Curious Facts in the History of Insects; Including Spiders and Scorpions Part 4

An absurd notion obtains in England that the larvae of the May-bugs are changed into briers.[139]

The following quotation is from the Chronicle of Hollingshed: "The 24 day of Februarie (1575), being the feast of Saint Matthie, on which dai the faire was kept at Tewkesburie, a strange thing happened there. For after a floud which was not great, but such as therby the medows neere adioning were covered with water, and in the after noone there came downe the river of Seuerne great numbers of flies and beetles (_Melolontha vulgaris_?), such as in summer evenings use to strike men in the face, in great heapes, a foot thicke above the water, so that to credible mens judgement there were seene within a paire of buts length of those flies above a hundred quarters. The mils there abouts were dammed up with them for the s.p.a.ce of foure daies after, and then were clensed by digging them out with shovels: from whence they came is yet unknowne but the daie was cold and a hard frost."[140]

Such another remarkable phenomenon is recorded to have occurred in Ireland, in the summer of 1688. The c.o.c.k-chafers, in this instance, were in such immense numbers, "that when," as the chronicler, Dr. Molyneux, relates, "towards evening or sunset, they would arise, disperse, and fly about, with a strange humming noise, much like the beating of drums at some distance; and in such vast incredible numbers, that they darkened the air for the s.p.a.ce of two or three miles square. The grinding of leaves," he continues, "in the mouths of this vast mult.i.tude altogether, made a sound very much resembling the sawing of timber."[141]

In a short time after the appearance of these beetles in these immense numbers, they had so entirely eaten up and destroyed the leaves of the trees, that the whole country, for miles around, though in the middle of summer, was left as bare as in the depth of winter.

During the unfavorable seasons of the weather, which followed this plague, the swine and poultry would watch under the trees for the falling of the beetles, and feed and fatten upon them; and even the poorer sort of the country people, the country then laboring under a scarcity of provision, had a way of dressing them, and _lived upon them as food_. In 1695, Ireland was again visited with a plague of this same kind.[142]

In Normandy, according to Mouffet, the c.o.c.k-chafers make their appearance every third year.[143] In 1785, many provinces of France were so ravaged by them, that a premium was offered by the government for the best mode of destroying them.[144] During this year, a farmer, near Blois, employed a number of children and the poorer people to destroy the c.o.c.k-chafers at the rate of two liards a hundred, and in a few days they collected fourteen thousand.[145]

The county of Norfolk in England seems occasionally to have suffered much from the ravages of these insects; and Bingley tells us that "about sixty years ago, a farm near Norwich was so infested with them, that the farmer and his servants affirmed they had gathered eighty bushels of them; and the grubs had done so much injury, that the court of the city, in compa.s.sion to the poor fellow's misfortune, allowed him twenty-five pounds."[146]

The seeming blunders and stupidity of these insects have long been proverbial, as in the expressions, "blind as a beetle," and "beetle-headed."

Cetoniidae--Rose-chafers.

A very pretty species of the _Cetoniidae_, the _Agestrata luconica_, is of a fine brilliant metallic green, and found in the Philippine Islands. These the ladies of Manilla keep as pets in small bamboo cages, and carry them about with them wheresoever they may go.[147]

Buprestidae--Burn-cows.

Many species of the _Buprestidae_ are decorated with highly brilliant metallic tints, like polished gold upon an emerald ground, or azure upon a ground of gold; and their elytra, or wing-coverings, are employed by the ladies of China, and also of England, for the purpose of embroidering their dresses.[148] The Chinese have also attempted imitations of these insects in bronze, in which they succeed so well that the copy may be sometimes mistaken for the reality.[149] In Ceylon[150] and throughout India,[151] the golden wing-cases of two of this tribe, the _Sternocera chrysis_ and _S. sternicornis_, are used to enrich the embroidery of the Indian zenana, while the l.u.s.trous joints of the legs are strung on silken threads, and form necklaces and bracelets of singular brilliancy. The _Buprestis attenuata_, _ocellata_ and _vittata_ are also wrought into various devices and trinkets by the Indians. The _B. vittata_ is much admired among them. This insect is found in great abundance in China, and thence exported into India, where it is distributed at a low price.[152]

