The young mosquito, or wriggler, breaks through the shell of the

lower end of the egg and passes down into the water, and from the

first, it is a most interesting creature to view through a hand lens.

The head and the thorax are rather large while the body is tapering

and armed with bunches of hairs. At the rear of the body are two

tubes very different in shape; one is long, straight and unadorned;

this is the breathing tube through which air passes to the tracheæ

of the body. This tube has a star-shaped valve at the tip, which can

be opened and shut; when it is opened at the surface of the water,

it keeps the little creature afloat and meanwhile allows air to pass

into the body. When the wriggler is thus hanging at an angle of 45

degrees to the surface of the water, it feeds upon small particles of

decaying vegetation; it has a remarkable pair of jaws which are armed

with brushes, which in our common species, by moving rapidly, set up

currents and bring the food to the mouth. This process can be seen

plainly with a lens. When disturbed, the wriggler shuts the valve

to its breathing tube, and sinks. However, it is not much heavier

than the water; I have often seen one rise for some distance without

apparent effort. The other tube at the end of the body, supports

the swimming organs, which consist of four finger-like processes

and various bunches of hairs. When swimming, the wriggler goes tail

first, the swimming organs seeming to take hold of the water and to

pull the creature backward, in a series of spasmodic jerks; in fact,

the insect seems simply to “throw somersaults,” like an acrobat. I

have often observed wrigglers standing on their heads in the bottom

of the aquarium, with their jaws bent under, revolving their brushes

briskly; but they never remain very long below the surface, as it is

necessary for them to take in fresh air often.

[Illustration: _A wriggler or larva of mosquito (culex) greatly

enlarged._

Drawn by Evelyn Mitchell.]

The pupa has the head and thoracic segments much enlarged, making it

all “head and shoulders” with a quite insignificant body attached.

Upon the thorax are two breathing tubes, which look like two ears,

and therefore when the pupa rests at the surface of the water, it

remains head up so that these tubes may take in the air; at the end

of the body are two swimming organs which are little, leaf-like

projections. At this stage the insect is getting ready to live its

life in the air, and for this reason probably, the pupa rests for

long periods at the surface of the water and does not swim about

much, unless disturbed. However, it is a very strange habit for a

pupa to move about at all. In the case of other flies, butterflies,

and moths, the pupa stage is quiet.

When fully mature, the pupa rises to the surface of the water, the

skeleton skin breaks open down its back and the mosquito carefully

works itself out, until its wings are free and dry, meanwhile resting

upon the floating pupa skin. This is indeed a frail bark, and if the

slightest breeze ruffles the water, the insect is likely to drown

before its wings are hard enough for flight.

The reason that kerosene oil, put upon the surface of the water where

mosquitoes breed, kills the insects is because both the larvæ and

pupæ of mosquitoes are obliged to rise to the surface, and push their

breathing tubes through the surface film so that they will open to

the air; a coating of oil on the water prevents this, and they are

suffocated. Also when the mosquito emerges from the pupa skin, if it

is even touched by the oil, it is unable to fly and soon dies.

[Illustration: _Antenna of male mosquito enlarged._]

The male mosquitoes have bushy, or feathery, antennæ. These antennæ

are hearing organs of very remarkable construction; (see Ways of the

Six-Footed, p. 8.) The Anopheles may be distinguished from the Culex

by the following characteristics: Its wings are spotted instead of

plain. When at rest it is perfectly straight, and is likely to have

the hind legs in the air. It may also rest at an angle to the surface

to which it clings. The Culex is not spotted on the wings and is

likely to be humped up when at rest. In our climate the Anopheles

is more dangerous than the Culex because it carries the germs of

malaria. A mosquito’s wing under a microscope is a most beautiful

object, as it is “trimmed” with ornamental scales about the edges and

along the veins. The male mosquitoes neither sing nor bite; the song

of the female mosquito is supposed to be made by the rapid vibration

of the wings, and her musical performances are for the purpose of

attracting her mate, as it has been shown that he can hear through

his antennæ a range of notes covering the middle and next higher

octaves of the piano.

Of late we are learning that the mosquitoes are in a very strange

way a menace to health. Through a heroism, as great as ever shown on

field of battle, men have imperiled their lives to prove that the

germs of the terrible yellow fever were transmitted by the biting

mosquito, and with almost equal bravery other men have demonstrated

that the germs of malaria are also thus carried.

[Illustration: _The pupa of a mosquito, greatly magnified. Note_ b

_the breathing tubes near the head_.

Drawn by Evelyn Mitchell.]

In the North, our greatest danger is from the mosquitoes which carry

the malarial germs, and these are the mosquitoes with spotted wings

and belong to the genus Anopheles. This mosquito, in order to be of

danger to us must first feed upon the blood of some person suffering

from malaria (ague) and thus take the germ of the disease into its

stomach. Here the germ develops and multiplies into many minute

germs, which pass through another stage and finally get into the

blood of the mosquito and accumulate in the salivary glands. The

reason any mosquito bite or insect bite swells and itches is because,

as the insect’s beak is inserted into the flesh, it carries with it

some of the saliva from the insect’s mouth. In the case of Anopheles

these malarial germs are carried with the saliva into the blood of

the victim. It has been proven that in the most malarial countries,

like Italy and India, people are entirely free from malaria if they

are not bitten by mosquitoes.

After this explanation has been made, it would be well for the

teacher to take the pupils on a tour of inspection through the

neighborhood to see if there are any mosquito larvæ in rain barrels,

ponds or pools of stagnant water. If such places are found, let the

pupils themselves apply the following remedies:

1. Rain barrels should be securely covered.

2. All stagnant pools should be drained and filled up if possible.

3. Wherever there are ponds or pools where mosquitoes breed that

cannot be filled or drained, the surface of the water should be

covered with a spray of kerosene oil. This may be applied with a

spray pump or from a watering can.

4. If it is impracticable to cover such places with oil, introduce

into such pools the following fish: Minnows, sticklebacks, sunfish

and goldfish.

The effect of this lesson upon the children should be to impress them

with the danger to life and health from mosquitoes and to implant in

them a determination to rid the premises about their homes of these

pests.

_References_--Farmers’ Bulletin No. 155, U. S. Department of

Agriculture, by L. O. Howard; leaflet in Reading Course for Farmers’

Wives, series 2, No. 10, by M. V. Slingerland; American Insects,

Kellogg; The Insect Book, Howard; Insect Life, The Manual for the

Study of Insects, Comstock; Ways of the Six-Footed, Comstock.

[Illustration: _Wing of mosquito enlarged._

Comstock’s Manual.]

LESSON XC

THE MOSQUITO

_Leading thought_--The wrigglers, or wigglers, which we find in

rain-barrels and stagnant water are the larvæ of mosquitoes. We

should study their life history carefully if we would know how to get

rid of mosquitoes.

_Method_--There is no better way to interest the pupils in mosquitoes

than to place in an aquarium jar in the schoolroom a family of

wrigglers from some pond or rain barrel. For the pupils’ personal

observation, take some of the wrigglers from the aquarium with

a pipette and place them in a homeopathic vial; fill the vial

three-fourths full of water and cork it. Pass it around with a hand

lens and give each pupil the opportunity to observe it for five or

ten minutes. It would be well if this vial could be left on each desk

for an hour or so during study periods, so that the observations

may be made casually and leisurely. While the pupils are studying

the wrigglers, the following questions should be placed upon the

blackboard, and each pupil should make notes which may finally be

given at a lesson period. This is particularly available work for

September.

In studying the adult mosquito, a lens or microscope is necessary.

But it is of great importance that the pupils be taught to

discriminate between the comparatively harmless species of Culex and

the dangerous Anopheles and therefore they should be taught to be

observant of the way mosquitoes rest upon the walls, and whether they

have mottled or clear wings.

_The Larva_

_Observations_: 1. Note if all the wrigglers are of the same general

shape, or if some of them have a very large head; these latter are

the pupæ and the former are the larvæ. We will study the larvæ first.

Where do they rest when undisturbed? Do they rest head up or down? Is

there any part of their body that comes to the surface of the water?

2. When disturbed what do they do? When they swim, do they go head or

tail first? When they float do they go upward or downward?

3. Observe one resting at the top. At what angle does it hold itself

to the surface of the water? Observe its head. Can you see the jaw

brushes revolving rapidly? What is the purpose of this? Describe its

eyes. Can you see its antennæ?

4. Note the two peculiar tubes at the end of the body and see if you

can make out their use.

5. Note especially the tube that is thrust up to the surface of the

water when the creatures are resting. Can you see how the opening of

this tube helps to keep the wriggler afloat? What do you think is the

purpose of this tube? Why does it not become filled with water when

the wriggler is swimming? Can you see the two air vessels, or trachæ,

extending from this tube along the back the whole length of the body?

6. Note the peculiarities of the other tube at the rear end of the

body. Do you think the little finger-like projections are an aid in

swimming? How many are there?

7. Can you see the long hairs along the side of the body?

8. Does the mosquito rest at the bottom of the bottle or aquarium?

_The Pupa_

9. What is the most noticeable difference in appearance between the

larva and pupa?

10. When the pupa rests at the surface of the water, is it the same

end up as the wriggler?

11. Note on the “head” of the pupa two little tubes extending up like

ears. These are the breathing tubes. Note if these open to the air

when the pupa rests at the surface of the water.

12. Can you see the swimming organs at the rear of the body of the

pupa? Does the pupa spend a longer time resting at the surface than

the larva? How does it act differently from the pupæ of other flies

and moths and butterflies?

13. How does the mosquito emerge from the pupa skin? Why does

kerosene oil poured on the surface of the water kill mosquitoes?

_The Adult Mosquito_

1. Has the mosquito feathery antennæ extending out in front? If so,

what kind of mosquitoes are such?

2. Do the mosquitoes with bushy antennæ bite? Do they sing?

3. Are the wings of the mosquito spotted or plain? How many has it?

4. When at rest, is it shortened and humpbacked or does it stand

straight out with perhaps its hind legs in the air?

5. What are the characteristics by which you can tell the dangerous

Anopheles?

6. Why is the Anopheles more dangerous than the Culex?

7. Examine a mosquito’s wing under a microscope and describe it.

8. Examine the antennæ of a male and a female mosquito under a

microscope, and describe the difference.

9. Which sex of the mosquito does the biting and the singing?

10. How is the singing done?

THE HOUSE-FLY

_Teacher’s Story_

[Illustration: T]

The house-fly is surely an up-to-date member of that select class

which evolutionists call the “fit.” It flourishes in every land,

plumping itself down in front of us at table, whether we be eating

rice in Hong Kong, dhura in Egypt, macaroni in Italy, pie in America,

or tamales in Mexico. There it sits, impertinent and imperturbable,

taking its toll, letting down its long elephant-trunk tongue, rasping

and sucking up such of our meal as fits its needs. As long as we

simply knew it as a thief we, during untold ages, merely slapped

it and shooed it, which effort on our part apparently gave it

exhilarating exercise. But during recent years we have begun trapping

and poisoning, trying to match our brains against its agility;

although we slay it by thousands, we seem only to make more room

for its well-fed progeny of the future, and in the end we seem to

have gained nothing. But the most recent discoveries of science have

revealed to us, that what the house-fly takes of our food, is of

little consequence to what it leaves behind. Because of this, we have

girded up our loins and gone into battle in earnest.

I have always held that nature-study should follow its own peaceful

path and not be the slave of economic science. But occasionally it

seems necessary, when it is a question of creating public sentiment,

and of cultivating public intelligence in combating a great peril, to

make nature-study a handmaiden, if not a slave, in this work. If our

woods were filled with wolves and bears, as they were in the days of

my grandfather, I should give nature-study lessons on these animals,

which would lead to their subjugation. Bears and wolves trouble us no

more; but now we have enemies far more subtle, in the ever-present

microbes, which we may never hope to conquer but which, with proper

precautions, we may render comparatively harmless. Thus, our

nature-study with insects which carry disease, like the mosquitoes,

flies and fleas, must be a reconnaissance for a war of extermination;

the fighting tactics may be given in lessons on health and hygiene.

