LI E> HARY 
 
 OF THL 
 
 UN IVLR.SITY 
 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 1.569 
 
 oc 
 
 imoKi 
 
Return this book on or before the 
 Latest Date stamped below. 
 
 University of Illinois Library 
 
 L161 — H41 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/lettersonentomolOOra 
 
/. Sn-f.r Gtqas. '!. Vesj*. Vtdftris — \\n<p 
 
 i.S/,/,t,i> /i//ifirtntiitnr_/>ro/»mu1 S/jftnu / Phtilnnin <ti/>t fattU Tn/rr M>t/, ' 
 
LETTERS 
 
 OK 
 
 ENTOMOLOGY, 
 
 INTENDED FOR THE 
 
 AMUSEMENT AND INSTRUCTION 
 
 OF 
 
 YOUNG PERSONS, 
 
 AND TO 
 
 FACILITATE THEIR ACQUIRING A KNOWLEDGE 
 OP THE NATURAL HISTORY OP INSECTS. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 PRINTED FOR GEO. B. WHITTAKER, 
 
 AVE-MARIA LANE. 
 
 1825. 
 
 v 
 
5^5.7 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 It is not the intention of the writer of these 
 letters to offer a system of Entomology, but 
 merely a short abstract of some of the more 
 elaborate works on that subject ; which, how- 
 ever superior in importance, are more calcu- 
 lated for the scientific student, and often con- 
 tain details more interesting to the physiologist 
 than to the juvenile reader. The writer has 
 o therefore endeavoured to avoid the minute- 
 ness which might render the subject tedious, 
 and has only to add, that her information is 
 derived from Reaumur's Memoires, Shaw's 
 Lectures, and that interesting work, the In- 
 troduction to Entomology ; from which, in 
 fact, the principal accounts are taken, and in 
 which the discoveries of other naturalists are 
 collected in the most attractive form. 
 
 
 
 < » 
 
 35= 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 LETTER I. — INTRODUCTORY . . 1 
 
 LETTER II. INJURIOUS INSECTS . . 7 
 
 LETTER III. BENEFICIAL INSECTS . 19 
 
 LETTER IV. INSECTS IN GENERAL. 
 
 BUTTERFLIES, &C. . . .26 
 
 LETTER V. — THE FUR-MOTH ... 51 
 LETTER VI. — BEES . . .58 
 
 LETTER VII. — BEES . . 68 
 
 LETTER VIII. — ANTS . . 76 
 
 LETTER IX. ANTS ..... 88 
 
 LETTER X. — ANTS .... 102 
 LETTER XI. — FLIES . ... 107 
 
 LETTER XII. BEE-FLIES . . . 123 
 
 LETTER XIII. — LUMINOUS INSECTS . . 138 
 
 LETTER XIV. THE COCHINEAL INSECT, &C. 142 
 
 LETTER XV. — IN CONCLUSION, EARWIGS, 
 
 SPIDERS, FORNICA-LEO . . 148 
 
LETTERS 
 
 ON 
 
 ENTOMOLOGY 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 MY DEAR HARRIET, 
 
 It has often given me great con- 
 cern to observe the inconsiderate and negligent 
 manner in which you treat, and even torment, 
 that most beautiful part of the creation, the tribe 
 of insects, and particularly as your disposition is 
 most foreign to any thing like cruelty ; you have 
 therefore, my dear, no excuse, but ignorance of 
 their real value and beauty, or mere thought- 
 lessness, which, in a rational being, is of itself 
 inexcusable. 
 
 In the course of our correspondence, I will en- 
 deavour, if you wish it, to impart the little know- 
 ledge I have on the subject, and it may perhaps 
 induce you to treat with greater regard, beings 
 
 B 
 
2 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 which are sometimes more useful than many 
 people, who pass their lives in idleness or trifling 
 occupations. 
 
 You may perhaps, like some others, consider 
 the study of this part of natural history of small 
 importance, and as a frivolous amusement ; but 
 though I should wish you to find it amusing, 
 yet it has a higher object, — to excite admiration 
 of the power of the great Author of so many 
 wonders. Can we consider any thing trifling, or 
 unworthy our regard, which it has pleased the 
 Supreme Being to endow with such infinite 
 variety of beauty and usefulness ? If men had 
 not long ago watched the habits, and taken ad- 
 vantage of the labour of insects, we should have 
 wanted many of the luxuries and comforts we 
 now enjoy. Who would have believed that a 
 caterpillar, so small as the silkworm, could fur- 
 nish one of the greatest articles of commerce, 
 and give occasion to so many different arts and 
 manufactures, enabling thousands of people to 
 live by honest industry ? 
 
 Honey and wax are without doubt most useful 
 to us, and we should never have had them if 
 men had not observed bees in their wild state, 
 and made their peculiar habits subservient to 
 their own use, by bringing them into hi ves. 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 3 
 
 Gum lac, of which sealing-wax is made, is 
 produced by a winged ant; and cochineal, of 
 which there is so great a consumption, is an 
 insect which multiplies very fast. Even the 
 ink I now write with, I principally owe to an 
 insect which forms the galls of which it is made ; 
 but one of the most ancient and singular uses 
 ever made of the labour of insects, is that of 
 ripening figs in the Greek islands, and other 
 Eastern countries, where the harvest of that fruit 
 is of great consequence to the people. They 
 plant two kinds of fig-trees, the wild and the 
 cultivated sort. The wild tree bears fruit many 
 times in the year, and in them grubs are born, 
 which turn to flies. These flies are considered 
 necessary to the ripening of the garden figs, 
 which generally fall before their maturity, if 
 these insects do not pierce them at the proper 
 time. In the months of June and July, the 
 country people gather wild figs, and stringing 
 them on straws or sticks, place them on the 
 garden fig-trees. They take great care every 
 evening to look for the wild figs ready for gather- 
 ing, that is, when a fly is ready to come out, and 
 also, to observe when the other trees are pro- 
 perly ripe ; for if the transfer is not made at the 
 right time, the garden figs will fall. This custom 
 
 b2 
 
'- 
 
 4 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 is evidently established by long experience, as 
 the peasants anxiously watch all the rest of the 
 year, whether the wild figs will be likely to 
 produce flies in time, and the number of them 
 determines the harvest of fruit. Indeed so ne- 
 cessary are these insects, that if they fail, the 
 people have but one resource, which is, to spread 
 over the trees a common plant called the asco- 
 lombros, the fruit of which contains flies fit for 
 the purpose. 
 
 The ancients used many kinds of insects as 
 medicine, but I shall only mention the can- 
 tharides or blister-fly, which is so useful in many 
 disorders. 
 
 Now, my dear Harriet, let us change the scene, 
 and consider the variety of mischief they may 
 do us, if we do not know how to guard against 
 them, which we shall not find easy, unless we 
 previously know something of their habits and 
 nature. A great number ravage not only our 
 fields and gardens, but our houses, our furniture, 
 and our garments ; they do not even spare our 
 persons ; yet we are not to be alarmed, or fancy 
 ourselves sadly aggrieved, if they make use of 
 the weapons given them for their just defence ; 
 for they have certainly as much right to live as 
 ourselves, and those who wantonly destroy them 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. & 
 
 commit a manifest act of oppression, which we 
 should think the height of cruelty if performed 
 upon any of the human species by a being suf-* 
 ficiently powerful. Therefore I would not wish 
 you to destroy those which are merely trouble- 
 some, as many thoughtless people do, who would 
 consider it very unjust if they were punished in 
 the same way. 
 
 In Europe, insects are seldom dangerous, 
 except from their number, and in that case they 
 must be destroyed speedily ; however, the harm- 
 less kinds are by far the most common, and there 
 is great amusement to be derived from rearing 
 and observing them, for no species of animal un- 
 dergoes such astonishing changes, or is endowed 
 with such curious instincts. What a surprising 
 difference is there between the crawling voracious 
 caterpillar, and the volatile splendid butterfly, 
 which can in many instances live without food, 
 and is always content with the small portion of 
 honey contained in flowers ! 
 
 There is nothing more interesting than to ob- 
 serve their domestic habits, if I may so express 
 myself, and the different manner in which they 
 take care of their little families. Even those 
 who are most disgusted with the appearance of 
 B spider, would be pleased to see the species 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 which envelops its eggs in a little silken bag 
 which it always carries about, and when the 
 young ones come out, they climb on their mother's 
 back and cling fast, let her run ever so swiftly. 
 
 The bees, and some kinds of wasps, feed their 
 young many times a day like birds ; and others 
 place their eggs in cells, which they make of 
 earth, and shut them up with a sufficient quantity 
 of food to last till they attain maturity. 
 
 Some insects have a tender and delicate skin, 
 which could not withstand the friction and 
 chafing it would be exposed to, and therefore 
 nature teaches them to make real garments, some 
 of wool, some of silk, and others of leaves and 
 different substances ; some make them longer and 
 larger as they increase in size, and others make 
 new ones. 
 
 I remember seeing on a vine in the green- 
 house, a singular whitish insect with six legs, 
 bearing a roof of particles of mortar and earth 
 seemingly combined with some glutinous sub- 
 stance, and the little creature ran briskly along 
 under its load, completely covered and defended. 
 
 If you find the subject amusing, I will con- 
 tinue my correspondence soon ; till then adieu. 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 MY DEAR HARRIET, 
 
 As it is a common error to sup- 
 pose that because things are small, they are of no 
 importance, and as perhaps you may be of this 
 opinion, I will endeavour to convince you that 
 it is wrong ; and therefore I will tell you some 
 of the harm they can do when permitted. If 
 they had no checks, we, and all the larger ani- 
 mals, should soon be driven from the earth, and 
 insects of all kinds reign paramount. This is 
 no exaggeration, as you will perceive, when I 
 disclose but a small part of their destructive 
 powers. 
 
 Nothing is free from them — neither the cun- 
 ning, the swiftness, the strength, the ferocity, 
 nor the bulk of animals can protect them ; even 
 man himself is sometimes their prey. They are 
 often swallowed, and, living in the inside, cause 
 mortal diseases. Some people have even been 
 devoured alive, as it were, by swarms of mites, 
 for which there was no remedy. Among oui* 
 personal assailants we may notice the red Acarus, 
 
 #fr 
 

 8 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 mentioned by Ulloa, common in Popayan, called 
 coy a, or coyba, the venom of which is so malig- 
 nant, that if it is only crushed on the skin, it 
 penetrates the flesh and raises large tumours, 
 which are soon followed by death; it is de- 
 scribed as much smaller than a bug. 
 
 As to the fly tribe, you will not deny their 
 power of becoming a real plague. What would 
 you think of any large animal coming to attack 
 you with a tremendous apparatus of knives and 
 lancets issuing from its mouth ? Yet the horse- 
 fly, and many others which have instruments 
 resembling all kinds of murderous weapons, at- 
 tack you, and, forming a siphon or pump of 
 them, suck your blood with the greatest voracity. 
 Of all these little torments, the gnat species is 
 the worst. They may be truly said to have their 
 sting in the mouth, since the pain and swelling 
 of the bite show that they inject poison. This 
 weapon is composed of five pieces besides the 
 sheath, some of which appear simply lancets, 
 while others are barbed like a bee's sting, and 
 are adapted both for making the wound, and 
 forming a siphon to draw out the blood. 
 
 Although with us, they are rather teasing 
 than absolutely injurious, yet when they come 
 in great numbers they are a true plague. In the 
 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 9 
 
 year 1766, in the month of August, they ap- 
 peared in such incredible numbers at Oxford 
 as to resemble a black cloud darkening the air. 
 One day a little before sunset, six columns were 
 observed to ascend from the boughs of an apple 
 tree, some in a perpendicular and others in an 
 oblique direction, to the height of fifty or sixty 
 feet. Their bite was so poisonous that it was 
 attended by violent and alarming inflammation, 
 and one, when killed, usually contained as much 
 blood as would cover three or four square inches 
 of wall. 
 
 The poor Laplanders are the most to be pitied i 
 they are obliged to live in suffocating smoke, 
 either to eat or sleep, and the insects abound 
 so much that they cannot breathe without draw- 
 ing them in. Reaumur tells us that in some 
 parts of France he saw people whose legs 
 and arms were so swelled and inflamed with 
 gnat-bites, that it was doubtful whether am- 
 putation would not be necessary. In the neigh- 
 bourhood of the Crimea, the Russian soldiers 
 are obliged to sleep in sacks, to defend them 
 from the mosquitos ; and even then, many die in 
 consequence of mortification produced by the 
 bites of these furious and bloodthirsty insects. 
 Dr. Clarke, who relates it likewise, says, that in 
 
 b5 
 
10 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 spite of gloves, clothes, and handkerchiefs, his 
 body, and those of his companions, were ren- 
 dered one entire wound, and that the irritation 
 and swelling excited a considerable degree of 
 fever. In a most sultry night, when not a breath 
 of air was stirring, exhausted by fatigue, pain, 
 and heat, he sought shelter in his carriage, and, 
 though almost suffocated, dared not open the 
 window. Swarms nevertheless got in, and, in 
 spite of the handkerchiefs with which he had 
 bound up his head, filled his mouth, nostrils, 
 and ears. In the midst of his torment he lighted 
 a lamp, which was extinguished in a moment by 
 such a prodigious number, that their'carcasses 
 filled the glass chimney and lay in a large heap 
 over the burner. Can you conceive a much more ^ 
 disagreeable and tormenting situation ? — Captain 
 Stedman says, that in America, his soldiers were 
 obliged to sleep with their heads thrust into holes 
 in the earth, and their necks wrapped round with 
 their hammocks. Humboldt informs us that be- 
 tween the little harbour of Higuerote, and the 
 mouth of the Rio Unare, the wretched inhabit- 
 ants are accustomed to stretch themselves on the 
 ground, and pass the night buried in the sand 
 three or four inches deep, leaving out the head 
 only, which they cover with a handkerchief. 
 
* 
 
 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 11 
 
 We likewise learn from him that there are three 
 kinds : the Mosquitos, flying in the day ; the 
 Temporaneros, flying in the twilight; and the 
 Zancudos, in the night; so that these unfortunate 
 beings have no respite from their tormentors, 
 which make almost uninhabitable all places where 
 they particularly abound. After this account we 
 cannot be surprised that they have given their 
 names to bays, towns, and countries. There is 
 Mosquito Bay, in St. Christopher's ; the town of 
 Mosquitos, in Cuba ; and the Mosquito country, 
 in North America; which are sufficient and me- 
 lancholy proofs of their importance. Of all in- 
 sects the locust is the most celebrated, for its 
 powers of destruction, and dreaded more than 
 an army of wild beasts ; yet this insect is not 
 large, and is only herbivorous. Figure to your- 
 self a country so covered that the ground cannot 
 be seen; all its produce devoured, and not the 
 least vestige of herbage left. In the year of the 
 world 3800, Africa was infested by such infinite 
 myriads of these animals that, having devoured 
 every thing green, they flew off into the sea and 
 were drowned; where, being cast on the shore, 
 they emitted a stench greater than could have 
 been caused by the carcases of an army. St. 
 Augustine mentions a plague arising from the 
 
12 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 same cause, which destroyed not less than 800,000 
 persons in the kingdom of Masinissa alone, and 
 many more near the shore. 
 
 A historian quoted by Mouffet, relates that 
 in the year 591, an infinite number of locusts, 
 unusually large, ravaged part of Italy, and being 
 at length cast into the sea, their stench caused a 
 pestilence which carried off near a million of 
 men and beasts. The same occurrence is said to 
 have taken place in the Venetian territory, though 
 to a smaller extent. They have even reached as 
 far as France, and in 1748 they were observed 
 in England, with great alarm, but providentially 
 they soon perished. These were evidently the 
 stragglers from the vast swarms which in the 
 year before ravaged Wallachia, Moldavia, Tran- 
 sylvania, Hungary, and Poland. One of these 
 swarms which entered Transylvania, in August, 
 was several hundred fathoms in width (at Vienna 
 the breadth of one was three miles), and extended 
 so far, as to be four hours in passing over the 
 Red Tower; and such was its density that it 
 darkened the air to so great a degree, that when 
 they flew low, a person could not see another at 
 twenty paces ! Can we wonder at their being 
 objects of terror, when the very account of them 
 is enough to make one shudder? A gentleman 
 
 ■£ 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 13 
 
 in India saw the immense army of locusts, which 
 ravaged the Mahratta country. The column ex- 
 tended near five hundred miles, and darkened 
 the sun so much that no shadow was cast by any 
 object. This was a red species, which made it 
 still more horrible; for after they had stripped 
 the trees, they clustered upon them, giving to 
 every thing a sanguine hue. 
 
 Of the noise they make, and their terrific ap- 
 pearance, the prophet Joel has given a correct 
 and sublime description : " A day of darkness 
 and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick 
 darkness, as the morning spread upon the moun- 
 tains : a great people and a strong : there hath 
 not been even the like, neither shall be any more 
 after it, even to the years of many generations. 
 A fire devoureth before them, and behind them 
 a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of 
 Eden before them, and behind them is a desolate 
 wilderness ; yea, and nothing shall escape them. 
 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of moun- 
 tains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of 
 fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong peo- 
 ple set in battle array. Before their faces the 
 people shall be much pained: all faces shall 
 gather blackness. They shall run like mighty 
 men; they shall climb the wall like men of 
 
14 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 war, and they shall march every one in his 
 ways, and they shall not break their ranks ; 
 neither shall one thrust another, they shall walk 
 every one in his path : and when they fall upon 
 the sword they shall not be wounded. They 
 shall run to and fro in the city ; they shall run 
 upon the wall; they shall climb up upon the 
 houses ; they shall enter in at the windows like 
 a thief. The earth shall quake before them, the 
 heavens shall tremble : the sun and moon shall 
 be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their 
 shining !" He further says, c - I will remove 
 far off from you the northern army, and will 
 drive him into a land barren and desolate, with 
 his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part 
 toward the utmost sea ; and his stink shall come 
 up, and his ill savour shall come up because he 
 hath done great things." 
 
 Locusts usually migrate from south to north, 
 passing from the deserts of Arabia, which is the 
 great cradle of them, to Palestine, Syria, Car- 
 mania, Natolia, Bithynia, Constantinople, Po- 
 land, &c. 
 
 Can we ever be sufficiently thankful, my dear 
 friend, that we are not visited by this terrible 
 scourge ? If we had once felt the consequences, 
 we should doubtless be more sensible of our 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 15 
 
 happiness in living in a country where every 
 evil of the kind is comparatively slight; yet even 
 here whole crops are sometimes destroyed by 
 other insects. That most important plant, wheat, 
 has many assailants ; one of the earliest is a grub 
 which eats into the plant, about an inch below 
 the surface of the earth, devouring the middle, 
 which soon kills the plant. The larvae of a 
 particular kind of beetle cause great destruction 
 in a similar maimer j and, not content with this, 
 the perfect beetle itself afterwards attacks, by 
 night, the grain when in the ear. The far 
 famed Hessian jiy which spreads such dismay 
 wherever it appears, and made such ravages in 
 North America that it threatened the total de- 
 struction of the culture of wheat, was erroneously 
 supposed to have been carried there from Ger- 
 many by some Hessian soldiers. It commences 
 its operations in autumn, as soon as the plant 
 begins to appear above ground, when it devours 
 the leaf and stem with equal voracity, until 
 stopped *by the frost. When spring returns, the 
 fly appears again and deposits its eggs in the 
 heart of the main stem, which it perforates, and 
 so weakens, that when the ear begins to grow 
 heavy and is about to pass into the milky state, it 
 breaks down and perishes. All the crops, as far 
 

 16 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 as they extended their flight, fell before them. 
 They first appeared in Long Island, from whence 
 they proceeded inland at the rate of fifteen or 
 twenty miles annually. Nothing intercepts their 
 career; they were seen to cross the Delaware 
 like a cloud ; and their numbers were so great, 
 that in the wheat harvest, five hundred were 
 counted in a single glass tumbler, exposed to 
 them a few minutes with some beer in it. When 
 laid up in the barn or granary, the grain is often 
 attacked by the Weevil, in its perfect as well as 
 grub state; and this pest increases incredibly, 
 for a single one will produce in one year 6000 
 descendants. 
 
 Another very destructive species to plants in 
 general (and which, indeed, comes next to the 
 locusts), are the aphides, or plant-lice, which 
 multiply so prodigiously as to cause great injury. 
 In five generations one aphis may produce 
 5,904,900,000 descendants, and Reaumur sup- 
 poses that in one year there may be twenty ge- 
 nerations. Pease and beans are greatly injured by 
 them, and in the year 1810, the produce was not 
 much more than the seed sown : however, by 
 being sown earlier, the pease have some chance 
 of escaping. 
 
 How dull would our beautiful meadows look 
 
 
- 
 
 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 17 
 
 if stript of their green carpet ! but they would 
 soon be deprived of it, if their despoilers were 
 permitted to increase like some other insects. 
 The larvae of the cockchafer (scarahceus melo- 
 lonihd), which remain in this state four years, 
 sometimes destroy whole acres of grass. They 
 undermine the richest meadows, and loosen the 
 turf so much, that it will roll up as if cut by a 
 spade. These grubs did so much injury about 
 seventy years ago to a poor farmer near Norwich, 
 that the court of that city, out of compassion, 
 allowed him £25 ; and the man and his servant 
 declared they had gathered eighty bushels of the 
 beetle. They do not confine themselves to grass, 
 but eat also the roots of corn ; and it is to pick 
 up this grub, of which swine are likewise very 
 fond, that the rooks follow the plough. 
 
 I suppose you will exclaim, What! is there 
 no remedy or defence against all these little de- 
 stroyers ? I fear there are not many very effectual 
 ones ; but I was amused at the plan of Mr. Rod- 
 well, of Barham Hall, whose wheat- fields were 
 ravaged by a small gray slug. Having heard 
 that turnips had been successfully employed to 
 entice the slugs from wheat, he had the land 
 strewed with sliced turnips, and the next morn- 
 ing the poor little slugs were all taken in the 
 
18 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 trap, and picked off: near a bushel was gathered. 
 I suppose you have heard enough of the dis- 
 agreeable qualities and tormenting propensities 
 of our little enemies, though I have told you but 
 a very small part of them. In my next letter I 
 shall take a less gloomy view of the subject, in 
 the consideration of the benefits they bestow on 
 us ; till then adieu. 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 19 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 MY DEAR HARRIET, 
 
 I think I cannot begin this letter 
 better than by quoting the words of the author 
 of the Introduction to Entomology: " God, in all 
 the evil which he permits to take place,, whether 
 spiritual, moral, or natural, has the ultimate good 
 of his creatures in view. The evil that we suffer 
 is often a counter-check, which restrains us from 
 greater evil, or a spur to stimulate us to good : 
 we should therefore consider every thing not ac- 
 cording to the present sensations of pain, or the 
 present loss or injury that it occasions, but ac- 
 cording to its more general, remote, and per- 
 manent effects and bearings ; — whether by it we 
 are not impelled to the practice of many virtues, 
 which otherwise might lie dormant in us — 
 whether our moral habits are not improved — 
 whether we are not rendered by it more prudent, 
 cautious, and wary, more watchful to prevent 
 evil, more ingenious and skilful to remedy it-j 
 
20 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 and whether our higher faculties are not brought 
 more into play, and our mental powers more in- 
 vigorated, by the meditation and experiments 
 necessary to secure ourselves. Viewed in these 
 lights, what was a*t first regarded as wholly made 
 up of evil, may be discovered to contain a con- 
 siderable proportion of good." 
 
