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Read Online Textbook The Kamogawa Food Detectives Kamogawashokudo Hisashi Kashiwai Ebook All Chapter PDF
Read Online Textbook The Kamogawa Food Detectives Kamogawashokudo Hisashi Kashiwai Ebook All Chapter PDF
Packard informs us[415] that in Bombus the larva, after it is full fed,
passes into the pupa state (Fig. 331, A, B) by a series of
transformations accompanied by moultings of the skin. Packard's
statements have been confirmed by others, but details have not
been fully given, so that the number of the moults, their intervals and
other particulars, are still unknown. We have remarked that the pupal
instar is very like the perfect instar, except that it is colourless and
soft, and that each of the members is wrapped in a very delicate
skin; the colour appears gradually. This metamorphosis exhibits
important differences from that of the Lepidoptera. Packard calls the
Insect, during the stages of transformation from the full-fed larva to
the pupa, the semi-pupa; the later stages of the pupa, when the
colouring has appeared, he terms the subimago. Altogether he
considers there is a series of at least ten moultings of the skin. His
ideas were apparently derived from examination of a series of
specimens after death rather than from observation of the
development in living individuals. The parasitic forms of
Hymenoptera have apparently extraordinary metamorphoses of very
varied kinds.
Our object at present is to bring to the eye of the reader the great
diversity of outer form that is believed, rightly or wrongly, to result
from the mode of treatment of the young. And we will also take this
opportunity of more fully illustrating the remark we made on p. 85 as
to the profound distinctions that exist between ants and white ants,
or Termites, notwithstanding the remarkable analogies that we shall
find to exist in many of their social arrangements.
The analogies we allude to, coupled with the fact that there is a
certain general resemblance in outer form between the workers of
Termites and ants, and even between the extraordinary castes called
soldiers in the two groups, have given rise to the idea that there is a
zoological relationship between the social forms of Neuroptera and
Hymenoptera. The two are, however, zoologically amongst the most
different of Insects. The external skeleton in Termites is remarkable
for its imperfect development, the sclerites being small and isolated,
while the segmental differentiation of the body is low (Fig. 225, etc.),
so that there is no difficulty in counting the segments. In ants the
reverse is the case as regards both these facts, the various
segments being most unequal, so that their homologies have only
been detected after prolonged studies, while the chitinisation and
articulation of the various parts is so complete that the ant may be
described as cased in armour, fitting together so exactly that it is
difficult anywhere to introduce the point of a needle into its chinks.
The wings of the two kinds of Insects are also extremely different.
The differences between the modes of growth and development of
the two sets of Insects are as profound as the distinctions in their
anatomy. Termitidae belong to the division of Insects in which the
wings are developed outside the body; Hymenoptera to the division
in which they are developed inside the body. In Termites the growth
of the individual is slow, and the final form is reached gradually. In
the ants the growth is carried on with great rapidity, and during it the
Insect is a helpless maggot absolutely dependent on the attentions
of its seniors, while the difference in form and structure between the
ant-larva and the ant are enormous. Both anatomy and ontogeny are
profoundly different in ants and Termites. To these distinctions must
be added, as of much importance, the fact that in Hymenoptera only
the female sex is modified for the division of labour, while in Termites
both sexes undergo this change. Hence it is impossible to suppose
that the remarkable analogies that exist between the societies of
ants and those of Termites are due to any common origin. It is
probably to some similar physiological susceptibilities in the
ancestors, at an extremely remote epoch, of both groups that we
must look for an explanation of the interesting resemblances in the
social lives of ants and Termites.
The history of C. integer has been given by Riley. This Insect attacks
the young shoots of willows in North America. Riley states[425] that
by a wonderful instinct the female, after she has consigned her egg
to the twig, girdles the latter, preventing it from growing any further,
and from crushing the egg by so doing. The larva after hatching eats
downwards, sometimes destroying a length of two feet of the twig;
when full grown it fills the bottom of the burrow with frass, and then
previous to making its cocoon eats a passage through the side of the
shoot about a quarter of an inch above the spot where the cocoon
will be placed, thus making it easy for the perfect Insect to effect its
escape; it leaves the bark, however, untouched, and is thus
protected in its retreat. A delicate transparent cocoon is then spun in
which the larva passes the winter, changing to a pupa in the
following March, and emerging as a perfect Insect about six weeks
thereafter.
