Curious Facts in the History of Insects; Including Spiders and Scorpions Part 15

Immense swarms of winged Ants are occasionally met with, and some have been recorded of such prodigious density and magnitude as to darken the air like a thick cloud, and to cover the ground or water for a considerable extent where they settled. We find in the memoirs of the Berlin Academy a description of a remarkable swarm, observed by M.

Gleditch, which from afar produced an effect somewhat similar to that of an Aurora Borealis, when, from the edge of the cloud, shoot forth by jets many columns of flame and vapor, many rays like lightning, but without its brilliancy. Columns of Ants were coming and going here and there, but always rising upward, with inconceivable rapidity. They appeared to raise themselves above the clouds, to thicken there, and become more and more obscure. Other columns followed the preceding, raised themselves in like manner, shooting forth many times with equal swiftness, or mounting one after the other. Each column resembled a very slender net-work, and exhibited a tremulous, undulating, and serpentine motion. It was composed of an innumerable mult.i.tude of little winged insects, altogether black, which were continually ascending and descending in an irregular manner.[571] A similar kind of Ants is spoken of by Mr. Accolutte, a clergyman of Breslau, which resembled columns of smoke, and which fell on the churches and tops of the houses, where they could be gathered by handfuls. In the German _Ephemerides_, Dr. Chas.

Rayger gives an account of a large swarm which crossed over the town of Posen, and was directing its course toward the Danube. The whole town was strewed with Ants, so that it was impossible to walk without crushing thirty or forty at every step. And more recently, Mr. Dorthes, in the _Journal de Physique_ for 1790, relates the appearance of a similar phenomenon at Montpellier. The shoals moved about in different directions, having a singular intestine motion in each column, and also a general motion of rotation. About sunset all fell to the ground, and, on examining them, they were found to belong to the _Formica nigra_ of Linnaeus.[572]

"In September, 1814," says Dr. Bromley, surgeon of the Clorinde, in a letter to Mr. MacLeay, "being on the deck of the hulk to the Clorinde (then in the river Medway), my attention was drawn to the water by the first lieutenant observing there was something black floating down the tide. On looking with a gla.s.s, I discovered they were insects. The boat was sent, and brought a bucketful of them on board; they proved to be a large species of Ant, and extended from the upper part of Salt-pan Reach out toward the Great Nore, a distance of five or six miles. The column appeared to be in breadth eight or ten feet, and in height about six inches, which I suppose must have been from their resting one upon another."[573] Purchas seems to have witnessed a similar phenomenon on sh.o.r.e. "Other sorts of Ants," says he, "there are many, of which some become winged, and fill the air with swarms, which sometimes happens in England. On Bartholomew, 1613, I was in the island of Foulness, on our Ess.e.x sh.o.r.e, where were such clouds of these flying pismires, that we could nowhere flee from them, but they filled our clothes; yea, the floors of some houses where they fell were in a manner covered with a black carpet of creeping Ants, which they say drown themselves about that time of the year in the sea."[574]

When Colonel Sir Augustus Frazer, of the British horse-artillery, was surveying, on the 6th of October, 1813, the scene of the battle of the Pyrenees from the summit of the mountain called Pena de Aya, or Les Quartres Couronnes, he and his friends were enveloped by a swarm of Ants, so numerous as entirely to intercept their view, so that they were obliged to remove to another station in order to get rid of them.[575]

"Not long since," says Josselyn in his Voyage to New England, London, 1674, "winged Ants were poured down upon the Lands out of the clouds in a storm betwixt _Blackpoint_ and _Saco_, where the pa.s.senger might have walkt up to the Ancles in them."[576]

Wingless Ants, in swarms or armies, also migrate at particular seasons; but for what purpose is not clear, except to obtain better forage. In Guiana, Mr. Waterton says he has met with a colony of a species of small Ant marching in order, each having in its mouth a leaf; and the army extended three miles in length, and was six feet broad.[577]

It is recorded by Oviedo and Herrera, that the whole island of Hispaniola was almost abandoned in consequence of the Sugar-Ant, _Formica omnivora_ of Linnaeus, which, in 1518 and the two succeeding years, overran in such countless myriads that island, devouring all vegetation, and causing a famine which nearly depopulated the Spanish colony. A tradition, says Schomburgk, prevails in Jamaica that the town of Sevilla Nueva, which was founded by Esquivel in the beginning of the sixteenth century, was entirely deserted for a similar reason. Herrera relates that, in order to get rid of this fearful scourge in Hispaniola, the priests caused great processions and vows to be made in honor of their patron saint, St. Saturnin, and that the day of this saint was celebrated with great solemnities, and the Ants in consequence began to disappear. How this saint was chosen, we read in Purchas's Pilgrims: "This miserie (caused by the Ants) so perplexed the _Spaniards_, that they sought as strange a remedie as was the disease, which was to chuse some Saint for their Patron against the Antes. _Alexander Giraldine_, the Bishop, having sung a solemne and Pontifical Ma.s.se, after the consecration and Eleuation of the Sacrament, and devout prayers made by him and the people, opened a Booke in which was a Catalogue of the Saints, by lot to chuse some he or she Saint, whom G.o.d should please to appoint their Advocate against the Calamitie. And the Lot fell vpon Saint _Saturnine_, whose Feast is on the nine and twentieth of Nouember; after which the Ant damage became more tolerable, and by little and little diminished, by G.o.d's mercie and intercession of that Saint."[578]

