 quiries will be afforded by Entomolog}^ for some 
 insects are so irregular in the time of their appear- 
 ance, being abundant in some seasons, or for some 
 days, and then not seen again for successive years, 
 that we are half tempted to exclaim, with Hamlet, —
 
 246 EXAMPLES FURNISHED BY 
 
 " There 's something in this more than natural, if 
 philosophy could find it out." Two or three exam- 
 ples of the kind alluded to may be mentioned, es- 
 pecially as they have occurred in the immediate vici- 
 nity of this town. 
 
 In August, 1825, a moth, with wings prettily 
 marked, and of a metalUc lustre (Plusia festucce), 
 appeared one evening at Cranmore, in considerable 
 numbers, flying among the shrubs and flowers. A 
 few were seen on the succeeding night ; and from 
 that period to the present, none, save one or two 
 solitary specimens, have been observed. They were 
 accompanied by unusual numbers of the gamma- 
 moth, and seemed particularly attracted by large beds 
 of the common pink (Dianthus caryophyllus), flitting 
 from flower to flower, and banquetting on the nectar 
 they afforded. 
 
 A common little gnat (Chironomus virescens), ap- 
 peared in 1832, in very unusual numbers, in this 
 neighbourhood. Mr. Haliday, in speaking of this 
 insect, remarks : — " This little fly caused no little 
 alarm this summer ; its appearance in swarms being 
 adjudged, by vulgar rumour, a precursor of cholera. 
 In some places, they appeared in such numbers, that 
 the inhabitants had some trouble in shovelling them 
 out of their houses (in my informant's words). At
 
 MOTHS AND COCKCHAFERS. 247 
 
 Donaghadee, clouds (of this species) were observed 
 coming from seaward." * 
 
 Towards the latter end of the same summer, these 
 little flies appeared one evening in immense multi- 
 tudes in this town. Attracted by the light of the 
 gas-lamps, they congregated around them, appearing 
 like clouds, which were gradually lost in the surround- 
 ing darkness, but to which the eye could discern 
 no limit. They were particularly abundant on the 
 northern side of Donegal-square, and along Welling- 
 ton-place, and College-square East. 
 
 The common cockchafer ( Melolontha vulgaris ) 
 never appears here in such numbers as to cause that 
 exhilirating bustle among the feathered tribes, 
 described by Mr. Knapp. f Neither does it produce 
 that hum, heard when swarms are on the wing in the 
 evening, which Kirby and Spence casually mention 
 as an ordinary occurrence in England. + It is, on the 
 contrary, an insect not generally known throughout 
 the country ; and on more than one occasion, a spe- 
 cimen of it has been brought to me as an addition to 
 my cabinet. I was surprised, therefore, when, on 
 the 22nd of May, 1835, I was informed by Mr. 
 Scott, the intelligent head- gardener of the Marquis 
 
 * Catalo^e of Diptera occurring about Holl^Tvood, in Downstire. 
 Entomological Magazine, No. ii. p. 147. 
 t Journal of a Naturalist. 
 % Introduction to Entomology, vol. ii. p. 377.
 
 248 COCKCHAFERS IN 1835, 
 
 of Donegal, that numbers of these insects were then 
 appearing at Ormean, the residence of that nobleman. 
 As the distance does not exceed a mile from Belfast, 
 I walked out in the afternoon of that day, to witness 
 the fact for myself — the best mode in every department 
 of Natural History. I was shown, at the aviary, a large 
 bowl of cockchafers, both male and female, which had 
 been collected a few hours before ; I was then con- 
 ducted along a gravel walk, through which the in- 
 sects had forced themselves when emerging from the 
 pupa state, and coming to the surface. The holes 
 made by them along the walks, and the borders at 
 either side, were so numerous, that one would almost 
 have thought the place had been exposed to a heavy 
 downward fire of musquetry. The walks had been 
 made above nine years, been in constant use during 
 all that period, and received, occasionally, an addi- 
 tional coat of gravel. How wonderful, then, must 
 the strength of the beetle have been, when it could 
 force itself through this compact and indurated mass ! 
 Yet, that it did so, admits of no dispute. The fact 
 was first noticed by the Marquis himself, who, being 
 then in rather delicate health, spent much of his 
 time amid the walks of his own demesne. It was 
 afterwards confirmed by the observations of several 
 other witnesses; and the condition of the walk, inde- 
 pendent of any other evidence, would be proof suffi-
 
 AND IN 1688. 249 
 
 cient. Mr. Scott informed me, that during the 
 twelve years he had been at Ormean, he had not, 
 until this season, seen a cockchafer ; and that the 
 insect seemed equally unknown to all the labourers 
 in his employment. I make no doubt, however, it 
 would not thus have escaped the more prying eye of 
 the Entomologist. 
 
