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Title: Insect manufactures
Author: Anonymous
Release date: May 14, 2024 [eBook #73626]
Language: English
Original publication: London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1847
Credits: Richard Tonsing, deaurider, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INSECT MANUFACTURES ***
INSECT MANUFACTURES.
PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND
EDUCATION, APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR THE
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.
SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORY,
GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS
AND 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE.
1847.
LONDON
R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL.
[Illustration: INSECT MANUFACTURES]
CONTENTS.
Page
INTRODUCTION 3
CHAPTER I.
MANUFACTURE OF SILK BY CATERPILLARS OF VARIOUS KINDS 9
CHAPTER II.
MANUFACTURE OF SILK BY THE SILKWORM 31
CHAPTER III.
MANUFACTURE OF SILK BY SPIDERS 55
CHAPTER IV.
MANUFACTURE OF WAX BY THE HIVE BEE, THE HUMBLE BEE, AND THE WHITE
WAX INSECT OF CHINA 73
CHAPTER V.
MANUFACTURE OF HONEY BY THE HIVE BEE 99
CHAPTER VI.
MANUFACTURE OF COCHINEAL BY THE COCCUS CACTI, OR COCHINEAL INSECT 113
CHAPTER VII.
MANUFACTURE OF GUM LAC BY THE LAC INSECT 133
CHAPTER VIII.
MANUFACTURE OF NUT GALLS BY THE GALL INSECT 143
CHAPTER IX.
OTHER INSECT PRODUCTIONS USEFUL TO MAN 154
[Illustration]
INTRODUCTION.
If we are struck with wonder and admiration at the progress of the arts
and manufactures, and have daily reason to congratulate ourselves on the
skill and ingenuity of our fellow-creatures, by which our comforts and
conveniences are so much increased; it must also occasionally have
crossed our minds, that some of the meaner creatures, though not gifted
with our reasoning powers, and therefore not able to profit by the
experience of the past, are yet employed in their several departments,
and according to their several wants, in exceedingly curious and useful
manufactures, mostly designed for the shelter and preservation of
themselves or their offspring, but serving, not unfrequently, a higher
purpose, in administering to the wants of mankind.
In reading the history, or in watching the proceedings of birds and
insects, how many remarkable instances do we meet with of that which may
be called _manufacture_, though performed without hands! How curious to
watch in the early spring the proceedings of those busy basket-making
birds, the rooks! Rude and clumsy as their nests may at first appear, it
is just the sort of workmanship best calculated for their wants. They do
not, indeed, choose the smooth and flexible osier-twigs which we should
think necessary for basket-making, but they contrive by means of
brittle, dead, forked sticks, to plait together a strong bristling
out-work, within which they interweave a finer basket-work of fibrous
roots, rude indeed, but not inelegant or unsuitable. Then, among birds
and insects too, what persevering and industrious carpenters, masons,
tailors, miners, and weavers may we not find. Perhaps there are not many
persons who have watched the mason-wasps boring their galleries in brick
or sand, or building the round towers which serve them as out-works; nor
the mason-bee, as she plasters together her neat mud-wall cottage or
cell, as the future habitation of her young; but there are few persons
unacquainted with the masonry of the chimney swallow, or of the
house-martin twittering on the eaves. With no other tools than those
which nature supplies, how cleverly do these creatures shape and mould
their nests into the required form, using for their work a mortar
carefully prepared by their own labour and skill, and just of the
consistency required. Few, again, may have had an opportunity of seeing
carpenter-bees boring holes in posts or palings, and forming their
smoothly chiselled cells, or of inspecting the partitioned galleries dug
out in old timber by carpenter-wasps; but perhaps many persons have
observed the colonies of emmets, or carpenter-ants, working in the
trunks of decaying oak or willow trees; or they may have listened to
that interesting carpenter-bird, the wood-pecker, tapping and boring
into trees, in pursuit of insects, and for the purpose of making a
nesting-place for its young. Most of us know only by hearsay that there
are tailor-birds, common enough in American orchards, who sew together
broad pieces of grass to make their nests, working them through and
through, as if actually done with a needle; but almost every one can say
from his own knowledge, that there are weaver-birds, such as our common
hedge-sparrow and chaffinch, who weave a circular piece of haircloth for
the interior of their nests, each hair being collected and interwoven
singly, and always bent so as to lie smoothly in the hollow of the nest.
Then who shall describe all the wondrous proceedings of tent-making
caterpillars, upholsterer-bees, turret-building ants, net-making
spiders, paper and card-making wasps, and spinning worms? Volumes have
been written, and volumes might still be written on the history of these
creatures. Any one possessing a garden, and taking delight therein, has
ample opportunity of watching the habits of birds and insects, and of
confirming, if not of adding to, the accounts given by naturalists, of
the commoner species. But we must still be indebted to the patient
observations of those who have made insects or birds their especial
study, for many of the most curious particulars, and for all our
knowledge of rare or foreign species.
Interesting as is the whole subject of bird and insect manufactures,
there is one department in which we are more concerned than the rest;
namely, that in which the product can be applied to our own use, either
in the way of food or clothing. Now this department is supplied wholly
by insects, no bird, that we are aware of, producing by its own
manufacturing powers, any substance that can be so employed, unless,
indeed, we except the curious edible nests of the Java swallow, which
have been converted by the taste of oriental epicures into an article of
food.
Let us then proceed to notice such of the insect manufactures as are
useful to man, and trace, at the same time, the history and performances
of these small but not insignificant manufacturers.
[Illustration: [Butterflies]]
CHAPTER I.
MANUFACTURE OF SILK BY CATERPILLARS OF VARIOUS KINDS.
The most important of all the insect manufactures is doubtless that of
silk-spinning. It seems almost past belief that the magnificent velvets,
satins, and silks which form so elegant a part of female attire, and
which are heaped together in such costly profusion in the shops of the
metropolis, and in those of all considerable towns, whether in our own,
or in foreign countries—that these splendid fabrics, together with all
ribbons, gauzes, damasks, or other articles composed of silk, should owe
the raw material of which they are formed to the labours of a race of
little creeping caterpillars, which in this their early and imperfect
state spin for themselves cocoons, or cases of silk, where they may
quietly undergo their changes until they become perfect winged insects.
[Illustration:
CATERPILLAR SUSPENDED BY ITS SILKEN THREAD.
]
The astonishing task of supplying silk for the whole civilized world is
performed almost without exception by the common silkworm, or
caterpillar of the mulberry-tree moth. But it must not be supposed that
this is the only silk-producing insect. On the contrary, all the
caterpillars of butterflies and moths have the power of spinning a
certain quantity of silken thread, however small, and however inferior
to that of the silkworm, properly so called. It is very common in
gardens to see numbers of caterpillars dangling by their silken threads
from the young branches of fruit-trees. In this way they let themselves
down, or break their fall if blown off by the wind, or otherwise shaken
from their favourite tree. And in the case of some caterpillars when the
insect has completed the term of its existence and becomes a chrysalis,
it suspends itself by silken cords to some fixed point, where it remains
in complete repose, without food, perhaps for months before the perfect
winged insect bursts forth, as different a creature from the caterpillar
as the chrysalis is from either,—and yet these are but three different
states of existence of the same insect.
[Illustration:
CHRYSALIS SUSPENDED BY SILKEN CORDS.
]
According to the particular species of caterpillar, the silk will vary
in strength and fineness, and also in colour, but seldom will it be
found strong enough, or in sufficient quantity to be of use to us. The
insects themselves employ it in many ways for their own safety and
shelter. How common it is to find some of the leaves of a lilac-tree
made up into little rolls, or folded together at their edges, where they
stick so fast that it requires some little force to pull them asunder.
This is the work of a small caterpillar, whose subsistence is found on
that tree. A single egg has been laid on each leaf selected by the
parent moth, and soon after it is hatched, the caterpillar begins
rolling up the lilac leaf, and fastening the edges with silk. This is a
work of time, but gradually proceeds as the caterpillar increases in
strength, until at last it is shut up in a gallery of its own making,
safe from the attacks of birds and larger insects. The leaves of various
other trees are rolled in a somewhat similar manner, as those of the
oak, the willow, and the rose, and also those of humbler plants, as the
plantain, nettle, thistle, &c. The mode in which these leaf-rolling
caterpillars set to work to form convenient habitations of the leaves of
the plants on which they feed, is well described by Kirby and Spence.
[Illustration:
OAK LEAF ROLLED BY A CATERPILLAR.
]
“Some of these merely connect together with a few silken threads several
leaves, so as to form an irregular packet, in the centre of which the
little hermit lives. Others confine themselves to a single leaf, of
which they simply fold one part over the other. A third description form
and inhabit a sort of roll, by some species made cylindrical, by others
conical, resembling the papers in which grocers put their sugar, and as
accurately constructed; only there is an opening left at the smaller
extremity for the egress of the insect in case of need. If you were to
see one of these rolls, you would immediately ask by what mechanism it
could possibly be made—how an insect, without fingers, could contrive to
bend a leaf into a roll, and to keep it in that form until fastened with
the silk which holds it together? The following is the operation: the
little caterpillar first fixes a series of silken cables from one side
of the leaf to the other: she next pulls at these cables with her feet;
and when she has forced the sides to approach, she fastens them together
with stronger threads of silk. If the insect finds that one of the
larger nerves of the leaf is so strong as to resist her efforts, she
weakens it by gnawing it here and there half through. What engineer
could act more sagaciously? To form one of the conical or horn-shaped
rolls, which are not composed of a whole leaf, but of a long triangular
portion cut out of the edge, some other manœuvres are requisite. Placing
herself upon the leaf, the caterpillar cuts out with her jaws the piece
which is to compose her roll. She does not, however, entirely detach it;
it would then want a base. She detaches that part only which is to form
the contour of the horn. This portion is a triangular strap, which she
rolls as she cuts. When the body of the horn is finished, as it is
intended to be fixed upon the leaf in nearly an upright position, it is
necessary to elevate it. To effect this, she proceeds as we should with
an inclined obelisk. She attaches threads, or little cables, towards the
point of the pyramid, and raises it by the weight of her body.”
Other larvæ form their habitations wholly of silk: one that inhabits the
leaves of pear-trees forms a little tent; another a sort of cloak;
another, as in the case of the silkworm, a complete ball of silk.
[Illustration:
PENDULOUS NESTS OF CATERPILLARS.
]
Among leaf-rolling caterpillars, one of the most curious is described by
Bonnet, in which the nest hangs suspended from the branch of a
fruit-tree by a strong silken thread. It is formed of one or two leaves
neatly folded and fastened together with silk, and in this small
enclosure several caterpillars live harmoniously together.
[Illustration:
LEAF CUTTING CATERPILLAR.
]
There is also a very curious and beautiful nest formed by a rare insect,
which has only yet been observed in its caterpillar state; but its
proceedings therein are interesting and highly remarkable. The length of
the body in this caterpillar varies from six to eight inches, the
thickness is half a line. The general colour is bluish green, tending to
yellow about the head; the feet are black, and six in number. At the
extremity of the body are two points projecting sideways. The eyes are
visible and prominent in this caterpillar, and besides the antennæ there
are two or three pairs of palpi or feelers, which perform the office of
hands. This insect inhabits the nut-tree, and cuts out from its leaves a
most ingenious case, which serves for its dwelling-place. This case is
of a singular form, being an elongated cone, very narrow at the
extremity, and tolerably wide at the orifice. It is formed of a strip of
nut-leaf, wound up in a spiral manner, but so cleverly contrived that
the strip is very narrow at the extremity, and gradually widens as the
work proceeds. This happens from the gradual progress of the work, which
is begun in the early stage of the caterpillar’s existence, when it does
not require a large dwelling-place, and becomes more and more extended
to suit the growth of its inmate. When it is completed, it is rather
more than an inch long, and two lines in diameter at the orifice. The
outside of the case presents the upper surface of the leaf in which the
indentations are preserved. The dwelling is a spacious one for the
caterpillar, so that it can turn round in it with perfect ease. The band
of which the cone is composed is taken from the edge of the leaf, which
the caterpillar cuts away in proportion as it winds it round its own
body. When one portion has taken the required form, a little more is cut
out, but always in a direction parallel with the edge of the leaf. While
the insect is thus gradually rolling itself up in a case, it also feeds
vigorously on the leaf, taking care, however, always to spare the band
which forms its habitation. Another part of the cleverness of this
insect consists in maintaining this strip of leaf in its spiral form,
which would otherwise naturally unwind by its own weight, and flutter in
the wind as a torn fragment. Here it is that silk is again skilfully
employed. The caterpillar commences much as other leaf-rolling insects
do, by fastening a thread to the edge of the leaf and drawing it towards
the desired point. But as the work proceeds the insect generally has
three skeins or bands of silk extended from the opening of its case to
the leaf. The first is the shortest and the most direct, issuing from
the interior of the roll; the second is fastened to the middle of the
last spiral, and extends to the leaf; the third is more extensive still,
and all three are admirably disposed for keeping the leaf bent to the
proper form. These skeins are composed of a great number of threads
parallel with each other, which not only serve to retain the leaf in its
spiral form, but also serve the caterpillar as a kind of ladder, by
which it mounts, and on which it rests while cutting out fresh portions
of leaf.
[Illustration:
LEAF-NEST UNWOUND.
]
It sometimes happens accidentally to this caterpillar that the case
becomes detached from the leaf, or naturalists have purposely severed a
portion to see what would be the result; but this does not greatly
disturb the insect, for as long as a single thread of silk remains to
hold the pieces together, the caterpillar is able to repair the evil. It
will unite the fractured portion almost imperceptibly by means of silken
threads, and proceed with its case as before; but if the leaf dry up and
wither, the insect is then compelled to desert it, and to select a
younger and fresher leaf for its operations.