Perhaps if a fly were less wonderfully made, it would be a less

convenient vehicle for microbes. Its eyes are two great, brown

spheres on either side of the head, and are composed of thousands of

tiny six-sided eyes that give information of what is coming in any

direction; in addition, it has on top of the head, looking straight

up, three tiny, shining, simple eyes, which cannot be seen without

a lens. Its antennæ are peculiar in shape, but are evidently sense

organs; it is attracted from afar by certain odors, and so far as we

can discover, its antennæ are all the nose it has. Its mouth-parts

are all combined to make a most amazing and efficient organ for

getting food; at the tip are two flaps, which can rasp a substance so

as to set free the juices, and above this is a tube, through which

the juices may be drawn to the stomach. This tube is extensible,

being conveniently jointed so that it can be folded under the “chin”

when not in use. This is usually called the fly’s tongue, but it is

really all the mouth parts combined, as if a boy had his lips, teeth

and tongue, standing out from his face, at the end of a tube a foot

long.

[Illustration: _Head of fly showing eyes, antennæ and mouth-parts._]

The thorax can be easily studied; it is striped black and white above

and bears the two wings, and the two little flaps that are called

balancers and which are probably remnants of hind wings which the

remote ancestors of flies flew with. The fly’s wing is a transparent

but strong membrane strengthened by veins, and is prettily

iridescent. The thorax bears on its lower side the six pairs of legs.

The abdomen consists of five segments and is covered with stiff

hairs. The parts of the leg, seen when the fly is walking, consists

of three segments, the last segment or tarsus being more slender, and

if looked at with a lens, is seen to be composed of five segments,

the last of which bears the claws; it is with these claws that the

fly walks, although all of the five segments really form the foot; in

other words, it walks on its tip-toes. But it clings to ceilings by

means of the two little pads below the claws, which are covered with

hairs that excrete at the tips, a sticky fluid. Because of the hairs

on its feet, the fly becomes a carrier of microbes and a menace to

health.

[Illustration: _Foot of house-fly enlarged._]

The greatest grudge I have against this little, persistent companion

of our household is the way it has misled us by appearing to be so

fastidious in its personal habits. We have all of us seen, with

curiosity and admiration, its complex ablutions and brushings. It

usually begins, logically, with its front feet, the hands; these it

cleans by rubbing them against each other lengthwise. The hairs and

spines on one leg act as a brush for the other, and then lest they

be not clean, it nibbles them with its rasping disc, which is all

the teeth it has. It then cleans its head with these clean hands,

rubbing them over its big eyes with a vigor that makes us wink simply

to contemplate; then bobbing its head down so as to reach what is

literally its back hair, it brushes valiantly. After this is done, it

reaches forward first one and then the other foot of the middle pair

of legs, and taking each in turn between the front feet, brushes it

vigorously, and maybe nibbles it. But as a pair of military brushes,

its hind feet are conspicuously efficient; they clean each other by

being rubbed together and then they work simultaneously on each side

in cleaning the wings, first the under side and then the upper side.

Then over they come and comb the top of the thorax; then they brush

the sides, top and under sides of the abdomen, cleaning each other

between the acts. Who, after witnessing all this, could believe that

the fly could leave any tracks on our food, which would lead to our

undoing! But the house-fly, like many housekeepers with the best

intentions in the matter of keeping clean, has not mastered the art

of getting rid of the microbes. Although it has so many little eyes,

none of them can magnify a germ so as to make it visible; and thus it

is that, when feeding around where there have been cases of typhoid

and other enteric diseases, the house-fly’s little claws become

infested with disease germs; and when it stops some day to clean up

on our table, it leaves the germs with us. Thus our only safety lies

in the final extermination of this little nuisance.

It is astonishing how few people know about the growth of flies.

People of the highest intelligence in other matters, think that

a small fly can grow into a large one. A fly, when it comes from

the pupa stage, is as large as it will ever be, the young stages

of flies being maggots. The house-fly’s eggs are little, white,

elongated bodies about as large as the point of a pin. These are

laid preferably in horse manure. After a few hours, they hatch into

slender, pointed, white maggots which feed upon the excrement. After

five or six days, the larval skin thickens, turns brown, making the

insect look like a small grain of wheat. This is the pupal stage,

which lasts about five days, and then the skin bursts open and

the full-grown fly appears. Of course, not all the flies multiply

according to the example given to the children. The house-fly has

many enemies and, therefore, probably no one hibernating mother fly

is the ancestress of billions by September; however, despite enemies,

flies multiply with great rapidity.

I know of no more convincing experiment as an example of the

dangerous trail of the fly, than that of letting a house-fly walk

over a saucer of nutrient gelatin. After three or four days, each

track is plainly visible as a little white growth of bacteria.

[Illustration: _Empty pupa skin of fly, enlarged._]

Much is being done now to eradicate the house-fly, and undoubtedly

there will be new methods of fighting it devised every year. The

teacher should keep in touch with the bulletins on this subject

published by the United States Department of Agriculture, and should

give the pupils instructions according to the latest ideas. At

present the following are the methods of fighting this pest: Keep the

stable clean and place the manure under cover. All of the windows of

the house should be well screened. All the flies which get into the

house should be killed by using the commercial fly papers.

LESSON XCI

THE HOUSE-FLY

_Leading thought_--The house-fly has conquered the world and is found

everywhere. It breeds in filth and especially in horse manure. It is

very prolific; the few flies that manage to pass the winter in this

northern climate, are ancestors of the millions which attack us and

our food later in the season. These are a menace to health because

they carry germs of disease from sputa and excrementitious matter to

our tables, leaving them upon our food.

_Method_--Give out the questions for observation and let the pupils

answer them either orally or in their note-books. If possible, every

pupil should look at a house-fly through a three-quarters objective.

If this is not possible, pictures should be shown to demonstrate its

appearance.

_Observations_--1. Look at a fly, using a lens if you have one.

Describe its eyes. Do you see that they have a honeycomb arrangement

of little eyes? Can you see, on top of the head between the big eyes,

a dot? A microscope reveals this dot to be made of three tiny eyes,

huddled together. After seeing a fly’s eyes, do you wonder that you

have so much difficulty in hitting it or catching it?

2. Can you see the fly’s antennæ? Do you think that it has a keen

sense of smell? Why?

3. How many wings has the fly? How does it differ from the bee in

this respect? Can you see two little white objects, one just behind

the base of each wing? These are called poisers, or balancers, and

all flies have them in some form. What is the color of the wings? Are

they transparent? Can you see the veins in them? On what part of the

body do the wings grow?

4. Look at the fly from below. How many legs has it? From what part

of the body do the legs come? What is that part of the insect’s body

called, to which the legs and wings are attached?

5. How does the fly’s abdomen look? What is its color and its

covering?

6. Look at the fly’s legs. How many segments can you see in a leg?

Can you see that the segment on which the fly walks has several

joints? Does it walk on all of these segments or on the one at the

tip?

7. When the fly eats, can you see its tongue? Can you feel its tongue

when it rasps your hand? Where does it keep its tongue usually?

8. Describe how a fly makes its toilet as follows: How does it clean

its front feet? Its head? Its middle feet? Its hind feet? Its wings?

9. Do you know how flies carry disease? Did you ever see them making

their toilet on your food at the table? Do you know what diseases are

carried by flies? What must you do to prevent flies from bringing

disease to your family?

10. Do you think that a small fly ever grows to be a large fly?

How do the young of all kinds of flies look? Do you know where the

house-fly lays its eggs? On what do the maggots feed? How long before

they change to pupæ? How long does it take them to grow from eggs to

flies? How do the house-flies in our northern climate pass the winter?

11. _Lesson in Arithmetic_--It requires perhaps twenty days to span

the time from the eggs of one generation of the house-fly to the

eggs of the next, and thus there might easily be five generations

in one summer. Supposing the fly which wintered behind the window

curtain in your home last winter, flew out to the stables about May

1st and laid 120 eggs in the sweepings from the horse stable, all of

which hatched and matured. Supposing one-half of these were mother

flies and each of them, in turn, laid 120 eggs, and so on for five

generations, all eggs laid developing into flies, and one-half of the

flies of each generation being mother flies. How many flies would the

fly that wintered behind your curtain have produced by September?

12. Pour some gelatin unsweetened, on a clean plate. Let a house-fly

walk around on the gelatin as soon as it is cool; cover the plate to

keep out the dust and leave it for two or three days. Examine it then

and see if you can tell where the fly walked. What did it leave in

its tracks?

13. Write an essay on the house-fly, its dangers and how to combat

it, basing the essay on Bulletins of the U. S. Department of

Agriculture.

THE COLORADO POTATO-BEETLE

_Teacher’s Story_

The potato-beetle is not a very attractive insect, but it has

many interesting peculiarities. No other common insect so clearly

illustrates the advantage of warning colors. If we take a beetle

in the hand, it at first promptly falls upon its back, folds its

legs, and antennæ down close to its body, and “plays possum” in a

very canny manner. But if we squeeze it a little, immediately an

orange-red liquid is ejected on the hand, and a very ill-smelling

liquid it is. If we press lightly, only a little of the secretion

is thrown off; but if we squeeze harder it flows copiously. Thus a

bird trying to swallow one of these beetles, would surely get a large

dose. The liquid is very distasteful to birds, and it is indeed a

stupid bird that does not soon learn to let severely alone orange and

yellow beetles, striped with black. The source of this offensive and

defensive juice is at first a mystery, but if we observe closely we

can see it issuing along the hind edge of the thorax and the front

portion of the wing-covers; the glands in these situations secrete

the protective juice as it is needed. The larvæ are also equipped

with similar glands and, therefore, have the brazen habit of eating

the leaves of our precious potatoes without attempting to hide. They

seem to know that they are far safer when seen by birds than when

concealed from them.

The life history of the potato-beetle is briefly as follows: Some of

the adult beetles or pupæ winter beneath the surface of the soil,

burrowing down a foot or more to escape freezing. As soon as the

potato plants appear above ground the mother beetle comes out and

lays her eggs upon the under sides of the leaves. These orange-yellow

eggs are usually laid in clusters. In about a week there hatches from

the eggs little yellow or orange humpbacked larvæ, which begin at

once to feed upon the leaves. These larvæ grow as do other insects,

by shedding their skins. They do this four times, and during the

last stages, are very conspicuous insects on the green leaves;

they are orange or yellow with black dots along the sides, and so

humpbacked are they that they seem to be “gathered with a puckering

string” along the lower side. It requires from sixteen days to three

weeks for a larva to complete its growth. It then descends into the

earth and forms a little cell in which it changes to a pupa. It

remains in this condition for one or two weeks, according to the

temperature, and then the full-fledged beetle appears. The entire

life cycle from egg to adult beetle may be passed in about a month,

although if the weather is cold, this period will be longer. The

beetles are very prolific, a mother beetle having been known to

produce five hundred eggs, and there are two generations each year.

These beetles not only damage the potato crop by stopping the growth

through destroying the leaves, but they also cause the potatoes to be

of inferior quality.

[Illustration: _Eggs of Colorado potato-beetle._

Photo by Slingerland.]

The adult beetle is an excellent object lesson in the study of beetle

form. Attention should be called to the three regions of the body: A

head which is bright orange; the compound eyes, which are black; and

three simple eyes on the top of the head, which are difficult to see

without a lens. The antennæ are short, their joints easily noted,

and special attention should be paid to their use, for they are

constantly moving to feel approaching objects. The two pairs of mouth

palpi may be seen, and the beetle will eagerly eat raw potatoes, so

that the pupils may see that it has biting mouth-parts. The thoracic

shield is orange, ornamented with black. The three pairs of legs are

short, which is a proof that these beetles do not migrate on foot.

The claws and the pads beneath can be seen with the naked eye. Each

wing-cover bears five yellow stripes, also five black ones, although

the outside black stripe is rather narrow. These beetles are very

successful flyers. During flight, the wing-covers are raised and held

motionless while the gauzy wings beneath are unfolded and do the

work. Children are always interested in seeing the way the beetles

fold their wings beneath the wing-covers.

[Illustration: _Larvæ of Colorado potato-beetle._

Photo by Slingerland.]

[Illustration: _Pupa of potato-beetle, enlarged._

Photo by Slingerland.]

One of the most remarkable things about the Colorado potato-beetle

is its history. It is one of the few insect pests which is native

to America. It formerly fed upon sandbur, a wild plant allied to

the potato, which grows in the region of Colorado, Arizona and

Mexico, and was a well behaved, harmless insect. With the advance

of civilization westward, the potato came also, and proved to be an

acceptable plant to this insect; and here we have an example of what

an unlimited food supply will do for an insect species. The beetles

multiplied so much faster than their parasites, that it seemed at

one time as if they would conquer the earth by moving on from potato

field to potato field. They started on their march to the Atlantic

seaboard in 1859; in 1874, they reached the coast and judging by

the numbers washed ashore, they sought to fly or swim across the

Atlantic. By 1879, they had spread over an area consisting of more

than one-third of the United States.

