Insect

“ A survey of the multitudes of insect larvae—grubs, caterpillars, maggots—living on land, on plants, underground, in the water; feeding on leaves, in stems, on roots, on carrion, on refuse; by hunting or by lurking after prey; as parasites or as scavengers, brings home to us most strongly the conclusion that each larva is fitted to some little niche in the vast temple of life, each is specially adapted to its part in the great drama of being. ”

“ What wealth of insect life may there not be at the tops of the trees where the fierce sunshine hidden from us by their leaves is drawing out their flowers! What may there not be going on in the ground beneath us! ”

“ Even the most formidable insects, both in appearance and reality,—the dragon-fly, which is perfectly harmless to man, and the wasp, whose sting every human being almost instinctively shuns,—are splendid in their appearance, and are painted with all the brilliancy of natural hues. ”

“ We may be pouring with perspiration, pestered by flies and mosquitoes, and in constant dread of leeches. But we forget all such annoyances in the joy of these wonders of the tropics, whether they be trees or orchids, ferns or butterflies. And to see one of these gorgeous insects alight in front of us, slowly raise and lower his wings and turn himself about almost as if he were showing himself off for our especial pleasure, compensates us for every worry his fellows in the insect world may cause us. ”

“ The insect has thus turned the whole surface of the earth into a boundless flower-garden, which supplies him from year to year with pollen or honey, and itself in turn gains perpetuation by the baits that it offers to his allurement. ”

“ The peculiarly leaf-like shape of the insect and its bright green colour render its discovery amongst the herbage a most difficult matter, even when its whereabouts is indicated by its cry—in fact, were it not for their music, there is little doubt that very few of these insects would ever be captured, as they are practically invisible, and are an instance of protective resemblance carried to great perfection. ”

“ THE MICROSCOPE AND INSECT LIFE Some of our readers will probably remark that entomology, or the natural history of insects, is really a branch of zoology and should be treated as such. We cannot pretend that they are wrong, but it is such a specialized branch that it merits separate treatment. Not many years ago insects, with few exceptions, were looked upon as harmless and often beautiful dwellers upon the earth. ”

“ We may take another common insect for an illustration of this mode of escape from the pupa, of an equally interesting kind. If the reader will on some fine summer day resort to any place of standing water by the road-side, he may probably succeed in discovering the emergence of a number of gnats; and a very amusing occupation it is to stand by and watch the insect,—this moment an occupant of the waters, and the next darting in the air, a new and air-breathing form of existence! ”

“ Again, going back of the larval period, and studying the insect in the egg, we find that nearly all the insects yet observed agree most strikingly in their mode of growth, so that, for instance, the earlier stages of the germ of a bee, fly or beetle, bear a remarkable resemblance to each other, and suggest again, more forcibly than when we examine the larval condition, that a common design or pattern at first pervades all. ”

“ A beautifully illustrated volume for young people, in which the habits, humors, and eccentricities of insects are delightfully described. The secrets and charms of insect-land are laid open by her vivacious pen, and the astonishing insects are described in a manner that makes them personal acquaintances. ”

“ Each fibre of the fringe that edges the wings is a prism, and even the slender antennæ are covered with golden feathers. Words cannot describe the wondrous beauty of this creature.
Methinks a view of these earthly creatures can the better enable one to appreciate the ineffable glories of the heavenly beings. Even the earth-insect is beautiful beyond the power of words to describe—how much more so the heavenly angel!
When the study of entomology first rose to the dignity of a science, it was found necessary that each insect should be distinguished by a definite title. ”

“ Comparatively small as insects are, they are of vast importance collectively; and there is hardly a leaf of a tree, a blade of grass, or a square inch of ground, where we may not trace the work of some insect. Nearly all strange and curious objects that are noticed by observant eyes in the woods or fields are caused by the action of insects, and are often the insects themselves, in one or other of the phases of their varied life. Certain examples of insect life, and its effects, will now be given. ”

“ Nest of Caddis-worm, balanced with Straws.
"Well, this is truly a wonderful insect. Uncle Philip."
"Truly so indeed, boys. In all these cases it uses its water-proof cement, and if you break its house to pieces, and will patiently watch, you may see it build another. The insect always lives with its head out of doors, and its body inside; so that its head is firm and hard, while its body is soft." ”

“ But, like the last-mentioned, this larva seems to be aware of the feebleness of [281] its next condition, and gnaws in the leaf a round opening, taking care not to cut through the exterior thin layer of tissue, or epidermis. This door is to serve the insect for its exit in due time. But in proportion to its bulk, its green chamber is of considerable size. How, then, shall the insect know the exact place where its portal is situated? How, without a clue, shall it discover in its dark abode the precise circle which requires only a push to throw open its gate? ”

“ INSECTS.
There is nothing more beautiful, wonderful and interesting than insect life; there is nothing that offers a wider field for examination or affords more gratifying results. Under the head of insects are classed, in popular language, all the minute animals; but only those having six legs and two antennæ, and which undergo one or more changes or metamorphoses should be included; most of them have wings, and their name is derived from the word insecta, divided, which is applied to the divisions or articulations of their bodies. ”

“ But, instead of the leaf closing upon the insect, it arrests its prey by means of little globules of viscous fluid, which exude from the tips of the hairs with which the surface of the leaf is covered. As soon as the insect touches the hairs, they close over it, bind it down, and keep it there until it is digested. ”

“ I will now give my readers a short chapter upon insects in general, extracted from Aunt Betsey Piper’s talk to her inquisitive nephew.
Insects are so called because they appear to be divided into two parts, and the word insect means cut apart. The insect tribe are divided by naturalists into several orders. The first consists of those that never have wings, as the spider, flea, louse, &c. ”

