Insects.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



371 



and by urging the air from the traeheae into the 

 coiled pipes, it extends them and forces out the 

 inner tube to the requisite degree, so that it may 

 emerge above the ooze in which the maggot lives. 

 Were it not for such a contrivance the maggot must 

 be sutfocated. Fig. 3619 shows several of these 

 lai vse in a glass of water, a ; 6, is a magnified view 

 of the tail, with the breathing-tube partially con- 

 tracted ; c, a still more enlarged view of the tail. 



These larvae must not be confounded with certain 

 fresh-water worms, or .\nnelides (Nais), which live in 

 holes which they burrow in the mud at the bottom 

 of the wafer, and from which they protrude the 

 anterior elongated part of their body, which they 

 incessantly move about. The long proboscis of the 

 Nats proljoscidea is very conspicuous, but is by no 

 means analogcsus to the tube of the larva in question, 

 and the two animals must not be confounded witli 

 each other. The Nais is reddish, the maggot of a 

 dirty whitish hue. 



Fig. 3620 represents — a a, a group "of Nais pro- 

 bcscidea, half concealed in the mud ; b b, several 

 of the entire worms. 



The maggot of a dipterous fly (Bibio hortulanus), 

 which in its perfect state sips the nectar of flowers, 

 or the gum with which the opening bud is often 

 moistened, is very common in cesspools and oozy 

 ditches of filth. It is of a flattened oval form, with 

 lateral tufts of bristles on its rings, and these tufts 

 are probably branchial organs ; its skin is extremely 

 hard and tough, insomuch that it resists consider- 

 able pressure. The eg^ from which it is hatched is 

 covered with a shell as hard as if made of plaster 

 of Paris. 



Fig. 3G21 represents— a, the egg, magnified; b, 

 the same when hatched ; e and d, the maggot and 

 pupa, magnified ; e and/; the maggot and pupa, of 

 the natural size ; g, the fly. 



We might here close our general survey of larvae 

 and of the pupae or nymphs which they become 

 previously to the development of the perfect insect. 

 vVe may, however, advert to a few pictorial groups 

 vfhich show the larvas and pupae of certain leading 

 forms, contrasted with the normal conditions of an 

 insect which has passed through all its transitions. 



Fig. 362-2 shows — a, the ametabolous pupa of a 

 Cicada, which moves about and feeds, and awaits the 

 growth of wings to become perfect ; J is the cater- 

 pillar of the Tussock-moth (Laria fascelina) ; c, the 

 larva of the Poplar-beetle (Chrysomela Populi) ; </, 

 the larva of Sirex ; e, the aquatic larva of the gnat, 

 active in its pupa state. 



Fig. .3623 represents — a, the pupa of a water- 

 beetle (Hydrophilus), and b, the pupa of the Privet 

 Hawk moth (Sphinx Ligustri). 



Fig. 3o24 represents a group of perfect insects, 

 in which the development of the wings is well dis- 

 played : a, a neuropterous insect. Nemoptera. La- 

 treille (Nemopteryx, Leach) ; b, the Ant-lion (Myr- 

 meleon formicarium, Linn), one of the Neuroptera ; 

 c, the Hesperia Comma, a butterfly, one of the 

 Lepidoptera; d, the Water-scorpion (Nepa cinerea), 

 an aquatic hemipterous insect, with ametabolous 

 larvae. 



We may here add that a perfect insect is often 

 called " Imago,'' a terra used by Linnaeus to de- 

 signate a perfect insect, because, having thrown off 

 its pupa-mask, the animal may be taken as an 

 image of its species. 



The great object to be accomplished by the per- 

 fect insect is the continuance of its race ; to this end 

 are all its labours, all its energies, all its instinctive 

 contrivances devoted ; and it has then only to die. 

 Some insects are beings of a day — others endure 

 for mo;iths, some few for a longer period. In mak- 

 ing his collections, then, the entomologist only ab- 

 breviates an existence which a few days or weeks 

 must in general terminate. 



Let us now proceed to a few considerations rela- 

 tive to perfect insects; premising that our space 

 will only allow us to select from among multitudes, 

 for the subjects of our short comments, such as are 

 peculiarly interesting either from their structure, 

 habits, or beauty. The first insect, then, that claims 

 our notice is the Hive-bee. Wax and honey we 

 know to be the products of several species of bee, 

 but that which has been kept in Europe, in artificial 

 hives, I'or the sake of its products, and has been ce- 

 lebrated from the earliest antiquity, is the Apis mel- 

 lifica, and true as formerly is the line attributed to 

 Virgil :— 



" sic TM non TObii mellificatii apes." 



Bees are social insects ; they combine to work for 

 the general commonweal ; they obey certain laws, 

 and proceed upon certain principles in their eco- 

 nomy and operations, which give them great interest. 

 The mysteries of the bee-hive have not yet been 

 fully fathomed. 



