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A. S. PACKARD, Jr.,
A. S. PACKARD, Jr.,
Author of " A Guide To the Study of Insects. " SALEM NATURALISTS' AGENCY. Boston : Estes & Lauriat. New York : Dodd & Mead. 1873. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by F. W. PUTNAM & CO., in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. PRINTED AT THE SALEM PRESS, F. W. PUTNAM & CO., Proprietors....
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TO SAMUEL H. SCUDDER.
TO SAMUEL H. SCUDDER.
My Dear Scudder :—You and I were drawn together many years ago by a common love for insects and their ways. I dedicate this little volume of ephemeral essays to you in recognition of your worth as a man and a scientist, and as a token of warm friendship. Yours sincerely, A. S. Packard, Jr....
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PREFACE.
PREFACE.
This little volume mainly consists of a reprint of a series of essays which appeared in the "American Naturalist" (Vols. i-v, 1867-71). It is hoped that their perusal may lead to a better acquaintance with the habits and forms of our more common insects. The introduction was written expressly for this book, as well as Chapter XIII, "Hints on the Ancestry of Insects." The scientific reader may be drawn with greater interest to this chapter than to any other portion of the book. In this discussion
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OUR COMMON INSECTS. INTRODUCTORY.
OUR COMMON INSECTS. INTRODUCTORY.
What is an Insect? When we remember that the insects alone comprise four-fifths of the animal kingdom, and that there are upwards of 200,000 living species, it would seem a hopeless task to define what an insect is. But a common plan pervades the structure of them all. The bodies of all insects consist of a succession of rings, or segments, more or less hardened by the deposition of a chemical substance called chitine; these rings are arranged in three groups: the head, the thorax, or middle bod
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THE HOME OF THE BEES.
THE HOME OF THE BEES.
The history of the Honey bee, its wonderful instincts, its elaborate cells and complex economy, have engrossed the attention of the best observers, even from the time of Virgil, who sang of the Ligurian bee. The literature of the art of bee-keeping is already very extensive. Numerous bee journals and manuals of bee-keeping testify to the importance of this art, while able mathematicians have studied the mode of formation of the hexagonal cells, [1] and physiologists have investigated the intrica
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THE HOME OF THE BEES.
THE HOME OF THE BEES.
While the Andrena and Halictus bees, whose habits we now describe, are closely allied in form to the Hive bee, socially they are the "mud-sills" of bee society, ranking among the lowest forms of the family of bees. Their burrowing habits ally them with the ants, from whose nests their own burrows can scarcely be distinguished. Their economy does not seem to demand the exercise of so much of a true reasoning power and pliable instinct as characterizes bees, such as the Honey and Humble bee, which
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THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY BEE.
THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY BEE.
Very few bee-keepers are probably aware how many insect parasites infest the Honey bee. In our own literature we hear almost nothing of this subject, but in Europe much has been written on bee parasites. From Dr. Edward Assmuss' little work on the "Parasites of the Honey Bee," we glean some of the facts now presented, and which cannot fail to interest the general reader as well as the owner of bees. The study of the habits of animal parasites has of late gained much attention among naturalists,
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A FEW WORDS ABOUT MOTHS.
A FEW WORDS ABOUT MOTHS.
The butterflies and moths from their beauty and grace, have always been the favorites among amateur entomologists, and rare and costly works have been published in which their forms and gorgeous colors are represented in the best style of natural history art. We need only mention the folio volume of Madam Merian of the last century, Harris's Aurelian, the works of Cramer, Stoll, Drury, Hübner, Horsfield, Doubleday and Westwood, and Hewitson, as comprising the most luxurious and costly entomologi
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THE CLOTHES MOTH.
THE CLOTHES MOTH.
For over a fortnight we once enjoyed the company of the caterpillar of a common clothes moth. It is a little pale, delicate worm (Fig. 57, magnified), about the size of a darning needle, and rather less than half an inch in length, with a pale horn-colored head, the ring next the head being of the same color. It has sixteen feet, the first six of them well developed and constantly in use to draw the slender body in and out of its case. Its head is armed with a formidable pair of jaws, with which
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THE MOSQUITO AND ITS FRIENDS.
THE MOSQUITO AND ITS FRIENDS.
The subject of flies becomes of vast moment to a Pharaoh, whose ears are dinned with the buzz of myriad winged plagues, mingled with angry cries from malcontent and fly-pestered subjects; or to the summer traveller in northern lands, where they oppose a stronger barrier to his explorations than the loftiest mountains or the broadest streams; or to the African pioneer, whose cattle, his main dependence, are stung to death by the Tsetze fly; or the fariner whose eyes on the evening of a warm sprin
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THE HOUSE FLY AND ITS ALLIES.
THE HOUSE FLY AND ITS ALLIES.
The common House fly, Musca domestica, scarcely needs an introduction to any one of our readers, and its countenance is so well known that we need not present a portrait here. But a study of the proboscis of the fly reveals a wonderful adaptability of the mouth-parts of this insect to their uses. We have already noticed the most perfect condition of these parts as seen in the horse fly. In the proboscis of the house fly the hard parts are obsolete, and instead we have a fleshy tongue like organ
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THE BORERS OF OUR SHADE TREES.
THE BORERS OF OUR SHADE TREES.
In no way can the good taste and public spirit of our citizens be better shown than in the planting of shade trees. Regarded simply from a commercial point of view one cannot make a more paying investment than setting out an oak, elm, maple or other shade tree about his premises. To a second generation it becomes a precious heirloom, and the planter is duly held in remembrance for those finer qualities of heart and head, and the wise forethought which prompted a deed simple and natural, but a de
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CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS.
