A familiar introduction to the history of insects; being a new and greatly improved edition of The grammar of entomology

Front matter

Jerry Stannard 459 ChanningAve.

Westfield, New Jersey

^7

Preface

Teachers in science are nearly equally divided into two classes ; — those who know too much, and those who know too Uttle. Those of the first class, overloaded with science, cannot admit the possibihty of meeting with readers who have none ; and, therefore, their essays and introductions are so worded that it requires a tolerable proficiency to understand them. The teachers of the second class fall into the opposite eiTor; they curtail, garble, and popularize the writings of others without understanding them, forgetful that it requires a consummate knowledge of any science to abridge a work which treats of it ably and at large. The author submits, with much humility, that both classes are in error : he submits also that introductory works should be wiitten for those who know nothing of the subject on wliich they read, and hy those who possess, in themselves, some practical knowledge of the subject on which they write.

VIU PREFACE.

In accordance with these views the author has written the following pages; he supposes his reader utterly ignorant of Entomology, and endeavours to show him that it is the History of Insects, and the Art of Preserving Insects, and the Physiology of Insects, and the Classification of Insects : he does not address himself to the professed Entomologist; to such this work will be of little value.

The First Book, entitled History of Insects, is a complete compilation ; a series of histories copied, in many instances verbatim, from the accounts of those authors who relate what themselves have witnessed. Objections will probably be raised to this plan, but the author thinks without reason. What good pui*pose would have been answered, had he so curtailed, transposed, and altered these histories, that their very authors should not have knoTNTi them ? On the contrary, is there not a good pui'pose answered in collecting together the most interesting observations of Huber, Smeathman, Rusticus, Kirby, Spence, Clark, Fries, and Bevan ? No concealment is attempted : the authority for each history is given, except when dependent on the author's own observation, and thus the responsibility is removed from the compiler.

PREFACE. IX

f

The Second Book, entitled Collection and Preservation of Insects, contains nothing worthy of comment ; it mil be useful to beginners, and thus the author's only object in wiiting it will be attained.

The Third Book, entitled Physiology or Anatomy of Insects, is the record of the author's own observations : he has given the names employed by other writers, when he could understand to what parts they referred, but in names alone has he availed himself of their labours ; the facts, the descriptions, unless given as quotations, are entirely his own.

The Fom'th Book, entitled Classification of Insects, may be chai'ged with being too original : it may be said that the author should have given the views and arrangements of others in preference to his own. He would ask, whose system was he to select ? Tliat liis own is the most simple and the most readily miderstood, no one will deny : that it is more perfect, or more accm-ate, or more phUosopliical, than any other, he does not presume to contend. As for a chsquisition on system it would have been dangerous gi'ound ; pleasurable to the writer, but unprofitable to the reader : it would have doubled the size of the volume without adding a fraction to its value.

TRRFACF.

The want of an easy introduction to the Natural History of Insects has been felt by many. For the last two yeai's, during which time it has been generally known that he has contemplated the task, the author has received numerous and pressing soHcitations to proceed with it : he has at last made the attempt. He has done his best ; whether successfully or not. others must decide.

Postscript, May, 1841. — This little book was observed as a caterpillar in 1835 ; in 1837 it disappeared and remained concealed as a quiescent and lethargic pupa, until, roused by the genial influence of the present spring, it has burst its cere-cloths and assumed the ornamented wings of the gay and volatile buttei'fly. We need scai'cely enquii'e the physical causes combining to induce this prolonged slumber : suffice it to know that the imago is at last on the wing, and perchance ere long may be flitting amid the live oaks of America and the Eucalypti of AustraHa : it will be sure to flutter about its native home, and many a fair finger will lightly touch its wings, and many a bright eye rest well pleased on its decorations : even the schoolboy will regard it as a thing to be desired, and if obtained will consider it a treasure.

PREFACE. XI

To descend to prose — the first edition appeared in 1835. In 1837 a second edition was announced, from v/liicli circumstance it may fairly be concluded that the first was out of print ; but notwithstanding this announcement, tlie second edition was delayed from month to month, until it was abandoned and almost forgotten : at length it was determined to reprint the work in its present illustrated and altered form.

