[467]Maupertuis observes, that in Lapland he saw many birch-trees lying on the ground, which had probably been there for a very long time, with the bark entire, though the wood was decayed. Hence we may probably infer, that in that country there are few or none of the bark-boring insects.[468]Latreille,Observations nouvelles sur les Hyménoptères.Annal. de Mus.11.[469]Nat. Hist. of Carolina, ii. 105.[470]Reaum. vi. 282. St. Pierre'sVoyage, 72.[471]Bartram inPhilos. Trans.xlvi. 126.[472]The larvæ of some species of Coccinellæ feed, according to Prof. D. Reich, solely on the leaves of plants; as that ofC. hieroglyphica, which eats the leaves of common heath (Erica vulgaris) after the manner of the larvæ ofLepidoptera. I suspect, however, that there is some mistake in this statement.Der Gesellschaft naturf. Fr. in Berlin Mag.&c. iii. 294.[473]Latreille denominates this family, as he calls it,Pupivora: if by this he alludes to their devouring the young of insects, from theclassicalmeaning of the wordpupa, the term is very proper; but this should be borne in mind, as the majority of readers would imagine it to refer to thepupa stateofinsects, in which they are not so generally devoured by their parasites.[474]Not having had it in my power to consult Dalman's work on theChalciditesof Latreille, referred to by that learned Entomologist in hisFamilles Naturelles du Règne Animal, I am not able to refer them to their proper genera.[475]PlateXVI.Fig.1.[476]Marsham inLinn. Trans.iii. 26.[477]See above, p.169-170.[478]Alysia Manducator; and another species allied toAlomyia Debellator, which I have namedA. Stercorator.[479]De Geer, ii. 863.[480]Ibid. 851-5.[481]Reaum. ii. 419.[482]De Geer, i. 196. vi. 14. 24.[483]Reaum. ii. 440-4.[484]Linn. Trans.xi. 86.[485]Kirby'sMon. Ap. Ang.ii. 110-113.[486]RossiFn. Etrusc. Mant.[487]Preys.Bömisch. Insekt.59. 61.[488]PlateXVII.Fig.13.[489]Entom. Helvétique, ii. 158.[490]In the former edition of this work (Vol. IV. p. 392), this tribe is denominatedEupodina; but as this seems too near to M. Latreille'sEupoda, belonging to a different tribe of beetles, we have substituted the above name, which means the same.[491]One was taken at Aldeburgh in Suffolk by Dr. Crabbe, the celebrated poet; another by a young lady at Southwold, which is now in the cabinet of W. J. Hooker, esq.; and a third by a boy at Norwich, crawling up a wall, which was purchased of him by S. Wilkin, esq.[492]Latr.Hist. Nat.x. 181.[493]Linn. Trans.vi. 149. Kirby,Ibid.ix. 42. 23.[494]The late R. Kittoe, Esq.[495]p.123.[496]Voyages, i. 185.[497]Percival'sCeylon, 307.[498]Mr. Knight made the same observation in 1806, and supposes the scarcity of neuters arose from the want of males to impregnate the females.Philos. Trans.1807, p. 243.[499]St. Pierre,Voy.72.[500]Lesser,L.i. 263, note.[501]Reaum. vi. 400.t.36-38.PlateXVI.Fig.5.a.[502]Thiebaut de Berneaud'sVoyage to Elba, p. 31.[503]"Even Tiger fell and sullen BearTheir likeness and their lineage spare.Man only mars kind nature's plan,And turns the fierce pursuit on Man!"Scott'sRokeby, canto iii. 1.[504]Reaumur, ii. 413.[505]De Geer, i. 533. iii. 361. v. 400. vi. 91.[506]Rösel, iv. 96.[507]Thunberg'sTravels, ii. 66.[508]De Geer, vii. 335.[509]De Geer, vii. 180.[510]Bingley, ii. 374.[511]Bingley, iii. 27.[512]Collinson inPhilos. Trans.1763.[513]Sparrman, ii. 180.[514]St. Pierre,Voy.73.[515]Reaum. vi. 479-487.[516]Swamm.Bib. Nat.i. c. 4. 106. b.[517]In Col. Venable'sExperienced Angler, a vast number of insects are enumerated as good baits for fish, under the names ofBob,Cadbait,Cankers,Caterpillars,Palmers,Gentles,Bark-worms,Oak-worms,Colewort-worms,Flag-worms,Green-flies,Ant-flies,Butterflies,Wasps,Hornets,Bees,Humble-bees,Grasshoppers,Dors,Beetles,a great brown flythat lives upon the oak like aScarabee—(Melolontha vulgarisorAmphimalla solstitialis?) andflies(i. e.may-flies) of various sorts.[518]Anderson'sRecreations in Agricult. &c., iv. 478. Latr.Hist. Nat.xiv. 154.[519]According to Mr. Heckewelder (Trans. Am. Phil. Soc.iv. 124.)L. Excubitor, called in America the nine-killer, from an idea that it transfixes nine individuals daily, treats in this mannerGrasshoppersonly; whileL. Colluriowould seem to restrict itself chiefly toGeotrupes, two of which Mr. Sheppard once observed transfixed in a hedge that he knew to be the residence of this bird. Kugellan even thinks that it impales onlyG. vernalis, which he has often found transfixed, but neverG. stercorarius. (Schneid.Mag.259.) I must remark, however, that I last summer observed twohumble-beesquite alive, impaled on the thorns of a hedge near my house, which had most probably been so placed by this species,L. Excubitorbeing rarely found except in mountainous wilds. (Bewick'sBirds, i. 61.) And Prof. Sander states that on opening this bird (L. Collurio) he has sometimes found in its stomach nothing but grasshoppers, and at others small beetles and other insects.NaturforscherStk. xviii. 234.[520]Stillingfl.Tracts, 175.Linn. Trans.v. 105. noteb.[521]Bingley, ii. 287-290.[522]Sparrman, ii. 186.[523]See above p. 208.noteb. and Bewick'sBirds.i. Pref. xxii. 130.[524]Bib. Nat.i. 126. b.[525]Travels, i. 110.[526]Reaum. ii. 408.