CERTAIN PARASITIC INSECTS.
The subject of our discourse is not only a disagreeable but too often a painful one. Not only is the mere mention of the creature's name of which we are to speak tabooed and avoided by the refined and polite, but the creature itself has become extinct and banished from the society of the good and respectable. Indeed under such happy auspices do a large proportion of the civilized world now live that their knowledge of the habits and form of a louse may be represented by a blank. Not so with some
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THE DRAGON FLY.
THE DRAGON FLY.
Were we to select from among the insects a type of all that is savage, relentless, and bloodthirsty, the Dragon fly would be our choice. From the moment of its birth until its death, usually a twelve-month, it riots in bloodshed and carnage. Living beneath the waters perhaps eleven months of its life, in the larva and pupa states, it is literally a walking pitfall for luckless aquatic insects; but when transformed into a fly, ever on the wing in pursuit of its prey, it throws off all concealment
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MITES AND TICKS.
MITES AND TICKS.
But few naturalists have busied themselves with the study of mites. The honored names of Hermann, Von Heyden, Dugés, Dujardin and Pagenstecher, Nicolet, Koch and Robin, and the lamented Claparède of Geneva, lead the small number who have published papers in scientific journals. After these, and except an occasional note by an amateur microscopist who occasionally pauses from his "diatomaniacal" studies, and looks upon a mite simply as a "microscopic object," to be classed in his micrographic Vad
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BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS.
BRISTLE-TAILS AND SPRING-TAILS.
The Thysanura, as the Poduras and their allies, the Lepismas, are called, have been generally neglected by entomologists, and but few naturalists have paid special attention to them. [9] Of all those microscopists who have examined Podura scales as test objects, we wonder how many really know what a Podura is? In preparing the following account I have been under constant indebtedness to the admirable and exhaustive papers of Sir John Lubbock, in the London "Linnæan Transactions" (vols. 23, 26 an
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HINTS ON THE ANCESTRY OF INSECTS.
HINTS ON THE ANCESTRY OF INSECTS.
Though our course through the different groups of insects may have seemed rambling and desultory enough, and pursued with slight reference to a natural classification of the insects of which we have spoken, yet beginning with the Hive bee, the highest intelligence in the vast world of insects, we have gradually, though with many a sudden step, descended to perhaps the most lowly organized forms among all the insects, the parasitic mites. While the Demodex is probably the humblest in its organiza
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INSECT CALENDAR.
INSECT CALENDAR.
In this calendar I propose to especially notice the injurious insects. References to the times of their appearance must be necessarily vague, and apply only, in a very general way, to the Northern States. Insects appear in Texas about six weeks earlier than in Virginia, in the Middle States six weeks earlier than in northern New England and the North-western States, and in New England about six weeks earlier than in Labrador. The time of the appearance of insects corresponds to the time of the f
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Third and Improved Edition. Price reduced to $5.00.
Third and Improved Edition. Price reduced to $5.00.
The Guide has already been introduced either as a text-book, or for reference, in Harvard University , Williams College , Dartmouth College , Antioch College , Massachusetts Agricultural College and other institutions in this country, and in Oxford and Cambridge Universities, England . Published by the NATURALISTS' AGENCY, Salem, Mass. We give a few of the large number of testimonials relating to the character of this work. Not only does your book fully justify its title for its clearness and th
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THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS,
THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS,
Or Descriptions of the Fishes, Insects and Crustaceans found in the Cave; with figures of the various species, and an account of allied forms, comprising notes upon their Structure, Development and Habits; with remarks upon subterranean life in general. 8vo, 62 pages, 2 steel plates and 14 woodcuts, full cloth binding and appropriate stamp in gold on each side. Price $1.25 a Copy....
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INSECT PINS AND CORK FOR INSECT BOXES.
INSECT PINS AND CORK FOR INSECT BOXES.
Size of cork, 12×3-1/2 inches. Price, $2.00 for twelve pieces. Postage 6 cents. Large orders sent by Express. INSECT PINS, 30 cents a hundred, $2.50 a thousand. Forceps for pinning insects, $1.35....
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RECORD OF AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGY.
RECORD OF AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGY.
Edited by A. S. PACKARD, Jr. A Year Book of Progress in American Entomology for 1868, 1869, 1870, 1871, 1872. Price of Parts for 1868 and 1869, 75 cents each. For 1870-72, 50 cents each; or the five to one address for $2.50. IN PRESS.—" Check List of the Coleoptera of North America ," prepared by Mr. G. R. Crotch. This will make an 8vo pamphlet of about 150 pages; nearly 100 pages are already printed. Address the Agency for further information. A LARGE Number of Works on Entomological Subjects a
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FLOWER OBJECT LESSONS;
FLOWER OBJECT LESSONS;
Or First Lessons in Botany . A FAMILIAR Description of a Few Flowers. From the French of M. Emm. Le Maout , Translated by Miss A. L. Page . This little work of 55 pages, illustrated by 47 woodcuts, has been translated for the purpose of placing within the reach of those interested in object teaching a manual that is most admirably adapted for the purpose, and is offered to parents and teachers with the belief that it fully supplies a gap in the literature of our country. Cloth Binding, Seventy-f
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Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
FULL Sets of the Proceedings , 21 volumes for $31.50. Any single volume except Volume One may be had at $1.50 a copy. Volume One is only sold when a full set is ordered. The publications of nearly all of the leading Societies and Scientific Institutions in the country are also for sale at the NATURALISTS' AGENCY, Salem, Mass. Send for full Catalogue giving titles and prices of a large number of books and pamphlets. W. S. West, Agent . Book Work of a Scientific character is made a specialty at th
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