The Insect World: Being a Popular Account of the Orders of Insects

" 1 held in one hand," says Re'aumur, " a powerful magnifying glass, which I brought near to that part of the trunk I wished to examine; I was sometimes half a minute, or nearly a minute, without perceiving anything, after which I saw clearly a little column of liquid mounting quickly along the whole length of the trunk. Often this column appeared to be intersected by little balls, which seemed to be globules of air which had been drawn up with the liquid. "This liquid ascended thus during three or four seconds, and then ceased. At the end of an interval of a greater number of seconds, or sometimes after an interval as short, I saw

Fig. 138. some fresh liquid mounting^ up alon^ the trunk.

Section of a Butterfly s Irunk,. i. i • i n r i i after Re'aumur (magnified). But it WaS Straight Up the middle 01 the trUHlC that it seemed to ascend.

"The Author of Nature has given to insects means of working, which, though very simple, we cannot divine, and which often we are not able even to perceive. AVhilst I was observing the trunk of our butterfly, between the columns of liquid which I saw ascending, there were, but more rarely, times when I saw, on the contrary, liquid descending from the base of the trunk to the point. The descending liquid occupied half or two-thirds of the tube. It was no longer diflicult to perceive how the butterfly is able to nourish itself on honey, the thickest syrup, and even the most solid sugar. The fluid it sends down is probably very liquid; it drives against the

sugar, moistens, and dissolves it. The butterfly pumps this^liquid up again when it is charged with sugar, and conducts it along as far as the base of its trunk, and beyond it."

The life of the perfect insect is generally very short. Like nearly all other insects, they die as soon as they have propagated their species. The female lays her eggs, which vary in shape, on the i)lant

• Planche 9, Fig. 10, 5e Memoire, *' Sur les parties exterieures des papillons."

lEPlDOPTERA. 171I which is to nourish her progeny. The colour is also very various, and passes through all sorts of shades. At the moment they are laid, many are covered with a gummy substance, insoluble in water, which serves to stick them on the plant.

In some species the mother lays her eggs on the trunks of trees, and covers them with down or with the hairs which clothe her abdomen, so as to preserve them from cold and damp. She may also hide them entirely under a v/hitish foamy substance. Some do not lay more than a hundred eggs; others lay some thousands.

To bring the history of the Lepidoptera to an end, it only remains for us to give a sketch of their classification, and to point out some species remarkable, either on account of their beauty or their utility.

We see during the day butterflies flying in our gardens, in meadows full of flowers, or in the alleys of woods. Towards evening,

at the sombre hour of twilight, t'.ie stroller is sometimes surprised to see pass near him large moths, with a heavy and unequal flight; or, if we go into a garden on a beautiful calm summer's night, bearing a a light, we see a crowd of moths flying from all parts towards it.

It is on account of these different hours at which the Lepidoptera show themselves, that naturalists for a long time divided them into diurnal, crepuscular, and nocturnal. This division was simple, convenient, and seemed founded on Nature. Unfortunately, the 7iight fliers of the old authors do not all fly by night: some species, classed by the old naturalists among the crepuscular, or nocturnal, show themselves in the very middle of the day, seeking their food in the hottest rays of the sun. In the regions near the poles they appear during the day, and in other countries they are more or less friends of the twilight. So as not to multiply methodical divisions, we will confine ourselves to classing the Lepidoptera into two sections.

The first section contains those ivhichfiy diirim^ the day, which have club-shaped aniennie, and which have their four wings entirely free, and standijig perpendicularly '^ when the insect is at rest. They are called Butterflies, or Rhopalocera. This section is divided into a number of families, which comprise many genera. We will content ourselves with calling the attention of the reader to some of the most remarkable of these groups, and to those species which, either on account of their beauty or abundance, strike, or ought to strike, the attention of every one. In the family of the Papilionidce, we will mention the genera

• There are exceptions to this. —Ed.

Papilio^ to which belong the Swallow-tailed Butterfly [FapiHo machaon)^ Papilio podalirius, &c., and Farnassius, of which we will notice Farnassius Apollo^ and Farnassius Mneviosyiie.

Fig. 139.— Swallow-tailed Butterfly [Papilio machaon).

The swallow-tailed butterfly is found plentifully in the fens of Cambridgeshire, and Norfolk and Suffolk, and very commonly in the

Fig. 140.— Larva and Chrysalis of Papilio machaon.

environs of Paris. It is seen from the beginning of May till towards the middle of June; then from the end of July till September. It frequents gardens, woods, and, above all, fields of lucerne. It is easily taken when settled, particularly at sunset (Figs. 139, 140).