 In 1688, and for some years afterwards, a host of 
 these insects occasioned no inconsiderable alarm and 
 distress in the county of Galway, and even extended 
 their ravages as far as the river Shannon. They ap- 
 peared in such multitudes as to darken the air, and 
 give serious annoyance to all who were travelling on 
 the roads, or abroad in the fields. " A short while 
 after their coming, they had so entirely eat up and 
 destroyed all the leaves of trees, for some miles 
 round about, that the whole country, although it was 
 in the middle of summer, was left as bare and naked 
 as if it had been in the depth of winter, making a 
 most unseemly, and, indeed, frightful appearance ; 
 and the noise they made while they were seizing and 
 devouring this their prey, was as surprising ; for the 
 grinding of the leaves in the mouths of this vast 
 multitude all together, made a soimd very much re- 
 sembling the sawing of timber." * 
 
 * Letters from Dr. T. MoljTieux, F.R.S., to the Lord Bishop of 
 Clogher, dated Dublin, 5th Oct. 1697, published in " Boate's Natural 
 History of Ireland," DubUn, 1726, p. 165.
 
 250 DELAYED GROWTH OF PARSLEY. 
 
 The abundance of particular insects in some sea- 
 sons, and their comparative scarcity, or total absence, 
 in others, excites, naturally, the supposition, that 
 some necessary condition for their developement has 
 been wanting. What this may be, it would be use- 
 less, in the present state of our knowledge, to con- 
 jecture ; but it may not be out of place to remark, 
 that a somewhat analogous fact is observable in the 
 vegetable world. There are years, when particular 
 plants assume an appearance of unwonted luxuriance ; 
 and other years, when the same plants, under circum- 
 stances apparently as favourable, are either stunted 
 in their growth, or fail altogether to appear. One 
 instance of this took place in a piece of ground 
 visible from the windows of my own dwelling-house. 
 On the site where the new wing of the Royal Aca- 
 demical Institution now stands, my friend, the Rev. 
 Henry Montgomery, LL.D., was in the habit of 
 raising a few culinary vegetables. In the spring 
 of 1830, he sowed, at the usual period, a consider- 
 able quantity of parsley seed : it yielded no return. 
 The ground was raked over again, and fresh seed 
 sown, but with no better success. Between March 
 and August, the operation was repeated four times, 
 the ground being twice dug over, but not a leaf 
 appeared. The next year the same piece of ground 
 was planted with peas and cabbages, but no parsley
 
 INSECTS IN UNEXPECTED SITUATIONS. 251 
 
 showed itself. Early in the spring of the third year 
 (1832), and without any further labour or care, save 
 that of digging to prepare for another crop, the place 
 was covered with one dense and luxuriant mass of 
 parsley, so thick and plentiful that every seed which 
 had lain dormant for the preceding seasons seemed 
 to have been endued at once with all the power re-^ 
 quisite for a vigorous and fertile existence. 
 
 As your labours may perhaps assist in shedding 
 light o'er " the palpable obscure" which now shrouds 
 the operations of nature in the developement both of 
 insect and vegetable life, I shall dwell no longer on 
 this topic. I pass on, therefore, to another, although 
 I begin to fear you may be tempted to exclaim, 
 
 " What 1 will the line stretch out to the crack of doom ? " 
 .l/flc/>rf//, ActlV. Sell. 
 
 The scarcity or total absence of particular insects 
 at certain periods, and their great abundance at 
 others, is a phenomenon that falls but seldom under 
 the eye of the Entomologist. The discovery of a new 
 or of a rare insect is a result which of course can 
 only occasionally be obtained ; but there is another 
 circumstance, which affords scarcely less pleasure, and 
 which is by no means of such unusual occurrence. 
 I refer to the discovery of insects, already known, but 
 in places where apparently they were not likely to be
 
 252 PENTATOMA RUFIPES IN BELFAST. 
 
 found, or in localities where their existence had not 
 previously been observed. This is another of those 
 analogies which the mind delights to trace between 
 the animal and vegetable world, for we not unfre- 
 quently find an insect appearing 
 
 " Like a wild flower, where it was least expected." 
 
 One instance of this, of a somewhat ludicrous 
 kind, fell under my observation while I lived in 
 High-street. A favourite cat was observed by one 
 of the servants to have caught, at the back entrance 
 to the dwelling-house, a diminutive and unusual- 
 looking object. It was taken from her clutches, and 
 brought to me. On examination, I found it was one 
 of those Cimicidce which feed on the juices of plants, 
 and which, of course, are usually found in woody 
 places. How it came into one of the principal busi- 
 ness streets of Belfast it would be useless to con- 
 jecture; but when I announced that a specimen of 
 Pentatoma rufipes had thus been captured, I was 
 bantered not a little by the members of the house- 
 hold, who alleged that poor pussy must have been 
 smitten, like myself, with a fondness for entomo- 
 logical pursuits. 
 