[527]Bingley, ii. 374.[528]White'sSelborne, i. 181.[529]Philos. Mag.xxxix. 107.[530]Small flies are sometimes found sticking to the glutinous stigma of some of the Orchideæ like birds on a limed twig: (SprengelEntdecktes Geheimniss, 21—) and ants are not unfrequently detained in the milky juice which the touch of even their light feet causes to exude from the calyxes of the common garden lettuce.Ann. of Bot.ii. 590.[531]Elements of the Science of Botany, 62.[532]Smith'sIntroduction to Botany, 195.[533]Mouffet, 319.[534]Smith'sTracts, 165. Kölreuter,Ann. of Bot.ii. 9.[535]Chr. Conr. SprengelEntdecktes Geheimniss, &c.Berlin 1793, 4to. quoted inAnn. of Bot.i. 414.[536]Grundriss der Kräuterkunde, 353. A writer however in theAnnual Medical Review(ii. 400.) doubts the accuracy of this fact, on the ground that he could never findC. pennicornis, thoughA. Clematitishas produced fruit two years at Brompton. Meigen (Dipt. i. 100. e.) places this amongst his doubtfulCecidomyiæ. Fabricius considers it as aChironomus.[537]I have frequently observedDermestes flavescens, Ent. Brit. (Byturus) eat both the petals and stamens ofStellaria Holosteum; andMordellæwill open the anthers with the securiform joints of their palpi to get at the pollen.[538]Hasselquist'sTravels, 253. Latr.Hist. Nat.xiii. 204.[539]Willd.Grundriss, 352.[540]Phil. Trans.xlvi. 536.[541]Walpole in Clarke'sTravels, ii. 187. Even Mr. Boyle speaks with abhorrence of eating raw oysters. Walton'sAngler, Life, p. 12.[542]Baron Humboldt asks (Person. Narr.VI. i. 8. note)—"What are those worms (Loulin Arabic) which Captain Lyon, the fellow traveller of my brave and unfortunate friend Mr. Ritchie, found in the pools of the desert of Fezzan, which served the Arabs for food, and which have the taste ofCaviare? Are they not insects' eggs resembling theAguautle, which I saw sold in the markets of Mexico, and which are collected on the surface of the lakes of Texcuco?" For this latter fact he refers to theGazeta de Litteratura de Mexico. 1794. iii. No. 26. p. 201. It appears from this note of the illustrious traveller that insects are used as food in theireggas well as their other states.[543]Herbst and Schönherr call this distinct genusRhyncophorus; but as this is too near the name of the tribe (Rhyncophora), we have adopted Thunberg's name, altering the termination to distinguish it fromCordylea genus of Lizards.[544]Ælian.Hist.l. xiv. c. 13. quoted in Reaum. ii. 343.[545]Ins. Sur.48.[546]Hist. Nat.l. xvii. c. 24.[547]Wisdom of God, 9th ed. 307. Ray first adopted the opinion here maintained, that the Cossi were the larvæ of some beetle; but afterwards, from observing in the caterpillar ofCossus ligniperdaa power of retracting its prolegs within the body, he conjectured that the hexapod larva from Jamaica, (Prionus damicornis?) given him by Sir Hans Sloane, might have the same faculty, and so be the caterpillar of a Bombyx.[548]Amoreux has collected the different opinions of entomologists on the subject of Pliny's Cossus, which has been supposed the larva ofCordylia Palmarumby Geoffroy; ofLucanus Cervusby Scopoli; and ofPrionus damicornisby Drury. The first and last, being neither natives of Italy nor inhabiting the oak, are out of the question. The larvæ ofLucanus CervusandPrionus coriarius, which are found in the oak as well as in other trees, may each have been eaten under this name, as their difference would not be discernible either to collectors or cooks. Amoreux, 154.[549]MerianIns. Sur.24.[550]St. Pierre,Voy.72.[551]Smeathman, 32.[552]Reaum. ii. 344.[553]Phytol.364.[554]Diod. Sic. l. iii. c. 29. StrabonisGeog.l. xvi. &c.[555]Hist. Nat.l. xi. c. 29.[556]Travels, 232.[557]Hieroz.ii. l. 14. c. 7.[558]Sparrman, i. 367.[559]Rev.ix. 2, 3.[560]Hieroz.ii. l. 4. c. 7. 492.[561]Pliny,Hist. Nat.l. vi. c. 30.[562]Id. ibid.[563]Jackson'sTravels in Marocco, 53. The Rev. R. Sheppard caused some of our large English grasshopper (Acrida viridissima) to be cooked in the way here recommended, only substituting butter for vinegar, and found them excellent.[564]Travels, 230.[565]Hom.Il.γ. 150-4.[566]Arist.Hist. An.l. v. c. 30.[567]Vide Bochart,Hieroz.ii. l. 4. c. 7. 491.[568]Hist. Nat.l. xi. c. 26.[569]P. Collinson inPhil. Trans.1763. n. x.[570]One species however has been found in Hampshire in the New Forest. See Samouelle'sEntomologist's Useful Compendium,t.v.f.2.[571]Reaum. ii. 341.[572]Ray'sLetters, 135.[573]Sparrman, i. 201.[574]Sir G. Staunton'sVoy.iii. 246.[575]Phytol.364.[576]Sparrman, i. 363.[577]Captain Green relates that, in the ceded districts in India, they place the branches of trees over the nests, and then by means of smoke drive out the insects; which attempting to fly, their wings are broken off by the mere touch of the branches.[578]Smeathman, 31.[579]Letters written in a Mahratta Camp in1809.[580]Knox'sCeylon, 25.[581]Piso,Ind.l. v. c. 13. 291.[582]Travels in Sweden, 118.[583]Ibid.[584]Smith'sIntrod. to Bot.346. Olivier'sTravels, i. 139.[585]Reaum. iii. 416.[586]Scop.Carniol.337. See above, p. 229.noteb.[587]Lat.Hist. Nat.viii. 93.[588]Sparrman, i. 201.[589]Voyage à la recherche de la Perouse, ii. 240.[590]Reaum. ii. 342.[591]Shaw,Nat. Misc.[592]Hist. Nat.vii. 227.