THE CLYTHRAE: THE EGG
Let us leave the long-armed and short-armed to pursue their amorous
contests as they please and come to the egg, the main object of my
insect-rearing. The Taxicorn Clythra is the first in the field; I see
her at working during the last days of May. A most singular and
disconcerting batch of eggs is hers! Is it really a group of eggs? I
hesitate until I surprise the mother using her hind-legs to finish
extracting the strange germ which issues slowly and perhaps
laboriously from her oviduct.
It is indeed the Taxicorn Clythra's batch. Assembled in bundles of one
to three dozen and each fastened by a slender transparent thread
slightly longer than itself, the eggs form a sort of inverted umbel,
which dangles sometimes from the trelliswork of the cover, sometimes
from the leaves of the twigs that provide the grub with food. The
bunch of grains quivers at the least breath.
We know the egg-cluster of the Hemerobius, the object of so many
mistakes to the untrained observer. The little Lace-winged Fly with
the gold eggs sets up on a leaf a group of long, tiny columns as fine
as a spider's thread, each bearing an egg as a capital. The whole
resembles pretty closely a tuft of some long-stemmed mildew. Remember
also the Eumenes' hanging egg,[1] which swings at the end of a thread,
thus protecting the grub when it takes its first mouthfuls of the heap
of dangerous game. The Taxicorn Clythra provides us with a third
example of eggs fitted with suspension-threads, but so far nothing has
given me an inkling of the function or the use of this string. Though
the mother's intentions escape me, I can at least describe her work in
some detail.
[Footnote 1: Cf. _The Mason-wasps_: chap. i.--_Translator's Note_.]
The eggs are smooth, coffee-coloured and shaped like a thimble. If you
hold them to the light, you see in the thickness of their skin five
circular zones, darker than the rest and producing almost the same
effect as the hoops of a barrel. The end attached to the
suspension-thread is slightly conical; the other is lopped off
abruptly and the section is hollowed into a circular mouth. A good
lens shows us inside this, a little below the rim, a fine white
membrane, as smooth as the skin of a drum.
In addition, from the edge of the orifice there rises a wide
membranous tab, whitish and delicate, which might be taken for a
raised lid. Nevertheless there is no raising of a lid after the eggs
are laid. I have seen the egg leave the oviduct; it is then what it
will be later, but lighter in colour. No matter: I cannot believe that
so complicated a machine can make its way, with all sail set, through
the maternal straits. I imagine that the lid-like appendage remains
lowered, closing the mouth, until the moment when the egg sees the
light. Then and not till then does it rise.
Guided by the rather less complex structure of the eggs of the other
Clythrae and of the Cryptocephali, I think of trying to take the
strange germ to pieces; and I succeed after a fashion. Under the
coffee-coloured sheath, which forms a little five-hooped barrel, is a
white membrane. This is what we see through the mouth and what I
compared with the skin of a drum. I recognize it as the regulation
tunic, the usual envelope of any insect's egg. The rest, the little
brown barrel, broached at one end and bearing a raised lid, must
therefore be an accessory integument, a sort of exceptional shell, of
which I do not as yet know any other example.
The Long-legged Clythra and the Four-spotted Clythra know nothing of
packing their eggs in long-stemmed bundles. In June, from the height
of the branches in which they are grazing, both of them carelessly
allow their eggs to drop to the ground, one by one, here and there, at
random and at long intervals, without giving the least thought to
their installation. They might be little grains of excrement, unworthy
of interest and ejected at hazard. The egg-factory and the
dung-factory scatter their products with the same indifference.
Nevertheless, let us bring the lens to bear upon the minute particle
so contumeliously treated. It is a miracle of elegance. In both
species of Clythrae the eggs have the form of truncated ellipsoids,
measuring about a millimetre in length.[2] The Long-legged Clythra's
are a very dark brown and remind one of a thimble, a comparison which
is the more exact inasmuch as they are dented with quadrangular pits,
arranged in spiral series which cross one another with exquisite
precision.
[Footnote 2: .039 inch.--_Translator's Note_.]
Those of the Four-spotted Clythra are pale in colour. They are covered
with convex scales, overlapping in diagonal rows, ending in a point at
the lower extremity, which is free and more or less askew. This
collection of scales has rather the appearance of a hop-cone. Surely a
very curious egg, ill-adapted to gliding gently through the narrow
passages of the ovaries. I feel sure that it does not bristle in this
fashion when it descends the delicate natal sheath; it is near the end
of the oviduct that it receives its coat of scales.
In the case of the three Cryptocephali reared in my cages, the eggs
are laid later; their season is the end of June and July. As in the
Clythrae, there is the same lack of maternal care, the same hap-hazard
dropping of the seeds from the centaury-blossoms and the ilex-twigs.