Somewhat less than 100 species of this family are at present known;
the great majority are found in the Mediterranean region, but there
are several in North America. As a single species is known from
Mexico and another from Japan, it is probable that the family may
prove to have a wider geographical extension than at present
appears to be the case.
This family consists of the genus Oryssus, and includes only about
twenty species, but is nevertheless very widely distributed over the
world. They are very rare Insects, and little is known as to their
habits; one species, O. abietinus, was formerly found in England.
Should any one be so fortunate as to meet with it, he can scarcely
fail to recognise it on noticing the peculiar situation of the base of the
antennae. In this respect the Chrysididae somewhat resemble
Oryssus, but in that group of Hymenoptera the hind body or
abdomen is remarkably mobile, so that the Insects can coil
themselves up by bending at this joint; whereas in Oryssus the hind
body is very closely amalgamated with the thorax—more so, in fact,
than in any other Hymenopterous Insect—and has no power of
independent movement.
The Insects of this family are usually of large size and of bright
conspicuous colours; these, however, frequently differ greatly in the
sexes of the same species, and may be very variable even in one
sex. The antennae are filiform and usually elongate; the head is
usually contiguous with the thorax, but in one division, Xyphidriides,
it is exserted and separated from the thorax by a well-marked neck.
The pronotum is attached to the mesonotum, and possesses very
little, if any, freedom of movement; it varies in its size, being
sometimes conspicuous from above; in the Xyphidriides it is smaller,
and in the middle is entirely vertical in its direction. The mesonotum
is moderate in size, and its divisions are delimited by broad vague
depressions. The prosternum appears to be entirely membranous,
but the prosternal plates (pleura) are large, and meet together
accurately in the middle, so as to protect the greater part of the
under-surface of the neck. The abdomen is cylindrical or somewhat
flattened above; it has seven dorsal plates in addition to the spine-
bearing terminal segment. The trochanters are double, the outer
division being, however, short; the anterior tibia has only one spur;
the anal lobe of the posterior wings is large. The "borer" or ovipositor
of the female is a remarkable organ; it is held projecting directly
backwards from the extremity of the body, and has the appearance
of being a powerful sting. The apparatus is much longer than it
appears, for it proceeds not from the apex of the body, but from the
under-surface far forwards, so that the part exposed is only about
one-half of the total length; it consists of a pair of elongate sheaths,
which are easily separable though they wrap together, and enclose a
slender tube. This tube is rigid and quite straight; though appearing
solid, it is really composed of two very perfectly adjusted laminae
and a third arched piece or roof. The two lower laminae are called
the spiculae; they are serrated or grooved in a peculiar manner near
the tip, and although so closely adjusted to the borer or upper piece
of the tube as to appear to form one solid whole with it, they are said
to be capable of separate motion. In addition to these parts, the
termination of the abdomen bears above a shorter piece that
projects in a parallel plane, and forms a sort of thick spine above the
ventral pieces we have described; this process is very strong, and
has in the middle of its under-face in Sirex gigas a membranous
cavity, replaced in S. juvencus, according to Westwood, by a pair of
minute pilose styles. The Insect, by means of this powerful
apparatus, is enabled to deposit her eggs in the solid wood of trees,
in which the larva sometimes penetrates to the depth of eight inches.
Sirex gigas is one of the most remarkable of our British Insects, but
is little known except to entomologists, being usually rare. On the
continent of Europe it is, however, an abundant Insect, especially in
the neighbourhood of forests of fir-trees, and is a cause of
considerable terror. As the Insect is not capable of inflicting much
injury to the person, it is probable that the peculiar ovipositor is
believed to be a sting. The eggs are laid—it is said to the number of
100—in the solid wood of fir-trees, but not in perfectly healthy wood;
the reason for this, it is thought, being that in a healthy tree the great
affluence of sap caused by the burrows and presence of the Insect
would be injurious to the latter. The Sirex will, however, attack a
perfectly healthy tree immediately after it has been felled. The larva,
small at first, enlarges its burrows as itself grows larger, and thus the
wood of a tree may be rendered completely useless for trade
purposes, although there may be very little outward indication of
unsoundness. The larva (Fig. 342, C, larva of Tremex) is a pallid,
maggot-like creature, with six projections representing thoracic legs;
there are no other legs behind these, but some slight protuberances
take their place; the terminal segment is enlarged, and bears a hard
spine. There is a difference of opinion as to the duration of the life of
the larva, Kollar saying that in seven weeks after the deposition of
the egg the maggot is full fed, while others consider that it takes two
years to attain this condition; the latter statement is more probably
correct, it being the rule that the life of wood-feeding larvae is more
than usually prolonged. After becoming full fed, the Insect may still
pass a prolonged period in the wood before emerging as a perfect
Insect. As a result of this it not infrequently happens that the Insect
emerges from wood that has been carried to a distance, and used
for buildings or for furniture. A case is recorded in which large
numbers of a species of Sirex emerged in a house in this country
some years after it was built, to the great terror of the inhabitants.