[593]Rösel, iv. 257.[594]Personal Travels, ii. 205.[595]For this list of remedies, see Lesser,L.ii. 171-3.[596]Gerbi. The same virtues have been ascribed toCoccinella septempunctata, L.[597]Latr.Hist. Nat. des Fourmis, 48. 134.[598]Jackson'sMarocco, 83. Some doubt however attaches to this statement, from the circumstance of the figure which Mr. Jackson gives of his beetle (Dibben Fashook) being clearly a mere copy of that of Mr. Bruce'sZimb![599]IlligerMag.i. 256.[600]Hist. Nat.l. xix. c. 4.[601]Vol. v. 213.[602]Carabus, Oliv.Entom.iii. 69.t.iii.f.26. ComparePhilanthropist, ii. 210.[603]Molina'sChili, i. 174.[604]Ent. Carniol.264.[605]Captain Green was accustomed to put a fire-fly under the glass of his watch, when he had occasion to rise very early for a march, which enabled him, without difficulty, to distinguish the hour.[606]Molina, i. 171, 285.[607]Latr.Hist. Nat.x. 143.[608]Encyclop. Insect.vi. 281. It had better, perhaps, as compound Trivial Names are bad, be calledCynips Scriptorum.[609]Olivier'sTravels in Egypt, &c. ii. 64.[610]The colour communicated by Kermes with alum, the only mordant formerly employed, is blood red: but Dr. Bancroft found (i. 404.) that with the solution of tin used with cochineal it is capable of imparting a scarlet quite as brilliant as that dye, and perhaps more permanent. At the same time, however, as ten or twelve pounds contain only as much colouring matter as one of cochineal, the latter at its ordinary price is the cheapest.[611]Bochart,Hierozoic.ii. l. iv. c. 27. Beckmann'sHistory of Inventions, Engl. Trans. ii. 171-205. Brancrofton permanent Colours. i. 393. See also Parkhurst'sHeb. Lexiconunder תלע and שנה.[612]Rai.Hist. Plant.i. 401.[613]Bancroft, i. 401.[614]Bancroft, i. 413. Reaum. iv. 88.[615]Humboldt'sPolitical Essay on New Spain, iii. 72-9.[616]Ibid. iii. 64.—Dr. Bancroft estimates the present annual consumption of cochineal in Great Britain at about 750 bags, or 150,000 lbs.—worth at the present price 375,000l.[617]Lesser,L.ii. 165.[618]Bancrofton permanent Colours, ii. 20. 49.[619]Reaum. iii.Preface, xxxi.[620]Lach. Lapp.i. 258.[621]Trans. of the Soc. of Arts, xxiii. 411.[622]Reaum. iii. 95.[623]Political Essay, iii. 62.[624]Voyage dans l'Amer. Merid.i. 162.[625]Grosier'sChina, i. 439.[626]Quoted in Southey'sThalaba, ii. 166.[627]Embassy to China, i. 400.[628]Phil. Trans.1794. xxi.[629]Voyage dans l'Amer. Merid.i. 164.[630]Molina'sChili, i. 174.[631]Communications to the Board of Agricult.vii. 286.[632]Millson Bees, 77.[633]Latr. in Humboldt and Bonpland,Recueil d'Observ. de Zoologie, &c. (Paris, 1805) 300.[634]Hill inSwammerdam, i. 181, note.[635]Latr.ubi supr.300.[636]Knox'sCeylon, 25.[637]Voy. dans l'Amer. Merid.i. 162.[638]M. Latreille appears to have described this bee under the name ofApis unicolor.Mém. sur les Abeilles, 8. 39.[639]Latr.Hist. Nat.xiv. 20.[640]Latr. in Humboldt and Bonpland,Recueil, &c. 302.[641]Vorlesungen, 324. I have read somewhere, but neglecting to make a memorandum I cannot refer to the author, (Latreille?) that a species of wasp in South America collects and stores uphoney.[642]Colebrook inAsiatic Researches, v. 61.[643]Milton'sComus.[644]Hist. Animal.l. v. c. 19. A French gentleman, M. Vaucanson, has invented a mill for unwinding the cocoons of the silkworm. Scott'sVisit to Paris, 4th ed. 304.[645]Pausanias, quoted by Goldsmith, vi. 80.[646]PlinyHist. Nat.l. xi. c. 22.[647]Aristot.ubi supr.He does not expressly say thepupa, but this we must suppose. Thelarvahe means could not be the common silk-worm, since he describes it as large, and having as it were horns.[648]vii. 33-48. Compare Lord Valentia'sTravels, i. 78.[649]xxiii. 235.[650]Vorlesungen, 325.[651]Latr.Hist. Nat.xiv. 150. Three modern species ofSaturniawere formerly considered as varieties only, and distinguished by the trivial name ofPavonia major,media, andminor; these are now calledS. Pyri,Spini, andCarpini. Ochsenh.[652]Pullein inPhil. Trans.1759. 54.[653]Annals of Botany, ii. 104.[654]Political Essay on N. Spain, iii. 59.[655]Voyage dans l'Amer. Merid.i. 212. It may here be observed as a benefit derived by the higher walks of philosophy from insects—that astronomers employ the strongest thread of spiders, the one namely that supports the web, for the divisions of the micrometer. By its ductility this thread acquires about a fifth of its ordinary length.Nouv. Dict. d'Hist. Nat.ii. 280.[656]American Phil. Trans.v. 325.[657]Anderson'sRecreations in Agriculture, &c. iv. 399.[658]P.147, &c.[659]Clark inLinn. Trans.iii. 304.[660]Bonnet, ii. 344.[661]The Rev. Dr. Sutton of Norwich made similar observations upon the proceedings of this insect in his garden for two successive seasons.[662]Rai.Hist. Ins.254.[663]Reaum. vi. 252.[664]By this term I would distinguish the tribe ofFossoresof Latreille, which the French callWasp-Ichneumons, and which form the Linnean genusSphex, divisible into several families asSphecidæ,Pompilidæ,Bembecidæ, &c.[665]Mr. W. S. MacLeay in his very remarkable and learned work (Horæ Entomologicæ) has very properly restored its name to the trueScarabæusof the ancients, which gives its name to this group.[666]Mouffet, 153.