_Reference_--The Colorado Potato-Beetle, Chittenden, Bulletin of U.

S. Department of Agriculture.

LESSON XCII

THE COLORADO POTATO-BEETLE

_Leading thought_--The Colorado potato-beetle is a very important

insect, since it affects the price of potatoes each year. It is

disagreeable as a food for birds, because of an acrid juice which it

secretes. We should learn its life-history and thus be able to deal

with it intelligently in preventing its ravages.

_Method_--The study of the potato-beetle naturally follows and

belongs to gardening. The larvæ should be brought into the schoolroom

and placed in a breeding cage on leaves of the potato vine. Other

plants may be put into the cage to prove that these insects will only

eat the potato. The children should observe how the larvæ eat and how

many leaves a full grown larva will destroy in a day. Earth should

be put in the bottom of the breeding cage so that the children may

see the larvæ descend and burrow into it. The adult beetles should

be studied carefully, and especially, the children should see the

excretion of the acrid juice.

_Observations_--1. At what time do you see the potato-beetles? Why

are they more numerous in the fall than in the spring? Where do those

which we find in the spring come from? What will they do if they are

allowed to live?

2. What is the shape of the potato-beetle? Describe the markings on

its head. What color are its eyes? Describe its antennæ. How are they

constantly used? Can you see the palpi of the mouth? Give the beetle

a bit of potato and note how it eats.

3. What is the color of the shield of the thorax? Describe the legs.

Do you think the beetle can run fast? Why not? How many segments has

the foot? Describe the claws. Describe how it clings to the sides of

a tumbler or bottle.

[Illustration: _The Colorado potato-beetle._

Photo by Slingerland.]

4. If the beetle cannot run rapidly, how does it travel? Describe the

wing-covers. Why is this insect called the ten-lined potato beetle?

5. Describe the wings. How are they folded when at rest? How are the

wing-covers carried when the beetle is flying?

6. Take a beetle in your hand. What does it do? Of what advantage

is it to the insect to pretend that it is dead? If you squeeze the

beetle what happens? How does the fluid which it ejects look and

smell? Try and discover where this fluid comes from? Of what use is

it to the beetle? Why will birds not eat the potato-beetle?

7. Where does the mother beetle lay her eggs? Are they laid singly or

in clusters? What color are the eggs? How long after they are laid

before they hatch?

8. Describe the young larva when it first hatches. What color is

it at first? Does it change color later? Describe the colors and

markings of a full grown larva.

9. How does this larva injure the potato vines? Does it remain in

sight while it is feeding? Does it act as if it were afraid of birds?

Why is it not eaten by birds?

10. Where does the larva go when it is full grown? How many times

does it shed its skin during its growth? Does it make a little cell

in the ground? How does the pupa look? Can you see in it the eyes,

antennæ, legs and wings of the beetle?

11. Write an English theme giving the history of the Colorado

potato-beetle, and the reasons for its migration from its native

place.

THE LADYBIRD

_Teacher’s Story_

_Ladybird, Ladybird, fly away home!

Your house is on fire, your children are burning._

[Illustration: T]

This incantation we, as children, repeated to this unhearing little

beetle, probably because she is and ever has been, the incarnation of

energetic indecision. She runs as fast as her short legs can carry

her in one direction, as if her life depended on getting there, then

she turns about and goes with quite as much vim in another direction.

Thus, it is no wonder the children think that when she hears this

news of her domestic disasters, she wheels about and starts for home;

but she has not any home now nor did she ever have a home, and she

does not carry even a trunk. Perhaps it would be truer to say that

she has a home everywhere, whether she is cuddled under a leaf for

a night’s lodging or industriously climbing out on twigs, only to

scramble back again, or perchance to take flight from their tips.

[Illustration: _Ladybird larva._]

There are many species of ladybirds, but in general they all resemble

a tiny pill cut in half, with legs attached to the flat side.

Sometimes it may be a round and sometimes an oval pill, but it is

always shining and the colors are always dull dark red, or yellow, or

whitish, and black. Sometimes she is black with red or yellow spots,

sometimes red or yellow with black spots and the spots are usually

on either side of the thorax and one on each snug little wing-cover.

But if we look at the ladybird carefully we can see the head and

the short, clublike antennæ. Behind the head is the thorax with its

shield, broadening toward the rear, spotted and ornamented in various

ways; the head and thorax together occupy scarcely a fourth of the

length of the insect, and the remainder consists of the hemispherical

body, encased with polished wing-covers. The little black legs,

while quite efficient because they can be moved so rapidly, are not

the ladybird’s only means of locomotion; she is a good flier and

has a long pair of dark wings which she folds crosswise under her

wing-covers. It is comical to see her pull up her wings, as a lady

tucks up a long petticoat; and sometimes ladybird is rather slovenly

about it and runs around with the tips of her wings hanging out

behind, quite untidily.

But any untidiness must be inadvertent, because the ladybird takes

very good care of herself and spends much time in “washing up.”

She begins with her front legs, cleaning them with her mandibles,

industriously nibbling off every grain of dust; she then cleans

her middle and hind legs by rubbing the two on the same side, back

and forth against each other, each acting as a whisk broom for the

other; she cleans her wings by brushing them between the edges of the

wing-cover above and the tarsus of her hind leg below.

The ladybird is a clever little creature, even if it does look like

a pill, and if you disturb it, it will fold up its legs and drop as

if dead, playing possum in a most deceptive manner. It will remain in

this attitude of rigid death for at least a minute or two and then

will begin to claw the air with all its six legs in an effort to turn

right side up.

From our standpoint the ladybird is of great value, for during the

larval as well as adult stages, all species except one, feed upon

those insects which we are glad to be rid of. They are especially

fond of aphids and scale insects. One of the greatest achievements

of economic entomology was the introduction on the Pacific Coast of

the ladybird from Australia, called the Vedalia, which preys upon

the cottony cushion scale insect, a species very dangerous to orange

and lemon trees. Within a few years the introduced ladybirds had

completely exterminated this pest.

The ladybird’s history is as follows: The mother beetle, in the

spring, lays her eggs here and there on plants: as soon as the larva

hatches, it starts out to hunt for aphids and other insects. It is

safe to say that no ladybird would recognize her own children in

time to save them, even if the house were burning, for they do not

in the least resemble her; they are neither roly-poly nor shiny, but

are long and segmented and velvety, with six queer, short legs that

look and act as if they were whittled out of wood; they seem only

efficient for clinging around a stem. The larvæ are usually black,

spotted with orange or yellow; there are six warts on each segment,

which make the creature’s back look quite rough. The absorbing

business of the larva is to crawl around on plants and chew up the

foolish aphids or the scale insects. I have seen one use its front

foot to push an aphid, which it was eating, closer to its jaws; but

when one green leg of its victim still clung to its head, it did not

try to rub it off as its mother would have done, but twisted its head

over this way and that, wiping off the fragment on a plant stem and

then gobbling it up.

[Illustration: _Ladybird pupa._]

After the larva has shed its skeleton skin several times, and

destroyed many times its own bulk of insects, it hunts for some quiet

corner, hangs itself up by the tail and condenses itself into a

sub-globular form; it sheds its spiny skin pushing it up around the

point of attachment, and there lets it stay like the lion’s skin of

Hercules. As a pupa, it is more nearly rectangular than round, and if

we look closely, we can see the wing-cases, the spotted segments of

the abdomen, and the eyes, all encased in the pupa skin; the latter

bursts open after a few days and the shining, little half-globe

emerges a full-grown ladybird, ready for hiding in some cozy spot to

pass the winter, from which she will emerge in the spring, to stock

our trees and vines, next year, with her busy little progeny.

[Illustration: _Ladybird beetle, “the nine-spotted ladybug.”_]

_References_--American Insects, Kellogg; Manual for the Study of

Insects, Comstock.

LESSON XCIII

THE LADYBIRD

_Leading thought_--The ladybird is a beetle. Its young are very

different from the adult in appearance, and feed upon plant-lice.

_Method_--These little beetles are very common in autumn and may be

brought to the schoolroom and passed around in vials for the children

to observe. Their larvæ may be found on almost any plant infested

with plant-lice. Plant and all may be brought into the schoolroom

and the actions of the larvæ noted by the pupils during recess.

_Observations_--1. How large is the ladybird? What is its shape?

Would two of them make a little globe if they were put flat sides

together?

2. What colors do you find on your ladybird?

3. Do you see the ladybird’s head and antennæ? What is the broad

shield directly back of the head called? How is it marked, and with

what colors? What color are the wing-covers? Are there any spots upon

them? How many? Does the ladybird use its wing-covers when it flies?

Describe her true wings. Does she fold them beneath the wing-covers?

4. Note the legs and feet. Are the legs long? Are they fitted for

running? To which part of the body are they attached?

5. If you disturb the ladybird how does she “play possum?” Describe

how she makes her toilet.

_The larva_--1. Describe the ladybird larva. Does it look like its

mother? What is its form? Is it warty and velvety or shiny?

2. Describe its head and jaws as far as you can see. How does it act

when eating? Can you see its little stiff legs? Is there a claw at

the end of each?

3. Describe the actions of the ladybird larva in attacking and eating

the plant-lice. Does it shed its skin as it grows?

4. Watch a larva until it changes to a pupa. How does the pupa look?

Can you see the shed skin? Where is it? To what is the pupa attached?

When the pupa skin breaks open what comes out of it?

5. Why is the ladybird of great use to us? Write an English theme

upon the ladybird, called Vedalia, which saved the orange orchards of

California.

[Illustration: _1, Larva; 2, pupa and 3, adult of a species of

ladybird, enlarged._

_The small beetle represents actual size._]

THE FIREFLY

_Teacher’s Story_

_And lavishly to left and right,

The fireflies, like golden seeds,

Are sown upon the night._

--RILEY.

[Illustration: T]

The time of this sowing is during warm, damp nights in July and

August, and even in September, although they are sown less lavishly

then. How little most of us know of the harvest, although we see the

sowing which begins in the early twilight against the background of

tree shadows, and lasts until the cold atmosphere of the later night

dampens the firefly ardor! There is a difference in species as to

the height from the ground of their flight; some species hover next

to the grass, others fly above our heads, but rarely as high as the

tree tops in northern latitudes. Some species give a short flash that

might be called a refulgent blinking; others give a longer flash so

that we get an idea of the direction of their flight; and there is a

common species in the Gulf States which gives such long flashes that

they mark the night with gleaming curlicues.

It is likely to be an exciting chase, before we are able to capture a

few of these insects for closer inspection; but when once captured,

they do not sulk but will keep on with their flashing and give us a

most edifying display. The portion of the firefly which gives the

light is in the abdomen, and it glows steadily like “phosphorescent

wood”; then suddenly it gleams with a green light that is strong

enough to reveal all its surroundings; and it is so evidently an

act of will on the part of the beetle, that it is startling to

members of our race, who cannot even blush or turn pale voluntarily.

The fireflies may be truly said to be socially brilliant, for the

flashing of their lights is for the attraction of their mates.

[Illustration: _A common firefly--The view of the lower side shows

the “lamp.”_]

The fireflies are beetles, and there are many species which are

luminous. A common one is here figured (_Photinus pyralis_). It is

pale gray above and the head is completely hidden by the big shield

of the thorax. The legs are short; thus this beetle trusts mostly

to its wings as a means of locomotion. The antennæ are rather long

and are kept in constant motion, evidently conveying intelligence of

surroundings to the insect. Beneath the gray elytra, or wing-covers,

is a pair of large, dark-veined membranous wings which are folded in

a very neat manner crosswise and lengthwise, when not in use. When in

use, the wing-covers are lifted stiffly and the flying is done wholly

with the membranous wings. Looked at from beneath, we can at once

see that some of the segments of the abdomen are partly or entirely

sulphur yellow, and we recognize them as the lamp. If the specimen

is a male, the yellow area covers all of the end of the abdomen up

to the fourth or fifth segment; but if it is a female, only the

middle portion of the abdomen, especially the fifth segment, is

converted into a lamp. These yellow areas, when dissected under the

microscope, prove to be filled with fine tracheæ, or air-tubes; and

although we know very little about the way the light is made, it is

believed that by flooding the tubes with air, the oxygen in some way

produces the light.