The illustrations are almost entirely original : one is coi)ied from Curtis, one or two from Shuckard and Spry, one or two fi'om Westwood : two of the draAvings, those at pages 27 and 96, ai*e by the author's brother; the others by himself, and with the exceptions above specified, invariably from Nature : all the illustrations have been drawn and engi'aved expressly for this edition. The alterations are in every instance introduced with the view of making the work more easy to the beginner. The author would gladly have added to the number of pages, in fact, he had determined on doing so, he had prepared several most scientific and erudite passages, but

" The hest laid sclicmes o' mice an' men Gang ait a-gley."

On talking the matter over >vitli his publisher — and what author ever presumed to decide for himself? —

PREFACE.

it was deemed advisable to restrict the volume in its dimensions to three hundred pages, and in its character to a simple introduction, — a kind of " reading made easy" to the youthful butterfly-hunter.

The author cannot lay down his pen before he has acknowledged the gratification he feels from the hberal encouragement his literary labours have received : it would be false modesty to pretend bhndness to the fact that the humble efforts of liis pen and pencil have been unusually successful ; and this knowledge raises in his heart a feeling of honest pride and gi'atitude he would fain express, yet knows not how.

Reader, should the author persuade thee, by a perusal of these pages, to follow in his footsteps, — to tread the paths which he has trodden, — to gaze with an enquiiing and delighted eye on those things which he has gazed on, — it is enough. He bids thee, affectionately, farewell!

TABLE or CONTENTS.

BOOK I. — History of Insects. Page

Chap. I. — History of Insects in general, 1. Of the Simulia, 3. Of the Ichneumon, 6. Of the Earwig, 10. Of the Locust, 12, Of the Ant-lion, - - ' 14

Chap. II. — History of the Silkworm, 17. Its introduction into Europe, 18. Its introduction into England, 19. Changes of skin, 20. Spinning, 21. Eggs, ------- 23

Chap. III. — History of Breeze-flies, 25. Breeze-fly of the horse, 26

Of the sheep, 29. Of the ox, 30

Chap. IV. — History of the Honey-bee, 33. Of the queen bee, 34. Of the drones, 34. Of the queen's laying eggs, 35. Of swarming, 36. Of the combs, 37. Of the honey, - - - - 39

Chap. V. — History of the Yellow Ant, 41. Description of an ants' nest, 42. Mode of building it, 43. Of the larva, 44. Of the pupae or ants' eggs, 45. Care taken of the larvse and pupae, 46. Final escape of the winged ants, 47. Their aerial journey, 49. Slave ants, .-_.-. ----50

Chap. VI. — History of the Sexton Beetle, - . . _ - 53

Chap. VII. — History of the White Ants, 57. Description of their hills, 58. Internal structure of the nest, 61. Subterranean passages, 63. Winding road and bridges, 64. Labourers, Soldiers, Kings and Queens, 65. Oviposition of the Queen, 68. Wild bulls stand on the hills, , _ - . - - 72

Cha p. VIII. — Metamorphosis of Insects, 73. Metamorphosis described, Amorpha, 76. Necromorpha, Isomorpha, 77. Anisomorpha, - 78

BOOK III. — Physiology or Anatomy of Insects

Chap. I. — Of the organs of support or skeleton, - - - . 133 Chap. II. — On the head, legs, and wings of Insects, 153. Head, 154. Antennae, 155. Eyes, 158. Mouth, 159. Wings, 165. Legs, 168. Of Surface, --------- 171

Chap. III. — On the internal anatomy of Insects; of the Muscles, 178. Nerves, 180. The alimentary canal, 184. Organs of circulation, 186. The tracheae, 191

Chap. I. — Classification of Insects in general, .... 199

Chap. II. — Of the Classification of Lepidoptera, - - . . 206 Chap. III. — Of the Classification of Diptera, .... 2I6

Chap. IV. — Of the Classification of Hymenoptera, - - - 230

Chap. V. — Of the Classification of Coleoptera, .... 246 Chap. VI. — Of the Classification of Orthoptera, Hemiptera, Neurop-

GRAMMAR

ENTOMOLOGY.

