366 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



[Inse<!ts. 



some lamellicorn beetle. The female chafi'cr, when 

 about to lay lier e^2», digs into the soft earth of a 

 meadow or corn-field to the depth of four or five 

 inches, and at the bottom of this excavation she de- 

 posits tliera in a chiister to the amount of some hun- 

 (Irttds ; they are of an oval shape and yellow colour. 

 Towards autumn these are hatched, and the grubs 

 soon increase in size, feeding on the roots of grasses, 

 wheat, and other herbage ; on the approach of win- 

 ter they burrow deep into the earth, and there be- 

 come torpid till the return of sprmg. Restored to 

 activity by the genial warmth, they recommence 

 their depredations, and olten is a whole field of 

 young wheat entirely despoiled, while the blame is 

 laid on the poor rooks, who endeavour to extirpate 

 Ihem and really work for man's benefit: for, though 

 they may tear up a few roots of wheat in their en- 

 deavours to get at the grubs, the whole amount of 

 the mischief done is very trifling. The larvie now 

 grow ra|)idly, and change their skin three or four 

 times, burrowing for the purpose a deep retreat, 

 where they may lie undisturbed: with a renewed 

 skin they acquire a renewed appetite, and continue 

 their devastations. Winter comes, and again they 

 burrow deep, and become torpid till the spring, and 

 so on till the autumn of the third year after exclu- 

 sion from the egg. During this autumn they descend 

 to the depth of about three feet into the earth, and 

 there assume the pupa condition ; and in the follow- 

 ing spring the perfect beetle is disclosed. It is at 

 first soil and feeble, and it is not until after the 

 lapse of a fortnight that it has acquired its due 

 hardness and colour. In May it creeps forth, and 

 myriads sometimes suddenly make their appearance, 

 flying about in all directions, or covering the open- 

 ing foliage of the oak or sycamore. Nor is the 

 beetle less voracious than the larva ; it devours the 

 leaves of the trees, often entirely stripping them of 

 their verdure. 



Fig. 3576 represents the transformations of this 

 beetle : a, newly hatched larvs ; b, a grub, one 

 year old ; c, the same, in the second year of its 

 growth ; d, the same, three years old (the lateral 

 spiracles are in these very perceptible) ; e, the pupa 

 in its underground cell ; f, the chaffer emerging from 

 the eaith ; g, the perfect insect ; h, the same on the 

 wing. 



The grub of an allied beetle fMelolontha solstiti- 

 alis ; Zantheumia solstitialis, Leach) is often very 

 injurious in fields and gardens; the perfect insect 

 is smaller than the chaffer, and does not appear till 

 midsummer. The grub of the Melolontha ruficor- 

 nis is also destructive to wheat, and the same effects 

 have been attributed to the larva of a carnivorous 

 beetle, Labrus gibbus, which, according to Germar 

 and other members of the Society of Natural His- 

 tory at Halle, committed great havoc in 1813 ; but 

 it is remarkable, that with these larvaj were found 

 the grutjs of the Melolontha ruficornis in consider- 

 able numbers; and it is not improbable that the 

 mischief is to be attributed to the latter, while the 

 former made them their prey. Moreover it has been 

 said that the perfect insects of Labrus gibbus ascend 

 the stems of wheat at night, to get at the grains in 

 the ear. Mr. Stephen suggests that they ascend 

 for the purpose of devouring Ihe parasitic insects of 

 the wheat, and not the grain, which their prey in 

 reality destroyed. 



Fig. 3.J77 represents — a, Labrus gibbus; b, Me- 

 lolontha ruficornis. 



There is a whitish slender grub, very tough, and 

 hard, which aboundsoften in gardens and fields, where 

 it lives in the earth, devouring the roots of various 

 plants, as wheat and grass, potatoes, carrots, tur- 

 nips, and other culinary plants, and is extremely 

 partial to the French-bean. It is popularly known 

 as the wire-worm, and is the larva of one of the 

 click-beetles (Elater segetis, Linn.). It continues 

 for five years before assuming the pupa state. It 

 is particularly partial to land newly broken up, and 

 is very common, and proves a great pest in gardens 

 newly reclaimed from meadow-land. Fig. 3i78 

 shows — «, the wire-worm ; b, the click-beetle. A 

 luminous species in the West Indies (Elater nocti- 

 lucus) is exceedingly destructive to the sugar-cane, 

 on the roots of which the grub luxuriates, to the 

 de-stmction of the plants. 



Most are well acquainted with the meal-worm, a 

 larva which commits extensive ravages not only on 

 flour, but which also attacks bread, biscuit, and 

 othei farinaceous preparations. It is the larva of a 

 beetle, the Tenebrio molitor, Linn., and exists in 

 that condition for two years previous to its final 

 change. The meal-worm has, it is said, been some- 

 times swallowed accidentally, and has produced 

 considerable disorder ; this however is not very 

 probable ; the action of the gastric juice and of 

 other agents would soon destroy it. Fig. 3.-,79 re- 

 presents the meal-worm and the beetle Tenebrio 

 molitor. 