What is still more curious, on the completion of the dwelling, the
caterpillar sometimes wishes to make an excursion to another part of the
leaf, and to take its house with it, and this it accomplishes in the
following manner. Coming more than three parts out of the cone, the
creature makes new skeins in advance of the old, and attempts to pull
the cone forward by their means; but finding that this does not succeed,
it bends its body back, and quickly severs the old threads and the
portion of leaf which keeps the case immovable. It is now able to draw
the case onwards a certain distance, after which it has only to repeat
the operation, and make other new skeins in advance of these, to
continue its onward journey. Thus it arrives at the opposite edge of the
leaf, where it carefully adjusts its case to the under side, fastening
it with great ingenuity, and drawing the threads tighter where the cone
is not properly balanced. In all these cases, silk is the useful
material by which the caterpillar secures its nest, and provides for its
own safety: it is also a constant resource in case of danger, or of
accident, as the following anecdote will show. A caterpillar of the
goat-moth, being confined in a smooth glass sugar-basin, managed to
crawl up the slippery sides and escape. This excited great surprise in
the naturalist (Rösel) who had imprisoned the creature, and he therefore
took occasion closely to watch its proceedings when again placed in a
similar vessel. It was with surprise and admiration that he now saw the
caterpillar constructing a silken ladder on the side of the glass; the
natural gum of the silk being sufficient to secure it even to that
perfectly smooth surface. Up this ladder the creature crawled, and thus
easily and expeditiously made its escape.
[Illustration:
SILKEN LADDER SPUN BY THE GOAT-MOTH CATERPILLAR.
]
Silkworms abound in our own country, as well as in others; but the silk
they spin is too fragile and scanty to be employed for other purposes
than their own. It is different with some of the caterpillars of India.
Although the great supply of silk is there obtained, as with us, from
the silkworm of the mulberry-tree, yet the caterpillars of various moths
also furnish a considerable quantity. The most important of these are
the _Tusseh_ and _Arindy_ silkworms, both natives of Bengal. The first
feeds on the leaves of the jujube tree and of the asseen, and is found
in such abundance as from time immemorial to have afforded a constant
supply of coarse, dark-coloured silk, which is woven into a cheap but
very durable cloth.
[Illustration:
THE TUSSEH SILKWORM.
]
When the caterpillars approach their full size they are too heavy to
crawl in search of their food with the back upwards, as is usual with
most caterpillars, but traverse the small branches suspended by the
feet, as is shown in the figure.
[Illustration:
COCOON OF THE TUSSEH SILKWORM.
]
When the caterpillar is ready to spin its cocoon, it connects by means
of the silk, (which is always glutinous when newly spun,) two or three
new leaves into an outer envelope, which serves as a basis to spin the
complete cocoon in, besides the cocoon being suspended from a branch of
the tree in a wonderful manner, by a thick, strong, consolidated cord,
spun of the same material by this persevering creature.
The cocoon is of an exact oval shape, and very firm in texture: in it
the animal remains dormant, and perfectly protected, for about nine
months, namely from October until July; so that it makes its appearance
in time for the caterpillars to come into existence, when Providence has
furnished them with the greatest plenty of proper food. When the insect
is prepared to make its escape and be changed into its perfect state, it
discharges from its mouth a large quantity of liquid, with which the
upper end of the case is so perfectly softened as to enable the moth to
work its way out in a very short time; an operation which is always
performed during the night. In their perfect state these insects do not
exist many days: the female deposits her eggs in the branches of the
tree she may be resting on, to which they adhere firmly by means of the
gluten they are covered with when newly laid.
The eggs are white, round, and compressed, with a depression in the
centre on each side. They hatch in from two to four weeks, according to
the state of the weather. The _larvæ_ or caterpillars acquire their full
size, which is about four inches in length, and three in circumference,
in about six weeks: they are nearly the colour of the leaves they feed
on, with a light yellowish stripe on each side; under these stripes the
middle segments are marked with an oblong gold-coloured speck. The back
is also marked with a few round darker coloured spots, from which issue
a few long, coarse, distinct hairs, while others of smaller size are
scattered over the insect.
The Tusseh silkworm is found in such abundance over many parts of Bengal
and the adjoining provinces, as to afford to the natives a large supply
of the durable, coarse, dark-coloured silk, already mentioned, commonly
called Tusseh silk, which is woven into a kind of cloth called Tusseh
doot’hies, much worn by Brahmins and other sects of Hindoos. This
substance would no doubt be highly useful to the inhabitants of many
parts of America and the south of Europe, where a cheap, light, cool,
durable dress, such as this silk makes, is much wanted. Millions of
cocoons of the Tusseh silkworm are annually collected in the jungle, and
brought to the silk factories near Calcutta. In other parts the people
gather and transplant them to the trees near their own dwellings, that
they may watch over the safety of the caterpillars, which are very
liable to be devoured by crows during the day time, and by bats at
night.
The Arindy silkworm feeds only on the leaves of the Palmi Christi; it
produces so delicate and flossy a silk that it cannot be wound from the
cocoons; it is therefore spun like cotton, and the thread woven into a
coarse kind of white cloth, of a loose texture, but so durable that a
person can scarcely in his lifetime wear out a garment made of it.
Eleven different species of silkworm have been enumerated as natives of
India, which has thus the internal means of providing the whole of
Europe with a material which would rival cotton and woollen cloth, and
would often be preferred to both, could it be obtained at a low price.
The produce of the Arindy silkworm, when sent to this country was much
admired, and some manufacturers to whom it was shown seemed to think
that they had been hitherto deceived in the account of the shawls of
India being made from the wool of a goat, and that this silk, if sent
home, could be made into shawls equal to any manufactured in India.
Many of the larvæ of the European moths afford a very strong silk, and
it is said, that a manufacture of silk from the cocoons of the emperor
moth was at one time established in Germany. There is no doubt, however,
that silk might be collected in abundance from many native silkworms in
America. Cocoons have been described eight inches long, made of grey
silk, which the inhabitants of Chilpancingo, Tixtala, and other places
in South America, manufacture into stockings and handkerchiefs. Humboldt
also observed similar nests in the provinces of Mechoacan, and the
mountains of Santa Rosa; they were of dense tissue, resembling Chinese
paper, of a brilliant whiteness, and formed of distinct and separate
layers. The interior layers, which are the thinnest, and of
extraordinary transparency, were used by the ancient Mexicans as writing
tablets.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER II.
MANUFACTURE OF SILK BY THE SILKWORM.
We now come to the most important of all silk-spinning insects, the
common silkworm, or caterpillar of the mulberry-tree moth. The labours
of this insect were known and appreciated in other parts of the world
long before we had tidings of its existence; so that the peasantry of
other lands were clad in raiment which our kings would have been proud
to wear. “When silk was so scarce in this country that James the First,
while King of Scotland, was forced to beg of the Earl of Mar the loan of
a pair of silk stockings to appear in before the English ambassador,
enforcing his request with the cogent appeal, ‘for ye would not, sure,
that your king should appear as a scrub before strangers;’ nay, long
before this period, even prior to the time that silk was valued at its
weight in gold at Rome, and the Emperor Aurelian refused his empress a
robe of silk because of its dearness, the Chinese peasantry in some of
the provinces, millions in number, were clothed with this material; and
for some thousand years to the present time, it has been both there and
in India (where a class whose occupation was to attend silkworms appears
to have existed from time immemorial, being mentioned in the oldest
Sanscrit books,) one of the chief objects of cultivation and
manufacture. You will admit, therefore, that when nature
——Set to work millions of spinning worms,
That in their green shops weave the smooth-haired silk
To deck her sons,
she was conferring upon them a benefit scarcely inferior to that
consequent upon the gift of wool to the fleecy race, or a fibrous rind
to the flax or hemp plants; and that mankind is not under much less
obligation to Pamphila, who, according to Aristotle, was the discoverer
of the art of unwinding and weaving silk, than to the inventors of the
spinning of those products.”
[Illustration:
EGGS AND SILKWORMS IN THE FIRST AGE.
]
It is so common an amusement with young persons in this country to
procure the eggs of silkworms, rear the insects, and watch their changes
that numbers are acquainted with the growth, habits, and manner of
spinning of these interesting creatures. Perhaps a sheet of paper is
given to a little boy or girl, on which are a number of small specks, no
bigger than pins’ heads: these specks, the child is told, are silkworms’
eggs, and if he keeps them dry during winter, and then places them in a
sunny window in spring, he will get a number of caterpillars from them.
Taking care to do this, the child is delighted some fine morning to see
a few little dark coloured worms crawling about the paper, while others
are just issuing from the eggs. Perhaps a difficulty now arises about
their food. In warm countries the leaves of the mulberry-tree are ready
for the insects as soon as they are hatched; but in England, unless the
eggs are purposely kept back, by putting them in a cold place, the
caterpillars come out before the mulberry-tree has put forth its leaves.
A few tender leaves of the lettuce are therefore spread lightly over the
young caterpillars, and upon these they mount, and at last begin to
feed, after searching in vain for their natural food. But the worms do
not thrive on this diet, and it is much better so to manage the eggs
that they may be hatched when the young leaves of the mulberry are just
opening. These form the best possible food in that tender state, and in
order to economise it, the leaves should be cut in small pieces; because
the caterpillars feed only on the edges, and thus great part of a leaf,
when given to them whole, is entirely wasted.
[Illustration:
THE WHITE MULBERRY.
(_Morus alba._)
]
In Italy, where great attention is paid to the cultivation of the
silkworm, the eggs are hatched in a room heated by a stove, and the
young caterpillars are then removed on their mulberry-leaves to a cooler
apartment called the nursery, where they are managed with great care and
skill. Wicker shelves are arranged in the room at convenient distances,
and are lined with paper, on which the worms are placed. Care is taken
to place together only such worms as are hatched at the same time, for
without this precaution the treatment, with respect to food, could not
be regulated, and the moultings would not take place at the same time.
Great care is also taken to secure the worms from rats and mice, as well
as from certain insect enemies.
Silkworms are so little disposed to wander away from their food that
open trays are sufficient to secure them: but unless great cleanliness
is observed in their management, and frequent change of food given, a
sickly smell is observed, and the caterpillars languish and die in great
numbers. Supposing the young brood goes on well, and is properly
attended by the child whom we have supposed to undertake the charge,
there will be about five or six days’ feeding, and then the worms will
begin to sicken for their first moult, or casting the skin. Silkworms
have four of these moults, at each of which they appear to suffer pain
or inconvenience; they also entirely leave off eating for two or three
days. The caterpillars at that time raise the fore part of their bodies,
and show tokens of uneasiness. They have grown rapidly, and their skins,
not having grown in proportion, now appear to press and inconvenience
them; but after two or three days fasting, they become thinner and are
able gradually to rid themselves of their skin. It is now that their
owner may see the use they begin to make of their silk. By watching them
closely he sees each caterpillar throw out a number of very fine silken
lines, by which it fastens the skin to one spot. Having done this, it is
able to creep out, without dragging the skin about after it, as would
otherwise be the case. In this operation the whole covering of the body,
including that of the feet, of the jaws and teeth, is cast off; but it
sometimes happens that the animal cannot entirely cast its skin, a
portion of it breaking and remaining attached to the extremity of the
body. As the animal increases rapidly in size, this portion of the old
skin compresses its body tightly, causing inflammation and much
suffering, which usually ends in death.
Worms that have newly moulted are readily distinguished by their pale
colour, and the wrinkled appearance of the new skin. Soon after moulting
they recover health and vigour, and feed with increased appetite. To
keep them in health they must be fed with great regularity, and not
crowded together in their trays. In the course of five days the rapid
growth of the insect causes the wrinkles to disappear from the skin; it
is now half an inch in length; a second sickness, and a second moulting,
prepare it for increase of growth; it casts its skin as before, and
feeds without intermission during another five days, during which time
it attains a length of three quarters of an inch. It then falls sick and
moults a third time. It again feeds during five days, after which it
casts its skin for the fourth and last time in the caterpillar state.
[Illustration:
PROGRESSIVE GROWTH OF THE SILKWORM.
]
It is now about one and a half or two inches in length, and devours its
food most voraciously, increasing rapidly in size during ten days. When
the worms are fed a slight hissing noise is heard similar to that of
green wood burning. According to some writers this noise proceeds from
the action of the jaws, but others attribute it solely to the action of
the feet, which are continually moving until the worms have fastened to
their food, when the noise ceases. In a large nursery of silkworms this
noise sounds like a soft shower of rain.
[Illustration:
SILKWORM ON MULBERRY-LEAF.
]
When the caterpillar has attained its full growth, it is a very
different creature from the little black worm which first issued from
the egg, being from two and a half to three inches in length, and its
body consisting of twelve membranous rings, which contract and elongate
as the animal moves. It is furnished with sixteen legs, in pairs: three
pairs in front, under the first three rings, are covered with a shelly
or scaly substance; the other five pairs, called holders, are furnished
with little hooks, which assist the insect in climbing. The head is
covered with a scaly substance similar to the covering of the fore legs.
The mandibles are of great strength, and indented like the teeth of a
saw. Beneath the jaw are two small openings, through which the insect
draws its silken lines. The substance of which the silk is composed is a
fine yellow transparent gum, secreted in two slender vessels, “which are
wound, as it were, on two spindles in the stomach; if unfolded, these
vessels would be about ten inches in length.” The insect breathes by
means of eighteen holes or spiracles, distributed along the body, nine
on each side. On each side of the head, near the mouth, are seven small
eyes; the two specks higher up on the head, which are generally mistaken
for eyes, are only parts of the skull.
[Illustration:
FULL GROWN SILKWORM.
]
When the silkworm is ready to spin, it gets upon the leaves without
eating them, rears its head as if in search of something, or crawls to
the edges of the tray and moves slowly along; its rings draw in, and its
greenish colour changes to a deep golden hue; its skin becomes wrinkled
about the neck, and its body feels like soft dough, and on taking it in
the hand, and looking through it, the whole body has assumed the
transparency of a ripe yellow plum. When this is observed, the owner of
the insects puts each singly into a little cone of white paper, which he
pins to the wall or elsewhere, so that the creature may be undisturbed
at its work. But in the nurseries abroad little bushes are set up on the
wicker shelves, and the insects mount them and form their cocoons among
the twigs.
