THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



125 



Indian iu the great evcr-rccurring struggle foi- 

 superiority on the Coiitiuent of America. 



This curious propensity to roll balls of dung 

 to a considerable distance was observed, lliou- 

 sauds of years ngo, with mysterious awe by the 

 ancient Egyptians and by tlie ancient Greeks, 

 and all sorts of superstitious and transcendental 

 notions were founded thereupon. But up to the 

 present day, no one has satisfactorily explained 

 the phenomenon. Verily, under every stone, 

 under every clod, and even under such despised 

 substances as it almost offends the fastidious ear 

 to name, there lies a whole volume of Natural 

 History written by the finger of the great Com- 

 mon Father of us all. 



It is always in the order Hipnenoptera (Bees, 

 ■Wasps, Ants, Ichneumon-flics, &c.), that we 

 must look for the most exalted and widely spread 

 developments of the instinct of insects. Among 

 the Beetles (order Cnlenptera) we flud but a 

 single genus, the Tumble-dungs, that remove the 

 food of their future larvas to a considerable dis- 

 tance from its natural locality; and this, too, 

 they effect with their legs, and not with their 

 wings. Yet they have fully develoiied wings, 

 and, on a hot summer's day, fly with the great- 

 est vigor; and by sub-dividing the dung-pellet 

 into small portions, and carrying them one after 

 another through the air to a suitable spot, they 

 could effect in Ave minulc-s as much work as 

 (hey now effect iu five hours. Among the Hy- 

 menoptcro, on the other hand, wo find whole 

 hosts of groups, namely our friends the Digger- 

 AVasps, that do every day what, with all his 

 wonderful intelligence, the Tumble-dung or 

 ".•^acrcd Beetle'" of the Egyptians, has never 

 yet been able to accomplish. Taught by the 

 mysterious promptings of nature, the female 

 Digger Wasps first of all fly )-<>uud diligently 

 till they have found a suitable si)()(, and then 

 having found i( proceed to consiruct a iicst for 

 that future offspring of theirs which they are 

 destined never (o behold; some of thorn for this . 

 purpose boring holes in timber, some excavating 

 the stem of a dead weed, but the giealer portion 

 of them forming holes in (he level ground or in 

 clayey banks. The house is now built. It re- 

 mains (o furnish il with food, as well as lodging 

 for the young larva that is soon to" come into the 

 world. For lh!s purpose the wings of (he fe- 

 nuile are again called into requisition; for we 

 are almost ashamed to say that in the case of 

 these Digger Wasps, as with nearly all other in- 

 sects, it is the female only that works, the male 

 being an idle gentleman who occupies his time 

 entirely with sipping honey and pollen and gal- 

 lanting the ladies. Flying forth among the trees 



and bushes, and eagerly scanning the hidden 

 n'cesses of tlie most tangled herbage, the female 

 Digger Wasp soon discovers a specimen of the 

 particular kind or kinds of insect or spider, 

 which it is the habit of the species to which she 

 belongs to select. Seizing it and pricking it 

 with her sting just sufficiently to paralyze it for 

 ever, but not so as to deprive it of life, she then 

 flies off with it in triumph to the already con- 

 structed nest, and returns for additional speci- 

 mens, till she has accumulated a sufficient supply 

 of meat to feed one of her own larvjc to matur- 

 ity. She next deposits a single Q^g among the 

 still living but paralyzed animals that she lias 

 collected, seals up the mouth of her nest or cell, 

 usually with earth or tempered clay or fragments 

 of wood, and is oft' once more to build and pro- 

 vision new nests and repeat the same process 

 over and over again, until her stock of eggs is 

 exhausted. The larvse that afterwards hatch out 

 from these eggs are in every case soft legless 

 whitish maggots, with a somewhat horny head 

 and a strong pair of jaws, but no other weapons 

 whatever, whether offensive or defensive. Yet, 

 strange to relate, they live at their ease among 

 the prey collected for them by maternal fore- 

 thought; and this prey is often a lot of bees 

 that, if in full vigor, would sting them (o death 

 in a moment, or a mass of ravenous spiders that, 

 but for the fatal poison infused into their vitals, 

 would like no better sport than to gobble them 

 up at a single mouthful. 



" But," it will be asked, " why this unneces- 

 sary cruelty? "Why not at once sting the poor 

 bees or caterpillars or spiders to death, and put 

 them out of their misery?"' The answer is, that 

 the larvae of these Digger Wasps live several 

 weeks before they are full-fed and ready to form 

 (heir cocoons; that during all this period they 

 rcipiire fresh meat; that the (ime of the year 

 when these operations take place is during the 

 heats of the summer; and that, throughout that 

 sea-ion, insects or spiders that were stung to 

 death would putrify and become unfit for food 

 in a '-ingle week. There are seldom any mis- 

 (ak('> in Nature. The Power that created the 

 Digger Wasp knew what kind of food its larva 

 requii-cd; and — whether by direct or indirect 

 means it matters not— He has so organized 

 the mother-insect, that she is enabled and im- 

 loellcd to provide for her offspring the right kind 

 of (bud, in the right quantity, at the right time, 

 and in the right place. AVith a vast apparatus 

 of steam-boilers and hermetically sealed cans, 

 man has at length succeeded in preserving meat, 

 fresh and untainted, for an indefinite time. 

 \Vith nothing but her good sharp sting and her 