That some insects taken into the stomach in their 

 early state, either just emerged from the egg or as 



to exist and thrive there, producing distressing effects, 

 medical records sufficiently prove. Among the best 

 authenticated cases is that recorded in the ' Dublin 

 Trans, of Assoc. Phys. in Ireland,' lb-J4 and 1828, 

 by Dr. Pickells of Cork. Not having the 'Trans- 

 actions' at hand, we transcribe the following 

 summary from the pen of a well-known naturalist : — 

 " Mary Kiurdan, aged '28, had been much affected 

 by the death of her mother, and at one time of her 

 visits to the grave seems to have partially lost her 

 senses, having been found lying there on the morn- 

 ing of a winters day, and having been exposed to 

 heavy rain during the night. When she was about 

 fifteen, two popular Catholic priests died, and she was 

 told by some old woman that if she would drink daily 

 for a certain time a quantity of water mixed with 

 clay taken from their graves, she would be fcr ever 

 secure from disease and sin. Following this absurd 

 and disgusting prescription, she took from lime to 

 time large quantities of the draught : for some time 

 ailerwards, being affected with a burning pain in 

 the stomach, she began to eat large pieces of chalk, 

 which she sometimes also mixed with waterand drank. 

 Now whether in any or all of these draughts she 

 swallowed the eggs of insects cannot be affirmed, 

 but for several years she continued to throw up 

 incredible numbers of grubs and maggots, chiefly 

 of the churchyard beetle (131aps mortisaga). ' Of 

 the larvse of the beetle (says Dr. Pickells), I am 

 sure I considerably underrate when I say that not 

 less than seven hundred have been thrown up from 

 the stomach at different times since the commence- 

 ment of my attendance. A great proportion were 

 destroyed by herself to avoid publicity ; many too 

 escaped immediately by running into holes in the 

 floor. Upwards of ninety were submitted to Dr. 

 Thompson's examination, nearly all of which, in- 

 cluding two of the specimens of the meal-worm 

 (Tenebrio molitor), I saw myself thrown up at 

 different times. 'The average size was about an 

 inch and a half in length, and four lines and a half 

 in girth." Altogether Dr. Pickells saw two thou- 

 sand grubs of the churchyard-beetle (excluding 

 those of other insects), and there were many which 

 he did not see. Mr. Clear, an intelligent entomo- 

 logist of Cork, kept some of them alive for more 

 than twelve months." It would appear that there 

 were larvae of a dipterous insect, which, according 

 to her own account, were alive and moving almost 

 literally in myriads. " Mr. S. Cooper cannot 

 understand whence the continued supply of grubs 

 was provided, seeing that larvae do not propagate ; 

 but the simple fact that most beetles live several 

 years in a state of larvae sufficiently accounts for 

 this. Their existing and thriving in the stomach will 

 appear less wonderful from the fact that it is ex- 

 ceedingly difficult to kill this insect (Blaps morti- 

 saga), for Mr. Henry Baker repeatedly plunged 

 one into spirits of wine, so fatal to most insects, 

 but it revived even alter being immersed a whole 

 night, and afterwards lived three years." Fig. 3j80 

 represents the churchyard-beetle (Blaps mortisaga), 

 in the grub and perfect state. 



From this account it appears that the meal-worm 

 may live in the human stomach, but it can be only 

 under peculiar circumstances ; and indeed the whole 

 case narrated above is extraordinary. 



There is a group of beetles termed weevils, the 

 larvae of which are very injurious, some to fiuits of 

 various kinds, others to grain. The adult beetles 

 are furnished with long slender horny beaks, which 

 are efficient instruments. One species, the nut- 

 weevil (Balaninus Nucum), drills by means of the 

 beak, which carries the jaws at its extremity, a hole 

 in the nut of the filbert or hazel, while young and 

 in its soli state, that is, about the beginning of 

 August. Into this orifice, rejecting a nut previously 

 pierced, the female introduces a single egg, which 

 is hatched in about a fortnight ; on the kernel the 

 caterpillar feeds, and when the nut falls to the 

 ground in September or October, it makes its escape 

 by the orifice, which it probably enlarges, and bur- 

 rows into the earth, there remaining throughout the 

 winter and spring, the pupa state being assumed in 

 June, and the perfect insect making its appearance 

 in August. 



Several species of weevil are destructive to the 

 apple : of these, one, of small size and red colour 

 (Anthonomus pomorum, Germar), may be seen in 

 autumn traversing the branches of apple-trees; it 

 perforates the germinating bloom-buds and in the 

 perlorations lays its eegs. In spring these eggs 

 become hatched, and the larvae feed on the petals 

 and draw up by silken threads the unfolding flower 

 into a cluster. The blossom soon perishes, the 

 fruit-germ is destroyed, and the grub seeks the 

 earth, where it assumes a pupa state, appearing in 

 autumn as a perfect insect to act the part of its 

 parent. Fig. 3j81 represents the nut and apple-tree 

 weevils. A, a branch of the filbert-tree ; a, the 

 perforation in the soft nut; fr, the orifice through 

 which the larva has escaped : B, the larva of the 



female weevil : E, the male ; c, the weevil that de- 

 posits its eggs in the apple-tree buds ; a, the larva 

 of the same ; b, the pupa. 