The general form of the egg is still that of a truncated ellipsoid.
The ornaments vary. In the eggs of the Golden Cryptocephalus and the
Ilex Cryptocephalus they consist of eight flattened, wavy ribs,
winding corkscrew-wise; in those of the Two-spotted Cryptocephalus
they take the form of spiral rows of pits.
What can this envelope be, so remarkable for its elegance, with its
spiral mouldings, its thimble-pits and its hop-scales? A few little
accidental facts put me on the right track. To begin with, I acquire
the certainty that the egg does not descend from the ovaries as I find
it on the ground. Its ornamentation, incompatible with a gentle
gliding movement, had already told me as much; I now have a clear
proof.
Mingled with the normal eggs of both the Golden Cryptocephalus and the
Long-legged Clythra, I find others which differ in no respect from the
usual run of insects' eggs. The eggs are perfectly smooth, with a
soft, pale-yellow shell. As the cage contains no other insects than
the Clythra under consideration or the Cryptocephalus, I cannot be
mistaken as to the origin of my finds.
Moreover, if any doubts remained, they would be dispelled by the
following evidence: in addition to the bare, yellow eggs there are
some whose base is set in a tiny brown, pitted cup, obviously the work
of either the Two-spotted Cryptocephalus or the Long-legged Clythra,
according to the cage, but unfinished work, which half-clothed the
egg, as it left the ovaries, and then, when the dress-material ran
short, or something went wrong with the machinery, allowed it to cross
the outer threshold in the likeness of an acorn fixed in its cup.
Nothing could be prettier than this yellow egg, standing in its
artistic egg-cup. Nor could anything tell us more conclusively where
the jewel is manufactured. It is in the cloaca, the chamber common to
the oviduct and the intestine, that the bird wraps its egg in a
calcareous shell, often decorating it with magnificent hues:
olive-green for the Nightingale, sky-blue for the Wheatear, soft pink
for the Icterine Warbler. It is in the cloaca also that the Clythra
and the Cryptocephalus produce the elegant armour of their eggs.
It remains to decide upon the material employed. From its horny
appearance there is reason to believe that the little barrel of the
Taxicorn Clythra and the scales of the Four-spotted Clythra are the
products of a special secretion; and, now that it is too late, I much
regret that I neglected to look for the apparatus yielding this
secretion in the neighbourhood of the cloaca. As for the thing so
prettily wrought by the Long-legged Clythra and the Cryptocephali, let
us admit without false shame that it is made of faecal matter.
The proof is furnished by certain specimens, by no means rare in the
Golden Cryptocephalus, in which the customary brown is replaced by an
unmistakable green, the sign of a vegetable pulp. In course of time,
these green eggs turn brown and become like the others, no doubt by
reason of an oxidization which alters the natural qualities of the
digestive product still further. The egg, entering the cloaca in a
soft and utterly naked state, receives an artistic coat of the
intestinal dross, even as the Hen's egg is covered by a shell formed
of the chalky secretions.
_Materiem superabat opus, nam Mulciber illic
AEquora celerat_,
said Ovid, in his description of the Palace of the Sun. The poet had
precious metals and gems wherewith to build his imaginary marvel. What
has the Clythra wherewith to achieve its ideal jewel? It has the
shameful material whose name is banished from decent speech. And which
is the Mulciber, the Vulcan, the artist-engraver that engraves the
covering of the egg so prettily? It is the terminal sewer. The cloaca
rolls the material, flutes it, twists it into spirals, decks it with
chains of little pits and makes it up into a scaly suit of armour,
showing how nature laughs at our paltry standards of value and how
well able she is to convert the sordid into the beautiful.
In the bird, the egg-shell is a temporary defensive cell which at
hatching-time is broken and abandoned and is henceforth useless. Made
of horny matter or stercoral paste, the shell of the Clythra and the
Cryptocephalus is, on the contrary, a permanent refuge, which the
insect will never leave so long as it remains a larva. Here the grub
is born with a ready-made garment, of rare elegance and an exact fit,
a garment which it only has to enlarge, little by little, in the
original manner described above. The shell, shaped like a little
barrel or thimble, is open in front. There is nothing therefore to
break, nothing to cast aside at the moment of hatching, except perhaps
the actual envelope of the egg. Directly this membrane is burst, the
tiny creature is free, with a handsome carved jacket, a legacy from
its mother.
Let us indulge in a crazy dream and imagine young birds which keep the
egg-shell intact, save for an opening through which they pass their
head, and which, all their lives long, remain clad in this shell, on
condition that they themselves enlarge it as they grow. This absurd
dream is realized by our grub: it is dressed in the shell of its egg,
expanded by degrees as the grub itself grows bigger.