Book I. On The History Or Economy Of Insects

Here subteiranean works and cities see, There towns aerial on the waving tree ; Learn each small people's genius, policies. The ants' republic and the realm of bees; How those in common all their stores bestow, And anarchy without confusion know ; And these for ever, though a monarch reign, Their separate cells and properties maintain.

Chapter I. History Of Insects In General

The histoiy of an insect, like the history of a man, is an account of life from first to last, from birth to death. Insects are so constituted, that the history of an individual is the history of its race : climate, season or circumstance exercises but little power of creating differences among them ; a bee is as essentially a bee, and a butterfly a butterfly, at the equator as at the poles ; and in either situation performs the same acts. Insects of all kinds, and in all situations, resemble each other in the following particulars:— they proceed from the parent as eggs; the eggs are hatched and become grubs, in which state they eat,

B i HISTOFY OF INSECTS.

increase rapidly in size, and are invariably without wings ; the grubs, when full grown, become for a time motionless ; their skin opens, and from it comes forth the perfect insect, which has four ^vings, and does not increase in size. In a very great number of insects the grab changes its skin, and completely alters its form, when it becomes motionless; indeed, almost as great a transformation takes place as on its final change to a perfect insect ; when tliis is the case, the animal, in its motionless state, is called a chrysalis. Thus we have four stages in the life of an insect, — four states which it is necessary thoroughly to understand ; the egg [ovum), which is motionless, and apparently lifeless; the gi-ub {larva), which is active, but without wings, voracious, and gi'ows rapidly; the chrysalis {piqia), which is quite motionless, and does not occiu: in all insects; the perfect insect {imago), wliich is active, has wings, does not grow, and wliich, by laying eggs, perpetuates its kind. The names egg, larva, pupa, and imago, are the terms generally employed in descriptions ; the three last answer equally well for Latin and English, but it must be borne in mind that the words, grub, maggot and caterpillar, are synonymous with the term larva ; and perfect insect, Jly, &c., are synonymous with the term imago; and the English and Latin words are used in English descriptions almost indifferently. These transformations, often spoken of as the metamorphosis of insects, are in reality nothing more than a continual casting of the outer skin ; the larva often casts its skin fom- or five times, without any very remarkable change of form ; every casting of the skin is a step towards arriving at ultimate perfection. In every insect the skin must be cast a certain number of times, and the last casting brings it to maturity.

On accoimt of their small size, it is difiicult to find common examples of the eggs of insects ; those laid on meat by the blue-bottle fly must be known to many; the silk-worm's eggs again are not unknown ; but the generality of insects' eggs are so concealed, and so little conspicuous, that they are found with difficulty. Examples of larvcd are numerous; the maggots fomid in wasps' nests and used in fishing, — the maggots in apples and nuts, — the maggots in cheese, and in decaying substances, — and the catei-pillars which devour our cabbages, and those which spin webs on our apple, pear, and plum trees, — are familiar to us all: these are insects in the larva state. The pupa state is more difficult to find, because insects generally crawl away into crevices or hide themselves underground, before changing to tliis state ; an angular pupa, of a green colour, with small black spots, which produces a common white butterfly, may, however, be fi'equently seen on palings and garden walls, and the smooth brown pupae of moths are continually dug up in gardens. The imago, or perfect state, is exemplified in butterflies, moths, gnats, flies, wasps, bees, ants, beetles, grasshoppers, earwigs, cockroaches, bugs, fleas, may-flies, and dragon-flies. All descriptions of insects in scientific works relate to the imago state, unless the contrary is distinctly expressed.

The mode in wliich the life of an insect is passed, differs very widely in the various states of its existence : it often happens that the larva inhabits the water and the imago the air ; sometimes the larva inhabits the water, the pupa inha- , bits the earth, and the imago retui'ns to the water. The following brief histories will in some degree exemplify this.

History of the Simulia.* — The eggs of the Simulia or sandfly (sometimes also called the mosquito), appear to be at present unknown ; there is, however, little doubt, that like those of other gnats, they are deposited on the surface

* Authority; — M. Fries, in ' Entomologisches Archives.'

