FOOD OF INSECTS. 



325 



solid parts, as the predaceous and rove-beetles, &c., or im- 

 bibing its juices only, as the infinite hordes of the field-bug tribe. 

 And the larva? of the gnat, chameleon (^Stratijomis), and other 

 flies aquatic in that state, the leviathans of the world of 

 animalcules, swallow whole hosts of these minute inhabitants 

 of pools and ponds at a gulp, causing, with their oral apparatus, 

 a vortex in the water, down which myriads of victims are 

 incessantly hurried into their destructive maw. 



But not only animals themselves, almost every animal 

 substance that can be named is the appropriate food of some 

 insect. Multitudes find a delicious nutriment in excrements 

 of various kinds. Matters apparently so indigestible as hair, 

 wool, and leather, are the sole food of many moths in the 

 larva state (Tinea tapetzella, pellionellay &c.). Even feathers 

 are not rejected by others ; and the grub of a beetle (^An- 

 threnus MiiscBorum), with powers of stomach which the 

 dyspeptic sufferer may envy, will live luxuriously upon 

 horn.^ 



For the most part, insects feeding upon animal substances 

 will not touch vegetables, and vice versa. You must not, 

 however, take the ride without exceptions. Many cater- 

 pillars (as those of Thijatira derasa, Chariclea Deljylmiii, &c.), 

 though plants are their proper food, will occasionally devour 

 other caterpillars, and sometimes even their own species. 

 The large green grasshopper (^Acrida viridissima), and pro- 

 bably others of the Order, will eat smaller insects as well 

 as its usual vegetable food ^ ; so also will the larvae of many 

 PhryganecB. Allantas marginellus, as I was last summer 

 amused by witnessing, like many ScatophagcB, sips the nectar 

 of umbelliferous plants only till a fly comes within its reach, 

 pouncing upon which it gladly quits its vegetable for an 

 animal repast. Anohium paniceum, w^hich ordinarily feeds 

 upon biscuit, was, as I have before mentioned, once found by 

 Mr. Sheppard in great abundance living upon the dried 

 Cantharides (^Cantharis vesicatoria^ of the shops. On the 

 other hand, Necrophorus mortuorum, which subsists on ' 

 carcasses, and many other carnivorous species, Aviil make a 



1 De Geer, iv. 210. 



2 Brahm, Insehten Kalender, i. 190. 

 Y 3 



