CHAPTER II 



FOOD OF INSECTS 



Chief sources of food Almost limitless choice from vegetable 

 world Death's Head Moth as a thief Animal-feeders 

 Parasitic Hymenoptera and others Mighty business of 

 insect-parasites upon insects Larva of the Tabby An- 

 other strange food of animal derivation Ants and their 

 aphides Intimate connection of ants with other insects 

 Usual restriction of insects to vegetable or animal diet- 

 Change of diet at different stages of life Need of nurses 

 by the young of the Social Hymenoptera Livelihood with- 

 out industry Slave-makers Honey-ant Analogy be- 

 tween its economy and that of bee in storage of food 

 Harvesting ants in the East, in Europe, in America Time 

 of feeding Instruments of nutrition High adaptation of 

 Lepidoptera to floral diet Means of procuring food 

 Stratagem of ant-lion. 



LIKE the rest of living creatures, insects derive their 

 nourishment chiefly from the animal and vegetable 

 kingdoms, but they enjoy peculiar advantage over 

 others, in that while the larger animals are more or less 

 restricted in choice, as regards the vegetable kingdom 

 especially, the bill of fare presented by nature to our 

 little subjects is practically almost without limit. 

 From the mighty banyan tree of India, covering acres 