[667]J. Pierii ValerianiHieroglyphica, 93-5. Mouffet, 156.[668]Travels, ii. 306. Compare M. Latreille's learned Memoir entitledDes Insectes peints ou sculptes sur les Monumens antiques de l'Egypte.Ann. du Mus.1819.[669]GleditschPhysic. Bot. Oecon. Abhandl.iii. 200-227.[670]Natural Theology, 497.[671]Latreille denominates this tribeSecurifera; but as the tool of these insects resembles asawand not ahatchet, we have ventured to change it toSerrifera, which is more appropriate.[672]Prof. Peck'sNat. Hist. of the Slug-worm,t.12.f.12-14.PlateXV.Fig.21.[673]Linn. Trans.iii. 23.[674]Apis.**.c.2. γ. K.[675]PlateXVI.Fig.1.[676]See Kirby inLinn. Trans.v. 254.t.12.f.15.[677]See above,150.[678]Bonnet, ix. 398.[679]liii. 37.Pelopæus spirifex?[680]Reaum. vi. 269.[681]De Geer, iii. 262.[682]De Geer, iii. 548.[683]Bonnet, ii. 435.[684]De Geer, vii. 194.[685]De Geer, vii. 268.[686]Huber, 69.[687]De Geer, ii. 1099.[688]Gould, 37.[689]Huber, 74.[690]Huber, 78.[691]The Russian shepherds ingeniously avail themselves of the attachment of ants to their young, for obtaining with little trouble a collection of the pupæ, which they sell as a dainty food for nightingales. They scatter an ants' nest upon a dry plot of ground, surrounded with a shallow trench of water, and place on one side of it a few fir branches. Under these the ants, having no other alternative, carefully arrange all their pupæ, and in an hour or two the shepherd finds a large heap clean and ready for market. Anderson'sRecreations in Agriculture, &c.iv. 158.[692]Huber, 83.[693]Ibid. 93.[694]p.35.[695]Huber, 110.[696]Huber, 109.—Gould had, long before Huber, observed that female ants cast their wings, pp. 59, 62, 64. I have frequently observed them, sometimes with only one wing, at others with only fragments of the wings; and again, at others they were so completely pulled off, that it could not be known that they formerly had them, only by the sockets in which they were inserted.[697]Huber, 93.[698]See Willughby in Rai.Hist. Ins.251. and Reaum.[699]Reaum. vi. 174.[700]It is not unlikely that it may undergo some other alteration in the bee's stomach, which may possibly secrete some peculiar substance, as John Hunter discovered that the crop of the pigeon does.[701]Dr. Johnson was ignorant of the etymology of this word. It is clearly derived from the GermanHummelorHummel Biene, a name probably given it from its sound. Our English name would be more significant were it altered toHumming-beeorBooming-bee.[702]Linn. Trans.vi. 247 &c.[703]Ephem. German. An.xii.Obs.58. Rai.Hist. Ins.261.[704]Linn. Trans.xi. 11.t.3.f.5-7.[705]De Geer, iv. 210.[706]Brahm,Insekten Kalender, i. 190.[707]Reaum. iv. 280.[708]De Geer, vi. 112.[709]Reaum. vi. 271.[710]Entomologische Bemerkungen(Braunschweig 1799), p. 6.[711]Latreille,Obs. sur les Hymenoptères.Ann. de Mus.xiv. 412.[712]Reaum. iii. 257.[713]Ibid. iii. 277.[714]Ibid. ii. 324.[715]For an instance in which an insect, usually subsisting upon animal food, derived nutriment from a mineral substance, seePhilos. Magaz.&c. for January 1823. 2—.[716]Lesser,L.i. 259.[717]x. 458.[718]Dictionnaire Physique.[719]In the controversy between the commentators on Shakespeare, as to whethershard[720]means wing-cases, dung, or a fragment of earthenware, and whetherbornshould be spelled with or without thee, it might have thrown some weight into the scale of those who contend for the orthography adopted above, and that the meaning ofshardin this place is dung, if they had been aware that the beetle (Geotrupes stercorarius) is actuallybornamongst dung, and no where else; and that no beetle which makes a hum in flying can with propriety be said, as Dr. Johnson has interpreted the epithet in his Dictionary, "to be born amongst broken stones or pots." That Shakespeare alluded to the Beetle, and not to the Cockchafer (Melolontha vulgaris), seems clear from the fact of the former being to be heard in all places almost every fine evening in the summer, while the latter is common only in particular districts, and at one period of the year. S.[720]Sharnis the common name of cow-dung in the North: therefore Shakespeare probably wrotesharn-born.Mr. MacLeay.[721]De Geer, vii. 123.[722]Id. ibid. 126.[723]PlateVI.Fig.4, 5. 10, 11. 24-26.[724]For a full description of this instrument see Reaum. i. 125, &c.PlateVI.Fig.13.[725]The mode, however, in which this is effected in all insects furnished with a proboscis, can scarcely be by suction, strictly so called, or the abstraction of air, since the air-vessels of insects do not communicate with their mouths: it is more probably performed in part by capillary attraction; and, as Lamarck has suggested, (Syst. des Anim. sans Vertèbres, p. 193.) in part by a succession of undulations and contractions of the sides of the organ.[726]PlateVI.Fig.16-19.
[467]Maupertuis observes, that in Lapland he saw many birch-trees lying on the ground, which had probably been there for a very long time, with the bark entire, though the wood was decayed. Hence we may probably infer, that in that country there are few or none of the bark-boring insects.
[468]Latreille,Observations nouvelles sur les Hyménoptères.Annal. de Mus.11.
[469]Nat. Hist. of Carolina, ii. 105.