Supposing the worm to be left to itself on the tray, without either of
these precautions, it at last selects some corner or hollow place which
will conveniently hold the cocoon it is about to spin, and begins by
throwing out a number of irregular threads, which are intended to
support its nest. Upon these it forms, during the first day, a loose
structure of floss silk of an oval shape, within which, during the next
three days, it winds the firm, hard, yellow ball, remaining, of course,
all the time within it. In this operation the insect does not greatly
change the position of the hinder part of its body, but continues
drawing its thread from various points and attaching it to others, so
that after a time the body becomes to a great extent enclosed by the
thread. “The work is then continued from one thread to another, the
silkworm moving its head and spinning in a zigzag way, bending the fore
part of the body back to spin in all directions within reach, and
shifting the body only to cover with silk the part which was beneath it.
As the silkworm spins its web by thus bending the fore part of the body
back, and moves the hinder part of the body in such a way only as to
enable it to reach the farther back with the fore part, it follows that
it encloses itself in a cocoon much shorter than its own body, for soon
after the beginning the whole is continued with the body in a bent
position. From the foregoing account it appears that with the most
simple instinctive principles all the ends necessary are gained. If the
silkworm shifted its position much at the beginning of the work, it
could never enclose itself in a cocoon; but by its mode of proceeding,
as above explained, it encloses itself in a cocoon which only consumes
as much silk as is necessary to hold the chrysalis.”
[Illustration:
THE COCOON.
(_A portion of the floss silk has been removed._)
]
The use of the cocoon, in the natural state of the insect, is to afford
a warm nest, where, secure from the inclemencies of the season, and the
attacks of enemies, it may undergo its final changes. The cocoon is made
water-tight by an internal lining of gum, and the silken thread of which
the ball is made is also smeared with a similar gum, which hardens in
the air.
[Illustration:
THE CHRYSALIS.
]
[Illustration:
GIRL WINDING SILK.
]
While the worm is spinning its cocoon it takes no food, and as it is
continually emitting silk, its body gradually diminishes to less than
half its original length. When its labour is completed it rests awhile,
and then once more throws off its skin; but it is no longer a
caterpillar; its form is changed into a chrysalis, or aurelia, with a
smooth brown skin, and pointed at one end. A few days after the insect
has finished spinning, the cocoons will be ready to be unwound. Our
amateur silkworm cultivator then takes the cocoons out of the paper
cones and separates the outer floss silk. He then throws several cocoons
into a glass of water slightly warm, to make them more easy to unwind,
and having found the ends, proceeds to wind the silk on a reel, or he
gives the task to a sister’s gentler hands, while he prepares a little
box of bran, in readiness to put the poor exposed chrysalis the moment
it is released from the cocoon. As the winding proceeds, the cocoons
become thinner and thinner until the insects within are visible. The
chrysalis, though covered with a horny skin, and apparently without much
sensation, shows very plainly that it is sensible of the rough treatment
it is receiving, as the cocoon is tossed about in the water by the
motion of the reel. It rapidly moves the rings of its tail, which is
doubtless a sign of uneasiness or pain. When nearly all the silk is
wound off, there still remains a transparent film like silver paper,
which is torn open to let out the chrysalis. The latter is immediately
buried in bran, where it remains very quietly for a week or two, then
changes into a cream coloured moth, lays its eggs, and dies. This is the
common domestic treatment when silkworms are kept for amusement, but in
a commercial establishment such as those of Italy, they are very
differently treated.
[Illustration:
FEMALE SILKWORM MOTH AND EGGS.
]
The cocoons are collected in large quantities, separated and sorted
according to their quality, about one-sixtieth part being saved for the
production of eggs, after which the life of the chrysalis is destroyed
in all the rest. This is done in hot countries by exposure to the sun;
but in more temperate climes by artificial heat, such as that of an oven
after the bread has been withdrawn. Before the cocoons can be reeled
they must be separated from the floss, which is done by opening the
floss covering at one end and pushing out the cocoon. Care is taken in
reeling to use cocoons of one quality, as different qualities require a
different treatment.
The natural gum of the cocoons is first softened in warm water, kept at
the proper temperature, either by a charcoal fire or by a steam pipe.
After remaining in this for a few minutes, the reeler (generally a
woman) gently stirs up or brushes the cocoons with a short birch rod,
and to this the loose threads of the cocoons adhere, and are thus drawn
out of the water: they are then taken commonly four or five together,
twisted with the fingers into one thread, and passed through a metal
loop, to get rid of dirt and impurities: the thread then passes on to
the reel, which is so constructed as to have a slight lateral motion, so
that the thread of one revolution does not overlay the other; for if it
did so, the threads would be glued together before the gum had had time
to harden by exposure to the air. The threads of the four or five
cocoons are thus united into one strong and smooth thread. Sometimes as
many as thirty cocoons are united into one thread, and it is difficult
to wind more. As often as a thread of any single cocoon breaks or comes
to an end, the attendant supplies its place by a new one, so that by
continually keeping up the same number the united thread may be wound to
any length: these joinings are not made by a knot, but the new end is
simply laid on the compound thread, to which it adheres by its gum; and
as the threads are finer near their termination than at the
commencement, it is necessary for the reeler to add other cocoons before
the first set is quite exhausted; so that the compound thread may be of
uniform thickness. The filaments of three fresh cocoons, added to two
half-wound ones, make a thread about equal to that from four fresh
cocoons. The cocoons are not entirely wound off, but the husk containing
the chrysalis is used together with the floss silk under the name of
waste. Improved methods of reeling have been introduced on the
continent, but they are similar in principle to the above.
Eleven or twelve pounds of cocoons yield about one pound of reeled silk;
and as from 240 to 250 cocoons weigh a pound, the number of cocoons
required to produce a pound of silk may be estimated at 2,817½. The
length of filament yielded by a single cocoon is 300 yards, but some
have yielded as much as 625 yards.
The reeled silk is made up into hanks for sale or use. The form and
contents, as well as quality, of these hanks, differ greatly, as will be
seen by the following wood-cuts.
[Illustration:
HANKS FROM ITALY.
]
[Illustration:
BOOK OF SILK FROM CHINA.
]
[Illustration:
SLIP FROM BENGAL.
]
We may aptly conclude our account of this most industrious
silk-manufacturer in the words of the Rev. Samuel Pullein, M.A., who, so
long ago as 1758, wrote an Essay on the Culture of Silk, in which the
following passage occurs:—
“There is scarce anything among the various wonders which the animal
creation affords more admirable than the variety of changes which the
silkworm undergoes; but the curious texture of that silken covering with
which it surrounds itself when it becomes a moth, and arrives at the
perfection of its animal life, vastly surpasses what is made by other
animals of this class. All the caterpillar kind do indeed undergo
changes like those of the silkworm, and the beauty of many of them in
their butterfly state greatly exceeds it; but the covering which they
put on before this change into a fly is poor and mean, when compared to
that golden tissue in which the silkworm wraps itself. They indeed come
forth in variety of colours, their wings bedropped with gold and
scarlet, yet are they but the beings of a summer’s day; both their life
and beauty quickly vanish, and they leave no remembrance after them; but
the silkworm leaves behind it such beautiful, such beneficial monuments,
as at once record both the wisdom of their Creator, and His bounty to
man.”
On the importance of the silk itself, Kirby and Spence have the
following remarks:—
“To estimate justly the importance of this article, it is not sufficient
to view it as an appendage of luxury unrivalled for richness, lustre,
and beauty, and without which courts would lose half their splendour; we
must consider it what it actually is, as the staple article of
cultivation in many large provinces in the south of Europe, amongst the
inhabitants of which the prospect of a deficient crop causes as great
alarm as a scanty harvest of grain with us; and, after giving employment
to tens of thousands in its first production and transportation, as
furnishing subsistence to hundreds of thousands more in its final
manufacture, and thus becoming one of the most important wheels that
give circulation to national wealth.”
[Illustration: THE GEOMETRIC SPIDER]
CHAPTER III.
MANUFACTURE OF SILK BY SPIDERS.
Our history of the silk manufacture among insects would be incomplete
without a notice of the labours of spiders. Not only do these insects
produce filmy webs to entrap their prey, but they also spin, for the
protection of their eggs, a bag not much unlike the cocoon of the
silkworm. At the beginning of the last century a method was discovered
of procuring silk from these spiders’ bags, and of making it into
several useful articles. The experiments took place in France, and it
was there discovered that two species of spider in particular produced
strong and beautiful silk, capable of being usefully employed. The
structure of these insects was closely examined by the celebrated
naturalist Réaumur, and he found that the silk is spun from five
papillæ, or small nipples, placed in the hinder part of the body; these
serve the purpose of so many wire-drawing irons, to mould a gummy
liquor, which dries as it is drawn out and exposed to the air.
[Illustration:
SPINNING APPARATUS OF THE SPIDER.
(_Greatly magnified._)
]
On pressing the body of a spider, the liquor flows into these nipples,
by applying the finger against which, distinct threads may be drawn out
through the numerous openings; and, what is very astonishing, every
separate thread is made up of innumerable smaller threads, so that
Réaumur thought himself far within the limits of the truth when he
stated that each of the five nipples supplied one thousand separate
fibres, in which case the slender filament of the spider’s nest must be
made up of five thousand fibres. By applying the whole, or a part, of
this apparatus to her work, the spider can make the thread stout or fine
at pleasure: thus the webs for entrapping flies are very slight and
fragile; but the nest for securing the eggs is much stronger, to afford
them shelter from the cold. The threads are wound loosely round the eggs
in a shape similar to that of the silkworm’s cocoon. The colour of the
silk is generally grey, becoming blackish on exposure to the air:
sometimes it is pale yellow, and also of very fine quality; but this is
the production of comparatively rare species, which could not be
depended on for the purposes of manufacture. A spider’s nest preserved
by the writer during the last winter was of a beautiful yellow, almost
approaching that of the cocoon of the silkworm. As spring approached it
increased in bulk and became rather paler, until at last a dark
appearance in the centre betokened the bursting of the eggs. At the
present time (April 10th) ninety-six small yellow-bodied spiders have
come forth, and are actively engaged in weaving their delicate webs
across the glass which contains them. A muslin cover admits air to the
interior, and these minute insects appear perfectly healthy although
deprived of their natural food. Some sugar was placed in the glass, but
they do not appear to have consumed any of it, although some of them
have been hatched for more than a fortnight. From the appearance of the
nest, more of these spiders yet remain to be hatched.
In the French experiments, spiders’ nests in large quantities were
collected from the trunks of trees, corners of windows and vaults, and
eaves of houses at the time above mentioned, and from these a new kind
of silk was obtained by M. Bon, who declared it to be in no respect
inferior to that of the silkworm. It was afterwards proved that he was
greatly mistaken in this respect; yet the spiders’ silk readily took all
kinds of dyes, and was actually wrought into stockings and gloves,
specimens of which were presented by M. Bon to the Royal Academy of
Paris, and also to the Royal Society of London. His method of preparing
the silk was as follows:—
Twelve or thirteen ounces of the bags were beaten with the hand, or by a
stick, until they were entirely free from dust. They were then washed in
warm water, which was frequently changed, until it was no longer
discoloured by the bags. They were next steeped in a large quantity of
water, wherein soap, saltpetre, and gum-arabic had been dissolved. The
whole was then set to boil over a gentle fire for three hours. Lastly,
the bags were rinsed in clear warm water, and set out to dry. They were
then fit for the operation of carding, which was performed with very
fine cards, and thus silk of a peculiar ash colour was obtained, which
was spun without difficulty.
[Illustration:
SPIDER’S NEST ATTACHED TO A FLAT SURFACE.
]
[Illustration:
SPIDER’S NEST LAID OPEN.
]
The great obstacle which prevented the establishment of any considerable
manufacture from these spiders’ bags, was the difficulty of obtaining
them in sufficient abundance; but M. Bon, who was enthusiastic
respecting the value of his discovery, fancied that he could easily
overcome this obstacle, and at first his efforts appeared remarkably
successful. He formed a large spider establishment, which, for a time,
was very prosperous. Having ordered all the short-legged spiders (which
are the most industrious spinners) to be collected for him by persons
employed for the purpose, he enclosed them in paper boxes, with
pin-holes pricked in them to admit the air to the prisoners. The insects
were regularly fed with flies, and prospered well on their diet. In due
time most of them laid their eggs, and spun their silken bags. M. Bon
affirmed that each female produced from six to seven hundred eggs,
whereas the silkworm moth lays only about one hundred. He also stated,
that out of seven hundred or eight hundred young spiders which he kept,
scarcely one died in a year; while of one hundred silkworms, not forty
lived to form their cocoons.
These favourable statements led the Royal Academy of Paris to take the
subject into consideration, and Réaumur was appointed to inquire into
the merits of the new scheme. This careful inquirer found many serious
obstacles in the way of such establishments. The fierceness of spiders,
and their propensity to destroy each other, were noticed as unfitting
them to be bred and reared together. On distributing about five thousand
spiders in cells, in companies of about fifty or a hundred, it was found
that the larger spiders quickly killed and ate the smaller, until there
were only one or two occupiers of each cell. The silk of the spider was
also found inferior in lustre and strength to that of the silkworm, and
had the disadvantage of being incapable of winding off the ball, but
must necessarily be carded.