In some species, the female is wingless and has very short

wing-covers, and a portion of her body emits a steady, greenish light

which tells her lord and master where to find her. These wingless

females are called glow-worms.

[Illustration: _Larva and pupa of a common firefly._

After C. V. Riley.]

Fireflies during their larval stages are popularly called wire

worms, although there are many other beetle larvæ thus called.

In many of the species, the firefly eggs, larvæ and pupæ are all

luminescent, but not so brilliant as when adults. The larva of the

species here figured, was studied by C. V. Riley, who gave us an

interesting account of its habits. It lives in the ground and feeds

on soft-bodied insects, probably earth-worms. Each segment of this

wire worm has a horny, brown plate above, with a straight white line

running through the middle and a slightly curved white line on each

side; the sides of the larva are soft and rose-colored; the white

spiracles show against little, oval, brown patches. Beneath, the

larva is cream color with two brown comma-like dots at the center

of each segment. The head can be pulled back completely beneath

the first segment. The most interesting thing about this larva is

the prop-leg at the end of its body, which naturally aids it in

locomotion; but this prop-leg also functions as a brush; after the

larva has become soiled with too eager delving into the tissues of

some earthworm, it curls its body over, and with this fan-shaped hind

foot scrubs its head and face very clean. This is a rare instance of

a larva paying any attention to its toilet.

When full-grown, the larva makes a little oval cell within the

earth and changes to a pupa; after about ten days, the pupa skin is

shed and the full-fledged beetle comes forth. The larva and pupa of

this species give off light, but are not so brilliant as the adult.

The pupils should be encouraged to study the early stages of the

fireflies, because very little is known concerning them.

In Cuba a large beetle called the cucujo has two great oval spots on

its thorax, resembling eyes, which give off light. The Cuban ladies

wear cucujos at the opera, in nets, in the hair. I once had a pair

which I tethered with gold chains to the bodice of my ball gown. The

eye-spots glowed steadily, but with the movement of dancing, they

grew more brilliant until no glittering diamonds could compete with

their glow.

LESSON XCIV

THE FIREFLY

_Leading thought_--When the firefly wishes to make a light, it can

produce one that, if we knew how to make, would greatly reduce the

price of artificial light; for the light made by fireflies and other

creatures, requires less energy than any other light known.

_Method_--After the outdoor observations have been made, collect some

of these beetles in the evening with a sweep net; place them under a

glass jar or tumbler, so that their light can be studied at close

range. The next day give the observation lesson on the insects.

_Observations_--1. At what time of year do you see fireflies? Do they

begin to lighten before it is dark? Do you see them high in the air

or near the ground? Is the flash they give short, or long enough to

make a streak of light? Do you see them on cold and windy nights or

on warm, still, damp evenings? Make a note of the hour when you see

the first one flash in an evening.

2. Catch a few fireflies in the night; put them under a glass jar.

Can you see the light when they are not flashing? What color is it?

When they make the flash can you see the outline of the “firefly

lamp?” Watch closely and see if you think the flashing is a matter

of will on the part of the firefly. Do you think the firefly is

signaling to his mate when he flashes?

3. Study the firefly in daylight. Is it a fly or is it a beetle? What

color is it above? When you look squarely down upon it, can you see

its head and eyes?

4. Are the firefly’s legs long or short? When a beetle has short legs

is it a sign that it usually walks, runs or flies?

5. Describe the antennæ. Are they in constant motion? What service do

you think the firefly’s antennæ perform for it?

6. Lift one of the wing-covers carefully. What do you find beneath

it? Does the beetle use its wing-covers to beat the air and help it

during flight? How does the beetle hold its wing-covers when flying?

7. Turn the beetle on its back. Can you see the part of the body that

flashes? What color is it?

8. Do you know the life history of the firefly? What is it like in

its earlier stages? Where does it live? Does it have the power of

making light when it is in the larval stage?

* * * * *

“_There, in warm August gloaming,

With quick silent brightenings,

From meadow-lands roaming,

The firefly twinkles

His fitful heat-lightnings._”

--LOWELL

[Illustration: _A Maybeetle flying, showing that the beetles hold the

wing-covers stiff and still in flight, the hind wings doing the work._

Photo by M. V. Slingerland.]

THE WAYS OF THE ANT

_My child, behold the cheerful ant,

How hard she works, each day;

She works as hard as adamant

Which is very hard, they say._

--OLIVER HERFORD.

[Illustration: V]

Very many performances on the part of the ant seem to us without

reason; undoubtedly many of our performances seem likewise to her.

But the more understandingly we study her and her ways, the more we

are forced to the conclusion that she knows what she is about; I

am sure that none of us can sit down by an ant-nest and watch its

citizens come and go, without discovering things to make us marvel.

By far the greater number of species of ants find exit from their

underground burrows, beneath stones in fields. They like the stone

for more reasons than one; it becomes hot under the noon sun and

remains warm during the night, thus giving them a cozy nursery in the

evening for their young. Some species make mounds, and often several

neighboring mounds belong to the same colony, and are connected by

underground galleries. There are usually several openings into these

mounds. In case of some of the western species which make galleries

beneath the ground, there is but one opening to the nest and Dr.

McCook says that this gate is closed at night; at every gate in any

ants’ nest, there are likely to be sentinels stationed, to give

warning of intruders.

As soon as a nest is disturbed, the scared little citizens run helter

skelter to get out of the way; but if there are any larvæ or pupæ

about, they are never too frightened to take them up and make off

with them; but when too hard pressed, they will in most cases drop

the precious burden, although I have several times seen an ant, when

she dropped a pupa, stand guard over it and refuse to budge without

it. The ant’s eggs are very small objects, being oblong and about the

size of a pin point. The larvæ are translucent creatures, like rice

grains with one end pointed. The pupæ are yellowish, covered with a

parchment-like sac, and resemble grains of wheat. When we lift stones

in a field, we usually find directly beneath, the young of a certain

size.

There are often, in the same species of ants, two sizes; the large

ones are called majors and the smaller minors; sometimes there is a

smaller size yet, called minims. The smaller sizes are probably the

result of lack of nutrition. But whatever their size, they all work

together to bring food for the young and in caring for the nest. We

often see an ant carrying a dead insect or some other object larger

than herself. If she cannot lift it or shove it, she turns around,

and going backwards, pulls it along. It is rarely that we see two

carrying the same load, although we have observed this several times.

In one or two cases, the two seemed not to be in perfect accord as

to which path to take. If the ants find some large supply of food,

many of them will form a procession to bring it into the nest bit by

bit; such processions go back by making a little detour so as not to

meet and interfere with those coming. During most of the year, an

ant colony consists only of workers and laying queens, but in early

summer the nest may be found swarming with winged forms which are

the kings and queens. Some warm day these will issue from the nest

and take their marriage flight, the only time in their lives when

they use their wings; for ants, like seeds, seem to be provided

with wings simply for the sake of scattering wide the species. It

is a strange fact, that often on the same day swarms will issue

from all the nests of one species in the whole region; by what

mysterious messenger, word is sent that brings about this unanimous

exodus, is still a mystery to us. This seems to be a provision for

cross-breeding; and as bearing upon this, Miss Fielde discovered that

an alien king is not only made welcome in a nest, but is sometimes

seized by workers and pulled into a nest; this is most significant,

since no worker of any other colony of the same species, is permitted

to live in any but its own nest.

[Illustration: _Agricultural ants. Note that one ant is carrying a

sister._

Drawn by Evelyn Mitchell.]

After the marriage flight, the ants fall to the ground and

undoubtedly a large number perish; however, just here our knowledge

is lamentably lacking, and observations on the part of pupils as to

what happens to these winged forms will be valuable. In the case

of most species, we know that a queen finds refuge in some shelter

and there lays eggs. Mr. Comstock once studied a queen of the big,

black carpenter ant which lives under the bark of trees. This queen,

without taking any food herself, was able to lay her eggs and rear

her first brood to maturity; she regurgitated food for this first

brood, and then they went out foraging for the colony. However,

Miss Fielde found that in the species she studied, the queen could

not do this; a question most interesting to solve is whether any of

the young queens, after the marriage flight, are adopted into other

colonies of the same species. As soon as a queen begins laying eggs,

she sheds her then useless wings, laying them aside as a bride does

her veil.

When we are looking for ants’ nests beneath stones, we often stumble

upon a colony consisting of citizens differing in color. One has the

head and thorax rust-red with the abdomen and legs brown; associated

with this brown ant, is a black or ash-colored species. These black

ants are the slaves of the brown species; but slavery in the ant

world has its ameliorations. When the slave makers attack the slave

nest, they do not fight the inmates unless they are obliged to. They

simply loot the nest of the larvæ or pupæ, which they carry off to

their own nests; and there they are fed and reared, as carefully

as are their own young. The slaves seem to be perfectly contented,

and conduct the household affairs of their masters with apparent

cheerfulness. They do all the taking care of the nest and feeding

the young, but they are never permitted to go out with war parties;

thus they never fight, unless their colony is attacked by marauders.

If one chances upon an ant battle, one must needs compare it to a

battle of men before the invention of gunpowder; for in those days

fighting was more gory and dreadful than now, since man fought man

until one of the twain was slain. There is a great variation in

military skill as well as in courage shown by different species of

ants; the species most skilled in warfare, march to battle in a solid

column and when they meet the enemy, the battle resolves itself

into duels, although there is no code of ant honor which declares

that one must fight the enemy single-handed. Although some ants are

provided with venomous stings, our common species use their jaws for

weapons; they also eject upon each other a very acid liquid which

we know as formic acid. Two enemies approach each other, rear on

their hind legs, throw this ant vitriol at each other, then close in

deadly combat, each trying to cut the other in two. Woe to the one

on which the jaws of her enemy are once set! For the ant has bulldog

qualities, and if she once gets hold, she never lets go even though

she be rent in pieces herself. At night the ant armies retreat to

their citadels, but in the morning fare forth again to battle; and

thus the war may be waged for days, and the battlefield be strewn

with the remains of the dead and dying. So far as we are able to

observe, there are two chief causes for ant wars; one is when two

colonies desire the same ground, and the other is for the purpose of

making slaves.

[Illustration: _An aphid stable, built by ants to protect their

herds._

Photo by Slingerland.]

Perhaps the most interesting as well as most easily observed of all

ant practices, are those that have to do with plant-lice, or aphids.

If we find an ant climbing a plant of any sort, it is very likely

that we shall find she is doing it for the purpose of tending her

aphid herds. The aphid is a stupid little creature which lives by

thrusting its bill or sucking tube into a stem or leaf of a plant,

and thus settles down for life, nourished by the sap which it sucks

up; it has a peculiar habit of exuding from its alimentary canal

drops of honey-dew, when it feels the caress of the ant’s antennæ

upon its back. I had one year under observation, a nest of elegant

little ants with shining triangular abdomens which they waved in

the air like pennants when excited. These ants were most devoted

attendants on the plant-lice infesting an evening primrose; if I

jarred the primrose stem, the ants had a panic, and often one would

seize an aphid in her jaws and dash about madly, as if to rescue it

at all hazards. When the ant wishes honey-dew, she approaches the

aphid, stroking it or patting it gently with her antennæ, and if a

drop of the sweet fluid is not at once forthcoming, it is probably

because other ants have previously exhausted its individual supply;

if the ant gets no response, she hurries on to some other aphid not

yet milked dry.

This devotion of ants to aphids has been known for a hundred

years, but only recently has it been discovered to be of economic

importance. Professor Forbes, in studying the corn root-louse,

discovered that the ants care for the eggs of this aphid in their own

nests during the winter, and take the young aphids out early in the

spring, placing them on the roots of smartweed; later, after the corn

is planted, the ants move their charges to the roots of the corn.

Ants have been seen to give battle to the enemies of the aphid. The

aphids of one species living on dogwood are protected while feeding

by stables, which a certain species of ant builds around them, from a

mortar made of earth and vegetable matter.

_References_--Ants, W. M. Wheeler, Ant Communities, McCook.

LESSON XCV

FIELD OBSERVATIONS ON ANTS

_Leading thought_--However aimless to us may seem the course of the

ant as we see her running about, undoubtedly if we understood her

well enough, we should find that there is rational ant-sense in her

performances. Therefore, whenever we are walking and have time, let

us make careful observations as to the actions of the ants which we

may see.