“ So a bird that would pounce down upon an insect that it saw moving amongst the leaves of a tree, if there was no doubt that it was an insect, would not take any pains to examine what only looked like one leaf amongst many. ”

“ But detailed study of these various groups of insects shows that beneath their common superficial resemblances lie important distinctions in structure, and essential differences in the course of the life-history. Some of the families—the stone-flies, for example—have the young insect much like the adult, growing its wings visibly outside the thoracic segments, and active at all stages of its life. ”

“ It may be asked, perhaps, how these Insects came to destroy the Turneps only, and not touch the other Greens of the Fields, as Cabbages, Carrots, Parsnips, and the like? Every Herb has its peculiar Insect, like the Trees I [Pg 39] have mention’d: Nay more than this, the Insects which Nature hath design’d to prey upon the Flower of a Plant, will not eat the Leaves, or any other Part of the same Plant. ”

“ After a long subterranean existence, usually extending over several years, the insect attains the penultimate stage of its life-story, during which it rests passively within an earthen cell, awaiting the final moult, which will usher in its winged and perfect state. ”

“ We are now considering insects from the standpoint of their life-histories, and the individual life-story of an insect of which we possess but a few fragments of wings or body, entombed in a rock formed possibly before the period of the Coal Measures, can only be a matter of inference. ”

“ This insect first lives in the water in the form of a larva, in which state it remains a year—it is very much like the insect you are holding, only, all that can be seen of its wings are small swellings, which grow longer each time the animal changes its skin. ”

“ The analogy between the colours, the dispositions, and the qualities of insects, may yet be greater, and between insects, and the plants on which they feed, still more useful; for if an insect is found in one part of the world to feed on a plant useful in food, medicine, or manufactures, an insect of a similar appearance, in another part of the world, will in all probability be found to feed on a plant of similar virtues. We do not know but insects may affect, when perfect, to frequent different soils ”

“ The insect is a minute flea, which burrows into the skin of the toes, where it grows into a large bag of eggs as big as a pea, the insect being just distinguishable as a black speck on one side of it. ”

“ The insect has a long, slender, flexible, sucking beak, which is thrust into the leaf or stem or fruit of the orange on which the "scale bug" lives, and through which the insect sucks the orange sap, which is its only food. ”

“ To be sure, we can find bugs, black, brown, green and grey, but the mere presence of an insect is nothing, though with many, it seems enough, when a tree is blighted, if a bug is found on it, to determine the parentage of the mischief. Nor do the published accounts of insects, found on blighted trees, increase our respect for this theory. ”

“ It is not surprising, then, that the insects, by reason of the never-ending marvel of their transformations, hold first place in every course of nature study in our modern schools, or that nature writers of all times have round a principal source of inspiration in the "wonders of insect lire." ”

“ Distinctive Characters of Insects.—The term Insect, although originally and according to the meaning of the word correctly employed in a wide sense to embrace all those articulate creatures in which the body is externally divided into a number of segments, including, of course, flies, butterflies, beetles, bugs, spiders, scorpions, crabs, shrimps, &c., is now by common consent used in a much more restricted sense to apply only to such of these animals as have six walking legs. ”

“ I ought to have told you that there are two great divisions of the insect family—those which suck liquid food through their proboscis or trunk, such as flies and butterflies, and those—such as the beetles, bees, and locusts—which bite and eat solid food with their jaws. ”

“ Another example of an insect which is neither an ant, bee, wasp, nor white ant, but which yet may be said to live a true social life, is the little creature which, under the name of Psocus venosus and as belonging to the order Carrodentia, will be familiar to everyone. ”

“ The work of different kinds of insects, as represented by special injuries to forest products, is the first thing to attract attention, and the distinctive character of this work is easily observed, while the insect responsible for it is seldom seen, or it is so difficult to determine by the general observer from descriptions or illustrations that the species is rarely recognized. ”

“ The importance of the antennæ to insects is evident to all who have ever watched the play of those active and beautifully-elaborate organs, their infinitely varying forms (often many times the length of the insect itself) , their ceaseless play and independent action. ”

“ The insect passes through three degrees, the larva, the pupa, and imago, the last phase being the noblest, and the middle the most torpid of the three conditions. With man and woman physically it is different. ”

“ But the best proofs are furnished by those often-cited cases in which the insect bears a deceptive resemblance to another object. We now know many such cases, such as the numerous imitations of green or withered leaves, which are brought about in the most diverse ways, sometimes by mere variations in the form of the insect and in its colour, sometimes by an elaborate marking, like that which occurs in the Indian leaf-butterflies, Kallima inachis. ”

“ I refer to the antennæ, which are the most characteristic of insect organs, and wonderfully developed in some, as may be seen by examining the plumes of the crested gnat. Everybody who has carefully watched the doings of insects must have observed the curiously investigative movements of the antennæ, which are ever on the alert, peering and prying to right and left and upwards and downwards. ”

“ In general, the sight of insects, contrary to what its complex sight organs would lead us to expect, is not at all keen. Yet an insect can fly through a forest without striking a twig or branch. Is it better for the eyes that are immovable in the head to be large or small? Which has comparatively larger eyes, an insect or a beast?
Fig. ”

“ The insect crawls upward until it finds a secure resting place, and there remains until ready for flight; each half of the tongue, drawn independently from its receptacle, is rolled in a separate spiral, and now while the wings are gradually expanding the insect applies all its energies to uniting their two parts, incessantly rolls and unrolls them, and beginning simultaneously at the base, gradually fits them together by their interlocking joints ”

“ On this same principle of being mistaken for something that is safe from attack or annoyance, all sorts of animals, and in a special degree insects, have come to look like various objects around them, and amidst which they live, such as stems of grass, pieces of moss or stick, leaves, flowers, and so on—some of the resemblances being more special and extraordinary. ”