[470]Reaum. vi. 282. St. Pierre'sVoyage, 72.
[471]Bartram inPhilos. Trans.xlvi. 126.
[472]The larvæ of some species of Coccinellæ feed, according to Prof. D. Reich, solely on the leaves of plants; as that ofC. hieroglyphica, which eats the leaves of common heath (Erica vulgaris) after the manner of the larvæ ofLepidoptera. I suspect, however, that there is some mistake in this statement.Der Gesellschaft naturf. Fr. in Berlin Mag.&c. iii. 294.
[473]Latreille denominates this family, as he calls it,Pupivora: if by this he alludes to their devouring the young of insects, from theclassicalmeaning of the wordpupa, the term is very proper; but this should be borne in mind, as the majority of readers would imagine it to refer to thepupa stateofinsects, in which they are not so generally devoured by their parasites.
[474]Not having had it in my power to consult Dalman's work on theChalciditesof Latreille, referred to by that learned Entomologist in hisFamilles Naturelles du Règne Animal, I am not able to refer them to their proper genera.
[475]PlateXVI.Fig.1.
[476]Marsham inLinn. Trans.iii. 26.
[477]See above, p.169-170.
[478]Alysia Manducator; and another species allied toAlomyia Debellator, which I have namedA. Stercorator.
[479]De Geer, ii. 863.
[480]Ibid. 851-5.
[481]Reaum. ii. 419.
[482]De Geer, i. 196. vi. 14. 24.
[483]Reaum. ii. 440-4.
[484]Linn. Trans.xi. 86.
[485]Kirby'sMon. Ap. Ang.ii. 110-113.
[486]RossiFn. Etrusc. Mant.
[487]Preys.Bömisch. Insekt.59. 61.
[488]PlateXVII.Fig.13.
[489]Entom. Helvétique, ii. 158.
[490]In the former edition of this work (Vol. IV. p. 392), this tribe is denominatedEupodina; but as this seems too near to M. Latreille'sEupoda, belonging to a different tribe of beetles, we have substituted the above name, which means the same.
[491]One was taken at Aldeburgh in Suffolk by Dr. Crabbe, the celebrated poet; another by a young lady at Southwold, which is now in the cabinet of W. J. Hooker, esq.; and a third by a boy at Norwich, crawling up a wall, which was purchased of him by S. Wilkin, esq.
[492]Latr.Hist. Nat.x. 181.
[493]Linn. Trans.vi. 149. Kirby,Ibid.ix. 42. 23.
[494]The late R. Kittoe, Esq.
[495]p.123.
[496]Voyages, i. 185.
[497]Percival'sCeylon, 307.
[498]Mr. Knight made the same observation in 1806, and supposes the scarcity of neuters arose from the want of males to impregnate the females.Philos. Trans.1807, p. 243.
[499]St. Pierre,Voy.72.
[500]Lesser,L.i. 263, note.
[501]Reaum. vi. 400.t.36-38.PlateXVI.Fig.5.a.
[502]Thiebaut de Berneaud'sVoyage to Elba, p. 31.
[503]
"Even Tiger fell and sullen BearTheir likeness and their lineage spare.Man only mars kind nature's plan,And turns the fierce pursuit on Man!"Scott'sRokeby, canto iii. 1.
"Even Tiger fell and sullen BearTheir likeness and their lineage spare.Man only mars kind nature's plan,And turns the fierce pursuit on Man!"Scott'sRokeby, canto iii. 1.
[504]Reaumur, ii. 413.
[505]De Geer, i. 533. iii. 361. v. 400. vi. 91.
[506]Rösel, iv. 96.
[507]Thunberg'sTravels, ii. 66.
[508]De Geer, vii. 335.
[509]De Geer, vii. 180.
[510]Bingley, ii. 374.
[511]Bingley, iii. 27.
[512]Collinson inPhilos. Trans.1763.
[513]Sparrman, ii. 180.
[514]St. Pierre,Voy.73.
[515]Reaum. vi. 479-487.
[516]Swamm.Bib. Nat.i. c. 4. 106. b.
[517]In Col. Venable'sExperienced Angler, a vast number of insects are enumerated as good baits for fish, under the names ofBob,Cadbait,Cankers,Caterpillars,Palmers,Gentles,Bark-worms,Oak-worms,Colewort-worms,Flag-worms,Green-flies,Ant-flies,Butterflies,Wasps,Hornets,Bees,Humble-bees,Grasshoppers,Dors,Beetles,a great brown flythat lives upon the oak like aScarabee—(Melolontha vulgarisorAmphimalla solstitialis?) andflies(i. e.may-flies) of various sorts.
[518]Anderson'sRecreations in Agricult. &c., iv. 478. Latr.Hist. Nat.xiv. 154.
[519]According to Mr. Heckewelder (Trans. Am. Phil. Soc.iv. 124.)L. Excubitor, called in America the nine-killer, from an idea that it transfixes nine individuals daily, treats in this mannerGrasshoppersonly; whileL. Colluriowould seem to restrict itself chiefly toGeotrupes, two of which Mr. Sheppard once observed transfixed in a hedge that he knew to be the residence of this bird. Kugellan even thinks that it impales onlyG. vernalis, which he has often found transfixed, but neverG. stercorarius. (Schneid.Mag.259.) I must remark, however, that I last summer observed twohumble-beesquite alive, impaled on the thorns of a hedge near my house, which had most probably been so placed by this species,L. Excubitorbeing rarely found except in mountainous wilds. (Bewick'sBirds, i. 61.) And Prof. Sander states that on opening this bird (L. Collurio) he has sometimes found in its stomach nothing but grasshoppers, and at others small beetles and other insects.NaturforscherStk. xviii. 234.
[520]Stillingfl.Tracts, 175.Linn. Trans.v. 105. noteb.
[521]Bingley, ii. 287-290.
[522]Sparrman, ii. 186.
[523]See above p. 208.noteb. and Bewick'sBirds.i. Pref. xxii. 130.
[524]Bib. Nat.i. 126. b.
[525]Travels, i. 110.
[526]Reaum. ii. 408.
