12 



Marvels of Insect Life. 



PJiutoby] [/•:. SIcp, F.LS. 



Cicada. 

 The cicada, though of chief 

 repute as a musician, ser\-es 

 as food in parts of Africa, and 

 is mixed with dates for the 

 purpose. 



ready for use, and the workers utilize them in the building 



operations. jMany of the workers draw the edges of several 



leaves together ; another seizes a grub in her jaws and applies 



its mouth to the leaves and presses out the liquid silk. 



It is a gum-like fluid and serves to cement the leaves 

 together effectually. Numerous workers 

 hold grubs in the same manner, and 

 draw out threads connecting leaf to leaf. 

 In some cases, by this means they fabricate 

 sheets of webbing with which they surround 

 leafy twigs upon which they are pasturing 

 some of their domestic cattle. One would 

 not be surprised if under the peculiar cir- 

 cumstances of its fabrication, this web was 

 a loosely constructed and flimsy material ; 

 but it is closely woven, and in some cases 

 made so solid that it can be written upon 

 like paper. Some of these nests are a foot 

 across ; others may be regarded as cattle- 

 sheds, for in them numbers of a scale-insect, 



known in India as the brown-bug,^ are enclosed. The ants value 

 these on account of their sweet excretions. Saville Kent found 

 aphides in some of these nests in Australia. Among other 

 Insects taken under their protection (for their own ends) 

 is the caterpillar of a small tail- winged " blue " butterfly.^ 

 It is now well known that most, or all, of the "blue" cater- 

 pillars have a special apparatus on the upper side for the 

 secretion of a presumably sweet liquid which is much in demand 

 by ants all over the world. The particular caterpillar favoured 

 by this red ant varies in colour from light green to dark red. 

 These the ants watch over, and surround each individual, with 

 the leaf upon which it is feeding, with a tent, " protecting 

 them jealously, and attacking most fiercely any living thing 

 intruding upon them." When the caterpillar is about to change 

 to a chrysalis the ants become much excited, and two or three 

 of them guide it down the tree trunk, fixing the place at the 

 foot of the tree where it is to enter tlie ground lor the 

 ])urpose. Mrs. Wylly savs tliat " If vou gently scrape away 

 the earth at tlie base of the tree, you will see some hundreds 

 of larvse and pup?e in all stages of development, arranged in a 

 broad, even band all round tlie trunk, and lightly covered 

 afterl^inJlSbra'fimSs with earth. The ants object to their being uncnvwrd, anrl will 

 ;howi\'''in X' Xtograph^ immediately set to work to re-cover them, and il \ou persist 



is esteemed by the Chinese, 

 who sell it in bundles as 

 we sell asparagus. One-third 

 less than the actual size. 



Photo by] [E. Slep, F.L.S 



" Vegetable 

 Caterpillar." 



^ Lecanium hcsjirridinin. 



Tariicu.s tliconhrastus. 