 A few facts will convince us of the justice of 
 these remarks. In countries where vegetation is 
 luxuriant, even the locusts are of use to clear away 
 the superabundance of some individual species. 
 Sparrman remarks, that a region which had been 
 choked up by shrubs, perennial plants, and hard, 
 half- withered and unpalatable grasses, after being 
 made bare by these scourges, soon appears in a 
 far more beautiful dress, clothed with new herbs, 
 superb lilies, and fresh annual grasses, and young 
 juicy shoots of the perennial kind, affording de- 
 licious herbage for the wild cattle and game. 
 
 When in moderate numbers, the grubs, which 
 feed upon grass, only devour so much as to make 
 room for new shoots, and consequently hinder 
 the roots from being matted. There are many 
 similar instances, but the ways in which they are 
 most beneficial to us, are by removing all dead 
 and decaying substances ; supplying food to use- 
 ful animals, as fish and birds; and devouring 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 21 
 
 other insects, which, by their multiplication, would 
 become hurtful to us. 
 
 What a scene would the face of Nature pre- 
 sent, if Providence had not provided for the re- 
 moval of the numberless dead carcasses which 
 would strew the earth, and cause the most fatal 
 and noisome effluvia ! As soon as life departs, 
 the carcass is attacked by myriads of insects. 
 The Histers pierce the skin ; next the flesh-flies 
 cover it with their young, already hatched, and 
 millions of eggs : how quickly these grubs will 
 despatch it we may judge, when we consider 
 that one flesh-fly will lay 20,000 eggs, and the 
 grubs will devour enough in twenty-four hours 
 to make their weight increase two hundredfold ! 
 Can you imagine such little gluttons ? Linnaeus 
 asserts, that three of these flies will devour a dead 
 horse as fast as a lion would, and it seems very 
 likely. The beetles come next ; wasps, hornets, 
 and even ants : the horns of animals have a par- 
 ticular species of insect which inhabit and feed 
 upon them. 
 
 The necrophorus respillo, or burying beetle, 
 inters the bodies of small animals even of the 
 size of mice and frogs. M. Gleditsch put four of 
 these insects into a glass vessel half filled with 
 earth and properly secured, and upon the earth 
 
22 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 he placed two frogs. In less than twelve hours one 
 of the frogs was buried by two of the beetles ; the 
 other two ran about the whole day, as if busied in 
 measuring the dimensions of the remaining corpse, 
 which on the third day was also found buried. 
 He then put in a dead linnet, and a pair soon 
 began, by throwing the earth from under it, and 
 pulling at the feathers from below. The male 
 having driven the female away, continued the 
 work for five hours, digging underneath, then 
 mounting on it to tread it down, then retiring 
 below to pull it down. At last, quite tired, it 
 came out and leaned its head beside the bird 
 upon the earth for a full hour, and then again 
 set to work. In two days the bird was com- 
 pletely buried. The object of these industrious 
 insects is by this means to procure food for their 
 young; for if the bodies are dug up in about 
 six days, they will be found swarming with 
 maggots. M. Gleditsch continued to add other 
 small dead animals, which were all sooner or 
 later buried ; and the result of his experiment 
 was, that in fifty days four beetles had interred, 
 in the very small space of earth allotted to them, 
 twelve carcasses : viz. four frogs, three small 
 birds, two fishes, one mole, and two grasshoppers, 
 besides the entrails of a fish, and two morsels of 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 23 
 
 the lungs of an ox. Is not this surprising ? It 
 is rather singular that the male should partake 
 the labour with the female, which in the insect 
 world is a very rare occurrence. 
 
 Nothing is more unwholesome than the effluvia 
 of decaying vegetable matter, and in removing 
 this, our little friends render us an important 
 service. It is very curious that stagnant water, 
 winch would become putrid without, is made 
 sweet and wholesome by the innumerable larvae 
 of gnats, ephemera?, and other insects which 
 live in it. Linnaeus' s experiment easily proves 
 this : if two vessels are filled with putrid water, 
 leaving the larva? in one, and taking them out 
 of the other, the first will be found pure and 
 sweet, and the other will remain in its impure 
 state. The wood-destroying insects are highly 
 useful in countries overspread with immense 
 forests, where lightning and hurricanes make such 
 devastation ; yet no traces of the ruin are to be 
 found, though some of the gigantic tropical trees 
 are almost impervious to the action of the ele- 
 ments. They, however, soon disappear under 
 the destroying operation of insects. As soon as 
 a tree falls, one tribe attacks its bark, and thou- 
 sands of holes are bored into the trunk by others. 
 The rain thus finds access, and assists the decay. 
 
24 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 Mr. Smeathman tells us, that the Termites will 
 in a few weeks destroy and carry away the trunks 
 of large trees, without leaving a particle behind ; 
 and in places where two or three years before 
 there has been a populous town, if the inhabit- 
 ants have abandoned it, there will be a very thick 
 wood, and not a vestige of a post to be seen. 
 
 You may easily imagine that if these kinds of 
 insects, though so useful in some cases, were 
 permitted to increase very much, we should 
 not have even a gate or a post; but they are 
 kept in due bounds by the number of enemies 
 which make them their prey. Some are in- 
 sectivorous only in the larva state, others only in 
 the perfect state, others in both states, and others 
 in all three. The parasitical insects feed upon 
 the living creature, and only destroy it when 
 they attain their full growth ; the imparasitical 
 ones are those which prey upon dead insects, or 
 kill them. The most beneficial of the latter race 
 are those which devour the aphides or plant- 
 lice. The larva of a beautiful fly is one which 
 has a pair of long crooked mandibles perforated, 
 and serving instead of a mouth; with these it 
 sucks the aphides without mercy, and the in- 
 dividuals of one species even clothe themselves 
 in the skins of their victims. Another grub, 
 
 -*«* 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 25 
 
 furnished with a singular mandible like a trident 
 with its three points, lies on the leaf of a twig 
 covered with the aphides, and groping about, 
 soon finds one, which he transfixes with this 
 trident, raises into the air and devours; thus 
 rendering a great service to the tree, which, 
 when cleared of its destructive visitors, is enabled 
 to put forth new shoots. The most important, 
 however, is the pretty little lady-bird, or coc- 
 cinella, which, in the larva state, feeds entirely 
 on the aphides, which, under the name of the fly, 
 cause so much damage to the hops. In 1807 
 the shore at Brighton, and at all the watering- 
 places on the south coast, was literally covered 
 with them, to the great surprise of the inhabit- 
 ants, who did not know that they came from 
 the neighbouring hop-grounds, where they had 
 done good service in their larva state. 
 
 The parasitical insects all lay their eggs in 
 living subjects, in the larvae, the pupae, and even 
 in the egg; but none are known to do it in 
 perfect insects. This numerous race are called 
 ichneumon flies, from their analogy to the Egyp- 
 tian ichneumon, which was supposed to destroy 
 the serpents, and eat the crocodile's eggs. These 
 flies have a long pointed tail, with which they 
 pierce a hole sufficiently deep for the egg, and it 
 
26 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 is in vain the victim seeks to avoid the fatal 
 wound ; the merciless fly does not leave it till 
 she has deposited a sufficient number of eggs, 
 and the poor caterpillar is forced to carry about 
 her mortal enemies, which feed on her inside but 
 never touch her vitals, though they are frequently 
 in great numbers. 
 
 Of thirty cabbage caterpillars which Reaumur 
 put into a glass to feed, twenty- five were fatally 
 pierced by an ichneumon ; from which we may 
 judge of the great destruction of these injurious 
 insects, which if suffered to increase, would 
 become as great a plague as the locusts, and 
 indeed have frequently been known to do serious 
 damage. 
 
 I cannot here enumerate all the species which 
 prey upon each other, but I will mention some 
 of the principal among those which devour the 
 perfect insect. Ants, wasps, and hornets, are, 
 among others, distinguished in this sanguinary 
 or rather warlike respect; an ant will carry 
 away a bee many times bigger than itself, and 
 has even, with the help of its comrades, been 
 seen to drag a young snake as thick as a goose- 
 quill. A young lady told me she once saw a 
 battle between a wasp and a bee, in which the 
 former bit off all her enemy's six legs. Where 
 
i>r«Sf r*i 
 
 
 
 lvilll'T I 
 
 / I'ltfiiliv (W/t/f/t __ Painted Lady 
 '! P. Ru$i^Grttn> Mmt v tnaJt . 3. /' Cnttat*jt ' — Hawthorn BtUtrrftv 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 27 
 
 cockroaches abound and are a great nuisance, 
 the white ants are very useful in clearing them 
 away. The Mantes, which are the most terrible 
 and ferocious of insects (though from their ap- 
 pearing to sit almost upright they are called 
 praying-flies), have their fore-legs constructed 
 like a sabre, and they dexterously use them as 
 such to cleave their enemy in two, or cut off its 
 head, often treating each other in this way. I 
 believe these alarming little soldiers are not found 
 in England. The scorpion is equally ferocious. 
 Maupertuis put a hundred scorpions together, 
 and a general and murderous battle immediately 
 began. In a few days almost all were devoured 
 by the survivors. They frequently eat their 
 young as soon as born. Spiders are almost as 
 fierce in their habits, destroying each other in 
 great numbers. 
 
 Many animals feed upon insects; the hedge- 
 hog and mole are insectivorous, the latter being 
 said to devour great quantities of the wire- 
 worms. The swine are extremely fond of the 
 grubs of the cockchafers, and if the grass is 
 damaged by them, the rooting of it up will per- 
 haps do more good than harm. The Ratel eats 
 bees, and the Armadillo, locusts ; but the great 
 Ant-eater is most deserving of notice, for he 
 
 c2 
 
28 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 scratches up the ant-hill with his long claws, 
 and putting in his tongue., which is more than 
 two feet in length, draws it back into his mouth 
 when covered with ants, thus devouring thou- 
 sands at a mouthful. Fish live almost entirely 
 on insects, principally on the larvae of many 
 kind of flies, called Caddis worms, and the perfect 
 May-flies and Ephemerae. Reaumur has given an 
 account of the immense hosts of these last insects, 
 which come from some of the rivers in France 
 at certain seasons, in thousands of millions, or 
 rather in countless numbers ; they are aquatic in 
 their first and second states, which last sometimes 
 two or three years, though the perfect state is 
 extremely short, some coming out after sunset, 
 laying their eggs, and dying before sunrise, or 
 often in a few hours. Reaumur did not see 
 them till the middle of August, when, one even- 
 ing before sunset, he got into his boat, and having 
 detached some large masses of earth from the 
 bank of the river, filled with the pupae, he put 
 them into a large tub of water and waited the 
 setting of the sun, but he saw at this period 
 (which was the time specified) only a few flies 
 skimming about the water; having waited pa- 
 tiently till near eight o'clock, and a storm coming 
 on, he retreated to his garden quite disappointed. 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 29 
 
 He, however, had the tub brought ; and no sooner 
 was it set down, than a great number of ephemerae 
 came out, and while by torchlight he was enjoy- 
 ing the sight, the threatened storm burst forth, 
 and forced him to re-enter the house, after having 
 thrown a cloth over the tub. When the rain 
 ceased, he returned to the garden about nine 
 o'clock, where a magnificent spectacle awaited 
 him. Attracted by the exclamations of his gar- 
 dener, he descended to the river. The quantity 
 of ephemerae which filled the air above the river 
 was inconceivably great, I»ul principally round 
 the spot where he stood. In a few minutes the 
 step on which he stood was covered with them 
 to the depth of two, three, and four inches, and 
 five or six feet of water was quite hidden by 
 them; and being carried down by the current, 
 they were quickly replaced. He was often 
 obliged to retreat from this pelting rain of in- 
 sects, which we may easily imagine to be ex- 
 tremely disagreeable, as they got into his eyes, 
 nose, and mouth. 
 
 He remarks on the singularity of the great 
 attraction of light to insects which are born to 
 live only in darkness. The ephemerae instantly 
 gathered round and covered those who held the 
 flambeaux, which then showed quite a different 
 
30 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 spectacle,, and filled with admiration even the 
 most ignorant and stupid of his domestics : the 
 light was surrounded with a great number of 
 brilliant circles,, formed by rows of ephemerae, 
 having the appearance of a scolloped line of 
 silver, whirling round with great rapidity. Every 
 one of these flies having made one or two circles, 
 fell on the ground. At near ten o'clock this 
 great cloud had almost disappeared. They had 
 laid their eggs, and closed their transitory exist- 
 ence. — I cannot finish my letter without giving 
 you the animated and poetical description of a 
 similar scene, from the Introduction to Ento- 
 mology. 
 
 " I was so fortunate as to witness a spectacle 
 of this kind, which afforded me a more sublime 
 gratification than any work or exhibition of art 
 has power to communicate. The first was in 
 1811 : — taking an evening walk near my house, 
 when the sun, declining fast towards the horizon, 
 shone forth without a cloud, the whole atmo- 
 sphere over and near the stream swarmed with 
 infinite myriads of ephemerae and little gnats of 
 the genus Chironomus, which, in the sunbeam, 
 appeared as numerous and more lucid than the 
 drops of rain, as if the heavens were showering 
 down brilliant gems. Afterwards, in the follow- 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 31 
 
 ing year, one Sunday, a little before sunset, I 
 was enjoying a stroll, with a friend, at a greater 
 distance from the river, when, in a field by the 
 road side, the same pleasing scene was renewed, 
 but in a style of still greater magnificence ; for, 
 from some cause in the atmosphere, the insects 
 at a distance looked much larger than they really 
 were. The choral dances consisted principally 
 of ephemerae, but there were also some of chi- 
 ronomi ; the former, however, being most con- 
 spicuous, attracted our chief attention— alter- 
 
 appearetf'so^tr^nsPeYiY ari'fl $&Vfo*MlS fey 
 scarcely resembled any thing material — they re- 
 minded us of angels and glorified spirits drink- 
 ing life and joy in the effulgence of the Divine 
 favour." 
 
 The bard of Twickenham, from the terms in 
 which the beautiful description of his sylphs is 
 conceived in The Rape of the Lock, seems to have 
 witnessed the pleasing scene here described : 
 
 " Some to the sun their insect wings unfold, 
 Waft on the breeze, or sink in clouds of gold ; 
 Transparent forms, too fine for mortal sight, 
 Their fluid bodies half dissolved in light ; 
 Loose to the wind their airy garments flew, 
 Thin glittering texture of the filmy dew, 
 
32 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 Dipt in the richest tincture of the skies, 
 Where light disports in ever-mingling dyes ; 
 While every beam new transient colours brings, 
 Colours that change, whene'er they wave their wings." 
 
 I shall conclude my letter by wishing you an 
 opportunity of seeing this delightful spectacle, 
 which generally occurs in September. Adieu* 
 
 
 i^ TO 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 33 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 I must endeavour to give you some 
 idea of the peculiar characters which distinguish 
 the class of insects from other animals. First, 
 they are furnished with several feet, not fewer 
 than six (for those butterflies which appear to 
 have only four legs, have also two false ones), 
 and sometimes with a great many. Secondly, 
 their flesh is affixed to the internal surface of 
 their skin. Thirdly, they breathe not by lungs 
 or gills, but by a sort of spiracles or breathing 
 holes, situated at certain distances along each 
 side of the body; and lastly, the head is ge- 
 nerally furnished with a peculiar pair of pro- 
 cesses, called Antennae, or jointed horns, which 
 vary extremely, but are equally important organs 
 to all. 
 
 Linnaeus divides all insects into seven orders ; 
 Coleoptera, Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, Neuroptera, 
 Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Aptera. Coleoptera 
 contains all insects of the beetle tribe, or such 
 
 c5 
 
34 LETTERS ON ENT03IOLOGY. 
 
 as have strong horny sheaths {elytra) or covers 
 to their wings, which are curiously folded un- 
 derneath. Hemiptera consists of half- winged in- 
 sects, which have wing-sheaths of a tough and 
 strong substance at the upper part, and soft or 
 membranaceous at the lower, and the real or 
 under wings are often of great size, and plaited 
 longitudinally, in the manner of a fan. This 
 order contains all the insects of the locust and 
 grasshopper tribe ; the cockroaches, the lantern- 
 flies, the Cicada?, and many others. The common 
 earwig is an example of it. Lepidoptera, the 
 most splendid and cpnspicuous of all orders, 
 consists of the scaly- winged insects ; butterflies 
 and moths belong to this order, being covered, 
 not with feathers, as it was supposed, but small 
 leathery or hairy scales. Neuroptera consists of 
 such as have four large wings, furnished with 
 very conspicuous nerves, fibres, or ramifications 
 dispersed over the wing. This order is ex- 
 emplified in dragon-flies, May-flies, and others. 
 The celebrated ephemera also belongs to it. 
 Hymenoptera consists of insects with four mem- 
 branaceous wings, but not remarkably fibrous 
 like the former. It contains all the wasp and 
 bee tribe ; the ichneumons and a variety of 
 others. Diplera consists of two-winged insects, 
 
ft 
 
 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 35 
 
 as the race of flies, or musca, strictly so called, 
 and gnats, with a great variety of others. Aptera 
 is the last order, and comprises wingless insects. 
 It consists, according to Linnaeus, of the crab 
 and lobster tribe, of spiders, scorpions, centi- 
 pedes, monoculi, mites, and many others. 
 
 Insects pass through four states : the egg, the 
 larva, the pupa, or chrysalis, and the imago, or 
 perfect state. You need not be told what the 
 first is. The second, is when they first leave the 
 egg and are like soft worms. Linnaeus calls this 
 the larva state, and we have given it different 
 names according to the species, as caterpillars, 
 which are the larvae of the butterfly or moth ; 
 maggots or grubs, which belong to the fly and 
 beetle tribes, &c. In this state, during which 
 they eat voraciously, and cast their skins several 
 times, they remain different periods, some a few 
 days, and others years. They cease eating, and 
 fix themselves in a secure place, their skin sepa- 
 rates, and discloses an oblong body, and thus 
 they have attained the third stage of their ex- 
 istence, which is called the pupa or chrysalis. 
 It is not a general rule that they do not eat in 
 this state, for a considerable number, as locusts, 
 cockroaches, bugs, spiders, &c. not only greatly 
 
36 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 resemble the perfect insect in form, but are 
 equally capable of eating and moving. 
 
 After remaining a certain time (some species 
 only a few hours, while others remain months 
 or one or more years in this state), the perfect 
 insect bursts its case and enters on the last stage 
 of its existence. 
 
 Look at the elegant and volatile butterfly, 
 which seems born but to flutter in the sun- 
 beams, and regale itself with the pure nectar of 
 flowers. It did not come into the world as you 
 now behold it. At its first exclusion from the 
 egg, and for some months of its existence after- 
 wards, it was a wormlike caterpillar, crawling 
 upon sixteen short legs, greedily devouring leaves 
 with two jaws, and seeing by means of twelve 
 eyes, so minute as to be nearly imperceptible. 
 You now see it furnished with large wings ; ten 
 of its legs have disappeared, and the remaining 
 six are quite unlike the former ones; its jaws 
 have vanished, and are replaced by a curled up 
 trunk or proboscis, capable only of sipping 
 liquid sweets : the form of its head is entirely 
 changed, two long horns project from its upper 
 surface, and instead of twelve minute eyes you 
 behold two, very large, and composed of at least 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 37 
 
 twenty thousand convex lenses, each supposed 
 to be a distinct and effective eye. I do not mean 
 that you should think this change a transforma- 
 tion. It is in fact nothing but a series of de- 
 velopments, for every different skin and future 
 form of the insect are enclosed in the caterpillar 
 who throws them off as the parts expand. This 
 may be perceived by dissection; the wings, 
 rolled up into a sort of cord, are between the 
 first and second segment of the caterpillar ; the 
 antennae (or horns) and trunk are coiled up in 
 front of the head, and the legs are sheathed in 
 those of the caterpillar. 
 
 Some caterpillars pass the winter in their own 
 form ; they either make or find retreats, where 
 they remain in a torpid state. Some bury them- 
 selves at a considerable depth, and others re- 
 main in plants and trees; these generally as- 
 semble in numbers under a silken covering. 
 There are even some kinds of butterflies which 
 live through the winter in a torpid state, from 
 which they may be roused by heat. To enume- 
 rate all the different kinds would be impossible, 
 therefore we must content ourselves with some 
 of the most curious. The green and brown cab- 
 bage caterpillar feeds only at night, and lives 
 underground in the day, though it is sometimes 
 
38 LETTERS ON EXTOMOLOGV. 
 
 seen out at that time. The great sphinx cater- 
 pillar is extremely beautiful, and appears quite 
 conscious of the advantage, for it sits almost up- 
 right, and holds its head in a most conceited 
 manner. It is of a vivid peagreen, with lilac and 
 white stripes on the sides, and a curved horn on 
 the tail. It feeds on the privet, and turns to a 
 large chrysalis after burying itself deep in the 
 ground ; in the beginning of July it emerges, a 
 large handsome moth. 
 
 All caterpillars often change their skins, and 
 frequently come out with quite different ones. 
 They are not always torpid in the chrysalis state, 
 for some will spring to a considerable height and 
 move with great activity. The chrysalis of the 
 bombyx dispar (a rare moth), turns round when 
 touched, with great quickness, but as if fearful 
 of breaking the thread by which it is suspended, 
 by constantly twisting in one direction, it turns 
 back again. 
 
 A small brownish chrysalis, which is scarcely 
 a quarter of an inch long, can jump more than 
 an inch into the air, which in proportion to its 
 length is a great height. 
 