Mr. Osbeck saw in China a _Buprestis maxima_, which had been dried, and to which were fastened leaden wings so painted as to make them look like the wings of b.u.t.terflies. This artificial monster, he adds, was to be sold in the vaults among other trifles.[153] The _B. maxima_ is set up along with b.u.t.terflies in small boxes, and vended in the streets of Chinese cities.[154]

So many species of the _Buprestidae_ are clothed with such brilliant colors, that Geoffroy has thought proper to designate them all under the generic appellation of _Richard_. The origin of this name is as singular as its application is fantastical. It was originally given to the Jay, in consequence of the facility with which that bird was taught to p.r.o.nounce the word.[155]

Modern writers have been much divided in their opinion as to what genus the celebrated _Buprestis_ of the ancients belongs. All indeed have regarded it as of the order Coleoptera, but here their agreement ceases.

Linnaeus seems to have looked upon it as a species of the genus to which he has given its name. Geoffroy thinks it to be a _Carabus_ or _Cicindela_; M. Latrielle, to the genus _Meloe_; and Kirby and Spence to _Mylabris_.[156]

Of this Buprestis, Pliny says: "Incorporat with goat sewer, it taketh away the tettars called lichenes that be in the face."[157] And Dr.

James says that insects of this family "are all in common, inseptic, exulcerating, and (possess) a heating quality; for which reason, they are mixed up with medicines adapted to the cure of a Carcinoma, Lepra, and the malignant Lichen. Mixed in emollient pessaries, they provoke the Catamenial discharges."[158]

The Greeks, it is said, commended the Buprestis in food.[159]

Elateridae--Fire-flies, Spring-beetles, etc.

In an historical sense, the most interesting species of the family _Elateridae_ is the _Elater noctilucus_, a native of the West Indies, and called by the inhabitants, _Cucujus_. From an ancient translation of Peter Martyr's History of the West Indies, we make the following quotation, which contains many curious facts relative to this insect:

"Whoso wanteth _Cucuji_, goeth out of the house in the first twilight of the night, carrying a burning fier-brande in his hande, and ascendeth the next hillocke, that the _Cucuji_ may see it, and swingeth the fier-brande about calling _Cucuji_ aloud, and beating the ayre with often calling and crying out _Cucuji, Cucuji_.... Beholde the desired number of _Cucuji_, at what time, the hunter casteth the fier-brande out of his hande. Some _Cucuji_ sometimes followeth the fier-brande, and lighteth on the grounde, then is he easily taken.... The hunter havinge the hunting _Cucuius_, returneth home, and shutting the doore of the house, letteth the praye goe. The _Cucuius_ loosed, swiftly flyeth about the whole house seeking gnatts, under their hanging bedds, and about the faces of them that sleepe, whiche the gnattes used to a.s.sayle, they seem to execute the office of watchmen, that such as are shut in, may quietly rest. Another pleasant and profitable commodity proceedeth from the _Cucuji_. As many eyes as every _Cucuius_ openeth, the host enjoyeth the light of so many candles: so that the Inhabitants spinne, sewe, weave, and daunce by the light of the flying _Cucuji_. The Inhabitants think that the _Cucuius_ is delighted with the harmony and melodie of their singing, and that he also exerciseth his motion in the ayre according to the action of their dancing.... Our men also read and write by that light, which always continueth untill hee have gotten enough gnatts whereby he may be well fedd.... There is also another wonderfull commodity proceeding from the _Cucuius_: the Islanders, appoynted by our menn, goe with their good will by night with 2 _Cucuji_ tyed to the great tooes of their feete: (for the travailer[160] goeth better by direction of the lights of the _Cucuji_, then if hee brought so many candels with him, as the _Cucuji_ open eyes) he also carryeth another _Cucuius_ in his hande to seeke the Utiae by night (Utiae are a certayne kind of Cony, a little exceeding a mouse in bignesse.)... They also go a fishing by the lights of the _Cucuji_.... In sport, and merriment, or to the intent to terrifie such as are affrayed of every shaddow, they say that many wanton wild fellowes sometimes rubbed their faces by night with the fleshe of a _Cucuius_ being killed, with purpose to meete their neighbors with a flaming countenance ... for the face being annointed with the lumpe or fleshy parte of the _Cucuius_, shineth like a flame of fire."[161]

At c.u.mana, the use of the Cucujus is forbidden, as the young Spanish ladies used to carry on a correspondence at night with their lovers by means of the light derived from them.[162]

