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Read Ebook: The Young Collector's Handbook of Ants Bees Dragon-flies Earwigs Crickets and Flies (Hymenoptera Neuroptera Orthoptera Hemiptera Diptera). by Bath W Harcourt William Harcourt
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Ebook has 230 lines and 22447 words, and 5 pages
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INTRODUCTION 9
ORDER HYMENOPTERA 13
ORDER NEUROPTERA 34
ORDER ORTHOPTERA 52
ORDER HEMIPTERA 64
ORDER DIPTERA 86
THE YOUNG COLLECTOR'S HANDBOOK
Ants, Bees, Dragon Flies, Earwigs, Crickets and Flies.
INTRODUCTION.
Of these, the Lepidoptera or Butterflies and Moths, and the Coleoptera or Beetles, have hitherto received the lion's share of attention, though this is less exclusively the case than it was some few years ago.
Any one who wishes to commence the study of these two orders now will have to work very hard indeed before he can hope to put anything new on record concerning them. There is, however, a very wide field for research and discovery open to all who will turn their attention to the other groups, and it is with the intention of encouraging the study of these "Neglected Orders" that we have written the present little handbook.
The orders which we here intend to treat of are the following:--
The number of insects is so large that it will be found impossible by any one to collect the whole at once; and to study them all is completely out of the question. A single insect, indeed, is ample to occupy a whole lifetime in the elucidation of its life history. Most persons, when they commence to study insects, collect indiscriminately everything which comes in their way; but they soon find the subject too immense for them to grasp as a whole, and they either give up collecting altogether, or else confine their attention to a single group or order of insects. We would recommend every young person to make up his mind at the first which group or groups of insects he has a special fondness or liking for. Having done so, he will require to know the best means of attaining his object--namely, the formation of a collection. A few hints, therefore, as to the mode of collecting and preserving insects in general may be of assistance to the young collector.
First of all, as to the apparatus necessary for collecting insects.
A killing bottle charged with cyanide of potassium or with chopped laurel leaves completes the outfit.
Little need be said as regards the mode of collecting insects, as their habits may be gathered from the following pages.
They may be found almost everywhere, in woods, fields, gardens, in pools, ditches, canals, and rivers, under dead leaves and the bark of trees, among moss and stones, etc., etc. They may also be found at all times of the year; even in the depth of winter some species may be met with.
Most insects may be preserved in the same manner as Butterflies and Moths. They should be set on flat setting-boards, and left to dry thoroughly before being removed.
The smaller species may be gummed to cardboard in a similar way to Beetles.
In the arrangement of the insects in the cabinet the classification and order given in these pages may be followed. About half-a-dozen of each species will be found a convenient number to collect.
ORDER HYMENOPTERA.
INCLUDING THE BEES, WASPS, ANTS, ICHNEUMON FLIES, SAW FLIES, GALL FLIES, AND THEIR ALLIES.
This order includes the bees, wasps, ants, saw flies, gall flies, ichneumon flies, and many other familiar insects.
The following will show the principal characteristics of each group into which the order has been divided.
TABULAR VIEW
OF THE
PRINCIPAL FAMILIES OF THE HYMENOPTERA.
Family 1. Aphidae or Honey Bees. Family 2. Andrenidae or Burrowing Bees.
Family 3. Vespidae or Social Wasps. Family 4. Eumenidae or Bramble Wasps. Family 5. Masaridae or Solitary Wasps.
Family 6. Philanthidae or Bee-eating Wasps. Family 7. Crabronidae or Sand Wasps. Family 8. Nyssonidae or Fly-eating Wasps. Family 9. Larridae or Black Wasps. Family 10. Sphegidae or Grasshopper-eating Wasps. Family 11. Pompilidae or Burrowing Wasps. Family 12. Bembecidae or Scented Wasps. Family 13. Sapygidae or Bees' Nest Wasps. Family 14. Scoliidae or Beetle-eating Ants. Family 15. Thymidae or Stout-bodied Ants. Family 16. Mutillidae or Solitary Ants.
Family 17. Formicidae or Social Ants.
Family 18. Cympidae or Gall Flies. Family 19. Chalcididae or Little Gall Flies. Family 20. Proctotrypidae or Bee Parasites. Family 21. Braconidae or Butterfly Parasites. Family 22. Ichneumonidae or Ichneumon Flies. Family 23. Evaniidae or Beetle Parasites. Family 24. Chrysididae or Golden Wasps.
Family 25. Sericidae or Tailed Wasps. Family 26. Tenthredinidae or Saw Flies.
The violet Carpenter Bee , which chiefly inhabits the south of Europe, is a very pretty insect with violet-coloured wings.
The Mason Bee builds its nest, composed of fine grains of sand, very firmly united by a salivary secretion, upon the surface of walls and similar situations. This species has hitherto not been met with in this country.
The Horned Bee is remarkable for the female having two little horns projecting from the front of her head. This insect usually burrows in sandy banks and cliffs. Another allied species burrows in wood, whilst two others select ready-made nests in the shells of the common snails , within the whorls of which they build their cells of gnawed vegetable material.
The general habits of these wasps are pretty uniform except in the matter of their architecture, and in this respect they display a remarkable variety.
Besides the common Wasp two other species found in this country, which build their nests in the ground, follow the same principles in the construction of their nests.
The Hornet , which is remarkable for its large size, usually builds its nest in the hollow of a tree. Both the hornet and common wasp sometimes build their nests under the eaves of houses or attached to a beam under the roof; and in these cases the outer covering of the nest is thinner and more delicate in texture than when the dwelling is exposed to the vicissitudes of the weather. Another common species inhabiting Britain is the Wood Wasp , which builds nests suspended from the branches of trees.
The number of species described is probably considerably over a thousand, but the total number must be very much greater if Mr. Bates is correct in his estimate that not less than 400 species inhabit the valley of the Amazon.
The habits of the ants are most interesting, and one of our greatest living naturalists, Sir John Lubbock, has devoted much of his time in elucidating their economy.
The nests are almost always chambered cavities, hollowed out either in the ground, in walls, and similar situations, or in dead and decaying wood.
One of the commonest examples in our own country is the Garden Ant , which may be found everywhere in gardens making its nest in the ground.
Another common species is the pretty Turf Ant , which generally haunts commons and heaths, casting up small hills, which serve to throw off the rain; and this species in some localities makes its nest under stones. The Wood Ant is another familiar species.
A very minute species which has been introduced into this country, probably from Brazil or the West Indies, is the Horse Ant . It is a very small brownish-yellow species, which seems to have been first observed in England in 1828. It takes up its abode in houses, frequently in the neighbourhood of the kitchen fireplace, and when it multiplies becomes such a pest as to render the house uninhabitable. Some of the metropolitan districts have been particularly infested.
Many of the foreign species are rather large and handsome insects, often varied with black and yellow.
They are a very numerous group. It has been calculated that nearly 5,000 species have been described, but the data generally are very untrustworthy.
They are small or moderate-sized insects, which are found on walls or flowers in the full heat of the sun; for, as a rule, the most brilliantly-coloured insects are diurnal in their habits.
The insects belonging to the third tribe of the Hymenoptera are strictly vegetable feeders. There are only two families.
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