LEPIDOPTERA.I This is one of the largest and the most beautiful of the European butterflies. The wings are variegated with yellow and black; the eyes, antennae, and trunk are black. The body is yellow on the sides and underneath, and black above. The front wings have rounded edges; the hind ones, on the contrary, are notched, and one of these notches is prolonged into a sort of tail. The first are black,

Fig. 141, — Papilio Alexanor. '

spotted and striped with yellow; the second have their upper part and middle yellow, with some touches only of black. Near the margin is a broad black band, dusted with blue; lastly, six yellow spots in the form of a crescent run along the border, and end in a magnificent eye of a reddish colour, bordered with blue.

The caterpillar of this species is large, smooth, and of a beautiful light green, with a transverse black band on each ring. These bands are sprinkled with orange spots. It lives on the fennel, carrot, and other Umbellifer^. If teased, it thrusts from the first ring after

the head a fleshy, orange-coloured tentacle. The chrysalis, attached to a grass stalk, is sometinnes light green, sometimes greyish (Fig. 140).

In the Basses-Alpes, on the plains near the environs of Digne and Barcelonnette, is found in May and July the Papilio Alexanor (Fig. 141), and in Corsica and Sardinia is found the Papilio

Fig. 142.— The scarce Swallow-tailed Butterfly (Papilio podalirius).

hospifon, a rare species, nearly related to the swallow-tailed butterfl}^, but which we will here content ourselves with mentioning.

The Papilio podalirius (Fig. 142) is in form very analogous to Papilio viachaon. It is of a rather pale yellow colour, marked with black, as if singed. The lower wings have tails longer and narrower than those of the latter, and are magnificently ornamented with blue crescent-shaped spots and an orange-coloured eye bordered below with blue. This beautiful species is not rare at Montmorency, at lyisle-Adam, and at St. Germain. It is said to have been taken in England, and is called the scarce Swallow-tail, but its capture is considered as very questionable. It appears for the first time at the end

of April, and for the second in July and August. The Paniassius Apollo (Fig. 143), is a beautiful butterfly, which appears in June and July, and is found commonly enough in the Alps, the Pyrenees, and and the Cevennes. Its wings are of a yellowish white. The upper part of the fore wings presents five nearly round black spots; the base and the costa, or front edge, of these wings are sprinkled with black atoms. The upper part of the hind wings presents two eyes of a vermilion red, the inner border furnished with whitish hairs amply dotted with black, and marked towards the extremity with tw^o black spcHs. The under part of the fore wings is very similar to the upper.

Fig. 143. — Parnassius Apollo.

-But the under part of the hind wings presents four red spots bordered by black, forming a transverse band near the base. The body is black, furnished with russety hairs, and the antennae are white, with the club black. The larva of the Apollo lives on saxifrages. To effect its transformation itsurrounds itself with a slight network of silk in which are confined one or more leaves. This caterpillar is thick, smooth, cylindrical, and covered with small slightly hairy warts, and ornamented on the first ring with a fleshy tentacle in the shape of a Y. The chrysalis is conical, sprinkled over with a bluish efflorescence resembling the bloom on a plum. Hie Faniassins Mnemosyne is found in the month of June in the mountains ot Dauphine, in Switzerland, Sicily, Hungary, Sweden, and in the Pyrenees.

In the family of the Pieridi we will mention many species remarkable in different ways, such as Piei'is cratcegi, the black-veined White, Pieris brassiccE, the Cabbage Butterfly, Pieris napi, Picric

callidice. Anthocharis carda/nines, the Orange-tip, Rhodocera {Gonepteryx) rhamni^ and Colias ediisa, or Clouded-yellow. Pieris cratcegi is white both above and below; the veins only of the wings are black, and become a little broader at the edge of the upper wings. These black veins on a rather transparent white ground make this butterfly resemble a gauze veil, hence its French name, le gaze. It flies in sprmg and summer in meadows and gardens, but is not generally common in England. In the first volume of his "Travels in the North of Russia," Pallas relates that he saw insects of this species flying in great numbers in the environs of Winofka, and that he at first took them for flakes of snow. The Piei'is cratcegi fixes itself at

Fig. 144. — Pieris brassicae.

sunset on flowers, where it is easily taken by the hand. During the day, on the contrary, it is difficult to catch. The larva, black at first, afterwards assumes short yellow and white hairs, but it varies much. They live in companies, under a silky web, in which they pass the winter. The leaves of the hawthorn, the sloe, the cherry tree, and of many other fruit trees, serve them for food. The pupa, yellow or white, and sometimes of both colours with little stripes and spots of black, is angular and terminated in front by a blunt point.

The Pieris brassicce (Fig. 144), or Cabbage Butterfly, is perhaps the commonest of all butterflies. From the beginning of spring till the end of autumn one sees it flying about everywhere, in the gardens, sometimes near and almost in the interior of towns. It is of a dull white, spotted and veined with black, and it can be seen at a long distance, when flitting from flower to flower, in a meadow or garden. And so children wage desperate war against this flying prey. The pursuit of the cabbage butterfly through the alleys of