MEANS OF DEFENCE OF INSECTS. 939 
near Lewes in Sussex, in the chalky soil, says: “ When 
people approach the place these insects begin to be alarm- 
ed, and with a sharp and_ hostile sound dash and strike 
round the heads and faces of intruders. [have often been 
interrupted myself while contemplating the grandeur of the 
scenery around me, and have thought myself in danger 
of being stung*.”—The hive-bee will sometimes have re- 
course to the same expedient, when her hive is approached 
too near, and thus give you notice what you may expect if 
you do not take her warning and retire.-—Humble-bees 
when disturbed, whether out of the nest or in it, assume 
some very grotesque and at the same time threatening atti- 
tudes. If you put your finger to them, they will either suc- 
cessively or simultaneously lift up the three legs of one 
side ; turn themselves upon their back ; bend up their anus 
and show their sting accompanied by a drop of poison- 
Sometimes they will even spirt out that liquor. When 
in the nest, if it be attacked, they also beat their wings 
violently and emit a great hum”. 
These motions menace vengeance; those of some 
other insects are merely to effect their escape. Thus I 
have observed that the species of the May-fly tribe 
(Phryganea L., Trichoptera K.°), when I have attempted 
to take them, have often glided away from under my hand 
—without moving their limbs that I could discover—in a 
remarkable manner. I once observed a weevil (Brachy- 
rhinus, F.) upon a rail, which, when it saw me, slided 
sideways, and then rolled off. To notice the ordinary 
motions of insects, which are often means by which they 
* Nat. Hist. ii. 268. 
b P. Huber in Linn. Trans. vi. 219. Kirby, Mon. Ap. Ang. i. 201. 
¢ Kirby in Linn. Trans. xi. 87, note*. 