 As another example of the same kind may be 
 mentioned, the unexpected recognition, at Cranmore, 
 of Cossonus Tarda, by my friend and fellow member,
 
 COSSONUS TARDII AT CRANMORE. 253 
 
 Robert Templeton, Esq., R.A. It was found by him 
 in June, 1829, on the under side of an alder which 
 lay in the farm-yard, and had been stripped of its 
 bark. This insect is one of the Curculionidce, or 
 weevil tribe. It was first discovered in July, 1822, 
 under the bark of decayed hollies near Powerscourt 
 waterfall, county of Wicklow, by the late James 
 Tardy, Esq., of Dublin, in company with N. A. 
 Vigors, Esq., who conferred its specific name in 
 honour of his friend. Mr. Curtis remarks — " It ap- 
 pears, like aU wood-feeding insects, to be extremely 
 local; for Mr. Tardy, in a letter, saj^s — ' I have in 
 vain sought for it in places abounding as much in 
 hoUy, and in similar situations, in the same county.'" 
 In fact, I believe the Irish Cossonus, for so it is 
 called, had not been detected in any locality except 
 that where it was originally discovered, until it fell 
 under the observation of Mr. Templeton. It is still 
 taken at Cranmore, in precisely the same situation 
 where it was first observed, and usually in little 
 groups of four or five individuals, ranged together 
 side by side. It is not, however, strictly confined to 
 the one spot, but has also been taken in the adjoining 
 garden, and is particularly abundant under the de- 
 caying bark of alders. 
 
 The last instance I shall adduce of the seizure of 
 known insects in unexpected situations relates to one
 
 254 BURYING BEETLE OX 6LEIVE CROOB. 
 
 of the burying beetles {Silphidce). Their English 
 name imports what is their most distinguishing 
 occupation, which is, in reality, that of interring the 
 bodies of numerous small animals. They are grave- 
 diggers by profession. It is their "vocation," and 
 most sedulously do they perform its duties. At first 
 view, one of this tribe would seem to lead a very 
 laborious life, but " custom hath made it in him a 
 property of easiness," and the object to be attained 
 converts the labour into enjoyment. That object is 
 to provide a proper nidus for the eggs, and provide 
 the future grubs with the sustenance necessary for 
 their subsistence and developement. Of course 
 the beetle is usually to be found where there are 
 decaying animal substances, or fungi similar in 
 smell. One of them {Necrophorus mortuorum) was, 
 however, taken where it was " least " to be " ex- 
 pected," near the summit of Sleive Croob. This is 
 a high mountain in the county of Down, and can 
 scarcely be ascended in favourable weather without 
 exciting the feeUng so well embodied in the exclama- 
 tion of the poet : — 
 
 *' Oh ! there is sweetness in the mountain air, 
 And life, that bloated Ease can never hope to share." 
 
 Childe Harold, Canto I. Stanza XXX. 
 
 It was here, far away from all appearance of putrid 
 or decaying substances, with the pure and balmy 
 
 ft
 
 MUTUAL DEPENDENCE OF THE SCIENCES. 255 
 
 breezes of the mountain playing around us, that the 
 insect was observed. The party, consisting of three 
 of my fellow members, and myself, was about com- 
 mencing the descent, when the beetle, with a flight 
 particularly strong and vigorous, darted into one of 
 our gauze nets, and continued for a considerable 
 time afterwards to make a humming noise, not unhke 
 that of a bee when angry. 
 
 And now, my dear Arnold, I shall detain you no 
 longer. Tlie field seems indeed inexhaustible, but 
 as you are about entering on its investigation for 
 yourself, I need not enlarge on its productions. One 
 of my objects has been already accomplished : I 
 fondly hope " the greatest is behind." I expect 
 that one branch of inquiry is, in your case, but " the 
 happy prologue" to another ; for aU the sciences are 
 so connected, that, although we distinguish them by 
 several names, we cannot understand one, N^-ithout 
 paying homage to many others on the same vigorous 
 and graceful stem. While, therefore, I say — 
 
 " thou Shalt be as free 
 
 As mountain wiuds," — Tempest, Act I. Sc. II. 
 
 I anticipate that, wliile you observe the various tribes 
 of insects in their several haunts, you will gradually 
 and almost insensibly acquire a knowledge of the 
 botanical characteristics of those leafj' dwellings 
 which so many of them frequent, and hence be pre-
 
 256 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 pared to wander, at some future period, amid the 
 wild flowers of Spring, the richer denizens of the 
 parterre, and the deep and luxuriant forests, which 
 are depicted by Shakspeare. Whether these or their 
 feathered choristers he your study, you will find in 
 Nature, however varied her costume and external 
 appearance, 
 
 " A prone and speechless dialect 
 
 Such as moves men. 
 
 And well she can persuade." 
 
 Measure for Measttre, Act I. Sc. III.
 
 INJURIES OCCASIONED BY INSECTS IN DIFFERENT 
 PARTS OF IRELAND. 
 