These devouring Ants showed themselves about the year 1760 in Barbados, and caused such devastations that, in the words of Dr. c.o.ke, "it was deliberated whether that island, formerly so flourishing, should not be deserted." In 1763, Martinique was visited by these devastating hordes; and about the year 1770 they made their appearance in the island of Granada. Barbados, Granada, and Martinique suffered more than any other islands from this plague. Granada especially was reduced to a state of the most deplorable desolation; for, it is said, their numbers there were so immense that they covered the roads for many miles together; and so crowded were they in many places that the impressions made by the feet of horses, which traveled over them, would remain visible but for a moment or two, for they were almost instantly filled up by the surrounding swarms. Mr. Schomburgk a.s.sures us that calves, pigs, and chickens, when in a helpless state, were attacked by such large numbers of these Ants that they perished, and were soon reduced to skeletons when not timely a.s.sisted. It is a.s.serted by Dr. c.o.ke that the greatest precaution was requisite to prevent their attacks on men who were afflicted with sores, on women who were confined, and on children that were unable to a.s.sist themselves. Mr. Castle, from his own observation, states that even burning coals laid in their way, were extinguished by the amazing numbers which rushed upon them.

Notwithstanding the myriads that were destroyed by fire, water, poison, and other means, the devastations continued to such an alarming extent, that in 1776 the government of Martinique offered a reward of a million of their currency for a remedy against this plague; and the legislature of Granada offered 20,000 for the same object; but all attempts proved ineffectual until the hurricane in 1780 effected what human power had been unable to accomplish.

In 1814, the Ants again made their appearance in the island of Barbados, doing considerable injury; but happily they did not continue long.[579]

Malouet, in visiting the forests of Guiana, of which he has spoken in his travels into that part of the globe, perceived in the midst of a level savanna, as far as the eye could reach, a hillock which he would have attributed to the hand of man, if M. de Prefontaine, who accompanied him, had not informed him that, in spite of its gigantic construction, it was the work of black Ants of the largest species (most probably of the genus _Ponera_). He proposed to conduct him, not to the Ant-hill, where both of them would infallibly have been devoured, but to the road of the workers. M. Malouet did not approach within more than forty paces of the habitation of these insects. It had the form of a pyramid truncated at one-third of its height, and he estimated that its elevation might be about fifteen or twenty feet, on a basis of from thirty to forty. M. de Prefontaine told him that the cultivators were obliged to abandon a new establishment, when they had the misfortune to meet with one of these fortresses, unless they had sufficient strength to form a regular siege. This even occurred to M. de Prefontaine himself on his first encampment at Kourva. He was desirous of forming a second a little farther on, and perceived upon the soil a mound of earth similar to that which we have just described. He caused a circular trench to be hollowed, which he filled with a great quant.i.ty of dry wood, and, after having set fire to it in every point of its circ.u.mference, he attacked the Ant-hill with a train of artillery. Thus every issue was closed to the hostile army, which, to escape from the invasion of the flames and the shaking and plowing of the ground by the cannon-b.a.l.l.s, was obliged to traverse, in its retreat, a trench filled with fire, where it was entirely cut off.[580]

The Portuguese found such prodigious numbers of Ants upon their first landing at Brazil, that they called them Rey de Brazil, King of Brazil, a name which they now there bear.[581]

Mr. Southey states, on the authority of Manoel Felix, that the Red-ants devoured the cloths of the altar in the Convent of S. Antonio, or S.

Luiz (Maranham, Brazil), and also brought up into the church pieces of shrouds from the graves; whereupon the friars prosecuted them according to due form of ecclesiastical law. What the sentence was in this case, we are unable to learn. A similar case, however, the historian informs us, had occurred in the Franciscan Convent at Avignon, where the Ants did so much mischief that a suit was inst.i.tuted against them, and they were excommunicated, and ordered by the friars, in pursuance of their sentence, to remove within three days to a place a.s.signed them in the center of the earth. The Canonical account gravely adds, that the Ants obeyed, and carried away all their young, and all their stores.[582]

Annius writes, that an ancient city situate near the Volscian Lake, and called Contenebra, was in times past overthrown by Ants, and that the place was thereupon commonly called to his day, "the camp of the Ants."[583]

Ctesias makes mention "of a horse-pismire (_i.e._ the bigger kind of them in hollow trees) which was fed by the Magi, till hee grew to such a vast bulke as to devour two pound of flesh a daye."[584]

Martial has written the following beautiful epigram on an Ant inclosed in amber: "While an Ant was wandering under the shade of the tree of Phaeton, a drop of amber enveloped the tiny insect; thus she, who in life was disregarded, became precious by death.