In July all my collection of eggs are hatched, each isolated in a
large cup covered with a slip of glass which will moderate the
evaporation. What an interesting family! My vermin are swarming amid
the miscellaneous vegetable refuse with which I have furnished the
premises. They all move along with tiny steps, dragging their shells,
which they carry lifted on a slant; they come halfway out and suddenly
pop in again; they tumble over if they merely attempt to scale a sprig
of moss, pick themselves up again, forge ahead and cast about at
random.
Hunger, we can no longer doubt, is the cause of this agitation. What
shall I give my famished nurselings? They are vegetarians: there can
be no doubt whatever about that; but this is not enough to settle the
bill of fare. What would happen under the natural conditions? Rearing
the insects in cages, I find the eggs scattered at random on the
ground. The mother drops them carelessly, here and there, from the top
of the bough where she is refreshing herself by soberly notching some
tender leaf. The Taxicorn Clythra fits a long stalk to her eggs and
fixes them in clusters on the foliage. While I cannot yet make up my
mind, in the absence of direct observation, whether the new-born larva
cuts the suspension-thread itself, or whether the thread is broken
merely as a result of drying up, sooner or later these eggs are lying
on the ground, like the others.
The same thing must happen outside my cages: the eggs of the Clythrae
and the Cryptocephali are scattered over the ground beneath the tree
or plant on which the adult feeds.
Now what do we find under the shelter of the oak? Turf, dead leaves,
more or less pickled by decay, dry twigs cased in lichens, broken
stones with cushions of moss and, lastly, mould, the final residue of
vegetable matters wrought upon by time. Under the tufts of the
centaury on which the Golden Cryptocephalus browses lies a black bed
of the miscellaneous refuse of the plant.
I try a little of everything, but nothing answers my expectations very
positively. I observe, nevertheless, that a few disdainful mouthfuls
are taken, a little bit here, a little bit there, enough to tell me
the nature of the first layers which the grub adds to its natal
sheath. With the exception of the Taxicorn Clythra, whose egg, with
its suspension-stalk, seems to denote rather special habits, I see my
several charges begin to prolong their shell with a brown paste,
similar in appearance to that with whose manufacture and employment we
are already familiar.
Discouraged by a food which does not suit them and perhaps also tried
by a season of exceptional drouth, my young potters soon relinquish
their task; they die after adding a shallow rim to their pots.
Only the Long-legged Clythra thrives and repays me amply for my
troublesome nursing. I provide it with chips of old bark taken from
the first tree to hand, the oak, the olive, the fig-tree and many
others. I soften them by steeping them for a short time in water. The
cork-like crusts, however, are not what my boarders eat. The actual
food, the butter on the bread, is on the surface. There is a little
here of all that the first beginnings of vegetable life add to old
tree-trunks, all that breaks up decrepit age to turn it into perpetual
youth.
There are tufts of moss, hardly a twelfth of an inch in height, which
were sleeping droughtily under the merciless sun of the dog-days, but
which a bath in a glass of water awakens at once. They now display
their ring of green leaflets, brightened up and restored to life for a
few hours. There are leprous efflorescences, with their white or
yellow dust; tiny lichens radiating in ash-grey straps and covered
with glaucous, white-edged shields, great round eyes that seem to gaze
from the depths of the limbo in which dead matter comes to life again.
There are collemas, which, after a shower, become dark and bloated and
shake like jellies; sphaerias, whose pustules stand out like ebony
teats, full of myriads of tiny sacs, each containing eight pretty
seeds. A glance through the microscope at the contents of one of these
teats, a speck only just visible to the eye, reveals an astounding
world: an infinity of procreative wealth in an atom. Ah, what a
beautiful thing life is, even on a chip of rotten bark no bigger than
a finger-nail! What a garden! What a treasure-house!
This is the best pasture put to the test. My Clythrae graze upon it,
gathering in dense herds at the most luxuriant spots. One would take
this heap for pinches of some brown, modelled seed or other, the
snapdragon's, for instance; but these particular seeds push and sway;
if one of them moves the least bit, the shells all clash together.
Others wander about, in search of a good place, staggering and
tumbling under the weight of the overcoat; they wander at random
through that great and spacious world, the bottom of my cup.
Not a fortnight has elapsed before a strip, built up on the rim, has
doubled the length of the Long-legged Clythra's shell, in order to
maintain the capacity of the earthenware jar in proportion to the size
of the grub, which has been growing from day to day. The recent
portion, the work of the larva, is very plainly distinguishable from
the original shell, the product of the mother; it is smooth over its
whole extent, whereas the rest is ornamented with tiny holes arranged
in spiral rows.