 An orange-coloured gnat {Tipula tritici K.),* be- 
 longing to the genus Cecidomyia of Latreille, fre- 
 quently proves ver)"^ destructive to the wheat crop, by 
 depositing its eggs in the centre of the corolla. The 
 loss occasioned by the young grub which is there 
 produced is unhappily too well known. In this dis- 
 
 * For fipfures of tieo destructive species of Cecidomyia, see p. 25. 
 See also an article, by Mr. Westwood, on the Destructive Properties 
 of Insects, in Loudon's Gardener's JIagazine, No. 85, April, 1837.
 
 258 OTIORYNCHUS NOTATUS, ETC. 
 
 trict its ravages in the summer of 1828 produced no 
 inconsiderable degree of alarm. 
 
 Another individual of the same genus (C, bicolor) 
 deposits her eggs in the leaf-buds of one of our pret- 
 tiest spring-flowers,— the Veronica chamoedrys. The 
 nidus, thus formed, might at first glance be mis- 
 taken for a seed-vessel, but if broken open will ex- 
 hibit a smaU reddish caterpillar, the embryo of the 
 future insect. The attacks of the fly seem as wide- 
 ly diiFused as the plant itself, for they have attracted 
 my attention in various parts of the south, and 
 throughout the northern counties of Ireland. 
 
 In May, 1827, the young grafts of apple-trees in 
 an extensive nursery belonging to the late Mr. Har- 
 vey, near this town, were destroyed by a reddish- 
 grey coloured weevil {Otiorhynchus notatus) ; almost 
 the entire plantation fell a sacrifice to the attacks of 
 this insect. 
 
 In June, 1830, a considerable loss was sustained 
 in the Botanic Garden here, from another individual 
 of the same tribe (OtiorhyncJius vastator scad Ligustici). 
 It destroyed a vast number of flowers, by ascending 
 the stems at night, and cutting them through. Dur- 
 ing the day-time it buried itself in the earth, from 
 which its colour was scarcely distinguishable. 
 
 A more formidable visitor was, however, the wire- 
 worm. Many who have had their crops of grain or 
 
 i 
 
 ii
 
 HALTICA PARVULA. 259 
 
 of grass injured by its depredations, are not aware 
 that it is the grub of a very common beetle, one of 
 those popularly termed skipjacks {Hemerhipus segetis) . 
 It destroyed in the garden, during the same season, 
 above a thousand plants, but fortunately few or none 
 of a rare or valuable kind. One plant was raised for 
 examination, and above fifty wire-worms were found 
 preying on its roots. For this information I was 
 indebted to the late Mr. Thomas Drummond, then 
 curator of the garden. 
 
 As linen is the staple manufacture of this part of 
 the country, and gives employment in various de- 
 partments to many thousand persons, the flax crop is 
 naturally regarded as one of very high importance ; 
 yet here a diminutive insect had the hardihood 
 to interfere, and, despite of all the efforts of man, 
 nearly destroyed, in many parts of the county Down, 
 in the summer of 1827, the entire crop of flax. The 
 minute assailant was a little jumping beetle (Holtica 
 parvula) *, resembUng that called the turnip-flj', but 
 much smaller. Specimens of it are preserv'ed in the 
 cabinet of Mr. G. C. Hyndman. 
 
 In 1832 I visited the county Wicklow, and heard 
 from several persons there, an account of the defolia- 
 tion produced by a caterpillar. It was stated that 
 
 * See ante, p. 22.
 
 260 PYG^RA BrCEPHALA. 
 
 many trees had at Midsummer the appearance they 
 usually present at Christmas, and that they put forth 
 a second growth of leaves. Great fear, which a httle 
 knowledge of Entomology would have dispelled, was 
 entertained by the country people, that when the 
 leaves of the forest trees had been devoured, their 
 potato crops would next have been attacked. The 
 denudation caused by this caterpillar extended from 
 Arklovv along the " sweet vale of Avoca," past " the 
 meeting of the waters," and on to the entrance of 
 the valley of the Seven Churches. I am unable, from 
 the vague accounts I received, to form any idea of 
 the species by which these ravages had been com- 
 mitted. From the manner in which some oak trees in 
 this neighbourhood have been stripped of their leaves, 
 by the caterpUlars of the bufftip moth {Pygara buce- 
 phala), it is possible this more extensive defoliation 
 may have been occasioned by the same insect. 
 