B 2 of the water, and in that situation are hatched by the warmth of the sun combined with the moisture of the water. The larva, is found on the stems of water-plants {Phellandriimi, &c.), on those portions wliich are always covered by the water : it is long, cylindrical, considerably thickened posteriorly, and nearly transparent ; its head is distinctly separated fi-om the body, and is of an oblong form ; it has four jaws moving horizontally, each bifid at the tip, and two little homs in the usual place of antennse, inserted in the front of the head, rather towards each side ; each of these is composed of two joints, the first or basal joint stout, the second or apical one, divided into many rays, wliich fold back on the first joint : there are two veiy small eyes on each side of the head. The body of the larva is divided into twelve segments, besides the head ; of these, the second is incrassated, and furnished below with a retractile conical foot ; the last segment is very minute, and furnished with two small prehensile feet : the air-tubes, so very plainly seen in other aquatic larvae, are totally wanting ; neither is there the least appearance of spiracles or breathing-holes in the sides. The motion of the larva in the water is tolerably brisk ; but on any object coming in contact with it, it instantly becomes motionless, attaches itself by the anterior prehensile foot, and remains for a long time perfectly still and immovable. When it moves from one place to another, its progression is undulating, somewhat like that of a leech, being performed in this manner: — the anterior foot is firmly attached to some object, then the posterior pair of feet are brought up to it, the back arching up diuing t^ie operation ; the anterior foot then releases its hold ; the body is again elongated, the foot attached further on, and the posterior feet again brought up to it. The food of the larva is unknown : when full grown, it spins a Httle silken sheath, in shape like a watch-pocket, which is attached to the plant

HISTORY OF INSECTS. O

frequented by the larva, and in this it shortly changes to a pupa in an upright position : the case being always open at top, the head and shoulders of the pupa are seen projecting above it. The pupa much resembles that of a moth : it is perfectly motionless, of a brown colour, and exhibits very distinctly the parts of the perfect insect through its skin : from the back of its head arise, on each side, four hair-like appendages ; these are tubular, and appear to be designed for breathing. About the sixth of July the little creature bursts from its sheath ; the case of the chrysalis opens in a right line down the back, and the perfect insect emerges through the opening, surrounded by a bubble of air, and slowly begins to unfold its wings under the water ; finally, its skin being cast, and maturity attained, the imago disengages itself from its former habitation, and mounts within its bubble to the surface of the water, when the bubble bui'sts, and the creature, with its new organs, has acquired a new element. The imago is a small black fly, with two large transparent wings, which, f'^a:?*?'^-*:^'^ when at rest, repose horizontally on its back ; moderately long legs, and short stout antennae : it flies with ease, and somewhat sportively, rising and falUng. In this country it is found in the damp parts of woods, and other similar situations ; but, happily, in very limited numbers.

There is scarcely any creature more annoying to men and animals, than this little fly : its attacks are made in innumerable multitudes, and it is troublesome, not only from the pain and inflammation caused by its bite, but also from the intolerable itching occasioned by its crawling over the skin. In the woody and marshy parts of Lapland, these flies swarm in the months of July and August ; nay, even the summits of the highest mountains, though capped with perpetual snow, impose no obstacle to their progress.

Among the numerous gnats and flies which feed on blood, these are the most to be feared ; impelled by an insatiable thirst they make their attack, and will have blood ; nothingcan repel or deter them. Whenever the garment of a traveller has accidentally slipped aside, and discovered a portion of his skin, however small, that exposed portion is instantly streaming with blood : in the southern parts of Lapland they are less troublesome than in the northern, although clouds of them occasionally appear, perfonning their evolutions in the air.

The SimuUa seems to have adopted the world for its country : no known land appears to be without it ; all temperatures suit it — the polar snows and the blaze of tropical sands. Yet all the flies of wliich travellers complain as so dreadfully annoying, are not Simulice; — many of our commonest gnats have a similar taste for blood. Although from what is related, there can be no doubt that the blood of man is an acceptable food to the SimuUa, yet it is remarkable that the greatest multitudes of these creatures inhabit those bleak, inhospitable, and almost inaccessible regions where the foot of man seldom treads, and where other warm-blooded animals are scarcely known to exist. It is clearly ascertained that the female SimuUcB alone suck the blood of man ; the males spend their lives among the leaves of trees, or settle on flowers, from which they appear to derive nutriment; it is therefore far from impossible that, on the failure of animal, the females also may have recoui'se to vegetable food.

