CVNIPID-TC.- 



-INSECTS.- 



-Fop.JiiciD.t;. 



170 



minute eyes, or ocelli, in addilion to the three true 

 ocelli on the crown of the head. This parasite was 

 found feeding upon the larva of Monoduntomertis 

 nitidus, another parasite of the bee, which has been 

 found in its colls, feeding on the pupa;. The late 

 Professor Audouin, who iirst observed the McUttobia, 

 discovered it in the nests of Osmia, Anthophora, and 

 Odyneriis, so that there are probably several allied 

 species. 



Family— CYNIPIDiE {The Gall Insects). 



What has ink not done ? to say nothing of a good 

 goose-quill. And how little writing would there have 

 been, hi:d cuttle-fish ink bags been the only providers 

 of the atramentous fluid! The galls of commerce, 

 with their strong tannin so useful in making ink and 

 in many other processes, such as dyeing black, are 

 caused by the punctures of a small, dry-bodied insect 

 with four clear transparent wings, on a species of oak 

 {Qaercus infcctoria). This fly is the Cynips Gallce 

 tinctorice, and is abundant in the East — that is, in 

 Western Asia. 



The " blue galls" are most prized by the merchant. 

 They are the galls of the first gathering, collected 

 before the Cynips has issued from the gall, and conse- 

 quently they have no hole in them. The "white 

 galls" are inferior, containing a third less astringent 

 matter than the others. The insect has escaped from 

 them. The two sorts are generally raixe<l. 



But there are plenty of other galls, some made by 

 small flies, some by beetles, but more by members of 

 this family. The long, hairy excrescences on the dog 

 rose are the galls of a Cynips. 



The Puma sodoinilica — "Apples of Sodom" — are 

 galls made by an insect of this family. These " mala 

 insana" were mentioned by ancient writers as " beau- 

 tiful exceedingly" to look at, but tasting like bitter 

 ashes. Walter Efliott, Esq., of Wolfelee, long in India, 

 on his route home found that these galls whose exist- 

 ence had begun to be doubted were bond fide gaUs, 

 two inches long and about an inch and a half in 

 diameter, on the outside of a rich, glossy, purplish red 

 colour , while the inside was filled with a very bitter, 

 porous, easily pulverized substance, surrounding the fly 

 which produced them, and which was called Cynips 

 insana by Westwood, and figured in the Trans. Ent. 

 Soc, London, vol. ii. 



The family Evaniidje contains insects generally 

 with very small abdomens. They are parasitic on the 

 Cockroach and other insects. Plate 7, fig. 4, shows 

 the Evania appendig aster. 



Family— CHRYSIDIDiE {The Golden Wasps). 



These species are small, but beautiful ; while some 

 of the exotic species, such as StUbum, are of consider- 

 able size. They belong to the section called Tuhulifera. 



The Golden wasps lay their eggs in the nests of the 

 sting-possessing Hymenoptera. They have the power 

 of rolling themselves up into a little ball when alarmed, 

 and, iu this way they escape the stings and jaw^s of the 

 insects into whose nests they enter. 



Tkibe— ACULEATA. 

 So called from the females possessing a sting. 



Group— HETEROGYNA. 



In these the females and m.ales are very different 

 and there are also workers, abortive females. 



Family— FOEMICID^ {The Ants). 



This family of insects is characterized by the habits 

 of the species, which reside in more or loss numerous 

 societies underground, or on trees. They have a great 

 number of individuals with the sexual organs and 

 instincts abortive, so that they are admirably adapted 

 to perform the labours of the community ; these are 

 named workers or neuters, and are without wings. 

 The males and females are much less numerous, and 

 possess wings. They do not labour. In the males the 

 body is small, and the legs and autennce are long and 

 slender. The females are much larger than the males, 

 and have the antennae and legs shorter and thicker. 

 Both males and females have ocelli and a continuous 

 thorax, while in the neuters this part is contracted in 

 the middle, and they are frequently without ocelli. 



i\Ir. Frederick Smith, who has paid so much atten- 

 tion to the habits and economy of the ants of this 

 country,* as well as to the history and structure of the 

 Formicidse of the world, remarks that their economy, 

 even in the imperfect records that we have, has furnished 

 some of the most interesting and wonderful histories in 

 the wide domains of zoology. " When their habitations 

 are by any means injured or destroyed, no time is lost 

 in useless despair ; one spirit animates each individual ; 

 simultaneously they set to work to repair their mis- 

 fortune ; unceasingly they labour ; nothing damps their 

 ardour or abates their industry : until, as if by a magic 

 wand, their habitation again rises to its former height 

 and beauty, and all trace of ruin has disappeared." 



In the work from which we quote, detailed descrip- 

 tions are given of twenty-five species of British ants, 

 with notes on their habits. With the exception of 

 Formica rufa and F. congerens, all the British species 

 belong to the mining ants. One, F.fulifjinosa, usually 

 selects decaying trunks of trees, posts, and such like 

 situations, though it occasionally mines in banks or mud 

 walls. Formica flora differs in one part of its economy 

 from the other British ants ; it carries down the last 

 brood of larva; into the deepest recesses of their subter- 

 ranean dwelling, where they pass the winter in a state 

 of torpidity. These larvte are at this time more hairy 

 than the larva; produced during the summer months. 



FORMICA EUFA is commonly called the Wood Ant, 

 the Horse Ant, or the Hill Ant. They construct 

 a nest composed of bits of straws, sticks, and such 

 things, which they heap up into a conical mass ; hence 

 one of their names. This nest, though rough enough 

 outside, is admirably arranged within. The nests of 

 this species are resorted to by several beetles, particu- 



• Catalogue of British Forsorial Hymenoptera, FormiciJa;, 

 and VespidiB, in tlic collection of the British Museum, 1858. 



