[Illustration]
THE ROMANCE OF
INSECT LIFE
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration: FIRE BEETLES AS LANTERNS.]
[Illustration]
The Aztecs of Mexico were accustomed to use these insects to
light them through the forests by night. Fastening them to
their hands and feet, they passed flaming along. It is said
that the Mexicans still use them for this purpose. The fire
beetle is shown to the left of this inscription.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE ROMANCE OF
INSECT LIFE
INTERESTING DESCRIPTIONS OF
THE STRANGE AND CURIOUS IN
THE INSECT WORLD
BY
EDMUND SELOUS
AUTHOR OF
“THE ROMANCE OF THE ANIMAL WORLD,” “BIRD LIFE GLIMPSES,”
“BIRD WATCHING,” “TOMMY SMITH’S ANIMALS,” &c.
WITH TWENTY-ONE ILLUSTRATIONS BY
LANCELOT SPEED
&
CARTON MOORE PARK
THIRD EDITION
LONDON
SEELEY, SERVICE & CO. LIMITED
38 GREAT RUSSELL STREET
1914
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE LIBRARY OF ROMANCE
Extra Crown 8vo. With many illustrations. 5s. each.
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By Prof. G. F. SCOTT ELLIOT, M.A., B.Sc.
The Romance of Savage Life
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The Romance of Modern Sieges
By JOHN LEA, M.A.
The Romance of Bird Life
By JOHN LEA, M.A. & M. COUPIN, D.Sc.
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The Romance of the Animal World
The Romance of Insect Life
By AGNES GIBERNE
The Romance of the Mighty Deep
By E. S. GREW, M.A.
The Romance of Modern Geology
By J. C. PHILIP, D.Sc., Ph.D.
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By E. KEBLE CHATTERTON, B.A.
The Romance of the Ship
By T. W. CORBIN
The Romance of Submarine Engineering
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE
“The natural system”—A middle course—Neuropterous insects—White 13
ants and their ways—Kings and queens—A royal diet—Secondary
majesties—Soldiers and workers—Ant invaders—Methods of warfare
CHAPTER II
Ant language—Stridulatory organs—How white ants 20
communicate—Conversation through convulsions—Nests in
tubes—Detection of a “crepitus”—Mutual recognition—Cannibalistic
propensities—Royal jealousy—Loyal assassins—A kingly
feast—Methods of feeding—Foundation of colonies—Swarming habits
CHAPTER III
Ants and white ants—Guest insects—Ants’-nest beetles—Doubtful 32
relations—A strange forbearance—Yellow ants and white
wood-lice—Beetles fed by ants
CHAPTER IV
Ant parasites—Fleet-footed brigands—Honey-stealing mites—A strange 42
table companion—Privileged cockroaches—Ants and their riders—A
fly-ride on beetle-back
CHAPTER V
From biped to quadruped—Flies that borrow wings—Sit-o’-my-head—A 54
novel cradle—Flies that kill bees—Nature’s sadness—Consolations
of the future—The Tachina fly and the locust
CHAPTER VI
The burden of the locusts—Classical nonsense—Address to 65
Mahomet—Locusts in Europe—Succumb to the English
climate—Described by Darwin—Locusts in Africa—The wingless host
do greatest damage—Hoppers and jumpers—“An army on the march”
CHAPTER VII
The sense of direction—How locusts look flying—Follow no 75
leader—Unanimity of movement—Flight by moonlight—Roosting at
night—Extirpated in Cyprus—The “Chinese Wall” system—Not adapted
to Australia—Deference to aboriginal feeling—Locusts in
Australia—Strange ceremony of egg-laying—Inadequate explanation
CHAPTER VIII
Locusts and _locustidæ_—The most musical grasshoppers—Katydid 85
concerts—A much resembling note—Cricket thermometers—Cicadas and
sounding-boards—Admired musicians—An appreciative audience
CHAPTER IX