_Method_--The following questions should be written on the blackboard

and copied by the pupils in their note-books. This should be done

in May or June, and the answers to the questions worked out by

observations made during the summer vacation.

_Observations_--1. Where do you find ants’ nests? Describe all the

different kinds you have found. In what sort of soil do they make

their nests? Describe the entrance to the nest. If the nest is a

mound, is there more than one entrance? Are there many mounds near

each other? If so, do you think they all belong to the same colony?

2. When the nest is disturbed, how do the ants act? Do they usually

try to save themselves alone? Do they seek to save their young at

the risk of their own lives? If an ant, carrying a young one is hard

pressed, will she drop it?

3. Make notes on the difference in appearance of eggs, larvæ and pupæ

in any ants’ nest.

4. In nests under stones, can you find larvæ and pupæ assorted

according to sizes?

5. How many sizes of ants do you find living in the same nest?

6. What objects do you find ants carrying to their nests? Are these

for food? How does an ant manage to carry an object larger than

herself? Do you ever see two ants working together carrying the same

load?

7. If you find a procession of ants carrying food to their nest, note

if they follow the same path coming and going.

8. If you find winged ants in a nest, catch a few in a vial with a

few of the workers, and compare the two. The winged ants are kings

and queens, the kings being much smaller than the queens.

9. If you chance to encounter a swarm of winged ants taking flight,

make observations as to the size of swarm, the height above the

ground, and whether any are falling to the earth.

10. Look under the loose bark of trees for nests of the big, black

carpenter ant. You may find in such situations a queen ant starting

a colony, which will prove most desirable for stocking an artificial

ant’s nest.

11. If you find ants climbing shrubs, trees or other plants, look

upon the leaves for aphids and note the following points:

a. How does an ant act as she approaches an aphid?

b. If the aphids are crowded on the leaf, does she step on them?

c. Watch carefully to see how the ant touches the aphid when she

wishes the honey-dew.

d. Watch how the aphid excretes the honey-dew, and note if the ant

eats it.

e. If you disturb aphids which have ants tending them, note whether

the ants attempt to defend or rescue their herds.

f. If there are aphis-lions or ladybird larvæ eating the aphids, note

if the ants attack them.

12. If you find a colony of ants under stones where there are brown

and black ants living together, the black members are the slaves of

the brown. Observe as carefully as possible the actions of both the

black and the brown inhabitants of the nest.

13. If you chance to see ants fighting, note how they make the

attack. With what weapons do they fight? How do they try to get at

the adversary?

14. Write an English theme covering the following points: How ants

take their slaves; the attitude of masters and slaves toward each

other; the work which the slaves do, and the story of the ant battle.

How ants care for and use their herds.

_References_--American Insects, Kellogg, Manual for the Study of

Insects, Comstock; Ants, McCook; True Tales, Jordan, page 6.

LESSON XCVI

HOW TO MAKE THE LUBBOCK ANT-NEST

_Material_--Two pieces of window glass, 10 inches square; a sheet of

tin, 11 inches square; a piece of plank, 1¼ inch thick, 20 inches

long and at least 16 inches wide; a sheet of tin or a thin, flat

board, 10 inches square.

_To make the nest_--Take the plank and on the upper side, a short

distance from the edge, cut a deep furrow. This furrow is to be

filled with water, as a moat, to keep the ants imprisoned. It is

necessary, therefore, that the plank should have no knot holes, and

that it be painted thoroughly to keep it from checking. Take the

sheet of tin 11 inches square, and make it into a tray by turning up

the edges three-eighths of an inch. Place this tray in the middle

of the plank. Place within the tray one pane of glass. Lay around

the edges of this glass four strips of wood about half an inch wide

and a little thicker than the height of the ants which are to live

in the nest. Cover the glass with a thin layer of fine earth. Take

the remaining pane of glass and cut a triangular piece off of one

corner, then place the pane on top of the other, resting upon the

pieces of wood around the sides. The cover of the nest may be a

piece of tin, with a handle soldered to the center, or a board with

a screw-eye in the center with which to lift it. There should be a

piece of blotter or of very thin sponge, introduced into the nest

between the two panes of glass, in a position where it may be reached

with a pipette, without removing the upper glass, for it must be kept

always damp.

To establish a colony in this nest proceed as follows: Take a

two-quart glass fruit jar and a garden trowel. Armed with these,

visit some pasture or meadow near by, and find under some stone,

a small colony of ants which have plenty of eggs and larvæ. Scoop

up carefully eggs, ants, dirt and all and place in the jar, being

as careful as possible not to injure the specimens. While digging,

search carefully for the queen, which is a larger ant and is

sometimes thus found. But if you have plenty of eggs, larvæ and pupæ,

the ants will become very contented in their new nest while taking

care of them. After you have taken all the ants desirable, place the

cover on the jar, carry them to the Lubbock nest and carefully empty

the contents of the fruit jar on top of the board which covers the

nest. Of course the furrow around the plank has been filled with

water, so the stragglers cannot escape. The ants will soon find the

way into the nest through the cut corner of the upper pane of glass,

and will transfer their larvæ to it because it is dark. After they

are in the nest, which should be within two or three hours, remove

the dirt on the cover, and the nest is ready for observation. But,

since light disturbs the little prisoners, the cover should be

removed only for short periods.

The Fielde nest is better adapted for a serious study of ants, but it

is not so well adapted for the schoolroom as is the Lubbock nest.

_Reference_--Ants, W. M. Wheeler.

[Illustration: _A Lubbock ant-nest._]

THE ANT-NEST, AND WHAT MAY BE SEEN WITHIN IT

_Teacher’s Story_

[Illustration: A]

Ant anatomy becomes a very interesting study when we note the

vigorous way the ant uses it--even to the least part. The slender

waist characterizes the ant as well as the wasp; the three regions

of the body are easily seen, the head with its ever moving antennæ,

the slender thorax with its three pairs of most efficient legs,

and the long abdomen. The ant’s legs are fairly long as compared

with the size of the body and the ant can run with a rapidity that,

comparatively, would soon outdistance any Marathon runner, however

famed. I timed an ant one day when she was taking a constitutional

on my foot rule. She was in no hurry, and yet she made time that

if translated into human terms would mean 16 yards per second. In

addition to running, many ants when frightened will make leaps with

incredible swiftness.

The ant does not show her cleverness in her physiognomy, probably

because her eyes seem small and dull and she has a decidedly

“retreating forehead;” but the brain behind this unpromising

appearance is far more active and efficient than that behind the

gorgeous great eyes of the dragon-fly or behind the “high brow” of

the grasshopper. The ant’s jaws are very large compared with her

head; they work sidewise like a pair of shears and are armed with

triangular teeth along the biting edges; these are not teeth in a

vertebrate sense, but are like the teeth of a saw. These jaws are the

ant’s chief utensils and weapons; with them she seizes the burdens of

food which she carries home; with them she gently lifts her infant

charges; with them she crushes and breaks up hard food; with them

she carries out soil from her tunnel, and with them she fights her

enemies. She also has a pair of long palpi, or feelers.

[Illustration: _A common ant._]

Although her eyes are so small and furnished with coarse facets, as

compared with other insects, this fact need not count against her,

for she has little need of eyes. Her home life is passed in dark

burrows where her antennæ give her information of her surroundings.

Note how these antennæ are always moving, seeming to be atremble

in eagerness to receive sensations. But aside from their powers

of telling things by the touch, wherein they are more delicate

than the fingers of the blind, they have other sense organs which

are comparable to our sense of smell. Miss Fielde has shown that

the five end segments of the antennæ have each its own powers in

detecting odor. The end segment detects the odor of the ant’s own

nest and enables her to distinguish this from other nests. The next,

or eleventh segment, detects the odor of any descendant of the same

queen; by this, she recognizes her sisters wherever she finds them.

Through the next, or tenth segment, she recognizes the odor of her

own feet on the trail, and thus can retrace her own steps. The eighth

and ninth segments convey to her the intelligence and means of caring

for the young. If an ant is deprived of these five end-joints of the

antennæ, she loses all power as a social ant and becomes completely

disenfranchised. Miss Fielde gives her most interesting experiments

in detail in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of

Philadelphia, July and October, 1901.

[Illustration: _The antenna-comb on the front leg of an ant._]

It is natural enough that the ant, depending so much on her antennæ

for impressions and stimuli, should be very particular to keep them

clean and in good order. She is well equipped to do this, for she

has a most efficient antennæ brush on her wrist; it is practically a

circular comb, which just fits over the antenna; and to see the ants

using these brushes is one of the most common sights in the ant-nest

and one of the most amusing. The ant usually commences by lifting

her leg over one antenna and deftly passing it through the brush,

and then licks the brush clean by passing it through her mouth, as a

cat washes her face; then she cleans the other in a similar manner

and possibly finishes by doing both alternately, winding up with

a flourish, like a European gentleman curling his mustaches. Her

antennæ cleaned, she starts promptly to do something, for she is a

little six-footed Martha, always weighed down or buoyed up by many

duties and cares. Keeping her antennæ on the qui vive, she assures

herself, by touch, of the nature of any obstacle in her path. If she

meets another ant, their antennæ cross and pat each other, and thus

they learn whether they are sisters or aliens; if they are sisters,

they may stand for some time with their antennæ fluttering. One who

has watched ants carefully, is compelled to believe that they thus

convey intelligence of some sort, one to the other. The ant is a good

sister “according to her lights;” if her sister is hungry, she will

give to her, even from her own partially digested food; the two will

often stand mouth to mouth for some minutes during this process; if

she feels inclined, she will also help a sister at her toilet, and

lick her with her tongue as one cow licks another. The tongue of the

ant is very useful in several ways; with it she takes up liquids, and

also uses it with much vigor as a washcloth. Sometimes an ant will

spend a half hour or more at her own toilet, licking every part of

her own body that her tongue can reach, meanwhile going through all

sorts of contortions to accomplish it; she uses her feet to scrub

portions of her body, not to be reached by her tongue.

[Illustration: _Ants making their toilets._]

But it is as infant nurse that the ant is a shining example. No

mother instinct is hers, for she has yielded the power of motherhood

to the exigencies of business life, since all workers are females but

are undeveloped sexually. She shows far more sense in the care of

her infant sisters, than the mother instinct often supplies to human

mothers. The ant nurse takes the eggs as soon as laid, and whether

or not her care retards or hastens hatching we know not; but we do

know, that although the queen ant may not lay more than two eggs per

day, a goodly number of these seem to hatch at the same time. The

eggs are massed in bundles and are sticky on the outside so as to

hold the bundle together. Miss Fielde says, as the eggs are hatching,

one ant will hold up the bundle, while another feeds those which have

broken the shell. The larvæ, when young, also hang together by means

of tiny hooks on their bodies. This habit of the eggs and young larvæ

is a convenient one, since an ant is thus able to carry many at a

time.

The larvæ are odd looking little creatures, shaped like crookneck

squashes, the small end being the head and neck and the latter being

very extensible. The ant nurses, by feeding some more than others,

are able to keep a brood at the same stage of development; and in a

well ordered ant-nest, we find those of the same size in one nursery.

I have often thought of a graded school as I have noted in ant-nests

the youngsters assorted according to size.

The ants seem to realize the cost and care of rearing their young;

and when a nest is attacked, the oldest, which are usually in the

pupa stage, are saved first. When the larvæ are young, they are fed

on regurgitated food; but as they grow older, the food is brought

to them, or they to the food, and they do their own eating. In one

of my nests, I placed part of the yolk of an egg hard boiled, and

the ant nurses dumped the larvæ down around the edges of it; there

they munched industriously, until through their transparent bodies I

could see the yellow of the egg the whole length of the alimentary

canal. The ant nurses are very particular about temperatures for

their young, and Miss Fielde says they are even more careful about

draughts. Thus they are obliged to move them about in the ground

nests, carrying them down to the lower nurseries in the heat of the

day, and bringing them up, nearer to the warm stones, during the

evenings. This moving is always done carefully, and though the ant’s

jaws are such formidable nippers, she carries her baby sisters with

gentleness; and if they be pupæ, she holds them by the loose pupal

skin, like carrying a baby by its clothes. The pupæ look like plump

little grain bags, tied at one end with a black string. They are the

size of small grains of wheat, and are often called ants’ eggs, which

is absurd, since they are almost as large as the ant. Ants’ eggs are

not larger than pin points.