 I often wondered how the chrysalis that sus- 
 pends itself by its tail could effect its purpose, till 
 I had watched its manoeuvres repeatedly. Reau- 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 30 
 
 mur's description is nearly precise. The first 
 operation of the caterpillar, when near its change, 
 is to spin a curious little ball, or mound, of silk 
 on the spot it has fixed on, composed of numer- 
 ous little loops crossing each other. This being 
 done, it prepares to suspend itself by its two 
 hinder feet, which, like the others, are half sur- 
 rounded by two rows of hooks of different sizes. 
 The moment it presses these feet against the ball 
 of silk, they are entangled among the loops. 
 When they are safely fastened, it puts itself in a 
 vertical position with the head downwards. It 
 then bends its body upwards, making the back 
 convex, and sometimes remains thus half an hour 
 or more; this, which is often repeated, is to 
 crack the skin on the back, that the chrysalis 
 may come forth. The operation generally takes 
 at least twenty-four hours, and sometimes two 
 days ; but as soon as the least crack is made, it 
 is quickly enlarged by the chrysalis, which swells 
 its body with an undulating motion till the 
 skin is split far enough to discover the upper 
 part, which is so much larger than the envelope 
 it quits, that it is surprising how it could be 
 contained in it ; but it is the nature of the chry- 
 salis to grow shorter and wider almost at the 
 moment of its change. When the upper part is 
 
40 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 all free, the next operation is to slip off the lower 
 part towards the tail, and the chrysalis does this 
 by swelling and contracting alternately, which 
 pushes the skin gradually down, though some 
 have an additional assistance in two rows of 
 points which incline towards the tail. Thus 
 aided, it soon pushes up the skin (for we must 
 remember the head is downwards), and it is 
 folded in a small packet round the place where 
 the two hind feet are fastened. But how will 
 the chrysalis disengage the skin, and yet remain 
 suspended ? you may ask ; and indeed it seems a 
 most perilous situation, but we must remark, 
 that at the time of changing, the chrysalis is 
 extremely soft and flexible; the rings or seg- 
 ments then perform all the functions of limbs. 
 It seizes between the rings a part of the folded 
 skin, and pressing them together has a fine 
 support; then it bends its body and draws it 
 entirely from the skin. Next it stretches itself 
 and seizes, between the rings above those it holds 
 by, a higher part of the skin, lets go its hold of 
 the first, and shortens itself again ; then repeats 
 the movement, till the end of its body touches 
 the ball of silk, and then it is suspended safely, 
 for the end of the tail is furnished with a number 
 of little hooks. But now having finished all 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 41 
 
 these difficult and dangerous manoeuvres, it has 
 
 still to get rid of the old skin, which it will by no 
 
 means suffer to remain so near, and the means 
 
 it uses are singular. It seizes it with part of the 
 
 body, which is beyond the hooks, and then gives 
 
 itself a shake, which throws it violently from side 
 
 to side. It thus pulls at the skin, and the hooks 
 
 on the feet break or come out of the silk, being 
 
 farther from the centre of the motion than its 
 
 own hooks. If the skin does not fall after this, 
 
 the chrysalis rests a little, and turns in the same 
 
 manner in a contrary direction • ^4-^ " 
 sometimes oungect to repeat tour or five times. 
 
 After all this trouble and pains it resigns itself to 
 repose for more than twenty days, and then comes 
 forth a butterfly*. 
 
 Caterpillars have many different modes of de- 
 fence against their assailants ; some curl them- 
 selves round as if dead, some walk or rather run 
 away with amazing swiftness : that of the vine 
 is remarkable in this respect. Others more 
 courageously defend themselves by fixing half 
 their bodies, and moving the other half in every 
 direction, as if to seize the enemy. Others have 
 
 * The caterpillar of the P. Io, or peacock butterfly, 
 changes in this manner, and comes out in eleven or twelve 
 
 days. 
 
 1 
 
42 
 
 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 a kind of passive defence in long stiff hairs, 
 which quickly breaking and piercing the flesh, 
 create great inflammation, and smart like the 
 sting of the nettle. Lesser having touched the 
 horn of a sphinx caterpillar, it suddenly turned 
 round its head, and ejected from its mouth a green, 
 viscous, and very foetid fluid, which, though he 
 repeatedly washed his hand with soap and fumed 
 it with sulphur, infected it for two days. The 
 caterpillars, also, of a particular tribe of saw- 
 flies, when disturbed, eject a drop of fluid from 
 themouui. x^. — . i .,, „.». ,. 
 
 has the peculiar power of making a sound like 
 the squeaking of a mouse, which is certainly the 
 best defence it could have, as few people would 
 like to touch a squeaking caterpillar. There is a 
 small brown species which exactly resembles a 
 dried stick, and holds itself erect like a little 
 branch ; it is astonishing to see how long it will 
 hold itself in this position, which, though it ap- 
 pears painful to us, may be the very reverse to 
 the insect. 
 
 The maggot of the cheese, which turns to a 
 black shining fly, takes amazing leaps : Swam- 
 merdam saw one, only a quarter of an inch long, 
 jump in this manner from a box six inches in 
 depth ; which is in the same proportion of height 
 
- {■ 
 
 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 43 
 
 as if a man six feet high should jump into the air 
 144 feet ! He had seen others leap still higher. 
 
 Butterflies come out in the spring, and attain 
 their full size in a very short time. This order, 
 which is designated lepidoplera, consists of but- 
 terflies, hawk-moths, and moths, which are di- 
 stinguished from each other chiefly by the form 
 of their horns, or, more properly spewing, their 
 antennae. Butterflies h^c tliree kinds: first, 
 thosp l«*ge at the extremity; secondly, those 
 which gradually increase till near the end ; and 
 thirdly, those which are flat-sided like a ram's 
 horn. 
 
 Moths have also three kinds : the first, nearly 
 even to the end; the second, diminishing gradually 
 to a point ; and the third bearded or feathered ; 
 but the antennae of the moth are always sharp 
 pointed. 
 
 Moths fly by night, though they may some- 
 times be seen in dark shady places in the day- 
 time. 
 
 There is a moth which, though not remark- 
 able for the beauty of its colours, is so from the 
 singularity of its form. It exactly resembles a 
 bundle of dried leaves, and every thing conspires 
 to aid the deception. Its colour is that of a 
 withered elm leaf; its upper wings are veined 
 
44 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 and scalloped at the edges; the under wings 
 project beyond the upper, and resemble them. 
 On the head it has a kind of beak formed by two 
 bearded horns, which look like the leaf stalk ; 
 the antennae, which lie backwards as far as the 
 wings, seem the continuation of it ; and, in short, 
 the deception is complete while the moth is at 
 rest. Tk^y are t0 b e found in England; but 
 we cannot be surpiioo^ tnat th ev are seldom 
 discovered, particularly as they are vc*y quiet 
 in the day. The chrysalis is nearly conical in 
 shape, and of the usual colour, but appears pow- 
 dered. The caterpillar is very large, and lives 
 on pear and peach-trees. 
 
 The death's-head moth, or Sphinx Atropos, is 
 also very singular: it takes its name from the 
 representation of a skull on its back or thorax, 
 and was formerly regarded with great terror by 
 the people of Brittany, who looked on it as the 
 forerunner of pestilence. Unfortunately this in- 
 sect is distinguished by the mournful cry it has 
 the power of making ; it is something like the 
 squeak of a mouse, but more plaintive, and this 
 increased their terror. The noise is produced by 
 the moth striking its trunk with two bearded 
 laminae, which are placed on each side. There is 
 a membrane above the trunk which may have 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 45 
 
 some part in it. These moths are also found in 
 England : the caterpillar is yellow and green, and 
 has a strongly curved horn on the tail. Nature 
 varies no less in size than in form, as we may see 
 in the difference between the great Indian butter- 
 fly, which is several inches across, and the little 
 white one which feeds on the cabbage, and is 
 hardly so big as a pin's head, yet it has a trunk 
 which does not roll up, but is protected by a 
 sheath ; this little creature is only three days in 
 the form of a chrysalis. 
 
 From some kinds of caterpillars we may learn 
 the good effects of living in harmony and fellow- 
 ship. One of the commonest kinds, of which the 
 eggs are laid by hundreds in the same place, and 
 which come out nearly at the same time, range 
 themselves in regular rows, and feed in perfect 
 order, never interfering with each other ; which 
 if they were inclined to do, would make sad 
 confusion. They also work for the public good ; 
 for as they go on eating the upper surface of the 
 leaf, which dries and contracts, forming a kind 
 of cavity, they draw silken threads across from 
 side to side, till a tent is formed, into which they 
 retire for shelter. They live principally on pear 
 and apple-trees. These do not disperse till they 
 have frequently changed their skin. 
 
46 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 A more striking example is given by the oak 
 caterpillars, which never separate even in the 
 chrysalis state, but live together in families of 
 five or six hundred brothers and sisters; they 
 eat together, spin together, and repose together ; 
 only as butterflies they separate. The order of 
 their march is the most remarkable. One goes 
 first, and apparently any one who chooses, and 
 the rest all follow in regular rows of two, three, 
 four, five, &c. : they stop when the leader stops, 
 and follow minutely every turn. The order of 
 their march is sometimes varied, but always 
 regular. Is not this an excellent example of the 
 good arising from proper subordination, for how 
 else could they continue together ? 
 
 Thus we see how the caterpillars are preserved 
 and fed, but we must now consider their enemies 
 and misfortunes. When any species multiplies 
 exceedingly, nature always provides against its 
 superabundance : she produces their enemies in 
 equal numbers, and thus the balance is preserved. 
 
 The poor caterpillars in particular have many 
 of these; some swallow them at a mouthful, 
 others pull them to pieces, and others suck them 
 gradually, yet still they are very numerous. 
 Though they appear the mildest and most help- 
 less of insects, there is one kind winch are quite 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 47 
 
 cannibals, and eat each other. Twenty of this 
 fierce race were put into a glass box by Reaumur, 
 and regularly fed with oak leaves. It was re- 
 marked that their number diminished daily, and 
 yet there were no dead bodies ; this excited his 
 attention, and he observed that when one met 
 another, it seized it with its teeth near the head, 
 and quickly inflicted mortal wounds. Wounded 
 caterpillars either soon die or become weak, thus 
 the conqueror found any easy prey ; and when 
 it could not escape quietly, sucked and eat it, 
 leaving the skin. The aggressors always ap- 
 peared the strongest. Of these twenty cater- 
 pillars there only remained one, which was so 
 greedy that it would not quit its hold of the last 
 victim. 
 
 The most terrible enemy they have is the grub 
 of an ichneumon fly, which lives in their insides, 
 and is so well concealed that no one would su- 
 spect it, as the poor caterpillar looks as well as 
 usual, though its internal parts are continually 
 being devoured. These grubs are of two sorts — 
 those which live in society, and those which live 
 alone : they all undergo a metamorphosis. They 
 are produced by a beautiful green ichneumon 
 fly, which pierces the skin of the caterpillar, and 
 deposits its eggs in the hole. In due time the 
 
48 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 grubs come out through the skin, sometimes to 
 the number of fourteen or fifteen, yet the poor 
 insect sometimes survives, and even turns to a 
 chrysalis, though it does not become a butterfly. 
 The most beautiful of the cabbage caterpillars is 
 the most subject to be attacked by the gregarious 
 grubs, which, after their coming out, spin them- 
 selves up in cones. 
 
 If we examine the elm or oak caterpillar, we 
 shall frequently find one or two little white 
 patches, which are usually placed between the 
 rings. Examined with a microscope they ap- 
 pear to be eggs ; but they are so firmly attached 
 to the skin, that it comes off before they can be 
 separated. Reaumur closely inspected one which 
 he detached with care, and found a hole on the 
 part next the skin. He afterwards dissected the 
 caterpillar, and found in it a large grub. 
 
 Some have these creatures outside in different 
 parts of the body, sometimes to the number of 
 twenty. They appear to bury their heads in the 
 skin, and some spin their cones on the body of 
 the caterpillar. Some flies even deposit their 
 eggs in the eggs of the butterfly, and thus the 
 latter are devoured before they are born. 
 
 Another formidable enemy is a black shining 
 grub, which becomes as large as a middling cater- 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 4b) 
 
 pillar. It has pincers on its head, with which it 
 soon pierces the under part, which it usually 
 attacks, and when once fixed, there is no escape 
 for its victim. It commonly devours as many 
 as it finds, and generally establishes itself among 
 those caterpillars which live in society. They 
 are sometimes punished for their gluttony ; for 
 when they have eaten so much as to be unable 
 to move, the young ones of their own species 
 attack and devour them, though without any 
 apparent reason, for they will do this when they 
 have plenty of caterpillars. 
 
 Butterflies are also infested with parasitical 
 insects. A young lady, one day last summer, was 
 examining a common brown butterfly (papilio 
 jurtina), and saw that on each side the thorax 
 were some small bright red spots or tubercles. 
 Having touched one of these with a pin, to her 
 great surprise it came off, and ran across the 
 paper as fast as its little legs could carry it ; and 
 on examining the others, she found that their 
 heads were buried in the butterfly's body in the 
 same manner as a tick fixes itself in the flesh, and 
 she had great difficulty in dislodging them. Lin- 
 naeus says (speaking of his division of butterflies) 
 that et the equites are either Troes or Trojans, 
 distinguished by having red or blood-coloured 
 spots or patches on each side their breasts ; or 
 
 D 
 
50 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 Achivi, Greeks, without the red marks." Shaw 
 further says, that " it has been observed by some 
 critics, that the blood-coloured spots mentioned 
 by Linnaeus as characteristic of the Trojans are 
 not always found'' Now, does it not occur to 
 you, from these words, that the red marks may 
 possibly be these insects ? I think it very pro- 
 bable; but I do not know whether Linnaeus 
 meant that the spots were hairy, and I wish some 
 entomologist would ascertain and prove it. 
 
 If you are ever so fortunate as to live in the 
 country, you may amuse yourself by keeping 
 butterflies in a thin gauze cage, which will enable 
 you to examine without killing them ; and if you 
 feed them with fresh flowers or honey, they will 
 perhaps be very well contented to remain, par- 
 ticularly if you have a great many. They are 
 very sociable, and will feed from your firiger ; 
 but I will not answer for your being able to tame 
 them, as their life is so short. It is time to finish 
 this long letter ; so, adieu ! But, stay, there is one 
 circumstance I forgot to tell you. In the West 
 Indies there is a large larva called the grub of 
 the palm weevil, which is as large as the thumb ; 
 it is roasted and eaten as a great delicacy. I have 
 often heard it mentioned by a lady, who came 
 from Demerara, who called it Grugru. 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 51 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 I shall nowj my dear Harriet, give you some 
 account of an insect which is in general only 
 known by the mischief it causes, yet is worthy 
 of attention on other accounts. We admire, and 
 with reason, the ingenuity which has produced 
 such variety and beauty in our clothing, and the 
 means by which it is done ; but there is an insect 
 which performs the same thing for itself without 
 any help, and in the most beautiful manner. I 
 mean the larvae of the moth, which are so destruc- 
 tive to woollen cloths, furs, &c. These cater- 
 pillars have too tender and delicate a skin to live 
 without clothing : the habits they make are of a 
 simple form, like a long tube, to fit their round 
 bodies, and are made with great art. The insect 
 chooses the woolly hairs proper for the purpose, 
 and interweaves them with silken threads (for 
 they are spinning caterpillars) ; the inside of this 
 tube is lined with the same silk, and is exquisitely 
 soft. They begin their work very soon after 
 they are born, and are consequently obliged to 
 
 d2 
 
52 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 enlarge it as they grow, and this is the most 
 difficult thing they have to do. We can easily 
 imagine that they can add to the length, but not 
 how they let it out at the sides. This they per- 
 form by slitting down the side about a quarter 
 of the length (for if they did it all at once it 
 would fall off), and putting in a little piece like 
 a gore; they proceed with another, till they 
 come to the end. This may be very plainly 
 discovered by taking the insect from a blue cloth 
 and putting it on a red one, when the additions 
 will be all red. They have different modes of 
 doing it, however, but all equally ingenious. 
 Should not this make us sometimes ashamed of 
 our own want ot contrivance ? 
 
 As these insects turn to moths every year, 
 there are always plenty of their empty coats, 
 which the young ones prefer taking to pieces for 
 their own, to the cloth itself, as the materials are 
 all prepared ; thus those born on green or blue 
 cloths are sometimes clothed in quite different 
 ccljurs, where there have been old insects be- 
 fore : in consequence, it is very rare to find these 
 coats in good condition. They also show a great 
 deal of taste ; for it has been observed that, on 
 a gray colour or brown cloth, the little creatures 
 are dressed in bright red or blue ; and on ex- 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 53 
 
 amining the cloth with a microscope, many red, 
 blue, or green hairs have been discovered mixed 
 with the others. They cause more destruction 
 by mowing, as it were, the long hairs which ob- 
 struct their passage, than by what they eat. 
 
 Finally, when they have attained their full 
 size, and the time of their metamorphosis ap- 
 proaches, they forsake the cloth they have lived 
 on, and seek a more fixed and safe asylum. They 
 fasten themselves in the angles of walls and the 
 crevices of furniture, sometimes by one end, and 
 sometimes by both, which they always close by 
 a silken tissue. Thus inclosed, the caterpiDar 
 soon turns to a chrysalis, which gradually changes 
 from light yellow to a reddish colour; and 
 finally, in about three weeks, comes out a little 
 gray moth. 
 
 If these larvae are shut up with dead butter- 
 flies, they make very pretty garments of the hair 
 and pieces of the wing. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that they never attack 
 wool that is not cleansed of grease, and they dis- 
 like any powerful smell. A fumigation of tobacco 
 is fatal to them. 
 
 There is another of the same species which 
 lives in the woods, fields, or gardens, and feeds 
 on the leaves. These do not clothe themselves 
 
54 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 exactly in the same way as the domestic sort, 
 and their habits are not so rich and varied, but 
 their ingenuity is perhaps still more worthy of 
 admiration. 
 
 Though they are very common, they are seldom 
 found but by those who know where to look, as 
 they attach themselves to the under part of the 
 leaf, and remain stationary ; the part to which 
 they hang is usually withered. Their garments 
 are also of the colour of dried leaves, and thus 
 they escape notice : they are found in oaks, elms, 
 pear and apple-trees, and rose-trees, but rarely 
 in the last, and each tree has a different kind. 
 
 As they are caterpillars, the body is long and 
 round like those which eat cloth, but their gar- 
 ments are of a different shape. They are formed 
 like a triangular tube, smooth and hard, and 
 much larger than the insect, to give it room to 
 turn round. The manner in which they accom- 
 plish the formation of them is very curious. 
 
 The substance on which they feed is the pulp 
 between the upper and lower membrane of the 
 leaf; and when they have eaten away a sufficient 
 space, they lie between the two membranes, in 
 one of which they are to clothe themselves, and 
 cut it out as a tailor cuts out his cloth; and 
 though the form of the separate pieces is not 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 55 
 
 square or round, or of any regular figure, but 
 extremely irregular, yet the two pieces fit exactly. 
 The next thing is to fasten them together, and 
 this they do with silken threads so neatly, that 
 the joining can hardly be discerned with a 
 microscope. But the most remarkable thing is, 
 that they vary their operations according to cir- 
 cumstances, and seldom do all alike ; for instance, 
 if the leaf is too dry to separate the membranes, 
 they will cut it out altogether. When they 
 grow too large for their clothes, they make new. 
 They may be found where the leaf is transparent, 
 with a hole. 
 
 Another kind cover themselves with little 
 straws and dried stalks, which look very ridi- 
 culous, and have the same effect as if our clothes 
 were covered with rows of sticks. 
 
 Land insects are not the only ones which want 
 clothes. The aquatic kinds make them also, 
 some of very fine sand, some of gravel, some of 
 flat leaves, some of round stalks. Others arrange, 
 with great taste, pieces of leaves round their 
 coats; they appear bound with green ribbon. 
 Others make use of every thing; fresh leaves 
 and old rotten ones, pieces of wood new and old, 
 gravel, small stones, pieces of shell, and even 
 whole ones; nothing seems to come amiss. 
 
56 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 They make themselves sometimes the most fan- 
 tastical figures, but this only serves to show their 
 ingenuity, because they do it for a particular 
 purpose ; they are obliged to balance themselves 
 in the water, and if too light, they put on a little 
 stone ; if too heavy by having imbibed the water, 
 they take a light piece of wood or straw. Some 
 make very pretty garments by covering them 
 with little shells, generally of very small snails 
 or muscles. 
 
 We should be very much surprised to see a 
 savage, instead of clothing himself with the skins 
 of what he kills, covering himself with the living 
 animals ; for instance, with squirrels or foxes ; 
 yet some of these insects actually do it, and cover 
 themselves with little muscles, well fastened on, 
 and quite alive, though we may easily imagine 
 it is not a very comfortable situation. 
 
 All these insects become flies with four wings : 
 they first change into nymphs in their coat or 
 sheath ; but as they would be liable in this torpid 
 state to be devoured by voracious insects, they 
 are obliged to stop the ends, which, as the water 
 must not be excluded, they effectually do by a 
 grating of silk. 
 
 I must not pass over those caterpillars of this 
 species which make themselves long silken 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 57 
 
 galleries instead of having portable garments. 
 These make great havock among the bees, and 
 brave, under this covering, all the stings of that 
 people of warriors. They do not seek the honey, 
 but the wax. 
 
 These ingenious insects are all small ; but who 
 will say that they are therefore unworthy our 
 attention? When the Author of all being has 
 deigned to form and preserve them in so won- 
 derful a manner, and in such infinite variety, is 
 it excusable in us to treat his works with indif- 
 ference ? Are we worthy to inhabit a world so 
 full of wonders, when we hardly take the trouble 
 of opening our eyes to see it ? I hope you will 
 think differently, and turn your admiration from 
 the comparatively coarse and imperfect works of 
 art, to the exquisite and truly beautiful scenes of 
 nature. 
 
 Believe me, &c. &c. 
 
 d 5 
 
58 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 Of all associations of insects, there 
 are none that have more excited the attention 
 and admiration of mankind, in every age, than 
 the colonies of the hive bee. It is a subject most 
 fertile in wonders; even the most stupid and 
 incurious must be struck with astonishment on 
 viewing the inside of a bee-hive. It is a little 
 city, divided into regular streets, composed of 
 houses, constructed on the most exact geometrical 
 principles, some serving for storehouses, others 
 for the habitations of the citizens, and a few 
 much larger for the palaces of the sovereigns, 
 made of materials which the skill of man would 
 in vain attempt to imitate, and this is all done by 
 insects ! Well may Bonnet exclaim, " Quel abime 
 aux yeux d'un sage qu'une ruche d'Abeilles ! 
 Quelle sagesse profonde se cache dans cet abime ! 
 Quel philosophe osera le fonder !" 
 