Captain Stedman tells us, that one of his sentinels, one night, called out that he saw a negro, with a lighted tobacco-pipe, cross a creek near by in a canoe. At which alarm they lost no time in leaping out of their hammocks, and were not a little mortified when they found the pipe was nothing more than a Fire-fly on the wing.[163]

An individual of this species, brought to Paris in some wood, in the larva or nymph state, there underwent its metamorphosis, and by the light which it emitted, excited the greatest surprise among many of the inhabitants of the Faubourg St. Antoine, to whom such a phenomenon had hitherto been unknown.[164]

When Cortes and Narvaez were at war with one another in Mexico, Bernal Diaz relates "that one night in the midst of darkness numbers of shining Beetles (_Elater noctilucus_) kept continually flying about, which Narvaez's men mistook for the lighted matches of our fire-arms, and this gave them a vast idea of the number of our matchlocks."[165] Thomas Campanius tells us that one night the Cucuji frightened all the soldiers at Fort Christina, in New Sweden (Pennsylvania?): they thought they were enemies advancing toward them with lighted torches.[166] Another such like story, which is not incredible by any means, is told us by Mouffet.

He says that when Sir Thomas Cavendish and Sir Robert Dudley first landed in the West Indies, and saw an infinite number of moving lights in the woods, which were merely these Elaters, they supposed that the Spaniards were advancing upon them with lighted matches, and immediately betook themselves to their ships.[167]

The Indians of the Carribbee Islands, Ogleby remarks, "anoint their bodies all over (at certain solemnities wherein candles are forbidden) with the juice squeezed out of them (Cucuji), which causes them to shine like a flame of fire."[168] And in the Spanish Colonies, on certain festival days in the month of June, these insects are collected in great numbers, and tied as decorations all over the garments of the young people, who gallop through the streets on horses similarly ornamented, producing on a dark evening the effect of a large moving body of light. On such occasions the lover displays his gallantry by decking his mistress with these living gems.[169]

At the present day, the poorer cla.s.ses of Cuba and the other West India Islands, make use of these luminous insects for lights in their houses.

Twenty or thirty of them put into a small wicker-work cage, and dampened a little with water, will produce quite a brilliant light. Throughout these islands, the Cucujus is worn by the ladies as a most fashionable ornament. As many as fifty or a hundred are sometimes worn on a single ball-room dress. Capt. Stuart tells me he once saw one of these insects upon a lady's white collar, which at a little distance rivaled the Kohinoor in splendor and beauty. The insect is fastened to the dress by a pin through its body, and only worn so long as it lives, for it loses its light when dead.

The statement of Humboldt is, that at the present day in the habitations of the poorer cla.s.ses of Cuba, a dozen of Cucuji placed in a perforated gourd suffice for a light during the night. By shaking the gourd quickly, the insect is roused, and lights up its luminous disks. The inhabitants employ a truthful and simple expression, in saying that a gourd filled with Cucuji is an ever-lighted torch; and in fact it is only extinguished by the death of the insects, which are easily kept alive with a little sugar cane. A lady in Trinidad told this great traveler, that during a long and painful pa.s.sage from Costa Firme, she had availed herself of these phosph.o.r.escent insects whenever she wished to give the breast to her child at night. The captain of the ship would not permit any other light on board at night, for fear of the privateers.[170]

Southy has happily introduced the Cucujus in his "Madoc" as furnishing the lamp by which Coatel rescued the British hero from the hands of the Mexican priests:

She beckon'd and descended, and drew out From underneath her vest a cage, or net It rather might be called, so fine the twigs Which knit it, where, confined, two fire-flies gave Their l.u.s.tre. By that light did Madoc first Behold the features of his lovely guide.

Darwin says: "In Jamaica, at some seasons of the year, the Fire-flies are seen in the evening in great abundance. When they settle on the ground, the bull-frog greedily devours them, which seems to have given origin to a curious, though very cruel, method of destroying these animals: if red-hot pieces of charcoal be thrown toward them in the dusk of the evening, they leap at them, and hastily swallow them, mistaking them for Fire-flies, and are burnt to death."(!)[171]

Beetles belonging to the family _Elateridae_ have been so called from a peculiar power they have of leaping up like a tumbler when placed on their backs, and for this reason they have received the English appellations of _Spring-beetles_ and _Skip-jacks_, and from the noise which the operation makes when they leap, they are also called _Snap_, _Watch_, or _Click-beetle_, and likewise _Blacksmiths_.