Planed away inside as it becomes too tight, the jar grows wider and at
the same time longer. The dust taken from it, once more kneaded into
mortar, is reapplied outside, more or less everywhere, and forms a
rubble under which the original beauties end by disappearing. The
neatly-pitted masterpiece is swamped by a layer of brown plasterwork;
not always entirely, however, even when the structure reaches its
final dimensions. If we pass an attentive lens between the two humps
at the lower end, we very often see, encrusted in the earthy mass, the
remains of the shell of the egg. This is the potter's mark. The
arrangement of the spiral ridges, the number and the shape of the pits
enable us almost to read the name of the maker, Clythra or
Cryptocephalus.
From the very first I could not imagine the worker in ceramic paste
designing its own pottery by drafting the first outlines. My doubts
were justified. The grubs of the Clythra and the Cryptocephalus
possess a maternal legacy in the shape of a shell, a garment which
they have only to enlarge. They are born the owners of a layette which
becomes the groundwork of their trousseau. They increase it, without,
however, imitating its artistic elegance. A more vigorous age discards
the laces in which the mother delights to clothe the new-born child.
INDEX
A
Acarus, 33, 44
Adder, 294, 296
_AEgosomus scabricornis_, 317
_Ammophila hirsuta_ (Hairy Ammophila), 96, 304
Andrena, 55, 85
Anoxia, 266
Ant, 294
_Anthaxia nitidula_, 216
Anthidium (_see also_ the varieties below), 180, 236, 280
_Anthidium bellicosum_, 180
_Anthidium scapulare_, 179
Anthophora (_see also_ the varieties below), 28, 30-34, 37, 39-41,
43-45, 53-61, 63-71, 73-75, 77-82, 84, 88, 90, 93, 97, 100, 103-105,
107-110, 114, 126, 128, 131, 139, 151, 163, 176, 179
_Anthophora parietina_, 28, 86, 90
_Anthophora personata_ (_see_ Masked Anthophora), 86
_Anthophora pilipes_ (_see_ Hairy-footed Anthophora), 29, 64, 84, 86,
106
_Anthophora retusa_, 86
Anthrax (_see A. sinuata_), 30, 37, 158, 199
_Anthrax sinuata_, 30, 35
Anthrenus (_see also A. musaeorum_), 33, 44
_Anthrenus musaeorum_, 33
Ant-lion, 13, 366, 368
Asparagus-beetle, Asparagus-grub (_see also_ Field Crioceris,
Twelve-spotted Crioceris), 436, 439
Audubon, John James, 348, 350
Azure Hoplia, 274
B
Bacon-beetle (_see_ Dermestes), 294
Banded Epeira, 284
Bear (_see also_ Cave-bear), 359-360, 400, 447
Beauregard, Dr., 161-162
Bee (_see also_ Bumble-bee, Hive-bee, Mason-bee and the varieties),
28-30, 34, 45, 53-54, 56-57, 59, 60-65, 67, 70-71, 77, 79, 82, 85, 86,
88-90, 92, 97, 99, 101, 105, 106-108, 110, 128, 141-142, 144, 154,
163, 176, 178, 278, 298
Bee-louse, 85
Beetle, _passim_, 7, 28, 31
Beetle's Gamasus, 314
_Belle_ (_see_ Spurge Hawk-moth), 283
Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Jacques Henri, 235
Bison Onitis, 245, 262
Blackbeetle, 388
Blackbeetle of the Sun (_see_ Sacred Beetle)
Black-bellied Lycosa (_see_ Black-bellied Tarantula), 267
Black-bellied Tarantula, 267
Black Buprestis (_see_ Cloudy Buprestis), 386
Blatta (_see_ Blackbeetle), 388
Blister-beetle (_see also_ Cantharides, Cerocoma, Mylabris, Zonitis),
154, 161, 164
Bluebottle, 95-96, 100
Bolbites (_see also B. onitoides_), 243, 268
_Bolbites onitoides_, 242
Bolboceras, 388
Bombardier Beetle, 358
Brachinus (_see_ Bombardier Beetle), 358
