Jan. 1, 1870.1 



HARBWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



15 



Bible and San." This work consists of several 

 volumes, and calls itself, pretentiously enough, a 

 "Natural History." Whatever else may be said 

 against the author, he can hardly be accused of 

 egotism ; the writer is carefully, perhaps too care- 

 fully, kept out of sight within the leaves of it, 

 though the title-page informs us that its compiler is 

 a certain R. Brookes, M.D., also the author of a 

 book on the Practice of Physic. One of these 

 volumes is devoted to the natural (or rather un- 

 natural) history of insects, and we discover on 

 inspection that it is indeed comprehensive, for it 

 professes to treat of the insects occurring in all parts 

 of the globe, in which division the writer includes 

 spiders, centipedes, and scorpions. After an intro- 

 duction, wherein he treats of insects generally, their 

 structure and habits as far as he knew them, which 

 introduction closes with the reflections so usually 

 indulged in by eighteenth-century naturalists, about 

 insects filling up " chasms in the scale of being," be- 

 " ing allowed to seize as great a quantity of happiness 

 from the universal stock as was consistent with the 

 universal plan," and " yet in some measure they 

 were formed for the use of man." After these 

 speculations, Dr. Brookes plunges in mediasres, by 

 discussing insects in general. His first rude at- 

 tempt at classification is the division of all insects 

 into three sorts, the least honourable being put first, 

 viz., caterpillars, which he ranks by the mselves as a 

 humble race of trotters, less agile and more legged 

 than his third division, choosing here to disregard 

 the fact he afterwards notices, that caterpillars do 

 not remain such, but proceed to a liigher form of 

 life. "Caterpillars have feet before and behind, 

 which enable them to move forward by a sort of 

 steps made by their fore and hinder parts, and also 

 to climb up vegetables. Behind, their broad palms 

 are beset almost round with sharp small nails, to 

 hold and grasp whatever they are upon." Then the 

 second sort is comprehensive in its grasp, includ- 

 ing every insect which has wings. These, says our 

 author, " lead a more luxurious life, and transfer 

 themselves from place to place with rapidity." His 

 third sort are ants, spiders, and others, with bodies 

 divided into two or three portions. " Of all the race 

 of reptiles these seem to be endowed with the 

 greatest share of sagacity." 



The comments on the habits and structure of 

 insects are original and curious. Insects— or at 

 least most — have antennas or feelers, to keep then- 

 eyes clean ! A remarkable piece of dexterity it 

 would be in the majority to touch or brush the eye 

 with this organ. "Some, however," says Dr. 

 Brookes, " are of opinion that they clean their eyes 

 with their fore-legs," which is probable. About 

 galls and the insects they contain, his ideas are very 

 cloudy. Little " gems " or " buds " appear on oak- 

 trees at certain times. Into the heart of these the 

 parent insect thrusts an egg. This produces a 



maggot 



which eats a small cell in the centre of the 

 bud. " Other trees have knobs thus formed, which 

 generally grow in or near the rib of the leaf." He 

 believes the flies which are produced from these 

 galls are allied to what are called blue-bottle flies! 

 Many insects, he supposes, are at first a " sort of 

 worms," with or without feet; for the luckless 

 individuals Gf the latter character he sees a pro- 

 vision made, they are " under the care of their dams, 

 who supply them with food." Those provided with 

 feet, needing no guardian, go " of their own accord," 

 to the leaves of the tree most suited to them. Yet, 

 he notes, all caterpillars do not feed on leaves. 

 There are some, he finds, that feed only upon wood. 

 Nay, more strange still, " it is now generally be- 

 lieved that there is another sort nourished in stones 

 themselves," a belief which turns out to be a 

 blunder ! Dr. Brookes supposes there are (in 

 1763) about three hundred kinds of caterpillars 

 known ; this seems a good number, but he is using 

 the word caterpillar in the broad sense, as of the 

 second stage of any insect. " The curious are still 

 making new discoveries," he reports with satisfac- 

 tion ; and another hundred years added to those now 

 past since his day will not exhaust the field of dis- 

 covery of its treasures. Are modern naturalists 

 sufficiently curious, in the old sense of the word ? 

 It may reasonably be doubted. 



Having thus paved the way for his further inves- 

 tigations by these preliminary remarks on insects, 

 he proceeds to discuss them in a series of chapters, 

 beginning with the beetles, and closing with the 

 ants. The lists given in each are marked by the 

 singular absence of method which is so conspicuous 

 in the older naturalists. In speaking of any species, 

 too, Dr. Brookes troubles not to distinguish par- 

 ticularly as to their locality. Some he notes as 

 being foreign, others as being English, but the bulk 

 are left in doubt. Eor fear, however, lest a portion 

 of the foreigners should think themselves neglected, 

 he devotes a chapter especially to the enumeration 

 of North American and West Indian insects. Here 

 ants, beetles, butterflies, caterpillars, locusts, 

 spiders, and worms march after each other in 

 alphabetical order, the descriptions of some being 

 particularly short, as in the following specimen : — 

 " The great broicn moth has wings three inches and 

 a half long and one and a half broad." 



Beetles the author of this work believes to be 

 provided with wing-cases to preserve the wings from 

 hard bodies which might damage them when the 

 insects are delving the ground, or gnawing wood, or 

 making themselves houses and nests, — this latter 

 function of beetle-life having apparently ceased in 

 the nineteenth century ! Also, " Beetles have a great 

 aversion to roses, whose smell they cannot bear, and 

 some affirm it will kill them. They are naturally 

 fond of ivy, and delight to get under its leaves." 

 Amongst the beetles, and indeed through all the 