It is useless to enter into a peculiar description 



of a bee-hive with its waxen cells. We know that 



it contains a series of vertical plates, having closely 



arranged hexagonal cells (with pyramidal bases com- 



VOL. 11. 



posed of three rhomboid pieces), horizontally di- 

 rected on each side. Much has been written, and 

 learnedly too, respecting the saving of room and 

 wax by the hexagonal figure of these cells, and 

 many a good pasje of abstruse mathematical pro- 

 blems has been elaborated, to prove that the angles 

 of the rhomboid pieces, forming the base of these 

 cells, are precisely such as bees of a saving turn and 

 mathematical genius might be expected to make. 



The cells, as we have said, are constructed of wax, 

 but not exclusively ; they are strengthened and 

 smeared with a gummy or resinous varnish called 

 propolis. The use of these cells is threefold ; they 

 serve as receptacles for the eggs and larvae, as 

 magazines for honey, and as storehouses for bee- 

 bread. 



A hive of bees consists of from twelve to sixteen 

 or eighteen thousand individuals, divided, first, into 

 workers, or females incapable of leproduction ; se- 

 condly, into stingless males, or drones; and thirdly, 

 a female called the queen-bee — the parent of the 

 future progeny of the hive. Besides these there are 

 the eggs and larvae, forming the rising brood. 

 - The males, or drones, amount to several hundreds, 

 but the bulk of the population consists of workers. 

 Now at the outset here arises a question — to what 

 are we to attribute the difference between the 

 workers and the queen ? If we examine the wax- 

 combs of a be^-hive, we shall find the cells for con- 

 taining the larvae of three sorts. Those built for the 

 males, or drones, are larger than those intended for 

 the workers, or sterile females; and those for the 

 future queens of different broods, usually three or 

 four in number, and termed royal cells, are still 

 larger, and shaped somewhat hke a Florence flask. 

 The honey-cells difter little from those for the 

 workers, but are generally deeper, the rims being 

 more raised. Now the queen-bee deposits first, it 

 would appear, eggs containing future queens and 

 workers, and afterwards those of future males ; and 

 further it seems that the difference in the size of the 

 cells, added also to the nature and quality of the 

 food with which the female larvae are nourished, 

 conduce in the one instance to the production of a 

 large and fertile queen-bee ; and in the other, to the 

 rearing of the ordinary worker, with its curious in- 

 stincts. But it may be asked— how is this proved? 

 If the bees, as has been satisfactorily demonstrated, 

 are deprived of their queen, and have combs con- 

 taining only young of the working brood, they will 

 select one of these larvae, not more than three days 

 old from the egg, and proceed to alter and enlarge 

 its domicile by breaking down the adjacent cells, 

 and emptying their contents, whether honey or 

 larvae. They build up, in short, a royal cell around 

 the object of their choice, giving the cradle a ver- 

 tical instead of horizontal direction, and nourishing 

 the larva with a peculiar diet. In three days (the 

 larvae being two days old when selected) it begins 

 to surround itself with a cocoon of silk, and alter- 

 wards assumes the pupa state The workers now 

 shut up the cell with wax, as they do those of the 

 pupae of drones and workers. Jn a few days the 

 pupa is hatched, and the queen comes forth among 

 her devoted subjects. By such means is the larva 

 of a worker-bee transformed into a queen. 



We may here observe, that sixteen days is the 

 period assigned ibr the piepaiatory stages of a 

 queen-bee, viz. :— Egg, three days ; a feeding larva, 

 five days ; not feeding, but spinning its cocoon, one 

 day ; still and quiet, two days and sixteen hours ; 

 pupa, four days and eight hours. Total, sixteen 

 days. 



The workers require twenty days, the males twenty- 

 four. 



The queen-bee is the most important personage in 

 the hive, and jealous in the extreme of her preroga- 

 tive ; she bears no rival, but as several royal pupae 

 are in each hive, the first hatched queen visits those 

 cells, and, if not prevented, kills the larvse ; but 

 should two rival queens appear at the same time, 

 they engage in mortal combat, and one falls a sa- 

 crifice. 



We generally find several (four) swarms issuing 

 every year from the same hive, each headed by its 

 queen. The first swarm is conducted by the old 

 reigning queen, who previously to her departure has 

 at separate intervals laid female eggs in the royal 

 cells ; of these, the first-born is usually the for- 

 tunate candidate for the vacant throne, and in turn 

 leads off another swarm, and so on in succession. 

 " The longest interval," say Kirby and Spence, 

 " between the swarms is from seven to nine days, 

 which is usually the space that intervenes between 

 the first and second ; the third flies sooner, and the 

 last sometimes departs the day after the third. Fif- 

 teen or eighteen days are generally sufficient for 

 throwing the four swarms. The old queen, when she 

 takes flight with the first swarm, leaves plenty of 

 brood in the cells, which soon renew the popula- 

 tion." 