A Greek mistake—Nature vindicated—Cicadas provided for—A difficult 98
feat—Perseverance rewarded—Cicadas in story—Dear to Apollo—Men
before the Muses—Plato and Socrates—Athenian views—A mausoleum
for pets—The Greek ploughman—Apollo’s judgment—Hercules’ bad
taste—Modern survivals—A beneficent insect—Elementary education
in Tuscany
CHAPTER X
Cicadas in England—A blower of bubbles—The prolific Aphis—A nice 108
calculation—Scientific curiosity—Dragon-fly armies—The son of
the south-west wind
CHAPTER XI
Aphides and their enemies—Curious interrelations—The biter 119
bit—Altruistic development—Bread and beer protectors—Saved by
ladybirds
CHAPTER XII
Ants and their honey-cows—A mutual benefit—Unity of motive—The end 129
and the means—Two ways of getting honey—Insect cattle—Wasps as
cow-milkers—A cow-keeping bee—Ant cow-sheds—Aphides in ants’
nests—Children of light and darkness—Forethought extraordinary
CHAPTER XIII
Cow caterpillars—The adventures of Theophrastus—Cave-born 144
Ariels—Led to the sky—A strange attraction—Ant slaves and
slave-holders—Slave-making raids—Feeble masters—An ant
mystery—Effects of slavery—The decadent’s reply
CHAPTER XIV
Ant partnerships—How some ants feed—Persuasive methods—An 159
_imperium in imperio_—Amusement by instinct—Begging the
question—Nest within nest—Ant errors _v._ human
perfection—Distorted arguments—How partnerships begin—Housing an
enemy—Ant ogres
CHAPTER XV
Ant wonders—Leaves cut for mushroom growing—How ants plant 172
mushrooms—A nest in a mushroom-bed—“Psychic plasticity”—Two
opinions—Ant stupidity—Unfair comparisons—The ant and the
servant-maid—Mushroom-growing beetles—Choked by
ambrosia—Intelligent uselessness—Automatic phraseology—A curious
insect
CHAPTER XVI
From wood to ambrosia—Wood-boring beetles—Rival claimants—Stag and 188
other beetles—Metempsychosis—Flies with horns—Comical
combatants—Female encouragement—The sacred Scarabæus—A beetle
with a profession—Table companions—Old and new fallacies—From
theft to partnership
CHAPTER XVII
Do ants sow and reap?—Rival observers—The Texan _v._ Macaulay’s 200
schoolboy—More evidence wanted—How ants cross rivers—Tubular
bridges—Ant armies—A world in flight—Living nests—Ants and
plants—Mutual dependence—Nests in thorns and tubers—Ant
honey-pots—Business humanity—Burial customs—A strange
observation—Two views of ants
CHAPTER XVIII
Bees and wasps—A bee’s masonry—What happens to caterpillars—Living 218
food—Variations in instinct—A wasp’s implement—Unreal
distinctions—A cautious observer—Bees that make tunnels—A
wonderful instinct—Leaf-cutting bees—Nests made of
poppy-leaves—Born in the purple—Commercial philosophy—The
appreciative white man—Economy of labour—Bees and rats—Busy
shadows—A bee double
CHAPTER XIX
Natural selection—Protective resemblances—A locust’s 238
stratagem—Mock leaf-cutting ants—Flowery dissemblers—A Malay
explanation—Snake-suggesting caterpillars—A prudent
lizard—Inconclusive experiments—A bogus ant—Flies that live with
bees—A caterpillar that dresses up—A portrait-modelling
caterpillar
CHAPTER XX
Butterfly resemblances—A living leaf—How spiders trap 255
butterflies—Butterfly doubles—Suggested explanation—More
evidence wanted—Warning coloration—A theory on trust—A
straightforward test—Advice to naturalists—A strange omission
CHAPTER XXI
Sights of the forest—A butterfly bridge—Bird-winged 272
butterflies—“What’s in a name?”—Scientific
sensibility—Resemblance _v._ mimicry—A convenient wrong
word—Beauty in nature—Nuptial display—Strange
counter-theory—_Lucus a non lucendo_—Reasoning by