[Illustration:
GARDEN SPIDER—(_Natural Size._)
]
Indeed, it could require no very great consideration to decide, that
spiders’ silk, when compared with that of the silkworm, was vastly
inferior for manufacturing purposes, though employed in many useful and
highly ingenious ways by the insect itself. A few of these we must not
omit to notice. Every one must have seen the common garden spider
(_Epeira diadema_) suspended by its silken rope, or forming its
beautiful web; but every one is not aware that that silken rope is made
up of a multiplicity of threads, and that when the spider attaches the
rope to any object by pressing her spinneret against it, she spreads out
these threads over an area of some diameter, thus securing a much
greater degree of strength than could be gained by merely fixing her
thread to one point. This contrivance may be seen best when the threads
are attached to a black object. Under the microscope they appear thus:—
[Illustration:
SPIDER’S METHOD OF ATTACHING HER THREAD.
]
The uses of silk in the webs and nests of common spiders are too obvious
to be dwelt on, but there is a most clever and surprising adaptation of
the same material by several foreign species of spider which must be
briefly stated. In the Ionian islands, and also in the West Indies,
there are found certain spiders, commonly known as trap-door spiders,
which make a cylindrical nest in the earth, and cover the entrance with
a door of their own construction, framed of alternate layers of silk and
earth, and fastened to the opening by a hinge of stout silk. These
spiders also line their nests throughout with numerous layers of silken
web to the thickness of stout cartridge paper, and finish it with the
greatest care. This beautiful lining is yet further strengthened in
particular parts, where the nest is likely to be exposed to danger. But
the greatest amount of skill and care is bestowed upon the trap-door and
its silken hinge. This door is about the eighth of an inch thick, rough
on the outside, not much unlike an oyster shell, which it also resembles
in being thick and strong near the hinge, but thinner towards the
circumference. The breadth of this hinge is various, but sometimes it is
very considerable, as shown in the accompanying figure. It also
possesses great elastic force, so that on being opened, it closes again
of itself. This is principally accomplished by a fold or doubling of the
web, at each end of the hinge, which permits the door to be opened
nearly to a right angle with the aperture, but no farther, unless
violence be used. The under side of the door is perfectly smooth and
firm, being shaped so as to fit accurately, and yet to offer no
resistance when pushed open by the insect.
[Illustration:
TRAP-DOOR SPIDER.
]
[Illustration:
NEST OF TRAP-DOOR SPIDER.
]
[Illustration:
TRAP-DOOR OPENING BY A LEVER.
]
As might be expected, there are varieties in the shape and size of these
nests. Some specimens found in the island of Zante had the silken layers
of the lid extended into a sort of handle or lever just above the hinge,
on pressing which in ever so slight a degree the trap-door opened. From
this it would appear that the entrance to such a nest could be effected
as easily by the enemies of the spider as by the spider itself: this,
however, is not the case; for repeated observation has shown that the
spider keeps guard at the entrance, and actually holds the door with her
fore feet and palpi, while the hinder feet are extended down the side of
the nest, and the mandibles are thrust into the opposite side near the
door. By this means the insect gets such power as to resist with
considerable force the opening of the door. If it be asked how this is
known, we are able to refer to the experiments of careful observers, who
extracted a number of nests from the ground, and opening them at the
lower end, looked up, and saw the spider so occupied. A sectional view
of the nest will show that the curved form of the cover, and the shape
of the side walls, must favour this method of keeping the door shut. In
some cases, small hollows were formed round the interior edge of the
lid, into which the spider thrust its feet when keeping guard. It is a
curious fact, that when several of these spiders enclosed in their nests
were kept as a matter of curiosity in a box of earth, and the doors
frequently opened to examine their proceedings, one or two of them, as
if wearied at these repeated interruptions, effectually closed their
doors by weaving a piece of silken tapestry, which was spread over the
interior of the opening, and rounded like the inside of a thimble. This
was so strongly attached to the door and to the side walls, that no
opening could be made without destroying the nest.
[Illustration:
SECTION OF NEST.
]
It was long a matter of surprise to the observer to find, that in the
case of some nests, and not of others, there was a trap-door at the
bottom as well as at the top of the nest: this was at last explained by
the following fact. A spider’s nest, which was accidentally broken off
in being extracted from the ground, was purposely restored to the earth
in a reversed position, with the trap-door downwards, and the broken and
exposed part level with the surface. The spider immediately set to work
to make a new door over the broken part, and finished it with as much
completeness as the other. Doubtless, then, those nests which were
provided with two doors were such as had been upset and broken. This is
the more likely because in Zante, where such nests were found, the earth
is annually dug up round the roots of the olive tree, a favourite
nesting place of these trap-door spiders.
[Illustration:
NEST WITH TWO OPENINGS.
]
We must not omit to mention, that in some parts of South America,
especially in Paraguay, there is a spider which forms a spherical cocoon
for its eggs, an inch in diameter, of a yellow silk, which the
inhabitants spin on account of the permanency of the colour. It must
also be observed that the silk of spiders is useful to the astronomer,
who employs the strongest thread (the one, namely, which supports the
web) for the divisions of the micrometer. By its ductility, this thread
acquires about a fifth of its ordinary length.
[Illustration:
WHITE WAX INSECT OF CHINA.
]
CHAPTER IV.
MANUFACTURE OF WAX BY THE HIVE BEE, THE HUMBLE BEE, AND THE WHITE WAX
INSECT OF CHINA.
[Illustration:
GRUB IN CELL.
]
[Illustration: [Chrysalis]]
The most notable insect manufacturer, after the silkworm, is the common
hive bee, which is able to produce three distinct substances, honey,
wax, and silk; the first two only being useful to mankind. Persons who
have never seen bees in any other than their perfect state, and are
unacquainted with the internal economy of the hive, will learn with
surprise that the first appearance of this insect is that of a small
straight worm, which rapidly increases in size until it touches the
sides of the cell which forms its dwelling-place. It then coils itself
up, until the extremities meet and form a complete ring. When it ceases
eating, the nurse-bees seal up the cell, leaving the caterpillar to spin
its cocoon in safety. The silken film in which the insect now begins to
wrap itself, proceeds from a spinner, situated in the middle part of the
under lip, and is composed of two threads, gummed together as they issue
from the two orifices of the spinner. The caterpillar is employed during
thirty-six hours in making its cocoon; three days after which it becomes
a chrysalis. Over this chrysalis, or rather over the cell in which it is
contained, the nurse-bees brood until the warmth of their bodies
penetrates, and assists in producing the last change of the insect
within. The cocoon, by degrees, becomes attached to the interior of the
cell like a lining, and the bee, having its parts gradually unfolded,
begins at length to cut its way through the cover of the cell. It is now
a perfect bee, and capable at once of taking its part in the labours of
the hive. These labours chiefly relate to food, shelter, and care of the
young. In the article of food, the bee is a most industrious collector
of the sweet juices of flowers, which are converted into the luscious
honey with which she stores her hive. She also collects pollen, as an
ingredient in the food of the young, and a gummy substance called
propolis, which oozes from the poplar, birch, and willow, and which she
uses as a sort of varnish and cement to the projecting parts of the
hive.
[Illustration:
BEES GATHERING HONEY.
]
[Illustration:
HEAD OF BEE.
(_Magnified._)
]
For the purpose of collecting, carrying home, and manufacturing these
several products, the working bee is provided with a complete and
beautiful apparatus, consisting of a _proboscis_ (almost as wonderful in
its way as that of the elephant), by which she ascertains the nature of
food, and imbibes such as is adapted to her wants; a _honey bag_, or
second stomach, which is a small transparent globe about the size of a
pea, where she deposits her nectar; a _pair of baskets_, one in each
hind leg, in which she stores the pollen of flowers, and the propolis or
gum of trees; and lastly, in the case of the wax-makers, _four pairs of
wax pockets_, or membranous bags, contained in the abdomen, where by
some unknown process wax is secreted from the food taken into the
stomach. What an astonishing provision for the requirements of a single
insect!
[Illustration:
HIND LEG OF WORKER.
_a_, the haunch; _b_, the thigh; _c_, the tibia, or pallet, containing
the basket or cavity; _d_, _e_, the foot.
]
THE MANUFACTURE OF WAX.
The honey-comb of a bee is a beautiful and highly curious object, and is
composed of wax, a substance which man, with all his skill, is unable to
fabricate. Whether the hive be natural or artificial, the plan of its
construction is much the same. A number of honey-combs, chiefly composed
of _six-sided_ cells, regularly applied to each other’s sides, and
arranged in two layers, are fixed to the upper part and sides of the
interior of the hive. These combs are arranged at a small distance from
each other, and the cells have their openings into the spaces between
them, which are wide enough to allow two bees to pass each other easily.
Besides these vacancies the combs are here and there pierced with holes,
which serve as a means of communication from one comb to another,
without losing time by going round.
[Illustration:
INTERIOR OF THE HIVE.
]
The cells being formed of wax, a substance secreted by the bees in no
great abundance, it is important that as little as possible should be
consumed. Bees, therefore, in the formation of their cells have to solve
a problem in geometry, namely, “a quantity of wax being given, to form
of it similar and equal cells of a determinate capacity, but of the
largest size in proportion to the quantity of matter employed, and
disposed in such a manner as to occupy in the hive the least possible
space.” Every part of this problem is practically solved by bees. If
their cells had been cylindrical, which form seems best adapted to the
shape of a bee, they could not have been applied to each other without
leaving a number of useless vacant spaces. If the cells had been square
or triangular, this last objection would be removed; but a greater
quantity of wax would have been required, and the shape would have been
inconvenient to a round-bodied animal. Hexagonal cells are admirably
fitted to the form of the insect, at the same time that their sides
apply to each other without the smallest vacant intervals. Another
important saving in materials is gained by making a common base serve
for two layers of cells. Much more wax as well as room would have been
required, had the combs consisted of one layer only. But this is not
all. The base of each cell is not an exact plane, but is usually
composed of three lozenge-shaped pieces, placed so as to form a
pyramidal concavity. From this form it follows that the base of a cell
on one side of the comb is composed of portions of the bases of _three_
cells on the other. By this arrangement a greater degree of strength is
obtained, and also a more roomy cell, with less expenditure of wax. This
has been clearly proved, as also that the angles of the base of the cell
are exactly those which require the smallest quantity of wax. It is
obvious that these angles might vary infinitely; but by a very accurate
measurement Maraldi found that the great angles were in general 109°
28′, the smaller ones 70° 32′. Réaumur, suspecting that the object of
choosing these angles was to spare wax, proposed to M. König, a skilful
geometrician, to determine by calculation what ought to be the angle of
a hexagonal cell with a pyramidal bottom, formed of three similar and
equal rhomboid plates, so that the least possible matter might enter
into its construction. After an elaborate calculation, the geometrician
found that the great angles of the rhombs should be 109° 26′, and of the
small angles, 70° 34′, a surprising agreement between the solution of
the problem, and the actual measurement.
[Illustration:
FRONT AND REVERSE VIEW OF CELLS.
]
[Illustration:
METHOD OF JOINING CELLS.
]
The bees have also another contrivance for saving wax. They form the
bottoms and sides of the cells of wax not thicker than writing paper;
but as walls of this thinness at the entrance would be perpetually
injured by the going in and out of the workers, they make the margin at
the opening of each cell three or four times thicker than the walls.
[Illustration:
FESTOON OF WAX-MAKERS.
]
It has already been said that wax is a secretion naturally formed in
certain membranous bags in the body of the bee. As the secretion goes
on, the wax oozes through the membrane, and forms in thin plates on the
outside. The position adopted by the insects during this process is
strange and almost ridiculous. Their proceedings are as follows:—The
wax-makers, having taken a quantity of honey or sugar into the stomach,
suspend themselves to each other, the claws of the fore legs of one
being attached to those of the hind pair of another, until they form
themselves into a cluster, consisting of a series of festoons or
garlands, which cross each other in all directions, until they form a
dense curtain, and in which most of the bees turn their back upon the
observer. In this position the wax-makers remain immovable for about
twenty-four hours, during which period the secretion of wax takes place.
At last one of them is seen to detach itself from the rest, and to make
its way to the top of the hive, where it turns itself round, and clears
a space of about an inch in diameter. It then seizes one of the plates
of wax with a pincer, formed at the joints of the leg, and drawing it
forwards, one of the fore legs takes it with its claw and carries it to
the mouth. The insect then proceeds by means of its mandibles and its
proboscis to reduce the plate to a riband of wax, which it softens with
a frothy liquor. During this operation the proboscis is sometimes
flattened like a spatula, then like a trowel, at other times it is like
a pencil, terminating in a point. The liquor mixed with the wax gives it
a whiteness and ductility which it had not before, the object being to
make it fit for working into any shape.
[Illustration:
THE PROBOSCIS.
]
[Illustration:
LAYING FOUNDATION OF CELL.
]
The parcels of wax thus prepared are applied against the vault of the
hive, the little builder arranging them in the direction she wishes them
to take: when she has thus employed the whole plate that she had
separated from her body, she takes a second, and proceeds in the same
manner. At length she leaves her work, and is lost in the crowd of her
companions. Another succeeds, and resumes the employment; then a third:
all follow the same plan of placing their wax; and if one by chance
gives it a contrary direction, another, coming after, sets it right. The
result of all these operations is a little wall of wax, with uneven
surfaces, five or six lines[1] long, two lines high, and half a line
thick, which descends perpendicularly from the vault of the hive. In
this first work there is no angle, nor any trace of the figure of the
cells. It is a simple partition, in a right line, without any bend.
Footnote 1:
A line is the twelfth part of an inch.
The wax-makers having thus laid the foundation of a comb, the nurse-bees
come to model and complete the work. The former are the labourers, who
convey the materials; the latter, the artists, who work them up into the
required form. One of the nurse-bees places herself horizontally on the
vault of the hive, her head corresponding to the centre of the wall
which the wax-makers have left, and which is to form the partition of
the comb into two opposite assemblages of cells; and rapidly moving her
head, she moulds with her jaws a cavity which is to form the base of one
of the cells. When she has worked some minutes she departs, and another
takes her place, deepening the hollow, and heightening its sides by
heaping up the wax to the right and left, by means of the teeth and fore
feet. More than twenty bees successively employ themselves in this work.