Brillat-Savarin (Anthelme), 2
Brilliant Buprestis, 387
Broken Bulimus, 456
Bronze Buprestis, 212
Bulimus (_see also_ Broken Bulimus), 451
Bumble-bee, 71
Buprestis (_see also_ the varieties below), 186, 188, 212, 214-217,
219, 221, 224, 234, 274, 292-293, 381-382, 384, 386
_Buprestis aenea_ (_see_ Bronze Buprestis), 212
_Buprestis octoguttata_ (_see_ Eight-spotted Buprestis), 215
_Buprestis tenebrionis_ (_see_ Cloudy Buprestis), 385, 387
Burnt Zonitis, 179-181
Burying-beetle, 296, 306, 314, 337
_Buthus occitanus_ (_see_ Languedocian Scorpion), 402
Butterfly, 100, 102, 177, 274
C
Calicurgus (_see_ Ringed Calicurgus), 267
_Calliphora vomitoria_ (_see_ Bluebottle), 95
_Calosoma sycophanta_, 356-357
Camel, 269
Cantharides, 164, 166, 169-170, 290
_Canthon bispinus_, 261
_Capnodis tenebrionis_ (_see_ Cloudy Buprestis), 381
Capricorn (_see also_ the varieties below), 186-189, 193, 195-199,
203-204, 209, 220, 237, 380, 439
Capricorn of the Cherry-tree (_see Cerambyx cerdo_), 207-208, 210-211
Capricorn of the Oak (_see_ Capricorn), 209-211
Carabus (_see also_ Golden Carabus, Purple Carabus), 274, 353,
355-357, 363-364, 376
Carrion-beetle (_see_ Silpha), 294
Cat, 307
Cave-bear, 450
Cellar-beetle, 294, 297, 387-388
Cerambyx (_see_ the varieties below), 188, 191, 194, 197, 199, 201,
204, 205, 210, 212, 216
_Cerambyx cerdo_, 207-208
_Cerambyx miles_ (_see_ Capricorn), 187
Cerceris, 304
Cerocoma (_see also_ Schaeffer's Cerocoma, Schreber's Cerocoma),
160-161, 163, 169-170, 182-183
Cetonia (_see also_ Golden Cetonia, _C. floricola_), 101, 189, 266,
274, 291, 388
_Cetonia aurata_ (_see_ Golden Cetonia), 101
_Cetonia floricola_, 291
Chalcid (_see also_ Gall-fly), 428-429
Chalicodoma (_see_ Mason-bee), 136, 179
Chicken, 430
Chinese Carp, 306
_Chrysobothrys chrysostigma_, 217
Chrysomela (_see_ Golden Apple-beetle), 274, 388
Cicada, 292, 366-368
Clairville, 298, 319, 325
Cleonus, 388
Clerus (_see also_ the varieties below), 33
_Clerus alvearius_, 33
_Clerus apiarius_, 33
Cloudy Buprestis, 382, 397, 399
Clythra (_see also_ the varieties below), 451-452, 456, 458-462, 465,
468-471, 473, 475, 477
_Clythra longimana_, 462, 467
_Clythra longipes_ (Long-legged Clythra), 459, 462, 466, 468-469, 474,
476
_Clythra quadripunctata_ (_see_ Four-spotted Clythra), 459
_Clythra sexmaculata_ (_see_ Six-spotted Clythra), 462
_Clythra taxicornis_ (_see_ Taxicorn Clythra), 460
Clytus (see the varieties below), 218
_Clytus arietis_, 218
_Clytus arvicola_, 218
_Clytus tropicus_, 218
Coccinella (Ladybird), 388
Cockchafer (_see also_ Common Cockchafer, Pine-chafer), 355
Cockroach (_see_ Blackbeetle), 388
Coelioxys, 94, 95
Common Cockchafer, 368
Common Wasp, 71
Condillac, Etienne Bonnot de, Abbe de Mureaux, 185, 194
Confucius, 408
Copris (_see also_ Lunary Copris, Spanish Copris), 237, 243, 258, 262,
266, 269, 289, 310, 347
Cotton-bee (_see also Anthidium scapulare_), 180, 270
Cow, 243, 269
Crane-fly, 430
Cricket (_see also_ Italian Cricket), 237, 275, 279, 316
_Criocephalus ferus_, 217
Crioceris (_see also_ the varieties below), 411-414, 418, 420-421,
423-424, 428, 432, 435, 441-442, 444-445, 450
_Crioceris campestris_ (_see_ Field Crioceris), 418
_Crioceris duodecimpunctata_ (_see_ Twelve-spotted Crioceris), 418
_Crioceris merdigera_ (_see_ Lily-beetle), 411
_Crioceris paracenthesia_, 444