contraries—True in Topsy-turvydom—Butterfly courtship—Form and
colour—A curious suggestion—Powers of defective eyesight
CHAPTER XXII
Beautiful spiders—The “Peckham paper”—Spider courtships—Male 289
antics and love-dances—Occasional accidents—Strength of the
evidence—The one explanation—Darwin’s last words—His theory
established
CHAPTER XXIII
Web-making spiders—Dangerous wooings—An unkind 307
lady-love—Lizard-eating spiders—Enlightened curiosity—Rival
entomologists—Instinct of resignation—A worm-eating
spider—Alternative explanation—The dangers of
patriotism—Trap-door spiders—Web-flying spiders—Spiders that
nearly fly—Spider navigators—The raft and the diving-bell
CHAPTER XXIV
Aquatic insects—Lyonnet’s water-beetle—A floating cradle—Larva and 320
pupa—An ingenious contrivance—Nothing useless—The imaginary
philosopher—How the cradle is made—The mysterious “mast”—Later
observation—The giant water-bug—An oppressed husband
CHAPTER XXV
One remark—Phosphorescent insects—Glow-worms and fire-flies—Fiery 329
courtship—A beetle with three lamps—Travelling by
beetle-light—The great lantern-fly controversy—Is it
luminous?—Madame Merian’s statement—Contradictory evidence—A
Chinese edict—Suggested use of the “lantern”—Confirmation
required—Luminous centipedes
CHAPTER XXVI
Scorpions and suicide—The act proved—Intention 345
probable—Conflicting evidence—Scorpions and
cockroaches—Concentrating backwards—Economy of poison—Decorous
feeding
------------------------------------------------------------------------
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
By Lancelot Speed & Carton Moore Park
PAGE
FIRE-BEETLES AS LANTERNS Frontispiece 335
ANT-EATER AND WHITE ANT-HEAPS 14
AN INSECT FREEBOOTER AND AN INSECT BEGGAR 42
RIDING ON BEETLE-BACK AND A LIVING SWEET-SHOP 52
A BUCCANEER FLY AND A LEAF-RESEMBLING INSECT 58
A PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS 76
A WASP BEARING OFF A CICADA 100
A LUCK-BRINGING GRASSHOPPER 106
THE HERCULES BEETLE 190
GREAT ANIMALS PURSUED BY DRIVER ANTS 206
DRIVEN OUT BY HORNETS 220
SOLITARY WASPS 228
PROTECTIVE MIMICRY—LEAF-RESEMBLING BUTTERFLIES 256
A DANCING SPIDER, AND A COCKROACH ATTACKING A 294
SCORPION
A BIRD-CATCHING SPIDER NET 308
INSECTS THAT CARRY LAMPS 330
------------------------------------------------------------------------
=THE ROMANCE OF
INSECT LIFE=
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER I
“The natural system”—A middle course—Neuropterous
insects—White ants and their ways—Kings and queens—A royal
diet—Secondary majesties—Soldiers and workers—Ant
invaders—Methods of warfare.
IF there is any plan in this little book it will, no doubt, appear in
time to its readers, but I myself am only quite clear as to this, that,
not being of a scientific nature, it will not include a definition of an
insect. Why should it? Everybody knows what he thinks an insect is, and
those who may be willing to have their ideas on such a fundamental
subject disturbed will rightly consult some work of greater authority
than this can pretend to. So instead of worrying myself, and others,
about what insects really are, or what are not really insects, as, for
instance, spiders, centipedes, scorpions, and the like, all which I
propose to include in my tale—should they happen to present themselves—I
shall confine myself to saying something about what some insects do, and
I shall let one suggest and lead to the discussion of another, quite at
haphazard, and without any attempt at system or classification whatever.