When arrived at a certain point, other bees begin on the yet untouched
and opposite side of the mass, and commencing the bottom of _two_ cells,
are in turn relieved by others. While still engaged in this labour the
wax-makers return, and add to the mass, increasing its extent every way,
the nurse-bees again continuing their operations. After having worked
the bottoms of the cells of the first row into their proper forms, they
polish them, and give them finish, while others begin the outline of a
new series.
[Illustration:
COMMENCEMENT OF CELLS.
]
The cells themselves, consisting of six-sided tubes, are next
constructed. The bees commence by making the edges of the cavities of
equal height, so that all the margins of the cells offer an uniformly
level surface. The sides are heightened in an order similar to that
which the insects follow in finishing the bottoms of the cells; and the
length of these tubes is so perfectly proportioned, that there is no
observable inequality between them. It is to be remarked, that though
the general form of the cell is hexagonal, or six-sided, that of those
first begun is an irregular pentagon, the side next the top of the hive,
and by which the comb is attached, being much broader than the rest;
whence the comb is more strongly united to the hive than if these cells
were of the ordinary shape.
In giving the proper forms to the bottoms of the cells, the bees make
much use of their antennæ, which extraordinary organs they seem to
employ as directors, by which their other instruments are instructed to
execute a very complex work. They do not remove a single particle of wax
until the antennæ have explored the surface that is to be sculptured. By
the use of these organs, which are flexible, and readily applied to all
parts, however delicate, they can perform the functions of compasses in
measuring very minute objects, and can work in the dark, and raise their
wonderful combs.
All these proceedings are conducted with the utmost regularity. The
original mass of wax is increased in a uniform quantity by the
wax-makers, who merely produce and carry the materials, but have not the
art of sculpturing the cells. Two masses of wax for combs are never
begun at the same time; but no sooner are some rows of cells constructed
in the first mass, when two other masses, one on each side of it, are
established at equal distances from it, and parallel to it, and then
again two more exterior to these. In a new hive the bees work with such
rapidity, that in twenty-four hours they will sometimes construct a comb
twenty inches long by seven or eight inches wide, and the hive will be
half filled in five or six days; so that in the first fifteen days as
much wax is made as in the whole year besides.
The commercial value of wax is considerable. A simple way of preparing
it for use is as follows. When the hive has been cleared of honey, the
wax is put into a woollen bag firmly tied at the mouth; the bag is
plunged into a pan of boiling water; the pure material oozes through the
cloth, and swims upon the surface; it is carefully skimmed off, as long
as any continues to rise, and poured into a shallow earthen bowl, which
is previously wetted to prevent the wax from adhering to its sides. It
must be allowed to cool very gradually, otherwise the cake which it
forms will crack.
An inferior kind of wax is made by those large bees called humble bees,
whose gay colours and booming flight make them so well known in our
gardens.
[Illustration:
FEMALE HUMBLE BEE.
]
Early in spring, as soon as the catkins of the willows are in flower, a
large solitary female may be seen about them collecting honey and
pollen. She is the only survivor of the former year’s colony, and is the
foundress of a new one. Her first care on awaking from her winter’s
sleep is to excavate a hollow in the earth for her nest, which is often
above a foot under the surface, and is entered by a passage or gallery.
When complete, she lines it with soft leaves, and then proceeds to make
her waxen cells. This she does so quickly,[2] that she can build a cell,
fill it with honey and pollen, deposit one or two eggs in it, and cover
them in, in little more than half an hour. A number of these cells are
thus constructed; the eggs are hatched, and the little worms, increasing
rapidly in size, at last spin silken cocoons, and undergo the usual
changes. The workers are the most numerous portion of the population,
and have abundant employment throughout the summer. One of their first
cares is to line the roof of their nest with wax, to keep it warm and
prevent water from filtering through. The wax of these insects is not so
delicate, white, firm, or fusible as that of the hive bee, nor is it
applied to such exquisite architecture; it is brown and soft, but well
adapted to the rude works of their nest. It is formed in wax-pockets
similar to those of the hive bee, and is moulded in plates to the shape
of the insect’s body. Unlike the queen of the hive, the foundress of
this colony secretes wax, and does so even more abundantly than one of
her workers.
Footnote 2:
The rapid formation of wax in the case of humble bees is very
remarkable. Huber confined a number of them, and fed them during many
days with pollen only; they produced no wax, constructed no cells, and
laid no eggs; but on giving them honey, wax was produced in a few
minutes, and the work of the colony proceeded.
The interior of a humble bee’s nest has none of the beauty and
regularity of the hive. Instead of a number of vertical combs of wax
there is a confused and clumsy assemblage of egg-shaped bodies of
dirty-coloured wax, placed one above the other, forming a series of
horizontal combs, resting upon each other and connected by small pillars
of wax. These egg-shaped bodies are of different sizes; those in the
middle being the largest, closely joined to each other, and each group
connected with those next it by slight joinings of wax. These oval
bodies are the silken cocoons spun by the young larvæ; some are closed
at the top, and include inmates; others, chiefly in the lower combs, are
open, the young bees having escaped from them. On the surface of the
upper comb are several masses of wax of a roundish and irregular form,
about an inch and a quarter in diameter and half an inch deep; these are
brood cells, containing each six or seven large larvæ, lying close
together upon a quantity of pollen and honey placed there for the
purpose of nourishing them as soon as they are hatched. When the food is
consumed, the workers make an opening in the top of the cell and
introduce a new supply, taking care to seal up the cells again. The
cells are sometimes split open as the grub increases in size, upon which
the workers fill up the cracks with wax, as fast as they occur. It is a
curious fact, that these insects make use of the empty cocoons as
honey-pots, first lining them with wax, and strengthening them round the
edges with a waxen ring. Some nests contain as many as fifty or sixty of
these honey-pots, containing stores for daily use, and which are never
sealed over like the cells of the hive bee, because all the colony
except one female dies at the approach of winter, and this solitary
female lies in a torpid state during that season.
[Illustration:
CELLS OF THE HUMBLE BEE.
]
But bees are not the only wax-makers in the world. There is, in China,
an insect called the white wax insect, which, in its caterpillar state,
deposits a sort of wax on the branches of trees. Sir George Staunton
tells us that accident led him to observe some swarms of uncommon
insects busily employed upon the branches of a shrub, not at that time
in fruit or flower, but whose leaves and general growth somewhat
resembled our privet. These insects, not much bigger than common flies,
were of curious structure, having an appendage to their bodies, in shape
like the tail feathers of our common fowl. This, as well as the whole
body, was either perfectly white, or covered with a white powder, some
of which was left in the track of the insect on the stems and leaves of
the shrub. This was the early stage of the insect’s life, and that in
which wax is formed. The wax is described as being a greasy white
substance when first deposited on the leaves and branches, where it soon
hardens into a more compact form. The insect in its perfect state is of
a blackish chestnut colour, and is furnished with wings. It deposits its
eggs in little pellets about the size of a grain of millet, but these
enlarge in the spring, and being attached to the branches, give to the
shrub exactly the appearance of being loaded with fruit. About Midsummer
these pellets open and disclose the insects, which soon begin to crawl
about the branches and deposit wax.
It is in the autumnal months that the Chinese scrape the wax from the
branches of trees, collecting it in a vessel, and then melting and
straining it. They next coagulate it by pouring it into a vessel of cold
water, and this gives it a pasty form, in which it is easily made into
cakes of the required size. This wax is exceedingly white and glossy,
and when mixed with oil and made into candles, it is even superior for
that purpose to the wax made by bees. Sir G. Staunton says that the
product of these insects not only coagulates into wax, but will cause
oleaginous substances to coagulate likewise, so that if one part of this
wax be dissolved in three parts of heated olive oil, the whole, when
cold, will coagulate into a mass, possessing a degree of firmness nearly
equal to that of bees-wax. A Chinese writer states that it was not until
the dynasty of Yuen that the wax made by these insects became known in
China; but that as soon as its properties were ascertained, persons of
all ranks began to use it, both in medicine and domestic economy. The
medicinal qualities of the wax were much extolled by Chinese physicians,
and a curious use of it is stated in Grosier’s China, namely, that the
Chinese orators, when about to speak in public and needing assurance,
previously eat an ounce of this wax to prevent swoonings. But apart from
virtues which existed chiefly in the fancy of the Chinese, the uses of
this substance in making candles, and for the ordinary purposes to which
bees-wax is applied, are highly important. The wax, it is said, is
carried to court and reserved for the emperor, the princes, and chief
mandarins. The producing insects are found in most of the south-eastern
provinces of China, as well as in Cochin China.
Nearly the whole of the wax employed in Europe, and the greater part of
that consumed in America, is the produce of the common hive bee, but in
the latter country the produce of wild bees is also extensively used.
Wax forms an important branch of trade and commerce in all those
countries where the Roman Catholic religion prevails, being extensively
used in the festivals and rites of that church. According to Humboldt,
wax to the value of eighty-three thousand pounds was formerly annually
exported from Cuba to New Spain, where the quantity consumed in the
festivals of the church is immense, even in the smallest villages. The
total exports from Cuba in the year 1803 were worth upwards of
130,000_l._
[Illustration: [Hive]]
CHAPTER V.
MANUFACTURE OF HONEY BY THE HIVE BEE.
Many and various are the trees, shrubs, and plants, yielding blossoms
rich in honey, which have been recommended to be cultivated in the
neighbourhood of bee-hives; and no one can have watched the proceedings
of the industrious inhabitants without observing that the early blossoms
of the sallow and of the horse-chestnut seem peculiarly acceptable, and
later in the season those of the lime; while mignonette, thyme,
rosemary, lavender, and various other flowers, are assiduously visited
by these diligent collectors. But the best stores of our gardens yield a
scanty supply compared with the treasures of the fields, such as bean
blossoms, and clover blossoms. The latter crop (especially the white
Dutch clover called honeysuckle) is so rich in sweet juices, that when
there is plenty of it, a good supply of honey is also pretty certain.
[Illustration:
THE PASSION-FLOWER.
(_Passiflora Cærulea._)
]
In autumn, bees attack fruit after birds or snails have removed the
outer skin. They also consume _honey-dew_, the sweet fluid which is
dropped by the aphis. At this season also the Passion-flower affords a
seasonable supply of liquid honey. The fondness of the bee for the honey
of this flower is thus noticed by Mr. Wailes in the _Entomological
Magazine_. He says, “Against the south front of our house, several
plants of the _Passiflora Cærulea_ are trained, which cover it to the
height of some twenty feet, or thereabouts; and, from July to November,
the constant succession of its beautiful flowers attract great numbers
of the hive bee, especially during autumn, when flowers productive of
much honey are scarce. Every one knows the passion-flower, and need
hardly be told that one series of the rays of the nectary closely
surrounds the stipes or shaft, whilst other two are beautifully spread
over the horizontal leaves of the corolla; but perhaps few are aware
that the tube of the calyx contains several drops of pure and delicious
honey. On the arrival of each bee, I can at once tell whether it has
been a prior visitor or not, by its mode of procedure. Should it be a
first visit, the little busy creature is for a time quite at a loss; it,
of course, scents the honey, but cannot discover the entrance to the
storehouse. Convinced that there is plenty of the object of its search
in the flower, the bee hurries over the surface in all directions, now
running its head fast between the corolla and the outer double series of
the rays of the nectary, now entangling itself amongst the beautiful
rays themselves, and anon mounting the stipes, and ransacking the parts
of fructification. At length, after a bustling scene, which frequently
lasts for two or three minutes, and which the bee’s certainty that honey
is concealed somewhere in the neighbourhood prevents its quitting in
despair, sometimes apparently by mere chance, at others by running the
scent home, its indefatigable labours are rewarded. Now, with its tongue
inserted amongst the rays surrounding the shaft, and past the projecting
rim which almost closes the entrance to the tube of the calyx, it drinks
its fill, and flies off for the hive, to deposit its treasure, and
profit by experience on a future trip. Far different is the manner of
the bee that has been at the work before; it wastes not a moment of the
time which the approach of winter renders doubly valuable, but at once
alights on the flower, runs to its centre, and plunging its tongue into
the liquid sweet, hurries back loaded to the hive.”
Ancient writers speak of the practice of removing bees to fresh pastures
every autumn, as common in their times; and this practice is still
continued in many parts of the world with great advantage to
bee-keepers. Towards the end of August, when wild flowers have almost
disappeared, and gardens are fading, and clover is no longer in blossom,
it is very desirable to find some fresh pasturage for the bees. The
autumnal transportation of bees is approved of in the east, and also in
many parts of the European continent; but in England it is seldom
adopted. Nevertheless, it is almost universal in Scotland. “About five
miles from Edinburgh,” says Dr. Bevan, “at the foot of the Pentland
hills stands Logan House, supposed the former residence of Sir W.
Worthy, celebrated by Allan Ramsay, in his ‘Gentle Shepherd.’ The house
is now occupied by a shepherd, who, during July and August, receives
about a hundred bee-hives from his neighbours beyond the hills, that
their bees may gather the honey from the luxuriant blossoms of the
mountain heather.” This is only one instance out of numbers, for in this
way our careful northern neighbours manage to double their harvest of
honey, taking not unfrequently almost the whole store from their hives
before transporting them to the moors, and reaping an ample quantity
again on their return in three weeks’ time.
A writer on this subject regrets that our own moorlands are not made
available to this end. “The very air,” he says, “is often redolent with
the rich perfume, while here and there a solitary bee is seen or heard,
labouring with wearied wing among the inexhaustible stores of nature,
and scarcely able to regain its lonely shieling in the distant vale.
