The sweet juice of the flower is indeed to honey much what

grape-juice is to wine. It is licked out of the. flowers by the

brush-tipped tongue " of the Bee, and . then passed into the

lloney-bag, a nearly spherical membranous sac, situated at the

base of the abdomen, close to the short footstalk which conjoins

the thorax and abdomen. Within this sac it undergoes the

change which converts it from a mere saccharilie juice into

honey. What that change is we do not precisely know, nor

how it is achieved, for the honey-bag appears to be nothing more than a membranous sac. Still, some change, and that a great

one, is made, as is evident from the fact that if the Bees be supplied with sugar and water they make honey from it. Despite this change, however, the honey always retains something of the flavour belonging to the flower whence it was obtained, together with some of its properties ; so that there have been instances where those who have eaten honey have been nearly poisoned by it, the Bees having made it from plants which possessed poisonous qualities. That which is made from heather is generally thought to be the best and purest. We may, perhaps, ask ourselves why the Bee should take the trouble of making so many cells wherein to store the honey, instead of putting it into one or two larger vessels. The reason is that when honey is taken out of the cells, and placed in larger vessels, it soon crystallises, and in that state is even injurious to the Bees, whereas it can be kept perfectly fluid while in the small and tightly-closed cells.

The ‘ bee-bread,’ on which the young Bees are fed, is made from the pollen of various plants pressed tightly into the cells. If a cell full of bee-bread be cut longitudinally, each cargo of the Bee can be discerned, some eight or ten journeys being required to procure a sufficiency of pollen to fill up the cell ; [ and the pollen of each cargo being generally marked by a j slight difference of colour. j Some six or seven species of Bee are domesticated in dif- I ferent parts of the world, and Mr. Westwood suggests that there are many other species which might with advantage be brought to subserve the purposes of man. The structure of the stino- IS shown on Woodcut XXXVIIL Fig. h. This well-known weapon is in fact a modification of the ovipositor, with the addition of a poisonous liquid. This liquid is secreted by two

very delicate poison- glands, which resemble threads, not nearly so thick as a human hair, and white in colour. These glands unite together at their bases and form a short common tube, which opens into the poison sac, in which the venom is retained until it is wanted. The base of the sting is connected with the poison sac, and as soon as the weapon is used, the poison flows down the sting and is injected into the wound.

Lepidoptera.

CHAPTER I.

Rhofalocera, Or Butterflies.

I VERY much regret the necessity for using such words as that which appears at the head of this chapter. I employ such words as seldom as possible, and always explain them when compelled to use them, as is the case at present. Still, in many instances, scientific terms are absolutely necessary, because there are no existing English words which have the same signification, and, in many others, even though there may be English equivalents, the scientific terms are so universally employed that it is necessary to introduce them and explain their meaning.

To begin with the word Lepidoptera. It is formed from two Greek words, the one signifying a scale, and the other a wing, and is given to those insects because their wings are, for. the most part, covered on both sides with flat scales which overlap each other just like the tiles of a house. This is the most impoitant characteristic of the order, but there are one or two others which must be noticed. The mouth is formed for suction. The mandibles, or jaws, which are so conspicuous in the insects which we have hitherto examined, and which indeed are large and powerful in the larval state, are scarcely visible, being reduced to mere rudiments of jaws. The maxillee, on the contrary, are very much elongated, and modified into the beautiful ■ proboscis through which the insect is able to suck the sweet juices of flowers. The pupa is enclosed in a hard, shelly case, not resembling the perfect insect, this form beinff scientifically called ‘ obtected.’

The Lepidoptera fall naturally into two great divisions or

sections, known popularly as Butteud'lies and Moths. We will begin with the Butterflies.

These insects are, as may be seen by reference to the beginning of the chapter, called Khopalocera. This term is formed from two Greek words, the one signifying a club and the ether a horn, and is given to the Butterflies because, as a rule, their antennae are clubbed, or knobbed, at the end. As far as English Lepidoptera are concerned, there is no difficultv whatever in distinguishing between them and the Moths, the latter always having their antennae pointed instead of clubbed at the tip. Butterflies, moreover, cannot fold their antennae to the body as is done by many of the Moths, those organs always standing out boldly from the head.

Then, the head itself is very distinct from the thorax, and is never sunk into it, as is the case with so many insects, but is attached by a slender neck. The compound eyes possessed by Butterflies are remarkable for the astonishing number of facets which they possess, some of them having sixteen thousand facets on each side, or thirty-two thousand in all. The wings, too, serve to distinguish Butterflies and Moths. The latter insects often have the hind, or second, pair of wings folded longitudinally, but those of the Butterflies are quite rigid and incapable of being folded. When the insect is at rest both pairs of wings are raised over the back, and mostly pressed closely together. This attitude is often employed as a means of avoiding detection, for the Butterfly, when its wings are thus closed, has very much the air of a leaf or a flow'er petal, and so escapes observation. The splendid and conspicuous Bed Admiral and Peacock Butterflies frequently elude the eye in this manner.