This, in fact, is my own idea as to what is “the natural system,” and
the only trouble about it is knowing where to begin, because, as there
are some 300,000 known insects,[1] and any one of them will do as well
to start from as any other, there is a great _embarras de richesses_. In
such cases the usual thing to do is to take either the head or the tail
of the series—to commence with the _Hymenoptera_, which include the
highest and most intelligent forms, such as the ants and bees, or else
with the _Collembola_ or _Thysanura_, which are understood to contain
the lowest. I shall not adopt either of these methods. The _Neuroptera_,
as far as I can make out (and if they don’t it doesn’t matter), stand
somewhere about the middle, and with them accordingly—as being between
the two extremes—I decide to break ground. Having done so, as I said
before, I may go anywhere—absolute freedom will be mine. Like Plato, I
can follow the argument whithersoever it leads; inspired with which
reflection I hasten to begin it.
Though the order of neuropterous—which, by the way, means
nerve-winged—insects does not contain any ants, yet the so-called white
ants or termites—which are very like ants in their ways, and almost, or
quite, as interesting to talk about—are included in it. They are
commonest in tropical or, at any rate, very hot countries, such as
Africa, Australia, and South America, and here the conical, or
dome-shaped structures, made of red earth, which they erect above the
surface of the ground, and which contain the greater part of the nest,
are of such dimensions as to take a very prominent part in the features
of the landscape. Often they are covered with vegetation, including
bushes, or even small trees, on which, in Africa, antelopes are
accustomed to browse. In Australia there is no reason, that I can see,
why kangaroos should not, at least upon the grass which must often
clothe them, and which is their staple of food.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration: WHITE ANT HEAPS]
[Illustration]
These great mounds are made by the white ants, and contain
their nests; but large and strong as they are, the ant-eater
breaks them down and devours the ants. A queen white ant is
shown at the right-hand corner with the extraordinary
development in which the eggs are carried.
These great mounds are pierced in every direction with innumerable
galleries, leading to and from the various cells and chambers in which
the domestic economy of the white ants is principally performed, one of
which, known as the royal cell, contains the king and queen, and is
situated beneath all the others. Not all white ants, however—for there
are several species—are governed or presided over in this way. Grassi,
who studied them in Sicily,[2] declares that the whole of the Termitidæ,
whether belonging to Southern Europe or the still hotter countries from
which they have, no doubt, been unknowingly imported, fall into two
primary types. In the first of these the colony is presided over by a
king and queen, representing the fully developed male and female forms,
which have once, unlike the workers and soldiers—for, like ants, these
insects are divided into castes—possessed fully developed wings, which
they have subsequently got rid of in the same way that the queen ant
does hers. In the second type the colony possesses several kings and
queens, but these, though they marry and produce offspring, are not
perfect males and females, and never possess wings. They are, in fact,
produced artificially by the working termites, just as the hive-bees are
able to make themselves a new queen—should they require one—by feeding
an ordinary worker with royal jelly, and by a method somewhat similar
though not precisely the same, the royal substitutes being fed, not on
any extraneous substance, but on a salivary fluid secreted by the
workers themselves—saliva, in fact. The colony, however, is, in this
case, not founded by the royalties thus bred up, but by a portion of a
pre-existent colony which, migrating from the parent nest, takes this
method of augmenting its numbers.[3]
In the termite nest, as amongst ants, all members work for the good of
all. The soldiers, which are furnished with large heads and long
scythe-like jaws, take upon themselves the duties of attack and defence,
though in some species they only do so when the enemy is of a formidable
nature, leaving unimportant foes to their less specialised companions.
These are equal to such inglorious tasks, but when the colony is invaded
by hostile members of their own race, or by some fierce ant enemy, they
retreat into the inner recesses, leaving the danger and honour to
others. Such an enemy is _Cremastogaster scutellaris_—or call him
Cremas—who, though never invaded by the white ants, enters their nest—or
termitary, to use the learned word—intent upon massacre. Under such
circumstances “the soldiers place themselves, with gaping mandibles,
waiting for any ant that may come within reach. They then snap their
jaws rapidly, shearing off antennæ and legs, tearing the abdomen, or
even cutting the ants in two. The soldiers’ mandibles are seen to act
like extremely sharp shears.”[3] This should be somewhat discouraging
for the ants, and, indeed, they seem rather shy of the soldiers,
avoiding their heads, and “only daring occasionally to attempt to lop
off their mandibles.” Their more considered method, which they adopt
whenever practicable, is to approach them from behind, and bite their
abdomens, the soldiers, on their part, endeavouring to protect this
vulnerable portion—and it is a fairly large one—of their anatomy by
creeping backwards under pieces of wood or stones, from which the head,
with its murderous jaws, is alone allowed to project.