[527]Bingley, ii. 374.
[528]White'sSelborne, i. 181.
[529]Philos. Mag.xxxix. 107.
[530]Small flies are sometimes found sticking to the glutinous stigma of some of the Orchideæ like birds on a limed twig: (SprengelEntdecktes Geheimniss, 21—) and ants are not unfrequently detained in the milky juice which the touch of even their light feet causes to exude from the calyxes of the common garden lettuce.Ann. of Bot.ii. 590.
[531]Elements of the Science of Botany, 62.
[532]Smith'sIntroduction to Botany, 195.
[533]Mouffet, 319.
[534]Smith'sTracts, 165. Kölreuter,Ann. of Bot.ii. 9.
[535]Chr. Conr. SprengelEntdecktes Geheimniss, &c.Berlin 1793, 4to. quoted inAnn. of Bot.i. 414.
[536]Grundriss der Kräuterkunde, 353. A writer however in theAnnual Medical Review(ii. 400.) doubts the accuracy of this fact, on the ground that he could never findC. pennicornis, thoughA. Clematitishas produced fruit two years at Brompton. Meigen (Dipt. i. 100. e.) places this amongst his doubtfulCecidomyiæ. Fabricius considers it as aChironomus.
[537]I have frequently observedDermestes flavescens, Ent. Brit. (Byturus) eat both the petals and stamens ofStellaria Holosteum; andMordellæwill open the anthers with the securiform joints of their palpi to get at the pollen.
[538]Hasselquist'sTravels, 253. Latr.Hist. Nat.xiii. 204.
[539]Willd.Grundriss, 352.
[540]Phil. Trans.xlvi. 536.
[541]Walpole in Clarke'sTravels, ii. 187. Even Mr. Boyle speaks with abhorrence of eating raw oysters. Walton'sAngler, Life, p. 12.
[542]Baron Humboldt asks (Person. Narr.VI. i. 8. note)—"What are those worms (Loulin Arabic) which Captain Lyon, the fellow traveller of my brave and unfortunate friend Mr. Ritchie, found in the pools of the desert of Fezzan, which served the Arabs for food, and which have the taste ofCaviare? Are they not insects' eggs resembling theAguautle, which I saw sold in the markets of Mexico, and which are collected on the surface of the lakes of Texcuco?" For this latter fact he refers to theGazeta de Litteratura de Mexico. 1794. iii. No. 26. p. 201. It appears from this note of the illustrious traveller that insects are used as food in theireggas well as their other states.
[543]Herbst and Schönherr call this distinct genusRhyncophorus; but as this is too near the name of the tribe (Rhyncophora), we have adopted Thunberg's name, altering the termination to distinguish it fromCordylea genus of Lizards.
[544]Ælian.Hist.l. xiv. c. 13. quoted in Reaum. ii. 343.
[545]Ins. Sur.48.
[546]Hist. Nat.l. xvii. c. 24.
[547]Wisdom of God, 9th ed. 307. Ray first adopted the opinion here maintained, that the Cossi were the larvæ of some beetle; but afterwards, from observing in the caterpillar ofCossus ligniperdaa power of retracting its prolegs within the body, he conjectured that the hexapod larva from Jamaica, (Prionus damicornis?) given him by Sir Hans Sloane, might have the same faculty, and so be the caterpillar of a Bombyx.
[548]Amoreux has collected the different opinions of entomologists on the subject of Pliny's Cossus, which has been supposed the larva ofCordylia Palmarumby Geoffroy; ofLucanus Cervusby Scopoli; and ofPrionus damicornisby Drury. The first and last, being neither natives of Italy nor inhabiting the oak, are out of the question. The larvæ ofLucanus CervusandPrionus coriarius, which are found in the oak as well as in other trees, may each have been eaten under this name, as their difference would not be discernible either to collectors or cooks. Amoreux, 154.
[549]MerianIns. Sur.24.
[550]St. Pierre,Voy.72.
[551]Smeathman, 32.
[552]Reaum. ii. 344.
[553]Phytol.364.
[554]Diod. Sic. l. iii. c. 29. StrabonisGeog.l. xvi. &c.
[555]Hist. Nat.l. xi. c. 29.
[556]Travels, 232.
[557]Hieroz.ii. l. 14. c. 7.
[558]Sparrman, i. 367.
[559]Rev.ix. 2, 3.
[560]Hieroz.ii. l. 4. c. 7. 492.
[561]Pliny,Hist. Nat.l. vi. c. 30.
[562]Id. ibid.
[563]Jackson'sTravels in Marocco, 53. The Rev. R. Sheppard caused some of our large English grasshopper (Acrida viridissima) to be cooked in the way here recommended, only substituting butter for vinegar, and found them excellent.
[564]Travels, 230.
[565]Hom.Il.γ. 150-4.
[566]Arist.Hist. An.l. v. c. 30.
[567]Vide Bochart,Hieroz.ii. l. 4. c. 7. 491.
[568]Hist. Nat.l. xi. c. 26.
[569]P. Collinson inPhil. Trans.1763. n. x.
[570]One species however has been found in Hampshire in the New Forest. See Samouelle'sEntomologist's Useful Compendium,t.v.f.2.
[571]Reaum. ii. 341.
[572]Ray'sLetters, 135.
[573]Sparrman, i. 201.
[574]Sir G. Staunton'sVoy.iii. 246.
[575]Phytol.364.
[576]Sparrman, i. 363.
[577]Captain Green relates that, in the ceded districts in India, they place the branches of trees over the nests, and then by means of smoke drive out the insects; which attempting to fly, their wings are broken off by the mere touch of the branches.
[578]Smeathman, 31.
[579]Letters written in a Mahratta Camp in1809.
[580]Knox'sCeylon, 25.
[581]Piso,Ind.l. v. c. 13. 291.
[582]Travels in Sweden, 118.
[583]Ibid.
[584]Smith'sIntrod. to Bot.346. Olivier'sTravels, i. 139.
[585]Reaum. iii. 416.
[586]Scop.Carniol.337. See above, p. 229.noteb.