Following the plan which I have adopted throughout this work, I now give a map or chart ot a Butterfly, showing the principal portions of the insect, and the distinctive names attached to them by entomologists. Some of these words look rather formidable, but there is really little difficulty in learning and retaining them ; and the best way of learning them is, to trace them out on the wings of vai'ious Butterflies, and, if possible, to sketch those wings on an enlarged scale, and write the names of the different portions. The principal portions of

the wings are those which are denoted by letters, and which

should therefore be learned first ; the knowledge of the other

I. Front view of head. II. Side vicio. ^ winQ, 1—5, Subcostal uervulo^ ft 7 i ^ nervules. 11. Submeclian nervure. 12. Internal 8-10. Median l(i. Interno-median ncrvnle. 17. Median nervnrp IS <? v. ' f i^’ nervules. vure. 4. Costa or anterior margin, c. Ape^ or anterior «. Costal ner-

™ «•> »«™lo P-«. M.b,.n nervure. 11, 12. Disco-cellular nervules. ’« Median margin. c. Apex or anterior anale rf Minu'm nervnie. J. Costa or anterior /. Anal angle. g. AMominal or inner margin. A. S.’ !iPPendage. thorax. «. Antent®!'* A. AbdomeT t Tamils ^-^• |“ominal segments. 8. Caudal /• The or anal head. extremity, g. Tim

portions being gained by degrees. Here I may mention that Mr. E. Newman repudiates c c the word nervure, and eubrtitutes

the simpler word ‘ rey,’ as analogous with the fin-rays of fishes. He is undoubtedly justified in considering that ^ ray is the better word, but as iu all scientific accounts of tlie Lepidoptera the word ‘ nervure ’ is used, I have employed it, leaving the reader to substitute the word ‘ ray ’ if he should prefer it.

The reader will notice the enormous size of the eye-masses, as shown in Fig. 1, this great size and bold projection being rendered necessary by the fact that these insects are all dayfliers, perpetually on the wing, and, consequently, very conspicuoxis. Now, there are many creatures — certain birds, for example, dragon-flies, and other predacious foes— which are very fond of Butterflies, and would wofully thin their numbers did not their multitudinous eyes enable them to see the approaching enemy in time for their broad wings to carry them out of danger. The form of the proboscis is also shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the former representing it as it appears when coiled up so as to be out of harm’s way, and the latter showing it as uncoiled, as it appears when the insect is about to take ■ , partly food. ;

We now proceed to take in their order some typical examples | of British Butterflies. The first family is called Papilionidse, and maybe distinguished by having the first pair of legs formed ; for walking, the tip of the antennse not hooked, and the dis- | coidal cell of the hind wings quite closed. Only one genus | inhabits this country, and only one species, the beautiful ■ | Swallow-tail Butterfly {Papilio Machaon), which is shown m y the frontispiece.

In tlie genus to which this Butterfly belongs, the hind wings

tailed, and the caterpillar, or larva, is furnished with a are called the ‘nuchal horn ’ because it issues forked appendage the neck. In this species the horn is only used in from moments of irritation, and is concealed within the body, its only marked by two dots. If, however, the caterplace being pillar be irritated or hurt, it immediately throws out the horn, to the length of half an inch or so.

which can be produced suppose that this horn is intended for the

Many naturalists away the iclineumon flies when they attack

purpose of driving

the larva. I can, however, scarcely accept this theoiy, because flies are terribly injurious to many other caterthe ichneumon

pillars, which yet are supplied with no apparatus for driving them away. This organ, whatever purpose it may subserve, gives forth a very strong odonr, much resembling that of fennel, and so powerful that even in the open air it can be perceived at some distance.

The colour of this splendid Butterfly is almost entirely yellow and black. On the lower wings, however, there is a row of six cloudy blue spots, sprinkled with yellow dots, and at the anal angle of each lower wing is a large red spot with a slight blue crescent on the upper part. Tliis Butterfly was once spread over a considerable part of England, but now seems to be restricted to the marshy parts of Cambridge, Huntingdon, and Norfolk. It has been taken in many other places, but I believe that in all those instances it was not native to the place, but had been artificially introduced. I once saw a specimen in a field by the Cherwell, close to Oxford, and chased it for some time, but unsuccessfully. Whether or not this was an introduced specimen, I have no means of ascertaining.

I was never fortunate enough to have a day’s Machaonhunting, but my friend, Mr. D. .1. French, has sent me an account of a very successful day’s hunt : —

‘Saturday, July 10, 1871, will always be a red-letter day in my annals of natural history.

‘ My brother and 1 drove off, amid the rain-like mist, along one of those everlastingly flat Cambridge roads, till we sighted the whitewashed front of the old public, with the conspicuous sign of “ Five miles from anywhere.” In a few minutes more we were over the ferry, and stepping off to f he fens with somewhat hopeful feelings, for the sun was peeping out. Tlie ditch was soon cleared by the help of the jumping-pole, kept at the aforesaid inn for the use of entomologists, hly brother was over first, and before I could follow a hearty shout informed me that a Swallow-tail was captured. In less than three minutes, at 1.5 P.M., three hurrahs rang through the fens, as I beheld, for the first time in my life, a self-captured Fapilio Machaon within my net. Oh, ’twas a pleasant sight to see !

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