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Read Ebook: The Ornithology of Shakespeare Critically examined explained and illustrated by Harting James Edmund
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Ebook has 26 lines and 13498 words, and 1 pages
PAGE
Introduction 1
Structures for Protecting Eggs 21 Mason-Wasps 22 Mason-Bees 38 Mining-Bees 50
Carpenter-Bees 55 Carpenter-Wasps 62 Upholsterer-Bees 64
Carder-Bees 74 Lapidary-Bees 79 Humble-Bees 79 Social-Wasps 80
Architecture of the Hive-Bee 112 Preparation of Wax 115 Propolis 126 The Building of the Cell 131
Carpentry of Tree-Hoppers 164 Saw-Flies 168 Icarias 176
Leaf-Rolling Caterpillars 181
Insects Forming Habitations of Detached Leaves 195 Cypress-Spurge Caterpillar 197 Moss-Building Caterpillar 199
Caddis-Worms and Goat-Moth 202 Carpenter-Caterpillars 207 Puss-Moth 211 Capricorn-Beetle 215 Oak-Bark Caterpillars 217
Earth-Mason Caterpillars 219 Ant-Lion 227
Clothes-Moth Caterpillars 235 Tent-Making Caterpillars 243 Stone-Mason Caterpillars 247 Muff-Shaped Tents 250 Leaf-Mining Caterpillars 252 Bark-Mining Caterpillars 257 Grubs of Beetles 258 Wasp-Beetle 261 Stag-Beetle 262
Structures of Grasshoppers, Crickets, and Beetles 264 Mole Cricket 265 Field Cricket 267 Burying Beetle 269 Dung Beetle 271 Tumble-Dung Beetle 273 Cockchafer 275
Architecture of Ants 278 Mason-Ants 279
Structures of the Wood-Ant or Pismire 294 Carpenter-Ants 301
Structures of White Ants, or Termites 313 Turret-Building White Ants 325
Structures of Silk Spun by Caterpillars 330 Silkworm 336 Emperor-Moth 342 Spinning Caterpillars 344
Structures of Spiders 366 Nest, Webs, and Nets of Spiders 383 Diving Water-Spider 393
Structures of Gall-Flies and Aphides 398 Hawthorn Weevil 413 Gall-Beetles 415 Leaf-Rolling Aphides 418 Pseudo-Galls 421
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INSECT ARCHITECTURE.
INTRODUCTION.
This train of reasoning is peculiarly applicable to the economy of insects. They constitute a very large and interesting part of the animal kingdom. They are everywhere about us. The spider weaves his curious web in our houses; the caterpillar constructs his silken cell in our gardens; the wasp that hovers over our food has a nest not far removed from us, which she has assisted to build with the nicest art; the beetle that crawls across our path is also an ingenious and laborious mechanic, and has some curious instincts to exhibit to those who will feel an interest in watching his movements; and the moth that eats into our clothes has something to plead for our pity, for he came, like us, naked into the world, and he has destroyed our garments, not in malice or wantonness, but that he may clothe himself with the same wool which we have stripped from the sheep. An observation of the habits of these little creatures is full of valuable lessons, which the abundance of the examples has no tendency to diminish. The more such observations are multiplied, the more are we led forward to the freshest and the most delightful parts of knowledge; the more do we learn to estimate rightly the extraordinary provisions and most abundant resources of a creative Providence; and the better do we appreciate our own relations with all the infinite varieties of nature, and our dependence, in common with the ephemeron that flutters its little hour in the summer sun, upon that Being in whose scheme of existence the humblest as well as the highest creature has its destined purposes. "If you speak of a stone," says St. Basil, one of the Fathers of the Church, "if you speak of a fly, a gnat, or a bee, your conversation will be a sort of demonstration of His power whose hand formed them, for the wisdom of the workman is commonly perceived in that which is of little size. He who has stretched out the heavens, and dug up the bottom of the sea, is also He who has pierced a passage through the sting of the bee for the ejection of its poison."