The ant nurses keep the larvæ and pupæ very clean by licking them;

and when a youngster issues from the pupa skin, it is a matter of

much interest to the nurses. I have often seen two or three of them

help straighten out the cramped legs and antennæ of the young one,

and hasten to feed her with regurgitated food. When ants first issue

from the pupa skin they are pale in color, their eyes being very

black in contrast; they are usually helpless and stupid, although

they often try to clean their antennæ and make a toilet; but they

do not know enough to follow their elders from one room to another,

and they are a source of much care to the nurses. In case of moving,

a nurse will lock jaws with a “callow,” as a freshly hatched adult

ant is called, and drag her along, the legs of the callow sprawling

helplessly meanwhile. If in haste, the nurse takes hold anywhere,

by the neck or the leg, and hustles her charge along; if she takes

her by the waist the callow curls up like a kitten, and is thus more

easily moved. After moving them from one chamber to the next, I have

noticed that the callows are herded together, their attendants

ranged in a circle about them. Often we see one ant carrying another

which is not a callow, and this means that a certain number of the

colony have made up their minds to move, while the others are not

awake to this necessity. In such a case, one of these energetic

sisters will seize another by the waist, and carry her off with an

air that says plainly, “Come along, you stupid!”

Ants are very cleanly in their nests, and we find the refuse piled in

a heap at one corner, or as far as possible from the brood.

If we are fortunate enough to find a queen for the nest, then we

may observe the attention she gets; she is always kept in a special

compartment, and is surrounded by ladies in waiting, who feed her and

lick her clean and show solicitude for her welfare; although I have

never observed in an ants’ nest, that devotion to royalty which we

see in a beehive.

Not the least interesting scene in an ants’ nest is when all, or

some, are asleep and are as motionless as if dead.

LESSON XCVII

OBSERVATIONS OF ANTS IN AN ARTIFICIAL NEST

_Leading thought_--The ants are very devoted to their young and

perhaps the care of them is the most interesting feature in the study

of the artificial nest.

_Method_--Have, in the schoolroom, a Lubbock’s nest with a colony

of ants within it, with their larvæ in all stages, and if possible,

their queen. For observing the form of the ant, pass one or two

around in a vial.

_Observations_--1. What is there peculiar about the shape of the

ant’s body? Can you see which section bears the legs? Are the ants’

legs long compared with her body? Can she run rapidly?

2. Look at the ant’s head through a lens, and describe the antennæ,

the jaws and the eyes.

3. Note how the ant keeps her antennæ in motion. Note how she gropes

with them as a blind person with his hands. Note how she uses them in

conversing with her companions.

4. How does the ant clean her antennæ? Does she clean them more often

than any other part of her body? How does she make her toilet?

5. See how an ant eats syrup. How do ants feed each other?

6. How does the ant carry an object? How does she carry a larva or a

pupa? Have you ever seen one ant carry another? If so, describe it.

7. Note the way the ants feed their young. How do they keep them

clean? Does an ant carry one egg or one small larva at a time or a

bundle of them? How do you suppose the bundle is fastened together?

8. Describe an egg, a larva and a pupa of the ant and tell how they

differ. Do you know which ant is the mother of the larvæ in the nest?

9. Do you find larvæ of different sizes all together in your nest? Do

you find larvæ and pupæ in the same group? Do the ants move the young

often from one nest to another? Why do you suppose they do this?

10. Note how the ant nurses take care of the callow ant when it is

coming out from the pupa skin. How do they assist her and care for

her? How do they lead her around? How do ants look when resting?

11. Note where the ants throw the refuse from the nest. Do they ever

change the position of this dump heap?

THE MUD-DAUBER

_Teacher’s Story_

[Illustration: T]

This little cement worker is a nervous and fidgety creature, jerking

her wings constantly as she walks around in the sunshine; but

perhaps this is not nervousness, but rather to show off the rainbow

iridescence of her black wings; surely such a slim-waisted being as

she, has a right to be vain. No tight lacing ever brought about such

a long, slim waist as hers; it is a mere pedicel, and the abdomen is

a mere knob at the end of it. The latter seen from the outside, would

seem of little use as an abdomen; but if we watch the insect flying,

we can see plainly that it is used to steer with.

[Illustration: _Nests of a mud-dauber on the back of a picture

frame._]

In early summer, we find this black wasp at her trade as a mason. She

seeks the edges of pools or puddles where she works industriously,

leaving many little holes whence she takes mud to mix with the

saliva, which she secretes from her mouth to make firm her cement.

This cement she plasters on the under side of some roof or rafter

or other protected place, going back and forth until she has built

a suitable foundation. She works methodically, making a tube about

an inch long, smooth inside but rough outside, the walls about

one-eighth of an inch thick. She does all of the plastering with her

jaws, which she uses as a trowel. When the tube is completed except

that the end is left open, she starts off in quest of spiders, and

very earnestly does she seek them. I have seen her hunt every nook

and corner of a piazza for this prey. When she finds a spider, she

pounces upon it and stings it until it is helpless, and carries it to

her cement tube, which is indeed a spider sarcophagus, and thrusts

it within. She brings more spiders until her tube is nearly full;

she then lays an egg within it and then makes more cement and neatly

closes the door of the tube. She then places another tube by the side

of this, which she provisions and closes in the same way; and then

she may make another and another tube, often a half dozen, under one

adobe roof.

The wasp in some mysterious way knows how to thrust her sting

into the spider’s nervous system in a peculiar way, which renders

her victim unable to move although it yet lives. The wasp is no

vegetarian like the bee, and she must supply her young with wasp-meat

instead of bee-bread. Since it is during the summer and hot weather

when the young wasps are hatched and begin their growth, their meat

must be kept fresh for a period of two or three weeks. So these

paralyzed spiders do not die, although they are helpless. It is

certainly a practical joke with justice in it, that these ferocious

creatures lie helpless while being eaten by a fat little grub which

they would gladly devour, if they could move.

[Illustration: _A mud-dauber and her nests, with cells cut open

showing a, larva full grown; b, cocoon; c, young larva feeding on its

spider-meat and d, an empty cell._

Drawn by Anna C. Stryke.]

The wasp larva is a whitish, plump grub and it eats industriously

until the spider meat is exhausted. It then weaves a cocoon of silk

about itself which just covers the walls of its home tube, like a

silken tapestry; within this cocoon the grub changes to a pupa. When

it finally emerges, it is a full-grown wasp with jaws which are able

to cut a door in the end of its tube, through which it comes out into

the world, a free and accepted mason. The females or queens, which

issue late in the season, hide in warm or protected places during the

winter; they particularly like the folds of lace window curtains for

hibernating quarters. There they remain until spring comes, when they

go off to build their plaster houses.

There are about seventy species of mud wasps in our country. Some

provision their nests with caterpillars instead of spiders. This is

true of the jug-builder, which makes her nest jug-shaped and places

two or three of them side by side upon a twig. She uses hair in her

mortar, which makes it stronger. This is necessary, since the jug is

saddled upon twigs and is more exposed to the rain than is the nest

of the most common mud-dauber. The jug-builder is brown in color and

has yellow markings on the abdomen; but she does not resemble the

yellow-jackets, because she has a threadlike waist. There are other

species of mud wasps which use any small cavity they can find for the

nest, plastering up the opening after the nest has been provisioned

and the egg laid. We often find keyholes, knot-holes and even the

cavity in the telephone receiver, plastered up by these small

opportunists.

The mud-dauber which is the most common, and most likely to be

selected for this lesson, is a slender creature and looks as if she

were made of black tinsel; her body gives off glints of steel and

blue; her abdomen constantly vibrates with the movement of breathing.

Her eyes are large and like black beads; her black antennæ curve

gracefully outward, and her wings, corrugated with veins, shimmer

with a smoky blue, green and purple. She stands on her black tip-toes

when she walks, and she has a way of turning around constantly as if

she expected an attack from the rear. Her wings, like those of other

mud-wasps are not folded fan-wise like those of the yellow-jacket,

but are folded by each other over her back.

[Illustration: _The Jug-builder and her nests._]

LESSON XCVIII

THE MUD-DAUBER

_Leading thought_--There are certain wasps which gather mud and mix

it into mortar with which to build nests for their young. Within

these nests, the mother wasp places spiders or insects which are

disabled by her sting, for the food of the young wasps.

_Method_--Have the pupils bring the homes of the mud wasps to school

for observation. The wasps themselves are very common in June and

also in September, and they also may be studied at school and may

be passed around in vials for closer observation; they do not sting

severely when handled, the sting being a mere prick. The purpose of

the lesson should be to stimulate the pupils to watch the mud-daubers

while building their nests and capturing their prey.

_Observations_--1. Where did you find the mud-dauber’s nest? How was

it protected from the rain? Was it easily removed? Could you remove

it all, or did some of it remain stuck fast?

2. What is the shape of the nest? How does it look inside? Of how

many tubes does it consist? How long is each tube? Were the tubes

laid side by side?

3. Of what material was the nest made? Is it not much harder than

mud? How did the wasp change the mud to cement? Where did she get the

mud? How did she carry it? With what tools did she plaster it?

4. For what purpose was the nest made? Is the inside of the tubes

smooth as compared with the outside of the nest?

5. Write a little story about all that happens in one of these tubes,

including the following points: What did the mother wasp place in the

tube? How and why did she close it? What hatched from the egg she

placed within it? How does the young wasp look? On what does it feed?

What sort of a cocoon does it spin? How does it get out of the nest

when full-grown?

6. Describe the mud-dauber wasp. How large is she? What is the color

of her body? Of her wings? How many wings has she? How are her wings

folded differently from those of the yellow-jacket? Describe her

eyes; her antennæ; her legs; her waist; her abdomen.

7. Where did you find the wasp? How did she act? Do you think that

she can sting? How does she pass the winter?

8. Do you know the mud wasps which build the little, jug-shaped nests

for their young? Do you know the mud wasps which utilize crevices and

keyholes for their nests and plaster up the opening?

9. Do you know about the digger wasps which pack away grasshoppers or

caterpillars in a hole in the ground, in which they lay their egg and

then cover it?

_Supplementary reading_--Insect Stories, Kellogg; Wasps, Social and

Solitary, Peckham; Wasps and their Ways, Morley; The Ways of the

Six-footed, Comstock; Home Studies in Nature, Treat.

THE YELLOW-JACKET

_Teacher’s Story_

[Illustration: M]

Many wasps are not so waspish after all when we understand one

important fact about them; i. e., although they are very nervous

themselves, they detest that quality in others. For years the

yellow-jackets have shared with us our meals at our summer camp on

the lake shore. They make inquisitive tours of inspection over the

viands on the table, often seeming to include ourselves, and coming

so near that they fan our faces with their wings. They usually end by

selecting the sweetened fruits, but they also carry off bits of roast

beef, pouncing down upon the meat platter and seizing a tidbit as a

hawk does a chicken. We always remain calm during these visitations,

for we know that unless we inadvertently pinch one, we shall not be

harmed; and it is great fun to watch one of these graceful creatures

poising daintily on the side of the dish lapping up the fruit juice

as a cat does milk, the slender, yellow-banded abdomen palpitating

as she breathes. Occasionally, two desire the same place, and a

wrestling match ensues which is fierce while it lasts, but the

participants always come back to the dish unharmed. They are extra

polite in their manners, for after one has delved eagerly into the

fruit syrup, she proceeds to clean her front feet by passing them

through her jaws, which is a wasp way of using a finger bowl.

[Illustration: _A yellow-jacket_]

Both yellow-jackets and the white-faced black-hornets build in trees

and similarly, although the paper made by the yellow-jackets is finer

in texture. However, some species of yellow-jackets build their nests

in the ground, but of similar form. The nest is of paper made of bits

of wood which the wasps pull off with their jaws from weather-worn

fences or boards. This wood is reduced to a pulp by saliva which is

secreted from the wasp’s mouth, and is laid on in little layers

which can be easily seen by examining the outside of the nest. These

layers may be of different colors. A wasp will come with her load

of paper pulp, and using her jaws and front feet for tools she will

join a strip to the edge of the paper and pat it into shape. The

paper tears more readily along the lines of the joining, than across.