The wood in this case was supposed to have been brought from
Canada.
Fabre has studied[426] the habits of the larva of Sirex augur, and
finds that it forms tortuous galleries in the direction of the longitudinal
axis of the tree or limb, and undergoes its metamorphosis in the
interior, leaving to the perfect Insect the task of finding its way out;
this the creature does, not by retracing its path along the gallery
formed by the larva, but by driving a fresh one at right angles to the
previous course, thus selecting the shortest way to freedom. By what
perception or sense it selects the road to the exterior is quite
unknown. Fabre is not able to suggest any sort of perception that
might enable the larva to pursue the right course, and considers it
must be accomplished by means of some sensibility we do not
possess. Fabre's observation is the opposite of what has been
recorded in the case of S. gigas, where the larva is said to prepare
the way for the exit of the perfect Insect.
Individuals of Sirex are often found in dried and solid wood, encased
by metal. When the Insect finds itself so confined, it gnaws its way
through the metal, if this be lead, and escapes. The perseverance
displayed by the Insect in these circumstances seems to indicate a
knowledge of the direction in which liberty is to be found.
About 100 species of Siricidae are known. They form two sub-
families:—
The larvae of the Tenthredinidae exhibit great variety, and are indeed
in this respect more interesting than the perfect Insects. The usual
rule is that the larvae much resembles those of Lepidopterous
Insects, and feed exposed on plants in the same way as
Lepidopterous larvae do. But the exceptions are numerous;
sometimes the larva is covered with slime, and thus protected from
various enemies. In other cases it is very depressed, a broad
creature, of irregular outline, living closely attached to the leaf,
somewhat after the fashion of a huge scale-Insect. Some larvae
mine between the layers of a leaf, others roll up leaves; a few live in
the stems of plants, and one or two inside fruits. Even this does not
complete the list of their habits, for a few species of Nematus live in
galls caused by the deposition of the egg. A species of Lyda forms
for itself a case out of bits of leaves, and carries this habitation about
with it after the fashion of the Phryganeidae. The number of legs in
these larvae is unusually great, varying from eighteen to twenty-two
—that is, three pairs of thoracic legs and eight of abdominal or pro-
legs. This character offers a ready means of distinguishing, in the
majority of cases, these larvae from those of the Lepidoptera in
which the number of legs varies, but is only from ten to sixteen;
moreover, the pro-legs in sawflies are destitute of the circles of
hooklets that exist in Lepidoptera. This mode of identifying the
immature stages of the Tenthredinidae is not, however, always
satisfactory, as there are some of these larvae that have no pro-legs
at all, but only the three thoracic pairs. Another point of distinction
exists, inasmuch as the larvae of the sawflies have only one ocellus
on each side of the head, whereas in the Lepidopterous caterpillars
the rule is that there are several of these little eyes on each side. In
addition to this, we should mention that the Lepidopterous larva
never has any pro-legs on the fifth body-segment, whereas in the
sawflies when pro-legs are present there is always a pair on the
segment in question.
These larvae are of various colours, but the patterns and markings
they exhibit are not quite like those of the Lepidoptera, though it
would be difficult to make any correct general statement as to the
nature of the differences. The variety of their postures is very
remarkable; and in respect of these also Tenthredinidae differ
considerably from Lepidoptera. Some of them hold the posterior part
of the body erect, clasping the leaf by their anterior legs; others keep
the posterior part of the body curled up (Fig. 343, A), and some
combine these methods by curving the posterior part of the body and
holding it away from the food. These attitudes, like the general form,