History of the Ichneumon. — There are many butterflies and moths which increase so rapidly, that, without a check, their caterpillars would, in two or three years at the utmost, devour every gi*een leaf on the face of the earth, and render it incapable of supporting its present inhabitants. The ichneumons are evidently created to act as a check to this devastation : they are generally small insects, with slender bodies, and have four transparent wings : they are very active, running about the stems and leaves of plants in search of catei-pillars, and fly very readily. The ichneumons are of many kinds : more than a thousand species have been described by naturalists ; and it is probable that every butterfly, and every moth, indeed, almost every insect, has one peculiar to itself: the history of them all is nearly similar.

The caterpillar of the tiger-moth is one of the most destructive ; it devours, indiscriminately, lettuces, radishes, beans, peas and every other early production of om* gardens, and is most abundant in the spring, when these plants ai'e being reared : it is a very rough, hairy caterpillar, black above, with a red fringe on each side, and is preyed on by several ichneumons. The largest ichneumon {Pimpla Instigator) of the tiger-moth {Arctia caia) is often about an inch long, but varies much in size ; it has a black body and red legs, and emits a remarkably strong smell, something like burning pitch. In the spring, this ichneumon may be seen coursing over the leaves of lettuces, nettles and currantbushes, on strawbeny-beds, &c., hunting for the object of its attack. When it has found a catei'pillar, it seizes it behind the head with its jaws ; at this operation the catei'pillar loosens its hold of the plant on which it was feeding, rolls itself suddenly into a ring, erects its bristles as stiffly as possible, and falls to the ground : if the fall is great and among twigs, the ichneumon is sometimes dislodged, but this rarely happens.

The female ichneumon has three bristles at its tail ; the middle one of these appears to be a tube for conveying its eggs into the body of the caterpillar, and is called an ovipositor, the outer ones seem to serve as protectors to this ovipositor, and not to be used for piercing the catei'pillar. When the caterpillar can fall no farther, is frequently un-

HISTORY OF INSECTS.

folds itself, and writhes about to dislodge its enemy ; out its struggles are useless : the ichneumon elevates its body into a kind of arch, bending the ovipositor forward beneath it nearly to its mouth ; it then steadies the ovipositor by its hind legs, and, with a slight jerk, drives it into the skin of the caterpillar behind the head ; the egg is instantly deposited, the ovipositor withdrawn and the ichneumon flies away.

The caterpillar, immediately on the conclusion of this operation, remounts the plant on which it had previously been, and begins feeding eagerly, as before ; no difference whatever is to be discovered in its manner, in the quantity of food it consumes, or in the rapidity of its growth.

When the caterpillar has attained its full size, it spins a web among leaves, on the ground, in a bush or against palings, intermixing a considerable quantity of its own hairs ; and in this web it changes to a chrysalis. The egg of the ichneumon is very soon hatched and becomes a white maggot, without feet, and with very little appearance of head ; it begins eating that part of the flesh of the caterpillar which is immediately in its neighboui'hood, and continues its course towards the tail, devouring all the fat and muscular parts not absolutely essential to motion and Ufe ; and, by the time the caterpillar of the moth is full grown, and becomes a chrysalis, the maggot of the ichneumon is full grown also, and occupies more than half of its interior. It is worthy of remark that this maggot, thus inhabiting for weeks the body of a caterpillar, and devouring its flesh, alwaj^s avoids those parts which are essential to life ; as though aware that the cessation of life in the caterpillar would ensure its own death, as it could not subsist on the putrifying carcass. After lying quiescent for some weeks, and frequently through the entire winter, the skin of the maggot is tin-own off, and it becomes a chrysalis, exhibiting very nearly the shape and appearance of the future fly ; the antennae and legs being placed before it, the wings small and folded by its side, and the ovipositor beingturned up a little over its back. The chrysalis is without motion, and much resembles that of the bee : in both instances the limbs are quite distinct from the body, and not united with it in a hard crustaceous cover as is the case in the chrysalis of the silk-wonn : this kind of chrysalis is said to be necromorphous, because its limbs are rigid, formally an-anged and perfectly motionless, as in death.