When we consider the poverty of our mountaineers, and their frequent
want of occupation, it is the more to be lamented that so easy a source
of emolument should lie open to them in vain.” From the Journal of
Agriculture we learn that Poland is, perhaps, the greatest
honey-producing country in Europe. In the provinces of Podolia, Ukraine
and Volhynia in particular, the cultivation of the honey-bee has long
formed an object of national importance; and these bee-gardens are not
only very numerous and extensive, but they are also common in other
parts of the kingdom. There are cottages in Poland, with very small
portions of land attached to them, on which are to be seen as many as
fifty hives; while there are farmers and landed proprietors who are in
possession of from one hundred to ten thousand hives. There are some
farmers who collect annually more than 200 barrels of fine honey, each
barrel weighing from 400 to 500 lbs., exclusive of the wax. A tenant is
often in this way enabled to pay his rent and taxes, to defray other
domestic expenses, and often to accumulate handsome dowries for his
daughters.
The middle of September is about the time for the honey-harvest, or
in-gathering of the stores of the hive. Those hives which are designed
for winter stock must be set apart and weighed. A common straw hive when
empty weighs from five to six pounds, an ordinary swarm about four
pounds, the wax of a full hive two or three pounds, the farina in the
cells one pound, making in all fifteen pounds. A stock, therefore, to be
secure, must weigh double that amount, that is, it should not contain
less than fifteen pounds of honey. The bees, it is true, may exist
through the winter on a smaller quantity than this, but this would
depend very much on the nature of the season; whereas with fifteen
pounds they are considered safe, so far as food is concerned, whatever
the temperature may be. These stock-hives being selected, the cultivator
now proceeds to take the honey from the rest of the hives.
There are three ways of taking honey, known as “partial deprivation,”
“suffocation,” and “driving.” For the first of these, hives of two
stories are mostly employed. Immediately after the swarming season
another story, or box, is added, either above or below, and one of those
filled with honey is taken away. If this be done early enough in the
season, there will be time for the bees to fill the empty story before
winter; but if it be delayed, as is sometimes the case, until the
beginning or middle of September, then the bees, having no opportunity
of replacing what has been taken away, will be starved before the winter
is over. This method of taking honey is by no means general, apparently
because, from an error as to the _time_ of performing the operation, it
has frequently failed.
The second, or suffocating process, is effected by taking strips of
linen rag, dipping them in melted brimstone, and placing them on a few
sticks in a hollow place in the ground: then light is set to the rags,
and the hive quickly set over them. Every hole being stopped up to
prevent the escape of the sulphur fumes, the bees are soon suffocated,
and the combs discoloured. This cruel and objectionable practice is,
perhaps, the most common of any, being the least troublesome, though not
the most economical mode of getting at the honey.
The third, or driving system, saves the lives of the bees, by turning
them out into a well-stored stock-hive, and need not give any great
amount of additional trouble. It is thus described in the Naturalists’
Library:—“In the evening, when all are quiet, turn up the hive which is
to be operated upon, fixing it in a chair from which the stuffed bottom
has been removed; place an empty hive above it, wrap a cloth round the
point of junction, to prevent the bees from coming out and annoying the
operator; then, with a short stick or stone in each hand, beat round the
sides, but gently, for fear of loosening the combs. In five minutes the
panic-struck insects will hastily mount into the empty hive, with a loud
humming noise, expressive of their trepidation. The hives are then
separated; that containing the bees is placed on its usual pedestal, and
the other, containing the honey, is carried off. The union is next to be
effected. Turn up the stock-hive which is to receive the addition to its
population,—with a bunch of feathers, or a small watering-pan, such as
is used for watering flower-beds, drench them with a solution of ale and
sugar, or water and sugar made a little warm. Do the same to the
expelled bees; and then placing these last over the stock, mouth to
mouth, a smart rap on the top of the hive will drive them down among the
bees and combs of the undermost hive. Place this last on its pedestal,
and the operation is completed. The strong flavour of the solution will
prevent them from distinguishing between friend and stranger; and their
first movement after recovering from their panic will be to lick the
liquid from one another’s bodies. It will be an advantage, though a
little additional trouble, to search for and destroy the queen of the
expelled bees before the union takes place.”
When the bees have been removed from the hives by one of the above
processes, the operation of extracting the honey must commence
immediately, while the hive is yet warm. The warmth may also be kept up
by allowing it to flow in a room where there is a fire. The comb should
be kept from the air as much as possible, for which purpose some
cultivators make use of a tin-covered vessel, pierced with holes at the
bottom, and made to fit into another similar vessel fit to receive the
honey. Pieces of comb, sliced horizontally, are put into this covered
vessel, and the honey filters through the bottom, being first passed
through a filter of wire-cloth or muslin placed at a little distance
above the other. This upper filter prevents the vessel from becoming
clogged with particles of wax, and increases the purity of the honey. A
spigot in the lower vessel allows the honey to pass out into store jars.
Such are some of the processes by which the honey and wax of bees are
made available to our use. Honey is of less importance to mankind since
the discovery of sugar; but it will always rank among the wholesome and
agreeable luxuries of life; while in countries where sugar is not so
easily obtained as it is among ourselves, it holds a much more important
position. In the Ukraine, some of the peasants have four or five hundred
bee-hives, and make more profit of their bees than of their corn. In
Spain, also, the number of bee-hives is said to be immense, a single
parish priest having been known to possess five thousand.
Rock-honey, found in some parts of America, is thin and clear as water,
and is the produce of wild bees, which suspend thirty or forty waxen
cells, resembling a bunch of grapes, to a rock.
Green honey, found in the Isle of Bourbon, and exported to India, where
it fetches a high price, is the produce of a bee much esteemed in that
island. It produces sweet and fragrant honey, of the consistency of oil,
and of a green colour.
[Illustration:
ANOTHER INTERIOR OF A BEE-HIVE.
]
[Illustration:
MALE COCHINEAL INSECT.—(_Magnified._)
]
[Illustration:
FEMALE.—_Upper surface._
]
[Illustration:
FEMALE.—_Under surface._
]
CHAPTER VI.
MANUFACTURE OF COCHINEAL BY THE COCCUS CACTI, OR COCHINEAL INSECT.
The cochineal insect is extremely valuable in commerce, as yielding a
brilliant red dye, and we may with propriety class it among insect
manufactures, because, although its destruction is necessary to obtain
the colouring matter, (the actual body of the insect forming the dye,)
yet this beautiful colour is elaborated from the food on which it feeds,
as honey and wax are elaborated by the bee, or silk by the silkworm. We
do not find, it is true, any especial care or effort on the part of the
insect in the production of the cochineal, and in this respect it
differs from the examples already given; but the rich colour which
pervades the body of the insect appears to result simply from the juices
of the particular species of cactus on which it feeds. Yet being to us
the only means of obtaining the brilliant dye in question, the cochineal
insects must be reckoned highly useful, though involuntary,
manufacturers.
Cochineal insects are very small, delicate creatures, remarkable for the
great difference in the form of the male and female. The former has a
slender body, long antennæ, and two large wings; the latter an oval
body, without wings, and short antennæ. The mouth in both insects
consists of a small conical bill and sucker, adapted for feeding on the
juices of vegetables. At first, all the young brood, whether male or
female, resemble tiny red tortoises, and are busily engaged in feeding
on the stems and leaves of plants, which they pierce with their sharp
beaks so as to do much injury. During this active period of their lives
the insects continue to increase in size, but the period soon arrives
when they undergo a transformation. All the insects fix themselves
firmly to plants or stems, and the male soon appears in his new dress as
a fly, while the female merely changes her skin, and remains fixed to
the bark, which she gradually becomes so nearly like, that it is
difficult to distinguish her. She now lays her eggs, which are very
numerous, and which she accumulates beneath her body; but, at the same
time, she gradually dwindles in size until her body becomes a mere
pellicle or thin membrane enclosing the brood. The mother then dies, but
her dried body remains as a sort of shell or cocoon for the protection
of her young. When these are hatched, they soon make their way from
beneath the scaly covering, and commence feeding vigorously on the
juices of the plant.
To the persevering exertions of a French gentleman, M. Thierry de
Menonville, it was owing that the culture of the cochineal became known
in the West India islands. This gentleman left Port au Prince, in St.
Domingo, in January 1777, with the express object of procuring some
living cochineal insects of the finest sort from Mexico, and bringing
them for propagation in the French West India islands; an enterprise for
the expense of which the French government had allotted the sum of four
thousand livres. Owing to the jealousy of the Spanish government, there
was great difficulty in penetrating as far as the cochineal districts,
and M. Thierry pursued a plan to effect his object which cannot be
considered justifiable, since it involved a departure from truth. At
first he feigned ill health, and obtained permission to use the baths of
the river Magdalena; but, instead of going thither, he proceeded as fast
as possible in the direction of the desired district, where he was
successful in getting some plants laden with cochineal, as a pretended
remedy for gout. From his account of the expedition we gather the
following particulars.
After numerous fatigues and dangers he at length saw himself near the
end of his journey, and approached Guaxaca. At a village, within a short
distance of that place, he saw, for the first time in his life, and with
the utmost pleasure, the fine cochineal feeding on the nopal, or cactus,
which it frequents. He saw a garden full of nopals, and not doubting but
that they were laden with cochineal insects, he sprang from his horse,
and, under pretence of adjusting his stirrups, entered into conversation
with the Indian proprietor of the garden. He asked him with apparent
indifference what was the use of those plants, and was answered, that
they were for the cultivation of _grana_. Feigning surprise, de
Menonville asked to be permitted to see this grana, and he was really
astonished when the insect was brought to him, for he had supposed it
red, and it was in fact covered with a white powder. “My doubts,” he
says, “were tormenting, but I suddenly thought of the expedient of
crushing one upon white paper, when what did I see?—the true purple of
kings!” Full of delight and anticipation, the traveller now set forward
towards the spot where he might hope to make himself acquainted with the
culture of the precious insect, and purchase a store for transportation.
Nothing could be more beautiful than the situation of Guaxaca, capital
of the province of that name. Standing in the midst of fertile and
extensive plains, at the foot of a majestic mountain range, and watered
by a fine and noble river, this city is richly supplied with corn and
fruits of all kinds, at the same time that its environs supply a most
favourable site for the culture of the cochineal. The air, continually
refreshed by easterly breezes in the morning, and westerly in the
evening, is pure and delicious, like that of a May morning. Indeed, our
traveller asserts, that for magnificence of site, beauty of decoration,
excellence of soil, fine temperature, and abundance of European and
American fruits succeeding each other without intermission, nothing is
wanting to Guaxaca to make it an enchanting spot, but an active and
industrious people, to avail themselves of its natural advantages.
At Guaxaca de Menonville acted with caution, and did not betray any
undue anxiety respecting the cochineals. Yet he provided himself with
chests large enough for their conveyance together with the plants on
which they fed. Under pretence of buying flowers, he went into a garden
where there was a beautiful nopalerie, and while they were making up the
bouquet he had ordered, he took the opportunity of observing the
arrangement of the nopals. They were planted four feet apart in lines,
the lines being six feet asunder. The nopalerie belonged to a negro, and
it was here that a purchase might in all probability be effected. On
another occasion, therefore, de Menonville took two Indian servants,
each bearing a large hamper, and repaired very early in the morning to
the garden. He left his servants at the entrance, and entered alone. The
negro proprietor had scarcely risen, but he came forward in a frank and
agreeable manner. De Menonville then told him, that being a physician,
he was anxious to make an ointment of his own invention for the cure of
gout, and for this purpose he wished to purchase some branches of nopals
laden with cochineal, for which he was willing to pay whatever the owner
should demand, provided he might make his own selection of the branches
suitable to his purpose. The Indian willingly complied, and accordingly
the hampers were brought in, and eight fine branches, each two feet high
and so loaded with cochineals as to be quite white, were speedily cut,
packed, and covered with cloths. He then asked him how much he had to
pay; the negro answered that he could not possibly sell them for less
than two _reals_. Our traveller fully believed him, and would have
purchased them, if necessary, at a much larger sum. That the negro might
not think him dissatisfied with the bargain, he gave him a piaster
(value eight reals), telling him he had no change, and therefore he
should give him the rest to drink his health. The good old negro rubbed
his eyes, thinking he was still dreaming, and then loaded de Menonville
with thanks, while the latter brought in his two Indians, gave them the
hampers to carry, and then set off as fast as possible. “My heart,” he
says, “beat quickly, for it seemed to me that I had carried off the
golden fleece, but might yet be pursued by the furious dragon who kept
guard over it. All along the road I kept saying, ‘At last they are in my
power;’ and I could willingly have sung for joy if I had not been afraid
of being heard. I arrived at my inn quite out of breath, without having
met a single person in the streets; it was about sunrise; no one was
awake in the house, and I crept quietly to my room, where I arranged my
nopals, with inexpressible delight, in the caskets I had purchased for
that purpose.”
[Illustration:
COCHINEAL CACTUS.
]
After innumerable difficulties and dangers this traveller reached St.
Domingo in safety, but with only a small part of his insects living.
These, however, he was successful in rearing and multiplying until a
flourishing nopalerie was established. He found, by experience, that
five or six species of _cactus opuntia_ will nourish these insects, but
that some are far more valuable than others. He also proved that the
colours of the flowers and fruit of the plants, whether red, violet,
yellow, or white, did not in any way affect the colour of the cochineal,
nor indicate the greater or less aptitude of the plant to nourish the
insect. The thorny species were less convenient on account of the pain
and annoyance to the hands of those who managed the nursery; but in some
of these the younger branches were nearly free from prickles.
The terms _nopalerie_ for the nursery, and _nopal_ for the plant, are
preserved among the French cultivators of cochineal, in remembrance of
the Mexican origin of such nurseries. The enclosure should be secured by
walls or a quick hedge; not from the fear that any animal will prey upon
the plants, since no large quadruped is known to have a taste for them;
but simply to keep out such as might by accident or fear be driven
through the grounds, and trample on and destroy the crop.