 It is not necessary, as you must be aware, that 
 bees should have a hive ; any other cavity would 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 59 
 
 serve them as well. You must have seen a honey- 
 comb, and observed that it is a flattish cake, com- 
 posed of a vast number of cells, mostly hexagonal, 
 regularly applied side by side, and placed in two 
 layers end to end. Several of these combs are 
 fixed to the upper part and sides of the hive, at 
 the distance of about half an inch from each 
 other. Besides these vacancies, which are the 
 high roads, there are cavities pierced through 
 the combs, that they may not lose time by going 
 round. If bees only constructed cells of in- 
 variable size and arrangement, it would still be 
 a matter of admiration ; but they do more. If 
 forced by artificial means to bend their comb, 
 they take the best means of doing it ; they en- 
 large the mouths of the cells on the convex side, 
 and diminish them on the other. A little re- 
 flection will show you the beauty and ingenuity 
 4 of this contrivance, particularly as it is an ad- 
 ventitious circumstance, which in their natural 
 state would rarely, if ever, happen. 
 
 The cells are of different dimensions, as the 
 society consists of three orders differing in size. 
 The cells for the male larvae are much larger than 
 those belonging to the workers. The queen's 
 cell is still larger, and diners in form, being 
 shaped like a pear, and made of a coarser ma- 
 
GO LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 terial ; the situation is also different, being ver- 
 tical instead of horizontal, with the mouth down- 
 wards. 
 
 The society of a hive of bees, besides the young 
 brood, consists of one female or queen ; several 
 hundreds of males or drones, and many thousand 
 workers. The body of the queen is much longer 
 than the others. The drone is quite the reverse 
 in shape, being short, thick, and clumsy. The 
 workers are oblong, and divided into two orders, 
 the wax-makers and nurses. They are all im- 
 perfect females like the ants. Sixteen days is 
 the time assigned to a queen for her existence 
 in the preparatory states, before she emerges 
 from her cell: three she remains in the egg; 
 when hatched, she continues feeding, or rather 
 being fed, five more; when covered in, she begins 
 to spin her cocoon, which is open at one end for 
 a reason I shall presently give you. She is one 
 day in doing this; she then reposes two days 
 and sixteen hours, and then assumes the pupa or 
 chrysalis, in which state she remains four days 
 and eight hours. Four days more are required to 
 bring the workers to perfection. There is a dif- 
 ference in the shape of their cocoons, for workers 
 c nd drones make complete ones, while the queen's 
 is open at the lower end, and this is probably 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 61 
 
 occasioned by the form of the cells, for if a female 
 larva be placed in a worker's cell, it will spin a 
 complete cocoon, and if a worker grub be put 
 in a royal cell, its cocoon will be incomplete. 
 No provision of the great Author of nature is in 
 vain. As the first queen who comes out must 
 kill all the other female grubs, it would be ex- 
 tremely difficult for her to do it if they were 
 quite covered. When the prisoners are ready 
 to emerge, they do not, like the ants, require 
 assistance, but eat through their cocoon and cell, 
 generally through the top. They now enter on 
 a more interesting scene, in which the display of 
 their wonderful and numerous instincts exceeds 
 the most vaunted products of human skill and 
 wisdom. 
 
 First, we must speak of the queen mother, as 
 incomparably the most important. The first mo- 
 ments of her life are filled with anxiety, warfare, 
 and peril, for she will bear no rival near her, and 
 there are generally from sixteen to twenty royal 
 cells in a hive, while only one is suffered to live, 
 except when another queen is wanted to lead a 
 swarm, in which case the workers take proper pre- 
 cautions. Soon after the queen's birth she visits 
 the royal cells, still inhabited, and darting with 
 fury on the first she meets, by means of her jaws 
 
62 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 she makes a hole, and stings the poor female to 
 death. The workers, who look on, then enlarge 
 the hole, and draw forth the carcass, just emerged 
 from the thin covering of the pupa. If her enemy 
 is still in that state, she only makes a hole in the 
 cell, and the workers drawing it out, it perishes. 
 If two queens come forth at the same time, the 
 care of Providence to prevent the hive from being 
 despoiled of a governor is shown in a remark- 
 able instinct, which, when mutual destruction 
 appears inevitable, makes them fly each other as 
 if panic-struck. They dart forward at first, and 
 being opposite have a mutual advantage; but 
 when their stings would give reciprocally a mortal 
 wound, terror seems to seize them, and they fly 
 away. The attack is renewed in the same manner 
 till one by stratagem gains an advantage, and 
 inflicts the fatal wound. 
 
 When another queen comes into the hive, the 
 workers gather round her, but do not attempt 
 to injure her. They likewise gather round their 
 own queen, who is to fight the intruder. When 
 she moves towards the spot, they open, to make 
 a clear arena for the combat, and the rightful 
 queen rushing on her enemy and seizing her in 
 her jaws, near the root of the wings, despatches 
 her with one stroke of her sting. Whatever 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 63 
 
 number of queens are introduced into a hive, all 
 but one will perish, and she will have won the 
 throne by her unassisted valour, for the workers 
 never interfere. 
 
 If the queen dies, they have a regular time of 
 mourning for her, which is twenty-four hours, 
 and before that time has elapsed, they will not 
 suffer any other to enter their domain; but after 
 that time, they will receive any queen. If the 
 old queen remained in the hive when the young 
 ones came forth, she would infallibly destroy 
 them; but this is wisely prevented by a circum- 
 stance which always takes place — the old queen 
 leads the first swarm; and if there are more 
 to go, the workers keep the young queens, de- 
 stined to lead them, in their cells, till the proper 
 moment : they however feed them with honey ; 
 but as fast as they make an opening, they stop 
 it with wax. They likewise take particular 
 care to hinder the old queen from coming near 
 these unfortunate princesses, if we may so call 
 them. Sometimes when angry, she stands in a 
 particular attitude, and makes a peculiar noise 
 or humming, which affects the bees so much 
 that they hang their heads and remain motion- 
 less. At last she becomes violently agitated, 
 and communicating her agitation to others, the 
 
64 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 confusion increases till a swarm leaves the hive, 
 which she either precedes or follows, like a 
 sovereign driven forth by her rebellious sub- 
 jects to seek a new kingdom. The bees in- 
 variably let out the oldest female from her cell 
 first, and she becomes the soul of all their actions 
 and centre of their instincts, though so long their 
 prisoner. If they are deprived of her, or the 
 means of replacing her, they lose all their activity 
 and become quite idle. You will no doubt ask 
 me what are the means of replacing her without 
 a royal cell, and I will relate to you in answer 
 one of the most astonishing, and I believe un- 
 paralleled facts in nature. 
 
 If the bees are deprived of their queen, and 
 are supplied with the part of the honeycomb 
 containing only the grubs of the workers, they 
 select one or more to be educated as queens, 
 which by having a royal cell erected for them, 
 and being fed with the royal jelly (a particular 
 kind which is exclusively given to queens), only 
 for two days, come out complete queens, with 
 their form and instincts entirely changed, though 
 if they had remained in a common cell they 
 would have been only workers ! What shall we 
 say to this ? How can a larger and warmer 
 cell, a different and more pungent kind of food, 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 65 
 
 and an upright instead of a horizontal posture 
 (which is the form of a royal cell), give the bee 
 a different tongue, make its hind legs flat in- 
 stead of concave, deprive them of the fringe of 
 hairs winch forms the basket for carrying pollen; 
 besides almost every other part of the body ? Can 
 we imagine that these seemingly unimportant 
 circumstances can alter all its instincts and pro- 
 pensities, and that instead of a lively, industrious 
 worker, it would become an indolent, tyrannical 
 queen ? If this circumstance was not established 
 by the most credible evidence, it would be almost 
 impossible to believe it, ignorant as we are of the 
 general laws of nature. The first who published 
 it was M. Schirach, secretary of the Apiarian So- 
 ciety in Upper Lusatia. It was communicated to the 
 celebrated Bonnet, who long hesitated to believe 
 it, but was at length convinced ; and M. Huber, 
 by experiments repeated for ten years, was fully 
 convinced of the truth of it. Indeed it had been 
 practically known long before, for M. Vogel 
 asserts, that experiments confirming this extra- 
 ordinary fact had been made by more than a 
 hundred different persons in the course of more 
 than a hundred years, and that he had known 
 old cultivators of bees who had assured him that 
 if proper measures were taken, in a practice of 
 
66 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 more than fifty years, the experiment never 
 failed. Signor Monticelli, a Neapolitan pro- 
 fessor, informs us that the Greeks and Turks 
 know how to make artificial swarms, and that 
 the art of producing queens at will has been 
 known, in the little Sicilian island of Favignana, 
 from very remote antiquity. I have been so 
 particular in giving all this authority, my dear 
 Harriet, because people in general are very apt 
 to doubt what appears strange, merely because 
 they do not comprehend why or how it is, for- 
 getting that they are neither omniscient nor omni- 
 present. 
 
 Reaumur says that the best sign that a hive is 
 preparing to swarm, is when on a sunny morning 
 few bees go out of a hive. A good deal depends 
 on the state of the weather, however, to accelerate 
 or retard it. Another sign is a general hum in 
 the evening, and which continues even in the 
 night. The old queen leads the first swarm, and 
 the first-born of those left, or the princess royal, if 
 we may so call her, probably takes her place. The 
 longest interval between the swarms is from 
 seven to nine days, and between each successive 
 one it is much shortened. 
 
 If one of the antennae of a queen is cut off, it 
 seems not to affect her ; but if deprived of both, 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. Oy 
 
 she appears in a kind of delirium, and without her 
 usual instincts, yet the respect of her subjects is 
 the same. If two mutilated queens meet, they 
 show not the slightest symptom of resentment. 
 These antennae appear to be extraordinary in* 
 struments of perception. The poor drones have 
 a short life and a tragical end, for the eggs that 
 produce them are usually laid in April or May, 
 and they are stung to death by the workers in 
 July or August. However, as they are quite 
 idle members of the community, and do nothing 
 but eat, it would not be proper that they should 
 live all the winter to consume the labours of the 
 industrious. We must remark that in hives de- 
 prived of their queen they are suffered to re- 
 main alive. I must defer any further account 
 till my next letter, when I shall tell you some- 
 thing of the workers, those lively and interest- 
 ing visitors, who disdaining all but the sweetest 
 productions of nature, live in flowers and feed 
 on nectar, and whose cheerful hum insensibly 
 enlivens our summer walks. Adieu for the 
 present. 
 
68 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 I shall not pretend,, my dear Harriet, to give 
 you a full and circumstantial account of all the 
 history of bees, but shall only mention such 
 things as I consider more particularly worthy of 
 attention ; though even the most trivial circum- 
 stance shows the wisdom and perfection in which 
 all nature is made. 
 
 The principal object of the working bees in 
 their excursions, is to obtain three things : the 
 nectar of flowers, from which they make honey 
 and wax ; the pollen or dust of the anthers in 
 flowers, of which they make bee bread, which is 
 their food ; and the resinous substance called by 
 the ancients propolis, and used in various ways 
 in rendering the hive secure, and finishing the 
 combs. The first is the pure fluid in the nec- 
 taries of flowers, which they lick up with their 
 long tongues ; for you must remark the bee's 
 tongue is not a tube to suck with, but a real 
 tongue, which laps or licks the honey, and 
 passes it to the first stomach, which is called the 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 69 
 
 honey bag. When the bee returns to the hive, 
 she regurgitates it in the form of pure honey, 
 into one of the cells prepared. When the stomach 
 of a bee is filled with nectar, she next, by means 
 of the feathered hairs on her body, gathers the 
 pollen from which the bee-bread is made, and 
 which we may call the ambrosia. When her 
 body is covered with this dust, she wipes it off 
 with the brushes of her legs, not to disperse it, 
 but to knead it into two small pellets, which she 
 carries in the baskets formed by the hairs cross- 
 ing each other, on her hind legs. 
 
 Many authors assert that the bee never visits 
 more than one species of flower in each journey 
 from the hive ; and this appears most probable 
 and reasonable ; for the grains of pollen would 
 not> most likely, adhere together if not of the 
 same kind ; and the pollen which the bee would 
 carry into the flower might make the seed of a 
 different kind, and there would be no perfect 
 flower in time. 
 
 The bee, on her arrival at the hive, either eats 
 the pellets of farina, or calls others to her assist- 
 ance. They store up the superfluous par* in 
 empty cells. 
 
 The propolis is collected from the buds of 
 trees, particularly from the poplar. Huber 
 
70 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 planted some twigs of a species of poplar : before 
 the leaves were out, and almost directly, a bee 
 alighted, and opening a bud, drew from it a thread 
 of the viscid matter contained in it, and with its 
 legs placed it in the basket of hairs. Their scent 
 is remarkably acute, which Huber proved by 
 putting some honey behind a window-shutter, 
 whence it could not be seen, leaving the shutter 
 just open enough for insects to pass if they chose ; 
 and in less than a quarter of an hour, four bees, 
 a butterfly, and some house-flies, had discovered 
 it. Another time he put some into boxes with 
 little holes in the lid, into which pieces of card 
 were fitted, and placed the boxes about two 
 hundred paces from his hives ; in about half an 
 hour the bees found it out, and pushing in the 
 card, got at the honey. 
 
 When bees are laden, they always fly in a 
 direct line to the nest, though by what means 
 they are enabled to do this we cannot ascertain. 
 That it is a fact, is strongly proved by the account 
 in the Philosophical Transactions of the manner 
 in which the people of New England discover 
 whgre the wild bees live in the woods. They 
 set a plate of honey or sugar on the ground, 
 which is soon attacked by the bees: having 
 secured two or three that have filled themselves, 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. *J1 
 
 the hunter lets one go, which rising into the air, 
 flies straight to the nest ; he then strikes off at 
 right angles with its course a few hundred yards, 
 and letting a second fly, observes its course by 
 his pocket compass, and the point where the 
 two courses intersect is that where the nest is 
 situated. 
 
 In Upper Egypt the hives are transported from 
 one place to another, to enable the bees to make 
 a greater provision of honey. Towards the end 
 of October, when the inundations of the Nile 
 have ceased, and the husbandmen can cultivate 
 their land, saintfoin is one of the first things sown; 
 and as Upper Egypt is warmer than the lower, 
 it gets there first into blossom, and the beehives 
 are transported in boats from all parts of Egypt 
 to the upper district, and are there heaped in 
 •pyramids upon the boats prepared for them. In 
 this station they remain some days, and when 
 they are supposed to have gathered enough, are 
 removed farther down, and so proceed till the 
 middle of February ; when having traversed 
 Egypt, they arrive at the sea, and are delivered 
 to their respective owners. 
 
 One of the most important employments of 
 bees is the ventilation of their abode; for the 
 heat would soon rise to too high a temperature 
 
72 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 for respiration, and there can be no current of 
 air. But how, you will say, is this done ? Just 
 as you would do it yourself — by fanning them- 
 selves. By means of the hooks at the edge they 
 unite each pair of wings, and thus make a broader 
 surface, which they vibrate so rapidly as to render 
 the wings almost invisible. This is what produces 
 the constant humming in a hive, and goes on in 
 all seasons. 
 
 Now let us consider what I think the most 
 interesting part of their history — their language 
 and tempers. The organ of the language of ants 
 is their antennae. Huber has proved that it is 
 the same with the bees, and I will tell you in what 
 manner. He wished to know whether, when they 
 had lost their queen (which is known to the whole 
 hive in about an hour), they discovered it by 
 their smell, their touch, or any unknown cause.. 
 He first divided a hive by a grate, which kept the 
 twoportionstwoor three lines asunder, so that they 
 could not come at each other, though scent would 
 pass. In the part where there was no queen, the 
 bees Avere soon in great agitation ; and as they did 
 not discover her where she was confined, they 
 soon began to construct royal cells, which quieted 
 them. He next separated them by a partition, 
 through which they could pass their antenna?, 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. J3 
 
 but not their heads. In this case the bees all 
 remained tranquil, and went on with their em- 
 ployments as usual. The means they used to 
 assure themselves that their queen was in their 
 vicinity, and to communicate with her, was to 
 pass their antennae through the openings of the 
 grate ; an infinite number of these organs might 
 be seen at once inquiring in all directions, and 
 the queen was observed answering these anxious 
 questions of her subjects in the most marked 
 manner ; for she was fastened by her feet to the 
 grate, crossing her antennae with those of the 
 inquirers. 
 
 That bees remember, is evident from an anec- 
 dote related by Huber. One autumn, some 
 honey was placed in a window — the bees at- 
 tended it in crowds. The honey was taken away, 
 and the window closed with a shutter all the 
 w inter : in the spring, when it was opened, the 
 bees returned, though no fresh honey had been 
 placed there. 
 
 No one who has been stung can doubt their 
 anger and revenge; indeed they have always 
 been celebrated for it. In Mungo Park's last 
 mission to Africa, he was much annoyed by the 
 attacks of bees. His people, in search of honey, 
 disturbed a large colony of them. The bees 
 
 E 
 
74 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 sallied forth by myriads, and attacking men and 
 beasts indiscriminately, put them all to the rout. 
 One horse and six asses were killed or missing 
 in consequence of their attack ; and for half an 
 hour the bees seemed to have completely put an 
 end to their journey. Lesser tells us that in 
 1525, in a time of war, a mob of peasants at- 
 tempted to pillage the house of the minister of 
 Elinde, who having in vain employed all his 
 eloquence to dissuade them, ordered his servants 
 to throw his beehives among them ; and it had 
 the desired effect, for they were immediately put 
 to flight. 
 
 Great battles sometimes take place between 
 two swarms, when one takes a fancy to a hive 
 pre-occupied by another; but frequently strangers 
 are not received so inhospitably. Eees from a 
 hive in Mr. Knight's garden visited those of a 
 cottager a hundred yards distant, considerably 
 later than their time of labour ; every bee ap- 
 pearing to be questioned as it arrived. On the 
 tenth morning, however, the intercourse ceased, 
 ending in a furious battle. On another occasion 
 an intimacy took place between two hives of his 
 own, which ended on the fifth day; but he 
 sometimes observed that these visits ended in 
 the union of two swarms. 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 75 
 
 You must not think that this apparently pros- 
 perous and powerful nation has no enemies; 
 many beasts and birds have a particular taste 
 both for them and their honey. Even frogs and 
 toads are said to kill great numbers, and many 
 fall into the water. Mice, in winter, often commit 
 great ravages. Thorley once lost a stock by 
 mice, which made a nest among the combs. The 
 titmouse, according to the same author, will make 
 a noise at the door of the hive, and when a bee 
 comes out to see what is the matter, will seize 
 and devour it. The swallows will assemble round 
 the hives, and devour them like grains of corn. 
 Bees will bear submersion nine hours, and when 
 taken out of water will revive with proper heat. 
 They are less active in winter, but not absolutely 
 torpid ; for the heat in a hive is always great in 
 the coldest weather. I believe I have given you 
 the most interesting particulars relating to these 
 insects, and I hope you will find in their history 
 ample matter for reflection and admiration. — 
 Adieu. 
 
 e 2 
 
7^ LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 MY DEAR HARRIET, 
 
 I will now introduce you to a 
 celebrated, and, in my opinion, interesting race 
 of insects ; I mean the ants, which besides being 
 indefatigably industrious, are extremely lively 
 and frolicksome. I will begin with the Termites 
 or white ants, which I think we may consider 
 the nobility of the species. The majority of these 
 animals are natives of tropical countries, though 
 two species are indigenous to Europe, one of 
 which, thought to have been imported, is come 
 as far as Bourdeaux. Their societies consist of 
 five different descriptions of individuals, workers 
 or larvae, nymphs or pupae, neuters or soldiers, 
 males and females. 1. The workers are the most 
 numerous and active part of the community, 
 upon whom devolves the office of erecting and 
 repairing the buildings, collecting provision, at- 
 tending upon the female, conveying the eggs, 
 as soon as laid, to the nurseries, and feeding the 
 young larvae till they are old enough to take 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 77 
 
 care of themselves. They are distinguished from 
 the soldiers by their small size and round heads. 
 
 2d. The nymphs differ in nothing from the 
 larvae, except that they have wings folded up in 
 cases. 
 
 3d. The neuters are much less numerous than 
 the workers, and much larger in size, and are 
 distinguished by their long and large heads. 
 Their office is that -of sentinels and defenders of 
 the nest when it is attacked. 
 
 4th and 5th. Males and females, which are the 
 nymphs arrived at perfection : there is only one 
 of each in every separate society, and they are 
 exempted from all participation in the labours 
 and employments of the community. The first 
 establishment of a colony of termites takes place 
 in the following manner. 
 
 In the evening, these animals having attained 
 the perfect state, in which they are furnished 
 with two pair of wings, emerge by myriads to 
 seek their fortune. Borne on these ample wings, 
 they fill the air, entering the houses, extinguish- 
 ing the lights, and even sometimes being driven 
 on board the ships that are near the shore. The 
 next morning they are found covering the surface 
 of the earth and waters, deprived of their wings, 
 and looking like large maggots. In this help- 
 
78 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 less state they become the prey of innumerable 
 enemies ; and scarcely one pair in many millions 
 escape to found a new colony. The workers, 
 who ?.re continually prowling about in their 
 covered ways, sometimes meet with a pair, and 
 pay them homage, electing them to be the king 
 and queen of a new colony. The workers di- 
 rectly begin to inclose their new rulers in a 
 chamber of clay, suited to their size, but which 
 has a door too small to let them pass through, 
 so that they are kept in complete confinement. 
 When the female begins to lay eggs, the larva? 
 or workers carry them away to the nurseries, in 
 which when hatched they are provided with food, 
 and receive every necessary attention. 
 