Cryptocephalus (_see also_ the varieties below), 451, 460, 462, 465,
467, 468-469, 471, 477
_Cryptocephalus bipunctatus_ (Two-spotted Cryptocephalus), 460,
467-468, 473
_Cryptocephalus ilicis_ (_see_ Ilex Cryptocephalus), 460
Cyclostome, 8
D
_Darboun_ (_see_ Mole), 302
Decticus (_see also_ White-faced Decticus), 237, 281-282, 316
Dermestes, 294-295, 297
Diogenes, 451
Dog, 195, 251
Donkey, 320
_Drilus maroccanus_, 8, 9
Drone-fly, 95-96, 100
Duck, 396
Dufour, Jean Marie Leon, 55, 85, 106
Dung-beetle, 239-240, 242, 245, 249-253, 263, 268-274, 288, 317, 325,
347
E
Eight-spotted Buprestis, 215
Epeira (_see_ Banded Epeira), 284
Ephippiger of the Vines, 282
_Eristalis tenax_ (_see_ Drone-fly), 95
Eumenes, 464
F
Fabre, Emile, the author's son, 145-146
Fabre, Mlle. Anna, the author's daughter, 391
Fabre, Paul, the author's son, 303, 309
Field Crioceris, 418, 425, 433, 442
Field-mouse, 296, 304, 452
Flamingo, 293
Fly (_see also_ House-fly), 12, 30, 95, 101-102, 177, 199, 294, 360,
371, 375, 378-380, 420, 423, 425, 435-436
Foamy Cicadella, 439
Four-spotted Clythra, 459, 462, 466-467, 469
Four-spotted Mylabris, 162, 164, 173
Frog, 296, 299, 300, 332, 334, 337
G
Gall-fly, 428
Geer, Baron Karl de, 87
Geotrupes (_see also_ Mimic Geotrupes, Stercoraceous Geotrupes), 237,
245, 291-292, 314, 344, 347, 386
Giant Scarites, 362, 381-382, 384, 396, 398
Gleditsch, Johann Gottlieb, 299, 334, 337
Glow-worm, 1, 3, 4, 7-8, 10, 12-27
Gnat, 195, 269, 420, 430
Godart, Jean Baptiste, 87
Golden Apple-beetle, 388
Golden Beetle, 353, 355
Golden Carabus, 355
Golden Cetonia, 101
Golden Cryptocephalus, 460, 467-468, 470, 473
Golden Rose-chafer (_see_ Golden Cetonia), 101
Goldfish (_see_ Chinese Carp), 306
Goose, 396-397
Grasshopper (_see also_ Green Grasshopper), 154, 280, 282, 461
Great Capricorn (_see_ Capricorn), 379
Great Peacock Moth, 356
Great Water-beetle, 278
Greenfinch, 360, 396
Green Grasshopper, 237, 357
Grey Worm (_see_ Turnip Moth), 96
Griffiths, A. B., 292
Gromphas (Lacordaire's Gromphas), 244, 247, 256
Ground-beetle (_see_ Carabus), 293, 313, 447
Guinea-fowl, 395-396
Gymnopleurus, 289, 347
H
Hairy-footed Anthophora, 64, 106
Half-spotted Scarab, 369
Halictus, 176
Heliocantharus (_see_ Sacred Beetle), 271
_Helix aspersa_, 12
_Helix explanata_, 362
_Helix variabilis_, 3-4
Hemerobius (_see_ Lace-winged Fly), 463
Hen, 251, 257, 396, 470
Hermit-crab, 446
Hive-bee, 71, 100
Hoplia (_see also_ Azure Hoplia), 274, 388
Hornet, 68
Horse, 269
House-fly, 420
Humming-bird, 274, 293
Hunting Wasp, 7, 96, 252, 275, 278, 280, 304
Hydrophilus (_see_ Great Water-beetle), 278-279
I
Icterine Warbler, 469
Ilex Cryptocephalus, 460, 467
Italian Cricket, 236
J
Job, 187
Judulien, Brother, 238
K
Kingfisher, 293
Kitten, 391
Kung (_see_ Confucius), 409
L
Lace-winged Fly, 464
Lacordaire, Jean Theodore, 244, 298
La Fontaine, Jean de, 409
Lamb, 155
Lamellicorn, 129
Lampyris, _L. noctiluca_ (_see_ Glow-worm), 1-3, 5-6, 8-9, 11-12, 15
Land-snail (_see_ Bulimus, Helix, Snail), 451
Languedocian Scorpion, 402
Lark, 25
Latreille's Osmia, 179
Leaf-cutter (_see_ Megachile), 180, 236
Lily-beetle, 411, 413, 418, 424, 434, 436, 439, 440, 445-446
Lizard, 292, 294, 296, 332, 345
Llama, 269
Loach, 392-393
Locust, 154, 161, 282, 360, 393, 461
Louse, 59, 85, 106, 128, 144, 320
Lunary Copris, 240, 262
Lycosa (_see_ Black-bellied Tarantula), 267
M
