270 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Dec. 1, 1870. 



or somewhere about that period, made a code of 

 laws relating to bees, fixing the various prices of a 

 hive at different seasons ; and so highly was mead 

 thought of some thousand years ago, that the Mead- 

 maker ranked in the Prince of Wales's household 

 next to the Royal Physician. 



One quotation more from these old works, and 

 my gossip shall close. 



"Bees were first born in Paradise, and were 

 driven thence on account of man's sin, but God 

 blessed them ; therefore Mass ought not to be sung 

 without their wax being present." 



Beaumaris. Helen E. Watney. 



"KILLING IS MURDER." 



/"\NE of the greatest evils in the study of entomo- 

 ^S logy is the continual necessity to take away 

 life ; the astronomer, chemist, and geologist can pro- 

 secute their studies without alloy. It is true the 

 botanist deprives a plant of life, but it can be fairly 

 presumed that in so doing he does not inflict pain. 

 Some think it is quite possible to study insects 

 without putting them to death ; but it is not suffi- 

 cient for a lover of the science to meet with a new 

 specimen, examine it, and let it go ; he wants to 

 take it home and put it in his cabinet. Other en- 

 tomologists try to get over the difficulty by either 

 denying there is any sensation at all, or that the 

 sensorial faculties of an insect are of such a low order 

 that it cannot be compared with that which exists 

 in man. Truly this is a comfortable way of looking 

 at things, and smooths over the thousands of deaths 

 at the " stake." Eoremost in this respect are the 

 veterans in the science, Kirby and Spence. Take 

 the following quotation : — 



" . . . . The poor beetle that we tread upon, 

 In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great 

 As when a giant dies." 



I can only see one interpretation of this : that 

 the beetle suffers as much from the injury as a 

 giant ; but now read the unaccountable perversion. 

 " Shakespeare's intention, however, in this passage 

 was evidently not, as is often supposed, to excite coi,i- 

 passionfor the, insect ; but to prove that the sense of 

 death is most in apprehension" the actual pang being 

 trifling. I should like to know what kind of appre- 

 hension a beetle is subject to before being trodden 

 • under-foot, and would simply suggest that he has 

 none, but would most assuredly feel it when trod- 

 den upon. The same bias of mind seems evident a 

 little farther on in watching the actions of insects 

 after mutilation ; writhing agony after dismember- 

 ment is described as "dancing." Supposing a Tipula 

 leaves half its legs in the hands of an unlucky boy, 

 it has the power left to fly away, and does so, even 

 witli " agility ; " but why say it is " unconcerned " ? 

 A savage impaled by a stake would, no doubt, if he 

 could get at him, half eat his neighbour ; but would 



it not be a fearful mockery to say he ate with as 

 much avidity as when at liberty ? It is a known fact 

 that muscular strength in insects is carried to an 

 extraordinary degree ; and it is but natural that 

 contractions, sometimes of a violent nature, would 

 set in after decapitation, causing the jaws to move 

 (which is termed eating), or the strong muscles to 

 eject the sting. From a like cause the anecdote of 

 the dragon-fly caught at Whittleseamere by 

 J. E. Stephens, and recorded by Kirby and Spence, 

 proves nothing. If an ant will walk without its 

 head, I answer so will a chicken ; but perhaps it 

 will be urged that the latter is fond of the operation. 

 I am clearly of an opinion, although quite different 

 to many entomologists, that nothing has been 

 brought forward to prove that insects do not ex- 

 perience great pain under the operations they are 

 subjected to, and that it is a reproach to our intel- 

 ligence not to recognize the fact. 



In the recent article entitled "Killing no Murder," 

 it is stated that in insects " we can find no central 

 brain, no concentration of nerve-matter, zipon which 

 anatomists tell us depend all the various sensations 

 experienced by us and the animals most resembling 

 man. Insects have nerves scattered over their bodies 

 and united in certain knots or ganglia, yet from 

 these no telegraphic indications are passed to or 

 received at a central point, be it ever so small." I 

 should very much like to know how this conclusion 

 has been arrived at. Why say so vaguely that 

 somewhere in the head of an insect resides a power 

 of volition, &c. My little experience has been very 

 different. I have been accustomed to read in books, 

 one particularly, "Lardner's Animal Physics," 

 where there are six illustrations of a beautiful ner- 

 vous system in insects. If these are allowed to be 

 correct, there certainly is a central brain and a con- 

 centration of nerve-matter, and its position may be 

 well known if we choose to make ourselves ac- 

 quainted with it. The mere act of walking shows 

 that there is a telegraphic movement similar to that 

 in man ; and if we admit one system of nerves, why 

 not another, that of feeling ? — especially after 

 watching the antenna?. The functions of the ner- 

 vous system in insects remain to be investigated 

 by some " Harvey," — who, like him, will meet with 

 every opposition in his efforts to reveal a truth. 



I hope some of your readers will not be deterred 

 from endeavouring to throw additional light upon a 

 subject that must be at the heart of every true lover 

 of nature. Theodore Charles Izod. 



Upper Clapton. 



Winter Martin. — While walking on our 

 Esplanade this morning (Nov. IS), I saw a martin 

 flying briskly about, brought out (from where ? ) by 

 the bright sunshine we are this day enjoying. I much 

 fear his breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be of the 

 scantiest. — W. Hambrough, Worthing. 