 The buildings of the Termes fatalis, if con- 
 sidered as in proportion to their size, make the 
 Egyptian pyramids and edifices dwindle into 
 nothing in comparison. The highest pyramid 
 is not more than 600 feet high, which is not 
 more than 120 times the height of the builders, 
 supposing it on an average to be five feet. Whereas 
 the nests of the termites being twelve feet high or 
 more, and themselves only a quarter of an inch 
 long, their building is more than 570 times their 
 own height, which if they were of human stature 
 would be half a mile. These nests are formed en- 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 79 
 
 tirely of clay, and are generally twelve feet high, 
 and broad in proportion, so that a cluster of them 
 is often taken for an Indian village. The first 
 thing they do is to erect two or three turrets of 
 clay, about a foot high, like sugar-loaves. These 
 rapidly increase in number and height, until at 
 length, being widened at the base, joined at the 
 top with a dome, and surrounded with walls, 
 they appear in the shape of a haycock. When 
 in this state, they remove the inner turrets or 
 scaffoldings, and use the clay for other purposes. 
 They occupy only the lower part of this palace, 
 leaving the top empty for the circulation of air, 
 and defence against the weather. The inhabited 
 part is occupied by the royal chamber; the 
 nurseries for the young ones; storehouses for 
 food; and innumerable galleries, passages, and 
 empty rooms : in the middle is the royal cham- 
 ber, shaped like an oven, with a very narrow 
 entrance, so that the poor king and queen can 
 never possibly come out. All round it are a 
 great number of arched rooms of different sizes, 
 either opening into each other or communicating 
 by passages, and intended for the soldiers and 
 attendants in waiting on their royal mistress. 
 Next are the nurseries and magazines. The 
 former are occupied by the eggs and young ones, 
 
80 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY* 
 
 and as they increase in number, are taken down 
 and rebuilt. They differ from all the rest in 
 being made of particles of Wood, apparently 
 joined together with gums. Intermixed with 
 these are the magazines formed of clay, and con- 
 taining particles of wood, gums, and the in- 
 spissated juices of plants. These apartments, 
 separated by small empty chambers and galleries, 
 are continued on all sides to the outer wall of 
 the building, to about two-thirds of its height ; 
 leaving, however, an open area in the middle, 
 like the nave of a cathedral, supported by three 
 or four large Gothic arches, which in the middle 
 are sometimes two and three feet high, but on 
 each side are diminished like aisles of arches in 
 perspective. The floor is so contrived as to let 
 any water that may happen to get in run off 
 into the subterranean passages, which are of an 
 astonishing size ; some being a foot in diameter, 
 and quite round and smooth : they were the 
 quarries from which they procured materials for 
 building, and serve afterwards as the outlets of 
 their fortress. As they find great difficulty in 
 ascending a perpendicular, they make in the in- 
 terior upright part of the building a flat path- 
 way, which winds gradually up, like a road 
 cut in the side of a mountain. Who will say 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 81 
 
 that we could learn nothing from insects ? They, 
 taught by unerring wisdom, have used from time 
 immemorial the boasted discoveries of man ; and, 
 perhaps, if rightly observed, might teach us many 
 more. They have, however, a contrivance still 
 more extraordinary ; they make a bridge of one 
 vast arch, from the floor to the upper apart- 
 ments at the side, which serves as a flight of 
 stairs, and shortens the distance extremely. Mr. 
 Smeathman measured one of these bridges, 
 which was half an inch broad, a quarter of 
 an inch thick, and ten inches long. It was 
 strengthened by a small arch at the bottom, 
 and had a groove along the upper surface, pro- 
 bably that they might not fall over. It is not 
 the least surprising circumstance that, as Mr. 
 Smeathman saw every reason for believing, the 
 termites project, that is, build their arches, in- 
 stead of excavating them. 
 
 When any one is bold enough to attack the 
 nest and make a breach in the walls, the labourers, 
 who are incapable of fighting, retire within and 
 the soldiers come out. One first appears to re- 
 connoitre, then two or three more scramble after 
 him, and presently a large body of them rush 
 forth as fast as they can, with indescribable rage 
 and fury. In their haste they frequently miss 
 
 e 5 
 
82 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 their hold, and tumble down ; but they soon 
 recover themselves, and bite every thing they 
 run against, when it is prudent to keep out of 
 their way, for they make their fanged jaws meet 
 at the very first stroke, and will not let go though 
 pulled limb from limb. 
 
 If on the first attack you give them no further 
 interruption, in less than half an hour they re- 
 turn into the nest, and the labourers hasten in all 
 directions towards the breach, every one carry- 
 ing in his mouth a lump of mortar, half as big 
 as his body, which he sticks on the breach ; and 
 this is done with so much regularity and despatch, 
 that although thousands or millions are employed, 
 they never appear to interrupt each other. 
 
 While the labourers are thus employed, almost 
 all the soldiers retire, except here and there one, 
 who saunters about among the workers, but never 
 assists in the work. One in particular places 
 himself close to the wall which they are building, 
 and turning himself leisurely on all sides, as if 
 to survey the proceedings, appears to act as an 
 overseer of the works. 
 
 Every now and then, at the interval of a 
 minute or two, by lifting up his head and striking 
 with his forceps upon the wall of the nest, he makes 
 a particular noise, which is answered by a loud 
 

 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 83 
 
 hiss from all the labourers, and appears to be a 
 signal for despatch ; for every time it is heard, 
 they are seen to redouble their pace with increased 
 diligence. If you renew the attack, the same 
 scene will be repeated; the labourers will dis- 
 appear, and the soldiers rush forth as before; 
 and when all is quiet, the workers resume their 
 task, but never attempt to fight. The termites, 
 however, do not always go under covered-ways. 
 There is a larger species, which Mr. Smeathman 
 calls the marching termes. He was once passing 
 through a thick forest, when, on a sudden, a loud 
 hiss like that of serpents struck him with alarm : 
 the next step produced a repetition of the sound, 
 which he then discovered to be that of the white 
 ants ; yet he was surprised at seeing none of 
 their hills or covered- ways. Following the noise, 
 to his great astonishment and delight, he saw an 
 army of those creatures emerging from a hole 
 in the ground ; their number was prodigious, and 
 they marched with the utmost celerity. When 
 they had proceeded about a yard, they divided 
 into two columns, chiefly composed of labourers 
 about fifteen abreast, following each other in 
 close order, and going straight forward. Here 
 and there was seen a soldier, carrying his vast 
 head with apparent difficulty, and looking like 
 
84 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 an ox in a flock of sheep, who marched on in the 
 same manner. At the distance of a foot or two 
 from the columns, many other soldiers were 
 to be seen standing still or pacing about, as if 
 upon the look out, lest some enemy should sud- 
 denly surprise their unwarlike comrades ; other 
 soldiers (which was the most extraordinary part 
 of the scene) having mounted some plants, and 
 placed themselves on the points of their leaves, 
 elevated from ten to fifteen inches from the 
 ground, hung over the army marching below, 
 and by striking their forceps upon the leaf, pro- 
 duced at intervals the noise before-mentioned. 
 To this signal the whole army returned a hiss, 
 and obeyed it by increasing their pace. The 
 soldiers at these signal stations sat quite still 
 during the intervals of silence, except now and 
 then making a slight turn of the head, and seemed 
 as solicitous to keep their posts as regular sen- 
 tinels. The two columns of this army united, 
 after continuing separate for twelve or fifteen 
 paces, having in no part been above three yards 
 asunder, and then descended into the earth by 
 two or three holes. Mr. Smeathman continued 
 watching them for above an hour, during which 
 time their numbers appeared neither to increase 
 nor diminish. The soldiers, however, who quitted 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 85 
 
 the line of march, and acted as sentinels, became 
 much more numerous before he quitted the spot. 
 The larvae and neuters of this species are furnished 
 with eyes. 
 
 I shall now give you some account of my little 
 favourites, the English ants, of which, according 
 to Gould, there are five species : viz. 1st, the hill 
 ant (formica rufa) ; 2. the jet ant (formica fuli- 
 ginosa) ; 3d, the red ant (myrmica rubra), which 
 is the only species armed with a sting, whereas 
 the others make a wound with their forceps, and 
 inject the poison into it ; 4th, the common yellow 
 ant (formica flava) ; and 5th, the small black ant 
 (formica fusca). The societies of ants differ from 
 those of termites, in having inactive larvae and 
 pupae, the neuters being at the same time soldiers 
 and labourers. The foundation of their colonies 
 differs from that of the termites in tnis respect, that 
 the female, after losing her wings, does all the 
 work usually performed by the neuters, and is 
 soon assisted by her infant progeny. However, 
 the females are not always at liberty to leave the 
 nest they were born in, and the workers pull off 
 their wings and forcibly detain them till they 
 are reconciled to their fate : they then go where 
 they please, attended by a single ant. When 
 the female has laid her eggs, the workers begin 
 
 
86 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 to pay her homage much the same as the bees 
 render to their queen. 
 
 All press round her, offer her food, and conduct 
 her through the formicary, sometimes even carry- 
 ing her on their jaws. When she is set down, 
 others surround and caress her, one after another, 
 tapping her on the head with their antenna?. 
 " In whatever apartment," says Gould, " a queen 
 condescends to be present, she commands obedi- 
 ence and respect. An universal gladness spreads 
 itself through the whole cell, which is expressed 
 by particular acts of joy and exultation. They 
 have a particular way of skipping, leaping, and 
 standing upon their hind legs, and prancing with 
 the others. These frolics they make use of both 
 to congratulate each other when they meet, and 
 to show their regard for their queen ; some of 
 them gently walk over her, others dance round 
 her ; she i6 generally encircled with a cluster of 
 attendants, who if you separate them from her, 
 soon collect themselves in a body, and inclose 
 her in the midst." I fear, my dear Harriet, that 
 all which I shall relate to you concerning these 
 insects will appear almost incredible, but there 
 is no doubt of the veracity of the authorities 
 from which the account is derived ; and if you 
 ask how any body could see into an ant-hill, I 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 87 
 
 must tell you that M. P. Huber invented a kind 
 of ant-hive, by which he could watch their pro- 
 ceedings ; but I must defer any further account 
 to my next letter. Adieu ! 
 
88 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 MY DEAR HARRIET, 
 
 Let us now consider a little the 
 language of our formic friends., though I am sorry 
 to say I cannot teach it to you grammatically. 
 That they have a language is very evident, though 
 they have no voice, in common with all other in- 
 sects. The following facts prove their powers of 
 communication, though the most superficial ob- 
 server might judge for himself. If those on the 
 surface are alarmed, it is astonishing how soon 
 the alarm spreads through the whole nest. It 
 creates the greatest bustle, and they carry, with 
 all possible despatch, their treasures, the larvae, 
 and pupae or eggs, as they are commonly called, 
 down to the lowest apartments. 
 
 A species which is found on the continent in- 
 habits hollow trees. M. Huber observed that 
 when he disturbed those farthest from the rest, 
 they ran towards them, and striking their head 
 againstthem, communicated the cause of their fear 
 or anger ; that these conveyed the intelligence to 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 89 
 
 others, till the whole colony was in a ferment. 
 The legs of one of M. Huber's formicaries were 
 plunged into pans of water to prevent the escape 
 of the ants ; this proved a source of great enjoy- 
 ment to these little beings, for they are a thirsty 
 race, and lap water like dogs. One day when 
 he observed many of them drinking very merrily, 
 he was so cruel as to disturb them, which sent 
 most of the ants to the nest, but some, more 
 thirsty than the rest, continued their potations. 
 Upon this, one who had retreated returned 
 to inform his thoughtless companions of their 
 danger : one he pushed with his jaws, another 
 he struck on the body, and so obliged three 
 of them to leave off carousing and return j but 
 the fourth, more resolute to drink it out, was not 
 to be discomfited, and paid not the least regard 
 to the kind blows with which his compeer re- 
 peatedly belaboured him : at length, determined 
 to have his way, he seized him by one of his 
 hind legs, and gave him a violent pull : upon 
 this, leaving his liquor, the loiterer turned round, 
 and opening his threatening jaws, with every sign 
 of anger, went very coolly to drinking again ; 
 but his monitor, without further ceremony, rush- 
 ing before him, seized him by the jaws, and at 
 last dragged him off in triumph to the nest. 
 
90 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 Some, which engage in military expeditions, 
 previously send out spies to collect information, 
 and when they return, the army proceeds accord- 
 ingly to the quarter whence they arrived. Upon 
 the march, communications are continually making 
 between the van and the rear, and when arrived 
 at the camp of the enemy, and the battle is begun, 
 couriers are despatched to the nest for reinforce- 
 ments, if necessary. What more can man do in 
 his expeditions ? It is well known that ants give 
 each other notice of a store of provision. Bradley 
 says that a nest of ants, in a nobleman's garden, 
 discovered a closet in the house in which pre- 
 serves were kept; some in their rambles must 
 have made the discovery and imparted it to their 
 comrades, for they constantly visited it till the 
 nest was destroyed. I will also give you an- 
 other authority, which I hope you will consider 
 very respectable, I mean my own. I have often 
 watched the track of the ants across the path of 
 the garden, and sometimes when an ant had pro- 
 ceeded at the usual pace, half across, another 
 would come running after him, and touching 
 him with his antennae, or horns, they would both 
 run back again as fast as their little legs would 
 carry them, leaving me in the greatest curiosity 
 to know what they said. I never saw one meet 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 91 
 
 another without touching his antennae, which as 
 they make no significant sounds, like bees, must 
 be their organ of speech, supplying the place both 
 of voice and words. The signal for marching is 
 made by the military ants touching the trunk 
 with their antennae and forehead. They also ex- 
 press in different ways their aversions and af- 
 fections, and though we cannot easily ascertain 
 whether they feel individual attachment, they 
 certainly work for the public good, and any 
 distress falling on a member of their community 
 generally excites their sympathy. M. Latreille 
 once cut off the antennae of an ant, and its com- 
 panions, evidently pitying its sufferings, anointed 
 the wounded part with a drop of transparent 
 fluid from their mouth; and whoever observes 
 them will be pleased to see how they assist each 
 other in difficulties. They even recognise each 
 other after absence, and evince a striking satis- 
 faction. M. Huber witnessed the gesticulations 
 of some ants, originally belonging to the same 
 nest, who met after four months' separation, and 
 though this was equal to a quarter of their life 
 as perfect insects, yet they mutually recognised 
 each other, saluted with their antennae, and 
 united once more to form one family. They 
 are also ever ready to promote each other's wel- 
 
92 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 fare, and Share any good thing they may meet 
 with. Those which go abroad feed those who 
 remain in the nest, and if they discover any 
 stock of food, they inform the whole community. 
 M. Huber having produced heat by means of a 
 flambeau, in a certain part of an artificial for- 
 micary, the ants that happened to be in that 
 quarter, after enjoying it for a time, hastened to 
 convey the welcome intelligence to their com- 
 patriots, whom they even carried suspended on 
 their jaws to the spot, till hundreds might be 
 seen thus laden with their friends. 
 
 What a striking example of disinterestedness 
 do these insects, which have the general stigma 
 of selfishness so unjustly attached to them, 
 present, and how clearly does this injustice 
 show us the folly of judging on superficial 
 and imperfect grounds; let us not therefore 
 condemn hastily any being that we fancy hor- 
 rible and disgusting, but which on minute in- 
 vestigation will generally appear more really 
 beautiful than those preferred by our compa- 
 ratively unrefined senses. But to return to the 
 ants. They are susceptible of anger as well as 
 love, even to fierceness. Providence has fur- 
 nished them with formidable weapons. Two 
 strong mandibles arm their mouth, with which 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 93 
 
 they hold so fast, that they will sooner be torn 
 limb from limb than let go their hold ; and after 
 their battles the head of a conquered enemy may 
 often be seen hanging on the antennae or legs of 
 the victor, which he is obliged to wear, however 
 troublesome., to the day of his death. Their poison 
 bag is furnished with a powerful and venomous 
 acid, which is celebrated for its efficacy, and ex- 
 hales a strong sulphureous odour. Their courage is 
 unconquerable, and often rises into extreme fury. 
 If you point your finger at a hill ant, instead of 
 running away, it faces about, and that it may 
 make the most of itself, stiffens its legs to raise 
 its body as high as possible, and thus prepares to 
 repel your attack. If you put your finger nearer, 
 it opens its jaws to bite. Does not this little 
 • creature show more courage than the greatest 
 hero of the human race ? Even Achilles himself 
 would run away from a finger as much larger than 
 himself, in proportion, as ours is larger than the 
 ant. You will naturally suppose that so courage- 
 ous a people frequently make war on each other, 
 which is the case, and I might here invoke the 
 muse to sing their battles, with as much reason 
 as the poets who celebrate the similar contests 
 of man. They fight for territory, for the droves 
 of aphides, equally valuable with the flocks and 
 
94 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 herds that cover our plains, and the body of a 
 fly or beetle, or a cargo of straws, and bits of 
 stick, are as important; to them as a fleet to our 
 seamen. These wars are usually between those 
 of a different species, but sometimes between 
 those of the same, when so near as to incommode 
 each other : among the red ants, combats some- 
 times take place in the same nest. In these battles 
 the neuters or workers are the only warriors, the 
 males and females taking the wiser, if not more 
 honourable part, of flight. 
 
 The wars of the red ant appear to be only be- 
 tween a small number of the citizens, and the 
 object of the popular tumult seems to be to get 
 rid of some useless member of the community, 
 or perhaps some criminal who will not work. 
 Gould says that many of them may be seen sur- 
 rounding one of their own species, and pulling 
 it to pieces. This unfortunate ant is generally 
 feeble and languid ; but if from illness, it does 
 not say much for their humanity. He once saw 
 one of these ants dragged out of the nest with- 
 out its head, but still alive and able to crawl. 
 This poor ant might be fancied a criminal con- 
 demned by a court of justice to suffer the sen- 
 tence of the law. Mouffet bears testimony to a 
 similar fact. 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 95 
 
 The wars of the ants, not of the same species, 
 take place usually among those which differ in 
 size ; but the large ones are frequently outnum- 
 bered and defeated by their little adversaries. 
 Sometimes, however, after suffering a signal de- 
 feat, the smaller species are obliged to shift their 
 quarters and to seek another establishment. In 
 order to cover their march, many small bodies 
 are posted at a little distance from the rest. As 
 soon as the large ants approach the camp, the 
 foremost sentinels fly at them with the greatest 
 fury, a violent struggle ensues, multitudes of 
 their friends come to their assistance, and the 
 giant is either slain or led captive. The species 
 which M. Huber observed to fight in this way 
 were formica herculanea, and formica sanguined, 
 neither of which have been discovered in Britain* 
 If you would see war, in all its forms, you must 
 behold the combats of the hill ant. There you 
 will see populous and rival cities, like Rome and 
 Carthage, as if they had vowed each other's de- 
 struction, pouring forth their myriads, by various 
 roads, to decide their fate by arms. Figure to 
 yourself two of these cities, equal in size and 
 population, and situated about a hundred paces 
 from each other; observe their countless num- 
 bers, equal to the population of two mighty em- 
 
96 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 pires. The whole space which separates them, 
 for the breadth of twenty-four inches, appears 
 alive with prodigious crowds. The armies meet 
 midway between their habitations, and then join 
 battle. Thousands of champions mounted on 
 more elevated spots engage in single combat, 
 and seize each other with their powerful jaws ; 
 a still greater number are engaged on both sides 
 in taking prisoners, which make vain efforts to 
 escape, conscious of the cruel fate which awaits 
 them. The spot where the battle most rages is 
 about two or three square feet in dimensions : a 
 penetrating odour exhales on all sides, — num- 
 bers of ants are here lying dead, covered with 
 venom, — others composing groups and chains are 
 hooked together by the legs or jaws, and drag 
 each other alternately in contrary directions till 
 the strongest party prevails, and the single com- 
 bats recommence. At the approach of night each 
 party gradually retreats to its own city, but be- 
 fore the following dawn the combat is renewed 
 with redoubled fury, and occupies a larger space, 
 inspiring you to exclaim with the poet's martial 
 fervour, 
 
 " The combat deepens — on, ye brave !" 
 
 These daily fights continue till violent rains 
 separating them, they forget their quarrel, and 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. - 97 
 
 peace is restored. It is very astonishing that, 
 though they are all of the same make, colour, 
 and scent, every one seemed to know those 
 of his own party, and if one was attacked, by 
 mistake it was immediately discovered by the 
 assailant, and caresses succeeded to blows. The 
 presence of M. Huber, who was a witness of one 
 of these battles, did not in the least disturb them. 
 Though all was fury on the field of battle, on the 
 other side were ants peaceably going on their usual 
 avocations, and the whole formicary seemed tran- 
 quil and orderly, except where they were march- 
 ing to recruit the army, or bring home prisoners. 
 I know not whether you will feel much disposed 
 to believe what I am now going to relate to you, 
 but it rests on the respectable authority of M. 
 Huber, who discovered it. What do you think 
 of ants going out on expeditions to procure slaves 
 for their domestic purposes ? and that these ants 
 are red, while the slaves are black ! M. Huber 
 appeals to all who doubt the fact to observe it 
 for themselves ; but as we cannot do so in this 
 country we must trust to his testimony, which, 
 let us remark, was given in a country where it 
 might be observed. There are two species of 
 ants which engage in these expeditions, for- 
 mica rufescens and formica sanguinea ; but they 
 
 F 
 
98 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 do not, like the African kings, make slaves of 
 the older ones; their object being to carry off 
 the infants of the colony, the larvae and pupae, 
 which they educate in their own nests till they 
 arrive at their perfect state, when they under- 
 take all the business of the society. The ru- 
 fescent ants do not go on these excursions, which 
 last about ten weeks, till the males are ready to 
 emerge into the perfect state ; and it is very re- 
 markable, that if any individuals attempt to stray 
 abroad earlier, they are detained by their slaves, 
 who will not suffer them to proceed ; a wonder- 
 ful provision of the Creator to prevent the black 
 colonies from being pillaged when they contain 
 only male and female brood, which would be 
 their total destruction, without being any benefit 
 to their assailants, to whom workers alone are 
 useful. Their time of sallying forth is from two 
 to five o'clock, if the weather is fine. Previously 
 to marching they send out scouts, and proceed 
 to the quarter from whence they come. The 
 advanced guard usually consists of eight or ten 
 ants ; but no sooner do these get beyond the rest; 
 than they move back, wheeling round in a semi- 
 circle, and mixing with the main body, while 
 others succeed to their station. They have " no 
 captain, overseer, or ruler" as Solomon observes, 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 99 
 
 their army being composed entirely of neuters. 
 They do not confine themselves to the negro ants; 
 for, if nearer, they sometimes attack the mining 
 ants, which are much more courageous, and there- 
 fore they move with closer order and rapidity. 
 The miners dart upon them, fight foot to foot, and 
 defend their progeny with unexampled courage. 
 During these combats the pillaged ant-hill presents 
 in miniature, the spectacle of a besieged city; hun- 
 dreds of its inhabitants may be seen making their 
 escape, and carrying off their young brood, and 
 the newly excluded females, to a place of safety; 
 but. when the danger is over they bring them 
 back, and barricade their city, placing a strong 
 guard at the entrance. — Formica sanguined is 
 another of the slave-making ants. On the 15th 
 of July, at ten in the morning, Huber observed a 
 small band of these ants sallying forth from their 
 nest and marching rapidly to a neighbouring 
 nest of negroes, around which it dispersed. The 
 inhabitants rushing out, attacked and took several 
 prisoners ; those that escaped stopped, appearing 
 to wait for succours ; small brigades kept fre- 
 quently arriving, which emboldened them to ap- 
 proach nearer to the city they blockaded ; upon 
 this their anxiety to send home messengers 
 seemed to increase; these spreading a general 
 
 f2 
 
300 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 alarm, a large reinforcement immediately set out 
 to join the besieging army ; yet even then they 
 did not begin the battle. Almost all the negroes 
 coming out of their fortress, formed themselves 
 in a body of about two feet square in front of 
 it, and there expected the enemy. Frequent 
 skirmishes were the prelude to the main con- 
 flict, which was begun by the negroes. Long 
 before success appeared dubious, they carried off 
 their pupae and heaped them up at the entrance 
 to their nest, on the side opposite to the enemy. 
 The young females also fled to the same quarter. 
 The sanguine ants at length rushed upon the ne- 
 groes, and attacking them on all sides, after a 
 stout resistance, the latter renouncing all defence, 
 endeavoured to make off to a distance with the 
 pupae they had heaped up : the assailants pursued 
 and endeavoured to. gain the prize. Many also 
 entered the nest and carried off the young brood 
 left behind. A garrison being left in the captured 
 city, on the following morning the business of 
 transporting the brood is renewed. It often 
 happens that the invaders take up their habita- 
 tion in their new conquest. Because these negro 
 ants are made slaves, you must not imagine they 
 are treated with rigour or unkindness. They 
 have only the same labours they must have 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 101 
 
 performed in their native nest, except, indeed, 
 feeding their masters and carrying them about. 
 Alas ! that laziness should infect even the most 
 industrious of animals ! for they do not join in 
 the labour, or even direct their slaves, and when 
 not on the field of battle are quite helpless, being 
 even unwilling to feed themselves. Indeed they 
 are so dependent on the slaves, that, by a natural 
 consequence, the latter seem to exercise a kind 
 of authority over them. They will not suffer 
 them, for instance, to go from the nest alone, and 
 if they return to the nest without booty, show 
 their displeasure by attacking them, and when 
 they attempt to enter, dragging them out; so 
 you see that they pay dearly for their laziness, 
 as all must who depend on others for what they 
 ought to do themselves. Adieu. 
 