If a Blacksmith beetle enters your house, a quarrel will ensue which may end in blows.

This superst.i.tion obtains in Maryland.

Lampyridae.--Glow-worms.

Antonius Thylesius Bonsentinus, following his elegant description of the Glow-worm, gives a pretty fable of its origin. As translated in Moufet's Theater of Insects, his words are these:

This little fly shines in the air alone, Like sparks of fire, which when it was unknown To me a boy, I stood then in great fear, Durst not attempt to touch it, or come near.

May be this worm from shining in the night, Borrow'd its name, shining like candle bright.

The cause is one, but divers are the names, It shines or not, according as she frames Herself to fly or stand; when she doth fly, You would believe 'twere sparkles in the skie, At a great distance you shall ever finde Prepar'd with light and lanthorn all this kinde.

Darkness cannot conceal her, round about Her candle shines, no winds can blow it out.

Sometimes she flies as though she did desire Those that pa.s.s by to observe her fire; Which being nearer, seem to be as great, As sparks that fly when smiths hot iron beat.

When Pluto ravish'd Proserpine, that rape, For she was waiting on her, chang'd her shape, And since that time, she flyeth in the night Seeking her out with torch and candle light.[172]

The following anecdote is related by Sir J. E. Smith, of the effect of the first sight of the Italian Glow-worms upon some Moorish ladies ignorant of such appearances. These females had been taken prisoners at sea, and, until they could be ransomed, lived in a house in the outskirts of Genoa, where they were frequently visited by the respectable inhabitants of the city; a party of whom, on going one evening, were surprised to find the house closely shut up, and their Moorish friends in the greatest consternation. On inquiring into the cause, they found that some Glow-worms--_Pygolampis Italica_--had found their way into the building, and that the ladies within had taken it into their heads that these brilliant guests were no other than the troubled spirits of their relations; of which curious idea it was some time before they could be divested.--The common people of Italy have a superst.i.tion respecting these insects somewhat similar, believing that they are of a spiritual nature, and proceed out of the graves, and hence carefully avoid them.[173]

Cardan, Albertus, Gaudentinus, Mizalduo, and many others have a.s.serted that perpetual lights can be produced from the Glow-worm; and that waters distilled from this insect afford a l.u.s.tre in the night. It is needless to say these a.s.sertions are without foundation.[174]

In India, the ladies have recourse to Fire-flies for ornaments for their hair, when they take their evening walks. They inclose them in nets of gauze.[175] And the beaux of Italy, Sir J. E. Smith tells us, are accustomed in the summer evenings to adorn the heads of the ladies with Glow-worms, by sticking them also in their hair.[176]

Never kill a Glow-worm, if you do, the country people say, you will put "the light out of your house,"--_i.e._ happiness, prosperity, or whatever blessing you may be enjoying.

A Glow-worm, in your path, denotes brilliant success in all your undertakings. If one enters a house, one of the heads of the family will shortly die. These superst.i.tions obtain in Maryland.

Of the Glow-worm--_Noctiluca terrestris_, Col. Ecphr., i. 38--Dr. James says: "The whole insect is used in medicine, and recommended by some against the Stone. Cardan ascribes an anodyne virtue to it."[177]

Mr. Ray, in his travels through the State of Venice, says: "A discovery made by a certain gentleman, and communicated to me by Francis Jessop, Esq., is, that those reputed meteors, called in Latin _Ignis fatui_, and known in England by the conceited names of _Jack with a Lanthorn_, and _Will with a Wisp_, are nothing else but swarms of these flying Glow-worms. Which, if true, we may give an easy account of those phenomena of these supposed fires, _viz._, their sudden motion from place to place, and leading travelers that follow them into bogs and precipices."[178] It has been suggested[179] also that the mole-cricket, _Gryllotalpa vulgaris_,[180] which in its nocturnal peregrinations was supposed to be luminous, is this notorious "Will-o'-the-wisp."

Pliny says: "When Glow-worms appear, it is a common sign of the ripenesse of barley, and of sowing millet and pannick.... And Mantuan sang to the same tune: