THE GARDENERS’ AND NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR FOR AUGUST. 
while the Swallows and Martins are still busy in rearing 
their last broods. The Swifts have but one brood in the 
season, while the Swallows and Martins have two, and 
at times three. I have seen young birds in the nest of 
the Martin as late as the last week in September. There 
’is something mysterious in this early migration of the 
Swifts, leaving us, as they do, in the midst of our finest 
weather. Is it that the food upon which they live fails 
them at this time, or is their other home so far away 
that it requires this early departure to arrive there at the 
proper season ? One would hardly suppose it to be from 
the latter cause, for their flight is like that of the wind, 
and if the former, we should endeavour to discover in 
what their food differs from that of the other Hirunds; 
that there is a cause none can doubt, but what that 
cause may be is still to us a mystery. 
The Swifts are the only birds that leave us this 
month, I think; but it is far more difficult to determine 
the exact time of the departure of many species than 
it is to note that of their arrival, you may miss them 
for a week when they will appear again for a few days 
as numerous as ever, but these may be birds that have 
been bred farther north, and which are actually on their 
passage. H. W. 
Entomology. — The continued heat of this month 
has its corresponding effects on the insect world, and 
butterflies, those true children of the sun, still abound. 
Our gardens, which, during the last month and the begin¬ 
ning of the present, have suffered, in the Cabbage tribes, 
from the attacks of the Caterpillars of the White But¬ 
terflies, swarm towards the middle of the month with 
fresh hosts of those destructive species Pontia Brassicce , 
the large garden White, and P. Bapce, the Green-veined 
White. Papilio Machaon , the Swallow-tail Butterfly, 
the finest of our British species, now also appears on 
the wing, but rarely, in meadows and meres. The 
Brimstone and Clouded Yellow Butterflies occur in 
woods and meadows. The Speckled Wood and Wall 
Butterflies ( Hipparchia PEgeria and Megcera) also now 
frequent the borders of woods and sunny lanes, whilst 
various of the small beautiful Blues and Coppers are to 
be met with on heaths, commons, and especially chalky 
districts. Other species of Lepidoptera are also now to 
be found in the Caterpillar state, in fact, the latter end 
of this month and the whole of the next may be con¬ 
sidered as the period for the second and last brood of 
Caterpillars. The larvae of several of the species of 
Hawk-moths are now to be found, such as that of the 
Eyed Hawk ( Smerinthus ocellatu-s ), the Lime Hawk 
(Sm. Tiliai) , the Poplar Hawk (8m. Poputi ), and the 
Privet Hawk ( Sph. ligustri ) ; that of the Puss Moth 
( Centra Vinula ) is also now conspicuous on Willows 
and Poplars with its singular forked tail; whilst the 
Humming-Bird Hawk-Moth (. Macroglossa stellatarmri) 
delights us by its elegant flight, with long outstretched 
tongue hovering over flowers on well poised wings, and 
darting up on the slightest approach of danger. 
How also the Bee-keeper must watch his hives to see 
that the Honey Moths (Galleria alvearia and cereana) do 
not obtain an entry; this may, in a great measure, be 
prevented by making a careful survey of the exterior of 
the hives every evening just before dusk, when the 
Moths, if bred in the neighbourhood, will be seen hurry¬ 
ing about their outsides. Should this not be attended 
to, the Moths will gain admission, notwithstanding the 
vigilance of the sentry-bees, and their Caterpillars will 
subsequently prove very injurious to the comb, through 
which they burrow in all directions, not only spilling 
the honey and drowning or destroying the young Bee 
larvae, but also many of the perfect Bees, which are 
covered with the overflowing drops of honey as well as 
entangled in the webs of the Caterpillars. 
In this month also (generally in the early part), a mar¬ 
vellous scene takes place in the hive, and which is one of 
- - - - 
those singular traits in the economy of insect life, which 
exhibits the wondrous care of Almighty adaptation and 
knowledge in the highest degree. The main season for 
gathering honey is now past, swarming has been accom¬ 
plished, the work of impregnation of the young queens 
has been effected, and the consequent presence of some 
two thousand individuals (nearly twice the size of the 
workers) in the hive, would be not only useless but highly 
injurious from their consuming so great a quantity of 
the honey stored up for the future supply of the com¬ 
munity; but as there are only from ten to twenty 
young queens produced in the hive requiring the pre¬ 
sence of so many males (or drones), and as it is known 
by various observations, that the lives of insects which 
have been prevented from pairing may be prolonged far 
beyond the natural period, it would hence follow that 
were it not for some extraordinary modification of in¬ 
stinct to suit the peculiar circumstances of the case, the 
vast majority of the male Bees would be a terrible bur¬ 
den to the community: to prevent this, however, 
Nature, or, more properly to speak, Nature’s God has 
directed the worker Bees to kill these no longer needed 
individuals, and the sight which now presents itself is 
most singular. Here will be seen a single worker Bee 
pulling one of these gigantic Drones (which it has 
already disabled with its sting) -with all its might to the 
edge of the hive board, there several will be engaged in 
the same manner, endeavouring to fly off with their 
burden, whilst the ground in front of the hive is 
strewed with the already dead and dying Drones. 
Other species of social Hymenoptera now interest us 
by their proceedings. The great body of the working 
Wasps are produced during this and the beginning of 
the next month, and their incessant attacks upon our 
provisions, both vegetable and animal, require attention. 
The most satisfactory mode of destroying the nests of 
these troublesome insects, is to thrust a piece of rag 
dipped in turpentine into the mouth of the cavity in 
which it is built, at dusk, closing the entrance as tightly 
as possible with a sod. The workers of the different 
species of Humble Bees are now developed in the greatest 
numbers, and as there are many species of these insects 
forming a separate genus (Bombas), it will be well to 
collect a number of specimens for examination. Thistles, 
in bloom, are their especial place of resort, and here 
they seem to revel until they sometimes become quite 
intoxicated, and almost unable to fly, when their mo¬ 
tions, on being disturbed, are the oddest imaginable. 
Several species of Dipterous insects which might, 
at first sight, be mistaken for Bees, now infest our 
horses and cattle, especially several species of Tabanus, 
which are armed with a powerful apparatus of lancets 
in their mouths, capable of in flicting very severe wounds 
through the skin of the horse. The Bot Fly (Gaste- 
ropMlus Equi) may also now be seen hovering near or 
among horses, trying, with exemplary patience, to de¬ 
posit its eggs, by means of its long retractile ovipositor, 
in those places which the horse is able to lick with its 
tongue; thus, not only hatching the egg by its warm 
moisture, but carrying the young grub, when hatched, 
into the mouth of the animal, and thence to the stomach, 
where it feeds. The QEstrus Bovis is still more annoy¬ 
ing to horned cattle, seeking to deposit its eggs in 
their backs, where the larvae form large tumours beneath 
the skin. The destruction of the Daddy Long Legs, as 
advised in our former article, cannot be pursued in 
gardens with too much assiduity, if the preservation of 
the next year’s plants be an object of care with the gar¬ 
dener. 
Another tribe of insects now makes its appearance, 
attracting our attention by its musical powers; these 
are the different species of Grasshopper which now 
abound in hedges and grassy places; some account of 
these will be given in our September Calendar. 
J. 0. ML 