102 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 What I have next to relate, my dear Harriet, 
 will be still more difficult to believe than the 
 foregoing. What do you think of ants having 
 their milch cattle ? The evidence for it is abun- 
 dant and satisfactory. The loves of the ants and 
 the aphides (the small insects which swarm on 
 the stalks of roses, &c. &c.) have long been 
 celebrated, and at the proper season you may 
 observe them busy in obtaining their saccharine 
 fluid, which we may call milk. 
 
 This fluid, which is scarcely inferior to honey 
 in sweetness (and is, in fact, called honey-dew 
 when found on leaves), issues in limpid drops 
 from the abdomen of the insect by these orifices. 
 The ants are always at hand to watch for these 
 drops, which they seize and suck down ; but if 
 they choose they can make them yield it at their 
 pleasure, or rather milk them. They use their 
 antennae for fingers, with which they pat the 
 aphis briskly till it yields its milk. But the most 
 singular part of this history is, that the ants 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 103 
 
 make a property of these cows, which they fight 
 for, and endeavour to keep to themselves. If 
 strangers attempt to share their treasure, they 
 drive them away with as much anger as a farmer 
 would show to a thief he found milking his 
 cows. Sometimes to rescue them they take them 
 in their mouths, and even, if the branch is con- 
 veniently situated, inclose it in a tube of earth 
 or other materials, and thus confine them in a 
 kind of paddock near the nest ! 
 
 The greatest cow-keeper of all is the yellow 
 ant, which is met with in our pastures. This 
 species, which is not fond of roaming, and likes 
 to have every thing within reach, usually collects 
 in its nest a large herd of a kind of aphis that 
 lives on the roots of grass, and thus, without 
 going out, has always a copious supply of food. 
 They take as much care of them as of their 
 own offspring, and attend the eggs particularly, 
 moistening them with their tongues, and giving 
 them the advantage of the sun. They are equally 
 careful after they are hatched, fighting fiercely 
 for them if attacked ; but we shall not be sur- 
 prised at thisj when we consider that they pro- 
 duce almost their only food, and thus their wealth 
 and prosperity depend on the number of their 
 cattle. 
 
104 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 When some species of ants (chiefly the great 
 hill-ant) find their habitation incommodious, they 
 often emigrate, and the first step is to raise re- 
 cruits ; and this is done in a manner very like 
 that pursued by our own army. They eagerly 
 accost their fellow citizens, caress them with their 
 antennae, and evidently propose the journey to 
 them. If they seem disposed to go, the recruit- 
 ing officer carries off his recruit, who, hanging 
 by his mandibles, is coiled up spirally under his 
 neck. Sometimes, however, they take them by 
 surprise, and drag them away, as in our impress 
 service for the navy. When arrived at the right 
 place, the recruit is dropped and becomes a re- 
 cruiter in his turn j and thus they proceed till 
 the city is established: the old nest goes on as 
 usual. They work in the night as well as the 
 day, though not in such great numbers, as they 
 are fond of warmth. They make good roads 
 and paths, in which they always travel. Iluber 
 says that the roads of the hill-ants are sometimes 
 a hundred feet in length, and several inches 
 wide, and that they are hollowed out by their 
 labour. 
 
 The perseverance of ants on one occasion led 
 to very important results, which affected a large 
 portion of the world; for the celebrated con- 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. lOo 
 
 queror Timour being once forced to take shelter 
 from his enemies in a ruined building, where he 
 sat alone many hours, desirous of diverting his 
 mind from his hopeless condition, he fixed his 
 observation upon an ant that was carrying a 
 grain of corn (probably a pupa) larger than itself 
 up a liigh wall. Sixty-nine times the grain fell 
 to the ground, but the seventieth time the ant 
 reached the top of the wall. " This sight (said 
 Timour) gave me courage at the moment, and I 
 have never forgotten the lesson it conveyed." 
 
 You must not suppose that the ants have all 
 work and no play. They find time for their 
 sports and games, which have been described by 
 Gould and Bonnet; but Huber gives the most 
 circumstantial account of them. He once ap- 
 proached one of the nests of the hill-ants, ex- 
 posed to the sun and sheltered from the north ; 
 here the ants were basking together in great 
 numbers, and gamboling about. None were 
 working, so that it seemed a general holiday : 
 let us imagine it a festival given on some great 
 occasion. He saw them approach, moving their 
 antennae very quickly, and with their fore feet 
 pat the cheeks of other ants ; after, they reared 
 up and seemed to wrestle, and seized each other 
 in different ways ; then let go to renew the at- 
 
 f5 
 
106 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 tack; then turned each other over, and lifted 
 each other by turns; then left those, and ran 
 after others. The combat did not terminate till 
 the least animated having thrown his antagonist, 
 escaped into some gallery. Well, my dear Harriet, 
 what do you think of this clever little people ? 
 Does it not occur to you, that if we imitated 
 more closely their various good qualities, we 
 should be much better than we are ? In doing 
 this we should but follow the wisdom of the 
 great Creator, who has given them these extra- 
 ordinary instincts, and has bestowed on us the 
 higher boon of being able to draw rational con- 
 clusions from them, which will, if we observe 
 rightly, lead to the same end. Adieu. 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 107 
 
 0fl 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 There is a tribe of insects more 
 numerous and more varied than almost any 
 other, and which furnishes a great branch of 
 their natural history — I mean the tribe of flies. 
 The number of species greatly exceeds that of 
 butterflies, but in general they are very much 
 smaller ; there are, however, some which greatly 
 surpass them in size ; dragon-flies, for instance, 
 whose bodies are longer than those of the largest 
 butterflies. Grasshoppers belong to the class of 
 flies, and some are of considerable size ; but the 
 greatest part are comparatively very small, and 
 some so diminutive, that the different species 
 cannot be distinguished from each other. 
 
 The principal distinction of flies from other 
 winged insects is the transparency of their wings, 
 which are neither powdered like the butterfly's, 
 nor enclosed in sheath-cases like the beetle's. 
 There are two general classes, according to Reau- 
 mur, those with two wings, and those with four. 
 The two- winged flies have, in place of the under 
 
108 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 wings, poisers and sometimes winglets. The 
 poisers are little membranaceous threads, placed 
 one under the origin of each wing, near a spiracle 
 or breathing hole, and terminated by an oval, 
 round, or triangular button, which seems capable 
 of dilatation and contraction. The winglets are 
 of rigid membrane, and fringed, and generally 
 consist of two concavo-convex pieces situated 
 between the wing and the poisers, which, when 
 the insect reposes, fold over each other like the 
 valves of a bivalve shell ; but when it flies they 
 are extended. If either of the winglets or poisers 
 are cut off, the insect flies unsteadily, and leans 
 to one side. The buzzing or humming of a fly 
 is produced by the vibration of the root of the 
 wings, and in most instances by the winglets 
 and poisers. Though in their general appear- 
 ance flies greatly resemble each other, yet in the 
 form of the head and organs of feeding there is 
 a material difference. Some have a trunk with- 
 out any teeth ; some have a mouth without either 
 trunk or teeth ; others have a mouth furnished 
 with teeth, and others have both trunk and 
 teeth. To give you a few examples. All the 
 bee species have a trunk and two teeth above it : 
 all the tribe of wasps have a mouth and two 
 teeth inside. The plant-lice or aphides, which. 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. J 09 
 
 whether winged or not, are in reality flies, have 
 trunks and no teeth. Reaumur also places the 
 grasshoppers among the flies. There is another 
 species, which however is scarce, that of flies 
 which have a long pointed head like a bird's 
 beak, at the end of which are the instruments 
 with which it feeds. A very pretty fly which 
 hovers round flowers is an example of it, and has 
 its long head split at the end, which opens like 
 a beak. 
 
 An instance of the importance of the differ- 
 ence in the form of the head, I can give you in 
 those flies which sometimes in summer bite so 
 sharply even through a covering, and instantly 
 draw blood. To a superficial or even attentive 
 observer, they exactly resemble the common 
 house-flies, which often fall a sacrifice to the 
 unfortunate likeness ; yet they are not even of 
 the same genus, the culprit being of the genus 
 stomoxys, armed with a horny sharp-pointed 
 weapon, and the innocent victim of the genus 
 musca, having only a soft blunt organ for suction. 
 
 Another important difference is between the 
 weapons they carry on the tail. Those which are 
 armed with a sting are but too well known ; but 
 others are formed in a manner no less admirable 
 and more harmless. Many females of the fly 
 
110 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 kind have a long instrument for the purpose of 
 piercing a hole in which to deposit their eggs 
 in safety, which is called an ovipositor. Many 
 of the ichneumon kind which deposit their eggs 
 in living animals have this long tail, which is a 
 most admirable instrument. The grasshoppers, 
 in particular, have a large and strong ovipositor, 
 but it is partly concealed by the body. In h- 
 custa viridissima, the green English locust, which 
 is frequently found in grass, it is very con- 
 spicuous. The saw-flies have for the same pur- 
 pose a most admirable and effective saw, which 
 is contained in their bodies ; but if I were to 
 enumerate all the various and beautiful instances 
 of exquisite contrivance observable even in this 
 tribe, it would go far beyond the limits of a 
 letter : I shall therefore mention what occurs to 
 me, in a desultory manner. 
 
 It must, I think, have often surprised you to 
 see flies walking upon glass, and the cieling and 
 walls. It was formerly supposed to be per- 
 formed by means of the hooks with which their 
 feet were furnished, and to the smokiness and 
 ruggedness of the glass ; but as they walk equally 
 well on it when just cleaned, and on the most 
 polished mirror, we must find another reason. 
 It is ascertained that they are furnished with 
 
LETTERS ON ENTO3I0L0GY. Ill 
 
 suckers which support them by the pressure of 
 the atmosphere. These suckers consist of a 
 membrane capable of extension and contraction ; 
 they are concavo-convex, with scollopped edges, 
 the concave surface being downy, and the convex 
 granulated. When in action they are separated 
 from each other, and the membrane expanded 
 so as to increase the surface : by applying this 
 closely to the glass, the air is sufficiently expelled 
 to produce the pressure necessary to keep the 
 animal from falling. When the suckers are dis- 
 engaged, they are brought together again so as 
 to be confined within the space between the two 
 claws : this may be seen by watching the move- 
 ments of a fly, inside a glass tumbler, with a 
 common microscope. If you wet a piece of 
 leather, and apply it closely to any thing, you 
 will see an example of this suction in the dif- 
 ficulty you will find in detaching it. You must 
 have often observed that in the autumn the flies 
 begin to move more slowly, and appear some- 
 times to stick to the glass ; Mr. White remarks 
 on this, that when their strength diminishes, 
 the atmospheric pressure proves too strong for 
 them to overcome, and they appear to labour 
 along. They are besides furnished with a cushion 
 of bristles or hooks, and claws. 
 
112 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 There are fourteen thousand hemispheres or 
 eyes distinguishable in the large eyes of the 
 drone-fly, and each of these is a perfect eye, 
 being furnished with a cornea, a transparent 
 humour, and a retina. The most remarkable of 
 insects for its eyes, is the libella, or dragon-fly : 
 Leeuwenhock reckons in both twenty-five thou- 
 sand and eighty-eight lenses, placed in an hex- 
 angular position. He also numbered six thou- 
 sand two hundred and thirty-six in those of the 
 silk-worm in the image state, and eight thousand 
 in the common fly. These large eyes are all 
 immoveable, and so placed that the insect can 
 see on all sides without turning. Reaumur 
 asserts, that many kinds have besides three small 
 eyes on the back of the head. 
 
 Flies, in common with other insects, breathe 
 by means of spiracles or breathing holes. All, 
 whether two or four- winged, which have an in- 
 dividual corslet or thorax to which the six legs 
 are fastened, have four of these breathing-holes, 
 two on each side the corslet. They have also 
 others on the wings or segments of the body, 
 but less considerable. They are placed length- 
 ways on the body, being oblong, with raised 
 edges, and generally of a different colour from 
 the body ; they are most easily discovered in the 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 113 
 
 large dragon-flies. If these breathing-holes or 
 mouths are stopped by plunging the insect in 
 oil, or any other thick substance, suffocation is 
 the consequence; indeed they may be truly called 
 aerial beings, for air is the only circulating me- 
 dium through the veins and branches of their 
 wings, consequently their activity depends on 
 the state of the atmosphere. 
 
 The gnats are but too exquisitely formed for 
 our repose. The trunk, if we may so call the 
 complex weapon in its mouth, is highly deserving 
 of a particular description, though I do not know 
 that the beauty of it can console us for the pain 
 it causes. It consists of an open cylindrical 
 sheath, containing five pieces, which are like 
 pikes and saws. The sheath is not slit all the 
 way down, and we shall see the reason. The 
 point which pierces the skin is composed of several 
 others, and comes out of the round end of the 
 sheath ; and as this sting, if we may so call it, 
 must entirely enter the flesh to draw blood, the 
 sheath, which is necessarily strong and stiff, and 
 cannot pierce also, bends away the sting, which, 
 except at the point, comes out of the slit part, 
 and the sheath makes an angle underneath, and 
 is drawn up towards the head. I do not know 
 whether you can understand this description, 
 
114 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 which Reaumur has illustrated with engravings, 
 but I fear I cannot make it clearer. The beau- 
 tiful feathery antennae of many kinds are visible 
 even to the naked eye. The tipulidos, which 
 strongly resemble the gnat, are, however, essen- 
 tially different in not having any trunk or offen- 
 sive weapon ; they have only a mouth without 
 even any teeth. They are a very numerous tribe, 
 and are probably generally mistaken for gnats. 
 They are for the greatest part born under ground, 
 while the maggot of the gnat is always aquatic. 
 You must often observe, even in winter, clouds 
 of little flies at different times of the day, which 
 are constantly rising and falling in a straight 
 line; and these are commonly of this species, 
 and quite harmless. The largest tipula appears 
 to be mounted on stilts, having legs of a most 
 disproportionate length, which, however, are 
 well adapted for walking in grass. 
 
 The saw-flies are four- winged, and have two 
 saws indented like ours, but much more curiously ; 
 for the teeth themselves are indented again, and 
 the fly in using them makes a double action, by 
 drawing one back while she pushes the other 
 forward. The use of them is to make a hole in 
 the branches of different trees for the reception 
 of the eggs. 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 115 
 
 The grasshopper tribes, or gryllidce, and the 
 Cicada (iettigonia) , are chiefly remarkable for the 
 noise or chirping they make ; which however is 
 confined to the males, as the females are quite mute. 
 The common grasshopper produces his morning 
 and evening song by applying his posterior shank 
 to the thigh, and rubbing it briskly against the 
 elytrum, or wing-case; this it does alternately 
 with the right and left legs : they have also a 
 tympanum or drum. De Geer thus describes it : 
 
 On each side of the first segment of the ab- 
 domen, immediately above the origin of the 
 hind legs, there is a considerable and deep 
 aperture of rather an oval form, which is partly 
 closed by an irregular flat plate, or operculum, 
 of a hard substance, but covered with a wrinkled 
 flexible membrane. The opening left by this 
 operculum is crescent-shaped, and at the bottom 
 of the cavity is a white skin tightly stretched over, 
 and shining like a little mirror. On that side 
 of the aperture, which is towards the head, there 
 is a little oval hole into which the point of a pin 
 may be introduced without resistance. When 
 the pellicle is removed, a large cavity appears. 
 This description, which is that of the migratory 
 locust (gryllus migratorius), answers very well 
 to the tympanum of the common grasshoppers 
 
116 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 The vibrations caused by the friction of the 
 thighs and elytra striking upon this drum, are 
 reverberated by it. The crickets make their 
 intolerable chirping by rubbing the bases of 
 their elytra against each other. I must describe 
 their form to give you some idea how they do 
 it. The elytra of both sexes are divided longi- 
 tudinally into two portions ; a vertical or lateral 
 one which covers the sides, and a horizontal or 
 dorsal one which covers the back. 
 
 In the female both these portions resemble 
 each other in their nervures or veins, which 
 running obliquely in two directions, by their in- 
 tersection, form numerous small meshes of a 
 lozenge shape : the elytra of these have no ele- 
 vation at the base. In the males the vertical 
 portion does not materially differ from that of 
 the females; but in the horizontal, the base of 
 each elytrum is elevated so as to form a cavity 
 underneath. The nervures also, which are 
 stronger and more prominent, run here and there 
 into different kinds of forms ; particularly near 
 the end of the wing you may observe a space 
 nearly circular, with the vein running round it. 
 The friction of the nervures of the upper or' 
 convex surface of the base of the left-hand 
 elytrum, which is undermost, against those of 
 


 / /urns/, i I ' iriiitsstiii/is . Crmi /://,//(.-/, {.ornsf Fnnnfs. 
 
 !, Cunu/to Imptriatis- Diamond /if<-//< .J. Seamttuas. iumius- Grten Ko.<r BnA 
 t. Btaila qtaantxa _. (,ii/ii/i/ti Cockroach " 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 117 
 
 the lower or concave surface of the base of the 
 right hand, which is uppermost, will commu- 
 nicate vibrations to the areas of membrane more 
 or less intense in proportion to the rapidity of 
 friction. Nothing can be more annoying than the 
 continual chirping of the house-cricket, which, 
 however, can be silenced in general, I believe, 
 by a still greater noise. Ledelius relates, that a 
 woman who had tried in vain every method to 
 banish them from her house, at last got rid of 
 them by the noise of drums and trumpets which 
 she had procured to entertain her guests *at a 
 wedding. * They instantly forsook the house, 
 and did not return. 
 
 In locusta viridissima, our green English 
 locust, which is very common, there is in that 
 part of the right elytrum which is folded over 
 the trunk, a round plate made of very fine trans- 
 parent membrane, resembling a little mirror or 
 piece of talc, of the tension of a drum. This 
 membrane is surrounded with a very strong and 
 prominent nervure, and is concealed under the 
 fold of the left elytrum, which has also several 
 prominent nervures answering to the margin of 
 this membrane. De Geer further remarks, that 
 there is every reason to believe that the brisk 
 movement with which the grasshopper rubs its 
 
118 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 nervures against each other, produces a vibration 
 in the membrane, augmenting the sound. The 
 males in question sing continually in the hedges 
 and trees during the months of July and August, 
 especially towards sunset and part of the night ; 
 but when any one approaches., they immediately 
 stop. Some of the tribe of cicadae are far more 
 noisy than any of the preceding, and the Brazilian 
 cicada is said to be heard at the distance of a 
 mile, which is as if a man of ordinary stature 
 could be heard all over the country. To produce 
 this amazing sound they have a very complex 
 and wonderful organ. Under the body of the 
 male is a pair of large plates of an irregular form 
 — in some semi-oval, in others triangular, in 
 others again a segment of a circle of greater or 
 less diameter — covering the anterior part of the 
 abdomen, and fixed to the trunk between that 
 and the hind legs : these are the drum-covers or 
 opercula, from beneath which the sound issues. 
 At the base of the posterior legs, just above each 
 operculum, there is a small pointed triangular 
 process, the object of which, as Reaumur sup- 
 poses, is to prevent them from being too much 
 elevated. When an operculum is removed, be- 
 neath it is perceived, on the exterior side, a hollow 
 cavity, with a mouth somewhat linear, which 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 119 
 
 seems to open into the interior of the abdomen : 
 next to this, on the inner side, is another large 
 cavity of an irregular shape, the bottom of which 
 is divided into three portions ; of these the pos- 
 terior is lined obliquely with a beautiful mem- 
 brane, which is very tense — in some species semi- 
 opaque, and in others transparent — reflecting all 
 the colours of the rainbow. This mirror is not 
 the real organ of sound, but is supposed to mo- 
 dulate it. The middle portion is occupied by a 
 plate of a horny substance placed horizontally, 
 and forming the bottom of the cavity : on its 
 inner side this plate terminates in a carina or 
 elevated ridge, common to both drums. Between 
 the plate and the after-breast (postpecti/s) an- 
 other membrane, folded transversely, fills an 
 oblique, oblong, or semi-lunar cavity. It is some- 
 times seen in tension, and probably the insect 
 can stretch or relax it at pleasure ; but the organ 
 which produces the sound remains yet to be 
 described, and can only be discovered by dis- 
 section. A portion of the first and second seg- 
 ments being removed from that side of the back 
 of the abdomen which answers to the drums, two 
 bundles of muscles, meeting each other in an 
 acute angle, attached to a place opposite the 
 point of the mucro of the first ventral segment 
 
120 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 of the abdomen, will appear. These bundles 
 consist of a prodigious number of muscular fibres 
 applied to each other, but easily separated. 
 Whilst Reaumur was examining one of them, 
 pulling it from its place with a pin, he let it go 
 again, and immediately the usual sound was 
 emitted, though the animal had been long dead. 
 On each side of the drum-cavities, when the 
 opercula are removed, another cavity of a 
 roundish shape, opening into the interior of the 
 abdomen, is observable : in this is the true drum. 
 If, in this last cavity, the lateral part of the first 
 dorsal segment of the abdomen is removed, a 
 semi-opaque and nearly semicircular concavo- 
 convex membrane, with transverse folds, is dis- 
 covered. Each bundle of muscles is terminated 
 by a tendinous plate nearly circular, from which 
 issue several little tendons that, forming a thread, 
 pass through an aperture in the horny piece that 
 supports the drum, and are attached to its under 
 or concave surface. Thus the muscles being 
 alternately relaxed and contracted, will, by their 
 play, draw in and let out the drum : so that its 
 convex surface being thus rendered concave 
 when pulled in, when let out, a sound will be 
 produced by the effort to recover its convexity ; 
 which sound striking upon the mirror and other 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 121 
 
 membranes, will be modulated and augmented 
 by them. What can be more complex and ad- 
 mirable than all this apparatus ? We know not 
 how many wonders are contained in the ap- 
 parently insignificant beings we tread under foot 
 every day, without even seeing them. 
 