"A drop of amber from the weeping plant, Fell unexpected and embalmed an Ant; The little insect we so much contemn Is, from a worthless Ant, become a gem."[585]

It has been said, remarks Mr. Southey, and regarded as a vulgar error, that Ants cannot pa.s.s over a line of chalk: the fact, however, is certain. Mr. Coleridge tried the experiment at Malta, he continues, and immediately discovered the cause: The formic acid is so powerful, that it acts upon the chalk, and the legs of the insect are burnt by the instantaneous effervescence![586]

Paxamus says, that if you take some Ants and burn them, you will drive away the others, as experience has taught us. Ants also, he continues, will not touch a vessel with honey, although the vessel may happen to be without its cover, if you wrap it in white wool, or if you scatter white earth or ruddle round it. If a person, continues Paxamus, takes a grain of wheat carried by an Ant with the thumb of his left hand, and lays it in a skin of Phnician dye, and ties it round the head of his wife, it will prove to be the cause of abortion in a state of gestation.[587]

Pliny says the proper remedy for the venom of the _Solipuga_ or _Solpuga_ Ant, and for that of all kinds of Ants, is a bat's heart.[588]

Callicrates used to make Ants, and other such little creatures, out of ivory, with so much skill and ingenuity that other men could not discern the counterfeits from the originals even with the help of gla.s.ses.[589]

Vespidae--Wasps, Hornets.

Concerning the generation of the Wasp, Topsel and Moufet have the following: "Isidore affirms that Wasps come out of the putrefied carka.s.ses of a.s.ses, although he may be mistaken, for all agree that the Scarabees are procreated from them: rather am I of opinion with Pliny, 1. ii. c. 20, and the Greek authors, that they are sprung from the dead bodies of horses, for the horse is a valiant and warlike creature, hence is that verse frequently and commonly used among the Greeks:

Wasps come from horses, Bees from bulls are bred.

And indeed their more than ordinary swiftnesse and their eagernesse in fight, are sufficient arguments that they can take their original from no other creature (much less from an a.s.se, hart, or oxe) since that Nature never granted to any creatures else, to excel both in swiftness and valour. And surely that I may give another sense of that proverb of Aristotle,

Hail the daughters of the wing-footed steed:

this would I suppose fit to be spoken in way of jest and scorn to scolding women, which do imitate the hastiness and froward disposition of the Wasp. Other sorts of them are produced out of the putrid corps of the Crocodiles, if Horus and the aegyptians be to be believed, for which reason when they mean a Wasp, they set it forth by an horse or crocodile. Nicander gives them the name _lukosnoadon_, because they sometimes come from the dead carka.s.ses of wolves. Bellenacensis and Vicentius say, that Wasps come out of the putrefaction of an old deer's head, flying sometimes out of the eyes, sometimes out of the nostrils.... There are those also that affirm that Wasps are begotten of the earth and rottenness of some kind of fruits, as Albertus and the Arabick scholiast."

Of the Hornet, likewise, these writers tell the following fabulous stories: "The Latins call the Hornets _Crabrones_, perchance from the village Crabra in the countrey of Tusculum (where there are great store of them), or from the word _Caballus_, _i.e._ a horse, who is said to be their father. According to that of Ovid, _Met._ 15:

The warlike horse if buried under ground, Shortly a brood of Hornets will be found.

Albertus calls it a yellow Bee. Carda.n.u.s will needs have them to arise from the dead mule. Plutarch, in the life of Cleomedes, saith they come out of horse flesh, as the Bees do out of the oxe his paunch. Virgil saith they are produced of the a.s.se.... I conceive that those are produced of the harder flesh of the horse, and the Wasps of the more tender flesh."[590]

The Hornet (but whether or not it was the common species, _Vespa crabro_, Linn., is uncertain), we learn from Scriptures was employed by Providence to drive out the impious inhabitants of Canaan, and subdue them under the hand of the Israelites.--"And I sent the Hornet before you, which drave them out before you, even the two kings of the Amorites."[591]