Among the weevils, or Curculionidos, which 

 annoy us by their injuries, is the giain-weevil (Ca- 

 landria granaria), abundant in granaries, storehouses 

 of malt, and similar places. The ravages made bv 

 the larva; of this species are most extensive, and as 

 Kirby and Spence calculate that in one season a 

 single pair of these weevils may produce six thou- 

 sand descendants, it is not without reason that 

 Virgil wrote — 



" popuUtque ingentem Unit kccmim 

 CurcuUo." — Oeorg. i. 18i. 



yet undeveloped firom the egg, occasionally continue j nut-weevil : C, the same in the pupa state : D, the I 



Fig. 3582 represents the perfect corn-weevil 

 (Calandra granaria, Clairv. ; Curculio granaiius, 

 Linn.), magnified. 



Fig. 3583 represents the under surface of a portion 

 of the bark of a dead tree furrowed by the larvse of 

 the Scolytus Destructor, a beetle which deposits its. 

 eggs in a group in a hole or crevice of the bark}, 

 when the young are hatched, they commence their 

 operations, each taking its own course from the 

 common starting-point and gnawing its way as it 

 proceeds, without interfering with the run of it» 

 neighbour; for as the larvse increase in size, and 

 produce a consequent increase in the diameter of 

 the excavation, the galleries diverge, till they ulti- 

 mately terminate. 



The transformations and habits of those pretty 

 little beetles, commonly called lady-birds, so useful 

 in clearing bushes and plants from aphides, may be 

 here noticed. The lady-bird (Coccinella) generally 

 deposits her eggs, to the number of twenty or thiity, 

 upon the leaf of a plant where the aphides abound ; 

 and here the young are hatched surrounded by a 

 full supply of provisions for their maintenance. 

 The larva is of an oval figure, aniiulated and de- 

 pressed, and w ell adapted for wandering over the 

 leaves and twigs in quest of its prey. The pupa 

 is suspended from a leaf or branch, to which 

 it is glued, with the head downwards. The 

 belief entertained by some, that the lady-birds and 

 their larvae feed ujion vegetables, is erroneous ; they 

 creep about the foliage, and explore the cracks and 

 ! fissures in the bark, but only for concealment and 

 rest, or in search of their aphis food. 



We have already noticed some of the precau- 

 tionary modes adopted by larvae for their conceal- 

 ment, while at the same time they are in a favour- 

 able situation for a supply of food, modes in which 

 their silk was found to be of essential service; there 

 are however other plans pursued by larvse to the 

 same end. The larva, for example, of the golden- 

 ^yed fly (Chrysopa perla), already noticed, forms 

 for itself a covering of the dried fragments of the 

 aphides on which it has feasted, and moves about 

 concealed beneath the shroud they form. 



The larvae of several beetles construct a sort of 

 shield for defence and concealment, of their own 

 egesta, which they pile upon the back for that pur- 

 pose. Such is tne case with the Crioceris merdi- 

 gera found on liliaceous plants, as Solomon's seal, 

 Stc, in May. An allied species, Crioceris cyanella, 

 exhibits the same habits. The larva of another 

 beetle, Cassida equestris, the green tortoise-beetle, 

 usually ■ found on the burdock, has two caudal 

 appendages, constituting a fork, which can be 

 either raised or lowered at pleasure; this fork it 

 loads with the excrementitious egesta, which form a 

 canopy above the back. The beetle itself is very 

 pretty, with the elytra developed so as to conceal 

 the legs. Fig. 3585 shows — A, the Cassida eques- 

 tris : B, the grub, magnified so as to display its 

 caudal fork ; C, the same, with its strange canopy. 



A very singular mode of concealment is that used 

 by the ametaboious larva of the frog-hopper, so- 

 common in the bushes of our gardens. The larva of 

 this species, Cercopis spumaria, is very soft and 

 delicate, though the perfect insect, a little creature 

 that leaps with wonderful agility, is covered with 

 hard wing-cases. To defend itself, therefore, fiom the 

 effects of the sun, and the assaults of other insects 

 and birds, it envelops itself in a quantity of white 

 froth, which it secretes, and in which it may be 

 generally found. It is of a pale green colour, but 

 the perfect insect is brown, with a paler double 

 band and a white spot. This froth is well known 

 to all under the popular name of " cuckoo-spit." 



Fig. 358G shows— «, the spit frog-hopper 

 (Cercopis spumaria), flying ; b, the froth forming 

 a sort of fluid cocoon around the larva. 



We shall now proceed to a few miscellaneous 

 observations on the habits of certain caterpillars, 

 and then pass to a consideration of those larvae that 

 inhabit water and other fluids, for which they are 

 especially modified. There is a caterpillar, supposed 

 to be that of a moth. Spiralis striguialis, that build* 

 a most ingenious abode on the young branches of 

 the o.ik; the caterpillar is whitish with a tinge of 

 carmine, and studded with tufts of red haii-s. It 

 constructs its cell of rectangular slips of the outer 