 The common dragon-fly, or Libellula varia, is 
 a very beautiful insect, and is generally found 
 near water ; it has a very large head, with con- 
 spicuous eyes, large transparent wings, with 
 black veins, and a very long body richly varie- 
 gated with blue and black. It is of a very ra- 
 pacious nature, and preys on the smaller insects, 
 but is perfectly destitute of a sting. It proceeds 
 from a larva which inhabits the water, and is of 
 a very peculiar and disagreeable form. During 
 this state, which lasts two years, it is as rapacious 
 as when perfect. When the period of its change 
 is arrived, it ascends the stem of some water- 
 plant, and by a few efforts breaks open the skin 
 of the back, when the inclosed dragon-fly gra- 
 dually emerges ; its wings, which are at first 
 very short, tender, and contracted, expanding by 
 degrees to their full size. In the space of about 
 half an hour the change is complete ; and the 
 same animal which before that time would have 
 been killed by any long exposure to the air, would 
 
 G 
 
122 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 now be as effectually destroyed by submersion 
 under water. I have told you but a small part of 
 the wonders and perfections of this beautiful tribe 
 of insects, which even a casual observer must be 
 struck with, and which every summer presents 
 in almost inconceivable variety. While we ad- 
 mire their exquisite symmetry and brilliant tints, 
 let us, my dear Harriet, be thankful for the 
 blessing of sight, of which so many are deprived, 
 and for which, if restored, they would doubtless 
 be far more grateful than we are, who con- 
 stantly enjoy the pleasures it brings. Adieu. 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 123 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 I shall next, my dear friend, call your at- 
 tention to a race which offers a striking example 
 of perseverance and industry, and which even 
 more than those which live in great societies 
 show us what those qualities can effect. They 
 do not, as we all too often do, shrink from dif- 
 ficulties and supinely content themselves with 
 doing only what is easy, but unassisted, for the 
 most part, they perform their task, and in ge- 
 neral it is an arduous one. 
 
 The bee species is not confined to those 
 which make honey and wax; there are many 
 other kinds, which not being useful to man, are 
 scarcely known, though very common. 
 
 The hive we may compare to a large and 
 populous city; the wasp's nest, or vespiary, to 
 a country town ; and the humble bee's nest to a 
 village. Those who live alone may be compared 
 to savages, who depend not on the assistance of 
 others. 
 
 The wasps, which are universally disliked as 
 
 g2 
 
124 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 bold and annoying robbers, are not quite so dis- 
 agreeable or unamiable as they appear ; they are 
 brisk and lively, do not attack unprovoked, and 
 generally rob us to feed their young ones. 
 
 Their societies consist of females, males, and 
 workers. The large females are as large as six of 
 the workers, and lay both male and female eggs. 
 The small females are as large as the workers, 
 and lay only male eggs. The queen wasp 
 founds her colony and does all the work till the 
 young ones can assist her; yet in the autumn the 
 vespiary sometimes contains 16,000 cells: even 
 at this time, with so much help, she sets an 
 example of diligence to the whole community. 
 The male wasps are much smaller than the fe- 
 males, being about twice as large as the workers. 
 They are not quite idle, for they are the scavengers 
 of the community, and sweep the passages and 
 streets, carrying off all the filth. They also re- 
 move the dead bodies. 
 
 The workers are the most numerous, and to 
 us the only troublesome part of their society. 
 In the summer and autumn they go forth by 
 myriads to forage the country, and on their 
 return, after reserving sufficient for the young 
 brood, they divide the spoil with great im- 
 partiality. Another employment for them is 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 125 
 
 the repairing and enlarging of the nest. Each 
 individual has its portion of work assigned, from 
 an inch to an inch and a half, and is furnished 
 with a ball of ligneous fibre, scraped by its power- 
 ful jaws from posts, rails, &c. They all perish 
 on the approach of the cold season, except a few 
 of the females, who remain torpid. 
 
 Reaumur made a glass hive for them, and was 
 thus enabled to watch their proceedings, without 
 oifending them, which we know is no very easy 
 task. 
 
 We now come to the villagers, which the 
 humble bees may be truly called. They live in 
 companies of fifty and sixty, in a rustic-looking 
 habitation. They are much larger than the hive 
 bee, and fly about with a much louder humming. 
 They are divided into four orders ; large females, 
 small females, males, and workers. The first, 
 like the female wasps, are the original founders 
 of their republics. They come out in the autumn, 
 and pass the winter, as appears from an observa- 
 tion of Huber's, in a particular apartment sepa- 
 rate from the rest, and rendered warm by a 
 carpeting of grass and moss, but without any 
 food. 
 
 If they do not find a hole ready for their nest, 
 they make one in the ground, which is prin- 
 
126 LETTERS ON ENTOBIOLOGY. 
 
 cipally destined to hold the young ones; there 
 is nothing remarkable in its appearance, being 
 like a mound of earth covered with moss ; but 
 on examination this moss is found to be com- 
 posed of a great quantity of filaments and fibres, 
 brought and curiously interwoven by the bees, 
 in such a manner that the rain cannot penetrate. 
 Sometimes they add a thin coating inside, of the 
 same substance of which honey-combs are made, 
 and under this vault are piled two or three combs. 
 They feed the young ones with a paste made of 
 pollen and honey, but the males and females are 
 fed with pure honey, like the hive bees. The 
 mother puts her egg into a certain portion of 
 this paste ; so that when the grub comes out it 
 has nothing to do but to eat. It is probably to 
 moisten this paste that they keep a provision of 
 honey, which they put into the empty cocoons 
 of the grubs, though sometimes they form little 
 honey-pots like goblets. 
 
 I cannot refrain from relating an anecdote 
 which particularly struck me. In the course of 
 his ingenious experiments, M. Huber put under 
 a bell-glass about a dozen humble bees, without 
 any store of wax, along with a comb of about 
 ten silken cocoons, so unequal in height, that 
 it was impossible the mass should stand firmly. 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 127 
 
 Its unsteadiness disquieted the humble bees ex- 
 tremely. Their affection for their young led 
 them to mount upon the cocoons for the sake of 
 imparting warmth to the inclosed little ones ; but 
 in attempting this, the comb tottered so violently, 
 that the scheme was almost impracticable. To 
 remedy this inconvenience, and to make the comb 
 steady, they had recourse to a most ingenious 
 expedient. Two or three bees got upon the 
 comb, stretched themselves over its edge, and 
 with their heads downwards, fixed their fore 
 feet on the table on which it stood, whilst with 
 their hind feet they kept it from falling. In this 
 constrained and painful posture, fresh bees re- 
 lieving their comrades when weary, did these 
 affectionate little insects support the comb for 
 nearly three days ! At the end of this period 
 they had prepared enough wax, with which they 
 built pillars that kept it firm ; by some accident 
 the comb was again unsettled, and they performed 
 the same manoeuvre till M. Huber took com- 
 passion on them and propped it up. 
 
 There is a solitary bee which I shall mention 
 first as having apparently an elegant taste. 
 Reaumur calls her the tapestry bee. She in- 
 variably chooses for the hangings of her cell the 
 leaves of the bright scarlet poppy, and seems to 
 
120 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 disdain a more homely colour. She first makes 
 a hole in the ground, which she polishes and 
 makes quite smooth ; then cutting out oval pieces 
 of the poppies, she returns and fits them to the 
 walls, smoothing the wrinkles, and cutting off 
 the superfluous parts. She puts three or four 
 layers on the bottom and two at the sides. Then 
 filling it about half an inch deep with honey 
 and pollen, and committing an egg to it, she 
 wraps over the poppy-lining, and fills it up with 
 earth. 
 
 The solitary bee pierces a hole in wood which 
 is sometimes twelve or fifteen inches long, and 
 large enough to admit of her free entrance. For 
 this purpose she generally attacks old dry wood, 
 as posts, &c. and sometimes thick doors or gates. 
 It appears a formidable undertaking for so small 
 an insect to hollow out and clear away twelve 
 or fifteen inches of wood, yet that is merely the 
 case of the nest. She is then obliged to divide 
 it into cells, of which every one is seven or eight 
 lines high, and is destined for one maggot ; they 
 are separated by a kind of ceiling, which is made 
 after the maggot is deposited in the cell ; but 
 not content with providing a dwelling, she also 
 gives it a certain quantity of food. This food 
 is the paste of pollen and honey, and when she 
 
LETTEBS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 129 
 
 has collected enough, she puts it in and closes 
 the cell. When the maggot has consumed its 
 food, it changes to a nymph, and afterwards to 
 a bee. We may call these the carpenters, and 
 those of which I shall next speak, the masons; 
 they make very good mortar for building their 
 nests, which are collections of cells under one 
 cover. They prefer attaching them to walls 
 exposed to the sun, but though they are often 
 as large as half an egg cut longways, they are 
 generally passed over as a lump of mortar or 
 mud ; but when examined, eight or ten cavities, 
 more or less, are discovered, some filled with 
 very small maggots in a quantity of paste, others 
 with large ones and little paste, and others with 
 nymphs and bees. These cells are in the form 
 of a thimble with an egg at the end, and are 
 quite filled up with paste, and stopped at the 
 large end. When this is done, the bee (for it 
 is all performed by one) fills up the spaces be- 
 tween the cells with rougher mortar. This sub- 
 stance is like ours, chiefly composed of sand, 
 but mixed with a little earth ; however, she does 
 not make use of lime as we do, but substitutes a 
 glutinous liquor from her mouth. After having 
 made a little lump, she carries and fixes it with 
 her teeth. What indefatigable industry must be 
 
 g5 
 
130 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 required in this work, and how hard we should 
 consider our case if obliged to such unremitting 
 labour ! nevertheless those who studiously en- 
 deavour to perform all their duties will find 
 almost as much to do as the bees, though in a 
 more varied and amusing manner, it must be 
 confessed. 
 
 Another kind of bee constructs her nest in a 
 quite different manner, and with still greater ad- 
 dress. She is hardly so large as the common bee, 
 and hides her admirable work underground. The 
 materials are simple, being merely pieces of leaves 
 from the mulberry-tree, elm, rose-tree, &c. The 
 exterior of each nest resembles a toothpick case, 
 both in size and form, being a tube rounded at the 
 ends. Its natural position is horizontal, and some 
 inches under the surface of the earth ; therefore 
 the first labour of the bee is to hollow a hole for 
 its reception, which in itself requires strength 
 and patience. The nest itself is formed of a 
 number of pieces of leaf, of an oval form, folded 
 and adjusted one over the other. If this enve- 
 lope is taken off, we discover a number of smaller 
 cases, made in the same way, like small thimbles 
 with the smaller end slipped into the open part 
 of another. Each of these is a cell where the 
 maggot is to live, and at the same time a vase 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 131 
 
 for the honey it is to feed on ; so that it must be 
 carefully stopped, and perhaps you would not 
 guess how. When a cell is finished, the bee de- 
 posits the egg, and fills it up with honey ; but as 
 the nest is placed horizontally it would run out ; 
 she therefore takes the simplest and best mode 
 of preventing it, by cutting from a leaf a round 
 piece of the exact size, which she fits into the 
 edge of the little vase, and to make it sure adds 
 two more. To obtain these round pieces, she 
 flies to a proper leaf, and seizing the edge with 
 her feet, cuts a round piece with her teeth quicker 
 than we should do it with scissors. It is very 
 singular how she should be able to remember 
 the exact size, which we should find difficult or 
 - even impossible. Like most other insects, the 
 female only has a sting. Reaumur first became 
 acquainted with these bees in rather a singular 
 manner, which he has related in his Memoires, 
 and which may amuse you. In the beginning 
 of July, 1736, the lord of a village on the Seine, 
 near Rouen, came to the Abbe Nollet, accom- 
 panied by several people, and his gardener 
 among others, who appeared in great consterna- 
 tion. He had come to Paris to tell his master 
 that the garden was bewitched, and though he 
 apprehended the most dreadful consequences, 
 
132 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 had actually the courage to bring with him what 
 he considered proof sufficient for the whole world, 
 and which had even deceived the minister him- 
 self. At the sight of these terrible things, his 
 master, though not quite so much alarmed as 
 himself, was surprised, and consulted his sur- 
 geon, who knowing more of his own profession 
 than of natural history, referred him to the Abbe 
 Nollet as more capable of solving the myster)'. 
 The gardener brought the roll of leaves, which 
 he firmly believed to have been made by a 
 wizard, and with some very bad intention ; for 
 why else should any one take so much trouble ? 
 Happily M. Nollet had by him some similar 
 rolls made by beetles, which he showed to the 
 man, assuring him they were formed by insects, 
 as, no doubt, his own were. He opened one of 
 the cells on the spot, and showed the maggot to 
 the man, who certainly had never dared even to 
 think of prying into them ; his sombre and 
 anxious countenance instantly cleared up, as if 
 he had been delivered from some great danger. 
 One species of solitary wasp has a very curious 
 manner of building or rather digging her nest. 
 These insects are rather smaller than the com- 
 mon wasp, and are chiefly black with yellow 
 stripes. They may be seen at work in June on 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 133 
 
 walls built of flint and mortar. Although their ob- 
 ject is to make a hole, it appears quite otherwise ; 
 for they raise a kind of hollow tube of the earth 
 they dig out, and which is sometimes two inches 
 long ; it is not however made to last, being only 
 a kind of scaffolding or bulwark till the work is 
 done. You may perhaps wonder how this insect 
 can penetrate so hard a substance as dried clay 
 or mortar ; but she is provided with a liquor in 
 her mouth to soften it, and this serves to make 
 the particles of earth, of which the tube is made, 
 stick together. When this liquor is exhausted 
 she fetches water, or probably some juice of 
 plants, and proceeds with her work. This is 
 performed so rapidly that one has been observed 
 to dig, in about an hour and a half, a hole equal 
 to the length of her body, and to raise the tube 
 in proportion. We need not ask why this hole 
 is made, for we must conclude it is for the re- 
 ception of her egg and the provision for the 
 maggot ; but it does not appear at first why the 
 tube has been made with so much care ; but the 
 more we see, the more we shall be convinced 
 that there is nothing useless in nature, and the 
 less we shall be inclined to judge hastily. When 
 the egg and its provision are lodged in the bottom, 
 this tube is to her what a heap of bricks is to a 
 
134 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 mason, and she pulls it to pieces to stop up the 
 hole again. You may perhaps object that it would 
 be as easy to lay it in a heap at once ; but no one 
 will deny that order is better than confusion, 
 and it is quite as little trouble to carry the par- 
 ticles and arrange them regularly as to throw 
 them down and have the greater trouble of 
 picking them up again; besides it serves as a 
 bulwark, for often when she is flying abroad, the 
 ichneumon fly might deposit in the hole an egg, 
 which would become the deadly enemy of hers, 
 and while this fortress stands her absence can- 
 not be so well ascertained. When the cell is 
 finished, and the egg laid in it, the careful mother 
 has next to supply food for the future maggot ; 
 and as they are carnivorous, perhaps you would 
 never guess how she provides for twelve or more 
 days. When the hole is opened it is found full 
 of green grubs, curled round and piled on each 
 other, to the number of ten or twelve. Their 
 backs are placed against the side of the hole ; 
 and as they are pressed closely together, cannot 
 move, though quite alive. These grubs are of 
 an opaque green, and always of the same species 
 in each nest, or rather den. The wasp-maggot 
 is yellow, and increases in size as he eats his 
 prey, which he does in the following manner : 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 135 
 
 He begins at the nearest, and having sucked out 
 the inside, draws the skin and head to the bottom 
 of the cell, and begins another ; thus he proceeds 
 with all, devouring one each day, and then 
 spins himself a cone. This is rather remarkable 
 — the green grubs seem all of the same age, and 
 live all this while without eating; doubtless 
 the mother wasp chooses them at a time when 
 they are in a state of torpidity previous to their 
 change, when they would desire nothing better 
 than to lie quiet, which however they would be 
 obliged to do from the manner in which they 
 are piled. As it would be impossible for the 
 wasp to convey them rolled up through the 
 tube, she stretches them out, and carries them 
 in her feet under her own body. When laid 
 down, they naturally roll themselves up, and lie 
 quiet, though doubtless without guessing why 
 they are brought. 
 
 Another wasp of about the same size hunts 
 another kind of game for her young ones, which 
 certainly appears rather singular, for she catches 
 spiders, which have always been considered their 
 most potent enemies. In some holes seven or 
 eight have been found always of the same species. 
 Some ichneumon wasps feed their maggots with 
 flies ; and if the holes are opened they will be 
 
136 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 found strewed like the dens of wild beasts with 
 legs, wings, heads, and other remains of their 
 unfortunate victims ; but the maggot does not 
 let them lie useless, as he uses them to make his 
 cone more substantial. 
 
 Many kinds of wasps are wood piercers. 
 Reaumur had a piece of old wood in which, 
 on splitting, he found many cavities filled with 
 pretty flies and an oblong yellowish egg. Having 
 split it still further, he found many others of dif- 
 ferent kinds, but each cell had but one kind of fly 
 in it, though some had little caterpillars. Per- 
 haps many pieces of old wood, which wef push 
 aside in walking, contain these curious and in- 
 genious fabrications. 
 
 There is a beautiful wasp in St. Domingo, 
 which is of a brilliant golden green or blue, 
 with legs of a fine violet colour. They fly with 
 great agility, and are very fearless ; they are 
 likewise very difficult to take, as their sting is 
 much more formidable than any common wasp 
 or bee, and much longer. They wage continual 
 war with the cock-roaches, which are very de- 
 structive in that country. When the wasp per- 
 ceives one she stops a moment, but soon darts 
 upon her helpless prey, and seizing its head 
 with her teeth, attempts to sting it in the softest 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 137 
 
 part; when this is done she leaves the victim 
 and flies about, sure of finding it in the same 
 place. The poor cock-roach has then lost all 
 power of resisting its fierce enemy, who drags 
 it backwards to her hole ; but if that is too far 
 off, she takes two or three turns in the air by 
 way of rest, and then proceeds : if the hole is too 
 small to admit it, she bites off its legs or wings. 
 It is high time to finish this long letter, so I 
 shall leave you to make your own reflections on 
 it, till I write again. Adieu. 
 
138 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 MY DEAR HARRIET, 
 
 It is not day alone which presents 
 to our view the wonders and beauties of creation ; 
 there are many insects which adorn the dark 
 robe of night with their diamond lustre ; and in 
 hot countries, where evening is the season of 
 activity or pleasure, they are as useful as they 
 are beautiful. I allude to those insects which 
 are furnished with a luminous secretion, incapa- 
 ble of burning, though affording a very vivid 
 light. The glow-worm, which is a connnon and 
 beautiful example, resembles a caterpillar, but 
 is, in reality, the perfect female of a winged 
 beetle, which in many instances, particularly in 
 Lampyris splendidula and L. hemiptera, is adorned 
 with two or four luminous spots, which are seen 
 when flying, though not always, as they have 
 the power of withdrawing them from sight. 
 The females also have the same faculty, which 
 is necessary for their safety, and probably ac- 
 counts for their not being always found in places 
 where they usually abound. The light proceeds 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 139 
 
 from the three last ventral segments of the ab- 
 domen, but sometimes appears above, between 
 the dorsal segments or rings. Though most of 
 the females of the different species of Lampyris 
 are without wings, all are not so unfortunate; 
 the female of Lampyris Italica, which is common 
 in Italy, and has even, been caught in Hertford- 
 shire, is winged. 
 