In the second volume of Lieutenant Holman's Travels, the following anecdote is related: "Eight miles from Grandie----, the muleteers suddenly called out 'Marambundas! Marambundas!' which indicated the approach of Wasps. In a moment all the animals, whether loaded or otherwise, lay down on their backs, kicking most violently; while the blacks, and all persons not already attacked, ran away in different directions, all being careful, by a wide sweep, to avoid the swarms of tormentors that came forward like a cloud. I never witnessed a panic so sudden and complete, and really believe that the bursting of a water-spout could hardly have produced more commotion. However, it must be confessed that the alarm was not without good reason, for so severe is the torture inflicted by these pigmy a.s.sailants, that the bravest travelers are not ashamed to fly, the instant they perceive the host approaching, which is of common occurrence on the Campos."[592]

Dr. Fairfax, in the Philosophical Transactions, mentions a lady, who had such a horror of Wasps, that during the season in which they abound in houses, she always confined herself to her apartment.[593]

Dr. James tells us: "The combs (of the Hornet) are recommended in a drench for that disorder in horses, which Vigetius, L. 2, c. 23, calls scrofula, meaning, I believe, what we call the strangles."[594]

Hornets'-nest is smoked under horses' noses for distemper, cold in the head, and such like diseases. It is also given to horses in their feed for thick-windedness.

The nests of Hornets are gathered by the country people to clean spectacles.

Topsel, in his History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents, has the following prognostications of the weather from the appearances of Hornets: "They serve instead of good almanacks to countrey people, to foretel tempests and change of weather, as hail, rain, and snow: for if they flie about in greater numbers, and be oftner seen about any place, then usually they are wont, it is a signe of heat and fair weather the next day. But if about twilight they are observed to enter often their nests, as though they would hide themselves, you must the next day expect rain, winde, or some stormy, troublesome or boysterous season: whereupon Avienus hath these verses:

So if the buzzing troups of Hornets hoa.r.s.e to flie, In s.p.a.cious air 'bout Autumn's end you see, When Virgil star the evening lamp espie, Then from the sea some stormy tempest sure shall be."[595]

"In the year 190, before the birth of Christ," say Moufet and Topsel, "as Julius witnesseth, an infinite mult.i.tude of Wasps flew into the market at Capua, and sate in the temple of Mars, they were with great diligence taken and burnt solemnly, yet they did foreshew the coming of the enemy and the burning of the city."[596]

The first Wasp seen in the season should always be killed. By so doing, you secure to yourself good luck and freedom from enemies throughout the year.[597] This is an English superst.i.tion, and it prevails in parts of America. We have one, also, directly opposed to it, namely, that the first Wasp seen in the season should not be killed if you wish to secure to yourself good luck. Many of our people, too, will kill a Wasp at no time, for, if killed, they say, it will bring upon them bad luck.

If a Wasp stings you, our superst.i.tious think that your foes will get the advantage of you.

If the first Wasp seen in the season be seen in your house, it is a sign that you will form an unpleasant acquaintance. If the first Bee seen in the season be seen in your house, it is a sign you will form a pleasant and useful acquaintance. This arose doubtless from the apparent uselessness of the former, and worth of the latter insect.

Wasps building in a house foretell the coming to want of the family occupying it. Likewise arose from the unthriftiness of this insect.

If Hornets build high, the winter will be dry and mild; if low, cold and stormy. This is firmly believed in Virginia; and the idea seems to be, that if the nest is built high it will be more exposed to the wind than if built low.

That a person may not be stung by Wasps, Paxamus says: "Let the person be rubbed with the juice of wild-mallow, and he will not be stung."[598]

The Creoles of Mauritius eat the larvae of Wasps, which they roast in the combs. In taking the nests, they drive off the Wasps by means of a burning rag fastened to the end of a stick. The combs are sold at the bazaar of Port Louis.[599]

The following story, of the cunning of the fox in killing the Wasps to obtain their combs, is told by aelian: "The fox (a subtile creature) is said to prey upon the Wasp in this manner: he puts his tail into the Wasps' nest so long till it be all covered with Wasps, which he espying, pulls it out and beats them against the next stone or tree he meets withall till they be all dead, this being done again and again till all the Wasps be destroyed, he sets upon their combs and devours them."[600]

The Chinese Herbal contains a singular notion, prevalent also in India, concerning the generation of the Sphex, or solitary Wasp. When the female lays her eggs in the clayey nidus she makes in houses, she incloses the dead body of a caterpillar in it for the subsistence of the worms when they are hatched. Those who observed her entombing the caterpillar did not look for the eggs, and immediately concluded that the Sphex took the worm for the progeny, and say, that as she plastered up the hole of the nest, she hummed a constant song over it, saying, "_Cla.s.s with me! cla.s.s with me!_"--and the transformation gradually took place, and was perfected in its silent grave by the next spring, when a winged Wasp emerged, to continue its posterity the coming autumn in the same mysterious way.[601]

Apidae--Bees.