Macleay (William Sharp), 271
Maistre, Xavier de, 236, 238
Malachius, 100
Mantis (_see_ Praying Mantis), 145-146, 149, 150-154, 160-161, 163,
316
Masked Anthophora, 86
Mason-bee (_see also_ Anthophora and the varieties below), 72, 75, 86,
93, 104, 136
Mason-bee of the Sheds, 136
Mason-bee of the Walls, 136
Megachile (_see also M. sericans_), 187, 236, 269
_Megachile sericans_, 180
Megatherium, 269
Megathopa (_see also_ the varieties below), 242, 268
_Megathopa bicolor_, 241
_Megathopa intermedia_, 241
Melecta, 94-95
_Melecta armata_, 36
Meloe (_see_ Oil-beetle and the varieties below), 56, 84-86, 88-89,
91, 93-97, 99-101, 103-108, 128, 134-135, 141-143, 157
_Meloe cicatricosus_, 86, 104, 106, 128, 149
_Meloe proscarabaeus_, 87
Meloid (_see also_ Blister-beetle, Cantharides, Cerocoma, Mylabris,
Zonitis), 135, 141, 144-146, 149, 154, 157-158, 160-163, 165-166, 174,
179, 183
Melosoma (_Omocrates abbreviatus_), 387
Miall, Bernard, viii
Midge, 420, 422-424, 430
Mimic Geotrupes, 273, 291
Mite, 103
Mole, 252, 294-297, 301, 304-310, 313, 319, 328-332, 335-337, 341,
345-346
Mosquito, 447
Mouse (_see also_ Field-mouse, Shrew-mouse), 298, 306, 314, 319-326,
333-334, 338-343
Mylabris (_see also_ Four-spotted Mylabris, Twelve-spotted Mylabris),
160, 171, 173, 176
N
Narbonne Lycosa (_see_ Black-bellied Tarantula), 267
Necrophorus (_see_ Burying-beetle, _N. vestigator_), 251, 296-299,
301, 303-308, 310-311, 313-317, 319, 321, 324-329, 331-332, 335,
337-338, 341-343, 345-347
_Necrophorus vestigator_, 301
Newport, George, 56, 85-87, 89, 91-92, 105-106, 108, 130, 133
Nightingale, 469
Nine-spotted Buprestis, 213, 387
O
Odynerus, 28
Oil-beetle, 56, 84-93, 101, 105-106, 109, 130, 132-135, 144, 146, 148,
151, 154-155, 173-174, 176-177, 182-183, 203
Onitis (_see also_ the varieties below), 242, 245, 264, 289
_Onitis bison_ (_see_ Bison Onitis), 245, 262
_Onitis Olivieri_ (Olivier's Onitis), 250
Onthophagus (_see also_ Oval Onthophagus), 252, 261, 273, 289
_Onthophagus ovatus_ (_see_ Oval Onthophagus), 252
Oryctes, _O. nasicornis_ (_see_ Rhinoceros Beetle), 266, 355
Osmia (_see also_ the varieties below), 32-34, 36-37, 56, 65, 108,
136, 138, 179, 186, 316
_Osmia Latreillii_ (_see_ Latreille's Osmia), 136
_Osmia tricornis_ (_see_ Three-horned Osmia), 31, 64, 136
_Osmia tridentata_ (_see_ Three-pronged Osmia), 136
Oval Onthophagus, 263
Ovid, 470
Owl (_see also_ Virginian Owl), 251
Ox, 240, 268-269, 355
P
Peacock, 293
Peacock Moth (_see_ Great Peacock Moth), 356
_Pediculus apis_ (_see_ Bee-louse), 85
Pelopaeus, 203, 266
Pepsis, 267
Phanaeus (_see_ the varieties below), 240, 258, 290, 292
_Phanaeus festivus_, 264
_Phanaeus Milon_, 249, 252, 254-256, 264-265
_Phanaeus splendidulus_ (Splendid Phanaeus), 239, 265, 268, 273, 289
Pigeon (_see also_ Wood-pigeon), 396
Pimelia (_P. bipunctata_), 363-364, 369, 376-377, 387
Pine-chafer, 355, 357, 368
Pompilus (_see_ Ringed Calicurgus), 267, 304
Praying Mantis, 155, 162, 236
_Procrustes coriaceus_, 353-354, 357
_Ptosima novemmaculata_ (_see_ Nine-spotted Buprestis), 213, 387
Purple Carabus, 353
R
Rabbit, 252, 341
Rat (Brown Rat, _see_ Sewer-rat), 312-313
Reaumur, Rene Antoine Ferchault de, 283, 320, 413, 416
Resin-bee (_see Anthidium bellicosum_), 180
Rhinoceros Beetle, 355-357
Rhynchites, 411
Ringed Calicurgus, 267
Rose-chafer (_see_ Cetonia, Golden Cetonia), 368