[587]Lat.Hist. Nat.viii. 93.
[588]Sparrman, i. 201.
[589]Voyage à la recherche de la Perouse, ii. 240.
[590]Reaum. ii. 342.
[591]Shaw,Nat. Misc.
[592]Hist. Nat.vii. 227.
[593]Rösel, iv. 257.
[594]Personal Travels, ii. 205.
[595]For this list of remedies, see Lesser,L.ii. 171-3.
[596]Gerbi. The same virtues have been ascribed toCoccinella septempunctata, L.
[597]Latr.Hist. Nat. des Fourmis, 48. 134.
[598]Jackson'sMarocco, 83. Some doubt however attaches to this statement, from the circumstance of the figure which Mr. Jackson gives of his beetle (Dibben Fashook) being clearly a mere copy of that of Mr. Bruce'sZimb!
[599]IlligerMag.i. 256.
[600]Hist. Nat.l. xix. c. 4.
[601]Vol. v. 213.
[602]Carabus, Oliv.Entom.iii. 69.t.iii.f.26. ComparePhilanthropist, ii. 210.
[603]Molina'sChili, i. 174.
[604]Ent. Carniol.264.
[605]Captain Green was accustomed to put a fire-fly under the glass of his watch, when he had occasion to rise very early for a march, which enabled him, without difficulty, to distinguish the hour.
[606]Molina, i. 171, 285.
[607]Latr.Hist. Nat.x. 143.
[608]Encyclop. Insect.vi. 281. It had better, perhaps, as compound Trivial Names are bad, be calledCynips Scriptorum.
[609]Olivier'sTravels in Egypt, &c. ii. 64.
[610]The colour communicated by Kermes with alum, the only mordant formerly employed, is blood red: but Dr. Bancroft found (i. 404.) that with the solution of tin used with cochineal it is capable of imparting a scarlet quite as brilliant as that dye, and perhaps more permanent. At the same time, however, as ten or twelve pounds contain only as much colouring matter as one of cochineal, the latter at its ordinary price is the cheapest.
[611]Bochart,Hierozoic.ii. l. iv. c. 27. Beckmann'sHistory of Inventions, Engl. Trans. ii. 171-205. Brancrofton permanent Colours. i. 393. See also Parkhurst'sHeb. Lexiconunder תלע and שנה.
[612]Rai.Hist. Plant.i. 401.
[613]Bancroft, i. 401.
[614]Bancroft, i. 413. Reaum. iv. 88.
[615]Humboldt'sPolitical Essay on New Spain, iii. 72-9.
[616]Ibid. iii. 64.—Dr. Bancroft estimates the present annual consumption of cochineal in Great Britain at about 750 bags, or 150,000 lbs.—worth at the present price 375,000l.
[617]Lesser,L.ii. 165.
[618]Bancrofton permanent Colours, ii. 20. 49.
[619]Reaum. iii.Preface, xxxi.
[620]Lach. Lapp.i. 258.
[621]Trans. of the Soc. of Arts, xxiii. 411.
[622]Reaum. iii. 95.
[623]Political Essay, iii. 62.
[624]Voyage dans l'Amer. Merid.i. 162.
[625]Grosier'sChina, i. 439.
[626]Quoted in Southey'sThalaba, ii. 166.
[627]Embassy to China, i. 400.
[628]Phil. Trans.1794. xxi.
[629]Voyage dans l'Amer. Merid.i. 164.
[630]Molina'sChili, i. 174.
[631]Communications to the Board of Agricult.vii. 286.
[632]Millson Bees, 77.
[633]Latr. in Humboldt and Bonpland,Recueil d'Observ. de Zoologie, &c. (Paris, 1805) 300.
[634]Hill inSwammerdam, i. 181, note.
[635]Latr.ubi supr.300.
[636]Knox'sCeylon, 25.
[637]Voy. dans l'Amer. Merid.i. 162.
[638]M. Latreille appears to have described this bee under the name ofApis unicolor.Mém. sur les Abeilles, 8. 39.
[639]Latr.Hist. Nat.xiv. 20.
[640]Latr. in Humboldt and Bonpland,Recueil, &c. 302.
[641]Vorlesungen, 324. I have read somewhere, but neglecting to make a memorandum I cannot refer to the author, (Latreille?) that a species of wasp in South America collects and stores uphoney.
[642]Colebrook inAsiatic Researches, v. 61.
[643]Milton'sComus.
[644]Hist. Animal.l. v. c. 19. A French gentleman, M. Vaucanson, has invented a mill for unwinding the cocoons of the silkworm. Scott'sVisit to Paris, 4th ed. 304.
[645]Pausanias, quoted by Goldsmith, vi. 80.
[646]PlinyHist. Nat.l. xi. c. 22.
[647]Aristot.ubi supr.He does not expressly say thepupa, but this we must suppose. Thelarvahe means could not be the common silk-worm, since he describes it as large, and having as it were horns.
[648]vii. 33-48. Compare Lord Valentia'sTravels, i. 78.
[649]xxiii. 235.
[650]Vorlesungen, 325.
[651]Latr.Hist. Nat.xiv. 150. Three modern species ofSaturniawere formerly considered as varieties only, and distinguished by the trivial name ofPavonia major,media, andminor; these are now calledS. Pyri,Spini, andCarpini. Ochsenh.
[652]Pullein inPhil. Trans.1759. 54.
[653]Annals of Botany, ii. 104.
[654]Political Essay on N. Spain, iii. 59.
[655]Voyage dans l'Amer. Merid.i. 212. It may here be observed as a benefit derived by the higher walks of philosophy from insects—that astronomers employ the strongest thread of spiders, the one namely that supports the web, for the divisions of the micrometer. By its ductility this thread acquires about a fifth of its ordinary length.Nouv. Dict. d'Hist. Nat.ii. 280.
[656]American Phil. Trans.v. 325.
[657]Anderson'sRecreations in Agriculture, &c. iv. 399.
[658]P.147, &c.
[659]Clark inLinn. Trans.iii. 304.
[660]Bonnet, ii. 344.
