138 



Marvels of Insect Life. 



the ants began to decamp, and soon not one was to be seen within doors. But 

 the grass round the house was fuh of them ; and they seemed now feasting on the 

 lemnants of their prey, which had been left on the road to their nests ; and so 

 the feasting continued tih about four o'clock when the blackbirds, who had never 

 been long absent from the calibasli and f^oisdoux trees in the neighbourhood, darted 

 down among them, and destroyed by millions those who were too sluggish to make 

 good their retreat. By five o'clock the whole was over ; before sun-down the negro- 

 houses were all cleared in the same way ; and they told me they had seen the black- 

 birds hovering about the almond-trees close to the negro-houses, as early as seven 

 in the morning. I never saw those blackbirds before or since, and the negroes 

 assured me that they were never seen but at such times." 



Pholo by'] 



The Drummer. 



[E.Step, F.L.S. 



Tho huge cockroach known in the West Indies as thedruiniiicr. It is. the kind referred to in the account of the ants' spring-cleaning. 

 It is here shown only four-fifths of the actual size. 



How Insects Breathe. 



One of the details of structure in which Insects difier from most other animals 

 is that they have no lungs and the mouth plays no part in the respiration. As we 

 have already briefly indicated, the air enters the body of the Insect through a series 

 of openings called spiracles, which may be found at intervals along tlie sides of the 

 body. You may close the mouth of an Insect without affecting its breathing in the 

 slightest degree, for the mouth communicates with the digx^stive svstem only. l)iit 

 if an Insect be painted with oil along its sides, so that the spiracles are clogged, 

 death must result though the mouth remains open. In the early stages of dragon- 

 flies, caddis-flies, and some two-winged flies that h\-e in water until tliev lia\-e 

 reached their full devel()j)ment, tlie pre\-ailing s\-stem of respiration is so far modified 



