Social Life in the Insect World

THE NEST OF THE PRAYING MANTIS; TRANSVERSE SECTION OF THE SAME; NEST OF EMPUSA PAUPERATA; TRANSVERSE SECTION OF THE SAME; VERTICAL SECTION OF THE SAME; NEST OF THE GREY MANTIS;...

Fame is the daughter of Legend. In the world of creatures, as in the world of men, the story precedes and outlives history. There are many instances of the fact that if an insec...

The first Cigales appear about the summer solstice. Along the beaten paths, calcined by the sun, hardened by the passage of frequent feet, we see little circular orifices almost...

Where I live I can capture five species of Cigale, the two principal species being the common Cigale and the variety which lives on the flowering ash. Both of these are widely d...

The Cigale confides its eggs to dry, slender twigs. All the branches examined by Réaumur which bore such eggs were branches of the mulberry: a proof that the person entrusted wi...

There is another creature of the Midi which is quite as curious and interesting as the Cigale, but much less famous, as it is voiceless. If Providence had provided it with cymba...

The little we have seen of the customs of the Mantis does not square very well with the popular name for the insect. From the term _Prègo-Diéu_ we should expect a peaceful placi...

Let us take a more pleasant aspect of the insect whose loves are so tragic. Its nest is a marvel. In scientific language it is known as the _ootek_, or the "egg-box." I shall no...

In writing the first lines of this chapter I am reminded of the slaughter-pens of Chicago; of those horrible meat factories which in the course of the year cut up one million an...

It is generally recognized that the Carabus auratus is an active exterminator of caterpillars; on this account in particular it deserves its title of Gardener Beetle; it is the...

The breeding of Crickets demands no particular preparations. A little patience is enough--patience, which according to Buffon is genius; but which I, more modestly, will call th...

My house shelters no specimens of the domestic Cricket, the guest of bakeries and rustic hearths. But although in my village the chinks under the hearthstones are mute, the nigh...

The duties of paternity are seldom imposed on any but the higher animals. They are most notable in the bird; and the furry peoples acquit themselves honourably. Lower in the sca...

To encounter among the Hymenoptera, those ardent lovers of flowers, a species which goes a-hunting on its own account is, to say the least of it, astonishing. That the larder of...

It was a memorable night! I will name it the Night of the Great Peacock. Who does not know this superb moth, the largest of all our European butterflies[3] with its livery of ch...

Yes: I was to find it. I even had it already in my possession. An urchin of seven years, with an alert countenance, not washed every day, bare feet, and dilapidated breeches sup...

In the matter of physics we hear of nothing to-day but the Röntgen rays, which penetrate opaque bodies and photograph the invisible. A splendid discovery; but nothing very remar...

Some of our machines have extraordinary-looking mechanisms, which remain inexplicable so long as they are seen in repose. But wait until the whole is in motion; then the uncouth...

Peas are held in high esteem by mankind. From remote ages man has endeavoured, by careful culture, to produce larger, tenderer, and sweeter varieties. Of an adaptable character,...

If there is one vegetable on earth that more than any other is a gift of the gods, it is the haricot bean. It has all the virtues: it forms a soft paste upon the tongue; it is e...

I have just witnessed a moving spectacle: the last moult of a locust; the emergence of the adult from its larval envelope. It was magnificent. I am speaking of the Grey Locust,...

The orthodox denomination of this insect is _Melolontha fullo_, Lin. It does not answer, I am very well aware, to be difficult in matters of nomenclature; make a noise of some s...