292 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



of the naturalist whilst maintaining a dis- 

 creet silence as to his troubles ; but, either 

 from superabundance of honesty or lack of 

 worldly wisdom, we prefer to take the 

 opposite course and describe some of the 

 sorrows of the naturalist, leaving you the 

 easy and pleasant task of finding out the 

 joys for yourselves. 



We will pass over the annoyance by being | 

 warned off the land by churlish farmers' 

 men, or of being chased out of the field by 

 indignant cattle, because these evils can 

 usually be avoided by a little tact and dis- 

 cretion. The best way to avoid the first is 

 to join our society, by which step you will 

 at once become entitled to many valuable 

 privileges (which our chairman will be 

 happy to explain afterwards), and will have 

 permission given to enter and roam about 

 several extensive grounds which are not 

 thrown open to the general public. If you 

 are timid about the cattle — and our own 

 experience goes to show that young horses 

 are not by any means the most desirable of 

 playmates — the safest course is to give them 

 a wide berth till you know something of 

 their manners and customs. 



[To be continued) . 



ON THE MEANS OF DEFENCE 

 OF INSECTS. 



By E. L. Ragonot. 



It is well known that insects have many 

 enemies to contend with, for they are the 

 natural prey or food of the greater part of 

 the more highly organized animals, and 

 more especially of birds and reptiles ; but 

 many of the mammalia are insectivorous, 

 and even man himself uses insects as food. 

 I refer here to locusts, which are greedily 

 eaten by the natives of Africa and part of 

 Asia ; the larva or grub of the palm weevil 

 {Calandra palmarum), which is esteemed a 

 delicacy even by the white planters of the 



West Indies ; and the Termites, misnamed 

 white ants, which are made into a paste and 

 eaten with great relish by the negroes in 

 certain parts of Africa. 



It is, in fact, a wonder, what with their 

 natural enemies in the higher classes, their 

 foes in their own class, to which may be 

 added the ravages caused in their ranks 

 I by the weather, &c., that they should not 

 in course of time be utterly exterminated ; 

 an all-wise Providence has, however, or- 

 dained otherwise, and has given to these 

 apparently defenceless creatures great and 

 endlessly varied modes of successfully re- 

 sisting their numerous enemies. 



The first, and probably most important 

 reason why insects do not become extermi- 

 nated, is because they are among the most 

 prolific of animals ; and, indeed, were it not 

 for the wholesome check on their multipli- 

 cation by their foes, they would soon cover 

 the earth ; and puny as they are singly, they 

 would, collectively, devour every plant on 

 the surface of the globe, and in process of 

 time finish by destroying by their ravages, 

 the whole of animated nature — not even 

 excepting man. 



As I said before, the means of defence of 

 insects are very varied — in fact, endless; 

 but as regards those directed against animals 

 of higher orders they are generally of a 

 passive nature, for few have weapons suf- 

 ficiently powerful to use against other than 

 their insect foes. It is more especially to 

 these passive modes of defence that I would 

 now direct attention. 



Some insects, indeed, have means of 

 forcibly resisting attacks from larger 

 animals, and many of them would not 

 hesitate to employ them against man him- 

 self. No one who has the least experience 

 in hornets, wasps, bees, and even ants 

 would like to attack their nests, and would 

 be very cautious indeed in approacing single 

 individuals of some of the above families. 

 The lancets of the mosquito could hardly 