An acre, or an acre and a half of land, when planted with nopals, is
sufficient to keep one Indian well employed during six months of the
year. The plants should be so situated as to receive the full influence
of the morning sun, which is of great consequence to the welfare of the
cochineal. Every part of the ground should be as neat as a well-kept
garden, and every injurious insect watched for and destroyed. The spider
alone is permitted to weave her nets in peace, and for this reason: she
is the great enemy of many insects which injuriously affect the
cochineals, while she herself does not touch one of them. The nopal
requires a good soil, where the drainage is excellent. Shelter from the
wind, and exposure to the sun, are the two great requisites, and with
this there must be a tolerably settled climate, otherwise the harvest
will be uncertain.
When in a favourable situation, the nopal requires less care and
cultivation than almost any other plant: it would even appear that the
less it is meddled with the better it succeeds. As soon as a nursery
ground is laid out, cleaned, and drained, planting commences, the season
being the dry period just before the spring rains. Alleys or paths are
marked out, forming squares: parallel lines are drawn across these
squares north and south. Here the nopals are planted at two feet
distance from each other, being clean cuttings from the old plant, and
not torn or broken from it. The Indians of Guaxaca plant two or three
cuttings in each hole, lest any accident should prevent one from
striking. Eighteen months afterwards the plants will be in a state to
nourish the cochineal.
The sowing of cochineal, as it is called, is performed at day-break, the
insects being conveyed from the old plants and attached to the new. For
this purpose they are placed in little nests made by the natives, and
attached with thorns to the leaves of the nopal. Here they quickly
multiply to an astonishing extent. A nopalerie is in perfection six
years, after which the insects are taken away and the plants cut down.
The cochineal harvest takes place every year as soon as the young
insects begin to run about. Assembling his friends, old and young, the
owner of the cochineal ground enters it at break of day with a crowd of
men, women, and children, provided with knives six inches long and two
wide, and also with dishes and with baskets. The blade of the knife is
rounded at the top, so as to injure neither the insect nor the plant;
this is passed gently between the skin of the nopal and the clusters of
cochineals with which it is covered, causing the latter to fall into the
dish or basket, which the left hand holds ready to receive them. A child
of ten years old may thus gather ten pounds of insects in a day, which
being killed and dried will yield about three pounds and a half of
cochineal. The best method of killing the insects is by pouring boiling
water on them, and allowing it to remain one, two, or three minutes. The
water is preserved, as it necessarily has some of the colouring matter
of the insects; the latter are spread out to dry in the sun and wind,
being turned occasionally by hand. Ten persons, it is said, can thus
prepare two hundred pounds of cochineal in two days. Such is the history
given by de Menonville himself, in his volumes entitled ‘_Voyage à
Guaxaca_.’ Baron Humboldt, describing the management of cochineals in
this and in other parts of South America, gives some additional
particulars. He ascertained that in a colder climate, the colour of the
cochineal is equally fine, but the harvests are more uncertain. Plains
or valleys are generally more favourable to the rapid increase of the
cochineals than elevated ground, but such places also abound in insect
enemies, and in lizards, rats, and birds, which devour the crop. Great
care is required in clearing all the joints of the nopals: for this
purpose Indian women use a squirrel’s or a stag’s tail, and will sit for
hours crouched near a single plant. Notwithstanding the high price of
cochineal, it is very doubtful whether the trade would answer in any
country where labour is more valuable. In some parts of Guaxaca (called
by Humboldt Oaxaca), they obtain three harvests of cochineal in the
year, the first being the least lucrative, because the bodies of the
insects yield very little colouring matter when they die naturally, and
this is the case at the first harvest, when they have just brought forth
their young. Many of the negro proprietors of nopaleries, especially
those in the neighbourhood of Oaxaca, have a very ancient and singular
custom of making their cochineals emigrate during the rainy season. As
the Spaniard causes his flocks of merinos to emigrate on the approach of
cold, so do these negroes send away their crop during a season which
might prove fatal to them. The insects are packed in hampers, and
carried as quickly as possible, on the backs of negroes, to a place nine
leagues distant from the town, not so heavily visited with rain. Here
they distribute them on the nopals, and keep them there till the month
of October, when they return with their freight, and replace it in the
nopaleries of Oaxaca.
The plantations of cochineal cultivated by M. Thierry, at St. Domingo,
were so successful that in 1789 there were more than four thousand
plants in a single nopalerie, and the produce was ascertained by
chemists to be quite equal to that of Mexico; but at the time of the
French Revolution, the political troubles of St. Domingo caused the
destruction of the plantations. Cochineal has been cultivated with some
success in several of the British West India islands. Thus the Rev. L.
Guilding, writing a few years ago to Dr. Hooker, says, “I possess a
considerable nursery of this cactus, inhabited by thousands of the true
_Coccus cacti_, and I do not despair of being able to send to the
Society of Arts a large quantity of dried insects before the termination
of the present year.”
So important was the acquisition of this insect to the East India
Company, that they offered a reward of six thousand pounds to any one
who should introduce it into India, where hitherto the Company had only
succeeded in procuring from Brazil the wild kind producing the
_sylvestre_ cochineal, which is of inferior value. The true cochineal
insect, and the cactus on which it feeds, are said to have been of late
years successfully introduced into Spain and the French colony of
Algiers, and now exist in the stores of the _Jardin des Plantes_ at
Paris, and also in those of King Leopold at Claremont.
Stephens, in his Travels in Central America, does not omit to notice the
cultivation of this insect, which was carried on extensively in the
neighbourhood of the ruined city of La Antigua Guatimala. “Emerging from
the city,” he says, “we entered the open plain, shut in by mountains,
and cultivated to their base with cochineal. At about a mile’s distance
we turned into the hacienda of Señor Vidaury. In the yard were four oxen
grinding sugar-cane, and behind was his nopal or cochineal plantation,
one of the largest in the Antigua. The plant is a species of cactus, set
out in rows like Indian corn, and, at the time I speak of, it was about
four feet high. On every leaf was pinned with a thorn a piece of cane,
in the hollow of which were thirty or forty insects. These insects
cannot move, but breed, and the young crawl out and fasten upon the
leaf. When they have once fixed, they never move; a light film gathers
over them, and as they feed, the leaves become mildewed and white. At
the end of the dry season some of the leaves are cut off and hung up in
a storehouse for seed, the insects are brushed off from the rest and
dried, and are then sent to minister to the luxuries and elegancies of
civilized life, and enliven with their bright colours the _salons_ of
London, Paris, and St. Louis in Missouri. The crop is valuable, but
uncertain, as an early rain may destroy it, and sometimes all the
workmen are taken away for soldiers at the moment when they are most
needed for its culture. The situation was ravishingly beautiful, at the
base and under the shade of the Volcano de Agua, and the view was
bounded on all sides by mountains of perpetual green; the morning air
was soft and balmy, but pure and refreshing. With good government and
good laws, and one’s friends around, I never saw a more beautiful spot
on which man could desire to pass his allotted time on earth.”
[Illustration:
1. BRANCH COVERED WITH LAC. 2. SMALL TWIG LADEN WITH LAC. 3. PORTION
OF LAC (_magnified_). 4, 5, 6. LAC INSECT IN ITS SEVERAL FORMS.
]
CHAPTER VII.
MANUFACTURE OF GUM LAC BY THE LAC INSECT.
Another insect of the same family as the cochineal, prepares a substance
called gum lac, which is used as a dye, and also as a varnish. This is
the lac insect, (_coccus lacca_,) found on several kinds of trees in the
East Indies, especially in the uncultivated mountains on both sides the
Ganges, where it is produced in such abundance, that were the
consumption ten times greater than it is, the markets might be readily
supplied. So great is the accumulation of these insects on the trees
which they frequent, that the branches appear as if covered with red
dust, and their sap is so much exhausted, that they wither and produce
no fruit: the leaves also drop off, or turn to a blackish hue. The
insects fix themselves so close together, that it is supposed that not
more than one in six can have room to complete her cell. It is said they
are transplanted from place to place by birds, which cannot perch upon
the branches without carrying off a number to the next place they rest
upon.
The female, when about to lay her eggs, becomes completely glued to the
branch by a semi-pellucid liquid, which accumulates round the body, and
hardens by exposure to the air. This is the gum lac, the original use of
which is to form a cell for the young. When the eggs are laid, the
parent insect becomes a mere lifeless bag of an oval shape, containing a
small quantity of beautiful red liquid. On this liquid the young insects
feed as soon as they come to life; after which they pierce the cell, and
come forth one by one. Some small branches of _mimosa cinerea_, gathered
when the lac was in a very fresh looking state, became covered with
myriads of exceedingly minute animals at the end of fourteen days. They
issued from small holes over the surface of the cells, and when single
ran about pretty briskly; but in general they were so numerous as to be
crowded over one another. The cells themselves were very much like
amber; the outer portion was strong and resisting, but the partitions of
the interior were thinner, and formed irregular squares, pentagons, and
hexagons, having no communication with each other.
There are four sorts of lac known in commerce, but these are only so
many different preparations of the same substance. Stick lac is the lac
in its natural state, with much of the woody parts of the branches
adhering to it: this is collected in the East twice a year, the only
trouble being to break off the twigs and branches, and take them to the
nearest market, with the lac upon them; or, if destined for exportation,
the lac is separated from the larger branches for convenience of
freight.
Seed lac is the second description known in commerce. This is a
collection of granules, obtained from the former after the colouring
matter has been extracted by water, but this is seldom imported, being
manufactured into shell lac in India. Lump lac is the third form, being
merely the granules further purified and made into lumps. Lastly, there
is shell lac, in which the substance is purified to the utmost by being
put in bags and held over a fire until sufficiently melted to pass
through the pores of the linen. The bags are then pressed and squeezed
at the same time that they are passed over a smooth surface of wood,
thus depositing the lac in thin layers. The fineness and purity of the
lac will of course depend on the fineness of the bag through which it is
passed. Shell lac if pure will take fire when laid on a hot iron, and
will burn with a strong but not disagreeable smell. The heat of the
ship’s hold is very apt to run this commodity into a solid mass, in
which case its value is much depreciated.
The different kinds of lac are largely used by Indians for ornamental
purposes. Of the lump lac they make _bangles_, or armlets for women of
the lower class; shell lac being employed for the same kind of ornaments
for the upper classes, and also for beads, chains, necklaces, and other
adornments. They also make a good varnish by melting the lac, colouring
it with cinnabar or some other pigment, and making it into sticks like
our sealing wax. The box, cabinet, or other article about to be
varnished, is made hot by a charcoal fire, and then rubbed over with a
stick of lac, the surface being afterwards smoothed with a piece of
folded plantain leaf to make it equal. A similar varnish is often used
on images and ornamental figures. The religious houses of the Indians
are often adorned with very thin beaten lead, coloured with various
varnishes made from lac. The leaf of lead is laid upon a smooth heated
iron while the varnish is being applied.
Lac is also extensively used as a dye. By pouring warm water on stick
lac, a crimson solution is obtained, which is the source of much of the
value attached to lac. This colouring matter is extracted in various
ways, and made into small square cakes for sale; these go by the names
of lac dye, lac lake, or cake lake. When broken, the cakes are dark
coloured, shining, smooth and compact, and when scraped or powdered they
present a bright red colour approaching carmine. The native mode of
dyeing with this substance is described as follows. They take one gallon
of the red liquid, and add to it three ounces of alum. Three or four
ounces of tamarinds are boiled in a gallon of water and strained. Equal
parts of the red liquid and of the tamarind water are then mixed over a
brisk fire; and the pieces of silk or cotton cloth to be dyed are dipped
and wrung alternately, until they have received a proper proportion of
the dye. To deepen the colour they increase the proportion of the red
liquid, and lengthen the time during which the cloth remains immersed in
it. The colour is rendered permanent by the use of bark in the rinsing
water.
There is yet another and a singular employment of lac among the Indians.
The polishing grindstones used by eastern lapidaries are composed of a
mixture of three parts river sand with one part lac: these are mixed in
a vessel over the fire, and then formed into the shape of a grindstone;
the part of the lac being merely that of a cement to hold the sand
together.
In this country lac is valuable partly as a dye, partly as a varnish. As
a dye it is less beautiful, but more durable than cochineal. It forms
the best kinds of sealing wax, and is also used in the hat manufacture.
With regard to its use as a dyeing drug we find the following remarks in
the Entomology of Kirby and Spence. “It has been employed to impart a
blood red or crimson dye to cloth from the earliest ages, and was known
to the Phœnicians before the time of Moses, under the name of _Tola_ or
_Thola_, to the Greeks under that of _Coccus_, and to the Arabians and
Persians under that of _Kermes_ or _Alkermes_; whence, as Beckmann has
shown, and from the epithet _vermiculatum_ given to it in the middle
ages, when it was ascertained to be the produce of a worm, have sprung
up the Latin _coccineus_, the French _cramoisi_ and _vermeil_, and our
_crimson_ and _vermilion_. It was most probably with this substance that
the curtains of the tabernacle (Exodus xxvi.) were dyed deep red, (which
the word scarlet, as our translators have rendered it, then implied, not
the colour now so called, which was not known in James the First’s
reign, when the Bible was translated;)—it was with this that the
Grecians and Romans produced their crimson; and from the same source
were derived the imperishable reds of the Brussels and Flemish schools.
In short, previous to the discovery of cochineal, this was the material
universally used for dyeing the most brilliant red then known; and
though that production of the New World has, in some respects
undeservedly, supplanted it in Europe, where it is little attended to
except by the peasantry of the provinces in which it is found, it still
continues to be employed in great part of India and Persia.
Some other insects besides the cochineal and lac insects are found to
produce dyes. The galls of a peculiar species of aphis are used in the
Levant, Persia and China, for dyeing silk crimson, and it is thought
that the galls of another species of this insect, common on the fir
trees of this country, might be employed for a similar purpose. A
species of mite is employed in Guinea and Surinam as a dye, and it is
suggested that the beautiful little dazzling red mite which is common
here, might also yield a valuable tincture. Réaumur has even suggested
that water colours of beautiful tints not otherwise easily attainable,
might be procured by feeding the common clothes-moth on different
coloured wools. The excrement of this insect always retains the colour
of the substance forming the food, and mixes well with water to form a
pigment.
