CURIOUS HISTORY OF INSECTS.
ORDER I. COLEOPTERA—BEETLES.
Coccinellidae — Lady-birds.
The Lady-bird, Coccinella septempunctata, in Scandinavia was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and is there to this day called Nyckelpiga — Our Lady's Key-maid, and (in Sweden, more particularly) Jung-fru Marias Gullhona — the Virgin Mary's Golden-hen. A like reverence was paid to this beautiful insect in other countries: in Germany they have been called Frauen or Marien-käfer — Lady-beetles of the Virgin Mary; and in France are now known by the names of Vaches de Dieu — Cows of the Lord, and Betes de la Vierge — Animals of the Virgin. The names we know them by, Lady-bird, Lady-bug, Lady-fly, Lady-cow, Lady-clock, Lady-couch (a Scottish name), etc., have reference also to this same dedication, or, at least, respect.
The Lady-bird in Europe, and particularly in Germany, where it probably is the greatest favorite, and whence most of the superstitions connected with it are supposed to have originated, is always connected with fine weather. At Vienna, the children throw it into the air, crying,
Käferl', käferl', käferl', Flieg nach Mariabrunn, Und bring uns ä schöne sun.
Little birdie, birdie, Fly to Marybrunn, And bring us a fine sun.
Marybrunn being a place about twelve English miles from the Austrian capital, with a miracle-working image of the Virgin (still connected with the Virgin), who often sends good weather to the merry Viennese.
And, from the marsh of the Elbe, to this little insect the following words are addressed:
Maikatt, Flug weg, Stuf weg, Bring me morgen goet wedder med.
May-cat, Fly away, Hasten away, Bring me good weather with you to-morrow.
In England, the children are wont to be afraid of injuring the Lady-bird lest it should rain.
With the Northmen the Lady-bird — Our Lady's Key-maid — is believed to foretell to the husbandman whether the year shall be a plentiful one or the contrary: if its spots exceed seven, bread-corn will be dear; if they are fewer than seven, there will be an abundant harvest, and low prices. And, in the following rhyme from Ploen, this insect is invoked to bring food:
Marspaert (Markpaert) fleeg in Himmel Bring my'n Sack voll Kringeln, my een, dy een, Alle lütten Engeln een.
Marspaert, fly to heaven! Bring me a sack full of biscuits, one for me, one for thee, For all the little angels one.
In the north of Europe it is thought lucky when a young girl in the country sees the Lady-bird in the spring; she then lets it creep about her hand, and says: "She measures me for wedding gloves." And when it spreads its little wings and flies away, she is particular to notice the direction it takes, for thence her sweetheart shall one day come. The latter part of this notion obtains in England; and it has been embodied by Gay in one of his Pastorals, as follows:
This Lady-fly I take from off the grass, Whose spotted back might scarlet red surpass. Fly, Lady-bird, north, south, or east or west, Fly where the man is found that I love best. He leaves my hand, see to the west he's flown, To call my true-love from the faithless town.
In Norfolk, too, where this insect is called the Bishop Barnabee, the young girls have the following rhyme, which they continue to recite to it placed upon the palm of the hand, till it takes wing and flies away:
Bishop, Bishop Barnabee, Tell me when my wedding be: If it be to-morrow day, Take your wings and fly away! Fly to the east, fly to the west, Fly to him that I love best.
Why the Lady-bird is called Bishop Barnabee, or Burnabee, there is great difference of opinion. Some take it to be from St. Barnabas, whose festival falls in the month of June, when this insect first appears; and others deem it but a corruption of the Bishop-that-burneth, in allusion to its fiery color.
The following metrical jargon is repeated by the children in Scotland to this insect under the name of Lady Lanners, or Landers:
Lady, Lady Lanners, Lady, Lady Lanners, Tak' up your clowk about your head, An' flee awa' to Flanners (Flanders). Flee ower firth, and flee ower fell, Flee ower pule and rinnan' well. Flee ower muir, and flee ower mead, Flee ower livan, flee ower dead, Flee ower corn, and flee ower lea. Flee ower river, flee ower sea, Flee ye east, or flee ye west. Flee till him that lo'es me best.
So it seems that also in Scotland, the Lady-bird, which is still a great favorite with the Scottish peasantry, has been used for divining one's future helpmate. This likewise appears from a rhyme from the north of Scotland, which dignifies the insect with the title of Dr. Ellison:
Dr. Dr. Ellison, where will I be married? East, or west, or south, or north? Take ye flight and fly away.
It is sometimes also termed Lady Ellison, or knighted Sir Ellison; while other Scottish names of it are Mearns, Aberd, The King, and King Galowa, or Calowa. Under this last title of dignity there is another Scottish rhyme, which evinces also the general use of this insect for the purpose of divination:
King, King Calowa, Up your wings and flee awa' Over land, and over sea Tell me where my love can be.
There is a Netherlandish tradition that to see Lady-birds forebodes good luck; and in England it is held extremely unlucky to destroy these insects. Persons killing them, it is thought, will infallibly, within the course of the year, break a bone, or meet with some other dreadful misfortune.
In England, the children are accustomed to throw the Lady-bird into the air, singing at the same time,
Lady-bird, lady-bird, fly away home; Your house is on fire, your children's at home, All but one that ligs under the stone, Fly thee home, lady-bird, ere it be gone.
Or, as in Yorkshire and Lancashire,
Lady-bird, lady-bird, eigh thy way home; Thy house is on fire, thy children all roam, Except little Nan, who sits in her pan, Weaving gold laces as fast as she can.