 An instance of destruction caused by another cater- 
 pillar came to my knowledge, near to Portarlington, 
 Queen's County. The insect destroyer in this case 
 was the larva of a moth, not merely rare, but, so far 
 as I have been able to ascertain, unrecorded, as be- 
 long to our Irish Fauna, — I mean the goat-moth 
 (Cossifs Ugniperdci) . It was discovered at Woodbrook, 
 the seat of Major Chetwood, in 1830. Some trees 
 in the demesne had assumed an unhealthy appear-
 
 COSSUS LIGXIPERDA. 261 
 
 ance ; my informant, a member of the family, hap- 
 pened to strike one of them smartly with his stick, 
 when, to his surprise, the bark gave way, and re- 
 vealed a colony of caterpillars. In consequence 
 of this discovery, and for the purpose of at once 
 extirpating the cause of the evil, six or eight full- 
 grown trees were felled, and about two hundred of 
 these new and unknowm caterpillars destroyed. My 
 friend was soon Eifter this time informed what they 
 really were, and received so many applications for 
 specimens, that he was induced to institute a strict 
 search for them through the plantations, but without 
 success. In the ensuing summer he renewed his 
 scrutiny, with precisely the same result, nor did 
 he succeed until July, 1832, when a large ash tree 
 in the lawn evinced unequivocal symptoms of being 
 the object of attack. The caterpillars were at that 
 time rapidly proceeding with their mining operations. 
 Three of them were brought to Belfast by my brother, 
 and five of them about two months afterwards by 
 myself. By comparing them with drawings and de- 
 scriptions I was then fully convinced that they were 
 the lar^'ae of the Cosstis Ugniperda; but I had not 
 the gratification of seeing the perfect moth, for none 
 of them attained maturity, and only one assumed 
 the form of a chrysaUs. 
 
 The caterpillars of a smaller moth were very abun-
 
 262 YPONOMEUTA EUONYMELLA. 
 
 dant in some parts of the county a few years ago, 
 and caused considerable defoliation. The moth 
 {Yponomeuta euonymella) is white; its wings prettily 
 marked with numerous black dots. The larvae spin a 
 large white web, not unlike some kind of cotton fabric ; 
 and under this they Hve together in numerous com- 
 munities. In 1828 they appeared in such quantities 
 about Whitehouse, three miles from this town, that 
 all the Euonymus trees in the shrubberies there were 
 destroyed, the leaves being devoured, and the plant 
 covered by their webs, or rather enveloped in them. 
 At the Cave Hill every plant of the Euonymus euro- 
 pcEus, which there grows wild, was left without a 
 leaf. Along the Falls road the ravages of the same 
 caterpillar were visible. From Lough Neagh I have 
 specimens of this insect, along with some of an allied 
 species (Ypono7neuta padelhi) which assisted in the 
 work of devastation. Mr. William M'Clure, wine- 
 merchant of this town, informed me, that he had an 
 extensive orchard on the banks of the Lough, at the 
 Crumlin river, which sustained very considerable da- 
 mage from the destruction of the crop by these assail- 
 ants. My friend, Mr. John Brown of Randalstown, 
 made at my request some inquiry respecting these 
 insects, and in March, 1834, Idndly communicated 
 the following information with regard to their ravages 
 in that neighbourhood : — 
 
 1
 
 YPONOMEtJTA PADELLA. 263 
 
 " The gardener at Shane's Castle informs me, that 
 the caterpillar so injurious to apple trees made its 
 appearance for the first time on the spindle-tree, or 
 forest-box, and the elder in the park, principally 
 about the mouth of the river Main, in the year 1819. 
 In 1820 the apple trees in Shane's Castle nursery 
 were infested, and in the following season all the 
 apple trees in both garden and nm-sery. For several 
 years in succession the trees exhibited very little of 
 either leaves or fruit, and so ruinous were the depre- 
 dations of the caterpillars considered, that about the 
 year 1827 or 1828 Lord O'Neill ordered to be 
 raised and thrown into the lake, all the apple trees in 
 the nursery, and a number trained as espaUers in the 
 garden. His order was obeyed as to the raising ; 
 but the trees were collected by two farmers, who 
 ' headed down' and planted them in their gardens, 
 where they have since become healthy, and produced 
 good crops. Between the years 1826 and 1828 the 
 evil was at the worst ; since then it continued to 
 decUne, until 18-30 or 1831, when it entirely ceased. 
 Nearly aU the fruit at Shane's Castle was destroyed ; 
 and in Mr. Adams's garden I know that fully one- 
 half was lost." 
 
 I shall conclude my enumeration of the ravages 
 committed by caterpillars by an instance of the evil 
 caused by the gi-ubs of the Tipulidce, or crane-flies.
 
 264 LARV^ OF THE TIPULA. 
 
 For this information I am indebted to my friend, 
 James Grimshaw, jun. Esq., of Whitehouse, one of 
 the original members of our Natural History Society, 
 who thus communicated the fact as it fell under his 
 observation ; — 
 
 " In the spring of 1817 the ravages committed by 
 the larvae of the Tipula were so great, that many crops 
 of clover and grass, in the neighbourhood of Imrgan, 
 were lost, and almost all, with very few exceptions, 
 materially injured. I was at that time staying with 
 an intimate friend, Mr. Christy of Kircassock, who 
 complained that whole fields, which were laid down 
 in grass and clover, were so infested by what is usually 
 called the cut- worm, — that he had nearly come to the 
 resolution of again breaking up the fields, and plant- 
 ing them anew. My friend was accounted one of the 
 best agriculturists in the district ; and, by careful 
 examination, he ere long discovered the destroyer, 
 and the remedy soon followed. He took me to seve- 
 ral fields to show me the cause of the evil. When 
 he removed the earth with his hand, to the depth of 
 about an inch, the part which was laid bare appeared 
 quite alive with a thick short grub of a dirty green- 
 ish appearance. These grubs attacked the roots of 
 the grass, and the weather being remarkably dry, the 
 crop soon perished. At that time, in fields where 
 the verdure one day appeared lively and green, in
 