If it be granted that making discoveries is one of the most satisfactory of human pleasures, then we may without hesitation affirm, that the study of insects is one of the most delightful branches of natural history, for it affords peculiar facilities for its pursuit. These facilities are found in the almost inexhaustible variety which insects present to the curious observer. As a proof of the extraordinary number of insects within a limited field of observation, Mr. Stephens informs us, that in the short space of forty days, between the middle of June and the beginning of August, he found, in the vicinity of Ripley, specimens of above two thousand four hundred species of insects, exclusive of caterpillars and grubs,--a number amounting to nearly a fourth of the insects ascertained to be indigenous. He further tells us, that, among these specimens, although the ground had, in former seasons, been frequently explored, there were about one hundred species altogether new, and not before in any collection which he had inspected, including several new genera; while many insects reputed scarce were in considerable plenty. The localities of insects are, to a certain extent, constantly changing; and thus the study of them has, in this circumstance, as well as in their manifold abundance, a source of perpetual variety. Insects, also, which are plentiful one year, frequently become scarce, or disappear altogether, the next--a fact strikingly illustrated by the uncommon abundance, in 1826 and 1827, of the seven-spot lady-bird , in the vicinity of London, though during the two succeeding summers this insect was comparatively scarce, while the small two-spot lady-bird was plentiful.
There is, perhaps, no situation in which the lover of nature and the observer of animal life may not find opportunities for increasing his store of facts. It is told of a state prisoner, under a cruel and rigorous despotism, that when he was excluded from all commerce with mankind, and was shut out from books, he took an interest and found consolation in the visits of a spider; and there is no improbability in the story. The operations of that persecuted creature are among the most extraordinary exhibitions of mechanical ingenuity; and a daily watching of the workings of its instinct would beget admiration in a rightly-constituted mind. The poor prisoner had abundant leisure for the speculations in which the spider's web would enchain his understanding. We have all of us, at one period or other of our lives, been struck with some singular evidence of contrivance in the economy of insects, which we have seen with our own eyes. Want of leisure, and probably want of knowledge, have prevented us from following up the curiosity which for a moment was excited. And yet some such accident has made men naturalists, in the highest meaning of the term. Bonnet, evidently speaking of himself, says, "I knew a naturalist, who, when he was seventeen years of age, having heard of the operations of the ant-lion, began by doubting them. He had no rest till he had examined into them: and he verified them, he admired them, he discovered new facts, and soon became the disciple and the friend of the Pliny of France" . It is not the happy fortune of many to be able to devote themselves exclusively to the study of nature, unquestionably the most fascinating of human employments; but almost every one may acquire sufficient knowledge to be able to derive a high gratification from beholding the more common operations of animal life. His materials for contemplation are always before him. Some weeks ago we made an excursion to West Wood, near Shooter's Hill, expressly for the purpose of observing the insects we might meet with in the wood: but we had not got far among the bushes, when heavy rain came on. We immediately sought shelter among the boughs of some thick underwood, composed of oak, birch, and aspen; but we could not meet with a single insect, not even a gnat or a fly, sheltered under the leaves. Upon looking more narrowly, however, into the bushes which protected us, we soon found a variety of interesting objects of study. The oak abounded in galls, several of them quite new to us; while the leaves of the birch and the aspen exhibited the curious serpentine paths of the minute mining caterpillars. When we had exhausted the narrow field of observation immediately around us, we found that we could considerably extend it, by breaking a few of the taller branches near us, and then examining their leaves at leisure. In this manner two hours glided quickly and pleasantly away, by which time the rain had nearly ceased; and though we had been disappointed in our wish to ramble through the wood, we did not return without adding a few interesting facts to our previous knowledge of insect economy.
It will appear, then, from the preceding observations, that cabinets and collections, though undoubtedly of the highest use, are by no means indispensable, as the observer of nature may find inexhaustible subjects of study in every garden and in every hedge. Nature has been profuse enough in affording us materials for observation, when we are prepared to look about us with that keenness of inquiry, which curiosity, the first step in the pursuit of knowledge, will unquestionably give. Nor shall we be disappointed in the gratification which is thus within our reach. Were it no more, indeed, than a source of agreeable amusement, the study of insects comes stron
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