The young queens that conduct the succeeding 

 swarms usually pair the day after their settlement 



in their new abode, and are then the objects of 

 homage and respect. 



'there is, says Kirby, " something singular in the 

 mode in which the workers treat the young queens 

 that are to lead the successive swarms. After the 

 cells (of the pupae) are covered in, one of their first 

 employments is to remove here and there a portion 

 of wax from the surlace, so as to render it unequal 

 (see Fig. 3625. a royal cell ; a, the side view of the 

 same) ; and immediately before the last metamor- 

 phosis takes place, the walls are so thin that all the 

 motions of the enclosed pupa are perceptible through 

 thein : on the seventh day the part covering the head 

 and trunk of the young female is almost entirely 

 unwaxed." It might be concluded, perhaps, that ail 

 things being prepared for the coming forth of the 

 enclosed tjueen, that she would quit her cell at the 

 usual period ; and doubtless were she to pursue her 

 own inclinations, such would be the case. But here 

 the bees show how admirably their instinct guides 

 their operations for the welfare of the community. 

 Did the new queen leave her cell, she would imme- 

 diately attack and destroy those in the other royal 

 cells; a proceeding which is permitted only when a 

 successor merely is wanted to a dead or lost queen, 

 and not the leader of a swarm to be succeeded by 

 others. As soon, therefore, as the workers perceive 

 that the young queen has cut though her cocoon, 

 they immediately solder up the cleft with wax, and 

 keep her a prisoner against her will. Upon this, 

 adds Mr. Kirby, " as if to complain of such treatment, 

 she emits a distinct sound, which excites no pity in 

 the breasts of her subjects, who detain her two days 

 longer than nature has assigned for her confine- 

 ment." In the interim she sometimes thrusts her 

 tongue through the slit she has made in the cocoon, 

 upon which she is supplied with honey ; after which 

 the orifice is stopped with wax. 



Were a queen, destined to lead a swarm, permitted 

 to leave her cell as soon as the natural term arrived, 

 it would require some time to fit her for flight; 

 during which time a troublesome task would be 

 imposed upon the workers, who must constantly de- 

 tain her by force from destroying the larvae and 

 pupae of the succeeding queens. Hence they find 

 it easier to detain her in her cocoon till she is ready 

 to head the swarm, when she is liberated, and pre- 

 vented from making the desired slaughter till she 

 issues forth with her subjects. The oldest is of 

 course the first so treated ; then the next, and so on, 

 till the queen of the last swarm: the remaining 

 queens, the hive being now sufficiently thinned, fight 

 unimpeded till one gains the throne. It sometimes 

 happens that when the original queen and her 

 swarm are prevented from migrating by bad weather, 

 she destroys the young brood in the royal cells, so 

 that when she leaves, the workers who remain, have 

 to educate a worker larva into a queen. Generally, 

 however, some of the royal brood escape her ven- 

 geance, a favourable change in the weather inducing 

 her to depart. 



" When the larvae in royal cells," says Mr. Water- 

 house, "are about to change into pupae, the old 

 queen begins to exhibit signs of agitation, running 

 carelessly over the cells, occasionally thrusting her 

 abdomen into some of them as if about to lay, but 

 withdrawing without having done so, or perhaps 

 depositing the eggs on the side of the cell, instead 

 of at the bottom. She is no longer surrounded by 

 her usual circle of attendants, and her agitation be- 

 ing communicated to all she passes, at length a 

 general confusion is created ; till at last the greater 

 portion of the bees rush out of the hive, with that 

 queen at their head. It is thus that the first swarm 

 quits the hive, and it is invariably conducted by the 

 old queen. 



"At any other time the queen would have been 

 unable to fly, the great number of eggs contained 

 in her abdomen rendering her too heavy : this how- 

 ever is sufficiently reduced after the great laying to 

 enable her to fly with ease. 



" An unerring instinct obliges the (jueen to leave 

 the hive at this time, for two sovereigns never can 

 co-exist in the same community ; and had she not 

 left it, the young queens (now just about to quit 

 their cells) would inevitably have been killed by 

 her. Let us now observe what is going on in the 

 hive, which has just been deserted by its queen. It 

 would seem as if it were too much reduced by the 

 departure of the swarm ; but it must be borne in 

 mind that this event never occurs except in the 

 middle of the day, and during very fine sunny wea- 

 ther, when a large portion of the bees are abroad 

 gathering honey and pollen ; and if the hive con- 

 tain a numerous colony, these, on their return, to- 

 gether with those which have not been disturbed 

 during the general confusion, and a considerable 

 number of young brood continually hatching, form 

 a sufficient stock, and perhaps even enough to send 

 off another swarm. 



"In two or three days' time from the leaving of the 

 first swarm, perfect order is restored in the hive j 

 and the nurse-bees continue to attend upon the 



3B2 