 NEMATUS RIBESII. 265 
 
 three or four days afterwards every blade of grass 
 would be dried up, and nothing meet the eye but the 
 red earth, as if the proprietor had laid out his ground 
 for a summer fallow. I asked him how it was possible 
 to get rid of this grub, and found his remedy was to 
 roll the field with a heavy roller, dra^Ti by a horse, 
 and thus to crush the larvae." 
 
 While these sheets were passing through the press 
 I have had the pleasure of perusing a paper Avritten 
 by my relative, B. J. Clarke, Esq., on the natural 
 history of one of our garden pests, the Gooseberry 
 saw-fly. I can now only avail myself of the part in 
 which its ravages are mentioned. Mr. Clarke says, 
 " On arri\ing at La Bergerie (Portarlington, Queen's 
 County) the latter end of June, 1837, 1 was informed 
 by the gardener, that what he termed the green- 
 worm blight was rapidly stripping the gooseberry 
 and currant plantations of their leaves, and that, 
 when he shook the trees, a profusion of the green- 
 worm, to use his own expression, fell from them. 
 On inspection, I found the injury arose from count- 
 less numbers of the lar\^8e of the gooseberry saw-fly 
 {Nematus ribesii), which adhered to the leaves, de- 
 vouring all the pulpy part, and lea^^ng nothing but 
 the thick fibres standing out, giA'ing the denuded 
 trees a most spectral appearance. I frequently reck- 
 oned twenty or thirty of these pseudo-caterpillars.
 
 266 DESTRUCTION OF GOOSEBERRY TREES. 
 
 as Reaumur terms them, clinging to one leaf by 
 their pro-legs, and never leaving it, as long as a 
 particle of green matter remained. What appeared 
 remarkable was, that they carefully avoided the 
 black currant trees, and should ope intervene in their 
 course of devastation it always remained perfectly 
 untouched. By the end of the first week in July 
 they had completed their work of demolition, the 
 fruit hanging exposed to the scorching rays of the 
 sun, which completely deprived it of flavour." — " By 
 the middle of August the trees had so far recovered 
 their leaves as to afford a hope of some fruit being 
 saved, when the second brood of larvae made their 
 appearance, and commenced their work of destruction 
 on the young foliage." 
 
 r II iir |lllVlllflll''fllll, in
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Aeherontia Atropos, 162. 
 Acheta campestris, 102. 
 
 domestica, 97. 
 
 Adephag-a, 77. 
 
 Admiral buttei-fly, 159. 
 
 Agrionidas, 234. 
 
 Anacreon, ode of, to the Cicada, 
 
 111. 
 Anguis fragilis, 39. 
 Ants, white, 21. 
 
 , destruction by, 43. 
 
 Ants, 140. 
 
 , notstorers-upof prain, 142. 
 
 Aphaniptera, organs of, 60. 
 Aphis hamuli, 23. 
 Aptera, organs of, 61. 
 Arachnidae, 207. 
 Argyimis Aglaia, 156. 
 — - Paphia, 155. 
 
 Balaninus nucuni, 38. 
 Bee, mouth of, 49. 
 Bees, swarming of, 114. 
 
 , humming of, 117. 
 
 , sting of, 126. 
 
 , mode of obtaining the 
 
 honey, without destroying 
 
 them, 128. 
 Bees' wax, 120. 
 Beetles, great strength of, 74. 
 
 , cleanliness of, 75. 
 
 Bembidium paludosum, 83. 
 Bibio lanigerus, 189. 
 Blatta orieutahs, 108. 
 Blethisa borealis, 83. 
 Blind-womi, 39. 
 Blue-bottle fly, 179. 
 
 , their changes of colour, 180. 
 
 Bombus muscorum, 52. 
 Bots, 201. 
 
 Brimstone moth, 155. 
 " Brize," the, 198. 
 
 Buff-tip moth, 260. 
 Butterfly, the, 148. 
 
 , universally diffused, 149. 
 
 , a symbol of the soul, 151. 
 
 , the, its inconstant flight, 
 
 153. 
 
 , its visual powers, 155. 
 
 , species found near Belfast 
 
 158. 
 
 Caddis-worms, 338. 
 
 Calepterj-x Virgo and C. Ludo- 
 viciana, 234. 
 
 Carabidee, 78. 
 
 CarabusclathratusandC.niteiis, 
 83. 
 
 Caterpillars, 31, 168. 
 
