David Sharp

“ It appears from Fabre's account that the Bembex is well aware of the presence of the fly, and would seem to entertain a great dread of it, as if conscious that it is a formidable enemy; nevertheless the wasp never attacks the little fly, but allows it sooner or later to accomplish its purpose, and will, it appears, even continue to feed the fly-larvae, though they are the certain destroyers of its own young, thus repeating the relations between cuckoo and sparrow. Most of us think the wasp stupid, and find its relations to the fly incredible or contemptible. ”

“ When it discovers a tarantula it flies "in circles in the air, around its victim. The spider, as if knowing its fate, stands up and makes a show of fighting, but the resistance is very feeble and of no avail. The spider's foe soon discovers a favourable moment and darts upon the tarantula, whom it wounds with its sting, and again commences flying in circles." The natural retreat of this huge spider, Mygale hentzii, is in holes in the ground, and this account does not inform us whether the spider allows itself to be overcome when in its nest, or is only attacked when out of its retreat. ”

“ In order to understand the curious phenomena presented by the castes and variety of forms of a single species of termite, it is necessary to become acquainted with their food habits, which are very peculiar and may be described as communistic. Termites have the habit of eating their cast skins and even their dead companions, and in fact their system of keeping the nest clean seems to be that of eating the refuse of their own bodies till it no longer contains any digestible matter. This cannibalism is the more remarkable, as the will not eat other termites. ”

“ But having dubbed ourselves the higher animals, we ascribe the eagerness of the solitary wasp to impulse or instinct, and we exterminate their numerous species from the face of the earth for ever, without even seeking to make a prior acquaintance with them. ”

“ Another point on which extremely diverse opinions are expressed is the copula of the sexes. It is usually stated that the swarming of termites is analogous to that of bees and ants, in which groups of insects the conjunction of the sexes takes place at this period, and at this period only. In the termites the reverse is the case. The swarming is not at all a nuptial flight; indeed, at that time the sexes are not apt for reproduction. Copulation only takes place after a pair have cast their wings and have established themselves together. ”

“ We think it possible, however, that a knowledge of the mode of feeding of this larva may show that a more perfect nutrition is obtained from a well-constructed cylinder, and if so this would to a slight extent satisfy our longing for explanation, though throwing no light whatever on the physiology or psychology of the artificer, and leaving us hopelessly perplexed as to why a beetle in ages long gone by should or could adopt a mode of life that by long processes of evolution should, after enormous difficulties have been overcome, attain the perfection we admire. ”

“ TERMITE, the name applied to a group of insects with four wings which are developed outside the body (a large proportion of the individuals become adult, however, without wings appearing at all) . The wings are of nearly one size, of long, narrow form, of paper-like consistence, and in repose are placed flat on the back of the insect so that only one wing shows. After a short time the wings are shed, and only small stumps remain as evidence of the individual being a winged form. The mouth has strong mandibles. ”

“ There is not only usually a difference between the sexes in this respect, but also extreme variation within the limits of the same sex, more especially in the case of the males and workers; there is also an astonishing difference in the size of individuals. These variations are carried to such an extent that it is almost impossible to discriminate all the varieties of a species by inspection of the superficial characters. The structures peculiar to the male, as well as the sting of the female, enable the species to be determined with tolerable certainty. ”

“ In ants the phenomena of the kind we are alluding to are very much more complex. There are no solitary ants; associations are the rule (we shall see there are one or two cases in which the association is with individuals of other species) . In correlation with great proclivity to socialism we find an extraordinary increase in the variety of the forms of which species are made up. In addition to the male and female individuals of which the species of Insects usually consist, there are in ants workers of various kinds, and soldiers, all of which are modified infertile females. ”

“ Why then should they attack the creatures? Provided the parasites do not interfere in any unmannerly way with the hosts and their work, there is no reason why the latter should resent their presence. The wild bee that seals up its cell when it has laid an egg therein, and then leaves it for ever, has no conception of the form of its progeny; never in the history of the race of the Andrena has a larva seen a perfect insect and survived thereafter, never has a perfect Insect seen a larva. ”

“ No Insects are more familiar to us than ants; in warm countries some of them even invade the habitations of man, or establish their communities in immediate proximity to his dwellings. Their industry and pertinacity have, even in remote ages, attracted the attention and admiration of serious men; some of whom—we need scarcely mention Solomon as amongst them—have not hesitated to point out these little creatures as worthy of imitation by that most self-complacent of all the species of animals, Homo sapiens. ”

“ It is therefore no wonder that flies are not popular, and that few are willing to study them, or to collect them for observation. Nevertheless, Diptera have considerable claims to be classed as actually the highest of Insects physiologically, for it is certainly in them that the processes of a complete life-history are carried on with the greatest rapidity and that the phenomena of metamorphosis have been most perfected. A maggot, hatching from an egg, is able to grow with such rapidity that the work of its life in this respect is completed in a few days ”

“ A very large number of bees are parasitic in their habits, laying an egg, or sometimes more than one, in the cell of a working bee of some species other than their own; in such cases the resulting larvae eat and grow more quickly than the progeny of the host bee, and so cause it to die of starvation. It has been observed that some of these parasitic larvae, after eating all the store of food, then devour the larva they have robbed. In other cases it is possible that the first care of the parasitic larva, after hatching, is to eat the rival egg. ”

“ The males of some species fight; they do not, however, wound their opponent, but merely frighten him away. In Eupsalis it appears that the rostrum of the female is apt to become fixed in the wood during her boring operations; and the male then extricates her by pressing his heavy prosternum against the tip of her abdomen; the stout forelegs of the female serve as a fulcrum and her long body as a lever, so that the effort of the male, exerted at one extremity of the body of the female, produces the required result at the other end of her body. ”

“ The difference in colour of the sexes is very remarkable, red or yellow predominating in the female, intense black in the male; and it is a curious fact that the same sexual distinction of colour reappears in various parts of the world—England, America, India, and New Zealand; moreover, this occurs in genera that are by no means closely allied, although allied species frequently have concolorous sexes. The eyes of the males are well worth study, there being a very large upper portion, and, abruptly separated from this, a smaller, differently faceted lower portion, practically a separate eye ”

“ The cells in which the young of the Psithyrus are hatched are very much larger than those of the Bombus, and, it may therefore be presumed, are formed by the Psithyrus itself, for it can scarcely be supposed that the Bombus carries its complaisance so far as to construct a cell specially adapted to the superior stature of its uninvited boarder. When a Psithyrus has been for some time a regular inhabitant of a nest, the Bombus take its return home from time to time as a matter of course, displaying no emotion whatever at its entry. ”