[Illustration:
NUT GALLS AND THE GALL INSECT.
]
CHAPTER VIII.
MANUFACTURE OF NUT GALLS BY THE GALL INSECT.
“No present that insects have made to the arts is equal in utility and
universal interest, comes more home to our best affections, or is the
instrument of producing more valuable fruits of human wisdom and genius,
than the gall insect: I mean the fly that gives birth to the gall-nut,
from which ink is made. How infinitely are we indebted to this little
creature, which at once enables us to converse with our absent friends
and connexions, be their distance from us ever so great, and supplies
the means by which, to use the poet’s language, we can
“——give to airy nothing
A local habitation, and a name!”
enabling the poet, the philosopher, and the divine, to embody their
thoughts for the amusement, instruction, direction, and reformation of
mankind.”[3]
Footnote 3:
Kirby and Spence.
The oak which furnishes this gall is common throughout Asia Minor, from
the Bosphorus to Syria, and from the shores of the Archipelago to
Persia. It is more frequently seen under the form of a shrub than a
tree, rarely attaining six feet in height. Its leaves are smooth,
toothed at the edges, of a clear green on both sides, and having a very
short leaf-stalk; they fall every year, at the end of autumn. The acorn
is two or three times longer than its cup, the latter is sessile,
slightly downy, and furnished with small scales. The gall is hard,
woody, and heavy, growing out of the buds of young branches, and
acquiring a diameter of from four lines to an inch. It is generally
round, and covered with knots, some of which are pointed.
This gall-nut is much more valuable if gathered before it is ripe, that
is to say, before the insect which produced it has made its escape. In
this state it has a bluish appearance, and is unperforated; whereas
those from which the insect has departed are lighter in colour and in
weight, and are less useful in dyeing.
The Orientals are very careful to gather in this crop at the exact time
which experience has proved to be the best, namely, that in which the
excrescence has attained its greatest size and weight. If there is any
delay, the insect undergoes its metamorphosis, pierces the shell, and
appears under its form of a winged insect. From this time the gall-nut
no longer derives from the tree those juices which were necessary for
the nourishment of the insect, but dries up, and loses the greater part
of those qualities which make it valuable in commerce. The Aga of the
district takes care that the cultivators traverse frequently, at the
time of the harvest, the hills and mountains which are covered with this
oak. He has an interest in obtaining galls of good quality, because he
levies a tax on the produce. The first gatherings are set aside; they
are known in the East under the name of _yerli_, and are called in
commerce _black galls_, and _green galls_. Those which have escaped the
first search, and which are gathered a little later, are named _white
galls_, and are of a very inferior quality.
The galls from Mossoul and Tocat, and in general those which come from
the eastern part of Turkey, are less valued than those from the
neighbourhood of Aleppo, of Smyrna, Magnesia, Diarbekir, and all the
interior of Natolia.
The acorns of this oak are nearly always neglected; being left as
pasturage for goats and wild boars: this it is thought contributes much
to render the oak small and stunted, because in devouring the fruit,
these animals also consume a part of its foliage and young branches.
The body of the insect which produces the gall-nut, is of a fawn colour,
with obscure antennæ; the abdomen is shining brown. It is sometimes
found in its perfect form in the interior of the nut.
On the same oak are frequently found a great number of other galls,
which are not gathered, because they are of no use in dyeing. One of
these is represented in the frontispiece to this chapter, and is
remarkable for its large size. It is spongy, very light, of a reddish
brown colour, and covered with a resinous matter. It is also furnished
with a circular range of tubercles, placed near its greatest
circumference. This is produced by a different insect, called by Olivier
_Diplolepis gallæ resinosæ_; a figure of which is also given on the
right hand side.
Gall-flies of various kinds attack our oak trees in this country, and
also our willows, hawthorns, roses, &c. A few words respecting the
excrescences they produce, may therefore assist our ideas of the
proceedings of the valuable insect described above. Very few persons are
unacquainted with oak-apples, or small roundish, flattened bodies
growing on the leaves of the oak. These are sometimes tinged with brown,
or pink, or pale yellow, so as to appear not much unlike very small
apples, attached to the leaf. Each of these curious bodies is formed by
a small fly of the same nature as that which forms the gall-nut. This
insect alights on the leaf, pierces it with a very sharp instrument with
which she is provided for this purpose, and deposits an egg so minute as
to be almost invisible to the human eye. The puncture of this insect
produces a diseased action in the leaf, so that the parts immediately
surrounding the egg swell and harden until the apple-shaped body is
produced. This is now an admirable place of shelter, and a reservoir of
food for the insect within, which remains snugly encased until it
arrives at its perfect state, when it cuts its way out through the solid
substance of the gall.
[Illustration:
LEAF GALLS.
]
[Illustration:
OAK SPANGLE.
]
This is only one out of many forms of gall that may be found on the oak,
where sometimes the leaf is attached, sometimes the catkin, and
sometimes the young bud. Another form of that on the leaf consists of
very small circular discs fixed to the under part by their central
points. The outer side of the disc is red and hairy, the inner side
smooth. Each disc contains a single insect, which remains in it long
after the leaves have fallen to the ground. The common name of this
curious excrescence is “oak spangle.”
[Illustration:
CURRANT GALLS.
]
Still more singular is the gall found in the catkins of the oak. The
flies deposit their eggs in the stalk of the stamen-bearing flowers,
which in consequence become adorned with what appear to be straggling
bunches of currants or bird-cherries. Placed at short distances from
each other on the thread-like stem, these excrescences so much resemble
currants in size, shape, and mode of growth, that they have been named
“currant galls.”
[Illustration:
ARTICHOKE-GALL.
]
Among the species of gall to which our oaks are subject, there are some
which grow at the end of the twig, as for instance, that called the
artichoke-gall, which comes the nearest in appearance to the nut-gall of
commerce, since it is, in common with that nut, an irregular
development, not of the leaf or flower, but of the bud. The
artichoke-gall might indeed be easily mistaken for the fruit of the
tree, by any one unacquainted with the habit of the oak. It is a
cone-like body, consisting of a number of leafy scales overlapping each
other, but on being dissected it is found, like other galls, to contain
insects in various stages of their growth, according to the season. In
the same way, the nut-gall, being a disease of the bud, or extremity of
the young shoots of the oak on which it grows, has the appearance common
to some other kinds of fruit, and would seem to be the ordinary produce
of the stalk, did we not find that acorns also grow on the same tree.
The hard and brittle texture of the gall-nut also, so different from the
substance of our own oak-galls, would be still more likely to deceive,
and indeed has deceived a highly respectable writer, who declares from
his observation of the dried galls of commerce, that the nut is the
fruit of a tree, and not a mere excrescence.[4]
Footnote 4:
Aikin.
How it is that the different species of gall-fly should produce such
varied results, and why one excrescence should be the oak-apple, another
the spangle, a third the artichoke, and a fourth the nut, is indeed a
mystery. But that these small insects do really produce the excrescences
in question, is an ascertained fact, and a most important one in the
commercial world.
Nut galls contain a large quantity of the vegetable principle called
_tannin_, being the astringent property for which oak-bark is in so much
repute. They also abound in an acid called from thence _gallic acid_,
which is the important ingredient in black dyes, and in fixing and
improving several other colours, as well as in the composition of ink.
[Illustration:
BLISTERING BEETLE.
]
CHAPTER IX.
OTHER INSECT PRODUCTIONS USEFUL TO MAN.
Almost any article could be better spared from the materia medica, than
an insect remedy called _cantharides_, or Spanish flies. This consists
of the bodies of small beetles, in which resides an active blistering
principle of great importance, not only as an external application, but
also sometimes as an internal remedy. The insect chiefly used in Europe
is the _cantharis vesicatoria_, for the most part rare in England, but
seen on some occasions in great numbers, as in the summer of 1837 in
Essex, Suffolk, and the Isle of Wight. Other insects of the same family
are employed in foreign countries.
The true blistering beetle has complete wings and wing cases; its body
is long and narrow, varying in size, but in general about nine lines
long and two or three lines wide. It is of a rich green and golden
colour, very shining and delicately tinctured, with the antennæ black,
except the first joint.
“The cantharis is one of those insects which have been most anciently
and most universally known. Physicians, who were the first natural
philosophers, and the first observers of nature, have made mention of
the cantharides in the remotest times. But they have only considered
them under that relation which was most suitable to their own
profession, and as furnishing to medicine one of its most powerful
agents. The naturalist, who is less anxious about becoming acquainted
with the medicinal virtues of the dead, than with the peculiar habits of
the living cantharides, is yet very far from having acquired in this
respect extensive and satisfactory information. The only species which
has been deemed to be endowed with useful properties, has caused a
forgetfulness of all the others which compose the entire genus; and all
that we know in general respecting these insects, is that in our
European climates they live on plants, devour the leaves of certain
trees, shun the cold, appear at the commencement of spring, and
disappear at the beginning of autumn. * * * It is more than probable
that experiments on insects relatively to their utility in medicine and
the arts, have been too much neglected in general. Their diminutive size
has doubtless caused them to be too much despised. It cannot however be
doubted, that there must be a great number of them whose virtues are at
least equal to those of the cantharides, and many others which are less
acrid and less caustic might in many cases be taken internally, with
less danger and a greater chance of success.”
The early history of this insect is not well known. The female buries
her eggs in the ground; the larvæ have a soft body of a yellowish white
colour; they live in the earth, and feed on various roots. When full
grown they change into the nymph state in the earth, and do not emerge
from it until they have assumed the perfect insect form.
They are very abundant in Spain and in the South of France, especially
in June, when they assemble in swarms. This is the time for gathering
them, and the hour of sunset or sunrise is chosen for the purpose, as
they are then in a somewhat torpid state. They are found upon ash-trees,
honey-suckles, lilacs, rose-trees, poplars, elms, &c., the leaves of
which they devour, and when this food fails they attack corn and grass,
and do much damage. The swarms are preceded by a fœtid odour resembling
that of _mice_. They are gathered in various ways; the most simple is to
spread cloths under the tree upon which a swarm has settled, and then to
shake them down; they are afterwards collected upon a hair sieve, and
held over the vapour of boiling vinegar, which kills them; or the cloth
in which they are collected may be folded loosely up and dipped in
vinegar, which has the same effect. Another method is to boil a quantity
of vinegar under the tree where they are collected, and the ascending
vapour kills them.
The particles emitted by these insects are so very corrosive that
persons are liable to be violently affected who attempt to gather them
with bare hands during the heat of the day. It is also dangerous to be
under a tree where a swarm has gathered. Persons who collect them should
always wear a mask and gloves.
After the insects are killed they must be dried; this is done in the sun
or in a heated room, upon tiles covered with cloth or paper. They are
moved about from time to time with a stick, or with the hands furnished
with gloves. When properly dry they are so light that fifty weigh
scarcely a drachm.
They are packed in boxes or barrels lined with paper and perfectly dry.
If damp gets to them they contract a detestable odour, and are unfit for
use.
A portion of our supply of cantharides is from Astracan and Sicily: but
the greatest quantity is from St. Petersburgh, the Russian insects being
superior to those of Sicily and France.
In using cantharides they are reduced to powder, mixed with some fatty
substance, and applied in the form of a plaster to the surface of the
body: it begins to act immediately, and separates the outer skin from
the dermis with great rapidity.
A singular employment of insects in the composition of _soap_ is made in
some parts of Africa. Geoffrey the younger relates, that being at the
village of Postudal, some leagues from Senegal, in search of insects,
one of the negroes whom he had employed in the same pursuit brought him
a vessel containing an immense quantity of a small species of carabus,
and informed him that this insect entered into the composition of the
soap used in that country; at the same time he exhibited a ball of a
dark-coloured soap, the properties of which are similar to the soap used
in Europe. It appears that the insect abounds in alkali, which makes it
useful for the purpose in question.
The following figure of the soap insect (_Carabus saponarius_), is
copied from M. Olivier’s large work on insects.
[Illustration: [Soap Insect]]
Another useful insect substance is a kind of resin, or more properly
speaking, wax, which by adulteration with a resinous substance is made
heavier for the market. This is found in the province of Coquimbo, South
America, and is the production of a caterpillar, which feeds on a shrub
called _chilca_, a species of origanum. The caterpillars are of a red
colour, and about half an inch in length. They appear in great numbers
in the beginning of the spring on the branches of the chilca, where they
form their cells of a kind of soft wax. In these they become changed
into a small yellowish moth, with black stripes upon the wings. The wax
is at first very white, by degrees becomes yellow, and finally brown;
this change, and the bitter taste which it acquires, is supposed to be
owing to the fogs which are very frequent in the provinces where it is
found. It is collected in autumn by the inhabitants, who boil it in
water, and afterwards make it up into little cakes, in which form it is
brought to market. In order to increase its weight, many are accustomed
to mix it with the resin obtained from another resinous shrub, and in
this state great quantities are sold to ship-masters, who use it for
paying their vessels.
Upon the branches of the wild rosemary is also found a whitish viscous
substance, in globules of the size of a hazel-nut, containing a very
limpid oil, which proceeds from the shrub. These glands serve for the
habitation of a kind of caterpillar, which becomes transformed into a
small fly, with four brown wings, of the genus _Cynips_.
* * * * *
The foregoing details will be sufficient to show that we are indebted in
no small degree to the labours of insects for comfort, convenience, and
health. It becomes us then to receive not unthankfully the benefits they
confer, while we view them as the agents of a higher power, under whose
direction they work with ceaseless activity in their humble sphere, and
produce results, not less astonishing in themselves, than valuable and
beneficial to mankind.
[Illustration: FINIS]
LONDON
R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
Page Changed from Changed to
155:t155 punctured, with the antennæ tinctured, with the antennæ
black, except black, except
● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained.
● Used numbers for footnotes.
● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
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