 Cecidomyia destructor and C. 
 tritici,25. 
 
 bicolor, 258. 
 
 Changes, periodical, of the ex- 
 ternal world, 6. 
 
 Chironomus viresceus, 246. 
 
 Chrysalis state of insects, 32. 
 
 Cicada, the. 111. 
 
 Cicindela campestris, 84. 
 
 Cimex lectularius, (bug,) 59. 
 
 Cockchafers, swarms of, orca- 
 sionally seen in Ireland, 247. 
 
 Cockroaches, 108. 
 
 Coleoptera, 45, 63, 75. 
 
 Cossonus Tardii, 252. 
 
 Cossus ligniperda, 260. 
 
 Crane-flies, 264. 
 
 Cricket, the, 97. 
 
 , its mirthful chiqi, 99. 
 
 , its shyness, 103. 
 
 , manner of producing its 
 
 note, 105. 
 
 Cuckoo-spit, 110. 
 
 Culex detritus, 186. 
 
 pipiens, 196.
 
 268 
 
 Cynips quercus-folii, 25. 
 Cynthia Cardui, 157. 
 
 Day-fly, 24. 
 
 Death, feigned, of animals, 72. 
 
 Death's head sphinx, 162. 
 
 December moth, 150. 
 
 " Demoiselles," 233. 
 
 Diptera, 175. 
 
 , org-ans of, 57. 
 
 Dipterous insects, their diminu- 
 tive size, 183. 
 
 , their aerial dances, 185. 
 
 , universally ditt'used, 187. 
 
 , some species seen in win- 
 ter, 188. 
 
 Dor, common, 64, 71. 
 
 Dragon-flies, 230. 
 
 , their rapacity, 232. 
 
 , mode of depositing their 
 
 eggs, 237. 
 
 Drone-bees, the, 53, 116. 
 
 Dyticus marginalis, 241. 
 
 Earthworm, common, 38. 
 Education, defects of, 4. 
 Entomology, advantages of, 17. 
 
 , popular ignorance of, 82. 
 
 , attractions of, 244. 
 
 Epeira diadema, 213. 
 Ephemera vulgata, 24. 
 Eriogaster populi, 150. 
 Euonymus europaius, 252. 
 
 Flea, the, 60, 204. 
 Flesh-flies, 176. 
 
 , their fecundity, 179. 
 
 Flies, annoyances occasioned by, 
 
 194. 
 , mode of excluding them 
 
 from houses, 195. 
 " Flies at Bartholomew tide," 
 
 203. 
 Fly, the, 191. 
 Foot, difference of the, of the 
 
 cricket and grasshopper, 110. 
 
 Gad-fly, the, 198. 
 Gasterophilus equl, 201. 
 Geotrupes stercorarius, 47, 67. 
 
 vernalis, 70. 
 
 Glow-worm, 85. 
 
 , not found in Ireland, 89. 
 
 Gnat, common, 196. 
 Goat-moth, 260. 
 Gonepterix Rhamni, 154. 
 
 Gooseberry saw-fly, 265. 
 Gossamer, 219. 
 
 , theories respecting its emis- 
 sion, 221. 
 Grasshopper, the, 96. 
 Grayling, 156. 
 Great water-beetle, 241. 
 Gryllotalpa vulgaris, 48. 
 Gyrinus natator, 92. 
 villosus, 93. 
 
 Haltica parvula, 259. 
 Hemerhipus segetis, 259. 
 Hemiptera, organs of, 59. 
 Hepialus humuli, 173. 
 Hipparchia pamphilus, 150. 
 
 Semele, 157. 
 
 Honey, 120. 
 
 Honey-comb, symmetry of, 125. 
 
 Honey-dew, 144. 
 
 Hum of the beetle, 65. 
 
 Humble-bee, 52, 119. 
 
 Hymenoptera, 113. 
 
 Ichneumon globatus, 229. 
 
 Ichneumons, 227. 
 
 , mode of depositing their 
 
 eggs, 228. 
 
 Insects, form and colour of, 17. 
 
 , greatness of their num- 
 bers, 18. 
 
 , benefits conferred by, 23. 
 
 , transformations of, 30. 
 
 , larva state of, 31. 
 
 , chrysalis state of, 32. 
 
 , organs of, 42. 
 
 , parasitic, 73. 
 
 . sensibility of, 79, 170. 
 
 , manner of producing their 
 
 note, 105. 
 
 , localities of, 157. 
 
 , deposition of the eggs of, 
 
 173. 
 
 , cruelty to them reproved, 
 
 182. 
 
 , number of lenses in the 
 
 eyes of, 235. 
 
 , irregular appearance of, 
 
 245. 
 
 , found in unexpected situa- 
 tions, 251. 
 
 , injuries occasioned by, in 
 
 different parts of Ireland, 257. 
 
 Lampyris noctiluca, 85. 
 Lepidoptera, 147.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 269 
 
 Lepidoptera, universally dif- 
 
 fusecl, 149. 
 