The chrysalis state lasts but a few days, and the perfect insect emerges from it ; after this first escape, it has to penetrate the shell of the chrysalis of the tiger-moth, in wliich it is still imprisoned, and which is rendered much harder by the drying of the portions of animal matter left unconsumed by the maggot of the ichneumon. The ichneumon overcomes this difficulty by gnawing a hole, with its sharp and strong jaws, generally in that thin portion of the shell wliich covers the wing of the future insect : almost immediately on emerging, the ichneumon vibrates its wings, and flies away.

The caterpillar of the tiger-moth is preyed on in a similar manner by the maggot of a two -winged fly ; and this maggot, while thus devom-ing the interior of the caterpillar, is itself a prey to a minute kind of ichneumon, twenty of which sometimes feed in the maggot of a single fly. The manner in wliich the egg of this little ichneumon is introduced into the maggot of the fly, is at present unknown ; but as the fly fastens its egg exteriorly on the skin of the caterpillar, and does not perforate the skin to dej)osit it inside, as in the case of the great ichneumon before described, it is supposed the small ichneumon's egg is laid in the egg of the fly, while the latter is adhering to the skin of the caterpillar. The egg of the fly, which is placed on the neck of the caterpillar, the only part from which the caterpillar could not remove it, is very conspicuous to an observer : in this situation we cannot be smprised, then, that the ichneumon should discover it ; nor does it appear an improbable supposition that the little creature seizes this opportunity of piercing the shell with her oviduct, and depositing her eggs amidst its contents. The maggot of the fly, as soon as it is hatched, pierces the skin of the caterpillar, and commences devoiuing, canying within it a horde of insidious parasites, which, though they interfere not with the due performance of its appointed work of destruction, yet, in the end, so weaken it that it never arrives at perfection. Very ingenious experiments and calculations have proved, that four out of every five eggs that are laid, are prevented fi-om arriving at maturity by parasites attacking them in one or other of their stages j a fact which proves the immense importance of this seemingly insignificant tribe of animals.

History of the Earwig. ^The earwig is one of our most common insects ; it is well known to every one, and is very generally an object of unconquerable dislike; the forceps at its tail, and the threatening manner in which these are turned over its back, to pinch anything of which it is afraid, render it peculiarly disgusting. The fore wings of the earwig are square, short, leathery pieces, wliich cover but a very small portion of the body : the insect is incapable of bending or folding them in any direction, or of using them as organs of flight. The hind wings are quite different from the fore wings : they are folded into a very small compass, and covered by the fore wings, except a small portion wliich protrudes from beneath them ; and, when examined in this position, appear totally useless as organs of fliglit. When unfolded, the hind wings are remarkably beautiful ; they are of ample size, perfectly transparent, displaying prismatic colours when moved in the Hght ; and are intersected by veins, which radiate from near the centre to the margin. — The shape of these wings, when fully opened, is nearly that of the human ear ; and from this circumstance it seems highly probable that the original name of this insect was eoxwmg.

Earwigs subsist principally on the leaves and flowers of plants, and on fruit ; and they are entirely nocturnal insects, retiring by day into dark crevices and comers, where they ai'e screened fi-om observation. The rapidity with which they devoiu- the petals of a flower is remarkable ; they clasp the edge of a petal in their fore legs, and then, stretcliing out their head as far as possible, bite out a mouthful ; then another moutliful nearer, and so on till the head is brought to the fore legs. This mode of eating is exactly that which is practised by the caterpillars of butterflies and moths ; the part of a leaf or petal is eaten out in a semicircidar form, and the head is tlu-ust out to the extreme part, after every series of mouthfuls. Pinks, carnations, and dahlias, very frequently lose all their beauty from the voracity of these insects. When the time of breeding has arrived, which is generally in the autumn, the . female retires for protection to the cracks in the bark of old trees, or the interstices of weather-boarding, or under heavy stones on the ground : here she commences laying her eggs. The eggs are usually from twenty to fifty in number : when the female has finished laying them, she does not forsake them as is the habit of other insects, but sits on them in the manner of a hen, until they are hatched.