In these encounters the advantage does not seem to lie so decidedly with
the ants as to explain their conduct in making the invasion, since
peace, according to Professor Grassi’s observations, is usually
concluded “after about an hour’s conflict, with a certain number of
killed and wounded on both sides.”[3] As a result, however, it would
appear that the ants often remain in possession of a portion of the
nest, whilst the original occupants have to be contented with what
remains. If this, therefore, is their object, the invaders have carried
the day, but if, as seems likely under natural conditions, they should
prefer to return to their own home, they can hardly be said to have done
so. Information seems wanting on these points.
As with ants, war is also waged between the various species of
Termitidæ. _Termes lucifuga_, for instance—for where there is no English
name there is nothing for it but to speak Latin—is, though much smaller,
a terrible enemy of _Calotermes_. The soldiers of the latter can,
indeed, without much difficulty, cut their own in two, but their greater
activity is often more than a match for the superior strength of their
opponents. The workers are more easily disposed of, but with these the
soldiers of _Calotermes_ do not often concern themselves. They are left
to the nymphs[4] and larvæ, the equivalents, with the latter species, of
a true worker caste which has not yet been developed amongst them, as it
has with others of the family. When Professor Grassi placed a worker of
Termes in one of his Calotermite tube-nests[5] it was at once placed
_hors de combat_ by a nymph (somewhat a shrewish one) of the latter,
which, rushing upon it, cut off a portion of its mouth. Other nymphs, as
well as several large larvæ, then hurried up and proceeded to further
the good work by severing the unfortunate creature’s legs, and tearing
open its abdomen. In all this the soldiers took no part until one,
towards the end of the struggle, advanced and added his single bite to
those which had been so plentifully bestowed. Similar observations were
made upon various other occasions, from which it appears plain that, as
before remarked, the soldiers of this—very probably of all the
termites—are accustomed, purposely, to reserve their strength for foemen
worthy of their steel.
It will be seen from the above account that termites differ from true
ants in one very important particular, namely, that they are as active
and free-moving in the larval and pupal states as in the mature, or
imago, one. “The termite society,” indeed, “consists, for the most part,
of wingless sexually immature individuals, children potentially of both
sexes, which do not grow up.”[6] Out of the majority of these the worker
caste, when it exists, is formed, whilst a much lesser number develop
into the large-headed, long-jawed soldiers. Both of these castes,
apparently, are produced independently of sex, that is to say, they are
potentially either males or females, and not composed exclusively, as is
the case with ants and bees, of undeveloped females. Only the genuine
king and queen of the termitary would seem to have attained the true
imago state; such substitute royal forms as the workers, by feeding the
larvæ with saliva, are able to produce, retaining larval
characteristics, though sexually mature—a phenomenon scientifically
known as _neoteinia_. As with the bees, these potential future royalties
are bred up by the working termites to meet possible future emergencies.
They are never allowed to leave the nest, and, should any accident
befall the reigning king and queen, a pair of them are chosen to rule
and produce offspring.
-----
Footnote 1:
The Concise Natural History, p. 551.
Footnote 2:
In conjunction with Dr. Sandias, whose name must be understood as
accompanying Grassi’s—for the most part—when the latter is referred
to.
Footnote 3:
Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, vols. 39 and 40.
Footnote 4:
A nymph is the free-moving active equivalent of the chrysalis amongst
moths and butterflies.
Footnote 5:
Nests built in chemical glass tubes and thus under close observation.
Footnote 6:
Chambers’s Encyclopædia.
------------------------------------------------------------------------