 , organs of, 55. 
 
 Libelluiina, 231. 
 
 Locust, the, British species of, 
 
 107. 
 , not mentioned by Shaks- 
 
 peare, 107. 
 Locusta Christii, 107. 
 
 a;rossa, 109. 
 
 " Long-legged Spinners," 215. 
 Louse, the, 60. 
 Lozotaina Rosana, 34. 
 Lumbricus terrestris, 38. 
 Lycosa, 217. 
 
 Magpie moth, the, 30. 
 
 Mask of the larva of the dragon- 
 fly, 236. 
 
 Melolontha vulgaris, 247. 
 
 Mole cricket, 41. 
 
 Mosquito, the, 196. 
 
 Mosquitoes, torment occasioned 
 by them, 197. 
 
 " Moth," in what sense the word 
 used by Shakspeare, 164. 
 
 Moths, 163. 
 
 , various species of, 165. 
 
 , classic, 166. 
 
 Mouths of insects, 46. 
 
 Musca carnaria, 178. 
 
 vomitoria, 179. 
 
 domestica and M. rudis, 
 
 203. 
 
 Natural History, may be allied 
 to poetry, 7. 
 
 Necrophorus raortuorum, 234. 
 
 Nematus ribesii, 265. 
 
 Nepa cinerea, 243. 
 
 Notonecta glauca, (boat-fly,) 243. 
 
 " Nuptial lamp," of the glow- 
 worm, 87. 
 
 Nut Weevil, the, 37. 
 
 CEstrus bovis, 198, 200. 
 CEstrus ovis, 202. 
 ( )rthoptera, 48, 95. 
 Otiorynchus notatus, O. vasta- 
 tor, and O. Ligustici, 258. 
 
 Painted Lady, 157. 
 
 Palpi, 47. 
 
 Papilionida;, Irish varieties of, 
 
 158. 
 Parsley, delayed growth of, 250. 
 
 Peacock butterfly, the, 160. 
 
 Pentatoma rufipes, 252. 
 
 PhalangidK, 215. 
 
 Phryganeae, 237. 
 
 Pimpla manifestator, 227. 
 
 Plusia festucse, 246. 
 
 " Pretty worm of Nilus," 39. 
 
 Prometheus moth, 33. 
 
 PygKra bucephala, 260. 
 
 Queen Bee, the, 115. 
 
 Rumia crat«gata, 155. 
 
 Scarabseus sacer, 68. 
 
 Sciences, mutual dependence of, 
 255. 
 
 Sealing-wax, 121. 
 
 Shakspeare, his accurate ob- 
 servation, 9. 
 
 , number of notices of na- 
 tural objects contained in his 
 plays, 11. 
 
 , the pleasure of reading his 
 
 works much increased by a 
 knowledge of natural history, 
 29. 
 
 , his plastic power of mould- 
 ing every object in nature to 
 liis will, 53. 
 
 , explanation of obscure pas- 
 sages of, 80. 
 
 ^ vindication of, 86. 
 
 , his splendid description of 
 
 the economyof a bee-hive, 115. 
 
 , his knowledge of the habits 
 
 of si)iders, 214. 
 
 " Sliarded beetle," the, 45, 66. 
 
 Shard, various meanings of the 
 word, 66. 
 
 Silkworm, the, 36. 
 
 Silver-streak buttei-fly, 155. 
 
 Silver-spot butterfly, 136. 
 
 Sphinxes, the, 161. 
 
 , varieties of, taken near 
 
 Belfast, 162. 
 
 Spider, the, 207, 210. 
 
 Spiders not classed with insects, 
 208. 
 
 , their poisonous fluid, 216. 
 
 , not noxious to man, 21". 
 
 Spiders' webs, 212. 
 
 Tettigonia spumaria, 110. 
 Tettix, the, 110. 
 " The Canker," 35.
 
 270 
 
 " Tlie poor beetle that we tread 
 
 upon," 79. 
 Thericlium verecundum, 216. 
 Tineids, 33. 
 Tipula tritici, 257. 
 Tipulidae, 25, 188. 
 
 , larvs of, 263. 
 
 Tortoise-shell butterfly, 159. 
 Turnip-fly, the, 22. 
 
 Vanessa urticae, 159. 
 
 lo, 160. 
 
 Atalanta, 159. 
 
 Verses susfgested by the gossa- 
 mer, 222. 
 
 Wasps, 133. 
 
 , paper-makers, 134. 
 
 , their nests, 135. 
 
 , their irascibility, 130. 
 
 " Water-fly," 90. 
 Water-scori)ion, 243. 
 " Weaving' spiders," 215. 
 Wild-bees, supposed to be the 
 
 harbingers of the white man, 
 
 131. 
 Wire-worm, the, 22, 258. 
 
 Yellow brimstone butterfly, 154. 
 Yponomeuta euonvmella, and 
 y. padella, 252. 
 
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