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 235
Rove-beetle (_see_ Staphylinus), 295
S
Sacred Beetle, 237, 241-242, 250-251, 258, 260, 262, 266, 269, 271,
288, 290-291, 325, 347, 376-377
Saperda (_see_ the varieties below), 212
_Saperda carcharias_ (_see_ Shagreen Saperda), 211
Saperda of the Poplar, 211
_Saperda scalaris_ (_see_ Scalary Saperda), 211
Saprinus, 295
Sapyga (_see_ Spotted Sapyga), 155
Saw-fly (_see_ Sirex), 223
Scalary Saperda, 211
Scarab (_see_ Half-spotted Scarab, Sacred Beetle), 271
Scarabaeus (_see_ Sacred Beetle), 289
Scarites (_see_ Giant Scarites, Smooth-skinned Scarites), 363,
365-368, 370, 372-373, 375, 378-380, 387
Schaeffer's Cerocoma, 160, 162-165
Schreber's Cerocoma, 161
Scolia, 155, 203, 266
Scorpion (_see also_ Languedocian Scorpion), 402-405, 407-408
Sea-snail, 446
Sewer-rat, 304
Shagreen Saperda, 211
Sheep, 243, 269
Shell-bearing Slug (_see_ Testacella), 354
Shrew-mouse, 296, 304
Silky Leaf-cutter (_see Megachile sericans_), 180
Silpha, 294-295, 297, 388
Sirex (_see also_ the varieties below), 223, 226-231, 234
_Sirex augur_, 223
_Sirex gigas_, 231
_Sirex juvencus_, 231
Sisyphus, 261-262, 347
Sitaris (_see also S. humeralis_), 31, 36-37, 39, 40, 43, 50-61,
63-67, 74-82, 85-88, 97-98, 105-107, 109-110, 114, 116, 118-120,
127-135, 138, 141-144, 146, 148, 151, 154, 157, 171, 173-174, 176-178,
182, 203, 439
_Sitaris humeralis_, 30, 58
Six-spotted Clythra, 462
Slug (_see also_ Testacella), 354
Smooth-skinned Scarites, 377, 396
Snail (_see also_ Bulimus, Helix), 3-6, 10-12, 14-15, 48, 353-355,
362, 447, 455
Snake, 304
Spanish Copris, 239, 241
Sparrow, 314, 341, 343, 360
Sphex (_see also_ White-banded Sphex, Yellow-winged Sphex), 203, 267,
278-279, 304
Spider, 30-31, 39, 44, 101-102, 177, 284-286
Spotted Sapyga, 155
Spurge Hawk-moth, 282, 287-288
Stag-beetle, 364
Staphylinus, 295
Stercoraceous Geotrupes, 273, 291, 385
_Stromatium strepens_, 218
Swallow, 430
T
Tachina, 421-424, 426, 428, 433, 435-436, 448
Tachytes (_see also T. tarsina_), 145-146, 149, 151-152, 154-155,
160-162, 164
_Tachytes tarsina_, 161
Tarantula (_see_ Black-bellied Tarantula), 267
Taxicorn Clythra, 460, 462-464, 469, 473-474
Teixeira de Mattos, Alexander, 7, 28, 30, 55, 189, 237, 266
Testacella, 354
Thomas the Apostle, Saint, 411
Three-horned Osmia, 64
Three-pronged Osmia, 233
Tick (_see also_ Beetle's Gamasus), 314
Triungulin of the Andrenae, Triungulinus (_see T. andrenetarum_), 56
_Triungulinus andrenetarum_, 85
Turkey, 348-350, 393-398
Turnip Moth, 96
Twelve-spotted Crioceris, 418, 425-426, 428-429, 434
Twelve-spotted Mylabris, 162, 164, 173-174, 178
U
Unarmed Zonitis, 181
V
Valery-Mayer, Professor, 250
_Vespa crabro_ (_see_ Hornet), 68
Virginian Owl, 350
W
Warbler (_see_ Icterine Warbler), 469
Wasp (_see also_ Common Wasp, Hunting Wasp and the other varieties),
7, 28, 69, 71, 145, 278, 298
Water-beetle (_see_ Great Water-beetle), 278
Weevil, 149, 157, 388, 411
Wheatear, 469
White-banded Sphex, 267
White-faced Decticus, 280, 357
White Scorpion (_see_ Languedocian Scorpion), 402, 404
Wolf, 155, 355
Wood-pigeon, 293
Y
Yellow-winged Sphex, 275
Z
Zonitis (_see also_ the varieties below), 138, 141-143, 148, 154,
164-165, 171, 179-180, 182-183
_Zonitis mutica_ (_see_ Unarmed Zonitis), 138, 164, 179, 181
_Zonitis praeusta_ (_see_ Burnt Zonitis), 179