The cover of the nest is made of many layers of shell-like pieces

fastened together and the outer layers are waterproof; the opening of

a nest is at the bottom. Mr. Lubbock has shown that certain wasps are

stationed at the door, as sentinels, to give warning on the approach

of the enemy. The number of stories of combs in a nest depends upon

the age and size of the colony. They are fastened together firmly

near the center, by a central core or axis of very strong, firm

paper, which at the top is attached to a branch or whatever supports

the nest. The cells all open downward, in this respect differing from

those of the honey-bee, which are usually placed horizontal. The

wasp-comb differs from the honey-comb in that it is made of paper

instead of wax, and that the rows of cells are single instead of

double. The cells in the wasp-comb are not for storing honey, but are

simply the cradles for the young wasps. (See Fig. p. 457.)

Sometimes a wasp family disaster makes it possible for us to examine

one of these nests with its inmates. Here we find in some of the

cells, the long white eggs fastened to the very bottom of the cell,

in an inner angle, as if a larva when hatched needed to have a cozy

corner. These wasp larvæ are the chubbiest little grubs imaginable

and are very soft bodied. It was once a mystery to me how they were

able to hang in the cells, head down, without getting “black in the

face” or falling out; but this was made plain by studying the little

disk at the rear end of the larva’s body, which is decidedly sticky;

after a larva is dead, its heavy body can be lifted by pressing a

match against this disk; thus it evidently suffices to keep the baby

wasp stuck fast to its cradle. The larva’s body is mostly covered

with a white, papery, soft skeleton skin; the head is yellowish and

highly polished, looking like a drop of honey. At one side may be

seen a pair of toothed jaws, showing that it is able to take and

chew any food brought by the nurses. They seem to be well trained

youngsters for they all face toward the center of the nest, so that a

nurse, when feeding them, can move from one to another without having

to pass to the other side of the cell. It is a funny sight to behold

a combful of well grown larvæ, each fitting in its cell like meal in

a bag and with head and several segments projecting out as if the bag

were overflowing. It behooves the wasp larva to get its head as far

out of the cell as possible, so that it will not be overlooked by the

nurses; the little ones do this by holding themselves at the angle of

the cell; this they accomplish by wedging the back into the corner.

These young larvæ do not face inwards like the older ones, but they

rest in an inner angle of the cell.

After a larva has reached the limit of its cell room, it spins a

veil around itself and fastens it at the sides, so that it forms a

lining to the upper part of the cell and makes a bag over the “head

and shoulders” of the insect. This cocoon is very tough, and beneath

its loose dome the larva skin is shed; the pupa takes on a decidedly

waspish form, except that the color is all black; the legs and the

wings are folded piously down the breast and the antennæ lie meekly

each side of the face, with the “hands” folded outside of them; the

strong toothed jaws are ready, so that when the pupa skin is molted,

the insect can cut its silken curtain, and come out into its little

nest world, as a full-fledged yellow-jacket.

[Illustration: _Looking a wasp in the face._]

What a harlequin the wasp is, in her costume of yellow and black!

Often in the invertebrate world these colors mean “sit up and take

notice,” and the wasp’s costume is no exception. Whoever has had

any experience in meddling with yellow-jackets, avoids acquaintance

with all yellow and black insects. Yet we must confess that the

lady wasp has good taste in dress. The yellow cross bands on her

black skirt are scalloped, and, in fact, all her yellow is put on

in a most _chic_ manner; she, being slender, can well afford to

dress in roundwise stripes, and she folds her wings prettily like a

fan, and not over her back like the mud wasp, which would cover her

decorations. There is a sensation coming to the one who, armed with a

lens, looks a wasp in the face; she always does her hair pompadour,

and the yellow is here put on with a most bizarre effect, in points

and arabesques. Even her jaws are yellow with black borders and black

notches. Her antennæ are velvety black, her legs are yellow, and her

antennæ comb, on her wrist, is a real comb and quite ornate.

In the nest which we studied in late August, the queen cells were

just being developed. They were placed in a story all by themselves,

and they were a third larger than the cells of the workers. The queen

of this nest was a most majestic wasp, fully twice as large as any of

her subjects; her face was entirely black, and the yellow bands on

her long abdomen were of quite a different pattern than those on the

workers; her sting was not so long in proportion, but I must confess

it looked efficient. In fact, a yellow-jacket’s sting is a formidable

looking spear when seen through a microscope, since it has on one

side some backward projecting barbs, meant to hold it firm when

driving home the thrust.

[Illustration: _The antenna-comb on the wrist of my Lady Wasp_]

While wasps are fond of honey and other sweets, they are also fond

of animal food and eat a great many insects, benefiting us greatly

by destroying mosquitoes and flies. As no food is stored for

their winter use, all wasps excepting the queens die of the cold.

The queens crawl away to protected places and seem to be able to

withstand the rigors of winter; each queen, in the spring, makes a

little comb of a few cells, covering it with a thin layer of paper.

She then lays eggs in these cells and gathers food for the young; but

when these first members of the family, which are always workers,

come to maturity, they take upon themselves the work of enlarging

the nest and caring for the young. After that, the queen devotes her

energies to laying eggs.

Wasps enlarge their houses by cutting away the paper from the inside

of the covering, to give more room for building the combs wider; to

compensate for this, they build additional layers on the outside of

the nest. Thus it is, that every wasp’s nest, however large, began as

a little comb of a few cells and was enlarged to meet the needs of

the rapidly growing family. Ordinarily the nest made one year is not

used again.

LESSON XCIX

THE YELLOW-JACKET

_Leading thought_--The wasps were the original paper makers, using

wood pulp for the purpose. Some species construct their houses of

paper in the trees or bushes while others build in the ground.

_Method_--Take a deserted wasp-nest, the larger the better, with

sharp scissors remove one side of the covering of the nest, leaving

the combs exposed and follow with the questions and suggestions

indicated. From this study of the nest encourage the children to

observe more closely the wasps and their habits, which they can do

in safety if they learn to move quietly while observing (See Fig. p.

457.)

_Observations_--1. Which kind of wasp do you think made this nest? Of

what is the nest made? Where did the wasp get the material? How do

the wasps make wood into paper?

2. What is the general shape of the nest? Is the nest well covered

to protect it from rain? Where is the door where the wasps went in

and out? Is the covering of the nest all of the same color? Do these

differences in color give you any idea of how the wasps build the

paper into the nest? Does the paper tear more easily one way than

another? Is the covering of the nest solid or in layers?

3. How many combs or stories are there in the wasp house? How are

they fastened together and how suspended?

4. Compare the combs of the wasp-nest with those of the honey-bee.

How do they resemble each other and how differ? Do the cells open

upward or downward? For what purpose are the combs in the wasp-nest

used? Are all the cells of the same size? Do you know the reason for

this difference in size?

5. How do the young wasp grubs manage to cling to the cells head

downward? Are the cells lined with a different color and does this

lining extend out over the opening in some cases? Is this lining of

the cells made of paper also? Do you know how a young wasp looks and

how the white lining of the cells is made?

6. Do you believe that some wasps of the colony are always posted as

sentinels at the door to give warning if the colony is attacked?

7. Do wasps store food to sustain them during the winter? What

happens to them during winter? Is the same nest used year after year?

8. Can you describe the beginning of this wasp-nest? When was it

made? Tell the story of the wasp that made it. How large was the nest

at first? How was the nest enlarged?

9. What is the food of wasps? How do these insects benefit us?

10. Write a story giving the life history of a wasp.

11. In the summer watch a yellow-jacket eat from a dish of sweetened

fruit which you may place out of doors to coax her to come where you

can carefully observe her. What are the colors of the yellow-jacket?

Where is the yellow? How are the yellow bands made ornamental? How

does she fold her wings? How many wings has she? What is the color of

her legs? Describe her antennæ and eyes. How does she eat the fruit

juice? Can you see the motion of her body when she breathes?

THE LEAF-CUTTER BEE

_Teacher’s Story_

[Illustration: O]

One beautiful day in late June when I was picking some roses, I saw a

bee, almost as large as a honey-bee but different in shape and darker

in color, alight on a leaf and moving with nervous rapidity, cut a

circle out of a leaf with her jaws “quicker’n a wink;” then taking

the piece between her fore-feet and perhaps holding it also with her

jaws, she flew away, the green disk looking as large in proportion

to her size as a big base drum hung to the neck of a small drummer.

I waited long for her to come back, but she came not; meanwhile I

examined the leaves of the rose bush and found many circlets, and

also many oblong holes with the ends deeply rounded, cut from the

leaflets.

I knew the story of the little bee and was glad I had seen her cut a

leaflet with her jaw shears, which work sidewise like real shears. I

knew that somewhere she had found a cavity big enough for her needs;

perhaps she had tunneled it herself in the dead wood of some post

or stump, using her jaws to cut away the chips; maybe she had found

a crevice beneath the shingles of a roof or beneath a stone in the

field, or she may have rolled a leaf; anyway, her little cave was

several inches long, circular in outline and large enough to admit

her body. She first cut a long piece from the rose leaf and folded it

at the end of the tunnel; and then she brought another and another

long piece and bent and shaped them into a little thimble-like cup,

fastening them together with some saliva glue, from her mouth. After

the cup was made to her liking, she went in search of food, which

was found in the pollen of some flowers. This pollen was carried not

as the honey-bees do, because she has no pollen baskets on her legs;

but it was dusted into the fur on the lower side of her body; as she

scraped the pollen off, she mixed it with some nectar which she had

also found in the flowers, and made it into a pasty mass and heaped

it at the bottom of the cup; she probably made many visits to flowers

before she had a sufficient amount of this bee pastry, and then she

laid an egg upon it; after this, she immediately flew back to the

rose bush to cut a lid for her cup. She is a nice mathematician and

she cuts the lid just a little larger than the rim of the cup, so

that it may be pushed down in, making it fit very closely around the

edges; she then cuts another and perhaps another of the same size and

puts them over and fastened to the first cover. When finished, it is

surely the prettiest baby basket ever made by a mother, all safely

enclosed to keep out enemies. But her work is then only begun. She

has other baby baskets to make and she perhaps makes ten or more,

placing one cup just ahead of another in the little tunnel.

But what is happening meanwhile to the bee babies in the baskets? The

egg hatches into a little white bee grub which falls to and eats the

pollen and nectar paste with great eagerness. As it eats, it grows

and sheds its skeleton skin as often as it becomes too tight, and

then eats and grows some more. How many mothers would know just how

much food it would require to develop a child from infancy until it

grows up! This bee mother knows well this amount and when the food

is all gone, the little bee grub is old enough to change to a pupa;

it looks very different now, and although mummy-shaped we can see

its folded wings and antennæ. After remaining a motionless pupa for

a few days, it sheds its pupa skin and now it is a bee just like its

mother; but as the oldest bee is at the bottom of the tunnel, even

after it gets its wings and gnaws its way out of its basket, it very

likely cannot escape and find its way out into the sunshiny world,

until its younger brothers and sisters have gone out before it.

There are many species of these leaf-cutter bees and each species

makes its own kind of a nest, always cutting the same size of

circlets and usually choosing its own special kind of leaf to make

this cradle. Some are daintier in their tastes and use rolled petals

instead of leaves; and we have found some tiny cups made of gorgeous

peony petals, and some of pansy petals, a most exquisite material.

At Chautauqua we found a species which rolled maple leaves into a

tube which held three or four cups, and we also found there a bee

stowing her cups in the open end of a tubular rod, used to hold up

an awning. There are other species which make short tunnels in the

ground for their nests, but perhaps the most common of all wedge

their cups between or beneath the shingles on the roofs of summer

cottages. But, however or wherever the leaf-cutter works, she is a

master mechanic and does her work with niceness and daintiness.

[Illustration: _Pansy cut by leaf-cutter bee._

Drawing by Anna C. Stryke.]

LESSON C

THE LEAF-CUTTER BEE

_Leading thought_--When we see the edges of rose leaves with holes

of regular pattern in them, some of the holes being oblong and some

circular, we know the leaf-cutter bee has cut them to make her cradle

cups.

_Method_--It is very easy to find in June or autumn the leaves

from which the leaf-cutter bee has cut the bedding for her young.

Encourage the pupils to look for the nest during the summer and to

bring some of the cups to school when they return, where they may be

studied in detail; meanwhile the teacher may tell the story of the

nest. This is rather difficult for the pupils to work out.