Or, as most commonly with us in America,
Lady-bird, lady-bird, fly away home, Your house is on fire, and your children all burn.
The meaning of this familiar, though very curious couplet, seems to be this: the larvae, or young, of the Lady-bird feed principally upon the aphides, or plant-lice, of the vines of the hop; and fire is the usual means employed in destroying the aphides; so that in killing the latter, the former, which had come for the same purpose, are likewise destroyed.
Immense swarms of Lady-birds are sometimes observed in England, especially on the southeastern coast. They have been described as extending in dense masses for miles, and consisting of several species intermixed. In 1807, these flights in Kent and Sussex caused no small alarm to the superstitious, who thought them the forerunners of some direful evil. They were, however, but emigrants from the neighboring hop-grounds, where, in their larva state, they had been feasting upon the aphides.
The Lady-bird was formerly considered an efficacious remedy for the colic and measles; and it has been recommended often as a cure for the toothache: being said, when one or two are mashed and put into the hollow tooth, to immediately relieve the pain. Jaeger says he has tried this application in two instances with success.
In the northern part of South America — the Spanish Main — a species of Lady-bug, Captain Stuart tells me, is extensively worn as jewels and ornaments. He may, however, refer to some species of the Gold-beetles Chrysomelidae, next mentioned.
Hurdis, who has frequently, in his Poems, availed himself of the modern discoveries in Natural History, has drawn the following accurate and beautiful picture of the Lady-bird in his tragedy of Sir Thomas More:
Sir John. What d'ye look at?
Cecilia. A little animal, that round my glove, And up and down to every finger's tip, Has traveled merrily, and travels still, Tho' it has wings to fly: what its name is With learned men I know not; simple folk Call it the Lady-bird.
Sir John. Poor harmless thing! Save it.
Cecilia. I would not hurt it for the world; Its prettiness says, Spare me; and it bears Armor so beautiful upon its back, I could not injure it to be a queen: Look, sir, its coat is scarlet dropp'd with jet, Its eyes pure ivory.
Sir John. Child, I'm not blind To objects so minute: I know it well; 'Tis the companion of the waning year, And lives among the blossoms of the hop; It has fine silken wings enfolded close Under that coat of mail.
Cecilia. I see them, sir, For it unfurls them now — 'tis up and gone.
Southey, also, in his lines addressed to this insect under the name of the Burnie-Bee, has thus elegantly described it:
Back o'er thy shoulders throw thy ruby shards, With many a tiny coal-black freckle deck'd; My watchful eye thy loitering saunter guards, My ready hand thy footsteps shall protect.
So shall the fairy train, by glow-worm light, With rainbow tints thy folding pennons fret; Thy scaly breast in deeper azure dight, Thy burnish'd armor deck'd with glossier jet.
Chrysomelidae — Gold-beetles.
In Chili and Brazil, the ladies form necklaces of the golden Chrysomelidae and brilliant Diamond-beetles, with which their countries abound, which are said to be very beautiful. The wing-cases of our common Gilded-Dandy, Eumolpus auratus, the metallic colors of which are pre-eminently brilliant and showy, have been recommended as ornaments for fancy boxes, and such like articles. A closely allied species, I have seen upon the finest Parisian artificial flowers.
Carabidae.
In some parts of Africa, a rather curious benefit is derived from a large beetle belonging to this family, the Chlaenius saponarius, for it is manufactured by the natives into a soap.
Pausidae.
The etymology of the word Pausus, Dr. Afzelius imagines to be from the Greek παῦσις, signifying a pause, cessation, or rest; for Linnaeus, now (in 1796) old and infirm, and sinking under the weight of age and labor, saw no probability of continuing any longer his career of glory. He might therefore be supposed to say hic meta laborum, as it in reality proved, at least with regard to insects, for Pausus was the last he ever described.
Dermestidae — Leather-beetles.
In one of the stone coffins exhumed from the tumuli in the links of Skaill, were found several small bags, which seemed to have been made of rushes. They all contained bones, with the exception of one, which is said to have been full of beetles belonging to the genus Dermestes. Both the bag and beetles were black and rotten.
Four species of Dermestes were found in the head of one of the mummies brought by Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson from Thebes — the D. vulpinus of Fabricius, and the pollinctus, roei, and elongatus of Hope.
It is a remarkable coincidence that two peoples should bury beetles of the same genus with their dead, and much the more so, when they differ so widely, as did the ancient Britons and Egyptians. Was it for the same reason — the result of any communication?
At one time the ravages of the Dermestes vulpinus were so great in the skin-warehouses of London, that a reward of £20,000 was offered for an available remedy.
Lucanidae — Stag-beetles.
The etymology of the word Lucanus, as well as its application to a species of insect, it is interesting to notice. The ancients gave the name of Lucas, Lucana, to the ox and elephant. It is said that Pyrrhus had thus named the elephant the first time that he saw it, because this word signified ox in his own language, and that he thus gave it the name of the largest animal which he had ever before seen. According to Pliny, who employed the word Lucani, in speaking of the Horn-beetles, Nigridius was the first who gave the name to these insects; and this he did, most probably, from their large size, and the resemblance of their mandibles to horns. Dalechamp, however, thinks that the name Lucanus was given to the Horn-beetle only because this insect was very common among the Lucanians, a people of Italy. But it is probable, after what has been above said, that the Lucanians themselves were thus named, in consequence of the great numbers of oxen which they reared. The common name, Flying-bull, given to this insect in different languages, corresponds very well with that given by Nigridius.