 Elater noctilucus, an insect of the beetle tribe, 
 is luminous in a higher degree. It is about an 
 inch long, and gives its principal light from two 
 tubercles placed upon the thorax, or upper part 
 of the body; but there are also two luminous 
 spots under the wings, which show when the 
 insect flies, and give it a very beautiful appear- 
 ance, particularly as, when the body is stretched, 
 it seems filled with light, which shines out be- 
 tween the segments. This light is so brilliant, 
 that the smallest print may be read by moving 
 one of them along the lines ; and in the West 
 Indian islands, the natives used to employ them 
 as lamps : when travelling, they would tie one 
 to each great toe, and needed no other light. 
 These useful insects, which they call Cucuij, are 
 also extremely beneficial by destroying the gnats, 
 which you know are such a pest in those 
 countries : for this purpose they catch the fire- 
 
140 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 flies, and bring them into their houses. Besides 
 these there is a genus in the order Hemiptera, 
 called Fulgora, which have the English name of 
 lantern-flies, from the circumstance of their light 
 proceeding from a hollow sub-transparent pro- 
 jection of the head. In Fulgora candelaria, a 
 native of China, this projection is of a sub- 
 cylindrical shape, curved back at the point, above 
 an inch in length, and of the thickness of a small 
 quill, from which the insect emits a very power- 
 ful light. In Fulgora laternaria, a native of 
 South America, which is two or three inches 
 long, this snout is much larger and broader, and 
 sheds a transcendent light. Madame Merian 
 informs us, that it is quite bright enough to read 
 a newspaper by. There is another species, F. 
 pyrrhorynchus, which must be still more beauti- 
 ful than this, as the projection is of a rich deep 
 purple from the base nearly to the end, which is 
 of a fine transparent scarlet. There is also a 
 species of scolopendra (S. elect rica), commonly 
 called centipedes or hundred-legs, which are 
 luminous, and very common in this country ; 
 they may be found under the earth, and are very* 
 visible at night. The mole-cricket, which is a very 
 scarce insect, is said to be luminous. The light 
 in the glow-worm, and in Elatcr noctilucus and 
 
LETTERS ON ENT03IOLOGY. 141 
 
 ignitus, proceeds from masses of a substance not 
 generally differing, except in its yellow colour, 
 from the rest of the body, closely applied under 
 those transparent parts of the skin where the 
 light is seen. In the glow-worm, besides the 
 last-mentioned substance (which, when the sea- 
 son for giving light is passed, is absorbed and 
 replaced by the common substance), Mr. Ma- 
 cartney observed, on the inner side of the last 
 abdominal segment, two small oval sacs, formed 
 of an elastic spirally wound fibre, similar to that 
 of the tracheae, containing a soft yellow substance 
 of a closer texture, and affording a more brilliant 
 light, less under the control of the insect than 
 the other luminous parts, which it has the power 
 of voluntarily extinguishing, not by retraction 
 under a membrane, as Carradori imagined, but 
 by some inscrutable change dependent upon its 
 will. There have been various and contradictory 
 opinions upon the immediate cause of this lu- 
 minous property, and many experiments made 
 with very opposite results ; so we must conclude 
 it uncertain, and be content with admiring the 
 effect. As I have nothing more to say on this 
 subject, my dear friend, I will conclude for the 
 present ; but it will not be long before I write 
 again. 
 
142 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 There is something very singular, my dear 
 Harriet, in the history of a species, called, by 
 Reaumur, Gall insects, from their resemblance 
 to galls. At the time of their birth, and for some 
 days after, they are extremely small and very 
 active, running about the leaves and branches. 
 They are then something like small wood lice, 
 but they soon fix themselves and remain motion- 
 less, and in this inanimate state they increase in 
 size prodigiously, and appear like tubercles on 
 the back. Some are as large or larger than peas, 
 and others as small as grains of pepper. Some 
 are circular, others semicircular, and others ob- 
 long. They lay thousands of eggs, but keep 
 them under their bodies, thus sitting over and 
 in a manner hatching them; and when the 
 mother dies, which happens soon after, they 
 find shelter and safety under the dried shell of 
 her body, which remains fastened to the back, 
 and serves them as a house, having a little 
 glass in one part, which is the door. I have 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 143 
 
 seen a great number on a vine, in the green- 
 house, of an oblong shape. The male is a beau- 
 tiful little fly, the body, head, and legs of which 
 are of a deep red ; the wings are very large in 
 proportion, semi-transparent and whitish, with a 
 border of bright red, which is their greatest or- 
 nament. On the tail, which is long and pointed, 
 are two white filaments twice as long as the 
 wings. It is singular that there should be so 
 striking a difference between individuals of the 
 same species, but it is not the only instance ; the 
 glow-worm is a similar one. 
 
 I should have told you that they change their 
 skins or rather shells, but in a different manner 
 from other insects. They make various move- 
 ments and contortions, which split the outer 
 surface into thin transparent laminae or flakes, 
 which fall off; but as they are extremely slow 
 in their motions, this takes a long time to per- 
 form. 
 
 The Cochineal insect, the Kermes, or Coccus 
 Bapkica, are of this species ; but Reaumur calls 
 them false Gall insects, from some differences 
 peculiar to them. The Cochineal, which is one 
 of the greatest objects of commerce in Mexico, 
 and is cultivated in that country alone, feeds on 
 a plant known by the names of opuntia, Indian 
 
144 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 fig, or N. opal, from the juice of which it is sup- 
 posed to derive its beautiful colour. Perhaps 
 the manner in which the Indians reap this curious 
 and profitable harvest may amuse you. Round 
 their habitations they plant the N. opal, from which 
 they expect many crops of the insect in the year. 
 The last is gathered when the rainy season ap- 
 proaches, for bad weather is very destructive to 
 them, and to preserve enough for the next year 
 the Indians cut off the leaves on which are the 
 young insects, and carry them into their houses 
 to keep them dry, and as the leaves are very 
 succulent they do not soon wither. The insects 
 thus sheltered are nearly arrived at perfection 
 when the rainy season is passed. They are then 
 in a manner sowed. The Indians make little 
 nests of moss, in which they place twelve or 
 fourteen insects, and put them between the 
 leaves, or as they call them the pencas, sticking 
 them on the thorns. In three or four days the 
 young ones are born, for we must remark that 
 they do not lay eggs like the other gall insects. 
 They are produced by thousands, and are, at 
 first, no bigger than a pin's point (at least it is 
 said so, but we must suppose it rather blunt), 
 and soon dispersing in every direction, begin 
 sucking the plant in the spot where they fix, 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 145 
 
 and where they soon attain their full size. At 
 this time the Indians scrape them off with their 
 long nails, leaving all the young ones already 
 born, which in two or three months afford an- 
 other harvest. After this the rainy season re- 
 turns, and the Indians collect the young ones 
 of this last gathering to take under shelter. The 
 cochineal of the first gathering is esteemed the 
 best, and produces the finest colour. 
 
 The Indians kill the insects, as soon as they 
 are collected, in various ways. Some put them 
 in a basket which they plunge into hot water, 
 and after dry them in the sun. Others have 
 small ovens in which, when heated, they spread 
 them on mats : these ovens are called tcma- 
 scales. The Indian women bake their loaves 
 and cakes of maize on plates over a fire, and 
 they sometimes use these, which are called 
 comales, to kill the cochineal, and on these dif- 
 ferent ways principally depend the colour and 
 quality. The best are those covered with a 
 whitish powder, and these are baked in the 
 ovens. 
 
 The Coccus polonicus, or Kermes of Poland, 
 is found on the roots of a plant, the polygonum 
 coccifcrum, Caspari Bauhini. Towards tire end 
 of June is the proper time for gathering. Every 
 
 n 
 
146 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 grain is then nearly round, and of a violet purple. 
 Some are not larger than poppy seed, and others 
 are as large as peppercorns. Each is half en- 
 closed in a kind of cup or calix, like an acorn, 
 which like that is rough outside and smooth 
 within. From the large grains, which are the 
 females, proceed grubs with six legs and two 
 antennae. In about a fortnight they remain 
 motionless, and their bodies become covered 
 with a cottony secretion, like down, extremely 
 white and fine. This down forms a kind of roof, 
 which is sometimes round and sometimes irre- 
 gular. They remain in repose, and covered 
 with this down, for five or six days, during 
 which each lays about a hundred and fifty eggs, 
 or more, which are found mingled or enveloped 
 with the down ; and indeed this seems its prin- 
 cipal use. Afterwards they die. Each of the 
 smallest grains, which are the males, produces 
 a grub towards the end of June, sometimes 
 covered with down and sometimes not, which 
 turns to a nymph or grub chrysalis, and re- 
 mains motionless till towards the middle of 
 June ; it afterwards turns to a small winged fly, 
 like that of the cochineal. 
 
 There are many other kinds of this insect, 
 which however nearly resemble each other, so 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 147 
 
 I shall say nothing of them. I do not know 
 whether the species which infests the vine is to 
 be found in the open air ; but if you have an 
 opportunity of seeking them in a greenhouse, 
 you may easily watch their growth. Adieu. I 
 shall soon write again. 
 
 
 h2 
 
148 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 I believe, my dear friend, that I have not 
 yet mentioned several insects, which have a 
 very unjust prejudice and dislike attached to 
 their names, therefore I intend to expatiate a little 
 upon these unfortunate victims of calumny, and 
 try to vindicate their fame. Spiders are in some 
 respects very amiable ; for instance, they will ex- 
 pose their own lives to protect their young ones. 
 This wonderful attachment Bonnet put to a de- 
 cisive test. He threw a spider with her bag of 
 eggs into the pitfall of a large lion-ant, a ferocious 
 insect which conceals itself at the bottom of a 
 hole, and whose history I shall presently give 
 you. The spider endeavoured to run away, but 
 was not sufficiently active to prevent her bag 
 from being seized, and pulled under the sand 
 by her enemy. She struggled to prevent this 
 with all her might, and when the bag gave way 
 from its fastening, she seized it with her jaws, 
 but in vain ; the lion-ant was the stronger, and 
 dragged it under the sand. The unfortunate 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 149 
 
 mother might have preserved her own life by 
 escaping, but she rather preferred being buried 
 alive with her treasure, and it was only by force 
 that Bonnet withdrew her from the danger, and 
 though he pushed her away with a twig, she 
 still remained on the spot, and appeared incon- 
 solable. 
 
 "What can be more astonishing than the dis- 
 coveries made by Leeuwenhoek's microscope ? 
 He calculates that the threads of the smallest 
 spider, some of w T hich are not larger than a 
 grain of sand, are so fine that four millions of 
 them would not equal one hair of the beard. 
 Each of these threads is formed of four thou- 
 sand others, the fineness of which it is im- 
 possibe to conceive ; but I should first describe 
 the spinning apparatus. Under the spider's ab- 
 domen there are four or six little orifices or 
 spinners, every one of which is furnished with 
 a multitude of tubes, so numerous and so ex- 
 quisitely fine, that Reaumur counted a thousand 
 in a space not bigger than a pin's point. From 
 each of these proceeds an inconceivably fine 
 thread, which immediately unites with all the 
 rest. Four of these threads again unite lower 
 down, and form the common one we see in the 
 webs, which though sometimes nearly invisible, 
 
150 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 is composed of at least four thousand others ! 
 The house spider fixes her thread to one side of 
 a corner, and walking along the wall to the 
 other, draws it across and fixes the other end. 
 This thread she renders strong by repeating the 
 operation two or three times, and then draws 
 threads from it in various directions, the inter- 
 stices of which she fills up by running from one 
 to the other, and thus connecting them. You 
 may often see the garden spiders at work in the 
 mornings of autumn, and it is highly amusing 
 to watch them. They often have to extend their 
 main line across places apparently unconnected, 
 between branches of trees, between buildings, 
 and even plants growing in the water. The 
 way in which they perform this is shown by 
 putting a spider on the top of a stick, having 
 the lower end in a vessel of water. After try- 
 ing all other modes of escape, it will dart out 
 numerous fine threads, so light as to float in 
 the air, some one of which attaching itself to a 
 neighbouring object, furnishes a bridge for its 
 escape. This is probably the means by which the 
 geometric spiders form their astonishing webs. 
 The threads of the house spider's web are all of 
 the same kind of silk, but the garden spider's is 
 composed of two sorts ; the radii are not ad- 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 151 
 
 hesive or sticky, but the circles are. If ex- 
 amined with a microscope, they will be found 
 studded with little shining drops like dew, formed 
 of a viscid gum, which catches the insects that 
 alight upon it, like bird-lime. M. Q. D'Isjonval 
 asserts, that the geometric spiders are always 
 regulated by the future probable state of the 
 atmosphere, and that if the weather is about to 
 be variable, wet, and stormy, the main threads 
 which support the net will certainly be short ; 
 but if fine settled weather is commencing, they 
 will as invariably be very long. A prisoner of 
 war in France, I believe, amused himself with 
 watching his spiders, and foretold many very 
 important changes of the weather ; indeed, if I 
 recollect right, his little barometers procured 
 him his freedom at last. 
 
 There are many others which do not trouble 
 themselves with making webs, but catch their 
 prey openly, or rather, I should say, in a less 
 artificial manner. Aranea atrox lurks in holes ; 
 Aranea calycina places herself at the bottom of 
 the calix of a dead flower, and pounces on the 
 unwary flies that come for honey ; Aranea arun- 
 dinacea buries herself in the thick panicle of a 
 reed. Among the hunters the immense Aranea 
 avicularia, two inches long, is the principal ; it 
 
1")2 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 lives in the South American woods, and was scid 
 to catch even small birds, but this has been 
 denied by Langsdorf. 
 
 One spider actually makes a room, with a door 
 turning on a hinge, however surprising it may 
 appear to you. This room is a subterraneous 
 gallery, upwards of two feet in length, and half 
 an inch broad. This tunnel, which is very large 
 compared to the insect, is dug by her strong 
 jaws in a steep bank of clay. The next operation 
 is to line the whole with a web of fine silk, which 
 serves the double purpose of preventing the earth 
 from falling in, and by its connexion with the 
 orifice, giving notice of what is passing. The 
 door is formed of several coats of dried earth, 
 fastened together with silk : when finished, its 
 outline is as perfectly round as if traced with 
 compasses ; the inside is convex and smooth, the 
 outside flat and rough, and so like the surround- 
 ing earth as not to be distinguishable. This 
 door the ingenious spider fixes at the entrance 
 by a hinge of silk, which allows it to be opened 
 and shut with ease ; and as if acquainted with 
 the laws of gravity, she invariably fixes the hinge 
 at the highest side of the opening, which you 
 may remember is sloping, so that the door, when 
 pushed up, shuts again with its own weight. 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 153 
 
 She also leaves a little edge or groove, just within 
 the entrance, upon which the door closes, and 
 fits with the greatest precision. If the door is 
 a little raised, the observer immediately feels a 
 strong resistance, which is the spider pulling 
 with all her might to keep it close ; but when 
 she finds it in vain, she runs off. If the door is 
 fastened down, there will be a new door the next 
 morning. This singular habitation is merely an 
 abode for the spider, which hunts in the night, 
 and carries the prey to devour at leisure at the 
 bottom of her den, where the remains are often 
 found. This species is not uncommon in the 
 south of France. 
 
 We must not pass over the aquatic spider, 
 who builds her enchanted airy palace under the 
 water. First she spins loose threads, in various 
 directions, attached to the leaves of aquatic 
 plants, and spreads over them a transparent 
 varnish, which issues from the middle of her 
 spinners, and is so extremely elastic, that if a 
 hole be made, it instantly closes again. Next she 
 spreads over her belly a pellicle of the same, and 
 ascends to the surface ; it is not exactly known 
 how she conveys a bubble of air under this 
 pellicle, but it is supposed that she draws it in, 
 and pumps it out, from an opening in the middle 
 
154 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 of her body. Clothed with her garment of air, 
 she dives to the bottom, and transfers it beneath 
 the prepared roof. She repeats this till the roof 
 is raised by the quantity of air underneath, when 
 an apartment is formed between the inner sur- 
 face of the roof and the water below it; and 
 here she lives quite at her ease, like a sea nymph 
 in her enchanted cave. Both sexes form these 
 abodes, and sometimes share them with each 
 other, living peaceably together. This is the 
 largest European species. 
 
 Of all kinds, however, I think the flying 
 spiders are the most curious. If you have never 
 heard of them before, you will doubtless be sur- 
 prised that any creature can fly without wings ; 
 yet they may truly be said to fly in their chariots 
 of gossamer, in which they quietly repose, and 
 catch their prey as they sail along. Dr. Martin 
 Lister observed these webs falling from the sky, 
 and discovered in them more than once a spider. 
 On another occasion, while he was watching a 
 common spider, it suddenly turned upon its 
 back, and darting forth a long thread, vaulted 
 upwards, and was carried to a considerable 
 height: he further discovered that while they 
 fly in this manner, they pull in their thread with 
 their fore-feet so as to form it into a ball: in 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 155 
 
 this way they go to a great height. One day in 
 the autumn, he went upon the highest steeple of 
 York minster, from which he saw the floating 
 webs still very far above him ; some spiders fell 
 down, and he found they were of a species which 
 never enter houses. Many kinds have this 
 faculty, though only in their youth, or half- 
 grown state. Mr. White witnessed a shower of 
 these gossamer webs, the account of which may 
 amuse you. On the 21st of September, 1741, he 
 rose before daybreak, and on going out, found the 
 whole country covered with cobwebs drenched 
 in dew, as if two or three nets had been drawn 
 over it. When his dogs attempted to hunt, their 
 eyes were so blinded that they were obliged to 
 lie down and scrape themselves. This appear^ 
 ance was followed by a very fine day ; and about 
 nine o'clock a shower of webs, in flakes near an 
 inch broad, and five or six long, was observed 
 to begin, and continued falling all day with con- 
 siderable velocity. The flakes hung so thick in 
 the trees and hedges, that baskets full might 
 have been collected. The use of these air-borne 
 chariots seems to be, to enable the spiders to 
 catch the small flies which live high in the atmo- 
 sphere, for their remains are often found in 
 them. 
 
156 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 If you share in the common and unjust pre- 
 judice against earwigs, you will perhaps be in- 
 duced to think more favourably of them when I 
 tell you that they guard and sit over their young 
 ones with all the care and affection of a hen. 
 De Geer having found an earwig sitting on her 
 eggs, removed her into a box, in which was some 
 earth, and scattered the eggs in all directions ; 
 she soon, however, collected them together, and 
 sat upon them as before. The young ones, 
 which are like the mother in all but her wings, 
 and, strange to say, are, as soon as born, larger 
 than the eggs which contained them, immediately 
 upon being hatched, creep like a brood of chickens 
 under the mother, who very quietly suffers them 
 to push between her feet, and will often, as De 
 Geer found, sit in this posture some hours. Does 
 not this fact make this poor little insect appear 
 in a very amiable light ? Perhaps you may not 
 know that earwigs have large wings, very cu- 
 riously folded up in small cases or elytra, like 
 those of beetles; they cannot, however, fly in 
 the day-time. 
 
 The lion-ant, which is an inhabitant of the 
 south of Europe, is a most extraordinary insect, 
 and its curious proceedings have been minutely 
 detailed by Reaumur : it is the larva of the insect, 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 157 
 
 whose history I shall give you. It belongs to 
 a genus between the dragon-fly and the heme- 
 robius ; its length is about half an inch, and in 
 shape it resembles a woodlouse, though more 
 triangular : it has six legs, and the mouth is 
 armed with curved jaws like horns. It lives 
 upon the juices of other insects, chiefly ants ; but 
 as it always walks backwards and very slowly, 
 you may perhaps wonder how it gets any food, 
 particularly as it will not touch any animal it has 
 not previously killed, and then only sucks the 
 juices; but you will no longer wonder when 
 you hear of its admirable stratagem. It digs a 
 conical pit in loose sand, at the bottom of which 
 it lies concealed to seize upon the unwary insects 
 that, going too near the brink, fall down the 
 sides. It first finds a soil of loose dry sand, near 
 which it is indeed generally placed by its mother, 
 and near some old wall or tree ; it next traces a 
 circle in the sand, and proceeds to hollow it, by 
 Ending on the inside of the circle, thrusting 
 the hind part of its body under the sand, and 
 using its fore-leg like a shovel to load its flat 
 square head, with which it jerks the sand out- 
 side to the distance of some inches. Walking 
 backwards, and constantly repeating this process, 
 it soon ^ goes round the circle, when it proceeds 
 
 4' 
 
158 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
 
 in another with equal address. We must remark, 
 that it never loads its head with the sand outside 
 the circle, but constantly uses the leg next the 
 centre, as if knowing that it is the middle only 
 that is to be excavated ; and as one leg would 
 soon be fatigued with the labour, it turns round, 
 and traces the next furrow in the opposite di- 
 rection. It often meets with small stones which 
 it puts on its head and jerks out ; but if a pebble 
 presents itself which is too large for this, the 
 insect, by a particular manoeuvre, lifts the stone 
 on its back, keeps it steady by the motion of its 
 segments, and walking up the side, lays it down 
 on the top. When the stone is round, this task 
 becomes very difficult; but the patient insect 
 has been seen to make six unsuccessful attempts, 
 and only accomplished it on the seventh : if it 
 finds its endeavours fruitless, it abandons the pit 
 and forms another. This pitfall is rather more 
 than two inches deep, about three inches wide at 
 the top, and contracting to a point at the bottom. 
 The lion-ant takes its station at the bottom, being 
 concealed under the sand, all except the points 
 of its expanded forceps. Soon some unlucky 
 ant runs on the edge, perhaps to look down, but 
 the sand slides under her feet, and her struggles 
 only hasten her descent; though if she should 
 
LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 159 
 
 be able to stop midway, her cruel enemy, who 
 has six eyes on each side of his head, throws 
 showers of sand from the bottom, which soon 
 precipitate her into his jaws. These admirable 
 instruments are at the same time hooked for 
 holding, and hollow for sucking, and thus he 
 regales himself at his ease : the dry carcass he 
 jerks out, and then resumes his station. The 
 insect remains two years in this state, and then 
 retiring under the sand, spins a cocoon, and after 
 remaining a chrysalis a few weeks, comes forth a 
 four-winged insect resembling the dragon-fly, 
 and preying in the same manner on moths, 
 butterflies, and other insects. 
 
 The larva of Rhagio vermilio, which resembles 
 a maggot, also makes use of this stratagem, with 
 but little variation. Thus, my dear Harriet, we 
 see that nothing in nature is forgotten by a merci- 
 ful Providence ; and though we cannot, with our 
 limited understandings, conceive why the law of 
 nature should be destruction, or why even in- 
 sects cannot live without inflicting death on 
 other creatures, yet let us not presume to arraign, 
 even in thought, the inscrutable ways of that 
 Being who is himself incomprehensible. 
 
 You may perhaps be surprised that I have not 
 mentioned snails, &c. ; but I believe they do not 
 
160 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLGOr. 
 
 properly come under the class of insects. Lin- 
 naeus distinguishes them by the name of soft 
 bodied animals either with or without shells, so 
 we have nothing to do with them, particularly 
 as I have been obliged to omit so many of the 
 almost innumerable kinds of insects. 
 
 Though our correspondence must close here 
 for the present, I may perhaps resume the sub- 
 ject if I have an opportunity, and if you wish it ; 
 though my object has been chiefly to induce 
 you to pursue your inquiries in a more regular 
 manner and from more competent authorities. 
 
 I trust, my dear friend, that you will verify 
 the remark, that " the more we know, the more 
 we wish to know ;" and also that your just ad- 
 miration of the beauties and excellencies of na- 
 ture will lead you to that deep and habitual 
 reverence of its great Author, which alone can 
 ensure you peace of mind through the changes 
 of life. Adieu ! 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED UY THOMAS DAVISON, WIIITEFRI^R3.