_Observations_--1. Do you find rose leaves with round holes cut in

their edges? Do you find on the same bush some leaflets with oblong

holes in them? Sketch or describe the rose leaf thus cut, noting

exactly the shape of the holes. Are the circular holes of the same

size? Are the long holes about equal in size and shape? Do you find

any other plants with holes like these cut in them? Do you find any

petals of flowers thus cut?

2. What do you think made these holes? If an insect was taking a leaf

for food would the holes be as regular? Watch the rose bush carefully

and see if you can discover the insect which cuts the leaf.

[Illustration: _Leaf-cutter bee; the rose leaf cut by her; her

nest-cups removed from the tube in which they were built, the cup

made first cut open to show bee larva._

Photo by Slingerland.]

3. Have you ever seen the little black bee carrying pieces of rose

leaves between her front feet? With what instrument do you suppose

she cut the leaves? Where do you think she was going?

4. Have you ever found the nest of the leaf-cutter bee? Was it in a

tunnel made in dead wood or in some crack or cranny? How many of the

little rose leaf cups are there in it? How are the cups placed? Are

the little bees still in the cups or can you see the holes through

which they crawled out?

5. Take one cup and study it carefully. How are the pieces of leaves

folded to make the cups? How is the lid put on? Soak the cup in

water until it comes apart easily. Describe how many of the long

pieces were used and how they were bent to make a cup. Of how many

thicknesses is the cover made? Are the covers just the same size or

a little larger than the top of the cup? How does the cover fit so

tightly?

6. If you find the nest in July or early August, examine one of

the cups carefully and see what there is in it. Take off the cover

without injuring it. What is at the bottom of the nest? Is there an

insect within it? How does it look? What is it doing? Of what do you

think its food was made? How and by whom was the food placed in the

cup? Place the nest in a box or jar with mosquito netting over the

top, and put it out of doors in a safe and shaded place. Look at it

often and see what this insect changes into.

7. If the mother bee made each little nest cup and put in the

bee-bread, and honey for her young, which cup contains the oldest of

the family? Which the youngest? How do you think the full-grown bees

get out of the cup?

8. Do you think that the same species of bee always cuts the same

sized holes in a leaf? Is it the same species which cuts the rose

leaves and the pansy petals?

THE LITTLE CARPENTER-BEE

_Teacher’s Story_

[Illustration: T]

Take a dozen dead twigs from almost any sumac or elder, split them

lengthwise, and you will find in at least one or two of them, a

little tunnel down the center where the pith once was. In the month

of June or July, this narrow tunnel is made into an insect apartment

house, one little creature in each apartment, partitioned off from

the one above and the one below. The nature of this partition reveals

to us whether the occupants are bees or wasps; if it is made of tiny

chips, like fine sawdust glued together, a bee made it and there

are little bees in the cells; if it is made of bits of sand or mud

glued together, a wasp was the architect and young wasps are the

inhabitants. Also, if the food in the cells is pollen paste, it was

placed there by a bee; if of paralyzed insects or spiders, a wasp

made the nest.

The little carpenter-bee (_Ceratina dupla_) is a beautiful creature,

scarcely one quarter of an inch in length, with metallic blue body

and rainbow tinted wings. In May, she selects some broken twig of

sumac, elder or raspberry, which gives her access to the pith; this

she at once begins to dig out, mouthful by mouthful, until she has

made a smooth tunnel several inches long; she then gathers pollen

and packs bee-bread in the bottom of the cell to the depth of a

quarter-inch, and then lays upon it, a tiny white egg. She then

brings back some of her chips of pith and glues them together, making

a partition about one-tenth of an inch thick, which she fastens

firmly to the sides of the tunnel; this is the roof for the first

cell and the floor of the next one; she then gathers more pollen,

lays another egg, and builds another partition.

[Illustration:

_The little carpenter-bee; her nest, cut open, showing the

eldest larva at the bottom and the youngest nearest the

entrance._

]

Thus she fills the tunnel, almost to the opening, with cells,

sometimes as many as fourteen; but she always leaves a space for a

vestibule near the door, and in this she makes her home while her

family below her are growing up.

The egg in the lowest cell of course hatches first; a little bee

grub issues from it and eats the bee-bread industriously and grows

by shedding his skin when it becomes too tight; then he changes to

a pupa and later to a bee resembling his mother. But, though fully

grown, he cannot get out into the sunshine, for all his younger

brothers and sisters are blocking the tunnel ahead of him; so he

simply tears down the partition above him and kicks the little pieces

of it behind him, and bides his time until the next youngest brother

tears down the partition above his head and pushes its fragments

behind him into the very face of the elder which, in turn, performs a

similar act; and thus, while he is waiting, he is kept more or less

busy pushing behind him the broken bits of all the partitions above

him. Finally, the youngest gets his growth, and there they all are in

the tunnel, the broken partitions behind the hindmost at the bottom

of the nest, and the young bees packed closely together in a row with

heads toward the door. When we find the nest at this period, we know

the mother because her head is toward her young ones and her back

to the door. A little later, on some bright morning, they all come

out into the sunshine and flit about on gauzy, rainbow wings, a very

happy family, out of prison.

But if the brood is a late one, the home must be cleaned out and used

as a winter nest, and still the loyal little mother bee stays true

to her post; she is the last one to enter the nest; and not until

they are all housed within, does she enter. It is easy to distinguish

her for her poor wings are torn and frayed with her long labor of

building the nest, until they scarcely serve to carry her afield; but

despite this she remains on guard over her brood, for which she has

worn out her own life.

[Illustration: _Nest of carpenter-wasp._

Comstock’s Manual.]

The story of the little carpenter-wasps is similar to that of the

bee, except that we have reason to believe they often use her

abandoned tunnels instead of making new ones. They make their little

partitions out of mud; their pupæ are always in long, slender,

silken cocoons, and we have no evidence that the mother remains in

attendance.

LESSON CI

THE LITTLE CARPENTER-BEE

_Leading thought_--Not all bees live in colonies like the honey-bees

and bumblebees. One tiny bee rears her brood within a tunnel which

she makes in the pith of sumac, elder or raspberry.

_Method_--This lesson may be given in June or in October. In June,

the whole family of bees in their apartments may be observed; in

autumn, the empty tenement with the fragments of the partitions still

clinging may be readily found and examined; and sometimes a whole

family maybe found, stowed away in the home tunnel, for the winter.

[Illustration: _Nest of large carpenter-wasp_

Comstock’s Manual.]

_Observations_--1. Collect dead twigs of sumac or elder and cut them

in half, lengthwise. Do you find any with the pith tunneled out?

2. How long is the tunnel? Are its sides smooth? Can you see the

partitions which divide the long narrow tunnel into cells? Look at

the partitions with a lens, if necessary, to determine whether they

are made of tiny bits of wood or of mud. If made of mud, what insect

made them? If of little chips how and by what were they constructed?

3. Are there any insects in the cells? If so, describe them. Is there

bee-bread in the cells?

4. For what was the tunnel made? With what tools was it made? How are

the partitions fastened together? How does a young bee look?

5. Write the story of the oldest of the bee family which lived in

this tunnel. Why did it hatch first? On what did it feed? When it

became a full fledged bee, what did it do? How did it finally get out?

6. Take a glass tube, the hollow at the center being about one-eighth

of an inch across, a tube which you can get in any drug-store. Break

this tube into sections, six or seven inches long, wrap around each a

black paper or cloth, made fast with rubber bands and suspend them in

a hedge or among thick bushes in May. Examine these tubes each week

to see if the wasps or bees are using them.

_Supplementary reading_--“The Story We Love Best,” in Ways of the

Six-footed, Comstock.

THE BUMBLEBEE

_Teacher’s Story_

_Thou, in sunny solitudes,

Rover of the underwoods,

The green silence dost replace

With thy mellow, breezy bass._

--EMERSON.

[Illustration: T]

There seems to have been an hereditary war between the farm boy

and the bumblebee, the hostilities usually initiated by the boy.

Like many wars, it is very foolish and wicked, and has resulted in

great harm to both parties. Luckily, the boys of to-day are more

enlightened; and it is to be hoped that they will learn to endure a

bee sting or two for the sake of protecting these diminishing hosts,

upon which so many flowers depend for carrying their pollen; for of

all the insects of the field, the bumblebees are the best and most

needed friends of the flowers.

The bumblebees are not so thrifty and forehanded as are the

honeybees, and do not provide enough honey to sustain the whole

colony during the winter. Only the mother bees, or queens as they

are called, survive the cold season. Just how they do it, we do not

know, but probably they are better nourished and therefore have more

endurance than the workers. In early May, one of the most delightful

of spring visitants is one of these great buzzing queens, flying low

over the freshening meadows, trying to find a suitable place for her

nest; and the farmer or fruit grower who knows his business, is as

anxious as she that she find suitable quarters, knowing well that

she and her children will render him most efficient aid in growing

his fruit and seed. She finally selects some cosy place, very likely

a deserted nest of the field mouse, and there begins to build her

home. She toils early and late, gathering pollen and nectar from the

blossoms of the orchard and other flowers which she makes into a

special kind of bee-bread, by mixing it with nectar. This is packed

in an irregular mass and on it she lays a few eggs; each little bee

grub, as soon as it hatches, burrows into the bee-bread, making a

little cave for itself while satisfying its appetite. After it is

fully grown, it spins about itself a cocoon and changes to a pupa,

and later emerges a full-fledged worker bumblebee, being scarcely

more than half as large as her queen mother. These workers or

daughters of the family find full satisfaction in life in attending

to the wants of the growing family. They gather more pollen and mix

it with honey, making larger masses for the young to burrow in;

meanwhile, the queen remains at home and devotes her energies to

laying eggs for the enlargement of the colony. The workers not only

care for the young, but later they strengthen the silken pupa cradles

with wax, and thus make them into cells for storing honey. When we

understand that the cells in the bumblebee’s nest are simply made

by the young bees burrowing in any direction, we can understand why

the bumblebee comb is so disorderly in the arrangement of its cells.

Perhaps the boy of the farm would find the rank bumblebee honey less

like the ambrosia of the gods, if he knew that it was stored in the

deserted cradles and swaddling clothes of the bumblebee grubs.

[Illustration: _A bumblebee’s nest after a frost. Note the mummy of

the first owner of the nest._

Photo by Slingerland.]

All of the eggs in the bumblebee nest in the spring and early

summer develop into workers which do incidentally the vast labor of

carrying pollen for thousands of flowers; to these only is granted

the privilege of carrying the pollen for the red clover, since the

tongues of the other bees are not sufficiently long to reach the

nectar. The red clover does not produce seed in sufficient quantity

to be a profitable crop, unless there are bumblebees to pollinate its

blossoms. Late in the summer, queens and drones are developed in the

bumblebee nest, the drones, as with the honey-bees, being mates for

the queens. But of all the numerous population of the bumblebee nest,

only the queens survive the rigors of winter, and on them and their

success depends the future of the bumblebee species.

There are many species of bumblebees, some much smaller than others,

but they all have the thorax covered with plush above and the abdomen

hairy, and their fur is usually marked in various patterns of pale

yellow and black. The bumblebee of whatever species, has short but

very active antennæ and a mouth fitted for biting as well as for

sucking. Between the large compound eyes are three simple eyes. The

wings are four in number and strong; the front legs are very short;

all the legs have hairs over them and end in a three-jointed foot,

tipped by a claw. On the hind leg, the tibia and the first tarsal

joint are enlarged, making the pollen baskets on which the pollen is

heaped in golden masses. One of the most interesting observations

possible to make, is to note how the bumblebee brushes the pollen

from her fur and packs it into her pollen baskets.

LESSON CII

THE BUMBLEBEE

_Leading thought_--The bumblebees are the chief pollen carriers for

most of our wild flowers as well as for the clovers and other farm

plants. They should, therefore, be kindly treated everywhere; and we

should be careful not to hurt the big queen bumblebee which we see

often in May.

_Method_--Ask the questions and encourage the pupils to answer them

as they have opportunity to observe the bumblebees working in the

flowers. A bumblebee may be imprisoned in a tumbler for a short

period for observation, and then allowed to go unharmed. It is not

advisable to study the nest, which is not only a dangerous proceeding

for the pupil, but it also means the destruction of a colony of

these very useful insects. However, if the location of a nest is

discovered, it may be dug up and studied after the first heavy frost.

Special stress should be laid upon the observations of the actions of

the bees when visiting flowers.