[661]The Rev. Dr. Sutton of Norwich made similar observations upon the proceedings of this insect in his garden for two successive seasons.
[662]Rai.Hist. Ins.254.
[663]Reaum. vi. 252.
[664]By this term I would distinguish the tribe ofFossoresof Latreille, which the French callWasp-Ichneumons, and which form the Linnean genusSphex, divisible into several families asSphecidæ,Pompilidæ,Bembecidæ, &c.
[665]Mr. W. S. MacLeay in his very remarkable and learned work (Horæ Entomologicæ) has very properly restored its name to the trueScarabæusof the ancients, which gives its name to this group.
[666]Mouffet, 153.
[667]J. Pierii ValerianiHieroglyphica, 93-5. Mouffet, 156.
[668]Travels, ii. 306. Compare M. Latreille's learned Memoir entitledDes Insectes peints ou sculptes sur les Monumens antiques de l'Egypte.Ann. du Mus.1819.
[669]GleditschPhysic. Bot. Oecon. Abhandl.iii. 200-227.
[670]Natural Theology, 497.
[671]Latreille denominates this tribeSecurifera; but as the tool of these insects resembles asawand not ahatchet, we have ventured to change it toSerrifera, which is more appropriate.
[672]Prof. Peck'sNat. Hist. of the Slug-worm,t.12.f.12-14.PlateXV.Fig.21.
[673]Linn. Trans.iii. 23.
[674]Apis.**.c.2. γ. K.
[675]PlateXVI.Fig.1.
[676]See Kirby inLinn. Trans.v. 254.t.12.f.15.
[677]See above,150.
[678]Bonnet, ix. 398.
[679]liii. 37.Pelopæus spirifex?
[680]Reaum. vi. 269.
[681]De Geer, iii. 262.
[682]De Geer, iii. 548.
[683]Bonnet, ii. 435.
[684]De Geer, vii. 194.
[685]De Geer, vii. 268.
[686]Huber, 69.
[687]De Geer, ii. 1099.
[688]Gould, 37.
[689]Huber, 74.
[690]Huber, 78.
[691]The Russian shepherds ingeniously avail themselves of the attachment of ants to their young, for obtaining with little trouble a collection of the pupæ, which they sell as a dainty food for nightingales. They scatter an ants' nest upon a dry plot of ground, surrounded with a shallow trench of water, and place on one side of it a few fir branches. Under these the ants, having no other alternative, carefully arrange all their pupæ, and in an hour or two the shepherd finds a large heap clean and ready for market. Anderson'sRecreations in Agriculture, &c.iv. 158.
[692]Huber, 83.
[693]Ibid. 93.
[694]p.35.
[695]Huber, 110.
[696]Huber, 109.—Gould had, long before Huber, observed that female ants cast their wings, pp. 59, 62, 64. I have frequently observed them, sometimes with only one wing, at others with only fragments of the wings; and again, at others they were so completely pulled off, that it could not be known that they formerly had them, only by the sockets in which they were inserted.
[697]Huber, 93.
[698]See Willughby in Rai.Hist. Ins.251. and Reaum.
[699]Reaum. vi. 174.
[700]It is not unlikely that it may undergo some other alteration in the bee's stomach, which may possibly secrete some peculiar substance, as John Hunter discovered that the crop of the pigeon does.
[701]Dr. Johnson was ignorant of the etymology of this word. It is clearly derived from the GermanHummelorHummel Biene, a name probably given it from its sound. Our English name would be more significant were it altered toHumming-beeorBooming-bee.
[702]Linn. Trans.vi. 247 &c.
[703]Ephem. German. An.xii.Obs.58. Rai.Hist. Ins.261.
[704]Linn. Trans.xi. 11.t.3.f.5-7.
[705]De Geer, iv. 210.
[706]Brahm,Insekten Kalender, i. 190.
[707]Reaum. iv. 280.
[708]De Geer, vi. 112.
[709]Reaum. vi. 271.
[710]Entomologische Bemerkungen(Braunschweig 1799), p. 6.
[711]Latreille,Obs. sur les Hymenoptères.Ann. de Mus.xiv. 412.
[712]Reaum. iii. 257.
[713]Ibid. iii. 277.
[714]Ibid. ii. 324.
[715]For an instance in which an insect, usually subsisting upon animal food, derived nutriment from a mineral substance, seePhilos. Magaz.&c. for January 1823. 2—.
[716]Lesser,L.i. 259.
[717]x. 458.
[718]Dictionnaire Physique.
[719]In the controversy between the commentators on Shakespeare, as to whethershard[720]means wing-cases, dung, or a fragment of earthenware, and whetherbornshould be spelled with or without thee, it might have thrown some weight into the scale of those who contend for the orthography adopted above, and that the meaning ofshardin this place is dung, if they had been aware that the beetle (Geotrupes stercorarius) is actuallybornamongst dung, and no where else; and that no beetle which makes a hum in flying can with propriety be said, as Dr. Johnson has interpreted the epithet in his Dictionary, "to be born amongst broken stones or pots." That Shakespeare alluded to the Beetle, and not to the Cockchafer (Melolontha vulgaris), seems clear from the fact of the former being to be heard in all places almost every fine evening in the summer, while the latter is common only in particular districts, and at one period of the year. S.
[720]Sharnis the common name of cow-dung in the North: therefore Shakespeare probably wrotesharn-born.Mr. MacLeay.
[721]De Geer, vii. 123.
[722]Id. ibid. 126.
[723]PlateVI.Fig.4, 5. 10, 11. 24-26.
[724]For a full description of this instrument see Reaum. i. 125, &c.PlateVI.Fig.13.
[725]The mode, however, in which this is effected in all insects furnished with a proboscis, can scarcely be by suction, strictly so called, or the abstraction of air, since the air-vessels of insects do not communicate with their mouths: it is more probably performed in part by capillary attraction; and, as Lamarck has suggested, (Syst. des Anim. sans Vertèbres, p. 193.) in part by a succession of undulations and contractions of the sides of the organ.
[726]PlateVI.Fig.16-19.